Repentance

Repentance conjures up the sight of sackcloth and ashes; it smacks of some weirdo street evangelist walking down Broadway with a placard emblazoned with bold type: "Repent, or else!" We politely cross over to the other side of the street to avoid such a creature. We would deny rejecting the message, of course—it's the messenger that makes us so uncomfortable. Give us God's Word delivered by a maître d'!

Repentance was the foundational message of the Old Testament prophets, John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, and the Apostles:

    Ezekiel: "'Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!’”(Ezekiel 14:6).

    John the Baptist: "In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, ‘'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.'" (Matthew 3:1).

    Jesus Christ: "'The time has come,' he said. ‘The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!'" (Mark 1:15).

    Peter: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins." (Acts 2:38).

    Paul: "First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea and to the Gentiles          also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God an prove their repentance by their deeds"       (Acts 26:20).

A gospel minus the message of repentance is a half gospel, a false gospel; in reality—it is no gospel. Before the Holy Spirit can effect the new birth in the heart of a sinner, He brings him face to face with his sins. Evangelical conversion presupposes repentance. Where there is no repentance there is no regeneration; where there is no repentance there is no eternal life.

The word repent means "a change of mind, heart and attitude toward sin." The operative word here is change—repentance implies change. One may undergo the rite of water baptism and remain unchanged; a person may join the church and still be unchanged; men may study for the ministry, pastor churches, preach sermons and yet be in their sins.

True saving faith is always preceded and accompanied by both a sorrow for and a renunciation of sin. The Prodigal Son in Christ's parable left the pigpen and returned to his father—he didn't stay in it! How many "Christians" there are who have joined the church, sit on official boards, preach from our pulpits—but have never left the "swine, husks and far country." Then we wonder why they don't attend Sunday evening services, prayer meetings and revival services. We wonder why they don't love the Word of God, the place of prayer, the Holy Sacrament. We wonder why they never share the gospel of Christ with others, why they don't tithe, why they still talk, act and react as they do. The answer is simple: They don't do these things because they don't want to. And they don't want to because they have never repented of their sins; or if they did, they have since backslidden and need to do their first works over.

This is not a cause for "casting stones." But it should drive us to our knees, it should make us weep.

Some years ago in upstate New York, while I was greeting the people as the filed into service one Sunday morning, a young father and mother approached me whom I had never met. He introduced himself and his wife as Will and Penney Thomas. He told me his children had been attending our children's church, and furthermore, that he had come to church that morning because "things needed to change in my life."

The service began, the sermon was delivered and the invitation was extended to sinners to come to Jesus Christ. Will immediately stepped out and knelt at the altar. We prayed and he returned home with his family.

That afternoon I located their house out in the country and knocked on the front door. Penney opened the door and greeted me. I could tell she was troubled. She said, "Pastor Tilley, Will is not the same man I married, something is wrong." I asked her where her husband was, and she led me to the living room.

There I found Will with a big smile on his face. While holding a blue Gideon New Testament in his hand, he told me he had just been reading the Bible and how wonderful it was to have the load of sin taken from him. He related that Penney had to drive the family home from church because he was so full of the glory of God. He said when he arrived home he immediately destroyed all the pornography in the house and emptied every alcoholic beverage down the kitchen sink drain.

Before I left the Thomas home that day, I assured Penney her husband was just fine and she need not worry. With their two lovely children, they were back in service that night They attended prayer service the following Wednesday evening; five weeks later, Penney herself was converted—and they're still serving the Lord.

While each convert brings a unique background to the conversion event, and while the years lived in sin will factor into the conversion equation, yet there are inevitable universal marks which characterize every truly repentant sinner. Here are three:

The Mark of Life.  1 John 5:12: He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

The Mark of Love.  1 John 4:7-8: Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

The Mark of Righteousness.  1 John 3:7-10: Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning, The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother.

When one truly repents, death is exchanged for life, hatred is exchanged for love, sin is exchanged for righteousness. This is all made possible through the kindness of God which leads us to repentance (see Romans 2:4).

A W. Tozer likened a repentant heart to a plowed field: "The field has felt the travail of change; it has been upset, turned over, bruised and broken, but its reward is beyond telling, for it beholds each day a growing wonder."

Friend, permit me now to kindly ask you: Have you truly repented of all your sins? Have you renounced every sin? Have you forsaken all your sins? Are you a genuinely changed person? Are you in bondage to some evil habit? Are you repeatedly giving place to the devil? Is your life characterized by victory or defeat? Are you living in the power of the Spirit?

Look to Christ! He came to destroy the works of the devil in you. Don't be overcome by sin—overcome sin in the strength of Christ. Ask God to give you a heart of repentance, then look to Christ. Let Christ be Victor. Then you can know the fullness of His joy, then you can realize the glory of living a changed life to the glory of God!

– Soli Deo Gloria –