Repentance

  • The Call for Repentance

    Joel 2:12–27

    True repentance is confidently grounded in what God says about Himself in His Word, but it expresses itself in humility toward Him. We come before our Creator with confidence that He is faithful and just to forgive our sins (1 ...Read More

  • The Army of the Lord

    Joel 2:1–11

    John Calvin comments on Joel 2:1–11, reminding us that its final end is not to preach judgment for judgment’s sake but to warn people to turn from sin: “The object of the narrative, then, is to make ...Read More

  • Reasoning with the LORD

    Isaiah 1:18–31

    Isaiah 1:18 is a great promise indeed, assuring us that no matter how much sin has stained our souls, God can cleanse us completely and make us stand before Him as His holy people. But for this to happen ...Read More

  • Running Away from God

    Jonah 1:3–16

    We might be tempted to look down on Jonah for fleeing to Tarshish. However, when we remember how many times we ignore God’s call, we realize that we are no better than the prophet. When Jesus commands us to ...Read More

  • True Repentance

    Romans 8:12–17

    Repentance is a gift from God. We express contrition for our sins and their offense to our holy Creator, but the Holy Spirit must give us the ability to do this. Without His sovereign work, we do not care that ...Read More

  • Turning from Our Ungrateful Ways

    1 Corinthians 6:9–11

    Paul’s teaching in today’s passage actually leads us to expect that there should be former adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, blasphemers, alcoholics, and others in our congregations. The church of Jesus Christ must not close its door to any sinner ...Read More

  • Embracing the Penitent

    Luke 15:11–31

    Although not everyone who has been subjected to church discipline repents, there are many times when a disciplined sinner is humbled by the church’s treatment and, forsaking sin, returns to the fold. When this happens, church leaders and laypeople ...Read More

  • Faith and Repentance

    Luke 18:9–14

    Repentance is serious business, but it is required only when actual sin has been committed. Knowing the difference between true sin and what others falsely assume to be sin demands the faithful study of Scripture. So, we should read God ...Read More

  • Repenting of Our Righteousness

    Isaiah 64:6

    Today’s passage reminds us that God does not grade on a curve. We may consider ourselves better than others on a human level when we evaluate ourselves by imperfect human standards of justice, but the Lord evaluates us by ...Read More

  • The Struggle With Sin

    Romans 7:13–25

    How is your personal walk with the Lord? Have you become calloused to the evils of sin manifest in you own life? Have you forgotten to spend time with Him? It is as we love Him more and more that ...Read More

  • The Deception of Empty Words

    Ephesians 5:6

    There are men and women struggling with sexual sin in all of our congregations. They want to please God and are seeking to mortify the flesh, and we should do all that we can to help them. This means creating ...Read More

  • The Temperament of the Heart

    Ephesians 4:31

    Putting sins of the tongue to death requires more than just the cessation of slander, as important as that is. More fundamentally, there needs to be a mortification of the ungodly anger and malice that so easily well up within ...Read More

  • Grieving the Holy Spirit

    Ephesians 4:30

    Just as we experience the joy of restoration upon repentance, so we make amends for grieving the Spirit when we turn from our sin and seek to do His will. When we sense a distance in our relationship to God ...Read More

  • What We Learned in Christ

    Ephesians 4:23-24

    Taking off our old selves — our Adamic natures that love rebellion — and putting on Christ is really a single act. We cannot live in Adam and in Christ at the same time, which means that we cannot refuse to give ...Read More

  • The Church is Holy

    1 Corinthians 1:2

    Through the blood of Christ, God sees His church as holy, although He is by no means ignorant of the sin that persists in our lives. Yet this declaration of holiness gives us confidence that we can make real progress ...Read More