"If Jesus forgives us of our sins once and for all, then why should I keep asking for forgiveness?"
"What is the importance of repenting when I'm already forgiven?"
As a Christian, you may have asked one or both of these questions to yourself or someone else before. In today's episode, I am going to be going over the importance of repenting and why we should continue to ask for forgiveness. I will be pairing this with prayer and scripture.
First I want to say a quick prayer. LORD, I pray that you lift up every single person reading this right now. Please open up our eyes, our ears, our hearts, and our minds to you. Please reveal the fruit of the spirit in our hearts, LORD, and help us to portray that to others. And LORD whatever it is that you want each person to get from this episode, I pray that they get that and that they implement it in their daily lives. I love you with every ounce of my being. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Now let's get into some scripture:
5 "Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; 6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. 7 Then I said, 'Here I am--it is written about me in the scroll--I have come to do your will, oh God,' "
8 First he said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them" (although the law required them to be made). 9 Then he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. 13 Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, 14 because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
16 "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds."
17 Then he adds:
"Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more."
18 And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin."
-Hebrews 10:5-18
So whenever Jesus Christ died on the cross, he made the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. Whenever we are saved, whenever we ask Jesus Christ to come into our hearts and forgive us of our sins, and we confess with our mouths and we believe in our hearts that Jesus Christ is Lord and He's the only way into heaven, then we are saved and all of our sins are forgiven. That is once and for all. We don't have to do burnt offerings and sacrifices like they did in the Old Testament. We have all of our sins forgiven.
So since our sins are forgiven once we're saved and it's once and for all, then what is the purpose of continuing to repent? What is the purpose of asking for forgiveness for the sins that we commit on a regular basis? Jesus desires to have a relationship with us. He loves us unconditionally and He's full of mercy and grace. Just like any other relationship that you have, maybe it's a relationship with your spouse or boyfriend, girlfriend, your mother or father, or a family member or friend, any type of relationship, whenever you do something wrong, whenever you do something to hurt that person's feelings or if you do something you know that they're not gonna like or something they ask you not to do, what do you do afterward? Once you realize that you were in the wrong, you apologize, right? Let's say your father tells you not to do something and then you do it anyway, even though you know that he loves you very much and he's gonna forgive you anyway, you still apologize and tell him you're sorry once you realize you shouldn't have done that and you feel bad for it. That's the same thing with Jesus. With having a relationship with Jesus Christ and having that relationship with God, whenever you do things you know you're not supposed to do you want to apologize for that because you feel bad for the things that you've done and because you desire to have that relationship with Christ and you have love and respect for Jesus Christ.
Whenever we have a relationship with Jesus Christ, we desire to be more like Jesus and to have a heart like him. We are going to want to do things to please the Lord, but we have a sinful nature so we're going to sin. Whenever we do sin, it's still important for us with our relationship with Christ to ask for forgiveness for those sins. Now, just like I went over last week, the only unforgivable sin is unbelief. There are sins every day that we commit that we probably don't even realize because we just have a sinful nature. Just because we miss asking for forgiveness for one specific sin doesn't mean we're unforgiven, but it is a very crucial part of our relationship with Christ to ask for repentance whenever we do realize that we've done things wrong and that we're sorry for them and we don't plan to do those again. It doesn't mean we're not going to sin ever again, but we don't plan on it. It's important and it's crucial for us to just let the Lord know that we are sorry.
Here are some Bible verses about asking for forgiveness:
"Forgive us our debts, as we have also forgiven our debtors." -Matthew 6:12
This is from the prayer that Jesus Christ tells us to pray. So right there in that prayer, we're asking for forgiveness. So is it important to ask for forgiveness? Well, it's right here in the prayer that Jesus Christ tells us to pray. This is also in Luke chapter eleven verse four. It says, "Forgive us our sins for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.' "
"and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." -Luke 24:47
"From that time on Jesus began to preach, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.' -Matthew 4:17
"Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart." -Acts 8:22
The verses above are all verses showing the importance of repenting and asking for forgiveness.
Now let's get into some Bible verses about having a relationship with Christ and the promise of the Holy Spirit:
15 "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
18 "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin." -John 15:15-22
7 "But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; 10 in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned." -John 16:7-11
So we as Jesus' disciples, when we're saved by Him we are His friends, He loves us so much, and we have the Holy Spirit within us. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and guilt. I always thought growing up that I had a guilty conscience and now that I'm older I realize it's really the Holy Spirit convicting me of the things that I'm doing wrong. So whenever we do feel that conviction from the Holy Spirit, it's important for us to ask for forgiveness and let Jesus know that we are sorry, that we love him, and that we desire to have that relationship with him and to be more like him. We have to get into our Bible, we have to pray, and we have to constantly seek the LORD first.
So that is the importance of asking for forgiveness. Even though Christ's sacrifice was once and for all, it's still important for us to just say we're sorry once we realize that we've done something wrong and try our hardest to not do it again and every day to seek and have a heart like Jesus. So that concludes this episode. I hope it helped you guys to know the importance of repenting.