Becoming Experts in Repentance

Take a look at 1 Corinthians 11. We find directly what Paul instructed the church in Corinth regarding the taking of the Passover. Now, the Passover, as we observe it, is an annual celebration or it's a memorial, really, and that is, I think, the way that we should refer to it because it is an annual thing. It's an annual observance and we know when it comes around it's certainly at the very beginning of the Holy Days throughout the year.

It's the very first one that we come to. And yet, how we prepare for that, how we are getting ready, is very specific. Here in 1 Corinthians 11, it tells us how to be ready in verse 28. In verse 28 of 1 Corinthians 11, it says, examine yourself. Examine yourself and only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup. And so before we come to the Passover service, and we've got plenty of time here yet, we're told, and what we are told as members of God's family, as members of God's church, we're told that each of us individually have a responsibility to not look at everybody else, but to look at ourselves, examine ourselves.

And then it says, come to the Passover and eat the bread and drink the cup. For all who eat and drink without discerning the Lord's body, eat and drink damnation or judgment to themselves. So it is obviously is a serious affair or a sobering affair, and yet it's clearly something we're told how to prepare.

We're told what to do. And the better we do that, and of course we year after year after year follow a similar observance or ceremony, the more we should grow, the more we should grow in our closeness to God and be reminded of our commitment before God. The conviction that God has caused in our hearts and the commitment that we made at baptism and that we desire to extend throughout the remainder of our life.

It goes on in verse 30, for this reason many of you are weak and ill and some have died, but it says in verse 31, if we judge ourselves, and so that ties back to verse 28 where it says, examine yourselves or judge yourselves, then we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. See, what that actually shows us is that if we are studying the Word of God and if we are asking God to help us judge ourselves, help us examine ourselves, well then we are in a sense preparing.

We're preparing for the Passover. We are seeing our need to repent and we're seeing our need for God. We're seeing how much we need Jesus Christ as a part of our lives. And so it talks about the judging of the Lord and of course in Hebrews, which we've been going through here for several weeks, Hebrews 12 verse 5, it tells us to despise not the chastening of the Lord.

You know, be willing, be glad to read the Word of God and to apply it to yourself and then to respond to that. It said that's really done for your good. That's done by God for your good and yet we obviously are active participants in that process. We're not bystanders, it's not being done to us. It's something that we participate in. It's something that we are engaged in.

I'd like for us to look in Acts 17 because this is, in a sense, a key to what we want to have in mind as we examine ourselves. In Acts 17 we see Paul as he went to Athens and as he walked about and as he saw the idols that were all over. You know, he saw one that was stated to be to the unknown God and so he had to comment about that because obviously they didn't know. They didn't know, you know, that this is not representative of the true God.

But here in Acts 17, starting in verse 29, it says, since we are God's offspring, which he had been talking to them about and saying that they even had poets that mentioned that, but since we are God's offspring, in verse 29, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold or silver or stone or an image formed by the arts or imaginations of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent.

He commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he is appointed and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. See, Paul makes a statement in this somewhat foreign setting, at least it was in a, you know, an open setting to a lot of people who didn't believe whatever he was teaching, and yet he says God calls everyone to repent.

And if we go on a few pages here in chapter 26, you also find Paul before King Agrippa. Chapter 26 of Acts, before King Agrippa and Festus, he's called to answer for the conviction that he has in the work that he has been called to do. And it says in Acts 26, starting in verse 19, he said, after that King Agrippa, this is Paul's statement to them in this court, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but I declared first of those in Damascus and then in Jerusalem and throughout the countryside of Judea and to the Gentiles, he says, when God started working with me, and when I went through what I went through, you know, I started doing the job everywhere that God sent me to do it.

And so he says, I did that job throughout the countryside of Judea and to the Gentiles that they should repent, that they should repent and turn to God and do deeds consistent with repentance.

And of course, he says, for this reason, the Jews have seized me in the temple and are trying to kill me, but to this day I have had help from God. See, I think it's important to focus on some of the words that Paul is using here because he knew God was helping him. He knew God was with him. He knew the Holy Spirit was guiding him. And yet, as he said, you know, the message that I preached was that people should repent. They should repent and they should turn to God and they should do deeds that are consistent with repentance. And so that's what I want to focus on today as we think about the examination that God wants us individually to have as we look toward the Passover. See, what God tells us, and actually a key condition that God places on our conversion, on our being a member of God's family, is that we obey everything? Well, yes, we're going to try to obey to the best of our ability as we turn from sin. But even before that, He tells us to repent, to repent, to really understand repentance. And actually, I would say, I know, you know, that certainly different ones of you would be considered to be experts in any number of fields. I think Mr. Beyer is an expert in the carpenter field, or at least I think that's what he worked in anyway, and others of you, I'm sure, would be considered to be experts in your field. Mr. Jibosa, expert architect.

Different fields that we all should probably thrive in if we work in those fields. We should feel like we become at least competent and we would hope expert in our ability. I'm going to say that all of us as Christians should be experts in repentance. Each of us, as we pursue our Christian life, should be using that key component of our conversion to our benefit. That we are a repentant individual. That we appreciate the benefits that God provides us in giving us an understanding of repentance. As we are thinking about examining ourselves and thinking about being an expert in repentance, that shouldn't be a foreign thing to us. To Christians, repentance should be a very foundational thing. It should be a very familiar, not only term, but it should be a familiar response that we have as we see ourselves, as we see our need. See, in Luke 15, verse 17, the parable that Jesus spoke about the Son who left and finally figured out, I'm in really bad shape, and I don't even have anything to eat, and here I'm out here slapping the hogs. I better just go back and ask for help. I better go back and ask for my Father's help. What it says in chapter 15 of Luke in verse 17, it says, when He came to Himself, when He saw Himself, when He saw His sins, when He saw His need to repent. Now, there are many other things in that, many other lessons in that parable that I'm not wanting to focus on, but the statement, when He came to Himself, is a significant statement because it was an awareness that up to that point He apparently didn't have, or He'd been missing, or overlooking. Maybe He didn't want to see. Maybe He didn't even want to see. He says, I just want to do. I don't want. But then He was brought to a point where He said, I see myself for what I am. I see myself for what I've done. I need to repent. I need to return to my Father. And I want to point out to you, I think we all, as we prepare for the Passover, as we examine and judge ourselves, we all should ask God to help us in our judging of ourselves, in examining our faith.

Because clearly He knows. He knows the quality of your faith. I don't. He knows what I'm doing.

But He clearly knows what each one of us do. He knows not only our actions, He knows our thoughts, He knows our heart. Let's take a look at John 21. We went over this in Bible study the other night.

And I'm always grateful to be able to do that over in Topeka.

But in John 21, you have a chapter at the end of the book of John that's, that in a sense seems like it's added on to the end. It kind of comes to the conclusion at the end of chapter 20. But John adds a chapter that has three incidents in it. One of them is, you know, Jesus coming to the disciples. Of course, this is after He was resurrected. Coming to the disciples and showing them that He knows more about fishing than they know altogether. They didn't know where to fish or they thought they did. He knew exactly where. And so He interacted with His disciples in that way and it was to encourage them. It was to lift them up. It was to empower them to help them know that our lives are never going to be the same. We have been drawn into a connection with the Son of God. We have been brought into a conviction and belief that will transform our lives.

We also see in the last few sections or verses of this John 21 that the very last section is about John and how it is he was going to last a long time. He was going to live for quite some time. He was going to continue to care for Mary, Jesus' mother. He was going to continue to preach until all the other disciples are dead and ultimately he is in somewhat exiled and ends up writing the revelation of Jesus Christ. That is, as we know, the last part of the book of the New Testament of the books of the Bible. Yet you also see a section here in Luke 21, starting in verse 15, where Jesus is talking to Peter. He is walking along the seashore with Peter along the Sea of Galilee. He is talking to him. He is, I would say, probably discussing a lot of things. Yet he asks Peter, Peter, do you love me? Of course, he tells him, oh yeah, sure, sure I do. So he gave him a directive of, I want you to learn to tend my sheep.

I want you to feed my lambs, I guess is the first statement he makes.

He comes back and asks him again, do you really love me? Of course, Peter said, well, yeah, you know I love you. And Jesus said, well, tend my sheep. He was giving Peter some guidance as far as what it was. He would be able to contribute to serving others as a servant to the flock of God, that he'd be able to do that. But the latter part of this, of course, Jesus asked him again.

Let's see if we pick it up in verse in verse 16.

Verse 17, he said to him the third time, Simon, do you love me? And Peter felt hurt.

He felt hurt because when he said to him again, do you love me? And he said to him, and this is what I wanted to get to in verse 17. What Peter said to him was, Lord, you know everything.

You know everything, and you know that I love you. And so Jesus said, well, feed my sheep. I want you to tend the flock of God. I want you to teach others to tend the flock of God.

I want you to be a servant in that way, a servant as I am to you and to the others.

But see what I'm focusing on in verse 17 is, Lord, you know everything.

See, what Peter was saying was, you know my thoughts. You know my words. You know my heart.

You know everything. So you surely know that I love you.

See, if Jesus knows that about Peter and he knows that about each of us, why wouldn't we be asking him to help us examine, help us judge ourselves, help us see ourselves like the prodigal son. He came to himself. He saw himself in a completely different light. And then he embraced repentance. And see, that's what we want to do on an ongoing basis. We want to embrace repentance. But I think we should ask God to help us examine, help us judge ourselves because I know that he knows more about it than I do. He knows more about I know about myself. And he's able to help us. Even as Peter pointed out, you know everything. You know, obviously you're here. Return from the dead. You are able to transcend physical existence. You are the great God. So I would hope that we would ask that. I'd like to look at two or three sections of Scripture here that deal with the topic of repentance. And I hope that we can all think about how we can become experts in repentance. Because I think we're going to find that a true Christian is an expert in repentance. True Christian is not someone who never sins because, you know, none of us fit that category. You know, we are at times flawed, and we sin, and we think or say or do the wrong thing, even though we're aware of the law.

But what we're really told is that we need to be repentant. We need to know the value of repentance.

We need to be an expert in repentance.

I'd like for us to look at Romans, or excuse me, Revelation, Revelation 2 and 3, which again you are familiar with as...

See, that's a problem trying to preach to the Church of God. You're already aware of what Revelation 2 and 3 say. You're already aware that these are messages to the churches.

And yet I go ahead and do it because I tend to need to be reminded, and I think all of us need to be reminded, of what the message is. There's a message in Revelation 2 and 3 that is pretty consistent. It actually goes through seven different churches that were on a male root, that were in the lower part, southern part of Turkey, and it goes through Ephesus and Smyrna and Pergamos and Thyatira and Sardis and Philadelphia and Laodicea. That was a root. And yet when you see, let's see in verse 7 of chapter 2, let anyone who has an ear to hear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. And so there's more that's applicable to us. You know, we can learn something out of every one of these that could apply to us, and that could be beneficial. But I'd like for you to think about the content of what it was that Jesus revealed to John to write down messages to these churches that we can benefit from all of them today. What you find is that he usually points out something positive, something they are doing well. And we need to focus on that. We do well in a number of areas. As far as the United Church of God, we are preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. We have a telecast, we have a publication, we have congregations who try to come together to be united, to be what we say we are, to say, to be what God asks us to be and to do what he has asked us to do. And yet, do we have any flaws? Well, yeah, we do. And so what we find the messages, you find the messages pointing out something good and then pointing out something bad, something that you need to work on.

But what's in the middle? Well, what's in the middle is recorded in verse 5 here. It says, regarding Ephesus, remember, from where you have fallen, repent.

Repent and do the works that you did at first. See, here he's going to give a call to repentance.

He's going to give a call. And you find this throughout the remainder of these chapters here.

Let's drop down to chapter 2, verse 16. Chapter 2, verse 16, it says, Repent then. If not, I will come to you soon and make war against them with the sword of my mouth.

Again, this is a different church, a different setting, different positives, different negatives. But in the middle, it's a call to repentance. Drop down to verse 21 to Thyatira.

He says, I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her fornication. Here, he was dealing with a little different setting, but he also adds the same concept. Well, I'd like her to repent. I want her to repent, but she refuses.

We go down to chapter 3, verse 3, it says, Remember then what you have received and heard, obey it, and repent. To Philadelphia, it says in verse 11, I'm coming soon. Hold fast to what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. See, that's not a direct call to repentance, but it tells us to hang on. In that particular message, he tells us, don't allow anyone to take you away from Jesus Christ, to take you away from the eternal crown of righteousness that is laid up for you. You need to pursue that with your might. And then finally, to Laodicea in verse 19, he says, I reprove and I discipline those whom I love, be earnest, therefore, and repent. Now, we've not read through all the good and bad things about each one, but I just point out a chief aspect of being a part of the Church of God, down through the ages and today, is being an expert in repentance. Let's look at Proverbs chapter 6.

Proverbs chapter 6 has a listing here in two or three verses of things that the Lord hates. It looks like something we ought to become familiar with. And see what it is and examine ourselves to see if we are failing in any of those areas.

Because here, in Proverbs 6, starting in verse 16, it says, these are six things that the Lord hates. Actually, the seventh one is an abomination to Him. And so, if we're going to be an expert in repentance, then we ought to examine, well, do I have the same outlook on these things that God has?

He says in verse 17, He begins to list these things. He said, haughty eyes or a proud look. Okay, why is that wrong? What's wrong with that? Is that possible that that could creep up on us?

Unbeknownst? Well, it's possible. There's actually a very wily, roaring lion who would love to project that attitude of arrogance and pride, haughtiness. Now, we're not immune to that. We've got to be on guard against that, and we need to repent of that as we see that in ourselves. He goes on secondly, a lying tongue. Actually, since He mentions this twice, it probably is something that we have to really focus on. Go on beyond that, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift to run to evil.

You know, we could say, well, maybe that describes some of the people in the world that I know, you know, certainly seems to describe a lot of people when they're, you know, not paying any attention to what God is doing. And, you know, that may be a description of a lot of workplaces and a lot of college campuses. You know, that could easily be a description, but see, these are things that the Lord hates and that we should hate and that we should certainly be getting rid of. He goes on beyond that, a lying witness who testifies falsely.

Again, a second time that he deals with lying and not being truthful, because he not being truthful has nothing to do with God, because God is truth. God always is going to be truthful. But then he clears this up in the very last part of verse 19. He concludes with the seventh one saying, another thing that the Lord hates, actually that's an abomination to him, is one who sows discord among the brethren, one who causes division, one who encourages that. And, of course, you know, we all, you know, can read numerous other places in the Bible where division and conflict is to be solved with God's help. And yet, you know, here's a very clear intonation that, you know, God hates that, and he wants us to hate that. He wants us to see any aspect of that that could be in our heart and repent. That's what he tells us to do. Let's go to Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8, or let me change that to Romans 2 instead of Romans 8.

Again, the book of Romans is written to the church there, but it appears to also have information that would cover generally the society that the people lived in there, because they were at the head of the Roman Empire. There was a great deal of debauchery that was commonplace there in that ruling empire. Christians were often persecuted. They were often maligned. They sometimes were killed for the beliefs that they had. And yet, in the chapter right before this, in chapter 1, you see Paul taking people to task, telling them all the things that they're doing that are wrong, clearly indicting many evil, sinful practices. And then he starts in chapter 2, verse 1, Therefore, ye have no excuse, whoever you are, when you condemn or judge others, for in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things. He was telling the church that, well, you can see clearly that others are sinners, but you need to be on guard against that yourself, and you need to be willing to be repentant. He says in verse 2, You know, we know that God's judgment on those who do such things is in accordance with truth. But do you imagine whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourselves, how are you going to escape the judgment of God?

Or, in verse 4, do you despise the riches of His kindness and the forbearance and patience that He has toward you? Do you not realize, in verse 4, that God's kindness, God's goodness, is meant to lead you to repentance? So, now, here He points out a statement that, you know, we want to keep in mind as we are thinking about being an expert in repentance. See, it's really a matter of being able to make the right comparisons. When I compare myself with other people, I might think, well, I'm doing okay. You compare yourself with many people you see in your neighborhood or up and down the world, you think, I'm doing great. I know what God's wanting me to do, and I'm doing it.

But, see, whenever we compare ourselves to God and we compare ourselves to the goodness of God, we fall quite short. We want that goodness. We seek that goodness. We wish to have the goodness that comes through the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit, one of which is goodness. But, see, it says, the goodness or kindness of God is meant to lead you to repentance. And in verse 5, by your heart and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. He says, if you maintain a judgmental attitude toward others, a condemning attitude toward others, and don't realize, well, I could fall into the same trap. It could be a possible problem for me, too. That's what it tells us to have a soft heart. Don't have a hard heart. Don't have a hard and impenitent heart. But have a soft heart, as we've talked about regarding the New Covenant and about the type of soft heart that God wants us to have. Actually, what we see here is that God's goodness should produce godly sorrow that would lead to repentance, which really is a change of mind. And it is a turning from sin, turning to God. Now, I've heard different descriptions of repentance in the past and over the years. I've heard others tell me what they thought repentance was. I remember one lady, who was very, very nice lady, very conscientious in her beliefs. And she told me, yeah, I know what repentance means. You know, that means you need to turn around and go the other way. I'm sure we've all probably heard that as well. What it really means, though, is that we turn from sin and turn to God. That's the transition that we want to be able to make. And actually, you know, ultimately repentance involves, as we think about the goodness of God and about how we fall short of the glory of God, because that's what he tells us in Romans 3, verse 23, that we all fall short of the glory of God. But as we examine ourselves, as we judge ourselves, that leads us to repentance, to changing our mind and actually evaluating things in a completely different way.

You know, one of the men up in Fulton this morning told me that he had heard, you know, that repentance is actually a change in the viewpoint or the world view that someone has.

If you took, say, a gold coin, which, you know, probably had a good amount of value, you know, someone would carnally look at that and say, I'd like to have that gold coin. I'd like, I want to get that. I want to have that. And yet, if someone becomes repentant and they have a different view of it, they might look at the same good gold coin and say, well, I'd like to see what good that value, that money could do in service to others. So that's a different view, a different look at the same thing. And it will, as we will tie this together into what we can read a little lower here in 2 Corinthians, it does very much help us be able to have a right perspective on the type of repentance that God will grant us if we ask Him to help us in doing so.

Let's go on to 2 Corinthians chapter 7 because here is a section that I'm sure you would, again, be familiar with, but one that I want to use to highlight the repentance that we all want to be experts in, because this is really a good example. It's a great example. And we find that the Apostle Paul had written the first book to the Corinthians, and as you read through that book, there are 16 chapters. Almost every one of them have something corrective in it. He was pretty stern. He was pretty corrective in what he had to tell the Corinthian church in that first book, and it appears he wasn't exactly sure what they did with that information. He didn't exactly know. He wasn't there all the time. He was gone, and then he was learning, as he writes here in the second book of Corinthians, he was learning about what happened. He was learning about how the church responded. He was learning about how those Christians who were to become experts in repentance, what they did.

And this is recorded here for us in chapter 7, starting in verse 5. And what we're going to find is repentance is not just being sorry, because in a sense, and maybe pretty much in the world, to repent, that's almost a foreign sounding word, or a word that is somewhat foreign to most people, or they don't really think of it in a very serious way. They think of it, oh, you know, I'm sorry, or in my bad, you know, almost make light of the whole idea of repentance.

And yet we find that repentance is not just being sorry, but it is an outcome of being sorry. It's an outcome of the sorrow that we have when we see ourselves in the light of God's word, and in the light of God looking at us and comparing ourselves with God, you know, we certainly, you know, fall short. So to start in verse 5, it says, even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted in every way, disputes without fears within.

See, as they came into Macedonia, which is where Corinth was, they, you know, they were conflicted. They had all kind of people creating havoc for them. You know, they weren't exactly sure how they would be accepted, you know, certain level of fear, some apprehension about what was going to happen.

But it says in verse 6, God who consoles the downcast.

Another lesson for us, perhaps, today. God who consoles the downcast, consoled us by the arrival of Titus, and not only by his coming. They were glad to see Titus. They were, you know, overjoyed to see him and to a new him. He was able to be a companion of theirs, and so he was able to encourage them in that way. But he says, God who consoles the downcast, consoled us by the arrival of Titus, and not only by his coming, but also by the consolation with which he consoled about you. Or he was consoled about you as he told us of your longing.

He told us of your mourning and your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more. See, Paul was thrilled to hear that the Church had taken the direction, the guidance, the correction that he had given in the first letter. He was thrilled to hear that they were mourning that. They saw where they were wrong. They saw what he meant whenever he gave them guidance about turning from sin and not tolerating some things that you are, and actually working together. Even the section in 1 Corinthians 11 that highlights the observance of the Passover service points out that they were arguing, they were struggling, they were divided.

That's what it says in the verses right before that. It says, that's wrong. You shouldn't be that way. You should be doing everything you can to work together in peace and in harmony.

But here he was thrilled to hear the longing, the mourning, the zeal for me. For even in verse 8, if I made you sorry with my letter, I don't regret it.

And though I did regret it, for I see that I grieved you with that letter, but only briefly.

See, initially Paul wondered why maybe I did send a too strong a letter. Maybe I did give too much, and yet he said, I thought about it, and I was concerned about that, but I'm thrilled to see that you were grieved, and then you turned and changed, and you were repentant. For he says, I rejoice now in verse 9, not because you were grieved, but because your grief, your sorrow led to repentance. He says, I'm thrilled because this is a key to eternal life.

If you're going to be a part of the family of God, you're going to be an expert in repentance. You're going to understand it. You're going to comprehend it. You're going to feel the effect of it. You are going to be motivated by it, and you are going to live your life in a different way. So I rejoice not because you were grieved, but because your sorrow led to repentance for you. You felt a godly sorrow so that you were not harmed in any way by us. See, godly sorrow is not harmful. It's good for us. It is beneficial to us. For, in verse 10, godly sorrow produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret. See, brethren, that's why God wants us to be experts in repentance, to have godly sorrow that would lead us seeing ourselves, examining ourselves, judging ourselves. I mean, these are all different words that we've read and that all are applicable to our preparation to take of the bread and take of the cup at a service that Jesus says you need to take. You need it. You need me, and you need to feed on the bread of life. You need that, as he explains even much greater detail in John chapter 6. But here he says that that godly sorrow produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly sorrow only brings death.

See, the sorrow of the world, a sorrow that is very limited, it's very restricted. And actually, we could say about worldly sorrow, worldly sorrow is a very selfish sorrow because actually worldly sorrow filled with just simply concern for ourself.

You know, one might have worldly sorrow and feel sorry, sorry that they got caught.

Sorry that what I did made me look mad. You know, there are a lot of reasons why people do things, and yet worldly sorrow is focused on me. It's focused on how do things make me look, or how do things make me feel. It's a selfish sorrow, or even as we mentioned, if we look at a gold coin, and you know, if we're only thinking of me having that coin, having that value, that's one way to look at it, but that's not an appropriate way. If we repent, then we change and look at it a different way, and what we learn is that godly sorrow is sorrow that's directed not toward me, but toward God. Sorrow that's directed toward God. One is sorry, and godly sorrow because their actions are sins against God. Godly sorrow is one who is sorry over the price that God had to pay for my sins. See, that focus is on God. It's a different view of the actions, the attitudes, and the thoughts of our heart, even, because, you know, we want to ask that God will purify our hearts.

See, he actually tells us, blessed are the pure in spirit, for they shall see God.

You know, that's what he tells us as far as, you know, the type of attitude and outlook he wants us to have, but here he talks about, you know, godly sorrow, and he goes on in verse 11 to to explain the, you know, when someone is truly sorry in a godly manner, someone who is seeking God's guidance in seeing their sins and in repenting of them and asking for mercy and forgiveness, what's that going to produce? Well, in verse 11, see what earnestness or carefulness the godly sorrow has produced in you. A carefulness, a diligence to try to do the right thing instead of persisting in a stubborn wrong thing, because that's what human beings are so likely to do.

He says, see what earnestness the godly sorrow is produced in you, what eagerness to clear yourself, what a clearing of yourself, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what zeal, what revenge, or what vindication can we feel? When we turn from sin and actually turn to God, he's talking about a real clearing of a conscience toward God, and that's what God is seeking. That's what he wants to see in us. And so in godly sorrow, there's not apathy, it's not a half-hearted service, but it's a desire to truly, as we read earlier, do works that befit repentance. Then we change our outlook, we change our attitude, we change our view, and then we change our actions where we are bringing forth fruit that is worthy of repentance. And so, you know, as we become an expert in repentance, as we seek this godly sorrow that is written about here and is described as a response, it's described in an emotional response of a release and of a true closeness to God, you know, I think it's good for us to think about how it is that God can affect our hearts. Because in essence, that's what he's truly transforming. He's told us that he wants us to have a different heart. He wants us not to have a heart that is of stone or hard, but one that is soft. I'd like for us to think in Luke 24 what we read here, because this is an account. Luke 24 is an account, again, after Jesus' resurrection.

And he is in a hike with a couple of strangers. Now, he clearly is able to appear in whatever way and in whatever manner he wishes, and these folks didn't know. This is on the road to Emos.

They didn't know who he was. They thought it was unusual that he didn't know what had been going on in Jerusalem. Of course, I guess he did know what was going on in Jerusalem. Yet, they were just flabbergasted by all the things that had been happening around town. Emos was off outside of the city of Jerusalem, seven or eight miles to the west or northwest, and they were walking along the road. Jesus came up and was walking with them. Actually, eventually, when they got to where they were going in verse 30, he was at the table with them. He took bread, he blessed and broke, and he gave it to them. And then it says in verse 31, their eyes were opened, and they realized who it was. Here, they'd been talking to this stranger that they had been walking with. They'd been talking to him about this Jesus that had made such a stirrer in Jerusalem. And then they realized who he was. They realized he was the resurrected Christ. And it says he vanished from their sight.

And then they said to each other in verse 32, were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road and while he was opening the scriptures to us? That's really what we see that he opened their understanding. He opened the knowledge of the scriptures to them and then to others as you read toward the latter part of the chapter. And yet, how was it that they described the connection that they had with Jesus Christ? How did that affect them? Well, it says our hearts burned within us. We had a true desire to honor God and to worship God and to thank God for what he was now doing in our lives.

And see, I think that's the same type of a joy, the same type of a tenderness, the same type of a responsiveness that someone who is an expert in repentance will have. They'll have a closeness to God that you can't get any other way. The last verse that we'll cover here today is one that I know all of us again are familiar with. It's Matthew 6.

And of course, in connection with each of us in our Christian lives and in our development of the character that God wants us to have, he wants us to continually be seeing ourselves and to be repenting of our old way and to pursue a new way, to be filled with the Spirit of God.

But another reason why I point out that I think we need to seek the type of repentance that's described here is coming from godly sorrow. It says in Matthew 6, verse 12, again, something you could quote and you don't have to read. But what Jesus taught his disciples, and again, this is pretty early on in their discussions with him, and obviously as they went through their years, they learned more and they knew more and they were becoming more convicted and ultimately they were fully going to believe who they had just spent several years with. But they didn't realize that to begin with, but even here in Matthew 6 where he was asked, how should you pray? He told them how to pray, and yet one of the things that he said to pray would be forgive us of our sins.

Forgive us of our sins as we forgive those who trespass against us. You know, we can often read that and know, okay, well, I need to ask for forgiveness. I need to extend forgiveness to others.

But see, what Jesus was pointing out is that a real Christian, a true Christian, a mark of a growing Christian, will be a healthy dose of godly sorrow and a true understanding of repentance. They will be an expert in repentance because how are we going to be asking for forgiveness? If we don't repent and acknowledge what's wrong and try to make the changes, amend our ways. See, so he points out the mark of a growing Christian to be an understanding of godly sorrow and actually the mark of a Christian. And as we approach, you know, the Passover and the observance of the spring holy days, you know, the mark of a successful Christian is that we are going to be judging ourselves. We're going to find that we're not perfect, that we have sins to overcome, and yet we thankfully have the perfect sacrifice that was given for us. And so we see our sins, we turn to God for help because, you know, we desire to be an expert in repentance. So I hope, I know we have next Sabbath before the Passover and then the Days of Unleavened Bread, but I truly hope that all of us can have a rewarding Passover, an uplifting Passover, even though it is a solemn time. But to look at that in a positive way, a very wonderful way, because it involves the help that God provides us, and then to have truly a joyous spring holy day season, because that, of course, is going to focus on another aspect of God's work in our lives. And so we have everything to look forward to here in the next couple of weeks.