1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:08,120 You’re listening to a sermon from Pastor Colin Smith of Open The Bible to contact us 2 00:00:08,120 –> 00:00:17,120 call us at 1-877-OPEN-365 or visit our website openthebible.org Let’s get to the message, 3 00:00:17,120 –> 00:00:22,639 here is Pastor Colin One of the hardest things in life for any 4 00:00:23,320 –> 00:00:32,119 Christian is to really grasp the full scale of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. 5 00:00:32,119 –> 00:00:37,200 It’s difficult for us, at the beginning, to really understand the full diagnosis of our 6 00:00:37,200 –> 00:00:42,060 problem. It’s hard for us to really grasp the full 7 00:00:42,060 –> 00:00:48,880 extent of the treatment that is needed. And we don’t find it easy, even as Christians, 8 00:00:48,880 –> 00:00:55,580 to really appreciate what would have been, if it had not been for the grace and mercy 9 00:00:55,580 –> 00:01:02,540 and the work of God in our lives. So often, we live at the level of grumbling 10 00:01:02,540 –> 00:01:08,680 about the frustrations and difficulties of our Christian lives, when if we could only 11 00:01:08,680 –> 00:01:16,519 grasp what God has done for us in Christ there would be a new filling of gratitude, and a 12 00:01:16,519 –> 00:01:22,879 new note of praise. David knew about this, it was one of the great discoveries of his 13 00:01:22,879 –> 00:01:30,400 life. You remember in Psalm 103, he says, Bless the Lord, O my soul and do not forget 14 00:01:30,400 –> 00:01:39,000 all his benefits. And first among them, David says, he forgives all your sins. 15 00:01:39,000 –> 00:01:44,559 That is what this series on Sunday mornings has been about. We started with diagnosis. 16 00:01:44,559 –> 00:01:50,680 Calculate the problem. And we saw from Psalm 51 that there is the problem of transgression, 17 00:01:50,680 –> 00:01:56,480 that is our breaking of God’s law, the problem of sin, that is our falling short of God’s 18 00:01:56,480 –> 00:02:01,199 standard, and the reason for these two things lies in the third problem which the Bible 19 00:02:01,199 –> 00:02:06,639 calls iniquity, that is the twistedness within our very nature that gives rise to our sin 20 00:02:06,639 –> 00:02:13,320 and our transgression. Then last Sunday morning, we thought about the effects of this problem. 21 00:02:13,320 –> 00:02:24,160 We thought about the picture of the Amoco Cadiz, that supertanker with its 233,000 tons 22 00:02:24,160 –> 00:02:29,899 of crude oil running aground off the shore of Brittany. And we saw that as a result, 23 00:02:29,899 –> 00:02:36,300 there was a problem in the courts. There is a problem on the beaches. And with that amount 24 00:02:36,300 –> 00:02:42,619 of crude inside the container, there is also still a problem in the hull. The problem in 25 00:02:42,639 –> 00:02:49,220 the courts is the issue of justice. There’s a price to be paid for this disaster. The 26 00:02:49,220 –> 00:02:54,240 problem on the beaches is the problem of pollution. There is a cleanup job that has to be done, 27 00:02:54,240 –> 00:03:01,580 and it is not easy. The problem in the hull is that if we do not deal with the source 28 00:03:01,580 –> 00:03:08,160 of this leaking crude, then the problem will only get worse in the future. And we have 29 00:03:08,279 –> 00:03:14,979 seen that when we come as sinners to God, he deals with us at each of these levels. 30 00:03:14,979 –> 00:03:21,960 Christ died so that when it comes to the justice of God in His court you should be forgiven 31 00:03:21,960 –> 00:03:28,960 with no price to pay. But Christ died so that when it comes to your heart and mind and conscience 32 00:03:30,020 –> 00:03:35,960 you should be cleansed and washed and made clean. And Christ died so that by the power 33 00:03:36,020 –> 00:03:41,000 of his Spirit you should become different so that the very source of the problem, the 34 00:03:41,000 –> 00:03:47,300 heart itself, should be progressively renewed throughout the course of the Christian life. 35 00:03:47,300 –> 00:03:52,880 And we saw that God never addresses one without at the same time addressing the other two. 36 00:03:52,880 –> 00:03:59,199 There is no such thing as forgiveness for a man or a woman who wants to continue in 37 00:03:59,940 –> 00:04:00,880 their sin. 38 00:04:00,880 –> 00:04:03,600 But here is the prescription. 39 00:04:03,600 –> 00:04:11,199 There is a great physician and in the Gospel he says to us, you need the mercy of Christ, 40 00:04:11,199 –> 00:04:18,820 you need the cleansing of his blood, you need the surgery of the Spirit in your heart. 41 00:04:18,820 –> 00:04:24,399 So we’ve thought about diagnosis, we’ve talked about prescription and this morning I want 42 00:04:24,399 –> 00:04:31,779 us to think in the last of these three about the process of recovery. 43 00:04:31,779 –> 00:04:37,640 What does this thing we call repentance look like? 44 00:04:37,640 –> 00:04:44,799 What would be the recognizable marks of a recovering sinner? 45 00:04:44,799 –> 00:04:51,880 Before we get into Psalm 51 this morning, I want to clear away the two most common misunderstandings 46 00:04:51,880 –> 00:04:54,359 of this subject. 47 00:04:54,440 –> 00:04:57,160 What does recovery look like? 48 00:04:57,160 –> 00:05:03,380 Misunderstanding number one, often repeated throughout the history of the church, is this. 49 00:05:03,380 –> 00:05:10,339 Recovery, some have said, is doing penance. 50 00:05:10,339 –> 00:05:14,820 This was one of the earliest errors that ever crept into the Christian church. 51 00:05:14,820 –> 00:05:22,739 It happened because early on in church history there was a widely used Latin translation 52 00:05:22,820 –> 00:05:25,100 of the Greek New Testament. 53 00:05:25,100 –> 00:05:29,059 It was called the Vulgate, and it became very popular. 54 00:05:29,059 –> 00:05:36,660 It included a disastrous translation of the Greek word used in the original manuscript 55 00:05:36,660 –> 00:05:38,540 for repentance. 56 00:05:38,540 –> 00:05:44,579 The Vulgate translation was do-penance. 57 00:05:44,579 –> 00:05:51,040 And so over the years, working from that translation, theological writers developed a teaching that 58 00:05:51,100 –> 00:05:52,579 basically said this. 59 00:05:52,579 –> 00:05:58,799 When you do something wrong, what has to happen is that you will do something good by way 60 00:05:58,799 –> 00:06:03,399 of a discipline in order to put it right. 61 00:06:03,399 –> 00:06:08,679 Through the course of history, the medieval church developed a whole system, or process, 62 00:06:08,679 –> 00:06:11,359 for dealing with this subject of sin. 63 00:06:11,359 –> 00:06:13,239 There were four parts. 64 00:06:13,239 –> 00:06:15,399 The first, they said, is confession. 65 00:06:15,399 –> 00:06:17,940 You must admit to what you have done wrong. 66 00:06:17,940 –> 00:06:20,559 The second, they said, is contrition. 67 00:06:20,559 –> 00:06:23,720 There must be genuine sorrow for what you have done wrong. 68 00:06:23,720 –> 00:06:29,619 Third, they said, there will be absolution, that is, forgiveness. 69 00:06:29,619 –> 00:06:39,260 But it will be on condition of a fourth thing, the completion of works of satisfaction. 70 00:06:39,260 –> 00:06:43,059 So really the system was a little bit like what happens sometimes in school if you’re 71 00:06:43,059 –> 00:06:45,299 late with an assignment. 72 00:06:45,299 –> 00:06:47,260 And the teacher says to you, you’re late with the assignment. 73 00:06:47,260 –> 00:06:48,899 That’s not good. 74 00:06:48,899 –> 00:06:57,100 However, we will not charge it against your grade, on condition that you do hand in the 75 00:06:57,100 –> 00:07:02,420 completed assignment properly done, and in addition, that you do an extra piece of makeup 76 00:07:02,420 –> 00:07:07,700 work, which will help to teach you not to hand in an assignment late again. 77 00:07:07,700 –> 00:07:13,679 Now that may work very well in the school, but it is altogether another thing when it 78 00:07:13,679 –> 00:07:17,959 comes to our standing before God. 79 00:07:18,059 –> 00:07:27,000 What works can we offer that would make up for what we have done wrong? 80 00:07:27,000 –> 00:07:32,959 You see this problem very clearly in the story of Martin Luther, his very wonderful testimony. 81 00:07:32,980 –> 00:07:34,660 Most of you will know this story. 82 00:07:34,679 –> 00:07:40,440 Martin Luther was a young monk in the 16th century, a man with a sensitive conscience 83 00:07:40,440 –> 00:07:43,559 who wanted to be right with God. 84 00:07:43,559 –> 00:07:47,600 He tried, therefore, to confess all of his sins. 85 00:07:47,600 –> 00:07:53,019 He scoured his memory to try and make sure that he had called them all to mind. 86 00:07:53,019 –> 00:07:56,799 Under the system in which he was brought up, there were works that were assigned to him 87 00:07:56,799 –> 00:08:01,140 in order to make up for the things that he’d done wrong, but he says in effect this was 88 00:08:01,140 –> 00:08:02,700 the problem. 89 00:08:02,700 –> 00:08:06,700 In the middle of doing penance for some things that I’d done wrong, there were all kinds 90 00:08:06,700 –> 00:08:11,200 of other things that occurred in my mind that were wrong also. 91 00:08:11,200 –> 00:08:20,679 And so he found himself being sucked into the swamp, deeper and deeper, a swamp of guilt 92 00:08:20,679 –> 00:08:22,859 and of condemnation. 93 00:08:22,859 –> 00:08:30,739 His attempts to do penance never led him to peace of conscience. 94 00:08:30,739 –> 00:08:38,299 Penance he found an impossible mountain to climb. 95 00:08:38,299 –> 00:08:43,299 By the way if you ever want to stop someone from changing, the first way to do it is just 96 00:08:43,299 –> 00:08:45,419 to set an impossible standard. 97 00:08:45,419 –> 00:08:51,099 You don’t want a person to jump, just set the bar way to high. 98 00:08:51,099 –> 00:08:54,599 But then there’s a second great misunderstanding. 99 00:08:54,599 –> 00:08:58,539 See some Christians in some churches have come along in reaction to all of this and 100 00:08:58,539 –> 00:09:01,400 they’ve said, Oh we don’t find works of satisfaction in the Bible. 101 00:09:01,400 –> 00:09:03,940 No, the Bible is very simple they say. 102 00:09:03,940 –> 00:09:11,679 God is only looking for one thing, one thing only from a sinner that he’s sorry, really 103 00:09:11,679 –> 00:09:12,679 sorry. 104 00:09:12,679 –> 00:09:17,200 In fact this view of recovery is often stated this way. 105 00:09:17,200 –> 00:09:20,280 Repentance is being sorry for your sins. 106 00:09:20,280 –> 00:09:26,380 So sorry that you’ll never do them again. 107 00:09:26,380 –> 00:09:29,679 Now if you’ve been following over these last two weeks you should very quickly see the 108 00:09:29,679 –> 00:09:31,880 problem with that. 109 00:09:31,880 –> 00:09:37,520 Being sorry will never change the source problem in my heart. 110 00:09:37,520 –> 00:09:44,000 Being sorry is not a big enough thing to change the direction of a man’s life. 111 00:09:44,000 –> 00:09:52,340 Being sorry doesn’t begin to address the hidden springs within from which our behavior arises. 112 00:09:52,340 –> 00:10:00,239 It is an inadequate solution to the scale of the problem that we’ve been talking about. 113 00:10:00,400 –> 00:10:07,239 If due penance is the error into which the Roman Catholic Church has often fallen, 114 00:10:07,239 –> 00:10:15,500 then be sorry is the error into which evangelical churches have often fallen. 115 00:10:15,500 –> 00:10:20,880 I find it helpful to think of these as two opposite errors. 116 00:10:20,880 –> 00:10:26,059 On the one side you have the mountain of impossible demands, 117 00:10:26,940 –> 00:10:33,419 and on the other side you have the swamp of inadequate solutions. 118 00:10:33,419 –> 00:10:38,500 Now I want to suggest this morning as we open our Bibles now that right through 119 00:10:38,500 –> 00:10:41,239 the middle there is a highway, 120 00:10:41,239 –> 00:10:45,599 a clearly marked road on which God calls all his people to travel. 121 00:10:45,599 –> 00:10:49,559 It is called the high way off repentance, 122 00:10:50,479 –> 00:10:56,460 and if you’ll open your Bibles at Psalm 51, I want us to look together at its characteristics. 123 00:10:56,460 –> 00:11:00,520 What does repentance look like? 124 00:11:00,520 –> 00:11:07,400 We’re going to see three things from Psalm 51 beginning with verse eleven this morning. 125 00:11:07,400 –> 00:11:10,020 The first of these is this, 126 00:11:10,020 –> 00:11:16,760 true repentance is always a turning to God. 127 00:11:16,840 –> 00:11:21,619 True repentance is always a turning to God. 128 00:11:21,619 –> 00:11:24,359 Notice how David puts it in verse eleven. 129 00:11:24,359 –> 00:11:34,200 Do not cast me from your presence, or take your Holy Spirit from me. 130 00:11:34,200 –> 00:11:38,760 Here’s his starting point as he works through this confession of sin. 131 00:11:38,760 –> 00:11:46,500 A deep passionate longing for God. 132 00:11:46,539 –> 00:11:52,679 The new testament tells us a story of two men who were sorry for their sins. 133 00:11:52,679 –> 00:11:53,820 First one was Peter. 134 00:11:53,820 –> 00:11:59,640 You remember that he denied Christ and after he denied Christ he was very sorry. 135 00:11:59,640 –> 00:12:04,179 He went out the bible tells us and he wept bitterly. 136 00:12:04,179 –> 00:12:07,119 The second was a man named Judas. 137 00:12:07,119 –> 00:12:10,239 He betrayed Christ for thirty pieces of silver. 138 00:12:10,239 –> 00:12:15,700 I don’t know what he thought would happen, but clearly when he heard the news that Jesus 139 00:12:15,739 –> 00:12:20,679 was condemned to death, he became quite desperate over all that he had done. 140 00:12:20,679 –> 00:12:25,679 He went, the bible tells us, to the chief priest who’d given him the money and he takes 141 00:12:25,679 –> 00:12:29,000 the bag of silver and he throws it on the floor at their feet. 142 00:12:29,000 –> 00:12:30,739 He doesn’t want it. 143 00:12:30,739 –> 00:12:37,739 Two men, who both are desperately sorry about what they have done. 144 00:12:37,820 –> 00:12:44,539 But, of course, there was a great difference in the outcome. 145 00:12:44,539 –> 00:12:47,200 Peter was restored by our Lord Jesus Christ. 146 00:12:47,200 –> 00:12:51,200 Judas, the bible tells us went and hanged himself. 147 00:12:51,200 –> 00:12:57,479 It’s interesting that the bible makes it very clear that there will be sorrow over 148 00:12:57,479 –> 00:13:00,479 sin in hell. 149 00:13:00,479 –> 00:13:02,479 Remember what Jesus said? 150 00:13:02,479 –> 00:13:03,479 It’s very graphic. 151 00:13:03,479 –> 00:13:12,840 He said, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, but the bible never suggests that 152 00:13:12,840 –> 00:13:16,260 there will be repentance in hell. 153 00:13:16,260 –> 00:13:20,239 The two are different things. 154 00:13:20,239 –> 00:13:24,719 Repentance is much more than sorrow for sin. 155 00:13:24,719 –> 00:13:28,679 That is made very clear in the scripture reading that we had earlier, from 2 Corinthians, 156 00:13:28,679 –> 00:13:30,080 Chapter 7 and verse 10. 157 00:13:30,080 –> 00:13:32,119 Did you notice it there? 158 00:13:32,640 –> 00:13:40,619 That worldly sorrow brings repentance, it leads us into repentance that leads to salvation 159 00:13:40,619 –> 00:13:42,659 and leaves no regret. 160 00:13:42,659 –> 00:13:47,479 But worldly sorrow brings death. 161 00:13:47,479 –> 00:13:54,059 Think of sorrow like this, its like a large foyer. 162 00:13:54,059 –> 00:14:00,280 And as you come into this foyer, there are two doors ahead of you. 163 00:14:00,440 –> 00:14:04,479 One door is marked with the name repentance. 164 00:14:04,479 –> 00:14:09,479 The other door is marked with the name despair. 165 00:14:09,479 –> 00:14:16,359 And as you come into this foyer of sorrow for sin, you have the choice as to where that 166 00:14:16,359 –> 00:14:24,679 sorrow takes you, which door you enter beyond your sorrow. 167 00:14:24,679 –> 00:14:30,280 If you go through the door that is marked repentance, you will find beyond that door 168 00:14:30,280 –> 00:14:34,000 there is a room that is filled with light. 169 00:14:34,000 –> 00:14:37,739 The presence of God is there. 170 00:14:37,739 –> 00:14:43,159 But if you choose to go through the door of despair, you will enter a room in which there 171 00:14:43,159 –> 00:14:45,119 is only darkness. 172 00:14:45,119 –> 00:14:53,020 Now I want to speak for just one moment now very directly and very pasturally to those 173 00:14:53,200 –> 00:15:01,840 in our congregation this morning who are experiencing sorrow over their sins. 174 00:15:01,840 –> 00:15:04,780 You’re standing in the foyer. 175 00:15:04,780 –> 00:15:07,520 It’s where you are today. 176 00:15:07,520 –> 00:15:10,640 You’re sorry. 177 00:15:10,640 –> 00:15:14,440 My question for you is this, which door are you going to go through? 178 00:15:14,440 –> 00:15:21,940 Where are you going to take that sorrow? 179 00:15:21,940 –> 00:15:27,460 Judas chose the door of despair and went into darkness. 180 00:15:27,460 –> 00:15:35,039 But Peter chose the door of repentance and was restored to the light of the presence 181 00:15:35,039 –> 00:15:36,340 of Christ. 182 00:15:36,340 –> 00:15:42,059 True repentance, you see, is always a turning to God. 183 00:15:42,059 –> 00:15:46,940 It is a choosing that my sorrow will not lead to the darkness of despair, but that I will 184 00:15:46,979 –> 00:15:52,280 take my sorrow through that door that leads me into the presence of God, and that’s what 185 00:15:52,280 –> 00:15:58,640 David is saying here, verse 11, do not cast me from your presence. 186 00:15:58,640 –> 00:16:02,979 Do not exclude me from that room of repentance. 187 00:16:02,979 –> 00:16:06,700 Do not take your Holy Spirit from me. 188 00:16:06,700 –> 00:16:10,419 Do not shut me out from your plans. 189 00:16:10,580 –> 00:16:15,380 Do not mark your work in my life as something that is a discontinued line. 190 00:16:15,380 –> 00:16:22,059 Of course, in David’s mind, I guess there must have been the story of his predecessor. 191 00:16:22,059 –> 00:16:23,460 David was the second king of Israel. 192 00:16:23,460 –> 00:16:26,700 The first, as you know, was King Saul. 193 00:16:26,700 –> 00:16:28,979 He had had the Holy Spirit of God. 194 00:16:28,979 –> 00:16:30,539 He had the anointing. 195 00:16:30,539 –> 00:16:33,780 God had made him king. 196 00:16:33,780 –> 00:16:39,539 Yet when things went wrong in his life like Judas, he chose the path of despair and he 197 00:16:39,659 –> 00:16:44,320 was replaced in the purposes of God for the people. 198 00:16:44,320 –> 00:16:47,780 David says, please don’t do that for me. 199 00:16:47,780 –> 00:16:50,619 Do not cast me from your presence. 200 00:16:50,619 –> 00:16:57,619 I’m sorry, but where I want to come with that sorrow is to you. 201 00:16:59,219 –> 00:17:04,199 Open the door for me. 202 00:17:04,199 –> 00:17:08,359 David’s first concern is not with his position. 203 00:17:08,359 –> 00:17:12,160 His first concern is not with his money. 204 00:17:12,160 –> 00:17:19,260 You don’t find him here saying, God, please don’t allow any consequences of my sin to 205 00:17:19,260 –> 00:17:21,619 occur in my life. 206 00:17:21,619 –> 00:17:26,119 You know, all he says is this. 207 00:17:26,119 –> 00:17:30,900 God, please don’t give up on me. 208 00:17:30,900 –> 00:17:35,400 Please don’t put me on the shelf. 209 00:17:35,400 –> 00:17:38,319 Please do not separate yourself from me. 210 00:17:38,560 –> 00:17:43,380 For that I cannot bear, for in my heart of hearts I have a hunger, a thirst, a passion 211 00:17:44,119 –> 00:17:45,160 after you. 212 00:17:45,160 –> 00:17:50,000 That is repentance. 213 00:17:50,000 –> 00:17:52,699 What does it look like? 214 00:17:52,699 –> 00:17:54,819 A genuine hunger after God. 215 00:17:54,819 –> 00:18:03,439 For repentance is a reorientation of life around the God from whom we had departed. 216 00:18:03,439 –> 00:18:06,459 It is a movement towards God. 217 00:18:06,459 –> 00:18:07,459 Think of it this way. 218 00:18:07,560 –> 00:18:13,439 In Jesus’ wonderful story about the prodigal son, it could have had a different ending, 219 00:18:13,439 –> 00:18:14,439 couldn’t it? 220 00:18:14,439 –> 00:18:20,140 I mean, it could have gone that he wasted all his money, and he ended up among the pigs 221 00:18:20,140 –> 00:18:27,339 and so forth, but then eventually, he came to himself and gradually rebuilt his life 222 00:18:27,339 –> 00:18:31,020 and recovered his dignity and met a nice lady. 223 00:18:31,540 –> 00:18:40,319 He married, he found a good job, and continued to live a life in which he found much fulfillment. 224 00:18:40,319 –> 00:18:44,099 That’s a conceivable ending to the story. 225 00:18:44,099 –> 00:18:48,060 We all know people who do that. 226 00:18:48,060 –> 00:18:52,040 But that’s not the ending of Jesus’ story because that’s not repentance. 227 00:18:52,040 –> 00:19:00,500 The ending of Jesus’ story is, he came back to the Father. 228 00:19:00,500 –> 00:19:03,619 That’s repentance. 229 00:19:03,619 –> 00:19:09,500 It is the choice to draw near again to the God from whom we have become distanced. 230 00:19:09,500 –> 00:19:20,599 So, I ask you this morning, is this your desire, to come to God? 231 00:19:20,599 –> 00:19:23,739 Or are you just sorry? 232 00:19:23,739 –> 00:19:27,520 True repentance is always a turning to God. 233 00:19:28,000 –> 00:19:32,819 I want you to notice here in verse 12 the true repentance is always positive. 234 00:19:32,819 –> 00:19:41,260 Verse 12, David prays, restore to me the joy of your salvation. 235 00:19:41,260 –> 00:19:46,500 Now, it seems strange to us, perhaps, that David should be talking about joy in the middle 236 00:19:46,500 –> 00:19:48,780 of a prayer of repentance. 237 00:19:48,780 –> 00:19:54,660 We tend to think of repentance as a kind of long-faced exercise, probably associated, 238 00:19:54,660 –> 00:19:57,760 at least in the Old Testament, with sackcloth and with ashes. 239 00:19:57,760 –> 00:20:05,219 When we think of the image from our Scottish schools from years ago, they had various forms 240 00:20:05,219 –> 00:20:06,560 of discipline. 241 00:20:06,560 –> 00:20:12,739 But one of the less creative was to make a small boy who had misbehaved stand in the 242 00:20:12,739 –> 00:20:18,739 corner, and you’d be sent to stand in the corner for 15 minutes. 243 00:20:18,739 –> 00:20:24,959 And you would stand there examining the cracks in the plaster, conscious that the penalty 244 00:20:24,959 –> 00:20:30,060 for your offense was that the rest of your classmates were not even to see the light 245 00:20:30,060 –> 00:20:34,420 of your face for a full 15 minutes. 246 00:20:34,420 –> 00:20:38,260 And you would stand there with this long face until you returned to the fold. 247 00:20:38,260 –> 00:20:41,300 Is that how you think of repentance? 248 00:20:41,300 –> 00:20:45,420 David talks about joy. 249 00:20:45,420 –> 00:20:47,800 Not just once, you see it there in verse eight. 250 00:20:48,199 –> 00:20:51,979 Let me hear joy and gladness. 251 00:20:51,979 –> 00:20:55,079 Let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. 252 00:20:55,079 –> 00:21:01,719 You see, repentance never leaves us looking backwards at our sin. 253 00:21:01,719 –> 00:21:06,619 It is always the process by which God turns us around so that we’re able to look forwards 254 00:21:06,619 –> 00:21:08,859 into the future that is in His hand. 255 00:21:08,859 –> 00:21:11,280 That’s why it’s such a wonderful thing. 256 00:21:12,180 –> 00:21:18,160 It’s very interesting that in Matthew’s Gospel, the very first recorded word of the public 257 00:21:18,160 –> 00:21:24,760 ministry of Jesus, Matthew 4 in verse 17, is the word repent. 258 00:21:24,760 –> 00:21:25,839 Jesus came preaching. 259 00:21:25,839 –> 00:21:26,839 Repent. 260 00:21:26,839 –> 00:21:30,219 That’s how important it is. 261 00:21:30,219 –> 00:21:35,140 But do you remember the reason that Jesus gave for repentance? 262 00:21:35,140 –> 00:21:38,920 Repent, He said. 263 00:21:39,140 –> 00:21:44,479 For the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 264 00:21:44,479 –> 00:21:51,640 You see, the first thing that Jesus emphasized in His ministry was not condemnation for the 265 00:21:51,640 –> 00:21:58,640 past, but the possibility of happiness in the presence of God. 266 00:21:58,640 –> 00:22:06,880 He didn’t come saying repent so that you will avoid something terrible. 267 00:22:06,880 –> 00:22:14,359 He came and He said repent so that you may participate in something wonderful. 268 00:22:14,359 –> 00:22:18,219 The call of the gospel of Christ is always positive. 269 00:22:18,219 –> 00:22:24,000 He didn’t come to those first disciples and say follow me and I’ll save you from condemnation, 270 00:22:24,000 –> 00:22:25,959 though He could have said that. 271 00:22:25,959 –> 00:22:28,579 It’s wonderfully true. 272 00:22:28,579 –> 00:22:37,020 But what He did say to them was this, follow me and I will make something of your life, 273 00:22:37,020 –> 00:22:41,500 I will make you fishers of men. 274 00:22:41,500 –> 00:22:47,439 And you sense as David begins to turn towards the future in the mercy of God that he’s already 275 00:22:47,439 –> 00:22:49,459 apprehending that God can use him. 276 00:22:49,459 –> 00:22:55,520 Do you see it there in verse 13, the product of repentance, then He says, I will teach 277 00:22:55,920 –> 00:23:01,839 transgressors your ways and sinners will turn back to you. 278 00:23:01,839 –> 00:23:08,660 Repentance is a movement towards God because we have grasped what He can do in us, and 279 00:23:08,660 –> 00:23:12,839 what He can do with us. 280 00:23:12,839 –> 00:23:18,180 I’ve enjoyed reading a great book on the subject of repentance by William Chamberlain, and 281 00:23:18,180 –> 00:23:22,739 in that he talks about the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. 282 00:23:22,859 –> 00:23:28,780 Kierkegaard was a man who took the sins of his youth so seriously that he regarded it 283 00:23:28,780 –> 00:23:37,400 as his duty, he says, to spend the rest of his life mourning over the sins of his youth. 284 00:23:37,400 –> 00:23:39,339 And Chamberlain has this brilliant comment. 285 00:23:39,339 –> 00:23:48,579 He says, Kierkegaard never realized that when God has removed our sins as far as the east 286 00:23:49,060 –> 00:23:57,000 is from the west, they should cease to be the primary occupation of our life. 287 00:23:57,000 –> 00:24:07,420 It’s never the purpose of God that you spend the rest of your time looking back in regret. 288 00:24:07,420 –> 00:24:12,540 No repentance turns a man or woman around. 289 00:24:12,540 –> 00:24:18,380 And in the grace of God, he says to us, look what you can participate in. 290 00:24:18,380 –> 00:24:21,300 Look what I can do with you. 291 00:24:21,300 –> 00:24:24,420 Is there someone who’s got stuck just at this point this morning? 292 00:24:24,420 –> 00:24:29,420 You’re conscious of your sin, and it’s a good thing that you’ve taken it seriously. 293 00:24:29,420 –> 00:24:33,420 But you’ve never moved beyond that. 294 00:24:33,420 –> 00:24:36,000 You go over and over and over it again. 295 00:24:36,000 –> 00:24:40,719 Rather like one of these old gramophone records where the needle got stuck in one groove and 296 00:24:40,719 –> 00:24:44,420 you just get the same three bars of music and it goes round and round and round until 297 00:24:44,420 –> 00:24:46,900 it drives you absolutely crazy. 298 00:24:46,900 –> 00:24:53,119 Oh it’s regret that leaves a person looking backwards. 299 00:24:53,119 –> 00:24:57,619 Repentance releases us to move forwards. 300 00:24:57,619 –> 00:24:59,859 That is why it is such a wonderful thing. 301 00:24:59,859 –> 00:25:01,760 It is always positive. 302 00:25:01,760 –> 00:25:07,640 Restore to me the joy of my salvation. 303 00:25:07,640 –> 00:25:13,140 If you were to write a piece of music that was expressive of repentance, what key would 304 00:25:13,140 –> 00:25:15,800 you choose? 305 00:25:15,800 –> 00:25:20,719 You’d probably begin by writing some music in the minor key. 306 00:25:20,719 –> 00:25:24,599 If you’ve really understood this doctrine of repentance we’ve been trying to explore 307 00:25:24,599 –> 00:25:33,660 together, you would have to end your piece of composition in the major key with a thundering 308 00:25:33,660 –> 00:25:40,359 and resounding triumphant note of praise. 309 00:25:40,359 –> 00:25:47,359 Paul looked at his heart and at his own failings and he said, Oh, wretched man that I am, who 310 00:25:47,359 –> 00:25:50,020 shall deliver me from this body of death”. 311 00:25:50,020 –> 00:25:54,079 Well, that’s pretty minor key stuff, isn’t it? 312 00:25:54,079 –> 00:26:02,560 But then he goes on straightaway to say, Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 313 00:26:02,560 –> 00:26:06,979 You can’t play that in the minor key. 314 00:26:06,979 –> 00:26:12,540 Repentance is always turning to God and it is always positive. 315 00:26:12,540 –> 00:26:15,540 Becomes a matter of joy. 316 00:26:15,540 –> 00:26:19,979 And finally this, true repentance is always sustained. 317 00:26:19,979 –> 00:26:22,640 Do you see that in verse 12? 318 00:26:22,640 –> 00:26:26,739 Grace me, David prays, a willing spirit? 319 00:26:26,739 –> 00:26:27,739 Why? 320 00:26:27,739 –> 00:26:32,060 To sustain me, to sustain me. 321 00:26:32,060 –> 00:26:35,119 Here’s a question. 322 00:26:35,280 –> 00:26:41,300 Do you tend to think of repentance more like the extraction of a tooth or the raising of 323 00:26:41,300 –> 00:26:43,300 the Titanic? 324 00:26:43,300 –> 00:26:47,520 You say, frankly, I’ve never thought of repentance as like either of these two things. 325 00:26:47,520 –> 00:26:50,900 Well think about it with me for a moment. 326 00:26:50,900 –> 00:26:53,800 There is a sense in which both pictures are helpful. 327 00:26:53,800 –> 00:26:58,739 Suppose you have a rotten tooth and you go to the dentist and he says, oh there’s a problem 328 00:26:58,739 –> 00:26:59,739 with this. 329 00:26:59,739 –> 00:27:02,280 If that one’s left in there’s going to be nothing but trouble there’s only one answer 330 00:27:02,280 –> 00:27:03,280 for it. 331 00:27:03,280 –> 00:27:04,280 Take it out. 332 00:27:04,439 –> 00:27:06,119 And he takes out your tooth. 333 00:27:06,119 –> 00:27:09,560 Now the Bible speaks of repentance like that. 334 00:27:09,560 –> 00:27:16,099 There must be a decisive break with what is rotten in our lives which is what John means 335 00:27:16,099 –> 00:27:20,020 in his letter when he says, no one who is born of God continues in sin. 336 00:27:20,020 –> 00:27:23,020 You don’t just leave what’s corrupting you there. 337 00:27:23,020 –> 00:27:26,680 No, there must be a decisive break. 338 00:27:26,680 –> 00:27:32,140 Paul writes to the Corinthians and he says in 1 Corinthians 6 the wicked will not inherit 339 00:27:32,140 –> 00:27:33,300 the kingdom of God. 340 00:27:33,560 –> 00:27:37,339 And then he lists acts of wickedness. 341 00:27:37,339 –> 00:27:42,880 He talks about the sexually immoral idolaters, male prostitutes, homosexual offenders, thieves, 342 00:27:42,880 –> 00:27:45,520 greedy, drunkard, slanderers, swindlers. 343 00:27:45,520 –> 00:27:47,540 He said they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. 344 00:27:47,540 –> 00:27:48,540 And then he says. 345 00:27:48,540 –> 00:27:54,660 Imagine saying this to a Christian congregation, he says, and that’s what some of you were. 346 00:27:54,660 –> 00:28:00,400 In this congregation in Corinth Paul is saying, as I read out that wretched list of behavior, 347 00:28:00,400 –> 00:28:03,680 there was someone in the congregation who could stand up and say that’s what I used 348 00:28:03,680 –> 00:28:04,680 to be. 349 00:28:04,680 –> 00:28:08,400 But it’s not what you are now says Paul, because you were washed. 350 00:28:08,400 –> 00:28:09,800 You were sanctified. 351 00:28:09,800 –> 00:28:14,459 There’s been a decisive break, and the wonderful story of the church is the change of behavior 352 00:28:14,459 –> 00:28:20,280 that has been seen in so many lives. 353 00:28:20,339 –> 00:28:31,719 But there is also a sense in which this business of repentance is like raising the Titanic. 354 00:28:31,719 –> 00:28:38,319 That process, if it were ever done, raising and then restoring that great ship to its 355 00:28:38,319 –> 00:28:47,359 original glory, would cost a fortune and it would take a lifetime. 356 00:28:47,359 –> 00:28:53,319 The process of restoring the image of God in the lives of fallen sinners costs more 357 00:28:53,319 –> 00:28:54,760 than a fortune. 358 00:28:54,760 –> 00:29:03,040 It costs the blood of Christ and it takes every day of a lifetime. 359 00:29:03,040 –> 00:29:09,680 The work of God in you will not be complete this side of heaven. 360 00:29:09,680 –> 00:29:13,520 So that when Paul wrote to the Christians in Galatia, he didn’t say it’s a wonderful 361 00:29:14,520 –> 00:29:18,400 all been converted, and so the same thing’s sorted out in your life. 362 00:29:18,400 –> 00:29:27,400 No, he said, I’m in the pains of travail, he said until Christ be formed in you. 363 00:29:27,400 –> 00:29:33,800 Most of us have heard of Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Thesis that were nailed to the church door 364 00:29:33,800 –> 00:29:38,599 in Whittenberg, sparked off the Reformation. 365 00:29:38,680 –> 00:29:44,880 And did you know what the first of the Ninety-Five Thesis says? 366 00:29:44,880 –> 00:29:54,880 When our Lord Jesus Christ said repent, he willed that the whole life of believers should 367 00:29:54,880 –> 00:29:58,459 be repentance. 368 00:29:58,459 –> 00:30:05,680 And the reason Luther said that was that he understood the diagnosis. 369 00:30:05,680 –> 00:30:10,619 He realized that sin was not like barnacles on the outside of the ship, you know, an external 370 00:30:10,619 –> 00:30:13,160 thing that’s fairly easily scraped off. 371 00:30:13,160 –> 00:30:20,339 No, he understood it goes to the very wellsprings of our behavior and that it takes a lifetime 372 00:30:20,339 –> 00:30:24,140 for the image of God to be restored in a believing man or a woman. 373 00:30:24,140 –> 00:30:30,540 So if you have imagined that repentance is something that happens when you first come 374 00:30:30,660 –> 00:30:36,040 to Christ and then perhaps only occasionally when you go badly wrong through the rest of 375 00:30:36,040 –> 00:30:42,640 your Christian life, you have not really understood the Bible’s teaching on the subject. 376 00:30:42,640 –> 00:30:49,920 See how David puts it, grant me a willing spirit to sustain me. 377 00:30:49,920 –> 00:30:57,119 Lord, I do not want this repentance to be a passing phase in my life. 378 00:30:57,119 –> 00:31:04,300 So that after the pain of these moments has receded, I just slip back into my usual complacency. 379 00:31:04,300 –> 00:31:13,079 I want this joyful turning to You, oh God, to be this sustained pattern of my life. 380 00:31:13,079 –> 00:31:18,599 Dr. Jim Packer has a quite brilliant definition of repentance and if any of you are writing 381 00:31:18,599 –> 00:31:22,180 notes this is the best bit to write down. 382 00:31:22,180 –> 00:31:26,619 Helped me so much when I discovered it some years ago and it stayed with me ever since. 383 00:31:26,619 –> 00:31:37,359 Packer says, repentance is turning from as much as you know of sin with as much as you 384 00:31:37,359 –> 00:31:44,939 know of yourself to as much as you know of God. 385 00:31:44,939 –> 00:31:53,660 Repentance is turning from as much as you know of sin with as much as you know of yourself 386 00:31:53,660 –> 00:31:56,780 two as much as you know of God. 387 00:31:56,780 –> 00:32:01,359 And of course his point is this, that as you get to know more of what sin is, more of who 388 00:32:01,359 –> 00:32:07,420 you are and more of who God is, your repentance goes on getting deeper throughout the entire 389 00:32:07,420 –> 00:32:11,380 course of your christian life. 390 00:32:11,380 –> 00:32:15,780 See when you were a child, you knew what sin was, at least you thought you did. 391 00:32:15,780 –> 00:32:20,219 Stealing pencils biting your sister’s ear. 392 00:32:20,339 –> 00:32:24,900 But when you get into adult life, you understand more about sin. 393 00:32:24,900 –> 00:32:31,319 You begin to see the subtlety of pride, the creeping power of greed. 394 00:32:31,319 –> 00:32:37,739 And as we discover more of what sin is, our repentance becomes deeper. 395 00:32:37,739 –> 00:32:41,319 Have you ever been sound asleep on a dark morning? 396 00:32:41,319 –> 00:32:44,920 I mean really, right out. 397 00:32:44,920 –> 00:32:49,239 And some thoughtless person comes into the bedroom and sticks all the lights on full 398 00:32:49,280 –> 00:32:53,619 power, and you kind of screw up your eyes, and oh, put the lights off, turn them down 399 00:32:53,619 –> 00:32:56,180 a bit. 400 00:32:56,180 –> 00:32:59,219 Because you can only take so much light when you’ve been in darkness. 401 00:32:59,219 –> 00:33:07,619 You know, if God were to show you or me all of our sins in its full extent at one time, 402 00:33:07,619 –> 00:33:09,060 we would be completely blown away. 403 00:33:09,060 –> 00:33:11,739 We wouldn’t be able to bear it. 404 00:33:11,739 –> 00:33:16,500 So what God does when he brings the light into our lives is he exposes things gradually. 405 00:33:16,500 –> 00:33:18,319 It’s like a torch. 406 00:33:18,359 –> 00:33:20,500 As he begins to shine it into different corners. 407 00:33:20,500 –> 00:33:25,640 Ten years down the Christian path, I see something in my life that I didn’t really see before, 408 00:33:25,640 –> 00:33:30,939 but now I know it needs to be changed. 409 00:33:30,939 –> 00:33:33,140 God is turning up the light. 410 00:33:33,160 –> 00:33:36,420 That’s why sometimes a young Christian thinks, you know, I’ve come to Christ, I seem to be 411 00:33:36,439 –> 00:33:37,439 getting worse. 412 00:33:37,439 –> 00:33:41,140 No, you’re not getting worse, your conscience is becoming more sensitive, and that’s how 413 00:33:41,140 –> 00:33:44,400 it should be. 414 00:33:44,400 –> 00:33:46,680 And you turn with as much as you know of yourself. 415 00:33:47,000 –> 00:33:51,140 You come to Christ and you say, oh, this is straightforward, I’m committed to Christ! 416 00:33:51,140 –> 00:33:56,020 And then the Lord begins to say, hey you’ve got a mind, I want you to start thinking about 417 00:33:56,020 –> 00:34:00,459 what it will mean to be a Christian in your sphere of work. 418 00:34:00,459 –> 00:34:05,619 You’ve got a heart, I want you to learn to worship, not just to sit in the pews. 419 00:34:05,619 –> 00:34:10,419 You have resources, I want you to learn to give for the cause of my kingdom. 420 00:34:10,419 –> 00:34:14,820 You have a home, I want you to develop ministry for the people who are lonely. 421 00:34:15,020 –> 00:34:20,500 Then God begins to show us what it means to give our whole selves more and more to him. 422 00:34:20,500 –> 00:34:27,260 And the more I come to know God, te more I see how much he hates sin, the more I see 423 00:34:27,260 –> 00:34:32,620 that this was why Christ went to the cross. 424 00:34:32,620 –> 00:34:37,780 We’ve ended each of these messages with a simple question. 425 00:34:37,780 –> 00:34:42,340 The first was are you interested in Diagnosis? 426 00:34:42,419 –> 00:34:48,080 Some people don’t want to know their real problem but that is the height of folly. 427 00:34:48,080 –> 00:34:51,280 Then we asked last week are you ready for the prescription? 428 00:34:51,280 –> 00:34:57,879 Do you want to place yourself wholly in the hands of this great Physician? 429 00:34:57,879 –> 00:35:02,659 This morning I asked this question, are you showing the signs of recovery? 430 00:35:02,659 –> 00:35:11,760 A joyful, sustained turning to God. 431 00:35:11,760 –> 00:35:16,159 Last time I was at Heathrow Airport it was a disastrous mess, they are rebuilding the 432 00:35:16,159 –> 00:35:17,919 terminals. 433 00:35:17,919 –> 00:35:23,919 And rather than coming to the usual area for d-plaining we were taken to a large waiting 434 00:35:23,919 –> 00:35:28,159 area on the tarmac, came out, were ushered on to a bus that went round what seemed to 435 00:35:28,159 –> 00:35:33,600 be like a rabbit warn of back roads and streets and service alleys, eventually we were tipped 436 00:35:33,600 –> 00:35:39,080 out it seemed at the bottom off an emergency exit door through the steel door up some stairs 437 00:35:39,080 –> 00:35:40,699 that seemed some stairs that seemed to go nowhere. 438 00:35:40,699 –> 00:35:44,939 The corridors that were lined with hanging sheets of plastic, no ceiling on the top, 439 00:35:44,939 –> 00:35:50,020 it went on and on and on it seemed like endless confusion and very frustrating. 440 00:35:50,020 –> 00:36:02,379 But behind all of that apparent chaos there was the master plan of an architect who while 441 00:36:03,280 –> 00:36:12,479 was going on in the terminal, was pulling down an old construction that needed to go 442 00:36:12,479 –> 00:36:20,820 and at the same time putting up a new construction that when it’s finished will be magnificent. 443 00:36:20,820 –> 00:36:23,979 That is what God does in our lives. 444 00:36:23,979 –> 00:36:35,139 In the process of life going on, He is taking down the old and He is building the new and 445 00:36:35,139 –> 00:36:40,820 it will be complete on the day when He receives us into glory. 446 00:36:40,820 –> 00:36:42,219 That’s repentance. 447 00:36:42,219 –> 00:36:43,879 Sometimes hard. 448 00:36:43,879 –> 00:36:46,219 Sometimes frustrating. 449 00:36:46,219 –> 00:36:51,860 Sometimes it is as you were saying, why does it have to be so difficult? 450 00:36:52,260 –> 00:37:02,899 But when God has finished His work, you will be so glad he began and rather than some dull 451 00:37:02,899 –> 00:37:12,239 doctrine to be avoided, you will think of repentance as His greatest good gift in your 452 00:37:12,239 –> 00:37:14,620 life. 453 00:37:14,620 –> 00:37:16,659 Finish then your new creation. 454 00:37:16,659 –> 00:37:19,580 Pure and spotless, let us be. 455 00:37:19,580 –> 00:37:26,179 Let us see Your great salvation perfectly restored in Thee, changed from glory into 456 00:37:26,179 –> 00:37:34,800 glory, till in heaven we take our place, till we cast our crowns before Thee, lost in wonder 457 00:37:34,800 –> 00:37:39,879 and love and praise. 458 00:37:39,879 –> 00:37:43,500 You’ve been listening to a sermon with Pastor Colin Smith of Open the Bible. 459 00:37:43,500 –> 00:37:51,939 To contact us, call us at 1-877-Open-365, or visit our website, openthebible.org.
