Dwell on: Repentance
Things to Dwell on • Sermon • Submitted
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· 8 viewsUnderstanding and applying repentance is necessary
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Can we talk . . . about repentance?
Can we talk . . . about repentance?
Are there things in this life that are uncomfortable to talk about? Of course there are if we are honest and honesty is required when it comes to becoming a Christian (Act8:37) Today, it is as important today as it was in the day of Jesus to not only know about repentance but to apply repentance. After all, Jesus commanded it.
37 And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”
But I should keep in context
35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. 36 As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?”
37 And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” 38 And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him.
In our series, things to dwell on, we have dwelt on some, considered, pondered and been asked to meditate upon some great topics.
The Word (2Tim3:16)
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
God (Act17:24-25)
24 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things;
Jesus (Jn14:6)
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
Holy Spirit (1Cor2:10-11)
10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.
The Gospel (Rom1:16)
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Faith, hope and love (1Cor13:13)
13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Joy (1Pt1:6-8)
6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
1Pt16-7
8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
Peace (Jn14:27)
27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.
and finally on sin (Rom3:23)
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Not all subjects are easy, pleasant, enjoyable, but are necessary for us to the the promise of eternal life (1Jn5:13)
13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
When we looked at the gospel we looked at
There are facts to believe
Commands to obey
Promises to receive
One of the commands is repentance and that is our focus today. So may we take some time to dwell, consider, ponder, meditate upon these things today.
Things to consider regarding repentance
Things to consider regarding repentance
When you think about repentance what do you think about? Oh wait, maybe you don’t want to think about it, but we need to, not just for our salvation but for our sanctification too. Repentance (noun) the action of repenting; sincere regret or remorse.
Jesus wants us to repent
noun
the action of repenting; sincere regret or remorse.
Told us to do such (Mt4:17)
17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Why did Jesus preach/teach it? Because the kingdom of God was at hand.
Instructed to do such (Lk24:46-47)
46 and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
Why did Jesus suffer, die and rise again, so that repentance would be proclaimed
Gave warning about not doing such (Rev2:4-5; Rev3:15-19)
4 ‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 ‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.
If it were repentance one time and that was ever needed these verses would not be in the bible. We need to remember our first love so not to fall from it!
You can go on in John’s vision and Jesus words to him and see this.
15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.
17 ‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, 18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.
19 ‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. 20 ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.
This is said to churches, to believers, to those who belong to Christ who are at risk of losing what they have. Can you see the importance of Jesus desire, command, instructions regarding repentance?
Peter commanded people to repent too (Act2:37-38; Act3:19; Act8:32)
37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?”
They had heard the first gospel message and had hearts pricked
38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
and Peter in the second gospel message
19 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;
and then there was to the erring Christian
22 “Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you.
As did Paul (Act17:30-31; Rom2:4-5)
30 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
30 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,
The action of repentance that was to be take, and the reason
31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”
Now here is a pretty heavy one to look at too
4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
We cannot take God’s grace, God’s mercy, God’s tolerance and patience lightly. It is to lead us to repentance now look at the next verse
5 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
In light of the pending judgment of the Lord on the appointed day. Because of the goodness of the Lord that is available to all, so that all men should repent. May we further dwell on, consider, ponder, meditate, and reflect on repentance.
Reflecting on repentance
Reflecting on repentance
There are misconceptions to what repentance are, but there are also biblical examples of the kind of repentance that Jesus, Peter and Paul commanded.
Misconceptions - “I’m sorry” “I had my sins forgiven already; I’m good” (Act3:19)
19 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;
This is an isolate scripture that is oftentimes pulled and used wrong, look at it in context
17 “And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. 18 “But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.
Written to, and regarding Jews
Biblical concept of repentance (2Cor7:9-10; Ps51:1-4)
Biblical
9 I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us.
10 For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.
True repentance comes when we realize that when we sin we sin against God and God alone.
1 Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. 4 Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.
In looking at the scripture repentance comes from sorrow, sorrow brought on by the will of God and the sorrow produces repentance. But worldly sorrow (thinking I’m sorry) produces death. Look at what Godly sorrow produces
Repentance proof (2Cor7:11)
11 For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter.
(slow down right here, spend a little time (v.11))
Repentance brings forth true surrender (Act2:36-38)
36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.” 37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?”
38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Repentance and surrender bring desire to share Good News (Act26:19-20)
Repentance and surrender bring desire to share Good News (Act26:20)
19 “So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.
Paul was in prison because of the Good News and His willingness to proclaim it. And in our life what we do with the Good News is good works and it matters.
Sharing the Good News is the good works God prepared beforehand (Eph2:10)
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
God gave us His best, Christ gave us His all so we could have it all in Him and through Him. So don’t hold back, let your life speak and show a transformed life ant includes true repentance.
True repentance has proof
Repentance a gift from God
Repentance a gift from God
Godly sorrow brings about repentance, repentance brings about salvation, salvation brings about transformation, transformation brings about sanctification and sanctification is proof of a repentant life.
Repentance a change of mind, a change of direction, a change of destination
Expand on this (1-2 minutes)
Repentance should come with urgency (Act2:36-38; Act2:41; Act22:16; Act8:22)
We already looked at the urgency in Act2:36-38, but now look at the response to the urgency
41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.
The call to repent and return we looked at in Act8:22
one more to look at what does the urgency for repentance entail?
16 ‘Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.’
Repentance
Repentance is evidenced by a cleansed, surrendered light walking life (1Jn1:7-9)
7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
(Invitation slide 1) invitation (invitation slide 2) song (exit slide)