What Is True Repentance?

 What Is True Repentance?

Repentance Leads to Faith

2 Timothy 2:22-23 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.

You must be very careful when you discuss different aspects of the faith with others. Ensure that you do not allow the wrong spirit to come in and cause division.

2 Timothy 2:24-26 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, 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.

God grants repentance to you. Until you truly repent and learn your lesson, God will not give you the way of escape.

God is faithful and will not abandon you. He will accompany you in your affliction as you tarry in the wilderness. However, when you actually repent and learn the necessary lesson, then God is willing to remove the evil spirit, principality, or power that has dominion over and is oppressing you.

Repentance is from the heart. Idols and demons are removed from your heart through true repentance. Only after you've genuinely repented toward God can you walk in the nature of Christ, which is real freedom.

God will give you faith so that you can trust Him. You have to trust Him. Then, you will be able to repent.

God is the one who has called you. When you're a brand new believer, He has angels looking after you.

If you have not yet overcome sin, then you have not truly repented of that sin. In other words, if you continue to repeatedly fall into sin in the same area of your life, then you have not truly repented of sin in that area. You haven't had a proper change of heart.

This is not to mean all sin, but if you are continually wrestling in one specific area of sin.

God takes the land back slowly with you. You are not able to bear it all. However, if you're not bearing fruit in your life, that signals a problem. You can see where you are bearing fruit in your life and where you are not.

Sin has power in everyone's life, including yours. There is not a person on the face of the earth that never sins.

There is no condemnation for those that are in Christ. When you are in Christ, you are not under the curse of the Law of Sin and Death.

In Christ, it becomes your nature not to sin. However, if you are sinning and finding it difficult to overcome a specific sin, then obviously that sin has dominion over you.

You are forgiven in Christ. When you confess your sins then God can sanctify and cleanse you. If you say that you have no sin, then the Word of God calls you a liar and self-deceived (1 John 1:8).

God has vindicated you by His blood and His righteousness. He knows that without Christ's covering that you are naked, wretched, and shameful.

In order for you to really walk in that truth, you must repent by acknowledging your sin and asking for forgiveness.

After you've wrestled with sin for a while and finally decided in your heart not to tolerate it anymore, then God will often give you a revelation that is the key to your freedom.

Revelation knowledge is coming into agreement with the love of the truth.

When you repent, then God is able to take the source of your oppression out of the way. It is God that takes the causes of sin out of your life. However, He only takes your land back as you are ready to hold it.

The ancient Israelites' conquest of Canaan, the promised land, is a physical picture of this spiritual reality. Coming against your spiritual enemies is like coming against the inhabitants of the Promised Land.

When demons are in you, they try to tempt you to sin. But, when you overcome them, then you have the peace of God.

You can only be in peace when your enemies have been taken out of the way. Truthfully, God has already taken all of your enemies out of the way. But you must personally come into that revelation and then walk in that knowledge by faith.

When you're able to understand that truth, you will overcome all of the enemy's power in your life.

Your enemies were all destroyed two thousand years ago at Calvary.

You have to get that truth down into your heart, remove the idols out of your life, and die to self.

The whole key is dying to self.

You are only able to repent when you come to the Cross. Then God can remove all of the obstacles out of your way.

You must acknowledge that you have died.

If you haven't died in that area, then you are still walking in self-righteousness and trying to overcome that sin yourself.

But, when you truly die to self and you repent, then God is able to nail that thing to the Cross and properly remove it out of your life.

Then you will no longer be walking in your own self-righteousness, but in His righteousness.

You need to see yourself as a lump of clay sitting on a potter's wheel. In order for God to use you, you have to repent.

Then the Holy Spirit can come in and mold you and God can form you into a beautiful vessel for Him.

In order for you to stay pure as a vessel of God, you must go into the fire. You must go into the kiln. It's the kiln that purifies and sanctifies the vessel so that it is hardened. Then the enemy cannot just come into your life and mar you.

That is a miracle.

Understand that the process of sanctification is all God's doing.

In order for that process to take effect in your life, there has to be repentance.

People that don't truly repent end up with double-mindedness. False repentance brings double-mindedness.

Many people claim to have repented from their sins, but have they truly repented?

Proper repentance brings fruit and a change in your life.

True repentance in Hebrew means to change direction. It means going in one direction toward sin, and then turning around and not going in that direction anymore.

James 4:7-10 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

Everything follows the Spirit. You must be led by the Spirit.

What is your soul being motivated by: the carnal or the Spirit?

From where are you loving the truth: from your carnal, soulish realm or from the new, regenerated spiritual man and heart of your being?

People that don't repent properly are only repenting from their mind and soul. It's not deep down within their spirit man.

Love dwells in your spirit. It's in your spirit.

When your spirit, in conjunction with the Holy Spirit, gets released, it smashes everything in you that is in opposition to you. Then you will be able to overcome.

It is with your heart that you believe, and then whatever you believe comes out of your mouth.

Your mind, will, and emotions will be transformed through the knowledge of Christ.

Christ is spirit.

You have to be careful of the soulish realm. The soulish realm must be sanctified by your agreement of loving the truth will all your being in your spiritual man.

When you truly die to self, that's when the Lord can truly use you.

If you haven't died to self, then there is going to be a battle because it's false repentance.

When you've truly died to self then whatever it is that is oppressing you will lose its power over your soul.

The soul is being manipulated by the dominion of the carnal, the senses, and the sensual nature of the Old Man.

Your emotions and mind can be affected by evil. But they can also be affected by the Spirit.

Are you going to have the mind of Christ or the carnal mind?

How do you submit to God?

By abiding in His word by faith, which works through love.

Then you can resist the devil and he will flee from you.

In verse 8, James wrote that if you draw near to God, then he will draw near to you.

If you love the Lord, then you will receive the truth. He will draw near to you.

Then James wrote that you, as a sinner, must cleanse your hands and purify your heart.

How are you treating sin in your life?

If you're involved with sin or actively sinning, then you've got to stop doing that.

For example, you may be sinning by drinking alcohol or by watching pornography.

Cleansing your hands means that you must stop doing that. James is saying, as an example, "Stop logging on to pornography with your hands, you sinners!"

Then you must purify your heart.

How do you do that?

Through repentance. Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.

That is a picture of true repentance.

Many people have addictions that they cannot give up. It doesn't matter what it is, it could be smoking.

But that smoking addiction can be overcome by fellowshipping with others. That's why fellowship is so important.

Bad company brings bad habits along with it.

That's why good fellowship is vital.

You must lay hold of true repentance.

What does it mean to die to self? What's that all about?

It means to present your body as a living sacrifice.

It means to deny the flesh.

God is sovereign. He is in control. He is in control of everything.

Even with your repentance, He looks at your will. He looks at you.

He can change you.

He changed Pharoah. He even hardened Pharoah's heart.

Proverbs 21:1 The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

We are all kings in Christ.

God even granted repentance to the Gentiles. Gentiles could not come into the Kingdom until God allowed it. God granted repentance to them.

Acts 11:18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.

So, God grants repentance to us.

It's important that you understand that without true repentance you will not see God.

You must repent. The Word of God says that without holiness no one shall see the Lord.

Repentance brings holiness.

You must take repentance very seriously.

What is happening in the Church in these last days is a great falling away.

This falling away is occurring because Christians are adopting doctrines of demons and being led into deception and darkness.

There is not a lot of true repentance in Churches today. The whole meaning of the word "repentance" has been greatly watered down.

If you take anything away from this teaching, it should be this: understand what true repentance is.

True repentance is turning in direction. That is what it means in the original Hebrew. It means to actually change direction.

James wrote that true repentance comes with a sorrowful heart, weeping, and mourning.

He wrote "Cleanse your hands, ye sinners" in 4:8.

What does that mean?

It means to stop sinning.

Further, he wrote, "and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep:"

This is serious. Many dismiss it.

One of the biggest traps that you can fall into is disregarding the grace of God, and treating

His grace as if it's a cheap thing. This grieves the Holy Spirit.

You do not want to grieve the Holy Spirit. It is not a good thing to grieve the Lord.

True repentance is lamenting, mourning, and weeping. "let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness."

If you're having a good time sinning and think that you are in the Lord, then you are actually in deception.

James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

Again, this is very serious. God is not mocked.

One thing that is very dangerous to a Believer is taking the grace of God lightly.

You are to present yourself as a living sacrifice and die to self. You've been told to do all these things in God's Word.

Surely, the devil will come along and try to convince you to disregard God's instructions or delay obeying them.

The day of salvation is today. It is now.

Do not gamble with your salvation. It is not a light thing.

The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.

What you must do is study the Word of God and learn from the lives, experiences, and stories of the people mentioned in it.

Two such examples are the prodigal son and Esau.

The Lord said, "Esau I have hated, but Jacob I have loved".

Why did God hate Esau for what he did?

It's because he disregarded his inheritance. He counted it as a cheap thing. He exchanged it for a bowl of soup.

That's what you are doing when you continue to walk in sin.

Don't look at Esau and think to yourself, "Whew! I'm not him!"

If you're playing games and gambling with sin in your life then you are no different from Esau.

If that is the case, you are allowing the enemy to destroy your inheritance. You're allowing little foxes to come in and attack the vine.

That's what the spirit of Ahab wants to do. He wants to plant vegetables in your vineyard. He wants to steal it. He wants to steal your inheritance.

Ahab will rob you of your inheritance with Christ.

It is a serious thing to disregard the gifts and grace of God.

The root problem with all Christians is trusting God. You have to be prepared to suffer.

To suffer in the Lord is very precious. You are meant to glory in tribulation and suffering.

That's not preached in the Gospel today.

If you go through suffering and endure it by denying sin, that is the true walk of a Believer.

Fasting is a good example of suffering. You have to do the exact same thing about sin in your life. Have a sin fast.

Stop sinning. Fast through it. Suffer in it.

Proverbs 21:1 The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

When your heart gets right with the Lord and you truly repent for your sin, then God will honor, bless, and deliver you.

He will change your mind.

Like the rivers of water, he turns it wherever he wishes.

Proverbs 21:2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts.

What does that mean?

It means that there is a deeper level to things than what may appear on the surface. The Lord looks at the deeper things in your heart. He looks at the idols in your heart.

Some are deeply rooted.

This is why fellowship is so important, and why many Christians fall.

Demons will try to get you into bad company, distract you, or cause you to fail in different areas of your life.

You have to obey and trust the Lord.

Trust the Lord will all your mind, strength, and soul.

Then He will deliver you. He will.

The Israelites walked around the mountain for forty years. They could have made the journey in three weeks if they had been obedient.

That's what it's all about. You can come up with every excuse in the book for whatever you're dealing with, but that will contradict the Word of God.

You must nail your idols to the Cross by dying to yourself.

When you die, you remove everything the devil can hang on to. He will have nothing to hold on to when you've crucified your flesh. All the enemy will find in that case is Jesus Christ in you, the hope of glory.

How do you get that?

Through repenting from your sin.

It's serious and it's foundational. You must take repentance very seriously.

In the old days, preachers were strong about repenting for sin. However, the modern day churches have strayed away from that.

The grace of God has come in and many have come to understand the grace of God very well.

God's grace is awesome, but some how the enemy has veiled people's eyes from understanding that it is repentance that leads to God's grace.

True repentance brings God's grace.

God can remove the desire to sin in your life in an instant. He can do it just like that! This is what Proverbs 21:1 means when it says that like the rivers of water God can turn the heart wherever he wants to direct it.

You must understand true repentance.

There is a flaky repentance that has come into the Church.

"If you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth then you will be saved" is a wonderful truth. But the Bible also says that you need to repent. You must ask for forgiveness.

Repentance means turning and changing direction.

When I first got saved, I knew that it was all God's doing and that He led me to that Church.

When I put my hands up I wanted to go up to the front, but I was too scared to do it alone.

There was another guy that was sitting next to me who offered to go up with me. I thought, "Praise God. Let's go!"

I wanted to go up, but something inside of me was saying. "Don't go."

When I walked up and put my hands up, then I received the Lord by faith. I didn't know anything about Christianity. I didn't even know the books of the Bible except for Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I'd heard of them but that was it.

As soon as I got out of that church and got into my car, I knew what I needed to do. I had a bag of dope under my front seat. I also had a bag of roll your own cigarettes as well.

Nobody told me not to smoke or take drugs anymore. But, straightaway, I knew it was wrong.

I repented of it, rolled down my window, and threw it out right there in the car park.

That was it. I didn't touch those things again after that. I just gave it up because I believed that was the right thing to do.

That was repentance.

Today, there seems to be no repentance and no idea of what repentance truly means.

What Repentance Actually Means

Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

The Greek word for repent is metanoia. Thayer's lexicon defined it's meaning as "to change one's mind, i.e. repent...to change one's mind for the better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one's past sins".

It is about really hating your sin and also being remorseful. But it's more than only being remorseful. It includes also stepping away from your sins.

The Hebrew word means to literally turn around and change direction.

You may be walking in sin, but then you come to the Cross and change.

You decide to lay down your old life and now you change.

You leave those sinful ways behind. You repent for them. That means that you stop doing them by faith and trusting in God.

Then, you walk in holiness.

Mark 3:1-2  In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Isn't this amazing when you think about it?

Here you have "Repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand."

Israel was coming to the promise.

The Law of Moses has been there hundreds of years to constrain the people to bring forth the promised seed, which was Christ. He is the promise.

Here you have "repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand".

It was, the promise, Jesus, who had come to reveal the Kingdom. The true Kingdom of God.

Matthew 3:3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

Ezekiel 14:6 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

In Ezekiel, the repentance defined here is confronting your idols.

This is not necessarily referring to only physical idols. Idols are anything that you put above God.

Ezekiel 18:30  Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.

Isn't that interesting?

Sin will cause ruin. That is why repentance is so important. That's why you have to weep and mourn for true repentance.

Repentance is not just having a bit of remorse. That's this flaky, false doctrine that has fallen into most churches today. That's coming from a doctrine of demons.

Sadly, most Churches don't even preach on repentance.

Ezekiel 18:31-32 Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.

So, even here in this Old Testament verse God was giving Israel an understanding of what was coming with the New Covenant.

God was going to give them a new heart and a new spirit.

Change your mind. Change your perspective on things. Come into unity and agreement with the heart of God.

David was a man after God's own heart.

He knew that everything that he had was from God.

He knew that he couldn't do anything on his own, but by trusting God he could do everything.

That is how he slew Goliath. He was a man after God's own heart. He walked in and trusted in the power of God.

When God says, "For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye." He is speaking of repentance.

That's turning yourself around. That's turning away from sin.

If you are still wallowing in sin, then you have not repented.

You have to understand this.

Without true repentance you will not receive the grace that you need. When you repent, then God will give you the grace to overcome. But, you must come out of agreement with it first.

That's why deliverance is so powerful.

But even in deliverance it is important that you are not only parroting the renunciations or repentance prayers.

When you renounce sins and ask forgiveness for things, do not just parrot it. Mean it in your heart!

Leviticus 5:5-6 And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing: And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord for his sin which he hath sinned, a female from the flock, a lamb or a kid of the goats, for a sin offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his sin.

These offerings were merely a type and shadow of things to come. Jesus Christ is now our High Priest.

He was our perfect sacrifice, the Lamb of God.

You can see in these offerings a type and shadow of what was to come.

However, what was to come was better promises!

Confess your sins and then God will make that perfect atonement for you through His own blood.

He washes your sins away. He not only removes and destroys the power of sin, but even forgets about it.

The blood of animals could not do that. It could not remove sin permanently. It could only act as a temporary covering. It could not destroy the power of sin.

It is not through the Law, but Christ that sin is taken away.

Repentance Leads to More Faith

God gives you faith. Repentance comes with faith.

God calls everyone. It is not an accident that you got saved.

No one can even come to the Father unless he is called.

God calls you.

What repentance does is cause you to walk by faith and trust God.

Without true repentance you are going to be under the dominion and power of the devil.

You will remain under the power of sin.

Repentance frees you from the power of sin by coming to the Cross.

That is true repentance.

Learn what true repentance is. It is not a bit of remorse.

True repentance is a change of heart.

It happens with the heart and it goes deep. These things go deep.

Repentance is not shallow. It is not done only with your lips.

You do not get saved just by confessing with your mouth. The Word of God says to believe in your heart.

2 Corinthians 7:8-10 For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

A sorrowful, worldy repentance is what has crept into the Church today. It is not the true repentance that is from the Lord.

2 Corinthians 7:11 For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

This is a picture of true repentance.

It produced diligence. There was a real change of heart.

That's what God does. God brings that change through the power of His Spirit.

That is where you become and walk in that New Creation in Christ.

God does it all. You can't do anything.

You can't do anything without the Lord. Jesus said, "You can do nothing".

Without Christ, you can do nothing, but with Christ you can do all things.

The prerequisite for being able to do all things is true, godly sorrow which produces repentance.

That genuine repentance leads to salvation.

This salvation is not just when you get saved. This salvation is a process of you being sanctified in your walk with the Lord.

Without holiness no one will see God.

It is only through holiness that you can know God.

Repentance Leads to Overcoming Faith

There is a faith that is in the world, but it's not the real faith that comes from God.

2 Timothy 2:22 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

What is this pure heart?

2 Timothy 2:23-26 But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, 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.

God is sovereign.

In order for you to escape the snare of the devil you have to truly repent. This is not a flaky repentance that comes through the doctrines of demons which have been brought into the Church.

To believe that all you need is God's grace without repentance is deception.

In order for you to receive God's grace, there must be true repentance.

You can't access grace without changing your direction.

Repentance is changing your heart and following Christ. Then your mind will follow also.

When you change your heart toward a situation, that means you are dying to self.

This all comes back to the Cross.

This puts you right back to the Cross, where you take up your Cross and follow Him daily.

You have to do it daily.

What does that mean?

It means that it is no longer you who lives but Christ that lives in you.

It's not your life anymore. You don't own yourself anymore.

Get the whole concept of "my way" out of the picture because it's no longer you that lives.

It's His way!

When you truly repent, you are going to learn to trust God.

It all goes back to trusting the Lord.

Proverbs 21:1-2 The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts.

When you're trusting in self you will get deceived.

But, when you trust in the Lord, it is no longer you that lives but Christ who lives in you, then you will no longer fear death. You will not have any fear because to be absent from the body is to be present from the Lord.

You will receive the power of God.

When you rid yourself of idolatry and all the idols in your heart, then God will move on your behalf.

This is how God works. He comes in and does the work. It is all God. It is not you.

If you try to achieve righteousness under the Law regime, you are just going to get deceived and blinded by your own self-righteousness.

It is the miraculous power of God that breaks the chains.

When you surrender, that is when God will break the chains off of you.

That is what repentance will bring.

2 Timothy 2:25  In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;

Acts 11:18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.

It is the Father that grants repentance to you. He is in control.

What you have to do is repent so that God can work through you like malleable clay.

If you don't repent then you will be like a lump of clay that God cannot use.

But, if you do repent, then God can mold you into a useable vessel.

Then, he'll put you in the kiln. Once you're in the kiln, that's when everything changes.

You will get tested.

When God starts molding you, then you will get tested.

It's only through true repentance that you will overcome by His grace.

You must commit to total surrender. You must say in your heart, "Lord, I give up. It's no longer my way, but your way. Let your will be done in my life. I give you the reigns, Lord. You take over. I trust You."

It all comes back to trust and loving the Lord.

When you love someone, you trust them.

Getting back to the heart of repentance means to fully trust the Lord.

Everyone has sin and areas of idolatry and sin in their lives.

Repentance is what deals with the idols in your heart. You may be able to identify the idols in your heart, but how are you going to get rid of them?

You get rid of them through the Cross. By dying to self. You have to die.

If you are hanging on to your idols then that will be impossible.

But with God, all things are possible.

You have to learn to trust Him and let Him do it.

God is very good at being God.

He created you. He knows everything about you. He knows your heart. He looks at your heart. He is not mocked.

Luke 15:11-24 And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:

When the prodigal son came to himself, that is when he recognized the error of his ways and began to repent. He remembered his Father's house and the true provision that he could receive if he returned home.

This is the fruit of repentance.

Everyone will find themselves in this situation before they know the Lord. In some cases, you may think that you're really walking in the Lord but actually be in deception.

You can be deceived and think that you are in the Father's house, but really you are not.

True repentance brings fruit. If there is no fruit in your life, then you have to look at yourself honestly.

Take it seriously.

Many will be deceived. The Lord says this. Many will come to Him in that day saying, "Lord, Lord did we no prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name", etc, and the Lord replies to them, "I never knew you".

There is going to be great deception. There already is great deception in the Church.

Many of us have been deceived by false doctrine. Jesus warned us about false doctrine.

In this parable, you have a picture of God's awesome love. How He is willing to restore and give to you your true inheritance through repentance.

This is an example of God's love.

Why wouldn't you repent?

Because you want to hang on to sin, live in the pig's pen with the swine, eat the pods and eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which ends in death?

Repent of trying to do things your way and wasting your inheritance. This is what happens today.

Many Christians are wasting their inheritance today without realizing it. The devil has blinded us all.

Many of us have been blinded and wasted the true inheritance that God has given us.

That's what the spirit of Ahab and Jezebel want to do in particular. They want to rob you of your vineyard and plant vegetables in it. That will not bring forth the fruit of God.

What will bring forth the fruit of God in your life is repentance.

Turn from your ways and your idols and allow the Lord to restore in you your true inheritance and freedom in Christ. Then you can escape the snare of the devil.

Without holiness, no one is going to see God.

The only way that you can be holy is through the grace of God and through His power.

You must learn to trust Him and rest in Him.

When the prodigal returned home, then He received the Father's covering, his best robe. The father put the sandals on his feet. Those sandals represent peace and the shoes shod in the Gospel of peace. The robe is the robe of His righteousness. The ring was a symbol of the seal of God's authority as a son and an heir with Christ.

Are you resting in this truth? This is your inheritance. Resting with Christ in heavenly places with all your enemies under your feet. There you are no longer wallowing in the mud with the pigs.

The Bible says as a dog returns to its own vomit, so do people return to their own sins.

Are you in that place?

Are you repenting for sin and then returning to the pig pen?

Have you truly repented of all of your sin?

Are you demonstrating Godly repentance, which is more than just being remorseful?

Do you have sorrowful repentance?

There is a strong message in this parable. Anyone that can read this and not start tearing up needs prayer. When you read this the Holy Spirit just leaps for joy inside of you.

What great love the Father has for you!

Why wouldn't you want to repent and turn from your ways?

Even if it is going to cost you everything.

It will cost you everything.

But, in return you will receive more than you ever dreamed or are able to imagine.

The Word says, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard the things that God has prepared for those that love Him".

You have to escape the snare of the devil which will blind you to the truth of what true repentance brings.

Romans 2:1-11 Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: For there is no respect of persons with God.

You cannot accept God's grace for your life until you let go of your sin, your idols, and your self-righteousness.

Many people hang on to their own sins, especially pride, self-righteousness.

That's religion.

When you hang on to your idols, your self-righteousness, and your self deception you are in a false religion.

Self-rightesousness has to do with legalism.  It stems from trying to become righteous through keeping the Law of Moses instead of understanding that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law of Moses.

Righteousness does not come from you keeping the Law, but by believing and receiving the righteousness of Christ by faith. When you clothe yourself in Christ and walk in His righteousness, only then will you fulfill the requirements of the Law through love in Christ.

You are righteous in Christ Jesus not by your attempts to do things in your own strength by keeping rules and regulations.

No one has ever been able to keep the Law. Only Christ Jesus fulfilled the Law.

Many Christians do not understand the true Gospel.

Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness (Romans 10:4-6).

You have to learn to repent and ask forgiveness so that you can receive God's grace.

The Bible says in Galatians that Christians can fall from grace. This applies to any believer who tries to be righteous through themselves.

The Cross is all about you dying to self so that you understand that you cannot save yourself and are never going to be able to save yourself.

Christ did that for you. He fulfilled the righteous requirement of the Law for you.

You receive His righteousness by faith and by believing in Him. You must put your faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ.

You do not become righteous by trying to justify yourself through a whole pile of rules and regulations.

You are now under a higher Law, a better Law under the New Covenant, which is the Law of Liberty.

That is the Law of Christ.

That Law is to love God with all your heart, mind, strength, and soul and to love your neighbor as yourself.

The whole Law is fulfilled in those two verses.

That is Christ.

Your nature will become Christ-like and then you will not want to sin.

You will not want to do evil things anymore because the power of sin will no longer have any dominion over you.

The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law.

Do you want to get stung?

Then try to obtain righteousness by your own good works.

You will fail. No one is able to do that.

It is futile to hang on to deception. The end of that is death. To be carnally minded is death.

Religious people have a veil over their heads. They cannot see the true grace and glory of God because they have been separated from Him.

They have fallen from grace and received another gospel, a different gospel.

This is why repentance is so important to all people.

Religious people can have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

They don't understand the truth of the Cross because Jesus Christ is a stumbling block to them.

Why does He become a stumbling block to some?

Because of self-righteousness and idolatry.

If you are in any way trying to live for God in your own strength, then you must repent.

You simply cannot do it.

The wonderful things about the New Covenant, the Gospel is realizing that God already did it all for you.

All you have to do is be obedient, trust, and learn to understand what the Covenant is all about, and the Cross.

The Cross is all about you letting go.

How?

Repent! All you have to do is repent.

Change direction.

When you change direction then you are allowing God to do the work for you.

God will answer you to the multitude of your idols.

You will have to go down a road and learn a hard lesson.

The Jews went down that road for forty years and their end was death. That was written as an example for us not to make that same mistake.

It was all because of their stubbornness, pride, and rebellion.

That is what false religion will do. It's end is death. Jesus warned about following in the path of the Pharisees.

Esau Despised His Inheritance

Hebrews 12:12-14 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

True repentance brings holiness.

Hebrews 12:15a Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God;

Without true repentance you will fall short of the grace of God.

Hebrews 12:15b lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

A root of bitterness will cause you to be separated from God and fall from grace. That is why it is very important for us to forgive others. Unforgiveness is a serious sin.

Hebrews 12:16-17 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

Esau disregarded the value of his inheritance as the first born. He sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of soup or porridge. That bowl of food represents the flesh. Do not let the flesh rob you of your inheritance.

This is what repentance is all about. It is about coming out of agreement with the flesh and the carnal mind.

The carnal mind is your enemy.

You will be deceived if you try to work things out in your own understanding.

Esau didn't value his inheritance.

Malachi 1:2-3 I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.

This is what will happen to you if you don't repent.

Repentance brings the grace of God. Repentance brings God's righteousness and His provision.

It allows the Lord to guide and lead you. When you repent, God can mold you like clay on the Potter's wheel.

Esau was the father of the Edomites. King Herod was an Edomite. The fruit of being an Edomite is Antichrist.

Be careful about rejecting and not understanding the true value of your inheritance in Christ.

It will cost you everything. You will have to lose your life.

When you lose your life, then you will find your life in Jesus.

Don't let the flesh trade your inheritance for a bowl of soup or porridge.

There is a way that seems right to man but its end is death.

Without true repentance no one will see the Lord, because without true repentance there will be no holiness. If you have no holiness you will become like Esau.

Malachi 1:3b and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.

Those dragons (some translations read jackals) are referring to demons.

Your life will become a land of demons. It will be infested with demons.

This is what the scripture says. It is a very dangerous state to be in.

The Perils of Not Progressing

Hebrews 6:1-3 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, 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, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit.

You must get off of the milk of God's Word and into the meat.

You need to repent and get on with it!

Repent and get into Christ so that you can run the race set before you.

Repentance is something you should just do.

Get good at it.

It's like fasting. No one enjoys fasting obviously because it denies the flesh.

Repentance is something you need to do unquestioningly by faith, trusting God, and letting go of whatever it is that is holding you back and stopping you from being the vessel that God wants you to be.  

Do this so that He can use you to pour out His glory.

Mark 1:14-15 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

Amen.

Humility Cures Wordliness

James 4:7-8 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

Anyone who is walking in sin and has not properly repented is called "double-minded" by God. This applies to everyone.

You must come out of agreement in that area of your life.

To truly overcome, you must repent.

Cleanse your hands from physical sin. Purify your heart from spiritual sin.

James 4:9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

Lament, mourn, and weep.

That is a picture of true repentance.

You can be in sin and totally deceived in a false gospel, laughing hilariously like some do following doctrines of demons.

People following these false teachings and gospels are mistakenly believing their "holy" laughter is the joy of the Lord when it is not the joy of the Lord at all.

Then, there can be no true repentance.

You need to understand what true repentance means.

James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

You come into true repentance with godly sorrow.

True Repentance vs. False Repentance

False repentance brings double-mindedness. Many Christians walk in false repentance.

Isaiah 29:13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

Through deliverance, we've taken people through many renunciations and repentance prayers, but they leave us with all the same demons as they had before they came in for prayer.

Why?

Because they haven't truly repented. They've just said the prayers with their mouth, parroting the words.

Many times, the Holy Spirit during deliverance has revealed that the person seeking prayer does not truly trust Him.

The Lord is working on all of His people. Sanctification is a process.

Do not come under condemnation, but rather, if this applies to you, the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

Conviction is godly. You need to be convicted of your sins.

That's what you need to do. Be convicted.

Because if you are still wallowing in the same sin as before then you haven't repented at all.

Repentance is changing direction, trusting God, and letting Him heal you.

Allow Him to remove all of the jackals from out of the wilderness, and turn that wilderness into an oasis and planting of the Lord so that He would be glorified.

True Repentance is Foundational

Philippians 3:7-9 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

This is such a powerful scripture.

Paul had truly repented.

Anyone who is trying to be righteous through keeping the Law of Moses, you'd better understand that you are walking in your own righteousness. If that's the case then what you are really saying is that you don't believe Christ fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Law.

Your righteousness can only be found in Jesus Christ. He fulfilled the requirements of the Law for you.  

People with a religious spirit will not understand this because they've been blinded. They are unrepentant and have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge.

Philippians 3:10-11 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

You need to come out of self and come into Christ through the Cross.

For you to die to self is gain. You gain Christ.

When you die to yourself, Christ is there waiting for you.

It's like jumping off a high place and Jesus is there to catch you. You jump off the boat and

Jesus is there to catch you.

That requires faith.

What will try to stop you is fear.

Fear stops a lot of people from repenting.

The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life keep people from truly repenting.

Galatians 6:7-10 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

Sin will cause you to lose heart.

You will be tested.

Closing Prayer

Father, we thank you for this awesome word on repentance. We thank you, Lord.

It's a message that unfortunately many have departed from. Lord, we pray, Father God, that you give all of us the ability to receive this in our hearts. We ask that true repentance flows from our hearts.

Lord, we ask that we would allow you into every hidden chamber of our heart and that you would search out every area, the deep and secret places, Lord. Expose any area where we are not trusting you.

Father God, let us repent and come out of agreement with false repentance. Give us true repentance, not flaky repentance or lip service. We do not want to have just a bit of remorse, but true deep repentance where there is even sorrow and weeping.

We ask you Lord for the strength to overcome the areas of sin in our lives by grace. We know that your grace flows out of repentance. We know that repentance is a fruit of the Spirit, so we pray for that true repentance.

We ask, Father God, that we can walk as you walked, in true holiness, bear fruit, and be a light and an example.

In Jesus's name we pray.

We thank you Lord and give you all the glory for your Word.

In Jesus's name.

Amen.