REPENTANCE: The Proof Is In Your Heart

re·pent·ance

/rɪˈpɛntns, -ˈpɛntəns/ Show Spelled [ri-pen-tns, -pen-tuhns] 

noun 

 

1. deep sorrow, compunction, or contrition for a past sin, wrongdoing, or the like.

 

2. regret for any past action.

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 In Holy Scripture repentance is the act of turning back to God. We are born as sinners and our hearts are inclined to do those things contrary to God' will. Review the 10 Commandments and ask your yourself, just how many of these laws have you broken? (Ex. 20:1-20, Rom. 3:19-20) As Meister Eckhart, the 14th century theologian, quips, "God is at home, it is we who have gone for a walk."

So how does one know they have truly repented? The answer to this question can be answered by what is the attitude you have toward a particular sin. How do you view a particular idea or action today as opposed to what you once held earlier in your life. How has your mind changed about something? Since everybody it seems likes to talk about sex, then let's talk fornication, or sexual intercourse out of wedlock. Our culture, based on movies and television, portrays fornication as a normal human activity. But how does God see it? Are you guilty of premarital sex? Now if you claim to be born-again, do you feel the same way about it as when you engaged in it? In other words, has your heart changed in such away that what you once accepted you now abhor? Before my conversion, I used to run towards sin. Now that I have been saved, I do not want to do that which I used to do. This is true freedom in Christ! And if your attitude has not changed, then are you truly converted?

Jesus came to free us from the slavery of sin. He does this by circumcising out heart through His word. (Acts 2:37-41, Rom. 10:17) What our hearts were once inclined to do, now seem to be a thing to be avoided. It does not mean we won't be tempted. But even in temptation, God will provide away out. (1 Cor. 10:13, Heb. 2:18)

And by the way, there are many sins. Perhaps one where many do not have a guilty conscience about is gossip. It is a form of bearing false witness. The list will go on. It is for this reason Jesus died on the cross. The fulfilment of the law meant for us He took upon Himself. Let us then turn away from our flesh and toward Him who gives us eternal life!

I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

 

 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. (Rom. 6:19-21)

Do You Loathe Yourself?

Perhaps you should? Loathe yourself that is!

To loathe means to detest or abhor. Our culture is adverse to tell anyone they should loathe themselves. As one who has suffered from depression, I know there is a difference between unhealthy loathing & godly loathing. Yes, loathing can be godly.

Godly loathing is when we recognize a before & after picture of ourselves. We see ourselves in the light of Christ. And we can see what God hates. This is the loathing I am talking about. You see, when we are in Christ, we are to be a new creation. The old has passed away. We know this because we recognize it.

When I was younger, I attended church, believed in God, never questioned whether I would go to heaven or hell. God loves me after all, right? I heard it from the pulpit. So it must be true. But I never really was confronted with the holiness of God, that I belong to Him, or those classical doctrines one can find in the back of the Prayer Book, like original sin. I knew Jesus died for me so that made everything okay. But all along I was living in sin. No, I wasn't cohabiting with a woman. I was just sinning like any other sinner. If the opportunity for fornication availed itself, I fornicated. If I lusted after any attractive woman, I was a normal American male. In other words, I did not loathe myself.

When God sent Ezekiel to the exiles of Israel, he reminds them that God will return them home. "And there you shall remember your ways and all your deeds with which you have defiled yourselves, and you shall loathe yourselves for all the evils that you have committed." (Ez. 20:43) This message was directed to the remnant of the community of Israel. But it's import cannot be lost on the Christian today for we find our home in Christ as individuals. (Lk. 15:11-32) In Christ we shall loathe ourselves. Not a warm & fuzzy invitation for repentance. But that is what repentance is, to have a change of heart about ourselves & our relationship to God. Looking back, I see how my attitudes and behavior were offensive to the one who created me. I loathe was I did. There are still aspects of my life I loathe but I did not recognize them as I do now. There is stuff I see that I turn over to God in confession. (1 John 1:9)

There is no excuse for sin. I found this out when I heard the gospel preached in the context of the Law of God. My heart awakened to my need for a savior as God's wrath awaited me if I did not repent. Mere lip service will not do. Only a changed heart is acceptable. It is this change of heart that allows me to live in accordance with God's will. Like the Prodigal Son, I came to myself. I came home.

Living the life of repentance is walking by the Light of Christ. (1 John 1:5-7) While I loathe my sins, I rejoice that Jesus died for me so that I may have eternal fellowship with Him. After all, He loathes my sins as well. And being in agreement with God I would say is reconcilaition to The Almighty!

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1 Cor. 6:19-20)

I am Barabbas

As the Gospel accounts of the crucifixion go, Pilate wanted nothing to do with this 'King of the Jews'. But Jesus was in the hands of the governor of Judea during the annual festival of the Passover. It was at this time that Pilate would allow a Jewish prisoner to be freed, pardoned so to speak. But here was this man who had committed no crime. In fact, He healed people. He gave life back to people. He taught the Law of Moses. What better time to free this prisoner who was a good man. Except the Jewish leadership wanted Him dead. So Pilate gave the people a choice, Jesus or Barabbas, a criminal, a known rioter. Surely no one would want an unrepentant thief back in the population. That is what prisons are for. But the crowd was adamant. Crucify Jesus! We want Barabbas!

So here is this criminal. Imagine what he is thinking. I am free. But another man will die instead of me. Bullocks! Did Barabbas turn to thank Jesus? Hey, governor, thanks for everything! Probably not. But he did live to see another day. And so do we!

Every day we wake up to a new day. If you are reading this, you woke up this morning. As Scripture says, God's mercies are new everyday.(Lam. 3:22-23) But one day Jesus died for you. Just like He did for Barabbas. You see, when we take an inventory of our life measuring it against the 10 Commandments, we fall short. Jesus reminds us in The Sermon on the Mount that whatever sinful thoughts we have makes us just as guilty as if we had committed the infraction. After all, it does point to our character. It's who we are! We are a member of a mob and Barabbas is one of us! Can we stand before a righteous God for the numerous times we helped ourselves to office supplies for our personal use? Thief! Or how about the envy we carry regarding another person's success! Thou shalt not covet! Or those daydreams of rolling in the hay with your friend's spouse! Adulterer! And if you are smiling because your God doesn't send anyone to hell, idolater! Everyone of us is just as guilty as Barabbas. While we may not be in prison, we will die. And where will you go when you die? Heaven or hell. If you think your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds, think again. What murderer has ever used that as a defense in the courtroom. Really your honor, I only killed one man. Think of all the ones I let live? In the eyes of God our good deeds amount to nothing more than used tampons! (Isaiah 64:6, Really! Read it in the Hebrew!)

Approximately 2000 years ago a criminal deserving of the death penalty walked free because an innocent man took his place. Everyday we walk free as God gives us time to turn back and thank Him who died for all our sins. (2 Pet. 3:8-9)And how does that make you feel? Bullocks!

REPENT!

"...therefore I despise myself  and repent in dust and ashes." (Job 42:6)

"If man does not repent, God will whet His sword; He has bent and readied the bow" Ps. 7:12


"Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand." (Matthew 3:2)

The word, 'repent' in the English language means to feel sorry, self-reproachful, or contrite for past conduct; regret or be conscious-stricken about a past action., attitude, etc. (Dictionary.com)

In Hebrew the word repent is often used to translate the word 'shuv' which means 'to return' and the word 'nicham' which means to feel sorrow. One would feel sorrow for an action and seek or desire to go back to a previous state of innocence. In Greek 'metanoia' is used for repent. This word means to change a thought or to change one's mind about a given action. When we put together the biblical nuances of the word, 'repent' we can understand that God's desire for us is to have a changed heart about who we are and what we think and do.  Perhaps the most famous example of a changed heart is when David was confronted with his sin of coveting Uriah's wife which led to adultery and murder.  He writes in Psalm 51 "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God,  You will not despise. (v. 17) A changed heart is a heart that has the knowledge of the person's true character brought to light. It feels sorry for the sins committed against God and neighbor. (Luke 15:18)

The prophet Ezekiel understood man to have cold hearts of stone. No feeling, no sensitivity that in thought, word, and deed, we hurt God. Man is lawless not keeping the commandments God gave us. But God can and will change man's heart as it is written, "...I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh that they may walk in my statutes..." (Ez. 11:18-20) A changed, godly heart is one that can follow God's laws. (Heb.8:10)

In order for us to enter the Kingdom of God, our hearts have to be broken. Disciples of Jesus are broken-hearted people as we see how we have been sinners since birth. When we come to the knowledge of our sins, we will have heartfelt sorrow towards God who gave us life.  We will understand that we are lawless in God's sight. (Ps.51.3) But we have Good News! Jesus, the spotless lamb of God, met the legal demands of the Law when He died upon the cross. (Col. 2:14) When we have this knowledge our hearts will change, broken as it were and we can rejoice as we can be assured that we are a forgiven people. "Thus it is written, That Christ should suffer and that on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. (Lk. 24:46-47)

The Need to Repent

Today is the Feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist. His ministry was to call us to repentance preparing the Way of the Lord. It seems in the modern church that repentance is discussed very little. The meaning of the word repent is to have a deep sorrow for ones condition or behavior. The Greek word, 'metanoia' has the sense of changing one's heart or one's mind. Basically, we are to have a profound change in our attitude and behavior. One that turns away from our self-centeredness and toward total dependence on Christ as Lord, the ruler of our lives and savior, the propitiation for our just punishment of eternal damnation. Hence, we must know our condition to know Jesus' position.

In order to bear fruit that is worthy of repentance, we cannot choose to do whatever we like thinking it will be good enough for God. We must understand that we must change and that only God can change us! How often do we think we are alright as it is? Do we have an understanding of ourselves that says that all is not all right with us and One greater than us who is perfect must come into our hearts for our sake. And for our sake must be for the sake of The Kingdom. In other words, the end of our lives must be the beginning of our life for Him who was crucified died, and was buried! To say we believe in God is far different than saying our hard hearts are broken by the Him who died for us. Such a broken heart is necessary for new birth and that can only be done on Jesus' terms. Anything else is by our own initiative disregarding the Other's sovereignty!

Almighty God, by whose providence your servant John the Baptist was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of your Son our Savior by preaching repentance: Make us so to follow his teaching and holy life, that we may truly repent according to his preaching; and, following his example, constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth's sake; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Bearing Good Fruit as Christians

³³ "If you want good fruit, you must make the tree good. If your tree is not good, it will have bad fruit. A tree is known by the kind of fruit it produces. ³⁴ You snakes! You are evil people, so how can you say anything good? The mouth speaks the things that are in the heart.³⁵ Good people have good things in their hearts, and so they say good things. But evil people have evil in their hearts, so they say evil things.³⁶ And I tell you that on the Judgment Day people will be responsible for every careless thing they have said. ³⁷ The words you have said will be used to judge you. Some of your words will prove you right, but some of your words will prove you guilty." (Matthew 12:33-37, New Century Version)

Idolatry

Do we still worship idols? The answer is yes, based on the fruits of idolatry! When we worship something we reflect that something in our lives. By worshipping the true God, we will eventually grow reflecting His true glory in our lives! If we worship idols that are false, we become as false as they are! (2 Kings 17:15)



 ¹⁶ So I tell you: Live by following the Spirit. Then you will not do what your sinful selves want.¹⁷ Our sinful selves want what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is against our sinful selves. The two are against each other, so you cannot do just what you please.¹⁸ But if the Spirit is leading you, you are not under the law.

 ¹⁹ The wrong things the sinful self does are clear: being sexually unfaithful, not being pure, taking part in sexual sins,²⁰ worshiping gods, doing witchcraft, hating, making trouble, being jealous, being angry, being selfish, making people angry with each other, causing divisions among people,²¹ feeling envy, being drunk, having wild and wasteful parties, and doing other things like these. I warn you now as I warned you before: Those who do these things will not inherit God's kingdom.²² But the Spirit produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,²³ gentleness, self-control. There is no law that says these things are wrong.²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their own sinful selves. They have given up their old selfish feelings and the evil things they wanted to do.²⁵ We get our new life from the Spirit, so we should follow the Spirit.²⁶ We must not be proud or make trouble with each other or be jealous of each other. (Galatians 5:16-26, New Century Version)