Now, Romans chapter 3 is probably one of the best chapters just on salvation, by grace
through faith alone, just making it clear that there are no works involved in salvation.
We'll just hit a few of the verses here, but he said in verse number 20, if you look down
at your Bible, therefore by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in
his sight.
It says in verse number 22, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ
unto all, and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference, for all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Look at verse 26, to declare, I say at this time his righteousness, that he might be just
and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Look at verse 28, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds
of the law.
It says in verse 30, seeing it as one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith
and uncircumcision through faith.
Over and over again, just in this one chapter, he says over and over, it's everyone that
believeth, it's whosoever believeth, it's through faith, it's not a works at all.
And really, this theme is carried throughout the whole Bible, I mean we could go through
the book of John and just look at chapter after chapter after chapter of scriptures
that say, like John 6, 47, verily verily I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath
everlasting life.
John 11, 25, Jesus saith unto her, I am a resurrection in the light, he that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall
never die.
Believeth thou this.
We can look through the book of Acts, we can look through the Bible and see over and over
that salvation is by faith, it's by grace through faith, not of works, lest any man
should boast.
Turn if you would to John chapter 3 quickly.
John chapter 3, we'll just hit a few more of these just very quickly.
In John chapter 1, it says in verse number 12, but as many as received him, to them be
it be power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
It says in John chapter 3, in verse 14, and as Moses lifted up the serpents into the wilderness,
whoso must the son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish
but have eternal life.
Remember that phrase, the son of man must be lifted up.
This faith, he signified what manner of death he should not, we'll get to that later.
It says in verse 16, the most famous verse in the Bible, 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.
Verse 18 says he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is
condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God.
John 3, 36, he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life, present tense, and he that
believeth not the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
John 5, 24, if you want to turn there quickly, it's the last place we'll go.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me
hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death
unto life.
I mean, could the Bible be any clearer when it said, but to him that worketh not but believeth
on him that justifieth the ungodly is faith, is counteth for righteousness, even as David
also described it, the blessedness of the man of whom God impudeth righteousness without
works, saying blessed are they whose sins or iniquities are forgiven and whose sins
are covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
Salvation is by faith.
Salvation is by believing on Jesus Christ.
That's all there is to it.
Faith alone for salvation.
But today we have people attacking this doctrine, and among independent Baptists, it's getting
hard to find someone who will clearly stand up and just articulate the most basic fundamental
thing that I just articulated to you in the last few minutes, and quoted about 30 some
verses to support it.
More and more, we're seeing work salvation creep in, a salvation where there's something
that I have to do to somehow earn the right to be saved or somehow be qualified to be
saved through my own righteousness, through some goodness about myself or through some
kind of a turning over of a new leaf or something like that.
And they'll attack people who believe like us and call us easy believism.
Yes, it's easy to be saved.
Yes, all you have to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ did the hard part when he died on the cross for our sins.
We just have to believe, and it's easy to receive a gift, isn't it?
It's easy to eat a piece of bread like Jesus said, I'm the bread of life.
It's easy to open a door as he said, I'm the door, if any man shall enter in by me, shall
be saved and shall go in and out in time of pasture.
It's easy to take a drink of water.
He said, if you drink of the water that I give you, he said, it'll spring up in you
a well, springing on to everlasting life.
It's easy to be saved.
They'll also call it this, I heard this again just outsold in the last few weeks, cheap
grace.
They said, oh, you believe in cheap grace.
Who's ever heard that term?
Put it up your hand.
Cheap, cheap grace.
Let me tell you something, the blood of Jesus Christ is not cheap.
And that's what I'm relying on for my salvation.
Jesus Christ's death, burial and resurrection was a cheap.
It was the most precious thing that's ever existed on this earth.
What's cheap is those who believe that their good works are getting them dead.
That's cheap.
It's cheap when they think that you have to go to church and live a good life.
That's what's cheap.
It's cheap to put enough gas in your tank to drive to church.
It's cheap to buy a nice suit of clothes and come to church.
But what's not cheap is salvation through Jesus Christ alone.
So we don't believe it is cheap grace, it has nothing to do with the cost.
It has to do with who paid for it.
We just believe that Jesus paid for it and that we don't have to pay it off.
So instead of cheap grace, I don't believe in cheap grace, I'll take it a step further.
I believe in free grace.
It's not cheap, it's free.
And then they'll also accuse us of one, two, three, repeat after me, right?
And of course, that's never been anything that our church is involved in.
I mean, yeah, we pray with people as they receive Christ as Savior after very
thoroughly explaining to them the gospel that's through faith.
We use tons of verses, we're as thorough as we can.
But this heresy is creeping in, and this is what I want to preach about today.
This heresy that says you have to repent of your sins in order to be saved.
Now, I'm just gonna come around and just spell it out for you.
You do not have to repent of your sins to be saved.
Amen.
Now, could I get any more clearer than that?
And this is the heresy that's creeping in, and everywhere you turn,
everywhere you go, you hear preachers over and over again.
Repent of your sins, repent of your sins.
Somebody just sent me a CD of Dr.
Preaching and saying, to be saved, you have to repent of your sins.
He said it seven times in one sermon.
And this is the way things are going.
There's a great falling away taking place from people who say that salvation is just
by belief on Jesus Christ.
And I'm gonna prove to you this morning, and you might already, at this point,
have a preconceived idea in your mind, and say, man, this guy's out to lines.
What's this guy saying?
The Bible tells us to repent of our sins.
Well, at the end of this sermon,
you'll understand why that's not in the Bible at all.
And I'm gonna prove it to you this morning why that's wrong.
But let's go to some of the key passages that we're dealing with here.
Look at Acts chapter 17.
You see, the Bible never one time says this phrase, repent of your sins.
Not even once.
I challenge anyone to show me in the Bible, repent of your sins.
Or someone repenting, I like what Victor did, he showed me a verse.
He said, I finally found a verse, I'm telling you to repent of your sins.
And it was the Book of Mormon.
And he showed me a verse from the Book of Mormon where it said,
if you repent of all your sins, you'll be saved out of the Book of Mormon.
But it's not in the Bible.
It was some Nephilim, Nephilu, or whatever, Book of Mormon or whatever.
And so, no, the Bible never says to repent of your sins.
But it's funny, I go out solely all the time and give the Gospel to Mormons, and
tell them you gotta believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and they'll say,
what about repentance?
Don't you have to repent of your sins?
I have Catholics telling me, repent of your sins.
I've heard the Pope say, repent of your sins.
This is the heresy that's creeping in among people who claim to believe
salvation is by faith alone.
But then they're adding this other thing you have to do,
turning away from your sins, turning away from a sinful life.
Now look, listen to what the Bible says this morning.
Look at Acts 17, 30.
This is a verse that they'll use to say you have to repent of your sins to be saved.
It says in Acts 17, 30, and the times of this ignorance, God winked at.
But now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.
Now hold on a second.
There's something missing, isn't there?
Does that say repent of your sins?
No.
Does it say anything about even being saved?
No.
Actually, and if you're walking out before you hear the truth this morning,
don't let the door hit you on your way out.
Because if you stay long enough, you'll learn what the Bible really says.
So see you later, buddy.
You don't belong here anyway.
And all God's people said?
Amen.
Yeah, he that answereth a matter before he heareth it,
it's folly and shame unto him, all right?
So I just wanted to say that.
But anyway, in Acts 17, 30 here, for those who've stayed to learn the truth,
it says the times of this ignorance, God winked at.
So what is it that people need to repent of in that verse?
Ignorance.
They're ignorant.
Let's get to context.
Back up if you would to verse 22.
It says in verse 22, then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill and said,
Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you're too superstitious.
For as I passed by and beheld your devotions,
I found an altar with this inscription.
To the unknown God, whom therefore you ignorantly worship him,
declare I unto you.
God that made the world and all things therein,
seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth,
dwelleth not in temples made with hands,
neither is worship with man's hands, as though he needed anything,
seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things,
and hath made of one blood all nations of men.
So basically, just to give you an idea here, there's all this idolatry.
They're worshiping all these false gods.
And just to make sure they hadn't left one out,
they made an altar that said to the unknown God,
just in case we're missing one.
So they have this altar to the unknown God.
And he says, well, let me explain to you who that unknown God is.
It's actually the God who created everything.
So he says this, verse 27, that they should seek the Lord,
if haply they might feel after him and find him,
though he be not far from every one of us.
For in him we live and move and have our being,
as certain also of your poets have said,
for we are also his offspring.
For as much then as we are the offspring of God,
we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto
gold or silver or stone graven by iron and man's device.
So he's saying, look, we ought not think that God
is like unto something that you could carve out
of gold or stone or silver, because that's
what they had all over these idols that they're worshiping.
He said, look, if we're made in the image of God,
God's not something that you could just carve in stone
and gold and whatever.
And he says in verse 30, and the times of this ignorance
God winked at.
What ignorance?
The ignorance of thinking that God
was made out of a carved image of stone or gold or silver.
He said, the times of this ignorance God winked at,
but now commanded all men everywhere
to repent because he had the point of the day in the which
he will judge the world in righteousness
by that man whom he had ordained,
whereof he hath given assurance unto all men,
and that he hath raised him from the dead.
So what is it that they needed to repent of?
Drinking?
Their sins?
Living a sinful life?
Living in fornication?
Was it they had to repent of covetousness or stealing
or if they're a thief, they have to stop being a thief?
They had to repent of worshipping a false god
because guess what?
It's impossible to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
when you're believing on something else.
And he said, you need to turn from a false god
to the true and living God.
Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter number 1.
1 Thessalonians chapter number 1.
And what blows my mind is that I can stand up here
and I can rant through 40 verses that say, believe,
and have people get up and walk out
when I say that you don't have to turn away
from your sins to be saved,
even though none of those verses mention anything
about turning away from your sins.
Come on.
You see what I mean?
And I'm glad that happened
because this is just illustrating
why this sermon needs to be preached.
Thank you for the confirmation
that I'm preaching the right sermon this morning
because I don't want this to creep into our church ever.
So hey, let's just preach them out the door
if they're gonna try to teach work salvation.
Get them out of here.
And I say this, if somebody can sit through 40 verses
saying believe only, I'd give up as a preacher.
I can't do anything for that person anyway.
They'd probably be better off somewhere else
if they don't get that.
So anyway, let's go through this.
Where did I return?
1 Thessalonians 1.
Look at verse 8.
For for you sounded out the word of the Lord,
not only in Macedonia and Achaia,
but also in every place your faith to God
were to spread abroad
so that we need not to speak anything.
Look at verse 9.
For they themselves show of us
what manner of entering in
we have unto you, and there's the key,
and how you turned to God from idols.
You see that?
You turned to God from idols
to serve the living and true God
as opposed to what?
Serving a false god.
He said you turned from serving a false god,
which is just an idol,
to serve the living and true God.
So right there, he spells out what the repentance is,
what the turning is.
The times this ignorance God winked at,
the ignorance of worshiping idols,
the ignorance of having a graven image,
but he said now he commands all men
everywhere to repent.
Isn't that clear?
Isn't that simple?
He says here they turned to God.
Did he say he turned to God from their sins?
Who has turned from all their sins?
No one.
Turning from your sins is something
that you have to do all the time.
Because if we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
I mean, we're gonna sin.
And so therefore, we have to keep turning from our sins.
We have to keep trying to turn over a new leaf.
Now I'm not against turning over a new leaf.
I'm against saying that that's salvation.
Because salvation's a free gift of God.
It's not turn over a new leaf and thou shalt be saved.
It's believe the gospel.
It's believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved.
You see, turning over a new leaf
is something they do every week at Alcoholics Anonymous.
Are they saved?
Because they quit drinking.
People quit drinking all the time
at Alcoholics Anonymous, don't they?
People quit all kinds of other habits.
They quit their gambling addictions or whatever
They call some phone number on a billboard
and get off the drugs and get off whatever.
That doesn't make them say it.
It has nothing to do with salvation.
Salvation is when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
as your savior.
But let's go through this a little more.
We saw how consistent the Bible is
between Acts 17 and 1 Thessalonians 1.
And then turn, if you would, to Acts 20.
While you're turning to Acts 20,
I'll read you another verse.
Ezekiel 14, 6 says,
Therefore, say unto the house of Israel,
Thus saith the Lord God,
Repent and turn yourselves from your idols.
And turn away your faces from all your abominations.
The Bible calls an idol an abomination throughout the Bible.
And so he's telling them, turn from your idols.
Now it is impossible for a person to be a Christian
and a Muslim at the same time.
Because you can't have all your faith in Jesus Christ
if some of your faith is in the teachings of the Quran
which basically teaches a totally different way
to get to heaven.
A way through works.
A way through living a good life
and following the commandments of the false god
that they worship, that they call God.
And so you can't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ alone
while you're trusting in your own works, can you?
You can't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ alone
if you're still trusting in some other god
of your own imagination.
But he says in Acts 20, verse 20,
here's another verse that people will use.
This is a real popular one now among independent Baptists.
It says in Acts 20, 20,
And 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,
repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
You know what's missing in this verse again?
Repent of your sins.
Turning from your sins, do you see it?
No, it just says repenting toward God.
Toward God from what?
Look at all the other passages we looked at.
Where were they turning from?
Different gods, another god, a different religion,
whether it was an idol or whatever.
Look at Hebrews chapter six, Hebrews chapter number six.
See, the repentance is toward God.
You turn from some other god, some other religion,
some other way to get to heaven,
and you turn toward the living God.
But look if you would at Hebrews chapter six, verse one,
and we're just getting started this morning.
We barely even touched on this.
I mean, there's so much Bible on this,
but look at Hebrews chapter six, verse one.
It says, therefore, leaving the principles
of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection,
not laying again the foundation of repentance
from dead works and of faith toward God.
So what is the repentance there?
Is it repenting of your sins?
No, it's repenting from trusting in works.
The dead works is what he's talking about,
where over and over he said that the bodies of those beasts
that are brought into the sanctuary, he said,
and those priests, I'm mixing it up.
Give me one second here to collect my thoughts.
And every priest, Hebrews 10, 11,
and every priest standing daily and ministering
offereth oftentimes the same sacrifices
which can never take away sins.
He said, look, you can go down there and do those works
and keep offering that sacrifice
and keep seeing the priests,
and he said that'll never take away your sins.
He says you must repent from dead works
and put your faith on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.
Look, if you would, at Matthew chapter number 21.
Matthew 21.
Matthew chapter number 21.
And look at verse 32, because a lot of people
will also bring up the fact that John the Baptist
preached repent, and amen.
Jesus Christ preached, amen.
But here's what Jesus Christ said.
Repent and believe the gospel.
So he's saying what needs to change
is the fact that you don't believe in the gospel.
We'll get into that in a little bit,
but he said repent and believe the gospel.
John the Baptist preached repent,
but John the Baptist did not preach repent of your sins.
You won't find that.
He just said repent because they didn't believe on Christ.
Look, if you would, at Matthew 21, 32.
I'll prove that to you,
because it explains what John the Baptist was preaching.
It says, for John came unto you
in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not.
So John preached, the Pharisees and the Sadducees,
they didn't believe him, right?
But the publicans and the harlots believed him.
And he, when ye had seen it,
repented not afterward that ye might believe him.
Very simple what he's saying here.
He says, this group did not believe.
Okay, let's consider this half the auditorium.
He's gonna represent the Pharisees, okay?
This group did not believe the preaching of John the Baptist.
This group represents the publicans and the harlots,
no offense, okay?
So this group is the Pharisees.
John the Baptist preaches them,
and they don't believe, right?
John the Baptist goes to basically the dregs of society,
so-called, you know, the publicans, the harlots.
He preaches unto them, they believe.
They got saved, they're getting baptized,
and so forth, after they believed
what John's preaching, okay, pointing them forward.
He wasn't preaching about himself.
He preached, there cometh one after me,
you know, greater than I, and he is the lamb of God,
and he pointed people unto him and said,
behold the lamb of God, which take away his favor.
This group right here believed, right?
And when this group had seen that they believed,
repented not afterward that they might believe.
There, no change took place.
See, the word repent simply means a change.
It comes from, who here speaks Spanish this morning?
Put up your hands if you speak Spanish.
Do you know the word pensar?
What does it mean?
Think, right?
That's where our word repent comes
from that same Latin word, repent.
What does re mean?
What if I said like restart?
Start again, right?
Repent just means think again.
Change what you think, change what you believe.
It could be a change in your, if I said,
hey, I was gonna go to the store, but then I repented,
it's like I decided not to go.
I was doing one thing, I changed, now I'm doing another.
Well look, these people are in unbelief.
This side of the auditorium believed,
well they should have repented and believed the gospel.
You see that?
But where does it mention turning from a life of sin?
It didn't, did it?
It just said repent and believe the gospel.
Because if repent means change, let me ask you this.
What needs to change about someone
in order for them to be saved?
What needs to change if they're not saved?
What they believe has to change, right?
Because the one thing you have to do to be saved,
notice, let me say that again.
The one thing you have to do to be saved.
Because didn't he just say over and over,
just believe on the Lord?
What must I do to be saved?
And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The one thing you have to do to be saved is believe.
Well what needs to change about somebody
in order for them to be saved then?
What they believe needs to change.
If they're trusting some other god, that better change.
And if they're a Pharisee, if they're practicing Judaism,
if they're a Sadducee, they were trusting in their own works
and they're also worshiping a different god.
That's why he said he was testifying
both to Jews and Greeks.
Repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Look if you would at 1 John chapter two.
We've heard this verse many times,
but I wanna basically drive this home right now
because it's so applicable
with what we're talking about this morning.
You see, there was a repentance that needed to be
taking place in these Jews
because they're worshiping another god.
You say, no Pastor Anderson,
the Jews worship the same God we do,
it's just the Old Testament,
they just don't believe in Jesus,
but they still believe in God,
they just don't believe in Jesus.
Well let's see if they believe in the same god we believe in
according to the Bible, shall we?
Look at 1 John chapter two and verse number 23.
Let's go to verse 22.
Who is a liar but he that denieth the Jesus is the Christ,
he is antichrist that denieth the father and the son.
Whosoever denieth the son, the same hath not the father.
So is a person who does not believe on Jesus Christ
worshiping God the father?
No.
Whosoever denieth the son, the same hath not the father,
but he that acknowledges the son hath the father also.
Isn't that clear?
You are not worshiping the God of the Bible
if you're not worshiping Jesus Christ.
You don't have the son, you don't have the father,
and let me just put this in there,
you don't have the Holy Spirit either.
Because it's a package deal, it's one God, it reverses.
So what I'm trying to say this morning here
is that the thing that people need to repent of
in regard to salvation is if they're worshiping
some other god.
If they're practicing some false religion.
You see there are many times in the Bible where repentance
is not even mentioned in regard to salvation.
Because over and over again, for example in the book of John
look at the last chapter of the book of John, John 21.
If you turn, I'm having you turn a lot of places this morning
just because I'm afraid you're gonna get up
and walk out on me if you don't see it for yourself.
So I want you to look and see it with your own eyes,
those of you who could face what I'm preaching this morning.
Look at John chapter 21 because, I'm sorry, John 20, 31.
John chapter 20, verse 31.
I wanna show you this with your own eyes here.
It says in verse 30, John chapter 20, verse 30.
And many other signs truly did Jesus
in the presence of his disciples
which are not written in this book.
But these are written that you might believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God
and that believing you might have life through his name.
According to this, what is the purpose
of the book of John being written?
You might believe.
That you might believe and that believing
you might have life through his name.
This book is saying it was written that you might be saved.
That's basically the purpose of the book of John
according to John 20, 31, right?
Did you know that the book of John
does not contain the word repent one time?
Not in any context.
The book of John does not even contain the word repent
and it's the book that claims to be,
the only book in the Bible that claims to be written
that you might get saved.
Other books talk about why they're written.
In Luke chapter one, go back to Luke chapter one.
Look at Luke chapter one.
It explains in Luke one why the book of Luke is written.
Look at Luke chapter one, verse three.
Why was the book of Luke written?
And this isn't according to some theologian, is it?
This is according to the Bible itself.
The book of John itself said this book is written
that you might believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and might have eternal life, that's why it's written.
First John tells us why it's written.
He said, these things rightly unto you
that your joy may be full.
Then at the end of the book, he said,
these things have I written unto you
that believe on the name of the Son of God.
So he said, I'm writing it for people who are already saved
that you might know that you have eternal life
and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.
Just to give you assurance of that salvation.
Luke one explains why the book of Luke is written.
It said in verse three, it seemed good to me also,
having had perfect understanding of all things
from the very first, to write unto thee an order,
most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know
the certainty of those things wherein
thou hast been instructed.
Isn't that interesting?
So he says in the book of Luke there, hey, I wrote this,
that you might know the certainty of the things
that you've been taught.
John said, I wrote this that you might get saved.
And it doesn't even mention the word repent.
Because guess what?
If you believe in a false religion,
you have to repent of that false religion.
If you believe in some other god, you have to repent,
only because it would be impossible for you to believe
on Jesus Christ with all your heart
if you're still believing in something else, right?
But guess what?
If you didn't believe in another false god
or you don't believe in a false religion,
if you're just like the Philippian jailer
who doesn't believe anything, he just comes to him
and just says, what must I do to be saved?
He's just, believe!
Just believe!
And so it's clear, isn't it?
All throughout John, people are getting saved
and Jesus is telling them to believe.
And they said, Lord, I believe.
And it's like, boom, they're done.
I mean, they called upon, they're saved.
End of story.
And so it's so clear we can go on and on about it.
But let me expose to you what's happening today
and part of what's behind this.
Because let me tell you something.
Part of this doctrine of repent of your sins,
and this may surprise some people,
part of this doctrine of why this doctrine
is getting so powerful today
is because of modern Bible versions changing the Bible.
And I'm gonna get into that right now.
You see, the New King James and the NIV
have an agenda today of propping up
and promoting this false doctrine
of repenting of your sins in order to be saved.
Now what's funny is that for many years
I've heard King James only people
get up and preach the opposite.
But I'm gonna prove to you today that it was a deception.
You see, so many times I've heard people get up and say,
the modern Bibles are taking out
key words and key doctrines.
That's very true, isn't it?
For example, the New King James and the NIV
take out the word hell
more than half of the times that it's used.
So more than half of the mentions in the Bible of hell
the New King James and the NIV remove, okay?
They also remove the word heaven over 50 times.
They also remove the word Jehovah completely.
They also remove words like damnation, words like sodomite.
There are certain words that they remove
with an agenda of weakening those doctrines, right?
They want to weaken our stance against homosexuality.
They want to weaken our faith
in a literal heaven and a literal hell.
They want to weaken our faith in the blood
so they've removed the blood from many, many scriptures,
these new versions, the New King James, NIV,
New American Standard, whatever you want.
But I've noticed that many people have said this too.
They said, well, these modern Bibles in 46 verses,
and I looked up every verse in preparing this sermon.
There are 105 verses in the Bible
that use the word repent in some form,
whether it's repent, repentance, repentance,
105 verses mentioned of the word.
And here's what they'll say, well, 46 times,
46 times the NIV and the New King James remove repent,
which is very true.
And they'll say, that's why we need to be sure
that we preach that you have to repent of your sins
to be saved because the devil doesn't like that doctrine.
Now I heard that and I'm thinking like,
the devil loves that doctrine, that doesn't make sense.
And I just kind of mold that in my head for a long time.
But then this week I decided, you know what,
I want to look up which verses they removed
about repentance, because I'll bet you
it's not going to be anything that's telling you
repent of sin or anything like that.
So I went back and I looked up,
and I did a lot of research on this.
I looked up every time the New King James
or the NIV removed repent.
Did you know that 36 of the 46 verses is God repenting?
That's what they took out.
See what I mean?
That's what they took out.
36, and did you know that in the New King James
and in the NIV, God never repents one time?
From cover to covet.
But in the King James Bible,
God repents more than anyone else.
Because guess what, repenting is not being sorry
for your sins or willing to stop sinning.
Because if so, that would make God a sinner,
and that is blasphemy, because God doesn't have
any sin to turn from.
But if people just say, well repent means
to turn from your sin.
Repent means to be sorry for your sin.
Well is God sorry for his sin,
but 30 sometimes is he repenting?
No.
Look at John, or I'm sorry, look at Jonah chapter three.
You say, why is this so important, Pastor Anderson?
Because repenting of your sins works,
and we don't believe in salvation by works.
Look at Jonah 3.10, I'm gonna show you something old
and something new out of this passage.
Something old, something new.
Something red, something new.
Something old and new in Jonah,
because I've already preached on this many times,
where I showed you how repenting of your sins works.
Of course, only in the King James,
but look at Jonah chapter three, verse nine.
It says, who can tell if God will turn and repent?
You see that?
Jonah three, nine, and 10.
Who can tell if God will turn and repent,
and turn away from his fierce anger that we perished on?
Now God's not a sinner, is he?
So is God repenting of his sins?
No.
See how they just add that repent of your sin.
They make it that that's what repent means.
Look at verse 10.
And God saw their works, so what did God see?
What did he see?
Works.
What were the works?
It says, and God saw their works, comma,
that they turned from their evil way.
So according to that, turning from their evil way
was their what?
Was their works.
So if you have to turn away from your evil way,
and believe on Jesus Christ, basically translation,
you have to do works and believe.
Is that the truth?
He said it's by faith, not of works.
You see that?
So that right there in Jonah three, 10 says
that turning from your evil way is works.
And then he says this, and God repented
of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them,
and he did it not.
Not of his sin, evil is not sin,
evil is harming someone else.
Yeah, God was gonna harm the whole city,
he was gonna destroy the whole city.
He turned from that.
Go back to the book of Exodus, chapter 32, verse 14.
Exodus 32, 14.
You see, I've got 36 verses here listed
that regard God repenting.
That talk about God repenting.
And God is repenting throughout the Bible,
in the New Testament and the Old Testament
it mentions God repenting, but all of it's removed
in the NIV and New King James.
Look at Exodus, chapter 32, 14, it says,
and the Lord repented of the evil
which he thought to do unto his people.
So look, if repenting means repent of your sin,
then God's a sinner.
Because he repented like 30 times.
But in reality, repentance is just a turning.
Notice he said he turned from the evil
that he planned to do.
He repented.
This is repentance.
I'm going this way, and I start going this way.
And God was going to destroy them,
but because they turned from their wicked way,
he turned and said, okay, well then I won't destroy you.
That's all.
Had nothing to do with his sins,
because God doesn't have any sins.
In regard to salvation, repentance is a turning
from idols, turning from Islam,
turning from Catholicism, turning from Mormonism,
and turning to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Turning to the Lord Jesus Christ our savior.
Now, Christians repent all the time.
For example, let's say I quit coming to church,
and then I repented and start coming to church again.
That's a repentance that took place.
For example, the seven churches,
these are Christians.
He's talking to saved Christians in seven churches in Asia,
in Revelation two and three,
and he says to the lay of the sins,
he says you're lukewarm.
Remember?
He says thou art neither cold nor hot.
He said I would thou art not cold nor hot,
so then because you are lukewarm,
and neither cold nor hot,
I will spew thee out of my mouth,
because thou sayest I'm rich and increased with goods,
and have to eat nothing,
and knowest not that thou wretched and miserable
and poor and blind and naked.
I counsel thee to buy of me gold,
tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich,
and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed,
and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear,
and anoint thine eyes with eyes that thou mayest see.
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.
Be zealous therefore and repent.
He said you're lukewarm,
and you need to repent of that,
and the way to repent of that is by being zealous,
because being zealous is the opposite of being lukewarm.
So people who are lukewarm
need to repent of being lukewarm.
People who don't believe on Jesus Christ,
if they're gonna be saved,
need to repent and believe the gospel.
People who are worshiping a false god,
they can never be saved until they repent
and turn to the living, true God.
Hey, Christians who are living in sin
should repent of that sin,
but that's not salvation.
See, we should do good works, shouldn't we?
Yeah.
The Bible says,
for by grace are you saved through faith,
and the not of yourselves,
and is the gift of God,
not of works, lest any man should boast.
For we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God had before ordained that we should walk in them.
So we should do good works.
We should go to church.
We should live a good life.
We should turn from our sins on a continual basis,
but what must we do to be saved?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved.
It's that simple.
But I'm not gonna belabor you.
Do I have to show you over and over
throughout the Old Testament God repenting?
God repented in Jonah 3.
God repented in Exodus 32.
God repented in Genesis chapter six.
God repented in Deuteronomy 32, 36.
God repented in Judges chapter two.
God repented in verse number 11 of 1 Samuel 15.
God repented again later in 1 Samuel 15.
God repented in 2 Samuel 24.
I mean, look, do I have to go on and on here?
But in the new Bibles,
they've totally removed all of this.
And the word repent is never used in regard to God.
One time, cover to cover.
So does it sound like the devil's really attacking
this doctrine of repenting of your sins?
So he took out all his rest.
No, it sounds like the devil is removing all these verses
that would have helped us understand what repent means.
So that we'll think it means turning from your sins
is like, well, God never did it, you know.
It's the first thing I say to people when they say,
well, repent means be sorry for your sin.
I say, well, is God a sinner?
Because he repented more than anyone in the whole Bible.
Look what else the Bible correctors
and Bible perverts take out.
Look at Matthew 27.
Remember, because they took it out 46 times
and only 36 of those were God-repenting.
So there's 10 more that they decided to tamper with.
One of them I'm looking at,
because I got the whole list here.
One of them was the Apostle Paul repenting.
They took that out decades after he was saved,
the Apostle Paul repenting.
They took that out.
They took out Esau repenting in Hebrews 12, 17.
Esau was an unsaved man.
They took out him repenting.
They took out the gifts and calling of God
are without repentance in Romans 11, 29,
which is a very key doctrinal verse.
Where did I even turn?
Look at Matthew 27.
Isn't it interesting that they took this out too
when they were twisting the Bible?
Matthew 27, three, then Judas.
You know what Judas did?
Judas is scary, right?
Then Judas, which had betrayed him,
when he saw that he was condemned,
repented himself and brought again the 30 pieces of silver
to the chief priests and elders saying,
I've sinned and that I've betrayed the innocent blood.
So did Judas Iscariot repent of his sins?
Did it save him?
No.
Because the Bible said all the way in John chapter six
that he did not believe in him.
He never believed in him.
From the beginning, he did not believe on him.
The Bible's clear.
Read the book of John.
But he did repent of his sins.
He did feel bad about it.
And he went out and said,
here's what the chief priest said to him,
what is that to us?
See that or that?
And they're like, we don't care.
He said in verse five,
he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple
and departed and went and hanged himself.
Okay?
So we see that there and there are other changes
and so forth.
Look at John chapter 16.
John chapter number 16.
Because we pretty much, I think,
made it very clear that the thing you have to turn from
to be saved is whatever other god or religion
you're trusting in to save you,
whether you're a Jew or a Greek.
If you're a Greek, you're worshiping these idols.
If you're a Jew, you're worshiping another god,
according to first John two,
because you don't have the father.
You don't believe on the right god.
You're following the Pharisees.
You're following the Sadducees.
I'll read you one other verse while you're turning there.
In Acts 19, another verse about John the Baptist
preaching about repentance.
It says in Acts 19 four,
let me get there.
It says, then said Paul,
John barely baptized with the baptism of repentance,
saying unto the people that they should believe on him
which should come after him,
that is on Christ Jesus.
So that right there says that his preaching about repentance
was just preaching that people should believe on Jesus.
That's Acts 19 four.
And I had you turn to?
John 16, okay, John chapter 16.
Let me pull out my non-inspired version here.
I'm gonna give this to you, Garrett, the NIV.
There you go, the non-inspired version.
And let's look at John 16,
because people will then say this.
They'll say, well, okay, okay, Pastor Anderson.
You're right.
You don't have to turn over a new leaf to be saved.
You don't have to turn from your evil way.
That would be worse.
You don't have to turn from your evil way.
You just believe on Jesus Christ
and you should do works after that.
Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments.
We should do works, but you don't have to do works
to be saved.
You don't have to turn from your, you don't have to.
But they just say, well, I just believe repentance,
because a lot of people are trying to take
the middle of the road on this,
because they don't like people getting up
and walking out while they preach.
So they want to take the middle of the, I love them,
but they want to take the middle of the road approach
and say like, well, yeah, you do have to have repentance,
which is just like kind of being sorry for your sins.
You know what I mean?
You gotta be sorry, or there's gotta be conviction.
There's gotta be weeping or something.
You can't just say, okay, I believe that.
I'm trusting Christ.
You know, like that's not,
there's gotta be this emotional type experience, okay?
That's what they're basically teaching.
And like every once in a while, Brother Garrett,
a number of you and I were out soloing
about three or four weeks ago.
We are talking to this guy.
We give this guy the gospel,
and he breaks down crying while we're talking to him.
And you know, it was great,
because I mean, the guy just really
was just really happy about being saved.
He was really just emotional about the whole thing.
It just hit home with him how Jesus Christ
had died for his sins and loved him and paid for his sins.
And this guy literally just broke down crying
as he got saved.
Now praise the Lord.
But you know what?
That doesn't mean that he's the only one
who got saved that day.
You don't have to break down crying to be saved.
Some people you see get saved in the Bible
were very emotional, others were not.
Some were very joyful.
Others were sorrowful, like the man beating on his breast
saying God be merciful to me, et cetera.
Others are just joyful and rejoicing about being saved.
Different people are different.
You can't have a one-size-fits-all.
If they're not sad and crying,
they didn't really get saved.
No.
Because the gospel is the what news, according to the Bible?
The Bible calls it glad tidings,
the good news from a far country.
If the gospel's good news,
some people react to good news by crying.
They're called women.
No, I'm just kidding.
They, you know.
Men don't start crying over good news.
They cry when something bad happens,
somebody dies or something.
But women, they're so happy, they're crying.
But probably not all women do that, right?
Some women are like that, some are not.
Some guys are like that, I don't know.
But the point is, everybody's different.
We can't have a one-size-fits-all that says,
well, if you're not gonna have an emotional experience
in front of you right now, I'm just gonna walk away.
I can tell you're not ready to get saved right now.
You're way too happy right now.
Wipe that smile off your face.
I'm trying to give you the gospel.
Get sad.
You're a vile, disgusting wretch in the eyes of, you know.
This is not biblical soul in it.
But people today think there's gotta be, you know,
if you don't see that conviction and that sorrow
and that, you know, but hold on a second.
And part of this is they'll say,
well, you know, I just, to me,
repentance just means that they feel bad about their sins
and they're sad and upset that they hurt God.
But hold on a second.
Is that what repentance means when we looked it up
or wasn't it just like turning from idols to God?
He didn't say God commands everybody to start crying.
He said God commands everybody to quick,
ignorantly worship a piece of stone
and say that it's God and say that it created you.
Did everybody see the difference there?
So it's always weird when you try to have it both ways.
You know, now if somebody believes
that somebody has you sad, you know,
okay, but, you know, maybe you were sad, okay,
but that doesn't mean everybody is the same, right?
I wasn't crying or sad when I got saved, you know,
but I know I'm saved.
I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet.
But here's the verse they'll say.
They'll say God's gotta convict you of your sins.
You gotta be convicted.
Now let me explain something to you.
The word convicted is only used one time
in the entire Bible and guess what?
The people who were convicted went to hell.
Let's look at it.
Keep your finger in John 16.
Let's go back to John 8.
Keep your finger in chapter 16.
The only time the word convict or conviction or convicted,
any form of convict is used is one time
and it's in John chapter 8, okay?
Let's look at the story.
This is when, remember the woman is taken in adultery
and she's brought unto Jesus and he tells him
he is with us and among you let him first cast a stone at her.
Everybody remember that passage?
Look what he says here.
Jesus says in verse number seven.
So when they continued asking him,
he lifted up himself and said unto them,
he that is without sin among you,
let him first cast a stone at her.
Famous verse, right?
Look at verse eight.
And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground,
verse nine, this is the only time the word convict,
conviction, convicted, any form is used.
Verse nine, and they which heard it,
being convicted by their own conscience.
So did God convict these people?
Did the Holy Spirit convict them?
No.
They were convicted by their own conscience,
went out one by one, beginning at the eldest,
even unto the last and Jesus was left alone
in the woman standing amidst and they all went and died
and went to hell a few chapters later.
Because they were the Pharisees
and they did not believe on him.
They did not get saved.
They were not convicted by God,
they were convicted by their own conscience.
Look at John 16.
John 16, this is talking about the Holy Spirit
will come into the world.
He says it's expedient for you that I go away
because the comforter will come,
even the spirit of truth which the world knoweth not.
He said the comforter, the spirit of truth,
the Holy Spirit will come.
He is with you, but he shall be in you.
Because remember they were gonna be indwelt
by the Holy Spirit after the resurrection.
Look if you would at verse number eight,
talking about the Holy Spirit.
And when he has come, he will reprove the world.
Now do you know what reprove means?
To tell someone they're wrong, right?
When he said preach the word,
be incidences and out of season,
reprove, rebuke, exhort.
That's preaching to people you're wrong, okay?
He'll reprove the world of sin.
Now do you know what convict means?
Convict means guilt, guilt.
They were convicted by their own conscience,
they felt guilty.
So they left because they felt guilty.
Is that what saves you, a guilty feeling?
No, didn't save them, didn't save Judas, okay?
So basically this guilty feeling is not what reprove is.
A guilty, just like if I went to court and was convicted,
and no I was not convicted, I was found not guilty.
But let's say I went to court and was convicted,
that means what?
You're guilty.
Conviction is a guilty feeling in your own heart, okay?
Now, do I have to acknowledge my guilt to be saved?
Yes, according to 1 John, I have to admit I'm a sinner.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us.
But I never ran into somebody who said I never have sinned.
Sometimes you'll get people to say,
well I don't sin anymore, you know,
and they're just fooling themselves.
But do you have to have a feeling, a guilty feeling?
No, you have to acknowledge your guilt,
but you don't have to have a guilty feeling.
Now hold on a second.
The King James Bible, look down at your Bible here.
Verse eight, when he's come,
he'll reprove the world of sin
and of righteousness and of judgment.
Stand up, Brother Garrett, and read us the NIV.
John 16, eight, and the NIV, please.
When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt
in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.
So notice there, he's gonna convict that world.
So instead of reproving the world of sin,
he's gonna convict the world of guilt.
Now here's the New King James Version.
This is where they dug up King James' dead body
and he signed it off with his dead hand, he approved it.
They basically propped him up like a puppet
and they tied strings to him and King James
came out of the grave and made a new Bible translation
several hundred years after he was already dead.
I don't know if you heard about that.
But this is the New King James Version.
And in the New King James Version, new and improved,
it says in John 16, eight,
what they really should call it is the old sounding NIV.
The NIV that kinda sounds like the King James.
That's what it really should be called.
But in John 16, eight, when he has come,
he'll convict the world of sin.
Now let's see if this is really being convicted
of your sins here, where you feel bad
because you've been living a sinful life
and you've broken God's commandments
and you've been drinking and you've been drunk
and you've been a deadbeat and you've been an adulterer
and you've been a fornicator and you've been covetous
and your life's ruled by the love of money
and you've been stealing and you've been skipping church
and you don't read the Bible and you blaspheme God's name
and now you finally feel bad about it.
No, let's read it.
John 16, eight, when he's come, he'll reprove the world
of sin and of righteousness, a judgment of sin
because they believe not on me.
So what is the reproving the world of sin about?
Because they believe not on it.
Look at the next verse, of righteousness,
because I go to my father and you see me no more
of judgment because the prince of this world is judged.
What does that have to do with turning over a new leaf
anywhere in that passage?
What does that have to do with a guilty feeling?
Nothing, nothing.
It's turning from not believing to believing.
It's turning from a false doctrine
to the true doctrine of Jesus Christ.
And so we can go on and on.
I gotta hurry, I'm running out of time.
Let me just go through a couple examples with you
of what's going on out there.
This is from Local Church Bible Publishers
and this is Baring Precious Seed Ministry.
Parker Memorial Baptist Church in Lansing, Minnesota.
Now, aren't you from Lansing, Denise?
East Lansing.
East Lansing, okay, well this is for you then, okay?
So this is your home church here, all right?
This is your home church, okay?
Parker, no, I'm just kidding.
Parker Memorial Baptist Church, Lansing, Michigan.
If you click on salvation,
because this is a real popular thing
because they put out a lot of Bibles and tracts
and so forth and a lot of times they'll stick
this plan of salvation sometimes in there.
You know, I'm not against using their Bibles or whatever
but I'm just saying you'll see this plan of salvation
that they wrote.
Here's the plan of salvation as articulated
by this independent fundamental Baptist church
that's very well known.
The Bible says, these things have I written unto you
that believe on the name of the Son of God
that you may know that you have eternal life, dot, dot, dot.
God wants us to all to know that we can go to heaven
but if we expect to get there, we must go his way.
So far so good, right, except for cutting the verse in half
but hey, so far so good.
Point one, we're all sinners.
Hey, amen, right?
What does God's word teach about this important subject?
First of all, we're all sinners.
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, amen.
Because of our sin, we're under sin's penalty
which is death, for the wages of sin is death, amen.
This penalty means eternal separation from God and hell.
Really?
Because I thought that it says in Revelation 14, 10,
the same shall be tormented with fire and brimstone
in the presence of the holy angels
and in the presence of the lamb
and the smoke of their torment
has ended up forever and ever
and they have no rest day nor night.
Didn't it say that they'd be in the presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ while they're in hell,
according to Revelation 14, 10?
Okay, but you know, whatever.
Point two, Christ died for our sins, amen.
God does not want anyone to go to hell,
so he sent his only begotten son
to die and pay the penalty for our sins, amen.
But God commended his love toward us
and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, amen.
Eternal life is God's gift, amen.
God's love for us is so great
that he made a way for our sins to be forgiven.
He offers his forgiveness and salvation freely.
That sounds great.
But the gift of God's eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
please note that eternal life is offered to you as a gift,
but like all gifts, it's not yours until you receive it.
To receive Christ, to receive life,
eternal life, a home in heaven.
Sounds great, huh?
Everything so far is good,
except that whole separation from God thing,
but okay, you know.
How to receive Christ.
Here is how you may receive Christ.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,
and shalt believe in thy heart
that God is raising from the dead,
thou shalt be saved.
Sounds great.
You must believe with all your heart
and call upon the Lord to save you.
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved.
Everything's great so far.
Next point, point four, you must repent.
Listen to the verse, they quote.
And the times of this ignorance God winked at,
but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.
Didn't we already talk about that one?
Okay, that was when they were worshiping
all the idols and stuff, and they had to turn up.
Okay, to repent literally means
to have a change of mind or spirit toward God
and toward sin.
Now it said repentance toward God.
Did it say repentance toward sin?
No.
So it says here, it means literally
to have a change of mind toward God and toward sin.
It means to turn from your sins.
So that's what God did 30 times apparently.
It means to turn from your sins earnestly
with all your heart and trust in Jesus Christ to save you.
You see then how the man who believes in Christ repents
and the man who repents believes in Christ.
No, I don't see it.
I don't see how everybody who believes
turns from their sin.
Because I guarantee you this church is filled right now
with people who are saved that have sin in their life.
And some people have more sin in their life
than others sitting in this auditorium, don't they?
And no, I'm not asking you to think about it
if that isn't so.
I'm just saying, not everybody's the same.
And some people might have got saved last week
or last month or last year or last decade.
Everybody's at different levels of spiritual growth.
So there's different levels of sin
that we're involved in as Christians.
But if we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
So you see then how the man who believes in Christ
repents and oh, I see it now.
No, I don't see it.
Listen to this.
This is the part that blows me away though.
The jailer repented when he turned from sin
to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Where was that part of the story?
Now hold on a second.
What sin do we know of that the jailer did
in the whole story?
What's happening about it?
How about imprisoning a preacher of the gospel?
Is that good?
He's just following orders, right?
He didn't know the gas was gonna come out
of those shower heads.
He didn't know those ovens were turned off.
He's just following orders, right?
Just locking up God's people who've never committed sin.
Wouldn't you say that that's wrong
that he threw a preacher in jail?
Who thinks that that's wrong
that he threw a preacher in jail?
Shouldn't he have said no, that's unconstitutional?
Shouldn't he have said this guy's a Roman citizen?
He has rights.
We can't just beat him and throw him in jail?
But no, he's just following orders, right?
Like all people have throughout history
in abusive governments.
So, get this.
Follow my logic here.
Hey, what sin did he do?
He threw him in jail as the only sin that he committed.
Yeah, yeah, he thought about killing himself.
He was going to kill himself.
Is this like a pre-crime?
He didn't do it, you know?
So, the bottom line is,
we know a major sin that he committed
was imprisoning God's people.
Well, guess what?
In the story, guess what he did after he got saved?
After he believed, what did he do next?
Everybody know?
He got baptized after he got saved, right?
First he believed on Christ.
Then he preached it to his whole family,
and they preached to the whole family.
The whole family got saved.
They all got baptized, and then he put him back in jail.
Yes, he did.
It says in Acts 16 that he put him back in jail,
and they set the door and locked him.
Where's the repentance, buddy?
You know what I mean?
The guy's still a crooked cop.
You know what I mean?
From start to finish in the story.
So anyway, they're just making stuff up.
Well, the jailer repented of his sin
when he believed on Jesus.
According to what?
So, it says the jailer repented when he turned his sin
to believe in the Lord Jesus.
So, call on the Lord now,
so you may know for sure you're going to heaven.
Be truthful, and make this prayer your prayer to God.
Dear Jesus, please have mercy upon me a sinner.
Forgive all my sins.
I believe you died on the cross for me.
I believe that it's your blood that washed my sins away.
I believe you were buried,
and that God raised you on the third day.
Now will you please come in my heart and save my soul?
Now, I don't know why that's phrased.
It says a question mark.
Will you please come in my heart and save your soul?
It's like, come on, didn't he promise he's gonna do it?
You know, it's just like, will you please?
Am I repenting enough?
You know, you have to click your heels together three times.
There's no place like home, you know?
I'm sorry, God, I'm sorry, I love you.
Now, listen to this, it gets worse.
Now, promise him that with his help,
you'll be true to him the rest of your days.
I promise you that every day of my life,
from here until the end,
I will be true to you every single day, forever.
That's a pretty tall order.
I don't think I would want to make a vow like that
that I can't keep.
Written by brother Bob Napier.
That is the nappiest plan of salvation I've ever heard of.
Written by brother Bob Napier, associate pastor.
Okay, so thank you, Bob Napier, for adding to God's word.
And then we got this other one.
What time is it?
I don't wanna go nuts here.
I'm still okay, give me a couple minutes.
Middle Cross Baptist Church.
This is their salvation plan, the Loxey, Mississippi.
The Holy Spirit of God, this is point one,
draws you to salvation.
No man can come to me except the Father
which has sent me, draw him,
and I will raise him up at the last day.
Except here's the part you forgot to mention,
that a few verses later, Jesus said,
and if I be lifted up from the earth,
I will draw all men unto me.
You know, you can't be saved unless God draws you.
You know, the Calvinist, Calvinist garbage.
He said, no, if I be lifted up from the earth,
I'll draw all men unto me.
And guess what, that happened 2,000 years ago
when he died on the cross.
He was already lifted up from the earth.
He says right here, and then the next verse,
now when these, when they heard this,
they were pricked in their heart
and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles,
men and brethren, what shall we do?
Then Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized,
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sins,
and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
We see in these verses that God
convicts a person to be saved.
So he's saying that in these verses,
people are being saved by repenting and being baptized.
Now, does baptism save?
No, so this is an independent fundamental Baptist.
And then he goes into the rest,
I'm gonna skip some of this for the sake of time.
We're all sinners, you know, that part's fine.
That's point two.
Point three, there's a price for sin, that part's all fine.
Point four, the price has been paid, that part's all fine.
Part five, this part's great,
you can't work your way to heaven, there's only one way.
Well, I agree with that, that sounds great.
Part six, you must repent of your sin.
Then Peter said unto them,
repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name.
Well, he really likes that verse, doesn't he?
And isn't it funny that it mentions baptism right next to,
I guess he's saying you gotta be baptized to be saved too.
And then this is the best part, you gotta hear this.
This'll blow you away.
Well, first it says, Mark 1.15,
it's saying the time is fulfilled
in the kingdom of God in heaven,
and repent ye and believe the gospel.
You know, okay, great.
Despite the modern movement that God loves you,
that's the next one, I'm not kidding.
Go home and look this up on the internet,
Middle-Cross Baptist Church, Independent Fund, logo.
They want it to be listed on our church directory.
They wanted us to list them as a good church
to go to in that area.
Despite the modern movement that God loves you,
that's the next thing it says.
Now, hold on a second,
is that some new thing that just came out?
There's this false teaching out there,
it's called the love of God.
Now look, I've preached some controversial stuff, right?
But whenever I preached on the love of God,
I always thought that was not a controversial sermon.
Like, I always thought that was a really light duty sermon.
No, it's a modernistic movement.
God loves you.
Come up with this stuff.
Listen to this.
Despite the modern movement that God loves you,
and you can keep sinning, the Bible is still true.
You must repent before a holy God.
Repent means to be truly sorry.
So that's what God was just really, really sorry
all those times.
To do an about face.
I can't, I've never been in the military,
you can tell that's why I don't know what I'm doing.
To do an about face, to turn and go the other way.
Once God convicts you of your sin,
he wants you to repent.
Like conviction, what was that verse
about conviction again?
Oh yeah, there isn't one, I forgot, sorry.
Like conviction, repentance is a work of God.
Wait a minute, the one time conviction was mentioned,
was it a work of God?
Or were they convicted by their own conscience?
Sorry to confuse you with the Bible.
Like conviction, repentance is a work of God.
God wants you to turn from your evil ways.
Doesn't that sound kind of like Jonah 3.10?
And God saw their works, that they turned
from their evil way, that's exactly what he's saying.
You have to turn from your evil way to be saved.
To make Jesus, and then it says the next one,
you must confess, believe, and make him Lord.
To make Jesus Lord means to surrender our will for his,
I thought he was the Lord before I was even born.
You know, but I have to make him Lord
as in obey him, like follow him.
That's works, by the way.
These verses are so simple, they need no explaining.
Well, we're kind of dumb, so thank you
for explaining it to us anyway,
even though it isn't necessary.
And look, I'm out of time, but come on, folks.
Come on.
Is there anything else that needs to be said?
How many times does it just say it's by faith,
it's by faith, it's not works, it's believe, it's believe.
And then somebody's gonna tell you,
if you're not willing to quit X sin,
or if you're not willing to quit sin Y,
or if you're not willing to turn from your life of sin,
if you're not willing to give up this sin,
if you're not at least sorry and will admit
that X sin is wrong, you're not gonna be saved.
No, the only thing you have to do according to the Bible
is just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, hey, you can't be saved if you say you have no sin.
But how often do you run into somebody
who says I have no sin?
And usually the person is probably borderline insane
if they actually think that.
I mean, they might say that just to be a smart aleck,
but how many people in this world
do you really actually think believe?
I don't do.
We talked to a pastor that was almost like that.
He was like this close to that, remember that?
I just do the right thing automatically.
I just get out of bed and just everything.
Come on.
Everybody knows that they sin.
And the Bible says if we say that we have not sinned,
we make him a liar and his word is not in us.
So no saved person will ever say that they don't sin,
or that they've never sinned according to 1 John 1.
But what's the one thing you have to do to be saved?
Yeah, you gotta believe on Jesus Christ.
It's all faith.
It's what you believe out of the Bible that makes you saved.
And then I could do a whole other sermon
on the plan of salvation.
I'm not doing it this morning.
I'm preaching to people that are already saved.
I mean, 99% of the people that are in this room
are probably already saved.
So I don't need to sit here and explain to you
the plan of salvation again.
But what I will explain to you is a part
that's not part of it, turning from a life of sin,
turn from sin to the Savior.
That's a false doctrine.
And maybe some people didn't have the guts
to get up and walk out while I was preaching that,
and they might walk out after I'm done preaching that.
But you know what?
Hey, that's fine with me, because you know what?
This is a group of people right here
where the Bibles are authority, not the traditions of man.
And this repent of your sins will never be a part
of our plan of salvation.
It's not in the Bible.
And I have other sermons on this where I went into detail
in other regards, and if you're still a little bit shaky
on this issue or confused, I give up.
But you know, if you still are,
get the other five sermons I've done on this
and listen to them, and that should hammer it down for you.
Let's bow your eyes and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for the salvation
that's not cheap, it's free.
Thank you for a salvation that's not bought, it's a gift.
And Lord, we love you, and thank you so much.
And God, help us all to repent of our sins every day.
But thank God that's not part of being saved,
or we would come short every day.
And Lord, we love you, and thank you for this church.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.