Literally , it's a change of mind . Right ? We need to change your mind on us being on the throne . Change that , because that's not right . And putting God on the throne because that's where he is at . Thomas Brooks would say that repentance is a vomit of the soul . Right , very graphic .
Speaker 2What a way to put it Get to bring that up fence .
Speaker 1You know . It's the place of recognizing and realizing who God is and truth , and it's a turning to him . Now , ezy , you had mentioned that God grants repentance and that's what Second Timothy I believe it is . It tells us that God grants repentance . That leads to the truth . Mark Devers said it is a turning from the sins you love to the holy God you're called to love .
Speaker 2This is the Living Waters Riddled Marathon , where we have a marathon with riddles . Here we go , guys , as fast as you can . What has to be broken before you can use it ? Cheese eggs , ooh , oscar . Good , I'm tall when I'm young and I'm short when I'm old . What am I , ray Comfort ? What A candle moving right along . What month of the year has 28 days ? February , mark , mark , I was right too , brother . Nice try , oscar . What is full of holes but still holds ?
Speaker 4water Cheese .
Speaker 2Sponge , Sponge . Are you cheating Mark ? Hey , was I right ? I'm typing as fast as you're doing it .
Speaker 1Brilliant one .
Speaker 2What questions can you never answer yes to no ?
Speaker 1The one's that the answer's no . Yeah , Ray's right , Are you asleep yet ?
Speaker 2I asked you that every night .
Speaker 3Every night I annoy by saying you're asleep yet . That's a good one . Wake up , honey wake up .
Speaker 1wake up , Are you asleep ? What ?
Speaker 2is always in front of you , but can't be asleep , can't be seen , you know it , your face , your nose Whoa . Hey , dude , you read me .
Speaker 4I'm not .
Speaker 3So what did you say , oscar the ?
Speaker 2future , the future .
Speaker 3Oh , that's interesting . Ok , but what have you never seen ? You've never seen your face . No one's ever seen their face , unless you read the book of .
Speaker 2Revelation there we go . There's a one story house in which everything is yellow yellow stairs , yellow doors , yellow furniture . What color are the stairs ?
Speaker 3It's canary , a dead canary , a dead canary .
Speaker 1Oh wrong riddle , there are no stairs ?
Speaker 2There aren't any . It's a one story house . What can you break , even if you never pick it up or touch it ? Your face , I promise .
Speaker 3What goes up but never comes down . Oh , it's the commandments . Your age , you missed it .
Speaker 2A man who was outside in the rain without an umbrella or he didn't get a single hair on his head wet .
Speaker 4A man was outside in the rain without a helmet , he's bald .
Speaker 2Why he's bald . Wow , who wins ? I didn't keep score . Oscar probably thought he won .
Speaker 4I always think I won .
Speaker 2He won , I won . All right , here is a comment . Why are we going from that to that ? You guys like riddles , I like riddles .
Speaker 4They're good ones . Our family does them a lot .
Speaker 2Have you guys ever had a situation where you had a riddle and you pondered it for days ?
Speaker 1Yeah , that's why we have the internet .
Speaker 2Frustrated to crack it , our family .
Speaker 1You would do that . Yeah , work smarter and harder ?
Speaker 2Yeah , you would . The whole point , Mark , is in the satisfaction of actually finding an answer with your own brain .
Speaker 3I get super satisfied by looking it up real quick .
Speaker 2Yeah , like watching the end of a rugby game . Before you watch the game , you know who won . Yeah , so then you can enjoy the game .
Speaker 3That's it . So you read the Bible .
Speaker 2Check the last chapter in your week , mark , can you do that Absolutely ?
Speaker 1Most movies I do that I watch the first five minutes and watch five minutes , forget movies , sports .
Speaker 2You would enjoy knowing if your team won or not and then watching the game .
Speaker 1No , yeah , well listen , if I come home and it's like midnight and I knew that my team won , I could stay for another two hours watching the game .
Speaker 2You would still watch the game ? Yeah , I knew my team won , if you knew , because you happened to hear . But would you purposefully find out before watching the game ?
Speaker 4It's not more boring to you .
Speaker 2Well , are you giving him money to say yes ?
Speaker 1Of course I would absolutely Whatever I would .
Speaker 2Yeah , that's how I have you ever All the time ? Would you , oscar , do that ? No , heck , can you just ask Oscar the same way you asked Mark ?
Speaker 3This is what you said to Mark Would you watch the game ? No , that's what you said asking the question . You know what ?
Speaker 2that's like . It's like saying I wish there was a way to get the full satisfaction of tasting all my food before I eat it . And then I'll eat it without any taste of the food .
Speaker 3That's a dumb analogy . That's going to be the dumbest analogy .
Speaker 2That's probably the most brilliant analogy I've ever come up with , probably . That's true . Oh , that's good , that is true , that is true . Anyway , enough of that , guys . Here's a comment from Mo from the H . Ok , now read it first so you don't stumble . Mo from the H , the G3 conference . My name is Moses . I had the privilege of meeting Easy the Weezy and Oscar today . My mind ran at 1,000 miles a second that . I don't remember what I stuttered . Easy is the same in person . It's a good thing and so is Oscar . I just wanted to hug Oscar , but I knew that would be weird . I love that .
Speaker 1It wasn't wearing a shirt .
Speaker 2I look up to all of y'all as you inspire me to be a great man of God . Ps Ray , I know you don't travel anymore , but one day , if God wills , I'll come to you . Laugh out loud that sounds great .
Speaker 1Well , let's give his address .
Speaker 2Ray's address is Thank you , Moses . What a blessing . It was a joy to meet you and I'm glad you didn't get to meet Mark or Ray .
Speaker 4I'll take a hug by the way I had this very sweet lady the other day walked up to me and she's like , can I just give you a hug ? I was like sure . She's like you blessed me so much . I was like it was a great day for me .
Speaker 2Why did she spit after hugging you ? She saw spider , yeah , but no , thank you , moses . If you're ever in the area , we'd love to see you drop by Living Waters . All right , friends , this podcast is brought to you by Divine Dining . Foods from the Bible , ray Ray , there's one with Lance right . I had someone recently come through the ministry and look at some of the titles of Ray's list and just shake their head like what Randomness . We should call you Ray dumbness , ray dumbness .
Speaker 3That just came to me . Yes , you can tell .
Speaker 2That was brilliant . Why , Ray ? Why would you write a book on cooking ? Why , Ray ? Why ?
Speaker 3By all means , by all means . It contains the gospel .
Speaker 2You wrote that book too , yes , yes , no , yes . Right , I've gone back to that one .
Speaker 3Yes , it used everything to reach . I mean , what a great gift to give to someone at Christmas A book on cooking from the Bible , and it contains the gospel and the introduction .
Speaker 2Amen , great book . We had fun filming that at our good friend Thomas Bertels' home . Yes , chef Lance , we did an episode on it too . We did too . Yes , but we also have the book Some good things . Check it out . And Chef Lance Netahara , great friend , great brother .
Speaker 3Would you say his name ?
Speaker 2correctly . He won chopped Lance Netahara .
Speaker 4And he was a sous chef for the team that won Iron Chef America and now he teaches at the Culinary Institute of America , New York . I mean , he is a very respected chef and an incredible evangelist too .
Speaker 2Yeah , great brother . All right friends , make sure to check that out , along with the Living Waters mug . A lot of these have gone out , by the way , and we got some funny pictures that came in .
Speaker 4Oh , they're so good , all that good stuff yeah .
Speaker 2Make sure to check them out along with . I'm excited about living waters .
Speaker 4Dot com .
Speaker 2Dot com . All right , continuing with the seemingly eternal . What is the gospel series ? We're getting close friends . To wrap it up , you've heard who is God ? The fall of man , jesus of Nazareth . Grace alone , faith alone . Today we are dealing with clearing up confusion about repentance .
Speaker 4MUSIC . Welcome back to what is the gospel . This is what is Repentance With me is Easy . Ray Comfort , Mark Spence and myself , Oscar Navarro , Welcome back , guys , Thank you I was just thinking is there ?
Speaker 2everything's always in three ? Three stuges , three musketeers . Is there anything for four dufuses , Four of a kind , Four of a kind .
Speaker 1That's a good thing , isn't it ? Poker Connect four ? I wouldn't know . Oh , you don't know .
Speaker 2Connect four .
Speaker 4Connect four . Four is nothing to know . All right , so we are discussing repentance . In the beginning of all of this . We started with why it's important to go through the gospel in this way , and I thought it'd be valuable to ask again why is this important ? Why is it important to sit down , mark , and discuss the details of what repentance is ?
Speaker 1In Mark 1.15 , we have the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry , and he began by giving the command to repent and to believe the gospel . And then again in Luke 13 , verse 3 , we'll cover that Probably multiple times here , but in verse 3 and in verse 5 , jesus said unless you repent , whatever that means , but unless you do it you will perish . So we're going to define that word in just a moment repentance . But there's such value attached to this word that unless you do this , you will go to hell
. Peter , one of the apostles he ended his most famous sermon . He ever preached by telling everyone who had believed in the name of Jesus to repent . And then we see the apostle Paul , the author of one third of the New Testament . He is pleading with people to have repentance and faith in Jesus Christ . So , to God , the only proper response to sin is this word repentance , whatever it means .
Speaker 4Yeah , and it's all over scripture , in the old and in the new , which leads us to our first question what is repentance ? What does the word repentance mean ?
Speaker 2I just want to say real quick , mark you quoted Mark , chapter one there , and reference what Jesus said I love , I just love the word of God , right , and all of it is God breathed . We know that it's all given to us divinely by him , but there's something about those portions in the Bible that are marked red and to us it's not just that they're God breathed , but they're God breathed while being breathed by God , right there . And then this is Jesus speaking , and I think so often we just kind of forget that we get so familiar with scripture . But even those parts , it's like . Jesus never uttered opinions , he never gave suggestions , he always spoke from the very depth of his deity . And so , just as a follow up to Mark , this is important because these are things that come from the very mouth of our Lord and Savior , jesus Christ , the word who became flesh .
Speaker 3Just to follow up from easy . This is a follow up club . You know , if Jesus said it , that's it . End of argument . You know , there's nothing to argue about it . Jesus said it . For years I've said always , remember the order , repent and believe . It's always in scripture . Repent and believe , because if you had believe and repent , you fill the church with false converts , the people who believe in Jesus they haven't found a place of . They're still in their sins . They sit among God's people and they're unrepentant . They still hold onto their sins and that's horrific . It's a horrific place to be and I never thought I'd see what I've been seeing lately , where there was a whole stack of people that say all you have to do is believe . Repentance is a work , and it's just crazy when scripture is so , very clear . So this is a very , very important subject .
Speaker 1Let me add that repentance is one of the most positive words in the Bible . Right , it refers to turning from a destructive path and moving onward towards God's plan for your life , which ultimately is to bring glory to God . So the most exciting word that we can actually discuss here is repentance , because God sees us who we are and he says man , I just I love you too much to keep you that way .
Speaker 2Yeah , you know , repentance equals hope , because if it's not something that you could be delivered from or something that you could change course on , then you're hopeless . You know , a lot of times I think people try to get away from identifying things as sin in their life . But God only forgives sins right , not excuses Right and not . Well , this is just the you know an issue I have , or whatever it's . No , there's hope . So it's like recognize you've sinned , but God grants . Repentance is such a joy saying . But I love what you said , mark . Whatever that means . Right , because we've got to get into the nuances of this , because it is important you get differing perspectives , different people say different things , but we got to be informed by a true biblical understanding of what repentance is really all about . Let's do the nuance , the nuance , yeah .
Speaker 4Did we answer the question ? What is repentance ? I think .
Speaker 2Mark did a bit .
Speaker 4All right guys . So what is repentance ? How do you , how do you describe what repentance is if someone asks Metanoia .
Speaker 3That's all I say .
Speaker 1Next question , mark . Well , you know it comes from the Greek word metanoia , which means it's a , literally , it's a change of mind . Right , we need to change your mind on us being on the throne . Change that , because that's not right . And putting God on the throne because that's where he is at . Thomas Brooks would say that repentance is a vomit of the soul .
Speaker 3Right , very graphic . Bring that up , spence .
Speaker 1You know , it's the place of recognizing and realizing who God is in truth , and it's a turning to him . Now , easey , you had mentioned that God grants repentance and that's what Second Timothy I believe it is . It tells us that God grants repentance . That leads to the truth . Mark Devers said it is a turning from the sins you love to the Holy God you're called to love . I think that he hit it out of the park , you know , with that . So it's that's also named , that it's . It's more than just going sorry for your sins . You should feel sorry for your sins . And why should you feel sorry for your sins ? It's because you are guilty . Why do I feel guilty ? Because you're guilty and you don't need to be a Christian to have a sorrow , to feel guilt . There is a godly sorrow and there is a worldly sorrow . And there's a godly sorrow which always will lead to repentance . It always leads to a right standing with God , and a worldly sorrow will always lead to what seems to be a right standing , but really what it is is . It is you having a seemingly perceived now value with your fellow man , which is no value at all because you're not valuable until you have a value between you and God .
Speaker 2So yeah , you know this is so important , guys , let me tell you I'm really excited that we're discussing this because for a lot of years , a lot of people have had a misunderstanding as to where we stand on this as a ministry , and that's probably one of the biggest criticisms we get . But it's really a strawman argument . It's based on a misunderstanding of what we're saying , where we're coming from , as far as . As far as repentance is concerned , all of us in this room right now , and we as a ministry whole heartedly agree that repentance is granted and faith is granted . I mean , you listen to Philippians 129 , for to you it has been granted , on behalf of Christ , not only to believe in him but also to suffer for his sake . And then Mark cited it earlier 2 Timothy 2 , 24 through 26, . And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all , able to teach , patient in humility , correcting those who are in opposition , if God perhaps will grant them repentance , so that they may know the truth when it goes on . So we just have to set the stage with that understanding . First and foremost , repentance is granted . It's something that comes from the
Lord . People get this perception that we're saying no repentance is some kind of work that you muster up on your own . We believe that salvation is of the Lord . God saves and God grants repentance , but we have to understand that it's an important part of salvation that God works all out together in his glory .
Speaker 1We're not telling people , neither is God . He's not telling people to clean their lives up and then come to me . We get mistaken of that as well . So you're telling people they need to clean up their lives , they need to stop smoking , they need to stop drinking , stop cheating , stop cussing and then come to God . And that's not what we're saying , that's not what God was saying . God's not saying clean your life up and then come to me , he's saying , and he's commanding lay your life down . Not clean your life up , but lay your life down and come to me . And God does the work from the inside out and we begin to love the things we once hated and we hate the things we once loved . And this is a true sign of a believer , one who has been born above , born from above , born again . So if we don't start with this word , repentance , we're going to be very confused .
Speaker 4Yeah , I like that you guys are touching on this . Repentance is a gift in work and work of God . However , it's also not simply a passive thing . Often we think there's passive and active , but repentance is both passive and active . Right , god grants it to you , he does the work , but also you respond in obedience . It's like Lazarus when Jesus gives him life and calls him to come out of there . Right , it's Jesus that gave him life , but because he had life , he responded by walking out , because we have faith , because we have saving faith and because we have the gift of repentance . When you are called to repentance , of course you respond to repentance .
Speaker 2You know I want to elaborate on that , but first of all I just want to ask you you know this was so huge for you back when you got a hold of biblical evangelism , because you tell stories of what you used to do at different settings and how just cavalier people would be about their sin and repentance . But why don't you explain briefly what happened and how that shift came about , where you started realizing this needs to be preached ?
Speaker 3Yeah , people , they would say they're quite happy without Jesus . And I'd say , no , you're not , you can't be happy without Jesus . Because I made the issue one of happiness rather than righteousness . And I'd look at them and they were happy . They're enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season . And so when I started understanding the use of the Lord it brings the knowledge of sin and makes sin to be exceedingly sinful then people could find a place of repentance that my sin , to me was nothing serious until I understood that in God's eyes it was an abomination . I was just witnessing to someone today who had no understanding , brought out the law and suddenly their face went sober , their mouth was stopped , and that's what the Lord does . And then repentance makes sense . God commands all men everywhere to repent because he's appointed today and what you'll judge ? The world righteousness . I just want to quote Spurgeon to find me . Spurgeon said we must not , I think , undervalue repentance . It is a blessed grace of God and the Holy Spirit and it is absolutely necessary under salvation . Now someone could get that , twist it and say listen what Spurgeon's saying , we're not saying by grace and you've got salvation . That comes through repentance , because it's necessary . One thing I find disheartening is when Christians twist words and make it say something and spread it out that I believe something that I don't believe , and it's like friendly fire it hurts and it does damage and there's people going to hell and we need to concentrate on them rather than shooting at each other . So , as I said , I'm pleased we're talking about the subject .
Speaker 2Yeah , and here's the thing we have to remember Sometimes we get into these debates over this issue and really we should . I mean , we need to really flesh these things out , we need to really do the work of understanding what Scripture says . But I think sometimes we forget how instantaneous , how instantaneous regeneration is , you know , and we get into these arguments . You know that's what's called ordo salutis . And I can't believe I'm doing this , because I always hear people quote Latin words . I'm like why do you have to do that ?
Speaker 3Just say whatever right Order of salvation .
Speaker 2That's really the thing that's discussed . And the question is look , does regeneration precede faith or does faith precede regeneration , like which one happens ? And again , it's a good debate , we need to have it . But , guys , let's remember that , you know , regeneration is instantaneous and , at the same time , god is involved in the whole process . They make it sound like , you know , we're trying to say that God is removed from it , and then you got to do this . The Holy Spirit is working and , I believe , brings a person to the place of brokenness and repentance and through that , regeneration and that's the debate Well , is someone regenerated and born again and has a new nature before they've repented , when they're still a sinner ? That's uncleaned . You know what it says . Or is it that they're ? You know ? God works in them , brings them to a place of brokenness , they repent , believe and then they're regenerated . But it's so instant , it's not even you can't even put it in nanosecond terms . It's instant , you know . And here's something I wrote some time back regarding all of this as far as how does it happen and when ? Is it rhyme ? No , but I can make it rhyme , but you could too . Okay , all right , here we go , but where will I stop ? I do not know . I'll keep going as long as I can , because I'm a wicked , sinful man . I'm just kidding , just kidding , just kidding , just kidding .
Speaker 1Okay , I was like you , turned it into a poem .
Speaker 2He's hard again . How can a person presently stop doing what they are not doing presently ? In other words , if conversion is indeed a one-time , instantaneous and legal transaction and it is , at what point is one declared justified ? Is it not at the moment that they exercised repentance and faith ? At the moment that someone is believing and repenting , they are not , at that given instance , participating in sinful activities that they are able to stop participating in . Therefore , repentance must begin with that sorrowful change of mind about sin and God , combined with faith in Christ and the gospel . Once that happens , a person is immediately saved . The proof of their instant conversion will be demonstrated by a life that bears the fruit of their genuine repentance , a life characterized by no longer habitually participating in their former sins Because of the seed of God abides in them . They can no longer practice sin . It is impossible to have a change of mind without a change of actions , but it's a change of mind about sin and God , combined with faith in the gospel , that instantly saves the sinner . It is then immediately followed by a physical turning from that sin , a volitional act to no longer habitually participate in it again , which is a part of that ongoing work of sanctification the newborn Christian is enabled to do this by the power of the Holy Spirit that is now at work in him . If that distinct fruit of repentance is not evident in one's life , then it is evident that true repentance and faith never took place and hence regeneration was never affected . So you know what I'm saying . It's instant .
When you were talking about Oridus Saludus , it reminded me of Gumbo Soup . Gumbo Soup , I love Gumbo Soup . You know Gumbo Soup . They threw everything in there . There's shrimp chicken pork Squirrel .
Speaker 2I was exactly .
Speaker 4I was about to say chicken , pulled pork , rice , all of it . And it almost would be like me going what do you taste first ? You just taste Gumbo Soup , it's all in there , you know . And same thing with the Oridus Saludus . It's just , it's all in there . It's fun to talk about , but at the same time it's all in there , it's all together .
Speaker 2Yeah , and one more thing real quick , in terms of repentance and being a work and whatnot . This is something I wrote as well Repentance is not a work because it's not an action , it's an inaction . Actions are works . Inactions are the automatic , instant and natural fruit of a changed mind . When I repent , my mind is changed and therefore I automatically and instantly transition from that moment to being an active , toward a life of habitual sin . I'm not now doing something . I'm simply now not doing something that I used to do . So it's not like okay , I know , I mean you're not doing it and now you go on not doing it , and I think we're gonna talk about how repentance is an ongoing thing .
Speaker 1And this is almost crazy that we have to get .
Speaker 4we have to define it in such terms like this but yeah , well , I think it's valuable because it can become a Christianized , christianized word , and when we use it we have to make sure we're using it clearly and in a concise way . So I wanna summarize , kind of what you guys have been saying and then add a little bit to that . What we're talking about here is repentance , is the interchange that gives rise to a new God centered Christ exulting behavior . Interchange that gives rise to behavioral change . But it is not simply behavior modification , right ? It's not us trying to earn our salvation , get ready for grace or prove something , because that is what we call penance . Right , the Roman Catholic Church teaches penance and that's what it is . It's getting ready for grace . Penance is centered on what you do , focused on what you see and feel , and always leaves sinners powerless . Repentance is repentance onto life . It's life giving . Another example that I would give to move away from repentance and penance , you could say attrition and contrition . Psalm 51 to me is the end , all be all about repentance . It is the psalm of repentance and it's incredible . I read it probably at least once a month , and in there we see David has a broken and contrite heart . His heart is broken because he's offended God . True repentance comes from a broken and contrite heart . On the other hand , attrition is a kid getting his hand caught in the cookie jar . He's saying I'm sorry because he's afraid of what's about to happen , because he's trying to avoid punishment . He doesn't have a broken heart over offending his mother or father . He's simply just trying to get a ticket out of hell .
Speaker 2Yeah , so true . And look at Paul's example Acts 26 , 19 through 21 . He's speaking to King of Grypa here . He says , therefore , king of Grypa , I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision , but declared , first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea , and then to the Gentiles , that they should repent , turn to God and do works befitting repentance . And I love what he said . Next , he said for these reasons , a Jew sees me in the temple and tried to kill me . You know , it's like it's almost still going on . People get so enraged about . But listen to what Paul's saying . I mean today , when you hear some of the what I call easy believism proponents , because that's really what it comes down to . It's basically oh yeah , your savior , do whatever you want . It's almost an antinomy and type of spirit , you know , but that's not the biblical model given to us . When it comes , paul saying listen , what did I do ? I declared that they should repent , turn to God . And what Do ? Works befitting repentance ? It's like what John said bear fruit worthy of repentance .
Speaker 1I mean that's exactly right . Yeah , and that's what I was gonna get into with John the Baptist and these religious leaders who had everything going correct on the outside . They said you , brood of vipers , who has warned you to flee from the wrath which is to come ? Bear fruit worthy of repentance . You claim to be right with God , yet your lives will speak contrary to your actions , to your words . Rather , your actions are contrary to your
words . Bear fruit .
Speaker 3Fruit of repentance . He can see it in the life of the Sakeas . You know said behold , lord , I give half my goods to the poor . If wrong , I'm gonna pay them back fourfold . So are you trying to earn your salvation ? No , he's already received Christ , or Christ has received him , and now he's doing this as fruit of repentance . Evidence that's a plate of abandonment , isn't it ? Yeah , evidence of grace .
Speaker 4It's interesting because the command to repent is equal and almost synonymous with the command to be born again . Both of them are a work and gift in God that we respond through obedience right . So repentance is not about what needs to be done , we're rather . Repentance is about becoming undone , and the verse , of course , is Isaiah 6,5, . Woe is me , for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips , for my eyes have seen the King , the Lord of hosts . There's that turning from , but also turning towards something beautiful and incredible and glorious , which is the King on his throne .
Speaker 2Yeah , you know , spurgeon said something real powerful . He said , apparently speaking of those that were enemies , of the importance of preaching repentance . Apparently they interpret repentance to be a somewhat slider thing than we usually conceive it , to be a mere change of mind , in fact , and the key word there is mirror right , because we know it includes that metnoia . That is a part of the definition . Now he goes on . Allow me to suggest to those dear brethren that the Holy Ghost never preaches repentance as a trifle , and the change of mind or understanding of which the gospel speaks is a very deep and solemn work and must not on any account be depreciated . Moreover , there is another word which is also used in the original Greek for repentance not so often , I admit , but still is used which signifies an aftercare , a word which has in it something more of sorrow and anxiety than that which signifies changing one's mind . There must be sorrow for sin and hatred of it in true repentance , or else I have read my Bible to little purpose . That's so powerful , you know , it's so true that you have to understand that there is fruit . That is evident when someone is truly broken over their sin . And again , it's a work of the Holy Spirit , it's all God doing it , it's God drawing , it's God convicting , it's God creating brokenness , it's God causing the sinner to lift up his voice and a cry of confession and a plea for forgiveness . It's all him and it's instant . You know , there's no time to go out and do work Again . Like I said , it's not an action , it's an inaction . Right when I'm repenting and turning to God , I'm not at that moment , you know , fornicating literally . I'm not at that moment murdering someone . I'm not at that moment doing drugs , right , so I'm not doing it . Now it's in an action . I've changed my mind and now I continue , in the power of the spirit , to not re-engage in those things .
Speaker 3Like we're saying about , sorrow is my contrition is the essence of repentance . Godly sorrow works , repentance , sacrifice of God , or broken spirit and a contrite heart . And James , in addressing sin is says cleanse your hands . Your sin is . Purify your heart , your double-minded , let your laugh to be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness . And so often we hear it's so easy to become a Christian . Just give your heart to Jesus . And Jesus said the opposite . He said straight as the gate and narrow was the way that leads to life . And few that be defined as strived to enter the straight gate . Straight as the gate and narrow is the way . The word strive in the Greek is agonisomai , wrong pronunciation .
Speaker 2How do you pronounce it ?
Speaker 3easy Again is omai , yeah , something like that From the word that we derive agonize . And so that's what James is talking about . Let your laugh to be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness . And you see this so evident in Psalm 51 , the flippant David who's pointing his finger at the guy that killed a little lamb . Suddenly , the finger points at him . Those 10 fingers of God pointed him . Have mercy upon me , o God , according to love and kindness , according to the multitude of 10 of mercy , he's blot out my transgressions , and I love the way he owns his sin right through there . My sin , my transgressions , again and again .
Speaker 4And then he focuses in on sinning against God , right , because you figure , he had someone murdered , his family's burdened by this , the mother of the child is burdened by this , the entire country's burdened against it . And yet he says against you and you alone have I sinned one day , Absolutely .
Speaker 3I was thinking just this morning how there's a consolation that when he found that Bathsheba was pregnant , he didn't have the baby aborted . He had the husband aborted and so he had sinned against God horribly .
Speaker 4The next question in our lineup and we're already starting to answer this , but we can get into the nuance a little bit Is repentance necessary for salvation ?
Speaker 1I mean only if the person wants to have a relationship with God . Well , I mean once again . I mean we don't need to rehash or go back through everything that easy had shared here . You know JC Riles said sin forsaken is one of the best evidences of sin forgiven . So it's above my pay grade , once again , to get down to the minutia detail of the timing of it all . I'm just grateful that salvation belongs to God Boy , we quote Spurgeon a lot in here .
Speaker 3I mean well , we can't help it . He's a prince of preachers .
Speaker 1I mean , it's been said that the sneeze is attributed to Spurgeon and we all just quote him all day long , ever since . He's just a brilliant man . I love him tremendously . He said if Christ has died for me , ungodly as I am , without strength as I am , then I can no longer live in sin , but I must arouse myself to love and serve him , who has redeemed me . I cannot trifle with the evil that killed my best friend . I must be holy for his sake . How can I live in sin when he has died to save me from it ? And easy . I love the fact that you're able to grab ahold of somebody from yesteryear and depart from it , and to put it in such plain English as you have been doing here , it's just amazing .
Speaker 3Can I just say something about quoting Spurgeon ? We can take consolation that Spurgeon actually quoted Spurgeon .
Speaker 2I once said , yeah boy , that was beautiful , mark , really I mean , I know this isn't a Spurgeon session , but yeah , what a gift he is to the church . I mean , while dead yet he's speaketh , you know , and it's beautiful . The thing about the anti-repentance preachers , the easy-believe-ism crowd , is , honestly they give you the impression that Scripture never talks about repentance . I mean , if you were to listen to them you'd think , oh , that's nowhere to be found in the Bible . I can only imagine what one of their followers would think if they actually read the New Testament , you know , and came across , I mean all over , luke 24.47 . Jesus said repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations . He said I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance . Luke 5.32 . The Bible speaks , of course , in 2 Corinthians 7.10 , about repentance unto salvation . You know Acts 11.18, . Then has God also to the Gentiles , granted repentance unto life . I mean again and again and again , all over . I mean we're not even getting into some of the other verses . You know , you quoted Acts 17.30 earlier . Truly , these times of ignorance God overlooked , but now commands all men everywhere to repent .
Speaker 3And he puts the onus on them . Yeah , you're commanded to repent .
Speaker 2Right Acts , 2.38 . Then Peter said to them repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus . Second Peter , 3.9 . The Lord is not slack concerning his promises . It's some count slackness , but his long suffering toward us , not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance . So I wanted it to read those off in succession , because it's all throughout scripture . So , oscar , an answer to your question . To stay on topic , is repentance necessary for salvation ? The best way to answer that is it is an indispensable part of salvation , all throughout scripture . So part of salvation , reiterated again and again throughout scripture , and an unrepentant person in my , from my perspective , and I think a biblical one is an unregenerate person . They go hand in hand . It's impossible . It's like saying you know , I was born to a human father and mother , but I'm not human . What are you talking about ? It's indispensable , it's inseparable .
Speaker 1The local church rejoices when decisions are made , but heaven holds on to its rejoicing and its applause until repentance is made , and when we have a repentant man , we have the applause of heaven . We need to remember that we are not hitting the streets to get decisions for Christ . Ray , you talk about how easy it is to get a decision you know for Christ , to get somebody almost scared enough to just simply repeat a prayer , a prayer of which is not found inside the Bible . We need to remove ourselves from this traditional mindset . We say that we're against the Roman Catholic Church and its traditions , but we fail to recognize that we have become a people based upon traditions . The altar call it's based upon tradition . The sinner's prayer it's based upon a tradition . We need to not go for decisions which is based upon a tradition and go for a repentant heart that is scripturally based and it would be no big deal if it wasn't for the .
Speaker 3We're talking about the salvation of the lost , right , you know , if we were plumbers and people doing something wrong , so what ? You get a leak here and there , but this is the salvation of the lost . An Martin said repentance to be entire must be perpetual . It's a continual thing , as Eze often said . I just think Isaiah 55 , verse six through seven Seek the Lord while he be found , call upon him while he is near . Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts . That's what repentance is a forsaking of your way and your thoughts , a change of mind and a change of direction because of your change of mind .
Speaker 2I want to real quick . I just want to quote someone . I don't think you guys have ever heard of this guy . His name is Spurgeon . He said beloved friends , we cannot at this time do without either of these , any more than could the Greeks and Jews . Faith and repentance , what he's talking about ? They are essential to salvation . Some things may be , but these must be . Certain things are needful to the well-being of a Christian , but these things are essential to the very being of a Christian . If you have not repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ , you have no part nor lot in this matter .
Speaker 3That was good , but you would have had a deeper voice .
Speaker 2Blah , blah , blah . We've always joked . Magistration had like this super high voice . He meant to just come on then and repent .
Speaker 3I want to Mike Tyson , mike Tyson .
Speaker 4You know , we asked this question . We asked the question on social media what do you want to ask about repentance ? And many people asked the question is repentance necessary for salvation ? And others took the liberty to respond , and I saw some responses that I think none of us would agree with , and it was something on the lines of you need to do repentance and baptism before you get saved , and so now they're turning it into this work . And so I want to just say with clarity when we ask is repentance necessary for salvation , we are not asking , or the wrong way of hearing that question or rephrasing that question is do I need to do this thing called repentance in order to be saved ? And I would counter by saying you do not do repentance in order to be saved , but those who are born again are those who live repentant lives . Those things go hand in hand . Living faith and repentance are two sides to the same coin . They work and come together at the same time .
Speaker 3I could use a really dumb analogy . You're a scuba diver 20 feet down , your oxygen's running out , your foot's caught in a rock , you're gonna die . So your rescue is let down this tube with oxygen in it . You put on the mask and you breathe in faith . Putting on the mask , turning to it , doesn't save you . Breathing it in doesn't save you . It's the oxygen that saves you , and that oxygen is the grace of God that saves us . Not turning to it , not trusting in it , but the oxygen itself that saves us , the grace of God .
Speaker 2Yeah , and Oscar , I agree , A person who's regenerate will live a repentant life . It's carried out throughout your life , but in that instant of regeneration , that repentance and faith come together , all divinely orchestrated by the hand of God . Look , I just quoted Spurgeon . That was a very powerful , direct , hardcore thing that he said . However , you have to remember Spurgeon was a Calvinist . He was as monogistic as you can get that God is in charge of salvation , and so I mean you have to remember , right , this is a guy who believes God is totally , completely sovereignly directing conversion , and yet he's speaking very clearly on these things that we see in scripture . So you have to remember that Demand responsibility .
Speaker 4Yeah , absolutely so . The next question that comes up , which normally is a part of this conversation on repentance , is this Lordship salvation that we're talking about ?
Speaker 3Yeah , these people accuse me of Lordship salvation . To me , lordship salvation is that Jesus Christ is Lord . He's your Lord and you obey him . He's the supreme Lord . But they made it something that it wasn't .
That , by saying that you must repent to be saved , I was preaching what they called Lordship salvation , which they called heresy , which is , you know , whenever you say repentance is necessary for salvation , you set yourself up as a works , someone who's preaching works . But we're not . We're saying , as we've said before , we're saved by grace and we're saved . We take of that grace to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ . Repentance is God given , faith is .
Speaker 1God given . I mean that's exactly right . You know , we don't make Jesus Lord . He is Lord and as Lord . We're merely having people recognize him for who he is . He is Lord supreme . You don't need to accept him , you need to receive him . He is who he is . You need to bow down and repent to this one .
Speaker 4Well , and there's no historic , orthodox or scriptural argument that Jesus is not Lord . Right , everywhere throughout history , throughout orthodoxy and throughout scripture , jesus is always Lord . So I mean to me yes , in AMN , jesus is my Lord and savior .
Speaker 2I mean , if I could again kind of hit on the fact that this is another straw man argument , right , so could you define straw man , because some people don't know what that means . Yeah , straw man argument is basically erecting a sort of an image of something that is not in line with what that person actually believes or what that doctrine actually is .
Speaker 3It's creating an argument that you can pull down real easy , exactly .
Speaker 1Yeah , if you believe this , and then I'll let me rip that apart .
Speaker 3And that's not what you believe Exactly perfect , yeah , overexposing a portion of an argument Right and twisting facts about it , that aren't accurate , so redefining it , we're gonna forget what we're originally talking about . Let's go all day just doing that .
Speaker 4We're talking about sandwiches right .
Speaker 2But they do that . They do that with Lordship salvation as well . Basically , they come out and they say well , lordship salvation preaches that you're saved by works and repentance and faith are works . You say repentance and faith are part of salvation . Therefore you're preaching a gospel of works and it's just ridiculous . Again , one of the biggest proponents of Lordship salvation would be John MacArthur . Again , john MacArthur is a Calvinist , he's a monogistic , he totally believes it's all the work of God . I mean , that's the last kind of person who would hold to works . The whole Lordship salvation premises and again , whether it's rightly defined or not , but I think if it's seen in its true sense , it's simply that , listen , if someone is truly born again , if someone has truly been regenerated as a free gift of God's grace , by the spirit of God , that person's life will manifest the fact that Jesus is their Lord . And the flip side of that is say a prayer and confess to having made a profession of faith in Christ and now go do whatever you want . That's great . We're saying if you're truly born again , you won't go out and do what you want . You won't have that attitude . The seed of God abides in you . You can't practice sin . You have now an innate fear of God that's been given you new desires and new heart , a new nature , and so I was 28 , 13 .
Speaker 3He that covers us in shall not prosper . But whoso confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy . So you don't get the mercy without forsaking your sins . If you carry on an adultery and lying and stealing and murdering , you've got no assurances , should have no assurance of self Right .
Speaker 2It's evidence that you haven't been regenerated and that the mercy of God hasn't been manifested in your life .
Speaker 4I think what is often misunderstood is as though responding to the Lordship of Jesus means that you have this debtor's grace . And by no means are we talking about a debtor's grace , because the debtor's grace is not the gospel . When we talk about Jesus being our Lord , look , we have Lords in all of our lives . I mean anybody who's ever said I would do anything for you to their fiance or spouse , right ? Anybody who has ever said I do anything for that thing , right ? That is putting something in your life as Lord . What we're saying is we would do anything for our Lord , for our Savior . We're simply replacing the little Lords in our life for the one true Lord , which is Jesus Christ .
Speaker 2Look , the New Testament knows no distinction between Lord and Savior . They're indistinguishable , they're the same . If he's Savior , he's Lord , it's . I mean , I get really riled up about this because I just I'm blown away that there are people out there actually preaching yeah , just make Jesus Savior . Yeah , you don't have to worry about it .
Speaker 3He's your homeboy .
Speaker 2Yeah , like are you kidding me , but it's again . It's inseparable from regeneration and conversion and the receiving of the new nature . It all happens instantly and he's my Savior and he's my Lord , and you live under his Lordship naturally .
Speaker 1Oh , that's exactly right , aw Pink . And referring to that , he says the nature of Christ's salvation is woefully misrepresented by the present day evangelist . He announces a Savior from hell rather than a Savior from sin , and that is why so many are fatally deceived , for there are multitudes who wish to escape the lake of fire , who have no desire to be delivered from the carnality and worldliness that they possess .
Speaker 3William Booth said the chief danger of the 20th century will be forgiveness without repentance , salvation without a generation , politics without God and heaven without hell . I've been quoting that for like 40 years , and back in the last century I started quoting it and it wasn't a reality . Then no one was really preaching repentance without or forgiveness without repentance . But now we're seeing it . John Wesley believed there's no justification without repentance , he said . God does undoubtedly command us both to repent and to bring forth fruits , meat for repentance which , if we willingly neglect , we cannot reasonably expect to be justified at all . Therefore , both repentance and the fruits meat for repentance are in some sense necessary to justification . Matthew Henry , if those who have lived a wicked life repent and forsake their wicked ways , they shall be saved . So it's not . We're not just looking at scripture , we're looking at these greats in the past who knew scripture and preach the truth of repentance and faith .
Speaker 4This leads us to our last question , guys , which sort of is a no duh , but we're gonna get into the nuance of it . Should we preach repentance ?
Speaker 2No duh , no duh .
Speaker 1You knew that was coming . Only if you wanna be biblical , yeah .
Speaker 4Yeah , of course , but I wanna say this before you guys jump in here we absolutely need to be preaching repentance , but we cannot preach repentance unless we ourselves are practicing repentance daily .
When we don't repent daily , we are like the Pharisees , who loved the reputation for knowing God more than they love God . They were expert Bible students who searched the scriptures with the conviction that they thought they knew the way to eternal life . And despite the intensity that they had for their religion and their authenticity , jesus said that it was all a pretense , for in their hearts they were blinded because they sought glory from one another and not from God . They knew they were sinners in theory , but could not identify their sin . In need for grace daily . They saw everything so clearly without really seeing anything at all . We cannot preach repentance unless we are ourselves practicing daily repentance .
Speaker 3So on our YouTube channel this morning where someone wrote you cannot repent without a Catholic priest , and I thought man is one media . Thank you , lord , that we can come straight to you .
Speaker 4I would never say I cannot repent with a Catholic priest .
Speaker 3You know , in a court of law , a judge , what he's looking for in a criminal is contrition . He's looking for contrition a good judge , because that'll determine whether or not extends mercy to wants them and if the guy's unrepentant then he will bring wrath upon him . If he's a good judge , but if he can detect genuine contrition and genuine in a surface that leads about repentance , he will extend mercy . If he's a merciful judge and that's what we see in God .
Speaker 2Repentance is a joy because we understand the indescribably powerful truths of the gospel . I can repent because Christ has taken away the handwriting of the creeds that were against me , having nailed them to the cross . Colossians tells us that he is a propitiation for my sins . He's that advocate that was there to plead my case before God because he bore the wrath of God in my place . So , like Mark alluded to earlier , repentance is such good news and , when I'm in tune with the ramifications of that doctrine , it excites me to proclaim the gospel to people . It brings me joy to tell people hey , you can repent . Here's why . Right , because God left the heights of heaven to owe us nothing but wrath and judgment , walk this earth , live the perfect life in our place , kept the law in its entirety and then went to the cross , became our substitutionary atonement . He bore the wrath of God in our stead and now because of that , because of his Holy Spirit working this in you , you can repent and turn to God and be born again .
Speaker 3And we have such impetus for fruit of repentance . Think of the prodigal son . I'll go back to my father and say , father , I'm not worthy to be called your son . Take me on as your high servant , because back to his father and Christ's father , forgive me and his father kills the fatted calf , clothes him and what does he do ? Go back to prostitutes . You're kidding In the light of his father's grace towards him . But in there , in the prodigal son story , there's no sacrifice of the father . But we have one that we can look at . We can look to that cross and say Lord , if you do that for me , how ?
Speaker 4could I ?
Speaker 3ever go back to sin .
Speaker 4That's our impetus CS Lewis . He taught Spurgeon everything he knows . Time travel he went back , told Spurgeon what's up , then went forward and wrote Chronicles . Cs Lewis wrote the devil always sends error in pairs , pairs of opposites . He relies on your extra dislike of one to draw you gradually into the opposite one . But do not let us be fooled . We have to keep our eyes on the goal and grow straight through between both errors . When it comes to the subject of repentance , I think that there could be two errors , and we've talked about both already . There's preaching penance , which is behavior modification , and then there's excluding repentance altogether , and neither of those two things are the gospel . John Calchohan wrote godly sorrow of biblical repentant is also a lively grief , a grief that quickens the soul . The sorrow of the world works death . It indisposes a man for activity and duty , but godly sorrow quickens a man to the spiritual performance of duty . The former arises from a slavish dread which chills and stiffens the soul , so renders it unfit for action . The latter from faith and love which warms the heart and disposes it to be active . It's impossible for someone to meet the Lord of glory in his full revelation of his ultimate majesty and not be grieved by their particular sins . Simon the Pharisee was a small sinner who had little , if anything to confess . And yet the prostitute wept at Jesus' feet and her faith was counted to her as righteousness . When we preach repentance , we must not stop at the recognition and sorrow for sin . The gospel of Jesus is not only turning from , it's also turning to the glory and goodness of Jesus . When the gospel of Jesus' preach , repentance is rightly seen as a fountain of living water for a thirsty soul . And so to answer the question should we preach repentance ? We should not rob somebody of godly grief over sin , for if you rob them of their grief , you will also rob them of the joy which comes from a hearty repentance .
Speaker 1You know , it sounds like the church needs to repent for its lack of preaching of repentance .
Speaker 4Well , guys , well , thank you so much . This was incredible . I'm hoping and praying , and I'm certain , that it will be a tremendous blessing to our friends , our partners and for everyone else who hears it when this goes online . So thank you and thank you to our partners . Without you , guys , none of this would be possible . You come alongside us in proclamation of the gospel and inspiring , equipping Christians and fulfilling the Great Commission . So thank you and God bless .
Speaker 3And God bless and God bless .
Speaker 2Yeah , Ray , I've said this before , but if there's anything you get harassment about , it's the topic of repentance .
Speaker 3And my height ?
Speaker 2Yeah , that's the lack of it , but that one is ex-immortal .
Speaker 3Warranted . Yeah , there's so many people out there that just wane because they don't understand what biblical repentance is . Unless you repent , you'll perish . So it's an essential doctrine , and it's one that the enemy hates .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , glad we were able to tackle it today . Friends , hope you're encouraged . By the way , I can't forget to mention that we got this amazing mug from our brother , emmanuel , with a bunch of stuff in our mouths . Ray's got us dog behind his shoulder , mark's chomping on a hot dog from Wienerschnitzel I don't know what's in my mouth . It's the cream puff Is that falafel ?
Speaker 3I thought it was the cream puff Cream puff .
Speaker 2We all got one , and Oscar has a thought bubble that says dot com , or a speech bubble rather . Anyhow , emmanuel , thank you so much , and for the lovely card you sent us with all of our same pictures of our faces on it . You blessed us , thank you ?
Speaker 1Yeah , that's so nice .
Speaker 2Yeah , all right , friends . There you have it . Don't forget to get all of that good stuff , especially divine dining foods , from the Bible Living Waters mug that I've decided . Bible alllivingwaterscom you know all this stuff , you've heard me say it before podcastatlivingwaterscom . Go to those platforms , do your thing . Thank you for joining us , friends . We'll see you here next time on the Living Waters podcast , the ultimate cure for insomnia .
Speaker 3That just put me to sleep .