Repentance

To become a Christian doesn’t mean to go through a certain ceremony but it means to be like Christ, to have life like Christ, to have a vision like Christ and goals like Christ.

Repentance is a transformation of your thinking, formation of a new vision, a deep regret for committing a sin and complete restoration through Christ.

When Isaiah saw God he realized his depravity and he regretted all his sins.

 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty” (Isaiah6:5).

Just like Isaiah, person has to realize all his sins and regret doing them. Regret is not what makes you pure. God puts in our hearts that feeing of regret because he wants us to confess in our sins.  

"Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?" (Romans 2:4).

"Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:38,39).

When person confesses in his sins, a big joy and celebration happens in heaven. It is a joy of welcoming a new child of God to the heavenly family because that new person is not a Satan’s slave anymore.

"I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:7-10).

God does not like when the sinner die. He desires us to be alive and that’s why He gave us eternal life. When someone confesses in his sins God makes him a new creation in Jesus Christ.

 “Therefore, you Israelites, I will judge each of you according to your own ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!" (Ezekiel 18:30-32)

Faith

If you want to be born again you have to let Jesus Christ come to your heart.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

That’s why the faith in Jesus Christ ( not in confession or church) is necessary for salvation.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8,9).

You need faith if you want to be saved by grace. You need to believe in Jesus Christ and realize that the Son of God has died for you at the cross.

Repentance requires two steps

- to have faith in your heart;

- to accept Christ as your Savior.

"If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved" (Romans 10:9,10).

The person doesn’t have to reveal all his sins which he had committed before repentance. But he needs to proclaim Jesus as his God and accept Him as your Savior. This is enough to receive salvation and forgiveness.

Moreover, it is import to believe that the Holy Bible is a Word from God and you need to start living in the way it is written there.

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16,17).

Repentance means to trust your life to God and promise to serve Him.

For receiving forgiveness it is enough to say to God these words “ Our Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus. I thank you for Jesus Christ who has died for me and was crucified for my sins . God, i ask you to forgive me all my sins and that I didn’t know You. I believe that Jesus Christ is a Son of God. I believe that He was risen from dead to give me eternal life. I accept Him as my Savior. Father come into my heart and start living there. I thank you God that I am saved now! I am your child ! In the name of Jesus! Amen! 

Water baptism

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” 

(Mathew 28:19)

Water baptism is an essential part of our repentance.

It has meaning only to believers, that is to those who have received Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior.

Water baptism is a physical act that expresses spiritual truth, namely: to participation by faith in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The word “baptism” from the Greek means immersion. In John 3:23 says namely about the immersion:

“Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized”.

Water baptism is a publicly witnessed testimony of dedication yourself to Christ and refusal from sinful life. The person declares this way: “ It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. I live by faith in the Son of God”. In Galatians 2:20 it says:

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Water baptism is an agreement with God that person died to sin and now lives in Christ to walk in newness of life.

The Blood of Jesus

The Bible teaches in Hebrew 9:22 that without shedding of blood there is no remission. That’s why Jesus Himself shed His Blood for us to purify us so that we were able to serve the living God.

“Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:12-14).

One can not obtain salvation without faith in the effect of Jesus` Blood.

Jesus Christ is the Mediator of the New Testament, which claims our salvation and approved by the Blood of Jesus. It is the covenant based on the Blood of Christ.

"And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. Saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.” Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry" (Hebrews 9:15,20,21).

At the moment of our redemption Jesus entered into God’s holy place with His Blood to appear in the presence of God for us.

“For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another— He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation” (Hebrews  9:24-28).

The Blood of Jesus is that precious price that was paid for us, for our redemption.

”Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19).

Prototype of the effect of Jesus` Blood we find in the Old Testament, in the book of Leviticus. It says:

”For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul” (Leviticus 17:11).

 Jesus Christ has become a sinless Sacrifice. He died to redeem us from sin.

“He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13,14).

Thanks to the Blood of Jesus we are delivered from curse and now no condemnation to those who are in Jesus Christ.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit”.

(Romans 8:1) 

The Blood of Jesus has brought us together with God.

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ”.

(Ephesians 2:13)

"Thanks to His Blood we are justified and our conscience cleansed from dead works and from remembrances of our sins" (Hebrews 9:14)

We can experience the effect of the Blood of Jesus in daily protection of our life, because the Blood of Jesus is the price that was paid by God for our redemption.