Three Kinds of Repentance

And we've been tracking the journey, the spiritual journey of the prophet Jonah. God was there, told him to go to Nineveh and in chapter 1 when Jonah runs from God, God was there. In chapter 2 when Jonah prays to God in crisis, God was there. And now we come to chapter 3 and Jonah is preaching for God and we find that God is there, still in his life and his experience. God is at work in this man's life. But the real thrust and theme of chapter 3 is repentance. Chapter 3 I believe of Jonah is one of the greatest illustrations in all of the Bible of repentance. A word which is a good Bible word but obviously we don't use a whole lot so it's a word that needs a little bit of reflection, a little bit of thought, maybe a little bit of definition. The word repentance literally means to turn back or to turn away from. It is much more than just sorrow. It is not just emotion, although quite often we associate emotion with repentance and sometimes it is in the Bible, but Paul actually cautions the Corinthians, don't mistake emotion for repentance. It may accompany repentance but repentance really has to do with turning away from, turning around and going a different direction. That's what repentance is. And it really is best signified with the turnaround sign. What is the name of that sign? What is that? You turn. That's it. You turn. Thank you. I'm all preached out already this morning. You turn sign. If you're going south on Interstate 77 and you get about five miles outside of town and you realize, I forgot an important piece of luggage. Whether you do it at illegal or an illegal crossing, you find a way to get across the median, right? And so you turn. You turn back. And when you do that, you're going the opposite direction of the way you were intending to go or the way you were headed. You have turned away from that direction. You have turned around and you're going a new direction. The opposite direction. That is repentance. That's the meaning of the Bible word repentance. And in the third chapter of Jonah, we have three great examples of repentance, three different kinds of repentance. So let's look at all of them this morning. The first one is represented by Jonah. And so this is the repentance of a believer. Believers need to repent. Those of us who know Jesus is our Savior already and are on our way to heaven. Sometimes we need to repent. We need to turn around. We need to turn back. We need to change of direction. Jonah certainly did. And we see his repentance in the first three verses. Verse one, then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you, Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. This is Jonah's repentance. This is the repentance of a one who follows God who knows the Lord, a believer. That repentance begins with God's gracious second chance. Verse one makes it very clear the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. It had come to him the first time back in chapter one in verse two where God said, go to the great city of Nineveh. It comes to him a second time with the very same command. Verse two, again, go to the great city of Nineveh. It's actually the very same wording that we saw back in chapter one. Two verbs arise, go. Get up and go or go immediately. Now, Jonah. God graciously gives him a second opportunity to go. He's not obligated to do that with Jonah and he's not obligated to do that with us. Jonah has failed God. Jonah has said no to God. Jonah has turned away and run the opposite direction and God graciously gives him a second chance. Don't ever despise God's gracious second chances. There are some here this morning, quite possibly. You know in your own heart that God has been telling you this is the way you should go. This is where I want you. This is how I want you to live. It's very clear how he's outlined in his word. How he wants us to live. This is what I want you to do. This is how I want you to be involved in the church. And for a while, you've said no. You've turned away from him. Not done what he's wanted you to do. And God's giving you a gracious second chance this morning. Don't despise that. God has not obligated to extend his grace to continue to say, do what I told you to do the first time. But this morning maybe he's offering that to you. A second chance. Don't despise that. Is he speaking to you today? Is there some prick in your heart something you know? God is wanting you to do and you've been saying no. There's a verse in Proverbs, Proverbs 29 verse 1 that says, he that often being approved hardeneth his neck shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy. When God reproves you, when God speaks to you and challenges you and you stiffen your neck, you bow up and say no. There will come a time when God says that's it. And you may suddenly be destroyed without remedy. That's what Proverbs 29 1 is saying. So don't despise God's gracious second opportunities. He's not required to do that. He's not obligated to give us any second chances. But he does by his grace. And if he's doing that with you as a believer, he's saying, I want you to come back to me. I want you to live like you used to live for me. I want you to serve in this way. I want you to go to this place. Don't despise God's second chances. Let him have his way in your life today. Second chance for a believer repentance for a believer begins with God's gracious second chance. But notice it also includes God's clear direction in verse 2. God was very clear in what he wanted him to do. Clear as to where he wanted him to go. Clear as to what he wanted him to do. He says, go to the great city of Nineveh. Second time he's told him that God's very clear where he wants him to go. And then he says, this is what you're going to do. Proclaim to it the message I give you. If you're very observant, you might notice a little change from what's original command. Back in chapter 1 verse 2, he said, preach against it. That's a very negative message. That's a message of judgment. It's a message of declaring God's judgment on the people. Here he changes a little bit. preach to. And the idea in the very word is that there is a glimmer of hope now. There will be a glimmer of hope of grace mixed with this message of judgment. But you are to preach Jonah the message I give you. Notice that. God emphasizes preach the message I give you. Don't preach anything else Jonah. Don't preach what you think ought to be preached in Nineveh. You preach the message I give you. And God has told us today exactly what he wants us to preach. It is his word. It is the word of God. Paul made it very plain when he instructed Timothy. Preach the word. Be instant in season out of season. In other words, be consistent to preach the word no matter what's happening. We are to deliver the message God intends us to deliver. And that is his word. God never says preach about the word. Preach your own experiences or ideas. Preach the word. Preach the Bible, the word of God. That's the message he's given us to preach. Someone has said if the devil, if the devil cannot detain the messenger, he will pervert the message. If the devil cannot prevent the messenger, he will pervert the message. If the devil fails because Jonah is now going, he will somehow try to pervert the message and twist it so that it is not the message that God wants delivered. And so Jonah is reminded. Jonah, you preach the message I give you. So he's given clear direction as to where he's to go and what he's to do. And Jonah obeys, notice Jonah's obedience in verse three. Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. God has said, get up and go. Jonah got up and went. Immediate obedience. Anything else is disobedience. And when you say to your child, it's time for supper. Come on down. And a half hour later they haven't come. Let me ask you as a parent. Have they obeyed? No. Delayed obedience is not obedience at all. Because basically I'm setting the timetable now. I'm still doing what I want to do when I want to do it. Prompt obedience is the only kind of obedience God expects. You see, some of us have heard God speak and we know what he wants us to do. We may know what he wants us to say or where he wants us to go. We certainly ought to know how he wants us to live. But we're sitting there thinking, you know, that is so true. And I intend to do that someday. I know I'm supposed to pray and I'm not praying like I should and I really intend to get to that someday. And I know I should be reading his word. I tend to get to that someday and I know God's laid my neighbor on my heart for two years and I know I need to speak to him. And I intend to do that someday. Delayed obedience is not obedience at all. God wants prompt obedience. Get up and go Jonah. Jonah got up and went immediately. Did what God told him to do. I want to ask you, is God giving you a second chance today? Is God telling you to go? Now the place he's telling you to go, the thing he's telling you to do may be terrifying. Just Angie saying in the song, it may be an obstacle, something in your life that you feel like you cannot do. That was certainly true with Jonah. And God reminds him of that. Twice here. Verse 2, he says, go to the great city. And then verse 3, now Nineveh was a very important city. A visit required three days. Nineveh was one of the greatest cities of its day. Not just terrifying in the sense that it was the greatest city and the most fearsome people of the world of that day. It was a huge place. Here's a picture of Nineveh. What it would have looked like. Oh, I got to raise attention now. Here's a picture of Nineveh. What it would have looked like. According to the archaeologists excavations, this is what Nineveh would have looked like. You see that wall around the city? It was 50 feet wide, 100 feet high. It was eight miles around. But that was not all that was considered the city of Nineveh. There was a second wall, an outer wall, which is not able to be pictured because it included fields and four suburbs, four other towns that were included in the Nineveh complex. One of them was another capital city, Cala. And these four cities in the fields and the city of Nineveh itself probably is what's being referred to here, the Nineveh complex, 30 to 56 miles across, depending on where you head in. It was, it would take three days to go from one end to the next, three days of good traveling. Huge city, one man told to go preach in that city. It's like one person being told to go to Mexico City, Tokyo, New York City. The challenge is daunting for Jonah Obey's. Jonah goes, is God giving you a second chance today? Is God saying, I know, I know you're intimidated, I know you're fearful, I know you don't think you can do this, but I'm telling you, this is what I want you to do. Is God giving you a second chance? Another call, if you will. Is he speaking to you about the way you used to live for him faithfully and serve him? And now you've drifted far from that? Is God giving you another chance? Second chance? Don't despise his second chances. Maybe today you need as a believer to repent. You need to turn away from the direction you're going and turn around and go the way God wants you to go. You need to do a U-turn. You need to repent. The repentance of a believer. But there are other people in this story, the Ninevites. And the story now turns to them in verse four, where we find the repentance of an unbeliever. Look at what happens here. The Ninevites actually represent for us, illustrate for us beautifully what it means for an unbeliever, one who is not yet saved, one who does not know Jesus is saved yet to repent and turn to Christ. There are actually four ingredients of repentance that are beautifully played out here and illustrated by the Ninevites. The first one is the hearing of the message. Look at it in verse four. On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed forty more days and Ninevites will be overturned. They needed to hear a message from God. So Jonah goes to deliver that message. That message is proclaimed by Jonah. That's a very intentional word. It's a word that means to cry out, to announce, to herald. Jonah didn't go into the city and find a couple of people and say, come over here, I've got something to share with you. Got a little secret to tell you. Now Jonah was proclaiming announcing, it's the word for preaching. It's to give out, to announce, to herald the word of God. This was an important message which deserved an important delivery. Jonah proclaims, he cries out this message and notice it is a warning of judgment forty more days and Ninevites will be overturned. The word overturned is used consistently in the Bible for an act of God that overthrows a kingdom, a nation, a world power, a person. By an act of God may be using an army or a natural disaster or whatever it means that God's disposal. He will judge you. This is a message of judgment. And we still need to hear that message today. Unbelievers need to hear that there is a judging God. So often all we hear about is a loving God which is certainly true in the word of God. But we dare not forget the message of judgment. The Bible very clearly teaches that we all come into this world separated from God because we're born with a sinful nature, a bent, a propensity that takes us away from God, a nature that drags us the opposite direction from the way God wants us to be and from relationship with Him. And so we are cut off from relationship with God. We're all born that way. And unless we accept God's provision to take care of that, we will end up under the wrath of God. We are already under His wrath and judgment and we will end up eternally under the torment and judgment of God in a place called hell. You see that's what the Bible teaches in that message of judgment we need to reinforce today. We are sinners under the wrath, condemnation and judgment of a holy God whom the Bible says cannot even bear to look upon sin. So he can't let sinners into heaven. The only way that can happen is if someone else takes care of our sin and that's what Jesus did. All my friend, the other part of the message of judgment is that Jesus took your judgment for you. We are all sinners under the deserved condemnation of God, but Jesus took that on Himself. When He died on the cross, He bore your punishment. The punishment that God would meet out upon you and eternity. Jesus took that for you. And so there is not only a message of judgment here in this message they needed to hear. It was also a word of grace, a warning of judgment and a word of grace. Notice that there in verse 4, 40 more days and then of it will be overturned. Yes, judgment is coming. But you've got 40 days. Now that's the word of grace. God is graciously giving them an opportunity to respond, to avert His judgment, to accept His message of repentance. So the message you need to hear this morning is not only a message of judgment, but it is also a word of grace. God is this very moment giving you another opportunity to trust Jesus as your Savior and to avoid and escape His judgment. The only thing, here's the catch. I can't stay up here. I can't stand up here and give you a time period. God evidently had revealed to Jonah they would have 40 days. I don't know whether we've got 40 minutes. I don't know whether we have 40 days, 40 weeks, 40 years. There's no way to know. God's offer of grace is for now. For this moment, the Bible says behold now is the accepted time. Today is the day of salvation. How shall we escape if we neglect such great salvation? The writer to Hebrews says, now is the time. I don't know how long God will extend His grace. Nobody can say that. And so that offer of grace is very tenuous. It is offered you today. Right now I do not love if it will still be there tomorrow. We all need to hear the message. Everyone in order to be saved must hear the message that we are sinners. We deserve God's wrath. Jesus has taken that punishment for us. And we need to trust Him as our Savior. The Bible says that the hearing of the message is absolutely essential for salvation. Romans chapter 10, verse 17. Consequently Paul says, faith comes from hearing the message. And the message is heard through the word about Christ. And as the word of God is preached about Jesus Christ and His death for us, that is the message that must be heard. Repentance for an unbeliever begins with the hearing of the message. But coupled with that, right on the heels of hearing the message, is the believing of the message. It is important not only to hear the word but to receive it, to accept it, to believe the message that God gives you. That's exactly what the Ninevites did in verse 5. The Ninevites believed God. They believed God. What did they believe? The message God had given them. Your sinners under the wrath of God, you deserve God's judgment, but you have 40 days. If you will turn to Him, you can avert His judgment. That's what they heard. And they believed the message. They believed God. Those same words are used way back in the Old Testament in Genesis chapter 15 of Abraham, where the Bible says, Abraham believed the Lord and he credited it to him for righteousness or as righteousness. You see in the Old Testament, when God delivered a message to his people, the Abraham it was that he would make him a great nation and he would have a seed that would turn into great people and blessing would come to all the world. Abraham believed what God told him, he believed the message and God counted that for righteousness. My friend, you must believe the message that the Word of God gives you about how to be saved. And that is that as a sinner, you cannot do anything to save yourself. You cannot contribute one bit to getting to heaven. Jesus Christ did all the work for you on the cross and you must simply trust Him and believe the message of gospel. Believe in Him. Salvation is by faith and faith alone. Not through anything you do. It's not through becoming religious, joining a church, getting baptized, turning over a new leaf and trying to live better, getting rid of things in your life, being a better neighbor, a good provider for your family, a wonderful housewife, all those things are great. But none of those will get you to heaven. Salvation is by faith in Christ and the Bible is replete over and over and over again. It tells us that just to give us a feel for the hundred plus verses in the New Testament that emphasize salvation is by faith, not by works. It is God's grace, gracious gift that we receive by faith. Look at these verses, John 1-12. Get to all who did receive Him to those who believed in His name. He gave the right to become the children of God. John 3-16, very familiar. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. And then in verse 18, He goes on to say, whoever believes in Him is not condemned. But whoever does not believe stands condemned already. Why? Because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only son. Down in verse 36, He says, whoever believes in the son has eternal life but whoever rejects the son will not see life for God's wrath remains on them. Chapter 5, verse 24, Jesus says it again, verily truly, I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me, hearing the word, believing the word, hearing the message, believing the message. Jesus says, has eternal life and will not be judged but is crossed over from death to life. That was the consistent message of the apostles in the book of Acts. Look at Acts 13, verse 39, for an example. Through Him Paul was preaching in Antioch, Positia, through Him. Everyone who believes is set free from every sin. Adjustification, in other words, a being declared right with God, you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses. Paul reinforces this in the book of Romans, Romans chapter 4, verses 4 and 5. He says, now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. In other words, when you work a job, you expect to get paid. Your employer is obligated to pay you. That's not the way you get saved. He goes on to say, however, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, notice their faith is credited as righteousness. Romans 5, 1, he says, therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Paul says it again in Galatians 2, 16. Notice how strong it is here. Know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we too have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law because by the works of the law no one will be justified. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, for it is by grace you have been saved through faith. This is not from yourselves that is the gift of God, not by works that no one can boast. Those are just a sampling of the hundred plus verses in the Bible that make it clear salvation is by faith. It's not through your baptism. It's not through anything else you do. It's not through your own efforts to try to be good and get your way into heaven. Salvation will only be yours. Forgiveness of sin can only be yours. A home in heaven can only be yours if you trust Jesus Christ as your Savior. Faith in the one who died to pay your penalty and bear your judgment, that's the only way you can be saved. Repentance for an unbeliever is to turn to Christ in faith and when you trust Him as your Savior you're born again, you're saved. You become a child of God. You get a home in heaven forever. Your sin is forgiven and you escape the penalty and condemnation and wrath of God. So you must hear the message but you must also believe the message and when you do that, as you do that, as you hear the message and believe the message, the third ingredient of repentance is also just right in there and it is the proper view of sin. You cannot hear the message of the judgment of God and salvation by His grace and know that you're a sinner and that you need salvation without having a proper view of sin. And the Ninevites certainly did that in verses 5 and 6. You find there's evidence of the fact that they had a proper view of sin. They knew they had sinned against God and they were mortified and humiliated and mourning over their sin. Notice the evidence of that in the middle of verse 5. They declared a fast. Obviously abstaining from food because they recognize their sinful condition and they have got business to do with God. They need to get right with God. That's more important than food. That's more important than any earthly pleasure and so they give that up for a while to get their hearts right with God. It's an evidence of the fact they took their sin very seriously. Not only did they fast notice and all of them from the greatest to the least put on sack cloth, sack cloth, a garment, a coarse dark garment woven out of goats hair, not wool from a lamb but goats hair, tough prickly goats hair. That right Philip Bailey goats hair. That's not exactly like wool is it? This hair garment, it's like wearing a burlap sack. You say, well why in the world would someone want to do that? In ancient days in the ancient world this was a way of describing a sign of humiliation, a sign of mourning because of what's happening. Sometimes if there was a national disaster or there was a military defeat or if there was an impending judgment, people would show themselves humbly for God by changing their clothes and wearing this burlap sack if you will, the sack cloth. It was a sign that they were serious about sin. They had the right view of sin but that's not all. Look at verse 6. When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sack cloth and sat down in the dust to sit in dust or ashes in the ancient world was a way of humiliating oneself and it was a sign of mourning. People who lost loved ones would do this. People who believed they were under the judgment of God would do this. And it was simply an outward way of saying, I am mourning my own sin. I understand, I am a sinner. I understand, I have offended a holy God and I humble myself before him as a sinner. I don't deserve his grace because I am a sinner. I have sinned against him but I mourn the fact that I have sinned against him. I want to be saved. I want to be delivered from my sin. My friend in order to be saved in order to repent, repentance is turning away from the lifestyle you have lived and the sin that you have been in, turning to Christ in faith necessitates a turning away from that sinful lifestyle. You recognize that is not the way to live and you turn from that to Christ. That is repentance. Turning in faith to Christ necessitates the turning away from your old lifestyle. It is part and parcel the same thing. Theologians call it conversion. Conversion has two parts and they happen at the same time. Faith in Christ, turning to him in faith means you turn your back on sin. That doesn't mean you are going to be perfect. You still have a sin nature and we all fail sometimes. But true conversion means you understand you are a sinner and you turn away from that to Christ and trust him as your Savior. They had a proper view of sin. But notice the fourth ingredient which goes along with it is part and parcel of the repentance and salvation of an unbeliever is the change in lifestyle. If you genuinely get saved, you cannot continue to consistently live the same life you have always lived. Your life will change. God makes us new creations. He changes us from the inside out. Gives us new motivations and directions and inclinations in life. The Bible calls that regeneration, new birth, new life. And that happens when you get saved. When you repent, turn to faith and Christ, away from your sin there will be a change in lifestyle. It was truly evident among the Ninevites. Look at what happened in verse 7. Then he, the king, issued a proclamation in Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, do not let any man or beast heard or flock, taste anything, do not let them eat or drink. So animals are included in this fast. Isn't that interesting? You say why would they include their animals? Animals can't get saved. Animals can't repent and turn from wicked ways. And so why would they include their animals? Because you see in the ancient world, you have to understand two things about animals. Animals were your possessions, your wealth, and animals were your job. So your economy, your economic status, and your ability to do your job revolved around your animals. What they are basically saying is that we recognize our whole way of life must change. The way we do our jobs, our value system, what we see is important. All of that is given to Christ now. Our animals are dedicated to him just like we are. So everything changes. There's a change in the lifestyle when you come to Christ and it goes further than that. Verse 8. Let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone singular, everyone. This is not some big national revival where 90% of the people don't know what's going on. What's happening here? King issued something. I don't care about that. There's no mixed multitude here. Everyone individually is called upon. Notice that everyone call urgently on God and then notice this next statement. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. When God truly saves you, it changes your life. Your relationship with others will change. Violent treatment of other people. That changes when you get saved. That's just one example of the way relationships change. You see, when God saves you, it changes everything about your life. You have a different, everything about your job, everything about your relationship with your family, everything about your relationship with your neighbor should change. There's a change in lifestyle. Again, please don't misunderstand me. Not everything is perfect immediately, but there is definitely a change in direction. You're no longer going the same way, but you have a different mindset. You know that life needs to be different now that you are a follower of Christ. Verse 9. It continues on. The King says, who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger. The King words means literally the burning of the face or the nose. God may turn from the burning of his face toward us so that we will not perish. Again, here's a pagan. For the third time in the book, a pagan being concerned about others not perishing. A rebuke to Jonah once again. These people are concerned about not perishing when they hear the message. Jonah knows the message, but he is not concerned early on about them perishing. We'll find yet he still has a way to go to learn that in chapter 4. Here are people who know that life will never be the same. Genuine repentance leads to a change in lifestyle. I believe this was genuine repentance. I know there are those who say, well, this is not really genuine. They're just kind of turning away so they can get out of judgment. It's not really genuine from their hearts. Jesus said it was genuine. Look at Matthew 12, 41. This is what Jesus had to say. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation, the generation that heard Jesus' teachings and condemn it. Why? Because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And now something greater than Jonah is here talking about the kingdom of God being introduced. And you're turning against that? Well, the men of Nineveh knew better than that. When they heard the message they received, they repented at the preaching of Jonah. I believe this was genuine repentance. Did it last? Yes. With them it did. The tragedy of Nineveh is that it was never passed on to the next generation. I'm not talking about passing on salvation, but I'm talking about passing on the message. Within 100 years, Nineveh, before 100 years passes, Nineveh has gone right back to its cruel, violent, simple, ungodly pagan ways. And 100 years from the time of the book of Jonah, Nehum, the prophet writes, God's final judgment on Nineveh. And this time Nineveh will not escape. There's no offer of grace. God has determined they will be judged. Did you know my friend? We are only one generation away from the extinction of the Christian faith. If we're not serious about our children's ministries and our student ministries, if you're not serious as a parent about passing your faith along, not that you can translate salvation to your children, but you can give them the message. You can passionately pray for them and seek to win them to Christ. If you're not passionate about that, we are one generation away from spiritual poverty. The message being wiped out. That's what happened in Nineveh. But these people genuinely repented and turned back to the Lord. Do you need to repent this morning? Are you here? And you've never trusted Jesus as your Savior? You've understood today that you are a sinner apart from God. You're on your way to hell. You've understood that Jesus died for you and bore that condemnation, that wrath, that punishment for you on the cross. Will you believe that message? Will you in faith turn to Christ and trust Him as your Savior? If you do, your life will change. You will turn to Christ but away from your lifestyle of sin. And God will make you a new creature and begin his new work of making you more like Him. Do you need to repent? You need to turn to Christ in faith today. There's one other kind of repentance in this passage quickly. And that is the repentance of God. Very interesting that God is said to repent. Verse 10. When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction He had threatened. The word He had compassion, the ennavi translates that He had compassion. It actually is the word for repenting or relenting. The King James uses the word repent. New American standard, ESV, New English translation, all use the word relent. He relented from what he had planned to do. And that raises questions, doesn't it? Does God change his mind? Does God determine one thing and then say, no, I don't think I want to do that. I'm going to change my mind and do something else. Is that what this is talking about? How does God repent? What does it mean? Well, let me just quickly say first of all what it is not. When the Bible talks about God repenting or God relenting from something He had determined to do, we are not talking about God changing his mind. The Bible is very clear that God does not change his mind. There are lots of scriptures I could give you, but we're not going to take the time to do that this morning. Verse 23 19, 1 Samuel 15, 29, James 117, all those verses make it very clear, God does not change his mind. See, like a man that changed, no, he does not change his mind. God never miscalculates. Oops, I didn't take that into consideration. We've got to go to plan B. That's never the way with God. Ephesians 111 says that God does all things after the counsel of his own will. He has a predetermined plan and purpose and all things fall into that. I don't understand all of that, but I know the Bible says that. So God never makes a mistake. That's not what repenting means with God. What does it mean? God repents or relents in two ways. This is what it does mean. He repents in the sense that he sorrows and grieves over the sin of his creatures. That's what happened in Noah's day. Noah chapter 6, God says, it repented him that he had made men. It grieved him, the Hebrew word literally means. It grieved him that he had made men. So he determines the judge man. The Bible talks about in 1 Samuel 15 when Saul had rejected the Lord and turned away from God's plan. It grieved God that he had made Saul king. And so the Bible says that God repents or God relents in the sense that he grieves and sorrows and mourns the sin of his creatures. That emotional element of repentance. But also God does actually turn away from a course of action. He relents, he repents in the sense that he does turn away from a course of action, but not in the sense that he changes his mind or he changes his plan. God repents in ways, God changes his course of action in ways that he has already established, and he has already determined he will do if man changes his decision and responds differently to God. Let me illustrate it this way. If you say to your child or your grandchild, you are not going out with your friends this weekend because you have not cleaned up your room. And let's say the child takes that heart and goes in and does a spik and span cleaning of the room. And then you say, okay, you are allowed to go out with your friends. You had determined all along that would be your course of action. It is not that you have changed your mind. It looks like your child, you have changed your mind, but you knew all along. You had determined and planned all along. If they do not clean the room, this is the course of action I take. If they do clean the room, this is the course of action I take. Someone has said it this way with God. An unchanging God must change in his actions toward changing men in order to remain unchanging in his character. An unchanging God, one who never changes his mind or never changes in his moral character. An unchanging God must change his actions toward changing men. He Jeremiah 17 sometime because God says, if I declare I am going to judge a nation if they repent from their ways, then I will remove the judgment. So God must change in his actions toward changing men in order to remain unchangeable in his character. That is what it means that God repents. The question for you this morning is, do you need to repent? Do you need to repent? Are you a believer here today of Christian one who is a Christ follower? You have accepted Christ as your Savior, but God has been speaking to you about the way you are living. And you know you are not being faithful to Him. You know you have not kept the commitments you have made to Him or maybe even to your family or to others. And God has been speaking to you about that and you have been saying no. God is graciously giving you another opportunity. You need to repent. You need to turn around from the way you are walking and turn back to follow Him once again. Or maybe you are here today as an unbeliever. You know you are not saved. You know that if you were to die today, you would not be in heaven. Or as you have no assurance of that at all, that you would be in heaven. My friend, you need to hear the message that you are already under the judgment of God, the wrath of God. If you were to die like you are today, you would be in hell. But there is also a message of grace that Jesus died for you. If you will believe that message and trust Jesus as your Savior, then you can be forgiven of your sin. God will turn your life around and put you on a new course, give you a new life. Do you need to be saved today? In the story blind side, the story of Sean and Leanne Tooy, and their adoption of a young African American man in the center of Memphis, Tennessee, and how they, because they took him into their home, they delivered him from a very dysfunctional, broken family and a future that was going nowhere. He began to play football. Excelden high school went on to play college ball and was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in 2009 as one of the starting tackles for the Baltimore Ravens today. The story of Michael Oer is chronicled in that film. The turning point in that film, and in 2010, an interview that Sean and Leanne Tooy did said, this was the turning point of our family. This was the turning point of Michael Oer's life from despair and no future to being able to have a future. One early November morning, the film presents it as having at night, but it actually happened in the morning. On early November morning, as Mr. and Mrs. Tooy are driving down the street, they see Michael Oer. This huge young man walking in a t-shirt and shorts, and they think, it's November. He's not adequately clothed, and they're amazed at that they drive on by, and then Leanne Tooy as she's thinking about that, says, turn around to her husband. In that interview they did in 2010, they said, those two words changed the life of our family. They had him get in their car, took him home to provide him a warm place to stay, and ended up adopting him into their family. It changed their lives, it changed his life. The whole direction of his life was changed by two words, turn around, turn around. The whole direction of your life today can be changed by those same two words. Turn around, turn around. That's the biblical definition of repentance. Turn around. Are you a believer who needs to turn around and repent? Then do it today. Are you an unbeliever, one who knows not Christ, but you need to turn from your sin to faith and Christ, turn around. Trust him as your Savior, and your whole life and eternal destiny will be changed if you'll turn around. Let's pray together. They're helping us to understand those simple words, but life changing and destiny, eternal destiny, authoring words, turn around, repent. I pray Father, there will be believers today that will repent and turn around and go the direction you want them to go. I pray there will be unbelievers who will realize their need of Christ and repent, turn to Christ in faith. Away from their own efforts to save themselves, pray that people will repent today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.