The thief on the cross
The thief on the cross didn’t have time to repent:
And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”
Luke 23:42-43
Right here, we see that repentance is not necessary for salvation. Jesus was enough. Just Jesus. Let’s not twist things any more, church – please! What you’re preaching isn’t salvation. You’re preaching works. You’re saying Jesus + something we need to do. No, it’s just Jesus. What Jesus did was enough. Adding something to it takes away from him – it’s a slap in his face.
I believe we come to God as we are and HE takes care of cleaning us up. It’s not on us. What Jesus did was enough… end of story. It’s biblical. It’s right here in Luke.
The sacrifice Jesus did was enough.
In the Old Testament, with sacrifices, were those sacrifices enough? They were. The act of preparing and bringing a sacrifice is equivalent of us turning to God in New Testament times. To me, THAT is repentance – a turning. You don’t get yourself clean before coming to God. He takes you as you are – you just turn to him.
As I type this, I hear this in a song: “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.”
It is by God’s grace and only God’s grace that we’re saved – not by works, not by anything we could possibly do (because our “righteousness” is like filthy rags). Salvation is a free gift from God. Nobody can brag about anything they’ve done because they can’t do anything compared to what Jesus did.
Simple.