 the joy over one sinner that repents. I have argued several times throughout this series now that nowhere does the Bible teach repent of your sins to be saved for eternal life. And in the previous video we looked at Luke chapter 5 where Jesus comes to call sinners to repentance and he was defending himself to the Pharisees as to why he was banqueting with publicans and sinners. In Luke chapter 15 we have another example of Jesus defending himself to the Pharisees for dining with publicans and sinners. When we explored Luke 5 we saw that Jesus was doing the calling, he was doing the action that resulted in sinners converted onto repentance. However in Luke 15 we actually have a mixture of Jesus doing the action and the sinners themselves doing the action across various parables. So in verse 7 it says that there shall be joy in heaven over one sinner that repents more than over 99 just persons which need no repentance. Likewise also in verse 10 it says there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents. Out of all the verses in the Bible these two are arguably the closest thing that you're gonna find to the idea of repenting of sins for salvation. Something that was supposed to do for everlasting life. So people will cite this verse and say see there it is it says it right there repent of your sins. Now normally based on previous videos I've done this is the part where I would point out to people that it doesn't actually say office sins but then people would point out the noun and say that this sets the context of repentance which is true. So we do see in context that sinners need to repent this is not telling righteous people to repent this is not telling unbelievers to repent this is not telling pagans to repent this is not telling Jews to repent this is not telling Gentiles to repent this is not telling grace haters or legalistic worktrusters to repent this is not telling lordshipers to repent it is telling sinners to repent. First let's consider for a moment what is a sinner well the answer is obvious a sinner is somebody who sins just like a liar is somebody who lies and an adulterer is somebody who commits adultery. 1 Corinthians 6 tells us the outcome of being the type of person who does these things it says in 1 Corinthians 6 in verses 9 and 10 that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkers nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. So people will say well see there it is we have this list of sins in 1 Corinthians 6 and if you do these things you won't inherit the kingdom of God or in other words you won't have everlasting life sorry but it's not checkmate yet because this same passage from Corinthians also tells us what the remedy is for sinners to become converted. Paul goes on to say that such were some of you but so you were sinners you were fornicators you were adulterers you were drunkards you were murderers but how were you converted from being these things you are washed you are sanctified you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God. Paul did not say you have repented of your sins Paul did not say you have stopped sinning Paul did not say you have surrendered your life denied yourself and made Jesus the Lord of your life. These statements wouldn't actually be true by the way because in the previous chapter Paul rebuked this church for tolerating fornication in the church but that doesn't negate the fact that he said such were some of you fornicators but you are washed in other words any sinful dirt you accumulated was simply wiped off you are justified you have a good reason for inheriting the kingdom you are sanctified you are set apart from those in verses 9 and 10 who have not been washed or justified and all that's because of the name of the Lord Jesus and the spirit of our God your turning from sins has no relevance. This is very consistent with the previous video when we looked at Jesus saying I came to call sinners to repentance we saw what the medicine described by the good physician was in that chapter the medicine prescribed by the physician for sinners is believe on Christ Christ died for us Christ's obedience alone Lord be merciful to me be justified by Christ Jesus came into the world to save us so by comparing scripture with scripture we can see how sinners repent they repent by the fact that through believing in Jesus he saves them Jesus washes them Jesus justifies them their own obedience of works and changing their lifestyle really has nothing to do with it but the repentance of your sins to be saved crowd do have a card up their sleeve so whereas I might say sinners repenting in Luke 15 7 and 10 means to be washed justified and sanctified by God by cross referencing it with 1st Corinthians 6 the repentance of your sins advocate could use the switch card on me and say that being washed justified and sanctified in 1st Corinthians 6 actually means repenting of sin if we cross reference it with Luke 15 7 and 10 but I have one card left up my sleeve as well all we have to do is go to Luke 15 and the parables will define sinners repenting how and what do they do to repent so the first parable in Luke 15 is that of the shepherd remember Jesus is defending himself again to the Pharisees for dining and eating with sinners and publicans very similar to what we looked at in the previous video when he went to Levi's house it says in Luke 15 verses 46 what man of you having a hundred sheep if he lose one of them does not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until he find it when he has found it he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing and when he comes home he calls together his friends and neighbors saying on to them rejoice with me for I have found my sheep which was lost so there's a few observations that we can take from this parable observation number one is that the lost sheep represents the sinner that repents in this illustration now the lost sheep is not described as taking any action itself other than that it was lost and is now found the second observation is that the shepherd does the actual work or action in this parable he goes out for the sheep he finds the sheep he brings the sheep back to his flock the sheep did not repent of its own accord so we see a very similar pattern to the previous video when we looked at Luke five sinners to repentance we saw that Jesus was doing the calling Jesus was the good physician and now Jesus is the good shepherd in this parable the lost sheep repents that is it turns from being a lost sheep to be a found sheep not because the sheep itself did any actual action or willful change of direction but because the shepherd went out to rescue and recover it it was the shepherd that actually caused the repenting to happen now if this parable was all about turning from your sins you would expect it to say something like the sheep wandered off from its flock but then it saw the wolf coming and so it got scared ran back to safety came back to the safety of its flock started you know huddling with fear against the shepherd and started being real nice to the other sheep and from that point on he never left the shepherd's side that would be a more appropriate parable if that was the case but Jesus didn't use that parable there's no behavioral course correction being suggested in this parable the third observation is that while a lot of Christians interpret the parable of the lost sheep as meaning losing salvation and getting it back again it is not evident that Jesus used this parable to justify why he was speaking to and eating with backsliding Jews he was using it to justify going out and reaching the people that we normally perceive to belong to the outside not the inside so this is interesting because the literal carnal in understanding of what Jesus is doing in this chapter is that he's going out and reaching the lost people that we would normally perceive to not belong to Christ initially people who are on the outside and he gets them saved and adopted into the family of God but then the parable that he uses to illustrate what he is doing here is that he's going out to fetch something that is currently lost but technically already belonged to him in the first place so those who are destined to be saved eventually who are currently sinners who were born in sin already belong to Jesus he is simply going out and reaching for what already belongs to him but seeing him go out to reach the lost is simply the earthly manifestation of what has already happened in heavenly places now Christians will have variances and disagreements over the subject of predestination versus free will which i'm not going to get into in this video but whatever your views about that the point in this parable here is that one way or another it is established that by reaching sinners Jesus is only gathering what does technically already belong to him but there is a process of reaching the lost where this is made manifest that we can see it happening so it's not up to the sheep to just randomly wander in all of these different flocks checking out who's in charge and hopefully finding the right one and then asking that shepherd if they can join the flock that's not how shepherding works sheep are property they belong to somebody so the shepherd is going out and getting his property now the next parable in luke 15 of the lost coin is very similar to that of the lost sheep jesus goes on to say either what woman having 10 pieces of silver if she lose one piece does not light a candle and sweep the house and seek diligently till she find it and when she has found it she calls her friends and her neighbors together saying rejoice with me for i have found the piece which i had lost so once again we see a very similar pattern in this parable that we saw with the sheep parable the lost sheep coins don't really make choices in a literal application of the parable they don't have opinions they don't sin the lost coin did not jump out of the window of the house roll down the hill and accumulate all this dirt from all of its sinful behavior but then jump back in and bounce into a barrel of vinegar to clean itself up again so it could be presented back to its owner now obviously that sounds absolutely ridiculous but that would be a more appropriate parable if this was all about you turning from your sins instead the woman in the parable who we could say represents jesus but if you're uncomfortable with the idea of a woman representing jesus then you could just say that she represents his evangelistic servants if you like she's doing all the work to find this lost coin she is searching for it she is going high and low to find it and she rejoiced upon finding it but all the work and credit for finding it is hers alone the coin did not do anything of its own achievement so once again just like with a lost sheep if this parable represents sinners repenting well then these sinners did not repent by turning from all of their sins and cleaning up their filthy lives sinners repent by having the rightful owner come and find them while they are yet lost and bringing them back to themselves to their owners that is the repentance jesus going out to find them and then collecting them brings them back where they belong his rightful property so we see that the two parables describing sinners repenting interpret the meaning as those who were lost but are found by jesus not those who cleaned up their life and then came to jesus now this is where it starts to get interesting because although jesus doesn't use the phrase sinner that repentance again he does still continue the idea with the next parable which is that of the prodigal son things take a bit of a different spin in this parable because this time it's the sinner that does the actual repenting the father is not doing the action in this illustration per se or at least that's what it would look like at first glance so this could turn everything that we've just seen on its head but let's take a look so i'm just going to quickly summarize it because most of you will know the story anyway the younger brother took his half of the inheritance and spent it all on righteous living then he spent all of his money and there was a famine he resorted to feeding pigs for a living he was hungry and so he realized he would be better off at his father's house he then says to himself what he will say to his father when he returns i have sinned against heaven and before you and i'm no more worthy to be called your son make me as a servant now this is the bit where they'll all say he repented of all of his sins uh no he didn't if we take an honest assessment of the parable and don't try to force our doctrine onto it we can actually see some very interesting observations first of all his motives for returning to the father were actually quite selfish he wasted his substance with riotous living verse 13 a famine struck the land this was completely beyond his own control verse 14 he had a humiliating job that didn't afford him enough to eat he knew that his father's servants were much better fed and paid versus 15 17 so the only reason he went to his father in the first place was that he ran out of money to indulge in his riotous living he was hungry if the situations didn't come upon him he might not have returned to the father since god is ultimately in control of whether there is a famine or not god's intervention had at least partially contributed to the son's return the second observation is that if we look at what he intends to say to his father he only intends to confess his sin that is admit or acknowledge that he has sinned as it is written i will say onto my father he doesn't make any commitment to never sin again he does not list all of his sins he does not intend to feign crying out in sackcloth and ashes in the previous video in this series when we looked at john the baptist's repentance we saw how the gospels only tell us that people confessed their sins it doesn't tell us that they repented or turned from their sins or for suck their sins no such backstories given other supporting verses might include one john 19 if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins he doesn't say repent of them and when it says confess it it doesn't mean like a catholic style confession you know or listing all of your sins verbally it's basically it's the opposite of deny okay so the opposite of confessing sin is saying that we have not sinned or we have no sin as one john one explains and i've done a study video about that you can find that on my channel if you need more information about that finally we will also see something very interesting when the father sees him a far off it says in verse 20 and he arose and came to his father but when he was yet a great way off his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him the father expressed great compassion merely upon seeing the prodigal son coming towards him the son has not even confessed his sin yet the father does not wait to cautiously test his repentance to make sure he is genuinely sorrowful first this is consistent with the gospel of grace by faith without works it is not consistent with the repent of your sins false gospel where advocates demand to see your genuine repentance with sorrow and pig squeals before you can come to jesus in the next verse the son will confess his sin against heaven and against his father's sight but this is after the father has already seen the son first and had compassion on him first now you might ask why the big bold red capital letters there well it's for emphasis remember that in the first two parables the sinners at repentance was according to jesus finding them not them correcting themselves first the parable of the prodigal son only superficially looks like it is the son that does the important action for his repentance but his motives were actually quite selfish when we investigate further we can see that the father saw him first and had compassion on him first now there's this false prophet out there called keith wheeler you may know him as white city preachers and he says this it's not about us accepting jesus it's not about us accepting jesus it's about jesus accepting you and he's only going to accept those who repent and forsake all known sin well what that unsaved moron says is not consistent with the parable is it the repentance of your sins message makes the gospel all about you you have to correct your behavior you have to forsake everything that god hates and you have to learn to love what god loves etc etc but the reality is that once again all the credit goes to the father for accepting the son with compassion before the son has had chance to confess before the son has demonstrated any intention of self-correction or repenting before the son even expresses any love or regret to his father the father invites him in and is glad just at the sight of him alone this parable is consistent with grace through faith without works it is not consistent with work salvation it is not consistent with repenting of your sins for salvation now some people will say to me just because he didn't clean up his behavior before coming to the father doesn't mean he should not could not or did not clean up his act after returning to the father you don't think he went back to his old sinful ways again do you well the simple fact of the matter is your fictional narrative and embellished storytelling is not relevant william fakespeare the parable does not go on to tell us what kind of life the prodigal son lived after returning to the father jesus did not mention his later life therefore it is not relevant to the parable you know you can't just add your own sensational story writing to parables just because they don't fit your narrative or because they're not compatible with your false gospel and by the way that's what these repent of your sins types do constantly they constantly embellish these passages with their additional story writing narrative that isn't there so in summary according to these three parables sinners repent by being found by god and by being seen and loved by god when he sees us far off not by cleaning up their life forsaking all and submitting to his lordship now when you're saved i hope that you do clean up your life and surrender to his lordship whatever that even means but that's not the cause of why the father loves you the father loves you because he is a loving father and you're his son that's the reason that's the only reason now what's interesting is that rather like the sermon on the mount in matthew's gospel jesus teaching here in luke spans across several chapters so if we carry on reading into luke 16 we will get to the account of the rich man who's burning in hell while lazarus is resting in abraham's bosom and assuming you're familiar with the story the rich man appeals to abraham to send lazarus back to the world to testify onto his brethren so that they would not end up in the place where the rich man is currently in torment and abraham replied they have moses and the prophets let them hear them and he the rich man said no father abraham but if one went up from the dead they will repent and he said unto them if they hear not moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead so let's suppose they had listened to moses and the prophets how would they have repented well they would have turned from all of their sins not what it says it says they would have been persuaded this is perfectly consistent with the rest of the bible for example in acts chapter 26 paul tells a gripper about the message of repentance he preached onto demascus and jesus and that was in verse 20 and in verse 28 king a gripper said to him almost you persuade me to be a christian there it is there's that persuasion and persuasion by the law and moe of moses and the prophets is just like we see in luke 16 it's synonymous with believing because we also see this two chapters later in acts 28 it says that persuading them concerning jesus both out of the law of moses it goes on to say some believed so there it is there's the persuasion it's believing that's the repentance in luke chapter 16 persuasion another supporting verse which doesn't use the word persuade but he's very similar in defining repentance in this way is second timothy 225 where it says in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if god peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth so a very similar idea to persuasion acknowledging what is true being persuaded by it believing so then how do sinners repent why does heaven have so much joy over the sinner that repents what happens well jesus recovers what belongs to him the father sees the son are far off and has compassion on him long before the son says anything to him and the law of the of moses and the prophets persuades them to acknowledge the truth that's how sinners repent that's how the bible defines sinners repenting now these repent of your sins messengers they redefine repentance of sinners because they reject the bible and they want to take all the credit for being saved it's that simple this is no nonsense christianity reminding you that nowhere in the bible does it say repent of your sins to be saved