What Changes When You Repent? (Repentance) | Season 07, Episode 02 | Simple Truth Podcast

Have you ever known that God wanted you to change something, but you kept putting it off? Nothing may have happened right away, so you started thinking, "Maybe this really isn't that serious." Or even when you finally did turn back to God, the old behavior, the habit, it didn't disappear immediately, and it left you wondering, "Did I really repent if I'm still struggling with the same thing?" In this episode, we're going to answer three important questions about repentance. First, what happens when God tries to get your attention, but you're not responding? Second, how do you know if you've really repented? And third, what will change in your life after you repent? [music] Welcome to The Simple Truth podcast. I'm Ted Ross, and this is season 7, episode 2, What Changes When You Repent. We're continuing our look at repentance. Last episode, we learned that repentance is more than feeling bad. It's changing your mind, changing your direction, and turning toward God in faith. Today, we're getting practical about repentance, and we're answering three questions, starting with question number one. What happens when God tries to get your attention, but you're not responding? Sometimes, God can get our attention right away, right? And we know exactly what he's dealing with. Other times, he keeps showing us the same thing and gives us time to respond. But if we keep ignoring it, and nothing happens immediately, it's easy for us to start thinking, "Well, maybe this isn't serious." But Romans chapter 2 shows us why God's patience shouldn't be mistaken for approval. Romans 2:4, as a reminder, all Bible verses come from the New King James version of the Bible, so feel free to follow along. Here in Romans 2:4, we're going to see that God's kindness gives us room to repent, but that same opportunity, it's wasted if we keep resisting what God is showing us. Romans 2:4, quote, "Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?" Amen. Wow. So, Paul's writing here and says, "Or do you despise?" Do you think little of? Do you treat as unimportant the riches of God's goodness? That is the abundance, the great supply of His goodness. That means God's kindness, His generosity shown toward us. And it says, "Not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance." The goodness of God guides us. It brings us toward something, and that is repentance, the topic of this episode and last episode. And as a reminder, repentance, it's a changing of the mind and direction. You've got to understand that in our relationship with God, the foundation of the very beginning, as Jesus describes in Mark chapter 1, He preached, "Repent and believe the gospel." We are told to change our mind, change our direction, because before we became born again, before we became born from above, and before we started a relationship with God, we were chasing after our desires. We were chasing after the desires of the flesh, and we were getting ourselves into all sorts of evil works, and we had all sorts of strange and difficult and wrong directions. To be clear, the Bible called us wicked, right? So, with that being our past, God says, "Step one, change your mind, change what you're doing. Stop doing what you're doing and do something else. Believe the gospel. put your faith in God, have a relationship with God, and fulfill your purpose. So, it starts with repentance. Understand the fact that at the very beginning, repentance is telling us a very important fact, we were not okay. And that's good. It's good for us to accept the fact that we were not okay. And when we came to God, in many ways in our heart, we can feel both the love of God that we wanted to accept, but also we felt the inadequacy of who we were and the inadequacy of what we brought to the table. God's love is so powerful and so good because we see this tremendous contrast between his goodness and our wickedness, right? Our uselessness, the things that we did that were wrong, how we hurt people, we chased inappropriate desires, we did things that were fleshly and carnal and really delivered no good results, right? And so, the question is begged here in Romans 2:4, do you treat God's patience like permission to keep doing wrong? All too often as Christians, we run into the situation that just because God didn't convict us or come down with fire from heaven immediately, we'll go, "Oh, okay, well then God may just be okay with this thing that I know is quite wrong." His patience is there to give us time to change. It's not permission given to us to stay the same. So, what happens if God keeps giving you and me time? He's convincing us by the Holy Spirit that this is wrong and I want you to stop it, but we keep resisting and resisting. And if we keep resisting over time, he's going to keep showing us what needs to change. And if we still refuse to respond, instead of softening, our heart gets harder. And honestly, our life gets worse. That's where the next verse takes us, Romans 2:5. We're going to see here that ignoring God, it doesn't make us neutral. Every time we refuse God, we resist his spirit, we rebel against him, we become harder, and we move closer to judgment instead of repentance. Romans 2:5 quote, "But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." It says, "But in accordance with your hardness." That is our stubbornness, our resistance, and our impenitent heart. Impenitent is unrepentant, unwilling to change mind. Notice this relationship. God who is wise, who is eternal, who's powerful, who knows the end from the beginning, he's convincing us, he's pleading with us to go this way, and we keep insisting like insolent children. Let's be clear, none of us like to see a spoiled child. But in this relationship, if God is convincing us to go this way and we want to keep going that way, we're acting like spoiled children. And so as we're continually pushing down that way, we are unwilling to change our mind, we're showing a lack of repentance. You've got to understand that for any of you who are parents or have seen parents with spoiled children in public, it can make you very angry cuz you know the parent wants the good for the child, but that child is showing foolishness and is showing an unrepentant heart, unwilling to change their mind. And quite often for a child, it will lead to them doing something destructive to themself or to others. So it can be hard to watch. And yet you and I have experienced this personally ourselves as spoiled children who resisted the hand and the leading of God. And so what happens is that we treasure up, we store up, we accumulate for the future, Paul writes, wrath. That's God's righteous anger against wrongdoing. And he continues, in my experience, to turn up the heat and to turn up what the Bible calls chastening, discipline. And he's doing this and he's ratcheting it up not to just punish us or to cause us to pay some kind of price. He's not looking for us to pay the price. Jesus paid the price. He's doing it to convince us because sometimes, too often, a quiet word doesn't get through. So God is turning up the discipline. He's turning up the heat to get through to us and the hardness of our heart because all we're doing is storing up wrath. We're storing up God's anger against wrongdoing. And a revelation, it says, of the righteous judgment of God. God is not putting up with this stuff. Let's be clear. God is righteous and holy. He knows how things should be and he's in his presence, it says, is fullness of joy and at his right hand there's pleasures forevermore. This is what he wants for your life. He wants peace and joy and self-control, all the fruits of the spirit. And when we're rebelling and we're running against him, we're storing up wrath and rebellion and anger and all sorts of terrible things. God despises those things. None of those things abide in his kingdom and he wants us to be children of the kingdom and to be blessed as he's blessed. So the question for you is putting off repentance really that dangerous? If we're being convinced to repent, is it really that dangerous for us to resist him? Yes, it is. A resisting heart, you or me, it grows more stubborn and it stores up judgment for ourselves and none of us want that. So ignoring God is dangerous and the longer you and I resist, the harder and more stubborn our heart can become. But if that's true, then why does God keep giving us more time to repent? Well, his patience has a purpose. Let's see what that purpose is in 2 Peter chapter 3. In 2 Peter 3:8-10, we're going to see here that God's delay, it's patience from God in giving us time to repent before judgment comes because God wants us to turn away, to have a different mind, to change behavior before his judgment comes down. 2 Peter 3:8, "But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day." God expands and we're going to include this in a teaching in a later season, but God is not bound by time. So the idea of one day to God that you and I would consider 24 hours, to God it could be as a thousand years or as a thousand years to God he treats it as if it's a day. For you and me, a thousand years is a thousand years and none of us have lived that long, but for us a day is a day and God is not bound by time. It's such a powerful and an insane thought to me to think of this being who is not bound by time, but God is way beyond me. And honestly, in the beginning I thought, you know, I've got something going on, maybe I could be I've got an education, maybe I could bring something to the table. Over and over again, I've seen just how foolish I can be and how unwise I could be and in somebody that others can look at me and say, "Ted, you you know this, you know that, you're so great." I'm not great. God is great. And he is so great and he's so powerful and he's so wonderful and the best thing I could do is submit myself to him because for God one day is as a thousand years and vice versa. Verse 9 says, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some count slackness." And we'll define that in a second. But God is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But, the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat, both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. I know we went through three verses, and sometimes I will keep it concise, but sometimes I think it's good to include the context cuz there's so much good stuff here. But, let's take another quick look at that. Beloved, do not forget that with 1 day to the Lord is 1,000 years and vice versa. And in verse 9, it says, "The Lord is not slack." That means the Lord is not slow. The Lord is not late. The Lord is not delayed in action, right? Concerning his promise as some would count slowness or lateness. But, God is long-suffering. It means God is patiently restrained. God is giving us time. Praise God, right? He's giving us time. He is long-suffering toward us, and he's not willing that any should perish. God doesn't want any to be lost. He doesn't want any to be ruined. He doesn't want any to be separated from God. He wants all to come to repentance. That means he wants all to come to change their mind, change their direction, and put their faith and their obedience in God. And in verse 10, he says, to be clear, the day of the Lord, the return of Jesus Christ, the second coming, it's going to come as a thief in the night. It's very clear in this verse that we're not going to know the day or the time because like a thief would sneak in in the night, in which you would never see that thief, the thief's going to come in a time when no one expects. As a thief in the night, the day of the Lord will come. The heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Right here, he's describing something that we'll discuss later in Christian basics as we discuss the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment, right? Those are the two of the last six items in this topic. So, notice that Peter connects here quite clearly repentance and eternal judgment together and it's extremely important. That's why we take God seriously. He's patient. So, you ask yourself, why should I repent now if God is being patient with me? Because if you know God is asking you to change, waiting is still a response and it's a wrong response. If you know God wants you to change, get right on it. If you know God is calling you to repent from something, don't put it off. Seriously. Notice how in this verse as well as in what Paul was describing in Romans, both verses quickly connect judgment right behind repentance that is not fulfilled. You've got to fulfill it. It's killing you right now, those sins, that wickedness is killing you and me. And if God is convincing us to repent from it, we've got to get right on it. It's preventing the fullness of the blessings of God in our lives and it's easy for us to think I'll just deal with this later, but none of us knows how much time we have and today is the best day to respond to God. In fact, in Luke chapter 13, Jesus uses two real tragedies that occurred right there in the New Testament time to make one important point. Don't spend your time judging others, instead make sure that you've repented before God yourself. Let's take a look at that in Luke 13:1-5. We're going to see that when something terrible happens to others, we quickly ask, "What did they do wrong?" And Jesus said, "Stop asking what did they do wrong and ask yourself, am I right with God?" Luke 13:1, quote, "There were present at that season some who told him, that's Jesus, about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. Wow. And Jesus answered and said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered such things? I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those 18 on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." So, notice what he's saying, that at that time people told him a current event, a news story, if you will, in which there were Galileans that Pilate, the Roman governor, he actually slaughtered, he murdered these Galileans and while they were doing pagan sacrifices, the blood of these people, these Jews that Pilate murdered, was mingling with the blood of the pagan sacrifices, all happening at the same time. It must have been shocking and horrible to see. And so, they told Jesus about this, and Jesus' response was, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were somehow worse sinners than others because they suffered this terrible murder?" He says, "I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." And then he described 18 people who a tower, like a stone tower, let's say, fell on them and killed them. And Jesus said, "Do you think they were worse sinners than any other people who dwelled in Jerusalem?" He goes, "I tell you no." And the message that he reinforces over and over again, right? This idea that were they worse sinners, were they more sinful or more guilty than everyone else? He says, "No, they were not." And he says, "You need to repent. You need to think differently. You need to change your mind, right?" And he says, "Unless you repent, unless you think differently, change your mind, and get the mind of God, and obey God in your life, as if you're being convinced by the Holy Spirit. Unless you do those things, you will likewise be destroyed. You'll likewise be lost under judgment. In other words, you will perish. It's a common assumption that if something terrible happens to someone, they must have been a worse sinner than everybody else. But their situation doesn't prove that they're more sinful than you. So instead of judging why they died, you and I need to recognize we need to repent while we still have time. Like we were seeing in Peter just the verse before. God doesn't give you more time so you could keep living the same way. He gives you time because you have a purpose in this earth, and that purpose is to bear fruit. And if you aren't fulfilling your purpose, whatever that purpose may be, then you aren't satisfying the reason for your existence, and you will be judged for that. Don't take my word for it. Jesus says this same thing right here in the next verse, right? God patiently gives us more time. Time to bear fruit or be cut down. Luke 13:6. Tough words, but coming from Jesus Christ himself. Luke 13:6, quote, "He also spoke this parable. A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it." This person came to a a fig tree looking for fruit. And it says, "And he found none." Verse 7. "Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, 'Look, for 3 years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and finds none. Cut it down. Why does it use up the ground?' But he answered, and this person is the keeper of the vineyard, said to him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well, but if not, after you can cut it down.'" Right? What a powerful This is about us, folks. We are this fig tree, and if we're unrepentant, we are a fig tree that is not bearing fruit. God has a purpose for us. God is asking us to do something and we're resisting God's will in our life. And so it comes very clear. This person goes to the fig tree. They're looking for fruit. Fruit is about results, outcomes, visible evidence that's produced from the tree. A fig tree's purpose in life is to bear figs, right? Our purpose in life is to bear fruit, the fruit that God calls us to bear. And it says, he comes to it. He goes, "I've been coming to this fig tree, Ted Ross, let's say. I've been coming to you, Ted, for 3 years, and I'm not finding the fruit I expect from the tree that you are." That's a tough word. I don't know about you. I do not want to be the person that God comes to for 3 years looking for fruit, and I'm never having it when he comes. And so he says to the keeper of the vineyard, "Well, let's just cut Ted down. He's using up ground. I am wasting space, right? And cut it down means remove it completely. It implies judgment, right? And so how many more chances do you think that you and I have to repent? I don't know about you, but when I read verses like this, they make me nervous. If I need to repent of something, I better get to repenting cuz I don't want to have a hardness of heart. I don't want to be storing up wrath. I don't want to be cut down. Verse after verse around repentance not only describes the goodness of God leading us to repentance, but the judgment of God against those who are resisting repentance, right? Do what God is asking you to do before your or my time runs out. And Jesus makes the choice pretty clear. Keep resisting and remain fruitless or respond to God with repentance and begin bearing fruit. Visuals can be very useful for this. So let's take a look at this picture. Here we have a tree. For those listening on the podcast, we have a barren and fruitless fig tree sitting in Israel. So, the ground's fairly dry. This is a kind of pathetic fig tree. It's fairly tall, has very few leaves, it's got branches, it certainly has no fruit. This is a barren and fruitless fig tree. This would be a lot like the type of fig tree that that certain person came up to looking for fruit. Now, let's see what the keeper of the vineyard said. Let's fertilize this tree. Let's give this tree a last chance. So, imagine this fig tree and you for those watching on YouTube, you see this clearly. The keeper of the vineyard dug around it, right? Turned over soil and put fertilizer in there. And that fertilizer has nitrogen, it has all the kinds of nutrients. And if you mix it with water, it gets to the roots and it gives this tree energy. This fertilizer represents a last chance, right? So, it comes and it's provided. Now, if this fig tree still after being fertilized and given this last chance of fertilized and water, still does not produce fruit, then this fig tree will be cut down and this fig tree will be burned. And that is what we are seeing in this third image. We are clearly seeing that tree cut down and set on fire. And I don't know about you, I do not want to be this tree. Instead, I would much rather be this tree. This is the repentance and fruitful tree, which means this tree got fertilized, this tree was given a last chance. And what ended up happening, this tree repents and this tree bears fruit. And this is a good-looking tree. The branches are extended out, the leaves are thick and rich, and there is fruit. So much fruit to be found on this tree. God's patience creates an opportunity. But what matters for you and me is what we do with that opportunity. God gave the tree more time for one reason alone, to see something change. And that's simple truth number 124. God's patience gives you time to repent, not time to stay the same. It's possible to feel bad, to regret what happened when you did something wrong, and to still not really repent. So how do you know when repentance is actually real? And that brings us to question number two. How do you know if you've really repented? You could feel guilty, don't get me wrong. You could be embarrassed. You could even genuinely be sorry for something that you did and still not actually repent. So what's the difference between feeling bad and really turning to God in repentance? Well, the Bible shows us that not all sorrow or sadness is the same. Godly sorrow leads us to repentance, to turning back, to having a different mind, to submitting back to God. And real repentance will change your behavior. So let's look at this in 2 Corinthians chapter 7. 2 Corinthians 7:8-10. Here it says, "Don't measure repentance by how bad you feel, but look at what those feelings actually lead you to do. That's how you measure repentance." 2 Corinthians 7:8. "For even if I made you sorry with my letter" This is Paul writing to the church at Corinth. "I do not regret it." God bless you, Paul. That's a great thing to write. I'm going to read it one more time. "For even if I made you sorry with my letter" These are his epistles, his writings. He's probably talking about 1 Corinthians, right? The first letter he wrote to the church at Corinth. "So for even though I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Verse 9, now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted. But the sorrow of the world produces death. Powerful. He says, "For even though I made you sorry with my letter, I don't regret it." Right? He says, "But I did regret it." It's tough It was still tough on him. These are churches he established. It was tough on him. He didn't want to see them sad and and angry and bothered by the letter that he wrote. But he wasn't sorry. As young people say, "Sorry, not sorry." He wrote the letter because the letter was going to bring godly sorrow. And that godly sorrow, it's grief, it's sadness, it's emotional pain, it's distress. If you could understand something, it's a very powerful to understand. We live in an era that says that all sorrow is bad. There should never be grief. There should never be sadness. We should never have distress. And yet the Bible says we should have grief. We should have sadness. We should have emotional pain. And we should have distress if it's taking us away from something wrong and steering us towards something right. So he said, "Godly sorrow godly grief, godly sadness, godly distress produces repentance. It produces a changing of the mind and a changing of direction." Remember earlier in this episode we talked about a spoiled child. None of us want to think of ourselves as a spoiled child, but we can behave like spoiled children too often. I know I know I can speak for me, maybe not you, but I know I can speak for myself. And yet God comes to us with love. And he will bring grief, sadness, a strong word, some kind of conviction, because that thing we're doing is killing us. You know, there's so many kinds of addictions that we see in this world. And I think we understand, you know, there's an expression they use, tough love. It's a human expression. God's been doing tough love way before we invented that expression. But God comes to us as a loving father, and he wants to straighten us out, because that thing we're doing, which may not be a physical addiction, that's that's kind of obvious, you know, you're injecting something into your body, or you're smoking something, or you're drinking something, and it has an obvious negative effect on you. But what about pride? You don't see it visibly, but it does have the same bad effect on you. You know, what about lying? What about adultery or anger? These are all things that are internal, so they may not be as visible, but they are destroying you. They're very They're disgusting, and they're separating you from God. And you can overcome them. Absolutely, Jesus died for those things, right? Amen. But he says, this godly sorrow produces a changing of the mind, a changing of the direction. And what does that lead to? It produces, it works out, it brings about, accomplishes repentance that leads to salvation. And salvation's a great word. Salvation's a word that we often think about going to heaven, and that's the ultimate form of salvation. But there is the now form of salvation. Salvation is here and now, right? It's being rescued, it's being delivered from destruction. It's salvation when you owe money for a bill, and God comes through for you. It's salvation when you pray for a spouse, and God gives you one. You know, it's salvation when you really need to get out of pride and rebellion, and God delivers you. That's salvation, and salvation here and now. Remember, to be saved is something that's not just happening once, it's something that's happening in perpetuity. It's something much like sanctification. He has sanctified you, but he's then having an ongoing process of sanctification. So, how do you know if you've really repented? That's the question we came in on this. Well, the clearest sign isn't how emotional or how unhappy you are. Sadness does not equal repentance. Remember as it says here in 2 Corinthians 7, the world produces sorrow. There are sad people in this world, but it's not godly sorrow and it's not producing a changing of the mind. It's not producing a changing of direction. So, when we're talking about worldly sorrow, it leads to isolation, leads to illness, and sadly even self-harm at times. That's not the sorrow we're talking about. It's people experiencing emotional grief and pain because of the world around them and because the difficulties they're having addressing it. What we're talking about is godly sorrow. Much like Paul did here with this letter, he's describing his first epistle in 1 Corinthians, and he's describing how this sorrow actually moved the Corinthian church to respond and to behave differently toward God. That is the sorrow that we're looking for. I pray honestly, as tough as it sounds, I pray that the Simple Truth Podcast can create a godly sorrow in somebody who's wrestling with something and can lead to repentance. Not because I want you to have emotional pain or distress or grief. I don't. I wish you to be happy and at peace. I really do pray that. Father, I pray all people listening to this have joy, peace, and righteousness in the Holy Spirit. But the reality is there are things you and I are doing, and I pray that the spirit of the Lord convinces you of sin, righteousness, and judgment as the scripture says, to produce godly sorrow that produces repentance that then leads to salvation. Praise God. At the end of godly sorrow is revelation, repentance, forgiveness, and righteousness. The next verse shows us exactly that. Second Corinthians chapter 7 verse 11. So, is my repentance real? Well, look at what it should produce. An eagerness to make things right and a changed response to what was wrong. Second Corinthians 7:11, quote, "For observe this very thing." Paul writes, "that you sorrowed in a godly manner." "What diligence it produced in you. What clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication. In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter." It says, "Look at what this godly sorrow did. Look at the results of it. Look at the fruit or the outcome of the godly sorrow that you had." Same could be said about you and me. It says, "The diligence it produced in the Corinthian church." That's earnestness, that's eagerness, the serious effort. It shook them up. It got them out of their sleepy state and it brought them to life and they were eager and earnest in pursuing God again. Wow. It says, "What clearing of yourselves." That's not an expression we normally use in English, but it's a desire to make things right. You were eager, you were earnest, you started to give serious effort and then you wanted to make things right. That's what this scripture is saying. He says, "What indignation, what displeasure, what outrage over things that are wrong." You not only wanted to make things right, you were angry and outraged about things that were wrong. Praise God. "What fear or reverence of God, what vehement desire and what zeal." It's passion, what eagerness, what earnest commitment, right? Wow. "In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter." So, how can I tell if my repentance is real? Well, repentance changes more than how you feel. It changes what you do. So, real repentance becomes visible in what you do next. And now God will bless your next steps when you turn to him. But, you can hear the truth. You can see the evidence and still choose not to change. Jesus describes people who do exactly this in Matthew chapter 11. Matthew 11:20 You can have all the evidence you need and still refuse to repent if you're unwilling to change. Matthew 11:20 quote Then he began to rebuke the cities. This is Jesus. in which most of his mighty works had been done because they did not repent. He began to rebuke. Jesus began to reproach, to confront to call out what is wrong. The cities in which most of his mighty works, his miracles his powerful acts It's astounding, but it's the same. Sometimes we act like, well, the people in the New Testament, they were different kind of people. If I saw Jesus cast out a devil or heal the sick then I would have just been right there with him. No, no, no, no, no. Let's be clear. The people in the New Testament are us. At the day of Pentecost, after Jesus' resurrection, there were 120. He had tens of thousands of people following him. But at the day of Pentecost, there were just 120 people. Because our hearts can be a certain way, can't they? So, they saw these mighty works but they did not repent. They didn't think differently. They didn't change their mind. They didn't change their directions. But boy, did they sure show up to get the the loaves of bread and the fish. And boy, did they show up to get their sick healed or to get devils cast out of their children. They showed up for all sorts of things. But they did not repent. Jesus didn't come to do just miraculous works. He came and he preached and he taught. And he died and he was buried and he rose on the third day. And he did it for people to repent and to believe the gospel. So do I ask God for more proof when he's already shown enough? Has God already shown you everything you need to know and you're saying, "Well, God, send me a sign." He sent you a sign. Repent. More evidence won't help if you're unwilling to change. That's what happened with these cities. They saw bigger miracles than you've probably ever seen and they didn't repent. You're not going to see more miracles and somehow be different. You need to act on what God has shown you and you need to do it now. You can see enough. You can know enough and you can still refuse to change. More proof, it won't change a heart that refuses to respond and at some point you have to decide what you're going to do with what God has already shown you. Repentance becomes real when what God has shown you starts changing what you actually do. That's when you've repented and that's simple truth number 125. Repentance is more than sorrow. It produces a changed response. So, repentance, it isn't proving to God how sorry you are and it's certainly not proving to other people at church how sorry you are. That's even more vain. God's not looking for you to shed tears and cry things out and dance during praise when you really aren't changing your behavior at all. He's not looking for outward signs of obedience. He's looking for inward signs of obedience. He's looking for repentance in the heart. So, you may not say something that everyone shakes your hand for and you may not say a testimony that everyone claps for and you can still be fully accepted by God and still be fully repentant. It's amazing how sometimes we think that if I can impress other people at church, then God is impressed and that is so far from the truth. Forget about those people at church. God bless those people at church. God bless those people around you. God bless your Christian friends. It really doesn't matter one thing because as we're going to see later on when we get to the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment at the end of the Christian basics. They're not going to be at the great white throne of judgment. They're not going to be passing judgment on you. God will be. You need to be accepted with God. Repentance is not proving to God how sorry you are. It's a real change in your direction. You're saying when you repent, God, I see that you're right and I want to trust and obey you more than want to keep living my old way. But that begs the question, when you repent, does everything change immediately? Well, what if I know what I should do but I still struggle to do it? Struggling to change is different from refusing to change. We've been talking about the refusal to change up until now. Now let's spend a moment talking about the struggle to change. Don't confuse this is hard with I can't change. You make a decision to change. At times it'll become very difficult. That is something that you may have been living in your old life for a long time. Or there may be reasons why you're clinging on to an inappropriate behavior. It may be something you're using to cope with other things. It may be something that you really just like or you may find that your flesh is really strong and you need to build spiritual strength to be able to overcome these things, right? So don't confuse the hardness with a refusal and be honest about what's pulling you back into old patterns. So what I recommend and I'll do this also towards the end of this episode, make it harder to go back to old patterns. This is a trick that a lot of people do and they find it very useful. Remove things that trigger you. Change routines and set real boundaries because if there's an old behavior you have and you just hate it, make it very hard to do. And we're going to talk a little more about that when we get into our 7-day challenge. If a certain app tempts you, delete your account. Delete the app. If you keep losing your temper, watch what triggers you and step away. If it's certain friends, spend more time with good company. You don't have to spend time with people who are dragging you down. Remember, it doesn't matter what those friends think. I know this may sound harsh, but you and I are going to stand before a great white throne of judgment. As Christians, we believe this. It's written in scripture. Jesus admonishes us and urges us. We're going to stand before judgment and I don't want to be standing before judgment making excuses for friends that I had. I'm going to stand before judgment. I need to keep good company. And to be honest, the best thing you could do for those friends is spend time with good company and that'll likely send a message to those friends that they need to find good company, too. Don't just pray for strength while you leave an open door to the old behavior. Change that environment and make that old life harder, right? Make a good life easier and make the old life harder. For all of those who've ever tried to diet when it comes to food, do you fill your house with all the kinds of foods that you should not be eating? No. You get rid of the foods you should not be eating and you fill your house with the foods that you should be eating. How could you possibly lose weight or diet without doing those steps? If you're someone who's trying to stop using cigarettes, do you fill your living room with cigarettes? Of course you don't. Separate yourself from temptation and put yourself around things that reinforce all the good things that you know you should be doing. And if you stumble, don't surrender and don't give up. Own it. Turn back to God, repent, and take that next right step in whatever it is that you're repenting from. Because yes, God will forgive you again. There is so much space for forgiveness because Jesus died for our sins. He was buried and he rose again the third day. And if you could die for only one sinner, for you, he would have died for you. If just one person, he would die just for you. In fact, think about that. Jesus died exactly for you and he died exactly for this issue. So, be empowered. There is power in the blood of Jesus Christ. There is power for you to overcome every sin. Sin doesn't own you. There is no power over you. The power of sin and the power of devil was broken when Jesus was resurrected from the dead. Praise God. And it's manifested by his spirit. The spirit of God bears witness to what I just said because the spirit of God, the helper, the advocate, he bears witness to the fact that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and all will believe in that. Keep practicing also the five disciplines. You can check it out in Simple Truth Podcast episode 3.1 because if you're trying to draw closer to God, to strengthen your spirit, to help say no to struggling flesh, then you are definitely going to need the five disciplines. You're going to need prayer, and you're going to need to read your Bible, and you need to meditate, you need to fast, right? You're going to do all those things. You're going to seek to be led by the spirit. These things are going to be really, really important for you because you cannot overcome the desires of the flesh with more flesh. You overcome it through the spirit of God. Keep turning toward God and pressing to do his will. Repentance won't always remove the struggles of the flesh overnight, but it will start changing your behavior and the direction of your life. So, what will then begin to look different? Well, that's question number three. What will change in your life after you repent? To answer this question, let's see where the change begins. Before it shows up in your behavior, it shows up in something deeper. It shows up in your heart. And that's exactly what God says to us in Joel chapter two. Joel 2:12-13. We're going to see here that the first thing repentance changes is your heart. You stop resisting God, and you genuinely turn back toward him. Joel 2:12, quote, "Now therefore says the Lord, turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. So, rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and he relents from doing harm." It says, "Now therefore says the Lord, turn to me." What does that mean? Turn back, change direction, repent. Oh, amen. Joel 2:12, the Lord says, "Repent with all your heart." Right? When we discussed the whole Christian season, we got into this in detail. The inner person, the hidden part, your soul and your spirit. Right? He says, "Turn to me with all of your inner person, the hidden part of you. And do it with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning." Right? Mourning is to grieve deeply, it's outward sorrow. There's a place for sorrow, but repentance is not found in the sorrow. Repentance is found in turning back, changing your mind, and doing God's will. The sorrow is just a vehicle to help make that all happen. And it said, "Rend your heart and not your garments." To rend your heart is to tear open, to rip apart your heart. It's not physically doing that. It's not literally happened. But he says, "Tear open or rip apart your heart, your inward part." Right? And not your garments. It was a classic thing in the Old Testament people to tear their clothes to express and he goes, "Don't worry about the tearing of your clothes. Don't worry about giving extra money at church. Don't worry about screaming something to people or writing something on a piece of paper. That's not these outward expressions are not where it counts. Where it counts is in the heart." So, go ahead and do that. Because God is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and he'll turn away from doing harm when you do those things. So, what changes first when I repent? Your heart stops resisting God and starts wanting what he wants. When your heart turns back to God, the old life has to start losing its grip. Repentance, it means letting up of what was destroying you and moving toward the new life that God has for you. Ezekiel chapter 18 makes this choice very clear. Ezekiel 18 verses 31 and 32. Repentance is more than just leaving something behind. God begins giving you a new heart in that area and leads you into a new life. Ezekiel 18:31, "Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourself a new heart and a new spirit. For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies, says the Lord. Therefore, turn and live." Powerful. He says, "Cast away." That means throw away. Get rid of completely all the transgressions. Those are those sins that are trespasses. You have a boundary, something you know you shouldn't do and you keep doing it. That is a transgression. So, God says, "Throw them away. Get rid of those transgressions, the crossing of those boundaries, which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart." New means new, fresh, renewed, right? And a new spirit. That heart is that inner unseen part of a person that we were describing before. He says, "For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies." God has no pleasure. Remember what we saw in 2 Peter? He says, he wishes for all to come to repentance. And here he's saying in Ezekiel, "I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies. I have no pleasure in one dying, in one going to judgment." Instead, he says, God says, "Therefore, turn. Turn back. Change direction. Repent and live." Praise God. What starts changing when God changes my heart? Well, our desires change. Our old sinful patterns start losing their grip. When your heart turns back to God, that inner change starts affecting the rest of your life. That's why God cares so much about what's happening in your heart and works within you to convert your heart. Because when your heart is focused on God, when your heart is purposing to do God's will, the behavior starts changing behind it. The Bible often connects spiritual health with the way that we live, the choices that we make, and our overall well-being. In other words, when your soul starts moving in the right direction, it begins influencing everything else. And we get a beautiful picture of this in 3 John 2. Right? When your soul is moving in the direction with God, that spiritual health starts shaping your choices, your relationships, and your direction. 3 John 2, quote, "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health just as your soul prospers." Right? So, John's writing here and says, "I pray that you prosper, that you succeed, that things go well, that you have a good journey." I don't know about you, but that is exactly what everyone wants in life. And that you prosper in all things, in every and all areas of life. Did you know the Bible wants you to succeed and wants things to go well for you in all areas of your life? Praise God. And to be in health, that's to be physically healthy, sound, and whole. Feel free to look up that word. That's exactly what that word means in the Greek. And it says, "For those things to happen just as your soul prospers." So, prosperity and health, these kind of physical, visible things. He's praying that those things happen as your soul, your inner life, where we think, where we feel, where we choose, as your soul prospers, where it flourishes, where it succeeds, where things go well. Does repentance change more than just my spiritual life? Yes, repentance does. Repentance changes your heart, strengthens your soul, and reshapes your life. And sometimes that change is even bigger than just better choices or healthier relationships. Repentance can also break you out of patterns and deception that have had you trapped. We're going to see this in 2 Timothy chapter 2. It shows that turning back to God helps you escape the devil's traps in your life. 2 Timothy chapter 2:24-26. Repentance, as he sees here, changes what has control over you. You come to your senses when you repent. You see the truth clearly, and you break free from traps that have been keeping you stuck. Praise God. 2 Timothy chapter 2:24. "And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition. If God perhaps will grant them repentance." Pay attention. So that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will. Wow. So the servant of the Lord shouldn't fight, shouldn't argue, but be gentle, able to teach and be patient with people, in humility correcting those who would oppose them. If perhaps, right? Lord willing, God will grant those people, those opposing people, repentance, the ability to change their mind and change their direction. Why? So, it says here, so that they may know the truth and that they may come to their senses. Praise God. That means to regain clear thinking, to be sober. Wow. Praise God. You can humbly teach and correct and be patient with those who are resisting you, and God can grant them repentance and they could come to know the truth and to repent and become born again and come to their senses, start to be sober, start to think clearly and escape the snare of the devil. The snare is a trap, something designed to catch and to hold somebody or an animal. They're ensnared. They're caught and they're held, but God could set them free and he could use you to do it. And they're held by the devil and by his demons, having been taken captive by him to do his will. To be taken captive means they are captured. They're under another's control. And this could be looked at in two ways. This could be looked at people who you are ministering to, who you are witness to and you're representing and that they're repenting and coming out of that. But you could also look at it as yourself. When you became born again, you were captured. You were under another's control. You had to regain clear thinking. You were caught and held under the traps of the devil. And it's a reminder of how you and I had to come out of something and they have to come out of something. And what is sanctification? What is this wilderness experience? What's this process that we often talk about here at The Simple Truth Podcast? It's coming out of that old life. It's putting to death the old man with all those bad behaviors, those bad habits, those bad ways and walking in the new life bought for you by Jesus Christ. How does repenting help me get free from what had me trapped? Well, it helps you recognize the devil's traps, helps you reject lies, and helps you move toward freedom in Christ Jesus. When you turn from the old way and start seeking God again, you're not just leaving something behind. You're moving toward forgiveness, restoration, and tremendous healing. And that's exactly what we're going to see here in our final scripture with 2 Corinthians chapter 7. 2 Corinthians 7:14, when you humble yourself, seek God, and turn from the old way, something changes. God responds with forgiveness and restoration. Here's a verse often quoted at churches today, but when you see it in the context of repentance, then you can see why repentance is so valuable. Why you and I behaving like a spoiled child does nothing for us. It stores up wrath, it hardens our heart, it leads us to destruction, and as Jesus described, it's a tree waiting to be cut down. But if you repent, you will see here in 2 Corinthians 7:14, quote, "If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." My people who are called by my name, Christians, will humble themselves, they'll lower themselves, they'll submit. And if they will pray and seek my face, if they will search for, pursue, earnestly desire the face of God, and turn from their wicked ways, turn back, change direction, if they will repent. That's what that word means. From their wicked ways, then God will forgive their sin. He will pardon, he will release them from guilt, and he will heal their land. He will restore, he will repair, he will make your household whole and healthy. Praise God. And your nation and your city. Praise God. What really changes when we repent, you ask? That was the question that we started with this. Everything moves in a new direction. God forgives you. He restores what sin has damaged in your life. He frees you from old traps and he leads you into a better life. That is the beauty of repentance. Remember godly sorrow. It seems like grief. It seems like emotional pain, but it's there to bring salvation, right? You're not leaving something wrong behind. You're moving forward to God where there's forgiveness, restoration, freedom, and a better life to begin. And that brings us to simple truth number 126. Repentance turns you toward God and then your life follows along. That's what real repentance does. Your heart turns back to God and your life starts moving in that new direction. So, let's make it personal. What is God asking you to leave behind? And what is the next step he's asking you to take toward him? What should I do now? Okay. So, repentance is more than feeling bad about what I've done. God gives me time to respond. And when I really turn back to him, my life will start changing. And I now know that I need to respond to God while there's time. Don't put him off. I need to turn from what's wrong and start doing what's right. That's repentance. And I need to let my new direction change how I live and behave. Repentance starts in the heart and starts showing up in the actions. Amen. But how exactly can I do this in my life? Well, here's a suggestion. Why don't you try this for the next 7 days? We call it the live the change 7-day challenge. Day one, decide what change should look like. Pick one area where you need to move in a new direction. You'll know what that is. I don't know what that is for your life. You'll know what that is. And if you don't know, pray about it. Then, be specific. Tell yourself when this happens, instead of doing this thing that I know is wrong, I'm going to go do this thing, which I know is right. Be very clear to yourself and distinguish and create a contrast between the wrong thing that you've been doing too often and the right thing, which is going to be the righteousness that you're going to start to do. In days 2 through 7, ask for God's help and practice the new response. When that old habit shows up, catch it. Take a moment and ask God for help. Say, "Not this time. I used to always do it that way. Not this [clears throat] time." Ask God for help. Pray to God for help. Give him praise and purposefully go down that other direction. If you make a mistake, don't quit. Own it. Turn back and try again. You're going to be persistent, but you're going to be bold and persistent. Days 3 through 7, protect your new direction. Remove a trigger, change a routine, set one boundary that helps you succeed. As we mentioned earlier in this episode, make that old way harder. Make the new way easier. Remember we were talking about dieting? If you're trying to diet and lose weight, you don't fill up your house with a bunch of old bad foods that are going to get you in trouble. You fill up your house with all the good foods, the things you should be doing. So, go ahead and change your routine, change your trigger, get rid of it. Set a boundary. Start setting yourself up for success. Don't rely on willpower. Make it easier to do what is right. And feel free to watch episode 3.9, how to trust and obey the Holy Spirit. That is an episode that helps you go in this direction, because as we said before, you're not going to overcome the flesh with flesh. You're going to overcome the flesh by building up your spirit. So, seek to be led by the spirit. God bless you as you keep walking with God. Repentance, it isn't always easy, but it's incredibly important. God has already done so many great things in your life. Now let him be Lord in this one area, too. He has the power to help you change. Only he has it, and you won't regret following him. And if you need more help with the seven-day challenge, watch episode 3.9, which is on your screen right now. And don't miss the next episode, removing from repentance to the next Christian basic in Hebrews chapter 6, and that is faith. We're going to see what faith really is and what it really means to trust God. And subscribe for more simple, biblical, and essential truth. [music]