Broadcast
Repent - Part 2
Joel 2:12-13
02/13/2024
12 Yet even now, declares the LORD, return to me with
all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and
with mourning;
13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.
Return to the LORD, your God, for he is gracious
and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in
steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.
(ESV)
Joel, the prophet, wrote:
Yet even now, declares the LORD, return to me with all
your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with
mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.
Return to the LORD, your God, for he is gracious and
merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast
love; and he relents over disaster.
Tomorrow, as we begin the season of Lent, many of us will be
marked with the sign of the cross using ashes. This is a sign of
repentance, a sign that we acknowledge our sin and our inability
to pay for our own transgressions.
What is repentance? We believe, teach, and confess that
repentance has two parts. The first is contrition, sorrow over
our sin, and the terror or conscience that comes from knowing we
deserve eternal condemnation. The second is faith, which comes
from the Gospel, which says that Jesus Christ bore the guilt of
our sin. Faith acknowledges Jesus' death and resurrection and
trusts in Him alone for our salvation.
Why can we trust that Jesus' death and resurrection are
sufficient for our redemption from sin and eternal death?
Because of God's abundant and steadfast love, because He is
gracious and merciful.
May our Lord grant us the wisdom to see His grace, to
repent, and to hold firmly to the promise of life through Jesus
Christ. Amen.