You’ve seen pictures of him and maybe you have seen him yourself—a bearded man with long hair dressed in a long flowing robe wearing sandals walking up and down a crowded city street carrying a large placard that reads, “Repent… for the end is near!” You’ve seen and heard him as you walked on the boardwalk. A man in a dark suit with a Bible as big as your Aunt Matilda’s Buick preaching to the passers-by and in his booming prophetic voice proclaims, “The Bible says, ‘Repent of your sin’ or face the fires of hell.”

It is quite possible that your gut-level impression of repentance is a negative one. Repentance is a Bible word and a good word. Repentance is also an human concept and experience in everyday life. In God’s process of bringing us into new life or in reviving his people, we begin with humility, i.e. realizing we are not ‘all that!’ The next step is being honest with God and ourselves about the true nature of our condition. Please notice that there are pre-requisites to each step. One builds upon or flows out of the previous one. You cannot be honest until you are first humble. And you thought it was easy to become a Christian and to walk with Jesus! You thought all you had to do was pray the sinner’s prayer with that guy on television and that’s all you had to do!

Repentance is a vital component of our salvation, eternal life and the new birth experience. Let me describe what repentance is not: getting caught, changing to please people or to get them off your back, flirting on the edge of sin, and making cosmetic, superficial changes. In his book, I Surrender, Patrick Morley writes that the church’s (i.e. God’s people) integrity problem is in the misconception “that we can add Christ to our lives, but not subtract sin. It is a change in belief without a change in behavior.” Morley goes on to say, “It is revival without reformation, without repentance.” You’ve heard the old saying, “You want have your cake and eat it, too.” So many people want Jesus AND their sin. They want Jesus to save them IN their sin. The major problem with this idea is that can’t and doesn’t happen. The Bible teaches that Jesus saves us FROM our sin. There is a night-and-day difference between the words ‘in’ and ‘from.’ If there is no ‘from sin’ then there is no ‘in sin.’ I don’t want a doctor to heal me IN my cancer; I want him to heal me FROM my cancer!

Repentance begins with a change of thinking. The Greek word for this is metanoia. This means ‘to change the way you think about something.’ Ever change your mind? Sure you have. At first you didn’t like ‘blue coconut slushies,’ but now you love them! A couple weeks ago you thought the Eagles were bums, and today they are the greatest and best team in the history of professional football (after all they did beat T.O.)! Repentance means to change the way you think about something and this is a common, everyday experience for us. Repentance is also a Biblical experience. John the Baptizer told his listeners to repent. Peter told the crowd to “repent and believe.”

In James 4:8-10 (NASB) we read, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.” What is this all about? Note that James is writing to Christians. In verse 8 he calls them sinners and double-minded. These people are the ones to grieve, mourn and wail. James is not talking about the grief and mourning that comes from the death of a loved one here. What he is talking about is grieving and mourning over sin in your life. Our honesty reveals the depth and extent of our own evil and sin. When we see that from God’s perspective it hopefully scares us and repulses us to think that we indulge is such behavior.

Sometime ago I was given an article about how people don’t feel shame anymore over their behavior or lifestyle. In fact the things that people used to be ashamed of are now heralded and trumpeted as chic and cool! Things that break the heart of God have become our entertainment and we pay money to see it and laugh at it! We have lost the ability to mourn over sin. Without godly sorrow and shame, there is evidence that repentance is not genuine:

• We get angry when confronted about our sin.

• We are unwilling to take the necessary steps of repentance.

• We run away from righteousness instead of running to it

• We are slow to obey.

• We don’t see the need for repenting, or changing our thinking.

• We see our sin as “not all that bad.”

• We justify our behavior by pointing at the worse behavior of others.

• We make shallow, temporary commitments to change.

How do you feel about your sin? Are you aware of it or are you blissfully and dangerously unaware? Does your sin break your heart like it breaks God’s heart? Repentance means seeing our sin as God sees it, mourning and grieving over that sin, and saying about our sin what God says about it. And there is more. Mourning and grieving by themselves is not enough.

Repentance is accompanied by turning. Have you ever decided to quit some sin, but found yourself looking over your shoulder at what you have left? When Lot and his wife left Sodom before God’s judgment upon that city, the Bible says that Lot’s wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt! 2 Corinthians 7:11 (LB) reads, “Just see how much good this grief from the Lord did for you! You no longer shrugged your shoulders, but became earnest and sincere, and very anxious to get rid of the sin that I wrote you about. You became frightened about what had happened…you have done everything you could to make it right.”

In 2 Corinthians 7:10 (NIV) Paul writes, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” Repentance with regrets is the “look back” like Lot’s wife. It is leaving but with a desire to return. In repentance with the “look back,” how long do you think it takes before you ‘go back’ into that same sin? A day? A week? Note that the Corinthians’ change in thinking produced something in them. It produced “repentance without regrets.”

Repentance then is not just thinking sorrowfully about our sin. It is being so upset and grieved by our sin that we willingly submit to Christ changing not only our thinking about our sin but also changing the direction of our lives. The change in thinking leads to change turning from our sin.

Repentance without change of lifestyle and behavior is not repentance. The Greek word for repentance is ‘metamorphosis.” We know that word from grade school science. How so? The Bible takes the truth of the physical realm and uses that to teach about the spiritual realm. We know this word because that is the process by which a caterpillar changes into a butterfly. What are some of the differences? Physically they look entirely different. How about the difference in behavior? [crawling/flying, eating] Totally different aren’t they? Not two different entities, but one entity that morphed into something totally different. This is repentance. When we repent, we usually don’t look too differently except maybe how we dress and adorned ourselves perhaps. Our behavior, however, is completely different. Bob gave his testimony during Sunday morning worship in Sea Isle UMC and said, “Since I gave my heart to Jesus, I find that the things I used to like I don’t like anymore and the things that I didn’t like, I find myself liking.” That’s pretty standard operating procedure for a person who has repented and is a new creation in Christ.

Chuck Colson had been witnessing to Jack Eckerd and eventually led him to Jesus and he became a new man. Shortly thereafter he was visiting one of his drugstores and noticed Playboy and Penthouse magazines for sale. He called the president of the company into his office and told him to remove all Playboy and Penthouse magazines from every one of his drugstores. The president argued that it couldn’t be done because those magazines brought in $3 million in sales each year. Jack Eckerd told his president, “I don’t care how much money they bring in, get those magazines out of my stores.” That is true repentance. Jack Eckerd was a changed man.

Please note something very important—both James and Paul were speaking not to non-Christian pagans but to believers! We who have said ‘yes’ to Jesus aren’t done with repenting. In fact we need to repent on a regular basis when we sin. “If MY people who are called by MY name will humble themselves…and turn from their wicked ways, then I will forgive their sins.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)

It was a bright Sunday morning in 18th century London, but Robert Robinson was anything but cheerful. In the mist of the crowd going to church he was a lonely man. The ringing church bells reminded him of years prior when his faith in Christ was strong and the Church was an integral part of his life. But years of wandering, disillusionment had stolen the fiery passion he once had for the God’s Kingdom, leaving him cold and dark inside.

He hailed a horse-drawn cab and clamored inside. Robinson and the woman exchanged introductions. Upon hearing his name, she exclaimed, “That’s an interesting coincidence” as she reached into her bag. She took out a small book, opened it the ribbon bookmark and handed it to Robinson. “I was just reading a verse by a poet name Robert Robinson.” Robinson look at the words and nodded, “I wrote these words years ago.” The young woman was ecstatic, “Just imagine. I am sharing this carriage with the author of these very lines.” He barely heard her as he read the words he had written years before, “Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace, Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise.” He kept reading, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it—Prone to leave the God I love; Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.” With tears in his eyes he responded to this young woman, “I wrote these words—and I’ve lived these words: “prone to wander…prone to leave the God I love.” In a flash of inspiration the woman replied, “But you also wrote, ‘Here’s my heart, O take and seal it.” You can offer your heart again to God, Mr. Robinson. It’s not too late.” That was a God-moment in Robinson’s life. He turned his heart back to God and walked with him the rest of his days.

Have you made that first repentance of turning your life from self to Jesus? Where are you in the process—a caterpillar, a cocoon, or a butterfly? If you are a ‘butterfly,’ are you continually repenting of attitudes and behavior that are not righteous and holy? Are you submitting more and more to Jesus’ reign and Lordship in your life? Whether you are a Christian or not, sin separates us from God. Do you need to do some repenting this morning? Repentance is a good thing!

Thank You for Taking The Time to Read This Message.
May God Use These Words to Help You and Strengthen You.