What Is Repentance?

[angels4u]

 By Gipsy Smith 

    If there is a man or woman who has been trying to live a Christian life and has no joy in it, and no victory in it, and no song in it – I know the reason.  It is that they have never repented.  They have started wrong.

    Repentance is the most neglected doctrine in the New Testament and the most unpopular.  People do not like to be called to repentance and you do not often hear it preached.  And yet the Bible is a handbook of repentance.  It enforces it, commands it, and so demands it that no substitute can be accepted for it.

    Over sixty times the Scriptures enforce it, and all the Epistles are written to show men how to repent, so that no one need be in a fog as to what repentance means, yet multitudes of people are.

    A spurious repentance means a spurious Christian life, and the reason many church-goers have no joy and peace in the Holy Ghost is because they do not obey the Scripture – “Repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

    You ask, “What is repentance?”  It is not conviction of sin.  Conviction is an element of repentance but you can be convicted without repenting.  No one repents until he is convicted, but not all who are convicted do repent.

    Conviction is not enough.  It is not repentance.  And, “except ye repent, ye shall…perish” (Luke 13:3).  Is sorrow repentance?  No, it is not enough to be sorry for your sins.  Something more than tears is needed.

    If repentance is not conviction, and not sorrow, what is it?  Is it promising to do better?  No.  Some of you have been doing that for years and you are further from God than ever.

    What is repentance?  Repentance is turning from sin to God.

    Repentance is getting hold of that which is your curse by the hair of its head and tearing it out by the roots.  Pride is one of them.  Pride can be as damning as drunkenness – and is.  There is pride of face, pride of place, pride of grace, and pride of race.

    We need saving from our good self, our religious self, our spiritual self – as much as from our bad self.  Satan is very subtle and if he cannot hinder by our badness, he will hinder by our goodness.  If he cannot hinder us by our depths, he will hinder by our heights.  If he cannot alienate us from God, he will hinder us by our self-righteousness, and if we are not careful he will come to us as an angel of light.

    Pride, self-righteousness, sham, fraud, hypocrisy, lust, duplicity – the sin in your life which enslaves you, let it go.  Kill it – and all other things in your life that are wrong will slink away like so many whipped curs.

    What is repentance then?  It is the moral response of the awakened soul to the call of God, the home of the soul.  Have you repented?  Have you turned from sin unto God?

    “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die:  for I have not found thy works perfect before God.  Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent…As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten:  be zealous therefore, and repent” (Rev. 3:2-3, 19).

[GandalfTheWise]

15 minutes ago, angels4u said:

[Edited out for space]

    You ask, “What is repentance?”  It is not conviction of sin.  Conviction is an element of repentance but you can be convicted without repenting.  No one repents until he is convicted, but not all who are convicted do repent.

    Conviction is not enough.  It is not repentance.  And, “except ye repent, ye shall…perish” (Luke 13:3).  Is sorrow repentance?  No, it is not enough to be sorry for your sins.  Something more than tears is needed.

    If repentance is not conviction, and not sorrow, what is it?  Is it promising to do better?  No.  Some of you have been doing that for years and you are further from God than ever.

Is this the entire article or is there something missing from the end?  It seems to end on a "you are doing it wrong" note without giving "here's how you do it right" section.

[enoob57]

Repentance is coming into complete agreement with God and what His Word says about us and reckoning our desire and direction wrongfully dead...

2 Corinthians 7:10 (KJV)

[10] For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

after this repentance it's a working out of that salvation with fear and trembling for we see the expectation of our Lord and the weakness of ourselves...

[Willa]

We turn to God for forgiveness, and accept that He will help us because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the sin of all mankind.  He paid the penalty in our place as our Scapegoat, as our Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.  For without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin.

[Psalms37:4]

Matthew 3:8-10 New King James Version (NKJV)

⁸ Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, ⁹ and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. ¹⁰ And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Matthew 3:8-10 Easy-to-Read Version (ERV)

⁸ Change your hearts! And show by the way you live that you have changed. ⁹ I know what you are thinking. You want to say, ‘but Abraham is our father!’ That means nothing. I tell you, God could make children for Abraham from these rocks. ¹⁰ The ax is now ready to cut down the trees.Every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

 

 

Luke 3:8-9 New King James Version (NKJV)

⁸ Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. ⁹ And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Luke 3:8-9 Good News Translation (GNT)

⁸ Do those things that will show that you have turned from your sins. And don't start saying among yourselves that Abraham is your ancestor. I tell you that God can take these rocks and make descendants for Abraham! ⁹ The ax is ready to cut down the trees at the roots; every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown in the fire.”

 

 

 

 

[Raven]

Repentance is acknowledging one's own truth about what they have been in denial about. Repentance is facing judgment of God. It is the willingness, at all costs, to step in the Light to be exposed and vulnerable to judgment. Not only that, but prepared to take responsibility for it; even if it means rejection, segregation, abandonment, and annihilation. Repentance is an act of faith. It is worthy of God's forgiveness and love, though most don't understand this because they have not yet experienced unconditional love. Repentance is the gate which opens the door to the kingdom of God. Repentance is being True.

Jesus Christ is the way the truth and the life. Repentance on a daily basis is a way to live truthfully.

[4LdKHVCzRDj2]

19 hours ago, angels4u said:

What Is Repentance?

I believe it is to accept and understand you are evil (full of sins) and want to be on another side. When you repent, you hate evil, is blessed with the Holy Spirit and want to live in Christ (without hypocrisy).

"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" - Luke 11:13

 

There are many who say to follow Christ but actually they do not, and still need to repent and accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour of their souls. Those who repented and now follow Christ hates - and I mean hates - sin, and loves the Lord.

"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." - John 15:5

 

And those who do not live in truth and light (false prophets) will be thrown into the fire.

The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares

Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field;
but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.
But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.
So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’
He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’
But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them.
Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers,
“First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’” - Matthew 13:24-30

 

"And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’" - Matthew 7:23

[missmuffet]

In the Bible repentance is defined as "to change one's mind". Repentance results in a change of behavior. It is one of results of a genuine turn towards Jesus Christ.
 

[simplejeff]

21 hours ago, angels4u said:

   Over sixty times the Scriptures enforce it, and all the Epistles are written to show men how to repent, so that no one need be in a fog as to what repentance means, yet multitudes of people are.

When people are told "go and do as you have already done,  live as you have lived already (in sin)"

no wonder they are confused - in a fog ....

What does God Say ? :

Leviticus 19:2
"Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, 'You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.

Deuteronomy 18:13
"You shall be blameless before the LORD your God.

2 Samuel 22:31
"As for God, His way is blameless; The word of the LORD is tested; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.

Matthew 5:47
And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even Gentiles do the same?

2 Corinthians 7:1
Therefore, beloved, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Ephesians 5:1
Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children,
 

[angels4u]

     

Quote

 

If repentance is not conviction, and not sorrow, what is it?  Is it promising to do better?  No.  Some of you have been doing that for years and you are further from God than ever.

   

 

Many people get convicted when they go to a let say Billy Graham crusade , they are convicted that they are sinners and they walk up to the front to accept Jesus , now those same people go home and live the life they always lived without repenting from their sins ,that is why it  is so very important for new believers to read the Bible and fellowship with other Christians to get convicted to repent from their sins after becoming believers....

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 1 Cor.3:6