 All right, so keep your place there in Acts chapter 3. So this evening We're gonna start a new series called good things and good things in the Bible that have unfortunately received Kind of a bad name not because of anything that the Bible has done But because of what we have done to the meanings of words and twisted meanings of doctrines and things like this So this evening what I want to talk about is I want to talk about repentance in the Bible I want to talk about the subject of repentance look down at Acts chapter 3 And well first of all before we get into repentance look at verse 14 and 15 This kind of relates to this is kind of a preamble before we begin the sermon, but I really love Acts 3 14 and 15 it kind of relates to Matthew 27 as we preach through but Peter is preaching the gospel here in Acts chapter 3 and in verse 14 and 15 he says But he denied the holy one and the just and desired a murderer be granted unto you and killed the prince of life So I mean, you know, I mean talk about a slip-up. I mean Peter's not really Minsing words here. He's like basically you desired a murderer to be granted unto you this of course talking about Barabbas and you know instead and you killed the prince of life I mean oops, you know, I mean talk about a mistake But of course, we know that it was fulfilling prophecy that was God's plan and the whole thing But look down at verse number 19 where Peter finally says so he's basically saying you guys, you know, you have it completely wrong is what he's saying I mean they asked for the murderer to be granted unto them and they killed the prince of life I mean talk about, you know, the wrong answer, right? So he's saying then he says in verse number 19 He says repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out So this evening I want to talk about Repentance and talk you about, you know repentance what it means. It's a good thing. It's a good thing that has been Unfortunately kind of tainted today. We're gonna look at why it's been tainted We'll look at, you know, the the meanings that have been twisted out of this word But look, we're gonna talk about many of these different things in the coming weeks and tonight We're gonna talk about repentance. So first of all, let's look at what repentance is in the Bible Of course acts 319 we just read turned to 2nd Peter chapter 3 2nd Peter chapter 3 we're gonna go to a lot of Bible tonight I'll try to give you some time to get to these verses because I really want you to understand Before we actually study what has happened. I want you to understand what the Bible says about repentance I want to get the full meaning of because look repentance is important Okay, repentance is important. So it's not something we can just forget about okay Look at 2nd Peter chapter 3 and verse number 9 The Bible says the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness But is long suffering toward us word not willing that any should perish But that all should come to Repentance so here we see the word again repentance turned to Luke chapter 13 So it's interesting that it's tied to this word perish. Okay, so remember that so basically he says, you know We don't want people to perish, but we want instead for them to come to this Repentance whatever that means we're gonna find out. Okay. Look at Luke 13 and verse number three Luke 13 and verse number three Luke 13 and verse number three the Bible reads, you know So we see that you know notice in in 2nd Peter chapter 3 I'm gonna try to give you a little extra time that that I want you to notice the word perish and the word repentance and their Opposites okay Luke 13 3 you'll see the same thing. I tell you nay, but Except ye repent there it is again. You shall all likewise Parish now turn to John chapter 3 John chapter 3 most of you have John chapter 3 and verse 16 Memorized but turn to John 3 16 a very famous verse in the Bible So here we've seen two verses where the Bible says hey, you don't want to perish Instead you want to repent. Okay, you want to repent so you don't perish So we see that these things it's kind of like proverbs right when you'll get a proverb the Bible will say do this But don't be like this right the Proverbs are constantly, you know Showing you both sides of the coin and look at John 3 16 the Bible says for God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son that whosoever Believeeth in him should not Parish so when the Bible says and we teach this soul winning when the Bible says you should not Parish that means you will never get the second death you will never Experience that spiritual death you will never go to hell is what the Bible is saying So that's why you know it says whosoever do what whosoever go to church whosoever get baptized Whosoever help little ladies across the street. No, it says whosoever believe it It's believeth in Jesus Christ and it says if you do that you will not perish Okay, and then you know the Bible is always very helpful in its definitions. You'll you'll not perish right? But instead you're so okay, so I'm not going to go to hell. What does that mean? But You will have everlasting life Okay, so you won't perish you won't go to hell instead you will have everlasting life Okay, so look it sure sounds to me like repentance is tied to salvation Okay, and it is look at look but here's the problem. Okay now. We're going to look at some Old Testament Verses all right. We now run into a conundrum here Okay, and the Bible says in the Old Testament that there's somebody that did a lot of repenting in The Old Testament turned to Exodus chapter 32 and we don't even have time to look at all the verses in The Bible that talk about repentance in the Old Testament, but turn to Exodus chapter 32 and verse number 14 Exodus 32 and verse number 14 So let's look at and it's very clear who did the most repenting in the Old Testament Like I said, there's there's many many many verses in the Old Testament that talk about repentance and verse 14 of Exodus 32 is where we'll go first and the Bible says and the Lord Repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people turned to Genesis chapter 6 go back One book in your Bible in Genesis chapter 6 And while you're while you're turning to Genesis chapter 6 I'll read for you first Chronicles chapter 21 and verse number 15 where the Bible says and God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it and as he was destroying the Lord beheld and he repented him of the evil This is the Lord Repenting in the Bible the Lord says the Bible says the Lord repented him of the evil now You also need to understand what the word evil means in the Bible the word evil when it comes to God You know repenting of the evil. It means it means hurt. It means harm. It means punishment. Okay, it's not sin Okay, so it's it's God is punishing David here for doing the census in this case for going in and Counting the people and the Bible says that after the angel had punished the people had killed the people says he Repented him of the evil. So the Lord stopped what was happening Okay, and said to the angel that destroyed it is enough He said stay now thine hand and the angel of the Lord stood by the threshing floor of Ornon the Jebi site Look at Genesis chapter 6 and verse number 6 This is talking about you know the Lord, you know right before you know the flood You know, he's decided that he's going to flood the earth and save Noah and his family And the Bible says in Genesis 6 6 it says and it repented the Lord That he had made man on earth and it grieved him at his heart Now of course the best example of repentance in the Old Testament is in Jonah chapter 3 So go ahead and just turn to Jonah chapter 3 So in Jonah chapter 3 we're going to look at verse number 10 So go to Jonah 310, but the back story here is that Jonah was to go and you remember that Jonah He didn't want to go and preach to the people of Nineveh. He didn't like the people of Nineveh He thought that they deserved, you know what they had coming, you know, Nineveh was a violent place That's what the Bible says. That's why Nineveh was going to be judged by God. So God sent Jonah Against his will, but Jonah eventually goes and he sent him to Nineveh to preach that they need to get things right In Nineveh All right, and then Nineveh is such an important example in the Bible for us because it's one of the very few cases In the Bible where they actually listen to the prophet Okay, unfortunately It's there's not that many cases where people in the Bible actually listened to the prophet that God sent Most of the time, you know, it was just people were you know, they killed the prophets. They you know threw them in prison I mean whatever. I mean it was not good But in Jonah 310 Jonah goes and he preaches to the people to turn away from what they were doing and they actually did it They actually did it now look at Jonah 310 and the Bible says that after they did it the Bible says this it says and God Saw their works that they turned from their evil way. This is talking about the people of Nineveh and God Repented of the evil that he had said he would do unto them and he did it not Okay, so there's two things that we need to take away from Jonah 310 now pay attention to me here The two things are what the first one is this turning from your evil way or your sins is A work that you do Okay, because it says God saw their works God saw their works and then he defines it. What were their works that they turned from their evil way that was their works and Then Repentance the Bible that Jonah 310 also teaches us that repent means to change Direction It means to change in this case. It's God deciding Not to destroy Nineveh. I mean it says God repented of the evil God Repented of the judgment that he was going to put on to Nineveh God changed his mind God saw their works He saw their works and he changed his mind from I'm going to destroy the city to I'm not going to destroy the city Okay, so we see that God Repented a lot God repented a lot in the Old Testament especially now did God make bad decisions Did God make bad decisions? Why why is he changing? I mean we understand that it means changing your mind But why does God have to change his mind so much? Have you ever thought about that especially in the Old Testament? I mean Couldn't he find a better plan from the beginning so where he didn't have to change his mind all the time? I mean so I'm going to explain to you why Why it is necessary that God Repents so we see that number one repenting means to change your mind to change your Direction on something it means to turn To turn from one thing To another thing God turned from I'm going to have to destroy these people to he saw their works I'm not going to destroy these people. That's repenting that is repenting God changes mind So why is it necessary? It is by the way Absolutely necessary that God repents you say why You say why because and this is why the the story of Nineveh is so important to us today because here's the thing folks people can choose to do the right thing or People can choose to do the wrong thing Did you know that that even works for you? I mean look it works on the the level of the city of Nineveh and did you know that it works for you as an Individual to do you know that you can choose every single day in your life to do the right thing or do the wrong thing? I mean that choice is yours Because so unless people are a bunch of robots Pre-programmed by God Because we have free will God must be able to repent see Because of that. I mean so we should be look we should be thankful God repents we should be thankful that God has the ability to change his mind We should be thankful that God is not just like no that's what I decided and that's it I mean look that's the story of the Old Testament. I Mean that's the whole Pattern of the Old Testament God sends prophets. Hey get it right get it right get it right get it right Most times God didn't have to repent because they didn't get it right But in the case of Nineveh they got it right, which was a work and God changed his mind he repented Okay, look at Jeremiah chapter 18. I mean just because it rarely happened It doesn't invalidate the concept, you know, that's the nice thing about the story of Nineveh is we see that concept in play We see that you know what that we do have free will and we do have the ability, you know, you know saved Saved people you have the ability to do the right thing or do the wrong thing Look at Jeremiah 18 in verse number eight If that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil, this is the concept right here if that nation against who I because look Nations are judged in this in this life Nations are judged on the earth and you see that over and over and over in the Bible if that nation Against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil. I Will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them There it is. That's the concept Look so repentance repentance It's just a word and it means to change your mind God changed his mind and God. I mean it shows God's mercy Towards us that he does change his mind So the fact that God repents the fact that God Repents and and repents again and again It shows the mercy of God towards us and we see that turning from your evil way is a work Okay, and God saw their works that they turned from their evil way So look let's look now at the difference between repenting and repenting of your sins Okay, because repenting of your sins that statement is something that you hear a lot today Okay, now first of all, let me just say this I did a study on this and with with the with the software tools that we have now and all the different things that we have to Study the Bible. I don't have to flip through the Bible looking for phrases anymore I can just put it in a software tool and search for phrases and the phrase repent of sin Never in the Bible one time the phrase Repenting you're like, oh, it's a different form of the word Repenting of sin not in the Bible one time the form of the word Oh, maybe it was repented Repentant of sin never in the Bible one time Okay, so look you'll notice. I mean you just kept king no direct matches for the keyword exist No direct message for the keywords exist, you know, so look repentance for salvation turn to mark chapter 1 so repentance of sin is Not I mean it's not a phrase that you find in the Bible You'll notice that we we read the New Testament verses. It said repent ye and be converted. It said repent It didn't say repent of sins and be converted. Okay, so look at mark chapter 1 in verse number 4 The Bible says in mark chapter 1 in verse number 4 It says John did baptizing the wilderness and preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins So for the remission of sins means because of the remission of sins Okay, so he's preaching the baptism of Repentance, what does that mean and they were went out to him the land of Judea and all of Jerusalem And they were baptized of him in the river Jordan confessing their sins. We're gonna talk about that one next week Confessing your sins talk about another good thing that has just been ruined By bad theology today But look go back to Acts chapter 3 in verse 19. I Mean so repent repentance. It's in the Bible. It's clearly it is clearly tied to salvation I mean it is clearly tied to not perishing in the Bible It is clearly tied to you know being saved. Well, I mean look what the Bible says in Acts 3 19 repent ye Therefore and be converted that your sins be blotted out. He's talking about being saved Look when you got saved your sins were blotted out. That's it It's a done deal once over Forever, it's eternal. It's everlasting It says you have to repent You know what you have when you know what that means. It means you have to change your mind So when you're out look you must do that You must do that look you have to turn from what you believed before Who's Peter talking to here? He's talking to the Jews What do they believe? They believe in works. It's no different from today They believed that you had to do good things that you had to keep the law that you had to be nice That you had to do all these things you had to do works to be saved and he says you must repent from that you must change your mind from that and Totally trust on Christ. That's it. That's what it means to repent and be converted. I Mean, it's a it's not only a good thing. It's necessary You can rightly say that repentance is necessary for salvation You can rightly say that and we should not be afraid to say that no matter what people do to this word I mean because look you have to change your mind. You can't add you can't add your belief You can be like, oh, I'm gonna believe that too. Oh, okay. Oh, yeah, I believe in Buddha, but I'm okay I'm gonna add Jesus to Buddha. Oh, I'm a Hindu. Oh, okay. I'm gonna add Buddhism I'm just gonna believe everything and Then I'm covered Right. I'm gonna believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and you know clowns and fairies and whatever and I'm gonna add Jesus no To believe on to trust to repent means you change your mind from all that other garbage Which by the way is all the same It's just works. That's it. It's basically turning from I have to save myself To Jesus did it for me. It's very simple. There's two religions in the world There's religions that teach you have to save yourself and then there is what the Bible says That's it. It's not as complicated as You know, it may seem you like there's 50 different churches. They're all teaching they're all they're all teaching the same thing Do this come here give money do whatever do do do do do do do do get yourself to heaven It's all wrong It's all wrong. It's you you must turn from that and believe on Jesus and then it's a done deal That's it. So repentance is Necessary for salvation And look, I mean You could you could rightly also say that sin is a part of that you must believe that your sin condemns you to hell Otherwise, what do you think that you're you're being saved from? I mean, that's why when you go out soul-winning and you find somebody they're like, you know, you start out saying, you know For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and they're like except me You're like, all right. We're done here Right because look people aren't going to get saved if they don't believe that there's anything to be saved from it Just doesn't make any sense Other why I mean, why would you need a savior? Why would you need a savior? But here here's where it goes too far Here's where it goes too far when you start to say that you have to turn from those sins When you have to repent from those sins To be saved It's it's adding works to salvation. It's it's plain and simple. So look I Wouldn't even use the phrase Because it's not in the Bible So I wouldn't even use the phrase, you know, it's not in the Bible I mean, it's possible that so I mean it's possible that someone who uses that phrase You know a pastor or a church or whatever it just you know They're they're trying to say that you need to change your mind about your sin or something or the condition that it puts you in I suppose that's possible But it literally Identifies you with people that preach a false gospel. I Mean, I would stay far away from that phrase if but that's just me because when it's taken too far that You know, even even even with sorrow. Oh, you must be sorry for your sin You must have sorrow for that sin, you know, if you don't have an extreme sorrow for sin You know, you know, but look that leads down roads like doctrines of you'll have so much sorrow for that sin You will turn over a new leaf. You will stop sinning. You will stop doing these things. Look salvation is by faith, but You know, if you're really you have that saving faith You're gonna do those works because you're gonna be sorry for that. Look, it's Lordship salvation. It's fall It's a false gospel And look it's sneaky It's sneaky and you don't catch this stuff up front pretty soon that you're like, oh, I'm in a false gospel now Like how did that happen? You know, but look turn to Romans chapter 4. Here's the problem with Lordship salvation Well, if you're really sorry for your sin, you're gonna just stop doing that sin Otherwise, are you really sorry for that sin? If you're still doing it Do you really feel bad enough for that sin if you're still doing it? But here's the problem with this doctrine. The problem is the Bible The problem is the Bible Look at Romans chapter 4 and verse number 4. This is a super important verse to just crush Lordship salvation to just crush the idea that you are saved by belief and Works together. This is perfect. Look at Romans chapter 4 and verse 4 The Bible says now to him that worketh this guy's doing good works here You got two guys in Romans 4 Here now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace But of debt it says the guy that's doing good works and He thinks that he can do enough good works to get himself to heaven. He's gonna come up with debt That's it. He'll have nothing but debt because he won't get the grace Look at verse number 5. Here's the other guy But to him that worketh not Look, it doesn't say to him that worketh a little It doesn't say that the guy in verse 4 worked a lot and this guy worked a little it says this guy worketh not He doesn't do works. The guy's a jerk He's a jerk. He's not helping little ladies across the street He's pushing them down Right. I mean says he worketh not. I mean, that's a strong statement. I mean who does no good works this guy But to him that worketh not but but Believeeth on there's those words He does no good works, but he believeth on him. Who's him? Jesus That justifies the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness. So you have the jerk Going to heaven and you got the nice guy going to hell Have a nice day That's what that's the Bible for you That's the Bible. I mean look in our eyes We would look at these two guys and be like, you know what? I want to hang out with verse 4 not so much verse 5 But that's the Bible because it's not of works, right? It's not about turning from your sin It's not works plus Jesus. It's Jesus only or nothing. That's it So look you got to shut this stuff down that oh if you have the faith you'll have the works Look, this guy didn't have it. You know, look, it's good to have good good works. It's good to have good works. I mean Faith without works is dead I mean who wants dead faith? No, here's my faith. It's dead Who wants that James chapter 2 used to be I used to not even really understand it now It's one of my favorite chapters in the Bible James chapter 2 is talking about hey, hey saved guy. Don't have dead faith Your dead faith will profit no one Your family will go to hell Your family will never know the truth It's like your faith will profit no one if it's dead and faith without works is dead. It doesn't mean it doesn't exist It's just it's just useless It's useless But it's not tied to salvation. You see So we have to be careful with the words that we use because the devil twists words to change the gospel And he's good at it. So a pastor That is flip it with his words will end up with a church of people who misunderstand the gospel itself I mean, can you imagine? Happens all the time So you say you say why do people do it? Why do people do it now? I mean we're kind of entering into my opinion land here But I'm gonna tell you two reasons that I think that people do it because I think that from the pastors level You have a I mean why in the world would you have a pastor of a Baptist church who had the right gospel for 20 years? And then all of a sudden his statement of faith changes into this and and then that's the way they head I mean is that guy like not saved anymore? No, I don't believe that because I believe in eternal security But I believe that this is why they do it I'm gonna give you an example because we were talking about this the other night With brother Jim and his wife about the southern Baptist convention Okay, or maybe it was I don't know who it was we were talking about this But the southern Baptist convention is basically Repent of your sins for salvation at this point. Let me read you a statement from their statement of faith Regeneration or new birth is a work of God's grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus Even when I hear words like that. I'm just like oh man here it comes New creatures right it's a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through a conviction of sin To which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace. Okay, you're like all right gray gray gray Let me just repentance is genuine turning from sin towards God There it is They're saying look if you if you don't turn from your sin You have not repented so they basically added that repentance from sin to their statement which ties into Peter's comment in Acts chapter 3 verse 19 and they changed the Bible They've changed the gospel So here's what I think there's two reasons that I see right There's two reasons that I see the first reason that I think that they do this is this one and it's like I think It's because they don't want to go soul winning is the first one You say explain well, it's a way to attack a soul winning ministry By by putting repentance of sin into salvation It's a way of attacking the soul winning ministry who's got a bulletin. We'll get your bulletin 223 salvation so far this year. Where are these people? We had five salvation today. Where are these people? Well one of them's here But where are these people they will say you see because oh are the you know, they'll say oh these people aren't really getting saved Here's the thing. It's a knee-jerk reaction To the one two three pray after me people So you have you know the the opposite side of the spectrum is the one two three pray after me people, right? These are the people that go out and they're just trying to force prayers down people's throat I mean I've seen these people to state fair. They're just like hey, what's your name? You want to say prayer? You know the magic prayer people they exist Right. I mean look these people are out there. I mean that's why we put so much emphasis here on a proper complete and thorough presentation of the gospel We are not one two three pray after me people here. It is not a magical prayer We believe that the people out soul winning that we meet and we give the gospel to they must repent and believe They must change their mind from what they believed before and believe on Jesus Christ That's what we believe and that's why we put so much emphasis That's why Saturday Sunday and then out soul winning we're spending all this time together And I don't know maybe I'm offending you all and I'm like hey we should do it this way We shouldn't do it this way and there's all these I mean look there's a lot of technical details involved here We're like hey, you know things like this. We're seeing stuff here like this Let's knock this stuff down We got to get back into this part of it because we want to give thorough complete Presentations of the gospel that's why you when you go to conferences and people that don't go to church They come to it the gospel and they're just like they're just like I got a sword They're just hacking people the pieces. It's just you know, there's cutting all their own arms off They don't know what they're doing But that's why in this church. It's it's our first work. It's our first goal. That's why we put so much emphasis on it To the point where we'll I mean we'll tell you like hey don't do this You may be like oh man But we want to do it right. We're taking it seriously. I mean worthy we're ambassadors for Christ Want to do it in a way that is proven that has tried that is true. I Mean we're I mean So people can repent and believe the gospel It's you know, it's not magic prayer time in our church and it never will be I Mean, we're gonna make you look We're gonna make you the goal here is to make you the best of the best in Presenting the truth to people. That's the bottom line That's why we go through so much trouble You know yesterday, I mean, it's not about the prayer. How many times have you heard that? It's about a proper presentation of the gospel yesterday an example. I gave the gospel to two people and I got to the end and I knew that they were understanding it and I got to the very end And it was kind of one of these things I think it was a maybe a boyfriend and a girlfriend situation and they were you know 20 years old or whatever And they just you know, they didn't want to they didn't want they're like, yeah, we'll pray on our own And I'm like, okay, no problem It's not a magical prayer. You have to do in front of me. I'm like, but you get in that house I mean I took some liberties because I felt comfortable with him I'm like, but you get in that house as soon as possible and you ask God to save you You tell them you tell them what you believe now Instead of what you believe before and you ask God to save you I mean, you don't have you know a guaranteed next five minutes on planet earth And you know what I saw what that guy today. I Saw him across the street and I yelled at him and I said hey I said hey, did you take care of it? And he said it's a done deal Thank you. He said I mean, what was the word that he used he said He said something along the lines where I know we did it, you know, he was serious You know and look It's about repenting and believing and that's why we're trying to do what we're doing We're not these you know, so that's the first thing I think it's a knee-jerk reaction to the one two three pray after me people and they may even call us that But they just don't want to go soul-winning. That's the main thing They don't want to go out and do the work that God, you know wants them to do But the problem is you know look We would love it if every single person that we gave the gospel to got into church got baptized changed their lives And we will love it. That's enough. That's a goal here to make disciples of people to get saved But look you could here's the irony Even if people did that even if they got into church and changed their lives and got baptized and just started being soul-winners themselves You could still not say they repented of their sins. I mean, what in the world? I Mean has anyone here reached sinless perfection yet? I mean please no one raise your hand You're not gonna get there There's no list in the Bible of you know, if repenting of your sins was necessary for salvation by the way I mean, we're never gonna repent of all of them, right? I mean, I think every single person would agree with that Even the heretic preaching repent of your sins Where's the charts of the ones I have to repent of and the ones that I don't there must be a chart or a spreadsheet or something Otherwise, how could I ever know? How could I ever know so you see look it's a it's a perversion It's a perversion It's a perversion of the gospel now the second reason So the first one is that they just want to denigrate soul-winning. Why do you think so nobody's going soul-winning anymore? It's tied with this it is tied together with this heresy the second reason is this it's a control mechanism It's a control mechanism mechanism same as the Catholics It's the same old thing. I mean you think the devil would come up with something new But it's the same thing what? Holding salvation over people's heads. I mean, I've been in a church like this where the pastor's like, you know This and you know, are you really saved? Are you even saved? I don't hear any amends to this sermon. Are you even saved? I don't hear anything Here's your salvation. I'm holding it right here. Look. Here's the thing. I don't control your salvation No matter what I say, I don't control whether or not you're saved Look, it's not just a harmless gray zone if someone genuinely believes and here's the problem, right? Here's the problem whatever reason that pastor of 20 or 30 years has changed that statement of faith or changed You know what he's allowing being said in his church. Whatever reason that is. Here's the problem It may not affect his salvation, but he's gonna end up with people in his church that believe that gospel You're gonna end up with a church full unsaved people Turn to Galatians chapter 1 Galatians chapter 1. I mean that is not salvation works plus faith is not salvation folks You know if you're gonna use you're gonna literally change the gospel to Muscling people into doing what you want them to do. I mean, that's wicked as hell Look at Galatians chapter 1. I mean, it's wicked as literal hell And Galatians chapter 1 says so Look at verse number 8 Galatians chapter 1 But though we or an angel from heaven preach look Paul came to the Galatians And he came to them and somebody had just been in there and they had just been teaching like this Lordship salvation And this works-based salvation. I mean he went there and he preached the gospel of these people He got him saved, you know, and then you know, he got some of them saved at least and then you know He comes back and the church has just been wrecked The church has just been run over by these people preaching this works-based salvation and he comes in he says listen He says listen to me He says though we even if I come back and start preaching something different He's like kick me out of here He said even if although we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel onto you than that Which we have preached unto you. Let him be accursed. Let him go to hell. Let him be damned That's strong language as we said before so I say now again. He's gonna repeat it That's how important it is if any man preach any other gospel under you. He's like, did you hear me? I'm gonna say it again If any man preach any other gospel unto you other than that you have received let him be accursed He says it again That's strong language. Somebody comes in here preaching that you have to work to be saved. Let him be accursed Somebody knocks on your door and says that you have to do works to be saved. Let him be accursed It's false Look changing your life is a decision just like salvation was It's the same model and and look I hate to break it to you But you have full responsibility in this thing And now but here's the thing now that you're saved and you're a child of God God's gonna correct you into submission God's gonna correct you child of God son of God daughter of God He's gonna correct you into submission and so since salvation has nothing to do with what you do your reaction to salvation is Simply a reflection of your character. Does that make sense? Does that make sense when somebody comes and they give you a free gift They tell you that you have this free gift available to you That you've done nothing to deserve it, you know, you deserve to go to hell every single one of you including myself We deserve hell it the fact that we're saved doesn't change the fact that we've sinned against God We're saved because we believed on Jesus Christ Not because we did anything good How we react to that folks is just a reflection of your character If somebody comes and helps you with something they come help you, you know build something on your house And you're just like yeah Good Get out of here. I got burgers cooking. You can't have any get out of here It doesn't change the I mean look you just have poor character Right you have poor character I mean look if you get saved and you get in church and you just start like killing it You start learning the Bible You start going now. You're like, you know what I got saved and I didn't deserve it I'm gonna learn how to preach the gospel as the Bible says I should and I'm gonna go make sure other people get this gift I'm gonna get my family saved I'm gonna preach the truth to all these other people because I didn't deserve it. I want everybody to have it You know what you have good character That's what that means. I mean it has nothing to do with whether or not you're still saved It just means you have good character, you know, if you just take the gift and you run with it You have you have no character and unfortunately, there's a lot of people with very little character. I hate to I mean That that's the crux of it. You know, there's a lot of people that just say you know what I got mine. I Got mine. I'm good Keep it for themselves. But you know what? Here's the thing There is no free ride because that person that Takes it and says I got mine and I'm not doing anything for the Lord and I'm just gonna run with it And I'm going to heaven they are going to heaven But their children will pay Their children's children will pay. I've said this before if you could give me a choice like hey either your child Will go to hell or you will go to hell pick one I mean I would pick myself every time Yeah, these people are like I got mine My whole family will suffer in hell because that I mean you think if you're just as drunk that you're the saved Drunk and drug addict that you know when you try to tell somebody the truth. They're gonna have anything To do with what you say no No, some free ride Right people aren't thinking this one through That's all I have to say so look we need to the point is we need to stay out of these gray zones And we need to stay out of these gray zones because ultimately they lead to heresy and This heresy well It may not look it may not cost you if you're flippant with your words and and you say stupid things It may it's not gonna cost you your salvation if you're saved, but it will cost other people their salvation Because other people will not learn the truth You see I mean it's serious as they learn a false gospel That's why Paul was so serious He wasn't worried about the Galatians that were saved losing their salvation He was worried about the people that were coming hearing a false gospel and the other people not getting saved look we just need to Follow God's plan You know, I don't know if you know this about me, but look I believe look I believe in this church thing I mean I I mean that's why I'm here I mean, I believe that the you know when you preach the gospel to somebody and look I mean, I'm still trying to think of ways because I think that I think that everybody I think there's tons of people that want this I Think there's tons of people, you know, I believe obviously the gospel But look I believe that the Bible is life-changing But here's the thing you have to let it change you You know, you have to be a willing Participant you have to let the Bible change your life You can't just learn it and then just forget it. I mean just not do it I mean, it will change Everything for you if you just let it You have free will just like you had, you know the choice to change your mind From what you believed before to the truth You also have the choice on whether or not You are going to learn the Bible and then let the Bible change your life We don't have to improve on that. I don't have to make up stuff To try to control you. Oh, look, I don't want to control you I mean The Bible will change you and if I can't look if I can't Preach the Bible to you and and tell you what the Bible says for you and convince you that that will help you and get you to I mean, I'm in the wrong business here This thing will change your life if you let it. That's the bottom line Okay, we don't have to add stuff to it. I don't know why these people are doing this. There's there's heretics I'm sure involved, but the people that are saved They need to draw these lines and build these brick walls and not let this garbage in anymore Because it's costing people their salvation is the bottom line So repentance a good thing It's a good thing that's been ruined or it's not been ruined But it's been twisted into this repent of your sins and look Repentance just means to change your mind from what you used to believe to believing on Christ. That's it And it's a beautiful thing. So it's a good thing. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer