True Repentance
When we experience true repentance,
we will turn away from our sinful ways
and reflect the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Here now is Gene to explain:
I think what happened in Jerusalem
with the people of Israel,
both in Judah and from the northern tribes.
And when Hezekiah invited them
to come to participate in the Passover.
To learn the Word of God.
I think we have an incredible illustration
of this Principle--this concept of repentance.
Look at 2nd Chronicles chapter 31, verse 1:
When all this was completed...
And there it's referring, obviously to this
great celebration. Remembering the Lord.
Remembering the Passover.
Participating in that--great event. We read:
...all Israel who had attended
went out to the cities of Judah...
And notice what they did.
...all the cities of Judah
and broke up the sacred pillars...
All the cities of Judah.
...they chopped down the Asherah poles...
Which were designed to worship
the fertility goddess
and basically was pornographic.
...and tore down the high places and [the] altars
throughout Judah and Benjamin...
Now they're going to move north
because, you remember, there were people
that came from the north.
And so we read:
...[they did this] as well in Ephraim
and Manasseh, to the last one. ...
Throughout all of these cities.
Throughout all of these situations.
And perhaps it's a generalization.
But there were no exceptions
in terms of what they destroyed--
to the very last idol,
to the very last Asherah pole.
Wherever they went, they destroyed them.
And then we read:
...[Then all] the Israelites returned to their cities,
each to his own possession.
Now to me that's an illustration
of true repentance.
That's a change of behavior.
So the Bible talks about repentance,
not just talking about being
sorry for our sins.
It's talking about life change.
Repentance. A change in behavior.
And I think perhaps Paul was
thinking about this passage.
I don't know what was going through
Paul's mind in many of these letters
that he wrote and things that he referred to.
But he could very well have been
thinking of what happened
when all these people came--
and at the invitation of Hezekiah--and went back
and destroyed all these things.
Maybe he was thinking of that when he penned
these words here in Corinthians chapter 6:
For what partnership is there between
righteousness and lawlessness?
See, Paul raised a series of questions.
He used the pedagogical approach here.
The didactic approach.
He raised another question:
Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?
Now remember, he's writing to the Corinthians.
We're having a real struggle, you know,
coming out of the darkness as a result of
their conversion to Christ.
A third question:
What agreement does Christ have with Belial?
And that's Satan. Christ versus Belial. Satan.
Or what does a believer have
in common with an unbeliever?
And there he's actually dealing
with a big contrast
between those who are believers
in Jesus Christ and those who are
literally rejecting Christ and following Satan.
And worshiping there in the temples in Corinth,
which was a very pagan and immoral exercise.
And then what agreement, Paul asked,
does God's sanctuary have with idols?
And of course, there he's talking about:
We are God's sanctuary.
And they're over there dabbling in these temples
in Corinth where they had these idols.
You know, in this New Testament setting.
And then after raising these questions,
he capped it by saying this
in 2nd Corinthians 6:17:
Therefore, come out from among them
and be separate, says the Lord;
do not touch any unclean thing,
and I will welcome you.
And then Paul applies this exhortation
to the Corinthians. Very directly he says:
Therefore, dear friends,
since we have such promises,
let us cleanse ourselves from every
impurity of the flesh and spirit,
completing our sanctification
in the fear of God.
You see, sanctification is a process.
When we're saved, when we put our
faith in Christ, we are positionally sanctified.
That's why Paul could write to the Corinthians
and say: I know you're believers.
They'd been set apart.
But then there is progressive sanctification.
And that's ongoing throughout our lives.
Becoming more and more like Jesus Christ.
And that's what Paul is dealing with here.
Progressive sanctification.
Now eventually, there'll be ultimate
sanctification when we're like Christ.
And he deals with that in
1st Corinthians 13:13 when he says:
we will be face to face.
We'll be face to face with Christ.
But in the meantime, we're here living
for Christ in this world.
But God's plan is to become more
and more like Jesus Christ.
That's progressive sanctification.
So here Paul is talking about
both progressive and ultimate sanctification
when he says:
completing our sanctification in the fear of God.
Living for Christ and becoming more and more
like Him until He takes us home.
So here's the Reflection and Response question:
What are some other reflections
of true godly repentance?
Well as I reflect on that question,
I think first of all, is an open heart.
You know, we don't automatically
all of a sudden change certain behaviors.
It takes time.
And one of the most encouraging things for me
is when someone leaves a service
where I've preached and I've spoken
very directly about sin.
It might have been immorality.
It might have been stealing.
It might have been some other sin.
And someone comes up to me and said:
I needed that.
That's an open heart.
And hopefully they've heard the truth
because I've spoken it in love.
But that's the beginning of repentance.
An open heart.
But it doesn't stop there.
It's a responding to the exhortation.
It's a change in behavior.
And that's what repentance is really all about.
No matter what our situation.
As I was reflecting on repentance,
I couldn't help but think of a friend of mine.
And I had the privilege of interviewing
on my Renewal radio program.
I've also had the privilege of skiing with him.
He was a great sportsman.
But he had a very interesting story.
And I will tell you his name is Lake Speed.
And that's kind of significant
because when he was just 12 years old,
he raced go-karts.
And these were not go-karts
where you just meander around.
These were a hundred plus mile an hour go-karts.
In fact, he actually won
an international race in France.
He's the only US person to win that
go-kart race in France--international race.
And these were speeds up
over a hundred miles an hour
in these go-karts. And then he
graduated to NASCAR racing. You know,
the 250 mile an hour kind of situation.
And that was his life.
And he won a lot of races.
But he wasn't a believer.
The irony, by the way, as I said,
his name was Lake Speed.
That reminds me of my good
musician friend Brent Talent.
That's his last name, which fits his talent.
But here's Lake Speed.
He was a speedster out there on that race course.
But he wasn't a believer.
In fact, he lived a very licentious lifestyle.
That's all he knew.
And in that racing scene,
as in so many athletic situations,
that's a very prominent kind of lifestyle.
He had a "live-in."
But while he was living with her,
and she with him, in an inappropriate relationship,
obviously according to Bible.
He started going to chapel.
Chapels that were held
at these racing events.
And he heard the gospel.
And he heard the Word of God.
And he went home to his live-in
and he said: You know,
what we're doing is not right.
They started reading the Bible together.
And the Word of God began to
penetrate both of their hearts.
They both came under conviction
and decided they would separate.
Well the interesting thing is that
unknown to Lake, is that his live-in,
while he was out racing,
was also having an affair with another man.
And the interesting thing is that
while she was having this affair
with this other man, he became a believer
and said: We shouldn't be doing this.
So here she is unfaithful to [Lake] in that
relationship, which was illegitimate.
Unfaithful because she was involved in another.
And then Lake, of course, was also
unfaithful as he traveled.
But they both came under conviction.
Went to a church.
Now I'm not making this up.
They're separated.
They show up at the same church.
They hear a message.
They both go forward.
They don't even know each other's there.
There they are at the altar--
looking at each other.
And in the process, needed to
confess to each other what has been
going on in their lives.
And the interesting thing is that in that context,
[Lake] said: Here's my sin, there's your sin.
It's under the blood of Christ.
I love you. Would you marry me?
And she said: Oh [Lake] I love you
and I love the other guy.
And he said: Well, you got to
make up your mind.
He was pretty tolerant
because of his own sin.
And he tells the story that after praying
and thinking this through, she married [Lake]
for the first time.
And they had three beautiful, wonderful children.
Now that's grace. But that's repentance.
By the way, that's a New Testament story, isn't it?
That's the kind of thing Paul had to deal with.
That kind of messed up situation.
And yet, as I think about this,
that's an incredible story of repentance.
When they got into the Word,
the Word of God penetrated them.
Even though they were in process,
they were under conviction.
And they began to change.
And ultimately, they were in the will of God
in that relationship. Isn't that a great story?
Let me share that Principle once again:
When we experience true repentance,
we will turn away from our sinful ways
and reflect the fruit of the Holy Spirit.