God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)
It’s clear that all the religious systems are different. Yet all the religious systems, except Christianity, are all ultimately the same. Every world religion teaches what man must do to earn his salvation. Only Christianity teaches that we cannot earn our salvation, but that God in Christ must accomplish it for us. Thus, in Christianity, as compared to all other religions, it is gift versus reward and grace versus works and faith versus effort and humility versus pride and Christ versus self.
What is repentance? 1. Recognition - [Repentance is] an awareness of having defied God by embracing what He despises and despising what He adores. 2. Remorse - Repentance is never a pleasure. It always entails pain. It demands brokenness of heart (Ps. 51:17; Isa. 57:15). [It is not] out of fear of reprisal, rather than from a hatred of sin. 3. Request - We must ask God for forgiveness and for strength. 4. Repudiation - We must repudiate all sins in question and take active, practical steps to avoid anything that might provoke stumbling. 5. Reformation - There must be an overt determination to pursue purity, to do what pleases God (1 Thes. 1:9).