Forgive vs. Repent

 

Wake the Faith up Slayer… This is Garth Heckman with the David Alliance and you can reach me at

TDAgiantslayer@gmail.com 

 

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Have you ever blown it and felt bad and asked someone to forgive you and they do… but uh, it just doesn’t feel right or complete? I have been on both ends… and that is where we are going today. 

 

Repent and be Baptized… we have heard sermons about this, we may have read these scriptures in the bible and we think we may actually done this exact command… but have we? 

What is repentance? Is it forgiveness…? Hey I blew it please forgive me of my sins Jesus. Ta Da… all take care of… maybe its not the simple.. well actually it is not that simple. So what is true biblical repentance.

 

Before I get to a scripture, lets look at a playing field we can all relate to. Someone hurts you, they really do something or say something that cuts you to the core. It has left a major mark in your relationship with them… maybe mark it to light of a word… they have left a car crash in your heart and soul… you feel like it will never be the same.

AND YET… in a few days they come and ask for forgiveness. They say they realize what they did was so wrong and it hurt you. In this rehearsed dialogue somewhere they ask you to forgive them… and you do… but… it just doesn’t feel right… no on your part - you really do want to forgive them and you mouth those words… but its not sitting right.

I would like to throw out the idea that maybe that person thought forgiveness was the same as repentance. 

Lets make it simple: Forgiveness is the act of reconciling (just the mind mouth connection.)

But repentance is the heart asking for forgiveness. You can tell they feel bad, distressed, they hurt for you. They are actually grieving in the act of asking for repentance… it truly bothers them. (I think every person married knows what I am talking about) 

 

So what marks true repentance? 

Joel 2:12–13, the Lord calls to Israel, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” In the Old Testament, people commonly expressed great grief and anguish by tearing their cloaks. But more than caring about the proper “signs” of being upset about their sin, God cared that they actually grieved over them in their hearts — grieved to the point of weeping and mourning.

The tearing of garments you might say in todays world is just an outward form of forgiveness… it is an act to some degree. But God wants repentance… a heart move. 

In his famous psalm of repentance, David reminds us that God does not delight so much in the outward signs of repentance (which included making a sacrifice), but “the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:17). We’re not talking about the shame and condemnation the enemy wants to heap on us, but a godly grief.

When you ask someone for forgiveness it is important that you ask God to prepare your heart with the understanding and impact of what repentance is. Simply “God let my heart be broken like yours is broken when I sin”. 

1 Tim. 2:25 says God grant me a true heart of repentance so that I may have a knowledge of the truth. 

That is how I truly hurt that person or yes, even how I hurt God.

See the truth is this… when we hurt others we hurt God. So in turn when we ask for forgiveness from others we are asking for forgiveness from God… he can smell out a rat… that is someone just tearing their garments. So ask God, if you have the guts to reveal his heart of repentance to you so that you can truly have forgiveness from others and from the almighty.