Repent And Be Freed And Forgiven Of Sins

Luke 3:2-6

2: Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.
3: And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;
4: As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
5: Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;
6: And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

Lesson:

Definitions:

Repentance –noun 1. deep sorrow, compunction, or contrition for a past sin, wrongdoing, or the like. 2. regret for any past action.

Remission –noun 1. the act of remitting. 2. pardon; forgiveness, as of sins or offenses.
 
Salvation –noun 1. the act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss, destruction, etc. 2. the state of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc. 3. a source, cause, or means of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc.


God sent his son that we could be delivered and set free from an eternal death. Jesus prepared the way for us to be forgiven, saved from destruction and be protected by the Father.
 
Do not just repent because someone tells you to do so, but do it because you want to. You have to truly want to be forgiven and want to have a relationship with Jesus. When you repent that means that God has forgiven you and you can forgive yourself and the sins of the past have been erased. They no longer exist.
 
Now rightfully dividing the word this does not mean that you can go and continue to commit those same sins over and over again and keep asking for forgiveness. Or knowingly do the same wrong things over and over and saying, "I can just ask to be forgiven after I do this wrong thing." What is your motive when you go to God and seek forgiveness? Is your heart in the right place or is there evil intent? Even if you do not know, God knows and you can fool yourself but what you cannot do is fool God.
 
When you repent you should want to be forgiven and not want to commit the same sin again. You should want to be freed from that thing that has held you down and kept you from hearing the voice of God. Sin is disobedience and when you sin you disobey God. It is just like disobeying you mother of father when they have told you not to do something and you do it anyway. Your parents get angry but they also will forgive you. God is the same way, we just have to ask Him for that forgiveness.
 
This is the beginning of life and a right standing relationship with God.