For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts. (Isaiah 57:15 , 2 Corinthians 7:10)

So do we need to repent or is repentance works based and not grace? God’s word says that if we believe on Jesus and confess Him then we are saved, yet there are other scriptures that tell us one needs to also turn our back on sin following our confession of Christ. The word tells us that God is holy and man is sinful. Sin makes a separation between man and God (Isaiah 59:1,2). Ephesians 2:1 tells us that trespasses and sin produces death, not life. We need to take the whole counsel of God when it comes to interpreting scripture. We can not base our life on just a single scripture that many times is taken out of context. 1 John 1:6 clears up the issue of salvation when it says,”if we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”There are rules to adhere by that are spiritual and physical. If we break them, there are consequences. Jesus did everything for us on the cross, but if we live according to the world, then we will reap what we sow.

God is looking for those He can work through in the times we are living. When we look back in the Bible to the characters that God used who sinned such as king David who murdered and committed adultery, we also see that he repented, he didn’t continue in his sin. Saul had an experience with Jesus and became Paul, after that he did not continue to murder, but he repented. So many bible characters and stories are given to us in God’s word as an example. So to answer the question, is repentance necessary? For king David it was and for Paul it was, so what makes it any different for anyone else? 

Repentance is an act of love, not of works. If we truly know Jesus we will not live in habitual sin. So yes repentance is necessary for salvation. There is a new gospel being preached, an easier way to eternity. This gospel is not the true gospel but an impostor dressed up in beautiful garments but it leads to deception. A person who truly knows Jesus is not perfect but rather being perfected by the indwelling Spirit of the living God that empowers them not to live in sin.  Everyone sins including Christians however as far as the word of God says, a believer and follower of Jesus has a life change so that the things that were previously indulged in are no longer indulged in. There is a difference between falling, struggling and getting back up and staying down. A change happens when we truly know Jesus, that is the power of the Gospel, a changed life. Not a perfect life but a changed life!

Pastor Michael Cannatello

TMMC-The Ministry of Michael Cannatello