Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Yesterday we said you must confess Christ is Lord and now we add to that requirement for rebirth the requirement for repentance. You already have a sense of repentance if you have parents who caught you doing something wrong. Parents have a way of shaming you for what you do wrong. They want you to acknowledge you did wrong and feel shame for the act.

Experience tells us that this repentance happens over and over again. We feel it every time we commit a sin of conscience. Even if you do not want to admit it, confess with your mouth, you feel it if your parents brought you up to feel regret. This is not that same repentance that Peter is speaking about.

Joel 2:13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

Here once again it is within the heart, that broken and contrite heart where faith works, that repentance is seen as a turning from our evil deeds to a gracious and merciful God. This is not a turned mind, it is a turned heart. It is not a matter of conscience but rather a matter of character.

We led a life of choices which led to consequences for our actions. I was willful, I ran my life, I ruined my life. This repentance that Peter speaks about is a heart that changes from being willful to being willing.

Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.