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If Repentance Isn't Proclaimed, We're Missing the Point
Following his triumphant resurrection from the dead, Jesus said to his disciples,
"These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem." (Luke 24:44-47)
At the heart of the gospel is an invitation extended to all. Sins can be forgiven. The Christ has suffered for you. He has risen from the dead so that you might enjoy eternal life. Behold, the matchless love and amazing grace of our compassionate heavenly Father!
But's that's not the story in its entirety.
"Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem." (Luke 24:46-47)
If repentance--a change of loyalty which produces a change of mind leading to a change in living--isn't proclaimed, what's being proclaimed isn't the gospel.
Repentance is produced by grief over my rebellion against God (2 Cor 7:10).
Repentance demands the removal of self from the throne of my heart and the welcoming of God back to his rightful sovereign place (Acts 2:38).
Repentance is the shifting of my mind from the self-centered things of this world to the kingdom of God and his righteousness (Col 3:2; Matt 6:33).
God's kindness and forbearance and patience is meant to lead us to repentance (Rom 2:4). Without repentance, we will perish (Luke 13:1-5).
Repentance is a change of loyalty which produces a change of mind leading to a change in living.
By all means, let's proclaim the matchless love and amazing grace of our compassionate heavenly Father, but we must not neglect to include repentance! If repentance isn't proclaimed, loyalties will not change, minds will not be renewed, and sins will not be forgiven.
If repentance isn't proclaimed, we will have missed the point altogether.