4. Repentance requires turning away from sin

 REPENTANCE REQUIRES TURNING AWAY FROM SIN 

We must never compromise with sin nor condone sin.

ISAIAH 55:7 "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon".

We must put away wrong actions but we must also discipline our minds to reject wrong thoughts and motives.

Repentance is not just saying the right words to ask for forgiveness. It also involves personal inner house-cleaning. We must stay away from bad habits and unclean thinking. Pornography is a deadly danger to many minds today. When North Korean soldiers went to Russia to fight against Ukraine in 2024, the first thing they did when they had the freedom to search the internet was to view pornography. They wanted the freedom to sin. Such is the nature of sinful man.

We tend to focus on the troubles and problems that are the consequences of sin instead of focusing on sin itself.

There are untold problems associated with drinking alcohol: Behaviour problems and mental changes, such as inappropriate behaviour, unstable moods, impaired judgment, slurred speech, impaired attention or memory, and poor coordination.

Chronic diseases, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, liver disease, and digestive problems.

Health problems, such as cancer, mental health issues, liver problems, brain damage, and a weakened immune system.

Negative consequences, such as injuries, violence, domestic violence, chronic diseases, cancers, risky sexual behaviours, absenteeism from work or school, and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Death on the roads caused by drunken drivers The cost to a country as it tries to cope with all these abuses is frightening.

All these issues could be resolved if people just stopped drinking.

The same applies to our personal lives.

Sin has many bad side effects. If we allow God to remove the sin from our lives, all the side effects would vanish too.

Sin is simply the number one problem on the Earth today.

The only effective antidote to sin is genuine repentance. That is the only permanent cure.

A repentance that is not completely sincere sees a person trying to serve God as well as still enjoying some sin. Christians who drink a little, smoke a little, swear a little, gamble, dirty jokes, racial hatred, inappropriate dress, drugs, etc.

A genuine repentance changes our mindset until we hate sin, but we must also learn to love the sinner. This can be difficult.

We must develop an attitude that rejects sin but tolerates the sinner.

This is a difficult balance to achieve and we must pray to God for wisdom so that we can successfully separate between the sin and the person.

Remember, God hates sin but He loves sinners.

Hitler was one of the biggest mass-murderers in history. Yet as a young boy, he fell into a canal and was drowning when a Catholic priest came to his rescue. God was giving Hitler another chance.

Hitler, as a corporal in the First World War, was sitting with two friends in an isolated little hut. Officers entered the hut for a meeting and told the corporals to move out. They moved far enough away so that they could not hear the officers talking. Twenty minutes later a big artillery shell landed and exploded. The hut and the officers were blown to pieces. The three corporals were far enough away so that they were not injured. God was giving Hitler another chance.

During the Second World War there were numerous occasions when enemies planted explosives that would detonate and kill him at a certain time in a meeting. In every case he escaped death by some strange circumstances. He sometimes left the meeting earlier than expected or the bomb failed to detonate. God was giving Hitler more chances, but sadly he sinned away the days of his life until he finally killed himself.

Thus, sinners go lost because they stupidly reject the salvation that Jesus offers them.

However badly off a sinner is and however pitiful and miserable the sinner’s circumstances, there are no preconditions for salvation other than a deep desire to repent and turn to God.

Salvation is simply God offering mercy to those who realize that they are lost and hopeless.

All sins are bad, even if some are worse than others. There are no good sins.

All sins have to be repented of, as there is no other way of getting rid of sin.

Sin is like a dark stain on a pretty dress. It simply wrecks the dress which no woman has any desire to wear.

An effective career is overshadowed by an incautious sin. Bill Clinton was a talented and effective President of America for eight years but his legacy is ruined by his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. That is the part of his presidency that most people remember best.

Our sins have a bad habit of finding us out.

Any sin is bad and causes God grief.

God’s Law is like a chain. If any link snaps, then the whole chain breaks.

JAMES 2:10 "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all".

The Covid-19 pandemic that caused so much pain and misery turned out to be a very tiny virus.

Size is not necessarily the sign that something is serious. Any sin can have bad consequences.

But humans from their hearts tend to rebel against God, especially if God has blessed them with a clever mind. Clever scientists easily become atheists to show that they do not need God.

Once the human mind decides to rebel against God, we see the wrong-doings of many religious leaders capture the headlines.

Church leaders tend to cover up many sins in order to protect their reputation and their income.

This merely proves that if there is no sincere repentance, secret sins can strike down anybody.

We have to be very careful to stay away from circumstances that can give rise to sinful conduct.

Humanity is in possession of a spiritual policeman called our conscience.

His job is to arrest any bad behaviour before it manifests itself.

The quiet voice of conscience makes one happy when you have done something good and it leaves you troubled when you have done something bad.

The voice of conscience should never be ignored, especially when it bids you to repent because you have transgressed God’s law.

Sin is simply any transgression of God’s law.

Eventually, all of our lives will be weighed up in the balances of God’s Judgements and Justice.

Babylon was the first Gentile kingdom represented by the image of a man that Nebuchadnezzar saw in a dream.

Then a mysterious hand produced the writing on the wall.

"Weighed in the balances and found wanting".

The nation of Babylon fell that night and never recovered.

We too have to give an account of our lives before the Judgement Seat of Christ.

Will He find any evidence of a sincere repentance on our side, or will we stand condemned in our own self-righteousness because we thought we were good enough.

Any single sin can condemn us because it is an abomination against the holiness of God.

Repentance must be specific and not vague.

"Forgive me for failing to keep your standards" is a good start as I then begin to name and shame my sins to my own hurt. Then I know that I am convicted of my sins.

"If I have offended someone" is a waste of time, a so-called repentance. A vague and pointless statement. It is like shadow-boxing as it does not hurt me in any way.

True repentance must cause pain and grief plus producing an energetic effort to try harder and improve. We begin to shine the harsh light of truth into our lifestyles and habits and make hard decisions to mend our ways.

PSALM 51:4 "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight:"

David is specific. He says this evil. He precisely pin-points his sin. There is no beating around the bush. His honesty is refreshing and makes him a trustworthy witness who is worth listening to.

Remorse is not always repentance as it can fear the consequences of sin rather than the sin itself.

Remorse fears the judgement of the law. It can be a shallow form of regret that lacks the deep shame and horror of sin that true confession causes.

A true repentance makes us turn away from our sins if we are truly sorry for them.

If we really turn far away from our sins, we will find ourselves turning towards God. We find solace in prayer as we hand over our struggles to God and rely on His mercy rather than being obsessed with our own interests.

A repentance that is so superficial that it allows us to continue with our sins is rather hypocritical.

Repentance leads to a new dedication to prayer as we realize we need God’s guiding hand to steer our lives. We simply cannot control all the events that cut across our lives and thus we desperately need the guidance of God.

God has an amazing way of bringing good across our paths by "chance" meetings with people who can help us. What we tend to call "Chance" is actually God’s Grace.

Things change when we pray more and thereby give God more freedom in running our lives.

Context

Invitation to the Needy

…⁶Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. ⁷Let the wicked man forsake his own way and the unrighteous man his own thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon. ⁸“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.… Berean Standard Bible 

Let the wicked man forsake his way

Now therefore, tell the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: ‘Behold, I am planning a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways, and correct your ways and deeds.’

He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.

Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, so that your iniquity will not become your downfall. / Cast away from yourselves all the transgressions you have committed, and fashion for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why should you die, O house of Israel?

and the unrighteous man his thoughts;

The LORD detests the thoughts of the wicked, but the words of the pure are pleasant to Him.

Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will you harbour wicked thoughts within you?

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

let him return to the LORD,

Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds.

Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled by your iniquity. / Bring your confessions and return to the LORD. Say to Him: “Take away all our iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruit of our lips.

“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.” / So rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to the LORD your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion. And He relents from sending disaster.

that He may have compassion,

He will again have compassion on us; He will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast out all our sins into the depths of the sea.

Even if He causes grief, He will show compassion according to His abundant loving devotion.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.

and to our God,

For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, the sheep under His care. Today, if you hear His voice,

For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even till death.

To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, even though we have rebelled against Him

for He will freely pardon.

They refused to listen and failed to remember the wonders You performed among them. They stiffened their necks and appointed a leader to return them to their bondage in Egypt. But You are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in loving devotion, and You did not forsake them.

Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

the wicked

Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; …

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.

unrighteous man.

And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?

for

I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.

I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.

And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, …

abundantly.

Isaiah 55

1. The prophet, with the promises of Christ, calls to faith

6. And to repentance

8. The happy success of those who believe