The Goodness of God Leads to Repentance

[AbigailZeke]

Repentance literally means a change of mind.

What does this verse (Romans 2:4) tell us? The goodness of God leads to a change of mind. What's there to change? An old thinking, perhaps, that God delights in being angry. That God patiently waits for you to slip up so He can nag at you. That God is someone who easily gets disappointed by everything you do, as if it was in your strength that He trusted you would never fall. That He's up there and you're down here dealing with 'reality.'

This is the kind of thinking that separates us from God. Not that God distanced Himself from you. After giving up His own Son for you, why would He now leave you? No, we distance ourselves from God because of our false impression of who He is.

It is His goodness that He wants you to know of. Why? This is what leads you to repentance, to a change of mind - to know who He really is.

The Lord, your God is love and He loves you. He sticks with you like bubblegum on your hair. He wants you to know what He has done for you, how much He was willing to give up for you - to save you, to give you life and life more abundantly. He wants you to know that He went as far as giving up Himself, for you, to bring you back, to show you love, to give you joy and peace - to set you free from whatever is eating you.

Yahweh, your Elohim, is GOOD and He wants you to know this and live in His goodness. The GOOD news is nothing stands between you and Him. JESUS has Crossed the great divide brought by sin. JESUS is the Way. Believe in Him and see His goodness!

 

[Shamah]

1 Samuel 12:24, “Only fear יהוה, and you shall serve Him in truth with all your heart, for consider what marvels He has done for you."

Ezekiyl 18:23, “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wrong?” declares the Master יהוה. “Is it not that he should turn from his ways, and live?”


2 Peter 3:9, “יהוה is not slow in regard to the promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward us, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

Isaiah 1:16-20, “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Stop doing evil! Learn to do good! Seek right-ruling, reprove the oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together,” says [FONT=Times\ New\ Roman]יהוה[/FONT]. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you submit and obey, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword,” for the mouth of יהוה has spoken.”

Acts 17:30, “Truly, then, having overlooked these times of ignorance, Yah now commands all men everywhere to repent.”

Isaiah 44:22, "“I shall wipe out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I shall redeem you.”

Psalms 118:19-22, “Open to me the gates of righteousness; I enter through them, I thank Yah. This is the gate of [FONT=Times\ New\ Roman]יהוה[/FONT], The righteous enter through it. I thank You, For You have answered me, And have become my salvation. The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner-stone.”

halleluYah!

 

[Shamah]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Hebrews 12:3-5, “For consider Him who endured such opposition from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and faint in your lives. You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And you have forgotten the appeal which speaks to you as to sons, “My son, do not despise the discipline of [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]יהוה[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif], nor faint when you are reproved by Him,"

[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Micah 6:8, “He has declared to you, O man, what is right. And what does [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]יהוה [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]require of you but to do right, and to love loving-commitment, and to walk humbly with your Father?”[/FONT]

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[Shamah]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Hosea 6:6, “For I delight in loving-commitment and not sacrifice, and in the knowledge of Yah more than ascending offerings.”[/FONT]



[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Matthew 12:7, “And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire compassion and not offering,’ you would not have condemned the blameless."[/FONT]


[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Micah 6:8, “He has declared to you, O man, what is good. And what does יהוה [FONT=Times New Roman, serif]require of you but to do right, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your Father?"[/FONT][/FONT]


[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Psalm 32:1, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered.”[/FONT]


[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Isayah 44:22, “I shall wipe out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I shall redeem you.”[/FONT]


[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Proverbs 28:13, “He who hides his transgressions does not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them finds compassion.”[/FONT]


[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Psalms 25:14-18, “The secret of יהוה [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]is with those who fear Him, And He makes His covenant known to them. My eyes are ever toward יהוה[FONT=Times New Roman, serif], For He brings my feet out of the net. Turn Your face to me, and show me favor, For I am lonely and afflicted. The distresses of my heart have enlarged; Oh, bring me out of my distresses! Look on my affliction and my toil, And forgive all my sins.”[/FONT][/FONT]

 

[Shamah]

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Mat 3:2, “and (John) saying, “Repent, for the reign of the heavens has come near!”[/FONT]


[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Mat 4:17, “From that time [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]יהושע [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, serif]began to proclaim and to say, “Repent, for the reign of the heavens has drawn near.”[/FONT]

 

[mailmandan]

The Greek word for "repent" is "metanoia" (noun) and "matanoeo" (verb) you see as defined in the Strongs #3340, 3341: to think differently or afterwards, reconsider. After thought, change of mind. Repentance basically means a "change of mind" and the context must determine what is involved in this change of mind. Where salvation is in view, repentance actually precedes saving faith in Christ and is not a totally separate act from faith. It is actually the same coin with two sides. Repentance is on one side (what you change your mind about) and faith in Christ is on the positive side, the new direction of this change of mind.

*Repentance and faith are two sides of the same experience of receiving Christ (Acts 20:21). Two sides to the same coin.

The Bible also tells us that true repentance will result in a change of actions. Acts 26:20 declares, "I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds." This is the fruit of repentance (Matthew 3:8), not the essence of repentance (change of mind). I've heard certain people (who teach sinless perfection) say, "if you want to be saved, repent of your sins, turn from your sins." If turning from your sins means to stop sinning, then people can only be saved if they stop sinning. And it is unlikely that anyone has ever been saved, since we don't know anyone who is sinless, without fault or defect, flawless, absolutely perfect 100% of the time.

In the context of Luke 13:3, Jesus challenged the people's notion that they were morally superior to those who suffered in such catastrophes. He called all to repent or perish. For some people though, prior to coming to the end result of repentance in receiving salvation (when they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ/repentance unto life - Acts 11:17-18), they must change their minds about other specific things in order to get there.

Repentance, metanoia, focuses on changing one's mind about his previous concept of God (as in Acts 17:30) and disbelief in God or false beliefs (polytheism and idolatry) about God (see 1 Thessalonians 1:9). On the other hand, this change of mind, focuses on the new direction that change about God must ultimately take, namely, trusting in Jesus Christ as the ALL-sufficient means of our salvation.

 

[DevotiontoBible]

Repentance literally means a change of mind.

What does this verse (Romans 2:4) tell us? The goodness of God leads to a change of mind. What's there to change? An old thinking, perhaps, that God delights in being angry. That God patiently waits for you to slip up so He can nag at you. That God is someone who easily gets disappointed by everything you do, as if it was in your strength that He trusted you would never fall. That He's up there and you're down here dealing with 'reality.'

This is the kind of thinking that separates us from God. Not that God distanced Himself from you. After giving up His own Son for you, why would He now leave you? No, we distance ourselves from God because of our false impression of who He is.

It is His goodness that He wants you to know of. Why? This is what leads you to repentance, to a change of mind - to know who He really is.

The Lord, your God is love and He loves you. He sticks with you like bubblegum on your hair. He wants you to know what He has done for you, how much He was willing to give up for you - to save you, to give you life and life more abundantly. He wants you to know that He went as far as giving up Himself, for you, to bring you back, to show you love, to give you joy and peace - to set you free from whatever is eating you.

Yahweh, your Elohim, is GOOD and He wants you to know this and live in His goodness. The GOOD news is nothing stands between you and Him. JESUS has Crossed the great divide brought by sin. JESUS is the Way. Believe in Him and see His goodness!

"The goodness of God" in that context means God is not giving the wicked what they deserve right now so they have a chance to repent before He destroys them.