In this sermon, Pastor Joe Babij looks at Acts 20:21 and various other scriptures to explain the two essential things needed for you to inherit eternal salvation:
1. You must have repentance toward God
2. You must have faith in our Lord Jesus Christ
Full Transcript:
This morning I’m going to be looking at a passage of Scripture in Acts chapter 20 in the Bible. In verse number 17 it says,
From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church. And when they had come to him, he said to them,
“You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews; how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let’s pray. Father, this morning as I look at the Word of God and as we anticipate those who are going to be baptized today in the name of Christ, I ask You, Lord, that You would take the Word of God and apply it to our lives, examine us with it, and show us where we’re at and bring us to the place where we can truly know that we have faith in Christ. We have turned to the Father and we know that is the path of salvation. So I pray that You would use thy Word this morning. And I pray that in the name of the precious name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
It’s not uncommon for people to conclude in their thinking that to become a Christian can mean different things to different people. They surmise that because from time to time they have thought about God and religious matters that they are a Christian. Or that because they are trying very hard to live a good life that they are a Christian. I have heard media personalities say, wherever you find love and kindness you find God. If you find love and kindness among my family and my friends, isn’t that the spirit of Christianity? So I believe that I’m a Christian. Sometimes you hear people say, oh, I have always believed that and therefore I have always been a Christian. Or they say, I always have the best intentions for people and have never desired harm to anyone, that this has always been my creed by which I live my life. So therefore, I believe that I’m a Christian. Some are thought to be religious because they wear religious symbols on their body, whether by way of jewelry or tattoos. And have religious symbols in their automobiles or in front of their homes on their lawns. And because they are bent toward this kind of public display of faith, they consider themselves to be Christian.
But when you consider this passage that I read this morning in Acts chapter 20, if you are honest, you must conclude that becoming a Christian means to undergo a complete change – a change of thinking, a change in action, and a change in direction. In other words, something happens to you. Something takes place inside of you. One is moved from one place to another place, from a place of not being a Christian to a place of becoming a real Christian. The Bible says faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. It happens when you come under the spotlight of Scripture and the Scripture, the message of the Gospel, is driven home to your minds and to your hearts and to your consciences. And those who are paying attention and listening and putting themselves in the equation begin to examine themselves in light of God’s Word, not what they thought.
And it becomes evident in our text this morning that the Apostle Paul assured the people that through repentance and faith, they could receive salvation. He taught that in God’s name, mercy through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ would come to all who would turn from their sin, believe in Jesus Christ alone, and follow the Lord Jesus Christ the rest of their life. Now I want you to see that we cannot do without either of these anymore than in our passage, the Jews and the Greeks, that means anybody, any block of people, any group of people, could receive it. If you have not repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have no part in the matter of salvation. That was the message that the Apostle Paul gave to all peoples, no matter where he went and where he preached. So it’s my desire that you have part in this matter of eternal salvation.
So let’s look more closely at the two essentials you cannot be without in the matter of eternal salvation. Now let’s examine the first essential you cannot be without in order to partake of biblical salvation. What does it mean to be a biblical Christian? Well, the first thing is this, that you must have a repentance towards God. That’s what it says in our text, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance towards God.
Now, let me just mention first what repentance is not before I mention what repentance is. In other words, there is a repentance that is not toward God. There are kinds of repentance that have been mistakenly taken as true biblical repentance, but they are actually counterfeit. They’re counterfeits. And there’s four counterfeits of repentance which amount only to the sorrow of the world. When Paul, the Apostle Paul, was writing to the Corinthian church in chapter seven and verse 10, he said to them,
For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.
So what are some counterfeit repentances? Well, the first would be repentance of sin produced by a sense of shame. Some get caught in their sin and they are ashamed for it. They are grieved at having been discovered and they are sorry now. They are sorry not because of the evil they committed, but that the evil had been dragged into the light and exposed their secret evil sinning heart. And if they had not been found out, they would have probably continued comfortably in their sin. So don’t be fooled. Shame over sin is not true biblical repentance.
Also there is a repentance that consists of grief because of painful consequences of sin. Some people who give up their sin for a time like drinking or drugging or pornography or sexual immorality or homosexuality or cheating or lying or stealing or gossiping or outburst of angers and sins like these things, that he or she gives it up not because they dislike it, but because it’s ruining them and those those people who live around them. Is a repentance of regret for the adverse conditions of their actions and not a sorrow for sin against God. So this repentance also is a sham and not true biblical repentance. This kind will never be acceptable in the sight of God. It’s like some people who go through some kind of rehab program and are told that you must believe in a higher power because you cannot overcome your addiction on your own. That’s true, but what higher power? Any higher power you want to make up? Anything you think is God? See, that kind will never be acceptable in the sight of God. That’s just idolatry, making a God up in your own mind to help you. It was like King David said in Psalm 51, against you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight. And like Proverbs tells us, like a dog that returns to its vomit is a fool that repeats his folly.
Also, there is a repentance that consists of horror at the future punishment of sin. That is, those who have escaped the hand of present justice in this life but knows in the depth of their soul that they will not escape the future court of divine justice after death. They stop sinning in a certain area because of fear of death and fear of judgment and a wrath to come. But their fear goes no further than a selfish desire to escape punishment. Just because they think they ended that particular sin, that they have escaped punishment. If they could be assured that no punishment would follow, such persons would no doubt continue in it. So fear of punishment falls short of genuine repentance. Although it has its benefits, as it says in Hebrews 9:27,
And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,
So after death, there is a judgment. That everyone will stand before God and give an account.
Also, there is a repentance that is called partial repentance. That he or she remembers some gross iniquity that they have committed and feel a measure of regret. But then they see themselves, for the most part, that they are pretty good persons. So the person only repents of the glaring offense and has not repented of sins at all. So biblical repentance is a repentance that sweeps the house clean from cellar to attic, from attic to cellar. It hunts down every sin, every shape of sin, every size of sin, and confesses it before God. As James told us in the epistle of James 4,
whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point has become guilty of all of it.
That just one sin will plunge us into an eternity under the judgment of God and without Christ. So true repentance may include elements of some of these or all of these, yet they alone fall short of biblical repentance. And as again, as the scripture says in 2 Corinthians 7:10, these do not lead to salvation, but they lead to death. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.
So then what is repentance? As it says here, a repentance towards God. Well, because of the essence of repentance, the essence of repentance must be toward God the Father. For the essence of your sin or wrong is towards God, that we have all sinned against God. It’s not enough to feel sorry for your sin or even fear the punishment that a person would face in hell. Repentance is a heartfelt sorrow of sin, it’s a renouncing of it, and it’s a sincere commitment to forsake it and to walk in obedience to Christ. Picture it like this, that you’ve taken the wrong turn and you’re driving further and further away from where you want to go. You need to stop, turn around completely and start traveling in the right direction. The direction is towards God the Father and what His word prescribes as to what you must do to be saved. Turning to God the Father.
So repentance towards God includes several things. The first thing it includes is a redirection of your thinking. All our thinking has been about ourselves. That your desires and passions and pleasures and your pursuits have been really the focus of most of the things you think. You really don’t spend a whole lot of time thinking about God, who He is and what He requires. Actually the Greek word for repent is the word metanoia and the word originally meant an afterthought. And it came literally to mean to change one’s mind. Strictly, it means later knowledge or a subsequent correction after the knowledge that you had. Religious and morally it’s a change of mind leading to a change of behavior. We call it conversion or being born again or turning about. And because that repentance produces a fruit that shows God has done something to that person’s life. So often a second thought shows that the first thought that we had was wrong, and how wrong we have been about God Himself, about our condition before God. The Bible tells us that we are under God’s wrath. In fact John, the Gospel of John says, whoever believes in the Son has eternal life and whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God remains on Him.
So repentance and understanding it that way can bring ourselves to ask certain questions. Like does God make any difference in my life? Does my life in any way conform to the word of God and to His holy laws? Have I been living as if I have an endless lease on life and in a sense I don’t even think I’ll ever die? Even though we all die. Or you may ask, what am I? How am I living? What is the purpose of life? And what’s the end going to be? What’s going to happen in the end? And after asking these questions you begin to realize that we have not thought very much about God. In fact, we have been forgetting God. We have been neglecting God, the God who made us and the God who has given us breath and life and supplied all our needs until this day. We have robbed Him of what is His right to expect from us – worship and obedience.
And how much we misrepresented God by complaining about our lot in life, and even thinking when we complain that God is somehow unjust and cruel. You think that God has caused your misery, when you and you alone have brought it upon yourself. You talk about Him who is unjust, and all the time it has been you who have been unjust and evil. Ingratitude is said to be the worst of all because it makes sin exceedingly sinful. And also how much we have offended God, because you have done the things He said you should not have done. And you have left undone the things He said you should do, like repent of your sin and turn to God the Father. How much also we have fallen short of His standard.
A truly repentant heart judges itself by God’s standard. And his standard is perfect holiness. Of course you ask the question, well no one could be perfect. Exactly. Sin is any wanton conformity to the law of God and to the character of God. We ought to judge ourselves according to God’s standard. If we judge ourselves by our fellow man, you don’t look so bad, but in turn, if we judge ourselves by the perfect holiness of God, then we must really conclude we’re in trouble. Because if God requires perfect holiness to be in His presence, I know I’m not perfect. And so therefore, who’s going to give me that perfection? Who’s going to give me the righteousness that is acceptable to God? See, that is the question. There is no true repentance until judgment of self is formed by a comparison with the divine character of God. We have all fallen short of God’s standard. We have all fallen short. So think how wrong we have been.
Also, repentance towards God the Father includes a realization of guilt. In Acts 2:37, which we read this morning, when the people heard Peter preach that they nailed Jesus to the cross, this is what they concluded,
Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart,
And let me remind you that sin is not merely doing something that is wrong. That is what we tend to do. We recognize certain acts as good and others as bad, and we tend to think that sin is just doing particular things that are bad. It is that, but that’s not the essence of sin. The essence of sin is rebellion against God. Every sin that we commit is against God. And God has to hold us responsible for every thought we ever had, every word we ever spoke, every action that we ever acted out. He will hold us responsible for that because He is recording accurately what’s going on in everyone’s life.
So you see, people tend to think that because they have never committed adultery or never really got drunk or took drugs or never really committed murder, even though the Lord Jesus Christ says if you’re angry with your brother, you’ve already committed murder because God goes through the root of the sin, which is in the heart. People conclude because they haven’t done these things that they’re not sinners. People conclude that decent, moral, and good living people are not sinners because in their estimation, they don’t do anything wrong. But the only reason most people think that is because they never understood the essence of sin, and the essence of sin is actually rebellion against God the Father.
Now consider this. If a person is not concerned about obeying God and pleasing Him and living to His glory, well, that is sin. Men and women are in trouble because they are in disobedience to God, and as a result, they are under God’s judgment already. They’re under God’s condemnation even now. The Jews and the Romans were guilty of actually murdering Jesus, but you may say to yourself, well, I’ve never done that. But if you have been up to this point in your life unconcerned about Jesus and He is someone who you could either take or leave and He maintains no significant position in your life as Lord and Savior, then you are guilty of treating Jesus as an insignificant person, and because you have ignored Him in this way, you have rejected Him and stand guilty of discarding the Son of God. And there’s no greater sin than not seeing any need of Jesus. The greatest sinner in the world today, as Martin Lloyd-Jones said, a preacher of old, the greatest sinner in the world today are those who do not think about Christ at all.
So that means biblical repentance also includes a realization of the relevance of Jesus Christ. You cannot get past Jesus Christ. Plainly, repentance is a complete change of heart about the relevance of Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah. And you see, the Holy Spirit brings a person to start thinking about Jesus in a way they never considered before. He shows them that Jesus came into this world to save sinners and that the world is in a state of sin, and that includes them. That includes you and me. So you see, when the gospel comes by the Word of God, that the Holy Spirit of God gets people to think and to look at things in a way they have never done before. Repentance, then, is agreeing with God that you are sinful, confessing your sins to Him, especially that of idolatry and unbelief, and making a conscious choice to turn from sin and pursue Christ in loving obedience.
So that brings me to the second essential, that you cannot be without to partake of biblical repentance, biblical salvation. And it’s this, that you must have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You must have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. What did the Apostle Paul say? Solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks, everyone I’m going to preach to, it is repentance towards God the Father and faith in the solution the Father has given us to be saved, to be forgiven, to be made right with God, to be made perfect. And who is that? That is Jesus Christ. And by preaching of the Word of God, the Scriptures reveal the status and the dignity and the significance and the centrality of Christ. It is clear that Jesus is the central person and the focus of God’s program for the salvation of sinners. Sinners from all walks of life, from all tribes and nations, from all times and periods, Jesus Christ is the way and the truth and the life. No one could go to the Father unless they come through the solution the Father’s given us, and that is Jesus Christ, the doorway into eternal life. But we have this problem, and the problem is sin. Sin separates us from God. We can’t get into heaven in our condition that we’re in. So faith in the Father’s solution to our sin includes a redirecting of our heart to Jesus.
See, many people say, well, there’s many ways to God. You can go through this religion and through that religion, and you can go to this place and that place, and as long as you’re sincere in your heart, you’ll get there. It’s like we’re all going up a mountain. One’s going on the east, and one’s on the west, and then one’s on the north, and we’re trying, and we’ll all make it to the top. That’s a bunch of baloney. There’s only one way, and that’s through Christ.
So Jesus’ purpose in coming into the world is summed up very nicely in Luke, the Gospel of Luke 19:10, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost, and we’re all lost. And how did He accomplish His mission to save those who are lost? In the person of Jesus Christ, God literally became a man. He lived a perfect life of righteousness in obedience to His own laws and on behalf of His children. And as 1 Peter tells us and what He says about Jesus, who committed no sin and no deceit was found in His mouth, and having perfectly obeyed the law, Christ willingly died for sinners. He died in the place of sinners. He died in the place of all who will come and believe in Him by repentance towards the Father and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But Jesus wasn’t just willing to save us. You can’t just be willing to save someone. You have to be qualified to save someone. Jesus was qualified to save someone because the Bible says He was the sinless, spotless Lamb of God without sin. That’s qualification.
And then secondly, He was not only willing and qualified, He was able to save you. Why? Because He was God in the flesh. He was able to, on that cross, endure an eternal punishment for our sins and then finish it and then rise from the dead and defeat Satan and death in the process. So when Jesus died, He endured the wrath of God and the anger of God and the punishment of God for our sins. He died as a sacrifice for sins, satisfying all the requirements of divine justice and took upon Himself the punishment that was due us. He died in our place. And this is what it says in 1 Peter 3:18,
For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust.
The just being Jesus for the unjust being us. And what did he do that for? Here’s the purpose. In order to bring us to God. So who can take us to God? Who can take us to the Father? Christ can. You can’t get there on your own. You’re not going to get there by your good deeds, even though no deeds are good. You’re not going to get there in any way unless you come to Christ in repentance of your sin and you trust in Him. You don’t help Him save you. You just come with all your sin, all your baggage, all your garbage and bring it to Christ, because He’s taken care of all of it. See, that’s why the gospel is called good news. But you got to get the bad news before you get the good news. Right? And when you get the bad news, how bad we are, and that we deserve God’s wrath, then the good news, man, does it taste good. Does it taste good. See, that’s the biblical solution. That’s biblical salvation. That Christ, after He died for sinners, rose from the dead bodily three days later, and as it says in scripture, He was raised the third day according to what? According to the word of God, the scriptures. So if you, sinner, with nothing in your hand, do receive Jesus Christ alone and believe he died and rose for you, the Bible says eternal life is not the purchase of human merit, but the free gift of the love of God.
And so how do we respond to that? By faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. This also includes this, not only redirecting our heart to Jesus, but also responding to the relevance of Jesus personally. So in other words, you must respond. There’s no neutral ground here. You can’t say, well, I’ll think about that. Maybe later on I’ll consider it. Well, you’re not guaranteed tomorrow, so I think you should seriously consider it today. Now is the day of salvation, the Bible tells us. Now, right now, when you hear it, when you’re under it, when you’re listening, when you’re putting yourself in the equation, now is the day of salvation. So believing the gospel means to obey the message concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a call of obedience, that He is the Son of God, that He is God’s own and only way of salvation, that God sent Jesus to the cross, that God put all our sins on Him and punished them in Him. See, do you believe that? Do you have faith in that, and only that? Have you received the message about Jesus Christ?
See, believing the gospel means that you stop all self-justification, that you stop every reliance on your good deeds to save you. You stop all thoughts of religiosity to save you. You stop all your own efforts to save yourself, because you cannot save yourself. That has never been your job to save yourself. It’s always been God’s job, because salvation is of God. And as it says in Matthew 9:13, Jesus said, For I did not come to call the righteous, I have come to call sinners. Right? So either you’re depending on your own righteousness, or you’re going to depend on God’s righteousness. And I would say this morning, depend on God’s righteousness. Trust in Him alone for eternal salvation.
Now, don’t leave here today. All these people that are going to be baptized in a few moments, every one of them had to repent towards God the Father and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Or that’s the only reason why they would be baptized, because we’re talking about believer’s baptism. The Bible doesn’t talk about baby baptism. There’s no such thing in Scripture. You can’t find it. So don’t leave here today and think that this sounds all very true and say to yourself, well, I’m going to determine to go home and live a better life. From now on, I endeavor to obey the commandments of God. Well, if you really think that way this morning, He will tell you that you are now disobeying Him more now than you ever have done in your whole life. For today, be warned, my friend. Do not believe the lie that all roads lead to heaven. They do not. The road is narrow. The gate is narrow. And the only way into the Father’s presence is Jesus Christ. You believe in Him with all your heart, mind, soul, and all your strength. You come and repent, coming to Him with your sin. So saving faith means you come to an end of yourself, your reliance on yourself, your self-righteousness, and your trusting absolutely in Christ for forgiveness of sin and eternal life.
So have you received the free offer of eternal salvation? Have you obeyed the gospel? Now, in other words, do you have the two essentials? Repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you do not, you have no part of the matter of salvation. And that’s not what I say. That’s what the Word of God says. It’s a hard message, but it’s a true message. So today, Jesus invites you to come. Come right now and repent of your unbelief. Ask Jesus to rescue you from sin’s condemnation and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. And remember, you cannot establish your own righteousness. Instead, submit yourself to the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. And stop trying to offer a price to earn your eternal life. Instead, come and receive life as a free gift from God as He intended it. You are not called upon to earn life, but to receive it. And don’t let your pride get in the way. Give it up. Fling yourself on the mercy of God and His pardoning grace. The resurrected and living Christ wants to give eternal life freely to all who come to Him without cost. He’s done all the work. He’s paid the full price. You don’t help God save yourself. You come to him and He saves you. He saves you. So come, be awakened in your soul, have your eyes open to the living Lord Jesus, and rejoice that he gives life to dead sinners.
So make sure that you don’t leave today without the two most important essentials in the matter of God’s eternal salvation. And that’s solemnly testifying to both the Jews and the Greeks, to all people, of repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this matter of salvation, if you want to talk about it more with me, I’ll be willing to talk afterwards to see what it takes, what the Lord requires of you in asking Him to save you. So all those people that are ready to be baptized, you can be dismissed and will listen to their testimonies this morning. And as they are dismissed in the back to prepare for baptism, let me just close in a word of prayer this morning.
Let’s pray. Lord, thank You again today for Your kindness and goodness to us. Lord, we know that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So I pray, Lord, the word of God that was spoken this morning, You can use in the heart of people to bring them to a true saving knowledge of Christ. And I pray, Lord, just as myself and these who are being baptized have come to that place, we know, Lord, You are still in the business of saving us. And Lord, I pray that we may hear of that more and more as we move into these dark days in this world, that the light of the gospel is still penetrating the darkness. And I pray You bring many to salvation. Now, Lord, as these people give their testimony in baptism, I pray that it would be a great encouragement to all of us who hear, knowing that You are still working in people’s lives, young and old, and the power of the gospel is still evident in the changed lives of people. And I pray in Christ’s name. Amen.