The Advent of Easter, Part IX by Pamela Christian—Copyright © 2019
Not enough people understand the gift of repentance. The fact God gave humanity a way of escape from the eternal consequences of utterly rejecting Him is an astonishing wonder. Consider the character, will, and intentions of God that motivated Him to provide us a way of escape. To receive His offer of repentance results in our freedom, our being declared blameless and therefore without guilt.
According to the Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Louw-Nida) repentance means, to change one’s way of life as the result of a complete change of thought and attitude with regard to sin and righteousness. In repentance, a person is given a true sense of the heinous nature of sin and, hating it, they turn to God through faith in Christ with the desire to part ways with sin. True repentance leads to eternal life.1
Grief that comes from God is characterized by repentance. This grief produces remorse caused by the realization of having lost God’s approval and the resulting desire is to reverse one’s heart-position on the matter. Once a person understands sin separates us from God and His favor, the grief experienced will lead them to repentance–which is essentially to agree with God about sin and receive the way God has provided for us to be released from sin. The way God’s provided for our restoration is through faith the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Placing our faith in Him as our Savior restores us into right relationship with God. It’s God’s loving kindness, not His judgement that leads people to repentance.
Speaking to the church in Corinth, the Apostle Paul revealed not all repentance is genuine. “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death” (2 Corinthians 7:10). Worldly grief, as the Apostle Paul reveals, is a remorse from losing the world’s approval, producing the desire to regain the world’s approval, which set’s a person up for death, or divine judgment. Many people teach repentance is changing one’s behavior. In reality, repentance is a change in the condition of the heart. True repentance is to see our sin condition for what it is, and decide to align ourselves with God’s standards. As a result, a change of heart occurs and the behavior is automatically adjusted. All of our actions and the words we speak, reveal the condition of our heart.
A person could be a genuine born-again Christian who has not accepted a particular practice as sinful, who continues the sinful practice. This individual sets him/herself up for revelation and discipline. An example would be a person who knows God’s standards about sex outside marriage, yet elects to continue the practice because of the world’s acceptance of sex outside marriage. As a born-again believer this person will experience internal conflict as the Holy Spirit continues to convict, wanting to bring the person to true repentance. Christians who reject the conviction from the Holy Spirit, who sear their conscience, are then considered willfully sinning where the discipline is more severe.
Conversely, a person could be a genuine born-again Believer, who knows their heart needs changing in a given area in order to put an end to a sinful practice. They recognize the issue as sin, and deeply want their heart to be changed, but they suffer in actually gaining victory in this area. This could be due to a deception, trauma, demonic stronghold, curse, or familiar spirit. A born-again Christian who continues to suffer the practice of sin, who seeks the Lord for His help, while failing to find victory, is not condemned. He is, however, continually convicted. The Holy Spirit won’t let such a person alone until they attain victory. If you find yourself in this situation, seek Pastoral counseling and assistance for the victory Christ died to give you. It’s the enemy of God, who seeks to prevent us from walking in the fullness of freedom we can have through faith in Christ.
Evidence that a person is truly born-again is visible based on how a person responds to sin. Sin truly troubles a genuine believer, whereas sin doesn’t bother a sinner in the least. A sinner is simply doing what comes naturally. True repentance hates sin; false repentance hates the consequences of sin.
A truly repentant Christian, who understands their new righteous standing before God, should be as bold as a starving lion to boldly apply God’s Kingdom agenda on earth as it is in heaven. With an understanding of the authority Jesus gives those who confess their sin, repent, and choose to follow Him, Christians should be actively subduing the enemy and advancing God’s will on earth. We have a glimpse of the impact personal repentance can have. Now, imagine the impact corporate repentance could have, especially in light of Matthew 29:18-20.
In this season of Lent, ask the Lord to examine your heart and show you any areas where you need to repent. Genuinely born-again Believers are miraculously given an entirely new spirit, and become new creatures in Christ. Renewal of our spirit will be the subject of the next post.
For March 22-23, 2019 read and meditate on the following Scriptures:
Matthew 3:8; Matthew 29:18-20; Luke 5:31-33; 2; John 1:6-10; Acts 3:9; Acts 11:18; Acts 20:21; Romans 2:4; 2 Corinthians 7:9; 2 Tim. 2:25; Hebrews 12:3-11
- Adriel Sanchez True vs. False Repentance: What’s the Difference?
https://corechristianity.com/resource-library/articles/true-vs-false-repentance-whats-the-difference
Scroll down below to access earlier posts in this series. To view the entire list of planned devotions, see the Introduction.
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