Pastor of Family Ministry & Evangelism, Hunter Newton, preached this message on February 1, 2026.
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Audio Transcript
The summer of 2018 saw me serving as a summer camp counselor at 4 Wilderness Ministries near Rhinelander, Wisconsin. If that name sounds familiar, it’s where we take students every March for our winter camp. And I served that summer with the high schoolers and that was a tremendous gift to me. God called me to full time ministry that summer. Kids would come for three weeks at a time and it was just a gift.
And as you can see from the picture on the screen, that guy, that guy knew a thing or two about fashion, but just also thought he knew a lot about life. And so it was a gift to serve God that summer. And it was a neat program. Kids would come, it was intentionally small, so only 10 boy campers, 10 girl campers at a time were allowed to come in. They come for three weeks and really the hope and the goal was to build and show kids a real Christian community, quite literally like living it out.
And we would do, the first week they were there, we would do a trip up to the Porcupine Mountains, which I didn’t know there’s anything that classified as mountains in the Upper Peninsula, but we went there and we would do an overnight hike. The second week we’d do a four day canoe trip. And the last week we would do a trip up to Black River Harbor. And it was just a tremendous joy seeing kids getting the chance to live out Christian community. They would come and they would leave their phones with whoever dropped them off, which even in 2018, that was a big deal.
But I won’t ever forget the first time we went on one of those trips up to the Porcupine Mountains. As you can see, like I said, that guy thought he knew a lot about a lot of stuff. Maybe you were different at 20 years old, but I wasn’t. So I was the first time hiking, like doing serious hiking, like 50 pound backpack hiking. I thought I knew a lot.
And so you’re walking right as you do when you’re hiking. And I get to this point as we’re trying to climb up the bluff or mountain that we’re hoping to camp out on over the night. And I thought, you know, that’s from here to that first pew. That’s not that far of a jump, right? Wrong.
And I did not make it. And I’m left sitting there clinging to, clinging to this rock or this moss. And my, I’m just beat up, broken and just frustrated beyond. I’m like, if I fall, I’m probably not going to die, but I’m going to not be in good shape. And so I’m sitting there clinging to this and thinking, I’m just such an idiot.
And then just a hand comes, and it took me exactly zero seconds to grab that hand. A hand that helped pull me up to safety. A hand that didn’t say, what are you doing, you moron? You’ve made a mess of the situation. That hand pulled me up and got me out of the mess that I had made.
The same is true with our sin. Is it not? Like how quickly we should be to accept the hand of Jesus? Whether it’s turning away from sin for the first time, or turning and following and turning to and agreeing with Jesus. Yes, this is not right.
But this is what you have for me, I’m denying what I think is best and falling instead of what I know to be your best.
It’s a required part of the Christian life, and it’s essential part of the Christian life. This morning our big idea is simple. Repentance leads to salvation. Repentance leads to salvation. This is something that Jesus was trying to prove to his hearers then.
And God’s Spirit is using God’s Word to try to prove to our hearts and minds this morning. Every passage of God’s Word is trying to do one of primarily three things. It’s trying to either explain a concept to us, trying to prove something to us, or trying to show us how to do something. All three aspects of those are present in every passage. But this passage is primarily trying to prove to our hearts, to our minds, that repentance leads to salvation.
The text offers two proofs from the passage. One, you’ll see in verses 1 through 4 that unrepentance of sin leads to perishing. And the second proof is that there is no Christian life in verse 5, no Christian life without repentance. First, proof. Again, unrepentance of sin leads to perishing.
And second, proof. There is no Christian life without repentance. Those two proofs will work together to help prove the main idea that’s being communicated from God’s Word this morning, that repentance leads to salvation. Turn with me in your bibles to Luke 13:1 5. It’s on page 925 of the Pew Bibles.
Luke 13:1 5.
At that time, some people came and reported to him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices, and he responded to them. Do you think that these Galileans were more sinful than all the other Galileans because they suffered these things? No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you you will all perish as well. Or those 18 that.
That the Tower of Siloam fell on and killed. Do you think they were more sinful than all the other people who live in Jerusalem? No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you will all perish as well. This is the word of the Lord.
So our first proof this morning, unrepentance of sin leads to perishing. This isn’t a throw. Physical death. In some cases, you know, sin does lead to physical death. It’s a spiritual death, a spiritual perishing.
And we’re camping out here primarily in verses one through four. And verses one through four serve as primarily a photo negative of our big idea. And some of you are like, I don’t know what a photo negative it is. I don’t really know what it is either. But I’m just told that it means the opposite of something.
And so it makes sense then that this, if it’s trying to serve as a proof of repentance leading to salvation, that just the opposite would be true, that unrepentance would lead to the opposite of salvation. Okay, it’s clear from verses 1 through 4 that Jesus wants them to hear this. He’s still addressing the same crowd that he was at the start of chapter 12. And that’s kind of right how Luke writes as the historian that he is. And in keeping things account of, and then this happened, this happened, and then the crowd, it keeps asking these questions to Jesus.
And some brave members of the crowd come and say, hey, Jesus, did you hear about what happened to these galleons? And they suffered this harsh death. And Jesus responds to them exactly how he’s supposed to be. That’s how Jesus responds. Exactly.
Every time he says he’s addressing what is commonly known as the retribution principle. That’s a widely held Eastern belief. And believe it or not, a lot of us hold it too. And this is directly addressed, like in the Book of Job when they keep saying, job, you need to repent of your sin. That’s why all these terrible things are happening to you.
But what Jesus is trying to show here is that what goes around doesn’t come around. Not always. In 21st century America, we might phrase it like that, or we might borrow the Hindu phrase karma. Sometimes you get what’s coming to you, but not always. In verse 2, Jesus asked the question, do you think these galleons were more sinful than all the other galleons because they suffered these things?
I mean, that’s a fair question, isn’t it? It’s commonplace It’s a widely held belief.
They might just assume that Jesus is going to agree with them. They might just say, well, oh yeah, of course Jesus believes that. But then in verse three he gives an emphatic no, no, and this likely doesn’t startle you and I like it would of them. It’s hard to understand just how at the very core of who they were, that this belief was held. Well, if I do this and then you see how that’s how he addresses the Pharisees.
Continually thinking about if you’re a great sinner or he or she’s a great sinner, or they make claims like, well, he eats with tax collectors and sinners. And it’s just there’s the self elevating. Jesus is trying to help them understand it’s not about how good you are. But this would have been deeply unsettling to them. I don’t know how to phrase in a way that makes sense to 21st century Americans in the Midwest, other than it would have been as crazy of a statement as saying that the sky is actually green instead of blue.
Like it would have been deeply unnerving.
Jesus is using familiar framework to get their attention so that he can not only correct a wrong belief, but to point what he most deeply wants to communicate. The people of his day needed to understand, just like we do today, that it’s not about being good enough. We can’t. Luke 19:10 says that Jesus came to seek and save the lost. He came on a rescue mission.
If there was any other way for us to be made right with God, would God the Father have not sent his own Son? No, of course not.
It’s not about how much or how little of a sinner I am of how you are. Humans are born sinners thanks to our union with Adam. And David writes in Psalm 51 that in sin my mother conceived me. We’re also sinners by choice, constantly choosing to disobey God. And if you’re new to church and you’re like, what is sin?
Sin is anything that breaks God’s heart. That’s not an all encompassing definition, but something that’s against God’s character, against his will.
Jesus doesn’t sugarcoat it here. He says, no, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all perish as well. One singular sin is enough to separate us from a holy God forever. And some of us that quick to say, that’s not fair. That doesn’t make sense.
But if we think that it’s not enough, we really underestimate how holy God is to think about one sin is enough to separate us from ever. And I love you enough to tell you, friend to friend here, you and I have committed more than one sin in our lives, okay? He is the standard for right and wrong. God is totally just, and he doesn’t have to offer us a chance of redemption at all. First, John 1:5 says, this is the message we have heard from him and declare to you, God is light and there’s absolutely no darkness in him.
He does not mix with sin. And the only right response then to sin is to punish it, to cast it out. And that means eternal perishing. It means eternal spiritual death. And spiritual death is far worse than physical death.
Far worse. Because spiritual death is ongoing, it’s continual, it does not cease. We’ve got the word here on the screen, the Greek word apollemi. It’s described. It can mean to perish, but also it can mean to be destroyed or to ruin, or to continue to be made worse.
It’s a continual, ongoing making one’s worse and worse, being further and further ruined. Is there eternal conscious torment? Yes, but it’s also the removal of God’s favor. And it’s also continually making some somebody just a worse and worse version of themselves. When somebody spiritually perishes, they’re ruined to a limit with no end.
Yes, we’re saved from sin, but also saved from becoming worse versions of ourselves than a process that never ceases.
It’s kind of what Paul writes about in Romans 1:28 32. And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a corrupt mind so that they do what is not right. They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God haters, arrogant, proud, boastful inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, senseless, untrustworthy, unloving and unmerciful.
And pay attention to verse 32, although they know God’s just sentence that those who practice such things deserve to die. As talking again here, spiritual death. They not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them. God loves every person enough to give them their actual desires of their heart. And if you don’t want him, he will turn you over to that and saying, I will give you what you actually want.
But here are the just consequences. Unrepentance of sin leads to perishing. That’s one proof that repentance leads to salvation. The other proof is that there is no Christian life without repentance. We turn our attention to verse 5.
There is no Christian life without repentance. Jesus answers the question of verse four. He asks a similar question, not the exact same one, but he asks it about a different scenario in verse four. And then he gives the exact same response in verse five. And of course he’s doing this for emphasis.
And it’s hard to understand just how loving but also forceful he’s trying to be here. He’s saying, do not miss this. He’s trying to be just as clear to them. And then God’s spirit is using it to be clear to us this morning. Do not miss it.
I’m a high, circle it, highlight it, underline it. It’s not about how good you are. You couldn’t be good enough. I couldn’t be good enough. Nobody’s good.
Not even one. The book of Romans would tell us there is no Christian life without repentance. There is no starting to the Christian life. There is no opposite to spiritual perishing. If there is no repentance.
Jesus is trying to communicate. It’s not about doing better, getting your act together enough. It’s about admitting your need for him. Our need for him. I don’t know what your Christian life has been like, but the more that I grow in Christ likeness, the more I see how far I have to go.
Is that not true for you too? The more you grow in holiness, the more you realize how badly you need him. It’s about dying to self and trusting that Jesus ways are better.
You’ve heard me say this before and you’ll hear me say it again. In every church gathering, there’s two groups of people. Those who have not yet put their trust in Jesus and those who have. Those who have not yet put their trust in Jesus and those who have. And the application is really the same for both, but it’s a little different.
The application I think you’ve probably gathered thus far is repentance. But if you don’t know Jesus, it means repenting from the first time. It means turning away from sin. The Bible always describes repentance as a turning away from and a turning to, A turning away from sin and self destruction and a path that leads to eternal ruining and turning towards Jesus. Turning away from what?
The world. What I say is better, but actually turning to the ways that lead to life. And if you have not put your trust in Jesus, your application is really simple. Do it. There’s no reason to wait.
Hopefully we’ve Been clear whether it’s your first time or a thousandth time here, there’s no reason to wait. There is no better life than what can be found in Christ. And we’ll cover the application again here. But it means taking the hand. It means looking at Romans 1 and seeing that’s not a path of life that I want.
You. Can you pray a prayer of something like God, would you forgive me of my sins? But also there’ll be a time in towards the end that you can go in the back. There’s going to be people with little prayer team badges on that would love to pray with you on how to come to trust in Jesus this morning. They’d be happy to talk with you how to do it.
So that’s if you haven’t put your trust in Jesus, but if you have, repentance is still essential. Repentance is absolutely essential to the Christian life. It can’t start without it, but also it can’t keep going without it. Yes, we’re still justified. Yes, we’re still given grace we’ll ever need.
We are not more. We don’t become more saved, we just become more like Jesus. We are saved the moment we trust in him. Of course, yes, and amen. But if we, if we want to see real evidence or real fruit that we’ve trusted in Jesus, we need to be repenters.
There’s two primary reasons for that. One, that the word repent is almost always ongoing in the Scriptures. It’s a continual Keep doing this, keep on repenting, keep on turning back to Jesus, keep turning away from sin, keep doing it. Keep, keep, keep, keep.
It’s a command that we need to do continuously. But also the second reason, if we’re growing in Christlikeness, it means we’ll be constantly turning away from sin, like turning to what’s actually better for us. You think about the familiar hymn and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in light of his glory. And praise. The Puritan pastor John Owen famously put it like this.
Be killing sin or sin will be killing you. Sin is not something to make a pet of. Sin is not something to toy around with. Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you. And if you are a follower of Jesus, if we are followers of Jesus, the goal of our life is to bring as much glory to God as possible.
A lot of times we read Ephesians 2, 8, 9, and beautiful, wonderful promises of God’s word. We’re saved by grace, through, through faith. So it’s not from our works. And no one can build. So we stop reading in verse nine.
If we keep reading, so we are, that’s how we’re saved. But if we keep reading in verse 10, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do. We are saved by grace so that we can do good works, so that we can bring glory to God. First Corinthians 10:31 says, so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. The first question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, what is the chief end of man to know God and enjoy him forever.
These things, brothers and sisters, are ours to take a hold of, to have, to know, to enjoy. But they will only be true of us if we are a people of repentance. The Protestant reformer Martin Luther went so far as to say, when our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ said repent, he intended the entire life of believers should be repentance.
We are naturally so good at being self justifiers though, aren’t we? Well, I didn’t mean to do that. Well, I’m just saying what everybody else thought. That’s a common sin of the Newton men. And forgive me if I’ve done it to you.
Just saying. Just being too honest or saying something that’s unkind because we think it needs to be said, or we say, well, I just did a little of Fill in the blank. Brothers and sisters, if we’re to faithfully live the Christian life, we must be people of repentance, people who lead the way in turning away from sin and turning towards Jesus. People who rush to the front of the line to apologize after we’ve wronged somebody. Apologizing to the point where it’s kind of obnoxious to people.
People who refuse to hold a grudge even though the world says we have every right to. Let me just say quickly about that. I know there’s been terrible things that have happened to a lot of people, likely some people in this room. Sometimes we’re called to forgive, but we don’t have to forget. The Bible always says we have to forgive no matter the atrocity, no matter what’s happened.
But we do not have to forget.
We can be people who refuse to hold a grudge, even though the world would say we have every right to. We can be people. We can be men and women who deny themselves worldly desires like lust, like greed, like overeating, putting too much trust in a political party or a certain leader, or running from the temptation to engage in just a little bit of gossip about so and so. Well, did you hear it now? We don’t need to be those people, whatever it may be.
We must be people who want to please God above all because we’re purchased at such a wonderfully high cost. We must be people if we are followers of Jesus, who believe of course, in Jesus life, His death and his victorious resurrection, his sinless life, his perfect death and his victorious resurrection. And we look forward to the new heavens and the new earth. If we are followers of Jesus, then we get to look forward to those things. But it also means believing that what God says is true.
And at the core of a lot of sin, if not all sin, is believing that God’s holding out on us so that we have to do this. Well, I have to gossip because God won’t call me justified, call me good enough. Well, I have to cheat a little bit because I believe that God won’t provide for me. No, if we are followers of Jesus, turning away from that, turning away from those temptations and turning to and believing that God did come to bring life and life in abundance. Repentance for the believer means believing the truths of the gospel that God is not holding out on us.
Repentance leads to salvation. That’s the big idea of our passage this morning. Two proofs of the passage offers is that unrepentance of sin leads to perishing. And there is no Christian life without repentance. For those who never turn from sin, this will lead to spiritual death.
A continual ruining of oneself forever and ever.
He gives these warnings to show that he’s not a vengeful, harsh God. But how deeply we need him, how badly we need his gospel. For some of you, your response is going to be trusting in Jesus for the first time this morning. And maybe you’re thinking about like I don’t want to go talk to somebody. I’m sorry, but you have to.
Romans 10 talks about yes, it’s not the talking to somebody else that saves us, it’s God who saves us. But if we believe with our heart and confess with our mouth, then we have to. People need to know we’re followers of Jesus. Please talk to somebody this morning. They would be more than happy to pray with you.
For others, it’s a call to keep being repenters, to be people who are continually fighting and turning away from sin and turning to entrusting. In the gospel of Jesus, this is essential to the Christian life. Friends, this morning the message is simple. Repentance is a turning away from sin and turning towards Jesus, and it will lead to eternal life. It will lead to deliverance from sin.
It will lead to salvation.
I’m going to pray here in just a second, but take this time. It’s an invitation during the final song to consider how God’s spirit’s leading you to respond, whether you need to repent, to put your trust in Jesus for the first time, or if there’s something that you’re like, yeah, I know, I’ve known about this. I’ve known about that. But I’ve kind of kept it. I’ve made a pet of it for myself.
Ask God and his. Ask God’s spirit to help lead you to how you need to respond, how you need to repent. This week I’m going to pray and then we’ll give you the chance to do just that. God, we love you. We thank you for you.
We pray for hearts in this room that haven’t put their trust in Jesus, that they would go and they’d be led to go talk to the prayer team during the final song. We pray that your spirit would convict them, but also encourage them. And we pray that your spirit, for those of us who are followers of Jesus, would convict us or we need to be convicted, but also encourage us or we need to be encouraged because a lot of us feel like we’re never good enough. But you say that we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus. We pray for our country and for leaders of our country that you would help them to follow after you regardless of their political party.
We pray that you bring peace. We pray that we would get to be a part of that. We would get to. Because you say that in your word that blessed are the peacemakers. God, we.
We need to respond rightly to you this morning. Help us to do that. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.