Tag Archives: repentance

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Repent therefore, and turn again…

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Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord…

Acts 3:19-20a – Scripture of the Day (February 27, 2014)

What does it mean to repent?  The word is translated from the Greek word metanoeo, which literally means “to change one’s mind.”  To illustrate, if you and I get in a car to head to McDonald’s, and on the way we see Taco Bell and decide we’d rather have a taco than a Big Mac, and so we pull into Taco Bell instead of going to McDonald’s.  Guess what we’ve just done?  We’ve repented of McDonald’s…that is, we changed our minds about McDonald’s.  Not only that, but our actions also changed as a direct, unavoidable result of changing our minds.  We decided to go to Taco Bell instead of McDonald’s, and our actions followed suit.

God wants us to repent of sins.  He wants us to change our minds about our sin.  He wants us to stop glorying in our sin and letting it reign in our lives (Rom. 6:17-18).  He wants us to start having the same sorrow over our sins that he has, which in turn will lead to our repentance, and thus to our salvation (2 Cor. 7:9-10).  That’s why we are told to repent before being baptized in order that our sins will be forgiven (Acts 2:38).  In baptism we die to our old selves, are buried with Christ, and rise to a new life (Rom. 6:3-5).  How can any of that happen without repentance first?

Repentance is so much more than simply acknowledging that we’ve sinned, although that certainly is part of it (1 John 1:7-9).  The Bible speaks of “bearing fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matt. 3:8; Acts 26:20).  We show that we’ve truly changed our minds about our sin through our actions, and the Bible talks about what actions show a mind changed from the carnal to the spiritual.  Actions which manifest the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) rather than the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21) show whether repentance has truly taken place, and it is our actions which show the true condition of our heart (Mark 7:20-22).

Repentance…without it none of us will be forgiven.

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…But Now He Commands All People Everywhere To Repent

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The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.

Acts 17:30 – Scripture of the Day (February 19, 2014)

This verse answers the question sometimes asked, “Will God still judge the people in some third world country or in the deepest darkest jungles of Africa who have never even heard of Jesus?”  God overlooked ignorance of his existence and his will in the past…that past specifically being in the time before Paul said this two thousand years ago…but from the days of Jesus and Paul going all the way up to today and until Christ comes again God commands “all people everywhere to repent.”

This shows the great need for evangelism (Matt. 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16).  Why did Jesus tell us to go to the entire world with the good news?  Because he wants all people everywhere to repent of their sins and turn their lives over to him.  If that was not the case, then why did he give these commands?  Not only that, but why bother to share the gospel with your next door neighbor, much less make the attempt to reach someone on the other side of the planet?  The truth is that God shows no partiality.  If he requires you and me to repent of our sins, believe in his Son, and be immersed in water for forgiveness of sins – and he does (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38-39) – then he requires the same of every soul on this planet.

He wants us all to repent, the literal meaning of the word being “to change our minds.”  He wants us to change our minds about our sin.  If we do that, if we stop glorying in our sin but instead feel the godly sorrow he feels over our sin (2 Cor. 7:9-11), then we will turn away from our sin and start living for him.  That in turn will lead to our salvation.

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This Jesus, Who Was Taken Up From You Into Heaven, Will Come In The Same Way As You Saw Him Go Into Heaven…”

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And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’

Acts 1:9-11 – Scripture of the Day (January 16, 2014)

The apostle John elaborates:  “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.  Even so.  Amen” (Rev. 1:7).

The apostle Paul had this to say about it:  “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God.  And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:16-17).

What an awesome day that will be!!

But only if you are ready for that day to come.

Because if you aren’t ready, the day we all see Christ descending in the clouds will be a terrible day…the most terrible day…for you.  Consider this warning given by Paul:  “…when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.  They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints…” (2 Thess. 1:7-10).

Do you know God?  You do if you obey him (1 John 2:3).  If you say you know him but do not obey him, you’re lying (1 John 2:4).

Have you obeyed the gospel of Jesus Christ?  Here’s what Jesus said about it:  “…Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.  Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:15-16).  God forgives you of your sins and saves you when you believe with all of your heart in his Son and are penitently immersed (Acts 2:38; 8:12, 35-38; 16:30-34; 22:16).  When that happens, he adds you to his Son’s body, the church of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 12:13; cf. Col. 1:18).  He will continue to forgive you of your sins if you walk in the light by holding fast to his Word and penitently confess your sins (1 Cor. 15:1-2; 1 John 1:7-9; 2 Cor. 7:9-11).  That’s what obeying the gospel is all about.

When Jesus descends in the clouds in the same way he ascended into them all those years ago, will you be ready?