ACTS 26: 20: THE NEED TO REPENT, & TURN TO *GOD*, & TO DO WORKS GIVING EVIDENCE OF REPENTANCE...

ACTS 26: 13-20...  
13/ At midday, along the way, O king, I saw a light from the sky, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my traveling companions.
14/ We all fell to the ground and I heard a voice saying to me in Hebrew, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goad.
15/ And I said, 'Who are you, sir?' And the Lord replied, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 
16/ Get up now, and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness of what you have seen (of me) and what you will be shown. 
17/ I shall deliver you from this people and from the Gentiles to whom I send you, 
18/ to open their eyes  that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may obtain forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been consecrated by faith in me.' 
19/ "And so, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. 
20/ On the contrary, first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem and throughout the whole country of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached the need to repent and turn to God, and to do works giving evidence of repentance.

 I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, for any one would say he ought to be obedient to it. Heavenly visions have a commanding power over earthly counsels, and it is at our peril if we be disobedient to them; yet if Paul had conferred with flesh and blood, and been swayed by his secular interest, he would have done as Jonah did, gone any where rather than upon this errand; but God opened his ear, and he was not rebellious. He accepted the commission, and, having with it received his instructions, he applied himself to act accordingly. God enabled him to go through a great deal of work, though in it he grappled with a great deal of difficulty, v. 20.

He applied himself to the preaching of the gospel with all vigour.  He began at Damascus, where he was converted, for he resolved to lose no time, ch. 9:20 . When he came to Jerusalem, where he had his education, he there witnessed for Christ, where he had most furiously set himself against him, ch. 9:29.

He preached throughout all the coasts of Judea, in the country towns and villages, as Christ had done; he made the first offer of the gospel to the Jews, as Christ had appointed, and did not leave them till they had wilfully thrust the gospel from them; and laid out himself for the good of their souls, labouring more abundantly than any of the apostles, nay perhaps then all put together.

His preaching was all practical. He did not go about to fill people’s heads with airy notions, did not amuse them with nice speculations, nor set them together by the ears with matters of doubtful disputation, but he showed them, declared it, demonstrated it, that they ought, 
(1.) To repent of their sins, to be sorry for them and to confess them, and enter into covenant against them; they ought to bethink themselves, so the word metanoein properly signifies; they ought to change their mind and change their way, and undo what they had done amiss. 
(2.) To turn to God. They must not only conceive an antipathy to sin, but they must come into a conformity to God-must not only turn from that which is evil, but turn to that which is good; they must turn to God, in love and affection, and return to God in duty and obedience, and turn and return from the world and the flesh; this is that which is required from the whole revolted degenerate race of mankind, both Jews and Gentiles; epistrephein epi ton Theon —to turn back to God, even to him: to turn to him as our chief good and highest end, as our ruler and portion, turn our eye to him, turn our heart to him, and turn our feet unto his testimonies. 
(3.) To do works meet for repentance. This was what John preached, who was the first gospel preacher, Mt. 3:8 . Those that profess repentance must practise it, must live a life of repentance, must in every thing carry it as becomes penitents. It is not enough to speak penitent words, but we must do works agreeable to those words. As true faith, so true repentance, will work. Now what fault could be found with such preaching as this?