True and False Repentance (Part 3 of 4)

“Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.  See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.”  2 Corinthians 7:10-11  

Why do so many, who are simply filled with regret and remorse get the idea that they have repented? The only logical reason is that within the church in America there is a wholesale lack of instruction and discernment respecting true and false repentance. This is the third part of a four part series on repentance, touching on four aspects of repentance

I. What true repentance is:

II. How it may be known:

III. What is false and counterfeit repentance:

IV. How it may be known:

This is not difficult, yet so many of us seem intent on making it so. In America today even the clergy seem to have diluted repentance down to regret.  However, just because you call a sparrow an eagle does not make it so.  So what is false repentance?  False repentance is said to be worldly, the sorrow of the world, that is, it is sorrow for sin, arising from the worldly considerations and motives connected to your present life, or at most, has respect to his own happiness in a future world, and has no regard to the true nature of sin.

1. It is not founded on such a change of opinion as I have specified to belong to

true repentance, there has been no change in the mind in regards to sin.  As such the  change is not on fundamental points.

A person may see the evil consequences of sin in a worldly point of view, and it may fill him with anxiety. He may see that it will greatly affect his character, or endanger his life; that if some of his concealed conduct is found out, he would be disgraced, and this may fill him with fear and anguish, but it does not alter his conduct, his disposition, nor does it lead to any restitution to those whom he has sinned against.  It is very common for a person to have this kind of worldly sorrow, when some worldly consideration is at the bottom of it all.

2. False repentance is founded in selfishness.

It may be simply a strong feeling of regret, in the mind of the individual, that he has done what he has, because he sees the evil consequences of it to himself, because it makes him unhappy, or exposes him to the wrath of God, or injures his family or his friends, or because it produces some injury to himself in his lifetime or in eternity. All this is pure selfishness.  

He may feel remorse of conscience--biting, consuming REMORSE—and yet no true repentance. It may extend to fear--deep and dreadful fear--of the wrath of God and the pains of hell, and yet be purely selfish, and all the while there may be no such thing as a hearty abhorrence of sin, no change of conduct, no restitution, no altering of his character;  and no feelings of the heart going out after the convictions of the understanding, in regard to the infinite evil of sin.  You know this person, it might even be you, the person who regrets their sins, the one who feels deep sorrow and remorse for what he has done, but does not turn away from his choice, rather he tells you that God has forgiven him, while he fashions the noose around his neck  (so to speak).   

Judas regretted what he did, Judas felt deep sorrow and remorse for his betrayal of Jesus.  Judas hung himself in remorse.  But Judas was not repentant, and he took his sin with him into hell.   

True and False Repentance (Part 2 of 4)

“Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.  See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.”  2 Corinthians 7:10-11  

Why do so many, who are still unrepentant sinners, get the idea that they have repented? The only logical reason is that within the church in America there is a wholesale lack of instruction and discernment respecting true and false repentance. This is the second part of a four part series on repentance, touching on four aspects of repentance

I. What true repentance is:

II. How it may be known:

III. What is false and counterfeit repentance:

IV. How it may be known:

II. How will true repentance be known? 

It is the purpose of this post to show you what are the works of true repentance, and to make it so clear to you, that you will know without any question whether you have repented or not. You must possess all 5 qualities below to have truthfully repentant, 4 out of 5 simply means that you are lying about the other 4.

1. If your repentance is genuine, there is in your mind a conscious change of views and feeling in regard to sin.  On this you will be just as conscious of this change of viewpoint as your are about any change of view and feelings on any other subject. Can you honestly say this? Do you know, that on this point there has been a fundamental change within you, that the old things are done away with and all things (meaning your viewpoint towards not only the sins you are guilty of, but all sin) have become new?

2. Where repentance is genuine, the disposition to repeat sin is gone.

If you have truly repented, you do not now love sin; you do not now abstain from it through fear, and to avoid punishment, but because you hate it.  How is this with you? Do you know that your predisposition to commit sin is gone?  Look at the sins you used to practice before you ‘repented’.  How do they appear to you now?  Do they look pleasant, or merely acceptable given the right ‘excuse’, would you be willing to commit them again or still, if you knew no one would know?  --If they do or you would, then you are only convicted. Your opinions of sin may be changed, but if your willingness remains to commit that sin remains, you are still an unrepentant sinner; and you are not forgiven, and you are right to fear the punishment that awaits.

3. Genuine repentance works a reformation of conduct.

This to be the idea chiefly intended in scripture, where it says "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death...” 2 Corinthians 7:10  Godly sorrow produces a change of conduct.  What the Apostle Paul is speaking of was a change of mind that produces a change of conduct, ending in salvation. So again, let me ask you, are you really reformed?  Have you forsaken your sins? Or, are you practicing them still? Here is the big point in case you like so many in our society seem to want to overlook, anything that first begins as a sin, will always be a sin, it does not matter how long you do it, or even if you attempt to make it look right in man’s eyes; for example if you were to divorce your spouse for another woman that you have been having an affair with {Adultery} and then marry that woman a couple of years later, it remains Adultery, you are still a sinner. While you may have changed your mind, about your sin, if it has not brought a change of conduct, an actual reformation, it is not godly repentance, or such as God approves, merely worldly sorrow.

4. Repentance, when true and genuine, leads to confession and restitution. The thief has not repented, while he keeps the money he stole. He may have conviction, but no repentance. If he has repentance, he will go and give back the money and be willing to accept whatever the consequences are for his sin. If you have cheated anyone, and do not restore what you have taken unjustly; or if you have injured any one, and do not set about it to undo the wrong you have done, then your claim of repentance is a lie, you have not truly repented.  You may be convicted, you may feel worldly sorrow, but you do not have Godly sorrow within you as God demands before He will forgive of your sins.

5. True repentance is a permanent change of character and conduct.  Scripture says it is repentance unto salvation that leaves no regret.  What the apostle Paul means by that expression is that true repentance is a change so deep and fundamental that the person never changes back again?  What the scripture means is that repentance that will not be regretted, so thorough is the repentance, that there is no going back (there is no possibility of backsliding) the love of sin is truly abandoned. The individual, who has truly repented, has so changed his views and feelings that he will not change back again, or go back to the love of sin.  Keep this in mind, that the truly repentant sinner now exercises feelings and beliefs of which he will never regret. The scripture says it is "unto salvation." In other words his repentance goes with him all the way to heaven. The very reason why it ends in salvation is because it is such as will not be regretted.  True repentance is such a thorough change of feelings and beliefs that the individual who exercises it comes to hate sin that they will persevere, and not go and take back all his repentance and return to sin again.

True and False Repentance (Part 1 of 4)

"Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death" 2 Corinthians 7:10

Why do so many, who are still impenitent sinners, get the idea that they have repented? The only logical reason is that within the church in America there is a wholesale lack of instruction and discernment respecting true and false repentance. Thus I begin a short series on repentance, touching on four aspects of repentance

I. What true repentance is:

II. How it may be known:

III. What is false and counterfeit repentance:

IV. How it may be known:

I.              What is true repentance?

The short one paragraph definition of True Repentance would be that TRUE REPENTANCE involves a complete change of opinion on the nature of sin, and this change of opinion is followed by a corresponding change of feeling towards sin.  Feeling is the result of thought, not emotion; and when this change of opinion produces a corresponding change of feeling, if the opinion is right (as defined by God) and the feeling corresponds, this is true repentance.  The opinion now adopted, by the sinner would align with the opinion that God holds respecting sin.  Godly sorrow, such as God requires, must spring from such views of sin as God holds, nothing less.

First.  There must be a change of opinion in regard to sin.

To someone who truly repents, sin looks like a very different thing from what it does to someone who has not repented. Instead of looking like a thing that is desirable or fascinating, it looks the very opposite, it is repulsive and detestable, and she is astonished at herself that he ever could have desired such a thing.  She looks at her own conduct as perfectly hateful; she looks back upon it and exclaims, "How hateful, how detestable, how worthy of hell, such and such a thing was in me."

Impenitent sinners might look at sin and see that it will destroy them, because God will punish them for it. However, it appears so desirable. They love it. They roll it under their tongue, savor it in their mouth. If it could end in happiness, they never would think of abandoning it.

Sinners do not see why God threatens sin with such terrible punishment. They

love it so much themselves, that they cannot see why God should look at it in such

a light as to think it worthy of everlasting punishment.  When they are strongly

convicted, they see it differently, and as opinion is concerned, they see it in the same light as a true Christian does, then they only want a corresponding change of feeling to become Christians.

Many a sinner sees their relation to God to be such that they deserve eternal death, but her heart does not go with her opinions.  This is the case with the devil and wicked in hell.  Therefore; a change of opinion is indispensable to true repentance, and always precedes it. The heart never goes out to God in true repentance without a previous change of opinion.  There may be a change of opinion without repentance, but no genuine repentance without a change of opinion.

The unrepentant sinner has almost no right ideas, even so far as this life is concerned, respecting the sin. Suppose she admits in theory that sin deserves eternal death, she does not believe it. If she believed it, it would be impossible for her to remain an unrepentant sinner.  She is deceived, if she supposes that she honestly holds such an opinion that sin deserves the wrath of God forever. However the truly convicted sinner has no more doubt of this than she has of the existence of God. She sees clearly that as a simple matter of fact, sin must deserve everlasting punishment from God.

Secondly.   In true repentance there must be a corresponding change of feeling.

The individual who truly repents, not only sees sin as detestable, vile and worthy of abhorrence, but she genuinely hates it in her heart.  A person may see sin to be hurtful and abominable, yet her heart loves it, desires it and clings to it (you know the person who says adultery is a sin, yet keeps doing it). But when she truly repents, she reels backwards in repulsion of it and renounces it.

The individual who truly repents feels sin as it is.  When she views sin in its tendencies, it awakens a vehement desire to stop it, and to save people from their sins, and roll back the tide of death.  When the Christian sets her mind on this, just as if she saw all the people taking poison which she knew would destroy them; she lifts up her voice to warn them to BEWARE.

She has not only an intellectual conviction that sin deserves everlasting punishment, but she feels that it would be right, reasonable, and just for God to condemn her to eternal death, that so far from finding fault with the sentence of the law that condemns her, she thinks it the wonder of heaven, a wonder of wonders, if God would forgive her.  Instead of thinking it hard, or severe, or unkind of God, that unrepentant sinners are allowed to sent themselves to hell, she is full of adoring wonder that she is not sent to hell herself.  It is the last thing in the world she would think to complain of, that all sinners are not saved, but, it is a wonder of mercy that the entire world is not damned.  And when she thinks of such a sinner's as herself being saved, she feels a sense of gratitude that she never knew anything until she was a Christian.