The Cross, Part 5: Fruits of Repentance

"And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus 'Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.' And he went out and wept bitterly." Matt 26:27

The difference between Peter's Denial and Judas's betrayal in the next chapter is that the former led to repentance while the latter was merely sorrow over the consequences of sin. Though the outward appearance of these two emotions may be similar, the Bible makes it clear that something rather different is really occurring in the heart. "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death."[2 Cor 7:10]

Everyone has a conscience, and sorrow is really the result of violating the law God has placed within the heart [See Rom 2:14,15]. The purpose of our sorrow when we violate our conscience is to produce a turning away from sin in repentance and a turning towards God in faith. And while we may be able to fool one another by giving off the appearance of sadness and remorse over our sin, God knows whether or not the sorrow is genuine. At the moment Peter is found weeping bitterly and in sorrow for denying Christ, there is no real way to outwardly judge whether his heart is really repentant. The only way to assert that true repentance occurred is to evaluate his Life and how he would later, "Bear fruit in keeping with repentance." [Matthew 3:8]. I'm not advocating that works prove a person has repented, but rather that they are an expected by-product of true repentance.

When studying the cross, I suppose it's easy to be filled with sorrow and grief over what Christ suffered, but is this grief alone enough to save us? Even though Judas himself was saddened and filled with remorse over his own sin, he merely internalized the sorrow and acted on it with self-punishment. Ultimately, it's only by the grace of God that Peter too didn't take the same path, and that he instead externalized the sorrow he felt by placing it on the cross where it would be forever crucified with Christ!