What is repentance? 1. Recognition - [Repentance is] an awareness of having defied God by embracing what He despises and despising what He adores. 2. Remorse - Repentance is never a pleasure. It always entails pain. It demands brokenness of heart (Ps. 51:17; Isa. 57:15). [It is not] out of fear of reprisal, rather than from a hatred of sin. 3. Request - We must ask God for forgiveness and for strength. 4. Repudiation - We must repudiate all sins in question and take active, practical steps to avoid anything that might provoke stumbling. 5. Reformation - There must be an overt determination to pursue purity, to do what pleases God (1 Thes. 1:9).