“God knows my heart” many people say, such as James, a young man I talked to today. “He knows that I am sincerely sorry for my sins.” But is it enough to just be sorry for the wrong we have done? If not, isn’t it enough to go the next step and actually repent of those misdeeds we do that create a barrier in our relationship with God? Still not enough? What if we could repent perfectly, and never sin again? Would that make us right in God’s sight? If we were able to achieve perfection, surely God would be obligated to reward us with heaven then wouldn’t He?
Acts 3 says “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be
wiped out…”. Repentance is obviously important, but can repentance save
us? The problem with trusting in our repentance is we are only doing
what we ought to have done in the first place. We should be sorry for
our sins, and we should turn from them, but it does nothing to remove
our guilt for the sins we have already done. In fact, if we perfectly
repented and never sinned again we would be just as guilty after 30
years as we are today.
Repentance is the way back to God, but God’s perfect justice still requires an answer for the sins we’ve already done. What is the answer? The full passage above reads “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus.” We must not simply trust that God knows our heart. He does, and we can’t hide our guilt.
We need something more than just repentance. We need something to remove our guilt, to satisfy God’s right requirement for justice, someone to take our punishment for us, in our place. We need a savior, the Messiah, even Jesus.
Repentance is the way back to God, but God’s perfect justice still requires an answer for the sins we’ve already done. What is the answer? The full passage above reads “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus.” We must not simply trust that God knows our heart. He does, and we can’t hide our guilt.
We need something more than just repentance. We need something to remove our guilt, to satisfy God’s right requirement for justice, someone to take our punishment for us, in our place. We need a savior, the Messiah, even Jesus.
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