True Repentance is Not Asking for Forgiveness Over and Over Again

Thank you so much for tuning in and Welcome everyone – Hope you’re well!  I’m your host, Ben Lively, and you’re listening to “Shaken Awake” – Episode #54!  

 

I just want to thank you for tuning in with us today, wherever you are and whatever you’re doing right this very moment.  It means everything to me to share the messages that God’s lays on my heart to share.  

 

And, as always, I promise you another great show – But, more than anything, my HOPE for you today, and always, is that you have an actual encounter with the Lord, not just another podcast episode.   

 

Quick ask – if you’ve found value in these episodes, would you take 30 seconds after the show to go to submit a quick review and star-rating in your app.  This is what potential listeners look for when deciding whether to give a show a listen – which is confirmation from other listeners that it can bring value.  Would you do that for me, IF and only IF you find value in these episodes?  I can’t thank you enough.

 

Just a quick word before we move into today’s topic – I don’t ever foresee me doing this on any future episode, but feel led to speak on this briefly, and it’s regarding my last episode, episode 53, which was centered around what the Word of God says about predestination and election.  I was flooded with feedback on that episode – mostly good, but the one that really led me to speak quickly on this today, was a couple who lead a ministry that bashed me for Calvinism, said it was the doctrine of demons, and asked me to repent.  Folks, I will NEVER IN MY LIFE repent to God for something that is HIS doctrine!  How can I repent and ask God forgiveness for something HE created and spoke of in the Bible – all throughout the OT and NT.  This is not to defend myself – the Bible defends and speaks for itself.  Nor is this an apology – I will never apologize for preaching and speaking on the Word of God.  This is simply and only for those newer Christians that may not have fully captured what was said, nor verified the 53 scriptures I provided, or perhaps were misled - like that couple that gave me foolish feedback – by friends or family that spoke out against the topic without them knowing about it.  Their easy deflection is to say it’s Calvinism.  To which is a 100% false statement, because it is a doctrine straight out of the Holy Bible and from God.  I asked the one couple, before they denounced my podcast altogether, which I do not mind – for anyone that drops my podcast for preaching the Word of God, I do not want as listeners in any sense.   All I can and will do is pray for them.

 

However, as God would allow, the same night I received that feedback from them on social media, part of my nightly Bible study (I’m in the book of Acts right now), God and used to once again validate that Predestination and Election is EVERYWHERE, for those that are led by the Holy Spirit with wisdom and guidance, and He showed me the following verse, which I asked that Christian couple to explain if it’s not more proof of predestination and election to kindly explain to me what they believed it meant.  They couldn’t and they won’t.  However, I’ll pass this extra verse along to you in the event there’s even one more of youout there getting swayed by friends, family, or the powers of darkness that as you know, love to twist God’s Word.  Here was the verse, then let’s move on today’s exciting and powerful topic:

 

Acts 13:42-52 (ESV)

42 As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath. 43 And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God. 

44 The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 45 But when the Jews4 saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul,  reviling him. 46 And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you.  Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. 47 For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, 

 “ ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, 

that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ” 

48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. 49 And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. 50 But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. 51 But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

 

How can, as verse 48 states, “and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed,” be taken any other way that literal?  It cannot unless you use a manmade doctrine to twist it.  Not the other way around.  

 

 

So, without further delay, let’s get ready to invite God in with us, right here, right now and allow Him to speak directly to your heart and minds.   

 

So, today’s topic is on “True Repentance is Not Asking for Forgiveness Over and Over Again”

I want to start off by saying, I was victim to this for 41 years of my life.  This was another topic chosen by God to speak through the Holy Spirit into my heart and life, so that He could direct me back onto the narrow path that at the time, I was not on.  I was skipping along, straight in the middle of the broad one – the one that leads many to death – Hell. 

 

I honestly thought, and I’ve said this repeatedly, that John 3:16 covered all past, current, and future sins and kept me ‘safe’ and ‘secure’ and provided a proverbial get-and-stay-out of hell card and one, ‘admit-one’ ticket into heaven.  We know that John 3:16 is just the start, not the end.  But I knew just enough to ask for forgiveness over and over and over and over and over again.  You know – most of you, or many of you, know what I’m talking about.  For me, and I had MANY – I would ask God to forgive me for drinking so much and for cursing so much.  Did I need forgiveness for that?  YES, of course.  Did I need to ask for forgiveness for those sins?  YES, of course.  But here’s what I had all wrong, and there is ZERO DOUBT this is yet another deception by the enemy – I thought as often as I sinned, was as often as I needed to ask for forgiveness, to wipe the slate clean.  Sin, forgiven by asking.  Do the same sin again, forgiven by asking.  Do the same sin again, forgiven by asking.  This was and is a dangerous pattern.  Can any of you attest to what I’m saying right now?  Of course, you do – we all have done and many still do it today.  That’s why God has led me to host this topic on the show.

 

You know.  The one part of scripture that really rocked me to the core and stopped me in my tracks….and if I’m being honest, almost stopped my heart from beating was the following and to this day, I know it was God’s will that the Holy Spirit poured out from this scripture everything I never knew, and everything I ever needed to know – all at once.  It has forever changed me, and I hope, for even if one of you, that it helps forever change you as well.  Here’s the scripture:

 

 

So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds* and placing our faith in God. 2 You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding. 

4 For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come—6 and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame. 

7 When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing. 8 But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it. 

9 Dear friends, even though we are talking this way, we really don’t believe it applies to you. We are confident that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation. 10 For God not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers,* as you still do. 11 Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. 12 Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.

So when I read this for the very first time in 2019, the Holy Spirit used it to help me understand, that just asking for forgiveness over and over again wasn’t the point of true forgiveness…..because it wasn’t the definition of repentance.  You see, I soon and later discovered that repentance is not simply asking for forgiveness – that’s only step #2…..Yes, it’s step #2.  My whole life, I was missing step #1 and step #3, the first and last part of the equation of true repentance.  It wasn’t until the Holy Spirit and Him using scripture to convict and convince me that I had never truly been forgiven for sins I was repeating daily.  Nor, should I be.  Please allow me to explain.  I didn’t realize that the first step of repentance was the knowledge and heartbreak that it takes to understand you’re sinning against the One God that did everything He did to save you.  The realization that by repeating sin, it shows your lack of fear of the One, true God, your lack of walking in the Spirit, and your walking in the flesh.  The third step was a renewing of the heart within you that you do not continue living in sin and are cured, so to speak of the conscious sin of Christ.  Will we sin – YES, by nature, we are sinful creatures and can thank Adam and Eve for that.  They cursed all man so that no man would ever be without sin, except for Jesus Christ, Himself, who broke the curse of death from sin.  And his death on the cross and His blood that was shed for us was an atonement for our current and future sin.  However, it never gave a license to continue living in sin.  Hebrews 6 proves that, as does many other verses in the NT.

The Apostle Paul had great concern for all the churches that they not walk in the flesh because the consequences are most severe and that includes the wages of this walk, which is death (Romans 6:23).  He continues in Romans 8:4-8 by saying in Jesus “he condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom 8:3c) so we must “walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.  For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.  Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

By Jesus’ death for us “we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Romans 8:12-14) so living by the flesh results in death but if you are walking “by the Spirit” you will “put to death the deeds of the body (or flesh)” and live.    Paul was persuaded of better things concerning the Christians in Rome because he said “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you” however “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him” (Romans 8:9).

To sum it up we can see evidence of whether or not we are walking in the flesh, or the Spirit as follows:

1.   Those who have the Spirit of God produce fruits that reveal whether they are a child of God or not.  If there are no Spiritual fruits, then God is not their Father.

2.   Those who walk in the Spirit have crucified the flesh and do not submit themselves to the desires of the flesh but those who don’t walk in the Spirit grieve the Spirit and their works producing nothing more than the wages that they have earned and that is death (Romans 6:23).

3.   Those who walk in the flesh live according to the flesh prove that they do by their works but those with the Spirit of God prove that they are Christ’s by producing a Christ-like life.

4.   Those who walk in the flesh produce the fruits of the flesh like sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” (Galatians 5:20-21) but those who walk in the Spirit “will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16).

5.   Those who “put to death the deeds of the body (or flesh)” (Romans 8:13) are truly walking in the Spirit but those who do not have the Spirit of Christ assuredly do “not belong to him” (Romans 8:9).

If you have never been born again (John 3:3) then you have the wrath of God abiding on you (John 3:18, 3:36b) and not one of your best works can ever please God because “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:8).  Since you have rejected Christ, if indeed you have, you reject your only hope of eternal life and have standing before you the eternal state of the wages that you have earned (Romans 6:23).  Because everyone has sinned (Romans 3:23) Jesus came to earth and was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life but became sin for us so that when God the Father looks at us, He doesn’t see our sinfulness, but He sees the righteousness of Christ and He imputes His righteousness to us (2 Corinthians 5:21).  Today, if you have heard His voice, repent and trust in Him because today can be your day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2).  If not and Jesus returns before you are born again, you face a Christ-less eternity and the everlasting wrath of God (Revelations 20:11-15).

 

 

So let me ask you all a question:  I was asked a question; “is there anywhere in the Bible where we are told to ask God for forgiveness?” Now I had already recognized this issue as one that has permeated Christendom, but after being asked this question, I thought I should address it on the blog. 

So, repent or ask forgiveness? Is it the same thing? Does God require a request for forgiveness, or does he require repentance?  I submit another question. If it is repentance, then when was the church ever given the authority to replace repentance with requesting forgiveness? Something to think about, isn’t it? Let’s dig in. 

 

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

 

The Hebrew word for repent is shûb (pronounced shoob)]; it means to turn away. 

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.  (Acts 3:19 KJV)

 

The Greek word for repent is metanoeō (pronounced met-an-o-eh’-o)]. It means to think differently, to reconsider (morally to feel compunction). 

 

The word translated repentance in the New Testament is the Greek word Metanoia (pronounced met-an’-oy-ah)]. It means compunction for guilt.  Compunction is a “pricing of heart; poignant grief or remorse proceeding from a consciousness of guilt; the pain of sorrow or regret for having offended God and incurred his wrath; the sting of conscience proceeding from a conviction of having violated a moral duty.  And that’s what I NEVER had!!!!  NEVER – EVER!!!!!

Jesus said, “Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Luke 24:46-47

Remission is the Greek word aphesis (pronounced af’-es-is). It means freedom; (figuratively) pardon: – deliverance, forgiveness…

We do not pardon ourselves; God pardons or forgives us. By God’s law there is no remission without the shedding of blood; therefore, without repentance (compunction for our sins committed against God) and believing that Jesus Christ is God’s only begotten Son who came to redeem us through his death on the cross AND resurrection we will not receive remission of our sins. 

Repentance is much deeper than a shallow “I’m sorry” or spur of the moment “forgive me.” It does not matter how many times we say “forgive me Lord,” without true repentance, a change of heart/a true turning away from sin, we are just flapping our gums. Repent and believe is the order God has set. 

 

When we reduced this to a simple act of “just ask God into your heart” or “just ask God to forgive you” without stressing the importance and requirement of heartfelt repentance (compunction for sins committed against God) we have sinners walk away from church altars unchanged. We send them away from baptismals as just wet sinners. Worse yet, we erase the need to repent and truly believe in Christ’s work, thus sending them away “thinking” themselves right with God because the preacher said so…when in actuality the Lord still awaits their repentance with a heart truly turned devotedly to Him.

A testimony or a sermon may scare you, but did it scare you to repentance? 

You heard a word and were made sorry, but are you sorry to repentance?

You may even have been moved to tears, but are you moved to repentance?

We can be sorry for a lot of things, sorry we got caught etc… but God requires us to repent, to turn away from our wicked ways. 

A heavy price was paid for us to receive God’s remission (forgiveness) of our sins. Do you believe it?

Repent and believe is the message the church has for unbelievers. Repent and believe.

If we water it down, take the meat out of it, etc… then woe unto us, because that is not what the Lord told us to do. 

God did not tell us to merely ask him for forgiveness. He tells us to repent and repent we must. He tells us to believe in Jesus’ Christ His Son, who died for our sins and was raised from the dead and believe we must. 

We do what is required of us, repent, and believe, and we can trust that God will do His part and forgive. 1 John 1:9

So, in closing, my final statement is this:  If you’ve been doing what so many of us have been doing, take heed to the Word of God presented to you today.  Dwell in the word.  Search the Word on repentance and allow God and The Holy Spirit to work true repentance into your life if it’s been a sticking point up until now.  The different between true repentance and no true repentance is also the difference between Heaven and Hell – yes, it’s that powerful.    Repentance changes you inside and out.  Non-repentance is another way of living in the flesh with a false excuse and scapegoat.

 

So, my final questions to you are this:  When was the last time you repented, not merely asking for forgiveness over and over?  Have you ever?  If not, or if there’s one thing you haven’t truly repented for – today is the best time to do just that.  Don’t wait for tomorrow, for tomorrow is not guaranteed.

 

So, before we end today’s show, I just want to thank you all again for tuning in and I HOPE you were touched by today’s message and scripture.  If you’d like to reach out to me, please call me directly at 4074933208, email me at ben@shaken-awake.com, or check out the show at shaken-awake.com.

 

Next week!!!!  Tune in Next Sunday – or WHENEVER YOU’RE ABLE, as we discuss “Avoiding Cruise-Control Christianity” 

Next week’s episode is another powerful and DO-NOT-MISS episode – thanks for joining!  

Until next week, take great care of yourself and each other, and God Bless You all.