Category: The Gospel

Repentance Defined

Repentance unto salvation is a turning, but not a turning from sin per se. Repentance unto salvation is turning from your self-righteousness and self-justification to come to Christ, confessing that you are a sinner deserving judgment. It is ceasing to believe in the worth of yourself, your goodness, your good works, or your religious activities, and turning instead to trust only in what Christ has done on your behalf to save you. It is acknowledging that faith in Christ alone is really the only thing you have that you can offer to Christ, and the only thing from you He would accept.
It is not turning from sins to receive forgiveness for your past. It is admitting your utter inability to do so, and trusting God to be as merciful as He says He is, so that He will forgive you, even though in your own strength you absolutely cannot turn yourself away from your sins or your sinful nature to follow Him.
And, of course, the only basis upon which God can grant that unearned forgiveness, is that Christ actually did earn it for you, by living a perfectly sinless life in your place, and then dying in your place on the cross, absorbing the punishment you earned, and rising from the grave alive again to save you forever.

What is repentance? “Turning from sins”? No

To many preachers of what is supposed to be the gospel today, repentance means a change in behavior rather than a change in beliefs that allows God to save someone and then Himself cause a change in the heart and the behavior of the redeemed one. When Paul was called upon to summarize the gospel, though, he didn’t even mention the behavior of those being saved, except to say that their behavior was inherently bad, but that Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead. He determined to focus on nothing in his preaching to us except Jesus Christ and Him crucified, because that is the source–the sole source, in fact– of our righteousness.
But when the preachers of today fundamentally misunderstand the meaning of repentance, they wind up defining the gospel’s invitation, not in terms of the cross or of responding to God’s grace in belief, but instead summarize their invitation with something like, God “loves those who turn to Him in repentance, and loves those who cleanse themselves.” Problem is, that isn’t just a random quote. It’s a quote from the muslim Koran, and devout muslims believe it and live by it. But it doesn’t save them. They deny Jesus even died on the cross, which is why they view God’s grace as unnecessary for salvation.
Today, though, there are too many Christian preachers who are truly saved, but who for others change the rules on how to be saved, because of their unwillingness to understand what it means to repent, making it mean something that they can evaluate about the person’s behavior, instead of just a change of heart and belief and trust in Christ.
Perhaps what we need is to hear the words of someone who came out of that “turn away from sin and be good and God will accept you” mentality, into true saving faith in the true and living God.
Ergun Mehmet Caner is such a man. Born and raised a Sunni Muslim in the middle east, he was a believer in that religion not just by birth, but by choice, and he firmly believed in it, even willingly coming to America with his family in the hopes of turning it into a muslim nation submitted to Allah. But after years of trying to persuade him, a Christian friend finally convinced him that Jesus is the true Son of God and the true road to salvation. Caner describes the night of his salvation in a way that will help those who think repentance means “turn from your sins and God will forgive” to understand what it really means. Here are his words:
“For the first time in my life, I came to God with nothing in my hands to try to please Him. I brought nothing but my own repentance and my faith in Christ. Repentance itself is not a ‘good work’ that earns God’s approval. It is surrender–throwing oneself on the mercy of the court. Repentance for me was the end of works. It was an admission that everything I’d ever attempted in an effort to please God had failed. I finally saw that all my works, my best days, my righteousness, were as filthy rags. I threw myself on the mercy of the court. And Jesus declared me righteous, He declared me justified, and He saved me forever.”

A connoisseur of good preaching

I once heard a Presbyterian pastor in Pennsylvania give his congregation some good advice. He told them to become “connoisseurs of good preaching” recognizing when things are biblically sound, and not to be afraid to discern what is false and reject it.
Well, tonight, rather than “good preaching,” I got to hear what I think was the worst preaching I’ve ever heard. And it was done by an American pastor who came 8,000 miles to bring the message to our fair city. It would take a post longer than his actual message to correct the errors in it, but it was appalling to say the least. He was to preach the gospel. Yet the cross of Christ was not just downplayed, but ignored, earning no mention or allusion whatsoever in the message. He did mention the grace of God three times, but not as an endorsement of it. He mocked what he considered the false idea that “God’s grace is sufficient” for salvation, and further claimed that people who believe God’s grace is sufficient are “on the broad road that leads to hell.” Then He said, “God’s grace only works when you are trying really hard to be good,” His grace helping you to succeed in obtaining said goodness. He then proclaimed that “Jesus demands that we all be legalists.” I’m not kidding. I know that you’ve never heard an outright endorsement of legalism before, but this is what this pastor did tonight. He then equated not being legalistic with committing adultery and said if we love Jesus we will be legalists, having a married couple stand up, proclaiming that if we aren’t legalistic, it is the same thing as if the husband standing there “decides to start dating other women.”
He claimed to have once been on “the broad road to hell, back when I believed God’s grace was sufficient.”
Then, he said, he had an epiphany when he was in Africa and “learned what it really means to be a follower of Christ.” The people he claimed to have worked with there, he said, have had 15 resurrections from the dead in their church, and he said that they are incapable of even having a thought that isn’t about the kingdom of heaven.
Then he gave a heads-bowed, eyes-closed invitation, which consisted of telling these youths, who were mostly Christian because they had come to see a very biblically sound Christian band, that if they have ever had doubts or fears, it is because they are on the wrong road. “And if you want to be a follower of Christ, then you have to stand with me,” he said, also telling them Jesus is ashamed of them if they don’t.
Thankfully, after the unspeakable heresy was over, the band got back up and spent 45 minutes un-preaching his message for him. Each song, including a metal version of Amazing Grace, proclaimed the cross of Christ, and the grace of God that saves us, and is, in fact, all-sufficient. The kids were literally jumping up and down, dancing and singing “Sunt liber!” (I’m free). It was a glorious celebration of the fact that this California pastor’s message was not true. Allelujah, and praise God for redeeming the night from the hands of the enemy.

The basis for assurance of salvation

Sunday at the church, I brought this message from Ephesians 2:1-10 on the topic of how can we know for sure we are truly saved by faith in Christ, and how can we know we will keep our salvation to the end.

Philippians Study Completed

Last night we completed our study through the book of Philippians. The audio recordings, in English and Romanian, are available for your listening online at the links below. Texts with an * in front of them are the “highlights – best of” studies. Hope you enjoy it.

Phil 1:1-6
Phil 1:7-14
Phil 1:15-30
*Phil 2:1-11
Phil 2:12-18
Phil 2:19-30
*Phil 3:1-3
Phil 3:3-16
Phil 3:17-4:3
*Phil 4:4-9 “Right Outlook”
Phil 4:10-23

* “highlights – best of” studies.

Is Jesus God Almighty?


And, if so, what does that mean to us? Today’s message at the church looked at those questions in a study of Luke 20:39-47. The audio recording, in English and Romanian, is here.

Spiritual Birth


When you were born physically, your spirit was not alive but dead in sin. In today’s message at the church, we looked at John 3, and Jesus’ explanation to Nicodemus of his need to be “born again” — spiritually born alive from heaven, and what that means. The gospel message is available for your listening here, in English and Romanian.

Guardians of the Gospel

At last night’s home fellowship, we looked at a very important topic from Philippians 3–the necessity of church leaders guarding the purity of the true gospel against the invasion of false teachers who try to do the impossible: blend faith and works as the basis of salvation. You can hear the study, which is one of the most necessary topics I’ve taught on this year, at this link.

Upcoming attractions

Coming soon — a devotional message on this parable from Matthew 13:

24 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

Answers for Jews awaiting Messiah

The Messiah’s people, who have come to know Him, present to you the way to also come to know Him, and receive God’s forgiveness of sins in His name. You can read it here, as well as find an opportunity to correspond with them and ask questions. The founder of this ministry, Jews for Jesus, this week went to be with Jesus. He surely wants you, be you a fellow Jew or a Gentile, to be there one day too.