Last time we were encouraged to remember our past. During time we briefly connected with our past and looked at five characteristics of our church in her early days.
In Revelation 2:5 Jesus tells the church at Ephesus to “Remember therefore from where you have fallen.” And so we made it personal as we asked ourselves: Do we remember when we used to have:
An excitement about being at church to worship God and to be with other believers?
An enthusiasm for ministering the Gospel to our community?
An enduring spirit when it came to challenges and conflicts with other believers?
An enormous heart for giving financially and giving of our time?
An earnest application of the Bible in our lives?
If we’ve drifted in one or more of the areas in which the Word of God commands us to be obedient, it means we have sinned. Sin always results in one of two responses: “cover up” or “fess up”.
As we looked to our past we may have discovered some things in our past that we would have rather left forgotten…we may unearth some things that were done wrong and situations where people were offended. Will we continue to cover up or will we fess up?
If there is something that we need to confess it means that our church is in need of repentance. With this in mind, today we are going to look at: The Cause for Repentance, The Conditions for Repentance, The Call to Repentance, The Components of Repentance, and The Carrying Out of Repentance (with Altar call).
The Cause for Repentance
Confession will do us no good if we go back to doing the same thing over and over again. It’s like the child who lies to his parents in the morning and when confronted says, “I’m sorry” and then that evening he lies again.
I’ve counseled married couples and the Spirit of God has brought them to the point of where one or both in the marriage realize they said or did something that offended their spouse. When they confess and repent of it, there is a feeling of relief and freedom when forgiveness is granted. The marriage has weathered a storm and has been strengthened.
The same can be said of a church. When a church is willing to repent of past sins, it presents an opportunity for God to do something new and exciting in the church. When a church recognizes that they have sinned against God, and others, and then go through the process of humbling themselves and repenting of their sin, then the blessings that God has been withholding will be released; the windows of heaven that were once shut will be opened and God’s grace will be poured out in an extraordinary measure.
The Conditions for Repentance
In the book of Joshua, chapter six, we find the account of the conquest of the city of Jericho. God tells Joshua that He has given Jericho into his hand. The people follow God’s instructions and He miraculously gives the city into their hands by causing the walls to come crashing down.
Not long after this God commands the sons of Israel to go in and destroy the wicked Canaanites who worshipped idol gods and burned their children in honor of their gods (Lev. 18:21); they practiced sodomy, bestiality, and all sorts of other despicable sins (Lev. 18:23, 24, 20:3).
God tells the sons of Israel to destroy the wicked and perverse Canaanites, BUT they were to leave the Canaanite’s “stuff” alone; everything except for the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron which were to be “set apart” to the Lord---eventually to be melted down to go into the treasury of the LORD.
Joshua chapter 7 opens with the little but menacing word, “but.” This word contrasts chapter seven with chapter six. Chapter six ends with victory but seven begins with a description of a problem.
The problem is clearly stated in the words, “The sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the things under the ban.” The word “unfaithfully” represents a Hebrew word that means, “to act underhandedly.” It means, “to break faith” and was used of a person who was unfaithful to his or her spouse.
Please note that Joshua was unaware of the sin. And so as the sons of Israel’s fearless leader, he says to himself, “We have conquered Jericho by the mighty hand of the LORD, let’s move on to Ai.” (vs. 2) But this time the army of Israel was slaughtered.
It was obvious that something had changed between the fall of the walls of Jericho and the attempted conquest of Ai. The answer can be found in chapter seven, verse one, “The anger of the LORD burned against the sons of Israel.” Unlike the supernatural victory at Jericho, the conquest of Ai went sour. Thirty-six men were killed and 2964 men were chased away like yelping dogs.
In 7:7 Joshua accuses the Lord, crying, "Lord GOD, why have You brought this people over the Jordan at all; to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? Oh, that we had been content, and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan!”
In Joshua 7:10, the LORD says to Joshua: "Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face?”
In verse 11 we find a summary of Israel’s problem. It is as if God says in classic Adrian Monk’s style, “Here’s what happened”:
Israel has sinned
They have transgressed My covenant
They have taken some of the devoted things
They have stolen
They have deceived
They have put the devoted things among their own stuff
In verse 12 God tells Joshua the results of Israel’s sin.
They could not stand before their enemies
They ran away from their enemies
They have become doomed to destruction
I will not be with you anymore unless you deal with the sin in the camp (repentance)
God hasn’t changed. He is the same yesterday, today and forevermore (Hebrews 13:8). His response to sin in the lives of His people is consistent through the pages of Old and New Testament Scripture. Listen again to Revelation chapter two:
Rev 2:4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.
Rev 2:5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
The Call to Repentance
Notice the call for repentance. How often do we hear a message on repentance in churches today? Not often. This is sad because repentance has always been a vital part of Gospel preaching in the Bible.
Mark 1:4 tells us that "John [the Baptist] baptized in the wilderness, and preached the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." Verse 14 and 15 of the same chapter says, "After John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe the gospel."
Did you notice that these verses tell us that repentance is linked to the forgiveness of sins? Not only that, repentance comes before the forgiveness of sins and is necessary for belief in the Gospel as Mark 1:15 shows us.
In Mark 6:12 we find the twelve being sent out by Jesus on their first preaching mission. The Bible says, "And they went out, and preached that men should repent." So, here we have John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, and the twelve apostles all clearly preaching repentance.
The disciples of Jesus Christ regarded repentance to be an important, indispensable part of the Gospel. Luke 24:46-47 shows Jesus saying, "Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."
The Bible teaches that people are incapable of believing unless they repent. In Matthew 21:32 Jesus tells the chief priests and elders that when John the Baptist preached they heard him and “did not repent afterwards so that they might believe".
Where there is no repentance, it is impossible to exercise saving faith!
In Acts chapter two Peter preaches powerful sermon on the day of Pentecost after which many of his hearers were "pricked in their hearts, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37).
What was Peter’s answer? "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins". (Acts 2:38).
Here is an important truth: Conviction is not the same as repentance. When Peter preached the Bible says that the people were pricked in their hearts. In other words, they were under conviction about their sins. Notice that when the people asked Peter and the apostles, “What shall we do?” Peter didn’t say, “You’re ok, now that you feel sorrow and remorse”. His answer was, “Repent…so that you might be forgiven of your sins!”
Conviction is not enough. If you are convicted about your sin but do not repent, you will not be forgiven and the floodgates of God’s blessing will not be opened.
Conviction is not the same as repentance, and repentance always precedes forgiveness.
In Acts 3:19 Peter soon preached another powerful sermon in which he said, "Repent therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out...". What comes before conversion and the blotting out of sins in this verse? According to the Apostle Peter, repentance does.
In the Book of Acts, the apostles said that, “God the Father exalted Jesus at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins”. (Acts 5:30-31)
Repentance precedes forgiveness. Many preachers, pastors and churches have lost hold of this truth. They preach a sermon that makes people fall under conviction and feel sorry for their sins. Then they have an altar call and invite people to “Ask Jesus into their heart”.
I was listening to a message this week by a pastor who called people to the altar because “Jesus wants to love on them and protect them and care for them.” No, Jesus wants them to repent!
In John chapter eight when Jesus encountered the woman caught in the very act of adultery, one of the last things He said to her was, “Go and sin no more.” In other words, “repent”.
The Components of Repentance
But what is repentance? It sounds like a harsh word. “REPENT!” Some of us may have images of the fire and brimstone preacher with his finger pointing at you saying, “Repent!”
Repentance is an inward response to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, whose ministry is, according to Jesus in John 16:8, to convict of sin. The MacArthur Study Bible tells us that:
“Genuine repentance pleads with the Lord to forgive and deliver from the burden of sin and the fear of judgment and hell. It is the attitude of the publican who, fearful of even looking toward heaven, smote his breast and cried, "God, be merciful to me, the sinner!" (Luke 18:13).”
When you first came to Jesus did you fall under the conviction of the Holy Spirit because of your sin? Did you realize that you have sinned against a Holy God? Did you cry out to the Lord for forgiveness? Did you repent? In other words, did you turn away from your sins and commit yourself to follow Jesus Christ, the Son of God who died on the cross for your sins and was raised from the dead for your justification? (Romans 4:25)
Louis Berkhof’s book, Systematic Theology tells us that repentance has intellectual, emotional and volitional ramifications.
The intellectual component of repentance is "a change of view, a recognition of sin as involving personal guilt, defilement, and helplessness."
In Psalm 51:4 David said to God, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight…”
In Luke 18:13, the publican cried out to God, “God, be merciful to me, the sinner!" In another place, the Apostle Paul labeled himself as the “chief of sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15).
When you repent you are taking ownership of your sin. It is not your husband’s fault; it is not your wife’s fault; the devil did not make you do it; you did it because at that very moment you sinned you wanted to.
The emotional component is "a change of feeling, manifesting itself in sorrow for sin committed against a holy God."
2 Corinthians 7:10 says, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation…” The Bible in Basic English (BBE) translation says, “For the sorrow which God gives is the cause of salvation through a change of heart…”
The context of Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians stems from a letter he wrote we call 1st Corinthians, where Paul chastened the believers in that church from not dealing with the sin of one of their members who was fornicating with his step-mother.
Paul tells them that instead of weeping over this sin, they were discussing it on ProsóponBiblos (Facebook in the Greek).
Paul tells the Corinthians church that since they were not disciplining this brother themselves, he would, by delivering over the brother to Satan for the destruction of his flesh so that his spirit would be saved. (1 Corinthians 5)
By the time we get to 2 Corinthians, not only had the brother repented, the church had repented. In 2 Cor. 7:8-9 Paul writes, “For even if that letter of mine made you sad, I am not sorry I wrote it. I could have been sorry when I saw that it made you sad for a while. But now I am happy---not because I made you sad, but because your sadness made you change your ways (repent). That sadness was used by God, and so we caused you no harm.”
* When you are brought to conviction over your sin, does this conviction include a sense of sorrow to God because you know that you have sinned against Him.
* Does your conviction make your heart contrite because you know that He is holy and loving and demonstrated His love for you by sacrificing His Only Son?
Repentance includes an intellectual component; it includes an emotional component and it also included a volitional component.
The volitional component is "a change of purpose, an inward turning away from sin, and a disposition or willingness to seek pardon and cleansing."
We see this component on display in Luke 15:18 when the prodigal son says, “I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.”
We also see it in Luke 19:8-10 where the tax collector Zacchaeus falls under conviction and stands up and says 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 responds and says 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 the lost.”
There’s the story of a man who God touched and convicted him of sin. He repented and was saved. The next morning, the new believer went to the home of another man in his town and said to him, “Do you recognize this old watch?”
“Why, yes,” answered the other. “Those are my initials; that’s my watch. I lost it eight years ago. How did you get it, and how long have you had it?”
“I stole it,” was the reply of the repentant man.
“What made you bring it back now?”
“I was saved and forgiven last night,” was the answer, “and I’ve brought it back first thing this morning…If you had been up, I would have brought it last night.”
It’s not enough to feel sorrow for our sins! In fact, each of those three components of repentance that we looked at a moment ago is deficient apart from the others.
For example, you can have the intellectual component of repentance but if you are missing the volitional part, you know you’ve sinned but you are not ready to do anything about it.
If you have the emotional component of repentance but not the intellectual, you might feel sorry for your sin, but if you don’t understand the ramification of it, the sorrow will be short lived.
Repentance is a response of the total person (intellectually, emotionally and volitionally…the mind, emotions and the will). It’s a response of the whole person; therefore, some speak of it as total surrender.
There is another story of a man, who after attending an evangelistic service, said he wanted to become a Christian. This man was greatly agitated because he had been stealing from his employer.
The preacher asked, “Did you take your employer's money?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“I don't know. I have never kept track of it.”
“Well, let’s say that you stole $1,500 last year”
“I am afraid it’s much more than that.”
The preacher then says to this man, “Now listen up, I don't believe one can change overnight. Do this. Don't steal more than a thousand dollars next year, and the following year not more than five hundred, and over next few years, you will get so that you won't steal any more. If your employer catches you, just tell him you are in the process of being saved; and eventually, you will get so that you won't steal anymore.”
My friends, I think you know by now that this story is a total farce! The Bible says in Ephesians 4:28, “Let him that stole, steal no more!” That’s repentance! Repentance is an “about face” from sin. You are turning 180 degrees from your sins and turning to follow Jesus!
The Carrying Out of Repentance
Now here comes the time in our worship where all of us can participate. Come to the altar.
Has the Spirit of God brought conviction to your soul?
Do you feel sorry for your sins?
Have you been indifferent to what God wants to do at your church?
Are you one of those guilty of gossip and slander and backbiting?
Have you been sitting on your gifts and talents?
Have you been spending God’s money on the food, fun and fashion of the world and neglecting your offerings for His Kingdom work at your church?
Yes, you’ve been giving but have you been tipping God and not giving according to the way He has prospered you?
Are there people in your family, dying in sin, on their way to hell, and you have yet to share the Gospel with?
Have you been forsaking the assembling of yourselves together with your church family here on Sundays and Wednesdays and other times we meet?
Have you been using your body, the temple of the Holy Spirit, for sexual sins, for gluttony, for drugs and strong drink?
Have you been harboring bitterness and resentment?
Do you have an unforgiving spirit?
