Power of Repentance 2

I shared last time that repentance is the key that unlocks 4 doors that are incredible blessings for us all—the door to salvation, the door to God’s peace, the door to successful spiritual warfare, and the door to spiritual refreshing.

Today I want to talk about how repentance unlocks the door to God’s peace and presence.

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Now, let me take a minute and just talk Christianity 101...

When we read that, by faith in Christ, we now have peace with God, it implies that we were NOT at peace with God—that we were somehow His adversaries.

If I have to make peace with someone then I am at odds with them, there is some kind of conflict going down, a broken relationship.

And this is exactly the way we WERE with God if you’re a Christian, and ARE with God if you’re not a Christian...

And this is why peace must be made with Him.

Listen to the Bible’s claims about us and God:

To the Christian it looks back, “At one time you were alienated from God. You were his enemies in your minds, because the evil you did was against him” (Col 1:21).

Alienated—is to be estranged and separated from the knowledge, love, and life of the true and living God.

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But we weren’t just alienated from God, the Bible also claims we were His enemies:

Rom 5:10 “For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!”

So not only was there a broken relationship, we were literally God’s enemies!

And if you’re not a Christian today, you still are!

Paul is reminding Christians that we were not the friends of God, but were His daily enemies by living a sinful lifestyle that was totally against His will and ways.

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Now, what is sin?

Sin is described in the Bible as breaking the law of God, and rebellion against God, and we’ve all done it...

“There is none righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10).

“All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

“All have turned away from God; they have all gone wrong; no one does what is right, not even one” (Ro. 3:12).

The Apostle Paul concludes that, “The entire world is guilty before God” (Ro. 3:19).

Since God hates sin, our sin has placed a wall of separation between the whole human race and Him.

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Now, it turns out the separation caused by sin was severe and hopeless...

The Bible reveals that after God gave the 10 commandments, the human race could not obey them...

ILLUS: Imagine a barbell with ten weights on it equaling a thousand pounds and God says, “Lift it!”

We could never lift that, but even more so we could not lift the Ten Commandments to obey them.

Even Paul the Apostle admitted, “I really want to do what is right, but I can’t. I do what I don’t want to—what I hate. 16 I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience proves that I agree with these laws I am breaking. 17 But I can’t help myself because I’m no longer doing it. It is sin inside me that is stronger than I am that makes me do these evil things” (Ro. 7: 15-17).

So....Since we couldn’t please God on our own, we needed help, so God had to send a MEDIATOR—who was Jesus Christ.

A mediator is brought in to bring peace between two parties that can’t work it out themselves.

For instance, a married couple that can’t get along will go to a counselor who acts as a mediator to try to bring peace between them.

This is what Jesus did!

Jesus was our go-between, the mediator, the One that stood between us and God to heal the broken relationship and bring us back into fellowship with Him!

“For there is one God, one mediator also between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).

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And on the Cross, Jesus succeeded!

“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility” (Eph. 2:14).

Paul goes on to say, “...all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ.” (2 Cor. 5:18).

Many people today think they can go to Heaven by their own way, but Jesus Christ is the ONLY Mediator between God and man...

If you try any other way, it is a FALSE way—it will fail to bring you into true relationship with the Heavenly Father.

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Now...Here is where the beautiful word “repent” comes into play...

II. Repentance is the God-given way Jesus becomes my personal Mediator

ILLUS: Imagine you have done something that places you in huge legal trouble.

You’ve committed a felony and the prospects of a long and terrible prison sentence are looming.

You realize there is nothing you can do to help yourself and are about to give up hope when someone tells you about an excellent attorney who has offered to represent you free of charge—and he always sets his clients free!

All you need to do is go to his office and confess to him your deeds.

If you take advantage of his offer, you will be freed.

If you don’t take advantage of it, you are left to your fate.

He cannot represent you if you refuse to confess to him your deeds.

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This is the way it is for us and Christ Jesus.

John the Apostle writes, “...if anybody sins, we have an advocate with the Father--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One” (1 John 2:1).

ADVOCATE was the regular term in NT times for an attorney.

Only by repentance—which is to confess my wrong—does Jesus become my advocate!

“IF we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9).

The Bible says, “Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away” (Acts 3:19).

The moment we repent, Jesus becomes our personal attorney before the judgment seat of God—and He’s the only One who can spring me from hell!

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1.) The whole world is guilty before God, 2.) Jesus becomes my Advocate through the gift of repentance, and Now best of all—when we repent,

III. We experience peace WITH God, which brings the peace OF God...

I read recently of a Christian man who asked a waitress at a restaurant: “If you could ask God for anything, what would your request be?”

Her answer was immediate. “I want to feel at peace.”

The world longs for peace...every single human being on earth wants it.

We turn to drugs for peace, or to alcohol, to various practices like yoga or meditation, or to a constant cycle of new relationships or experiences, all in search of peace.

But true peace is not where everything around you on the outside is peaceful.

True peace is an inside job.

If there is no peace within, there’s no peace at all.

And true inner peace can only come from making peace with God.

Peace WITH God brings the peace OF God,

And the peace OF God comes from the Spirit of peace—the Holy Spirit—who comes to live inside us.

The Bible says that God’s peace, “exceeds anything we can understand” (Phil 4:7).

It is there no matter what goes on around us.

And we experience God’s peace in only one way—by the gift of repentance!

Acts 11:18 “...God has also given the Gentiles the privilege (gift) of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life.”

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“REPENT” is indeed a beautiful, powerful word, and is one of the greatest privileges God has ever given us.