The Word Made Plain

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Word Made Plain with Senior Pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts. Please open your Bible to Acts Chapter 26, verses 19 through 23.

Tony Clark: If you haven't repented, then you're not a true believer. You might be an occasional church attendee, but not a true son or daughter of God. Why? Because you never came through the door of repentance. This is what God wants everyone to do. You say, "Well, how do you know?" Well, because Acts 17 verses 30 and 31 says, "Truly these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent." Why? Verse 31: "Because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead," referring to Jesus.

Jesus will judge the world one day. So it is imperative that you repent of your sins. *Metanoia*, have a change of mind and heart, which leads to a change of behavior. We can't change ourselves; we need to repent. This is the purpose. We need to repent because we can't do it ourselves. This is not a self-help program. This is not a pull-your-own-self-up-by-your-bootstraps kind of program. This is not something you and I can do on our own. We need to repent or change the way we think and feel about our lives presently.

What you're doing and what we're doing, we need to repent. I don't care about the common thing where there's no problem just living together as husband and wife without being married because "we love each other" or "we're going to get married next year or in a year and a half." You need to repent and change the way you think and feel about the way that you're living. That's what it means to repent, because the way you're thinking is not right. Just because you get married in two years doesn't justify you living as husband and wife today.

I tell folks all the time we can solve this real easily. Go down to the justice of the peace, make it right, and then have some big shindig later on so you can be right, or so you can have guilt-free sex today. It's guilt-free when you're married and when you do it right. Even unbelievers know it; there's something in them like, "Something's not right." You can go to the justice of the peace. Somebody needs to hear that today. Somebody online, go tomorrow; it's Monday and it's open. The courthouse downtown is open. Go to the justice of the peace, get that license, and get squared away. Nobody has to know. Just go and do it, and then do something later on and act like it is this big thing. Do it right.

Need to repent, you need to change the way you think and feel. You think because you love each other, this is okay. Who cares how you feel? Who cares how you think? Change that. That's what it means to repent: to change the way you think and feel, which will lead to a change of behavior. That's what it means to truly repent and be sorry to God for violating his word, the Bible. The Bible says godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation not to be regretted.

The sorrow of the world leads to death, but godly sorrow will produce repentance to salvation not to be regretted. So because I may be making you feel sorry right now, that is a good thing because it's going to lead to repentance to salvation. The outcome is ultimately that you're going to be right with God, and that's why it's not to be regretted. Because you're going to be right with him. That's all that matters.

Once you repent, then you're told to, number two, turn to God. The Greek word for turn is *epistrepho*, and it means to revert back or to come again. It means to turn. So we turn to God, who sent his son to die for your sins on the cross. Why? Because Romans 6:23 says, "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Because we are born into sin or born sinners, we are all supposed to die. But God so loved us that he gave his only begotten son to die in our place, according to John 3:16.

John 15 verse 13 is a great verse. It says, "Greater love has no man than this, that he would lay down one's life for his friends." And now that you've repented and turned to God, the results will be that you would, number three, do works befitting repentance, as the last part of verse 20 says. John the Baptist told the religious leaders of his day in Matthew 3 verse 8, "Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance."

It's one thing to say, "I'm sorry." But the fruit that shows that you're truly sorry is turning away from that sin. In other words, men, it's one thing for us to say we're sorry to our wives, but the fruit that shows that we're truly sorry is that we will turn away from our sin. There must be fruit that shows that we are sorry. If a tree is boasting of being an orange tree, I better see oranges on that tree. If I see apples and you're boasting that you're an orange tree, I'll say you are an apple tree. And by the looks of things, you're a Honeycrisp apple. And sometimes you can be a Granny Smith, kind of sour. But you're not an orange tree.

The Bible says you shall know them by their fruit in Matthew 7:20. So you would know them. We are called to be fruit inspectors. There is nothing wrong with being a fruit inspector. It's not just "you're judging me." Yes, as a fruit inspector! For those who work in quality care, you do some quality care on the job, checking out the safety and stuff. And all of a sudden the lead or the boss says, "Bro, you're coming in to judge us." And you would say, "Yes, I am. That's what we're called to do." We're called to be fruit inspectors.

There is a level of judging that has to do with that. People only read Matthew 7:1, but there is Matthew 7:16 and 7:20 within that context. We're called to do this. And so the fruit that shows that we're sorry is a changed life. If not, then we're just saying empty words. When we repent of our sins and turn to God, the results will show up in our new lifestyles. This is the fruit of our repentance: a changed life. This is why I said that there are a lot of false Christians out here in churches across America, because they claim to have a relationship with Christ, but they really have a relationship with a church and not with Christ. I've seen that, and that's heartbreaking for me.

There is no fruit worthy of repentance in their lives because they never repented. And this is why there's no fruit from their lives. Let's just say if all churches and all Christians are an orange orchard, and then you're claiming "I'm a Christian" but we see apples on you. You say, "But I'm a Christian and I'm hanging out in the orange grove." We look at you and say, "How did you get here?" You think by hanging out with us you will become like us, but you're going to continue to produce apples unless you repent.

For Paul, there was a dramatic and drastic change in his life, so dramatic that he started to preach about the very person he once persecuted. When Paul got back to Jerusalem, Galatians 1:23 and 24 says, "But they were hearing only, 'He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.' And they glorified God in me." Dear people, that is a changed life. The faith he once tried to destroy, he is now preaching. Only God through Jesus Christ can make such a change in a person's life.

He was on his way to the city of Damascus to persecute, possibly kill, or put into prison Christians. And before he left the city, he was preaching Christ. Only God can change a life like that. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away, behold all things become new." This is the definition of it right here. That's why I said half of the people in churches across America have not had an experience like this where there's a drastic change in their lives. I'm here to say you are not truly saved if your life is just the same and you just added a little Jesus onto it. My dear sir or ma'am, you are not a true Christian.

I'm here to tell you that in all the love that I can. But you can get that right today as well. That's the beauty of all this. Verse 21 says, "For these reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me." For what reasons? For preaching repentance. Because Paul was obedient to the heavenly vision, the Jews tried to kill him. This shows us that not everyone is going to like the new you. Why? Because you're preaching repentance to them. You won't be silent; there's none of this "I'm a silent witness" kind of mess.

When you are changed, you can't help but to preach about Jesus. You can't help but to talk about him. Even when you're on the job and you know you're there to do a job, you're looking for ways. You're chomping at the bit. Maybe in the break room, or maybe right after, I can catch them before they go to the car. You can't help it. The message of repentance is not a popular message. This is why you don't hear much of it today. The Bible says in the last days people will have itching ears and they will heap up for themselves teachers to tickle them or to scratch them.

They don't want to hear sound doctrine. The Greek word for sound is where we get "hygiene" from. It is good, clean doctrine that will lead to clean living. You don't hear about repentance because it's not a popular message and it confronts the lives of the people you're preaching to. It says that we aren't okay and we don't have it all together. It tells people that they need to turn to Christ and that they can't make it to heaven on their own merit. Preaching repentance says that there is a holy God that you have offended with your sin.

So when we preach it, we need to expect for people to try to kill us too. Kill our reputation, kill our good name, or even kill us over social media. And in the very near future, kill us physically, like we're seeing happening to our dear brothers and sisters around the world. My country is in a mess spiritually; it's a hot buttered mess. But I still would rather live here than in the Middle East, in China, or in North Korea. I guarantee I'd rather live here than any of those places that are cutting heads off because people are Christians. But that sort of level of persecution is slowly making its ways across the waters and it's on the shores of America, just waiting for the chance to do it. Now they're just trying to kill us off lawfully by passing laws that will hinder us from doing what Christ has called us to do, which is to preach repentance.

I remember seeing a pastor who goes all over the place preaching on street corners. He went to Dearborn, Michigan. Whether you believe it or not, there is a city in Michigan that's basically Muslim-run and operates under Sharia law. So he went there to preach. He had his speaker and his microphone and he started preaching. Those Muslim brothers came out with the quickness. They said, "Get on away from me with that mess." He said, "No, I'm preaching." They got up in his face and said, "You better get gone. You better get on out of here. You ain't coming here with that."

Normal Americans would say, "I'm offended," but they would have been like, "Get up out of here." Next thing, he got up out of there or there was going to be some trouble. There was going to be some moving of some furniture and there was going to be some hands laid, and they weren't going to be praying for my brother either. And they meant that too. He was just on a corner preaching toward some high-rise apartments, and those brothers came down with the quickness when they heard that message in America. So just stand by.

Who tried to kill Paul? It was the Jews—the ones who knew his past, those who knew him best, and knew his life before Christ came into it. The same will be true to us. Who will try to kill us? Those who know us best, those who know our past: family members, close friends, or those who knew you in school. They will bring up old events, transgressions that you did, or hypocritical things you did in the past to slander you, disprove, or discredit your new life in Christ. This is why they would do it. So just be on guard. Don't try to justify yourself by saying, "But you were with me during that time." Don't try to justify yourself. Just respond by saying either "I am sorry I did that" or "That isn't me anymore. I am new in Christ now," and keep it moving.

Verse 22 says, "Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this very day I stand witnessing both to the small and to the great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come." Notice the first part of verse 22: "Having obtained help from God." Paul was saying no matter what came against me, God helped me. God came to my rescue. Claudius Lysias could have objected and said, "Help from God? That was me and my soldiers who helped you. And if it were not for my soldiers, you would be dead by now."

Paul saw God's hand working supernaturally in a natural way. So often we miss God working because he uses everyday people and things to work through. Paul saw God's hand using Claudius Lysias and his soldiers to rescue him, and he gave the credit to God. Paul went on to say, "I am standing here today because God helped me to be here, witnessing both to the small and to the great." What Paul said is what he said to the church in Philippi. In Philippians 1:12, he says, "But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel." God allows for things, good and bad, to happen to us to further the gospel.

So we can speak it to the small and to the great, to coworkers, to bosses, and all in between. God allows for us to go through things so we can comfort those all around us who are going through similar things that we've already gone through. This is why God allows for us to go through certain things. Then Paul once again told them that he was only preaching what the prophets and Moses said would come. Christianity isn't some heretical cult, people. It is the fulfillment of what the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Moses wrote about in Exodus.

Jesus rebuked the religious leaders for not believing in him. He told them in John 5 and verse 46, "For if you believe Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me." So what did the prophets and Moses write about Jesus? Verse 23 says, "That the Christ would suffer, that he would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles." Notice it said that Christ would suffer. We know this in Psalm 22, as well as Isaiah chapter 53. The Greek word for first is *protos*, and it means first in preeminence and not in chronology.

I say this because there have been a few people in the Old Testament who were raised from the dead but died again. But Jesus is the *protos*; he's the first to be raised from the dead never to die again. Verse 23 goes on to say, "to proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles." And the same is true for us. The Lord raised us from the dead in a spiritual sense. In Ephesians 2 verse 1, it says, "And you, he made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins." Christ brought us back from the dead to do the same thing he did: to proclaim light to those who sit in darkness.

If we're to be little Christians, little Christs, we're to do the same thing Christ did: to proclaim light to those who sit in darkness. This is what we're called to do as well. This is why Jesus told us in Matthew 5 and verse 16, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify the Father which is in heaven." This is what we're called to do: to glorify the Father in heaven. Now, how did the Governor Felix and King Agrippa respond after hearing Paul's compelling defense? Well, you have to wait until next week to find out.

Let me conclude with this. In part three of "Tell Your Story Again," we saw how Paul told Felix and King Agrippa the last part of his story that dealt with the results of Jesus being in his life. He told them he was obedient to the heavenly calling. That's one thing I want to get across to us. He said he was obedient to the heavenly calling and to the heavenly vision, and he preached repentance and how God's hand was upon him. The question I want to leave us with is this: Have you repented of your sins, turned to God, and done works that show or prove that Christ is in your life? If not, you can today.

When you do, then go out and tell others. Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. You can share the light upon them that was shed upon you today. You can do that today, and so let's close in prayer. Father, we do thank you. We do thank you for your loving kindness. We thank you for your tender mercies. We thank you for your grace upon us. And Lord, I pray if there's anyone here who needs to repent, oh God, I just pray, move upon this room now. If that's you here today, just pray this prayer after me. Just say, "Lord Jesus, forgive me. I believe you died on the cross and were buried and rose again. Come into my heart. I make you my Lord and Savior. Help me to live for you from this moment forward. In Jesus' name, Amen."

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