The Gift of Repentance: By James Lantz
Repentance may not be a popular subject in the church today and yet it is the beginning of receiving God’s grace! Humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God is the way we enter into the blessed kingdom of God! John was sent to show men that heart felt repentance, proved out by how we live, was prerequisite to entering into the kingdom of God. Jesus preached repentance, faith, and the kingdom of God! Mark 1:15 . . . The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. The Spirit of God list repentance from dead works first in His list of the fundamental teachings of Christ because genuine, heartfelt repentance places us in position to receive of God’s goodness. These six foundational or elementary doctrines of Christ listed in Hebrews six are, repentance from dead works, faith toward God, doctrine of baptisms, the laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgement. Repentance is admitting that I have not done what God has required of me and being remorseful, I change and do what God requires. True repentance means that we are sorry for our act of disobedience and if we could do it over we would do that which pleases God. Being sorry that we got caught or being sorrowful of the natural consequences that are forthcoming from being caught in sin are not the same as repentance. True repentance is a matter of a heart change and can take place with or without tears. When we received Jesus as our Lord we did not confess every individual sin that we ever
Everyone who desires forgiveness can repent regardless of how worthless they feel!
committed (we could not remember them all if we tried) but rather we acknowledged that we were a sinner and that we desired to be saved. God accepts no man’s person but He does accept those who name Jesus as their Lord. Repentance is the proper response to the love of God which is revealed to us through the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirits’ enlightenment. Those who see their lost and futile condition without Christ and then become aware of God’s awesome offer to forgive and to save are wise to repent and receive salvation. The gift of God’s forgiveness has been emphasized much more than the gift of repentance and yet none are able to receive forgiveness without repenting. Repentance is only possible for the person who has knowledge of, or is enlightened about their need to repent, and God’s eagerness to forgive them. Heb. 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost “Jesus is the heavenly gift ” 2 Tim. 2:25&26 WYT He must speak in a gentle tone when correcting the errors of opponents, in the hope that God will at last give them repentance, for them to come to a full knowledge of the truth and recover sober-mindedness and freedom from the devil’s snare, though they are now entrapped by him to do his will. These scriptures and others show us that no one can even recognize that they need to repent unless the Holy Spirit reveals it to them. Satan packages sin to look good in our eyes and thus it is very deceptive. The biggest problem with being deceived is that they think they are right when that is not at all how God sees it. Those who are bitter reason that they have a right to be bitter because of a suffered wrong or a perceived wrong but Truth says to forgive. These along with complainers and accusers of the brethren are blind to the fact that their refusal to forgive others has blocked God’s forgiveness and mercy from them. Mk. 11:25 NLT But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too. Those who are covetous and in love with the things of this world are also oblivious to the richness of God’s great mercy and close fellowship with the Father.
Those of us who have received eternal life and are called Christians have the responsibility to get our hearts right and to keep our hearts right before God. Jesus taught there are five main areas of temptation that the devil brings to pull people away from hearing and doing God’s will. If we hold fast to what God said and refuse to let go or stop doing the word of God when these temptations come we will receive exactly what God’s word says. The first two things that Satan uses to try to get you to quit believing and serving God is trouble and persecution. Think about how joyous you were when you found in the Bible that Jesus bore your sicknesses and carried your diseases and that by Jesus’ stripes you were healed until some unbelieving church people told you that Jesus doesn’t heal anymore. You were laughed at and ostracized by those you thought were your friends. This is how the devil applies pressure in hopes that you will quit believing God’s word so that you don’t receive your harvest of healing and testify to the goodness of God. Those who are not rooted and grounded in God’s word will quit believing that they are healed, even though they felt some better, because they have not yet received the full manifestation of their healing and it does not look like they ever will. The third temptation that Satan brings is the worries of this life. If we bite for this our faith becomes null and void because all of what God will do for us is based on our believing Him. Worry is faith in reverse, believing that bad things will happen to us before they actually happen. The fourth area is the lure of wealth or as recorded in the King James Bible, the deceitfulness of riches. Riches are good but not better than God’s anointed word and what it will do for you. Riches can not save you nor heal you but righteousness delivers you from death. All the wealth in this world can not save one person from hell. Know what is precious and realize that eternal rewards for obeying the Master are far more valuable than the riches of this world. The fifth temptation Jesus mentions is the desire for other things. You may have been a Christian for many years but if you begin to value other things more than you value your time with the Lord and in His word, your time serving in the church and worshipping with the saints, or your prayer time you are in trouble. The word of God is full of the life of God and it is powerful and incorruptible and will bring forth that which it says. We are to put the word of God in our born again spirit and when our hearts are pure and clean from all wickedness that thing which God has spoken will manifest in our lives. Luke 8:15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. Jesus said that if we don’t understand this parable we will not understand any of them. Jesus is teaching us our responsibility to resist Satan’s temptations because God is all powerful and His incorruptible word will only produce in the soil of a clean heart. Repentance is God’s gift to the one who did not resist Satan’s temptation but now desires to believe again and obey the Lord’s commands. Hearing the word of God preached or read brings a cleansing and sanctifying effect to the believer. Eph. 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word 2 Tim. 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: God in His great mercy has sent His word (Jesus) to redeem us from our sins! God’s mercy extends to those who have stubbornly resisted the truth for so long that now they are about to die. Those who cry unto the Lord in their trouble will be saved from their distresses, healed of all diseases, and delivered from their destructions! (Ps. 107:17-22) Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness!
God’s prophets nail it when it comes to telling us exactly what to repent of! God told Isaiah, don’t be timid, shout aloud to my people why I am not hearing their prayers and healing them even though they are going to church, pretending to be righteous, and fasting. God said, your fasting is to please yourselves! You need to stop the strife between your spouse, children, boss, coworkers, and fellow countrymen. Isa. 58:6b&7 NLT Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help. Remove the heavy yoke of oppression. Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors! Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Isa. 58:13 CEV But first, you must start respecting the Sabbath as a joyful day of worship. You must stop doing and saying whatever you please on this special day. In this day of grace we are not restricted to the amount of feet we can travel but the sabbath (Sunday) is for our benefit. (Mk. 2:27&28, Heb. 10:25) Reverence for the things of God and His church must be held in high esteem if we want to walk in the blessing of the Lord. Many in the church today would be fired from their jobs within one week if they treated their boss and their job like they do their Pastor and the church. Showing up late if they come, if the weather is bad they don’t come and if the weather is nice outside they do other things. Stealing God’s tithe and His offerings. Criticizing their brothers and sisters in Christ as if God does not hear what they say. Mt. 12:36 CEV I promise you that on the day of judgment, everyone will have to account for every careless word they have spoken.
When the light of God’s word shows us our error, we will either repent and change or harden our heart and become more stubborn and critical. The remnant of the people of Israel who joined Nehemiah in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem wept when they heard the word of God explained. Yes, there is often tears of repentance when we see how we have displeased the Lord but it is not God’s way to make us do penance to try to earn our forgiveness. ( You can not earn your forgiveness but Jesus paid for your sins with His shed blood.) After you repent its time to quit crying and begin to rejoice because now God’s mercy and goodness is yours again! Neh. 8:10 . . . Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
Ps. 147:11 The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.
