Repentance 3

Recap:

Before last week, we have been talking about repentance and how it is an opportunity to come back into a pure and open relationship with God!

We left off with talking about the importance of walking in the light and in exposure.

When we confess our sins to one another, we find healing!

So, maybe we should commit to having no secrets, holding others accountable, and being thankful when sin is called out in our lives!

And so, we asked this question:

When your sin is exposed, are you defensive or appreciative?

Many of us probably answered that often times we get defensive. So, let’s talk about that this morning.

Why do we get defensive?

If you are defensive, that is a possible indication of a deeper heart issue

This week and next week we are going to look deeper into our hearts

Scripture tells us that there should be a Godly sorrow when it comes to conviction of sin

In 2 Corinthians 7, Paul is talking of a letter that he had written to the church calling them out in which he says:

2 Corinthians 7:8–9 NIV

8 Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while—9 yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us.

2 Corinthians 7:10 (NIV)

10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

So, we see that for a time, we may be defensive when our sin is exposed, but it should lead to repentance

The first thing that I would encourage you to consider if you become defensive when sin is exposed is do you:

Experience Godly Sorrow

There is a difference in Godly sorrow and worldly sorrow

Worldly sorry says “I am sorry that I got caught” or “I can’t believe this is happening” or things of this nature

Godly sorry says “I am sorry that I have sinned and grieved the heart of God”

This makes way for true repentance!

How do we get to this point of experiencing Godly sorrow?

1. We know the heart of God

We know the love that God has for us!

Maybe this is where we need to start this morning.

Maybe you don’t know how much God loves you?

Romans 5:6–8 (NIV)

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless [weak], Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

*I added the brackets

If we question the love God has for us, we need to trust the Word of God! It is not because of your goodness, in fact, while you were neck deep in sin, Christ died for you!

Why does God want whats best for you? Because He loves you!

We begin with understanding the love that God has for us, but that is not the only part of God’s heart!

The heart of God is for holiness!

Let’s look at some shotgun scripture here to emphasize this point

Leviticus 11:44 (NIV)

44 I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy…

1 Peter 1:14–16 (NIV)

14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

Similarly, Jesus says:

Matthew 5:48 (NIV)

48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

We see some direct commands to be holy or perfect as God is perfect

There is also another phrase that is mentioned often particularly in the old testament

Deuteronomy 19:19 (NIV)

19 then do to the false witness as that witness intended to do to the other party. You must purge the evil from among you.

“Purge the evil”

This phrase is found 9 times in Deuteronomy, once in Judges and once in 1 Corinthians

The reason that I point this out is not to fall into legalism, but quite the opposite. It is to show the heart of God for His people being holy as He is holy!

Holiness should not be about legalism, it should be about the heart of God!

Anyone ever heard anyone say “Only God can judge me?” maybe they say this as if they believe that God’s standard is less than ours

But, the problem is: God’s standard is much higher than any of our standards!

You see, my self-righteous judgement puts me at the center of the scale

The way that I judge people in my flesh, is if they are better than me, they are a “good person,” but if they are not as good as me, they are a “bad person.”

I am the standard that I judge others

The problem, or good thing, with God is that He doesn’t judge us based on others. He doesn’t grade on a curve!

He judges based on His standard, which is righteousness, or holiness!

There is nothing that we can do to obtain this righteousness, apart from receiving Christ’s gift!

It is only through Christ that we are truly righteous!

2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV

21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

It is in Christ, not based on our good deeds!

So yeah, God is your judge, but His standard is pretty steep!

God invites us into His holiness, made way by the work of Jesus on the cross and the continued work of the Holy Spirit in our lives

As we talked about last week, we will still sin, but the goal is not to! And that’s the heart of God!

If we go back to our first week’s lesson, God’s plan is so much better!

We ask God to soften our hearts, and to expose our sin so we can walk in His holiness!

So, we trust understand that God is removing the sin from our lives for our good!

We know this is the heart of God, so we should be grieved when we sin, and that should lead us to repentance!

Secondly, when we sin against others, we should be grieved as we sinned against our brothers and sisters!

We should love them!

Matthew 22:35–39 (NIV)

35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

What happens when we don’t have this kind of love?

The second way that we come to experiencing Godly sorrow is to:

2. Ask God to soften our heart

Ezekiel 36:26 (NIV)

26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.

What should our heart of flesh look like?

The fruit of the Spirit is:

Galatians 5:22–23 (NIV)

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

If our gut reaction when someone comes to us and says “you hurt me” is to defend, get angry, or feel hurt, do we have a hard heart or soft heart?

If our response is not one of the fruit of the Spirit, then it is likely a fruit of the flesh, which Paul tells us those too:

Galatians 5:19–21 (NIV)

19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

If one of these is the fruit of our heart, then we ask the Lord to reveal it and to soften that area of our heart!

As we wrap up this morning, we want to experience Godly sorrow as is leads to repentance.

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Do we have this same feeling with God?

If not, next week we will wrap up repentance and go a step further.