This past Sunday we explored a couple of different topics, the key one being the topic of repentance. Repentance involves us returning to the Lord. Hosea 5:15 describes well what this will mean: 1. Acknowledging our guilt, 2. Earnestly seeking God. These steps are hard for us to do. We like to validate what we do as opposed to admit our guilt! Soon we are going down paths we never thought we would go down, all as a way to continue justifying our lives and avoiding our sin.
Repentance though is not something to be avoided. It should be something we wholeheartedly embrace! We should see repentance as the means by which we again experience the healing, restoring, reconciling power of the gospel of Jesus. Through repentance we can maintain a close relationship with God and thus be a people who know God and love with steadfast love as opposed to being a people who are religious hypocrites, full of religious practice but empty of true devotion to God (see Hosea 6:6).
What specific practices and attitudes get in the way of true repentance? In what ways does the gospel encourage us to want to repent? How do you think we can encourage a spirit of repentance within our community (and continue to fight against the spirit of spiritual whoredom)?
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True repentance must be primarily vertical. In other words, it must be primarily directed toward God as we turn from our sin and set our eyes upon what Christ did on the cross for our sin. If we have a new relationship with God, we must have a new relationship with sin. David stated this in the 51st Psalm, verse 4:
“Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.”
When one’s gaze is set upon the holiness of our Perfect God we see sin for what it really is, and the contrast between our sinfulness and His holiness becomes infinite. It is as if the whole world melts away and one is left standing in the beautiful but blinding light of His Truth with unclean hands and an impure heart:
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” – Psalm 51:4
“Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart” - Psalm 24: 3-4
It is at this point we realize that we need Him every hour (John 15:5) and our hearts bow in a broken and humble spirit. The sacrifice for sin that God wants is not religious activity, but a broken and contrite spirit that rests in the finished work of the cross (Matthew 9:13). For it is in His Son that the Father stated that He is well pleased (Matthew 3:17), and it is because of this Truth that we have the confidence to know that God will not despise us since as new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) we abide in His Son (Galatians 2:20):
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” – Psalm 51:17
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” – Matthew 11:28-29
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” – Galatians 2:20
The Christian can never reach perfection this side of eternity, but as true children of God we cannot continue in certain specific sins since all true children of God abide in Christ:
“Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.” – Ecclesiastes 7:20
“No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.” – 1 John 3:6
As God’s children we do not need to continue in certain sins. Christ has freed us from the slavery of sin (Romans 6). As the prophet Ezekiel says, God will give us the desire and ability to walk in His Truth:
“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” – Ezekiel 36:25-27
Why does God give us the ability and desire to walk in His Truth? If there were an earthy father who knew that his teenage daughter spent the night on the streets doing unmentionable deeds and did nothing to stop it we would have the right to call him a derelict father. The same thing is true about our Father in heaven when His bride wanders. For the sake of His name He will not let his bride wander very far before putting His loving arm around her in order to bring her back to the narrow path that leads to eternal life. Ezekiel explains this concept in verses 22 and 23 of chapter 36:
“It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.”
So it is for His namesake that we will have victory over sin! If our broken and contrite soul finds rest in Calvary, we know that we have died with Christ and now live with Him, being dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord:
“For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” – Romans 6: 5-10
Lastly, true repentance is a lifelong continual process that always bears fruit as John the Baptist said:
“Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” – Matthew 3:8
Continual repentance will produce more fruit because those who have been forgiven much, love much. The more you repent, the more you will love God, and the more you love God, the more you will walk in His commandments. He died for you, so now walk in that Truth of that Love!
“Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” – Luke 7:47
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” – John 14:15
“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” – 1 John 5:3
“We love because he first loved us.” – 1 John 4:19
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16
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