1 John 1:5-11
When I was just a child, my father taught me how to play golf. It may seem obvious to say, but golf consists in hitting a ball in the right direction and as far as you want it to go. To do that, you have to swing a golf club and then bring it down so that it hits the ball. Each person has his own unique swing. Most golf swings achieve, to one degree of success or another, the primary purpose of the game – to hit the ball. But one kind of swing which never hits the ball is that swing which takes the golf club back to the height of the backswing and then doesn’t bother bringing the club back down to hit the ball. Unless the golf club makes contact with the ball, the ball won’t go anywhere and the primary purpose of the game is defeated. If you just play a half-swing, a back-swing, golf is only half-done.
When it comes to Gospel repentance there is an equivalent of the uncompleted golf swing – namely, that repentance which is merely turning from sin. For there to be repentance unto life, there must be a turning away from sin. The most frequently used word in the Bible for repentance means to change one’s mind. To change one’s direction you have to turn away from the direction in which you were walking. But that is only half the story. Many turn away from their sin having no intention of repenting unto life. This is only half-repentance. According to our catechisms, full repentance unto life consists not only in ‘with grief and hatred of sin turning from it’, but also, ‘turning from it unto God’. These two little words, ‘unto God’ transform the nature of repentance from the half-thing which it is if only we turn from sin, to the fullness of repentance if we turn unto God. As we think about what it means to turn unto God, I want to see three things this evening: first, conditions of turning; secondly, confession of sin and lastly, confidence in God’s forgiveness.
[A] Conditions of Turning
The heart of Gospel repentance unto life consists in turning unto God. There is, especially in the minor prophets of the OT, a multiplicity of invitations to return to God. As we think about what it means to turn unto God, we are to train our minds in two directions: first, turning to a person and secondly, turning to our joy.
1. Turning to a Person – the consistent Biblical command is, ‘return to me’ (Jeremiah 4:1; Joel 2:12; Malachi 3:7 etc). This is a command to return not to a set of standards; not to a religious ceremony – but to return to a person – to God Himself. The prophets who penned these words are often presented as uncaring men who enjoyed preaching doom. Nothing could be further from the truth – these were men who, in the last analysis, were lovers of God. The Puritans who framed the Shorter Catechism are likewise presented as harsh, unforgiving men of iron – but these too, if you should read their writings, are men filled with passionate affection and ardent love for God. How many illustrations we could provide of how true Gospel repentance consists in not only turning away from our sin but turning towards God – the God who is the lover of our souls: the child who disobeys his parents but returns to them because he loves them or the husband who offends his wife but says sorry because he loves her. Repentance is first and foremost not a system for the absolution of our sins, but a means of returning to God – to our Father, to our spiritual husband, to the fairest among ten thousands, to the Son who gave Himself for us, to the Spirit who is transforming us, to the Father who loves us. In repentance, we turn from lost rebellion to loving relationship.
2. Turning to our Joy – Amos 4 forms a devastating inditement of all that is wrong with God’s people. There is religious hypocrisy and pride. To bring them to their senses, God sends various trials but the consistent refrain of the passage is, “’yet you have not returned to me’, declares the Lord.” They are being oppressed by foreign nations, their crops are failing and their people are falling victim to disease – but despite all these goads from God, they refuse to return to Him. In our spiritual lives, we may be going through times of dryness or joylessness – could it be that these are God’s goads calling us to repentance? Could it be that we are forfeiting our joy in the Christian life because we are refusing to return to Him? Do we not realise that our highest joy is to be found in our deepest repentance? To return to God is to return to joy in the Christian life. Our greatest happiness in the Christian life is found in our deepest humility before God. Weeping bitter tears of repentance leads to weeping glad tears of joy. Far from repentance being a call to ultimate grief; it’s a call to find our ultimate joy and pleasure in a close relationship with God.
The heart of Gospel repentance consists in turning to God. And therefore, lest we perform a proud, self-sufficient half-repentance, let’s repent unto life by returning to God’s greatest glory and our deepest joy.
[B] Confession of Sin
The heart of repentance and turning to God is the confession of sin. The word most frequently used in the Bible for confession means, ‘to say the same as’. In other words, to confess our sins is to confess that we feel the same about our sins as God does – that we find our sin repulsive, offensive and hurtful. According to the passage we read in 1 John 1:9, it is as we confess our sins to God that we are forgiven and purified. Confession plays a part in all the major prayers of the Bible – from the prayers of Paul to the Lord’s prayer with its famous line, ‘forgive us our debts’, to the prayers of the Psalms and the prayers of Solomon. Does confession of sin play a prominent role in our prayers? Do we tell God that we feel the same about our sin as He does and that we desire His presence more than our sin? If we do, then there are to be four features of our confession: first, it is to be heartfelt; secondly, it is to be honest; thirdly, it is to be holistic and lastly, it is to humble.
1. Heartfelt – when we talk about ‘heartfelt’ confession of sin, we’re back in the territory of the grief with which we grieve over sin and the hatred with which we hate sin. This is to be the heartfelt confession of sin in that our sin troubles us. We dare not remain arrogant and proud in our rebellion before the God who loves us and who has given His Son to die for us. Rather, we return to Him with grief over the offence we have caused Him. Our confession is to be a heartfelt return to the experience of the loving embrace of our God.
2. Honest – honesty in our confession relates to the sincerity and simplicity of our repentance. There are many different reasons why a human being may repent, but only repentance unto life is a saving grace – that repentance which pursues and returns to personal relationship with God Himself. Jesus berates and condemns those hypocritical Pharisees of Matthew 6 who put on a show of piety, but whose hearts are insincere – they want only the praise of men, not of God. Similarly, sincerity and honesty in repentance means returning only to God; no double-mindedness or lukewarm-ness – a sincere, single-minded repentance unto God.
3. Holistic – in our confession of sin, we must echo the prayer of Psalm 139 – “search me and know my heart … See if there is any offensive way in me.” Our burden must be to confess all our sins. Whether these be sins of thought, word or deed; whether these be evil things we have done or good things we have failed to do, we confess them all before God. We confess them individually and we confess them generically. It is as God says in Ezekiel 18:30 – “repent, turn away from all your offenses.” We dare not allow precious sins to go un-confessed – to pray for forgiveness for greed but to remain unrepentant concerning our hatred.
4. Humble – to be humble in our confession of sin is to refuse to justify ourselves – it is to refuse to pretend that we had to sin; or to suggest to God that what we did wasn’t that sinful. To be humble before Him is to accept how offensive our sin is to God and not to try to attempt self-justification. It is to say, ‘mea culpa’ – ‘I am guilty’. ‘But’ is never a word we should use concerning our sins – ‘but I had to’, ‘but if it had been you’, etc. Rather, we accept responsibility and confess.
Heartfelt, honest, holistic and humble confession is a vital element in turning to God from sin. This isn’t the Spanish Inquisition, this is our returning to the experience of the love of God and to the pleasures of His joy in us.
[C] Confidence in God’s Forgiveness
If in the spir If in the spirit of returning to God that we may regain the experience of the intimate beauty of close fellowship with Him, we confess our sins to Him, can we be sure of His forgiveness? Can we be confident that He shall forgive us and that He shall ‘return to us’’? The answer is yes – God isn’t like us – He doesn’t sulk or give us the silent treatment; rather, in predictably beautiful love, He will forgive and restore us. There are three grounds upon which we can have such confidence: first, His paternal love; secondly, His plan of salvation and lastly, the promises of Scripture:
1. Paternal Love –the parable of the Prodigal Son should, I believe, be renamed the parable of the Loving Father. It reveals the heart of our Loving Heavenly Father to us – a Father who is more willing to give forgiveness than we are to receive it – a Father who is waiting to embrace us. His love for us ensures that we shall receive His forgiveness for the asking. This is the heart of God – that His people should return to Him that He may shower the blessings of His presence upon them.
2. Plan of Salvation – why did God demonstrate His love for us as sinners if it was not to forgive and purify us? Why did Jesus suffer on the Cross if it was not to win our forgiveness? Why does the Holy Spirit strive within us if it is not to bring us to repentance? The whole plan of salvation has been perfectly worked so that people like us may repent of our sins and find forgiveness in the blood of Jesus Christ. His blood has been provided for this very reason – this is what the Cross is for.
3. Promises of Scripture – Scripture is filled with promises which assure us of God’s forgiveness of our sins. The Old Testament contains promises such as Zechariah 1:3 – “’return to me’, declares the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will return to you’ says the Lord Almighty.” The New Testament contains promises such as 1John 1:9 – “if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to purify us from all unrighteousness.” Scripture is a repository of promises for the repentant sinner.
It is said of certain people that, ‘he does nothing by halves’. Let’s ensure that in this one thing, repentance unto life, we do nothing by halves. But rather, in turning from our sin we turn unto God. He shall restore the years the locust has eaten, restore our salvation’s joy and give us back the joy we had in Him. Brothers and sisters in Christ – let’s joyfully and grievously repent unto life by turning unto God. In this repentance unto life, there is great glory for God and great joy for us.
