The Constant Church of God presents clear answers to your questions, directly from the Bible!

To understand what repentance is, it’s important to know what sin is.

And God does not leave it up to us to figure out what sin is.

In the Bible, God plainly and directly states that sin is the transgression or the breaking of the law.

But Satan has deceived the whole world into believing that the Ten Commandments — the law that defines sin — has been done away.

And so, man believes that HE is now the final authority on what is right and what is wrong.

Not God.

And this is nothing new.

This attitude or condition has existed ever since Adam and Eve succumbed to Satan’s deception and took of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The Bible states in a very direct and straightforward manner what sin is. 

And the wages or the penalty of sin is DEATH. So now, all of mankind is under the death penalty.

And so, to avoid the death sentence for breaking God’s law, repentance is absolutely required.

What is repentance?

The vast majority of professing Christians today have mistakenly assumed that repentance simply means “accepting Christ” or “giving one’s heart to the Lord.”

That repentance is nothing more than acknowledging mistakes, and that changing behavior is unnecessary.

Is that what the Bible says repentance means?

The apostle Peter preached this powerful sermon to the Jews, exhorting them to "Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out . . . ."

Acknowledging wrongdoing is not enough.

REAL and GENUINE repentance REQUIRES a turning away from wrongdoing — what God says is wrong — and a turning toward righteousness.

And what is righteousness?

Turn to Psalm 119 and verse 172.

172 My tongue shall speak of Your word,

For all Your commandments are righteousness.

Far from being done away, God’s Ten Commandments teach us what right and wrong is.

According to God.

Repentance involves changing. A change in your way of life. A change in the direction your life is going and beginning to go in God’s way instead!

Repentance also involves changing the way you think.

Instead of being SELF-CENTERED, your life begins to be GOD-CENTERED.

No longer do you ask, “What do I want to do?” You begin asking, “What does God want me to do?”

Instead of wondering, “What will people think?” You are more concerned with what God thinks.

In other words, to change from your way to God’s way; to align your lifestyle more and more with God’s lifestyle; to think more and more like He does.

You must be willing to give up EVERYTHING and totally submit, unconditionally surrender yourself to God.

HE is now your Boss. Your Master and your Lord.

God is the One you strive to obey and please in everything you do, think and say.

Please open your Bible and turn to Ephesians chapter 2 and begin with verse 1.

1 And you he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins

2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.

3 Among these we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of body and mind, and so we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

This was who we were because we were blinded by Satan the prince of the power of the air.

But then this happened.

Jesus Christ came and gave up His very life for you and paid the penalty of your sins.

And if you admit you've been going in the wrong direction.

That you believed wrong!

Lived wrong!

Done wrong!

Admit you yourself are wrong.

Truly, sincerely and wholeheartedly .

That is what genuine repentance is.

Then God promises to forgive you.

Totally wipe away and blot out all of your sins.

And if you endure, hold fast all the way to the end, God promises to give you His gift of eternal life.

That is what genuine repentance does.

This is Ross Abasolo with the Constant Church of God.

Join us again next time to hear more about what the Bible actually says!