Repentance: Forsaking the Wicked Way

(Isaiah 55:7)

         "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man forsake his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." (Isaiah 55:7)

               There is a necessity for us to turn away from sin, but I like the word that Isaiah uses here…There is a necessity for us to FORSAKE sin.  There has to be an abandonment of evil actions.  But not only are we to abandon ACTIONS of evil, but thoughts of evil.  There is an urgent necessity for us to continually preach and insist this course of action.

               This chapter, as you’ll notice in reading it, is full of GOSPEL teaching.  It’s full of good news about the Lord…and it expresses the fullness and the freeness of the gospel. But the prophet also insists, VERY clearly, that the wicked man must forsake his way, and the unrighteous man must turn from his thoughts, and return to the Lord, in order for mercy and pardon to be given from God.  I hope you noticed that phrase…in order for mercy and pardon to be given we must FORSAKE evil actions and thoughts.

               This is a gospel demand, found in the center of a gospel chapter in the writings of the most evangelical of all the prophets. The chapter begins with a number of gracious invitations (come everyone that thirsts-come and I will make a covenant). Then, it goes on to the promise of the coming Savior (the captain of their salvation, the HOLY ONE). Then, Isaiah speaks of the promise of salvation (Your soul SHALL LIVE). Christ will call a people unto himself, and "nations" shall run unto him. Then, following the promise of a Savior, and the promise of salvation, there comes this loving invitation, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near." (Isa. 55:6). 

                This brings us to our text. Here we are told that the wicked must FORSAKE his way. Plainly stated: there is no Savior for the man who will not forsake his sin. How can a soul run to Christ, if that soul continues in the way of sin? And this is the theme of our lesson: Repentance...transformation…turning from sin. 

               Malachi wrote, "For who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness." May the Lord bless his people to search the word of God, and give Him all the praise.

I.  THE NECESSITY OF REPENTANCE IN CONVERSION.

              If a souls is to be saved, it must turn from sins.  If a soul is to be saved there must be a transformation of thought and life! "Right about face!" is the marching order for every soul from God. There is no hope of forgiveness, if a person continues with his face towards the world. We must turn from sin if we want salvation.

              This is a concept that is logical to see and think, but harder to put into practice because of the custom and age in which we live.  Children are the best examples of innocence and gut-wrenching honesty that we can see on this earth: 

               As a father was getting into the car one day, he casually flicked a piece of paper out into the street.  While they were driving along, his 4 year old daughter asked, “Daddy, did you litter?”  Concentrating on the road, the father replied, “No, Honey.”  A few miles later, the little girl persisted, “Daddy, why did you litter back there?”  The father, seeing that he couldn’t hide anything from her wide open eyes finally admitted, “Okay, I did brush a piece of gum wrapper into the street.”  Upon which the irritated little girl said, “NO DADDY, YOU LITTERED!”

              With a convicted sigh, the father said, “Yes, I littered.”  A few minutes later, the inquisitive young girl asked, “Daddy, why did you lie about littering?”

              Our customary thinking about sin is hard to change! If you’ve ever been in a canoe going down a swift stream…it’s hard enough to turn the boat around and paddle against the flow, but notice that it’s even harder to gather your own mental strength to make the DECISION to change direction.  I find myself sometimes thinking, “When will I start to go against the grain?  When am I going to make the decision to stop…and go in the direction I’m supposed to go?!  When do I turn around?!”

               Question: How consistent would it be with the holiness of God, for him to simply excuse our past impenitent sins, and then let us float on down the river without ever changing course? How could God be just and pure…if he forgets the punishment for past transgressions, without seeing IN US any determination to abstain from such sin in the future? “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?  God forbid!”  Christ Jesus came into the world to SAVE sinners, but he never came here to spare their sins.

              We can never presume that we can continue in sin…period.  We cannot find mercy with the Lord, if we’ve never turned around!  There is no teaching like that in the whole of the Scriptures, and if you do believe God will save someone who sins impenitently, then you are believing a lie. Nowhere, in the whole compass of revelation, is there a promise of forgiveness to the man who continues in his sin.

There is a promise of pardon to the sinner who forsakes his wicked way, and turns from his evil thoughts; and there are many promises of forgiveness to those who confess their sins in humble penitence, but none for the impenitent.

                I’m reminded that the greatest promises and blessings are given to those who believe and obey the Lord Jesus Christ.  We have abundant blessings in Christ that’s quite true; but the blessings which we have in Jesus…come from a living, active, and obedient faith.  If a person says, "I’m saved, or I’m a baptized believer," and yet continues to delight in sin…they’re lying, and the truth is not in them, for "faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone." We have to bring forth "fruits for repentance." There’s no such thing as being saved without a change of heart, and a change of life! Without holiness no man will ever see the Lord! "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." This truth has never been revoked.  In the whole compass of the Word of God, there is no promise of pardon to the man who continues in his iniquities.

                 The same lesson is taught in the Lord's parables. For instance, there was no rejoicing over the lost sheep while it was still wandering away from the fold; the joy began when that lost sheep was found, and was brought home. A more prominent example is that of the prodigal son. There was no joy over him while he was in the far country, and no kiss for him from his father while he was feeding the swine. He must come back, he must say, "Father, I have sinned!!" There must be the forsaking of his former evil ways, or else there could be no joy in his father's forgiveness.

                Not to sound mean, harsh, or unloving, but (speaking this truth in all the love I can muster) we have to say, as plainly as we can possibly say it, If we want to keep on sinning, we’re going to hell.  If we want to keep on cussing, and drinking, and brawling, and talking about everybody from the preacher to the person sitting next to ya…we won’t be enjoying the bliss of God…but if we want to go to heaven, we MUST…MUST part company with our sins. If we want to be the bride of Christ…we have to be divorced from sin. There is no possibility of walking in the way of the Lord and, at the same time, treading the pathway of evil. "No man can serve two masters." "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man forsake his thoughts…”

                Think about this with good, old fashioned, common sense.  It would be highly dangerous to society if men were to be pardoned for rape, murder, and terrors of the world, and yet not be renewed in character and life.  Let’s say we caught ol’ Bin-Ladin down the road…he was tried and convicted on multiple accounts of murder and hate crimes…how much sense would it make to pardon him and let him go back to his hideout in the sand?  It doesn’t make any sense!  If a man isn’t going to change…then he cannot be pardoned!

               If Christ were to see a man at the bar at Outback, and say to him, "I forgive you because of the precious blood I shed for you on Calvary!  Now…go and get drunk, be as unchaste tonight as you can be, and go steal that Jaguar out in the parking lot..BE OF GOOD CHEER…YOU’RE FORGIVEN!" It doesn’t make any sense…and neither does salvation without CHANGE.

               Look at your life…examine the practices, actions, words, conversations.  If you go on sinning, you cannot be saved. If you continue to love sin, and to practice it, you cannot be saved.  There is NO salvation without a CHANGE!   "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man forsake his thoughts…”

              The angel said to Joseph, before our Savior's birth, "Thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins;" but if they can be saved IN their sins, where is the meaning of his name? When he hung upon the cross, and one of the soldiers pierced his side, "forthwith came there out blood and water;" but what’s the use of the purifying water if we don’t need to be purified, and can be pardoned without being cleansed? Paul wrote to Titus that Christ "gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works;" but how can that purpose be accomplished if men can be pardoned, and yet continue to live in sin?  There is no salvation without CHANGE of life…without forsaking of sin!

II. THE NATURE OF REPENTANCE

                 How is it described here? First, it deals with our life: "Let the wicked forsake his way." Observe that it is "his way" that he is to forsake. He must forsake this way, even though it may be the way he has walked for years; he will have to get out of this way! If we are to be saved, we will have to give up ALL SINFUL ACTS and try our best (with God’s help) the control our thoughts. We have to give up our old sins, our pet sins; the sins of the flesh, with all their pleasure, and the sins of the mind, with all their pride!  We have to FORSAKE THEM!

                   Notice that word "forsake." "Let the wicked forsake his way." It doesn’t say, "Let him know that his way is bad." There are some who will say, 'Oh, yes, I know that my way is very wrong;" and they’ll just stop there.  They say, “I know I shouldn’t be doing this, seeing that, talking like that!”  -------LET THIS SINK IN: Admission of sin will not save you!  You can come up here and tell a list of sins that would make a sailor blush…but we must forsake THE WAY of those sins, and MAKE A CHANGE! We must forsake the wicked way if we are to be forgiven.

                  "Oh," some say, "I am very sorry for all the sin that I have committed!" I’m glad that you are, and I hope that you will be; but sorrow alone will never save you. It’s not just saying, "I’m sorry," or your BEING sorry for your sin that will save you (it’s right to be sorry), but you must forsake the sin as well as be sorry for it.

                 “Well, preacher, I resolve that I will start living right." BUT, resolve by itself will not save you, because there are plenty of good resolutions that are good for nothing. You have to actually forsake your wicked ways before you have complied with the requirements of our text.

                 I know how the devil tries to deceive you (I’ve been there too), when you’ve made a good resolution.  He will say, “That’s great that you have resolved to change,” and a sense of peace comes over us.  BUT resolutions aren’t worth a dime when it comes to sin!  We must act, not simply resolve to live for God. We must forsake our sin if it is to be forgiven.

                 In plain terms, the prophet means just this. Do you go out and get drunk with your friends and buddies?  Now, nobody that does that can ever inherit the kingdom of God as long as he continues to go out and party…so one can’t be in that condition. Do you steal? Do you cuss like a sailor around some people? Do you privately cheat in business/taxes? All those things must be given up...FORSAKEN!

                 If you mean to be punished by God, then go on with your wickedness; but if you want to be forgiven for the past, you must cut all connection with these evil things when it comes to the future. There can be no compromise about this.  'Let the wicked forsake his way…the fleshly way, the ways of lust, a ways of self-indulgence, any way of sin,-it must be forsaken. You must abandon it, or else you must abandon all hope of ever getting to heaven.

              "Now…that is pretty strong language, preacher!"  Do you think so? We haven’t even gotten to the hardest part yet.  The next point concerning the nature of repentance is that it deals with the man's thoughts: "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts." "But I can think what I want!” “It’s America!  I’m a red-blooded American and this is a free country of free thought and speech!" There’s a difference between free speech and talking trash, a difference between free thinking and thinking stinking.  An author once wrote: "A man may not be hanged for his thoughts, but he may be damned for them;" Thought, is often the very essence of sin. “As a man thinks in his heart…so is he.”

              Your thoughts are what trigger your emotions, your words, and your actions?  How often does one harsh one provoke you to anger?  How often does a person’s name bring the joy of the day to a screeching halt?  (You’re all thinking of that person aren’t you?  The one that’s rubbed you the wrong way, offended you, hurt you).  But, God says we have to forsake those thoughts…

So that we can “return unto the Lord," Conversion deals with the sinner in his relation to God. If we want to find mercy…we have to return to God.  How?       

First…we have to begin with the mind…we have to think about God. This might be a no brainer, but reflect: How much do you think about God during the day, week?  THINK ABOUT GOD!

                 Notice that the text says that the wicked RETURNS to the Lord.  It’s so easy in this life to forget God.  We all have jobs (me and Chris only work one day a week-joking), but in doing those jobs, picking up the kids, cleaning house, doing laundry, studying for school, cramming for tests…we often forget God.  He leaves our minds and lives…and believe it or not you can write an entire sermon without ever thinking about giving glory to God.  Focus your mind…change your life…transform your mind, and godly change will come.

III. THE GOSPEL OF REPENTANCE

                 Somebody might say, “Josh, this sermon’s been pretty cut and dry, pretty legalistic…you been preaching the law." No...I have not. The law says nothing about repentance. See…the law curses us from the very first moment that we break it. That gracious message, "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out," is not the utterance of law, but it’s the voice of the gospel.

                 Here’s the gospel of repentance. First, it lies in the fact that God has promised that he will abundantly pardon those who turn from their evil ways: "Let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." To the man who confesses his guilt, the law demands justice and punishment…and God, the righteous Judge, might justly have punished us; but, instead, he says, "Forsake your wicked way, and your evil thoughts, and turn to me, and I will abundantly pardon you. Repent of your iniquity, abandon it, turn to the Lord, obey His words, and it will all be blotted out. All the evil of your past will be forgiven and forgotten; and your sins and your transgressions I will not remember against you any more." This is the best good news…this is the most precious gospel message!

                  There is a further gospel message in the fact that Jesus Christ himself came into the world to save those who will come.  One of the simplest declarations of the gospel is, "He that believeth, and is baptized shall be saved…” To believe is to trust; and whoever trusts Christ Jesus, depends on his death, is covered by the excellence of his atoning blood sacrifice…such a soul will be saved.

                 This is the best part of the gospel…in order that you might be able to believe that God can have mercy on the guilty, and in order that you might be saved, God gave his Son, Jesus Christ, to offer a full and complete atonement for sin. I never weary of preaching that glorious truth…According to the righteous law of God, sin must be punished. Therefore, Jesus came, and bore the penalty that was due to sin. The lash of the law must fall on someone, so he was scourged with its terrible blows. The sword of divine justice was unsheathed, and it must cut someone; so Jesus gave his heart, and quenched the flaming blade in the crimson fountain of his own blood. Now that this has been done…Christ is the Justifier of everyone who believes, repents, and is baptized in Jesus name. 

The effect of that atoning sacrifice upon the soul is that we find ourselves changed…our heart and soul hates the sin that it formerly may have enjoyed, and we turn to the Savior who covers all sin.  But without change there is no salvation...maybe you see the need for a change of life…God will bless you and abundantly pardon if you come.