The If / Then in Repentance

by Steve McCranie | Jan 4, 2017

We have previously talked about the importance of understanding our responsibility regarding the if / then passages in Scripture.  In these, the promise of God (then) is contingent upon some completed action on our part (if).  One always precedes the other.  One is always contingent upon the other.  When the if is satisfied, the promised then is realized.  But the opposite is also true.  If there is no if, there will be no then.  If no condition is met, there will be no fulfillment of the promise.  It’s Contract Law, 101.

For example, when Peter preached his powerful sermon on the day of Pentecost that ushered in the birth of the church, he closed his message with an if / then promise.  Let’s look at this in context.  First, Peter concludes his message with a statement about Jesus and their guilt in rejecting and crucifying Him.

Acts 2:36 – “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified (now it’s personal), both Lord and Christ.”

Then, under the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, the people cry out for an answer.  They long and seek for salvation, some deliverance from the guilt of their sin.

Acts 2:37 – Now when they heard this (the words Peter just spoke), they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

Peter answers their question with an if / then promise regarding repentance and salvation.  They must do something (if) to receive salvation and the forgiveness of their sins (then).  If they fail to do what is required of them (if – repentance), then salvation does not follow (then). Watch how this plays out.

Acts 2:38 – Then Peter said to them, “Repent (if – the condition they must meet), and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins (as an outward sign of their repentance and submission to Christ); and (then – the promise of salvation, the result of meeting the condition of repentance) you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Remember, the Holy Spirit is our proof of salvation.  Ephesians 1 says we are “sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance” in Him (Eph. 1:13-14).  Again, no Holy Spirit, no regeneration, no changed nature— no salvation.  But you already know this.

Turn at My Rebuke

Yet even after salvation, we find the same if / then conditions and promises still apply in our lives today.  This is especially true regarding the sins we commit as a believer and our refusal to repent of them and give them up in exchange for a deeper relationship with the Lord.  Look at your own life.  You and I have areas right now that we struggle with and refuse to submit to Him.  But you also already know this.  The end result of this inaction on our part is a grieving of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30) and a noticeable break in our fellowship with the Lord.  Can you relate?  Ever been there?

We even see this scenario played out for us in the first chapter of Proverbs.  In this chapter, the young man (representing you and me) is warned by his father and mother not to forsake what he has been taught and to not consent when sinners entice him to sin (Prov. 1:10).  The Lord then spends the next nine verses detailing the types of pressure each of us will face when we are tempted to sin.  There’s peer pressure, greed, anger, violence, acceptance, excitement— it’s all there.  Read it for yourself.

By the time we get to Proverbs 1:20, things change a bit in the text.  Now we have wisdom, the personified wisdom of God, calling out to this young man with the message of repentance.  In fact, we see wisdom calling out to anyone who will listen.  Wisdom calls out in the “open squares,” in the “chief concourses” and “at the opening of the gates in the city” (Prov. 1:20-21).  Wisdom is calling to everyone.  To those who are lost, it’s a message of repentance unto salvation.  To those, like the young man and you and me, it’s a message of repentance unto fellowship and a restoration of our intimate relationship with our Lord.

Wisdom’s message begins with a rebuke.  It’s like incredulously asking, “Just how stupid are you?”

Proverbs 1:22 – “How long, you simple ones (foolish ones, naive ones, stupid ones, moronic ones), will you love simplicity (what is foolish, stupid, moronic)?  For scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge.”

Wisdom asks each of us the same question: “How long, you foolish, moronic, stupid ones, will you love your stupidity?  How long, you fools, will you be enamored in your folly?”

Just like those who heard Peter’s charge in Acts 2:36, we also ask the same question:  “What must we do?”   The answer is simple.  But it’s an if / then answer.  It requires something of us in order to receive something from the Lord.

Proverbs 1:23 – “Turn (if – the condition that must be met) at my rebuke; Surely (then – the results of meeting the condition) I will pour out my spirit (Holy Spirit) on you; (then) I will make my words known (yada) to you.”

The promise is that God would pour (to gush forth, to flow) out the Holy Spirit on those who turned (turn back, returned) and repented at the rebuke (correction, reproof, chastisement) of wisdom.  And, as if it couldn’t get any better, He also promised to make His words known (yada) to those who repented and turned back to Him.  The word “known” is yada in the Hebrew and means to know, or be known, in a loving, intimate, experiential way.  The promise offered by the Lord is for Him to pour Himself out on us in the Person of the Holy Spirit and make His words become something we love because we have experienced them ourselves, first-hand, and have an intimate, loving relationship with Him.   Does it get any better than this?  Not for me.

But don’t get too excited.  This wonderful promise is conditional.  It’s the then side of the if / then equation.  There is something that is required in order to receive the promise from God.  Something each of us must do.

We must repent.  We must turn at the rebuke or correction and chastisement of the Lord.

It means to go back to where we were with Him before we jumped ship to blindly go after the trinkets and toys this world offers.  It means to embrace the eternal and reject the temporal, no matter how good the temporal may make us feel in the short run.  It means placing ourselves back under the Lordship of Christ as the Sovereign One.  We must repent of the selfishness of demanding our Christian life being about us, and not about Him.  And we must vow to never view Christ as a genie in a bottle, always at our beck and call, whose sole purpose, according to us, is to make all our dreams come true.

Turn.  Return.  Go back.  Repent.

But What If I Don’t?

I mean, what if I refuse to return to Him?  What if I’m ok where I’m at and don’t want to go through the pain and hard times that come with repentance?  What if I say, no?

I’ll close by letting you read what the Lord says about people who stubbornly refuse His rebuke.  These are sobering words.  Take them to heart.  Because they are a warning from Him.  Another if / then promise.

Proverbs 1:24-27 – “Because (if – the condition we have met) I have called and you refused, (if – the condition) I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, because (if) you disdained all my counsel, and would have none of my rebuke, (then – the result of our actions) I also will laugh at your calamity; (then) I will mock when your terror comes, (to what extent) when your terror comes like a storm, and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.”

But it gets worse.  What happens when we reject the wisdom of the Lord and inevitably begin to experience all the “terror” and “destruction” that “comes like a whirlwind” (Prov. 1:26-27)?  What happens when the Lord gives us what we want and allows us to experience the consequences of our own sin (Rom.1:24-28)?  What happens when we’ve had enough of God’s chastisement, throw up our hands in defeat, and begrudgingly come to Him on His terms?  What happens then?  How will He receive us?

Read this carefully.  These are sobering words.

Proverbs 1:28-30 – “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.  (why) Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD, they would have none of my counsel and despised my every rebuke.”

These are some of the most frightening words in all of Scripture.  They indicate there may come a time when our constant rejection of the Lord will dry up His grace.  A time when heaven is quiet and, no matter how hard we try, we can’t find the grace from Him we took for granted for so long.  The time may come, according to this if / then promise, when God allows us to experience the consequence of our sins and may give us exactly what we have asked for, what we have demanded— deliverance from Him.

Pray that day never comes.

And while you still can, turn at His rebuke and allow Him to “pour out my spirit on you” and “make my words known to you” (Prov. 1:23).  Because when He does what He has promised in the verse, you will begin to experience heaven on earth.

Return to Him today.