Alright, you know I was talking to someone not long ago and they said, you know, I've got a question for you, Lon.
It's kind of a theological question. They said, I have a friend who claims to be a Christian, but she lives a really profane, a really unholy lifestyle. And the person speaking to me said, so I don't get it, Lon, how can a person live the way this woman lives and be a true Christian?
And I said in response, well, she's probably not. That is a true Christian. And the person speaking to me said, well, she said, I don't get it. I mean, the woman, she walked down the aisle of a church. She went to the front. She prayed the sinner's prayer. She asked Jesus Christ into her life. How can she not be a true Christian?
Well, that's a real good question, isn't it? And it deserves a theological answer from the Bible. But rather than my answering it, why don't we let Peter answer it? Acts chapter three, verse 19. Peter said to the Jewish people that he was speaking to, he said, repent and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out. The apostle Paul said Acts chapter 26, I preach to all people everywhere that they should repent and turn to God.
The point is that without repentance, the sinner's prayer never reaches the critical mass necessary to produce a true salvation decision, to produce a true new creature in Jesus Christ. And that's what we're going to talk about today. We're going to talk about repentance, because if you remember, we're in a series of messages called People Jesus Met. And today we're going to look at an encounter that the Lord Jesus had with John the Baptist. John the Baptist's message, of course, was all about repentance. And we're going to look at that encounter and we're going to talk about, okay, so what difference does that make for our lives now today?
So here we go. Matthew chapter three, verse one. In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, repent.
Hey, there's our word for the kingdom of heaven is near. This was he of whom Isaiah the prophet spoke. That is when Isaiah said, a voice calling in the desert, prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. And people were coming out to John from Jerusalem and all over Judea, confessing their sins and being baptized by John in the Jordan River. Then John said, I am baptizing you with water for repentance, but one more powerful than I is coming whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him saying, I need to be baptized by you and you're coming to me. But Jesus replied, let it be for now.
It is proper for us to do this so that we may fulfill all righteousness. Then John consented and he baptized Jesus. Now, friends, it's obvious from their encounter here in Matthew chapter three that the Lord Jesus Christ endorsed the ministry and the message of John the Baptist and the ministry and the message of John the Baptist was all about repentance.
And that raises the question, why? I mean, why did God send John the Baptist ahead of the Lord Jesus preaching repentance? Well, the answer is found right in Matthew chapter three, the passage we just read. The Bible says John was sent Matthew three, three to prepare the way for the Lord Jesus. Folks, if we miss this, we miss the whole point, namely that the ministry of John the Baptist is what prepared people for what got people ready for the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. The ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ was a ministry of grace, a ministry of God giving us what we don't deserve, eternal life, forgiveness of sin, heaven. But the Bible is clear that in God's economy, repentance always precedes mercy and grace.
And let me tell you why that is. It's because in God's economy, repentance is the one and only basis upon which God does business with sinners. Listen to Acts chapter three again, Peter said, repent and turn to God. Notice the order here so that then your sins may be wiped out. After his resurrection in Luke 24, the Lord Jesus told us that we're here to go out and preach. Notice the order, repentance, and then forgiveness of sins.
This is God's unchanging, eternal order of things. Repentance precedes grace and mercy. So let's go back to our original question of the day, and that is how can a person walk down a church aisle and pray the sinner's prayer and ask Jesus Christ into their life and not be a true Christian? Well, the answer is, friends, you can pray the sinner's prayer every day, once a day from now till doomsday. But if it is not accompanied by true soul deep Holy Spirit generated repentance, it is not going to result in true born again salvation. And Jesus understood this.
Jesus knew this, which is why he endorsed and why he submitted himself to the ministry and the message of repentance that John the Baptist was preaching. Now, that's as far as we want to go in our passage for today because we want to stop now and we want to ask our most important question. And since we all know what it is, when I say three, nice and loud. All right, here we go now. Ready?
123. Yeah. You say, Lon, so what? Say, I understand what you're saying.
I got that. But you know, Lon, I mean, repentance is what a person does when they come to faith in Christ. It's what a person does when they get saved. I mean, I've already done that. So, you know, for me, repentance is over.
Ooh, not so Kimo Sabe. No, no, no, no. Listen to what Jesus said, Revelation three, 19 to Christians, the followers of Christ. Here's what he said. And I quote, he said, those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline, therefore be earnest. And what's the next word? What is it?
Say it loud. Repent. He didn't say this to nonbelievers friends coming to Christ for the first time. This is written to Christians like you and me, people who are already followers of Jesus Christ. You see, once we come to know Christ as our personal savior, God sets out on a mission in our life. His mission is to conform us to the image of Christ, to make us Christlike in everything we say, everything we do, everything we think.
But there are impurities in our life that get in the way of this, that impede this. And as God points these impurities out to us, and as God rebukes these impurities in our lives, he expects us as followers of Christ. What did revelation three 19 say to repent of them? The point is that repentance is not just for non-Christians. Remember what we said earlier? We said the Bible teaches that repentance is the one and only basis upon which God does business with all sinners, save sinners and lost sinners.
It doesn't make a bit of difference. This is the basis upon which God does business with us all. And so if that's true, then it means every single one of us sitting here today, whether we've trusted Christ or we haven't, we need to know how to repent. If that's the basis on which God interacts and does business with us. So if you were riding on the Metro tomorrow morning and somebody walks up and sat down next to you and said, excuse me, but could you explain to me how to repent?
Now I admit the chances of that are slim, but it could happen. But I mean, could you explain to people in some simple steps what it really means to do true biblical repentance that brings to critical mass a decision for Christ? Well, I'm going to help with that. There are four biblical steps that are involved in true, godly repentance, and we're going to talk about those today and I'm going to illustrate all of them with the greatest example of repentance anywhere in the Bible. In my opinion, the story of the prodigal son.
Now, just in case you don't remember, let me give you just a tiny bit of background. If you remember a very wealthy landowner had two sons and the youngest son came to him and said, dad, I want to cash in my inheritance. Give me all the shekels that it's worth and I'm leaving town, which his dad did. And so he left town and he went away and spent all of his money and sinful living, profligate living. Eventually he ran out of money. He ran out of friends. He ran out of food.
He ended up in a pig pen fighting with the pigs for the slop that the farmer was throwing into them. Now this was a devout Jewish young man. Devout Jewish people in pigs do not go together.
Devout Jewish people in red, hot and blue do not go together. You understand what I'm saying to you? This was like as low as you could go. This was the bottom of the barrel for this young man. And when he's here, he repents and we're going to watch all four of the steps that are involved in true biblical repentance.
We're going to watch him demonstrate all four of them. So here we go. We want to biblically repent.
The number one, step number one is that we have to admit that we're going in the wrong direction. The prodigal son put it this way. Luke 15, 17.
He said, my father's lowest servants have plenty to eat and I'm here with these stupid pigs starving to death. The prodigal son made a brutally honest assessment of how his life was going and he was forced to admit that he had made a complete mess of his life and given the chance, he wasn't going to do any better if he tried again the next time. Now for most of us, this step is the hardest single step in the process of repentance because nobody likes to admit they're wrong. Nobody, my friends, likes to admit that their current lifestyle is deeply flawed and that their behavior is self-destructive. And the issue here is pride, pure and simple, just pride. And as sinners, we will cling to our pride right down to the very last gasp.
That's the way we're wired. We will cling to our pride right into the pig pen, folks, just like the prodigal son did. You know, I don't know who you would answer if I were to ask you who you thought the greatest baseball player of all time was. I'm sure there would be some debate. But if we go strictly by the price of baseball cards, it would have to be in the modern era, Mickey Mantle, number seven for the New York Yankees. Mickey Mantle wrote an article in Sports Illustrated several years ago entitled My Life as an Alcoholic. And in this article, Mickey Mantle talks about the tough life that he lived drinking and the toll that it took on his life until eventually he reached the point where he was afraid to even walk out of his room.
He would just hole up in his room like a hermit. And here's what Mickey Mantle said, and I quote, he said, after 42 years of drinking, I was physically and emotionally worn out. I had hit rock bottom. I knew I couldn't go on like this.
I knew I needed a change, end of quote. And, you know, it wasn't long after that, the Yankees, a great second baseman, Bobby Richardson, actually prayed and led Mickey Mantle to faith in Jesus Christ. But you see, this is where all repentance begins with this kind of humble, contrite, broken hearted admission that our behavior is self-destructive and it is wrong and that we need a U-turn in our life. Step number two, want to repent? Step number two, then we must come clean about our sin. Here's what the prodigal son said. He said, I will get up and go back to my father and I will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
Would you notice here? There are no alibis, no excuses, no blame shifting, nothing but a straightforward admission of guilt. The prodigal son didn't say, I'm going to go back to my dad and say, you know, it was society's fault. It was my parents' fault. It was the economy's fault. It was my friend's fault. It was the devil's fault.
No, no, no. He said, I'm going to go back and say to my dad, this is my fault. It's on me. And friends, until we are willing to say this and mean it, we are not yet candidates for true biblical repentance. Step number three, if we want to repent third, then we must accept the consequences of our actions and if possible, make amends for what we've done. The prodigal son said this, he said, I'm going to say to my father, I am no longer worthy to be called your son. I forfeited that right with my behavior. My actions have cost me that and I understand it's a consequence of my sinful behavior and I accept that father. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.
Please, in your mercy, I'm begging you, just make me like one of the hired hands and let me live in the barn. Here's a kid who was prepared to accept the full unblunted consequences of his actions. And you see, this is true repentance. True repentance demands more than just private confession to God of what we've done wrong. Now, it does involve that, but it also demands the accepting of the full consequences of our actions publicly in front of people.
And if possible, it demands our going back and making things right with the people that we've hurt and damaged by our behavior, if that can be done. You know, I love what Zacchaeus did. He did this exact same thing. You remember Zacchaeus in the Bible? You guys remember Zacchaeus, don't you? Zacchaeus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he, you remember him? He climbed up in the sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see. You remember Zacchaeus, yeah?
All right. Well, the Lord came to his house and had dinner and Zacchaeus repented and Zacchaeus gave his life to Christ. And here's the first thing he said. Now, Zacchaeus was a tax collector. He made his living by collecting taxes for the Roman government and then also taking whatever he wanted on top of that from people and keeping it for himself. He was backed up by the Roman army. Nobody could stop him.
People were powerless against him. This is why people hated the tax collectors in Jesus's day. And here's what he said. He said, Lord, whatever I have cheated people out of, I will pay them back four times the amount. And you know what the Lord Jesus said, next verse, today, Jesus said, true salvation has come to this house.
Why did Jesus say that? Because friends, if there's true godly repentance happening on the inside, people are going to see it on the outside. You cannot hide true godly repentance.
It is going to show itself. This is why the apostle Paul said, Acts 26, 20, I preached, he said, that people should repent and turn to God, watch, and prove their repentance by their deeds. Hey, if true godly repentance is happening, there will be outward deeds to prove it's really taking place inside of our heart. And you know, to repent, some of us here may have to file amended 1040s. To some of us here to repent, we might have to return stolen property.
Or if we can't return it, go back and confess we took it and pay for it. To repent, some of us here may have to go to someone that we've hurt and humbly ask them to please forgive us and accept there were consequences for what we've done. Some of us here to repent may have to admit to some crime that we committed and accept the legal penalty for that. Some of us here to repent, we may have to go tell our spouse that we've had an affair. Folks, if true repentance is happening on the inside, it will be seen on the outside. Finally, step number four, want to repent?
Then number four, we must make a clean break from our sin and our sinful behavior. Hey, the prodigal son, the Bible says, so he got up, that is out of the pig pen and the place he'd been living where he'd spent all his money in sinful behavior. And he went back to his father. Here was a kid who left the far country of sin and went home to God. He did a complete U-turn. He made a complete break with the behavior that had gotten him in the mess that he was in. And friends, I don't care how you slice it, whether it's first time salvation repentance or whether it's everyday Christian life repentance, unless there is this kind of deliberate decision on our part to make a break with our sinful behavior, the repentance that we're trying to evidence in our life will never reach critical mass.
It can't. This is why Proverbs 28, 13 says, he who covers his sin will not prosper, but he who confesses it will find mercy. You say, wait a minute, Lon, you left out a couple of words.
I know here are the words I left out, but they're very important. But he who confesses and forsakes it will find mercy. You know, when I came to Christ at the age of 22 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 38 years ago, I'm 60, I'll save you the trouble. The man who led me to Christ, Bob Eckhart, I'll never forget at the very, very inception of my Christian life, he said to me, you know what, Lon, you need to get out of this town. He said, you need to make a clean break from all your fraternity brothers and all your drug buddies and all your drinking pals and all your old girlfriends and all of that sinful behavior. And you need to get out of this town and never come back if you really want to amount to much for Jesus Christ. And if you don't, he said, if you're not willing to make that break, he said, I don't know for sure that you've repented. And I can tell you for sure your Christian life's never going to amount to much anything.
You know what I did? Because God had been so gracious to me, so as he granted me true repentance in my heart, I packed up everything I had in a knapsack on my back and took my dog Noah and we set off hitchhiking around the country and never went back to Chapel Hill. Bob Eckhart was so right. And it's because we don't emphasize this in our presentation of repentance. We don't stress this. We give people the first three steps, but we don't tell them this and we don't demand this from them.
What we end up creating is three step repenters and they just spin the wheel and go round and round and round on the first three steps rotating through. But they never punch the ball over the goal line. They never punch it over the goal line of coming up with a totally transformed life for Christ.
Why? Because there are four steps to repentance and the fourth one is got to be there or the thing doesn't take. You see, godly repentance hits critical mass when an alcoholic decides to stop drinking and start going to AA. Godly repentance hits critical mass when a workaholic father decides to spend less hours at the office and come home and spend time with his wife and his children. Godly repentance hits critical mass when a dating couple decides to stop having sex before marriage and where if one of them is not willing to stop, the other one says, well, then we're done because I'm establishing a new life for God. We're not doing this anymore. Godly repentance hits critical mass when a manipulator decides that he or she is going to be a person of full disclosure for the rest of their life or when a person with a pornography problem decides that they are going to become totally accountable to some friends.
They're going to cancel HBO and Cinemax and Showtime and Pay-Per-View and they're going to put controls on their computer that they can be held accountable for where they go and what they see. Godly repentance hits critical mass when a person having an affair decides to call it off for good and devotes themselves to going back and rebuilding their family and their marriage. It happens when a man decides to stop undressing women with his eyes or where a woman decides that she's going to recapture her integrity and change the way she dresses and change the way she carries herself and she's going to be a Godly woman.
And true repentance happens. It hits critical mass when a person with friends who are luring them into all the wrong places to do all the wrong things puts their foot down and says, you know what? I don't need these friends anymore.
I'm through with these friends. I'm going out and get some new friends that will lead me in the right direction. Folks, when we do all four steps of repentance, that's when full, complete, biblical repentance happens that changes our life. But it's got to be all four steps.
So let's summarize. Whether it's first time salvation repentance or whether it's ongoing Christian repentance, the same four steps have to be there. Number one, we have to admit we're going in the wrong direction and that we need a U-turn. Number two, we have to come clean about our sin. No alibis, no excuses.
It's on me. Number three, we have to accept the consequences of our actions. And let me just say, sometimes God softens those consequences in his mercy. And that's wonderful. But folks, we don't come to God negotiating a plea bargain.
No, no. We come to God and say, I'm guilty. And then we leave it up to God, whether he's going to soften or whether he isn't going to soften, but whether he softens or not, we are there to say, whatever you do, God, I deserve it. And I'm here to take my medicine because I want to be right with you and I want to be right with people.
And I want to be healthy again. And finally, true repentance involves making a clean break from the sinful behavior that wrecked our life in the first place. You say, but Lon, I understand what you're saying, but you know what? Nobody can do this. I mean, you can't do this in your own energy and in your own power. I mean, only with the supernatural power and enablement of the Holy Spirit.
Can anybody ever do this? Oh, you are so right. Absolutely. We need the power of God. God has to empower us to be able to repent biblically.
That's true. But let me give you the great news of the Bible. James four six says, God is opposed to the proud, but he gives grace.
He gives assistance. He gives empowerment and enablement to the humble. And you know what? There is no more humbling act in the universe than repentance. And that means when we repent, we, because God loves to give grace to the humble friends, we evoke from God his highest measure of grace and assistance and help to put it another way. If you, my friend, want to repent, God will see to it.
You get everything you need in order to do it. You want to repent. God will see to it.
You get the power to do it, folks, if you mean business. And this is God's promise to people who repent. Ezekiel thirty six. God says you want to repent. Let me tell you what I'll do. I will give you a new heart and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and I will give you a heart of flesh.
Watch. And I will put my spirit in you and I will empower you to follow my laws. Now, you know, many of us here as followers of Christ today, I would bet need to repent of specific things in our life. Maybe God's put his finger on one of them and said, hey, you need to repent in this area of your life. Well, if that's true, I want to urge you to do it.
And if you don't think you can do it without help, I want to urge you to call a friend and get a friend to help you. Or if you need pastoral assistance, you call us and one of our pastors will be happy to see you. But folks, God doesn't play around with this. If you really want the power and the blessing and the anointing of God on your life. And if I want it on my life as a follower of Christ, then when God points out an area where we need to repent, my dear Christian friend, we need to repent.
It's just that simple. But I'm also very concerned here today about people who've never repented at all for salvation. And I don't want to give you a chance to leave here today. I would be remiss if I did without giving you the chance to repent and come to Christ for the very first time. So let's bow our heads together, shall we? And with our heads bowed and our eyes closed and nobody looking around, here's what we're going to do. If you want to repent and come to Christ for salvation, for eternal life today, then we're going to pray a prayer of repentance. I'm going to pray it one little phrase at a time out loud. And I want you to pray it silently right after me, one phrase at a time. And let's punch the ball across the goal line here. And let's get you once and for all born again and in the kingdom of God with true biblical repentance.
So here we go. If you mean business, you pray this prayer after me. Lord Jesus, I come to you today because I want to repent. I admit to you today openly and without excuse that my life is going in the wrong direction and that it's my fault.
I am totally responsible. But I come to you today, Lord, willing to accept the consequences for what I've done, crying out for your mercy. And as you help me, I will go back and make things right with everyone I hurt. And also, Lord, as you help me, I will make a clean break from the sinful behavior that wrecked my life in the first place. I turn to you in humility today, Lord, and I invite you into my life to be my personal Lord and Savior. Please forgive my sins and grant me eternal life as you promised.
And Lord, begin to transform me into a brand new person in Jesus Christ. Lord, I repent from my heart today. Please accept my repentance and honor it as you promised. In Jesus' name I pray. And Father, I want to pray for the folks who prayed that prayer that you would confirm in their heart and life right now that a great transaction has taken place in the heavenly places that they have passed, as the Bible says, from death into eternal life, never to go back. And Father, for the folks who meant business, I pray that you would give them the power they need to carry out full, true biblical repentance in their life. And for those of us who are followers of Christ, we need to repent about individual things in our life. Lord, give us the power we need to do true godly repentance every day. Make us good repenters, Lord, because we were here and we studied the Word of God and it changed our life. We ask these things in Jesus' name. And God's people said, Amen.
