Jesus Preaches Repentance Matthew 4:17 Commands Of Christ

Jesus' passion is to bring the lost to Him and redeem them.

The command to make disciples is central to the Christian faith.

Repentance is a key term in understanding God's perspective on sin and obedience.

Repentance involves conviction, change of mind, confession, and return to God with all one's heart and soul.

Thank you. Testing, there I'm on. Okay. I've started a new series, if you've been with me. On purpose. We follow Jesus on purpose. He has a cause. He has a reason for us to come after Him. His compassion and love for the world is so intense that He cannot stand to see one person and drop off into eternity, into the eternal lake of fire. And so his passion, his goal, his drive, his whole focus, even though he's got the universe he can deal with, his whole focus, according to his word, is on bringing those that are lost in this world to him. So he can redeem them and bring them to life. He called the church to focus on this. This was the command given when he left. He said, of all things you could do, I'm going to build my church and here's what you're going to do to help me. Go make disciples of all nations. Go make disciples. Teach them to observe everything I've already commanded you to do because my commands, my directives are what will bring you life. It will bring you eternal blessing and goodness and so therefore you must concentrate on making disciples. You must concentrate on being a disciple so that you can make disciples and I've called you to this great task. But if you notice those words, teach them to observe all things that I've commanded you already is the key, central idea. As he stood there with those 12, we were never there. That happened so long ago, 2,000 years ago. But the connection between us and them was go tell others so they can make more disciples so that the commandments, The directives I've given will continue to go generation after generation. Now we are many generations later of people. And the church, we the church, us right here that claim to be the followers of Jesus, must now focus our attention on this disciple-making process. It must be our drive to see the commands of God delivered into our hearts with great impact so that we are never the same people again, but we follow Him day and night. When we're at home or when we're at church, when we're at work or at school, and when we're home also. That we are sharing and living that out, that commands He's given. And so I want to look at the very first command given to all men. And it's the simple word, repent. That's the key term. I want you to look in your Bibles in 1 Kings chapter 8 to start with. And I want to focus my beginning definition so that you understand God's perspective, God's description of what repentance is to Him, not to us. We must understand when God tells us a command, repent and follow me, we have to understand what that means. In 1 Kings chapter 8, what we're looking at is a portion of Scripture that is King Solomon praying. They had just finished building the great temple to God. They dedicated it. King Solomon stood before all his people, all the millions of people that gathered for this incredible event. He then got on his knees in front of all of them, and he held his hand straight up into the air while he was on his knees, and he prayed an incredible prayer as he began to express the truth of having a relationship with God. In the portion I want you to look at, it's studying with verse 47, he says these words, yet when they come, speaking of Israel, when they sin, when they blow it, when they then find themselves in trouble at this point, he's asking God to have mercy. And he says, when they come to themselves, first idea I want you to understand, they come to themselves, their minds click and they go, what am I doing here? Blink, a light bulb comes on. In the land where they were carried captive. And repent, there's my second point, the word repent, and make supplication. Supplication means pleading or begging. And when they begin to beg you in the land of those who took them captive, saying, we have sinned and done wrong. There's the third thing. They've admitted they're wrong. We have committed wickedness. And when they return to you with all their heart, notice the term, all their heart, and with all their soul, Those terms are so important to implement into our lives. It says, In the land of the enemies who led them away captive and prayed to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city which you have chosen, and the temple which I have built for your name, then hear. There's the first response once they've truly repented. Then hear in heaven, in your dwelling place, their prayer, and their beggings. And maintain their cause. Notice that term. Restore their cause. Forgive your people who have sinned against you and all their transgressions which they have transgressed against you and grant them compassion. Now look up here at the screen. Here's the points of the Scripture we've given. Let me make it clear. Step one then, to understand God's perspective of repentance. It's a process that goes through your mind and your soul. Step one is you have to come to yourself. The term we use all the time is conviction or convincing. When we say that somebody is convicted of their sin, it means there's something that pushed them to shake them awake, that they were in trouble and they didn't want to admit it before. They couldn't see it before. They didn't understand it. They didn't know it. but something's happening and rattling them, and they're coming to themselves. They're being convicted of being wrong before God. That's point one, or step one. Step two is the term repentance. The idea of the Lord is to change your mind and change your direction about things. It's simply stated, and we do repentance in many things all the time. You perhaps got in your car and said, I'm going to go to Publix, and I'm going to go buy some groceries. Wow, whistle alert here. Then, when you get into your car, you start to travel over to that place, you notice there's an accident in the road. And you go, I don't want to go this way. So you turn around and you go to Winn-Dixie instead because you can't get to Publix. You repented of where you were heading. You turned around and went to a different spot. Change of mind always brings a change of direction. It doesn't make sense if you say that you changed your mind and you still do the same thing, is it? If you change your mind, that means your body follows that change and you go do something else. It's real simple. The same is the idea that we have with God. You can't say you repented of your sin and keep on sinning. You have to stop what you're doing and begin to obey. That's why the commands are so clearly connected right here. Repentance has to do with sin, turning from sin and going into the state of obedience. Stopping what you've done, clean up, turn around, and move this way. That's repentance. That's verse 47 also. Also in verse 47, we see this term. They had to say with their mouth, we're wrong. That's admission or confession. The word confession means to admit you've done something. When you get a confession out of a criminal, they don't confess that they need it. Somebody else did it. The confession means, I did it. You're confessing to the crime because you got caught. Now you admit it that you are the guilty one. That's confession. God says you must confess that you've done wrong. You cannot come to Him and make excuses like Adam and Eve did. You can't blame it on your wife. You can't blame it on the animals around you. You can't blame it on God or your environment. you have to confess and admit, I'm wrong. I'm the sinner. I'm the blasphemer. I'm the liar. I'm the adulteress. I'm the adulterer. I'm the thief. I did this wrong. That's confession. I am wrong. You've already in your mind admitted you're wrong and you decide you've got to change. You start opening your mouth and say it. Yes, I am wrong. Step forward and it comes right into play here. Return with all your heart and soul. That is the great commandment, isn't it? That you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. So what we're telling you is return back in repentance means that you go full force, full focus, all heart, all effort after God. That make sense? This is what we're explaining repentance is about. God has this standard like this, and he calls all men to repentance. That's the one message that you have to obey first if you want anything else from God. If you won't start at the beginning, you can't have anything of God. You must start with repentance. That's why it's command number one. Now look at the proofs that Solomon gave that shows that God accepted your repentance. This is how we can compare Scripture and apply it to us and say, have I repented? How do I know I repented? We can tell by God's response to us. The first proof of repentance, it says, is God will hear your prayers and your pleadings. You will notice that God is responding to your prayers. If you keep thinking, why isn't God answering my prayers? I pray and I pray and I always pray and God never hears a word I say. Why do I bother? Go back to command number one and repent fully, thoroughly, and search it out until you honestly do it. See, this is the shortcomings of America. We want God, but we do not want to change our ways. We don't want to change our direction. We want God to bless us in spite of anything we do. We want God to come down as an Aladdin's lamp and do what we told him to do. We want him to give us this and give us this, and if he does all those things, then I'll follow you, God. And God says, that's not going to work that way. You want me to hear a word from your prayer? You start first. You hear me? We start first. We repent. Then God says, I'll hear. Not the other way around. But Americans are so arrogant and so proud We say God you start first You answer my prayer and then I be happy to follow you That is a scary ground to come before God and tell Him how things are going to work. Don't ever come before God and tell Him how things are going to work. You crawl before Him in repentance, and God will tell you what's going to work, what's going to happen if you come like you're supposed to, because that's what repentance is. Crawling before Him, saying, I am a sinner. I don't deserve a thing. I don't even know why I'm even talking to you, except for I remember someone said that you are a just and compassionate God, and you said you'd forgive if I come. Here I am. I can barely lift my eyes before you, but please forgive me. I am a sinner. Please forgive me, as you said you would. That's all you got. Nothing more. You come any other way, and man alive, do you see how you defy the living God? He can't come that way. Look at number two proof. God will maintain your cause. That's verse 49. When it says maintain your cause, if you think about what he was talking about, Israel was God's servant. God was an Israel servant. So in other words, God already gave them the cause. They were to be a lighthouse in the world. A nation set apart from all other nations. They were to glorify God by their lifestyle, by their compassion. the same message, basically, that the church has. Basically the same message, except for our focus is now on making disciples. Theirs was to be a nation to glorify God. So they were to reflect the kindness of God, the goodness of God, the mercy of God, and so forth, to the people around them. Instead, they were so arrogant and so evil, they called them dogs, and they just lost the message and the point. They were very arrogant. and sinful. And you can read that through the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and watch how their lifestyles were. They missed it. They missed it. They had all the religious out trappings, but they missed the heart of what God wanted. And I fear that if we're not careful, we miss the same message that God's called us to. We're to show the mercy and the love and the light of Christ. Again, we've been called as a separate entity to do that. Look at the third proof. God will forgive and restore you is what the promise came. He said, hear them, now restore them back. And that's exactly what, if you read the history of the Old Testament, God did that. After they were dragged off to slavery, God brought them back. Nebuchadnezzar dragged them into slavery over in Iraq, where it's Iraq right now. Same old thing going on today as it was back then. But they were strong enough to go into Israel and drag them all into slavery. Seventy years passed of slavery, and God began to move on the new king that came after him, and they began to allow them to go back home after they suffered and repented of their sin. God allowed them to go back. But it showed in their response whether they repented, and the proof that God heard them is how he responded to them. Same with you and I. If you respond, God will restore you. And this is important to understand, too, the restoration, and I'm going to get to the end of it, because I'm going to show you the example of the Apostle Peter, who fits every one of these patterns as he destroyed himself before God. Go to Matthew chapter 3. I want you to begin to see the message of God in this portion now as we go through the New Testament. Matthew chapter 3. now it's talking about John the Baptist in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand notice the first message to people always from God to people is the word repent you must understand that no matter who we are that's the first message for this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his path straight. Now John himself was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. And he makes you think he looked wild too, don't you? I know the way they do it. I mean, wild honey and wild man. I mean, you just think of the guy screaming and yelling, and just like some of the movies made him that way, You kind of feel that way, just the way it's described. He was a wild man in the wild wilderness of the Wild West or whatever, and he was just wild, you know? And you kind of get that feeling from him, and he just really tore into the hearts of people. But I want you to hear the repentance message through what we see here. It says, John himself was clothed in camels, so forth, verse 5, and Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan. and look what they were doing. Admitting they were wrong. Confessing their sin. So his message got to them, didn't it? And I want you to know something about messages. We in America, we've almost got to the point the preacher's got to sound a certain way. His voice has got to be a certain thing. We've made a big deal about how wonderful it sounds and how dynamic or not dynamic he is. Listen to me carefully. God, I do not think, has any care about any of those things. You hear me? This guy was probably a wild maniac. He didn't make a lot of friends, but his message was repent. You go back to Noah. Think about Noah. Noah, it says, preached to his family, his uncles and aunts, his cousins, his neighbors, all people around that he could get to for 120 years. and what happened with his message. No one listened. No one. He wasted his time, if you think in the term of American concept. He preached for 120 years and nothing happened. The only thing that happened was his sons and not even their in-laws, anybody believed him. Think about that. None of his relatives even bought into his message. And so he and his direct sons and their wives were the only ones that lived through the judgment of God that destroyed the entire surface of the earth. And you know what? Never in the Word does God condemn Noah as being a poor preacher. He didn't bring Noah up and say, You idiot, I told you to preach, and you preached for 120 years, and you've got no one to listen to you. What's wrong with you? How come you didn't do that? The only word it says is they did not hear. He condemned the listeners. And he said they would not hear, and therefore they lost their lives. Never was a negative word given to Noah. You hear what I'm saying here? The messenger. All he has to do is give the message. And it's not important whether he speaks it clearly, slurs his speech, talks slow, talks boringly, speaks excitedly, sounds like Charlton Heston. or like Pee Wee Herman. You know, it doesn't matter what he sounds like. The message is all that matters. And God uses every different instrument to get there. You cannot blame the messenger if you didn't hear. You know what I'm saying? This is so important to understand. All it has to do is the message be given. And you are then held accountable to respond to the call of God. And so repentance is not on the burden of the person who gives it once he gave it. And therefore you don't have to feel guilty if you gave it. But it's on the burden of the person who rejects and closes their ears and walks away and refuses to listen. That's the key. And look at the message given here. That was my free sermon. It says in verse 7, when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, you brood of vipers, you bunch of snakes, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? And look at the key of repentance that is so important. Look at verse 8. Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance. Notice where repentance is? It must be lived in your life. Repentance, the evidence, always means it's not left in your mind some cosmic little spot there. but instead it's transformed so that your life bears fruit to prove you repented. Does that make sense? You must show repentance or it's not real. Verse 9, And do not think to say to yourselves, well, we have Abraham as our fathers. Or we're Jews, so hey, we're special. Or hey, I go to church, I'm special. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. and even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, that he who is coming after me is mightier than I am, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. And what's that fire going to do? Verse 12 says, his winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn. But he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. When Christ is finished, he's going to separate the wheat from the junk. And there's not going to be anything left. He will clearly define the good from the bad, the right from the wrong, the white from the black. It'll be clear, very visual, very obvious what's going on. You see that? Repentance demands absolute clarity, absolute wholehearted turning. And this is the thing that so often is dragged out by people. Oh, I want to go to heaven, but I'm not going to just completely follow God. I've got things I like to do still, and I like this. and you start making excuses and you keep dragging your feet and pulling this way. You're not doing and not wanting to go all the way for Christ. But God says it's all the way. Repentance means absolute turning, complete changing for His sake, not your own. And this is so important to understand. And I hope you do. Did I go too many? Okay. I want to use Peter. as an example to show you how this works right through even men who claim to follow Christ. As you know very well, as Jesus walked the earth, he did mighty things. He fed the hungry with miracles. He raised dead people out of their graves. He did things that were unexplained. People believed. Peter was one that followed him became a leader He always answered every question When Jesus spoke I got the answer I mean he always thought he knew everything He always was first. He was so self-confident, it sounds like a good thing almost. Confidence. I can do this. I can do anything. Yeah. You want me to? I'll do it, Jesus. You just tell me. I'll take care of it. He was proud, though. That's sin. Self-confidence is not what God wants. He knew it all. That's not good. His ways were not God's ways any more than anybody else's ways were God's ways. And so, if we look at chapter 16, if you flip over to chapter 16, I want to focus in on a portion of where Peter begins to really get himself into trouble before God. Because of his boisterous, his confidence, his know-it-all attitudes, he began to find himself before Jesus Christ in a wrong way. It says very simply that Peter took him aside, and this is Jesus, and Jesus finished talking to him and said, Who do people say that I am? He claimed, Oh, you're Messiah. You're the anointed one of God. And then Jesus went on to tell him, I've got to go do something. I'm going to have to go die, basically. And then Peter takes him aside, and he begins to rebuke God. It's saying, Oh, be it from you, Lord. this shall not happen to you. But he turned and said to Peter, Jesus turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan. You are an offense to me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men. Notice how his pride, his supposedly know-it-all, now he's being called Satan by Jesus. That's got to be a shocking experience. He's the number one disciple. he's the best. If Jesus ever needed a disciple, he needed Peter, as far as Peter thought. He was the best one around and he was the leader and he knew what God wanted from everybody and he told them all. And suddenly, Christ is calling him the devil. That's got to hurt your pride. But notice the terms. You are not mindful of the things of God. This is why repentance has to be so thorough. Because you come to God with all kinds of baggage. Things you learned from TV when you were three years old. Things you learned from your grandmother when you were six years old and your grandmother wasn't telling you stuff that was biblical. She's a nice grandmother, and you trusted her, but she told you not truth. Things you picked up in the yard from your neighbors, not truth. The way you looked at things and thought things and the way you practiced things, you picked up from people all around you and you learned, and they're not of God. And they're the way you think, but it's not the way God wants you to think. It's the way you do things, but it's not the way God wants you to do things. It's actually sinful and wrong for you to not submit fully to Christ. We all come that way. So did Peter. And his mind was full of wrong thinking. He wanted Jesus to be that great king that they could set up on the throne. Everybody would come from all over the world and bow at his feet. He would just by stand up with his power and stick out his finger and burn every Roman soldier there was. There, you're all gone. and they were going to be the great kingdom once more. They all could not get out of their minds this political thing. They could not see and understand what Christ would come for to save us from something far worse, eternal damnation and hell, God's passion for all men. They couldn't see it. They couldn't understand it. They continued to say the wrong things, and so do we. In chapter 26, if you turn there, Peter continues in his problems with God and there were some other things we could have showed you but I don't have the time to show them. I just want to show you highlights here. But in Matthew 26, we've got again the real crux of the issues now. Peter, who says he's a follower of God and I want you to understand something, he was not at this point, like any other ones, born again like we call born again and I'll show you how that works. They were not saved people in the sense that we call saved. The Holy Spirit of God did not enter into their being inside their body yet. They were not converted in the sense that we now call conversion. They were followers of Messiah, but they were not born again. And so their thoughts were confused. They didn't understand anything he said. They always were looking at each other going, what's he talking about? Who did he do this to? What's he mean? They never understood anything he said. In fact, until after he was resurrected, finally it says the different disciples said, did you hear when he spoke? I felt it in my heart there was something new that was coming up because there was a newness happening and I'll get to that in a second but I want you to see here where Peter again, as he struggled with the crucifixion they were afraid of what was going on Jesus was going to be executed the politics was overwhelming they already brought him to what they called justice when it wasn't justice and Peter now is struggling and struggling with all these issues in verse 33 we have these words. Peter answered and said to him, even if all are made to stumble because of you, I will never be made to stumble. Do you hear those words? Everybody else is going to blow it, but I'll never blow it. I'm so righteous. No matter what happens, Lord, and this was just before he was brought, to crucifixion. I'm telling you now, you've got the best you can ever get, Lord, from me. No guy is as good as I am. I'm the most dedicated, the greatest guy you've ever found in your life. You are lucky. And I'm telling you now, no matter what all the other wimps do, I'm standing. I'll be with you to the end. No matter what happens, I'm here, buddy. Nothing will shake me. That's arrogance like I'd never heard. That's arrogance. Verse 34, Jesus said to him, basically my words, really, assuredly, I say to you that this night before the rooster crows, you'll deny me three times. Peter said to him, even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you. And so said all the other disciples, because Peter was so strong, they said, yeah, Lord, me too. We're not going to. It's easy to say these big words to God. God, I'm going to obey you, do everything you say, never disappoint you. You got yourself a great catch when you got me, man. I'm going to glorify you in everything I do. Nothing will ever be wrong with my life. You'll be smiling all day long because I'm such a good kid for you. Arrogance, my friend. and be careful of arrogance. That's a very dangerous thing. You move down in the Scriptures a little bit further on that portion, down to... I forgot I put those up there. Verse 40. Look at verse 40. Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping. Remember, He left after they had their last supper. He took them out and He had to pray. So he went to the Garden of Gethsemane up on the Mount of Olives. And they were all tired. It was the middle of the night. So he said, okay, now you guys stay here. You pray. I'm going to go up a little further. I'm in agony. I've got to pray before my Father. So it says, Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane and said to the disciples, Sit here while I go and pray over there. And he took with them Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and he began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then he said to them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with me. He's looking for somebody to love him enough like they just claim to, to give him some support. He's so hurting, he needs support. He went a little further and fell on his face and prayed saying, oh my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to who? Peter, the guy who just swore that nothing would ever keep him from doing what God wanted. And here's Peter sleeping. He says, what? Could you not even watch with me one hour? Look at that first failure. Just hours after he swore nothing would ever stop him from being the greatest disciple on earth. He's already failing. and Jesus starts his probing finger of conviction. Peter, remember you're the guy that's going to stay with me forever? You couldn't even stay awake to pray with me? I told you how much I'm hurting and how much I need you. And already he was failing him. Verse 41, Watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is really weak. And again a second time he went away and prayed, saying, Oh, my Father, if this cup cannot pass away from me unless I drink it, you will be done. And he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. So he left them, didn't even wake them this time, went away again and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then he came to his disciples and said to them, Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See my betrayer is at hand. Still no help from the man who was going to never be counted out for helping Christ. Now look at verse 58. Now we're going to find Peter go downhill real fast. Real fast. Verse 58, But Peter followed them at a distance to the high priest's courtyard, and he went in and sat with the servants to see the end. Now the chief priests, the elders, and all the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but found none. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. But at last, two false witnesses came forward and said, This fellow said I'm able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days. And the high priest arose and said to him, Do you answer nothing? What is it these men testify against you? But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to him, I put you under oath by the living God. Tell us if you are the Christ or the Messiah, the Son of God. Jesus said to him, It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, He has spoken blasphemy. What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard his blasphemy. What do you think? They answered and said, He is deserving of death Then they spit in his face beat him Others struck him with the palms of their hands saying Prophesy to us Christ who is the one who struck you And now Peter snuck and sat outside in the courtyard And a servant girl came to him, saying, You also were with Jesus of Galilee. But he denied it before all, saying, I do not know what you're saying. and when he had gone out to the gateway another girl saw him and said to those who were there this fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth and again he denied it this time with an oath I do not know the man and a little later those who stood by came up and said to Peter surely you also are one of them your speech betrays you Then he began to curse and swear, saying, I do not know the man. And immediately a rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, who had said to him before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. So he went out and wept bitterly. Notice the progression is just like we read out of Kings. godly sorrow became a part after conviction when Jesus probed and warned him and probed as he began to go downhill in his sin finally when that rooster made its noise conviction swept because the words of Christ came back like a slamming hammer into his heart and he sat there and did the first thing he should have done he wept he was so crushed all his arrogance his sin was worthless and now he saw himself in conviction a sinner all that before he didn't see it see this is the issue he thought he was doing God such a favor he thought he had never failed he figured he was the greatest gift on earth to God and now suddenly he finds himself the exact opposite, a great sinner. And he wept. And notice the words of 2 Corinthians 7.10. Godly sorrow produces repentance. The key term that God wants in your life. I tell you the truth. It scares me when people claim they come to Christ and they don't have any tears. They don't feel bad about being sinners. you know the difference? we can go back to the same time that we talked about let's follow a different man named Judas Judas denied Christ not only denied him but sold him out for 30 pieces of silver a pretty good chunk of cash kissed him on the cheek to sell him out hugged him and kissed him on the cheek let him go and after he left he realized how bad he was and he was sorry. He was sorry. Not godly sorrow because godly sorrow produces repentance. He was sorry so bad he went out and committed suicide. Not repentance. He never went to God and asked forgiveness. It says that he went to his place. Well, it didn't go to God's place. He went to his place. That means he went to hell. Judas. sin was no different than Peter's. And I want you to understand that. The only difference between Peter and Judas was Peter's godly sorrow produced repentance. And Judas did not repent. And I want you to know that you must come convict, admit your sin. You can't just fluff it off. You must be sorry, very sorry, for your disobedience. Do you understand that if you give a little white lie, that's a horrendous sin? Adam and Eve cost us eternity by just eating a piece of fruit. They didn't burn down the Garden of Eden. They didn't try to kill God. They disobeyed in a small thing. And that small thing was a big thing in God's eye. And that's the difference between what we're saying here and what repentance is. You must get your eyes awakened. You must come to yourself to see what God sees. God says that's a big deal. And when you see it's a big deal, when Peter saw it was a big deal, he wept. He wept. It became a big deal to him. And that's what led him to salvation. The sorrow of the world only produced death. That was the sorrow of Judas. But the sorrow of repentance brought life to Peter. Now look in John chapter 20 to pull this together to finish. In John chapter 20, Christ has already died and resurrected. Now we get an insider story of what we've talked about and how this actually works out in people's lives, how it applies. In John 20, verse 19, we find that Jesus is going to make Himself appear before these guys again. They've been shaken. They've seen their sins. Peter has been rocked to his foundations. He no longer sees himself as some super-Christian. Now he finds himself a terrible loser, a failure, a sinner. He's shaken. He doesn't have a lot of things to say anymore. None of them do. Instead, they're hiding in a room. They're shaken and afraid. They need Christ like never before. And we get this statement. It says, Then the same day at evening, after Christ was resurrected, being the first day of the week, that's our Sunday, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled because they were afraid for the fears of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst and said to them, Shalom, peace be with you. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, Shalom, or peace to you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you. What's he doing? He's giving them back the cause. Remember, just like at the beginning of Scripture in Kings, remember their cause. He says, here's your cause. It's my cause. This is my cause always. I'm giving it back to you. You thought you lost it. I'm giving it back. You ran and hid. You went everywhere. You denied me, but I'm giving it back to you. I still have confidence in you. I'm restoring you back. Evidence of what? Repentance, right? So we said that's evidence. God is showing his love to him and he's restoring him. That's proof that he heard their repentant cries. It's proof that God forgave Peter and the rest of them. And look at these words. these are the key terms for salvation then. It says, When He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. And that, my friends, is being born again. They already repented. They were humbled before Him. He restored them. And now, what we call born again happened for the first time in their lives. The Holy Spirit of God entered into them for the first time into their hearts. And they were saved, as we call saved. Now the Holy Spirit dwelt in them. Now they had a new heart and a new spirit. All things are different with them now. It wasn't the old way anymore. Now God has injected eternal life into them because the eternal God moved inside. Now it says, if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained. In other words, it's in their hands what people are going to hear the truth. Go. and he goes further to talk about making disciples. But look at it. He restored them. He also gives them new heart, new spirit. He dwells in them. God maintained their cause and told them, go make more disciples. He did everything for them. And this is where the word comes all the way back to us today. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And that is our message for today. We are the ones then to carry that command. We are to take hold of it with full repentance and follow Jesus Christ with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, all our strength, and to flee from sin. We need to not make excuses any longer for sin and disobedience. You can't keep making excuse. You need to grab it by the throat, kick it in the face, run, wrestle, anything you need to do, get it out of there. Ask for help to help you wrestle it. But you need to come with repentance full-heartedly saying, I do not want this life anymore. You can't keep saying, I can't help it. You can help it. And that's the key. You can help it. because God has promised that He gives grace to the humble, but He resists the proud. And grace is the very thing that gives you the desire and the power to do God's will. There's nothing stopping you except for you from following Christ. There's nothing stopping you from doing what God wants because He offered and gave His Spirit inside you. We are a different people than any other people on this planet. We're the only ones who have God Almighty dwelling right inside. We're the only ones that have been given the promises above all of the promises. And there's no reason for you to stay where you're at. You hear me? And so the first command is a command that can be obeyed. Repent. Fully turn. And serve Christ with all your heart. No excuses are necessary. Follow Him. What He tells and calls you to do, do it. wrestle and fight until you have victory let no sin hold you down stop making excuses that you had to curse at somebody because they cursed at you first quit saying you had to hit them because they hit you first quit saying you had to pay them back because they did it to you first God doesn't care what anybody does first God wants you to follow Him we're the unique people that can do that because we're the ones who are born again You got it.

Playlist coming soon.