Bible Verses About Repentance and Entering the Kingdom of God

2018-08-19

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Are you distressed because you often repent and confess your sins to God but still often sin? Do you want to truly repent before God? How should we truly repent so that we may have the chance to enter the heavenly kingdom when the Lord returns in the last days? Here we select Bible verses about repentance and relevant words of God to help brothers and sisters who sincerely wait for the Lord’s return find the way to escape sin and truly repent to enter the heavenly kingdom.

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Quick Navigation: 1. God’s Requirement of Man in the Age of Grace—Repentance; 2. Why Shall We Repent?; 3. Only by Truly Repenting and Being Cleansed Can We Enter the Kingdom of God

1. God’s Requirement of Man in the Age of Grace—Repentance

Repenting is the Lord Jesus’ requirement of man in the Age of Grace and is God’s way that man should follow.

Matthew 4:17

From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Luke 15:7

I say to you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

Luke 5:32

I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Luke 24:47

And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

2. Why Shall We Repent?

Those who truly repent to God can gain God’s mercy and forgiveness of sins; while those who do not have true repentance are the ones who shall be destroyed.

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Proverbs 28:13

He that covers his sins shall not prosper: but whoever confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy.

Acts 3:19

Repent you therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

Revelation 2:16

Repent; or else I will come to you quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

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John 8:34-35

34 Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Whoever commits sin is the servant of sin. 35 And the servant stays not in the house for ever: but the Son stays ever.

Matthew 18:3

And said, Truly I say to you, Except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

3. Only by Truly Repenting and Being Cleansed Can We Enter the Kingdom of God

Many believers in the Lord have such confusions: We often confess our sins and repent to the Lord in tears, but why do we still live in a cycle of sinning and confessing, unable to extricate ourselves? How exactly can we cast off the bonds of sin, stop sinning, achieve true repentance, and thus enter the kingdom of God? God’s word says, “A sinner such as you, who has just been redeemed, and has not been changed, or been perfected by God, can you be after God’s heart? For you, you who are still of your old self, it is true that you were saved by Jesus, and that you are not counted as a sinner because of the salvation of God, but this does not prove that you are not sinful, and are not impure. How can you be saintly if you have not been changed? Within, you are beset by impurity, selfish and mean, yet you still wish to descend with Jesus—you should be so lucky! You have missed a step in your belief in God: You have merely been redeemed, but you have not been changed. For you to be after God’s heart, God must personally do the work of changing and cleansing you; if you are only redeemed, you will be incapable of attaining sanctity. In this way you will be unqualified to share in the good blessings of God, for you have missed out a step in God’s work of managing man, which is the key step of changing and perfecting. You, a sinner who has just been redeemed, are therefore incapable of directly inheriting God’s inheritance.” So, we can see clearly that our confessing and repenting to the Lord only means that we have our sins forgiven, but do not represent that we have cast off the bonds of sin and been cleansed. Read the following Bible verses and recommended content to find the way to escape sin, gain purification, and enter the kingdom of God.

Daniel 12:9–10

9 And he said, Go your way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. 10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.

John 16:12-13

12 I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.

Revelation 2:7

He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches; To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the middle of the paradise of God.

John 12:47-48

47 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 He that rejects me, and receives not my words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

Revelation 22 :14

Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

Relevant Words of God:

Though Jesus did much work among man, He only completed the redemption of all mankind and became man’s sin offering; He did not rid man of all his corrupt disposition. Fully saving man from the influence of Satan not only required Jesus to become the sin offering and bear the sins of man, but it also required God to do even greater work to rid man completely of his satanically corrupted disposition. And so, now that man has been forgiven of his sins, God has returned to the flesh to lead man into the new age, and begun the work of chastisement and judgment. This work has brought man into a higher realm. All those who submit under His dominion shall enjoy higher truth and receive greater blessings. They shall truly live in the light, and they shall gain the truth, the way, and the life.

Excerpted from “Preface” to The Word Appears in the Flesh

At the time that Jesus was doing His work, man’s knowledge of Him was still vague and unclear. Man always believed Him to be the son of David, and proclaimed Him to be a great prophet, the benevolent Lord who redeemed man’s sins. Some, on the strength of their faith, were healed just from touching the edge of His garment; the blind could see and even the dead could be restored to life. However, man was unable to discover the corrupt satanic disposition deeply rooted within himself, neither did he know how to cast it away. Man received much grace, such as the peace and happiness of the flesh, the faith of one member bringing blessing on an entire family, the healing of sickness, and so on. The rest were the good deeds of man and his godly appearance; if someone could live on the basis of these, they were considered an acceptable believer. Only believers of this kind could enter heaven after death, which meant that they were saved. But, in their lifetime, these people did not understand at all the way of life. All they did was to commit sins and then confess their sins in a constant cycle without any path to change their disposition: Such was the condition of man in the Age of Grace. Has man received complete salvation? No! Therefore, after that stage of work was finished, there still remained the work of judgment and chastisement. This stage is to make man pure by means of the word, and thereby give him a path to follow. This stage would not be fruitful or meaningful if it continued with the casting out of demons, for it would fail to extirpate man’s sinful nature, and man would come to a standstill at the forgiveness of his sins. Through the sin offering, man has been forgiven his sins, for the work of the crucifixion has already come to an end and God has prevailed over Satan. But the corrupt disposition of man still remaining within him, man can still sin and resist God, and God has not gained mankind. That is why in this stage of work God uses the word to expose the corrupt disposition of man, causing him to practice in accordance with the right path. This stage is more meaningful than the previous one, as well as more fruitful, for now it is the word that directly supplies man’s life and enables the disposition of man to be completely renewed; it is a much more thorough stage of work. Therefore, the incarnation in the last days has completed the significance of God’s incarnation and completely finished God’s management plan for man’s salvation.

Excerpted from “The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)”

Explore more Bible Verses by Topic on our Gospel Reading page, or in the recommended articles below.