How To Repent 2 Pet 3:9 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

This verse says that God is willing that all should come to repentance.  You have heard the word repentance before and you may know something about it.  But the question is How to Repent.  What good is it if you can win a theological debate about what repentance means if you still need to repent?  It is the doing of repentance and not the knowledge of repentance that God is interested in.

So, here’s how to repent:

First, there must be an honest recognition of what you are doing wrong – Rev 2:21, 2:22, 9:20, 9:21 etc – there was something specific that each was doing and that they needed to stop doing – you may recognize something wrong in your life but you may not be honest, at all, about how much you need to turn away from it – often the thing you need to quit is connected to other things in your life – honest recognition finds all of these components so that you can deal with them all – a fellow who lusts after women must also honestly recognize the sins in his thought life, the sins he commits with his eyes and the sins he commits in his flesh in order to fully repent – you cannot leave any part of the examination of your life undone when it comes to repentance – you must be as thorough as an IRS agent looking for a dime.

Second, there must be an honest recognition that what you are doing wrong is sin – Lk 5:32 – the thing you are doing wrong is not just a bad habit or a problem or a flaw in your character – it is sin – and the sins you are committing are the direct result of what you are – you are a sinner – few preachers are willing to deal with the subject of sin and sinners anymore – they want to take people who are sin sick, fluff them up with some “feel-good” preaching, accept them just the way they are by telling them that God loves them just the way they are and then bring them in and make them part of the family of God with the leprosy of sin all over them – you kill the rest of the flock doing that – a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump – you will see what that means in time – listen, you must deal with SIN – call it what it is, just the way the Bible does, and deal with it.

Third, you must confess to God the sin that you are committing – 1 Jn 1:9 – confessing your sins to the Lord is simply a matter of acknowledging before God that you agree with Him and his judgment against you – it is an admission of your guilt – it is a confession that you have a particular sin in your life that you are going to get out of your life – it is not part of the prayer you pray before a meal like “and, Lord, forgive us of our sins.”

Fourth, there must be a sincere desire to get this sin or these sins out of your life – 2 Cor 7:9-10 – this desire to get rid of the sin is often accompanied by sorrow – but don’t think that sorrow alone is repentance – many a sinner has cried in remorse over something stupid only to go right back to it another day – the godly sorrow accompanying repentance is a sorrow that yields a resolve to do whatever is necessary by the grace of God and by the presence of Jesus in you to rid your life of that sin.

Fifth, there must be a willful turning away from the sin – 1 Thes 1:9 – too many people confess to God that what they are doing is sin and they even struggle with trying to quit it to a certain degree – but in reality they sit around waiting for God to deliver them from their sin while they continue to do it day in and day out – smokers are some of the worst about this that I have seen – they keep on smoking while they wait for the Lord to deliver them – put the stupid cigarettes down, fool – you are not going to get deliverance if you haven’t already gotten deliverance – you need to take everything out of your life that contributes to this sin – Acts 19:18-20.

Sixth, there must be reliance upon the Lord to help you stop this sin – 1 Thes 1:9 – see how the Thessalonians did it – they turned to God when they turned from their idolatry – you cannot do this on your own – you must yield to the righteousness of Jesus in you so that he can strengthen you against this sin – Rom 6:12-13 – he was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin – since he didn’t commit them when he was here, he can help you keep from committing them now that he is living his life in you.

Conclusion: Now this is how to repent – and we might add that it helps immensely to become content with such things as ye have – that is you want to get to the place where you are content without the sin in your life – Paul said he learned how to be content and we’ll cover more of that in another broadcast.