"REPENTANCE!"
Written and preached by David P. Nolte

2 CORINTHIANS 7:9-11

We have all made decisions, performed actions, uttered words, and gone in directions which we have ultimately regretted. Perhaps we tried to cover up those regrettable things or we tried to deny them, or justify them, or rationalize them. Hopefully, though, we made a positive decision to move beyond mere regret or remorse, or resignation. Hopefully we made ample restitution, offered sincere apology, and having a change of heart, altered our subsequent behavior. That's what I want to talk to you about today: it's called: "repentance."

  1. REPENTANCE: WHAT IT IS:
    1. Consider the meaning of repentance:
      1. The Old Testament words means:
        1. "To rue, to regret, to be sorry."
        2. "To turn back from sin, to turn toward God."
      2. There are three New Testament words for repentance, all of which signify:
        1. "According to Vine, "To change one's mind or purpose, always, in the NT, involving a change for the better."
        2. According to Strong's "To make hearty amendment with abhorrence of one's past sins."
    2. Repentance isues from a sincere sorrow for sin that leads to change; it is not merely weeping, it is not merely remorse, it is not merely regret. Easton says that repentance consists of
      1. A true sense of one's own guilt and sinfulness.
      2. An apprehension of God's mercy in Christ.
      3. An actual hatred of sin and a turning from it to God.
      4. A persistent endeavor after a holy life in a walking with God in the way of his commandments.
    3. John the Baptist illustrated repentance when he spoke to the multitude in Luke 3 . He said
      1. To the selfish rich, "Let the man who has two tunics share with him who has none; and let him who has food do likewise." Luke 3:11.
      2. To the tax-gatherers, who were professional gougers, "Collect no more than what you have been ordered to." Luke 3:13.
      3. To the soldiers, who used force to get their way, "Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages." Luke 3:14.
So repentance is a change of mind that issues in a change of life. It is altered thinking that results in altered action. Let me tell you about a man who illustrates repentance. His name is Ray Lutzo and he becomes the model for the sermon today. When just 18 years old, Ray was arrested for armed robbery and sentenced to 15 years in the Appalachee Correctional Institution. He was reared by hard-working, middle-class parents. Although the family provided a religious background, and he rose to a high rank in the Boy Scouts, he had trouble in school, and was expelled for fighting and truancy. He began drinking and smoking at 13, and soon progressed to narcotics. In his late teens, he moved to Florida and turned to crime to support a growing drug habit. He was arrested after robbing a convenience store. Ray's life was on a downhill skid that could lead to only one end: death and eternal damnation. He needed a change. He was in the same situation as all of us at one time or another: Needing a real change. Consider that aspect of repentance with me.
  1. REPENTANCE: WHY IT IS NECESSARY:
    1. Repentance is not an option! It is highly significant, in fact, it is an absolute essential!
      1. Without repentance Baptism is insignificant and meaningless.
        1. Peter said to the believers at Pentecost: "Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Acts 2:38.
        2. Paul identified repentance with dying to sin, saying: "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life." Romans 6:1-4.
      2. Without repentance there is no forgiveness of sins!
        1. Jesus said, "I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." Luke 13:3.
        2. Peter rebuked the magician who wanted to buy the power of the Holy Spirit, and said, "Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you." Acts 8:22.
        3. Paul wrote, "But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds:" Romans 2:5, 6.
      3. Without repentance the harm we do to others remains unmitigated. Biblical repentance recompenses as much as possible the wrongs inflicted and makes restitution where restitution can be made.
    2. Life without repentance is like
      1. Jumping out of an airplane without a parachute. There's no turning back.
      2. Driving downhill without brakes. There's no stopping til you collide with something.
      3. A sickness without a remedy. There's no cure, only ultimate death.
    3. We can get along without fame, or riches, or ease, or success, but we can never get along without repentance.
Ray needed a real change. To please his parents, he attended church services at the prison. However, he was not being fully honest with his parents or himself. Though he sat through the services, he paid little attention. He wanted to change, but he didn't want to change. He desired it, but didn't will it. His attitude about change was largely indifference, except that he really did want somehow to please his parents. Many share his attitude about repentance. So consider with me, next:
  1. REPENTANCE: ATTITUDES ABOUT IT:
    1. There are basically four attitudes toward repentance:
      1. The first attitude is: "Who needs it and who cares?"
        1. That was the attitude of the harlot mentioned in Proverbs 30:20 "... She eats and wipes her mouth, and says, 'I have done no wrong.'"
        2. That is the attitude of all who say things like:
          1. "It wasn't my fault!"
            1. "The temptation was just too strong!"
            2. "I came from a dysfunctional family."
            3. "I was influenced by society and my peers."
          2. "God is out of date and sin doesn't really matter!"
      2. The second attitude is: 'I 'm not gonna repent and nobody's gonna make me!"
        1. I don't need to change, don't want to change, and am not about to change!"
        2. "Nobody tells me what to do; I can do what I want, and I will do what I want, period!"
      3. The third attitude is: "I'm too bad to repent!"
        1.  "I'm hopeless.  I've done too much bad."
        2. "Even God can't or won't help me now!"
      4. The fourth attitude is: "I need it and I care!"
        1. This was the attitude of Nineveh. "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. And he issued a proclamation and it said, 'In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands.'" Jonah 3:5-8.
        2. This was the attitude of Nebuchadnezzar who was compelled to suffer insanity for 7 years because of his pride. When his sanity returned, he said, "... I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom endures from generation to generation." Daniel 4:34.
    2. So, when you are confronted with your guilt, what is your attitude? When the Holy Spirit convicts you of sin, how do you respond?
    3. We will either be indifferent, proudly defensive or we will be humbly submitted. We will either continue wantonly, stubbornly, in our own way, or we will deliberately turn from it. Which is it for you?


    Ray's attitude to change was basically indifference. But then he started attending a small Bible study group for inmates. He soon took the words of Scripture to heart, and eventually became a believer in Jesus. His desire to change then became a consuming passion. The Lord had touched his heart through grace, through the Holy Spirit and through the Word. Ray came to repentance and accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. He earned his GED, and earned 21 college credits. Eventually he became a clerk in the chaplain's office where he got involved in an evangelism program. He spoke to groups outside the prison walls. When paroled, he enrolled in Bible College, and taught a weekly Bible class in a boy's detention home. He took part in a chaplain internship program at the very institution in which he once was incarcerated. He then enrolled in Western Conservative Baptist Seminary in Portland and, after graduation, returned to Virginia where he became active in youth and jail ministries. His life demonstrates how a person can change, regardless of circumstances. Repentance comes to us, as it did to Ray, when we realize that we are truly guilty. Repentance comes when we realize that sin grieves the heart of our Heavenly Father. Repentance comes when we comprehend the kindness and mercy of God because the kindness of God leads us to repentance. Romans 2:4. Repentance comes when we are stricken with genuine sorrow for sin, "for the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation." 2 Corinthians 7:10. Jesus Christ still gives each person a chance to repent, to turn back, to be changed and to discover true freedom - the freedom of repentance and changed lives.

    From: One Who Believed, compiled by Dr. Robert B. Pamplin, Jr.


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