There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” Luke 13:1–5
Recently we considered the point that, while we will all perish physically, we don’t have to perish spiritually. Jesus told the messengers who reported to Him here, “Except you repent, you will all likewise perish.” The Scriptures make it clear that repentance is absolutely essential to our salvation. Many of the OT prophets preached the need for it (Ezekiel 14:6; Jonah 3:7–10). John the Baptist prepared the Messiah’s way preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2), and urging the people to “bear fruits worthy of repentance” (v 8). When our Lord began His public ministry, He also preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). He said that He had come to call sinners to repentance (Matthew 9:13) and that there is joy in heaven over the repentance of a single sinner (Luke 15:7). The apostles continued to preach repentance after Jesus’ return to the Father, just as Jesus commanded (Luke 24:46–47; Acts 2:38; 8:22; 17:30). John says that God is “faithful and just to forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9), but we cannot live in sin any longer (Romans 6:1).
Since repentance is essential for salvation, we need to properly understand what it is. Contrary to the thinking of so many, repentance is not merely feeling sorry for one’s sins. Although godly sorrow can lead to repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10), sorrow and repentance are not the same. A public response at a worship service is not repentance, although a public response may be a fruit thereof. It is not the same as asking forgiveness or confessing guilt. True repentance is––as the Greek word metanoia suggests––a change of mind, that is, a change in the way we think. Jesus offers an excellent illustration of repentance in the parable of the two sons (Matthew 21:28–32). In Simon Peter we find an example of repentance. When Peter denied the Lord, he “went out and wept bitterly” (Matthew 26:75). Peter’s godly sorrow led him to repentance, the fruit of which could be seen in the faithful service that he rendered as an apostle after Christ’s resurrection. Judas was also sorry for the part that he played, but his repentance (Matthew 27:3) was of a different sort (as indicated by the different Greek word that is used in his case).
We might say that repentance involves a series of crucial changes. First there is a change of mind. When we repent, we are transforming our minds continually to conform them, not with the world, but with the perfect will of God (Romans 12:2). Repentance then involves a change of behavior, that which John called the fruit of repentance (Matthew 3:8; cf. Acts 26:20). Repentance also involves a change of direction. When one repents, he no longer goes his own way, but the Lord’s. Repentance usually brings about a change of companions, for when we change the way we choose to direct our lives, we find that we no longer wish to participate in the things that worldly friends still enjoy (1 Peter 4:1–4). Repentance then brings about a change of destination, for we have turned out of the broad way that leads to destruction and into the narrow way that leads to everlasting life (Matthew 7:14).
When man sinned in the garden, he put himself on the road to death (Genesis 2:17) in more ways than one. Thousands are dying physically every day, and most of them––according to Jesus (Matthew 7:14)––will be lost. What about you and me? Jesus says, “Except you repent, you will all likewise perish.”