 Good morning to all of you, very sorry for the delay, you know, for those of you who are online, they have been some glitches, but yeah, it's fixed now, everything should be fine. So, we'll begin, last class we looked at the doctrine of Christ and we looked a little bit at the work of atonement which Christ has done. So, the idea was that that would lead us into today's topic which would be the doctrine of salvation and justification. So, that's the class that we are covering today, the topic of salvation and justification. Now, what do we mean different people think of salvation differently depending on their religious background? For some that word salvation may mean some kind of enlightenment, you know, they meditate and they fast and then some kind of enlightenment comes upon them and then they call that salvation. For some people salvation may be breaking free from the cycle of birth and death. And for many Christians, the word salvation seems to mean a free ticket to heaven without having to do anything to earn it. So, different people think of salvation differently, but what does the Bible say? How does the Bible define salvation? That's what we will look at now. If we could have someone open up for us, Romans chapter 6 verse 18 and read it out either online or here in the class, Romans 6 18. Romans chapter 6 verse 18, having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. So, salvation is first of all, deliverance from the slavery to sin. It's not talking over here about free tickets, it's talking about something much more valuable. Salvation is being delivered, being set free from slavery to sin. And salvation is also one more thing, second thing. Second Corinthians chapter 5 verses 18 to 19. Second Corinthians 5 18 to 19. Second Corinthians chapter 5 18 to 19. All this is from God who through Christ reconcealed us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them. And interesting to us the message of reconciliation. So, the second thing which salvation is, is that you see because of what Christ did on the cross, it says in second Corinthians 5 19. It says that now because of what Christ has done, God does not count people's sins against them anymore. So, now he no longer considers us as sinners, we have been covered by the sacrifice of Jesus. So, now he wants to reconcile us with himself. Whereas earlier he used to regard us as enemies because we were in sin. Now we are no longer enemies, now we are his friends. And so now there is a personal relationship possible between God and us. So, salvation is not about a free ticket to heaven. Salvation is deliverance from slavery to sin. And even as you're getting delivered from slavery to sin, you are now entering into something new. You are entering into a personal relationship with this God who wants to reconcile us with himself. So, there are two things involved in salvation and we need to grasp this. Because all of us, we are believers and the commission that God has given us is that we should go and share the gospel with people. So, we should not be sharing some kind of a diluted meaningless gospel. We should be talking about what salvation is actually all about according to the Bible. So, we need to tell people the salvation that I'm preaching to you is not about a free ticket to heaven. It is about deliverance from bondage to sin. It is deliverance from slavery to sin and God is delivering you from slavery to sin because he wants you to enter into a personal relationship with him. That is what salvation is about. Because if you were to go to the mall and you have some of these attendants standing over there and they are giving out let us say free sashes of shampoo, some new brand of shampoo and they are giving out free sashes. Anyone can walk up to them, you ask, you say give me one of the shampoo sashes, sample sashes. They would just hand it over to you. No obligation involved. You don't have to praise their company. You don't have to make an allegiance and say, oh from now on I will only buy your products. Nothing, no obligations involved. It's free. You walk up to them, they give you the sachet, you take it, you go. After you go home, if you want to go and use another brand of shampoo, no props. No loyalty needed. People tend to think of salvation like that. Salvation is not a free ticket to heaven. You don't just walk up to God and say, oh give me my free ticket Lord and then walk away and do whatever you want with yourself. That is not the biblical definition of salvation. Salvation involves loyalty. An allegiance that you are now making to this God who has sent his son and sacrificed his son on your behalf. This loyalty involved, this commitment involved. It is free. You don't have to pay anything for it. But it involves commitment, lifetime commitment. So we are delivered from slavery to sin so that we can no longer, so that we would no longer continue to be slaves to sin. But now we choose to be slaves of righteousness. We choose to enter into a personal relationship with this God and live a righteous life. That is why in Romans 6 18, which we read out just now, it says, why have you been set free from sin? You have been set free from sin so that you can become slaves to righteousness. So you still have a commitment to someone. Earlier your commitment was to the world and to sin. But now your commitment is to the Lord and it is to righteousness. So it is a free gift, but it involves loyalty and commitment. So when we talk about salvation, there are basically three, maybe three stages. I would not say stages to get saved, but three stages in the entire process of salvation. We have the initial salvation experience. That happens when we place our faith in the Lord Jesus and we say, Lord, I am repenting of my sins now. From now on, Lord, I commit to live for you to follow you. You give me this new life, which you have promised. So in that moment of salvation, you come into the family of God. So now that is your initial salvation experience. But then there's a continued salvation experience, which we go through for the rest of our earthly life, where we are undergoing a process of cleaning, cleansing, sanctification, where on a daily basis, we are choosing to cooperate with the Lord and become slaves of righteousness. So on a daily basis, we say no to the temptations of the world. We say no to sin and Satan and we say yes to the Lord. So that is called the process of sanctification. So you have the first stage of initial salvation experience. You also have the second stage of continued sanctification, which happens throughout our entire lifetime. And then the final stage will happen in heaven. When we get there, that would be glorification, where we are glorified, where one day we will receive our resurrected bodies, where one day we will be just like Christ. The same way he has a resurrected body, we also will have resurrected bodies. So this process of salvation goes on for over a lifetime. You have the initial salvation experience. Then you continue to go through sanctification every day for the rest of your life. And when you get into heaven, when you see him, you will be like him. You know, you will experience glorification at that point of time. So basically, we say that the salvation, we experience it in three stages, in three phases. Now let's dive into this topic of salvation. Let's look at some important verses regarding this. And maybe this is one class where we really should pay attention, because Jesus said to us, go into all the world and proclaim the gospel and make disciples. So this is the gospel that we should be talking about. So John chapter 16 verse 8, which talks about this whole salvation experience, which the Holy Spirit initiates. How does the Holy Spirit initiate this salvation experience for each person? That is explained in John chapter 16 verses 8 to 11. John 16, 8 to 11, if someone could read out. John chapter 16. Yeah, the person online. John chapter 16 verse 8 to 11. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment. In regard to sin, because men do not believe in me. In regard to righteousness, because I'm going to the Father where you cannot see me no longer. And in regard to judgment, because the Prince of this world now stands condemned. You know, this is a very familiar passage. Everyone knows it, but not many understand it. They don't really know what exactly the Holy Spirit is supposed to be convicting people of in the NIV. This is how it puts it in NIV. It says when he comes, he will prove the world to be wrong about three things. The Holy Spirit, in what way will he convict? He will convict the people and prove to them that they are wrong about three things. Because the people of the world are under the impression. Sin is something, you know, if you do something very terrible, then you would call that sin. For instance, if I were to go and stab somebody, that would be a sin. On the other hand, if I'm just simply living a normal average life, they would say, Oh, I'm not living a sinful life. So they have a wrong idea about sin. So the first thing which the Holy Spirit convicts people about is that if you do not believe that Jesus is the only way to the Father, it is sin. Because that's what it says over here about sin because people do not believe in me. So the first thing which the Holy Spirit convicts people of that, if they have not believed Jesus as being the only way to the Father, it is automatically sin. You're automatically a sinner. The only way you will come from that sinner stage into the saved believer stage is if you believe in this Jesus and accept that he is the only way to the Father. So that's the first fundamental thing which the Holy Spirit convicts people of. The second thing which the Holy Spirit convicts people about is about righteousness. So people have the idea that if they do a lot of good deeds, if they give money to the churches and temples and mosques, if they give food to the poor, if they do these things, then they will be declared righteous is what they think. But what scripture teaches is that here in Western, it says about righteousness because I am going to the Father where you can see me no longer. Jesus is basically saying, I will go to the Father carrying my sacrificial blood and when I do that, God will accept it as an acceptable atoning sacrifice and so the people sins will be forgiven and whoever believes in me, they will be declared as atoned for, they will be declared as being saved. So righteousness is not going to be attained by doing good works. So the second thing which the Holy Spirit convicts people of is that however many good works you may do, it is not enough, it is not sufficient. You have to place your belief in this Jesus because he takes his sacrificial blood into the Father's presence and God the Father accepts that sacrifice alone as being enough to wipe away your sins and declare you righteous. So this is the second thing which the Holy Spirit convicts people about. The third thing which the Holy Spirit convicts people about is regarding judgment. So in verse 11 it says and about judgment because the Prince of this world now stands condemned. So why did Jesus come into this world to fight Satan on our behalf and to gain victory on our behalf. So Jesus became sin for us, he sacrificed himself for us but sin could not hold him down because he personally had never committed any sin. So sin could not hold him, death could not hold him. He did that sacrifice on our behalf but sin could not hold him down the way it used to hold us down. So he was able to defeat Satan and declare victory for all of us. So Satan now stands condemned. Anyone who chooses to continue living in Satan's slavery will join him in hell. In the same way Satan has been declared condemned. Anyone who chooses to continue staying under Satan, under the control of the spirit of the air is how it says in one of the epistels. So anyone who chooses to continue staying under the rule of Satan will be condemned along with him. So the Holy Spirit convicts people about judgment that if they choose to stay in the kingdom of darkness they will end up in hell condemned the same way the Prince of the air is going to stand condemned. So these are the three things that the Holy Spirit convicts people of. But there's a vital another point attached to this. Let's look at Romans chapter 10 verse 14. Romans 10, 14 if someone could read out. Romans 10 verse 14. How then can they call on the one they have not believed in and how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard and how can they hear without someone preaching to them? No, exactly. Such a practical point. Of course in Romans 10, 14 the context is slightly different. But look at the words that are being spoken over here. Very, very practical point. Unless someone tells them about these things, how will they even know? Unless someone goes and preaches these things to them, how will the Holy Spirit convict them? If someone is standing over there and faithfully conveying this true gospel message to the people, then the Holy Spirit can do his work of conviction inside them. On the other hand, if the basic evangelist stands over there and says, come to Jesus, all your problems will be solved. Come to Jesus and your sicknesses will be healed. What the evangelist is saying is true, very, very true. Jesus does help us in our trials and difficulties. He does heal us from our sicknesses. But if that is all you're going to be saying and then you tell, if you come to Jesus, he will heal you and he will take you to heaven. Will anybody say no? Of course, everyone wants that free offer. But salvation is not like a free sachet. There's a commitment involved. There are spiritual principles involved. People need to understand that Jesus is the only way to heaven. They need to understand that righteousness is going to be acquired only by placing their faith in him and submitting their life to him. People need to know that if they continue living the way they do and just simply bow down to Jesus once in a while, they're still under judgment. And in the same way, Satan is going to be judged one day. They too will be judged. These are important vital things which the evangelist should be sharing with the people. If he doesn't even share these facts with the people, how will the Holy Spirit do His work on the inside and convict the people of these things? Because even as the humble evangelist is just standing over there using ordinary words and expressing these things in detail, the Holy Spirit will divinely do His work inside people's hearts and convict them and help them to realize that what they had been thinking so far is all wrong. And this is the truth. It's high time that we in the Christian community start preaching the true gospel of God, the complete salvation message of God. We are promoting Jesus the way people promote products, the way people promote cameras and shoes and clothes. This is not just something, you know, we say, oh, you know, Jesus is this wonderful brand. You come to Jesus, all your problems are taken care of. No, we are talking about people being delivered from slavery to sin and entering into a personal relationship with Jesus. That is what salvation is offering. And if people don't realize that, they'll think, oh, I just have to, you know, add Jesus to my collection of God. And yeah, he'll take care of my eternity. No, so you see, it's very serious thing. So we need to preach the true gospel so that the Holy Spirit can do His work of conviction on the inside, even as we are sharing with people. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 to 9, another important principle regarding salvation. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 to 9. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 to 9. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not for yourself. It is the gift of God, not by the works so that no one can boast. Yeah. So if a person, let us say, is sitting in a gospel meeting and the preacher is preaching about salvation, even as the person on the stage is preaching, the Holy Spirit convicts this person on the inside, helps them to understand that what is being told is the truth. He opens up the mind of the person and helps him to understand the things which are being told. The person may not understand all the details properly, but the Holy Spirit was working on the inside of that person, helps them to understand that whatever is being said is true and they need to accept it. So anyone who becomes open to what the Holy Spirit is doing inside and they start to respond to such people, the Holy Spirit gives them this beautiful gift of faith so that they can take that final step and open their mouth and say, Yes, Lord, I believe in you. I believe you're the only way to the Father. I believe that the sacrifice which you have done is sufficient to cleanse all my sins. And yes, Lord, I want to follow you. So the Holy Spirit gives that person that gift of faith and then that person is able to open their mouth and confess Jesus and accept him. So no person can boast and say, I had such great faith that you know what? I was able to believe in Jesus. Nobody from my family accepted it, but I had the faith required to believe in Jesus. No one can boast that because that gift of faith is given by the Holy Spirit himself. Only God can give you that gift. So that is why it says in Ephesians 2, 8 to 9, for it is by grace you have been saved. This is not something that you achieved on your own. It's a free thing which was given to you. In fact, it says even that faith which you had to place in Jesus, that didn't come from your own self. It is the Holy Spirit who helped you to believe. So the Holy Spirit will do His work and what He wants us from us is that we should partner with Him faithfully instead of preaching diluted salvation messages in which the Salvation Gospel is not even real. If we can sincerely do our little part, the Holy Spirit will do the rest of it. He will convict the people of sin, righteousness and judgment. He is the one who will give them the gift of faith that they need to confess Jesus. He will bring them into a true relationship with Him where they actually have been delivered from the bondage and slavery to sin and have actually entered into a relationship with God. Sadly today we have a lot of fake Christians who think that they have become Christians just because they set a Salvation Prayer or just because they got healed. They think that they are saved but they are not saved because nobody even told them the true Gospel message. So we who know the truth must share it sincerely and even as we are doing our part and partnering with the Lord, the Lord will do His part. He will save the people. It's something that we can never do on our own. Our part is to faithfully share the Gospel the way the evangelists and preachers of the early church did. Paul says, you know, he in fact boasts about it. He says, you know, all these Greek philosophers, they use big sounding words. They use fine, fine sounding words. He says this to the Corinthian believers. He says they use all kinds of big words to convince you, but I have decided I'm going to preach only the cross of Christ and nothing else. So that simple message if we can deliver it in a sincere way and do our part, the Holy Spirit will do His part and bring people into the Kingdom and they will be genuine believers. So they will genuinely start living in victory. They will genuinely have a passion to go and start sharing about Jesus with others instead of having a whole bunch of fake Christians who are warming the seats because they don't even know what the actual salvation message is. So we need to do our part sincerely. So we have talked a little bit about what salvation is not. Let's look at Matthew chapter 11, 20 to 30. It's actually a very, very familiar passage. This is the passage, you know, where Jesus says, come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden. So this is the passage where Jesus talks about that and many don't realize this is Jesus' formal salvation invitation to the people. So if, you know, if Jesus were giving a salvation message, this is basically how He would give it. So Matthew chapter 11, we don't, we won't read the entire thing but just for us to get a clearer context, verse 20 would give us a clearer picture because you see in verse 20 onwards Jesus begins to denounce the towns which have refused to believe in His miracles and repent of their sins. So he says, you know, I have done so many miracles among these people. In spite of seeing all of these miracles, these people are still not believing in me and they're still not repenting of their sins. So he criticizes them, he condemns them for not repenting and he says the judgment against them will be very, very great because in the Old Testament times, the people did not get to see the miracles of Jesus. So maybe the judgment upon them will be lesser but these people who with their own eyes have seen dead people being raised who have seen blind people actually getting back their sight in a moment who have seen such things and are still refusing to repent of their sins. You know, Jesus condemns them and he speaks against them. He says the judgment against them will be very, very great and then in that same context, he comes to these words which we are so familiar with. So if we could have someone read out verses 28 to 30, Matthew 11, 28 to 30. Come to me all you who labor and a heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. So there are three main things that we see over here. First, Jesus is saying, come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. So you've been trying to live life in your own way. You've been trying to do the best that you can do but you know that you are sinful. You know that whatever you're achieving will have some benefits here on the earth. But what about your eternity? What about your future? So you who have been trying so hard to live in your own way and you have not succeeded, Jesus says, come to me and I will show you a new way of life which will not only have benefits for you down here on this earth but which will have benefits for you eternally. So Jesus's invitation is to everyone who is tired of trying to live in the way the world is living and not being able to achieve that peace, that joy, that contentment, that victory over sinfulness. You know, anyone who's tired and fed up of trying so hard and not being able to achieve those things, Jesus is saying to them come to me, I can show you a new way of life and then you will actually feel rest. You'll find deep rest and contentment for your souls. That's the salvation invitation which he gives to them. What's the second thing which he says? He says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. So if you want to enjoy this rest, if you want to enjoy this new way of living then there's only one way. You have to take my yoke upon you and start learning from me. You know, you can't just go back to your old way of life. That will not give you the rest for your soul which you are seeking. You have to take up my yoke upon you and start learning from me. There's no shortcut. You have to take up my yoke and start learning from me but he gives an assurance, something very beautiful he says but I'm gentle and humble in heart. So don't be scared. I'm not a very tough teacher. I'm not a very strict teacher. I know you. I know your weaknesses. I know your limitations. So I'm gentle and humble in spirit and I will teach you in a way that you will be able to handle and I will help you to grow and you will be able to start enjoying this new life that I'm leading you into. So that is the second part of the salvation message where he says you've got to take my yoke upon you and learn from me. There is no other shortcut, but I'll be there. I'm gentle and humble and I will help you to learn and you will be able to start enjoying this new life that I'm giving. So he says, the third portion he says my yoke is easy and my burden is light because it's through the power of the Holy Spirit that we live this Christian life on our own. It's impossible. I mean, can we ever forgive anybody on our own? It's by the power of the Holy Spirit that we forgive. Can we ever sacrificially love anyone and help them? No. I mean, it's through the power of the Holy Spirit that he enables us to love generously and help generously. So Jesus is saying my demands are very, very high, but it's an easy yoke. It's a light burden because I will enable you. My Holy Spirit will enable you. It will not happen by might or by power, but by my spirit you will be able to lead victorious lives. So that's the assurance that he gives. Now this is not a very good advertisement when it comes to promoting brands, but this is a simple salvation message which is offering rest to people who are hungry, people who are tired, people who have been trying so hard and they have not succeeded. So this is what Jesus is offering people. So if you notice, one of the key factors mentioned over here is that the person has to take up Jesus' yoke and start learning from him. Jesus, I know, he mentions it in a different way in the Gospels. For instance, Luke 9.23, if someone could read out, Luke 9.23, and he said to all, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Could you just read out that once more? Just once more, yeah, same thing. And he said to all, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Yes, so in that version, it says, let him take up his cross and follow me. NIV is rather plain about it. It says, whoever wants to be my disciple, must deny themselves and take up their cross. No shortcut. You've got to take up his yoke. You've got to take up his cross, not just once a month, not just on Sundays. This daily, every single day, you've got to take up your cross. You've got to take up the yoke which I'm giving and follow me, sacrificing whatever needs to be sacrificed, obeying and submitting regarding whatever I'm asking you to do. So if you do that, then such people alone will be my disciples. So this is very, very different from going to the mall and collecting a free sachet. Very different, alright. So just for us to give one final point to this thought, which we have been going through up to now, Matthew chapter 22 verses 1 to 14, that's a parable about the king who throws a banquet for the guests. So he first of all, we are very familiar with that story. So if you were to go to Matthew 22 verses 1 to 14, the king is inviting all the VIPs, the people who are special chosen ones, he invites them, he gives them special invitations to the banquet. But the VIPs are not interested in coming. So they all make excuses. In fact, they make very lame excuses for why they can't come. So they all back out. And then the king says, no props, the VIPs are not interested. I will open the invitation to everybody. And he says, gather all the people that you can find on the roads, tell them the invitation is open and they can come for the banquet. And then he says, if enough people have not come, go even into the side roads, where you'll probably have the outcasts, the beggars, the really poor, the ones who can't be in the main highways and the main roads. So go even into those remote places, bring even those people, give the invitation even to them. So the invitation is now open to everyone. The qualification is not that you should be good only, then you can come, you can be good or bad. You can be a thief or you can be a good person. You can be whatever, everyone is invited. The invitation is open now to everybody. Now we know how do we, I mean, what is the meaning that Jesus was trying to bring out? He was basically saying, have come to the Jewish people first and the Jewish people are rejecting me. They are saying that they do not want to believe in me. So no problem. I'll open it up to the Gentiles. So that's the meaning which Jesus tries to bring out from the parable. The point is that you can be any kind of a Gentile. You can be a good Gentile, a bad Gentile. Invitation is open to everybody. And then when people come over there, there's only one condition being laid on them. Please wear the wedding robe because you can't be in this banquet in the condition that you are in. You might have been the most rotten person on earth. No problem. But now that you have come here, time to change your clothes. So now you will have to put on the wedding robe. So it doesn't matter what your past has been. You may have been the murderer. No problem. You are also invited. But once you come to the banquet, one condition. You got to wear the wedding robe. You got to give up whatever life you had before. Give it up. Wear the wedding robe. And you have one guy who comes over there to the banquet and he chooses not to wear the wedding robe. So what happens to him? Maybe we can read out those particular verses. Matthew 22, 13 and 14. Matthew 22, 13 and 14. Then the king told the attendants, can I read from verse 13 or verse 12, ma'am? All right. If you want to read from verse 12, that's fine. Matthew 22, 12, 14. Sure. Okay. Let me go from verse 11. So it's a full thing. Verse 11. But when the king came to see the guest, he noticed the man who was not wearing wedding clothes. Friend, he asked, how did you get in here without wedding clothes? The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, tie him hand and foot and throw him outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gashing of feet. For many were invited but few are chosen. Okay. Many are invited. The invitation is open to everyone. No matter how rotten you are, invitation is open to everyone. But there's a condition attached. You fulfill that, you know, you're in. If you refuse to fulfill that condition, you are out. So in the parable, the king in fact says to that person in a very friendly way, he says, friend, how did you get in here without the wedding robe? And it says the man was speechless. He could not come up with any excuses. So that's the point. Jesus Christ has done, made the ultimate sacrifice. He's made the way to the father. And you don't have to pay anything, you know, to enjoy this. To be delivered from the slavery to sin and to have a personal relationship with the king of kings. You don't have to pay anything. You don't have to earn. You don't have to put in any effort and earn that privilege. It's free. But you got to be willing to take up his yoke. Because that's the only way you're going to enjoy the rest which he's offering. The whole point of offering salvation to people is so that they can have rest. And if you don't want that rest, then, you know, it's something that you're consciously choosing from your side to reject. So in the same way this person was thrown out of the wedding banquet, Jesus uses the parable to indirectly tell this Jewish people, you know, what you're doing is very dangerous. You think that by rejecting me, you know, you're holding on to your high status. You think that, oh, I'm a person from Galilee, whereas you people are all from Jerusalem, highly educated seminary people. So you may be thinking that, but Jesus is saying what you're doing is very dangerous. You know, you by rejecting this invitation, what you're doing is you're harming your eternity is what Jesus wants to bring out through that parable. So we have seen that true conversion and actual true salvation experience will involve two things. It does involve faith in Jesus Christ, but it also involves repentance. So there are two things which are absolutely necessary for you to have a true salvation experience. You must have faith in Jesus, but you must also repent. Let's look at the first point, you know, faith in Jesus because a lot of teachings are going around on YouTube. People of different religions, they talk about how you need to be mindful about the way you live. They talk about how you need to cleanse your spirit and think clean, good thoughts. They talk about how you need to give up corruption and put other people's interests first. They're talking about very nice things. So there are many nice ways in which you can repent, but all those nice ways of repenting are not pointing towards Christ. They're just saying, you know, improve yourself, live a better life. You know, enjoy the benefits of this world by being a better person. So all kinds of repentance are being preached, but only one repentance will work. The repentance which points in the direction of Christ. So repenting is not enough. You have to repent and then place your faith in Jesus alone. Only then the repentance is complete. Simply repenting and going and sitting in the Himalayas and meditating will not help. Simply repenting and going and giving all your money and to the poor will not help. So repenting is a nice thing, but it's only half. You've got to repent and put your faith in Jesus. Then the salvation is complete. So how do you put your faith in Jesus? Two things. First, you have to believe the facts about Jesus. It's as simple as that. So in John 14, 6, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. So you've got to accept the fact that Jesus has died on the cross for us. You've got to accept the fact that if you place your faith in Him, He will take you to the Father. So you accept the facts. So faith when it comes to believing in the facts, but also there's another aspect of faith. This is a more personal aspect of faith. Where you're saying, Lord, now I'm completely placing my life in your hands. Till now I lived in my own way, but now I'm trusting you enough that I'm putting my entire life in your hands. I'm going to take up your cross and start following you. Please, Lord, don't destroy my life. Make my life bless me. So you come with that simple trust and you're scared. You're thinking, oh my, I have to give up so many things. How will I give up those things? How will I live? How will I manage? But in spite of all your doubts, you're saying, Lord, you're trustworthy. If you died on the cross for me, definitely I can trust you. So Lord, even though what you're asking of me is difficult, you're saying that I will have to take up my cross and follow you every day, but you said that you're gentle and humble in spirit. So Lord, I'm just trusting you. My entire life, all my hopes and dreams, everything, I'm placing it now in your hands, Lord. So there's a personal aspect to faith, like we've covered in the other classes. The demons also believe in Jesus. They believe that he's the Son of God. They have no doubt in their mind about it. So they believe the facts, but they don't believe and trust him to the extent way they were willing to place themselves under him. So they chose to rebel against him in the heavens. So faith involves two things. Simply intellectually believing things about what is said in the Bible is good, but not enough. Faith also involves us placing ourselves in his hands completely, trusting him to that extent and saying, okay, from now on I will not live my way. I will live your way. So just repenting of your sins is not enough. We choose to also make this very personal faith commitment in Jesus. That is important. So what do we mean when we say, you know, repent? Because Jesus went from town to town saying, repent because the kingdom of God is near. Because the kingdom of God is at hand. So what did he mean when he was telling people to repent? It does mean, of course, you know, us turning away from our old way of life. Let's look at Matthew chapter. Okay. Basically we can just say that repentance is a godly sorrow. I've put on that verse somewhere, but not here. Okay, we'll get to it later then. All right, fine. For now let's say, you know, it's enough for us to know that repentance is a godly sorrow about the way you have lived so far. You know, you're ashamed of the way you have lived so far. You admit that whatever you have done is sinful in God's eyes. You may not have murdered anyone. You might not have robbed the bank. You might not have committed adultery. You might not have done those things, but whatever you have done, you are convicted of it. And now you genuinely feel ashamed about it. You genuinely have a godly sorrow about it and you think, oh, I wish I had not lived in that way. So repentance will involve a godly sorrow. Because what happens is this idea that repentance is crying a lot. Because this happens sometimes in our gospel meetings. People sit over there and they cry. They get very emotional. They cry a lot and the next day they're back to their old ways. So just simply emotion alone is not going to help. It has to be a godly sorrow that, oh, I have lived in such a terrible way. From now on I choose to give up this Lord. Help me. I don't want to go back to this anymore. So there has to be a godly sorrow and a real alteration on the inside. Where you're saying, I really don't want to go back to that horrible way of life Lord. Now on Lord, I want to follow you. Help me. I'm reaching out to you. Be my savior and he will be your savior. So repentance is not just getting emotional and crying a lot. Repentance, true repentance is where something happens on the inside where you decide enough is enough. No more of the old life from now on Lord, I choose to follow you. That would be true repentance. So we are kind of looking at what salvation actually involves. So we are looking at different aspects of that. So we will go on next to talk about the new birth. We have already spoken about it to an extent in our doctrine of humanity class. So it will be easier for us to grasp those things. So we will do that after we come back from the break. Thank you.