“Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: but sheaved first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coast of Judea and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance” (Acts 26:19, 2019Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: 20But showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. (Acts 26:19‑20)).
WHAT a heart for Christ and for souls Paul had! He began at Damascus, the spot of his conversion, and reached out at length to the Gentiles. You must bear in mind that he was a Jew. All his proclivities and affinities were Jewish, and it was hard for him to go out to the Gentiles. What a mercy that God sent us Gentiles the gospel! Paul preached “that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.” He puts his gospel to Agrippa, when before him, in a very solemn and concise way. The first thing pressed was repentance, and that is what I press on you, my reader.
You say, There is no gospel in that. There is no salvation without it. What is repentance? It is a man taking God’s side against himself. It is a man bowing beneath the truth of God, owning the testimony of God, being convicted by the truth of God. Look at the Ninevites―Jonah went to their city and proclaimed, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” The effect was that the people believed God―it does not say they believed Jonah. They proclaimed a fast, put on sackcloth, and turned to God, and the Lord Jesus Christ says about them that you are going to get a look at them one of these days. Unbeliever, you are going to be brought face to face with the Ninevites in a day to come. “The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here” (Matt. 12:4141The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. (Matthew 12:41)).
I ask you, Have you repented yet? It is a serious thing, and I do not want to minimize it. I want you to see, however, that repentance is not a steppingstone to salvation. “Repent and turn to God,” was Paul’s testimony. When does a man turn to God? When he hears from God. When did the Ninevites believe? When they heard. When did the men of Judea believe, in John’s day? When they heard him; his testimony was, God is going to lay the ax at the root of the tree. And our Lord comes out presently, when John is in prison, and His first preaching is, “Repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:1515And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. (Mark 1:15)).
Again, when the twelve disciples were called, they “went out and preached that men should repent” (Mark 6:1212And they went out, and preached that men should repent. (Mark 6:12)). Peter, speaking to the many thousands, in Acts 2 pressed repentance, and not only Peter, but all along the line in Scripture you get it urgently proclaimed. Do you know the most profound believer in the necessity of repentance? A man in hell. Look at that poor rich man, who was never “persuaded,” in Luke 16. He does not want company in hell. Dear unsaved reader, you have companions in your sins, your laughter, your merriment on earth, but you are in danger of spending an eternity alone in deep, dark solitude. You will not have companions, and you will not want them.
The rich man said, “I have five brethren... if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And Abraham said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (vers. 30, 31). A man in hell is convinced that repentance is an absolute necessity. That is Luke 16, but in Luke 15 you get the lovely parable that describes the grace of God that comes out and yearns after us. What is the keynote of Luke 15? Repentance, and the joy of God in man’s repentance. Are you surprised that Paul pressed that men should “repent, and turn to God”?
What happens when a man repents, i.e., condemns himself? God does not condemn him. When I take self-judgment into my hand, I take it out of God’s hand. Listen to the thief on the cross― “Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds” (Luke 23:40, 4140But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? 41And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. (Luke 23:40‑41)). That is repentance. He says, “We are getting what we deserve”; he judges himself. But what leads a man to repentance? “The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance” (Rom. 2:44Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? (Romans 2:4)). It is not your repentance leads to God’s goodness. It is the goodness of God that leads us to see where we are, and, when we have seen where we are, we wake up and judge ourselves, and that is repentance. Repentance is not salvation. What saves you? “Faith that is in me.” In Acts 20:21,21Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 20:21) Paul speaks of “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” The two things always go together. A man condemns and judges himself, and then he looks round, finding his case hopeless―his prayers, his life, his good deeds, everything connected with himself, utterly and absolutely of no use whatever―he turns to Jesus, and finds a Saviour.
Reader, if still unsaved, turn to God where you are. You say, “I should be afraid to.” The way to escape God is to cast yourself into His arms. The way to escape His righteous judgment is to fling yourself on His bosom, and get the clasp the prodigal got. It was the prodigal who did the repenting―the father did the running. As he came along the road he was planning what he would say― “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee” ―that was confession. “And am no more worthy to be called thy son” ―that was repentance, he was judging himself.
He was going to say, “Make me as one of thy hired servants,” but he never said it. He saw someone owning to him, running, and the next thing was he found himself in the embrace of the father’s arms, and receiving the kiss of forgiveness, and then he said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.” He stopped there.
Repentance could not be deeper; he judged himself, and owned his ways, and then he could not go on―his father’s arms were round him. He got the sense of what the love of the father’s heart was. If only you got in your soul the sense of how God loves you, you would be a new man on the spot. You need not be afraid of Him―if you are it is because you do not know Him. Repent, and turn to God, and you will get forgiveness. You say, I have been such a sinner. Yes, but God knew that, and sent His Son to die for those very sins, and all you have to do is to turn to Him. There will of necessity come a change in the life. You have been afraid of God, you feel you are not fit for Him; but when you learn He is on your side, that, in blessed grace, He has done everything He could for you, that He put His Son on the cross to bear your sins, and to blot them out, then you say, God is for me, and your life will be changed.
Have you never read this, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life”? (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)). Also, “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:9,109In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:9‑10)). The apostle also says, “Hereby perceive we love, because He laid down His life for us” (1 John 3:1616Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. (1 John 3:16)). Be afraid of yourself, of the world, of the devil, of your worldly friends; do not be afraid of the Lord. Turn to Him. Paul says to the Thessalonians, “Ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven” (ch. 1:9, 10). They heard of a God of love, of grace, of righteousness, who had given an only Son―the very best thing in heaven―for sinners―the very worst things on earth. I do not ask you to give up the world, for you would not do it. You are not bidden to give anything up, but simply to receive Christ. Let Him in: give Him a place in your heart from this moment.
“I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision,” says Paul What do you say? Surely, “Lord, I believe.” Will there not be a change? Clearly. There is bound to be a change in the life because you have got a new motive, what Dr Chalmers called “the expulsive power of a new affection.” What is that Your will is broken, you seek to please the Lord, and “do works meet for repentance.”
W. T. P. W.