Repentance to Life

REPENTANCE TO LIFE 

Acts 11:1 Now the apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. 2And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision contended with him, 3saying, “You went to be with uncircumcised men and ate with them!” 4But Peter explained it to them in order from the beginning,

Peter then tells them in the next seventeen verses about his visit to Cornelius and the message of God’s reconciliation of the whole world in Christ.

I would like to focus on a significant statement made by the Jerusalem Christians in Acts Chapter eleven when they recognised God’s work of salvation for the household of Cornelius through the message of Peter – ‘18When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.’ (NKJV)
The Jewish Christian leaders were initially hesitant about including Gentiles in the Christian community as many believed that Gentiles may need to fully convert to Judaism before becoming followers of Jesus. And now they have evidence from Peter that Gentiles have been included in God’s gift of ‘Repentance to life’ in Christ, going beyond John the Baptist’s repentance from sin. Repentance develops may I say evolves and advances us from one stage to a higher stage.
Never seen this repentance to life before but always wished it was there! Well it is.

‘Repentance from sin’ in the Old Testament challenged a person to recognise their sinfulness and to seek with all their will and determination to turn away from sin and to obey God’s Commandments and be devoted to him. Israel wasn’t able to obey the Commandments in their own strength, but God had provided the offering of blood sacrifices for them to receive forgiveness and mercy for their sins. Sin then sacrifice sin then sacrifice and on and on.

But since the Holy Spirit has been sent into the world for everyone it has become his work to now bring everyone to the awareness of the need of turning from sin and unbelief (repentance from sin) and receiving mercy and forgiveness through the work of Jesus on the cross, But the Holy Spirit’s work is also to turn us to living a life with Jesus (repentance to life). And Jesus promised this to the world.
I will send the Helper (The Holy Spirit) to you. And when he comes, he will convict (challenge) the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgement (John 16:7)

There are three stages of the work of the Helper here – sin, righteousness and judgment.
That Scripture speaks of the ceaseless tugging of people away from sin by the Holy Spirit in contesting our independent mindset of human resistance to God - and everybody is affected by this inner spiritual struggle in their souls whether they understand what is going on or not. This struggle manifests itself in the world in a multitude of inner emotional conflicts and external relational conflicts and bodily feelings of unrest and multiple conditions of disorder.

In stage one here of convicting us of sin the Holy Spirit shows us where our struggle of resistance is, and we can now be in the light and no longer in the dark. And those who are in inner conflict may now be granted repentance to the acknowledging the truth (2Timothy 2:24). When we acknowledge this truth about ourselves we find a new freedom in our soul from the cycle of confusion of sin/sorry sin/sorry to be now led into the next stage of empowerment of repentance to life.
Stage two in the Scripture above also tells of the Holy spirit’s work of challenging us about righteousness which is finding grace to walk in God’s ways. We can now have assurance that ‘the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1). This a new spiritual energy at work in us since Jesus went to be with the Father motivating our hearts desires to live above the human energy of sin and separation from God. 
Stage three in that Scripture also speaks of being challenged and assured about the fact that the ruler of this world (the devil) has been judged. We can overcome the powers of darkness that seek to rule over the human soul. This is the assurance and confidence that darkness and sin and confusion will no longer have the rule over you Sin need never again rule over you, for now you are no longer judged by the law where sin enslaves you, but you are free to give yourself to being under the empowering grace and mercy of God. (Romans 6:14)

The New Testament Gospel message calls for a deeper repentance than just a ‘repentance from sin’. It calls for ‘repentance to life’, which is taught in all of the epistles, and it teaches it as living in the spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
That repentance leads to a transformation of one's entire life, resulting in a new way of living in alignment with the requirements of God's Commandments (Romans 8:2-4). 
which are now written in our hearts. This is the New Covenant life offered to us through Jesus Christ which works in us a complete change of heart and mind that leads to a life lived in devotion to God.
And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my ways (Ezekiel 36:26).

The life of Jesus works in us to change the desires of our new heart so that we may now ‘not sin’. 
My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the appeasement for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world ‘(1John 2:1). 
We are always being challenged in the New Testament to abide in this state of ‘repentance to life’ and to abide in his life. And it manifests itself in our souls as a freedom from our inner spiritual struggles of human resistance to God and into a peaceful and ordered life in the healing of our souls. Peter proclaims this as the goal of your faith the salvation/healing of your soul (2Peter 1:9). 
But we are not just like sick patients sitting around waiting to be healed – we participate in the healing process of our souls through faith.

In searching for the word repentance (metanoia) in all of the epistles I found it occurred only five times. On each occasion it was talking about turning to life and overcoming sin.
Romans 2:4, 2 Timothy 2:24, Hebrews 6:1, Hebrews 6:3, 2 Peter 3:9.

In Acts Paul urges the Greeks (and the rest of the world) to repent into the life of God through Jesus.
‘He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’ as even some of your own writers have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ 
The times of ignorance (before the Incarnation of Jesus) God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, (Acts 17:26)

God wants everybody to know what is on offer through the life of Jesus Christ.
I came upon some notes made by Spurgeon in September 1855 on ‘Repentance unto life’.
And I thought it was a better summary than what I could come up with for what I have shared today.

We are this morning to give a very careful and prayerful attention to the "repentance" which is "unto life” as the act of salvation of the soul, the germ which contains all the essentials of salvation, which secures them to us, and prepares us for them.
By "Repentance unto life," I think we are to understand it as repentance which is accompanied by spiritual life in the soul, and ensures eternal life to everyone who possesses it. "Repentance unto life," I say, brings with it spiritual life, or rather, is the first consequent thereof. There are repentances which are not signs of life, except of natural life, because they are only effected by the power of the conscience and the natural voice speaking in men; but the repentance here spoken of is produced by the Author of life, and when it comes, it begets such life in the soul, that he who was "dead in trespasses and sins," is brought alive together with Christ;