Repent and Turn
Good morning Brothers and Sisters. We gather this day to remember as well as honor our Father and
our Lord Jesus and the great sacrifices made on our behalf. We all seem to be ready to accept this responsibility
on Sunday mornings and when we are gathered on His behalf, but what do we do the rest of the week? Now,
you might say “Accept responsibility??...what did I have to do with the crucifixion. I was not there”. But I say
to you that every person who has sinned has raised a mallet against the nails which pierced the hands and feet of
our Lord. Every sin we have committed or will commit has added an ounce to the tree that was carried to
Galgotha. In this way we are responsible for the crucifixion and death of our Lord. It is only through
acceptance of this responsibility that we can partake of the forgiveness of our sins. The apostle Peter states in
Acts 3:19 "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of
refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord."
Repent signifies, in its literal meaning, to change one's mind. It has been translated by scholars as
"after-wit," or "after-wisdom;" it is the man's finding out that he was wrong, and rectifying his judgment. But
although that is the meaning of the root, the word has come in scriptural use to mean a great deal more.
Repentance is a discovery of the evil of sin, a mourning that we have committed it, and a resolution to forsake it.
It is, in fact, a change of mind of a very deep and practical character, which makes the man love what he once
hated, and hate what he once loved.
I guess the best definition I have found for Repentance comes from a children’s hymn book. It reads:
Repentance is to leave
The sins we loved before
And show that we in earnest grieve
By doing so no more
Conversion, if translated, means a turning round, a turning from, and a turning to; a turning from sin, a
turning to holiness; a turning from carelessness to thought; from the world to the Word; from self to Jesus; a
complete turning. The word used here, though translated in English, "Repent and be converted," is actually in
the Greek; "Repent and convert," or, rather, "Repent and turn." It is an active verb, just as the first was. "Repent
and turn." When the man had the devils cast out of him and into the swine in Mark 5:13, I can compare that to
repentance; but when he put on his garments, and was no longer naked and filthy, but was said to be clothed and
in his right mind, I compare that to conversion. When the prodigal son was feeding the swine, and suddenly
began to consider and to come to himself, as in Luke 15:17, that was repentance. When he set out and left the far
country, and returned to his father's house, that was conversion. Repentance is a part of conversion. It is,
perhaps, the gate or door of it.
The apostle Paul, addressing a crowd, said to them, "Change your minds; be sorry for what you have
done; forsake your old ways; turn; and become new men." This is the message I have now put it into other
words.
Now I truly believe that we have all repented. Our examination and baptism or even just our presence
here today may stand as proof of this, but can we actually say that we have CONVERTED? Can we say that we
have TURNED from sin? Can we say that once we were baptized and our sins symbolically were washed away,
that we ceased to sin? I know that this is not true of myself. I find that out of habit, or out of lack of
consideration, I continue to do things that I know are wrong. I watch television instead of doing my daily
readings. I often think badly of people I work with. I park in a handicapped spot at the grocery store when I
know that I am only running in for a few items. Why not, I mean there are so many of them and who am I really
hurting anyway?.......Who am I hurting.........I am mocking Christ. Each of these I know to be a sin, yet I ignore
the consequences because there is no immediate repercussion to me personally. I am crucifying Christ afresh.
Acts 3:19 says, "Repent ye therefore." The apostle Peter was logical: he had a reason for his
exhortation. It was not mere speech, but sound reasoning. "Repent ye therefore." Repent because we have put
Jesus Christ to death. This was literally true of the people to whom he spoke: they had had a share in Christ's
execution. And this is spiritually true of us. Every sin, in essence, is the murder of Christ. Every time we do what
God would not have us do, we in effect disown the authority which belongs to God; we do in intent, murder
Christ. That is the drift of sin. It deports the spirit of God that we hold in us. Every violation of law is treason in
its essence — it is rebellion against the lawgiver. When our Lord Jesus Christ was nailed to the tree by sinners,
sin only did then literally and openly what all sin really does in a spiritual sense. Those offenses which we have
thought so little of, have been really a stabbing at the side of Christ. Because we think our sins to be mere
trifles, light things to be laughed at, we do not repent. Every sin is really an attempt to thrust God out of our
world. If we can really believe that though we did not physically nail Christ to the cross, nor fashion the crown
of thorns and put it on His head, nor stand and mock Him there, and still that every sin is a real crucifixion of
Christ, and a mockery of Christ, and a slaughter of Christ. Then, truly, there is abundant reason why we should
repent and turn from it.
Jesus Christ came not into this world with any selfish motive, but entirely out of love of God and men;
and yet men put Him to death! Now, every sin is an insult against the good and kind God. God does not
deserve that we should rebel against Him. If He were a great tyrant domineering over us, putting us to misery,
there might be some excuse for our sin, but when He acts like a tender father to us, supplying our needs day by
day, and forgiving our offenses, it is a shame, a cruel shame, that we should live in daily revolt against Him.
What hurt has He ever done us that we should curse Him? What injury has Jesus done to any one of us that we
should despise Him? What an accursed thing, then, sin must be, since it treats so badly so kind and blessed a
person! This ought to make us melt, this should make us shed tears of pity and of grief; we ought, indeed, to
turn from our idle and evil ways when we have offended against Jesus so.
Peter clenches his reasoning with another argument, as seen starting in Acts 3:16-17 bringing down, if I
may so say, the big hammer, this time upon the head of the nail. It is this, that the Lord Christ, whom we have
despised with sin, is able to do great things for us. "His name through faith in His name hath made this man
strong, whom ye see and know, yea, the faith which is by Him, hath given Him this perfect soundness in the
presence of you all. And now brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers." Christ
then, by faith in God, is able to do for us all that we need. If we but trust Jesus today, all our iniquities shall be
blotted out; the past shall not be remembered; the present shall be rendered safe, and the future blessed. If we
trust in God and His Son, there is no sin which cannot be forgiven, no evil habit the power of He cannot not
break, no foul propensity the weight of which cannot be removed. Believing in Him, He can make us blessed
beyond any dream. And is not this cause for repentance, that we should continue to slight one who can do us so
much good? With hands loaded with love He stands outside the door of our hearts. Is this not good reason for
opening the door and letting the heavenly stranger in, when He can bless us to such a vast extent? Why do we
choose the doom from which none but He can rescue us, and let go the glory to which none but He can admit?
The expression used in the text of Acts 3;19, "blotted out," in the original may be better explained in this
way. Many Oriental merchants kept their accounts on little tablets of wax. On these tablets of wax, they
indented marks to record debts, and when these debts were paid, they took the blunt end of the writing
instrument, and just flattened down the wax, and the account entirely disappeared. That was the form of "blotting
out" referred to in those days. Now, he that repents and is pardoned, is, through the precious blood of Christ, so
entirely forgiven, that there is no record of his sin left. It is as though the instrument had leveled the marks in the
wax, and there was no record left. What a beautiful picture of the forgiveness of sin! It is all gone, not a trace
left. If we blot out an account from our books, whether we scratch it out or use white-out, there is still the blot
or mark: the record is gone, but there is the evidence that something was there; but on the wax tablet there was
no blot—it was all gone, and the wax was smooth. So is it with the sin of God's people when removed by Jesus'
blood, it is all gone and gone forever. But rest assured it cannot be removed except when there is repentance
and conversion as the result of faith in Jesus.
How would we feel if we forgave a murderer, but then he killed again. What if a thief was pardoned and
continue to steal! Can an alcoholic be healed, yet continue to drink? It is not so, in the Kingdom of God,
remorseless sinners shall be damned, let them boast what they will about grace. We must hate our sin, or God
will hate us. We cannot have our sins and enter the Kingdom. Which shall it be? Will we leave our sins and enter
the Kingdom, or hold our sins and perish? Which shall it be? It must be one or the other; there must be a divorce
between us and sin, or there cannot be a marriage between us and Christ. Does not conscience tell us this? There
is not a person here that will say to a man, "You can hope to be saved and still live as you do." Others have said
this, I wonder if any of their followers actually believed it. No, as blind as conscience is, and though its voice is
often very feeble, there is enough conscience in any man to see that continuation in sin and pardon cannot exist,
and that there must be a forsaking of iniquity if there is to be forgiving of it. God declares that he that repents
shall be forgiven. As in Isaiah 66:2 "To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit,
and trembleth at my word;" but for haughty Pharaoh, who says in Exodus 5:2 "Who is the Lord, that I should
obey him?" there is nothing but eternal desolation from the presence of the Lord. Believe in Jesus, cast yourself
on Him, for he has said, "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." and "Though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." The door is shut
and fast bolted to every man who will keep his sin, but it is wide open even to the biggest sinner, if he will but
leave his sin and lay hold of Jesus and put his trust in him.
Again, Acts 3:19 reads that our sins may be blotted out, “when the times of refreshing shall come from
the presence of the Lord." I can restate this as such—he that repents and is converted shall enjoy the blotting
out of sin in that season of peace which always follows pardon. After a man has been thoroughly broken down
on account of sin, God deals with him very tenderly. As King David puts it in Psalm 51:8....When the broken
bone begins to heal, "Thou makest the bones which thou hast broken to rejoice." If we know what bliss it is to
be forgiven, then why do we choose to stay away from Christ! "Repent and be converted, that your sins may be
blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord."
Once more, the verse means, according to the context, the return of Christ to the Earth. But, sadly unto
those of us who continue to sin, the day of the Lord will be darkness and not light. The Lord may have mercy
upon us in that day; and so he shall........if by his grace we become obedient to the words in our Bibles, "Repent
and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the
Lord."
Repent and be converted.
Repent and Turn
An exhortation given by:
Bro. Sol L. Gorrell
February 4, 2001
Westville, Indiana Ecclesia