Titus 3:4-7, “But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
The Greek verb for “repent” is metanoeo, which translated into English means: “to think differently.” Repentance does not mean to turn from sin. That would add works to salvation. Jonah 3:10, “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.” Turning from one's sins is works.
Also, please take note that God Himself repented in Jonah 3:10. We learn in Titus 1:2 and James 1:13 that God is incapable of sinning. So, how could God repent if the word means to to turn from one's sins? Obviously the word “repent” in the inspired Holy Bible does NOT mean to forsake a lifestyle of sinning, abandon the world, nor turn from one's sinful ways. To repent simply means to change one's mind “toward God” (Acts 20:21). It means to think differently.
Pastor Brad Strand does an excellent job explaining biblical repentance. Dear reader, very few pastors rightly divide the Word of Truth. It was the same 2,500 years ago during ancient biblical times. Jeremiah 5:30-31, “A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?” There is an estimated 350,000 churches in the United States. Tragically, 99% of them are wicked false religions, cults, fun centers and social clubs. New Testament churches are becoming as an extinct animal on the endangered species list.
Repentance for salvation means a change of mind from men's ideas of salvation and religion, to an acceptance of Gods only way of salvation.
This results in a completely new creation, not a reformation of the old. The old nature remains as evil as ever after salvation and has not been reformed. The old nature can now be put under subjection by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, as we continue to yield ourselves daily to Him and walk in God's will (Ephesians 5:18; Galatians 5:16).
The moment you trust (rely upon) Jesus alone by faith as your personal Savior, you receive God's free gift of Eternal Life (Romans 6:23). That same moment you are baptized into the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:16; Galatians 3:27). He seals you (Ephesians 1:13-14, 4:30). He indwells you (1 Corinthians 3:16; John 14:17; 1st John 3:24). 1st Thessalonians 4:8, “He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.” The only thing that a believer receives at the time of salvation is the gift of the Holy Spirit, who lives inside of every child of God (Romans 8:9; 1st John 3:24).
Living Versus Walking In The Holy Spirit
Galatians 5:25, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” If you have been born again by faith in Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:26; 1st Peter 1:23), then you are alive (quickened) in the Holy Spirit of God; but you must daily choose now to walk in the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Christian life must be lived on purpose. By default humans walk in the flesh. No matter how spiritually close to God you may be on Sunday evening, when you wake up on Monday morning you will be carnal. By default we are all carnally minded and selfish.
This is why the Scripture teaches us to seek God early. Psalms 63:1, “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;” It is highly advisable to have early morning devotions; a time each day when we search the Scripture (John 5:39), pray (Philippians 4:8-9) and fellowship with our Creator (James 4:8-10). I enjoy knowing that God enjoys my fellowship.
The word “carne” in Spanish translates to “meat” or “flesh” in English. Hence, to be “carnally-minded” means to think within the temporal realm of humanity (as versus spiritual things).
1st Corinthians 2:14-16, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”
For a born again believer who walks closely with the dear Lord, and has the unconditional love of God abounding in our soul toward all mankind, it is very easy to forget that the world is full of unsaved sinners who do not know the love of God. I too forget this terrible fact oftentimes, bewildered by the cruel and wicked things that people do. But then the Holy Spirit reminds me that the unsaved person cannot see the Holy Spirit, because they do not know Him.
John 14:17, “Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” An unsaved man doesn't have the Holy Spirit, neither can that man know Him. This is an important truth to learn dear reader. The lost person thinks totally different than a redeemed child of God does.
This is what 2nd Corinthians 5:17 means, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” I get sick and tired of wicked neo-evangelicals who preach their damnable lies of Misunderstood Repentance (aka, the “turn from your sins” to be saved heresy) and Lordship Salvation, using 2nd Corinthians 5:17 as their Go-to Scripture passage. The Bible is simply saying that when someone partakes of the new birth by the Holy Spirit of God, the eyes of their spiritual understanding are now opened. They can no discern spiritual things because the indwelling Holy Spirit “will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13b).
For the born again believer, it is a sin not to walk in obedience to the Holy Spirit...
Romans 8:6-7, “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”
To be filled of the Holy Ghost is what determines the success and the growth in the life of a believer (Joshua 1:8). A believer becomes fruitful as he or she submits and yields to the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25; Romans 12:1-2; John 15:4-8). Ephesians 4:23-24, “And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”
- God guarantees salvation to “him that believeth” (1st Corinthians 1:21).
- God guarantees a “reward” to the saint that labors for Christ (1st Corinthians 3:8)
- God guarantees “chastisement” and “loss” of rewards to the disobedient son (Hebrews 12:6-8; 1st Corinthians 3:15).
I repeat again! Shallow Christianity cannot be remedied by adding works to salvation. Salvation is not the result of what we do, it is the result of our faith in what Jesus did through Calvary's cross. We are saved by His blood (1st Peter 1:19-19).
Here is a wonderful passage of Scripture about our precious Savior...
Acts 13:38-39, “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.”
In the next verse “repentance” means “to think differently” toward God. The Bible does not say to turn from your sins, turn over a new leaf, forsake the world nor surrender all to Christ to be saved; it says to repent toward God. That is, you need to agree with God that you are a guilty sinner (Romans 3:19-20), and then turn to Jesus in faith to be saved (Galatians 3:26).
Acts 20:20-21, “And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house, Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Dear reader, to avoid confusing people and corrupting God's simple plan of salvation, we absolutely must keep discipleship (service) completely separate from sonship (salvation). My favorite preacher's quote is from Pilgrim's Progress author John Bunyan (1628-1688)...
“If you do not put a difference between justification wrought by the man Christ without and sanctification wrought by the Spirit of Christ within, you are not able to divide the Word aright; but contrariwise, you corrupt the Word of God, and cast stumbling blocks before the people.” [emphasis added] —Evangelist John Bunyan
John Bunyan was exposing the Lordship Salvation heresy of his generation. In every generation since the beginning of human civilization, there have been ungodly false prophets who mix works with grace to pervert the Gospel of free grace. The reason why they do it is in a futile attempt to force people to live a holy life. Preachers get tired of seeing professed Christians who live like the Devil. So, instead of preaching against sin as the Bible commands in Isaiah 58:1 and 1st Timothy 5:20, they corrupt God's simple plan of salvation in an attempt to scare lost sinners to forsake their sinful bad habits, and in so doing bring God's judgment upon themselves for preaching another gospel (Galatians 1:6-9).
Woe unto the Lordship Salvation crowd! Woe unto any lying pastor who says that you must “repent of your sins” to get to Heaven. No such requirement is found in the inspired King James Bible. Wicked men added those words to the Holy Bible (Proverbs 30:5-6). Bible repentance is simply acknowledging THE TRUTH that you are a guilty sinner in the sight of a holy God, and believing that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, the Christ (John 20:31). This is salvation. Behavior modification is an entirely separate matter of service (Romans 12:1).
All scriptures are quoted from the inspired King James Bible. Thank you for reading my ministry blog. Jesus is precious!
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