I know with sincere faith you will be prompted to do all good things by the new nature, without ever being told. In the old nature and by that nature we commonly worked works of death, but in God by the nature of God we are led to bear fruit of life; however, I write these things to you that you may know. Everyone born of God does good; and anyone who does evil has not seen God at any time. Therefore I write these things. Everyone who believes asks, "What then should I do?" And the sincerity of your faith will prompt you to do. To prove you, I will write them out to test the sincerity of your faith. For these things prove our faith and make our faith known. The apostle Paul often gave room for sincerity to work first before obligation (2 Corinthians 8:8, Philemon 1:8-11); thus the goal of the gospel is sincerity; as it says, “But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” (1 Timothy 1:5) Without these being true in us, will we ever see life? But if they are true in us, for what reason are they true? For the sake of the love of God, surely.
Sin is contrary to the will of God; for the will of God is good; there is no sin in God; where-ever our lives are not conformed to His will, it is sin; His will is for us to believe in Christ and to love our neighbor as ourself; and so whatever is not from faith is sin; faith will never say, "Go rob and kill and steal." It's God's will that we love one another just as Christ has loved us. When we love, we obey the commandments of God, for the entirety of the law is summed up in this one command: love your neighbor as yourself. All sin is selfishness, but love is not self-seeking; love is self-sacrificing, serving, and long-suffering. We know love because we know God. God is love. Everyone who abides in love abides in God; and love does no wrong to a neighbor; as it says about love: " Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. " (1 Corinthians 13:4-13)
Therefore, we ought to love one another just as Christ loved us. And so, by faith and love we establish the law; as it says, “Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.” (Romans 3:31) Our faith will lead us away from worldliness and carnality, and bring us closer to the holy and righteous God; for we love Him and come to Him through Christ. The Spirit leads us away from the dead to the living, from the power of satan to God. Sin in full growth is death, but the fruit of righteousness is life and peace. Without leaving sin, we cannot come near to the living God, for this world and God's Kingdom are on opposite spectrums; in this world there is sin, but in God there is righteousness. One can't face both the south and the north at the same time, can he? Nor can we face God and sin at the same time. We have one face and one back; we cannot come to God without first putting our back to sin. To say otherwise is to say, "I have two faces," or to say, "God and sin are friends". This is not how you have come to learn the truth. Repentance is turning from sin, believing is turning to God. We turn our back to sin to face God in faith, and He reveals His face to us. Does not the earth see light while it faces the Sun? While it is not facing the Sun, it is night-time. So God's face shines upon us when we face Him. Sin is set for God's wrath; so if we hold onto sin, we hold onto God's wrath; even the thinking of folly is sin, as it says, “The devising of folly is sin, And the scoffer is an abomination to men.” (Proverbs 24:9) So set your mind on Christ Jesus in the heavens as you have already been doing; when the mind is set on the things above, so will the members of the body. Repentance means, "change of mind"; and if we change our mind, the members of the body will soon likewise follow. Repentance comes from the Word of God, for a change of mind happens through words. If anyone believes the Word, they have repented. But anyone who says, "I am in Him", and remains in sin is a liar; they show by their actions they're not in Him. “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.” (Titus 1:16) Do not be deceived: actions speak louder than words. Where the mind is set so are the members of the body: it is either we set our minds on earthly things, and we live carnally, or we set our minds on heavenly things, and we live godly. So repentance comes by setting our mind on Christ (Romans 8:5-8, Philippians 4:8, Colossians 3:2).
In love there is life, but in sin there is death; to abide in sin is to abide in death; to abide in righteousness is to abide in life. In the Son there is life. If you want to know what sin looks like, see death. We must die to what is deathly within us; if we hang onto sin, death will reign in us. Christ has set us free to be free; and we have died to sin through the body of Jesus Christ. Sin shall not rule over us any longer. For we are not under the law, but grace. So God no longer holds our sins against us because of the work of Christ Jesus. So put to death what is deathly within you through the cross, turning to Christ for life; as it says, " I have been crucified with Christ. " (Galatians 2:20-21)
And then it says, " Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. " (Galatians 5:24-26)
"Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" (Romans 6:1-2) Christ called us in our sins to freedom from sin - by coming to Him and remaining in Him; we cannot stop sinning on our own; we must come to Jesus: in Him there is no sin. This is how we produce fruit to God: in keeping with repentance (Matthew 3:8). And the word of God is able to change our mind. We see what it means to love ourselves by losing our lives for the sake of His will (John 12:25, Matthew 16:25). This is love for ourselves and for God: to lose our lives for the sake of the gospel. For those who love their lives will lose them. Beware of those who say, "Certainly you don't have to repent, do you?" For repentance was preached before Christ by John; and when Christ came, He began by preaching repentance; and Peter, after being filled with the Holy Spirit, testified, " Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself." (Acts 2:38-39)
So therefore, repent. But know for certain: if we repent of even squashing a fly, if we believe enough to remove mountains, but do not have the grace of Christ, our repentance and our faith is nothing. Keep steadfast in Christ Jesus and leave no provision for the flesh. Do not feed it even a crumble of sin; if you starve it, it will grow weaker and weaker. "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness." (Romans 6:12-13)
Furthermore, how can one have faith without repentance? These are good friends, do not separate those who are good friends; for they walk together and talk together and agree with one another. We love Him because He first loved us; we have not seen Him at anytime, but Jesus has revealed Him to us; “and though you have not seen Him, you love Him,” (1 Peter 1:8) for we have seen Him if we have believed in Him. If we love the Father, we will love His Son; and if we love the Son, we will obey Him; and if we obey His commandments, we will be known by Him; and if we are known by Him, He will never say to us, " I never knew you. Away from Me, you evildoers! " (Matthew 7:23)
As Paul said, "If anyone loves God, he is known by Him" (1 Corinthians 8:3). In the end, it won't matter what we know, but who we know; and not merely who we know, but who knows us. For no-one will enter into the Kingdom because of what they know, but what they do; as He says, " Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’" (Matthew 7:21-23)
For it is not the one who says, "Jesus is Lord", who will be saved, but the one who confesses Him as Lord in spirit and truth; as He says, " Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? " (Luke 6:46)
Therefore, know for certain, you must repent. Love the Lord Jesus with an undying love, and repent; do not love Him in word or tongue only, but in deed and truth. How can you love the Lord while staying in your sins? He died for your sins, and your sins were His pain. Do you love Him by hurting Him? Love Him with a sincere love, in repentance and obedience. Humble yourself; for He humbled Himself to death for your sake. Do not be deceived: God is not mocked. Each man will reap what he sows. " Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. " (Luke 13:4-5)
But then you may ask, how should I repent? [Do justice and righteousness (Jeremiah 22:3, Proverbs 21:3)] See the examples in the Scriptures, how men repented (Luke 3:10-14; Luke 19:8; Acts 19:18-19). We all know the sin in our lives. So I charge you to read the epistles of the apostles; for they show to us what it means to obey the truth. Thanks be to God who grants unto us repentance through the knowledge of the truth. (See more on Repentance)