About 10 years ago, there was a 67-year-old Belgian woman named Sabine Moreau. She had left home to travel about 1 ½ hours to Brussels (the capital city of Belgium). TWO DAYS LATER, after having crossed five international borders, she found herself in Zagreb, the capital city of Croatia, nearly 900 miles from her home.
It was probably at that point that she suddenly realized that she might not be in Belgium any more. She admitted that she’d seen “all kinds of traffic signs. First in French, then in German, and so on “But I didn't ask myself any questions. I was just distracted…” But the real problem was that her GPS had malfunctioned, and she just took it for granted that it was guiding her to her destination. She later said: "When I passed Zagreb (the capital city of Croatia) I told myself I should turn around." (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2262149/Belgian-woman-67-picking-friend-railway-station-ends-Zagreb-900-miles-away-satnav-disaster.html)
She’d gone the wrong way - was miles away from home - and she finally told herself she needed to TURN AROUND. In our text today we see a word that means “turn around”… the word “REPENT”.
Jesus said: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; REPENT (turn around) and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:15) You see, many of the Jews had gone the wrong way in their lives - they’d traveled MILES away from God - and they needed to turn around… and go back to Him. THEY NEEDED TO REPENT!
* This idea of repentance is a repeated theme throughout the Bible. The Old Testament prophets told Israel repent/turn away from their sins - saying “Thus says the Lord GOD: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations. Ezekiel 14:6
* When John the Baptist was baptizing people at the Jordan River, he preached about “The baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.” Luke 3:3
* At one point, Jesus sent out His 12 disciples and THEY preached that “People should repent.” Mark 6:12
* On the day of Pentecost, Peter preached “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. Acts 2:38
* And the Apostle Paul preached “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” Acts 17:30
It shows up again, and again, and again throughout the Bible. So obviously… repentance is important to God - which raises the question: Why do we have to repent? Why is it so important? Well, the main reason is - we tend to mess things up in our lives. Ecclesiastes 7:20 says “There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.” We’ve all said or thought or done things in our lives that make us ashamed. And if we don’t repent of those things we can end up traveling a long way away from God.
And yes, even Christians need to repent. In I John 1:9 John tells Christians: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Confessing our sins means that we admit we’ve messed up and we intend turn away from those sins and return to God.
ILLUS: One of my favorite Old Testament stories is about Adam and Eve after they’d sinned. God comes down to the Garden and asks a couple of questions: First, God called out to Adam and asks “Where are you?” And Adam replied “I was afraid, because I was naked, & I hid myself." And God said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"
Now – quiz time: When God asked Adam “Where are you?” … didn’t God KNOW where Adam was? Of course God knew! God knows everything! Then why ask the question? Because God was giving Adam a chance to “fess up”… to REPENT of what he’d done. Then God asked “Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" But didn’t God know Adam had eaten of that fruit? Of course God knew! God knows everything! So, why ask the question? God was giving Adam another chance to repent.
So twice, God gave Adam a chance to confess/repent but Adam figured, what God didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. He figured that if he just covered his SIN/nakedness with leaves, and hid in the bushes… Well, God wouldn’t notice! Adam decided that - all he had to do was ignore the sin and the problem would go away. But it doesn’t work that way.
Sin makes us feel guilty, and even makes us want to wash away our guilt.
ILLUS: Back in 2006, researchers at the University of Toronto reported they’d found that People who suffered from an experience that brought a guilty conscience had this “powerful urge to wash themselves.” In the study, the researchers asked some of the volunteers to recall their past sins. And then they were all given an opportunity to wash their hands as a symbol of cleansing their conscience of past sins. Those who had been instructed to recall their sins washed their hands at “twice the rate of study subjects who had not been asked to think about their past transgressions.” Our Daily Bread 2/4/08
We’re not geared to feel comfortable with the shame of our sins. In fact, even a PARTIAL admission of guilt isn’t enough.
ILLUS: There was a study conducted about 10 years ago that was entitled: “I Cheated, But Only a Little.” The researchers studied over 4,000 people, and found that people who only PARTIALLY confessed a transgression felt worse than those who didn’t confess at all. {“Telling the Whole Truth May Ease Feelings of Guilt,” American Psychological Association (1-23-14)}
The point is this: repentance is necessary to rebuild a person’s life. Without true, complete repentance, the shame and guilt of past behavior can cripple us… or even destroy us.
ILLUS: There was once a gifted author named Earnest Hemingway. He wrote books like “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, “The Old Man and The Sea”, “A Farewell To Arms” and dozens of other novels and short-stories. His writing style was so powerful that it influenced numerous authors of the day. And Hemingway was romanticized for his adventurous lifestyle and his outspoken and blunt public image. As a child, Hemingway grew up in a very devout church-going family and yet, when he grew up - he wanted nothing to do with God. He ended up living a depraved and immoral lifestyle and seemingly had no conscience and no moral standards. At the age of 61, Earnest Hemingway… took his own life. At one point he wrote “I live in a vacuum that is as lonely as a radio tube when the batteries are dead and there is no current to plug into.”
He lived and died an empty life because he had no intention of turning away from the kind of life he’d lived. He had no desire to repent and seek God’s forgiveness. If Hemingway HAD repented, his life could have turned out differently. Acts 3:19-20 says “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you.”
Without repentance we can’t have any of that. Our sins cannot be blotted out. Without repentance, there is no refreshing of our lives. In other words… without repentance life can become very empty and meaningless. But when we repent, our sins are blotted out and we can be refreshed because God removes the guilt and shame from our lives. That stumbling block is removed and life gets easier.
Now, in our verse today, Jesus said “Repent and BELIEVE…" (Mark 1:15) Why did Jesus include that word BELIEVE? Well, Proverbs 3:5-8 actually tells us why: “Trust (believe) in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.”
Wow! That almost sounds like what we read in the book of Acts. Acts told us that - if we repented/ if we turned away from evil/ times of refreshment would come from the LORD! And Proverbs told us that if we repented/ if we turned away from evil/ God would give us healing for our flesh, and refreshment for our bones.
But Proverbs starts out by telling we need to do something else FIRST – “Trust in the LORD will all our hearts and NOT lean on our own understanding.” You see we have to acknowledge God - and we have to believe He cares for us - and THEN He can do things in our lives. What Proverbs 3 is saying is this – Trust God/ Repent Of Evil, and if we do that… God can fix the problems in our lives.
Proverbs is basically saying – make God your authority; make Him your guide; make HIM your… GPS.
ILLUS: Do you remember the lady who got lost in Europe? She’d only intended to go to Brussels, but she ended up going 900 miles in the wrong direction. Why did she get lost? Well yeah, she got distracted and wasn’t paying attention, but the real problem was that her GPS wasn’t trustworthy. Her man-made guidance system malfunctioned and led her the wrong way.
Now a lot of people in this world spiritually rely on man-made guidance systems. If they need wisdom… they turn to their friends, they turn to the internet, and turn to various scholars and experts. But they don’t look to God for their wisdom. They don’t trust God for His advice. They DON’T trust the LORD to GUIDE them in life. And (well) why should they? They’ve got those OTHER GPS systems they trust (their friends/internet/etc.) so, why bother with looking to God first?
And do you know what happens when they rely on something other than God? Do you know what happens when something else becomes their source of wisdom/advice/guidance? (PAUSE) Well, they tend to get lost in this life.
Have you ever been lost? You’re been in a strange city, or on a country road with no signs. You don’t know where you’re at and you have no idea how to get where you want to go. Do you remember how you felt at that point? Well, when I’ve gotten lost I got anxious, worried, and even angry. The information I thought I could rely on… misled me.
Now, we all live in lost world, and we’re surrounded with advice and directions that are wrong - and the reason they’re wrong is because - not based in God’s thinking. And when we listen to that WRONG information we tend to get anxious, worried, and angry, because those are the feelings we get… when we get lost. And when you and I start feeling that way about life, it’s a sign that our personal GPS has misled us. That’s why Jesus said: “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
If we want to stop being anxious/ stop being worried/ stop being angry about things we cannot control, then we have to give up trying to control things our way… and let Jesus have control. We need to trust (believe) God and turn away from sin, and we’ll find forgiveness of sin, a time of refreshment, and rest for our souls. THAT’S WHAT JESUS PROMISED!!!
CLOSE: I want to close with a familiar story of a young man who got lost. He was one of 2 sons of a wealthy man, but he didn’t respect his dad and he wanted to live life HIS own way. So, he demanded his share of the inheritance and he went off to live his life HIS WAY. And it was a GOOD life. A lavish life. A life focused on enjoyment and partying. And he had all kinds of friends who helped him party and enjoy his wealth. But when his money ran out… so did his friends.
As Jesus told the story: a severe famine arose in that country, and the boy began to be in need. So, he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he got so hungry he longed to be fed with the food that the pigs were eating, and no one gave him anything. I suspect he’d come to the point in his life where he became anxious/worried/ maybe even angry with himself. And Jesus said that the prodigal Son … “came to himself”. He took a good look in the mirror and he said “I don’t want to live like this.”
He realized it was time to turn around and return home. So, he repented/ turned his back on the empty life he’d been living, and went back to his father. And, while the boy was still a long way off the father saw him… and RAN to him. He hugged his son, and kissed him. He dressed him in the finest of garments, put a ring on his finger & shoes on his feet and had fatted calf killed … and they had themselves a party.
And the Father said: “‘my son was dead, and is alive again; he was LOST and is found.’ And they began to celebrate. Luke 15:24
Jesus was talking about us. We have oftentimes wandered off from the Father, and we have to understand that the empty way of life that many people embrace leads to a lot of emotions we don't want to have. We want to be at peace. So Jesus says: "Repent" because you and I need it as much as the people outside the church. Now the advantage we have is that at least we have the book to read and we can learn how God wants us to think. And now, people outside of Christ they don't have that... and that's your advantage. Because when you see a friend or a relative, and they're anxious and worried and even filled with anger, you can ask them "Do you really want to live like that? Let me tell you about Jesus.
INVITATION
