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 RepentOn one of the most famous days in the history of the Christian Church, the day of Pentecost, the Apostle Peter preached the first Christian sermon after Jesus had risen and ascended to heaven. Preaching in Jerusalem to thousands of people, Peter powerfully testified that the very Jesus they had murdered had been sent by God and was now raised from the dead. Acts 2:22-24,36 That great crowd became so convicted of their sin in rejecting Jesus, the One sent by God to save them, that they stopped Peter and cried out, "What shall we do" to be saved? Acts 2:37Peter was quick and direct in his response: "Repent and...be baptized." Acts 2:37-39 What do these things mean? |
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Repentance involves two things: 1) Repentance involves confessing our sin to God. It begins with taking personal responsibility for our sinful actions. We interrupt the pattern of denial that began with Adam and Eve. We stop blaming circumstances and other people for our sins. While there is a repentance that seeks forgiveness for our sin in general, the most valuable confession is sin specific. Healing from the damage sin has done to us begins with confession of specific sins.  2) Repentance also involves seeking God's help to stop sinning. Proverbs 28:13 The Biblical word for repentance is a word from which we get the term "metamorphosis" referring to the process whereby a caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly. Repentance involves a change of direction in our lives, whereby we turn from going in a direction away from God and a way of life that God does not approve of and that is harmful to ourselves and other people, to begin a journey in the opposite direction–toward God. It's a desire and commitment, by God's grace, to seek Him and to do some things differently than we've been doing. Two more things about Repentance, viewing it from God's perspective:
If you would like to read some prayers of repentance found in the Bible, here are a couple of examples: Psalm 51:1-17; Daniel 9:4-10
When the Philippian jailer asked, "What shall I do to be saved?," and the Apostle Paul answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved," Paul didn't say anything about baptism. Acts 16:30,31 Does that mean baptism isn't really that important? No, when the jailer did put His trust in Jesus, Paul taught him and his family about baptism, and they were baptized that very night. Acts 16:30-33 Throughout the New Testament period when anyone became a follower of Jesus they were baptized immediately or soon thereafter. Baptism is such an important subject in Scripture, and so generally
misunderstood, that we will shortly dedicate an entire study to it on our
website. Watch for "Buried Alive: Start Life Over Again."
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Baptism, the other step Peter said we take to be saved,
is the God-ordained