Repentance Leads to Life Alive@5 St Mark’s 11.3.18
Introduction https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_YXxgb4vmE
Against the strong prophetic background of God’s calling sinful Israel to turn away from evil and come back to him (Jer 26:3; Ezek 14:6; Isa 55:6-7 etc.) Christ’s proclamation of repentance at the start of his ministry was charged with meaning. “Jesus came…proclaiming the gospel…15…“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”” (Mark 1:15). And just before he ascended to heaven he confirmed to the disciples the indispensability of repenting for salvation; ““Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, (Luke 24:46-47).
Calls to repent continue throughout the New Testament; in Acts these are strongly linked with receiving forgiveness (2:38; 3:19; 5:31; 8:22; 26:18, 20) and are often accompanied by a deep sense of regret for past sins (Matt 21:29; 2 Cor 7:8-10 cf. Ex 13:17; Prov 5:11 etc.). In scripture repentance is a sign of faith in God’s promises (Mark 1:15; Acts 20:21). To accept the urgent need of repentance we must first accept the depths of human wickedness.
Why is Repentance Needed?
In Jeremiah 17:9 the Lord personally describes our dreadful fallen state, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Given that “heart” in scripture stands for the central make up of a person (Prov 4:23) people need renewal from the core of their being. Only God’s Word can touch the depths of the human heart and bring about a complete turning to himself (Acts 20:21; Heb 4:12-13). This is what was happening when Peter preached the gospel on the Day of Pentecost, “when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said…“Brothers, what shall we do?”” To which he replied, ““Repent and be baptized…for the forgiveness of your sins”” (Acts 2:37 cf. 16:14). Since only God’s Word can convey repentance the source of true repentance is wholly supernatural.
The Gift of Penitent Grief
This is why it’s vital to distinguish repentance from ordinary sorrow. Paul speaks of two types of remorse, one holy the other useless;“…I rejoice…because you were grieved into repenting….10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.” (2 Cor 7:9-10). There are clear biblical examples of remorse without repentance; King Saul repeatedly felt very bad about his disobedience but his heart never turned back to God (1 Sam 15:24). Judas’ felt dreadful about betraying Jesus, but he didn’t rejoin the apostles (Matt 27:4-5). Remorse is a self-centred feeling bad about oneself, but true repentance centres on God. Anyone can feel guilty, but God alone can reveal sin and stir up a grief leading to repentance and eternal life. The pain of true repentance always flows into joy and thankfulness (Ps 51:8, 12). It has been wisely said, “Repentance is the secret of a joy filled life.” (B. Schlink).
Since repentance is the restoration of God-centred living it is a pure gift of God. Peter preaches, ““God exalted him (Jesus)…to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins…. to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”” (Acts 5:31; 11:18 cf. 2 Tim. 2:25). Much contemporary preaching however denies the power of repentance because our understanding of repentance has been completely detached from the work of Christ.
The Vicarious Repentance of Christ
A consistent Christ-centred approach to salvation will insist that our mourning over sin-as-sin and turning back to God is a share in the life of Christ. Jesus sorrowed over sin in Gethsemane (Mark 14:34) and cried out on the cross for the presence of his Father (Ps 22:1b=Mark 15:34) not because he had any personal sin to repent of but because he had entered into our fallen human condition (Isa 53:12). In bearing our sins he grieves for our rebellion and turns to God on our behalf (John 17:19; 2 Cor 5:21; 1 Pet 2:24). Only Jesus who has never been God’s enemy can offer himself to the Father on behalf of his enemies (Rom 5:10). Since only a sinless human being can sense the true extent of the horror of sin, see how it wounds the heart of God and grasp its hellish consequences, Jesus alone can truly turn from all sin means and offer himself to God. “For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.” (Rom 6:10). That repentance is a fruit of the gospel has often been misunderstood.
How Does Repentance Happen?
Confused ideas of repentance reflect confused ideas about God. I clearly remember preachers listing sins, telling their hearers they’re guilty of breaking God’s Law, pronouncing that the wages of sin is death (Rom 3:23; 6:23), then finally offering them forgiveness through Christ. This teaching presents forgiveness as a possible human experience and creates the impression that our repentance causes God to forgive us. This legalism appeals to our selfish urge for survival but it cannot induce real repentance toward God (Acts 20:21). The scriptures present a totally different framework for repentance.
The Old Testament contains repeated prophetic promises of Israel turning to the Lord in fear and trembling because he has first blessed and restored them (Isa 44:22; Ezek 36:26-31; Jer 32:36-41; 33:6-9; Zech 1:14-17).When convicted over his adultery and murder David didn’t selfishly seek survival he sought God, “Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.” (Ps 51:11 cf. Ps 130:3-4).
A gospel centred approach to repentance says, “God has provided forgiveness for you in Christ, therefore turn back to him and receive it.” This is the power of the gospel preached by the apostles; “through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.” (Acts 13:38-39); “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Cor 5:19). Through the proclamation of forgiveness in Christ people’s hearts are moved to renounce sin and to throw themselves on the mercy of God. As Paul says in Romans 2, “God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance” (2:4); and after another nine chapters of expounding the grace of God (justification, sanctification, election) exhorts his readers, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice” (12:1-2). The gospel discloses what sin means to God and his unhateful response which reveals to us the true loving character of God as a Father provoking a deep heart turning back to the Lord. This was drawing out of repentance was happening even as Jesus was being crucified.
When the penitent thief on the cross next to Christ heard him pray, ““Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”” (Luke 23:34) he had a revelation of the perfect righteousness of God for sinners satisfied in Christ and seeing his rebellion against God was totally misplaced he was irresistibly moved to say; ““Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.””? (Luke 23:42). When the Word of Christ (1 Cor 1:23) penetrates the “thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb 4:12) the Spirit communicates something of Jesus own attitude to sin and we lose the will to resist the grace offered us in the gospel.
The Repentant Christian
When you came to Christ your past, present and future sins were all forgiven in him (Acts 4:12). The blood of the cross has forever taken away the power of sin to separate us from God (Rom 8:31-39). Repentance and confession remain a part of the Christian life not to keep us in God’s family but to keep on cleansing us from sin’s presence so we stay intimate with Jesus (1 John 1:7-9). Where the fullness of the grace of the gospel is not proclaimed poorly taught believers will feel that when they sin they move out of God’s grace and when they repent they move back into grace. This instability of conscience is a crucial factor explaining the immaturity of the contemporary Christianity.
Conclusion
It’s wonderful but embarrassing when the Spirit highlights a sin through your own sermon preparation. I have become aware, perhaps more than ever before, how I share with the mass of Christians in our infantile childish churches (Eph 4:14) a heartfelt fear of deep repentance. I sense a fear, more than the pain of confession of sin before others, which is scary enough. I sense there are parts of our hearts which before God are scared that we really are guilty people who deserve to be punished (cf. 1 John 4:17-18). The divided heart and double mindedness of the usual state of Australian Christians (Ps 86:11; James 1:8; 4:8) points to a profound unbelief about the grace of God whereby we think he has a divided heart about forgiving us. But the word of the cross proclaims that our Father possesses a single-hearted desire to drench us in his mercy and baptise us in his Spirit (Isa 32:15 cf. Tit 3:4-7). Let me illustrate something of what I’m trying to say here with an Australian story about an outbreak of repentance; a mini revival if you like.
In 1962 CMS missionary Geoff Bingham (who I knew personally) who had experienced revival in Pakistan was on furlough in Sydney. In a prayer meeting he said, ‘I think that the Lord wants to bring home to us now what the Lord thinks of us.’ He read from Psalm 24, ‘Who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord? He who has clean hands and a pure heart.’ Then he suggested that those present should come to the Lord and ask him to reveal himself. They all knelt down in a circle, and then someone began to weep, and a great conviction came over everyone. Some tried to pray, but dissolved in sobs. One man later testified that he had an incredible sense of his own depravity in the sight of God. It was as if he were standing outside himself, looking at himself. And he wanted to flee from himself as fast and as far as he could because of the horrific sight he had of his own sin. He was crushed and broke down and sobbed convulsively, and the others around him were prostrate on the floor, broken-hearted. Then a gentle quietness came over the whole group, and then a wonderful sense of God’s total forgiveness. Then they sang and sang until they were hoarse. The singing and intercession just went on and on, until someone said, ‘It’s half past four in the morning’. Everyone was staggered that so much time had elapsed.
Let’s not focus on the intense emotions so characteristic of the first wave of a revival but stay Christ-centred. The Spirit was sharing with these believers something of Christ’s grief over sin and something of his glorious joyful resurrection victory (2 Cor 3:18; Phil 3:10). The challenge for us tonight is whether we want to see our sin as Jesus’ sees it and be moved beyond this into a new power to serve him. Will we be controlled by our fears or “for Christ’s sake” (2 Cor 12:10) will we be willing to allow him to show us what he thinks of us?