Expert in Repentence

I wanted to be able to cover something today that is in connection with the coming Passover.

We've had other messages here over the last few weeks and sermons or sermonettes that deal with the upcoming Passover. But all of us understand, I believe, the seriousness of the Passover service that we celebrate each year. And of course, it's not a service or ceremony that we should take lightly. But it is one that we should prepare for, and we can do that. It's not something you can't do. It is something you can do. And I'd like for us to look in 1st Corinthians 11 because it tells us what to do. It tells us exactly what to do. We had this covered in brief last week in our sermonette, clearly explaining about a different aspect than I want to focus on today. But here in 1st Corinthians 11, you see Paul writing to the congregation there, a congregation that in many ways had a lot of difficulties. They struggled with stuff.

They had a good amount of competition. They had quite a bit of division, quite a bit of confusion.

But as Paul told them, I want you to focus on the one who can really solve all your problems, the one who is the head of the church and the one who died for each of you individually. And individually, it says in verse 28, and I'm not going to read the sections here about the Passover service itself. It talks about that in verse 23. But in verse 28, what he tells us all to do is to examine yourselves. And only then eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

And so we're told in order to properly prepare that we ought to examine ourselves. Now, does that mean that we should beat ourselves up, tear ourselves down, and almost make ourselves feel like we shouldn't even go? No, that's not what that means. But it does mean that we take a look at our lives, that we examine ourselves. It goes on for all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves so that there is a seriousness to it. We want to discern the Lord's body. We want to think about the benefit that comes to us because of the shed blood and broken body of Jesus Christ. It says 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, now this is tied together with examining ourselves, says in verse 28, examining yourself, verse 31, judge yourself. It says, if we judge ourselves, 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. So here it talks about God's judgment, talks about my judgment of myself, it talks about me examining myself, and certainly we don't want to despise the judgment of God or the correction of God. In Hebrews 12, we didn't cover this in our Hebrews series, but Hebrews 12, verse 6, says, you know, to don't despise the chastening of the Lord because that's for your good, it's for your benefit. Whenever you see from the Word of God that I'm wrong, whenever you see that, that's not done in a condemning way, that's done in order to educate and to uplift us.

Because whenever I see the reality that I need help, well then that help is clearly available. And so we want to seek that. And of course, you know, what we are to do is to examine ourselves. I'd like for us to look in Acts 17. I'm going to focus on a topic today that is in connection with examining. And so here in Acts 17, starting in verse 29, Acts 17, verse 29, it's where Paul's addressing people in Athens, actually those that he is coming into contact with. He says in Acts 17, verse 29, he says, for in him, he's just brought up and talked about the, you know, whatever they are, not knowing, unknown God. He says, for in him, excuse me, that's in verse 28. Let me back up to there. For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own prophets has said, we too are his offspring. And so in verse 29, he says, since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold or silver or stone or image formed by the art or an imagination of mortals. But while God, in verse 30, has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to what? He commands all people everywhere to repent.

Because he goes on to say he has fixed a time on which he will have the world judge and righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. And so he says the whole world is going to be judged. But at this point, what was it that Paul pointed out to those who really didn't even want to know anything? He said everyone needs to repent. And you find the same thing. If you look over in Acts 26 when Paul was talking, Acts 26, verse 19 and 23. I'm not going to go through that, but this is where Paul was talking to King Agrippa and Festus, and he declared in verse 20, Acts 26, 20, that they should repent and turn to God, and that they should do deeds that were consistent with repentance.

And so this really is a directive for what we're also told when we examine ourselves, that we actually are individuals that should be experts. See, what are you an expert in? I think you and I said expert pilot. You don't find too many inept pilots. They usually crash.

I'm sure that Brian is an expert chiropractor, and I know Tom is an expert writer, and I won't try to pick out everybody here. But, you know, are you an expert in repentance? Is that something that you understand, that you embrace, that you benefit from, because it's really a call to Christians? Now, what we read was directed even in a wider sense to the whole world, and of course, Jesus said, unless you all repent, you know, you will perish. And so, you know, every human being, no matter who we are, we should become an expert in repentance. Now, am I saying, well, we should sin in order to repent? No. But if we are learning the valuable lessons that the Bible gives us, then we're going to examine ourselves, as we're told to do, we are going to repent. We're going to be an expert in repentance of all the people on earth. We ought to understand the value, the significance, and the importance of repentance. And I'm going to say, I know we're told to examine ourselves and judge ourselves, and that clearly is a process that we should go through, even through this next week, as we pray to God. But I would say that we should also ask God to help us. Ask Jesus to help us in judging ourselves. Let's look at John 21. This section in John is John John is writing a concluding chapter here in chapter 21. He has three different pretty well scenarios there. One of them involves him right at the end. The other involves a fishing crew in the beginning of chapter 21, and Jesus' obvious ability to fish better than everybody else. And then you also find a section where Jesus was talking to Peter, and he was telling Peter that, you know, I want you to tend my flock. I want you to care for my sheep. I want you to be a shepherd and servant to the sheep. But what I want, I'm not going through that example. I'm trying to lay the ground for that. I want to focus simply on one verse, John 21, because you know the third time when Jesus came back to Peter and said, do you love me? You know, Peter had already responded, well, yeah. Well, of course I love you. But what does it say in verse 21? It's got to be verse 17. He said to him, okay, in verse 16, Jesus said, tend my sheep.

And verse 17, he said to him the third time, Simon, do you love me? And Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to the Lord, this is what Peter said, he said, Lord, you know everything. You can obviously read my heart. You can read my mind. You know whether or not I love you. Of course, he said, I love you. But the statement that I focus on here is just, Lord, you know everything. And see, since I'm pretty sure that Jesus knows far more what I need to know, what I need to learn in examining myself, it would simply make sense that we would ask that he would help us examine ourselves to really see ourselves. Because ultimately, if we are going to repent, we actually have to see ourselves. That's what you find in Luke 15.

Whenever you go through the parable that Jesus spoke and that Luke recorded, the only one to record this, of a prodigal son, a son who runs off and then comes back, and an older brother who had just as many problems, but you know they were kind of hidden, and then a wonderful, wonderful father.

But see, what does it say in Luke 15 verse 17? Well, it says that the prodigal, the one who had run off, who had come through some pretty bad times, it says when he came to himself, then he decided, you know, there is nothing that should hold me back from coming to my father. When he came to himself, when he really saw himself. And see, that's what I think we could gain from seeing what it was that Peter even told Jesus. You know everything. You know what's in my heart. You know what my weaknesses are. You know what my sins are. You know how much I need you to help me.

And so please show me. Help me to come to my understanding of my need. I'd like to focus two or three verses here, actually two or three sections, that I hope would help us in thinking about ourselves as an expert in repentance. Because, see, repentance is a quality.

You know, it's not just feeling sorry, because often we do feel sorry when we do sorry things.

And we do things that we know are not right or that are sin. We can feel sorry about that.

There's more to it when you involve the whole concept of repentance. I'd like for us to think in Revelation 2 and 3.

Revelation 2 and 3 record seven messages to the churches.

Revelation 2 and 3, this is again under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as John, the Apostle John as he was in his last years, was writing down a revelation that was given to him by Jesus Christ. And yet in Revelation 2 and 3, you see messages to Ephesus and Smyrna and Pergamos and Thyatira and Sardis and Philadelphia and Laodicea. You see seven churches there along a route in the southern part of Turkey. Congregations of the Church of God that existed there.

And yet, whenever you read through this entire section, Revelation 2 and 3, you see a message that was given to the churches and they in a sense were told what you're doing right. And then they were also, almost in each case, told what was wrong.

They were told what you need to do. And again, I'm not wanting to focus on all of those direct statements, but I do want to focus on the fact that each one of these messages, and we are told...

Let me see if I can easily pick this out. 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 is encouragement.

They have uplifting statements made about almost each one of them.

We, again, are familiar with many of these statements. Then there are some corrective statements that are told. They needed to hold fast or they needed to seek their first love. Again, you can read that in the first one here. But in each one of them, you find the directive or the message is that you need to repent. Each one of them, at least almost all of them, have this statement. Chapter 2, verse 5 says, remember to the church at Ephesus, remember then from where you have fallen and repent, and then do the works that you did at first.

See, he has a call to repentance. He has a call throughout this entire section.

In 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. He said there's repentance that's needed in chapter 2, verse 21. This is dealing with Thyatira. He says, I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent. In each one of these sections, he's talking about repenting, turning. Turning from sin, turning to what? I know I've heard a statement, and I've heard this made by others who are not even a part of the church of God. It's not unknown information that repent means to turn around and go the other way. Well, I think even more critically, we need to turn from sin and turn to God because He's the one who's able to help us. He's the one who is able, we are, to turn away from sin, of course, but we turn to God. We drop on down to chapter 3, the message to Sardis. It says in verse 3, remember, then what you received and heard and obey it and repent.

Repentance was a part of being a part of the church that Jesus Christ was directing.

In verse 11, regarding Philadelphia, it says, I'm coming soon, but hold fast to what you have, that no one would seize your crown. You know, that admonition is, it also is telling us to do something. It doesn't directly say repent, but you can't ignore all the others. And, of course, in dealing with Laodicea, the very last one here, chapter 3, verse 19, He says, I reprove and discipline those whom I love, be earnest therefore, and repent. This whole section is a, it's a call to repentance. It's a call to be an expert in repentance. You are not flawless, sinless, you are in need of forgiveness. But see, what's the condition that God holds out for us in our salvation, in our agreeing with God? Is that I repent. I turn from the things that I do, or say, or think that are wrong, because that's what we're asked to do. I'd like for us to turn over to Proverbs, chapter 6. I think this is another instructive little section here, one that I'm sure you're familiar with.

That's the thing about, you know, the Church of God congregations are kind of hard to talk to, because they're already familiar with everything that we might cover. But, it just so happens that I'm forgetful, and I need to be reminded. And maybe you do too.

In Proverbs 6, there's a listing of seven things that God hates. So this will appear to be things to get away from, things to turn from, maybe things to examine, things to think about as I wish to approach God in a repentant attitude. Verse 16, there are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to Him. And then He starts listing them in verse 17.

He says, a haughty eye or a proud look. Why is God against pride? Well, you know, He sees the adverse effect that pride has on this world, that pride, you know, human beings have been infected with an attitude of pride and arrogance, that Lucifer initiated with his rebelling against the throne of God. Haudy eyes, a lying tongue. Okay, I need to examine.

Do I always say everything that's correct as the squirrel races by? Hands, the third thing, hands that shed innocent blood.

I don't know that any of you have been out shedding innocent blood, unless it was that squirrel. I don't. A heart that devises wicked plans. So I think that's a revelation of the wickedness of the human heart. Feet, verse 18, that are swift to run to evil. You know, do we back away from things? Do we get away from things? See, human inclination is not really to get away from something that's on fire. You know, always you have people kind of running up to it, something that is a danger to them. They often will get almost as close to it as they can with, oh, I'm all right. But, you know, this is talking about feet that are swift or hurry to run to evil.

Number 19, he repeats again the second one, a lying witness that testifies falsely. Maybe a little different direction to that, but still involving lying or false witness. And then the final thing in verse 19 that he says in verse 16 is an abomination to the Lord, one that sows discord among the brethren. One who causes division among the family or among the brethren. See, those are things God hates. He wants us to get away from those. And so again, telling us or helping us to be able to examine ourselves as far as, you know, what is it that he wants us to turn from? What does he want us to put aside?

What does he want us to repent of and request a restitution for? Because that's what we're really doing when we ask for forgiveness. In Romans chapter 2, you have a section that mentions repentance. Romans chapter 2.

Paul is beginning to write here to the church in Rome and to those other Romans who might read or become aware of what he had to say to them. He certainly gives quite the indictment against people in general in chapter 1. And he says how licentious they've become, and that, of course, was surely what you found in the Roman Empire. And he says, what you found in the Roman capital at that time. And undoubtedly, the church was affected by that because that was the setting that they live in. But he details it quite clearly here throughout the entirety of the first chapter. But he says in verse 2, or verse 2, he says, For in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourselves, because you, the judge, are doing the very same thing. He says that's all too common of a human inclination.

So we need to learn to judge ourselves, examine ourselves, and not condemn others.

Not that we can't acknowledge that something is wrong, but we don't want to be condemning.

We do want to learn to judge ourselves properly. It says in verse 2, do you imagine whoever you are that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourselves, that you're going to escape the judgment of God? He says that's kind of ridiculous thinking. Don't criticize others or don't condemn others, because in a sense, you're falling into the same trap. And he goes on in verse 4, do you realize, or do you despise, the riches of God's kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God's goodness is meant to lead you to repentance? And again, you are familiar with that statement. The goodness of God leads us to repentance. But actually, the more we think about the qualities that God has, the goodness that God has, it is out of his goodness that he extends repentance to us. He grants repentance as he says that he does, and yet it involves us. It involves us wanting to know. It involves our involvement, because in a sense, we are agreeing with God. I see I'm wrong, and I see I want to repent or change. And so, in a sense, I'm agreeing with, maybe I'm growing, in my understanding of how good God is, of how much I desire to have my nature, my mind, my attitude, my outlook changed to where it will be like God.

Because he has the perfect outlook, and we obviously have a perfect human example to read about the example of Jesus Christ, which was, you know, he was always in the right. He was always saying, doing, thinking, being the right things. And yet, of course, he was filled with the goodness of God.

That was a part of his divine nature, or the nature that he reflected, even in the flesh, he reflected being good. He reflected being patient. He reflected being loving, being joyous.

You know, those are all things for us to seek. And when we read the goodness of God, leads us to repentance. You know, we want to think about, well, how wonderful of a quality is it that God would look down from his throne, that he would involve and include us in his great plan, that he would destined us for eternal life. And what we need to do is repent. What we need to do is to examine ourselves and see how much we need. Not see how good we are, but see how much we need God's help, God's goodness. God's goodness should actually produce godly sorrow. See, we're going to read in 2 Corinthians about the difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow, just simply being sorry. And God's goodness should produce godly sorrow that leads us to repentance, which causes a change in mind and actually a turning from sin to God. That's what he is certainly wanting us to benefit from. It goes on here in verse 5. It says, "...but 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's saying, you know, becoming repentant is a contrast to staying hard-hearted. That's the contrast. We want to have the soft heart that we've discussed here in the last few weeks. A soft heart, a broken spirit, a contrite heart, God will not despise. We can see the things that God hates, that he directly says he hates, and that he wants us to not be a part of and to get away from, and that's what God wants us to do.

But he also shows us that he wants us to become and have the type of heart that is described as being malleable and pliable in his hand. Let's go on over to 2 Corinthians, because here in 2 Corinthians 7 we have a section where Paul explains the difference between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow.

And of course, he shows that repentance is not just being sorry, but repentance is actually the outcome of godly sorrow.

Now Paul has written the book of 1 Corinthians to the church there in Corinth.

He had written them, actually guiding them in a number of areas, giving them a lot of answers to a lot of different problems, and of course, condemning their divisiveness and their not wanting to be joining together and allowing the Spirit of God to unite them, as each of us individually can do. We can be a part of a united church if we are desiring to be. Even Mr. Lucre mentioned at the very beginning of the statements that we saw in the video that we watched.

He talked about how we need to be working together as a team. We need to be united in the job that we have to do because, of course, that's what God wants. And yet, each of us have to agree that that's what I want, and that's what I wish to do. But Paul has written a pretty corrective letter here in 1 Corinthians, and now in 2 Corinthians he reflects on what happened, what happened whenever he sent that letter that was corrected to them. And here in chapter 7, 2 Corinthians 7, starting in verse 5, For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted in every way, disputes without, and fears within. But God, who consoles the downcast, consoled us by the arrival of Timothy. He said, as we came into the area, we had conflicts outside, and we didn't know exactly what God was going to allow us to go through. We didn't really know exactly whether the church and courts would even accept us as the servants of God. But he says, God consoled us by the arrival of Titus, and not only by his coming, not just that they had seen their friend Titus, and he was able to come and give them a message about the church there in Corinth. He says, but Titus, not only by his coming, but also by the consolation with which he was consoled about you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more. Paul was thrilled not just to see Titus and to be able to once again be with him and work with him, but to hear what he had to say because he had to say something about the church and how the church had responded and how they had been receptive to the correction that we could say had come from God, because as Paul was directed by God to give that instruction to them, you know, they were heeding the chastening of the Lord, as we're told, not to despise the chastening of the Lord. And so here he says the response was great in verse 8, for even if I made you sorry with my letter, I don't regret it, though I did. I think he thought about, well, maybe I, you know, I was too harsh, maybe I was too strong in what I told them they needed to do. But he says, even if I made you sorry with my letter, I don't regret it, though I did one time regret it, for I see that I grieved you with that letter, but that grief only lasted for a short time, only briefly. And now, in verse 9, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because your grief led to repentance.

So here Paul is, he's kind of wondering what kind of reception he will get, and yet he's excited, he's thrilled to hear from Titus that the Corinthian church is responding to the guidance from God about turning from sin, which he told them, of course, they needed to do, about keeping the fees. You know, they needed to do that. He instructed them in 1 Corinthians 11 about how to keep the Passover and how to do it correctly instead of divide it, which is part of what they were doing.

And yet, here he points out, I'm excited, I rejoice because you were grieved, but because, or not because you were grieved, but because your grief led to repentance, for you felt a godly sorrow or a godly grief, so that you were not harmed in any way by us.

See, coming to be an expert in repentance does not hurt us at all. It actually is a key to being a better Christian, to being a better husband, to being a better wife, to being a better church member, to being a better minister. You know, a key to improving is repentance and godly sorrow, as it said. For, he says, godly sorrow or godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret. See, that's where we're headed. Brethren, we're headed to eternal life. We've got to agree with God, and we've got to, I think, become an expert in repentance. And as we do that, God will provide. He has plenty of power. He has plenty of help to provide us. Now, there may be times when we don't use that help very well.

Maybe we ignore it altogether. We might even know it's available, but I'm kind of turning from sin, but I'm not really turned to God. I'm not yielded to God, as the Bible clearly shows us and tells us we need to do in order to be growing in that divine nature. But he says, godly sorrow in verse 10 produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regrets. You don't have to be grieved over our sins whenever we repent. And whenever we seek the mercy and forgiveness of God, then we are going to be uplifted. We are going to be empowered. He contrasts this in verse 10 by saying, sorrow of the world, worldly sorrow, worldly grief produces death. It doesn't produce anything. And we're going to die. There's no way to escape it. We will die. We will not be revived if we're seeking the sorrow of the world. See, he's got some great contrasts here. And of course, it's marvelous for us to be able to read these things and to see how powerful it is. What he shows us is a worldly sorrow.

Worldly sorrow or sorrow of the world, grief of the world, is actually a selfish kind of sorrow. It's a concern about self. When one is sorry because he got caught, and one is sorry because what one did makes him or her look bad.

These are not uncommon things. A lot of people feel sorry for a lot of things.

They often feel sorry after the night before or the morning after the evening before. If they have sinned, then they're looking at that and saying, I feel bad. I feel they may be hung over.

There may be other reasons why all kinds of difficulties occur. And there are truly people and all of us felt sorry at times for things that we've done that are wrong. But in order for it to be a bright type of sorrow, then we're going to have to rise above the sorrow of the world, the worldly sorrow, which is simply concerned about self.

See that godly sorrow is sorrow that is directed toward God, directed toward and concerned about God and what he says and about what he wants and about how he will help us.

See, whenever one is sorry because their actions are sin, that's why it's so deplorable that pretty much in the world today you hardly even use the word sin.

It's not something anybody wants to use. They'll use any other word. Mistake, problem, issue.

Everybody has their issues.

You know, they will... and I'm not saying everything would be sin. Let's say they... it would be rarely used as a description of human action. There would be every imaginable excuse to call it anything else except sin. The godly sorrow is a sorrow that one is sorry because their actions are sin against the great god. And of course, we read Psalm 51, the first few verses, as David was truly seeing something that apparently he allowed himself to be blinded to. It wasn't that he was ignorant. He was blinded to the actions that he was involved in.

But he says, I see my sins are against you. My sins are against the great god.

And I am in need of your mercy. I am in need of your forgiveness. I wish to repent. The godly sorrow is where one is sorry over the price that God must pay to have our sins removed. The price that God endured to watch his son come to this earth and then live a perfect life and then be abused by the people he came to stay, to be continually combating the sins of the people around him.

I don't know that we don't think about that. Certainly in this society today, that's not portrayed in a way where it causes people to see that their sins are against God and that the price that God paid was to send his begotten son, his only begotten son to this world, to give out of love for us a redemption, to give us a way to be justified, a way to be sanctified, a way to be cleansed, and to be able then to be a part of the divine family of God. He goes on in verse 11 to describe the outcome. They describe the outcome of godly sorrow.

He says in verse 10 that godly sorrow produces such good things. It produces repentance. It leads to salvation, and worldly sorrow produces death. But in verse 11, he says, for see, and here he's going to describe the effect of godly sorrow on the congregation there and on us as we connect with being an expert in repentance. We want to seek this involvement in our emotions and in our attitude and our outlook. He says, see what earnestness, see what diligence or what carefulness that it has wrought in you.

See what earnestness this godly sorrow has produced in you. What carefulness, you know, not wanting to try to get up as close as you can to sin and see if I can fall in, but to move away from that and to hate that and to not head that direction, being quick to do what's right instead of just kind of wavering in the middle. It goes on. What eagerness, what diligence, what carefulness says what eagerness to clear yourselves, to clear the blame or the guilt that you have that sin produces quick to stop doing what is wrong.

It goes on. Indignation. What indignation, what alarm, what longing, what zeal, what punishment. Now I know that King James says different words as you probably are reading it, but see it says what anger, what fear, what fervent wish to be right in God's eyes.

What ardent interest in pursuing something. The zeal, the excitement, what vindication, a desire to do right. That's what's produced from godly sorrow. And certainly as you see in the description there in verse 11, you know, you see the involvement of not only the thoughts but the heart and the responsiveness, the desire to move away from sin and turn to God and seek God and a closeness to God that obviously we don't have when we sin.

When we sin, we are lapsing in that closeness and it clearly is not an apathy or a half-hearted service but a desire to do the works that befit repentance. This is what Jesus said. This is what he said, bring forth fruits, meat for repentance or fitting to be showing that we are repentant. And this is a type of a godly sorrow that God is clearly wanting us to have as we examine ourselves, as we think about being an expert in repentance, that we have a soft heart.

See, what was it in Luke 24 verse 32? Luke 24 verse 32, the disciples who interacted with Jesus after his resurrection as they walked to Emma's. See, what happened to them? Well, they had a revealing and understanding of the Word of God. They had a revealing of knowing who it was that was with them, even though they couldn't recognize him initially. But see, whenever he did finally open their eyes and he gave them understanding, he helped them to then understand the Scriptures.

What it says here in Luke 24, Luke 24, Luke 24 verse 32. Verse 31, their eyes were open. They recognized who Jesus was. Of course, you know, he had been walking with them for quite a ways, and they were baffled by how come he didn't know what's been going on here in Jerusalem, because this is the biggest thing that has ever happened in our little town or in our vicinity. You know, this is just beyond comprehension. It's not something that is explainable. And then they find that, well, it's Jesus that they've been walking with, and of course he vanishes.

But 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, while he was opening the Scriptures to us. See, they were affected emotionally. They were engaged by what Jesus had to say, and they didn't fully even understand it quite yet. But see, for those of us who do understand, for those of us who desire to be Christians, who desire to be experts in repentance, it involves our heart. It involves our closeness to God. It engenders a great deal of joy, not that we're a sinner, but that we can be cleansed by the blood that we willingly, again, accept as we observe a Passover service with a cup symbolizing blood and the bread symbolizing the body of our Savior and our Lord.

See, that's a tremendous joy that they had as they said that their hearts were burning within them. But I would hope that all of us could really take to heart what it is that God tells us as we examine ourselves and prepare for the Passover and come before God, desiring to do better, desiring to continue to improve, desiring to be repentant and having a repentant heart. You know, one of the very, very familiar statements that Jesus made, Matthew 6, verse 12, is that we're going to ask that He forgives us of our sin as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Now, many times we think about that and we think, oh, I need to be forgiving toward so and so, you know, whoever may have committed some type of transgression toward me. And admittedly, that is what it tells us to do. And it says how important it is that we become like God and that we learn to do that. But see, what He tells us is that Christians, the mark of a growing Christian, will be a healthy dose of godly sorrow and an expert in repentance where we come to God regularly asking to forgive us of our sin. We do that. I'm sure you do that. I know I need to do that and do do that. But it's amazing to see the statement that Jesus made. Almost matter of fact, you know, this is just part of what you ought to be praying. You ever come to understand the significance of this, as He was having to tell the disciples, so they could listen to the words.

But what it really said is that you will become truly repentant. Your heart will truly be changed and you will truly turn to God. So a mark of a Christian, mark of a Christian who is judging themselves, who examines themselves, and who seeks to have godly sorrow and the repentance that comes with that, is that we recognize that we're not perfect. We're in need of help. We're in need of God's guidance in our lives, but we see our sins and we clearly turn to God for help.

I truly think that thinking about the value and the significance of repentance is one of the biggest benefits that God provides us year after year after year so that we grow in a deeper understanding of the relationship that we have with Him and that we have through His Son.

So as He tells us, we should examine ourselves and then take of the wine and take of the bread, knowing that He's the one who offers us eternal wine. So I hope you have a joyous and very rewarding Passover and Spring Holy Day. I know we've got next Sabbath service before the Passover itself, but I wanted to be able to cover this today because it's very meaningful to me and I hope it can also help all of us as we prepare for this upcoming Holy Day season.