Repentance

Revelation 2:5 Remember therefore from whence you are fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto you quickly, and will remove your candlestick out of its place, except you repent. 

This is a real church. Jesus was speaking to the church at Ephesus, a very strong church. I would say it was one of the best, most grounded churches in the New Testament; and yet, the Lord told them to repent. These are born again, spirit-filled believers who have just gotten a little off in the midst of all the good things they were doing. Isn’t it interesting that the Lord didn’t say, “Because you are all so good, just let this thing of you not loving your first love go; I will overlook it.” Instead, the Lord was serious about this and told them to repent. These believers would have to be sorry for their sin because only godly sorrow will work repentance and then, they would need to ask the Lord to forgive them and then, change what they were doing to line up with their repentance. This could be a one-time thing, or it could be a process of adjustments that would have to be made to line them up with the Word of God. Who is repentance for? It is definitely for an unbeliever. They must have godly sorrow for their sin of rejecting Jesus and then, repent and be born again. Repentance is also for believers, and it is a gift of God. When we are living in sin, or we have gotten off course in our lives, then godly sorrow will bring us to a place of repentance. If there is no repentance of sin, then there is no correction of that sin, and the sin, or the sinful habit or bondage, will keep happening. Godly sorrow works repentance and true repentance brings a change to our lives.