Repentance
Righteous people do not need repentance. People who are sinners need repentance. That is why Jesus came calling sinners to repentance.(Luke 5:32) It is important for all of us to understand repentance, because many people have a false concept of what it means.
A righteous person does not need repentance because they have come to see their sin problem, and they have changed their minds about sin, so that they have turned from sin once and for all to follow the way of the Lord, instead of their own way or the ways of this world. Repentance refers to that one time change of mind that results in a change of behavior. John, the Baptist, called people to that kind of repentance, and so did Jesus.
As sinners, we must come to the point where we admit our sins and our sinful condition. We must choose to die to self, so that we do not continue to please ourselves and others. We have to decide that God's way is the only right way to live, and start living that way. When this change of mind and behavior is coupled with surrendering to Jesus as Lord, salvation comes as a free gift from God. It is not works salvation at all. Repentance is not a work, nor is faith. However, it is a necessary change in how we view life.
Once we become Christians, we still need to repent of specific sins and to confess them to the Lord, but that comes in the context of already having decided that sin is wrong and turning away from it forever. We don't want to sin after that. We fall into sin, because of the temptations of Satan through the flesh and the world. In fact, we realize that sin is a barrier to our relationship with Christ, so we want to get rid of it, once the Spirit convicts us of it, which He will do every time.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Luke 6-8.
A righteous person does not need repentance because they have come to see their sin problem, and they have changed their minds about sin, so that they have turned from sin once and for all to follow the way of the Lord, instead of their own way or the ways of this world. Repentance refers to that one time change of mind that results in a change of behavior. John, the Baptist, called people to that kind of repentance, and so did Jesus.
As sinners, we must come to the point where we admit our sins and our sinful condition. We must choose to die to self, so that we do not continue to please ourselves and others. We have to decide that God's way is the only right way to live, and start living that way. When this change of mind and behavior is coupled with surrendering to Jesus as Lord, salvation comes as a free gift from God. It is not works salvation at all. Repentance is not a work, nor is faith. However, it is a necessary change in how we view life.
Once we become Christians, we still need to repent of specific sins and to confess them to the Lord, but that comes in the context of already having decided that sin is wrong and turning away from it forever. We don't want to sin after that. We fall into sin, because of the temptations of Satan through the flesh and the world. In fact, we realize that sin is a barrier to our relationship with Christ, so we want to get rid of it, once the Spirit convicts us of it, which He will do every time.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Luke 6-8.