Repentance
Ronald E. Harper

A.	Introduction
•	Most people will believe that repentance is necessary before coming to a holy and righteous God
•	(Acts 2:37-38) This is the biblical plan of salvation that was taught in the New Testament church
•	All prayers should begin with a request for God to forgive us for sins that we have committed (Romans 3:23, Psalms 66:18) 
•	The first part of the plan of salvation is repentance

B.	Repentance
•	The forgiveness of our sins was paid for by the death of the savior on the cruel cross of Calvary 
•	Repentance is a process by which the "old man" is crucified with Christ
•	(II Chronicles 7:14 says) True repentance is to "turn from their wicked ways" 
•	According to Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary, the definition of repentance is based on the Greek words, "Metanoeo, meaning to change one's mind and purpose, as the result of after knowledge
•	This verb, with the cognate noun "metanoia" is used of true repentance, a change of mind and purpose and life, to which remission of sin is promised
•	Evangelical repentance consists of (1) a true sense of one's own guilt and sinfulness; (2) an apprehension of God's mercy in Christ; (3) an actual hatred of sin (Ps. 119:128; Job 42:5, 6; 2 Cor. 7:10) and turning from it to God; and (4) a persistent endeavour after a holy life in a walking with God in the way of his commandments
•	The true penitent is conscious of guilt (Ps. 51:4, 9), of pollution (5 1:5, 7, 10), and of helplessness (51:11; 109:21, 22)
•	True repentance is an outward expression of the inward changes
•	To repent is to turn away from sin which allows us to turn and face God
•	Read David's prayer, in Psalms 51, for a good example of a repentant prayer
•	He had just committed adultery with Bathsheba, his neighbor's wife
•	He also had conspired to have Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, killed in the battle
•	I know God answered David's prayer, He forgave David
•	(Hebrews 13:8, Malachi 3:6, I John 1:9, Romans 4:7-8
•	So, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins (Hebrews 9:22)
•	(Romans 6:23) Jesus made the payment on the cross
•	All that we have to do is to accept the gift of eternal life that was provided for the New Testament church, according to the scriptures
•	Apply the blood to your life, ask for forgiveness, you must truly repent, turn from your wicked ways, no matter what your past
•	We should be turning to face Him daily in an effort to hear what the Spirit is telling us
•	This means that we are to leave all of our sins at the foot of the Savior during our salvation
•	We are to die daily to our sins and repent daily
•	There are people who say that all you have to do is believe and ask for forgiveness and Jesus will come into your heart
•	The next step is water baptism in the name of Jesus "for the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38)
•	The definition of the word remission, according to the dictionary, is, "Discharge from that which is due; relinquishment of a claim, right, or obligation; pardon of transgression; release from forfeiture, penalty, debt, etc”
•	You can repent of your sins, but the way to have them remitted is to have them washed away by baptism. We will discuss the necessity of proper baptism in the next chapter.

The above article, “Repentance” was written by Ronald E. Harper. The article was excerpted from Harper’s book, The Quest For True Apostolic Doctrine. 

The material is copyrighted and should not be reprinted under any other name or author. However, this material may be freely used for personal study or research purposes.