real or just professing repentance

 "I just can't believe it," Malcolm  whispered to me.  I entered his unit at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent just as he received a report from a community corrections officer that reflected most recent violations while he was out for just one week.

This time, I just listened and asked questions.  I wanted him to get out his feelings and responses in a safe place. I listened more.  In the times we met over the past weeks, I don't a recognize repentant spirit.  He isn't doing anything wrong and the people he is doing it with are agreeable.  He has his Bible with him but isn't connecting, yet.  He "says" he is a Christian.  Charles Spurgeon called this kind of man "a professor."

I distribute tracts and sermons by J. C. Ryle.  I am reading an entire sermon on Luke 13:3 and repentance for myself, this weekend.

Repent or Perish

"1 There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them,“Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

On Friday afternoon, 1:45-3:15, I substituted for Mary Ann Morbley as the MRJC "proctor" for the Muslim service.  Since the Muslims only bring one person to their service, we provide a second person so they can have their services.  The service allows for men to actively participate on a sheet laying on the floor and others to observe and ask questions at the conclusion of the service.

I don't do this service often but I am amazed how some of our men, including this particular time, who are actively involved in Bible study and appear to be Christians attend these services.

The eman spoke very carefully about amassing as many good works as possible to balance the bad things before you die and so enter heaven.  I was pleased to hear the actual teaching so I might know how to respond to a Muslim should I get a chance to share and to other men who are confronted with Muslim teachings.

Five marks of true repentance

By J. C. Ryle

True repentance is never alone in the heart of any person. It always has a companion—a blessed companion. It is always accompanied by lively faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Wherever faith is, there is repentance; wherever repentance is, there is always faith. I do not decide which comes first—whether repentance comes before faith, or faith before repentance. But I am bold to say that the two graces are never found separate, one from the other.

J. C. Ryle

Five things repentance produces

Knowledge of Sin 

 They discover, to their surprise, that in thinking themselves a “good sort of person,” and a person with a “good heart,” they have been under a huge delusion. They find out that, in reality, they are wicked, and guilty, and corrupt, and evil in God’s sight. Their pride breaks down. Their high thoughts melt away. They see that they are a great sinner. This is the first step in true repentance.

 

Sorrow for sin

The heart of a repentant person is touched with deep remorse because of their past transgressions. They are cut to the heart to think that they have lived so madly and so wickedly. They mourn over time wasted, over talents misspent, over God dishonored, over their own soul being injured. The remembrance of these things is grievous to them. The burden of these things is sometimes almost intolerable. When a person sorrows like this, you have the second step in true repentance.

 Confession of sin 

The tongue of a repentant person is loosed. They feel they must speak to that God against whom they have sinned. Something within them tells them they must cry to God, and pray to God, and talk with God, about the state of their own soul. They must pour out their heart, and acknowledge their iniquities, at the throne of grace.

They carry a heavy burden within them, and they can no longer keep silent. They can keep nothing back. They will not hide anything. They go before God, pleading nothing for themselves, and are willing to say, “I have sinned against heaven and before You—my iniquity is great. God be merciful to me, a sinner!” When a person goes thus to God in confession, you have the third step in true repentance.

 Breaking off from sin

True repentance shows itself in a thorough breaking off from sin. The life of a repentant person is altered. The course of their daily conduct is entirely changed. A new King reigns within their heart. They put off the old man. What God commands they now desire to practice; and what God forbids they now desire to avoid. 

They strive in all ways to keep clear of sin, to fight with sin, to war with sin, to get the victory over sin. They cease to do evil. They learn to do well. They break off sharply from bad ways and bad companions. They labor, however feebly, to live a new life.

 Deep hatred of sin

True repentance shows itself by producing in the heart a settled habit of deep hatred of all sin. The mind of a repentant person becomes a mind habitually holy. They abhor that which is evil, and cleaves to that which is good. They delight in the law of God. They come short of their own desires not infrequently. They find in themselves an evil principle warring against the spirit of God. 

They find themselves cold when they would be hot; backward when they would be forward; heavy when they would be lively in God’s service. They are deeply conscious of their own infirmities. They groan under a sense of indwelling corruption.  

But still, for all that, the general bias of their heart is towards God, and away from evil. They can say with David, “I count all Your precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way” (Psalm. 119:128).