Is Repentance Necessary for Salvation?
By Evangelist Robert Nicholson
Text: II Peter 3:9
Introduction:
We are living in a day of convenience. We have fast food. We have instant teller machines at the bank; speedy (or sometimes not) checkouts at the grocery store; drive up stores; microwave meals, and the list goes on and on. The attitude of convenience has even crept into our churches. People are in a hurry. It seems as though the attitude is, “You have one hour to bless me preacher.” Even salvation: the greatest gift that Gad has given to man seems to be subject to our modern day thinking of convenience. We find many who believe that receiving the gift of God is simply a one, two, repeat after me affair. As a result there are multitudes of people whose lives have never changed walking our streets or working beside us who have a false hope of Heaven. These are the folks who profess to be saved, yet live like hell. They are the ones who occasionally bless us by their presence in services and when asked about their spiritual state…”of course I am saved. I came forward, said a prayer and was baptized.”
What about repentance? Where does it fit into the scheme of things? Is repentance a necessary part of salvation, or is it acceptable to say a few words and go back to the same lifestyle that one has been living. Let’s look at the subject of repentance in light of salvation. To do this the first thing we must understand is:
WHAT MAKES A PERSON
LOST
In the gospel of John chapter 3 and verse 18 God’s word says “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
It is very clear in this verse what it is that makes a person lost. Notice the words, “he that believeth not is condemned already”. A person who does not believe is condemned, so not believing is what makes a person lost. We must bear in mind the word “believeth”. Belief is the central thought of this and other key verses in God’s word concerning salvation.
The word believeth is the Greek word “pisteuo” which means “to
rely upon or commit to one’s trust.”
When a person believes on Christ, he is simply relying upon HIM to save
him and take him to Heaven when he dies.
II Timothy
Back to John 3:18…notice the last phrase in that verse. “because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” We are told what makes a person lost – not believing in the name of the only begotten Son of God – Jesus. It is as simple as that.
John
Once again we are attempting to determine what it is that makes a person lost. And, once again it is made perfectly clear by the Word of God. “: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” What prevents a person from seeing life? Believing not! What makes the wrath of God abide on a person? Believing not! So what must a person repent in order to be saved? He must repent of that which makes him lost.
Since “believing not” makes him lost, then “believing” (relying upon Christ) makes him saved. The repentance then is turning from that which keeps him from being saved to that which saves him. There is a repentance from unbelief in order to believe. It is simply a change of direction. You change your direction; you change your mind. With your will you believe and rely upon Christ to save you. In order to believe, you have to repent of your unbelief. That which makes a man lost must be corrected.
John
Isaiah 53:6 “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Direct your attention to the phrase “we have turned every one to his own way”. That is what not being saved is – turning to our own way. Now if we turn to God’s way, putting our faith and trust in Jesus, we turn from going our own way to going His, from unbelief to belief. This is Bible repentance. It is faith that saves. The turning around is necessary in order to put our faith in Christ.
A person must repent of that thing that prevents them from being saved in order to be saved. If a person were saved by good works then he would have to repent of bad works, or of not doing good works, in order to be saved. If a person were saved by quitting sinning, then he would have to repent of sinning in order to be saved. A person is saved by believing, so he must repent or turn from his unbelief and turn to Christ in order to be saved.
Let us now look at some verses that teach us we are saved by belief. (We must remember that belief in relation to salvation is relying on Jesus and committing your souls into His hands.)
John
John
John
John
Acts
There are those who say we have to repent of all our sins in
order to be saved. If a person has to
turn from his sins in order to be saved, what sins does he turn from? Does he turn from pride? Does he turn from selfishness? Does he turn from covetousness? A person who realizes he needs to be saved
realizes only that his need is to “turn to” Christ. The “turning from” is the natural outgrowth
of “turning to”. II Corinthians
Let us suppose I get on a plane, and I am trusting the pilot
to take me to
Now the stewardess comes back to where I am sitting and says, “Mr. Nicholson, what are you doing?” I reply, “Oh, I’m just cutting up a little.”
Then suppose I just reach up and cut off a piece of her
hair. Now where am I going? I’m still going to
The distraught stewardess goes to the pilot and tells him
that I am causing a disturbance and asks him to come deal with me. He leaves the plane in the hands of the
copilot and comes back to where I am and asks me what I am doing. He looks at the seat I have cut up, and the
hair I have cut from the stewardess, and I just reach out and cut off his
tie. Now where am I going? I am still going to
When we put our faith and trust in Jesus, and repent of our unbelief, and believe, God’s Holy Spirit comes in to live and begins to straighten us out. He points out our sins, and as we yield to Him, He cleanses us from our sins. If we misbehave on our journey, we are still going to Heaven, because we go to Heaven by trusting Jesus to take us there. The Holy Spirit who came in to live begins pointing out things we should and should not do. If we don’t obey Him, if we misbehave on the journey, we will still go to Heaven, we just won’t enjoy the trip as well as if we had behaved, just as wouldn’t enjoy Denver as much as if I had behaved.
Practically every false doctrine comes from getting things out of order. God’s divine order is salvation, then change; NOT change, then salvation! If one has to be changed to be saved, that is salvation by works. It is also salvation by the flesh. The truth is one is cleansed from the sins of the flesh just as he is saved; by yielding to the Holy Spirit and letting Him do His work.
YOU CAN REPENT OF THINGS OTHER THAN UNBELIEF
Matthew 27:3 “Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,”
Notice that Judas repented. Now, what does that mean? It means that he repented about keeping the money. He had sold our Saviour for thirty pieces of silver; he changed his mind and took the silver back.
A change of mind and a change of direction took place, but it had nothing to do with salvation. He had made a bad deal. He regretted he had made the deal, and now was trying to correct it.
Everybody at some pint in their life repents of sin, but that does not mean they repent of unbelief. They change their mind about sin. No one lives in sin without later realizing that it did not bring the joy, happiness, peace, and contentment that it claimed to bring. I have talked to many a person who was tired of their sinful life or living a miserable, wretched life because of the results of sin. What have they done? They have changed their mind about their sin, and in some cases have even quit their sin – at least the sin that most predominant in their lives. You can repent of sin without repenting of unbelief. Such was the case with Judas. No doubt he had repented that he had done wrong. He certainly repented of the bad deal he had made. He turned around, changed his mind and brought the money back, but he did not repent of that thing which he must repent in order to be saved -- unbelief.
You can repent from impatience to patience, but those things don’t save a person. Repenting from the thing that makes you lost is the thing that makes you saved, and that is repentance from unbelief.
LET US NOW CONSIDER REPENTANCE IN LIGHT OF SALVATION
Acts
Peter is preaching here and he tells the people that their
need is to repent and be converted.
Repent from what? In order to
answer that question we must go back to what saves. John
3:14-16 “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have eternal life. For God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
John
John
Acts
These people had to repent from not believing to believing that they might be converted. They had to change direction; they had to change their minds.
Let me say that I don’t believe that a Christian should live like the devil. I believe that the separation in a Christian’s life is a work of the Holy Spirit and until a person repents of that which makes them lost, unbelief, that the Holy Spirit may abide in them, then there will be no separation.
It is only after a person becomes “born again” that the Holy Spirit may begin His work of cleaning up a person’s life.
Acts
What Peter is saying here is “change your mind and be baptized”. Now, of what did they change their minds? The answer is found in verse 41. Look at their response. “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized:” So what was this repentance? It was repentance from not receiving His word to receiving His word. That is all Peter was saying. He was saying “change your mind about receiving the Word”, which states that you must believe and repent from unbelief in order to be saved.
Mark
Jesus himself is saying to repent. Notice how He says it. “Repent … and believe.” What he is saying is, “Quit unbelieving and believe.” Now, once again I want to stress the point that a Christian has no business trying to live like the devil, and I am saying that simply saying that changing your life does not save you. That is salvation by works. It is faith that saves you.
Ephesians 2:8-9 “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.”
You turn from unbelief to belief; from no faith to faith; and the repentance from sin begins, because He who convicted you of the sin of unbelief to believing now lives in you. How easy it is now for Him to convict you day by day of other things from which you can repent and about which you can change your mind.
YOU TOO CAN REPENT AND BE SAVED
If you have never been born again you can do so right now.
First you must acknowledge you are a sinner.
Romans
Yes, we are all sinners. I am a sinner, you are a sinner; all are sinners. Every man, woman, boy and girl since the day of Adam were sinners.
Romans 5:12 "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."
You and I deserve death.
Romans 6:23a "For the wages of sin is death..."
Hebrews
Revelation
Secondly, realize that someone paid your sin debt for you.
Jesus paid your sin debt to God. It cost you nothing, but cost Jesus his life.
Romans 5:8 "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Romans 6:23b "...but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
A gift is not something that is earned. A gift is given without provision of payment on your part.
Romans 5:18 "Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life."
Thirdly, accept God's gift of salvation.
It is not enough to just know about Jesus.
James
You MUST repent of your sin and accept Jesus as YOUR Saviour. Repentance is simply turning from your sin and turning to Christ.
Romans 10:9-10 "That if thou (your name) shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him (JESUS) from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
Romans 10:13 "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
Friend, if you are ready to stop trying to get to Heaven your way, and are willing to completely trust in Jesus Christ by faith, then you can be saved right now. Just bow your head and pray to God in your own words, admitting that you are a sinner that deserves hell, and are now putting your faith in Jesus and would like for Him to save you and change your life.