Now this morning I want to preach on the subject of repentance and specifically repentance
in regard to salvation.
And the reason that I want to preach about this is that I believe it is one of the greatest
battles of our generation.
Let me rephrase that.
It's the greatest battle of every generation.
The doctrine that salvation is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, not of works
lest any man should boast, all the way to Cain and Abel.
This is what it comes down to.
Is it our produce?
Is it the works of our hand that will be acceptable for the Lord as an offering for our sin?
Or is it the blood of the lamb when Abel brought of the firstlings of the flock that saves
us from our sins?
Is it Jesus Christ's finished work on the cross and the propitiation through faith in
his blood?
Or is it a turning over of a new leaf, turning from our sins, turning from our wicked ways
in order to be saved?
What is salvation?
Is salvation by faith alone in Jesus Christ or is it by faith and you have to clean up
your life or and you have to be willing to clean up your life or and you have to give
up this sin or give up that sin or turn from this evil way or turn with it.
And you hear these phrases that roll off the tongue like, turn from sin to the Savior.
Turn from sin unto Christ.
But turning from sin is works, okay?
Now the proof for that, and I'm not going to turn there for sake of time, I do want
you to turn to Luke chapter 1.
But while you're turning there, I'll just quote for you from Jonah chapter 3 verse 10
where it says, and God saw their works that they turned from their evil way and God repented
of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not.
What that's saying is that turning from our evil way is works in the sight of God.
When God looks down and sees people turning from their evil way, he calls it works in
Jonah 3.10.
Now, turning from your evil way is great, but it's not going to save you.
Going to church is great, not going to save you.
Getting baptized is great, but it's not going to save you.
Reading the Bible every day is great, not going to save you.
You know, praying every night is great, not going to save you.
Whatever you do on a continual basis to serve the Lord, whether it be feeding the poor or
whether it be going door to door and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, those are all
good things to do.
But none of them saves you because salvation is a free gift of God that's been purchased
by the blood of Jesus Christ and you either get saved for free or you don't get saved.
You receive it as a gift or you don't receive it.
You get saved easy or you don't get saved at all because if it's hard, it's not salvation
because Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe.
Now, what I wanted to turn to in Luke chapter 1 to show you is the purpose of the book of
Luke.
Now, this morning I want to focus on two books because this is such a big subject of repentance.
In order to just cover this subject in the whole Bible would not be possible in one sermon.
So I want to focus in on two books.
I want to focus on the book of John and I want to focus on the book of Acts, okay?
And especially I'm going to focus on Acts.
And the reason that I've chosen these books is because of the fact that John is the book
that flat out tells you it's written to tell people how to be saved.
It's the only book that makes that claim and says that it's written for people to get saved
as a result.
And the reason that I've chosen the book of Acts is because Acts is one of the books that
mentions repentance the most in the New Testament.
John doesn't mention repentance at all.
The word repent is never found in the whole book of John.
Now it's interesting that a book about how to be saved uses the word believe a hundred
and one times.
Hundred and one times he said believe.
He didn't use the word repent at all.
So my question to these people who want to make salvation all about you repenting of
your sins and turning from your sins is why did God give us a book that claims to be about
getting people saved that never mentions at one time?
Okay.
And I want to show you that in John but I also want to show you in the book of Acts
because Acts is one of the books in the New Testament that mentions repentance the most.
And so I want to look at every time the word repent is used in the book of Acts and see
what God is telling people to repent from, what is the context, what's going on in that
story.
Now first of all, another book that uses the word repent a lot is the book of Luke, okay?
In fact the three books that use the word repent the most in the New Testament are Luke,
Acts and Revelation.
We could have focused on Luke this morning.
We could have focused on Revelation.
I've chosen Acts to be the focus this morning, okay?
What's interesting is that John wrote Revelation.
So it's not like John just doesn't know the word repent or it's just not a word that he
uses.
He likes to use different words because when he wrote Revelation he used it 12 times.
So it's a word to use.
But let's look at the purpose of the book of Luke versus the purpose for the book of
John, okay?
Look at Luke chapter 1 verse 1, For as much as many have taken in hand to set forth an
order, a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, even as
they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers
of the word, 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.
Now there's no doubt from these first four verses that this book has been written unto
us as believers who already most surely have believed in Jesus Christ in order to confirm
us and show us the certainty of the things that we believe in.
Isn't that what it says?
Because even in verse 1 he says, I'm writing a declaration, look at the second half, of
those things which are most surely believed among us.
And he says in verse 4, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein
thou hast been instructed.
Go to John chapter 20, let's compare that with what the book of John says.
John chapter 20 verse 30 says, 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 ye might believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through
his name.
So in John we see the book is being written that you might believe on Christ and have
eternal life, whereas Luke is saying, I'm writing unto people that believe on Christ
so that you can know the certainty of what you believe and so that you can be strengthened
and confirmed in the faith that you already have.
Different purpose.
That's why there is a Matthew, a Mark, a Luke, a John.
They have different purposes that God spells out and they have different emphasis.
Matthew emphasizes things in regard to the Hebrew Old Testament that are not as emphasized
in some of the other books and so on and so forth.
So turn to Acts chapter 2.
While you're turning there, let me just give you some verses from the book of John.
Because remember, John is the book to tell us how to be saved.
That's what it says.
These are written that you might believe, unlike Luke which said, hey, these are written
to you that are already saved, you know, that are already believed.
But listen to some verses from the book of John.
John 1.12, you don't have to turn there.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to
them that believe on his name.
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.
John 3.18, 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 but he that believeth not
and he that believeth not the son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him.
How about John 5.24, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth
on him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is
passed from death unto life.
How about John 6.47, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting
life.
How about John 10.28, and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither
shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
How about John 11.25 and 26, I am the resurrection and the life.
He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and
believeth in me shall never die, believeth thou this.
There are more scriptures, there are 101 mentions of the term believe.
We could go through John 6 alone and see it as a tour de force of believe scriptures,
but the bottom line is that over and over again in the book of John, he tells us that
if we believe, we will have eternal life, we will have everlasting life.
Let alone all the other scriptures that talk about the fact that by grace are you saved
through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works lest any
man should boast.
One of my favorites, Romans 4.5, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Even as David also described it, the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works, saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are
covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
He said him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly.
His faith is counted for righteousness.
So many scriptures, so many places in the Bible that tell us this, and yet people coming
along and they tell us, nope, believing's not enough.
What must I do to be saved?
And they said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house.
Nope, not enough.
You also must turn from your sins.
You also must repent of your sins in order to be saved.
Now we're going to look at every time repent is used in Acts, because this is one of the
books where it's used the most.
These are the verses that people will try to point you to many times to tell you, hey,
you have to repent of your sins to be saved.
And what you'll notice about people who teach this doctrine is that they just add the phrase
of your sins to the Word of God.
The Bible says repent, and they have this filter in their mind where every time they
see the word repent, what they hear is repent of your sins.
So they're not getting just the pure Word of God.
They're adding their own bias of saying, oh, repent of your sins, see?
And you'll say, show me in the Bible where you have to repent of your sins to be saved.
They'll show you a verse that says repent.
Now the problem is that today in our modern vernacular, we don't really use the word repent
in everyday speech.
Now in Spanish, they do use it in everyday speech.
They'll use the word repent in an everyday situation.
Hey, I was going to go to the grocery store, but I repented.
Now if we said that in America, speaking English, people would think, whoa, you know, are you
talking in the king's English?
You know, how art thou, my friend?
And they'd think like, what are you doing?
But in other languages, that word has stuck around.
But in English, unfortunately, it's a word we don't really use.
So therefore, because it's a word we don't really use, a lot of people have forgotten
what it means.
And it's really easy for a preacher to get up and tell them it means something different
than what it really means.
You know, a Spanish person, they hear somebody say, hey, I was going to go to the grocery
store, but I repented.
They're not thinking, well, was it sinful for you to go to the grocery store?
Because they don't have this bias of just repent is repent of your sins, you know, because
they haven't been taught that.
So they just hear repent.
I repented of going to the grocery store.
What is that?
Well, how would we say that in English?
I was going to go to the grocery store, but I changed my mind.
Or I was going to go to the grocery store and I changed plans or I did something different.
Okay.
Because the word repent, just to help you understand it, it simply means to turn or
to change.
Okay.
That's what the word repent means.
How do we know what's being turned from or what's being turned to or what are we changing
or changing our mind about or changing our actions about?
It's always determined by the context.
You have to look at the context to see what is being turned from.
What is being repented of?
No, no, no.
Repentance means to be sorry for your sins.
It means to turn from sin.
But wait a minute.
God repented more than anyone else in the whole Bible.
If you look up all of the 105 verses in the Bible that use the word repent.
Look up all 105 of them and see who repented the most, it was God.
God doesn't have any sin.
So if repent means turn from sin, be sorry from sin, then God would be a sinner.
And we know that that's false.
God is not a sinner.
So let's look at these mentions in the book of Acts and let's see if we can get a context
of what is being repented of.
And look, I'm not just going to cherry pick this morning and just say, hey, let's just
cherry pick certain verses to bolster my doctrine.
You know what we're going to do?
We're going to look at every mention in the book of Acts, a major book in the Bible, one
that we could have done this in Luke, could have done it in Revelation, a couple years
from now I'll probably do that in a different sermon.
But today it's Acts and it would be just as easy to do it with those.
Let's go to Acts 2 and start reading in verse 21.
Let's get context to figure out what's being repented of.
Acts 2 21, this is a great verse, and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on
the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Does that have anything to do with giving up your sins or turning over a new leaf or
you know, living a godly lifestyle?
Just calling on the name of the Lord?
I mean, does that sound like you joined Alcoholics Anonymous and you quit drinking?
No.
You call on the Lord by faith.
The word of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him to death, thou shalt be saved.
Let's keep reading.
He says, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved, ye men of Israel.
Verse 22, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles
and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves know,
him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and
by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God has raised up, having loosed the
pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holding of it.
Jump down to verse 37 for the sake of time.
Now 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, Quit drinking.
You guys were drunk when you crucified Jesus.
Is that what he's saying?
Oh, what should we do?
Stop living with your girlfriend, Pharisee, you know, bunch of Pharisees and your concubines.
Is that even the subject of the chapter at all?
People giving up their sinful life.
Did he say, I'll tell you what to do.
You need to quit going to that casino that you're going to.
You need to quit going to the gentleman's club.
You need to quit watching all that garbage on your TV.
Is that what he's saying here?
Let's get the context here.
He says, look, you rejected Jesus.
You crucified Jesus.
You didn't believe in Jesus.
He rose from the dead.
This is the fulfillment of prophecy.
Whosoever shall call in the name of the Lord shall be saved.
That name of the Lord in the New Testament that's been revealed is Jesus.
They're pricked in the heart about what?
I knew I shouldn't have drank so much last night.
No, they're pricked in the heart about rejecting the Lord Jesus.
And so they're like, what do we do?
And he said unto them, Peter said to them, repent.
Now you say repent of your sinful life.
No, he's saying, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ.
Now look, why is he bringing up the name of Jesus Christ?
Who would they reject?
Jesus Christ.
So they're like, well, what should we do?
Well, you should repent and you should be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ because
that's the name that's been given among men whereby we must be saved.
So when we see the word repent, which simply means to turn or to change or change your
mind, what is it that needs to change here?
The thing that needs to change is that they need to accept Jesus as their Messiah.
Because what did they do wrong?
They rejected him.
What needs to change?
They need to turn to him.
And how are they going to make a public show of that?
By getting baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
You know, to publicly acknowledge whom they publicly condemned.
So it says, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sins.
The word for there means because of, like wanted for murder.
It doesn't mean you're trying to hire someone to go commit murder for you.
When you say wanted for murder, they're wanted because of a murder that already took place.
So the Bible says, 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.
So we see in the first mention in Acts, there's no repent of your sins here.
There's no turn from a life of sin.
There's no you're not going to walk in your old ways anymore.
No, it's all about putting your faith in Jesus.
Go to Acts 3.
We're skipping nothing.
We're leaving no stone unturned.
Every mention of repentance in the book of Acts, we're going to look at it.
Acts chapter 3 verse 12.
And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at
this?
Or why look ye so earnestly on us as though by our own power or holiness we had made this
man to walk?
The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers have glorified his
son Jesus whom ye delivered up and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was
determined to let him go.
But ye denied the Holy One and the just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you
and killed the prince of life whom God has raised from the dead.
Whereof we are witnesses and his name through faith, through faith, through faith in his
name hath made this man strong whom ye see and know.
Today the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence
of you all.
And now, brethren, I want that through ignorance ye did it as did also your rulers.
But these things, those things which God hath before showed by the mouth of all his prophets
that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled, repent ye 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's the context?
What are we talking about here?
Same exact thing as chapter 2.
This is pretty much a repeat of the chapter 2 speech of you killed Jesus, you were wrong,
you need to change here.
You know, you need to get under the name of Jesus Christ because that's where salvation
is.
Same thing.
No mention of you're living a wicked lifestyle and that, you know, you got to turn from that
in order to be saved.
That would be works, salvation.
Not only would it be works, salvation, I'll go a step further.
If that's how a person gets saved, then no one's saved.
I defy anyone to come up to me and say, you know what, I've turned from all my sins.
I've turned from sin in general.
I mean, I just don't sin.
Well, we're not saying you have to stop sinning, you just have to turn from sin.
Turn from it and still do it, and thou shalt be saved.
See how weird this becomes once you actually stop and think about it?
Well, you don't have to turn, you just have to be willing to turn.
Well what if I'm just, good night, I'm losing cuff links, I'm losing a microphone, I need
to settle down this morning, but I'm falling apart up here.
But here's the thing, you know, oh, well you just have to be willing to turn.
Yeah, but show me that, like, be willing to turn and thou shalt be saved.
Or how willing do you have to be?
Well, I'm willing, but I'm not going to do it.
I mean, usually if I'm willing to do stuff, it probably means I'm doing it.
Well, you've got to be willing to stop sinning.
You're not even able to stop sinning.
You're human, you're flesh.
God knows that we're flesh.
God said that back in Genesis after he flooded the earth.
He said, you know what, I just know how man is.
You know, he's sinful.
And that's why he has that mercy and grace for us to be saved.
But look, we just looked at chapter 2 and chapter 3, pretty clear, right?
Now, let's go to chapter 8.
Now, let me tell you something.
Chapter 8 is a guy being told to repent of a sin, okay?
But here's the thing about chapter 8, nothing to do with salvation, okay?
So, does the Bible ever talk about people repenting of their sins?
Sure, but it's not about salvation.
For example, God talks to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3 and
keeps telling them, repent of this, repent of that.
They're already saved.
Repentance is daily for the Christian.
Why?
Because we sin.
So we have to keep turning from sin, okay?
But let's look at Acts chapter 8.
So, so far, chapter 2, repent of rejecting Jesus.
Chapter 3, repent of rejecting Jesus to be saved, okay?
But look at chapter 8, verse 12.
But when they believed Philip, preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God
and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
Verse 13, then Simon himself believed also.
And when he was baptized, he continued with Philip and wondered,
beholding the miracles and signs which were done.
Now, look, isn't the Bible pretty clear in verse 13 that this guy is saved?
Because it says he believed.
And that's Luke under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost telling us he believed.
So we know he really did believe.
Not only did he believe, he got baptized after he believed.
And not only did he get baptized, he continued with Philip.
And there's nothing in this to say that he didn't get saved.
And in fact, anybody who says, anybody who can read Acts 8.13 and say,
this guy didn't get saved just doesn't know the Gospel.
Because it would be a contradiction of John 3.16 that says that
whosoever believeth should not perish but have everlasting life.
And this guy believed.
And he got baptized to boot.
Not that that has anything to do with salvation,
but it was a nice public profession of his salvation to others.
And he even continued with Philip.
You know what, I think this guy is a pretty good guy in the sense
that he had his heart in the right place.
He received the word and he got saved and he believed and he's following Philip.
I mean, this guy's got, now look, watch the sin that he commits.
Let's keep reading.
Acts 8.14, now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that
Samaria had received the word of God, they said unto them Peter and John.
And when they were come down, who when they were come down,
prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost.
For as yet he was fallen upon none of them,
only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Then laid they their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost.
And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles hands,
the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money saying,
give me also this power that on whomsoever I lay hands,
he may receive the Holy Ghost.
But Peter said unto them, thy money perish with thee,
because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.
Thou hast neither pardon nor lot in this matter,
for their heart is not right in the sight of God.
Repent therefore of this thy wickedness.
So what's this guy being told to repent of?
His wickedness.
What's the wickedness?
Thinking that he could purchase the power of the Holy Spirit with money.
He thought he could give money unto the apostles
and receive the power of the Holy Spirit through money,
which that's not something that you can buy with money.
And it says, repent therefore of this thy wickedness,
and pray God if perhaps the thought of thine heart might be forgiven thee.
For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.
Then answered Simon and said,
Who do you think you are to tell me that?
Why are you judging me?
Only God can judge me.
No, look what he says.
Then answered Simon and said,
Pray ye to the Lord for me,
that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.
This guy's a nice guy.
I mean, look, I've been a pastor for a long time,
and I've come to a lot of people and rebuked them.
And you know what?
It's very rare that you rebuke someone and they're that humble.
I mean, to find this in the Bible,
you got to go to David, the man after God's own heart,
where the prophet comes and rebukes him,
and he's humble.
This guy has his heart in the right place.
Look, he did something stupid.
He said something stupid.
He thought something stupid.
Okay, we all have.
But you know what all of us don't do?
All of us don't receive correction as well as Simon did.
This should be an example.
I mean, this could be a whole sermon on how to receive correction.
How to handle correction rightly.
When somebody comes to you and corrects you with the truth,
even, you know, the Bible says,
rebuke a wise man and he'll love thee.
And what did Simon say when he's rebuked?
Would you please pray for me that none of those things happen to me?
Because you're right.
What I did was wrong.
But you know what?
There are Hollywood movies that depict this guy, Simon,
as being just a devil worshiping sorcerer.
Yeah, he was a sorcerer before he got saved,
but after he got saved, he's learning, he's growing.
And you know what?
Being rebuked for stupid things and getting them right is part of the Christian life.
And if you can't take rebukes as well as Simon did, you're going to fail.
You know what?
We never hear about Simon again in the Bible.
I believe that this guy succeeded in his Christian life
because of the fact that he's so good at taking correction.
He's so humble.
And those are such important characteristics for a Christian to have.
So again, this guy is repenting of wickedness
after he's already saved as just part of his Christian life.
This isn't teaching, hey, you have to repent of your sins to be saved.
Is that what this teaches?
Repent of all your sins in order to be saved.
That's part of salvation.
You have to turn from sin.
No, this is a Christian who gets caught up in sin after he's saved
and has to be corrected and told, hey, get it right.
Now, some people will declare him unsaved because it says in verse 23,
I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.
Now, first of all, the Bible says,
whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
The Bible says it's possible for us after we're saved to go back into bondage of sin.
Okay?
And to put ourselves back in bondage.
Number one.
Number two, Peter is not God.
Peter's looking at the outside and saying, you know,
I perceive that you're still in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity.
That's man talking to him.
But you know what?
His answer shows that actually, no, actually it was just a screw up.
Actually, it was an honest mistake.
Actually, as soon as I heard what was right, I got it right.
He's told repent of your wickedness.
He says, yes, sir.
See how this story can be misused though?
And I've heard people say, oh yeah, he wasn't saved.
Well, the Bible said he believed and that he was baptized and that he followed Philip.
And then he screwed up.
Well, join the club.
We've all done stupid things and said stupid things.
Let's go to chapter 11.
I don't think there's any question about that story.
I think that story is a great story to teach how to accept correction in your life.
And you know, they call and the Catholic Church has this sin that they talk a lot about called
simony.
They've declared, who's heard of it?
Yeah, they have a sin that they call simony.
And you know, they condemn simony.
But you know what?
Simony should be when you actually are corrected right.
That should be called simony.
You know, I mean, if you're going to name something after this guy, let people live
it down.
Why are you just so unforgiving of this guy that for the rest of humanity, we're just
going to call it simony.
When the guy repented on a dime, give the guy a break and alive.
It's too bad the Catholics won't be able to apologize to Simon when they get to heaven
since they're all going to hell.
You know what I mean?
Because they owe him an apology.
Acts chapter 11, verse 15.
It said, I mean, I'm serious.
I'm going to go up and be like, man, you got a bad rap.
When I get to heaven, I'm going to seek this guy out.
I'm going to be like, you know what?
I stood up for you.
I preached a sermon on repentance in the book of Acts.
And I gave you like a big, you know, eulogy and everything.
He's going to be like, I know I was listening up in heaven.
You know, I was like, yes.
You know, it reminds me of, I asked my son, John.
I said, you know, who do you want to meet when you get to heaven?
And he said, I want to meet Legion.
Legion what?
But he meant the guy.
He meant the guy who had the Legion.
You know, the guy who Jesus saved him.
He was cutting himself.
And, you know, he's like, I'm going to meet that guy.
You know, you expect him to say Moses, Elijah, Jonah.
You know, it's like the demon possessed guy.
You know, they got saved.
I mean, it would be a cool guy to meet.
Let's go to Acts 11.
We're leaving no stone unturned.
Acts 11, verse 15, and as I began to speak, you know, my notes start in verse 15.
But doesn't verse 14 say, who shall tell the words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved?
Yeah, that's a great verse too.
Verse 15, and as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning.
And by the way, how did they know that the Holy Ghost fell on them?
Because of what came out of their mouth.
They spake.
But that's another story.
Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he had said,
John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.
For as much then as God gave them the light gift as he did unto us,
who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I could withstand God?
When they heard these things, they held their peace and glorified God, saying,
Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.
So when the Bible says here, repentance unto life,
did he just finish telling a story that said, you know what?
You should have seen it.
I mean, people were quitting drinking.
They were quitting smoking.
They were getting off drugs.
They stopped stealing.
They stopped, you know, they got out of fornication.
And then they're like, well, God granted them repentance unto life.
Is that what this says?
No, what it actually says is that they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ in verse 17.
They were told words whereby they and all their house would be saved.
They heard those words.
And then it says in verse 17, for as much then as God gave them the light gift as he did unto us,
who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I could withstand God?
Then when they heard that they said,
well, God's given them repentance unto life.
So what was the change?
What was what they turned to?
They turned to Jesus.
They changed over from being ignorant of biblical salvation to understanding biblical salvation
from not having heard the word of God to hearing and believing the word of God.
And God granted them repentance unto life.
I mean, it's pretty clear, isn't it?
Move on.
Acts 13, verse 23.
Now with this one, man, I'm losing my voice.
With this one, we're going to hit kind of a two for one here.
I want to show you two verses together.
Look at Acts chapter 13, verse 23.
It says, This man seedeth God according to his promise, raised unto Israel a Savior Jesus.
When John at first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel,
and as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am?
I'm not I'm not he.
Behold there.
But behold, there cometh one after me whose shoes of his feet I'm not worthy to lose.
Men and brethren of the stock of Abraham and whosoever among you that fear with God to you
is this word of salvation sent.
Now, this word of salvation about the one that would come after John the Baptist,
whose shoes he was not worthy to unloose.
Obviously, Jesus.
Look at verse 24 again.
When John at first preached before his coming, the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.
Keep your finger there.
Go to Acts 19 four.
We're going to cover two mentions at the same time.
Put them side by side.
Because we have an interesting term there.
In Acts 13 24, the baptism of repentance.
Everybody see that term?
He preached the baptism of repentance.
Look what it says in chapter 19, verse four.
Then said Paul, John verily 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 when Paul was preaching the baptism of repentance, what words did he use?
What did he say?
What does it mean that he preached the baptism of repentance?
He preached that they should believe on him which should come after.
That is on Christ.
And if you go back to chapter 13, it's right there.
Same thing.
Verse 24 says baptism of repentance.
Verse 25, as John fulfilled his course, he said, whom think ye that I am?
I am not he.
But behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose.
Men and brothers.
So who's he talking about?
Whom believe on him that's coming after?
Same thing.
So it doesn't say, you know, John preached the baptism of repentance.
And in regard to salvation, hey, Jusia, if you're making me something to fix my throat,
pour salt in water.
Salt in warm water.
I'm going to fix my throat and finish this sermon.
This is an important subject.
This ricola is not getting the job done.
Some warm salt water up here.
So, and I'm going to drive it till the wheels fall off this morning.
Because I'm fired up about this subject.
I'm leaving no stone unturned.
All right.
If I have to start doing sign language or have an interpreter, I'm getting through the
rest of this.
I'm getting through these notes.
But let's go to Act 17.
We've only got three mentions left in the book of Acts.
So far, it's not looking real good for this repent of your sins salvation crowd, is it?
And we only got three more left.
Hopefully, you know, for their sake, they've got an ace up their sleeve or they're in
trouble.
They're going down.
Acts 17 29, 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 art and man's device.
In the times of this ignorance, God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere
to repent.
What are they repenting of in verse 30?
Their ignorance.
And what specifically was their ignorance?
They thought that the Godhead could be like an unto gold, silver or precious stones.
They thought a statue is God.
And he said, you know what?
The times of that ignorance, God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to quit
drinking.
You heard me quit drinking.
You used to think God was gold and silver and stone, and that's why you need to quit
living with your girlfriend.
Now, look, don't anybody twist my sermon.
I'm not saying that you should be drinking or live with your girlfriend or smoking pot.
Those are all things that you should repent of.
But remember back in the you should go to church.
You should read the Bible.
You should tithe.
You should go soul winning.
You should help the poor.
But is that how you get saved?
No, because those are all good works.
Notice the word good.
Good works.
We're not against works.
We're not against repenting of your sins.
In fact, I just spent several minutes praising Simon for repenting of his sin.
But you know what?
When it comes to salvation, it's faith.
It's belief.
But yet people will pull out Act 1730.
Here's the proof that you got to repent of your sins to be saved.
It isn't there.
Well, but isn't that idolatry a sin?
You know what my answer is to this?
Isn't idolatry a sin?
My answer is avoid foolish questions.
And let me put that into modern vernacular.
Avoid stupid questions, because that is that is a stupid question.
Because any mathematician who knows anything about logic would know that that is illogical
to say that, well, if you have to repent of believing in a false God,
if a false God is a sin, then therefore you have to repent of your sin.
And this might go over the head of some of the people in the auditorium.
Who in here knows a lot about math?
Or you're a computer programmer of some kind?
Or you put up your hand if you're a computer geek or a math.
Hey, don't put your hand down just because I am a geek.
Computer geek math nerds out there.
I'm guilty.
I'm one of them.
OK?
And hopefully everybody understands what I'm saying.
Look, idolatry.
Everybody turn on your math brain for a second.
OK?
Idolatry does not equal sin.
Idolatry is a subset of sin.
Who understood what I just said?
OK?
So, you know, unbelief is not equal to sin.
Unbelief is a subset of sin.
Therefore, all unbelief is sin, but not all sin is unbelief.
They're not equivalent.
Let me put it to you in a way that might be simpler.
Cat equals, this is the logic.
Cat equals mammal.
Dog equals mammal.
Therefore, cat equals dog.
Stupid, isn't it?
You must repent of bowing down to a statue and thinking it's God to be saved.
Bowing down to a statue and thinking it's God is a sin.
Therefore, you have to repent of your sin to be saved.
It's the same logic.
They don't understand the difference between something being a subset of something.
Look, a cat is a subset of the group mammals.
A dog is a subset of mammals.
Well, but a dog is a mammal.
No, but that doesn't mean that every mammal is a dog.
If you don't understand that, it doesn't matter.
But anyway, go to Acts 20.
Some people understood it and they're like,
that computes, you know.
Other people are just like, oh man, quit talking about math.
Is this my salt water?
I'm sorry to have to subject you to that, but it's a good way.
Still not working.
All right.
And that's always the best thing.
So if that doesn't work, I give up.
What's that?
Yeah, I know it.
But Acts 2021.
I'm just going to have to power through this thing.
I'm back to Recola.
All right, Acts 2021.
It says this,
testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks,
repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, in this passage, there's really no context to tell us exactly what the repentance of,
except that it's toward God.
It's turning to God.
And it's coupled with faith toward Jesus.
So this does not bolster a repent of your sins to be saved one iota,
because it's talking about putting your faith in Jesus as turning toward God.
Now, let's go to Acts 26, the last mention in the book of Acts of Repent.
It says in verse 19,
Whereupon, O King Agrippa,
I was not disobedient under the heavenly vision,
but showed first unto them of Damascus and of Jerusalem,
and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles,
that they should repent and turn to God and do works.
Meet for repentance.
For these causes, the Jews caught me in the temple and went about to kill me.
Now, look at this verse.
It says, and if you would, go to Ephesians 2.10.
Keep your finger here in Acts 26.
Let's compare this to Ephesians 2.10.
Because it says here in Acts 26, that Paul's going around preaching that they should repent
and turn to God and do works, meet for repentance.
Now, look, if this was all about just everything you have to do to be saved,
then this would be teaching work salvation.
Because you have to repent, turn to God, do works, meet for repentance.
But look at Acts 2.8.
It says, For by grace are you saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God,
not of works, thus any man should boast.
For we are his workmanship, watch this, created in Christ Jesus,
unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
So notice it doesn't say we must walk in them to be saved.
Does it say, hey, God has ordained good works that you must walk in in order to be saved.
No, he said you're saved by faith, not works.
But that there are works that as God has ordained that you should walk in.
Now, is that a good workmanship?
That you should walk in.
Now, is there a difference between what we should do and what we must do?
What must we do to be saved?
Believe.
What should we do?
Good works.
What should we do?
Works meet for repentance.
So again, we just looked at every single mention in the book of Acts of repentance.
And people say, oh, the Bible mentions repentance so much.
Yeah, I know, but none of it proves your stupid doctrine.
Because salvation is by grace through faith, plus nothing minus nothing.
And a lot of us, we have it down as independent fundamental Baptist, the plus nothing part.
That it's by faith plus nothing, just faith.
But here's the thing.
It's plus nothing minus nothing.
You don't have to minus all the sin out of your life in order to be saved.
Okay, so I wanted to go through this also.
I'm going to have to skip part of my notes just so that I don't completely destroy my
throat for life here, but I want to cover one more thing.
Here's an article and you say, why do you preach on this?
Why are you teaching this?
Why do you go through it line upon line?
Because it's a major false doctrine that's out there, even amongst independent Baptist.
Now, even in our own area.
Now, I'm not going after anybody in our area this morning.
I have other times, but this is an article that I found online and this article just
blew my mind.
The blindness of anyone who wrote this article or thinks that this article is the truth.
The blindness just, it just blew my mind.
And let me show this to you.
This is written by a guy, I've never even heard of this guy, but it's written by a pastor
called Matt McPhillips and he's a pastor from Port Huron, Michigan.
I don't even know who this guy is, but this was on the website of a church called Old
Paths Baptist Church, pastor by a guy named Jason Cooley.
And not only that, but at the end of it, there's this paragraph added by a traveling circus
evangelist known as Brother Ted Alexander and he basically says, I'm evangelist Ted
Alexander and I approve this message.
So three, three heretics and false teachers are promoting this article.
In fact, when you go to that Baptist church where I found it, under Bible doctrine, they
have one article, one tab, repentance, and this is the article.
Just listen.
You've seen what the Bible said.
You've seen what John said.
You've seen what Acts said.
Yeah, we didn't go through the other 64 books today, but we saw a lot.
I'm going to attempt to write about the doctrine of repentance.
Okay, that's not how you start an article.
That's just something you think in your mind.
You think to yourself, I'm going to attempt to write an article.
Then you start writing the article.
I mean, this is like when people write you a letter and they're like, hi, how are you?
I'm fine.
You can go ahead and leave that out.
You know what I mean?
So I'm going to attempt to write about the doctrine of repentance.
About two years ago, I became so troubled about my lack of study about the gospel and
my acceptance of four points in a prayer that I dove into studying it head first.
Now, when you hear that, don't you expect he's going to get out the Bible?
He's going to, I want to see what Luke says.
I want to see what John says.
I want to see what Acts says.
See what Romans says, right?
He says, I dove into studying it head first.
Not knowing completely what my conclusion would be.
I saturated myself with scripture, the Bible, the word.
No, no, no.
I saturated myself with books, articles, and sermons by men.
That's literally, I'm reading it verbatim.
I saturated myself with books, articles, and sermons.
You're saturated with something else, buddy.
But anyway, saturated myself with books, articles, and sermons by men of the 1900s, 1800s, 1700s,
and 1600s, only to find an amazing thing.
The issue of what is repentance and reference to salvation is a modern issue.
What's he saying?
This is only controversial in modern times.
I mean, when you look at the 1900s, the 1800s, the 1700s, the 1600s, you know, everybody's
saying the same thing about repentance.
This is modern.
Listen to what he says.
I looked at the numerous confessions of faith only to realize that they all defined it as
sorrow for and turning and turning from sin.
This would include the London Confession 1644, the Armenian Confession of 1834, the Philadelphia
Association of 1734, the French Confession of 1879, the Swiss Confession of 1848, the
New Hampshire, yeah, because when everybody in a country all gets together, all the Baptists
in the country all get together and agree on what they believe, that's being an independent
Baptist, right?
When the whole country of France gets together and writes a confession, the whole country
of Switzerland, all the Baptists get together, is it?
But, and many others, as much as it pained me, I even began to look at non-Baptist confessions
only to find the same.
Even unsafe people are agreeing with my definition of repentance.
So maybe it was that I would find men from the past that would define it as a change
of mind, from unbelief to belief, or from one dependence, you know, like depending on
something else to save you to, you know, depending on Christ.
I was amazed at what I found.
Notice that all of these men agreed as the true nature of France, and he gives a bunch
of quotes from famous preachers of the past, most of which were not Baptists.
So he's like, oh, it was really painful for me to look at non-Baptist.
Well, it must not have been that painful since more than half of who you quoted was not a
Baptist.
Otherwise, you were in a lot of pain when you wrote this article.
So then after he quotes all these men, which mean nothing to me, then at the end, he has
these questions.
He's like, I'm going to leave you with these questions.
He confronts us, the reader, with these questions.
He gets five questions.
Question number three is this.
Can you find our modern-day definition of repentance more than 100 years ago?
So what's he saying?
Hey, I looked at all this stuff.
Everybody agrees.
There was no dispute.
There was, this is a modern, this controversy is a modern-day issue.
Everything, everybody defined it the same way, okay?
And he says, I defy you to show me anyone that was more than 100 years ago saying, you
know, that it's changing your mind and, you know, turning from unbelief to belief, you
know, or just trusting in one thing or another.
But you want to know what's funny?
He gives the answer in the article.
Because one of the people that he quoted was Charles Spurgeon.
Listen to this.
From 1872.
Now somebody help me out.
Is 1872 more than 100 years ago?
This is in his article.
I didn't even have to go do reading.
Oh, I'm going to find people.
I'm going to go find people that define it.
No, no, no.
It's right here in his article.
Listen to the quote that he gives from Charles Spurgeon.
Just now, meaning in what year?
This is the first words out of Charles Spurgeon.
This is one of the first quotes he gives.
Just now, some professively Christian teachers are misleading many by saying that repentance
is only a change of mind.
What in the world?
So he just spent two paragraphs like, I checked.
Nobody believed in this.
Nobody's ever heard of this modern thing of changing your mind, being repentance.
You can't find it anywhere.
I defy you to find it more than 100 years ago.
Let me just show you.
Here's a quote from Charles Spurgeon in 1872.
And Charles Spurgeon says just now, some professively Christian teachers are misleading many.
He's like, there's multiple preachers and they're misleading many people teaching them
that repentance is only a change of mind.
Here's what he says next.
It is true that the original word does convey the idea of a change of mind.
I'm not leaving anything.
I'm reading this verbatim.
This is like a parody.
I mean, it's all you can't even make this stuff up.
Well, it is true that, you know, the original word does convey the idea of a change of mind.
But the whole teaching of scripture concerning repentance, you know, is more radical than
that.
Okay, well, here's what's funny.
He doesn't quote a single scripture in this quote.
In fact, there is virtually no scripture quoted almost in this entire article.
Four pages, no verses backing up their position.
Okay, one of the quotes, a guy references Isaiah in one quote.
The rest of it is just void of scripture.
So what's funny is that he's, you're like, okay, Charles Spurgeon, give us, well, okay,
yeah, that is what repent means to change your mind.
But, okay, well, Spurgeon, give us a scripture to tell us that it means something different.
Well, it's just the whole scripture.
I mean, don't you love it when you tell people like, hey, can you show me, you know, the
pre-trib rapture in scripture?
And it's just like, well, just the whole Bible.
Well, where's the Bible teach that you have to repent of your sins to be saved?
Whole Bible.
Well, can you point me to a specific verse?
The whole thing?
Just now, some professionally Christian teachers are misleading many by saying that it sounds
like, man, praise God for all that soul winning that was going on in 1872.
Sounds like to me that there were a bunch of faithful word Baptist churches over there
in England that were doing the real soul winning while that phony Charles Spurgeon is just
all famous and everybody loves him and he's all interdenominational and he's all big and
popular.
Look, are all the popular preachers today phony?
Name a big popular name preacher on TV that's not a phony.
Name one.
Oh, he's not a phony.
You mean he is a phony.
All right, good.
You need to pay a little more attention.
Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, Kenneth Copeland.
What's that?
Haakala Gondola, Benny Hinn, Benny Hinn, T.D.
Jakes.
So look, Billy Graham, Billy Balaam.
So when we name the big name preachers of our day, if we look at the biggest churches
in Phoenix, Phoenix First Assembly, Cornerstone down in Chandler, these are churches that
are so apostate.
Where do we begin?
OK, and yet we have this weird idea.
Oh, the popular preachers of the past, they all preach the truth.
No, it's all even in Jesus day.
He said, woe unto you when all men speak well of you.
So they have the false problem.
Why is everybody loves Spurgeon?
Because he's a phony.
Why is he so popular amongst a whole bunch of denominations?
Because he was phony, because every popular preacher has always been a phony.
And you know what's funny?
We don't even know the names of all these Christian teachers who are misleading so many
people by telling us by faith alone and that repentance is just changing your mind and
believing in Christ.
You know, we don't know who they are, but you know what?
They're the ones with all the crowns in heaven.
We don't even know who they are.
But they were doing some major soul winning to the point where Charles Spurgeon is like,
man, I need to deal with this.
This is spreading this doctrine of faith alone, salvation.
I need to get up and teach all my Calvinistic garbage.
I need to, I need to ramp up my teaching of Calvinism and repent of your sins, salvation.
But this is what it is, folks.
Oh, I delved in and figured out my doctrine by reading a bunch of men.
But not only that, you're reading the phonies.
You know why?
Well, everybody I read was a phony.
Yeah, because you know what the real preachers, they didn't get published by all of Satan's
media institutions.
They couldn't get a book published.
They couldn't get on TV.
They couldn't get on the radio.
Why?
Because they're telling the truth.
And that's what, look, think about it.
What if all of a sudden, what if our country somehow, let's say our country was just nuked
and everything crumbled and collapsed and everything's dead.
And then like hundreds of years later, somebody comes and excavates it as an archaeologist
and they want to talk about what Christians believed in America in the 21st century.
What are the chances that they're going to find an After the Tribulation DVD versus finding
a Joel Osteen DVD?
What do you think there's more of in circulation?
Yeah, they're going to be brushing off, this artifact from 2015 is of a Joyce Meyer book.
You know, that's what they're going to find.
That's what they're going to find.
Look, go walk into Walmart.
And it's not like, hey, you get a deal when you buy After the Tribulation and New World
Earth Bible versions.
You get a discount.
No, it's going to be in Walmart.
It's all going to be who?
Left behind.
Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, right?
Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, the harbinger.
It's everything that's false.
Don't even get me started on that.
I don't have the throat for that.
But let me tell you something, whoever wrote this article was blindfolded while they wrote
it, because how can you sit there and defy us?
Show me one.
Show me one person 100 years ago.
And then they provide it.
Here's the news to hang me with.
Here's a gun.
Shoot me with it.
You know, it's like, it's like, here, let me dig my own grave real quick.
People are nuts.
Look, this is why we go to the Bible.
Well, but what's the historical position?
Not important to me.
I don't care.
What does the Bible say?
All right.
Let's have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for this this morning, Lord, when we could come together
and assemble with your people in your house, Lord.
And I just pray that you would please just let these words sink down into our ears.
Lord, there's a lot of error and false teaching out there, Lord.
I pray that you would help us to study to show ourselves approved, not approved by famous
man of the past, but approved unto God.
And Lord, help us to rightly divide the word of truth in Jesus name.
We pray.
Amen.