Salvation In Christ: Lesson Five

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REPENTANCE

The New Testament tells us of the importance of repentance. From the very beginning of the gospel, the need for man to repent was taught with great force by every teacher sent by God into the world. John the Baptist (Immerser), who came to make things ready for Jesus, was the first of a long line of preachers to tell men that they had to repent in order to be pleasing to God. Matthew wrote:

"And in those days cometh John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 3:1,2).

Later, when John had done his work and had been put in prison, we are told:

"Now after John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:14,15).

After this, Jesus went about His work, preaching the gospel to the poor and doing good to all men, and called twelve men to be His apostles. These twelve men were sent by Jesus to preach to others.

"And they went out, and preached that men should repent" (Mark 6:12).

Jesus harmed no man, but did only good for all with whom He came in contact. He tried to get men to repent so they would be pleasing to God and able to go into the Kingdom of Heaven. Wicked men, because of envy, misunderstood and refused Jesus. They demanded that He be put to death on a cross. The grave could not hold Jesus and on the third day after his burial, he came out of the tomb and lived as a man again. He kept showing Himself to many different people so that all would know and be sure that He was risen from the dead. Then He went back to heaven to take His place at the right hand of God and have the glory and the honor that was due Him.

His followers who were still upon the earth were commanded to go into every land and tell every person to repent. Jesus said to these disciples,

"Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer, and rise again from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should he preached in his name unto all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem" (Luke 24:46,47).

The book of Acts tells how believers in the first century obeyed Jesus and went everywhere preaching the word of God and demanding that the people repent. Here are a few examples of how they preached and what they said:

Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38). "Repent ye therfore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the Lord" (Acts 3:19).

"The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked; but now he commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent" (Acts 17-30).

Paul said that he had

"declared both to them of Damascus first, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance" (Acts 26:20).

THE IMPORTANCE OF REPENTANCE

You can see from this how important it is for people to repent. If we do not repent, we cannot be with Jesus and God. If we do not repent, we shall die a spiritual death and will not be able to go into heaven. Jesus said,

"I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all in like manner perish" (Luke 13:3).

This is very clear and easy to understand. Jesus taught that we will either repent or we shall perish!

WHAT IS REPENTANCE?

We must know what repentance is or we will not be able to repent. There are many wrong ideas about what repentance is. Some think that when a person knows he is a sinner and feels guilty, he has repented. In chapter twenty-six of the book of Acts we are told of how Paul preached to a certain king whose name was Agrippa. This king was a very sinful man. The apostle made him realize how evil he was, but he did not repent. King Agrippa, as far as we know, never did obey the faith and receive forgiveness of his sins.

There are others who say that repentance is being afraid. Afraid to die! Afraid of God! Afraid of the future! But repentance is not just fear. On still another occasion Paul preached to a governor named Felix. This man, too, was a bad man who did not fear God and who did many wrong things. He was guilty of murder, stealing, lying and adultery. When Paul preached to Felix, he

"reasoned of righteousness, and self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was terrified, and answered, Go thy way for this time; and when I have a convenient season, I will call thee unto me" (Acts 24:25).

Felix was afraid, but Felix did not repent. No, fear is not repentance.

Still others say that sorrow for sins is repentance. This cannot be true. Paul wrote, "For godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation" (2 Corinthians 7:10). Godly sorrow makes us repent. If godly sorrow causes us to repent, then they are two different things. Godly sorrow is one thing, and repentance is another thing.

What is repentance? The word "repentance" in the New Testament comes from a Greek word which means "to get a new mind." The word simply means a change of mind. Read very carefully the following parable:

"A man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work today in the vineyard. And he answered and said, I will not; but afterward he repented himself, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. Which of the two did the will of his father?" (Matthew 21:28-31).

The first son, after refusing to do as the father requested, later "repented himself, and went." That is, he changed his mind and did as his father told him to do. We can plainly see that repentance is a change of mind.

WHAT DO WE DO TO REPENT?

It may help us to understand what repentance is and what we are to do when we repent if we know what causes repentance. The New Testament tells us that two things help us to repent. They are:

1. The godness of Good -- "Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long--suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance" (Romans 2:4).

2. Godly sorrow -- "For godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation, a repentance which bringeth no regret: but the sorrow of the world worketh death"(2 Corinthians 7:10).

Here is how it works. We are all sinners. You are a sinner. I am a sinner. Paul wrote,

"What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we before laid to the charge both of the Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin" (Romans 3:9).

He also wrote,

"For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

Every person sins. Just think of your own life and of the things you have done. Stop and remember. Can you think of things you have done that you know are wrong -- things you should not have done? Have you hurt a friend? Have you told a lie? Have you been drunk? Have you been guilty of fornication? Have you failed to do things that are right and that you should have done? We can all think of things in our past life that we are ashamed of and that we ought not to have done.

On the other hand, think of the fact that God loves you and wants the very best for you.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

GOD'S LOVE IS SO GOOD

Think of that! God loved you so much that he sent His son to die for you. God wants you to be happy. God wants you to be saved. God is good. He sends the sunshine and the rain and causes the golden harvest to bless us with food and clothes and houses. Everything good we have we owe to God.

We see that God is good and has done many wonderful things for us and that we are sinful and unworthy of His gifts. God's goodness -- His rich gifts to us -- should make us sad that we have failed Him and that we fall short of His grace. When we think of God's goodness and our sin, we ought to be full of sorrow. The godly sorrow we feel should cause us to change our minds about the way we have acted and lived in the past. Our sorrow should make us decide to quit doing what is wrong and start doing what is right. That decision is repentance.

Repentance makes us better people. It makes us live in a way that will please God. John the Baptist (Immerser) told the people to "bring forth therefore fruit worthy of repentance" (Matthew 3:8). It is not enough for us to know that we are sinful and that God is good. Such knowledge should cause us to make such a strong decision to live righteous lives that we cannot fail to make whatever change is in order. True repentance is followed' by godly living. A change in mind brings a change in life. This helps us to see why God keeps telling us to repent and warning us that if we do not repent we will perish.

GOD'S PLAN FOR YOU

Repentance, it has been said, is the hardest command for man to obey. Repentance has to do with the human will. Man is stubborn and it is hard for him to admit that he has been wrong. But once man thinks about his own sins and considers the goodness and patience of God, he will decide to change his ways and be the kind of person God wants him to be. The person who has done this will not hesitate to obey the command of the New Testament to be baptized (immersed) in order to have his sins taken away. "And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name" (Acts 22:16). Sins are washed away when a person is baptized (immersed). The proper order is this: first, we hear the gospel; second, we believe the good news of salvation; third, we repent of our sins; fourth, we confess that Jesus Christ is Lord; and last, we are baptized (immersed) in order to have our sins removed. In the act of baptism (immersion), sins are washed away.

That is God's plan for you. That is what God wants you to do. We ought to obey God because one day the Lord Jesus will be revealed

"from heaven with the anglesof his power in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus: who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be marvelled at in all them that believed (because our testimony unto you was believed) in that day" (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).

"And we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against them that practice such things. And reckonest thou this, O man, who judgest them that practice such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his works: to them that by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life: but unto them that are factious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, shall be wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that worketh evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek: (Romans 2:2-9).