"Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him of known him." (1 John 3:4-6) Repentance is turning from sin and toward righteousness. This is a good thing to do because sin leads to death. You want to live. Right?
So what is sin and what is righteousness? According to the Bible, sin is trangression of God's commandments and righteousness is obedience to God's commandments. Biblically speaking, God's commandments are found (defined) in the first five books of the Bible called the Penteteuch or Torah. This section is also referred to as the "Law". The apostle Paul said that he would not have known what sin was except through the law (Rom 7:7). The same is true for us today. Sin and righteousness are not matters of private interpretation. God has already laid these things out in the Torah. It doesn't matter if you agree with it or even if you fully understand it. God is God and you're not.
You "repent" by doing the things the law says you should do and not doing those things it prohibits. Repentance is a change in action as much as a change in heart.
Many "Christians" today have not repented as the Bible directs because they continue to break certain commandments which they claim "don't apply to them". They argue that Jesus died to set us free from the "Law" or God's commandments. Is this the case?
When Jesus died on the cross, God did not suddenly redefine "sin" or "righteousness". He did not provide a "way" to sin without consequenses rather he provided a way to escape the consequence of "unintentional" sin through faith in Jesus the Messiah. So what is the difference?
Everyone sins because we are not perfect. The Bible tells us that the law is perfect. For this reason the law is able to convict us of sin. The sentence for sin is death. God gave his chosen people Israel the ability to escape this sentence through a God ordained "mechanism" called "sacrifice".
Jesus' mission was to become the ultimate "mechanism" or sacrifice. He offered himself as a perfect sacrifice which made all the sacrifices before him pale in comparison. In fact, the whole Old Testament sacrificial system was only a "shadow picture" pointing to and predicting THE sacrifice of God's son, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus paid the price (death) for our sins. Jesus bought and paid for mankind and has the right to judge the living and the dead. He now holds our salvation in his hand. He is more merciful than the law but has not given us a "go on and sin free" card.
If Jesus eliminated the "Law" itself, he removed by consequence our ability to sin. In that case, we don't really need forgiveness for a sin we can't commit. The fact is that the ability to (ie. the definition of) sin is still around and we should try to avoid sin. To continue rebelliously to sin by claiming that certain "trangressions" don't apply to Christians today, is to hold Jesus' sacrifice in contempt. The apostle Paul tells us continuing to sin "that grace may abound" is a perverse interpretation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ(Rom 6:1).
When we truly repent, we will seek out ALL the ways God has provided for righteousness in the "Law", even as we depend on Jesus in faith to forgive our imperfections and shortcomings. No transgression should be allowed to continue as a habit, tradition or lifestyle. For example, keeping Sunday as your "Sabbath" is not Biblically obedient simply because you are "comfortable" with the idea.
When we become conscious of sin in our lives, we need to repent and persue righteousness.
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