Repentance

Judges 10:10-16

What is NOT repentance:\r
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"As long as no one knows then I'm not doing anything wrong." This is the "if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, does it make a sound" argument: "If a person falls in their life and no is around to see it, do they commit a sin?" \r
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"Lord, I got myself into a jam, now you get me out of it. I am your child after all." \r
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"Lord if you rescue me I'll (fill in the blank)"\r
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"I'm sorry I got caught." \r
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"I'm sorry I did this, but once I get clean I'll go right back and do it again." \r
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"It doesn't matter what I do, God has to forgive me"\r
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"I don't deserve forgiveness so I'm not going to even bother God"\r
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So if the above are not true repentance, what is? \r
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The Greek word for "repent" is metanoeo. It means "to perceive afterwards." It comes from two words: meta (after, implying a change) and noeo, from nous: (the mind). Contrast that with pronoeo, which would be to change your mind beforehand. \r
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The Hebrew word is Shoob and it means to "return or go back" and generally means to go back towards the point of departure. It occurs over 1,000 in Biblical Hebrew.\r
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When you put these two words together you begin to get an idea about the meaning of repentance. You do something, realize it was the wrong thing, and turn around towards that place where you diverged off the trail.\r
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As we see here in Judges there are five steps involved in repentance. \r
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1. They acknowledged their sin (Recognize)\r
2. They put themselves into God's hands (Release)\r
3. Then they asked for deliverance (Request)\r
4. They acted on their repentance by putting away the foreign gods (Replace)\r
5. They once again drew close to Yahweh (Return)\r
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Let's take them one at a time to give us a sense of true repentance and how it works in our lives:\r
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1. Acknowledgment of sin (Recognize)\r
The Israelites said they had sinned in two ways: they had forsaken a relationship with God and had served the Baals. This is the foundation of repentance. It's not enough to say you have forsaken God if you are still in love with other gods. It doesn't work to just go to church and lift your hands in worship if you go home and lie, cheat, and steal and otherwise pretend as if God doesn't exist and you aren't his servant. It involves first recognizing that what you are doing is against God's character and that it is an affront to God. \r
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Psalms 51:4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, NIV\r
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Often this first step is when you begin to wake up from the dream-state of sin and realize what you've been doing. It's as if God shakes you awake and you see yourself and your actions for what they are in comparison to who God is.\r
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2. Placing yourself in God's hands (Release)\r
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In this second step we can make the mistake of thinking that if we just clean up our act and make ourselves presentable to God then He'll accept us again. The Israelites basically said "do with us what you want." It's the "throwing yourself on the mercy of the court" approach rather than "I'm going to work furiously to clear my name." \r
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When David fled Jerusalem after his son Absolom led a rebellion against him he said: 2 Samuel 15:25-26 If I find favor in the Lord's eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again. 26 But if he says, 'I am not pleased with you,' then I am ready; let him do to me whatever seems good to him." \r
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When you take ownership for your sin, you also need to give up ownership of your life in order to see God's mercy. That's why we must make Jesus Lord of our lives.\r
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3. Ask for Deliverance (Request)\r
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There's a great story of repentance in Luke 23. Jesus is on the cross with two thieves. One reviles Jesus and asks for rescue without recognition of his sin or releasing himself into God's mercy. The other thief recognized his sin, acknowledged the Lordship of Jesus and then asked Him to "remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus told that man that "today you will be with me in paradise." \r
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Part of repentance is doing back towards the point of departure, but we must recognize that we are incapable of doing that ourselves. We need God's strength to do the work in us. Being left in a helpless condition of sinfulness simply isn't going to do you any good. Ask the Lord for deliverance, for rescue, for a change of heart and mind. \r
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When Jesus came upon a blind man in Mark 10 and asked him "what do you want me to do for you." We might say "well, isn't it obvious? The man's blind!" But again, we can ask for many things - riches, ability to love the world and the Lord, etc. God wants us to want and ask for deliverance from the stronghold of sin.\r
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4. Act on your repentance (Replace)\r
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Israel, after seeing their sin, throwing themselves on God's mercy and asking for deliverance could have just waited for Yahweh to rescue them while still living in the presence of the very idols that caused them to stumble in the first place.\r
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In fact, this is one of the mistakes they made in the past. God rescued them but they went right back into idolatry because they didn't act on their repentance. Now don't confuse this with a legalistic showing of obedience in order to earn God's favor. But there is a process where what God has birthed in your heart works out into your hands.\r
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James 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. NKJV\r
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It's not "faith and works" but "faith that works." If there is not outward manifestation of the cleansing work then we need to question the repentance. It doesn't mean we are perfect suddenly. Remember: repentance is turning back towards the point of departure. \r
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For you it might involve throwing some stuff away, distancing yourself from situations or relationships that continually pull you down. \r
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5. Draw close to God (Return)\r
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After all of this we can feel very unworthy of being in God's presence. When the Lord calls us on the carpet about something the last thing we may want to do is come into His presence. We feel dirty and like God is only putting up with us. Nothing could be further from the truth. A vital part of repentance is coming to our Father who has disciplined us and throwing our arms around Him and embracing Him. \r
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If we fail to do this we risk feeling alienating from Him, which can be a tool used by the enemy either to condemn us or keep us far away from a relationship with God. We need to worship and pray and cry out to God when we've blown it. \r
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The key to all of this is to have a continually open heart to God's Spirit. When we blow it, He will be there to remind us afterward so that as we turn away from sin we turn towards Him and His great mercy, healing, and unfailing love!\r
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Saul vs David\r
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Saul: 1 Samuel 15:24 repented when he saw that God would not accept his way, but it was only so that the people would still revere him. \r
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David: 2 Samuel 12:13 (Psalm 51) David took ownership for his sin, recognized that it was against the Lord, threw himself on God's mercy, changed his attitude, and drew close again to the Lord.\r
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Judas: Matthew 27:3 changed his mind about betraying Jesus but didn't acknowledge his sin or call on God's mercy or change who he was.\r
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Peter: Mark 14:72 he repented with tears and was broken and had to be restored by the Lord (John 21)\r