A True Change of Mind

Announcer:

This is Today With Derek Prince. The internationally recognized Bible teacher and author presents to you Keys to Successful Living.

Yesterday Derek Prince spoke about the foundational doctrines which must be laid in our lives before we can mature in as Christians. As he continues his teaching today on ‘Through Repentance To Faith’ he will illustrate how we as Christians must repent from the dead works in our lives before we can move on in faith. Listen at the end of today’s broadcast for our address and this week’s special offer.

Derek Prince:

Now, you know there are two main languages of the Bible, Greek of the New Testament and Hebrew of the Old. And each of those languages has a specific word for repent. But only if we put the two languages together do we get the full meaning of repentance. The Greek word in secular language is always translated to change your mind, to change the way you think. So, first of all, repentance is changing your mind about the way you’ve been living. I’ve been living to please myself, to do my own thing. From now on I’m going to live to please Jesus my Savior. It’s a decision. As I said before, it is not an emotion. You can repent without any obvious emotion but you cannot repent without a change of your will.

And then the Hebrew word—and this is so typical of the Jewish people because they’re a very down to-earth people. They want to know, well, What does it work out as? And the Hebrew word for repent means literally to turn around. You’ve been facing one way, the wrong way, with your back to God, you turn 180 degrees, face toward God and say, ‘God, here I am. Tell me what to do and I’ll do it.’

So you put the two together and you have a complete picture of repentance. Faith comes only after repentance. The whole message of the Bible is in this order: repent and believe. There are lots of people, and some of them are here this morning, who are struggling for faith. The truth is you’re not struggling for faith, you’ve never met the condition of repentance. You see it’s the first of the six foundation doctrines. And if you don’t have that foundation stone in place, your building will always be wobbly.

I have counseled over the years hundreds of people, hundreds of Christians who’ve come with their personal problems. After a lot of experience I came to this conclusion, at least fifty percent of the problems of professing Christians—or real—Christians are due to one fact, they have never truly repented. They have never really changed their mind. They’ve never really made a decision, they’ve never really surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus in their lives. They’re still thinking about decisions from this point of view, ‘Now, if I do this, what will it do for me? If I do that, what will it do for me?’ When you’ve repented, that’s not the way you think. You think, ‘If I do this, will it glorify Jesus? If I do that, will it glorify Jesus?’ And so we have multitudes of people—I think especially young people but not only young people—who are double minded. The Bible says a double minded man is unstable in all his ways. He doesn’t have a solid foundation, he can’t produce a stable building.

So I invite you just where you are right now, quietly to reflect for a few moments and ask yourself, ‘Have I ever really truly repented? Or, am I still double minded? On Monday my aim is to please Jesus, on Tuesday my aim is to please myself.’ You see, you’ve got the worst of both worlds, actually. You’d be better off just living in the world, living for yourself, because you’re a double minded person, you’re a split personality.

Now we have to go on with the nature of repentance. There is one parable that Jesus told which is the most vivid and perfect illustration of true repentance. It’s the parable of what we call the Prodigal Son, though somebody else has said it should be called the Caring Father. You remember the story in Luke 15, most of you know it. The second son of a wealthy family decided to get all his inheritance from his father right now and went off to a distant country and lived it up. He did all sorts of sinful things. And then,

when he’d spent his whole inheritance, a famine came and the only job he could get was feeding pigs. And you have to remember, he was Jewish so for him to feed pigs was just as low as he could come— without any slight on pig farmers. We’re not saying anything against them but it just so happens that for the Jewish people, the pig is right outside.

And so here he is, in rags, feeding the pigs, hungry, wishing he could fill his stomach with the husks that the pigs are eating. And then this is what happens. Verse 17 of Luke 15:

“When he came to himself he said . . .”

That’s the point you have to come to. You have to come to yourself, what I call the moment of truth. You have to see yourself as you really are. You have to see yourself as God sees you.

“‘When he came to himself he said, How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.’
Now you see the two elements? — because it goes on to say:
‘And he arose and went to his father.’”

He made a decision, and he turned around. That’s repentance. Making a decision and carrying your decision out. Going back to the father whom you have offended, to the God who loves you, saying, ‘I’ve made a mess of my life. I can’t run my own life. I need you. Will you take me back?’ The wonderful thing is he planned to say to the father, ‘Make me as one of your hired servants.’ But when he started out, his father was watching for him. I think this is so beautiful. That’s how God is. When we begin to turn, He’s watching for us and waiting for us.

“‘The father saw him a long way off and ran to meet him.’
That’s how God is. That’s how He meets us.”

“‘And he kissed him . . .’
And he never let him say those last words, ‘Make me as one of your hired servants.’ He said: ‘Bring out the best robe, put a ring on his finger, sandals on his feet and kill the fatted calf.’”

That’s the result of true repentance. It’s worth repenting to be welcomed like that by God. That’s the picture. Just think about it for a moment yourself. He came to himself. He said, ‘I’ve made a mess of my life. I’ve wasted everything my father gave me. But I’m going to make a decision. I’m going to turn around, I’m going to go back to my father and say I’m sorry.’ He turned and went. Think about that. That is true repentance. Repentance in action.

Now, there can be a false repentance which we in English today call remorse. Judas experienced that, described in Matthew 27, verse 3 and following:

“Then Judas, the betrayer of Jesus, seeing that he had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priest and elders, saying, ‘I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.’ And they said, ‘What is that to us? You see to it.’ Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed and went and hanged himself.”

Judas had remorse but he never changed. In fact, I believe he’d passed the point where he could change. And to me this is a solemn thought. People can in this life pass the point where it’s possible for them to change. I think the most significant moment in any human life is the moment when God begins to deal with you about repenting. If you shrug your shoulders and say, ‘Well, I’m not interested. Maybe later,’ there’s no guarantee that God will ever deal with you again. The most critical moment in any human life is the moment when God says, ‘Repent. I’m willing to take you back. I love you, I want you.’

I’ve considered what I’ve seen in people’s lives and in the Bible. I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s one thing that makes God really angry and it is despising His grace. He freely offers us His grace but if we despise it He turns in anger. There’s one person who despised the grace of God. Do you know what his name was? Esau. And he’s described in Hebrews chapter 12. I want to look at that passage for a

moment because there’s a lot of the Esau in people like you and me. We want to be careful that Esau doesn’t make our decisions. This is what it says in Hebrews 12, beginning in verse 14:

“Pursue peace with all men and holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
Notice that, without holiness no one will see the Lord.
Looking diligently, lest anyone fall short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled. Lest there be any fornicator or profane or godless person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.”

Now, we have no record whatever that Esau ever committed fornication but his attitude in God’s eyes was just as bad as fornication. What was his attitude? For one little bowl of soup he despised his birthright.

Announcer:

Stay tuned again for tomorrow’s broadcast when Derek Prince continues his message ‘Through Repentance to Faith.’ He will show us from Scripture the results of true repentance and the consequences for those who never find it.

This week’s message is available on audiocassette No. RC4162 and also on video. Our special offer this week is Derek Prince’s book Faith To Live By which is a resource for every Christian who wishes to obey Scripture and receive the promises of a faith filled life.To receive your copy of ‘Through Repentance To Faith’ write today and include a contribution of $5.00 or more for the audio cassette RC4162 $14.95 for the video teaching. Include a gift of $5.00 or more for the book Faith To Live By.

Derek Prince also welcomes your letters and prayer requests. Our mailing address is Derek Prince Ministries, Box 19501, Charlotte, North Carolina 28219. That’s Derek Prince Ministries, Box 19501, Charlotte, North Carolina 28219. In Canada write to Derek Prince Ministries, Box 8354, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3K 5M1. The Canadian address again is Box 8354, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3K 5M1, and please give us the call letters of this station when you write.

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