FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES OF THE FAITH
Lesson #1
REPENTANCE
Repentance: To completely turn your back on sin, totally reject sin, utterly forsake sin, and count yourself dead to sin, so that you can completely turn to God, totally submit to God, and consistently obey God that you might have eternal life in Him.
“Repent” was God’s message in the Old Testament:
2 Chronicles 7:14
14 "if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from theirwicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Psalm 34:12-18
12 Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good? 13 Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit.
14 Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry.
16 The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles.
18 The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. (NKJ)
-see also Ezekiel 18:30-31
“Repent” is God’s message now:
Acts 17:30-31
30 "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,
31 "because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead."
“Repent” was the message of John the Baptist:
Matthew 3:1-2
1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,
2 and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" “Repent” is the message preached by Jesus:
Matthew 4:17
17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." “Repent” was the message preached by Peter the Apostle:
Acts 2:36-38
36 "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."
37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"
38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
“Repent” was also the message driven home by the Apostle Paul:
Acts 26:19-20
19 "Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,
20 "but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.
True, godly repentance consists of three parts:
1. Admit it 2. Quit it 3. Forget it
-1. Admit it:
I John 1:9
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Proverbs 28:13
13 He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.
-2. Quit it:
Romans 6:1-2
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Romans 6:11-14
11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. Ezekiel 33:19
19 "But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall live because of it. -3.Forget it:
2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. To forget it is to leave it in the past and to not ever return to it:
Ezekiel 33:18
18 "When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die because of it. Repentance is a necessary part of salvation:
Acts 3:18-19
18 "But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.
19 "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
Proverbs 28:13
13 He who covers his sins will not prosper,
But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. 