The Sacrifice Of Contrition

"For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings" (Hos. 6:6, NIV).   "You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God you will not despise" (Psalm 51:16-17, NIV).   "... 'Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD?  To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams'" (1 Samuel 15:22, NIV). 

 "... All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife..." (hymn by Bill Gaither--Maranatha Music: "Something Good").  

Christians offer multiple sacrifices:   of thanksgiving, of praise, of doing good and sharing, of a broken heart, and even of offering themselves as living sacrifices; however, "to obey is better than sacrifice" (cf. 1 Sam. 15:22).  Jesus came to be the fulfillment of all sacrifices; i.e., the law's demands.  He did this by fulfilling the law and doing everything it required on our behalf--He not only died for us but lived for us as well!  Jesus learned obedience by what He suffered (cf. Heb. 5:8) and feels our pain because He's been there; however, we are completing the suffering of Christ and living out His life in our adversities (cf. Col. 1:26).  Could you trust in a God who didn't understand suffering and couldn't identify with us and know what we are going through?

We must bear in mind that there is always light at the end of the tunnel and "this too shall pass!"   We experience brokenness so that we can be patient with others in the same boat and witness or minister to them in their pain.  We can thus comfort others with the same comfort we have known in Christ.  God knows everything about us and always did!  He is not surprised by our failings and shortcomings.  He knew of them before our salvation.  There is a reason for suffering, but God isn't obliged to explain Himself: He's too deep to understand, too wise to make a mistake, and too kind to be cruel.  We are not to think like Job's friends that we are only getting punished for our sins and aren't even getting what we deserve.  Jesus paid the full penalty for our sins, and we are not punished for our sins, but by them!  By and large, we don't break God's laws; they break us!  What we do is break God's heart and that's why He knows what hurt is and wants to heal us of our suffering.

Christ's legacy to be gained is a peace that passes all understanding and cannot be taken away. We can experience this legacy in the midst of suffering and find out it works by experience--the proof of the pudding is in the eating!  We can become seasoned believers having been trained in the trenches of the warfare of life and having had O.J.T. in battling the enemy.  Thank God, His mercies are new every morning and they never come to an end for us--He never gives upon us and we are just "works in progress" no matter how mature we are and should not assume we are always good soil or that we've arrived--even Paul didn't claim to have laid hold of it yet.  There are no hopeless believers, only those who've given up hope!

This is precisely why we must localize or tailor the gospel to the recipients. Paul was the evangelist to the Gentiles while Peter was to the Jews, but Paul strived to be all things to all men so he could, by all means, save some!   Not everyone is on the same page and God must use different strokes for different folks. Some water, some plant, some reap!  But God gives the increase!  God is only using us as honorable vessels or servants to do His will, we can only venture to boast of what He does through us, not what we do for Him, but what God does through us is what counts.

We need to know about the prowling of Satan to devour us in our weak spots because he knows our vulnerabilities.  The danger we must beware of is Satan using us for his schemes or giving us temptations and thoughts that we carry out, like when Peter was rebuked by the Lord to get behind Him.  Satan can put thoughts into our minds and can distract us from the Word.  Winning entails knowing our enemy as well as knowing ourselves.  Shakespeare (Polonius in Hamlet) said, "To thine own self be true"!  The Greeks of antiquity said, "Know thyself!" and Sun Tzu, the Chinese author of The Art of War,  said, "Know your enemy!"   But the Bible says "Know God!"  All three are necessary to mature in Christ and to engage in the angelic conflict with all the onslaught of Satan known as the Anfectung (attack in German) by Martin Luther in order that we do not succumb to the schemes of the devil.

Only when we realize our sinfulness and realize that we are no better than sinners are we grace-oriented.  George Whitefield was asked what he thought of a man going to the gallows:  "There but for the grace of God, go I."  We must come to Paul's awakening when he said, "I am what I am by the grace of God."  William Jay of Bath said, "I am a great sinner, and I have a great Savior."  We are in essence just beggars tellers other beggars where to get a meal, it's been put.  Peter realized his unworthiness and said, "Depart from me O Lord, for I am a sinner."  It's a fact that the closer we get to God, the more we become sensitized to sin and aware of our failures.  Samuel Rutherford said we should pray for a lively sense of sin, "the greater sense of sin, the less sin!"

We must realize our sinfulness in toto and not cling to any self-righteousness, fully repentant and willing to change our ways exhibiting it by a change in behavior to be saved--believing repentance or penitent faith is necessary for salvation.  A person who feels he is righteous or has no sin cannot be saved, and Christ and His gospel have nothing to say to those unwilling to confess and repent of their sins.  If we feel no brokenness for our own sin (contrition), how can we feel brokenness for the lost and feel their pain knowing and feeling their despair?

In sum, we must be reassured and comforted in knowing that Jesus was indeed a "man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" and was "tempted in all ways like we are, yet without sin."    Soli Deo Gloria!

A Contrite Heart

"For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret..." (2 Cor. 7:10, ESV). 

"... 'Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.'"  (Acts 11:18, ESV).

 "The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart And saves such as have a contrite spirit"  (Psalm 34:18, NKJV).  

Note that repentance (metanoia--to change your mind or "re-think"--in Koine Greek) is a recurring motif in the New Testament, mentioned seventy times and also in juxtaposition with faith so that the two complement each other and are both works of grace:  true conversion involves either believing repentance and penitent faith if you will.  True repentance has fruit as its poof:  They are "[Performing] deeds in keeping with their repentance"  (Acts 26:20, ESV).  God doesn't want your apology, but your conversion!  Note: there can be no genuine repentance without saving faith!    If you don't believe it, it's because you won't repent, and vice versa.  

According to Psalm 51:17, God doesn't despise a broken and contrite heart--no matter the sin!  We can never exhaust the mercy of God, who delights in mercy because all of our sins were paid for at the cross and God knew about them before we were even saved--we don't surprise or shock Him with new sins! Jesus came to seek and to save those who are lost, and the prerequisite for salvation is to realize you don't qualify for it all; we ought to be like the publican who pleaded for mercy:  "God me merciful to me, the sinner!"  Salvation goes to the lowest bidder, i.e., the worse off we realize we are the closer we are to salvation (that's why Paul's estimation of himself was as "the chief of sinners!")--and that's why some prostitutes may be closer to the kingdom of God than respectable people who are self-righteous. 

We ought to beware of thinking too highly of ourselves than we ought to, which is pride!  Remember the Bill Gaither Trio song that goes,  "Something beautiful, something good, all my confusion He understood, all I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife and He made something beautiful of my life..." Then, the more highly we estimate ourselves to be ("some who are first shall be last!"), the further we are to heaven's kingdom--we don't need self-esteem, but God-esteem; not self-confidence, but God-confidence.

The whole point of conversion is change, and change from the inside out, not self-improvement or reformation-- a transformation of the whole person so that we become a "new creation per 2 Cor. 5:17.  After salvation, we have a change of heart, new convictions about what sin is, and a whole different worldview or frame of mind and mentality.   We don't just change our opinion, but get convictions from the Holy Spirit--there's a difference:  you hold opinions, while convictions hold you!

Repentance is one way of looking at conversion because it's the flip side of faith, whereby we turn from sin to God.  It's a turnaround, an about-face, a 180-degree turn, or a U-turn!  (Note that there is no genuine repentance without saving faith--they go hand in hand and are complimentary.)  Repentance is not remorse nor fire insurance either!  We come clean with God and own up to our sins, even being willing to right any wrong we've done by restitution. Jesus said, "that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations..." (Luke 24:47, ESV).   We must realize that repentance is granted by God leading to a knowledge of the truth according to 2 Tim. 2:25, and it is a gift of God that comes with faith in God's work and act of regeneration, which is passive on our part.

There is contrition, which is true sorrow over sin, and then there's attrition--spurious repentance like Esau and Judas had--i.e., being sorry you got caught and don't want to be punished or the consequences (like getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar!). True repentance involves the whole heart: emotions, will, and intellect.  We must be willing to resolve to turn from our sin and be aware of what they are by conviction with real heartfelt sorrow or regret.  

We must renounce sin and hate it with no excuses!   We must have relinquishment, surrender, and yielding to God's will for our life (i.e., put Him in charge)--that doesn't mean accepting the status quo in a complacent manner.  What does God want?  He wants you, and that you be faithful in what you have been given as a steward.  This is our sacrifice to God in return:  a broken and contrite heart.  Our reasonable service is to "offer our bodies a living sacrifice," God doesn't expect us to die for Him, but to live our lives for His glory per Rom. 12:1!

We can relate to David asking for the joy to be restored, as Peter said:  "Repent, therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord..."  (Acts 3:19, ESV).  Note that both the ministries of John the Baptist, Christ's herald, and Jesus both started out preaching repentance: "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand! [Jesus added that we believe in the gospel]."

We can never lose the Spirit though, for Jesus will never leave us, nor forsake us (cf. Heb. 13:8), but we can lose the joy of our salvation (cf. Psalm 51:12) and "joy of the Lord is [our] strength" (cf. Neh. 8:10).  Christ gives joy that no one can take away!   David prayed that he wouldn't lose the Spirit, as a consequence of his sin, but the Spirit never left him:  "And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward..." (1 Sam. 16:13, ESV).   We are in a similar condition since God has given His Spirit to us and Jesus will be with us, even to the end of the age (cf. Matt. 28:20).   We can lose out on fellowship with God and believers when we sin, but we can be restored (cf. Gal. 6:1) by confession (cf. 1 John 1:9).

In summation, it is important to realize that repentance is progressive--not a one-time act performed at salvation--and we are to walk in the Spirit with a continual attitude of repentance and short accounts of confession of all known and convicted sin.    Soli Deo Gloria!  

The Heart Of Contrition

"And this is the condemnation [verdict], that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil"  (John 3:19, NKJV). 

The sinner flatters himself too much to hate his own sin (cf. Psalm 36:2).

"... Repent!  Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall" (Ez. 18:30, NIV).  

"In the pride of his face, the wicked does not seek him; all his thoughts are, "There is no God"  (Psalm 10:4, ESV). [God is in none of his thoughts!]
"Return [repent] ... Your sins have been your downfall" (Hos. 14:1, NIV). 
"Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and detestable practices"  (Ezek. 36:31, NIV).

"Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts, Let him turn to the LORDS, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon"  (Isaiah 55:7, NIV).

We must come to the end of ourselves, a spiritual wake-up call is in order, even have a mental breakdown of sorts in which we realize in a rude awakening the vileness of our own sin, and evil and stop blaming God for our problems--we are only reaping what we've sown or got what we deserve, and even less at that.  When Peter realized his sin he said, "Depart from me O Lord, for I am a sinful man." And Ovid said, "I see the better things and approve them, but I follow the worst." Even Paul said, "What a wretched man that I am..." (cf. Romans 7:24).  "... [P]our out your heart like water in the presence of the LORD"  (Lam. 2:19, NIV).


Man naturally believes he can do something for his salvation, some work that is pleasing to God, but he must try to stop saving himself, as it were, and accept salvation as a free gift of grace.  He throws in the towel and upon the mercy of God:  the only qualification for salvation is to admit you're not worthy of it. We cannot clean up our act or get our house in order--only the grace of God can change us!  We are never good enough to be saved; we are bad enough to need salvation!  

We cannot work ourselves up into a spirit of repentance or do any pre-salvation work, but must just throw ourselves upon the mercy of God and realize our destiny is ultimately in His control.  We are literally "sinners in the hands of an angry God," according to Jonathan Edwards, and the Scripture says our foot shall slip in due time and our calamity is near if we don't repent (cf. Deut. 32:35).

Repentance, then, like faith, is the gift of God (cf. Acts 5:31, 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:25)--for we can do nothing apart from Christ's work in us (cf. John 15:5 ).   Caveat:   "[Not] knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?" (Romans 2:4, ESV).   God transforms the hardened heart, turning it from a heart of stone to flesh (cf. Ezek. 36:26).  God will then cause us to walk in His ways (cf. Ezek. 36:27).  A changed life is the only evidence of salvation:  "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."  (2 Cor. 5:10, ESV).

"For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death"  (2 Cor. 7:10, ESV).  There is being sorry you got found out with your hand in the cookie jar and feeling sorrow and remorse enough to change your ways.  David said, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" (Ps 51:17, ESV).

We must declare spiritual bankruptcy because the good news only comes after the bad news is accepted.  C. S. Lewis said this catch-22:  "We must see how bad we are to be good, and we don't know how bad we are till we've tried to be good."  Thankfully, we are bad, but not as bad as we can be by virtue of the restraining ministry of the Holy Spirit; we are as bad off as we can be, though, in our total depravity.  Total depravity doesn't mean utter depravity; we are not as bad as possible.  We are as completely depraved as possible, our whole being (intellect, emotions, and will) and we cannot be a little depraved no more than a woman can be a little pregnant!

We all have an inner conscience or moral compass that either accuses or excuses us (cf. Romans 2:15).  It is good to feel bad about our sin (guilt is therapeutic) and we must realize we are bad--but not too bad to be saved.   If sin were yellow, we'd be all yellow; there is no island of righteousness in our being--our wills, minds, and emotions are all evil, corrupt and depraved.  Our righteousness is God's gift to us, not our gift to God!  (cf. Isaiah 45:24).   We are born sinners and in sin:  "We are not sinners because we sin, but sin because we are sinners" (theological axiom).  The Anglicans express sin in their Anglican Book of Common Prayer as follows:  "We have done those things we ought not to have done, and we have left undone those things we ought to have done."  That means they are sins of omission as well as of commission.

In true contrition, we own up to our wrongdoing, do an about-face, a 180-degree turn, or a U-turn from our sin.  It's imperative to come clean, hiding nothing and openly admitting and confess all sin and remember that confession, or homologeo in Greek means to say the same thing as. It is progressive, in that it continues throughout the Christian experience and fellowship.  We are not just afraid of hell, or regretting the results we have reaped, but want to change our life to please God and hate sin for what it is:  an offense to God's nature.  We feel we haven't just broken God's laws, but His heart.  When we sin we don't break God's laws, they break us; and sin is only "pleasure for a season" (cf. Heb. 11:25). Contrition says goodbye to our former life without looking back, burning all the bridges to make it impossible to return.

We don't need to turn over a new leaf or make a New Year's resolution, but to repent of our sins and put Jesus in charge to change us from the inside out--i.e., make us new persons in Christ.  We will then find forgiveness from what we've done and deliverance from what we are (justification and sanctification). In sum, we must renounce sin and not just feel sorry for its consequences and ask God to change us.  Soli Deo Gloria!