Repentance

[Willy]

There is a style of preaching that totally frustrates me. It involves the Gospel preacher who starts off fine but when he gets to the part about repenting says,"Unless you repent of your sins, that is to say unless you turn from your sins, and turn to the lord Jesus, you will be lost for eternity."

So ... what is the problem with this statement?

Repentance ... metanoia ... meta (after) noia (thought)

Does anybody see turning from a sin in the command to have an afterthought? I don't see it.

I can see the fruit of repentance including the turning away from sin but not in the command simply to repent.

What I do see is the command to re-think ones position on their sin(s). That would include seeing that sin was separating them from a Holy God and therefore they are lost and dead as far as God is concerned.

Now, understanding that one is dead and separated from God by sin, is in my mind, the initial purpose of preaching repentance. (Also, conviction of sin is the ministry of the Holy Spirit, through the preaching or reading of God's Word.)

The result if hit home properly will see a person under conviction realizing they have no hope for salvation in themselves and are therefore ready to see God's provision for lost sinners. His Son, The Lord Jesus offering Himself to die in the sinners place.

Repentance is seen then in it's very important place in God's plan of redemption. Not to turn unsaved people from sin, but to make them aware of their sin and their desperate plight.

Does this make sense?:tiphat:

Please feel free to offer correction or to add something that's missing.

[CoreIssue]

Off the cuff it seems what you are saying is a distinction without difference.

Conviction is a change of thought leading to repentance which causes sanctification. Sanctification is the process where the changes made in being born-again lead to further conviction which invokes further change of thought which leads to further change.

Put another way, while having a sinful spirit we are brought to the point of conviction. Born-again cleanses our spirits, so our spirits are now without sinful motivations which is immediate and permanent change.

But, spirit input is only half of our mind, fleshly sinful drives the other half. But that change in half combats the flesh side, which means a change in thought processes must occur, even if limited.

Bottom line is that the stronger side of the mind wins out more. But even if the flesh side wins out the most our thinking is changed by definition. So there our after thoughts, by demand, do contain a process of ongoing change.

Repentance means to change. No change then no repentance. Repentance is a second step behind conviction. Repentance results in the process called sanctification, which means changing to be more Christ like. So, we constantly repent of something to bring on more change which brings on more repentance.

Now, after reading that, go take an aspirin or something. :swoon:

[a.baker]

I would say think of being truly sorry fro what one has done . Being truly sorry calls for action to change and set things right. To go above and beyond just the norm with action. To fear God is the beginning of wisdom.

I also think when one sins and before they sin or while they sin they think "oh this is going against God" but they continue... thats double minded and can't be trusted. Once one finds them self sinning they should stop immediately and beg for mercy from God and makes things right.

Where God takes it from there I do not know but I can imagine and God also disciplines His children and we should rejoice in that because we know we are His. Part OT and NT.