NOTICE WHERE YOU ARE. Are you running on your own steam heading your own way, but really have no interest in God, other than as a heavenly butler? Each person is serving someone either God or their own sinful nature. REPENTANCE IS NOT ABOUT WILL- POWER-IT IS ABOUT God's power the willingness to allow God to free us from our own bondage to the sin that we love forsaking it and turning toward God  John 5:14 only through his power 1 John 1:9, not ""WILL POWER" He himself will  bathe John 13:10 us we must allow him to do so. as we repent from our sin.  Jesus' FIRST WORDS recorded by his disciple Matthew 4:17
Immanuel means God WITH US. do you belong to him? Whether Christian, Jew, Muslim etc...or is religion going to  place of worship - perhaps for some of us just a thing we keep in our pocket during Christmas and Easter? Mt.1:23
True repentance Mt. 3:2 = letting God turn you around 180 degrees most of us need to see how bad we are even to consider Jesus, first as a child in the manger, next as Judge, and now is the window of opportunity to turn to him as LORD to deliver us from our sin which is easy to deny or minimize the severity. simple guilt or regret is not turning from our natural bent on self-destruction, The bible tells us the world's ideas about sorrow lead to death. OUR DEATH 2 Corinthians 7:10 But Godly Sorrow will change your mind to call out to the one who can save us, should we follow him, not in our own power, but being transformed by HIS power as a new creation 2 Cor. 5:17, this is what Jesus meant about being born from above(born again) a religious person still needs a miracle to get into heaven. Later we would find that same religious man would boldly request to prepare the body of Jesus and lay him in a tomb. therefore Nicodemus was sold out for Jesus, not a good weather follower, but a true disciple.
Maybe we know John 3:16  But why is it so important that the Son of God needed to die a death on a cross  and why did he consider it JOY? Heb 12:2