“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count as slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”  2 Peter 3:9 

This is our opening verse of last time, let’s see what Scripture tells us what the penitent is promised--
*Answer to prayer:
“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land.”  2 Chronicles 7:14

Jeremiah 29:13 tells us,
“And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”

*Pardon for sin:
“Seek the LORD while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near;
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous his thoughts;
Let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion on him,
And to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”  Isaiah 55:6-7

*Life:
“But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall live; he shall not die.”  Ezekiel 18:21

*Comfort:
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”  Matthew 5:4
 
In Luke 15:7 Scripture tells us,
“I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.”  

Then there is that glorious gift!
*The gift of the Holy Spirit:
After Peter’s message on Pentecost we have Acts 2:38-39,
“Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
For the promise is to you and your children, and to all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.’”  

There are many references to the unrepentant hard heart, but I will only reference one because I want us to focus on the soften repentant heart.

Hebrews 4:7-11 speaks of--
The dangers of Hardening the Heart:
“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:  
‘Today, if you hear His voice,  Vs. 7
  Do not hard your hearts as in the rebellion
  In the day of trial in the wilderness,  Vs. 8
  Where your fathers tested Me,
  And saw My works forty years.  Vs. 9
  Therefore I was angry with that generation,
  And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
  And they have not known My ways.’  Vs. 10
  So I swore in My wrath,
 ‘They shall not enter My rest.’”  Vs. 11

Lord, we thank you for who You are and who You are in and to us, Your beloved children!  Help us in the power of Your Holy Spirit to know You more, to love You more dearly and respond obediently.  We ask in Jesus’ name.  Amen