Acts 26:17-18 “I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, (18) to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.”
So just what is repentance? Simply put, repentance means to make a decision of your will to turn around and go in the complete opposite direction. The passage of scripture quoted above is a record of our Lord Jesus speaking to the apostle Paul when he first called him to preach the gospel. I want you to notice that the mandate given to Paul was to turn people from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Darkness and light are completely opposite to each other, as are Satan and God. And so we see that when people repent, they turn away from darkness and turn to the light, and they turn away from the power of Satan and they turn to God. In other words they turn around and go in the complete opposite direction.
John 16:8-11 “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: (9) of sin, because they do not believe in Me; (10) of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; (11) of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”
Contrary to popular belief, bible repentance is not feeling guilty and sorry for your sins, although guilt and sorrow can be manifested when the truth of the gospel is encountered. You will recall that we saw earlier that when Peter preached the gospel to the unsaved on the day of Pentecost that “they were cut to the heart”. What that means is that they came under conviction regarding their sinful state and their need for a Saviour. In the passage of scripture quoted above Jesus taught us that it is the Holy Spirit that convicts the unbeliever of sin. And so we see that those to whom Peter was preaching the gospel on that day began to feel guilty and sorry for their sin. In their state of guilt and sorrow, they then asked Peter and the other apostles what they should do. It was at that time that Peter told them to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of their sins. And so we see that their feelings of guilt and sorrow occurred as a result of the Holy Spirit convicting them of their sin. That sorrowful state was the catalyst that led them to the place where they could now repent, and it was as a result of their repentance that they were able to be saved, because it was through the act of repenting that they made the decision of their free will to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of their sins.
2 Corinthians 7:9-10 “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. (10) For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”
The example of the response to Peter’s sermon ties up completely with what the bible teaches us regarding sorrow and repentance, for in the passage of scripture quoted above the apostle Paul clearly taught us that godly sorrow leads us to repentance. And so we see the following biblical principle revealed, i.e. conviction leads to godly sorrow, godly sorrow leads to repentance and repentance ultimately leads to salvation. From this biblical principle we can see that salvation cannot occur without repentance first taking place. Why is that? Because simply put repentance means to make a decision of your free will to turn around and go in the complete opposite direction.
Romans 10:9-10 “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (10) For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Everyone who accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour makes a decision of their free will to turn around and go in the complete opposite direction, for to accept Christ; one by default chooses to turn from this world to follow after Christ. Why do I say that? As quoted the above passage of scripture the bible teaches us that there are two conditions that must be met in order for one to be saved. Firstly, we must believe in what Jesus has done for us in His death, burial and resurrection. And secondly, we must confess Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. And so these are the only conditions that must be met in order to be saved. You will notice that repentance is not mentioned separately as a condition that needs to be met, and the reason for that is because confessing Jesus as Lord is in itself an act of repentance.
Acts 10:34-45 “Then Peter opened his mouth and said: "In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. (35) But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. (36) The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ--He is Lord of all-- (37) that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: (38) how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. (39) And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. (40) Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, (41) not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. (42) And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. (43) To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins." (44) While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. (45) And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also.”
The above quoted passage of scripture is an example of the fact that believing the gospel is accounted by God as an act of repentance. So why do I say that? It is God who creates our new man in Christ Jesus when we are born again. And so God would not do that unless we had met the requirement for salvation as recorded in His word. In this passage we see the account of the gentiles coming to salvation in Christ for the first time. On that day Peter preached the gospel to the gentiles not quite knowing what to expect, because he was still not sure whether God had granted salvation to the gentiles or not, for this was new territory for Peter. I want you to notice that in Peter’s message to those in Cornelius’s house, there is not one time that he mentioned anything about repentance. But notice that when Peter mentioned that whoever believed in Jesus would receive remission of sins, that they all were instantly saved. And so we see that the gentiles were born again, even though Peter had mentioned nothing to them about repentance.
Acts 15:7-8 “And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: "Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. (8) So, God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us.”
We know that the gentiles were instantly saved on that day, because as quoted in the above passage of scripture the Holy Spirit through the apostle Peter gives us further insight as to what took place on that day. Peter tells us that God the Father had given the Holy Spirit to the gentiles because He had acknowledged them as His children. And so we see that everyone who confesses Jesus as Lord is in fact saying to God that they have repented from their sinful lifestyle and are now going to follow after Christ. Because God acknowledges that, He performs the miracle of the new birth in their hearts.
Michael E.B. Maher
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