Repent

Revelation 2:1-5 – “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who hold the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands says this: ‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you have found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. ‘but I have this against you, that you have left your first love. ‘Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of its place - unless you repent.’”

We've seen Christ's estimation of this church at Ephesus. We saw these eight commendable qualities that Christ lists that are true of this church, but He goes on to say that He has one thing against them and that is that they have left their first love. Consequently this one thing cancels out everything else. Based on 1 Corinthians 13, everything minus love equals zero. But thankfully the Lord Jesus doesn't leave off at that point. He goes on in verse 5 to give them the solution to their problem. The solution that He gives is in three steps. We saw last time the first step of "Remembering from where you have fallen." This has to do with a intimate relationship with Christ. Remember that love that you used to have for Him, that first love. It has to do with the inward reality of a relationship with Christ as opposed to an outward show of religion void of any relationship.

The second step Christ gives to this church is to “Repent.” The word repentance carries with it the idea of turning completely around, doing a 180. You agree with God about the wretchedness of your sin and you turn from it. In Acts chapter 20 the apostle Paul is addressing the elders of the Ephesian church and speaking of the work that he had been doing among them over the past three years, and he says in Acts 20:21 that he was - "solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." So repentance is not simply turning away from something, but it's also turning to God. You turn from your sin and you turn to God. Paul was proclaiming repentance toward God. We see repentance described again in 1 Thessalonians 1:9 where we read - "For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God." Here again we see a turning to and a turning from. A turning to God and a turning from sin. This is what repentance looks like.
Now, if we're to repent of our sin, then what is sin? Sin is certainly wrong things that we do that keep us from God, but there is another kind of sin. The bad things that we do are called sins of commission, but the Bible also talks about sin of omission, that is, not just doing what we ought not, but not doing what we ought. The Bible says in James 4:17 - “Therefore, to the one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.”According to this verse if there is something good we can do and we don't do it we are sinning. So when the Lord Jesus tells the church at Ephesus that they have left their first love, He is identifying their sin. We need to recognize that not loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength is sin. He has commanded us to love Him and if we don't love Him completely we are sinning against Him. And this sin of a lack of love is something that we need to repent of. Ask God to search your heart and reveal to you the true state of your love relationship with Him.

In the Old Testament when Gods people were repenting of their sin they used to tear their garments as an outward show of their repentance. The idea was that they were broken about their sin and as an outward sign of their brokenness they would tear their garments. Well, in Joel chapter two the Lord God sends His prophet to His people, calling on them to repent. But God makes it clear that He is looking for the inward repentance, not just the outward show. He says in Joel 2:13 - "And rend your heart and not your garments. Now return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and relenting of evil." The people got so taken up with the outward show of repentance that they missed the whole point that God is concerned with the inward reality. True repentance is an inward thing. Remember we saw before that the Lord is primarily concerned with the inward. Back in the time and culture in which the Bible was being written, people used to tear their clothes as a sign of repentance. They were so grieved about their sin that they would tear their clothes as an outward sign of their inward brokenness. But after a while that outward sign just became ritual, and the people would do it, but it would not come out of what was inside. Even in this area of repentance they became focused on the outward over the inward. But God doesn’t just want the outward show of repentance, He wants true, inner repentance. Rend your hearts and not your garments.

The First letter of Paul to the Corinthians was, by and large, a letter of correction. There was much that the church was involved in that merited a loving rebuke. And evidently that letter caused the church at Corinth to grieve. Paul mentions that first letter that He wrote in 2 Corinthians 7:8-10 and he says concerning it - "For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it – for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while – 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." The Corinthians were caused to be broken through sorrow from the rebuke in Paul's letter. And Paul actually says that he is glad that they were made sorrowful, because it was their sorrow that led them to repentance, and repentance is a key step to Restoration in our relationship with Christ. Godly sorrow leads to repentance, and repentance leads to a closer more intimate walk with the Lord. We're told in Romans chapter 2 that it's the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. God doesn't want us to be grieved simply because He likes it when we're sad, but He, in His kindness, wants to brings us to a place of godly sorrow, because godly sorrow leads to repentance and repentance leads to a close intimate relationship with Him. Repentance is essential in returning to our first love.

Revelation 2:4-5 - "I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent."