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Sermon #2046

Repentance - Door to Forgiveness

A Sermon on Acts 5:29-32

Originally preached March 13, 1966

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Scripture

Acts 5:29-32 ESV KJV
But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And …

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Sermon Description

What does it mean to follow Jesus? There are some Christians who say that following Jesus is merely an act of profession or bare intellectual assent. The New Testament tells something different about the Christian life. In this sermon on Acts 5:29–32 titled “Repentance – Door to Forgiveness,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preaches the biblical message that following Jesus means believing Him and repenting of sins. To believe in Jesus is to believe in His message and obey it. According to the Bible, those who live in unrepentant sin and immorality but claim to be Christian are living a lie as there is no forgiveness without repentance. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones is clear that repentance is not a work; it is simply what it means to be a follower of Jesus and a Christian. It also does not mean that Christians never sin, but only that they continually turn away from their sins and look to Christ. This is the most important message any can hear because it alone contains salvation. There is no salvation apart from repentance of sin and trusting in Jesus. This sermon asks all the crucial question: “do you believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins?”

Sermon Breakdown

  1. The apostles proclaimed that they must obey God rather than men.
  2. Their message was about Jesus, whom the authorities had slain but God raised from the dead.
  3. God exalted Jesus to be a Prince and Savior to grant repentance and forgiveness of sins.
  4. Repentance comes before forgiveness and salvation. Without repentance, there is no salvation.
  5. The object of salvation is not just forgiveness but deliverance from sin and producing a new people zealous for good works.
  6. A man cannot truly believe in Christ as Savior without repenting. The object of Christ's death was to reconcile us to God, which requires repentance.
  7. Repentance means thinking again and changing one's mind. It calls us to think seriously about life, death, God, ourselves, and Christ.
  8. Repentance involves changing one's mind about God, ourselves, our lives, death, and Christ. We must acknowledge the truth about these things.
  9. Repentance involves feeling sorrow for our sins and acknowledging them before God. It means forsaking our old way of life and turning to God.
  10. Repentance is commanded by God but impossible for man in his own strength. God gives repentance by the Holy Spirit.
  11. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and leads us to repentance. We must follow His leading.
  12. Have we been made to think again about these eternal truths? Are we troubled and crying out to God? If so, the Spirit is leading us to repentance. We must follow.

Sermon Q&A

What Are the Key Components of Repentance According to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones?

According to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' sermon, repentance is an essential first step for salvation. Here's what he teaches about this critical spiritual component:

What is repentance and why is it so important?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains: "Repentance is essential to salvation. Let there be no mistake about this. There is no salvation without repentance." He emphasizes that repentance must come before forgiveness of sins, as shown in the apostles' teaching where Christ was exalted "to be a prince and a savior, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins."

What are the main components of biblical repentance?

  1. Thinking again: "The very words that are used to give us this idea in the New Testament tell us all about it. Take the word I'm using, repent. That just means it's the Latin for thinking again."

  2. Changing your mind: "The Greek word translated repentance doesn't mean think again. It means changing your mind... Repentance means changing your mind about God, about yourself, about your life and death."

  3. Heart involvement: "You don't do it only with your mind. You must do it with your heart. There must be a real sorrow as the result of this thinking."

  4. Acknowledgment and confession: "When a man sees it all, he has no trouble in acknowledging it. He rushes to God and he says, 'against thee, thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.'"

  5. Action: "Having seen that your life was wrong, you leave it and you start living the exact opposite life... Repentance includes rising up, forsaking the idols."

How does someone come to repentance?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones makes it clear that repentance is not something humans can produce on their own:

"Man cannot repent. Here's the depth of men's iniquity... Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed, can be."

Instead, repentance is given by God: "Him hath God exalted to his right hand by his almighty power that he might be and set him forth as a prince and a savior. For to give repentance."

He concludes: "No man ever repents until he has come under the influence of the Holy Spirit of God... There is nothing that can enable anyone to see these things but the Spirit of God."

Why do people resist the message of repentance?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones observes: "There is nothing that shows the antagonism and the bitter hatred of the natural and unregenerate heart to the Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord more clearly than men's instinctive dislike of this teaching concerning the absolute necessity of repentance."

People resist it because: - It contradicts human self-righteousness - It requires admitting we're wrong, which is "the most difficult thing of all" - It runs counter to modern thinking that emphasizes God's love without His righteousness or justice

The Book of Acts

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.