True Repentance
Writer Author Sylvia Huffnagle
Christian Article
:
Bible Teaching
- Fiction No
Acts: 2:38-39: Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 39: For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. (Amp. V. says: Repent--change your views, and purposes to accept the will of God in your inner selves instead of rejecting it.)
This article is to show what true repentance is and what it will do.
Hos: 7:1-2: When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers spoileth without. 2: And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before my face.
(Notice that God intended to and would have healed them, but sin interfered.)
Matt: 9:2: And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.
Mk: 4:12: That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them. (When one has truly repented, it fixes this problem.)
(God wants people to know that He sees and takes into account their transgressions. Why? So that they can feel guilty and have torment? No. So that they will have an added incentive to follow the instruction book and put on the full armor of God.
Some will say; we were taught that God doesn’t remember our sins, past, present, or future. That is true for one group only--those who truly repented of sin and truly received Jesus Christ.)
1Tim: 5:24: Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.
Heb: 10:26: For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
1Jn: 1:9: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Rev: 2:5: Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
Dan: 9:5-13: We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: 6: Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. 7: O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee. 8: O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. 9: To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him; 10: Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. 11: Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him. 12: And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem. 13: As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.
(Notice Vs 13, in order to understand God’s truth one must turn from sinful ways. True repentance prepares the way for the Lord. A right heart can receive truth.)
Repentance has been misunderstood. It has been preached and taught as if all that need be repented of is what humans call bad sins. But let’s look at what the Bible says:
Isa: 55:8-9: For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Matt: 3:1-12: In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
1Kings: 3:14: And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.
1Kings: 11:33: Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father.
1Kings: 11:38: And it shall be, if thou wilt hearken unto all that I command thee, and wilt walk in my ways, and do that is right in my sight, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did; that I will be with thee, and build thee a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel unto thee.
Ps: 81:13: Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!
This is what God wants:
Ps: 95:10: Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:
Prov: 8:32: Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways.
Prov: 23:26: My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
Isa: 58:2: Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.
Mal: 2:9: Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.
Matt: 7:14: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Matt: 21:32: For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: . . .
Matt: 22:16: And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men.
Lk: 1:79: To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Lk: 3:5: Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;
Jn 14:6: Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Acts 16:17: The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
Acts: 2:28: Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
Acts: 14:15-17: And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein: Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.
Acts: 18:25: This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.
Acts: 26:20: But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.
Rom: 3:12: They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Heb 3:10: Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
2Pet: 2:15: Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
2Pet: 2:21: For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
Rev: 15:3: And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
So God wants people to repent of doing things their way and to turn to Him and learn His ways. The things that Jesus taught are God’s Ways. If the people had this understanding the church would enjoy a far different outcome.
© Sylvia Huffnagle
Editor's Comment:
About the Writer Author
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Country:
United States
Email:
huffnagl@verizon.net
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www.straightpaths.truepath.com/about4.html
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