Repent!

It seems like these days churches are shying away from the word “repent”. Yet, Matthew 4:7 tells us that Jesus preached repentance from after being led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by Satan. This was preceded by Jesus’ baptism by His cousin John which was a baptism of repentance. Jesus had no need to repent, yet He has baptized with water for repentance and then the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in the form of a dove and His Father’s voice came from above declaring that Jesus was His beloved Son.  We cannot expect God to be our Father and be pleased with us if we do not repent.  And repentance is not just saying sorry, but it is turning away from sin and turning to Christ to be saved.

Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38

Repentance is key. However, many people think they have nothing to repent of. If we don’t understand the wickedness of our hearts, we may never see the need to turn away from sin. Many religious people may think they are good as they are busy with church work, but this can be very dangerous because even the church work could distract us from a relationship with Jesus. In Matthew 7, Jesus said that many people were doing things in His name, but He didn’t know them and told them that they practiced lawlessness. He said that only those who do the will of the Father will enter heaven. We must remember that religion does not make us righteous. 

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 bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Matthew 3:7-10

Whatever we do should be in keeping with repentance. We should have a heart that is easily convicted by the Holy Spirit, and we should be willing to repent of anything that could lead to a broken relationship with the Father. It is important to have godly sorrow which leads to repentance. The Apostle Paul had written a letter to the Corithian church, which they may have considered harsh as they were not pleased with it, but they needed it as this letter led them to being sorrowful to the point of repentance. In this letter, Paul addressed the sins in the church including sexual immorality, idolatry, stealing, greed, abuse and so much more. He warned them that anyone committing these sins would not enter the kingdom of heaven.  And they listened to his admonition.

For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it—for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while— I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so 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. 2 Corinthians 7:8-10

We have to be very careful to make sure we recognize sin in our life and not excuse it away. We will never repent if we try to make our wrongs right with flimsy explanations. This is a trap of the enemy.  And this has been happening from the beginning of time since Eve was deceived into eating from a tree that God had commanded Adam not to eat from. But she fell into Satan’s trap and shared what she thought was pleasurable with Adam. This act of disobedience to God caused separation from Him, which was undone by the Second Adam, Jesus.

“And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.  Acts 3:17-21

Without repentance and turning away from sins, we cannot be reconciled with the Father and have restoration. We must recognize our sins, repent and return to the Father.