Turning the page…
Turning the page…
Glory · The Gospel
Genuine repentance shows itself in fruit. Scripture distinguishes real repentance from mere regret: godly sorrow works repentance to salvation and brings no regret, while worldly sorrow works death. Real repentance is a turning from sin to God that changes direction and, over time, produces the evidence of a changed life. We can examine ourselves by the Word: has my heart turned, has my life changed, am I bearing the fruit of repentance?
https://glorystudy.com/questions/how-do-i-know-my-repentance-is-genuine · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
2 Corinthians 7:8-11
As you read: Paul separates the two: godly sorrow works repentance to salvation, but worldly sorrow works death, and the Corinthians' sorrow produced earnest change.
8For though I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it. For I see that my letter made you sorry, though just for a while.
9I now rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you were made sorry to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly way, that you might suffer loss by us in nothing.
10For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation, which brings no regret. But the sorrow of the world works death.
11For behold, this same thing, that you were made sorry in a godly way, what earnest care it worked in you. Yes, what defense, indignation, fear, longing, zeal, and vengeance! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be pure in the matter.
Matthew 3:1-12
As you read: John refuses to accept claimed repentance without evidence: it must bear fruit.
1In those days, John the Baptizer came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,
2“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!”
3For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight.”
4Now John himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
5Then people from Jerusalem, all of Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him.
6They were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.
7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
8Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance!
9Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
10“Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.
11I indeed baptize you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.
12His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”
Luke 19:1-10
As you read: The tax collector's repentance is shown in restitution, and Jesus says salvation came to his house.
1He entered and was passing through Jericho.
2There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.
3He was trying to see who Jesus was, and couldn’t because of the crowd, because he was short.
4He ran on ahead, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way.
5When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”
6He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully.
7When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, “He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner.”
8Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much.”
9Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham.
10For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Psalm 51:1-17
As you read: After his fall, David pleads for a clean heart, and names the sacrifice God accepts: a broken and contrite heart.
1Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
2Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin.
3For I know my transgressions. My sin is constantly before me.
4Against you, and you only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight; that you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge.
5Behold, I was born in iniquity. In sin my mother conceived me.
6Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts. You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
7Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8Let me hear joy and gladness, That the bones which you have broken may rejoice.
9Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all of my iniquities.
10Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.
11Don’t throw me from your presence, and don’t take your holy Spirit from me.
12Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit.
13Then I will teach transgressors your ways. Sinners shall be converted to you.
14Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, the God of my salvation. My tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
15Lord, open my lips. My mouth shall declare your praise.
16For you don’t delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it. You have no pleasure in burnt offering.
17The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Acts 26:12-23
As you read: Paul's summary of his preaching: they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.
12“Whereupon as I traveled to Damascus with the authority and commission from the chief priests,
13at noon, O king, I saw on the way a light from the sky, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who traveled with me.
14When we had all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
15“I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
16But arise, and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you a servant and a witness both of the things which you have seen, and of the things which I will reveal to you;
17delivering you from the people, and from the Gentiles, to whom I send you,
18to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
19“Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,
20but declared first to them of Damascus, at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.
21For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple, and tried to kill me.
22Having therefore obtained the help that is from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would happen,
23how the Christ must suffer, and how, by the resurrection of the dead, he would be first to proclaim light both to these people and to the Gentiles.”
Paul draws a line that helps us check our own hearts: 'godly sorrow works repentance to salvation, which brings no regret. But the sorrow of the world works death.' Regret is sorry for being caught or for the consequences; repentance is sorrow over the sin itself that turns us to God. Paul rejoiced that the Corinthians' sorry had been 'to repentance' in a godly way, and he could point to what it worked: 'what earnest care... what defense, indignation, fear, longing, zeal!' The proof of genuine sorrow was the change it worked.
“For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation, which brings no regret. But the sorrow of the world works death.”2 Corinthians 7:10
“I now rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you were made sorry to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly way, that you might suffer loss by us in nothing.”2 Corinthians 7:9
“For behold, this same thing, that you were made sorry in a godly way, what earnest care it worked in you. Yes, what defense, indignation, fear, longing, zeal, and vengeance! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be pure in the matter.”2 Corinthians 7:11
John the Baptist met claimed repentance with a demand: 'Produce fruit worthy of repentance!' When the crowds asked what they should do, he pointed to concrete changes, giving to the needy and turning from greed. Genuine repentance is not a feeling that goes nowhere; it is a turning that changes what a person actually does, and the changed behavior is its evidence.
“Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance!”Matthew 3:8
“He answered them, “He who has two coats, let him give to him who has none. He who has food, let him do likewise.””Luke 3:11
“but declared first to them of Damascus, at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.”Acts 26:20
Where repentance can restore, it does. Zacchaeus, after meeting Jesus, declared, 'half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much,' and Jesus replied, 'Today, salvation has come to this house.' And James summons us to confess our offenses to one another and pray, that we may be healed. The man who had grown rich by cheating turned and set things right, and that visible turning, confessed and restored, was the sign that his heart had genuinely changed.
“Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much.””Luke 19:8
“Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham.”Luke 19:9
“Confess your offenses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.”James 5:16
Real repentance does not defend itself; it casts itself on God. David, after his terrible fall, prayed, 'Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me,' and he named the thing God accepts: 'a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.' Jesus said the tax collector who cried, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' went home justified, while the self-justifying man did not. The humble are the ones who truly repent.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.”Psalm 51:10
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”Psalm 51:17
“But the tax collector, standing far away, wouldn’t even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’”Luke 18:13
“I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.””Luke 18:14
Repentance is measured by its direction. Paul preached that people should 'repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance,' and John wrote that if we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive and cleanse. Repentance is not a single burst of feeling but a turning that continues: we own our sin honestly, we turn from it, we make it right where we can, and over time the fruit of a changed life confirms that it was real, because the one who turns to God keeps walking toward Him.
“but declared first to them of Damascus, at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.”Acts 26:20
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”1 John 1:9
“For behold, this same thing, that you were made sorry in a godly way, what earnest care it worked in you. Yes, what defense, indignation, fear, longing, zeal, and vengeance! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be pure in the matter.”2 Corinthians 7:11
“Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance!”Matthew 3:8