Repentance that Matters
"...Christ Jesus... from whom we have received GRACE ...." (Romans 1:1-7)
"...do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance" (Romans 2:4)
The repentance of religion comes from the fear of the doctrines of men who tell us to repent or be damned. However, that kind of repentance does not save anyone from the penalty for sin, which is death - and we all die.
"For all have sinned...the wages of sin is death..." (Romans 3:23; 6:23)
The repentance of religion comes from the fear of the doctrines of men who tell us to repent or be damned. However, that kind of repentance does not save anyone from the penalty for sin, which is death - and we all die.
"For all have sinned...the wages of sin is death..." (Romans 3:23; 6:23)
The "repentance" referred to in Romans above comes AFTER we realize that God is far better to us than we deserve and is not the angry god worshipped by many Religions. The real God, the one of the Bible, will save all sinners out of death by his grace. He sent His Son to die "for the ungodly" 2000 years ago, and will send Jesus again to free us from sin's penalty - death.
"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God...upon this rock I will build my ecclesia, and the gates of hades (death) shall not prevail against it...You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us..." (Matthew 16:16-18; Romans 5:6-8)
"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God...upon this rock I will build my ecclesia, and the gates of hades (death) shall not prevail against it...You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us..." (Matthew 16:16-18; Romans 5:6-8)
We can depend on what God, through Jesus, has DONE and will DO for sinners. "At just the right time" God will once again send Jesus for all sinners and Jesus will "raise them up at the last day".
"And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day...Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners...For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive..." (John 6:39; 1 Timothy 1:5; 1 Corinthians 15:22)
The result of true repentance is to humbly thank him for the salvation we did not earn, and to humbly wait for our certain death to be "swallowed up victory" at the return of Jesus!
"Behold I show you a mystery...the dead shall be raised...for the corruptible must put on incorruption, and the mortal must put on immortality...then shall be brought to pass the saying, death has been swallowed up in victory." (1 Corinthians 15:51-54)
Comfort one another with these words.
"Behold I show you a mystery...the dead shall be raised...for the corruptible must put on incorruption, and the mortal must put on immortality...then shall be brought to pass the saying, death has been swallowed up in victory." (1 Corinthians 15:51-54)
Comfort one another with these words.