Six Reasons Why You Don't Need To Repent Of Your Sins To Be Saved

Unfortunately, false religion has infiltrated many once doctrinally sound New Testament churches, perverting their doctrine and turning them into religious cults. One of the biggest deceptions which Satan has crept into churches today is False Repentance (human reformation). In his helpful book titled: 'Enemies Of Soul Winning,' Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001) gives six reasons why you DO NOT need to repent of your sins to be saved:

1. God says to the unsaved, "Repent of your unbelief."

It's very interesting that in I John the word "repentance" is never mentioned, and yet the purpose of I John was to give people the assurance of salvation. I John 5:13, "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." Of course, repentance is certainly implied throughout the entire book, because the book tells us that what saves is believing on Christ (or relying on Him) to save, which, of course, implies that that person must repent of what makes him lost, which is unbelief.

2. God says to the saved people, "Repent of sin."

This is done by the Holy Spirit as He comes in to live to remind us to take the clothes off the bedpost, the shirt off the chair, put the shoes into the closet, etc.

3. If a person must repent of his sins to be saved, of what sins must he repent?

Can he repent of all of them? Isn't that sinless perfection or holiness? Isn't that salvation by works? Of what sin must one repent? He must repent of the sin that makes him lost, and that's the sin of unbelief.

4. If turning from sins would get you saved, then turning back to sins would get you lost.

In Acts 16:30 the very simple question is asked, "What must I do to be saved?" This is the one time in the Bible where this question is asked. Now the answer to this question must be what saves a person. Acts 16:31, "And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." There's the answer—belief. There is nothing about repentance here, except, yes, there is something about repentance, because you can't believe without repenting from unbelief.

5. If a person has to clean up his own life before he gets saved, we are back to Arminianism or salvation by works.

6. We cannot do what the Holy Spirit can do.

The Holy Spirit first convicts us of our sin of unbelief to bring us to Christ. Once He brings us to Christ, He comes in us to live. Romans 8:9, "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." I Corinthians 6:19, 20, "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."

Then when the Holy Spirit is in us, He begins to convict us of things in our lives that should be changed. Then the Christian life becomes a constant repenting until we wake in the likeness of Christ.

SOURCE: Pastor Jack Hyles, 'Enemies Of Soul Winning'; chapter 4, 'Misunderstood Repentance'

Amen and amen! Not one verse in the inspired King James Bible teaches that to get to Heaven you must forsake a lifestyle of sinning. Neither does the inspired Word of God teach that you must “be willing” to turn away from sinful bad habits. Yet, in nearly every Baptist church today, you will hear such blatant lies preached from the pulpit, telling lost sinners that if they desire to go to Heaven they must forsake their past sinful ways, and promise to do their best to follow Christ for the rest of their life. No such teachings are found in the Holy Bible.

In God's true plan of salvation, you simply come to God as a wretched sinner with nothing to offer, because we have nothing to offer God. Our best self-righteousness is utter contemptible filth to God (Isaiah 64:6). You come to God just as you are, as a hellbound wretched sinner! Someone is saved the moment they receive Christ's sacrifice on the cross as full-payment for their sins, believing that Jesus was buried, but then resurrected bodily from the dead three days later. This is “the gospel” (1st Corinthians 15:1-6), by which all who BELIEVE IT are saved instantly and permanently (Romans 1:16).

Judas repented of his sins and still went to Hell (Matthew 27:3). That is because you cannot be saved by turning from your sins. Judas felt guilt (penitence). He returned the 30 pieces of silver (penance). He had turned from his sins (reformation). But dear reader, you don't get to Heaven through penitence, penance and reformation; you go to Heaven because you trust (rely, faith) in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 20:31, “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” Are you starting to get the big picture?

When a sincere but misguided preacher insists that you must repent AND believe, teaching that you must be willing to turn from your sinful bad habits to be saved, he is preaching another gospel (2nd Corinthians 11:3-4). That man is a bold-faced liar! Not one verse in the entire inspired Word of God requires that you be willing to forsake a sinful lifestyle, give up the world, turn over a new leaf, change your bad behavior or surrender “all” to Christ to be saved.

One of my favorite free grace preachers is Pastor Harry A. Ironside (1876-1951), who wrote these edifying words in his Gospel tract titled, 'What Is The Gospel?' ...

“The Gospel is not a call to repentance, or to amendment of our ways, to make restitution for past sins, or to promise to do better in the future. These things are proper in their place, but they do not constitute the Gospel; for the Gospel is not good advice to be obeyed, it is Good News to be believed. Do not make the mistake then of thinking that the Gospel is a call to duty or a call to reformation, a call to better your condition, to behave yourself in a more perfect way than you have been doing in the past …Nor is the Gospel a demand that you give up the world, that you give up your sins, that you break off bad habits, and try to cultivate good ones. You may do all these things, and yet never believe the Gospel and consequently never be saved at all.”

SOURCE: Harry A. Ironside, from the tract: 'What Is The Gospel?'

I couldn't have said it any better myself. I sure appreciate guys like Harry Ironside, who fully understood God's simple plan of salvation. While in the whale's belly, the prophet Jonah pondered the biblical truth that, “Salvation is of the LORD” (Jonah 2:9b). The only thing that we contribute to our own salvation is the sin that made it necessary. Right doctrine matters!

There are two great divisions today in the evangelical world:

1. NEO-EVANGELICALS - The first group is the “repent of your sins” crowd. These are neo-evangelicals (and neo-fundamentalists who masquerade as fundamentalists). This is the Lordship Salvation camp who combine (mix) works with grace, service with salvation, discipleship with sonship, and sanctification with justification. This group errantly preaches that you must repent AND believe. Their perverse grasp of repentance is viewed as a sincere desire to cease from one's past sinful behavior, and commit to live a changed life moving forward. This group includes Pensacola Christian College, Bob Jones University, Faith Baptist Bible College, 'Unshackled' radio, Pacific Garden Mission, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, et cetera.
2. FUNDAMENTALISTS - This is the easy-believism camp. The man who believes has automatically repented. That is, he has laid aside his wrong thoughts to embrace faith in the Good news of Jesus Christ crucified, buried and risen. Service must be kept separate from salvation. Discipleship must be kept separate from sonship. Repentance is simply a change of mind, nothing more. You change your mind to believe the Gospel, which is what Mark 1:15 means. One's behavior or attitude toward one's behavior has absolutely nothing to do with receiving God's free gift of eternal life, which Jesus has already paid for in full with His precious blood. Such free grace preachers include: Harry Ironside, Jack Hyles, Curtis Hutson, Steven Anderson, M.R. DeHaan, Max Younce, Ralph Yankee Arnold, Hank Lindstrom, Ray Stanford and John Bunyan.

Galatians 1:6-9 teaches that there is only one Gospel, not two or more. Of the two preceding plans of salvation, either one or both may be false, but both cannot be correct.