Go, and Tell!

Nowhere in the Bible are we told to “Invite Jesus into your heart …”  We ARE told to “repent” and we ARE told to “believe!”  The Gospel comes with a “call” to repent AND believe, but it is more of a command than it is an invitation, and it is disobedience to that command that causes judgment to fall upon those who are already living in a state of condemnation.  Jesus said, “Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:18).  So what does it mean to “repent?”  What does it mean to “believe?”  How do these two things, these two actions, these two responses to the Gospel of Jesus Christ fit together?  Jesus called people to repent and He also called people to believe in Him.  It is in understanding that “repentance” and “faith” are inseparably linked together that you begin to see the spiritual transformation that is the mark of every true believer.  You cannot have one without the other!!  The “easy believism” that is being peddled today in place of the one true Gospel that calls people to repent and believe leaves people imagining they are saved when in reality they are being deceived.  The “salvation” that is the result of the work of the Holy Spirit through the hearing of the Gospel and the truth of God’s Word leads to new life in Jesus Christ!!  Such is the call of the one and only true Gospel of Jesus Christ!