Yielding to the Spirit of Truth (part 3)

Repentance is a Must Before the Holy Spirit Renews You

9.26.2021

Review

In a strange way today, we seem surrounded by lies, distortions, deceptions, and twisted truths that only present a partial picture of whatever we are dealing with.

Matthew 24:4 (TPT)

Jesus answered, “At that time deception will run rampant. So beware that you are not fooled!”

1 Timothy 4:1-2 (TPT)

The Holy Spirit has explicitly revealed: At the end of this age, many will depart from the true faith one after another, devoting themselves to spirits of deception and following demon-inspired revelations and theories. 2 Hypocritical liars will deceive many, and their consciences won’t bother them at all!

We have an internal antidote for today. He is the Spirit of Truth.

Isaiah 60:1-3 (NKJV)

Arise, shine; For your light has come!And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. 2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the LORD will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you. 3 The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.

Repentance is the emphasis from heaven to all of us today!

This is a day to get rid of spiritual hardness and callousness and learn to hear the Holy Spirit as He guides us.

There is a window of time here in America during which God is calling believers to clean up their lives and get ready.

The darkness and the light are colliding.

James 4:4 (PHILLIPS)

You are like unfaithful wives, flirting with the glamour of this world, and never realising that to be the world’s lover means becoming the enemy of God! Anyone who deliberately chooses to love the world is thereby making himself God’s enemy. Do you think what the scriptures have to say about this is a mere formality? Or do you imagine that this spirit of passionate jealousy is the Spirit he has caused to live in us?

God has a soft heart for those who know they are living wrong and choose to repent!

Acts 3:19-21 (NKJV)

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, 21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

Repentance always precedes a fresh move of God individually, corporately in churches, and in a nation.

Repentance is a change of heart that produces a change of mind which ends in a changing what we do.

If how you live has not changed, you have not repented.

For the Holy Spirit to work in us in a fresh way, we must REPENT!

2 Corinthians 6:14 – 7:1 (NKJV)

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 17 Therefore “Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.” 18 “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty.”

2 Corinthians 7:1 (NKJV)

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Millions of people have prayed a prayer for salvation, but have never followed through with a yielded life. They experienced remorse but not true repentance.

Remorse is a deep and painful regret for what you have done, but it does not bring change.

2 Corinthians 7:10 (NLT)

For the kind of sorrow [conviction] God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow [guilt] which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.

But, with repentance, life can change! You can be different!

With repentance you can turn from a bad habit!

With repentance, you are enabled to live a new way in every area of living: in your marriage, in your relationships, in your responses to others, in your way of talking, in your physical habits.

And repentance opens us up to a fresh experience with the Holy Spirit!

Five things to know about repentance…

1. Repentance opens us up to tremendous life change!

The first call of the Kingdom of God in every life is the call to repentance.

With repentance, you are DONE with living the way you have lived.

If you still like what you’re doing, even though you know it’s wrong, and you know full well that you are going to continue living the way you want, then there is no repentance!

Repentance means we’re just done with living the way we’ve been living, and we just want a new way of living!

Repentance is not: feeling bad about lying, lusting, adultery, porn, stealing, gossiping, whatever, and then asking God to forgive, knowing you’re going to go there again, and soon!

Repentance means: I want a different life!

Definition:

Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1986).

A turning away from sin, disobedience, or rebellion and a turning back to God.

In a more general sense, repentance means a change of mind (Genesis 6:6-7) or a feeling of remorse or regret for past conduct (Matthew 27:3).

True repentance is a godly sorrow for sin, an act of turning around and going in the opposite direction. This type of repentance leads to a fundamental change in a person’s relationship to God.

Repentance is the first step in making changes that will distance you from your past, and begin a new lifestyle!

That is the reason that repentance was preached by John the Baptist before Jesus came:

Matthew 3:1-2 (AMPC)

IN THOSE days there appeared John the Baptist, preaching in the Wilderness (Desert) of Judea (2) And saying, Repent (think differently; change your mind, regretting your sins and changing your conduct), for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

John the Baptist was preparing the Jewish race for Jesus to come.

Luke 3:7-14 (NKJV)

Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 9 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” 10 So the people asked him, saying, “What shall we do then?” 11 He answered and said to them, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.” 12 Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” 13 And he said to them, “Collect no more than what is appointed for you.”

14 Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?”

So he said to them, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.”

Jesus emphasized repentance.

Luke 5:32 (NKJV)

I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.

Jesus emphasized that repentance has two sides like a coin:

On one side by repentance, we turn away from sin, and on the other side by faith we turn to God in accepting Jesus as our savior from sin.

Matthew 4:17-22 (NKJV)

From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 18 And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him. 21 Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

Matthew 18:3 (NKJV)

Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus also showed the positive side to repentance:

Luke 15:10 (NKJV)

Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

The disciples followed Jesus and John the Baptist in preaching repentance:

Acts 2:38 (AMPC)

And Peter answered them, Repent (change your views and purpose to accept the will of God in your inner selves instead of rejecting it) and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of and release from your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 3:19 (NKJV)

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

Acts 20:20-21 (NKJV)

how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, 21 testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

Acts 26:19-20 (NKJV)

Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.

My repentance:

At age 17, 3 weeks before my 18th birthday, I repented.

Sometimes, it takes some really negative things to get a person to the point of repentance. It was that way with me.

I was following the culture.

I was following my friends.

And some really bad things happened that challenged my way of living.

I nearly died from smoking drug-laced pot.

I had an auto accident that scared me silly.

Then my girlfriend left her parent’s home and eloped with another guy!

I layed on my bed after work for weeks just devastated. I was ready for change!

I was ready for repentance!

2. There is NO change without repentance.

I never went back to my old life. I was done with it.

Many today simply “accept Jesus” in an altar call at a church and then just carry on with life as it has always been. That is NOT repentance.

Altar calls began with D.L. Moody.

Prior to that, ministers would hold “earnest meetings” because as they preached day after day in a community, the conviction of sin would rise to a fever pitch in people’s lives and they needed relief. And they would almost beg for a meeting where they could get right with God.

Maybe we need that somehow again today.

Repentance is a positive thing, not a negative thing!

Repentance opens for you the possibility of personal transformation.

It is like a door that lets God’s power into your life! Without repentance. the door remains shut.

Jesus had an answer for the lukewarm, complacent believers in Laodicea. Repent. He knew it would open a door to a new life.

Revelation 3:19-20 (NKJV)

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

Repentance is an owning and turning away from what you have done.

Ex – My cousin and I were throwing snowballs at cars. We got caught, but we went back and did it again. Until we threw one inside a rolled down car window.

Or, we threw pecans at the neighbors’ horses, until the neighbor came and told my grandpa.

3. Repentance begins with God showing us who we really are…so that we can change!

John 6:44 – your desire for God starts with God, probably with someone praying for you.

Example – Radio middle of night.

Repentance starts with us facing areas of darkness and ends with joy and light being revealed to us.

It starts by us addressing our personal bondage to sin and ends in giving us freedom from the desire to sin.

It starts by us addressing sin and ends with an impartation of life!

Repentance opens for you a personal door to God’s power and life.

For me, my repentance started by realizing that I could die using drugs!

I realized my life was revolving around a girl who could crush my heart and did!

If you know you need change in your life, your first step is repentance.

Michael Brown

Repentance is God’s activating grace.

John Milton

Repentance is the golden key that opens the palace of eternity.

St. Ambrose

Before God can deliver us, we must un-deceive ourselves.

Oswald Chambers –

Self-knowledge is the first condition of repentance.

Thomas Carlyle

The greatest of all faults is to be conscious of none.

William Booth

The greatness of a man’s power is his surrender.

2 Corinthians 7:10 (NLT)

For the kind of sorrow [conviction] God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow [guilt] which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.

2 Cor 7:10 (AMPC)

For godly grief and the pain God is permitted to direct [again, he’s talking about the conviction of the Holy Spirit], produce a repentance that leads and contributes to salvation and deliverance from evil, and it never brings regret; but worldly grief (the hopeless sorrow that is characteristic of the pagan world) is deadly [breeding and ending in death].

Romans 2:4 -NKJV

Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? [If you have conviction when you sin, that is a marvelous thing].

Romans 2:4-5 (AMPC)

Or are you [so blind as to] trifle with and presume upon and despise and underestimate the wealth of His kindness and forbearance and long-suffering patience? Are you unmindful or actually ignorant [of the fact] that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repent (to change your mind and inner man to accept God’s will)? 5 But by your callous stubbornness and impenitence of heart you are storing up wrath and indignation for yourself on the day of wrath and indignation, when God’s righteous judgment (just doom) will be revealed.

My friend Glenn. No repentance.

2 Peter 3:9 (NKJV)

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

2 Peter 3:9 (AMPC)

The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some people’s conception of slowness, but He is long-suffering (extraordinarily patient) toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance.

Acts 11:18 (NLT)

When the others heard this, they stopped objecting and began praising God. They said, “We can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life.”

Action Points:

1. Has there been a time in your life that you felt conviction and guilt about your personal sin?
2. Have you changed your mind about doing things that you know are wrong, and have you asked for God’s forgiveness and mercy?
3. Are you ready to change the way you live your life, by acknowledging your sin before God, and making a decision to forsake them?