“Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead,” Acts 17:29-31.
Mankind generally has cast away the ‘Book of Certainties’, the Bible. In consequence, all that is left is a process of guessing which, in turn, ushers in nothing but continual reassessment of the path that our best deductions had us believe was the right path!
“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death,” Proverbs 14:12.
It was part of the Gospel the apostles preached (and which we must also preach) that there are ‘certainties’ upon which we can utterly depend.
One of those is the appointed day, in which God “will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained.”
This glorious truth must ever feature in our preaching!
Consider first of all . . .
I. THE VERY FIRST WORD OF VERSE 31 IS A CALL FOR ACTION
“Because he hath appointed a day.” Here is why men should repent.
1. Note that the ‘times’ before the universal Gospel era are called ‘times of ignorance’. Prior to the Gospel coming into our lives we were in darkness and ignorance of all that was of God. It would be true that mankind retained a faint awareness that there was a God, but as to His nature, character and His Law, men could only guess and speculate. That is the reason why the world is dotted with innumerable ‘religions’, all having their own ‘deities’ under a raft of titles and likenesses!
Even when they have constructed a ‘theology’ regarding their idols, they are still aware that they have not got it right.
It was because of his that the Athenians erected an altar, among their many altars, with the inscription, “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.” (Acts 17:23)
Zophar the Naamathite asked the question, “Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?” Job 11:7.
The answer, confirmed by history, is NO!
2. Note the kindness and mercy of God. “And the times of this ignorance God winked at,” verse 30. It means that the Lord did not act against the world of idolators as might be expected. He ‘winked at’, that is, as a ‘wink’ denotes, He temporarily closed His eyes to this sin.
We have but to think of the times we continued in sin, without God’s judgment falling upon us.
Years I spent in vanity and pride,
Caring not my Lord was crucified,
Knowing not it was for me He died
On Calvary.
However, the wink of an eye ends when the eye reopens!
3. But that time has come to an end. “But now commandeth all men every where to repent,” verse 30. Please note the specifics of the Gospel.
a) It is a ‘command’ from the Lord. Religion is commonly viewed as an item on a ‘menu’ of options! We can pick or refuse to be ‘religious’.
This one word, “commandeth”, changes that. The Gospel is a law. Issued from the throne of God in heaven, it is to be obeyed.
Recall what the disciples who were with the Saviour on the mount of transfiguration witnessed and heard.
“And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him,” Matthew 17:1-5.
b) It is a command addressed to all men. There is not a person on the face of the earth who does not require that which becomes theirs when they obey the Gospel. It is sadly true, that anyone engaged in Gospel witnessing or preaching, invariably meets many who feel that God’s command is not directed at them for they are not sinful, but do their best and are confident that as a result they will be afforded a place in heaven!
How blind are such, not only to the Lord and His truth but to their own sinfulness! It is part of “the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13), that it blinds us to the corruptions of the daily outworking of our sinful nature.
The Bible makes plain that none of us are without sin and therefore under the condemnation of God’s holy law.
“For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not,” Ecclesiastes 7:20.
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God,”Romans 3:23.
“But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe,” Galatians 3:22.
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us,” 1 John 1:8.
The harvest of sin will dawn for the rejectors of the Gospel one day.
“For the wages of sin is death” Romans 6:23.
c) Being sinful, we are commanded to repent. The word repent is often ‘over simplified’.
The Shorter Catechism in Question 85 asks,
“What doth God require of us, that we may escape his wrath and curse due to us for sin?
Answer: To escape the wrath and curse of God due to us for sin, God requireth of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, with the diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption.”
Yes, it means a turning around, as has often been stated, but there is more to it than that!
Question 87 asks,
“What is repentance unto life?
Answer: Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavour after, new obedience.”
So then repentance is an essential element of God’s plan of salvation. It entails a turning unto God with a true sense of one’s guilt and the grief and hatred of it that such a knowledge brings. There is then a joyful embracing by faith of the promise of mercy offered in the Gospel and a seeking to walk obediently in the light of God’s Word.
There is a change in our heart and our affections. There is a change in the direction of our life and walk, and there is a determined following on in obedience to God thereafter!
Paul the Apostle declared what it was when he preached to king Agrippa . . .
“Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: but shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance,” Acts 26:19-20.
That is the repentance demanded of God.
II. GOD’S APPOINTED DAY OF JUDGMENT IS THE REASON WHY WE MUST REPENT.
1. Please note that it is an ‘appointed day’. Each passing day brings it one day nearer. The word ‘appointed’ means a day that is ‘set’, a day that will ‘stand’.
We live in a world where that declared by men as certain and sure is constantly changed! Political parties are elected on the basis of promises to enact certain practices that will benefit the electorate. However, somewhere between the ballot box and the counting of votes and the new government taking up office, somehow or other, the promises are forgotten about!!
Not so
That is no so with the Lord. “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” Numbers 23:19.
“In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began,” Titus 1:2.
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning,” James 1:17.
Let us never doubt this truth!
2. It is a day of righteous judgment. The word “righteousness” carries the meaning of all these words:‘Integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness.’
Man rejects that a guilty verdict passed upon him could be ‘righteous’. That is because of his very limited awareness of what is sin and how extensively he engages in it! We sin in thought and word and deed CONTINUALLY!
The record that the Lord keeps of our activities will be opened on that great day!
“But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment,”Matthew 12:36. Those are the words of the Lord Jesus!
None will challenge the Judge on that day!
“I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened,” Daniel 7:9-10.
“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death,” Revelation 20:11-14.
3. Not only is the day ‘appointed’, but so too is the Judge. God will “judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained,” verse 31.
What should concern sinners is the fact that the Judge they will face, is the very Person they have despised, mocked, rejected and blasphemed!
It is little wonder that the forces of Antichrist will cry out, as in recorded in prophecy, when they encounter the Lord!
“And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” Revelation 6:15-17.
Christ “was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead,” Acts 10:42. His ordination was affirmed when God “raised him from the dead,” Acts 17:31.
The sense of the argument is this: ‘Jesus Christ, whom we preach as the Saviour of men, has repeatedly told His followers that He would judge the world; and has described to us, at large, the whole of the proceedings of that awful time.
“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory,” Matthew 25:31.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man,” John 5:25-27.
Though He was put to death by the Jews, and thus He became a victim for sin, yet God raised Him from the dead. By raising Him from the dead, God has set his seal to the doctrines He has taught: one of these doctrines is, that he shall judge the world; His resurrection, established by the most incontrovertible evidence, is therefore a proof, an incontestable proof, that He shall judge the world, according to His own declaration.’
Amen.
III. IT MUST BE NOTED THAT REPENTANCE IS A CARDINAL DOCTRINE OF THE GOSPEL.
I have, at some length, defined what repentance means. I need not repeat myself. But this I must do.
I must declare that . . .
1. There is no Gospel without a call for repentance. No one will repent until they are told of their sin. The modern ‘evangelical’ shies away from such preaching. I recall hearing of a preacher denouncing sin and listing many of the common practices of today and then ending by saying, ‘But I am sure that no one here is guilty of such’!
That is a scandalous and wicked deceit on the part of that preacher! He might have thus avoided offending his audience but he most certainly offended the Lord and aided sinners down the road to hell, by this pitiful and cowardly deception!
Consider these words.
“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” Matthew 3:1-2.
And these . . .
“From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” Matthew 4:17.
To call on sinners to repent of their sins in the fashion of the Saviour or John the Baptist, would bring upon your head the epithets: ‘Legalistic’; ‘Judgemental’; ‘Censorious; ‘Faultfinder’!
Would a doctor be called such names were he to diagnose disease? I think not!
The Gospel preacher is a physician of the soul, declaring the need of sinners to heed God’s diagnosis and accept the healing ‘Gospel elixir’ whereby their sins will be all forgiven for Christ’s sake.
2. Faith in Christ, as He is offered in the Gospel, and repentance brings instant blessings. “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord,” Acts 3:19.
The devil is a liar. He has lied about Christ, denying He is divine. He has lied about the Bible, denying it is true. He has lied about hell, denying its existence. But he has lied too about the joys of salvation.
He has lyingly said the Christian life is one of misery and denial, of bondage and curtailment, when all the time the truth is that it is the very opposite of what these deceitful words imply!
The hymn writer put it well.
For all the Lord has done for me,
I never will cease to praise Him;
And for His grace so rich and free,
I never will cease to praise Him.
I never will cease to praise Him,
my Saviour, my Saviour;
I never will cease to praise Him,
He’s done so much for me.
The Psalmist likewise spoke of the blessings of salvation.
“The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons. I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore,” Psalm 16:6-11.
“The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah. For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever. His glory is great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him. For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance. For the king trusteth in the LORD, and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved,” Psalm 21:1-7.
Though we be not kings, yet we can taste and share in the same blessings as David.
3. From the day of our repentance, we are on our way to heaven! This assurance was given to the thief converted on the cross alongside the Saviour.
The repentant thief “ . . . said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise,” Luke 23:42-43.
The thief may not have lived long after the Saviour spoke these words but, however long it was, he lived out his life confident of glory!
Earlier that day, that thief had been despising the Saviour and joining the mockery of others around the cross. But grace changed his opinion and his eyes were opened to Who Christ was.
“And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, 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: but this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom,” Luke 23:39-42.
May the grace of God work in you the same change and may you call upon Him while you have the opportunity, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,” Romans 10:13.
Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)