New Birth Repentance

There is much confusion in Christian circles about what repentance is, and I thought I might try and shed some light on the issue. The myths about new birth repentance is, that it involves a certain condition of sorrow for the sin committed. Another myth is that it involves a turning from all known sin, getting yourself cleaned up and start living right. If this was the case, we would all be unsaved and we could never know for sure if we are truly saved. This is a doctrine that has prevented many from entering the kingdom of God. There is no virtue being sorry. God does not care that we are sorry. What we ought to be even after we are saved is very very sorry for our sin, but there is no virtue in that. So many people feel guilty about their sin and come down to "the alter", crying, desperately sorry that they lived the way they lived, make a resolution to stop sinning, and don't get anymore saved then someone would watching a hockey game. All that is, is a selfish sinner feeling guilty and trying to relieve himself of that guilt. So what is this this thing of repentance in reference to salvation?

Repentance is a word that needs a connotation put to it. "Repent", simply means, to turn. If someone were walking north and they repented, they would be walking south.

So we know that we need to repent in order to be saved, so what are we repenting from and what are we repenting towards?

Ac 20:21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is new birth repentance. Repentance towards God. When Adam sinned in the garden, he repented from God. It was more than just eating a fruit. It was a decision to live his own way, with his own system and his own beliefs. Because of that, we are born separated from God and we need to repent from everything, our own life, our self-sufficiency, and repent towards God. New birth repentance is a focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is repenting from the life of independence from God, and telling Him that He is back in charge and that we are back to walking in fellowship to Him. This repentance does not involve any direct focus on righteousness or sin. It is simply entering into another mental state. It does not involve any act on our part. It is not something we DO. It is merely a turning from dead works, and a turn towards Jesus.

Heb 6:1 ¶ Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

This is the foundation. Repentance from dead works and repentance towards God. When we repent or turn towards God, the natural evidence that we did, will be that we stop living in sin. Trying to repent from sin is a futile task. That would be focusing our attention on the sin and taking our eyes entirely from Christ. By faith we overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. Repentance and faith go hand and hand. You cannot relate to God by faith without repenting towards Him. Also, you can't repent to God without believing in Him.

What about dead works? What are they? Dead works are works that are dead. Not only sin, but any work or act of righteousness that we would do to get right with God, would be a dead work. Christ made peace with God for us and any work that we contribute to the free gift, would be a dead work. Christ freed us from dead works, to serve the Living God.

So the question must then be asked, did we repent? It would be futile to go back into our history and see if we repented once. The proof is, are we repenting to God today? Is God the focus of our day? Is He in our thoughts and involved in the decisions we make? Do we love Him and His righteousness? Or can we secretly sin when no one is looking? Can sin dwell in our minds for days, with out being driven out by the Lord Jesus living inside us? The proof of a true repentance is that sin is alien and unwanted in this temple of God. If there is a sin, there is a such a struggle inside us because of the knowledge the we hurt our Saviour, and the rest of our lives we live in desperation to not let that happen again. Where is your focus? Is it on God, or is it on things of the world? Where is your heart? Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ?