True Repentance:
When we become aware of our sins,
we should engage in repentance
that comes from the heart.
Here now is Gene to explain:
This is a biblical Principle that goes
from Genesis to Revelation.
But in a very special way, we see it
unfolded here in the life of Jeremiah
as he's preaching to the children of Judah.
Because God is concerned about
true heart response.
Because that's true repentance.
And so here we have a statement by the Lord
through Jeremiah chapter 4, verse 4:
Circumcise yourselves to the Lord;
remove the foreskin of your hearts...
Now God had instituted
the rite of circumcision when He chose Abraham
and then the children of Israel
to set them aside in a very pagan environment.
And by the way, one of the things I think
that God was revealing there:
That every time a Jewish man
who was circumcised was having
an illicit relationship--having an illicit
relationship with a pagan woman,
he would stand out as different
from the pagans.
And God wanted everybody to know that.
That was the sign.
I've chosen you.
I've set you apart.
But the real circumcision was of the heart.
And that's what he's talking about here:
...remove the foreskin of your hearts,
men of Judah and residents of Jerusalem.
Otherwise, My wrath will break out like fire
and burn with no one to extinguish it
because of your evil deeds.
Paul picked up on that same theme.
Because that's a biblical Principle
related to true repentance.
Here's what Paul wrote
in his letter to the Romans:
For a person is not a Jew
who is one outwardly...
You see, circumcision--
physical circumcision--is simply an
outward symbol that God instituted
to identify these men as His people.
That was outward. But He says:
...[For] a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly...
That's not what makes you a Jew.
He goes on to explain:
...and true circumcision
is not something visible in the flesh. ...
That was just an outward symbol:
...On the contrary, a person is a Jew
who is one inwardly,
and circumcision is of the heart--
by the Spirit, not the letter.
That man's praise is not from men
but from God.
That's almost an identical statement
as Jeremiah's statement to the people of Judah.
His whole emphasis is on repentance.
True repentance.
True change of heart.
A change of mind.
And when you look at salvation,
faith and repentance are interlinked.
Faith brings salvation.
Repentance is a part of that process
where we change our mind.
We change our direction.
We read about that message
to unbelievers in Luke--Luke 24:
"This is what is written [we read]:
The Messiah would suffer
and rise from the dead the third day...
That's the gospel.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is His death
and His resurrection--for our sins,
so we might have new life. But notice:
...and repentance for forgiveness of sins
would be proclaimed in His name
to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
And so part of the gospel message is
we are saved by grace through faith
but repentance is part of that process
that brings about that change of mind
and direction in our lives.
That's true repentance
for an unbeliever.
But also, there is repentance
for the believer.
And in many respects, Judah--
and I can't judge really their
heart relationship with God,
only God knows that. But they were
His chosen people.
And so in Revelation, we have
a message of repentance to believers.
Not just to unbelievers as we've seen
in the Gospels. But here's what Jesus said
to the Ephesian, to the church in Laodicea.
And this is what he said:
As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So...
Now remember he's writing to believers
who are walking out of the will of God.
If you go back and read that passage in Revelation,
you'll see what they were doing.
So he says to these believers:
...So be committed and repent.
So repentance is a message to unbelievers.
It's a message to believers.
And it really refers, I think
when he's talking, particularly to
believers: a broken heart.
A broken heart.
And here's a question that zeroes in on that:
Why do some people who are caught in sin...
And here I'm talking about believers
when I say people:
Why do some people
who are caught in sin demonstrate sorrow
but not true godly sorrow
leading to true repentance?
Well, in responding to that
I would simply say--
and I've seen it so often
and you've seen it: They're sorry
they got caught.
And believe me that's sorrow.
That's embarrassment.
It's selfish but it's embarrassing.
It's shameful.
It's a loss.
It's destructive.
It affects the family, perhaps. It affects others.
You know, that creates sorrow.
But it's not godly sorrow
for breaking God's heart.
Because true repentance is when we are
really sorry we have sinned against God.
We have wounded God's heart.
The other is still selfish.
It's sorrow that is selfishly-oriented,
whereas true godly sorrow is God-oriented
because I've sinned against God.
I remember a pastor,
someone I knew well.
And I remember in my office,
he was on his face crying, weeping.
He'd just been caught in adultery.
And frankly, I thought:
Wow, this is true repentance.
I remember calling a pastor friend
of mine, saying: How do I handle this?
And he said: Gene, be careful.
I've seen that before
but it's not true godly sorrow.
Be careful.
Test it.
Well the future revealed that
it wasn't true repentance.
He was sorry that he'd got caught.
And he had a reason to be sorry
he got caught.
Because it really removed him from the ministry
and everything he had built for years.
Severed relationships.
Destroyed his marriage.
He had a lot to be sorry about.
But the thing that didn't happen at that point--
and hopefully it's happened since then--
is he wasn't sorry
because he'd broken the heart of God.
And you see, that's true repentance.
And that's what Jeremiah's talking about.
Here's the Principle:
When we become aware of our sins,
we should engage in repentance
that comes from the heart.