REPENTENCE

“THE TRUTH ABOUT REPENTENCE”

John the Baptist, “Repent ye and believe the Gospel” (Mark 1:15) Paul, “Repentance toward God and Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Acts 20:21)

INTRO. “Repentance means to change ones mind about what you believe”

1. About God
2. About the Bible
3. About Heaven
4. About Hell
5. About Christ

I. Three False Ideas About Repentance
1. Turning from sin (stop sinning)
A. Original Sin (How can one turn from this)
B. Omission - Leaving undone what I should do.
C. Commission - Doing what I ought not to do.
2. Sorrow for Sin. (Based on II Cor. 7:10) “Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation.”
3. Reformation - Must do something or be something.

II. Facts to Consider About Bible Repentance
1. The words “Repent, Repentance, Repented, Repenteth & Repenting are found 111 times in both the Old Testament & New Testament.
2. These are found 46 times in the New Testament and 65 in the Old Testament.
3. God does the repenting 28 times and 9 times “does not repent.”
4. Thirty seven times God repents or does not repent.
5. If “Repentance” means “turning from sin”, we have a problem.

III. The Meaning of the Word “Repentance”
1. Metamelomai - “To regret” or “Feel sorry” (Mt. 7:3-5) Judas
2. Metanoco - “To change the mind” “To look at it differently.”
3. From Two Words:
A. Meta - To change
B. Nous - Mind - Thinking - opinion - reasoning (Acts 5:31) (II Timothy 2:25)

IV. Repentance is not:
1. Repentance is not Remorse - (Judas had remorse but did not believe.)
2. Repentance is not Reformation (Changing ones way of living)
3. Repentance is not penitence - (Self effort toward man not God)
4. Repentance is not penance - (Hail Mary - give money - say rosary’s)
5. Repentance is not promise to do better.

V. What Makes a Man Lost?
1. Not lying, stealing, killing but Unbelief. (John 3:18)
2. Not lost because of what we have done or what we are doing but who we are.
3. Our creed determines our conduct; our belief determines our conduct, and our doctrine determines our deportment.

ILL: Jesus did not mention Repentance or changing his lifestyle to Nicodemus. That means 3 possibilities.

1. Repentance is not necessary to be saved.
2. Repentance is necessary but Jesus did not tell Nicodemus.
3. Repentance is included in the word “Believe”. (This is what I believe)