This morning we want to continue on the subject of repentance. A clear understanding of repentance is dreadfully needed today in the Christian community unless we deceive ourselves thinking a work of grace has been done in our heart when it is not so. Bear with us as we read and see what the Word of God teaches us on this subject. And so this morning we read from the Gospel of Jesus Christ as Luke recorded it for us, and John says it was recorded that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ and be saved. And so from the Word of God, Luke chapter 13 beginning at verse 1, and I am reading from the New International Translation. Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifice. Jesus answered, Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered this way? I tell you no. But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them. Do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you no. But unless you repent, you too all perish. And may God be pleased to bless these words to our hearts. Everyone, everyone should examine their own heart and life and ask the question, has the change from Satan to God from darkness to light, from sin to holiness, really taking place in my life? Have I truly repented and have I put all my trust in God, serving Him and only Him? In other words, am I really converted? For Jesus said, unless you are converted, you shall perish. Luke 13 and verse 5. And so we want to look this morning into the scriptures, which is our authority, and see what it says about some of the effects of repentance, what are some of the hindrances to repentance, and the peculiar essentials of repentance. A display to others? Yes. But more than that, an answer to the question, how do I know or how should I know I have repented and am converted? And as the Lord Jesus Christ gives us the word, if you have not repented, you too shall perish. It is very necessary that I know the comfort of the witness of the Holy Spirit in my heart, that I have really turned to God. The first answer I would suggest to you is found in Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, chapter 7 and verse 11, where the apostle Paul writes, see what this godly sorrow has produced in you. In other words, see what this repentance and turning to God has done in you. Now, what was it? He continues, what earnestness, what eagerness, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. Where true repentance has done its work, that one will be careful and earnest to live in obedience to God. To be earnest means a serious and intense state of mind. It is to live carefully and prayerfully, carrying on all the affairs of life as God requires of His redeemed people. So I must say that repentance is very important in the experience and scheme of salvation. is not to be taken lightly. Let's not permit the thought that we can live carefree, that is, carelessly, in the flesh, and that our repentance is good enough. We cannot think that we can spend our days as the salt of the earth, or the light of the world, and live a life of vanity, neglecting our duties as born-again believers, enjoying worldly pleasures, having a contempt for spiritual things, and yet for all this, repent and be saved in the end. While others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas, as the hymn writer has said. Let's not make Paul a liar by our actions. For he wrote, you have not repented unless you are in sincere earnest to please God. to Corinthians 7.11. We cannot claim we have repented and yet live carelessly in sin. Our life should show with clear display as we do not indulge and enjoy sin. We find no pleasure in it. We run from it for we have repented. We have turned our back on it and have turned to God. This will show we are earnest. and careful to obey God. My friends, we cannot be saved through repentance unless we produce fruits of repentance. The next word confronting us is eager to clear yourself. Here is a wonderful fruit of repentance. A godly person, when they have committed a sin, their new heart tells them it's wrong, it's sinful. and they will not and cannot rest until they mourn and confess to God. In the words of Paul again, in Romans chapter 8 and verse 16, they clear themselves through Jesus Christ, his conscience giving him witness that sin is forgiven. The fallen child of God will cry out, as David did in Psalm 51, against you and only you have I sinned and done this evil. Now this brings me to another point in our attempt to have our question answered. How can I know if I have truly repented? One answer is hatred of sin. A hatred that makes a Christian shudder when he remembers the sins of past days. Paul recalled his past and tells us he feels unworthy to be an apostle. It's our business, brethren, to hate, loathe and abhor all manner of sin, not only our own, but the sins of others, even as you hate the devil himself. Sin hardens and blinds the perpetrator and separates from God. The best we can do is fly from it, from the very appearance of evil, every kind of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 22. In our reading from Corinthians we read of fear and alarm. This fear is an awe of God, afraid to displease Him. And the true penitent always fears, for he knows how weak he is. Paul tells us to work out our salvation with fear and with trembling, as he wrote to the Philippians chapter 2 and verse 12. Let's not presume on the grace of God that he will forgive as he always does, for you have found this to be true in past experiences. Do not permit yourself to fall into even little sins, thinking you can do that because God has forgiven other sins much greater, and he just must forgive. Even as he had forgiven my habitual past sins, I so often permitted into my life in days gone by. The true child of God will tremble at the slightest move of sin, trembling even when tempted. He fights against all sin and has the fear of God before his eyes, even as Joseph, when Potiphar's wife tried to draw him into sin. Genesis chapter 39 and verse 9. Joseph feared God and responded. How could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?" His tower of defense? He feared God. He trembled, and he did no evil in the sight of God. The penitent person is zealous of every good thing, eager to do what is good. Titus chapter 2 and verse 14. Eager of God's glory. at all times and among all people. When God's name is taken in vain, he can't stand it. He is not like the one who is godly among the godly, and wicked among the wicked, who acts like the windmill. I heard this story the other day, which is a good illustration of what we are trying to say. A teacher was being interviewed for an assignment in geography. She was asked by the board, how she would teach the kids. Would it be that the world is round or that it is flat? She responded, I will teach it the way you want it, either one or the other. No convictions. The one who has repented is constant and eager in all good things. He stands firm against all sin, even though it may profit him and please him for a while. He will not commit sin against God, for he has learned from the Lord in Matthew chapter 16 and verse 26. What shall it profit if a man were to gain the whole world and lose his soul? Can we see in the Lord's words the solemn warning, Accept, you repent? I share with you the word Our Lord is saying with clarity, except you have this eagerness, you shall be banished. Except you have this hatred of sin, you shall perish. Except you have this zeal, you shall be damned. In these words, you will note, our Lord is not talking about a loose repentance. These effects, at least, at least some part of them, should be working for our comfort and the glory of our redeeming Savior. I can almost hear someone saying, you are talking nothing but perishing and damnation, and that is nothing but the law. We want to hear something about grace. Give us the gospel. I'm speaking to you, my friend, in love. I wish and pray salvation for everyone who hears me speak this morning. I would be happy and rejoice with the angels, if one would come to a saving knowledge of Christ. If there were a better way to bring you to God than by preaching the law and severity of God, I would do it. Or, if I knew that the preaching of the gospel and mercy of God would do more good, then you would hear from me nothing but mercy, mercy, gospel, and gospel. But since I see today many carelessly presuming on the grace of God, applying the mercy of God to themselves without repentance, making God's mercy a covering, a coat for their pet sins, deceiving themselves, I must speak up. They like to hear the gospel preached in this way, but the gospel of saving grace is not for them. It's for those who groan and mourn under the burden of sin. When we come to the place where we hear our hearts say and cry out, God be merciful to me, the sinner, then we can stop preaching the law of God. Will you still live in adultery? Mark the truth? Swear? Will you serve sin? hate and pursue your own lusts and hear of mercy? What would you think of a doctor who would rub soothing salve to an infected sword that needs to be lanced? Then let's admit, both in the Christian community and out of the Christian community, we need hard words to drive us to Christ. Preach judgment, moving us to seek mercy. and I have preached damnation to drive you to the one who will save you from that damnation. For me to speak of mercy and forgiveness before you see your sins, or before you know the miseries of the law, I would be at fault. For anyone ignorant of the law does not know how miserable they really are, or what mercy there is in God through Jesus Christ. Where is the Father? or who is the father who would say to his disobedient son what a good boy he is and not use corrective measures. At the place where we earn our bread and butter, we would not be commended for doing a good job if we did what we wanted to do rather than carry out the pleasures of the one who oversees the establishment. And we cannot expect to be told how good we are and how merciful God is when we are disobedient. God takes and uses drastic measures to bring about our spiritual health. And since there is no other way to bring us to salvation but by cleaning us up of our old pet sins, let's seek to be exposed as to what our sins and faults really are and have our false phariseeism uncovered. Let's beware of only accepting flattery, desiring only to hear about the good people see in us, and not the true me. So when we hear a sermon, and we say it's a good sermon, we must be first rebuked. It's for our good and profit. It's a dangerous thing to be encouraged by the preaching of mercy before being put down by the sense of God's coming judgment. I am trying, and I do not know if I have succeeded, but I am trying to preach the gospel of salvation, hope, and mercy in and through Christ to the lost, for they are the ones who need salvation. And I preach the law to those who need to know of God's judgments. The simplest way to put it would be to say, We must be first made aware that we have broken God's law going astray, knowing our sinfulness before we can in any way desire or seek the mercy of God. Now follow me closely. It is for our good that we are not told how God forgives sinners while we still have pleasure and enjoy the fellowship of worldly affairs. My dear brethren, who have been entrusted with the preaching of the gospel. Can we see the harm to preach mercy before making people aware of their stand before God and the sense of His coming judgments? In the epistle of Jude, I read in verse 23, Be merciful to those who doubt. Snatch others from the fire and save them. To others, show mercy mixed with fear. preach anything else, and you are a prophet God did not send. Our Lord Himself preached on this topic. If you do not repent, you too shall perish. Paul tells us that God's kindness leads us to repentance, Romans chapter 2 and verse 4. I read, Don't you realize that God's kindness leads you to repentance? God in mercy provides all we need and all we have. Or you have, my dear friend, you have from Him. Great is His mercy to us in health, in provisions, and even greater to our souls. And therefore, every mercy and benefit we have calls us to repentance. God will not do for us no more than He has already done. So, my friend, I call you, repent. I will set before some reasons why we will not repent, some reasons why perhaps you will not repent. The first one is unbelief. If anyone will not believe what God has said in His word and the proof he has left to show that this is true, such a one does not believe God. Matthew chapter 13 and verse 58. Jesus did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith. That is to say, their unbelief. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12, For we also had the gospel preached to us, just as they did. But the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard it did not combine it with faith. Although we may hear the word preached, yet without faith we will not profit from it to repentance. Why? Satan plants doubt in our hearts, which is to refuse the doctrine of God's salvation through Jesus Christ. And this so hardens the heart that one becomes past any feeling and cannot respond to the word or to the mercies of God. My dear people, when God through his messengers rips you up because of your sin. Either you will seek immediate, earnest repentance, or you will sink deeper and deeper into unbelief. This is the hardening process scriptures speak of. No one will be saved but only by the way God has provided. Let's not try to say one thing when God is saying another. I hope and pray you do not say yes when God says no, for surely, as you hear me this morning, this will not lead you, now or ever, to repentance." We need to mention another hindrance, and it is, God is merciful as though God is all mercy and no justice in Him at all. This kind of thinking has led many to make God's mercy a license to sin and try to get away with it. feeling or even believing one can sin all he wants, and God will forgive. This is wicked thinking. I read a verse from Naaman the prophet, chapter 1 and verse 2. He wrote, The Lord is slow to anger and great in power. The Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished. My dear brethren, do not presume on God's grace and mercy of the past as you commit sin. Do not yield even to the smallest sin, and deliberately sinning, still hope to be in good standing with God. Tremble in fear at the very thought of it, even as Joseph did, as we have already mentioned. God speaking through Moses has left a fair warning for us in Exodus 23 and verse 2. He wrote, Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. Do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd. We have in our nature to do things the way we want to. And so we seldom take time to search out in God's Word what He would have us to do. Often we look for the common activities of the crowd to guide us in decisions concerning health, pleasures, financial status, and we say it works for them, it should work for us. And the reason for this unjustifiable way of making decisions in Christian life is we want people to see how update we are. And so speak highly of us. Brethren, we have forgotten God's rule for the Christian community of which you are a member. It's found in Romans chapter 12 and verse 2. Do not be conformed to this world. We are not to envy the great ones of this world, nor the rich, nor the wise. We are to come out from them and have nothing to do with this line of thinking. Let's be very careful and turn from these things as Satan lays them across our path to trip us up. Let's stand firm in the word of God and not be swept away with the tide of evil doubts. We have one more barrier I want to mention. In the book of Jeremiah chapter 13 and verse 23, the preacher informs us how impossible it is to cure an old disease. You cannot make white out of black and you cannot change the natural spots without destroying the nature or without changing the nature. Some of us know by experience that is true. How hard to leave the old customs of swearing lying, evil company, immorality, or even any other pet's sin, as hard as to wash the Ethiopian or domesticate the leopard. The wise men said in Proverbs chapter 27 and verse 22, Though you grind a fool in mortar, grinding him like grain with a pestle, you will not remove his folly from him. From this I gather that as long as we are living in sin, the way of repentance is closed. Let's not harbor the idea that after life on the planet is through and the time comes to die, the appointment that you and I will keep and we cannot change, when that time comes, do not be a fool and think a prayer and a cry to God, have mercy on me, will be all we need. May I remind you of the rich man who thought this way long before you and I got on the planet, and the Lord Jesus called him a fool. Let us stand in awe of God, examine our hearts, mourn because of our sin, lament that we have let the wicked one entice us to sin with pleasure. Stand in attitude of repentance, and we shall have everlasting peace and rest when Jesus Christ shall appear with his angels. Those who live in repentance will inherit joy forever. To this joy Jesus will bring all who have repented and who will repent. And to our God be glory, honor, and power, now and forevermore. Amen.