Walk
312. Repent
Humans use all the methods of
the world system and of their own self-sufficiency to get their unmet needs
met. Our basic needs are love,
security, and impact (significance).
Repentance puts us into God’s
care and out of Satan’s reach.
Acts 26:18 says, “…to open their
eyes, in order to turn (repent) them
from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of
sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.”
Lost people and believers alike have misunderstood
repentance. Repentance is
a gift from God and we need to understand it.
The word ‘repent’
means ‘metanaeo.’ W.E. Vine’s Bible Dictionary describes
it as “to perceive afterwards, implying change: after thought, change of mind,
not simply a change of a mind, but such a change as would reverse the effects
of ones own previous state of mind.”
According to Webster’s Dictionary the word ‘metamorphosis’ is derived from ‘metanaeo’ and is defined as “a transformation as by a supernatural
means, a marked alteration in appearance, condition, character and function.”
A caterpillar goes through a series of turning in its
cocoon until it goes through a metamorphosis and actually supernaturally
changes into a different type of character, a butterfly, from a ground crawler
to a flyer. God also changes us
supernaturally from one who crawls around in sin to one who is holy and soars
with God like an eagle.
God’s part is to perform a miracle, a change. Our part is simply to turn.
What
is the miracle that comes with repentance?
There
are two things: the Presence of
God and the Kingdom of God.
1. God’s presence.
The times in my life that have been most precious with the
Lord were when I truly poured out my heart to Him, and after that He has
pointed out some areas in my life that needed to be changed, or turned. When I turned, He was there with His
presence. This is a promise stated
in Acts 3:19-20 (KJV) which says, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that
your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. And he shall
send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you.”
The Presence of the Lord gives us times of
refreshing. When do we need refreshing? When we are in hot and dry circumstances!
The way we enter into fellowship and presence of God
is through repentance, which is
another word for turning or ‘meta’ in
Greek. Practically speaking, this
means to pour our hearts out to Him.
When we do this, He lets His walls down and we let ours down. “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard... the
things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
If we were to see all of God, nothing else in our
life would matter. The reason too many other things matter
in life is that we have not seen enough of Him!
When we repent, we can see the invisible world and faith
becomes real. “Nevertheless when one
turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away” (2 Corinthians 3:16).
Our job is to be like a caterpillar and keep turning. His job is to do the miracle of making
us pure, as He is pure.
The direction of our posture makes all the difference. When we are facing the world and all of
its pleasures and deceits, we cannot make contact with God. But when we turn and repent, God does
the work.
Human will is the most powerful force in the world
besides God. God will not
turn us we must do it ourselves.
But when we turn and repent, His power goes to work.
The picture God wants us to see is one of the Holy Spirit
standing there just waiting for us to turn towards Him. We don’t have to do the work and the
cleaning up. All we have to do is turn and when we do, He is there to do
miracles.
2. The Kingdom
of God.
Taking your life out of Satan’s hands by turning to
the Word of God.
Jesus said in Matthew 4:17, “From that time Jesus began to
preach and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (or within
your reach, right now).’”
Humans use all the methods of the world system and of their
own self- sufficiency to get their unmet needs met. Our basic needs are love, security, and significance.
When people do not get needs met they don’t want to accept
the fact that the world will never provide them for those needs. So they attempt to close the gap by
trying to improve themselves and hoping that things will get better. They think that there must be something
wrong with them. Guilt comes, they
misjudge God’s character, Satan promotes lies and they buy them. They doubt the truth of God’s Word.
Those people avoid the two painful realities that:
1. We live in an
unpredictable and hostile world that we cannot control.
2. We are helpless and we cannot depend upon ourselves to
improve to get our needs met.
Avoiding these realities keeps them from being totally
dependent upon God, yes, even Christians.
So
what is the answer?
How do
we get the Kingdom of God by turning?
Jesus said in Mark 4:11 that the mystery of the Kingdom of God is revealed in the parable of sowing
and reaping. Sowing and reaping
what? Sowing and reaping the
Word of God.
Didn’t Peter write that the promises of God provide us with
everything we need for life and godliness? “…as His divine power has given to us all things that
pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory
and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious
promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” ((2 Peter 1:3-4).
Jesus said in Mark 4 that the entire Kingdom of God works
on this principle. He said that
this is the mystery of the
Kingdom. What is the mystery? It is that life is sustained by the
Word of God planted in a human heart.
Then, the process of growth takes place. Along with the growth comes pain. The pain that results from Satan attempting to steal the
Word while you are waiting for the “Lord to return” with the fruit.
Jesus is saying that we need to become Word dependent
people, and neither self-dependent nor world dependent. The way to depend upon God is to depend
upon the supernatural power of the Word of God!
We
don’t need to become as skillful in handling life as we need to become skillful
in handling the Word of God.
Another
way to put it is; repent (i.e. take a shift in what you ultimately trust in and
depend upon for your most critical need, shift from depending upon yourself and
the world system) because the Kingdom of God (i.e., God’s system described in
Mark 4 of planting the seed of the Word of God in your heart, and allowing it
to grow to produce everything you need for life and godliness, for bearing
fruit for God’s glory) is now within your reach.
Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and
all the things you need will be added to you and overtake you like fruit
overtakes the branch on the vine (Matthew 6:33).
Acts 26:18 says that when we turn, or repent, we take
ourselves out of the power of Satan and put ourselves under the power of God.
Hosea shows us the model of repentance that takes our
sufficiency away from the world (Assyria), away from ourselves (our own hands)
and puts our trust in the Word of God.
Hosea 14:1-3 says, “O Israel, return to the LORD your God,
for you have stumbled because of your iniquity; take words with you, and return
to the LORD, say to Him, ‘Take away all iniquity; receive us graciously, for we
will offer the sacrifices of our lips. Assyria shall not save us, we will not
ride on horses, nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, “You are our
gods.” For in You the fatherless finds mercy.’”
David, in Psalm 62, describes his frustration of not being
able to make life work. He
declares that he is not able, nor strong enough. Then, he gets the idea when he says, “My soul, wait silently
for God alone, for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my
salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and
my glory; the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God” (Psalm 62:5-7).
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