2 May 2010
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Matthew 4
12. When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee.
13. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali--
14. to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:
15. "Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles--
16. the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned."
17. From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."
-- this morning, we are finishing our series on the "how's" of revival by looking at the third of the four criteria that God gave us in 2 Chronicles 7:14 -- as you remember, we started this series by asking the question, "Yes, but how?" -- Yes, we want to see revival in this land -- Yes, we want to see healing and forgiveness in America -- Yes, we want to see God restore our country and our churches and our homes -- Yes, we want all of God in our lives -- but how? -- How can we make this happen?
-- in 2 Chronicles 7:14, God Himself tells us how -- He said, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land"
-- this is the path to revival -- this is the answer to the question, "Yes, but how?" -- God tells us that we are to do four things to see revival -- we are to humble ourselves, pray, seek God's face, and turn from our wicked ways
-- over the past two weeks we have talked about what it means to humble ourselves before God -- to humble ourselves means that we see ourselves as we truly are
-- we talked about seeking the face of God -- seeing God as He truly is -- seeing His goodness and righteousness and holiness and power and recognizing that He is the only One capable of healing this land and forgiving our sin
-- today we are going to look at the third step in seeking revival -- repentance -- turning from our wicked ways and turning to God
-- by understanding what repentance is and by actively turning away from our sins and turning to God we will prepare our hearts and our souls to truly come before God on Thursday at the National Day of Prayer as we join with 100 million other Christians to pray for this nation and our churches and ourselves
-- prayer alone will not suffice -- we must also take responsibility for our actions and actively turn from our sin if we want to see God in America again
II. Defining Repentance
-- Jesus Himself told us that -- here in this passage in Matthew we read of the one message that Jesus had for every person He spoke to -- "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."
-- Jesus was the master communicator -- as God, He was able to see past the masks that people put on -- He was able to see past their image and into their heart -- and He always spoke directly to the need that they had
-- when Nicodemus -- the member of the Jewish Sanhedrin -- one of the leaders of the Jewish faith in the temple in Jesus' day came to Jesus at night and tried to impress Him by saying that he knew that Jesus was a holy and righteous man and hoped that Jesus would say the same -- Jesus swept all that aside and got right to the point and told Nicodemus it wasn't about being good but about being born again
-- when the rich young ruler came to Jesus and wanted to follow Him as a disciple, Jesus looked into his heart and saw the greed and the covetousness that was there and told him that if he wanted to follow Him, that he should give away all his money first
-- and when the expert in the law came up and tried to test Jesus concerning the greatest commandment, Jesus looked at the pride hidden in his heart and told him to humble himself and to start loving his neighbor as himself
-- it didn't matter if someone came to Jesus seeking to follow Him as a disciple or for healing or for some other reason, Jesus always spoke directly to the heart of that person -- tailoring His message and giving them the word that they needed to hear
-- but, no matter what each person's specific need was, the heart of Jesus' message was always the same for everyone -- "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near"
-- Jesus' command to repent was for the rich and the poor -- for the great and for those less in life -- for the faithful and for the backsliders -- this command to repent was for everyone -- and it is for us today
-- before we can begin to discuss what is involved in repentance, the first step would be to know what repentance is -- let's turn over to Joel Chapter 2 and we'll continue on there
-- as you are turning there, let me define repentance for you
-- repentance is the complete turning away from sin in our lives -- repentance is a change of mind leading to a change of life -- before we change our lives, we must first of all have a change of mind about what we have done
-- I heard a good story about repentance the other day -- a minister was speaking to a group of children -- in opening his talk he asked the question, "What is meant by the word repentance?" -- a little boy raised his hand, "Well, it's being sorry for your sins" -- "That's a good answer," he said
-- about that time, a little girl on the back seat raised her hand, "What do you think repentance is?" the preacher asked -- "I think," said the child, "repentance is being sorry enough to quit."
-- that's a good definition of repentance -- repentance is more than saying you're sorry -- repentance is more than just feeling bad about what you have done -- repentance is feeling bad enough to quit -- repentance is sorrow with action
-- last week, when we were talking about seeking the face of God, we looked at the transfiguration of Jesus and I told you that the Greek word that is translated as "transfiguration" is the same word that we get the word "metamorphosis" from -- "meta" meaning "to change" and "morphosis" meaning "form" -- so, metamorphosis is a complete change in form from one state to another
-- the Greek word that we translate as repentance is very similar -- it is actually "metanoia" -- "meta" -- "change" -- and "noia" -- mind -- so, repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change of life -- it is a decision on our part to turn away from sin -- to turn from our wicked ways -- and to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to keep us away from sin in the future
-- true repentance actually involves three things -- it involves our intellect, our emotions, and our actions -- look with me now at Joel 2:12
12. `Even now,` declares the LORD, `return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.`
13. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.
14. Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing-- grain offerings and drink offerings for the LORD your God.
-- the first step in repentance involves our intellect -- it is recognizing that we are sinners -- it is knowing that we have sinned against God
-- you cannot repent of your sins unless you first are aware of them -- you cannot turn from your wicked ways unless you first acknowledge that you have wicked ways
-- all of us have sin in our lives -- all of us are sinners -- but, sometimes, it's hard for us to see that -- that's why the first two steps in 2 Chronicles 7:14 are so important -- as we humble ourselves and seek God's face, we see ourselves as who we truly are compared with God's holiness and righteousness -- we see ourselves as sinners separated from God -- and that makes us aware of the sin in our lives
-- we like to think that we're doing o.k. -- we like to think that we're just good old boys and good old girls and we're really not that bad -- but, when we compare ourselves to Jesus -- when we look at our hearts and our souls and our minds as compared to God -- we can see just how sinful we are -- as 1 John 1:8 says, "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."
-- even if we are Christians -- even if we have been saved since we were little kids -- we still sin and we still have sin in our lives that needs to be taken care of
-- the first step in repentance is knowing that we are sinners
-- the second step involves our emotions -- the realization that you are a sinner -- the knowledge that you have done wrong and disobeyed God -- naturally causes you to feel bad about it
-- Joel says here in verse 12 that the knowledge of our sin leads to fasting and weeping and mourning -- you feel sorrow over your sin
-- the Hebrew word for "mourning" here is the same word that the Old Testament uses to describe someone mourning for the dead -- when we know that we are sinners -- when we begin to understand the depth of our sin -- we realize that we are dead -- separated from God -- out of fellowship with Him -- and Joel says that we mourn as someone mourns for the loss -- we weep for who we are and for who we can be
-- when the prophet Isaiah appeared in a vision before the throne of God and saw his own sorry state compared with that of God, Isaiah cried out in mourning, "Woe to me! I am ruined!"
-- the second step in repentance is mourning over our sins and what we have allowed ourselves to become
-- the final step in repentance involves our action
-- repentance does not stop with knowledge and emotions -- repentance does not end with us just feeling sorry for what we have done -- true repentance involves not only a change in mind, but a change of heart -- a change of behavior
-- verse 13 tells us to "Return to the LORD your God" -- that word, "Return," is an action word -- it implies, not only a change of mind, but a change of behavior
-- "repentance is turning from sin and doing what God wants us to do -- Repentance is a turning from being and doing what we want to be and do -- to being and doing what God would have us be and do -- Repentance is making Jesus both Lord and King of our lives -- living in total submission to Him through the word"1
-- repentance is a change of mind -- a change of heart -- and a change of position
-- I don't know if you've ever thought about it like this or not, but when you sin, in essence, you are turning your back to Jesus -- you are taking your eyes off of Him -- you are not listening to Him, but to your own desires -- you are not following His commands, but doing what you want to do
-- when you repent, you turn around -- you turn away from the world -- away from your desires -- away from your wants and wishes -- and you follow Jesus and do what He tells you to do
-- now, before we close, let me share with you a few cautions on what repentance is not -- now that we know what repentance is, let me tell you what it is not
-- first, repentance is more than just feeling sorry
-- a lot of times, we just want to cover up our sins -- we don't want to go the whole way to repentance -- we know we've disobeyed God -- we know we've done wrong -- and we feel sorry for what we've done -- we are truly sorrowful for our actions
-- and so we go to God and we confess our sins and we tell Him, "Lord, I'm sorry for what I've done -- I'm sorry that I did this -- I'm sorry that I sinned against you" -- but then we get up off our knees and go right back and do it again
-- we're not finishing the act of repentance -- we're only go through two of the three steps
-- to truly repent, you have to go all the way -- you have to turn completely around and let the Holy Spirit empower you to leave that sin behind once and for all
-- second, repentance is not just making a change in your life
-- at the start of every year, people make new year's resolutions -- they resolve to make a change in their life -- they resolve to turn around and do something different
-- some people stop smoking -- some stop drinking -- others lose weight or spend more time with their kids or whatever
-- the point is that these changes are not the same as biblical repentance
-- changes like this are man-centered and world-centered -- they involve only a change in behavior and not a change of heart
-- true biblical repentance is a change of life -- body, mind, and spirit -- true biblical repentance involves not only changing some behavior, but changing your mind and your spirit, as well -- true repentance is not just turning our behavior around, but turning ourselves over to God -- true repentance is the total and complete submission to Jesus
-- true biblical repentance gets to the heart of the matter and deals with the sin in your life -- not just the effects of sin -- new year's resolutions are like putting a band-aid on a fatal wound -- it can do some good, but it can't fix the problem -- repentance heals a broken soul
-- lastly, repentance is not merely believing
-- repentance is not the same thing as having faith -- it is not the same thing as believing and trusting in Jesus for salvation, although it goes hand-in-hand with it
-- Repentance is acknowledging our sin and rebellion against God and changing our mind about sinning against God -- Faith is trusting the finished work of Christ for forgiveness -- Repentance and faith are the two aspects of man’s response to God’s offer of salvation
-- in other words, you trust and believe through faith and you turn away from sin through repentance
III. Closing
-- when I'm channel surfing, occasionally I'll run across this show on the Style Channel called, "Clean House" -- it's a show where experts in cleaning, organizing, remodeling, and painting go to people's houses that are just cluttered beyond belief to help the people get their life in order and to make their homes more comfortable and attractive
-- The experts on this show go in and face the challenges of clothes strewn across the floor -- drawers filled to overflowing -- closets so full you can't open them or everything falls out -- counter tops so covered that you can't tell what they are -- kitchens and bathrooms and living places just completely filled up
-- the first thing they do is take an inventory of all the "stuff." -- and then they force the home owners to make a decision about what they are going to get rid of and what they are going to keep -- they put three tarps out in the yard -- one for yard sale -- one for charity -- and one they can keep
-- and the rule is, if you put one thing in the keep pile, you have to put one thing in both the yard sale pile and the charity pile
-- once all the initial sorting is done, the family leaves and the experts go to work -- they clean out the rooms -- they put in cabinets and storage areas -- they set aside places for everything -- and completely transform the homes -- and when the family returns, the difference is astounding -- it literally is a life-changing event
-- this show is a lot like repentance in the spiritual realm -- there comes a time when we all have to take inventory of what's in our heart -- there comes a time when we realize that we need to get rid of some things -- when we need to change our minds and our hearts and our behaviors -- when we need to turn back to Jesus -- and let the Holy Spirit come in and repair and remodel our lives and set everything right
-- this is the heart of repentance -- and this is something all of us need to do -- not just before the National Day of Prayer -- but every day and every time we find ourselves giving in to that same old sin time and time again
-- repentance is letting go and letting God -- it is making a U-turn in our lives and turning our face and our wills and our minds and our hearts towards Jesus
-- repentance is the path to true revival in our lives and in our country
-- so, as I close now in prayer, please join with me in a time of taking inventory and letting go and turning around so that we might follow Jesus with all our hearts and minds and souls and so that we might see our sins forgiven and our nation healed
-- let us pray
1. Randall Caselman -- http://www.churchofchristusa.com/Archives/old%20sermons/Genuine%20Biblical%20Repentance.htm
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