God’s Plan of Salvation Part 4 – God’s Teaching About Repentance

God’s Plan of Salvation Ask five different people what repent means and you’ll probably get five different answers Some people climb 2000 concrete stairs to “repent” for sins committed in the past year Other people get smashing drunk on Saturday, and then shed crocodile tears on Sunday, saying, “I’m sorry, God” – then repeat the cycle again next week

God’s Plan of Salvation What is God’s definition of repentance? Jesus said, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3) If repentance is that important, we had better know what God means by it The Greek word (the New Testament was written in Greek) for repentance is metanoia Metanoia means “change the mind”

God’s Plan of Salvation In the common vernacular, we might say, “Get rid of your stinkin’ thinkin’” In a big picture sense, repentance means to “change your worldview” Now that we understand the root meaning of the word, let’s look at some Scriptures that demonstrate the meaning of true repentance

God’s Plan of Salvation God gives an excellent example of repentance through the city of Ninevah – see Jonah 3:1-10 The Lord told Jonah to go to Ninevah and cry against its wickedness Jonah instead jumped on board a ship going the opposite direction He was eventually thrown overboard and swallowed by a great fish

God’s Plan of Salvation When the fish spit Jonah up on land, he “hightailed it” for Ninevah Jonah went through the city, proclaiming, “Yet forty days and Ninevah will be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4) The people believed God, and they took His warning to heart “When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented…” (Jonah 3:10)

God’s Plan of Salvation Notice that God did not change His mind until He saw their deeds Jesus called this change in deeds repentance “The men of Ninevah shall stand up with this generation at the judgment, and shall condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah…” (Matthew 12:41)

God’s Plan of Salvation Jesus’ definition of repentance is what is important He clearly teaches that repentance is a change in behavior We can put the meaning of the word together with its use in the Scripture and come up with a catchy definition of repentance Repentance is a change in mind which results in a change in action

God’s Plan of Salvation These two sayings together pretty well sum up what repentance is all about ◦If you continue to think like you’ve always thought, you’ll continue to get what you’ve always got ◦If you continue to do what you’ve always done, you’ll continue to lose when you could have won

God’s Plan of Salvation Many people have the concept that repentance is merely sorrow for past mistakes Paul makes it clear that this is not the case “For sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret; but the sorrow of the world produces death” (2 Corinthians 7:10)

God’s Plan of Salvation Remember Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus – he was sorry for what he had done, but did not repent Judas threw the money back, and then went and hanged himself Remember Peter who denied that he even knew Jesus – he repented and lived

God’s Plan of Salvation Sorrow produces repentance Mere sorrow is not repentance From the Bible we conclude that repentance is a change in attitude that must result in a change in behavior If there is no change, there is no repentance

God’s Plan of Salvation Part 5 – God’s Teaching About Baptism eis en ek