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Chapter 3—Repentance
How can a person be put right with God? How can a sinner be
made righteous? Only through Christ can we find harmony with
God and be made holy. But how are we to come to Christ?
Many people are asking this question. Crowds of people on the
Day of Pentecost saw how sinful they were. They asked Peter and
the other apostles, “What shall we do?”
Acts 2:37
.
Peter said, “Each one of you must turn away from your sins”
(verse 38). A few days later he answered the same question by
saying, “Repent, then, and turn to God.”
Acts 3:19
.
To repent means to be sorry for sin and to turn away from it. We
will not give up sin unless we see how sinful it is. There will be no
real change in our lives until we stop loving sin and decide to turn
from it.
Many people do not really understand true repentance. Millions
are sorry that they have sinned. They even change their ways, be-
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cause they are afraid that their wrongdoing will cause them suffering.
But this is not true repentance; it is not the kind the Bible tells about.
These people are sorry that sin may make them suffer, but they are
not sorry for the sin itself.
Esau was sorry to lose forever his father’s blessing and riches be-
cause of his sin. Balaam was afraid when he saw the angel standing
in his pathway with a sword in his hand. He said, “I have sinned,”
because he was afraid of losing his life. But he was not really sorry
for his sin. He did not change his mind or feel terrible about his evil
plan.
Judas Iscariot sold his Lord to those who planned to kill Him.
Then he cried out, “I have sinned by betraying an innocent man to
death!”
Matthew 27:4
. This confession was forced from his guilty
heart by a terrible fear of punishment. He was afraid that he might
have to suffer for what he had done, but he felt no deep, heart-
breaking sorrow for selling the perfect Son of God to die. He was
not sorry that he had turned away from Jesus, the Holy One of Israel.
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