Repentance Study - What is it?

What is Repentance or what does it mean to Repent?

In the Greek the word Repentance is Metanous. It is actually two words together.
Meta = change
Nous = mind

Repentance = to change your mind

Hebrews 6:1 tells us to change our mind away from dead works.

I was talking to my brother Joe about this and one of his favorite scriptures on this is in Isaiah. It paints a pretty full picture of what God means about repentance.

Isaiah 55:6-9
(6) Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. (7) Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. (8) "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. (9) "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.

1. First thing to DO is SEEK the LORD while He may be found. (this implies that there will be  a time when He will not be found-the door will be shut)

2. Call upon Him while He is near. (what do you know about calling on the name of the Lord?)

3. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to the LORD (this is REPENTANCE! A man that forsakes his own way and turns back to God's way.)
    Note: To return to the LORD means that we would have been with Him at one time.

4. Gods ways and thoughts are higher then ours. He tells us this. What is the best way to know what Gods thoughts are?

    Start asking Him questions (praying) and seeking after Him (reading) and you will come to a door... start knocking.

Why do we build a foundation?

This may seem like a silly question but why do we build a foundation? Growing up in Sunday school I use to sing that song "a wise man built his house on the rock..." but what does that mean and how can we do that? 

Matthew 7:24-27

(24) "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. (25) "And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. (26) "Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. (27) "The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall."

You have two people here that hear the word (logos - image of Jesus). Person one Jesus compares as a wise man because he built his house on the rock. His house was founded on the rock. How did he do this? He heard the WORD and ACTED on it. If you read the Bible and do not do what Jesus says, Jesus calls them foolish. 

So what are we to ACT on? What is the WORD? - God will not leave you hanging...

Hebrews 6:1-2

(1) Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, (2) of instruction about baptisms and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

In the Greek the word teaching is the word LOGOS, the same word in Matthew 7:24 "word". And its interesting that this word is elementary which is the word arche in the Greek, meaning chief, beginning, corner, first. Its like school, you start with elementary school before high school. Jesus tells us to ACT on these elementary principles.

1. Repentance away from dead works

2. Faith on God

3-5. Doctrine of baptism(s)

6. Laying on of hands

7. Resurrection of the dead

8. Eternal Judgment

These are the foundations we are to build our house on. If we fail to do this, our house (life) will perish. But praise God that He made this easy. First thing we must DO is just change our mind and start seeking the LORD!