All right, we are here in Mark chapter 1 and the letter R is on the topic of repentance. And probably this is a sermon that is really going to kind of explain why a lot of people choose to come to this church as opposed to other churches because what we teach and what the Bible teaches on repentance is very different than what a lot of other people teach. And if there's one topic we need to understand, it's something related to salvation. Now, keep your finger in Mark 1. We're going to go back in a second. Go to Genesis chapter 6.

And I want to show you the first time we see the word repent pop up in the Bible. This is a word that people are very confused about. If you were to ask people, what does repent mean? A lot of people would be like, I don't know. That's a good question. There'd be a lot of different opinions that are out there. Notice what it says in Genesis 6:6. "And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart." So the first instance of this word repent or any form of the word, who is repenting? The Lord is repenting. Now the most common definition you're probably going to hear about repentance is to turn from your sins. But wait a minute, if the Bible's saying that the Lord is repenting, is he turning from his sins? Is God a sinner? Does God do wrong? I mean, very few people would teach that. Yet the same people would teach you that repentance always means to turn from your sins.

Well, why is God repenting? And it's not just this reference. The one that's most common in the Bible to repent is the Lord. God is repenting many times in the Bible. Obviously, he has no sins to turn from. So, obviously, the definition of to turn from your sins is incorrect because God is repenting. Go back to Mark chapter 1.

Now, when people say to turn from your sins, they are 40% correct. They got the first two words right to turn. And it could be different things that you're turning from. To turn, to change. And the context in the Bible is sometimes about turning from your sins with repentance. Sometimes about turning from your belief and changing what you believe and believing on Jesus Christ. And the context is going to tell you what you are repenting of. But the word repent itself merely means to turn or to change. You know, we tell people that you don't have to repent of your sins to be saved. They think we're idiots because they think we don't realize the word repent is in the Bible. We know the word repent is in the Bible. What we're saying is it doesn't mean what you think it means. We understand the word repent is in the Bible many times. And in fact, point number one, repentance of belief is necessary for salvation. We're not even saying that repentance is not necessary for salvation. We're just saying it's not a repentance of sin that is necessary for salvation. Mark 1:14.

"Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom and saying, The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel." This is a common verse people will show you. It's like you say you don't have to repent of your sins to be saved. Why does the Bible say repent ye and believe the gospel? Why does it not say repent of your sins and believe the gospel? It doesn't say repent of your sins. I get it. It says repent ye in the context of salvation. But repent of what? It doesn't say repent of your sins. And what it's referring to is repenting of your belief. Change your mind about what you believe and believe on Jesus Christ. Because you can't believe the gospel if you're still believing what you used to believe. Go in the Bible to Acts 19.

You say, "Brother Stucky, that's your opinion about Mark 1:15." I think it's referring to repent of your sins, not repent of your belief. Okay. Well, you're entitled to your opinion. I'm entitled to mine. But let's just look at what the Bible says because the Bible's going to tell us what John meant. We're talking about John. And in Acts 19, if you believe the Bible is the word of God, the Bible is going to tell us what John was teaching. It's going to tell us what Mark 1 verse 15 is referring to. Acts 19:1.

"And it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, he said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" This kind of a statement just kind of confirming they're saved. Right? you believe. So you got the Holy Ghost. "And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost."

And then Paul's kind of wondering, do you understand what salvation is? I mean, did you get confused? Did you get caught up in the moment? I mean, obviously John the Baptist is baptizing a lot of people. So there's probably a lot of people said, "Hey, I want to get baptized, too." And realistically, if I'm baptizing 50 people in a day or whatever, I'm not going to be spending 10 minutes double-checking everybody's salvation. Right? So people get baptized, they get caught up in the moment. They think they believe, but they really don't understand the message John was teaching. Verse three, "And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus." So what did John the Baptist teach? The baptism of repentance. Repent ye and believe the gospel that you should believe. So change your mind about what you believe and believe the gospel. When the Bible says repent ye and believe the gospel, it's saying change your mind about what you believe and believe the gospel. What John the Baptist taught for salvation is change what you believe. Not quit drinking, not quit smoking, not quit listening to rock music, but change what you believe.

Because you can't believe the gospel if you believe something else gets you to heaven. I mean, if you're trusting in Muhammad and Allah to get you to heaven and the five pillars of Islam, you've got to repent and believe the gospel. I'm not saying you got to quit drinking. I'm saying you got to quit trusting in the five pillars of Islam. And to be saved, you must change what you believe and believe on Jesus Christ. Go to Luke 16.

Now, I will say this though. If you raise young kids, young kids don't really have to repent of what they believe and believe the gospel because young kids, they're taught by their parents, salvation is by grace through faith. It's eternal security. They're just not old enough to fully comprehend that. And so they got to reach an age where they comprehend and choose to believe, but they're not really trusting or believing in a false religion. They just don't understand all of these things, right? You know, and I don't know, you could probably quiz my daughter Crystal Bell. She's only three years old. She's probably going to answer just about everything you say correctly, but she's three years old because she's heard mom and dad say these things. She's repeated these things. She doesn't have a full understanding of that, but she's not trusting in the five pillars of Islam to get her to heaven. She's not even trusting in her good works to get her to heaven. It's just she doesn't fully understand this. However, if you get saved as an adult or when you're older in life, you're probably trusting in your works in some form or another to get you to heaven. Before I was saved, I thought, I don't drink. I don't party. I've never smoked. I've lived a pretty clean life. Surely that's good enough, right? What was I trusting? Or who was I trusting? Myself. I was trusting my good deeds. And I had to repent of that belief and believe on Jesus Christ.

Because you can't put all of your trust on Jesus if you're putting some of your trust in yourself. I mean, if you think your baptism gets you saved, you're trusting something that you do. You're not simply trusting on Jesus Christ. If you think you have to do any amount of good works before salvation, you're trusting in yourself. Here's the thing. If you have to do any amount of good works to keep your salvation, you're also trusting in yourself. You say, "Brother Saki, I believe, you know, I'm saved, but if I commit this sin, like, you know, murder or suicide, I'm going to lose my salvation." So, you're trusting in yourself not to commit those sins. You're trusting in yourself not to lose your salvation. You're still trusting in yourself, whether it's before salvation or after. If you're requiring anything that you do of your works to be saved, you're trusting in yourself. And you've got to repent and believe the gospel. Not quit drinking. You can stay a drunk till the day you die. Not quit doing drugs, not quit living, you know, with a lot of vices in your life, but you've got to change what you believe and believe the gospel.

Luke 16:29. "Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." And he said, "Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent." And what this rich man is saying to Abraham is, you know, bring someone back from the dead. Bring Lazarus back from the dead. Bring somebody to talk to my relatives. Because if somebody rises from the dead, they're going to believe. They're going to repent, he says. Okay, which we're going to see what that means in a second. But here's the thing about this. You know, Jesus rose again from the dead. Did everybody believe? No. There's many infallible proofs and they actually did not believe the majority of people.

But here's what it says in verse 31 defining repent. "And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." Look, if I'm trying to convince you of something and you don't believe it, eventually you might reach a point you say, "Brother Stucky, you've persuaded me." What does that mean? I now believe what you're saying. Right?

I mean, didn't King Agrippa say, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian"? He didn't say, "You almost got me to quit drinking." No, almost thou persuadest. What does persuade mean? It means that, yeah, you know what? I now believe it. I've been persuaded. I believe this. I changed my mind. Right? So, what is repenting according to verse 30 and 31? Neither will they be persuaded. It means to change what you believe.

He's saying that, you know what, if one rises from the dead, it's not going to cause your brothers to change what they believe and believe on Jesus Christ for salvation. Go to 2 Timothy chapter 2. And the Bible says in 2 Timothy 2:25, "In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves;" "If God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;" Bible says repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. Because here's the thing, you can't believe the truth. Jesus is the truth, right? You can't believe on the truth if you believe something else. But if you repent of your belief, then you can believe on this. If you told me, "Brother Stucky, I think 2 plus 3 equals 6," and I explained to you, "No, 2 plus 3 equals 5," and gave you a visual example, then you're like, "Okay, Brother Stucky, you convinced me." So, you no longer believe 2 plus 3 equals 6. But if you said, "Yeah, I still kind of believe 2 plus 3 equals 6," doesn't that happen when we go soulwinning sometimes? Right.

They're saying they believe it. They're explaining and everything. It's like, well, at the beginning you told me that you have to keep the seven sacraments to be saved. At the beginning, you told me you've got to keep the ten commandments to be saved. At the beginning, you told me that if you're really saved, you're going to live a good life and hold out faithful. And you no longer believe that? And it's like, "Well, I still think, you know, you convinced me it's believe, but it's believe plus." It's like, wow, we got you halfway there. Instead of just live a good life, now it's believe and live a good life, right? Well, they haven't been persuaded to believe this. They're considering it. They're thinking about it. What's the problem? They didn't repent.

They didn't change their mind about what they believe. They still believe in their own works. They still believe what they did before. You cannot be saved if you don't repent. You must change your mind about what you believe to be saved. But you don't have to quit drinking. You don't have to quit smoking. You don't have to change your lifestyle at all. But you got to change what you believe. You say, "Well, brother Saki, I mean, if Jesus died and paid for your sins, you can't just go out and do whatever you want." That's exactly why you can and go to heaven because it's a gift. The gift of God is eternal life.

There are no works required to be saved at all. You don't have to change your lifestyle. You don't have to repent of your sins. But you do have to repent of what you believe. And here's what's funny about it. These people that will say, "Repent of your sins to be saved." It's funny because they're not that strict on what you have to believe to be saved. Right.

I mean, it's like five minutes and just pray a prayer and you're saved. Whereas when we go solo and we say, "Well, you better make sure you change what you believe. Do you believe this? Do you believe that?" I mean, it's a real thorough presentation. Why? Because we understand you've got to change what you believe. But people that believe in repent of sins, it it's like it doesn't matter what you believe. You can believe whatever, right?

No matter what church you're part of, no matter what cult you're a part of, if you say Jesus at all, as long as you believe that you have to repent of your sins to be saved, we believe you're saved. Even if you're Mormon. Yeah. But I mean, he believes repentance of sins. I mean, you must be saved. It's like, but for us that realize you have to repent of your belief, we are very strict with what you have to believe, right?

Why? Because that is required for salvation. Turn in your Bible to Acts 20. Acts 20. Yeah. I was thinking about this this past week. Also I was reading in Genesis and there's a story of Cain and Abel where Cain gives an offering of the fruit of the ground and Abel gives of the first things of his flock, and this is a great symbolism for salvation. Probably a lot of us understand that where the fruit of the ground is your works and the first things of the flock are required animal sacrifice which picture Jesus Christ. So Cain is basically symbolically working his way to heaven and then Abel is trusting in the future coming Messiah. I thought about it and Abel gave the firstlings of his flock. Cain just brought of the fruit of the ground. The Bible says it doesn't say he brought the best. What's interesting is people that believe in repentance of sins for salvation, they usually aren't offering anything special to God. People that trust in their works to be saved, it's like you're drunk. you're trusting in your works to save you. It's like you don't even have impressive works. I mean, literally, people that are trusting in their works to save them, it's not impressive what they're offering to God. They're not bringing the first of the fruits.

They're just bringing their works that are not impressive at all. They don't read the Bible every day. They don't go to church every week. They don't go soulwinning. They're not living a clean life. And they're like, "Yeah, you know what? You got to live a good life to go to heaven." You know, if that was the case and you are the standard for what good is, then everybody in this room is already good to go. Because the average person trusting in their works to get to heaven, they don't have impressive works, right? But here's the thing. When you determine what's required to go to heaven, you always set the bar low enough so you can hop over, right? I mean, if you're not living a very clean life at all, you set it really low. If you're a drunk, let's just set it a little bit lower because I got to make sure I get over there. Right? This is why some people get mad when you take the authority out of their hands and they realize, well, actually it's about what Jesus Christ did because they no longer can set the bar of what they have to do to get to heaven. But the reality is, and obviously there are exceptions to this. In general though, people that think you have to live a good life to get to heaven don't have impressive works to show. And sometimes, you talk to people in some of these low-income places where people have a lot of vices and they gamble and drink and smoke all their money away, and they're usually not receptive, right?

And it's shocking. It's like you would think you'd be so happy to find out it's by faith alone. It's like, nope, you got to live a good life. It's like what? You'd think you'd be happy by this message. And yet, that's usually not what you find. People that are trusting in their works to get to heaven, they usually don't have impressive works to show. And that's just reality in most cases.

Point number one, repentance of belief is necessary for salvation. You must change your mind about what you believe in order to believe on Jesus Christ. Point number two, repentance of sins is work salvation. Repentance of sins is work salvation. So if you're trusting in repenting of your sins or changing your lifestyle, that is a work salvation that you believe in. Acts 20:21, "Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." Now once again, it does not say repent of your sins. It doesn't say that.

It says repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, I don't know about here in the Philippines, but if you visit a Baptist church in the US, like you're on vacation and you call up the pastor and you ask, you know, hey, what does your church teach about repentance? And I've done this many times for myself, but also for people trying to find a church, they will usually quote this verse. What I believe is repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. It's like, I'm happy you memorized a verse in the Bible, but what do you believe that means? And why do they say that? Because they want to accept both crowds. They want the crowd that thinks it's by faith alone. They want the crowd that believes it's repentance of sins for salvation.

Now, here's the thing. At our church, we are happy to get new visitors. And if people don't yet understand salvation, it is okay for unsaved people to visit church. People that maybe takes them a little bit of time, especially from different Baptist backgrounds. Some people might be confused and that's fine. But you know what? If you are adamant that you must repent of your sins to be saved and you're saying, "I am fully persuaded you must turn from your sins. You must repent of your sins to be saved." Here's the reality. I actually don't want you at this church.

You say, "Why? That's not what we believe. That's not what we teach." Now, if you're just confused, we'll give you the gospel. But if you say, "No, you must repent of your sins. Don't come swinging with us." Right? Right? Don't hand out our invitations, right? Because what you believe is the same as that church over there and that church over there. Invite them to those churches because those churches also believe you must repent of your sins to be saved. That's not what we believe.

Because repentance of sins, it's not only that it's not necessary for salvation. It is a works salvation. What this verse says is repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. What I'm saying it means is you change your mind about God. And even the word toward would tell you this because you're not directed toward God. You're not directed in that direction, and you repent toward God. It's like, hey, I was turning left, and I repented and turned right. So basically you're going the opposite way and now you go toward God. Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. So you're believing in something else and you repent of that belief and put your faith on Jesus Christ. That's what it's saying in Acts 20:21. Go to Acts 17.

And I'm going to show you a couple verses in Acts before I show you very clearly. It is work salvation to believe in repentance of sins. Although common sense is going to tell you this if you're saved. If you're not, then yeah, you might not agree.

Acts 17:29. "Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God", and you know what, in Acts 17, if you're familiar with this chapter, I have nicknamed this chapter the Hindu chapter because it's pretty much exactly like Hinduism, although it's a different culture, different religion, but it's not really a different religion. They believe in one God and multiple manifestations and idolatry and all these things. It's basically like Hinduism. Same thing, you know, same religion gets passed around everywhere. The problem with this group of people in Acts 17 is this: is it a problem that they're drunks? No. Does it say they have a lot of vices? No. I mean, they're lazy, right? A lot of, you know, Tomai just hanging out doing nothing. But it doesn't say that they're drunks or drug addicts or anything like that. The problem is that they believe in the wrong concept of God. Is that not true? They've got idolatry, the wrong concept of God. Nothing in the chapter about all these vices that they struggle with other than their laziness. Okay. Acts 17:29. "Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device." Basically, quit making idols and worshiping them. "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:" Ignorance means without knowledge, bobo, dumb, stupid, right? Without knowledge. He's saying you're ignorant. You're worshiping idols because you're ignorant. You believe in the wrong thing about God. Right? That's what he's saying there. You're ignorant. You know, he doesn't say that in a lot of places. He says you're ignorant. You're worshiping these idols because of your ignorance. And look, you know, that offends you, whatever. Idolatry, that's ignorance. If you believe your idols are going to get you to heaven. If you believe that you can make something out of stone and then pray to go, pray to that. I mean, that's absurd. It's ridiculous. Doesn't make any sense, right?

I mean, if you made it, how could it be God? That's foolish. And yet, that's what people believe around the world. Somehow they can turn something into God. It's like you're the one who made that, and he's saying you're ignorant. Then he says, "But now commandeth all men everywhere to quit drinking." Doesn't say anything about them drinking. To quit smoking doesn't say anything about them smoking. What's the problem? They're ignorant. They believe the wrong thing. He commands them to repent.

Because if you're trusting in your idols, you can't believe on Jesus Christ. There's no other way you can interpret Acts 17 of what they're repenting about. They're repenting about their belief. They're ignorant, meaning without knowledge of the truth. They must repent of that in order to believe on Jesus Christ "because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead." But people go to verse 31 and say, "Well, see, he's going to judge the world in righteousness. Therefore, you must repent of your sins. Nobody's repented of all their sins. The fact that he's going to judge the world in 100% righteousness, that's why it's not by your works. Cuz there is none righteous. There's none good but one that is God. You can't trust in repenting of your sins because you still sin, right?

The fact that he's going to judge it in righteousness, it's like you better believe the right thing because he's going to judge you by your works. And here's the thing. "All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." Bible's consistent. There is none righteous, know not one. But when you get saved, you get imputed with the righteousness of God. So if he judges you in perfect righteousness, God's going to say innocent. No sins against you if you're saved. Right? Here's what's interesting. And go to Acts chapter 3. Acts three.

99% of the time if people tell you you must repent of your sins to be saved, they will pick certain sins that you must repent of. Because if you were to ask them, okay, so you never lie anymore? Well, I mean, I still lie. Well, then you didn't repent of that sin. I thought you repented of your sins. Well, which sins did you repent of? And they start to backpedal. Well, I used to be a drunk and now I don't drink anymore. Well, I was never a drunk, so I didn't have to repent of that sin. Well, I used to smoke out of the smoke. I've never smoked a cigarette. They pick certain things. They pick vices that they're guilty of. It's like a lot of people never drank. I mean, there's no reason to bring up people's past sins in this room, but I'm sure a lot of people in this room have probably never drank alcohol in their life.

There's probably a lot of people in this room that have never smoked a cigarette in the day of their life. There's a lot of people that don't fornicate before they're married. There's a lot of people that don't listen to bad music or the bad movies necessarily. Maybe they get raised in a Christian home. So, here's the thing. You point out things that you've repented of that you've changed. What about all the things that you haven't changed? Right? Usually there are very obvious things that those people are guilty of, but they don't bring up those things. They bring up the things that they're innocent of, right? Well, here's the thing. I was never a drunk. I never smoked any cigarettes before in my life. They bring up things like, "I used to be the worst drunk." Well, you know what's better than that? Actually never being a drunk, right?

Why would you brag number one about your sins? But what about people that never struggle with those sins? So since you were drunk, you had to quit drinking. But since I was never drunk, I have to quit lying to be saved. Is that what you're saying? But you don't have to quit lying. Because you were so bad, you only have to get to this point. But those at this point, they got to get to this point. Is that what you're saying? Doesn't make any sense. Because if you have to repent of your sins, which ones? Where is the list in the Bible of which sins you have to repent of? Well, considering that lying is enough to send you to hell, logically, I would say then you must repent of lying to be saved. But wait a minute, there's a problem because everybody lies. That's right.

So, here's the thing. Do you have to repent of your sins or not? And then people start to backpedal. It's like, well, you have to be willing to change. Well, if you're willing, then you would change. I mean, are you willing to come to church on Sunday? Yeah, I'm willing. We come here next Sunday, they don't show up. Well, they weren't willing. What are you talking about? Right? Well, you have to have like a general sorrow for your sin. So what is your definition of repentance since you keep changing it? Now, here's the thing about this. A lot of people when they get saved feel very horrible and sorry about their sins when they get saved. That does not mean it's a requirement to be saved, though. Just because you have that experience does not mean it's required. You know, some people when they get saved cry. I didn't shed a single tear when I got saved. Not a single one. Now, I was very happy. I was overwhelmed. I was very emotional, but I did not cry.

But there's probably people in this room that did cry. But that doesn't mean that you have to cry to be saved. Well, he said he got saved. I didn't see any tears. Wong luha. We're long salvation. Right? That's ridiculous. And here's the thing. Just because some people are very sorry for their sins when they get saved, that doesn't mean that you have to be. And just because you made changes doesn't mean that everybody did, right? Because I could point out to the things that I don't do or I do do now that I didn't before. Like, hey, I read the Bible every day. Does that mean you have to repent of your non-Bible reading to be saved? Like that sin? No. That's ridiculous. But they point out specific things they are not guilty of to justify themselves. It's like, what about the things that you're still guilty of?

Acts 3:19, "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." And people quote this verse and say, well, see, you got to repent of your sins. Once again, it does not say repent of your sins, but it says your sins are going to be blotted out. Yeah, because when you believe on Jesus Christ, your sins are blotted out. It does not say repent of your sins to get your sins blotted out. Actually, if you want your sins blotted out, it's by believing on Jesus Christ. Because what must I do to be saved? And they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Go to Jonah 3.

You know, there's a few reasons why I'm preaching the sermon. Obviously, repentance is probably the most important topic starting with the letter R that we could preach on, I would say. But here's the thing. Number one, of course, there's new people at church. You want people to understand this, but the reality is there are saved people that are genuinely confused about this word because they've heard false preachers and heretics. And so I want everybody at our church to be very clear, but I also want you to be able to help out your relatives and people at your old Baptist churches that might be confused. You could walk up to someone and say, "What does the word repent mean?" And they might say, "Turn from their sins." But they're actually saved.

And when you start pinning them down, they're going to backpedal. They'll be like, "I don't know." They're going to be confused. I would say the first couple years I was saved, I would have probably been confused on this word because I had heard a lot of false preaching saying if you're really saved, you're going to live a good life. Now, here's the thing. If repentance of sins was required for salvation, which it is not, the logical conclusion is that works would be the evidence of your salvation because there's evidence that you repented of your sins. So, there's works to prove it.

Right? Now, when people say they believe that if you're really saved, you're going to live a good life, it's kind of like the big red flag. Like, I don't know because that's the logical conclusion of believing you got to repent of your sins to be saved. So, I hope you're just confused. Now, here's the thing. What is required of salvation is a repentance of belief. So, we can look at someone and after they get saved or we think they get saved, we can check what they believe, which is what we do when we go soulwinning. And if they believe the wrong thing, the evidence would say, well, they're not saved because they believe the wrong thing.

Now, of course, you hope they're confused. But if they believe the wrong thing, you're going to assume they're not saved. And if they really are saved and then they've been confused by false doctrine, you show them a few verses, they've already got the Holy Spirit inside of them, they're going to believe it because they've got the truth inside of them. If somebody spends 20 minutes arguing with you about repentance of sins for salvation, they're not saved, right?

Because that's proof. That's evidence they believe the wrong thing. What's funny is people that believe in repentance of sins for salvation. They're not strict, as I said, about what you believe. They will look at someone that believes the wrong thing, but as a moment when they got saved, but they believe the wrong thing, and they'll say, "Well, they're saved." Well, how do you know they're saved? They don't drink anymore.

And it's just like we will look at the exact opposite. They'll look at someone who gets saved and they believe the right thing, but they still drink. I'm not sure if they're saved because they still drink.

You believe in a work salvation, my friend. You are trusting 100% in works. That's what you're looking at. That's your evidence. It's all about repentance of sins. It's not about repentance of belief at all. We look at someone's belief. We knock on a door. It's like, "All right, you know, we just want to show you how to get to heaven. Do you drink alcohol?" Is that what we said when we started our presentation? It's like, no, what we ask him is, "Well, what do you believe it takes to get to heaven?" Right? Do you know for sure you're going to heaven? I know I'm sure. Why? I used to be a drunk and I don't drink anymore. Amen. If that's how you do your soul winning, just don't come back. Right? It's like, no, that is not salvation. We ask people what you believe.

And here's what's foolish about this. If you're going to take people that are Baptists who believe in a works salvation repentance of sins, it's just like, well, yeah, but they're Baptist or they're non-denominational. It's like, why not just look at someone who's a Hindu, though? They have a red dot on their head and they say, "Hey, I used to drink. I don't drink anymore." Yeah, I think you're saved. I see the evidence. I see the evidence they're not saved. They're still Hindu. What are you talking about? Because we look at what they believe, not their lifestyle. News flash: there's plenty of people in this world that wouldn't even claim to be saved, but they used to be drunks and they're not anymore. Does that mean they're saved?

I mean, they've got programs to quit drinking in America. Alcoholics Anonymous and lots of people quit drinking. Lots of people quit doing drugs. It doesn't mean they got saved, right? It's repentance of belief, but trusting in repentance of sins. We're going to see here in Jonah 3. It's a works salvation. "Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?" Now, once again, if God is repenting, obviously, he's not turning from his sins. He's not a sinner, but he does change his course of action in the town of Nineveh. He said it's going to be destroyed in 40 days, but since the people changed, he changed what he was going to do. He repented of what he was going to do, and he did not destroy it. So the king of Nineveh is saying, "Hey, maybe God is going to change his mind and instead of pouring out his wrath upon us, he's going to change his mind and we're not going to be destroyed." That's what the king of Nineveh is saying. Verse 10, "And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not." God saw their works that they turned from their evil way.

Another way to say turn from your evil way is to turn from your sins. Turning from your evil way is what? According to Jonah 3:10, works. Because it takes work to change your lifestyle. Look, there are people that have been addicted to smoking for decades, and they are trying and trying to quit. But it takes work, right? There are people that have been trying to quit drinking for years and they still struggle with it. Why? It takes work.

And on a Christian level, and obviously people in this room, I'm sure there's people that struggle with those various things. But let's talk about reading the Bible every day. It takes work to read the Bible every day. It's hard. Takes work to spend time in prayer every day. Takes work to go soulwinning every week. Takes work to memorize the Bible. Your flesh doesn't want to do it. It takes work. Right? If you have to change your lifestyle, repent of your sins, that is a works salvation. And common sense would tell us this.

And if people don't understand this, there's one reason. It's because they're not saved. Because it makes sense to the world. Of course, you got to repent of your sins. You know why it makes sense to the world? Because that's what that church teaches. And most Christian churches, most Christian churches and every religion, repent of your sins to be saved. That's what they believe. And so it makes sense to people because they're not saved. I mean, if somebody were to hear this sermon and think you're a heretic, it's because you're not saved. Right. That's the reason why. That's right.

Because they believe the exact opposite of us. If you're saved, you're saying, "Amen." You're right, brothers. I used to think I had to repent of my sins to be saved. Yeah. Now it's like, you know what? I was wrong. Now I'm thinking, praise the Lord because there are other people just like me in Baptist churches that are confused or unsaved themselves that we need to reach. Go to Romans 6.

Jonah 3:10 is a very key verse. Acts 19:4 is a very key verse in Jonah 3:10 on this topic of repentance. Acts 19:4 makes it very clear. Repenting what John taught was to believe. Jonah 3:10 makes it very clear, turning from your way or turning from your sins is a work salvation.

Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Eternal life is a gift, right? I mean a gift is paid for by somebody, but it's 100% libre for the receiver, walang condition, no strings attached if it's a gift, right? Imagine someone says, "I got a gift I want to give this to you, but just wash my car, clean my house, obey my rules, do this and this." You'd be like, that's not a gift. You'd say that's work. It's not a gift. I mean, here's the thing. If God said the same thing, it wouldn't be a gift. It's a gift, but first, get baptized. Go to church every week. Quit drinking. Quit smoking. How is that a gift? I mean, man, if that's what you think a gift is, if that's what your Christmas was like growing up, you had a more miserable Christmas than INC or Jehovah's Witnesses. It's I don't know.

It's Christmas time again. My mom's going to make me vacuum for two hours every day and cook the dinner and do this and this. I don't want the gift. Right? I mean, why couldn't we have just been Jehovah's Witnesses growing up, but we don't celebrate at all. Right? That's what you think. I mean, it's like your boss is like, I got a gift for you. Oh, that's great. He's going to give you a 5,000 peso bonus. That's great, but you got to work 40 hours of overtime this week to receive it. You'd be like, "No thanks. How's that a gift?" And see, if God is requiring you to make changes in your life, it's not a gift. It's works. Go to Ephesians chapter 2.

I get a sermon like this. I mean, we understand repentance. The vast majority of people in here have heard me preach this many times, but one thing that's good about a sermon like this is it stirs your heart for soul-winning, doesn't it? Right? It reminds you because we realize most people don't agree with what I'm saying in this world. Now, in this room, people agree, right? But when you hear a sermon like this, it reminds you, yeah, you know what? I used to believe something similar before I was saved. And so it's like, you know, praise the Lord, a sermon like this preached. And it's like, I need to go out and soul-win and get people saved to make a difference. Because here's the thing, people don't get saved on their own. They must hear the word of God from somebody. That's what the Bible teaches.

Ephesians 2:8 and 9. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." I mean, if salvation is a gift, what that means is it's not of works. Now, here's the thing. Bible says, "Lest any man should boast." You know, there's no arrogant person in heaven.

Because nobody in heaven can say, "I'm here because I'm better than other people. I'm here because I quit drinking and he didn't." Nobody can say that. Everybody in heaven is going to say, "I'm in heaven because I was a sinner that did not deserve to be here. I believed on Jesus Christ who paid it all and I'm saved. Everybody. Isn't it interesting how God set up a system of salvation where nobody can boast in what they've done? So, here's the thing. If you got a preacher up here saying, "Well, I used to be a drunk and I don't drink anymore." Are you boasting? Right? That sounds like boasting to me. It sounds like bragging. Well, that's not salvation, my friend, because there's no boasting in salvation. And when you make a statement like that and say, "Hey, you know what? I'm saved. I used to be a drunk. I don't drink anymore. That's my salvation. That's my proof." Well, according to Ephesians 2:8-9, you're not saved because nobody can boast in their salvation because it's not what you do at all. Turn your Bible to Revelation 2.

Revelation 2. And for sake of time, I'm going to skip some of the verses in my sermon here. Various verses that I'm sure we're familiar with, but I'll just quote you. The Bible says, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done." It's not about you reforming your life or quitting drinking or quitting smoking or anything like that.

Because those are things that they'll often have changed. But then it's just like, they still listen to the wrong music. They still watch the wrong things on TV. They don't point out those things because they're innocent. And you know, whatever you're innocent of is something that, you know, you're, for example, the famous preacher Charles Spurgeon that a lot of Baptists love and quote from, he smoked cigars every day of his life. And people commented about that like, "When are you going to quit smoking cigars?" Well, I mean, here's the thing.

Obviously, he can't point out that sin that he repented of because he's still doing it, destroying his health, right? And it's just like they'll point out whatever they're innocent about. Whatever they're guilty of, they're never going to bring up because, you know, that saying reproaches me, right? And so, it's like usually they'll just point out a few vices that are kind of common. It's like, well, if you still drink, I don't know if you're saved, right? Because they assume people have quit that or at least they've quit that themselves.

Revelation 2:4, "Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love." And the first love here is referring to the first works. And the first works is referencing soul-winning. And the first love of a church, because this is in the context of a church, is soul-winning, reaching the lost. Because when you're a new church, you don't have a big congregation. You got to reach new people. So the first thing you do is not have all these programs or activities. It's really to try to get people saved and bring them to church. Verse 5, "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent." Now, people quote this to say, see, if you don't repent of your sins, you will lose your salvation.

This is a church. This is not an individual person. He's saying that yes, if this church doesn't get back to the first love of soulwinning, I'm going to remove them. That's not about salvation. It's a church. You can't apply it to salvation. The context is in a church and saying, "Yeah, you know what? Change and get back to the works. Get back to what you were doing. Otherwise, I'm going to remove the candlestick." Well, the candlestick is not symbolic of the Holy Spirit. You can't just put symbolism wherever you want it. Hey, if you don't repent, God's going to remove your candlestick. Candlestick is not symbolism of the Holy Spirit in the Bible. You can't just make up symbolism wherever you want it. It's not what it's referring to. It's referring to the local church. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 7.

Now 2 Corinthians 7 is a church epistle. It's written to a church. It's written to the church of Corinth. Now, of course, there's first Corinthians, which Paul wrote to the first church of Corinth. And with the church of Corinth, there is a problem that there was a man sleeping with his father's wife. Not sleeping with his mother, but his father had apparently remarried. Okay, regardless, that's perverted.

That's weird. And the Bible says "it is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife." That's not even common in the world. I mean, outside of a Baptist church, if someone said that they were involved with their father's wife, people would be like, "What is wrong with you?" It's like, you're a pervert, right? I mean, that's a very perverse and major sin. And he writes this letter, 2 Corinthians, after the fact. Notice what it says in 2 Corinthians 7:8.

"For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent." And what he's saying is, I wrote 1 Corinthians. And he's like, "You felt sorry. You felt bad when I wrote the letter and I do not present tense repent of that." He says, "Though I did repent." What he's saying is when I first wrote the letter, I kind of changed my mind. I felt bad about it. I wondered if I made a mistake. But he's saying I do not repent now. Although when I first wrote it, I was kind of like, I don't want to write this, right?

"For I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance." He's saying, "I wasn't happy that I made you feel bad, but I'm happy that you sorrowed to repentance." "For ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing." And what he's saying is this, that if you had not repented, if you had not changed your actions and dealt with the problem, he says you would have received damage from us. You say, "What does that mean? Damage from us." Look, if I preach a sermon against drinking alcohol and you hear that sermon and you see what the Bible says and you understand what the Bible's saying is true and you don't apply it, you are held accountable for what you hear and you're going to receive damage by the words. Did you know that simply going to church and hearing the truth does not mean it's going to benefit you? If you don't apply it, it's going to cause you damage. It's going to cause you God's judgment. You're held accountable.

Doesn't it make common sense if you raise kids? If you explicitly tell your kids, "Don't do this," and then you see them do it a minute later, they're accountable because you just told them, right? But he's saying they repented. And here's the thing, he's not happy that they were sorry. These repent-of-sins preachers and street preachers stand out on the street and scream at people, you're a drunk, you're this, you're that. And people are throwing stuff at them. And they're so happy that people are mad. It's like, well, that's not Paul the apostle. He's happy that they changed.

Not happy that he made people mad. Like, why do you want to make people miserable? It's not a goal I have when I preach. I'm not trying to make people feel bad. It's like, man, what a great day it was. I saw two people cry during the sermon. I'm so happy with myself. It's like, what's wrong with you? Paul didn't want to see people cry or make people feel miserable. What he's happy about is he preached the truth and they changed. They had sorrow to repentance. Verse number 10, "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death."

Now, people point to this phrase. This is probably the most common one they'll point to and say, well, see, repentance of sins is required for salvation. Number one, this is a church. Now, I do believe you can apply it to an individual, but it is to a church. But here's the thing. When it says godly sorrow work repentance to salvation, it's not referring to getting saved. They're already saved. These are believers.

You say, "Well, how does godly sorrow work repentance?" Well, the example I just gave, if I preached on alcohol and as a result of the sermon, you quit drinking, you saved your kidney, you saved your liver, you saved another 25 years of your life. You're going to live longer now. You saved destroying your marriage. You saved destroying your job. You saved destroying raising your kids.

Often in the Bible, the word saved or salvation has nothing to do with getting to heaven. For example, I mean, Paul said in the book of Acts, "Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved." So, if you don't stay in this boat, you're going to go to hell. Is that what he was saying? No. What he's saying is there's a storm and if you get out of the boat, you're going to be destroyed physically. But he's not talking about going to heaven or hell. And when he says, "Work repentance to salvation." What he's saying is this. When you hear the truth and you apply it to your life, it saves you from destroying your life. Did you know that? I mean, here's the thing. If you don't apply the message, it will give you damage. But if you do apply it, it's going to help benefit you. It's going to help heal you. It's help going to help save you from a multitude of problems in your life.

Coming to a church like this, if you come to a church and you hear the preaching, it will benefit your life. It will save you from making bad choices. It will help you from destroying your life. This has nothing to do with being saved from going to hell, though. They're already saved.

Okay? And the key is not to be repented of. Not to be repented of is you don't go back on it. You don't change your mind about it. So basically, you make a change. And what godly sorrow is is where you change your mind and it's permanent. For example, go to Titus 2.

Everybody who gets in trouble feels sorry when they get caught. Everybody. Even serial killers, they feel sorry when they get caught. It doesn't mean they feel sorry about what they did. And here's the thing, there's godly sorrow and worldly sorrow. The best way to explain this in the Bible or comparison is King Saul versus King David. King Saul, when he got rebuked, he did not have godly sorrow. He felt bad that he was getting rebuked. He felt bad that he was embarrassed. But he went back and did the same thing. David, on the other hand, what he did was probably worse. But when he got rebuked, he had godly sorrow, not to be repented of. He didn't go back and do the same thing. He changed when he got rebuked by Nathan. Right? And so what the Bible's saying in 2 Corinthians is this church had a major sin in First Corinthians. They repented of it. They changed. They got right. And you know what? The church's candlestick was not removed. They were saved from that destruction. Number one, repent of belief is necessary for salvation.

Number two, repentance of sins is work salvation. Number three, repentance of sins should take place after salvation. It has nothing to do with being saved. There's not a guarantee it will take place, but it's something that God wants you to do after you're saved. I mean, we believe in repentance at this church. You say, "Brother Saki, you guys don't believe in repentance." Well, we believe in repentance of belief, which you don't believe. And you know what? We also believe in repentance of sins, just not for salvation.

Bible says in Titus 2:11, "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men." Jesus died for everybody. But notice this, teaching us. The us is referring to people that are saved. Right? Jesus died for everybody, but it doesn't teach everybody that "denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world." It teaches us that that are saved. It teaches us. I mean, when you understand what Jesus Christ did for you, even though you don't have to change at all and you don't have to commit your life to God and even though you might not ever commit your life to God, there is a realization of the fact that since Jesus did that for you, I should do what God says. Before you're saved, you don't really get it. I mean, everybody knows the Lord's name being used in vain is a sin. It's wrong. And yet many of us probably listen to music where they did it all the time before we were saved. Didn't think anything of it. But then after you're saved, there's just kind of this understanding. Well, wait a minute. I shouldn't do this. Jesus died and did everything for me. I should start to obey him. It doesn't mean you will, but you should live soberly. Go to 1 Peter 1.

I mean, you talk to people that aren't saved, they think it's bizarre that we don't get drunk. And to us, even if you don't know the Bible verses, I mean, I'll be honest with you. When I first got saved, I had no idea what the Bible said about drinking alcohol or rock music or anything like that. But right after I got saved, although I still struggled with certain sins, like listening to the wrong music, I just knew it was wrong. It's like I heard the Lord's name being used in vain. It's like, well, God obviously doesn't accept that, but I didn't really have that understanding before I was saved. I mean, it just didn't resonate with me. I didn't use the Lord's name in vain. I have never been a person to use curse words in any form, much less use the Lord's name in vain. But after I got saved, I was like, "Wow, I should have nothing to do with this." As someone who's saved, I just had that understanding. 1 Peter 1:13. "Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind." "Be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance." So when you were ignorant, you were not obedient. You just did whatever. You didn't think anything of it. And what he's saying is now you're saved. You're no longer ignorant. You can't use the excuse, well, I mean, I wasn't saved. I didn't know any better. It's like, well, now you are saved. And being saved teaches us that we should live soberly, righteously, and godly. The Bible says in verses 14 and 15, "but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." God calls you to live a holy life.

He expects you to obey his rules. Look my kids don't have to do anything to be my kids at all. They're my kids, but I expect them to obey what I say. This idea, well, I mean, we're saved by grace. We're not under the law, man. God still expects you to obey the law, though. Yeah, you don't have to do that to get to heaven, but God expects you to obey it. And here's the thing, at our church, what's interesting is we're like the exact opposite of these repentance of sins preachers. They teach that, you know, they don't have a firm belief on what you have to believe to be saved. As long as there's a general belief in Jesus and you repent of your sins, you're saved. Because repenting of their belief for salvation is not that important. Their evidence is works, not what you believe. Exact opposite of us.

Repentance of sins is a work salvation. We don't look at someone's life to determine if they're saved. We look at what they believe. But what's interesting is these same preachers that are really like you got to repent of your sins to be saved, they don't really preach hard against sins in churches, right? They don't have a high standard of living. As I said at the beginning, it's like Cain bringing of the fruit of the ground doesn't even bring anything impressive. I mean, I'm sure a lot of you think at my old church, they never preached against this and that, and you, Brother Stucky, are preaching against it. It's like what we wear, what we listen to, what we watch. Yeah. Because God has called us to holiness, right?

Christ is your life. He wants all of you. He wants to be pleased with you in all areas of your life. What you let go into your eyes, what you let go into your ears, your entire lifestyle, the way you live your life, the way you talk, the way you dress. Yes, God has called you to holiness. And being saved, you should repent of your sins, right? Because you already are saved. Not as an evidence for your salvation, not as a requirement to be saved, but because of the fact as we sing in our hymnal, he gave his life for us. And what hast thou given for him? I mean, he gave you his entire life. He died and paid for all of your sins.

And here's the thing, your life is not about you. In this room, the vast majority, if not everybody who's old enough is already saved at our church. This sermon did not just make you think, "Man, I've been here for 5 years. I always thought repenting of my sins got me saved." Nobody thought that. But here's the thing. What you can take away is this. If Christ died for you and is offering you a free gift. Look, if I gave you a phone as a gift, if it's a gift, you don't have to do anything for it and you don't have to do anything to pay it back. But isn't there just this general thing on the inside of you, or there should be, that if somebody gives you a gift, I should do something for them. Not that you have to because it was a gift, but it's like if they did something for me, I should do something for them, right?

And what does God want you to do? He wants your entire life. Now look, none of us are anywhere close to that level because none of us have repented of all of our sins. None of us are even close to that level of giving Christ our entire life. But you know what? That is what God has called you to. And God expects you every day to wake up and read his word, memorize his word, pray to God, meditate upon God, get sin out of your life, not talk the way the world talks, not watch the things the world watches. God expects you to repent of your sins. Why?

Not to be saved, not to prove you're saved. Because salvation is not us boasting about anything, but because of the fact he gave you a gift and he's commanding us to do it. We're not paying back the gift. We'll get rewards for repenting of every sin that we repent of after we're saved. We get rewards for what we do. But that's what God expects from you. He expects you to repent of your sins and obey him because you're already saved. He wants you to obey his commandments.

Let's close in a word of prayer.

Dear heavenly father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and ask you to help us to understand this sermon. Ask you to help us to be able to explain this to other people that are confused about repentance, what repentance is, what it is not, God, and what exactly we have to change about our lives before we're saved, which is just simply our belief, God. And help us be able to go out today, later today, and give us fair weather so we can preach this and teach this to other people that they can repent of their belief, change their mind about what they believe, and believe on you for salvation. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.