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in your confession of faith, 
chapter 15. If anyone needs one, the blue basket of truth is over 
here. Chapter 15 of repentance unto life and salvation. I'll read the chapter and then 
we'll look into what we have contained here. Such of the elect as are converted 
at riper years, having sometime lived in the state of nature, 
and therein serve diverse lusts and pleasures, God in their effectual 
calling giveth them repentance unto life. Whereas there is none 
that doth 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. 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. As repentance 
is to be continued through 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. 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. Amen. Just by way 
of introduction, the significance of repentance in the Bible. The Bible gives a measure of 
primacy to the doctrine of repentance. We could survey a number of texts. One of the common themes in the 
Old Testament, we're going to look at some New Testament texts 
here by way of introduction. One of the themes of the Old 
Testament, especially in the prophets, is God calling the 
nation of Israel to repentance, whether that be a spiritual repentance 
or whether that be a temporal or a national or a corporate 
turning away from violating the law of God so as they can avoid 
temporal judgment. But the theme of repentance is 
very strong in the Bible. Let's just turn to a few passages 
to see in the ministry of Christ and the ministry of the apostles, 
the place of repentance in the proclamation of the gospel. Notice 
first that in the gospel of Mark in chapter 1, gospel of Mark chapter 1 and 
verse 14, Now after John was put in prison, 
Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of 
God and saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at 
hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. That combination of repent 
and believe we'll note as we move along with regards to the 
doctrine of repentance relative to the doctrine of faith. We 
looked at the doctrine of faith last time and repentance rightly 
follows after the doctrine of faith in a consideration of the 
doctrine of Christian salvation. But here we see the Lord Jesus 
Christ preaching the gospel, the text says, and then his specific 
words regarding the fulfillment, probably the end of the Mosaic 
era, the advent of the Messianic age, the time is fulfilled and 
the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel. 
You can turn with me to Luke 24. So Mark 1, shows us or gives us a glimpse 
into the preaching of Christ at the outset of his ministry. 
And at the closing of his ministry, notice what he gives by way of 
review in Luke 24. And when you get to Luke 24, 
you can turn to verse 46, well, verse 45. And he opened their 
understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures. Then 
he said to them, thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for 
the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 
and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in 
His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." So we see that 
Christ, at the outset of His ministry, preaches the doctrine 
of repentance, and then at the close of His ministry, in drawing 
His disciples back to what He came into the world for, what 
the Scriptures pointed to, he rehearses that repentance and 
remission of sins should be preached to his name in all nations. Chapter 
15 in the Confession. So we see primacy, not primacy 
of place, but we see the significance that the Bible gives to the doctrine 
of repentance in the Scriptures. We could make a note also, well 
actually let's just quickly turn there to Acts chapter 2. Acts 
2, as we see, so following the ministry of Christ, He's already 
given them or rehearsed the fact that He came into the world to 
be crucified, to rise again the third day, and then to give repentance 
and remission of sins to all who believe in His name. And 
so He ascends on high, and He pours out His spirits upon His 
disciples, and they go forth and preach the gospel. And then 
notice then in Acts 2, Acts chapter 2 and verse 38. Then Peter said to them, repent, 
and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for 
the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the 
Holy Spirit. So in the proclamation of the 
gospel, the simple point here is that repentance is contained 
in the proclamation of the gospel, and is that that summons given 
upon the heel of gospel truth, repent and believe in the gospel. So the significance of repentance 
in the Bible is noteworthy. One of the things that Christ 
does in Revelation also, I think at least to four of the churches, 
is he gives commands for them to repent. He acknowledges or 
he opens up their sins to them in the letters to the seven churches. 
And it might be four or five of the churches, Jim might know, 
because he's an expert in Revelation. But he gives the command to repent 
and then that closing command to overcome or the promise to 
those who overcome. So repentance, very significant. 
Now, if you have a look at your confession, have a look at all 
of the paragraphs here. There's a significant difference 
between the Westminster Confession of Faith from the late 1640s, 
and then the Savoy and the Second London Confessions of Faith. 
In fact, of all the chapters, well, I won't say, I won't make 
that ultimate statement, but it's one of the chapters where 
we see the most changes made in the Confession of Faith relative 
to the Westminster Confession. So, if you have a look at paragraph 
four, and where it begins, and near the end, it is every man's 
duty to repent of his particular sins particularly, leaving none 
out. That is the only clause, that 
is the only clause that's retained from the first four paragraphs 
of the Westminster Confession. Everything before that is new 
in the Savoy and the Second London. And then if you go to paragraph 
five, where you read sort of in the middle there, there is 
no sin so small but it deserves damnation, and then there is 
no sin so great it shall bring damnation on them who truly repent, 
is how it reads in the Westminster. But everything else in this particular 
chapter is new. to the Savoy and to the Second 
London, and we'll talk about the reason why. It's not theological 
newness. There's no difference in the 
theology of repentance between the Westminsters and then the 
Savoys and the Second London guys by way of comparison, but 
it's methodological. Jim Renahan notes in citing, 
not he notes, but in his book, he cites the Savoy, the preface 
to the Savoy Confession, and he notes this, a few things, 
this is what the independents wrote in their preface to their 
confession, a few things we have added for obviating some erroneous 
opinions that have been more broadly and boldly here of late 
maintained by the assertors than in former times, and made other 
additions and alterations in method here and there, and some 
clearer explanations as we found occasion." So there are some 
occasions these assertors of falsity had sort of increased 
their their falsities and the opening up of them to vulnerable 
ears. And so they had to answer those 
errors in rewording methodologically the doctrine of repentance in 
this particular chapter. Renahan notes, why do we have 
this change? He summarizes erroneous opinions 
circulating in the 1650s. So that's why we have this significant 
change in this confession. If you have a look, so four things. plus one, five things that we'll 
try to look at here from this particular chapter. And these 
are sort of outlines of each of the paragraph that Jim Renahan 
gives with just a couple changes. First, the place of repentance. 
Secondly, the necessity and place of repentance, the outflow of 
repentance, the duration and duty of repentance, and then 
the result of repentance. So notice first off, under the 
place of repentance, there's a distinction made relative to 
elect infants. There's some interesting language 
that we have here in paragraph one. Such of the elect as are 
converted at riper years. So there's a distinction being 
made here between those who are able to avail of the ministry 
of the word, with proper cognition and intellection and that sort 
of a thing, and infants who cannot avail of such. If you back up 
to chapter 10, this is what's in view. Chapter 10 in paragraph 
3. We read there, elect infants 
dying in infancy are regenerated and saved by Christ through the 
Spirit, who worketh when and where and how he pleaseth, so 
also are all other elect persons who are incapable of being outwardly 
called by the ministry of the word. So when we read back in 
chapter 15 here, such of the elect as are converted at riper 
years, there's a distinction of age, and intellectual capacity 
and ability being made here between the subjects of chapter 10 and 
paragraph 3. So this pertains to those who 
are able to avail of the ministry, outward ministry of the word, 
and the error in view was that repentance is absolutely required 
for the salvation of all people. the independents and the Baptists, 
and the Westminsters would have argued, most of them, would have 
argued the same, that elect infants and what they would call idiots 
back in the day in their writings, but those of a mental capacity 
unable to avail of the outward ministry of the word, They are 
saved in accordance, those elect are saved in accordance to divine 
grace. They're regenerated and saved 
by Christ through the Spirit. So those who are incapable of 
being outwardly called by the Word, here in the doctrine of 
repentance in 15, it's those who are able to avail of the 
outward ministry of the Word. Those who are converted at riper 
years. And then notice the divine timing 
and gifting of repentance. having sometimes lived in the 
state of nature, and therein served diverse lusts and pleasures, 
here it is, God, in their effectual calling, giveth them repentance 
unto life." So this repentance unto life is not something that 
man has by nature. Just like we noted last time, 
the doctrine of faith, man doesn't have some ability of faith to 
exercise, independent of the grace of God and the renewing 
of the Holy Spirit, faith in Christ. In other words, faith 
does not precede regeneration as the cause of it. Faith, regeneration 
comes before faith. God makes sinners alive by the 
power of his Holy Spirit, bringing them from deadness to life in 
Christ, and gives them, the chapter last week, faith, and this week, 
repentance. He giveth them repentance unto 
life. So if we were to ask the Bible, 
where do we see that? We see it elsewhere, but let's 
just look at two passages in the book of Acts. First, Acts 
chapter five. So we're looking here at the 
divine timing and gifting of repentance, specifically that 
God, in his good timing, gives his elect sinners, regenerated 
by the power of the Holy Spirit, the blessed gift of repentance. 
In Acts chapter five, notice as we get to verse 29, but Peter 
and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God 
rather than man. The God of our fathers raised 
up Jesus, whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has 
exalted to his right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give 
repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. So you see the language 
there, to give. repentance to Israel and the 
forgiveness of sins. Repentance is a divine gift, 
not natural to man in sin, but given by God to those in grace 
by the power of his Holy Spirit. And isn't it a glorious thing 
here? Peter says, The God of our fathers raised 
up Jesus, whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Imagine, just 
stopping there for a moment, the recipients of that proclaimed 
message by the working of the Holy Spirit, convicting them 
and bringing them to the weight of the reality that they put 
to death the Lord of glory. But then Peter goes on that God 
gives repentance to Israel. You murdered him by hanging him 
on a tree, but if you believe in the one whom you hung on that 
tree, you will be given repentance and salvation. What a blessed 
thing to those who call down upon themselves an orational 
curse, an oratory curse upon themselves. Let his blood be 
upon us and our children. but the message of mercy and 
grace and divine love comes to them. If you believe in this 
one whom you hung on a tree, you will have everlasting life." 
Notice also in Acts 11, at verse 18, when they heard these 
things, they became silent, and they glorified God, saying, then 
God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life. This language, 
again, of giving repentance, it's here worded granted. They've 
been granted or they've been gifted this repentance unto life. So God gives repentance. And on this point, we want to 
note that, again, that repentance is not the ground of salvation. 
If it's given by God, then it certainly is not the ground of 
salvation. When the message goes out to repent and be baptized 
for the remission of sins, it's not that the repentance of those 
hearing the preached message avails divine favor. It's a command 
given, it's a summons given upon the heels of the gospel preached, 
but repentance isn't that which is the ground of salvation. The 
ground of salvation is the exclusive perfect work of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, His active and passive obedience. Secondly, under this point, repentance 
relative to faith. You've often heard Pastor Butler 
say that repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin. 
Repentance is a believing repentance. Faith is a repentant faith. And 
so they're two sides of the same coin. If we were to look at some 
other places in the Book of Acts, notably Acts 19.4, 20.21, and 
26.20, we would see this, that faith and repentance are sometimes 
interchangeable. Sometimes they stand by themselves 
as part of that summons given by the gospel preacher after 
the gospel is given. Repent and receive the remission 
of sins or believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be 
saved. They are interchangeable. Are 
they identical? Not necessarily. There's some 
nuances we would want to observe, but they are nevertheless the 
two sides of the same coin of conversion. If we could think 
about it in one way, we could say faith is in relation to Christ, 
repentance is in relation to sin. Faith Faith ascends positively 
unto the propositions of the Bible by the power of the Holy 
Spirit. Repentance turns away from or 
recognizes and engages in a denial of those things beforehand loved 
and beforehand perpetrated in violence to divine law. So faith 
is a turning to, repentance is a turning from. We would also 
want to note that repentance is not doing good things, whereas 
before you had done bad things. Those are the fruits of repentance. Remember we have in the Bible 
both the Lord Jesus Christ and the apostles that follow saying 
do works meet for repentance, or worthy of repentance. Doing 
good things, having beforehand done bad things, is not repentance. 
That's the fruit of repentance, or those are the fruits of repentance. There is that fruit that is worthy 
of repentance. You can make a note of Matthew 
3, 2 to 8, 4, 17, and also 9, 13. So we need to draw a distinction 
between repentance, properly speaking, as we'll see that changing 
of mind, that turning away from, that properly speaking, and then 
the fruits that flow from that posture of repentance. And that's, 
those two things are different. Repentance is And we'll elaborate 
a little bit, or we'll see some Bible here also. Repentance is 
a change of mind, a turning from, if we were to define it simply. I think we have a good definition 
here in paragraph three. We're not there yet, but notice 
in paragraph three, this saving repentance is an evangelical 
grace, whereby a person, and now here's a good definition, 
being by the Holy Spirit made sensible of the manifold evils 
of sin. there's this being made sensible. That is a change of mind. By 
the power of the Holy Spirit, the believer changes his mind. 
He's made sensible of the manifold evils of sin. Having beforehand 
been one who navigated according to the pleasures of his sin, 
he's now by the Holy Spirit turned by divine power to be made sensible 
of those things, to change his mind, to turn from. You can turn 
to the book of Ezekiel for a moment. And this may have a little bit 
more, and Jim could maybe correct me at the end or right now, I 
think Gil notes that this has a little bit more to do with 
not the evangelical grace of repentance, Ezekiel 14 is the 
first passage, Ezekiel 14, but with respect to the covenant, 
the Mosaic covenant, a turning from A turning from wicked works 
and a turning unto good works to avoid temporal judgment and 
the curses of the covenant that would come upon them anyway because 
of their insolence. But in Ezekiel 14, notice it 
at verse 3. Beginning at verse 1, now, some 
of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me, and 
the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, these 
men have set up their idols in their hearts and put before them 
that which causes them to stumble into iniquity. Should I let myself 
be inquired of at all by them? Now, just note before we read 
on, it's important to see here, verse 3, Son of man, these men 
have set up their idols in their hearts, and notice, and put before 
them that which causes them to stumble. Let's read on. Therefore 
speak to them and say to them, verse four, thus says the Lord 
God, everyone of the house of Israel who sets up his idols 
in his heart and puts before him what causes him to stumble 
into iniquity and then comes to the prophet, I the Lord will 
answer him who comes according to the multitude of his idols, 
that I may seize the house of Israel by their heart because 
they are all estranged from me by their idols. Therefore, say 
to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, repent, turn 
away from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your 
abominations." So you see here how repentance is a change of 
mind or a turning away from. They were putting idols before 
their faces, the prophet comes and says, turn your faces away 
from those idols and those abominations. That, in effect, is a picture 
of repentance, a turning our faces away from the idols of 
sin, and in faith, turning to Christ and the living and true 
God. So, moving on then, repentance, 
if we keep in mind, it's a spirit-wrought change of mind in the one regenerated 
by the power of the Holy Spirit. Secondly then, we want to look 
at the necessity and place of repentance. Well, as we're moving 
on, We should take pause to glory in the evangelical grace of repentance. If we think about ourselves, 
if we think about our former conduct when we were outside 
of Christ, if we think about our conduct as the saints of 
Christ with remaining corruption, we ought to glory that God gives 
us repentance. that Christ at the right hand 
of the majesty on high by the sent power of the Holy Spirit 
gives us repentance as Christians. As we'll see later on, the language 
of paragraph three and the language that follows has to do with Christians 
continually engaging in repentance because we have remaining corruption, 
we stumble, we trip, we get the chastisement of our blessed Father, 
who renews us in repentance by fresh power from the Holy Spirit 
on high. It's a wonderful thing that God 
has gifted us repentance, knowing who we were. and knowing who 
we are. Paragraph two, the necessity 
and place of repentance. The first thing that we want 
to note here is the universal reality of sin. The language 
here in paragraph two is not necessarily speaking only about 
those outside of Christ, but it's speaking about the universal 
reality of sin including both reigning and remaining sin. The first thing we want to note 
here is this is basically the ground that necessitates repentance. 
Notice the language. Whereas there is none that doth 
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. The universal reality of sin, 
and it's not just weak men, it's the strongest of men, it's every 
man, that through the power and deceitfulness of their corruption 
dwelling in them, they fall into great sin and provocation. No 
man escapes sin. No man outside of Christ escapes 
sin, of course. And no man in sin, of course 
they escape through the mercy of God and the perfection of 
Christ, but they still have remaining sin. And so the promise comes, 
or that necessitates what we have with respect to this blessed 
promise, which comes afterwards. God hath, in the covenant of 
grace, mercifully provided that believers so sinning and falling 
be renewed through repentance unto salvation. That language 
of renewing is something that speaks to the fact that what's 
in view is Christian sinning. God, in the covenant of grace, 
mercifully provides that believers, so sinning and falling, be renewed 
through repentance unto salvation. Remember the language of David 
the psalmist. He pleads with God to return 
to me the joy of my salvation. You know, having sinned, having 
continued in attempting to hide himself from God and perpetrating 
wickedness in the eyes of God, he pleads with God to return 
to him the joy of his salvation. He has weary bones and he's weighed 
down by the gravity of his sin. And he pleads with God to return 
to me the joy of salvation, renew me by virtue of your covenant 
of grace and the champion of that covenant through repentance 
unto salvation. So we have this blessed language 
here that links. the covenant of grace to salvation. The Baptists here are all about 
covenant theology. They are champions of the covenant 
of grace and the proper explicators of the covenant of grace. And 
just notice the connection. If we go back to chapter seven, 
just notice sort of what's in view here with respect to God 
in the covenant of grace, mercifully providing repentance. So in chapter seven, notice that 
paragraph two, moreover man, having brought himself under 
the curse of the law by his fall, it pleased the Lord to make a 
covenant of grace, wherein he freely offereth unto sinners 
life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in him 
that they may be saved. and promising to give unto all 
those who are ordained unto eternal life His Spirit, Holy Spirit, 
to make them willing and able to believe. So we see here the 
promise of the covenant of grace, and we see that it's the similar 
language here where we read, wherein He freely offereth, we 
see back in chapter 15, the language is synonymous here, God hath 
mercifully provided. And so it's linking the doctrine 
of repentance, the doctrine of salvation, to the covenant of 
grace. And this is where the Baptists 
have a proper theological consistency with respect to the covenant, 
with respect to particular redemption, with respect to the application 
of that particular redemption, and then finally, the ordinance 
of baptism. There's an inviolable link between 
the promise of the covenant of grace, which is ratified and 
fulfilled in the new covenant, which is the covenant of grace 
fulfilled, or the covenant of grace is the new covenant promised, 
So Christ comes in with regards to the perfection of the promised 
covenant of grace. He ratifies that covenant of 
grace in his blood, and by virtue of that particular redemption, 
particular sinners, a multitude of them, are made alive by the 
power of the Holy Spirit, and it is only those whom God hath 
provided mercifully the doctrine of repentance or salvation that 
ought to be baptized. There is a certain inviolable 
link between divine promise Covenant ratification, the application 
of redemption, and those who ought to be the proper subjects 
of baptism. God hath, in the covenant of 
grace, mercifully provided that believers so sinning and falling 
be renewed through repentance unto salvation. Another set of 
clauses here, another article that dashes to pieces any notions 
that repentance merits salvation. It's something that's mercifully 
provided. Mercifully provided by virtue 
of amazing grace, and by virtue of the perfection of Christ, 
His active obedience unto the whole law, and His passive obedience 
in His death. So we have this wonderful reality 
that there is this necessity for repentance, the reality of 
sin, but we have the blessed remedy coming in God's merciful 
provision of repentance by virtue of the covenant of grace. And 
when we think of the covenant of grace and what we talked about 
regarding this inviolable link between covenant redemption by 
Christ, application of redemption, and the ordinance of baptism, 
we need to think with the covenant of grace, the oath of God, the 
fact that he swears by his own name, the fact that it flows 
from his immutable and unchanging love. by the fact that it flows 
from the immutability or the inviolability of the perfection 
of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is so 
much wrapped up and behind the doctrine of repentance. So to 
reduce it to And to horribly reduce it to something that man 
can conjure up in order to merit his salvation is to steal from 
the immutability of the triune God, it's to steal from the perfection 
of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's to steal from 
the oath of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. Moving on 
then, let's look at the outflow of repentance, paragraph 3. the outflow of repentance. First, 
we want to note, Christian repentance is saving repentance. Notice 
the very first clause there, this saving repentance. That first set of words. It's 
not, if we were to think, I think what we're to see sort of here, 
and actually not only by this clause, but also what follows, 
we're to see a distinction between, let's say, a Peter and a Judas. When we read with respect to 
Judas, he had a measure of repentance, but it was really just an ungodly 
sorrow. It was an unbelieving sorrow. 
It wasn't a proper repentance. There was a measure of unbelieving 
regret, but it wasn't a proper saving repentance. Judas was 
outside the fold, an unbeliever. Yes, he did demonstrate sorrow, 
but sorrow is not repentance. There is a saving repentance, 
which can only be wrought by the Holy Spirit in the heart 
of the believer. And yes, does it come forth in sorrow and regret 
for sin? Absolutely, but that's sort of 
the difference, a sorrow and a regret for sin, an acknowledgement 
that you've sinned against God, that Davidic acknowledgement 
against you and you only have I sinned, and the acknowledgement 
of our sin were made sensible, as we'll see in a moment, of 
the manifold evils of sin. So saving repentance isn't tautological, 
it's distinguishing it from this sort of Judas-like sorrow. Second, repentance is an evangelical 
grace. Perhaps you're wondering, okay, 
what does that mean? The distinction here is between 
an evangelical grace and a legalistic repentance. you know, a difference 
between a gospel rot, spirit rot, saving repentance, and a 
sorrow or regret based simply upon the fear or the consequences 
of sin. The old boys would distinguish 
between something that is evangelical and something that is sort of 
legalistic in nature, not properly coming from the proclamation 
of the gospel, and a spirit-wrought heart. Now, 
obviously, the law of God is used as that which sanctifies, 
that normative use of the law of God, that the law is used. I mean, someone, if we look at 
repentance as a change of mind, as a spirit-wrought change of 
mind in the heart of one regenerated, we could see the law of God set 
forth in a before and after picture. If we take in view those who 
had put up idols before their face, we are to have only the 
one God before us as that which is worship, not an idol or a 
multitude of idols. So we turn from a violation of 
the first word to an affirmation made sensible of our sins against 
idolatry, or with respect to idolatry, and now we affirm the 
first word, glory in it, and glory in the one and only living 
and true God. Having beforehand made graven 
idols, We now have turned away from that with respect to the 
law, and by virtue of the power of the Holy Spirit, we have and 
we make no graven images, and we worship God aright, not according 
to the fancies of man. And so we could take that principle 
and apply it to all of the rest of the 10 words, and we do, of 
course, have the law in view with respect to our sanctification, 
but it's an evangelical grace whereby, by the power of the 
Holy Spirit, and the mercies of Christ, we, according to gospel 
riches and excellencies, obey that law with a joy-filled obedience 
and compliance. So it's an evangelical grace, 
not a legalistic repentance. Third, notice the power of the 
Holy Spirit in repentance, whereby a person being by the Holy Spirit 
made sensible of the manifold evils of his sin. So we have 
the blessed power of the Holy Spirit that makes us sensible. This is what we noted with respect 
to repentance as a change of mind. The Holy Spirit works upon 
us and makes us sensible of the manifold evils of his sin. This 
is one of the things why, in the preaching of the gospel, 
And actually, with respect to the doctrine of repentance, Augustine 
noted that with repentance and view, there are three things 
that the preacher does or that the sinner recognizes in the 
process of being saved and converted. First off, the holiness of God. 
As Pastor Butler preaches and he brings the gospel delivery 
to the audience, preaching Jesus Christ, Very often in closing 
to the unbeliever. He draws them to a recognition 
of the holiness of God that God Cannot look favorably upon sin. He must he must punish sin either 
upon the sinner eternally or Exhausting wrath in the Lord 
Jesus Christ by punishing Christ upon the cross for that. And 
so the first Acknowledgement with regards to repentance is 
the holiness of God. The second is the heinousness 
of our sin So, again, going back to the example of Pastor Butler 
preaching, he draws the unbeliever to the holiness of God, and then 
presses the unbeliever with the reality of their sin, that all 
have fallen short of the glory of God. So, the heinousness of 
our sin, acknowledging that, and then thirdly, embracing God's 
gracious and loving forgiveness. sort of the threefold Augustinian 
observation on what obtains with respect to repentance. Holiness 
of God, the heinousness of sin, and embracing God's gracious 
and loving forgiveness. The Holy Spirit makes us sensible 
of the holiness of God. He makes us sensible of the heinousness 
of sin, and he drives us to embrace God's gracious and loving forgiveness. 
Isn't that a blessed thing as Christians to be able, by the 
Spirit, to embrace God's gracious and loving forgiveness? What 
a wonderful thing, having been turned from those who would laugh 
at such a thing, who would abhor such a thing, who would have 
nothing of the holiness of God or the acknowledgement of the 
heinousness of our sins and certainly rejecting anything with respect 
to God's gracious and loving forgiveness, we now by God's 
grace embrace those things. We've been made to see the holiness 
of the triune God. We've been made to see our depravity, 
our wickedness, our sinfulness, that we have broken the law of 
the divine majesty, and we have by the Spirit been caused to 
embrace the perfections of God, his loving kindness. What a wonderful 
thing. Fourthly, we want to notice faith 
and humility with regards to repentance. What follows after the clause, 
being by the Holy Spirit made sensible of the manifold evils 
of his sin, is not a further definition of repentance. It's 
that which flows from repentance. So being made sensible of the 
manifold evils of his sin, changing the mind, a spirit-wrought changing 
of the mind and a turning from. Now we see the fruits of repentance, 
what flows from repentance. And the first thing we see here 
is faith and humility. Notice, doth by faith in Christ 
humble himself for it with godly sorrow, not a Judas-like sorrow, 
but with godly sorrow, detestation of it, and self-abhorrency. So there's this faith and humility 
exercised with respect to repentance, or what flows from repentance 
is a humbling ourselves by faith in Christ, the exercise of a 
godly sorrow, and the detestation and self-abhorrency with regards 
to the sin that we've been made sensible of. So that's something 
that flows from repentance. Another thing that we see flowing 
from repentance is, fifthly and lastly under the outflow, is 
a spirit-aided Christian walk. 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 the repentant 
Christian, the truth simply anticipates, Christ anticipates, our triune 
God anticipates that having gifted us with repentance, we're going 
to be praying Christians. We pray for pardon, we pray for 
the strength of grace. You know, this is something that 
hopefully we will be doing daily. You know, because as we draw 
breath as Christians, we have remaining corruption. And each 
day we're going to sin in that remaining corruption against 
our God. We're going to sin against people. And we ought to pray 
then for pardon and the strength of grace. And notice this language 
of a purpose and endeavor. It's actually bookended by praying 
for pardon and strength and supplies of the spirit. You know, we don't 
endeavor, we don't purpose and endeavor by virtue of our own 
strength. We don't somehow have it in us 
natively. We don't have it independent 
of divine gifting. We pray for strength. and we 
pray for supplies of the spirit that we might walk before God 
well-pleasing in all things. And this is something we ought 
to do daily as we wake up. Give us strength, give me strength, 
God, that I might not sin against you, that I might deal with people, 
my neighbors, others, rightfully, that I might navigate the workplace, 
navigate family, navigate church in a manner that is well-pleasing 
in all things. So repentance comes, there's 
this, if we could say, a posture now, a renewed spirit-wrought 
posture of repentance, and then these things flow from it. This 
humble walk, this spirit-aided Christian endeavoring. The fourth 
paragraph we can note here, the duration and duty of repentance. So there's Repentance isn't something 
that is given by God once and then it ceases to be. The duration 
of repentance is from the moment of our salvation to the last 
drawing of breath before we enter into Emmanuel's land. We have 
The language here, as repentance is to be continued through the 
whole course of our lives upon the account of the body of death 
and the motions thereof. So repentance is an ongoing thing. 
By the grace of God, at the outset of our conversion, the outset 
of our salvation, we're given repentance, we have that change 
of mind, but repentance doesn't stop, because we have remaining 
corruption, we're still going to sin against God, against each 
other, And so repentance continues throughout the whole course of 
our lives. And so it's something that we 
ought to, with ourselves in view, seek by prayer and supplies of 
the Spirit to engage in. But also we ought to have a measure 
of humility and a view towards others that they're also on that 
same quest. that they're going to sin, but 
God has given them the gift of repentance. And in our engagement 
with other Christians, we're not to approach the issue of 
repentance with this sort of puffed chest and this puffed 
up pride. We're to acknowledge that we sin, and gain repentance 
through supplies of the Spirit, but also that others do sin and 
they will sin against us. And with the proper Christian 
humility and patience, we're in this quest together. We engage 
by supplies of the Spirit. and we purpose and endeavor to 
walk before God well-pleasing in all things, knowing that we'll 
stumble, knowing that we'll trip, and knowing that we're all, I 
was gonna say we're all in this together, but it sounds like 
the COVID motto. I'll try to use something else. We're all in our Christian walk 
as brothers and sisters in Christ, and we all should recognize the 
doctrine of repentance and have a proper Christian patience towards 
each other. So it's a lifelong quest, and 
notice the language goes on to say, so it is every man's duty 
to repent of his particular known sins particularly. You know, 
repentance Repentance isn't just this sort of vague, ambiguous 
acknowledgement of sin and the mercy of God. It requires the 
identification of sin and the repentance for those specific 
sins. Paul acknowledges in 1 Timothy 
that he was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man. And then 
he goes on to say, Christ Jesus came into this world, sinners 
to save, of whom I am chief. He acknowledges that he's the 
chief of sinners, but not just generally speaking, he identifies 
blasphemy, persecution, I think, and the fact that he's an insolent 
man. So there's this specific acknowledgment of particular 
sins. We identify what we have done 
in violation of the law of God to God and neighbor, and we repent 
by supplies of the Spirit of those particular known sins, 
particularly. And lastly, notice the result 
of repentance. There's three things we want 
to note here. The first thing is the immutability of God in 
his justice and particular goodness. Notice the language here. Such 
is the provision which God hath made through Christ in the covenant 
of grace for the preservation of believers unto salvation. What a wonderful statement we 
have here. Notice we have the doctrine of God, connected to 
the doctrine of covenant, connected to the doctrine of salvation. 
There is much packed into just this one initial statement here, 
the divine provision. And notice that it's the doctrine 
of God connected to covenant, but wrapped around a Christocentrism, 
such is the provision which God hath made through Christ in the 
covenant of grace. You know, there's not an Abrahamocentrism 
with regards to the covenant of grace, so believers and their 
seed, but rather there's a Christocentrism to the covenant of grace, as 
we noted before, connected to the perfection of Christ's work, 
his particular redemption, and then the particular outpouring 
of that redemption, the benefits given to the elect. And so we 
have this, the immutability, of God in His justice and particular 
goodness. Such is the provision which God 
hath made through Christ in the covenant of grace for the preservation 
of believers unto salvation." That wonderful language of preservation, 
that's going to come two chapters later here in chapter 17 after 
the chapter on good works. The doctrine of the perseverance 
of the saints or preservation by God. That preservation by 
God, that divine preservation, is intimately linked to the immutability 
of God, God Himself, and it's intimately linked to the ratification 
of the covenant of grace perfectly by the champion of that covenant, 
Jesus Christ. We want to notice, secondly, 
the unshakable divine provision of Christ. We see here 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. You know, we see here the justice 
and the goodness of God set before us. The perfect justice of God 
in visiting wrath upon all those who sin and do not believe in 
the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no sin so small, but 
it deserves damnation. God must punish sin. Yet we see the goodness of God, 
there is no sin so great that it shall bring damnation on them 
that truly repent, that do repent. What a wonderful statement we 
have here with divine goodness. And this comes with the promise 
of the gospel. A sinner that you're speaking 
to or a sinner in the context of the gathered assembly who 
is preached the gospel, The preacher can, with perfect confidence 
in divine immutability and promise, say to a sinner that regardless 
of your sin, if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you will 
be saved. You will be given, by God, faith and repentance. No sin so great that it shall 
bring damnation on them that repent. What a blessed promise 
of God. If we go back to the scene of 
the unbelieving Jews who put to death the Lord of glory, Peter 
preaches to them a number of times in the first portion of 
the book of Acts. Paul, in the latter portions 
of the book of Acts, preaching to Jews who had put to death 
the Lord of glory. They call that curse upon themselves, 
let his blood be upon us and our children. Yet in the proclamation 
of the gospel, that curse can be effectively overturned by 
the perfection of Jesus Christ for all those who believe and 
repent. Those who were standing there before the preaching of 
the gospel who had put to death Jesus Christ, the gravest sin 
ever to be perpetrated can have forgiveness in the Lord Jesus 
Christ. Believe on him and you shall 
be saved. What a blessed thing we have 
in the divine goodness. And lastly, under the result 
of repentance, we see the abiding necessity of the ministry of 
reconciliation. Notice here, yet there is no 
sin so great that it shall bring damnation on them that repent, 
which makes the constant preaching of repentance necessary. The abiding necessity of the 
ministry of reconciliation. You can turn to 2 Corinthians 
5 for a moment. 2 Corinthians 5 as we close here. Notice, well, we'll start at 
verse 16, 2 Corinthians 5, 16. Therefore, from now on, we regard 
no one according to the flesh, even though we have known Christ 
according to the flesh. Yet now we know him thus no longer. 
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things 
have passed away. Behold, all things have become 
new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself. 
through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, that God was in Christ, 
reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses 
to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now, just a brief pause here. 
The Roman Catholics use this verse to argue for the confessional 
boxes. If you have never been in a Catholic 
church, you might have seen it in movies or TV shows where someone 
goes into the church, they go into the confessional, it's a 
box where the You know, the repentant one is on one side, and the priest 
who has the power to forgive sins is on the other side, and 
there's a little sort of mesh window dividing them. The priest 
doesn't look at the one who's repentant. He sort of looks to 
the side, and that person confesses their sins. They go to this passage 
here to argue for the ministry of reconciliation here as Paul 
initiating priestcraft in that particular sacrament in their 
church. What we ought to see here is 
simply that the risen Christ has endowed, by His Spirit, ministers 
of the gospel to preach the gospel. The ministry of reconciliation 
is Christ, through the Spirit, empowering ministers to preach 
Himself, His active and passive obedience and salvation by Him. 
So that's the ministry of reconciliation. Sin necessitates, there is this 
abiding necessity for the ministry of reconciliation that is the 
preaching of the gospel so that unbelievers will come to Christ 
and so that believers will continue by supplies of the spirit to 
go to God in repentance. In the wonderful language that 
follows in verse 20, now then, we are ambassadors for Christ 
as though God were pleading through us, we implore you on Christ's 
behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin 
to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God 
in Him." That is the ground of our salvation. That is the ground 
of the divine gifting of repentance. That God made Christ, who knew 
no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness 
of God in Him. So, when we repent, we have an 
advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ, the Just One. Jesus 
Christ, the Righteous. And in Him, we have Repentance, 
we have the forgiveness of sins, and we have everlasting life. 
Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you 
for your word. We thank you for your truth. 
We rejoice in your goodness to us that you've called us forth 
from deadness to life, from darkness to light, to repent, to behold 
your glory, to behold your holiness, recognize the heinousness of 
our sin, and to embrace your gracious forgiveness and loving 
forgiveness through Jesus Christ our Savior. Help us as we go 
into worship. We pray that you'd help us to 
worship you in spirit and in truth. We pray that you would 
strengthen and edify your saints, that you would save sinners, 
and this would all be done to the glory of our blessed triune 
God. And in the name of the Son, we 
pray. Amen.