WHATEVER HAPPENED TO REPENTANCE?
by David Wilkerson
Whatever happened to repentance? You rarely hear the word mentioned in most churches today. Pastors seldom call for their congregations to mourn and grieve over wounding Christ by their wickedness.
Instead, the message we hear from many pulpits today is, “Just believe. Accept Christ, and you’ll be saved.” The text used to justify this message is Acts 16:30-31. In this passage, the apostle Paul was being held in jail when suddenly the earth shook and all the cell doors opened. The jailer immediately thought all the prisoners had fled, which meant he faced execution. In despair, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself when Paul and Silas stopped him, assuring him no one had escaped.
Seeing this, the man fell down before the apostles and cried out, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:30-31).
As we read this passage, it is important to remember that the jailer was on the verge of suicide, with sword in hand. He was already at a point of repentance—on his knees, broken and trembling before the apostles. So his heart was truly prepared to accept Jesus in genuine faith.
In the gospel of Mark, Christ tells His disciples, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16). It is clear from what Jesus says here that salvation is found in simply accepting Him and being baptized.
However, Jesus prefaces His statement with this word: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (verse 15). He is saying, in essence, that before people can believe in Him, the gospel must first be preached to them.
And what is this gospel Jesus refers to? It is the gospel that Jesus Himself preached—the gospel of repentance!
Think about it. What was the first message Jesus delivered after He emerged from the temptation in the wilderness? Scripture says, “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO REPENT?
Some Christians believe repentance means simply to “turn around” and go in the opposite direction. But the Bible tells us repentance is much more than this.
The full, literal meaning of the word “repent” in the New Testament is “to feel remorse and self-reproach for one’s sins against God; to be contrite, sorry; to want to change direction.” The difference in meanings here rests on the word “want.” True repentance includes a desire to change!
Moreover, simply being sorry does not constitute repentance. Rather, true sorrow leads to repentance. Paul states, “Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death” (2 Corinthians 7:10).
Paul is speaking here of a sorrow that is without regrets—one that is genuine, that “sticks” in the life of the repentant person. This kind of godly sorrow naturally produces a repentance that includes a hatred for sin, a righteous fear of God and a desire to right all wrongs.
It should not surprise us, then, that Paul preached repentance to believers. He delivered a strong message of repentance to the Christians in Corinth. The Corinthian believers had been richly blessed by God, having sat under mighty teachers of the Word, yet their congregation remained rife with sin.
First Paul testifies to the Corinthians, “Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds” (2 Corinthians 12:12). But then Paul tells them very directly: “I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would” (verse 20).
What was Paul’s fear? It was simply this: “Lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall [mourn] many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed” (verse 21).
This tenderhearted shepherd loved the compromising saints in Corinth. Yet he knew they had been well-taught that a lifestyle of gross sin was wrong. He told them, “When I come to visit you, you’re going to see me hanging my head in grief. My eyes will flow with tears, and my voice will wail in sorrow.
“If I see you continuing to indulge in uncleanness, fornication and lust, I’ll be utterly broken, because the gospel has not done its work in your heart. You haven’t yet repented of your sin. And I will call you loudly to repent!”
by David Wilkerson
Whatever happened to repentance? You rarely hear the word mentioned in most churches today. Pastors seldom call for their congregations to mourn and grieve over wounding Christ by their wickedness.
Instead, the message we hear from many pulpits today is, “Just believe. Accept Christ, and you’ll be saved.” The text used to justify this message is Acts 16:30-31. In this passage, the apostle Paul was being held in jail when suddenly the earth shook and all the cell doors opened. The jailer immediately thought all the prisoners had fled, which meant he faced execution. In despair, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself when Paul and Silas stopped him, assuring him no one had escaped.
Seeing this, the man fell down before the apostles and cried out, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:30-31).
As we read this passage, it is important to remember that the jailer was on the verge of suicide, with sword in hand. He was already at a point of repentance—on his knees, broken and trembling before the apostles. So his heart was truly prepared to accept Jesus in genuine faith.
In the gospel of Mark, Christ tells His disciples, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16). It is clear from what Jesus says here that salvation is found in simply accepting Him and being baptized.
However, Jesus prefaces His statement with this word: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (verse 15). He is saying, in essence, that before people can believe in Him, the gospel must first be preached to them.
And what is this gospel Jesus refers to? It is the gospel that Jesus Himself preached—the gospel of repentance!
Think about it. What was the first message Jesus delivered after He emerged from the temptation in the wilderness? Scripture says, “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO REPENT?
Some Christians believe repentance means simply to “turn around” and go in the opposite direction. But the Bible tells us repentance is much more than this.
The full, literal meaning of the word “repent” in the New Testament is “to feel remorse and self-reproach for one’s sins against God; to be contrite, sorry; to want to change direction.” The difference in meanings here rests on the word “want.” True repentance includes a desire to change!
Moreover, simply being sorry does not constitute repentance. Rather, true sorrow leads to repentance. Paul states, “Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death” (2 Corinthians 7:10).
Paul is speaking here of a sorrow that is without regrets—one that is genuine, that “sticks” in the life of the repentant person. This kind of godly sorrow naturally produces a repentance that includes a hatred for sin, a righteous fear of God and a desire to right all wrongs.
It should not surprise us, then, that Paul preached repentance to believers. He delivered a strong message of repentance to the Christians in Corinth. The Corinthian believers had been richly blessed by God, having sat under mighty teachers of the Word, yet their congregation remained rife with sin.
First Paul testifies to the Corinthians, “Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds” (2 Corinthians 12:12). But then Paul tells them very directly: “I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would” (verse 20).
What was Paul’s fear? It was simply this: “Lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall [mourn] many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed” (verse 21).
This tenderhearted shepherd loved the compromising saints in Corinth. Yet he knew they had been well-taught that a lifestyle of gross sin was wrong. He told them, “When I come to visit you, you’re going to see me hanging my head in grief. My eyes will flow with tears, and my voice will wail in sorrow.
“If I see you continuing to indulge in uncleanness, fornication and lust, I’ll be utterly broken, because the gospel has not done its work in your heart. You haven’t yet repented of your sin. And I will call you loudly to repent!”
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