Having written several blog posts concerning salvation, this is likely my last one for a while, since I have other subjects I would like to cover. I would like to say "thank you" to all of you who have e-mailed me regarding my blog. I have received numerous e-mails, some positive, some negative, but I appreciate all of them. Some have been written by those who say they read my blog regularly, and I appreciate that. I will try to keep it up-to-date, writing on a regular basis.
The recent blog posts I have written concerning salvation illustrate, clearly I hope, the simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have stated that there is really only ONE thing for a lost person to do to be saved, and that one thing is BELIEVE. Now, in my last blog post, I examined the tenth chapter of the book of Romans, where Paul tells us to "confess with the mouth," and "believe with the heart." He goes on to say, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." So, yes, it is important to call upon Him to be saved. HOWEVER, any praying you do MUST hinge on believing. Believing is the center of all of it. If you do not believe, you can pray all day long and still be lost. If you believe with all your heart, "confessing with the mouth" won't take all day. It all hinges upon believing. John 3:18 says it this way - "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." It is believing, or putting your trust in, Jesus Christ that frees you from condemnation. Works can't do it; standards can't do it; the law can't do it; only believing can do it.
There are some who claim that believing is not enough for salvation. "You've got to repent," they say. So, what about repentance? First, Jesus said twice in Luke 13 - "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." I have heard many preachers preach repentance as a works-based salvation, and it is preached wrong when it is preached that way.
Let me say first, that repentance is necessary for salvation. You may say, "Wait a minute! I thought believing and confessing was all that was necessary!" I ask the reader, "Just stay with me."
Webster defines "repentance" this way - "A change of mind." Many Holiness preachers who preach repentance speak of repentance as being "a change," but not "a change of mind." I've heard preachers speak of repentance, and say, "There's got to be a change." What change are they talking about? Usually, they are preaching that a person must change their ways to be saved. This is how many of these preachers preach a works-based salvation. When the Bible speaks of repentance, He is not referring to changing one's ways. If you preach repentance as changing one's ways, let me ask you a question. How many ways must a person change before they are saved? What if I told you that a person came to the altar last Sunday, and, as a result, quit smoking instantly? Did they get saved? What if I told you that the same person, even though they quit smoking, still cusses here and there? Did they change enough to be saved? How much changing does one have to do? I know this much for a fact - a person may quit smoking, quit drinking, quit chewing tobacco, quit doing drugs, quit dressing immodestly, quit looking at sinful images on the Internet, start going to church, start paying their tithes, start praying regularly, start reading their Bible regularly...and still be lost! Quitting bad things and starting good things is not the repentance of the Bible! Do you see how, when preachers preach repentance, easy it becomes to preach a works-based salvation?
Repentance is not a "change of works," or "change of ways;" it is a "change of mind." I stated in my previous blog post that, in Romans, Paul said we must "confess with the mouth the Lord Jesus," the key word there being "Lord." This is repentance. To be saved, one must change their mind about Jesus. Rather than any previous thoughts you had about Jesus, when you "repent," your thoughts about Him change, and you make Him LORD of your life. If you do not confess Jesus as Lord, you can quit anything you want; you still have not repented unto salvation.
Let's look at another passage regarding repentance. Hebrews 6:1 - "Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance of dead works..."
Paul, in this passage, is speaking to the Hebrews about "going on to perfection." He describes repentance as being "repentance from dead works." Paul is not speaking here of repenting from bad works necessarily, but dead works. "Dead works" is referring specifically to "works that cannot give life." Good works are "dead works," if I trust in them to give life! In Philippians 3, Paul described his condition before He got converted - "Circumcised the eighth day, a Pharisee, and even BLAMELESS concerning the law!" Wow! You talk about good works, Paul had them! But what did Paul do? In verse 7, Paul said, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ." Those "blameless" works could not give Paul life. He had good works, and was lost as he could be. So, what did he do? He REPENTED of his dead works! He quit trusting in his good works, and trusted Christ to save him! That's the repentance that is necessary for salvation.
Jesus told about two men who went to the temple to pray. One was a religious man, a Pharisee; the other a wicked publican. Luke 18:11, 12 says this - "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess." Now, this man had good works of which he could boast.
The publican, however, prayed differently. Verse 13 says, "And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner." Jesus said in the following verse, "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other." The Pharisee's works were DEAD WORKS - they could not justify. That Pharisee would have been better off had he repented of his dead, good works, and trusted, as the publican did, the mercy of God for his salvation.
"Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." This is not a works-based repentance. It is, rather, a changing of your mind about Christ. It is a repentance that hinges on believing. "Believing" is what brings salvation. The repentance that lost people need to do is this: Quit running from the Lord, and run to Him. Quit doubting Him, and start believing Him. The change that needs to take place is from unbelief to belief. If you will make Jesus Christ Lord of your life today, that is Biblical repentance. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved!"
The recent blog posts I have written concerning salvation illustrate, clearly I hope, the simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have stated that there is really only ONE thing for a lost person to do to be saved, and that one thing is BELIEVE. Now, in my last blog post, I examined the tenth chapter of the book of Romans, where Paul tells us to "confess with the mouth," and "believe with the heart." He goes on to say, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." So, yes, it is important to call upon Him to be saved. HOWEVER, any praying you do MUST hinge on believing. Believing is the center of all of it. If you do not believe, you can pray all day long and still be lost. If you believe with all your heart, "confessing with the mouth" won't take all day. It all hinges upon believing. John 3:18 says it this way - "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." It is believing, or putting your trust in, Jesus Christ that frees you from condemnation. Works can't do it; standards can't do it; the law can't do it; only believing can do it.
There are some who claim that believing is not enough for salvation. "You've got to repent," they say. So, what about repentance? First, Jesus said twice in Luke 13 - "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." I have heard many preachers preach repentance as a works-based salvation, and it is preached wrong when it is preached that way.
Let me say first, that repentance is necessary for salvation. You may say, "Wait a minute! I thought believing and confessing was all that was necessary!" I ask the reader, "Just stay with me."
Webster defines "repentance" this way - "A change of mind." Many Holiness preachers who preach repentance speak of repentance as being "a change," but not "a change of mind." I've heard preachers speak of repentance, and say, "There's got to be a change." What change are they talking about? Usually, they are preaching that a person must change their ways to be saved. This is how many of these preachers preach a works-based salvation. When the Bible speaks of repentance, He is not referring to changing one's ways. If you preach repentance as changing one's ways, let me ask you a question. How many ways must a person change before they are saved? What if I told you that a person came to the altar last Sunday, and, as a result, quit smoking instantly? Did they get saved? What if I told you that the same person, even though they quit smoking, still cusses here and there? Did they change enough to be saved? How much changing does one have to do? I know this much for a fact - a person may quit smoking, quit drinking, quit chewing tobacco, quit doing drugs, quit dressing immodestly, quit looking at sinful images on the Internet, start going to church, start paying their tithes, start praying regularly, start reading their Bible regularly...and still be lost! Quitting bad things and starting good things is not the repentance of the Bible! Do you see how, when preachers preach repentance, easy it becomes to preach a works-based salvation?
Repentance is not a "change of works," or "change of ways;" it is a "change of mind." I stated in my previous blog post that, in Romans, Paul said we must "confess with the mouth the Lord Jesus," the key word there being "Lord." This is repentance. To be saved, one must change their mind about Jesus. Rather than any previous thoughts you had about Jesus, when you "repent," your thoughts about Him change, and you make Him LORD of your life. If you do not confess Jesus as Lord, you can quit anything you want; you still have not repented unto salvation.
Let's look at another passage regarding repentance. Hebrews 6:1 - "Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance of dead works..."
Paul, in this passage, is speaking to the Hebrews about "going on to perfection." He describes repentance as being "repentance from dead works." Paul is not speaking here of repenting from bad works necessarily, but dead works. "Dead works" is referring specifically to "works that cannot give life." Good works are "dead works," if I trust in them to give life! In Philippians 3, Paul described his condition before He got converted - "Circumcised the eighth day, a Pharisee, and even BLAMELESS concerning the law!" Wow! You talk about good works, Paul had them! But what did Paul do? In verse 7, Paul said, "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ." Those "blameless" works could not give Paul life. He had good works, and was lost as he could be. So, what did he do? He REPENTED of his dead works! He quit trusting in his good works, and trusted Christ to save him! That's the repentance that is necessary for salvation.
Jesus told about two men who went to the temple to pray. One was a religious man, a Pharisee; the other a wicked publican. Luke 18:11, 12 says this - "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess." Now, this man had good works of which he could boast.
The publican, however, prayed differently. Verse 13 says, "And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner." Jesus said in the following verse, "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other." The Pharisee's works were DEAD WORKS - they could not justify. That Pharisee would have been better off had he repented of his dead, good works, and trusted, as the publican did, the mercy of God for his salvation.
"Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." This is not a works-based repentance. It is, rather, a changing of your mind about Christ. It is a repentance that hinges on believing. "Believing" is what brings salvation. The repentance that lost people need to do is this: Quit running from the Lord, and run to Him. Quit doubting Him, and start believing Him. The change that needs to take place is from unbelief to belief. If you will make Jesus Christ Lord of your life today, that is Biblical repentance. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved!"
