Today's teaching from Rick Renner's "Sparkling Gems From The Greek - Volume 2" is one of my very favorite revelations from thye Word of God! THIS changes EVERYTHING from what I was orignally taught!
God’s Requirement REPENTANCE
Then Peter said unto them, Repent…. — Acts 2:38
In a recent survey, people who regularly attend church were
asked to articulate what the word “repentance” meant to them. The survey
resulted in an intriguing and interesting assortment of answers. The majority
of those who participated in the survey stated that they believed the word
“repentance” meant one or more of the following:
To feel sorry about something one did or failed to do.
To feel remorseful about some act and to ask for forgiveness
for it.
To walk forward in a church service to formally ask Jesus
into one’s heart.
Although these answers are interesting, none of
them is correct! What’s most shocking about this survey is that it was given to
people who regularly attend church yet who could not accurately articulate what
it means to “repent.”
Before we go any further, let’s include you in
the survey. How would you define the meaning of the word “repent”? Try to
answer that question before reading on.
The word “repent” is a very important New Testament word.
The first time it is chronologically used in the New Testament is in Matthew
3:2, Mark 1:4, and Luke 3:3, where we are told that John the Baptist preached,
“…Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). John’s
ministry was literally launched with that one word “repent.” According to the
preaching of John the Baptist, the only way to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven
was through repentance.
Jesus, too, began His public ministry by beckoning His
listeners to repent. In Matthew 4:17, Jesus commenced His preaching ministry
when He said, “…Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Like John
the Baptist, Jesus knew that the only way to enter the Kingdom of God was
through repentance.
Then in Acts 2:38, we read that Peter launched his preaching
ministry on the Day of Pentecost with the same requirement of repentance. Just
as John the Baptist and Jesus had called on men to repent, so Peter told his
audience in Acts 2:38, “Repent.” Peter understood that repentance is the “birth
canal” through which people enter the Kingdom of God. In other words, it is the
only way to truly be delivered from the kingdom of darkness and to emerge
spiritually reborn and filled with the God-kind of life.
Real repentance is very different from remorse. Yet feelings
of remorse for a past action was one of the most frequent definitions
given by people who participated in the aforementioned church survey.
For example, the word metamelomai is used in the
gospels to describe the remorse, guilt, and regret that
seized the heart and mind of Judas Iscariot after he betrayed Jesus. What Judas
experienced was not true repentance, which brings personal change and
transformation. Because the Greek word metamelomai is used to
describe the emotions that captured him, it tells us that Judas was inundated
with distressed, regretful emotions. Such sorrow should not be
confused with repentance, for there are many who undergo a flood of regret and
sorrow for something they have done, yet they don’t truly repent.
Personal change and transformation — NOT remorse, regret,
and sorrow — are the true proof of repentance.
The word “repent” that was used by John the Baptist, Jesus,
and Peter, is the Greek word metanoeo. This is very different from the
word metamelomai. The word metanoeo — “repent” —
means a change of mind, repentance, or conversion. In Old
Testament and Classical Greek language, metanoeo first and foremost
meant a change of mind. Thus, the use of metanoeo is the
call to turn or to change one’s attitudes and ways. As used in
the New Testament, it demands a complete, radical, and total change. It
is a decision to completely change or to entirely turn around in
the way one is thinking, believing, or living. The word “repent” in the
New Testament gives the image of a person changing from top to bottom — a total
transformation wholly affecting every part of a person’s life.
Metanoeo reflects a turn, a change, a
change of direction, a new course, and a completely altered view of
life and behavior. This is not the same as a fleeting sorrow for past actions,
but a solid, intellectual decision to take a new direction, to turn about-face,
and to revise the pattern of one’s life.
I must point out the importance of the word nous contained
in this definition of repentance. The word nous, as previously noted,
is the Greek word for the mind. This means that the decision to repent
lies in the mind, not in the emotions. Emotions may accompany repentance,
but they are not required to repent. Real repentance is a mental
choice to leave a life of sin, flesh, and selfishness, and to turn toward God
with all of one’s heart and mind in order to follow Jesus.
A prime example of such a turning can be seen in
Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonian believers when he commended them for
the way in which they had “…turned to God from idols to serve the living and
true God” (1 Thessalonians 1:9). The word “turned” in this verse is the Greek
word epistrepho, which means to be completely turned around.
Note that Paul said the Thessalonian believers turned from
idols “to serve the living and true God.” The word “serve” is important, for it
tells us that the turn they made produced a life change with visible fruit that
reflected the change. The word “serve” is the word douleuo, the word
for a servant, implying that the Thessalonian believers had fully left
behind idolatry and had completely dedicated their lives to serving Jesus.
By using this word douleuo, Paul informed us that the
Thessalonians didn’t just claim to have repented; they showed it by changing
the way they thought and lived and served. Their
dramatically different outward behavior was guaranteed proof that
real repentance had occurred.
Repentance is not the mere acceptance of a new philosophy or
new idea. It is a conversion to truth so deep that it results in a total
life change. The idea of an across-the-board transformation is intrinsic
to the word “repent.” In fact, if there is no transformation, change of
behavior, or change of desire in a person who claims to have repented, it is
doubtful that true repentance ever occurred, no matter what the person claims.
Real repentance begins with a decision to make an about-face and to change, but
its proof can be witnessed as one’s outward conduct complies with
that decision.
Repentance is God’s requirement as presented by John the
Baptist, Jesus, and Peter, as well as in other places in Scripture too numerous
to count. This means that a person cannot come to God and continue to live as
he did before he received the Lord.
We sing the old song, “Just as I Am, Without One Plea”1 —
and certainly we do come to God “just as we are” to receive God’s gracious gift
of salvation. However, God does not expect us to remain the way we
are. He expects change, and that is what repentance is all about. With godly
repentance, there must be an abandonment of our past and a complete and
absolute surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, evidenced by our living
according to God’s righteous standard.
1 Charlotte Elliott, “Just As I Am,” The Christian
Remembrancer Pocket Book (Poetry, 1835).
As you grow in your walk with God, the Holy Spirit will
continue to reveal things in your life that need to change. When He opens your
eyes to those things that are displeasing to Him, you must be willing to repent
— to make an intelligent, intellectual decision to adjust your thinking and
behavior to conform to God’s ways. It’s a conscious choice. Will you remain
belligerent in your attitude and thus defy God’s requirement to change — or
humbly bow before His holiness and adjust your thinking and behavior to get in
agreement with Him and His Word?
More than 2,000 years ago, Jesus began His earthly ministry
by preaching, “…Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).
He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (see Hebrews 13:8). Today He
is still speaking to people’s hearts, telling them to turn from wrong ways that
are detrimental to living a life that is holy and pleasing to God. So ask
yourself if your ministry to other people reflects that same priority. But
first and foremost — what is the Holy Spirit saying to you, and how should
you respond today?
AMEN! Simply put, repenting is changing your thinking to agree with God! When we choose to think God's thoughts after Him, then our behaviour changes to refelct that! Here is Hillsong with "I Surrender":
Shalom in Him!
