Repentance

Session objectives

Opening scripture:

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ to remission of sins,

Introduction:

Now that we know Jesus is our Lord. It requires that we start to obey Him. The first two steps that we can take in obedience to Jesus are that we embrace a lifestyle of repentance and that we get baptized in water. In this session we will be talking about repentance:

1. Repentance = Change

Every prophet and apostle in the Bible preached repentance, Jesus included. “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” Luke 5:32

The Greek word for repentance is = met-an’-oy-ah

It is where we get our English word “metamorphosis” from. The process by which a caterpillar becomes a butterfly is called metamorphosis. And this is a good description of how we become the sons and daughters of God. It is through the process of repentance that we become what God originally intended us to be. If we look at the word it literally means:

Metan = (change)

oy ah =(your mind)

2. Repentance has results

Question: How will we know if our repentance from sin is genuine?

Answer: Our repentance will be proved by our deeds/actions (Acts 26:20) – in other words, genuine repentance will be seen by a transformed lifestyle.

Repentance means that we were heading in the wrong direction either out of rebellion or ignorance, then we met Jesus and he turned our lives around putting us in the right direction. It is therefore a 180 degree turn.

So, repentance does not only imply that you change the way you think, it also implies that you change the way you live. Look at What John the Baptist preached:

Luke 3:7 Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance,

Look at verse 10:

10So the people asked him, saying, “What shall we do then?” 11He answered and said to them, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.” 12Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” 13And he said to them, “Collect no more than what is appointed for you.” 14Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?” So he said to them, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.”

John’s message of repentance not only went straight to people’s hearts and challenged them at the core of their being to consecrate their lives to God and leave their sin behind, but it also practically challenged them to change the way they lived their lives.

So by implication the message of repentance is twofold: It is a change in mind which results in a change in the way you live. It implies a turning from your sin and an embracing of a new life of obedience to God’s law and having faith in His promises. It is not a once off event but a continual discipline of our walk with God.

Here are more examples from the word:

• Zacchaeus, in Luke 19:8
  He sought to make restitution for his sins by giving half his possessions to the poor and by paying back those he had cheated four times the actual amount. This is an example of “fruit worthy of repentance.”
• Paul, in Acts 19:18
  18Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. 19A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. 20 In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.

  What we see from this example is that if we have engaged in spiritual practices other than what is in the Bible or prayed to or worshiped any other Gods or spirits then we need to repent from doing such things, because they are sin in the eyes of God.

• In this passage of scripture Gods standards are clearly stated and we can see that through repentance many people in the church in Corinth were cleansed from their sins:

  1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, 10or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. 11Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Ministry Time for the class: 20min

Take time now to fill in the Personal Spiritual Profile (PSP). This will help us understand what we need to repent from and then we will have a time of prayer.

**Note to Lecturer:

• You might need to help explain some of the items listed on the PSP.
• Give the class enough time to fill in their PSP and then lead them in a prayer of repentance like the prayer below:
• “Father God, I acknowledge that I have sinned against you, I repent for all of these sins, I turn my back on them and I turn to you and your truth. I ask for your help to live in victory over these sins and that my life will always please you from this day forward.”
• Once you have finished praying this would be a good time to encourage the class with the scriptures below i.e. to confess their sins to a friend or connect group leader.
• James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
• 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
• You might even, if The Lord leads you, decide to have a time where people can publicly confess their sins to the class or tear up their PSP’s and throw them in the bin as a symbolic act that they are leaving their sins behind. You might also be able to setup a cross in the front of the class where they can come and lay their PSP’s symbolically saying that they were dealt with on the cross.

Conclusion:

Now that we understand repentance and our need to confess our sins you might be concerned that you will continue with some sins. You might feel extremely ‘bound’ by these sins, i.e. unable to get rid of them.

Sometimes we repent of our sins and we are immediately free of them and never return to them. However, some sins have become deeply ingrained in our lifestyles forming habits maybe even addictions. In such cases freedom can come progressively as we grow in faith, learn to change our lifestyles, resist temptations etc.

Example of a young man’s testimony: “When I was born again I immediately stopped smoking and never had any desire to return to it. Pornography on the other hand, remained a struggle, something that took much discipline and spiritual growth to become completely free from.”

Through the rest of this course we will be teaching you how you can walk in greater levels of freedom. We will talk about the Holy Spirit and how He gives you the power to walk in purity, you will learn about spiritual disciplines that if you practice can help you tremendously. We will also be doing a victory day where we will be equipping you with tools to walk in freedom.

It is important to understand that just because we have repented doesn’t mean we will now be perfect. Sometimes we will stumble and sin again, even do things that we have repented of before. This is why repentance is a lifestyle, it is an attitude that remains aware of Gods laws, confesses sin speedily when it happens and adjusts your life in such a way that God will be glorified in the future.