Then we talked about defining victory and what it means to win in your life and in my life. We talked about how Paul was able to come to the end of his life and say, “I thought a good fight, I finished the course, I have kept the faith.” We then talked about being disciplined for victory and how daily disciplines are required to live the victorious Christian life. We talked about daily Bible reading and prayer and those types of things.
We talked about denying self for victory and how we must learn to deny our flesh if we’re gonna win. Last week, we talked about being dependent on the Holy Spirit for victory. We talked about the Holy Spirit and the filling of the spirit, how we must learn to walk in the spirit. This week, I wanna talk to you about the subject of being directed for victory. And we’re specifically gonna be dealing with the subject of repentance in the Christian life. Now just by way of introduction, I wanna point out a few things about repentance and talk about the word before we get into our passage. We’re gonna be in 2 Corinthians, chapter seven tonight, so keep your place there. But we’re opening the book of 1 Kings, chapter number eight, just by way of introduction.
1 Kings, chapter eight. If you find the first and second books in the Bible, they are all clustered together in the Old Testament, you’ve got 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles. Go to 1 Kings chapter eight and let me begin by just explaining or defining the word repent or repentance for you from Scripture. 1 Kings chapter eight in verse number 47, 1 Kings chapter eight and verse 47, the word repent means to turn or to turn in the way you think, to have a change of mind. In 1 Kings chapter eight in verse 47, the Bible defines the word for us and you should know that the Bible always defines itself, the Bible is its own dictionary and before we move to … you know, there’s nothing wrong with using a dictionary at the source or whatever but we shall always try to allow the Bible to define itself for us.
In 1 Kings 8:47 the Bible says this, “Yet if they shall”, I want you to notice this word, bethink. See the word bethink there? The idea there is to reconsider something, is to look at something and to think it over again. He says, “And they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captive.” Notice the word and repent. So he is defining for us this idea, what does it mean to repent? Repentance is a change of mind. It’s when someone bethinks something. When they believe something or they were heading in a certain direction in their thoughts and they chose to turn from that, they chose to reconsider that, they chose to change their mind.
He says, “Yet, if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives and repent and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives saying, ‘We have sinned and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness.'” Keep your place there in 1 Kings. So we’re gonna come back to 2 Samuel which is right before 1 Kings here in a moment but go to the Old Testament book of Jonah, just real quickly. Jonah chapter number three, I know you are familiar with these verses but let’s look at them together. Towards the end of your Old Testament, you’ve got those big nature prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, then you’ve got a bunch of small books, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah. Jonah chapter number three.
You remember the story of Jonah, he goes into Nineveh, he preaches the judgment of God coming in 40 days. I want you to notice how the Bible again defines for us this word repentance, Jonah chapter three, look at verse number nine. The Bible says this, “Who can tell if God will turn,” notice the word turn there. If God will turn and repent. I want you to notice now the words turn and repentance are used there at the same time, in the same way but in 1 Kings 8:47 the word bethink and repent was used together. He says, “Who can tell if God will turn and repent?” Notice, and turn away His fierce anger. And again, His anger is a thought, it’s an emotion, it’s a way He felt about something and they are saying maybe God will bethink Himself, maybe God will repent and change the way He feels about Nineveh and you’re saying, “Why are you taking the time to show us this?”
Today we have a lot of people and they wanna tell you that whenever you see the word repent in the Bible, it’s always referring to repenting of your sins and the problem with that is that if every time you see the word repent or repentance in Scripture, it is a reference to repenting of your sins and that would make God a sinner. Because here we see that God, they’re saying maybe God will repent. Maybe God will turn and repent and turn away from His fierce anger. So I want you to understand, God is not a sinner, God is not a man that He should sin. He doesn’t have to repent of sin but He can change His mind. He can say, “I was gonna destroy Nineveh but now I’m gonna choose not to destroy Nineveh.”
And today, I’m not preaching on the subject of repentance in regards to salvation but I want you to understand that the Bible does not teach that someone has to turn from their sins in order to be saved because you know what, if you’ve gotta turn from your sins to be saved, that’s adding works to salvation. We’re there in Jonah 3, look at verse 10, notice what the Bible says. Verse nine was talking about God bethinking Himself. God changing His mind. God going from anger to not angry. But in Jonah 3:10, they’re talking about men. Notice what they say, “And God saw their,” notice this word, “works. That they turned from their evil way and got repented of the evil that He had said that He would do unto them and He did it not.”
So then the Bible tell us that when someone turns which we know the word turn means to repent, when someone turns from their evil way, when they turn away from their sin, the Bible defines that as work. Salvation is not of works. Over and over in the Bible, we’re told that we’re not saved by works, not by works of righteousness which we have done. So when it comes to salvation, someone does not have to repent of their sins in order to be saved ’cause if you have to repent of your sins and be saved, then you’re adding works to salvation.
And here’s the thing which sins? Because we all sin. No one on this earth will ever stop sinning. So of course, we’re not talking about repenting of your sins. Go to the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter two and while you turn there, I’ll read or quote some books, some verses for you. When it comes to salvation, I’m not preaching on this subject today but when it comes to repentance in regards to salvation, the Bible is clear that repentance plays a part in salvation in the sense that there are those who most turn or change their mind in regards to their belief system. Either they have the wrong belief or they had no belief and they have to turn to God in that sense. Matthew 21:32 says this, “For John,” this is what Jesus said, he said, “For John came unto you in the way of righteousness,” this is Jesus speaking to the Pharisees. He says, “For John came unto you in the way of righteousness and ye believed him not.”
See the problem was that they did not believe. The Pharisees did not believe the message of John. He says, “Ye believed him not.” And then he says, “But the pharisees and the harlots believed him.” And he says, “And ye, when ye had seen it, repented not that ye might believe him.” See, when He talks about repentance, He says, “You should have gone from unbelief to belief.” The Bible says in the book of Acts, Paul said, then said Paul, John barely baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which had come after him, that is Christ Jesus. So when we’re talking about repentance for salvation, we’re talking about someone who was trusting in their works and now they are turning or changing their mind and saying, “I’m no longer trusting in my works, I’m now only trusting in Christ.”
Or maybe someone who is an atheist and they say, “Well, I did not believe in God but now I’m choosing to turn and to believe.” When it comes to repentance in regards to salvation, that’s all it is. It’s not turning from your sin and giving up alcohol and giving up fornication, because look, if you have to give something up in regards to sin to be saved, then you are adding works to salvation. Mark 1:15 says, “And saying the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand.” He said this, “Repent ye, and believe the gospel.” So when it comes to salvation, repentance is simply going from not believing to believing. From believing the wrong thing to believing the right thing. That’s all repentance is.
But I want you to understand something though, repentance is something that plays a part, not only in salvation but in the life of believers. Some people have to repent of an unbelief or a wrong religion, you know, a wrong religious belief system. The Bible talks about repenting from idols, you say, “Well, why do I have to repent from idolatry?” Because they were trusting those idols for salvation, because that was their belief system, that was their religion.
Look, you gotta turn from wrong religion and wrong belief system in order to be saved. But even after you’re saved, repentance, and you know, people, especially in our movement, we are so anti repent of your sins that we don’t even like to use the word but you know, the Bible uses the word repentance a lot in regards to those that are already saved. And you and I have to learn to repent in our lives in order to live the victorious Christian life. Are you down at Revelation chapter two, we’re down at verse number four. I feel like I’m just a little loud, if you can just turn me down just a little bit, not too much. Thank you, I appreciate it.
Revelation chapter two, look at verse number four. Revelation chapter two in verse four, this is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to the churches of Asia, these people are believers, they are already saved and I want you to notice what He says to them, notice what He says in Revelation 2:4 to the church of Ephesus, He says, ” Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.” Notice what He says, “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”
So I want you to notice there Jesus tells the church at Ephesus, you gotta repent of certain things or I’m gonna remove the candlestick which is … the candlestick was a picture of the church. He said, “I’m gonna remove the franchise of my local church from you if you don’t get some things right.” Look down at verse number 15, same chapter, in Revelation 2 verse 15, he’s talking to the church in Pergamos, He says, “So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate.”
Notice verse 16, “Repent or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.” Notice Revelation chapter two in verse 20, now he’s talking to the church in Thyatira, He says, “Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.” Notice verse 21, “And I gave her space to repent of her fornication and she repented not. Behold I will cast her into a bed and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.”
Go to Revelation chapter 3, look at verse two and I want you to know, this is Jesus speaking to believers, He’s talking to churches, He’s saying, “You gotta get the sin out of your church and I expect you to repent.” Revelation chapter three, look at verse two, He’s talking to the church in Sardis, He says, “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”
Go to Revelation chapter three, look at verse number 19, skip down to verse number 19. Here you have the famous church of the Laodiceans in Revelation 3:19, Jesus said this, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore and repent.” So I want you to understand. When we’re talking about repentance, it’s not always in regards to salvation. When it is in regards to salvation, it’s always about repenting from unbelief to belief. Saying the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent ye and believe the gospel, that’s salvation is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
When we’re talking about salvation, that’s what repentance is, it’s from turning from unbelief, the wrong belief to belief. But in the Christian life, God does expect us as we saw there as Jesus was speaking to the churches in Revelation, almost everyone of them, He’s telling them, repent, repent, repent. He’s talking to them about repenting of their sins, dealing with certain things, getting certain things right in their lives.
Go to 2 Corinthians chapter number seven. When we get to 2 Corinthians, we see a lot of talk in regards to repentance but I want you to notice just like the book of Revelation, the church at Corinth was … the book of Corinthians was written to the church of Corinth which is written to believers. People will twist this passage to try to say, “See, you gotta repent to be saved.” And the word salvation is used in Scripture and we’ll look at it here in a minute in this passage but I want you to understand the context, he’s talking to a church and he’s talking about discipline in their church and how they had to kick certain people out and how they had to deal with that. And that’s the context. It’s not salvation and that’ll be clear as we go through.
Now you say, “Why preach a whole sermon on repentance in the Christian life?” And here’s what I want you to understand, we’re talking about the victory Christian life. How to not lose at the Christian life, how to not be a failure or a castaway and we’ve talked about a lot of things that we need. The filling of the spirit, the daily disciplines, all of that. But you need to understand something, sometimes in the Christian life, we take detours. And sometimes, our hearts get hard. And sometimes, we allow sin to come in our lives and there’s different extremes of that. But people get backsliding and people start to fade out and people start to get sin in their lives and from time to time, if you’re going to continue the victory Christian life, you’re gonna have to learn how to practice repentance in your life.
You’re gonna have to learn how to repent of sin so that you aren’t that castaway, you aren’t that failure, you aren’t that one that used to be on fire, that used to be doing something great for God but now you’ve gone off, you’re backsliding, you’re not right with God. So tonight, I wanna give you steps in regards to repentance, true repentance, godly repentance, how to repent of your sins in the Christian life. I’m gonna give you three statements, I’d like you to write them down.
Statement number one is this, point number one is this. I want you to notice in this passage the admission of repentance. The admission of repentance. We begin in verse eight by seeing the concern of a pastor. Paul is writing here to the church at Corinth and Paul himself was not a pastor but he was playing the role of a pastor for these people. He’s the one that had planted the church, he was the evangelist that planted it and he was kind of their spiritual leader and he was helping them along the way. I want you to notice what Paul says and you may not understand this but when I read these passages, I really connect with them and I wanna really speak to the guys that are training for ministry, that one day the Lord may use them to pastor a church because you need to understand the heart of a pastor.
Let’s look at Corinthians chapter seven in verse eight, he says this, he says, “For though I made you sorry.” He said, “For though I made you sorry with a letter.” I want you to notice what he says, he says, “I do not repent, though I did repent.” Now again, we know the word repent means to turn or to change your mind. And here’s what he’s saying, he said, “I made you sorry with a letter. I communicated to you something and it made you feel bad. It made you feel sorry.” And he says, “I don’t repent that I did that.” But he said, “Can I be honest with you? I did repent for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.”
Keep your place there in 2 Corinthians 7. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter two, I’m sorry, not chapter two, yeah, 2 Corinthians chapter 2, verse 12. Paul had confronted these people with sin in their lives. And he says this, and I’m so thankful to God because I’m gonna tell you, I hope you take this the right way, I hope you’re gonna take this the right way but there’s so many times when God burdens me as a pastor and you can ask my wife and talk to her about this, God will burden me in the heart and I’ll see things going on in our church or in the lives of our people, whether you like it or not, God has given me the job of watching and praying.
And the Bible says that I will give an account for your souls and it’s my job to try to help and rather, correct, and sometimes, like Paul here, I have to confront some things and whether it’s through a sermon or maybe it’s even writing a letter or making a phone call or making a visit and having to deal with certain things. And there’s so many Sunday nights where I’ll go home and I just kind of tell my wife, “Man, I wish [inaudible 00:17:45] preach that.”
You know, I know it needed to be said and I know it needed to be dealt with but man, I just feel so bad and I see Paul, he said, “I don’t repent, though I did repent.” And I can just envision Paul as he’s writing the letter to the Corinthians’ and he’s dealing with issues within the church that have to be dealt with and he sends the letter off and then immediately regretting it. Not because it was wrong but because you know it’s gonna make people sorry.
I actually wanna tell you as a pastor, you should know the heart of a pastor is that you’re burdened for your people. My wife and I will be burdened, the heart of a pastor and the heart of a pastor’s wife is often to be burdened for those that we lead because I wish it wasn’t the case but people get backsliding and people get their hearts wrong. And it’s hard to watch an individual that was once on fire for God, once faithful for God, once doing great works for God and now, they’re not in church, now, their heart is bitter, now … and you know what the hard thing is that the bigger the ministry grows, the bigger the church grows, it just seems like it never ends.
‘Cause you’re dealing with one individual and by the time you get them all fixed up and get them encouraged and have a talk with them and try to help them out, as soon as you get you know victory in one area, now there’s another person we gotta deal with. And by the time you get that one ready and give them a phone call and send them an encouraging text and send them a letter and say, “What’s going on brother, or what’s going on in your life or how can we help you?” And you kind of encourage them and then you see them getting back to how they were and then you’re like “Praise the Lord, so and so is back,” and then you got another person to deal with.
It just seems like there’s always somebody who’s struggling, always somebody who’s getting backsliding, always somebody that’s burdening you. 2 Corinthians 2 in verse 12, notice what Paul’s saying. He said, “Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel and a door was opened unto me of the Lord,” notice what he says in verse 13, he said, “I had no rest in my spirit, I had no rest in my spirit.” I’m gonna tell you guys, those of you who wanna be pastors, just get ready to live a life with having no rest in your spirit. There’s many a morning when I wake up and the first thing on my mind is brother so and so, sister so and so, their marriage, their children. Why? Because it is the job, it is the job, it is the concern of a pastor, it is the pastor’s heart and the pastor’s wife heart where you’re just burdened.
There’s many a Sunday night and my wife and I are just up to one in the morning talking about what do you think is happening with that family? What do you think is happening with that individual? Why do you think they are growing cold? Is there something going on? Is there something, how can we help? And I see that in this letter as Paul, he says, “I have no rest in my spirit because I found not Titus my brother but taking leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia.” And he had sent Titus. He had written a letter to the church at Corinth and then he sent Titus to see how they had received it and he was waiting to hear back about how they had received it. And he said, “I just had no rest in my spirit.”
There’s always a burden, there’s always an issue. There’s always someone getting backsliding, someone making the wrong choices, someone going up the wrong road and I’m not trying to complain to you or make you feel sorry, I’m just trying to tell you. There’s a concern. A man that has a true pastor’s heart, no matter where he is because Paul is not at Corinth. He said, “I was in Troas to preach Christ’s gospel,” he said, “I was on a preaching trip, I was on a preaching engagement, but the whole time my heart was with our people. My heart was burdened and concerned,” he said, “I had no rest.”
Notice 2 Corinthians chapter seven, look at verse eight. Not only was there the concern of the pastor but I want you to notice there was the confrontation of the preacher. Notice what he says in 2 Corinthians 7:8, he says, “For though I made you sorry,” notice what he says, “With the letter. I do not repent, though I did repent. For I perceived that the same epistle hath made you sorry though it were before a season.”
So you know what makes a preacher a preacher? It’s not pretty sermons or a alliterated outlines. It’s when you confront people with their sin. It’s when you write the letter, it’s when you send the text message, it’s when you make the visit, when you make the phone call. When you confront someone and say, “What’s going on? Why are you making these decisions, what are you doing? How can we help you?” Paul said, “I wrote this letter and it burdened me.” And we have the letter, go to 1 Corinthians 5, look at verse four, I want you to notice what he said to them. In 1 Corinthians chapter five, in verse one we can read the letter that he wrote.
We can read the confrontation that he made. In 1 Corinthians chapter five, in verse one, he said this, “It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.” He had heard that the church of Corinth was allowing open fornication in their church. And that is what he said to them in verse two. He said, “And ye are puffed up and have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.” Look at verse six, he says, “Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?” He wrote a letter to the church at Corinth saying, “I hear things about the church, I hear that you are allowing sin, open sin.”
He said, “You’re puffed up, it’s not good.” He wrote the letter, look, he wrote the letter under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, the letter happened to be Scripture. We know the Bible said that a holy man of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. It was God’s will that he wrote the letter but it was that letter that he said, “As soon as I sent it out, I repented that I even sent it.” Why? Because I knew it was gonna hurt you. Because I knew that confrontation was gonna make you sorry. But listen to me, please listen to me. That’s the job of a pastor. That’s the job of a preacher. That’s what you’re supposed to do.
You’re supposed to help people that are getting wrong to try to get right. Go to 2 Samuel chapter number 12. 2 Samuel chapter number 12 and I want this to be a lesson to those of you that wanna be pastors. Don’t get into ministry if you can’t confront people with sin. Don’t get into ministry if you can’t confront people with sin. You say, “Well, I can confront people with sin.” We all think we can confront people with sin till you actually do it. And then they start lying about you. Start spreading rumors about you. Start saying, “Well, the only reason he said that to me is because,” and then they’re just spreading lies. Sometimes it has to do with money, and sometimes it has to do with this, sometimes it has to do with that.
I’m just gonna tell you the heart of a pastor is not to preach sermons. People think, “Oh, preach a sermon.” This is the easy part of the job, this is the fun part of the job. Being a pastor is not writing sermons, being a pastor is perceiving and discerning and praying and being filled of despair and asking God to help you to help the people that He’s put before you. You’re saying, “What’s the big deal?” Well, the problem is that nine times out of 10 people don’t receive it well.
In 2 Samuel chapter 12 we see the prophet Nathan, go to verse one. 2 Samuel chapter 12, you know the story in chapter 11. David, the great David, committed adultery, killed Uriah the Hittite. In 2 Samuel chapter 12 in verse one, the Bible says, “And the Lord sent Nathan unto David.” Would you like that, John? David has the authority to put anyone he wants to death. And God says, “I need you to go confront someone for me.” Who got David, the king? Yeah, that one. And the Lord said unto Nathan, and the Lord sent Nathan unto David and he came unto him and said unto him, “There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor.” I like Nathan’s tactfulness and grace. He uses a parable.
So the rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished up. And it grew up together with him and with his children. It did eat of his own meat and drank of his own cup and lay in his bosom and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveler unto the rich man and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him but took the poor man’s lamb and dressed it for the man that was come to him.
And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. Isn’t that interesting how we’re gonna always identify sin in other people, better than we can in ourselves. And he said to Nathan, “As the the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die. And he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity.” Notice verse seven, here’s where you really learn that Nathan is a prophet of God when he says this, and Nathan said to David, “Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel and delivered thee out of the hand of Saul.”
See, that’s the word you’re trying to say. That’s what I’m trying to say. When I stand up here and confront you with sin, I don’t do it lightly. And people think, “You just enjoy getting on people,” no, it actually burdens me a lot. I’d rather not. Because I know most people aren’t gonna receive it well. Because I know most people are just gonna get mad and get upset and whine and get angry and get bitter but you know, that’s what God has called you to do. And listen to me, when people want to quit coming to church, it’s for one reason ’cause they don’t wanna be told they’re wrong. They don’t wanna be confronted with their own sin. They don’t want a man of God to stand up and say, “Thou art the man. Here is what the Bible says.”
Keep your finger there in 2 Samuel chapter 12, we’ll go back to 2 Corinthians chapter 2. And the road to repentance, so how does someone repent of their sins? There must be admission first. See, in order for you to be able to repent of your sin, I’m talking about after salvation, you have to be able to admit it which means you have to be able to take correction. There’s a question I have for you. How do you do with correction?
See, what I’ve learned over the last seven years of ministry? Everybody loves hard preaching as long as it’s to the other guy. We love hard preaching, as long as it’s the sodomite, as long as it’s the abortion, as long as it’s anybody but me but as soon as it comes on your road, “No, wait a minute, hold on a second. Who are you to tell me?” How do you do with confrontation? ‘Cause if you’re the type of person that cannot be confronted, if you’re the type of person that cannot be corrected, if you’re the type of person that …
I’m not saying me, I’m just saying, is there anybody in your life that could come to you and say, “I’m concerned about some things I see in your life. I wanna talk to you about it.” Is there anybody in this world that could come to you? I’m talking about men. Is there anybody in this world, it doesn’t have to be me, I’m just saying, is there anybody in this world that could come to you and say, “I’m a little concerned about your church attendance, I’ve noticed you’ve been missing a lot lately, everything all right?” And that you would take that and receive that and say, “You know, actually, I’ve been struggling.”
You ladies, is there anybody that could correct you? I mean, you’d think your husband would be able to correct you but I know that’s not usually the case. Is there anybody in this world, I mean, when the Bible is preached and is coming down your way, how do you deal with that? Because the only way to live the victory Christian life is to be able to receive correction and to understand that when a man of God or when a woman of God confronts you about something, they’re not doing that because they wanna make you feel bad. They’re doing it because they love you. Because you need it.
Notice how they received the correction, 2 Corinthians chapter two in verse seven. He says and not by his coming only but by the consolation wherewith he hath comforted you. Notice what Paul says, he says, “When he told us, when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind taught me so that I rejoiced the more.” See Paul said, “I wrote you this letter and immediately after I sent it I regretted the fact that I even sent it but I knew it was the right thing and then I sent Titus to go to see how you’d received it. When I got to Troas, Titus wasn’t there and it was so hard for me ’cause my heart was burdened for you, because my spirit was burdened for you.”
But then Titus showed up and Titus told me that you received it well and Titus told me that you didn’t get puffed up, you didn’t get angry, you didn’t get bitter. You received and accepted the confrontation and he said, “I rejoiced the more.” See the goal of our preaching is to help you get right. The goal of confrontation of preaching is not to make you feel lousy, is to help you get right. Go back to 2 Samuel chapter 12. You wanna know why David lived the victorious Christian life? Even though he committed adultery, even though he committed murder, even though he committed some of the worst things in Scripture and he was still able to be called a man after God’s own heart. The Lord Jesus Christ will still sit on the throne of David.
I believe one of the reasons is because David was able to be confronted. David received correction. Nathan says to David, “Thou art the man.” Notice David’s response, 2 Samuel 12, verse 13. 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.” Here is a question I have for you. Are you a David? When confronted with sin, you just make up excuses, “You don’t know the whole story, let me get my story up.” Or do you say, “You know what, I have sinned. I was wrong. I’ve sinned against the Lord.”
We see the confrontation, we see the confession of the people. Go to Psalm 51. Psalm 51 if you open your Bible just right in the center, you’ll more than likely find the book of Psalms. Psalm 51, Psalm 51 is the psalm that David wrote after Nathan had confronted him with sin. I want you to notice what David says, Psalm 51, if you look at verse one. If you’ve got the headings in your Bible, the heading above Psalm 51 says this, to the chief musician a Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Notice what David said, he said, “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.”
Notice verse two, wash me throughly from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Notice verse three, for I acknowledge my transgression and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. Thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest. Keep your finger there in the Psalms, we’re gonna come back to it but here’s a question. Are you able to admit sin? Are you able to receive correction? If you do not learn to quit having your emotions on your sleeve and to realize …
See what happened in the church of Corinth is they got a letter from Paul, they said, “Wow, Paul wrote us a letter, isn’t that exciting?” They opened that thing up, they start reading and he’s telling them, “You guys are wrong. I hear you’re doing things and they’re not right. I’m not there and I’ve already judged,” and you know what? They didn’t get mad, they didn’t get angry, you know what their response was? Paul’s right. And when Titus showed up and said, “Hey, Paul wants to know what you thought of his letter,” here’s what they said to Titus, they said, “Paul’s right, we’re getting it right, we were wrong.” And look, you will not survive. You will not survive in the Christian life if you’re not willing to take correction. If you’re not willing to say, “You know what? I was wrong. I made a mistake. I have sinned.”
There is no repentance without admission. You must admit, you must make admission, you must be able to confess your own sin and say, “I have sinned.” The Bible says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” But you have to be able to confess sin. You have to be able to confront it. You have to be able to look it in the eye and say like David said, “I have sinned.”
I wanted you to notice first of all the admission of sin, the admission of repentance. Go back to 2 Corinthians 7:9, but there’s more to repentance than just admission, that’s the first step. You have to admit it, you have to admit it, you have to confront it. You have to be able to look at your life and say, “Wow, that was wrong, I’m wrong. That’s not what the Bible says, that’s not what God says, that’s not what God’s will for my life is.” There is the admission of repentance but I’d like you to notice secondly the attitude of repentance, the attitude of repentance.
2 Corinthians 7, verse nine, notice what he says, he says, “Now I rejoice not that ye were made sorry,” he said, “My goal was not to make you sorry, but that ye sorrowed,” notice what he says, “to repentance. For ye were made sorry,” notice what he says, “After a godly manner and ye might receive damages by us in nothing.” Notice what the Bible says. Verse 10, “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation.” Now again, we’re not talking about spiritual salvation, this is a church dealing with church discipline. Just get this in your heads, salvation in the Bible is not always spiritual salvation.
When the Bible says in Matthew 24 about end times, they that endureth to the end shall be saved, that’s not teaching work salvation. [inaudible 00:35:27] if you can make it to the end of tribulation, God’s gonna save you ’cause He’s coming back. Here, He’s talking about the fact that their church can be saved, that they can restore fellowship. He’s not talking about a physical salvation, and I want you to notice what he says, “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of but the sorrow of the world worketh death.” I want you to notice that he talks about the fact that there are two different types of sorrows. There is godly sorrow and there is worldly sorrow.
He says, “The sorrow of the world worketh death.” Godly sorrow worketh repentance. Did you keep place in Psalm 51, go back to Psalm 51, verse 16. See, not only is there an admission to repentance but there is an attitude of repentance. The attitude is godly sorrow. The attitude is when you’re sorrow in your heart, when you realize I was wrong. Notice what David has said when Nathan came to him, Psalm 51 in verse 16, the Bible says this, “For thou desirest not sacrifice,” this is David speaking to God, he says, “For thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it:. Thou delightest not in burnt offering.” He said, “If there was offering I could give, if there was a sacrifice that I could give, I would give it.”
Notice verse 17, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and a contrite heart, the word contrite means sincere remorse. A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. See the attitude of repentance is godly sorrow versus worldly sorrow. See, but what’s the difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow? It’s very simple, it’s this. Worldly sorrow is just when someone feels bad they got caught. I got caught. Politicians get caught in adultery, get caught doing all sorts of weird things and they’re sorry but they’re not really sorry. They’re just sorry they got caught.
See, you say, “But how do you know that it’s worldly sorrow?” Because worldly sorrow produces nothing. The outcome of worldly sorrow is not the salvation of your marriage, is not the salvation of the relationship, is not the salvation of your career, it’s nothing. Worldly sorrow worketh to death. The sorrow of the world worketh death. But notice, godly sorrow worketh repentance. When someone actually is sorry and it produces repentance, then you know you got godly sorrow.
When someone is just sorry they got caught but there’s nothing they’re gonna do to change it, there’s nothing they’re gonna do to keep it from happening again, there’s no action they’re gonna take although people say, “[inaudible 00:37:54] all the time, all sorts of things, drunk, drugs, alcohol, all sorts of things, and it’s like, “Oh, I relapsed,” and it’s like “Well, what are we gonna do?”, “Oh, I’m just gonna try harder.”
No, that’s worldly sorrow. ‘Cause you know what that means? It means nothing. Try harder. You wanna try it harder the first time? I’m just gonna try harder not to commit adultery. No. All you are is sorry you got caught. See, godly sorrow worketh repentance. Godly sorrow actually does something. It takes action.
So we saw the admission of repentance, we saw the attitude of repentance, it’s sorrow. It’s conviction. It’s part of the deal. Sometimes they [inaudible 00:38:32] the preacher. I know that the things that I’m saying might hurt somebody but it’s my job to say it because who else is gonna say it? It’s what I’m supposed to do, I’m the pastor.
The goal is that you receive it. The goal is that you’re able to take it. The goal is that unlike Saul who just makes excuses, and says, “Well, it’s the people’s faults, the other people’s fault,” that you’d be like David who said, “I have sinned, I’ve done wrong. I can admit it, I can have the proper attitude.” I said number one tonight, we see the admission of repentance, number two, we see the attitude of repentance, number three, tonight, I’d like you to understand the actions of repentance.
See, true repentance, godly sorrow worketh repentance. Worldly sorrow produces nothing. Worldly sorrow is just sorrow you got caught. Godly sorrow actually wants to do something. 2 Corinthians chapter seven, look at verse 11, notice what they say, notice what he said about the church at Corinth, notice the action of repentance, I think you notice two words. The first word is carefulness. 2 Corinthians chapter seven, verse 11, for behold this selfsame thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sort. Notice what he says, what carefulness it wrought in you.
See, true repentance means that you will take careful action to stop. Did you keep your place in Psalms? Go to Psalm 38, look at verse 17, Psalm 38, in verse 17. Psalm 38 in verse 17, if you had your place in Psalm 51, just flip a few pages back, Psalm 38, verse 17, notice what the Bible says, Psalm 38 in verse 17. Psalm 38 in verse 17, notice what the Psalmist says, he says, “For I am ready to,” you notice this word, “halt.” You know what that means? He says, “I’m ready to stop and my sorrow,” this is godly sorrow, “is continually before me.”
See, when someone has a drug problem, when someone has an alcohol problem, if someone has a pornography problem, when someone has a fornication problem, when someone has an adultery … this is not repentance. When someone is openly fornicating and you go to them and you say, “Hey, we can’t have open fornication in our church, you need to get right or get out.” And they’re like, “I’m just gonna get out. And I’m just gonna come back whenever I’m good and ready.” That’s not repentance. That produced nothing. That did nothing. There’s no godly sorrow there, there’s no action, there’s no desire to halt.
See, when someone says, “I’m sorry I did it, I’m sorry I went down the road, I am ready to halt. I’m ready to stopping, I’m ready to stop doing that and stop going on that road.” He says that is a sorrow that is continually before me. See, true repentance, we’re talking about repenting of your sins. The action of repentance is you take careful action to stop. That you, he says, “What carefulness it wrought in you.” He said, “I see your life [inaudible 00:41:28] when you walk so carefully.” In other passages he’s used the word circumspect and he says, “You wrought carefully to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Go to the book of Romans, Romans chapter number 13, let me give you two thoughts when it comes to carefulness. Careful walk. You say, “Well, how, what does it mean to be careful in our actions when it comes to sin?” I wanna give you two thoughts in regards to that. The first one is this. When someone has godly sorrow that worketh to repentance, when they are going to take careful actions and when we could look at them and say, “What carefulness has wrought in you,” there is two things that I can see in Scripture that those individuals do and there might be more, I don’t know but I saw two as I studies. The first one is this, you remove the provision of sin.
Romans 13 in verse 14 says this, Romans chapter 13 in verse 14 says this, “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not,” notice what it says, “make not provision for the flesh.” Provision means the providing or supplying of, “to fulfil the lusts thereof.” See, when someone truly gets their heart right, they not only … they say, “I wanna stop the sin, I wanna halt the sin” but they remove any provisions, any supplies, anything that might help them go back into that sin.
See, when someone comes to this church and maybe they hear me or they hear some other pastor or whoever preach on music and worldly music and how it’s not of God and God doesn’t want us to listen to music that’s talking about physical relationships outside of marriage and God doesn’t want us listening to music that promotes sin and that promotes drug and that promotes alcohol and that promotes worldliness and by the way, I think that’s all the worldly music.
Speaker 2: Amen.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don’t care if it’s country music, rap music, whatever music, that’s all just promoting sin. The Bible says, the love of the world, it’s not of the Father but it’s of the world. And you might come in and say, “Man, I need to get right with music in my life and God doesn’t want me to listen to this country music, talking about drinking, God doesn’t want me listen to this rap music talking about physical relationship outside of marriage. God doesn’t want me listening to this lovely dovey music soft rock whatever,” and you say, “I’m gonna stop doing it” and you take all your CDs and you put them up in the closet. Well, just in case I get backsliding. We never really got right with God.
Speaker 2: Amen.
Speaker 1: ‘Cause you know what you’re doing? You’re making a provision for the flesh. Well, just in case I get backsliding, I don’t have to go buy all those CDs again. [Women 00:44:00] come to church and they hear me preach a sermon on dress standards and I’m not preaching on dress standards tonight but I’ll quote things from the Bible where Deuteronomy says that a man should not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither should a man put on a woman’s garment for all that do so are abomination. We’ll show from the Bible how God has designed for men to wear pants and for women to wear skirts and dresses and if you’re here tonight and you don’t do that, that’s fine, that’s between you and God but that’s what the Bible says and we’ll teach it. You say, “But that makes me feel sorry.” I know.
It’s my job to confront you. And then a woman says, “Well, I’m gonna stop wearing pants, but I’m gonna put all my pants away just in case I get backsliding.” You’re not right with God.
Speaker 2: Amen.
Speaker 1: You’re making provisions for the flesh. You’re saying, “Well, just in case, just in case.” See, if you really are right with God, you get rid of those magazines. If you really are right with God, you get rid of those CDs, if you really are right with God, you will not make provision for the flesh.
See, Paul said, “I know that you had godly sorrow,” he said, “Because what carefulness had wrought in you. You began to walk very carefully in life. To make sure that you didn’t go down that road.” And you say, “Well, what does that mean?” It means you don’t make provision for the flesh, it means you remove the provision but there’s a second thing. It also means that you remove temptation. You don’t have to turn there but 2 Corinthians chapter 10 says this, “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able.” He says this, “But will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it.”
God says with every temptation he makes a way for you to escape it. You know what that means is that God does not expect you and you cannot live your life in the presence of temptation. If you live your life in front of temptation, you will give in eventually. You say, “Well, how do I win the war of temptation?” You take the escape route. You take the escape shoe. See, people say to me, “Well, I’m gonna take my family to the river and I’m gonna take my family to the beach and I’m gonna sit there and look at all these women in their bikinis and look at all of them naked but I’m not gonna think about that.” You’re lying because you’re not … you can’t live your life in the presence of temptation.
Speaker 2: Amen.
Speaker 1: You can’t live your life just constantly being tempted. You say, “How do you deal with tempt-“, you take the escape. You don’t even live in it. You don’t live in it, you got a drinking problem? Why do you go to the bar? Well, I was just gonna drink water. No, you’re gonna fail because you can’t live in temptation. Do you notice what I’m saying? See, when someone actually gets their heart right and someone actually repents of their sin and it brings the right attitude and it brings the admission, they confess it, they say, “I was wrong,” they don’t excuse it, they don’t make jokes about it, they say, “I was wrong,” and their attitude is right. And then their actions follow and there is carefulness.
And they say, “I’m not gonna live with the provision of the flesh and I’m not gonna live in the temptation. I’m not gonna live with temptation before me because God says, the only way to conquer temptation is [inaudible 00:46:56] escape. He shall make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it. That means the only way you can bear it is to escape. You cannot live, listen to me, you cannot live in the presence of temptation so quit trying, you will fail every time. All you’re doing is making a provision for the flesh. All you’re doing is you’re sorry you got caught, you’re sorry they found out. You’re sorry that someone knows. But there’s no action being taken because it’s worldly sorrow.
Go back to 2 Corinthians chapter seven, let me give you the last thing and we’ll be done. Not only is there a carefulness but I want you to notice that there is a clearing. They take careful action to stop but they also desire to clear their name. Notice 2 Corinthians chapter seven, look at verse 11. 2 Corinthians 7:11 says, “For behold this selfsame thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness had wrought in you, yea,” notice these words, “What clearing of yourselves.” And then he uses these other words but I want you to notice at the end, so what we read up to it says clearing of yourselves, then at the end of the verse he says, “approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.”
So he talks about the fact that you’re trying to clear your name and then he uses these words to describe what that means. He says, “what clearing of yourselves,” notice what he says, “Yea, what indignation,” and you get so mad and angry that you went on that road that you fell for it, that you submitted to the temptation of Satan, you said, “What indignation, yea, what fear.” All of a sudden, there is fear that I might do that again. “Yea, what vehement desire and what zeal, yea, what revenge.”
You wanna take revenge on your own sin. You know what David did? Here’s what David did. David got his heart right and said, “I don’t wanna go down in history as this is the last thing anyone heard about David.” David understood, this will be a blot in my life for the rest of my life. David understood from now on, there are two stories that are gonna be told about my life, David and Goliath and David and Bathsheba. He understood that but you know what David decided when he got right? He said, “I don’t want it to be said that this is what knocked me out of the Christian life.” He said, “I wanted to go down in record but I confessed my sin and I admitted it and I had godly sorrow, I have the right attitude and I take action to fix it.”
See, when you really get your heart right, and when you really begin to repent of your sins, not only will it make you start walking carefully but it’ll make you want to clear your name. I don’t wanna go down in history with my wife thinking, “That was a … the last thing, he was a failure.” I don’t wanna go down in history with my children thinking, “Man, [inaudible 00:49:46].” I don’t wanna go down in history as a pastor [inaudible 00:49:49] he did all these great things and they taught it in the house and God helped him and God built it and they did those great things and have those [inaudible 00:49:55] and then he committed adultery.
See, there is a clearing. There is a clearing. And when someone truly gets their heart right, they say, “I wanna clear myself.” Well, Paul said, notice what he says at the end of the verse, verse 11, he says, “In all things, ye have approved yourselves,” notice what he says, “to be clear in this matter.” He says it’s clear, you got it right. Praise the Lord.
And by the way, that’s the right attitude to have in people. When they truly get their hearts right, when they truly repent, when they admit and their attitude is right and their actions are careful, we should be willing to accept them back and to clear their names. And to say, “You know what David, that’s in the past. It’s under the blood.” He says, “They cleared their name.”
Maybe you’re here tonight you say, “I don’t need to repent of anything,” maybe that’s true. But I’ll tell you this. If you expect to finish the Christian life, there will be times that you get a little sideways or you get a little backsliding. Or you get a little detoured and you’re gonna have to learn to kind of get directed back to the way you were going and the only way to do that is to practice repentance in your lives. You say, “How do you do that?” Will you admit it? You cannot repent without admission. You cannot repent without a proper attitude and you cannot repent without the proper actions.
To live the victorious Christian life, you must be able to receive correction and to repent correctly. Let’s bow our heads and end with a prayer, Heavenly Father, thank you Lord for Your word. Father, I realize that most churches do not preach sermons like these. These are not the type of sermons that people will give you accolades for but these are needed sermons in our lives because Father, every single one of us is going to take a detour. Lord willing, not as extreme as David’s but we’re going to get sideways, we’re gonna get backsliding, we’re gonna sin. And there might be a godly pastor who writes a letter and makes a phone call and makes a visit, who shows up at the meeting and confronts you with it.
And Lord, I pray you’d help each and everyone of us to be able to receive that correction. And to be able to repent correctly. Lord, help us to live as we finish this series, Lord, help all of us to live the victorious Christian life. To not lose, to not be a failure, to not be a castaway and help us, Lord, to learn to practice repentance when it’s needed in our lives. We love You, Father, thank you for salvation. Thank you for forgiving us, thank you for restoring us. In the name of Christ we pray, Amen.