Walking in Faith and Repentance

Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom

of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom

of God is at hand. Repent, and believe the gospel.” (Mark 1:14-15)

We examined in last month’s blog how spiritually dead sinners are made spiritually alive by the Holy Spirit, and this act of God is called regeneration. When a person is regenerated (born again), they respond to God’s call in their life and are converted to Christ by faith and

repentance.

If you’re a true believer in Christ, at some time in your life God opened your heart to hear and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, you were born again in the twinkling of an eye and God enabled you to respond to His call and you were converted by saving faith in Christ and

repentance from your sin.

You may have been a child attending Sunday school, a college student meeting with a friend who shared the gospel with you, an older adult attending church and heard the pastor preach a sermon on the need for salvation, or alone in your room reading the Bible and God spoke to you from the truth of the gospel in His Word. Although our salvation stories and experiences may not be the same, we are all converted to Christ the same way. Every Christian receives the gift of salvation and converted by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ and repentance from sin.

In the Bible, the word conversion means “turn” or “turning,” and describes when a person turns from their sinful life to Christ. The “turning” from sin is called repentance, and the “turning” to Christ is called faith. Although regeneration is a gracious act of God and we have no part in it, conversion is a conscious act on the believer’s part when we believe the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are convicted of our sin, we repent from our sinful ways and turn to follow Christ by faith. We see this biblical term when Jesus told his disciples that they were to be humble as little children and be converted.

Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will

by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:3).

Peter also used the term converted when he was preaching to the crowd in Jerusalem.

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of

refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. (Acts 3:19)

You will notice, the “turning” of conversion is twofold. A believer turns to Christ by faith and

turns from sin by repentance. Faith and repentance are like two sides of the same coin. They go hand in hand. In true conversion, you cannot have one without the other, and the Bible puts them together as one act. Faith and repentance go together, and they happen at the same time.

Then, when a person is converted by saving faith in Christ, he or she begins walking through life by faith and repentance. As a Christian, do we continue to live the rest of our lives by faith and repentance? The answer is, “Yes.” Although conversion, salvation by faith and repentance, only happens once in our lives, we continue to repent from our sins and grow in faith throughout our lives. When we become Christians, we don’t become perfect. We continue to have sin in our lives. Although, as we begin growing in Christ and obeying His Word, we will sin less and less, we will continue to battle our sinful flesh for the rest of our lives (Gal. 5:16-18).

Walking with the Lord, God’s sanctification in our lives, is a victorious life of faith and

repentance. The more we humble ourselves before the Lord, confessing our sin to Him

throughout the day, God by His grace molds us into the godly servants He has called us to be in Christ. It is a victorious life because we have been set free from the law of sin and death, and God enables us through faith in Christ and obedience to His Word to no longer walk controlled by our sinful flesh but according to the Holy Spirit who dwells within us (Rom. 8:1-2). Praise God that as a believer you are walking with the Lord by faith and repentance!

Next month we will see what it means for Christians to walk in righteousness. Until then,

blessings to you in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!