It Is Okay For A Christian To Repent Of Sins

2nd Timothy 2:19, “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”

I heard Pastor Steven Anderson the other day saying that believers should repent of their sins, and I agree. Every child of God should change our mind about our sinful ways (2nd Timothy 2:19). This is a part of sanctification and growth in grace (1st Peter 2:2; John 17:17; 2nd Peter 3:18).

There is nothing wrong to repent of one's sinning, just so long as we don't add it as a requirement to receive God's free gift of eternal life, which is obtained by faith alone (Romans 4:4-7).

Bible repentance for salvation is simply owning up to the truth (2nd Timothy 2:25) that we are a GUILTY SINNER (Romans 3:19-20), and Jesus is the only SAVIOR (John 20:31).

I love this awesome quote from one of my favorite free grace Gospel preachers, Pastor Harry A. Ironside (1876-1951), who wrote:
“The Gospel is not a call to repentance, or to amendment of our ways, to make restitution for past sins, or to promise to do better in the future. These things are proper in their place, but they do not constitute the Gospel; for the Gospel is not good advice to be obeyed, it is good news to be believed. Do not make the mistake then of thinking that the Gospel is a call to duty or a call to reformation, a call to better your condition, to behave yourself in a more perfect way than you have been doing in the past …

Nor is the Gospel a demand that you give up the world, that you give up your sins, that you break off bad habits, and try to cultivate good ones. You may do all these things, and yet never believe the Gospel and consequently never be saved at all.”

SOURCE: Pastor Harry A. Ironside, from the tract: 'What Is The Gospel?'
By God's grace, I wrote this helpful article (backup article) which contains many helpful preacher quotes about true repentance.

Every saint of God should repent of our sins, which is proper and right. But we must never make the fatal eternal error of mixing and confusing service (Romans 12:1) with salvation (Galatians 3:26). That is, we must never combine discipleship with sonship. My favorite preacher's quote is from John Bunyan...
“If you do not put a difference between justification wrought by the man Christ without and sanctification wrought by the Spirit of Christ within, you are not able to divide the Word aright; but contrariwise, you corrupt the Word of God, and cast stumbling blocks before the people.” —John Bunyan (1628-1688)
John Bunyan was exposing Lordship Salvation, although that particular term hadn't been invented yet. We must never commit the unpardonable sin of mixing works with grace. Romans 4:4-5, “Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debtBut to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. I love this Scripture passage. Romans 4:4 plainly exposes the falsehood of Dr. Peter S. Ruckman (1921-2016) and his followers (e.g. William P. Grady, Bible Baptist Church in Pensacola and Robert Breaker) that people were saved by works under the Mosaic law. Clearly, that would have made salvation a matter of debt owed by God to the worker, and not of grace as the inspired Word of God teaches. You'll never be led astray dear friend if you'll SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES (John 5:39a).

God bless you dear reader and thank you for your continued interest in my website ministry for the precious Lord Jesus Christ. To God alone by all the praise, credit and glory.

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