Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near.Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.

      Isaiah 55:6-7

Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

          Acts 2:38

There simply is no salvation apart from repentance. We see repentance in the Old and the New Testament. As sincere as someone may be in their religious efforts, religious motion is no substitute for a life-changing, life-giving, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. But this spiritual transformation cannot happen apart from repentance. The word “repent” means “to change your mind.” Repentance isn’t a promise to God that we will never sin again (that’s not a promise anyone should make). Repentance isn’t leaving all of your sins behind before coming to Jesus. We don’t ask a drunkard to sober up and then come to Jesus. We see a drunkard come to Christ and Jesus cleans him/her up on the inside. We don’t ask a prostitute to stop her lifestyle and then come to Jesus. We see a prostitute come to Jesus and He gives her a brand new life, allowing her to walk away from that lifestyle. Repentance isn’t making a promise to God or walking away from one’s sin. Repentance is changing your mind and seeking the salvation that God offers humanity through faith in what Christ has already done for us on the cross. And at conversion, we receive not only God’s full pardon but we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, God’s very presence, to come and live inside our hearts. And it’s this presence of God that gives us the power to overcome all of the trappings in which the world is caught. This salvation is completely apart form works (Romans 3:28) and is a free gift of God’s grace to those who believe (Romans 6:23). But none of this happens until we change our mind and run to the cross.

Seek The Lord While He May Be Found

The Bible would not instruct us to do something that we are incapable of doing. While we cannot save ourselves through a lifetime of good works nor see God’s acceptance through empty, religious motion, we are instructed to “seek the Lord.” This is the essence of repentance. When we get sick and tired of living in futility, chasing after all of the idols of the world and we direct our attention to the cross and to the Person of Jesus Christ, desiring Him more than anything else, we are positioning ourselves to receive salvation. Like the prodigal, when we come to our senses, we can then repent, call on God, and receive redemption and restoration (Luke 15, Romans 10:13).  

Call Upon Him While He Is Near

“Seeking the Lord while He may be found” and “calling on Him while He is near” is a reminder that today is the day of salvation. And why today? Because we are not guaranteed tomorrow. To put off responding to God’s offer of salvation is risky at best and completely fatal at worst. Yes, we need only cry out to God and He will save us from our depravity, give us new life, and equip us with power by the Holy Spirit. This is what it means to be “born again” (John 3:3). 

Let The Wicked Forsake His Way

Notice the connection between salvation and repentance. “Forsaking our ways” is an imperative if we are to live in the victory that Christ died to give us. Paul speaks of this very clearly:

…that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

      Ephesians 4:22-24

Salvation is a “laying aside the old self” and “putting on the new self.” If your life hasn’t changed at all since giving your life to Christ, you need to seriously consider if you indeed gave your life to Him. This doesn’t mean that if we sin, we are not saved anymore. But it does mean that authentic salvation always leads to a changed life. If our lives look exactly like the world, we need to reexamine our lives. The questions that  we should be asking ourselves are, “What about my life looks different from the world?” and “Do people see a difference in me?” “Laying aside the old self” is an imperative part of repentance and salvation. 

Let The Unrighteous Man Forsake His Thoughts

“Ways” indicates our lifestyle while “thoughts” has to do with our thinking. And if our thinking is faulty, so will be our life. Consider the following:

Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.

      Proverbs 4:23

As your thinking goes, so goes the direction of your life. We are either building our lives on the truth of God’s Word or we are not (Matthew 7:24-27). “Our ways” and “our thoughts” should reflect a life dedicated to the Lord.

Returning To The Lord

The promise for us in Isaiah is tremendous. When we repent and call on the name of the Lord for salvation, we can expect that “He will have compassion on us” and that He “will abundantly pardon.” Consider this invitation:

Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord…

Acts 3:19

Notice that “times of refreshing” comes from “the presence of the Lord.” It is our hearts that the Lord seeks. He doesn’t want us caught in the destructive nature of sin nor does He want us to blindly follow empty, ritualistic, religious motion. The Bible teaches us that it is a relationship that God desires to have with us. And this relationship begins at conversion and is sustained for eternity by the presence of God living inside every born again believer in Jesus Christ. Consider the words of Peter as he preached to the people of the 1st century:

Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

          Acts 2:38

The first thing that Peter says is, “repent.” Then comes baptism for all who have been converted, not to a religion, but rather to those who have undergone the spiritual transformation that takes place when we move from spiritual death to spiritual life. So we repent (change our mind), call on the name of the Lord (Romans 10:13), participate in believers baptism as a declaration to the world that we now belong to Christ, and then we “will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” This is the salvation process and it is available to anyone who repents and calls on the name of the Lord!