What Does it Mean to be Saved
It Means Repenting of Your Sin
Matthew 21:28-32 "But what think ye? a certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said I go, sir: and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto hm, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you."
Repentance from sin, a most essential part of the gospel that Christians believe along with being born again, conviction and confession of sin.. the next message in this series called What Does it Mean to be Saved is repentance from sin. After this will be the message on faith. If you put faith and trust alongside repentance, together those doctrines are the gospel. The most basic and essential gospel doctrines are repentance and faith. Without repentance no one can be saved. Repentance is the most neglected doctrine today.
The parable of Matthew 21:28-32 is about repentance. True repentance is not just talking about it like the second son, not a mere profession, it is an action, a change of direction and there is not a teaching that is more central in the bible than the teaching of repentance. John the Baptist taught it and the Lord Jesus himself, Mark 1:14-15 "Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee,preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel." To preach repentance is to preach the gospel. Repent and believe is the gospel of God. If repentance is missing from any preacher or evangelist's preaching, than that preaching is not the gospel of God, but some other gospel. When our Lord sent out the disciples to preach he commanded that they preach repentance from sin. Peter always preached repentance, Paul preached the same; repentance. Acts 17:29-30 "Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men ever where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." Repentance is the command of God to all men, its a universal command. Repentance cannot be overestimated much less removed from the gospel like the purpose-driven church or the emergent church has done. They do not mention sin so they do not mention repentance from sin because they do not preach the gospel.
What does Repentance mean? There are two Greek verbs. The first one means remorse or regret, not a change of heart. This is used of Judas, he felt remorse but he didn't change his direction, he just felt sorry. The second one means a change of mind or purpose as a result of knowledge. The third word means to turn around, a change of mind, purpose and life. Repentance means to turn around from your sin to God. Turn away from sin. It is a grace of God's spirit whereby the sinner is inwardly humbled and visibly transformed. There is a change inside but there is an outward change too.
What is the extent? What does repentance affect? Mind, emotions and will of a human being, it is a change of mind. Peter on the day of Pentecost called the Jews to change their mind about Jesus. Repentance starts in the mind. From a worldly point of view a smoker can stop smoking only if they determine in their mind that they are going to. They will not stop if they don't want to. Repentance affects the emotions 2 Corin 7:9-10 "Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner....... For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death." The feelings were engaged, they were made sorry. There is a guilt that you feel. It's hard to stop doing something if you are not sorry for doing it. Then the will is involved and that is essential. Repentance is to turn, its not just to sit and think and feel, but it is an active turning. Repentance is an act of the human will. The prodigal son felt sorry for his sin and he turned around and went back home. The mind, emotions and will are all affected by true repentance. The whole person is involved in real repentance and that is why Judas' repentance did not save him, he knew he had sinned, he was sorry and remorseful but he turned further into sin and committed murder of self.
What is the result? Forgiveness. Isaiah 55:7 "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Repentance brings pardon and forgiveness Acts 3:19 "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." Outside of repentance the prophets and apostles knew of no other way that leads to forgiveness.. "except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish." Then the Holy Spirit is given to the person who repents. Acts 2:38 "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." Then heaven is made glad when people repent. Luke 15:7,10 "I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." Joy in heaven. What about you? will you repent even now? because if you do there will be joy in heaven.
How we can repent? You don't decide your own time, your will is not the throne of the universe and this is very necessary to know. You will not choose your own time when you come to God in repentance. Arminian preaching has done so much damage, they say "I will come to God when it suits me, when I am older, later at an appropriate time". That is ignorance.. for anyone who thinks that, you are not the center of the universe. God is not at your beck and call whenever you decide, God is not a pet on your leash. You cannot decide when you will repent with your sin-saturated will because of your own will you would never decide to repent. The bible says you are a slave of sin, your will is not free. The how of repentance is very simple, we don't decide, we cannot in and of ourselves, but repentance is a gift from God. You take repentance when God offers it, you take hold of it with both hands Acts 11:18 "When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God,saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life." 2 Timothy 2:25 "In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;" You can't pump up repentance because it is a gift from God. Esau couldn't find repentance even though he sought it with tears. Acts 5:30-31 "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." Christ gives repentance and forgiveness, humans do not decide, God is the source. If God is offering you repentance take it, now is the accepted day of salvation. If you don't take it when God is offering it, someday you may seek repentance in fear but you may not have it and you will be lost forever. You must understand, change your mind, be sorry, but you must turn from your sin to God. That is how. You cannot over-emphasize repentance as you cannot over-emphasize the gospel.
Why is this word repentance so neglected? Because much of modern evangelicalism is not evangelical but it is apostate. The purpose-driven church and other false teachers don't mention sin and they say "be positive" and don't mention repentance. If you don't mention sin as being the human condition, the barrier to heaven, the cause of our separation from God, then you don't need to talk about repentance because it wouldn't make sense because repentance is turning from sin. "Just trust in Jesus and get help from him for all your problems" It is simply a fact that false teachers who don't mention sin or repentance do not preach the gospel according to the bible. If you don't preach repentance you are defiling the gospel to the point that it is not the gospel but it is another gospel.
Look at the sermons, you can see that the core of the gospel is repent and believe. It is so plain. If the gospel is repent and believe, are you perverting the gospel if you remove repent? of course you are. If you remove half of the gospel you are perverting and twisting it. Galatians 1:6-9 "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you,let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed." Purpose-driven, the alpha course, are accursed, reprobate, they do not preach the gospel of the kingdom because Christ preached the gospel of the kingdom and he said "repent and believe" and if you do not preach repentance you are not preaching my Lord's gospel.
If any do not know Christ, the purpose-driven church movement and the emergent church are a different religion from Christianity. They are not just in error, it is a different gospel, it is not Christ's gospel. The edges cannot be blurred. If you are unsaved, you must repent of your sin. If you don't turn from your sin you are still in your sin and if you are still in your sin you cannot go to heaven because there is no sin allowed in heaven. Repent and believe the gospel.
The notes above were made by myself from the sermon by Rev Paul Dowling of Whiteabbey Congregational (Reformed). Here is the link:
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=6709165225
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