SECOND QUARTER 2026
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #10
JUNE 6, 2026
"REPENTANCE AND FORGIVENESS".

 

The subject of this week's lesson reminds us that there are two skills that every Christian must constantly cultivate—repentance and forgiveness. We must cultivate an attitude of repentance for the sins that we commit against God and others and we must cultivate a spirit of forgiveness for the sins that others may commit against us. Love and forgiveness are synonymous in the spiritual economy, for it is impossible to truly love a person who you are unwilling to forgive. Jesus makes it clear in Matthew 22:37 that love is the foundation of the law of God. In Matthew 5:43-44, when Jesus says, “Love your enemies,” what He is really saying is to forgive your enemies, even as God in Christ has forgiven you (Ephesians 4:32). 

Our memory verse from 1 John 1:9 is not to be interpreted to mean that confession is a work that merits or secures salvation. The proper context of the verse is that as we continually confess our sinfulness, God is continually cleansing us of our sin; not in order to secure our salvation (already accomplished in Christ), but in order that we might be ambassadors, witnesses and living testimonies to the power of God in our lives. 

Sunday

Our lesson reminds us that the things that are most important often do not appear to be urgent and the things that are urgent are not always the most important.  Sanctification is a process of reprioritizing our lives in such a way that God is at the center and becomes the primary consideration of every decision that we make. This includes our career, our finances, our body temple and our relationships. Our literal consciousness and the reticular activating system of our brains is reshaped in such a radical and transformative fashion that the Bible calls the phenomenon of conversion “new birth.” It is instructive and beneficial to recognize this as both an event and a process, just as repentance is both an event and a process. In other words, I have been converted and yet day by day I am being converted. This is what Paul means by “I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31) and “to those who are being saved” (1 Corinthians 1:18)—present continuous tense—the cross is the power of God.

Monday

It is not always easy to say we are sorry when we have done wrong. We often flip flop between feeling conviction one moment and turning to self-justification the next. Thankfully, Romans 2:4 tells us it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. The gentle persuasive power of His grace and mercy lowers our defenses so that we may acknowledge our need of His forgiveness and cleansing. 

I often consider the delicate balance every pastor, preacher and Bible teacher must maintain between God’s justice and His grace—between His righteousness and His mercy. His justice and righteousness require that He punish sin but His grace and mercy offer pardon for the sinner. The only way in which this unsolvable conundrum is resolved is by looking at the cross. It speaks of the terrible but dimly understood consequences of sin and simultaneously declares ransom, redemption and forgiveness for the sinner. Ellen White writes, “Hanging upon the cross Christ was the gospel. Now we have a message, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world.’ Will not our church members keep their eyes fixed on a crucified and risen Saviour, in whom their hopes of eternal life are centered? This is our message, our argument, our doctrine, our warning to the impenitent, our encouragement for the sorrowing, the hope for every believer. If we can awaken an interest in men’s minds that will cause them to fix their eyes on Christ, we may step aside, and ask them only to continue to fix their eyes upon the Lamb of God.” —Manuscript Releases, No. 21, p. 37.

In Faith and Works she says “The will must be brought into complete harmony with the will of God.” —p. 6. This can only be accomplished through Christ.  This is effected in the process of sanctification day by day through the prompting of the Spirit of God. As we heed the voice of God, we gain both strength and clarity to hear His instruction. Conversely, as we disregard the still small voice it grows fainter until our consciences are “seared with a hot iron” (1 Timothy 4:2), as Paul puts it. We are never standing still. Character development and growth, as well as the process of decline and degradation, often take place gradually and imperceptibly. C.S. Lewis wrote satirically in The Screwtape Letters, “Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”

True repentance is not a self-centered regret for the consequences of our sin but sorrow for the sin itself. We come to recognize that with every sin, the Savior is wounded afresh (See The Desire of Ages, p. 300). True repentance such as that expressed by David in Psalms 51 after his sin with Bathsheba is beyond our ability to manufacture. True repentance, heartfelt sorrow for sin, is a gift that comes to us through the Holy Spirit (see Acts 5:31). Beyond this, there is a deeper level of repentance to be experienced as we draw closer and closer to Christ—a repentance for the sins of others as if they were our own. There is not a sin recorded against the name of Daniel in the Bible, yet in his prayer in Daniel chapter 9 he includes himself alongside Israel, saying “We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled” (vs 5).

Tuesday

The prophets of the Old Testament repeatedly called the children of Israel to repentance. Jesus began his ministry declaring “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” When Peter preached at Pentecost, people were convicted and cried out in the middle of his sermon, “What must we do?”  His response was “Repent and be baptized.” And when we come to the third chapter of Revelation, Jesus says to the last church, Laodicea, “As many as I love I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore and repent” (Revelation 3:19).

True repentance includes sorrow for sin and a turning away from sin. The lesson states repentance is almost always connected to forgiveness. However, the scripture referenced is 1 John 1:9, which talks about confession, not repentance. The two should not be confused. Just as there are two aspects to repentance, there are also two aspects to forgiveness—one we might term pardon, the other refers to cleansing. Objectively, pardon for sin was effected for the entire human race at Calvary by the sacrifice of Christ (1 John 2:2, Romans 5:18). However, subjectively the full benefit of what Christ has done is realized as we surrender to the influence of the Holy Spirit. Repentance is not a work through which we merit salvation or earn the favor of heaven. “We do not repent in order that God may love us, but He reveals to us His love in order that we may repent.” —Ellen G. White, Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 189.  The Bible does not teach righteousness by confession,  nor does the Bible teach righteousness by repentance. The Bible teaches righteousness by faith. Faith precedes repentance and confession and these are the fruit or result of genuine faith, which is also a gift.

Rather than giving us time to make things right with Him, God is giving us time by faith to embrace the reality of what He has done to make things right with us. “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19).

While it is true that Jesus suffered, bled and died so that faith, followed by repentance,  might produce a miracle of transformation in our lives, we must not discount the manifold blessing and benefits we have already received because of His infinite sacrifice. To overlook or disregard what God in Christ has already accomplished for all men is to cast aside the foundation of the gospel message.

Wednesday

In Moses’ encounter with God on Mt. Sinai, the Bible says the Lord proclaimed His name to Moses. This entailed a marvelous description of His character as merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy (see Exodus 34:6). Because this is who He is, God continually takes the initiative in the process of our salvation. The lesson points out that He is working in us and for us through the Holy Spirit before we even call out to Him. In Luke 15 He is represented as the Good Shepherd who seeks His lost sheep until He finds them. He sends the Holy Spirit to convict us of our need of Christ, dispatches angels to impress truth upon our hearts, gives us the gift of repentance, enables our confession and inspires our faith in Him.

Wednesday’s outline closes with two marvelous verses from Romans 5:20-21 and Romans 5:8, reminding us that wherever there is an abundance of sin, there is an even greater abundance of grace to redeem us from sin. Christ died for us while we were still in our sins. Our obedience is not the cause or reason for our salvation but the result of our salvation through Jesus Christ.

Thursday

Has it ever occurred to you that clothing, as we know it, is a result of sin? Before the fall, Adam and Eve, according to the book Patriarchs and Prophets, were clothed in robes of light. After sin, they had lost the garments which God had provided so they made aprons of fig leaves to hide their nakedness (Genesis 3:7). The Lord made garments of skins to cover them (Genesis 3:21). The fig leaves were a symbol of righteousness by works. The garments which God provided were a symbol of righteousness by faith. The only covering that will be sufficient in the judgment is the robe of Christ’s righteousness. This is the meaning of the parable told in Matthew 22 of the guest who arrives at the wedding without a wedding garment. We appropriate this garment by faith. Our own performance, our best efforts, our most devoted obedience has no value with regard to securing our salvation. However, our obedience does bring honor to God, serving to draw others into a saving relationship with Christ as His character is reflected through us by the work of the Holy Spirit.

Friday

Our final outline asks us to contemplate the relationship between the robe of Christ’s righteousness and the message of the sanctuary. We should remember the sanctuary was given as an object lesson in salvation. The solemn rituals of the sanctuary service were intended to vividly illustrate the Son of God as the fulfillment of all the types and ceremonies of the Hebrew economy. Christ came to shed His blood for the remission of sin in order to be the propitiation and atonement for the whole world (1 John 2:2).  Unfortunately, because of Israel’s repeated lapses into idolatry and the gradual corruption of the meaning of the sacred services, by the time Christ came the priests who ministered in the temple were “as actors in a play.”—Id., The Desire of Ages, p. 36. They looked to the ceremonies themselves as having merit rather than to the One whom the solemn services of the sanctuary were intended to represent. We should not think ourselves superior to the children of Israel. Our fallen natures and the human heart no more embrace the reality of the cross than they did 2000 years ago. Ellen White speaks of modern Christians as seeking that which is “least spiritual and humiliating. What they desire is a method of forgetting God which shall pass as a method of remembering Him. The papacy is well adapted to meet the wants of all these. It is prepared for two classes of mankind, embracing nearly the whole world—those who would be saved by their merits, and those who would be saved in their sins. Here is the secret of its power.” —The Great Controversy, p. 572. God forbid we should find ourselves among this number.

Praise God that by yielding to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and surrendering self in repentance we may enjoy a thriving relationship with God! We are completely forgiven and covered by Jesus’ robe of righteousness.

 

—Michael Duncan