Repentance — Our Responsibility
Bro Steven Loo | 25 October 2026 | Acts 3:19
"Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord." — Acts 3:19
Why Repentance?
Of all the steps a person takes toward becoming a child of God, there is one that stands apart from the rest in its difficulty.
We can get people to hear the word. We can get them to believe it. We can get them to confess that Jesus is the Son of God. We can even — if we had to — press someone to go through the physical act of baptism.
But repentance is something else entirely.
To get a person to change — to turn from one way of living and walk in another — this is not something a preacher can do for them. This is not something a parent, a spouse, or a friend can do for them. Repentance is the one step every soul must take for themselves.
The Chef, the Vinegar, and the Vegetable
Long before the New Testament was written — somewhere around 100 to 200 BC — a Greek chef and grammarian, Nicander of Colophon, wrote down a recipe. He explained how to prepare a certain dish:
First, dip the vegetable in hot water.
Then, dip the vegetable in vinegar.
The first word for dip was bapto, a temporary dip; the second was baptizō, to immerse for a longer time or to pickle. Nicander’s use of this word, baptizō, is also what the Scripture uses for baptism.
But watch what happens.
When the vegetable goes into the hot water, it stays largely the same — perhaps softer, but still itself. When the vegetable goes into the vinegar, however, its entire form is changed, completely transformed. What it was before is no more. What it is now is something new.
When we baptize — truly immerse — a person into Christ, we want that person to change their form completely. Not merely a surface softening. Not a brief dip and then back to who they were. A full transformation. From the old man to the new man. From the person who lived for self to the person who lives for Christ.
That is why repentance matters so much. Without it, baptism is just a dip in hot water. With it, baptism becomes the vinegar — the moment when the old form is left behind forever.
Without Repentance, Sin Remains
When we are baptized, the blood of Jesus washes away our sin. But if there is no repentance, sin remains in us. We continue to live in sin. And if sin remains, Scripture gives us a very sobering truth:
"He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." (John 3:36)
Look carefully at that word — abides.
When someone comes to visit you, you say — welcome in, come, sit down. But when someone comes to abide with you — to stay, to dwell, to remain — that is something else entirely. The wrath of God does not merely visit the unrepentant. It abides on them.
That is heavy. That is serious.
And Scripture goes even further:
"Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord." (Hebrews 12:14)
Read that again. Without holiness, no one will see the Lord. And without repentance, we cannot be holy — because God Himself has said, "Be holy, for I am holy."
If someone does not see me today, that is fine. If they do not see me tomorrow, that is also fine. But if someone never sees God — ever, forever — isn't that fearful? Forever on the other side.
So repentance is not an optional topic for Christians. It is life and death.
Four Pictures of Sin — The Bullseye Illustration
Imagine you are holding a bow and arrow, trying to hit the bullseye.
What might happen? Some will fall short. Some will overshoot. Some will miss to the right. Some will miss to the left. Each of these is a different kind of missing the mark — and the Greek New Testament actually uses several different words for sin that reflect these shades: hamartia, parabaino, paraptoma, and adikias. All of them point to the same reality — we have missed the target God set.
And Scripture is clear:
"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us… If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." (1 John 1:8, 10)
That is a serious charge — to call God a liar. So we all admit it. We have all sinned. We have all missed the mark in one direction or another.
But sin is not the problem. Unrepented sin is the problem.
Because God has done everything He could — through Jesus Christ — to get rid of our sin. The cross stands as proof of how far He went.
What Is Involved in Repentance?
The elements of true biblical repentance — step by step. Each one matters. None can be skipped.
1. Recognition
We must recognise our shortcomings. We must know what is right and what is wrong. Otherwise, anything goes — everyone will simply do whatever is right in their own eyes, exactly as the book of Judges ended: "Everyone did what was right in his own eyes." (Judges 21:25) And how did that turn out? Chaos.
Here is an honest observation. Many of us pray this prayer:
"God, if we have sinned against You, please forgive us."
If?
Let me give you an illustration. Suppose every single day, I called Brother Charlie on the phone and said: "Brother Charlie, if I have sinned against you — if I said something wrong — please forgive me." And then the next day I called again. And the next day. And the next.
What would Charlie say? He would probably ask — "Steven, what is the sin that you committed? What are you asking forgiveness for?"
You see the problem. If we don't know what we've done wrong, our prayer is like the Athenians' altar "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD" — a "just in case" prayer, offered because we did not take the time to know what God actually requires.
Recognition means knowing — specifically — what sin you have committed, through diligent study of God's Word. If we truly know God's Scripture, we will know what we have done. And then — then — we can bring that specific thing to Him.
2. Remorse
You must feel the regret. You must feel the pain. Not — "Oh, if ever I hurt you, please forgive me." But — "Oh, I did not know that my words wounded you. I am sorry. That hurts me deeply."
Scripture is clear about this godly sorrow:
"Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do?'" (Acts 2:37)
"For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death." (2 Corinthians 7:10)
Godly sorrow produces repentance. The pain of knowing we have offended a Holy God is the sorrow that leads to salvation. But remorse alone is not enough. There is more.
3. Resolution
A change of mind. A determined decision — this is what I am going to do.
Think of the Prodigal Son. He had taken his inheritance, wasted everything in a far country, and ended up starving — looking at pigs' food and envying what the swine were eating. But then something happened. He came to himself:
"I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.'" (Luke 15:18–19)
That is resolution. A clear, specific decision made in the heart: this is what I will do.
4. Reformation — Following Through
But resolution in the mind is not complete. What is in the mind must be acted out.
The Prodigal Son did not merely decide. He arose and went:
"And he arose and came to his father." (Luke 15:20)
Action followed resolution. He made his way home. He stood before his father. He spoke the very words he had resolved to say. These are actions. Not thoughts. Not intentions. Movements of the body that put the heart's decision into real life.
If we have decided to stop something sinful — to stop smoking, to stop drinking, to stop any practice that dishonours God — we do not just think about stopping. We stop. And when his father saw him coming, he ran to meet him with grace — because that is how our Father receives us.
5. Restitution — Making Things Right
Here is the step we most often skip. We find it relatively easy to restore our relationship with God — because that is between Him and us, with no one watching. But what did Jesus say?
"Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift." (Matthew 5:23–24)
First go. Reconcile. Restore the relationship with your brother or sister. Then come and worship.
Oh, is this difficult to do? It is! But it is required of us. Put aside all the problems. Restore the relationship. Only then can we truly offer our worship — the money in our pocket for the collection, the time we gave up this morning to come, the songs on our lips — all these are gifts we are ready to present to God. But Scripture says: go first. Make it right with your brother. Then present your gift.
Some debts, of course, cannot be repaid. Some people have already died. Some restitution is simply not possible anymore. But where it is possible to make something right, we must.
6. Rejoice!
Correct, biblical repentance always ends with rejoicing.
That may surprise some. We tend to think of repentance as heavy, as sad, as something to be feared. But look at Luke 15. Three parables. Three lost things. Three recoveries. And every single one ends in rejoicing.
"I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance." (Luke 15:7)
"Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." (Luke 15:10)
And when the Prodigal Son came home — his father did not merely open the door. He commanded:
"Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." (Luke 15:22–24)
Why the fatted calf? Have you ever thought about this?
That calf did not do work in the field. It did not pull a plough. It stayed in a comfortable place — well-fed, cared for, protected from stress. (Like the famous Japanese Wagyu beef today — kept in air-conditioned barns, abundant food and water, no hard labour. The meat becomes incredibly tender.) That calf was kept, especially, for the greatest celebration a family could ever have.
And on what day did the father kill it? The day his son came home.
David, who knew the weight of sin and the sweetness of forgiveness, wrote it beautifully:
"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit." (Psalm 32:1–2)
Blessed. What does blessed mean here? It is more than happy. It means to be favoured by God. The one whose sin has been forgiven is favoured by God Himself.
Your blessedness is not in how big your house is or how much is in your bank account. The deepest blessedness is that God has taken your sin away.
7. Refreshing — The Final Promise
And there is one more thing. One more promise. Hear Peter's words again:
"Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord." (Acts 3:19)
Notice — not time, singular. Times of refreshing. Plural. A continual, ongoing season of refreshment from the very presence of the Lord.
When we rejoice over our forgiveness, that joy may be for a moment, for a day, for a week. But Peter's promise is deeper than that. God does not merely forgive and leave us. He refreshes us — again and again, from His own presence.
Take This Home
If you have heard this preaching today, and you know you need to repent — do not stop at knowing. Do not stop at thinking. Act.
If there is something sinful in your life, stop it today.
If there is a brother or sister you have wronged, go and make it right.
If there is a prayer long overdue — not "just in case" but "God, I know exactly what I did" — pray it tonight.
Because when we repent, our life changes. And it never changes for the worse. It changes for the better. And a natural rejoicing follows. A natural refreshing. Not temporary. Not fleeting. The kind that God Himself pours out upon those who have come home.
Consider the importance of repentance. Take it seriously.
