Abounding Grace

Guest (Male): We are asking and answering, "What is repentance?" today on Abounding Grace.

Hey, thanks for hanging out with us as we open and study the word here on Abounding Grace. Pastor Ed Taylor is in the middle of his series, "Be the Church," a study in Acts. In Chapter 3, Peter is sharing the Gospel, and he tells his audience to repent and be converted. Pastor Ed will take some time today and tomorrow to talk about repentance. The Bible has a lot to say about it, but not everyone really understands what it’s all about. So, let’s dive in and see the truth about repentance.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Acts Chapter 3. We finished studying the chapter last time, but I want to come back to verse 19 and talk about one of the most important words in all of the Bible, and that’s the word "repent." Notice there in verse 19 it says, "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord." So, the title of our message today is "What Is Repentance?" It is an important word, theologically and practically, and we want to learn today what the Bible has to say about it. Not only so you can use that word properly in your relationships with others, but also so you can examine your own life when it comes to the need of repentance in your daily life.

Even a casual reader of the Bible will notice that the word "repent" is used over and over again. It’s used so much that you may overlook it, or you may begin to ignore it, even as we were reading through. You know, this is just part of what Peter’s saying as he’s sharing the Gospel. But it’s a very important word. Even though it’s such a common church word, it is one that's in every clear presentation of the Gospel. Anytime you share the hope of salvation through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, anytime you share God’s love for the world, this is a word that must be used. It cannot be ignored or neglected. A real, bona fide call to repentance must take place in order for a man, a woman, or a child to be saved.

From John the Baptist, to Jesus, to Peter, to Paul, to every true preacher of the Gospel throughout every generation, the word "repentance" is a part of the Gospel message. You could say it this way: repent or repentance is the very hinge of salvation, the turning point for true change. God has always called sinful people to repentance all throughout the Bible and all throughout history.

If you like to take notes, just consider a few mentions, not even just the word "repent," but the call to turn. Jeremiah Chapter 8, verse 4: "Moreover, you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord: "Will they fall and not rise? Will one turn away and not return? Why has this people slidden back, Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit, and they refuse to return."'" They refuse to repent. Ezekiel 14, verse 6: "Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Repent, and turn away from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations."'" Second Kings 17, verse 13: "The Lord testified against Israel and against Judah, by all His prophets, every seer, saying, 'Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and statutes.'" Matthew Chapter 3, verse 1: "In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness and saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!'" Matthew Chapter 4, verse 17: "From that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!'"

Because it’s so important, because it was the ministry of Jesus right at the starting gate, Jesus is preaching before He heals, before He turns water into wine, before He does anything, He’s telling people to repent. This is the gateway, this is the narrow path that leads to life. We need to understand this word.

From Webster's Dictionary, it’s a very simple definition, just the English word "repent." They define it this way: to turn from sin, to dedicate oneself to a change of life, to feel regret or contrition, or to feel sorry. Now, in Chapter 3, verse 19, if you like to write in your Bibles, circle the word "repent" and write next to it the Greek word "metanoia." It’s spelled M-E-T-A-N-O-E-O. Now, some of you are wondering, "Ed, you do that a lot. You connect an English word with the original Greek word. Why do you do that? I’m never going to use it." Actually, if you choose to write that down, you will lock in another way to remember that word. It’ll be another connection point where you can remember it. I’d encourage you, whether it’s your tablet, your phone, or your Bible, to jot notes down so that there will be a connection point, because this word is super important.

The Greek word means to have a change, a change of place or condition. It means to change your mind. It also can mean to relent or to sorrow with a true change of heart. In the Old Testament, from the Hebrew, the definitions of repent from Hebrew include to be sorry, to regret, to turn back, to return. Of course, by now you know, in the simplest way that we remember it, it just simply means to make a U-turn. That’s what repentance means in its most basic, simplistic way. When you think of repentance, you think of going in one direction and turning and going in the opposite direction. Not a one-degree turn, not a two, but a complete reversal of the direction of your life. That’s how we think about it. We think about it like a skateboarder doing a 180 and going around the opposite way. We think of going in the wrong direction and doing a U-turn.

Biblically, when it comes to your relationship with God, the key for repentance is acting. It is an action, not merely a feeling, but an action. It’s not enough when it comes to repentance to just feel bad, but rather to have such a depth of sorrow that it leads to a change of your behavior. So here we are. We’ll get into some of the definitions. I have a few of them that will help unpack repentance. Number one: repentance is a change of mind. It is a change of mind. True repentance brings about a deep change of our thinking. It changes the way we see things and what we understand about things.

There are at least three things that repentance includes. When you change your mind, number one: you change your mind about yourself, the way you view yourself. This is probably the most offensive ingredient of repentance, why people don’t like it, because it forces you to reevaluate yourself in a culture that says, "Well, I’m a good person. I’m a good person." I wouldn't disagree with people that would tell me they’re a good person. Not only that, I would encourage you. If you’re a good person, we need more good out of you and more good people like you. But when it comes to your eternal soul, your definition of good is not good enough because it doesn’t measure up to the requirement of God, which is, by the way, perfection. None of us are perfect. Most of us will agree with that. "I’m not perfect. I’ve made mistakes. I’m still in process." That’s right.

You have to literally change your mind about yourself. Here’s what it might look like: you’re not as good as you think you are. You’re not as good as you think you are. You need to change your mind about that. Even contrary today to many popular authors and even some Christian teachers, repentance doesn't lead a person to live their best life now. It doesn’t lead a person to go, "Well, you know, I’m going to be everything and all my potential." No, not at all. Repentance actually reverses that and says, "You know, this is the reality. I am not this big bundle of potentiality; I am a sinner before a holy and a righteous God." That’s mostly the offensive part of it. Nobody really likes to admit that they’ve sinned. Nobody really likes to look in the mirror and say, "You know what the real problem is? It’s not my upbringing. It’s not my culture. It’s not my bank account. My biggest problem in life is me." You’ll never really agree with that statement until you repent. You have to turn away from the way you view yourself now.

True repentance recognizes sin in my life and my utter need for a savior. So, number one: I change my mind about myself. Number two: I also will change my mind about God. I will change my mind about who God is. Repentance involves the change of our mind about our current view of God, coming to the absolute conclusion that He is holy, righteous, and good, and I’m not. We change our view of God. He is holy, righteous, and good. When we sin, as we learn in Psalm 51, our sin is first and foremost against God. Then it’s against others and, in some sense, against ourselves. But our sin is first against God. In the presence of God, we’ll cry out like the angels in heaven, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty." Repentance will change your mind about God.

Thirdly, when you change your mind, you also change your mind about who Jesus is. He’s not just a teacher, not just a nice guy, not just a prophet, not just a figure in history. We change our mind about Jesus and recognize that He’s our Savior and that He loves me. He doesn’t want to see me go down this path. He doesn’t want to see me destroy my life. We’re reminded of all the things that have been shared with us that speak of God’s love and character and concern for us. We then remember that we come to God on the basis of faith, trusting in what Jesus Christ has done for us. Now, I just spent a few minutes explaining this, but when true repentance takes place, this all pretty much happens instantaneously. You’re not sitting in a class learning this and taking notes. The Holy Spirit quickens these things to happen in your life, and they happen in agreement with you as you understand what has been revealed to you.

So, repentance is a change of mind. Number two, now in the broader scope: repentance is a change of heart. A change of heart. The Gospel of Jesus Christ and the recognition of your condition is going to touch your emotions. Even those of you that might say today, "I’m not a very emotional person," repentance and the message of the Gospel will touch your emotions. You will feel something. God is going to get to the heart of the matter in your life. As we’ve learned in previous studies, the heart of the matter is always a matter of the heart. For the ancient Hebrews and the first-century Greeks, they believed, as many do today, that the seat of all emotions is described as being in our heart. I was listening to someone recently just saying, "Follow your heart; it will never lead you wrong." That is wrong. Do not follow your heart because there are times in your life when you need a change of heart. You need a change. So, just because you’re feeling something doesn’t mean it’s right; it just means you’re feeling it.

We have to have a change of heart that aligns us with God. Some of you are still unconvinced. You think repentance is very transactional and it’s only in the mind. That’s not true. Let me show you something. If you’re still unconvinced, turn with me to Second Corinthians Chapter 7. Here we are instructed, when it comes to repentance, that absolutely it touches the emotions. When it does touch your emotions, you need to know the difference between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow. So, notice with me Second Corinthians Chapter 7, in verse 8. If you’re just joining us, we’re asking and answering the question, "What is repentance?" Peter is in Chapter 3 of Acts, teaching and sharing the Gospel, and he just tells them straight up, "Repent and be converted." That’s the only way you’ll have times of refreshing, and repentance is the only way that you’ll experience salvation.

We’re learning that right now. Notice in verse 8: "For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it; for I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing." Verse 10: "For godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter."

Two things to watch out for: worldly sorrow and godly sorrow. Now, there is a very simple difference between the two. Worldly sorrow will center on yourself and pull you away from God in condemnation, regret, and shame. Godly sorrow will lead to repentance and bring you to God for forgiveness. Those are two very simple definitions. You know worldly sorrow. We often refer to it like if you committed a crime and you got busted, and you’re standing before the judge and you’re all in tears. There are those that would stand before a judge and they’re sorrowful, but they’re just basically sad because they got caught. They wish they didn’t get caught. Now they’re going to go to jail, and they’re really sad and broken up about it, but it’s not really an emotion that’s going to lead to any change.

Then there is that sorrow that Paul describes here as godly sorrow. You not only recognize the failure, but you understand that it was against a holy and a righteous God and you just think, "I don’t want this in my life anymore. God, forgive me and rescue me from myself." Again, with repentance, this is all happening at the same time. You may not fully understand it at the time, but as you learn, you think, "Oh, I remember that. Oh, I remember that. Oh, I remember that." There’s such a drastic change that happens in an instant of time. Worldly sorrow leads to guilt and condemnation.

A lot of worldly sorrow surrounds this issue of forgiveness, right? Because godly sorrow will put a person toward God in repentance and humility, and you’ll come to God and say, "Change me, mold me, shape me. I’m broken and contrite," like David said in Psalm 51. So, that will bring you to that place, and yet worldly sorrow keeps you stuck on yourself. Worldly sorrow also includes, for many people, this sense of being unwilling to forgive yourself. Right when I say that, there are those listening who think, "Oh, listen to that pastor. He’s all caught up in the world’s thoughts that you’ve got to forgive yourself. You know how the world is: 'Just forgive yourself and love yourself and hug yourself and close your eyes because everything’s going to be fine.'" Well, you know that’s not true. You know that’s not true.

When I use the phrase "love yourself," I’m not using it the way the world has corrupted it. This is what I believe the Bible would teach when you love yourself and forgive yourself. A very simple biblical definition for that is that you will choose to receive the forgiveness of God for even that sin. Even that sin. You name it. That sin, the one that holds you back. When you forgive yourself, you choose to submit yourself to the utter forgiveness of God by His blood.

But here’s what happens. There are those that are so broken up by their failure, so broken up by how they hurt so many people, how they destroyed things. Sin is so reckless that they’re stuck in a place where they think, "You know what? I’m not even worthy of salvation. I’m not even worthy of God. Why would God love me, and why would God care?" Even believers live in that realm. Paul, when he writes to the Corinthians, he’s writing to believers. He’s describing these emotions to a church that needed to repent. So, what is the way out?

Let me describe what it really is. Your unwillingness to forgive yourself is a sin against God in and of itself. It is another sin. I’ll tell you why. When you sit there, when you think in your life and your brokenness that "I’m not even going to ask God, I don’t want anything to do with forgiveness," this is what you’re doing. You’re saying this: you’re thinking this way. You’re looking at the sin in your life and you're thinking, "This sin is so bad and it is so destructive that if I were God, I wouldn’t forgive it." To that, we all say, "Thank God you’re not God." So, there you are sitting, thinking, "If I was God, I would not forgive this, so I won't even deal with it."

There’s a Bible word for putting yourself in the place of God. You know what it is? Idolatry. It is the sin of idolatry. So if you say, "Well, I’m going to just take control of my life, and I’ve gone far outside the grace of God, I’ve gone outside the love of God, and if I was God, I wouldn’t forgive it," that is why some of you have broken relationships with others. Because you refuse to forgive them, because you think the sin is so bad that if you were God, you wouldn’t forgive them. I know it’s hard in this realm. I know it personally by experience. You think forgiveness might give approval, and it doesn’t. You think forgiveness might be a sign of weakness; it might. But when you forgive someone, you release them of the debt that they owe you, and you free yourself from being controlled by their continual sinful behavior. You don’t have to live under it anymore. You can walk in freedom. There’s a true freedom when you receive the forgiveness of God and then you give it.

Then you say, "But Ed, you don’t understand. They’re still sinning against me." Well, this is how you do it with other people: you live in a lifestyle of forgiveness, just like you live in a lifestyle of repentance. You know, there’s another doctrine out there, it’s called in the category of "hyper-grace." There was a guy on the radio here in Denver for a while that was teaching this. I don't know if he still is or not, but the doctrine goes something like this: you only need to repent one time and never again because you’re basically sinless the rest of your life. Wow. You are not sinless. You need to continue to repent, Church. Did you know that? You need to continue to change your mind, change your heart. Now, of course, you’re not repenting to get your salvation back. There is one truth: you do repent once for salvation. But there is a lifestyle of brokenness and repentance throughout our whole lives.

Larry: Pastor Ed, it seems today that repentance is almost a forgotten word. It’s rarely mentioned, and it’s not always mentioned in some Gospel presentations. But can there be conversion or salvation where there is no repentance?

Pastor Ed Taylor: Well, Larry, the answer to that question is a simple "no." Without repentance, there is no acknowledgment that God is right and we are wrong. You know, the word "repent," Jesus Himself used this word in His teachings. In Mark Chapter 2, verse 17, Jesus says, "Those who are well have no need of a physician." That would be the unrepentant. "But those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Those that are unwilling to admit it, those that are unwilling to change, those that are unwilling to acknowledge the goodness and greatness of God and His provision, will not repent. Without repentance, there is no salvation available.

In Luke 3:3, it talks about the significance here where it says that John the Baptist is going into all the region of Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Later on, he would say, "Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and don’t just lean on your historical, familial relationships, but you need to come to a personal relationship with Jesus and belief." The other side of the coin of belief is repentance. Great question. If you’re listening to me right now, listen, it’s important that you repent and confess your sins and receive the forgiveness that’s available to you through Jesus Christ.

Larry: Thanks again, Pastor Ed. We look forward to the rest of your message, "What Is Repentance?" That’s tomorrow on Abounding Grace when our study of Acts continues. This has been Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed. We’ll look for you next time as we open the word together in search of God’s abounding grace. Abounding Grace is brought to you by Calvary Church, Colorado, here in Aurora.