*Proverbs 28:13
Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
King Solomon speaks to us about 2 requirements for receiving divine mercy: confessing our sins & turning away from them.
Repentance - change in attitude toward sin & God.
It is not simply about saying a nice prayer or crying in the presence of God, there needs to be a change in the way we think & act.
We need to recognize our mistakes before God & confess them as sins.
Trying to hide & conceal them is useless because God knows all things, & trying to justify them is equally foolish.
We need to recognize our sins for what it is & not try to make it seem less serious.
However, as well as confessing our sins, we also need to turn away from them. Sadly, many people only get to the confession part & never go any further.
They acknowledge in prayer that they sinned but they are not willing to abandon their sin. As soon as they have the opportunities, they return to committing the same sins they just confessed.
The Jews hated people like Zacchaeus because not only were they working for the Romans (taking money from their Jewish brothers to give to the oppressive government), they also collected more than was needed so that they could keep the surplus for themselves.
On many occasions, they used force to take money from the people.
Yet, when Jesus went to this man's house, he repented of his sins.
He had been a greedy person & had stolen a lot of money, but when he repented, he stopped loving money: he gave half of all he owned to the poor & used the rest to repay those from whom he had stolen.
He completely changed his way of thinking & behaving - he truly repented.
*Luke 19:8-9
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham."
His repentance was more than just words or tears; he turned his whole life around.
He did not go out into the streets shouting, "I repent" but when those who had previously seen him stealing now saw how he returned what he had taken, all the people knew that he had repented.
It was not what he said that demonstrated his repentance - it was his actions.
You will remember that one morning I mentioned the case of an infidel who had been a scorner & scoffer, but who, through reading one of my printed sermons, had been brought to God's house & then to God's feet. Well, last Christmas day, the same infidel gathered together all his books, & went into the market-place at Norwich, & there made a public recantation of all his errors, & a profession of Christ, & then taking up all his books which he had written, & had in his house, on evil subjects, burned them in the sight of the people. I have blessed God for such a wonder of grace as that, & pray that there may be many more such, who, though they be born prodigal will yet return home, saying, "I have sinned."
-Charles Spurgeon
*Matthew 3:8
Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.
It should be evident to others that we have repented & that we have changed.
REMEMBER:
MY REPENTANCE SHOULD BE EVIDENT TO ALL.
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