In Luke 6:47-49 Jesus revealed the key to unshakable faith: Listen to Him and do what He says.
Do you know Jesus’ first command?
Matthew 4:17
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Even though this is Jesus’ first command there are many Christians who don’t fully understand repentance.
In Luke 3, John the Baptist’s message of repentance is so foundational.
John the Baptist
The very beginning of the Gospel is repentance for the forgiveness of sins. This is first spoken by John the Baptist.
Our sins can be forgiven. But God will only forgive after repentance. This is the message of John.
“Sin” means “missing the target” or any time you’ve done something wrong.
Repentance is not a single action, but a new way of living.
Repentance says, “I’m not going to do it my way anymore, and I will do what I can to make it right.”
Prepare the Way of the Lord
In Luke 3, John the Baptist says that the Lord is coming, and you need to prepare His way. Any mountain lowered, valley filled, and crooked paths made straight.
This difficult terrain can represent any bad things or good things we’ve done.
If there’s anything between you and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus, you need to remove it. If you read Luke 3, John goes on to give examples of true repentance.
Stop! Let’s take a moment:
If you aren’t sure what you
need to repent of…
why don’t you ask God?
“Repent” is present tense and means a true follower continues a repentant life from this moment onward.
This doesn’t mean you need to live a life of “I’m sorry” and worry over every single sinful thought.
That’s not repentance.
Repentance is Restoring, not Perfecting
Repentance does not mean perfection.
The act of repentance is about restoring relationships with God and others.
Read Luke 3 and pay attention to what John tells the crowds to do. It’s all about loving others and loving God with actions.
Repentance is not a feeling.
It’s important that you understand, even if we repent, we are still sinful in nature through and through.
Repentance doesn’t cleanse our sins or sinful nature (more on this in our next section).
