Establishing a Lifestyle of Repentance Turning Point Repentance is the ultimate paradigm shift, where I go from darkness to light, from guilt to forgiveness, from no hope to hope, from no purpose to purpose, from living for myself to living for Christ Repentance is changing your mind at the deepest level of beliefs and values. Rick Warren When you accepted Jesus, it was the turning point in your life! In that moment, you turned around from the follies and darkness of the old world and started walking in the new world of God s marvelous light. The word Repentance in Greek is metanoia which means to have another mind, or to change course after further insight. One Hebrew word for Repentance is shub, which means to turn back or make a U-Turn. We need to turn away from sin, and turn towards God. Acts 2:37-39 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, Brothers, what shall we do? Peter replied, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gi of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off -- for all whom the Lord our God will call. When the Jews heard that they were guilty of murdering the Messiah whom they had long awaited, they felt hopeless by the conviction of their sins. When they asked Peter what to do, he told them boldly to repent. Repentance is the key to receive the forgiveness of our sin and to enter the Kingdom of heaven. WHAT REPENTANCE IS NOT At this point, it is very important that we know what repentance is not: Pursuit of Spiritual Growth 1
1. Repentance is NOT just becoming conscious of one s faults Becoming aware of our wrongdoings must happen before we repent. However, this is not complete repentance because not everyone who knows his sin will eventually repent, as we learn from the example of Judas: Ma hew 27:3-5 When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. I have sinned, he said, for I have betrayed innocent blood. What is that to us? they replied. That s your responsibility. So Judas threw the money into the temple and le. Then he went away and hanged himself. Judas realized he had betrayed the Lord Jesus, but he never truly repented. Judas felt guilty and remorseful, but it led to suicide. True repentance will bring peace, joy and eternal life, not destruction. Many may feel sorry about their evil actions only when others find out and try to punish them. However, godly sorrow can bring repentance. 2. Repentance is NOT only trying to be a good person Many people try to become good by changing their ways of life and depending on their own strength. This is not true repentance. No one can change himself to be perfect and holy in every area of his life at all times. Even though we know what is good and righteous and we want to do it, we cannot carry it out in our own strength. Romans 7:18-20 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do -- this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. Isaiah 64:6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. We cannot become holy and righteous by depending on our own ability. Those who think they can become good and righteous by depending on their own strength usually do not want to repent of their sins because they think that they are good enough. 2 NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL CHURCH
3. Repentance is NOT being religious The Pharisees were strictly religious. They religiously fasted, prayed and participated in every ritual. However, they performed rituals in order to show off. They did not truly repent. Ma hew 6:1-5 Be careful not to do your acts of righteousness before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your le hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 4. It is NOT just knowing Biblical truths We may not repent even if we know Biblical truths. Satan knows that Jesus is the Son of God, but he does not repent. James 2:19-20 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? True Meaning of Repentance Today, the word repentance often means feeling sorry for what we have done, or feeling regret and shame. But the Bible reveals a more profound meaning. There must be at least five elements that flow from true repentance: conviction, contrition, confession of sin, conversion and restitution. 1. Conviction We can t truly repent if there is no deep conviction of sin. Society is Pursuit of Spiritual Growth 3
filled with every kind of wickedness. Endorsement and approval of wicked lifestyles is promoted by all kinds of media to make certain behaviors appear normal and acceptable. Romans 1:29-32 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. (NIV) Conviction of sin comes from knowing and obeying God s Holy Word and being filled with the Holy Spirit. James 1:23-24 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, a er looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. (NIV) 1 Thessalonians 1:5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. (NIV) 2. Contrition Contrition is deep godly sorrow, grieving and penitence for sin or shortcoming. If there is no true contrition of heart, there will be no true repentance because we will turn right back to the old sin. Contrition is the place of humbleness and lowliness in our spirit which will allow God to come in and do good work in us. Psalm 51:17 a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. (NIV) Psalm 38:8 I am feeble and u erly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart. However, when we feel a great deal of sorrow for our sins, we sometime get stuck or struggle in self condemnation. The bible says clearly that there are 4 NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL CHURCH
2 kinds of sorrows; worldly sorrow and Godly sorrow. 2 Corinthians 7:9 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. (NIV) Do not be trapped with worldly sorrow. But choose to move on towards the acts and other elements of true repentance. Godly sorrow will bring true repentance will bring peace and joy in relationship and leave no regret. 3. Confessing of our sins to the Lord True repentance means admitting the truth to the Lord. We acknowledge that we have done something wrong -- or that we failed to do the right thing. Whether we have committed many gross sins or have lived a very good life, all of us have fallen short of the target. None of us is perfect. All of us have sinned. Psalm 32:5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord -- and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah. (NIV) 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Why confess, if God already knows my heart is repentant? We readily confess because We agree with God that we have sinned. We do not hide our sin from God, and hence ourselves. We rely on God's power to release us from evil. 4. Conversion - Turning away from our sinful ways True repentance means making a one-eighty. We make a full turn and go in the opposite direction. We turn away from the way of sin and death and advance on the way of truth and life. True repentance requires action and determination to renounce our old sinful life style or habit at all cost. Pursuit of Spiritual Growth 5
Acts 3:19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord (NIV) Acts 26:20 First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds. (NIV) Proverbs 28:13 He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy. (NIV) Ma hew 3:8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. (NIV) We will not be able to turn away from sin if we still love and enjoy it. We must learn to have the same attitude that God has about sin. He hates it! He loves us and hates to see the damage that sin does to us. Hebrews 1:9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. Like David, we also begin to view sin as a transgression against God. From a human perspective, David s adultery was a sin against his lover Bathsheba and her husband Uriah, whom he murdered by arranging for him to fight at the frontlines. David later realized that he had sinned against God, ultimately, which is why he willingly turned to God for forgiveness and cleansing: Psalm 51:1-4 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. 5. Restitution- Pay back for what we have done wrong Restitution is an act of restoring. In Leviticus 6:1-7, when someone wronged another by taking what was rightfully his, then later paid a one-fifth fine, this was evidence of genuine repentance. The wealthy chief tax collector Zacchaeus recognized this principle of restitution and restored fourfold what he had defrauded people, in Luke 19:1-10. 6 NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL CHURCH
Luke 19:8 Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount. Why four times the amount? Here are some practical illustrations; Scenario 1: Mark borrowed a lawn-mower from Sarah and broke it. He returned it to her with a sincere apology. Sarah inevitably forgave him but became very hesitant to let him borrow the lawn-mower again. Scenario 2: Mark borrowed a lawn-mower from Sarah and broke it. He got it fixed and returned it to her with a sincere apology. Sarah forgave him and probably will continue to let him borrow her lawn-mower in the future. Scenario 3: Mark borrowed a lawn-mower from Sarah and broke it. He got it fixed and returned it to her with a sincere apology and a gift. Sarah forgave him and probably will let him borrow anything he likes to borrow. The third scenario is a good example of the practice of restitution. A gift in this instance is the fourfold or one-fifth fine that represented a genuine act of repentance. The fourfold or one-fifth can be anything extra that we do or give to those we have wronged in order to restore the loss or the relationship. APPLICATION Pray and ask God to deliver you from your sins. The attitude of repentance will stir changes of attitudes and actions in our lives. Repentance can become a lifestyle, and will yield fruit. By their fruit you will recognize them, Jesus said in Matthew 7:16. The sure test of the quality of any supposed change of heart will be found in its permanent effects. By their fruits you shall know them Repentance is incomplete unless it leads to confession and restitution in cases of injury; unless Pursuit of Spiritual Growth 7
it causes us to forsake not merely outward sins, which others notice, but those which lie concealed in the heart; unless it makes us choose the service of God and live not for ourselves but for Him. - Charles Hodge Repentance does not begin and end at our conversion. We can keep our hearts soft and easily repentant towards God all our lives. David, for example, prayed for God to forgive his hidden faults in Psalm 19. It is good to remember that while repentance may start with godly sorrow, it ultimately brings great joy, as this verse shows: Luke 15:7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. DISCUSSION 1. What sins do you still have and want to confess? As believers, we only need the cleansing of daily sins that comes through confession. We should confess our sins with God daily; our wrong thought, attitude, words or wrong doing. When Jesus washed the disciples feet in John 13, this action is symbolic. We have already been cleansed through our confession of faith in Jesus Christ. However, walking through dusty road of this word, we need to daily confession. 2. How will you live your life in order to be upright before the Lord? 3. Can you help yourself to be free from your sins? We are not alone if we find ourselves struggle in certain sin in our lives. Apostle Paul who came from a noble family, leading his life abiding strictly on Jewish law in Philippians 3: 5-6 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. He also described his struggle in battling with sins in his life. Roman 7:19-20 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do 8 NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL CHURCH
not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. Roman 7:25 be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. We were born with sinful nature. We can observe from a little child, we don t have to teach a little child to lie or to say it s mine! As he/she grows in their development, these sinful behaviors start to unveil as the result of sinful nature his/her inherit. We can break free from sin only through confession of Christ and repentance that we would receive the forgiveness of sin. Roman 8:2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 4. Will life be boring and dull when we repent, since we seemingly have to give up so much? Well, Jack, old fellow said one who met a man who had lately been converted. I hear you have given up all your pleasures. No! no! said the friend, the fact lies all the other way. I have just found all my pleasures and have given up only all my follies. Paul Lee Tan, 5. In practical terms, what will true repentance involve in your daily life? CONCLUSION To be a Christian, we repent and follow Jesus Christ. To repent does not mean to become aware of our sins, to feel guilty, to do good deeds, to be strict in our religious practices, or to know Biblical truths. But, it does mean that we confess our sins and turn away from our old ways of life, and turn towards God. Our lives will demonstrate our repentance with good fruit. Our lifechanges will involve deep changes at three important levels: the mind, the Pursuit of Spiritual Growth 9
emotions and the will. Repentance is really not a one-time event. It is a lifestyle and a continual, vibrant attitude that keeps us close to God. Since the fall of Man into sin, the human race has been inclined to travel in the opposite direction from God. When we become Christians, we turn around and travel back to our loving God. This journey towards God and His ways is the most fulfilling journey we will ever make. 10 NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL CHURCH