For many years as an Evangelist I preached that you must Repent of your Sins to be Saved in which time I lived a miserable life because I was never able to repent or completely turn away from all of my sins. Every time I turned around the sin in my life that I thought I repented of was starring me in the face and constantly condemning me. Because I believed that there was still Sin in me due to my transgressions that I did every day, I was giving the devil ammunition to shoot me with and giving him access into my life. I lived in condemnation even though I believed in and preached Repentance of Sin to be righteouss with God. How wrong I was!
Now let me first say that I hate sin and am completely AGAINST living in sin! ...
Now, in 2005 the Lord began to change my heart about Repentance and sin. It was through listening to Him more than ever in my devotional time and later through the teachings of people like Andrew Wommack and Joseph Prince that my eyes were opened to the true meaning of the GRACE of Jesus Christ... and the true meaning of what the bible was talking about when Jesus and His disciples said to Repent and you will be saved... REPENT OF TRYING TO GET INTO HEAVEN BY KEEPING THE LAW AND BY DOING GOOD WORKS... NOT FROM SIN. The word "Repent" by itself has NOTHING to do with Sin... It is the Greek word METANOIA which simply means to "Change Your Mind", nothing more. But Change Your Mind about what? About trying to obtain righteousness with God by keeping the Law and making burnt offerings.
For 1,500 years before Jesus, the Jews were accustomed to keeping the Law of Moses and doing Good Deeds to appear righteous before God. When Jesus came on the scene, His sacrifice was about to change the way that all of us would acheive Righteousness with God. No longer by Works, but by HIS GRACE. That's why He went around telling every one to REPENT (Change your Mind about how you came to God now). Remember, because the Jews were under the Law for 1,500 years they had absolutely little to No Concept of Grace; so before Jesus could introduce His Grace to them, He first had to get them to change their minds (Repent) about how to receive salvation. In Galatians Paul says that "If righteousness comes by the Law, then Christ died in vain." Repentance from Sin is a Work on OUR part... Living by Works makes God's Grace Nul and Void in our lives. It's the same as putting New Wine into Old Wineskins... You can't mix them or you'll loose them both! If you try to mix God's Grace with your own Good Works, like trying to repent of your own sins to obtain salvation, then you'll forfeit God's Grace. The Gospel of Jesus Christ that Paul preached is the Gospel of Grace, which is the TRUE Gospel (Good News). The traditions of man have always tried to find a way to be in right standing with God through vain offerings, good works and religious traditions... Keep in mind that Jesus said, "Through your traditions you make the Gospel of No Effect".
According to Hebrews 6:1 the FIRST thing we need to do to come to Jesus is to "Repent of our Dead Works", then have "Faith towards God (Jesus)". Repenting of your sins is NEVER mentioned once. Why? because Jesus forgave us before we were even born yet. Our righteousness was obtained 2,000 years ago... our job is simply to believe it, confess it and walk in it without doubting it. "If you do not doubt, but believe that you have received it, then you will have it". (Mark 11:24) Keep in mind also that unless you believe on, and Receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can NOT revive the Forgiveness that He paid for with His own blood.
In Luke 9:23-24 Jesus talked about denying ourselves and picking up our own cross to follow Him; and about how attempting to save our own lives will cause us to lose it.... When the bible talks about denying yourself and your flesh, it's saying that we need to deny that our flesh has the power to save us by doing good works or by keeping the Law... The way we do this is to simply REST in the FINISHED WORK of JESUS CHRIST.... The futile attempts to save your life by works of the flesh will only cause you to lose your life.... But rather we will save our lives by denying the works of the flesh, which the bible calls Dead Works, and simply turning to Jesus for our salvation and righteousness by trusting in HIM and His Finished Work at the Cross; in other words... RESTING IN JESUS.... Now that's True Repentance!
Now I know that many of you are now ready to throw stones at me or call me a heretic... but before you do I suggest that you read Paul's letter to the Galatians and go pray on it. If you're not preaching what the Apostle Paul preached, then you're NOT preaching the True Gospel.
God bless!
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