Teaching on Repentance by Mark Cahill
This is an excerpt of Mark Cahill's book “One Thing You Can't Do in Heaven," pages 132-138. His book grants permission for sharing if it's "for the furtherance of the gospel."
Repent!
One topic that we must talk about when we discuss sin is repentance. It's a word that we don't use much in witnessing and apparently a word that some people don't want to use at all. Yet “repent” and its various forms is used over one hundred times in the Bible. It must be a very important word then, and something that we must understand.
John the Baptist preached in the wilderness, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2).
Jesus preached this same message of repentance. Mark 1:14-15 records that Jesus came to Galilee saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the Gospel.”
When Jesus sent out the twelve disciples two by two, “they went out, and preached that men should repent” (Mark 6:12). If Jesus sent the disciples out to preach that people must repent of their sins, we out to be doing the same.
“Repent” consists of two Latin syllables: re+pent, which means “again+think” or “think again” or “to rethink.”
The Complete Word Study New Testament, by Dr. Spiros Zodhiates, says the main word used for “repent” in the Greek is metanoéo. He says that word means “to repent with regret accompanied by a true change of heart toward God... It signifies a change of mind consequent to retrospection, indicating regret for the course pursued and resulting in a wiser view of the past and future. Most importantly, it is distinguished from metaméllomai, [which means] to regret one's actions because of their consequences.”
So you see, repentance is not feeling bad because we got caught doing something wrong. True repentance comes when we change our mind about our sin so our actions will not continue to be the same.
The difference is made clear by Paul in 2 Corinthians 7:10. “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”
I have a friend whose native tongue is Hebrew. He says that ancient and modern Hebrew are the same except for words that have been created for modern inventions like the telephone, the computer, and so on. So every day, school children in Israel visit the Dome of the Book museum in Jerusalem, where a 2800-year-old scroll of the book of Isaiah is on display— and the kids can just read it!
My friend told me, speaking of repentance, that the two Hebrew words for “repent”— kha-zah-rah and tshu-vah— both mean “to return.” This tells us that we should, by the power of God, hate the things of the world so much, after seeing them through God's eyes, that we can turn our back on them and just walk away— returning to our Creator as our guide and source. Then, as a new creature, we head out into a new life of serving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
When I witness to the lost, I talk about sin, repentance, and the cross. If people do not want to repent of their sins, do they really want to surrender their life to Jesus? I am in no way saying that someone can become a Christian and then the very next day be perfect and preaching like Billy Graham. But I am saying that, if there is no desire to turn away from sin, the person is not really making a true heart commitment to the Savior. In John 6:44, Jesus says, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath send me draw him....” If God is drawing someone to Him, He would also be drawing the person away from his sin.
I was sitting around talking one night with a young man I had met at a camp. He was telling me about his life and confessed that he had been using cocaine for the past thirty days. About forty-five minutes into the conversation he asked, “Is this the point where you are going to start talking to me about Jesus?”
I said, “No.”
He looked rather surprised. “You're not?”
I explained that he was not ready for Jesus and that it was not his day to get saved. He did not hate his sin enough to want to repent and walk away from it. He loved the world way too much. What was interesting was that he didn't argue with me one bit. He didn't want to get saved that day; he wanted to use drugs. He has gone to a Christian high school, so he knew all the right answers. But the issue was repentance, and he didn't want to do that.
When you witness, remember to take time to talk with people and explain salvation. It is the most important decision they will ever make, so they really need to understand the decision they are making. It takes more than two minutes to buy a car or to select a college.
When I speak, I do not do two-minute altar calls. If I didn't give a salvation message, I don't do an altar call at all. If individuals want to come forward and talk to someone about salvation, they are free to do so. I explain that with Christianity one cannot drink beer, use drugs, have sex, cheat on tests, and disobey his parents. I just can't find that in the Bible.
When a person is born again, his life changes. It certainly doesn't mean that we become perfect when we get saved; there is definitely a sanctification process, as we grow in our faith to become like Christ. But there must be a desire to change, or there won't be any change.
Ann Landry, an intercessor who prays for me, wrote this to me in an e-mail: “When we leave the cross out of our calling men to Jesus, we preach a Gospel that cannot cure men of sin. God constantly tells us that His people are separated, holy, distinctly different from the world.
“To make a so-called profession without a lifestyle change is a profession without the possession of eternal life. When Christ moves into a life, the life changes. The Holy Spirit is holy and moves men to holiness. Please, please call them to repent of their sins.” The life of a sinner definitely changes when the Spirit of God moves into that life. My high school buddies look at my life now and say, “Cahill, you are different.” It is a bit like those “before and after” weight-loss pictures, but in a spiritual way. They know the old Mark Cahill and can definitely see changes in the new one.
I was talking with two teenagers at a state fair. After chatting with them for a while, I went through the Ten Commandments with them, then moved on to the topic of repentance. The response of both was, “Yes, I want to walk away from this life. I hate this life that I am leading.” You will be amazed at how many times you will hear that from people. These teens were drinking and using drugs, and at seventeen years of age they already knew that lifestyle was a dead-end street.
A Surrendered Life
Please remember that people don't become Christians by “asking Jesus into their heart” or by signing a decision card. Jesus said that we must be born again (John 3:3). John 3:16 also lets us know that we must believe in Jesus. But belief is much more than just an acknowledgement of the facts. It is to be persuaded or convinced, and to put your complete trust and confidence in something. It is more than just using the lips; it is using your heart also.
Romans 10:9 says “that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
We are not confessing simply that we don't want to go to Hell and we want to go to Heaven; we are confessing that Jesus is Lord! God wants a total commitment of our whole being. I like to ask people if they want to surrender their life to Jesus, and by that I mean giving Him complete control of their life.
By the way, how do you think of Jesus? Do you believe in Him or do you trust in Him? Belief is trust with your mind; faith is trusting with your life. Jesus wants every bit of our entire being to serve Him, not just the part that we want to give Him. We can say we have a relationship with God, but He will know by the reality of what is seen in our lives.
Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” You are not a new and improved version of the old you, you are a new creature in God! God is not an additive to your life; He is a transformer and redeemer of sinners. Jesus is not some ticket that will save people from Hell; He is the Savior of the world and wants us to submit to Him. He wants to completely change every area of our lives. When we repent of sin, commit our lives to Jesus, and make Him Lord, our lives will be different!
And please remember, that is a good thing! I wouldn't want to change my life now for anything. I have lived on both sides of the fence, both in total sin and in trying to live for God. I choose this life over that sinful lifestyle any day of the week. Repenting means to make a turn, and that is what you see in the true Christian life.
A true Christian will have a hunger for the things of God— for witnessing, prayer, and Bible study. Are you faithfully sharing Jesus with the lost? Are you seeking God's face every day in prayer? Do you read the Word daily? Dwight Moody said, “The Bible will keep you from sin, but sin will keep you from the Bible.”