3 REPENTANCE

AND BAPTISM
And Peter said to them, “Repent and be
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you
will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
ACTS 2:38

DY
“Repent therefore, and turn back, that your

T U
sins may be blotted out . . .”

S
E
ACTS 3:19

R S S
Read Luke 15:11-24.

O O
F RP
One of the most gripping stories in the Bible concerns a relationship
crisis between a father and a son. Jesus told this story of a son
who took his inheritance and went away and squandered it with

U
reckless living. He ended up losing everything and living in despair.

P
The Bible says he eventually came to himself and determined to
get up and return to his father. This is a picture of what is meant by
repentance—in essence, being truly sorry for our sins and desperate
to restore our relationship with God, our Heavenly Father.

LESSON 1
WHAT SHALL WE DO?

1. What did the prodigal son say to his father?

Luke 15:21

2. What was the response of the father?
Luke 15:22-24

3. What did Jesus say causes heaven to celebrate?

Luke 15:7

Repentance produces a real change in our hearts and is the fruit of

God’s grace truly working in our lives.

Read Acts 2:36-46.

4. Who did Peter declare Jesus to be?

Y
Acts 2:36

Acts 2:37

U D
5. What did the people say in response to Peter’s preaching?

T E S
6. What did Peter say they should do?

S S
Acts 2:38

O R O
F RP
7. What did Peter say they would receive if they would repent
and be baptized?

U
Acts 2:38

P
8. Who did this promise apply to?
Acts 2:39

9. What else did Peter say?

Acts 2:40

10. What happened to those who received his word?

Acts 2:41

24 THE PURPLE BOOK

11. Once they were added to the local body of believers,
what did they do?
Acts 2:42-46

Peter preached the message of the cross—that Jesus is both

Lord and Christ. The result? The people were cut to the heart.
They responded by asking, “What shall we do?” The answer to
their question was fourfold:

1. Repent.

Y
2. Be baptized.

D
3. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

U S
4. Be added to the church—the community of believers.

S T E
In this chapter, we will study repentance and water baptism. The Holy

S
Spirit and the church will be covered in separate chapters.

O R O
F RP
Application & Reflection

What did you learn from this lesson? How will you apply it to your life?


P U

LESSON 2
REPENTANCE: TURNING FROM SIN

1. What message did Jesus preach?

Mark 1:15

REPENTANCE AND BAPTISM 25

2. What are the first two foundational truths of the Christian faith?
Hebrews 6:1,2

3. What message should be preached in all nations?

Luke 24:47

4. What happens when we repent and turn to God?

Acts 3:19

Y
The word “repentance” often brings to mind scary images of people

D
on a street corner with signs reading, “Repent, for the end is near!”
Actually, the possibility of repentance offers great hope for us. It

T U
means to “turn around.” Regardless of how bad things have gotten

S
or how far away you may feel from God, when you repent (turn), you

S E
instantly find God’s love and mercy waiting for you.

R S
5. What did Jesus say would happen if we don’t repent?

O
O
Luke 13:2-5

F RP
6. Who does God command to repent?
Acts 17:30

P U
Read Acts 26:18-20.

7. What did the Apostle Paul say he was sent to do?

Acts 26:18

8. What message did Paul say he preached?

Acts 26:19,20

26 THE PURPLE BOOK

9. How did Paul tell his listeners they could demonstrate
their repentance?
Acts 26:20

10. What should we do about our sins?

Proverbs 28:13

11. True repentance involves confession of sin, turning away from sin,
and turning to God. What else is involved?
Exodus 22:5,6

“Restitution” is defined as “a restoration of something to its rightful

Y
owner” and “a making good of . . . for some injury” (Merriam-Webster’s

D
Collegiate Dictionary, eleventh edition).

T U
Read Luke 19:1-10 for a story about repentance and restitution.

S
S E
12. Zacchaeus was a corrupt tax collector. Yet the opportunity

S
of a relationship with Jesus inspired him to repent and make

R
restitution for his sins. How did he propose to make restitution?

O
Luke 19:8

O
F RP

13. How did Jesus respond to Zacchaeus?

P U
Luke 19:9

14. What leads us toward repentance?

Romans 2:4

15. Part of repentance is grieving over our sins. What are the two
types of grief, and what do they produce?
2 Corinthians 7:10

16. Besides repentance, what else does godly grief produce?

2 Corinthians 7:11

REPENTANCE AND BAPTISM 27

According to the Scriptures, repentance involves conviction of sin,
grief over sin, turning from sin, and a willingness to make restitution.
However, repentance is still not complete without faith.

Application & Reflection

What did you learn from this lesson? How will you apply it to your life?

DY
LESSON 3
T U S
S S E
REPENTANCE: TURNING TO GOD

R
True conversion is like the two sides of a coin. One side is repentance;

O
the other side is faith. We cannot turn from something without turning

O
F RP
to something else. All of this is a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8).

1. What did Paul say we must turn to when we turn from darkness?

U
Acts 26:18

P
2. What was the result of the miraculous healing of a
paralyzed man?
Acts 9:35

3. What was the evidence that the hand of the Lord was with those
who proclaimed Christ?
Acts 11:21

28 THE PURPLE BOOK

Probably the most quoted Scripture of all is John 3:16:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish but
have eternal life.”

Believing in Christ means more than merely saying the right words or
accepting certain facts. It means that we have put our trust completely
in Him. In essence, real faith implies that we have rejected all other
alternatives and have fixed our attention on Him.

4. Is simply saying you believe in God enough?

Y
James 2:19

D
5. What does the Bible say about faith without any

U
corresponding works?

T S
James 2:26

S E
6. What is the promise for those who truly believe?

S
R
John 6:47

O O
7. What does the Bible say overcomes the world?

F RP
1 John 5:4,5

U
The hope of every believer is that Christ’s work in us is more powerful
than our past or our current struggles and temptations. The picture of

P
salvation the Bible paints is not just a glorious deliverance, but God’s
Spirit empowering us to live new lives. The next important step in our
journey is to follow Christ in baptism.

REPENTANCE AND BAPTISM 29

 Application & Reflection

What did you learn from this lesson? How will you apply it to your life?

LESSON 4
WATER BAPTISM

DY
If you take a trip to Israel and tour the ancient land where Jesus lived

T U
and ministered, you’ll discover that the world of the Bible included the

S
concept of ritual bathing. Men and women would wash ceremonially

S E
to cleanse themselves from the dirt and defilement of the outside

S
world. Jesus and His disciples came preaching and calling people to

O R
be baptized in water to symbolize the cleansing that takes place

O
through their faith. In the Great Commission, Jesus would command

F RP
His disciples to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the

U
Holy Spirit . . .” (Matthew 28:19).

P
1. What happened to those who accepted Peter’s message?
Acts 2:41

2. What did the men and women who believed Philip’s message do?
Acts 8:12

3. After hearing the good news about Jesus, what did the Ethiopian
eunuch want to do?
Acts 8:35,36

30 THE PURPLE BOOK

4. Jesus told His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations.
What did He say to do with those disciples? Matthew 28:19,20
v. 19
v. 20

The New Testament uses four different illustrations to help us

understand the significance of water baptism:
• Burial and resurrection (Romans 6:4,5)
• The Israelites crossing the Red Sea when the escaped from
Egypt (1 Corinthians 10:1,2)

Y
• Circumcision (Colossians 2:11,12)

D
• The flood (1 Peter 3:20,21)

U
Read Romans 6:1-4.

T E S
5. Paul compares Christian baptism to a burial. In order to be buried,

S
a person must first die. What have we died to?

R
Romans 6:1,2

O S
O

F RP
6. When we undergo baptism, what are we identifying with?
Romans 6:3

P U
7. What will we walk in now that we are in Christ?
Romans 6:4

8. The Israelites’ passing through the Red Sea is a picture of baptism

for us. Why were the Israelites fleeing from the Egyptians?
Exodus 2:23; 3:7,9

REPENTANCE AND BAPTISM 31

9. What happened to the Egyptians?
Exodus 14:22-28

In the same way the Israelites were in slavery to the Egyptians, we

were all slaves of sin. The Israelites were freed from their bondage by
passing through the Red Sea. Baptism pictures the freedom from sin
that Jesus purchased for us on the cross.

10. Paul says baptism is like a circumcision not done by human hands,
but a circumcision done by Christ. What is put off during this
spiritual circumcision?

DY
Colossians 2:11,12

T U S
11. What did Peter say the flood water symbolized?

S E
1 Peter 3:21

O R O
12. What is baptism an appeal to God for?

F RP
1 Peter 3:21

P U
Peter teaches that it is not the removal of dirt from the body that
saves us. In other words, it is neither the act of baptism nor the water
of baptism. Rather, it is the resurrection of Jesus Christ that saves
us. Once again we see the Scriptures teaching that we are saved by
what Jesus did (His death and resurrection), not by what we do (water
baptism). Peter goes on to say that baptism is an appeal to God for
a good conscience.

32 THE PURPLE BOOK

Each of the Bible’s pictures of baptism shows the old life being put
away and a new life emerging. In baptism we publicly display what
Jesus did through His death and resurrection. We also show that we
have identified with this. By obeying His command to be baptized,
we identify with the power of the cross and resurrection to deliver us
completely from the power and authority of sin.

“‘And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized and

wash away your sins, calling on his name.’”
ACTS 22:16

Y
Application & Reflection

U D
What did you learn from this lesson? How will you apply it to your life?

T S

S E

O R O
F RP
P U

REPENTANCE AND BAPTISM 33

 DY
T U S
S S E
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F RP
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