The Bible is packed with the truth that one MUST repent of sin to receive Jesus Christ as Savior, hence being born again, or born of the Spirit. It is not possible otherwise.
The Bible is so filled with patterns that speak truth, in order for that truth to transcend time, language and culture; making it impossible for false doctrine to prevail. Patterns make it impossible to twist a word or its meaning. The pattern is there and can’t be removed…the brilliance of God!
I was in conversation with someone some time ago, who disagreed with me as I was stating this truth. She was adhering to the teaching that says we do not need to repent to be saved.
In response to this disagreement, as He supernaturally does, in His supernatural way, He dropped into my head this pattern that only He taught me and I have never read anywhere:
In the same way John the Baptist came as the personification of repentance, preparing the way for Jesus to enter the scene, so does repentance of the heart prepare the heart for Jesus to enter it. He cannot enter unless repentance has prepared the way.
I think people believe this because they have not repented and therefore may just have been converted in mind about salvation. If they had repented, they would know the elation of it and would long for others to know it. The reason they haven’t repented is because they are rebellious and want to hop in to the Kingdom another way and not through the gate of repentance.
True repentance is very joyful. I remember a day when seeing, in my soul, the crucifixion of Jesus, falling down onto my face and weeping with a deep well of agony over what He was handing to me…His broken, bloody, body which would give me life. I have never felt anything apart from that, that matches that, but can go back there every time I ponder His sacrifice. It was really something that can’t rightly be put into words. There was zero guilt or sadness, only pure agony of some surreal kind. I think maybe it was a glimpse of His glory and I couldn’t breathe. I never uttered a “sinner’s prayer” though I know some do and that’s great. I was flooded with thankfulness and I think I felt a birth. It must’ve been life for the first time entering my soul and it was rapturous; the death of death, through His death for my sin, and the life of His shed blood, all at the same time, and that’s the key, all at the same time. And this is what repentance is…it is not a series of scripted words that follows a prescribed method. It is a place in the heart that agrees with God over my lost nature and longs for forgiveness, redemption.
To tell someone that repentance is not necessary for salvation robs them of this. How can one push away repentance when it is so joyful. What a thief the devil is. Repentance is the most exquisite thing a human can know and multitudes are turning away from it because they have rebellious souls. Oh how I pray this message today is read and heard and considered. Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.
God bless you today!