True Repentance and Obedience Look to the Lord

Psalm 25

Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost  -  15 October 2017

Vicar Nathanael Jensen

As we continue our month-long celebration of the 500 years of God’s blessings through the Reformation, today we take a look at the place where Martin Luther began – with repentance and obedience. For in the very first thesis of Luther’s 95 theses, he wrote, "When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, 'Repent,' he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance."

This focus on repentance was not something new to the church, though. The Catholic Church was very much concerned about repentance and obedience. However, they didn’t have a right understanding of what those words mean. They had come up with their own ways – their own ideas of what repentance and obedience are, rather than listening to how God himself defines and describes them in his Word.

And their understanding of repentance and obedience was this: Repentance was a work to be done. After a person had confessed all his sins to the priest, the priest would give him acts of penance, or works of satisfaction, to do – to show that he was truly repentant and to try to earn satisfaction with God. The church taught the people that by their obedience – they could earn their forgiveness, they could make up for what they had done, and they could work to attain a right relationship with God – if, they did enough.

That’s the way Luther grew up living. Even from a young age, he had a sharp conscience, and so he was constantly trying to make up for all of his sins. He did all your typical works of satisfaction, and then some, because he wanted to be sure. He wanted to be certain he was forgiven. So he became a monk, thinking that could make him closer with God. And he was the strictest of the strictest monks. He beat himself. He starved himself. Anything and everything the church told him might help – he tried it.

But it didn’t matter. No matter what he did, no matter how hard he tried, there was no comfort. His guilt was still there. He felt desperate. He felt trapped. Because he realized that everything he was doing still wasn’t enough. He couldn’t make up for his sins. He couldn’t please God. Rather than relieving Luther and releasing him from his guilt, the way of the church actually made him feel more guilty, more helpless, and more trapped. Because he knew from God’s law that he deserved God’s punishment, and he realized that there was absolutely nothing he could do to change that himself.

And that’s the same situation that David describes in Psalm 25. As he looks at himself and remembers the sins of his youth, he’s ashamed. As he thinks about all the times he had gone his own way instead of following the LORD’s way, he’s overwhelmed with guilt. Perhaps it was the guilt of his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba that plagued his conscience. Or maybe it was his whole plot to cover up that relationship, as he looked to himself to fix the situation, and eventually had her husband Uriah murdered, that troubled his soul.

But David too, when he looked at himself, all he saw was sin, and all his rebellious ways, and all his iniquity. And he recognized – it’s great. In fact, he recognized, it’s too great. Everything he had tried had failed and had only made matters worse – had only filled him with more sin and guilt. It was truly too great for him to do anything about it. He describes his situation as one whose feet are trapped in a snare. And he can’t get them out. Nobody can get them out. And meanwhile, he’s lonely and afflicted. He feels the troubles of his heart and the anguish and distress from his sin all closing in on him – more and more trapped.

Have you ever felt trapped like that? Like Luther? Like David? Are there sins from youth – or perhaps much more recently – that keep plaguing your conscience? Do all your rebellious ways – all the times you decided to go your own way instead of the LORD’s way – trouble your soul? And unfortunately, our sinful hearts, and minds, and consciences tell us the same thing that the church was telling Luther: Look to yourself. Trust in yourself. Just keep working harder. You can work your way out of it. Your acts of repentance and obedience can fix it. You can make yourself right with God.

But that’s not the LORD’s way. That’s still our way. That’s still the same rebellious path which just leads to more and more guilt, to feeling more and more trapped. And rightfully so, because those imperfect works can’t satisfy a perfect God who demands perfection. And so they just keep on earning us God’s eternal wrath, and nothing else. That’s the way that leads to death. We feel that trap just getting tighter and tighter as the anguish and distress of our sins keep closing in on us, and we have to admit that we can’t get ourselves out of it.

But that’s really the first step towards repentance – realizing that our works are no good, that we are truly trapped, and that our ways don’t work. And so rather than looking at that trap of sin, and rather than looking to ourselves and our ways for rescue and forgiveness, true repentance looks to the LORD. For he is the one who releases us from sin.

True repentance says like David said, “In you, LORD my God, I put my trust. I trust in you.” True repentance looks to the LORD at all times and says, “My eyes are ever on the LORD, for only he will release my feet from the snare.” True repentance realizes that we can’t make a single one of those sins of our past go away, and humbly calls to the LORD, “Remember, LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you, LORD, are good.” True repentance desperately pleads, “For the sake of your name, LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.”

Do you see the difference there? True repentance isn’t about anything I am or I’ve done or will do. No, the only thing that we contribute here is the rebellious ways and the great iniquity. But our plea to the LORD is based on his great mercy and love, on his goodness, for the sake of his name. It’s all about who God is. He’s the one we look to and cling to. He’s the one we put our trust in, put our hope in, and take refuge in – the LORD who is our God and Savior.

That’s the LORD to whom we plead, “Show me your ways, LORD. Teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me.” And through his Word, he does just that. He teaches us what true obedience is. When people came to Jesus and asked, “’What must we do to do the works God requires?’  Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.’” (John 6) That’s not a work at all. That’s just trusting that God has already done all the work. That’s true obedience – believing in the one he has sent – believing in Jesus.

He’s the promised descendant of David, the God and Savior of David, in whom David put his hope all day long. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He’s the LORD’s way. Jesus is our God and Savior, the Son of God in whom the Father was pleased and who had that perfect relationship with him for you. He bore our sins, as great as they are, for his own sake, because of his great mercy and love. Jesus took all your affliction, all your distress, and all your anguish as he took all the sins of your youth, all of your rebellious ways, and he paid for them in full in his one perfect and complete work of satisfaction. He satisfied the justice and wrath of God for you on that cross.

And because of Jesus’ work, the LORD no longer remembers those sins of your youth – none of them. He no longer remembers those rebellious ways – not a single one. He remembers you according to his great mercy and love, according to what Jesus has done. He remembers you as his forgiven child.

True obedience looks to the LORD and simply trusts that this is most certainly true – that the LORD has released our feet from the snare of sin through Jesus. And he did it freely, for his sake. And having been set free, we are free to walk in the LORD’s ways. Out of love and thanks, we love to learn from the LORD so we can follow his ways. And the LORD is happy to teach us. He loves instructing us. As David wrote, “Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.” Through his Word, he instructs us in the ways we should choose as we live a life of thanksgiving and praise to him in true obedience.

Do you see the difference there? True obedience isn’t about following God’s laws because we have to, to try to make up for our sins, or to try to earn forgiveness or a right relationship with God – all the while being afraid of God and never knowing if we’ve done enough to please him. But just like true repentance, true obedience is all about trusting the LORD and the great mercy and love he has shown to us. And, in response to all he’s done for us, it’s our privilege, it’s our joy, it’s our freedom to put God’s will into action in our lives. It’s what we want to do.

So true obedience to God is not a burden, but a blessing. How wonderful is it that we get to walk on the path the LORD has prepared for us, knowing that he will bless us on that way. For as David says, “All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful toward those who keep the demands of his covenant.” That promise is ours as we live in true obedience – looking to the LORD and his way, believing and trusting in Jesus, the one he has sent.

And this looking to the LORD never ends. As David said, “My hope is in you all day long. My eyes are ever on the LORD.” So at all times, look to the LORD. In all circumstances, look to his great mercy and love. As Martin Luther said, our whole lives should be one of repentance – of recognizing our great sinfulness and casting it all before the LORD, trusting in him alone for forgiveness, knowing that Jesus has released us from the snare of sin. That’s the right understanding of repentance and obedience as God tells us in his Word and as Martin Luther discovered it there. As heirs of the Reformation, we have had that right understanding passed down to us, so we know there’s only one place to look. When trapped in sin and shame, look to the LORD in true repentance and obedience. For there you will see forgiveness in Jesus, guidance in this life, and the hope of eternal life to come. Look to the LORD! Amen.