A Sharper Focus

Joy of Repentance

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Shelley Quinn

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Series Code: ASHF

Program Code: ASHF000124A


00:20 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn,
00:22 and we welcome you
00:23 to our live Wednesday night Bible study
00:26 here at Thompsonville, Illinois.
00:28 We are coming to you from the 3ABN Worship Center,
00:31 and we are just so glad that you are joining us
00:33 for this Bible study.
00:35 This program is called A Sharper Focus,
00:37 and tonight we are going to be taking a sharper focus
00:41 on the joy of repentance.
00:44 Just want to welcome all of you as well.
00:47 And how many of you think of repentance and joy
00:52 in the same sentence.
00:55 I'm seeing some confused faces.
00:57 Sometimes people say,
00:58 "What do you mean the joy of repentance?"
01:00 Well, there is joy in repentance
01:03 and we are going to look at it tonight.
01:05 But first, let us begin,
01:06 we are not going to sing our song.
01:08 I asked about the theme song, and they said,
01:11 "Well, usually it's just Pastor Lomacang's mike
01:15 that you hear going along with the track."
01:17 And I said, "No."
01:19 If Pastor Lomacang were here, we'd sing,
01:21 but they don't pay me to sing, they pay me not to.
01:26 Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
01:28 Heavenly Father, we come in the name of Jesus,
01:31 and Lord, thank You for everyone
01:32 who has come out tonight.
01:34 It has been a rough week, and we just are looking
01:38 for a breath of fresh air, Father.
01:39 We ask that You would send Your Holy Spirit, and Lord,
01:43 as we open Your Word, it is alive and active,
01:47 and I pray in the name of Jesus that by the power of Your Word,
01:51 You will sanctify us.
01:53 Lord, set us apart from sin.
01:55 And, Father, help my tired mind to think,
02:00 just get me out of the way
02:02 and speak through me is my prayer,
02:04 in Jesus' name, amen.
02:06 How many of you agree...
02:08 Has this been a rough week for everybody?
02:10 It has been. I don't know.
02:11 Everybody I've talked to had said the same thing,
02:14 and I for one I'm not getting any sleep,
02:17 I'm kind of having to walk around like this
02:18 trying to keep my eyes open.
02:21 But what I like you to do is open your Bibles
02:23 to Matthew Chapter 5.
02:27 Matthew Chapter 5.
02:29 And as you're turning there,
02:30 I want to tell you a story that's found
02:33 in 2 Samuels 11 and 12,
02:35 you all will be very familiar with it.
02:38 This is the story about King David.
02:43 David was a man after God's own heart.
02:48 That's what the Lord said about him.
02:50 He was a man after his own heart.
02:53 But David was in the wrong place
02:56 at the wrong time.
02:58 The time when king
02:59 should have been going out toward,
03:01 David stayed back.
03:04 He kind of just took it for granted,
03:06 and let his people do what he thought they could do,
03:11 and he got bored.
03:13 So he goes out for a walk on the palace roof,
03:16 and what happens?
03:17 He sees Bathsheba, and she is bathing,
03:23 and his heart is inflamed with torrid lust.
03:29 And here we have a man
03:31 after God's own heart
03:33 who suddenly, unexpectedly finds himself
03:39 racing toward the cliff of spiritual death,
03:42 but he becomes blinded to his own condition.
03:45 First, what does he do?
03:47 He sends for Bathsheba, he takes Bathsheba.
03:51 Then, once he's kind of like, "Oh, my goodness.
03:55 This is, you know,
03:57 something bad could happen here, "
03:58 he calls for her husband, brings him in.
04:01 And what does he do?
04:03 When the husband will not...
04:05 Bathsheba's husband
04:07 was more honorable than King David.
04:10 And when he would not accept bribes
04:13 or go down to see his wife,
04:15 then David plots his murder, doesn't he?
04:19 And so now we find King David
04:22 who is blinded to his own condition,
04:25 and I think that the thing
04:27 that makes this alarmingly glaring
04:33 is that David was a man after God's own heart.
04:37 He was sensitive to sin, he understood what it meant,
04:41 what sin meant, but here we have this man.
04:44 So the next chapter in 2 Samuel Chapter 12,
04:47 God in His mercy sends the Prophet Nathan,
04:50 and Nathan tells David the story about a man,
04:56 a rich man who owned many, many flocks of sheep.
05:00 But when he has someone, a stranger
05:02 who comes for dinner, what does he do?
05:05 He goes to a man
05:06 who only has one little ewe lamb,
05:11 a lamb that was his special treasure,
05:14 and he goes and he takes this man's lamb
05:19 and he serves it up for supper.
05:21 Well, when David heard about this,
05:24 he was enraged,
05:26 and he was ready to have the rich man put to death.
05:30 But can you imagine
05:32 the abrupt reversal of David's rage
05:35 when suddenly Nathan looks at him and says,
05:38 "You are the man."
05:41 Well, David thought he was a good man,
05:44 but he was blinded to his own condition.
05:46 Now I think I'm a good person.
05:49 I try to be a good person.
05:52 Do you think you are a good person?
05:54 For the most part, don't we?
05:55 Maybe we think we are better than David
05:57 because we've never committed murder or adultery,
06:02 or have we?
06:04 Let's look at what Jesus said in Matthew Chapter 5,
06:07 and we are going to begin with verse 22.
06:11 Matthew 5:22.
06:15 Jesus says, "But I say to you that who is ever..."
06:20 Am I in the right place? Nope.
06:22 Matthew Chapter 5:27.
06:25 Excuse me.
06:26 "'You have heard that it was said to those of old,
06:29 'You shall not commit adultery.'
06:32 But I say to you
06:33 that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her
06:37 has already committed adultery with her in his heart.' "
06:45 Wow.
06:46 Do you realize what Jesus is saying?
06:48 He is saying that
06:50 the thoughts of lust are the sin,
06:54 adultery is the fruit of sin.
06:57 Let me repeat that.
06:59 The thoughts,
07:01 the lustful thoughts are the sin,
07:03 adultery is simply the fruit of the sin.
07:07 And you know in our day and age,
07:11 it's very difficult,
07:13 especially I think for men, to control their thoughts.
07:20 You know, I think if there's anything
07:21 that we need to teach our young women,
07:24 we need to teach them to dress modestly.
07:27 You know, it's amazing to me
07:29 when you can go to a church function
07:30 and see someone show up in short shorts
07:33 or, you know, tank tops that are pretty revealing.
07:38 Women don't understand how men are visually wired
07:44 and they respond to that.
07:46 But a man has to take responsibility.
07:50 If you are tempted, you have...
07:52 You know, you've heard of the old saying that,
07:54 "It's one thing if a bird flies over your head,
07:57 but it's another thing if he nests in your hair."
08:01 So you've got to take control of those thoughts.
08:04 But now I did want to go to verse 22 as well.
08:10 The Lord says, "But I say to you
08:12 that whoever is angry with his brother
08:15 without a cause
08:17 shall be in danger of the judgment."
08:22 Thoughts of hatred are heart murder.
08:28 Did you catch that?
08:30 If you hate someone,
08:31 it's like you are committing heart murder.
08:34 But the act of taking someone's life
08:37 is simply something that grows out of an unclean heart.
08:41 So when we start looking into scripture for what sin is,
08:45 we can realize
08:47 we are in the same condition that David's in,
08:49 and we need to open our eyes,
08:52 and let the reflection pool of our conscience
08:56 help us inspect our hearts and confess our sins
09:00 because without confession, without repentance,
09:03 we can't have confidence that God is going to hear us
09:06 or accept our worship.
09:08 Turn to Psalms 24,
09:14 and we are going to look at a very important verse
09:19 that sometimes I think we forget about.
09:22 Psalms 24, and let's look at verse 3 and 4.
09:27 Psalms 24:3 and 4.
09:30 "Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?
09:33 Or who may stand in His holy place?"
09:36 Who is it?
09:37 He who has a clean heart and...
09:41 A pure heart and clean hands,
09:44 or clean hands and a pure heart.
09:47 To us, a fountain
09:50 has been opened to wash away
09:54 the impurities of our heart,
09:56 to wash way the filth of our hands.
10:00 The guilt of sin is washed away by the blood of the lamb.
10:03 Amen?
10:04 And I'm so thankful
10:06 that it's not by works of righteousness,
10:07 not by anything
10:08 that we have to do that we are saved,
10:10 but according to God's mercy,
10:12 we are saved by the regeneration
10:15 and renewal of the Holy Spirit.
10:17 And when we receive His grace of forgiveness,
10:22 we are spotless before the Lord,
10:25 we are clean from this, the pollution of our sin.
10:28 Now let's go back to our story just a second.
10:32 How did David react to Nathan's statement,
10:37 "You are the man."
10:39 You know, if he had been a hot headed king,
10:41 he could have easily said to the prophet,
10:44 "Off with your head."
10:46 But no, David's eyes were open to his lawlessness.
10:50 He recognized what his sin was.
10:54 And he said, "I have sinned against the Lord."
10:59 And then we find the most precious,
11:01 and we'll get into it just a moment,
11:03 but the most precious book for repentance is Psalm 51
11:08 which we'll look at in just a moment.
11:09 He confessed his sin against the Lord,
11:12 and he repented,
11:15 and even to the point that
11:16 he said to the Lord in Psalm 51:4,
11:19 "Against you and you only have I sinned."
11:23 Isn't that an interesting statement?
11:25 You know,
11:26 I think if we recognize it every time we sin,
11:29 no matter what we do, if we are hurting someone else,
11:32 it's God who we are sinning against.
11:36 Isn't that amazing?
11:37 So what is repentance?
11:39 What is repentance?
11:41 It's more than just a mere confession of our sins.
11:45 It's more than just feeling remorse.
11:48 We have to know how to truly repent
11:51 according to God's pattern.
11:53 And we are going to look at five steps of repentance.
11:57 Let me tell you what those are very briefly,
11:59 and then we'll go over them.
12:01 The first is recognition of sin.
12:04 The second is godly sorrow.
12:07 The third is confession.
12:09 Then we must receive God's forgiveness,
12:13 that's the fourth step.
12:15 But the fifth step is that we change our conduct.
12:18 So let's look at these five steps of repentance,
12:23 and then, by the time we finish,
12:25 you will understand the joy of repentance.
12:29 So number one is the recognition of sin.
12:34 Repentance begins with this recognition.
12:37 David would never have repented if he hadn't recognized his sin
12:41 for what is was.
12:42 And when we examine ourselves in the light of God's Word,
12:45 the character of our conduct is exposed.
12:48 The Holy Spirit
12:50 by His convicting power helps us to think differently
12:53 and recognize how foul our sin is.
12:56 I think of the word sin as an acronym
13:01 that really aptly explains
13:05 what lies at the root of it.
13:07 S is for Selfishness, I is for Ignorance,
13:12 N is for Neglect.
13:15 Selfishness, Ignorance, and Neglect.
13:18 Selfishness, if we have self-centered behavior,
13:21 this is what causes us to commit sins intentionally.
13:27 This is when we know that doing something is wrong
13:30 but we do it anyway because it pleases us.
13:33 Now ignorance is when we commit sins
13:37 that are unintentional.
13:39 We don't know what God's Word says,
13:41 we don't know that what we are doing is sin.
13:46 Neglect is when we...
13:49 This is another intentional act of sin.
13:52 This is when we know what is right
13:56 but we fail to do it,
13:58 sometimes perhaps just because we are too busy.
14:01 So Selfishness, Ignorance, and Neglect.
14:06 Now turn to James Chapter 4.
14:12 We are going to look...
14:14 In order for us to recognize our sin,
14:16 we have to know what the Bible says sin is.
14:21 So we are going to look at several categories of sin.
14:26 This is by no means an exhaustive study,
14:29 but we're going to look at
14:31 what the Bible talks about is sin.
14:34 The first one is to miss the mark
14:37 of God's righteous requirements.
14:41 This is like, if you were to think
14:42 that we had over here a bow and arrow,
14:47 and we've got the target,
14:48 if you were to pull back this bow
14:50 and release the arrow, it's to miss the bull's eye.
14:54 We are not doing what God requires us.
14:57 So let's look at James 4:17.
15:00 James 4:17.
15:04 Here's what the Bible says.
15:07 "To him who knows to do good and does not do it,
15:13 to him it is sin."
15:17 Wow.
15:18 This is a sin of omission.
15:20 This is when we know what God requires of us,
15:24 yet, we refuse to do it, and that is sin.
15:30 Now turn to
15:32 Romans 14:23.
15:38 Romans 14:23.
15:45 We know that if we know to do good
15:47 and we don't do it, that means we are sinning.
15:52 Well, I'll give you an example.
15:54 Let's say that we know that the Sabbath is the Sabbath,
15:59 it's God's holy day, but we refuse to do it,
16:03 we are sinning, all right?
16:04 But look at what Romans 14:23 says,
16:07 "Whatever is not from faith is sin."
16:13 Whatever is not from faith is sin.
16:16 So let's say that
16:19 we are getting ready to do something
16:22 and we kind of have this...
16:25 You know, do you ever get that check
16:27 where it's kind of like,
16:28 it holds you back for just a minute,
16:30 "Should I do it or shouldn't I do it?
16:31 Is this right to do or is this wrong to do?"
16:34 If we go forward and do it not knowing by faith
16:40 that it is in agreement with God's Word,
16:43 we are sinning.
16:44 So when you get that check, when you get that red flag,
16:50 go to the Word of God, go to godly counselors,
16:53 find people who can help you find
16:55 what the Bible says about it
16:57 because if you do something that is not from faith,
17:02 it is sin.
17:04 Now turn to 1 John Chapter 3.
17:08 1 John Chapter 3.
17:12 So that first category of sin
17:15 is to miss the mark of God's righteous requirements.
17:19 Let's look at a second category.
17:24 This isn't a sin of omission, this is a sin of commission.
17:29 1 John 3:4, "Whoever commits sin
17:35 also commits lawlessness,
17:38 and sin is lawlessness."
17:41 You know, it's so interesting to me
17:43 that people have,
17:46 some people in some denominations
17:48 have such a negative view of God's Ten Commandments.
17:53 It is so amazing because to me what God has done,
17:56 we've been studying on our worship,
18:01 we've been talking about the love of God,
18:04 and God in His love gave us Ten Commandments.
18:09 It's kind of like...
18:11 I remember when JD and I
18:12 were going somewhere up in Colorado,
18:14 and we were going up to a very high mountain,
18:17 and there was no railing along the road.
18:21 You know, as we are going up this kind of winding road
18:24 up the mountain, and when you looked over,
18:26 and I'm on the driver side...
18:27 I mean, I'm on the passenger side
18:29 and I can look over,
18:30 you know, 1,000, 2,000 feet down
18:33 and you are thinking
18:34 "Ah! Oh, please don't let us..."
18:37 You know, don't let there be anything wrong.
18:40 You feel so much more secure when there's a railing there,
18:42 don't you?
18:44 Why do parents fence in a backyard
18:46 for children to play?
18:48 Why did they put a fence up?
18:50 To keep their children from getting into trouble,
18:52 to keep stray dogs from getting in,
18:54 to keep their kids
18:56 from getting out into the highway.
18:58 This is something that is important
19:00 that God has given us the Ten Commandments
19:04 for our protection
19:06 and they are ten promises of what he'll do.
19:09 But when we commit lawlessness, when we break the law of God,
19:15 this is what this is, is an iniquity,
19:18 is an intentional, or get this, an unintentional,
19:23 intentional or unintentional offence against God's law.
19:28 Now a third category of sin is,
19:32 turn to 1 John 5,
19:35 you are right there and just turn a couple of chapters over.
19:37 1 John Chapter 5,
19:41 and we are going to look at verse 17.
19:44 This is the one that gets me more than anything.
19:47 1 John 5:17.
19:51 "All unrighteousness is sin."
19:57 You know what that's saying?
19:59 Any deviation from God's holy
20:03 and righteous character is sin.
20:07 All unrighteousness, righteousness is simply
20:09 to do things in the right way that God has prescribed.
20:14 All unrighteousness is sin.
20:17 The reason I thought
20:19 it was important to talk about this,
20:20 and we could talk about the sins
20:22 against the Holy Spirit,
20:23 how we can grieve the Holy Spirit,
20:25 how we can resist the Holy Spirit,
20:28 how we can quench the Holy Spirit.
20:30 The reason I think it's important,
20:32 if recognition of sin
20:34 is the first step to repentance,
20:38 it is so important for us to know what sin is, is it not?
20:43 I had a young man, I was teaching,
20:46 this is probably 12 years ago before I became an Adventist.
20:49 But I was teaching about repentance
20:53 and our daily need to examine our self,
20:56 and he came to me after this meeting
20:59 and he said,
21:00 "You don't understand the good news of the gospel.
21:04 Once you've invited Christ into your heart,
21:06 you don't have to confess your sins anymore.
21:09 You don't..."
21:10 And I'm thinking, mercy sakes, there is no repentance
21:15 if there is no recognition of sin.
21:18 Romans 2:23, you don't have to turn there,
21:21 you are going to know this one.
21:22 Paul said to the Romans,
21:24 "All have sinned
21:27 and fallen short of the glory of God."
21:30 Actually, this in the original Greek is...
21:35 The fall short is a continuous action.
21:40 So a more appropriate translation would be,
21:44 "All have sinned
21:46 and keep falling short of the glory of God."
21:51 What is God's glory?
21:53 It's His character.
21:55 Let me ask you this.
21:57 Did you fall short of God's character today?
22:00 How about yesterday?
22:02 You know, I know that day by day,
22:05 I'm falling short.
22:07 We all fall short, we all keep falling short.
22:11 And if day by day,
22:13 I'm falling short of God's character,
22:16 then day by day
22:18 I need to confess my sins, don't I?
22:21 I need to repent.
22:23 And this is something that
22:25 I just want to encourage you.
22:28 And people don't...
22:30 Sometimes this doesn't equate in our brain,
22:32 but when you recognize your sin, rejoice.
22:37 You know, don't beat yourself up
22:39 when you recognize your sin.
22:41 That's actually the Holy Spirit with His convicting power
22:44 is showing you,
22:46 and that's your first step of repentance.
22:50 So recognize your sin and rejoice
22:54 in recognizing your sin there
22:55 because God delights in mercy
22:58 and He stands ready to forgive you.
23:00 You know, his heart is filled with love and pity
23:05 for the penitence sinner
23:07 and He won't leave you with your head hanging low.
23:10 When you recognize your sin,
23:11 it's time to cry out for God's mercy, right?
23:14 Turn to Micah.
23:18 This is the little book,
23:20 one of the minor prophets over there
23:21 between Jonah and Nahum,
23:26 Micah,
23:28 and I love this verse, one of my favorites.
23:33 Micah Chapter 7...
23:37 Micah Chapter 7.
23:42 We are going to look at verses 18 and 19.
23:48 Micah 7:18.
23:53 Listen what Micah has written.
23:57 "Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity
24:01 and passing over the transgressions
24:04 of the remnant of His heritage?
24:07 He does not retain His anger forever,
24:11 because He delights in mercy.
24:15 He will again have compassion on us,
24:18 and will subdue our iniquities."
24:23 By the power of the Holy Spirit,
24:25 by the blood of the lamb,
24:26 he's going to subdue our iniquities.
24:29 Now he's saying to the Lord again.
24:31 "You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea."
24:36 Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
24:40 There is joy in repentance.
24:42 When we recognize our sin,
24:45 we have made the first step
24:50 of the process of repentance.
24:53 So I had a lady today
24:56 that I was talking to on the phone,
24:58 and she'd made a mistake on Sabbath,
25:01 she felt really bad about it,
25:02 and she'd been beating herself up about it.
25:05 And we can't do that.
25:06 When we recognize our sin, fall to your knees
25:09 and just say, "Oh, Lord.
25:10 Thank you for showing me this.
25:13 Thank you, Holy Spirit,
25:14 for opening my eyes just as you did with David
25:18 so I don't go over the cliff here."
25:21 So that's your first step.
25:23 The second step is godly sorrow.
25:27 Turn to 2 Corinthians Chapter 7.
25:32 2 Corinthians Chapter 7.
25:35 You know, as we begin to interpret
25:36 God's marvelous love,
25:39 we see how we have sinned against Him,
25:42 and then godly sorrow ceases our hearts.
25:46 We regret our sins and godly sorrow
25:49 produces a change of heart
25:51 that leads us to salvation and repentance.
25:54 2 Corinthians 7:10,
25:59 "For godly sorrow
26:01 produces repentance leading to" what?
26:04 "Salvation."
26:06 Leading to salvation.
26:08 Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation
26:14 not to be regretted.
26:17 But the sorrow of the world produces death.
26:22 You know, there are so many people
26:25 who have guilty consciences.
26:26 There are so many people
26:28 who are weighted down with guilt,
26:31 the sorrow of the world,
26:33 and they don't know about our Lord
26:35 and Savior Jesus Christ.
26:37 And all that produces is death, it produces spiritual death.
26:41 But when we have godly sorrow,
26:45 that's something to rejoice about,
26:48 because godly sorrow
26:51 brings us to that point of repentance
26:54 leading to salvation.
26:56 Paul wrote to the Romans, and he said this in Romans 2:4.
27:03 Romans 2:4.
27:08 I love the Book of Romans, it's probably my favorite book.
27:11 If there were only one book in the Bible,
27:13 if I had nothing but the Book of Romans,
27:15 that would be the book I would choose.
27:18 Romans 2:4.
27:20 Paul says, "Do you despise
27:24 the riches of His goodness,
27:28 His forbearance,
27:30 and His longsuffering, or patience,
27:32 not knowing that it is the goodness of God
27:37 that leads you to repentance?"
27:40 It is the goodness of God that produces
27:44 that godly sorrow in your hearts.
27:46 It is the goodness of God
27:48 that will lead you to repentance.
27:51 He is constantly wooing us and drawing us by His love.
27:56 So godly sorrow, we recognize our sins,
28:00 then godly sorrow,
28:01 two things that should bring joy to our hearts.
28:06 Joy, sounds like that's,
28:10 you know, a juxtaposition of sorrow and joy,
28:15 it sounds like those are two thing,
28:17 but when it's godly sorrow,
28:18 it should bring joy to our heart.
28:20 All right. Number three.
28:22 Our third step.
28:25 Confession.
28:27 Confession is the next critical step
28:30 because sin hinders prayer,
28:34 sin erects a barrier between us and our holy God.
28:39 Turn to Psalms 66:18.
28:46 Psalms 66:18.
28:53 If anyone knew about sin and the barrier
28:57 that it could erect between them and God,
29:03 it was certainly David.
29:05 And in Psalms 66:18,
29:10 here's what he writes.
29:13 "If I regard iniquity in my heart,"
29:16 what's going to happen?
29:19 "The Lord will not hear."
29:22 When you have a cherished sin
29:26 that you continue to repeat,
29:29 don't think for one second
29:32 that you can go to our holy God
29:35 and He is going to listen to you.
29:38 Now if you are asking for forgiveness, yes,
29:41 of course he is, if it's a spiritual request,
29:44 but we've got to understand that
29:47 regarding iniquity means that we love this iniquity,
29:51 we are holding on fast to it.
29:53 There was a man,
29:56 I'm not going to tell you what country this happened in.
30:01 It was a most unfortunate situation
30:03 because a speaker came through to talk to them
30:08 about grace and he did a series on grace,
30:13 but he gave a very lopsided series on grace,
30:17 an incomplete series on grace, and he left.
30:23 He delivered a message
30:25 and he left everyone with impression
30:27 that grace gives you license to sin.
30:32 What a tragedy?
30:33 That is a travesty.
30:35 I mean, that is the saddest thing
30:37 I've ever heard because grace is God's divine power
30:40 and His supernatural assistance for salvation.
30:43 And when we think about
30:44 the three greatest gifts of grace,
30:46 Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the Word,
30:48 you can see that grace is not...
30:53 It frees us from pharisaical legalism
30:56 but it is not a license to sin.
31:00 What grace does for us is it...
31:04 We can only obey by grace.
31:07 Do you realize obedience is by grace
31:09 because it's God who is working in you to will
31:12 and to do His good pleasure
31:13 by the power of His Holy Spirit.
31:16 So this was something that
31:19 this man who was in the church
31:23 and held a position in the church.
31:25 After the speaker left,
31:27 you know what he said to someone?
31:29 "Hallelujah.
31:31 I can come out of the closet, I can enjoy my pornography
31:35 because I'm saved by grace."
31:40 He was regarding iniquity in his heart.
31:44 What does Psalms 66:18 say?
31:49 God wasn't going to hear him.
31:52 Now I want to be certain that I don't leave someone
31:56 who's watching today by television
31:59 or who's listening by radio,
32:01 I don't want to leave you with a wrong impression
32:05 that if you are ready to confess your sin,
32:08 if you want help in changing,
32:10 God is anxious, he is there to hear you.
32:13 But if you think that you can live like the devil
32:16 and then go to God
32:17 like He's some Santa Claus in the sky
32:20 and He's going to listen to your prayers,
32:22 you are wrong.
32:24 So let's turn to Hosea and we'll see a little bit more
32:27 what God says about shutting His ears
32:31 to those who are unrepentant.
32:34 Hosea Chapter 5,
32:38 Hosea's right after Daniel,
32:41 Hosea 5:15.
32:48 Hosea 5:15.
32:51 It shows us that God shuts His ears
32:53 to the unrepentant sinner
32:54 and requires that we acknowledge our offences
32:57 toward Him.
32:58 Hosea 5:15 says this.
33:01 "I will return..."
33:02 This is God speaking.
33:04 "I will return again to my place
33:06 till they acknowledge their offense.
33:10 Then they will seek My face, in their affliction, "
33:15 when God's turned away from them,
33:17 when He's turned His face from them
33:19 and let whatever happen to them
33:21 that comes along, he says,
33:23 "Then in their affliction
33:24 they will earnestly seek Me."
33:30 So once again, what is God saying?
33:32 If you are not going to acknowledge your offense,
33:36 then I'll just... I'm not going to...
33:39 I'll turn my face from you,
33:40 I'm not going to have ears to hear.
33:42 But boy, as soon as you are ready to demonstrate
33:47 that you trust God for salvation and change,
33:50 then He will come along.
33:53 So confession is a critical step.
33:55 It demonstrates our change of mind
33:59 about our sin-sick behavior.
34:02 And through confession
34:03 we seek forgiveness of our sins,
34:05 and it helps us acknowledge our need for a savior.
34:09 We had a woman
34:10 who came to 3ABN with Cheri Peters,
34:13 and this precious woman
34:15 who is a beautiful Christian woman,
34:17 said, she's been in the church for 30 years,
34:20 and she said,
34:23 "I didn't have any passion for Christ."
34:26 As a matter of fact, she said,
34:28 "People would talk about Him dying on the cross,"
34:31 and she said, "And I would think
34:33 I don't really understand
34:35 what the big deal is about all of this.
34:37 I've never broken any of the Ten Commandments.
34:40 I've been raised in the church.
34:41 I have been a good person.
34:44 I've never broken any of the big Ten."
34:47 See, if we don't understand our need for a savior,
34:52 we are not going to have any passion and love for God.
34:56 It was only as God opened her eyes
34:59 and she recognized her sin
35:02 that he produced godly sorrow, that she confessed her sin,
35:06 and that God totally changed her life.
35:10 We know that when confession is accompanied,
35:14 turn to 1 John Chapter 1
35:18 because the good news is
35:20 when confession is accompanied by godly sorrow
35:24 and a sincere desire to change,
35:27 God forgives us of all of our sins,
35:30 and He cleanses of all unrighteousness.
35:33 1 John 1:8.
35:37 John writes, "If we say that we have no sin, "
35:42 what are we doing?
35:43 "We are deceiving ourselves," self deception.
35:47 "If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves,
35:50 the truth is not in us.
35:54 If we confess our sins," and again,
35:57 this is the present active condition in the Greek,
36:01 so he's saying,
36:02 'If we keep on confessing our sins,'
36:06 He, God, is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins
36:11 and cleanse us of all unrighteousness."
36:15 Never become calloused to this idea
36:20 of confessing your sin.
36:23 Confession is the clearinghouse of the conscience, isn't it?
36:26 And this is God's prescribed manner to purify us.
36:31 This confession is where the place
36:34 or the place where misery meets mercy.
36:38 And when you bring your sins into His light,
36:41 don't think you're telling Him anything that He doesn't know.
36:44 He knows everything, doesn't He?
36:46 So you can't keep anything.
36:48 But what he says in Hosea,
36:50 I should have told you to keep your finger in Hosea,
36:53 if you want to flip back over there to Hosea again.
36:56 I love what he says in Hosea Chapter 14,
37:01 Hosea 14.
37:06 God says come to Me and bring words with you.
37:11 Hosea Chapter 14, we'll look at verse 1.
37:15 It says, "Return to the Lord your God,
37:20 for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
37:24 Take words with you..."
37:27 What are those words?
37:28 Words to confess your sin.
37:30 "Take words with you and return to the Lord.
37:33 Say to Him, 'Take away all iniquity.
37:37 Receive us graciously.' "
37:39 Now jump down to verse 4 and look what God says.
37:43 When you come to Him, bringing words
37:47 asking Him to forgive you of your iniquity,
37:50 to receive you graciously.
37:52 Here's what God says in verse 4,
37:54 "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely,
38:00 for My anger has turned away."
38:03 If we walk in the light as He is in the light,
38:06 the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us of all of our sins.
38:11 And one great reward of confession is confidence
38:17 because
38:20 confession will give you a clear conscience.
38:23 And we don't have to turn there,
38:24 but in 1 John 3:21, John said,
38:28 "Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us,
38:31 we have confidence before God."
38:35 So let's review the steps.
38:37 Recognize your sin, second, godly sorrow,
38:42 three is confession, and here's number four.
38:46 It's to receive God's forgiveness.
38:49 Now that's easier said than done for some.
38:53 You know, it is a challenge for some people to receive
38:56 God's forgiveness.
38:58 I've had people who've called here at 3ABN
39:02 who are still remorseful and miserable about a sin
39:08 that they've committed maybe 30 or 40 years before,
39:13 and they keep confessing the same sin over and over.
39:17 But if we would just receive God's forgiveness,
39:20 this is how we disarm the devil and we extricate ourselves
39:26 from his quick sand trap of condemnation.
39:30 Turn to Luke Chapter 7, Luke Chapter 7.
39:34 While you are turning there,
39:36 I'm going to set up a story that Jesus is telling.
39:38 He is sitting at a feast
39:43 and at this feast that was in Simon's house,
39:48 a Pharisee's house,
39:50 he tells the story of a creditor and two debtors.
39:56 One debtor owed the creditor just a little amount
40:02 and the other owed him quite a lot.
40:05 Neither one could pay.
40:07 But in the story,
40:08 the creditor freely forgives both debts.
40:12 Now turning to the Pharisee, Jesus says,
40:15 "Who do you think is going to love him more?"
40:18 Well, the Pharisee says,
40:20 "Well, I suppose the one who had the greater debt,
40:24 relieved, the debt was forgiven."
40:26 He says, "That's probably the one."
40:28 And Jesus says to him, "You are absolutely right."
40:32 But here's the punch line of the story.
40:36 The reason Jesus told this parable
40:40 is because the Pharisee had recoiled
40:45 from an act of a woman who came into his home.
40:48 She was a woman of ill repute and she was at Jesus' feet
40:53 weeping and washing His feet with her hair.
40:58 And she had taken an alabaster box,
41:02 and she'd broken,
41:03 and she was anointing Jesus' feet and His head,
41:06 and this Pharisee is sitting there,
41:08 thinking, "Ah, who is this man
41:11 that He would let her touch Him?"
41:14 Jesus knew what his thoughts were
41:17 and so he's telling this story.
41:20 "Who's going to love more?"
41:23 Look at Luke 7:47.
41:27 This woman who had been filled with unspeakable shame
41:32 and of sins of unutterable, unworthiness knew
41:38 what Jesus had done in forgiving her sin debt.
41:42 She could not contain her
41:44 overflowing love for the Savior.
41:46 Luke 7:47, Christ concluded telling this story
41:50 to the Pharisee by saying,
41:53 "Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many,
41:58 are forgiven, for she loved much.
42:01 But to whom little is forgiven,
42:05 the same loves little."
42:08 That's the story I was telling you
42:09 about the woman who came with Cheri Peters.
42:12 She didn't feel like
42:13 she needed any great forgiveness.
42:16 "I haven't broken the Big Ten."
42:19 So she didn't feel like...
42:21 She didn't appreciate her need for the Savior.
42:25 That's why recognizing our sin debt is so important
42:28 because the more we recognize what God has done for us
42:33 in forgiving this great sin debt,
42:36 the more we are going to love Him.
42:38 We'll be like Mary here
42:41 who could not contain her overflowing love.
42:45 You know, the more I understand,
42:47 and study the Bible, and understand sin,
42:50 the more I recognize how much God has had to cast off of me,
42:55 and it makes me love Him more.
42:57 The closer I get to Him, the more I realize
43:01 how sinful I really am.
43:04 The closer you get to the brightness of His being,
43:07 the more you'll see your filthy rags,
43:10 I guarantee it.
43:12 And God will open our hearts
43:14 to receive the gift of forgiveness
43:19 if we will just ask Him to.
43:21 He wants to give us forgiveness and liberty of sins
43:25 because Lamentations 3:23 says that
43:28 He is the God of new beginnings.
43:30 His mercies are new every morning.
43:33 Hallelujah.
43:34 So once we confess our sins
43:38 and then we'll receive His forgiveness,
43:40 we're no longer confined to wandering around
43:46 in the wasteland of our own sin.
43:48 Turn to Isaiah 43.
43:54 We gonna have to go just a little bit faster here.
43:58 Our time is running so quickly.
44:00 Isaiah 43...
44:08 18 and 19.
44:13 Isaiah 43:18 and 19.
44:16 The Lord says this.
44:18 And this is God speaking.
44:20 He says, "Forget the former things,
44:26 do not dwell on the past.
44:29 See, I am doing a new thing!
44:32 Now it springs up, do you not perceive it?
44:36 I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland."
44:42 God doesn't want us focusing on our past mistakes.
44:48 He says, "Forget the former things.
44:51 Don't dwell on the past.
44:52 I am doing a new thing in you.
44:54 I am the God of new beginnings.
44:56 I am the God who is here to save you,
45:00 to make you righteous, to sanctify you,
45:03 and I will make a way in the desert
45:06 and streams in the wasteland."
45:10 Don't you love what He said when He told Isaiah,
45:12 "Come let us reason together
45:15 though your sins be like scarlet,
45:17 I will make them white as snow."
45:21 Now turn to Psalm Chapter 51.
45:28 This as I said trying to figure where,
45:33 we're going to have to finish this next week,
45:35 we're not going to finish.
45:37 I'm trying to figure a jumping off point here.
45:42 We're going to go through this.
45:44 Psalm Chapter 51.
45:48 If you look at verse 4...
45:50 No, excuse me. Yeah.
45:51 Psalm, I'm in the wrong Psalm.
45:54 Psalm 51:4.
45:56 This is
46:00 David's written record of his repentance
46:05 after Nathan the Prophet came to him.
46:08 In verse 4, well, let's start with verse 2.
46:12 Let's start at the beginning.
46:14 Huh.
46:15 Why not?
46:17 He says, "Have mercy upon me, O God,
46:20 according to Your lovingkindness,
46:21 according to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
46:25 blot out my transgressions."
46:27 Oh, how we can all pray for that.
46:30 "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
46:34 and cleanse me from my sin.
46:35 For I acknowledge my transgressions,
46:37 and my sin is always before me."
46:40 Now look at this.
46:41 "Against You, and You only, have I sinned,
46:45 and done this evil in Your sight."
46:47 What?
46:49 Are you saying he hasn't sinned with Bathsheba
46:53 and killing her husband, committing adultery?
46:56 But he says, " Against You, and You only,
46:57 have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight.
47:00 That You may be found just when You speak,
47:02 and blameless when You judge."
47:07 Now look at verse 7.
47:08 "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean."
47:14 Do you remember the significance of hyssop
47:17 during the Passover?
47:19 What did God tell them to do during the Passover?
47:24 They were to take the hyssop, they were to dip it
47:27 in the blood of the sacrificial animal,
47:30 and they were to apply it to their doorposts.
47:34 What David is saying is purge me
47:37 by the blood of the lamb.
47:40 "Purge me by the blood of the lamb
47:43 and I will be clean.
47:45 Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow."
47:50 When you wash me through regeneration,
47:52 rebirth, and the renewal of the Holy Spirit,
47:55 and I put on that rope of righteousness,
47:58 I am going to be whiter than snow.
48:01 "Make me hear joy and gladness,
48:03 that the bones You have broken may rejoice.
48:06 Hide Your face from my sins, blot out all of my iniquities.
48:10 Oh, Lord, create in me a clean heart,
48:13 and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
48:16 Do not cast me away from Your presence,
48:20 do not take Your Holy Spirit from me."
48:24 Oh, what a precious prayer.
48:26 Anytime you feel like you don't know how to repent,
48:29 just go to Psalm Chapter 51.
48:32 He says, "Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, "
48:36 and that is the end goal of repentance,
48:39 "And uphold me by Your generous Spirit."
48:42 Then what is he going to do?
48:44 Then, when that joy is restored,
48:47 "Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
48:50 and sinners shall be converted to You."
48:53 Isn't that precious?
48:55 I absolutely love this.
48:56 Now David understood God's repentance process
49:02 and he yearned for the blessings
49:05 that God would bring.
49:06 He yearned for the joy of his salvation
49:09 to be restored.
49:11 Here's something that I think David knew.
49:17 If we get what we deserve, that's justice.
49:22 When we don't get
49:24 what we deserve, that's mercy.
49:29 But when we get what we don't deserve,
49:33 that's grace, that's grace.
49:37 So turn to 1 Kings 'cause I want to show you,
49:40 after David prayed this prayer,
49:44 and I know I've shared this before
49:46 but I just...
49:47 This just excites me.
49:49 1 Kings Chapter 14,
49:53 let's look at what happened
49:56 after David prayed this prayer
50:00 because this scripture will prove
50:03 that God forgives and forgets when we have confessed our sin.
50:08 1 Kings Chapter 14,
50:12 and let me set this up.
50:14 There was a prophet named Ahijah.
50:19 God went to him and said, "You tell King Jeroboam
50:23 that I'm going to bring his house down.
50:25 I'm going to destroy his house
50:27 because he has not been like my servant David."
50:31 So look what he says.
50:32 1 Kings 14:8.
50:35 This is the Lord speaking and this is what he told
50:38 Ahijah to tell King Jeroboam.
50:42 "You have not been as My servant David,
50:46 who kept My commandments and who followed Me
50:50 with all of his heart,
50:53 to do only what was right in My eyes."
50:58 Now wait a minute.
51:01 Now just wait a minute.
51:03 David is dead and buried.
51:06 These were the words of the Lord
51:09 recorded in the Bible and He's saying,
51:14 "David kept all of My commandments
51:18 and did only what was right in My eyes."
51:22 God can't lie.
51:26 So how could he say that David, who is guilty of adultery,
51:30 David, who is guilty of murder,
51:32 David, who numbered the troops
51:33 when he told him not to number the troops
51:35 did only what was right in His eyes?
51:38 Because David repented.
51:43 He recognized his sin.
51:45 Godly sorrow grabbed his heart.
51:49 He confessed his sin.
51:51 And God, when we confess our sins,
51:54 God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins
51:57 and cleanse us of all unrighteousness,
51:59 and suddenly,
52:01 he is looking at David when he said,
52:03 'Purge me with hyssop..."
52:04 he's looking at David through the blood of the lamb.
52:07 He's forgotten what David asked him to forgive.
52:12 Now let me see if I can find this.
52:15 This gives me great, great assurance
52:18 that the Bible was written
52:21 by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
52:24 The reason I say that is because
52:28 any man's account written,
52:33 we would say something like,
52:39 "David, after he repented
52:42 from his murder and his adultery,
52:45 then he did everything that was right in my sight
52:49 and kept all of his commandments."
52:51 I mean, that's just the way we would write it
52:53 if we were writing an accurate account.
52:55 But the writer here was recording God's words.
52:59 So the writer,
53:00 when he records God's words says,
53:04 "You have not been as My servant David,
53:06 who kept My commandments,
53:08 who followed Me with all of his heart,
53:10 to do only what was right in My eyes, "
53:12 showing that God had forgiven what he forgot.
53:14 But now turn to 15:5.
53:19 Because now the writer
53:22 still inspired by the Holy Spirit
53:25 is giving a detailed account.
53:27 Let's compare the writer's detailed account
53:33 compared to what God's words were,
53:37 the direct quote of God's words.
53:38 He said in verse 5, 1 Kings 15:5,
53:42 "Because David did
53:44 what was right in the eyes of the Lord,
53:47 and had not turned aside from anything
53:50 that He commanded him all the days of his life,
53:54 except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite."
53:59 That's still inspired, don't take me wrong.
54:03 The Bible was inspired Word of God.
54:05 This writer was giving the accurate full account.
54:09 But what proves to me that this is all inspired
54:15 is because he could actually record God's words saying,
54:20 "David did only what was right in My eyes.
54:22 He kept all of My commandments."
54:24 'Cause you and I can't look at it that way,
54:27 that had to be God's quote.
54:28 And that proves to me
54:30 that God forgets what He forgives.
54:33 We are going to end on this scripture,
54:35 Psalms 103:12.
54:40 Psalm 103:12.
54:47 Ah, I love the Word of God, don't you?
54:50 It brings such hope and it gives me great joy.
54:56 Psalm 103:12.
55:01 The Psalm says, "As far as the east is from the west,
55:06 so far He has removed our transgressions from us."
55:11 East never meets west.
55:14 "As far as the east is from the west,
55:17 so far has He removed our transgressions."
55:21 God is not a man that He could lie.
55:24 The only reason that He declared David
55:26 was totally righteous
55:29 is because he forgot
55:33 what David asked him to forget.
55:38 So if you've got something in your heart
55:41 that you have prayed about...
55:42 I had a lady call me, she was in her 80s,
55:47 and she had had an abortion when she was like 16 years old.
55:53 And she lived for the Lord...
55:55 I mean, once she grew up, she lived for the Lord
55:58 all of her life,
56:00 but she couldn't believe God would forgive her for that.
56:05 And so she had beat herself up, for 64 years,
56:10 she had beaten herself up.
56:14 And as I took her through these steps,
56:17 it was the hardest thing.
56:19 She recognized her sin, she had godly sorrow,
56:23 she had confessed her sin,
56:26 but her difficulty was in receiving God's forgiveness.
56:31 I just want to encourage you at home.
56:33 No matter what you've done, if you've confessed your sin
56:36 before the Lord...
56:37 Now this isn't our final step, we still got one more step
56:40 that we're going to look at,
56:42 and we'll continue this next week,
56:44 and that is the fifth step is to change our conduct.
56:48 But let me clue you, the joy of this is that
56:52 it's nothing that we can do on our own,
56:55 it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit,
56:58 it is only as God works in us to will and to
57:02 do that repentance
57:04 the Bible says is a gift from God.
57:09 So when you're praying for forgiveness,
57:12 also pray that God will give you
57:15 the gift of repentance, that He will turn you around.
57:19 And we're just...
57:20 We're out of time now, so we'll continue next week.
57:23 We want to thank you so much for joining us
57:26 and let's close with prayer.
57:28 Heavenly Father, how we praise You
57:30 and thank You for grace,
57:32 how we praise You and thank You for the power of grace
57:35 and what you do in us, Lord,
57:37 please help us to recognize our sin,
57:40 give us godly sorrow.
57:41 Oh, Lord, help us to be quick to confess
57:44 when we're not pleasing You,
57:47 and let us receive Your forgiveness, Lord.
57:50 Now bless us, Father God, go with us through this week,
57:54 and bring us back again next week,
57:55 in Jesus' name, amen.
57:57 Thank you.
57:59 Thank you so much, and good bye.


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Revised 2018-12-06