“God Doesn’t Want Most of Your Sin”
Matthew 26:69-75
Mark 16:6-8
John 21:15-19
OBJECTIVE: To show that repentance is not an option for believers, but a duty
INTRODUCTION: “The Ultimate Backslider” Here we have the apostle Peter. A devoted Christian, a member of Jesus’ inner circle of believers and…. a backslider.
He denied Jesus not just once, but three times, even swearing that he had never met Jesus. He had broken his fellowship with Jesus. He still had a relationship with God – we see that from the text we read in Mark “go, tell His disciples-and Peter” God made it a point to call Peter out apart from the other apostles. This could be for two reasons:
1. Peter, because of his indiscretion, lost his place as a disciple and his fellowship needed restoration
2. God, knowing that Peter would feel like he had lost his place, wanted him to know that he was still loved but needed to repent and restore fellowship
“EITHER WAY”
The point is that Peter had sinned against God by denying Jesus, and he needed to be restored to fellowship – to be restored to fellowship he had to sincerely repent
*Repentance is not often discussed in churches anymore. Most Christians shy away from the life change that is supposed to be associated with salvation. We spend time concerning ourselves with things of the world so much, that worshipping God becomes just another thing that we do, instead of letting Him be the Lord of our lives.
“Fellowship, not relationship” But scripture points out time after time that repentance is essential to stay in fellowship with God. Now notice I am using ‘fellowship’ and not ‘relationship’ – A believer establishes a relationship at salvation when God becomes his Father and the believer is born-again [correctly translated is ‘born from above’] into His family. This is what the Word refers to as our ‘adoption’.
“Parent/Child fellowship” We all have a father and a mother – we may not be in fellowship with them right now, but we have a relationship that came at birth. I am a ‘Foskey’ and I will be a Foskey until I die. Now I may upset my father, and there could be a break in our fellowship, however the relationship is still intact. This simple picture illustrates how God deals with His children, the believers – When we are doing things that are displeasing to God, we can dis-fellowship ourselves with Him. The theological term for this is ‘apostasy’; the more used term among Christians is ‘back-sliding’.
“Complete repentance” Peter had fallen into apostasy. He had denied Jesus. But when Jesus returned he called Peter out to restore him – and He did so by asking Peter three times, “do you love me?” The three times was significant because Jesus was restoring Peter for the three times he had denied Him. Jesus was showing that repentance, true heartfelt and complete repentance, is essential to be in fellowship with God.
How do we apply this to our lives – well we must realize that repentance is our duty, it must be determined, and it must make a difference.
I. Repentance is our duty
a. Jesus made Peter denounce his sin, He did not just glaze over it
b. For every time Peter denied Christ, Peter was asked, “Do you love me?”
i. The first two times Jesus asked the question He used ‘agape’ (volitional, self sacrificing love)
ii. The last time He changed and used ‘phileo’ (brotherly love)
iii. Essentially Jesus was saying, “Peter, are you my friend? Are we in good fellowship?”
iv. This is important, because it is one thing to be in a relationship as a child of God, and quite something different to have God as your friend; no, your BEST friend
c. What keeps us from that friend relationship with God is our inability to convince ourselves of our duty to repent
i. We need to repent of the sins of commission
1. These are those sins that we are committing that are binding us and holding us back from fellowship with God
2. These are the sins we are ‘committing’
ii. We need to repent of the sins of omission
iii. James 4:17 “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”
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Video clip – “Independence Day”
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1. “The boy’s answer” A Sunday school teacher asked “what are sins of omission?” and a little boy piped up, “those are the ones we haven’t gotten around to doin’ yet!”
2. These are those good works that God has called us to do, the fruit God wants us to bear, that we are leaving out that help us grow in fellowship with God
3. These are the natural abilities we have to be God’s instruments in the world that we are letting lie stagnant on the shelf
d. It is our duty to repent of all of our sins
i. To repent simply means to turn away from one thing and turn to another
ii. God repented according to the book of Jonah when He saw that the Ninivites repented. God was going to destroy their city, but He repented – He turned from His judgment (Jonah 3:10)
iii. This shows that God stopped what He was going to do – TRUE REPENTANCE MEANS NOT THAT I’M SORRY, BUT THAT I AM FINISHED!
II. Repentance must be determined
a. Peter, over and over, announced his love for Jesus
b. Even though scripture says he was hurt because he was asked three times, Peter was determined to make things right with God
i. Many of us get offended when we are questioned once about an issue
ii. A twentieth century ‘Peter’ may have accused Jesus of being ‘obtuse’ and ‘belligerent’
iii. In his mind he might be saying, “Haven’t I said this already? When is he going to get it?”
c. But I believe that this Peter hurt because he understood Jesus’ purpose for asking three times, and he was determined to do whatever he had to do to restore his fellowship with Jesus
d. Are you determined in your heart to do whatever it takes to be in close fellowship with your creator?
III. Repentance must make a difference
a. Peter’s life was spent serving Jesus even to death
i. The bible shows that, after Jesus’ ascension and the day of Pentecost, Peter spent his life preaching the gospel of Jesus
ii. Church history says that he also was crucified upside down for his faith
iii. This is an awesome statement to the validity of who Christ was, because if it had all been a lie then Peter would have never died for it – he had already had doubts and ran away before, why was he now ready to go and die on a cross?
iv. BECAUSE HE KNEW THE TRUTH
b. A person who says, “I have repented of a sin” and goes out and continues in that same sin, has by definition, not repented
i. This is not to say that we will not make mistakes
1. I Cor 9:27 “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.”
2. The verb discipline in used in present tense – meaning he disciplines it when it is needed – He rejects the sin when he is faced with it and brings his body under subjection
3. This shows a continuing battle with sin
ii. We do all make mistakes and battle sin, however, a continued willful sin shows an absence of repentance
iii. An absence of repentance is a refusal to turn away
c. Repentance that turns AWAY from sin must then turn TOWARD God
i. This makes a difference in a persons life
ii. You can’t claim repentance if there is no evidence of change
iii. II Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
CONCLUSION: We must never glaze over repentance. It is essential for staying in fellowship with God. Jesus never made excuses for sins – He went about preaching, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand”.
Peter, who denied Jesus, was totally forgiven and reinstated to a position of leadership among the disciples – Because he gave Jesus all of his sins –
God wants all of your sins today. He wants you to give them all to him. If you are sitting here tonight with unrepentant sin that may be breaking the fellowship that you have with God, I invite you to come and repent and make things right tonight.
Or maybe you’ve never accepted Jesus tonight, and you want to make you initial confession, repent and be baptized, and begin your new life in Christ. I invite you to come – or maybe you would like to bring your membership to Forest, we would love to have you tonight. Please come forward at the beginning of the music and we will receive you.
Peter was called to publicly denounce his sin and say, “I love you” to Jesus – will you do that tonight? Will you come and say, “I love you Jesus, thank you for dying for my sins”?
If so, pray right there, this simple prayer with me, and then make a move to the front –
