Title: Repentance and Heaven
“From that time on, Jesus began to preach, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Matthew 4:17
We are saved by the grace of God, not by works.
If you repent and humbly obey, you will receive blessings in spirit, soul, and body.
The history of sin, which began with the rebellion of the first man, Adam, has dominated the lives of all mankind for a long time. No human effort can eradicate that power. Because Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, he was without sin. The blood of Jesus Christ is the blood to atone for our sins. Jesus became the ‘New Adam’, the new ancestor of mankind, and came into the world as a sinless man without the inheritance of sin. Finally, he took on the sins of the world and became the sacrifice for our sins on the cross of Calvary. Therefore, no other effort to be saved is to no avail except through the blood of Jesus.
1. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
The only way to believe in Jesus is to repent. We can be saved only when we repent and believe in Jesus as our Savior. When Jesus began his public life at the age of 30, after being baptized by John the Baptist and being filled with the Holy Spirit in the Jordan River, the first words he proclaimed were “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Repentance has the meaning of ‘changing one’s thinking’. Only by changing and changing our humanistic and humanistic thoughts, we can be saved when we go out by relying only on Jesus instead of relying on humans like a mist that will disappear today and a reed that shakes. Because God has given us Jesus Christ as a gift of grace, we just have to accept it.
We did not receive salvation by our works, but we received salvation as a gift through the grace of God. Therefore, the condition of salvation is nothing but faith. No matter how hard we try to keep the law, if we measure it with the ruler of the law, sin will be revealed to anyone. Therefore, there is no other way to be saved than by faith. Also, since God has already put faith in our hearts from the moment we are born, anyone can believe if we decide to believe.
Now that we have repented and have been saved, we are a new person. Now that you have become a new person, you must put on new clothes suitable for the new person. It is to put off the clothes of the world, to receive new fragrant clothing in Christ, and to walk before God. If you believe in Jesus Christ and confess with your lips, you will be saved immediately. But being sanctified and holy takes time. It doesn't happen immediately. If you fall, repent, and repeat the cycle of being moved by the Holy Spirit, groaning and being renewed, you will discover that you are changing little by little. Therefore, in order to attain holiness, we need a law that points out sin as sin.
2. Receive the Holy Spirit through Repentance and Be Transformed
In Exodus 20, the Ten Commandments are recorded, “You shall have no other gods except me. Do not bow down to idols and do not serve them. Do not take the name of God in vain. The first four commandments, “Remember the Sabbath day, keep it holy” are the commandments concerning the relationship between God and man. This is what everyone who does not believe in Jesus commits.
Fifth is God's command to "honor your father and mother". Therefore, we must honor our parents. “Then you may prosper in the world, and you may live a long life,” the Bible records. The sixth is the command to “Thou shalt not kill”. Murder is not just killing someone with a knife and shooting with a gun. A person can kill even with words. The Bible says that hating a person with your heart is also murder, so you should not kill even with words. Then, in order, “You shall not commit adultery. do not steal Do not bear false witness against your neighbor. Do not covet your neighbor's house." These Ten Commandments and the words are written in the Bible, so all our faults are revealed through them. Therefore, in order for us who have already been saved to become holy, we must always look into the Ten Commandments and memorize them. If we do not obey the Ten Commandments, we must repent and confess and try to overcome them. In the meantime, changes will come to our lives.
3. Live a humble life with repentance
The condition for salvation is to repent of unbelief and to believe and confess Jesus as the Savior. Then you will receive salvation as a gift of grace. All the conditions for salvation were fulfilled by Jesus on the cross. Through the blood of Jesus, we can be saved only if we repent and believe. However, a life of holiness and holiness that becomes like Jesus requires continuous introspection and repentance. Repentance must be done at least 490 times. You must repent according to the Word of God, commandments, and the teachings of the Holy Spirit to receive change.
If we repent of the sins that prevent fellowship with God and come to God humbly, our prayers will be answered, our diseases will be healed, and we will receive blessings. Therefore, the beginning of faith is repentance, continuous self-reflection for faith growth is repentance, and the perfection of faith is faith through repentance. Therefore, repentance begins with believing in Jesus and continues until death. So do not be ashamed to repent. Repentance is a tool that God has given us as an instrument for us to fully believe in Him. Those who do not believe have no repentance. There is only judgment and condemnation. The worldly person does not even feel the need to repent. Because you are self-righteous. However, we must always repent before God, and even with our neighbors, we must repent, forgive, reconcile, and give thanks to each other.