Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Okay, let's get our bibles, and we will get started.
[00:00:06] We want to go to pick up where we left off in Luke chapter 15. So if you'll go to Luke 15, we'll do a little bit of review, and we'll pick up where we left off and kind of tie up the loose ends on this subject. As we've been looking at the subject of repentance.
[00:00:23] You know, one thing I've been trying to do as we look at this subject and others as well, is not only to teach it from. To teach these concepts right from a doctrinal perspective, that is showing you kind of the theological, whatever, mechanics of it or whatever, but to give you illustrations where this is actually seen in practice, where you can see it and really get a grip of what the Lord is talking about. And we will do that as we move from repentance to faith today.
[00:00:54] We'll also do that as it regards faith also. So let's pray, and then we'll start in Luke chapter 15, and we'll just reread the story of the prodigal here and pick up where we left off. Let's pray together. Our Lord, thank you for the chance to be in Sunday school. Thank you for not only our class, but also the classes downstairs where other teachers are ministering your word, Lord, you said that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. And, Lord, those kids down there, they need to hear and understand the word of God, just like we do up here. And we pray that your word would be precious to us, would be.
[00:01:38] Would be strength to us, would be help to us. We pray. Please teach us today as we look at your word. And, Lord, in the service to follow in the fellowship, and especially with brotherhood burgess preaching and his messages. Please fill him with understanding and wisdom as he teaches and preaches as well. And bless the songs, the offerings, and our fellowship together. Lord, I pray that it would be pleasing in your sight and in every way. And, Lord, we would be filled with joy in the Holy Ghost. And so, Lord, we just commit this time to you, Lord, give us understanding. We want to be able to. We want to be equipped to be able to explain these things to people that need the Lord. And so help us. In Jesus name, amen.
[00:02:24] All right, so we will look in Luke 15, verse number eleven. Verse number eleven.
[00:02:31] Just a quick note. You know, the Lord often taught in parables, and sometimes there's arguments. I was having a conversation with someone recently over whether you know the difference between a parable and not a parable, because that's a, you know, for those of you that know, that's always a big thing. Is it a parable? It's not a parable. That really makes no difference. Do you know why? Because a parable is nothing but an object lesson or an illustration.
[00:02:55] I know we like to neatly categorize some things as parables and other things as not. But really, a parable is just actually, the word means to set beside. That's all it means, which is the idea is you're teaching something and you bring something beside it to show that thing right? As an object lesson. So. And one thing about parables is parables always have to be true to life. If they're not true to life, they're useless. That's what makes them effective parables.
[00:03:25] If you don't know about the parable and you don't know about that subject, for instance, sewing or, you know, whatever, in this case, a lost son, then it's useless to you. So parables have to be true to life. And that's what, that's what makes these object lessons so beneficial, including this one, verse eleven.
[00:03:46] And he said, a certain man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, father, give me the portion of my goods, of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
[00:04:10] And when he had spent all. And there arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to be in want, and he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine pigs, which was a detestable job, especially in the jewish context. This would be like cleaning out sewers or something, you know, of that nature. This would be the lowest, most loathsome jobs that he was forced to do. And then he was eating what the pigs ate as well. Verse 16. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks, that swan that the swine did eat. And no man gave unto him. So he. What's interesting about that verse is he did it doesn't say he ate the husks.
[00:05:01] He wanted. He would feign. That means he wanted to eat the husks.
[00:05:07] Not even that was he allowed.
[00:05:10] The Lord brought him low. Right?
[00:05:13] This is what we're talking about when we talk about repentance, that God leads men to repentance.
[00:05:20] Sometimes people of a calvinist persuasion, they act like God just strikes people out of heaven. Like downtown Greenville last night. We almost got struck by lightning a few times. I think it was very close. But sometimes that's the way it's described, as if God just strikes people out of heaven, all of a sudden, they change. No, no, no. The Lord uses means to bring people to a point of repentance, just like you see here. The Lord is working in them. And here's the thing. This work of God can be absolutely be resisted to the point that that person perishes.
[00:05:54] He's drawing them. He's bringing them low. You know, some people might mock christians, because christians often turn to the Lord Jesus and are saved at low periods in their life. And those intellectual types will sometimes mock and say, well, you need a crutch. You just weren't strong enough or whatever. But no, the Lord brings people low to finally bring them to the point where they understand that they need God.
[00:06:24] Right? That's why he does it. It's an act of mercy.
[00:06:28] The famine, as an example. The famine was not anyone's fault. That was an act of God.
[00:06:34] Verse number 17. And when he came to himself, he said, how many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare? And I perish with hunger, I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said unto him, father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, bring forth the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet. And then we know what the rest happens in the chapter, how he is received back in full status as he was prior to his rebellion. Now, let me ask you a question, kind of in preparation for something I want to say later.
[00:07:39] Help me brainstorm about what are the sins of this young man?
[00:07:47] What are the sins of this young man? Just say him. It's fine. Pride and gratefulness and pride. Yep, definitely proud ungratefulness, right? He just give me what's coming, you know, immorality. Because he was riotous living. It's mentioned later in the chapter. So he was running around to prostitute. I mean, this is. What is it? Prostitutes and all kinds of immorality. What's that?
[00:08:12] Drunkenness. Definitely riotous living. There's a lot in there, right? What else? Disrespect to his father. Disrespect to his father.
[00:08:22] Anybody else have an idea?
[00:08:26] All right. Despising what he already had. Anyone else?
[00:08:31] Let me ask you a question.
[00:08:34] Which of those sins, among probably others we could think of if we sat for a while in thought, which of those sins you think were the worst sins? What do you think? Rejecting the love and goodness of his father. Rejecting love and goodness of his father.
[00:08:52] I mean, I don't know. I have the answer, but I want us to think about it here in just a minute.
[00:08:58] But what you do see is, you see two things. Something is wrong with this boy, right?
[00:09:07] Not just the individual sins he has committed, but his state of. His condition of life, his relationship with his father.
[00:09:16] He himself. Something is messed up. He is in a condition and a state of rebellion now. He is not. By contrast, can a person rebel? Think about now. Can a person rebel? Can a person be involved in immorality?
[00:09:38] Can a person do individual sins like that without being in a wholesale state of rebellion? A wholesale state of immoral, wholesale state of. You know, we could argue that point. But what is definitely true in this is that this boy is not. That this boy is. Something is wrong with him. In other words, what I'm trying to say is sometimes believers sin, right?
[00:10:04] Believers do sin. I shouldn't say sometimes believers sin. Absolutely. People who are children of God sin despite the fact that they are God's children and they are right with God. That is not what we have here. We have someone who is not right with God, not right with his father.
[00:10:20] His condition is different. Now, here's what the other thing I want you to see.
[00:10:25] You have his condition on the one hand, and then you have his individual sins on the other hand. This goes to the question we've discussed in the past.
[00:10:35] But his individual sins are demonstrating and shouting aloud his condition.
[00:10:44] Right?
[00:10:45] How do you know he's not right with God? Easy answer. How do you know he's not right with his father? By what he's doing. Right. What he's doing.
[00:10:54] Here's the danger. And this is what happened with the Pharisees. And what our Lord pointed out is a person like that, think about in our time. A person like that can so reform their life that they don't do the sins anymore, but still not be right with Goddesse. And you know what happens?
[00:11:18] What happens is they take their tape, right? It's like a hose? Like a garden hose. Or if you're from the south, hose pipe. They take tape and they wrap up the hose so it's not leaking. But inevitably it's gonna. Before you know it, there's gonna be little streams of water coming out. Because he's not right with God. His condition is bad. And that's what happened with the Pharisees.
[00:11:47] What's amazing is, do you know the Pharisees and the Sadducees, what group they came up? They came of Ezra, 400, 500 years prior. Ezra was not that way. Ezra was just as strict as the Pharisees. Because he was a man who wanted to follow the law of God. And that's what we read in Ezra in Nehemiah, right?
[00:12:07] By the time you get to the Pharisees, they are not right with God. Their condition is just. I mean, utter and total rebellion against God. But yet they're. The outward sins look to be wrapped up.
[00:12:19] But that tape has sprung leaks.
[00:12:22] And so the hypocrisy is coming out. The fakeness. Right? That's what you see. And this is what it always works. This is where it always works. Someone who is not. Who is not right with God. They're not a child of God. They get religion. I use that term. Everybody knows what I mean. They get religion. Their life gets taped up.
[00:12:40] But just stand by. If they are not truly converted and they are not truly, they do not come to true repentance. Like what we're talking about today.
[00:12:49] Just stand by.
[00:12:51] It will come out. And often it comes out in the form of evil religion, right? Where the outward works look clean and right. But there's hypocrisy and corruption inside. And it has to come out. There's no way to avoid it. There's no way to avoid it. It's our nature. It has to come out. Okay, get back. I got off on my tangent there. Okay?
[00:13:14] So what we've seen so far about this young man.
[00:13:19] Is that when he first goes out in rebellion, he is not sorry. He is enjoying himself. Right? That's what we saw last week. And then.
[00:13:33] And then bad things come into his life. Misfortune comes into his life. Which the Lord brings into his life to bring him to the end of himself.
[00:13:44] And then you see in verse number, verse 17, when he came to himself, he said, now, remember, we saw this. This was a private conversation in the man's heart, right? This is a rehearsal of what's going on inside of his heart. I will arise and go to my father. He says, how many higher servants of my fathers have bread enough and despair, and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him, now, at that point is repentance.
[00:14:10] Everybody get that? At that moment is repentance.
[00:14:14] That's what we saw.
[00:14:16] Do you know why?
[00:14:18] Because, number one, he has finally acknowledged the sinfulness of his actions, right? He's finally acknowledged and come face to face with the sinfulness of his actions. That's the first part. And second part, he is finally finished with it in his heart, right? He hasn't gotten up yet. He's still laying with the pigs. He hasn't even gotten up yet. But in his heart, the decision is made, right? In his heart, he has changed.
[00:14:53] That's repentance.
[00:14:56] He says, verse 18, I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee. Again, he hasn't gone anywhere yet, right?
[00:15:06] Notice I've sinned against heaven. That's Godward. Before thee, Manward.
[00:15:12] But notice he's acknowledging the sinfulness of his sin, verse 19. And am no more worthy to be called thy son. You know what that is? That's not I have done wrong, but that is I am wrong. That's the difference between the individual acts of sin which are there and the condition of the man. Because like I said last week, this is just review. Like I said last week, people can sin, like, to their heart's content, and they still somehow, we still somehow think we're good.
[00:15:41] I make mistakes, but I'm good.
[00:15:44] That's what we think.
[00:15:46] A repentant heart says I'm bad and I'm showing it.
[00:15:53] It's totally different, is it not? The condition is understood.
[00:15:57] The condition, that's the difference. When we're talking to someone about the Lord, listen, we can't know people's hearts. We can't. But we can ask questions. We can probe. We can discuss these matters that deal with these things to find out, do they really think they're righteous and just make mistakes? Or do they really understand what God says, that they are holy, corrupted, sinful, and not worthy of salvation or righteousness or heaven? Does that make sense?
[00:16:31] The worthiness question is an important question.
[00:16:36] Almost everyone, and I don't know, Brother David, I don't know if you would agree from your experience, Brother York and others, when you've talked to people, one of the questions that seems to be kind of a litmus test of this is, are you good? Are you a good person? Have you found that to be generally true.
[00:16:54] Most of the time.
[00:16:57] Most of the time, people want to say they're good. And generally speaking, the only people that are willing to say, no, I'm not a good person are people that have come to a point of repentance where they finally seem, do you think this young man, after he repents, is ever going to say, I'm a good guy? No. He's going to say, no, look what I was. He's always going to go back to that.
[00:17:22] If I were to ask you, are you a good person?
[00:17:27] How would you answer, are you a good person?
[00:17:34] We might have a tendency to say, well, I try to do right, but really, really, I think probably everybody in here would likely say, no, no. You know what that is? That is an effect of the grace of God in our lives to bring us to repentance. You know what? For a believer who has repented and trusted in Jesus, we're okay with saying that because we know that that acknowledgement and that repentance, that change of heart that we discussed is the doorknob that opened the door to salvation and the love of God to us.
[00:18:18] But we had to come face to face with our sin. We had to.
[00:18:25] So verse number 19, he says, I am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. You know what that is? That is what John the Baptist was talking about when he said, bring forth, therefore fruits worthy of repentance. This young man has repented, and the evidence that he has repented is that. That the things that were in his heart, that God told us were in his heart, he is now doing.
[00:18:56] The tree has brought forth fruit.
[00:19:00] See, that's how you know he's repentant now. His new way of life going back to his father, that's not repentance.
[00:19:08] That's a change of works, right? The repentance is in the heart. Is it possible for somebody to stop doing gross sin and yet not repent? Absolutely, it is possible. There's examples all over the scripture of people doing that.
[00:19:25] Listen, somebody can be on drugs or alcohol, and as a result of the destruction that's brought into their lives, they can go to rehab or aa or whatever, and they can stop drinking and stop taking drugs. That doesn't mean they repented.
[00:19:43] Repentance not only deals with what we do and its destructive behavior. Remember, because there is false repentance, which is the drinking is not the problem, but the pain and suffering it brought me.
[00:19:56] You see the difference there is a big difference. That's what we talked about with Esau.
[00:20:03] Repentance goes straight to the heart of who we are.
[00:20:07] He arose, came to his father, but when he was yet, when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. Notice has this, you know, the father responded, now, this is so important. This is a, this is why these parables of our lord are so, are so just precious to us, because they're not just generalized truths.
[00:20:34] At every, every sentence, every phrase matches what the scriptures teach on these things.
[00:20:42] This young man has arisen. He is showing now fruit of repentance.
[00:20:46] But you remember in verse number 19, he says, verse 18 and 19, he's rehearsing what he's going to say. But look at verse 20, and I'm going to ask you a question.
[00:20:57] Read verse 20, if you would, real quick.
[00:21:01] Has this young man spoken a word to his father yet?
[00:21:07] No.
[00:21:09] Yet the father has responded by receiving him. You see this? He has not shown really any works yet, but the father knows his heart.
[00:21:22] Repentance. This is why. Listen, listen. Now, how many of you have heard of the idea of lordship salvation? Okay, that has about a thousand different meanings, but let me give you the meaning. Most familiar with lordship salvation, basically, is the idea from my perspective, is that in order to be saved, you must repent and then clean up your life in some measure, and then you get saved.
[00:21:49] All right? You might have heard of a different kind of version of that, but that's the version I'm working on right now, okay?
[00:21:57] That's not what you see here. Do you know why? Do you know why you don't have to show the fruits of repentance before you can get saved? Because the father knows your heart where the repentance happened.
[00:22:11] And this same truth is also true of faith, which we'll see later.
[00:22:17] The moment God sees in the heart repentance, that's good enough for him.
[00:22:24] Now, he knows true repentance will produce fruit of repentance later, but he's going to have to wait on the fruit because he knows the heart. Now we, on the other hand, we don't see the heart, so we wait, and I think wisely. So someone says they get saved and they trust in Jesus, okay, we are glad of their profession of faith, but we say, okay, let's see how the Lord works in the heart. Let's see the fruit of it, because that's all we can see, right? That's all we can see. I mean, not that, you know, and people still mess up and children of God still fall, and we know that. But there is evidence later of repentance and evidence of faith that comes out later.
[00:23:06] But note in verse 20, even though this young man has not spoken a word to his father yet, his father, knowing the young man's heart, repentance is a done deal. Now, the father receives him immediately, and he gets a chance to start saying these things, I have sinned against heaven in thy sight, and then no more worthy be called thy son. And the father cuts him off and says, you know, bring hither the fatty calf and all those things.
[00:23:39] But note this in verse number 21. He finally does make confession.
[00:23:46] Now, think of John the Baptist, because we've already studied John the Baptist, we're winding up this idea of repentance, okay? We've already looked at John the Baptist and how that people would come, they would hear his preaching in preparation for the coming of Jesus and the revelation of his identity. People would come and they would confess their sins and receive baptism. Right. As an indicator, public sign that they were repenting. Right? That's how it worked.
[00:24:12] This young man is also confessing.
[00:24:16] He's confessing. And really, confession is a good indicator of repentance.
[00:24:22] But confession didn't make him righteous.
[00:24:27] Now I'm going to give you part of an illustration I want to share with you.
[00:24:33] But if I was arrested and I was tried and convicted of a crime and put in prison, if I said, you know, if all of that time, I said, you know, this just isn't right, I'm not that bad. I didn't do this or whatever like that. And I denied it. And then finally, after I was in prison for a couple of years, I finally came to the. I finally came to myself and I said, okay, I did it. I deserve to be here.
[00:25:01] Does that make me righteous?
[00:25:06] Does confession make a person righteous?
[00:25:09] No, because you did it.
[00:25:14] But God requires that in your heart. You see what I'm saying? That's why he says, except ye repent, you shall likewise perish. That's what he's talking about. God requires that in the heart. So let me ask you a question. If you're witnessing to someone you're trying to deal with, maybe a co worker, family member, whatever, does it matter that they come to understand where they stand with God and what God thinks of their sin? Does it matter? It absolutely matters.
[00:25:46] It absolutely. Because they can't. Without repentance, they can't receive Christ because they've not. Their attitude toward their sin, which is an abomination to God, has not changed, and we're not talking about something they do. This is just in the heart.
[00:26:02] That's it.
[00:26:03] So repentance is not a work. It can't be a work. It produces works, but it's in the heart.
[00:26:12] So confession does. This young man confessing to his father in verse number 21 did not make him righteous.
[00:26:20] Repentance does not make one righteous.
[00:26:24] It can't.
[00:26:25] All you're doing is acknowledging what you are, what you've done.
[00:26:31] It is not an act of righteousness. It is just a recognition of one's true state, which up to this point in our example here, this young man has not recognized.
[00:26:44] At no point does it enter into his mind the thought that says, I am worthy because I have repented. Rather the opposite, right?
[00:26:53] So really, here's the summary of it, and then we'll kind of start turning the page. So really, repentance is a preparatory matter to faith, dealing with the question of our sin and condition in the sight of God. First, just like John the Baptist's ministry was preparatory.
[00:27:15] Everything up to this point in our story here was preparatory in his heart so that his father could forgive him. He had to return to his father with the right attitude towards sin, or there's no forgiveness. What if he came back and said, dad, I'm out of money. I don't regret anything I did. I'm still a good person.
[00:27:35] Do you think verse number 20 would have been in there? But that's exactly what it looks like when a person is just decides they want to, you know, they want to believe in Jesus or whatever, and the question of their sin and their attitude toward it has not changed.
[00:27:50] See, that is. That's actually evil. That's actually evil.
[00:27:58] Now, as we move forward here, just as a couple of practical notes, you know, because this is about teaching us a lot, a lot of our instruction as to how to witness to another person has to do with our own understanding of these things. That's why I'm going through and explaining them. So as a practical matter, though, as we witness to people and try to share the gospel, what's important you have to remember is not throwing around the term repentance. You must repent, although that's right and good, but you have to remember, not everybody understands that. That's why I want you to understand it, and I want to understand it. What am I talking about? Most people, when you say you have to repent, what they think of is, I have to stop doing bad things and start doing good things. And in a way, there's a little bit of truth to that. But they think, all right, well, if I stop doing the bad things and start doing the good things, then God will let me in heaven.
[00:29:01] Well, that's not right.
[00:29:03] It's our heart attitude.
[00:29:09] Do we, when you're witnessing to someone, does that person recognize that their sin in the sight of God is exceeding sinful, or are they just wanting out of the bad consequences, or are they just trying to save face?
[00:29:27] This is why it is so important for us as evangelists to describe sin and its effects in the right way and not to describe sin in the context of always its negative effects in your life. Look what it's doing to you. Your health is shot. Your family's gone. Whoa, there's something bigger than that.
[00:29:51] So I go back to the question, what sins did this young man have to repent of?
[00:30:02] That's why I asked you at the beginning what his sins were.
[00:30:05] Which ones did he have to repent of.
[00:30:09] Now that we know repentance doesn't mean you stop doing things. Repentance is in the heart and attitude towards sin.
[00:30:15] The question always comes up, and this is a very practical question. You guys have heard it. Brother David's heard it. Brother Ari's probably heard it. Right?
[00:30:24] If I get saved, do I have to stop doing x?
[00:30:31] What do you think? What would you say to that? I'll be honest with you, that's a tough question.
[00:30:37] If you say yes, you're kind of implying one thing. If you say no, you're definitely implying something. So how would you address that, brother David, which do you want? Do you want Jesus Christ, who he is, what he has to offer, serving him, living with him for eternity? Or do you want.
[00:30:54] That's a good response. You know why? Because it deals with the heart, his heart's attitude towards sin.
[00:31:00] Any other ideas?
[00:31:05] Wrong question. Okay, what do you mean? Explain?
[00:31:11] Instead of like someone saying, hey, do I have to stop these things?
[00:31:19] That's pretty good.
[00:31:29] All right, anybody else? Yes, ma'am.
[00:31:36] What do you mean? Look at your sin, okay?
[00:31:49] Look at the sin from God's viewpoint instead of your own viewpoint and ask yourself, what does God think about it?
[00:31:55] Okay.
[00:31:58] One thing you could say in a case like this is, is even if you stop sinning, it can't make you righteous.
[00:32:06] Or what that sin that you're doing, that you're trying to, you're actually expressing that you want to continue it is not that question. Expressing that you want to continue it. See, even the question is a problem because the question is revealing something about the heart of that person. Be very careful. If someone's heart is not prepared for the gospel, don't try to lead them in a prayer. Right.
[00:32:35] It's okay to stop and pray. You tell them as it is, give them a warning. But you can't push further than that unless their heart is prepared.
[00:32:46] That wouldn't be right to do.
[00:32:48] But that question reveals that a person. Now, it might reveal not just a person who's intent on continuing, but it might reveal that someone who's struggling with that question, which is a good place to be in struggling and considering weighing it in the balance.
[00:33:07] So you could say, as the ones that have mentioned here, you could say, even if you were able to stop that, it's not going to make you righteous. Number two, God hates this sin that you are trying to keep. Right?
[00:33:22] You know, questions of willingness toward that sin.
[00:33:27] One thing I say to people is, I say, one illustration I've used in the past, you guys can come in. You're not gonna bother us.
[00:33:36] I've said, if you come to Christ, you can't come to Christ with a suitcase of sin pulled behind you. Now, you gotta leave that there, right? Because Christ hates sin, right.
[00:33:48] These are just different ways you have to address it. But the important thing is to be paying attention to this question.
[00:33:54] To be paying attention to this question, because people will ask, do I have to stop smoking? Do I have to stop drinking? Do I have to move out of this live in situation, right? These are real things. This is not uncommon. This is real.
[00:34:13] And it's a question that we will have to deal with and address. But whatever we say, we can't lead them to think that if they just stop that sin, then they're saved. No, it's not that way. The sin is just showing the condemnation. You also can't lead them to think that this sin is okay.
[00:34:32] You also can't say that.
[00:34:35] Any other comments on that?
[00:34:38] All right.
[00:34:39] Okay. So in summary, and I want to give you my illustration that I had in my mind and heart I wanted to share with you.
[00:34:50] Repentance is preparation, work in the heart to receive Jesus, repentance is more than just getting someone to acknowledge that they have sinned or that they are a sinner. Those are easy words to say, especially down here in the south.
[00:35:08] It deals with the heart's attitude towards sin, toward God, and God's displeasure toward it. The second thing is, in summary, repentance is in the heart, but it produces fruit in the life.
[00:35:23] Okay? And number three, well, which is actually the first one, I said, repentance is preparatory work. So let me give you an illustration because we're going to turn the page now. We're going to go into the faith aspect because repentance and faith go together.
[00:35:38] So let me give you an illustration to help us understand this. Okay?
[00:35:43] I mentioned before, if I had committed a crime, I was found guilty, right? And I was imprisoned for the crime.
[00:35:53] And so say a man. Say a man committed crimes. He was found guilty and he was in prison. And so in prison I.
[00:36:01] This man, you could say he's chained in his cell, right? He has no liberty to get up and get out. In other words, his sin has condemned him. He has no liberty to leave, right? And now I use the word chained. I know we don't chained people most of the time in prison now. But the idea is he is not free to go.
[00:36:20] He is not at liberty. His sin. He is still bound by his sin. Okay? That's what I want you to see. Repentance means that this man sitting in the cell chained to his sin recognizes that what he has done is evil and that he himself is condemned. And rightly so. Repentance at its core is saying, God, you are right.
[00:36:46] I am guilty and I am not worthy.
[00:36:50] I deserve the condemnation that I have. That's what repentance is.
[00:36:54] I justly like this man. I justly could deserve the condemnation that I have now.
[00:37:01] But even with that repentance in my example here, he still can't leave his cell, right?
[00:37:09] You see what I'm saying? Repentance doesn't make one righteous. He's still sitting in his cell, still chained to his. To the, you know, to the bed.
[00:37:18] Repentance hasn't. Hasn't altered that at all. But what has it altered?
[00:37:23] His heart's attitude toward his sin and ultimately toward the Lord. You see what's changed? So he's sitting in his cell now.
[00:37:31] But now his heart is changed towards sin.
[00:37:36] But he's not righteous yet.
[00:37:39] You see, he can't leave his cell.
[00:37:43] To leave his cell, he needs the redeemer.
[00:37:47] You see, by receiving Christ, his chain is loosed, and he is freely forgiven because one has paid his penalty, right?
[00:38:01] Repentance alone is not enough. Judas Iscariot is the example. Judas repented himself for what he had done. He knew it was wicked and evil, but he did not go. To Jesus, repentance alone is not enough.
[00:38:15] And also faith needs repentance to prepare the heart.
[00:38:20] And only then can a man be freed.
[00:38:24] For even though he is free. You think this is always the question? Always the question. Well, if we're saved just by believing in Jesus, then I guess we have just a license to do whatever we want to do. Oh, no, no, no. Because repentance is. Fix that.
[00:38:40] Our heart towards sin has changed. It was required. Even though this man is now free. And he might think, well, hey, someone paid my fine. I can go do it again. No, he doesn't think that. You know why? Because when he was sitting in the cell, he said, you know, I did it. I am guilty, and I deserve this.
[00:38:56] So now he's free to go because Christ paid his penalty, but his attitude has been reversed toward his crime.
[00:39:05] Does that make sense?
[00:39:08] Let's pray together.
