Sermon: "The Way of Repentance"
To listen to the message, go here.
To begin this morning I would like to share a true story with you. It was written by a native of Uganda who was the leader of the “African Enterprise Evangelistic Team” and printed in Decision magazine.
My uncle, the chief, was sitting in court one day with his assistants around him when a man came and bowed in the African way. He was rich in cattle and was well known as a man who sought God through the spirits of dead relatives. He had come with eight cows which he left some twenty yards away.
“I have come for a purpose, sir,” the man said.
“What are those cows for?” asked the chief.
“Sir, they are yours.”
“What do you mean they are mine?”
“They are yours. When I was looking after your cattle, I stole four and now they are eight, and I am bringing them.”
“Who arrested you?”
“Jesus arrested me, sir, and here are your cows.”
There was no laughter, only a shocked silence. My uncle could see this man was at peace with himself and rejoicing.
“You can put me in prison or beat me up,” the man said, “but I am liberated. Jesus came my way and I am a free human being.”
“Well, if God has done that for you, who am I to put you in prison?”
That is a great story that illustrates how true repentance produces peace and joy in our lives … but the story doesn’t end there … it continues.
A few days later, having heard the news, I went to see my uncle. I said to him, “Uncle, I hear you got eight free cows!”
“Yes, It’s true,” he said.
“You must be happy.”
“Not really! Since that man came, I can’t sleep. If I want the peace he has, I would have to return a hundred cows!”
To have peace with God requires true repentance … or biblical repentance.
You can have an intimate relationship with God as you learn to practice biblical repentance.
Let’s begin by looking at the fact that …
I. REPENTANCE IS NECESSARY
The one relationship which will make all the difference in the world for you is an intimate relationship with God. At times, even believers in Jesus find themselves feeling distant from God. It is the search to close that distance, that we want to explore this morning.
When we believe things about God which are not true, we start drifting away from God. Our relationship becomes more distant.
When we allow things in our lives that obstruct our view of Jesus, it is difficult, if not impossible, to have a close relationship with him.
But when it seems like God is far away, he is, in fact, at the door of our hearts, knocking. He is waiting to be invited into our lives.
Unfortunately we are often reluctant to open the door.
- We may be afraid of what the relationship might require of us.
- We may think that we don’t need him.
- We may be too busy grumbling about our lives to open them up to Jesus.
This morning we are going to study something that will help us develop intimacy with God. It is a necessary step. It is an elementary step – one that we all have to take to begin a life with God. But it is also a step that we must take again and again even as believers. I’m talking about the way of repentance.
Jesus began his public ministry with these words …
MARK 1:15 – “The time has come, he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”
… that is the way of repentance.
In Peter’s first sermon he declared …
ACTS 2:38 – “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
… that is the way of repentance.
And unless you think that repentance is only for those who have never accepted Jesus, listen to the words of Jesus to the saints in the church of Laodicea.
REVELATION 3:19 – Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.
… that is the way of repentance.
Since the way of repentance is so important, let’s take the time to answer the question …
II. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO REPENT?
The first word that often comes to mind when we hear repent is ‘sorry’. We say we must be truly sorry for our sins in order to repent. Being sorry is certainly part of it, but not all of it.
The Greek word translated as repent that Jesus, John and Peter used in the scriputers we just read involved more than just being sorry. When they said “repent” they meant something that included …
- A radical change of mind – thinking differently, about the way you are living.
- A radical change of heart – it is something that deeply affects you emotionally.
- A radical change of behavior – a resolution to not commit sin by changing your life-style.
To say it another way, repentance requires conviction of sin, contrition, sometimes call brokenness of heart or godly sorrow, and changed behavior. Let’s look first at …
A. CONVICTION OF SIN
Conviction of sin is when we become aware that it really rules our lives. The Bible says …
ROMANS 7:18-23 - I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.
Paul understood how powerful and destructive sin can be. Far too often we, on the other hand, take sin and its power too lightly. We think we can stop sinning whenever we want to. We think sin is not that bad because we can just confess it and it will go away.
The truth is, sin blinds us to the truth. Jesus told a story to illustrate this truth.
LUKE 15:11-19 – “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ ”
This young man “came to his senses.” He had a change of mind about what he was doing. He began to understand that his way of life was miserable. It wasn’t as fulfilling as he thought it would be. But it wasn’t until he “became convicted,” till he had a radical change of mind about his life, that his repentance began.
The Bible makes it clear that it is the Holy Spirit that does the convicting.
JOHN 16:8 – When He (the Holy Spirit) comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.
The Holy Spirit is able to break through our indifference, or our denial of sin and make us aware that there is sin in our lives that needs to be dealt with. The Holy Spirit prepares the time and the conditions of conviction. Sometimes conviction occurs as we are worshipping. This is what happened to Isaiah.
ISAIAH 6:1-5 – In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
For us this worship could be as we gather together on Sunday morning and sing, pray and listen to God’s Word, or it could be when we meet with God on a personal basis. Other times we are prepared for conviction during a particularly difficult event or time in our lives, like the son in Jesus’ parable. He had to hit rock bottom and sometimes that is true of us.
First comes conviction and then comes …
B. CONTRITION
Contrition is brokenness of heart, a crushed Spirit, a deep grieving over the sin in our lives. This may be the most difficult aspect of true repentance for us. Why? Because we take sin too lightly and we train ourselves to suppress grief and sorrow. We try to keep a stiff upper lip so we appear strong and in control.
David demonstrated this brokenness of heart after he was confronted about his sin of adultery with Bathsheba. Here is how he described his condition.
PSALM 38:1-8 – O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. For your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down upon me.
Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; my bones have no soundness because of my sin. My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.
My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly. I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning.
My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body. I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart.
That is the type of brokenness that leads to repentance.
Many people remember that Peter denied Jesus three times. Do you remember what he did after he denied Jesus for the third time?
MATTHEW 26:75 – Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.
When was the last time you felt so sorry about a sin you committed that you were moved to tears – to sobbing remorse? Contrition or brokenness is a key element of true repentance. Sometimes it is called godly sorrow.
Let’s look at the difference between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow.
Here is what Paul wrote …
II CORINTHIANS 7:8-11 – Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it – I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while – yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godlysorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.
Paul had written something to these people that had made them sorrowful. At first he was sorry he brought them grief, but then he was happy he had written what he had because it made them repent of some sin. This he called godly sorrow.
Godly sorrow causes us to be repulsed by our sin and not just because we fear the consequences of our sin.
Sometimes after we sin we are sorry as we think about what the consequences could be, but when the possible consequences are avoided we say, “Whew that was close!” and we go right back to the same sin, perhaps even more boldly because we think we can escape the consequences again. That is worldly sorrow.
Godly sorrow takes ownership of personal guilt. David said …
PSALM 51:3-4 – For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.
Worldly sorrow, on the other hand, seeks to place the blame and guilt at someone else’s feet. Rarely do we find a person who says, “I am guilty. I have no excuse. I accept whatever punishment I have coming to me.”
Worldly sorrow seeks to escape punishment. Godly sorrow seeks to deal with the cause of the guilt – one’s own sin.
Taking personal responsibility for sin is at the heart of true repentance. When we recognize the severity of our offense against God and his holiness, and are moved to grieve over our sin, we are well on our way to repentance. That is godly sorrow.
There is still one more very important aspect of the way of repentance. If we become aware of sin in our lives by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, have a contrite or broken spirit, and grieve over that sin with godly sorrow, but don’t make any change in our behavior, repentance has not produced its necessary fruit. True repentance calls for some corrective work to redo what sin has undone. The final aspect of repentance is a …
C. CHANGED BEHAVIOR
Part of that changed behavior may involve …
1. Making wrongs right
Let’s read the story of Zacchaeus.
LUKE 19:1-10 – Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’ ”
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
Notice that Jesus’ response to Zacchaeus’ resolution to make right where he had done wrong was … “Salvation has come to this house today.” Biblical repentance produces a changed behavior.
Sometimes it is impossible to make right the wrongs we have done to others, but true repentance will cause us to attempt to do so.
Some of you here this morning may need to attempt to right a wrong you have done. It may be cheating on your taxes. It may be gossip you started or passed on about someone. It may be harsh words that you spoke to another or the failure to keep a promise you made. True repentance seeks to make right wrongs where possible.
True repentance also causes …
2. A change of direction in life
Remember the story of the lost son. We left the story with the son under conviction about his way of life. We left him feeling sorry that he had turned his back on his father. Well it didn’t end there. We will pick up the story at verse 18 …
LUKE 15:18-20b – I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men. So he got up and went to his father.
The son didn’t just change his mind. He wasn’t just contrite. He didn’t just grieve over his sin. He changed his direction in life … he returned home.
As Christians, we must be different. True repentance causes us to be different.
I believe one of the reasons we struggle to live a life of victory over certain sins in our lives is that we don’t truly repent.
CONCLUSION
The way of repentance is not always an easy road to travel, but the Holy Spirit will walk with you and empower you as you take each step.
First comes …
- Conviction – an awareness of our sin and how terrible it is.
This leads to …
- Contrition – a broken heart.
That in turn produces …
- Godly sorrow – a true grieving over our sin.
Which should lead to a …
- Changed behavior – we make restitution when possible and think and act differently than before.
Do you want to be close to God? Follow the way of repentance and your desire will be realized.To begin this morning I would like to share a true story with you. It was written by a native of Uganda who was the leader of the “African Enterprise Evangelistic Team” and printed in Decision magazine.
My uncle, the chief, was sitting in court one day with his assistants around him when a man came and bowed in the African way. He was rich in cattle and was well known as a man who sought God through the spirits of dead relatives. He had come with eight cows which he left some twenty yards away.
“I have come for a purpose, sir,” the man said.
“What are those cows for?” asked the chief.
“Sir, they are yours.”
“What do you mean they are mine?”
“They are yours. When I was looking after your cattle, I stole four and now they are eight, and I am bringing them.”
“Who arrested you?”
“Jesus arrested me, sir, and here are your cows.”
There was no laughter, only a shocked silence. My uncle could see this man was at peace with himself and rejoicing.
“You can put me in prison or beat me up,” the man said, “but I am liberated. Jesus came my way and I am a free human being.”
“Well, if God has done that for you, who am I to put you in prison?”
That is a great story that illustrates how true repentance produces peace and joy in our lives … but the story doesn’t end there … it continues.
A few days later, having heard the news, I went to see my uncle. I said to him, “Uncle, I hear you got eight free cows!”
“Yes, It’s true,” he said.
“You must be happy.”
“Not really! Since that man came, I can’t sleep. If I want the peace he has, I would have to return a hundred cows!”
To have peace with God requires true repentance … or biblical repentance.
You can have an intimate relationship with God as you learn to practice biblical repentance.
Let’s begin by looking at the fact that …
I. REPENTANCE IS NECESSARY
The one relationship which will make all the difference in the world for you is an intimate relationship with God. At times, even believers in Jesus find themselves feeling distant from God. It is the search to close that distance, that we want to explore this morning.
When we believe things about God which are not true, we start drifting away from God. Our relationship becomes more distant.
When we allow things in our lives that obstruct our view of Jesus, it is difficult, if not impossible, to have a close relationship with him.
But when it seems like God is far away, he is, in fact, at the door of our hearts, knocking. He is waiting to be invited into our lives.
Unfortunately we are often reluctant to open the door.
- We may be afraid of what the relationship might require of us.
- We may think that we don’t need him.
- We may be too busy grumbling about our lives to open them up to Jesus.
This morning we are going to study something that will help us develop intimacy with God. It is a necessary step. It is an elementary step – one that we all have to take to begin a life with God. But it is also a step that we must take again and again even as believers. I’m talking about the way of repentance.
Jesus began his public ministry with these words …
MARK 1:15 – “The time has come, he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”
… that is the way of repentance.
In Peter’s first sermon he declared …
ACTS 2:38 – “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
… that is the way of repentance.
And unless you think that repentance is only for those who have never accepted Jesus, listen to the words of Jesus to the saints in the church of Laodicea.
REVELATION 3:19 – Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.
… that is the way of repentance.
Since the way of repentance is so important, let’s take the time to answer the question …
II. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO REPENT?
The first word that often comes to mind when we hear repent is ‘sorry’. We say we must be truly sorry for our sins in order to repent. Being sorry is certainly part of it, but not all of it.
The Greek word translated as repent that Jesus, John and Peter used in the scriputers we just read involved more than just being sorry. When they said “repent” they meant something that included …
- A radical change of mind – thinking differently, about the way you are living.
- A radical change of heart – it is something that deeply affects you emotionally.
- A radical change of behavior – a resolution to not commit sin by changing your life-style.
To say it another way, repentance requires conviction of sin, contrition, sometimes call brokenness of heart or godly sorrow, and changed behavior. Let’s look first at …
A. CONVICTION OF SIN
Conviction of sin is when we become aware that it really rules our lives. The Bible says …
ROMANS 7:18-23 - I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.
Paul understood how powerful and destructive sin can be. Far too often we, on the other hand, take sin and its power too lightly. We think we can stop sinning whenever we want to. We think sin is not that bad because we can just confess it and it will go away.
The truth is, sin blinds us to the truth. Jesus told a story to illustrate this truth.
LUKE 15:11-19 – “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ ”
This young man “came to his senses.” He had a change of mind about what he was doing. He began to understand that his way of life was miserable. It wasn’t as fulfilling as he thought it would be. But it wasn’t until he “became convicted,” till he had a radical change of mind about his life, that his repentance began.
The Bible makes it clear that it is the Holy Spirit that does the convicting.
JOHN 16:8 – When He (the Holy Spirit) comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.
The Holy Spirit is able to break through our indifference, or our denial of sin and make us aware that there is sin in our lives that needs to be dealt with. The Holy Spirit prepares the time and the conditions of conviction. Sometimes conviction occurs as we are worshipping. This is what happened to Isaiah.
ISAIAH 6:1-5 – In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
For us this worship could be as we gather together on Sunday morning and sing, pray and listen to God’s Word, or it could be when we meet with God on a personal basis. Other times we are prepared for conviction during a particularly difficult event or time in our lives, like the son in Jesus’ parable. He had to hit rock bottom and sometimes that is true of us.
First comes conviction and then comes …
B. CONTRITION
Contrition is brokenness of heart, a crushed Spirit, a deep grieving over the sin in our lives. This may be the most difficult aspect of true repentance for us. Why? Because we take sin too lightly and we train ourselves to suppress grief and sorrow. We try to keep a stiff upper lip so we appear strong and in control.
David demonstrated this brokenness of heart after he was confronted about his sin of adultery with Bathsheba. Here is how he described his condition.
PSALM 38:1-8 – O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. For your arrows have pierced me, and your hand has come down upon me.
Because of your wrath there is no health in my body; my bones have no soundness because of my sin. My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear.
My wounds fester and are loathsome because of my sinful folly. I am bowed down and brought very low; all day long I go about mourning.
My back is filled with searing pain; there is no health in my body. I am feeble and utterly crushed; I groan in anguish of heart.
That is the type of brokenness that leads to repentance.
Many people remember that Peter denied Jesus three times. Do you remember what he did after he denied Jesus for the third time?
MATTHEW 26:75 – Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.
When was the last time you felt so sorry about a sin you committed that you were moved to tears – to sobbing remorse? Contrition or brokenness is a key element of true repentance. Sometimes it is called godly sorrow.
Let’s look at the difference between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow.
Here is what Paul wrote …
II CORINTHIANS 7:8-11 – Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it – I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while – yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godlysorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.
Paul had written something to these people that had made them sorrowful. At first he was sorry he brought them grief, but then he was happy he had written what he had because it made them repent of some sin. This he called godly sorrow.
Godly sorrow causes us to be repulsed by our sin and not just because we fear the consequences of our sin.
Sometimes after we sin we are sorry as we think about what the consequences could be, but when the possible consequences are avoided we say, “Whew that was close!” and we go right back to the same sin, perhaps even more boldly because we think we can escape the consequences again. That is worldly sorrow.
Godly sorrow takes ownership of personal guilt. David said …
PSALM 51:3-4 – For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.
Worldly sorrow, on the other hand, seeks to place the blame and guilt at someone else’s feet. Rarely do we find a person who says, “I am guilty. I have no excuse. I accept whatever punishment I have coming to me.”
Worldly sorrow seeks to escape punishment. Godly sorrow seeks to deal with the cause of the guilt – one’s own sin.
Taking personal responsibility for sin is at the heart of true repentance. When we recognize the severity of our offense against God and his holiness, and are moved to grieve over our sin, we are well on our way to repentance. That is godly sorrow.
There is still one more very important aspect of the way of repentance. If we become aware of sin in our lives by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, have a contrite or broken spirit, and grieve over that sin with godly sorrow, but don’t make any change in our behavior, repentance has not produced its necessary fruit. True repentance calls for some corrective work to redo what sin has undone. The final aspect of repentance is a …
C. CHANGED BEHAVIOR
Part of that changed behavior may involve …
1. Making wrongs right
Let’s read the story of Zacchaeus.
LUKE 19:1-10 – Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ‘sinner.’ ”
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
Notice that Jesus’ response to Zacchaeus’ resolution to make right where he had done wrong was … “Salvation has come to this house today.” Biblical repentance produces a changed behavior.
Sometimes it is impossible to make right the wrongs we have done to others, but true repentance will cause us to attempt to do so.
Some of you here this morning may need to attempt to right a wrong you have done. It may be cheating on your taxes. It may be gossip you started or passed on about someone. It may be harsh words that you spoke to another or the failure to keep a promise you made. True repentance seeks to make right wrongs where possible.
True repentance also causes …
2. A change of direction in life
Remember the story of the lost son. We left the story with the son under conviction about his way of life. We left him feeling sorry that he had turned his back on his father. Well it didn’t end there. We will pick up the story at verse 18 …
LUKE 15:18-20b – I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men. So he got up and went to his father.
The son didn’t just change his mind. He wasn’t just contrite. He didn’t just grieve over his sin. He changed his direction in life … he returned home.
As Christians, we must be different. True repentance causes us to be different.
I believe one of the reasons we struggle to live a life of victory over certain sins in our lives is that we don’t truly repent.
CONCLUSION
The way of repentance is not always an easy road to travel, but the Holy Spirit will walk with you and empower you as you take each step.
First comes …
- Conviction – an awareness of our sin and how terrible it is.
This leads to …
- Contrition – a broken heart.
That in turn produces …
- Godly sorrow – a true grieving over our sin.
Which should lead to a …
- Changed behavior – we make restitution when possible and think and act differently than before.
Do you want to be close to God? Follow the way of repentance and your desire will be realized.