Bible Repentance chapter 1part 1 of 2

Two Phases of Repentance

Jesus announced that His mission was to “call … sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:13). Such an experience is a personal change of mind, a turning around to go in the opposite direction. It includes deep heart sorrow for sin, a sense of shame and self-abhorrence for a life of rebellion against one’s Creator and Redeemer. As such, it can be a cataclysmic upheaval of soul.

The way repentance works is clearly taught in the Bible. Jesus’ call to repent is to all, for “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23). “The knowledge of sin” comes through “the law” (3:20). Thanks to the beneficent work of the Holy Spirit, this wholesome “knowledge” is imparted to “every man” as a “Light” that passes no one by (John 1:9).
This knowledge is imparted by a conviction that there is a standard of perfect righteousness in Christ. The sinner may as yet have never heard the name of Christ, but he knows deep in his heart that he has “sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

The awareness of a perfect standard embodied in the law and in Christ may be ever so dim to consciousness, but Christ assured His disciples that as the result of His going to His Father “and ye see Me no more,” the Holy Spirit would bring to the hearts of men a conviction of “sin, and of righteousness” (John 16: 8-10). This potential for the conviction of sin is as universal as is the capacity for pain built into every human body. It is a signal that something is wrong. Thus the Lord Himself who “so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” has prepared the way for the preaching of His gospel, which is complementary to this conviction of sin communicated by the Holy Spirit to “every man.” When Jesus went forth after His baptism “preaching the gospel of the kingdom,” His message was, “Repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:14, 15).

Teaching legalism or an adulterated “gospel” short-circuits this work of the Holy Spirit in human hearts, and millions as a consequence are never able to receive the gift of repentance which alone can heal the “hurt” they feel. But Scripture foretells a time when the gospel will be restored and presented in its pristine purity and the earth will be “lightened” with its glory (Rev. 18:1-4). In millions of human lives it will be like restoring a broken electronic connection. The circuit will be complete—the Holy Spirit’s conviction of sin will be complemented by the pure gospel, and the current of heaven’s forgiveness will flow through the soul, working miracles of grace. This book is a search for that connection.

MAN’S RESPONSES TO
GOD’S CONVICTION OF SIN

A wound or injury to the body causes messages of pain to be relayed to the brain. Such pain can be alleviated by several methods of response. We can take a pain-killing drug and forget about the problem. This of course can lead to serious disease and death. But this is like what happens when the sinner rejects the “pain” of the Holy Spirit’s merciful conviction of sin. An ability to feel pain in the body is a positive blessing, for it enables one to seek healing. The leper, whose sense of pain is anesthetized by his disease, actually suffers the loss of fingers and limbs because he does not feel destructive dangers to them. It is foolish and fatal to fight the Holy Spirit’s conviction of sin. Repentance is the proper response of the human heart to the Holy Spirit’s message of reproof or conviction of sin.

This true response to the conviction of sin is like seeking medicine or surgery for the healing of the body. The grateful sinner prays, “Thank You, Lord, for loving me so much as to convict me of my sin. I confess the full truth of the conviction, and acknowledge that sin has sentenced me justly to death. But I thank You that You have provided a Substitute who bears my penalty in my stead, and I am motivated by His love to separate from me the sin that has crucified Him.” This was the miracle that occurred in David’s heart when he prayed, “I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin” (Psalm 38:18).

REPENTANCE AND A NEW LIFE

Repentance is thus not only a sorrow for sin, but a genuine abhorrence of it. It is an actual turning away from sin, an awakened hatred of it. The law alone can never impart this phenomenal reaction; it must be combined with grace in order to be effective. “The law worketh wrath” and imparts a terror of judgement, but grace works the kind of repentance that makes “old things” to pass away; “behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Sin that was once loved is now hated; and God’s righteousness is loved.

In this way, repentance is always associated with “remission of sins,” that is, sending them away (Luke 24:47). In fact, the New Testament word for “forgiveness” implies a separation from sin, a deliverance from it. Repentance makes it actually impossible to continue in sin. The “love of Christ supplies the new motivation for a phenomenal change in the life (2 Corinthians 5:15, 16).

One finds a joyful sorrow in the experience:

The sadness that is used by God brings a change of heart that leads to salvation—and there is no regret in that! But sadness that is merely human causes death. See what God did with this sadness of yours: how earnest it has made you. … Such indignation, such alarm, such feelings, such devotion. (2 Corinthians 7:10, 11, G.N.B.).

Peter is an example of such repentance. After basely denying his Lord with cursing and swearing, he “went out, and wept bitterly” (Mark 14:71; Luke 22:62). The weeping never ceased, for we are told that there was always afterward a tear glistening in his eyes as he thought of his sin in comparison with his Lord’s grace. But they were happy tears, for the pain of contrition is always a rainbow glorified with the sunshine of divine forgiveness. Evan medical scientists are beginning to recognize the wholesome healing therapy in such tears of contrition (see Prevention, August, 1980, pp. 126-130).

Far from being a negative experience of debilitating sorrow, such repentance is the foundation for all true joy. As every credit must have a corresponding debit to balance the books, so the smiles and happiness of life, in order to be meaningful, are founded on the tears of Another upon whom is “the chastisement of our peace” and with whose “stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). Repentance is not our tears and sorrow balancing the books of life; it is our appreciation of what it cost Him to do it, to bear our griefs and carry our sorrows (verse 4). It is in this sense that our repentance becomes a life-long experience:

The nearer we come to Jesus, and the more clearly we discern the purity of His character, the more clearly shall we see the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and the less shall we feel like exalting ourselves. There will be a continual reaching out of the soul after God, a continual, earnest, heartbreaking confession of sin and humbling of the heart before Him. (Acts of the Apostles, p. 561).

At every advance step in Christian experience our repentance will deepen. It is to those whom the Lord has forgiven, to those whom He acknowledges as His people, that He says, “Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight. (Ezekiel 36:31). (Christ’s Object Lessons, pp. 160, 161).

Such repentance is utterly beyond human capacity to invent or initiate. It must come from above. God has exalted Christ to be a “prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel,” said Peter (Acts 5:31). And to the Gentiles also He “granted repentance unto life” (Ch. 11:18). The capability for such a change of mind and heart is a priceless treasure from the Holy Spirit, something to covet above all else and to be profoundly thankful for. Even the will to repent is His gift, for without it we are all “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1).

What Makes Repentance Possible

The Bible links such repentance closely with faith. Paul testified “repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 20:21). Repentance is therefore impossible without faith, and vice versa. It is not a cold calculation of options and their consequences, or a selfishly motivated choice to seek an eternal reward, or to flee the pains of hell. Repentance is a heart experience that results from appreciating the goodness of God. It cannot effectively be imposed by fear or terror, or even by hope of immortality. “The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance” (Romans 2:4).

The ultimate source of this superb gift is the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. As faith is a heart-appreciation of the love of God revealed there, so repentance becomes the only appropriate decision the believing soul can make. It is the believing sinner’s choice to follow where faith leads the way as illuminated by the cross. In fact, Peter’s call to Israel to “repent, and be baptized every one of you” followed the most graphic sermon on the cross that has ever been preached (Acts 2:36-38). This phenomenal response at Pentecost became the direct fulfillment of Jesus’ promise, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me” (John 12:32).

Genuine repentance with “works meet for repentance” is therefore as rare as I that genuine preaching of the cross which constrains by the love of Christ (cf. Acts 26:20; 2 Corinthians 5:14). Its very essence is powerfully set forth in Isaac Watts’ memorable words:

When I survey the wondrous cross

   On which the Prince of glory died,

My richest gain I count but loss

   And pour contempt on all my pride.

Thank God, this experience has not been unrealized. All through past ages, countless believing sinners have received this gift of personal repentance as bestowed by the Holy Spirit. Sleeping in the dust of the earth, they all await the “first resurrection”. Theirs has been one phase of repentance.

The Key Factor in the
First Resurrection

However, there must be a second coming of Christ, or this “first resurrection” can never take place. Further, without a preparation for His coming on the part of a unique people, He cannot come. Therefore, until He comes, the sleeping saints of all ages are doomed to remain prisoners in their dusty graves. Somehow, the vicious circle must be broken. Repentance is the vital factor. The key to unlock this log-jam of last day events is the heart-preparation of a people for translation without seeing death.

If this is true, it follows that there is a special sense in which Christ calls His people to repentance in these last days when He addresses “the angel” of the seventh church, the Laodiceans, “Be zealous therefore, and repent” (Revelation 3:14, 19).

His use of “therefore” is very significant. It refers to His enumeration of Laodicea's unusual problems of pride and her pathetic poverty. There are special reasons for this call to repent, special problems that will make Laodicea’s ultimate response of repentance most unique.

Read Chapter 2, part 2 — What Is Different About Laodicea's Repentance?
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