Repentance: February 4, 2010

February 4. TODAYS WORD FOR THURSDAY FEBRUARY 4, 2010

REPENTANCE

DEFINITION:

Regret or grieve or do penance for.

SCRIPTURE:

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering towards us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” 11 Peter 3:9.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

Repentance is a gift from God. The sinner must repent before he can be the recipient of salvation by grace through faith. The Christian must practice daily repentance if he is to enjoy unbroken fellowship with God. The gift of repentance is an inward change produced by the convicting power of the Holy Spirit as the Word of God is proclaimed or read. Repentance alone does not qualify a sinner for salvation. Faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus is also necessary.

The parable of the prodigal son written in Luke 15: 11-32 is a perfect example of repentance. Repentance is a change--- a change of mind, heart and will. The prodigal son first came to himself realizing he had made a mistake. This was his intellectual (mind) change. Secondly he had a change of heart and said “I have sinned.” And thirdly he had a change of will --- He said “I will arise and go to my father.”

John the Baptist preached repentance. His message was loud and clearly spoken as proclaimed in Matthew 3: 2, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He was the forerunner of Jesus and proclaimed the good news of the arrival of the Messiah.

Peter preached repentance at Pentecost. In Acts 2:38 we read that Peter preached, “Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins.” Many responded that day to his message of repentance.

Jesus preached repentance. When He began His Galilean ministry His first sermon was “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” Mark 1:15.

Repentance has eternal consequences. This is illustrated by a true story that occurred some years ago. A nineteen year old held up a bank with two others. The case was later closed when the two other men, who were caught, were killed in a car accident. So the young man was certain that he would never be caught. Time went on, he got married and worked hard at trying to reform but his guilt was haunting him day and night.

Someone gave him a gospel tract on the street and he read the words on that track, “Whosoever shall call upon the Lord shall be saved.” For the first time he saw that God had already forgiven him of his sins if only he would repent, believe and accept God’s pardon. He did so but knew that he still was guilty of a serious crime. His desire to be Christ-like drove him to confess to the crime and pay back the bank what he had stolen. But the statute of limitations had past so he was set free.

Today this man --- the nineteen year old who robbed a bank --- is an outstanding Christian layman not because he decided to reform his life but because of his repentance and God’s forgiving grace.

One of the toughest things to do in life is to repent. This is because we do not like to admit we are wrong. But if you want God’s blessing on your life you need to begin by repenting of your sins and accepting God’s payment for your sins.

True repentance leads to a complete turn-around in one’s life. When repentance is genuine a person will turn from rebelling against God to being obedient to God and God’s commandments. Instead of living for self and doing whatever pleases oneself a person will want to please God.

God will expect you to repent of all your sins and confess them to Him and then make restitution to those you have hurt. Now is the time for you to act. Tomorrow may be too late because our Lord could return any day and we need to have already accepted God’s free gift of eternal life that only comes through repentance.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse this week is found in Philippians 1:6.

“Being confident of this very thing that He who has begun a good work in you shall perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

PRAYER:

Help me to turn from my sinful ways and be obedient to You. Help me to daily ask Your forgiveness for the sins that I commit. Give me a spirit of forgiveness and help me to realize that I need to forgive others just as You have forgiven me.