I get a fair number of questions about the meaning of repentance.  Especially, as many churches’ doctrinal statements say repent of your sin and believe in Jesus Christ is how one receives everlasting life.  Since the Gospel of John, the only N.T. evangelistic Gospel, never records Jesus Christ mentioning repentance of sin as a requirement I don’t believe we should either.   The Lord makes it clear that belief in Him for everlasting life is all He wants from us to receive the gift of life.  John 3:14-16 and John 11:25-26 being representative of His position. 
 
Repentance means to make a change.  It could be a change of mind which could also mean a change in behavior.  The object of repentance depends on the Context.  On the day of Pentecost in response to Peter’s sermon the people asked what shall we do.  Peter’s reply was to repent and be baptized.  Since the topic of his sermon was Israel’s rejection and execution of Jesus Christ, they needed to change their minds about the identity of Christ.  They could not undo what had been done but they could now admit Jesus Christ was indeed the Messiah.  It appears Peter took their question “what shall we do” as an indication they now believed. 
 
I’ve heard people use 2 Corinthians 7:10 to support the need for repentance of sin to be saved.  “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation (Grk. Soteria), not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death” 2 Corinthians 7:10 NKJV.  However, the context is about a member of that church, a believer, turning away from an open and know sin.  In this case Paul was using the word soteria in its broader sense of deliverance and not as a specific reference to justification.   This is an example of repentance in a believer requiring both a change of mind and behavior.   

​A couple of years ago while teaching a class on one of Paul’s Epistles I made the following statement.  “You cannot believe in something you do not know.”  I was surprised that some in the class disagreed.  It wasn’t until later that I realized the disagreement was really centered around not understanding the difference between knowing and having an opinion.  Opinions are judgements or appraisals we form about subjects on which we lack factual knowledge.  Often times those judgements are based on an experience and therefore have an emotional element attached.  That makes them hard to let go of even it not true.
 
What makes this relevant is the premise of my first Blog post: Knowledge of God is not intuitive.  Of all the different possibilities, opinions and religions that exist, only one of the following options is true.  Either all are false or one of them is true.  At a fairly early age I had figured out there can only be one infinite being.  Infinite by definition means no boundaries.  Therefore poly-theistic religions are suspect because they stop short of identifying the one supreme and necessary existence.  I found the atheist denial of an intelligent deity was plagued with no viable explanation for our origins.  Plenty of theories but no way to test them leaves us with the option of pick which ever one you like and believe it.  But that circled me back to the issue of believing something I can’t know as factually real. 
 
So, in the late 1960’s while serving in the military I found a new urgency to come up with a world view that rang of truth.  I wanted answers to some very serious questions.  The big one being does our subconscious sense of immortality mean something.  Sigmund Freud was surprised by that and admitted there wasn’t an evolutionary explanation for it.  He stuck with atheism. My concern was a bit more pedestrian.  Being a theist, I wanted to know if our trip through this reality lead to a heaven or hell.  I had opinions but nothing I could say were factually true. 
And that is when I crossed paths with some Bible believing Christians.  They took time to explain what Christmas and Easter were all about.  I was provided material that laid out the prophetic support for the Deity of Jesus Christ and the evidence for His resurrection having actually happened.  No pressure just a rationale that made sense and was supported by eyewitness testimony.  55 years ago I believed Jesus Christ was able and willing to give me everlasting life for believing in Him.  And that has made all the difference. 

​The Christmas season is here and it is a perfect time to be talking about Jesus Christ.  About 27 years after He was born into the Human Race, Jesus began His public ministry.  He was presenting Himself as the promised Messiah prior to His death by crucifixion that would resolve the issue of our sin.  And initially most of Israel’s leadership were thinking this man might be the One, the promised redeemer.  One man in particular, a Pharisee named Nicodemus, approached Jesus Christ seeking the answer to the big question.  Will I make into Heaven? 
 
If you have already read John 3 you know Nicodemus did not start with that question.  But the Lord knew what was on his mind so that was the question He answered.  “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  Nicodemus had lived his entire life trying to be good enough to reach Heaven, the kingdom of God.  Jesus Christ just told him he had wasted his time.  Because his problem was he did not possess life, everlasting life.    Nicodemus was dead in the sense of not having the kind of life needed to enter the Kingdom. 
 
He may have been shocked by that but based on his response it’s clear he got it.  He just didn’t know how one could experience this second birth.  So, he asked “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”  The answer Jesus had for him is in verses 14-16 of John 3: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
 
You can read about the serpent in the wilderness in Numbers 21:4-9.  Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, being lifted up was referring to His as yet future crucifixion.  That is when He would die for the sin of the entire world.  In Numbers 21 the cure for snake bite was to look at the snake on the pole.  The way to be born again is similar.  Look to Jesus Christ by faith believing that Christ has the power to give everlasting life and that He will give it to anyone who will believe in Him for it.  I realize it seems there should be more to it than that, but I can only go with what Jesus Christ said.  He is God after all, so we should be able to trust what He said.  Do you still have questions?  You could use the comments tab to ask them.  I might be able to provide an answer.        

​With the world in so much turmoil today it’s good to know God is moving us to a defined and wonderful future.  Most of us would like to see it get here sooner, but we need to trust that God is doing the right thing by delaying.  When the time is right Jesus Christ will return and establish the promise new world.  And it will be something to see.  We have short description of how it will be in a prophecy found in Isaiah 9:6 & 7. 
 
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting father, Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end,
upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”
 
The Picture is of an ever-expanding kingdom characterized by peace.  Led by Jesus Christ. The Son of God given to be born as a man.  That is the future.  For now God is dealing with the fact we have all strayed out of bounds, we’ve sinned.  That means we are not qualified to live in that wonderful kingdom.  We are dead to that future.  That is unless we have believed in Jesus Christ for everlasting life.  It seems God’s plan is to pre-qualify everyone who will populate the New World to come.  Deal with the risks of free will now once and for all.  I’ll explain how He is doing that next by looking at the Apostle John’s record of Nicodemus’ meeting with Jesus Christ in John chapter 1.  I’ll write about that next.  In the mean time why not read it for yourself.