Repent!
By Dr Peter Hammond
God will judge each one of us. He
will punish the wicked and He will
reward the faithful. An eternal hell
awaits the unrepentant. A glorious Heaven
is promised to all who truly repent of their
sins, trust Christ alone for Salvation and
follow the Word of God in obedience.
Have you always loved the Lord your God
with all your heart, soul, mind and strength?
Have you always loved your neighbour and
done unto others what you would have them do
unto you? Have you ever told a lie? Have you
ever taken something that did not belong to
you? Have you ever looked with lust, or envied
others? If so, you have broken the Law of God
and deserve eternal Judgement. The Word of
God warns us: “But the cowardly, unbelieving,
abominable, murderous, sexually immoral,
sorcerers, idolaters and all liars shall have their part
in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone,
which is the second death.” Rev 21:8
Hope for sinners
The heart of the Gospel is a changed life
in Christ. But each one of us must make a
choice. God will change your life and your
eternal destiny – you must choose to trust
and obey Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ
declared: “Blessed are those who hear the Word
of God and obey it!” Luke 11:28
Hearing and obeying
God is a Holy God and His righteous
standards are seen in His Law. Man is sinful
and we need to repent from our wickedness
and trust in Christ. This repentance and
faith is to be evident in obedience to Christ,
a willingness to sacrifice and to suffer
persecution for Christ. To those who turn to
Him in repentance and faith, God promises
great blessings, rewards and eternal life. The
Lord Jesus Christ began His public ministry
with these words: “Repent, for the Kingdom of
Heaven is at hand.” Matt 4:17
Our Lord Jesus declared that He had
come to call “sinners to repentance.” Luke 5:32
Our Lord Jesus Christ, before He returned
to Heaven, commanded His followers:
“Repentance and remission of sins should be
preached in His Name to all nations…” Luke
24:47. Over a century ago William Booth,
of the Salvation Army, warned that a time
may come when churches will preach a
Saviour without a Cross, Salvation without
repentance, Heaven without hell and
Christianity without holiness.
Salvation is by the Grace of God alone,
received by faith alone, on the basis of
Christ’s blood-atonement on the Cross of
Calvary. Biblical Salvation always involves a
change of behaviour. “Let the wicked forsake
his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, and He will have
mercy on him; and to our God, for He will
abundantly pardon.” Isa 55:7
Repentance and faith
There are those who teach that as long as you
believe in Jesus you are saved, regardless of how
you behave. However, the Scripture makes it
clear that, just as repentance without faith is
not true repentance, faith without repentance
is not true faith. Repentance and Faith are two
sides of the same coin. If somebody runs in
and shouts that your house is on fire, or your
car is being stolen, if you just respond “Thank
you, I believe you”, but you stay seated and do
nothing about it, you obviously don’t believe
what you have just been told. Belief always
affects behaviour. “Thus also faith by itself, if
it does not have works, it is dead. But someone
will say, you have faith, and I have works. Show
me your faith without your works, and I will
show you my faith by my works…for as the body
without the spirit is dead, so faith without works
is dead also.” James 2:17-26
Don’t harden your heart
The Scripture warns us not to harden our
hearts (Ps 95:8). “Blessed is the man who
always fears the Lord, but he who hardens
his heart falls into trouble” Prov 28:14.
“Do you not know that the unrighteous will
not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be
deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters,
nor adulterers, not homosexuals, nor sodomites,
nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor extortioners, will inherit the
Kingdom of God. And such were some of you.
But you were washed, you were sanctified, you
were justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus
and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Cor 6:9-11
We are not to be “hardened by sin’s
deceitfulness” Heb 3:13. “A man who remains
stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly
be destroyed - without remedy” Prov 29:1.
“The Lord is close to the broken hearted and He
saves those who are crushed in spirit” Ps 34:18.
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a
broken and contrite heart” Ps 51:17. The Lord
promises to hear and heal the responsive and
humble heart (2 Kgs 22:19).
“Cast away from you all the transgressions
which you have committed, and get yourselves
a new heart and a new spirit. For why should
you die…?” Ezek 18:31
The Bible emphasises three
aspects of repentance:
Conviction – a change of mind
Contrition – a change of heart
Conversion – a change of life.
It is not enough to confess our sin, we also
need to reject sin mentally, to loathe it and
to forsake it. Repentance involves a change
of mind, a change of heart, a change of
habits and a change of behaviour. “Now,
therefore, says the Lord, turn to Me with all
your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and
with mourning. So rend your heart, and not
your garments; return to the Lord your God,
for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger,
and of great kindness…” Joel 2:12-13
This was the message of the Apostle
Peter on the Day of Pentecost: “Repent, and
let every one of you be baptised in the Name
of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and
you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 2:38
This was the message of the early
Church: “Repent therefore and be converted,
that your sins may be blotted out, so that times
of refreshing may come from the presence of the
Lord.” Acts 3:19. The first time Christ came
to this earth, He came as a Saviour – the
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of
the world. All who turn in repentance away
from sin and trust in Christ, following Him
in obedience, are saved.
But, our Lord Jesus Christ will come
again…this time as a Judge – the Lion
of the Tribe of Judah, the King of kings
and the Lord of lords. All who have not
repented and obeyed His Law will be
condemned and eternally punished in hell.
We have a choice – to surrender to Christ as
our Saviour now, or to face Him one day as
our Judge. Let us Christians live daily with
repentant hearts. “God commands all men
everywhere to repent.” Acts 17:30. .
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