Although repentance is often thought of as something that comes from within an individual, it is important to note that repentance can also come from external sources. In other words, repentance can come from a motive that is not from God the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit distributes gifts according to His will—not ours. So true repentance is a gift of grace, an act of faith or believing that is given by God. Faith is simply a way or an agency by which the object of that believing is apprehended. No man can exercise saving faith without a prior understanding of the object. No man is able to apprehend the object without having a renewed will—a completely different will than his natural will. Men must be given Gods will in order to believe. When we talk about responding to a conscience that is causing us distress, we are talking about more than just reacting to the discomfort or guilt that we feel. We are talking about finding ways to ease the conscience, none of which require saving faith. People naturally use a few different methods to achieve this. Firstly, they concentrate on the source of the distress or the pain of the guilt. Guilt will never be the justification for receiving true forgiveness. Just because there is a strong reaction in the conscience or a connection between finding relief from guilt and the act of pricking one's conscience, this does not provide the basis for obtaining forgiveness.One of the main reasons that men think that forgiveness is coming from a legal desire to avoid sin at all cost is because they believe that the pain of conscience is the only fuel needed to dwell in forgiveness. However, this is not necessarily coming from the right motive. It is more likely coming from a self-centered motive. It is like trying to do something in order to feel forgiven. The reason I am so careful to have a clear conscience is because I want to avoid any possible trouble. But this motive is actually a criticism of God's grace. I am trying to make myself look good to other people in order to get their approval. But the end result of this is that I end up being self-righteous.There is another way to obtain forgiveness that is both legal and natural. This is to believe that forgiveness can be obtained through some kind of practice, such as confession. For example, Luther thought that confession was a way to obtain forgiveness. He would list all of his sins in a meticulous way and then begin confessing them one by one. In fact, Luther would climb steps while confessing sins. The problem was that just as he would get to the top with his last confession, another sin would bring him right back where he started from, with a troubled conscience.John suggests that if we confess our sins, God will forgive us. However, if we say that we have no sin, we are only deceiving ourselves. This is because the truth is not in us. Alternatively, if we think that confession is the reason we are forgiven, we are wrong. This is because we could never meet the requirements of any law, no matter how much we confessed. Doing so would be charging God with contempt. We are forgiven by the work of Christ on the cross. His goodness is what we should aspire to, not our own confession.Although it may seem that we can make ourselves appear righteous in God's eyes by strictly following the law, this is not the case. If we were to judge ourselves by the same standards as the law, we would fall short when compared to Christ's standards for living. This would mean either that we need to lower the standard of living required by the law, or else lower Christ's worthiness. Practical atheism is the act of choosing which one of these to do.True repentance comes when we see our inability to do even one good deed on our own. We give up imagining that we are worthy of being received in repentance. True repentance is the recognition that we did not love God as much as we should, and that we need Christ's righteousness and love. True repentance is to live as a believer should live in humility, love, and gratitude only for the work of Christ. True repentance comes to us when we realize that we have received forgiveness in the midst of our many failures and sins.When we realize that we have sinned and deserve to be punished, it is still incredibly comforting to know that God still loves us. True repentance is a process of turning away from our sin and developing a deeper love and reverence for Christ. It is living a life where we constantly seek His forgiveness and His provision for us. True repentance is dwelling in His love and faithfulness, and it is a means of grace because it leads us to repentance for all of our sins. Thank God, repentance is a means of receiving His love and forgiveness!