The Wonderful Gift of Repentance
In a conversation with the chief priests and the elders, Jesus said:
But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him (Mt. 21:28-32).
Repentance is not easy. It begins with remorse over our sins. We consider how good God is even though we sin against Him (Rom. 2:4). This remorse is not just feeling sorry for ourselves or sorry we got caught, rather it is a “godly sorrow” that produces a change of our will (2 Cor. 7:8-11). This change in the will is repentance. It is turning to God and it results in a change of conduct. John required the Pharisees and Sadducees to bear the fruit of repentance (Mt. 3:8). The apostle Paul told those to whom he preached, “that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance” (Acts 26:20). He wrote to the Ephesians, “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth” (Eph. 4:28). Thus, a “repentance” that does not result in a forsaking of sin, a change in behavior, is not a genuine repentance. The one who stole cannot keep on stealing, nor can he keep that which he has stolen if he is to genuinely repent. As much as possible, he should attempt to make restitution. Zacchaeus understood this principle of restitution in his repentance (Lk.19:8).
Because of the difficulty of repentance, many choose not to earnestly attempt it. Some retreat to a cheapening of God’s grace wherein they assure themselves that they can willfully persist in sin and God will forgive them merely because they acknowledge Him, but God’s grace only goes with those who are willing to be taught and led out of ungodliness (Heb. 10:26-27; Titus 2:11-12).
In God’s eyes, repentance is a gift to us. Peter and the apostles said to those Jewish leaders that were responsible for Christ’s death, “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins (Acts 5:30-31). When the church at Jerusalem heard of the Gentiles’ obedience to the Gospel they said, “Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life” (Acts 11:17). The proclaimer of God’s message must be one who is “in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth” (2 Tim. 2:25). In repentance God is giving us the opportunity to change our relationship with Him, and when we do so there is great rejoicing in heaven (Lk. 15:7). Will you repent?
– Mark Day
Lesson Audio – Mark Day – The End of the Lord
10.16.16 AM – Mark Day – He is Lost!
On the Lord’s Day
The apostle John wrote, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day…” (Revelation 1:10). In the previous verse, he mentioned how he was a companion of the churches of Asia in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, but was presently on the island of Patmos. He had been exiled to this rocky, barren, uninhabited island as part of persecution he had suffered for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. The churches of Asia, to which he wrote (Revelation 1:4), were suffering persecution as well, and the apostle’s thoughts turned to them. It was the Lord’s day after all, and John surely thought about what the Lord’s day meant. He was all alone, separated from his brethren, and had time to reminisce on all those previous Lord’s days in which he had broken bread with fellow saints to remember Christ’s death as the church did regularly from its inception (Acts 2:42; 20:7; 1 Corinthians 11:26). John, unlike many others who have become Christians since, would eat the bread and drink the fruit of the vine not recalling something he had only read about, but rather remembering the body and blood of the Lord he had seen with his own eyes (1 John 1:1).
He called it the Lord’s day because it belonged to the Lord, just as the Lord’s supper is called such because it belongs to the Lord. He would remember that the Lord’s day, the first day of the week, was the day that the Lord Jesus rose from the dead (Mark 16:9), the day that he himself outran Peter to the tomb to find it empty (John 20:1-10). It was that evening Christ first appeared to him and the other apostles when they were gathered together, with the exception of Thomas (John 20:19), and then again on the first day of the next week when the disciples were again gathered together, this time with Thomas (John 20:26).
He would remember the Lord’s day, that first Pentecost following the resurrection, where Jesus’ reign was declared by Peter, opening the doors of the kingdom (Acts 2:30; Matthew 16:19, 28). He would remember the roughly 3,000 souls who were added to the church, the kingdom, that day because they responded to the Gospel through repentance and baptism (Acts 2:38; 41, 47). Through the years, many more had been conveyed from the power of darkness to the kingdom of Jesus, the Son of God (Colossians 1:13). And, now John was all alone on Patmos, but still a brother in the kingdom of Christ (Revelation 1:9).
What John must have been missing having to spend the Lord’s day all alone! No brethren by his side to worship God, to hear their needs and tell them his and go to God in prayer; no assembly of saints to teach and admonish one another by singing and making melody in their hearts to the Lord (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16); no collection to give to Christ’s church and further His cause (1 Corinthians 16:1-2). The Lord was with him, but he could only communicate with other saints by letters. Where are we on the Lord’s day? Do we take for granted all the spiritual blessings that are available to us each Lord’s day through the worship assembly and the warm fellowship that surrounds it? Or do we long for it like this exile would have when he received the revelation of Jesus Christ?
-Mark Day
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