9/28/08

Sin: Mere Remorse or Authentic Repentance?


Remember how Esau sold his birthright and wept about it in
Genesis 27:38? Scripture reveals more about this verse in Hebrews 12: 16-17:

. . . lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.

Remember how Judas was a trader and sold Jesus out for thirty pieces of silver? Do you remember what happened next? Matthew 27:3-5 says:

Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." And they said, "What is that to us? You see to it!" Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.

Those two are examples of remorse and not true repentance. They wanted to change their outcome here on earth and were not worried about their spiritual outcome. They were convicted and ran away from God instead of running to Him. Although true repentance may sometimes come with crying and pain, it does not consist solely in feeling remorse. The Biblical example of repentance is in Psalm 51 where David cries out to the Lord after he committed adultery and murder. David runs to God instead of away from God.

Some key verses are:

Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

The following commentary by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones beautifully describes the difference between remorse and repentance:

I do not hesitate to assert that this is perhaps the most subtle and delicate test as to whether we have repented, or where we are: our attitude towards God. Have you noticed it in the psalm? The one against whom David has sinned is god, and yet the one he desires above all is God. That is the difference between remorse and repentance. The man who has not repented, but who is only experiencing remorse, when he realizes he has done something against God, avoids God. . . . The man who has not been dealt with by the Spirit og God and has not been convinced and convicted, tries to get away from God, to avoid him at all costs. He does not think, he does not read the bible, he does not pray; he does everything he can not to think about these things. But the extraordinary thing about the man who is convited of sin by the Holy spirit is that though he knows he has sinned again god, it is God he wants – “Be merciful to me, O God.” He wants to be with God – that is the peculiar paradox of repentance, wanting the one I have offended!


The one who sins and is merely full of remorse avoids God, but the one who repents runs to the Father with a broken spirit and a contrite heart wanting to have forgiveness and fellowship.

“For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart-- These, O God, You will not despise” (Psalm 51:16-17).

Thank the Lord that “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9 ).


Repentance is not running away from God like Esau and Judas. They sought for repentance but they didn't seek after God. True repentance is running to God and asking for forgiveness like David did.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank the Lord that we can come to Him no matter what we have done and He will forgive us like it says in 1 John! Love that verse!

Anonymous said...

I wish not approve on it. I think nice post. Specially the appellation attracted me to study the intact story.

Anonymous said...

Good brief and this fill someone in on helped me alot in my college assignement. Thank you for your information.

Anonymous said...

[u][b]Xrumer[/b][/u]

[b]Xrumer SEO Professionals

As Xrumer experts, we possess been using [url=http://www.xrumer-seo.com]Xrumer[/url] fitted a long immediately now and recollect how to harness the massive power of Xrumer and build it into a Cash machine.

We also purvey the cheapest prices on the market. Numberless competitors see fit order 2x or consistent 3x and a destiny of the continuously 5x what we debt you. But we feel in providing enormous mending at a tearful affordable rate. The unbroken direct attention to of purchasing Xrumer blasts is because it is a cheaper alternative to buying Xrumer. So we focusing to keep that mental activity in recollection and afford you with the cheapest standing possible.

Not solitary do we cause the unexcelled prices but our turnaround heyday after your Xrumer posting is wonderful fast. We will have your posting done before you distinguish it.

We also provide you with a full log of well-heeled posts on different forums. So that you can catch a glimpse of over the extent of yourself the power of Xrumer and how we be struck by harnessed it to help your site.[/b]


[b]Search Engine Optimization

Using Xrumer you can trust to distinguish thousands upon thousands of backlinks exchange for your site. Tons of the forums that your Site you will be posted on have great PageRank. Having your join on these sites can categorically mitigate found up some crown quality help links and as a matter of fact aid your Alexa Rating and Google PageRank rating via the roof.

This is making your instal more and more popular. And with this developing in regard as well as PageRank you can envisage to see your area really superiority expensive in those Search Locomotive Results.
Above

The amount of see trade that can be obtained aside harnessing the power of Xrumer is enormous. You are publishing your site to tens of thousands of forums. With our higher packages you may regular be publishing your locale to HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of forums. Imagine 1 post on a in demand forum will usually enter 1000 or so views, with signify 100 of those people visiting your site. Modern create tens of thousands of posts on celebrated forums all getting 1000 views each. Your shipping longing go at the end of one's tether with the roof.

These are all targeted visitors that are interested or singular in the matter of your site. Imagine how innumerable sales or leads you can succeed in with this great gang of targeted visitors. You are line for line stumbling upon a goldmine ready to be picked and profited from.

Reminisce over, Above is Money.
[/b]

GO YOUR INFERIOR DEFAME TODAY:


http://www.xrumer-seo.com

Anonymous said...

You could easily be making money online in the hush-hush world of [URL=http://www.www.blackhatmoneymaker.com]blackhat software[/URL], Don’t feel silly if you have no clue about blackhat marketing. Blackhat marketing uses not-so-popular or not-so-known ways to generate an income online.

Anonymous said...

[url=http://www.23planet.com]casinos online[/url], also known as accepted casinos or Internet casinos, are online versions of never-to-be-forgotten ("chunk and mortar") casinos. Online casinos approve gamblers to cheat and wager on casino games being the Internet.
Online casinos customarily bid odds and payback percentages that are comparable to land-based casinos. Some online casinos assert on higher payback percentages with a adopt involved with gismo games, and some latitudinarian prominent payout behalf audits on their websites. Assuming that the online casino is using an aptly programmed unsystematic troop generator, catalogue games like blackjack comprise an established management edge. The payout beget a appropriation maintain of these games are established erstwhile the rules of the game.
Uncountable online casinos sublease or get their software from companies like Microgaming, Realtime Gaming, Playtech, Supranational Deviation Technology and CryptoLogic Inc.