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What We Believe and Why - Vol. II
Written by Dr. Lester Hutson

Copyright - Lester Hutson - 1982
This material is copyrighted and may not be copied or reproduced without the express written permission of Dr. Lester Hutson.

Chapter Three
Repentance

INTRODUCTION: TEXT: Acts 17:30

In Acts 17, the apostle Paul preached to the pagans and believers of false religions in Athens, Greece. He spoke of how they were ignorant of the true God, and of the tremendous sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. He then concluded his remarks by saying, in verses 30-31, "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because He hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof, he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." God commands all men everywhere to repent. Yet, very few men have a sound understanding of what repentance is. This Bible study is intended to show clearly what repentance is, as well as what it is not. At the same time, this lesson is designed to show who should repent, and what the results of repentance should be.

I. LET US FIRST CONSIDER WHAT TRUE REPENTANCE IS.

A. By definition, to repent means to "change one's mind or purpose." True Godly repentance always indicates a change for the better. It speaks of a complete reversal, a 180 degree turn from the wrong way to God's right way. It means to desert your ways and thinking in favor of those of God.

B. True Godly repentance contains both negative and positive aspects.

1. Repentance is turning from something to something. It is not enough to turn from evil. There must also be a turning to good. You have not really repented until you desert the wisdom and thinking of this world and embrace the truth of God. Your thinking has to come to agreement with His thinking.

2. Listen to how clearly the Word of God sets forth this truth.

a. Ezekiel the prophet said, "Thus saith the Lord God: Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations." (Ezekiel 14:6) This call to turn from evil is only half the divine picture. The positive aspect of truth is set forth in Hosea 12:6, "Therefore turn thou to thy God."

b. Jonah the prophet preached, "Let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands." (Jonah 3:8) That tells us what we are to turn from, while Jeremiah the prophet tells us what we are to turn to. His divinely inspired words are, "Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord." (Lamentations 3:40) Also, he says, "Turn thou us unto thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned." (Lamentations 5:21)

c. Paul the apostle wrote, "Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good." (Romans 12:9)

d. Isaiah the prophet wrote, "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil. Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow." (Isaiah 1:16-17) Here again is the negative and the positive.

e. The psalmist David wrote, "Depart from evil, and do good." (Psalms 34:14)

f. Amos says, "Hate the evil, Love the good." (Amos 5:15)

g. Paul exhorted us to, "Hold fast that which is good...Abstain from all appearance of evil." (I Thessalonians 5:21-22)

h. This same apostle said that his purpose was to "Open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God." (Acts 26:18)

i. You can easily see then, why Mark 1:15 says, "Repent ye, and believe the gospel." True repentance is not a half done matter, but a true change of mind, purpose, or direction.

3. The prodigal son is a classic illustration of true repentance. (Luke 15:11-24)

a. this boy had a true change of mind or purpose. His heart changed from that of a master, to that of a servant.

b. He determined to get out of the hog pen, and quit eating the husks that the swine ate. He didn't determine just to get out of that hog pen and go on another riotous, materialistic binge, which would get him right into another hog pen. No, he determined to get out of the wrong place, the hog pen, and go to the right place, his father's house.

c. You see, it was a matter of turning from something bad to something good, from something evil to something right.

d. This, my friend, is genuine, heartfelt, repentance.

II. IN ADDITION TO UNDERSTANDING WHAT TRUE GODLY REPENTANCE IS, YOU NEED ALSO TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IT IS NOT.

A. It in not merely turning from one evil to another.

1. Paul preached to the Gentiles, "That they should repent and turn to God." (Acts 26:20) He testified "both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." (Acts 20:21)

2. Satan has a multitude of false religions and philosophies, and you can choose any one of them and still be heading basically in the same old direction. All you've done in these cases is slightly alter your course a degree or two. Though you may have changed a little, you are still leading away from God.

3. So, true Godly repentance is not giving up one falsehood in favor of another. It is a matter of giving up your thinking and ways in favor of the thinking and ways of God. It is coming to agreement with Him. It is admitting you are wrong, and He is right.

B. Neither is true repentance sorrow and tears.

1. It is true that Godly sorrow can work repentance according to II Corinthians 7:10.

2. It is also true that one can be very sorry, even to tears, and yet experience no change of heart or true repentance at all. Esau is a classic example. "For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears." (Hebrews 12:17)

3. Many times people are sorry, even to tears, because they got caught or because they experienced some loss because of their wrong doing, not because they have recognized their wrong to have been a great offense before God, and not because they have come to agree with His way being right and their way being wrong.

4. A person can have abundant sorrow and tears, and yet have experienced absolutely no repentance at all. You can be sure that God is not at all deceived by such a smoke screen. It is not true repentance until there is a change of heart, from evil to right, and when that true change of heart has occurred, it is repentance, whether or not it is accompanied by tears.

III. THE QUESTION THEN ARISES, "WHO SHOULD REPENT?"

A. The answer to that question is simply, all men everywhere.

1. Our text verse says that God, "Now commandeth all men every where to repent." (Acts 17:30) The truth is that every man who is out of harmony with the truth and will of God should repent of that. That simply means to come into agreement with the mind and purpose of God.

2. This is especially true of lost, alien sinners.

a. The truth of unconverted men is that they have "not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." (Romans 10:3) Peter said they "walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, self-willed." (II Peter 2:10) Romans 6:17 says they have not obeyed the doctrine of God, and, as II Thessalonians 1:8 puts it, they, "Obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ."

b. Thus, god commands every lost, disobedient sinner to repent of his thinking and way. God commands the sinner to give up on his idea and means of salvation and come in simple faith to the Lord Jesus Christ.

c. Lost sinner, God's Word to you is "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matthew 3:2. Peter preached in Acts 3:19, "Repent ye therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." Jesus' own words in Matthew 9:13, Mark 2:7, and Luke 5:32 are, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

3. But, God not only commands alien sinners to turn from their ways unto Him, He also commands saved sinners to turn from their God-dishonoring ways to Him and His ways of truth and righteousness.

a. It is true that God's own children do not always embrace His thinking and practice His ways. I John 1:8 says they sin against Him, and Isaiah 59:1- 2 says their sin separates them from fellowship with their heavenly Father.

b. Any time one of God's children thus gets out of fellowship with His Father, God calls on that child to repent of his evil.

c. Listen to His word in II Timothy 2:19, "Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." To saved people in His churches, God repeatedly calls for repentance. (Revelation 2:5, 16, 22, and 3:3, 19) When Simon the sorcerer of Acts 8 backslid from God by thinking apostolic power could be his, Peter told him in verse 22, "Repent therefore of this thy wickedness."

4. It is no wonder then that our text says that God commandeth all men everywhere to repent. Regardless of whether he is saved or lost, when a person finds himself out of harmony with the thinking of God he ought to repent of that. He ought to desert his thinking and embrace the thinking of God on the subject. It is no wonder that Jesus said, "That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." (Luke 24:47) God is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (II Peter 3:9)

B. God so loves the world that He graciously seeks to bring about repentance in all men.

1. The scriptures testify of that truth.

a. "Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" (Romans 2:4)

b. "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." (Acts 5:30-31)

c. But God not only wants Israelis or Jews to repent. He has also granted repentance to Gentiles. "Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life." (Acts 11:18)

d. No one is left out. God calls on all men everywhere to repent.

2. And, one of His major tools for drawing men unto Him is His true, provable Word.

a. Of His Word it is said, "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name." (John 20:31)

b. There is enough provable truth in the Word of God to bring every honest man into agreement with the fact that God is right in all He says and does.

c. If a man will not repent in view of the evidence of God's Word, he has sealed his own eternal doom. Jesus said, "He that rejected me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." (John 12:48)

d. God wants all men everywhere to repent, and He has given His Word to bring the world to repentance. God will not force repentance on anyone, however, and if a man chooses to reject the Word of God and repentance, he will, by his own choice, ultimately face the wrath and scorn of Almighty God upon him. (John 3:36, II Thessalonians 1:8-9)

IV. WHEN A MAN EXPERIENCES TRUE REPENTANCE IN HIS LIFE, THERE WILL BE A DEFINITE CHANGE FOR THE BETTER.

A. Repentance speaks of such a change as would reverse the effects of one's previous state of mind.

1. God said to Isaiah the prophet, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9)

2. In view of that, you can be sure that any time a man deserts his thinking and ways in favor of the thinking and ways of God, there is going to be a drastic change in his life. It is in view of this, Paul could say, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new." (II Corinthians 5:17) "That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke , in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world." (Philippians 2:15)

3. When you quit your ways and start practicing God's ways, you will stand out as being different from the world's people.

B. Once you are radically changed by true, Godly repentance in your heart, the change will be evidenced in your conduct.

1. The first major indication of true repentance by an alien sinner will be his decision to follow Christ publicly in baptism. (Acts 2:38)

2. "If the first-fruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. (Romans 11:16) Jesus said, "Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit." (Matthew 7:17)

3. It is not difficult, then, to see why John the Baptist told the people who came to him, "Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance." (Matthew 3:8, Luke 3:8) You can also see why Paul preached to the Gentiles, "that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance." (Acts 26:20) This exactly the truth James is making in James 2:18, when he points out that if a man has true faith or agreement with God, then his works are certain to evidence it.

4. If you are truly a repentant child of God, then your life will prove it. An absence of evidence in your life testifies against you that there has been no true, Godly repentance.

"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"