True Repentance Is Required

In American Christianity, many of us have been taught the watered-down, sugar coated version of the gospel... by which I imagine God is not pleased about. We often hear that in order to be saved all we have to do is “accept Jesus Christ into your heart and you will be saved” but is this what the Bible says? What did Jesus say about salvation? The first thing we must do is repent. John The Baptist was a forerunner of Jesus. He lived in the wilderness preaching exclusively about repentance and told the people about the coming Messiah. His destiny was to preach repentance and baptize people in water for the remissions of sins. John the Baptist baptized in water but Jesus baptized in water and spirit (John 3:5-6). Jesus teaches about repentance many times throughout the gospel. (Matthew 4:17, Mark 1:15, Luke 5:31-32, Luke 24:46-48, Acts 2:38) Repent in this context meaning to change your mind, change from your ways, a transformation change of your heart from your own ways/deeds to seek righteousness and the kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33). Jesus Christ is the King. Repentance requires true brokenness for your sins. It’s an honest, regretful acknowledgement and confession of your sins, asking God to forgive your sins with the intent NOT to repeat the same sins over and over again.

God is merciful and full of grace, and We have a loving savior in Jesus Christ who forgives us for our sins if we confess (1 John 1:9). Repentance is required for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 3:19) and salvation is of The Lord (Psalm 3:8) obtain through belief in our heart and faith in Christ Jesus alone. It is God’s desire for all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth. (1 Timothy 2:3-4). Jesus said “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:32) In 2 Corinthians 7:10, the scripture says "For godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death." Salvation is a free gift to us from God and God alone. You can’t earn it, you can’t work for it, but it is by faith alone and belief in our heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9). God’s grace is what covers us and by His mercy we are not consumed in His wrath. Grace is a gift from God through faith (Ephesians 2:8) Grace is also the power to OVERCOME sin, not a license to live any type of way we want . Jesus makes it clear if you love me, keep my commandments (John 14:15).

Our Obedience to God tries the motives of our heart; we don’t obey God because we are forced to, we obey Him because we truly love Him. We love him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). You may ask to yourself; "what exactly are God’s commandments?" but Jesus tells us plainly what God’s commandments are. There are 613 laws in the Old Testament that God gave to the children of Israel to keep and be holy. Thankfully, Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament law (Matthew 5:17), leaving us only with two commandments to keep. The Pharisees tested Jesus about His knowledge of the law and they asked him “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Our love for God first and foremost with every fiber of the human body, soul and spirit is first and foremost and love for all mankind is second to it!