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Today is Shabbat T’shuva, the Sabbath of Repentance. It’s the Sabbath between Rosh HaShana/Yom Truah, the first day of the seventh month, the day we blow the shofar, and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It’s the Sabbath of Repentance because these ten days are a special time to repent.
T’shuva means repentance. Repentance means turning. It’s a turning away from something and turning to something. Repentance involves turning away from wrong beliefs and actions, and turning to God and right beliefs and actions.
It is very important for us to understand that repentance involves not just actions, but also beliefs: believing the right things – that God is Three, yet One; that Yeshua is the Messiah and the Son of God and the risen Lord and Savior; that Yeshua is the way, the truth and the life, and no one is able to come to God apart from Him. The person who refuses to believe what God demands we believe has not repented.
I want us to consider the last verse of Romans 7, and the first verse of chapter 8. So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Messiah Yeshua, because through Messiah Yeshua the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
In chapter 7, the Rabbi describes the struggle of a person who knows that God exists. He knows the law. He knows what is right and what is wrong. But he is unable to consistently do what is right and avoid doing what is wrong. The Rabbi also mentions the law of sin and death. That law describes how sin and death work. Here’s how the law of sin and death works:
Humanity is a fallen race. We come into this fallen, demonically controlled world that is in rebellion against God and under a curse with a fallen nature, a nature that is subject to sin. Sin is more than just doing something wrong. Sin is like a living, powerful, malignant, evil force that seeks to dominates and destroy humanity. And sin does dominate and destroy humanity.
Human beings with a fallen nature are under the control of sin; under the authority of sin; under the dominion of sin. And sin leads to death, since sin is unacceptable to the righteous and holy God, and eventually the Holy One of Israel will reject sin and everyone who is under its control.
And the sinful nature is weak; and sinful desires are stirred up by the law. As a result of these things, people who are under the law are unable to consistently do what is right and avoid doing what is wrong. They are unable to live in a way that pleases God. If this is true of the Chosen People who had the divinely inspired law which was given by God – what about those people who didn’t have the law? What about those who worship false gods? What about those who acknowledge no god – the atheists and the agnostics? What about those who are deceived by false religions and ideologies? Do you think they can free themselves from the law of sin and death? If those who were under the law couldn’t, surely these others can’t.
Those who want to overcome the law of sin and death need to repent. They must start their repentance by believing what God demands they believe.
Christians and Messianic Jews are different. When we are joined to Messiah Yeshua our Lord, we are rescued, saved, delivered from the things we need to be rescued, saved and delivered from.
We are reconciled to God. All our sins are forgiven. Our old, sinful nature dies. We are given a new, godly nature. We are a new creation. We are new creatures. Sin is no longer our master. God is our master. We are no longer under the authority of the law so that it is unable to stir up sinful desires in us in the same way.
We have the Holy Spirit living in us, who gives us new life; He gives us new understanding. We know the right things and believe the right things. The Spirit of God gives us new desires to please God and live a life that is honoring to God. The Spirit of God gives us new power to do what is right and avoid doing what is wrong.
Even though these things are true about us, we still have areas of weakness. We will still struggle with sin. We will still be tempted to do what is wrong. But our struggle is different from those who don’t have a new, godly nature, and who don’t have the Holy Spirit living in them – because we have the ability to resist sin.
Repentance is a very important thing; a very good thing; a very necessary thing. But, there is something that is even better than repentance, and that is living so that we are overcoming our temptations so that we don’t need to be repenting all the time; so that we are steadily growing in righteousness.
How do we do that? When we are tempted to sin, we need to do several things.
We transform ourselves by renewing our minds. We remind ourselves (interesting word, remind. It means we put something in our minds again) – we remind ourselves that what we are considering doing is wrong. And we remind ourselves that anything that is wrong violates God’s will, goes against God’s standards and is displeasing to the righteous and holy God. And we do not want to displease the One who is righteous and holy and who has done so much for us.
When we are tempted to sin we remind ourselves that yielding to sin is destructive. Sin is like acid. It’s corrosive. Sin is corrosive to our bodies and souls, our mind, emotions and will. Sin hardens our hearts. Sin puts distance between us and God. Sin causes harm, loss, ugliness. Sin diminishes, lessens, kills, destroys.
When we are tempted to sin we remind ourselves that yielding to temptation will harm our relationships. It will offend our Heavenly Father. It will offend our righteous Messiah, who is our Elder Brother. It will grieve the Holy Spirit who is very close to us. Giving into temptation may hurt our family, friends, co-workers and the members of Messiah’s Community. Giving into sin may hurt others we don’t even know. Yielding to temptation is not worth the disappointment, shame, embarrassment or hurt we will bring others.
When we are tempted to sin we remind ourselves that if we sin, and we think we may get away with it, we will not get away with it. We may get away with for a time; we may get away with it in this life, but on the Day of Judgment, we will appear before a great, white throne. The One seated on that awesome throne of judgment and purity is the Son of God. On that day, all of our sins will be exposed. I don’t know about you, but I want as few sins as possible to be exposed on that day.
When we are tempted to sin we remind ourselves of our calling. Now we are the sons and daughters of a holy and righteous God and King, and our holy and righteous God and King expects us to live right now as His holy and righteous sons and daughters. We remind ourselves that we are expected to live according to our calling.
When we are tempted to sin we remind ourselves that we don’t need to yield to temptation – that for us, sin is a choice. We have the amazing new ability to resist sin. Sin is no longer our master. God is our master. We are no longer under the authority of the law so that it is unable to stir up sinful desires in us in the same way. We have a new, godly nature. We have the Holy Spirit living in us, who helps us know the right things and believe the right things. The Spirit of God living in us gives us new power to do what is right and avoid doing what is wrong.
When we are tempted to sin we remind ourselves that God has promised that His grace will be sufficient for us; and He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to handle. With God’s grace, we can overcome our temptations.
In addition to reminding ourselves of these things, so that we are being transformed by renewing our minds, there are other things we can do to resist yielding to temptation.
When we are tempted to sin, we need to pray – for grace; for strength to resist. One of our constant prayers should be: Lead me not into temptation. Deliver me from evil. If Messiah taught us to pray that way, it means that this is what God wants for us. It means this is a prayer that God wants us to pray. It means that this is a prayer that God wants to answer.
When we are tempted to sin, especially if the temptation keeps occurring in the same area, and especially if we have repeatedly yielded to that sin, we should examine ourselves. Maybe there is a reason, or more than one reason, why we are weak and barely able to resist. Maybe we are not as close to God as we think we are. Maybe we are not as close to God as we should be. Maybe we are not practicing the spiritual disciplines like we should be.
Those who are not reading the Bible on their own; trying to talk to God throughout the day; not trying to share the Good News with a lost and dying world; not actively involved in a good church or Messianic congregation – those who are not practicing these spiritual disciplines should not be surprised if they are spiritually weak and yielding to temptation.
To avoid yielding to temptation, it’s crucial to be filled with the Spirit – every day. One of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control – the ability to control ourselves – control what we say; control what we do; control giving into our desires. Self-control takes focus. Self-control takes concentrated effort. Rabbi Paul shared his experience how he approached self-control in his life: Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. The Rabbi understood the importance of controlling his desires, and so, like a great athlete, he focused his mind and heart on the need to exercise self-control.
The Lord’s Representative put it another way: Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Walk by the Spirit means live in a way that you get close to God and stay close to God. If you get close to God and stay close to God, the Spirit living in you will strengthen your new nature, which will give you the ability to not yield to the corrupt desires of the old nature.
The way to overcome the things that tempt us; the way to overcome our areas of weakness is not by mere self-effort. It’s by walking by the Spirit, by getting close to God and staying close to God. When we do that, we will have the power to not gratify the desires of the flesh – which includes the body and mind and emotions and will.
Each of us has different areas of weakness and temptation. My areas of weakness may not be your areas of weakness.
To avoid yielding to temptation, it’s important to put the proper safeguards in place, especially in areas of known weakness. For example:
If your temptation is alcohol, you can change your drive home from work so that you don’t pass your favorite bar or liquor store.
If your problem is drugs, you don’t hang out with those who are part of the drug scene.
If your temptation is pornography, you put a blocking service on your computer or smart phone so you can’t access the pornography.
If your temptation is women, you don’t hire the prettiest secretary or go out to lunch with the attractive female co-worker and listen to her problems and become her counselor.
These are things we can do on our own to help us not yield to temptation. If, after doing these things, we are still being tempted, and close to yielding, we get others involved. We call one or two trustworthy, mature Christian or Messianic Jewish friends, and we confide in them. We share our struggles and ask them to pray for us. The act of telling someone else diminishes the power of sin, which flourishes in the dark. Light drives out darkness. We make one of our friends our accountability partner and we tell our friend to check up on us. If, after doing that, and it’s not enough, and we are still giving into sin, we call the rabbi and confide our struggles to him, and ask him to pray for us and give us his advice.
There are situations that need special attention. Those who repeatedly yield to temptation dig themselves into a spiritual hole. The more they sin, the deeper the hole gets and the harder it is to climb out of, and greater efforts are needed in order to repent. I’m talking about the person who claims to be a Christian or Messianic Jew and is drinking way too much; or the one who is using illegal drugs or abusing prescription drugs; or the one who is addicted to porn; or the person who is engaging is sexual immorality. Those sins, when persistently engaged in, weaken the person’s will and ruin his character. Ordinary efforts that lead to repentance may not be enough.
The person who has weakened himself by persistent sin may need extraordinary efforts – counseling; a accountability partner; becoming part of a support group where those with the same problem encourage each other. They may need an extended time in rehab.
Repentance does not mean the relationship will be the same as before. It may be, but it may not be. Christians and Messianic Jews need to be very forgiving, but not naive. When someone sins against us, and comes to us and asks for forgiveness, we should forgive him – and not just once.
Peter came to Yeshua and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Many people will not forgive someone who sins against them even once. “You did that to me? I am done with you. We are finished.” Some will forgive once or twice. Forgiving the same person seven times is a lot of forgiveness. That’s more than enough, right?
Yeshua answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. The number seven is the number of completeness. Seven-seven is a number that communicates repeated, complete forgiveness.
Yeshua reinforced His teaching on our need to be very forgiving with a parable. “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
The point of Messiah’s parable: Each one of us has sinned a lot, sinned frequently, sinned repeatedly. Our sins offend God. Our many, accumulated sins are like a debt worth ten thousand bags of gold – a vast amount that we could never pay. Yet, He has forgiven us our many, accumulated sins. So, when someone sins against us, it will never amount to the amount of our sins against God. If God forgives us a lot, and He has, He demands that we forgive others the lesser amount they have sinned against us. He wants us to be very forgiving – like He is.
However, when someone hurts us, harms us, sins against us, and then asks for our forgiveness, and we forgive them, it does not mean that the relationship will be the same that it was before. It may be the same, but it may never be the same. This is something I want everyone to understand.
In most situations, if someone does something that offends you or harms you, and then comes to you and apologizes and asks for forgiveness, and you forgive him, things can go back to the way they were – especially if, along with his apology, he makes restitution. He tries to undo the damage. He restores what he can. He tries to make you whole; sets things straight; make things right. However, there are situations where, even when the person comes to you and admits he did something wrong, and asks for forgiveness, and makes restitution, and you forgive him – the relationship can’t go back to the way it was before.
I’ll give you an example: there was a small church in this area, and the leadership put a couple in charge of the finances. After a while it came to light that they embezzled something like $18,000 from the church bank account and used the funds to gamble. They had a gambling problem and used the funds they were trusted with and lost everything the little church had.
Now, this wasn’t just a sin against the church, it’s also a felony, and the couple could have been arrested and sent to prison. But, the leaders of the church didn’t want to bring the crime to the authorities. They wanted to deal with it within the community. So, the couple was confronted. The couple admitted their wrong-doing. They apologized. I think they made restitution and restored most or all of the money they had stolen.
And, when a fellow Christian or Messianic Jews asks for forgiveness, and we forgive him, everything should return to the way it was before – right? The pastor thought so. He is a very spiritual man, a very forgiving man, and so he put them back in charge of the church funds.
For a while, everything seemed to be fine – until it was discovered that the couple had embezzled all of the money once again – this time I think it was something like $10,000.
This wound up destroying that little church. The church was broke. The people lost confidence in the leadership. The church disbanded and the pastor moved out of the area.
It wasn’t just the sin of the couple; that ruined the church it was the naivety of the leadership. They didn’t understand that forgiveness does not mean that in every situation, things go back to exactly the way they were before.
When someone is in a position of trust, like a treasurer of a church, and he violates that trust and steals from the church and is caught, it is foolish to put him back in that position of trust. There are certain professions, like medicine and the law, which are professions that require trust, when, if the professional commits a felony, thereby violating the trust of his profession, he can never practice that profession again.
Here’s another example: a male teacher is found to have molested students under his care. He is sent to prison and serves his time there. He has paid his debt to society. He is released. Should he be allowed to be a teacher again? But put in a place of trust where children are involved? The answer is no.
It can take a while for us to get to know someone else. People learn how to present themselves to us in a way that makes them look good, but their presentation of themselves does not reflect who they really are. People are like icebergs – they hide much of who they are from us.
In some cases, it can take months or years for us to understand who someone really is. Many men and women can tell you that they were married to someone for years, sharing life and home and bed – only to find out after years that their partner was not the person they thought he or she was.
You develop a relationship with someone, and he becomes your friend, and then something happens – he says or does something that reveals that there is something dark or crazy going on inside of him. He is not the person you thought he was.
Even if he apologizes and you forgive him, now you know that he isn’t the person you thought he was, and you don’t want the same degree of relationship, the same kind of friendship that you had before. Are you being unforgiving? Are you being UnChristian? No.
You are a woman and you develop a relationship with a man, and he says or does something that reveals that he is not who you thought he was. He is mentally or emotionally imbalanced. He is much more immature than you thought. He is much less worthy of your trust. He comes to you and apologizes and asks for forgiveness, and you forgive him, but now you want to set up boundaries to protect yourself from him. Is it unChristian to set up those boundaries? Is it unforgiving? No. You have the right to change the nature of your relationship.
To summarize and conclude:
Repentance is essential.
We are able to repent, turn to God and be forgiven because of what Yeshua did for us.
We have sinned a lot and have been forgiven a lot, so God demands that we are very forgiving when others ask us for forgiveness. But we are not to be naive. The relationship can not, in some cases should not be restored to what it was before.
It is better to resist sin than yield to sin and have to repent.
There are things we can do to resist yielding to temptation.
And if we do sin? We don’t ignore our sins; excuse our sins; minimize our sins; justify our sins. We admit our sins as soon as possible. We confess our sins. We agree with God that our sins are sins. We thank God that the atonement Messiah provided is sufficient to atone for all of our sins; and we ask for God’s grace to do better the next time we face that same temptation. We put safeguards in place. And the God who forgives seventy seven times helps us get close to Him once again. He renews us and fills us with His Spirit and empowers us once again for holy living.