Acts 26:20

Acts 26:20

Sermon preached on December 3, 2006 by Laurence W. Veinott. © Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. Other sermons can be found at http://www.newlifeop.org/.

One of John Gerstner's books is entitled, Repent or Perish. I think it was Heather who saw it on my book shelf and commented on what a terrible title it was. I think she even said,

"Who would buy a book with a title like that?"

Well, I know one person.

Most people would agree with her. Even if it was one of the best written books in the world, with a title like that I don't think it would ever be anywhere near the top of Amazon's best seller list. It's too negative, too blatant, too apt to turn people off.

It's not a title that many church growth consultants would advise you to us. Some people would tell you that if you want your church to grow, you need to minimize talk of repentance and focus on other things, especially on what people want out of church.

Yet if you look at one of the most successful ministries in the history of the church, the ministry of the apostle Paul, you'll see that he summarized his whole ministry in terms of repentance. Before King Agrippa Paul said,

"First to those in Damascus,
then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea,
and to the Gentiles also,
I preached that they should repent
and turn to God
and prove their repentance by their deeds."

Paul stated that repentance was central and crucial to his preaching. He preached repentance. Paul's preaching could be summarized just like John the Baptist's preaching, just like that of Jesus, and just like that of Peter on the Day of Pentecost. They all proclaimed repentance. (Matthew 3:2, Matthew 4:17, Acts 2:38). The words of John the Baptist and Jesus were identical.

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

On the Day of Pentecost Peter said to the people,

"Repent and be baptized,
every one of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ
for the forgiveness of your sins."

Here in Acts 26 Paul summarized his preaching as that of repentance. All of them focused on getting people to repent. It was central to their ministry. They saw people as being lost, as needing a radical transformation in their lives. It didn't matter who they looked at—thieves, tax collectors, prostitutes, religious leaders, elders, rich and poor. They were all lost. They all needed to change.

This shows us that any ministry faithful to Jesus Christ will focus on getting people to repent.

But what does it mean to repent? James Montgomery Boice says, (Acts, p. 406)

"To repent means 'to turn around'. If you are going in one direction and repent, you turn around and go another direction… It happened to Paul on the road to Damascus. He was going one way, but God turned him around so that he went in a different way entirely."

Let me illustrate. When I was a teenager I went hunting with my grandfather and two other guys. We hunted in one place in the morning and didn't see any deer so we decided to go to another place, on the other side of Cape Breton. We got into my grandfather's car and started out. On the way there we had to go over North Mountain. North Mountain has a very steep and winding road over it. There are huge cliffs along most of the road. It was raining at the bottom of the mountain but as we started to gain some elevation it changed to snow and freezing rain. As we climbed higher it started to get very slippery. We thought about turning around but turning a car around but in light of the conditions it seemed to dangerous. But finally the car lost traction and it started to slip backwards—even though my grandfather was still trying to go uphill. He put the brake on and managed to get it stopped. But he had no control over it then. It wouldn't go where he wanted it to. He tried to turn the car around but couldn't because it was too slippery. So the other three of us got out of the car and by pushing on the corners of the car we slid it around 180 degrees so that it was pointing downhill. But none of us wanted to get back in the car with my grandfather. We thought it was safer on foot so we walked along behind him for awhile. After awhile he got back to where it wasn't icy and we made it down the hill.

We made a 180 degree turn. That was it exactly. We were going one way and we did an about face and started going the other way.

It was not like the statement of the star basketball player who was traded to a very poor team with a terrible losing record. When he got there he said,

"I'm going to turn this team around 360 degrees."

If do that, you don't change at all. Repentance is about a 180 degree turn. Before it you're going the way of sin, after it you're going God's way. We see this from our text.

Repentance is related to turning to God.

Notice how Paul put it. If you look at the NIV, it has the word 'and' twice in our text. It has Paul saying,

"I preached that they should repent
and turn to God
and prove their repentance by their deeds."

But a more literal translation would show that in the Greek the word 'and' only occurs once. The NASB, gives a more literal translation. It has Paul saying,

"that they should repent
and turn to God,
performing deeds appropriate to repentance."

There's only one 'and' there. Paul preached that people should 'repent and turn to God'. John Calvin writes,

"To repentance there is added turning to God, not as something different, but so that we may know what repenting means…"

In other words, repentance and turning to God are inseparably joined. John Murray, (Redemption, Accomplished and Applied, p. 113) writes that repentance,

"essentially consists in turning from sin unto God."

Repentance is a turning from sin and a turning to God. Both go together. A true turning to God inevitably involves turning from sin. John Stott writes, (Basic Christianity, p. 109-110)

"We cannot follow Christ without forsaking sin." "Repentance is a definite turn from every thought, word, deed and habit which is known to be wrong. It is not sufficient to feel pangs of remorse or to make some kind of apology to God. Fundamentally, repentance is a matter neither of emotion nor of speech. It is an inward change of mind and attitude towards sin which leads to a change of behavior."

This is clear from many places in Scripture. If you turn to God you have to turn from sin. One of the clearest is in 1 John 1:3f. The apostle John wrote,

"We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard,
so that you also may have fellowship with us.
And our fellowship is with the Father
and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
We write this to make our joy complete.
This is the message we have heard from him
and declare to you:
God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
If we claim to have fellowship with him
yet walk in the darkness,
we lie and do not live by the truth."

Turning to God in Jesus Christ means to have fellowship with Him. It means to follow Him, to become like Him. If you say that you have fellowship with God and yet continue to walk in darkness, you lie. God demands that His people be holy. It is not a mere suggestion, or merely good advice. It is how things have to be. In 1 Peter 1:13 Peter declared,

"just as he who called you is holy,
so be holy in all you do;
for it is written:
'Be holy, because I am holy.'"

We also see this truth about the necessity of repentance in Paul's commissioning to be an apostle. Consider the verses just before our text.

The whole purpose of Paul's being made an apostle by Jesus was to call people to repentance.

Jesus said to Paul, (verses 17-18)

"I am sending you to them
to open their eyes
and turn them from darkness to light,
and from the power of Satan to God,"

Paul's mission was to change people through the power of Jesus Christ. He was to bring them from darkness into light. That meant that had to live as children of light. As Paul told the Ephesians in Ephesians 5:8f,

"For you were once darkness,
but now you are light in the Lord.
Live as children of light
(for the fruit of the light consists
in all goodness, righteousness and truth)
and find out what pleases the Lord.
Have nothing to do
with the fruitless deeds of darkness,
but rather expose them."

Paul was to turn them from the power of Satan to God. What does Satan do? He enslaves people. He brings them into bondage to sin. As Paul said in Romans 6:16, we were,

"slaves to sin,
which leads to death"

But in Jesus there is freedom. As Paul wrote in Galatians 5:13,

"You, my brothers,
were called to be free.
But do not use your freedom
to indulge the sinful nature;
rather, serve one another in love."

Thus we see that Paul's commissioning as an apostle, his own summary of his ministry—both those things were focused on getting people to repent. This whole section of Scripture shows us that repentance is central to the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ.

The second great truth that we see from Paul here is that

people are to prove their repentance by their deeds.

How do you know if someone is a Christian? According to the apostle Paul you know it if they are holy—if they prove their repentance by their deeds. Paul basically said the same thing that John the Baptist said earlier, that people need to, (Matthew 3:8)

"Produce fruit in keeping with repentance."

Speaking of false prophets, Jesus told us that we can recognize them by their fruits. He concluded with these words, (Matthew 7:21)

"Not everyone who says to me,
'Lord, Lord,'
will enter the kingdom of heaven,
but only he who does
the will of my Father who is in heaven."

And in Hebrews 12:14 we are told,

"Make every effort… to be holy;
without holiness no one will see the Lord."

Good works, holy living—these things are absolutely necessary for the Christian.

We are not saved by them. They do not play a role in our being declared righteous by God. As Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8f,

"For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith—and this not from yourselves,
it is the gift of God—not by works,
so that no one can boast.
For we are God's workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Our works do not contribute to our justification. As Paul wrote in Romans 3:20,

"no one will be declared righteous
in his sight by observing the law;
rather, through the law
we become conscious of sin."

Or as he wrote in Galatians 2:21,

"if righteousness could be gained through the law,
Christ died for nothing!"

Or as we read in Galatians 3:11f,

"Clearly no one is justified before God by the law,
because, 'The righteous will live by faith.'
The law is not based on faith;
on the contrary,
The man who does these things will live by them.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law
by becoming a curse for us,
for it is written:
'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.'
He redeemed us in order that
the blessing given to Abraham
might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus,
so that by faith we might receive
the promise of the Spirit."

So you see, we are not saved by our works. We are saved by Jesus, on the basis of His work—his life, death and resurrection.

But does that mean that works aren't necessary for a Christian? Not at all. They are absolutely essential in showing that someone is truly a Christian. James Montgomery Boice wrote, (Acts, p. 406)

"We know we are Christians when our lives are changed and we begin to do good works. That is the proof—when we begin to follow after Jesus Christ and obey him."

There are two applications for us here.

First, you should not accept as Christians those who refuse to repent, who refuse to leave their sinful lifestyle.

One of the reasons that Christianity sometimes has a bad reputation with people outside the church is because the church is not pure. The church tolerates sin. The church tolerates hypocrites. People look at these professing Christians and they see sin, sometimes very bad sin and they conclude that they want nothing to do with Christianity because of that.

If the church stressed repentance like it should that problem would be greatly reduced.

But it's difficult in today's society. Some people claim to be Christians yet they have lifestyles that are condemned in the Bible. Yet they will tell us that we shouldn't judge them, for Jesus told us not to judge. He said, (Matthew 7:1)

"Do not judge,
or you too will be judged."

So they tell us that we should just accept them as Christians, even though their lives don't measure up to the Biblical standard.

They refuse to acknowledge that certain things are sins. They don't believe in the truth of the Bible and therefore they choose for themselves what they believe is right and wrong.

One example of this is what are called "Welcoming and Affirming" churches. On their web site, one such group states,

"Members of the Association of Welcoming & Affirming… are churches, organizations, and individuals who are willing to go on record as welcoming and affirming all persons without regard to sexual orientation or gender identity, and who have joined together to advocate for the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons within… communities of faith."

What are we to think of welcoming and affirming churches? Certainly the welcoming part is good. The church of Jesus Christ is for sinners. We are to accept people no matter what their background, no matter what their sins. Our church is open to everyone—even the worst of sinners. They are all welcome here. If you're ever thinking of inviting someone to church and you decide not to because they're too bad—then you've made a mistake. The church is for sinners. We need to welcome each and every one of them.

But the affirming part is wrong. These churches declare their support for sinful behavior. They support sin and encourage people to continue in their sinful lifestyle telling them that it is okay, that they don't need to repent of it and turn from it.

We are to welcome sinners, but we are not to support their sin. Rather we are to urge them to repent and turn from their sin. We are to encourage them to turn from their sin to God.

Don't judge or you too will be judged. Does that mean that Jesus doesn't want His church to make any judgments about what is sin or error? Certainly not. You'll remember that in His message to the church at Ephesus Jesus commended that church because, (Revelation 2:2)

"you cannot tolerate wicked men,
that you have tested
those who claim to be apostles but are not,
and have found them false."

On the other hand he criticized the church at Pergamum because, (Revelation 2:14f)

"You have people there
who hold to the teaching of Balaam,
who taught Balak to entice the Israelites
to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols
and by committing sexual immorality.
Likewise you also have those
who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
Repent therefore!"

You'll also recall that He severely rebuked the church at Thyatira because, (Revelation 2:20f)

"I have this against you:
You tolerate that woman Jezebel,
who calls herself a prophetess.
By her teaching she misleads my servants
into sexual immorality
and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.
I have given her time to repent of her immorality,
but she is unwilling.
So I will cast her on a bed of suffering,
and I will make those who commit adultery
with her suffer intensely,
unless they repent of her ways.
I will strike her children dead.
Then all the churches will know
that I am he who searches hearts and minds,
and I will repay each of you
according to your deeds."

Or consider what the apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said to the Corinthian church about their failure to exercise church discipline in the case who had his father's wife. He wrote, (1 Corinthians 5:2)

"And you are proud!
Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief
and have put out of your fellowship
the man who did this?
Even though I am not physically present,
I am with you in spirit.
And I have already passed judgment
on the one who did this,
just as if I were present.
When you are assembled
in the name of our Lord Jesus
and I am with you in spirit,
and the power of our Lord Jesus is present,
hand this man over to Satan,
so that the sinful nature may be destroyed
and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord."

Or consider Peter's word's to Ananias and Sapphira. To Sapphira he said, (Acts 5:9)

"How could you agree
to test the Spirit of the Lord?
Look! The feet of the men
who buried your husband are at the door,
and they will carry you out also."

Peter judged her. He condemned her.

And consider what Peter said to Simon the sorcerer in Acts 8 when Simon wanted to buy the power to give the Spirit? Peter said to him, (verses 20f)

"May your money perish with you,
because you thought you could
buy the gift of God with money!
You have no part or share in this ministry,
because your heart is not right before God.
Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord.
Perhaps he will forgive you
for having such a thought in your heart.
For I see that you are full of bitterness
and captive to sin."

The point of all this is that anyone who says that Christians shouldn't make any judgments about sin, about church discipline, about error—greatly distorts the teaching of the New Testament. Christians and the church have a duty to stand up for righteousness and the truth. You should not accept as Christians those who refuse to repent of their sins. They are not Christians.

The second lesson we see here is that in presenting the gospel to unbelievers, you are to tell them not only that they need to repent,

but insist that they prove their repentance by their deeds.

Today, in many Christian circles, when the gospel is presented, it could not be summarized as 'repent, turn to God and prove your repentance by your deeds'. No, repentance is either minimized or left out altogether. Romans 10: 9 is often quoted in this regard. It says,

"if you confess with your mouth,
'Jesus is Lord',
and believe in your heart
that God raised him from the dead,
you will be saved."

People are encouraged to say they repent and then, before they display any words that prove their repentance, they are told that they are Christians, safe forever. Many of them continue in their sinful lifestyle and yet think they're going to heaven—because that's what Christians have told them.

For example, you've all heard of the Sinner's Prayer. There are different variations of it. Although it's often referred to as a 'prayer of repentance' some versions of it don't even mention repentance. But the ones that I've seen that do mention repentance the emphasis is on saying that they repent. Here's one example of the Sinner's Prayer,

"Heavenly Father: I come to you asking for the forgiveness of my Sins. I confess with my mouth and believe with my heart that Jesus is your Son, And that he died on the cross at Calvary that I might be forgiven and have eternal life. Father, I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you right now to come in to my life and be my personal Lord and Savior. I repent of my sins and will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth, I confess with my mouth that I am born again and cleansed by the blood of Jesus! In Jesus name, Amen."

Then they are told,

"If you pray the Sinners Prayer and truly believe the words, then you have been saved and your name will appear in the Lambs Book of Life!"

But the problem is that someone can say that they repent of their sins and not actually repent. Saying and doing are two different things.

Some are even more blatant and will not only leave repentance out, but will tell the sinner that repentance is not necessary at all. They tell the sinner,

"Just accept Christ into your heart through prayer and he'll receive you. It doesn't matter what church you belong to or if you ever do good works. You'll be born again at the moment you receive Christ. He's at the door knocking. You don't even have to change bad habits, just trust Christ as Savior. God loves you and forgives you unconditionally. Anyone out there can be saved if they... accept Christ. Let us pray for Christ to come into your heart now."

That's not the gospel. Paul preached that people needed to repent, needed to turn to God, need to prove their repentance by their deeds.

When you talk to an unbeliever about the gospel, about repentance, about turning to God—tell them quite plainly that if their lives aren't changed—then they really haven't gone to Jesus, that they really don't know Him.

For those of you who aren't Christians,

I urge you to repent and go to Jesus.

Paul's ministry was to people just like you. He urged them to repent and turn to God. That's what he told King Agrippa, Bernice and Festus. That's what you need to do. Turn from your sin to Jesus. He's your only home. Don't let your sins cast you into hell. They're not worth it. Turn from them and trust in Jesus to save you.

Lastly, I ask you,

does your life prove your repentance?

It's easy for us to single out certain types of sins—like those of welcoming and affirming congregations—because those are not our sins. But what about your sins? Have you turned from your sins, from the sins that characterized your life before you came to Christ? John Murray writes, (Redemption, p. 114-115)

"The test of repentance is the genuineness and resoluteness of our repentance in respect of our own sins, sins characterized by the aggravations which are peculiar to our own selves. Repentance in the case of the Thessalonians manifested itself in the fact that they turned from idols to serve the living God. It was their idolatry which peculiarly evidenced their alienation from God and it was repentance regarding that that proved the genuineness of their faith and of their hope."

Have you turned from your sins? Have you forsaken them? Or have you merely hidden them. Do you still hang on to them? Don't deceive yourself—if you haven't left off your sins—you need to change. Go to Jesus.

• Acts 26:20