Alright, good morning everyone. Welcome to First Works Baptist Church. Let's all find
Song number three hundred and ten for our first song this morning
Let's all stand together for this first song if you're able
Song number three hundred and ten footprints of Jesus altogether nice and strong on that first verse
sweetly
Of Jesus, where ere they go?
Though they lead over the cold, dark mountains,
Seeking his sheep, or along by Siloam's fowl.
where the steps of Jesus end at his throne.
Footprints of Jesus that make the pathway glow.
We will follow the steps of Jesus where rare they go.
Amen, wonderful singing.
Let's start off our service with a word of prayer.
Lord God Heavenly Father, we thank you for giving us this day that we can come to your house Lord and hear the preaching of your word
We ask that you please just bless the service each and every aspect of it
Please bless this singing that would be pleasing to your ears that prepare our hearts for the message
Most of all Lord, please fill past me here with your spirit as he preaches unto us
And give us ready years in the congregation to hear that we may leave your change in Jesus's name. We pray amen
You may be seated
Please turn your song books to song number 397, song number 397, little as much when God is in it.
Song number 397, all together, nice and strong in that first verse.
In the harvest field now ripe and there's a work for all to do.
Park the voice of God is calling to the harvest calling you.
There's a crown and you can win it
If you'll go in Jesus' name
Does the place you're called to labor
Seem so small and little known
It is great if God is in it
And he'll not forget his own
Little is much when God is in it
Labor not for wealth or fame
In Jesus' name are you laid aside from service.
You can still be in the battle, in the sacred place of prayer.
Little is much when God is in it, labor not for while for fame.
He will say to all the faithful, Welcome home, my child, well done,
Little is much when God is in it, Labor not for wealth or fame,
There's a crown and you can win it, If you'll go in Jesus' name.
All right, great singing.
Welcome to First Works Baptist Church.
Just a few announcements here before we sing our next song,
which will be song number 63.
what a day that will be. Song number 63, if you want to get that ready in your song books,
if you did not get a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand. One of the ushers can get one for you.
Some important information on there, of course. We welcome you to come back to our Sunday evening
service at 5 p.m. and then we have a Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock. We are currently going
through the book of John, so hope to see you for our verse by verse Bible study there. We are of
course a family integrated church and so infants and children stay with their parents in the service.
I feel like you need to take them out of the service.
We do have mother baby rooms located throughout the building.
And if you need to know the location of those rooms,
you can ask one of the ushers and they can lead you to one.
There are changing tables and speakers screens
available there.
So you can still tune into the preaching and come back in at your discretion.
You see the Solanine times and teams listed there in the middle,
and the list of expecting mothers, and we have a brand new person on the list.
It's not on your list, it's on my list though.
And that is, congratulations to Zach and Jess already here.
Give them a round of applause.
They will be expecting, we'll put them on the list there.
Please keep Jessa in prayer and then you see the stats for salvations and baptisms on the bottom left hand corner
On the right hand side is the upcoming church events
We have the TJ missions trip coming up on Saturday August 30th
Of course, the expenses are paid for leaving the building at 9 15 a.m
If you'd like to participate in that just make sure you bring your passport and coordinate with our evangelist brother Ulysses Hernandez
Men's prayer night is coming up on Friday, September 5th
Meeting at the building at 7 p.m. And then we have our church anniversary on Sunday, September 14th
And that's pretty much it. Please keep my wife in prayer. She's due tomorrow
And so if she has the baby between services, someone else is gonna be preaching tonight
But we'll see how that goes and so we're looking forward to that
Please make sure you silence your phones
Excuse me so as to not be a distraction
During the service and that is it for our announcements. Let's go ahead and sing our next song song number 63. What a day that will be
song number 63 all together nice and strong in that first verse there is
coming a day when no heart ain't shall come no more clouds in the sky no more
tears to dim the eye all is peace forever more on that happy golden
What a day, glorious day, that will be.
What a day, that will be, when my Jesus I shall see.
When I look upon his face, the one who saved me by his grace.
When he takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land.
a day that will be. There'll be no sorrow there, no more burden to bear, no more sickness,
no pain, no more parting over there.
What a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see.
And I look upon his face, the one who saved me by his grace.
When he takes me by the hand, and leads me through the promised land.
What a day, glorious day!
wonderful singing. At this time the ushers will come forth to receive the offering.
You can turn your Bibles to Matthew chapter number three. Matthew chapter three.
Matthew chapter number three, Matthew chapter three, the Bible reads.
In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and
saying, Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah saying,
the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair and a leather and
girdle about his loins, and his meat was locus and wild honey.
Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan were baptized of him and Jordan confessing their sins
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism
He said unto them oh generation of vipers who have warned you to flee from the wrath to come
Bring forth therefore fruits meat for repentance and think not to say within yourselves
We have Abraham to our father for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham
And now also, the axe is laid unto the root of the trees, therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.
I indeed baptize thee with water unto repentance, but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear.
He shall baptize thee with the Holy Ghost and with fire, whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner, but he will burn up the shaft with unquenchable fire.
Then comeeth Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him, but John forbade him, saying,
I have need to be baptized of thee, and comeest thou to me. And Jesus answering said unto him,
Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becomeeth us to fulfill all righteousness.
Then he suffered him, and Jesus when he was baptized went up straight way out of the water, and lo the heavens were opened unto him,
and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him, and lo a voice from heaven saying,
This is my beloved Son, and whom I am well pleased.
Let's pray a deal with God. Thank you for this church. Thank you for our pastor. Just ask that you
would strengthen him now. Please bless him with your Holy Spirit as he preaches unto us
and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Okay, we're in Matthew chapter three this morning
and the title of my sermon today is repentance. I want to preach on the subject
of repentance in the Bible.
Verse number one of Matthew chapter three says,
in those days came John the Baptist preaching
in the wilderness of Judea and saying,
repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
We'll come back to this portion of the description
just a bit, but let me make some introductory statements
regarding this particular topic.
What is repentance?
Well, repentance, depending on the context,
refers to turning from something
your mind. So either it means to turn from something, but it can also mean that you are
changing your mind. This is found throughout the Bible and should be interpreted on a case
by case basis. And in fact, the meaning repentance in one passage.
doesn't mean that it's going to be interpreted in the same manner in another passage, okay?
So you can't take one particular definition and paint repentance with a broad brush throughout the
scriptures because as we're going to see today, it wouldn't fit the context in certain instances.
You can look at repentance in one particular passage and say,
whoa, this means that you're turning from your sin or this means that you're simply changing your mind.
Unfortunately, nowadays has been defined, or should I say redefined, to only mean to
turn from your sin for salvation.
And this is a false gospel.
It's false doctrine.
And we're not saying that the Bible doesn't teach to turn from your sin, but it for sure
does not teach to turn from your sin for salvation, as I'm going to prove conclusively this morning.
Repentance is necessary for salvation, but it's not the repentance of sins and we're going to see that this morning
I want to show you the different instances in which the term is used throughout the word of God now
You're in Matthew chapter 3
Let's read verse number two again.
Of course, John the Baptist here is beginning his ministry and folks, a lot of times when
you run into preachers, pastors, ministries who believe you have to repent of your sins
to be saved, they love quoting passages such as Matthew chapter three, such as Jesus Christ
in the book of Matthew, Mark and Luke, where he says, repent for the kingdom of heaven as
in hand, repent and believe the gospel, but they will often infer sins into the passage,
right?
Where does the Bible say we have to turn from our sins
to be saved?
Where does it say that we have to repent of our sins
to be saved?
And they'll point to Matthew three verse one.
And you say, well, it says there,
repent for the kingdom of heaven as it hand.
They're like, yeah, there you go.
And she's just like, I'm sorry,
I missed the part where it says of sins.
Well, it says it right there.
Repent for the kingdom of heaven as it hand.
And they often have this delusional interpretation
of the Bible where they literally place a word
that doesn't exist in the actual text itself, right?
And look, we love Matthew 3, verse 1.
We love every verse in the Bible,
especially if it says repent.
Why?
Because that's what God chose to put there.
And we're gonna look at what it means.
So he says here in verse two,
repent ye for the kingdom of heaven as it hand.
Go to Matthew chapter four, if you would.
Matthew four, the next chapter over.
So John the Baptist says repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. What does that mean?
Well look at Matthew 4 verse 17 from that time Jesus began to preach and to say
repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand same exact message, right?
Go to Mark chapter 1 if you would Mark chapter 1
So John the Baptist says to repent for the kingdom of heaven as in hand
Jesus Christ reinforces this message when he says repent for the kingdom of heaven as in hand in both instances
We do not have the phrase of sin
Mentioned in the text look at Mark chapter 1 in verse number 14
It says now after that John was put into prison
Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God
So, the first thing I want to mention here is that Jesus Christ, the text is telling
us that Jesus is preaching the gospel.
And let me just mention this, is the gospel that Jesus is preaching is the same gospel
that we're preaching today.
The gospel has never changed throughout history, right?
It's always been the same from the beginning of time to the end of time, the gospel will
remain the same.
Have there been a few alterations or should I say modifications to the gospel?
In the New Testament, it's more specific and it tells us believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, right?
It's not taking away from the gospel. It's just giving us more information of the name of the Lord that we are to believe upon for salvation, okay?
And so he's it says here that he's preaching the gospel the kingdom of God and the reason I want to even mention that is because you have a false doctrine out
There called dispensationalism, okay, and dispensationalism is filled with a lot of heresy
You have the heretical teaching of Zionism
You have the heretical teaching of the pre-tribulation rapture but you also have probably the most heretical teaching of dispensationalism which is dispensational salvation.
It's worse than Zionism. It's worse than the pre-tribulation rapture because it's what the Bible would refer to as damnable heresy.
If someone believes that Jews are God's chosen people are not going to go to hell. They're just going to be ignorant of the Bible.
They're going to be sending all their money to Israel.
They're going to be waving the star of remfan or whatever and you know
They're going to be cow telling to the Jews or whatever, but you know
It's not going to necessarily affect their salvation unless they believe in dispensational salvation
Now what is dispensational salvation? It's the teaching that salvation has changed throughout history
Okay, the message of salvation has changed throughout history meaning that in the Old Testament people were saved by believing on the Lord and works
keeping of the law, doing the animal sacrifices, obeying the law of Moses.
And now that we're into the Gospels, now salvation is essentially preached as the Kingdom of God.
And then later on, what they would consider the Bible to say right now at this time,
is salvation is just by grace alone. Grace through faith alone.
But then later on in the future, in the book of Revelation, salvation once again changes to being by works again.
So, this is obviously damnable heresy because of the fact that the Bible specifically teaches that salvation is not of works at any time, okay?
But the point that I'm making here is that people, namely the dispensationalists, will claim that the gospel of the kingdom of God is a different gospel than what we preach today,
and it's even a different gospel than what the apostle Paul preaches.
But, you know, I thought the apostle Paul said in Galatians chapter 1 that if someone preaches another gospel, let him be accursed.
So, obviously, that doesn't make sense, you know, to say that Jesus is preaching in a different gospel than the Apostle Paul.
They both have the same exact message, and in fact, in the Old Testament, the Book of Acts tells us of preachers and prophets of the Old Testament
that they preach to believe on the Lord for the remission of sins. Okay?
Look at verse 15, it says in saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at
hand, repent ye and believe the gospel.
Now this is very important, why?
Because when it tells us to repent and believe the gospel, the antithesis to believe in the
gospel is that we're believing in something else.
See, the exact opposite is not that you are not turning from your sin.
If it's saying, repent ye and believe the gospel, what can we infer upon that passage
based upon the context?
Repent could be defined as change what you believe, stop believing, repent of what you're
believing and believe the gospel.
Because if it says and believe the gospel,
the first part of that phrase could be defined as
or described as, you know, stop believing in this,
start believing in this.
Turn from what you're trusting in,
turn from what you're believing in
and believe the gospel.
That actually fits the context.
Why?
Well, because turn from your sin and believe the gospel
doesn't make any sense, okay?
Why?
Because turning from your sin does not require a belief.
It requires an action.
And the Bible tells us that salvation is not of works.
Okay, go to Luke chapter 17.
So in Matthew chapter 3, you have John the Baptist saying,
Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Jesus Christ also states in Matthew chapter 4,
Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Mark chapter 1 further describes this command and says,
Repent ye and believe the gospel.
Let's go ahead and define what it means when he says repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand
What's what's the point of that phrase? What's the point of that command?
Look at Luke 17 verse 19 it says and he said unto him arise go thy way thy faith had made thee whole
And when he was demanded of the Pharisees when the kingdom of God should come
He answered them and said the Kingdom of God cometh not with observation.
Now what does this mean exactly?
Well you have to understand that the nation of Israel at this particular time
was awaiting a physical Kingdom, right?
You know, they were under the rule of the Romans.
They were under, you know, what they would consider
to be the oppression of the Romans.
They were under Roman government, Roman rule.
And so they understood that the Old Testament scriptures
pointed to a kingdom that the Lord would establish one day.
Now we believe in this kingdom as well,
the physical kingdom.
The difference is is that according to the Bible,
this doesn't take place until the millennial reign
of Jesus Christ.
Okay.
So he says here the kingdom of God is enhanced so in their minds they're thinking oh
You know God's kingdom that's been prophesied of the Old Testament is going to be established at this moment during the first century AD
And this is why the Pharisees are saying you know we want to know when the kingdom of God should come
When is it going to be established? When are you going to start ruling?
When is this kingdom this physical kingdom going to come to pass now?
Obviously the Israelites were very much ignorant of the chronology of the establishment of this kingdom
And so were the disciples right because even after the resurrection in the book of Acts
You know the disciples come to Jesus and they're just like hey, so when is the kingdom going to come?
And it's just like, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons, you know,
basically saying like, I'm giving you power to go preach the gospel,
the kingdom of God, the physical kingdom is not a thing.
Now, what was a thing?
The spiritual kingdom.
Amen.
Okay.
And he specifically says here he answered them and said the kingdom of God cometh not with observation
meaning that the kingdom that he's currently establishing during their particular time
is not something that they can see. In other words, it's not going to be a throne.
There's not going to be, you know, some sort of kingdom, a physical kingdom like King David or King Solomon.
It doesn't come with observation. They're not going to usurp the authority of the government in order to establish this kingdom.
It doesn't come with the observation.
Verse 21.
Neither shall they say low here or low there, for behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
So he says, hey, you know, you're looking for a physical kingdom, but you're looking
for the wrong things.
Because of the fact that you know if someone tells you low here's the kingdom. Oh, man. Here's the kingdom of Israel
Here's the kingdom of Judah. Here's the kingdom of Judea
It's not it's not the case because that's not what God has planned for this particular time
And then he says that the kingdom of God is within you. He's not giving a TED talk here
You know, he's not like hey, just believe in yourself. You know the kingdom of God is within you. Why is he saying this?
Look at verse 22 and he said unto the disciples,
the days will come when ye shall desire to see
one of the days of the Son of Man,
and ye shall not see it.
So what does he mean by this,
that the kingdom of God is within you?
Well, let's just take all these passages
and explain them real quick.
So we have John the Baptist, Jesus, and Repent E
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
And if that's synonymous with Repent E
and believe the gospel, that means believe in the gospel.
What is the result of believing the gospel?
The kingdom of God comes within you.
Okay, now how does that happen well if he's saying that the kingdom of God is at hand another thing that's at hand is salvation
right
Because in Romans chapter 10, when talking about salvation it says that the righteousness which is a faith is on this wise
Say not in thine heart who shall ascend up into heaven to bring Christ down from above or who shall descend into the deep
That is to bring up Christ again from the dead
But what sayeth it? The word is nigh thee even in thine mouth and in thine heart that is the word of faith which we preach unto you
So what does the Bible say that is actually nigh unto us? The word of faith that gets us saved
In other words, you don't have to go to Jerusalem, you don't have to go to Israel to get saved.
You can literally believe on the Lord Jesus Christ by calling upon the name of the Lord.
And guess what?
The kingdom of God comes within you.
So each and every one of us, if we're saved, we have the kingdom of God within us.
And obviously we know that because we're saved, we're going to literally be in that physical
kingdom one day.
But guess what?
So, when Jesus and John the Baptist say we're paying for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,
the kingdom of heaven is synonymous with salvation, okay?
How do we know that?
Well, because he says we're paying and believe the gospel.
So, you know, stop trusting in what you're believing in for salvation and believe the
gospel.
And when you believe the gospel, now the kingdom is at hand.
Why? Because it just happens in a moment, right?
When we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
there is a change within us.
The Holy Spirit comes and quickens our dead spirit
that was dead in trespasses and sin,
but we don't physically see that, right?
You know, when someone calls upon the name of the Lord,
we don't see what's taking place in their heart.
We don't see the regeneration that takes place.
We don't see when the Holy Spirit goes
and is sealed into that person, into the day of redemption.
We don't see the new man dwelling within there.
Why? Because of the fact that it's a spiritual transformation.
It's something that doesn't come with observation.
And so, what do we see here?
We see that when the Bible says repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It's synonymous with just getting saved
Okay, now again, he's saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand or the kingdom of God is at hand because that's what's appealing to the Israelites
That's what appeals to them. They want a physical kingdom, but they're not going to get a physical kingdom as of yet
And if they really want a physical kingdom, they would get saved
They would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and therefore, you know, inherit the promises that were, you know, designated to them in the Old Testament
You know, you have a lot of people claiming that,
you know, oh, God promised, you know, the Jews this
and God promised the Israelites this and that and the other.
And you know what, I would agree with them
if they actually got saved.
But because they reject the Lord Jesus Christ,
you know, they get nothing.
You get nothing, you know,
but an eviction notice from the Lord.
And so, and look.
You know, they're getting an eviction notice from the Lamb,
but they're also getting an eviction notice
from the Kingdom of God as well.
Because Jesus specifically tells them
when talking about the Roman centurion to get saved,
he says, you know, you shall see people coming
from the East, West, you know, come and sit
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
and ye yourselves thrust out into outer darkness.
There shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.
That's called, you know, being excommunicated
from heaven permanently, okay?
Go to Hebrews chapter 6 if you would hold your place there in the Gospels because we're going to come back to that look at Hebrews chapter 6
So, I want us to understand that repentance in the Gospels in context of the Kingdom of God
is just another way of saying to stop trusting in what you're believing in for salvation and believe the Gospel.
And the reason he says that the fact that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand is because salvation is at hand,
it means it's at reach.
You can just call upon the name of the Lord. God is right there. You can ask Him to save you at this moment and you can be saved.
And this is the great thing about salvation is that it doesn't require a
geographical location in order to be saved.
I mean, obviously, some places you're just more likely to get saved than others.
For example, if someone goes to a fundamental Baptist church such as this one and you're
not saved, it's likely that you can get saved.
The probability of you getting saved is a lot higher than if you were to go somewhere
else, right?
Because, obviously, we have soul winners here, preachers of the Gospel.
The point that the Bible is making here is that salvation is easily accessible.
The kingdom of God is easily accessible.
All you have to do is call upon the name of the Lord,
repent from what you're believing in
and believe the gospel.
Look at Hebrews chapter six and verse number one.
No, I think that, you know,
you have to repent of your sins though for sure.
That's, you're wrong on that.
You do have to repent of your sins.
So what, we just believe in murder, kill, suicide
and all kinds of stuff.
Look folks, whoever came up with that illustration
is a psychopath.
Amen.
Oh, so you say we could just believe
and just go out and rape, kill, murder?
You know, I've been saved for 18 years,
I just never thought that.
That's very weird that you're saying that,
out of the abundance of the heart that mouths speaketh.
You know, when I got saved 18 years ago,
I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
the first thought that came out of my mind
was not like, all right.
It's time to go rob.
You know, time to go steal, time to go murder,
time to commit the most heinous of crimes.
Why? Because I don't know, I'm just a normal person.
And false prophets are the only ones
who come up with such an illustration.
It's ridiculous, okay?
And you know, people often say that this gospel
that I'm preaching, which is the biblical gospel,
is me giving a license to sin,
as if anybody needs a license to sin.
Everyone sins with or without a license.
That's a fact, okay?
You know, and look, people drive
with or without a license, amen?
People will go their entire life,
and not just without a license,
without insurance, without registration, you know?
There's probably some in here right now, amen?
And look, folks, people don't need a license to sin.
Why? Because of the fact that we have corruptible flesh
that sins whether we want to or not.
Now, you know when we get saved we should sin less of course
We should live a life of
Sanctification and honor and holiness and please the Lord, but you're delusional if you think you're just never gonna sin hereafter
Okay, you're deceiving yourself
Now look at the Hebrew chapter 6, verse number 1 says,
therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ,
let us go on into perfection, not laying again the foundation.
So he's about to lay out foundational doctrines of the faith,
but we're only going to cover the first verse.
He says, not laying again the foundation of repentance from sin,
no, repentance from dead works.
faith toward God. So here in we find a great description of what we're
supposed to repent of when we get saved, right? We are repenting of our dead works.
Now why is that? Well because virtually everyone in this world believes you have
to do works to be saved. People believe that you have to trust in your works in
order to obtain salvation. That's a fact.
Okay, and obviously that ranges and it varies based upon whatever religion they're a part of if they have a religion
But even if they don't have a religion, even if they claim to be atheist
Even if they claim to be agnostic even if they don't believe in God
They believe in doing good in order to be recompense for the good that they're doing in the afterlife
That's a fact. Well, the Bible's telling us here that we need to repent from dead works and place our faith toward God
And of course specifically it's Jesus Christ
We find here that we have to turn from dead works in order to be saved.
Why? Because works cannot save us.
For 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.
Now often when you present this particular argument,
people will say, well, you know, believing is a work.
Calling upon the name is a work.
Well, you can say that, but not according to biblical standards.
So you can I know it sounds cute and everything and you checkmate me or whatever
But that's not what the Bible teaches. So it's actually done. Okay, and I'm not saying that people, you know
Who asked this question are asking the farrier sleep because there's some people that are just simply deceived
If they're not saved the Bible tells us that the natural man receive it not the things of the Spirit of God
And so their foolishness unto him,
for their spiritually discern,
you know, unsaved people come up with weird ideas.
I was out souling this past week
and I ran into this lady
and I was giving her the gospel
and she's like, I'm not interested.
I used to be a Jehovah's Witness.
And basically she was saying
that she became disillusioned with Christianity
because of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
And, you know, I said, well, you know, just let me leave you with the fact that the Bible teaches that all we have to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
You don't have to do works. And she was like, oh, that's what the Jehovah's Witnesses taught. And I said, no, they don't.
They do not teach that at all. I know for a fact that Jehovah's Witnesses believe you have to do works in order to be saved.
And she said, yeah, but you're saying I have to believe on Jesus Christ. That's a work.
I said, how is that a work?
And she's like, well, it takes work to believe on something.
I said, it takes zero work to believe in anything.
It doesn't take any work.
Now, does it take work to look for the truth?
Of course, right?
But to actually place your faith in Jesus Christ,
according to the biblical standard, requires no work at all.
In fact, faith and works are complete opposites.
They're contrasting ideas.
The Bible tells us that we're saved by grace, and in Romans 11 verse 6 says,
and if by grace, then it is no more of works.
Otherwise, grace is no more grace.
So you can say that all you want, but according to God's standard,
which He's the one who's offering salvation,
He says that these are contrasting ideas,
and in fact, if you believe in one for salvation, you've made the other null and void.
He says and if by grace then it is no more works otherwise grace is no more grace
This is a proof that we should that people should never add works to their faith for salvation
Because essentially what you're doing is you're saying that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is insufficient to save you
You need to participate in your salvation
You need to also make payment, but we know that according to the Bible the payment of Jesus Christ is sufficient
So grace is something that you get that you don't deserve work is what you do to deserve something
Right you do works in order to merit something grace is something that you get that you don't deserve
And so when he says and if by grace and it is no more of works
You're basically saying the Bible is telling us here that we're getting something that we don't deserve
And therefore salvation cannot be of works because works produces something that we merit, something that we deserve.
So repentance from dead works and faith toward God, the Bible says.
Now, let's see here.
In fact, look, you're in Hebrews 6, look at verse 4.
Because what does it mean when it says, you know, the kingdom of heaven is at hand?
We obviously explained that that means that salvation is right there, right?
It's right there.
And look folks, there are people in this world where salvation is at hand.
Right salvation is like right there, and it's so close to them that they can taste it
And what happens they reject it, right?
And this is what the Bible says in verse number four,
for it is impossible for those who were once enlightened
and have tasted of the heavenly gift
and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost.
Meaning that there's individuals in this world
that literally go to the border,
the line of salvation to the point
where they understand completely what salvation is,
they taste it, they're enlightened by it,
and then they reject it.
And then, of course, this is referring to the reprobates of this world, and we're not going to spend too much time on that.
Go to Genesis 6, if you wouldn't. Genesis 6.
So we see that according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, Romans chapter 10, to repent simply means, for salvation, to repent means to turn from what you're trusting in, what you're believing in, and place you in your faith in Jesus Christ.
And this is described in various ways. Of course in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, it's described as repenting and believing the Gospel, or repenting because the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, meaning that salvation is at hand.
Obviously, that is a Biblical message, but today in 2025, it would be very confusing for people for us to preach that.
You say, what do you mean?
For us to go out there and say, Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
The vast majority of people out there would think that we're saying that you have to repent of your sins.
Because unfortunately, the term repent has been hijacked by false prophets to teach that you have to repent of your sins to be saved.
Now, in the house of God, we talk about it, you know what I'm talking about, but for the
unsafe person, unfortunately, they have been inoculated with these false terminologies
and concepts, which is why we don't use them in order to preach salvation.
You say, well, how do you preach salvation?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and that shall be saved.
Which is the message of the Bible and the book of John extensively covers this particular
topic, this phrase, this word, believing on Jesus Christ.
can't only mean turning from sin, okay?
Because I'm not gonna deny the fact
that there are instances in the Bible
where people turn from their sin, of course.
And you know, to claim that we're just
giving people license to sin, folks,
obviously, if you've been in this church long enough,
you know that I'm constantly preaching for you
to turn from your sin.
to get right with God, to confess and forsake your sin,
to repent of your sin.
The difference is I'm addressing believers, not unbelievers.
Now, the reason, you know, that repent,
painting repentance with a broad brush
and saying that it only means to turn from your sin
is heresy, it's because of the fact
that the Bible actually records God repenting.
Look at Genesis 6-6, it says,
and it repented the Lord that he had made man on earth.
and it grieved him at his heart.
Now what if we inserted repenting from your sin
definition to this particular verse?
It'd be blasphemous.
And it wouldn't even make any sense, right?
Now what's interesting is that, you know,
when you address people, when you talk to people
about this particular topic, you know,
I often ask them, so does repent always mean
to turn from your sin?
They're like, it always means to turn from your sin.
Then you point out Genesis 6, 6,
and they're like, well, except for that.
Well, except for that doesn't mean always now does it always means always and
All of a sudden you want to make this exception because of the fact that you've never read the Bible and
Genesis 6x is not the only one and in fact
The Bible records God repenting more than anybody else
So if we wanted a clear definition of what repentance is in the Bible
We need to see how it's largely used in the Bible and who it's used by and that's God
And in every single instance, when God repents, it means what?
That he changed his mind.
That he was grieved and that he changed his mind.
Showing us conclusively that the definition of repentance
varies upon the context because for you to say
that repentance means you have to turn from your sin
would be a damnable teaching since God himself repents, right?
Go to Exodus 32.
Exodus 32.
And I do want to point out that in Genesis 6-6,
this is not the sermon, it says that God repented
that he had made man on earth,
not that he destroyed man on earth.
Okay, you say why?
Well, because the Book of Enoch teaches,
you know, because the Book of Enoch
is so much in line with the Bible.
It just mirrors what the Bible says.
It just deserves to be in the Bible.
Well, the Book of Enoch says that God
repented that he had destroyed man on earth,
meaning he was so sad that he destroyed,
he wasn't sad.
He was sad that he made man on earth.
He regretted that he had made man.
He's like, man, I don't know why I made.
And here's the proof.
He killed them all.
Here's the proof that God repented
that he had made man on earth.
He literally only had eight survivors.
He's like, I regret making mankind.
And let me just show you how much I regret it.
He just killed everyone off.
Whereas the book of Enoch is just like oh no
He just repented that he had destroyed man on earth that he felt bad that he destroyed man on earth wrong wrong
Some of the Bible teaches angels didn't build the ark which according to the book of Enoch. He did
Noah did not hide himself before the flood came which is what the book of Enoch teaches
You know they got basically told Noah hey go hide yourself because he's like a coward or whatever
Whereas the Bible tells us that what that he was a preacher of righteousness
right
Yeah, but what about the Nephilim though?
Well, here's the thing folks is that Nephilim
Literally means it comes from like a Hebrew verb that means fallen
So people often point as he like oh, it's he the fallen ones
Well, even that definition alone would contradict the narrative of the book of Enoch because the fallen ones according to the book of Enoch are the angels not the offspring
The offspring are born on earth
The fallen ones are the watchers
You know what I'm saying here?
So obviously, you know, that contradicts it.
And let me just say this, you know, according to the Book of Enoch, Gad drills the one who
caused Eve to fall, not Satan.
There's all types of contradictions.
But yeah, people are just like, no, no, no, no, Jude quoted Enoch, Jesus quoted Enoch.
And look, for people to say that Jesus quoted Enoch, when someone tells you that, just mark
it down, they've never read the Book of Enoch once, because it never quotes, there's not
It doesn't exist, you know, and someone put the reference, it was like first Enoch
19 6 through 7 and you look it up. It's just like this is not what what is this?
You just threw this out there
You just like you just hoping that chapter existed or something it doesn't exist
But they do this in order to lend credence to the book of Enoch hoping that no one actually researches it
You know and and finds that it actually doesn't jive with the Bible
And I've already shown you how the book of Jude
does not quote the book of Enoch
because the apparent scripture that they're quoting from
is like literally like a fragment
that they found in Qumran, the Dead Sea Scrolls,
because they'll often say, oh yeah, you know,
Jude, he's just siding from just scrolls
and scrolls of the book of Enoch, wrong.
Q4204 is the manuscript that they found in Qumran
and it's literally like this big
and even then it's not the entire thing,
it's like the first three lines.
of Aramaic writing that says something to the effect
of like myriad of his holy ones,
flesh for all there, and arrogant and wicked,
and that's it.
And all of a sudden it's like, oh no,
that's, yeah, Jude quoted that for sure.
It's nonsense, my friends.
But let me just say this regarding the book of Enoch,
and I'll keep talking about it as the weeks go by
because I see the comments a lot on my Instagram.
And it frustrates me.
Let me just say this, regardless of how much evidence
you show to prove the absurdity of the book of Enoch,
people will continue to believe it.
And let me explain to you why that is.
Because I don't want you to get frustrated with people
and just like, oh, why?
Well, because the Bible actually says
that they will continue to believe it.
Because the Bible says that the time will come
when they will not endure sound doctrine.
But after their lusts heaped to themselves teachers
having itching ears and shall turn away their ears
from the truth and listen to this
and shall be turned unto fables.
You know, like the book of Enoch.
And so, you know, that's why.
So the Genesis 6 account.
Flood account is in complete contrast to the flood account of the book of Enoch
They do not coincide and I'll mention more of that as the weeks go by okay. I said it's 32 verse 14
The Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do into his people again
God repenting and what is he repenting of sin? No, he's repenting of evil now when it says evil people often think that evil in sin
Are synonymous, but evil just means judgment
Because obviously God does not sin when he says that he's repenting him of the evil which he thought to do into his people
He's talking about the judgment
That he's gonna pour in his people. So what do we see God doing? He's changing his mind
He's going to judge the children of Israel and then he decides not to judge the children of Israel
This is a clear sign that he repented go to judges chapter 2 if you would judges chapter 2
Well, of course, you know when God repents and that means that you know
That just means that, you know, he just changed his mind.
But every other time means to turn from sin.
Look at Judges chapter 2 verse 18.
Judges chapter 2 verse 18 says,
And when the Lord raised them up judges,
Then the Lord was with the judge
And delivered them out of the hand of their enemies
All the days of the judge.
For repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and bexed them
these are just a couple of
Examples of God repenting showing us that it doesn't always mean to turn from your sin and again people will say well, you know
That's just God though. The exception is God
The exception is God every other time it means to turn from your sin. Well, let me read to you from Matthew chapter 21 in verse 28
Jesus Christ giving a parable here states this,
but what think ye, a certain man had two sons,
and he came to the first and said son,
go to day in my vineyard, and he answered and said,
I will not, but afterward he repented and went.
So that means, what does that mean?
It means he changed his mind.
That's not God here.
This is a regular person changing his mind,
saying, you know, I'm not gonna go,
I changed my mind, I am gonna go.
And he came to the second said likewise and he answered and said I go sir and went not but this is not the only instance
We're gonna cover some other instances in the Bible where this takes place now turn with me if you would to
Let's see here go to Jonah chapter 3 Jonah chapter 3
Now I've already mentioned this but let me just cover this briefly again
And that is that turning from sin for salvation is a work
Now, why is that?
Well, let me just give you the rudimentary reason as to why.
Because according to the Bible, in order for you not to sin, not sinning is actually synonymous
with keeping the law.
You understand what I'm saying?
You know, the Bible says that sin, in 1 John chapter 3, verse number 4 tells us that sin
is the transgression of the law, right?
Meaning that when you disobey God, when you break God's commandments, you are sinning
Understand and so the opposite of that would be that if you don't want to sin against God then you keep the law of God
So sometimes people will say well, yeah, you don't have to keep the law in order to be saved
But you have to repent of your sin. It's the same thing
Keeping the law is
Essentially doing works for salvation
Repenting of your sin is doing works because in order for you not to sin you have to keep the law
The Bible tells us this is Romans 3.20.
Therefore, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in the sight.
The Bible says.
Okay?
And you can insert there, therefore, by repenting of sin,
no flesh shall be justified in the sight,
because it essentially means the same exact thing.
Now, here's the Cude Graal to this particular point here.
Look at Jonah 3, verse 9.
Because people often say, no, repenting is not a work,
but the Bible actually defines repenting from sin as a work.
Look at verse 9, it says,
Who can tell if God will turn and repent
and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not?
By the way, we just saw God repenting again.
Verse 10,
And God saw their works that they turn from their evil way.
So here we see that turning from your evil way, which we would also describe as repenting of your sin,
God also defines as works, because he says he saw their works that they turned from their evil way,
and then once again we see God repenting, and God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them, and he did it not.
So just in these two verses alone.
We see repentance in various manners.
We see repentance being defined as God changing his mind.
But we also see repenting as being defined as turning from your evil way
and also further defined as being a work.
Okay.
Proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that repenting of sin is a work.
Now go to Matthew chapter 27.
Matthew chapter 27.
Now once you point out these passages to people who believe in this
You know they start moving the goalpost they always move the goalpost
Meaning that it's just like oh does repentance always mean turn from your sin. Yes. What about when God does it?
Well, that's the exception. They're moving the goalpost and then you point out all the scriptures such as Jonah 3 and
various other portions that prove
conclusively that
repentance means to change your mind or it means to turn
We show them what Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
in conjunction with Hebrew six,
in conjunction with Romans chapter 10
actually defines repentance as.
And then they move the goalpost again.
How?
They'll say, well, repenting of sin for salvation
means that you have to be sorry for your sin.
How many of you have ever heard that before?
They're like, it doesn't mean like you have to turn,
but you have to feel like really bad about it, at least.
But this is them moving the goalpost my friends
Because at the end of the day, you know when a person
Get saved in order for them to feel bad for their sin
they they have to know that it's sin in the first place and
We're not just talking about like the sins of the Ten Commandments. There's other sins in the Bible
That people do that they don't know our sins
So how can you feel bad for something that you don't know is a sin?
And no one in the Bible does this to say you have to feel sorry for your sin in order to be saved.
Now if someone feels grief for their sin and that kind of moves them to seek the truth and be saved, to be forgiven of their sins,
obviously that's A-OK, but to claim that you have to have this emotion of feeling sorry and grief for your sin in order to be saved.
And if you don't feel that grief, then you're not saved, that's a false gospel.
It's just like, you know, you have these Southern preachers,
these obese Southern preachers,
telling people they have to repent of their sin,
feel sorry for their sin,
and I'm just like, brother,
I don't know if you've been sorry.
Are you grieved?
Are you sorry?
Right?
It's the biggest oxymoron ever.
Where you have these obese overweight southern preachers
Literally 400 pounds 300 400 500 pounds even sometimes and they're getting on you for smoking cigarettes
Which I don't agree with smoking cigarettes. They get on you for you know tattoos and it's just like keep going
you know and
and and drinking and
You know
G-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g-g
So what it means is just that you have to be sorry for,
you know, it's nonsense, my friends.
Just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And look, if someone is overweight, whatever,
obviously that's sinful,
but I'm just getting on the preachers who are like that,
who are condemning others, okay?
And teaching this false gospel.
But let me just prove to you beyond a shadow of a doubt
that feeling sorry for your sin
does not get you saved at all, okay?
Look at Matthew 27, verse one.
It says, when the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.
And when they had bound him, they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.
Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, I want you to notice this, repented himself.
and brought again the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders
saying, I have sinned and that I have betrayed the innocent blood
and they said, what is that to us? See thou to that.
So in this instance, we have repentance
of Judas in two ways.
One, he felt bad, right?
He says I've, you know, I've, uh, he says I've sinned and that I betrayed innocent blood,
but then he also repenting his words by bringing back the 30 pieces of silver.
Now, Pop Quiz, was Judas ever saved?
No.
Did repenting, feeling sorry for his sin,
returning the 30 pieces of silver, did that get him saved?
No.
Because the Bible tells us in John chapter 6 that he didn't believe from the beginning.
What was the reason why Judas split hell wide open I'll tell you why because he never believed on the Lord Jesus Christ
That's why no no no Judas was a good guy
He started off good. Haven't you watched the chosen?
He wanted to you know
He wanted to be a part of something big and he got carried away Jesus was a devil Jesus Judas was a devil from the beginning
The Bible says in John chapter 6 that he specifically started off being a devil
That he didn't believe and he sought opportunity to essentially make money
You know, he's the one who held the bag. He's the one. He's the thief
He's the one who betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ became the son of perdition. He didn't believe he didn't trust in Jesus Christ
Okay, and you know people ignore John chapter 6, but that's literally what Jesus said about him
And we see in Matthew 27 that he literally repented in both ways
He felt bad and he also returned the 30 pieces of silver didn't do him any good
Why?
Because feeling sorry for your sin doesn't get you saved.
Returning to 30 pieces of silver doesn't get you saved.
What gets you saved?
The kingdom of God is at hand.
Calling upon the name of the Lord.
Placing your faith in Jesus Christ.
That is what gets you saved.
And again, I'm not saying that when you go out there
and preach the gospel, someone's out there
and they're just like, I just feel horrible for my sin.
We should take advantage of that and teach them
what the Bible says about salvation.
And say, yeah, well, the way you can get forgiveness of these sins is by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ
You see repenting of sin doesn't get you saved
Receiving the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ gets you saved
When we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, what happens?
We receive the remission of sins.
Our sins are completely cleared through Jesus Christ,
not through turning from our sins,
because this is not a single human being in this world
that is able to stop sinning
or that even knows all the sins that they're committing.
Right.
Why? Because according to the Bible, there's sins of commission,
meaning sins that you're doing,
but there's also sins of omission.
What are sins of omission when you choose to do when you choose not to do something that you're supposed to do
You know the Bible tells us that he that know what to do good and do it to not to him it is sin
So yeah, obviously drinking alcohol sinful fornication is sinful. These are clear sins
But guess what now reading your Bible is also sinful
Not going to church is sinful
Right not doing things that you know you're supposed to do are sinful
So that kind of shows us that there's literally no way to escape sin this side of eternity
We are surrounded by it. We're encapsulated by it
God obviously wants us to live a sanctified life and to sin less
But the deliverance from sin the power of sin does not come into the resurrection
Plain and simple and you know what people who believe you have to repent of your sins to be saved and you can be sinless are
Basically wanting the resurrection without Jesus Christ the effects of the resurrection without Jesus Christ. That's what it is
Okay, now go to act chapter 2 act chapter 2 if you would
Let me go through some of the instances in the book of Acts where repentance is mentioned now
This is important because you know a lot of these repenting your sins type preachers
Love to go to the book of Acts
Because the book of Acts is saturated with the term repentance, repent.
And, you know, they like to misconstrue these passages to mean that you have to turn from your sin in order to be saved.
But I'm going to show you conclusively, just by comparing scripture with scripture within the chapters, within the text itself,
that every time repentance is mentioned for salvation, it's always about believing on Jesus Christ.
Like, the text literally tells us that, okay?
Now, here's the most famous one, okay? Look at Acts 2, verse 36.
It says now when they had heard this they were pricked in their heart and said into Peter and to the rest of the Apostles men and brethren
What shall we do then Peter said into them repent and be baptized?
Every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost
Now believe it or not
People who teach you have to repent of your sins to be saved
They're gonna have a problem even with this verse even though they use it
Because if you ask them, so you have to repent of your sins to be saved. Yes. Well, what about baptism because baptism is added here
So what if you repent of your sins, but you never be baptized?
Well, what if you're baptized, but you never repent of your sin, right?
Now what is this referring to? Well repent. This can be in verse 38 can be
described or defined as
repenting of your sin, yes, and getting baptized because you receive the remission of sins.
This is commonly how we would interpret this passage, meaning that you repent,
get baptized because you've received the remission of sins through Jesus Christ, your belief in Jesus Christ.
That is a valid interpretation.
But here's the thing, you know what they'll say is like no it says it means that you have to like turn from your sins
You got to get baptized in order to receive the forgiveness of sins the remission of sins
Now what's funny to me is that they'll often bring this passage and just ignore everything else in the chapter
When people bring this to my attention
verse 38 I point to them to verse 21
And it shall come to pass that whose service shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved
And I don't know if you know this but 21 comes before 38
21 came before 38 and 21 says call upon the name of the Lord and thou shalt be saved.
So it's possible that between verses 20 to 38 this group that they're speaking to get
saved and once they get saved the Apostle Peter tells them repent and be baptized.
Why?
Because baptism comes after salvation and guess what God wants you to repent of your
sins after salvation.
But furthermore, let's look at verse 41, because again, this is the same sermon.
I want you to notice verse 41, this is the same group.
Then they that gladly repented of their sins were baptized.
Is that what it says?
No, then they gladly received his word.
We're baptized in the same day. They were added into them about 3,000 souls. Oh
You're misinterpreted that you know when it says receive his word
It means that they were that they repent today turn from their sin pastor. Okay. Good thing
We still have more to go look at verse 44 and all that believed
Were together and had all things common. That's funny. How come he missed repenting of your sin there?
I'll tell you why because repenting means to believe in context of salvation
So he literally says they that gladly received his word verse 21 says that if you call upon the name of the Lord you're saved
Verse 44 says that those who repented those who called upon the name of the Lord. What do they do?
They believed showing us that believing in context of salvation in Acts chapter 2
Repenting means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to turn from what you're trusting in and believe on Jesus Christ
Go to Acts chapter 3 acts chapter 3. Let's look at another sermon from the apostle Peter
Look at verse 19.
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.
Now make no mistake about it.
People will point to these passages of scripture in order to teach the false gospel
of repenting of your sins for salvation.
He says that repent ye therefore and be converted and what is the result of repenting and being converted?
Your sins will be blotted out.
Same thing what we say, when you repent of what you're trusting in for salvation
and you convert to believe in the Gospel, you receive the forgiveness of sins, right?
No, this means you have to turn from your sin.
Well, go to Acts chapter 4, because Acts chapter 4 is still the same sermon.
And one thing we have to realize, folks, is that the chapter breaks in the Bible, doesn't
mean that one particular thought ends when a chapter ends and another chapter begins.
That's another thought.
Sometimes it's just, you know, the writers or the translators put it this way in order
to help us define scriptures, references.
This is all the same sermon.
Look at Acts 4, verse 1.
And as they spake unto the people, the priests and the captain of the temple,
and the Sadducees came upon them,
being grieved that they taught the people what people?
The same people he told them to repent and be converted, right?
And preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead,
and they laid hands on them and put them in hold until the next day,
for it was now even time.
How be it, many of them, who is the them,
those who were told to repent and be converted,
which heard the word believed.
And the number of the men was about 5,000.
So once again, we see that when the Apostle Peter says,
Repent and be converted, verse four of Acts four
defines that as them believing.
Now, if Peter meant repent of your sins,
why isn't he correcting them?
What do you mean believe?
What are you gonna go murder now?
You're gonna go commit rape?
You're gonna go commit crime?
I said repent of your sins.
You know why you didn't correct them?
Because they did exactly what he told them to do.
Okay, go to chapter 5 chapter 5
And I'm gonna tell you right now what false prophets hate is context
hate context
Because it debunks them
Because all you have to do is keep reading
You got to read the verses before you got to read the verses after now look sometimes the immediate context
Doesn't give you the answer so you know you have to do you got to go to the plenary context of the Bible
So, let's just say Acts 2, 38, didn't have verse 21 and didn't have verse 40 and didn't
have verse 44 to explain to us what the apostle Peter meant when he said repent and be baptized
for the remission of sins.
Let's say he didn't have the answer for us.
What would we do?
We go to other portions of scripture that clearly state for us what it means to be saved, how
to be saved.
We go to the book of John.
regarding the message of salvation.
But thankfully Acts 2 does have it, okay?
And so we can define it as thus.
Look at Acts 5 in verse 31.
It says,
Now, what does this mean?
To give repentance to Israel.
Now, obviously, you have the repenting your sins crowd for salvation that will even use
something like this in order to teach their false gospel, but let me just tell you that
the people who use this passage the most are actually Calvinists.
Why?
Because Calvinists believe that God selects people for salvation.
You know, no, maybe, but no, yes, no, definitely no.
Children included, okay, and they believe in this false doctrine of irresistible
grace, meaning that people who are selected by God for salvation can't
help but just come to salvation.
They just, you know, they're just tethered to salvation and it's just grace is so irresistible
to them, they're going to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
And they would define that, they would describe that as what?
As God giving them repentance, right?
Because they also believe you have to repent in your sins to be saved, Calvinist, okay?
Not all Calvinists, but many of them do.
So what does this mean?
This is for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.
Well, hold your place there.
Let's see the context of the Bible.
Go to 2 Timothy chapter 2, 2 Timothy chapter number 2, because we don't believe this.
We believe that the Bible teaches free will, meaning you can't force anybody to be saved.
God can't force anybody to be saved, right?
God wants people to choose to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, which is why he commands
because he wants them to choose salvation choose life and not choose death
Now look at 2nd Timothy 2 24
We're gonna look at what giving repentance means when because make no mistake about it. God does give people repentance
He gave Israel repentance.
He's given the Gentiles repentance.
He gives people repentance.
But what does that mean?
Verse 24 says, the servant of the Lord must not strive,
but be gentle unto all men,
apt to teach patient and meekness instructing those
that oppose themselves.
If God per adventure will give them repentance.
But I want you to notice this
to the acknowledging of the truth.
So, in its context, the Bible is teaching us here that God gives people repentance and
what that means is that he helps them to acknowledge the truth.
He doesn't force them to get saved, he just helps them to come to the knowledge of the
truth.
He sends a soul winner to them.
He sends someone who actually knows the gospel to them.
This is God giving them repentance, right?
You see, giving a gift means nothing if someone doesn't receive it though.
The gift is available to all the truth is available to all but people have to choose to receive it
No pastor repentance to the acknowledging of the truth means that they get to God gives them salvation
They just don't choose to be saved. They're just they just get saved
Well, we have an issue with that interpretation because look at verse 26 and that they may recover themselves
Out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will
Hold on a second if they're already saved in verse 25
Then what is verse 26 says that they have to recover themselves. I'll tell you why because just because you have the acknowledgement of the truth
Doesn't mean you accept the truth
You have to choose not to believe what the devil's telling you to believe and believe the knowledge of the truth that God has given to you
And look how many times have we been at the door and we give the gospel and they don't get saved
But they say I understand everything that you're saying, right?
They're like, I get what you're telling me.
I understand what you're saying.
What are they saying?
I acknowledge the truth.
The problem is, when they say that,
they're also telling us that they are not recovering
themselves from the snares of the devil
that are being taken captive by him at his will.
And look, the way they can remove themselves
from the captivity of Satan is by choosing
to believe the truth.
There's a difference between acknowledging the truth,
knowing that this is true, and actually believing the truth.
And like I said, you know, the lady
that I spoke to this week, after I was done talking to her,
she's like, OK, I understand what you're saying.
I get it now.
She's like, but I don't want it, though.
So she acknowledged the truth.
And in fact, God gave her repentance to the acknowledging of the truth
because she was no longer going to acknowledge what the Jehovah's Witness says.
She's actually acknowledging what the Bible says about salvation,
but yet she chose not to recover herself from the snares of the devil.
You understand what I'm saying?
Recovering yourself requires you willing yourself to believe the truth.
You know, you have a how much faith though, does it?
You know, take two.
That's a nonsensical question.
How much faith do you really, whatever faith you have?
Some people have more faith than others God requires just for you to place whatever faith you have in
What the Bible says about salvation?
It's just so hard though. No, it's not you place your faith in all kinds of stuff every single day
If you've ever flown in an airplane you're placing your faith in the pilot that he knows what he's doing
Even though you've never seen him
Sometimes that pilot is a female
Right
You know, Brother Heigt is not a fan of female pilots.
You know, one time we were flying a Belize
and we're in the air and the airplane just kind of goes like this
and he's like, even in the air, they hit curbs.
He's like, I have to sit next to him.
And he didn't whisper this to me.
He said it very out loud.
You place your faith in every driver in the street.
I place my faith in you when you're out driving in the street.
It's not hard to place our faith in anything.
We do it all the time.
This is why salvation is so easy
because all we have to do is just believe in the gospel.
And look, we place our faith in people who lie all the time.
People who deceive all the time.
Yet, the witness of God is true though.
Let God be true, but every man to lie.
and yet people refuse to believe the gospel, okay?
And so we see here the repentance
to the acknowledging of the truth
means that God gives them the truth.
He exposes them to the truth of salvation
through a soul winner, through a video,
through Instagram, through YouTube, through church,
but it's up to the person, the individual
to recover themselves by rejecting what they're trusting in
and believing that truth, okay?
So the Bible calls being enlightened.
In Ephesians chapter 1 verse 8 go to Acts chapter 8 if you would Acts chapter 8
Acts chapter 8 if you would let's give another example here
Look at Acts chapter 8 in verse and verse number. Let's see here. That's sort of verse 18
It says that when Simon, Simon was a sorcerer, by the way,
saw that through laying on the, 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.
So, Simon is a sorcerer, he's no longer a sorcerer,
and he sees that the Apostles have this supernatural capability of healing people.
And he's just like, oh man, this is a very lucrative business.
He wants to become a prosperity healer type preacher.
And he's just like, hey, let me get some of this, and I want to have this power.
Peter rebukes him in verse 20, but Peter said into him, thy money perish with thee.
because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money,
thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God."
Verse 22,
Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of
thine heart may be forgiven thee.
Now, people will point to verse 22 and say,
ah, you see, repent of this thy wickedness.
Repent of sin.
that your sins may be forgiven thee?
This is showing us that God is preaching
and repenting of your sin in order to be saved.
Well, let's go back to verse number 12.
So this is earlier in the story,
before all this took place.
Verse 12 says, but when they believed Philip,
preaching the things concerned of the kingdom of God
and the name of Jesus Christ,
they were baptized both men and women.
Then Simon, Simon is the same guy that we saw earlier,
himself believed also.
And when he was baptized, he continued with Philip
and wondered, behold, in the miracles and signs
which were done.
So answer me this, if repenting of his wickedness
was necessary for salvation, how does that coincide
with the fact that verse 13 tells us that he believed
and was already baptized?
Meaning he was already saved.
So he was already saved before all that took place.
Okay, then why is he asking them,
why is he telling them to repent of this thy wickedness?
Because God commands Christians to repent after salvation
to clean up their lives.
You know, when you get saved,
you need to repent of drunkenness.
You need to repent of smoking marijuana.
You need to repent of coke.
You need to repent of any type of mind-altering drug.
You need to repent of, you know,
fornication and gambling and sins that the Bible highlights.
You need to get rid of that stuff in your life.
Why? So that God can forgive you of those so that he can bless your life and so those sins won't destroy your life
Okay. Oh
You're giving people a license to sin
Look folks once someone sins after salvation
I don't have to tell them to sin or not to sin because if they end up sinning God ends up chastising them or
God allows them to circumcise to the consequences of their sin
We believe you have to repent of your sins after salvation to live a life that's pleasing unto him
So the we're blessed of God. We know suffer the consequences of our actions and because we love the Lord
And I always always find it funny when people, you know, tell me this you have to repent your sins to be safe
And I said why didn't I'm not involved in foreign occasion
I'm not a drunkard. I'm not doing any of these sins. So like
According to your standard, I should be committing these things because I believe in this doctrine, right?
Oh, according to your standard, I have this license. That's funny. I'm not doing those things.
Because only people who propose doing those things are false prophets.
And people who repeat them who learned them from false prophets. Go to Acts chapter 10.
Actually, go to Acts 17.
Let me give you this last example here
Act 17 and verse 29. This is the apostle Paul preaching here
And he says for as much then as we are the offspring of God
We ought not to think that the Godhead is likened to gold or silver stone graven by our in man's device
By the way, that's a good verse for the Catholics to learn
It's literally saying here that the Godhead is not likened to gold silver stone graven
by our or man's device, okay?
He says, in the times of this ignorance, God winked at,
but now commendeth all men everywhere to repent.
There you go, repent of your sins.
God's commanding everyone to turn from their sins.
Well, let's see if that's literally what he meant by that,
because again, context matters, and he gives us the context.
So let's keep reading, verse 31 says,
because he had to point to the day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he had ordained,
whereof he had given assurance unto all men, and that he hath raised him from the dead.
And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, and others said,
we will hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed from among them. So keep in mind,
He says, God commands all men everywhere to repent.
Now, what does that mean?
Look at verse 34.
How be it, certain men clave unto him and believed,
among the which was Dionysius, the Aeropagite,
and a woman named Demaris and others with them.
So, here you see that they believed.
Why? Because God's commanded them to repent,
to stop trusting in whatever they're trusting in,
which is these false gods.
Right that they've graven together and they're placing their faith in the God of the Bible last scripture here
Go to 2nd Corinthians chapter 7 2nd Corinthians chapter 7
And I've already mentioned this throughout the sermon
But I'm not against repenting of your sin
I'm a hundred percent for it just not for salvation because that's a false gospel
But after salvation. Yes, you should repent of your sin and may I say we should be good repenters
Meaning that we're seeking to get right with God on a consistent basis.
The Bible tells us in Proverbs 28 verse 13,
He that covered the sins shall not prosper,
but whoso confesseth and forsakeeth them shall have mercy.
And you know what I find interesting is that people who believe in this doctrine
of you know that you don't have to repent of your sins to be saved
are often the ones who repent after salvation quite a bit.
And I find that those who preach you have to repent of your sins to be saved are often some of the most sinful people
Who don't repent it look folks you if you ever go back and forth with someone online?
I don't recommend it, but more than likely you either will or have
If you go back and forth with someone who believes in repenting your sins for salvation if you click on their profile
You'll see alcohol
You'll see, you know, fornication, you'll see lewdness,
you'll see sinfulness, iniquity.
All the while they're telling you
that you as a sanctified person
who's living a life that's pleasing unto the Lord
that you have to repent of your sins and be saved.
I mean, talk about pharisaical hypocrisy.
And this is often the case
with many of the people who preach this.
They're often extremely wicked.
Okay, and then, you know, I remember one time I was going this is in my younger pastoral years
I was going back and forth with this one guy. I did not practice, you know, one or two admonitions
At all I exceeded the limit for sure
And I remember clicking on this guy's profile and he had just some of the most wicked things on there
And I think he caught, you know, he thought about it like oh, man, I better and he didn't he just put himself on private
As he was going back and forth, but because he didn't want me to see
that, you know, all his lewdness and wickedness that he had on his page,
all the while he's teaching that that's what you have to repent of to be saved.
So even according to his standard, he would be saved.
You see the delusion that people are under?
But yet people who believe that you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
such as ourselves for salvation,
we're often the ones who are constantly preaching on the repenting of your sin after salvation,
and we know how to make the distinction between the two.
The Bible tells us in Revelation 3 19 as many as I love I rebuke and chase and be zealous therefore and repent the Bible sex
Look at 2nd Corinthians 7 and verse number 8 for though. I made you. Sorry with the letter. I do not repent
Though I did repent for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry though it were but for a season
Now, I rejoice that not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to repentance, for you were made sorry after a godly manner that you might receive damage by us and nothing, for godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death."
Now, people often point to this passage, but here's a couple of problems with their interpretation that you have to be sorry in order to be saved.
Just like repentance varies in its definition based upon the context so does salvation
If I tell you save me a seat am I telling you to go witness to that thing?
Right save me a see you're just like believe on the Lord is
Is that what that means? No because it varies if I'm drowning in a pool and I say save me
You know, I'm not gonna appreciate if you give me the gospel
Right
I'm actually telling you to physically pull me out of the water.
Why? Because salvation varies based upon its context as well.
Okay?
There are instances in the Bible where the phrase salvation doesn't mean the justification of the soul.
Sometimes it means literally the deliverance of the body,
or sometimes it means to reserve something.
Now, in this particular case, when it talks about salvation,
it's referring to being saved from the punishment of God.
Because even though we have the salvation of our souls guess what our flesh can be subject to the wrath of God
If we are not repenting of our sin and more specifically in its context is referring to the man
Who was involved in fornication earlier in 1st Corinthians chapter 5, right?
And the fact that he needed to repent he did end up repenting
But now the church is not repenting of getting him back into church. So the apostle Paul wants them to repent
and to feel bad for what they've done
because they've afflicted him so much
that they weren't allowing him to return back to the fold.
So they ended up having this godly sorrow
because they went a little too extreme
in the opposite direction.
And of course, what is the result of that?
Look at verse 11.
For behold, this self-same thing
that you sorrowed after a godly sort,
what carefulness it brought in you?
Meaning, hey, now you're not just gonna let
every fornicator into the church
without vetting them, right?
He says, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge
and all things you have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter, the Bible says,
wherefore, though I wrote unto you, I did it not for his cause that had done the wrong,
nor for his cause that suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God
might appear unto you." He's saying, look, because you saw or you repented after a godly sort,
it made you a better Christian. It made you more zealous. It caused you to clear yourself.
And look, we need to take this message to ourselves as well.
Folks, we all battle sin every single day.
We battle the sins of the flesh, the sins of the mind,
bad ideologies, and we have to learn
how to turn from that sin.
We don't wanna reject a repenting of our sin
just because people are constantly misusing it
in regards to salvation.
We need to make sure that we keep it
on the forefronts of our minds as Christians
to stay right with God.
And you know what, if you sin this week,
You do something that is displeasing unto the Lord.
Repent.
Why?
Because of the fact that you need salvation.
Not the justification of your soul,
but you need to be saved from God's wrath
that could be poured upon you for not repenting
and getting right with God.
You know, after salvation, hey,
my soul is eternally secure.
My name is literally eternally embedded
within the registry of the book of life.
It's never gonna be blotted out.
I have the forgiveness of all my sins
so that I don't go to hell.
But guess what? If I remain an unrepentant sin in my life,
you know what's going to happen to me?
The Bible says that my temple will be destroyed.
God can destroy my life.
He could absolutely bring me to ruin,
which is why we need to keep practicing
the virtue of repenting on our sin.
So what's the sermon today?
The sermon's simply repentance
and what repentance is in the Bible.
Let's never get it mixed up.
Don't allow people to influence you,
to influence you,
to believe that it means you have to turn from your sin,
you have to feel sorry for your sin in order to be saved.
Folks, the only thing necessary for salvation
is our faith in Jesus Christ.
You have to repent of what you're trusting in
and believe the gospel.
and that the Kingdom of God is at hand.
Meaning salvation is like right there.
All you have to do is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
But then after that, let's work on clearing ourselves,
repenting of our sin, cleaning up our lives
to live a life that's pleasing unto him.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for your word.
Thank you for the clarity of the Bible.
And I pray, Lord, that you'd help us to remain doctrinally sound in this area, Lord.
So many churches and pastors are mixed up.
They make excuses for others, Lord, often fellowshipping with false prophets
and people who are bringing in this damnable heresy within churches.
Help us to remain clear of this, Lord.
And I pray, Lord, that you'd also help us to be good repenters
each and every day that we would clear ourselves and keep short accounts with you.
We love you. We thank you. Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
All right, please turn your song books to song number 377, song number 377, rescue the perishing,
song number 377, all together nice and strong in that first verse.
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave.
We bow the airing once, lift up the fallen, Tell them of Jesus the mighty to save.
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, Jesus is merciful.
will save. Though they are slighting him, still he is waiting, waiting the penitent child
to receive. Clean with them earnestly, clean with them gently. He will forgive if they
only believe. Rescue the perishing care for the dying. Jesus is merciful. Jesus is merciful.
will save. Down in the human heart crushed by the tempter, feelings lie buried that
grace can restore. Touched by a loving heart, awakened by kindness, that our broken will
vibrate once more. Rescue the perishing care for the dying. Jesus is merciful.
will save. Rescue the perishing duty demands it. Strength for thy labor the Lord will
provide. Back to the narrow way, patiently win them. Tell the poor wanderer a savior
has died. Rescue the perishing care for the dying. Jesus is merciful.
and great singing, you are dismissed.