The Joyful Penitent

Bethel Mennonite Church - Gladys VA

Sin blocks/hinders fellowship with God. Repentance clears sin away, opening the way and restoring fellowship with God and joy. Walking in the light of fellowship with Christ is the life of a penitent. In the Light they see their sins. They’re sensitive to sin and repent of it to keep fellowship flourishing. (Acts 3:19; 1 John 1:4-9).

What makes up repentance?

• Conviction. The case and realization we have sinned. Reprobates and those with seared consciences may not feel conviction. Not everyone who’s convicted repents. But all penitents feel conviction.
• Contrition. The remorse and grief that comes with conviction, knowing we’ve grieved the Spirit, and seeing fellowship affected. Paul wrote of godly sorrow that leads to repentance and worldly sorrow that doesn’t. (2 Cor 7:9-10).
• Confession. Agreeing with God regarding our sin and sinfulness. David’s confession after his sin against Uriah, Bathsheba, and God is a classic example. When confronted by the prophet, he said, “I am the man.” No excuses. Psalm 51 is his moving confession, lament, and prayer.
• Change of heart. A change of mind and purpose from sin and selfishness to God. After Paul was helped to his feet after his experience on his way to Damascus, he was still headed toward Damascus, but his heart had done a 180-degree turn.
• Forsaking old. Leaving sin and carnality. What does that look like?
  • Forsaking means following through. Sometimes people delay and put off taking the practical steps. They’ve decided, but haven’t followed through. They may feel relief, elation, and even rest, but they’re not further along. The longer the delay, the more likely their new resolve weakens and withers. (Parable of the soils Matthew 13).
  • Forsaking means leaving sin. A break with wrong thoughts, attitudes, behavior.
  • Forsaking means not looking back. Israel murmured against Moses and remembered Egypt. (Numbers 11; Hebrews 11:13-16). Those who look longingly back increase their risk of returning to the old life.
  • Forsaking means hating sin. 1 John 1.15; Psalm 97.10; Proverbs 8.13. Not an on/off switch for that. Anything that improves our relationship with God and coming to see sin from God’s point of view will help make sin less appealing. It’s possible to feel the appeal and temptation of sin while despising it (Romans 7).
  • Forsaking sin means making no provision for the flesh. Don’t make it easy to sin. Christians pray “lead us not into temptation” but sometimes carelessly walk in the counsel of the ungodly, stand with sinners, and sit where the scornful gather. They hear the thoughts and stories of the scornful and watch their activities. Those influences are not edifying and weaken the righteous.
• Embracing the new. “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” Hebrews 12.1-3 is repentance in a nutshell. A Christian doesn’t stop sinful behavior and attitudes through brute force and will power without God’s grace for victory. We need the “Holy Spirit and fire” John the Baptist said Jesus would bring. When we experience John 15 and Philippians 1.6 and 2.13, we’re walking in the Light. It’s putting on the new man (Ephesians 4:14 and others).

We have this treasure in earthen vessels (2 Cor 4.7). As long as we live on earth, we’ll be subject to some degree of the pull of temptation. But how well we forsake the old and embrace the new life in Jesus will affect how strong temptations are. The song says, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim . . .” Salvation puts us in a right standing with God. Then begins the work of sanctification, God changing us into people who live righteously, reflecting the character of Christ. The penitent’s journey isn’t always steadily upward. When they stumble and fall, which they surely do (1 John 1.6), they repent, and by God’s mercy and grace, they rise to their feet and continue on the journey with the joy of salvation and fellowship with God.

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