What does it look like to turn from any level of commitment to a false gospel or any kind of idolatry? We can obtain some principles for repentance from the prayer of Elijah in 1 Kings 18:36-37:
-We must remind ourselves of God’s covenant promises in Christ and how it came about that we would be included in God’s people.
For example, how has God’s grace in Christ been determinative in your life, especially in saving you from your sin?—Heb 10:11 Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. 14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. 15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying, 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them
After those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws upon their heart,
And on their mind I will write them,” He then says,
17 “And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
18 Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.
-We must remind ourselves that the word of the Lord possesses absolute trustworthiness and is not a word of man, even when it is brought to us by another person
How has his word from the mouth of his prophets and apostles in Scriptures been affirmed innumerable times in your lives as true?
Can you, like David, say the following constantly—2 Sam 7:28 Now, O Lord God, You are God, and Your words are truth, and You have promised this good thing to Your servant.
Do we speak like that to the Lord and to ourselves?
-We must remind ourselves that it’s the Lord who brings about definitive heart change
2 Cor 4:6 For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
Ps 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Deut 30:6 Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart & the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.
We must be asking the Lord to do a definitive work and not settle for cheap substitutes, which begs the question: How would it be known that God was the one who changed someone’s heart?
-Because the change would be about the Lord and his glory
-Because the change would be accompanied by a complete ownership of one’s sin
-Because the change would be beyond external alterations to one’s life
-Because the change would result in a greater abiding in Christ unto more commitment to his commands, which Christ defines as loving him.
Turning from idols to God
