Today we’re going to continue to discuss this cycle that we see over and over in Judges with the third step in the cycle.

1. Sin
2. Punishment
3. Repentance
4. Deliverance.

Repentance
It may not seem like it, but I got in trouble a lot when I was in high school.  It was never anything crazy like drug use or fighting at school.  Believe it or not I would get in trouble because of my mouth……. (Waiting for shock to end)…… .  At my school they had these things called detention slips.  A teacher would give you a detention slip which meant that you had to come to school on Saturday for like an hour at 7:30am.  It was the worst thing ever.  But the worst part for me was not the detention.  The worst part for me was having to tell my parents that I had detention and that I needed a ride.  So I would make a stupid decision.  I would wait until the Friday night before my detention to tell my parent.  A couple of times I even missed the detention and got another one (if you missed detention it was an automatic double detention) because I didn’t want to tell my parents.

Then one day I got smart.  I got a detention (again) but this time I told them the day it happened.  I told them that I had asked my teacher to forgive me, for God to forgive me, and that I was willing to take whatever discipline that they had.  I asked my parents for their forgiveness and they gave it to me.  Sure, I still had to do the dishes a bunch or something like that (I can’t remember).  But confessing and facing up to the discipline was SO MUCH EASIER than letting it go.

Life Step: Think about it…
This is the power of repentance.  Repentance recognizes that wrong has been done and turns away from it.  This is what we see the nation of Israel do over and over again.
Repentance is the only right response to our own personal sin.  It may not seem fun, and it definitely isn’t always easy.  But think about this- Have you ever repented and regretted it in the end?  Maybe you have at some point after, but generally speaking the relief that comes after the repentance is more than worth it in the end.

Repentance brings opportunity for restored relationships.
Repentance paves the way for forgiveness.
Repentance allows us to be done with our past.
Repentance honors God.

Can you think of any other positive things that repentance does?
What about you?  Do you have anything that you ned to repent of?