What Is a Sincere Repentance?
Psalm 51
By Dave Redick
Hwy 20 Church of Christ, Sweet Home, Oregon
"The thing that troubled me most about the President's confession last Monday was that he spent the first 45 seconds saying he took full responsibility for his actions and then the next 2 1/2 minutes blaming the Independent Counsel for the the trouble his own (the President's) actions have caused. Had he simply told the truth, it seems to me that much of the trouble he complained about could have been averted."
Introduction
This past Monday, as most of you know, the President of the United States gave his testimony before a Washington Grand jury about an alleged illicit sexual involvement and subsequent alleged cover-up, perjury, and obstruction of justice matters. After his video feed testimony from the Map Room of the Whitehouse to the Federal Courthouse Building, he came before the American people and admitted to having "misled" them (his words) in the matter of his earlier very public vehement denials of the illicit relationship. He now says he did have an "inappropriate relationship" with young former Whitehouse intern, Monica Lewinski. He said he was motivated when he "misled" all of us by the desire to protect himself first, then his family, and the office of the Presidency.
What did you think? Setting your political persuasions aside for a moment, do you believe the President was truly repentant? Were you sufficiently convinced that he was sincere in his admission of the wrong? Does he realize the seriousness of his actions? Was he sorry for the trouble he caused or was he simply sorry he got caught and was forced to testify? Most people are sorry once they are caught and have no other choice. I'm not going to state my opinions in the matter. Rather, I am going ask you to consider with me some pertinent teaching of the Scripture that applies to issues like this one. I feel a need to do this because I do not want the lines of truth to be blurred in your minds on the topics that have been much discussed in the media this past week.
I want to talk to you in this message about true repentance. What are the indicators present when someone really repents? How can we who watch from the outside know whether what is going on in the inside matches up with the words being spoken? How can we recognize sincerity or phoniness in a public confession of wrongdoing?
Even more importantly, how can we test our own repentance in private when it becomes necessary? All of us sin. No one can come from a place of moral superiority in that arena. Much of what we do that is sin is done in private, so repentance is a matter between God and us. How can we know we are genuine and not just fooling ourselves?
To answer these questions, I'd like you to go with me to Psalm 51.
I have taught on this subject from this Psalm before, but not in the wake of such a context as we have had this past week.
In Psalm 51, we have a word picture of a truly repentant man. This Psalm was written after David's sin with Bathsheba and its subsequent exposure. David's wrongdoing included murder and a cover-up that lasted nearly a year and, to whatever extent it would be possible in a monarchy, perhaps some denials and some obstruction of justice. The one who blew the whistle in this case was not Linda Trip, but a prophet of God named Nathan. David had covered up his sin and never repented. God, through Nathan, finally forced him out of his cover-up in a dramatic confrontation by the prophet. It is possible that this Psalm was written within hours after Nathan's confrontation.
(Read Psalm 51:1-17)
Repentance is a complete change of mind that will lead ultimately to changed actions and a changed way of thinking. In a very real way, as seen in this Psalm of David, repentance signals the end of some things and the beginning of some things. First, repentance signals,
I. The End of Fooling Ourselves.
A common way of dealing with the guilty conscience we all get in the wake of sin is euphemizing. Euphemizing is the practice of substituting mild, indirect, softened, or vague terms of description for those considered more incriminating. This is often done in public, but even more damagingly perhaps, it is done in the privacy of our own minds raising the specter of self-deception.
When thinking of our sin, we substitute words like my weakness, my mistake, my misstep, and my problem. "I committed adultery" becomes "I had an affair" or "I had an inappropriate relationship." "I lied" becomes "I misled some people, or "I misrepresented the truth." Each of these expressions carefully camouflages the full ugliness of the offence. It lessens the impact of a full admission of guilt, allowing a person to escape some of the recrimination by self and others. After all, doesn’t everyone make mistakes? Doesn’t everyone have to cope with problems? Doesn't everyone make an error in direction once in awhile and "mislead" some people? "I misled you" has a ring of good intentions to it, rather than the more blatant "I lied" which portrays a willfulness and intent. We carefully construct an elaborate rationale for why we do what we do. As long as no one is ever allowed to see it or question it, the ruse is effective. Our conscience is appeased. We fool ourselves to the point that what we are doing wrong doesn’t bother us very much and we never fully face it.
A young man once said, "I don’t think what I'm doing is that wrong." The one to whom he spoke these words asked him if he would be willing to tell his mother or his sister all the things he had done. After a moment the young man said, "No, I certainly would not like to have them know; not for all the world." This young man was fooling himself. The things he had done wrong, when reviewed in the court of his own mind, amid carefully constructed subterfuge and euphemism, didn’t look that bad. When he looked though the eye of his mother or sister, though, the truth was seen. He had much of which to be ashamed.
David had been playing these games for nearly a year and might have gone on indefinitely had he not learned that someone else knew what he had done. When confronted, he saw his sin through the eyes of Nathan the prophet and God. His immediate realization was expressed in the words that came out of his mouth: "I have sinned against the Lord."
That is what we find in this Psalm, too. In verse 4, we read, "Against Thee, Thee only, I have sinned, and done what is evil in Thy sight, so that Thou art justified when Thou dost speak, and blameless when Thou dost judge."
A person puts a halt to fooling himself when he admits, just as David did, "I have sinned and done evil" and God is justified in His judgment. I make no excuse. Actually, David admits his sin six times in the first four verses of this Psalm.
I have worked with our elders for some time now and over the years, I have watched them deal with a number of delicate issues of shepherding the members of this congregation. When they are speaking to a person in the wake of an admission of wrong, I see them straining anxiously to hear those words from the person. "I have sinned."
Usually, these words are an indicator that a person is finished with the subterfuge. He’s getting it out in the open - a strong indicator of true repentance - the end of fooling one’s self.
True repentance also signals,
II.The End of Blaming Others.
It’s always someone else’s fault. That’s the way many people live. Shifting the blame. Pointing fingers to avoid personal responsibility.
The thing that troubled me most about the President's confession last Monday was that he spent the first 45 seconds saying he took full responsibility for his actions and then the next 2 1/2 minutes blaming the Independent Counsel for the the trouble his own (the President's) actions have caused. Had he simply told the truth, it seems to me that much of the trouble he complained about could have been averted."
for the difficulties it had caused. It doesn't take a lawyer to figure out that had he simply told the truth in the beginning, the last seven months of trouble would never have happened.
Someone once said, "The only thing some people learn from their mistakes are more effective ways to blame them on others."
In verse 2 of our text, we read, "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin."
David could have said, "Well God, what did you expect me to do with that woman taking a bath on her roof?" He could have said, "Well, things just got out of hand. If Uriah hadn’t been so stubborn in refusing to sleep with his wife when I sent him home, I would never have been forced to kill him and he’d still be alive today."
He said none of these things. He only admitted his guilt. That’s because he was truly repentant and true repentance signals the end of blaming others. He didn't blame Nathan. He didn't blame Uriah. He didn't blame Bathsheba. In cases like the one before our nation at this time, I might add, you don't blame Monica and you don't blame Ken Star. When you say you take "full responsibility" it means you shut up and stop blaming others. True repentance signals the end of blaming others.
True repentance also signals,
III. The End of Covering Up.
In verse 6 of our text, David says, "Behold, Thou dost desire truth in the innermost being, and in the hidden part Thou wilt make me know wisdom."
Someone once said, "To err is human, to cover it up is too."
However true that might be, for a truly repentant person, the cover-up is over. The word games are over, too. You certainly do not need a Hollywood expert to help you carefully word your defense so as to avoid exposing anything else. The rule for someone who is truly repentant is full disclosure. If that means suffering on your part, so be it. It is the only thing that can end the turmoil.
What I have just said goes even more strongly for someone who invokes the name of God, as Mr. Clinton, a professed member of the Southern Baptist denomination, did in his speech. God sees all and knows all. It does no good to cover up in His presence. True repentance signals the end of covering up.
True repentance also signals some beginnings. It signals:
IV. The Beginning of Concern for God's Presence.
 | "But it was between consenting adults. No one got hurt. What harm could there be in that?" |
| "This issue only effected me. It didn’t hurt anyone else." |
What a person does in his private life is no one else's business. So go the words of a sinner who has left Someone out of the equation. That Someone is God.
One of the consistent results of sin is that it always effects relationships - either our relationships with those around us or our relationship with God. This latter one should become a major issue in the mind of the truly repentant person.
Look at the evidence of this in our text in verse 11: "Do not cast me away from Thy presence, and do not take Thy Holy Spirit from me."
David, in his repentance, was suddenly very concerned that he would loose the opportunity of fellowship with God - that his sin might cause God to turn away from him.
The unrepentant person is focused on self first. His concern is what is today called "damage control." If he hasn’t been exposed, he covers things up for his own benefit. If he has been caught, he tries to minimize the effects. The key word here is "self."
Someone truly repentant is more concerned about the effect of his sin on God and God's people.
Look again at our Psalm: "Against Thee, Thee only, I have sinned, and done what is evil in Thy sight, so that Thou art justified when Thou dost speak, and blameless when Thou dost judge."
Of course, David had sinned against others in this matter, but the greatest wave of remorse he felt was how he had sinned against God.
There was something that Nathan said immediately after David’s acknowledgment of his sin that cut David to the quick. He said in 2 Samuel 12:14, "However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme…"
Over the years I have met many people who professed repentance. One of the characteristics of those who turned out to be phony has always been that they were more concerned for themselves than for God and the effect of their sin on His Name. In the wake of their "repentance" they were only willing to do those things which benefited themselves.
What is so wrong with sin? Whether it is that of another or of ourselves, it is an offense in the face of Almighty God!
Now might be a good time for all of us to ask ourselves just how important the presence of God is in our lives. Is He a constant thought and concern or are such thoughts rare? Would we rather it be such that we didn’t have to deal with His presence?
Repentance is the beginning of a renewed concern for God's presence in our lives. It is also,
V. The Beginning of Concern for Others.
Verse 13 says, "Then I will teach transgressors Thy ways, and sinners will be converted to Thee."
It was strange to David that one could truly accept God’s mercy through repentance and not in turn want to share that tremendous blessing with others.
A certain preacher, when he was young, accidentally shot and killed a close friend while hunting. The shock of what he had done weighed heavily upon him, but he refused to let it defeat him. Rather, he determined to live for God and to do the work of two men. People who knew him said that his early experience was one of the reasons he had so much passion for lost people and gave himself so fully to the service of God.
In the same way as that man felt a sense of obligation toward others because of the wrong he had done toward God, so too should the person who has been forgiven through repentance.
His life becomes God’s and not his own as he turns it toward serving others.
Finally, when there is true repentance, there is,
VI. The Beginning of True Joy.
You might wonder how we could say that repentance is the beginning of true joy when our text is such an expression of the great sorrow David felt.
Actually, the true joy that repentance brings can only come out of genuine sorrow over what we have done wrong and the realization that our repentance, if God were to deal us justice instead of mercy, would never be enough.
There was a couple who lived in Atlanta, Georgia, who read that "My Fair Lady" was still playing on Broadway in New York City and they wanted to go so badly they bought their tickets 10 months ahead of time and planned their vacation so they could take it in. It cost them quite a bit of money, but they managed to get a pair of tickets for seats seven rows from the front, up near the orchestra. To the couple’s amazement the entire place filled up except the seat right next to them. The man was curious about that. At intermission he leaned over and asked the lady in the second seat away from him if she could imagine why a person would choose not to come to the show - especially when tickets had to be purchased so many months in advance. "As a matter of fact", she said, these two seats are mine. That seat belonged to my husband - but he died." The man said, "Oh, I am terribly sorry. Couldn't you have invited a friend to come with you?" She replied, "No, they were all at the funeral."
Something just doesn’t ring true in the sincerity of that woman's sorrow.
The Bible speaks of two kinds of sorrow in the context of repentance - a true sorrow, one that intensely regrets the harm cause to others, and a phony sorrow, one that is hollow and lacking, like this lady’s "sorrow" over her husband’s death.
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 7:9-10, "I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, in order that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation; but the sorrow of the world produces death."
"Sorrow according to the will of God" vs. "sorrow of the world -" two kinds of sorrow. One lead’s to the true joy of salvation. One leads to death.
Something I have heard said by people who proved to be truly repentant are the words, "I'm really glad I got caught because now I know I have to stop hurting other people."
A Sunday school teacher once asked a class what was meant by the word "repentance." A little boy put up his hand and said, "It is being sorry for your sins." A little girl also raised her hand and said, "It is being sorry enough to quit."
Being sorry enough to quit is the "sorrow that is according to the will of God" that "produces a repentance without regret."
Sometimes people are sorry for their sins, but they are only sorry they got caught and that they now must make a choice to continue their sin or quit - and they don’t really want to quit. As Josh Billings once put it: "It is much easier to repent of sins that we have committed than to repent of those that we intend to commit." This is where the one with the "sorrow of the world" runs aground.
Only the "sorrow that produces repentance without regret" leads to forgiveness, so only this type of sorrow can lead to the kind of joy this passage mentions.
David writes in verse 14, "Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation; then my tongue will joyfully sing of Thy righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, that my mouth may declare Thy praise."
Godly sorrow before true joy - that’s the order of things when we come to God in our sin. The godly sorrow is the only kind of offering God will receive when we have sinned and it is our only hope of being restored to the joy of our salvation. In verses 16 & 17, David says, "For Thou dost not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; Thou art not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise."
Conclusion
God and history will judge the President as to the sincerity of his confession before the American people. I make no claim to know the true condition of his heart - something we can only know as we watch his actions in the wake of the admission. I wish him no evil. I do, however, believe it to be my duty to keep you informed Biblically so that his actions (or anyone else's for that matter) do not obscure the truth in this important matter.
I suggest you consider putting these points on a blank page in your Bible so you have them handy in the future. True repentance marks the end of
| Blaming others |
| Fooling ourselves |
| Covering up |
It marks the beginning of:
| Concern for God's presence |
| Concern for others |
| True joy |
May it always be that we are concerned first with the mind of God on this matter.
Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.
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