THE NATURE OF REPENTANCE

We teach our children to say that they are sorry when they have wronged someone else and, when pressed to do it, they sometimes offer a reluctant, muffled, barely audible, “I’m sorry.” In children, it is relatively easy to see that although the words are the right ones, the affections of the heart are not at all in line with what is spoken. But in adults, it is not as easy to distinguish between the words of some confession to God (“I’m sorry, Lord”) and genuine repentance. ‘Repentance’ is not a word we hear very often anymore, even in churches. But is a very important notion in the Scriptures. We must all admit that, at times, what we have accepted within ourselves as repentance has been nothing more than a sheepish “I’m, sorry,” offered without a hint of heartfelt shame or sincere willingness to change. Ambrose (AD 340-397), the great pastor in Milan who helped Augustine come to Christ, said, “True repentance is to cease from sin.” Ambrose was declaring that there is more to repentance than saying, “I was wrong” or “I’m sorry” or “I made a mistake.” The Westminster Shorter Catechism (1647) defined repentance as follows:

“What is repentance unto life?” Answer: Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavour after, new obedience.”

The Biblical words for ‘repent’ mean to change one’s mind and turn around. First, there is an intellectual aspect to repentance. We must be convinced, mentally, that we are sinful and that sin is offensive to God.

“. . . through the law comes the knowledge of sin” (Rom 3:20). One of the purposes for the law of God is to show people that they are deeply and undeniably sinful. “I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me” (Psa 51:3). There can be no repentance without an understanding of the rebellious nature of the heart and life.

Second, there is an emotional aspect to repentance. Genuine repentance involves shame and brokenness over sin. In 2 Corinthians 7:9,10, Paul speaks about the Corinthians being “sorrowful to the point of repentance.” He also says, “Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation.” Ezra’s prayer began in the following way: “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens” (Ezra 9:6). Third, repentance involves a willingness to turn from sin and to turn to God for cleansing. God commanded the Israelites of old to “repent and turn away from your idols” (Ezek 14:6). In Acts, Paul declared to the Gentiles that “they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance” (Acts 26:20). John the Baptist cautioned his onlookers, “Bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance” (Lk 3:8). The Bible presents both a genuine repentance, which is followed by acts of obedience, and a fraudulent response to God that, outwardly, may look like repentance. Cain cried out to God that his punishment was too great for him to bear, but this regret and remorse was not repentance. Judas felt remorse over betraying Christ and even declared, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood” (Mt 27:3,4), but in his anguish he did not turn to God for cleansing. Repentance includes emotions like remorse, but remorse, alone, is not repentance. Finally, in addition to a repentance that leads to conversion, there is also a repentance which Christians should experience all the days of their lives. In the opening chapters of Revelation, John repeatedly calls on the people in the church to repent (Rev 2:5; 3:3,19). For Christians, repentance is a daily confession of ongoing sinfulness … a daily turning from the darkness in order to flee to God for refuge from the deadly poison of sin. Looking at his sinfulness, Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) exclaimed, “Infinite upon infinite . . . infinite upon infinite! When I look into my heart and take a view of my wickedness, it looks like an abyss infinitely deeper then hell. . . . It is affecting to think how ignorant I was, when a young Christian, of the bottomless, infinite depths of wickedness, pride, hypocrisy, and deceit left in my heart.” Repentance is not just saying the words, “O Lord, I am sorry.” It is an anguished cry for holiness and a hoping in God for the power to be more like Jesus.

Always repenting,
Pastor Cosand

WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?

WHAT IS GOD’S WAY OF SALVATION?

HOW CAN I BE BORN AGAIN AND HAVE ETERNAL LIFE?

HOW DOES GOD PUNISH SIN? “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). “The soul who sins, shall die” (Ezek 18:4).

AM I A SINNER? “For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). “There is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins” (Eccl 7:20). “All who depend on observing the Law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who continues not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them’” (Gal 3:10).

WHAT DID CHRIST DO FOR ME? DID CHRIST DIE IN MY PLACE? “Who His own self bore our sins in His own body on the cross, so that we might die to sins, and live for righteousness: by whose stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:24).

WHAT DOES GOD WANT ME TO DO? “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved” (Acts 16:31). “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved . . . for every one who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom 10:9,13). “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 6:23). “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who believes not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God: God’s anger and displeasure remains on him continually” (John 3:36).

WILL CHURCH MEMBERSHIP, BAPTISM, OR ANY GOOD WORKS SAVE ME? “For by grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph 2:8-9). “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us” (Titus 3:5).

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BELIEVE IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST? “Repent ye therefore; and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19). To repent means to change your mind from serving sin and Satan to trusting and serving Christ as your only Lord, Master, Savior and God. Faith in Christ means that RIGHT NOW, I place all my trust in Him and believe that He will save me! I depend and hope in Him alone for eternal salvation. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE. No one comes to the Father, but by ME’” (John 14:6).
I will trust Christ now! I confidently lean one, rely on, deposit my life, take refuge and dwell in Him forever. I forsake all other man-made ways of salvation, to follow and to make Christ Lord, God and King of my life. I believe in my heart and confess Christ openly. I will not trust in myself! I will believe in Christ NOW!
I can never be lost again after believing in Christ. Jesus said, “I give to them eternal life and they shall never perish” (John 10:28).
God has a plan for my life now that I am a new creation in Christ. I will serve my Lord on this earth and then go to heaven to live with Him forever and ever! (Rom. 8:28, 2 Cor. 5:17).


Joseph A. Teisan
(1931 – 2018)