Repent - the forgotten word of the church

[B-A-C]

Repent - The forgotten word of the church

Repent
- To change your heart, or change your attitude
- To do a 180 degree turn and go the opposite direction
- To quit doing actions that you used to do
- To regret doing something to the point that you quit doing it

If you haven't repented, you aren't saved.
I know some people who claim to have repented a long time ago when they got saved.
This like saying I was going the wrong way on the freeway, I was headed south to a place called death.
I repented, I turned around and started going north toward a town called life when I got saved.
Are you still headed north? Or did you "repent again" and start going south again?

Matt 3:1; Now in those days John the Baptist *came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,
Matt 3:2; "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Mark 1:4 John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Luke 3:3 And he came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins;

Matt 4:17; From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Mark 6:7; And He *summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits;
Mark 6:12; They went out and preached that men should repent.

Luke 13:2; And Jesus said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate?
Luke 13:3; "I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
Luke 13:4; "Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem?
Luke 13:5; "I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

Unless you repent, you will die. It doesn't get any simpler than that.

Acts 2:38; 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.
Acts 3:19; "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;

Without repentance, your sins remain.

Acts 17:30; "Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,

Rev 9:20; The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk;

2 Cor 7:10; For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.

Repentance leads to salvation. There comes a time in the Christian walk that we should no longer want to do the things we used to do.

2 Tim 2:22; Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
2 Tim 2:23; But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.
2 Tim 2:24; The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged,
2 Tim 2:25; with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,
2 Tim 2:26; and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

Rev 9:21; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.

2 Cor 12:21; I am afraid that when I come again my God may humiliate me before you, and I may mourn over many of those who have sinned in the past and not repented of the impurity, immorality and sensuality which they have practiced.

Repentance isn't only about what you believe, it's about the things you used to do.

Luke 15:10; "In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

Luke 17:3; "Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.

It says if he repents, if we don't repent, no one has to forgive us.

2 Pet 3:9; The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

Sometimes repentance doesn't happen all at once. This is a process called sanctification.
Sometimes after we are Christians we still struggle with sin. Maybe I'm trying to quit doing drugs, but the habit of the
last 20 years is so strong inside me, maybe I still do it sometimes without even thinking about it. Paul talks about these
habits we continue to do, even though we want to quit doing them. The thing is, you have to want to quit doing them.

Rom 7:16; But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.
Rom 7:17; So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
Rom 7:18; For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
Rom 7:19; For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
Rom 7:20; But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
Rom 7:21; I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.

This takes a concentrated effort. Maybe counseling and getting professional help. Maybe a miracle of God will make you want
to stop immediately, but for most people it requires self discipline.

1 Cor 9:27; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
Rom 8:13; for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Rom 6:6; knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;

We no longer have to be slaves to sin. God gives us the power to stop doing these things, he gives us the will to want to quit doing them

2 Cor 10:4; for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
2 Cor 10:5; We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
2 Cor 10:6; and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.

Whenever we feel those old urges inside us, we need to take those thoughts captive and quit dwelling on them.
After a while, we should come to place were we no longer do many of the things we used to do.

1 Pet 4:3; For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries.
1 Pet 4:4; In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you;
1 Pet 4:5; but they will give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

After a while, we should be showing a life of change. Evidence of a changed heart.

Luke 13:2; And Jesus said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate?
Luke 13:3; "I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
Luke 13:4; "Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem?
Luke 13:5; "I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."
Luke 13:6; And He began telling this parable: "A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any.
Luke 13:7; "And he said to the vineyard-keeper, 'Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?'
Luke 13:8; "And he answered and said to him, 'Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer;
Luke 13:9; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.'"

God may give us time to repent after we are saved. He gave the tree above 3 years, maybe it's shorter for some of us, maybe it's longer for others, maybe it's 10 or 20 years, I don't know, but eventually you need to bearing the fruit of repentance.

Matt 3:8; "Therefore bear fruit that shows you have repented;
Luke 3:8; "Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father,' for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.
Acts 26:20; 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.

1 Pet 4:18; AND IF IT IS WITH DIFFICULTY THAT THE RIGHTEOUS IS SAVED, WHAT WILL BECOME OF THE GODLESS MAN AND THE SINNER?
Php 2:12; So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;

next, part 2. "IF" 'we put on the 'new man' and "IF" 'you are lead of the Spirit' what does this mean?

 

[Barny]

Repent
- To change your heart, or change your attitude
- To do a 180 degree turn and go the opposite direction
- To quit doing actions that you used to do
- To regret doing something to the point that you quit doing it

If you haven't repented, you aren't saved.

Hi B-A-C,

I agree with your description above.
Heb 6:4-6 confirms that repentance is once only.

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

And Heb 6:1 tells us what we repented of. We repented of dead works of self-righteousness.
Heb 6:1
Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works

Sometimes repentance doesn't happen all at once. This is a process called sanctification.
Sometimes after we are Christians we still struggle with sin. Maybe I'm trying to quit doing drugs, but the habit of the
last 20 years is so strong inside me, maybe I still do it sometimes without even thinking about it. Paul talks about these
habits we continue to do, even though we want to quit doing them. The thing is, you have to want to quit doing them.

This takes a concentrated effort. Maybe counseling and getting professional help. Maybe a miracle of God will make you want
to stop immediately, but for most people it requires self discipline.

We no longer have to be slaves to sin. God gives us the power to stop doing these things, he gives us the will to want to quit doing them
Whenever we feel those old urges inside us, we need to take those thoughts captive and quit dwelling on them.
After a while, we should come to place were we no longer do many of the things we used to do.
After a while, we should be showing a life of change. Evidence of a changed heart.

God may give us time to repent after we are saved. He gave the tree above 3 years, maybe it's shorter for some of us, maybe it's longer for others, maybe it's 10 or 20 years, I don't know, but eventually you need to bearing the fruit of repentance.

Unfortunately we disagree here on what you claim.

You contradict yourself.
You say repentance is the following:
"- To change your heart, or change your attitude
- To do a 180 degree turn and go the opposite direction
- To quit doing actions that you used to do
- To regret doing something to the point that you quit doing it "

BUT then you contradict this in saying that Christians are forgiven 7 trillion x 7 trillion times. Any Christian who needs to be forgiven trillions of times has not made a 180 degree turn around as you originally described.
And a further contradiction is when you speak of God offering different quotas of forgiveness to each of us.
You say that God's forgiveness varies for each of us in that "maybe it's shorter for some of us, maybe it's longer for others, maybe it's 10 or 20 years". Here you are again suggesting that we each have some unique but unknown limit of forgiveness for our wrong behaviors.

Not only are there no scriptures to support this doctrine you propose, but your suggestion that God's forgiveness is limited but He won't tell us what our individual forgiveness limits are, is a very wrong description of God.

Instead, we find scripture confirms we have been sanctified by Christ's one offering. So sanctification is not a process.
Heb 10:10
By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

And scripture confirm that in Christ we've "ceased from sin", 1Pet 4:1 we "cannot sin", 1John 3:9
What the scriptures above describe is our position in Christ after we repented of our dead works of self-righteousness (sin).

 

[jeffsi435]

It seems like to me that what people really want is to go in the same direction, but arrive at a different destination. Yet, that is not possible. We don't want to give up the friendship with this world to receive Christ. People just don't want to die to self and take up their cross. And worse than that, you don't hear it much from the pulpit these days either.

 

[DHC]

It seems like to me that what people really want is to go in the same direction, but arrive at a different destination. Yet, that is not possible. We don't want to give up the friendship with this world to receive Christ. People just don't want to die to self and take up their cross. And worse than that, you don't hear it much from the pulpit these days either.

I agree with your comment Jeff.

To follow Christ is very unpopular these days.

In work environments people are very quite about their faith.

They do not want the social stigma and persecution that they know will occur.

I do understand their reluctance especially if they have a young family and a mortgage.

Tough decisions need to be made however.

 

[B-A-C]

I agree with your description above.
Heb 6:4-6 confirms that repentance is once only.

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

No argument here, I'm glad you agree. Once we get the desire not to sin anymore, we shouldn't return to the desire to sin.
Of curse all of this hinges on the fact that you repented in the first place, and desire not to sin anymore. Otherwise couldn't "fall away" from that desire.

 

[dannibear]

Very good post BAC! Reminds me of a book title on my shelf:

The Christian Atheist: Saying we are Christians but not living as if He were real.

 

[Barny]

No argument here, I'm glad you agree. Once we get the desire not to sin anymore, we shouldn't return to the desire to sin.
Of curse all of this hinges on the fact that you repented in the first place, and desire not to sin anymore. Otherwise couldn't "fall away" from that desire.

Whilst we agree that repentance is a complete 180 degree turn about, you contradict this by claiming that Christians have not done this and are continually repenting all the time. That is not repentance.

But when we received Christ we have repented of the path of rebellion against God that we were on. We turned away from our dead works of self-righteousness (sin). We turned to God instead. And now our faith is counted for righteousness, Rom 4:5. Thus we've "ceased from sin", 1Pet 4:1
In other words, righteousness is not judged by our physical behavior/lifestyle. That physical body is already dead (by faith) because of sin, Rom 8:10
Unfortunately your focus is so much on physical behavior/lifestyle that you fail to accept that we walk by faith and not by sight.

 

[james1523]

We can only repent once, it is impossible to renew again to repentance:

Heb 6:6 "and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.", refers to those turning back to Judaism.

In Hebrews 6 he tells the believers that the foundation is already laid (6:1), "not laying again a foundation of repentance", that it is impossible for those who have become partakers of the Holy Spirit (vs 4), to repent again after falling away (vs 6).. and that all they need to do is to go onto perfection. If you believe in Christ you have already repented. The gospel is repent and believe the good news.. not believe and repent.. repent comes first.. repent IS believing in Christ. These preachers preaching repentance to Christians ... it is pointless.. they should not be teaching repentance because Christians cannot repent again after they believe...they should be teaching perfection.... not laying again the foundations. Preachers who preach on repentance to believers they are laying the foundations over and over again and so the ones they preach to never grow beyond infants or milk. And this is the issue in many churches.. believers saved many years, elderly people in age 70 or 80 , even after attending church every week their whole life.. do not understand even basics about the Christian life and walking in the Spirit..

 

[B-A-C]

Matthew 4:17
From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

Matthew 21:32
For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

Luke 17:3
So watch yourselves. "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.

Luke 24:46-48
He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

Matthew 3:8
Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.

Isaiah 30:15
This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.

Luke 5:31-32
Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

Acts 5:31
God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.

Acts 20:21
I have declared to both Jews and Gentiles that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

Romans 2:4
Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?

Acts 11:18
When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life."

Jeremiah 31:19
After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my breast. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.'

Luke 17:3-4
So watch yourselves. "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him."

Acts 3:18-19
But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

2 Corinthians 7:9-10
yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

Revelation 3:3
Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

Revelation 2:5
Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

Romans 2:5
But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.

 

[B-A-C]

It's interesting a quick search on words like evil, unrighteous, unrighteousness, immoral, immorality, ungodly, wicked, worldly, comes up with thousands of verses
The word "evil" alone comes up 475 times in the NASB Bible.

On the other hand, words like righteous, godly, moral, good, upright, are similarly found thousands of times in the Bible. The word "good" alone returns 603 verses in the
NASB Bible.

Why does the Bible mention this so often if it isn't important?
Now of course our righteousness won't get us into heaven. We as Christians are clothed with Christ's righteousness.
So the question isn't can we be good enough to get eternal life (obviously we can't).
The question is can a Christian be wicked enough to not get eternal life? The Calvinists will say if a person continues to act wickedly they weren't really saved
in the first place. Ok, I don't really want to debate here, but they were at least calling themselves a Christian whether they were saved or not.

Matt 7:23; 1 Cor 6:9-10; Gal 5:21;

Do some people really love the wages of unrighteousness? 2 Pet 2:15; Rom 6:23;
Are we supposed to warn these people?

Ezek 3:17; "Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me.
Ezek 3:18; "When I say to the wicked, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.
Ezek 3:19; "Yet if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered yourself.
Ezek 3:20; "Again, when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I place an obstacle before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand.
Ezek 3:21; "However, if you have warned the righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; and you have delivered yourself."