True repentance is the first step on our way out of sin—putting us, by God’s grace, on the road to eternal life. But our human efforts are far from enough.

Without God’s help, we cannot accomplish this difficult task of coming to freely admit to Him with shame and regret that we have been totally wrong in our defiance of Him and that we seriously intend to change our ways.

The apostle Paul challenged Christians in Rome with this crucial question: “Do you despise the riches of His [God’s] goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4). Indeed, God must grant us repentance (see Acts 11:18; 2 Timothy 2:25).

Acts 2:38 is one of the most crucial passages in the Bible. The apostle Peter cut to the core of what God expects from us when he told his convicted listeners: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (NIV).

This passage critically shows that our repentance and God’s merciful forgiveness and empowerment are all necessary parts of the overall salvation process. And these all come through His grace.

Since repentance has to occur before forgiveness, let’s look at repentance first.

Repentance in action

The book of Acts covers about 30 years of early Church history. In one sense it is also a record of the repentance of God’s people during the first century.

Paul, like Peter, continually preached the importance of repentance. He testified “to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21).

He emphasized that promises to turn away from sin had to be reflected in obvious good works. He stated that men and women “should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds” (Acts 26:20, NIV).

Paul and Barnabas urged the people of Lystra to “turn from these worthless things to the living God” (Acts 14:15, NIV). Those who are truly being called by God normally feel a strong sense of urgency to move forward—taking the biblical steps our Creator requires.

Procrastination—putting off God’s clear command to repent and be baptized—gets us nowhere! We have to act on the truth God has revealed to us. Then He will bless us by revealing more truth and helping us to follow Him. This is further pouring out of His grace.

God views sin seriously

God does not view sin lightly! He is deadly serious about it—hating the transgression of His law in any form. When King David broke the Ten Commandments through adultery and murder, the Creator asked him through Nathan the prophet: “Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes?” (2 Samuel 12:9, NIV). The shaken king responded, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

But notice Nathan’s reply: “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die” (2 Samuel 12:13, NIV). David’s sincere, heartfelt repentance is detailed for us in Psalm 51. You should read this psalm to recognize the kind of heart and attitude God wants to see in us.

Our Creator hates what sin does to human beings—the harm it inevitably produces for anyone caught in its clutches. But God has mercifully provided us a way out of sin—at great cost to Himself. Once we really grasp the greatness of God—and really begin to see ourselves in comparison to our Creator like Job did—we are on our way to genuine, heartfelt repentance.

Notice what this ancient patriarch said in reply to God’s personal revelation to him: “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted . . . My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:2; Job 42:5-6, NIV).

God’s merciful and compassionate forgiveness

King David expressed God’s gracious nature in Psalm 103: “Praise the Lord, my soul . . . and forget not all his benefits [which are through grace]—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases . . . The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love . . . He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.

“For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:1-14, NIV).

Once you have truly repented of your sins, God’s forgiveness is total and complete. He applies the sacrificial blood of His Son Jesus Christ to you personally. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

In His grace and mercy God blots out our transgressions of His law through the sacrifice of Christ, “in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:14).

Christ’s atoning sacrifice can and will provide a way to clear our troubled consciences and rid us of guilt: “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God” (Hebrews 9:14, NIV).

Empowerment and instruction to eternal life

After repentance and water baptism, we receive God’s Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). This begins a completely changed life for the true Christian. Once this bridge has been crossed, our salvation is sure—provided we keep to the path of God’s law. As the psalmist wrote, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalms 119:105). Spiritual empowerment and instruction here are still further aspects of God’s grace, continuing on to everlasting life.

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him [the Father] who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he [or she] has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24, NIV 1984).

The apostle John repeated this encouraging truth in 1 John 5:11-12: “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

After His resurrection, Jesus, speaking of Himself in the third person, told the apostles that “repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” as a key component of the mission He gave His true followers (Luke 24:47, NIV)—to be accomplished through the promised “power from on high,” the Holy Spirit (verse 29).

Now we can see how genuine repentance, followed by God’s merciful and compassionate forgiveness through His grace, along with spiritual empowerment and teaching—all blessings of grace—converge to impart to us true conversion and put us firmly on the road to eternal life!