Changing my life is always through experiencing true repentance.

REPENTANCE: A WORK OF GRACE: WHY IS IT SO HARD TO REPENT?

Perhaps the most urgent message to the church today is the call of the Holy Spirit for repentance. The cry, “If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves . . . and turn from their wicked ways . . . (2 Chron. 7:14) has resounded from many pulpits and many pews as the Spirit moved upon discerning hearts to proclaim the remedy for a struggling church. Because of its urgency and repetitiveness, the message of repentance has reached the sensitive minds of most Christians throughout the Western world.

Repentance, however, is unfortunately a message that is largely misunderstood by many in the ranks of Christianity. The misunderstanding occurs basically because of an inadequate view of the biblical principle of repentance. Correspondingly, if the knowledge of repentance is faulty, the act or process of repentance will also be inaccurate. Thus, true repentance rarely occurs and the church continues to struggle in its life and mission for Christ.

Changing my life is a true work of grace.

One of the reasons repentance is misunderstood by so many is that repentance is perceived as an act that an individual does, rather than as a description of what God does as man experiences reconciliation. True repentance is always a work of grace. Again, repentance is less an act that one does to enable God to restore than it is a description of the process that occurs when one is reconciled back to God.

To many, repentance erroneously means something they do in order to get God to forgive and restore them. They feel that if they confess their sins and turn away from them, God will, then, forgive and reconcile. If indeed that explains repentance, the key principle behind repentance would be the individual’s turning from sin. Moreover, those holding such a view would, probably, also state that a turning away from sin would merit God’s forgiveness. However, in the final analysis, the question must be raised: “Does man have the capability to turn from sin?”

Changing my life is understanding what exactly is the problem of life.

Another difficulty in understanding repentance is the failure to understand of what exactly should be repented. In other words, when a Christian does something wrong, forgiveness should be sought. Rarely, however, is that repentance carried far enough. Repentance for the act of sin should be sought; however, the individual must also come under conviction and experience repentance for the particular lifestyle that lets that sin occur.

Sin occurs in the life of a Christian only when he is going in the wrong direction. Self has been in control, and self always produces sin. Christ has not had the liberty to live in the individual; the grace of God has not been able to flow through the individual; the Holy Spirit has not been able to control the individual. When those conditions exist, sin will always occur in the life of the individual. Certainly, repentance must be sought for an act of sin; however, of greater importance is the individual’s seeking repentance for the lifestyle that preceded the sin. In fact, most of the time when sin occurs, it is a telltale sign that the individual, even though he may be a Christian, is going in the wrong direction in some aspect of his life. He probably has been trying to live for Christ, instead of Christ living in him.

Simply because there is such a widespread misunderstanding of repentance, perhaps, a fresh look into the Scriptures might be advantageous to the church. The English words repent, repentance, and repented occur in the New Testament over sixty times. All three of these terms come from the same compound Greek word. The prefix of the root word translated repent, repentance, and repented in the context means change, or alteration. The root word itself means “to exercise the mind.” The root word is, in turn, derived from a word meaning “the mind,” which is derived from the principle verb to know. Thus, the English terms built upon the Greek term would mean “to think differently,” or “a change of mind on reflection.”

Consequently, implied in the very definition of repentance is the idea of turning around. The call for repentance, therefore, is a statement that someone is going in the wrong direction. It is a call to turn around, to think differently.

This truth is the basic reason why repentance is so difficult to experience. Before repentance can become a reality, there first has to be a realization and confession of going in the wrong direction. Without question, it is extremely difficult for mankind to admit that the wrong road is being traveled. It is difficult for the individual in his personal life and even more difficult for individuals in positions of leadership. If repentance is needed and that seems to be the cry of the Holy Spirit to the church and to the individual, then either the church or the individual has developed a faulty course of action, and repentance must occur. Changing my life is to understand that a turnaround must be experienced.

Changing my life is to have the direction of my life changed.

Repentance is at the very core of the gospel message. As the herald of the Messiah, John the Baptist’s message to Israel was “. . . Repent ye, for the kingdom of God is at hand” (Matt. 3:2). This cry fulfilled the words of the prophet Isaiah. Jesus began His ministry with the very same message: “. . . Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4:17). The church and/or individual must come back to the fork in the road where the wrong direction began. But, oh, how difficult it is to say, “I’ve been wrong; I traveled the wrong road.”

Repentance, however, occurs only when there has been a confession and a turn around. John the Baptist said it when he proclaimed, “Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance” (Matt 3:8). “Fruits meet for repentance” simply means that since the turnaround there is now a different fruit being produced in the life of the church or the individual. Repentance has not occurred if there has been no turnaround, no different thinking.

Repentance, by definition, does, in fact, imply a turning away from one direction toward the opposite direction. After that extremely important principle of repentance is ascertained, the ultimate reality of repentance must be revealed by the Holy Spirit. The reason this truth of repentance must be revealed and cannot be understood by unaided human reason is that it lies at the very heart of what it means to be Christian. The reason repentance is more a description of what God does as man experiences reconciliation than it is an act that man does is simply that man does not have the capability within him to turn around. Neither does God save man because man attempts to turn himself around. Man is saved because God turns him around. Again, changing my life through true repentance is a work of grace.

Changing my life, mysteriously, is in my helplessness and not in my effort.

Repentance is a description of what God does in the life of a man. Repentance, from man’s view, is more a realization that he has made a mess of his life than it is a statement of things he has done wrong. The wrong things need to be confessed; but more importantly, the lifestyle that produces sin must also be confessed.

Repentance is more than a person saying he is sorry and attempting to turn away from his sins. Repentance is the individual realizing that his life is in disorder because he has been going in the wrong direction and his cry must be “Jesus save me!” Christ, then, comes into the life of the confessor; and the Christ in him changes his direction. His thinking process changes. He becomes a new creature. The changing of his direction, the passing from death to life, the moving from the old to the new means repentance has occurred.

How does one become a new creature?   Is it because the confessor turned away from sin? A new creature occurs because Christ turned the individual around (John 1:12-13). Christ turned him around because he confessed that he was a sinner headed in the wrong direction and cried out for help. It is in helplessness, not in effort, that God saves.

Changing my life is experiencing repentance by grace.

Repentance, therefore, is, indeed, more a description of what God does as man experiences reconciliation than it is an act man does. When Peter cried out to the crowd gathered at Pentecost, “. . . Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins . . .” (Acts 2:38), he was simply saying, “Hey, you are going in the wrong direction; you need to come under the authority of Jesus, to be immersed in Him, and to be turned around.”

They did not have the capability of turning their lives around, but Jesus did. If they would confess their sins and more importantly the self-rule that produced those sins, Jesus would come into their lives and give them a new direction (John 1:11-13). They needed to be changed from self-rule to Christ-rule. They needed a turnaround. They needed to experience repentance.

Why is repentance so difficult to experience? It is a complete turnaround from self-rule to Christ-rule. To be told to repent is to be told that the wrong direction has been taken: a direction that has come about because the flesh (self) has become the overriding influence in the life of the individual or the visible church. This overriding influence of self is displayed first by acts of self-righteousness by trying to merit God’s favor by who we are or of what we do.

Sin comes only after well-intended, self-righteous acts thwart the Spirit’s efforts to control the life of the  individual or the church. Religion, not sin, destroys the individual and the church. How difficult it is to get religious folks to repent, because repentance calls them to task over the very righteousness of which they are so proud. However, repentance will occur only when the confession of “I am wrong,” “Please, forgive me of the mess I’ve made,” “Jesus save me in my helplessness” comes forth from the heart of man. Changing my life is this repentance by grace that the Holy Spirit is calling me and the church.