Repentance: What Is It?

Mark 1:15

 

INTRO: One of the most misunderstood doctrines of our time is the doctrine of repentance.  The most common definitions and teachings on repentance given from our pulpits today are far from what the Bible teaches on this subject.  It is sad to say, but many make up their own definition.  Something we ought not ever do.  Others, not looking into it on their own, simply parrot what they have heard from some famous preacher.

Friends, “salvation is of the Lord” (Jonah 2:9).  Man can do nothing to be saved other than to trust in Christ.

The truth about repentance needs to be told far and wide because many are in a state of deep confusion feeling as though they have not done enough, so called, repenting to be saved.

First, I want to consider what repentance is not; and then, I want to consider, from God’s Word, what repentance is.

 

I.          WHAT REPENTANCE IS NOT

A.       Repentance is not turning from sin.

1. To teach that repentance is turning from sin is to teach reformation for salvation instead of salvation by grace through faith (Eph 2:8-9).  No man is saved by turning from sin; he is saved by trusting in the sin bearer, the crucified, buried, and risen Lord Jesus Christ.

2. No living man has ever completely turned from sin.  Not a one of us has ever quit sinning.  Friend, you have not completely turned from your sin, nor have I.  To say that we have completely turned from sin is to call God a liar.  Speaking to believers, John said: “If we say that we have not sinned, we make him [God] a liar, and his word is not in us” (I Jn 1:10).

3. How can we plead with people to turn from all their sins when none of us have been able to do this.

a. A. M. Overton said: “....If repentance is turning from sin, then we may rest assured that no human being has ever repented and never will” (4).

b. The late Dr. Curtis Hutson had this to say about repentance: “traditions die hard.  Just because you have taught all your life that repentance is turning from sin does not mean it is true.  Anyone who teaches that repentance is turning from sin is teaching reformation for salvation and not salvation by grace through faith” (284).

B.       Repentance is not sorrow for sin.

1. Judas Iscariot was sorry for what he did, but he did not believe on Christ.  He did not have repentance, his sorrow over his sin did not save him.

2. In the jail and prisons, there are a lot of folks who are sorry for what they did and for what it has caused them.  But many are not saved because sorrow over sin will not save you.

3. II Cor 7:10 is used as a proof text to say that sorrow over sin is repentance.  First of all, this verse was written to the church at Corinth, to believers (II Cor 1:2).  It was not written to unbelievers.

a. Much could be said about II Cor 7:10, but I simply want to call your attention to the last part of the verse: “But the sorrow of the world worketh death.”  The “world” refers to the lost, to people who are not saved.  God says that the sorrow of the lost work’s death not life.  You cannot sorrow your way into heaven.

b. It should be pointed out that the church at Corinth needed to get some things right.  There was sin in the church, immorality (I Cor 5:1-5).  A godly sorrow among those Christians at Corinth was needed; they needed deliverance from the consequences of sin in the lives of believers.  The church needed to be right.

c. Dr. John R. Rice said: “yes, the Christians at Corinth had godly sorrow” (223).  So, in this instance, Dr. Rice says that the repentance was among Christians.  This is easily seen by carefully reading II Cor 7:8-12.

C.      Repentance is not confessing your sins.

1. Nowhere are we told to confess our sins to be saved.  Yes, the Christian is told to confess his sin (I Jn 1:9), but never the unbeliever.

2. I would like to pose this question: “Has anyone ever confessed all their sins?”  I have not, nor has anyone else.  If we must confess our sins to be saved, then I don’t think anyone will be saved.  To have to confess our sins to be saved, would be adding works to salvation.

3. In Acts 8:22, we read of Simon being instructed to “repent therefore of this wickedness, and pray to God....”  But Simon was a believer (vs 13).  Believers need to turn from wickedness; lost folks need to look to Jesus.

 

II.          WHAT REPENTANCE IS

A.       Repentance is a change of mind.

1. Repentance, in its various forms, is found sixty-five times in the New Testament.

a. Fifty eight of the sixty five times the word repentance is translated, it is translated from the Greek words metanoia and matanoeo.  Both of these words mean the same thing: meta signifies a change and noia or noeo means mind.  So metanoia and metanoeoI means “a change of mind, to change ones mind.” 

b. W. E. Vine says that metanoeo  “...signifies to change one’s mind or purpose.”

2. “The word translated ‘repentance’ is ‘metanoia.’  The prefix ‘meta’ implies a change.  An illustration of this may be noted in the English word ‘metamorphosis’ which means a change of form.  The word ‘noia’ is the word for ‘mind.’  Therefore, literally in everyday language, the word repentance as used in the New Testament means, ‘a change of mind’” (Overton 6).

B.       Repentance is God’s gift to lost sinners.

1. To be saved, God must open our hearts as He did for Lydia (Acts 16:14).  He must enlighten us as is taught in Ephesians 1:18.  And He must change our minds, so we can see the truth and acknowledge it (II Tim 2:25).

2. We cannot see the truth until God allows us to acknowledge the truth by granting repentance.  We cannot see spiritual truth until we are quickened from our state of death by the Holy Spirit (Eph 2:1).  There must be regeneration before there can be salvation.

3. Titus 3:5 teaches us that salvation is not of works, but it is by God’s mercy that He opens our hearts and allows our hearts to be changed through the preaching of the Gospel.

C.      Repentance results in turning to God.