QUOTES on REPENTANCE

[Lou Newton]

QUOTES on REPENTANCE


"The recognition of sin is the beginning of salvation."

- Martin Luther


"Many mourn for their sins that do not truly repent of them, weep

bitterly for them, and yet continue in love and league with them."

- Matthew Henry


"I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed:

perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England."

- C.S. Lewis


"Sins must be treated progressively one by one until all have been

eliminated." - Watchman Nee


"Because it has been so united with the devil it is vital for man to

receive from God a change of mind before he can receive a new heart."

- Watchman Nee


"Repentance, not proper behavior or even holiness, is the doorway to grace."

- Philip Yancey


"Have you ever stood on the same plot of ground with the publican,

crying -- God be merciful to me a sinner?"

- William Tiptaft


"It's Satan's delight to tell me that once he's got me, he will keep

me. But at that moment I can go back to God. And I know that if

I confess my sins, God is faithful and just to forgive me."

- Alan Redpath

[Lou Newton]

Glen sent this email:
Glen B Smith
To:Lou Newton

Mar 4 at 6:10 PM

Because of the quotes you posted on repentance I thought about how Christians might think repentance is kind of like feeling sorry. We make too little of sins when we think remorse is forgiveness, and we make too much of sins when we think if we don't sin we have obtained righteousness.


There are SINS.


Name them, confess them, be sorrowful because of sins.

Suffer the consequences of sins.

Resolve to never commit sins again.

Say the prescribed “Hail Mary” or make a sacrifice.

Even be successful in eliminating sins.

Deserve the sense of righteousness.

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags

(Isaiah 64:6a KJV);


There is SIN.


Confessing and repenting of our sins seems both natural and biblical. Some Christians may worry about not confessing and repenting of forgotten sins. However, it is not the sin or sins which are the issue in salvation. It is that the sinner is in rebellion against God. This rebellion has placed the unrighteous sinner in opposition to the Righteous, Holy, Lord God. Those who are in opposition to the Righteous, Holy, Lord God cannot be His disciple.

Through sinning the sinner defies the righteous commands of the Lord God. Defying divine commands are subversion and rebellion against God as the Lord of all. The desires and will of the sinner are the selfish, disobedient rebellion against the commandments of the Lord God of all.

Sinning is a revolt by the sinner against the Lord God and against His kingdom. Rather than being a faithful subject of the kingdom of the Lord God who is the king and ruler, the sinner, by his sin, revolts against the divine will and purpose. The act of sinning is an attack against the divine will and purpose, thereby, the sinner is an enemy against the Lord God.

Accordingly, there is no such thing as a “little sin.” Any sin makes the sinner the rebellious enemy rather than the faithful subject of the Lord God and His kingdom.

Of what must the sinner repent? Each and every sin? Such repentance is not inappropriate, but sinning is only the acts of a rebel. Seeking forgiveness for a sin or sins does not necessarily mean the sinner ceases to rebel against the Lord God. It is this rebellion against the Lord God for which the sinner must repent! To repent of being a rebel means the sinner ceases his rebellion and becomes a faithful servant. If the sinner is to commune with God, he must repent of his rebellious attitude and surrender to the lordship of the Lord God. The sinner must become the obedient, faithful subject of the Lord God.

To stop rebelling against the Lord God and surrender to His will is what it means to repent and receive forgiveness. The rebel must surrender to the will and purpose of the Lord God to become a subject of the kingdom of God.

The subjects of the kingdom are forgiven.

Rebels are not forgiven.

If the sinner is to repent, he must surrender to the lordship of God to be forgiven.

Repentance is to surrender.

Doing your own thing is rebellion against the Lord God.