Salvation Without Repentance

Repentance is not very popular these days. Preachers more often avoid using this word in their preaching of the gospel because it makes people uncomfortable, yet when you read the preaching of John the Baptist, Jesus Christ and the apostles you will notice that it was central theme of their messages.

“ Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand…” keeps resonating over and over again.

What happened then? Why is repentance being removed from the preaching and teaching of the gospel?

To answer these questions we have to first examine what repentance is and what it does.

I don’t know how about you but I wasn’t born a Christian. Baptism and church membership did not make a Christian either.

There came a time in my life when I got to the end of myself, nothing had meaning anymore, I felt empty and depressed.

Soon I realized that I am a slave of my habits which do not glorify God, whom I had a deep desire to please. No religious deeds or rituals could set me free from them.

I understood that I am a sinner in need of redemption. Even though it wasn’t pleasant at all, now I know it was the work of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said that He would convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment and I was part of the world at that time, going my own way.

Then I started to pray that God would set me free and show me the way I should go.

I was ready for salvation and when I met true believers in Jesus who told me how He died personally for me ,so that my sins could be forgiven and rose from the dead, so I could live forever for His glory, I knew I would have to say goodbye to my old ways and allow Him to change me.

That was repentance, a conscious decision on my part to leave previous way of life and follow Jesus. Then came empowerment from God to actually do that. I became a new creation, a totally new person with new goal in life; to glorify my Lord for saving me.

Some people today teach that it is impossible for a sinner to repent. Why would Jesus command us to preach repentance if it was impossible?

They teach this because they do not understand what repentance is ; because they never experienced it themselves, however we are not to follow the teaching of man but the Word of God.

The truth is that there is no salvation without repentance , the Bible is very clear on that. We must make sure that when we preach the gospel to those who are not believers yet they understand the requirement of making decision to leave behind their old ways.

There are so many people who had a desire once to live for Jesus yet they did not know that they would have to allow God to change them, they were instructed to repeat simple prayer , then told that now they were children of God but they were never born again of the Holy Spirit.

They were expected to live holy life but they didn’t have power to live such a life.

There are many such people in churches today, still living as slaves of sin thinking that they belong to Jesus, deceived on the way to destruction.

There is one way to freedom for them, one that will make holy living not only possible but joyful. It is repentance.

May God give each one this saving Grace.