GOD’S RECIPE FOR REPENTANCE AND RESTORATION: RESTITUTION

“Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God.” Matthew 3:8 NLT

“He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6: 8

Mary Ann Wray

JUSTICE
1. the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness: to uphold the justice of a cause.
2. rightfulness or lawfulness, as of a claim or title; justness of ground or reason: to complain with justice.
3. the moral principle determining just conduct.
4. conformity to this principle, as manifested in conduct; just conduct, dealing, or treatment.
5. the administering of deserved punishment or reward.
6. the maintenance or administration of what is just by law, as by judicial or other proceedings: a court of justice.
7. judgment of persons or causes by judicial process:

RESTITUTION
1 :  an act of restoring or a condition of being restored
a :  a restoration of something to its rightful owner
b :  a making good of or giving an equivalent for some injury
2   a legal action serving to cause restoration of a previous state

REPENTANCE: metanoeó Strong’s definition and examples by verses
To change one's mind; to think differently after; to feel sorrow for offending someone Luke 17:3; 2 Corinthians 12:21; used especially of those who, conscious of their sins and with manifest tokens of sorrow, are intent; on obtaining God's pardon; Matthew 11:21; Luke 10:13. to change one's mind for the better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one's past sins: Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:15 (cf. Matthew 3:6 ; Matthew 3:8 and Luke 3:8 i. e. conduct worthy of a heart changed and abhorring sin.

The Bible teaches 'restitution' as part of the process of repentance and turning away from sin. Our judicial system is based on the Biblical premise of restitution as a means of bringing about justice (Isaiah 33:22). If a plaintiff brings a matter to court, the judge will hear both sides: the plaintiff’s and the defendant’s. The judge will then make a decision or judgment based on evidence, witnesses and the written law regarding the infraction. If money is involved, the judge will order the defendant to repay what was unlawfully taken, if proven guilty. If a life was taken, either a death sentence or life in prison may be determined to be just.

Biblically, and as a Christian, we are not exempt from following a moral code which is not the same as attempting to be ‘justified’ or made righteous by following the Law of Moses rather than grace through faith in Christ. If we were exempt from obeying a moral code of conduct that would contradict God being just (Isaiah 30: 18). The New Covenant does not nullify the Old Covenant; it supersedes and makes it complete with the greater commandment, which is love. Love says this: if I've stolen or defrauded you, I will pay you back and ask for your forgiveness. If I ask you to forgive me but I’m not willing to give back what I took unlawfully from you gives me no grounds for restoration in relationship nor has true justice been served in the matter. I may be ‘talking love’ but I’m not demonstrating it justly nor have I truly repented. If I have slandered someone, I need to make it right with them then go back to those I've spread lies to about you and rescind my lies with the truth. This will correct the moral infraction justly. If I've cheated on my spouse or fornicated, I need to repent to God then tell the person I cheated with that I was wrong and to forgive me for involving them in sexual sin even if it was consensual. It still doesn’t make it right. Whether or not the other party accepts your repentance and restitution is not the issue. It’s a matter of doing what is just before The Judge of All! Restitution and justice involves any and every moral infraction against God’s moral code and standard of righteousness. The Ten Commandments have not been eradicated; they’ve been ‘SUPERCEDED’ by two GREAT commandments which encompasses all Ten-plus more! The cross is both vertical and horizontal: Godward and man-ward.

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these. “Mark 12: 30

Godly love seeks what is best for others. Next, love seeks to make wrong things right. God so loved the world that He GAVE His only Son as a sacrifice for our sins eternally in order for us to be made right with God. It was and is the only way God’s justice for sin can be resolved. That act of supernatural restitution from our Father through Jesus’ death is only activated for us by our agreement with His covenantal terms. His terms are this: Repent, believe and be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Mark 6: 12; 2 Cor. 5: 21; Acts 2: 38). If you and I are not willing to make things right not only with God, but those we've wronged, than that is not Biblical repentance...that's like looking for an escape hatch then crawling through a manhole cover on the street to leave the scene of a crime I had a part in. There always are direct or indirect witnesses to a crime and the police will hunt you down until they find you. You see, our unconfessed/ unresolved sins (disobedience) will find us out (Numbers 32: 23). God only forgives and forgets those things we truly repent of and make right with Him and others (where viable and possible)! Repeating the same offense over and over is not a fruit of repentance friends! We cannot escape the consequences of sin and bad choices.

There are some things that are humanly impossible to make right by restitution. If someone is deceased, you can't make things right with them. There are times that Godly wisdom deems it best not to dig up old bones. You may need to seek Godly counsel before attempting restitution for certain things you may not be sure about and could involve damaging lives or destroying families rather than bringing about Godly justice. But if you pray and are sincere about repenting from your sins and past mistakes against others, the Holy Spirit will show you EXACTLY what you need to do. This takes humility and obedience. Father God expects nothing less from us. Jesus humbled HIMSELF and became obedient unto death; even the death of the cross! We are admonished to let this same mind be in us! (Philippians 2: 8)

Nearly 25 years ago, I cheated a real estate broker out of $1200.00 in the purchase of a home. I felt it was wrong to have to pay them this money since the agent forgot to 'lock in' the points for our future mortgage. Regardless of her mistake or oversight, I still owed the broker the money. I was under contract. Not having the cash, the broker let me use a pop up camper for collateral and I gave him the title to it. He kindly told me to pay him back when I could, then he’d return the title. The broker never asked me for the money and I had no intention of paying him back anyway. I sold the camper a few years later but it came back to haunt me. After my friend who bought it from us called to request the title in order to register the camper in his name, I lied and said that I couldn’t find it. I didn't tell him that a Real Estate broker had possession of it because I used it as collateral to purchase our home. I told my friend to tell the DMV that I lost it and give him a new one. It created a lot of hassle and red tape for my friend but I was only worried about myself: getting out of paying anybody any money....I didn’t care a thing about my friend’s trouble or the “rich” Real Estate Broker who I felt didn’t need my money anyway. That is how I justified it in my mind. Although my conscience bothered me from the Holy Spirit’s conviction I buried the lies.

For years this haunted me and I knew I had lied and cheated as a "Christian". Finally after 9 years of backsliding with other sin ‘issues’ the Holy Ghost confronted me on this and other sins in my life. Yes I had a lot of pain and hurt going on. Yes I struggled with personal and family problems that tore my heart apart. However, in God’s Holy eyes these were no excuses to sin against Him and my fellow man. The Holy Spirit told me to go pay back both the real estate broker and my friend the amount of money he paid for our camper. I had to dip into the annuity account and pay withdrawal fees to get the money out, but it didn't matter, because I knew I had to obey God. The time of reaping what I had sown was in full season and it was time to make it right!

Even though this happened almost 20 years before then, I couldn't rest until I obeyed the Lord. I had to hunt these people down, but finally found them and gave them back their money with some interest explaining what I had done and how sorry I was for the trouble I caused them. I was freed from my ‘conviction’ but better yet, these innocent people were served justice for the wrong I did to them. Asking Jesus for forgiveness without restitution or an attempt to do so isn't repentance: neither is it justice. We've got to make things right not only with God, but those we’ve wronged wherever possible. Repentance with restitution is the fruit of true spiritual sonship. Being a child of God does not consist of ‘covering’ our sins out of shame or fear of rejection from man like Adam did. Jesus’ blood made propitiation for our sins…in other words, His blood blots them out ‘after’ we meet the terms and conditions of His covenant: Repent, believe and be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is what the Bible teaches. That’s the full recipe for repentance. Anything else leave a half-baked conversion which really isn’t one at all. That’s why so many people still struggle with sin after going to the altar to say the sinner’s prayer. They haven’t made things right with those they’ve sinned against (Matthew 5: 24). They have no real Godly sorrow against the sins they committed. ALL of us have sinned and fallen short of His glory. To cover sin in some other kind of way rather than through repentance, confession and restitution where needed is a spirit of religion and Anti-Christ. It’s a cheap cover up.  Only Jesus was 100% blameless yet he lay naked and uncovered on the cross for us despising the shame of it so we could be delivered from it through true repentance. To cover our sins only causes us to ‘waste away’ spiritually. (Psalm 32)

In a world of complete moral compromise and decline, we the people of God must shine forth in His liberty and justice for all, if we desire to please Him and see more of His power working in and through us to a lost and dying world. When King David was called out for his sins he said to the Father, “Against you only have I sinned.” (Psalms 51)  He took complete responsibility after he was found out by a prophet. Trust me, it’s better to confess directly to God and others we have wronged, than keep things ‘covered up’ until The Father has to use more drastic means to set us right (Hebrews 12: 6). Then David prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence. Take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of my salvation. Then I will teach transgressors your ways so that sinners can turn back to you!” David couldn’t resurrect Uriah to bring justice there and he suffered a consequence to his sins: his own son conceived in adultery died. However, he found a place of forgiveness and restoration with the Father through a truly contrite heart. We cannot escape the spiritual laws of sowing and reaping; good or bad. There is forgiveness freely available, but on God’s terms, not ours. (Jeremiah 22: 17). When we obey the voice of the Father, walk in the law of love and cooperate with the Holy Spirit when we miss the mark that is a sign of true spiritual sonship. This is what walking in the spirit is truly about.

And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The Law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. Romans 8: 2-8 NLT

 “Now let the fear of the LORD be on you. Judge carefully, for with the LORD our God there is no injustice or partiality or bribery."
2 Chron 19: 7

“Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the LORD evil is avoided.” Proverbs 16: 6