Posted: 5/25/07
Explore the Bible Series for June 3
Finding God’s mercy through repentance
• Joel 1:15-16; 2:12-13, 18, 25-32
First Baptist Church, Duncanville
This week, we begin a new study as we turn to the minor prophets. It may be a different part of the Bible, but the message hasn’t changed. Just as Peter encouraged an eternal mindset, Joel cries out for the realization that God will bring judgment on sin. We must turn to God in repentance and faith if we are going to appropriate his mercy.
There are two issues here. The first is the reality of God’s judgment. The second is the necessity of true repentance. In our study of 2 Peter, we talked about the inevitability of God’s judgment. Let’s talk this week about repentance.
What is repentance?
Most of us have only a fuzzy understanding of repentance. It’s one of the words we often hear in religious circles, and it pops up with alarming regularity in the teachings of Jesus and Paul. But if we were pressed to define it, we might find ourselves at a loss for words.
We tend to associate repentance with tearful confessions and heartfelt apologies. The idea being we can say we’re sorry, and the matter will be over. The Bible teaches forgiveness is a cornerstone of God’s nature, so in our minds, all we have to do is apologize, and God must forgive.
The trouble is we begin to take God’s mercy for granted. In spite of our remorse, we’ll often sin again in the same way before the hour is up. And since God’s mercy is free, we’ll give another quick apology and be on our merry way.
Easy mercy isn’t a biblical concept, though. It’s man’s way of watering down our responsibility in the God-man relationship. And we presume too much when we expect God’s blessings while refusing to give up our disobedience.
God has called us into relationship with him, and we maintain relationship by obeying him. His rules are simple. We must love him and love others. When we fail in this mandate, we fall out of relationship with God, and only through repentance can we be restored.
In the Old Testament, repentance is communicated by two verbs meaning “to return” and “to feel sorrow.” In the New Testament, the word used to express repentance means “to think differently after.” In both instances, it is a change of mind and heart. Feelings of sorrow may be part of the process, but they are not, in and of themselves, repentance. If we want to restore relationship, we must have a change of heart.
Joel tells us, “Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity” (2:13). God wants more than tears and empty words. He wants true repentance, which is a determined effort to turn away from our sin and change.
Balancing a sinful nature with the need to change
All of this sounds well and good, but the reality is not so pretty. All of us have felt remorse over sin and honestly desired to change, only to find change impossible. If it helps, even Paul suffered such defeat. He tells us: “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing (Romans 7:18-19).
Part of the process of repentance is working out a changed heart, and the evidence is changed thoughts and behavior. But achieving this change is not an easy process. We will come up against and have to overcome some deeply engrained habits. Only through real effort will we win the goal.
Remember, all behavior grows out of our thoughts. Thoughts grow out of our attitudes. And attitudes grow out of our belief system. They are like the layers of an onion. We can peel back one layer, but we will only expose another. For real change to occur, we must be willing to peel away each layer, exposing wrong thinking and a weak belief system. It is an unpleasant experience and often brings tears, but if we want to change, we must be willing to go through the process.
So how do we begin? We begin by accepting the truth about ourselves. We are steeped in sin and must throw ourselves on the mercy of God. “There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins” (Ecclesiastes 7:20). We must remain fully aware of our tendency to do wrong. Once we forget this, we begin sliding down the slippery slope of justifying our behavior and adjusting God’s word to suit our sins.
We must also accept the truth about God. He is merciful and loves us deeply, and he desires to be close to us. “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness” (Jeremiah 31:3). He desires to extend mercy. “Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon” (Isaiah 55:7). But he also is perfect, and sin cannot enter his presence. “Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false” (Psalm 24:3-4).
We must then take our focus off our selfish desires and plans and focus on God, his loving mercy and his plans. We must get to know him personally through prayer and Bible reading. We must begin to correct our wrong thinking, aligning our thoughts with God’s words. And we must strengthen ourselves against the tendency to sin. “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11).
Realizing the greatness of our God, we must commit not to take advantage of his mercy. What he asks is difficult because we are sinful, but it isn’t impossible. Will we fail now and then? Yes. But we must never give up striving to become the people God made us to be. Like athletes, we must train in righteousness and study our defeats. We must ask God to strengthen us against sin and then work toward righteousness.
We must realize we can’t change ourselves by ourselves. Sure, we can change our behavior for a time, but unless our hearts change, we won’t be able to sustain our efforts. Only through the power of the Holy Spirit can true change be wrought. But knowing this, we cannot stop trying. Change occurs when we combine our effort with God’s power. Through close communion with God and a sincere desire to please him, we open the door for God’s changing power to affect our lives.
Repentance is a decision, and godliness is a choice we make every minute of every day. As Joel says: “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision” (v. 14). We want God’s mercy. The question is whether we want it enough to turn away from our sin.
Discussion questions
• What sinful behavior or attitude is your greatest weakness?
• What are you doing to overcome it?
• What benefits do you get from it that might make it difficult to give up?
• Do you love God enough to give it up for good?
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