Forgiveness for All who Repent

 I have read many tracts and gospel presentations. I have seen many renditions of what is called "the sinner's prayer." I have been amazed over the years to see how many of them leave out an essential element of the gospel. The Bible makes it clear that repentance must be a a part of anyone being saved from their sins by trusting Jesus as Lord and Savior. Many people leave this out.

Jesus made this very plain to His disciples before He ascended back to heaven. (Luke 24:47) He reminded them that it was written that the message of this gospel would be proclaimed in the authority of His name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem: "There is forgiveness for all who repent." Let's not leave out repentance.

Jesus just doesn't want us to have our sins forgiven, and then for us to go on sinning like before. He died that we might be saved from our sins, so that we do not practice sin as much either, because we realize the damage sin does to us and others around us. Therefore, He requires us to repent of our sins by turning away from doing things our way forever.

Repent means to turn and go the other way. It means to have a change of mind and heart that leads to a change in our actions. When we repent of our sins, we tell the Lord we do not want to sin any more, but we want to do His will in every way from that point on. We will not be perfect, but even when we fall into sins, we will confess them and repent, so we can be cleansed and not do it again. 

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Tomorrow, I intend to read John 1-3.