Teach Us to Pray (Part 3): Repent To Jesus!

Introduction

Matthew 6:9–13 ESV

9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one; for yours in the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Psalm 51 ESV

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. 1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. 14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. 15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; 19 then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

1) Readily Confess You Are Guilty of Sin! (v. 1-6)

Psalm 51:1–6 ESV

1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

The Bible teaches us that we have been saved from sin, are being saved from sin, and will be saved from sin.

We have been saved from the Penalty of Sin through the work of Jesus on the Cross. (Justification, Eph. 2:8-9)

We are being saved from the the Power of Sin through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. (Sanctification, 1 Cor. 1:18)

We will be saved from the Presence of Sin as we eternally dwell in the holiness and perfection of God. (Glorification, Rom. 5:9)

While we have been justified and saved by the blood of Jesus, we still struggle with the power of sin in our lives.

This struggle is not because sin is that powerful, it’s because we are that stubborn.

We still hold on to the old life from which we were saved for new life.

The New Life we have in the Holy Spirit we are still learning and growing in to.

When we sin as Christians, we do not negate our salvation, but we do neglect our fellowship with God.

Sin entangles us and weakens us spiritually, psychologically, emotionally, and can even affect us physically.

Our sin robs us of the fullness of the new life we have in Jesus, through the Spirit, to the Glory of God the Father.

Therefore, we must lay down our pride and agree with God about the severity of our sin.

Repentance at its core is not a change of action, it is a change of mindset!

When we seek to confess our sin as part of our repentance, we are changing our mindset about sin and the severity of it.

We cannot just admit we have sinned.

We have to allow the holiness of God to deeply penetrate our hearts and our minds so that we agree with Him that our sin truly is a dangerous hinderance to the new life that Jesus willingly gave his life for us to have.

True confession is not listing our sins and then going about as if it is no big deal.

Real confession agrees with God that it is a serious matter!

This is why it is important to confess our sin quickly and not let sin linger in our lives to the point that we become jaded about it and normalize it.

As we purposefully pray for repentance, let us readily confess our guilt as we acknowledge our sin.

2) Rely Confidently in God’s Redeeming Work! (v. 7-12)

Psalm 51:7–12 ESV

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

It is through the power of the Holy Spirit that we are able to remove any bindings that sin has in our lives.

Only God through the Holy Spirit has to power to free us.

Jesus freed us from the penalty of sin and death through his death, burial, and resurrection.

The Holy Spirit frees us from sinful mindsets and habits that so easily entangles us.

When our hearts are broken over our sin, trust that God’s restoration of fellowship really is freeing!

No Christian should remain in the guilt and shame of sin by saying, “I know God has forgiven me, but I just can’t forgive myself.”

This is still allowing sin to have control through your pride as you keep trying to elevate yourself over God!

Confidently rejoice in God redeeming work and don’t continue in sin.

This is what it means when David says, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.”

The chains of sin are forever broken when I come to a place in my heart where God’s forgiveness and restoration are all that I need to be forgiven and restored!

Our God is a great God. There is none like Him. There is none that compares. There is none who has such great an authority so as to forgive and restore…including the man in the mirror!

As we purposefully pray for repentance, let us readily confess our guilt as we acknowledge our sin, and let us rely confidently in God’s redeeming work!

3) Rigorously Chase After God’s Will and His Ways! (v.13-19)

Psalm 51:13–19 ESV

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. 14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. 15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; 19 then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

When we are confident in God’s redeeming work we can passionately pursue a life lived out by the Spirit of God.

Because of what God does in our hearts, our lives should be an obviously blazing example to the rest of the lost world around us.

Our lives should be a resounding declaration of the righteousness of God.

All that who we are in Christ is not manifested in empty religious acts

Rather, who we are in Christ, it is to be a full display of a genuine life defined by broken and humble hearts that point people to Jesus.

Only when we have had a change of mindset so as to truly agree with God our sin and have experienced the restoration and redemption of His love are we able to live in brokenness and humility.

From that place of deep love and reliance on God comes an exciting new passion to live for and delight our Heavenly Father!

In Luke 7 we see an encounter of Jesus eating at the home of a Pharisee.

A woman, well known for a life of prostitution, comes in and anoints his feet with an incredibly expensive perfume and wipes his feet with her tears and hair.

The pharisee in his mind is outraged and wonders why Jesus would allow such a grotesque act if He truly were a great man of God.

Jesus presents a scenario to the religious leader.

Luke 7:41–48 ESV

41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” 44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

You and I have been forgiven much…probably far more than we can presently fathom!

In purposefully praying for repentance, we should be driven to grow in our fellowship with God and live for His glory with passion!

We do not do this out of obligation, but rather out of love and admiration, recalling just how great He is and how out of His abundant love we are saved and restored!

When we pray with repentance, we should readily confess our guilt as we acknowledge our sin, rely confidently on God’s redeeming work and restoration, and rigorously chase after His will and His ways!

Repentance begins with a change of mindset, which produces a change of heart, that leads to a change of pursuits.

Closing

As sin-broken people, we will often look for other ways to fix the problems in our lives.

We have become the masters of illusions giving way to disillusion that our problems are solved simply because they are covered up.

The only solution for being broken…is brokenness of heart.

When we pray forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors, there is a deep declaration and heart that reside within these words…let us pray them with purpose as seek to think, live, and care biblically!