The Good News of Jesus Christ

Repentance and Faith

One of the most precious truths of the Bible is that God offers salvation as a free gift. We cannot earn it by our own efforts or good works:

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. [62]

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. [63]

An early missionary whom Jesus appointed taught what we must do to receive this gift of salvation:

... I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. [64]

God commands all people to repent of their sins and believe in Jesus Christ in order to be saved. [65] Repentance and faith (or trust) in Jesus are like two sides of a coin — they are inseparable from one other.

What does it mean for you to repent of your sins? For you to repent of your sins means that you must, from your heart, turn away from all that you know is displeasing to God and turn to Him to obey Him. [66] A repentant person is sorry for his sins and hates them enough to turn from them. [67] He desires to love and obey God. Repentance is a disposition of the heart and is not a so-called good work by which we try to please God.

For you to believe on Jesus for salvation means that you must, from your heart, trust in His death and resurrection for your salvation and submit to Him as your Lord. You must call upon Jesus alone and trust Him to forgive you:

...if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation....for "whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved." [68]

Like repentance, faith is a disposition of the heart and not a so-called good work by which we earn God's favor.

While you cannot earn salvation by your effort or good works, you must not passively hope that somehow God will take you to heaven. You must turn from your sins and trust in Jesus alone to rescue you from them!

You might be thinking, "How can I turn from my sins? I'll never be able to do it!" Remember that repentance is a disposition of the heart that says, "I hate my sins and turn from them as best I know — Lord Jesus, I call upon you to save and help and forgive me! You alone are the Savior who died for me. I want to be with You forever!"

If you call upon Him right now, He will save you and change your life forever. The real question is, will you call on Him?

[Jesus speaking] Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. [69]

If you believe on Jesus from a sincere heart, then you will become a true Christian — you have God's Word on it!

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Footnotes

[62] Romans 6:23

[63] Ephesians 2:8,9

[64] Acts 20:20-21

[65] Acts 17:30-31 - Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.

Acts 16:30-31 - and after he brought them out, he said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they [Paul the apostle and Silas] said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household.

[66] Ezekiel 18:30b Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you.

Acts 26:20 - [Paul the apostle speaking] but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.

[67] 2 Corinthians 7:9-11 - I [Paul the apostle] now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, in order that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter.

[68] Romans 10:9-10, 13

[69] John 5:24

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