I should like to answer a misconception regarding repentance....

If those witnessing to me would have attached repentance to the message of salvation, I believe I would not have listened.

Here is where some seem to stumble, and I wonder at it.

The gospel is called an “eternal” gospel in the book of Revelation - that is, the gospel that saved Abraham is the same gospel that saves you and I. We are saved by grace through faith, and that not of our selves, it is a gift of God, not our work for if it was, we could boast about. -That- is the gospel, and has always been the gospel. If God saves a person, that person is saved through the eternal, unchanging gospel.

The New testament writers describe John’s ministry as preaching repentance. Isaiah prophesied about him as the voice in the wilderness “Prepare, all of you, the way of the Lord. Make, all of you, His path straight”. I can think of no better definition of repentance than the one Isaiah gives – a repentant heart is one that is prepared (willing) to walk in the way of the Lord.

When Jesus cried out, "Repent and believe in the gospel!" (Mark 1:15), He wasn’t changing the gospel – that is Jesus wasn’t “attach[ing] repentance to the message of salvation” – as though it hadn’t been there before. He was describing the process of salvation – that is the seed of the gospel takes root only in prepared soil. Likewise, when Paul explained that the gospel he preached was “repentance towards God, and faith in Jesus Christ: (Acts 20:21) he wasn’t “adding repentance” to the gospel either, but understood that the seed that falls on hard, thorny, or stony ground will not produce a salvific faith.

When we therefore talk about the gospel, we are talking about a faith that is born of repentance. Not that we are to instruct the one who receives the gospel to “repent” as though it were a work they do in their own heart (c.f. Acts 11:18, "When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, "Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.", and 2 Timothy 2:25, "in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth,"). Repentance, according to scripture, is something that God grants.

I want to stress that this is not my "take" on it either – as though I had mined this nugget out of my own imagination – this is, as far as can be seen - the gospel plain and simple, just as it appears in both the Old and New Testaments.

The error that some seem to make, is that they think of faith and repentance are two separate things – as if one could have the one without the other. But the two are related in scripture, and we do well to remember that. They are inseparable entities combined together inseparable in the greater context of grace.

Repentance in the context of salavation must not be confused with the Catholic notion of penance.

When I (or any soundly reformed person) speaks about “repentance” in the context of salvation - I am not talking about arresting our sin habit - GOOD GRAVY!! If we could do that, Christ wouldn't have had to come and save us! We would all just choose not to sin, and wait for the day of His coming. We are helpless to deal with the sin problem.

I should digress here for those who have never thought of it. Think hard on this, and don’t stop until you see it. You cannot heal your corrupt nature by “resisting” sin. Did you get that? You CANNOT heal yourself. No amount of clenching your fists or biting your tongue, or singing “la la la la la” in your head – or whatever little thing you do to try and resist sin – none of these will change even a smidgeon of that part of you that loves to sin. You may be able to keep yourself from sin for a whole week – but it won’t change you a lick.

In the wake of that awesome truth re-examine what you think repentance means. Is it possible for you to repent? Can a leopard change his spots? Think hard here. Can you repent?!?? Stay here until you understand that you cannot repent in and of yourself – and that you never could, nor could anyone else.

That is what it means to inherit Adam’s corruption – however it came to us, we recognize this in ourselves (if we are alert) – while we may be able to resist “a sin” – that resistance is not the path to defeating the corruption of sin.

So when I (or any reformed believer) speak of "repentant faith" I am not suggesting (as is continually, but erroneously inferred) that the gospel I preach begins with demanding a person stops sinning so that they can receive the gospel. It may be painted such by well meaning, but otherwise ignorant people – but that is not the gospel that I preach. The gospel I preach recognizes that repentance and faith are indivisible – that without repentance a man can no more receive the gospel than hard packed earth can receive a seed. I don’t demand that people stop sinning - I simply tell them to have faith in Christ, knowing full well that the seed may fall on good soil – soil prepared beforehand by God Himself – or it may fall on other soil. That is not to say that I shy away from preaching repentance, but rather to say that when I preach repentance I am not preaching some “work” that more than anything else resembles Catholic penance.

In Catholicism they introduce the idea of penance - that is, that in order to be forgiven you must "repent" of the sin. In Catholicism you sin, confess, then agree to do penance to demonstrate your “repentance.” If you fail to do penance, you should not expect to be absolved of your sin. In this way forgiveness is yoked to works.

Some Evangelicals are still mired in Roman thinking – they replace "penance" with “repentance” – and shuffle a few ideas, such that at their heart they are still following a form of Catholic penance. Some never see through the disguise, and I write this paragraph here that the veil might be lifted. In these circles, a person sins, confesses, then "repents." As though they had the capacity to even do so.

Oh wicked heart, let’s drag you out into the light of day for a moment – look here. See that you have never been able to generate real and lasting “repentance” of this nature? If you could stop yourself, you wouldn’t have sinned in the first place. This sort of “repentance” is an illusion. If we could muster within ourselves enough remorse to stop sinning a sin – we wouldn’t have sinned it in the first place! Let the light of God’s truth come down like a hammer on the shackles of those still in bondage here! No amount of profundity will bolster your “sincere” commitment to never sin that sin again! Oh wicked liar that I am – why do I play games here with God? If I refuse to be “poor in Spirit” and refuse to admit that I am a wretch, to admit that I am hopeless, helpless, and without strength – How will I find peace? If I continue to regard “repentance” as something -I- do then I remain a liar and my walk is, by definition, in darkness. I lie, you see, because I think I have repented, when I most certainly know I have not. This same liar that I am is not "practicing the truth" - and must remain in darkness until I give up playing games with God.

How many souls are in this jail I wonder? Souls whose conscience whispers the awful truth - that their “repentance” is a sham that they mustn't ever admit to. They tell themselves that it’ll “have to do” for now. Are they not like a man who stands between the law and grace who at the same moment is unable to sustain a grip on the one nor let go of the other.

No, children - repentance in the context of the gospel, is a change of mind so that one's views, values, goals and ways are changed so that they are now lining up (sincerely) with God's plan. It in no way implies some sort a "preamble" as though the gospel in a nutshell were this: “Stop sinning then believe in God.”

Repentance is an ongoing change of heart, and not a momentary work. It is so closely mixed in with our faith and God's grace, that it is almost ridiculous and near impossible to discuss it in a vacuum. Repentance is perhaps understood more fully by regarding what repentance isn't - apathy.

So when I talk about repentance being a part of the gospel, I am not talking about some work that has to be performed, I am talking about the nature of the faith expressed. Repentance is something God grants - not a work that we do. A repentant faith hates what God hates and loves what God loves, and consequently an unrepentant faith (the kind that doesn’t save) is indifferent to what God loves or hates - and is in fact, indifferent to God - other than having a misplaced sense of “appreciation” in believing that God is going to save that one.

I don't wonder that people resist the idea of repentance when it is painted the way some have painted it. I would to!