Repent! The Forgotten Doctrine of Salvation...Continued from page 2

Only God Can Grant RepentanceIt’s also crucial to point out that repentance is a gift from God. We are all born with a sin nature that leads us constantly away from God (Ephesians 2:1-2). Left to ourselves, we will always walk in the wrong direction. No one will ever have the slightest desire to change directions — and no one will have the power to make the change — unless and until God touches that person with the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s why both Acts 11:18 and 2 Timothy 2:25 speak of God granting the gift of repentance. Without that gift, no sinner could ever turn from his sin and find the Lord Jesus Christ.

In passing, let me say that there are two things that repentance is not. First, repentance is not mere sorrow for sin. Repentance is not measured by the number of tears you shed. Judas, we are told, regretted having betrayed Christ. He was genuinely sorry but he did not repent. There is a place for weeping and agony of soul, and we would all be better off if we took our sin more seriously, but sorrow in and of itself is not repentance. Second, repentance is not merely a promise to do better. I’ve already said that repentance is not self-reformation. It’s not a spiritual New Year’s Eve resolution. Yet repentance includes both ideas. When I truly change my mind about the way I have been living, there will be sorrow for sin because I will see my sin the way God sees it. It will grieve me the way it grieves God. And repentance implies a decision to make a break with the past and to live a life pleasing to God. So those two things aren’t wrong; they just don’t go far enough.
The first step in changing the direction of your life must come from within. You’ve got to want to change. If you don’t want to change, no one can make you change. And you must be willing to do the hard work of repentance. Most of us change slowly and often only under great pressure from within or without. That explains why Christians often continue in sinful patterns of conduct even when we know we are hurting ourselves and others. It’s easier to keep on doing what we’ve been doing. Real change is hard work. But if there is no real change, there is no real repentance. Until you can say, “I was wrong,” you will never be able to repent. If you never admit your faults, you can never be healed. Until you admit that you are traveling down the wrong road, you can never change the direction of your life.
Once when preaching on this topic, I asked the congregation to say "I was wrong" out loud with me. With more than a few sheepish grins, we all said it together. Why not stop reading and say it out loud wherever you are? As you grow spiritually, it ought to become easier and easier to say those words.
II. Repentance IllustratedIt’s not hard to find many examples of true and false repentance in the Bible. On the positive side we have the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) who took his share of his father’s inheritance, left home, went to the “far country,” and wasted it all on riotous living and sexual immorality. When the famine came (as it always does sooner or later), he found himself broke, hungry, friendless and penniless, far from home. He ended up hiring himself out to a farmer where he fed the pigs and dreamed of eating the husks himself. Finally he came to his senses, he realized what a fool he had been, and resolved to return to his father’s house. He mentally rehearsed what he would say: “I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.” Then he got up and began the long journey home. But when his father saw him coming, he ran to him, embraced him with tears, and welcomed him back with joy. The son repeated the words he had rehearsed and his father responded by putting a robe on his shoulders, a ring on his finger, and sandals on his feet. He called for a great celebration because his son who had been lost at last was found — as if he had come back from the dead.