“Despicable Me”
Pt. 1 – Repentance
Text: Romans 7:15-20
15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
This passage of Scripture has always fascinated me because it is almost as if Paul has a split personality. I want to do good, but don’t. I don’t want to do bad, but I do. It is a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde dilemma. A constant wrestling match within himself. I think the reason that dilemma intrigues me is because I believe his description of his issue is a perfect description of the ongoing reality that most of us face and fight. In spite of the façade of healthy self esteem and personal security when you get past all of that most of us look at ourselves in the mirror from time to time and come to the conclusion that we don’t like us very much! We are despicable. This truth has been known for generations. Even the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah exposed the real us in his famous diatribe about the state of man’s heart.
Jeremiah 17:9 (The Message)
9"The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out.
Jeremiah 17:9 (New International Version)
9The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
Dark hearted. Deceitful. Despicable. It is not a flattering sketch of the human condition.
How hopeless is man’s heart?
A good example of this darkness is the new app out called “TigerText”. The creator’s of this application say it’s perfect for cheating spouses, shady politicians, sexting teens, and people who send a lot of stupid texts while drunk.
According to Time Magazine…
It works like this: when, say, a prominent politician sends his mistress an iPhone message via TigerText, the mistress will be prompted to install the app. When she has done so, she can read the message, but she can’t keep it. In fact, the message is never actually sent to her phone; it’s stored on TigerText’s servers. After the politician’s specified time span has elapsed — anywhere from one minute to five days — the message ceases to exist. There’s even a “delete on read” setting, which counts down from 60 after a message is opened and erases its text at zero.
For those who need an even more comprehensive way to cover their tracks, the “delete history” option will wipe away any evidence of a given phone call. No telltale suspicious numbers, no chance of getting caught out by the old “press redial” routine.
We go to infinite lengths to cover our deceit. We justify cheating. We wink at adultery and fornication to the point that even preachers are excused at no cost or price. In fact, the more they cheat the more people seem to want to listen to them. I have decided the fastest way to build a large church is sleep with your secretary, divorce your wife and refuse to go through any restoration process. You are almost guaranteed a TV show and huge following! We bend the truth without a second thought and tell half truths 90% of the time. We mistreat others and laugh it off and at times even boast about the pain we inflict. We witness pain and disease and simply turn the channel and go back to our comfortable environment and give it no more thought. And that is just the Christians. We worship with the same hands that we sin with. We sing with the same lips that spread rumors. We are caught up in the Paul’s saga of two-facedness! We are despicable.
It isn’t a pretty picture! We try to ignore the truth. We would rather just talk about prosperity, favor, blessings, authority, and the kingdom. However, the truth is that we have fooled ourselves into thinking that we can actually have those things while continuing to refuse to deal with our despicable side. So, what we have done is settle for substitutes for abundant life. If the bills are paid we call that abundant living. If our clothes are somewhat trendy we are satisfied and call that abundant living. If we have a house to sleep in we call that abundant living! But what about joy, peace, and the fruit of the Spirit?
Thankfully Paul gives us a glimpse into the solution for our mess! He comes to grips with his own deplorable condition in Romans 7:24 when he declares, “24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” He realizes his own helplessness to deal with the darkness of his heart. And then reveals the solution for despicable me in verse 25. “25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
God is not scared by the darkness of our heart! He is certainly not surprised by it. What He is is determined not to leave us in that condition! And so, I believe that there is a two dose prescription for dealing with this internal struggle between good and evil. We will deal with one dose this week and the other next week.
I can tell you that don’t hear much about either dose anymore. However, they are the only cures for our heart!
The first dose is repentance!
I believe there are basically two problems with the concept and practice of repentance.
1. The first problem with repentance is that before you can repent you must first come to grips with the fact that you need to repent! It is about accepting responsibility.
I will never forget when I was a little boy (probably 3 or 4 years old) that I took a piece of gum without asking from my Aunt Terry’s purse. My dad caught me and demanded that I apologize. I flatly refused. Again I was told to apologize and again I refused. Ultimately my dad spanked me for stealing. But during the course of the spanking the light went on and my dad asked me if I knew what apologize meant. I told him I didn’t. At that age I couldn’t comprehend the concept of accepting responsibility for my wrong.
Too many of us don’t repent because we won’t accept responsibility for our sinful nature. It is always someone else’s problem or fault. If I am mad it is their fault, not mine. If I lie, they forced me into it. If I am cheating, my spouse didn’t pay me enough attention so I had to go out and find what I needed. If my life is overcome by alcohol or drugs, someone else caused me to be this way. We won’t accept the responsibility for our need to repent! We must examine our own heart and come to the conclusion that Paul and Jeremiah came to . . . our heart is jacked up! I want you to know this morning that if you are sinning it is no one else’s fault but yours! I am responsible for my sin.
We even blame it on the devil. The devil made me do it. The devil may have tempted you or tried to convince you to do it, but guess who did it? We learned from our first father, Adam, to pass the buck. Remember when God asked Adam, “Who told you that you were naked.” It’s the woman’s fault. In fact, he really didn’t blame the woman he blamed God. He actually said “It is the woman YOU put here with me.” So see God if you hadn’t put her here I wouldn’t be in this despicable situation now.
2. The second problem with repentance is that once we have accepted Christ as our savior we think repentance is only for sinners!
Have you ever gone back to read Revelation 2 and 3? God is addressing church folk, Christians, believers, born again, blood bought people and three of those bodies of believers are commanded to repent! We must remember once again that judgment begins, starts in, and originates first in the house of God. Christians should be the best repenters! We of all people should be the quickest to acknowledge sinful behavior and make it right. We of all people should know that repentance is the only door way to grace. We of all people should know that repentance although painful gives way to joy unspeakable and full of glory. Yet, it is almost easier to get the drunken bum in the street to come clean than to get a saint to admit they are despicable at times. We try to put on airs and pretense and in doing so our hearts grow darker and harder! Perhaps we need another preacher like John the Baptist to come along who’s only topic seemed to be the need for religious folks to repent!
This morning I want to challenge each of us to practice repentance! I am not concerned with, nor am I asking for a meaningless religious response like making a cattle-like march to an altar for 3 minutes thinking that that is the sign of repentance. Because all we do then is we pat ourselves on the back and think that we are good till the next time a preacher comes along that is hung up on sin. No, I am challenging us to become a congregation of repenters! What do I mean by that? What does a congregation of repenters look like?
It means we:
A. Repent daily!
I want us to recognize that repentance is not a onetime event, but rather an ongoing lifestyle. There shouldn’t be a day that goes by that don’t we spend time seeking God’s face for grace and mercy. We must become a group of individuals whose prayer life is marked by repentance. It should be our MO (mode of operation). Repentance should invade every prayer! Because if we go too long without repenting sin takes root and destroys us! David understood this dilemma. He said describes this in Psalms 32:
“When I didn’t confess my sins…
When I kept silent,
My bones wasted away
Trough my groaning all day long
For day and night
Your hand was heavy upon me;
My strength was sapped.
As in the heat of summer.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you
And did not cover up my iniquity
I said, “I will confess
My transgressions to the Lord” –
And you forgave
The guilt of my sin.
Unconfessed sin will steal your strength! Repent daily.
2. Repent Thoroughly
Hide nothing. Cover every base. Uncover every thought, every motive; lay our hearts bare before God. Deal with sins of commission. Those things that we did on purpose that we knew were wrong. But don’t stop there also deal with sins of omission ask God on a daily basis to forgive us when we knew the right thing to do and didn’t do it. Sin is not just something we do, but sometimes it is something that we ought to have done.
Hide no pet sin. Make no excuses or set any boundaries. Give God access to every inch of your life and allow Him to blow the whistle on any thought, any action or anything that He finds despicable.
3. Repent Sincerely.
Not talking about putting on a show as exposed in the Old Testament when we are told to rend our hearts and not our garments. You can make a show of repentance all you want. You can rip your clothes, cry a thousand tears, and wail and moan, but unless you get up and go a different direction then it was nothing but a production, a play, an act and was not sincere. Our actions reveal our sincerity more than tears do!
Judas shows us this truth. In Matthew 27:3 the Bible says, “3Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders.” However, the Greek word used there for repentance literally means, “to produce regret or even remorse on account of sin, but not necessarily a change of heart.” We can weep all we want. Until there is a change in heart we haven’t repented sincerely.
We must find our way back to 2 Corinthians 7:10 where we discover that “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation . . .” Godly sorrow. Sincerely facing the ugliness and disgrace of our sin until we are willing to turn from it and travel a different direction!
Why is this prescription so important? I simply want to remind you that personal and national revival are contingent upon repentance.
The Parable of the Prodigal Son reveals the impact of personal repentance. The Bible says the young man came to himself. He went back to the father and said, “I have sinned against you.” He accepted personal responsibility and instantly forgiveness and revival invaded his life. New provision, new position, new fellowship established with the father brought about by sincere repentance.
2 Chronicles and Joel 2 reveals that repentance has the power to change a nation. When believers (individuals), those called by His name, humble themselves – repent – revival and healing comes to the land! Notice, if you will, that national revival doesn’t come when sinners repent, but when church folks repent! If we are not experiencing national revival it isn’t the sinners fault. It isn’t the corrupt politician, the gang banger, the drug addict, the Holly Wood actor, or the school system. If there is no revival it is the sleeping, lethargic, unrepentant believers sitting in church week after week! There is power in repentance!
We are despicable! We are in need of daily, thorough, and sincere repentance. May we become a congregation, a body of people that refuse to hide our despicable side, but rather deal with it through repentance.
