Morning, church. How is everybody? You see me setting up a whiteboard. You're like, am I in the right spot? You are. Okay. I don't do this every week, but this is a week that I want to get really practical. You guys okay with that? Good with that. All right. Love it at the end. So nothing to look at yet. We'll save it for the very end. You guys have a good week. Yeah. A couple of you did. We did. In the Howell household, we celebrated another birthday. Silas turned 2, which I joked with one of my friends after service, Coulter Page. I was like, if I had a favorite child, probably Silas right now. Because two is just a sweet age, isn't it? It's like they're old enough to talk to you, but not really old enough to talk back at you. It's a fun age. But anyways, Silas kind of struggles as the January birthday because it's like post Christmas. And Ellie and I, the night before his birthday were like, we didn't get him anything, like, no presents. And it's not like he needs anything, like, we have enough. But there is something about, you know, you want your kids to enjoy their birthday, like, something to unwrap. Doesn't have to be crazy. So on the morning of his birthday, we dropped the older two off at Tiny Vikes and we took off to none other than Dollar General. Can I get an amen? That was awesome. Went to Dollar General, found a couple toys for him. One was a foam samurai sword, which he forward to beating his brothers with. The other is just a small football. And Ellie and I grab these. We take them up to the register to pay. We use leftover Christmas cash. And what I was not expecting was for the cashier to pull out a money marker. Anybody know what a money marker is? Okay. It's this device that has been created, generated, to essentially, you scribble on a bill, and it shows whether or not it's counterfeit. And they kind of, you know, are like, hey. Reveals counterfeits in seconds. Good news. It checked out. It was a legitimate bill. So Silas got his birthday presents, and Ellie and I still have our integrity, which is great. But I tell that story because I believe this morning's text, as we jump into 2 Corinthians 7, is kind of designed to be a money marker when it comes to our faith. A money marker or a counterfeit checker when it comes to our Christianity. Because if you're anything like me, you look at statistics that say two thirds of Americans claim to be Christian, and you're like, really, could that be true? And then you try to, like, bring that not just from out there to in here. And you have to wrestle with the question, like, is everybody in this room truly a Christian? Like, we should ask that question. This is a quote that I've stolen from someone somewhere. I don't know who first said it, but it wasn't me. So don't think I'm that clever or funny. But it says, being at church doesn't make you a Christian any more than being in a garage makes you a car. And I think it's just a true statement, right? Like, I think to be a Christian is to belong to a local church. But just because you're here this morning doesn't automatically mean, of course I'm a Christian. I'm at church. So our guards should, in some ways be up, right? To be like, wait a second. What's happening here? And the bad news this morning is that the counterfeit detector that I plan on using this sermon and this text won't happen in seconds. More like minutes or hours. No, minutes. The good news is the mark of authenticity might be different than you expect. And that's good news, because last week, where we left off in Paul's letter to the Corinthians was a call to holiness, right? This like, hey, we need to take our holiness seriously. Anybody remember the three B's? Just with a raise of hands. You don't even have to talk. Anybody. Okay? I'm not offended if you don't. But here's what they were. First, belong, right? Belong to God. Rest in your gospel identity. Number two. Believe, like. Look back at the promises of Scripture that have been fulfilled in Christ. Look how faithful he is. And then lastly, behave. Right? Our text last week left off in chapter seven, verse one, which says this, since we have these promises, right? In light of our gospel identity, in light of these great promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. Now, on the topic of holiness, let me just ask, how'd that go last week? Anybody get 100%? No. Does that mean you're not a Christian? Not necessarily. Maybe. Maybe it does, but not necessarily. It's been said that whether or not you sin is not the measure of a Christian, but how you respond is. And I'll say that again, whether or not you sin is not the measure of a Christian. Can I get an amen to that? How you respond is. So the question we have to ask. Bring this money marker out to our faith is how does a Christian respond to sin? What is a particularly Christian response to sin in our lives? So we're going to be in second Corinthians 7. If you grabbed a program on your way in, you might be like, wow, we're covering the rest of this chapter. We're supposed to. But those of you that know me well know I am not a short winded. So I'm gonna cover four verses for us. I'm gonna, like, color in the whole chapter, and then I'm gonna, like, zoom in on four verses. Are you guys okay with that? You guys will want to eat lunch by noon, so I'll try to get you out of here on time. Okay? Second Corinthians 7. Here's what's happened. Paul is writing to the Corinthians. He is, like, reaffirming his love for the believers there. He's like, man, I want you to know how much I love you, right? Like, his language was kind of ride or die. Like, we live together, we die together. I am for you. There's this pleading of like, let's, like, do ministry together. Let's belong together. But then what he does throughout the majority of the chapter is he's uncovering his reunification with a guy by the name of Titus. How many of you guys have heard of Titus? Okay, Titus was a ministry partner with Paul. And what we know from earlier in the book was that Paul had sent Titus to Corinth with what he called a harsh letter or a severe letter. It was a letter that Paul says was written with much anguish and tears, but he wrote this to the Corinthians to say, hey, I don't write this to hurt you, but I write this because I love you. He's confronting sin in the Corinthian church. And again, as you keep reading in Second Corinthians, first two chapters, what you end up finding out is Paul had actually altered his travel plans. He first planned on stopping in Corinth to give them a visit, but he's like, man, I've really been beating these guys up with their sin, right? I've been chewing them up and spitting them out. I don't want to be the overbearing parent. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to give them a little time, a little space. Like, I want to see how they respond to this harsh letter. So instead of going to Corinth on my way to Macedonia, I'm going to go up to this town called Troas and What Paul was hoping to do in Troas was to meet up with Titus and to say, how'd they respond to the letter? Problem is, Titus wasn't there. So Paul in 2nd Corinthians 2 says that he was overwhelmed with, like, anxiety. He started to kind of question, like, did the Corinthian Church abandon the faith? Did they walk away? Have they denied me? Have they denied the Gospel? And this section here, if you have an ESV Bible, is titled Paul's Joy. And the good news is that's not how the church in Corinth responded. Paul talks about how when he and Titus reunited, it filled him with much joy. Why? Because Titus is able to tell him the Corinthians responded like they were Christians. They responded to your confrontation of sin, as you would expect they should as followers of Jesus. So it leaves us with this question, well, then, how did they respond? Right. What is this Christian response to sin? And I want to make just three observations from four verses this morning, if you guys are good with that. You guys okay with that? All right, three observations together. And then I do want to get practical with my whiteboard. I'll go teacher mode on you a little bit. But we're going to be in Second Corinthians, chapter seven, beginning in verse eight. Verses will be on the screen behind me. Here's what the word of God says. For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it. For I see that the letter grieved you, though only for a while. As it is, I rejoice not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret. Can I get an amen? Whereas worldly grief produces death, foresee what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves. What indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment. Your translation might read, what vindication. At every point, you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. So again, want to make three observations? I will tell you what they are. They will be on the screen for all you note takers. You won't have to be like, wait a second. Which. Which one did I miss? All right, observation number one. Let's look at this together. A Christian views sin primarily as a vertical reality. Okay. I don't know if you see that as clearly as I do, but we should. As we look at these verses that Paul is, contrasting these two responses, one is godly and one is worldly. Right? These two forms of grief, one is looking vertically, the other is looking horizontally. Now, how many of you in here would say that you can sin against other people, waiting for the pastor to raise his hand? Okay, how many of you have felt sinned against by another person? Yeah. Okay. Not hard to think of it. Common examples, to be lied to, to be slandered against, to be withheld forgiveness. Just a few. But I can think of one guy in the Scriptures who particularly sinned quite badly against other people. It's a guy by the name of David. How many of you have heard of David? Okay, King David, a man after God's own heart, right? This is a man described in Scripture as a man after God's own heart. But if you looked at two Samuel, chapter 11, you would not expect to see a man after God's own heart doing what he did. This is a king who is ruling over an army. But rather than being out at battle, he's at home and he's looking at another man's wife, this woman by the name of Bathsheba. And because David is king, because he's in power, he says, well, I think I want Bathsheba to be mine. He commits adultery with her. And then to make matters even worse, he sends Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, out to battle on the front lines and has him killed as a coverup. Now, how many of us would say David sinned against Bathsheba? There should be a hundred. Like everybody's hand should be in the air. How many of you would say David sinned against Uriah? Absolutely. So then it's kind of confusing when you get to Psalm 51, which is written, post this sin. And here's what David says. For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. You think against you. You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Now, here's what David is saying. Sin is primarily a vertical reality. That doesn't mean that it's. Though he does say against you, and you only have I sinned. Lord, he feels like deep in his bones, the greatest reality of sin, the word sin translated, is to miss the mark. To miss the mark of what God's glory. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So if there is no God, there is no sin, right? There is no holy standard. There is no perfection. But the reality is we do have a creator. A creator who has made himself known, who has written his very image onto each one of us, who has given us his word to know how we are designed to flourish. And so when David looks at his decisions, he says, man, what's the most real about my sin, though it did affect other people, is it was primarily against a holy God. I miss the mark of God's glory. This is the issue beneath the issue. And it's true that both can simultaneously exist, right? Let's not miss that. I think about parenting and raising kids. It's like, my kids have made bad decisions before. That's not a shock to any parent in the room, right? But then the bigger issue is when I go to them and I say, hey, who did this? Fill in the blank. And then my older two both say, he did it. And it's like, hold up. That can't be true. And then I won't use names, but one of them eventually will say, I did it, okay? And then I say something along the lines of, I'm not the most upset that you disobeyed the rule. I'm most upset that you lied to me right now. Both of those things can be true. I can simultaneously say, yes, I'm upset that you disobeyed the rule, but I'm most upset that you lied to me. You've broken this trust. You've created this damage in our closeness in our relationship. That's what is the issue beneath the issue. And the issue beneath the issue in David's life was that he sinned against a holy God created this distance between him and the Lord, his maker, which ultimately leads us to this second observation. A Christian does not just feel sorry for his or her sin, but practices repentance. Okay, I created the, you know, the two different camps as we look at this text. You have godly grief and you have worldly grief. Both of them have what word? Grief. Both of them have grief. And that's telling, isn't it? Right, that God has so written himself on our hearts that it's not hard for us to say, man, sin is creating this inner turmoil within me. Something is not as it ought to be. I've heard the illustration used before. It's like putting gasoline, the wrong type of gasoline in your car. It might run right for a little bit, but it's only a matter of time until it starts to show up in the engine. You start to actually feel and sense that something is not the Way it's supposed to be, you feel this inner turmoil, but then the question is, how will you respond? Will you just be sad and sorry and drive the car into the road, right? Like, will you just let this engine explode or will you take it to a mechanic? Will you have the fuel system flushed? There's these two responses. Worldly grief and godly grief. I want to just park on worldly grief quick. And what I think has been fascinating as I've studied this text, I can't help but think back. It was two years ago that I really found myself planted in this text. A guy I discipled for five years and was just. I mean, had committed egregious sin and was sitting in front of me just weeping. And there was a lot of damaged trust between he and I based upon the sin that he had participated in. And I think the greatest problem was I'm like, I see that you're grieving, but what I'm struggling in is, is this worldly grief or godly grief? I just can't tell right now. I can tell that you're grieved, but I. I just can't tell if this is true repentance or false repentance. And it made me think through some categories, and I just want to. This is not all exclusive, all inclusive, so hear me when I say that. But I think there's some categories of false repentance that we just need to be aware of to just check our own hearts and make sure we don't get caught in a trap of worldly grief instead of godly grief. The first is this. We can be sad we got caught, right? Our pride makes us want to protect ourself to avoid shame. It's not even that we're sorry we sinned against a holy God. We're sad we got caught. We don't like what it says about us. Maybe this one. We're sad that we've hurt other people. And again, is that wrong? Not necessarily right. Like, if we have sinned against other people, we should feel an inner turmoil to say, man, I want to make amends in this relationship. But void of this vertical component, sometimes what we can do is we can try and protect this relationship, viewing this relationship as a form of idol in our life, which kind of leads to. The third component is we can be sad that we lost something or someone important to us. Pick on the high school athletes in the room, right? It's the idea of man, say you were to have a terrible injury. You were hoping to get the football scholarship. Or the wrestling scholarship, you fill in the blank and you tear your ACL and you get to the spot where it's like, okay, God, if you give me a good knee, I will follow you forever. And it's this like, man, this exchange of God, hey, if you give me my idol back, if you give me my sport back, my identity as a football player or wrestler back, then I'll follow you. Or God, if you give me this relationship back, then I'll follow you. And it's like, okay, are you trying to protect an idol? You're using God as a means to the end, not the end in itself. Which leads to this last form of false repentance, which is you're sad that your future is at stake. I mean, most of us, if you were raised especially in the Midwest, but in America, you have probably heard in some way, shape or form in your lifetime that we all will spend eternity somewhere. And if there is a God you're wrestling with, how do I get right with him? And sometimes this leads to a false form of repentance that says, hopefully the good can outweigh the bad. So I'm going to make sure I go to church as much as I can, read my Bible as much as I can, give as much money to the church as I can, take communion every week, as much as I can, you know, and it's this like attempt to hope that the right outweighs the wrong. And that is anti gospel. That is not good news and that's not the message that God gives us in the scriptures. It's a false form of repentance that it says leads to or produces what? Death, destruction, ultimately separation from God forever. One author and commentator defined worldly grief as self focused sorrow. It only looks in, it doesn't look up. Which is held in stark contrast to godly grief, which does look up. It's what we just talked about, right? This godly grief that leads to this R word. Repentance. The original word in Greek, metanoia, means change in the inner self. And let me just say repentance is a gift from God. We're gonna get there too. But repentance is a gift from God. This is not some like stepping stone again like go do more to earn your relationship with God. But it is God saying, hey, if you feel this grief, here's what ought to happen, that you would practice repentance, that you would do two things which really you see laid out in verse 11, and it's with earnestness, with eagerness, these kind of two realities, there is both a hatred of sin and a loving or adoring or fearing of God. Because change in the inner man or repentance ultimately is not just a turning away from sin. It's turning towards God both. And to look at your sin and say, I hate that it is, you know, wreaking havoc in my life, it's leading to destruction. Lord, help change me. Right? David in Psalm 51 would say, Create in me a new heart, right? Change my heart. Why? So that I can have the joy of my salvation. So that I can be more enamored and in love with you. A turning from and a turning towards both important, which lead to our last observation from this text. Observation number three. A Christian does not view repentance as a sad necessity, but a high privilege. I mean, far too often, if we're honest with ourselves, repentance kind of just feels like we're doing the walk of shame back to the throne room of grace, doesn't it? Just like man. I can't believe I have to talk to God again about this. We almost just view this as like man. This is. This is daunting. I don't want to do this again. But if you look at this text, I mean, verse nine says that we're grieved into repenting, but verse ten says that we're grieved into repenting. That leads to what s word? Salvation. That we're grieved into repentance. That leads to salvation and salvation without regret. Paul even says at the end of verse 11, you have proven yourselves innocent in the matter. Now, hold up. Do we really think the Corinthians were innocent? Does anybody in here really think that the church in Corinth didn't have sin in it? Absolutely not. Right. This church has been around three to five years. We believe this to be Paul's fourth letter. He's visited them before, like major issues in the church. Right? And yet what Paul says to them is that they can be proven innocent. How? That makes no sense. If you're just looking at this text point blank, that makes no sense. But I want to fix our eyes on another psalm that David wrote. You know, after Bathsheba and Uriah, after his friend, the prophet Nathan confronted him. Here's what David wrote in Psalm 32. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you. I did not cover my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord. And you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Can I get an amen? Okay. That is good news. That is the good news of the gospel. That is what true repentance is all about. It's not about you earning your way to God, but understanding that God came to you in the person work of Jesus. He put his mercy in grace on full display. Right? Mercy means to not get what you do deserve. What do we all deserve for sinning? Death. The wages of sin is death. We deserve the wrath of God. What do we not deserve? We don't deserve to be reunited with God forever, to have life and life abundantly. But in and through the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, we could come back to Second Corinthians 5:21 every week. I wouldn't be disappointed. He himself, Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Is that not good news Church? It's because of the gospel that now we look at repentance and say, wow, this is not a shameful act where I have to like army crawl back into the throne room of grace. But I can boldly approach the throne because I don't have to look any further than the life, death and resurrection of Jesus to say, I am forgiven, I will be forgiven and I'm going to forever be forgiven in the person work of Jesus. Right? So now repentance is no longer a drudgery, but a delight. I use this language in the observation a sad necessity and a high privilege. I stole that from an author by the name of Jerry Bridges where he said, man. Far too often I hear Christians talk about repentance as a form of sad necessity. But he goes on to say this, repentance is one of the Christians highest privileges. A repentant Christian focuses on God's mercy and God's grace. Any moment in our lives when we bask in God's mercy and grace is our highest moment. Isn't that beautiful? It's amazing. And David, when he thinks about what was a burden or a drudgery, doesn't look at repentance as the burden or drudgery. What does he look at as the burden or drudgery? Hiding right when I kept silent, he's talking about like man. I felt like my bones were like, withering away. I felt dried up by, like, the heat of the sun. And we don't always catch this because 2 Samuel 11 and 12 are only one chapter apart from each other. But if you read in the text, the reality is, post David's sin with Bathsheba and Nathan's confrontation is anywhere between nine and 12 months. David had kept this sin hidden for nearly a year. And how does he talk about that experience? Is it one of fun and delight? No, he says, I feel like I'm wasting away. God's hand was heavy upon me. What was he doing? He's trying to press me back into the throne room, right? He's trying to get me back close to him. And so in a moment when he stops trying to cover himself up, but comes to the Lord, the reality is he didn't need to cover his iniquity because his iniquity was already covered. And I love that. In Psalm 32, the ESV says, Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven. The csb, the Christian Standard Bible, says, how joyful is the one whose transgression is forgiven. Like, sometimes we hear blessed, and it just takes us back to church 30 years ago. And we're like, I don't even know what that means. But like, how joyful is the one whose sins are forgiven? How joyful is the one who consistently practices repentance, not to necessarily earn God's approval, but in light of the fact that God approves of you and the person work of Jesus, if you have put your faith in him, if you have said, Jesus, perfect life is my only chance. Jesus, substitutionary death is my only chance. Jesus, victorious resurrection is my only chance. Okay, you are now free to repent. And now repentance is a joyful delight, something that you get to participate in. An invitation to bask in God's mercy and grace all over again. So we said at the beginning, whether or not you sin is not the measure of a Christian, but how you respond is. And ask the question, how does a Christian respond to sin? A good one word answer for you is repentance. Repentance. But what we need to know is that repentance does not necessarily earn us salvation. Again, let's get out of the mindset of what can we do to earn God's favor. Repentance is in light of the fact of the finished work of Jesus. Amen. Okay, but what Paul is telling the church in Corinth here in verse 11, and as you continue reading on in verse, let me look at that. 16 is hey, your repentance has proved your Christianity. Because you're practicing repentance, because you responded this way to the word of God, you have proven your genuine faith. It's the money marker, right? And so you could say this big idea for today. Repentance reveals our belonging to God and results in joy. Repentance reveals our belonging to God and results in joy. And what I love about this is that the measure of a Christian is not perfection, but rather a constant reliance upon God's mercy and grace. A constant running back to the throne room that says, God, change my heart, change my mind, help me to hate my sin more and to love you more. And as the late theologian and former reformer John Calvin said, repentance is not merely the start of the Christian life, it is the Christian life. Because far too often we only think of this word repentance as what we did when we were 12 or 16 or 20 or 35 to initiate a relationship with God. So we would say no. That was important. Hear me when I say that, right? If you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive you. However, repentance is this ongoing fruit in the life of a Christian. Not because we need positional forgiveness, we need relational forgiveness. Just like with my children. They will always be my children. Nothing will change that. But in order for us to have the closeness, the intimacy, the relationship that we were designed to have, what will they do? They will continue to come back to me and say, dad, I'm sorry. And I will say, I forgive you, son. Right. I love you. I will show that time and time again. And so what I would like to do is get practical for us when it comes to repentance. Because let's be honest, if we want to live this out, I can't just say, let's go repent. Because most of us, I mean, having a framework for it might be relatively new. So I'm left handed and drawing in public is everyone's worst nightmare. So give me grace. You guys gonna give me grace? Thank you. I asked for it. So there we go. This is not my own. I've taken it from people that have handed it down for generations. It's called the repentance cycle and it's designed to be continuous, right? Because how many of you would wake up one day and say, I think I've finally arrived. I no longer have sin in my life. Anybody? No. Right. One. John. If we say we have no sin, we make ourselves a liar. We make God a liar. But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. So here's where it starts. Sin. I don't know you necessarily, I don't know your sin struggle, but let's just say, for example, you struggle with overspending. And you're like, oh, my goodness, Step one. I feel conviction because if you are in Christ, he has placed his Holy Spirit within you, and anything that does not align with God will not sit right. It's this form of grief that you feel within. That's how you. Man, I feel convicted. Does anybody in here like the feeling of conviction? Okay, I want to change your mind. Would you guys let me change your mind real quick? Okay. Conviction is designed to be a gift to us. I think of Genesis 3, when Adam and Eve had eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. What God could have done in that moment is smite them. But what does he do? He moves toward them and he says, where are you? It's the pursuit and loving kindness of God. It's the patience of God to give you conviction, to be like, wow, I serve a God who pursues me. He wants me, right? So conviction doesn't need to always feel like this inward looking, ugly feeling. It's evidence for you that there is a God who pursues. We feel conviction for our sin, and then the first thing we need to do is confess to God. Just like David in Psalm 51. If we understand that our sin is primarily vertical, that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, the first place we run to confess is to our God and to say, I have sinned against you. I have fallen short. Will you please forgive me? Good news is we can look back and look at the finished work of Jesus and know that that answer is resounding. Yes, will you please forgive me? But it's not just forgiveness. It's, will you please change my heart? Will you please change my affections? Help me to hate my sin more and to love you more. Confess to God. Next. Confess to others. This is uncomfy, right? Confess to others. But it's not just me standing on stage telling you, you should go confess to others. Like old school, maybe Catholic confessional of, oh, I need to go to somebody to intercede for me. Not that you don't need someone to intercede for you. Jesus is the great high priest. He has interceded perfectly. Can I get an amen? Okay, you go to confess to others. Because James tells us in James 5, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. It's commanded, right? And so if we want to be obedient as followers of Jesus, what we should do is confess to others. And I've heard it said this way before. It was just a helpful framework for me. It said, you know, we primarily confess to God to be forgiven. We confess to others to sometimes feel forgiven. Because if you're anything like me and you struggle with, like, self shame, you fundamentally have this abstract reality that's like, I know God forgives me, but I still feel shame. And what you need is a brother or sister, a Christian in flesh and bone, to sit across from you and for you to spill the ugliness of your life in front of them and for them not to run away, for them to look at you and say, thank you so much for telling me that. And I want you to know God's not surprised. He knew that you would do this. And in fact, while you were yet a sinner, Christ died for you. You're forgiven. But Jesus didn't just die. You know what else he did? He rose again. He rose again, victorious. So this sin no longer gets the identity statement in your life and no longer has power over you, and I love you too much to let the sin continue to wreak havoc on your life. How can we put this sin to death together? Which leads to this next part, which is to come up with a plan. I'm gonna hit pause. Pause. Okay. Repentance has been said is both confessing with our lips and confessing with our life. Okay. It's not just saying the right thing, it's also doing the right thing. Right? Go back to James. Let's be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving ourselves. So a confession. Yes. We continue on this cycle. Confess to God, Confess to others. Come up with a plan. Guess what? If you struggle with overspending, Cancel Amazon prime if you're like that. Wouldn't help me at all because I have my credit card memorized. Get a new credit card. Literally, go to the bank, get a new card number, and then hand it to a trusted person that won't spend your money, but will protect you from spending your money and say, hey, I need help. Right? Or talk with your spouse. Establish healthy spending limits and rhythms to say, hey, any purchase over X amount, I want us to talk about before we proceed with purchasing. Come up with a plan. Next. Invite accountability. How many of you think you have a blind spot in your life? Okay. You all do. You're blind by Saying you didn't. We all need accountability in our life. We need someone who can see where we don't see to help us observe this plan, tweak it if needed, refine it if needed, and Lord willing, act accordingly. And a quick note on accountability. I've just seen this go wrong too many times is we need accountability from people that can help us. A good litmus test is, does this person show maturity in an area that you're struggling in. It doesn't make sense if you're the overspender to go to another overspender and say, we should figure this out together. Not a good idea. How about you go to someone who has their budget on lock, right? Who has said, man, I have, by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, figured out how to be a good steward of my finances. And I want to help you do the same. Someone gave me this word picture before. It's like if you were driving a Prius and you got stuck in like a mudslide or a landslide. You shouldn't call your friend who drives a Prius to pull you out. Call a bigger truck, right? Like the biggest truck you can find to pull you out of the mud or the mire. Like invite someone in that can actually help you find someone with maturity. And yes, of course, act, but hear me when I say this is not just a pull up your bootstraps, work harder, but it is to say God, fueled by the mercy and grace of Jesus, because of the great love with which you loved me and by the power of your Holy Spirit. Help me, right? One of the fruits of the Spirit is discipline or self control. Help me to be obedient to this. Don't just give me conviction, but give me true repentance and to act in light of it. So this again, I pray it can be just a helpful tool for you when it comes to practicing repentance in the week ahead, in the month ahead, and the years ahead, that we would be a repentant church. And this is important, right? If we want to put God on display to one another and to a watching world, we would take our repentance seriously. I mean, Paul does this for the church in Corinth. He fights for their repentance. And so we ought to fight for one another's repentance. Why? Because it's evidence of our love for Jesus, right? And it's for our joy, right? If we really believe that repentance is best not only for ourselves, but for our brothers and sisters, we will call them to this. It's this gracious invitation to say, not just you have to repent, but you get to repent, right? God is merciful and gracious, ready to forgive you, ready to change your heart, clean you up from the inside out. And I already alluded to this. But as David continued to write in Psalm 51, he asks for a clean heart, a renewed heart. One thing that he prays to God is, restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with the willing Spirit. It's a beautiful prayer, right? Like, make salvation sweet to me all over again. But then he says this, that I may teach transgressors your ways and sinners may return to you. It's like, wait a second. My joy in Jesus can lead to mission for Jesus? Absolutely, absolutely. And so if we want to be a church that lives out this mission statement, mature disciples, everyday missionaries, and glorify God, it's a call to repentance, right? Mature Christians repent. They see their sin more clearly, they bring it to the throne room more quickly. What's the end result? We're restored, right? The joy of our salvation is new and fresh. We see a bigger view of the cross and because of the great joy that has been placed within us, what do we naturally do then? We go and we speak, right? We speak about that which we're satisfied in. And then we get to call one another to repentance. We get to go and talk to our unbelieving friends and family members, neighbors and co workers, and not come in with a hammer and beat them down with the Bible, but just say, hey, I actually just learned this last week that sin always produces grief and there's a worldly grief and then there's an opportunity to feel a godly grief and one leads to death, one leads to life. Can I tell you about that? And a gracious invitation to tell people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Lord willing that more and more sinners would return to God and that he would get the worship he deserves. Amen. Pray together to that end. Father, what a gift to even have a story like the Prodigal Son packed in the middle of the Gospels, where the youngest child squandered his inheritance, made a wreck of his life, and by the grace of God, came to his senses, rehearsed a speech to come home and plead his case to his father. But the father ran out to meet his son, cut off his welcome home speech and killed the fattened calf. What a beautiful picture of the gospel God, that while we were yet sinners Christ, you died for us. You have pursued us. And in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, you have restored us. You desire closeness to us. And with that, God, you've invited us into this beautiful practice of repentance. And I pray that we would be a repenting church so that we could find our greatest joy in Jesus and we could help others do the same. We pray this in Jesus matchless name, Amen.