Sermons | FBC Boerne

Sunday Sermon | Prayer: Repentance

• FBC Boerne • Season 1 • Episode 10

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The journey of spiritual growth must begin with genuine repentance, which goes far beyond feeling remorseful about our failures. True repentance involves a complete transformation of our thinking and desires, actively choosing to walk away from destructive patterns and toward the beauty of God's holiness. This isn't about shame or self-condemnation, but rather a sincere change of heart that redirects our lives toward divine purpose. Even committed Christians continue to battle sin because salvation doesn't instantly perfect us - we remain works in progress. The apostle Paul acknowledges this reality when he commands believers not to walk in spiritual darkness like unbelievers do. Recognizing our ongoing need for transformation is actually a sign of spiritual maturity, not weakness. We can identify spiritual callousness through warning signs like losing sensitivity to God's Word, resisting correction, declining gratitude, becoming hypercritical, and experiencing empty worship routines. Our culture's emphasis on positive feelings and quick fixes often leads us to avoid the necessary discomfort of spiritual conviction. However, the Holy Spirit's conviction serves a vital purpose - like a skilled surgeon removing cancer or ants removing parasites from a bird. We must resist the temptation to numb ourselves with distractions and instead invite God to search our hearts. True renewal doesn't come from self-help affirmations but from meditating on Gospel truths about our identity in Christ, our spiritual blessings, and our eternal inheritance. God's work in our lives resembles renovating a fixer-upper home - patiently transforming one room at a time until His beauty shines through every area of our hearts.

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SPEAKER_00:

Well, good morning, church family. If you're a guest with us this morning, let me welcome you. My name is Jason Smith, and I'm the pastor here at First Baptist Bernie. Turn with me in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. If you do not have a Bible, there's a Bible in the Purec in front of you. You would take that. You can actually keep that as a gift from us to you so that you can have a copy of God's Word. We would love for you to keep that. That's actually why we placed them there. Real quick, church family, uh last Sunday afternoon, uh, we sent out a text churchwide. Uh hopefully you got it. Uh, if you didn't, uh we would be happy to get you on the churchwide text. But we sent out a text in regards to the mission trip that we took. Uh, me and a small team went to India, and we got a report back about some Hindu radicals that came and attacked a church in the region where we were. Actually, and then when the police showed up, they they arrested 12 of the Christians, and uh were keeping them in jail. We sent out word, you guys prayed for that. Ten of them were released halfway during the week, but two were kept, the pastor, uh both of them pastors, and uh they were demanding a bribe. Let me give you an update. Uh, all 12 have been released, including those pastors. So praise God for that. But I but I want you to know that that church has not met. So Sunday already happened in India, they're ahead of us. So they did not meet this morning, and so I want us to pray for their strength and courage of faith, right? Most of the believers over there are very new believers, right? That think maybe a year old in the faith. Okay, and so think of the pressure to shrink back. So uh continue to pray for them. All right, church family. This morning, actually starting tomorrow, but the sermon series, we're gonna walk through. We've we've prayed or we've talked about prayer the entire fall sermon series, uh, but we are gonna enter into a time of 21 days of prayer together as a church. So let me just tell you how excited I am to see what God is going to do amongst us, right? Do you believe that God is going to move in prayer? He hears our prayers, he responds to us. So I want you to think right now, I I can't wait to see the lives that are changed, the families and marriages that begin to heal because they're willing to deal with stuff and the garbage of life, the forgiveness that is granted, and relationships that are mended, souls that are saved. Souls that are saved. So, again, as Garrett said at the top, you can grab this on your way out if you didn't get one in, but also there's you can sign up for a daily email so that you can, we can all participate together. Every one of us is going through this together. All right, now to jump into the sermon. David's sin with Bathsheba is probably the most spotlighted sin in the history of the world. Right? It's a juicy topic. Everyone has an opinion on this. But I want you to think back to when the sin was hidden. Uriah was seemingly just a casualty of war. And now Bathsheba is David's wife. By all outward appearance, David got away with his sin. The king used his power to cover it all up. But truthfully, internally, he was overwhelmed by guilt. He knew. And he knew God knew. And he was consumed with shame. Food lost its taste, music lost its joy. His body literally became sick. Inside he was mourning the depth of the depravity of his own sin. He did not realize how far sin would take him. And yet he was boxed in in a world of hell because he saw no way out. You too know what it's like to be captive of your sin, deceived by Satan, blinded to the truth that turning to God is the answer, even in a time when you know you are hiding from God because of your sin. And then when the prophet Nathan shows up and exposes David right to his face because God was exposing David, as much as it stung, it was the gift of God to shatter the box and to set the prisoner free. Not free from consequences, but free to repent. Free to escape the devil's snare and to turn back to God. And that's exactly what David does. He repents. He acknowledges his sin. He begs God based on God's love and mercy, based on God's character, not that he deserves it, but because he knows that God is a God who is loving and gracious, and that is his only hope. Church family, as we begin our 21 days of prayer, we are going to begin where we must. And that is with repentance. Now, for clarity, I'm not talking about wallowing in shame or inflicting self-harm. Okay, there are some of those that do flagellation to try and make themselves feel bad. There are those who will sit in difficult postures as long as the body can sustain, thinking that that physical hurt will do something to show to God, I'm really serious about this. No, listen, repentance is a sincere change of mind and heart to turn away from sin and towards the beauty of God for forgiveness and to walk with God in holiness. So, church, family, are you willing this week to say to the Lord, search me? Father, will you convict me of any sin that you see inside of me that needs change? And then, Father, will you set us free? Free to be able to repent and to chase after you. Church family, are you willing to say that to the Lord this morning? Let's begin with prayer. I want to talk to you for just a moment. You can bow your heads in prayer. I want to talk to you. For some of you, as soon as I said, search me, O Lord, a chronic sin that you have been hiding rose to the forefront of your mind. Your anger and temper with your family, your lack of patience and kindness at work, the lust of your heart and your online addictions, your materialism and the way that you constantly turn to stuff instead of the Lord. Will you allow me to pray over you right now? Heavenly Father, I pray all across this room that hearts would trust you, that hearts would trust your Holy Spirit, that you are a God who, yes, you convict us of sin, but you also heal us. You also provide the way of escape, walking out into life. Father, I pray that there is a trust this morning in this room that is willing to say to you, Holy Spirit, to you, King Jesus, search me. You who have died for me can search me. Father, I pray that there's a trust in this room, that the congregation will allow me to press into areas that are difficult, that they would know that my heart and passion is for you and for only you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Listen as I read Ephesians chapter 4, beginning in verses 17 through 24. This is going to be our text this morning. You hold your spot there the whole time. Paul writes to the Ephesians, so this I say and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk. Now pause real quick. Gentiles here, even though you are a Gentile, Gentiles here refers to those who are unbelievers, okay? Those who are lost. So you do not walk as lost people walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart, and they having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught in him, just as truth is in Jesus. That in reference to your former manner of life you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which is in the likeness of God, has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Alright, the book of Ephesians is probably my favorite New Testament book. Thomas Goodwin called it the heart of the body of the New Testament. I say that because I'm gonna get a little nerdy with you here, and I'm gonna talk about the overall flow of the book of Ephesians because it's gonna be important later in the sermon. Ephesians is a book of two halves. The first three chapters function together as a unit, and then the second three chapters function together. The first three chapters are all about the magnificence of your salvation, who you are in Christ. That Christ is now seated in the heavenly places at the right hand of God the Father and his head over the church. That as his body, we the church are a united people. No longer Jews and Gentiles. No, he actually says we are now a third race. That is, because we are filled with the Spirit, we are a new people that's united together. Then in chapter three, it talks about how the body, the church, has been released for the glory of God, called to go out to shine God's light, his kingdom to the ends of the earth. And then chapter three ends with a doxology. Okay? Those three function. Then in chapter four, verse one, Paul picks up and he says, therefore walk worthy of your calling. Therefore, walk worthy. So then the second half of the book, that second unit, four, five, and six, is all about commands of Christ that flow out of the first half of the book. Okay? Put away your anger and gossip and slander and greed. Put on humility and kindness. All right, so it goes like that. Now, our scripture this morning is in the second half of the book. And Paul gives us a command to put off the old and to put on the new. No longer walk as lost people in ignorance and in the darkness of their heart, rather be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which is in the likeness of God, has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. So this morning I want to make three points about as it pertains to you and I having a heart of repentance. First one, this text acknowledges that there is still a problem within us. Okay? You got saved, you asked Jesus to be your savior, you got baptized, the Spirit of God came inside of you, but you are still a work in progress. Therefore, confession and repentance should be a regular part of the Christian life. Now I know that this point is obvious, but it demands to be repeated and for us to be reminded. So when it says in 17, 18, and 19, do not walk as lost people who are callous in their heart and foolish in their thinking, who give themselves over to sensuality and materialism. The most obvious point is that this is a command because you still have a fleshly side inside of you. You can walk that way. Okay? You are not, you have not arrived. You are not saved and then magically mature. In fact, part of maturing is realizing the depth of sin, how it permeates everything you do. So cheer up. You're a worse sinner than you ever dared imagine. And you are more loved than you ever dared hope. Now, this is good news because all across this room, right, we have just acknowledged that every one of us still struggles with sin. And I mean really struggles. None of us want our thought life up on those screens and scrolling for everyone to see. So we don't have to pretend. We don't actually have to hide. Beloved, I've been walking with the Lord for 30 years, and I still struggle with anger, with lust, with materialism, with comparison, with fear of man, and on and on. So the good news is you are normal. Okay, you're normal. Congratulations. And we don't have to pretend. But the bad news is, is that the second half of Ephesians, the whole thing as it unfolds, says you can be deceived, hard-hearted, asleep. Okay, he screams, wake up, Christians, wake up. You can quench the spirit of God and walk fleshly. You can be a Christian who looks so much like the world that in verse 21, Paul says, if you are actually saved. Because maybe you actually believed a false faith and you're not living anything out. You look, you are so hardened, you look so much like the world. There's legitimate reason to question, do I know him? Friend, allow me to press you this morning. Are you tender-hearted and sensitive to the Spirit of God? When was the last time the Spirit convicted you of sin and you had a spiritual breakthrough in your life when you realized I am now more like Jesus because I got rid of all of that stuff? When was the last time you wept over the beauty of the cross? You say, Pastor, how do I know if I'm hard-hearted? Listen, if God's word no longer convicts you and stirs you to change, you are hard-hearted. If sin no longer grieves you, if you resist correction or rebuke, then you are quenching the Spirit of God. When gratitude fades and complaining grows, when you stop loving and caring for other people and instead become hypercritical, when worship becomes nothing more than just empty routine, friend, that should scare you. That is not the Spirit of God inside of you, that is your flesh. So let me ask you again: when was the last time the Spirit convicted you of the depth of your sin and then the beauty of Jesus? When was the last time you had spiritual breakthrough? Because if the last time you experienced God was 20 years ago when you got saved, listen to me, repent. The Spirit of God is inside of you. He is living, He is a person. Why are you so satisfied with 20 years ago you first tasted, and that's it? Second point. Repentance is a choice. Or to put it another way, it can be avoided. It can be avoided. See, the movement is since you have so great of a salvation, therefore put off the old manner and put on the new. In a culture that is conditioned by feelings, can we just acknowledge that we tend to avoid that which is difficult, especially brokenness over sin? Can we acknowledge that? That we're pampered by positive feelings, and we are taught that we don't need salvation. What we really need is just to be helped. Or we don't need repentance, we just need good advice. Trained by immature gratification, immediate gratification, sorry, we numb everything with entertainment. Oh, look how silly that cat is.

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Right?

SPEAKER_00:

We can't have serious moments. We refuse to sit in the reality and actually allow the Spirit of God, okay, through his word, to deeply convict us and to wield what the scripture says is the double-edged sword that both convicts and heals? We don't sit in that. Allow me to take us back to the time of the Puritans. I want you to listen to Thomas Watson, who articulates that a godly man weeps. He writes, Why is a godly man a weeper? Is he not pardoned? Isn't that the ground of his joy? Has he not had a transforming work upon his heart? Then why does he weep? He weeps for indwelling sin. The saved person grieves because he realizes that the sin he carries within him is at enmity with God. He weeps because his sin cleaves to him like leprosy, and that it will not cease until death itself. A child of God weeps because he has sometimes overcome by his sin. To quote the Apostle Paul, for I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. A godly man weeps because, in some senses, the sin that he commits is worse than other men. Because he knows better, and because it is against the love of his Savior. The Christian weeps because he knows that his sin is based entirely in ingratitude, bringing dishonor upon the God who saved him. Friend, do not avoid the brokenness that the Holy Spirit is trying to bring in your life. He is the hand of a surgeon that must cut out all the cancer in order for you to be healed. You see, pain lasts for the night, but joy comes in the morning. Did you know that when a crow feels sick, it goes and it sits on top of an anthill? It sits down, shakes its feather, and stirs up all the ants, not to eat, but to get stung. See, the angry ants swarm, releasing a formic acid, a natural chemical that kills bacteria, mites, and parasites that are hiding in the crow's body. Christian, the sting of conviction is to kill the parasite of sin that is clinging to you. Will you say with the psalmist, search me, O God, and know my heart? Try me and know my anxious thoughts and see if there is any hurtful way in me and lead me in the everlasting way. All right, church, are you ready to move towards joy? Now I just said move towards joy, okay? Third observation. It is also a choice to renew your mind and to put on the new. So in 2016, sociologists started noticing that for the first time since the 1960s, the average age expectancy of Americans was decreasing. 2016. Lifespan began decreasing here in the United States. Now in the 1960s, the reason was obvious. There was a flu epidemic. But there was no such thing in 2016. In fact, the reason was nothing like what you would expect, like cancer or a pandemic. No, the reason for the decline was deaths of despair, young suicides, drug overdose, self-inflicted harm. Now I bet that doesn't surprise you all that much. It seems we are all aware of the fact that our culture is in the middle of a mental health crisis. In fact, I want to read for you a real email that I got from Teledoc the other day. Let me read for you the title at the top that says, Jason, repeat after us. I am strong, I am powerful, and I can do hard things. I've got this. There's a real email right here. You can see it. Down below it says, do not be so hard on yourself. There's a pro tip, okay? That positive affirmation self-talk is a trending topic, and it's easy to see why. And then on the back talks about the science of gratitude. Neuroscience has proven the power of our thought life. In fact, a negative thought is three times as powerful as a positive one. But here's my point. Everyone knows that our thought life is important. They just don't know where to point you. They point you back to yourself. Okay? Tell yourself you're strong and powerful. But if you are self-sufficient, why are we in the crisis that we're in? There has not been a generation in the history of the world that has grown up with more positive self-esteem than where we are right now. And we're in a mental health crisis, so you do the math. But instead, what does Paul say here? He says, Be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new self, which is in the likeness of God, has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. What is Paul doing? Guys, he's pointing back to, sorry, back to everything that was said in the first three chapters of Ephesians. Okay? He's pointing back to how great and amazing your salvation is that was accomplished for you in Jesus Christ. Meditate on those things. Do you not know, beloved, that you have every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus? That God the Father picked you up and placed you in Christ Jesus, that in him you were chosen from the foundation of the world. God knew you and God chose you. That you have been adopted as his son or daughter. That is, he paid the ransom prize to purchase you unto himself. That he has revealed his plans and purposes for you. That you have an inheritance that is waiting for you in heaven that will not fade away. And you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of God. Do you not know you have every spiritual blood? Meditate on these things, renew your mind on these things. Beloved, can I remind you that Jesus Christ is now sitting in the heavenly places above all power and authority that reigns on this earth? Above every power, he sits and he is the head of the church, and you are his body. We have a powerful Savior. You need to know that. Dwell and meditate on these things. Do you not know that you are his body? That we have been united? That you have brothers and sisters. You have more in common with a believer in this room than you do a family member who is lost. Because you are now a third person. You are now a new race with the Spirit of God inside of you. Do you not understand that? That we have all been released, not only to love and care and bear one another's burdens, but also we've been called on mission to go to the ends of the earth. That the purpose and the longing that you deeply want in your soul, that every one of us has a deep, deep longing to know our purpose. Jesus gives that to you. And it's found in the church and it's found in his kingdom. That's what he says. When he says, put off, it's a choice. Put on your thought life, meditating on what Jesus Christ has done for you. So beg the Spirit of God to open your eyes, the eyes of your heart, so that you might see the beauty of Jesus. So that you might be captivated by his love and his hope. Tell him that you are willing to set aside distractions. If he would just move and stir. In your heart that you would set aside distractions because you want to behold him more. Because you read when scripture says that there is nothing greater than him, that in his hand he has pleasures forevermore, he can satisfy the desire of every living thing. You read that, but you don't hold it. Tell him you will set aside if he might stir in your calloused heart again. Are you not tired of being hard-hearted? As I close, I want to give us a picture of the hope of what the Christian life should be. Of someone who walks in repentance, keeps putting off and putting on. I don't want you to think that the Christian life is a cycle, a cycle of hard-heartedness, and then Jesus breaks through and makes your heart tender, but then it's inevitable that you're gonna, that you're gonna slow, there's a slow fade back into hard-heartedness where you just need Jesus to break through again. Listen, that is not that is not a picture of the Christian life. There is a better picture. Imagine a young married couple that saves and saves to purchase their first home. It's a fixer-upper, but it's all that they could afford. They can't stand the black and white wallpaper that's in the master bathroom. The basement is unlivable. It's such a mess. The electrical box is too small, the roof leaks. But it's their first home, and they are grateful. The months slip past and then years. That black and silver wallpaper has been replaced. The couple remodeled their kitchen, the roof no longer leaks. It took several years, but they finally got around to that basement. As the family grew, they added rooms on. And bit by bit, every room, every space has been made new. Twenty-five years later, the husband says to the wife, You know, I really like this place. I'm comfortable here. I can look around and see the fruit of our labor and the changes that we have made. Believer, when Christ by his Spirit takes up residence within us, he finds the moral equivalent to mounds of trash, black and white wallpaper that nobody likes, rooms that are unlivable, and he sets out patiently addressing one issue after another, even tackling the most difficult issues like unforgiveness and healing, deep hurts. And as time goes on, the beauty of the place begins to shine. Church, that is the goal of repentance. That is the goal of saying to the Lord, search me. Search me. Will you pray with me? Heavenly Father, I pray all across this room as we humble ourselves before you. Father, search us. Through the power of your Holy Spirit, search us. Make us new. We trust you. You have given your son for us. We trust you. Father, I pray across this room that believers are courageous enough even to let you into that room. That room that's locked and bolted five times and in the very back that they don't ever want to touch. Father, I pray that the power of your Holy Spirit would begin to set the prisoner free. Pray that you would give them courage. Courage to deal with the issues. That things don't magically disappear. But there's a courage to deal with them with and answer the lies and the hurt with the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Father, I pray this morning is the beginning of an incredible movement here in our church. A movement of repentance. Amen.