Essential to Salvation

When John the Baptist came from the wilderness preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, he made repentance a major part of his message. “In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”
(Matthew 3:1 , 2).

Jesus also preached repentance and stressed its importance to salvation.

From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  Matthew 4:17

I tell you, nay: but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.  Luke 13:5

The apostle Peter preached the very first sermon of the New Testament church, and he stressed repentance before he spoke of conversion. “Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38 ).

The apostle Paul preached repentance throughout Europe and Asia. “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30 ). When the gospel is preached, the message must include repentance, because it is the basis for the birth of water and Spirit. Repentance is always essential to one’s salvation, and it must take place before anyone can be born again. The first step toward repenting is recognizing that we are all sinners and without the grace of God, hopelessly lost. A person should then be sorry for his sins and confess them to God, because then and only then can God forgive them (I John 1:9 ). Repentance qualifies a person for water baptism, and as an act of obedience baptism should immediately follow after repentance. Darkness has no communion with light, and neither can a man partake of the saving grace of God until he has repented (II Corinthians 6:14).