"Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner [convicted in heart - seeing sin as God does], that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world [self-centered] produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication [justification]! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear [lit. "PURE"] in this matter." -2 Corinthians 7:9-11
The Bible
says that godly
sorrow produces repentance,
which leads to
salvation
(purity)
but the sorrow of the world produces death (Hebrews
12:17; Matthew
27:3). [false repentance is based simply on emotion or
intellect
and is
worried about personal interests more than how your sin effects God and
others, and
is not from sincerity of heart]. Then Paul goes on to describe the
qualities of this repentance which is produced by "godly
sorrow" and ends in justification, purity and salvation:
Godly Sorrow experienced in the good and noble heart which has properly received the Word of God (Luke 8:15)...
And... REPENTANCE:
-
Diligence [speed, haste; earnest effort to change and be cleared]...
-
Clearing of yourself [of wrongdoing and making amends where possible; self-vindication, self-defence]...
-
Indignation [hate/anger of personal sin; self-contempt, disgust or abhorrence]...
-
Fear [godly fear; fear of God; conviction of heart; fear of sinning more]...
-
Vehement Desire [intense passion; ernest longing for reconciliation with God; longing for restoration]...
-
Zeal [enthusiastic diligence to remove sin; eagerness in embracing and pursuing these things]...
-
Vindication [to avenge, to do justice]
-
Clear [Greek, “pure”]...
The
above
outlined qualities are all ingredients of true Biblical Repentance.
In light of this, repentance could be looked at as beginning with a
"crisis of conviction" where one, if they allow them-self
in humility (James
1:21), experiences a "season of godly
sorrow", which then leads to "a clearing", or a "time
of refreshing" (Acts
3:19) and finally comes clean with the Lord
and thus purifies their soul (1
Peter 1:22). THEN it is that they can
come into contact with Christ's Blood and receive forgiveness [a
clear; pure heart], and where they come into initial salvation and
forgiveness of past sins (Rom.
3:25).
Biblical repentance is a real change, far beyond simply
"believing, confessing or desiring" (like what is taught in
the majority of churches, and has been for hundreds of years).
Repentance is
where the old man dies in the "baptism of death", or the
"baptism of repentance", and thus where the passions and
desires of the flesh are crucified, where the circumcision of the
heart takes place (Colossians
2:11; Romans
2:29), and the New Birth
occurs (John
3:3; Ephesians
4:24):
Romans
6:3-5
Or do you
not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized
into His
death
(taking
up the
cross - Mat.10:38).
Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism
into death (crucifying passions and desires of the flesh - Galatians
5:24; 1
Peter 4:1), that just as Christ was raised from the dead by
the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of
life (2
Cor. 5:17; Eph.
4:24). For if we have been united together in
the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness
of His resurrection.
True Biblical Repentance, therefore,
will include a turning FROM sin, a turning TO God, which are works
(fruits, manifestations or evidences -- the works/fruits including
those
qualities mentioned above in 2
Corinthians 7:9-11).
Acts
26:18
...to open
their eyes [conviction of the Holy Spirit at hearing the Truth],
in order to turn
them from
darkness
to
light,
and from
the power of
Satan to God [Matthew
6:24],
that
they may
receive
forgiveness of sins
and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.
Acts
26:20
but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and
throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that
they should
repent,
turn to God, and do works
befitting
repentance.
Since
we
are
not saved by works of the Mosaic Ceremonial Law, I believe the "first
works" mentioned in the following text is that "clearing of
wrongdoing" (as outlined above). Here Christ, while watching
believers and seeing them starting to fall away, is calling the
apostatizing Church of Ephesus back to repentance, unless
He remove their Lampstand:
Revelation
2:4-5
Nevertheless I
have this against you, that you
have left your first love.
Remember
therefore
from where you have fallen;
repent
and do
the first works,
or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its
place—unless
you
repent.
And
there are "Fruits of Repentance" which also, I am thinking,
must be these same "works" of repentance...
Matthew
3:8
Therefore bear
fruits worthy of repentance.
This all lines up with Isaiah's
declaration of repentance:
Isaiah
1:16-20 "Wash
yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings
from before My eyes.
Cease to
do evil,
learn to do good; Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.
"Come now,
and
let us reason together," Says the LORD,
"Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall
be
as
white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson, They shall
be
as
wool. If
you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land; But
if you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured by the sword";
For the
mouth of the
LORD has spoken.
Isaiah
55:7
Let the wicked
forsake his way, And the
unrighteous
man his thoughts;
Let him return
to the LORD, And
[then] He will have mercy on him;
And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.
And
James'
James
1:21
Therefore lay
aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness,
and [then] receive
with meekness the implanted word,
which is able to save your souls.
And Jeremiah's:
Jeremiah
26:13
Now therefore, amend
your ways
and your doings [the clearing], and
obey the voice of the LORD
your God; THEN
the LORD will relent concerning the doom
that He has pronounced against you.
And Ezekiel's:
Ezekiel
18:27-32
Again, when
a wicked man
turns away from the wickedness which he committed, and does what is
lawful and right, he preserves himself alive.
Because he considers and turns
away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely
live;
he
shall not die.
Yet
the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not
fair.’
O house of Israel, is it not My ways which are fair, and your ways
which are not fair? “Therefore I will judge you, O house of
Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord GOD.
“Repent,
and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be
your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have
committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.
For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in
the death of one who dies,” says the Lord GOD. “Therefore
turn and live!”
And Jonah's preaching to Nineveh:
Jonah
3:8-10
But
let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God;
yes, let
every one turn
from
his evil way
and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will
turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may
not perish? Then
God saw their works [of repentance; their "clearing"], that
they turned from their evil way; and [then] God relented
from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He
did not do it.
Christ even referred to this repentance of Nineveh. How much more
severe
will the punishment be those that refuse to repent at His
calling?
Matthew
12:41
The men of Nineveh will rise up in the
judgment with this generation and condemn it, because
they repented at
the preaching
of Jonah [before they were granted mercy];
and indeed
a greater
than Jonah is here.
Confessing [realizing, admitting] AND
forsaking sins are steps needed to attain God's mercy:
Proverbs
28:13
He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever
confesses and
forsakes
[stops them] will have mercy.
And I believe this process could be looked at as "preparing the way of the Lord, Making His paths straight (in our heart). And "breakign up the fallow ground of our heart"...
Luke
3:4
as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
saying:“ The voice of one crying in the
wilderness:‘ Prepare
the way of the LORD; Make
His paths straight.
Jeremiah
4:3
For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “ Break up your fallow
ground, And
do not sow among thorns (Mark
4:18).
(see context in Jeremiah
4:1-4).
Hosea
10:12
Sow for
yourselves
righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is
time to seek the LORD, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.
There
are many, many more
examples of this type of dramatically life changing repentance and
stopping of sin in the
Scriptures. And if this is all true, and
I believe it is,
then
the majority (all?) of the Churches today are (supposedly)
leading people to Christ by means of "worldly sorrow"
(which leads to death), and thus true repentance is not taking place
and there is therefore no contact with the Blood of Christ or the
resulting salvation. I totally believe that today we have millions of
false converts in the Churches (and has been for hundreds of years)
because of the false teachings concerning the nature of what sin and
repentance is.
Repentance is a clearing of wrongdoing, a time
of refreshing, and a true change of heart that is to take place
BEFORE remission of past sins (2
Peter 1:9; Romans
3:25) where initial
salvation is granted (Titus
3:7; Romans
8:24). I also believe that if
someone were to truly experience this godly sorrow and repentance
by means of reading the Bible on their own, if they then go into the
Churches they will be put to sleep by the false grace message they
will hear, the fluff that tickles their ears (2
Timothy 4:2-4) which
keeps them coming back (1
Timothy 6:5-6), and all the doctrines of
men and demons (1
Timothy 4:1-2) which has nothing to do with turning
people from their sins (Mark
4:12; James
5:20). Anything other than the
true message of biblical repentance is another gospel (2
Corinthians 11:3-4).
Far
and
wide
they teach that grace is unconditional
favor
in
spite of sin (saved in your sins; "come as you are; nobody's perfect")
and that grace is God's
willingness to overlook our continual sin, but true grace is
really found through true repentance. To be noted also is
the fact that we can receive God's grace in vain (2
Corinthians 6:1)
and we can also believe in vain (1
Corinthians 15:2).
Look at what many are not taught the Bible says of God's grace:
Titus
2:11-12
For the
grace of God that
brings salvation
has appeared to all men,
teaching
us
that, denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts,
we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly in
the present
age...
Hebrews
12:28
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be
shaken, let
us have
grace, by
which
we may serve God acceptably with reverence
and godly fear.
If someone truly experiences God's grace and His offer
for mercy and life, and thus feels a love for Him, they will be taught
to "deny ungodliness and worldly
lusts" and to "live soberly, righteously and godly"
and "serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear"
"in this
present
age",
(and not
in some glorified state in eternity). This begins in the process of
repentance, where we initially deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and
are cleared as a result of our obeying the truth (1
Peter 1:22). If
someone does not experience this type of Biblical Repentance, they
will not be able to come into contact with Christ's blood for the
remission of sins, and will remain subject to the second death. This
is a sobering truth that many do not realize. We cannot be, as modern
Christianity teaches, be "saved in our sins". Christ came to save us
FROM our sins (Matthew
1:21)! We must
reject the doctrines of men and listen only to the Word of God!
Who is it that regenerates our heart and influences (not compels) us to live for God? The Holy Spirit... Yet the Bible says that we cannot even receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, thus none of His workings, unless we first obey Christ (by means of Biblical Repentance and loving and following Him):
"And
we
are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit
whom God has given to those
who obey Him.”
--Acts
5:32
“If
you
love
Me,
keep My commandments [repent, believe, love]. And
[then] I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper,
that He may abide with you forever" --John
14:15-16
Not
only do I not
find
in the Bible that man is depraved from birth, but I find that
repentance means more than a willingness to stop sinning... it means
we actually need to stop sinning (wilfully disobeying God) in order to
be saved; we need to forsake wickedness, in response to our conscience
(influenced by God's Word and Spirit) and by the power of our will that
the Lord has equipped us with when He formed us in our mother's womb.
Either
men's
doctrines that say we can't obey God and we are born wicked (which
hinge
on a few "proof texts") are in error, or the entire Bible
is. The Scriptures clearly demonstrate that man has the ability to
forsake wickedness, and that he MUST do so before
he
will
be granted
mercy from the Lord and be granted the remission of
sins.
Deuteronomy
30:19
I call heaven and earth as
witnesses today against you, that I
have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing;
therefore choose
life,
that both you
and your descendants may live;
We have a free will and can
choose life or death, sin or righteousness.... we can obey or
disobey, live eternally or be damned for eternity:
Romans
6:16
Do you not know that to whom
you
present
yourselves
slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom
you
obey,
whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience
leading
to righteousness?
1
John 3:7
Little children, let no one deceive you. He
who practices righteousness
[works from the heart - Galatians
5:6] is
righteous,
just
as He
is righteous.
Sin is a choice, not a nature born into us, or
imputed to our account or soul.
James
1:14-15
But each one
is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
Then, when
desire
has conceived, it gives birth to sin;
and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
Temptation is not
sin; Jesus was tempted IN ALL points as we are:
Hebrews
4:14-15
Seeing then that we have a great High
Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus
the Son of God,
let
us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who
cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but
was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
There
is no sin that someone cannot overcome; people quit addictions every
day, even without God. What I am tryign to say here is that we have a
choice to sin or not to sin; it's up
to us and there is nothing in us or outside of us that forces us to
sin; it is born of desire and when united with the will it produces
sin, which brings forth moral death and eventually eternal death. Sin
is only in our nature as far
as we allow it to be as a practiced and enjoyed habit; it is as if it
were a welcome guest BUT we can always kick it out.
The
question here is not if there has ever
been
a sinless
person, but rather if it is possible that a man live sinless? And
yes, I believe it is possible. Has any man other than Christ ever
been sinless or will any other than Him ever be sinless? Most likely
not, but that doesn't mean it isn't possible. Why "throw out the
baby with the bathwater"? If we go around saying we are born
sinners and can never be free of sin, why would anyone ever try? On
this point, take a look around the churches, not many people are even
trying!! To most, going to church is a social experience and has
nothing to do with God. They all think they are "saved in their
sins" and continue to live in a worldly fashion... they, just
like the rest of the world around them, are mostly interested in
sports, music, video games, luxury, status, sex, food,
entertainment, movies, TV, money, cars, philosophy, news, gossip,
nature, politics, education, technology, fashion, health, etc. They are
most often more interested in these vain amusements and fleshly lusts
than
they are in digging for truth or of loving and obeying God! This is
nothing less than idolatry! Modern Christianity has barely a trace
left in common with the early (first 3 centuries) of the Church! I
mean, yeah, it sounds good to say that if we love God we will not
want to sin; But the truth is that if
we truly
love God
we
will not find it in us to be able to sin!
1
John 3:8-9
He
who sins is of the devil,
for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son
of God was manifested, that He might destroy
the works of the devil.
Whoever
has been born
of God does
not sin,
for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because
he has been born of God.
John
14:21
He who has [knows, hears] My commandments and
keeps
them
[James
1:22], it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be
loved by
My
Father, and [then] I will love him and manifest Myself to
him.”
1
John 2:3-5
Now by
this we know
that we
know Him, if
we keep [obey] His commandments. He who says, “I know
Him,”
and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not
in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected
in
him. By this we know that we are in Him.
Love is obedience,
and obedience is doing what is right, and doing is right leaves NO
room for sin, and NEVER
excuses or defends it.
Luke
14:27-28
"And whoever
does not bear his cross (die to self) and come after (follow my
example and obey) Me cannot be My disciple (or be saved). For which
of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count
the cost, whether he has enough to finish it" —The Lord
Jesus
