“God..now commands all men everywhere to repent...” –Acts 17:30
By natural birth we are all in Adam’s family. To become a God’s family, we must be born again spiritually. God’s Word tells us that our part in the new birth is to: (1) repent, (2) believe, and (3) receive. In this article we will learn what it means to repent.
WHY WE NEED TO REPENT
The reason we need to repent is that we have been going the wrong way. We have not been going God’s way. Instead, we have been going our own way. The Bible says, “we have turned every one to HIS OWN WAY...” –Isaiah 53:6. Because we have been going our own way, we must we must repent if we want to be saved. The Lord Jesus said. “Except you repent, you shall all likewise perish.”
Repentance is not shedding many tears over your sins. Many people weep and cry out to God and yet do not repent. Repentance is not going without food or afflicting your body. No one can get rid of his sins by doing these things.
Repentance is not just being sorry for your sins. A man in prison may be sorry that he is having to suffer for his wrong-doing. But, if he has not repented, he would go back to his old ways if released.
Repentance is not fear. Sometimes in a time of great danger, men who have been accustomed to cursing may become quiet and even cry out to God for mercy. But, when the danger is passed, they go back to their cursing. They have not repented.
What then is repentance? Repentance is a “turn around” –a change of mind that leads to a change in our attitudes and actions. Repentance can take place in a moment’s time. When you say, “I see that I have been going the wrong way; with God’s help, I will turn to Christ,” –THAT IS REPENTANCE. This brings joy to God’s heart.
Jesus told us that there are two roads in life-a broad road and a narrow road. He told us where each of these roads leads. The broad road leads to “destruction”-hell; the narrow road leads to “life”-everlasting life in Heaven.
Because we were born into Adam’s family, by nature we are all on the broad road. This road leads to destruction. If we want to get on the narrow road that leads to everlasting life in Heaven, we must turn around. Jesus said, “Except you repent[turn around], you shall all likewise perish.”
What does it mean to repent? it means to turn around and go in the other direction. This involves a change of mind about ourselves, about our sins, and about God.
REPENTANCE IS A CHANGE OF MIND ABOUT OURSELVES
The first step in repentance is to learn and to accept what the Bible says about us. God’s Word says that we are sinners. The Bible says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” –Romans 3:23
We have all sinned. We are all sinners. We may not like this description of ourselves, but it is true. The first step toward being saved is to realize this.
A famous astronomer was conducting a number of young students around the observatory. He showed them the giant telescope which scans the heavens revealing planets and objects unseen by the naked eye. With great eagerness, one young student asked the astronomer if he would tell them, out of all the years he had been studying the heavens, what was the greatest discovery he had ever made.
The man replied, “If you would really like to know the greatest discovery that I have ever made, I will tell you, and that is that I was a sinner and that Jesus died to save me.”
Friend, have you made this discovery? No one is ever saved until he sees that he is a sinner in need of a Savior. You may be decent and moral in your life, fair and upright in your dealings with your fellow-man, a good husband or a good wife, a kind and generous person, but you have left God out of your life. The Bible says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: NOT OF WORKS, LEST ANY MAN SHOULD BOAST. –Ephesians 2: 8-9” You are yet unsaved.
You may be an active church member, a liberal giver to charitable and religious causes, and, at the same time, you have never come as a lost sinner to Jesus and trusted Him as your Savior.
Dear friend, do not let your pride keep you from admitting that you are a sinner. The Bible says, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” You must see that you are a sinner in order to be saved.
REPENTANCE IS A CHANGE OF MIND ABOUT OUR SINS
The Bible says, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point [break one commandment], he is guilty of all.” –James 2:10.
Stop and consider these important questions:
-Are you guilty of breaking God’s Holy Law?
-Are you concerned about your sins?
If your sins bother you, remember this-God is speaking to you in love. He wants you to turn Him before it is too late. To repent of our sins means that we change our mind about them. We see how serious they are and what they cost the Lord Jesus. Dear friend, have you considered what it cost the Lord Jesus to bring you back to God?
It was our sins that put Jesus on the cross. He had no sins of His own. The Bible says that He “bore our sins in His own body on the tree [on the cross].” The apostle Paul said, “The Son of God...loved me, and gave Himself for me.”
REPENTANCE IS A CHANGE OF MIND ABOUT GOD
Before a person is saved, he has all sorts of wrong ideas about God in his mind, put there by Satan. Jesus came to tell us and to show us what God is really like. He showed us that God loves sinners and that He wants to save them. The Bible says that God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
The Lost Sheep
In Luke, Chapter 15, Jesus told of a shepherd who had a hundred sheep. One day, as he counted his sheep, he discovered that one of them was missing. What did the shepherd do? He left ninety-nine and went out into the wilderness to search for the lost sheep. When he found it, he returned rejoicing, with the lost sheep on his shoulders. He gathered his friends and said, “Rejoice with me for I have found my sheep which was lost.”
A sheep was lost. Whose loss was it? It was the shepherd’s loss, and he could not rest until he had found his lost sheep and brought it back to safety. If you are unsaved, you are like the lost sheep. But Lord Jesus cannot bear to lose you. He died on the cross that He might bring you back to God. Jesus said, “I am the good Shepherd: the good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”
The Lost Son
Jesus told another story about a father with two sons. This is known as the parable of the Prodigal Son. Let us read this beautiful story as it is told in the Bible.
“And He [Jesus] said, a certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would...have filled his belly with husk that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat , and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost and is found. And they began to be merry.” –Luke 15:11-24
In this beautiful story, the Lord Jesus shows us two things. First, He shows us what repentance is. Repentance is a “turn around”-a change of mind that leads to a change in our attitudes and actions.
It was a wonderful moment when the son “came to himself,” and said, “I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned...”
Second, Jesus shows us the wonderful way God receives everyone who comes back to Him in true repentance. He receives us with great joy. It is a matter of great concern to God that He has lost us. God wants us to know how much He values us and loves us. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” –John 3:16; you may die unsaved, but you will not die unloved.
Dear friend, if you have not trusted Jesus Christ as personal Savior, you are lost. But God cannot bear to lose you. He loves you with an everlasting love.
God is a Savior-God. He wants to save you. God has shown His great love for you. He has even given His Son to die, to bring you back to Himself. But you must see your need and turn to Him. God says to us, “If only you will recognize that you are a sinner and in need of a Savior, I can help you.” Repentance can take place in a moment of time. When you say, “God, I see that I have been wrong. I have been going on my own way. I am turning to You right now. I do need Christ as my Savior,”- this is repentance. This will bring joy to God’s heart.
Will you turn to Him right now?
DISCOVERED TRUTH
God is a Savior-God. He loves me and longs for me to be saved.
-Luke 13:3, Romans 3:23, 1 Peter 2:24, Galatians 2:20, 2 Peter 3:9, John 10:11, John 3:16
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