Repentance Pt1
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“Repentance Is Good News”
“Repentance Is Good News”
Imagine you’re in a car driving…
You take a wrong turn… and instead of turning back, you just keep going?
You know you’re off course… You know you’ve gone the wrong way…
But something in you thinks, “If I just keep going, maybe this will fix itself.”
The sat nav pipes in… “Recalculating…”
You ignored it. Again: “Recalculating…” Ignored it again.
Eventually it keeps saying:
“Make a U-turn… make a U-turn…”
Now you feel like the sat nav is judging you.
But it isn’t judging you. It was just trying to get you back on track.
And that’s what repentance is.
Repentance isn’t God telling you off— it’s God showing you the way back.
REPENTANCE IS THE GOSPEL
REPENTANCE IS THE GOSPEL
When Jesus began His ministry, His message was simple.
In Mark 1:15, He says:
15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”
“Repent and believe the good news.”
Not: “Try harder”, “Be better”, “Sort yourself out first”
But: “Repent.”
Because repentance is not bad news. It’s actually part of the good news.
In Acts 3:19:
19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
“Repent… that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.”
Refreshing: Not rejection. Not shame. Not distance.
God doesn’t call you to repent to push you away— He calls you to repent to bring you close.
“There is no entrance into the kingdom without repentance. There is no advancement in the kingdom without repentance” Rob Reimer
THE RIVER OF GOD
THE RIVER OF GOD
Jesus paints this picture in John 7:37-38.
37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
He says the Holy Spirit is like a river—living water flowing.
This is pointing back to the vision of the river mentioned in in Ezekiel 47:
A river flowing from the temple… and everywhere it goes—life happens.
12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”
So here’s the picture:
The River = God’s presence, life, freedom, health, healing
• Sin is us choosing to step out of alignment with God’s presence, His purposes, His reign, sin causes us to step out of the River of God into a desolate wasteland = dryness, distance, emptiness, brokenness, death.
👉 Repentance is stepping back in.
“The Christian life isn’t about trying harder in the desert—it’s about returning to the River.”
“Most people don’t wake up one day and decide to walk away from God… they just drift.”
Stopped praying a bit…
Stopped reading the Bible…
Started compromising in small ways…
And before they knew it:
They feel completely dry. They feel distant and as though God is no longer there
They didn’t jump out of the River. They drifted.
And maybe that’s you today.
Not rebellion - Just drift.
Repentance isn’t about shame for drifting— it’s about stepping back into what you were made for.
Let’s make this real with the Story of King David
In 2 Samuel 11–12, we read about King David.
A man after God’s own heart:
22 After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’
He started off well, was brave, was humble, was obedient to God. He’d gone through the trials, defeated Goliath, served and honoured a King who wanted him dead, turned a group of rejects who joined him in a cave into a group of Mighty Men. Seen God’s hand on his life, turning his life around from being a fugitive to now being King. Being honoured and blessed by God again and again.
But in one season David took his eye off the ball, rather than continuing in the pursuits of God, he chose to relax, slow down and enjoy the benefits, he started to compromise:
In the Commentary “Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Samuel JD Greear says:
“The danger in blessing is that we tend to forget just how dependent we are on God. When life showers us with goodness, we assume we have caused it. So God gets pushed to the periphery.” JD Greear
He continues to point out that David had sent Joab out with the army to engage in battle, whilst he stayed at home on vacation.
“We simply weren’t designed to live our lives on the sidelines. God created us to engage in battle, to pursue His ministry with zeal and courage. Only a vision of what God wants to do in you will give you a sense of purpose strong enough to free you from the boredom that leads to sin. Only a vision of what God has done for you in the gospel will keep you from giving your souls away to idols.” JD Greear
David, bored and alone, with no higher purpose was left empty and unfulfilled. He looks out one night and sees Bathsheba, and as the saying goes, the rests history:
He sees Bathsheba
He commits adultery - she conceives
He tries to covers it up - when that doesn’t work He arranges her husband’s death
And then… life carries on.
Externally—he’s still king. Internally—something is breaking.
And in Psalm 32:3-4, he writes:
3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.
David’s sin was weighing on him—physically, emotionally, spiritually.
He didn’t just sin. He stepped out and stayed out of the River - to step back into the River would be to recognise his sin and guilt before a Holy God.
GOD’S RESTORATIVE PROCESS
GOD’S RESTORATIVE PROCESS
So what does God do when we step out of the River? He doesn’t abandon us—He pursues us.
Does He abandon David?
No. God pursues him.
And God deals with us in the same way because He loves us:
“The beautiful message of the Gospel is that though you are deeply flawed, you are even more deeply loved” Rob Reimer
1. CONVICTION — God whispers
1. CONVICTION — God whispers
God sends Nathan.
He tells a story… a story of injustice, a story of the abuse and misuse of wealth and power
David reacts… and David is incensed against the man in the story:
5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die!
And then Nathan says: “You are the man.”
Nathan calls David out… he reveals the lie David has been living
9 Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
That’s conviction. Specific. Clear. Personal.
Sin leads to a hardening of our hearts, whilst conviction brings a softening.
“Sin threatens to harden our hearts and get us out of the river of God’s presence. Conviction is designed to soften our hearts and bring us back into the river, so He pricks our conscience” Rob Reimer
When God convicts us of an unconfessed sin, He names the issue specifically:
Have you ever had that moment?
Where you just know the Holy Spirit is speaking?
“I need to apologise.”
“I shouldn’t have said that.”
“I need to deal with this.”
Maybe you keep trying to pray about everything else—but God keeps bringing you back to that one thing.”
Maybe even now you are squirming because you know what God is wanting to address.
That’s conviction.
“When God puts His finger on something, it’s not rejection—it’s rescue.”
If we ignore the conviction of the Spirit, the Lord doesn’t give up on us. He tries to get us to turn back to Him through the law of the harvest.
2. CONSEQUENCES — The law of the harvest
2. CONSEQUENCES — The law of the harvest
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
God allows the consequences of our choices to take effect in our lives to get us to repent.
“The conviction of the Spirit, and the law of the harvest, are not punitive in nature; they are restorative. God is trying to get us out of the desolate wasteland and back into the River of Life!” Rob Reimer
Sin has ripple effects
If we keep resisting conviction, God allows us to reap the consequences - WHY? In the hope that we become so sick of sin and its consequences that we choose to turn back to Him.
5 release this man over to Satan for the destruction of his rebellious flesh, in hope that his spirit may be rescued and restored in the day of the Lord.
That’s the law of the harvest.
Not punishment. But a wake up call!
If we still do not respond to conviction and the law of the harvest, God uses discipline to correct us and return us to Himself. Discipline is not a consequence, but the hand of God seeking to bring correction. The Bible makes it clear that all God’s children are disciplined, and that once again, discipline is not punitive but restorative.
3. DISCIPLINE — God forms us
3. DISCIPLINE — God forms us
10 For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. 11 No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.
God disciplines those He loves.
Think about a coach training an athlete. They push. Correct. Stretch.
Not to harm them— but because they see what they can become.
God’s discipline isn’t rejection—God is not paying you back—He is forming you, it’s investment.
If God is dealing with you, it’s proof you’re still His beloved child.
SO Conviction. Consequences. Discipline.
Three expressions of one heart: A Father determined to bring you back to life.
David’s response in 2 Samuel 12:13
13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”…
In Psalm 32:5 David said:
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.
No excuses.
No deflection.
No blaming others
REPENTENCE
Yes there were consequences to David’s sin, as there may be natural consequences to our own sins. But there was also forgiveness, freedom, restoration and relationship.
“God has more grace than we have sin. The only thing that prevents us from experiencing God's grace is our pride.” Robe Reimer
In another Psalm of David we read:
23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Just take a moment.
Where may I be resisting conviction?
Where have you stepped out of the River?
Where is the Holy Spirit gently putting His finger on something?
Repentance is not the doorway to shame— it’s the doorway back to life - it is Good News!
As we take a moment now to do business with God, I’d encourage you to dwell on the words of Psalm 51 which David wrote during his time of repentance.
