A Journey of Repentance
February 6, 2005
Intro:
THE TWO TOWERS DVD Chapter: 50 Start Time: 2:44:15 End Time: 2:46:35
Invitation to a Journey:
The greatest journeys are never easy.
Frodo and Sam discovered that. So did Alice when she fell into wonderland, Dorothy in Oz, all the heroes in Narnia, and Taran of Taran Wanderer. And so have you and I. Of all the things that you and I value, I’m willing to bet that none of them were handed on a silver platter. None of them came without cost, without effort, without fight, or without sacrifice. The journeys that we remember and that shape us are the ones where we faced obstacles, but overcame them. Where the path was difficult, but we kept going. Where we were very often tempted to quit, but we mustered up the ability to carry on.
I recall, early in my married life, a camping trip to Kananaskis, and the ensuing decision to do a day “hike” up to the top of a mountain, aptly called “Mount Indefatigable.” Now, you need to understand, this was numerous years ago, when I had considerably more hair and considerably less belly. It was back when I had more of a need to prove myself to my new bride, and less of a desire to sit comfortably on a couch watching football and hoping said bride would bring me a plate of nachos. Hence the belly.
But back to my story. The trail is about 9km. That isn’t particularly long, and the first 3k or so through the trees are quite nice. But then comes the significant number in the story: the total elevation gain over those next 6km or so is almost 1km – 920m. Now, while many guidebooks describe this as “a pleasant half-day hike for even the most novice hikers”, DON’T YOU BELIEVE IT! I prefer vocabulary like “grueling, merciless, painful;” but definitely worth it.
Joanne beat me to the top. She was fearless, in far better shape than I, and less afraid of heights. And although I lagged behind, I made it also. Although I ached for several days, I reached one of my life’s goals – to stand on top of a mountain that I had climbed. And though it was difficult, though it was certainly a challenge, though there were numerous times of frustration and a great desire to give up, I kept on, and it was worth every drop of sweat, every aching muscle, and every ounce of energy.
As great as that journey was, however, allow me to suggest that the only journeys of eternal significance are the journeys of our souls. The journeys where the obstacles we face are overcome by God, where we find the will to keep at the difficult path because of the encouragement of God, and where we never quit because of the promise of God.
What if I were to suggest that the period of Lent was just such a journey, and that the reward was far beyond what you could even imagine here at the start? What if this was a journey of life – abundant, full, empowered, Holy, untamed, life? Would you want to come along?
Would you still want to come if I next told you that it would cost you everything (or, more accurately, I reminded you that Jesus said it would cost you everything)?
It is the pearl of great price. It is the journey of a lifetime. In fact, it is a journey of eternity. And it will be worth it.
Introduction to Lent:
Some of you may not be familiar with the season of Lent. In the church year, there are two major climaxes – there is the season of Christmas, where we celebrate the incarnation of God in Jesus, and there is the season of Easter, where we celebrate the atoning death of Jesus and the victory of resurrection. Advent is the season which prepares us for Christmas – it lasts 4 weeks. Lent is the season that prepares us for Easter, and it lasts about 6 weeks. Lent begins this coming Wednesday, February 9th.
Lent is meant to be a time of repentance. It is a solemn season, in which we are encouraged to delve deeper into the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and where we are invited to journey deep into our souls and allow the Spirit of God to search us and to lead us in repentance. It is a time of recognizing our sin, of allowing God to cut out all that is evil within us and purify us from all unrighteousness.
That is not an easy journey.
Confession and Repentance:
A few weeks ago, during a time of prayer, I felt like God was saying that while we might be ok at confession, we really have no idea about repentance. We are used to admitting, at least before God, that we have sinned, and asking for forgiveness. That part is familiar, and that is confession.
But repentance is something more. Repentance is more than merely acknowledging that a wrong has been done, repentance digs much deeper. It gets down to the level of self-examination of the cause of the sin in the first place, and it invites God into those deep places of the heart and of motives. Repentance is dealing with that soul cancer that causes sin. And at its completion, repentance is about change.
Repentance is the heart of the call of God to us. All through Scripture, from the beginning to the end, the call of God is that we repent. Repentance was the message of the men and women in the time of the judges. It was the message to the nations of Israel and Judah. It was the central message of all of the Old Testament prophets – Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and all the rest. And repentance is the central message of the NT, and of Jesus.
It was the message of John (3:1): “In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea 2and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
It was among the first words of Jesus in Mark (1:15): “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” A little later on in His ministry, Jesus summed up His whole ministry with these words (Luke 5:32): “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Repentance is the heart of the very first sermon of the church: Acts 2:38: “Peter replied, “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.”
And repentance is the message for us today.
Conviction, Contrition, and Conversion
In preparing for Lent, I found the following in an article by Dean Robinson describing the doctrine of repentance. He sees repentance in three parts:
1) Conviction -- where sin is admitted. Man must see himself as a lost, ruined, guilty, desperately wicked sinner without hope or help, in danger of hell. In repentance, a lost sinner not only sees himself as a sinner, but he recognizes the fact that he has sinned against a righteous and holy God. The message that Paul preached was: "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21). In repentance, there will be confession of sin to God (Psa. 32:5; 51:1-4).
2) Contrition -- where sin is abhorred. When one sees himself as he appears before God, he is brought to a place where there is godly sorrow for his sin and hates it altogether.
"For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin." (Psa. 38:18); "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret." (2 Cor. 7:10).
To hate sin is to love God. In true repentance, there is not only the desire to escape the consequences of sin, but to be rid of sin itself as a thing displeasing to God.
3) Conversion -- where sin is abandoned. Repentance involves the forsaking of sin: "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon" (Isa. 55:7); "He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy." (Prov. 28:13).
Repentance is not only a heart broken for sin, but also from sin. We must forsake what we would have God forgive. It should be stressed that it is not enough just to turn away from sin; one must also turn to God for salvation. In explaining this to King Agrippa, Paul shared how Jesus said to him, “‘I am sending you to (all people) to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ … (Paul) preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.” (Acts 26:18,20).
In true repentance, there is conviction, contrition, and conversion as one turns from his sin to Christ for salvation. Salvation is deliverance of a person from his sin, not merely from a sinful environment. Jesus Christ is the Saviour from not only the penalty and punishment of sin, but also the power of sin.
Repentance Today:
We don’t hear many calls to repentance today, and I wonder if one of the main causes is that we have lost a Biblical view of self and of sin. We prefer to only concentrate on the love of God for us, and neglect the fact that we only see the depth of that love when we recognize how unworthy we are, and how desperately we need to be saved. We have bought into a cheap grace that forgives without thought and without effort, and we have responded in kind – without giving much thought or much effort to God in how we live from day to day. We have lost the truth of repentance because we have lost the weight of sin.
The Invitation:
And so I invite you on a Lenten journey of repentance. A journey which might very well save you, from all the hell of sin in this life and quite possibly in the next.
This is not a journey of guilt, but of life. It is not a journey of despair, but of hope. It is not a journey of condemnation but of forgiveness. It is not a journey of personal effort, but of submission and acceptance of repentance as a gift of God.
But it is a journey done God’s way. Do you wonder why your life is not the way neither you nor God want it? Do you wonder why some of the ministries of our church lack effectiveness and power? I suggest to you that it is because we have, for the most part, tried to deal with our sin the easy way – surface level confession; rather than the hard way – deep repentance.
God’s way is not through self-help, the encouragement to find the good in yourself, or through cheap entertainment. God’s way is through death – first the death of Jesus on the cross, then through our death to self. God’s way is through death, on a path that leads to life; our way attempts to avoid death, attempts to deny death, and so keeps us wrapped in the clutches of death rather than being saved from it.
The Journey Begins:
Our journey begins here, at the Lord’s table. There is great, beautiful irony here – for it is a table of death: “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor 11:26). And yet it is also a table of life, as we remember that the death of Jesus brings us life. Let us remember today the price at which that life comes – the death of the Son of God. Let us then remember that it comes freely to us. And then let us make a decision about how we will respond to the call of God to each of us through His Word: “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.”.
Communion Time:
Outlining the Journey:
The journey begins here at the Lord’s Table, but where does it go from here? I’ve prepared a guide book, and it is available both on the table at the back and also on our website. Repentance is from God; our decision is to give God the time and space and permission to convert us, to recreate us. To do that I’m asking you to make a commitment to spending time each day with God, for all the days of Lent. The guide will get you started. It may not be easy, but then again, nothing worthwhile ever is.
