Why Repentance Is Not An Issue To Worry About

We've got a bunch of preachers all drawing their own lines on what repentance means. But we don't need to do that! We already KNOW what it means: "A CHANGE OF MIND." Repentance and believing happen at the same time! I love what Spurgeon said:

“Repentance will not make you see Christ; but to see Christ will give you repentance. You may not make a Christ out of your repentance, but you must look for repentance to Christ. The Holy Ghost, by turning us to Christ, turns us from sin. Look away, then, from the effect to the cause, from your own repenting to the Lord Jesus, who is exalted on high to give repentance.” —Pastor Charles Spurgeon; “All Of Grace,” Chapter 11 - “Alas! I Can Do Nothing”

We have heard that "turning from sin" is so awful, horrible and unbiblical that we freak out at the very mention of the term. But repentance is a turn (a change of mind). I think Pastor Harry Ironside (1876-1951) nailed it 100% correct:

“Which comes first, repentance or faith? In Scripture we read, 'Repent ye, and believe the gospel.' Yet we find true believers exhorted to 'repent, and do the first works.' So intimately are the two related that you cannot have one without the other. The man who believes God repents; the repentant soul puts his trust in the Lord when the Gospel is revealed to him. Theologians may wrangle over this, but the fact is, no man repents until the Holy Spirit produces repentance in his soul through the truth. No man believes the Gospel and rests in it for his own salvation until he has judged himself as a needy sinner before God. And this is repentance.” (Except Ye Repent, p. 16)

I have no problem with repentance as turning from sin in the limited sense of a man turning to Christ from the condemnation that sin brings, which is death. That is what Dr. John R. Rice (1895-1980) meant in this quote:

There are those hyper-dispensationalists who think that John the Baptist preached a different Gospel from Christ when he commanded repentance (Matt. 3:2). But it is the same repentance Jesus commanded in Matthew 4:17, in Luke 13:3 and 5, and the same repentance that Paul preached in Athens that God “now commandeth all men every where to repent” (Acts 17:30 31). Repentance is not a different plan of salvation from having faith: it is part of the same plan of salvation. Or rather repentance is simply another way of describing or looking at the plan of salvation. One who turns from sin to God has done so by trusting in Jesus Christ. A change of mind toward sin is necessarily involved in saving faith. [emphasis added] SOURCE: Evangelist John R. Rice, “Acts: Filled With The Spirit,” pp. 251-252; Sword Of The Lord, Murfreesboro, Tennessee; ©1963

Dr. Rice understood that believing on Christ IS TO TURN FROM SIN. I have no problem with that! But this is not what most preachers mean today when they tell you to repent “OF YOUR SINS” or “TURN FROM YOUR SINS.” They all draw the line in different places. Some say you must literally cease from a lifestyle of sinful behavior (this is what Bob Jones University teaches). Others say that you must only be willing to turn from sin (that is what Jack Chick and David Cloud teach). And then some preachers, like Phil Kidd and Sam Adams, teach that you didn't get saved unless you're life has visibly changed. Folks, we don't need to draw any lines, thankfully, because getting saved does not involve our attitude toward forsaking sin in our life, not one bit. Getting saved has nothing to do with your behavior, neither before or after you get born-again. Salvation is exclusively of the Lord (Jonah 2:9). Our part is only to BELIEVE. John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”

Oh foolish preachers! The Bible plainly teaches that the only purpose of the law in salvation is to give men THE KNOWLEDGE OF SIN!!! Repentance is a change of mind toward God, so that you BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST to be saved (Acts 16:30-31). You don't need to forsake the world, promise to do better in the future, turn away from your sinful ways, or turn over a new leaf to receive God's FREE GIFT (Romans 5:15). Jesus Christ made the payment for your sins on the cross. Salvation is strictly a matter of admitting you are a guilty sinner and accepting Jesus' sacrifice on the cross as full payment for your sins. That's it dear friend! FOR BY THE LAW IS THE KNOWLEDGE OF SIN!!! ...

Romans 3:19-20, “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”

Repentance only involves our attitude toward our legal status in God's court system. We think differently toward God. We stop boasting of our own self-righteous WORKS and REST in Christ alone. The Bible says we are GUILTY! That is exactly what Romans 3:19 teaches, and is the very purpose for which the Old Testament law was given. Christ has already made the payment for our crimes. God the Father is our eternal Judge. To Be saved we must receive Christ's payment. We do this by faith, simply by taking God at His Word as recorded in the Holy Bible. Our attitude toward committing further sins has absolutely NOTHING to do with the fact that Jesus has already made full payment for our crimes. I wish preachers would understand this great Bible truth! JESUS PAID IT ALL!!!

God gave the law to silence every mouth, so that every human being would BECOME GUILTY before God (Romans 3:19-20). Repentance is a change of mind that causes a man to BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST TO BE SAVED. Pastor Sam Adams gets that 100% correct, but then he goes horribly astray by making repentance something more, claiming that it involves a strong desire to forsake one's sins. Clearly we know that this is not Bible repentance, because it requires a sinner to commit to reform to be saved. This goes far beyond giving “THE KNOWLDGE OF SIN,” which is the sole purpose of God's law in salvation. Repentance is entirely a matter of “acknowledging of the truth” (2nd Timothy 2:25b).

"Repentance is the recognition of my sinnership — the owning before God that I am as vile as He has declared me to be in His holy Word." SOURCE: Except Ye Repent, by Dr. Harry Ironside, chapter 3

The Bible doesn't recognize repentance as being an act different from believing. So we don't need to worry about it. If you know you are a sinner in need of salvation, that is all you need to know. Simply believe that Christ died on the cross for your sins. Believe that He was buried and three days later Christ bodily resurrected (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). If that is your only hope for Heaven you are saved eternally.