Proverbs 1:23: Forgiveness and repentance

[Wisdom says:] “If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.”
-Proverbs 1:23

How many times have I heard this one?

I’ve asked a few people if they think they will make it to heaven. Of course they say yes. I ask about sins they have committed. What about those?

“Well, God is loving. I’m sure He’ll forgive me.”

What about this one?

A few years ago we went through a series of political figures who were caught in moral indiscretions. More than one of them stated that Christians should not criticize them because Christians were supposed to forgive.

And again . . .

What about the person in your life who does something terrible, and when you call them on it, they will say something like, “I thought you loved me! Obviously you don’t if you can’t forgive me.”

We have such a messed up understanding of forgiveness. We so often think it’s something owed to us, something we deserve. It’s not. Justice is something owed to us; that is what we have earned. Forgiveness, by its very nature, is not earned at all. It is given despite what we deserve.

I love this verse. I love it because it’s the gospel message in one sentence. I’m going to deal with the first part today and continue on in future messages. Today I’m going to deal with forgiveness.

Let me use this analogy (it is one I’ve used before). Say a man has cheated on his wife. If he repents from that and asks her forgiveness, perhaps she will forgive him. Perhaps they can work it out, and we would probably all be okay with that, as long as the man is resolved to be faithful.

But say he does not repent. He is not sorry at all. Not a bit. Say she forgives him in that case, just forgets the whole thing, even while he continues. Would any of us be happy about that? Of course not! We would say that the wife is co-dependant and encourage her to stand up for herself!

And yet we want God to treat us like that co-dependant wife treats her husband. We want to walk all over God and still have Him welcome us into heaven, just because He is loving.

Well, none of us thought, “Oh, how loving!” when the wife let her husband run around on her. Why do we think that forgiveness from God should come without repentance?

True forgiveness must come from true repentance. We know this from our own lives.

In this illustration, Wisdom cannot be met until the person turns away from foolishness (see the previous verse). That’s the only way it can happen. You cannot be wise and foolish at the same time. You must turn from one to embrace the other.

Likewise is God opposed to the ways of this world. You cannot embrace both. You must turn from one to gain the other.

We have lived our lives embracing the world and ignoring God. By all rights He could have just walked away and left us to our fate. But like Wisdom in this illustration, He does not. He stands and calls for us to repent. “If you turn at my reproof,” He says, “behold, I will pour out my spirit to you.”

Repent. Turn from the world and face God. He does not care how foolish you have been in the past. Only turn now, and you will find Him there. Have you heard His call? I ask you to respond.