Repentance
James 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
1-Draw near to God: What happens when we draw near to God? He draws near to us, what an amazing outcome.
2-Cleanse your hands: Repent
3-Purify your heart: Repent
Repentance, you double-minded. James says a double-minded person is unstable in all your ways, because you’re trying to love yourself AND love God, love the things of the world AND follow God, and you can’t do both! You have a heart issue. You’re double-minded because your heart is torn, one part of you wants God, one part of you wants the world, and it doesn’t work. So he calls us to repentance, and repentance looks like verse 9.
2-Cleanse your hands: Repent
3-Purify your heart: Repent
Repentance, you double-minded. James says a double-minded person is unstable in all your ways, because you’re trying to love yourself AND love God, love the things of the world AND follow God, and you can’t do both! You have a heart issue. You’re double-minded because your heart is torn, one part of you wants God, one part of you wants the world, and it doesn’t work. So he calls us to repentance, and repentance looks like verse 9.
James 4:9 Be wretched and mourn and weep.
Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
True repentance leads to mourning, to weeping. When I’ve had my teeth kicked in, when I’ve been confronted by a brother or sister in Christ, when I realize that I have sinned against them, tears fill my eyes. I’m broken-hearted over this. James says, here’s what true repentance looks like. It’s a glimpse of what your sin really looks like to a holy, almighty, righteous God. I’ve done some martial counseling for some of you, and I use the book “Real Marriage” by Mark and Grace Driscoll, and they outline what repentance is and what it is not. If we need to repent because of the quarrels among us, we need to know what repentance looks like.
Repentance is NOT:
1-Getting caught. It’s not getting caught, it’s coming clean. You have to own up if you get caught, but if you come clean before you get caught, there’s a heart of repentance.
2-Denying our sin. Not accepting that it’s even sin! Your spouse may differ on that, because you’ve hurt or are hurting them. Just because you don’t want to own your sin doesn’t mean it’s not being owned by others, and not impacting others.
3-Diminishing your sin. Downplaying, or only confessing part of it, or saying it’s not that big a deal. It’s sin – sin is sin. Don’t diminish it.
4-Managing your sin, trying to keep it under control. Creating an illusion of yourself so people won’t really see what’s going on inside your life, your head, and your heart because of sin, probably because the sin of pride.
5-Blame-shifting. You don’t get to say that you did it because of what someone else did. “You did this, you caused me to do this!” Adam started that with Eve all the way back in Genesis, and we’ve continued it on.
6-Excusing our sin.
7-Saying it's because of someone else’s sin. Just because someone else sinned, doesn’t diminish your sin. It’s not about somebody else’s sin, and it’s not about manipulating God or other people in order to get a blessing. How many times have you faked repentance in order to not put your sin to death? You want to manipulate God, with no desire to even attempt to change.
8-Worldly sorrow. It’s not just shedding a few tears, looking sad, and saying you’re sorry. Repentance is not just grieving the consequences of your sin, but hating the evil of your sin itself. It’s not merely confession, it’s a deep, heartfelt commitment to change.
Repentance IS:
1-Confession. Yes, I have sinned. Own it, not just with your mouth but with your mind and heart.
2-Contrition. Feel what God feels about your sin, in your emotions and expressions, your heart is impacted.
3-Change. Stop sinning, and start worshiping.
That’s what James 4 is all about. Faith helps me see my needs, and not just my wants, and my need is to repent. Repent of my wrong passions, repent of my wrong possessions, and repent of my desire for wrong positions. James’ final encouragement is this:
Repentance is NOT:
1-Getting caught. It’s not getting caught, it’s coming clean. You have to own up if you get caught, but if you come clean before you get caught, there’s a heart of repentance.
2-Denying our sin. Not accepting that it’s even sin! Your spouse may differ on that, because you’ve hurt or are hurting them. Just because you don’t want to own your sin doesn’t mean it’s not being owned by others, and not impacting others.
3-Diminishing your sin. Downplaying, or only confessing part of it, or saying it’s not that big a deal. It’s sin – sin is sin. Don’t diminish it.
4-Managing your sin, trying to keep it under control. Creating an illusion of yourself so people won’t really see what’s going on inside your life, your head, and your heart because of sin, probably because the sin of pride.
5-Blame-shifting. You don’t get to say that you did it because of what someone else did. “You did this, you caused me to do this!” Adam started that with Eve all the way back in Genesis, and we’ve continued it on.
6-Excusing our sin.
7-Saying it's because of someone else’s sin. Just because someone else sinned, doesn’t diminish your sin. It’s not about somebody else’s sin, and it’s not about manipulating God or other people in order to get a blessing. How many times have you faked repentance in order to not put your sin to death? You want to manipulate God, with no desire to even attempt to change.
8-Worldly sorrow. It’s not just shedding a few tears, looking sad, and saying you’re sorry. Repentance is not just grieving the consequences of your sin, but hating the evil of your sin itself. It’s not merely confession, it’s a deep, heartfelt commitment to change.
Repentance IS:
1-Confession. Yes, I have sinned. Own it, not just with your mouth but with your mind and heart.
2-Contrition. Feel what God feels about your sin, in your emotions and expressions, your heart is impacted.
3-Change. Stop sinning, and start worshiping.
That’s what James 4 is all about. Faith helps me see my needs, and not just my wants, and my need is to repent. Repent of my wrong passions, repent of my wrong possessions, and repent of my desire for wrong positions. James’ final encouragement is this:
James 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
Whatever else is on the throne of your heart, MOVE IT! Whether that’s you, your spouse, your child, somebody or something really important to you. Stop going after those things for YOUR glory, and go after his glory. You’re not God, so get out of his seat. His rightful seat is on the throne of your heart. If you do change your passions and possessions and position, and chase after His glory, he will exalt you. It’s for His glory and your good.