Repentance is a gift. It is simply the purposeful, active turning back towards righteousness, which restores the operative powers of the law of grace to be effective and bear fruit in your life.
While we know Christ died for our sins and has freed us from the bondage of guilt and condemnation, the enemy of our soul, the devil, loves to take words people say and turn them against us to cause us to feel condemned. No matter what anyone can say, you have been FULLY DISCHARGED from the debt to sin and FULLY ACQUITTED from the guilt of the effects of sin. Christ has granted you GRACE.
RELEVANCE
Reality is the warrant against you listing your punishment has been destroyed! There is NO BASIS of condemnation if the requirements of punishment have been wiped away! You’ve been granted GRACE. God merely requires repentance—turning back to His way of righteousness—and receiving the gift of Christ’s substituted punishment that He has already suffered in your place.
“When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:11-14).
REFLECT AND RELATE
How have you in your heart and mind turned back to God’s way of righteousness?
Do you understand how your trespasses have been forgiven, and there is no basis for condemnation?
REFERENCES
Galatians 5:1-2