And so faith and repentance are the hallmarks of evangelism. You must emphasize both. And it’s just two things:
You must call a sinner to repent, turn away from his sins,
and turn to all that the Lord Jesus has done on the cross.
…..The Lord holds forth the same promise of mercy to sinners for repentance and faith. And sometimes you’ll find it, as you read through the Bible, that the emphasis is on repentance but it’s the same mercy, the same promise. And sometimes it’s faith alone, but it’s the same mercy and the same promise. Peter’s sermon with the promise of the remission of sins…he said, “this promise is unto you” but he was preaching about repentance. Then in Acts 3:19 “Repent ye therefore and be converted.” This is true because repentance and faith are the same turning.
Now, before we wind up tonight, someone will perhaps be tempted to think and raise the objection that when you emphasize repentance you’re going to put a barrier for a poor sinner to be saved……you’re going to hold them back by insisting upon true genuine repentance over all known sin.
Now, I want to say clearly tonight that the call to repentance does not close the door to seeking sinners who want to be saved because the call to repentance is not self-reformation.
We’re not telling the person, “Go and make yourself better and when you’re better come back and I’ll talk to you about believing in the Lord Jesus. That’s not the gospel. That’s not repentance. We’re not calling a person to change themselves. We’re calling a person to recognize that their ways are contrary to God’s will and law. That they cannot be continued and be in a good relationship with God, to renounce them in heart as terrible, wicked, sinful, and to plead with the Lord for power to change and be changed.
Now in your hymnal, Number 222 there is a hymn by Joseph Hart and it sums up what is required and
here you will see the tremendous balance between repentance with faith and the free offer of the gospel.
Now we are all about the free offer of the gospel. We do not want to tell anyone that you cannot be saved until something else.
If tonight you’re burdened, if tonight you’re feeling the weight of sin, if tonight you want to be changed and you want to be living a new relationship with God, you may come immediately to the Lord Jesus.
And here’s the hymn, Joseph Hart:
Come, ye sinners, poor and needy,
weak and wounded, sick and sore,
Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity, love and power.
Come ye thirst, come and welcome,
God’s free bounty glorified.
True belief and true repentance,
every grace that brings you nigh.
Come, ye weary, lost and ruined by the Fall.
If ye tarry until you’re better, you’ll never come at all.
Let not conscience make you linger, nor of fitness fondly dream.
All the fitness He requireth is to feel your need of Him.
And that’s where we draw the line. But we’ve had the discussion: repentance of all sin and faith toward God. Or, as we preachers like to put it sometimes:
All you need to know is the Lord Jesus is a great Savior
and you are a great sinner.
If you know that and want to be saved from your sin, from your sin, not in your sin, then welcome. Come, tonight. And I say that to any soul here this evening.
If you’re living under a burden of sin and your faith is in the Man of Calvary and that blood that He shed upon the cross: Tonight, come! Come as you are! Come repenting and come believing and you are promised full salvation!
Excerpt 33:22 to 39:14
Evangelism-To Make the Way of Faith and Repentance known
Rev. Ian Goligher
June 17, 2022
https://www.sermonaudio.com/saplayer/playpopup.asp?SID=61722203356340
