Sovereign Grace of God - Repentance and Remission of Sins

SOVEREIGN GRACE OF GOD Concerning 'The Gospel' LORD JESUS CHRIST Grounded In Biblical Truth
http://www.SovereignGraceOfGod.com (Home Page)

Luke 24:36-53 Our Lord, in this passage, appears to His disciples for the last time in this world and is parted from them. We see that the resurrection is in truth a resurrection for in verse 39 he said: “It is I myself.” His resurrected body was a glorified body but it was a body that they were able to behold, handle, and I might say recognize. God’s children when they die are said to be both “with the Lord” and to “sleep in Jesus.” At death our soul goes to be with the Lord and our bodies sleep in Jesus awaiting the resurrection. This is the reason that the apostle Paul could write: “For to me to live is Christ, to die is gain.” We say good-bye to our brothers and sisters in Christ as they and we close our eyes in death, but we die knowing that there is coming a great reunion. We also see that when His disciples saw Him as He was parted from them He was blessing them. While now He is physically absent from His church; yet, He continues to bless His disciples. “He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” And that He is always present in us by His Spirit. He said: “I will not leave you orphans.” The ministry of the Holy Spirit in these days which he calls “the promise of my Father” in verse 49 was to come on the day of Pentecost. We get some idea of the need of the Holy Spirit in verse 45. He had to open their understanding, “that they might understand the scriptures.” I Corn. 2:14 “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” The work that our Lord gives his church in these days as we see in verse 47 is such that the power of the holy Spirit is an absolute necessity. “That repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” Let us consider these two truths repentance and remission of sins. I might say first of all that they go together just as our Lord here declares, and that no one ever had one without the other.

What is repentance? It is the change of one’s mind. I have always considered our Lord’s example in Matthew 21:28-29 to be helpful in seeing this: “But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went.” What did this son do by repenting? He changed his mind.

What is remission? The word means dismissal or release. The Bible declares that there is no remission of sins without the shedding of blood. In Matthew 26:28 “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” Heb 9:22 “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.”

We should note that while repentance and remission of sins are joined together and as I have said “They always go together,” but never consider repentance as the cause of remission. Believers are sometimes troubled with the thought: “Have I repented enough?” Your repentance never atoned for one sin and never will. Not even the tears of Jesus atoned or took away sin. It is his blood “which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”

1. Repentance- Our Lord preached repentance saying: “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” We see in our text that this is to be part of our message. The gospel is for sinners and I think the fact that our Lord says: “beginning at Jerusalem;” He revealed to us that this is the case. Who lived in Jerusalem? The very ones who had cried for his blood! The gospel is for sinners the worst of sinners, but the gospel delivers from the power of sin as well as the penalty. The sinner is not forgiven so that he may be comfortable to continue in his sin. Our Lord told the woman who was taken in adultery and brought to Him “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” Who would think that she had repentance if she returned to the bed of adultery? Repentance is a radical change of mind about God, about Christ, about oneself, and especially about sin. It is attended with sorrow for the past, and a resolve of amendment in the future.

“Repentance is to leave The sins we loved before; And show that we in earnest grieve, By doing so no more.”

2. Remission- Our Lord gave this example that may serve to show the necessity of our sins being remitted. “And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Both repentance and remission of sins are promised in the New Covenant. Let me just read these for the sake of time. Concerning repentance, we read in that passage in Ezekiel 36 which speaks of the new covenant and the new heart that God gives this promise: “Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord GOD, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.”

Concerning remission, we read in Jer 31, speaking of the new covenant: “for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Acts 5:27-31 “And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them. Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.”

You see now why they always go together. They both come from the same Saviour, and they are both given to the same persons. He never bestows one without the other. Let everyone who seeks mercy remember this. Faith is as much the gift of God as is the Saviour upon whom faith relies. Repentance of sin is as truly the work of grace as the making of an atonement by which sin is remitted. That is not true repentance which does not come of faith in Jesus, and that is not true faith which is not tinctured with repentance. Salvation, from first to last, is of grace alone. The sinner does repent, change his mind, with every faculty of his soul; mind, will, and affections and yet behind it all is the secret influence of the Holy Spirit. It is He who melts the heart, gives contrition, and produces a complete change.

Lincoln Wood Baptist Church
11803 Adel - Houston, Texas 77067
Pastor David F. Pledger - Telephone:281-440-0623