[0:00] Let's see here. 46, Luke 24, 46.
[0:16] Jesus is getting ready to end it all. He's already been resurrected. He's talking to the disciples to give them the Great Commission. He says, He led them out as far as to Bethany.
[0:59] One morning he went to Bethany. That's where Lazarus and his sister, where Jesus resorted quite often from Jerusalem, only a couple miles away, on the side of an hour log.
[1:14] I think he wanted to just see that place one more time. Lifted up his hands and blessed them. In fact, while he blessed them, he departed from them, carried up into heaven.
[1:26] They worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. They were in the temple, praising and blessing God. It was written, and thus he behooved, Christ is supper and rise from the dead of the third day.
[1:41] And that repentance and remission of sins is as we'll be preached in his name among all nations, beginning of Jerusalem.
[1:52] Seems pretty simple. What we need to tell people, we want to get saved. Now this morning I talked about you getting your loved ones saved.
[2:07] I hope some of you made some vows down here in the office that you'll do that. I hope we'll see somebody in heaven, several somebody in heaven, and you made a vow to do all you can in the middle.
[2:18] Let's go a little further tonight and talk about this subject that we haven't talked about in years now, called repentance. I've got a man that says, Satan is the master of adversary.
[2:34] He's busy in these days on all fronts, destroying the home and the sacredness of marriage, undermining the educational system, with evolution, turning the government against the church, and against God himself, corrupting society and music, dress or undress, language, entertainment, drugs, alcohol, and the other ways.
[3:09] But perhaps his most subtle and yet successful tactic has been to corrupt the saving gospel of Jesus Christ. You've got to believe in the devil when you can go to most church people and ask them how to get to heaven, but you can't tell them.
[3:28] You've got to believe in the devil. Or you get all kinds of ideas. Most of them centered around what I can do to get me to heaven. If he's done a job, he's done a job in this area.
[3:41] Even though old-fashioned Bible-believing and fundamental churches today have stumbled, the old-timers never believed that Baptists would fight over biblical inerrancy.
[4:00] Southern Baptists had a war on that from years ago. Whether the Bible was inerrant or not, God, I've got a book. It's hard reading. It's technical. It's a...
[4:11] There are a thousand footnotes that they were paid to. He's going back and quoting everybody in America. It's about the King James Bible. But I have enjoyed finding out that King James only is an old doctrine.
[4:26] Come on. Way back there, just after it came out, people were saying, this is the word of God in English. And it is inerrant and sound.
[4:37] And they had fights over there. I thought it was a pretty new thing. But I've learned that people believe that way back in the beginning. They said there's something different about this one.
[4:50] It's not like the other English translation. There's a spirit in it. There's something... something holy and sacred. And there were people back then that even said, I'd rather have this than the Greek or Hebrew.
[5:06] In fact, many people said, this is better than the Greek people. They were really... they were really on fire even way back in the 1700s.
[5:19] today, we fight over whether it's an error or not. Let me tell you something, friends. The Bible, you have to go out there.
[5:31] Unless it says, then I'll be your ex to thee or whatever. You can trust that Bible. Amen. Amen. Some of the old sages said it's that if God spoke English and gave us His word directly.
[5:54] You can trust it. And the foundational doctrine of repentance has come under fire. Become a divisive issue between the old fashions and the new fashions.
[6:09] Here we are. Preaching repentance nowadays puts you on camp. Some people don't preach it anymore. Some preachers say that repentance is not for the law but it's only for the day.
[6:24] Ridiculous. Some preachers say they never use the word repent when they're speaking to a law man. Now, I don't want to speculate but you can probably get more numbers if you don't.
[6:38] Oh, yeah. Yeah. John the Baptist preaching. First, first sermon out of his mouth will repent and keep the battle.
[6:50] Jesus comes along first sermon out of his mouth will repent and keep the battle. That's strange that we more don't people more than they did. Says Mark 6, 12 that he sent the 12 out they went out and preached that men should repent.
[7:08] The 12 that includes John whose book does not include the word repent. We're not talking about that at the moment.
[7:20] Now, Paul comes along the greatest preacher of that day maybe. Acts 17, 30 God commands on me and every word repent. Peter equally as important as Paul in the early days probably said in 2 Peter 3, 9 God's not willing to perish but that all should come to repentance.
[7:42] Jesus even put it succinctly in Luke 13, 5, 3 except you repent and you shall all likewise perish. That's Jesus talking.
[7:53] Can you imagine me saying I will never use the word repent repent so he can go and God's name can any preacher decide never use the word repentance when you're so winning.
[8:09] Well, I just want to revisit this subject of repentance and I want you when you witness your love love us really get saved. We used to have a lot of missionaries and the only people that we've dropped have been these people.
[8:26] We don't drop missionaries. Sometimes they quit. But there's a group of them that have gone out in recent years from certain places and they well, I read one in the last week.
[8:46] Some of them still send me their letters and I just look at them. We've supported this guy for a while. He's giving his number for last year I think it's $6,800 something today.
[8:59] in his ministry and a little bit farther down they say they had 65 baptisms. Now, a lot of those baptisms people have insurance or kids who go up and get saved.
[9:15] And I thank God for every one of them. But folks, it bothers me that people, preachers with a Bible in their hand will look at a man after he's prayed a prayer and say you're saved and you don't want to wait at him.
[9:31] That bothers me. That's giving false hope and I can't support that. I cannot support that. If somebody somewhere just had the idea of independence we wouldn't have this mess going on like that.
[9:50] Notice in your Bible they dealt with people one-on-one. these missionaries in any of these foreign countries have the opportunity to go to public school which we did.
[10:04] I remember one some few months ago said he had 1500 kids in a gymnasium in a public school and as far as he could tell all of them got saved.
[10:18] And he let the cat out of the bags that I went to. He said when I asked them how many of you would like to go to heaven every hand went up.
[10:28] and when I prayed the prayer and asked them to pray silently after me and asked them if they did every hand went up.
[10:44] And he reported back to his group about 1500 saved that one place. The leader of that organization some years ago was asked where are all your converts?
[10:59] I mean here's a soul-winning group that says this person won 600 this month and this one won 800 and here's a prize for this one 900 and one month. Where are all these people?
[11:13] And this leader a very renowned leader who I diminish to respect he said we had rather than serve one out of twenty than one out of two like you do.
[11:28] focus. He is giving them license to go out and get as many people to say a prayer as they can possibly hoping that few of them are sincere.
[11:42] I cannot go along with that. I think that's dangerous. That kind of soul wouldn't completely loose is the idea of repentance tonight.
[11:56] It bothers me, bothers me, bothers me. We got together some few years ago and decided to feel from our road that we're doing that.
[12:07] I hated to do it but I just cannot support that kind of soul to me. What is repentance? Let's just go over a little bit tonight again before you're on the memory.
[12:23] The word that translated repent means to change your mind. But it means a whole lot more than that biblically. Just like the word baptism in the Greek means to stick under the water.
[12:34] You can take a cup and rinse it under the water and you baptize it. But biblically it means a lot more than that. The word church means an assembly of people.
[12:48] Be a mob or a bunch of gangsters. But biblically church means more than that and God has taken common words and given them uncommon opinions.
[13:00] And so he's done that with repentance which makes a change of my life. So a change of mind about God self, sin, Jesus having held. A change of mind that inevitably leads to a change of attitude.
[13:15] A change of direction, a change of life, a turning around. And inherently that word is a turning around. And it always means repentance from sin.
[13:29] That organization that I mentioned with that red down here came up with the idea many years ago that to get saved you only have to repent of your unbelief.
[13:44] And you change your mind from unbelief to belief. And he taught that in worldly books. Repent means to change your mind about belief and about unbelief.
[13:59] belief. And yet every place the Bible gives this word is talking about what can you stand. That bothers me.
[14:09] That worries me. That good men can be so wrong. And it goes down through the organization and reaches out with fingers all over. And these people are out there in the countries, far and near.
[14:24] they don't have to worry about repentance if they can get a person to change from unbelief to belief. And again pray prayer and he's saved. That's a very harmful teaching out there.
[14:38] Give you some verses here in the Bible, Ezekiel 18 30. Repent and turn yourselves from all your transgressions so iniquity shall not be your moving.
[14:49] Now what's repenting? Talk about there. From all your transgressions and sin. Ezekiel 14 6. Repent and turn yourself from your idols and turn away from your faces from all of your abominations.
[15:04] Isaiah 55 7. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord. He will have mercy upon him and to our God he will abundantly part.
[15:17] That's a great verse. But he has to forsake his way and his unrighteousness. that's what he's repenting of. Acts 3 19 Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out.
[15:33] You repent of sin not unbelief. 1 Thessalonians 1 9 and you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God that does not use the word repent but it gives the idea turning from your sin and turning to God.
[15:50] 2 Thessalonians 12 21 they have not repented of uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed. Revelation 9 21 neither repented they of their murders nor of their sorcery nor of their fornication nor of their thefts.
[16:07] Those are sins that they didn't repent of. Many more verses of course I could give you but you see that repentance is not just changing from unbelief. that is the seed that started much of this nonsense that we perpetrated on people far and near who are not told that they have to repent of their sins before they can be saved.
[16:38] I've got some quotes here from some of the great men past or a tories that this repentance of sin is such a sorrow for sin or a abhorrence of sin such a change of mind about it as leads the sinner to turn away from it with all his heart.
[16:58] Torrey is one of the greats. Spurgeon you know Spurgeon is the greatest bad he's preached ever is. I've got several quotes of his. Repentance is a heart broken for sin and from sin.
[17:10] It is a change of mind of the most thorough and radical sort. It is attended by sorrow for the past and a resolve of amendment in the future.
[17:23] John Rice said repentance is to have a change of mind toward God and sin. In order to win a soul then we must teach people to turn their hearts from their sins in repentance and turn to Jesus Christ and trust him for forgiveness and salvation.
[17:41] Moody said a man is not prepared to believe or receive the gospel until he's ready to repent of his sin. Moody was an old, he was like me he was just a commoner, never was ordained, taught himself how to speak good English.
[18:01] Just corn fed man. He always puts it right down on the bottom shelf. A man is not prepared to believe or receive until he's repent of sin. he's right.
[18:14] Spurgeon again, if a man does not live differently from what he did before, listen to this now, if a man does not live differently from what he did before, both at home and abroad, his repentance needs to be repented of, and his conversion is a fiction.
[18:31] Wow. I want to believe that. I believe that the Holy Spirit believes exactly going to be different. now you think about that.
[18:42] We don't have preaching like that before. We've got all kinds of people that show up once a month and live like the devil the rest of the time in one degree or another.
[18:58] Spurgeon will look them in the eye and say pure salvation is a fiction because it didn't change you. It changed me. What about you?
[19:09] Here you sit instead of on the bar stool or worse. I don't know why I like that. I think it's time somebody says something like that.
[19:22] Here's one conversion. Together with undivided faith in Jesus Christ there must be also an unfailing repentance of sin. Christ and we will never be one until we and our sin or two that we put it in.
[19:42] And another corn fed preacher was saying you don't know much about him I wish we knew more about him. Here's what he said also on the bottom shelf.
[19:56] Repentance is this I'm sorry for my sin and I won't do it anymore. you notice that all that that repented from sin did not repented from unbelief.
[20:10] Did you notice that? Well see where I am down all this stuff. I've got two and a half hours worth to spend.
[20:22] But in a little fact Acts 3 19 Repent you therefore be converted that your sins may be blotted out.
[20:37] Here's the illustration for you. If repenting from unbelief is what repentance means. Here's a man that wishes to marry a sweetheart.
[20:51] He said I am changing my mind about marriage. I no longer want to be unmarried. I now want to be married.
[21:02] She said praise the boy. He said however it's okay if I keep a couple of my old girlfriends on the side. After all I've changed my mind that I cannot be married to be married.
[21:20] No different story. Well what about faith then?
[21:32] Repentance and faith. Many verses mention only faith. They don't mention repentance. I've explained that. Many other verses mention only repentance.
[21:43] For instance I mentioned Luke 13 3 and 5 unless you repent you'll all lack by perish. It didn't say except you repent and believe it's all lack of sin. Sometimes the verse mentions one or the other.
[21:57] Sometimes it mentions both. somebody said that two sides of the same coin. You can't have one without the other.
[22:08] Somebody hits you a quarter you have to have to take a boat to it. you can't believe in Bible sins without repentance. That's the promise. You go out here and tell people just believe in Christ.
[22:22] He's not really doing that unless repentance is part of it. Then he corral actually say it like this. They are the two eggs of a pair of sinners. Neither one works without doing it.
[22:36] Here are verses that mention both of together. Acts 20 21 testifying both the Jews and also the Greeks repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
[22:50] They must be doing everything shouldn't they? Hebrews 6 1 Not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and the faith toward God.
[23:03] Mark 1 15 The kingdom of God is in the God repentance and believing are faith the same thing. Now then, I'm moving fast, man, this is phase 4.
[23:17] Why does John's gospel not mention repentance? This is the crux of the whole matter.
[23:30] You get on somebody about not ever talking about repentance and just say, believe what you believe, say a prayer, trust Christ, never mention sin, and they'll tell you, John didn't mention repentance either.
[23:45] It's not in his book. And that gives them their justice case. Let's talk about that just a little time.
[23:56] Do you believe in hell? Who believes in hell? Even though John didn't mention hell, who did hell? How many believe in justification, justify, any of those words?
[24:10] John didn't mention that either. How many believe in redemption, being redeemed, it's all great Bible Bible, John didn't mention that. this is going to grow your mind.
[24:25] You will not find the word faith in the word of God. There's a lot of things that he didn't mention.
[24:37] There's a lot of things that a lot of books didn't mention. You put them all together to get the total doctrine. You can't say, well, John didn't mention his balance.
[24:50] John's purpose is stated in his book, John 20 and 31 to show that Jesus is the Messiah. John's gospel is different from all the others.
[25:04] The others are called synoptic gospel. They were that means similar. Mark, Matthew, and Luke ministered there. Sometimes the same word. Talks about the same things.
[25:17] John comes along maybe years later. These guys were probably written 20 to 30 years after Jesus' resurrection.
[25:37] John was written 60, 70 years ago. Completely different. It doesn't match the others. It doesn't discuss the same things.
[25:50] It's totally synoptic gospel. It's different. It has a different purpose. By that time, they didn't teach that Jesus really was the Christ.
[26:03] He really was the Messiah. Now, in John's gospel, you'll notice carefully, the people that got saved were seeking.
[26:16] For the most people. John's gospel seems to be written. I don't know how many people I've told.
[26:27] When you start reading the Bible, read John's book. It's a sentence. John wrote the simplest grief you can have. When I still studied grief, he said that he hit you, hit you.
[26:39] But, John, we're going to start at that that's the simplest grief. It says, you know, see, spot, woman. Body, chases, bitch, stick.
[26:51] I mean, it's really simple. Grief. When you get over into Paul's stuff, your hair starts curving. John's different.
[27:06] So, I always tell people reading from John. Now, Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. And Jesus said, except the man be born again, God so loved the world, he was going to God's son, he said believe in him.
[27:25] There seems to be this idea that nobody, hey, listen here, nobody comes seeking Jesus unless the Holy Spirit is drawing in him. Is that right? You do.
[27:38] Not one of you came looking for him. So, the seeker has already been convicted and drawn. Now, you find somebody like that in your church, wherever you want to go, if he comes to you and he's all worried, he's got to get saved, and please help me, Jesus or something.
[27:58] God's already worked on him. You probably don't have to deal much with repentance with him. Or a little child comes to you. You don't have to deal much with repentance with him.
[28:11] Just tell him how to trust Jesus, right? Already repent or he wouldn't be here. All right. Now, somebody said, well, John tells us about Jesus' disciple.
[28:24] Andrew found his brother Peter, and Peter went around and Andrew brought him to Jesus. What did I say the purpose of John? To point out Jesus as a Messiah.
[28:37] That's not when Peter got saved. He brought him to Jesus as a Messiah. We like to say that, and there are Andrew clubs everywhere.
[28:49] Soul winning clubs. Let me ask you a question. I should have put this thing on my part. Go ahead, sir. Let me use this. I want to ask you a question.
[29:11] How many of you know John the Baptist? How many of you walking up Richard did? How many of you know that all of the disciples were disciples of John before they were disciples of Jesus?
[29:25] That John came to prepare the materials for the church and he was glad to say behold the name of God. He was glad that his converts became the twelve apostles. Can you imagine those twelve guys here preaching what John did?
[29:41] Oh, you rebels, you generation of vipers, bring me some fruit of repentance. I'm not going to baptize you either. That's who they got saved under.
[29:55] Don't tell me they didn't repent. He never baptized. And the Bible says that he baptized all of them. In John you find that him coming to them and calling them into the service.
[30:09] They're already saved under John. Don't use Andrew to be here as an excuse for easy believing. God already will say for goodness sake woman at the well did not come to seek him.
[30:30] So Jesus had to deal with her story. It doesn't say repent there. That's in the book of John. It's in John chapter four.
[30:41] But he told her about himself as the living water and got her all thirsty for it. And she said, sir, give me this water.
[30:53] He said, well, just pray this prayer after me. That's what the martyr told her to say. What did he say?
[31:05] Go get your husband. She ducked her head and said, I don't have her. He said, you're right, you have five. You're living with a guy you're not even married to.
[31:19] He dealt with her sin. You see that clearly? He made her face her sin before he left her praying prayer.
[31:34] That's the way you win souls. You got to make them face their sin. Somebody said, you don't get a loss from himself. Brother, I'll tell you what, you knock on the door and say, I'm Chad Winter from Boutland Church.
[31:55] You have a moment I got questions to ask. What am I getting sold? You're not a seeker are you? I'd like to ask you a question to everybody. You got to heaven.
[32:06] Oh, you know, who can know that? Chad would say, if I could show you how, wouldn't you do it?
[32:17] Well, yeah, he would. well, man, Jesus died for you. He loves you. God has a only habit if you distrust him, son.
[32:29] You know, Jesus died on the cross, that's your protection. He paid for us on the cross. He paid for your sins on the cross. All you have to do is just ask him into your heart.
[32:41] He'll save you, right? Really? Wow. That's easy. You want me to help you pray?
[32:51] I can work for you. Yeah. Bow your head. Be happy. Now, he might say, don't say that you don't mean.
[33:04] Dear Lord, this man tells me that you love me. Die for me. If I just trust you, ask me in my heart, you save me and I get to do it that way.
[33:17] So right now, I'm trusting you and asking you to save me. And the woman is the lady of man who's repeating all that. And then you say amen.
[33:28] And you say, who did you pray to? And she said, what to God? Well, the Bible says, you call him in the name of the Lord, you're saved. It's right here. Who did you call him?
[33:40] I call him the Lord. Then lady, you're saved. Now, it don't make any difference if she spent half her time down the boat. Yeah, anyway, it doesn't even make any difference if she was prostituted on the side.
[33:55] Because you didn't bring that up. It doesn't make any difference to anything that she's doing. Because you don't have to repent to get saved. All you got to do is just trust Jesus. And so you tell her she's saved, you leave, and you say, got one!
[34:12] She's saved. How many things did she save? Jesus said, except to repent of all the night and the night of the year. We had one of these fellows, we supported him for a while, came here.
[34:28] What I told him when I knew, came back with 12 to 15 call hours. And he said, I've got all these people saved. followed up. I personally followed up on at least half of them.
[34:42] Don, did you have a few of cars? I didn't find one person that he would spit on me. Scram the door. Not one out of that old group of prospects even wanted to talk to you.
[34:58] I don't even know how he got them to say a prayer. But I know one thing. After they got rid of that guy they didn't want anybody else coming around to his church. They were hostile to his people.
[35:12] Now, he went home and he wrote in his report he got 50 people saved on and he said, what's his name? And if you got him, how many did you get saved from you?
[35:23] I think that's painful. I don't think you're supposed to do that.
[35:40] I don't believe that. That's not the way they did it in the Bible. That's departing from the Bible. They found somebody who really wanted it.
[35:51] And they went to all lengths to get somebody to it. Like the unit out in the desert. The Mormon at the well. Jesus said, I gotta go through some here. God dealt with individuals.
[36:05] One on one. That's the problem we have today. When you make your loved ones, you make them deal with their sins.
[36:18] You say, now, you know you're a sinner, don't you? Can you name some of them? Would you tell me some of your sins? You don't have to tell me all of them because you're a sinner.
[36:29] I want to hear you tell me that you're saying how you know that in your heart you gotta turn from that place before God saved you.
[36:42] Now, you don't have to change your life to get saved. You have to change your attitude toward it. God to get rid of that stuff out of your life.
[36:56] But right now, if you want to get saved, you have to turn your heart away. That's repentance. And most everybody you'll be talking to need repentance. Be sure you deal much on that part.
[37:11] Now, Jesus, let you get saved, let's just go get your husband and see if he wants to serve. She said, I don't have a husband. That's right. You got five. Made her admit it.
[37:24] Deal with their sins. Well, there are other cases in the Bible where it seems that John is talking about repentance even if it doesn't say repentance.
[37:43] I think he's talking about repentance with the woman as well. Don't you? Just didn't say repentance. I think he saw about repentance when Nicodemus just didn't say repentance. I think the man 38 years seeking help at Bethesda I think he dealt with repentance because he said go and sin go more that's the worst thing come on you can see that obviously talk about sin before it chapter 7 of John baby man first let him come to me and drink you have to be thirsty otherwise I'm going to make you deal with your sins if you're thirsty you already helped with your sins and all you have to trust me me time you there and so john didn't state it every time but when everybody heard to believe they knew so there are reasons that john does not mention here's another reason from chapter 11 and just a little bit of chapter 12 all the way to the end which is over half of the book jesus is with his own disciples or else enduring the crucifixion and not teaching the gospel so over half the book's not even talking about the gospel it wouldn't be talking about repentance a lot of reasons that the book john doesn't doesn't mention here are ways that repentance is inferred if not stated make straight the way of the lord he said turn from darkness to light that's repentance chapter 3 verse 19 he that believes on the son that's right he does not wrath the god about his own why is the wrath of god about him sin no more that's the worst thing come from you i mentioned in chapter 5 5 40 you will not come to me that you might have life coming to me is a sign of leaving your sin no man can come to me except you were giving him my father that's repentance that's turning from your sin and coming to me that's john 6 65 and you know what 6 66 said from that time many walked away from you didn't walk with they didn't want to repent the reason they went away from it yeah it's implied all the way in here woman taken in adultery in chapter 8 he told her go and sin no more he dealt with his hand before it said don't repent anymore that's repentance from sin
[40:31] Pharisees chapter 8 you shall die in your sins you have repented your sins he said that twice you're your father you're you're from beneath your father the devil you're going to die in your sins because you won't give them up it's all through here like that you see he said you're my disciples indeed if you continue in my words you might get out of your sin and continue with me over and over and over and then in revelation the same john you repent for all what are you going to do if you get a chance to win your brother or sister uncle man you're going to say now very easy you believe in god don't you yeah and if jesus died don't you sure what it says is if you believe that you're saved you need to pray a prayer and i'll get you don't watch don't watch don't take a person out here in the world involved in those what and offer them salvation without making them face their sin except you repent you're not going to be that is tremendously important now then matthew 21 13 is a great verse it says you believe him not but the publicans and harlots believed him and he when you had sinned back repented not that he might believe him repented not that you might believe turning from sin as a final note does not mean you meaning to get a victory it's a turning in the heart just like coming to him is in the heart you know what i mean when i say in the heart kind of like sam john said the guilt is in the heart when your heart turns from his sin and is willing in that in that conference they had a day several years ago over and over and over it was stated you must be willing to be changed you cannot change yourself you can't overcome all that junk in your mind but god can help you you must be willing for him to change it you've got to want to change it you've got to want to get out of that you've got to be tired of that it's in your heart that you repent and then later on he will give you victory over it as he thinking that his heart is so easy and your repentance is in your heart otherwise it's the work of the flesh trying to get right so you can get saved that's not that's not it at all complete complete victory however for the return to save is desired and will eventually come to completion if you're faithful and committed any questions amen