Another important subject. This one will by necessity have to be in two or maybe three parts. Here's part 1.
Repentance??? Now, here’s another word that leads most Christians into error, because they just have not received a true revelation of what this really is or looks like. So many are hung up on what repentance entails. They think, because of wrong teaching, that it means you have to confess and be sorry for your sins. In other words, you have to tell God “I’m sorry that I yelled at my boss today. Please forgive me so I can continue to be in right alignment with you”. Well, there’s so much error right there. First of all, it’s not God’s wrath you’re trying to avoid when you are repenting, because God doesn’t use scare tactics or threats of unkindness in order to get us to repent. Look at these verses.
Romans 2:4 in the NAS. “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance”? Here it is in the NLT. “Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that His kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?” You see, it’s His kindness and mercy.
Secondly, Jesus preached a message of repentance that instructed a change in thinking, not performance. Look at what he said in Matt 4:17 – “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” From what time on? From the time John the baptist was imprisoned and Jesus began His ministry.
What was Jesus saying when He said, repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. He was saying quit operating under your old legalistic, Jewish laws and start living under the Gospel of Grace. Look at Mark 1:15. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Right here the "ya but" ministries will say, it doesn’t say believe in the gospel of grace. Oh ya. You forget there are 65 other books in the bible. Lets look at one of them. Galatians 1:6 – “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel”. Do you see the part which says “Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a DIFFERENT gospel? Well if you use some common sense here, the grace of Christ is the gospel, because Paul infers they were going after a different gospel.
Look what Paul says about that. Galatians 1:8 – “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed”. Did you see that? Well, what Gospel did Paul preach? Come on. We all know he preached the gospel of grace.
Read Romans to Philemon and tell me where works is even a part of the Good News Gospel of Grace. The Holy Spirit was so emphatic that we would get this point that he told Paul to write it again. Look at Galatians 1:9 – “As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed”.
I mean…WOW. Did you see that. The Holy Spirit through Paul says if Paul or any of the apostles preach any other gospel, it’s cursed time. Oh by the way, even if an angel from heaven, or any man preach any other gospel, other than the gospel of grace, they are to be accursed. Now I didn’t say that…God did.
There are so many scriptures in Matthew through John about repentance, you can look them up for yourselves. What happens with religious people who read the bible and don’t study it is they will find a scripture that fits their ilk and say…”see, right there it proves your wrong”. Well if you’ve followed my writings at all, you know I never settle on just one scripture to make my point of truth. But here’s one that the legalist will throw at you. Mark 1:4. “John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins”.
See, right there it says you have to repent to get your sins forgiven. OK. Let’s ask the pertinent questions. Who’s talking, who’s the audience, what’s the dispensation era, and why is he saying this? Remember, we already went over the part in Matthew 4:17 when Jesus spoke repentance. Here, John is speaking the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, but it’s repentance under the law toward sin. But Jesus comes along in Matthew 4:17 and says the kingdom of heaven is at hand, so repent and believe the gospel of God, which we’ve proven is the gospel of grace. (Mark 1:15, Gal 1:6,8,9). Mark 1:14 and 15 is after John the baptist.
Now what is Jesus instructing concerning repentance? Repent and believe in the gospel of the kingdom. Now it’s repentance towards God not toward sin. Change your mind and thinking toward God. I like what Bill Johnson says. Repentance can be broken down to this. “RE” – re-establish your belief in who God is in you and who you are in God and “pent” – move up to the penthouse of grace.
While I was writing the RE part, God spoke to me and said, “also, RE is to remind you to remember the body and blood, as in communion, and remember that I’ve forgiven and forgotten all sin, not just yours. YEEEOOOWWW! Now that’s good right there. God is a really good preacher and I love it when He teaches me stuff. Yay God!!!
Greek theologians believed repentance is likened to remorse, sorrow, contrition. NO NO NO!!! In other words, we have to be punished when we screw up. Well, then what was Jesus for?
I’m not sure where I heard this, but liked it and repeating it here. Judas repented himself. He was remorseful for what he did. And yet, he went out and hung himself. All his effort to try and get himself right through feeling sorry for what he did, couldn’t bring him out of his depressive state. If he would have just waited a few more hours, Jesus would hang for him.
Self-righteousness is punishing yourself for your failures. Being remorseful and believing you need to be punished is not what repentance is all about. Danny Silk says in his book, we are unpunishable. We are children of light. Punishment is a world system process and thereby a dark system. It cannot govern light, because every time darkness comes in contact with light, the light overtakes it. It’s this simple….darkness…..click…………….over. Thank you Danny. How powerful is that?
I'll stop here for now so this doesn't get too long, but don't miss the next part as we continue to shine the light of truth on the false teaching behind this subject of repentance. Grace and Peace.
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