Repentance, Part 6

Sixth, repentance causes a person to acknowledge the truth. In Second Timothy 2:25‑26, the Bible says, ‘In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.‘

One of the marks of a man or woman without the Saviour is that they are self-willed. They have their own mind, their own ideas, and their own views that they believe. But when a person gets saved they don’t trust their own views anymore. I have opinions, but I can’t trust my opinions, unless they are founded on the Word of God.

I don’t run to the Word of God to try to prove my point or to cover my tracks or to try and get what I want out of God. I go to the Word of God to find out what God wants, and what God says. Then I change my opinions and ideas to fit with the Word of God. Repentance causes a person to acknowledge the truth. It causes a person to admit their own bankruptcy, their lack of spiritual understanding, and to acknowledge the truth of the Word of God. When repentance takes place, mark it down, a person will always bow before God and say, ‘Whatever you say is right, and whatever I feel that is contrary to what You say, is absolutely wrong.’ When someone wants to argue with God, mark it down, they do not know God. Repentance causes people to acknowledge the truth.

How does a person get right with God? He must first come to the place where he acknowledges the truth of God’s Word. He must realise his sinfulness, as God sees it, and realise that Hell is what he deserves because he has wronged God.

The religious world of today laughs at that truth. But without an acknowledging of the truth there is no repentance, and without repentance, there is no relationship with God. You may argue with me, but one day you will stand before God and your mouth will be stopped.  God does not judge according to the outward appearance but according to truth and according to the heart. He knows you inside out.

True repentance then will include these six things. First, we saw in the book of Job that repentance is a deep sorrow for sin. Not just one of these, ‘Well you know, I really shouldn’t have done that,’ but ‘I have sinned against God. This is serious business.’