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Alright, so keep your place there in Acts chapter 3. So this evening we're going to start a new series called Good Things, and good things in the Bible that have unfortunately received kind of a bad name, not because of anything that the Bible has done, but because of what we have done through the meanings of words and twisted meanings of doctrines and things like this. So this evening what I want to talk about is I want to talk about repentance in the Bible. I want to talk about the subject of repentance. Look down at Acts chapter 3, and well first of all before we get into repentance look at verse 14 and 15. This kind of relates to, this is kind of a preamble before we begin the sermon, but I really love Acts 3, 14, and 15. It kind of relates to Matthew 27 as we preach through, but Peter is preaching the gospel here in Acts chapter 3, and in verse 14 and 15 he says, but ye denied the Holy One and the just, and desired a murderer be granted unto you, and killed the prince of life. So I mean, you know, I mean talk about a slip up. I mean Peter's not really mincing words here. He's like basically you desired a murderer to be granted unto you, this of course talking about Barabbas, and you know instead you killed the prince of life. I mean oops, you know, I mean talk about a mistake, but of course we know that it was fulfilling prophecy. That was God's plan, and the whole thing, but look down at verse number 19 where Peter finally says, so he's basically saying you guys, you know, you have it completely wrong is what he's saying. I mean they asked for the murderer to be granted unto them, and they killed the prince of life. I mean talk about, you know, the wrong answer, right? So he's saying, then he says in verse number 19, he says, repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out. So this evening I want to talk about repentance, and talk about, you know, repentance, what it means. It's a good thing. It's a good thing that has been unfortunately kind of tainted today. We're gonna look at why it's been tainted. We'll look at, you know, the the meanings that have been twisted out of this word, but look, we're gonna talk about many of these different things in the coming weeks, and tonight we're gonna talk about repentance. So first of all, let's look at what repentance is in the Bible. Of course Acts 3 19 we just read. Turn to 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3. We're gonna go to a lot of Bible tonight. I'll try to give you some time to get to these verses, because I really want you to understand before we actually study what has happened, I want you to understand what the Bible says about repentance. I want to get the full meaning of, because look, repentance is important, okay? Repentance is important, so it's not something we can just forget about, okay? Look at 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse number 9. The Bible says, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. So here we see the word again, repentance. Turn to Luke chapter 13. So it's interesting that it's tied to this word perish, okay? So remember that. So basically he says, you know, we don't want people to perish, but we want instead for them to come to this repentance, whatever that means. We're gonna find out, okay? Look at Luke 13 and verse number 3. Luke 13 and verse number 3. Luke 13 and verse number 3, the Bible reads, you know, so we see that, you know, notice in 2 Peter chapter 3, I'm gonna try to give you a little extra time, that I want you to notice the word perish and the word repentance. They're opposites, okay? Luke 13, you'll see the same thing. I tell you nay, but except ye repent, there it is again, ye shall all likewise perish. Now turn to John chapter 3. John chapter 3. Most of you have John chapter 3 and verse 16 memorized, but turn to John 3, 16, a very famous verse in the Bible. So here we've seen two verses where the Bible says, hey, you don't want to perish. Instead, you want to repent, okay? You want to repent so you don't perish. So we see that these things, it's kind of like Proverbs, right? When you'll get a Proverb, the Bible will say, do this, but don't be like this, right? The Proverbs are constantly, you know, showing you both sides of the coin. And look at John 3, 16. The Bible says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish. So when the Bible says, and we teach this soul winning, when the Bible says you should not perish, that means you will never get the second death. You will never experience that spiritual death. You will never go to hell, is what the Bible is saying. So that's why, you know, it says, whosoever do what? Whosoever go to church? Whosoever get baptized? Whosoever help little ladies across the street? No, it says, whosoever believeth. It's believeth in Jesus Christ. And it says, if you do that, you will not perish. Okay? And then, you know, the Bible was always very helpful in its definitions. You'll not perish, right? But instead, you're so, okay, so I'm not going to go to hell. What does that mean? But you will have everlasting life. Okay? So you won't perish, you won't go to hell. Instead, you will have everlasting life. Okay? So look, it sure sounds to me like repentance is tied to salvation. Okay? And it is. Look at, but here's the problem. Okay? Now we're going to look at some Old Testament verses. All right? We now run into a conundrum here. Okay? And the Bible says, in the Old Testament, that there's somebody that did a lot of repenting in the Old Testament. Turn to Exodus chapter 32. And we don't even have time to look at all the verses in the Bible that talk about repentance in the Old Testament. But turn to Exodus chapter 32 and verse number 14. Exodus 32 and verse number 14. So let's look at, and it's very clear who did the most repenting in the Old Testament. Like I said, there's many, many, many verses in the Old Testament that talk about repentance. And verse 14 of Exodus 32 is where we'll go first. And the Bible says, and the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. Turn to Genesis chapter 6. Go back one book in your Bible in Genesis chapter 6. And while you're turning to Genesis chapter 6, I'll read for you 1 Chronicles chapter 21 and verse number 15 where the Bible says, And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it. And as he was destroying, the Lord beheld, and he repented him of the evil. This is the Lord repenting in the Bible. The Lord says, the Bible says the Lord repented him of the evil. Now you also need to understand what the word evil means in the Bible. The word evil when it comes to God, you know, repenting of the evil, it means hurt. It means harm. It means punishment. Okay, it's not sin. Okay, so it's God is punishing David here for doing the census in this case, for going in and counting the people. And the Bible says that after the angel had punished the people, had killed the people, it says he repented him of the evil. So the Lord stopped what was happening, okay, and said to the angel that destroyed, it is enough. He said, Stay now thine hand, and the angel of the Lord stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. Look at Genesis chapter 6 and verse number 6. This is talking about, you know, the Lord, you know, right before, you know, the flood. You know, he's decided that he's going to flood the earth and save Noah and his family. And the Bible says in 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, of course, the best example of repentance in the Old Testament is in Jonah chapter 3. So go ahead and just turn to Jonah chapter 3. So in Jonah chapter 3, we're going to look at verse number 10. So go to Jonah 3 10. But the backstory here is that Jonah was to go, and you remember that Jonah, he didn't want to go and preach to the people of Nineveh. He didn't like the people of Nineveh. He thought that they deserved, you know, what they had coming. You know, Nineveh was a violent place. That's what the Bible says. That's why Nineveh was going to be judged by God. So God sent Jonah against his will, but Jonah eventually goes, and he sent him to Nineveh to preach that they need to get things right in Nineveh. All right. And then Nineveh is such an important example in the Bible for us because it's one of the very few cases in the Bible where they actually listened to the prophet. Unfortunately, there's not that many cases where people in the Bible actually listened to the prophet that God sent. Most of the time, you know, it was just people were, you know, they killed the prophets. They, you know, threw them in prison. I mean, whatever. I mean, it was not good. But in Jonah 3 10, Jonah goes, and he preaches to the people to turn away from what they were doing. And they actually did it. They actually did it. Now look at Jonah 3 10. And the Bible says that after they did it, the Bible says this, it says, and God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. This is talking about the people of Nineveh. And God repented of the evil that he had said he would do unto them. And he did it not. Okay, so there's two things that we need to take away from Jonah 3 10. Now pay attention to me here. The two things are what? The first one is this, turning from your evil way, or your sins is a work that you do. Okay, because it says God saw their works. God saw their works, and then he defines it. What were their works? That they turned from their evil way. That was their works. And then repentance, the Bible that Jonah 3 10 also teaches us that repent means to change direction. It means to change, in this case, it's God deciding not to destroy Nineveh. I mean, it says God repented of the evil. God repented of the judgment that he was going to put on to Nineveh. God changed his mind. God saw their works. He saw their works, and he changed his mind from I'm going to destroy the city to I'm not going to destroy the city. Okay, so we see that God repented a lot. God repented a lot in the Old Testament, especially. Now, did God make bad decisions? Did God make bad decisions? Why is he changing? I mean, we understand that it means changing your mind. But why does God have to change his mind so much? Have you ever thought about that? Especially in the Old Testament? I mean, couldn't he find a better plan from the beginning so where he didn't have to change his mind all the time? I mean, so I'm going to explain to you why, why it is necessary that God repents. So we see that number one, repenting means to change your mind, to change your direction on direction on something. It means to turn, to turn from one thing to another thing. God turned from I'm going to have to destroy these people to he saw their works. I'm not going to destroy these people. That's repenting. That is repenting. God changed his mind. So why is it necessary? It is, by the way, absolutely necessary that God repents. You say, why? You say, why? Because, and this is why the story of Nineveh is so important to us today. Because here's the thing, folks, people can choose to do the right thing. Or people can choose to do the wrong thing. Did you know that that even works for you? I mean, look, it works on the level of the city of Nineveh. And did you know that it works for you as an individual too? Do you know that you can choose every single day in your life to do the right thing or do the wrong thing? I mean, that choice is yours. So unless people are a bunch of robots pre-programmed by God, because we have free will, God must be able to repent. You see? Because of that. I mean, so we should be, look, we should be thankful that God repents. We should be thankful that God has the ability to change his mind. We should be thankful that God is not just like, no, that's what I decided and that's it. I mean, look, that's the story of the Old Testament. I mean, that's the whole pattern of the Old Testament. God sends prophets, hey, get it right, get it right, get it right, get it right. Most times God didn't have to repent because they didn't get it right. But in the case of Nineveh, they got it right, which was a work. And God changed his mind. He repented. Okay, look at Jeremiah chapter 18. I mean, just because it rarely happened, it doesn't invalidate the concept. You know, that's the nice thing about the story of Nineveh is we see that concept in play. We see that, you know what, that we do have free will and we do have the ability, you know, saved, saved people, you have the ability to do the right thing or do the wrong thing. Look at Jeremiah 18 and verse number eight. If that nation against whom I pronounced turn from their evil, this is the concept right here. If that nation against who, because look, nations are judged in this life. Nations are judged on the earth. And you see that over and over and over in the Bible. If that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. There it is. That's the concept. Look, so repentance. Repentance. It's just a word and it means to change your mind. God changed his mind and God, I mean, it shows God's mercy towards us that he does change his mind. So the fact that God repents, the fact that God repents and repents again and again, it shows the mercy of God towards us. And we see that turning from your evil way is a work. Okay. And God saw their works that they turned from their evil way. So look, let's look now at the difference between repenting and repenting of your sins. Okay. Because repenting of your sins, that statement is something that you hear a lot today. Okay. Now, first of all, let me just say this. I did a study on this and with the software tools that we have now and all the different things that we have to study the Bible. I don't have to flip through the Bible looking for phrases anymore. I can just put it in a software tool and search for phrases. And the phrase repent of sin, never in the Bible one time. The phrase repenting, you're like, oh, it's a different form of the word. Repenting of sin, not in the Bible one time. The form of the word, oh, maybe it was repented. Repented of sin, never in the Bible one time. Okay. So look, you'll notice, I mean, it just kept changing. No direct matches for the keyword exist. No direct matches for the keywords exist. So look, repentance for salvation. Turn to Mark chapter one. So repentance of sin is not, I mean, it's not a phrase that you find in the Bible. You'll notice that we read the New Testament verses. It said, repent ye and be converted. It said, repent. It didn't say repent of sins and be converted. Okay. So look at Mark chapter one and verse number four. The Bible says in Mark chapter one and verse number four, it says, John did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. So for the remission of sins means because of the remission of sins. Okay. So he's preaching the baptism of repentance. What does that mean? And they were went out to him, the land of Judea and all of Jerusalem, and they were baptized of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. We're going to talk about that one next week. Confessing your sins. Talk about another good thing that has just been ruined by bad theology today. But look, go back to Acts chapter three and verse 19. I mean, so repent, repentance. It's in the Bible. It's clearly, it is clearly tied to salvation. I mean, it is clearly tied to not perishing in the Bible. It is clearly tied to, you know, being saved. Well, I mean, look what the Bible says in Acts three 19 repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins be blotted out. He's talking about being saved. Look, when you got saved, your sins were blotted out. That's it. It's a done deal. What's over forever. It's eternal. It's everlasting. It says you have to repent. You know what you have? You know what that means? It means you have to change your mind. So when you're out, look, you must do that. You must do that. Look, you have to turn from what you believed before. Who's Peter talking to here? He's talking to the Jews. What do they believe? They believe in works. It's no different from today. They believed that you had to do good things, that you had to keep the law, that you had to be nice, that you had to do all these things. You had to do works to be saved. And he says you must repent from that. You must change your mind from that and totally trust on Christ. That's it. That's what it means to repent and be converted. I mean, it's not only a good thing, it's necessary. You can rightly say that repentance is necessary for salvation. You can rightly say that. And we should not be afraid to say that no matter what people do to this word. I mean, because look, you have to change your mind. You can't add. You can't add your belief. You can't be like, oh, I'm going to believe that too. Oh, okay. Oh, yeah, I believe in Buddha. Oh, okay. I'm going to add Jesus to Buddha. Oh, I'm a Hindu. Oh, okay. I'm going to add Buddhism. I'm just going to believe everything. And then I'm covered. Right? I'm going to believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and, you know, clowns and fairies and whatever. And I'm going to add Jesus. No. To believe on, to trust, to repent means you change your mind from all that other garbage, which by the way is all the same. It just works. That's it. It's basically turning from I have to save myself to Jesus did it for me. It's very simple. There's two religions in the world. There's religions that teach you have to save yourself. And then there is what the Bible says. That's it. It's not as complicated as, you know, it may seem like there's 50 different churches. They're all teaching. They're all they're all teaching the same thing. Do this, come here, give money, do whatever, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, get yourself to heaven. It's all wrong. It's all wrong. It's you. You must turn from that and believe on Jesus. And then it's a done deal. That's it. So repentance is necessary for salvation. And look, I mean, you could you could rightly also say that sin is a part of that. You must believe that your sin condemns you to hell. Otherwise, what do you think that you're you're being saved from? I mean, that's why when you go out soul winning and you find somebody, they're like, you know, you start out saying, you know, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And they're like, except me. You're like, all right, we're done here. Right? Because, look, people aren't going to get saved if they don't believe that there's anything to be saved from. It just doesn't make any sense. I mean, why would you need a savior? Why would you need a savior? But here, here's where it goes too far. Here's where it goes too far. When you start to say that you have to turn from those sins, when you have to repent from those sins to be saved. It's adding works to salvation. It's plain and simple. So look, I wouldn't even use the phrase because it's not in the Bible. So I wouldn't even use the phrase. You know, it's not in the Bible. I mean, it's possible that, I mean, it's possible that someone who uses that phrase, you know, a pastor or a church or whatever, it just, you know, they're, they're trying to say that you need to change your mind about your sin or something or the condition that it puts you in. I suppose that's possible, but it literally identifies you with people that preach a false gospel. I mean, I would stay far away from that phrase if, but that's just me because when it's taken too far that, you know, even, even, even with sorrow, oh, you must be sorry for your sin. You must have sorrow for that sin. You know, if you don't have an extreme sorrow for sin, you know, you know, but look, that leads down roads, like doctrines of you'll have so much sorrow for that sin. You will turn over a new leaf. You will stop sinning. You will stop doing these things. Look, salvation is by faith, but you know, if you're really have that saving faith, you're going to do those works because you're going to be sorry for, look, it's Lordship salvation. It's false. It's a false gospel. And look, it's sneaky. It's sneaky. If you don't catch this stuff up front pretty soon, you're like, oh, I'm in a false gospel now. How did that happen? You know, but look, turn to Romans chapter four. Here's the problem with Lordship salvation. Well, if you're really sorry for your sin, you're going to just stop doing that sin. Otherwise, are you really sorry for that sin if you're still doing it? Do you really feel bad enough for that sin if you're still doing it? But here's the problem with this doctrine. The problem is the Bible. The problem is the Bible. Look at Romans chapter four and verse number four. This is a super important verse to just crush Lordship salvation, to just crush the idea that you are saved by belief and works together. This is perfect. Look at Romans chapter four and verse four. The Bible says, not to him that worketh. This guy's doing good works here. You've got two guys in Romans four here. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. It says the guy that's doing good works and he thinks that he can do enough good works to get himself to heaven, he's going to come up with debt. That's it. He'll have nothing but debt because he won't get the grace. Look at verse number five. Here's the other guy. But to him that worketh not. Look, it doesn't say to him that worketh a little. It doesn't say that the guy in verse four worked a lot and this guy worked a little. It says this guy worketh not. He doesn't do works. The guy's a jerk. He's a jerk. He's not helping little old ladies across the street. He's pushing them down. Right? I mean he says he worketh not. I mean that's a strong statement. I mean who does no good works? This guy. But to him that worketh not, but, but believeth on. There's those words. He does no good works, but he believeth on him. Who's him? It's Jesus. That justifieth the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness. So you have the jerk going to heaven and you got the nice guy going to hell. Have a nice day. That's the Bible for you. That's the Bible. I mean, look, in our eyes, we would look at these two guys and be like, you know what? I want to hang out with verse four, not so much verse five. But that's the Bible because it's not a works. Right? It's not about turning from your sin. It's not works plus Jesus. It's Jesus only or nothing. That's it. So look, you got to shut this stuff down that, Oh, if you have the faith, you'll have the works. Look, this guy didn't have it. You know, look, it's good to have good, good works. It's good to have good works. I mean, faith without works is dead. I mean, who wants dead faith? No, here's my faith. It's dead. Who wants that? James chapter two used to be, I used to not even really understand it. Now it's one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. James chapter two is talking about, Hey, hey, saved guy. Don't have dead faith. Your dead faith will profit no one. Your family will go to hell. Your family will never know the truth. It's like your faith will profit no one if it's dead. And faith without works is dead. It doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It's just, it's just useless. It's useless, but it's not tied to salvation. You see? So we have to be careful with the words that we use because the devil twists words to change the gospel and he's good at it. So a pastor that is flippant with his words will end up with a church of people who misunderstand the gospel itself. I mean, can you imagine? Happens all the time. So you say, you say, why do people do it? Why do people do it now? I mean, we're kind of entering into my opinion land here, but I'm going to tell you two reasons that I think that people do it because I think that from the pastor's level you have a, I mean, why in the world would you have a pastor of a Baptist church who had the right gospel for 20 years and then all of a sudden his statement of faith changes into this and, and then that's the way they head. I mean, is that guy like not saved anymore? No, I don't believe that because I believe in eternal security, but I believe that this is why they do it. Let me give you an example because we were talking about this the other night with brother Jim and his wife about the Southern Baptist convention. Okay. Or maybe it was, I don't know who it was, we were talking about this, but the Southern Baptist convention is basically repent of your sins for salvation at this point. Let me read you a statement from their statement of faith. Regeneration or new birth is a work of God's grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. Even when I hear words like that, I'm just like, oh man, here it comes. New creatures, right? It's a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through a conviction of sin to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace. Okay. You're like, all right, gray, gray, gray. Let me just, repentance is genuine turning from sin towards God. There it is. They're saying, look, if you, if you don't turn from your sin, you have not repented. So they basically added that repentance from sin to their statement, which ties into Peter's comment in Acts chapter three, verse 19, and they changed the Bible. They've changed the gospel. So here's what I think. There's two reasons that I see, right? There's two reasons that I see. The first reason that I think that they do this is this one. And it's like, I think it's because they don't want to go soul winning, is the first one. You say, explain. Well, it's a way to attack a soul winning ministry. By, by putting repentance of sin into salvation, it's a way of attacking the soul winning ministry. Who's got a bulletin? Look at your bulletin, 223 salvation so far this year. Where are these people? We had five salvations today. Where are these people? Well, one of them's here. But where are these people? They'll say, you see, because, oh, are they, you know, they'll say, oh, these people aren't really getting saved. Here's the thing. It's a knee jerk reaction to the one, two, three, pray after me people. So you have, you know, the opposite side of the spectrum is the one, two, three, pray after me people, right? These are the people that go out and they're just trying to force prayers down people's throat. I mean, I've seen these people at the state fair. They're just like, hey, what's your name? You want to say a prayer? You know, the magic prayer people, they exist, right? I mean, look, these people are out there. I mean, that's why we put so much emphasis here on a proper, complete and thorough presentation of the gospel. We are not one, two, three, pray after me people here. It is not a magical prayer. We believe that the people out soul winning that we meet and we give the gospel to, they must repent and believe. They must change their mind from what they believed before and believe on Jesus Christ. That's what we believe. And that's why we put so much emphasis. That's why Saturday, Sunday, and then out soul winning, we're spending all this time together. And I don't know, maybe I'm offending you all. And I'm like, hey, we should do it this way. We shouldn't do it this way. And there's all these, I mean, look, there's a lot of technical details involved here. We're like, hey, you know, things like this, we're seeing stuff here like this. Let's knock this stuff down. We got to get back into this part of it because we want to give thorough, complete presentations of the gospel. That's why when you go to conferences and people that don't go to church, they come to it, the gospel. And they're just like, they're just like, I got a sword. They're just hacking people to pieces. It's just, you know, they're just cutting all their own arms off. They don't know what they're doing. But that's why in this church, it's, it's our first work. It's our first goal. That's why we put so much emphasis on it to the point where we'll, I mean, we'll tell you like, hey, don't do this. You may be like, oh man, but we want to do it right. We're taking it seriously. I mean, we're the, we're ambassadors for Christ. We want to do it in a way that is proven, that is tried, that is true. I mean, we're, I mean, so people can repent and believe the gospel. It's, you know, it's not magic prayer time in our church. And it never will be. I mean, we're going to make you, look, we're going to make you, the goal here is to make you the best of the best in presenting the truth to people. That's the bottom line. That's why we go through so much trouble. You know, yesterday, I mean, it's not about the prayer. How many times have you heard that? It's about a proper presentation of the gospel. Yesterday, an example, I gave the gospel to two people and I got to the end and I knew that they were understanding it. And I got to the very end and it was kind of one of these things. I think it was a, maybe a boyfriend and a girlfriend situation. And they were, you know, 20 years old or whatever. And they just, you know, they didn't want to, they didn't want, they're like, yeah, we'll pray on our own. And I'm like, okay, no problem. It's not a magical prayer you have to do in front of me. I'm like, but you get in that house. I mean, I took some liberties because I felt comfortable with him. I'll be like, but you get in that house as soon as possible and you ask God to save you. You tell them, you tell them what you believe now instead of what you believed before and you ask God to save you. I mean, you don't have, you know, a guaranteed next five minutes on planet earth. And you know what? I saw that guy today. I saw him across the street and I yelled at him and I said, hey, I said, hey, did you take care of it? And he said, it's a done deal. Thank you. He said, I mean, what was the word that he used? He said, he said something along the lines where I know he did it. You know, he was serious, you know, and look, it's about repenting and believing. And that's why we're trying to do what we're doing. We're not these, you know, so that's the first thing. I think it's a knee jerk reaction to the one, two, three, pray after me people. And they may even call us that, but they just don't want to go soul winning. That's the main thing. They don't want to go out and do the work that God, you know, wants them to do. But the problem is, you know, look, we would love it if every single person that we gave the gospel to got into church, got baptized, changed their lives and we would love it. That's enough. That's a goal here to make disciples of people that get saved. But look, you could, here's the irony. Even if people did that, even if they got into church and changed their lives and got baptized and just started being soul winners themselves, you could still not say they repented of their sins. I mean, what in the world? I mean, has anyone here reached sinless perfection yet? I mean, please, no one raise your hand. You're not going to get there. There's no list in the Bible of, you know, if repenting of your sins was necessary for salvation, by the way, I mean, we're never going to repent of all of them, right? I mean, I think every single person would agree with that. Even the heretic preaching repent of your sins. Where's the chart of the ones I have to repent of and the ones that I don't? There must be a chart or a spreadsheet or something. Otherwise, how could I ever know? How could I ever know? So you see, look, it's a perversion. It's a perversion. It's a perversion of the gospel. Now the second reason. So the first one is that they just want to denigrate soul winning. Why do you think nobody's going soul winning anymore? It's tied with this. It is tied together with this heresy. The second reason is this. It's a control mechanism. It's a control mechanism, same as the Catholics. It's the same old thing. I mean, you think the devil would come up with something new, but it's the same thing. Look, holding salvation over people's heads. I mean, I've been in a church like this where the pastor's like, you know this and you know, are you really saved? Are you even saved? I don't hear any amens to this sermon. Are you even saved? I don't hear anything. Here's your salvation. I'm holding it right here. Look, here's the thing. I don't control your salvation. No matter what I say, I don't control whether or not you're saved. Look, it's not just a harmless gray zone. If someone genuinely believes, and here's the problem, right, here's the problem. Whatever reason that pastor of 20 or 30 years has changed that statement of faith or changed, you know, what he's allowing being said in his church, whatever reason that is, here's the problem. It may not affect his salvation, but he's going to end up with people in his church that believe that gospel. You're going to end up with a church full of unsaved people. Turn to Galatians chapter 1. I mean, that is not salvation. Works plus faith is not salvation, folks. You know, if you're going to use, you're going to literally change the gospel to muscling people into doing what you want them to do. I mean, that's wicked as hell. Look at Galatians chapter 1. I mean, it's wicked as literal hell. And Galatians chapter 1 says so. Look at verse number 8, Galatians chapter 1. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach... Look, Paul came to the Galatians and he came to them and somebody had just been in there and they had just been teaching like this lordship salvation and this works-based salvation. I mean, he went there and he preached the gospel to these people. He got them saved, you know, and then, you know, he got some of them saved at least. And then, you know, he comes back and the church has just been wrecked. The church has just been run over by these people preaching this works-based salvation. And he comes in, he says, listen, he says, listen to me. He says, even if I come back and start preaching something different, he's like, kick me out of here. He said, even if, although we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. Let him go to hell. Let him be damned. That's strong language. As we said before, so I say, now again, he's going to repeat it. That's how important it is. If any man preach any other gospel unto you, he's like, did you hear me? I'm going to say it again. If any man preach any other gospel unto you other than that you have received, let him be accursed. He says it again. I mean, that's strong language. Somebody comes in here preaching that you have to work to be saved, let him be accursed. Somebody knocks on your door and says that you have to do works to be saved, let him be accursed. It's false. Look, changing your life is a decision just like salvation was. It's the same model. And look, I hate to break it to you, but you have full responsibility in this thing. And now, but here's the thing. Now that you're saved and you're a child of God, God's going to correct you into submission. Right. God's going to correct you, child of God, son of God, daughter of God. He's going to correct you into submission. And so since salvation has nothing to do with what you do, your reaction to salvation is simply a reflection of your character. Does that make sense? Does that make sense? When somebody comes and they give you a free gift, they tell you that you have this free gift available to you, that you've done nothing to deserve it. You know, you deserve to go to hell, every single one of you, including myself. We deserve hell. The fact that we're saved doesn't change the fact that we've sinned against God. We're saved because we believed on Jesus Christ, not because we did anything good. How we react to that, folks, is just a reflection of your character. If somebody comes and helps you with something, they come help you, you know, build something on your house and you're just like, nah, good. Get out of here. I got burgers cooking. You can't have any. Get out of here. It doesn't change. I mean, look, you just have poor character, right? You have poor character. I mean, look, if you get saved and you get in church and you just start like killing it, you start learning the Bible, you start going out, you're like, you know what? I got saved and I didn't deserve it. I'm going to learn how to preach the gospel as the Bible says I should. And I'm going to go make sure other people get this gift. I'm going to get my family saved. I'm going to preach the truth to all these other people because I didn't deserve it. I want everybody to have it. You know what? You have good character. That's what that means. I mean, it has nothing to do with whether or not you're still saved. It just means you have good character. You know, if you just take the gift and you run with it, you have no character. And unfortunately, there's a lot of people with very little character. I mean, that's the crux of it. You know, there's a lot of people that just say, you know what? I got mine. I got mine. I'm good. Keep it for themselves. But you know what? Here's the thing. There is no free ride because that person that takes it and says, I got mine and I'm not doing anything for the Lord and I'm just going to run with it and I'm going to heaven. They are going to heaven, but their children will pay. Their children's children will pay. I've said this before. If you could give me a choice like, hey, either your child will go to hell or you will go to hell, pick one. I mean, I would pick myself every time. Yet these people are like, I got mine. My whole family will suffer in hell because that, I mean, you think if you're just as drunk that you're this saved, drunken drug addict that, you know, when you try to tell somebody the truth, they're going to have anything to do with what you say. No. No. Some free ride. People aren't thinking this one through. That's all I have to say. So look, the point is we need to stay out of these gray zones. We need to stay out of these gray zones because ultimately they lead to heresy. And this heresy, while it may not cost you, if you're flippant with your words and you say stupid things, it's not going to cost you your salvation if you're saved, but it will cost other people their salvation because other people will not learn the truth. You see, I mean, it's serious as they learn a false gospel. That's why Paul was so serious. He wasn't worried about the Galatians that were saved, losing their salvation. He was worried about the people that were coming hearing a false gospel and the other people not getting saved. Look, we just need to follow God's plan. You know, I don't know if you know this about me, but look, I believe in this church thing. I mean, that's why I'm here. I mean, I believe that when you preach the gospel to somebody and look, I mean, I'm still trying to think of ways because I think that everybody, I think there's tons of people that want this. I think there's tons of people. You know, I believe obviously the gospel, but look, I believe that the Bible is life-changing. But here's the thing, you have to let it change you. You know, you have to be a willing participant. You have to let the Bible change your life. You can't just learn it and then just forget it. I mean, just not do it. I mean, it will change everything for you if you just let it. You have free will. Just like you had, you know, the choice to change your mind from what you believed before to the truth, you also have the choice on whether or not you are going to learn the Bible and then let the Bible change your life. We don't have to improve on that. I don't have to make up stuff to try to control you. Look, I don't want to control you. I mean, the Bible will change you. And if I can't, look, if I can't preach the Bible to you and tell you what the Bible says for you and convince you that that will help you and get you to, I mean, I'm in the wrong business here. This thing will change your life if you let it. That's the bottom line. We don't have to add stuff to it. I don't know why these people are doing this. There's heretics, I'm sure, involved. But the people that are saved, they need to draw these lines and build these brick walls and not let this garbage in anymore. Because it's costing people their salvation is the bottom line. So repentance, a good thing. It's a good thing that's been ruined, or it's not been ruined, but it's been twisted into this repent of your sins. And look, repentance just means to change your mind from what you used to believe to believing on Christ. That's it. And it's a beautiful thing. So it's a good thing. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you.