All throughout the Gospels, into the book of Acts, all the letters of Paul, Peter and John speak to one word: Repentance. John the Baptizer, the forerunner of Jesus, preached “Repent,” Jesus taught “Repent,” and the Disciples taught “Repent.” Without repentance, baptism or any other act of righteousness, belief or obedience to God, mean absolutely nothing. Repentance is one of the most important actions, preached by John, Jesus, and all the apostles (and, if we look, most of the Old Testament prophets), yet seems to be one of the least breached subjects by many modern church goers.
Repentance is what is required to turn back to God. It’s a humbling of one’s self, recognizing their absolute depravity apart from God, and a turning from one’s old life in surrender to the will of God. When we repent, we forsake, not merely our sin, but everything else, to surrender to Christ Jesus. In the Old Testament, it means turning back to God with your whole heart. The word in Greek, metanoeo, means “to change one’s mind and purpose, as the result of after knowledge.” It’s not merely an acknowledgement of guilt, but an admission of helplessness in guilt. It involves a hatred of sin, and desires a radical pursuit of the holiness of God.
Make no mistakes, loved ones, Jesus didn’t merely die to set you free from the consequences of sin, He died to make you Holy. Sin mars the image of God we were designed to be. It is when we repent, rejecting our sin, and pursuing Christ, that we find healing from our sin. And it IS a process, be patient with it. Utterly reject sin, and completely, passionately and radically pursue Jesus. Jesus didn’t say “Repent if you want.” He proclaimed “Repent, for the Kingdom is at hand.”
Luke 3:1-9
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Matthew 4:1-17
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written,
“‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
And
“‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’”
Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Acts 2:37-41
Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
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