From Repentance to Renewal: A Sermon of Transformation
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Reading of the Word
Reading of the Word
James 4:6b-10
But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Submit therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Come close to God and He will come close to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Be miserable, and mourn, and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into gloom.
Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
Introduction
Introduction
This series invites us into the Lenten season, a time of repentance and mourning over our sin. In mourning for our sin, we are reminded what it was like to come to Christ for the very first time. This Lent, we will remember what it means to encounter Christ with afresh, taking nothing for granted—neither our wrongdoings nor our salvation. We come face to face once more with our ungodly behavior, open our hearts to remorse, and receive forgiveness and our hope in Jesus, who is the Christ.
As we enter Lent we must recognize that we do put our faith in it but in Jesus as we journey together towards commemorating the Christ’s death on the cross, which is where everything in Christianity lies. Without it, we have no reason to be here!
The Repentance Road
The Repentance Road
The road begins with a choice.
Being Sorry vs. Repentant
Being sorry many times can just have the motive to escape a consequence.
Being repentant requires a deep sorrow and grief for offending God.
Submit to God:
1) Your Sin
One specific sin listed here is pride.
What is pride?
Pride is that characteristic in a man which makes him show himself above other people, and shuts itself off from God because it does not know its own need. In this condition, independence is cherished and sin is unrecognized.11 R. Duane Thompson, “The Epistle of James ,” in Hebrews-Revelation, vol. 6, The Wesleyan Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1966), 226.
The proud resist God: in their understanding they resist the truths of God; in their will they resist the laws of God; in their passions they resist the providence of God; therefore, no wonder that God resists the proud.
We must weep over sin but God will comfort us in our sorrow.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
2) Your Understanding
3) Your Will
4) Your Whole Self
There must be total giving of oneself to God in denial of oneself.11 R. Duane Thompson, “The Epistle of James ,” in Hebrews-Revelation, vol. 6, The Wesleyan Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1966), 227.
Repentance requires us to:
Cleanse your hands
purify your hearts
Be miserable and mourn
Weep
Mourn & recognize gloom
But most of all, humble yourself!
Strong words that show us the seriousness of sin, what it can do in lives and the solution to dealing with it
Grieving Redemption
Grieving Redemption
Submitting to God Results In:
1) Humbling of Self
The cure to worldliness
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7 having cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares about you. 8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.11 New American Standard Bible (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 2020), 1 Pe 5:6–8.
2) His Grace Poured Upon Us
The result of humbling yourself
God will give more grace to the humble, because they see their need of it, pray for it are thankful for it, and such shall have it
God doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves
His graciousness and kindness to us, even in our condition
Psalm 103:8 (NASB 2020)
The Lord is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in mercy.
3) His Mercy Applied to Us
For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him.
The price paid by another (Jesus) given to us for free
Redeemed by His Blood
Overwhelming compassion shown to the guilty
If you meet a sinner, do not turn your back on him, as a Pharisee might, but help him all you can, for Christ helped you all he could. If it should cost you a great deal of trouble to win that soul for Christ, gladly put yourself to that trouble, because Christ took so much trouble to save you.
A good brother said to me, the other day, concerning a certain boy, that he was afraid we should never do much with him because he was of very corrupt origin. I said, “So were you.”
He replied, “I do not quite mean it that way.”
“No,” I said, “but I do mean it that way.”
He or she who is a son or daughter of Adam had a corrupt origin. As we all came from that source, we are all corrupt. Do not ever say of anybody, “That person is too bad for me to do anything with him.” It is the genius of Christianity to select the worst first, and we should never regard any man as utterly hopeless until he is dead. As long as the breath is in his body, even if all the devils from hell were also in him, there is enough power in the Lord Jesus Christ to make the whole troop of them fly, and it is for us to attack those devils in his name. Jesus Christ having saved us, the salvation of other sinners must be possible.1 1 Charles Spurgeon, 300 Sermon Illustrations from Charles Spurgeon, ed. Elliot Ritzema and Lynnea Smoyer (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2017).
4) His Love Overwhelming Us
The result of the Holy Spirit living within us.
Whoever loves much, does much. - Thomas a' Kempis.
So many have said they have had experiences of death and going to heaven. They all have one common theme as they give their accounts: they felt such an overwhelming love that is indescribable and overwhelming to the point that they don’t wanna come back.
God’s love cannot be measured or even grasped in this life.
It is a selfless, divine, everyday, sacrificial, absurd love shown to us in Jesus.
As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our wrongdoings from us.
During the 17th century, Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, sentenced a soldier to be shot for his crimes. The execution was to take place at the ringing of the evening curfew bell. However, the bell did not sound. The soldier's fiancé had climbed into the belfry and clung to the great clapper of the bell to prevent it from striking. When she was summoned by Cromwell to account for her actions, she wept as she showed him her bruised and bleeding hands. Cromwell's heart was touched and he said, "Your lover shall live because of your sacrifice. Curfew shall not ring tonight!" Our Daily Bread.
His love conquers all!
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Life-Infusing Renewal
Life-Infusing Renewal
Who pardons all your guilt, Who heals all your diseases;
Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with favor and compassion;
Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.
This process ends in blessings beyond our wildest dreams!
It gives us life and freedom
It allows us to witness to the world
Conclusion
Conclusion
Times of mourning were important to the first Christians, and this would have been heavily impressed upon many of them by Jewish tradition. We see this idea carry over into the New Testament through leaders like Paul and James. These writers venture to tell us that there must be mourning for sin. Yes, God is merciful. So, let us make our hearts tender toward that mercy by handling it with gentle hands, rather than approaching God with demanding, closed fists. Then we will find that if we truly value the grace of God, we will act in a way that shows how we treasure it.
I have a brochure that is on the table at the door that will tell you how to get the most out of the season of Lent. Easter cannot be celebrated without Lent. So let us use this season of the year for God to bring us to repentance, redemption, and renewal in Him.
Commission & Benediction
(based on Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:9-15, Luke 4:1-13)
Go now, and live in the spirit of your baptism,
even when you are led into wild and hard places.
With repentance and trust, give yourselves to God,
and with fasting and prayer,
strengthen yourselves against the ways of the tempter.
And may God enfold you in tender and lasting love.
May Christ be beside you in times of struggle.
And may the Spirit guide you back to the path whenever you stray, that you may keep the covenant.
We go in peace to love and serve the Lord,
In the name of Christ. Amen.