The Evidence: Proof Of Repentance

“Therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:6)

How many times have you looked at a peach, seeing its beauty and with great expectation of enjoyment bitten into it and found it to be mushy, under or over-ripe or even rotten inside? What about that big, beautiful red apple sitting in the bowl on the table? Just as you reach down to pick it up you see the little entrance hole; the one made by the worm that is now inside the apple, enjoying the fruit of your desire? Sickening isn’t it? In disgust you discard the fruit, hoping to never again see such a contradiction of beauty and rottenness.

That is a picture of what John the Baptist taught, “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance…” (Matthew 3:8). In other words, when you present yourself as healthy fruit, make sure that what shows on the outside, matches what is on the inside. The same way you would throw away rotten fruit, “every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matthew 3:10). In Matthew 3:12, John draws a comparison of the fire where the fruit is thrown, to the “unquenchable fire,” mentioned elsewhere in the Bible as the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15).

The point here is that forgiveness of sins is available to those who sincerely repent (Mark 1:4); the proof of that repentance is how you live life afterwards. In Luke 3:7–14 we read that some of the people John preached to asked, “Then what shall we do?” So he said, if you have two coats share with him who has none. To tax collectors he said not to collect more than required. To the soldiers he said, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.”

Proof of true, godly repentance also shows itself as sorrow in the recognition of your sins. That is the point Paul was making to the Corinthians – “the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death” (2 Corinthians 7:8–11).