Repentance - Door to Forgiveness
A Sermon on Acts 5:29-32
Originally preached March 13, 1966
Scripture
29¶ Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. 30The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. 31Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and …
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
- The apostles proclaimed that they must obey God rather than men.
- Their message was about Jesus, whom the authorities had slain but God raised from the dead.
- God exalted Jesus to be a Prince and Savior to grant repentance and forgiveness of sins.
- Repentance comes before forgiveness and salvation. Without repentance, there is no salvation.
- The object of salvation is not just forgiveness but deliverance from sin and producing a new people zealous for good works.
- 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.
- Repentance means thinking again and changing one's mind. It calls us to think seriously about life, death, God, ourselves, and Christ.
- Repentance involves changing one's mind about God, ourselves, our lives, death, and Christ. We must acknowledge the truth about these things.
- Repentance involves feeling sorrow for our sins and acknowledging them before God. It means forsaking our old way of life and turning to God.
- Repentance is commanded by God but impossible for man in his own strength. God gives repentance by the Holy Spirit.
- The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and leads us to repentance. We must follow His leading.
- 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.
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.