The Fruits of Repentance

John the Baptist was a preacher who majored on repentance, on one occasion when challenging the Pharisees he said ‘bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:’ Matt 3 v8

Repentance is a neglected doctrine in the contemporary church but it is a vital doctrine if we are to preach the gospel in all of its fullness.

There is a great demonstration of repentance in action in the 3rd Chapter of the book of Jonah. The prophet Jonah delivered a message of the impending judgement hanging over Nineveh, ‘Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.’ Jonah 3 v4 This was what Jonah cried as he journeyed across the city preaching. God’s Spirit took these works and convicted the inhabitants of Nineveh and they did exactly what John the Baptist challenged the Pharisees to do, they brought forth the fruits of repentance.

A Changed Attitude

‘So the people of Nineveh believed God,’ Jonah 3v5

The people of Nineveh never had much time for the God of Israel; they were a race known for their cruelty and worshipped the pagan deity Dagon. However, on hearing the message of God’s judgment they changed their minds and for the first time they believed in the God of Israel. That is always the starting point for Salvation; we need to start agreeing with God about our sin and its consequences. We need to believe God.

A Changed Appetite

‘and proclaimed a fast’ Jonah 3v5

Like all the pagan societies of that day the people in Nineveh lived their lives in excess, drunkenness and immorality were the order of the day. Sounds a bit like 21st Century Britain. However, their turning to God changed their appetite, they proclaimed a fast, and denied themselves food. Sadly today many Christians don’t know much of self-denial. They drink the booze of this world; they indulge in premarital and extra marital sex. I was shocked recently to hear of a young Christian girl who was mocked by her so-called Christian friends because she was still a virgin

A Changed Appearance

‘put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.’ Jonah 3 v5

A returning visitor to Nineveh at this time would have noticed something different about the people; their dress had changed. No longer were they wearing their normal clothes but rather a covering of sackcloth was now their garment. Can people who look at us know that we belong to God by our appearance? I am not merely talking about modesty in dress although that is important but what about our conduct, our conversation, our whole manner of living is it Godly. Surely as God’s children we should exhibit ‘fruits meet for repentance’!