It says John did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins
Now in order to understand this verse
Let's keep our finger here and go to Acts chapter 19 verse 4 just a few pages to the right in your Bible
You find the book of Acts Mark Luke John Acts Acts chapter 19 verse 4 because let me read that verse again
It says John did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins
Let's see what the Bible means when it said he preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins
Look at Acts 19 for it says then said Paul John
Verily baptized with the baptism of repentance. Does that sound familiar?
Mark 1 said he's preaching the baptism of repentance here
It says John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance watch this
Saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him that is on Christ Jesus
So when he's preaching
Repentance, what was he preaching that people needed to do?
Yeah, believe because see he doesn't give the exact preaching in Mark chapter 1 verse 4
But when we compare with Acts 19 for he tells us what John said when he did that preaching
He preached the baptism of repentance for the mission of sins. What was he preaching? What was he saying?
He was saying that they needed to believe on him that would come after which is Jesus Christ
Now this matches perfectly with Mark chapter 1 verse 15 jump down to verse 15
And it says and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is in
Repent ye and believe the gospel. So this shows us what the repentance is that's taking place
It has to do with believing the gospel
Now a lot of people mistakenly when they see the word repent they just add them
They just automatically add a few words to it of your sins
So when you see the word repent they just add of your sins and you say show show me verses in the Bible
That tell me that you have to repent of your sins to be saved
they'll show you verse about repentance but not repenting of your sins and
People will just define the word repent as to turn from sin
Well, here's the problem with that definition
God repents in the Bible more than anyone else if you look up every time the word repent is used in the Bible
the person who repents the most is actually God and so to say that
Repenting means to turn from your sins that doesn't apply all the times that God repented now
If you would flip over to Acts chapter 3 verse 19 here
Here are one of the verses here's one of the verses that people will point to when they want to say see
Here's a verse that says you have to repent in order to be saved
But they'll just add repent of your sins to that and I'm going to talk about what repent means in a moment here
But look at look at Acts chapter 3 and it says in verse 19
It says repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out
When the times are refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord
So right there in verse 19 of Acts 3 it's saying that they need to repent that their sins might be blotted out
But it doesn't say repent of your sins
So let's get the context to see what they need to repent up and what does repent mean repent simply means to turn or to change
Now it could mean all manner of changes a lot of times. It means just to change your mind now one great example of this is
When the children of Israel leave Egypt and God doesn't want to take them the way of the Philistines
This is an Exodus 13 17
Yeah, you don't have to turn there
But it says they came to pass when Pharaoh had let the people go that God led them not through the way of the land of
the Philistines
Although that was near for God said lest Peradventure the people repent when they see war and they return to Egypt
So let me ask you this
The children of Israel leaving Egypt was that a good thing or a bad thing good, right? Children of Israel are leaving Egypt
They're going to the promised land. They're obeying the Lord, right and God says
I'm afraid that if they go through the land of the Philistines, they're gonna repent and go back to Egypt
So in that case was repentance a good thing or a bad thing
Repentance would have been bad because they were doing right. They're on their way to the promised land
And if they repented that means they're going back to Egypt which is bad
So that again just proves that repent doesn't mean turn from sin or turn from an evil way in that case
Repentance repents was turning from something good that they were doing. Okay, when we see God repent, he's not turning from sin
He has no sin when we see God repenting. He changes his course of action
He was gonna do one thing but then he repents and does something different. Okay, that's a change in mind change in action
It could be any kind of a turning or change the word repent can be a kind of a broad word
Because you have to get the context of what you're repenting of now if a person believes in a false religion
They're not saved. They need to turn from that and turn unto the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior
They need to turn from Buddhism to Christianity. They need to turn from Hinduism to Christianity turn from Islam to Christianity
Turn from whatever the false belief to the true belief of Jesus Christ now
Let's say you have somebody who is a pathological liar. They need it. They should turn from that, right?
So that would be repenting of lying. See you could repent of a false religion. You could repent of lying you could
Decide to go to the grocery store and then repent meaning that you're changed your mind. You're not gonna go anymore
Now we don't use that word today in our modern vernacular, but you could you could say well
I was gonna go to the grocery store, but I repented people like what in the world but but that is what the word means
You can repent of sins. You can repent of false doctrine
You can repent of travel plans to the promised land and head back for Egypt
You can repent of all manner of things so to just sit there and just arbitrarily just apply
You have to repent of your sins to be saved whenever you see a verse about repentance is not accurate
Let's look at the context here in Acts 3. Let's see if we can figure out what they're turning from
Okay, it says in Acts chapter 3. Let's back up to verse number 14
It says but ye this is a Peter speaking to the Jews
It says but ye denied the Holy One in the just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you and killed the Prince of
Life whom God hath raised from the dead whereof we are witnesses. So this is where they chose Jesus instead of Barabbas
I'm sorry. They chose Barabbas instead of Jesus and they killed Jesus
It says they killed the Prince of Life it says in verse 16 in his name Jesus name
Through faith in his name hath made this man strong whom ye see and know
Yea the faith which is by him hath given him the this perfect soundness in the presence of you all and now brethren
I want that through ignorance she did it as did also your rulers
But those things which God before it showed by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ should suffer yet
So fulfilled repent you therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out
When the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord and he shall send Jesus Christ which before
Was preached unto you. What do they need to repent up? What did they do? They rejected Jesus?
They crucified Jesus and he says I know you did that through ignorance
So repent and and he'll give you another chance to receive Jesus pretty simple, right?
But is it saying here that you know that girlfriend you're living with you need to get out of that relationship before you can be saved
Is that what he's saying? Is he saying? Oh, you're you drink you're gonna have to stop drinking
You need to repent from drinking at least be willing to turn from drinking and fornication and and all is that what I mean?
Is that anywhere in this context?
But yeah people will use this verse as a proof that if you're not willing to give up sins
You can't be saved and that makes it into works based salvation look at Matthew chapter 21 Matthew 21 32
Because salvation is not based on our deeds or the works of the law and people say well
You know it's not works to turn from your sins well actually it is you ever tried turning from sins it takes effort
It takes work. It takes action on our part in order to turn from think about a guy like
Akias right he he was a crooked tax collector well he was just a tax collector, but anyway
He he's a he's a crook and for him repentance turning away from that
Involved him saying you know I'm gonna give back money that I've ripped off from people okay
So that showed repentance of this heart that he he wasn't gonna continue being the crook that he had been in fact
He's gonna return the money so there you go. That's works
So if you think that you have to do that to be saved you're saying salvation is by works
But the Bible says for by grace are you saved through faith and then not of yourselves
It is the gift of God not of works
Let's any mention books if I had a gift for you, and I said I'm gonna give you this Bible as a gift
But you're gonna have to start following all these rules for your life
And then I'll give it to you or at least okay
You don't have to turn but just be willing to turn so you have to make a commitment to me right now
That you're willing to change your life completely and start living by my rules
And I'll give you this Bible that wouldn't really be a gift because you know that would be more like a
Deal or a transaction or an agreement that we're making that would be more like yeah some kind of a deal
Not not a free. I mean a gift is no strings attached. It's paid for by the giver
It's just given unto you for free look at this great verse on repentance in Matthew 21 32
It says for John came unto you in the way of righteousness and ye believed him not
But the publicans and the harlots believed him and ye when ye had seen it
Repented not afterward that you might believe him so this verse explains really clearly what repentance means in regard to salvation
It explains very clearly what Jesus meant in Mark chapter 1 verse 15 when he said repent and believe the gospel
He said look there's one group of people the Pharisees that did not believe in Jesus
There's another group the publicans and sinners that did believe in Jesus and he's saying you guys when you saw that
You should have repented and believed in Jesus meaning you should have seen that and it should have caused you to change your mind
So that you would believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
So when we see the word repent in the Bible, we always have to get the context to see what is being turned from
Act 1730 is another really commonly quoted verse about repentance the times of this ignorance God winked at but God
Commandeth all men everywhere to repent right before that
He had just finished talking about how they were
Making statues of gods made of gold and silver and the Apostle Paul saying those aren't real gods
the true living God cannot be formed into a statue and
You're ignorant about that and you need to repent of that ignorance of believing in these idols
Just like the Bible talks about in first Timothy chapter 2 or secondary to repentance unto the acknowledging of the truth
You know when you believe a lie you repent of that and believe the truth. So when it comes to salvation
There's only one thing you have to do to be saved believe on Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved
That's it. Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. So you say well
What role does repentance play in salvation then?
Well, the only role that repentance would play is if there was something that was stopping you from believing on the Lord Jesus Christ
You'd have to turn from that and start believing in Jesus instead and an example of that would be that if you thought
That you have to go to church and perform
Sacraments in order to be saved then all your faiths not in Jesus
In fact, it's impossible for you to put all your faith in Jesus as long as you still have some of your faith in those rituals
That you're performing
So in order to be saved you'd have to turn away from those rituals only so that you could put all your faith in Jesus
But still faith is what's the only prerequisite, but is it possible for me to believe in Jesus with all my heart if I still believe in?
Buddha he said if thou believeth with all thine heart thou mayest so if I still believe in Buddha
I can't believe in Jesus with all my heart that means I have to turn from Buddha or repent of Buddhism
Repent of Catholicism repent of Hinduism repent of Islam because there's no room for both
There is no room for being saved by Jesus and being a Muslim and being a Buddhist and being a Catholic
Because you can't do both because Jesus says you have to put all your faith and trust him
But here's the thing. Can you believe in Jesus and still commit sin? Yeah, everybody does it who saved so to sit there and say
Well, you have to turn from your sins before you can believe in Jesus. That's not accurate because you look when you get saved
hopefully you're gonna turn from some sins in your life and
Hopefully as you're saved for a longer time period you'll turn from more and more sins as time goes on because you don't just get saved
And then just overnight you're just living a perfect godly Christian life
It's a process of growth the Bible says as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby
We don't give birth to a baby in 2014 and then say okay now that we've cut the cord. You're on your own, buddy
I mean you've been born you're on your own. You're no longer
relying on mom's
You know blood through the umbilical cord feeding you and giving you nutrition through the placenta. You're on your own pal
No, he's gonna still need to be diapered and fed and as he grows
He's gonna slowly take on more responsibility for himself. He's gonna get smarter more mature
It's the same thing with people when they get saved when they first get saved
They might be continuing in a lot of the sins that they've been doing and some of those things
they might not even know that they're wrong yet and they have to learn over time and then they learn and they grow and you say
Well, but there's just a willingness to change and you know, you have to be willing to change you had me willing
But here's the thing you're just adding to the Bible now because there's no place that says be willing to change and thou shall be saved
And it might sound good to just say well, but you got to have the desire to change
But it doesn't say desire to change and thou shalt be saved
It says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Well, but if somebody really gets saved they're gonna desire to do what's right
Hold on a second the spirit will but their flesh will not desire
What's right their flesh is never gonna desire what's right because the carnal mind is enmity against God
It cannot be brought under subjection to laws of God
The flesh is always the flesh and my sinful flesh will always be sinful
Your simple flesh will always be simple until we die or until the resurrection takes place
We're gonna sin not because the spirit because the flesh so you're right
If a person gets saved the spirit will desire to do what's right the new man the new creature
But the flesh is still there
And so if we walk in the flesh we're gonna desire all the wrong things and when we walk in the spirit
We're gonna desire the right things
There are people who are saved who have not turned from various sins in their life
But they're still saved because they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior and let's not add to the gospel
and a lot of people want to make the gospel an emotional thing about feelings and they say people have to feel an
Intense sorrow for their sin in order to get saved
But some people are more emotional than others
Sometimes when people get saved they are crying and they are sorry for their sins other times when people get saved
They're just really joyful and happy. It is the good news after all, but some people want to see crying every time
I want to see you cry. I want to see you sad, you know
And if you're not sad if you're not crying if you're not in grief and pain and agony
I don't know if you're really getting safe, but honestly, it's good news. Some people might just be happy about it