Timothy Keller Quotes About Repentance

Quotes about: Repentance

• Fear-based repentance makes us hate ourselves. Joy-based repentance makes us hate the sin.

  Timothy Keller

  Religious, Fear, Hate

  Timothy Keller (2009). “Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters”, p.172, Penguin

• Legalistic remorse says, "I broke God's rules," while real repentance says, "I broke God's heart."

  Timothy Keller

  Heartbreak, God, Christian

• Love without truth is sentimentality; it supports and affirms us but keeps us in denial about our flaws. Truth without love is harshness; it gives us information but in such a way that we cannot really hear it. God's saving love in Christ, however, is marked by both radical truthfulness about who we are and yet also radical, unconditional commitment to us. The merciful commitment strengthens us to see the truth about ourselves and repent. The conviction and repentance moves us to cling to and rest in God's mercy and grace.

  Timothy Keller

  Moving, Commitment, Love Is

  Timothy Keller (2013). “The Obedient Master”, p.34, Penguin

• Life changing repentance begins where blame shifting ends.

  Timothy Keller

  Life Changing, Shifting, Blame

• Those who believe they have pleased God by the quality of their devotion and moral goodness naturally feel that they and their group deserve deference and power over others. The God of Jesus and the prophets, however, saves completely by grace. He cannot be manipulated by religious and moral performance--he can only be reached through repentance, through the giving up of power. If we are saved by sheer grace we can only become grateful, willing servants of God and of everyone around us.

  Timothy Keller

  Religious, Jesus, Giving Up

  Timothy Keller (2008). “The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism”, p.74, Penguin

• We do not have to make ourselves suffer in order to merit forgiveness. We simply receive the forgiveness earned by Christ. 1 John 1:9 says that God forgives us because He is ‘just.’ That is a remarkable statement. It would be unjust of God to ever deny us forgiveness, because Jesus earned our acceptance! In religion we earn our forgiveness with our repentance, but in the gospel we just receive it.

  Timothy Keller

  Jesus, Acceptance, Order

• Repentance out of mere fear is really sorrow for the consequences of sin, sorrow over the danger of sin — it bends the will away from sin, but the heart still clings. But repentance out of conviction over mercy is really sorrow over sin, sorrow over the grievousness of sin — it melts the heart away from sin. It makes the sin itself disgusting to us, so it loses its attractive power over us. We say, ‘this disgusting thing is an affront to the one who died for me. I’m continuing to stab him with it!’

  Timothy Keller

  Heart, Sorrow, Sin

• Rejoicing and repentance must go together. Repentance without rejoicing will lead to despair. Rejoicing without repentance is shallow and will only provide passing inspiration instead of deep change.

  Timothy Keller

  Inspiration, Despair, Together

  Timothy Keller (2009). “Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters”, p.94, Penguin

• Repentance is like antiseptic. You pour antiseptic onto a wound and, at first, it stings. Then it heals.

  Timothy Keller

  Firsts, Repentance, Heal

• There are many ways to cover up our sin. We may justify or minimize it by blaming circumstances and others people. However, real repentance first admits sin as sin and takes full responsibility. True confession and repentance begins when blame shifting ends...Just as real repentance begins only where blame shifting ends, so it also begins where self-pity ends, and we start to turn from our sin out of love for God rather than mere self-interest.

  Timothy Keller

  Real, Responsibility, Self

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