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Repentance in the Name of Jesus Romans 1:16 ¶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Yes, I believe that a child was born of a virgin whom John the Baptist declared to be the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world (John 1:29). This man called Jesus was indeed anointed of God to be the Savior of the world (John 1:21). By His sinless life and vicarious death (vicarious simply means He took my place), He shed His sinless blood and presented it to God in heaven on my behalf (Hebrews 9:24). Because I have believed and acted upon this belief, I have life eternal (Mark 16:16). I am a son of God. Nobody can take that away from me (John 10;28; Ephesians 4:30). Yes, Jesus was a man, but He is also eternal God (Isaiah 40:9) - See The Christ of Prophesy ) and He left instructions that we must follow, namely: Faith and belief, repentance, water baptism in His name for the remission of sin and the reception of His life giving Spirit (Acts 2:37-39). In Luke 24:36-48 we read of Jesus appearing to some of His disciples after His resurrection. As you can imagine these folks were very fearful. They thought perhaps they were seeing a ghost. Jesus calmed their fears by showing them the scars on His hands and feet. They were much relieved and very joyful. They gave Him some broiled fish and a piece of honeycomb. As He ate, Jesus began to remind them of some of His prior teaching. Our text below gives a good definition of the gospel i.e. the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We identify with His death by repentance (Galatians 2:20), we are buried with Him in His name at water baptism and we rise to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3-5, Colossians 2:12-13) when we receive the promise of the Father, the baptism of the Holy Ghost ( Luke 24:49;Acts 1:4; Isaiah 44:3-4, 59:21; Joel 2:28-29; John 14:16-17,26, 15:20, 16:7-16;Acts 1:8). Luke 24:44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. 45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, 46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 And ye are witnesses of these things. 49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. We see how all of this played out in the second chapter of Acts. The Holy Ghost descended upon believers who were waiting in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father (Acts 2:4). The Spirit fell in such a manner that the gathering crowd thought that the disciples were drunk. They were, but not in the manner they supposed (Acts 2:15), they were drunk on the new wine of God's Spirit. Some say they had been drinking at Joel's Place (Joel 2:28). The crowd that had gathered was composed of Jews from about 16 different nations who had come to celebrate the feast of Pentecost. They understood the common language of Jerusalem and also the language of the land in which they were born. God spoke to them all in 16 different languages (Acts 2:8-11) through ignorant and unlearned men (Acts 2:7). Some in the crowd had been the very ones who cried out, "Crucify Him!" Peter preached a stirring message that caused these folks to be pricked to the heart, Peter boldly challenged this crowd of supposedly righteous men. He called them evil murderers (Acts 2:23) who had crucified God's anointed. It caused them to cry out, "What shall we do?" At this point, the word of God was working in their hearts. Faith and belief was being activated. They knew that they had to do something, but what? Peter who had spent forty days listening to the risen Savior as He gave commandments pertaining to the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3), had a ready answer. Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Repentance was the first order of business. Repentance is doing a complete turn around and going in a new direction. Sin must be confronted, confessed and forsaken (I John 1:9). No doubt these men were considered righteous according to the law, but their hearts were completely opposed to God's agenda. All of that was changing, just as life changes for us when we make corrections to our manner of living. Repentance is a never ending process, much like driving a car. As we drive, we are constantly making adjustments with the steering wheel, so that we can stay in the middle of our lane. We do the same to stay in the center of God's will. Repentance is not something that is of our own doing. We can only repent as God grants us the grace to do so (Acts 11:18). God desires all men to repent (II Peter 3:9), and we do so because of His goodness, forbearance and longsuffering (Romans 2:4). Jesus said that repentance was to be preached in His name. His is indeed the name above every name to whom we all will bow and confess as Lord to the glory of God (Philippians 2:9-11 - See The Name of Jesus ) When we acknowledge the name of Jesus we recognize that it is He that God exalted to be a Savior who would give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel and to us (Acts 5:31). We rejoice with John that our sins are forgiven for His name's sake (I John 2:12). When we repent in the name of Jesus we state that we know a day of judgment is coming when we will be judged by the One whom God ordained to give us repentance by raising Him from the dead (Acts 17:31). The name of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus are inseparable. When we call on His name we are invoking the power of His resurrection (Acts 4:33). Godly sorrow works repentance (II Corinthians 7:10) and the angels rejoice every time that a sinner bows his knee in repentance (Luke 15:7). We've established that repentance comes after faith and believing have been activated in our heart's by the word of God. The next thing that Jesus said was to be preached in His name was,"Remission of Sins." God willing, we will take a look at this next week. "Oh," she said,"I persuaded her to switch to a clarinet." "How come?\" I asked."Well," my sister answered, "because with a clarinet, she can't sing..." Keep Looking Up! Don and Marie Spooner About Him! 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