Repentance
Notes
Transcript
If we put off repentance another day, we have a day more to repent of, and a day less to repent in.
Repentance is a - VITALLY important aspect of Christianity, YET, I believe that Repentance can often be...
OVERLOOKED - forgotten - when it comes to us sharing the Gospel message.
While Jesus said this in Mark...
15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Repent and believe…
While Jesus said this...
I think we can often - SKIP the first part...
the call to - REPENT!
Today - in our text, REPENTANCE is going to be a THEME…
And we’ll dive in - seeing some aspects of Repentance that I think can be helpful for us.
We have a lot of TEXT today to get thru, so let’s READ ENOUGH of it to get the story - and then we can circle back...
1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.
2 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.
OK - so Manasseh begins ruling in Jerusalem...
Manasseh was - Hezekiah’s son.
And if we remember how HEZEKIAH ruled, we know that Hezekiah - DID WHAT WAS RIGHT in the eyes of the Lord.
Manasseh - however - did the opposite!
What did he do?
We see the LIST next...
3 For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.
4 And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem will I put my name.”
5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.
6 And he burned his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.
7 And the carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever.
Ok so to list these out...
he rebuilt the high places
He erected altars for Baal / and made an Ashera
Built altars in the house of the Lord
He burned his son as an offering
Used fortune telling and omens
And placed an IDOL in the house of the Lord.
SO what happens? - - God responds...
10 And the Lord said by his servants the prophets,
11 “Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols,
12 therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.
So God brings judgment - and - - we’ve seen this before right??!!
it’s nothing new...
But at this point - we need to go to 2 Chronicles in order to see how this story ends… And we’ll see the CRUX of the story today...
9 Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.
10 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention.
11 Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon.
12 And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.
13 He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.
if you remember our sermon title today - you remember that what we’re focusing on today is - - Repentance
I want to dive into Repentance today...
And see some INGREDIENTS - that MAKE IT UP...
SLIDE: Repentance: Humility of Heart
Repentance
Repentance
Now - Where do we see this in the text?
12 And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.
if we were to look up REPENTANCE - in the dictionary… We’d find this...
SLIDE:
1. To feel pain, sorrow, or regret, for what one has done or omitted to do.
2. To change the mind, or the course of conduct, on account of regret or dissatisfaction.
3. To be sorry for sin as morally evil, and to seek forgiveness; to cease to love and practice sin
And so if THIS is what Repentance IS - then in order to GET THERE...
You can hopefully SEE - how - Humility of Heart is needed.
HOW do we get to a place where we feel REGRET - for what we did or did NOT do in relation to God??
HOW do we get to a place where we become BURDENED - by our actions under God??
It takes - IN PART - Humility.
How did Jesus live His life on this earth?
2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
So EVEN Jesus - while HERE on earth - humbled Himself -
…UNTO - Obedience - - UNTO - - death
UNTO OBEDIENCE...
Think of the apostles...
Called by Christ to - Follow Him!
Did they?
YEAH! - in the MOMENT! they followed Him!
Remember when Jesus was washing the apostles feet?
And Jesus comes to Peter to wash his feet?
How did Peter respond?
6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?”
7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”
8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”
9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”
Even though Peter STILL didn’t understand what Christ was saying...
IN THIS MOMENT - He - - HUMBLED himself!
AT FIRST - he was like - NO WAY…!
YOU’RE NOT going to wash ME - EVER!
Jesus then - RESPONDS and says - well then you have NO PART with Me!!
And so Peter - HUMBLES himself! - - UNTO obedience!
The Apostle PAUL - lived his life - PRIOR to conversion - as a - PERSECUTOR of the CHURCH!!
BUT THEN - he is MET by Jesus on the road to Damascus...
And while - YES - of COURSE this change in Paul’s life - was SOLELY of God!
Paul ALSO - humbled himself...
Humility CAME - and Paul ends up OBEYING Jesus - not PERSECUTING His followers!
Humility - UNTO obedience!!
And think about iT - THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT IT TAKES - for us to OBEY Jesus!
BY DEFAULT - By nature - we are BENT toward - SIN!!
So KNOW THIS...
SLIDE:
As followers of Christ, obedience is always preceded by humility of heart.
It was true for the apostles
For Peter...
For the apostle Paul...
If you BELONG to God - It was true for YOU...
And if you DON’T BELONG to God (right now) - It WILL be true of you...
If you have YET to bow the KNEE to Jesus - it will take you LAYING yourself DOWN.
Humility says:
I REALLY DON’T KNOW as much as i think
I REALLY DON’T KNOW all the answers
I REALLY AM - wicked at heart
I REALLY CAN’T DENY - that God exists
The BIBLE REALLY DOES KNOW - me better than I know myself
I KNOW - I’m not a good person
I REALLY DO KNOW - that God is GOD - and I AM NOT!
1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching Humble Growth
Benjamin Franklin developed a set of disciplines which he hoped would enable him to attain moral perfection. He drew up a list of twelve virtues which he considered essential to achieving the good life. He ruled each page with seven lines. Daily he appraised and recorded his behavior. During a conversation Franklin shared his profile of excellence with an old Quaker, who quietly informed him he had omitted the virtue of humility.
SLIDE: C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis:
True humility is not thinking less of yourself, but instead thinking of yourself less.
And JUST in case we weren’t sure how IMPORTANT humility is...
4 The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.
5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
In our text today - Manasseh - HUMBLED himself before the Lord - and in DOING SO -
God responded with MERCY.
Manasseh repented…and God responded!
But that’s not the only piece of REPENTANCE we see in the text~
12 And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.
13 He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.
So not only did Manasseh HUMBLE himself - but he also - - PRAYED…to who?
to God.
And what we’ll SEE in this - is this...
SLIDE: Repentance: Submission to God
Repentance
Repentance
When we PAY our taxes - we are HUMBLING ourselves to do so...
BUT there’s another aspect of that humbling...
And it deals with SUBMISSION...
It’s one thing to HUMBLE ourselves - And SUBMIT to the LAWS of the land - in paying our taxes...
But to Humble ourselves - and SUBMIT to the Lord
Is to display that SUBMISSION = to God.
And i think there’s an ACCOUNT in scripture that displays a pretty good picture of what we’re talking about here.
18 And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’ ”
21 And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.”
22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”
23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.
the story of the Rich young Ruler...
the rich ruler didn't know who Jesus was...
He KNEW the commandments but didn't know Jesus...
Well- JESUS KNEW the rich ruler...
Jesus KNEW what he worshipped...
“ONE thing you lack” - Jesus says - - WHAT 1 thing?
He lacked LOVE FOR Christ...
And so Christ goes right to the guys heart...RIGHT TO HIS IDOL...and says - SELL IT ALL...GIVE IT ALL AWAY...
But the rich ruler walked away sad....WHY? Because he was extremely rich...
AND because he was A LOVER of MONEY...
He preferred MONEY over and above Christ...
The money ITSELF isn't evil....
There's something DEEPER...that's wrong here...
He preferred MONEY over Christ...and walked away…SAD
NOW - what happened in this story?
There WAS a HUMILITY that took place here…!
This guy was RICH...
YET - He came to this GUY = JESUS - whom he thought was just a good teacher!
But IN THAT (as wrong as he was) - - He DID humble himself…IN A SENSE - - in seeking answers from this OTHER person.
Think about it -
He got to a point in life where he said-
OK - I REALLY DON’T KNOW - what the answer is here!
And so - He humbled himself! - - in a certain way.
His humility - was a humility of the MIND...
He was simply seeking - HEAD KNOWLEDGE
BUT - Did he SUBMIT to Jesus?
NO!!
It says - he HEARD what Jesus said - YET - walked away SAD!
He DIDN’T DO what Jesus had said!
Why?
Because WHILE he HUMBLED himself MENTALLY...
His mind seeking knowledge...
his HEART was - - SUBMITTED - to HIS MONEY!
REPENTANCE under God - is about SUBMITTING TO God!
Had the rich young ruler - HUMBLED HIS HEART - and SUBMITTED himself to Jesus...
He would NOT have walked away SAD!
He would have SAW the VALUE of Jesus...
And IN TURN - Submitted to HIM!
But he walked away - and his WALKING AWAY SAD - was the outpouring of his heart...
It was his SUBMISSION on display!
Think about it...
In HIS MIND - He GOT HIS ANSWER!
Remember what he ASKED Jesus?
How do I inherit eternal life?
NOW - while he misunderstood the spiritual nature of Jesus’ answer...
IN HIS MIND - he got his answer...
And it was - SELL ALL YOU HAVE - and you’ll inherit eternal life.
THAT’S WHY he walked away - - SAD!
GOD is AMAZING!
SLIDE:
The spiritual waywardness of the rich young ruler was revealed in his physical understanding, and subsequent response, to Jesus’ question.
This man - never even understood the spiritual side of what Jesus had said.
When Jesus said - You LACK ONE THING…go, sell all you have...
Jesus WASN’T SAYING - if you do this one thing, you’ll gain heaven...
The ONE THING he lacked - WAS JESUS!
The man’s HEART was SUBMITTED to money.
And the ONE THING was that it needed to be SUBMITTED to Jesus!
What have we seen so far?
SLIDE:
Repentance
Humility of Heart
Submission to God
NOW - in thinking about our text today...
We saw Manasseh - get to a point of REPENTANCE...
But what GOT HIM there?
10 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention.
OK - so THIS was the problem - right?
They IGNORED God.
2 Chronicles 33:11–13 (ESV)
11 Therefore the Lord brought upon them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh with hooks and bound him with chains of bronze and brought him to Babylon.
12 And when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. 13 He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.
We can see what led to Manasseh REPENTING...
Manasseh hadn’t KNOWN that the Lord was GOD - until when?
Until he was - IN DISTRESS!
Sometimes God will LEAD US INTO the VALLEYS of life...
TO BRING US - to repentance
Now we might read that and think - OH, HE WAS JUST SCARED - and that’s why he prayed - it wasn’t GENUINE!
Well - that COULD have been possible...
But GOD KNEW Manasseh’s heart - and God KNEW it was genuine.
God IS God....
And He has the RIGHT to USE WHATEVER He pleases to get us to REPENT!
For Manasseh - God BROUGHT him to a place where he was FACE-TO-FACE with his FRAIL - humanity!
God brought him to DEATH’S doorstep!
And it BROKE Manasseh!
**How about you?
Has God ever USED - FEAR…PAIN…>SUFFERING in your life - to get your attention??
I would imagine He has - whether we KNOW it or not...
And MAYBE it caused us to think- - I HATE GOD because of that!
Why is that THOUGHT - off?
4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
ANYTHING that comes in our lives - that leads us to REPENT to God… is - - Good.
Why?
Because again - Repentance is what?
Humility of heart in SUBMISSION to God!
Anything that causes us to SUBMIT to the Lord…is good.
Even - as in our text today - getting captured - and probably tortured.
Even stage 4
Even loss / heartache / abandonment
ANYTHING - that puts us in RIGHT relation with God - the ALMIGHTY - is GOOD!
And sometimes - God brings BLESSING - to lead us to repentance!
Back to our text...
2 Chronicles 33:13 (ESV)
13 He prayed to him, and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.
Here - God did the impossible!
In Manasseh’s mind - there was NO WAY he would survive...
Instead - He prays to the Lord...
And the LORD responds - not only by letting him live - but by RESTORING what was lost!
Blessing CAME...
And it CAUSED Manasseh to KNOW that the Lord was God!
And what did this lead to?
SLIDE: Repentance: A Catalyst for Change
Repentance
Repentance
Back to our text...
14 Afterward he built an outer wall for the city of David west of Gihon, in the valley, and for the entrance into the Fish Gate, and carried it around Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah.
15 And he took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he threw them outside of the city.
16 He also restored the altar of the Lord and offered on it sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and he commanded Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel.
Manasseh found himself in a VALLEY - face-to-face with death
He was HUMBLED in his heart -
He SUBMITTED himself to the Lord…PRAYING to the Lord
And God BLESSED him.
he then KNEW - that the Lord was God...
THIS [REPENTANCE] - led to - change...
he ends up: (READ what’s DOWN BELOW)
SLIDE:
Manasseh:
Built a wall around his domain, guarding the things of God
Discarded all idols
Restored the altar of the Lord and began worshiping God
Proclaimed the worship of the Lord
He built a WALL around the city and FORTIFIED it with protection.
Guarding the people
He then took all the IDOLS, the FOREIGN GODs, and the ALTARS he had built - and THREW them outside of those walls!
He then RESTORED the altar and commanded the people to WORSHIP the Lord!
Now - think about it - these things - ALSO happened in Manasseh’s heart.
he realized he needed to GUARD the things of God
he DISCARDED the idols of his heart (all that he had PURSUED!
he himself began to WORSHIP the Lord - instead of ignoring Him!
And FROM THERE - he proclaimed that God is GOD - and that people should WORSHIP Him!
Repentance is a catalyst for Change - and it’s the CHANGE that puts on display - what the heart is submitted to.
SUMMARY
SLIDE:
Repentance
Humility of Heart
Submission to God
A Catalyst for Change
We humble ourselves -
We think LESS of ourselves!
We SUBMIT to God...
not to what the world values
not to money or fame or the DESIRE for those things
But God!
And when we do that - Change will come.
Not overnight…necessarily
But change will come - in attitudes, in speech, in outlook, in hope, in more repentance, in more GRACE, in more LOVE...
Let’s pray these things take hold in us...
