Repent Part 2

During these posts we are looking at what Jesus instructs John to write to the church at Ephesus AND TO US!

 Revelation 2:4-5 "Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love." He then gives them some advice as to how to regain that love…

" Remember the height from which you have fallen,”… Repent…

There are all different kinds of sin and when they grab hold of the life of a believer they keep them from allowing first things to be first – their love for Christ.  Jesus is saying repent of that.  Give that up.  How?

That is often the most difficult thing to do.  There are two different Greek words for “repent”.  One is to feel sorry, to feel remorse.  The other is to  change, to actually implement change of will and heart and action. One is to feel sorry, and we do feel sorry, we feel horrible about our sin.  But do we change, do we make the step to actually change?

There’s a huge difference.  One is a 90-degree and the other is 180-degree change. 

Remorse sees the bitter end of sin.  Repentance breaks us free from it. 

Psalm 38 is a clear picture of David who wanted to go through the steps of repentance.  There are three steps in Psalm 38. 

1. You’ve got to see your sin for what it is.  Admit it.
Oftentimes the power in sin is secrecy and we stay there and we can’t get out because we don’t sense the full weight of it.  See it for what it is.  Feel the weight of your sin.  Understand where you’re at.

2. Confess your sin to Christ and others.  1 John 1:9 tells us that He is faithful to forgive us and to cleanse us from our sins.  James 5:16 tells us we need to confess our sins one to another.  That’s literally saying, I need help.  I can’t get out of this myself.  That’s why James says find someone, someone you can trust, go to them and make it happen!  Find someone you trust who can pray with you and help hold you accountable.

3. You abandon it.  That means literally you decide with the help of God to make daily changes in your choices and a reliance upon Christ to give you the power to help you make those changes.     

Admit it, confess it, decide to abandon it and rely on Christ to give you the power to do so.  

Tomorrow we will conclude looking at how to regain your first love.

Your pastor and partner in ministry,

Kyle