The Joy of Repentance Quotes

“God never convicts believers of sin in order to condemn them. God convicts us of sin to change us. He wants us to have a closer walk with Him. He wants us to get rid of this useless sin in our lives.”
― Kerry L. Skinner, The Joy of Repentance

“One morning, as I was reading my Bible, all of the sin that I knew was there for such a long time took on a different perspective. I saw my sin the way God saw my sin. I was deeply grieved by my sinful condition and I cried out to God and said, “I cannot go on any more. I need a breakthrough from You.” That morning was as real to me as when I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior. I wept and said, “Oh God, I see what You have been trying to show me. I now see for the first time.” Was I guilty for all of that time? Yes. But, what I realized was that it does not take God years to help me repent, it may take me years to be willing to repent. Finally, I was a changed man! My attitude had changed and I no longer was seeking justification for my sin by hearing my friends say, “Kerry, you have every right to be angry.” That old attitude had been destroying my fellowship with the Lord and I knew that I must change. What I believe happened that morning was God looked into my heart and saw that I was broken over my sin and ready to repent. God grants godly sorrow to a person who wants to change. Repentance is a gift of God (2 Tim. 2: 25). 25 Godly sorrow is also a gift of God. When God sees you are at the end of your rope and you are unwilling to go on in your own strength and you surrender to Him–He responds. He gives you His godly sorrow that enables you to repent. God cleared my wrong thoughts and helped me see that my problem was not that I was angry, bitter, and resentful toward a person but rather I was an angry, bitter, resentful person.”
― Kerry L. Skinner, The Joy of Repentance

“God Reveals Sin to Redeem, Not to Condemn Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” (Rom. 5: 20; 7: 7) Never forget that God has given a way to have full and abundant life. We do not have to live with the oppression of sin. The law helps us to see the way toward dealing with sin in our life. For us to walk in our own ways when we know the power of the resurrected Christ living in us is sin. There has to be recognition of sin if we are going to go through the process of dealing with wrongness in our life. Suppose you washed your hands and then entered a large room full of people. If you held up your hands in front of a large group of people and asked them to look at your hands they would appear clean. However, appearing clean is different than being clean. If a bright light was focused on your hands and maybe even if someone examined one of your hands under a magnifying glass, impurities would be revealed. The hand appears acceptable from a distance but close observation reveals there are some problems. God is like a bright light shining on your heart and mind. His light reveals all the impurities in your life. If sin is revealed, God then convicts you... not to discourage you but to redeem you! What do you do when God shows you the impurities? Do you draw near to God and say, “Oh God, I see impurities. I see something that You see in me and I want to get rid of it. Will you help me with this?” If you do, God will help you. He can forgive you and cleanse you and empower you to walk a new way of life.”
― Kerry L. Skinner, The Joy of Repentance

“Did God hate the people? No! He knew what sin would do. He knew sin unchecked would bring on greater devastation than the consequences of His discipline. Repenting of sin will not cause the problems that living with sin will cause. Repentance brings healing.”
― Kerry L. Skinner, The Joy of Repentance

“He knew that to allow those actions to go on unchecked could allow future generations to keep falling and there might never be any correction.”
― Kerry L. Skinner, The Joy of Repentance

“Did you know that natural gas is odorless and colorless? It is also deadly. Because it is so deadly, an ingredient called mercaptan is added to the gas so that its presence can be detected. If this ingredient were not added, it would be nearly impossible for you to detect a leak of natural gas coming from your stove, hot water heater, or furnace. This ingredient has a horrible smell but becomes a very valuable safety feature. If you were to walk into your home and smell this terrible odor, would you just continue to stay in the house and say, “There is a gas leak, but it is no big deal.” Of course not! You would get out of the house immediately and call 911 for help. The Scripture gives us much warning about sin, the presence of it and the danger of it. Not to heed that warning will prove to be deadly.”
― Kerry L. Skinner, The Joy of Repentance

“Most of the time when people are wrong they try to hide it, reason it away, or simply try to ignore and forget it. If we saw the awfulness of sin from God’s perspective it would make a difference in how we live.”
― Kerry L. Skinner, The Joy of Repentance

“Suppose a child approached his dad and said, “Dad, I haven’t cleaned my room in 365 days. I know it is wrong because you made a rule about cleaning my room and taught me that to fail to clean my room was wrong. See you later, Dad, I’m going to the beach.” What is wrong with a child responding to his dad in that way? The child knows it is wrong but his actions have not changed. Just to know you are wrong does not mean you will change. To admit you are wrong is the first step in the process of repentance, but it is not repentance. Not only must you admit you are wrong, you must admit that this wrongness is a sin against God.”
― Kerry L. Skinner, The Joy of Repentance

“It was not enough, apparently, to cast out demons and to heal the sick; it was necessary to change men’s thinking, to transfigure their aspirations and their ambitions. The Church has forgotten this, to its own confusion and frustration. Introspective agonizing over sin does very little good, if the old desires and ambitions which led the Christian into sin are left unchanged. Afflicting the soul and torturing the body do not remove the cause of the sins which men punish in themselves. When the Twelve preached repentance, they were attacking the origin of sin. They called for a change in the life design of men.”
― Kerry L. Skinner, The Joy of Repentance

“Repentance is the positive way in which to deal with the negative attributes of sin. The New Testament word for repentance is metanoia. 8 To think differently afterwards, i.e. reconsider (morally, feel compunction)–repent–sums up the meaning of the word. This is far different than the word used for Judas’ repentance. That word is metamellomai, meaning to care afterwards, to regret, to have a self-type of repentance. The message of repentance that John the Baptist and Jesus spoke of was such a change of life that wrongful actions of life were reformed. Chamberlain says, “What the Baptist meant by repentance is indicated in his words: ‘Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of repentance...’ Repentance is to have a twofold issue: reformation in conduct, and transformation of mental outlook.” 9”
― Kerry L. Skinner, The Joy of Repentance

“I was so strong-willed it took two years to deal with my particular sin of anger–it did not take God two years to deal with the sin. It took me two years to want to give up the sin–God only needed a few moments to cleanse a dirty heart. The process of repentance has five steps. Admitting to God, “I am wrong.” Having godly sorrow for sin. Asking God to forgive the sin. Asking God to cleanse the sin. Asking God to empower you with His Spirit.”
― Kerry L. Skinner, The Joy of Repentance

“Many believe that repentance takes a long time. Once a person has a sin problem in his life, he often is convinced that his problem is so complex that the situation will take a long time to correct. If the problem is sin, God is the only one who can resolve the problem. Jesus provided the only way to eradicate sin, and this provision is accessed through repentance. Ignoring a sin problem will only prolong the process of repentance. Genuine repentance moves quickly, but the process to reach your destination of repentance may take a long time. The length of time it takes to repent depends on how long it takes a person to come to the place where he really wants to change.”
― Kerry L. Skinner, The Joy of Repentance

“We should be so aware of sin and its wrongness that the minute we see our sin we quickly move through the process of repentance. Remember, though, that the prayer must be more than just a cry for help in time of crisis–the prayer must reflect a heart that desires to change.”
― Kerry L. Skinner, The Joy of Repentance

“God is looking for righteousness over ritual. He wants our lives and our hearts and our actions. Jesus warned us that, “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me” (Matt. 15: 8).”
― Kerry L. Skinner, The Joy of Repentance

“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams” (1 Sam. 15: 22).”
― Kerry L. Skinner, The Joy of Repentance

“the Kingdom, not the menace of hell, as the motive for repentance.”
― Kerry L. Skinner, The Joy of Repentance

“joy, love, and a deeper fellowship with God and His people.”
― Kerry L. Skinner, The Joy of Repentance

“God’s people must understand that repentance is not a word in the Bible used by God to bring destruction and discouragement. Repentance brings life,”
― Kerry L. Skinner, The Joy of Repentance

“Sin that is confessed brings relief to life, but confession alone does not free a person from the oppression of sin. While repentance, the turning away from sin and the turning toward a godly life, will not free a person from the results and consequences of sin, it will free him from the guilt and tyranny of sin.”
― Kerry L. Skinner, The Joy of Repentance

“Repentance confesses, “God, I am wrong regardless of what anyone else has done.” The moment you say, “God, I am wrong but so are they,” you are trying to find a defense for remaining like you are.”
― Kerry L. Skinner, The Joy of Repentance