II. The Authenticity of Repentance
There are several characteristics that define authentic repentance in this passage. As we learned in the last section, repentance means literally “to change one’s mind.” Biblical repentance is a changing of the mind (in accordance with the Word of God) that acknowledges God is right and I am wrong. When someone hears the Word of God and believes what he hears, he may have to repent (change his mind) about what he has just been taught. Faith (believing what God says) and repentance (changing my mind to accept that truth) are inextricably linked. In verses 5-9 we see four characteristics of repentance.
A. Repentance is specific
The first characteristic is that repentance is specific. First, it is specific to an individual. Repentance may be directed to a group but it must be received personally, individually, specifically.
Matthew explains that the whole nation, the whole country, was going out to hear John. It was a mass exodus. It was such a unified display that in the original language Matthew uses a singular verb to describe it. It would read something like this (in an undignified way): “Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the district around the Jordan (IT) was going out to him.” The mass of people were being considered as one unit, the individuals melded into one group. They flowed into the region where John was so that it looked like an enormous caravan, like the movement of an army (one large group). We use the same terminology in using a singular verb when referring to one unit. For example, we say, “the army is moving,” not “the soldiers are moving.” We wouldn’t say the soldiers are moving unless we were looking at their individual movements. This whole group was coming as one great mass.
Back in the days of evangelist George Whitefield (the 1740s in colonial America), as he moved up and down the eastern seaboard, great crowds of tens of thousands of people, upon hearing where he was preaching, would begin to crowd the streets. They would head in a mass to where he was until the dust from their movement filled the air. Perhaps it looked the same way as the Jews approached to hear John the Baptist. Great clouds of dust signaled the approaching army of hearers.
The point that Matthew makes here is this. They may have come out as one group, but Matthew makes it clear that those who repented did not do so as a group but as individuals. They (singular—as a group) went out to hear John but they (plural—as individuals) were being baptized. They were confessing their sins, and their repentance was not communal but individual.
Secondly, repentance is specific to the message received. From the New Testament there seem to be three separate calls to repentance given. The first call to repentance is John’s, found here in Matthew. John’s call was specifically made to the nation of Israel. In Acts 13:24, Paul, in preaching the gospel, mentions John, saying that “John had proclaimed…a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.” And repentance has a particular message to which people must respond. This message of repentance God had given John to proclaim was in reference to their preparation to hear and receive the Messiah. In Acts 19, the apostle Paul meets some disciples of John in Ephesus who had not yet heard of the Lord Jesus. In verse 4 he says, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”
A second call to repentance found in the Scripture is that of the call to repent to receive eternal life. It is described in several different ways. In Luke 24:47 it is called the repentance for the forgiveness of sins. In Acts 11:18 it is expressed as the repentance to life. In Acts 20:21 it is called the repentance toward God. In Hebrews 6:1 it is spoken of as a repentance from dead works.
This repentance is connected with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In acknowledging and turning away from our dead works and own attempts to please God by our efforts, we place our trust in His death and resurrection as payment for our sins. It is this repentance that gives eternal life. This message of repentance was given to both Jews and non-Jews. In Acts 5:31 Peter mentions that Jesus “is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel.” And in Acts 11:18, the individuals at the church in Jerusalem said, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance…to life.” And as John gave a message of repentance to prepare for the Messiah, this message of repentance was to receive the Messiah. It wasn’t a preparatory repentance; it was a consummative (a finished repentance). This repentance actually produced the results of bringing eternal life. People might have repented at the preaching of John, but until they found the fulfillment of John’s message in Jesus they would not be saved.
John’s call to repentance is no longer applicable, but this repentance toward Jesus Christ is. And unless you repent the Scripture makes it clear that you will perish.
There is a third call to repentance found in the Scripture. It is not a general call to repentance, but a call given to believers. This is when the Spirit of God uses the Word of God or discipline to bring a believer to repent over specific sin. It is for the restoration of fellowship between a believer and the Lord or between two believers. In the book of Revelation we see clear calls for repentance to believers. In chapter 2, the church in Ephesus is told, “‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent.” The church at Ephesus had left their first love. God saw that they were going through the motions of serving the Lord. Sure, they had a strong doctrinal stance. But God saw past that and knew that without rekindling their love for the Lord, it would all soon become an outward show that lacked the power of God’s Spirit.
This repentance is event-specific. The Holy Spirit speaks to the believer about his sin. He makes it clear what the believer has done wrong and he is to respond with confession. He is to acknowledge that he is wrong and God is right. The Holy Spirit and the Word of God work together to convince the believer of the sin of which he needs to repent. In Revelation 3:19, in speaking to the church at Laodicea, Jesus gives the reason why He does this: “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.” It is because the Lord loves us that He convicts our hearts about sin. He knows what is best for us and wants to see us walk in this way. So He reminds us of our sin, calls us to repentance, and desires us to be filled by His Spirit so we might carry out His work with power.
B. Repentance is not religion
The next characteristic of repentance is that repentance is not religion. The Pharisees and Sadducees came to John’s baptism. These groups were known for their strict religious practices and particularly for their pride in their own religious accomplishments. Repentance and pride have no common ground. The Pharisees and Sadducees were willing to make a show of religion and be baptized (It was one more achievement in which they could take pride.). That is, they were willing to be baptized until John stopped them. They were not genuinely willing to repent. Religion adds requirements to please God instead of going back to acknowledge the wrong that God has pointed out.
They were willing to content themselves with a deed instead of hearing and trusting God’s Word. King David, in Psalm 51:16-17, David says, “You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; you are not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.” It isn’t that God did not call for sacrifices and offerings. He did. But David understood that a sacrifice made without the heart of repentance and faith would not be pleasing to God. Our initial reaction when we sin is, “Let me do something to make up for it. Let me go on a pilgrimage, let me give more, let me pray harder, instead of repenting over my sin.”
The people in Jesus’ day were no different. In John 6, after He has fed the five thousand with a few fish and loaves, the people come to Him seeking more food. He begins to speak to them about their need to receive eternal life and the people say to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” He was offering them life and they wanted to work for it. So He tells them plainly, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
This is why repentance is not religion. Religion seeks to get to God through our effort. Repentance is a response to the Word of God that simply acknowledges that we are wrong and God is right.
C. Repentance cannot rest in the faith of others
The third characteristic we see from this passage is that repentance cannot rest in the faith of others. In verses 7-9, Matthew writes, “When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, “We have Abraham for our father:” for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.’”
The Jewish people had a great heritage. Abraham, their forefather, was a strong man of faith. “He believed God and it was credited to Him for righteousness.” However, these religious men trusted in their family lineage instead of resting in the faith of their father Abraham. Such a trust could not save them because it was not based on the humility of repentance but on the pride of pedigree.
When a person relies upon participation in a church that is well known or has been around for a long time, or the fact that his parents had been Christians, or he came from a great line of believers, he is trusting in something that cannot save him. When someone asks you if you have been saved, what are you relying upon?
Is it that
you were raised in a good Bible-preaching church?
your parents always told you about Jesus?
you had some particular experience, some feeling that assured you that you were saved?
you’ve really tried to do what was right?
Repentance cannot rest in the faith of others. It must come from your faith in the Word of God as the Spirit speaks to your heart. Repentance unto salvation (that produces salvation) can only come from believing what God says concerning the Savior’s death and resurrection and acting in faith to receive that salvation.
D. Repentance bears fruit
The last characteristic of repentance is that repentance bears fruit. In verse 8, John spoke to the Pharisees and Sadducees, saying, “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance,” that is, bear fruit in accordance with repentance. The fruit borne out of repentance depends on the type of repentance being called for. As I mentioned earlier in this message, the repentance that John proclaimed was to call the nation of Israel to receive their Messiah, their Savior. Their repentance was a call to change their mind about and embrace specific truth. (“The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”) God’s appointed Messiah was coming and they needed to change their minds about their sin and be ready to receive Him, to have ears to hear Him. John was preparing the nation for the coming of the Messiah. When John told the Pharisees and Sadducees to bear fruit in repentance, what kind of fruit was he expecting? Since John came to prepare the way of the Lord, what would repentance produce in them? We could look at several things (and I’m not saying that this is exhaustive), but there would be some clear aspects that his message of repentance called for in the case of the religious leaders he was addressing. Since the Pharisees and Sadducees were political and religious leaders, they needed to be ready to relinquish control of the nation to the Messiah, politically and religiously. In changing their minds and repenting concerning the Messiah, they needed to have an expectation that He was truly coming. Their change of mind, their repentance, at John’s message would have prepared them to receive the Messiah.
Look at the difference between the majority of those religious leaders who had not repented and two who had repented. The religious leaders were unwilling to recognize Jesus’ authority. They continued to ask Jesus to show them a sign to prove His authority. And when Pilate asked them if they wanted their king crucified, they replied, “We have no king but Caesar.” But Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea repented and accepted Jesus’ authority. Nicodemus said, “We know that you are a teacher come from God.” His repentance over John’s message caused him to recognize Jesus’ religious authority. It prepared him to listen to what Jesus had to say. Joseph of Arimathea was another member of the ruling body of the Jews who repented at John’s message. Luke 23 says that as a member of the council he had not consented to their plan and actions against Jesus and he was waiting for the kingdom of God. He recognized Jesus’ authority to rule as the Messiah.
But what about the repentance that leads to life? What is the fruit of the repentance unto salvation? When you believe that your sin will cause you to perish, that Jesus Christ is the Savior who died for your sin to remove its penalty from you, when you believe this and repent concerning your own attempts to secure your salvation (whatever they were: good works, baptism, religion), your repentance (when you acknowledge God has been right and you have been wrong concerning how to attain salvation) will bear the fruit of your calling upon the name of the Lord for salvation. Unless you have believed in Jesus Christ and in repentance called upon Him to save you, then you are still in your sin and are destined for God’s wrath. This is why the apostle Paul says that there is a possibility you could have believed in vain. To believe without the repentance that causes you to call upon the name of the Lord is a vain belief. It does not save. You might have come under conviction about your sin, you might believe that Jesus died for your sins, you might be sorry for your sin. But unless you have called out to the Lord to save you from your sin, you have not repented unto salvation. And you are lost.
Admitting that you have been wrong about your salvation may actually keep you from being saved. You may have claimed to be a Christian for some reason, but you believed you never called upon the Lord to save you. You were baptized, you served the Lord in all kinds of ways, yet in all your hearing, in all your learning, you never called upon the name of the Lord. And since you never called upon his name, He never saved you. The problem is that the longer you claim to be a Christian, without ever calling upon His name for salvation, the more difficult it becomes to humble yourself and admit that you never were born again. Did you call upon the Lord to save you? If not, what are you waiting for? Do you believe that He died and rose again to pay for your sins? Call upon Him and ask Him to save you and give you eternal life.
But there is also a repentance that believers are called to. This is a separate repentance than that which leads to life. As I mentioned earlier, this is when the Spirit of God uses the Word of God or discipline to bring a believer to repent over specific sin. When God points out sin in your life, the reason He does so is not to make you feel inferior, or to harm you, or to put you on the defensive. It is to restore your fellowship with Him. This is what 1 John 1:9 is about: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
The fruit of this repentance King David outlines in Psalm 51. In verses 12-13, he says, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will be converted to You.” The fruit of this repentance is the restoration of the joy of our salvation. It is a renewed understanding that we need God’s Spirit to live out His characteristics (“sustain me with a willing spirit”). This repentance over sin equips us to share the gospel with others. When we are not walking in fellowship with the Lord (and we know it because the Lord has pointed out our sin), we are miserable and don’t have any desire to tell others about the Lord (because we are in the midst of His discipline). But once we confess our sin to Him and acknowledge it, we are right with Him and our heart is filled with joy because we have acknowledged our sin.
Have you come to the repentance that leads to life?
As a believer, don’t neglect the Lord’s work in your life to bring you to repentance.
Why miss the joy He has for you?
Why miss the blessing of seeing the Lord’s power work in your life?
Why miss the privilege of bringing the gospel to others?