What Is Involved In Repentance? 9-6-26 AM

I.            Repentance involves recognition.

a.      Before I can turn from sin, I must recognize it in my life.

b.      This is what David did (Ps. 32:5).

           i.      Notice the change: David had previously tried to live with his sin, but healing began when the hiding ended.

           ii.      He said, “I acknowledge my sin.”

c.       When Nathan confronted David over his sin with Bathsheba, notice David’s words – I have sinned against the Lord (2 Sam. 12:13).

          i.      No excuses.

          ii.      No blaming Bathsheba for being where he could see her.

          iii.      No blaming the pressure of being king.

d.     Psalm 51 shows the same heart (Ps. 51:3-4).

          i.      It is not “I made a mistake,” or “Things just got out of hand.”

          ii.      Just “I sinned.”

e.      We need to ask ourselves: “What am I currently explaining that God wants me to confess?”

f.       What am I calling a weakness that God calls sin?

g.      What behavior am I defending because admitting the truth would require me to change?

h.      Repentance cannot begin while we are still negotiating with God’s definition of sin.

i.        We cannot turn from sin we refuse to admit.

II.            Repentance involves remorse.

a.      Recognition says: “I sinned.”

b.      Remorse says: “What I did grieves me because it grieves God.”

c.      2 Cor. 7:9-10

          i.      Sorrow and repentance are not identical.

          ii.      Godly sorrow produces repentance.

d.     You can be sorry without repenting.

          i.      You can be sorry you got caught.

          ii.      You can be sorry because your reputation has been damaged.

          iii.      You can regret losing a marriage, a job, a friendship, or someone’s trust.

e.      Worldly sorrow is mostly concerned with: “What has my sin done to me?”

f.       Godly sorrow asks: “What has my sin done to my relationship with God?”

g.     Peter and Judas provide a stark contrast.

          i.      Both failed Jesus terribly.

          ii.      Both experienced deep emotion afterward.

          iii.      Sorrow alone is not enough.

          iv.      True sorrow must move us toward God.

h.      We’ve known people whose lives totally changed because of their conversion, which involves repentance.

          i.      Former drunks who drink no more.

          ii.      Former criminals who no longer break the law.

          iii.      People who used to curse and swear who no longer take God’s name in vain.

i.       They understood there is a difference in regretting that your life is not what it should be and allowing conviction to redirect what you do with the rest of your life.

j.      We should not just ask, “What is this going to cost me?

k.      We should also ask, “What did this do to my relationship with God,” “Whom did I hurt,” or, “What does my reaction to this sin reveal about my heart?”

l.    God sorrow grieves the sin, not just the consequences.

III.            Repentance involves resolve.

a.      Recognition concerns the mind and remorse engages the heart.

b.      Resolve engages the will.

c.      We have to reach a point where repentance says: “I am turning around” (Ro. 12:2).

d.      Repentance involves a changed mind that produces a changed direction.

           i.      It is not: I’ll try not to do that quite as often, or, I need to be more careful so I don’t get caught again.

          ii.      It is: This road is taking me from God, so I am leaving this road.

e.      Have you ever been driving and realized you took the wrong road?

          i.      You can admit you are going the wrong way.

          ii.      You can feel terrible about how much time you’ve wasted.

          iii.      You can talk for a while about how you missed the turn.

          iv.      But until you turn the vehicle around, you are continuing to get further and further from your destination.

f.       Recognition and remorse matter, but eventually, repentance requires a turn.

g.     Spiritually we have all said, “I know this is wrong and I hate I keep doing it because I feel terrible afterwards.”

h.     Those are all good statements and feelings, but nothing changes until we turn from the sin.

i.       Resolve has to become practical.

          i.      If our phones lead us into lust, how will we change our access?

          ii.      If certain people always bring gossip into our lives, what will change in those relationships?

          iii.      If someone is telling me something about my baptism that isn’t right, who am I going to listen to about it?

j.       Repentance does not just say “I shouldn’t.”

k.     It says, “Because I shouldn’t, therefore, I will.”

IV.            Repentance involves reformation.

a.     This is where the turn begins to show itself.

b.     True repentance produces a changed direction of life (Matt. 3:8).

c.     Genuine repentance produces fruit.

d.     There is no better picture of this than the parable of the prodigal son.

          i.      “When he came to himself…” (Lu. 15:17).

          ii.      This is a tremendous description of recognition.

          iii.      He finally saw things correctly.

          iv.      He remembered his father’s house.

          v.      He looked around and saw what his choices were producing in his life.

          vi.      “I will arise and go to my father…” (Lu. 15:18).

          vii.      Recognition, remorse, resolve.

          viii.      Then verse 20: “And he arose and came to his father.”

          ix.      Here is reformation.

          x.      I will arise became he arose.

          xi.      He put his intentions into action.

e.      Many people have spiritually lived for years between those two statements.

          i.      “I will someday.”

          ii.      “I will soon.”

          iii.      “I will eventually.”

          iv.      “I will when I’m older.”

f.       Repentance moves from “I will arise” to “he arose.”

g.     What will actually be different because we repented?

          i.      Will things change in my marriage?

          ii.      Will things change in my speech?

          iii.      Will things change in my attendance?

          iv.      Will things change in my private life?

          v.      Will things change in my attitude towards others?

h.      Repentance becomes visible when a changed heart produces changed actions.

V.            Repentance involves restitution.

a.      Sometimes repentance requires more than stopping the sin.

b.      We must repair what the sin has damaged as much as we are able.

c.       This is where Zacchaeus becomes a powerful example (Lu. 19:8).

           i.      Zacchaeus did not say, “I feel bad about how I’ve treated people.

           ii.      His repentance reached his wallet.

           iii.      This is when you know something has truly changed.

d.      Zacchaeus understood that if you take something wrongly, simply stopping the theft does not make the previous theft right.

e.      If we can restore it, we should restore it.

f.        Repentance asks: “What can I make right in this situation?”

           i.      If we lie about someone, we need to correct the lie.

           ii.      If we stole something, we need to return or repay it.

           iii.      If we harm someone’s reputation, the apology should be as public as the accusation.

           iv.      If we cheat someone financially, repentance needs a checkbook.

           v.      If we sinned against our spouse, repentance seeks our spouse’s forgiveness as well as that of God.

g.      There will be situations that prevent restoration.

           i.      We can’t reverse time.

           ii.      We can’t erase every consequence.

           iii.      We can’t force another person to trust us again.

           iv.      But, repentance does what it can.

h.      Restitution does not mean we earn God’s forgiveness by fixing everything we broke – we could never do that.

i.        Restitution is one of the fruits that can demonstrate that our change of heart is real and genuine.

j.        Zacchaeus did not purchase salvation by paying people back, but his willingness to make things right revealed what had happened with him.

k.      We need to ask some questions when repenting:

           i.      Is there anyone besides God I need to apologize to?

           ii.      Is there anything I need to return?

           iii.      Is there anything I need to repay?

           iv.      Is there a lie I need to correct?

l.        Repentance repairs what it can instead of merely regretting what it did.