"What Is Repentance?"

Jeremiah 31

Psalm 51

Acts 10:1-11:18

Repentance is not a very popular thing these days.

No one wants to admit that they've sinned.

And it's always easy to find someone or something else to blame.

"But my sister hit me first!"

"My husband was being selfish!"

Therefore my sin wasn't so bad....

Yes, it is true.

Someone else sinned first.

Every sin you have ever committed was prompted by someone else.

This is what we learn from the doctrine of original sin.

The corruption of Adam's first sin has been transmitted to all of us.

Through the one man's sin, all have become sinners.

But while it is true that someone else sinned against you first,

that still does not excuse your sin.

Sin is still sin.

The fact that your brother stole your toy does not make it acceptable for you to hit him.

The fact that your neighbor is being selfish does not justify your selfishness in response.

The blame game must stop.

You must accept responsibility for your own sin

and repent.

Q. 87. What is repentance unto life?
A. Repentance unto life is a saving grace,[180] whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ,[181] doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God,[182] with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience.[183]

Notice that the catechism uses the phrase "repentance unto life."

The idea of repentance is simply the turning of the mind.

You could speak of a person repenting of his decision to become a banker.

In other words he changed his mind, and now regretted becoming a banker.

But that is not repentance unto life!

The phrase "repentance unto life" comes from our passage in Acts 11:18.

When Peter tells the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem

that the Gentiles have received the Holy Spirit,

they respond by saying, "Then to the Gentiles also

God has granted repentance that leads to life."

[the old King James translated it, "repentance unto life."]

When you consider how things started in chapter 11, this is remarkable.

Luke tells us that "the circumcision party" criticized Peter.

The circumcision party believed that circumcision was necessary to be a Christian.

All male Gentile converts must be circumcised before they could be true Xns.

And in the OT, that was certainly true.

Circumcision was indeed the sign of the covenant in the OT-

it was the marker of participation in the community of faith.

And so when the circumcision party hears that Peter has had fellowship

with uncircumcised Gentiles,

they object to his violation of Jewish principles.

Peter's response recounts the events of chapter 10.

First, the vision of the unclean animals, where God instructs him to eat unclean animals.

The main point of the distinction between clean and unclean animals in Leviticus

was to teach the distinction between Israel and the Gentiles.

Israel was to be "clean" or holy-a nation distinct and set apart for God.

So when God tells Peter to eat unclean foods,

Peter is perplexed.

What does this mean?

But then three men arrived at the house and urged him to come speak with Cornelius,

a Gentile centurion in Caesarea.

Until that day, Peter would have refused.

It was unthinkable for a devout Jew to accept hospitality from an uncircumcised,

unclean, Gentile.

But God has ordered him "What God has made clean, do not call common."

And so Peter goes to Cornelius's house, and in obedience to the vision,

he preaches the good news of Jesus Christ to them.

(Read 10:34-43)

We saw in Acts 2 that Peter had promised, "repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins,

and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

But here in Acts 10,

the Spirit falls on these Gentile hearers while they are still listening to Peter's sermon.

Why?

Because if Peter is to follow God's clear, revealed will,

then before he can baptize these Gentiles,

he will have to circumcise them.

The vision has made it clear that Jewish Christians may not call Gentiles unclean,

and that they may go and preach to them,

but God has said nothing, so far, about removing the necessity of circumcision.

Until now.

But as Peter was preaching, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word.

(Read v45)

The Holy Spirit has been given to the Gentiles?

There is no indication in Scripture that the 3,000 Jews

who were baptized at Pentecost ever spoke in tongues.

But here, these few dozen Gentiles receive the same manifestation of the Spirit

that came upon the apostles in Acts 2.

Peter instantly recognizes what has happened.

Circumcision has been bypassed.

It is no longer the marker that distinguishes between the people of God

and the world.

Circumcision divided Jew from Gentile-but that division has been removed.

Baptism is the marker that distinguishes the church from the world,

and "can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people,

who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" (v47)

When the Jerusalem church hears this, they understand the implications at once.

"Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life."

1) A Saving Grace

Notice, first, that repentance unto life is a gift.

"God has granted repentance unto life."

It is a saving grace-it is a gift of God that leads to life.

After all, does repentance come naturally to you?

When you have sinned, is it your first instinct to repent?

Do you immediately turn away from sin and ask God to forgive you?

I hope that it is becoming true of you-by grace!-

but was it true before you were in Christ?

2) A True Sense of Sin and Mercy

Secondly, Repentance unto life involves, a true sense of sin,

and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ,

Remember Peter's sermon?

He proclaims Christ: Here is what Jesus has done for our salvation,

in his death and resurrection.

But notice how he concludes:

"Jesus commanded us to preach to the people and to testify

that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead."

There is a judge.

God is just, and he will not allow wickedness to go unpunished.

Therefore he has appointed Jesus to judge the living and the dead.

As the Messiah, Jesus is the King of kings.

All peoples must give an account to him.

One day, you will stand before him.

What will he say?

What will he say, Cornelius, about you?

Sure, you have some good references in the Jewish community:

"An upright and God-fearing man,

Who is spoken of by the whole Jewish nation,

Who was directed by a holy angel to send for you."

But none of that will provide for the forgiveness of your sins.

No matter how upright you are, you have still sinned.

And the wages of sin are death.

What will Jesus, the Judge of the Nations, say about you?

You only have one hope:

that your sins be forgiven.

And, Peter says, "to Jesus all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him

receives forgiveness of sins through his name." (V43)

The prophets bear witness to Jesus?

There are many examples.

Today we will look only at Jeremiah 31.

Jeremiah prophesies of the end of the kingdom of Judah.

He lived in Jerusalem in the years leading up to the Exile in 586 B.C.

In chapters 30-31 he speaks of the coming exile, and the restoration to follow.

Once again we see at the very beginning of the chapter,

an emphasis on the sovereignty of God in delivering his people.

"I have loved you with an everlasting love;

therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you."

We see also how God will redeem his people (verse 11).

God will bring his people through suffering into glory.

He will turn their mourning into joy (verse 13), and give them hope for the future (v17).

And in response to God's promise of mercy,

the people of God respond: (verses 18-19)

This is what repentance is all about.

Ephraim's hope is that God will restore him.

Ephraim knows that he can do nothing to save himself,

but he trusts in God's mercy.

This is the context of the famous passage in verses 31-34 about the new covenant.

The new covenant is all about the restoration from exile.

God says that he will make a new covenant not like the covenant he made with Israel.

The new covenant is not like the Mosaic covenant.

Why?

Because the Mosaic covenant failed.

The Mosaic covenant ended in exile and death.

But that is not how the new covenant will end.

Under the Mosaic covenant, sin was never finally dealt with.

The sacrifices had to be offered day after day, year after year.

But in the new covenant, God will forgive their iniquity,

and remember their sin no more.

How is this about Jesus?

Because Jesus has dealt with sin once for all in his sacrifice on the cross.

He suffered the penalty of exile and death for us.

Everything that Jeremiah had said must happen to Israel has happened to Jesus.

He was brought through suffering to glory.

Therefore if you want to be forgiven,

you must believe in name.

Notice the two ways of putting this:

"Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins" (10:43)

"God has granted repentance that leads to life" (11:18)

Normally we speak of repentance and forgiveness,

but here the connection is between faith and forgiveness.

That is because repentance and faith are simply two sides of one coin.

Repentance is turning away from sin and fleeing to Christ,

which obviously implies believing in him.

Faith is receiving and resting upon Christ,

which plainly includes turning away from sin and self.

3) Turning from Sin to Obedience

And thirdly, as we have already suggested,

Repentance unto life includes grief and hatred for sin,

and a turning from sin turn from it unto God,

with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience.

In other words, repentance is something more than merely saying "I'm sorry."

The language of grief and hatred for sin is well expressed in Psalm 51.

David has just committed adultery with Bathsheba,

and ordered the murder of Uriah, her husband,

and yet he understands that he has sinned against God alone.

"Against you, you only, have I sinned,

And done what is evil in your sight."

He is not merely "sorry" that he got caught.

No, he truly grieves and pleads with God for pardon:

"Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities."

And together with this grief for sin,

there is also a heart set upon new obedience:

"Then I will teach transgressors your ways."

At the end of Psalm 51 there is a seeming contradiction.

David says that "you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it" (v16)

But then says that "then you will delight in right sacrifices." (v19)

Which is it?

Does God delight in sacrifice or not?

David's point is that sacrifices cannot replace repentance.

It does no good to bring burnt offerings for sin,

without a broken and contrite heart.

The objective act of sacrifice, by itself, does not effect the forgiveness of sins.

As God said to Samuel in David's youth, "man looks at the outward appearance,

but God looks at the heart."

There is no sacrifice that David can bring to atone for what he has done.

It is only if God has mercy and restores Zion that sacrifices will have any meaning

In other words, the sacraments of the OT were effectual only by faith.

So in Acts 10, when Peter sees the Holy Spirit being poured out upon these Gentiles,

he realizes that circumcision has lost its sacramental meaning.

And he immediately concludes,

we'd better baptize these folks, because God has given them repentance unto life.

Conclusion:

Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner,

out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ,

doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God,

with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience.

Repentance takes practice.