Repnetance Series

Repentance

A Sermon by CH(CPT) Keith J. Andrews

All scripture marked ESV: The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

Jesus says:

5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:5, ESV)

Jesus calls us to repentance.

The prophet Jeremiah says;

4 You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the Lord persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets, 5 saying, ‘Turn now, every one of you, from his evil way and evil deeds, and dwell upon the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers from of old and forever. 6 Do not go after other gods to serve and worship them, or provoke me to anger with the work of your hands. Then I will do you no harm.’(Jeremiah 25:4-6, ESV)

The prophet Ezekiel says

Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations. (Ezekiel 14:6, ESV)

The Prophet Joel says

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord,

“return to me with all your heart,

with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

and rend your hearts and not your garments.”

Return to the Lord your God,

for he is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;

and he relents over disaster. (Joel 2:12-3, ESV)

We are to repent.

Jesus says

"I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:32, ESV)

The Apostle Peter said:

“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." (Acts 2:38, ESV)

Then in Revelation 2:5 Jesus says to the church at Ephesus:

5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. (Rev 2:5, ESV)

Jesus says:

5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:5, ESV)

We are to repent.

You and I are sinners, and Jesus calls us to repentance. We are to repent.

1. What is Repentance?

We live in a world that teaches us to live the way we want to live—we can make our own life style choices—whether it is in the abomination of homosexuality or the depravity of adultery. The Bible says that we are to repent.

We like to categorize our sin in big and little sins, but the Bible says:

10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. (Jas 2:10, ESV)

Repentance is turning from our sin. It is as simple as going one way and turning toward another.

I like to run. Last Sunday, I ran the road around most of the FOB—when I got to the far side of the FOB I heard dogs barking. I thought they were working dogs, until I saw a pack of dogs running along the top of the HESCOs. I was ready to repent—I was ready to stop my workout and run from a guard tower, I was going to change direction.

We need to change direction in our lives. For many of us, we are going down the wrong road. We are going down a road that is leading us toward destruction. We need to change directions. We need to repent.

What do we need to repent from? What do we need to turn from? We need to turn from our sin. We are sinners, by our very nature and by our own choices. We must turn for this sin.

Sin is those things in our lives that make God unhappy. Our own thoughts, our own actions, our own words are sinful. Have you read the Ten Commandments lately? They still apply and we still continually break them. We are sinners—we need to turn from our sin. We need to repent.

But what do we turn to?

We Turn to God.

We turn to God because he commands us to.

The prophet Hosea tells the people of Israel;

Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,

for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

Take with you words

and return to the Lord;

say to him,

“Take away all iniquity;

accept what is good,

and we will pay with bulls

the vows of our lips. (Hosea 14:1-2, ESV)

We are to turn back to God, because he is God. And it only makes sense. The purpose of repentance is to turn back to God—for all of the benefits that that will bring. He commands us to return to him—we need to repent.