REPENT

 

…Repent ye, and believe the Gospel.   Mark 1:15

 

…Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

Luke 24:46-47

 

Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.   Acts 20:21

 

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Revelation 3:19

 

What do repentance and repent mean?  One of the Hebrew words used for repent means to return.  One of the Greek words used for repent means a change of mind.  The other Greek word means sorrow.

 

When we put this together, we learn that God wants us to have a change of mind about our sins.  He wants us to sorrow after a godly sort.  He wants us to return to Him.  We cannot be saved from sin and hell without repentance.

 

True repentance is a gift from God.  It is a change of mind about the bad things we once thought, said, did and even enjoyed.  This change of mind leads to a change of heart, which leads to a change in life.  We turn from sin and to God.

 

The Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles preached that we should repent.  God will forgive our sins if we repent and believe (trust) that Christ died for sinners on the cross.

 

His precious blood was shed for many for the remission (sending away) of sins.  Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us (who repent and believe).

 

The Lord Jesus Christ had no sin.  He gave His life for the sheep.  His sheep are those of us who hear his voice (in the Holy Bible) and follow (trust and obey) Him.  He rose bodily from the dead the third day, as He said He would.

 

He is the Son of God, one with the Holy Father and the Holy Spirit.  He did many miracles of healing the blind, deaf, dumb, crippled, paralyzed, lepers and even raised three dead people to prove that He was God the Son.  We honor God when we honor His beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Many today deny the need for repentance.  Some claim that it is salvation by works.  But the Puritan Baptists of old made no such fatal mistake.  Here is a quotation from the London Baptist Confession of 1689 with Scripture proof texts for each statement made:

 

Chapter 15: Of Repentance Unto Life and Salvation

 

1._____ Such of the elect as are converted at riper years, having sometime lived in the state of nature, and therein served divers lusts and pleasures, God in their effectual calling giveth them repentance unto life. ( Titus 3:2-5 )

 

2._____ Whereas there is none that doth good and sinneth not, and the best of men may, through the power and deceitfulness of their corruption dwelling in them, with the prevalency of temptation, fall into great sins and provocations; God hath, in the covenant of grace, mercifully provided that believers so sinning and falling be renewed through repentance unto salvation.

( Ecclesiastes 7:20; Luke 22:31, 32 )

 

3._____ This saving repentance is an evangelical grace, whereby a person, being by the Holy Spirit made sensible of the manifold evils of his sin, doth, by faith in Christ, humble himself for it with godly sorrow, detestation of it, and self-abhorrency, praying for pardon and strength of grace, with a purpose and endeavour, by supplies of the Spirit, to walk before God unto all well-pleasing in all things.

( Zechariah 12:10; Acts 11:18; Ezekiel 36:31; 2 Corinthians 7:11; Psalms 119:6; Psalms 119:128 )

 

4._____ As repentance is to be continued through the whole course of our lives, upon the account of the body of death, and the motions thereof, so it is every man's duty to repent of his particular known sins particularly.

( Luke 19:8; 1 Timothy 1:13, 15 )

 

5._____ Such is the provision which God hath made through Christ in the covenant of grace for the preservation of believers unto salvation; that although there is no sin so small but it deserves damnation; yet there is no sin so great that it shall bring damnation on them that repent; which makes the constant preaching of repentance necessary.

( Romans 6:23; Isaiah 1:16-18 Isaiah 55:7 )