Today on Living on the Edge, Chip welcomes guest pastor John Dickerson. Biblically, when we talk about repentance, this is not about your perfection. This is about your relationship with God. Revival is all about relationship. This week, we learn that revival begins with repentance.
Hello, I'm Dave Drui, and this is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We're in a new series called Hearts on Fire: How God Sparks Revival with guest teacher John Dickerson. If you've ever thought that needing to repent often must mean you're a bad Christian, today's message may turn that idea upside down. John shows us why ongoing repentance is actually a hallmark of a mature believer and a gateway to real intimacy with God. He shares the story of Peter's greatest failure and a tender moment with one of his own kids that paint a beautiful picture of restored relationship.
Here is John continuing his message titled "No Revival Without Repentance." Well, I want to share with you today three truths about this kind of repentance that leads to revival. Because I don't know about you, but when I hear the word repentance, I think of shame and guilt, and I kind of don't want to think about repentance. Maybe you feel that way too.
So here's three things. We'll unpack these first. You need to understand biblically when we talk about repentance, this is not about your perfection. This is about your relationship with God. When you view repentance through a lens of "Am I perfect or am I falling short?" then it becomes very discouraging.
But when you view repentance through a lens of "I want to be in right relationship with God at all times," then it becomes a joyful thing. God's heart is to be in loving relationship with you. He invites you to break up the hardened soil of your life and your heart. Because joyful relationship follows, and that's the second thing. Repentance ends in joy, not in shame.
If you just associate, maybe as you began this message, and when you hear the word repentance, you just thought of shame and guilt and self condemnation. No, no, repentance is all about God. You admitting what's wrong, receiving what Christ did on the cross, and then Him washing those things away. Repentance might lead through shame, but shame is not the destination. If you will let God break up the hard soil of your heart, sorrow will not be your destination.
Well, what happens if Christians who are saved by grace choose to say, "Hey, my sins are forgiven, my place in heaven is secure. I'm not going to repent as a lifestyle. It's too dirty. It's too self condemning. I don't ever want to repent." Well, when repentance is not part of your daily life, here is what will happen: you will stop experiencing God's power in your life.
This is not because God stopped loving you; it's because the joy and the life of a dynamic relationship with God have gotten blocked by what by your own sin. They've gotten clogged. Here is a great visual of it. If you've ever used a bathroom sink and you turn the water on and it's just not going down the drain fast enough, this is what's happening underneath the sink. Sink has that little curve there, and it fills up with debris, all sorts of gross stuff, you know, hair and slimy stuff.
And and at first, as the debris builds up, the water can still pass through. But eventually, enough debris adds up, and the water can no longer pass through. Unconfessed sin of any kind blocks our ability to have a flow between us and God of His love, His direction, His voice. It's like cholesterol in an artery. It's like hair and gunk in a drain.
And before we know it, God feels very far away and distant.
Now the flip side of that is when you confess your sin, it's like clearing out the drain. When you sin, don't go days or weeks or months. Run right back to God. This will keep the flow of His peace, His joy, His power unhindered and unblocked in your life. You see, repentance is not about shaming yourself.
Does God still love you when you sin and you don't repent? Of course, he does. Jeremiah thirty-one verse three says that God has loved you with an everlasting love. Romans eight verse thirty-nine says that nothing, and God lists out everything you can think of, will ever be able to separate you from the love of God that's in Christ Jesus.
So, God does not stop loving you when you don't confess your sin. Those are powerful promises. But can I give you my spiritual opinion after studying revival for the last year in Scripture and in history? I believe in American Christianity today in the American church today. Many believers misunderstand these promises that nothing will separate you from the love of God, and and they take it as well.
Then I never need to repent or confess anything again. Quite the opposite. The more you love God and understand His love, the quicker you will be to repent. Not because you have to, and not because you might lose your salvation, but because you want to reconcile the relationship with the God that you love. Ongoing repentance as a lifestyle is a hallmark of a mature Christian.
You might have an inverted idea of this. You might think, "Man, if I was having to repent all the time, that would mean I'm a bad Christian." Nope. It actually means you're very sensitive, and you realize repentance becomes a gateway to emotional intimacy with God. It's not about shame. Say, John, what's your scriptural support for this statement?
Well, how about this? Jesus said, "Here's how to pray every day: the Lord's Prayer. Give us today our daily bread." And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who've sinned against us.
So Jesus, not me. Jesus assumes you're going to sin more than once every day of your life.
Sorry to break it to you. John, who probably loved Jesus more than any of the other disciples, and I would guess more than you or me, he's the one who wrote in First John one: If anyone claims that they're without sin, they're lying. He's writing from personal experience. Again, if if it was all about us, that'd be pretty depressing, wouldn't it? But our salvation doesn't depend on us.
It just depends on us being humble enough to say, "God, I need a perfect Savior to forgive this sinful servant." David lived this out. Psalm fifty-one. David says to God, "Would you restore to me the joy of my salvation, God? I've been living in sin. I've looked to every other thing that could fulfill me, and it has been empty, and it has been soul crushing.
And I'm repenting. Would you cleanse me, and God, restore my spiritual vigor?" And then, what is the result of that? Repentance restores joy, and then make me willing to obey you. Repentance leads to obedience. I asked earlier, what would the summary of your life be at your memorial service?
We say she was this, or he was that, or he was always this, or she was always that. Could you imagine God Himself summarizing your life? And according to God, the summary is: He was a man after my own heart. She was a woman after my own heart. David, the sinner, who sinned in some pretty spectacular ways, and wrote the chapter on confessing sin in Scripture.
How does God describe David in Acts chapter thirteen? God testifies concerning David, the sinner. He really sinned and messed up, and let's all define him by that for eternity. No, no, that's not how God defines David. God's aware of David's sin, but what was the pattern of David's life?
What was the trajectory? What was the theme of David's life? It wasn't sin. It was that he loved God, and God says of David, "I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart." This is the heart of revival—to love the Lord your God with all your heart. God, help me love you more.
Make me a man or a woman of God that God it would be true of me at the end of my life. She was a woman after God's own heart. He was a man after God's own heart. And what does that mean? It means that you will do everything God wants you to do.
Doesn't say perfectly, but consistently. None of us will do it perfectly. You got to let that go, but you do get to decide if you're going to do it consistently. David's life trajectory was of consistent obedience, motivated not out of self-righteous perfectionism, but out of love. For God, and that's the third truth about repentance that leads to revival.
Repentance is about going out to obey God. God, I I break up the soil of my heart, and I invite you to break it up through confession, through repentance. That's going to require time. You're going to have to sit down and reflect. God, where have I not been living out your word?
Some you'll know right away. Others the Spirit will reveal to you over time. God, break up my heart, make it tender again, and then as your word, the seeds of your word get back into my heart, I will go and obey whatever you show me to do. If you just try to not sin, you will drive yourself bonkers. You've got to replace the sin in your life with doing what is good, doing what is right.
Make it your heart motive to serve and obey God as a way of life. And as you get busy doing the right things, sin will gradually become less and less appealing, and eventually repulsive. If God had to choose between a self-centered, rule-keeping perfectionist or an eager but flawed servant who messes up but is very loving, which would God choose?
Well, we don't have to wonder. Because the Pharisees were exactly that—self-centered, rule-keeping, knew every verse of the Bible. It was all about their righteousness, their perfection. And he didn't invite any of them to be his disciples. He loved them, but their hearts were hard.
Who did he invite? Peter, who messed up all the time, but had this heart of love for God. He wasn't perfect, but he was faithful. God chooses the eager, loving servant who isn't perfect. The story, Luke fifteen, of the prodigal son who messes up, the father loves.
You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and guest teacher John Dickerson. We'll get back to the message in just a moment, but first, did you know that you can take Living on the Edge with you wherever you go? Download the free Chip Ingram app from your app store, and you'll have today's program, video messages, and daily discipleship tools right in your pocket, ready whenever you are.
Well, now here's John continuing today's message. I want to tell you a story of Peter's spectacular failure. When Jesus was being crucified, Peter denied Jesus three times.
Now it's one thing to have the most spectacular sin of your life. It's even worse if Jesus tells you, "Hey, here's how you're going to sin in the next twelve hours," and you say, "No, no, I'd never do that," and then you do. And Peter is swearing like a sailor. Telling people he has nothing to do with Jesus, and then after Jesus is crucified, Peter is broken. He has so much shame, so much regret.
The disciples, most of them were fishermen, and they go back to fishing. One day they have their nets out and they're not catching anything, and a silhouette on the shore yells out over the water, "Cast your nets on the other side." They do, and immediately the nets fill up with fish. And they remember, oh, the last time that happened, oh my goodness, it's Jesus, and they rush to the shore. And Peter loves Jesus so much he can't get to him fast enough. And then what follows is a painful moment of repentance.
Jesus doesn't say, "Hey, Peter, no big deal, don't worry about it, not a problem that you denied me." He doesn't say that. Jesus has already died for Peter's sins, but Jesus looks Peter in the eyes and he says, "Peter, do you actually love me more than all these people who you wanted their approval?" Peter says, "Lord, you know I do." Jesus says, "Then go feed my sheep. Obey me. If you love me, obey me. Go out and do my work." Then Jesus asks him a second time, "Peter, with tears in his eyes, God, Jesus, you know I love you.
You're you're you're Lord." Then Jesus asks him a third time. In their culture, to do anything three times very symbolic, very thorough, very meaningful. And what it meant was this hint of Peter: "You don't love me as much as you think you love me." And Peter, in tears, says, "Jesus, you know everything. Essentially, you know I'm flawed. You know I'm imperfect.
But you know I do love you." And then what does Jesus say? "Go feed my sheep." What did Peter then do? He went and built the New Testament church. Repentance leads to obedience. God did not bring revival through any of the Pharisees who were self-perfect.
God brought revival through an imperfect disciple who, with his whole heart, was honest about his many failures. And to emphasize that contrast, this moment where Jesus is waiting on the seashore—that entire story I told—Jesus is standing there next to a fire. He's already cooked a fish breakfast. The guys are trying to catch fish, and Jesus has that whole conversation. Jesus doesn't berate Peter for not being perfect, but he essentially goes back to the heart: "Do you love me?" Now that question from God: Do you really love me more than your mistakes?
That is the crux of repentance. What if your greatest sin struggle became your greatest opportunity to experience the relational, unconditional love of God? Because instead of distancing yourself from God, you started to bring it to Him every day, every mistake, and you bring it to Him over and over again. Do you realize every failure is an opportunity for you to choose God again? And what does Satan, the enemy of your soul, wants?
He wants that when you fail, you run away from God. What does God want? That when you fail, you run to Him. And you just be honest about your shortcoming, and you receive His grace, and you live in unbroken relationship with Him. In my life, I've learned this because my imperfections are so many.
I get to make this choice for God over and over again. We run to God with our mistakes because His unconditional love is bigger than our failures. If you don't believe that His unconditional love is bigger than your failures, you won't run to Him. You also run to Him with your failures because the joy of a restored relationship is more powerful than the guilt and shame of the alternative, which is to hide and isolate. And once you're in broken relationship with God, you're going to want to be away from His people because they're going to remind you of what you're missing out on.
Well, what happens after Peter repents for relationship? That repentance was all about relationship. Before Peter became the spokesperson for God's revival in the Book of Acts, I would argue the most significant revival in human history. It started the New Testament Church. Peter's final recorded interaction with Jesus is one of repentance for reconciliation and restored.
Relationship, ongoing repentance when it's part of your daily habit, you're making sure there's nothing between you and God. What does that lead to? These benefits I won't unpack them, but if you'll start to live this way, you're going to have a revived love for God. You're going to have joyful friendship with God. You are going to start to overcome evil in your own life, and be used by God to overcome evil in the world.
You are going to start helping others spiritually, and you are going to experience God's power. I'll close with this story of one of my three kids. I am going to keep the child anonymous. It involves a cell phone and texting, which will not surprise our parents of other teenagers in this room. And the way the story goes is that one day I got home and this child of mine was on their phone texting, and Mel, my wife, was asking them to do chores, and they're just totally ignoring her, completely ignoring.
So then I say, "Hey, are you going to put your phone down and listen to your mom or not?" And this child of mine said, "Would you just shut up?" Yeah, right. That was my response too. I thought, you know, maybe in some families, but not here.
Now, here is the thing: I actually have a very tender relationship with that child of mine. We love each other deeply, and it's very out of character for that kind of disrespect from from that child toward me. And this might sound wimpy, but it really hurt me deeply. Because we're so close emotionally, it hurt me. It wouldn't hurt me if a stranger said it, but it hurt me because we love and trust each other so much.
Now, did I still love that child of mine after those harsh words? Yes. Does your father in heaven still love you after you sin? Yes. However, was my relationship practically in that moment?
Was it strained? Yes. It was strained. It was strained, and it was choked, and thankfully, it didn't end there. About fifteen minutes later, that child of mine found me, and in the most tender way, looked into my eyes and said, "Dad, I'm sorry." I was in the middle of something important.
My brain was just trying to finish the thought. What I was trying to say is, "Just give me a second." But that's no excuse. I love you. And I shouldn't have told you to shut up. In that moment, what happened?
Our relationship practically was restored. My love never faltered, but our relationship was restored. This is the kind of intimacy that God wants with you every day. His love for you doesn't change, but your sin it does strain the relationship. I would have still died to protect that child.
I would have still provided for that child, but the relationship was strained, and it needed to be reconciled. This is what you're going to learn this week in your 40 days devotional: learning how to daily live in ongoing reconciliation with God, so that He's your closest friend. And so that the joy and the love and the power that you've been missing out on surge back into your life. You're listening to Living on the Edge with guest teacher John Dickerson, and the conclusion of his message: No revival without repentance. And to explore more of what John just shared, including a small group video study and more, go to therevivalproject.org/livingontheedge.
John reminded us today that repentance doesn't end in shame; it leads us back to the joy of walking closely with God, growing deeper in Christ. Our 365-day devotional from Chippingham is designed to help you build that kind of daily rhythm, with each reading helping God's truth move from your head to your heart. And this November, it's also available in an elegant leather-bound edition, just in time to give someone a truly life-changing gift. This Christmas. Purchase your copies of Growing Deeper in Christ today at LivingOnTheEdge.org/offers.
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Well, now here's Chip. I want to take a moment as we close today's program and ask you to pause with me because we covered some pretty heavy stuff. I mean, John shared some—I mean—really straight, strong stuff about repentance about. The barriers that come between you and your heavenly Father, and then he talked about what happens when that is, and he gave us that great picture of sort of the clogged pipe that, the spirit of God, the love of God, your experience, that sense of God's presence, it just evaporates little by little by little when your spiritual pipe is clogged. Been there, and I've done that right, and then you get distracted.
You try to pray, and you can't think of anything to say. You feel distant from God, and if that's you right now, and you're just tuned in, I want you to know that God wants to revive, restore, and forgive you—not if or when you do something, but right now, today. Peter blew it big time. He betrayed Jesus, and when Jesus got with him, he didn't say, "Let me point out the five things you did wrong." He asked him a penetrating question: "Peter, do you love me? Do you love me?" See, all sin is relational.
It's you've broken the relationship. Don't focus so much on what you did. Come back to Jesus. Clearly own this is what I did. If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
But that means you got to get real today. I want you to pray an honest prayer. Tell God what you actually did. Ask Him to forgive you. He promised He would.
And then I want you to get out your phone and text the best Christian you know, and say, "You know, I did some things I'm ashamed of. I know God has forgiven me, but I got to process this out loud with someone I trust and someone who's safe." That's the next step for you to repentance that leads to revival. That's all for today. Join us again next time here on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge.
