Here is a question that is not uncommon among Christians: How do I know if I am truly repentant? To be sure, this is a question that demands an answer—not from man, but from sacred Scripture. We will use Acts 20:21 as our foundational verse, in which the Apostle Paul declared that he never shrank back from “testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This verse seems to suggest that there is a repentance that is not toward God. So before we see what repentance toward God is, let’s see what it is not. It is most certainly not any of the feelings that spring forth from being found out for our sin. Some, when they are found out, are overwhelmed with a sense of shame because of the judgment and condemnation they receive from their fellow man. Others are filled with a sense of regret over the consequences of their sinful behavior, such as divorce or bankruptcy. Still others are gripped with fear over what might happen to them in the future as a result of sin that has surfaced in their lives.
In most cases, the individuals who experience these emotions would have gone further in and further down into their sin if they had not been found out. They are not truly sorry for the sin; they are simply unhappy about the consequences of their transgressions; their sorrow never rises like smoke from the altar to the throne of grace.
Let me make this perfectly clear: writhing under the lash of the wages of sin is not repentance toward God. It is only repentance toward yourself. This is a repentance that stings, but it never sings, because there is no corresponding forgiveness from our Father in heaven. True repentance, which is turning away from sin (180 degrees) and toward the Savior, is rooted in sorrow for the sin we have committed, which is always an affront to the One against whom we have committed our sin. We cannot simply be sorry about the wages our sin has earned for us. Repentance that stings and sings is always directed toward God and it always rises toward heaven, far above the earthly, self-centered realm of shame, scandal, and sorrow.
Jesus painted a portrait of repentance toward God in bold, vivid brush strokes in the Parable of the Prodigal Son returning to his father (Luke 15:11-32). Because the prodigal knew his sin was primarily directed toward his father, it was his father to whom he must go to seek forgiveness and find peace for his soul. Listen to the cry of a heart filled with a godly sorrow: “I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son’” (Luke 15:18-19). Here is the repentance that both stings and sings. The Prodigal embodies deep soul conviction, and his stinging sorrow was directed toward the One whom he had ultimately committed his sin against—“I have sinned against heaven and before you.”
And yet such repentance will always sing, because of God’s promised response to it.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to celebrate’” (Luke 15:20-24).
David, who knew much of godly sorrow and the forgiveness of God, exulted, “I will sing of steadfast love and justice; to you, O Lord, I will make music” (Psalm 101:1).
True, biblical repentance stings greatly because of the holy perfections of the One whose perfect Law we have violated. And yet we can sing for joy, because that same perfectly holy God also provided the means for eternal forgiveness and joy: through faith in Jesus Christ.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 