What is Repentance — Tim Conway

Repentance as More Than a Change of Life

Okay, brethren, I would ask you to open your Bibles to Jeremiah 8. Brethren, when I was first converted, I think many of you know that I was exposed to John MacArthur's book, The Gospel According to Jesus.

MacArthur has a chapter in that book concerning repentance. And I know that MacArthur was confronted by men, women too undoubtedly, who were saying that repentance is only a change of mind. And they were being very specific to say it does not necessarily include a change of life.

And it seems like being exposed to that early on, there was a tendency in my own mind to define repentance as not just a change of mind, in fact, not even particularly or necessarily most importantly a change of mind as much as a change of life.

A turning from sin. And oftentimes where you find the terminology of repentance, you find also the word turn. And I guess I was uncomfortable. I felt uncomfortable with that definition. James and I were talking at the men's retreat and we were agreeing that at times we have said that.

We have defined repentance that way to turn from sin. Well, for a number of years, I've been looking at passages that deal with repentance. I think it's such an important aspect of salvation that we need to be crystal clear.

And I formulated a sermon that I've preached in maybe eight or nine other places now, but I've never preached it here. And I think we need to be clear. And I want us to consider some things this morning in hopes that an hour from now perhaps there is greater clarity in the mind concerning what is repentance and how do we define it.

Craig was saying that he just saw where one theologian professor defined repentance as joy. I don't know where he came up with that. I like the guy who said it, but I don't like that. I don't think that's good.

I don't think that's accurate. Okay, let's think here. John the Baptist. I mean, if you just think New Testament, you come into the New Testament, it's interesting to me that very often you get repent from those holy men of old that you find in the pages of Scripture.

You come to the New Testament. They're preaching. Oftentimes, they don't even use the term faith or believe. They simply said repent. Isn't it interesting? God commands all men everywhere not just to repent and believe.

It's like Paul feels like he can actually leave faith out. Not that we would leave faith out. Not that he leaves faith out. Obviously, somebody came to him one time and said, what must a man do to be saved?

And he said, believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Paul didn't leave it out. But it is interesting that Paul could actually talk about salvation and he could leave faith out.

He could just say repent. We come into the Scriptures and what do you have? The New Testament Scriptures. John the Baptist. He said that the kingdom of God is at hand. And we are to repent. Right after that, Jesus comes on the scene.

Jesus began to preach saying repent. And as you walk through, you go to Mark's Gospel when the twelve are being sent out and you specifically have this. The twelve went out and proclaimed that people should repent.

You come to the book of Acts. You know what you find there. Peter said, day of Pentecost, repent. Repent and be baptized. Not even repent and believe. Yes, there are times it says that. Repentance and remission of sins is that which is to be preached starting in Jerusalem, but all around the world.

You find after Peter, here comes Paul. He takes precedence among the apostles. How does he talk? Paul declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God.

We don't want to be wrong with this term. We don't want to be wrong about the way that we speak about it. Here's the thing. I hear people say, I'm trying to repent and God isn't saving me. I hear people say, I'm repenting, but they're indicating in some way God is not responding to me.

And I look at that and I'm convinced they don't understand repentance. And last thing that we want to do is we don't want their misunderstanding to come from the fact that us well-meaning Christians are defining repentance in a wrong manner.

What we don't want to do is make repentance into a work. A work, some kind of pre-salvation deal that they have to do to pick up the wreckage in their life in order to make themselves acceptable. And that's the feeling that you get.

A lot of people when they hear repentance, they're thinking, okay, the well-meaning Christian says it means to turn from sin. And so, okay, I'm going to turn from sin. I'm going to stop going to the bar.

I'm going to stop picking up the 12-pack after work. I'm going to stop clicking on the pornographic website. And then they look at God and they say, okay, I've done my part. And then nothing's happening.

There's silence. Well, the well-meaning Christian, that's what they told me to do. Turn from sin. This is what I'm trying to do. And brethren, I'll tell you this, if that's all we do in our definition of repentance, we've come sadly short.

Repentance and the Fruit of Turning

What I want to say is this, the turning from sin to God, it's repent and turn. The turning is that which flows out of the repentance. It's that which is a fruit of it. It isn't that itself. Listen, repentance sounds a whole lot like penance.

And there's a reason. If my understanding is right, they're derived from the same root word in the Latin. But the reality is, when the Reformers and the Catholics went separate directions, the Reformers went with the word repentance, the Catholic Church went with penance, and the truth is the one is based on our works and the other one is not.

And what we don't want to do is speak about repentance in such a way that we're leading people to think penance. And they sound similar. So, let's think. Don't be afraid of this. And I think at one time I was.

Repent. Re again, prefix. Pent. A pensive person is a thoughtful person. Rethink. That's what the English word means. It means to rethink. It is in the mind. See, repentance does not start with the turn of the actions.

It starts with a turn in the mind. It's to rethink. Or you know that the Greek word metanoia, the idea of afterthought. But again, after, re, thought, think. It's basically to change the mind. It's to think again and to think differently when you think again.

It's to rethink. And it's to change the mind. That's the idea behind repent. That is the idea. The change of life? Yes, it happens. Because if you change your mind, listen, for the person to say, well, it only means to change the mind, not the life, if your life doesn't change, then your mind hasn't changed.

Because when the mind changes, everything else follows. If it really changes. If you become really convinced of something, everything else will follow. You will do what you're convinced of. That's the issue.

It isn't repentance itself. It's repent and then turn. Turn in the mind and the whole self follows. So, our Lord Jesus Christ said this, I say to you, unless you repent, you will likewise perish. This is essential.

This is life and death. So we do not want to be wrong on this term. This actually precedes when you have repentance and faith together. The repentance is always first. Because the repentance is necessary for there to be the faith, the trusting Christ.

The thinking changes to bring me to a place where Christ is attractive or necessary. There's a change in the thinking that produces me seeing Christ as altogether necessary and beautiful and precious.

So, if our salvation hangs on this term, what I'm convinced is this, you can always go to the lexicons and you can go to the dictionaries, but with a term like this, more than anything else, we don't need dictionary definitions.

We need biblical definitions. We need the Scriptures to describe repentance for us. And so the first place I want you to go is just this simple text in Jeremiah 8 .6. Because I think it so captures what we're after here.

I want you to be convinced from Scripture. Up until now, I've just been talking. But I want you to see from Scripture and from Christ's words themselves, what is repentance? What does it look like? Here's the first thing.

Jeremiah 8 and the Question “What Have I Done?”

Jeremiah 8 .6 in the English Standard Version. I have paid attention and listened. This is God speaking. But they have not spoken rightly. No man... and here's our word. ESV says relents. Every other translation, or the majority of them anyway, say repent.

And in the Septuagint, it is our metanoia word group. It is the word for repent. What I'm most interested in is this. No man repents of his evil saying this is what I want you to see. What have I done?

Oh, brethren, don't let go of that. If we go out to these neighborhoods and you're preaching repentance, do you know where you want to bring people? Right there. You want to bring people to say what have I done?

You see, the turning hasn't actually happened in the outward, in the actions. What has happened? You've gotten the person in the mind to say, whoa! You see, the rethinking. For somebody to say what have I done is to all of a sudden wake up to the reality that what I've done is not good.

What I've done is not right. What I've done is... this is bad. What have I done? You see, that's what God wants. God wants the person that's doing evil to suddenly say what have I done? That's at the heart of repentance.

Laodicea and Repentance as Brokenness

Now, I want to bring us to another passage. Because what's happened over these last years is I've got about six favorite places to go to in Scripture to really draw out the meaning of repentance. The next place I want you to go is actually at the end of our Bibles.

It's the church at Laodicea in Revelation 3. Because again, the word repent is used. Repent. Rethink. Rethink. Think again. Reconsider. Oh, this one is huge. In Revelation 3 .17, notice it's something that's happening in the thoughts.

It's something happening in the mind. What? Well, look, Revelation 3 .17. You say... Now, you can say, well, that's something you do with your mouth. Yes. But what you speak from the mouth comes from the heart.

As the mouth speaks, you can recognize who the man is. What's he saying? What are these Laodiceans saying about themselves? How do they view themselves? You see it. I'm rich. I've prospered. I need nothing.

And then here's what Jesus says. You're not realizing. You see, how you speak gives indication of what you realize in the brain. You're not realizing you're wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

Now you go down to v. 19. Look what he says. Be zealous and repent. Rethink things. Think again. Think in a new way. Are you willing to admit that you possibly might be wrong about your condition? Rethink who you are.

Now, this is important for this reason. I receive these emails. Well, I'm trying to repent. Or I am repenting. And it's almost like you can just see them kind of stretch their head when they say it. I'm repenting.

And God's not. But what I want you to see here, repentance should always be associated with weakness. See, this is where we go wrong. If you ever discern people are saying I'm trying to repent and the feeling you get is what they're really doing is they're saying, well, I'm putting forth this effort.

Repentance is a change of thinking where your thinking goes from seeing yourself as having it all together. Repentance is manifest by brokenness. Not togetherness. The mind changes from seeing oneself as independent and healthy and able to do this and righteous and alive and wonderful in the sight of God to seeing oneself the way we really are.

You see, that's what repentance is. It's the mind coming in line with truth. And the truth is that we're really wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. See, it's not togetherness. When people talk about repentance as though it's something they're doing, listen, where repentance is really taking place, the people in their mind are saying what have I done?

What have I been claiming to be? What am I really? I am not what I thought I was. Brethren, I remember when it came into my mind, you are not good and you deserve hell. And suddenly, my eyes were opened.

I saw my thinking. Repentance brings us in line with the truth. And this is where so many people go wrong. Repentance is not a work that we do to earn heaven. It's actually a change of mind about our total inability.

Listen, true repentance happens when we're confronted by the Gospel and we're confronted by what Christ did and we rethink everything. We rethink who we are. We rethink if we're really all that well off as we thought.

We're really as good as we thought. We're really as rich as we thought. We're really ready for death and judgment day as much as we thought. And we suddenly see we're broken. We're empty. But you see, it's the mindset before you even get to any turning, it's recognizing what's true about ourselves.

It's this change of mind about our total inability to save ourselves by anything that we do. This is what we need to recognize. True repentance goes hand in hand with brokenness always. Always. And where there's a sense somebody is talking proudly about their repentance, guaranteed, they're more on a penance line of thinking.

They've turned it into a work. A third biblical demonstration of repentance. Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 21. Oh, I love this one. I love all of these. Matthew 21. You know this parable. Matthew 21 v. 28.

The Two Sons and the Reality of Changed Conduct

What do you think? A man had two sons. And what we're going to do is we're going to see repentance put on display for us here. A man had two sons. He went to the first and he said, Son, go and work in the vineyard today.

And he answered, I will not. But afterward, the ESV says, he changed his mind. Frank, what's the KJV say? He repented. Metamelemai. It's another one of these meta words. It's the idea of an after-regret.

It's a synonym. It's basically the same concept. Change your mind. See the change of mind. And went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, I go, sir, but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?

They said, the first. Jesus said to them, truly I say to you, the tax collectors and prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him, and even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds or repent.

I believe the New American Standard says relent. Feel remorse. Repent and believe in Him. But you see, change your mind and believe. It's the believing in Christ flows out of the change of mind. Let me ask you something.

Two sons. Which son is the sinner who truly gets saved? First son or second son? First. The father says this, go and work. The first son says, no, I will not. What a great picture of sinners. We may have created a God of our own imagination who smiled at us, but when it came to the true God of Scripture and the things He wanted us to do, you know what we did?

We shook our fist. Uh-uh. Not me. Not me. If that's what God is like, I'm going to create my own. I've got the God of my own imagination, but I don't want the God from there. Because what He wants me to do, uh-uh, I don't want to do.

That is such a perfect picture of sinners. Defiant, rebellious, stubborn. But what happens to the first son? Obviously, he came to a point where he reconsidered. Right? He thinks again. What happened was, the sinner comes to the place where he reexamines the claims of Christ that he had formerly ignored and dismissed, but now he thinks again.

And he doesn't just think again, he changes his mind. In the past, he thought his father's commandments, they were intrusive, they were inconvenient. Going my own way is much better. His way is too narrow.

It's too constricted. I don't like that way. I want freedom. The hell's right there saying, yeah, you don't want that way. It's bad. But then something happens. Something happens. He rethinks. And this time, his thinking changes.

And you can see when the change of mind is real. When the mind changes, listen, if I'm going this way and my mind changes, you can see that it changes because the whole self follows the change. If the mind turns, the whole self follows.

When the mind changes, he went. That's what you see. The Son of the Parable changed His mind and He went. And you don't want to miss that. Those two little words. And went. The will. The will. Your will.

Always follows the changed mind. You see a guy driving down the highway that way and he does a U-turn and he goes back that way. Why did he do that? Because he changed his mind. His mind was telling him go this way.

Something happened. The lady on maps said go that way. So he was minded to go that way. And then she said do a U-turn and go that way. Or he saw the restaurant he wanted and now it's back there. And something happened.

Something in his thinking changes that affects the will that causes the whole vehicle to turn around. But something happened up here before the whole thing turned around. That's what you find happening here.

Whatever direction he was going in before, it wasn't the direction that the Father wanted. If you don't change your mind so as to do the thing you formerly refused to do, then your repentance is a sham.

These guys that come along and say, oh, you can change your mind without changing your life. What kind of change of mind is that? You haven't changed your mind about anything. We're talking about a true change of mind.

Not just some flippant thing like, well, I think it's going to rain tomorrow and while I change my mind, maybe it's not going to rain tomorrow. Not some flippant thing like that. We're talking about the man, the things he trusts, what he's living for.

We're talking about the heart of the man, the drive of the man, the desires of the man at the deepest level. Let's go to another one. Brethren, let's go to the prodigal son in Luke 15. Here's another example.

The Prodigal Son and Returning to the Father

Again, we're going to see repentance put on display. The rethinking that takes place. The change of mind that you see happen. A fourth biblical demonstration of repentance. And I do want you to see that the parable of the prodigal son is indeed a parable of repentance, even though the word itself isn't used from verses 11 to 32.

If you just look at Luke 15 .7, you have three parables here consecutively. And they're all teaching the same reality. And if you read through them, you'll see that. Two are very brief. One is extended, but they're all teaching the same thing.

And if you look at Luke 15 .7, just so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. And likewise, verse 10, just so I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

So basically, you see what's on the table here. Our Lord is dealing with repentance. And now, once again, He takes us to two brothers to illustrate this for us. Verse 11, He said, there was a man who had two sons.

The younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the share of property that's coming to me. And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had, took a journey into a far country.

There he squandered his property and reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country who sent him into the fields to feed pigs.

And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, now you might want to notice that because again, it's got to do with his thinking.

He came to himself. He said, how many of my father's hired servants, you see how he's reasoning, have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger. Now here's the consequence. Here's what flows out of the change of mind.

I will arise and go to my father. There's the turning. I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.

And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion. Ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, Father, I've sinned against heaven and before you.

I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. And you know how this goes. The father received him the fatted calf. The older brother doesn't like this. He finds and takes issue with it. Here is repentance put on display.

Here's what I want you to see. Notice before the repentance. Look at verse 12. Father, give me. That's before repentance. Boy, that ought to jump out at you. Give me what's coming to me. This is the lost man.

Remember? Remember when you were lost? What did God exist for? He exists to answer my prayers. He's like a celestial Santa Claus. Give me. I deserve it. I want it. I'm owed it. I'm upset when I don't get my due.

We think God owes us. You ever watch how lost people are when they get cancer? What is God doing? It's like, give me an explanation for why this should happen. This is how man is. What? An airplane flew into one of the Twin Towers?

How could this happen? A tsunami over in Japan? How could this happen? God, explain Yourself. You see, this basically shows what man's ideas towards God are. You exist to serve Me. Give me. Give me what's coming.

Give me my inheritance. Give me. And we sulk, we pout. And you know what? Man pouts when it comes to heaven too. God owes me heaven. I've been a pretty good guy. What's this? Hell stuff? I mean, what?

I think on judgment day, people are going to be amazed. God owed me heaven. We think God owes us respect. We think God ought to answer to our needs and our wants. We pout. We get angry. We get frustrated when we feel we haven't gotten what we deserve.

I mean, lost men see God as having that one primary function. It's like you get in the foxhole and the bombs are coming in. What's the expectation? God, save me. Save me out of this. Rescue me. God is supposed to serve me.

Did God give His Son for sinners? Well, of course He did. I expect that. Why? Because we're just good and God owes it to us and God does this. It's expected. Fallen man just imagines himself as being worthy.

Of course God does all these. Father, give me, give me, give me, give me. That's what you find here before repentance. Isn't it amazing? He comes to Himself. And what does He say? The change of mind. How does this talk change?

You see it there. Look at v. 19. I am no longer worthy. Has the Gospel ever confronted you that way where you went from thinking God owed you everything, owing you heaven, and you saw I am not worthy?

Or you look at v. 21. I've sinned and am no longer worthy. See, that, again, we go back to the Laodiceans. There's a brokenness that comes with true repentance. Not a togetherness. There's the Jeremiah, what have I done?

What was I thinking? Lord, Father, I've sinned. I'm not worthy. You see what's happening here. What a change of mind. Has this happened to you? Now I know you know what the right answer is. But have you been confronted by the Gospel so as to produce this kind of change of mind?

Truth comes to the mind and you admit that you've been wrong. You see, that's what rethinking is. It's coming to the place where you're at least considering have I been wrong? Have I been wrong all this time?

Have I been thinking wrongly about who God is and who I am and getting to heaven and who Jesus Christ is and what the cross is all about? Have I been thinking wrong? That's the beginning of repentance.

Even coming to the place where considering I think I've been wrong. Turn. And you see where he rethinks this change of mind. Where he rethinks it, where his mind changes, his whole self follows. You see, at first it says he went into a far country.

But let me ask you this, a far country? Well, it wasn't very far from him. Who is it far from? When you talk about a far country, far from who? Far from the Father. Far from God. That's who it was far from.

His back was toward the Father. He was trying to get as far away. Give me! Yeah, he'll look to the Father when it's give me, but then he's getting as far away as he can. But when he came to himself, v. 17, notice what happens.

He totally turned towards home. Let me ask you this, do you know anything about this? Do you know anything about going along through life? I'm not talking about whether you were religious or not. You may have been going to the church.

You may have been lugging the Bible around. But do you know anything about your going along and you're confronted by the truth of the Gospel and you turn towards home? You were moving away from that. He rethought his condition.

He rethought his circumstances. He changes his mind. I'm going home. I'm going to cast myself on the mercy of my Father. That's what happens. I'm unworthy. I've sinned. My only hope is mercy. Before, it's my due.

Give me what you owe me. Give me my inheritance. Give it to me. He's not talking that way anymore. His mind has changed. His thinking. Rethink. Rethink. Rethink. And he sees he's got nothing to offer.

He can only cast himself on the mercy. The older son, uh-uh. There was never a change of mind. There was never a turning towards home. He's the one who's righteous and not in need of any repentance. I want to show you a fifth biblical demonstration of repentance.

Peter’s Call to Repentance in Acts 3

Turn to Acts 3. So often we hear about Acts 2, and rightly so, it's very important. Pentecost, the Spirit. But you know, that whole incident that took place after the man at the beautiful gate was healed.

Oh, brethren, this is a tremendous and rich portion of Scripture. Notice, verse 1, Peter and John, temple, hour of prayer, ninth hour. Verse 2, there was a lame man there from birth at the beautiful gate.

He's asking for alms. That's verse 3. Peter and John get asked for alms. Verse 4, Peter directs his gaze at him. Look at us. Verse 5, he fixed his attention on them. The lame man, he's expecting to receive something.

Verse 6, Peter said, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And verse 7, he took him by the hand, he raises him up, immediately, his feet and ankles are strong.

Verse 8, he enters the temple with them, walking, leaping, praising God. And all the people saw him. Verse 9 and 10, they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. All the people utterly astounded.

In verse 12, when Peter saw it, he addressed the people. Now here's the thing, he begins to address the people, but what I want you to do is jump forth to 19. Repent, therefore, and turn back that your sins may be blotted out.

You see, he's going to say what he says here because he's calling them to repentance. Notice what he says. Go back to verse 12. Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this? Or why do you stare at us as though by our own power of piety we have made Him walk?

The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers glorified His servant Jesus whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate when He had decided to release Him.

But you denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you. You killed the Author of life. You see, their thinking was wrong. How do you kill the Author of life and exchange Him for a murderer?

How do you do that? Because your thinking's wrong. You look at Christ. Crucify Him. You see, even Paul said if the leaders would have known that He was the Lord, they wouldn't have crucified Him. If you really look at Him and you realize this is my only way to heaven, there is no other way, this is the One sent into the world to save me from sins, take me to a paradise, forgive all of this, take me to unimaginable riches.

You don't kill Him. There has to be a change in thinking. That's what He's coming along. Repent! Re-examine this! Think again! You guys are thinking wrong! You see, how were they thinking? Well, we're Jews.

We're the offspring of Abraham. We've got an inn here. We're good. We're God's people. This guy, our leaders, I mean, they're wise. They know the law. They're the Pharisees. These are the most righteous people.

The scribes, the Sadducees, all these guys, they think He's a fake. They think He's a deceiver. They led us there when we were before Pilate. They were the ones encouraging us to crucify Him. Certainly, if our leaders think He's... certainly if Christ came, the Jewish leaders of all people would recognize Him, would they not?

I mean, Peter's saying you better rethink all of this. You need to change your thinking. You killed the Author of life. You crucified God's servant. Rethink. Rethink. In fact, what he's doing is, you can imagine, this guy's over here jumping up and down next to him.

Peter's got this guy that they all knew was lame. And what Peter's doing is, look! Look at this guy. This didn't happen through me and John being somehow miracle workers. This happened in the name of Jesus Christ.

Now you guys better start rethinking everything. You better look at this one jumping up and down here and recognize that He's doing this. What you're watching right here is a revelation of the power of the One who you crucified.

You need to rethink it. You need to start all over. Think again. Repent. He's the Son of God. He's the Lord of glory. Change your mind. Get in tune with reality. Line up with the things the way they really are.

You've been fooled. You've been deluded. You've been duped. You've believed a lie. You guys have been going the wrong way. You think everything is good with you and that you're God's people, but you're not.

You think that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is your God, but what you need to recognize is this is His servant. This is His Christ. He sent Him. Rethink. Rethink. Re-examine. And you've got the proof right here in this guy.

Look at him. Let that turn your minds. Let that cause something to happen. Change your mind. Think! Think! Think! Here's the thing. The world out there, they look at us Christians and they say, Christians are stupid.

Christians don't think. That's not true. That's not true. Basically, what you're finding in Scripture when we're told to call the world to repentance, God has commanded all men everywhere to repent. That means He's commanded all men everywhere to rethink and change their minds.

You know who the ones who are not thinking is the people that are out there. We are the people who have thought. We've had our minds changed. We've come face-to-face with Christ. Face-to-face with the cross.

Face-to-face with these realities. With the miracle workings of Christ. And something has happened. If we're genuine, we were confronted by the Gospel and some sort of rethinking actually took place in our minds.

And one of the starting places is this, are you willing to admit the possibility that you've been wrong? You've been thinking, Jesus Christ, some of you young people, you're thinking, the Christ of my parents, I don't need Him.

You better think again. You're sitting there thinking He's dull, He's boring. Listen, He turned water into wine. He said to that thief next to Him, this day you will be with Me in paradise. Is that irrelevant to your life?