You’ve sinned.  You realize it.  You do not excuse it.  You are ready to admit it.  The only right and proper Christian response to sin is repentance.  Unfortunately, we are not clear on what repentance is and is not, and so it is too common that we do not really repent of our sins.  I want to briefly sketch out some common misconceptions of repentance to help distinguish true repentance from false.  First, repentance is not just being sorry.  We’ve all seen and been the person who gets into sin, realizes the error, and feels really bad about it.  Maybe we even cry over it.  We’re eaten up by guilt.  We feel very ashamed, and we’re immediately sorry we sinned.  BUT, we don’t need to confuse sorrow with repentance.  It will many times accompany and precede repentance, but it is not the same.  Paul says “Godly sorrow leads to repentance.”  See that?  Real, godly sorrow is not the same as repentance, but should lead us to repent.  You can feel sorry, and still not repent.  Second, repentance is not the same as confession.  When I confess my sins, I am essentially agreeing with God that my sin is sin.  We’re saying to God, “You call what I’ve done a sin, and I must now do the same.”  The Bible says that if we confess our sins, that God is faithful and just and will forgive them.  Yet one might confess sin, and still not repent.  Again it is a part of repentance, but not the same as repentance.  We begin by recognizing our sin as sin, calling it that, and making a confession of it to the Lord.  Last, repentance is not just a firm resolve not to engage in that act of sin anymore.  How many times have you sinned, felt guilty, confessed it to God, and then put your foot down that this will never happen again?  Until it does happen again.  Then we make another firm resolution that lasts until it ends.  We should never be too impressed with our firm resolve.  I’m pretty certain God isn’t.  Real repentance is not resolve though it includes resolve.  Do you not love posts that tell you all about what something is not, without telling you what something is?  Well, today that’s what you get!  A post about what something isn’t, but not what it is.  I will continue this post later, and look briefly at what real repentance is. 

James 4:4 says essentially that friendship with the world is enmity with God (hostility or opposition). So being the world’s friend is to act in opposition to God or hostility to God.  But that’s exactly what we do with our sin.  We make friends with it.  We engage in sexual immorality and rather than repent and condemn it, we justify it.  We call it by other names.  We become comfortable with it.  We make it a friend.  And like other friends, we will defend it if someone points it all.  ”Your sexual impurity is sin,” someone says.  And we’re quick to come to its aid.  ”You don’t really know me.  We’re in love.  It’s not sin if we’re married in our minds.  Don’t you talk about my friend!”  The Bible tells us not to get cozy with our sin b/c our sin is a “friend” who’s trying to kill you!  That’s not a real friend.  Instead we’re told to put our sin to death.  There’s nothing more final than putting something to death.  Romans 8:12-14 is the classic text on “mortifying” to use an old word, the sins of the flesh.  We’re told to use the power of the Holy Spirit, which brings life, to kill the sins of the flesh, which bring death.  So we’re called to be sin killers not friends of sin.  Our church is looking from a biblical perspective at not wasting our lives this year.  There are few things that lead to a wasted life like unrepentant sin.  It lives and grows and takes over and before we know it we’re slaves to it.  The Christian must daily kill sin.  Taking the axe to the root of our “lusts” as John Owen puts it.  The axe that can take out the root of lust is Jesus.  Everything else is just lopping off the top, leaving the roots.  So we’re sure to have it sprout back up in little or no time.  I want to be a sin killer.  I’m too frequently not.  God help me put to death the desires of the flesh.

From time to time I will link to posts from other blogs, news stories, sermons from people that I respect and learn much from, etc.  This sermon was delivered by John Piper at the Passion ‘07 Conference and is all about what to do about guilt from sexual sin.  It is POWERFUL and blunt and needed by men and women alike.  It will resonate with you.  The whole sermon is worth it simply for the final 10 minutes where Dr. Piper walks through Micah 7:8-9.  It will bring tears to your eyes.  If I could have an ounce of his passion and zeal!  Here’s the link to the page the sermon is on, along with a manuscript of the message.  I will not summarize the message for you.  You simply need to listen.

Tonight we looked at Hosea 6:1-3 and the concept of corporate repentance.  There is some debate among Christians over whether or not there can be such thing as corporate repentance.  Those who say there can’t be argue that all repentance is individual, yet the Bible has countless OT examples of the call for the nation of Israel to repent corporately.  I believe that within the church sin may creep in amongst the flock to such a degree that it overwhelms a majority of believers to the point where the only option is to call the church to repentance.  For instance grumbling can become so prevalent that it’s a way of life for the church.  It starts with a few, and spreads like crabgrass.  We often times pray for revival without accompanying it with repentance, and I believe the Bible teaches that revival begins when repentance sweeps through the body.  You may pray and pray for it, but if your people cling to sin, it is all for naught.  This is a difficult sermon to preach b/c in some ways it’s preaching to the choir.  Obviously the people there on a Sunday night are as a whole more faithful than those not there.  Yet they may still be engaged in a multitude of sins that clearly call for repentance.  I believe that the best days of Little Mountain are ahead.  I believe they are ahead insofar as our people heed the call to repent together and join together to reach their hands into the community and share the Gospel.