Repentance

Outline and materials for talk on Repentance:

First Principles and Moroni 6:1-3
In the Gospel, it’s often the basics that are least understood. Today, we’ll focus on repentance.
“Do you know how to repent?”
Elder Jay Jensen of the Seventy recounted the following:
“Twenty years ago my bishop was interviewing me for my temple recommend. Because I was a member of a stake presidency, I knew all the temple recommend interview questions. I asked them weekly to other members, and I was prepared to answer each question that my bishop asked me. But following the formal questions, he caught me totally off guard with an additional inquiry about my understanding of the gospel.
He asked, “Jay, do you know how to repent?” My first thought was to say, “Yes, of course I know how to repent.” I paused for a moment to think about it, and the more I thought about it, the more uncertain I was of my answer. The standard five or six words we use to describe repentance (recognition, remorse, restitution, reformation, resolution, and so on) did not seem adequate. In fact, they were meaningless to me at that time. They seemed to be too trite, too compartmentalized.”

Think about it brothers and sisters do you KNOW HOW to repent?
What does the word repent mean?
The dictionary says that to repent is:
1. to feel sorry, self-reproachful, or contrite for past conduct; regret or be conscience-stricken about a past action, attitude, etc.
2. to feel such sorrow for sin or fault as to be disposed to change one's life for the better; be penitent.
By the way, have you ever wondered why a prison is called a penitentiary? I suppose they feel it will help people get to that point where they can repent and reform themselves.

Theodore M. Burton, “The Meaning of Repentance,” Ensign, Aug 1988, 6–9
As a General Authority, he often dealt with transgressors in the Church.

Just what is repentance? Actually, in some ways it is easier to understand what repentance is not than to understand what it is.
He says. Many times a bishop will write, “I feel he has suffered enough!” But suffering is not repentance. Suffering comes from lack of complete repentance. A stake president will write, “I feel he has been punished enough!” But punishment is not repentance. Punishment follows disobedience and precedes repentance. A husband will write, “My wife has confessed everything!” But confession is not repentance. Confession is an admission of guilt that occurs as repentance begins. A wife will write, “My husband is filled with remorse!” But remorse is not repentance. Remorse and sorrow continue because a person has not yet fully repented. Suffering, punishment, confession, remorse, and sorrow may sometimes accompany repentance, but they are not repentance. What, then, is repentance?
To find the answer to this question, we must go to the Old Testament. The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, and the word used in it to refer to the concept of repentance is shube.
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That is the message of the Old Testament. Prophet after prophet writes of shube—that turning back to the Lord, where we can be received with joy and rejoicing. The Old Testament teaches time and again that we must turn from evil and do instead that which is noble and good. This means that we must not only change our ways, we must change our very thoughts, which control our actions.
The concept of shube is also found in the New Testament, which was written in Greek. The Greek writers used the Greek word metaneoeo to refer to repentance. Metaneoeo is a compound word. The first part, meta-, is used as a prefix in our English vocabulary. It refers to change. The second part of the word metaneoeo can mean air, the mind, thought, thinking, or spirit—depending on how it is used.
In the context in which meta- and -neoeo are used in the New Testament, the word metaneoeo means a change of mind, thought, or thinking so powerful that it changes one’s very way of life. I think the Greek word metaneoeo is an excellent synonym for the Hebrew word shube. Both words mean thoroughly changing or turning from evil to God and righteousness.
Confusion came, however, when the New Testament was translated from Greek into Latin. Here an unfortunate choice was made in translation; the Greek word metaneoeo was translated into the Latin word poenitere. The Latin root poen in that word is the same root found in our English words punish, penance, penitent, and repentance. The beautiful meaning of the Hebrew and Greek words was thus changed in Latin to a meaning that involved hurting, punishing, whipping, cutting, mutilating, disfiguring, starving, or even torturing!
It is no small wonder, then, that people have come to fear and dread the word repentance, which they understand to mean repeated or unending punishment.
The meaning of repentance is not that people be punished, but rather that they change their lives so that God can help them escape eternal punishment and enter into his rest with joy and rejoicing. If we have this understanding, our anxiety and fears will be relieved. Repentance will become a welcome and treasured word in our religious vocabulary.

Repentance is essential to our temporal and eternal happiness. It is motivated by love for God and the sincere desire to obey His commandments.
The Need for Repentance
The Lord has declared that “no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of heaven” (Alma 11:37). Our sins make us unclean—unworthy to return and dwell in the presence of our Heavenly Father. They also bring anguish to our soul in this life. Alma says to his son Coriantumer Alma 42:16,18 “Now, repentance could not come unto men except there were a punishment, which also was eternal as the life of the soul should be. … “Now, there was a punishment affixed, and a just law given, which brought remorse of conscience unto man.”
Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, our Father in Heaven has provided the only way for us to be forgiven of our sins (see Forgiveness). Jesus Christ suffered the penalty for our sins so we can be forgiven if we sincerely repent. As we repent and rely on His saving grace, we will be cleansed from sin.


2 Nephi 2:6-7
Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah; for he is full of grace and truth.
Behold he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto none else can the ends of the law be answered.

3 Nephi 9:19-20
And ye shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood; yea, your sacrifices and your burnt offerings shall be done away, for I will accept none of your sacrifices and your burnt offerings.
And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the holy ghost…..

Alma 5:12-14 (Alma hearing Abinadi)
And according to his faith there was a mighty change wrought in his heart. Behold I say unto you that this is all true.
And behold he preached the word unto your fathers, and a mighty change was also wroguht in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they were faithful unto the end; therefore they were saved.
And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts.
Clean Hands and a Pure Heart
Elder David A. Bednar
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
The gospel of Jesus Christ encompasses much more than avoiding, overcoming, and being cleansed from sin and the bad influences in our lives; it also essentially entails doing good, being good, and becoming better. Repenting of our sins and seeking forgiveness are spiritually necessary, and we must always do so. But remission of sin is not the only or even the ultimate purpose of the gospel. To have our hearts changed by the Holy Spirit such that “we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually” (Mosiah 5:2), as did King Benjamin’s people, is the covenant responsibility we have accepted. This mighty change is not simply the result of working harder or developing greater individual discipline. Rather, it is the consequence of a fundamental change in our desires, our motives, and our natures made possible through the Atonement of Christ the Lord. Our spiritual purpose is to overcome both sin and the desire to sin, both the taint and the tyranny of sin.

Mosiah 3:19
For the natural man is an enemy to God and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.

What else is involved in that process?
Elder Nelson said: Many of our Saints don’t understand what repentance really is. Repentance is more than just undoing the wrongs you’ve done. It’s a whole change of your outlook on life. You want to think like the Lord. You want to talk like the Lord. You want to act like the Lord. You want to believe, you want to pray, you want to love the way the Lord does. And then you’re converted. Often you see people whose first interest is somewhere else. They will have conflicts, because as they try to serve the Lord they have one foot in the stirrup and one foot dragging on the ground.

Repentance
Elder Neal A. Maxwell
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Repentance is one of the most vital and merciful doctrines of the kingdom. It is too little understood, too little applied by us all, as if it were merely a word on a bumper sticker. Since we have been told clearly by Jesus what manner of men and women we ought to become—even as He is (see 3 Ne. 27:27)—how can we do so, except each of us employs repentance as the regular means of personal progression? Personal repentance is part of taking up the cross daily. (See Luke 9:23.) Without it, clearly there could be no “perfecting of the Saints.” (Eph. 4:12.)
Real repentance involves not a mechanical checklist, but a check-reining of the natural self. Often overlapping and mutually reinforcing, each portion of the process of repentance is essential. This process rests on inner resolve but is much aided by external support.
There can be no repentance without recognition of wrong. Whether by provocation, introspection, or wrenching remembrance, denial must be dissolved. As with the prodigal son who finally “came to himself” (Luke 15:17), the first rays of recognition help us begin to see “things as they really are” (Jacob 4:13), including distinguishing between the motes and beams. Recognition is a sacred moment, often accompanied by the hot blush of shame.
After recognition, real remorse floods the soul. This is a “godly sorrow,” not merely the “sorrow of the world” nor the “sorrowing of the damned,” when we can no longer “take happiness in sin.” (2 Cor. 7:10; Morm. 2:13.) False remorse instead is like “fondling our failings.” In ritual regret, we mourn our mistakes but without mending them.
Alma said “… I desire that ye should let these things trouble you no more, and only let your sins trouble you, with that trouble which shall bring you down unto repentance.” (Alma 42:29. Italics added.)
There can be no real repentance without personal suffering and the passage of sufficient time for the needed cleansing and turning. This is much more than merely waiting until feelings of remorse subside. Misery, like adversity, can have its special uses. No wonder chastening is often needed until the turning is really under way! (See D&C 1:27; Hel. 12:3.)
Real remorse quickly brings forth positive indicators, “fruits meet for repentance.” (Matt. 3:8; see also Acts 26:20; Alma 5:54.) “In process of time,” these fruits bud, blossom, and ripen.
True repentance also includes confession: “Now therefore make confession unto the Lord God of your fathers.” (Ezra 10:11.) One with a broken heart will not hold back. As confession lets the sickening sin empty out, the Spirit which withdrew returns to renew.
All sins are to be confessed to the Lord, some to a Church official, some to others, and some to all of these. A few may require public confession. Confessing aids forsaking. We cannot expect to sin publicly and extensively and then expect to be rescued privately and quickly, being beaten “with only a few stripes.” (D&C 42:88–93.)
In real repentance, there is the actual forsaking of sinning. “Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.” (Ezek. 18:30.) A suffering Korihor confessed, “I always knew that there was a God,” but his turning was still incomplete (Alma 30:52); hence, “Alma said unto him: If this curse should be taken from thee thou wouldst again lead away the hearts of this people.” (Alma 30:55.)
Thus, when “a man repenteth of his sins—behold, he will confess them and forsake them.” (D&C 58:43.)
The Lord said in 1832: “… go your ways and sin no more; but unto that soul who sinneth shall the former sins return, saith the Lord your God.” (D&C 82:7.)
And so a temporary, momentary change of life is not sufficient.
Alma 41:9:
“And now behold, my son, do not risk one more offense against your God … which ye have hitherto risked to commit sin.” (Italics added.)
“Do not suppose, because it has been spoken concerning restoration, that ye shall be restored from sin to happiness. Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness.” (Alma 41:10. Italics added.)
There is an area in Yucatan so fertile and weather-favored that the jungle grows rapidly. Needy peasants make a clearing and plant a crop, but constantly the shrubbery and forest creep in, and unless the owner is diligent and persistent to keep down the undergrowth, it will soon take over his little farm and turn it to jungle again.
Likewise, repentance must be consistent and continuous. To repent of a sin and then to tamper with it again or permit it to invade, even slightly, is to lose the repentance and its benefits, and “the former sins return, saith the Lord God.” (D&C 82:7.)

Restitution is required, too. “Because he hath sinned, … he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found.” (Lev. 6:4.)
Sometimes, however, restitution is not possible in real terms, such as when one contributed to another’s loss of faith or virtue. Instead, a subsequent example of righteousness provides a compensatory form of restitution.
In this rigorous process, so much clearly depends upon meekness. Alma said: “… Do not endeavor to excuse yourself in the least point because of your sins, by denying the justice of God; but do let the justice of God, and his mercy, and his long-suffering have full sway in your heart; and let it bring you down to the dust in humility.” (Alma 42:30. Italics added.) Pride keeps repentance from even starting or continuing. Some fail because they are more concerned with the preservation of their public image than with having Christ’s image in their countenances! (Alma 5:14.) Pride prefers cheap repentance, paid for with shallow sorrow. Unsurprisingly, seekers after cheap repentance also search for superficial forgiveness instead of real reconciliation. Thus, real repentance goes far beyond simply saying, “I’m sorry.”
One must simply surrender, caring only about what God thinks, not what “they” think, while meekly offering, “O God, … make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee.” (Alma 22:18.) Giving away all our sins is the only way we can come to know God.
Even when free of major transgression, we can develop self-contentment instead of seeking self-improvement. This was once true of Amulek, who later acknowledged, “I was called many times and I would not hear; therefore I knew concerning these things, yet I would not know; therefore I went on rebelling against God.” (Alma 10:4–6.)
Given the relevancy of repentance as a principle of progress for all, no wonder the Lord has said to His servants multiple times that the thing of greatest worth would be to cry repentance to this generation! (See D&C 6:9; D&C 14:8; D&C 15:6.)
Ironically, some believe the Lord can forgive them, but they refuse to forgive themselves. We are further impeded at times simply because we have not really been taught why and how to repent.
As we do repent, however, special assurances await: “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” (Isa. 1:18.) “All his transgressions … shall not be mentioned unto him.” (Ezek. 18:22.) “I, the Lord, remember [their sins] no more”! (D&C 58:42.)
Brothers and sisters, we need never mistake local cloud cover for general darkness. The Atoning Light of the world saw to that. It was for our sake that perfectly remarkable Jesus was perfectly consecrated. Jesus let His own will be totally “swallowed up in the will of the Father.” If you and I would come unto Jesus, we must likewise yield to God, holding nothing back. Then other soaring promises await!