24. Call Sinners to Repentance
Matthew 9:13
I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Repentance should be seen as a promise, a beautiful promise given by a gracious God granting what human sinners cannot do by themselves. I need this promise since I cannot produce genuine repentance or the fruit of repentance of my own free will. Jesus came to earth to do for us what we could not do for ourselves; one of those things is to “repent.” Jesus announces the kingdom and calls people to repent and believe, neither of which we can do; therefore, His call comes with the power to actually make it happen: the Holy Spirit works through the Gospel.
Sinners, without help, do repent, but either it is ritualistic and empty or it is manipulative and coerced. Repetition is good and necessary and repentance must be repeated daily, but repeating the words without pausing in the mind for penetration where the Spirit can impress the meaning is empty ritual. Repentance becomes manipulative when we are “caught” (when we thought we could get away with it) and we try to “sorry” our way out of the guilt and shame; repentance in this way is used as a false “means of grace” to cause God to forgive when He sees how sorry we are.
Genuine repentance comes by the Word of God as the Spirit uses the Law to convict the heart of real sin against a Holy God: In front of God sin looks black and feels dark and smells foul. The Spirit through the Word makes us aware of our sinful condition and compels repentance and faith in the Gospel, which the heart is now eager to hear to receive forgiveness, cleansing and healing. This is the compelling call of Jesus to the sinner when he hears law and gospel.
The promise of repentance is gracious and wonderful: it is the power of God unto salvation and eternal life for everyone that believes. God grants repentance and faith through the Gospel call. This is truly a wonderful promise.