Truth That Changes Lives

JP Jones: Repentance involves an owning of wherever we fall short. Wherever it is, when we own it and we confess it and we transform our lives by asking for God's help, that's when we're really repenting and that's when we're free.

Greg: Thank you for joining us on Truth That Changes Lives. Pastor JP Jones is the senior pastor of Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, California, and a professor in biblical studies at Biola University. Today on Truth That Changes Lives, Pastor JP will be giving us a message from a series entitled Read the Red. Let's listen in as JP gives us part two of John 3:1-21.

JP Jones: God reveals His word to us. Maybe it's a word about loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Maybe it's a word about forgive your brother not just seven times but 70 times 7. Maybe it's a word to go and make disciples of all the nations. Maybe it's a word to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision to the flesh in regard to its lusts. Maybe it's a word to husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church.

Whatever the word is, that's the standard. We measure ourselves by that standard. We see where we fall short and wherever it is we fall short, you know what we need to do? Repent. And that's why everybody needs to repent. The lost person who has no relationship with Christ needs to repent that they've been living in darkness and come into the light of God's forgiveness and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

The prodigal who's been compromising their walk with Christ by living in the world, they need to repent and come back to the loving forgiveness of the Father. The obedient disciple who's actively seeking after God, in the course of seeking after God, discovers areas of their life that still need to be brought under His lordship and they need to repent. Everybody needs to repent.

Repentance begins with hearing the word of God. Repentance is then measuring ourselves by the word of God, seeing where we fall short of what the word of God says, and wherever it is that we fall short, that's where we need to repent. And Jesus in Matthew 4:17 says the kingdom is near. That's every area of our lives. Just pick an area. Whatever area you pick, you're going to find something in that area where you need to repent.

If it's your marriage, you're going to find an area you need to be more humble, you need to be more Christlike, you need to be more forgiving, you need to be more loving, you need to be more grace-giving, you need to be more truth-telling. You need to repent. If it's your prayer life, you need to be more faithful, you need to be more devoted, you need to be more expectant. You need to repent.

How you handle your finances? You need to be storing up your treasures in heaven, not on earth. You need to be giving generously and graciously and hilariously. You need to repent. Being a witness for Christ, you need to be bold, you need to be gracious, you need to be praying for your lost friends, you need to speak up, you need to start living like a Christian. You need to repent. Whatever area of our lives we hear the word of God in that area, we see where we fall short, that's where we need to repent.

Here's a third thing about repentance. Repentance involves owning our sin. The word metanoia, as I mentioned, it means literally dictionary definition a change of thought. But it's a change of thought that produces a change of behavior because it's not just a change of thought, it's also a change of heart, a change of disposition. So we hear the word of God, we understand the word of God, we see where it applies to us and we own it personally.

In this regard, there must be in some measure a grieving of our sin. Now I understand that there are two audiences who just heard what I said. This is not scripture, this is JP. So take it for that. But my experience is that the population tends to break down into two categories: those of us who always feel bad about ourselves. We're always telling ourselves negative messages and we never feel like we measure up and we never feel like we can experience grace and forgiveness because we feel like we've got to work and earn it and we never can work and earn it enough.

So we're constantly putting ourselves down. And then there's another group of us who feel like we're God's gift to the church. And you can decide which one you think your pastor fits into of those two groups. And we never feel bad about ourselves. Those of us who are always feeling bad about ourselves, repentance does not mean you beat yourself up, does not mean you play the Holy Spirit and try to convict yourself, does not mean you wallow in "I'm a worthless rotten sinner." God doesn't want anybody to feel that way.

In fact, 2 Corinthians chapter 7 says there's a sorrow according to the world that just leads to death. Then there's a sorrow that's according to the will of God that leads to repentance and salvation. Godly sorrow leads to repentance and salvation. Worldly sorrow just leads to death. So if you're just feeling bad about yourself all the time, that's not from the Holy Spirit, that's not from God. That's from the devil and that's from your own flesh, but it's not from God.

On the other hand, if you're of the type that never feels bad about anything, you've got to stop believing your own press reports. Because there's only one person who ever lived who didn't need to repent, and that was Jesus. The rest of us live in the real world, we're sinners who need to repent. And we need to not just intellectualize it, there needs to be some real grieving of it. Jesus didn't just die for the world, Jesus died for me. Jesus didn't just die for sins, Jesus died for my sins.

It wasn't just the sins of the world that put Jesus on the cross, it was my sin that put Jesus on the cross. And we need to own it. There needs to be a healthy sense of grieving because repentance is intellectually, cognitively, changing our mind, but emotionally changing our heart, and then volitionally changing our behavior, living it out. It's a whole personality response to the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's why it's a good word. Repentance is a healing word, it's a life-giving word, it's a word that means we get do-overs. But there needs to be a sense in which we own our own sin and we grieve it.

When I was 17, I was a senior in high school and it was the first time my parents went away on a trip for a weekend and let me stay alone. That's a big deal, letting your kids stay alone. So my parents let me be at my house by myself, senior year. They went away on a weekend trip. While they were gone, I'm fixing my own meals, taking care of myself. It was during football season and I was doing everything to gain weight. They didn't have all these sophisticated protein drinks. They had this stuff called Bob Hoffman's Gain Weight. Remember that stuff?

It tasted terrible, but it had all these calories and all this protein in it. So I would make these protein shakes where I'd put ice cream and peanut butter and raw eggs and Bob Hoffman's Gain Weight. I'd mix it all together and drink that down. So I had made this protein shake for myself and I was cleaning up after myself and I dropped the blender and it was glass and it broke. I remember thinking my parents will be upset but it happens and we'll just buy another blender. That's all I thought. I cleaned it up.

And my folks came back from the trip and I was a teenager. I didn't even think about it. I didn't say anything to them and they didn't say anything to me. And then about two weeks later after they came back, my mom was going to use the blender and said, "Where's the blender?" Now I should have just said, "I forgot to tell you I broke it while cleaning up" because it wouldn't have been a big deal. But in a moment of self-protection, my mom says, "Where's the blender?" and I said, "I don't know."

As soon as I said "I don't know," I was on that slippery slope because now I can't take it back. I said "I don't know" and then I even remember going, "Why'd I say I don't know? I broke it." Then she goes, "Well I know it's around here somewhere." And then I complicated it and I said, "Well let me help you look." And I'm looking in the cabinets, we can't find it. And my mom didn't know where the blender was, so she bought another blender.

So then I graduate, I'm off to college, I give my life to Christ, I'm following Christ, I'm in the word, I get involved with Campus Crusade for Christ. I go to some Christian retreat and the speaker is talking about the power of living a cleansed life and the power of confessing your sin and the power of a clear conscience. I'm going, "Yeah this is really good." And then all of a sudden the Holy Spirit just shoots me with this zinger: "You lied to your mom about that blender." And I thought, "It's a blender!"

"No, you lied to your mom about that blender. And you never told her that you lied." And it stuck with me. And I came back from that conference and I felt guilty. "Oh my gosh, it's a stupid blender." No, it's not about the blender, it's that you lied. Get the phone. I call my mom. "Mom, how you doing?" "Hey, how are you? What's going on?" "Well, mom, do you remember three years ago when I was a senior in high school and you guys went away on that trip and you let me stay at home?" She goes, "Yeah."

"And do you remember about the blender?" She goes, "Yeah." "And we couldn't find the blender? I broke the blender. And I lied to you about the blender." And my mom goes, "I knew you lied to me about the blender. I knew I always put it in the same place, I couldn't find it so I figured you broke it and just didn't tell me the truth. Why didn't you tell me?" I'm crying about a stupid blender. And my mom said, "I just figured you'd tell me when you got around to it. I'm so sorry." She goes, "I know you are, you're such a good boy."

Somehow, here's the point, somehow I moved on from when I actually broke the blender and I didn't have a sense of guilt over the blender but I hadn't repented of it. But as soon as I became aware of it and the Holy Spirit convicted me, "That was sin what you did," I felt a guilt. And guess when I was completely relieved of my guilt? When I confessed it to my mom and asked her to forgive me. That's when I repented. I hadn't repented before that. That's when I repented and that's when I experienced the freedom.

Repentance involves an owning of wherever we fall short. Wherever it is, when we own it and we confess it and we transform our lives by asking for God's help, that's when we're really repenting and that's when we're free. And the fourth point here about repentance is that it involves asking for God's grace to change. It does, because Jesus said repent. That was a command and commands always demand action. Repentance is a change word, not just a thought word, not just a feeling word, it's a change word. Repentance involves change.

But what's the message of the gospel? Can we change ourselves? No. Do we have what it takes to change ourselves to be right with God? No. The gospel speaks to us that we are sinners in desperate need of God's transformation, God's forgiveness, God's empowerment, God's grace. And so repentance means and involves we ask for God's grace to change us. God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. That's what James 4 says. And so when we humble ourselves before God, He graces us to change.

Repentance is a gospel word, a healing word, a grace word. Repentance is Jesus' teaching. It's the first thing Jesus taught and it encompassed everything else that He taught. So wherever it is that we hear the word of God in whatever area of our lives, it speaks to us, it shows us where we fall short, we need to own that that's where we fall short and we need to ask for God's grace to change. Some of us here need to ask for God's grace to come out of darkness into salvation because we're lost and we need to repent.

When we do, there's joy in heaven because salvation comes into our lives. Some of us here need to ask for grace to repent because we're doing a very poor job at being husbands. Some of us need to ask for grace because we need to repent because we're doing a very poor job at being wives. Some of us need to ask for grace so that we can repent because we're not loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Some of us here need to ask for grace because we need to repent because we're not loving our neighbor as we love ourselves.

Every one of us here needs to repent in some area of our life, therefore every one of us needs to ask for grace. Because we cannot repent unless God gives us grace. God's opposed to the proud but He gives grace to the humble. Repentance involves asking for God's grace so that we can change. That's why Jesus told the story about the sinner and the Pharisee. They went up to the temple. The sinner wouldn't even look up to God. He just looked down and beat his breast, said, "Lord have mercy on me, the sinner."

The Pharisee started to tell God about how great he was and all the things he did. And Jesus said it was the sinner that went home justified, declared righteous before God. We need to come to God in humility and asking for His grace and when we do, He gives us grace to repent, to change, to experience transformation in our lives, healing and forgiveness and hope and do-overs and transformation of whatever it is that we are turning from and repenting about.

Lastly, number five, repentance involves obediently following Christ. Obediently following Christ. When Jesus commanded people to repent, you know what He expected them to do? Repent. When Jesus said repent, He didn't expect people to go, "Wow, that's an interesting sermon, Jesus." When Jesus commanded people to repent, Jesus didn't expect them to go, "Well, that's an interesting word, repentance. It's metanoia in the Greek, isn't it?" No. When Jesus commanded people to repent, He expected them to repent.

Jesus speaks to everyone, Jesus speaks to me and Jesus speaks to you and Jesus says repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. His rule, His reign, His sovereign lordship over every area of my life. What area of my life is it that I need to repent because I'm falling short in that area? I need to recognize it, I need to own it personally, I need to ask for His grace and then I need to obediently follow Christ. And it's in the obediently following of Christ that my repentance is true repentance.

If it's just knowledge, it's an intellectualized response. If it's just emotion, it's a false guilt. It's when I obediently follow Christ that it's real repentance. Eugene Peterson has written many books, he's a retired pastor, former seminary professor. He wrote a book about 20 years ago called A Long Obedience in the Same Direction. He writes this: "There's a great market for religious experience in our world. There is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier generations of Christians called holiness."

"I'm quite sure that for a pastor in western culture at the dawn of this century, the aspect of the world that makes the work of leading Christians in the way of faith most difficult is what Gore Vidal has analyzed as today's passion for the immediate and the casual. Everyone's in a hurry. The person whom I lead in worship, they all want shortcuts. They want me to help them fill out the form that will get them instant credit in eternity. They're impatient for results." And that's why he writes this book on discipleship and calls it A Long Obedience in the Same Direction.

It's all about following Jesus. And every one of us at some point in our lives is needing to repent as part of our following of Jesus. And next week it may be another area where we need to repent. And in three years it may be another area. And in 20 years it may be an area because it's a long obedience in the same direction. If you're here this morning and you're lost, that's not a criticism, that's a statement of Jesus. Jesus is not your savior.

You need to repent and realize He died for you and wants to come into your life and change your life. If you're a prodigal, you've been running away from God rather than running to God, you need to repent and experience the forgiveness of a loving father. If you are an obedient disciple, you love God, you love your neighbor, you want to be the person that Christ wants you to be, you've asked Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you need to repent. Because that's part of allowing Jesus to be the Lord of your life. Jesus said repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Greg: What a great message for all of us today. Pastor JP provides us with great insight. That is why we'd like to make it available to you on CD. Just get in touch and mention today's date. We'll send it your way for just five dollars. Or if you'd like to support this ministry, you can write us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653, or give us a call at 949-916-0250. That's 949-916-0250.

For your gift of 25 dollars or more, we will send you a signed copy of JP's new book, Facing Goliath. Please join us every Sunday at 9 or 11 AM at Crossline Church in Laguna Hills. The address is 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653. Or check us out on the web at crosslinechurch.com. We're going to give you the address and phone number again in a moment, but before we do that, Pastor JP, do you have any insight from today's message?

JP Jones: Thanks, Greg. We're in this series called Read the Red. It's all about the teachings of Jesus Christ. If you have a Red Letter edition of the Bible, then in the Gospels, when Jesus is speaking, it is in red. And all of these messages are based upon the actual teachings and words of Jesus Christ. And the first words of Jesus Christ when He began His public teaching ministry, these were His words: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

Jesus teaches us to repent. Repentance is a great word, it's a gospel word, it's a biblical word, it's an Old and New Testament word. It's a word of grace and it's a word of truth. And wherever we are in our spiritual journey, repentance is God's word to us because repentance is aligning our lives with God's plan. Repentance is turning our wills over to God. Repentance is allowing the truth of God's word to change our minds. Repentance is a turning from self to God, a turning from sin to Christ.

Repentance is following Christ and loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And so wherever we are, whatever issue we're facing, a good response, a biblical response, a godly response is to repent. If you have yet to come into a relationship with Jesus Christ, God's message to you is to repent, to turn from your life and to turn over to Jesus and to cross the line and receive His forgiveness and grace.

If you're a brand-new believer, God's word to you is to repent, to surrender everything in your life to Christ. If you've been walking with the Lord for years, God's word for you is to repent and to continue to seek after Christ, to take the next step in pursuit of Christ. Wherever we are in our spiritual journey and whatever issue we're facing, God's word to us is repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

God's blessing, God's fullness, God's lordship, God's kingdom is available to us and the way into it is repentance. If that's what you want to experience, I invite you to commit yourself to the Lord right now in prayer. Lord, thank you for your kingdom, for your forgiveness and your love and plan for my life, your truth. I want to repent. Empower me to turn from myself and turn to you. Fill me with your spirit that I might surrender to you. Give me the grace to take one more step in following Jesus as the Lord of my life. And I pray that in Jesus' name, amen.

Greg: We want to help you in your relationship with Christ. Please get in touch with us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653, or call us at 949-916-0250. On the internet, you will find us at crosslinechurch.com. We hope to see you at one of our services every Sunday at our new campus in Laguna Hills. For more information and directions, please go to crosslinechurch.com. Please join us next time on Truth That Changes Lives.