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VIETNAMESE
ARTICLES
7 December 2007
Repentance (Part 2)
Dictionaries
usually define “repentance” as a feeling of regret or remorse for
something wrong one has done. That is not repentance according to the
Scripture. Judas Iscariot, who betrayed the Lord Jesus, “repented
himself” and then hanged himself
(Matt
27:3-6). In Greek, Judas’ “repentance” only means “regret,” which is
different from “repentance” that the Lord Jesus and His apostle
preached, denoting “a change of mind,” turning to the Lord from sins,
selfishness, idolatry, and anything displeasing Him.
An
illustration of “repentance” is the attitude of the son when his father
sent him to work in his vineyard, “He answered and said, I will not:
but afterward he repented, and went” (Matt 21:28-31). That son
changed his mind from disobedience to obedience to his father. Another
illustration is the repentance of the believers in Thessalonica, who
“turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God”
(1 Thess 1:9).
Many think
that they have repented and believed in the Lord, but there is no change
in their lives, having no fear of the Lord, and still living in sins and
following the world! True faith must show a true repentant attitude,
turning to the Lord from one’s sinful life,
“go,
and sin no more”
(John 8:11) and “Let every one that nameth the name of Christ
depart from iniquity” (2 Tim 2:19).
Biblical
repentance is “a change of mind” toward God, toward oneself, and toward
sins: from disobedience to obedience to God; from rebellion to
submission to God; from unbelief to faith in God; from self-love,
self-promotion, self-importance, self-centredness, or self-glory to
God’s glory, God-centredness, God-promotion, and love toward God; from a
love of sin and self to an abhorrence of sin and self-denial.
Then, have
you and I repented according to the Scripture? Please read our next
article.
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