Thank you very much.
Say it nice and loud.
Jesus, keep me near the cross.
On the verse.
Song number 10.
On the verse.
In the cross.
Be my glory ever.
Till my rapture soul shall fly.
Rest beyond the river.
In the cross, O Lamb of God,
Come, drink, and sing before me.
Help me walk from day to day,
With its shadows for me.
In the cross.
Be my glory ever.
Till my rapture soul shall fly.
Rest beyond the river.
Near the cross I'll watch and cling,
Hoping justly ever.
Till I reach the golden trail,
Just beyond the river.
In the cross.
Be my glory ever.
Till my rapture soul shall fly.
Rest beyond the river.
All right, well, thanks for coming, everybody, this morning.
And if you want a bulletin, just go ahead and lift up your hand.
Brother Fabian will bring you one.
As a reminder, we have our service times every Sunday at 10 30 a.m.
Again at 5 30 p.m. this evening.
We'll be back on Thursday as well at 7 to continue through the book of Acts.
We'll be in chapter 26 this week.
You have the soul winning times below that.
And of course, over on the right hand side,
a happy birthday to those celebrating in the month of November.
So you got a couple birthdays there.
The donuts are in the back, so enjoy those.
And then also a new announcement.
We're going to be having a Thanksgiving potluck dinner.
So typically what we've done in the past is just have a dessert social
where people can kind of meet up before the evening service,
because, yes, we're still going to have church on Thanksgiving.
If there's anything we should be thankful for, it's God.
So we'll honor him by coming here on Thanksgiving.
But typically we've just done desserts.
And this year we're actually going to do a full dinner for anyone who'd like to participate.
Of course, this is a potluck dinner.
So we would we would, you know, hope that people would bring a dish to share.
However, if it's just not possible, if it's not something you can do,
don't feel obligated if you wanted to show up and enjoy a meal with the church family here.
You're more than welcome to do that.
There is a sign up sheet in the back.
So if you're planning to bring something, go ahead and sign your name.
Also, how many people you're going to be having in your party would be helpful as well,
so we can get an idea how much food we need.
And then you can sign up for a main and a side.
Now, when it comes to the desserts,
the church will take care of the pies, apple pie, pumpkin pie, whipped cream.
And what else am I thinking of?
Is there anything else?
What else do you need?
I'm talking about desserts.
Yeah.
But there won't be any eggnog.
So.
But we'll have.
So we'll take care of the pies ice cream.
That's what I'm trying to think of.
Vanilla ice cream to go with the apple pie.
So we'll take care of that.
But what we really need folks who want to participate to bring are the mains.
So, of course, that's going to be things like a turkey, like brisket.
Amen.
OK.
But maybe no brisket this year.
But anyway, if you can bring that stuff, that'd be great if you want to join us.
And we'll just set it up here.
Have a nice little dinner for everybody to enjoy.
And then also it's from 3 to 6 p.m.
So it's important if we're going to have dinner together that you get here at 3 p.m., especially if you're bringing something.
We don't want to be all sitting around eating dinner rolls, waiting for your turkey and green bean casserole to show up at four.
OK, so try to respect the times here and be here on time for that if you're going to participate.
Also, as far as the the preaching service, what I'll probably do is right around five thirty.
Just kind of had everybody sit down.
We won't rearrange anything.
We'll just leave the seating the way it is and maybe just have a brief sermon there about five thirty before we dismiss at six.
And then, yeah, that'll be it.
So it won't be a seven o'clock service that week.
We'll bring that back to six.
But the dinner will start at three p.m.
So if that's something you want to participate in and join us on Thanksgiving, please, again,
do sign up and let us know what you're bringing so everybody can kind of plan accordingly below that.
Don't forget the end of this month on the 26th, we'll be taking our church portraits down here.
So you'll get a have your photo in the yearbook and you'll also receive a free high resolution digital copy of the photo for you to do whatsoever you'd like.
And then on the back, there's also the missions conference coming up that starts this week, Wednesday, November 8th through the 12th.
So there will not be a midweek service here.
I've already announced this and I'm already and I'm still having people ask me, is there going to be a midweek service?
I don't know how to say it any more emphatically.
No. OK.
There will not be a midweek service this week.
OK. Hopefully you can make it up there for one of these other services.
So I really encourage you to do that if you can.
OK. It's going to be a great time of fellowship.
There's lots of people coming from all around the country.
Yeah, even the world are going to be are going to be participating.
And what I really like about our missions conferences here at Faithful Word Baptist Church is that we're not it's not us talking about what we're going to do.
OK. You know, obviously that's part of it.
But it's talk. We talk about what things we've already done.
All of these people are talking about these guest speakers, preachers and others are talking about the work that they've already been doing in these different parts of the world.
And then the hope is to encourage people to to participate in upcoming missions programs and to get a sense of what it's like, what to expect if they were to go to one of these places.
And we're not going there to, you know, dig wells or build schools.
We're going there to preach the gospel.
So this is always a great, great time.
Last time we did this a couple of years ago was very exciting.
And there's lots of other opportunities for fellowship.
There's the risk board game, soul winning opportunities, roller skating night.
So I think Friday night, Friday is kind of the big one.
Friday, Saturday would probably be two great days.
If you can only make a couple of days out of this, if you can make it up Friday or Saturday, I think those are going to be the most packed days anyway.
So make it up any day you can.
Make it up for the whole thing if you can.
If you can't make it up at all, I understand.
But just don't show up here Thursday at seven o'clock rapping on the door because the door is shut and will not be open.
But there will also be the church picnic on Saturday of that event.
So that's our annual church picnic in Tempe, which is a great picnic.
So if you can make it up for that as well, that'd be great to see you there.
I think that'll do it for announcements.
Let's go ahead and sing one more song before we get into the preaching this morning.
All right.
We're going to take your handles with a song number 43.
Next song we'll sing is song number 43, we're marching to Zion.
Song number 43.
We'll be there, O Lord, and let our joys be known.
For in a song we'll scream, for in a song we'll scream,
And bust around the throne and bust around the throne.
We're marching to Zion, hear the devils cry,
And we're marching upwards to Zion,
And hear them sing our song,
And those we first to see, who never knew are come.
The children of the heavenly King,
We speak their joys of love,
We speak their joys of wrath.
We're marching to Zion,
Hear the full, beautiful Zion,
We're marching upwards to Zion,
And we'll hear the city of God.
The hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred streets,
Before we reach the heavenly hills,
Upon the golden streets,
We're marching to Zion,
Hear the full, beautiful Zion,
We're marching upwards to Zion,
And hear the full, beautiful Zion,
And let our songs abound,
And every tear be dried.
We're marching through Emmanuel's throne,
To prayer, world's all mine,
We're marching to Zion,
Hear the full, beautiful Zion,
We're marching upwards to Zion,
And hear the full city of God.
Turn to your Bibles, it's Jonah chapter 3.
We read out of Jonah chapter 3 this morning.
Jonah chapter 3, beginning at verse 1.
The Bible reads,
And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid you.
So Jonah arose and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.
Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.
And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried and said,
Yet for forty days Nineveh shall be overthrown.
So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast,
And put on sackcloth from the greatness of them, even unto the least of them.
For the word came unto the king of Nineveh,
And he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him,
And covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes.
And he calls it to be proclaimed and published to Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles,
Saying, Let neither man nor beast, heard nor flock, taste anything,
Let them not feed nor drink water.
But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God.
Yet he let them turn everyone from this evil way and from the violence that is in their hands.
Who can tell if God will return and repent and turn away from this fierce anger that we perish not?
And God saw their words, that they turned from their evil way,
And God repented of the evil that he said that he would do unto them, and he did not.
Let us pray.
Let us pray. Dear Lord, thank you for this church, Lord. Thank you for this time that we can see to you and listen to your word, Lord.
I pray you be with the deacon, Lord, for him but your Holy Spirit.
Help him to preach to us and help us to apply his sermon to our lives in Jesus' name. Amen.
All right. Amen. So we'll be back in Jonah, chapter number three, a little bit later in the sermon.
But if you would, please turn over to Mark, chapter one.
I'm going to continue on preaching through the book of Mark.
If you've been here the last several Sundays, you know that we're going very slowly.
Typically, a lot of times when we go through a chapter of the Bible, we take it and go a little bit more quickly.
For instance, on Thursday evenings, I know we move pretty quick through, try to get an entire chapter done.
But it's also good sometimes to slow down and really go through these chapters and maybe just look a little bit more closely at these individual verses as we go.
And thus far, we've gotten all the way up to verse 14 over the last few weeks.
And we've looked at the, of course, John's preaching. We've looked at Jesus coming, his baptism.
And we've looked at the temptation of Christ in the wilderness last week.
And we're going to pick it up there after the temptation where Jesus has gone into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights.
And they're being tempted. Afterwards, of course, he returned into Galilee.
And it says there in verse 14, now after that, that there being the baptism of Christ.
After that, John was put in prison. Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and saying the time is fulfilled.
The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel.
And I want to look at that the topic this morning of repentance, what it means there to repent and believe.
Because there's a lot of false doctrine surrounding this word repentance today or the idea of repentance.
And a lot of people teach a lot of different things.
A lot of people teach a lot of false things when it comes to repentance and salvation.
Of course, salvation is a very important topic.
In fact, if it's not the most important topic in the Bible.
And therefore, it's something that we not make sure that we have right.
It's not something we want to be a little murky on.
We want to be clear crystal clear on what it takes to be saved.
And unfortunately, today, even in Baptist churches, they begin to muddy those waters.
And a lot of ways in which they do that, or one way in particular in which they do that,
is where they start to get off on the idea of repentance and what it means to repent.
Because it seems like in the day that we're living in, it's kind of taken on a different connotation, taken on a different meaning,
when we say, hey, someone needs to repent.
And I'll get into all that here in a minute.
But I do want to point out the fact there that it does say in verse 15 that Jesus came and what did he say?
He said that the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent ye and believe the gospel.
So a lot of people want to take those two words there, repent ye and believe the gospel,
those two phrases, or that one phrase rather, and turn it into two different things.
They want to say, hey, repenting is one thing and believing is another.
And they want to separate these things and then impose their own definition, their own unbiblical definition of what it means to repent.
But we'll see here in a minute that simply to repent is to turn from unbelief to belief.
That's what Jesus is saying here. He's saying stop not believing and now believe.
He's saying go from unbelief to belief. He's not saying have a change of mind, results in a change of action.
He's not saying feel sorry or remorseful for your sin and then believe. That's not what repent means in the Bible.
Now in context it could indicate that's what somebody needs to mean, but we cannot automatically just assume that's what repent means.
And we certainly can't do as many like to do this day and age, just tag on these other words, repent of your sins.
A lot of preachers and others will read a verse like that and they'll preach it often that they'll say repent there means to repent of your sins.
It's a phrase you'll hear coming out of Baptist preachers mouths often that we need to repent of our sins and believe the gospel.
However, that phrase repent of your sins is not found anywhere in scripture. You won't find it in the Bible.
And we're Baptist, we base everything that we believe on the Bible.
So if repenting of my sin is something that's necessary for salvation, well, you know what?
It ought to be in this book and because it's the doctrine of salvation, it ought to be here in abundance. Wouldn't you think?
Don't you think of something as important as salvation that's being covered in the scripture would require repentance from sin?
Don't you think that phrase would be in the Bible? And we're talking about salvation. We're talking about how people get to heaven.
Well, you got to repent of your sin. Oh, great. So I expect to find chapter and verse multiple times where that phrase is used.
It's not there. It's in the Book of Mormon. It's something that's taught by the Catholic Church.
It's something that's taught by Pentecostals, but it's not found in your King James Bible. It's not there. Repent of your sins.
So it's a very important doctrine. And I know probably most everybody in this room, if not everybody, already understands this,
especially if you're already saved. You know that you didn't have to turn from your sin or give up sin or repent of your sin in order to get saved.
You understood that salvation is by grace through faith, that it's not of works lest any man should boast.
You've already put your faith in Christ. There's probably nothing new that I'm going to tell you this morning,
but this is something we have to remain short up on. This is something we have to understand because we're just being inundated
and just barraged by this phrase, by this false doctrine today, even in the Baptist world, that one must repent or turn from sin in order to be saved.
And it's a false doctrine. If you would, go over to Matthew chapter 21. Matthew chapter 21 will actually be done in Mark.
I just want to develop a message this morning from those two verses, particularly in verse 15 where he said,
Repent and believe the gospel. What did Jesus mean by that? Matthew chapter 21, look at verse 30 when it says,
Verily I say unto you that the publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.
Now who is he preaching to here? He's preaching to the Pharisees. He's preaching to that religious sect that was opposed to Christ.
And he's telling them that the publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.
Now you say, what's a publican? Well, that's a tax collector. You say, what's a harlot? Well, that would be a whore or prostitute.
I can't believe you'd say that from the pulpit. Those are Bible words. OK. Whore is a Bible word. So, you know, don't clutch your pearls just yet.
You know, but think about what Jesus is saying to these publicans. He's saying tax collectors, you know, which nobody's a fan of.
You know, no one grows up saying, I want to work for the IRS. You know, that's something.
I don't know how people end up in that job, but, you know, they do. OK, but he's saying these these publicans,
you know, these people who collect taxes on behalf of the Romans, who are often corrupt in Jesus' day.
It was just assumed that they were corrupt. Them and harlots.
I mean, he's saying the dregs of society, the people that want that that most people would look at and say they're scum.
They're worthless. OK, that is the general feeling towards people that are involved in professions like that.
At least back then, Jesus is saying that publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.
Right. And what is he saying? He's saying you with all of your you know, you got you crossing all your T's and dotting all your I's with the law.
You know, you're apparently some, you know, outwardly you look like a very religious and spiritual figure.
You seem to be everyone would look at you and assume that you're this moral, upstanding individual.
Well, guess what? The people that are not morally upstanding, the people whose lives are full of sin are going into heaven and you're not.
They're going in before you. And why is that?
Well, it's because they repented of their sin because the tax collector stopped being a tax collector because the harlots quit being harlots.
No, he didn't say those that were publicans and those that were harlots are going into the kingdom of God before you.
You know, I think those that the publicans and heart and the harlots in present tense, that's what they are.
That's who they are. That's what they do. And yet they're going to heaven.
Now, don't you think that being a whore, a prostitute, if you had to repent of a sin to go to heaven, that would be one of them?
That would probably be one of them, wouldn't you think? Let's just say, you know, because that's the thing.
People say, well, you got to repent of your sin. Well, what sins? Well, just the big ones.
Because who here can repent of their sin? All of their sin? Nobody.
You know, Paul said, you know, that in my flesh that I know that is in me, that is in my flesh.
Dwelleth no good thing. You know, Paul, even he admitted that he was a sinner.
So who here can repent of all their sin? No one. Right.
Well, you don't have to repent of all sin, just the big ones. You know, you got to quit being a drunk.
You got to quit being a whore. You got to quit being an adulterer and a fornicator. Right.
Well, Jesus said, hey, the harlots go in before you. I mean, if anyone were to make a list of sins that you should probably repent of in order to earn your way to heaven.
I'm sure being a prostitute would be somewhere near the top, maybe behind being a murderer or something like that.
OK, but he's saying here, look, they're going in before you. Why?
Well, he explains why in verse thirty two. For John, that's John the Baptist, came on to you in the way of righteousness.
We just read about that in the previous verses of Mark one, where he lifted up his voice in the wilderness.
He came on to you in the way of righteousness and you believed him not.
OK, he's saying you didn't say and you didn't repent of your sin. He said the problem with you is that when John came, you didn't believe him.
Right. You didn't put your faith and trust in what he was saying.
But the publicans and harlots, those that heard John, believed him.
And when he had seen it, seen what? When you saw the preaching of John and you saw the harlots and the publicans believe what he was saying.
You repented not afterward. So who is he saying that needed to do the repentance in this group of people?
The publicans. He didn't say, you know, he didn't say that it was the harlots and the excuse me, the Pharisees.
They're the ones that need to be repenting. I mix my words up. He's saying he didn't say, hey, the harlots and the publicans,
they're the ones that needed to repent in this situation. He's saying the problem with you is that when you saw them believe, you didn't repent.
OK, you repented not afterward that you might believe him. So what's the repentance that needed to take place?
Was it the publican stop, you know, stop cheating people and stop being crooked in their dealings with man?
Was it that the harlots give up their harlotry and start living a clean and moral life?
Or was it that the Pharisees stopped rejecting what John was saying, the preaching of Christ, the preaching of the gospel and believe on him?
Well, it's the last one, isn't it? That's what he's saying. He's saying, look, the problem is with you guys is that you did not repent and believe the gospel.
So that's what Jesus means in Mark 1 when he says, repent ye and believe the gospel. These aren't two separate events.
He's talking about the same thing that needs to take place in a person's life. They need to stop rejecting the gospel and believe it.
That's the repentance or the turning that needs to take place.
Now, if you would go to Acts chapter 20, Acts chapter number 20. Look at verse 20, Acts chapter 20 and verse 20.
Of course, they have, you know, every false doctrine has its proof texts or rather texts that are ripped out of context in order to attempt, in an attempt to prove what they're preaching.
And what a lot of times they'll do is they'll just lift phrases out of the Bible and then just attach their own meaning to it.
For example, when they say, well, Jesus preached repentance. Well, amen. No one's denying that.
I'd have to be pretty ignorant of the Bible to say, well, John never preached repentance and, you know, Jesus never preached repentance and the apostles never preached repentance.
You know, obviously they preach repentance. That's not what we're saying. We're not denying that repentance is something in its Bible, in the Bible.
What we're saying is that people have repentance wrong today. They have they've missed. They've they've they've defined it wrongly.
OK. Look at Acts chapter 20. Of course, this is Paul in his writings, and he says in verse 20 and how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you,
but have showed you and have taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks.
What did he testify? What was it that he did not hold back? Repentance towards God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
So he's saying, I testified. What did I testify? My message was this repentance towards God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, a lot of people who want to preach this repent of your sins gospel, they'll see, aha, see, Paul preached repentance.
Right. But again, it's the same repentance that is being preached by Jesus in Mark one, repent and believe. Right.
What's another word for belief? Faith. Right. So he's saying repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
They want to say, no, the repentance towards God there and the faith towards Lord Jesus Christ are two different things.
They want to separate these words and say, you know, these mean two different actions.
Right. This repentance is, you know, you're turning from your sin and putting your faith in Jesus.
OK. Should we separate God and Jesus in this verse as well? Right. Because it's repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Isn't Jesus Christ God? That should be a hearty amen on that one. Yes, he is. OK. We're not Jehovah Witnesses here.
OK. We're not Mormons here. We believe in the deity of Christ, the eternal sonship of Christ. OK.
So, yeah, the repentance towards God is faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what he's saying there. He's saying, look, the repentance that needs to take place is that you put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
OK, that's that's pretty simple to understand.
But, you know, that's that's a text that a lot of these people who preach this false doctrine of repenting of your sins to get saved want to use.
Well, you know, the Bible teaches you got to repent towards God and put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen. The problem is that just as Jesus Christ and God are the same, the repentance and putting your faith in Jesus Christ are the same.
OK. Now, if you would go over to go over to Hebrews Chapter six, we're going to look at a lot of passages this morning.
But stick with me. Hebrews Chapter number six. Now, if you were to ask somebody, you know, what is it?
What does it mean to repent today or for you to pick up some kind of a commentary or any kind of even, you know, Bible software?
And you just look up that definition. Often what you're going to find is they'll say that repentance means to turn from sin and and to put your faith in Jesus.
Or another cute little alliterated way that they put this is you got to turn from sin to the Savior.
You got to go from sin to the Savior. Look, you'll see this definition, you know, and a lot of different resources.
You'll hear a lot of different preachers say that, you know, and points for alliteration.
You know, I like alliteration. It makes things memorable, easy to remember. Right.
But points out, you know, it's you get one point for alliteration, then you get negative points for teaching a false doctrine.
So, you know, you're still in the negative in my book when you're repeating preaching, turn from sin to the Savior.
OK. Because here's the thing, if you think about it, sin turning from one thing to another, you know, you're kind of saying you're replacing one thing for another.
Right. You got to you got to praise sin in your life with the Savior. But one when it comes to sin and Jesus, one is not an alternative to another.
OK, you got to kind of think about this a little bit. All right.
You know, Jesus is not a replacement for sin. OK. I understand he took our sins upon him, that he became sin for us.
Right. But he's not like an alternative to sin. I mean, just think about it. It doesn't even make sense.
Well, I was going to sin, but then Jesus. Like, what do you even mean by that? I got to turn from sin to the Savior.
You know, it's a cute saying, but Jesus is not a replacement for sin. You follow what I'm saying?
It'd be like me saying, you know, you got to turn from from, you know, you got to turn from car bumpers to ham sandwiches.
You say it doesn't make any sense. I know because they're not related. One has nothing to do with the other, does it?
If I said, hey, you got to turn from Pepsi to Coke and amen to that, you got to turn from that Pepsi to Coke,
you know, that would make sense because one is the substitute for the other. They're related.
Jesus has Jesus isn't an alternative to sin. OK. He obviously cleanses us from sin. OK.
But you don't turn from sin to the Savior. It's a phrase and a saying that doesn't even make sense.
Look, I have you go to Hebrews Chapter six, look at verse one. It says, Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ,
let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works.
Repentance from dead works. What are the dead works?
He's talking about, you know, trusting in, you know, your own works, because that's what a lot of people are doing.
Right. What's the repentance that needs to take place to stop trusting in works that bring don't bring life?
Repentance from dead works. OK. Now, if I if I turn from sin in my life, is that a work?
You better believe it. Anybody who's tried to get sin out of their life knows what a work that is.
That's a daily battle. That's a that's a you know, every single day.
That's a grind for some people, especially, you know, if we've got bigger sins in our lives.
You know, if we've had sins that we've dealt with for a long time, you know,
we have to work very hard and be very vigilant to keep sin out of our lives.
Obviously, over time, it gets easier and easier. Right. We get the victory over sinner lives.
But turning from sin is a work, isn't it? Well, let me say this.
If you're trusting in you turning from your sin in order to get you to heaven, that's a dead work.
We're not we're not saved by we're not saved by works.
You know, we're saved by grace and not of works. Ephesians Chapter two. We all know that.
So let's let's repent from dead works. That's not laying in the foundation of repentance from dead works.
You know, he's saying let's not lay again the foundation of that.
We're not going to trust in our works to be saved. Not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works.
Stop trusting in ourselves. And we don't need we don't need to go over this again.
Right. The leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ. Right. Let's go on to perfection.
We don't have to go back and relay all this groundwork saying we don't need to go over again.
The fact you need to repent from dead works and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
He's saying let's not we don't have to start over with the gospel. OK. You can follow me on that one.
If you would go to Genesis chapter number six. Genesis chapter number six.
You know, another definition that's out there is people say, oh, well, you know, repentance is a is a feeling of remorse for having done wrong.
That's what they'll say. What does it mean to repent?
Well, they're saying it means to feel bad for your sin and to stop doing it.
You know, that's a very well, that's what a lot of people would say. Hey, define repentance for me.
You know, maybe if you wanted to word it a little more eloquently, you would say it's a feeling of remorse for having done wrong.
Right. That's one definition that I found. But that cannot possibly be the definition of repentance according to the scripture.
It's actually a much simpler definition. Repentance or to repent in the Bible does not mean to have a feeling of remorse over having done wrong.
And the proof of that is that God repents more than anyone in scripture.
Well, people say, well, repent, it means to feel sorry for your sin.
OK, so when God was repenting, was he feeling sorry for his sin? Well, of course not.
And no one that preaches, you know, we got to repent of your sins to be saved would agree with that.
They would say, well, no, of course not. God doesn't have to repent of sin. God is sinless.
OK, well, then your definition doesn't fit with the scripture, does it?
Because if you're going to sit there and tell me that to repent means to feel sorry for sin,
then you're suggesting that God, who repents more than anybody else in the Bible, somehow feels sorry for sin.
Feel sorry, feels remorse over having done wrong. OK, so the definition for repentance has changed over time.
And it's taken on a new meaning today. But, you know, at least with with certain crowds, you know,
and unfortunately, even amongst Baptists, look at Genesis chapter number six, verse five.
The Bible says in verse five, And God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
So God's looking at man upon the earth and he's saying, man, it's out of control.
His wickedness is great. It's like what he said.
Excuse me, of Sodom and Gomorrah, that they're you know, that they were exceedingly sinful.
But it wasn't just your average sinners, because obviously there's always going to be an element of sin with man in the earth.
But he's saying that, you know, throughout time, there's been different times throughout history
where the sinfulness of man has been, you know, above par. Right.
It's it's been exceedingly great. It's been more than normal. It's been excessive.
OK, God's looking down and saying man's sinful is exceeding great.
It's it's great in the earth to the point that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
That's all man thought about was evil, sinful things.
They just constantly were thinking about all these wicked things all the time.
OK. And now notice verse six, and it repented the Lord.
So who's doing the repenting here? The Lord. Right.
It repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart.
He's saying, man, they're so wicked, they're so sinful. I wish I hadn't even made man.
OK. Of course, we know we're leading up to the flood here.
So he's going to do something about it. But, you know, he's he's he's looking down and seeing the exceedingly great wickedness of man.
And he's saying, I wish I hadn't even made them. It repents me that I made them.
He's saying, I wish I hadn't done it. He's what? Changing his mind.
He's just changing his and it's just a matter of opinion. Right. Well, what's interesting is who's doing wrong here?
Man, who's the one that's exceedingly sinful? Who has something to feel remorse over? Man.
But who does the repenting? God. God's the one that's repenting, not man.
That's because repentance does not mean to feel remorse over having done wrong. Repentance simply means this one word.
I can define it one word. Turn. That's what it means. It means to turn.
For example, this morning I was on my way to church and the 10 got backed up.
I don't know what happened. But, you know, Murphy happened.
So I had to get off on Grant. It took me like 10 minutes to go from Speedway to Grant.
And typically what I do on Sunday, on the first Sunday of every month, is I take a right when I get off on Grant.
And I and I go down to King Donuts, you know, with the pink boxes that you all love. Right.
And that's where we get our donuts for Donut Sunday. However, due to the time and the fact that I knew trying to come back the other way,
coming west on Grant was going to be even worse and backed up.
I said, you know what, I'm going to just go down to Safeway and buy the donuts.
Hopefully they were sufficient for you this morning. I know there wasn't as much variety.
But there was chocolate with sprinkles. But what did I do in that moment?
You know, I left the house intending to go to King Donuts, but I ended up at Safeway.
I turned. Right. I repented. I said, you know, I was going to go this way, but then I repented and I turned and went that way.
If I were to say, hey, I was going to go to King Donut this morning, but then I repented and went to Safeway.
That would that's grammatically correct. It's not how we would talk today, obviously.
But, you know, that's you know, that's how I that would have been. People would have said, yeah, that's what you did.
Oh, you mean you went you were going to go to King Donut, but then you felt sorry.
Then you felt remorse for having denied Safeway your money and you took a left. Is that what happened this morning?
No, there was no emotion involved, at least with that part. I mean, being caught in traffic, we all know the emotions we go through.
Right. And we have to practice mindfulness, remind ourselves that, you know, we are not the sum of our thoughts.
OK. But, you know, I did not I did not go to Safeway because I felt bad.
I didn't repent and go there. I repented because I simply instead of going right, I went left.
I changed my mind. I turned. OK, so repent or repentance, you know, repent and all its derivatives always have to be taken within the context of scripture.
You can't just say it means this one. This is what it means every time.
And then just apply that, you know, in mass to all the instances which it's used throughout scripture.
OK, that's how you get in a serious false doctrine and serious false doctrine because we're talking about the doctrine of salvation.
Repentance simply means to turn. Go to First Thessalonians, chapter number one, First Thessalonians, chapter number one.
Let me just read to you a few a handful of scriptures in which repentance in turn are used synonymously in Jeremiah 31, verse 19.
Surely after that I was turned, I repented. And after that, I was instructed.
Jeremiah 18, if that nation against whom I pronounced turn from their evil way, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do under them.
If they turn from their evil. Right. That's Jeremiah 18.
If that wicked nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil way.
And I will repent of the evil that I thought I'm doing. Now, think about that in the context of what I just explained, that repent means turn.
And it does not mean to feel sorry for your for your sin or remorse for having done wrong.
If repent meant to feel remorse over having done wrong, wouldn't Jeremiah 18 read a little differently?
Wouldn't it have been easier to say if the nation against whom I have pronounced repent, then I will turn from from the evil that I thought to do under them?
Wouldn't that make that would make more sense than that? And, you know, that would be maybe a better wording.
Right. Because if repent automatically means to feel sorry. Right. To turn from evil.
Then he would say that nation, if it what? Repent from there. Repent. I will turn from the evil. Right.
But it doesn't read that way. It says if they will turn from their evil. Right.
Meaning if they will stop doing wickedness, if they will feel remorse, then I will repent.
Speaking the Lord, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do under them.
And when the Bible says that the Lord does evil, it's because evil is another word that has different meanings.
Right. It doesn't mean sin. It means doing harm to somebody.
Saying I won't do I won't bring harm. I will repent. I will turn right from the evil that I thought to do under them.
You know, one of the reasons why maybe it uses turn and repent here in Jeremiah 18 is just because it sounds better.
You have to remember that when the translators translated the King James Version,
they were translating a book that was intended to be read aloud in churches. Right.
Because back then, you didn't just have Bibles en masse. Right.
You didn't have a Bible in your car and several at your home.
And you didn't have a Bible that you left at church to save your seat. You know who you are. Right.
And I'm fine with it. I don't care. I just think it's funny. Right.
You had you know, you had there was one, you know, one copy or very few copies and you had to go to church to hear it.
So when the King James writers are translating the Bible, say, let's make this sound good.
And that's why the King James Bible sounds so good. Right.
If he had said, you know, if every man turned excuse me, if that nation against whom I pronounced repent, I will repent.
It's kind of redundant. Right. It's not as it doesn't flow as well.
You know, obviously that's an arbitrary thing. It's a matter of opinion.
But he's saying if they will turn from their evil, I will repent because repent in turn are synonymous terms.
OK. Jeremiah 26, if so be they will harken and turn every man from his evil way.
Well, don't you mean repent? No, because that you can't. That's not what repent means.
If you will turn every man from his evil way, well, just say repent, because we all know repent means to feel bad for your sin and quit doing it.
No, that's not why it's used there. I will turn.
Excuse me. If they will harken and turn every man from his evil way that I may repent me of the evil.
So there again, it's another example in Jeremiah where he's saying, hey, you need to turn from your evil way and I will repent.
You know, you need to stop being sinful. I'll stop being sinful.
That would make any sense because it's God that we're talking about doing the repenting here.
Ezekiel 14, verse six, Therefore, say unto the house of Israel,
Thus saith the Lord God, repent and turn yourselves from idols and turn away your faces from all your abominations.
Now, again, you have to take repent in context.
God is being real specific here. Repent and turn. Right.
He's saying turn, turn yourselves from your rivals. Stop doing that. Have a change of mind.
Turn from your rivals. Repent and turn away your faces. Right.
You're saying why is it if repent means turn, why is he why is he saying repent and turn?
Because he's emphasizing what it is that they need to do. He's being emphatic. Repent, turn, turn away your faces.
He uses turn twice. Right. He says turn yourselves from idols and turn away your faces.
I mean, God's really just trying to get across to them. Hey, you need to stop doing this.
You need to change. You need to repent. You need to turn. Right. Often we do that.
You know, when we're saying we're trying to emphasize a point with people, we'll repeat the same point.
We're trying to emphasize a point with people. We repeat the same point.
Okay. I do it all the time. You've probably noticed. All right.
Luke 17. Take heed to yourselves. If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him.
And if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times a day and seven times a day,
turn again to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. Okay.
So again, repent, turn. It all means the same thing.
Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 2. It says in verse 2,
We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention you in our prayers.
Verse 5, For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance, as you know what manner of men we were among you, for your sake.
Verse 6, And ye became followers of us and the Lord, having received the word
and much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost, so that you were examples to all them
that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded out the word of the Lord,
not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad,
so that we need not to speak anything. For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in
we had unto you, and how ye did turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.
So what's the great example that they set? What is their reputation that's being sounded abroad
in Achaia, Macedonia, and abroad? To where Paul is saying, hey, your reputation precedes you.
What is it that they did? They turned to God from idols.
But notice here, it says that they became followers of God, having received the word,
and in order to do that, they had to turn from God from idols.
Now, are there certain sins that you need to repent of to get saved? Yes. Idolatry.
Do you need to repent from idolatry to be saved? Yes.
Just like you have to repent of any other false doctrine, right?
Because idolatry is you putting your trust in a literal idol. You're saying this carved image is God,
and you worship it. Obviously, you can't continue to worship an idol and say,
well, I put my faith in the true and living God, which is invisible in heaven, and in his Son,
and his resurrection. So obviously, they had to turn to God from idols.
So yeah, there's certain instances where you have to repent from a particular sin like idolatry.
But again, that's why you have to consider things in context.
The Bible requires that we do a little bit more critical thinking,
and not just cherry pick a couple passages and then just apply some broad definition to a word,
and just say, well, in every instance, this is what it means.
But again, the word repent is not used here.
But could it not have read how you repented to God from idols?
How you did repent from your idolatry and turned to God?
That would be grammatically correct to put repent in there.
Because what are they doing? They're turning to God from idolatry.
If you would go over to Luke chapter 13, Luke chapter number 13.
This is another one that you'll hear often quoted by those that would promote a false doctrine regarding repentance.
Because they'll always say, oh, you know, that's what we always get accused of.
Well, you guys don't preach repentance. Excuse me.
I mean, I'm trying to encourage people to repent constantly.
I'm constantly trying to preach to get people to stop sinning.
I'm constantly trying to get people to stop doing the wrong thing and do the right thing.
And the Bible's doing the same thing. I get up and I preach the Bible and I just find myself preaching repentance.
Look, you can't preach the Bible and not preach that people should repent.
But what I don't preach is that people, in order to go to heaven,
have to trust in their own work of turning from sin in their life instead of putting all of it on Jesus.
That's what I don't preach because that's not the gospel.
The gospel is easy. For God so loved the world.
I mean, if God loves us that much, you know, God commended his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
You know, God commended his love toward us. What does it mean when he commends his love?
Well, if I were to recommend something, I'd say, hey, this place is better.
Hey, could you recommend a good pizza place? As a matter of fact, I can.
I'm happy to report that I finally found a place in Tucson.
And I'll wait until they sponsor me before I announce it publicly from pulpit.
But if I said, hey, this pizza place, you need to go to such and such, it's transplant pizza.
It's Detroit style. It's amazing. It's about seven miles in off the freeway on Speedway.
I've had Detroit original pizza in Detroit. This is every bit as good.
Highly recommend it, right? I recommend it. I commend it, right?
I'm saying it's better than the other ones, right? So when the Bible says that God commended his love toward us.
What is he saying? He's saying my love is better than love anybody else.
There is nobody else that's going to love you like God does.
We can't even begin to fathom how much God loves every single one of us.
And how how do we know that's true? God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners.
Christ died for us. We know that God loves us like better more than anybody else.
Because in spite of the fact that we're sinful, that we're sinners, Christ still died for us.
We can look at the cross and say, God must love me because he took my sin upon him.
He paid a debt I could not pay. Right?
You know, he's the one that took all my sin upon him. That's God's love, right? While we were yet sinners.
It doesn't say God commended his love toward us and that after we repented of our sin, God died for us.
Well, if me repenting of my sin is all I needed to go to heaven, then why did Jesus have to die?
And then would you say that's the love of God? Hey, stop sinning.
Do something that's really hard and you can come to heaven.
That would be God making salvation difficult, right?
And the gospel, the glad tidings, the good news of the gospel is that it's easy to be saved.
That's why so many people stumble on it. That's why so many people choke over the simplicity that is in Christ.
Because their pride gets involved because they've been taught from a young age that if you do good,
you'll be rewarded and that somehow heaven is something that you earn.
They don't want to admit that they're not worthy. They don't want to have to trust in somebody else to get them to heaven.
You know, it's kind of ironic that, you know, the simplicity that's in Christ is what makes it so difficult for people to get saved.
God made it so easy that now people have a hard time with it. It's ironic.
Now, if you look there in Luke Chapter 13, let's just move along.
He says in verse one, there were present at that season some that told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
You say, what happened there? You know, the Bible isn't going to great detail.
And I'm sure there's some historian archeologists out there that has some long drawn out explanation of what it means that Pilate mingled their blood with their sacrifices.
But obviously it's some kind of some kind of violence took place where people were killed.
There's some kind of abomination going on. Is it their sacrifices or the sacrifices that he then that there is a human sacrifice?
I don't know. But the point is, is that people died.
These Galileans are telling them that there's people who Pilate had mingled, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices, meaning they'd slain them.
You know, it sounds like human sacrifice. And Jesus answering said to them, suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all Galileans.
He's saying, do you think they were worse than anybody else because they suffered such things?
He's saying, do you think it's because the Galileans were so wicked that Pilate did these things?
I tell you nay. He's saying, no, it's not because of how wicked they are. But except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
OK. And what he's saying is, you know, unless you repent, unless you stop trusting in whatever it is you're trusting and believe the gospel, you're going to be destroyed.
Well, if you continue to reject me. Right. Because that's the Bible says, you know, he came onto his own and his own received him not.
Right. But as many as received him to them gave you power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
OK. So he's just kind of warning them. He's being a little cryptic here, but he's saying, except you repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
You know, they might have to work out what the repentance is there.
He's saying, don't reject. If you continue to reject me, this place is going to be destroyed by the Romans because that's who Pilate is. Right.
Pilate is a Roman. He's a Roman ruler. And he's saying and what Jesus is saying to these people is saying, if you continue to reject me,
if you do not repent, if you do not turn and believe on me, you shall all likewise perish.
And don't miss that word likewise. OK, that's an important you know, every words in the Bible for a reason.
Jesus used this word for a reason. What is the word likewise mean?
If you look it up, it literally means in the same way. In like manner, in the same way that they perished at the hands of Pilate.
So will you. If you don't, if you reject the Messiah, if you reject Christ, if you reject me, then you will be destroyed of the Romans.
Isn't that what happened? That's exactly what happened. You know, he's predicting it's prophetic.
You're going to perish just like them. Pilate is going to come and kill you. Right.
Then he gives another example in verse four, or those 18 upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and slew them,
thinking that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem.
So some tower fell somewhere. This is probably a current event. Right. And crushed a bunch of people, killed 18 people.
Right. Maybe it was in the news ticker that night or something. I don't know. Right.
But he's saying, do you think that happened to them just because they were so super wicked?
Verse one, I tell you, nay, but except you repent, you shall all likewise perish.
It's a very prophetic verse because that's what the Romans did. They came and tore down the temple.
They tore down all their towers. They destroyed Jerusalem. They burned it. Right.
So that's why he's using that word likewise. OK. But people today, they want to grab these verses and say, you know,
if you repent or perish, turn or burn. Right. But, you know, the word likewise there is
is telling us specifically what Jesus is saying here.
If you continue to reject me, if you continue to reject the Christ, the Romans are going to come and destroy you.
OK, so we can't just lift these verses out and say, you know, that's what he means there to feel sorry for your sin.
And and you'll or perish, because even that definition doesn't even make sense in the context,
because he's saying, were these people worse than anybody else?
No, like they don't have any more repenting of sin to do than anyone else.
So it doesn't even make sense to use it that way. Anyway, let me move on here.
Go to John, chapter number 20. John, chapter number 20. OK.
Again, if we had to repent of sin in order to be saved, don't you think you'd find that phrase somewhere in the Bible?
You think you'd just be clearly taught somewhere?
Instead of just turning to verses that use the word repent and then just, you know, changing what they mean or attaching a meaning there,
don't you don't you think these people be able to rely on crystal clear verses that just say, you know,
in order to go to heaven, something to the effect of in order to go to heaven, one must turn from their sin,
must stop sinning and then, you know, and then believe on Jesus.
That would be like this two part process. Don't you think that would be explained clearly in the Bible?
Is God like God forgot that part, like he's trying to hide that from us, like, well, you figure that part out.
You know, to go back to the Greek, you know, read these other books, wait for somebody else to come along and explain it to you.
No, God has given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness in the scriptures.
And in particular, he's given us the book of John. And if you look at John, chapter 20, look at verse 30.
It says, and many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.
He's saying there's a lot of other things that Jesus did that aren't even recorded in this book.
Right. There's just not even written because, you know, there's not enough volumes in the world to contain all the things that Jesus began to preach and do.
The volumes would fill the world. OK. But, he says, verse 31, these things are written that you may believe.
He's saying the things that are written are here for a very specific purpose.
The things that are written in this book, the book of John, are here for a very specific purpose.
That you might believe that Jesus is the Christ. OK.
Now, some people will argue with this and say, well, you know, you can't just rely on one, say, just one book is enough to get somebody saved.
That's exactly what John is saying on the inspiration of the Holy Ghost.
I'm not going to sit here and argue with God. If God said that the things that are written in this book are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ.
That's why that book is written. Meaning, I believe that if all you had was the gospel of John, you could get somebody saved.
I mean, think about it. The most famous verse on salvation is there.
John 3 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
I mean, that is the gospel message in John. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed the name the Son of God.
You know, go into the new birth. I mean, just it's all throughout the Bible. Believe. What's it take to be saved? Believe.
I mean, you look it up in the book of John. It's just believe, believe, believe, believe, believe faith, faith, faith, faith, faith, faith, faith.
He that believeth, believeth, believeth. It's all through the book of John.
So when John says, hey, the things that are written in this book, the book that I have written, are written so that you might believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, I believe that.
And then people say, oh, well, you got to get you got to get John in the context of all the other scriptures. Oh, all those other scriptures that don't talk about repentance being turning from sin are those ones.
But that's how they try to snow people. Well, you can't you can't just go off the book of John and what he's saying here because, you know, you have to remember that the other books do talk about repentance.
I'm not denying that they talk about repentance. What I'm saying is that you've got repentance wrong.
And because repent is simply to turn or to, as Jesus said, repent and believe the gospel.
That's why the book of John doesn't even need to use the word repent, which it doesn't.
A book that just comes out and says these things are written that you might believe.
Many other things Jesus taught and did, they're not written here.
But what is written, what we made sure to write down are the things that are written so that you might believe that Jesus Christ is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his name.
I mean, John's just saying everything that's written here is so that you can have life, that you can believe and be saved.
That's what he's saying.
But what's not in the book of John? Repent, repentance, repenting, which isn't anywhere in the Bible, repent death.
Repent and all its derivatives are completely missing from a book that claims to be written so that people can get saved.
I mean, John dropped the ball, didn't he? If repentance, repenting is what's needed to be saved.
It's not there because it's not needed. Repent just means to turn.
Now let me in closing deal with the accusation that's often leveled against us.
People say, oh, you're just teaching that people can live however they want and go to heaven.
Well, that's what the Bible says.
Yeah, yeah. Whosoever believeth in him.
Whosoever, meaning anybody, of any, you know, it doesn't matter what color their skin is,
doesn't matter what background they have, doesn't matter what they're doing or what kind of life they're living.
Whosoever, the drunkard, yes. The harlot, yes. The publican, yes.
The murderer, yes. If they believe on Christ, they will be saved.
Well, you've got to repent of murder. How do you repent of murder?
Just don't do it anymore. Oh, oh, what a great, you know, what a great moral victory.
You stopped killing people. How do you repent of murder?
Revive them, dig them back up. Sorry about that. I feel really bad.
You know, performing CPR on a corpse. I'm repenting.
You can't repent of murder. It's done. Repentive adultery. Can't take that back.
Oh, no, just feel sorry for it. Look, people feel sorry for sin all the time.
Even wicked people, you know, they wake up the next morning, they roll over and think about everything they did last night.
Look at that stranger and go, man, I shouldn't have done that. They feel bad. And then they turn around and go out and do it again.
You know, feeling sorry for sin isn't going to get you saved.
When people say, oh, you guys just teach that you can live however you want and go to heaven.
Amen. That's what the Bible says. Because that's the love of God towards sinful man.
I mean, I thank God that he didn't sit there and expect me to do this and do that and do the other thing in order to merit salvation.
That God just looked down at me and saw just some poor, lowly, lost sinner and says, I'll save you anyway.
And when I realized that and I got saved, you know what that did to me? It put a love of God in my heart.
I said, wow, God really loves me. Go back to Jonah chapter number three. Jonah chapter number three.
What we're not saying is that people shouldn't repent in the sense of people should get sin out of their lives.
People absolutely should get sin out of their lives. 100 percent. And as I stated earlier, that's like a big part of my ministry.
I mean, do I really need to get you guys? How many people in here need to get saved this morning?
Any one of you could probably take somebody aside and get them saved. I don't need to do that this morning.
I didn't get up and preach a gospel message. I've got to combat false doctrine regarding salvation.
That's what I'm doing. You know, but what I spend most of my time trying to do is teaching doctrine,
teaching the Bible and trying to get people to change, to turn, to stop doing something and start doing something.
Whether they feel bad about it or not, you know, obviously making people feel guilty as they should helps.
It's kind of a motivator. But it's also kind of a natural reaction when we're told we're done wrong.
You know, so we get accused saying, oh, you guys don't repeat repentance. No, we do.
We do. We preach repentance in the sense of feeling sorry about sin, if you want to use that definition.
But what we're saying is that repentance from sin is something that follows salvation.
Not that it's an evidence of salvation, but something that would come after that.
OK, look, go ahead and repent of sin before you get saved and then get saved and then go ahead and keep repenting of sin afterwards.
You know, repent sin of sin on either side of salvation all the days of your life.
OK, I'm going on record. You guys, all of us, self-included, need to repent of sin and never stop doing it.
Once once we get one out, let's start working on the other one and keep our guard up.
OK, Jesus preached that. He said, go and sin no more.
He said it to the lepers. He said to the woman taking adultery. Look at Jonah. How'd you go there, right?
Chapter three, verse one.
And yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So he goes into the midst of Nineveh and says, God's going to destroy the city.
So the people of Nineveh, notice what they did first. It was the first thing that they did before they started putting on sackcloth and ashes and showing God how sorry they were.
So to try and stave off the wrath of God because they didn't want to be destroyed. What's the first thing that they did?
So the people of Nineveh did what? Believed God. They believed the preaching. They believed what the preacher said.
They put their faith in God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth and from the greatest of them, even to the least of them.
You know, the repentance came after they believed, not before.
Well, let's proclaim a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest even to the least of them.
And then let's see if this is true. Then maybe we'll believe. Or maybe God will grant us the ability to believe.
You know, this is the weird stuff that's out there. But even in these simple Bible stories we see it's belief, the repentance came afterwards, not before.
Which is exactly what so many other people want to preach. Oh, you got to repent first.
That's why they used to have things in churches like these holiness movements and things like that.
They'd have a thing called the mourner's bench. They just have some rough wooden bench that if you wanted to get saved,
you had to come to church and sit on that wooden bench, that mourner's bench. And everyone knew what that bench was.
Oh, that guy's got some sin he's trying to get rid of, right? That guy's trying to get right with God. Old so-and-so, right?
Not surprised to see you here, right? It's about time. And then they would sit in there and then eventually someone would, you know,
after you've repented and mourned and felt bad, you know, then we'll preach you the gospel. Then you're worthy to be saved.
You know, the only thing that makes me worthy to be saved is the fact that I am a sinner. What merits me salvation?
The fact that I need it? That's all Jesus needs to say. Oh, are you a sinner? Okay, well, you know what?
Salvation's for you. You don't need to sit on some stupid bench. But repentance is a part of the Christian life.
They believe God. They repented. I love this. Look at verse six.
For the word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he rose from his throne and laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes.
And it caused him to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying,
Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. It's not just like we're going to fast all the humans and then all the animals.
We're going to make them fast too. I mean, I don't know this is what Jonah had in mind, right?
But I mean, they're going all out. Like they're pulling off the brakes. I felt so bad for my sin, I didn't even feed my dog.
You know, I stopped drinking water. I emptied out the goldfish water. I dumped the aquarium. Nobody's getting water.
But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. First I starved my pet, and then I put a burlap sack on him.
And he cried mightily unto God, Yea, let them turn everyone from his evil way.
Oh, don't you mean repent? No. Well, isn't that what repent means, to turn from your evil way? No, it just means turn.
If repent meant turn from sin to turn from your evil way, wouldn't you just put repent there? Let everyone turn or excuse me, let everyone repent.
No, he said turn everyone from his evil way because repent would not have been a sufficient enough term to use there.
He could have said let everyone repent and turn and turn and from the violence that is in their hands.
Who can tell that if God will turn and repent, again, who's doing the repenting here? God.
And turn away his face from his fierce anger that we perish not. So he's being emphatic again.
God, maybe God will turn, maybe God will repent, maybe God will turn away. It's the desperation.
They want God to turn because they're being told God's going to destroy this place.
Now look at verse 10. And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way.
And, you know, that's, you know, if we want to use that modern definition, that erroneous definition of repent,
and the way it's used today in so many circles, wouldn't that, you know, instead of putting turn from there,
we would put repent with the meaning of turning from sin, from turning their evil way.
Didn't Jonah 3.10 just call that a work? I mean, let's just play make believe for a minute
and pretend that repent means to turn from your evil way, to stop sinning, to turn from sin, right?
Because that's the definition. To feel a remorse and sorrow for the wickedness we have done, right?
That it meant more than simply turning, whether literally or having a change of mind,
that it literally means to feel bad for sin, okay?
Let's just pretend that's what repent means here for a minute and read Jonah 3.10 and put that in there.
And God saw their works, that they repented, right, with that false meaning attached,
and God repented of the evil that he thought to do to them.
Didn't God just call turning your evil way a work?
Now correct me if I'm wrong, but we as Baptists believe that salvation is by grace through faith.
We don't believe in works. We don't believe that you have to do anything to get saved except believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Last I checked, that was like a core tenet of Baptist doctrine.
That's like one of the defining characteristics of being a Baptist.
That salvation is by grace, you don't get baptized, you don't go to church, you don't take the sacraments,
you know, you don't have all these different things you have to do,
you don't have all these spiritual hoops that you have to jump through in order to somehow maybe make it to heaven.
That's pretty much what every other religion in the world teaches.
There's really only two religions in the world, works and not of works.
And we fall squarely in not of works.
You have Baptists today saying, well, you've got to repent of your sin.
That's a work.
You know, and I've heard Baptist preachers get up and say, well, you know, you just won't find the word repentance in Jonah.
God repented of the evil.
Well, yeah, but you won't find repentance.
Well, yeah, but the word, a derivative of the word repent is there.
I mean, what kind of a Baptist preacher gets up and tries to snow his congregation by saying you won't find repentance in Jonah?
When there's a verse like Jonah 3.10 in it, where God says, where it says that they turn from their evil way,
which is what they mean by repentance, and God calls it a work.
It's like you're trying, don't look there, don't look at Jonah 3.10.
Just don't even look at that verse.
Repentance isn't in the Bible or in Jonah.
It's just not there.
No, there's a nail in the coffin of your false doctrine in Jonah chapter 3 verse 10.
That's what's there.
That's why they don't want people looking there.
You know, they need to turn from their evil way.
God saw them turning, putting sack cloths on the cows, you know, and starving all the animals and themselves,
all the repenting that was taking place, all the turning from their evil way, and God said, ah, God saw their works.
And then God repented of the evil.
God said, you know what, I changed my mind.
I repent.
I've got to wrap it up.
Let's go to Titus chapter 3.
Titus chapter number 3.
Last place we'll turn.
I mean, the Bible's crystal clear, folks, on what salvation is and what it isn't.
And it's not of works.
And turning from your evil way is called a work.
It wasn't Jonah speaking in Jonah 3.10.
That was the Holy Spirit, that was the narrator of scripture,
in this divinely inspired book saying, turning from your evil way is a work.
So if that's required, turning from my evil way, if repenting from sin is what's required for salvation,
then you've just created this glaring contradiction with a multitude of other scriptures.
Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9 is just one of them.
The Bible just flat out says we're not saved by works.
Then we must not be saved by turning from our evil way.
Are you suggesting that people shouldn't turn from their evil way?
That's not what I said.
All I said is you don't have to do that to get saved.
But you know what?
God will still judge you.
I mean, go read Hebrews chapter 12.
He chasteneth every son whom he receiveth.
You know, God wants us to start living right.
God wants us to get the sin out of our lives.
You know, what's ironic too is that people that believe right on this doctrine,
that believe that salvation is by grace through faith,
that reject this false meaning of repentance,
they're the ones that are typically living very godly lives.
They're the ones that typically have the least sin.
You know, but the people that want to preach, oh, you've got to repent of all your sin,
they turn out often to be wicked people.
It's because they're projecting.
Look at Titus chapter 3, verse 1.
He says, and put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers,
to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work.
It sounds like God's, you know, he's saying, remind them to do certain things.
They're not going to have a bad attitude towards authority.
To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers.
Don't be going out there and getting fights.
But gentle, showing all meekness unto all men.
For we also ourselves, excuse me, for we ourselves also were sometimes foolish,
disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and pleasures,
living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.
But after that, the kindness and love of God, our Savior,
and love of God towards the Savior of man appeared.
He's saying, you know, we were living like this,
and then we realized the love of God, and we got saved.
Look at verse 5.
Not by works of righteousness which we have done.
I mean, don't you think that getting rid of sin in your life is a righteous thing?
It is. That's what you're saying.
You're saying, you know, I stopped being a fornicator,
and now I'm going to save myself for marriage.
And I'm going to be faithful to God.
And I'm going to be faithful to my spouse, to my wife, to my husband.
That's a righteous work.
I used to be a drunk, but then I sobered up because the Bible says that we should be sober.
That's a righteous work.
You know, I used to be on drugs. I got off them.
That's a righteous work.
You know, I used to con and cheat and steal and lie.
I quit doing those things. That's righteous work. Right?
Those are all righteous things to do.
But what does the Bible say?
Not by works of righteousness which we have done.
But according to His mercy, He saved us.
Again, what's the definition of mercy?
Not getting what you deserve.
Grace is getting what you don't deserve.
Mercy is you not getting what you don't, is you not getting what you do deserve.
Everyone follow?
Why are we saved? Because God didn't give us what we already deserve.
Why shouldn't I go to hell? Well, you know, I turn from my sin.
Well, what about all the sin you've already committed?
Too late.
Someone's still got to pay for that.
Well, maybe if I do more good than bad, it doesn't work like that.
It doesn't work like that with God.
Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Period.
The wages of sin is death. Period.
When God looked down, the love, the kindness and love of our Savior appeared toward man.
And God said, you know what? I'll be merciful.
That's the love of God. I'm not going to give you what you deserve.
And not because of the works of righteousness which you did, but because I loved you.
Verse 7.
That being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly.
He's saying, Titus, preach this and affirm this unceasingly, constantly.
That they which have believed, those which are saved, that have believed in God might be careful to be cautious.
To do what? To maintain good works.
Why? So they can keep their salvation?
No. Because these things are good and profitable unto men.
You know why you need to maintain good works in your life? Because it will profit you.
It will profit your family. It will profit everyone else in your life.
It will profit anyone that comes into contact with you.
You'll have an effect on people for better or worse.
And he's saying, look, those of you which have believed, you're already saved, be careful to maintain good works.
Why? Because it's good and profitable unto men.
You know, I'm not going to heaven because of how much I love God.
I'm not going to heaven because I love God.
I get the sin out of my life, you know, one, because it profits me.
It profits other people.
And two, you know, God's commanded it and I love God and I want to do what God said.
You know, I consider the mercy and the grace that God has shown me and I say, man, God loves me and it makes me love Him.
It doesn't make me perfect, you know, but it makes me want to get the sin of my life to start doing righteous works.
Not because I'm earning salvation, but because I already have it.
Because I already have believed, it makes me want to be careful to maintain good works.
Why? Because God loves me and I love Him in return.
I'm not going to heaven because of how much I love God.
I'm going to heaven because of how much God loves me.
That's the case for everybody.
I'll say this, you don't have to love God at all and still go to heaven.
It's true.
Well, you think God's only going to save people that love Him?
You know, we just read it that, you know, in times past, you know, we sometimes were foolish, disobedient,
deceived, living in malice, envy, hateful and hating one another.
You know, He's saying, you know, ourselves, we were unloving people at one point and God saved us anyway.
While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
You don't have to love God at all and you can still go to heaven.
I absolutely believe that because me going to heaven is not about me loving God.
It's about the fact that He loved me.
You talk to people and say, hey, what do you got to do to heaven?
Oh, give your life to Jesus. You got it completely backwards.
I'm going to heaven because Jesus gave His life for me.
You know, I'm pretty sure He's the one that made the sacrifice.
He's the one that did everything for us.
All we have to do is believe, put our faith in it.
It's that simple because that's how much God loves us.
Now, if we love God, let's be careful to maintain good works.
Jesus said, if you love me, if you love me, keep my commandments.
If you love me, keep my commandments.
He didn't say, if you want to go to heaven, keep my commandments.
If you want to earn salvation, if you want to merit salvation,
repenting your sin, get the sin out of your life and start doing right.
You know, and show me how much you love me and then I'll take it and then I'll consider it.
Maybe I'll shorten your time in purgatory.
No, He's saying, if you love me, keep my commandments.
If you want to go to heaven, understand it's because I love you.
As it says here, that you are not, we are not saved by our own works of righteousness.
Right? Verse five, not by works of righteousness which we have done,
but according to His mercy, He saved us.
I'm not, me going to heaven has nothing to do with me.
It has everything to do with what Jesus did for me.
So you know what? Repent of your sin. Okay?
Why? Because you love God.
That's the only reason.
To profit other people, profit yourself.
But don't think for a second that's what you have to do to go to heaven.
And don't let anyone snow you on this doctrine.
And I wish a lot more preachers would just come down hard on this.
Because we've just infiltrated our church and churches and Baptist churches
to the point now where a preacher will get up and say, you'll ask him,
hey, what do you got to be saved? Well, you got to repent of your sin.
And now you got to nail them down. Well, what do you mean by that?
And they can get off on it.
Well, you know, you just have to be willing to turn from sin.
Okay. I mean, who wouldn't be willing to do that?
How willing do I have to be?
How long do I have to be willing for?
Because, you know, I'm fickle. I change my mind all the time.
You know, I repent all the time.
I change my mind. Right?
We need to draw a very clear line in the sand when it comes to doctrine.
Doctrine should be clear and it should make perfect sense.
And when you start to preach these other meanings around the word repentance,
it just muddies the waters and makes things unclear
and it makes things confusing and it sends the wrong message
that somehow salvation is by works of righteousness, which we have done.
The Bible says it's not.
The Bible is real clear on what repent means. Believe.
That's what Jesus said and meant in Mark one.
He said, repent and believe the gospel.
He's saying, stop not believing it and believe it.
Repent and believe. Let's go ahead and close the word of prayer.
Lord, again, thank you for, Lord, the riches that we have in Christ, Lord,
the simplicity of the gospel, Lord, the fact that you've done everything for us
in order to be saved.
Lord, you've done all the hard work. You're the one who left heaven.
You're the one who walked this earth.
Lord, you're the one who was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin.
Lord, you're the one who suffered shame and ridicule.
You're the one who mocked and tortured and, Lord, died and went to hell
and arose again and ascended to heaven.
You're the one who's done everything for us, Lord.
Help us to see how insignificant any one of our works
would ever compare to what you've done for us.
Lord, I pray that you'd help people to have a clear understanding
of what the gospel is and what it isn't.
Lord, help us to preach that good news to a lost and dying world.
We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen.
All right, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we go.
Oh, and the best for me I strive,
and will only love.
When I shall take mine on earth,
I am held in peace at home.
Will words tell Jesus' words?
.