Repentance
Ronald E. Harper

This chapter will not be as long as some of the other chapters. This is a topic on which most religions will agree. Most people will believe that repentance is necessary before coming to a holy and righteous God. Acts 17:30 says, "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent:" On the Day of Pentecost, Peter stood and addressed the crowd that had assembled to see what all the commotion was about. He had just been filled with the Holy Ghost. Under the anointing of the Spirit, he began to preach the gospel message to those that were there. At the end of his sermon, the people, under deep conviction, asked him what they must now do. "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37) Peter gave them the answer: "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." (Acts 2:38) This is the biblical plan of salvation that was taught in the New Testament church.

We will look at the first part of the command in this portion of the study. "Repent." All prayers should begin with a request for God to forgive us for sins that we have committed. "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God;" according to Romans 3:23. Psalms 66:18 says, "if I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me:" When we pray, we should want God to hear and answer our prayers. The first part of the plan of salvation is repentance. This allows an open path to the throne of heaven. "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16)

The forgiveness of our sins was paid for by the death of the savior on the cruel cross of Calvary. All we have to do is claim it. In Hebrews 9:22, the writer let the church know "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.-Repentance is a process by which the "old man" is crucified with Christ. We die out to ourselves. What happens to our sins after repentance? Psalms 103:12 tell us, "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us." Isaiah 43:25 says, "I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." In Micah 7:19, the prophet tells us, "He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea."

II Chronicles 7:14 says, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." Note the phrase "turn from their wicked ways." This is true repentance. Also, you can see from this verse, God only hears a prayer that has true repentance involved. (Remember Psalms 66:18.)

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). Thus he apprehends himself to be just what God has always seen him to be and declares him to be. But repentance comprehends not only such a sense of sin, but also an apprehension of mercy, without which there can be no true repentance (Ps. 51:1; 130:4)." That may seem to be a mouthful to say, but the meaning is so true. True repentance is more than just saying, "I am sorry" to God. It is an outward expression of the inward changes. It is a 180-degree turn from our past to live a new life with Christ.

I once heard an evangelist, Bro. Eli Hernandez, explain the reason we need true repentance. As we go through this life on our own, we are going away from God's holiness. To repent is to turn away from sin. Therefore, this allows us to turn and face God. In many cases, if someone is not looking at us as we are trying to talk to them, we wonder if they are really listening to us. It is also very hard to listen with our backs turned towards the person who is speaking. The same is true with God. By turning to face God, we can clearly hear what He is trying to tell us.

If you have ever watched a bulldozer working in a construction zone, you will understand the following example. The operator of the bulldozer sets the blade down and begins to dig in and push the dirt or gravel. The farther that the dozer travels, more and more material begins to pile up in front of the blade. At some point, either the material will spill over the top edge of the blade or the dozer will no longer be able to push against the weight. This is the point that we must reach in our life as we repent. Our burdens are ahead of us and make it hard to go on. They are piling up on us and are overflowing our capacity to go any further. If the bulldozer in this example were to stop pushing in that direction and turn around, it would leave a pile of material at that point. This is a great example of repentance. We should just leave all of our sins of the past piled up at the feet of the cross.

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.

I am so glad that we know "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever."(Hebrews 13:8) In Malachi 3:6, we find God saying, "For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." He is, was, and always will be the same God. His attributes are always the same. If He forgave David for his sins, I am assured by the word of God that He will forgive us of our sins. I John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Look at Romans 4:7-8. "Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin."

So, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. (Hebrews 9:22) It was the blood of Jesus that paid for our forgiveness. "And the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin."(I John 1:7) The penalty of sin is death. (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. The issue of repentance was so important to Christ that I le absolutely commanded it. Luke 13:3 says, "I tell you, Nay: hut, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." Note the words He used "ye shall all likewise perish." The people gave a few examples and asked who the worst sinners were. But, look at the response of Jesus. "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." So as you can see, the message of repentance was preached by John the Baptist (Matthew 3 and Acts 19:4), Jesus (Luke 13:3 and Mark 1:14-15), Peter (Acts 2:38), and Paul (Acts 26:18-20). It doesn't matter how good or bad your past was. You must repent. But, this is the first step of the plan of salvation, as outlined in the New Testament.

Bro. Eli Hernandez told me that repentance and turning to face God should not be just a one-time event during our salvation. We should be turning to face Him daily in an effort to hear what the Spirit is telling us. This is what Jesus told all seven churches in Asia to which the Book of the Revelation was written. "He that bath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." (Revelation 3:22) This means that we are to leave all of our sins at the foot of the Savior during our salvation. However, that is not the end. We are to die daily to our sins and repent daily. According to I Corinthians 9:27, "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." Look at Galatians 2:20. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

There are people who say that all you have to do is believe and ask for forgiveness and Jesus will come into your heart. This is a nice start, but it is not complete. You may feel better after the "experience," but what you are feeling is the feeling of having Jesus forgive all your sins. 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.