A New Direction - Made New (Week 4)

Have you ever gone uh the wrong way?

It was about two months ago, I think.

We uh set out on a normal summer day, and uh we live over in Old Midland, and so we came to what is certainly very confusing to West Texans.

We came to the roundabout, uh right north of the hospital, as you can see here.

And uh sure enough, this is me.

I'm coming right here on Cuthbert coming west, and there we go, there's my car right there.

And uh so here I come to the roundabout when um I I came to something that I've never had happen on the roundabout.

Uh, and it's not surprising because you know, we don't live in England or France.

Uh there was a woman who came from the north, came south on Garfield, and decided that she was gonna go left instead of right the way that you should go.

And I had a choice in that moment.

I had uh the opportunity to be a kind and gentle shepherd.

I had the opportunity to simply back my car out and uh let her go on by where I could honk.

So after I honked and um backed up and let her go on by, uh, I thought certainly that she would make a left.

She would head east on to Cuthbert over towards Far West Coffee.

Why wouldn't you want to go over to Far West Coffee?

Uh, but no, instead she proceeded to continue on, causing all kinds of traffic issues, uh, really risking her own life.

She was certainly going the wrong way.

And my guess is um that you have had a moment in your life like that where you have found yourself going in the wrong direction.

Maybe literally, maybe you found yourself going uh the wrong direction down a one way a one-way street.

Uh maybe you can think back in a time in your marriage where you can just feel it like it was headed in the wrong direction.

Maybe some of you um can think of uh a period in your life where your kids, you've watched them make decisions and you can just tell they are heading in the wrong direction.

So what do we do when we're headed in the wrong direction?

That's what we're gonna talk about today, uh, is we continue in a series that we launched uh several weeks ago called Made New.

And in this series, uh we are really going back to the basics.

We're being uh we're really being reminded that we are a church of disciples who make disciples.

And uh in this series, we have explored how how God makes us new and he gives us a uh a new start.

And then when he gives us a new start through salvation, that we have a new king.

And when we have a new king, we discover that there are going to be certain areas in our life that need to go in a new direction.

And that's the title of today's message is Repentance, a New Direction.

Our text for today is it's the same text that we were in last week.

It's from Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

If you have your Bible, you can open up there.

Uh, we're gonna be in verse 36.

Will you please stand with me today for the reading of God's Word?

And if you're new to church or new to reading the Bible, maybe you missed last week.

Let me just give you a very quick recap.

It's the day of Pentecost.

It's about a month and a half after Jesus has resurrected from the grave.

The Spirit of God has fallen, and the apostle Peter is preaching a message explaining what is happening when he comes to the very end of his message, and he says this in verse 36.

He says, Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this.

God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.

Verse 37, when the people heard this, they were cut to the heart.

And they said to Peter and the other apostles, brothers, what shall we do?

And Peter replied, Repent.

Everybody say, Repent.

Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins.

And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, for all whom the Lord our God will call.

With many other words, he warned them and he pleaded with them save yourselves from this corrupt generation.

And those who accepted his message were baptized, and about 3,000 were added to their number that day.

This is the word of the Lord.

You may be seated.

I heard the story uh of a man named Roy Regals recently.

Uh Roy was a football player for Georgia Tech University, and uh his team uh was playing against the Cal Golden Bears in the Rose Bowl.

And it was a closely uh contested game back and forth as they came towards halftime uh when Roy was playing on the defensive side of the ball, and the Cal player uh fumbled the ball.

And so Roy uh grabs the ball, he's disoriented, and he begins to run as fast as he can towards his own end zone.

And as you can imagine, uh the whole stadium begins to scream at him.

His own players are trying to catch him.

They're screaming, you're going the wrong way! You're going the wrong direction.

And then all of a sudden, he gets to the one-yard line and his own teammate tackles him.

Can you imagine that scene?

And as you can also imagine, Roy was distraught.

Now, the good news is uh his team they showed up, the defense actually stopped him, they kicked a field goal, uh, but he went into halftime and he was just devastated.

He was embarrassed, uh, he felt like a fool, I think like any of us would have.

And at halftime, he told his coach, listen to this, this was the quote.

He says, I have ruined you, the university, and myself.

It was an unintentional mistake.

And I think going the wrong direction at times uh can feel this way.

Sometimes in our life, uh we just simply make mistakes, like leaving candy corn out the entire month.

It's just a mistake.

Sometimes our mistakes are much more far-reaching than that, though.

They affect not only us.

It's like Roy, it affected uh him, but it affected his team.

It affected all of the fans in the stadium that day.

Uh sometimes these things in our life are just childish.

They're they're foolishness, it's uh it's ignorance.

Maybe um some of you have been around a group of friends and that you've just been influenced by some things, and it's led you down a path that you probably shouldn't have gone down.

Sometimes uh these these things are a result of our family of origin.

Let me give you a couple examples.

Um maybe some of you uh were sexually abused at a young age.

The statistic would say that it's one in three.

That's a lot of people in here.

And because of this horrific experience in your life, it distorted your view of sexuality from a very young age, and then because of that, you became sexually active at uh a young age, and this was your learned experience, and so because you had had something stolen from you, it led it led to a period of promiscuity in your life, and you were headed down the wrong direction.

Maybe there's others of us in here uh that were surrounded by a group of friends that led us um to the occult.

You you didn't think it was a big deal.

Uh you were they were playing with tarot cards, or maybe, hey, let's go check out this psychic, it'll it'll be fun.

Uh, and you just simply didn't realize the power of the demonic.

You still see some things uh in our life uh we find ourselves kind of going the wrong direction, and ultimately, yes, we made that choice, uh, but it because of something that had shaped your life, you found yourself going somewhere you didn't want to go.

That's some of us in here today.

We've been headed in the wrong direction, and the Spirit of God is gonna speak to you today and say, go the other way.

You're headed down the wrong path, you're headed in the wrong direction, and if you don't stop, the consequences are gonna be severe.

However, sometimes it's just outright rebellion.

Sometimes it's not just a mistake, sometimes we know exactly what we're doing.

Been there?

Done that.

Like I used to be, some of y'all are about to judge me.

I used to be the guy who would go down the wrong way in the HEV parking lot.

You know what I'm talking about?

Those arrows, um, they were optional.

Allie used to get so mad at me, and I would just look over at her in defiance, like, I don't even care.

But for some of us, and me included, that was uh I was making light of it, but um some of us have gotten involved in substances and we know it's it's not right.

And we're doing it because we're trying to deal with stress or pain or whatever it may be, uh, but we know it's wrong, and we go, I don't care, I'm gonna do it anyway.

Maybe maybe some of us who are students, um we know we shouldn't cheat on that test.

We know we shouldn't use AI to write that paper, but we do it anyway.

We know we should be honest with our spouse about those new boots we bought.

Hey, or that money that we lost on poly market.

But they just got that new shotgun.

They just got that new purse, uh, you know, it's no big deal.

You're going the wrong way.

And there's something in our hearts, if we desire to follow the Lord, if we desire to be disciples, and certainly if we desire to be disciples who make disciples, that when the Holy Spirit begins to convict you, begins to tell you that you're going on the wrong way, what should you do?

Let me ask again.

When you're going the wrong way, what should you do?

Turn around.

See, this is exactly uh what Peter is telling the people here in Acts chapter 2, verse 37.

Acts 2:37

It's significant.

It says this when the people heard this, they were cut to the heart.

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart.

Peter's preaching here to God-fearing Jews.

Uh, I don't know for sure, but I have to wonder if these weren't some of the same people who just uh uh a few days before were screaming, crucify him! Crucify him.

Maybe they didn't know he was the Messiah.

Maybe even though he had told them that he was the Messiah, then maybe maybe they didn't realize it.

I don't know, but whatever the case is, when Peter begins to preach this message, they were cut to the heart.

In the original language, uh it means to strike violently, to stun.

In the words of the great theologian Miley Cyrus, they were hit like a wrecking ball.

And the conviction of the Holy Spirit fell upon them.

And the same is true for some of us today.

We've been going in the wrong direction.

And you might be surprised how the Holy Spirit speaks to you at times.

Sometimes the conviction of the Holy Spirit and the call for repentance comes in in a church service like this, when the word of God is being preached.

Sometimes uh it falls in the middle of a fight.

Like I surely I can tell you, I've been in a marriage opportunity, we'll call it, with Allie.

And the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes it falls in our time with God, where we still ourself, we put that phone away, and we let him mess with us in the best way.

By the way, if you don't have that space in your life, Pastor Daniel was talking about this earlier, where you read the word, where you sit in silence, or I like I like a little bit of like, I'll put it on Spotify, like some piano worship and just let the Holy Spirit convict you in the best way.

You need that space in your life, and I do too.

See, sometimes it seemingly comes out of nowhere.

Uh sometimes it comes when we're fasting.

That happened to me several years ago on our week of prayer and fasting.

I was cleaning out my shed.

Some of you heard this story before, uh, when all of a sudden uh the Holy Spirit began to convict me of some things, some areas in my heart.

It wasn't even necessarily my actions, although those weren't great either, but it was actually the motivations of my heart.

And all of a sudden, I was convicted.

I'm cleaning out my shed, standing in my back, my backyard, and there's tears coming down my face.

You see, it was leading me to repentance.

And when we come to these moments, we have a choice.

This is what Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 7.

2 Corinthians 7 · chapter mention

He talks about how we can deal with them with two kinds of sorrow.

It says this godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret.

Ooh, that sounds, that sounds good.

But worldly sorrow brings death.

He's comparing here.

How how godly sorrow, we've all had this in our life where where it's like, man, I don't want to live that way anymore.

Godly sorrow brings about, go ahead and put this next slide up there for me.

It produces repentance, a turning.

I don't want to live that way anymore.

It produces salvation, praise God, and it produces no regret.

But worldly sorrow, man, I'm just sorry I got caught.

It produces death.

I think about the way that Peter was convicted, how he had godly sorrow.

And I think about the way that Judas dealt with his sorrow.

They were very different.

Peter uh was repentant.

Peter had uh, man, a salvation moment, I believe.

He there was no regret there.

He went on to be one of the greatest leaders in the church.

And Judas.

He handled it in such a different way, and it it ultimately produced both physical death, but I think it was spiritual death there also.

I hope you guys are reading the one-to-one book.

Uh, it's so good.

If you don't have one, grab one.

It's in the back of the chair in front of you today.

Uh, for those of you who are watching online, you can download the app.

There's this incredible uh really quote in there.

It says this this godly grief makes no excuses, it takes full responsibility and never places blame on other people, places blame on society or circumstance.

It acknowledges that our sin is primarily against God.

That stings.

Because we stop making excuses when we truly repent.

Stop blaming it on society or on our family of origin or stop blaming it on uh what happened to us, we stop blaming it on all those things, and we acknowledge that my sin is my sin and I'm the one who did it.

But some of us in here have been living under something.

We've been living, even after we acknowledged our sin, we've been living under condemnation.

Telling you that you'll never get it right.

You're kind of like Roy Regals.

I've ruined my life.

That's what condemnation says.

I've ruined my family.

My actions have ruined everything in front of me.

That's not true.

That's a lie straight from the pit of hell.

There's always hope with Jesus.

Somebody say amen today.

That's a word for some of you.

The Holy Spirit will, however, bring conviction.

Shouldn't have said that.

Shouldn't have done that.

There's a difference between condemnation and conviction.

You see, godly grief leads to repentance and to a desire to change.

I don't want to live that way anymore.

I don't want to say those words to my spouse anymore.

I was thinking um about Olivia.

Olivia and I were talking about uh this message earlier this week, and she said her parents used to say, some of you have said this, sorry isn't good enough.

My kids sometimes will go, sorry.

No.

What we're really after is a changed heart.

We're really after uh a desire to change.

That's what God's after in us.

When we really repent and we begin to walk in that, our lives are changed.

And this is exactly where uh these brothers were in the book of Acts, because they come after this incredible sermon, they come to this point, this point where uh Peter has just acknowledged that the Jesus whom they crucified is both Lord and Christ.

And here's what they say, brothers, what shall we do?

Some of you are are thinking that today.

Okay, what do I do now?

The Holy Spirit has been messing with me in the best way.

What shall I do?

Peter replied, Repent and be baptized.

Repent.

We'll get to the baptism part next week.

In the original language, uh the word is tea it means to change your outlook or to have a change of heart, to reverse the direction of your life.

It literally means to turn or to turn away from.

There's some of us in here today that have some things going on in our life that we need to turn from.

It's not good enough to just say, I'm sorry, it's literally time to turn and walk away from that thing.

Maybe it's that person.

Turn away from that person, turn away from that group at your school, turn away from that behavior, turn away from that addiction.

Because God wants to change your heart.

This is what a real repentance is it is a changed heart.

Now we are called to be disciples who make disciples.

Parents, let me talk to you for just a moment.

How often do We simply try to discipline the behavior.

Anybody ever done this?

Yeah.

We all have had these moments.

If you do that again in H E B, I'm going to spank your bottom.

If you do that again, you're getting a timeout.

And we go after the behavior.

If you want to be a disciple who makes disciple disciples of your kids, you go after the heart.

I love the book, Shepherding Your Child's Hearts, by Ted Tripp.

Some of you may need to hop on Amazon today.

It's a great resource.

And Ted Tripp has in this book, he has this quote.

He talks about how it's really about the heart.

Aim at the heart and you will get the behavior thrown in.

Aim at the behavior and you will get neither.

If you can teach your kids to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and then begin to walk in repentance when they have those moments, you will have done well.

And we should do that too.

You see, as parents, we are called to model this for our own kids.

When you make a mistake, when you say something you shouldn't, when you say it with a tone that you shouldn't, if you model it and say, I'm sorry, I don't want to live that way anymore, you repent to them, they will learn that more than anything you can ever say when you do it.

There should be action that goes with our repentance.

Matthew chapter 3 says we should bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

Matthew 3 · chapter mention

And the motivation for all of this is the gospel.

That God sent his son to be a propitiation for our sin, that God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we can become the righteousness of God.

Praise God.

Somebody say amen today.

So what is it that leads us to repentance?

Is it God shaking his finger at us?

Saying, get it together.

No, friends.

Romans 2 says it's the kindness.

Everybody say kindness.

It's the kindness of God that leads us to repentance.

Friends, we turn away from things.

We begin to change our mind.

We repent because He is a kind God.

He really is slow to anger, abounding in loyal love, forgiving the sins of thousands.

Some of us today, uh, here in just a few minutes, there's some things that we need to turn from.

But I want to end our time today talking just for a moment about forgiveness.

I think there are some of us, I could sense it even as I was preparing it this week, that some of us have been living under a root of bitterness for far too long.

It's grown from just a small little root.

Some of us has grown up into like a full-blown weed in our life.

Jesus tells uh this story in Matthew chapter 18 about a king who forgives this man a debt that was far more than he could ever pay.

Matthew 18 · chapter mention

And then that same man goes out and finds a guy who owes him two nickels and has him thrown into prison.

Some of us have been holding something over somebody's head, or maybe holding something over our own head for a very long time, when you have been forgiven a far more than you could ever imagine.

Several years ago, um, the great pastor Tim Keller wrote a book on forgiveness.

And he was being interviewed about this book, and he has this quote, it's it's a little bit long, but I think it's really helpful for us today.

Uh he was asked this question, and the question is this he was asked, is forgiveness more of an event or a process?

It's a great question.

Here's what he says He says, forgiveness is granted, speaking of the event, before it's felt.

Sort of like what Pastor Daniel was talking about earlier.

Sometimes we come in and we worship even when we don't feel like it.

Sometimes we forgive even when we don't feel like it.

It's a promise before God not to take revenge on a wrongdoer for his or her sin against you.

Making that promise entails three practical commitments.

Okay, here we go.

Three practical commitments.

Number one, you promise not to constantly bring that sin up to the wrongdoer in order to browbeat or punish him or her.

Because we bring it up often.

Number two, you promise not to constantly bring the sin up to other people.

I'm gonna not bring it up to them, but I shiri, I'm gonna throw them under the bus in a public setting.

In order to hurt the wrongdoer's reputation and relationship with others.

Number three, you promise not to constantly bring the sin up to yourself, not to keep the anger hot, to replay the video of it in order to cherish the feeling of nobility and virtue that comes from having been treated unjustly.

Those are three practical things.

He goes on, and here's what he says.

At first, when you make those commitments granting forgiveness, you don't feel forgiving at all.

You're still angry.

That's natural.

But if you keep the commitments in a disciplined way, which will be hard, by the way, and you remember the vertical dimension that you're a sinner, living wholly by God's grace, then slowly but surely you will feel the forgiveness you have granted.

He says, Don't make the mistake of thinking you have to feel forgiving before you can grant it.

If you try to do that, do it that way, it will never happen.

You must grant forgiveness in order to feel it.

Some of us need to forgive today.

King David has this moment where he makes some really bad choices.

And he writes this Psalm, Psalm chapter 51, and I think it's a perfect example of disciples making disciples.

Psalms 51 · chapter mention

Look at this, and I want to encourage you to pray this prayer, to write it down, to come back to it often.

He says, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

This is Him being a disciple.

Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of my salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.

He's a disciple, but then look what he does here.

He says, Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.

Friends, today, um there's some of us that have been going the wrong direction.

There's some of us that just need to have a moment today where we change our mind.

We turn away.

Some of us need to have just a moment here at the end of our service where we forgive somebody.

Maybe we forgive ourselves.

So I want to just do that and just ask you to bow your head for a moment.

Just gonna give you about one minute here.

The Holy Spirit's been dealing with you in a particular area.

Repent.

You need to forgive someone in your heart.

Forgive yourself.

Do that right now.

God, thank you.

That it's your kindness that leads us to repentance.

Father, we so desperately need you in our life.

God, today we receive a cleansing and a refreshing.

God, we ask that your Holy Spirit would help us to walk this out this week.

And going forward.

We ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.