Acts chapter 2 this evening, look down at your Bibles at verse 36, it says,
Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made the
same, the same Jesus whom you have crucified both Lord and Christ. Now when
they had heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said unto Peter and to
the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter
said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost. And what I want to preach on this evening is repentance in the book of
Acts, repentance in the book of Acts. I want to go through every instance the
word repent, repentance is used in the book of Acts. And one of the reasons I
want to do that is because of the fact that this term is obviously abused and
used by false prophets, typically using the book of Acts. Okay, anytime you have
someone who believes that you have to repent of your sins to be saved and you
have to repent of your sins in order to have salvation, they typically always
point to Acts 2 38. And not just Acts 2 38, they often go to many passages in the
book of Acts to try to prove this false doctrine. Now here's the thing is that
they're right that these verses are in the book of Acts, right? You can go to the
book of Acts and find these verses. What they're wrong on is the fact that
they're inserting sin into that phrase. And this is the thing that kind of blows
my mind when people believe you have to repent of your sins and they quote Acts
2 38, they quote these other passages and scriptures from the book of Acts, is that
you can tell them, hey where does it say that you have to repent of your sin to
be saved? And they'll say Acts 2 38, repent and be baptized, every one of you
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. And you say, well I
know that it says that but where does it say you have to repent of your sin to be
saved? It says it right there, repent and be baptized. It's like they're so blinded
and they believe this false doctrine so much that they insert that term into the
text when it doesn't say that at all. And in fact you would have to go to a modern
version of the Bible in order to even find that phrase in the Word of God. But
obviously those modern versions are not the Bible and so you're not able to use
the King James Bible to teach that doctrine because it's not found in the
Bible. And so I want to go through every instance that repentance is mentioned
and just kind of explain each and every one of these because of the fact that
obviously we don't want to use the book of Acts as our you know go-to for
salvation verses. Okay now people might have a problem with that, they think well
why wouldn't you use the book of Acts? Well I'll tell you why. Because of the
fact that God has actually given to us specific books of the Bible to use for
so many believe it or not. Okay he said which ones has he given to us?
Well the ones that clearly show what salvation is. The ones that clearly tell
you and indicate clearly how it is what do we have to do to be saved? Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Right you can go to plenty of
scriptures in the book of John that tell you and reiterate over and over again
that you have to believe in order to be saved, you have to believe in order to
have everlasting life. False prophets will often use the most obscure
scriptures in the Bible to teach their false doctrine when God has clearly laid
out very clear scriptures throughout the Word of God but more specifically the
book of John more specifically the book of Romans more specifically you know you
have Ephesians chapter 2 you even have Ephesians chapter 1 but we want to go
through the book of Acts here to explain what these passages mean. So let's talk
about Acts 2 38 okay here it says in Acts 2 38 verse 38 Peter said and said
repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sins and he shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Now there's
actually two false doctrines that are taught using this portion of Scripture
let's go through both of them okay first and foremost let's go ahead and review
this concept of repenting of your sins in order to be saved using this passage
of Scripture. Now look at verse number 20 if you would because here's the thing
people I mean if you post something on social media that all you have to do is
believe and trust on the Lord for salvation they'll just put Acts 2 38 but
folks in order for us to understand the Bible in order for us to understand what
that even means you need the entire chapter and it frustrates me that people
don't know what context means okay what is context it means the text that's with
the text so we can't just pull out one verse out of the Bible and say well this
is what it means we're just ignore everything else for example you have in
Philippians chapter 2 where the Bible says to work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling right and people will always use that to teach you have to do
works in order to be saved whereas that's not even talking about this
matter of justification it's referring to the deliverance of the flesh and we
know that because Paul is actually writing this from the Philippian jail
there he's incarcerated and he's telling and he's encouraging the Philippians to
say hey we need to work out our own deliverance our own salvation with fear
and trembling and just to let you know anytime the Bible mentions the word
salvation it's not always in reference to the deliverance of our soul okay
there's many times it's just referring to the deliverance of our flesh to be
rescued to be delivered or even to be reserved you know if I say hey save me a
seed I'm not telling you to go preach the gospel to a chair or something like
that it's referring to the fact that I'm having you reserve something for me so
you can't apply that definition of salvation when it comes to justification
to just every time the Bible mentions salvation because then you're gonna come
up with some weird doctrine okay now here's the funny thing look at verse 20
they love Acts chapter 2 verse 38 but they just don't like every other verse
in the Bible in the in this particular chapter because look what it says in
verse 20 the Sun shall be shall be turned into darkness and the moon into
blood before that great and notable day of the Lord come and it shall come to
pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved well
that's interesting it doesn't say anything about whosoever shall repent of
their sins shall be saved it literally says whosoever shall call upon the name
of the Lord shall be saved which is synonymous with what we see in Romans
chapter 10 verse 9 through 13 to call upon the name of the Lord based upon
your belief in Jesus Christ so anytime someone brings up Acts 2 38 I took him
to this verse verse 21 but let's look at verse number 40 so this is the same
group of people that he's speaking to he says in verse 40 and with many of the
words that he testified exhort saying save yourselves from this untoward
generation look what it says in verse 41 then they that gladly received his word
were baptized now hold on a second does it say now they that gladly repented of
their sin no it says they that gladly received his word were baptized in the
same day that were added unto them about 3,000 souls now folks if verse 38 meant
the people have to turn from their sin in order to be saved why doesn't say
that in verse 41 why does it say they they gladly received his word because
those who gladly received the word is synonymous with those who believe and
place their faith in the Word of God for salvation faith cometh by hearing
hearing by the Word of God he says in verse 42 and they continue steadfastly
in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking bread and in prayers and
fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done by the
Apostles look at verse 44 and all that repented of their sin were together no
actually it says in all that believed were together and had all things common
that's what the Word of God says now turn with me if you would to go to Acts
chapter 10 if you would Acts chapter number 10 so this concept you have to
repent of your sins using Acts 2 38 it's completely flawed due to the fact that
the verses prior to it and the verses after it clearly show and emphasize and
support the doctrine that you have to believe in order to be saved understand
we see that they have to call upon the name of the Lord we see that they
believed we see that they received the word gladly and then they were baptized
which is the sequence that the Word of God has given to us but Acts 2 38 is not
only used to teach that you have to repent of your sins to be saved by false
prophets people often use this to teach that you know you have to baptize in the
name of Jesus when you baptize okay this is what's known as the Jesus only
baptism this is a charismatic Pentecostal thing and let me just tell
you this is that I can't post one baptism from our church which I do on a
weekly basis because we baptize a lot of in fact today we did not have a baptism
which is very rare we typically have baptisms every week but when I bet when
when I post a baptism from our church on YouTube or I post it on on Instagram or
my social media platforms every single time there's always someone who says
what's the name you said in the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy
Spirit what's the name and obviously what they're referring to is they want
me to say I baptize you in the name of the Father the Son of the Holy Spirit
and that name is Jesus this is what's known as the Jesus only baptism this is
a oneness Pentecostal modalist doctrine and we are not a modalist oneness church
we reject that in its entirety it's a false doctrine and anybody who believes
in it is not saved okay you say how can you say that well because of the fact
that anybody who believes that is removing from the deity of Jesus Christ
and removing deity from the Godhead in general you say how are they removing
the deep from the deity of Jesus Christ because they're teaching that Jesus
Christ hasn't always been the eternal Son of God they claimed that he became
the Son of God when he was born in Bethlehem's manger okay which is a false
doctrine so well how do you know that well because in in Daniel chapter 3
which is in the Old Testament prior to Bethlehem's manger you have Nebuchadnezzar
looking into the furnace of fire at Meshech, Shadrach and Abednego and he
said the fourth image there was like unto the Son of God so referred to Jesus
Christ which we know to be Jesus Christ in the furnace as the Son of God prior
to him being born in Bethlehem's manger my friend okay and so that is a false
doctrine but every time I post something they'll say you're not baptizing in the
name of Jesus and they'll quote Acts 2 38 they'll quote different portions of
the book of Acts to try to prove that look at Acts chapter 10 it says in verse
number 48 excuse me verse 47 can any man forbid water that these should not be
baptized which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we and he commanded
them to be baptized in the name of the Lord then prayed they him to tarry
certain days so they take verses like Acts 2 38 they'll take verses like Acts
chapter 10 to claim that when we immerse someone in water completely after they
get saved that we're to baptize them and say I baptize you in the name of Jesus
which is attached to this false doctrine of oneness modalism now here's the thing
is that we're not going to deny that the Bible says to baptize them in the name
of the Lord right we're not going to deny that actually 38 says to baptize
them in the name of Jesus but here's the thing they will not touch
Matthew 28 with the 10-foot pole 19 to 20 where says go ye therefore and and
preach the gospel to every creature excuse me go ye therefore and teach all
nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all things whatsoever commanded you and lo
I'm with you all even into the end of the world so they bring up Acts 2 38
all day long but they will never touch Matthew 28 19 to 20 where Jesus Christ
specifically said to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Ghost now you say well what are you gonna do with Acts 2 38 and Acts chapter
10 all these other passages of Scripture they say to baptize in the name of the
Lord well folks here's the thing we know that the Bible has no contradictions the
Bible is not filled with contradictions the way they're interpreting it they're
claiming that the Bible has contradictions so how do we reconcile
what this is referring to okay well turn with me if you would to go to let's look
at Acts chapter 8 let's look at one more verse that they'll use here let me just
say this you know there's certain portions of the Bible that are not meant
to teach systematic doctrine you said what do you mean by that well you know
I'm not going to teach the doctrine of salvation you using the book of first
and second Kings right I'm not going to teach you know the doctrine of the
Trinity using the book of Esther that doesn't even mention God you know the
book of Esther does not even mention the Godhead at all so it would it would it
wouldn't be wise for us to use specific books that are not necessarily geared
towards particular doctrines the wise thing to do is use that which is
saturated with that doctrine to teach that particular doctrine okay and the
book of Acts like the book of first and second Kings first and second Samuel
first and second Chronicles is more of a historical book to teach and to show us
the order of sequence of when you know these churches were started when the
gospel is being preached that's why it's referred to as the acts of the Apostles
it's highlighting the exploits of the Apostles it's not necessarily meant to
use to be used to teach systematic doctrine in regards to salvation or
baptism because it records that the statements and the actions of people you
understand but that's not to say we can't find a couple verses here and
there from the book of Acts to teach those things I'm just saying that the
book of Acts that's not necessarily what it's geared towards doing okay but this
is the reason why false prophets will go to books like that because they want to
go to the books that are not geared towards that to teach that okay now look
at Acts chapter 8 and verse 14 it says now when the Apostles which were at
Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of God they sent it
to them Peter and John 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 now again what they're
interpreting this as is that when people get saved they were immersed in water
and they were baptized solely in the name of Jesus okay now let me explain a
couple things here okay because this might confuse some folks but I'm gonna
try to put the cookie on the bottom shelf when explaining this and I've
taught this before and sometimes it goes over people's heads because of the fact
that we have certain doctrines that we connotations of doctrines with certain
words in the Bible okay like for example the example we just gave earlier which
is salvation anytime we talk about talk about salvation we automatically think
it's referring to justification of the soul right well let me say this is that
every time the word baptism is men mentioned in the Bible it's not always
talking about being fully immersed in water okay now we associate that with
being fully immersed in water because of the fact that you know that's what we do
when we get someone say we totally immersed them in water but when you do a
full inspection of the term baptism in the Word of God you will quickly see
that it's not always referring to immersing someone completely in water
because if you were to apply that definition all across the board you
would run into some passages you can't really explain like how does that work
okay now let me read you from Hebrews chapter 6 and verse number 1 it says
therefore leaving the principles of the doctrines of Christ let us go on into
perfection not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works
in a faith toward God listen to this of the doctrine of baptisms and of laying
over hands on the resurrection of the dead and of eternal judgment now folks
if the Bible only teaches one form of baptism which is being immersed in water
then what is this talking about because if I was saying here doctrine of
baptisms plural that means there is a teaching in the Bible a plurality of
different definitions when it comes to baptism just as there is a plurality of
definitions in regards to repentance depending upon the context for example
you know repentance in context of salvation is to basically change what
you believe repentance in context of sin when it comes to God's people means to
turn from your sin right and turn to righteousness it all depends you say no
repentance of sin is always meant repentance is always in context of
turning from your sin then you have an issue then because the Bible records God
repenting Genesis chapter 6 records him repenting you know that he had made man
on earth and you're not gonna say that God sinned okay and so be wise be of an
understanding heart and recognize that words have various definitions based
upon the context and baptism is one of them now look at Roman chapter number 6
what did I have you turn X a go to Roman chapter 6 if you would Roman chapter
number 6 now notably one of the definitions of baptism is to be immersed
in water now how do we know when that definition is being applied one number
one when water is mentioned right so if baptism is used in a verse synonymously
with water by process of elimination we could say oh this is water baptism
obviously number two when it's in reference to salvation it's referring to
salvation it's not referring to water at all okay or number three when it's
used after someone gets saved it's obviously referring to salvation excuse
me it's obviously referring to water because the order of sequence when it
comes to someone getting saved is that they get saved and then they get
baptized thereafter that's what God wants from people right now if they
don't get baptized they're still saved but God commands and his desires that
people would identify with the death baron resurrection of Jesus Christ
through water baptism after they get saved okay now look at Romans chapter 6
in verse number 1 what shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may
abound God forbid how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein
knowing not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized
into his death so what is this is this water or is this referring to something
else this is referring to something else because no one who is physically
baptized in water is baptized into his death right you don't like physically
die your flesh does not die this is obviously symbolic he says in verse 4
therefore we are buried with them by baptism into death now is it has there
been anybody who I had not brought back up when I baptized them I just kept down
and I just like beer buried in the likeness of his death and you stay in
the light of his death my friend says we are buried with them by baptism into
death well when you compare buried with them by baptism into death with all the
other scriptures referring to that it is referring to salvation now why would the
Bible use baptism to describe salvation well the word baptism means to what
immerse someone well when we get saved what happens we are placed in Christ
completely you understand so when we're baptized in Jesus Christ is basically
referring to the fact that we're completely immersed in the Lord Jesus
Christ he doesn't save us partially saves us completely I given to them
eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of
my hand means you're completely in you have salvation you are placed in Christ
and in fact throughout the New Testament you will often find the phrase in Christ
in Christ referring to the fact that you're baptized in him now we again have
this association the baptism is only referring to water baptism being you
know immersed in water but that's not always the case go to Ephesians chapter
4 Ephesians chapter 4 if you would now in Hebrew chapter 6 I read to you that
there's the doctrine of baptisms plural right but look at Ephesians chapter 4 in
verse number 4 it says there is one body and one spirit even as you're called in
one hope of your calling verse 5 one Lord one faith one baptism hold on a
second why does Hebrew 6 says that there's doctrine of baptisms plural but
here in Acts in Ephesians 4 5 it says that there's one baptism I'll tell you
why because this one baptism is referring to salvation so how do you
know that well based upon verse 5 one Lord one faith one baptism okay he says
in verse 6 one God and father of all who is above on through all and you all now
don't misunderstand what I'm saying when I say baptism is synonymous with
salvation I'm not referring to water baptism I'm referring to the fact that
when people get saved we the Bible describes also describes them as being
immersed in Christ which another word for that is simply to be baptized in the
Lord you understand look at Colossians chapter 2 if you would Colossians
chapter number 2 now unfortunately you know certain terms have certain
connotations in 2022 and it's for that reason that we can't necessarily use
them today okay like we're not gonna just go out there and tell people to
start getting baptized for salvation because they're not gonna get that
they're gonna be like oh you mean like I have to like physically be placed into
water in order to be saved we're like oh no no you're immersed in Christ and
going through that entire explanation it's not gonna work why because false
prophets have kind of hijacked that term to teach a false doctrine just like
false prophets have hijacked the term repentance that's why we don't use
repentance when we go on and go preach the gospel when we're going to preach
the gospel we don't tell repent and believe the gospel because automatically
they have a connotation with that their repentance means to turn from your sin
you understand and there's a reason why the book of John the gospel according to
John is extremely simple to use it's one of the best books to use in regards
to you know preaching the gospel because it just plainly tells you you just have
to believe and obviously God did that with the foreknowledge that that term
would be used today to clearly explain what salvation is and how you get
salvation is by believing on Jesus Christ that's why it's reiterated over
and over and over again we don't use the book of Luke we don't use the book of
Mark we don't use the book of Matthew the gospel according to Matthew in order
to teach salvation because obviously people will have a misunderstanding of
the word repentance due to false prophets who have used and abused and
hijacked those terms to teach that okay look at Colossians 2 verse 11 in whom
also you're circumcised with the circumcision made without hands and the
putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ
buried with them in baptism wherein also you're arisen with them through the
faith of the operation of God who has raised him from the dead now acts 238
can be interpreted two ways and I'm actually fine with both one way you can
interpret acts 238 is that when it says repent and be baptized for the remission
of sins is that for is the term because and the Apostle Peter simply telling
them you have to repent and you have to physically get baptized because you
receive the remission of sins right which would fit the biblical doctrine
that once someone gets saved thereafter that are supposed to get physically
baptized and there should repent of their sins thereafter because God wants
them to live a clean life right you can interpret it that way but another
interpretation can simply mean this is that when it says repent and be baptized
it's basically saying be immersed in Christ be placed in Christ okay as long
as you don't have this stupid interpretation that states that you have
to repent of your sins for salvation because that's not what it says okay and
you say well you know you're just imposing that interpretation into the
text no we're comparing scripture with scripture so if we have one particular
scripture how about the most famous verse in the Bible John 3 16 that
obviously God would know in his foreknowledge knew that that was going
to be the most used verse to preach the gospel and it only says to believe there
are you saying John 3 16 is wrong okay now go to Acts chapter 3 so Acts 2 38
can be interpreted as being repent and be baptized because you receive the
remission of sins or it could also be interpreted as repent and be baptized in
other words be immersed in Christ regardless of which one you choose we
see that the verses prior and the verses after indicate that the group of
people who are receiving the Word of God believed they called upon the name of
the Lord prior and what or he tells him to call upon the name of Lord prior to
that and afterwards they gladly received his word and then were baptized and if
God wanted to emphasize that they repented of their sin that he would have
put repent of your sin but he did it he put gladly received the word okay and
then later on he says that they that believed had all things common no not
they that repented of their sin look at Acts 3 19 let's look at another portion
of scripture here with the term repent in it acts 3 19 says 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 sin he shall
send Jesus Christ which is which before was preached unto you whom the heaven
must receive until the times of restitution of all things which God has
spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began now again
repent ye therefore and be converted no mention of sins here of course he's
preaching this and this actually this message actually carries on to chapter
number 4 look at chapter 4 and verse number 1 so in order to understand what
he's actually talking about when he says repent ye therefore and be converted we
actually have to finish the sermon look at verse 1 of Acts chapter 4 and as they
spake it to the people the priests and the captain of the temple and the
Sadducees came upon them being grieved that they taught the people 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 eventide how be it many of them
which heard the word repented of their sins believed and the number of the men
was about 5,000 let me just say this when you preach the right gospel you'll
get thousands of safe you preach your repenting your sins gospel zero will get
saved so here's the thing I know people want to stick to chapter 3 in order that
particular phrase repent and be converted but you know what I like to do
I just like to read the entire pipe I just like to just listen to the entire
sermon I just like to go to the next chapter and by the way the chapters are
added later on folks the breaks in the the the books here were added on later
late later on to help us with referencing and memorization and so you
can't just take Acts chapter 3 and say well we just need to isolate this
particular part no he's not even done with the sermon yet so let's find out
what the response is and it's funny that after this Peter didn't say what are you
guys doing you guys are supposed to be repenting of your sin why are you just
believing believing just believing doesn't get you say don't you know the
devil's believe the devil's believe in tremble is that what he's saying no in
fact God actually confirms this and says that the number of the man was about
5,000 go to Acts chapter 5 and again that's another term converted there are
times in the Bible when converted does is in reference to salvation for sure
okay but there are other times when it's just be when it's just referring to
being transformed okay and it could be referring to a believer who needs to be
transformed into a better believer you know I beseech you therefore Brendan by
the mercies of God that you present your body's a living sacrifice wholly
acceptable unto God which is a reasonable service be not conformed to
this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind transform and
converted are synonymous one with another and this is why you know the
Bible talks about Peter Jesus says of Peter when thou art converted strengthen
thy brethren referring to the fact that Satan has desired him to sift him as
wheat and he says but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fell not and when
thou art converted you know strengthen thy brethren now if you listen to
someone like Adam Fannin you know he tells you that Peter got saved twice you
know because Peter was saved under the Old Testament Old Testament law you know
he wasn't grandfathered in I guess and it's just like sorry man you guys it's a
new covenant new way of salvation you got to now be converted he literally
taught that Peter was saved before and then thereafter when Jesus said to be
converted to strengthen his brother and that's when he had to get saved again
it's stupid nonsensical well how do you how do you explain it then converters
just means when you are transformed because Peter went through a
transformation process thereafter because he was humbled because he was
prideful and arrogant and thought that he would not deny the Lord that he would
be with him unto death and he ate humble pie because the freaking coward you know
denied the Lord three times and what happened he wept bitterly he went
fishing you know he just back slid but then he came back he got right with God
he's over here preaching the gospel to thousands of people and now he has two
epistles written in the New Testament the man ended up doing great works for
the Lord because he was converted okay and by the way if it was in reference to
salvation why doesn't it say and when thou art converted go preach the gospel
to every creature or something he says strengthen thy brethren why is that
because a natural byproduct of you getting right with God is that you
encourage the brethren and strengthen them to make sure that they don't deny
the Lord like you did okay I'm not saying you I'm saying Peter but you two
okay look at chapter five if you would let's look at another example here and
by the way let me just say this is that you know there's different ways of
communicating what salvation is okay you know the the concise version of what we
would say when someone gets a we would say oh they believed on the Lord but
folks we understand that according to Romans chapter 10 that also includes
believing in your heart confessing with your mouth the Lord Jesus verse 13
telling us to call upon the name of the Lord and thou shalt be saved and let me
just say this is that calling upon the name of the Lord to be saved is not only
biblical it's necessary for salvation well I thought just belief was both are
you know like believing in the Trinity is also included in that you said why
do you say that well because you know there's always this this this faction of
evil wicked people who always want to remove these elements from the gospel
presentation under the cloak of well I just believe it's just by belief almost
insinuating that we don't believe that right whereas the Bible teaches us that
you believe and you confess with your mouth you said what are you talking
about well there's this fool on YouTube named Norm Diamante calls himself good
hope but apparently there's no hope hey look folks I'm leery of people who go
out of their way to make a YouTube video downplaying calling upon the name of the
Lord why would you do that let's say that's your personal conviction and you
believe you don't believe that you know it's another thing when you actually
publicly come out and say you don't have to publicly confess um you don't have to
call upon the name of the Lord it's just by belief okay then why don't you go
ahead and go to Romans chapter 8 verse 9 Romans chapter 10 verse 9 and explain to
me why God specifically said confess with thy mouth should we just remove
that from the Bible and in fact he even reiterates it for what the heart man
believeth unto righteous righteousness but with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation my friends but you know what's interesting is that this this guy
he doesn't go to Romans chapter 10 in order to try to explain that he goes to
a story of the Pharisees who believed on the Lord but didn't confess them
publicly for fear of the Jews because you know you can interpret that however
you want because it's a story in the Bible rather than the clear statement
made in Romans chapter 10 verse 9 now let me just explain to you what that
story is referring to when it says that the Pharisee there are certain Pharisees
that believed on the Lord but for fear the Jews did not confess him publicly
it's referring to the fact that they didn't tell them that they were
believers it's not saying like they didn't call upon the name of the Lord my
friend it's referring to the fact that there were cowards they didn't want to
get put out of the synagogue so they didn't want people knowing that there
were believers and there's people like that today and so it's a wicked doctrine
and anytime it sneaks its way in here you're gonna be hearing me preach a
sermon on calling upon the name of the Lord because it's necessary for
salvation my friends and look and let me just say this is that anytime someone
attacks a clear statement in the Bible that's a problem my friends that's a
wicked person to go to a clear portion of Scripture and say if that's not true
you don't have to do that you become a you become a judge of the law you're in
Acts chapter 5 oh what I was saying was this is that when it comes to explaining
what salvation is you could you can explain it different ways you can say
it's calling upon the name of the Lord you can explain it as believing on the
Lord Jesus Christ you can explain it as getting saved right these are the ways
you could explain it and you people say well what is it the part of the gospel
that saves you is it the death yes is it the resurrection yes is it the fact that
he was buried and went to hell for three days and three nights yes the Bible says
that he was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification
which let me just give you a rude awakening here you need both you needed
him to be delivered for your offenses because on his own body he bore our own
sins on a tree but he needed to be raised again for our justification that's
why the Bible says that we need to believe in the resurrection so if
someone tells me that they believe that Jesus Christ was crucified that he paid
for their sins but they don't believe in his resurrection that person's not saved
and look isn't there isn't it isn't it interesting that all the way in Genesis
you have people calling upon the name of the Lord using that exact phrase before
even using the phrase that Abraham believed God and it was counted into him
for righteousness and actually used the phrase calling upon the name of the Lord
chew on that for a little bit no hope
look at Acts chapter 5 let's look at another example here it says then Peter
and the other apostles answered and said we ought to obey God rather than man the
God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom he slew and hanged on a tree him hath
God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a Savior for to give
repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins and we are his witnesses of these
things and so was also the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey
him now this is an interesting passage right here verse 31 the way it's worded
it says for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins now the repent
of your sins crowd won't necessarily use verses like this but the Calvinists will
use verses like this you can see why they would use a verse like this right
because they believe that God basically is the one who elects people and kind of
you know moves them and you know they believe in this unconditional election
where people are irresistible grace where people who are elected for
salvation before the foundation of the world just can't help but just believe
on Jesus Christ and get saved and repent of their sins and clean up their lives
they can't help it and so they use verses like this because the Bible says
at the latter end of verse 31 that God gives repentance unto Israel and the
forgiveness of sins now let me explain a couple things here turn with you to
2nd Timothy chapter 2 hold your place in the book of Acts 2nd Timothy chapter 2
I want to explain what that means to give repentance unto Israel because God
does give repentance unto nations but he also gives repentance unto individuals
unto individuals and I'm gonna explain what that means exactly it doesn't mean
that he just makes them get saved okay the Bible would describe this as being
enlightened okay and in fact the Bible tells us in John 644 no man can come to
me except the Father which has sent me draw him and I will raise him up at the
last day so obviously God has to be working on that person's heart here's
the difference God works on everyone's heart God brings the gospel to everyone
through a soul winner okay and so he enlightened and guess what even the
reprobates of this world at one point were enlightened to the truth the gospel
came unto them you say well why does it say that he gave repentance doesn't that
mean like he he made them get saved or he made them come to the knowledge of
the truth no he just made it available to them so when it says he gave
repentance unto Israel it's referring to the fact that he made salvation
available to them and I'm gonna prove to you beyond a shadow of a doubt that
that's what it's referring to look what it says in second Timothy 224 and the
servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men after teach
patient and meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if God peradventure
will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth now let's go
ahead and and impose the Calvinist teaching on this particular verse
repentance to the odds of the acknowledging of the truth meaning God
just makes them get saved irresistible grace right well then you have an issue
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 so hold on a second if
the Calvinist believes that God makes people get saved due to irresistible
grace then why is it saying in verse 26 that the individual has to recover
themselves out of the snare of the devil if it just it's all God doing it I'll
tell you why because repentance to the acknowledging of the truth simply means
that God makes salvation available to them because of the truth and the person
has to respond to that the person has to accept the truth person has to believe
the truth and when they believe it what happens they recover themselves out of
the snare of the devil you know when like when Jesus told people thy faith
has saved he didn't say my faith saved you because that's another thing the
Calvinists believe they believe that the gift of God is faith like God just like
here's my faith you know it's just you take it now you believe or something no
he says thy faith had saved thee because every one of us is born with the measure
of faith and sometimes people you know they get a little too into navel gazing
like you know how much faith you have to place in you know getting saved or it's
just like you know I don't have that much faith folks it's just whatever
faith you have if you if you have this much faith or this much faith that this
person has this much faith and this person has this much faith this person
has to place all this faith on Jesus Christ and this person has to place place
all this faith in Jesus Christ doesn't matter how much you have God just wants
whatever you have okay and people are like well I don't know if I could place
my faith and you place your faith in everything all day every day when you're
driving down the road you literally place your faith in drivers you don't
know to know how to drive put it this way when you fly an airplane most of you
never meet the pilot you never meet the pilot yet you place your faith that that
person must know what they're doing when you know you're all the way up there in
the sky you will literally fly take off and land in a different part of the
world you happy that that person is gonna get you there you have faith that
even though that pilot might be a woman
she can get you there right for the hike we were flying one time and hike found
out that the pilot was a woman he started freaking out we were like we're
a stamp we were taking off and then and then the airplane started like like
doing stuff or they started moving and it's just like even in the air she's
still hitting the curb running into the curb but if people place their faith in
things all the time my friends and so you know it's not about how much faith
you have that you just put whatever faith you have in Christ and that's it
okay and even then you know it's it's a stupid question because we don't we
don't have any way to measure how much faith we're placing in something it's
just like pulling out your pocket like you know you don't know how much faith
you're placing it it's just faith is just belief okay and so when it says
that he gave repentance unto Israel simply means that he gave them the
acknowledging of the truth he brought the truth to them via a soul winner via
a preacher online via someone who brought the Word of God into them you
know knocked on her door and told them about the gospel of Jesus Christ that
was the acknowledging of the truth he drew them with the truth and then it
was up to them whether they wanted to believe or not because we have free will
okay go to Acts chapter 8 if you would Acts chapter number 8
look at verse number 22 this is referring to Simon Simon was a sorcerer
and he gets saved and then he starts seeing the Apostles performing these
miracles and he wants to do it as well but obviously not for righteous reasons
he just wants to gain clout you know just as the Apostles they're very
popular so he wants that same cloud he wants that popularity so he's like how
can I get this power and he expresses this and then look at verse 22 repent
therefore this of this thy wickedness and pray God it perhaps the thought of
thine heart may be forgiven thee now here in this particular verse in verse
22 he's not Peters not telling Simon hey you need to get saved again you lost
your salvation you got to repent of your sins this is after he's been saved
okay he says a verse 23 for I perceive that thou are in the gall of bitterness
and in the bond of iniquity look at verse 24 then answered Simon and said
pray to the Lord for me that none of these things which he have spoken come
upon me now what is he referring to he's referring to the gall of bitterness he's
referring to the bond of iniquity he's like pray the Lord that I don't become
bitter because of this that I don't get in wrapped in the bond of iniquity you
say well how do you know that this is not referring to salvation well look at
verse number 9 if you would verse 9 but there are certain men there's a certain
man called Simon which before time in the city was a huge sorcery and bewitched
the people of Samaria giving out that himself was some great one to whom they
all gave heed from the least of the greatest saying this man is the great
power of God and to him they had regard because that of a long time he had
bewitched them with sorceries 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 then Simon also excuse me then Simon himself
believed also and when he was baptized he continued with Philip and wondered
beholding the miracles and signs which were done so prior to that whole event
taking place what do we see him doing believing and then being baptized
because that's what Matthew 28 tells people to do okay so thereafter when he
says repent of this thy wickedness this is just referring to his Christian life
now okay and here's what upsets me is that when people say you know oh you
believe they all you have to do is believe and get saved and that's it yeah
why don't we just go murder and rob and rape and pillage and this is what I
think to myself I'm saved and I've never thought that and I feel like
something like is that what you want to do because I've never wanted to something
like that Rob rape you know it's like I got saved you know July 22nd 2007 is
just like all right time to go rob a liquor store time to go murder that one
dude I never really liked the thought never even came into my mind my friends
such a weird example to give and there's plenty of people in this room
there's plenty of people in churches that believe in the right salvation that
have never had that thought ever come into their mind it's typically the
repent of your sins crowd that has that thought because they're the ones who
came up with the illustration out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speak
it my friends and guess what out of the heart proceed evil thoughts murders
thefts adulteries folks all you have to do is believe on Jesus Christ and every
example that we've seen so far when they when the Bible says to repent you can
just go up a couple verses you can go forward a couple verses and clearly sees
that it only says you have to believe okay look at verse 35
rap act chapter 8 so we have this story of Simon the sorcerer still in the same
chapter looking for 35 then Philip opened his mouth and began at the same
scripture and preached unto him Jesus and as they went on their way there came
unto a certain water and the eunuch said see here is water what doth hinder me to
be baptized and Philip said if you repent with all your heart if you just
repent of your wickedness like Simon the sorcerer with all your heart thou
mayest no if thou believeth with all thine heart thou mayest and he answered
and said I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God
hey eunuch you forgot the part where you're supposed to like you know repent
of your wickedness you know you're from Ethiopia I'm sure they got all kinds of
evil stuff over there and you got your your life oh I'm sure you've done some
pretty evil things you forgot that part of your confession well no he didn't
forget that part because it's not part of it he says I believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God and he commanded the chariot to stand still and does it say
that Philip was like then you can't be baptized you got to understand what
salvation is no they went both down into the water both Philip and the eunuch and
he baptized him in the same chapter so why point that out because of the fact
that again people like to cherry-pick verses of the Bible where it says to
repent and believe and repent and be baptized but they always want to ignore
the verses prior and the verses after to clearly indicate that all you have to do
is believe now look we could use Acts chapter 8 as a salvation verse right and
many of us do if we wanted to because Acts chapter 8 is no different than what
we see in the book of John it's just that we use the book of John prior more
often because of the fact that they're just simple little statements that say
you just have to believe in order to be saved okay look at Acts chapter 10 if
you would accept your number 10
Acts 10 verse 42 Peter is preaching to Cornelius to believe now in Acts chapter
2 he doesn't have a different gospel so but according to these people they he
does but look what verse 42 says and he commanded us to preach unto the people
and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick
and dead to him give all the prophets witness now what prophets is he
referring to the Old Testament prophets Samuel Moses you got Elijah I mean you
name it they all priest this same exact message to him give all the prophets
witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive
permission of sins now why is it they always want to stick to acts 238 but
they don't go to acts 10 verse 43 because both of them are Peter I'll tell
you why because acts 238 it's their agenda we'll use acts 238 and explain
what acts 238 means but we'll also use acts 1040 X 1043 because it clearly
states there that all you have to do is believe and by the way this is a great
verse for the dispensationalist too because this dipsticks will tell you the
hyper dipsticks will tell you the salvation was different in the Old
Testament than it is today well that's interesting because the prophets of the
Old Testament said that all you have to do is believe in his name and they shall
receive the remission of sins and they'll say well yeah but they didn't
know the name of Jesus well that's why they just call them the Lord Jesus Christ
is the Lord while Peter yet spake these words the Holy Ghost fell on all them
which heard the word and they have the circumcision which believed there goes
that naughty word again we're astonished as many as came with Peter because that
on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost go to Acts chapter
11 Acts chapter 11 if you wouldn't look what it says in Acts 11 verse 12 and the
Spirit bade me go with them nothing doubting moreover these six brethren
accompany me and we entered into the man's house Peter reiterating the story
here and he showed us how he had seen an angel in his house which stood and
said unto him send men to Joppa and call for Simon whose surname is Peter who
shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved and as I
began to speak the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning then
remembered I the word of the Lord how that he 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
who was I that I could withstand God when the 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 notice that it says repentance unto
life synonymously with verse 17 who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ okay
pretty simple right I know but we just got to explain these things look at Acts
chapter 13 if you would we're gonna go to Acts 13 and we'll go to Matthew
chapter 3 look at Acts 13 in verse 24 it says when John had first preached before
his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel so this is
another thing that people like to harp on the baptism of John right the
baptism of repentance and people will use this up and down two ways from
Sunday stating that John the Baptist had a different gospel than all the other
apostles because he preached the baptism of repentance like his gospel was way
more hardcore than every other every other gospel because he preached it yet
the repent of your sins you have to get right with God in order to be saved well
go to Matthew chapter 3 if you would Matthew chapter 3 so I'm not gonna
reiterate it once again but I'll just give you a snippet that when again the
baptism of repentance we see later on with the Apostle Paul he clarifies in
the book of Acts what that means to believe on his name for salvation that's
what that means he said why would he call it the baptism of repentance
because baptism in those days they understood meant to be immersed in
Christ when you believe on Jesus Christ okay but people will point to Matthew
chapter 3 and verse 5 look at verse 5 it says they went out to him Jerusalem and
all Judea and all the region round about Jordan and were baptized of him
in Jordan confessing their sins so what we see here is people you know he's
preaching the gospel people are getting saved and they're getting baptized but
they're also confessing their sins likewise you say why would they do that
well you know some people are just zealous for the Lord they're getting
right with God they're getting saved and then you know as they're getting
baptized they're just confessing their sins and this doesn't mean that they had
to confess their sins in order to be saved it just shows us that these people
did okay he says in verse 7 but when he saw many of the Pharisees and the
Sadducees come to his baptism he sent it to them O generation of vipers who hath
warned you to flee from the wrath to come now verse 8 is the verse that
people love to use bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance and this is
the verse that people will often bring to my attention they'll say you know
well we need to see fruits of your repentance in order to confirm that
you're really saved there needs to be some fruit of your repentance okay but
obviously these people just have no understanding of what the Bible means
when it talks about fruit okay because fruits and works kind of basically
different things what is fruit is that what you produce or that which the Holy
Ghost produces in you so fruit can be defined as two things here when you
study in the Word of God number one it's referring to the fruit of the Holy
Spirit Galatians chapter 5 always referring to the people that you got
saved right Bible refers to the people that we get saved the people that we
convert our converts refers to them as our fruit he said well why does it say
therefore bring therefore fruits meet for repentance then well because he's
talking to who Sadducees and the Pharisees who are religious leaders and
therefore he's like let's see your fruit it's called a fruit inspection for the
prophets who are claiming to be of God and the way you determine if one of the
ways you determine if a person who claims to be a man of God a religious
leader is right on salvation as you look at his fruit so he's saying look bring
forth therefore fruits meet for repentance now why would he say that
well because Jesus will see later on in Matthew 23 what does he tell him he says
you can pass land and seed to make one proselyte and after he is made you make
them twofold more a child of hell than yourselves and this is why he says in
verse 9 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 into the root of the trees therefore
every tree which bringeth forth bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and
cast into the fire you see a false prophet can never produce right fruit
could never get someone saved you know like a guy like Manly Perry will never
get anybody saved Judas when he was here on this earth never got anybody saved
because it requires a safe person to get another person saved prove that prove
that you know an unsafe person can't get a person safe prove that they have to
bring forth after their kind or something like that well can you produce
a monkey can you produce a dog no and here's the thing you know we're not
saying and the Bible is not teaching that if you don't produce converts or
fruit you're not saved it's not what the Bible is teaching at all what it's
teaching is that if you do produce fruit it will be another safe person a dog
will only produce a dog it will never produce a cat okay you know a tiger will
only produce a tiger I don't know what else give me another example here you
animal lovers out there what that's a dog foxes are dogs right there for
their species of dogs you know that's why Jesus told Herod or it said of
Herod tell that Fox it's calling him a dog remember that give me another give
me another dog give me another animal we just don't know anything about animals
here huh and do we only know about dogs in this church they're like I'm sorry a
Chihuahua Chihuahuas can't produce anything by the way no I'm just kidding
oh I'm sorry yeah I don't know if there's Chihuahua lovers out here what
you said an elephant an elephant won't produce a giraffe what I'm saying is
that everything brings forth after its own kind so John the Baptist is telling
the Pharisees and the Sadducees bring forth fruits that match up to your
repentance your belief some Pharisee is not going to produce a safe person if
they're not saved okay he's basically Tom let's let's let's see the fruit
inspection here and this only applies to religious leaders according to Matthew
chapter 7 it's basically saying that if you're really saved I want to see some
of your fruit then I want to see who not because it proves that they're saved
it just it just shows like you know what do these people believe and Jesus
already told us that they produce twofold more child of hell than
themselves he doesn't even call them like converts
he calls them proselytes okay and so that's what it's referring to there go
to the last one Acts chapter 17 if you would Acts chapter 17 look at verse 30
of Acts chapter 17 it says in the times of this ignorance God winked at but now
commandeth all men everywhere to repent and he's referring to the heathen that
have lived you know all over the world who were given to idolatry and these
pagan beliefs and when the Bible says that God winked at it it basically means
that you know he didn't give them what they deserved okay he showed mercy why
does God do that well because he's a merciful God people always want to paint
God as oh he's such an angry and evil God he's such a murderous guy just wants
to kill everyone you know and they pick like these these these stories in the
Old Testament where God had his people wipe out you know entire populations
because of how evil they were because they're involved in bestiality and
incest and they're allowing the children to pass through the fire you know
they're defending the Canaanites who are allowing their children to pass
through the fire but they're condemning God for saying we need to wipe this
entire clan out because they're so evil okay but what they what they don't talk
about is the fact that he actually winked at some of the ignorance of other
people all around the world because people all around the world even though
they were pagan or had a false belief some of them were noble people who just
were ignorant they thought that they were doing right and so he winked at
that ignorance but now command all men everywhere to repent why because now the
gospel was going into all the world and the message was being brought forth by
soldiers and missionaries etc he says everywhere to repent because he had the
point of the day in which he would judge the world in righteousness by that man
whom he hath ordained wherefore he hath given assurance unto all men and that he
hath raised them from the dead and when they heard of the resurrection of the
dead some mocked another said we will hear thee again of this matter so Paul
departed from among them now you know it's interesting because these guys are
pagans right and they're hearing this term repent so he's Paul's telling them
to repent and notice that you know notice what verse 34 says how be it
certain men clave unto them and what believed so it's interesting that when
they heard the Apostle Paul preaching to repent they weren't like oh man we
got to repent of all our sins we got to turn from all our wickedness they just
believed how be it certain men clave unto them and believed among the which
was Dionysius the Aeropagite and a woman named Amaris and others
with them so again people want to just isolate verse number 30 and say oh you
have to repent of your sins to be saved when it doesn't say sins but number two
you read further into verse number 34 we see that the response is they believed
and notice that every time that they believe the Apostles don't correct them
and say hey whoa whoa whoa whoa no no no no no that's not what I said you got a
term from your sin no because they did exactly what they preached which is to
believe on Jesus Christ and that's it and look there's so many we've seen so
many examples of this you would think that God at one point would just say and
the Apostles were wrong for not correcting their doctrine or something
you know and he sent forth another apostle to actually get them saved
because they were preaching a false gospel no he's reiterating this over and
over again because it's called the Acts of the Apostles who had the right gospel
so don't allow people to just cherry-pick verses if you run into this
out so many if you talk to people and they just want to pull out Acts 2 38
they want to pull out Acts chapter 3 Acts chapter 5 Acts chapter 10 they want
to keep pulling this out just say well let's read before and after because
before and after confirms that it's just by faith and you can't just use and
isolate one verse and and just because it says repent that somehow it
translates as term from your sin okay and so that's pretty much it let's pray
father we thank you so much for your word we're so thankful for the book of
Acts and how clear it is even though it's it's more of a historical book of
the churches of the New Testament but even then they're sprinkled about the
doctrine of salvation clearly Lord I pray that you'd help us to understand
that and be ready always to give an answer to every man and I pray God that
you bless us as we go on our way the fellowship to follow and bless this week
in Jesus name Amen
please turn your song books of song number 175