Repentance is Granted By God

[jeremiah1five]

A very simple post.

here's the Scripture: [and once posted there will be an influx of people disagreeing with what is clearly said by Peter and recorded by Luke.]

Acts 11:18 (KJV)
[SUP]18 [/SUP]When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.

So, if repentance is granted by God....

Then how can one exercise "free will" to "accept Jesus into their hearts" when repentance always accompanies true salvation?

In every parable Jesus spoke to the people He teaches something about the kingdom of God/heaven and calls upon the people to repent, and in the same parable God PREVENTS the people from repenting.

And for an excellent reason, too.

Question #1: Do you receive or reject what the Scripture says that repentance is granted by God?

Question #2: Do you know why God PREVENTS the people from repenting at the call to repent by Jesus Christ?

 

[Ariel82]

You have to read the scriptures in context.

Acts 11:18 (KJV)
[SUP]18 [/SUP]When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.

1. what things did they hear?

verse 4-17
[SUP]4 [/SUP]But Peter explained it to them .......in a trance I saw a vision,,,

2. What were they saying that those things would make them "hold their peace" or stop protesting?

[SUP]verse 3 [/SUP]saying, “You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them!”

3. Why did they make the statement that God granted Gentiles repentance unto life? what is the significance? Perhaps it has to do with their mistaken belief that Jesus only came for the lost sheep of Israel?


******as for your questions.

1. Yes I believe repentance comes from God because He is the only one able to change an unrepentant heart to one that is able to feel remorse and be contrite and humble.

2. The Jewish people did not repent at that time because God blinded them so that they might follow through and cruxify Jesus for the forgiveness of sins not only for the Jews but for the Gentiles as well.

 

[Cobus]

Jeremiah1five, as soon as people will understand this little verse they will understand why God makes people PERFECT here on earth, for His GLORY..... James 1:7.... Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

And since you mentioned FREE WILL.... where is FREE WILL in a person that GOD CAUSE TO WALK IN HIS WILL?
Ezekiel 36:26 and 27... A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Eze 36:27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

If God CAUSE me to be perfect, where is my will to sin? Matthew 5:48... Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. .... If God CAUSE me to DO MATTHEW 5:48, How can I be IMPERFECT? What will happen if GOD says..... Cobus SHALL KEEP and DO MATTHEW 5:48? Can Cobus then be imperfect?

 

[damombomb]

No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
John6:44

 

[crossnote]

God granting the Gentiles repentance, does not mean each individual has to.

 

[konroh]

In the sovereignty of God He is over the repentance of man. But this statement must be accompanied by the understanding that man is responsible for repenting. Without repentance there is no life. It should be noticed too that this isn't necessarily a synonym for belief, in fact it's something different. We can repent and come into harmony with God--spiritual life, abundant life, this is something we can do before, during or after we believe. Fact is, many believers need to repent.

 

[Cobus]

God granting the Gentiles repentance, does not mean each individual has to.

Maybe that is why God says MANY are called FEW are chosen.... And who is the ones that repent? ... For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
See TOTAL make free of sin is the ONLY salvation not be sorry of!...

 

[BradC]

Repentance is a measure of God's goodness supplied and furnished to the sinner through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. That measure of goodness leads the sinner to a place of repentance whereby they can agree with God, turning against their unbelief, and put their trust in God's only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, for salvation and the forgiveness of sin. Repentance is initiated by God through hearing the gospel, challenging the heart through the conviction of the Spirit so that the sinner can believe and put their trust in the work of the cross. Repentance does not override the volition of the sinner, but is a gift of goodness and grace supplied by God to the sinner to persuade him that he might believe and be saved. This measure of goodness is supplied by God because He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to this place of repentance.

 

[jeremiah1five]

You have to read the scriptures in context.

Acts 11:18 (KJV)
[SUP]18 [/SUP]When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.

1. what things did they hear?

verse 4-17
[SUP]4 [/SUP]But Peter explained it to them .......in a trance I saw a vision,,,

2. What were they saying that those things would make them "hold their peace" or stop protesting?

[SUP]verse 3 [/SUP]saying, “You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them!”

3. Why did they make the statement that God granted Gentiles repentance unto life? what is the significance? Perhaps it has to do with their mistaken belief that Jesus only came for the lost sheep of Israel?


******as for your questions.

1. Yes I believe repentance comes from God because He is the only one able to change an unrepentant heart to one that is able to feel remorse and be contrite and humble.

2. The Jewish people did not repent at that time because God blinded them so that they might follow through and cruxify Jesus for the forgiveness of sins not only for the Jews but for the Gentiles as well.

I agree with your answer except for this:

2. What were they saying that those things would make them "hold their peace" or stop protesting?

[SUP]verse 3 [/SUP]saying, “You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them!”

They held their peace when Peter told them they were baptized in the Spirit as they were on Pentecost, NOT because Peter ate with them.

 

[jeremiah1five]

Jeremiah1five, as soon as people will understand this little verse they will understand why God makes people PERFECT here on earth, for His GLORY..... James 1:7.... Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

And since you mentioned FREE WILL.... where is FREE WILL in a person that GOD CAUSE TO WALK IN HIS WILL?
Ezekiel 36:26 and 27... A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Eze 36:27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

If God CAUSE me to be perfect, where is my will to sin? Matthew 5:48... Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. .... If God CAUSE me to DO MATTHEW 5:48, How can I be IMPERFECT? What will happen if GOD says..... Cobus SHALL KEEP and DO MATTHEW 5:48? Can Cobus then be imperfect?

Cobus...
When you look at Scripture there are at least two things to apply before you understand, or hope to understand about what you are reading:

1. There are two perspectives given in Scripture: the first is God's eternal perspective of the eternal NOW; the second is man's perspective in TIME. From God's perspective He sees His Elect as holy and righteous; from our perspective we are still sinners in need of a Savior.

2. The Word of God is given TO and FOR Covenant believers ONLY.

Statements like "be ye holy..." are not requests. Those are commands that have already been obeyed in God's perspective of eternity.

 

[jeremiah1five]

No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
John6:44

NO MAN can come to Me [Christ] UNLESS the Father draws them.
If there is no drawing, there is no coming.

 

[jeremiah1five]

God granting the Gentiles repentance, does not mean each individual has to.

Of course it does. What kind of convoluted thinking is that, crossnote?

EVERYTHING having to do with salvation is given of God at His own choosing and will.
In every authentic conversion and slavation it is God that gives of His own will:
faith
repentance
regeneration
the Holy Spirit
Gifts
calling
place in the body
etc....

Men don't choose Christ for the sole reason that they HATE Christ:

John 3:19-20 (KJV)
[SUP]19 [/SUP]And this is the condemnation, that light [Christ] is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light [Christ], because their deeds were evil.
[SUP]20 [/SUP]For every one that doeth evil hateth the light [Christ], neither cometh to the light [Christ], lest his deeds should be reproved.

Are you going to contradict Christ here?

is He lying when He says that men "neither come to Him" ???

Can men come to Christ of their own volition? Yea or nay?

 

[jeremiah1five]

In the sovereignty of God He is over the repentance of man. But this statement must be accompanied by the understanding that man is responsible for repenting. Without repentance there is no life. It should be noticed too that this isn't necessarily a synonym for belief, in fact it's something different. We can repent and come into harmony with God--spiritual life, abundant life, this is something we can do before, during or after we believe. Fact is, many believers need to repent.

Straight-up contradicting God and His Word.

 

[jeremiah1five]

Maybe that is why God says MANY are called FEW are chosen.... And who is the ones that repent? ... For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
See TOTAL make free of sin is the ONLY salvation not be sorry of!...

The ones that repent are those people whose names are written BY GOD in the book of life of the lamb slain from [BEFORE] the foundation (creation) of the world (Rev. 13:8).

BEFORE God created heaven, earth or man, He wrote names in a book of LIFE of the people He was going to save BEFORE they were even born, even BEFORE He created man and placed him in a garden.

Think about that.

Do you believe the Scripture?

 

[jeremiah1five]

Repentance is a measure of God's goodness supplied and furnished to the sinner through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. That measure of goodness leads the sinner to a place of repentance whereby they can agree with God, turning against their unbelief, and put their trust in God's only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, for salvation and the forgiveness of sin. Repentance is initiated by God through hearing the gospel, challenging the heart through the conviction of the Spirit so that the sinner can believe and put their trust in the work of the cross. Repentance does not override the volition of the sinner, but is a gift of goodness and grace supplied by God to the sinner to persuade him that he might believe and be saved. This measure of goodness is supplied by God because He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to this place of repentance.

All of that is well and good, but coming from your understanding none of that will happen UNLESS the man FIRST chooses to believe, right?

You put too much "works" in your version and understanding of God's salvation of His Elect.

 

[BradC]

Bottom line on repentance is that we turn from everything we are in Adam through inherit sin and turn to everything that God is through His Son and become a new creature in Christ. We turn from our own system of righteousness unto God's righteousness which is by faith through His Son. We turn from our own system of works unto the grace of God by faith and become accepted and approved by God through the work of the cross. We turn from leaning on our own understanding and trust in the understanding we receive from the Spirit through the word of God's promises. We turn from the flesh with all of its striving unto the Spirit and learn how to abide in God's faith-rest. We put off the old man which is corrupt and put on the new man which is created in righteousness and true holiness. We put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh. We do not know one another after the flesh but after Christ.

 

[BradC]

All of that is well and good, but coming from your understanding none of that will happen UNLESS the man FIRST chooses to believe, right?

You put too much "works" in your version and understanding of God's salvation of His Elect.

The only work of God that we are required to do as sinners is to 'believe upon the name of the one whom God sent'. It is all grace and it is all by faith and God initiates all of it. We hear it and believe what God has said about what His Son has done. This is all the Father's work that He has done through His Son for sinful man, so than man can be reconciled to God by grace through faith. We freely receive and freely give what we have received. This is the hope that God has given to the world of sinners of which we were part and without hope in this present evil world.

 

[jeremiah1five]

The only work of God that we are required to do as sinners is to 'believe upon the name of the one whom God sent'. It is all grace and it is all by faith and God initiates all of it. We hear it and believe what God has said about what His Son has done. This is all the Father's work that He has done through His Son for sinful man, so than man can be reconciled to God by grace through faith. We freely receive and freely give what we have received. This is the hope that God has given to the world of sinners of which we were part and without hope in this present evil world.

There is nothing in true salvation that God requires of us.

We are dead (Eph. 2:1).

Did Christ require anything of Lazarus before He resuscitated him from the grave?

 

[CRC]

God grants forgiveness. Repentance is the action of a contrite heart. In Luke 15:1-8 Jesus showed that repentance was an act of the sinner.

 

[SeaBass]

Granted means to give privilege to repent, to allow or permit to repent.

Mt 12:41 a contrast is made between those that choose to repent (Nineveh) and those that refused to repent (Jews) who remained impenitent under the preaching of one greater than Jonah.

SO man has been granted the opportunity to choose to repent, but he can choose to remain impenitent. God does not decide for man which men will or will not repent.