Repentance

What does it mean to repent? Does it mean to be sorry? No; it means to turn around.

Matt 21:28 "But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, 'Son, go, work today in my vineyard.' 29 He answered and said, 'I will not,' but afterward he regretted it and went. 30 Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, 'I go, sir,' but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?"

They said to Him, "The first."

Jesus said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him."

The book of Hebrews uses the word "rest" as an analogy for repentance...

Heb 4 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. 3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said:

"So I swore in My wrath,
'They shall not enter My rest,' "

although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works"; 5 and again in this place: "They shall not enter My rest."

6 Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, "Today," after such a long time, as it has been said:

"Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts."

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.

To rest means to cease from one's own works. To repent means to turn around and to change course and repudiate one's own former ways and to cease from doing them any longer.

So when Jesus commanded the people to repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, He was telling us to completely give up our way of life, to turn around, to cease from our own works, and to do the will of God instead.

The book of Romans uses "death" as an analogy for repentance.

Romans 6 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The ego is the enemy of repentance and therefore the enemy of your souls.

And so James targets pride and espouses humility...

James 4:6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

"God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble."

7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

Matthew 21:42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:

‘The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
This was the Lord’s doing,
And it is marvelous in our eyes’?

43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. 44 And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”

This is a powerful picture of repentance that Jesus presents to us. "BROKEN." If you fall on the rock of Christ Jesus, you will be broken. You cannot break yourself. You must "fall" on Him. You must let yourself fall, give yourself up, abandon all hope of any other means of salvation, commit yourself utterly to Him, leave everything else behind. Surrender. Utterly. Fall on Him and be broken to pieces, and leave the results and the consequences totally to His control. Let His grace destroy your ego, your facade, your life, you plans, your intentions, and give them all to Him without measure and without reservation. "Sell all that you have and follow Me."

Jesus is as firm and unyielding as a stone. He came to seek and to save that which is lost, but His salvation is of the soul; and all that which is of the world, of the flesh, of the self, the ego, must of necessity be lost. It will be lost anyway. Better to lose it now rather than to foolishly try to preserve it only to forfeit your soul.

Mark 9:43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— 44 where

‘Their worm does not die
And the fire is not quenched.’

45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— 46 where

‘Their worm does not die
And the fire is not quenched.’

47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire— 48 where

‘Their worm does not die
And the fire is not quenched.’

Your only choices for eternity are to be saved (be broken) or to be cast away (ground into powder). But you don't have any agency with regard to these consequences. Your choice is to submit to Christ and leave the consequences to Him or to resist Him and be eternally destroyed, neither of which consequencs are under your control.

Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Your choices: die now, or die later. Better to die now, and to live to God, rather than to die later and die to God. You are already dead in your sins if you don't die to yourself and live to God. And if you come to Jesus and surrender, then you become alive to God.

Matthew 8:22
But Jesus said to him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Follow Jesus? Why? Because you'll hear some preaching that will somehow give you eternal life? No; it is the *person* of Jesus Himself Who will save you. By following Jesus, you are becoming born again; by giving Him your life, you are receiving His life. You are leaving your death behind and walking into the light of life.