Repentance involves certain fundamental ideas
No human likes to feel guilty. There is no more effective way of removing guilt than by making a full confession. Thus, repentance opens the door for us to have our guilt removed and that alone saves us from the condemnation of our conscience. A nagging conscience is a very uncomfortable companion.
None of us want to face our sins as we cannot bear to see them. It is natural that we turn away from that horrible mess in despair. But in turning away from sin we find ourselves facing God, and to our great surprise we find that God is keen to forgive us. God loves us despite what we have done.
God has got absolutely no reason to save me and yet He wants to save me.
That is total grace, undeserved favour.
Another fundamental rule of salvation is that God wants to save us so badly that He offers us a free salvation.
II PETER 3:9 "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance".
God then sets up the conditions in our lives that eventually drive us to want to get saved.
ROMANS 2:4 "Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?"
Even when life seems hard, God is still acting in our best interests as He uses these adverse circumstances to drive us towards Him.
Rather like the painful cuts that a surgeon makes in our bodies to remove a malignant cancer. Once the distress is over, we are grateful for the operation.
Repentance is the beginning of the Gospel.
You do not know God if you have not repented. You just know about God.
LUKE 24:47 "And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem".
Until we have repented, we are not Christians.
MARK 1:1 "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;
MARK 1:4 John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins".
Repentance is not something that Jesus introduced.
Before Jesus appeared, John had already called the Jews to repentance.
The first step on the path to getting right with God is to repent.
The Gospel of Luke tells us of the prodigal son who senselessly wasted his inheritance. He realized that he deserved no sympathy for his foolishness but decided to risk going back home. Maybe his father would employ him as a servant. To his shock, his father was overjoyed with his repentance that had been brought about by his bankrupt struggles to survive.
We dread hard times and bankruptcy but they have a good side when they drive us to repentance. Anything that makes us take Jesus more seriously is good for us.
A hardened criminal thief was crucified next to Jesus and somehow saw that Jesus was the King. He knew he had no real chance of getting into Heaven but in a desperate hope, he asked Jesus just to spare a thought for him when Jesus was in His Kingdom. To his complete shock, though he knew he was total scum, he found Jesus was more than willing to open the Door to Heaven for him.
More than that, bad though he was, Jesus would send him to Paradise to warn all the great Old Testament saints that Messiah was coming to release them from Paradise and take them to Heaven. Such is the power of repentance. Jesus saw the sincere change in his heart.
Jesus is more than willing to use bad sinners even if they only repent in the last minutes of their life.
LUKE 5:32 "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance".
Self-righteousness is a major human problem.
We see ourselves as basically good people. People often grow up in a Christian home and thus end up living a clean and decent life. There is no real bad sinful experience in their history and thus they feel that they are fine with God as they were basically born as Christians.
I JOHN 1:8 " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us".
Every human is born a sinner and needs to repent.
JOHN 16:8 "And when he [the Holy Spirit] is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:"
Because we live in a sinful world it is easy for us to assume that our lives are fine if we live by better standards than the sinful world offers.
But we must learn to judge sin by God’s standards.
JOB 15:15 "Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight."
God is so righteous that even Heaven is not clean in His sight.
If God has no trust in His saints, then even the best of saints can mess up. How much more do the rest of us let God down when we think we are serving Him.
There is only one judgement for sin. The death of Jesus on the cross.
We only connect with Christ’s sacrifice when we repent.
Repentance, not self-righteousness, is the only way to escape the Judgement.
We must start with a conviction that sin is ugly and beg Christ to forgive us. We must desire to be free from anything that offends the holiness of God as we try ever harder to be involved with the righteousness that pleases God.
ISAIAH 55:6 "Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near"
God’s overwhelming mercy is that He is always near us and can thus hear our innermost thoughts.
But there is an important condition. We must not ignore God’s mercy for too long as there will one day be a cut-off time. We will hear the awful words, "Too late".
We must be careful not to sin away our day of grace.
Now daily feed your spirit with the Word of God by speaking and meditating on the written scripture as follows.
Context
The Day of the Lord
…⁸Beloved, do not let this one thing escape your notice: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. ⁹The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance. ¹⁰But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid bare.…Berean Standard Bible
The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise
For, “In just a little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay.
Let us hold resolutely to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.
God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
as some understand slowness,
But suppose that servant is wicked and says in his heart, ‘My master will be away a long time.’
But suppose that servant says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and he begins to beat the menservants and maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk.
but is patient with you,
Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?
Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out: “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness,
The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion.
not wanting anyone to perish
In the same way, your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. / For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.
Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Lord GOD. Wouldn’t I prefer that he turn from his ways and live?
but everyone to come to repentance.
Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent.
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
He must gently reprove those who oppose him, in the hope that God may grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.
Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
is not.
I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.
For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? …
but is.
And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
not willing.
If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace.
Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.
And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.
but that.
Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not
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