How To Repent Of All Sins In Your Christian Life

Mark 7:20-23 (ESV) And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Repentance is a beautiful thing. Repentance is a breaking free from the ties and bonds of this world, and the sins that so easily corrupt us, and a process of being transformed into the likeness of Christ.

In the west, especially in the United States many Christians have been deceived by a dangerous doctrine called "eternal security." Essentially this view indicates that "once you're saved, you're always saved." This doctrine has led many people astray in their Christian faith. Many have assumed that given their salvation experience is legitimate, they don't need to worry about sin in their lives and repenting from it.

But the more I study the scriptures, the more concerned I am about sin in the life of a Christian. We don't take sin near seriously enough in western Christianity. And that's a big reason why the church looks a lot like the world. We don't recognize the need for true repentance. We're filled up on grace, but what we need is true repentance.

1 John 1:8-10 ESV "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."

Our God is a gracious God, and He forgives the sins of those who put their faith and allegiance in Jesus Christ. I used to believe that our sins, past, present, and future were all forgiven in the moment of salvation, in the moment of saving faith in Jesus Christ. I no longer believe that, because there isn't much basis for it in the scriptures.

I had considered a scripture in Hebrews a basis for this belief, that "Jesus died for sin, once for all time" (Hebrews 10:10). But I realize now that on a firmer basis of good exegesis, this scripture is much more likely referring to the fact that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross transcends time in it's accessibility, meaning the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross redeemed people in the past, like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and so on. And Jesus' sacrifice is also available infinitely forward to our present age, as a timeless option to receive forgiveness of sins.

But I now realize that if we are in active sin in our lives, those sins are not forgiven, unless we repent of them and turn away from them. That is why it's important for us to conclude each day in prayer, and make an inventory of our day, and confess and repent of any sins in our lives.

It's important to understand that there is a distinction between active sin and being tempted. To be tempted is not a sin, Jesus was tempted, but He did not yield to the temptations. So to be tempted is not a sin. But if we are tempted, and we give in and indulge in the sin, in thought or action, then we have sinned. But don't worry, God provides a way of escape for every sin that dares to beset us.

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."

Galatians 5:16 ESV But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

We're given a clue as to how to overcome sin in our lives: To overcome, we must walk in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit was given to us, by Jesus, as a deposit in our souls, to help lead us into all truth and purity.

We are already dead in Christ. We were buried with Him in His death on the cross. We are therefore dead to the sin He died to destroy, and we are now alive to Jesus. We are reborn, as alive to Jesus, and dead to sin. So we must fight to walk in that Spirit life.

But to live free of sin, I must emphasize is not a checklist of "to do" and "don't do." To live free of sin is to live so completely yielded to the Holy Spirit, so utterly subjected to Christ, so completely adherent to the will of the heavenly Father that sin is rendered powerless. Temptations will come, but our yielding to the Father will win the day over those temptations.