Acts 16
And brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house.
I know we prayed once, but let's pray it again.
Even if you're seated, let's just pray it in faith with them.
Say, Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins.
Come into my heart.
Wash me in your blood.
I make you my Lord and Savior.
Amen.
All of a Christian's life is one of repentance.
You repent of sin to become a Christian.
You repent of sin to grow as a Christian.
You repent of sin to reveal Christ to others.
All of a Christian's life is one of repentance.
I get so sick of this repent of your sins garbage coming from Baptist preachers.
Right.
We gave the gospel to a Muslim today, and he said,
Did he not say that?
We gave the gospel to a Mormon today, and he said,
Hey, why are these Baptists teaching the same garbage that the Muslims are teaching, that the Mormons are teaching, that the Catholics are teaching?
It works.
But the Bible says we're saved by faith alone.
Repenting of your sins is works.
If you have to sit there and repent of this sin or repent.
Hey, the only thing you have to repent of to be saved is whatever's stopping you from believing in Jesus Christ.
And if your Catholic religion is damning you, you need to repent of that garbage and believe on Christ.
You don't have to repent of sin.
If you have to repent of sin, none of us is saved.
We are all sinners.
We die daily.
We have to repent every day from the bad things that we do or the wrong thoughts that we think.
We have to die daily, as Paul said.
We've got to take up the cross daily.
But salvation is one time.
Okay, Tony, give me a short definition of the biblical understanding of grace.
Well first of all, Paul said to Titus, he says, the grace of God has appeared to all men, bringing salvation.
And first, when I look at the grace of God, I look at the goodness and the person of Jesus.
But secondly, after that, I see grace as divine influence.
And this divine influence causes me, Sid, when I hear the truth of the Gospel, to turn from sin against sin and surrender my life.
This true grace emphasizes to me the need to deny myself, take up the cross and obey Jesus every day.
In other words, true grace, Sid, produces a transformation of habits, character and life, and causes me to become more and more like Jesus as I develop intimacy with God through Jesus the Messiah.
You know, this counterfeit grace message goes so far as to say, because of what Jesus did at the cross, that we don't have to repent of sin anymore once we get born again.
And what about the teaching of once saved, always saved?
Evidence that a person has truly opened their life to Christ is continued fellowship with Christ.
But is it not true, and don't tell me it's not, countless millions of people, because of our preaching, walk around, they have no fellowship with Christ, no desire for godliness, no seeking of God, but they believe themselves converted because one time in one of our churches they prayed and asked Jesus to come in.
That's true.
And if someone professes faith in Christ, then what do I do?
I don't go, oh, you're saved, you're saved.
I tell them this, I say, listen, if tonight you have truly repented and believed in Jesus Christ, you have become a child of God, but this is going to be the evidence.
If you have truly repented unto salvation, you will continue repenting unto salvation and growing in repentance.
And if you have truly believed, you will continue believing.
None of this flu shot stuff, I don't want someone walking up to that person ten years later, they're living an ungodly life, and someone witnessed to them and they say, oh, don't worry about me, I done did that.
Because that's what most people do in the south, isn't it?
Don't worry about me preacher, I done did that.
You done did what?
I got my flu shot.
The biggest perversion of the gospel is this phrase, repent of your sins.
Now I'm not against repent of your sins, but I am against making a part of the gospel.
I am against making a part of salvation.
Because we're saved by faith alone, period.
A lot of these pastors who claim to be Baptist will say, oh, we're saved by faith alone, but you got to repent of your sins.
Or we're saved by faith alone, but faith that works is dead.
Now I don't like that word but when it's at the end of salvation.
The only time I like the word but when it's after damnation, like in Romans 6 23, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Don't put a but on the end of salvation, because salvation is finished.
Chapter 20, we get the purpose of the book of John.
And I could show you other places in the Bible where God gives the purpose of each book.
Look at John 20 verse 30.
The Bible reads, and many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book.
But these are written, and what's the purpose that it's written?
That you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his name.
So according to the Bible here, the purpose of the book of John is to preach unto you the fact that Jesus is the Christ that you might believe that,
and that believing you might have life through his name.
Basically the purpose of the book of John is to get somebody saved.
Plain and simple.
He said it's so that somebody can believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that by believing they might have life through his name.
Now here's the interesting thing about the book of John.
The book of John mentions some form of the word believe 101 times.
That's an average of approximately 5 times per chapter.
Chapter 1, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe.
Chapter 2, believe, believe, believe, believe, believe.
Chapter 3, believe, believe, believe, believe.
I mean an average of 5 times per chapter, God's saying believe, believe, believe, believe, believe.
Why? Because he said the purpose of the book is that you might believe and that believing you might have life through his name.
It's a book written to tell you how to get everlasting life, how to get eternal life.
That's why it's filled with so many great salvation verses.
Do you take that injunction in Revelation quite seriously, this idea that God will spit out a lukewarm Christian?
Many people may feel uncomfortable with that.
What about grace? What about the fact that it's not about what we do?
God accepts us on the basis of what he's done for us.
Absolutely.
How do you kind of balance that?
Yeah, but when you look at his grace, his grace is shown in changing us and making us like his son.
That passage, you know, it's interesting, even that phrase lukewarm Christian, I don't see that in the scripture.
He refers to these people as lukewarm and he also refers to them as blind, naked, poor, wretched, pitiable.
And he says, I'm going to spit you out of my mouth because you're lukewarm.
Now, I don't see that as a description of a believer.
Are you saying that if you are lukewarm, basically you're not a Christian?
That's what I see in Revelation three.
I don't know how you can read that passage and call that person a Christian because a Christian is not going to be spit out of the mouth of God.
I mean, that's quite a significant statement because it would suggest then that on the face of it you see a lot of churches in America that are simply full of people who aren't actually Christians.
I want to know what it is to believe because I'm required to believe in order to be saved.
And this world is so full of crazy ideas about what believing is.
Believing a doctrine, just believing a fact like he died for your sins, it's not enough.
Let me give you just a little sampling of some of the believe verses of the book of John.
John 1.12,
Plain and simple.
John 3.15,
Verse 16,
Verse 18,
John 3.36,
John 5.24,
John 6.40,
This is the will of him that sent me that everyone would see at the sun and believeth on him may have everlasting life.
And I will raise him up at the last day.
John 6.47,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
Hmm, I'm not sure, what does it take to get saved?
I mean, how many times can he say it in how many different ways?
Whosoever believeth.
That means anybody who believeth.
It doesn't matter what your life is, it doesn't matter how good you are, how bad you are, red and yellow, black and white.
He said, whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Over and over again.
He said in John 7.38,
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
But this sake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive.
For the Holy Ghost was not yet given because the Jesus was not yet glorified.
You compare that with John 4, and it's clearly a reference to eternal life.
John chapter 8.24 says this,
I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins, for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
John 12.36,
While ye have light, believe in the light that ye may be the children of light.
How do you become the children of light?
By believing in the light.
And the Bible says in John chapter 1 that Jesus Christ was the light, the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
Over and over again in the book of John.
And that's just a small sampling.
The Bible clearly tells us that whoever believeth in him will be saved, will have eternal life.
Jesus saith unto her, I am the resurrection and the life.
He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
Watch this.
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
Believeth thou this.
But you know what is missing from the book of John?
The word repent is never found in the book of John one time.
Believe a book that claims, hey this book's here to tell you how to get saved.
101 times, believe.
Repent, zero.
Now a lot of people will say, well that's insignificant because it's found in other places in the Bible.
That's okay that it's found in other places in the Bible.
I believe in repentance.
I'm preaching a sermon about repentance.
But let me tell you something right now though.
If there was something else you had to do besides believe, then John really blew it
if he left out.
Because a lot of people will say this, you have to do two things to be saved.
Have you heard this?
They say to be saved you got to do two things.
You got to believe and you have to repent of your sins.
Now here's the thing, if there really was another thing that you had to do to be saved,
and John is written to tell you how to get saved, wouldn't John have really blown it
and wouldn't God have left something out when he said over and over again, just believe,
just believe, just believe, whosoever believeth.
Oh by the way, whoops, you also have to turn from your sins.
You know that part that said whosoever believeth?
It didn't really mean whosoever.
It's whosoever believes and gets baptized and repents of their sins and lives a good
life.
Nope.
It's whosoever believeth period.
So it would be very foolish indeed to look at the book of John that claims to be about
getting saved and tells you how to have everlasting life and then look at it and there's no repent
there.
That tells me that believing is enough.
That there aren't two things.
There's only one thing that you have to do to be saved and it's believe.
Yes.
And it makes sense that Jesus died for all my sins, and paid my punishment for me, and
all I have to do is turn to Him and just believe in Him and be saved, that makes sense.
But you know what doesn't make sense, telling me that I have to turn from all my sins to
be saved, and then turning around and telling me, oh by the way, it's a free gift that Jesus
did everything.
It's like, did Jesus do everything, but you've got to make some serious change in your life.
Did Jesus do everything or not?
Is it free or not?
Is it a gift or not?
Is it faith alone or not?
It's funny, we were out soul winning the other day, and we asked somebody what they have
to do to be saved, they said believe on Christ, and they said, yeah, I don't know why people
make the Gospel so complicated, it's just so simple.
Jesus did everything, we just believe on Jesus.
It's so simple, and I'm thinking like, yeah, it is simple.
And then that same person, I asked that person if you could lose your salvation, oh yeah,
you can lose your salvation, I mean, you can't just live however you want, and you know,
you do have to repent of all your sins, and you know, if you don't live right, if you
don't go to church, you're like, what?
You just don't, I say, no, you're making it complicated.
Don't be turned from the simplicity that's in Christ to another Gospel, another Jesus,
another salvation that's not biblical.
Bob, isn't there such a thing as a false professor?
Absolutely.
I like to say the issue is the root, not the fruit.
A lot of people, if they want to find out who a false professor is, they start checking
the person's works, right?
Oh, well, tell me about your marriage, tell me about your Bible reading, tell me about
your prayer life, you know, tell me about your work life, et cetera, let me go interview
people that know you, and that's how they're going to determine who a false professor is.
No, in Scripture, a false professor is one who professes to be a Christian or to be born
again, but isn't because of the root.
That is, they don't believe the right thing, they don't believe in Jesus for the promise
of life.
You're probably familiar with the Kennedy evangelism explosion program, D. James Kennedy,
and the two questions he would have, and one of the questions was, if you were to die today
and you stood before God and he said, why should I let you into my heaven, what would
you say?
That's a root question, that's not a fruit question.
That's a question that's getting at, what does the person believe they need to do to
get into the kingdom?
That's the issue.
So a false professor would be like the people in Matthew 7, verses 21 to 23, where Jesus
said, many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?
Did we not cast out demons in your name?
Did we not do many wonders in your name?
And then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you workers of iniquity.
Well the point there is, they are pointing not to their root, to faith in Christ, they
are pointing to their fruit.
Didn't we do this in your name, this in your name, and this in your name?
And by the way, the fact that they, three times they say in your name, suggests these
are people from within Christianity.
These aren't Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, atheists, agnostics, these are people who are claiming
to have done these works in Jesus' name.
They are false professors, not because of their works, they are false professors because
they don't believe.
And when Jesus calls them workers of iniquity, the point is, we're all sinners, and our works
can never get us into the kingdom.
It's only faith in Jesus, the root, that we can get everlasting life.
So sure, they're false professors, but if you want to find them, ask them why they believe
God should let them into the kingdom.
Let me just give you a quick anecdote, I've heard stories of people coming in for marriage
counseling, and pastors from a reformed lordship salvation perspective will be talking to them,
and they'll find out that the husband is a hothead and he yells a lot and he screams
and he throws things, et cetera, and the pastor will say, have you thought about the fact
that maybe you're not born again?
Maybe the issue here is you need to be born again.
Well, what this does is it drives this guy nuts, because now it's not enough that he's
having marriage problems, now he's on his way to the lake of fire, right?
And the problem is not his beliefs, the problem is his works.
I have no problem with the fact that this man who comes in may or may not be born again,
but if I want to find out if he's born again or not, I don't try to find out how he treats
his wife, I want to find out what he believes, because it's about what we believe, it's not
about what we do.
It's a naive approach to think that simply because you're born again, you're going to
be a great husband or a great wife.
I mean, we have pastors of leading churches, even lordship salvation pastors, who fall
into adultery, fall into immorality, who go through divorces, who go through these problems.
Good intentions aren't enough, and the point is, we're born again by belief, we're not
born again by behavior.
Everything would be different in these men's lives because of this encounter with Jesus,
everything, which is why we know that people who profess to be Christians but whose lives
look just like the rest of the world are deceived.
All kinds of people who supposedly made a decision, prayed a prayer, signed a card,
walked an aisle, accepted Jesus into their hearts, but their lives don't look any different.
They say they're a Christian, but the reality is they don't know this Christ, because when
you know this Christ, everything begins to change in your life.
Oh yeah, salvation's all by faith, it's just by believing, and all you have to do is just
turn away from your sinful life.
It's like, what?
You just said it was only by believing, but now all of a sudden you have to turn from
your sins.
You say, oh, you're against turning from your sins.
No, I said you don't have to turn from your sins to be saved.
Somebody said this, you call yourself a Baptist and you say people don't have to be baptized,
you have to be baptized to be saved.
Just because I don't believe you have to be baptized to be saved doesn't mean I'm against
baptism.
Hey, let me tell you something, I'm for baptism, I'm for repenting of your sins, I'm for going
to church three times a week, I'm for reading the Bible every day, I'm for prayer, I'm for
following the Ten Commandments, I'm for living a godly life, I'm for Bible memorization,
I'm for doing the right thing, I'm for it.
But let me tell you something, you don't have to do any of those things to be saved.
Because if you did, then we'd all be going to hell.
Because the Bible says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
And if you have to turn away from your sins to be saved, then nobody's saved.
I'd like for somebody to stand up right now and say, I've turned from my sins, you are
liars what you are.
Turn from your sins, you've turned from nothing.
You in the secrets of your heart have sinned and an indent of iniquity, and you say I turn
from my sins.
It's a lie.
Nobody can say that they've made their heart pure, that they've clean.
I think I even have that verse in my notes somewhere.
Let me see if I can find it, I might have hit the delete button on that one.
Here we go, Proverbs 20 verse 9, who can say, I've made my heart clean, I'm pure from my
sin.
You know who can say that?
A hypocrite.
A liar.
Somebody who's filled with pride and arrogance and wants to boast before God and say, I'm
going to heaven because I turned from my sin.
You did nothing to get yourself to heaven.
Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe.
Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.
I had nothing to do with it.
All I did was reach up my hands with a childlike faith and just cry out unto the Lord and call
upon the name of the Lord.
That's all I did.
He did everything.
I did what a child could do, just put all my trust in Him, just put my faith in Him.
And you know what, there's nothing boastful about that.
Oh, I gave up such a life of sin.
That's boasting.
Hey, if any man wants to glory and boast, let him glory in the Lord.
Why don't you brag on the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ?
His death, His burial, His resurrection is the power of God unto salvation, not your
12-step program that you've repackaged as the Gospel.
The Gospel's not a 12-step program, the Gospel's not quitting drinking, and look, just to prove
it to you, there are all kinds of people who quit drinking every day and they're not saved.
They don't believe in Christ.
They went to Alcoholics Anonymous.
They went to Narcotics Anonymous.
And that's how they quit.
They had nothing to do with salvation.
That's the evidence of salvation.
That's the evidence of a 12-step program.
And so what I'm trying to say tonight is not that we should continue in sin, shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound?
God forbid.
But if we continue in sin, the Bible says grace will abound, Romans 5.20.
You say, why are you so fired up about this?
You know why I'm fired up about it?
Because it's heaven and hell.
It's life and death.
You know, it's funny, people go to a ball game and they scream their heads off.
You know what the difference between me and them is?
I'm going to scream my head off about something that matters.
Something that actually has eternal ramifications.