Thank God for your forgiveness (Repentance)

INTRO:
There are many ways by which we say “Thank God for Your forgiveness.”
 ? if you are doubtful if you are forgiven…
 ! excitement because you are sure that you are forgiven.

There is one way by which we can be sure that God has forgiven us –
REPENTANCE.

We are going to talk about repentance. What repentance is and what

repentance is not.
And to be forgiven we have to repent, there is no other way.

It is important that we recognize our sins, must hate sin, renounce it and
ask the Lord for forgiveness.

We cannot keep on loving and living for God yet continually sinning.
WE’VE GOT TO REPENT!!!

I. *Repentance is understanding that sin is sin!! That sin was the very
thing that:
1. Separated us from God
2. Had Jesus go through the cross

-----Jesus did not just DIE for our sins. He suffered and endured great
pain, he took our punishment, he was wounded and crushed because of
our sins, he was painfully abused, condemned to death without fair trial –
all of these he had to “embrace” just to take away our sins and take away
our guilt (Isaiah 5 3).
This gives us a picture that sin should never be taken lightly because our
Jesus took it really seriously that it costs him his very life! If
Jesus endured these horrible things for us and if God spared His only Son
for our sins, consider for a moment how God may feel every time we take
for granted what Jesus did on the cross by continually sinning, by living in
sin. When we sin, we fail and disobey God.

DO not call sin some other name, i.e. mistake, weakness, etc. If you don’t
call sin a sin, you will not change it, you will not deal with it.
Kinds of sin
1. Destructive Habits – lying, laziness (Bisaya: tapulan), gluttony
(matakaw), mataray, pala-away
2. Destructive Attitudes – jealousy, envy, criticism, inferiority, superiority
3. Rebellion – controlling, manipulative, criticizing your leader, not
believing & trusting in your leader/pastor, complaining (mareklamo) ,
disobedience to parents/authorities

4. Sexual Sins – pornography, masturbation, homosexuality, lesbianism,

adultery, pre-marital sex, etc
5. Addictions – smoking, drinking, gambling,computer, etc

We need to come face to face with sin and see sin as God sees it,
according to His Word--detestable, and the very thing that was crucified
on the cross. This is the only way that genuine repentance can take place
and repentance is the only way we can receive God's forgiveness.

II. What Repentance is

Repentance is WALKING THE OPPOSITE WAY, HEADING TOWARDS
THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION. It’s a 180 deg turn from our sins, from our
past.
ILLUS: walking and turning around

Real repentance is to feel and understand God's heart. He is not mad!!!

He is eager to forgive you and set you free!!!
REMORSE VS REPENTANCE:
Remorse = feeling sad because you were caught (nabuking) or afraid of
the consequence
Repentance = feeling sad AT THE SAME TIME wanting to change

It’s not just a remorse because you feel the guilt, the heaviness, the
negative consequences, the lack of favor... But it is when you get to
understand that God hates sin and is so displeased with sin and His heart
is crushed because of sin. And your heart begins to feel how he feels, you
feel the sorrow of God. It's like when you hurt someone you love, your
parents for example, you feel a certain pain and you want to change not
just simply because you know what you did is bad and there might be
negative consequences like grounded ka or allowance cut off but more
importantly because you feel for your parents, you feel for the person you
hurt or offended... and since you feel for the person it should draw you
nearer not away from the person..
Thus, whenever we come face to face with our sins, whenever God
exposes sins in our lives, it is not meant to overwhelm us, not meant to
make us look down on ourselves, nor to shy away from people and most
esp., it is NEVER meant to draw us away from God. But realization of sin
should draw us nearer to God, to the cross... it should lead us to
repentance. We need to address each sin, name and acknowledge each,
take responsibility by confessing, speaking it to God so that we can be
 forgiven and we can be set free because there is power in speaking in
out, there is power in confession. When you name it, God frees you and
when God sets you free, you do not return to it. Accepting your
responsibility for your sin requires nailing it at the cross – that makes us
standing face to face w/Him, looking eyes to eyes which will make God
see the genuine repentance in your eyes and makes you also see the
love, forgiveness and acceptance in God’s eyes

The NEED for REPENTANCE

David’s story in 2 Samuel 11
*David was a man after God’s own heart but God doesn’t play favorites
and He doesn’t cover up anyone’s sin so they will not be embarrassed.
On the contrary, the HS brings us conviction and motivates us to repent.
King David was staying in His palace when they were SUPPOSED to go
to war.
- There’s already something wrong here. When God asks us to go
and we choose to stay, that is sin right there.
- He then committed sin of adultery, then hypocrisy, then murder.
- If you don’t repent, you can’t cut it off, it leads to another and to
another and to another… and release curse into your life even after you
stop and the curse remains.

EFFECT of UNCONFESSED sin:

1. Sin affects finances. 2 Samuel 12:8
-The Lord could not give david everything He had prepared for him
because of sin. Sin prevented the blessings of God from being poured out
in David’s life.
2. Sin opens the door to a spirit of violence. 2 Samuel 12:10
-David got afraid when Batsheba got pregnant so he called Uriah and
made schemes to cover up for his sin but when he can’t, he had Uriah
killed.
-if sin is unconfessed/unrepented, it takes you farther and farther (David
did not plan that in the first place)
-after the murder, David saw violence increased in his own house. His
son, Absalom killed his broher Ammon who raped his sister Tamar.
Absalom also rebelled against David, tried to overpower David.
3. Sin gives rise to public shame. V11
- Absalom took David’s wives and laid on them at broad daylight right at
the same terrace where David sinned with Bathsheba.
-David tried to hide his sin but the Lord expose it (Numbers 32:23)
4. Sin opens the door to curse. V11a
-sin has CONSEQUENCES. TAKE THAT INTO CONSIDERATION. When
you are at the edge, step BACK!
-after David heared the Words of the prophet, he had to confess his sin
(v13).
-His repentance was genuine, accompanied by tears, grieving, and a
desire to renounce everything he had done.
-The FRUIT of his repentance was obvious because he never AGAIN
committed such a sin. He completely turned from it because he was so
broken over having offended the Lord. His prayer was a hearfelt lament
Ps 51:7
5. Sin brings a spirit of death to a family. V13-14
-his son died.

In Psalm 32, David understood the consequences of unconfessed sin:

Physically-when I kept silent my bones wasted away
Emotionally-through my groaning all day long for your hand is heavy upon
me
Financially-my vitality was turned into the drought of summer.
And led David to repent.

Repentance: Godly
sorrow leading to true
change

We need to BE FORGIVEN and FEEL FORGIVEN. If you are not sure,

you have not come to the cross and met him face to face.
In romans say there is therefore
no condemnation in Christ
Jesus
Romans8:1-2
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for
those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because
through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit
of life set me free from the law of sin and
death

We need to be SET FREE not just forgiven. Our old nature has to die. We
need to be crucified but we have to give it willingly because we love the
Lord more than sin and we want to be RIGHT w/God , walk in His power,
walk in His love, walk in His forgiveness, walk in a relationship that is real,
walking in the newness of life, completell forgiven, completely holy…
 • Remember where the Lord
has brought us from
• -Remember that the Lord
has called us
• -Remember how much
mercy the Lord has poured
out on us
• -Think of the Future He has
for you and how sin will
keep you from your destiny

Ministry:
Picture the Lord on the cross… Stand before him face to face, eyes to
eyes… Look into the Lord’s eyes…
Prayer… You need to speak it out, “Lord, forgive me for___”….

MINISTRY TIME:
The blood of Jesus forgives us and gives us the power to walk the
opposite way.
Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, Oh God, and renew a right spirit
within me. Cast me not away from Your presence. Renew a right spirit
within me…