Well, good morning and welcome to Christian Life Academy. This morning is once again the first Sunday of the month, so we are once again exploring systematic theology, looking at our Confession of Faith, the Second London Baptist Confession of 1689. We're working our way through it slowly. We are in Unit 2 of the Confession, which is the unit that deals with the plan, accomplishment, and application of redemption by way of covenant. So we're talking about God's plan for saving a people for himself, how that was accomplished, and how it is applied to us. And this is all accomplished by way of covenant. Now, of course, the covenant we're speaking of here is the covenant of grace. And so, as we explore the covenant of grace in the Confession, it's organized into these various chapters. Chapter 7 defined the covenant for us. Chapter 8 talked about the work of Christ as the mediator of the covenant. Chapter 9 talked about man's relationship to God. the garden in the covenant of works and then after the fall entering into a state of fallen nature and then what our relationship to God is like once we enter into a state of grace coming to saving faith. And so we're in this section here chapters 10 through 18 dealing with the acts of God in salvation and so we can see that begins with calling and then justification and adoption, sanctification, saving faith, and now we're looking at chapter 15 which is repentance. Chapter 15 we noted last month is almost a complete rewrite of the similar chapter in the Westminster Confession of Faith. Chapter 15 in the Westminster dealing with repentance bears very little resemblance to chapter 15 in our confession, and we'll see why that is in a moment as we review. But we ask the question, well, what is repentance? And so we just turn to our catechism for an answer to this question. What is repentance unto life? Question 92. And the answer is, 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 a sin turn from it unto God with full purpose of an endeavor after new obedience." That's a wonderful summary of the doctrine here. Repentance is a saving grace, and we'll see this this morning. It's not a work that we do that merits salvation. It's a grace given to us by God, and it involves comprehending the mercy of God to us in Christ in the covenant of grace, and then a hatred of our sin, a turning away from our sin towards God, and then a purpose and an effort to walk in obedience to him. And we'll see all this in the confession this morning. But as we review the first two chapters, which we looked at last month, we find paragraph one, sorry, the first two paragraphs, Paragraph 1 of chapter 15 says, Such of the elect that are converted at riper years, having sometime lived in the state of nature, and therein served diverse lusts and pleasures, God, in their effectual calling, giveth them repentance unto life. The importance of this paragraph contains a couple of important This mention of effectual calling takes us back to chapter 10, the chapter dealing with effectual calling, which helps us understand why chapter 15 is so radically different than it was in the Westminster Confession of Faith. We'll get to that in just a moment. But then we have this phrase here about riper years and we said that what that means is not an infant. Riper years in the language of the 17th century and the writings of the Puritans simply meant someone who was not an infant. They had grown to the point where they were capable of reasoned thought. They had lived in this state of nature, which is a state of sinful nature, to the point where they have committed actual sins. So they have something to repent of. But when we looked at chapter 10, I don't have it here, but chapter 10, paragraph 3, The chapter of effectual calling states that elect infants dying in infancy are saved by grace. It's not all infants, but it's elect infants dying in infancy. And so the point is they must be regenerate by the Spirit of God. And that's why it's dealt with in the chapter on calling. But because they're infants and have not lived to riper years, they have not actually committed personal sins yet. They're guilty of original sin, but they're not guilty of particular sins. They have no need of repentance. They only need regeneration. And that happens by the Spirit of God in a way that we don't understand. And so that's the reason chapter 15 is so radically rewritten in our confession because of them dealing with that issue of infants dying in infancy. We see that saving faith and repentance are two sides of the same coin. Saving faith is a repentant faith, and repentance always turns to Christ in faith. So repentance and faith are tied together. intrinsically. Faith is easy to preach, right? Because it's positive. It's focused on our coming to Christ and trusting in Christ. That's easy for us to preach. It's easy for us to speak of that when we're evangelizing people. Repentance is more difficult, isn't it? Because repentance requires that we go negative, so to speak, that we talk about people's sin and that we talk about the need for humility, the need to acknowledge our sins. So the lack of preaching and teaching on this subject of repentance does two things. The first thing that it does is it weakens our evangelism into decisionalism, right? It weakens it to the point where we're just getting people to make a decision for Christ and not actually acknowledge their sin and repent. And secondly, it robs believers who are justified, who are saved, when we don't teach and preach about repentance, we're robbed of the means of grace that God has given us to cope with our indwelling sin. And so we see that in paragraph two when it says that, whereas there is none that doeth good and sinneth not, and the best of men may, through the power and deceitfulness of their corruption dwelling in them, with the prevalency of temptation, fall into great sins and provocations. God hath in the covenant of grace mercifully provided that believers so sinning and falling be renewed through repentance unto salvation." So, Christ has mercifully provided for us in the covenant of grace this grace of repentance that we can be renewed unto salvation. We talked about this last month as well. What this means, because we're talking about believers, so we're not talking about losing our salvation when we sin and then regaining it when we repent. Rather, we're talking about being preserved until the end. Unto is another way of saying until, and so salvation is a broad term that includes justification, sanctification, and glorification. So we're saying that believers who sin are renewed to God's favor, fatherly favor through repentance until we are glorified. So true repentance grants us assurance of our salvation and it gives us a way of escape from the prevailing power of sin in our lives. So this is why it is so necessary that we preach and teach repentance. Chapter 15, paragraph 3 is now where we are ready to go. And paragraph 3 deals with the components of repentance. And this paragraph is actually similar to the first paragraph in the Westminster. It's rewritten. It's not verbatim the same, but it does incorporate some components of the Westminster Paragraph 1. It reads this way, this saving repentance is an evangelical grace whereby a person being by the Holy Spirit made sensible of the manifold evils of his sin doth by faith in Christ humble himself for it with godly sorrow, detestation of it, and self-abhorrency, praying for pardon and strength of grace with a purpose and endeavor by supplies of the Spirit to walk before God unto all well-pleasing in all things. So there's a lot here about what repentance entails. Repentance, we are told, is a grace, but it's not just any kind of grace. It's an evangelical grace. There's a distinction made in the literature of the 17th century between an evangelical grace and what they called a legal repentance. Legal repentance is something different than evangelical repentance. And by evangelical repentance, what we mean is repentance that is rooted in, initiated by, sustained by our faith in the gospel, in the promise of forgiveness in Christ. And so we see the proof texts for this. They're proof text number four. In Zechariah 12.10 God says, and I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication. Then they will look on me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son and grieve for him as one grieves. for a firstborn. This is a prophetic reference to Christ and so our grieving over our sin, our repenting of our sin is rooted in our looking to Christ and Christ crucified in order to atone for that sin. So that's what they mean by an evangelical grace, an evangelical repentance. The other proof text here is Acts 11 18. When they heard these things they became silent and they glorified God saying then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance unto life. Repentance is granted to us by God, therefore it is an evangelical grace, not an evangelical work. Repentance is something that God gives us. It's not a work that we do, it's the Spirit applying Christ's work of redemption in us, bringing us to humility and repentance. We'll read a quote here from Christopher Blackwood, 17th century Puritan, talking about these two kinds of repentance. He says, legal repentance is when a person is brought to the site of his sins without beholding any pardon in Christ. So Cain and Judas, he references Matthew 27.3, the law worketh wrath, Romans 4.15, first it lets us see sin and then it troubles the conscience for it by threatening wrath. And then he uses some Latin here, Moses plenis est absenti, which means the law is full of wormwood. So legal repentance is when the law exposes our sin and we recognize that we're a sinner, but we haven't actually heard the gospel, the promise of forgiveness in Christ. And so we find no hope. We just find that we're damned because of our sin, but we have no hope of forgiveness. Evangelical, he says, or gospel repentance, which is a transformation of mind and or change of mind and heart wrought by the Holy Ghost through the power of the word whereby a believing sinner is humbled for all sin and turns away from it in the purpose of his heart with an hatred of it that so the image of God may be restored in him." So this is what they mean by an evangelical grace of repentance is that in the gospel we're not just brought to recognize our sin but we're brought to turn to Christ humility and to trust him for forgiveness and salvation. And so we it tells us whereby a person being by the Holy Spirit made sensible of the manifold evils of a sin doth by faith in Christ humble himself for it with a godly sorrow detestation of it and self-abhorrency. Our footnote here is Ezekiel 36 31 then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abomination." So we see that this is wrought in us by the Holy Spirit who makes us aware of the manifold evils of our sin and brings us to hate them, brings us to repentance. The other proof text here is 2 Corinthians 7 verse 11. observed this very thing that you sorrowed in a godly manner, what diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vimnant desire, what zeal, what vindication, and all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. And so what we see here is that the Holy Spirit working in us does two things. First, it causes us to look inward and have an inward focus, and then it causes us to look upward to Christ. And so the inward focus consists of a couple things. First of all, we have this sense of the evil of our sin, right? We become aware of the various evils of our sins. And notice this word, his sin, right? Another paragraph here or two is going to talk about the duty that we have to repent of our particular sins. I don't need to repent of other people's sins. I need to repent of my sins in particular. Not just in a generic sort of way, but my particular sins need to be repented of. I need to be aware of the sins that I have committed. and how evil they are. I also need faith in Christ, and this is still something that the Spirit does in us, faith in Christ in my inner man, in my mind, my will, my affections, my heart is turned toward Christ. That's why this is an evangelical or a gospel repentance. It causes humility in me that I humble myself before God recognizing that I am a sinner and that I am guilty before God and I have a sorrow over my sin and it's a godly sorrow, right? It's not a worldly sorrow. A worldly sorrow would be that I'm sorry that I I got caught, I'm sorry for the consequences of my sin. A godly sorrow is a sorrow over the sin itself and how it has offended God. There's a big difference between being sorry that I offended my maker and just being sorry that I got caught or that I'm suffering the consequences of my actions. And so that's an important aspect. And then this leads to a detestation of my sin, that I hate it. I come to hate my sin. Not because of the consequences it caused me, but because of how it offends my Lord. And that focus on Christ, suffering on Christ on the cross, right? Him whom they have pierced. causes sorrow in me to recognize that Christ's suffering on the cross is because of my sins. What He endured was the consequences, the punishment for my sins. Whatever consequences I am enduring in this life are nothing compared to the suffering He endured as the wrath of God was poured out on Him for my sins. So I must come to hate my sin for that reason, not because of the inconvenience it causes me. It works in us a self-abhorrency. This is that we come to be disgusted with ourselves because we found that we had set our mind and our affections on sin, on things of this world, rather than on Christ, whom our affections should have been set on. And so we come to be disgusted with ourselves for that, for loving sin rather than loving the Savior. But then we find that there is an upward focus that is given to us. One of the proof texts here is Psalm 119 verses 6 and 128. Then I would not be ashamed when I look into all your commandments. And then verse 128, therefore all your precepts concerning all things I consider to be right. I hate every false way." What's happening in both of these verses? The psalmist is praying. He's speaking to God. He's acknowledging his sin and the goodness of God's commandments. So now our focus, after acknowledging our sin and learning to hate it, Now our focus shifts upward as we go to the Lord in prayer and we pray for two things, for pardon, that is for forgiveness, and for strength of grace to resist temptation in the future. So our focus is now on God and praying to him, asking for forgiveness, asking him to strengthen us to resist temptation. And this is accompanied by a purpose that is an intention, a movement of our will, and an endeavor, this is effort, by supplies of the Spirit. This is not effort in our own strength, but this is God's Spirit working in us. We've asked Him for this strength to resist sin and to walk in a way that is pleasing to God. And so we're making this effort to please God, to turn away from our sin and to focus our mind on Christ. There are two verses that are not proof texts in our confession, but I think are important at this point for us. The first is Psalm 119 verse 59, I thought about my ways and turned my feet to your testimonies. So this is what repentance looks like, I've thought about my ways, I've recognized how sinful they were, how offensive they were to God, and now I've turned my feet, I've taken action in order to obey God. I've turned from the sin toward obedience to my Lord. And then Ephesians 4, 28, let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need." And so here we see what repentance results in. Someone who stole is now not only to cease stealing, but he is to work and to give. He's to do the opposite of what his sin was, right? Before he was a thief, now he is to work diligently so that he can be generous. So repentance involves not only ceasing the sin, but actually cultivating the opposite virtue in our lives. Instead of stealing, we become generous. So that helps us understand what that effort of repentance looks like. Now we turn to paragraph four. As repentance is to be continued throughout the whole course of our lives upon the account of the body of death and the motions thereof, so it is every man's duty to repent of his particular known sins particularly." And here we have this proof text from Luke 19.8. Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor, and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold. So we see Zacchaeus, who was a tax collector, took advantage of a situation to profit off of it. Now he's doing the opposite of that. He's exhibiting generosity. And Christ then says salvation has come to his house that day. But this is his duty to repent of his particular known sins. This is what he did. He took advantage of people, so now he's turning around and doing the opposite of that. Repentance, we find, is a lifestyle that has continued through the whole course of our lives. Repentance is not something we just do once when we get saved and then we never have to do it again. That's why Martin Luther, in the first of his 95 theses, said that the life of a Christian is to be a life of repentance. Why? on account of the body of death that is indwelling sin in us and the motions thereof. So this is necessary that we live a lifestyle of repentance because we still are in the flesh. We have not yet been glorified. We still have clinging to us the remnants of corruption and indwelling sin and therefore we need to continually be repenting. But look at this proof text we're given. What does Zacchaeus do? He says, look, Lord. He is repenting to God. And the 17th century Puritans make a point of expressing this idea that repentance is a duty to repent of our known sins to God. Our duty to repent is primarily to the Lord. We are to repent to God, and then that results in actions of love towards those that we have sinned against. We do need to seek forgiveness from those we have sinned against, but repentance is truly something that is due to God, because it is God's law that we are to turn to, turn away from our sin, turn to God's law, and walk according to God's law. We don't turn away from our sin and walk according someone else's law. We walk according to God's law. So repentance is properly towards God. It results in actions of love towards those that we have offended. And our other proof text here is 1st Timothy 1 13 and 15 and this is the Apostle Paul speaking. Although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance that Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. So Paul is acknowledging his particular sins of blasphemy, persecuting the church, being insolent towards God. He did it in ignorance, but he still must confess it, repent of it, and he clings to this evangelical promise of forgiveness in Christ. Samuel Craddock, one of the 17th century Puritans, wrote and said, In seeing, everyone is guilty of many more sins than he can remember, though he examine his heart and live never so seriously. Therefore, when thou hast humbly confessed and bewailed all thy particular known sins to God, Then, with a general confession, acknowledge the rest, namely, all thy secret, unknown, and undiscovered sins, saying as David in Psalm 19, 12, Lord, cleanse me from my secret sins. So, there is a general repentance that we ought to offer, acknowledging we're sinners, we're finite, we can't even know all of the recesses of our own heart, so we need to confess and repent to God that we are sinners. But we need to repent of those sins that we are particularly aware of. So we shouldn't ignore that and only repent in a general sort of way. That's not genuine repentance. Repentance needs to be specific. Chapter 15, paragraph 5 says, Such is the provision which God hath made through Christ in the covenant of grace for the preservation of believers unto salvation, that although there is no sin so small, but it deserves damnation, yet there is no sin so great that it shall bring damnation on them that repent, which makes the constant preaching of repentance necessary. So here we see the results of repentance. That because believers continue to sin, we must continue to repent, but we can hope in God's mercy. This is the provision that God has made for us in the covenant of grace. He has provided repentance for us as an evangelical grace. This goes back to chapter 11 of justification, where God continues to forgive the sins of those that are justified. And although they can never fall from the state of justification, yet they may, by their sins, fall under God's fatherly displeasure. And in that condition, they usually do not have the light of his countenance restored to them until they humble themselves, confess their sins, beg pardon, and renew their faith and repentance. " So we're not talking about losing our salvation and then being restored to salvation, but we are talking about losing God's fatherly favor. We're suffering his displeasure as a father who disciplines us, and that is restored to us. Our faith is renewed. Our repentance is renewed. When we humble ourselves, confess our sins, and beg his forgiveness. So this is something that God has provided for us to preserve us from damnation. We saw this last week in our sermon that there's no sin so small but it deserves damnation. There's a commandment against adultery and yet we find that even just looking at a woman lustfully is a violation of that commandment and would damn us to hell apart from repentance and seeking forgiveness that is in Christ. So God has provided this grace of repentance for us, for this purpose of preserving us. The proof text here is Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. So this is a gift. from God. It's not a work that we do. Repentance is His work in us. It's a gift from God. It's part of the covenant of grace, we're told, which takes us back to chapter 14, paragraph 2. It preserves us. until glorification, right? This points our way forward to chapter 17 of the Perseverance of the Saints, and it gives us assurance that we won't be damned, that we will be forgiven. So it's pointing our way forward to chapter 18 of Assurance of Salvation. Another proof text that we have here Isaiah 55 verse 7, Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, and he will abundantly pardon. The elect, those who do repent and trust in Christ, will be brought to the celestial city. There's no doubt of that. If you belong to Christ, he will preserve you whole until the end. One of the ways that we demonstrate that we belong to him is by humbling ourselves in repentance. This makes the constant preaching of repentance necessary. The other proof text that we have here is a longer one, it's Isaiah 1, 16 through 18. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. So God does forgive us. He does cleanse us. Even the small sins are damnable, but they can be cleansed and forgiven when we repent and confess them to God. So we should not grow complacent when we see this that there's no sin so small but that even the small, we think about little sins or little white lies or things that we excuse as not being heinous sins and yet even those little sins are enough to damn us to hell for all eternity. But there is this yet right here, right? There's a triumphant promise of the gospel here that there is no sin so great. that it will bring damnation on those that repent. Doesn't matter how bad the sin is, repentance brings forgiveness and salvation. Think about David, his adultery with Bathsheba, murders her husband, tries to cover the whole thing up, and yet when he is confronted by the prophet and brought to repentance, he's forgiven. His sin is forgiven. He's not stoned to death for his sin. There is repentance that brings salvation. We have this promise that we can cling to, which makes the constant preaching of repentance necessary. Repentance is a gospel grace. It is rooted in the gospel. True, godly repentance cannot occur apart from understanding of the gospel. It is given to us by God for our renewal and our restoration. Not that we've lost our salvation or being renewed to salvation, but our faith is being renewed. God's fatherly pleasure and favor in his child is being renewed in our repentance. And this repentance enables us to continue to grow into the image of lightness of Christ our Savior. And so this is a grace from God that he does this for us. It's part of our sanctification and it preserves us unto our final salvation when we are glorified and made sinless in the image of Christ and joined with him for all eternity. So that's repentance unto life. Let's go ahead and close this morning in a word of prayer.