True Repentance
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
What’s the first thing that comes into your mind when you hear the word repentance? For most it’s sin.
What feelings come to heart when you think about repentance? For many it’s guilt and shame.
I don’t know about you, but the first thought always tends to be negative. Something associated with sin or wrongdoing.
And that wouldn’t be wrong as that is the main way it’s used in the Bible...
But repentance at it’s root level is amoral.
It’s not just about right or wrong so much as our thought process changing from one thing to another.
It’s not as much about good and bad as what direction our heart is prone to go.
It’s not as much about flesh vs spirit as it is about our will striving for what’s best.
The problem with focusing on right and wrong, good and bad, and flesh and spirit is that focusing on those things tend to lead to legalism or license.
But true repentance is more about our mind, heart, and will.
Why? Because when these three things are in the right place, right behavior will follow because the Holy Spirit is there to guide us to the right places.
Let’s briefly break these three points down to dig a little deeper and find some applications for today.
So, the first point is that repentance is about a change of mindset about something.
Secondly, repentance is about a change of heart toward something better.
Thirdly, repentance is about our will striving for what’s best.
The primary Greek word used in the New Testament for repentance is metanoeo.
Metanoeo in Greek “repentance” means: to change one’s mind from one place or condition to another. Now granted, it is usually connected to sin and forgiveness, but one could change one’s mindset to go from what’s good to what’s best, or to go the other direction and change from a state of joy to one of distress. That by definition would also be repentance.
To show that point, I actually want to go to the Old Testament, in Gen 6:6
And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
The KJV translates the Hebrew term as God repenting for making man. This can’t be because God sinned or did wrong. This repent again is in the context that God’s mind changed from all that He created being very good, to now being grieved over what it had become.
Here’s the opposite in Exodus 32.14 - again in the KJV
And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.
Same Hebrew word. He changed His mind about bringing evil upon His people. His mindset turned from one of anger to one of mercy.
In the NT I’ll give one example:
“Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
Repentance here is not connected to sin per se, although judgment in righteousness is mentioned, the emphasis is on changing their mindset and moving from idols of gold, silver, or stone to a living man who was raised from the dead.
These are good examples to show that repentance is first and foremost about changing our mind about something regardless of whether it’s good or bad, sinful or holy. It’s about changing our mindset from one thing to another.
So, the first point is that repentance is about a change of mindset from one place or condition to another.
So true repentance, in our application of it today, is about changing our mindset from thinking and learning about the way the world does things; idolatry, to thinking and learning about the way that God does things.
It begins with our minds.
I’ll come back to this.
Secondly, repentance is about a change of heart towards something better.
One example of this would be Revelation 2:1-7
Vs. 2-3 say that the church in Ephesus had been doing many good things, but vs 4 says they had left the best thing to do the good things. They had left their first love.
That could be their passion for Jesus Himself or their love for one another, but either way the term “first love” would suggest that they still loved, but with a quality and intensity unlike that of their initial love.
And then vs 5 says, “therefore remember the height from which you have fallen, and repent, and do the things you did at first.
On one hand their minds had already been changed. They were thinking godly things and rejecting what was false. They were persevering through some form of persecution, which implies they were thinking about God’s ways and not the world’s ways.
But, something had gone missing. This repentance is about having a change of heart. I desire you Jesus above all else.
Related to this heart change then is moving to the positive aspect of repentance. It’s less about what we are turning from and more about what or Who we are turning to.
epistrepho - To turn to (positive) - could also be translated repent. Used with metanoeo.
“And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. “But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you,
“For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”
to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’
Repentance, then is about:
Turning from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God.
Turning from times of despairing to times of refreshing.
Turning from being cursed to being blessed
Turning from darkness to the light
Turning from punishment to forgiveness
Turning from bankruptcy to an inheritance.
Turning from death to life
Turning from the self-centered life to the God-centered life.
Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
Do you understand that it is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance!
It’s what He wants for us. It’s what He has for us.
But if we don’t want it. He won’t force it on us.
So repentance is first about a change of mind, and secondly about a change of heart towards something better.
Finally, repentance is a change of will to strive for what’s best.
“So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.
Because honestly, the proof of repentance is in a change of conduct.
It is a desire to do what God’s best is for you and for everyone around you.
For Paul, that was to proclaim the truth that Jesus is the Messiah and did rise from the dead and that forgiveness of sins was possible through Jesus’ death on the cross.
But look at the motivation of repentance that changes conduct. Because this is what helps keep us from legalism.
Ezekiel 6:8–10 (NASB95)
“However, I will leave a remnant, for you will have those who escaped the sword among the nations when you are scattered among the countries. “Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations to which they will be carried captive, how I have been hurt by their adulterous hearts which turned away from Me, and by their eyes which played the harlot after their idols; and they will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed, for all their abominations. “Then they will know that I am the Lord...
When our mind and heart repents and we embrace how much our past behavior truly hurt the heart of God, because we love Him, we won’t ever want to anything to hurt Him like that again. Our heart hurts when we hurt the heart of God. And we say, “Father forgive us. Help me to do what pleases you. Help me to strive for what’s Your best for me.”
So, the third result of repentance is a change of will to do what’s best. And what’s best is willingly doing God’s will rather than being forced to do Satan’s. Because Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
God’s will is good, pleasing, and perfect. That includes His plans for us and what He plans for us to do.
So, true repentance is about a change of our mindset from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God.
Secondly, it’s about a change of our heart towards God: light, life, blessing, forgiveness, refreshment, and inheritance
Thirdly, repentance is about our will striving for what’s best. Turning from doing the will of Satan through conforming to the ways of the world and being transformed to do the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.
This doesn’t mean that those being baptized today fully understand everything I just got done sharing with you today, but I think they can understand the 3 basic concepts of repentance today.
Have you changed your thinking to think less about the world and more about God?
Have you changed your heart’s desire from desiring the things of the world that won’t satisfy, to desiring Jesus Christ through whom we find complete satisfaction?
Have you changed your will so that you desire to do what the Holy Spirit leads you to do?
And further, I think they understand these basic elements of what it means to put your faith in Jesus and ultimately why they are coming to be baptized.
Do you understand that what’s in the way of all that God wants for you is what Satan has enslaved you to? We call that sin.
Do you believe that God sent Jesus Christ to be born as a babe in the manger, to live a perfect sinless life, and then to die on the cross as your perfect sacrifice?
Do you put your faith in what Jesus did for you and that your sins died with Jesus on the cross?
Do you believe that He arose on the third day and is seated at the right hand of God the Father in Heaven?
Do you believe that He is coming again to judge the world and reward His followers?
Do you believe that He is preparing a place for you in Heaven?
Do you repent of all the things of Satan’s world, and commit your mind, heart, and will to follow Jesus no matter what?
My Jesus
Call to salvation
Call to baptism
Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Let’s pray.