True meaning of repentance

[Brighten04]

Is this discussion about repentance or is it about sin? If it is about repentance then let us focus more on that please. Look we all have sin, the scripture is clear about that, we all know what scripture says about it... Now, repentance is about what we have to DO to relieve ourselves of sin. ( pardon this mental picture, but it shows vividly what I mean. Imagine going to the toilet to relieve yourself) As my uncle (may he rest in peace) would say, you have to go to the toilet, the toilet is not going to come to you. Repentance imho is divestment of your own self righteousness, your own perceived purity (saying "I have kept the law"), banish even the idea that you of yourself can be righteous in the sight of God. OK, so after you have done that you put on the new imputed righteousness of God through faith in the finished works of Christ. The Bible give a beautiful picture of this here.

Zec. 3:4 And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.

When we turn away from our own (filthy) self righteousness and put on the righteousness by faith in Christ, we get a new set of clothes.

Rom. 3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.


You know, when you take a shower and change clothes, you feel and smell so much better. So, you CAN look at repentance this way if you need a mental picture of what repentance means.

 

[Rens]

nm
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10154339903546593&id=113538106592

 

[Josiah]

Is this discussion about repentance or is it about sin? If it is about repentance then let us focus more on that please. Look we all have sin, the scripture is clear about that, we all know what scripture says about it... Now, repentance is about what we have to DO to relieve ourselves of sin. ( pardon this mental picture, but it shows vividly what I mean. Imagine going to the toilet to relieve yourself) As my uncle (may he rest in peace) would say, you have to go to the toilet, the toilet is not going to come to you. Repentance imho is divestment of your own self righteousness, your own perceived purity (saying "I have kept the law"), banish even the idea that you of yourself can be righteous in the sight of God. OK, so after you have done that you put on the new imputed righteousness of God through faith in the finished works of Christ. The Bible give a beautiful picture of this here.

Zec. 3:4 And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.

When we turn away from our own (filthy) self righteousness and put on the righteousness by faith in Christ, we get a new set of clothes.

Rom. 3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.


You know, when you take a shower and change clothes, you feel and smell so much better. So, you CAN look at repentance this way if you need a mental picture of what repentance means.

Amen.


IMO, here's the "problem" we're witnessing here (however subtle)....

post #67


Here's what bothers me.....


Some Christians seem obsessed, driven hard, to twist everything so as to make Christ as small and irrelevant as possible and (conversely) make self as big and important as possible. They are about lifting high self - while minimizing Christ. All this ("I don't sin much...... sin ain't no big deal...... I can do all I need to do (perhaps cuz God helps ME or God lowers the bar for me).... read their posts, listen to them, and there's lots and lots of me, me, me, me, me. When I read or hear this - it's like finger nails on a chalk board to me, it hits me as very fundamentally trying to destroy Christianity and its chief article: Jesus is the Savior.

See, I think it should be the exact opposite: We are to lift high the Cross and get ourselves on our knees in tears. I think it's about making Christ larger and self smaller. More of Christ, less of me. Lift high the CROSS. When I see all the light focused on JESUS - His mercy, His heart, His unconditional love, His life and death and resurrection, His work, His merits - all the light on Jesus, on the Cross - my heart rejoices. God be MERCIFUL to me - THE SINNER, the one who falls short, the one who misses the mark, the one who deserves ONLY eternal hell. I rejoice when I hear, "Christ! the Cross!"

 

[Rens]

Don't sin. Great then. We'll come an hour too late. Who cares?

 

[Brighten04]

Don't sin. Great then. We'll come an hour too late. Who cares?

 

[Rens]

You must always be friendly and calm so then you can't get your kids to cooperate and you're way too late. So be it.

 

[atpollard]

Do you need to succeed at 'turning from sin' or is the intense desire enough?
I have a friend who struggles with Drug Addiction. No one I ever met hates his old self and old life more than he does, and I have seen his struggles. Including his failures. Yet after each failure, he returns to Church, no excuses. No apologies, just seeking forgiveness from God and encouragement to stay clean longer this time.

He is forever dragging people to church who cannot believe that God could love them, but he can talk to them of failure and forgiveness in a way that none of us who have never been at the absolute bottom, passed out in a parking lot or sleeping behind a shopping center, can.

So I was always taught that 'repentance' meant turning around, but I have to wonder if maybe there might be just a little of the "widow's mites" in repentance as well.

 

[Rens]

Do you need to succeed at 'turning from sin' or is the intense desire enough?
I have a friend who struggles with Drug Addiction. No one I ever met hates his old self and old life more than he does, and I have seen his struggles. Including his failures. Yet after each failure, he returns to Church, no excuses. No apologies, just seeking forgiveness from God and encouragement to stay clean longer this time.

He is forever dragging people to church who cannot believe that God could love them, but he can talk to them of failure and forgiveness in a way that none of us who have never been at the absolute bottom, passed out in a parking lot or sleeping behind a shopping center, can.

So I was always taught that 'repentance' meant turning around, but I have to wonder if maybe there might be just a little of the "widow's mites" in repentance as well.

Yes they say that so easily if they never were addicted themselves. Glad I couldn't handle drugs. I threw up. I can't even stop using nicotin chewing gum. If I do I get mad and then you're even a worse sinner. I have a bigger desire to never get mad.
Maybe if I pray more.

 

[Brighten04]

Do you need to succeed at 'turning from sin' or is the intense desire enough?
I have a friend who struggles with Drug Addiction. No one I ever met hates his old self and old life more than he does, and I have seen his struggles. Including his failures. Yet after each failure, he returns to Church, no excuses. No apologies, just seeking forgiveness from God and encouragement to stay clean longer this time.

He is forever dragging people to church who cannot believe that God could love them, but he can talk to them of failure and forgiveness in a way that none of us who have never been at the absolute bottom, passed out in a parking lot or sleeping behind a shopping center, can.

So I was always taught that 'repentance' meant turning around, but I have to wonder if maybe there might be just a little of the "widow's mites" in repentance as well.

That is besetting sin, a deep groove in the soul (so to speak). His love for God and his hatred of the sin is the only thing that is going to fill it. He has turned, but that groove (hole) keeps tripping him up. Deep hurts cause us to bandaid with addictions to numb the pain. But, the blood of Jesus cleanses from all of it when we decide to let go of the cause. That is why the twelve step program is successful imho. It took me two years to complete step 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves... Believe me, this is hard, to look deeply into yourself and take inventory! I know plenty of people who fall off of the recovery wagon because they cannot bear to do this. It is VERY painful.

 

[user1234]

Jesus said if you look at someone to lust after her you committed adultery in your heart.
It's not a sin if a bird sits on your head, but it is when you let it make a nest there.

That^ has to be the cutest, most endearing rendition of that saying I've ever heard.
I believe I've heard it this way :

'You can't stop a bird from flying over your head, .....
But you can keep it from making a nest in your hair'.

The reference to a bird flying over our head is that sinful thoughts, or just bad ideas, etc., will come, oftentimes out of the blue, and it's pretty hard to stop that from happening.

If the bird (the thought) flies too close and hovers, looking to settle down, we can shush it away, meaning get rid of the thought quickly, don't entertain it, (maybe that is taking every thought captive ? 2Cor.10:5)

otherwise it might then take hold and make a home in your mind,
Or Build a nest in your hair.

Once sin makes a home in our hair (wrongful thinking gets stuck in our mind), we tend to then make wrong decisions and take actions based on those thoughts,

but they're not necessarily the typical 'big sins', like acting out out on lustful thoughts, or taking anger up to violence, but often they're things like ... causing strife or coldness in all kinds of relationships based on thoughts, suspicions or gossip, ... like letting the enemy plant those thoughts of doubt, or 'Yea, hath God REALLY said...?'

The good news is, first, that Jesus paid for ALL our sins, and second, that He made for us a way of escape, so we no longer have to let those enemy birds/thoughts make a nest in our hair, ..... Or even do like Rens said and sit on our heads.
Lol :;-D::xD:
{ Gosh I just love that girl !!!:wub: }

Lol, now I'm seeing ppl walking around
with big fat birds sitting on there heads! :O_O: :;-D:

ALBAtross! AALLLBATROSS!!!

 

[MoreCoffee]

Is repentance about saying to God "I am sorry that a fleeting thought passed by my mind - one that I rejected and didn't entertain - because the fleeting thought is a sin no matter how strongly I reject it"?

 

[Sword7]

It's not God just granting an opportunity. God actually turns us. Who got the credit whenever the Israelites returned in repentance to faith? They praised God, not themselves.

If this were even remotley true then state why every person that ever lived is not autamaticly saved.
Since you say God turns us(metonia- to change your mind)
and we have no part in it.

Why is repentance commanded by God if God can turn Everyone?
If we have nothing to do with it as you imply?
Why are not ALL men saved.

Simple. Because we are goven oppurtunity by God to repent and receive mercy.if we do not we will perish.
Your implying universalism .

No. God does not automaticlly change everyones mind.he calls US to do so.

 

[Rens]

https://youtu.be/9QmqqhLZbQI

 

[Rens]

If this were even remotley true then state why every person that ever lived is not autamaticly saved.
Since you say God turns us(metonia- to change your mind)
and we have no part in it.

Why is repentance commanded by God if God can turn Everyone?
If we have nothing to do with it as you imply?
Why are not ALL men saved.

Simple. Because we are goven oppurtunity by God to repent and receive mercy.if we do not we will perish.
Your implying universalism .

No. God does not automaticlly change everyones mind.he calls US to do so.

It's both true. It's just two sides of the same coin as most stuff in the Bible.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose (Philippians 2:12-13).[1]

 

[Brighten04]

If this were even remotley true then state why every person that ever lived is not autamaticly saved.
Since you say God turns us(metonia- to change your mind)
and we have no part in it.

Why is repentance commanded by God if God can turn Everyone?
If we have nothing to do with it as you imply?
Why are not ALL men saved.

Simple. Because we are goven oppurtunity by God to repent and receive mercy.if we do not we will perish.
Your implying universalism .

No. God does not automaticlly change everyones mind.he calls US to do so.

No, but He draws people. I guess draw and call can be considered the same thing. Jesus said
John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

I think this is what Lam is referring to when she said God does the turning. I think you are on the same page.

 

[MoreCoffee]

No, but He draws people. I guess draw and call can be considered the same thing. Jesus said
John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

I think this is what Lam is referring to when she said God does the turning. I think you are on the same page.

I never know what page people are on because they keep insisting that I am wrong even when they completely agree with me. :O_O:

 

[Lamb]

If this were even remotley true then state why every person that ever lived is not autamaticly saved.
Since you say God turns us(metonia- to change your mind)
and we have no part in it.

Why is repentance commanded by God if God can turn Everyone?
If we have nothing to do with it as you imply?
Why are not ALL men saved.

Simple. Because we are goven oppurtunity by God to repent and receive mercy.if we do not we will perish.
Your implying universalism .

No. God does not automaticlly change everyones mind.he calls US to do so.

Repentance isn't what does the saving. Jesus saves us. God turns us in repentance toward faith in Jesus and forgiveness of sins.

 

[MoreCoffee]

Repentance isn't what does the saving. Jesus saves us. God turns us in repentance toward faith in Jesus and forgiveness of sins.

Does Jesus save people who do not repent?

 

[Lamb]

Does Jesus save people who do not repent?

Those who do not repent are those who do not trust in Jesus' salvation and don't want his forgiveness. Man is the cause of his own damnation.

 

[user1234]

UOTE=Rens;79886]

https://youtu.be/9QmqqhLZbQI[/QUOTE]
Okay, this finally explains it.
If the elephant is us, and the birds are our sins, the the piggie is Jesus, because our birds were placed upon Piggies head and the elephant is free. :hearts:
Praise the Lord !!!

I only have one question .....
Where are their pants? :O_O: :woot: