Repentance 2

Romans 5:18-6:18.

Recap:

God loves you too much to leave you the way that you are!

Repentance - to change your mind - resulting in a change of direction. Hebrew understanding is the idea of coming back home - think of the prodigal son

Sin will kill you, but confession and repentance will give you life!

How do we come to a place of confession/repentance?

1. Understand our Nature

2. Understand the Gospel

3. The Holy Spirit Convicts Us

Conviction is not Condemnation!

Conviction: rebuke or expose

What happens when conviction doesn’t work?

1. The Principle of Sowing and Reaping!

2. The Principle of God’s Discipline!

Today we are going to talk about how we can begin to find freedom when we are stuck in sin!

In other words reasons that it is difficult to repent and how we can push on into repentance

Last week we talked about coming to our senses then changing our direction and confessing sins

This week I want to go a little bit deeper. And so, our sin is revealed by the Word of God, the Spirit of God, or the church!

So, then what?

Own Up!

How many of us like the light?

How many of us like the light when we are awakened from a dead sleep?

Things are pitch black and then a light is switched on

It’s painful, right? We don’t want to look into the light!

And so, coming into the light can be a difficult thing! It may cause pain for a time!

Naturally, we don’t want to:

John 3:19–21 (NIV)

19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Part of the process of owning up is coming into the light! That is the first step!

“God cannot cleanse that which we will not confess (Reimer 83).”

Or, I like to say “God cannot heal what we won’t reveal”

We need to understand that God wants us to come into the light because He loves us!

God doesn’t love me more when I confess! And He doesn’t love me less when I don’t!

The love of God is consistent! But, in God’s love, He wants me to step into the light and to own up!

Let’s look at this idea of coming into the light a bit further.

1 John 1:5–7 (NIV)

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

1 John 1:8–10 (NIV)

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

A few notes here:

1. God is light! Light radiates from Him!

You can’t have light and darkness! They are opposites! Where there is darkness, there is no light. Where there is light, there is no darkness!

2. We can’t have fellowship with Him while walking in the darkness!

To have fellowship with God, we walk in the light!

And, the bonus is:

3. If we walk in the light, we have fellowship with one another!

One of the things that creates fellowship with one another is walking in the light!

4. We all sin!

So:

5. The light is not sinlessness, it is exposure!

To walk in the light is to live a life of exposure!

Confessing our sins to one another!

James 5:16 (NIV)

16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Maybe this is part of the fellowship with one another, confessing our sins to each other!

Maybe there is this culture that should take place!

One where we are regularly confessing to each other!

Also, maybe one where we are regularly calling each other out, in a loving way!

At the end of James, not too many verses down:

James 5:19–20 (NIV)

19 My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

When someone wanders from the truth to sin, we should bring them back!

Jesus says:

Luke 17:3–4 (NIV)

3 So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. 4 Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”

Again, this idea that we should call out our brothers or sisters that sin against us!

Paul furthers this idea:

Galatians 6:1 (NIV)

1 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.

Maybe we create a culture where we lovingly call each other out and confess to each other!

We really don’t do a good job of fostering this idea. We tend to like to hide sin in the darkness. But that is the opposite of what God wants us to do!

In fact, Dr. Reimer believes that we should take this even further to the point to having at least one person that knows everything sin that you have committed.

To be completely transparent with them!

Obviously, this needs to be someone that you trust and someone that wants what is best for you!

And so, he recommends to:

Commit to having no secrets!

There is healing when we confess and there is true freedom!

Secrecy and darkness produce a false sense of security in the midst of a heart full of fear, but they can never result in freedom (Reimer 85).”

When we are in the dark, we feel like we are secure and our secret is safe, but really it is just living in bondage!

In John 8, Jesus talks about this concept

John 8:31–33 (NIV)

31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”

John 8:34–36 (NIV)

34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Jesus is talking about this idea of positional righteousness, but the truth carries in that while we are in sin, we are a slave to that sin

In order to sin, we are under the influence of the enemy

James 1:13 NIV

13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;

When temptation comes, we have to look away from God in order to sin…giving into the influence of the enemy!

So, there is this sense that when we sin, we are being a slave to the enemy…

But, Jesus always provides a way out and true freedom!

So, we commit to coming into the light! To having no secrets that control us!

6. When we confess, He forgives and purifies!

What I love about this verse:

1 John 1:9 (NIV)

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

He is faithful, when I wasn’t! And He is just, meaning He will do what’s right!

Well, what is right when we confess our sins?

Forgiveness and purification!

Because it was already paid for on the cross!

Jesus isn’t climbing back up on the cross in order to forgive us every time that we sin!

When He died on the cross, His sacrifice was sufficient to cover all sins, past, present, and future!

We don’t confess because God needs to do something in order to forgive us!

When Jesus said “It is finished” he meant it!

What confession does is bring our junk into the light to be forgiven!

So that it doesn’t take up space, or hold us in bondage in our minds anymore!

And He is faithful, when I wasn’t, He was! And He is just, which means He will not condemn, but will forgive us and purify us from all unrighteousness!

Some of us need to believe this this morning!

Some of you are carrying around baggage and junk, that Jesus has set your free from!

Bring it into the light and receive healing and freedom!

And believe in the finished work on the cross!

The last thing that I want to end on this morning is how do we handle the exposure of our sin?

Are we thankful, or, do we get defensive?

When sin is revealed, do we jump to defending ourselves and blaming others? Or are we appreciative for the opportunity to come into the light?

Because this reveals where our heart is!

If we continue to hide and live in the dark, we will miss the opportunity to find free and to become more like Jesus!

I would challenge us to make confession, repentance, and forgiveness normal!

This is not permission to sin!

Paul talks about this very thing in his letter to the Romans that we read at the beginning of this message!

What is Paul saying?

We were sinners, we were slaves to sin and condemned for it! But in Christ Jesus we are alive and new in Him!

We are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to righteousness. We now live under grace!

But this is not permission to sin, but to walk in righteousness!

I think that this wraps up well!

When we sin, come to Jesus, not out of condemnation, but out of a heart to find freedom!

Next week we are going to talk a little more about our heart and when we can recognize a hardness there.

Maybe when I asked if you are thankful or defensive when sin is exposed, your honest answer was “defensive” or angry.

We are going to dive even further to why this might be and how to soften our hearts next week! Super super important!

Worship Team and Deacons

For now, maybe the Lord was speaking to you through His word or spirit this morning.

Maybe you need to come into the light for the first time! - salvation

Maybe you need to come into the light for the 100th time - sanctification!

In either situation, there is freedom and healing!

Let’s take some time confessing and to God and one another