OUTLINE
1. The Heart of Biblical Repentance
2. True and False Repentance
3. Repentance - A New Testament Overview
4. Biblical Repentance is a Spiritual Medicine
We have been considering Psalm 51
which is the reflection of a broken and contrite man, who when overwhelmed by
His sin and guilt, turns to God with a broken and contrite heart and he finds
his peace with God once more. The
doctrine of repentance is not well understood nor well applied in our
Moralistic, Therapeutic, Deistic age. The preoccupation with user friendliness,
pandering to people’s felt needs, the prevalence of pop psychology in
counselling and preaching have displaced the doctrine of repentance. We know this, since the fruit of repentance
are very often absent from our churches. Our churches have many people who
continue to live with unforgiveness and bitterness – all against the dictates
of God’s Word. Our churches have people who love themselves, their families,
their pleasures more than God. Our
churches are filled with people who have no regard for the principle of 7th day
worship and rest in the Lord. Our churches are filled with broken families in
which fathers and mothers are frequently cursed and despised. Our churches have
people who are filled with murderous thoughts (“I wish you were dead!”).
Our churches have people who lead secret lives in adulterous relationships and
pornographic obsessions. There are even some
that steal. There are others that use their mouths to give false testimonies,
gossip and slander against their neighbours. There are yet others that covet
their neighbours house, spouses and things.
The root of sin is like weeds that spread below the soil and which pop
up here and there, even reinforcing one another. Thus, envy and ambition, lust,
pride, anger, greed, slothfulness, reinforce one another and they constantly
require that we weed out those sins. That is where we need to practise a habit
of daily watchfulness and to sit regularly under the Word of God and to realize
again and again, “I have some repenting to do.”
These are no small issues. It is on
account of these things that the wrath of a just and holy God, “… is being revealed from heaven against all
the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
since what may be made known about God is plain to them, because God has made
it plain to them (Rom. 1:18, 19). It is on account of these things that the
Holy Spirit is grieved in our churches. It is on account of these things that God
has not blessed us as families, as
churches and as a nation (See 2 Chron.
7:14). The evidence of countless
broken homes, the prevalence of man- centred churches, and false religions dotting
our religious landscapes, the ineffective governance of our nations and the
divisive spirit within our political ranks is rife. Nothing is more needed right now than a spirit
of true, heartfelt, humble and godly repentance.
We say that as many modern people
think that the concept of repentance is an Old Testament concept. Some of you
may even have listened to the list of modern
trespasses against the 10 commandments, and you, being influenced by an
antinomian worldview, have thought to yourself – well that’s the narrow minded,
overly strict, legalistic Old Testament. You pride yourself in being a grace
driven man or woman. You pride yourself in being a NT Christian, having left
the law of God behind. You think that the OT God is the angry, ‘repent or
perish’ God, whereas the New Testament
God is the God of mercy and love. And because of that you take away the need for ongoing
repentance, but in reality you are once beginning to heap up sins
that will call down the wrath of
God!
What I want to do now is to simply illustrate
from the Scriptures that repentance continues to be a major theme in the New
Testament! And I want to remind you that our Lord Jesus did not come to abolish
the law, but to fulfil the law (Matt. 5:17). The law was given by God to
regulate sin. The 10 commandments deal with the heart of our sinful behaviour,
and it remains God’s Word to us. We must take seriously the fact that
trespassing the law without repentance
is equally offensive under the NT as it was under the OT. It must form a part of our daily thinking; it
must form part of our daily personal prayer (which includes repentance) - otherwise
we may well live under the
bondage of deceit (Jer. 17:9) and think that it
is well with our soul, when in fact it isn’t. We must take seriously the fact
that Christian growth is stunted where repenting from the heart has stopped.
Two words used in the New Testament
help us understand the full meaning of repentance in the Bible.
1. metamelomai, (meta “after” + melo “to care for”) which denotes a
change of mind that produces regret or even remorse for wrongs done, but not
necessarily a change of heart and action cf. Matt. 27:3 describing the guilt Judas
felt over betraying Jesus; In 2 Cor. 7:8 Paul uses this word to express regret
not over the contents but regret that he had grieved the Corinthians with a
strongly worded letter.
2. metanoeo, (meta & nous - mind) means “to change one’s mind and
purpose, as the result of after knowledge.” This verb and its related noun,
metanoia, is used most often in the
NT to denote true biblical repentance, which is characterized by four elements:
a. It involves a sense of
awareness of one’s own guilt, sinfulness, and helplessness.
b. It takes hold of God’s
mercy, through the gospel, in Jesus Christ.
c. It involves a change of
attitude and action regarding sin. The direction is away from sin and towards God.
d. It results in a real
desire for holy living, a walking with God in obedience to His commands (2
Timothy 2:19–22; 1 Peter 1:16).
A BRIEF NEW
TESTAMENT SURVEY
·
John the Baptist – the forerunner of Jesus
- his ministry was characterized by a consistent call to repentance (Matt 3:2, 8, 11). Mark and Luke say that he preached “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness
of sins“ (Mk. 1:4 ; Lk. 3:3 also 13:24; 19:4 ) John the Baptist insisted that those that came to confess their sin in
repentance “ should produce fruit in keeping with repentance“ (Lk. 3:8)
·
The first sermon that
Christ preached, and the first word that is recorded of His sermon was “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand …” (Matt. 4:17). Jesus
came into a broken, confused, sin-soaked world.
His mission was to call that generation of sinners (and every subsequent
generation) to repentance. He was speaking to those that felt the weight of
their sin before a holy God and who were looking for a way out: “I have not come to call the righteous, but
sinners to repentance” (Luke
5:32). His call to repent goes out to all people: “But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (Luke 13:5). He reminds us of the high
standard of holiness: “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the
Pharisees…” (Matt. 5:20)
indicating that we cannot afford to lead an unexamined life. In His farewell message to the disciples,
Jesus commanded that they take His message of repentance and faith to all the
nations (Luke 24:47). And when He
was leaving to ascend to heaven in Lk.24:47,
His last words to His disciples
were that, “repentance and
forgiveness should be proclaimed in His name to all nations“. The doctrine of repentance is a weighty
subject in Jesus’ teaching and preaching (see Sermon on the Mount). And the
consequences of ignoring that teaching are serious – see Matthew 7. Eternal Hell awaits the unrepentant sinner!
·
The apostles of Christ in general continued to preach the necessity
of repentance In Mk. 6:12 we find
that Jesus sent His 12 apostles out, and we read, “So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent.”
·
Zacchaeus repented by declaring that half of his property would go to
the poor, and all illegally gained money would be restored fourfold (Lk.
19:8)
·
When Peter
preached on the day of Pentecost, the crowd was convicted of their sin, and asked, “Brothers, what shall we do?“, Peter’s immediate answer was “repent
and be baptized every one of you in the
Name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness
of your sins … “ (Acts 2:38). Peter also illustrates the importance and
urgency of repentance in 2 Peter 3:9:
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his
promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting
anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.“
·
Paul said
to the Athenians, God now commands all people everywhere ( i.e. the whole world) to
repent - Acts 17:30,31. When Paul
faces King Agrippa at his trial, needing to defend himself from the accusation of the Jews, he not only
shares his testimony of conversion (Acts
26: 1-18), but he loses no time to
inform Agrippa that he preached
the gospel to all “that they should repent and turn to
God , performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.” (Acts
26:20). Those that had formerly practised
magic arts in Ephesus brought their books together and burned them in the sight
of all (Acts 19:19)
·
The apostle John rarely uses the word
“repentance“, but he frequently uses the
language of repentance. The most famous text in John’s gospel (Jn 3:16) is followed by 3:18
which tells us what will happen to sinners who do not turn to Christ in humble
repentance, ”…whoever does not believe
stands condemned already, because he has not believed in the Name of the only
Son of God.” Likewise, in his first
letter he makes it clear that a non-repentant
lifestyle means that you are still in darkness (1 Jn.2:9,11). “Whoever makes a practice of sinning
(i.e. unrepentant behaviour) is of the
devil.” (1 Jn. 3:8). And in the Revelation of John we see in John 2
&3 that the churches that have deviated from their calling are called
to repent. We also see how unrepentant mankind … “those
whose name was not found written in the book of life (i.e. not having
repented of their sin), he was thrown
into the fire.” (Rev.20:15)
Repentance is a major theme in the NT.
And this remains a major truth about us: we have
all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (See Rom 3:10ff). All of us are guilty. All of us need to be repenting
repenters. Every act of repentance is a separate act and a distinctly moral
effort, perhaps a major and costly one. Repenting is never a pleasure. It will
continue as long as life lasts…[1].
The act of leading a repenting life must become a reality, and not mere words. It
is a difficult task. But it is necessary.
We would rather have one eye and one arm than miss heaven.
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