Doctrine
"...except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."
Luke 13:3
Few words in the Bible are more misunderstood than "repent." Some hear it and think of doing penance — punishing themselves to make up for their sins. Others think it means they must clean up their whole life and conquer every bad habit before God will accept them. Still others, fearing all this, ignore the word altogether and hope it does not matter. But repentance is neither a burden that crushes nor a word to be ignored. Rightly understood, it is a gracious turning of the heart that leads a sinner straight to the Saviour.
At its heart, to repent is to have a change of mind that changes one's whole direction — to think differently about God, about sin, and about oneself, and so to turn. The Lord Jesus Christ pictured it in a son who first refused his father, then thought better of it and went.
"He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went." (Matthew 21:29)
He changed his mind, and so he changed his course. That is the essence of repentance: not first a change of feeling, nor first a change of works, but a change of mind that turns the whole man around — away from his old unbelief and toward God.
Repentance and faith are never separated in salvation; they are two sides of a single turning. A man cannot turn toward God without at the same moment turning away from that which held him.
"...repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." (Acts 20:21)
Picture a man walking with his back to the sun; to face the light, he must turn from the darkness in the very same motion. So the sinner, turning to trust the Lord Jesus Christ (that is faith), turns from his sin and unbelief in the same act (that is repentance). The Thessalonians did exactly this.
"...how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God." (1 Thessalonians 1:9)
They turned to God — and in turning to Him, they turned from their idols. You cannot do the one without the other.
What must a man turn from? Chiefly from his unbelief and from trusting in himself — and so from his sin and his idols, whatever they may be. God's ancient call to the sinner is a call to forsake his own way and return.
"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." (Isaiah 55:7)
Notice the promise attached: God will abundantly pardon. Repentance is not a dreadful thing to be feared; it is the doorway to the abundant mercy of God.
Here a fearful soul often stumbles, thinking, "I cannot repent, for I cannot yet conquer all my sins — so I dare not come to God until I do." But this turns the gospel upside down. You do not clean yourself up in order to come to Christ; you come to Christ in order to be cleansed. The Lord Jesus Christ said plainly whom He came for:
"I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Luke 5:32)
He calls sinners — not those who have first made themselves fit. The thief on the cross could forsake no outward sin; he could not even come down from the tree; yet he turned his heart to the Lord Jesus Christ and was saved that very day. So come as you are, with all your sin and all your weakness, and turn to Him. The power to forsake sin is a gift He gives to those who come — never a price He demands before they may come.
Here we must guard the gospel carefully. Repentance is not penance — it is not punishing yourself, nor performing religious works, nor shedding a required measure of tears to purchase God's favour. It is not cleaning up your life first and then coming to God; it is coming to God as you are, a sinner with empty hands. Repentance does not earn salvation any more than faith earns it; both simply receive the free gift that the Lord Jesus Christ has already bought. If a man could repent well enough to deserve heaven, then Christ need not have died. No — the sinner turns from his hopeless self-effort and casts himself wholly upon the mercy of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. That turning is repentance, and it saves not because it is a good work, but because it lays hold of the Saviour.
Does repentance involve sorrow for sin? Often it does — but we must be careful, for there are two very different sorrows, and only one leads to life.
"For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death." (2 Corinthians 7:10)
The sorrow of the world is mere regret — grief at being caught, or at the consequences of sin, without any turning to God. Judas felt it, and went out and hanged himself. But godly sorrow is grief that turns the heart to God for mercy. Peter felt it, wept bitterly, and was restored. The difference is not the amount of tears, but the direction of the turning. A man may weep an ocean and never repent; another may scarcely weep at all, yet truly turn to Christ and be saved. It is the turning, not the tears, that God looks upon.
Because so much hangs upon it, we must beware a counterfeit. There is a repentance that is only the fear of being punished, that trembles at the consequences of sin but never truly turns the heart to God — and it saves no one. Esau wept, yet his was not the repentance that finds mercy.
"For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears." (Hebrews 12:17)
True repentance is not merely being sorry that sin brought trouble; it is a change of mind that forsakes the sin and turns to God Himself. Examine your heart, then. Do you merely wish to escape the penalty of sin, or do you truly desire to turn from it to the Lord Jesus Christ? The one is the sorrow of the world; the other is the gift of God unto life.
Repentance is not an optional extra for the especially religious. It is the command of God to every human being, everywhere, without exception.
"...but now commandeth all men every where to repent." (Acts 17:30)
And the Lord Jesus Christ warned, with great tenderness and great plainness, that there is no other road home.
"I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." (Luke 13:3)
To refuse to repent is to choose to perish. There is no third way.
And here is a sweet mystery: though God commands us to repent, repentance is itself His gift, granted to sinners by His grace. He does not leave us to work it up within ourselves.
"...Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life." (Acts 11:18)
It is drawn out of the heart not by fear alone, but by the goodness of God — His kindness and patience toward sinners melting the hard heart and leading it home.
"...not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" (Romans 2:4)
So if you feel any stirring in your heart to turn to God, do not despise it — it is His goodness drawing you. Yield to it.
True repentance always bears fruit in a changed life — but mark the order carefully. The changed life is the fruit of repentance, not its root; it follows salvation, and does not purchase it.
"Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance." (Matthew 3:8)
When Zacchaeus met the Lord Jesus Christ, he came down from the tree a saved man, and then gave back what he had wrongly taken. The giving did not save him; it was the fruit of a heart already changed by grace. So it is with every true convert: the turning to Christ is the root, and the new life is the fruit that grows from it in due season.
The very first message of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of His apostles, was a call to repent and believe — and it is His call to you today.
"...The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel." (Mark 1:15)
Will you turn today? Turn from your sin, from your idols, from every hope in yourself, and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, trusting Him alone to save you. Do not wait to make yourself better first; come as you are. And know that all heaven rejoices over one sinner who turns to God.
"...there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." (Luke 15:10)
The apostle Peter pressed the same call upon the crowds, joining repentance to the blotting out of sin:
"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord." (Acts 3:19)
"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."Isaiah 55:7