Types Of Repentance

1. I have wondered how we will be after the Corona Virus has run its course. We’ve probably gotten more serious about God during this time – will we go back to our old normal or live a new normal?

2. Think of a husband and wife in a car, the wife tells her husband to turn right at the next junction and by mistake, he turns left. When he realizes what he has done, he says to his wife “I’m sorry love, I went the wrong way.” But if that is all he does, it isn’t enough. His saying sorry isn’t getting them any closer to where they want to be; it isn’t even stopping them getting further away. To get where they want to be, he needs to stop the car, turn it around and go back on to the correct road that his wife told him to take in the first place. That is repentance.

3. Repentance = Return to God via a change of mind resulting in a change of action, not just changed feelings.

4. Repentance Involves –

• An Aware Heart – Psalm 51:3-4

3 For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is ever before me.

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you may be justified in your words

and blameless in your judgment.

• A Broken heart – Joel 2:12-13 (Peter had been quoting Joel 2 in his Acts 2 sermon and commands repentance to those “cut to the heart”)

12 “Yet even now,” declares the LORD,

“return to me with all your heart,

with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;

13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.”

Return to the LORD your God,

for he is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;

and he relents over disaster.

• A Changed Heart – Psalm 37:4 4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

• An Intentional Heart – 2 Corinthians 7:9-11 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. 10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. 11 For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter.

• Humble, Confessing Heart – 1 John 1:9 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

• Joyous Heart – Acts 8:39 39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. (also with God – Luke 15:7 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. “My child wants to be with me again!”

5. Types of Repentance from Jonah:

I. The Repentance of Discovery (Sailors on the Ship) Jonah 1:14-16 14 Therefore they called out to the LORD, “O LORD, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O LORD, have done as it pleased you.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.

A. Discovering the True God – not Dagon

B. Determination to Change Lives – Sacrifices and Vows

II. The Repentance of Recovery (Jonah in the Whale) Jonah 2:1-10

A. Coming to Himself

B. Coming to God

C. God Saw Him as a Faithful Servant

III. The Repentance of Covering (Nineveh)

[Criminals try to “cover their tracks” and look as innocent as possible. So do sinners.

A. Nineveh’s Repentance was Shallow

1. External – Sackcloth and Ashes

2. Avert Immediate Disaster – no intention of long-term change

3. Do we do this? Feel threatened and run to God; then when danger passes do we go back to “business as usual?”

B. Nineveh’s Repentance was Short-Lived (Attacked N. Israel; Destroyed by Babylon – Nahum)

A man entered a bar, bought a glass of beer and then immediately threw it into the bartender’s face. Quickly grabbing a napkin, he helped the bartender dry his face while he apologized with great remorse. "I’m so sorry," he said. "I have this compulsion to do this. I fight it, but I don’t know what to do about it." "You had better do something about your problem," the bartender replied. "You can be sure I’ll remember you and will never serve you another drink until you get help." It was months before the man faced the bartender again. When he asked for a beer, the bartender refused. Then the man explained that he had been seeing a psychiatrist and that his problem was solved. Convinced it was now okay to serve him, the bartender poured him a drink. The man took the glass and splashed the beer into the barkeeper’s astonished face. "I thought you were cured," the shocked bartender screamed. "I am," said the man. "I still do it, but I don’t feel guilty about it anymore."