"Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works…" (Hebrews 6:1)

As I mentioned we will now begin covering the "foundation" in Christ. These are the basic, fundamental teachings of the Lord Jesus through the Word of God. These "principles of Christ", are those first, or beginning teachings that lay down the foundation of our "house" built on Christ. Jesus called one wise who built their house upon the rock. (Matthew 7:24) That Rock is Jesus Christ. (1st Corinthians 10:4) So we begin laying that foundation for your house, here in the second installment: Repentance from dead works.

First of all; let us establish what the term "Repentance" actually means. To Repent is to have a change of heart from something you have been doing or done. It is a reversal of your thinking upon a certain subject. In our case; to repent is to have sorrow, or remorse for something you did that was against the ways of the Lord. It involves confessing that sin to God and asking for his forgiveness in the name of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." (1 John 3:4)

In language of today: "Whoever commits a sin, breaks the law: because sin is the breaking of the law." It is very simply. If you break the law of God, you have sinned against him, because you have broken the law. Now many will say "we are no longer under the law" and this true, BUT we are not bound by it because it should be written within our hearts. But Jesus did not do away with the laws, the Ten Commandments specifically. He said he came to fulfill it, not to destroy it. (Matthew 5:17) This means the Commandments are still in effect, Jesus taught them to us himself. But he did become the laws for us within the new covenant that God made with us through Him. Jesus simplified the laws that we are to keep when he taught concerning the "greatest commandment":

"Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
(Matthew 22:36-40)

Do you see how simple it is to follow Christ and keep the laws of God? If you LOVE the Lord God with all your being, and LOVE your neighbor as you love yourself you will automatically keep the law.That is the "Golden Rule", to treat others as you want to be treated. Love is the fulfilling of the law.

"Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." (Romans 13:10)

If we love the Lord God, we will automatically keep His first five commandments(laws). Because in truly loving the Lord we will not do anything that is against him. If we love our neighbor(and everyone is our neighbor even those we do not like), we will not break the last five laws given to us by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. We will not steal, murder, commit adultery against or lust for their possessions. So therefore; love is the fulfilling of the commandments of God.
With that said, realize we are humans. We are in this natural flesh body and oftentimes we allow it to run our lives. When we allow this and do something against God, when we sin, He wants us to come back to Him, that is why his Son Jesus Christ went through all the ridicule and sufferings that he went through and to ultimately hang on that Cross. And as his blood ran down it and covered that cross, it was covering every sin we would ever commit, every law we would ever break. So that is what he paid that price for, he suffered for the entire world while it was in sin and despised him. So that when we repent, when we have a change of heart and turn away from that sin, we turn to face God on our knees and ask him for forgiveness.
Now that is repentance in a nutshell, but as we see in our scripture above, the foundation is being laid for "repentance from dead works". So we have repentance down, now what does it mean by "dead works"?
The simple answer is that when we are "born again" and become a new creature in Christ, we are made spiritually alive. That is what being born again means. When we become a for real Christian, we turn away from our old ways and try our best to follow the example of Jesus Christ. So we are turning from the works that we did while we were spiritually dead to keep our eyes on Jesus and accomplish living works through him.
So when we read "repentance from dead works" this means turning away from those things we did while we were dead and working works that are fit for a child of God.

"How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance."
(Hebrews 9:14-15)

Through his Holy Spirit, we become alive and are purged(cleansed) from the dead works we use to do, so we can serve the living God. In short; repentance from dead works is becoming "born again" and receiving the gift of salvation. When we receive that gift from God, we are made truly alive through the Spirit. It doesn't mean we won't die again (spiritually), because there is a war raging every second of every day we are alive here on earth. It is that war between the flesh body and the spirit.

"For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." (Romans 7:19-25)

Paul is telling us, "The good things I should do, I don't do them. But the evil I don't want to do, I do it. If I do what I don't want to do, it is not I that do but sin that is within me. So I find this law, when I would do good, evil is there with me. I delight in the law of God within the spiritual man, but there is another law in the parts of my body. O wretched man, who will deliver me from this body of death?" The answer of course is our savior, Jesus Christ.
So you see, we struggle daily, the body wants us to do things that we should not. That includes the mind, and every inch of your natural body. It cries out to us, feed me, feed me, and wants us to do things that we should not. But within is the Spirit of God and He is there beckoning to us. Before we became saved, born again, his voice was unheard for the most part But now that we have accepted the Son, repented from dead works, He is alive within us and calls us to follow Him and not the flesh. We must continually seek him and try to do our best.

If you have never actually accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior. Today is the day! This is the first oracle, the first step to a relationship with God. Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life, no man can come to the Father, but by me." Our Father, the God of the universe wants us to repent of our dead works and come to him. He wants us to return into his loving arms and follow him to the best of our ability. Listen, you can't clean up and then come to God, you can do nothing to make yourself acceptable to him, EXCEPT to believe upon his Son, Jesus. If you want to receive him today and become a child of the living God, all you have to do is say a prayer, believing in the Lord Jesus with all your heart. Talk to the Father, say this prayer:

"Heavenly Father, I realize I have sinned. I have broken your laws and done things against your Holy commandments. I now repent Lord, I turn from my dead works to face you here on my knees. I believe that your Son, Jesus, was born into this world, suffered for my sins and paid the price to cleanse me with his blood on that cross. I believe that he was resurrected on the third day to defeat death, so that I can receive the gift of Eternal life. Father, I ask for your forgiveness of my sins. I ask that you fill me with your Holy Spirit as I give my life to you. I thank you Lord in the name of Jesus that you have saved me through his blood. And so now I pray to you in the name of Jesus and ask all this in Jesus name, Amen!"

If you prayed that prayer in truth believing that the Father loves you and sent Jesus for you, you are now "Born Again"! You are made spiritually alive and have turned from those dead works to continue in Life through Jesus Christ. We are taught in the Word that the angels rejoice at one soul that comes to the Father. So be rest assured they are having a grand time in heaven at this moment because you have returned to your Father. Conact us if you prayed this prayer, we love to hear the good news and we have a small document called: Journey On The Upward Road

This document will help you in what the next steps are, now that you have been saved.
Hallelujah! Now, I hope this has helped you understand what "repentance from dead works" means. It is the first in a list of Fundamentals or basics in our walk with Christ. So that very first thing is to accept Christ as our savior and then carry on, knowing he is just and faithful to forgive us if we break his law. Because if we truly love him, we will do our best not to sin against God, but if we do, he will forgive us! Now that you are saved, you do not have to be saved again, you only need to repent of any sins that you may commit. Ask your Father for forgiveness in the name of Jesus. He has promised us he will forgive us and blot that sin from our record. We continue these fundamentals with the next Basic: Faith toward God

May God Bless you!

Basic Training

Repentance From Dead Works (Sin)