"Repentance and Recovery"

Hi there, this is Lon Solomon and I'd like to welcome you to our program today. You know it's a tremendous honor that God has given us to be on stations all around the nation bringing the truth of God's word as it is uncompromising and straightforward. And I'm so glad you've tuned in to listen and be part of that.

Thanks again for your support and your generosity that keeps us on the radio. And now, let's get to the Word of God. The Bible says that every time a person here on earth repents, the angels in heaven get together and are excited and rejoice and have a party. The Bible never says the angels in heaven throw a party when you get a big raise or when we receive a promotion or when we win a ball game or when we secure a big contract, but when we repent, the Bible says the angels have a party. And it seems to me if repentance makes God this happy, then it must be pretty important. And if it's this important to God, then we ought to make sure we understand what repentance is so we can do it.

And that's what I want to talk to you about this morning. Let's look here in Luke chapter 3. It says here in the 50th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, and then he lists out many of the other officials. Verse 2, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the Word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah in the desert.

Now this is the man we commonly call John the right. And if you want to get a time frame for when this happened, look down at verse 23. Now Jesus, when he came to be baptized by John, was about 30 years old when he began his public ministry. So what we have done in this chapter is we have jumped 18 years or thereabouts from chapter 2 when Jesus was 12 to chapter 3 when he's now 30 years old and about to enter his official public ministry. And when this is happening, suddenly John the Baptist comes out of the Judean desert as a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, and he comes with a very clear and distinct message that he's carrying. Look at verse 3. And he went into all the country around the Jordan preaching a baptism of repentance.

That's his message. Preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Matthew's gospel said many people were coming to him, confessing their sins and being baptized by him. And this is as it was written in the Old Testament by the prophet Isaiah, the voice of one calling in the desert, prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.

John has a very distinct and clear message. His message was the message of repentance. The word that is translated repentance in English is the Greek word metanoeo.

It literally means to change your mind, to have a change of perspective or change of outlook. And this is not some surfacing thing the Bible is talking about, but rather it's a change of heart that is so deep and so profound that it alters your perspective and your attitude and your outward actions forever. If you or I have repented over some issue in life, we will never think about that issue the same. We will never evaluate that issue the same. We will never react to that issue the same. And we will never respond in light of that issue the same ever. If we repent in terms of our whole life in its direction, then our whole life will never go in the same direction again.

Repentance really means a profound change of heart and mind towards some issue or your whole life. I saw a bumper sticker not too long ago. It said this, going the wrong way, God permits U-turns.

Don't you like that? That's a great bumper sticker. That's one of the few I think I would actually put on my car if I knew where to get one. And I'll probably get hundreds in the mail now, and I promise I'll put yours on my car.

Okay? But I don't know where to get that, but it's a great bumper sticker. And basically repentance is a U-turn in all or part of your life.

It's an about face. Several years ago I was having a physical for a life insurance policy. And so the lady came over my house and she brought all her little equipment and she came in my living room. And she said, now just lay down on the couch.

Don't worry about all the children running around and yelling and screaming and throwing things at each other and getting in the things in the kitchen and the noise you hear with the dishes clinkling around. Don't worry about all of that. Just lay down and relax and I'll take your blood pressure. So she did. Guess what? It was high. Well, I didn't think anything of it. I said, well, it's because of all the noise and the confusion and the stress and so I wrote it off. But a few months later I went to see my family doctor on another issue and I said, look, while I'm in here and paying you anyway, how about putting that old jobby around my arm and seeing what my blood pressure is? And he said, OK. And he pumped that little thing up.

And guess what? It was high and there were no children there. And I was relaxed. So, you know, my dad died of heart attacks and he had high blood pressure for the most part of his life. And so I thought, oh, oh, oh, I don't want that to happen. So I looked the doctor in the face after he told me and I said, well, doc, what medicine do I need to go on?

I mean, maybe I need to go on some medicine to reduce my blood pressure and whatever. And you just need to tell me. And what do I have? And he put his arm right on my shoulder, looked me right in the eyeballs. I'll never forget it. And he said to me, son, I hate it when they call me son. He said, son, you don't need any medicine. He said, what you need, son, is to lose 30 pounds. And he did not smile when he said it.

And I didn't smile either. And so I came home and I said to Brenda, Brenda, I'm going to lose 30 pounds. And she said, right. I said, no, no, no, I mean it. I'm going to change the way I eat. I'm going to change my habits. I'm not going to eat Oreos at 11 o'clock at night. I'm not going to eat all kinds of sweets in between meals. I'm not going to eat one meal at 6 and another meal at 830 in the evening. I'm going to change the way I eat. I'm going to cut down my fat intake. And except for a couple of little donuts in the morning, I'm going to completely change my diet. And you know what? I did. And I lost 30 pounds.

And I've kept it off. And that is a great example of a dietary repentance. That is a U-turn in your diet. But John the Baptist was not calling on people to do dietary repentance unless you really needed. He was really calling on people to do spiritual repentance, meaning that we look to any place in our life where we are out of step with God.

And in that area, we make a U-turn. When an alcoholic decides to quit drinking and join AA, that is an act of spiritual repentance. That is a U-turn, a spiritual U-turn in their life. When a workaholic father decides to put his family first, that is a piece of spiritual repentance and a U-turn in his life. When a dating couple decides to stop having sex until after they're married and they really do it, that is spiritual repentance. When a manipulator decides that they're not going to be a person who manipulates anymore, but they're going to become a person of full disclosure and everything, that is spiritual repentance. When a person involved in an affair decides to call it off and confess what they've done and restore their marriage, that is spiritual repentance. When a guy decides to stop undressing women with his eyes and with his mind everywhere he goes, that is spiritual repentance. When a person decides to stop reading and watching pornography, that is spiritual repentance. These are examples of spiritual U-turns when we sense that we're out of step with God in some area of our life and we decide to turn. Now why did God send John preaching repentance?

What was his purpose? Look, verse 4. It says, the voice of one calling in the desert, prepare the way for the Lord. Now this is the essential point I want you to grasp this morning.

If you miss this, you miss it all. The ministry of John the Baptist got people ready, do you see that? For the ministry of Jesus Christ.

Do you see that? That's why he came. The ministry of John the Baptist was to get people ready for the ministry of Jesus Christ. Now we know what the ministry of John the Baptist was, it was calling people to spiritual repentance. What was the ministry of Jesus Christ that he was getting people ready for? Jesus Christ was a ministry of grace, that is God giving us things we don't deserve. For example, like reconciliation with God and forgiveness of our sin before God and a new beginning with God and adoption by God and eternal life with God and peace with God. These are the things that Jesus Christ came to minister to us and God is thrilled to offer those things to us and more from his loving hand.

He wants us to have all of those things. But remember, the ministry of John the Baptist is what prepares us for the ministry of Jesus. Or in other words, repentance always precedes grace. The order never reverses. You never get grace before repentance.

It never happens that way, it cannot happen that way. The exciting thing is grace always follows repentance. You repent, you will get grace from God. But if you want grace from God, you will never get it, I will never get it unless John the Baptist ministry comes first in our life.

And the Bible presents this as God's unchanging formula. Listen, Luke 24, after Jesus was raised from the dead, he said, now you all go out and here's what you're to preach. You're to preach, and I quote, that repentance and then, listen to the order, and then forgiveness of sin is offered to all nations beginning in Jerusalem.

Did you catch the order, though? Not forgiveness of sins and then repentance, but repentance and then forgiveness of sin. And in Acts chapter three, when Peter was preaching, he said, repent, and then as a result, your sins may be wiped out. Folks, if you want to do business with God, if I want to do business with God, God does business with people on one basis only, on the basis of repentance.

He does not do business with people on the basis of position. Would you notice it says farther down in verse seven. John said to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, and we know from Matthew's gospel that among these crowds in great number were the religious leaders of Israel, the Sadducees, the Pharisees. Look what John said to these religious leaders who had the highest positions in the nation.

He said, you brood of vipers, you bunch of snakes. Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come, produce fruit in your life that's in keeping with repentance? See, God's not interested in people's position.

He doesn't do business with people on the basis of position. God's not interested in people's race or their creed or who their mother was or what nation they were born or what heritage they had. Look at verse eight. It says, and do not say to yourself, we have Abraham as our father. We don't need to repent. We're Abraham's descendants. No, no, that won't work.

That dog won't hunt. We have Abraham as our father. You think so? I tell you that out of these own stones, God can raise up the children for Abraham. That doesn't make a difference to God.

I've met people who said to me, I'm Catholic, I'm Methodist, I'm Jewish, I'm Muslim, I'm Mormon, I'm this, I'm that, I'm the other. I don't have to worry about personal repentance because I'm this, that or the other. Whoa, hold on. I said that dog won't hunt. That's not going to work. God doesn't do business with people on the basis of your religion, your creed, your heritage. No, God doesn't do business with people based upon their religious performance, even their Christian religious performance. I sing in the choir. So what? God's not going to do business with you because you sing in the choir.

I'm an usher. That's great. But that's not why God's going to do business with you. I got Sunday school pins all the way down my chest and onto the floor.

I haven't missed a Sunday in 22 years. Great. That's good. But God's not going to do business with you on that basis. No, God does business with people on one basis only. Repent, repent.

That's what Peter said. So that your sins may be wiped away. Repentance and forgiveness of sin is to be preached to every nation. That's what John the Baptist came preaching. And that's what you and I have got to come to grips with. And it leads me to ask the most important question of the morning, and that is, so what?

Yeah. You know, friends, in terms of answering that question, I don't believe there's a one of us here this morning, whether you're a Christian or you're not, that doesn't need to understand and practice repentance. If you're here and you're not a Christian and you've never given your life to Jesus Christ, then could I say to you that God says in the Bible in the past, Acts 17, God overlooked your ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. And if you want to know the things that Jesus Christ is offering to people, forgiveness of sin, promise of heaven, his personal presence in our life, that only comes when we're willing to repent, not just on one issue or another issue, but over the whole direction of our life and say, man, my whole life going in the wrong direction.

I need to make a U-turn. And even for those of us who have done that, who are Christians, repentance is not the kind of thing you do one time when you become a Christian. That's the last time you ever do it.

No, no. Jesus said Revelation Chapter three, talking to Christians, not to unsaved people, those whom I love, I rebuke and I discipline, therefore be earnest and repent. He's talking to us, people like you and me who know Christ, if you're here and you know the Lord.

Once we know Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior, God sets out to conform us to the image of Christ. And there are a lot of impurities in our lives that stand in the way of his doing that. As God rebukes those impurities, he expects us to repent of them, to make a U-turn in that area and say, God, you are right.

I am wrong. This is costing me the blessing of God. This is something that offends you. This is something you want dealt with. I'm making a U-turn. I maintain repentance ought to be a regular part of every Christian life every day. So I don't care whether you're Christian or you're not. You need to know how to repent.

I need to know how to repent. Let me give you four handles on this to make it practical. Four steps or practical handles to make it work.

Copy these down. They all start with C. And you know, I mentioned earlier Alcoholics Anonymous, the 12 step recovery program of Alcoholics Anonymous. I don't know how many of you are familiar with it or have ever been involved in AA, but the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous is really just a very fine way of putting handles on the issue of repentance.

That's all it is. And I maintain that all of us may not be candidates for AA, but we are all candidates for SA, Sinners Anonymous, because I maintain that there's not a one of us here who doesn't need recovery from the effects of sin in our life. So if you need recovery, whether it's from alcohol or something else, the 12 steps of AA are marvelous.

Marvelous plan as to how to deal with those areas. And I'm going to use some of those steps to talk about the four principles that I'm going to give you. Step number one, we need, here comes the first C, to change our mind. We need to admit that we are going in the wrong direction. Now, for many of us, this is the biggest and the hardest step of all. Step number one in AA is, I admit that I am powerless over alcohol and that my life has become unmanageable.

I am out of control and self-destructing and there's not a thing I can do to stop it myself. That is a hard thing for people to admit. Nobody likes to admit they're wrong. Nobody likes to admit that their behavior in general or in some specific area of life is causing them to self-destruct.

And you know what the issue is? The issue is pride. That's all just straightforward pride. And if you find yourself on the inside listening to me this morning and going, and fighting it with everything you're worth, I can tell you what the problem is. The problem is pride. Your pride. And people will cling to their pride right down to the last gasp.

And you know what? For some of us, that's still not enough. There are some of us who will never admit we're wrong. We are hell-bent on doing it our way and we will give you a steady stream of excuses and justifications and rationalizations why it's not our fault, why we're not to blame. And I hope you're not a person like that.

I hope you got better sense than that. But just in case you don't, may I say to you, for those kind of people, God has nothing more to offer them until they become humble enough to admit it's their problem and they need to repent. Step number one, we've got to be willing to change our mind and admit we're going in the wrong direction. Step number two, we've got to come clean, come clean about our sin.

We have to come clean about our sin. Listen to these steps from AA. Step four, I'm prepared to make a searching and fearless moral inventory of myself. Step eight, I will make a list of all persons I have harmed and I am willing to go make amends to them. Step nine, I will make amends to such people wherever possible except when to do so would injure them or others. Step ten, I will continue to take personal inventory of my life and whenever I am wrong, I will promptly admit it. This is the language of someone who is serious about coming clean with sin. And you know AA recommends that we do this moral inventory in writing.