Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Reaping From Repentance

I have a couple of notes from the work in Africa, some good things going on. Ron and Tera got home safely. We're thankful for that and for things that are moving on. It's exciting!

Let me read, first of all, a little note that came in from Ron. He said, "After Tony and I had a good time of fellowship going over business, we headed out to the property. We're holding our evangelistic meetings and also Wednesday mid-week services. Tony conducted the evangelistic meeting right in front of the church. John was ministering in song. Tony preached a powerful message. The opportunity to touch lives in this area seems endless. Within a few minutes of being there, I had an opportunity to minister to two young men, both professing believers. One made it to the service afterwards. We had a great time. Tony opened the service, oversaw praise and worship, and John ministered powerfully unto the Lord. I taught on 'The Hope of Glory.' Last Wednesday (our first service), Tony said no one showed up. Today we had ten that were there for the whole service, about twenty who passed through, and many standing on the outside looking in. It's one of those that you can actually be there and not be there, the way this is set up. We praise God for the privilege of being His ambassadors. There definitely seems to be wide-open doors of utterance. It's amazing how much ministry took place in just that three-hour period."

Tony said, "Greetings. We're all well and thankful [to God] for bringing Ron and Tera home safely. We're all refreshed in the spirit and very excited for the open door the Lord's granted us. We had another outstanding time of evangelism on Monday. [Ron's was a note on Wednesday evening service.] We set up in front of the church. John ministered some evangelistic songs and began to preach. The presence of God manifested in even a greater manner than at any of the other meetings. I was preaching on hypocrisy in contrast to the true worshippers of God, that Christianity is of the heart and not outward appearance. The verandas from the surrounding apartment complexes all had people scattered on all levels and all sides listening to the message."

This is cool. You've got to visualize this. It's just high rises, and we're kind of right down in the middle of all that. Of course, you know that sound rises in those areas; so it's just like a huge amphitheater that's there. People can come to church without leaving home. It's like Schuler's church, except they don't drive in; they just pull their chair out and sit on the verandas! It's kind of an interesting thing, but you have to try to envision that, if you can, in your mind.

He goes on to say, "There's an open air bar across the street and down a few yards. I noticed that all of the people turn their chairs to face the preaching. The whole row of them sat intently listening to the message, and (as John put it) not many bottles were lifted during the teaching. A number of people trying to simply pass by were stopped and just stood and listened to the whole message. People were on all sides, and it was just an extraordinary time in the Spirit. It seemed like a reproof of the Spirit on the spirit of hypocrisy, grabbing the attention of many and expounding on what true Christianity is from the heart. We went away rejoicing, knowing it was all of Him, and giving much thanks and praise for scores of lives who we were privileged to be used to reach. Many lives are being reached every day with His glorious gospel. Thanks for your prayers and for the privilege."

Let's just continue to pray and believe God. There's some great potential. It's pretty much unlimited what can happen there, praise God!

We just want to give you another quick report. Thank God for all of your faithfulness in the ministry. We were able to raise about $24,000 (Can you say "Praise God!" for that?) over the weekend, so all of the current needs for Africa have been met; we're in the black in those areas. God is so faithful to us. Also, we had some good seed money that came in for the Joash Chest already. I think it was right around $12,000, which will help us get the architects started and some of the smaller fees and different things. And so, it's exciting.

The architects and the engineers came out and said that we couldn't save any money by trying to keep this part of the building intact. What we wanted to do was keep everything that's here intact, and just build there [pointing] with a higher area for the platform. They said, basically, to try to work around everything would cost us money in the long run. We'd spend more money trying to save it than we would by taking it out. So virtually, what we're going to do is put a new building on this site. We'll save that wall, and that wall, and part of that wall; and everything else is going. We're looking at some of those different areas right now.

We don't have a clue at this juncture what it's going to cost us. I'm confident that we're going to be in that price range that we had spoken of. As each one of us increases our giving in the portion that we had talked about, the six months time-range should generate for us about half a million dollars, which should pay for this. If it doesn't, then we'll just stay in the gym until it's paid for. We'll be moving in that way shortly. We're going to stay here in the sanctuary as long as we can. What's going to happen then is, the new building will go out just to the sidewalk out that way (pointing). The platform will be on that end (pointing). The ceiling will be twice as high. There will be a balcony that will go from there (pointing) to that middle pole, which will seat about 250 people. And we'll be done. The building will have approximately 1,000 seats, and that should hold us until Jesus comes!

It could happen, but I'd be very surprised if we can find a thousand people who are willing to walk on the path we're on. But it can happen. You remember that during the 9-11 thing, church attendance in the major cities went up between twenty and twenty-five percent immediately following the attacks. They're back to or below what they normally were. There was an article in one of the major newspapers just the other day that talked about this phenomenon. It said basically that as a nation, we're in a post-Christian era. People (then fearful) went to church, but it didn't meet their expectations. It depends on what people are expecting today. We talked about what T.D. Jakes is giving people: what they want. Those churches are growing--the ones that are giving the people what they want. The ones that are just empty form and tradition--people are not satisfied with this. This article went on to say that in the 2000's (I liked the insight that this secular writer had), it's obvious that the old religions (Christianity, Judaism) are not meeting the needs. It said there needs to be a new religion that will come on the scene to meet the needs of the masses for this day. And it is. I doubt that they'll title it "The Whore," but that's what it's going to be! The Scripture speaks of that in the book of Revelation. It says this new religious system is "the whore." They probably won't call themselves that, but that's what is coming.

Aren't you glad to know the truth? The truth does set us free. It's a straight and narrow path; few there be that find it, and I think we ought to be thankful tonight for the privilege of being on that course. Don't take it for granted.

We want to talk tonight about what will keep you on that course. It's an attitude, a heart attitude of perpetual repentance. The whole ministry of Jesus started with these words in Matthew 3:2, and it's something that we want to get into our hearts right now. "...Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Repent; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Let's talk about what repentance is first of all. We know that repentance is necessary to get us into the kingdom, but a perpetual heart attitude of repentance is what keeps us in the kingdom. It's what causes us to continue in the journey of sanctification and ultimately to the full expression of redemption, our glorification, as we become like Him.

We talked about forgiveness on Sunday. Forgiveness is something that is so vital in how we relate to Father in being able to receive the full grace extended to us. We respond to one another in love in reciprocation for what's been given to us. We said in that study that when we go and bring an offense to someone's attention, his saying, "I'm sorry," isn't sufficient. (We've worn that out in our generation.)

We talked about what true repentance is. When we're talking about "repentance," we're talking about "a change of mind, purpose, and direction." A change. There is no repentance without change; things can't stay the same. Anytime God brings to our hearts conviction that brings about true repentance, something in your life is going to change. Things can't remain the same. That's why a lot of people don't really repent. They want to keep things as they are, and somehow want to work some kind of a deal with God. They're really more concerned with maintaining either a course of action, a status, or a delusion that they might be moving in of themselves or their accomplishments. We're fearful to come to the light because we know that the light always demands change. Every time God brings us illumination, it requires change. He doesn't show us things just to reveal our condition. He reveals things to prepare us for conforming to His image, to His will, to the determinate counsel of God.

When we talk about repentance tonight, it's going to show us that it involves these three areas (and I want you to get it in your notes). True repentance always involves intellect, emotions, and volition. (Will or choice is what volition is all about.) Then we're going to look at some other aspects. The three elements that are involved in repentance are confession, a forsaking, and a turning. We want to talk about those different aspects tonight.

When God begins to deal with our heart--and most of us here have been born-again. We're already in the kingdom of God; we've repented; we've realized the kingdom was at hand. We've accepted the light of the glorious gospel. We've experienced regeneration. Old things have passed away; all things have become new. We're sons of God. We've been baptized into the body of Christ. We've been filled with the Holy Spirit, and He is ordering our steps, leading us into truth. And so, here we are in this journey. Now in this journey, the process of sanctification is taking place. The life of sanctification is that perpetual repentance that we're talking about. God constantly illuminates an area in our life and says, "I want that changed. I want you in this area to become more like Me." We're challenged at this time with a death to self. Repentance always requires a measure of death to self. That's why it's so uncomfortable. People really get a little bit antsy when you start talking about repentance.

Repentance is the by-product of godly sorrow. It's God making real in our hearts that we've grieved His heart. It creates in us then a hunger to reestablish worship of our God. You notice I didn't say "favor." We're not out of favor. It reestablishes worship. It reestablishes the relationship and the peace that we have as we're walking in obedience to God.

When we talk about these things, let's look for just a moment, when I talk about intellect. Turn over to Psalm 51 for just a second. What do I mean when I say that true repentance involves intellect?

I heard this just the other day; one of the deacons shared a report with one of our pastors. He said that in the home fellowship meeting last week, someone came up to him and said, "You know, I was encouraging another person because I'd experienced something similar. I'd received reproof from the leadership a number of months ago. [I'm not going to get too specific in this because I don't want to misrepresent what was going on, but this is the gist of what it was.] I'd received this reproof and rebuke, and I still really don't know what I did wrong. I don't know what I did wrong, but they said I was doing something wrong, so I guess I was doing something wrong; but I don't know what it was that I was doing wrong. I think I'm doing right now."

The fact of the matter is, if you don't know what you're doing wrong, you can't repent. If there's no illumination, if you don't understand the transgression, if you don't understand the heart of God in a given area, then there can't be the fruit of repentance that follows. If you don't know that what you were doing was wrong, how can you turn away from it? I'm just using that as an example to show where we are a lot of times. When people bring reproof to us, and we say, "Well, I don't see that; but if all the deacons, and all the pastors, and everybody else in the congregation but my best friend see it, then okay; I'll accept your word for it," can that person repent? They haven't seen the truth. Repentance comes from revelation in our heart that we've transgressed against God, that we've offended the heart of God. If intellectually you can't assimilate that, then you don't know the Word of God (which is necessary for true godly sorrow and repentance); and secondly, you don't know the Spirit of God.

Let's look at Psalm 51, and see how true repentance really works here. I think it'll help us out as we catch the heart of the great man of God, the man after God's own heart--the man after God's own heart who was a murderer, an adulterer, full of pride and self-reliance (in numbering the people of Israel), that bloody man who couldn't build the temple, the shepherd and psalmist: David. He had one of the great hearts in all of the Scripture; and yet, God reveals all of his dirty laundry. How many of you would like yours revealed so that we could learn? These things were written for our learning. These men were examples to us, the Scripture says. God says this was a man after His own heart. What that means is, he's a man that could repent. David was a man that knew how to repent. You say, "Me too, praise God! I mean, I think I do more repenting than anybody in here! I'm always messing up, but I just repent!" Are you? Or are you saying, "I'm sorry"? Let's find out whether there's a change. These are some very heinous acts that are recorded; but we don't see him repeating them, do we? It's important for us to understand the necessity of having an intimacy with God, so that we can have sensitive spirits that can be pierced and a broken and contrite heart that, as we'll see, He never despises.

"Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin" (Psalm 51:1). You see, this is a man that had no delight in sin. He had an appetite for sin, just like every one of us, but no delight in it. Every one of us has an appetite for sin; sin is in our members. It's appealing to us; and even when we partake, there is no delight. In fact, there's remorse. If you're a re-created being, you cannot enjoy sin, period! There is no enjoyment. When it's finished, it brings forth death. You are aware that you've partaken of death. You're aware of the potential separation from God. You're aware that you've pierced the heart of your Savior. Anytime that you gossip, anytime that you slander, anytime that you're apathetic, anytime that you're lustful, anytime that you're covetous, there is no satisfaction to the man of God. Every time the Holy Spirit reveals it to us, this is our heart's cry right here: "Have mercy on me, oh God! I'm a man of unclean lips. I'm undone. If You regard iniquity, who shall stand? Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sins."

"For I [say it with me] acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me" (verse 3, emphasis added). That doesn't mean that he won't ever forget it, and not a moment goes by that he doesn't remember killing his friend Uriah, that there will never be a moment that he doesn't remember that he took advantage of this young woman, Bathsheba. (That's what this Psalm is all about--his repentance for that offense, the murder and the taking of this man's wife.) When he says my sins are ever before me, he's saying, "I understand fully what I did and what it cost. I will never forget, but I don't remain under condemnation. It's something that I keep before me, but it's not something that dominates me in remorse, in condemnation. It does work in me carefulness [and all of the Corinthian aspects of true godly sorrow that we'll talk about in just a second]. I acknowledge my transgressions; my sin is ever before me."

So many of us, whenever there's an offense against God, we confess our sin as 1 John says. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). As we've said in the past, people do this almost flippantly. A lot of people don't even bother quoting the verse anymore. It's just, "1 John 1:9, 1 John 1:9, 1 John 1:9, 1 John 1:9." That's their favorite Scripture. "If we confess our sin, He's faithful and just to [mumble, mumble, mumble], amen!" Let's seriously consider the offense, and the reproach on God, and the effect on the community. Let's acknowledge that no man lives to himself or dies to himself. Everything you do affects the kingdom of God, the body of Christ, the integrity of the kingdom.

"I acknowledge my transgression." We all know the story, that he didn't get it real quickly. In fact, turn over to 2 Samuel for just a second. 2 Samuel 11:2 tells us, tragically, that David saw a woman. (Scripture says there's to be a watch over your eyes. Jesus says, He that looks upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery already in his heart.) David saw a woman; then David inquired of the woman (verse 3); then David took the woman (verse 4). That's the sequence. Then we know what took place. He finds out that this is the wife of Uriah. He sends for Uriah to come home from war to be with his wife because she was pregnant, and this would cover up the sin. Uriah would come home and be with his wife; then, when she begins to show, of course, nobody's going to think anything different. There's only one problem. David didn't factor in the integrity of Uriah, the purity of this man's heart. Verse 9 says that when Uriah came home, he didn't go to his wife. He slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord. He was out defending the nation. He was out fighting for his king. He comes home and continues to serve. "And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey? why then didst thou not go down unto thine house? And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing" (verses 10-11). A man of integrity. The Scripture says our sins will find us out.

The Scripture goes on and says that David then called Uriah in and made him drunk; and he went out to lie on his bed with the servants, but did not go to his own house. So David had to come up with another plan. He said, "Here's what we'll do. I want you to send him back to the battle. I want you to put him into the hottest battle of all, and when he goes into there, just draw back, that they kill him (verse 15). And so, Uriah the Hittite died in battle (verse 17). Verse 27 says, "And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord." It doesn't always manifest immediately; but God now is offended.

So the Lord sends the prophet Nathan to him in Chapter12. We know the story. He goes and tells David a story about this rich guy that had tons of flocks; he had just all kinds of blessings and prosperity. But there was a poor guy that had nothing except a little ewe (or "oo-ee," depending on how you pronounce it--that's for Ronnie when he gets the tape!) lamb, one that he had nourished and that grew up together with him and with his children. That was all they had--just one little lamb. There came a traveler, verse 4 says, to the rich man; and instead of taking of his own flock, he went down and took this one little lamb, and dressed it for the man that came to him. David was ticked, verse 5 says (that's kind of paraphrasing it!); but it says that, "And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die." In verse 7, Nathan the prophet looks him dead in the eye and says, "Thou art the man."

Now, what do we learn from this? We're not always quick to see our own sin, are we? We can see it in others. We can make all the right judgments. "You bring it here; you give me the case study. I can give you the right scenario here. I can give you the verses you need to apply. I can tell you what needs to be done about this situation." The thing that most of us run into, and the reason we have trouble in these areas of repentance is, most of us aren't able to acknowledge our sin. We're either not alive enough in the spirit to be convicted, we don't spend enough time in the Word to be reproved by the Word of God, or we won't listen to counsel. Now, these are the ways it's going to come: spiritual illumination, biblical revelation, or the chastening or reproof of spiritual authority. Every one of us is going to be encountered with those things in our lives when there's an offense against the Lord. He will see to it that somehow we come to grips with that.

What are you going to do once that voice begins to confront you concerning whatever area it is in your life? Now, none of us here are involved in heinous acts like this. None of us are involved in murder, unless the Bible's true when it says if a man hates his brother, he's a murderer. None of us are involved in adultery like this, unless the Bible's true when it says if you look upon a woman to lust after her ... Maybe some of us need to be repenting that are not. Maybe some of us are thinking a little more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. Maybe we're not being sensitive enough to understand what murder is, and what adultery is, and what covetousness is, and what pride is. Maybe when the Word of God's being taught, or brothers and sisters are coming and bringing us some illumination, our first response should not be to them, "Well, you know, that's a disputable matter." Maybe you ought to take some time and confront the matter at hand and find out whether or not you're the man. "That's a disputable matter. That's just your conviction. I can't live off your conscience." All those statements are true; but is that always your first response? Is that your first line of defense? Are you someone who's ready to hear when the prophet comes to speak? Are you someone who's hungry for the Word of God, the illumination of the Spirit? Are you someone who's sensitive? Are you someone who wants to do it right for the glory of God, and be as free and pure as you possibly can in your spirit? Are you someone who's ready to acknowledge your sin?

David knew the truth; he just couldn't apply it to himself. We get in trouble when we know, because knowledge puffs up. We know these things; and because we know them, we think we're doing them. True godly sorrow will always bring about an acknowledging of the transgression. "No, that's a disputable matter." "I can't live by your conscience." Quick. Ready. Always. Listen. Thou art the man.

Then the prophet begins to reveal the wickedness of David's heart. "And I gave thee thy master's house [Saul's kingdom], and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things," verse 8 says. "Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? ... Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house ..." (verses 9-10).

This act is what kept him from building the temple for God. The consequences so many times are immeasurable, and they go on. Beloved, the consequences of our sins go on for generations; so guard yourself in every decision and action that you're involved in, and realize how lasting these consequences can be.

"Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house [the prophecy of Absalom]..." (verse 11). "For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die" (verses 12-14).

We realize the consequences that are taking place here. What I want you to see is that David now is beginning to see this, and he's acknowledging the sin; he's acknowledging the consequences. He's beginning to experience the grief already in his heart. "It's always now before me." We know the story. The child dies (verse 18). (I wonder how many times that entered into the mind of this man?) He refreshes himself upon the announcing of the death of the child (verse 20). Then this great passage comes: "He can't come to me, but I can go to him"(verse 23). David again acknowledges his transgression.

If you'll look at the fourth verse of Psalm 51, there's a very important aspect of true repentance and godly sorrow. Verse 3 says, "For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me." Then look at verse 4. "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned ..." (emphasis added). Now, in the natural, people want to have a little bit of discussion about this situation. They take exception with this. "What do you mean, 'against God only'? You killed Uriah; you took this woman to yourself. And you're saying 'against God only'?"

Beloved, I want you to understand, and get this in your hearts. First of all, there can be no true godly sorrow, there can be no true biblical repentance, if the grief in your heart is not more real as it relates to Father than it is to the natural consequences. I've seen it over the years. You see people weeping and broken over their families that are being broken up because of their unfaithfulness. You see men just weeping and weeping because the families are destroyed, because they can't control the alcohol, because the drugs have overwhelmed them. You see them weeping because their rebellious children have gone onto the streets and are involved in prostitution and drug abuse. They weep, and they're broken over the broken lives, over the reputation of their families. But how many are really that broken over the heart of God? If none of these other occurrences manifested--if there weren't visible observable consequences, if there wasn't the divorce, if there wasn't the death of the child, if there wasn't the AIDS that you're contending with, if there wasn't the cirrhosis of the liver; if nobody knew--would there still be the weeping, and the brokenness, and the shame in the secret closets of our prayer? Until there's more grief over God's heart than the consequences to men, then we don't know what godly sorrow is. Even though most humanists (and the natural mind) take offense with this verse and say, "What do you mean 'against God'? Look what you did to man!" it's not important how it affects man. That's secondary. When I say, "not important," I mean as it compares to how important it is to acknowledge the offense to a holy God, One that loved us, and died for us, and was made sin with our sin.

"Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness [again]...Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto to me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. [Then I can get my eyes off myself again.] Then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted unto thee" (Psalm 51:4-8a, 10-13). Then I can comfort with the same comfort wherewith I've been comforted. Then I can go out and tell people how to truly repent, praise God!

How badly do we want to know the areas of our life that are bringing an offense to the kingdom? Do you want to acknowledge your sins? Once we have that kind of a heart, once we have that kind of a teachable spirit, then we begin to receive counsel. We count those around us wise that are going to bring us reproof and instruction in righteousness, that as men of God we can be thoroughly furnished unto all good works. We receive the love that chastens and, as the Scripture makes it clear, we allow iron to sharpen iron. If we have hearts like David, if we're sensitive in this way, then when we acknowledge the sin, true repentance hits the seat of our emotions. A lot of us say, "Well you know, I'm just not an emotional person." We're all emotional beings. Some of us are more demonstrative than others, but you are emotional. This is something we all are. We need to realize that this is a part of what God has called us to.

If you look over at Luke 18, you can get a little bit of feel for this aspect. You remember the story when these men had come to the temple. In Luke 18, we find the contrasting of the Pharisee and the publican. The Pharisee was self-righteous, thinking that all of his theology and all of his ducks were in a row. There were those, verse 9 says, who ". . . trusted in themselves that they were righteous [or self-righteous], and despised others." These two men went to the temple to pray, and one was a Pharisee. The Pharisee stood up. I always liked the gall of this guy. It says, he stands up and addresses God, and he says, "GAWD [they talk like that, "GAWWWD!"], I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. [I mean, that's getting pretty rank. Dear Lord, you're in there just minding your own business.] I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man [this is Jesus talking] went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted" (Luke 18:11-14). He smites his breast. The Scripture makes it very clear what true Biblical repentance involves. It involves our emotions.

Whenever we've grieved someone that we love--you disappoint your spouse; you fail them. It can be as horrendous as infidelity. It can just be neglect. It can be harshness to where you offend the weaker vessel. If there's true love, when it's brought to your attention, there's a grief; there's a pain. Depending upon the magnitude of the offense, we need to see that here's what God is expecting as it relates to sin. You've got to understand that all of sin in God's eyes is the same. If you're guilty of one, you're guilty of all. And so, when we relate to God, and we come (no matter what the offense is) to an absolute holy God Who purchased us with His own blood, that's the grief that we put upon Him.

Let me give you a couple of verses that deal with this emotional aspect. Isaiah 22:12 says, "And in that day did the LORD GOD of hosts call to weeping [He called us to weeping], and to mourning [some of us here meet this criteria], and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth." This tells us that in times of true godly sorrow, we need to put away some of the dainties. If you're going to be truly repenting, you need to gird yourself with sackcloth, some coarse clothing. You need to begin to put stuff away. You need to realize that you can't be going out to dinner, and playing games, and life as usual. There needs to be fasting. There needs to be a realizing that I need to get solemn here because of the abuse in worshiping myself and the ease of life that's caused me to offend my God. Many of us just want to say, "Well, I confessed it; I'm sorry." Sorry? What are you doing to change course? Repentance, we saw, was a change of mind and purpose and direction. There are consequences; and He said some of the consequence needs to be some fasting. Some of the consequence needs to be putting away some of the luxury that you're enjoying. The sackcloth needs to come on. Maybe you need to ride a bike to work instead of drive your car, and enjoy the blessings of God. "We deserve all of these luxuries, and they're necessities!" These are the things that are contributing to your death if they're distracting you from preparing yourself to war and be successful in our battle against sin.

Ezekiel 18:31 says, "Cast away from you all your transgressions ... and make you a new heart..." Cast them away. Separate yourself. If your eye offends you, pluck it out. If your hand offends you, cut it off and cast it from you. How badly do you want to be free--true repentance, true godly sorrow, this carefulness, this clearing of ourselves? How serious are we taking our offenses against God, the transgressions? How deep is the piercing into our hearts? Can we casually just gossip? Can we casually slander? Can we casually demean someone else (kill a brother) and just go on with life as usual? If your own heart doesn't convict you, then somebody else says something, and you say, "Oh, yeah, I shouldn't have done that." That's not repentance--"I shouldn't have done that." Have you gone and apologized? Have you made things right with your brother? Have you gotten involved in some restitution? Maybe you stole something. You need to go back and repay them, according to the Scriptures. "I'm sorry. I robbed you. I'm sorry." That's not getting it, Sorry. "I robbed your time." What are you doing to make things right? Where is the repentance? If you don't pay the consequence here, if there's not a price paid, if you don't come to how solemn this activity is, you're never going to be free. You're going to be right back involved in it next opportunity. It's very important for us to understand what repentance is all about.

Joel is powerful as it speaks toward this. Joel 2:12 says, "Therefore also now, saith the LORD, Turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning." You see, mourning is beyond weeping. In weeping, we're emotionally affected, and we cry as our hearts are broken and burdened. Mourning is that inward pang caused by the offense against God. It's there with us, and it works that carefulness. You can be involved in different events, and even enjoy an occasion in laughing and making merry at a particular moment. Then as the moment wanes, and you're there in the midst of everyone, any of us who have mourned, it's there. Does your sin affect you that way, or can it so easily just be forgotten? Can you just say, "Oh, I'm sorry," and it never comes to your mind again? That's not repentance. If you've ever really mourned the loss of something valuable, you know it doesn't just (snap!) go away. You lose a loved one, the next day (snap!) they never come to mind again. Do you know what mourning is? Are you mourning over the piercing of a loving heavenly Father? How grievous is sin to us? God calls us to repentance and to a godly sorrow.

We're out of time. Let's just do this last one; we're not going to be able to finish. We're going to be leaving Saturday for three weeks. Pray for us if you would. I'm hoping that Janet will continue to feel well. She's excited--I think more than excited. She's already packed! I haven't even thought about it. She told me, "I'm looking forward to going out and enjoying the mountains [she loves the mountains] out at Tahoe." We're looking forward to that, and we're going to go out. Pray for us. The doctor's not real excited about her going. He said, "If you have to, I'll give you a guy in Denver. You can fly her to Denver if needed." He basically said that her bowel could shut off any time. He's coming from the clinical perspective, and he says that it's just a matter of time, and it can happen at any time. We believe that by Jesus' stripes she's healed, praise God! Just continue to pray, and we're believing God for some great victory in that. I shared with someone the other day that until I'm convinced in my heart, the revelation God speaks to me or I see the evidence of it that God's healed her, then we're just going to take advantage of the time she's feeling good; and we're going to enjoy that. As far as I'm concerned, whatever she wants, that's what she's going to get. She waited on me for thirty-five years. I can wait on her for thirty-five weeks.

The Scripture tells us down in Luke 15 that the prodigal, in his transgression against God, made a very important statement as it pertains to our true repentance. Luke 15 tells us in verse 17 that this sinner "came to himself." There's no true repentance until you come to yourself. When you're deluded, when you're in deception, when pride won't let you hear the truth when the prophet speaks, when the flesh has so overwhelmed you that you're now its slave, when you worship the creation more than the Creator; and God has turned you over, and the judgment is manifesting--somewhere in that time, you'll come to yourself hopefully. Once he came to himself, listen to what happened; here's repentance. He came to himself. He saw his condition for what it really was, and he said in verse 18, "I will arise and go; I'm going to change course; I'm going to do something about this."

Now, we all know how these things work in the natural, don't we? Those of us who have dieted for all our lives--you ask some people, "How much weight have you lost?" They say, "Three-thousand pounds--the same thirty, a hundred times." We look in the mirror (or try not to), but every once in awhile we'll get a glimpse of it. And we say, "Oh, I've got to do something about that, man! I'm going to do something about it one of these days. As soon as Jenny Craig makes a pill you can swallow, and it's all over; I'm going to do something about this!" We have good intentions, and we make plans; but in all of our lives (those of us who have lost three thousand pounds), we come to a different place at times, and we say, "That's enough! I will arise and get up from the table. I'm going to do something about it. And it works; it's amazing! Do you know what? I'm exercising a little more, and I'm eating a little less; and I got less of me following me around now! Here I go!"

Now, please don't mistake what I'm saying here. I think this whole image that we have here in America is ridiculous--this Twiggy, skinny, whatever--it's stupid. It's not even healthy. In the different areas of what our percentage of body fat ought to be, and the understanding of how we all carry things differently, you just need to be realistic. Don't go to either extreme. The key is being healthy. How much energy do you have? I'll tell you what. Some of us that can pinch an inch--"I can pinch an inch; and if I keep going around this way, I can get more. Then there's this big thing right there; I don't know where that thing comes from! The rest of it's pretty good." Now, I forgot what I was going to say; I was having so much fun! Oh yeah; I was talking about being healthy. Some of us that can pinch more than an inch (I want to talk to some of you leaner folks), you follow some of us inch-pinchers around 18 hours a day for two or three weeks, and see where your energy level is. You come and hang with some people, and you'll find out what healthy is and what energy is. And so, we've got these false images many times. When I talk about this, those of you that battle it, I'm one of you. So, I'm not against you; I'm on your side. The fact of the matter is: the law says if you exercise more, and eat less, you'll lose weight. "Nothing I do works; I look at food, I put on weight." No, that's a lie. You eat food, and you don't exercise, and you put on weight. "Well, I just hardly eat anything!" Yeah, you're not eating large quantities, but it's the fact that you're doing that forty times a day! Stop!

I'm only using this as an example. You know, the visible things--we talk about that. We talk about smoking; we talk about the people that are late for church. We can see that. There's a lot of sins that are not visible (the inward sins) that are uglier than these things that we're talking about by far. Your stinking pride, and selfishness, and covetousness, and all of these different things--it's the same application. I'm only talking about this because it's something that we can all simply relate to. All I'm saying is this: the moment you say, "I will arise; I'm going to do something about it; I have purposed," from that time, things change. Tragically, many of us don't stay on that same course; but as we make those changes, and the volition says, "I will no longer allow myself to function that way," you're free. From the moment you make the heart decision, and you change directions by purpose, by intent, by will, then the grace of God comes and enables us to effect this, and it becomes a reality.

"I will arise and go to my father's house," the prodigal said, "and my expectations [listen, and we'll finish with this] are not a fatted calf; they're not a robe; they're not a ring; they're not sandals. My expectations are the presence of my father who is merciful, who is wise, who is kind. I just want to be back in Dad's presence." And you'll be free indeed.

Father, we thank You for the Word of God. We ask that Your Word would be alive in us and work in us; and that we would acknowledge our sin, and that we would be grieved and that we would purpose to no longer offend You again. For against Thee, and Thee only have we sinned. Help us to walk free, we ask, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let's stand. It's late. It's something you've all wanted to do--turn to somebody next to you and say, "Repent!" Praise God. Go in peace; God's love go with you.

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