The Gift of Repentance Part 4

When we’re celebrating the water baptisms, one of the things we talk about is our sin being separated as far as the east is from the west, and how that sounds too good to be true. And it really is too good to be true. It’s too good for this world, is what it is. But it’s the reality of that assurance that we have in the Lord Jesus. And so we just love celebrating those water baptisms and those decisions for the Lord.

We’re going to go into our message this morning. We’re going to receive Communion in just a few moments, but if you have your Bibles, I’m going to invite you to turn to Jonah chapter 3 this morning. We’ve been talking about the gift of repentance. Everybody say, “The gift of repentance.”

I think, if you grew up in religion, repentance has a negative connotation to it. It points out the flaws. There’s almost this guilt or this shame. But it is such a gift to be able to bring all of our guilt and all of our shame to the Lord. There is so much freedom, there is so much joy found when we humble ourselves and we repent to the Lord, that He takes away our guilt and shame. Somebody say amen.

And so there is joy in repentance. There is a gift of repentance. So say this with me: “Repentance is a gift. Repentance is a joy. Repentance is a blessing.”

Nineveh believed God

And I want to look in Jonah chapter 3 this morning. We looked at this scripture a few weeks ago, but it says this, starting at verse 5: “So the people of Nineveh believed God.” How many of you know that’s where we start? “They believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let everyone turn from his evil way, from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish? Then God saw their works” — He saw the action they took — “and they turned from their evil way” — meaning they repented — “and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.”

You know, I believe that God is restoring to the church and to the culture the need for repentance, but also the joy that is found in repentance. As I said, if you grew up in religion, repentance sounds mean. It has this negative connotation to it. But how many of you know repentance is loving?

And Scripture is filled with examples of true repentance, which is what we just read. And there are also examples of false repentance, or fake repentance. And we talked about Pharaoh and how he is an example of that fake repentance, right? You remember the story in Exodus, where God had called the people out of Egypt and into the promised land, and Pharaoh of Egypt would not let them go. And as a consequence of his sin and his heart, there were these plagues. And so how many of you know there is consequence to our sin? Did you know that?

And fake repentance is this: when really our heart and our mindset is, “I don’t want to deal with these consequences anymore. God, would You just make it stop?” There were these consequences to his sin, and the plagues would happen, and Pharaoh ultimately would just say, “Make it stop. Make it stop.” And he would apologize. But how many of you know apologizing to the Lord is only a part of the repentance process?

And so he would apologize, but then he would renege on that apology, and he would go right back to it. And I can’t help but think how many times I myself have confessed things to the Lord and brought things to the Lord, repented with good intentions even, but then I just go right back into bad habits, into old habits. But I believe the Lord is wanting to bring us to a place of true repentance. Everybody say, “True repentance.”

Turning from, and turning to

So what is true repentance? Well, we’ve talked about this: true repentance is to turn away from all that is not the Lord and to turn to the Lord. You see, if we only turn from things that are not the Lord, it leads to religion. We just try to behave better. We try to do better. “You know what, I’m just not going to do that behavior.” But because we just keep thinking, “Don’t do this, don’t do this, don’t do this,” we actually strengthen the sin or the behavior that we’re trying to be free from, right?

Let’s use an example. If I was to tell you, “Don’t think about a purple flying elephant,” what is the picture that comes into your mind? The purple flying elephant, right? If you give your attention to something, it strengthens the thing you are giving your attention to. Whatever you give attention to will become your intention. Right? So repentance isn’t just turning from a behavior. It’s not just changing your mind. It’s not just agreeing with some theological points or doctrinal statements. It is to turn from everything that is not of the Lord, and then what? To turn to the Lord Jesus.

How many of you know when we give our heart and our attention and our affection to the Lord Jesus, He fills us? Something we just did, when we were doing our water baptisms — in water baptism, our conscience is dealt with, right? Scripture says our conscience is dealt with. Our sin is washed away. We are raised into new life. And so oftentimes we live in that reality. But then what are we filled with?

Our sin has been washed away. It is not a part of who we are. It’s not our identity. We are now in Christ Jesus. Somebody say amen. That is who we are. We are in Him. But then, when we come out of the water, we pray for a filling of the Holy Spirit. We don’t just want to be emptied of ourselves. We want to be filled with Him. Do you see the difference? And so true repentance is a turn from all that is not the Lord, and a turn to give our affection to the Lord Jesus Himself.

And so it is ultimately a change in our core. It is a change in our intention at the deepest, deepest level. It’s more than a change of mind. It is something on the inside, in our soul. Scripture says we are made up of body, soul, and spirit. Our soul is our mind, will, and emotions. That is where true repentance lies. It’s not just in our actions. It’s in our intentions. It’s in our motives.

How many of you know God doesn’t just want the what; He wants your why? It’s important for us that God wants access to why you do what you do, right? You can do the right things for the wrong reasons. God isn’t just looking for behavior change, even though that is a part of your process. How many of you know when we give our lives to Jesus and we repent and we choose to follow Him, there is a process called sanctification, and it is holy, and it is pleasing to the Lord? Amen. Your motives will change. But He’s not just looking for behavior change. He wants your heart. He wants our motives. Why do you do what you do?

That’s why, when I read Scripture, we don’t just read Scripture to try to gain information. Amen. We want to know Him. That’s why we always say, when you read Scripture, don’t just read through Scripture looking for information or some doctrinal facts. No, we are looking for Him. Look for Jesus, right? How many of you know you can repeat a billion salvation prayers, but if you don’t meet Jesus, it doesn’t change anything?

And so salvation is not a system. Salvation is the Son of God. Salvation has holes in His hands, has holes in His feet, has the wound in His side. Salvation is a person. Salvation has a heart. Salvation weeps. Salvation rejoices. And you can actually enter into this person who is salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it’s not just about what we do; it’s about why we do it. And the question that I have for you today is: will you give the Lord Jesus access to your why? Do you just want Jesus in your back pocket to bless your life, or do you actually want Him?

And so we see this example of fake repentance, this false repentance: Pharaoh just wants the consequence of sin to stop, and so he apologizes but goes back to his behavior immediately. And that’s what happens when the consequence of sin is painful but we never really consider breaking the heart of God — when we want to be released from the pain, but we don’t consider His feelings.

But we see here in Jonah chapter 3 that the king of Nineveh is an example of true repentance. We even talked about how the pets, their animals, were repenting. How many of you know if your pets are repenting, there’s true revival in your home? Amen. I don’t know, but there’s something going on with my dog, and I feel like he needs to have some time with the Lord. He needs to repent. There are things that he needs to change. And every time I talk about that, Suzie’s like, “Come on.” That’s her baby, right?

But if the pets are repenting, there’s true revival. It was so sincere. There was so much happening — there was this true act of humility, of humbling themselves before the Lord and saying, “Lord, we need You. We’ve been going astray in our hearts. We’ve gone astray in our actions.” And one thing leads to another: because we’ve gone astray in our hearts, we have gone astray in our actions. And so repentance is a holy thing. Amen.

It starts with you, not with them

So let’s turn to Luke chapter 18. This is what Jesus said, in Luke 18, starting at verse 9. Jesus “spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others.” We see that a lot in our world today, don’t we? There are many who see themselves as righteous. There are many who think that they’re justified in their actions because they might say the right things, but there’s no love there. There’s no grace.

They trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and they despised others. “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee” — which was a religious ruler — “and the other a tax collector.” In that time, if you were a tax collector, you were evil. You were oppressive. Verse 11 says, “The Pharisee” — the religious leader — “stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men — extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’” So you can see he does some of the right things, but he doesn’t have the right heart.

Verse 13 says, “And the tax collector” — the sinner — “standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’” Jesus says this: “I tell you the truth, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Jesus is giving us an example of what true repentance is. You know, a quality of true repentance is that it starts with you and not with them. I think there’s sometimes an attitude that we can have: “I’m not going to apologize, or I’m not going to repent, until they take care of their stuff.” If you’ve been hurt by others, or if you’ve been wounded by others, and maybe it’s preventing you from coming to a place of repentance yourself — true repentance doesn’t look to others; it looks to yourself. I’ve said it before: if you are obsessed with the speck in another’s eye, it is proof of the plank in your own eye. Too often we become obsessed with the sins and the behaviors and the downfalls of others, not realizing that we have our own stuff that we need to bring to the Lord.

All he needs is to make it about you

And what is required above all is true humility. It is a humble attitude. I think many of us can agree, and we understand the idea, that we need to repent of our sins, right? We need to repent of greed. We need to repent of lust, of pride, right? Of anger, idolatry, addictions. We understand those things. But it also means that we need to turn from every self-produced plan for my life.

You know, one of the strategies of the devil is that he doesn’t really need to convince you to worship him. He doesn’t need to convince you to wear a pentagram necklace. All he needs you to do is become more obsessed with yourself than others. You see, he just needs to make it all about you.

And I feel like that’s crept into the church, where we want to go to a church where I’m comfortable. I want to go to the church that has the short service. I want to go to the church that only worships for twenty minutes and then we move on to the next thing. I can tell you this: the church isn’t here for one another. The church is here to worship the Lord Jesus. And when we do that, and we don’t make church about ourselves but we make it about Him — when we do that, out of His goodness and His love and His mercy, the Holy Spirit is poured out.

It takes humility to come to church. It takes humility to worship the Lord. Because there are going to be times when you come into the room and you are distracted. You have things that you’re thinking about. There are other things you want to get to. You have plans. You have agendas. Amen. And by the way, should we have plans? Yeah, that’s fine. The problem is when our plans become more important and our focus is on that more than Him.

And really, what church is about is that we would come in as a body who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus, who are new creations, who are filled with the Holy Spirit. And when we all come together with that, setting aside all of our preferences, all of our desires, all of our agenda, and we say, “Lord, whatever You want to do — I’m just here to worship You, to fix my eyes on You” — when we do that, the Lord is poured out, and He comes into the room. He will go wherever He is welcomed.

I don’t know if you guys heard that. He wants you to know Him. He wants you to see Him. Somebody say amen. The God of the universe, the Creator of all things — He wants you to know Him. He wants you to sense His love. He wants those things for you. But so often we come into the room and say, “I’ve got so much to do.” And what we’re really saying is, “God, You’re not actually worth my time.” And what happens? Jesus passes by, and we miss it, because we don’t have eyes to see. We don’t have ears to hear.

So the devil doesn’t have to get you to worship him. He just has to make it all about you. And when he can make it all about you, we miss the person and the love of Jesus in our lives. Do you guys see?

Mixture cools our affection

Another question that I have is: how have mixture and compromise crept into your life? There is a pattern and a plan for the thought patterns of the world, the culture of this world, what is accepted in the world, to be accepted in the church. And we allow for there to be mixture in our church. We allow for there to be mixture in our homes and in our lives. And it will cool your affection for the Lord Jesus. I’m just telling you right now.

When we start to say, “I can serve Jesus and serve my interests, my pleasure, my flesh, my whatever,” it is a design and it is a plan to cool your affection for the Lord Jesus. And what does Jesus say? “I would rather you be hot or cold, but if you are lukewarm, you will be spit out of My mouth.” What Jesus was saying is not, “I want to spit you out if you’re not good enough.” What Jesus was saying is, it takes all of you, all of your heart, to actually follow Me.

And so my heart and my prayer is that as we bring the baggage to the Lord — as we bring those attitudes, or those things that have been barriers or walls, the things that we are holding on to, our self, our preferences, and we’re saying, “Well, Lord, I’ll follow You this way, but I’m not going to follow You that way. Lord, I’ll do what You say in Scripture here, but I’m not going to do what You said here, because it doesn’t really fit my life. It doesn’t really fit my agenda” — that we would actually be people who humble ourselves fully and say, “Lord, whatever You want to do, I will do it.” And that attitude and that heart only come by bowing down and getting on our knees before the Lord and saying, “Jesus, I surrender.”

It starts with repentance. Somebody say amen. So there is joy in repentance. There is a gift of repentance, where the Lord is calling us and saying, “Would you lay it all down at My feet, so that I can remove your guilt? I can remove your shame. I can remove those places that have held you down, that have held you back, those mindsets, those barriers, and bring healing to your life.”

You know, one of the great things about repentance is that you can do it as much as it takes. I’ve had conversations where people have said, “Sometimes I don’t even want to repent, because I feel like I’m just going to go and do it again.” But I would encourage you and remind you that when Jesus was tempted by the devil, He continually brought Scripture and said, “It is written. It is written. It is written.”

The more that you can remind the devil, when you are being tempted with sin — “No, I am turning from that, and I am turning to the Lord Jesus” — if you can get to a place where you say, “No, that is not what the Lord has for me, and instead I am going to begin to call on the name of Jesus,” how many of you know eventually the devil’s going to get annoyed with that and give up? Because that’s what Scripture says. The devil brought temptation, and Jesus said, “It is written. It is written. It is written.” And then what? Then it says the devil left for another time.

The greatest way that you can defeat sin in your life is to turn from it in that moment, and to begin to call on the name of Jesus and to begin to worship Him. And when you do that, it will bring freedom to your life.

Some of you have bought into the lie that there are things in your life where this is just the way it’s always going to be — that you actually can’t change, that this is just a weakness, that this is just a part of who you are. But friends, I’m here to tell you, Jesus has paid for all of those things. You don’t need to live with that anymore. Somebody say amen.

Holy living is not a weight

I really do believe — I mean, we can observe, if we follow the news and we just look at the world, that the world is getting darker. But how many of you know that’s no surprise? Scripture talks about this. But Scripture says that as the days get darker, the light shines brighter. And I believe that there is a call that the Lord is bringing to the church that starts with a place of humility. He’s saying, “Would you cast off all the dark things that are in your life?”

And my prayer for you is that that would be revealed to you by the Holy Spirit, because I’m not here to tell you what to do. The Holy Spirit will lead you into those things. But what I am asking is: will you have a heart that is humble enough to hear Him speak? He doesn’t force us to do anything. But would we posture ourselves and say, “Lord Jesus, I want to know You. I want to draw near to You. But, Lord, I need to lay these things down.”

What are the things that you listen to? What are the things that you watch? What are the things that you’re doing? What are the habits that you’ve picked up that the world not only accepts but maybe even celebrates, but it’s not the Lord? Because whatever is not from the Lord will draw you further from Him. So would we have a heart that says, “Lord, I want to lay it all down, and I want to live a holy life before You”? I believe that it’s time that we live holy. Amen.

And listen, I say that, and I know we can hear different things, but listen: that is not a curse. That is not a bondage. That is not a weight. And that is not unreachable. It is beautiful, and it is wonderful to live free from guilt and shame. I’m going to say it again: it is beautiful, and it is wonderful to live free from guilt and shame. And the way that we do that is we live in a lifestyle of repentance — to turn from all that is not the Lord and to give our love and affection to Him.

You know, one of the prayers that I pray with regularity is, “Search me, Lord.” Because the world has a way of creeping things into my traditions, my behavior, my attitude, that I don’t even identify. But it wasn’t from the Lord, right?

If I was to shower in the morning, right, I’m clean. I’m pretty clean, right? I try to put myself together. And so I shower, I get ready. But then if I go out and work all day in the yard, how many of you know I’m going to get a little bit dirty? I’m going to get some things on me. Does that make me a dirty person? No. I said, does that make me a dirty person? No. But is there some dirt? Yeah.

In the same way, we come into church, we receive Communion, we’re baptized, we do these things, we confess our sins, we’re made clean, we’re washed. And we go into the world and we pick things up, and we don’t even know it sometimes. But how many of you are so thankful that we have a God who loves us, who will call out those things? How many of you know the Lord corrects those He loves? He will call out those things, saying, “Hey, you really need to adjust. You shouldn’t be doing this. You shouldn’t be talking like that.” Will we be people who are humble enough to say, “Yes, Lord, I lay that down”?

There are things in this world — and this is my sense for the church — there are things in this world that have become so precious to us that when the Lord calls, we either ignore it or we say no. May that never be us. Amen. That when He calls — when, like I was talking about earlier, He draws us by those cords of love — when He draws us, may we not resist. That we wouldn’t be stubborn, but that we would be easy. Amen.

Examine yourself and come to the table

And so we’re going to receive Communion, and I’m just going to close with this scripture. This is what I would ask for us to do. I’m just going to read 1 Corinthians 11:23. We celebrate an open Communion, which means if you are here today and you want to receive more of the Lord Jesus, you are welcome to receive Communion today. But I am going to ask that you do it with a sincere and a right heart.

Because 1 Corinthians 11:23 says this: “I have received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take and eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This is the cup of the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.’”

And so, as you come to this table, I want you to come with your heart and your attention on the Lord Jesus — that you aren’t just going through a motion or a religious act, but that your eyes are fixed on Jesus. Verse 26 says, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.”

You know, that verse has caused some fear in some people. They’re like, “I don’t even want to receive Communion, then.” But that’s not what the Lord is saying. He’s saying, “Would you just take a moment and examine yourself?” What does that mean? Would you have a conversation with the Lord right now? In fact, can we do that right now? Just bow your heads and close your eyes.

And just like David wrote in his psalm, would you just begin to pray right now: “Lord, would You search me? Lord, would You show me the things that have kept me from You?” Maybe you’ve been walking with the Lord, but you haven’t been hearing His voice. Maybe you’ve been a Christian since you were a baby, but yet your heart and your affection are far from Him. He’s not only second in your thoughts; He’s third, fourth, fifth.

But would you just begin to ask the Lord, “Lord, would You show me the adjustments that I need to make? Because I want to know You, Lord. I want to live a life that is transformed and shaped by You, Lord. I want to fulfill the call that You have on my life, to be used for Your glory.” Just begin to ask the Lord. Just say, “Lord, would You show me?” It could be a conversation. It could be unforgiveness. It could be pride. Whatever it is, just begin to confess it to the Lord now. Say, “Lord, I bring this to You. Lord, I receive Your forgiveness. I confess.”

Scripture says if you confess your sins to the Lord, He is faithful and just to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. So church, just begin to confess to the Lord and say, “Lord, I confess that. I confess that attitude. Lord, I confess believing the lie.”

Joy in heaven

Luke 15:7 says, “I say to you likewise, there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.” I am here to tell you that if you are bringing those things to the Lord, there is joy in heaven. It is an atmosphere of joy. An atmosphere of repentance is an atmosphere of joy. An atmosphere of repentance is an atmosphere of freedom.

And so, Lord, we just confess those things to You. I want you to know the Lord wants to set you free today. It is the love of God that draws men to repentance. And Scripture says we are drawn to Him by the cords of love. And the world wants us to believe that those cords are bondage, that those cords are limiting — but they are liberating. And God wants to set His people free from the virus of sin, from the thoughts and the attitudes and the things that we pick up in this world — not just to wipe away your sin, but to make you His own, and to fill your body with the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, so that your body can literally become the house of God.

And so today, as we bring our confession to the Lord, He is faithful to remove our sin as far as the east is from the west. And He casts our sin into a sea of forgetfulness. Though your sins are as scarlet, you shall be white as snow. And we can enter into the life, into the love, of Jesus Christ.

And so, as we come and we receive these elements, I’m going to ask that you come and receive the body and the blood, the crackers and the juice, and that you take those to your seat. And I’m going to ask that you begin to just pray with one another as you receive these elements this morning. But let’s go ahead and come, and let’s just stay in an atmosphere of worship, and then I’ll close us out with prayer. Let’s go ahead and come forward.

As you go to your seats, just begin to pray. Continue just to confess your sins to the Lord. And then just pray over one another, that they would be filled with the Spirit, that they would be led by the Holy Spirit, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to live holy, to live free. Thank You, Lord.

Thank You, Lord. You can continue to pray. I’m just going to pray over us this morning. Lord Jesus, we thank You for Your body that was broken — Lord, that it was Your body that was beaten, that was bruised, that was ripped open, broken, Lord, so that we could be made whole. Lord, as we partake of this, we thank You, Lord, that You make us whole, that there is nothing missing, Lord, that as we receive this Communion, we are one with You, Lord Jesus. And so we receive it by faith, with thanksgiving, today, in Jesus’ name.

And, Lord, the blood that was shed for the remission of sins, for the forgiveness of sins — Lord, we thank You. Lord, You wash us. You are faithful to Your promises, faithful to Your Word, Lord, that as we confess our sin, You are faithful and just to forgive us our sin. Lord, it is by Your blood that we enter into Your presence, and we receive it today. We thank You for it, in Jesus’ name. Amen. Amen. Amen.

If you’re still praying, you’re welcome to pray, but let’s go ahead and stand. Yes, Lord. We give You our love, Lord Jesus. Lord, we love You. We thank You, Lord. We give You our praise. Lord, we give You the glory. We say there is none like You, Lord. Let our lives, Lord, be transformed into who You’ve called us to be, Lord, that we would have hearts that are humbled before You all the days of our lives. Lord, that we would surrender to the leading of Your Holy Spirit as we go from this place, Lord, that we can trust You, Lord — that You are a good God who loves us, who sees us, who calls us out of the darkness and into the marvelous light. We give You glory, in Jesus’ name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Can we just thank the Lord this morning? Thank You, Jesus.

Transcribed from the message recording and lightly edited for reading.