A. The Importance of Foundation
B. Repentance from Dead Works
"Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: "He is
like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid foundation on the rock. And when the flood
arose, the stream beat vehemently against the house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on
the rock. "But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a
foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that
Scripture speaks of two kinds of foundations:
ROCK – Scripture tells us who is our Rock – "For they drank of that spiritual Rock that
followed them, and that Rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:4)
SAND – Sand represents many things in life that people build the rest of their lives on. Things
such as wealth, education, ambition, philosophy, games, sports, humanism, etc.
"Will you keep to the old way which wicked men have trod, Who were cut down before their time,
Whose foundations were swept away by a flood?" (Job 22:15-16)
B. Repentance from Dead Works
"Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection,
not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the
doctrine of baptisms, of laying of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And
this we will do if God permits." (Hebrews 6:1-3)
The first foundation truth in our Christian teaching is that of repentance from dead works. It is both
the first and also a continuing part of the Christian walk. When we first come to Christ, we come in
repentance of our sins and acknowledging that we need a Savior. Then as Christians we begin our
Christian foundation with a continuing attitude of repentance from "dead works".
Romans 5:12 – "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin,
and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned –"
Romans 3:9-10 – "…. Both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin." As it is written: there is none
Romans 3:23 – "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
Repentance comes from God. It is a gift. God initiates repentance in us. On our own initiative, we
would never repent. We should never take it lightly when God comes with conviction and the spirit
of repentance in our lives. It is His goodness to us that leads to repentance. Repentance is a process
whereby God changes the way we think about Him, ourselves, others and circumstances of life.
Romans 2:4 "….. the goodness of God leads you to repentance."
The word "repent" means to think differently or to reverse a decision. Repentance is a process
whereby God changes the way we think about Him, ourselves, others and circumstances of life. True
transformation takes place by changing the way a person thinks.
Isaiah 55:7-9 – "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return
to the lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My
thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD. For as the heavens are
higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts."
Repentance is a divine act whereby someone walking on a pathway of sin changes his mind, turns
around 180 degrees, and walks in the opposite direction. It is total change in direction and attitude.
Repentance causes one to walk away from sin and then stay as far away from sin as possible.
The following are some aspects that are seen in true repentance:
Godly sorrow – 2 Corinthians 7:10, Psalms 38:18
Confession of sin – Psalms 32:5, I John 1:9
Forsaking of sin – Proverbs 28:13
Restitution – Luke 19:8, Lev 6:2-5
Hatred of sin – Ezekiel 20:43-44, Psalm 97:10
There is a worldly repentance, which results from "being caught with your hand in the
cookie jar". What does this sorrow accomplish? 2 Corinthians 7:10
Worldly repentance is often an emotional, tearful experience. Did Esau's shedding of tears
bring repentance? Hebrews 12:16-17
Worldly or false repentance is also being sorry for something, which we have done, which
cannot be changed or undone. It is not enough to be sorry; we have to change our mind and
life. We see an example of this with Judas in Matthew 27:3-4.
Neither is true repentance to be associated with carrying out some special religious rite or
ordinance, "Doing Penance".
Saul, the first king of Israel, is a good example of false repentance. God sent Saul to completely
destroy the Amalekites. But, he did not obey God. When confronted by Samuel, he admitted his sin,
1 Samuel 15:30 – "Then he said, "I have sinned; yet honor me now, please, before the elders of my
people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the LORD your God."
In short, false / worldly repentance is: -
Being sorry for being caught
Regretting having done something because of the outcome
Being emotionally distraught over the consequences of your actions
Doing something to make up for your wrong
Saying I was wrong but let's carry on like nothing happened.
Hebrews 6:1 describes our repentance as being from "dead works". Dead works are works not
initiated by God. They are devoid of life. Anything that is produced from the fleshly / carnal mind is
without the life that flows from Christ. When we are not walking in obedience and faith, then we are
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve disobeyed God, an d it was through this that death entered
into the world. They did was what seemed right to them, but it brought death. For this reason, the
doctrine of repentance is called "repentance from dead works". Therefore, any works that spring
from our thinking, produced by the fleshly mind, produces death.
Galatians 5:19-21 – "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication,
uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish
ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell
you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not
Romans 14:23 – "But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith, for
The gift of repentance begins at new birth, but repentance must continue all the days of our life. As
we allow God to bring us to repentance, we are being transformed into the image of Christ.
* Diagram taken from "Changed from Glory to Glory" by Rev. Robert Tucker
Revelation. God takes the initiative to change us. He reveals Himself to us in some manner as He did
to the prophet Isaiah – Isaiah 6:1-5
Conviction. God uses circumstances to work in us and show us how our ways are contrary to His.
The conviction of the Holy Spirit comes and godly sorrow works in us. Emotionally, we may feel we
are at the lowest point of our lives.
Repentance. The goodness of God leads us to repentance. We confess and forsake our sin. As God
changes the way we thinks and act, our sin is blotted out. ( Sin is anything which causes us to miss
the mark, to come short and wander from the right path.)
Revival. God is able to refresh us in His presence. We are then able to walk in a greater level of
After a time, we are ready to return to point A, where the whole process is repeated in our lives by
God for the next revelation of the Lord that would lead us into a new process of repentance in
another area of our lives. Thus, we "are changed from glory to glory."
The Apostle Paul lists 7 fruits of repentance. These are the characteristics of a believer who has truly
repented and whose heart is on fire for the Lord.2 Corinthians 7:10-11
Diligence – the first fruit of repentance. True repentance will produce a diligence that
ensures that everything in our lives is well pleasing and well ordered before the Lord –
Hebrews 11:6, Romans 12:11
Clearing of yourselves – Ephesians 4:28, Example: Story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19
Indignation – Repentance will produce a hatred for sin.
Psalms 45:7. Many people love righteousness but they still do not hate sin and that is why
their anointing is weak. To see an increase in anointing in your life, you must hate sin.
Whatever you had a problem with, begin to have indignation against – that is a fruit of
Fear – Holiness is perfected in the fear of God. The fear of God is to hate the things that God
2 Corinthians 7:1 – "Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from
all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord.
Proverbs 8:13 – The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and
the perverse mouth I hate.
One of the ways we know that we have truly repented is that we are very fearful of
displeasing the Lord. We are also very aware of the fact that He is watching us at all times.
You can just get an awareness that He is just standing there beholding you.
Vehement Desire – Repentance will produce a strong desire in your life for holiness. It will
produce a strong desire to pray. When we find our prayer life lifeless, the reason is that our
Zeal – The dictionary defines zeal as being eager or enthusiastic. The zeal that the Apostle
Paul is referring to in 2 Corinthians 7:10-11 is the zeal to want to please God, to make up for
all the hurt that we have caused Him. When you are truly repentant, you have such a zeal to
please God and you just want to be careful in your words, thoughts and actions etc.
Revelation 3:19 – "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent."
Vindication – The dictionary defines vindication as avenge. When you truly repent, there is
such a desire to vindicate yourself. However, we must not be mistaken, only God can truly
The will be such a zealousness to live right with God that any trace of sin in our lives has to be
removed or we are not going to be happy.
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