Turning From Sins Is A Work

1st Corinthians 15:1-4, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”

Turning from your sins is not the Gospel. If salvation required you to clean up your life first, then it would be based on your works instead of Christ’s finished work. The Gospel is not, “Stop sinning.” The Gospel is that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Salvation is about what Jesus did to pay for your sins, not what you do to earn forgiveness. Salvation is not a reward for the righteous, it is a gift for the guilty.

Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith. Turning away from sinful ways would be a work. Faith puts all of the merit where it belongs, on the object of our faith, Jesus and His work. If to “repent” means to forsake our sinful ways TO BE SAVED, but Jesus already paid for our sins by dying on the cross, then what are we repenting from?

The true Gospel always points you to CHRIST; a false gospel always points to YOU.

If salvation is truly by grace, then you don't need to start or stop anything to be saved. Eternal life is a free gift from God (Romans 6:23). 

One is saved by God's grace through faith in the finished Work of His Son on the Cross as payment in full as our pardon for sin.

We are justified by faith alone, not by the works of the law (Galatians 2:16; Ephesians 2:8-9). Don’t put your trust in your ability to turn from sin. Put your trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ alone.