Living by grace through faith: Repent and believe!

Repent: confess and forsake your sin; confess and turn away from your sin. Continue in your sins no more, or something worse will come upon you.

Believe: with your whole heart that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, and that no one can come to the Father except through him.

Proverbs 28:13 NKJV
[13] He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.

Proverbs 28:13 NLT
[13] People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.

Proverbs 28:13 MSG
[13] You can’t whitewash your sins and get by with it; you find mercy by admitting and leaving them.

Repent and believe!

Confession of sins is good and necessary, but repentance is when I purposely and intently turn away from my sin and continue in it no longer. I’m turning away by turning towards God. Repenting is just that, turning away from my sinful nature and towards God in holy surrender.

This is precisely what Jesus means when he says, “those who would come after me must deny themselves, take up their cross daily and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23)

Luke 9:23 NLT
[23] Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me.

https://bible.com/bible/116/luk.9.23.NLT

Psalms 32:3-5 NLT
[3] When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. [4] Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.   

Interlude

[5] Finally, I confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt. I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.
Interlude

https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.32.3-5.NLT

1 John 1:8-10 NLT
[8] If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. [9] But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. [10] If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.

https://bible.com/bible/116/1jn.1.8-10.NLT

Repenting includes confessing our sin, but repentance is a daily activity, an intentional decision in my heart and mind to turn away from my lusts and desires; the lust of my flesh, the lust of my eyes, and the pride of life.

Jesus was tempted in every way we, as mortal men are tempted, yet without sin, so that He would be qualified to lead us away from sin and temptation and to deliver us from evil. (As we so often pray in the Lord’s prayer)

When I repent, I’m recognizing my inability to escape my sinful nature by my own willpower and human wit. I’m admitting that I’m a sinner, guilty of sin, that I’m truly sorry for my sinful thoughts, words and actions. I’m admitting that I’m a sinner “saved by grace through faith, that it’s not of my own works, but a free gift from God. In this way I’m unable to boast in my own flesh or in my own efforts.(Ephesians 2:8&9).

As I continue on this road of repentance, Jesus is making me more and more like Him. Through the Holy Spirit, He’s renewing my mind daily, as surrender to Him. This is what it means to be holy and to seek His holiness.

1 Peter 1:14-16 NLT
[14] So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. [15] But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. [16] For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

https://bible.com/bible/116/1pe.1.14-16.NLT