Repentance Articles

Nowhere does the Bible say the gospel is that Jesus Christ came to die for our sins! Instead, the true gospel tells us why He did so. More than that, it reveals the momentous purpose that God is accomplishing, what it means to be born again, how to receive eternal life, what salvation is, and the reason reconciliation through the blood of the Lamb is necessary.


Addiction and Self-Control 
Summary: People the world over are plagued by addiction. Countless individuals struggle with their addictions to street drugs, pharmaceuticals, alcohol, and tobacco. Many will not admit it, ... 

Are You Zealous? (Part One) 
Summary: On a physical, secular level, Theodore Roosevelt embodied the virtue that we call “zeal.” He expressed a passionate enthusiasm for the things he believed in, and he pursued them with all the energy at his disposal.... 

Basic Doctrines: Repentance 
Summary: Repentance is a condition of baptism in God's church and ultimately of conversion and salvation. It is also a lifelong process which we should continue until the day of Christ's return. 

Breaking Bad Habits 
Summary: Many of us take our "little" bad habits for granted, taking them lightly because the Ten Commandments do not mention them specifically. Even so, their falling short of Christ's goodness marks them as sins, so we must overcome them. Mike Fuhrer advises us to start with an attitude of humility and with great thoroughness root out the bad habits that may keep us from entering God's Kingdom. 

Do You Desire the Day of the Lord? 
Summary: The prophet Amos describes the Israelites of his day as proud and secure in their special relationship with God, while God Himself castigates them for presuming He approved of them. They so misjudged matters that they eagerly desired the Day of the Lord! Using their example, David Grabbe compares them to what Jesus says about the Laodiceans, sounding a warning to us to pay attention to our true spiritual condition.  

Ecclesiastes and Christian Living (Part Eight): Death 
Summary: It is amazing to consider that, despite the fact that every human being will face death, so very few take the time to contemplate it, much less prepare for it. In covering the comparisons in Ecclesiastes 7:1-4, John Ritenbaugh surveys the Bible's attitude toward death, particularly its insistence that we should allow the reality of death to change our approach to life. 

For Teens Too! 
Summary: Do you know of someone who has done everything perfectly? Conversely, do you know of someone whose whole life is one big mistake? Have you ever made mistakes—maybe a lot of them? We have all done stupid things in our lives. ... 

God's Goodness and Severity 
Summary: Near the end of his doctrinal exposition to the Christians in Rome, the apostle Paul writes about God’s mercy in calling Gentiles into His church while at the same time rejecting His own people Israel—for a while ... 

High Places Left Standing 
Summary: When God brought the children of Israel to the Jordan River, the land they were about to invade contained high places for pagan worship. Through Moses, God told the people to destroy all the pagans’ sacred sites ... 

How Jesus Reacts to Sin 
Summary: The episode in John 8 of the women caught in adultery offers a stark contrast between the scribes and Pharisees and Jesus Christ in terms of their reactions to sin. 

Let Us Examine Ourselves 
Summary: With the Feast of Unleavened Bread less than two weeks away, many of us are well into our de-leavening. Some may even be finished and feel a sense of relief that the job is done. ... 

Many Are Called, Few Are Chosen 
Summary: The subjects of God's calling and predestination can be confusing at times, especially the idea that many are called but few are chosen. Why does God not just choose everyone? John Reid explores the Parable of the Wedding Feast to discover some answers to these vital questions. 

Missing the Mark (Part One) 
Summary: Way back in the third century, a Jewish rabbi named Simlai mentioned in a sermon that the commandments (mitzvot, “commands,” “orders,” “precepts”) found in the Old Testament number 613. ... 

Our End Time 
Summary: As we trudge relentlessly into the time of the end, and the bright summer days continue to be spiritually dark, we frequently cast about for any indicator of how much longer it will be until Jesus Christ returns, bringing the mad rule of man to a close. ... 

Refuting a False Proverb 
Summary: Every culture creates and passes on bits of common wisdom. These sayings—whether they are called proverbs, adages, aphorisms, maxims, or even saws—concentrate prudent thought and behavior ... 

Rejection Is a Two-Way Street 
Summary: As children, most of us experienced rejection. For whatever reason, we felt no one cared for us. We perceived a wrongness from the way others - friends, teachers, cousins, even parents - treated us. We did ... 

Repentance: The Genuine Article (Part Five) 
Summary: We can learn a great deal from the sore trial of Job, particularly what God did to bring him to the point of repentance. Notice Job 40:1-4, where we begin to see a marked change in the man: Moreover the LORD answered ... 

Repentance: The Genuine Article (Part Four) 
Summary: We would be well-advised to consider the New Testament Greek word for "repentance," metanoia. It conveys the imagery of a person having an afterthought, which can help us understand why the writers of the New Testament ... 

Repentance: The Genuine Article (Part One) 
Summary: In the American presidential campaign of 2008, eventual winner Barack Obama ran on a platitudinous platform of hope and change. His supposedly soaring rhetoric captured the support of more than half of the voters ... 

Repentance: The Genuine Article (Part Six) 
Summary: John the Baptist is the first of God’s messengers to address repentance in the New Testament. In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven ... 

Repentance: The Genuine Article (Part Three) 
Summary: Last time, while discussing the Hebrew word naham, frequently translated as “repentance” in the Old Testament, we saw that sorrow for sin may be nothing more than self-pity. A person may be sorry ... 

Repentance: The Genuine Article (Part Two) 
Summary: While people can make positive changes in their lives, true repentance—the kind that counts toward salvation—only occurs after God has invited a person into a relationship with Him. Human beings are full of sin ... 

Sackcloth: A Spiritual Tool 
Summary: At this time of year, religious people around the world look at their individual decisions and choices of the past. Some choose to go to special mid-day services ... 

Separation and Oneness With God 
Summary: Throughout the generations since Adam and Eve, war has been humanity's solution to problems between people, groups, and nations. Millions have died by the sword because sin drives people into conflict and denies them the means of reconciliation and harmony. Is there any hope for humanity? John Ritenbaugh gives the comforting answer: Oneness with God is possible through Jesus Christ! 

Soldier On! (Part One) 
Summary: As sunset neared in the Persian Gulf on February 16, 1991, American forces, engaged in a skirmish with Iraqi forces, shot a single TOW anti-tank missile at one of the enemy’s tanks, damaging but not destroying it. ... 

The Light of the Body 
Summary: The eye is more sophisticated than any human device on earth. Even mankind’s most advanced technologies cannot come close to the eye’s intricate craftsmanship. For example, beyond its beauty, ... 

The Peter Principle (Part One) 
Summary: We have all been in a restaurant, a store, or a bank, and the employee serving us—perhaps newly hired or in training—just cannot complete the task. We ask to see the manager, and ... 

The Seven Churches (Part Six): Thyatira 
Summary: Thyatira, the middle of the seven churches of Asia to whom Jesus Christ writes a letter, receives both praise and rebuke from our Savior. On the positive side, He commends them for significant works, love, service, faith, and patience. However, He also points out their sins: particularly sexual immorality and its spiritual counterpart, idolatry. Richard Ritenbaugh examines this detailed epistle to a church that seems half-in, half-out of the world. 

The Seven Churches (Part Three): Ephesus 
Summary: Jesus Christ's letter to the church in Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7) speaks of members who are zealous and bold in their defense of the truth God had revealed to them but who are not without flaw. Their Savior criticizes them for leaving their first love, of which they need to repent or else. Richard Ritenbaugh urges modern church members, many of whom have also battled apostasy, to apply this epistle's warning personally.  

This Life of Sacrifice 
Summary: We live in a self-indulgent age. Advertisers tell us to pamper ourselves and get all that we can as soon as we can. Politicians promise high-cost "freebies" that only a few years ago required ... 

Time to Repent (Part One) 
Summary: In Jesus Christ’s letter to the congregation in Thyatira, one small statement illustrates an aspect of God’s nature that is crucial for us to understand: “And I gave her time to repent of her ... 

Time to Repent (Part Three) 
Summary: As explained previously, God gives His people time to repent, but He is in no way idle during that time. Because He desires sons and daughters in His image, He is always working (John 5:17) to bring about ... 

Time to Repent (Part Two) 
Summary: Part One explained that God’s general pattern is to allow people time to repent rather than instantly executing the death penalty. ... 

Using Our Spiritual Vocabulary 
Summary: As much as we talk, we should all be experts on language, at least the one we grew up speaking. When we were just infants, we began absorbing the broad strokes of our native tongue, and within a few years ... 

Weeds! 
Summary: Anyone who has traveled around the American Southeast has driven past kudzu-covered trees, fields, and telephone poles - or anything not fast enough to move out of its way! Drawing an analogy between the invasive, fast-growing kudzu and the thorns in the Parable of the Sower, Mike Ford shows how we must "weed out" detrimental habits that choke our lives and hinder us from producing godly fruit. 

What Does 'Examine Yourselves' Mean? 
Summary: Each year, Christians prepare for Passover by engaging in a thorough, spiritual self-examination. An analysis of the apostle Paul's instruction in II Corinthians 13:5 shows us what we need to look for. 

What Is Repentance? (Part One) 
Summary: The gospel accounts show that God gave John the Baptist the responsibility to “prepare the way of the LORD, make His paths straight” (Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4). When he preached the good news of God’s Kingdom ... 

What Is Repentance? (Part Three) 
Summary: In Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus defines the two great commandments of His law—the two highest principles: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” ... 

What Is Repentance? (Part Two) 
Summary: As we saw in Part One, the biblical words translated as “repentance” indicate a thorough moral adjustment of an individual’s thoughts, words, and deeds. While the word itself focuses on the change ... 

Who Is Your Adversary? 
Summary: The many ages of man parallel the continuous rise and fall of nations and empires, advancing and receding like the tides of the sea. As one empire sinks, another rises. We, whenever and wherever we live, are subject ... 


For more on the true gospel, God's plan, mankind's destiny, and the coming Kingdom of God, see the Gospel Sermons page.



 
 
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