Day 10: The Decision To Repent

In the previous days I pointed out that the result of praising and blessing the Lord, as recorded in various passages of the psalms, is satisfaction. Praisers are satisfied people. Grumblers are dissatisfied people. And really each one of us has to make a decision. Am I going to be a praiser or am I going to be a grumbler? Well, let me tell you, if you want to be a satisfied person, you’d better decide to be a praiser.

Now we are going to deal with another vitally important decision: that is, repentance. Repentance is one of the great basic doctrines of the New Testament, in fact of the whole Bible. But it’s one that is very little understood by many Christians today and one main reason why it’s so little understood is that they think it’s some kind of an emotion. Consequently, sometimes they think they’re repenting when they’re not and sometimes they want to repent but they don’t know how to. Repentance, like the other things we’ve been speaking about, is not an emotion. It’s a decision of the will. And I want to say two vital things about repentance. First of all, it’s an essential preliminary to faith. If you haven’t repented, you can’t really believe. And second, repentance prepares the way for God to move.

Let me take some examples from the New Testament. First of all, the ministry of John the Baptist, who came to prepare the way for Jesus, the Messiah. How did he prepare the way? This is recorded in Mark 1:3 and 4.

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness [that’s John the Baptist], ‘Make ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.’’ [So he came to prepare the way of the Lord. How did he do that? The next verse tells us.] John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

Repentance was needed to prepare the way for the Messiah to come. And then let’s look at the first command of Jesus, the first public message He proclaimed. It’s recorded again in Mark’s first chapter, verses 14 and 15.

“After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ He said. ‘The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news [of the gospel]!’”

The first specific requirement of Jesus in His public ministry was to repent. He said, “Repent and [then] believe the good news.” And I want to tell you, many people are trying to believe without repenting. It doesn’t work. God grants faith to those who meet the first condition which is to repent.