REPENTANCE IS THE KEY
Have your wondered why you have answered several altar calls and yet you have not gotten the genuine salvation? Do you wonder why you have confessed your sins over and over and you find yourself keep reverting back into the same old life? Do you wonder many people confess Jesus as Savior and still continue in their old sinful habit? It is simply because no repentance; Confession without repentance is empty. You find yourself relapsing in to your sin because you only confess those sins but you didn’t repent. Genuine Salvation is not all about confessing and claiming, but firstly repentance and then confession is made.
Repentance is the key to genuine salvation and new life in Jesus, but modern preachers today ignore this. They manifest the indecent haste process of confession and claim which is unbiblical. That is the reason you see counterfeit born again Christians today whose confession do not square with their ways of lives. Because there is an omission of repentance. The first message delivered in the New Testament by John the Baptist is on repentance. In Matthew 3:3, John started his ministry in wilderness of Judea saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is of hand; Jesus Christ began His ministry with the message of repentance in Matthew 4:17, “From that time Jesus began to preach and say,” Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The First sermon of the Apostles centered on repentance, in Acts 2:38, “Then Peter said to them, Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ” And Apostle Paul said in Acts 17:30, “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now command all men everywhere to repent.
So why do many preachers ignore this noble command of God?
Many pastors and preaches tell you to just confess and claim, saying some words after them and, hey pesto, you are saved! That is end time error, and you see big preachers falling into this erroneous line. They are oversimplifying the gospel, cheap but fake gospel of salvation is the gospel that omits repentance and jump into confession. They want to make salvation simple and sweet, without bothering or scaring people about forsaking their sins. But there is no essence of confessing sin if no readiness to forsake them.
Jesus didn’t begin His preaching with confessing; when the people asked the Apostle what to do to be saved, Peter didn’t say, confess and repeat these words after me” but he said, “Repent” There is need to first repent before repeating words of confession or prayer of salvation. Repentance is the first step to genuine salvation and new life in Jesus. To repent is for you to realize your sins as sins, to be sorrowful for your sins and ready to forsake those sins. Then you move forward to confess them. If you just make a casual confession without a sincere deep sorrow for your sins and readiness to forsake them, you are not going to arrive at a genuine result of salvation. If you just confess your sin without readiness to forsake them, then you are going to have a sorry case. You must be sorry for your sins and ready to forsake them, without these your confession is superficial. The Bible says, “He who covers his sins will not prosper,
But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.” Proverbs 28:13.
So at this point, the right question is, “since you have been confessing those sins, have you truly repented? “ Since you have been claiming Jesus as your Lord, Lord, have you abandoned your old sinful life and started a new life in Jesus? Since you have been speaking in tongues, working in church, casting out demons and doing many wonders, are you abiding in the word of God and pleasing Him till date? You can check your claim right now and take the due process into genuine salvation before you are doomed at the gate of Heaven.
Jesus says in Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord’. Shall enter the Kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” The action word there, “does” which is present tense, it is not a past tense. If you have done the will of God in past and you are not doing it now is as the same as those that never done it. “Does” is personal and present, we must personally be continuing doing the will of God until we get to heaven. it is continuous doing.
Many will say to Jesus on the day of judgment, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, done many wonders in your name?” These many people might have started well doing the will of God at the Beginning and derailed into sin and worldly indulgence, but because those gifts didn’t cease, because they kept speaking in tongues , doing wonders and the words of knowledge, since the anointing and gifts of wisdom God poured them continue, they feel relaxed that everything is fine, until they were dozed with the four words from Jesus, “ I never knew you” Because you are still going to Church and working for God, because you still dress like born again, because you still speak in tongues and receive blessing from God; because God delivers you and protects you, because you are doing many signs and wonders in Jesus name, that is not an evidence that you are still in Him , but are you still doing His will till date?
Your passport to heaven is your repentance and confession, and your visa is you abiding in the will and word of Jesus through new life till the end.
“The Jesus said to those who believed Him, “if you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.” John 8:31
PRAYER: Please, take a time to reflect and pray on the Bible teaching before you proceed to the next activity.
RTEM: rtemoutreach.org