“…‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem’” (Luke 24:46-47, ESV).

Our good news message seems to skip a part most of the time. We want the forgiveness and the peace and the joy of God’s presence, but we skip over the other part. Jesus, here, is telling His disciples the summary of the good news and the great commission. What’s the message that needs to go out to the world? That we can have forgiveness of sins through repentance. Jesus is sending out His disciples to proclaim repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Now, there are people who decry that as “works.” But Jesus, Himself, said it. We don’t just get our sins forgiven. We turn from them. Then the memory of them is washed away and the Holy Spirit helper gives us all the help we need to walk in God’s ways. We don’t get to choose sin AND choose forgiveness. We get to choose to walk away from our lives of sin and turn to a new life in Christ, where there is forgiveness and freedom and love and life. We don’t get to choose forgiveness so that we can continue to walk in bondage and selfishness and death.