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16
Steps to Jesus
Many people do not understand repentance, so they fail to receive
the help Christ wants to give them. They think they cannot come to
Christ unless they first repent. They believe that repentance prepares
the way for the forgiveness of their sins.
It is true that a person must repent before he is forgiven, for only
when one is truly sorry for his sin will he feel the need of a Saviour.
But must the sinner wait until he has repented before he can come
to Jesus? Must the need for repentance keep the sinner away from
the Saviour?
The Bible does not teach that the sinner must repent before he
can accept Christ’s invitation, “Come to me, all of you who are tired
from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28
.
Christ’s grace, His power, leads a person to truly repent. Peter made
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this clear when he said of Jesus, “Him hath God exalted with his
right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to
Israel, and forgiveness of sins.”
Acts 5:31
, KJV. The Spirit of Christ
leads us to repent and be pardoned by God.
Every right desire comes from Christ. He is the only one who
can make us hate sin. Every time we feel a desire for truth and purity,
every time we see our own sinfulness, we can know that the Holy
Spirit is working on our hearts.
Jesus said, “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw
everyone to me.”
John 12:32
. Christ must be shown to the sinner as
the Saviour who died for the sins of the world; and as we see the
Son of God on the cross of Calvary we begin to understand God’s
plan to save us. Then the goodness of God leads us to repentance.
When Christ died for sinners, He showed a love too great for us to
understand. But as we see this love, it touches our hearts and affects
our minds, and we become sorry for our sin.
Sometimes sinners feel ashamed of their sinful ways and give
up some of their bad habits. They do this even though they do not
know that they are being drawn to Christ. But whenever they try to
change their ways because they have a sincere desire to do right, it
is Christ’s power that is moving them. His Spirit is influencing their
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minds and helping them live better lives.
As Christ draws sinners to look at His cross and see that their
sins caused Him to die, their consciences are troubled. Then they
see how terrible their sins are. They begin to understand something