Superheroes of the word Understanding Repentance

Finishing What we Started “The real crime would be not to finish what we started.” -- Doctor Octopus

The challenge of repentance One of the most challenging aspects of salvation is repentance. What is involved in repenting? All steps are necessary for salvation to be granted by God. We must teach and practice repentance.

How To Illustrate Repentance Three illustrations from Scripture can help us understand the depth of the meaning of repentance. It’s much more than simply saying, “I’m sorry!”

Matthew 21:28-31 A man had two sons. He told them to go work in the vineyard. First son: I will not. Second son: I will. First son: Regret and went to work. Second son: Never showed!

Jeremiah 5:1-3 “Roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and look now and take note. And seek in her open squares, if you can find a man, if there is one who does justice, who seeks truth, then I will pardon her. And although they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’ surely they swear falsely.’ O Lord, do not Your eyes look for truth? You have smitten them, but they did not weaken; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent.”

Jonah 3:5-9 “Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes.” Declared a fast for all men and beasts in the hope God would relent form his anger.

Repentance and Salvation Of what are we repenting? Acts 2:38 – “Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’” What had they done?

A Message From Jesus Matthew 4:17 – “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”

Luke 15:7-10 “I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance….In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Why such joy?

Is Repentance All That is Necessary 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….” Romans 10:9 – “…that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Acts 16:31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 1 Corinthians 15:1-2 – “Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.”

Living the Repentant Life Acts 26:20 – “[Paul] kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.”

2 Corinthians 7:10-11 “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter.”

2 Corinthians 12:21 “I am afraid that when I come again My God may humiliate me before you, and I may mourn over many of those who have sinned in the past and not repented of the impurity, immorality and sensuality which they have practiced.”

Hebrews 6:1-8 “…let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works….For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.”