If I were to sum up about 90 percent of the sermons which I hear (and frankly, a good deal of the ones which I preach), the summary would go something like this:
1. You have a problem.
2. Christ is the answer.
3. Repent and be saved.
It doesn’t matter whether the sermon is being delivered by a conservative, biblical fundamentalist or a liberal, social activist. The pattern is basically the same, even though the content and catch phrases may differ.

In other words, only after the bad news are we given the Good News. The bad news, of course, is that we have all sinned and fallen short. The Good News is that Jesus Christ can provide us with a way out of this sinful condition. But in order for him to do that, we must first acknowledge that we have a problem, and then repent of it. Hence the classic formula of so many sermons—you have a problem, Christ is the answer, repent and be saved.

The difficulty I have with this formula is that repentance precedes salvation. And I think that may actually add to the misunderstanding that most of us have about repentance. For too many of us repentance has been reduced to feeling sorry for what we have done or left undone. And the trouble with this definition is that feelings are notoriously slippery and usually short-lived.

For Christians, repentance is more than merely an emotional sense of regret or unworthiness. Repentance is an action, and not just a once-and-for-all action but a continuing action. In the Greek, the word for repentance is metanoia and it literally means “turning around” or “changing directions.” Thus, it’s not a feeling at all, but a deliberate decision based on God’s love.

Feelings are fine, as far as they go. The problem is that they don’t go that far! When a young man and woman stand before me to be married, I am never asking them, “Do you feel like loving each other for the rest of your lives?” The question is, “Will you love each other for the rest of your lives?”

Think of the story that John tells of the adulterous woman who was brought to Jesus. After the crowd has dispersed, he asks her, “Where are those who condemn you? Is there anyone left?” “Not one, sir,” she replies. “Then neither do I condemn you,” says Jesus.
Note that she has not repented of anything yet. He forgives her unilaterally—“Go and sin no more.” And it’s at that point that the repentance begins. Simply put, repentance does not precede salvation, it follows it. Repentance is our response to Christ’s saving grace.