True Repentance

Proverbs 28:13
Gregory Broderick | Sunday, March 10, 2019
Copyright © 2019, Gregory Broderick

I am going to speak about repentance this morning, true repentance. The subject of repentance is found in nearly every book of the Bible, just as sin is found in nearly every book of the Bible. And where there is sin, there must be either judgment or repentance and forgiveness. There is no third way.

Speaking about repentance has gone out of fashion these days, as has the term sin. Instead, most so-called churches speak a false gospel, that Jesus loves you no matter what you do, and that you can go right on sinning and he will just go right on forgiving you. Indeed, many popular churches and preachers today claim that any call to repentance or obedience to any of God’s commands is legalism—an attempt to earn salvation instead of receiving it as God’s free gift by grace through faith. This is a demonic lie. It is also an old lie.

We recently read in our daily reading in Romans 6 that some people in the brand-new Christian church were arguing that we should go on sinning that grace may increase. It was the same lie then as it is today. Well, as St. Paul answered such false teachers in the first century, so we must answer them now: Mê genoitô! By no means! No way! Absolutely not!

Repentance remains as necessary and relevant today as it was in St. Paul’s time, as it was in Old Testament Israel, and as it was all the way back to Genesis 3. Why? Because man continues to sin, and God continues to be holy. God does not change, and because his word does not change, our need for repentance does not change, and the way of true repentance does not change.

So this morning we are going to look at our need for repentance, then we will look at true and false repentance, and finally we will make some points of application.

The Need for Repentance

We all need repentance because we all have sinned in violation of God’s holy law and are thus subject to God’s just wrath and judgment. All who refuse to repent and receive forgiveness of sins by faith in Jesus Christ are condemned to hell forever with no way out.

God is holy and perfect. He is known as the Holy One of Israel (Isa. 43:14; 40:25). He declares himself to be holy. Isaiah 43:15 says, “I am the Lord, your Holy One.” Psalm 99:5 says, “He is holy.” And 1 Peter 1:16 says, “Be holy, for I am holy,” quoting the Old Testament.

You see, he is not holy in the watered-down human sense, but he is super holy. He is perfectly holy. Isaiah 6:3 says, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God.” Notice the repetition. In Revelation 4:8, the living creatures surrounding God’s throne cry out day and night, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.” This repetition is to stress or underscore God’s holiness. And holiness is indeed God’s defining characteristic. He is the thrice-holy God. He is the only holy one. Revelation 15:4 says, “You alone are holy.” First Samuel 2:2 says, “There is no one holy like the Lord.”

God is not only holy, but he also demands holiness. So it is not just that he is holy, but he also requires everyone else to be holy. This is true, of course, for God’s chosen people. We already cited 1 Peter 1:16, where he says, “Be holy, for I am holy,” speaking to his people. In 1 Peter 2:9, God refers to his people, the church, as a holy nation. And in Matthew 5:48 the Lord Jesus himself calls on God’s people to “be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

So God’s people in God’s holy church are to be perfect. Perhaps that is no surprise. It is difficult to achieve; it is impossible to achieve. But the call to holiness is not limited to God’s people alone. No, God created all things and all people. And he has decreed moral laws by which all people must live, whether they agree or not.

The whole Bible, of course, reveals God’s moral character and his moral laws. But they are especially captured and summarized in the Ten Commandments. And this summary expression of God’s moral law is applicable to and binding upon all people everywhere. All people must worship God and God alone. You may not have false gods or false idols. All people must worship in the way he prescribes and regard his name as holy. All people must honor parents. They must not murder. They must not commit adultery. They must not steal. They must not lie. And they must not covet. And these moral laws apply to all people because God demands it.

God does not run a democracy. There is no vote. There is no discussion. You obey God’s moral law or you face God’s consequences. God is holy and he demands holiness from everyone.

The only problem is that we are not holy. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). That is, we have all violated God’s holy commands. We have all had other gods before us, idols of the heart. We have all violated his commands to worship him in the prescribed way. We have all rebelled against God by dishonoring parents and other authorities he has instituted. We have all coveted. We have all lied. We have all stolen. We have all murdered and committed adultery, perhaps literally, as in King David’s case, but certainly in spirit, with malice in the heart or lust of the eyes (Matt. 5:28). So every person, from your sweet old grandma to that cute little toddler has sinned and rebelled against God. As Genesis 8:21 tells us, every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.

So God is holy and we are not, and this is a serious problem. I said before he is holy, thrice holy, super holy, perfect in holiness. He is so holy that he cannot tolerate our unholiness. Habbakuk 1:13 says his eyes are too pure to look upon evil. He cannot tolerate wrong, it says.

Coming into the presence of God stained by the impurity of sin is a dangerous business. It is a guaranteed death sentence. Consider Aaron and his sons, the priests of God. They were required to wash themselves ceremonially before presenting offerings to God. It says they should wash their hands and feet so that they will not die. This is symbolic of washing sin away, coming into God’s presence perfect in holiness. Or look at Nadab and Abihu. They were struck dead when they sinned during worship in the presence of God. God saw their unclean and sinful worship, and he said, “I will show myself holy among those who approach me” (Lev. 10:3). Or consider Ananias and Sapphira. They were struck dead when they sinned by lying in the presence of the Holy Spirit, who is eternal God (Acts 5). Or in the early Corinthian church, many were weak and sick and struck dead for partaking of holy communion in an unworthy manner, that is, in sin. They failed to repent and they came before God, stained by their sin, and the holy God struck them down.

Now the biggest consequence of our sin and our unholiness is not that we die, but it is that our unholiness separates us from God in eternity. Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.” Death is bad, of course. Nobody wants to die. But this is worse. God is speaking here not of mere physical death, but of eternal death and eternal punishment in hell. It says, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So the parallel is, the wages of sin is eternal death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Eternal hell is the appointed punishment for anyone who sins. The same God who is so pure that he cannot even look upon evil certainly cannot have those stained by sin in his immediate and eternal presence in heaven forever. It makes sense. If he cannot even look upon evil, he cannot have it in his presence for eternity. It cannot happen.

We cannot enter into heaven in our own righteousness because we are all stained by sin. In God’s sight ,our righteousness, such as it is, our good acts, all are filthy rags, stained and corrupted. So to enter into his presence we need a new righteousness. We need an alien righteousness, a righteousness from outside of ourselves. We need a righteousness that has not been corrupted. In short, we must be clothed in the perfect righteousness of the God-man Jesus Christ. Without that, without his righteousness, we will be like that man in Matthew 22 who went to the king’s wedding banquet in his own clothes. He was tied hand and foot and thrown out into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So there again we see there a picture of eternal hell, thrown out into eternal hell. That is not my idea; that is what Jesus said.

Once cast out into this eternal hell at the end of our life, there is no way out. Rather, there is a great chasm separating holy God and his holy people from those suffering in hell forever (Luke 16).

If this was the whole story, that God is holy and that we are not, we would all be doomed to eternal hell with no hope. But, praise God, that is not the whole story. There is a way out. There is one way out. Repentance and faith in Jesus Christ is the only way out. That is why we need repentance.

Repentance means a change of mind (metanoia). A change of heart. A transformation. A putting off of the old and a putting on of the new. (GTB) Biblical repentance is a definitive turning – a turning from sin to God definitively. It is not a temporary whim but a permanent change of life. It is the result of God’s unilateral, monergistic work of regeneration, giving us a new heart, a new will, and new emotions. He gives us a new spirit, allowing us to say “No” to sin and “Yes” to righteousness. It is a total transformation, such that we become a new creation, different in nature from the way that we were.

This, of course, is God’s work. Left to our own, we are dead in our trespasses and sins, and can do nothing. We were like the dead Lazarus in the grave. But God in his great mercy offers to all people the opportunity to repent and live. He regenerates his elect people and, as Jesus called out, “Lazarus, come forth,” he makes the dead alive, able to rise up and follow him.

This regeneration manifests itself both in faith in Jesus Christ, trusting in him alone for salvation, but also in repentance. That is, the regenerate person not only believes in Christ, not only puts his faith in Christ, but he repents of all sin. He does what our text this morning says. He confesses and renounces all sin, definitively turning to God. He is not perfect. He may still sin from time to time. But his life is no longer ruled or marked by sin. And he repents again when he falls, getting up to walk with God.

I am going to speak about human responsibility for most of the rest of the time. But we must first emphasize that this repentance is a gift from God. It cannot be achieved through self-will or determination. It is not your work that then results in earning God’s forgiveness; so it is not that I repent and then I have earned enough points with God who forgives me. No, it is a gift. Acts 5:31 says God gave repentance and forgiveness of sins to his people. He gave that gift. It is not that we earned it. Acts 11:18 says God granted the Gentiles repentance unto life. So just like faith, this repentance is a gift, a free gift given by his grace. And it is available at a good price. All you must do is ask. Jesus said, “Whoever comes to me, I will never drive away” (John 6:37).

If you call upon the name of the Lord, if you cry out, “Have mercy on me, a sinner!” he will forgive you. If you confess and renounce your sins, you will indeed find mercy. But I want to warn you—I said there is a way out—this is the only way out. Without these telltale signs of repentance and faith, you can be sure that you are not born again. You can say whatever you want. You can do whatever you want. You can change whatever you want. But without repentance and faith, you are simply the same old sinner. Without true repentance, you can be sure that there is no life of God in the soul of man.

In view of the importance of repentance, it is no surprise that every true gospel preaching begins with, “Repent.” Jesus preached repentance from the start. Matthew 4:17 says, “From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.’” It is the same idea in Matthew 21:32, where Jesus chastised the powerful, saying, “You did not repent and believe [at what John was preaching].”

In Luke 24:47 Jesus explains that he himself must die and rise, so that “repentance and forgiveness will be preached in [my] name to all nations.” In Matthew 3:8 he warned Israel’s leaders, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” And in Luke 5 he says, “I have come to call sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32). You see the emphasis over and over and over again from the Lord Jesus on repentance.

And not only Jesus himself, which ought to be sufficient, but also the chief apostle St. Peter preached repentance. He announced to the crowds in Acts 3 that they must repent and turn to God, “that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord” (Acts 3:19). And in Acts 5:31, Peter explains that Christ died so that God might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.

The chief apostle St. Peter preached repentance. So did the chief evangelist St. Paul. He followed the same pattern, preaching repentance wherever he went. And when reflecting on his life’s ministry, in Acts 20:21 he said, “I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.” And in Romans 2:4 and 2 Corinthians 7:9 he explains that the primary purpose of God’s actions and of St. Paul’s own actions has been to drive sinners to repentance.

So we see that repentance is not some ancillary doctrine plucked from some obscure verse of Scripture. It is all over the Bible, from start to finish. It is a core doctrine and a critical component, and we cannot do without it. So what they did then, we do now. We urge all people everywhere to repent.

True and False Repentance

What is this repentance? What is true repentance? Now you know that you must repent or face eternal hell. You even know how to repent by asking God to have mercy on you and save you, and then turning definitively from sin to God, forsaking all to follow Jesus. So you know what it is and how to do it. But what does true repentance look like? I am going to give you seven characteristics of true repentance.

First: True repentance begins with confession. Our text says, “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” Confession is thus a key element of repentance. The confessing person owns his sin. He freely says what he did, realizing that the all-knowing God sees all anyway. True repentance and true confession is not waiting to be caught in that sin and then grudgingly conceding what has already been proved beyond all reasonable doubt. No, that is called admitting, not confessing.

True confession brings forward sin, not after being cornered or being caught, but because of the guilt and the shame of offending almighty holy God. Confession accompanying true repentance is also free-flowing. It does not invoke the right to remain silent. Instead, it says, “I am the man.” True confession does not wait to see what that person confronting me knows or can prove, nor is it the product of pulling teeth or of withering cross-examination. No, true repentance includes a free and complete confession of all known sins, even where they might not be found out otherwise.

Second: True repentance is resolved. That true repentance, that metanoia, that change of life and change of thinking, is marked by a firm resolution. Proverbs 28:13 does not say, “He who confesses his sins finds mercy,” but “he who confesses his sins and renounces them finds mercy.” This renouncing is a definitive act. It is a formal declaration of abandonment. It is a formal declaration of rejection of that sin. And it is accompanied by an unmovable and unshakable commitment to make that renouncement stick. It is not uncertain. It is not double-minded. It is not revocable.

Think of renouncing your citizenship. That is a definitive act, right? To do so, you cannot just say, “I renounce.” A lot of people say that after every election, one way or the other. But I looked it up. 8 U.S.C. § 1141 and accompanying federal regulations have a formal process for renouncing your citizenship. You have to show up before a particular kind of official at a particular embassy. You have to sign an oath renouncing your citizenship. Or think of renouncing the throne, or renouncing the British crown, as King Edward did in 1936. He had to sign an act that had been passed by Parliament.

The point is, it is a big deal. Renouncing something is a big deal. It is a formal and permanent thing and it must be thought through ahead of time. It is permanent, and it is not to be undone. In fact, 1 Kings 19 uses a variation of the same word from Proverbs 28:13, a variation of that word “renounce,” to describe how Elisha left everything behind him to follow the prophet Elijah. So he renounced his old way. He renounced his old things, and he went a new way. And you may recall that story, if you are familiar with it: he slaughtered his oxen, he burned the equipment, and he offered them all as a sacrifice to God. He was done and permanently done with his former life, and he was going on to a new life.

This is the kind of resolution that is required for true repentance. You are done with the old way. You are dead to sin, and you cannot live in it any longer. You must turn your back permanently and irrevocably on your sin and your former way, and go forward in the new way.

Third: True repentance is evident. A truly repentant person does not mutter some words but then keep going along as before. No, there is a marked change of life. He is different, and noticeably different. He produces fruit in keeping with his repentance. Everyone who knows him sees this new way. It is not some minor or imperceptible change. It is not something done in a corner. No, his repentance and confession might be the result of an inward work of God, might be the result of the Holy Spirit working in him, but that inward work has an outward effect.

Ephesians 4:28 shows us the pattern. It says, “He who stole, let him steal no longer, but he must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with the needy.” You see the total difference in the way of life. He did not go on stealing. He did not merely stop stealing. But he began to work. The Greek word there implies a toiling, a labor, a hard work. This is the opposite of what he did before. He used to steal because he was too lazy, or he refused to work. But now he works hard. And notice, not only does he work hard, but he works hard at something useful. He is not a charity case or a waste of space. He is productive, doing something that is needed. He also does this with his own hands, personally working. It doesn’t say, “He who stole, let his wife go to work.” It says, “Let him go to work.”

He is productive. He does something useful. He supports himself and he supports his family. And not only that, he has abundance due to this new way, and he is able to give to those in need.  He went from being a societal minus to a societal plus. He was a taker and now he is a giver. This is evidence of true repentance and it is noticeable to everyone. Everyone sees the difference. The new man does not go back to the old way. He is a new wineskin filled with new wine. The thief no longer steals, but works and gives. The drunk no longer drinks, but is serious, sober, and productive. That loose, immoral woman no longer chases men or flirts with them, catching them in her adulterous web of sexual immorality, but she carries herself with purity in dress, speech, and action. She is totally different. Those who know her are stunned by her new behavior. They are not straining to see minor changes or squinting to detect invisible emanations from penumbra. They are blown away by the new man or the new woman. He or she is a new creation, and everyone can see it.

Fourth: True repentance is unconditional. Real repentance does not come with conditions. True repentance is not even concerned about the consequences that follow. Rather, true repentance says, “I have sinned against the Lord,” as King David did when he was confronted by Nathan the prophet (2 Sam. 12:13). True repentance does not have its own agenda. The repentant person is not trying to cut the best deal. He or she is not engaged in a plea bargain, looking for time off or a negotiation to get the most he can out of this. Rather, true repentance is born of sorrow for sinning against God, and it moves forward in the realization that what we deserve is God’s full and just wrath.

Fake repentance, by contrast, pursues its own agenda. It has an ulterior motive. Fake repentance tries to have its cake and eat it too. It tries to hold on to that sin, or at least to the benefits that it derived from that sin earlier. So we look for our example to Pharaoh in Exodus. This is classic false repentance. God gave Pharaoh a clear command: “Let the Israelites go out of this country, and let my people go so that they may worship me in the desert.” There is no question about what God commanded Pharaoh to do. He didn’t do it. He refused, and he suffered various plagues. And tiring of those problems, unhappy with the consequences of his sin, he repents falsely.

In Exodus 8:25, he comes to Moses and says, “Okay, okay. Go, but sacrifice to your God here in the land.” That is not what God said. God said, “Let my people go that they may worship me in the desert.” But he says, “Go and worship here in the land.” It’s a compromise. He is negotiating. He does not say, “I have sinned and I will do whatever God says.” No, he has a deal to make. He has an offer to make to God. This has nothing to do with repentance.

This, of course, failed. God does not negotiate or compromise. Pharaoh tries the same thing again in Exodus 10. And after further self-inflicted wounds, he proposes a second deal. “All right, you can go. But have only the men go.” Again, that is not what God said. So that deal is rejected also. Then he tries again in Exodus 10:24. He says, “Well, you can all go. So all the people can go, and they can go and worship in the desert. But don’t bring any animals for the sacrifice.” Again, he is still working a deal.

This is all fake repentance—working a deal instead of seeing your sin. He even says what appeared to be the magic words. He says, “I have sinned.” That is more than most people say. But his actions betrayed him. There was no real repentance and in the end, he was utterly destroyed. He refused to repent, and God refused to receive his fake repentance.

Contrast Pharaoh with King David in the Bathsheba incident. He was caught in the serious sins of adultery and murder. But he forthrightly confesses his sin with no questions about the potential consequences. He is willing to take them, whatever they are, because he knows that he is guilty and he deserves much worse than what he is going to get. Even when those consequences came, and they did come—and they were drastic in the death of his child and even a civil war in his kingdom—even then, he does not turn back.

Sin, of course, has consequences, but the repenting person is not chiefly concerned with those consequences. David lost his child and he had to flee his own kingdom. Zacchaeus lost his substantial fortune when he repented. St. Paul lost his position in Judaism. He was a high and rising star, and he had to give that all up when he repented. But nevertheless, these people repented and moved forward. You see, what do those things matter anyway when your big problem, your eternal problem, is solved? Compared to eternity, what are a few short decades of poverty or loss of power or even suffering?

True repentance has no secondary motive. It has no hidden agenda. It doesn’t say, “Well, I will repent if I can get this, or if my punishment is only that.” No, true repentance does not weigh the temporal consequences against the repentance to see which one I will choose. Rather, the truly repenting person’s only interest is in the full restoration with God.

Fifth: True repentance is humble. The truly repenting person realizes that he is a nothing who has spit in the face of the eternal, almighty, omnipotent, holy, loving, and good God. The God who gives him life and breath and everything else he repaid with rebellion and pride and sneering and scoffing. Such a person is appalled that he has treated God with such contempt. He sees the wickedness of his actions, and he is rightly ashamed before God. He is thus humble, not considering himself lower than he is, but finally seeing himself as low as he is.

You see, he sees God and he sees his own sin, and he is brought low. He says with St. Paul, “I am the chief of sinners.” And our example of this is the prodigal son in Luke 15. He, of course, arrogantly demanded his inheritance. He wasted it in sin in the far country and ends up broke and desperate. But God regenerates him and immediately upon coming to his right mind – this is speaking about regeneration – immediately he gets up and humbly goes home, confessing his sin against God and against his father. He did not ask to be restored as a son. He did not ask for a favored position or any special treatment. He just goes and asks to be treated like one of his father’s hired hands – basically, the lowest position. That is humility, and it is a mark of true repentance. He asks for nothing but mercy.

Fake repentance, by contrast, is arrogant. The fake repenting person unashamedly seeks the maximum advantage, ignorantly unaware that he deserves nothing. He demands what he thinks he is entitled to – the maximum – because he does not see God and does not see the sinfulness of his own sin. He does not see his unworthiness, but he demands that others fix the problem created by his own sin. The idea is, “I make a mess but you clean it up.” God will never accept such false repentance.

Sixth: True repentance takes responsibility. The truly repentant person understands that he is the one who sinned, that he alone is responsible for sinning and for the consequence of his sin. He does not attempt to blame God or to blame others or to blame the situation. No, as we already saw with King David, he confesses, “I sinned against the Lord.” And this is a repentance that God accepts. You see, he says in 2 Samuel 12:13, “I sinned against the Lord.” And in verse 14, it says, “The Lord has taken away your sin.” Why? Because of true repentance.

So he did not blame Bathsheba for her rooftop bathing. He did not blame his guards for failing to stop him. He did not blame God for the perfect combination of circumstances that led him to his sin. No, he simply took responsibility for what he decided to do. And the same thing is true of the prodigal son. When he comes, he says, “I have sinned against heaven and against you.” He doesn’t come up with a bunch of other people to blame. He doesn’t even blame his somewhat harsh older brother. He just takes responsibility for what he did.

Just as acceptance of responsibility is a mark of true repentance, so lack of acceptance is a mark of false repentance. The fake repenting person blames others, just like Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. They are looking for anyone else to blame. They blame God. They blame the devil. They blamed “that woman that you put in the garden with me.” They blamed everyone else except themselves.

But God is not fooled by such blameshifting. If you are not accepting full responsibility, you are not repenting. James 1:13 says, “God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when he, by his own evil desire, is dragged away and enticed into sin.” It is not anybody else’s fault. It is your fault if you sinned.

Another frequent mark of fake repentance is that it often blames the messenger. Fake repentance says it is the pastor’s fault, or it is my parents’ fault for being too strict or too serious about sin. They should stop being so puritanical. Like wicked King Ahab, they complain, “He never prophesies anything good about me.”

A closely related but sophisticated maneuver is not so much complaining about what was said, but the way it was said. It is not what that elder said but the way he said it. Yes, I sinned, but why did he have to be so mean? Why did he have to be so harsh? Why did he have to rub salt in my wounds? This is sheer arrogance. The truly repentant person realizes that he or she deserves God’s wrath and is not entitled to any mercy and is not entitled to be treated with kid gloves. The truly repenting person understands that the one confronting me in my sin is doing me a favor. He is doing me an eternal service. He is calling out to me to turn back from the path of destruction that I foolishly chose. It is not the man confronting me who sinned. I sinned. He does not have a problem; I have a problem.

Therefore, the repenting person – the truly repenting person does not quibble about the time, place, or manner of the confrontation. Instead, he says with the psalmist, “Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil on my head” (Ps. 141:5). That person loved me—loved me enough to bring me the hard word, and I appreciate it, even though it may be painful or difficult to receive.

Seventh: The truly repenting person obeys the word of God. Having sinned terribly against God, and having been forgiven by God’s grace and mercy through the shed blood of Christ, the repenting person lives a new life. And that new life is especially marked by obedience to the word of God. Again, this is not obedience to gain points with God or to curry favor with God. No, it is obedience out of thanksgiving.

He offers his body, his life, as a living sacrifice. He is quick to obey whatsoever things God commands. His goal is to please his master Jesus. He does not want to go his own way, and he understands that there is a way that seems right to him but it has led him to death. He does not grumble when the task seems hard. He does not complain about those things that happened to him or didn’t happen for him. No, he obeys immediately, exactly, and with joy. As soon as he understands what is the will of God in this situation, he says, as we read in Psalm 119:60, “I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands.”

This obedience is joyful. He is very happy to know and do the will of God. He says, “I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free” (Ps. 119:32). He says as in Psalm 119:35, “Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.” He says, “Oh, how I love your law!” (Ps. 119:97). This obedience is motivated by love and thus results in delight and joy. John 14:15 says, “If you love me, obey my commands.” Having been forgiven much, that person loves God much and that person obeys God’s commands.

And God gives the Holy Spirit to those who obey him (Acts 5:32). So that person, the repenting person, the obedient person, lives a life of joy because the Holy Spirit is with him and fellowshipping with him.  Eternal God, the third Person of the Trinity, is not only with him but in him. And so no wonder such a person has the joy of the Lord, even in difficulties. Having the Holy Spirit with him produces the fruit of joy. He rejoices in all circumstances, even in sufferings, because in those sufferings, God is with him (Rom. 5:3).

The fake repentance person, by contrast, refuses to obey. He or she bucks against the word of God brought to him or her, and any obedience wrenched from him or her is halfhearted and grudging. And because there is no real repentance, and because there is no real obedience, there is no Holy Spirit with that person, so there is no joy, no running in the path of God’s commands with a free heart. There is only misery and drudgery. And any obedience is short-lived. And that person eventually reverts to the sin. Like the sow washed clean, she goes back to wallowing in the mud. Any momentary obedience fades, and she goes back to obeying her true master, sin.

Application

Let us look briefly at a few points of application.

First: Are you a sinner who has never repented? You are in grave danger, eternal danger. Cry out to God today and plead for mercy from the Lord Jesus. Confess him as Lord, call upon his name, and seek his forgiveness. Confess that you are a sinner and renounce your sin today. He will not reject you; he will forgive you and welcome you into the family of God. You will indeed find mercy.

Second: Are you a backslidden Christian who has unconfessed sin? Have you been led into sin by your own evil desires and caught in its trap? You too are in mortal peril. You may not be a Christian at all. After all, you died to sin; how can you go on living in it? If you continue concealing your sin, you cannot prosper; God said so. You cannot be blessed; God said so. Instead, confess your sin and renounce it. Be accountable to, and transparent with, your spiritual authorities. They will help you to resist temptation, to resist the devil, and to prosper in the Lord.

Third: Are you a person who has falsely repented? Have you claimed repentance with your mouth but cherished sin in your heart? Did you admit your sin, say that you repented, but did not truly repent? Examine yourself, and don’t be too quick to say, “I am not that person.” Examine yourself. See if you have produced fruit in keeping with repentance. Or are you the same old person at heart and in behavior? Is your repentance evident to anyone? Have you repented wholeheartedly and unconditionally? Are you walking humbly in that repentance? Have you accepted that you and you alone are responsible for your sin and its unpleasant consequences, or are you looking for someone else to blame? Are you resolved to follow Christ? Or do you remain conflicted and double-minded? Are you plodding along in a slow and halfhearted drudgery of false repentance instead of running with a free heart and the joy of the Lord that accompanies true repentance?

If any of these are true of you, I have the word for you this morning: Stop it! Put aside your false repentance. Confess all of your sins for real. Renounce all of your sins for real. Call out to Jesus Christ for his great mercy. It is not too late for you today. You don’t have to go on in your sin and misery. And reject the lie of the devil that says you cannot do it, that the time for that has gone, that the die has been cast, that your sin is too great. The devil is a liar and the father of lies. He wants to destroy you.

Yes, your sin may be great, but God’s grace is greater. This God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son to live a perfect life of obedience and to die, suffering all of God’s wrath in our place, so that whoever believes—whoever believes in him shall not perish but shall have eternal life. Jesus paid it all. He paid the infinite price for all sins of all people who put their faith in him. He forgave the murdering adulterer David, and he will forgive you too.

I know that you are tempted to turn away. I know that it seems hard and there is great shame. But don’t do it. Don’t turn away. Don’t harden your heart. Don’t resist God.

Yes, there is shame with sin. And, yes, it will be hard at times. But Satan’s way is harder in the end, and it is harder forever. He steals and kills and destroys his followers for eternity, but God came that you can have life and have it more abundantly. You may suffer for a little while now, but with God you will rejoice. You will rejoice in suffering. You will rejoice in obedience. You will rejoice in overcoming. You will rejoice in resisting the devil and he will flee from you. And you will rejoice with all God’s saints together for eternity. All you have to do is ask. Confess and renounce your sins, and you will find mercy today. It is guaranteed by God’s own word.

Finally, are you right with God? Have you truly repented? Then I say, keep on repenting. Examine yourself frequently and repent frequently. We all sin and we must all repent, even daily, even multiple times a day. When we sin, when we fall, we must repent and do the first works of obedience to God. And if that is what you do, then you can rejoice. All of your problems are solved. Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, rejoice. You are with God’s people; rejoice. You are in God’s church; rejoice. And you are going to be with God in eternity; rejoice. Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice.

Brothers and sisters, we have a very gracious God, a very merciful God, a very faithful God. We have a very loving God. So let us all confess, repent, renounce our sins, walk in humble obedience, glorify God, rejoice in the Lord and praise him together for all eternity. Amen.