Acts 11:18

THE NATURE OF REPENTANCE

‘Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.’

Acts 11:18

There is a repentance which is not unto life. ‘Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death.’

I. What is true repentance?—The Greek word has four stages of meaning, which bring before us clearly the thing itself.

(a) After-thought or reflection.

(b) Change of Mind.

(c) Change of Feeling.

(d) Change of Life.

II. How is this repentance related to Life? ‘Repentance unto life.’

(a) Repentance is an expression of life—a sign that the soul has begun to live. Those who are dead in sin experience no godly sorrow.

(b) Repentance is the germ of life.—It is not only a sign of life, but a prophecy and pledge of richer, fuller life. It leads to the assurance of God’s favour, and that is life; to the enjoyment of His loving-kindness, and that is better than life.

III. In what sense is repentance granted by God?—‘Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance,’ etc.

(a) Not in any sense which removes it from the sphere of human obligation, or makes it other than the free act of the sinner. The prophets, John the Baptist, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Apostles, all commanded men to repent: they always spake of it as a duty. Further, he who has done the wrong is the only one who can truly repent of the wrong. Repentance is pre-eminently a personal, lonely, spiritual operation.

(b) But by including men within the scope of His redeeming purposes, and granting them Gospel privileges. This was certainly to a very great extent the meaning of the Church at Jerusalem in our text. So now in a very important sense God grants repentance unto a man when He brings him within the reach of Gospel influences.

(c) By the agency of His Spirit on the heart. It was so with the Gentiles here spoken of (Acts 11:15). There is a mysteriousness about the awakening of penitence which leads one to exclaim, ‘By the grace of God I am what I am.’ The renewed spirit delights to trace all good to God.

Illustration

‘Repentance means a changed mind, an altered ruling purpose, a new way of looking at things. This change of mind affects the whole judgment, intention, spirit of our being. It implies a turning about in the direction, the drift of a man’s innermost life. If he regarded the world, before repentance, as a place merely to get the greatest amount of bodily pleasure in, after repentance he will regard it as the place to get the greatest amount of goodness in; he repents of his sensuality. If he looked upon it before as only a shop for making money, afterwards he will look upon it as a mission-field for cultivating righteousness; he repents of his sordidness. If he treated his position before as only a dressing-room for ostentation, he will afterwards treat it as a vineyard for honest and useful labour; he will repent of his vanity and idleness. If he esteemed men and women before only as beings made to promote his comfort and advance his interests, he will afterwards esteem them as beings that he is to comfort, and whose interests he is to serve; he will repent of his cupidity and selfishness. And so through the whole circle of virtues and vices. His inmost purpose is changed. Literally, he thinks the other way.’