Repentance
Luke 15:10 “Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.”
Repentance in the Hebrew means to sigh, to be sorry. (not “say” sorry…..but to “be” sorry)
Repentance in the Greek means to reconsider…to perceive…to heed, and then to feel and act differently.
So we are going to consider two examples of repentance in the Old Testament first:
A Hebrew: Manasseh was the worst king of Judah. Son of a godly king in his old age….Manasseh did not follow after the Lord….
…but rather filled Jerusalem with blood (2 Kings 21:16)
He “…made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel.” (2 Chron. 33:9)
For his sin….God was going to remove the inhabitants from Judah…..and destroy Jerusalem.
But the Lord “spake to Manasseh, and to HIs people: but they would not hearken….wherefore the Lord brought upon them…the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.”
Now plainly, I would think….good, he deserves it.
And it is good….but not in punishment….but in repentance. For it was the “wake up” call that he needed….to bring him back to God.
2 Chronicles 33:12 “And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers,”
Here is the heart’s repentance….but that is not all….
….for when he was allowed to return to Jerusalem…
…”he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord,…and cast them out of the city.
And he repaired the altar of the Lord and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel.” (2 Chronicles 33:15-16)
Let me say, that repentance leads to thanksgiving…and this is true with the worst cases, as well as the ordinary cases.
A Gentile: Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon….who was one of the most powerful men in the known world…at that time.
A conqueror….taking lands and people all over. The wealth of the nations….gold, silver, brass, and crops….all flowed into Babylon because of him.
Yet…..when his heart was “lifted up”…God brought him down to the level of the beast of the field.
Daniel 4:23-25 “And whereas the king saw a watcher and an holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew the tree down, and destroy it;….
….yet leave the stump of the roots thereof in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass,…and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him;
This is the interpretation….that they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven,…
……till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will.”
In fact, this happened….Nebuchadnezzar was made mad….and ran out into the fields, like a beast…
……till…”at the end of the days, I….lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me,” (Daniel 4:34)
Here his heart is awakened to God’s claims….and he repents….
….and then makes known to all….about his humiliation….and God’s glory.:
“Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth;…
….I thought it good to shew the signs and wonders that the High God hath wrought toward me.
How great are His signs! And how mighty are HIs wonders! His kingdom, and HIs dominion is from generation to generation.” (Daniel 4:1-3)
And now Saul/Paul in the New Testament.
We know he was “exceeding mad” (Acts 26:11) against the believers of Jesus Christ.
“Threatenings and slaughter” was his desire against “the disciples of the Lord”. (Acts 9:1)
But the Lord gave him such light that he could not continue on in his rebellion and unbelief….Saul had to see the truth….”Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6)
….and when he did….he believed….he prayed, he waited….then he was baptized and “he preached Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God.” (Acts 9:18-19)…in the very city he was going to arrest and persecute believers.
But there is also Zacchaeus….who repented and restored what he had defrauded, as a tax collector. (Luke 19:8-10)
There is the jailer, who with stripes on the back of Paul and Silas….put them in stocks…in the inner prison….who repented and believed in Christ Jesus….and his house(Acts 16:23-31)
There is Onesimus…the servant who ran away….and heard Paul preach, and became a helper to him….yet was sent back to Philemon,…to be “profitable to thee”. (Philemon)
And there is us…..
Luke 15:7 “ I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.”
Repentance is a change of heart….and life.
It can never be apart from Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit….for it is an acknowledgement of Christ’s Lordship…over me, and my life.
A bowing to His authority….a commitment to Him, and HIs glory….a thanksgiving to Him for His mercy and truth.
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 