When to Repent

 

 

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Repentance is God’s good gift

 

Rom 2:1- 4

2:1 Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.

2:2 But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.

2:3 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

 

Many misunderstand verse 4.  They think that people repent when they realize how good God is.  That is only half the equation.  People repent when they are convicted of their own sinfulness.  In other words, they realize how bad they are. 

 

  1. God’s law shows them their sin (verse 3 below).
  2. They confess it as sin.
  3. They obey God instead sinning in the future.

 

Nehemiah 9
The Israelites Confess Their Sins
1 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and having dust on their heads. 2 Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the wickedness of their fathers. 3 They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the LORD their God.

 

It is God’s mercy, or grace, that is intended to lead us to repentance.  The amplified bible clarifies this:

 

Romans 2
4Or are you [so blind as to] trifle with and presume upon and despise and underestimate the wealth of His kindness and forbearance and long-suffering patience? Are you unmindful or actually ignorant [of the fact] that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repent ([1] to change your mind and inner man to accept God's will)?

 

 

Too Late

 

Rev 2:21

2:21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.

 

 Jezebel had a place to repent but never occupied it.

 

Hebrews 12:14- 17

12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

12:15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

12:16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

12:17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

 

Esau sought it bitterly but never found it!  He had not taken the opportunity while he had it, and now it was too late.

 

Lev 25:29, 30

25:29 And if a man sell a dwelling house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year may he redeem it.

25:30 And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be established for ever to him that bought it throughout his generations: it shall not go out in the jubilee.

 

People that did not find there place of repentance

·         Balim

·         Akin

·         Saul

·         Judas

 

People that did find there place of repentance

·         David

·         Peter

·         The Prodigal son

 

-Pastor Tom Peters, Christiansburg, VA

 

What does it mean to repent?

 


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