The Doctrine of Repentance Part One

The Doctrine of Repentance Part One 2020 10 18

Mark 1:14, 15

How often have you heard someone say that, “All you need to do is ask Jesus into your heart?” or “Pray this prayer and you will go to heaven?” It is commonly taught that Jesus loves you and wants to save you and all you need to do to be saved is to ask Him into your heart. That, apparently, is the gospel. But is it? If someone asks someone he doesn’t know named Jesus into his heart, is he saved? That could be a big problem and very confusing in Hispanic communities where Jesus is a common name!

But what DO you have to do to be saved? Before you start thinking I’m some kind of heretic, let’s see what the Word of God says.

Mark 1:14, 15

A couple of weeks ago, we looked at another passage in Acts, and in Acts 17:30, 31, we read, “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world…”

Today we have read the very words of the Living Word, Jesus Christ, who says, “…repent ye, and believe the gospel.”

It’s pretty clear from both these passages that repentance is critical to salvation. You must repent. Vaguely asking someone named Jesus into your heart is not enough. I am convinced that the reason we see so many weak, ineffective churches and so many worldly Christians is because so many simply are not. They have not repented, neither, most likely, have they even heard the gospel.

I First Things First

  1. What IS the gospel? God has given us a very helpful framework in the inspired words of His servant Paul. 1 Corinthians 15:1 – 4 “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” (The chapter continued on from there to show how there were more than 500 eye-witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.)

    1. The gospel that Paul preached came to him directly from the Lord Jesus Christ. “But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Galatians 1:11, 12

      1. Therefore we can be certain that the gospel Paul preached is the true gospel.

  2. Paul did not preach “Jesus loves you and you just need to ask Him into your heart to be saved.” He preached no such thing!

    1. He preached that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. What scriptures? The prophecies about Him in the Old Testament! They go all the way back to Genesis 3:15! They explain what happened to mankind and why we need a Saviour.

      1. If you need to be saved, what do you need to be saved from? That question MUST be answered before a person can possibly be saved!

      2. What is sin? Why is it a problem? Short answer: Sin is anything that does not meet our Creator’s standards. The Bible tells us that all have sinned (Romans 3:23; 5:12) and that the penalty for sin is death (Romans 6:23). That’s serious!

      3. What is death? End of existence? NO! Death is separation from God in the lake of fire forever! (Revelation 20:10, 14, 15)

    2. He preached that Christ was buried and rose again, according to the scriptures. Again, what scriptures? The Old Testament prophecies that go all the way back to Genesis 3:15. That is the first verse in the Bible that promises a Deliverer, someone to save us from our sins.

      1. Then down through the prophecies of the Old Testament God told us in great detail about how our Saviour would come as a human baby so that He could live a perfect life, die a perfect death to pay for our sins and rise victoriously on the third day. All these things happened, proving the gospel to be true.

II Repentance

  1. The gospel is true. The Bible offers irrefutable proof that it is true, no matter what any scoffer might say. While we have tremendous evidence that the Bible is true, they have absolutely none that it is not.

  2. So what must you do? Jesus told us: “Repent and believe the gospel.”

    1. You simply cannot get much clearer than that, but many of us have been branded as heretics for repeating these words of our Saviour, Himself! Missionaries have lost much of their support for teaching that you must repent to be saved!

      1. But Jesus said it. Would they call Him a heretic? Whoa!

    2. A few weeks ago we read in the book of Acts, in chapter 17, that God commands “all men every where to repent.”

      1. Would any man dare to call God a heretic?

  3. It is clear that we must repent AND believe the gospel. If Jesus said it, and God said it, it IS required.

III What Repentance is Not

      1. Repentance is not a change of life. You simply cannot decide to stop sinning. In fact, if God required you to stop sinning before you could be saved, you could not be saved.

        1. Does this mean that repentance is a work? Technically, yes. It requires you to do something.

        2. Does this mean you are saved by repentance? No, it does not. Salvation is not by works. Repentance does not save you, but it is required to be saved!

IV What Repentance is

      1. Repentance is a change of mind toward God that results in a change of life. The word that is translated as “repent” in our passage, “μετανοέω metanoeo,” means,

          1. to change one’s mind, i.e. to repent

          2. to change one’s mind for better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins”

        2. It is turning from the way you were going, which is the way of the world, whose god is the devil, to Jehovah God, who is the author of salvation (Hebrews 5:9)

        3. It turning from believing in yourself to believing in God

        4. It is turning from believing the things you have decided are true to believing what God says is true.

        5. It is turning from trusting anything in this world to trusting God.

        6. Repenting results in you believing the gospel and putting your faith in Jesus Christ as your Saviour, because God says to and you believe God.

        7. If you continue to go in the same direction as you did before you repented, you have not repented, you haven’t believed God and you can’t possibly have been saved.

        8. Again, repentance is not a change of life, but a change or mind toward God. True repentance results in a change of life.

V Salvation

  1. Repentance could be called a work, since it describes an action. The same applies to putting your faith in Jesus Christ. “Putting” is a verb, which implies work.

    1. This is how our Calvinist friends correctly see it, but then they will say that we are teaching salvation by works.

    2. But it is Jesus, Himself, who commands us to repent, and believe the gospel. God commands all men every where to repent.

  2. There are no contradictions in the Bible. Yet the Bible says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8,9

    1. So we see very clearly from this verse that grace is what saves us, not works, and that grace comes through faith. It is not faith that saves us, but the grace of God, which is something that is impossible for us to earn.

    2. Faith is not a work. Faith, itself, is a gift of God. The Bible says that “… God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” Romans 12:3

      1. God pours out His grace that saves upon us when we turn to Him (repent) and put the measure of faith He has given us in Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

Repentance is absolutely necessary for salvation. Jesus said twice, in Luke 13:3 and Luke 13:5, “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” Will a human being deny what God has said? Truly, unless your mind has totally changed toward God from the way you believed before you were saved, you cannot be saved. You must believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to God and you must put all your faith in Him, alone. “I am the way, the truth and the life,” Jesus said, “No man cometh to the Father but by me.” John 14:6