INTRODUCTION
Over the last couple of weeks have been looking at answering the basic question, “What must I do to be saved?”
We have looked at God’s Word and have seen that for one to be saved, they MUST have faith according to many passages like Romans 10:17 and Hebrews 11:6.
Last week we looked at the step of confession. Romans 10:9 gives us the importance of confession as a step to salvation.
From these last two messages we can see that faith alone is not what it takes to enter the kingdom of heaven. Faith is the first step in the process.
Today we are going to look at the third step in God’s plan of salvation. That step is repentance.
On the day of Pentecost, Peter was preaching to the Jews and told them about Jesus whom they crucified; they were pierced to the heart and asked a question. Let’s look at Acts 2:37-38.
Peter’s direct unequivocal answer to them was two-fold, repent and be baptized. Peter was plain and direct, yet today people go to great lengths to explain away the baptism part of verse 38, saying that it is not necessary.
Next week we will look at baptism, but this week we are going to look at repentance as a step to salvation.
As a side note, if you are going to say that baptism is not needed for salvation, then you would also have to say that repentance is not needed either since they are linked with the “and”.
Today I want us to look at:
I. The meaning of repentance.
II. The Makings of repentance.
III. The motivation to repent.
After we look at some of the passages on repentance, you will see that it is an essential step to salvation, no more or no less important that faith and confession.
SERMON
I. THE MEANING OF REPENTANCE
A. Defining the word repent.
When the Jews were asking Peter what they needed to do in order to be saved, Peter said in part that they needed to repent.
What was he telling them? Was he telling them they just needed to be sorry? Is sorrow repentance?
The word “repent” means to turn away from or to forsake. Repentance is brought on by godly sorrow. We are sorry for sinning against God and other people.
Peter was telling the people that in order for them to be saved, they had to turn away from their old ways of sin and turn toward God.
Repentance involves restitution when possible. Remember in Luke 19:8, Zacchaeus wanted to change his ways, he wanted to forsake his former life of cheating people, part of his change was for him to repay those whom he cheated.
We make a decision to repent we repent toward Jesus. We realize our life is not pleasing to Jesus and we decide to walk with God.
B. Who needs to repent?
1. Repentance is individual.
MARK 6:12 They went out and preached that men should repent.
In Acts 2:38 Peter said that each individual must do. It is an individual decision, he says that “each one of you” needs to repent and be baptized. No parent, no priest, no preacher, no friend can repent for another person.
Many times we overlook our need to repent because we look around us and see people who we think are doing worse than we are.
In Luke 13:1-5 there is a story that illustrates the need for repentance. In verse 3 Jesus says "I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
Some Galileans were offering sacrifices and Pilate’s soldiers killed them. The people felt that their sins were not as great as those of whom bad things happened to. Jesus was telling them that they ALL needed to repent. Many times we are blinded by thinking that other people are bigger sinners than we are, so we do not think we need to repent.
2. Repentance is inclusive.
All people need to repent. Romans 3:23 tells us that ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
ACTS 17:30 "Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,
No person is excluded from the need to repent.
2. Repentance is important.
Once again, I go back to the Acts passage in which Peter told them in plain language that they needed to repent.
When you think of the definition of repentance, it stands to reason that it is something a person who wants to give their life to Jesus would do.
How could say you want to follow Jesus and yet not change or want to change your life? How could you not want to please the one you want to serve?
Repentance is important because Peter says that repentance along with baptism gives us the promise of the forgiveness of our sins and that we will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit working in our lives helps us to change our lives to conform to the image of God.
ACTS 3:19 "Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;
If our sins are not forgiven, then we cannot be saved, if we do not have the Holy Spirit in our lives, then we are not saved either (Ephesians 1:13-14, 4:30, 2 Corinthians 1:22, 5:5, Romans 8:16)
II. THE MAKINGS OF REPENTANCE
If repentance is a forsaking of old ways and a turning to Jesus, what in our life needs to change in order for us to be truly repentant? What is involved in repentance?
A. Repentance involves a change of intellect.
1. Repentance involves knowledge of sins, the sins that we have committed against God. We are convicted of personal sins that we have committed against God.
2. In Isaiah 6, when God confronted Isaiah, Isaiah had a true understanding of his sinful life and was ready to change. He recognized his personal sin. His response was WOE IS ME!
3. When Peter was fishing with Jesus, Peter was coming to realize who Jesus was and he told Jesus to depart from him since he was a sinful man in Luke 5:8.
4. In 1 Timothy 1:15, Paul calls himself the chief sinner. Paul used to think he was right, but when Jesus entered the picture of his life, his intellect changed. We realize that WE are a sinner than needs salvation!
B. Repentance involves a change of emotions. READ 2 CORINTHIANS 7:9-10
1. When we intellectually understand that we have sinned against God, then that will lead to Godly sorrow that leads to repentance.
2. Being sorry is not the same as repentance. Repentance is the next step of being sorry because it will lead us to do something about the wrong we have done.
3. Worldly sorrow is a sorrow caused by getting caught. The prisons are full of people who have worldly sorrow.
4. Godly sorrow involves being sorry before you are caught. It would be turning yourself in before you got caught. This is not to say that a person who gets caught cannot have Godly sorrow, but the attitude is one of, “ I am sorry that I sinned against God and others”, verses, “I am sorry I got caught.”
5. Notice that our passage says that godly sorrow leads to repentance which leads to salvation. Why? Because a person who is truly repentance will want to forsake the old ways. God gives us that opportunity when we are immersed into Christ. 2 Cor 5:17 tells us that was are a new creation when we belong to Jesus.
C. Repentance involves a change of will.
1. The will is the very center of repentance. Included in Biblical repentance is the determination to forsake sin.
2. This is a decision that we make. Each and every minute of the day, we decide if we are going to sin or obey God.
3. When our will changes, we determine that with the help of the Holy Spirit, we will leave the old sin that enslaved us. Remember that some sins take time, prayer and effort to overcome. Each time we stumble, we tell God we are not going to do it again.
4. We tell ourselves and God that we are going to stay as far away from sin as possible. (Drink problem person going to bars)
5. LITTLE BOY WITH VASE CAUGHT ON HAND ILLUSTRATION.
6. We are going to let go of the sins of the past.
7. Repentance involves a wholehearted change of will toward sin. We want nothing to do with it.
D. Repentance involves a change of action.
1. Ultimately, when our intellect, emotions, and will change, our actions will change also.
2. In Luke 3:8, he told the people to bear the fruit that is keeping with repentance.
III. THE MOTIVATION TO REPENT
How is repentance brought about?
A. The Holy Spirit can motivate us to repent.
1. In John 16:7-8, Jesus told the disciples that the Holy Spirit would come into the world and convict it of sin, righteousness and judgment.
2. The Holy Spirit will work through the Word to convict us. (1 Thessalonians 1:5, Acts 4:31, 28:25)
3. In Matthew 12:41, Jesus said that the people of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah.
B. Godly Sorrow leads to repentance.
1. We have already hit on this one. 2 Corinthians 7:8-10 says that godly sorrow will lead to repentance. This sorrow will produce a permanent change.
2. We hear and believe the Word of God, we believe that God loves us and that He sent His Son to done for us, we understand that we have sinned against God and that leads to godly sorrow which leads to repentance.
C. The Goodness of God can motivate us to repent.
1. ROMANS 2:4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
2. We start understanding how good God have been to us, that while we were yet sinners, Jesus dies for us (Romans 5:8). We see what God has done for us and we want to change our ways.
D. God’s judgment can lead to repentance.
1. ACT 17:30-31 "Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead."
2. This is the motive of fear. We are afraid to end up in hell and we want to avoid it so we figure we had better change our ways.
CONCLUSION
What must I do to be saved? Thus far we have seen that we need to have faith, that our faith will lead us to confess Jesus as Lord, and that conviction will lead us to repentance.
Repentance is a forsaking or turning away from the old way of life and a turning to Jesus. We realize that we have sinned against a God who loves us and we make a decision to change.
Repentance is commanded in the bible. Repentance is not an emotion it is an action.
Next week we will look at the step of baptism and how it fits into God’s way of saving man.
