Repentance

	After hearing the Gospel and believing, a person is expected to take a third step.  Our word for this week is, "repent."
	As Jesus is spending His final hours with His disciples, He shares with them some important instructions.
	"Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures," Luke 24:45-47 says of Jesus, "and He said to them, 'Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day; and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.'"
	What does the Lord tell His followers as He prepares to return to heaven?  He teaches them that repentance should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations.  It seems almost ridiculous, then, to ask whether repentance is important.  But what do we find about repentance when we examine the New Testament?
	"I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance," the Christ states in Luke 5:32.
	After listening to the first Gospel sermon on the day of Pentecost, the people ask what they must do to be saved.
	"Repent," Peter tells them in Acts 2:38, "and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
	Jesus says that He has come to call sinners to repentance.  The first word in Peter's response to the people is, "Repent!"
	What is involved in repentance?  One Greek word refers to a different feeling about something.  Another word, though, implies a different view of something.  It is the latter that the Bible has in mind when it talks about repentance.  We are not expected to just feel differently.  We must have a basic change of heart.  We must view things in an entirely new way.  This is a repentance which is active.
	"Then Jerusalem was going out to him," Matthew 3:5-8 records of John the Baptizer, "and all Judea, and all the district around the Jordan; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins.  But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, 'You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance.'"
	"'But arise, and stand on your feet,'" Paul remembers in Acts 26:16-20 of the words of Jesus on the road to Damascus, "'for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; delivering you from the {Jewish} people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.'  Consequently, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, but {kept} declaring both to those of Damascus first, and {also} at Jerusalem and {then} throughout all the region of Judea, and {even} to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance."
	Repentance is very important.  Repentance requires more than a different feeling.  It demands a completely different point of view.  Real repentance is active.  What causes or leads to repentance?
	"Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?" Paul asks in Romans 2:4.
	God's kindness leads to repentance.
	"I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to {the point of} repentance," Paul expresses in 2 Corinthians 7:9-10, "for you were made sorrowful according to {the will of} God, in order that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.  For the sorrow that is according to {the will of} God produces a repentance without regret, {leading} to salvation; but the sorrow of the world produces death."
	Godly sorrow leads to repentance, while worldly sorrow results in death.  One of the best ways to understand the difference is to look at examples of both kinds of sorrow.
	As the time of Christ's crucifixion draws closer, He informs His followers that they will all fall away from Him.  Peter quickly affirms that he will never deny Jesus.  The Lord replies that Peter will, in fact, deny Him three times before the morning.  This is exactly what happens, of course, and we have Peter's reaction in Matthew 26:75.
	"And Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said," this passage states, "'Before a cock crows, you will deny Me three times.' And he went out and wept bitterly."
	This is Godly sorrow.  Peter repents of his denial and goes on to live for Jesus.  The next chapter, though, reveals another story of betrayal.
	"Now when morning had come," we find in Matthew 27:1-5, "all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put Him to death; and they bound Him, and led Him away, and delivered Him up to Pilate the governor. Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, 'I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.' But they said, 'What is that to us? See {to that} yourself!'  And he threw the pieces of silver into the sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself."
	Judas experiences worldly sorrow.  He goes out and hangs himself.  What's the difference?  The difference is hope.  Peter recognizes God's patience and the power of Christ's approaching sacrifice.  Judas simply experiences despair.  God's patience leads to repentance.  Godly sorrow leads to repentance.  Worldly sorrow leads to death.  Peter has a different way of viewing things.  Judas simply feels differently about them.

	Repentance is very important.  Repentance requires more than a different feeling.  It demands a completely different point of view.  Real repentance is active.  Worldly sorrow leads to death. But God's patience motivates to Godly sorrow, resulting in repentance.  What happens next?  What does repentance lead to?
	"And the Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome," Paul notes in 2 Timothy 2:24-25, "but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth."
	Repentance leads to the knowledge of truth.  Why can some people not seem to grasp the truth?  Their viewpoint is all wrong.  They need to repent and have a different way of looking at things.  Obviously, then, repentance also leads to salvation.  Peter baptizes the first Gentiles in Acts chapter 10.  Then he is required by Jewish Christians to defend his actions.
	"And when they heard this," Luke records in Acts 11:18 of his explanation, "they quieted down,  and glorified God, saying, 'Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance {that leads} to life.'"
	Repentance leads to the knowledge of truth and to eternal life.  What happens if we don't repent?
	"Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices," we read in Luke 13:1-5.  "And He answered and said to them, 'Do you suppose that these Galileans were {greater} sinners than all {other} Galileans, because they suffered this {fate?}  I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.  Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, were {worse} culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem?  I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."
	If we don't repent, we will perish spiritually.
	"Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance," Paul preaches in Acts 17:30-31, "God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead."
	If we don't repent, we had better be worrying about the judgment.
	"Remember therefore from where you have fallen," Jesus warns in Revelation 2:5, "and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of its place-- unless you repent."
	If we don't repent, our lampstand will be removed.
	Repentance is very important.  Repentance requires more than a different feeling.  It demands a completely different point of view.  Real repentance is active.  Worldly sorrow leads to death. But God's patience motivates to Godly sorrow, resulting in repentance.  Repentance leads to the knowledge of truth and to eternal life.  If we don't repent, we will perish spiritually. We had better be worrying about the judgment.  Our lampstand will be removed.
	"Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures," we have read from Luke 24:45-47, "and He said to them, 'Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day; and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.'"
	We are proclaiming that repentance today.  Let's listen to the words of Jesus.  Let's repent and obey the truth so that we may be set free.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission."