Repent and Believe

The gospel calls for repentance1 towards God and faith2 in our Lord Jesus Christ. Only this complete response to the good news of God’s redeeming grace and love in sending His only begotten Son to die for us will result in a changed heart and life, that the Bible calls the “new birth3”. Anything less, is to be short-changed, leaving us still as old creatures in the bondage of sin and its regular practice, from which Jesus came to free4 us.

If you have not exercised repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, being baptised and a church member or even being a deacon or pastor does not mean anything. You still need to be converted, to have a changed heart and transformation, a release from sin into fullness of life5, and the filling and flowing with joy of the Holy Spirit, even as rivers of living waters from your innermost being6. This does not refer to a subsequent experience after salvation, but to salvation itself. Jesus made this clear in His sayings, “I tell you, Nay: but except ye repent, ye shall likewise perish” and “he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

Given their eternal importance, let us look at what these terms, “repentance towards God” and “faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” mean.

Repentance towards God

Repentance is not “penance” as some think. The “doing of penance” by the drudgery of repeated prayers or the self-infliction of wounds by carrying the kavadi, running through fire or other means, is a futile human attempt to atone for one’s own sins on the basis of one’s own merits. Just as Cain’s offering from the ground was accursed, all our good deeds are as filthy rags in the sight of God. Since the time of Adam, mankind is a fallen race and our natural hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. God who searches the heart and tries our thoughts, motives and intentions, gives to every man according to our ways (Jer17:9-10). Will He not see in our “penance” our deceitfulness in still loving our sins and intending soon afterwards to repeat the same? In contrast, our Lord Jesus once and for all made an end of sin in His finished work on the cross (Heb10:11-14). The call to repentance is the call to turn away from sin with finality.

In the New Testament, the term repent is made of two Greek words, “to change afterwards” and “to perceive, as from the mind as the seat of moral reflection.” Hence to repent is to change one’s mind or purpose with reference to sin. The term “towards God” completes the picture. Repentance is turning away from sin and turning towards God. This is well illustrated in the parable of the prodigal son who came to his senses and returned to his father saying “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in they sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son” (Luke15:21). Similarly, David’s psalm of repentance towards God, “I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight” (Psalm51:3-4).

Rom2:4-5 tells us that “the goodness of God leads us to repentance, but men’s hardness and impenitent hearts resist the love of God, choosing rather to treasure and store up unto ourselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God. May this not be for you, dear reader, but may your heart melt in gratitude when you consider the great love of God in providing all you need and furnishing you with talents and strength and showing you mercies and kindness in sparing you in accidents and illnesses. Often, it is because we have no gratitude that we are not repentant. 2Cor7:10 adds that “godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death”. Remorse and self-pity for the evil consequences of our own sins is not repentance. A godly grief and pain of what our rebellion means to the heart of God is what will produce genuine turning away from sin leading to salvation and deliverance.

Finally, the fruits of repentance must accompany repentance. John the Baptist, forerunner of Jesus, preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, saying, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” To those who came, John said, “Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance” and “the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire” (Luke3:3-9).

Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ

Faith is not a mere intellectual assent or a passing knowledge of something. Knowing some facts about Jesus does not mean that you know Jesus in a vital, personal, experiential way that places you in an approved relationship to Him7. The New Testament Greek noun rendered “faith” and its verb form rendered “believe” means primarily a firm persuasion, a conviction based upon hearing (Rom10:17).

Romans10:10 also tells us that “with the heart man believeth unto righteousness”. The heart represents man’s entire personality including his mind, emotion and will. To believe with the heart is to believe fully, resting all in the Lord and accounting Him absolutely worthy to be trusted. Abraham believed in God and it was accounted to him for righteousness and he became the father of all who will walk in his example of faith8, in a life of complete dependence on God.

Today, there are many who think they are Christians who sadly have not or do not believe that Jesus is the Christ, the one unique and only Promised Messiah (1John5:4) or that He came in human flesh (1John4:2-3) and died for our sins on the cross and was buried, and rose again on the third day (1Cor15:3-4).

Genuine faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour must include 1) a firm conviction producing a full acknowledgement of Him as to His claims and His teachings, 2) a personal surrender to follow Him and obey His commandments and 3) a changed life and conduct inspired by such surrender9. Only then would a man deny himself and take up his cross and follow Jesus. Yes, we must all look back to Calvary’s cross where Jesus in love died for all “my sins” and there realise the viciousness of sin and our own condemned, lost and helpless estate deserving of hell. Then, we would realise that if there were no other sinner in the world, the Lamb of God would still have died for “me”. O what marvellous grace that God my Creator would die for such a worm as I!

What a hatred for sin faith would instil in the heart of a true believer? And what comfort of joy to know that Jesus has ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father, ever interceding for us! This will spur us on to live an abundant life, filled with fruit, joy and genuine holiness, with our values transformed towards the things of God above.

We know that there may be friends in churches today, who have not heard this message of repentance and faith or have not experienced its reality. May the Lord speak to you and help you. Unless you have truly repented and believed and experienced the new birth, your religious life, no matter how active or demanding, if you would be honest in the sight of God, is really a tiresome losing struggle against sin and dryness of bones. For if you have not truly believed in Jesus and Him alone, how shall rivers of living water flow in your belly?

If God is speaking to you in His mercy, may you not harden your heart? Take a first step in response to Him, for He will draw near to those who draw near to Him. Examine your relationship with Jesus Christ and earnestly pray that God will help you to find genuine repentance and faith. He stands willing to forgive and to change and transform you and bless you with the presence of His Holy Spirit10 to help you live worthily of Him.


1 Matt3:2, 4:17, Mark1:15, Luke13:3-5, 24:47, Act2:38, 3:19, Rom2:4, 2Cor7:10
2 John3:15 – 18, 7:38, 9:35-38, Act16:31, 20:21
3 John3:3, 2Cor5:17
4 John8:34-36, Rom6:18, 22
5 John10:10
6 John7:38
7 Matt7:22-23, John10:27-29, 2Tim2:19
8 Rom4:11-12, 21-22, Gal3:6-7
9 Matt28:20, 16:24-26, Mark8:34-38, John14:21-24, Eph4:22-24, Col3:7-10, 1Jn3:24
10 Act5:32