Conversion and Repentance

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Conversion.

In John 3:3, Jesus Christ says that, unless we are born again, we cannot see the Kingdom of God. This shows us that the conversion experience (also called the new birth experience) is quite important if we expect to go to heaven.

The power for the new birth comes from God, not us, and the Holy Spirit is the active agent in the new birth experience. Conversion is a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. It is marked by a change of attitude towards God. Instead of running away from God, the one who is being converted turns toward God.

Conversion does not mean that we have to have everything straight right away or understand everything. The Christian life is a path that leads to heaven. Many who are at the beginning of their Christian experience are akin to babies or children just beginning the way, and learning as they go along. Conversion is about not fighting with God, but submitting to God.

In order for us to understand spiritual things, we need to have our hearts and minds renewed by the Holy Spirit. Conversion creates a new and deeper capacity for knowing God.

The Holy Spirit renews your mind and thereby creates new understandings and interests that were not there before. You begin to experience a new desire to know God. This new attitude leads to a changed life. In Ezekiel, God promises to give us new hearts and new spirits that can respond warmly to God and to others.

Conversion is called the new birth. It’s the beginning of spiritual life. Just as you cannot choose your own birthday in the physical life, you cannot choose your own spiritual birthday. You cannot convert yourself, or others for that matter. That is completely up to God. You can share Christ with others, but it is up to the Holy Spirit to change the attitude toward God.

God promises that He will finish the work He starts in us (Philippians 1:6).

 

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Repentance.

Acts 3:19, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.”

Some people ask if repentance is necessary for salvation. The Bible says “yes.” The only type of people who feel the need for repentance, however, are people who realize their sinful state—those who are sick of themselves, sick of messing up their lives.

What is repentance?

It literally means to feel a godly sorrow for the wrongs we have committed. Such genuine sorrow is only possible when we fully recognize that our only hope rests in the death of Jesus on the cross in our place. Helplessly we must turn away from self and “behold the Lamb of God,” who takes away the sin of the world. What happens as we watch Him bleeding, suffering, and dying on the cross? We realize that He was holy and innocent. We were the guilty ones. We should be hanging there instead of Him. We are overwhelmed to realize that He would have submitted to the torture and death for only one soul, even for you or me. Suddenly our eyes fill with tears as we realize that our sins caused His death on the cross. His heart was broken by the crushing weight of sins that had been taken from us. He was voluntarily suffering the punishment we deserved. We are filled with sorrow that we ever committed those very sins that now are taking the life of the Son of God. That sorrow is repentance.

 

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Confession.

Genuine repentance is always accompanied by confession of specific sins. The Holy Spirit does not give us vague feelings of guilt. He convicts us of our definite shortcomings. The purpose of the convicting power of the Holy Spirit is to reveal our need of the saving grace of Christ. Repentance does not make God love us more; rather, it enables us to appreciate His love more. Confession does not earn God’s forgiveness; it instead enables us to receive His forgiveness. God does not love us more when we repent or love us less when we fail to. His love for us is constant. The only variable is our response to the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

“Confession will not be acceptable to God without sincere repentance and reformation. There must be decided changes in the life; everything offensive to God must be put away. This will be the result of genuine sorrow for sin.” Steps to Christ, 39.

Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”

1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

 

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Repentance is a gift from God.

Repentance is a God-initiated sorrow for sin. The Bible does not teach that we must repent before we can heed the invitation of Christ. We can no more repent without the Spirit of Christ to awaken the conscience than we can be pardoned without Christ.

We cannot repent of anything until we come to Christ. Repentance is something we receive. It is a gift from God. We come to Jesus and He grants us repentance and then forgives our sin. We do not cleanse ourselves in order to come to Christ. Instead, we come to Christ and then He does the job of cleansing us. Romans 2:4 tells us that it is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. We cannot turn away from sin in our own strength but we can seek the Lord to do those things for us. God delights to help those who cannot help themselves. Our part is to come to Jesus.

 

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We must all repent to be saved.

The last word of Jesus to His Church was not the great commission of Matthew 28:19-20. This is indeed to be our work until the close of probation, nevertheless, Christ’s last word to the Church was “Repent!”

This was also His command to five of the seven churches in Asia in Revelation. God’s ultimatum is “repent or lose your place with Me” (Revelation 2:5,16).

Repentance is frowned-upon nowadays, but it was an indispensable word in New Testament theology. John the Baptist, we are told in Mark 1:3, was the first to preach the Gospel in preparing the way of the Lord. His message was that of repentance (Matthew 3:1-2). In Mark 1:14-15 we read the same of Jesus. In Luke 13:3 He said, “except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”

Whether we are overt sinners, never having given our hearts to the Lord, or halting, failing, defeated saints, there is only one way to God. We must repent. We must come to Jesus in full and complete surrender, falling, as it were, upon the Rock, Christ Jesus, to be broken. We’ve got to spill it all out to him. This is not easy for proud-hearted men and women. Its only possible through Jesus Christ.

 

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God Winked.

Acts 17:30-31, “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

God has winked at our ignorance in the past, but He is calling us now to repent, because the hour of judgment is at hand. It is God’s purpose to save people from their sins, to reconcile us to Him and to restore us in His image. All of our knowledge of God and His plan of redemption for us are really useless, unless they lead us to make a proper response. Repentance brings the Christian into harmony with the mind of Christ and His reaction to sin. That is why Jesus and the disciples emphasized repentance. The Old Testament prophets emphasized repentance too.

 

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True and False Repentance Contrasted.

There are some very specific examples in the Bible of people who sought repentance but were not forgiven by God. They wept. They were sorrowful. They confessed their sin but were not forgiven.

If we read the accounts of Pharaoh, Balaam, Esau, and Judas in Exodus 12:29-32, Numbers 22:32-35, Hebrews 12:17, and Matthew 27:4, we see a common thread running through each story in regard to repentance and/or confession.

One phrase in Hebrews 12:17 sums it up well. Speaking of Esau, the passage says that “when he wanted to inherit the blessing,” he repented. Like Pharaoh, Balaam, and Judas, Esau’s heart was not broken over the pain that his sin had brought to his family or to the heart of God. His concern was over the birthright he had lost. He was sorry that he had not received that which he believed to be rightfully his. His motives were not pure. His sorrow was for himself. False repentance focuses upon the consequences of sin as opposed to the sin itself.

The law of sowing and reaping is a divine law. It is true that sin brings dire consequences, but repentance is not consumed with the negative results of sin. It is concerned, instead, with the dishonour and sorrow that our sin has brought to God.

True repentance is always characterized by at least three things:

First, a sorrow that our sin has broken God’s heart. We are hurt because we hurt the One who loves us so much.

Second, there is an honest confession of the specific sin that we have committed. True repentance is not laced with excuses for our behaviour. It does not place blame on someone else. It takes responsibility for our actions.

Third, true repentance always includes the decision to turn away from our sin. There can be no genuine repentance unless there is a corresponding reformation in the life. False repentance, on the other hand, is self-centred. It is concerned with the consequences of our sin. It is an emotional state of sorrow because our sins often bring negative consequences. It makes excuses and lays the blame on someone else. It is unconcerned about the changing of behaviour unless the change will personally bring its own rewards.

 

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Benefits/blessings of repentance.

Repentance Brings Joy to God.

Jesus said, “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:7). What a wonderful thought! Repentance brings joy to God!

If we listen to the radio or read the newspaper, we learn of many distressing things that are occurring. If we watch the news on television, we see the reporting of a lot of evil things. We learn of murders, rapes, and accidents, yet we hear only a little smidgen of what actually goes on, but God sees it all. He sees all the evil, but we have the privilege of bringing joy to God when we repent.

Repentance brings joy to us.

Psalms 51:8, "Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice."

It’s no secret that repentance is humbling; it can be crushing. It’s painful to witness the reality of hell settled inside our very own flesh. But, within that same reality lies the joy of having a Saviour who provides everything we need to find utter happiness. Repentance brings joy because it relieves the pressure of impossible perfection and change on our own. We need Jesus. Repentance gives us Jesus. Jesus who loves and cares for us perfectly. In his arms, we are completely safe. Joy is never found in covering sin; joy is only found in the righteousness of God, Jesus. But we must admit our need. When we fear repentance, we’re missing out on true joy.

Its life changing.

True repentance includes sorrow for sin, but it goes far beyond that point. “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death” (2 Corinthians 7:10). In this text, repentance is translated from the Greek metanoia, meaning “a complete change of heart,” referring to the change that actually makes a person a Christian. The change is to be permanent. The whole attitude is changed. The word repented is translated from the Greek word ametameletos, meaning the worldly type of regret or sorrow. It is a temporary, emotional reaction with no permanent change of mind.

Judas experienced that kind of repentance. He was very sorry, and he suffered such deep, emotional anguish over what he had done that he went out and killed himself. If he had just waited a little while, that emotional reaction probably would have gone away. It was a short-lived, emotional experience. That kind of sorrow, that kind of repentance, produces death.

Keeping that in mind, let us look at Acts 11:18, “When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.” When we compare the two types of repentance, we see that the worldly type of repentance presented in 2 Corinthians 7:10 produces death, and the kind of repentance that God granted these Gentiles was repentance unto life.

Peter experienced that kind of repentance, and it was life-changing for his whole lifetime. It was a permanent change. It changed his whole mind, his personality, and his conduct. When we present the everlasting gospel, we need to be careful to which kind of repentance we lead people. Both involve the element of sin but bring about different reactions and affect people for different lengths of time. The effect is either a temporary thing or a permanent, long-term change of mind. We are leading them to one or the other, and we need to be careful which one it is. If a man is very sorry about his sin, it may bring death and not salvation, as in the case of Judas. It may bring deep remorse and grief but no decisive break from sin.

Repentance brings freedom.

Galatians 5:1, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage." It is for freedom that Christ has set us free and it cost Him a lot. When we do what Christ asks us to do genuinely from the heart, we will be free. “Outside of Jesus Christ, human existence is characterized as bond- age—bondage to the law, bondage to the evil elements dominating the world, bondage to sin, the flesh, and the devil. God sent his Son into the world to shatter the dominion of these slave-holders.”—Timothy George, Galatians, p. 354.

Repentance brings so many good things into our lives like hope, we are guilt free, it gives us hope in Christ etc.

 

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Look Forward.

We must be not only sorry for sin but, by the grace of God, we need to do something about it. Repentance in the world only looks back in sorrow. True repentance not only looks backward, but it also looks forward—forward to a life lived in the power of God where sin is not only grieved over but is actually overcome and forsaken.

In Exodus 10:16, we read: “Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste, and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you.” His response was due to fear. No change of mind actually took place in him, as later confirmed by his actions. Obviously, it was not a genuine repentance, because he turned right back on the commitment he had made to Israel and attacked them. Character is not changed by temporary, emotional concern. Sorrow for past sins is only part of the total experience of repentance.

Paul, in Acts 26:20, stated: “but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.” John the Baptist declared, in Matthew 3:8: “Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance.” Many times, in revival and evangelistic efforts, a call is made for an emotional response, rather than a turning of the whole life away from sin and back to God. No wonder the commitments do not last!

Beating up one’s self, trying to punish one’s self, or going around in a state of dark distress is not the answer. It may be the natural response, if we are truly sorry, but if it goes on too long, it actually is a sign of not understanding and trusting the love and the power of God. When guilt becomes more distressful than we can bear, we need to go to the Psalms and read some of the experiences David went through. Christianity is not to be a religion of continual guilt but of peace and strength. That guilt should drive us to the Saviour so He can give us victory and newness of life. In Acts 11:18, repentance is unto life. It purges us of guilt and of the sin that caused the guilt. It does not increase.

 

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Cost of Repentance

Often men rejoice in the fact that God has done it all; however, He expects a proper response to what He has done. We are called to trust Him as Saviour and enthrone Him as Lord. Many people like the Saviour part, but they do not like the Lord part, but we have to have both. It is a complete package—Saviour and Lord.

Repentance is the most costly business in the world. It cost God everything to forgive man, and it costs man everything to be reconciled to God. We have to give up our own strength and depend on God. Human pride just hates that idea. A special gift from God is needed before we can even realize the necessity of it, and there are sins of which we are not aware that must be brought to our attention before we can repent of them. We have to know with what we are dealing. We have to understand the guilt before we can go to God in repentance or for repentance, either one, and receive forgiveness.

Sometimes we do not even see what is in our life as sin, until God points it out. The present-day conscience has been trained to be quite easy on sin. It is difficult these days to even make people feel guilty. People seem to think—and some churches teach—that you can drift right into heaven—sins and all. The cross, of course, reveals otherwise. It shows that God cannot and does not take sin lightly. Someone has to pay the price and bear the judgment. Only as we study the cross can we get a right perception of sin and its cost, the sinfulness of sin. Repentance comes from continually thinking of that theme of the cross.

 

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The Experience

Just because we understand what repentance is does not necessarily mean that we can experience it in its genuine form. So how do we repent? Well, the natural man has no power to make the change that true repentance brings unless God works in him and leads him to it. We read, in Romans 2:4, “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” So it is the goodness of God that actually leads us to repentance.

One writer quoted Psalm 51:1-14 and then wrote, regarding that Psalm, “A repentance such as this, is beyond the reach of our own power to accomplish; it is obtained only from Christ, who ascended up on high and has given gifts unto men.

“Just here is a point on which many may err, and hence they fail of receiving the help that Christ desires to give them. They think that they cannot come to Christ unless they first repent, and that repentance prepares for the forgiveness of their sins. It is true that repentance does precede the forgiveness of sins; for it is only the broken and contrite heart that will feel the need of a Saviour. But must the sinner wait till he has repented before he can come to Jesus? Is repentance to be made an obstacle between the sinner and the Saviour?

“The Bible does not teach that the sinner must repent before he can heed the invitation of Christ, ‘Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.’ Matthew 11:28. It is the virtue that goes forth from Christ, that leads to genuine repentance. Peter made the matter clear in his statement to the Israelites when he said, ‘Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.’ Acts 5:31. We can no more repent without the Spirit of Christ to awaken the conscience than we can be pardoned without Christ.

“Christ is the source of every right impulse. He is the only one that can implant in the heart enmity against sin. Every desire for truth and purity, every conviction of our own sinfulness, is an evidence that His Spirit is moving upon our hearts.” Steps to Christ, 25, 26.

I would encourage you to read the entire chapter entitled “Repentance” in Steps to Christ. Through the Holy Spirit and the Word, we realize our need to experience the true repentance to which His goodness will lead us. It should bring us to cry out, “What must I do to be saved?”

As long as we are satisfied with our own good, abilities, and moral achievements, there will be no true repentance. When we do not see that self is an idol, how can we repent of it? We have to see it; otherwise there is no repentance. If we do not see that self and not God is the centre of our lives, how can we repent of it? We have to see our need.

The law and the gospel must be presented together, because the law exposes our guilt and our need. “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” Romans 3:19. Modern-day psychologists tell us that it is not good to feel guilty, but if we do not feel guilty, of what use is the promise in 1 John 1:9? “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” If we do not ever feel guilty, we might as well throw that promise out the window. It is worthless to us, because we will not know what to confess. That promise has a condition: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us. There is no use giving someone the good news, unless they have the bad news first!

 

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Present and Future

If repentance is only concerned with our past sins, then it would seem that the time to repent is after we sin. This seems to be the standard understanding in the Christian world—after we sin, we repent of it. That is the way we operate. But if repentance includes man’s identification with God’s attitude towards sin, the primary time reference is the present and the future. The Christian will appraise his thoughts and motives before committing the outward action of sin. We come to see our sinful tendencies as they are in the present with a view of what their possible future actions could be. We learn to detect and judge the very seed of sin. Just as the oak is in the acorn, the sin is in the seed thought. It starts with a little seed thought in the mind.

Sin is not simply an act. It is an attitude of transgression and rebellion, of selfishness. For example, sin is hatred. Repentance treats hatred as it would the end result of it—murder. The Bible tells us that the end result of hatred is murder (1 John 3:15). Sin is deceit; it is crooked thinking, and repentance reacts to deceit like it would to dishonesty or embezzlement, because that is the end result. True repentance deals with the sin before it becomes an actual event or even a mature thought in the mind. That is the kind of repentance to which we need to come. It is the state of mind that sees the seed of murder already planted in envy and hostility. Adultery is already in the experience of lust.

To stand in the last days, we need a repentance that does not wait until after the fact. We need a repentance that nips the sin in the bud, before it ever turns into a mature thought. The time for Cain to repent was when hatred began to rise in his heart against his brother, not after he killed him. The time for Esau to repent was when he began to give priority to carnal things, not after he sold his birthright. The time for Pharaoh to repent was when he first started to resist the Lord, not after his first-born son was dead. The time for Judas to repent was when he first began to doubt Jesus, not after he was trying to give back the 30 pieces of silver to the Jewish leaders.

Repentance conditions the mind to discern wrong thoughts before they become mature thoughts or deeds. Christ’s call to repentance is a call to think like Christ does regarding sin.

“Not even by a thought did He yield to temptation. So it may be with us.” The Desire of Ages, 123. God intends that repentance will lead us to discern His attitude and react to it. “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (James 1:12-15).

In verse 12, we see that “the man that endures temptation” is blessed! This is not just a passive putting up with temptation, as we may think of enduring as meaning. This is an active, staying power that makes us triumphant over temptation. By faith, we believe that God is with us in the process of overcoming and that gives us a hearty steadfastness that will not submit to defeat. It gives us confidence to believe that we can overcome this temptation, knowing that Christ is with us.

We are told, in verse 13, that God is not the one that tempts people. If He is not the one, from where does temptation come? Well, verse 14 explains that “every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own desires.” Mark 7:21-23 gives further understanding: “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.” All of these things defile us, and they come from our own lusts.

 

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Natural Desires

The word lust is defined as “desires or cravings or longings.” In the Bible, lust can be good lust or bad lust. In Luke 22:15, desire is the same word. God has put desires in us for food, for comfort, for social activity, so it can be for good, but Satan, the tempter, knows how to play on our weaknesses. He knows how to entice us in those areas where we are weak so the desires become sinful indulgences. He tries to move us to fulfil those natural desires in an evil way. That is how he works.

When these natural desires first begin to head in the wrong direction, when our thoughts first start to become evil, that is the time to repent—not after they become mature thoughts or even actions. When those seed thoughts begin to germinate and mature, they need to be nipped right then, just as quickly as we can discern them. Evil thoughts are like snowballs rolling down a hill. The farther they go, the faster they go; the bigger they get, the more destructive they are when they hit us. We need to stop them when they are still moving slowly enough that we can control them, before they get big and out of control.

Some people have real sensitive consciences or even oversensitive consciences. They easily feel guilty. There is good news for such people. “There are thoughts and feelings suggested and aroused by Satan that annoy even the best of men; but if they are not cherished, if they are repulsed as hateful, the soul is not contaminated with guilt, and no other is defiled by their influence.” Review and Herald, March 27, 1888. That is good news, is it not? In other words, we are not guilty for evil desires, if we nip them in the bud as soon as they start to come up.

It is never wise to wait until evil thoughts have brought a harvest of evil actions before we repent. Many of us would probably say, “But my thoughts are out of control before I even realize what is happening.” That may happen, but the kind of repentance that we need to stand in the last days can be ours as a gift from God. It is not something that we can grit our teeth and muster up on our own. Acts 5:31 tells us: “Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins."