Repentance - The Second Step To Happiness by Tom Shepard
Matthew 5:4-5:4
Repentance - The Second Step To Happiness
Today we are looking at the “BE” attitudes. They are found in chapter five of Matthew. Follow along with me as I read.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:3-12 (NKJV)
As you look at this passage of scripture you will notice that “Blessed” is used nine times. Blessed is another word for happy. When a person is blessed – they are happy. If you were with us last week we looked at the first step to happiness – Humility. Today we are going to look at the second “blessed” – the second step to happiness – Repentance.
We are going to focus in on verse four. Follow along with me as I read it again.
“Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.” Matthew 5:4 (NKJV)
If we substitute the word happy for the word blessed this verse would read: “Happy are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.” This doesn’t sound quite right to us – does it? How can someone be happy when they are in mourning? How can someone be happy when they are crying? How can there be happiness when there is sadness? Folks, here is the key:
Happiness depends on what you are CRYING OVER.
Happiness depends on what you are crying about.
If I am crying about the sin in my life – I should be happy. Why? Because that means I am taking the sin in my life – serious – that I am concerned about it. If I laugh about the sin in my life that means I am not taking it serious enough. If I ignore the sin in my life – that means I don’t want to deal with it. But if I cry about it that means I have looked at it – and I see the seriousness of the situation. If I cry about it that means that I realize how much it affects me, my relationship with God, my relationship with others and I need to do something about it. I need to repent. Repentance is the second step to happiness.
Do you remember what the first step to happiness is? The first step to happiness is humility. Humility is realizing that you can’t fix everything. Humility is realizing that you don’t have all the answers. Humility was realizing that you need God in our life. Humility is putting God in charge. It is becoming totally dependant on God. Humility is realizing that God is God and I am not.
Repentance is realizing that I have a problem in my life that I can’t fix. Repentance is realizing that I have a problem in my life that God is not pleased with. Repentance is realizing that I have done some things – that I am doing some things – that are hurting my relationship with my Heavenly Father. Repentance is weeping and mourning over the sin in my life. No wonder the scripture says:
"Happy are those who mourn; God will comfort them!” Matthew 5:4 (GNB)
Folks let me say right up front – if there is sin in your life – and you’re not concerned about it – you should be! If you are a Christian and you have sinned and you feel guilty about it – GOOD! If you don’t feel guilty about it – be concerned! It is the job of the Holy Spirit to convict us of our sinfulness. It is the job of the Holy Spirit to make us feel guilty when we have done something wrong. When we feel guilty because we have done something wrong – good! That means the Holy Spirit is dwelling in us and He is doing His job and we are sensitive enough to listen.
When we sin – we ought to feel sorry about it. When we sin – we ought to feel guilty. When we sin we ought to feel sorrow – we ought to mourn over our sin. We ought to repent. We ought to come to God and ask for forgiveness.
Today I want us to look at three elements of repentance.
1. Repentance involves a U-TURN.
Let me tell you that the first step to repentance is not a change of behavior – it is a change of your thinking. In the Greek the word for repentance means “to think differently, to change your mind”.
Here is a fact –
Before you can change your behavior you must change your MIND.
In other words - repentance is a thought change. Repentance is the changing of one’s mind which eventually leads to a change in one’s behavior. Repentance does not begin with the changing of your behavior – it always begins with changing your mind. Let me ask you a question – “If you thought every thing was OK – why would you try to change anything?” But, when we realize there is a problem - we try to fix it.
Changing your behavior does not change your thinking. Changing your behavior does not solve the root of the problem. Much of the sin in our life is caused because we have bad thinking.
Let me illustrate it this way. Say you are in a speed boat going across a lake. It is a sunny day – you are enjoying the wind in your hair. The boat you are in is driven by the most modern technology. It is operated by an on-board computer. It has been programmed to adjust the speed and direction of the boat. It is self navigating. It knows where it is going and will steer it-self in that direction.
But here is what you do. You decide that you want to go another direction. In fact you want to make a 180 degree turn. In other words – you want to turn around. So you go up to the wheel – you grab hold – and you physically turn the wheel. Now that’s not an easy task – because the computer is still programmed to tell the boat to go in the opposite direction. So you strain and you struggle – and for a while you are able to direct the boat in the direction you want it to go. But what happens the minute you let go of the wheel? The boat goes in the direction it has been programmed to go. It will return to the way it has been programmed to go.
Did you know that Paul talks about this in Romans chapter seven? Follow along with me:
“For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate...For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do...What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” Romans 7:15, 19, 24 (HCSB)
Paul is doing the things he had been programmed to do. He had been programmed to sin – and so he sinned! Sin had affected his way of thinking - it was the way he operated. It was the way he had always behaved. It was the way he thought he should behave. Before he became a Christian - sinning was the way he lived.
Here is an interesting passage of scripture – it is found later on in Romans. Follow along with me as I read:
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2 (NKJV)
Notice what this verse says is to be transformed. "Your mind." Folks – repentance begins with changing your thinking. Repentance is thinking about sin in the same way that God thinks about sin. Repentance begins with seeing sin as God sees sin. Repentance is coming into agreement with God. Repentance is making a U-turn in your thinking.
God views sin as sin. God views evil and evil. God views wickedness as wickedness. We need to come in agreement with God – we need to change our way of thinking and adapt to God’s way of thinking. We need to change our minds and put on “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). You see repentance involves making a U-turn in our minds – that will eventually affect our behavior.
Remember what we just read a minute ago – about Paul calling himself a “wretched man” – let’s read it again:
“O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God.” Romans 7:24-25 (NKJV)
Notice that Paul says, "with the MIND" I serve the law of God. Paul made a mental shift. He had mentally come in agreement with God. Paul had repented. Paul had changed his mind. His mind and God’s mind were in agreement. Paul could now serve God with his mind. He had made a U-turn in his thinking. That is where repentance begins. Repentance is making a U-turn in our thinking.
Point two:
2. Repentance involves a CONFESSION.
Do you remember the story of King David? How greatly he sinned? He had an affair with Bathsheba which was wrong in the first place – but in order to cover it up do you remember what he did? Do you remember what lengths he went to in order to cover up his affair with Bathsheba?
When the affair took place and Bathsheba became pregnant – Bathsheba’s husband – Uriah – was off fighting in a war. So David devised a plan to cover up the affair. He called for Uriah to come home. David used the excuse that Uriah could give him a report on how the war was going. So David called for Uriah. After Uriah had given David the report of what was going on with the conflict David said, “Before you go back to the front – go on home. Take a bath. Relax. Enjoy yourself.” David thought that Uriah would go home – get cleaned up – enjoy a good meal – and enjoy the company of his wife. When the pregnancy was announced everyone would think that the child was Uriah’s and not David’s because Uriah had come home and been with his wife. But David’s plan didn’t work that smoothly.
Uriah didn’t go home that night. David called Uriah in the next day and asked, “What’s going on? How come you didn’t home?” Uriah answered, “How can I go home and enjoy myself when the soldiers are living in tents out in field? It just is not right and I won’t do it.” David said, “Ok.” But then David had to come up with another plan to cover up his sin. So here is what he did. David invited Uriah to dinner. They had plenty of food – but they also had plenty of wine. In the process Uriah got drunk. David figured that when Uriah got drunk he would go home sleep with Bathsheba and the affair would be covered up. But even when Uriah got drunk – he refused to go home – so David had to do something else to cover up his sin.
Here is what he did. David sent Uriah back to the battle. But David also sent a letter with Uriah for Joab – the commander of the troops. Here is what the letter said, "Put Uriah in the front lines where the fighting is the fiercest. Then pull back the rest of the soldiers and leave Uriah alone - exposed to the enemy - so that he’s sure to be killed." (2 Samuel 11:15)
Joab was faithful to King David’s orders. He put Uriah on the front lines. But the plan didn’t go as well as David had hoped. David’s plan to cover up his sin caused eighteen soldiers to be killed that day - including Uriah.
Here is a truth - many people were affected by the sin of David. Many people are affected by our sins as well.
Do you how God responded to what David had done? Second Samuel chapter eleven says, “God was not at all pleased with what David had done.” 2 Samuel 11:27 (MSG)
Then God sent Nathan to David to confront him about his sin. When David was confronted – do you know what he did? He repented! He agreed that he had sinned. He agreed that what he had done was evil. He agreed that he had messed up. He repented - He confessed. David felt sorrow, remorse, guilt, and shame for what he had done. He mourned over his sin. He confessed his sin. In fact Psalm fifty one is a psalm of David and how he felt about his sin. Read along with me:
“(God) you’re the One I’ve violated, and you’ve seen it all, seen the full extent of my evil. You have all the facts before you; whatever you decide about me is fair.” Psalms 51:4 (MSG)
Folks when we have sinned we should feel guilty. When we sin we should feel shame. When we sin we should mourn over our sin. We should confess our sin. We should take it to God for the scripture says if we take our sin before Him, we “shall be comforted.”
Look at what first John chapter one and verse nine says:
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9 (HCSB)
When we sin – we need an attitude of repentance.
Point three:
3. Repentance involves depending on the GOODNESS OF GOD.
Folks all of our salvation is based on the Goodness of God. Follow along with me as I read Ephesians chapter two:
“For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift — not from works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9 (HCSB)
Did you know that the goodness of God is to lead us to repentance? Follow along with me as I read Romans chapter two and verse four – Paul is telling the Christians in Rome that nature of God when he says:
“Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” Romans 2:4 (NKJV)
God’s goodness and patience is to lead us to repentance. The Bible says that God even gives us extra time so that we might repent. Look at what the Bible says in Second Peter:
“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9 (NKJV)
Folks down through the ages Christians – yes even Christians have fallen into sin. We - just as any generation are shocked when ministers slip and fall. But ministers are capable of sinning too. Let me tell you the story of one:
In the last century there was a very capable evangelist whom God used in a significant way in the British Isles. But for a period of time the evangelist lost interest in spiritual things and drifted into a life of sin. For a number of months he lived a life that was not pleasing to God. Much of his sin was done in secret. Finally he turned around - he repented. He realized what a fool he had been, and he came back to God like the prodigal from the pigpen. But the thoughts of his sin still haunted him.
When he returned to God he found exactly the same thing the prodigal did. The Lord welcomed him with open arms and began to strengthen him and bless him. God is more forgiving then people are. God forgives us even more than we forgive ourselves. But finally, after a period of time, the minister felt pressed back into a public ministry for the Lord. He was afraid that his sin would be found out and that he would be exposed. But as time passed he felt sure that his sin was hidden and tucked away – no one seemed to know the extent of his sinfulness. So he rejoiced in the forgiveness of God and that his sin had not been found out.
Then one night, right before he was to preach, he was given a sealed letter. Just before the service began he opened the letter and read it. The letter described in detail the shameful sins the preacher had engaged in. His stomach churned as he read it. The un-signed letter said, "If you have the gall to preach tonight, I’ll stand up and expose you. I’ll tell it all."
What would you have done?
Would you have run away?
Would you deny everything that the letter spoke of?
Would you have sought out the author of the letter and begged him or her not to expose you?
Here is what the preacher did. He took the letter and went to his knees in prayer. A few minutes later, he was in the pulpit. He began his message by reading the letter, from start to finish - word for word – not leaving out any details. When he finished he said, "I want to make it clear that this letter is perfectly true. I’m ashamed of what I’ve done. I have sinned and fallen short. I have taken my sins to God and He has forgiven me. I come tonight, not as one who is perfect, but as one who is forgiven. As one who depends on the goodness of God for my salvation."
That night many people came to know the Lord as their savior - because they too came to depend on the goodness of God. No one is perfect - all of us have sinned.
Ephesians chapter two says:
“For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift — not from works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9 (HCSB)
You see repentance involves a U-Turn. Repentance involves a confession. Repentance involves depending on the goodness of God.
“Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.” Matthew 5:4 (NKJV)
