How "Not" To Be Forgiven Part 4: Repent Of Your Sins

Sadly, in my many years of pastoring churches I have found that I am increasingly hard pressed to find a gospel tract that actually gets the gospel right. One of the favorite gospel false additions that is so dear to the self righteous, Lordship salvation minions is the command to "repent of your sins" if you want to be forgiven.
Let's examine this false claim. First, a defintion...repent (found 23 times in the New Testament) is a translation from the Greek word "metanoeo". The word means in a literal sense "to think differently to reconsider" (Vines Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words). It is implied in the very act of believing in Jesus Christ as your Savior that you would have to think differently about some things. You would have to change your mind about your condition (I am a sinner), you would have to reconsider your previous opinion of Christ (He really is God, He really did die and raise from the dead to pay for my sins). No where does it say that you must turn away from your sins in order to be forgiven (that is a work!!). In fact, no where in the New Testament can you find the phrase "repent of sin" or "repent of your sins".
Another compelling argument against the false claim of repentance of sins for forgiveness is found in the gospel of John. Now John is a wonderful book. All seekers and new believers should read it. It is loaded with one syllable words and is very easy to understand. It tells us about Jesus Christ and the fact that He is God incarnate who came to rescue us from our sinful estate! In John 20:30-31 we are given the purpose of the book's writing, here it is...

John 20:30-31

King James Version (KJV)

 ³⁰And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:
 ³¹But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

There you have it, the purpose for the book of John is that the reader might read the story and after reading John's account he/she might come to faith in Christ! It is the only book in the Bible that expressly says the whole reason for it's existence is to get you to Believe in Christ. Now here is the kicker. No where in John do you find the words repent, repentance, repented, repentest, repenteth, repenting or repentings. Do you think that John just made a big mistake? Maybe God just overlooked that important detail? No!! The only way a person gains forgiveness from sin and eternal life is by BELIEVING on Christ. Don't miss heaven because of the boneheads that insist on adding instructions to God's simple plan!
I do believe there is a place in the Christian's life for ridding his life of sinful practices but that is part of sanctification (the Christian walk)and having good fellowship with God it is not required to initially become a forgiven child of God. Paul warned against adding requirements to the true gospel in the book of Galatians and we'll deal with that later.
Do you need to be forgiven and know that Heaven will be your destination? Trust Christ today!