Repentance Requires Abandonment

Preacher:
Date: August 28, 2015

Bible Text: Luke 24:46-47 | Speaker: Dr. Harold J. Sala | Series: Guidelines For Living |

He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” Luke 24:46-47

Two brothers ran a store where they consistently used weights that were too light. This meant that every customer who came into the market went away short-changed; however, one of the brothers was converted and refused to use the incorrect weights, though he did not mind taking half of the profits from the fruit and vegetables which the other brother sold.

Eventually the converted man urged his brother to become a Christian, but his brother objected. He said, “Hey, if I get converted, who is going to weigh the fruit and vegetables around here?”

Should commitment to Jesus Christ change a man’s conduct? Can you be a Christian and still observe the same slipshod ethics in the business world? Can you be a Christian and still engage in immoral practices which the Bible condemns? One of the strange anomalies of our age is that more people today profess to be Christians than ever before, yet few lives seem to reflect changed conduct.

For a generation evangelicals have stressed faith, without understanding that faith apart from repentance is merely intellectual assent but not a heartfelt conversion. “Easy believeism,” as some have dubbed the message, results in joining the ranks of the converted much more easily than joining a lodge or a service society.

Raise a hand, walk an aisle, or if you really want to go the whole route, put your name on a 3-X-5 card. That is it, and you are in, provided you get those offering envelopes back in the collection plate or the mail.

Today we need to discover what repentance really is, and why it is a vital ingredient of the conversion experience that the Bible describes as authentic. First–please notice with me that the word “repent,” or “repentance,” is found more than 50 times in the New Testament alone. Jesus, the Apostles Paul, Peter, John and the writer of Hebrews, all used the word, and associated it with faith when a person puts his trust in Jesus Christ as Savior.

In fact, Jesus vitally linked it with the Great Commission. Luke says that He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. Then He said to them, “This is what is written: ‘The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem’” (Luke 24:46-47). At least ten times in His ministry, Jesus talked about repentance as being vital to conversion.

Using the parables of the lost coin and the lost sheep and the lost son, Jesus said, “There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10). Did you notice that it was not the sinner’s faith that brought rejoicing, but rather his repentance? In a genuine conversion, faith and repentance are inseparably linked together.

Suppose the Lord should appear to you and tell you, “Listen, I want you to go to Hong Kong and there I will reward you.” It was no phony, and you were certain that it was the Lord who spoke to you in a vision. What would you do?

You would literally break your neck to get there, right? If you could possibly walk, run, or crawl, you would make it. Now to reach your destination would demand that you leave your own city. Could you reach Hong Kong and stay where you are? Not unless you are already living in Hong Kong, and some of you who read this may be. But my point is this: Repentance demands leaving your past and the entanglement of your sinful alliances to walk with Jesus to Heaven’s gate. Repentance is the negative, “leaving of the old walk and the old way of life,” which makes the new walk of faith meaningful and authentic. It is a long-neglected part of the invitation that needs to be stressed today.

Resource reading: Luke 15