It was so awesome today in church as I removed every iota of doubt about REPENTANCE.
It came from the Greek word called Metanoia, which means to "change your way of thinking or to change one's mind".
Repentance is not about sin. It is about the way you perceive God. We have been taught that God is hard, wants to catch in sin and dump us in hell. Nothing can be far from the truth. God is good.
Romans 2:4
GOD'S goodness leads us to repentance. Not repentance first.
Under the law, you have to repent first, before God will bless you.
Repentance under the law is different from the repentance under the new testament.
In the old testament, John preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sin. (Mark 1:4). That is, you need to repent before your sins are forgiven.
Jesus came after John preaching the good news. Change your mind about your self righteousness and believe what Jesus has done and your sins would be forgiven. Give up all pretensions to righteousness.
Phillip went to Samaria. He did not tell to repent. He preached Christ unto them and they were all saved. They changed their mind (Repentance) concerning Christ.
Acts 8:5.
Acts 20:21
Repentance towards God. In other words, change your mind towards God.
Acts 11: 18. You cannot conjure repentance by your works. It is God that gives repentance.
2Timorthy 2: 24-25. Repentance is something granted by God.
Remorse is not repentance.
Mathew 27:38-39
The word repent here is not Metanoia. Feeling remorseful does not mean you change. If Judas had waited for a few more hours, Jesus would have hung for him. By hanging, he was trying to punish himself for selling Jesus. That is self righteousness and he missed the opportunity for Christ to die for him. Stop all the pretensions over sin and accept what Jesus has done for you. Stop beating yourself over sin and accept what Jesus has done. He took all the beating, shame and punishment for our sins. Believe what He has done and your sins will be forgiven. No crying, no rolling on the floor required. Believe now and receive remission for sin!!!.
