Alright, we're here in John chapter 3, and what we're covering today is in our Salvation
Boot Camp.
And last week we talked about how salvation is not at works.
And obviously when we say salvation is not at works, that's a really comprehensive topic,
so we kind of just laid the groundwork, and now we're going to a real specific example
about how salvation is not at works, and that is with the topic of repentance.
So this morning's sermon is on the topic of repentance, so I believe it's fitting to be
in John chapter 3, because what chapter in the Bible makes salvation so clear?
And the first point, well the question here is this, do we have to repent of our sins
to be saved?
Do we need to change our lifestyle like most people think?
Do we need to be willing to change our lifestyle?
Is repentance of sins necessary for salvation?
We at Verity Baptist Church Manila believe that you do not have to turn from your sins.
Repentance of sins is not required, and in fact what we're going to see today is actually
worse salvation.
And the first reason, the first point of why we know that you do not have to repent of
your sins to be saved is, there are just a multitude of verses that say all you have
to do is believe.
In John chapter 3, let's look at verse number 15.
These are the words of Jesus Christ.
It says that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.
So the Bible says whosoever believeth in him.
That means anybody that believes in Jesus Christ will not perish, they will not go to
hell, but they will have eternal life, anybody.
So the question is, what about the person that does not repent of their sins?
They don't quit drinking, they don't quit smoking, they don't change their lifestyle
at all, but they believe.
Well according to John 3.15, what does it say?
It says they're going to go to heaven.
It says you don't have to repent of your sins.
John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever
believeth.
So the person that does not repent of their sins but believes whosoever believeth in him
should not perish but have everlasting life.
It's really that simple.
For God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
him might be saved.
He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already
because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God.
It comes down to whether or not you believe on the son.
Whether or not you repent of your sins, whether or not you change your lifestyle, it's irrelevant.
It means nothing in terms of whether or not we go to heaven or hell.
Now look, in our lives, if we want God to bless our lives, we need to obey his word.
We need to follow his rules.
But in terms of heaven or hell, it comes down to, did you believe or did you not believe?
Look, there's people out there that are drunks and they quit drinking.
They turn from that sin, they quit that sin, but they're still going to go to hell.
Because repenting of your sins has nothing to do with getting to heaven, it just comes
down to believing.
That's the words of Jesus Christ.
But let's look at what John the Baptist says.
Did he preach a different gospel?
John 3.36, he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not
the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
It comes down to, did you believe in the son or did you not believe in the son?
If you're a part of a religion like Muslims that don't believe in the son, they believe
in God.
They're going to split hell wide open though, because they don't believe in the son.
They don't believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins and he rose again after three
days.
They don't believe that.
Did you believe on the son or did you not believe on the son?
That's the issue.
If a person believes, they go to heaven.
If they don't, they go to hell.
There's a multitude of verses that say this term is John 1.
John 1.
Now, I'm purposely only staying in the book of John for this, because we can go all throughout
the Bible and see how salvation is by faith alone.
But you know what?
Honestly, we've got to go soul winning at 2.30.
I don't want to preach a seven hour sermon here about how salvation is just by believing.
This is going to be the first point where we're just going to fly through these.
But the first point is just that there's an overwhelming amount of verses that say all
you have to do is believe.
John 1, verse 12, But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons
of God.
How do you become a son of God?
How do you get born again?
How do you become a child of God?
Even to them that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God, it says if you believe in his name.
Turn to John 5.
John 5, Honestly, this repentance of sins topic, it separates what we believe in every
religion believes.
Because honestly, you're going to talk to someone who's a baptist.
And they say they believe in eternal security.
They say it's by grace alone.
You think they're saved.
And then you hear them explain certain verses and you're like, Am I talking to a Catholic?
Am I talking to a Mormon?
I mean, it's like they sound the exact same the way they explain James 2 in some of these
passages.
They have the exact same explanation.
Why?
Because they believe the same thing.
They believe salvation is by works.
They don't believe it's by faith alone.
John 5, verse 24, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth
on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not commit condemnation, but is
passed from death unto life.
The Bible says that if you believe on him that sent me, you have everlasting life.
One thing that's interesting in this verse is it does not say that if you believe in
Jesus Christ, that you'll go to heaven says if you believe on him that sent me, it's talking
about the father.
Why?
Because you cannot believe on Jesus and reject the true father.
So it's like there's a lot of religions that say, Well, we believe in God, but they don't
believe in Jesus Christ.
No, they don't.
I mean, if you believe on Jesus, you're gonna believe in the one who sent him.
You're gonna believe it.
It's the same living God.
Throughout the Old Testament, it talks about believing in the living God.
You can't reject the God of the Bible.
You can't reject Jesus and say you believe in the God of the Bible.
No, you have to believe in Jesus and the God of the Bible.
It's the same.
You have to believe on Jesus Christ and these people that say, Well, I believe in the father.
Look, if they don't believe in the son that Jesus died for them, they're gonna die and
go to hell.
Every religion believes that there's God the creator.
That doesn't get you to heaven.
But once again, in John 5, 24, what's the word that comes up?
Believe.
Let's turn to John 6, John 6.
Now honestly, we skipped John 4, but in John 4, you can see the same thing.
That's by believing.
It's almost in every chapter in the book of John, it's over and over again.
John chapter 6, verse 47, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath
everlasting life.
You believe and you have it immediately.
You don't wait till the end of your life to get it.
But the moment you believe, you receive everlasting life.
Once again, there's nothing about turning from your sins or quitting drinking or changing
your lifestyle or repenting of your sins.
You don't see that anywhere.
It says he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
Turn to John 7, John 7, verses 38 and 39.
It says in verse 38, he that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water, with this fakie of the Spirit, which they that
believe on him should receive.
For the Holy Ghost was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
Once again, the word that comes up is believe.
If you believe on Jesus, you go to heaven.
Whether or not you drink, if you believe, you go to heaven.
There are people that are drunks that are going to go to heaven one day.
There are people that are addicted to drugs that we're going to see in heaven one day.
And praise the Lord for it, that Jesus Christ died for all sins, whether or not we change
our lifestyles or not, he's still willing to accept us.
Look, you know, when I got saved, I didn't change anything.
Now over the years, I started to change because I decided to start reading the Bible and going
to church.
But look, most people we get saved out there, they're probably not going to change much
at all.
Because unless you're hearing the preaching and reading the Bible and starting your personal
walk with God, your lifestyle will still be the same because you're going to still walk
in the flesh.
We have the choice when we get saved, either walking in the flesh or walking in the Spirit.
And look, when I got saved, I didn't change anything.
The moment I get saved, I didn't start thinking, wait a minute, do I have to throw out my rock
CDs first?
I didn't think about that at all, because the person who preached the gospel to me said,
no.
And I believed it.
And then it was months later, all of a sudden I started hearing preaching, I started feeling
guilty about some of the things I was doing because I heard it preached from behind the
pulpit.
But look, you don't have to change anything to be saved.
You don't have to be sorry, you don't have to be willing to change, you don't have to
have any remorse whatsoever, because it says whosoever believeth.
Turn to John 9, John 9.
One thing we will endeavor to do here at Verity Baptist Church Manila is make it very clear
what we believe.
You can ask me any question you want after service, I'll tell you what I believe.
I'm not afraid of it, I'm not shy, I'm not embarrassed, I'm just going to tell you what
I believe.
That's what you see throughout the Bible from the preachers, isn't it?
They just say what the truth is.
They're not afraid of what happens.
Look, if I preach something and half of you walk out, that's the way it is, because I'm
going to preach what the Bible says.
I'm not worried about getting tithes, I'm not worried about pleasing people.
Yes we want this church to grow, yes we want it to build, yes we want to get a lot of churches
started, but we're always going to preach the truth here, we're not going to be embarrassed
about it.
We're just going to make it plain that it's by believing.
John 9, verse 35.
Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and when he had found him he said unto him, Dost
thou believe on the Son of God?
He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?
And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and he it is that talketh with thee.
And he said, Lord, I believe, and he worshipped him.
Notice it's believing three times in four verses.
He doesn't stop and say, wait a minute, I need to check, do you drink alcohol?
Because if you drink alcohol, I can't give you the gospel right now.
First you got to quit drinking, then you can believe.
Does he say that?
No, he just says, hey, you got to believe, because that's how simple it is.
Turn to John 11.
We'll look at one more place here, John 11.
John 11, verse 25.
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life.
He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
Believest thou this?
That's what it comes down to.
Do you believe this?
Believest thou this?
Do you believe that Jesus died for your sins and rose again, and he's offering you a free
gift of everlasting life?
That's what it comes down to.
Do you believe it?
It's not whether or not you're willing to walk the walk, it's whether or not you believe
it.
Look, most people that are saved are not walking the walk.
Most people that are saved are not using the Bible as their authority.
They still want to live their own lifestyle.
And look, if they believe, we're going to see them in heaven.
You say, well, what if they don't change at all?
Are you going to question their salvation?
No, we won't question their salvation at all.
If a drunk doesn't quit drinking, I will not question the salvation at all if he tells
me that it's eternal life and it's a free gift.
Look, this morning I was talking to someone this morning and I was walking around Resolve
Park.
I was talking to a group of three people.
And, you know, I normally assume that people are unsaved when I start preaching the gospel
because most people are unsaved, right?
We assume guilty until proven innocent, honestly, when it comes to salvation, because narrow
is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it.
But it's very obvious to me early on that he understood the gospel because he was telling
me salvation is a one-time thing and you can never lose it.
And so I focused my attention to the other two people because of the fact it was obvious
to me that he understood the gospel.
Now, honestly, if I was just walking by and looking at the lifestyle he was living, I
probably would not think he was saved.
That's the truth.
But look, you know, salvation doesn't come down to what lifestyle they're living.
It comes down to what they believe.
And based on the words coming out of his mouth that salvation is a one-time thing, it's a
free gift and it lasts forever, I assume he's saved.
I assume we're going to see him in heaven one day because based on what he's saying,
it sounds like he believes.
And that's what the Bible says.
Now, this should be the end of the argument right here, shouldn't it?
There's all these verses that say all you have to do is believe.
That's enough for me.
When there's all these verses that say all you have to do is believe.
So what about the person that does not turn from their sins, they don't repent of their
sins, but they believe, according to the Bible, they will go to heaven.
Now, here's the thing.
Let's say somebody gives you a verse you don't understand about this topic of repentance
or turning from your sins.
One good rule of thumb is this, if we know what we believe and we're positive, we should
not allow one verse we don't understand to shape our faith.
Look, I could literally read hundreds of verses that say salvation is by faith alone.
If you have a couple verses you don't understand, look, that doesn't overhaul hundreds of verses
that say whosoever believe it.
Isn't John 3.16 the most famous verse in the world and it says whosoever believe it?
It's really that simple.
Turn to John 20.
And honestly, you know, when we're preaching the gospel to people, if you show them this
many verses that say it's just by believing and they choose to reject it, they will not
end up getting saved.
If you show them verse after verse after verse after verse after verse after verse and they
just say, well, I still think you have to turn from your sins, they're just not going
to believe no matter how many verses you show them.
You could sit there and read the entire book of John with them and they would not end up
getting saved.
Eventually we have to just move on to the next person.
I mean, if you show them verse after verse and they just choose to reject it, look, they're
just not going to accept it.
That's just the way it is.
Now, I didn't even mention verses I used last week.
When I preach about not being of works, I intentionally didn't use the same verses because
we went through a whole hour sermon about how salvation is not at work, so we didn't
even use these verses.
There's just so many verses on this topic.
Now look at John 20 verse 30.
The Bible reads, and many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples,
which are not written in this book, but these are written that he might believe that Jesus
is a Christ, the son of God, and that believing he might have life through his name.
See, the Bible says in John 20 verses 30 and 31 that the focus of the book of John was
for people to end up believing on Jesus and getting saved.
These things were written so people would believe and get saved.
That's what the Bible is saying, okay?
And so the second point we have here, understanding that the book of John was written so that
we might go to heaven, the second point is this, repentance is not mentioned one time
in the book of John.
The word repent is mentioned zero times.
The word repenting is mentioned zero times.
The word repentive or repent or whatever form of that word you want is mentioned zero
times in the book of John.
Look, if this was the book, the book of John, to help us get to heaven, and repentance of
sins was just a requirement, why would the book not mention it?
I mean, do we believe our God is an idiot?
Is God Bobo?
I mean, is that what we believe?
I mean, if we had to repent of our sins, guess what would be written all throughout the book
of John?
I would have just read 30 verses about repent, repent, repent, but all the verses say believe,
because that's what you have to do.
Now turn to Mark 1, Mark 1.
I have a friend of mine who had started dating a girl just a while back, and she came from
a Baptist church, and so he thought she was saved, but he wasn't sure because she was
kind of seemed confused on this topic of repentance, and so he ended up having, reading the book
of John with her.
She was reading it in her time, and he was reading it, and when she read the book of
John, all of a sudden, everything that he told her just clicked, and she ended up getting
saved just like a week later.
He hadn't talked to her for months, but when she read it for herself, she just saw believe,
believe, believe.
When I get people saved, one thing I do is I recommend that they start reading the book
of John, because it is the book that tells us how to get to heaven, and when someone
first gets saved, they need to be really grounded and rooted in salvation before they
move on to the book of Revelation.
I get it, the book of Revelation is really interesting, the book of John is more important
though.
When it comes to someone who just gets saved, they need to read the book of John and get
grounded in what they believe.
The book of John makes it so clear, you say, what does this word repent mean?
Because if you ask that question, you type it in on Google, you're going to get a hundred
different answers.
Well, the word repent basically means that you just turn from one thing to the next,
or you change from one thing to something else.
And so when the word repent is in the Bible, you could tell someone, hey, you do need to
repent of your sins, you do need to turn from your sins.
When I preach sermons, I preach hard against sin and say, hey, you need to turn from your
sins.
You need to quit listening to the rock music, and you start just focusing on reading the
Bible instead of listening to the rock music and living a worldly life.
So repentance can mean that when you look up salvation, it never is mentioned turning
from your sins in reference to salvation.
It just simply means to turn or to change.
So for example, many people in this room probably grew up Catholic.
My wife grew up Catholic in Pampago where they really take Catholicism very seriously
and some people nail themselves on crosses.
And when she was 12 years old, she heard the gospel and she repented of her false belief
in Mary, idolatry, and all that goes with Catholicism and believed on Jesus Christ.
So she changed from one thing to the next.
She changed what she believed.
And whenever you see the word repent in reference to salvation and getting saved, it's referring
to you changing your mind about what you believe.
Mark 1 verses 14 and 15 is an example.
It says in verse 14, now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching
the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God
is at hand, repent ye and believe the gospel.
Now once again, we just went through scores of verses that say it's just by believing.
You don't allow one verse to overhaul all the verses you see, right?
But notice what it does not say in Mark 1 verse 15.
Does it say repent of your sins and believe the gospel?
Is that what it says?
It does not say that.
It says repent ye and believe the gospel.
So what he's saying is you change your mind about what you believe and you believe the gospel.
Look, everybody in this room, we used to believe our works would get us to heaven.
We changed our mind about trusting in our works and we decided to trust in Jesus Christ.
We repented from one belief and we changed our believing on Jesus Christ.
It's really that simple.
Turn to Acts 19.
The question has to come up though.
The book of Mark uses the word repent, right?
There's four gospels.
Now if John is the book that tells us how to get to heaven, why is that verse not in
the book of John if it's referring to repenting of sins, right?
Because all it says is believe throughout the book of John.
Why aren't the verses about using the word repent in Matthew, Mark, and Luke?
Why are those not in the book of John if repenting of sins is required for salvation?
This is very clear.
It's just by believing.
If that was saying you had to repent of your sins to get saved, that verse would be in
the book of John since John is the book that tells us how to get to heaven.
That just makes logical sense.
Acts 19 verse 4, notice what the Bible says, and it came to pass that while Paul's was
at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coast came to Ephesus and finding certain
disciples.
He said unto them, have you received the Holy Ghost since he believed?
And they said unto him, we have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
And he said unto them, unto what then were you baptized?
And they said unto John's baptism.
What we see here in Acts 19 is that John baptized people that weren't saved.
Now look, every single person, I don't care who you are, you're going to baptize somebody
who wasn't actually saved.
You're going to make mistakes, or you're going to think people are saved, and they turn out
to be devils, they turn out to be false.
Look, we can only go based on what they say out of their mouth.
If they say salvation is a free gift, look on December 16th when we do baptisms, we say
I want to get baptized, and you tell me that you believe it's a free gift, it's eternal
life, look, we'll baptize you.
If it turns out five years later that you weren't ever saved, look, that's not my fault.
I can only go based on what you said.
It wasn't John's fault that they turned out to be false, they didn't really get saved,
they were confused.
Look, some people they get emotional, they might pray, but they might not quite get it
yet.
Look at what it says in verse four.
Let's hear about the baptism.
Then said Paul, John barely baptized with the baptism of repentance.
Now look, if you believe in repentance of sins for salvation, the verse probably ends
right there.
Boy, he baptized the baptism of repentance, but notice what it says, saying on to the
people that they should believe on him which they come after, and that is on Christ Jesus.
The baptism of repentance, what he was telling them was they should believe, not repent of
their sins.
This is consistent from Jesus, from John the Baptist, turn back to Acts 16.
We're going to look at what Paul the Apostle said.
This is consistent throughout the entire Bible.
And in Acts 16, a famous verse we love, verse 30, and brought them out and said, Sirs, what
must I do to be saved?
And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house.
Let me ask you a question, was Paul lying to them?
Is the Bible deceiving us when it says all you have to do is believe here?
That's what you must do is believe.
Is Paul lying to them, or is the Bible just not telling us, it's trying to confuse us?
That doesn't make any sense.
He says you must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, it's really that simple.
Turn to Acts 8, Acts 8.
So the first reason and the big reason why we don't have repent of our sins to be saved
is there's just an overwhelming number of verses that say all you have to do is believe.
And look, there's plenty of people that we could argue with for hours about this topic.
When I knock on doors in the US, I would knock on doors and sometimes a pastor would answer
the door.
Usually I just kind of cut off the conversation pretty quickly because it's usually very obvious
that they're just going to spend an hour arguing with me and they will not get saved.
Look, if you can show them all these verses and they just don't believe it, just move
on to the next person.
They're just not going to get it.
They're just choosing not to.
They're choosing to trust what they believed growing up.
Look, every single person, before we got saved, we believed something different.
We all had to humble ourselves and admit, you know what, I was wrong, I was lied to,
if I had died, I would have gone to hell.
Every single person.
But you know, honestly, most people do not want to humble themselves.
When they hear the gospel, they just decide, you know what, no, I still believe that following
the sacraments, praying to Mary, the rosary beads, the whole nine yards, I still believe
that's going to get me to heaven.
The Bible is just very clear, it's just Bible-leading.
Well, the third point of why we do not have to repent of our sins to be saved is this,
the Bible never uses the phrase repent of your sins.
You'll never find that in the Bible one time.
And I encourage you to say, you know, I didn't know that about the book of John.
I encourage you to read the entire book of John and really look diligently for that word
repent.
And unless you got some weird version of the Bible that I don't know about, you're not
going to see that word repent.
Because if you look in the King James Bible, you'll never see the word repent one time,
but you'll see believe over and over and over again.
And the third reason we see is that the phrase repentance of sins or repent of your sins
is not in the Bible.
We'll look at some of the closest places, some of the places that these heretics would
turn to.
Acts eight is an example.
It says in verse 18, and when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands,
the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money saying, give me also this power that
on whosoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.
But Peter said onto him, thy money perish with thee because thou hast thought that the
gift of God may be purchased with money.
Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter for thy heart is not right in the sight of
God.
Repent therefore of this thy wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart
may be forgiven thee.
Now, if you were to just look at this by itself, they would seem like they have a point.
It says repent of your wickedness.
Now once again, we said there's like a hundred verses to say it's just by believing.
So whenever you have one verse where you say, man, I don't know how to answer this, you
know, stop and read the context of everything, but it says, repent therefore of this thy
wickedness.
And that's close to saying repent of your sins today.
Maybe you'll be forgiven.
Maybe God will forgive your heart.
We'll go back to verse 12, go back to verse 12 in Acts eight.
Let's look at the context here, but when they believe, fill up preaching the things concerning
the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
Then Simon himself believed also.
Was Simon saved or unsaved?
He was saved.
He believed in verse 13.
See later on in the chapter, Peter is telling them, Hey, repent of your wickedness.
Look, that's the same thing we preach here in most every sermon.
Repent of your wickedness.
Change your lifestyle.
Quit drinking.
Quit smoking.
Quit watching the movies.
Look, that's the same thing.
That's the same thing you hear preached on the passage we listen to all the time online.
They get behind the pulpit and almost every sermon they're telling people that to get
sins out of their life and to make changes, but not to get to heaven.
This guy is already saved himself believed also.
Look, the Bible says he believed.
It's not just that they thought he believed the narrator says he believes and look the
narrator of the Bible is always right.
So you'll see people in the Bible that make mistakes and they're wrong.
But the narrator of the Bible is always correct.
And the narrator says that Simon believed Simon was saved.
And yet later on, he's told to repent of his wickedness.
Why?
His heart wasn't right.
And look, yes, we're forgiven in terms of we're going to heaven the moment we get saved.
But just like, for example, as my son grows up and becomes older, when he breaks my rules
and my commandments, if he wants to have a good relationship with me, he's going to
say I'm sorry when he messes up, right?
It's the same thing with God.
Every single day we should be repenting of our sins.
Every single day we should be saying we're sorry because look, I don't know about you,
but I sin every single day.
I'm not perfect.
If you expect me to be perfect up here, you're sadly mistaken because I got a lot of changes
I need to make.
Every single day I come to the end and I'm thinking, man, I really screwed up today.
God forgive me.
Give me another chance.
And the great thing is that his mercies are new every morning, the Bible tells us.
That's why we need this preaching to repent of our wickedness because look, we have a
lot of things we need to change, but this person was already saved.
Turn to Acts 20, Acts 20.
We don't have time to cover every single argument they're going to use.
And honestly, I think it would be a waste of time because there's more important things
to talk about.
I am thinking about doing a series on YouTube going through, you know, repentance moments
and we'll probably go through every argument they have on there because honestly they don't
have very good arguments.
I think the Bible is just like super crystal clear that it's by believing.
But let's look at Acts 20.
This is a very common place that they turn to.
Acts 20 verse 20, and how I kept back nothing that was profitable on you, but I've showed
you and I've taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews
and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now once again, it does not say repent of your sins.
It uses the word repent.
I don't know what they don't get about this because we tell them the Bible does not say
you have to repent of your sins.
And it's like they think we're idiots because yes, we know the word repents in the Bible.
That's why we preach against it.
We're aware the word is in the Bible.
When you show us a verse that has the word repent, look, we understand the words in the
Bible.
We just don't think it means what you do.
And they'll just stop and say, well, see, there's the word repent.
Bye bye John 3 16.
Bye bye the whole book of John.
Bye bye Acts 16.
Bye bye Ephesians 2 8 9 because we saw the word repent.
Look, we know the words in the Bible, but it does not say repent of your sins.
Now turn to 1 Thessalonians 1.
It says repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now this goes back to that when you get saved, when you get saved, you stop believing what
you used to believe.
You change your mind about what you believe and you believe on Jesus Christ.
One example is in 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 9.
This is very appropriate here in the Philippines because obviously idolatry is huge in this
country.
Look, in the United States, idolatry in terms of actual idols is not really that big of
a deal.
I remember seeing this giant statue of Mary and I thought, wow, that's quite amazing.
Idolatry is huge in this country.
Notice what it says in 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 9.
For they themselves showed us what manner of entering in we had on you, and how ye turned
to God from idols to serve the living and true God.
These people were trusting in a false god.
They were trusting in all these idols and this false idolatry.
They were trusting in a false god and they turned from that to serve the living and true
God.
And look, when somebody believes a false religion, if somebody is Muslim, they cannot get saved
unless they quit believing in their Muslim religion and believe on Jesus Christ.
Hinduism has tons of gods.
They will willingly pray and add Jesus to their list of gods.
They'll say, yeah, I'd love to add that God to my list, but it doesn't mean that they
changed from the gods they were trusting in.
And when somebody gets saved, they must quit believing what they used to believe to believe
on Jesus Christ.
You cannot say, I believe 100% in Jesus Christ, but I still believe in Muhammad as well.
That doesn't make sense.
You have to put all of your trust on Jesus Christ and you have to turn from your false
god to the living God.
So go back to Acts 20.
Understanding that, and we've mentioned this, but in Acts 20, when it's saying repentance
toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, they quit trusting in what they used
to trust in, and they believed on Jesus Christ, to the Jews and the Greeks.
Think about the Greeks.
The Greeks were a society with tons of gods.
They had idolatry.
They believed in idolatry.
They were trusting in false gods, and they have to turn from their false god in order
to believe on Jesus Christ.
Now, they don't have to turn from their sins.
They could still be drunks.
They could still be drug addicts, but they cannot keep trusting in their Greek gods.
They must quit trusting in their Greek gods to believe on Jesus Christ.
You can't do both.
Right?
And so when people get saved, they must quit believing what they used to believe in order
to get saved.
And that's why when we go soul winning, we make it a point to tell them that the things
that they struggle with, that it's not by repenting of your sins.
I mentioned that every single conversation, that it's not repenting of your sins.
It's not baptism.
It's not good works.
Why?
Because that's what people are trusting to get them into heaven.
They need to hear somebody say, it's not those things, it's just by putting your faith in
Jesus Christ.
It's a hundred percent what He did and not what we do.
It's really that simple.
Turn to 2 Corinthians 7 and we'll look at one more place.
And so when I look at this argument, I don't really think this is much of a debate.
Because we have hundreds of verses that say it's just by believing.
So if you believe and you don't repent of your sins, case closed, you go to heaven according
to the Bible.
These are their big arguments.
I'm not going to cover every single big argument, but I'm going to their big arguments.
They don't have much of an argument.
I mean these are very, 2 Corinthians 7 is one of the biggest ones I've heard.
This is a huge argument people use when they say that you have to repent of your sins to
be saved.
We'll look at 2 Corinthians 7.
It says,
Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance.
For ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.
For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of.
But the sorrow of the world worketh death.
So they would turn to 2 Corinthians 7, 10 and they say godly sorrow worketh repentance
and they would say repenting of your sins to salvation.
Well first off, think about who Paul is talking to.
He's talking to a church of saved people.
These people are already saved.
It's not saying repent of your sins in order to receive salvation.
It's just like for example, I just preached on this recently, work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling.
You don't have to work out in order to receive salvation.
When you get saved, God wants you to work out your salvation.
That's why we preach about how you need to work it out.
You need to go out there and go soul winning and read the Bible and get the sin out of
your life.
Look, these are saved people.
So you say, what is it talking about then?
In verse 10, it talks about godly sorrow versus the sorrow of the world.
One of the great examples of this is King Saul in the Bible.
King Saul was wrong over and over again and then he got really sorry.
But he did not have godly sorrow.
He had sorrow of the world, kind of like when somebody gets caught.
They're sorry they got caught, but they're not really sorry that they didn't.
They would still do it if they could get away with it.
You can have either godly sorrow or worldly sorrow.
Us as saved people, when we hear a sermon that goes against the things that we do, we
can either have godly sorrow or worldly sorrow.
You say, what's the difference?
Godly sorrow means a change takes place.
Worldly sorrow means that you're sorry for a minute and then you go back and get drunk
the next time.
That's worldly sorrow.
See, Saul did not have godly sorrow.
He had worldly sorrow.
Now, because Saul had worldly sorrow, what ends up happening to King Saul in his life?
His life gets destroyed, he ends up killing himself.
Look, godly sorrow would have worked salvation to him, wouldn't it?
Physical salvation to Saul if he had actually had godly sorrow.
See, salvation is not always referring to spiritual salvation.
These people are already saved.
And look, when we choose to just walk in our sins and live a sinful lifestyle, it will
destroy us physically.
It will destroy our lives.
And look, King Saul, he had worldly sorrow, he did not have godly sorrow.
He was not really sorry and eventually, what does he do?
He ends up killing himself.
And guess what we're going to see King Saul at one point?
We're going to see him in heaven.
You know why?
Because he was saved.
And salvation just comes down to believing, not based on what you do.
But the problem with Saul was, you know what, he didn't have godly sorrow, he had worldly
sorrow.
The vast majority of this world, they don't have godly sorrow.
They hear this sort of preaching and instead of making changes, they justify their lifestyle.
The Bible says we need to have godly sorrow when we hear this preaching.
And look, God holds us accountable.
If you're a saved person and you know what the Bible says and you don't make the change,
God's going to hold you accountable for that.
And you know, Saul was someone more than anyone who knew what the word of God was.
He heard it, he chose not to adhere to it.
What ends up happening, the last thing he does is he kills himself.
If he had godly sorrow, look, and he had actually made a change, his life would have lasted
a lot longer.
But he lost God's blessing upon his life.
The preaching can work salvation to you as a saved person, it can help spare your life,
spare your health.
But you know, there's people that hear this preaching that are drunks, that smoke cigarettes,
and they don't have godly sorrow, and you know what, it's destroying them.
Physically, it's destroying them.
But these people, these people are already saved, and this is a church he's talking to.
He's not saying, well wait a minute, you guys had sin in the church, I preached against
it, then you all got saved.
No, they were already a church.
It's not like he walked into a Catholic church, and then he just started preaching the gospel.
No, these are people that were saved that had sin in the church, and they heard the
message, and they had godly sorrow, and look, God's blessing came back on that church.
There was sin in the church, and they got it out, and it works salvation to that church.
But this is a church full of saved people, of believers.
It's really that simple.
Now turn to Romans 7.
So those are three of their biggest arguments, and in two of their three arguments, it's
already dealing with people that are already saved.
Those are pretty bad arguments, when you're showing us people that are saved that are
told they have to turn from their sins.
It's like, yeah, we have saved people, we do need to turn from our sins.
Not to get to heaven, but we need to change our lifestyle.
The first thing we saw is this, there's an overwhelming number of verses that say salvation
is just by believing.
The second thing we see is this, that the word repent is never in the book of John.
The third thing is the phrase repent of your sins.
That phrase is never in there, and we just looked at some of their big arguments.
And the fourth point is this, it's completely illogical to say, you must repent of your
sins to be saved.
It just doesn't make any sense whatsoever, because here's the reason why.
When I was a kid, I believed in Santa Claus, okay?
My parents told me Santa Claus was real, and I believed in Santa Claus.
And I remember one day I was at school, and one of my friends told me Santa Claus wasn't
real.
I don't know, who grew up believing in Santa Claus?
I remember that day, man, it was like a bullet wound to the heart, I was like, what, Santa's
not real?
But I remember he told me that, and I didn't believe him at first, because I figured, you
know, that, no, my parents told me the truth and everything like that.
But you know, once I found out that Santa Claus wasn't real, I repented of believing
in Santa Claus, and I stopped believing him.
I changed my mind about what I believed.
I no longer believed that he did exist, now I believe he doesn't exist.
Those things make sense, because you're going from one thing to the next, right?
When we're saying repent of your sins, though, people are going to tell us, well, you got
to repent of your sins, or turn from your sins to the Savior.
That doesn't make sense, because see, believing in the Savior means you're putting no trust
in your own personal works, or your deeds, or anything, you have 100% faith in Jesus.
So instead of trusting something else, I'm trusting in Jesus Christ.
Is anybody trusting in their sins to get them to heaven?
It doesn't make sense.
I repented of trusting in my sins to get to heaven, and now I'm trusting in Jesus.
It doesn't even make sense.
I mean, you turn from one thing to the next, they have to line up together, and it's just
illogical.
It doesn't make sense.
Turn from sins to the Savior.
You turn from believing one thing to another.
We believe something different before we're saved, and now we believe on Jesus Christ.
It just doesn't make any sense.
And in Romans 7, not only does it not make sense, but you know what?
No person in this entire world has turned from all their sins.
Not a single person.
Nobody has repented of all their sins.
And when we're looking at Paul the Apostle here, we're going to see that Paul the Apostle
did not repent of all his sins.
And if Paul the Apostle is not repenting of all their sins, I think it would be pretty
arrogant for me to stand up and say I've repented of all my sins.
Look what it says in Romans 7, verse 14.
For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.
But these Calvinists say that there's no such thing as a carnal Christian.
Paul just said he was carnal.
I am carnal.
He uses the word.
I am carnal.
For that which I do I allow not, for what I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that
do I.
If then I do that which I would not, I can sin under the law, that it is good.
Now that it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.
For the will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not.
For the good that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Now if I do that which I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth
in me.
Paul said that in his flesh he still sins.
Paul basically says, you know what, there's a lot of times I know what's right and I choose
not to do it.
And I feel the same way a lot of times.
I know what's right.
Look, I know what the Bible teaches.
I know that I should never live a worldly lifestyle.
I know what the Bible teaches.
I've heard it preached for a long time, but you know what, I still choose to break it
sometimes.
Because I'm still a carnal.
I still have a sinful flesh.
I'm not perfect.
Now my spirit is perfect, but my flesh is not.
And that's where these people don't understand the difference.
Because they don't seem to understand the difference that when you get saved you're
in love with the spirit of God.
They don't seem to get that.
Your flesh does not change at all.
Not one bit.
Look, when I got saved, it's not like just magically, wow, man, I never want to watch
movies anymore.
I never want to listen to rock music, man, I just want to read the Bible and just pray
for hours.
Look, that's not reality.
That's a joke.
Your flesh does not change.
Now, God wants you to do what's right.
Your spirit is dwelling inside of you and wants to do what's right, but your flesh is
carnal according to Paul.
Turn to 2 Corinthians 5.
2 Corinthians 5.
Now one thing we don't want to do, because it's just super clear that it's just by believing,
we don't want to meet this crowd halfway in the middle.
That's what a lot of people like to do.
I mean, you'll talk to someone like this and they'll say, well, okay, I get you.
You don't have to turn from your sins, but you have to be willing to turn from your sins.
Or you have to have, you know, a lot of sorrow.
You got to want to make a change.
No, you don't.
It says whosoever believe it.
Look, you know, when there's a kid who gets saved, a six year old kid or an eight year
old kid, what sins are they turning from to get saved?
What sins do they have at the age of six?
Obviously they disobey their parents sometimes, but it's not like a six year old is a drunk
or anything like that.
It's not like they have all these massive sins.
People get saved because they don't want to go to hell and they believe on Jesus Christ.
It's that simple.
Now in 2 Corinthians 5, let's look at verse 17.
It says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.
Old things are passed away.
Behold, all things are become new.
See, the Bible says that when you get saved, old things are passed away.
Notice, all things are become new.
Not some things.
All things.
See, if it was talking about your flesh, that would mean that you're perfect after you get
saved.
Because it says all things are become new.
It's not talking about your flesh.
See, when you get saved, you're indwelled with the Spirit of God.
All things are new.
And all of a sudden you have the Spirit of God that can guide you when you read this
Bible.
But look at this.
Your flesh does not change one bit when you get saved.
That's what these repents have said to people.
They don't understand.
They glory in their sin.
They'll talk about how, man, I used to be a drunk.
It's like, wow, I've never been a drunk.
It's like, I'm glad that you're proud that you used to be a drunk.
And you're glorying about it.
And you preach it behind the palm and say, look at me.
I've turned for my sins.
I used to be a drunk.
I was a lousy, no good person.
And now I believe on Jesus and I'm such a great guy.
Look, I don't have that testimony.
I wasn't a drunk before I was saved.
My wife wasn't a drunk before she was saved.
It's funny that these repents have said to people,
they really brag about how bad a person they were.
Why would you brag about that?
You know, you as a saved person,
the sins that I used to do before I was saved or even
when I was saved, I should be embarrassed about them.
I should consider it shame.
I shouldn't be proud of the fact that I used to sin.
I should be embarrassed about that.
I don't even want people to know about what I used to do
in the past.
I mean, obviously, yeah, I lived a worldly life like
everyone else.
But I'm not going to get up here and glory about how
bad of a person I was.
I don't know why you would do that.
If I had been a drunk before I was saved,
I wouldn't get up here and brag about how I turned
for my sins.
No, that's what they do, though.
Why?
Because they're trusting in what they do,
their reformation.
They're not trusting in the fact that Jesus Christ died
and paid for our sins.
Turn to Genesis 6.
Genesis 6, we have to hurry for the sake of time.
But the fifth reason why we don't have to repent of
our sins to be saved is quite simply this.
Because God repents more than anyone in the Bible.
They have this idea that the word repent means to
turn from your sins.
Well, man, God must have been a pretty bad person.
I mean, God must be pretty bad because he's repenting
all the time.
If repenting always means to turn from your sins,
which they say, then, man, God's pretty bad.
Now, I mean, I don't know if they've ever read the
Bible or if they just choose to ignore it.
They just choose to lie to us because they don't know
how to answer these verses.
But in Genesis 6, notice what it says.
And it repented the Lord that he had made man on
the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have
created from the face of the earth, both man and
beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the
air, for it repenteth me that I have made them.
See, what he says is, you know what?
I'm going to destroy the earth.
He wasn't going to do that before, but he changed his
mind about it, and now he's going to destroy the earth.
Why?
Because the people had gotten wicked.
That's the reason why.
Because of the fact that people were wicked, God's
blessing was not upon them, and only Noah and his
family were spared because of the righteousness of
Noah, the Bible says.
Not just because he was saved, but because he was
actually living a godly life.
We see that.
And so the Bible says here that the Lord repents.
Now, was the Lord turning from his sins?
See, I believe the Bible says in him is no sin,
referring to Jesus Christ.
There's no sin in Jesus Christ.
I don't believe God's a sinner.
I don't know if repentance is sin.
Do people believe God's a sinner?
I don't know.
But the Bible says God repents more than anyone.
Jonah 3, we're going to look at a few more places.
And in Jonah 3, I want you to notice in verse 9,
once again, we're going to see that God repents.
Jonah 3, verse 9, who can tell if God will turn and
repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we
perish not.
The Bible says who can tell if God will turn and
repent, not turn from his sins, but if he will turn
and repent, he'll change his mind, he'll turn from
what he was doing to sparing them.
Because God said he was going to destroy them.
But God turned, he repented, he changed his mind and
decided not to destroy them.
He turned, he repented.
That's what the Bible teaches.
Now, notice verse 10.
So, once again, we see God repenting.
And this is going to lead to our last point.
And the sixth point is this, that repentance of sins
is works salvation.
Amen.
And God saw their works that they turn from their
evil way.
Turning from your evil way is works according to the
Bible.
And God saw their works.
So what were their works that they turned from their
evil way?
Turning from your evil way, turning from your sins,
that is works.
And so if you say that you have to repent of your
sins to be saved, you believe in a works salvation.
These pastors that are out there that are telling
people they have to turn from their sins to be saved.
Look, I hope some of them are confused, but I am
telling you the vast majority of those pastors are
unsaved, false prophets.
And they are not just unsaved, they are bad people.
Look, we meet people in the streets, we talk to
people, we preach the gospel to them that think they
have to turn from their sins to be saved.
But you have pastors behind the pulpit that for 30
years they have been telling people they have to
turn from their sins, they have to change their
lifestyle.
Those are not good people.
They are our enemies in the faith.
They are telling people they have to turn from their
sins, they are preaching a false gospel and they are
wicked people.
And honestly, I think they are more dangerous than
these cults that we have.
I think they are more dangerous than the Galatian
increased stone.
I think they are more dangerous than the Apollo
Kibibwe followers and these people.
You know why?
Because of the fact that it confuses people that are
saved.
There are saved people in these Bible Baptist churches
and I hear pastors say that if you are really saved
you are going to have a lifestyle change.
And they are confusing saved people.
In this room, there are people here that were
confused, that were saved and confused by these
devils.
Not just unsaved people, they are devils.
That is what the Bible would say.
They are preaching a false gospel, they are wicked
people.
Look, if people are preaching a false gospel, there
are enemies.
Look, we will go and talk to a Mormon when we run into
them.
They come and bring the gospel to us.
That is why they are a bad person.
They are doing what the devil wants.
Look, these false preachers that are standing behind
the pulpit and always preach about how you need to
change your lifestyle.
You have to turn from your sins.
If there is no change in your lifestyle, you might
want to question your salvation.
Look, these are devils.
They are bad people.
They are false prophets.
Turn to Deuteronomy 6.
One last place.
Deuteronomy 6.
We are going to look at verse 25.
Honestly, this is really the topic that shows the
difference between what we believe and all of these
other religions.
There are two religions in the world.
The more you preach, the more you live, the more you
see it.
There are two religions.
One religion says work your way to heaven.
One religion says just believe on Jesus Christ.
Look, these repentance of sins preachers have the
same religion as Hinduism, Buddhism, Hinduism,
Hinduism.
Whatever religion you want to say, they believe the
same thing.
They will look at the same verses.
They will literally turn to James 2 and say the exact
same thing.
I remember that I was 20 years old at the time.
It was the second church I went to after I was saved.
The pastor, he was a lying fraud.
When we started going to that church and he lied to
us about being a Calvinist.
He said he was not a Calvinist.
He didn't tell us.
We asked him about that topic and he would not admit
he was a Calvinist.
I preached at his church and he literally said amen
when I was preaching against Calvinism.
What a lying devil these false prophets are.
They are willing to lie and pretend that they believe
like you do.
He pretended like he did not believe in Calvinism
when I was preaching there.
We found out later on, we had been there for a year
that it turns out he was a Calvinist devil.
That is how these Calvinists are.
They won't be honest about what they believe.
He preached a sermon from the book of Jude.
He said what we preach is lasciviousness.
He said if we preach, we will not believe.
If we preach, all you have to do is believe.
We are preaching lasciviousness.
That is what he said.
I was new in the faith.
I didn't know much about repentance.
That sermon did not sound right.
I remember afterwards, we talked to him a couple of
times.
We left the church, me and my friends.
I remember him talking about James 2.
I heard him explain it.
That is the same explanation you would hear from a
Catholic.
There was no difference.
You can't be saved unless you are a disciple.
That is the same thing the Catholics would say.
It is the same thing.
You see, wait a minute.
They believe the same thing.
There is no real difference.
They both believe in a work of salvation.
Deuteronomy 6 verse 25.
It shall be our righteousness if we observe to do
all these commandments before the Lord our God as
He has commanded us.
It is our righteousness if we observe to do all
these commandments.
If we are trusting in us and repenting of our sins
or us reforming our life or changing our life,
that is our righteousness.
If you want to trust that way to get to heaven, go
ahead.
I am going to trust the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
In Him is no sin.
It is our righteousness if we turn from our sins and
trust in how much we read the Bible and change our
lifestyle.
The Bible is very clear.
Salvation is by faith alone.
This topic is a topic we are going to fight here at
this church.
I will be honest with you.
There are certain topics I am going to choose not to
fight because we should not necessarily try to fight
every single battle.
We only have so much energy.
I will tell you what.
This repentance topic will fight this topic.
There are still people that are saved.
People that you guys know that are in these churches.
I want to rescue these people.
I want to pray for these people.
I hope these people are willing to take a stand.
If they listen to this sermon and realize,
man, my preacher is preaching a false gospel.
I hope they have the guts to take the stand.
And leave that church and come to a church like this.
Come to a church that is preaching the right gospel.
I get it.
It is tough.
Let me tell you something.
I was 20 years old.
I went to a church.
I had been there for a year.
I love the people.
I love the church.
I love the preaching.
I found out my pastor was a devil.
You know what you do?
You leave the church and you go to a good church.
Help us to all just have clarity of mind on this.
Maybe there are some verses I didn't cover that some people are confused about.
Just give them the courage to come and talk to me about them.
I will explain what the Bible teaches God.
Help us realize that with hundreds and hundreds of verses.