True and False Repentance

Sermon from Sunday, April 26, 2026 · Pastor Rutz, Text: 2 Chronicles 7:14 (LSG)

"If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."
2 Chronicles 7:14 (LSG)

Why do some Christians seem to carry the life of God while others have been stuck in the same place for ten years? Pastor Rutz is categorical: the difference is not in talent, nor in the number of years spent in church, nor in service rendered. It lies in the quality of repentance. There is a repentance the Lord receives, and there is another one (a far more common one) that he does not receive. This article sets out to put a finger on that difference, drawing on the sermon preached on April 26, 2026, at Agape Church.

1. Repentance: the door to the great inner cleanup

Rutz begins with a simple picture. The cross offered all of humanity infinite grace, but as long as you do not receive it personally, it never becomes yours. Receiving Christ is a first step. Walking in the fullness of that grace is a second, and that is where true repentance comes in.

You have entered God's family, but you still carry within you the flesh, your old sinful habits, your nature inherited from Adam. That is why Rutz speaks of a "great cleanup." You start by throwing out the big trash, then the small trash, then you sweep the floor, then you vacuum up the invisible dust. The cleaner the room, the more clearly Jesus comes into focus, and the closer the relationship becomes.

The narrow way is found in a cleansed heart

Jesus said, "Enter by the narrow gate... For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few" (Matthew 7:13-14 LSG). Rutz insists: many non-Christians never find that path, but many Christians do not either, because they try to walk it by their own strength, their own wisdom, and their own righteousness.

You cannot climb that path without the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit can neither speak clearly nor lead freely where the heart stays cluttered.

2. Tears that are not tears of repentance

Rutz is direct: crying is not enough. Tears are often needed to enter into true repentance, but not all tears are made of the same water.

Tears of self-pity

You pray and you find yourself crying over what life has done to you: the person who hurt you, the trial you went through, the wilderness you crossed. Rutz calls this "crying over yourself." These tears are human, they can even be legitimate, but they are not tears of repentance.

Tears of resentment and self-righteousness

"Lord, but I have done so many things. Am I really that bad? Why?" These are no longer tears of brokenness, they are tears of revolt against the mirror. Rutz quotes something he once received: these tears are "proof of a proud and evil heart." They are tears that defend the self. They do not lead to forgiveness.

Pastor Rutz's personal testimony

The pastor openly admits, "I was a Pharisee among Pharisees." Raised in a Christian family, trained in the Word from the cradle, it took him years to let go of his own righteousness. "Am I really that dirty?..." This struggle was painful, but its source was not the Lord, it was his own hardness of heart. It was only once he recognized himself as broken, with nothing left to add, that the Lord began entrusting him with his mission to Japan.

3. The tears the Lord receives

Remember the sinful woman who, in Simon the Pharisee's house, breaks her alabaster jar and washes Jesus' feet with her tears (Luke 7:36-50 LSG). Those tears come with no words at all. They are not tears of complaint. They are tears of the heart.

Rutz describes true tears of repentance this way, quoting the teaching of missionary Park Ji-ye, which left a deep mark on him:

"The tears of true repentance are the ones that spring up naturally from the depths of the heart, under the burning of an unspeakable shame and regret, before the love of the cross where King Jesus, for a soul as ugly and stained as mine, poured out without reserve all his blood and all his water, and bore my whole life."

Look at that soul. It sees the cross. It sees its own stain before the endless patience of Christ. And it can do nothing but weep. Those, Rutz says, are the tears God receives.

A suggested prayer: "Holy Spirit, pour out on me a spirit of repentance. Open my spiritual eyes. Let me see my own stain the way you see it." The Lord answers that prayer according to each person's makeup, at each one's own pace.

4. Five forms of false repentance to unmask

Drawing on the writings of Park Ji-ye, Rutz lists several types of repentance that look pious but that God does not receive.

4.1 Formal, intellectual repentance

"The Bible says we must repent, the preacher reminded us of it, so: Lord, forgive me for this and that. Amen. There, it is forgiven." Nothing moves from the head down to the heart. Nothing changes in your habits, your speech, your reactions. It is a movement of the mind, not a movement of the soul.

4.2 Self-victimizing repentance

"Lord, if I did that, it is because so-and-so..." The blame always lands on someone else. You cry over yourself as though you were a victim. You do not acknowledge your own guilt, you complain about being misunderstood.

4.3 Repentance out of fear of hell

It is superficial: "I do not want to go to hell, so I repeat the words." The motivation is not love for the Savior, it is fear of punishment. It produces neither brokenness nor a changed life.

4.4 General "blanket" repentance

"Lord, forgive all the sins, known and unknown, of my week. Amen." Rutz takes this comforting prayer apart: a sin you cannot name is a sin you will repeat. The true prayer is, "Lord, have mercy on me. I am so blind that I have sins I do not even remember. Bring them to my mind one by one, so that I may confess them and be purified."

4.5 Fruitless repentance

John the Baptist was already demanding, "Bear fruit in keeping with repentance" (Matthew 3:8 LSG). Rutz quotes Park Ji-ye: "There is no such thing as true repentance without fruit. Its essence is turning completely away from that sin." To repent is to promise God, "I will not do it again." And a promise made to God holds up in your actions.

"Even if you have shed many tears of repentance, if there is no fruit to match them, those very tears become a lie," quoted by Rutz

5. How to enter into true repentance

Rutz sums up the method God has built into him for walking through this cleaning process day after day:

• Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal your hidden sins, not in general terms, but one by one.
• Confess concretely, without wrapping your faults in vague language.
• Keep asking for forgiveness until it comes. How long forgiveness takes to arrive is not up to you to decide.
• Finish in thanksgiving. True repentance goes down into pain, but it closes in the joy of knowing that a filthy weight has been thrown out of you. "Be assured, all the way through, of the Lord's love."
• Walk in the fruit. A cleansed heart becomes sensitive to sin, it repents then "the way you wash your hands and feet," every day.

Rutz sets this backdrop by quoting, "Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19 LSG). And, "The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" (Psalm 51:17 LSG).

Key Takeaways

• True repentance is what makes entry into the grace of the cross real.
• Not all tears are tears of repentance: self-pity, pride, and resentment are false lookalikes.
• The tears God receives are born before the cross, under the weight of your own stain revealed.
• Five false repentances to expose: formal, victim-based, fear-driven, general, and fruitless.
• Confession must be concrete, one sin at a time, never lumped together.
• True repentance always produces fruit: a sin you no longer repeat.
• It ends in thanksgiving and a clearer closeness with Jesus.

Practical Application This Week

Take a moment alone, with a notebook. Do not pray, "Lord, forgive my sins known and unknown." Instead pray, "Holy Spirit, remind me of one concrete sin this week (a word, an attitude, a thought) that you want to clean up today." Write down what the Lord shows you. Confess it, ask for forgiveness until peace comes, and make a concrete decision to act so that fruit can take root. Close with thanks.

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9 LSG).

FAQ

Question: I received Christ years ago. Do I still need to repent?

Yes. According to Rutz, your initial conversion opens the door, but the heart remains inhabited by fleshly habits and inherited tendencies. Daily repentance ("like washing your hands and feet") is what lets Jesus reveal himself more clearly in you and through you.

Question: How do I know if my tears are real?

Rutz offers a simple test: am I crying over myself (what life has done to me, my personal failure, my disappointment), or am I crying over my stain before the cross? True tears come with no words, they well up before the love of Christ, not before an injustice you have suffered.

Question: What if the Holy Spirit does not bring anything to mind after I pray?

Do not conclude, "I have nothing to repent of." Rutz explains that the Lord looks to see whether your request is truly from the heart. Keep praying, every day. The Lord will show you the sin through an everyday situation, letting you see your own reaction in the moment. There, confess right away.

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Sermon from Sunday, April 26, 2026 · Pastor Rutz, Agape Church.
Find the video of this sermon on the Momentum channel.