A Lamp Unto My Feet Bible Study Website
COURSE IN ADVANCED BIBLICAL DOCTRINES
Lesson #10
- The Doctrine of Repentance
- This is another doctrine that is often misunderstood simply because sinful man seeks to justify his own sinful behavior and yet relieve his guilt to think that he is acceptable to God.
- Uniquely, God made man with a conscience to experience guilt.
- In this way man knows deep within that he has done something wrong.
- Man invents various ways to deal with his guilt. We can best understand the process if we consider that man has an internal spiritual scale.
- When we commit sin, the scale becomes unbalanced and guilt weighs heavily on one side.
- An unbalanced spiritual scale makes man feel bad and moves him to try to re-balance the scale.
- Consider Adam and Eve after they committed the first sin.
- They fled from God because of a guilty conscience. (Gen 3:8)
- To equalize the scale, man feels that he must add some weight to the other side of the scale to balance out the guilt.
- Adam and Eve equalized the spiritual scale with blame.
- To relieve the personal guilt, Adam blamed Eve, Eve blamed the serpent, and Adam blamed God. (Gen 3:12-13)
- How many marital fights are like this with one spouse blaming the other?
- This psychological game of blame to balance guilt is not a permanent answer.
- Blaming others does not make a person acceptable to God. It is only self-deceptive and damages personal relationships.
- Blaming others does not relieve a person of the responsibility before God of one’s own actions.
- Because man soon discovers that the inner spiritual scale is not permanently balanced, he tries to balance it with good works that outweigh the sin committed. He thinks that he can do enough good works to outweigh the sin.
- However, good works are never enough to balance the spiritual scale.
- Read Gal 2:16
- The only remedy for sin is repentance and the forgiveness that comes through Jesus Christ. However, there is such a thing as false repentance and true repentance.
- False repentance:
- False repentance is the attitude of a child that gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
- He says, “Mommy, I’m sorry!”
- He is not truly sorry for his disobedience. How do we know this?
- The minute mommy is not looking he will again put his hand in the cookie jar to get what he wants.
- Therefore, the boy is only sorry because he got caught.
- False repentance:
- This is another doctrine that is often misunderstood simply because sinful man seeks to justify his own sinful behavior and yet relieve his guilt to think that he is acceptable to God.
He has no intention of changing his behavior.
He says he is sorry because that is what mommy wants to hear.
He says he is sorry because he does not want mommy to punish him.
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- Therefore his repentance is only external with a bad motive.
- We have an excellent example in scripture of false repentance: Esau
- Read Rom 9:13
- Read Heb 12:16-17
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Why was Esau not forgiven even though he sought repentance?
Profuse tears do not mean that there is a change of the direction of one’s heart.
Esau sought repentance on his terms and not God’s terms. He wanted to relieve the guilt but did not want to humble himself to God or his brother.
Esau wanted to reverse the process of consequences.
Every sin has consequences that automatically result from that sin.
We must not confuse consequences with spiritual forgiveness.
God forgives sin, but He does not always remove the consequences of that sin.
The example is David’s sin with Bathsheba. He repented of that sin and God forgave him. However, the consequences of the sin remained.
Bathsheba’s baby died.
The consequences of sin manifested themselves in the members of his family. Sexual sins in his children and the rebellion of Absalom.
Even though you may have to live through the consequences of sin, you can still gain spiritual forgiveness from God.
To endure the consequences of sin with a proper attitude can make you a stronger more mature believer in Jesus Christ.
With a proper attitude toward consequences, God gives grace to the believer.
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- We have another scriptural example of false repentance: Judas Iscariot
- Judas was sorry for what he had done. He was so sorry that he killed himself.
- Extreme sorrow is not the sole evidence of true repentance. He should have gone to God, confessed his sin, and asked for forgiveness.
- Pride is the deterrent to true repentance in both Esau and Judas.
- We have another scriptural example of false repentance: Judas Iscariot
- True repentance:
- The definition:
- In the Old Testament and the New Testament, the word “repent” means = to turn.
- There are two requirements in the word “repent”:
- The definition:
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=1= To turn from something.
=2= To turn to something.
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- True repentance must include both of these two aspects, turning from and turning to.
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Turning From:
Read Eze 33:11
Man must turn from his evil deeds. This was the common cry of the Old Testament prophets.
Turning from evil must include man’s attitudes and man’s actions.
To turn from something in external deeds only is not sufficient because as a man is in his heart so is he. (Luk 6:45)
Therefore, man must also turn away from the evil thoughts and attitudes to successfully turn from the evil deeds.
Read Isa 1:16-17
Turning To:
Notice that it is not sufficient just to turn away from evil, for the believer must then turn to God.
If there is not the turning to God, there is only half of a connection.
It is like plugging an electrical extension cord into the wall socket. If you plug in only one end of the cord, the electricity will not flow through the cord to the other end until you plug that other end into a lamp. Then the electricity will flow through the cord from the wall to light the lamp.
The power of change in a person’s life is connected to the source of power when the believer turns from evil and turns to God.
Turning to God is more than sorrow or contrition for a sin committed.
In turning to God, confession of Sin is a requirement that goes through the whole Bible.
Read 1Joh 1:9
Turning to God signifies a new relationship between the sinner and God.
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- Repentance in the Old Testament:
- Repentance is common in the Old Testament especially among the prophets who continually called the Israelites to repentance.
- There were two ways used in the Old Testament to demonstrate repentance:
- =1= religious
- A turning to God in obedience.
- A returning to God after a broken relationship with God.
- =1= religious
- Repentance in the Old Testament:
Read Amos 4:4
Read Amos 4:8-11
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- =2= ritual
- Judaism contained ways that man could express by actions his repentant heart.
- =2= ritual
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Fasting
Wearing of sackcloth and ashes
Tearing one’s clothing
Programmed days of repentance
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- The problem with these external actions is that they became legalistic and hypocritical rituals without the necessary internal feelings or the determination of a changed heart.
- The emphasis on these external expressions of repentance is discontinued in the New Testament, with the exception of fasting.
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- Repentance in the New Testament:
- Repentance in the New Testament has two aspects to the Greek word, Metanoia.
- =1= A turning away from sin
- Read Mar 1:4
- The New Testament begins with the idea of the nearness of judgment accompanied the imperative command to turn from sin.
- John the Baptist commanded people to repent for the kingdom of God was at hand.
- =2= An inward feeling of remorse or extreme sorrow.
- The deep feeling of remorse or extreme sorrow comes over a person when he sees his sin from God’s perspective.
- =1= A turning away from sin
- Repentance in the New Testament has two aspects to the Greek word, Metanoia.
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As long as man views his sin in relation to other people, his sin does not look so bad. Man can always find someone whose sins seem blacker than his own.
However, if man is able to see sin in relation to the extreme holiness of God, his sin appears insurmountably evil.
How can man see his sin from God’s perspective?
Sections of the Word of God give us this perspective. For example, the book of Leviticus contrasts the terribleness of sin with the extreme holiness of God.
The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to convict the heart of sin.
When man sees his sin from God’s perspective, he is driven to repentance accompanied by a deep sorrow.
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- The evidence of repentance:
- In the New Testament, repentance is demonstrated in various ways:
- To turn to Jesus Christ (be converted)
- In the New Testament, repentance is demonstrated in various ways:
- The evidence of repentance:
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Because Jesus has the power and authority to forgive sin, man must turn to Christ in repentance and belief.
Read Mar 1:15
Read Act 3:19
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- The baptism of repentance (preached by John the Baptist)
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The baptism of repentance is to be born again.
The baptism of repentance gives the believer a new life with a new direction.
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- The obedience of water baptism.
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Water baptism is the external testimony of what has already occurred in the heart when the person was born again having invited Jesus Christ into his life and heart.
Water baptism is a believer’s identification of himself with the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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- A changed life.
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In the same way as in the Old Testament, repentance means to turn around and go in the opposite direction.
When the Holy Spirit changes a life, there is a new direction away from sin and toward God and the things of God.
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- Good works.
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A believer in Jesus Christ will repent of a lifestyle of sin and produce good works as evidence.
These good works are things that God has specifically planned for the believer to do to serve Christ.
These good works follow the point in time when he has been born again.
They do not earn the believer his salvation.
They are simply evidence of his repentance of a sinful style of life in the world.
Read Act 26:20
Read Eph 2:8-10
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- In the New Testament, a changed life glorifies God and pleases God.
- Read Rom 8:7-9
- Read 1The 4:1
- In the New Testament, a changed life glorifies God and pleases God.
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- There is one more difficult concept in regards to repentance:
- Read Gen 6:6
- Read Exo 32:14
- Read Jdg 2:18
- In these passages it tells us that God repented.
- The same Hebrew word is used in repentance for man or for God.
- However, because God does not sin, he does not repent of sin.
- Neither does God make mistakes so as to feel sorrow over a mistake.
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Therefore, when the passage says that God repented, it only refers to God’s extreme sorrow or pity based on his love for man.
God’s repentance does not indicate a mistake.
