How To Repent

A Sinner’s Guide To Repentance

We All Need to Repent. So, How Do You Repent of your sins?

1) Sin Separates us (Permanently) from God

When we Sin, a “Wall” goes up between us and God permanently. Simply stopping sinning or doing good works will NOT get us to back to God.

Think of stopping sinning as stopping adding sin “bricks” to the wall of sin. The other bricks of sin previously still need to be “torn down”.

The only thing that tears them down is “Forgiveness” through Jesus’ Blood. So, the point in time that forgiveness occurs is the point in time that a person is saved.

2) Know That All Sin and Have Sinned

Romans 3:23– for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

  • Everyone has sinned and is separated from God.
  • It makes no difference is you’ve done 1000 good things & only 1 sin, as soon as you’ve sinned, you have permanently separated yourself from God for eternity.
  • This is the entire reason Jesus came. To save you and I from certain eternal death.

3) Believe and admit to yourself that you are lost in your sin.

Isaiah 59:1-2-Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

  • Your sin, not anyone else’s has separated you from God.
  • In order for you to have a relationship with God, stopping sinning isnt enough, the wall of sin between you and God must be torn down.
  • The point in time that the wall of sin is torn down is called forgiveness and it is the point in time that you are saved.

Side Note: If you’re even worried or concerned about this, God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit have lead you and directed you and desperately want you to be saved, so please….listen, follow and obey 🙂

4) Believe that you need to repent…and quickly

Luke 13:3– I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.

  • Jesus is concerned with you, not anyone else, in your repentance, so you will not perish
  • Be quick to repent. Be urgent for you don’t know how long you will live.
  • Tomorrow is not guaranteed to us.

5) Believe that God’s kindness to you personally is leading you to repent of your sins and turn to him- that he loves you personally.

Romans 2:3-5– And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But in accordance with your hardness and your [a]impenitent heart you are [b]treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

  • God is being kind to you leading you to repentance.
  • God loves you and wants you to escape his judgment- This is his intention by sending Jesus to die for YOUR sin personally. (Acts 2:23- These people werent physically there at the death of Jesus, Yet Peter says they killed Jesus…and so did You and I) And it is YOUR sin personally that killed Jesus, even though you werent there.
  • God knew you needed a savior and sacrificed his son for you so that all your punishment would land on Jesus when you die and NOT you.

2 Peter 3:9– The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

6) Know that God chose your birthdate and where you would live so that you would have the best chance of finding him- God loves you and is leading you to him.

Acts 17: 26-27-“From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.

Why weren’t you born in the future? Why weren’t you born in a different part of the world? Why weren’t you born in the 1700s or 1800s? Because. He knew this was the best chance for you to seek him, accept the message, repent and live for eternity. God had a plan for you. What are you going to do?

7) Write Down Your Sin- learn what sin is and get in touch with your sin before God

Sins of Commission- Sins that you commit

Galatians 5:19-21-19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery (getting high); 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition (living for yourself), dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

  • Define each of these, then write all your sins on a piece of paper for you to see.
  • These are the sins that Jesus died for.
  • These are the sins that killed Jesus on the cross. (Acts 2:36- “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”)

Mark 7:21-21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit (are you a liar?), lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance (do you think you’re better than everyone else?) and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

Sins of Omission- Sins that you failed to do (doesn’t matter why you failed to do it, you still sinned)

James 4:17–17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

8) Confess Your Sins To Someone.

Confession is agreeing with God with what he already knows. If you are embarrassed or know that you need to be open with someone, do it. God is prompting you.

James 5:16– “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”

Proverbs 28:13– “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”

Leviticus 5:5– “When anyone becomes aware that they are guilty in any of these matters, they must confess in what way they have sinned.”

Psalm 32:3– “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.”

James 4:8– “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

1 John 1:9– “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

John 3:19-21– 19  – “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”

9) Pray to God

God wants to hear from you. Turn to God, tell him how you feel. If you have a hard time with this, read a psalm to God outloud and tell him how it related to you. (psalm 51, psalm 23, psalm 91)

10) Have Godly Sorrow, not Worldly Sorrow.

What is Godly Sorrow?

2 Corinthians 7:11-12– 11 See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.

Earnestness– seriousness. be serious about your sin and what you did to God.

Eagerness– be eager, soft hearted to God, be quick to admit, quick to obey.

Indignation– “I can’t believe I did that to you God! I’m so sorry!”

Alarm– Im afraid of what will happen to me if I keep on living this way. I won’t make it. Godly Fear. Holy Fear.

Longing– Affection for God and his people and anyone that you’ve done wrong to. “Thank you God for pointing this out to me so I can be saved”

Concern– “This is my top priority God. I cant go on living like this. Im making these changes in my life that you are speaking to me about”

Readiness to See Justice Done– “God, whatever I must do, I’ll do. I just gotta do what’s right before you, God”

At EVERY point you have proved yourself to be innocent in this matter.

What is Worldly Sorrow?

“Everyone does it” or “It’s not that bad” or “Im really a good person”. If you’re like this, this worldly sorrow will bring death eternally to you. Repent of this!

11) Complete Your Repentance- Do What you need to, to be right with God.

Ezekiel 33:15-16 – 15 if they give back what they took in pledge for a loan, return what they have stolen, follow the decrees that give life, and do no evil—that person will surely live; they will not die. 16 None of the sins that person has committed will be remembered against them. They have done what is just and right; they will surely live.

God will Forgive & Forget…But you must get Baptized for the remission of your sin, once and for all.

12) Get Baptized for the Remission of Your Sin

Rom 6:1-4 says: “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
 
Here it says that ‘we are buried’— meaning we are actually dying to our old life, being buried, and being raised to a new life= participating in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ as we contact the blood of Christ through faith, which saves us (Rom 3:25),we get the (indwelling gift) Spirit and we are resurrected with Christ= ‘raised to a new life’.
 
Also, Colossians 2:11-12 says “In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ,
12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.”
  • so, when we go down under water through faith, we contact the blood of forgiveness of our sins by faith, we are given the spirit ( indwelling gift), our name is written in heaven and in the book of life and we are clothed with Christ and also added to God’s universal kingdom!
  • The raising to a new life happens in, through or by means of (Greek dia) our faith in God’s operation or working. We, in effect, are trusting in God to save us through Jesus Blood in that act of baptism. Note that in baptism it is faith in God’s working. Baptism is God’s work, not ours. When we are baptized, we believe (trust) that God is working. It is through our faith in His working that He works! For our baptism to be effective we must believe that God is working to raise us to a new life (save us). 9 Again, that’s what baptism is: crying out to God to save us and trusting that He will, based on the cleansing power of Christ’s blood.

    we are trusting in the working of God through faith at baptism

 

clothed with Christ

 
Galatians 3:26- 27–So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

-through our faith in Christ, we get baptized and are then clothed with Christ

In baptism and repentance, by faith in Christ, we contact the blood of Christ and get forgiveness, and we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit 

(John 3:1-7 Born again, of the water & the Spirit), our old nature is put off (Romans 6:1-4, Colossians 2:12-13) and we are added to God’s church! ( 1 Corinthians 12:13- Baptized into the Body of Christ, the church)

theremustberepentance