"Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." (Acts 20:21)
In Luke 13:3 and 5 Jesus twice gives the solemn warning, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." The Greek word that here is translated repent means "to have another mind." Repentance is therefore a complete turn around in your way of thinking. It is illustrated in the story that Jesus told of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15, who demanded his inheritance of his father, then went into a far country and wasted it all. When famine came in that land he got himself a job feeding pigs, but he was so hungry he wished he might even eat the pig's feed. Then, Jesus said, "he came to himself." That was repentance. He saw what a dirty, ungrateful, selfish fool he had been, and he decided to go cast himself on the mercy of his father. We are then told of the wonderful welcome he received, how the father rejoiced and restored him as his son and heir.
Repentance comes from a realization of sin. But so many people have no idea what sin is or what is really the greatest sin. They think of sin merely as the evil things that men do to one another.
The basis of all sin is pride, selfishness and conceit. It was pride that caused the prodigal son to take off with his inheritance to a far country. It was conceit that caused him to think he could get a job and work through the famine. But at last he got down off his high horse and came to his senses. He repented and decided to plead for mercy.
Friend, if you want to be saved you must come to your senses, get down off your high horse and repent of your "dead works" as the Bible calls them, and call out to God for mercy while trusting in Jesus as your Savior.
Trusting in "dead works" is the biggest hindrance to Salvation. Everyone thinks they are going to get somewhere by their own good works, they are going to climb the ladder to heaven rung by rung, they'll join the church, they'll be baptized and be alright.
But the Bible says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God: Not of works lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9) You need to realize that all your own good works are of no use. "All our righteousnesses are like filthy rags" in God's sight, says the Bible. (Isaiah 64:6) "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) "There is none righteous, no not one." (Romans 3:10).
Trusting in your own good works just increases your sin of pride, selfishness and conceit, therefore salvation is NOT OF WORKS LEST ANY MAN SHOULD BOAST. I pray that you might be able to see that you are totally helpless, down in the depths of sin, unable to do a single thing to save yourself, then that you might behold the love of God as He revealed it in His precious Son, Jesus, suffering and dying on the cross of Calvary.
WHY DID HE DIE? The prophet Isaiah tells us: "All we like sheep have gone astray, We have turned everyone to his own way: and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Jesus died because our sins were laid on Him. He took your place and mine, suffering for our sins in order that we might not have to suffer for them in hell.
Saint Paul says in II Corinthians 5:20-21, "We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God, for He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."
It is purely a case of substitution. Men are all sinners and must surely die for their sins. "The wages of sin is death." (Romans 6:23) God sent His Son a perfect and obedient Son, who knew no sin at all, to die for sinfull mankind on a cruel cross in full view of the world and of heaven's angels. Now all who repent of their sins and believe in Jesus, God's Son, are made to have the righteousness of God in Him. In repentance I am made to realize that my old cloak of righteousness, that I once felt was beautiful and fine, is in reality only a mess of filthy rags that condemn me as an outcast and worthy of hell. Therefore I gladly trade those old rags for the robes of pure righteousness of the Son of God, more pure then the new fallen snow, and in that perfect covering I, the sinner, am recognized as a child of God, an heir of eternal life and all of heaven's glories.
When Jesus died upon the cross, two other men were crucified with Him, one on His right hand and one on His left. These men were both malefactors, that is, evildoers, men who had done such wickedness as to be worthy of punishment by death. In the gospel of Saint Luke, chapter 23, verses 39-43 we read how that one of these evildoers "railed" on Jesus, ridiculing Him. The other, however, rebuked him, then turned to Jesus and said "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." Jesus answered, "Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise."
These two dying men are symbols of all mankind. All are condemned sinners, just as helpless to save themselves as though they were nailed hand and foot to a cross. One of these men was a lost sinner. The other was a saved sinner. Today, my friend, which are you?
Saint Paul, after many years of preaching the gospel, wrote to Timothy (I Timothy 1:15): "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief (the biggest of all)." That is the way every saved person,everyone who has experienced the grace of Christ in his heart, feels. I am a sinner saved only by grace, that's all. Jesus is my glory! Jesus is my song! I'll love Him forever, Him who loved me so much as to come into this sin cursed world to die for me. Praise God, I know He arose from the grave and is alive forevermore, and someday soon He's coming for me and for all those who have trusted in Him. If you, my friend, trust your all to Jesus Christ, you, too, can have this hope and assurance. May God help you to do so. ~~John R. Blalock
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