“The Vital Necessity of Repentance”
By Jim Schneider, Executive Director
VCY America
We often hold the mistaken notions that God owes us something and that He is obligated to bless the United States. Afterall, look at the large number of churches across the country. Look at all the Christian broadcasting proclaiming His Word. Look at the number of Christian schools, colleges and universities. Look at all the missionaries this nation sends out compared to the rest of the world. And don’t forget that the Bible is the best-selling book of all time in our country. We find it quite easy to pat ourselves on the back.
What we fail to recognize is that we are very far from the Lord and the actions of our nation grieve Him dearly. Whether it’s the shedding of innocent blood, the negating of His Word on matters pertaining to morality and marriage, or proliferating false teachers on the air and behind pulpits, our nation is daily poking God in the eye.
Many churches focus on delivering positive messages, wanting all to “feel good” when they leave their facility. Paul gave Timothy such a warning. “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (II Timothy 4:3,4)
We wonder why the church is so weak today. We wonder why marriages are failing and families are fracturing. We wonder why it is our children are walking away from the truth. We wonder why our country is in the mess that it is. We must face the fact that we have collectively turned away from God. The answer is repentance!
We often try to skirt away from the idea of repentance. It’s interesting to note that the very heart and soul of John the Baptist’s message as he prepared the way for the Messiah was “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 3:2)
Jesus also made this the hallmark of his ministry. “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17) Later Jesus proclaimed, “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:5) He also said, “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Matthew 9:13b)
The disciples carried on this message. “And they went out, and preached that men should repent.” (Mark 6:12) The Apostle Paul also indicated at God “commandeth all men every where to repent:” (Acts 17:30b) Paul said he went “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 20:21)
In Jesus’ messages to the seven churches, He told the church of Ephesus “repent” (Revelation 2:5), the church of Pergamos “repent” (Revelation 2:16), the church of Thyatira “to repent” (Revelation 2:21), to the church of Sardis to “repent” (Revelation 3:3) and to the lukewarm church at Laodicea He stood outside knocking: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:20) Laodicea was a church consumed by their wealth and prosperity and felt they had no need. Jesus said they did not even know that they were “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” (Revelation 3:17b) They also needed to repent!
Repentance is literally a change of mind. As Unger’s Bible Dictionary points out, it is “a fundamental and thorough change in the hearts of men from sin and toward God. Although faith alone is the condition for salvation, repentance is bound up with faith and inseparable from it, since without some measure of faith no one can truly repent, and repentance never attains to its deepest character till the sinner realized through saving faith how great is the grace of God against whom he has sinned.” Further it is indicated, “Repentance contains as essential elements (1) a genuine sorrow toward God on account of sin (Psalm 51); (2) An inward repugnance to sin necessarily followed by the actual forsaking it (Matthew 3:8; Acts 26:20; Hebrews 6:1); (3) Humble self-surrender to the will and service of God (Acts 9:6).”
In our culture we want the freedom to sin and just utter a quick word of confession without turning from that sin, and without changing our mind toward it only to find ourselves enveloped by it over and over again. Confession and repentance need to go hand-in-hand as we consider that which we do is an affront to God.
We often say we want God to heal our land, but we selectively choose the elements we want to follow. God told Israel, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (II Chronicles 7:14) How many times have we heard this verse quoted and omitted the turning from wicked ways? Far too often!
Let us take a lesson from Nineveh, a very wicked and immoral city. God sent Jonah to declare God’s judgment on the land. But God took note “that they turned from their evil way” (Jonah 3:10) and so He spared Nineveh from his wrath at that time. Jesus also affirmed that the men of Nineveh “repented at the preaching of Jonas.” (Matthew 12:41)
The message is clear: we as individuals, as families, as churches, and as a nation need to repent. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (II Peter 3:9)
May it begin today!
