Repentance is merely change. It’s not admitting any particular sin and asking for forgiveness. Repentance is changing allegiance to worshiping Jesus Christ as the Son of God, admitting I am a sinner and understanding I’ll always be a sinner and only his grace will and my faith in him will save me from hell (not works Or working for his grace; work negates his promise for simply believing in him).
No one will ever cease to sin but we can believe that he will wipe our slate clean at judgement day, but those who think they’re good enough thereby disavow his promise as the gift it is. The gift is forgiveness for simply believing in him and the sacrifice he already made for all of us. The gift is for our fealty but not for anything we promise to do; that would be a payment to him for our salvation instead of it being a gift.
The Israelites lived under the law of sacrifice. They had to show their faith in the lord by sacrificing animals. It was symbolic of the ultimate sacrifice the Messiah would make for us all. But over time all of Israel became apostate.
When Christ came they denied him because they mistakenly believed the Messiah would raise them out of bondage to rule the world. They still do because they don’t recognize Jesus Christ as the messiah. He came to be sacrificed for the sins of the world and that’s what they did. They crucified him at Calvary and now as a result we no longer have to make sacrifices.
We are saved by our faith in him and changing our allegiance from what ever we have allegiance to; to him. Once we do that, admit we are sinners and accept his gift of redemption we are saved from a lifetime of guilt for never being able to be perfect no matter how hard we try; we will always be sinners and no amount of pleading for forgiveness will suffice; only our faith in him and worshipping him is required. Baptism is symbolic of being born again in Christ. It’s only performed once otherwise we’d have to get baptized every-time we commit a sin. But some Christians now mistakenly believe we have to live a guilty life; Begging for forgiveness of sins; promising not to repeat them then breaking that promise which is lying to God; another sin. It never ends. If you believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ creates beggars of us then that’s what you’ll be; a guilty beggar.
After being saved, that fact doesn’t mean we can live a life of sin; breaking the commandments at this point will bring the saved tribulation and suffering in this life. Like the suffering the Israelites endured and were eventually scattered for as a result. (Re: Fate as an example).
After being saved, Christ will scourge his faithful and we will suffer in this life for committing sin; and will gain a healthy fear of God’s will as a result; we should strive for the unattainable perfection but never promise to be perfect; no amount of regurgitated pleading for forgiveness will cause him to forgive us. Only our faith in him will wipe our slate clean. Refer to Hebrews 12:4-12 concerning believers being scourged and our faith proven by going through the pain and tribulations in this life that sin causes. People who think they live perfect lives will never understand this and never believe it and maybe never experience any tribulations and in the end will go to hell for lack of faith.
In closing, I’m warning you that constantly pleading for forgiveness means you have no faith in him or his gift. His gift is contingent solely on our faith and fealty. Faith frees us from sin - it’s true Freedom.
First Believe in Christ then Worry about being scourged for your sins in this life, not whether your apologies are good enough; they aren’t.
