Repentance, Remorse and Regret

Sermon from church this evening. Pastor Allan Rees was preaching on 2 Corinthians 7: 8-10. He also read Luke 13: 1-5. Here are my notes:

Repentance is first of all thinking right about yourself and God. It makes you return to God.
How much emphasis is there today on repentance in our churches?
John the Baptist, Jesus, Peter and Paul all preached 'Repent!'
Repentance = turning back to the One who loves you because you see things as they really are.
Repentance is not just for conversion. We're to repent daily as Christians.
Truth is vital. Unless truth is preached we're not sure who to turn to.
Worldly sorrow: Remorse/Regret which leads to death
Godly sorrow: Repentance leading to life

Luke 15:10 - the angels love it when someone repents
In 1 Samuel 15 Saul says "I'm sorry, but..." this isn't real repentance.

The counterfeit of joy in our churches is fun.

A 110m hurdler doesn't start out a race thinking I hope I only hit a few hurdles, he/she doesn't want to hit any! Similarly in the Christian life we should be seeking to avoid all setbacks, distractions and temptations.

Psalm 23 - 'He restores my soul' - think of a French polisher who when given an old table can restore it into something renewed and beautiful. The work of the French polisher is abrasive, scraping off what shouldn't be there. When your soul is restored it can be painful.

How can we be sure we'll enjoy Jesus in Heaven if we're not enjoying Him now?

Quiet Time Blessings

In my quiet time today I read Genesis 38 which is about Judah and Tamar. Judah leaves his brothers and went off to the Adullamites to find a wife. He married and had three boys. The first son married Tamar but eventually he died after wickedness in the sight of God. So, as was the tradition, Tamar was then married to the second son. He too was wicked in the sight of God and he died. The third son was too young to marry Tamar so Judah told Tamar to wait as a widow until the third son was old enough. When the third son grew up Judah sinned in going back on his promise and not giving the third son to Tamar to marry. So Tamar tricked Judah into sleeping with her and making her pregnant. Eventually she had twins (and their birth was similar to that of Jacob and Esau in Genesis 25) and Judah discovered the boys were his. That's the story. The amazing thing about it all? Judah's firstborn son Perez is one of the descendents of the Lord Jesus (see Matthew 1:3). The genealogy of Jesus is a list of sinners - men and women who failed, in often massive ways, to obey God. It is a reminder again that we can never be good enough for God but He is sovereign and when we are called into the family of Christ it is not because of anything good in us but completely due to His amazing grace.

I also read Mark 8. This is a chapter where the disciples fail to completely understand what Jesus came to do and a number of stories are used to illustrate this. The big challenge is in verse 34 - 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.' I read what Don Carson had to say in For The Love of God about it:

Only for a few will this commitment entail loss of physical life; for all of us it means death to self, discipleship to Jesus. And that includes a glad confession of Jesus, and principal refusal to be ashamed of Jesus and his words in this adulterous and sinful generation.

I then read what may well be my favourite chapter in the Bible. I think I could write loads about it here but I will just focus on one aspect. That chapter is Romans 8. I was particularly struck by verses 16-18:

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

I mention these verses in particular because of the link with the verse in Mark 8 that I mentioned. In Mark 8 it talks about taking up our cross and in Romans 8 it assumes suffering for Christ as a normal part of the Christian life. It made me think about the fact that I have been bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus, and that my life is now not my own. The more I orientate my life around myself, the less I will know of God and what He has saved me for. This ties in with a lot of what I have been thinking about since Aber (I haven't posted those thoughts yet!) Life is all about Christ, not about me. As John Piper would say "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisified in Him". I couldn't agree more with that.

Colossians 1 - Facebook - Allan Rees

Here are my notes from church on Sunday. Allan gave his sermon the title 'Facebook' because he was trying to get over a picture of who Christ is from the book of Colossians.

Main text v15: He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

The Colossian church had a problem. We're not sure what that problem was but it was something to do with the clarity of who Jesus is.

Every point begins with the letter B

Before all things. Firstborn had rights of inheritance. Everything belongs to Jesus.

Beginning (v18) Jesus is the beginning of everything. He is the firstborn from the dead! He is the only one raised with a resurrection body so far.

Body (v22) All the fullness of God dwells in Him. He is still a man. His body was butchered for our salvation. Jesus is head of the body, the church. He loves His church.

Beyond - more than just a good person. If you've seen Jesus, you've seen God. He created everything just by speaking. The purpose of salvation (v18) is the Jesus has the preeminence in all things. It's all about Him.

Blameless (v22) One day even though I am an ugly, dirty sinner and He is absolutely holy (see Isaiah 6), I will see Him as He is and I will be like Him.

But (v23) The blessing is only for those who continue living in the faith.