Presented
November 8, 2009 am
a.
The
Parable of the two sons – Matt. 21:28-32 – regret and action.
b.
Luke 19:8
– Zacchaeus – repentance where needed and restitution (fourfold)
c.
Simon the
Sorcerer – Acts 8:22 where he is TOLD to repent and pray.
d.
Job after
being rebuked by God for his bitterness, etc. - Job 42:6, “Therefore
I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
e.
Ninevah –
Jonah who didn’t really repent, but reluctantly obeyed God preached to a
city destined for destruction.
The reaction of the city was fasting and sackcloth including the
king. (Jonah 3:5-10).
f.
God repented –
Jonah 3:9-10 notes that
as a result of Ninevah’s repentance He relented from his intended
destruction (KJV uses the word “repented”).
NOTE that repentance is a change in mind that results in a change
in conduct.
Exodus 32:14, because of
the golden calf Israel had made while Moses was on Mt. Sinai with God,
He was ready to destroy the people.
Moses interceded on behalf of the people and the Lord relented
from the harm He intended to do.
a.
The alien sinner –Acts
17:30-31, Luke 13:3& 5, etc.
There are many passages that require one to repent AS PART of obeying
the gospel.
It has to happen BEFORE one is baptized. Acts 2:38 – repent AND BE
baptized…
Acts 3:19, “Repent and be converted that your sins may be
blotted out…”
Acts 20:21, as Paul spoke with the Ephesian elders on his
way to Jerusalem he noted that his preaching was complete as he kept
nothing back both publicly and from house to house, “testifying to the
Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our
Lord Jesus Christ.” NOTE
that both repentance and faith needed.
Acts 26:20 before Agrippa, Paul spoke of what he taught
to both Jews and Gentiles, “that
they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.”
2 Peter 3:9 tells us that
God wants all men everywhere to come to repentance.
b.
The Christian who has sinned
– cf.
Acts 8:22, Simon the
sorcerer. Who had been
baptized and began to revert back to his old ways was told by Peter he
needed to repent and pray.
2 Corinthians 7:8-12 was
written to the brethren of that congregation calling for them to repent.
IT is the sinning brother that we have been dealing with primarily
(though as we have seen the alien sinner needs to understand this
concept as well).
And there are other passages that deal with sinning brethren such as
Luke 17:3, etc.
c.
Churches that are not what they ought to be
- The seven churches of Asia, five of
which needed to repent because they were not what they ought to be as
the church.
NOTE: How does a church repent?
Its members come together as a family and seek the true unity God
calls for – Phil. 2:1-2, Eph. 4:3, etc.
Furthermore, its members ALL repent of whatever errors they have been
involved in and begin doing what is right.
NOTE: What sins must one repent of?
Not just the major sins, but EVERY sin.
We need to look at the things we perceive to be “no big deal” in
comparison to what others are doing.
a.
Obviously
the result of repentance is a changed life.
That is what this study has been about.
My point in being so strong and detailed if for us, AS WE PROFESS
TO REPENT, realize whether or not we have TRULY repented.
b.
If one
FAILS to repent note the consequences,
Luke 13:3, unless you repent you will all likewise perish.
Acts 17:31 notes that God has appointed a day in which He will judge the
world. This comes on the
heels of calling for all men everywhere to repent.
2 Thess. 1:6-8 speaks of the day of vengeance on those who do not obey
the gospel and those who do not know God.
It is assumed that if one fails to repent he does NOT know God
(cf. 2 Cor. 5:11).
THEREFORE, if there is sin in our lives, it behooves us to TRULY REPENT!
c.
How should we respond to one who has repented?
i.
IF one
has repented, we MUST forgive.
ii.
IF it is
sins not involving us (or against another) it OUGHT TO BE easy, but that
is not always the case.
Consider the repentant brother of 1 Cor. 5 who was in an adulterous
relationship. 2 Cor. 2:3-11
bears out that he had repented and now Paul tells the brethren they
needed to “forgive and comfort
him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow.”
Remember the Prodigal son last week? Luke 15:11-32.
The latter part of that parable dealing with repentance and
forgiveness (cf. 15:7 & 9 – these 3 “lost” parables) reports a brother
of the returned son. Vs.
26-32 describe his sinful attitude – he refused to forgive his repentant
brother and was bitter (i.e. jealous).
The father rebukes him and notes that forgiveness and receiving
his brother back was the right thing to do.
It demonstrated compassion and
mercy, which God has toward us. (He
ALSO noted there were consequences to the prodigal son’s actions – vs.
31.)
iii.
But WHAT
IF one sinned against us?
The clear answer is found in
Luke 17:3-4.
It illustrates the degree to
which we ought to be willing to forgive one who has sinned against us.
The text speaks of one who has sinned against you “seven
times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I
repent’, you shall forgive him.”
Obviously, the point our Lord is making is that our forgiveness
ought to be MUCH GREATER than the limits of the world.
The Christian life is based upon forgiveness.
Consider how much God has forgiven us.
Romans 2:4 speaks of
goodness, forbearance and longsuffering of God toward us.
Where would we be if God did not forgive us?
For many of us, our sins are numerous and terrible – but God
loved us SO MUCH he provided something painful to Him as a remedy for us
(John 3:16). And then there
is all the nonsense and foolishness He puts up with from us.
When a brother repents, we MUST forgive!!!!
Don’t forget
Matt. 6:14-15 either.
iv.
But
does forgiveness excuse the offender?
There are some other considerations we must factor in when a brother has
hurt someone else.
1.
IS there a difference between forgiveness and trust?
While we are to forgive our brother (and to the best of your
ability, that means to bury it never to bring it up again), does that
mean you he does not need to PROVE himself?
I believe there is a difference between the two.
The idea of “fruit worthy of repentance” bears this out.
For example:
If a brother has embezzled from the congregation (or an
individual) and repents, while you forgive him that does not mean you
should give him back the checkbook.
He HAS TO prove himself worthy.
And quite possibly, he will NEVER again become treasurer.
(Honestly, if he has truly repented he doesn’t want to be
treasurer because of the temptations and the opportunity it gives others
to scrutinize. Actions have
consequences).
A repentant child molester should NOT be left alone with your children.
Remember the consequences of David’s actions!
Remember the consequences of the Prodigal son (he lost his
physical inheritance).
The POINT: Forgiveness should come automatically, but TRUST is earned
with time and “fruit worthy of repentance.”
2.
If one sins against a brother
with the expectation that others have to forgive them over and over,
their actions dictate that they have NOT truly repented.
Cf. Luke 17:3. Note that
the brother sins and says, ‘I repent.’
Obviously, the context implies TRUE repentance is to be forgiven.
But realize that there IS a limit.
If a brother reasons that he can keep doing the same sins over and over
because his brother is expected to forgive him, he doesn’t understand or
has ignored what true repentance AND brotherly love are about.
His actions are cruel and divisive.
The point is that TRUE repentance produces its fruit!
This is illustrated by God’s longsuffering for Israel.
He tried everything and forgave over and over, but even He had
His limits. Eventually, He
cut them off.
It is also illustrated in the parable of the unforgiving servant,
Matt. 18:21-34 where
Jesus was teaching on forgiveness (70 X 7).
He then tells of a servant who owed a huge unpayable debt and we
mercifully forgiven. But
that servant in turn refused to forgive a much smaller debt of a fellow
servant. Because of that,
his master revoked his forgiveness and condemned him to debtor’s prison.
3.
What if we are not sure whether or not one has truly repented?
Having said that we need to be
careful before we put ourselves on God’s judgment throne (cf.
Rom. 12:19). What
I mean by that is if we are not sure whether one has truly repented, we
ought to assume the best UNTIL proven otherwise.
Again, the forgiveness is there, but “fruit worthy of repentance”
will become manifest in time.
NOTE: On this point,
we ought not be LOOKING for the one who has repented to “mess up.”
That is not TRUE forgiveness.
Love bears, believes, hopes and endures all things (1 Cor. 13:7).
The question is: Do you REALLY WANT to forgive your brother?
4.
We need to give time for healing.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just flip a switch and forget about the
past? Wouldn’t it be nice if we
could all just separate our emotions from a situation and deal with it
totally objectively? Yes!
Such is the ideal and something
we ought to work toward (cf. Phil. 3:13).
But it is NOT always that simple, even for the Christian.
One of the big problems brethren have to deal with is EMOTIONS.
We need to understand that at
times brethren DO hurt each other and fail to act as Christians.
The hurt is real and so is the damage.
When a brother has been hurt by
another, what do we do?
We need to work with them to heal.
FIRST we need to OBJECTIVELY remind them of what the scriptures teach
(about forgiveness, repentance, etc.) SEE above points to apply this.
SECOND, we also need to be compassionate, tender hearted and patient.
Colossians 3:12-13 tells
us, “Therefore, as the elect of
God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility,
meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one
another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ
forgave you, so you also must do.”
The NASU says, “Put on a
heart of compassion…”
The last thing a hurting brother needs is to be kicked harder while they
are down. The last thing a
hurting brother needs is one who doesn’t care what they have gone
through. Christian love
means that we CARE about our brethren.
When he hurts, we hurt with him.
Rom. 12:15 tells us that
we rejoice with those who rejoice and we weep with those who weep.
1 Corinthians 12:25-26
reminds us about the body and how when on part suffers, so do the rest.
IF we really care, we are going to do everything we can within our power
to HELP them overcome their hurts and troubles.
And that includes giving them TIME to heal!
Spiritual wounds take time to heal just like the physical ones.
Consider the example of Paul and Barnabas with John Mark.
Acts 15:36-41 records the contention became so sharp that they
went separate ways.
HOWEVER, we know that IN TIME the wounds were healed – 2 Tim. 4:11 Paul
even noted that Mark was useful to him.
(Of course, this must be WITHOUT compromise for the truth).
My point in all of this is that
we need to help the hurting brother FORGIVE the one who sinned against
them and has repented.
Sometimes in dealing with a sinning brother (and trying to get him to
repent) we forget about his “victims”.
We focus all our efforts on the one in sin (and they do need
attention). When progress
is made, we rejoice, but we often STILL forget about the one who has
been wronged in the first place and we FAIL to help them with their
hurts and needs. Could it
not be that in so doing, we have NEGLECTED a different part of the body
while working on the other?
MY POINT: BOTH sides need to be dealt with.
We can’t pick one side and
abandon the other! And that
IS a two-way street.
a.
In
these lessons we have been dealing with some specific issues, mainly the
sinning brother that needs to repent and how to respond when he does.
b.
But
perhaps we ALL need to give consideration to this in our lives.
I want us to think about this subject not only in reference to
when we have wronged another.
But looking at out life in general.
i.
Do we
need to repent because of our attitude?
ii.
Our
tongues? The language we use.
iii.
Our
attendance and support of the church?
iv.
Our
spirituality – or lack thereof?
v.
The
way we worship God?