Repent “To” Believe 2B Saved
(We are saved by believing, not repenting; but a sinner
wouldn't believe unless they repented, i.e., changed their mind)
By David J. Stewart | January 2014
| Updated November 2018
Let me give you a wonderful illustration of repentance and belief to be
saved. Let's say that you board a plane in Michigan and fly to Hawaii. While
you're flying toward Hawaii, you're leaving Michigan behind. They are not
two separate activities; but rather, both happen at the same time. They
happen simultaneously. Likewise, salvation is all one deal, that is,
repentance and faith are inseparable and happen together as one act. When
you by faith turn toward Jesus Christ to be forgiven of your sins,
you have turned your back against sin.
We don't repent AND believe (as errantly taught by
the Lordship Salvation crowd); but rather, we repent TO believe. In other words,
the object of repenting (i.e., changing our mind) is to believe the Gospel.
Repentance is not a separate act from believing, where a person decides to
forsake the ungodly world and cease from deliberate sinful bad habits. Such
behavior modification would constitute manmade REFORMATION, which has no part in
God's plan of salvation.
Eternal life is a free gift (Romans 6:23), which
came at a very high cost to God (John 3:16). Some people talk about “cheap
grace.” Oh no my friend, it wasn't cheap, it is free! Grace is completely free
to humanity, because Jesus paid for it with His precious and priceless blood!
Repentance is necessary for salvation, but it simply refers to the work wrought
in a person's soul by God's LAW, which ultimately brings us to Christ to be
saved by GRACE (Galatians 3:24-26). Repentance is the change of mind we
experience as we go from the schoolmaster of LAW to God's saving and wondrous
GRACE!
Repentance is necessary for salvation. No one
ever got saved who didn't repent. No one ever got saved who didn't know that
he was a sinner. No one ever got saved who turned over a new leaf, but
didn't place their trust in the Gospel (i.e., Christ's death, burial and
resurrection). Both the SIN question and the SON question must be dealt
with; that is, repentance and faith. We are the SINNERS and Jesus is the
SAVIOR!!! Repentance is admitting my SINNERSHIP. It is
acknowledging before God that I am as guilty a sinner as He hath declared me
to be in His holy Word. Evangelist John R. Rice (1895-1980) correctly
states...
“Repentance is inseparable
from faith. The Greek word for repentance in the Bible simply means
a
change of mind; that is, a wholesome change of attitude toward sin and
toward God. One who turns his heart to trust in Christ has, naturally,
turned his heart away from the love of sin.”
SOURCE: Dr. Rice, Here
is My Question...; pg. 248, by Dr. John R. Rice, Sword Of The
Lord Publishers; ISBN: 0-87398-158-8
Bravo! Dr. Rice further Biblically states...
“The
change in your heart, sinner, is God's part and you may be sure He will
attend to that. Your part is to simply believe in Him. Whatever else is
necessary in your eternal salvation, the Lord attends to when you trust
in Him, or believe in Him. One who believes in Christ has repented.”
SOURCE:
What Must I DO To Be Saved, by Dr. John R.
Rice
A person doesn't have to clean up their life of
sin to be saved; but rather, God helps them clean up their life AFTER they
are saved. There is such a thing as “growing in grace” (1st Peter 2:2). There
is such a thing as “babes in Christ” and “carnal believers” (1st Corinthians
3:1). SONSHIP is immediate, which happens the very moment that we admit we
are a sinner and believe on the Gospel; however, SANCTIFICATION is a process
and takes a lifetime. DISCIPLESHIP (Luke 14:27) and FELLOWSHIP (1st John
1:6) are not SONSHIP (John 1:12). All God requires of anyone to be His child
is that you and I acknowledge that we have sinned (i.e., breaking God's
commandments), and then place our childlike trust in the redemptive work of Christ.
It is the precious, literal, physical, blood of
Jesus sprinkled upon the Mercy Seat in Heaven that washes our sins away.
...
1st Peter 1:18-19,
“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as
silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot.”
Hebrews 12:24, “And to Jesus the mediator of
the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better
things than that of Abel.”
Hebrews 9:12, “Neither by the blood of goats and
calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us.”
Read the following precious Scripture, which
teaches that Jesus is the Savior of all men, SPECIALLY of them that
believe.
1st Timothy 4:10, “For therefore we both
labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is
the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.”
Jesus is everyone's Savior. The question is
have you received Him as your Savior.
John 1:12, “But as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on his name.”
Let us ponder the words of Jesus, who said in
John 6:37, “...him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” Any
sinner who sincerely wants to be saved, may be saved, if he'll simply come
by way of the cross of Jesus. Jesus didn't say that He would turn
someone away who is covetous or a drunkard; but rather, He promised not to
turn anyone away for any reason!!!
Dr. Oliver B. Greene (1915-1976)
of THE GOSPEL HOUR correctly teaches that BELIEVING is sufficient enough to
save a man:
“I
know there are people who cry long and loud that believing on Jesus is not
sufficient for salvation. It is true that intellectual belief is not
saving faith. There are many who believe that a Man named Jesus lived—but that
is not enough. Many believe that He was a great Teacher, a great Preacher, a
great Healer—but that is not enough. Believing that He died a martyr's death
is not believing unto salvation. James 2:19 tells us that even the demons
believe—and tremble; but demons are not saved. The demons believe in
that they know there is a God—omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. They
know that one day they will be cast into the lake that burns forever with fire
and brimstone.
But I declare on the authority of
God's Word that believing as it is taught in the Word is sufficient to
'born' a sinner into God's family! Believing on Jesus for salvation means
trusting Him wholly, entirely, placing your life and your eternity in His
hands. Believing on Jesus for salvation is resting your case on Him, believing
that He is able and willing to do all that He promised. Nothing less will
bring about the new birth—and if you hope to enter heaven you MUST be born
again. You must be born of the Word and of the Spirit.
If you have not believed on Jesus
unto salvation, I urge you to believe NOW. Receive Him by faith NOW. Take Him
into your heart by faith, and you will pass from death unto life eternal—for
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
SOURCE: Dr. Oliver B. Greene,
“BELIEVE And BE SAVED,” pp. 53-54; ©1970, THE GOSPEL HOUR, INC.)
Repentance And Faith In Acts 20:21
Are Not Separate Events
Acts 20:21
does not teach two separate actions as some preachers errantly
teach. In other words, we don't repent AND believe, we repent TO believe!
“Testifying both to the Jews,
and also to the Greeks,
repentance toward God, and faith toward our
Lord Jesus Christ.”
Here is a quote from Dr. Curtis Hutson, with a
quote which he provides from Dr. John R. Rice (1895-1980)...
In
an article in THE
SWORD OF THE LORD, Dr. John R. Rice said:
“Sometimes the preacher does not himself
fully understand the plan of salvation. He thinks of salvation
as a process. First, there is a period of conviction, then a
period of repentance, then an act of faith.”
He
[Dr. John R.
Rice] went on to explain that when
one trusts Christ as Saviour he also repents.
Dr.
Rice is absolutely right. Faith and repentance are the same; they are
not two separate decisions. One cannot trust Christ as Saviour without
repenting or changing his mind. The very fact that he trusts Christ for
salvation shows that he has changed his mind regarding sin, salvation,
and God.
If one book of the Bible had to be
considered “the salvation book,” it would have to be the Gospel of John.
The Gospel of John is printed and distributed more than any other book
of the Bible. The purpose of this book is given in John 20:31, “But
these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”
According to this verse, the whole purpose of the Gospel of John is that
men might believe that Jesus is the Christ and believing they might have
life through His name. In other words, it is written that men might be
saved. Yet “repent” or “repentance” is not used one single time in the
Gospel of John. On the other hand, "believe" is used more than ninety
times in the twenty-one chapters.
SOURCE:
Repentance:
What Does the Bible Teach?
Curtis Hutson and John R. Rice are 100% in
AGREEMENT on repentance!
“Testifying both to the Jews,
and also to the Greeks,
repentance toward God, and faith toward our
Lord Jesus Christ.”
Acts 20:21
does not teach two separate actions at all! Repentance and faith are
shown as the same thing in this verse. It's called
Granville Sharp's Rule. Any time two
singular Greek nouns appear in a sentence and are connected by the
conjunction “and” (kai Greek) and the definite article “ho” precedes the
first noun, but not the second, they both mean the same person! This means
that the appositive, “our Lord Jesus Christ,” is referring to “God” in the
first clause! Rendering this into the sentence it is then to be read as
follows:
Testifying both to the Jews, and
also to the Greeks, repentance toward God,
(“EVEN”) or (“that is”)
faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Faith and
repentance are the same event according to Greek grammatical
rendering of this verse. If we need to be right about anything in the Bible, it is
SALVATION. It's like buttoning a shirt; that is, if you get the first
button wrong then all the other buttons will be wrong too. If we are wrong
on repentance we will be wrong on everything else. Biblically, we repent TO
believe, we don't repent AND believe.
The ONLY thing that you need to repent of
to be saved is whatever it is that's been keeping you from coming to Christ
to be saved.
Repentance and
faith are as simple as the beautiful illustration I presented to you at the
beginning of this article. You cannot travel toward your destination without
at the same time departing from your origin. Likewise, you cannot turn
toward the Lord in faith without simultaneously turning your back to the
love of sin in your life. In other words, when a person comes to Christ to
be saved, it evidences that there has been some degree of genuine
repentance. Repentance and faith are not two steps to salvation; but rather,
two parts of one step. Salvation is NOT a process, as Dr. John R.
Rice eloquently stated in the earlier quote I shared with you.
Here is one of the best quotes that I've found on
repentance, by Dr. Harry A. Ironside (1876-1951):
“Which comes first, repentance or
faith? In Scripture we read, 'Repent ye, and believe the gospel.' Yet we
find true believers exhorted to 'repent, and do the first works.' So
intimately are the two related that you cannot have one without the other.
The man who believes God repents; the repentant soul puts his trust in the
Lord when the Gospel is revealed to him. Theologians may wrangle over this,
but the fact is, no man repents until the Holy Spirit produces repentance in
his soul through the truth. No man believes the Gospel and rests in it for
his own salvation until he has judged himself as a needy sinner before God.
And this is repentance.” (Except Ye Repent,
p. 16)
Also, Dr. Hal Lindsey has repentance Biblically
correct, who states:
“Repentance, as it relates to
Christ, means to change our minds about Him, who He is and what He's done to
provide forgiveness, and deliverance from our sins. When we place faith in
Jesus as having taken our place personally on the cross and borne the
penalty due our sins, then we're automatically repenting, because we
couldn't accept Him in this way without having to change or minds in some
way concerning Him.” (From the Liberation of the Planet Earth, by Hal
Lindsey. (p. 133).
The Great Meaning Of The Word “METANOIA”!
Mark 1:15 — “Change Your Mind” And Believe The Gospel
In the Gospel
of John we find the words “believe” and “believed” mentioned 85 times, but
the word “repent” is not mentioned even once. Clearly, the person who
believes on Christ has repented, and the person who repents has believed.
Repentance is a change of mind that compels a person to place their faith in
the gospel of Jesus Christ to be saved, and these things happen at the same
time. Let's replace the word “Repent” in Mark 1:15 with the Greek meaning of
repentance, which is “a change of mind.” So instead of saying, “Repent, and
believe the gospel,” we could literally say, “Change your mind and believe
the gospel.” This is the Biblical interpretation of Mark 1:15.
It is a false
understanding to teach Mark 1:15 as turning away from the act of sin (e.g.,
drunkenness, stealing, adultery, et cetera) as a prerequisite to placing
one's faith in Christ. That is known as the heresy of “Lordship Salvation.”
Christ is already the Savior and Lord of all mankind. You don't make Jesus
Lord, He is Lord. Albeit, we each must receive Christ as our Savior to be
saved; and then as our Lord as we follow Christ in fellowship and
discipleship. Contrary to wrong teaching, you don't have to receive Christ
as “Lord” to get saved. It is a false gospel to say that “Jesus is either
Lord of all or He's not Lord at all.” That's a false statement.
King Solomon
was saved, but he was backslidden. 1st Kings 11:4, “For it came to
pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other
gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the
heart of David his father.” It is possible to be saved, but not sold
out for God. We read in John 12:42 that “many” of the Jewish chief rulers
“believed” on Jesus as the Christ, but they were afraid to tell anyone.
Clearly, these rulers DIDN'T honor Christ as the Lord of their life. Verse
43 plainly tells us that these saved rulers loved the praise of men more
than from God. John 12:42, “Nevertheless among the chief rulers also
many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not
confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue. For they loved
the praise of men more than the praise of God.”
What has
happened in our church circles is that many people are sick and tired of
shallow believers who continue in open sinfulness; so they have perverted
the gospel message in an unscriptural attempt to force people to depart from
a lifestyle of sin. Granted, many people who profess to be saved aren't; but
we must never alter or change the gospel to cater to our human agendas, or
to force people to live an upright life. The manner in which a person lives
has absolutely nothing to do with salvation.
Dr. Jack Hyles 100% correctly and Biblically
states concerning repentance...
“Repentance
is not some little silly, 'I'm sorry.' Repentance is not simply a fear of God.
Repentance is not a monk fasting and afflicting his body in a monastery.
Repentance is not remorse because of sin's consequences. Repentance is not
penance performed before the pope as you kiss his toe... Repentance is not being
sorry for what I've done wrong. It is not confessing one's sins to a priest. It
is not just conviction of sin. It is not the signing of a pledge of abstinence.
Repentance is that thing when you come before God and see yourself as you are,
and see Him as he is, and say with Isaiah 'Woe is me, for I am unclean!'”
—Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001),
a quote from the timeless MP3 sermon,
THE GOODNESS OF GOD LEADETH TO REPENTANCE!
Pastor Bob Gray Sr. at the Longview Baptist
Temple church in Texas correctly preaches . . .
“Repentance means to change your mind—change your mind—change your mind
about how you want to get to Heaven to what God says you've got to do to
get to Heaven. If you've got to repent of all your sins, you're still
headed for Hell tonight.” —Pastor Bob Gray Sr., a quote from the awesome MP3 sermon,
Why You Should Be A Part Of A Growing Church
In his excellent book, I NEVER KNEW YOU,
Michael Patrick Bowen states . . .
You can live for
Christ, you can love Christ, you can serve Him with all your might, time,
talent and wealth. You can pray to Him, read your Bible, get
water-baptized, join a church, witness to people, and do every wonderful
work contained within the realm of Christianity, but if you fail to trust
Jesus Christ alone for your salvation, He will “dump” you.
SOURCE:
I
NEVER KNEW YOU
(.pdf), by Michael P. Bowen; by Barbour Books,
© 2009; page 77.
Beware of the false teaching in most churches
today, even many Baptist churches, which says that you have to forsake
sinful living to get saved, commit your life to Christ and surrender fully
to Christ's Lordship. Satan loves to corrupt the gospel by either requiring
good works to be saved, or by subtracting bad works to be saved.
Whether good or bad, both are DEAD WORKS!
(Hebrews 6:1).
Michael Patrick Bowen correctly explains Biblical
repentance...
“Repent, as Christ meant it
to be in terms of salvation, means to change your mind from
trusting in what you can do for God to trusting only in what He
can do for you.”
SOURCE: Michael Patrick Bowen, a quote from
the awesome book, “I NEVER
NEW YOU” (Page 114)
Don't Try To Work Out God's Salvation
Also, notice in
the Bible that we are admonished to “WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION” and not
GOD'S SALVATION. Philippians 2:12, “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have
always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” We have
no part in God's salvation. John 1:12-13, “But as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of
the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Dr. Jack Hyles
does an excellent job explaining this awesome truth in his timeless book, “SALVATION
IS MORE THAN BEING SAVED.”
Christ died,
that's history; Christ died for me, that's salvation. Salvation is as simple
as coming to Christ as a sinner to be saved. It's
easy to be saved. Anyone is saved who receives Christ's sacrifice on the
cross, as full-payment for their sins, believing that Jesus resurrected the
third day in His glorified physical body (Philippians 3:21). JESUS IS RISEN!
We serve a risen Savior!!!
Salvation is a
miracle of God in response to our faith. Salvation is a miraculous, new,
second, spiritual, BIRTH! Salvation is instant, that is, being born-again is
immediate. However, sanctification takes a lifetime. Discipleship is an
ongoing process, so also is fellowship; but Sonship is instant the second
that we believe the gospel, it is irrevocable. We are immediately SAVED BY FAITH
IN THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS CRUCIFIED, BURIED AND RISEN; but living a consecrated life
(discipleship) requires time, until a believer
grows in grace to the point where they are ready to DIE WITH CHRIST, RISE
WITH CHRIST and ASCEND WITH CHRIST. ...
The Saved, Crucified, Resurrected And Ascended Life
(awesome MP3 sermon by Dr.
Jack Hyles
-
Read Article)
So
we see that a person's POSITION (salvation) in Christ is different than
their CONDITION (discipleship) in Christ!
“But I fear,
lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty,
so
your minds should be corrupted from the
simplicity
that is in Christ.”
—2nd Corinthians 11:3
Where
The Burden Rests In Salvation!
John 6:40—The Will of God and Salvation
The One Thing That Determines Salvation
3,000 Converts Baptized In One Day!
(beware of anyone who
criticizes easy-believism and immediate baptism)
“Repent, as Christ meant it
to be in terms of salvation, means to change your mind
from
trusting in what you can do for God to trusting only in what He
can do for you.”
SOURCE: Michael Patrick Bowen, a quote from
the awesome book, “I NEVER
NEW YOU” (Page 114)
Good
Works Or Bad Works, Both Are Works!
Mark 1:15: “...repent
ye, and
believe the gospel.”
It's Not The Shedding Of Jesus' Blood That Saves, But The 'SPRINKLING' Of That
Shed Blood
Ye Must Be Born Again!
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