There’s something uniquely refreshing about January. It arrives with an air of possibility, a sense of new beginnings and fresh starts. It seems like God has woven certain reset points into the fabric of time itself— the changing seasons, the rhythm of day and night, the weekly Sabbath rest, and yes, even the turning of the calendar year.
But for Christians, there’s a spiritual January that needs to happen far more frequently than once a year. It’s called repentance, and it’s the ceaseless rhythm of the Christian life.
The Endless Cycle
As long as we live in this fallen world with fallen hearts and minds, constant repentance will be needed. Christians should be serial repenters. The cycle will be: Sin and repentance, sin and repentance—over and over again. While God does sanctify His people so that we sin less than we used to, this cycle of sin and repentance will not end until Christ returns and glorifies us completely.
At first, this never-ending cycle might sound exhausting, even dreary. But what if we shifted our thinking to the joy of repentance?
The Joy of Repentance
Writer Greg Morse captures a common misconception about repentance. When he first heard Martin Luther’s famous declaration that “the entire life of believers should be one of repentance,” his initial thought was less than enthusiastic: “Well, that sure sounds like fun.”
He knew repentance was good for him the same way going to the dentist was good for him—necessary, perhaps, but hardly exciting. His experience of repentance had been “the same somber note on repeat,” throwing himself into the deep pit of penance, marking himself guilty, rehearsing his unworthiness.
But then Morse discovered something transformative: the “joyful life of repentance.” (full article here)
That’s the question before us: Will we see repentance as drudgery, or as a pathway back to joy?
Learning from David’s Blueprint
Psalm 51 gives us David’s response after the prophet Nathan confronted him about his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah. This psalm of repentance has been immortalized in Scripture as a blueprint for how we should approach God when we’ve sinned.
As Thomas Chalmers said, “This is the most deeply affecting of all the psalms, and I am sure the one most applicable to me.” Every believer can echo that sentiment—we are all sinners who need to constantly repent like David did.
Six Marks of True Repentance from Psalm 51
1. Repentance is Based on God’s Character
David begins by appealing to God’s mercy and steadfast love (Psalm 51:1). He approaches the One who has revealed Himself as “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Exodus 34:6). If God were all justice and no mercy, our instinct would be to run, not come.
James Montgomery Boice put it perfectly: “We cannot come to God on the basis of his justice. Justice strikes us with fear and causes us to hide from him… The only reason we dare to come to God and dare hope for a solution to our sin problem is his mercy.”
When we repent, we need to focus on God’s character. We are pitiful sinners appealing to the One who has compassion on pitiful sinners—a compassion most clearly displayed at the cross of Christ.
2. Repentance Involves Right Knowledge of Sin and Self
David says, “My sin is ever before me” (Psalm 51:3). He feels the weight of it constantly. He’s deeply aware of how he has sinned, and he takes full ownership: “my iniquity, my sin, my transgressions.”
True repentance requires the kind of self-awareness that helps us feel the weight of our own sin. We must be able to see our own sin more clearly than anyone else’s. Our own sin needs to bother us more than anybody else’s.
David also recognizes the primacy of the vertical dimension of sin: “Against you, you only, have I sinned” (Psalm 51:4). Yes, he sinned against Uriah and Bathsheba, but the bottom line with all sin is that it’s against God. When we wrong another person, we’re wronging an image-bearer of God, and crossing the line that God has set up with regard to how we are to love our neighbor.
Importantly, David doesn’t make excuses. He doesn’t claim “extenuating circumstances” or say “I’m sorry, but…” True repentance stands before God and says, “I have judged myself by your words and found myself guilty, and I do not seek to justify myself in any way.”
David even admits his sin comes from his sinful nature: “I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5). His sin problem is something that’s rooted in who he is, not just what he’s done. David didn’t become a sinner because he sinned—he sinned because he’s a sinner.
3. Repentance Looks Toward Atonement
When David says “Purge me with hyssop” (Psalm 51:7), he’s referencing the plant used for ritual sprinkling of sacrificial blood. He’s essentially asking God to function as his high priest and make blood atonement for his sin.
Charles Spurgeon called this verse a demonstration of glorious faith—to believe that the blood sacrifice was sufficient to purge away even heinous sins like adultery and murder.
Sin requires blood payment. “Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22). When we repent, we’re saying, “On the basis of Jesus’s atonement, cleanse me, O God.” Every time we repent properly with an eye toward Christ’s atonement, it magnifies the power of His blood and brings Him glory. As the old hymn says: “There is power in the blood”.
4. Repentance Includes Brokenness and Sorrow
David asks God to “let me hear joy and gladness” (Psalm 51:8) precisely because he doesn’t have it in his unrepentant state. The hand of the Lord has been heavy on him. God has “broken his bones” through conviction.
It’s actually the grace of God to let us feel the weight of our sin. That weight brings us to brokenness, and brokenness leads us to repentance. As Hebrews 12 teaches, God’s discipline is something He does for His children—if we can sin repeatedly without feeling any discipline from God, it proves we’re not His children.
David says it clearly: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:17). God desires more than outward religious performance—He wants a truly repentant heart that comes broken and shattered over sin.
5. Repentance Desires Complete Renewal
True repentance isn’t a quick fix where we say, “Please put this sin behind me, Lord, so I can move on with my life.” David asks for much more: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).
And here’s something we need to see: He wants his joy in God restored. He wants to walk in fellowship with Him again. He wants a heart orientation change, not just behavioral modification.
This is the “joyful life of repentance”. David isn’t trying to skip past the brokenness—he is already there. He’s not being too bold to ask God for joy – he’s simply asking God for what comes along with forgiveness. As Romans 4 says, “Blessed is the man whose lawless deeds are forgiven” (Romans 4:7-8).
Have you thought of repentance this way—as a return to joy? How much more eagerly would we repent if we trained ourselves to think of it as David did, as a return to joy in God?
6. Repentance Seeks to Share Lessons with Others
David acknowledges what God will do through his repentance: “I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you” (Psalm 51:13).
A person joyful over God’s forgiveness is eager to tell others how they can be forgiven too. They sing about God’s righteousness, constantly praise Him, and teach that God desires not just outward obedience but a heart properly oriented to Him.
It’s amazing what repentance does, not just for us, but for others.
When your child sees you humble enough to say, “I lost my temper with you this morning and I’ve repented to God about that. Would you also forgive me?”—that’s a powerful sermon. When a coworker notices a change in your demeanor and you can say, “God forgave me of some sin I’ve been battling and gave me joy in Him again”—that’s evangelistic witness.
The joy that follows repentance—having a clear conscience before God, knowing you’ve been forgiven, having your joy in God restored—makes a profound impact on people who are still chewing on the world’s empty promises. It makes them ask “Why am I chewing on this mud pie again? I want what they have.”
Your Spiritual January
January represents a fresh beginning, a clean slate. Imagine walking into the new year—or just tomorrow—with a clean slate before God. Imagine the joy that genuine repentance will bring to your life.
So here’s the question: What sin do you need to confess today so that you can experience a January for your soul?
Repentance truly is a fresh start, a spiritual renewal. And when we approach it rightly—based on God’s merciful character, with honest self-awareness, eyes fixed on Christ’s atonement, hearts broken over sin, desiring complete transformation, and ready to share what we’ve learned—it becomes not a dreary obligation but a pathway back to joy.
May we become people who don’t reluctantly or slowly come to repentance, but instead come quickly because we long to have our joy and fellowship with God renewed.
This is an edited A.I. summary of the sermon “A January For the Soul”
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