Although repentance is a condition for salvation, it is not the means of salvation. Nothing that we could ever hope to do in the way of good works, would have been able to cancel the debt of sin. Only the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus could cancel that debt. Therefore we should not think of salvation as being earned by good works, but should view it rather as the gift of God: For by grace are ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8,9)
To convince the Ephesians that they were not saved by their own efforts Paul reminds them of their past life: in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. (Ephesians 2:2,3) Salvation then is not what we earn. So why does God save us? It is because: God . . . is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us. (Ephesians 2:4)
Good works do not precede salvation, which they should if salvation was earned, but rather, good works follow salvation, because God transforms us, giving us the power to perform them by the Holy Spirit: For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10) Not only should gratitude motivate us, but also hope, as it is written: That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:7) But those who are not very grateful, as evidenced by their works, will not receive much reward. But this is another topic.
Again it is written: that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:7) That this leads to, rather than results from, good works is made clear in the next verse, where Paul writes: these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. Notice, however, that good works do not automatically follow, but rather we must be careful to maintain them. God gives the power, but we must have the will. I believe the good works spoken of here, refer to making sacrifices for God; for example praising God, giving to the Lord, serving Him with our time, helping the poor. With such sacrifices God is well pleased.
I have heard it preached that burnt offerings represent sacrifices of gratitude which we might make such as those just discussed. Perhaps to teach the Jews the importance of sacrifices of gratitude, they were told to sometimes offer a burnt offering after their sin offering: he shall bring for his trespass . . . two turtle-doves . . . unto the Lord; one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering. (Leviticus 5:7)
It is important to understand that whilst repentance is necessary for sin to be forgiven, it is not necessary to make sacrifices to be forgiven, although perhaps I should also say that to go through life without ever making any sacrifices, either for God or our neighbour, might in itself be a sin. The Roman Catholic doctrine that a penance must be done for forgiveness after a sin is committed is really the doctrine of salvation by works, and is a distortion of the truth, that good works of sacrifice should be done in gratitude.
Jesus told the Pharisees: go and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Matthew 9:13) No one is so righteous that they do not need the mercy of God; our sacrifices cannot save us. Also no one is so perfect that they need no repentance when they hear the word of God. The Pharisees, who refused to repent, thought that the sacrifices they made, especially when people were watching, would save them. But they did not understand that repentance and mercy came first, and sacrifices came afterwards.
God does not want sacrifices until sin has been cleansed, according to Jesus' words: first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. (Matthew 5:24) The psalmist David knew this principle when he prayed: For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. (Psalm 51:16,17) A broken and a contrite heart is one that sorrows for sin, and therefore repents of it. But after David was forgiven, he was planning to praise the Lord, speak about God, and offer sacrifices of burnt offerings. He said: Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness . . . Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering. (Psalm 51:14,19)
While making certain sacrifices after forgiveness may help to fill our hearts with spiritual desires and take away the desire to sin, they cannot be used to take the place of repentance from sins such as adultery, theft or murder.
Repenting, so that we may have eternal life should also not be thought of as paying a great price, because a life of righteousness is a happier life than a life of sin. Also the rewards of heaven are so infinitely greater than anything we might give up on earth. So even on this basis we can consider we have a free salvation because Jesus paid the true cost.
And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty. (Exodus 34:5-7) That God proclaims His justice immediately following the proclamation of His eternal name shows how close justice is to the heart of God. But who are those blessed, whose sins are forgiven and who are those guilty who will not be cleared? In this section I will show that these guilty include all those who think they have a license to sin, and use this licence to ignore God's commandments.
A vast weight of evidence from the Scriptures both from the Old Testament and the New, shows that God regards as ‘guilty’, those whose normal practise after confessing serious sin is to go and do the same sin again next week. The argument: ‘no one is perfect and everyone does sin, so it makes no difference how much or how badly we sin’, does not fool God. The whole concept of confessing our sins is that sin is a departure from the normal life of goodness which we try to live. Although no Christian on earth will ever be completely perfect in word, thought and deed, an irrefutable fact about which the New Testament is clear, is that those whose normal mode of life is evil will not go to heaven. Paul tells us not to be deceived about this in 1 Corinthians 6:9: Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (NIV) God has said it, not me, that he will not clear these except they cease from sin. These are guilty, even if they confess the name of Christ.
We can think of sin a little bit like sickness. We don't put our faith in the hope that we will never get sick. Rather we hope that if we do get sick we won't get too sick to be able to be healed. To deliberately pursue sin because we have the false notion of infinite forgiveness, would be as foolish as to play with venomous snakes because we think God has promised to heal us.
If one takes the letter of 1 John in its entirety, one will learn the doctrine of sin and sin's forgiveness for a Christian. 1 John 1:8,9 says: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Yet we read what is seemingly the opposite in 1 John 3:6-9: Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Whosoever is been born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. For there not to be a contradiction between 1 John 1:8,9 which says we should acknowledge our sins and 1 John 3:6-9 which says that a child of God has no sins, there can be one explanation: sin is the exception rather than the rule for Christians. If the Christians to whom John wrote were committing sin, as it seems they were according to John's word: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, then they were to confess that sin, put it away from their lives and then live thereafter according to the word in 1 John 3:9: whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. Those who refused this word; that is those for whom sin was and would be the norm, were not Christians, but to the contrary are classified by John as being of the devil.
There is absolutely no reason to believe that when John uses the word ‘sin’ he does not mean sins such as theft, but only the sin of rebelling against God. This is an heretical invention used by some to justify sin. John uses the commonly used Greek words for sin, which translated more fully mean ‘to miss the mark’. Sins are the way by which man rebels against God. If God in the bible says that a certain thing should not be done, then if we then sin by doing it, we are rebelling against the commandment of God, and therefore against God Himself.
The Scriptures teach that a person cannot continue to live a wicked life, and say that because Christ is his sacrifice he will still be justified
Jesus taught that there is no sin that cannot be forgiven except the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit: Verily, I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit. (Mark 3:28-30) A person is only forgiven when they respond to the striving of the Holy Spirit. But one who not only refuses to yield to the Holy Spirit, but does even worse in calling that Holy Spirit evil, can never be forgiven.
If a person falls into some bad sin, the Holy Ghost will strive with them to turn them from that sin. Although all sins other than the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit may be forgiven, a person can only repent when they respond to God's strivings, whether through their conscience, or through sickness or through the bible. If they ignore God and continue sinning He may stop striving with them. For this reason, Paul writes: We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) (2 Corinthians 6:1-2) This should be interpreted to mean that if repentance is put off now a person might never repent in the future. We should not interpret these words of Paul to mean that if repentance has been put off in the past a person cannot repent now, because Jesus promised that all sins (including delay) may be forgiven, with the exception of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
A Christian should not be complacent about any sin, but should strive for perfection according to Christ's words: Be thee therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:48) A Christian, in effect promises this obedience daily according to the words in the Lord's prayer: Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10) But a Christian will never be perfect; for example sins of omission. But God should be continually perfecting us. Paul writes: Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6) The good work was begun in us when we were saved, when we turned from major sins. The completion of this work is the reduction in lesser sins. Finally, in the day of Jesus Christ we will receive a perfected body.
Although I have spoken strongly to debunk the myth that Christians have a license to sin, we should still understand that for those with the right attitude, God is very merciful.
The merciful nature of God the Father is shown in the example of Job. He was a good man: that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God and eschewed evil. (Job 1:1) Yet although Job was blameless in the major things, he was not perfect regarding pride, as indicated by the way he criticised God subtly after calamity came upon him. For example, Job spoke in such a way as to say: My righteousness is more than God's. (Job 35:2) But to perfect Job, God brought upon him many trials, sicknesses and false accusations. It was only through all this affliction that Job learned of God, and of His great goodness and power. Then Job said: I uttered that I understood not . . . I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. (Job 42:3-6)
After Job had learned this lesson, God removed all the calamities which befell him and: the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. (Job 42:12) The example of God's mercy and Job’s endurance is relevant to us today: Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. (James 5:11) Job's patience was that through all his tribulation he never gave up on God, nor did he curse God. If we are truly following God, God will bring affliction upon us to perfect us, and the final goodness of God to Job, should give us hope and faith to continue through this.
God the Father put Jesus the Son through a learning process, so that He could understand man's problems and therefore have compassion: though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. (Hebrews 5:8) No other man could possibly have endured what Jesus did without giving up. Jesus had to experience all temptation, uncertainty, and suffering in order to be able to help us in all respects, and in order that He might have compassion on us. Jesus became a weak man so that He could understand us: For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. (Hebrews 2:16,17)
Jesus' human nature enables Him, not only to help us find mercy, but also to help us to overcome temptation: For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted. (Hebrews 2:18) For this same reason, the writer of Hebrews goes on to say, that we should not give up when we fail, but should ask not only for God's forgiveness but also for His help: For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:15-16) The reason why we need extra grace to help after we fail is that normally God's Spirit only fills us when we obey. When we disobey, we lose God's help and come under the influence of the devil. But when we are forgiven, God's help is restored as an act of grace, which means unmerited favour. The Holy Spirit then helps us to do good and overcome sin.
The Holy Spirit's help, although greater in New Testament times, was not only limited to those in New Testament times. The faithful few in the Old Testament were also helped. In David's prayer of repentance in Psalm 51, he not only asks for mercy but also for help. Firstly he says: Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. (Psalm 51:1) But after this, he asks for God's help: Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. (Psalm 51: 10-12) David is asking that the help, which had been taken away from him because of his sin, be restored. When he repented and confessed his sin, this would have happened. Although those in Old Testament times were not born again, the Spirit of God in heaven could still influence them and help them.
We shouldn't only pray for God's help against temptation when we fall. Jesus taught His disciples to pray daily: lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. (Matthew 6:13) It may not be good in some circumstances to pray in too much detail about all the sins that we might face, lest by thinking about them too much, we ensnare ourselves. For example, if covetousness was one's problem, spending ten minutes of prayer listing to God all of one's neighbour's possessions which one wanted help in not coveting, would not be wise. It would be far better to simply pray in one sentence, ‘Help me not to covet’. If we pray along these lines, it does not mean that we will never be tempted, but it does mean that we will not be tempted above our level of resistance. God promises: There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:13) Of course we should also do our part in avoiding temptation.
Asking God to lead us in a path that reduces temptation is part of the way by which we choose good rather than evil. It is a little bit like saying let God's will be done. When we choose God's will in prayer, God strengthens us as He did for Jesus: And he (Jesus) was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done, And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly. (Luke 22:41-44)
Jesus prayed and He overcame the devil. But His disciples needed much exhortation to continue in prayer: when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow, and said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. (Luke 22:45,46) Because that night Satan and the forces of evil would be more active than at any other day in history, there was a need for more prayer than usual, that they would be strengthened to overcome. We must realise that we are in a battle with an enemy who wants us to deny Christ. When the devil is very active, then we must follow the example of Jesus and pray. Perhaps it was because Jesus' disciples did not pray, that they could not stand against the devil, but all forsook the Lord.
In addition to our own prayers for help, Jesus also is praying for us from heaven. This is our reason for confidence, that we will make it through life to heaven: But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:24,25)