Active Learning Bible Studies
Lent:
Jesus, Sacrificed
These weekly active learning studies aim for growth in leaders and learners alike. Each onscreen study has a link beneath it to a printable version, leaving these flexible for in-person groups, remote classes, or people studying solo.
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"I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips." —Isaiah
"I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.' And you forgave the guilt of my sin." —David
Lent 1
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Lent is a 40-day season emphasizing the great weight of sin—and our greater Savior. Church customs, such as ashes, fasting, or giving up something during Lent, can help us focus as we in Scripture follow Christ to the cross. But it is only Jesus who gives this season meaning—and only his sacrifice that atones.
Do we bear those fruits of repentance once we recognize our own sin? Discuss why we do/don't do so.
Our Lord cares about small sins, too; they reveal the thoughts of the heart. Consider the white lie that Ananias and Sapphira told. What might fruits of repentance from them have looked like?
God calls all to repent: the wicked, who reject him—and his children of faith, for we still sin daily. Repentance is a change of heart, a turning to God. Read the context of each passage below: whom is God addressing?
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"Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!"
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"The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins."
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"Repent and believe the good news!"
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"Remember... what you have received... hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief."
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"Be earnest and repent."
This Lent's exercises are studies in repentance.
Read Hosea 14. Think how you can encourage yourself and others to live repentantly. What might be effective around believers? Around unbelievers?
Trying to cover sin ourselves instead of turning to our Savior for cover involves lying—to others, ourselves, and/or the LORD.
Imagine yourself speaking with unclean lips (spreading gossip; misusing God's name; being nasty when angry; in pride, not owning your error; flattering others; etc.). How quickly can we think of excuses to "justify" these ordinary sins?
Which phrases in Psalm 32 describe this spiritual turning of repentance?
"Whoever comes to me I will never drive away," Jesus promises (Jn 6:37). Both the Old and New Testaments pledge that God forgives repentant sinners, no matter how _____ the sin.
God covers sin with ________: see Isaiah 61:10, Galatians 3:27, 1 Corinthians 1:30.
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Jeremiah the priest was one of God's last OT prophets, warning Judah to repent before God destroyed it for loving sin. We hear Jeremiah's grief in 15:10: "Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth, a man with whom the whole land strives and contends! ...Everyone curses me."
Lent 2
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Understanding the grief that came with Jeremiah's calls to believe and to prophesy, read this week's study in repentance: Jeremiah 15:15–21.
1. What was Jeremiah's sin(s) in verse 18?
2. How did God respond?
3. Why is it helpful that the Holy Spirit recorded this/these sin(s) and God's response in Scripture?
We who are called to faith are also called to testify of the Holy One who saves. Yet the Holy One doesn't save the way we often think would be best.
1. Why do we sometimes picture salvation as earthly happiness?
2. Why do we, like Jeremiah, at times doubt that God really is all he says he is?
3. We know Jeremiah repented. What evidence does Scripture show of his faith after this incident?
4. The Bible says that God's restoration of repentant sinners (Je 15:19–21) is certain. Find one such passage.
Find two instances when Jesus overcame the same temptation(s) faced by Jeremiah, you, and me.
1. What's a Bible verse assuring us that Jesus has given us his perfect obedience?
2. Consider the example Jesus set for us to follow: what did he do instead of falling prey to this temptation?
People often want a god who thinks their way: "Tell us pleasant things... Stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!" (Is 30:9–11)
Isaiah was sent 100+ years before Jeremiah to confront people with God's message of repentance. Read Isaiah 30:8–18.
1. What is the LORD's response here to rejection?
2. What makes one wall weak (Is 30:13) but the other strong (Je 15:20)?
Read again Jeremiah 15:15–21, pausing to pray while reading.
Read again the victory Jesus won over those temptations through his perfect life, pausing to pray while reading.
Share this victory with others also going through these struggles.
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"Forgive us our debts... "
―Matthew 6:12
Lent 3
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Jesus preached repentance. At a dinner, in Luke 7:36–50 he taught both the contrite and the arrogant with a single parable.
1. Our love for God, his forgiveness... which of these two causes the other? The key is the parable (vv 41–43).
2. What do we learn about ourselves from Simon?
From the woman?
3. Which of Jesus' words here are spoken only to repentant sinners?
Jesus directs us toward awareness of our inmost thoughts by helping us realize that our actions hold a mirror up to our hearts.
We are all wretchedly prone to slowly cooling in love for our Savior. Outline a short active learning study based on Revelation 2:4–5. What does Scripture say will grow our love for him?
Repentance is a spiritual turning of heart to a right relationship with the Father. Through faith, we have Jesus' perfect love of God as our own! His pure love was not choked by "the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things" as ours so often is. Share an example of Jesus' love for the Father bearing fruit.
"Do you see a person wise in their own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for them." (Pr 26:12)
Jesus: "For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."
Prominent churchgoers: "What? Are we blind too?"
Jesus: "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains." (Jn 9:39–41)
"Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD." (La 3:40)
Let's make our lives a living study of love for the Lord who forgave us. Reflect on what your actions reveal: are there areas where your love for God is weak? Repent, trust in his forgiveness of this, too... and walk in the new life we have in Christ.
"I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to your statutes." (Ps 119:59)