Helpful Articles on Various Subjects
Misunderstood Repentance - the Enemy of Soul
Winning
by Dr. Jack Hyles, Pastor, First Baptist Church of
Hammond, Indiana.
(this sermon is part of a book entitled, "Enemies of Soul
Winning"by Dr. Jack Hyles, originally published in 1993)
Over and over again the question is asked me, "Is
repentance necessary for salvation?" Of course, this
is of utmost importance. Anything that deals with the way
a person can escape the fires of eternal Hell and go to
Heaven to live forever is of vital importance. In this
chapter, we will address this most important question.
1. FIRST, WE NEED TO FIND WHAT MAKES ONE
LOST.
Please notice John 3:18, "He that believeth on him is
not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name of the
only begotten Son of God." It is very plain in this verse
what makes a person lost. Notice the words, "he that
believeth not is condemned already." A person who does
not believe is condemned, so not believing is what makes
a person lost. Bear in mind, the word "believing" is the
Greek word which means "to rely upon." When one
believes on Christ, he simply relies on Him to save him and
take him to Heaven when he dies. It is very plain here
that what condemns a person is believing not. Then
notice it says, "because he hath not believed in the name of
the only begotten Son of God." Once again, we are told
what makes a person lost-- because he has not believed in
the name of the only begotten Son of God. It is as simple
as that.
Now look at John 3:36, "He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."
Again, we are trying to decide and determine what makes
one lost. It is very plain here. Notice the word
believeth, "and he that believeth not the Son shall not see
life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." What keeps a
person from seeing life? Believing not! What makes the
wrath of God abide on a person? Believing not! So, from
what must a person repent in order to be saved? He
must repent of that which makes him lost. Since
"believing not" makes him lost, "believing" makes him
saved. The repentance there is a turning from the thing
that keeps him from being saved to the thing that saves
him. So, yes, there is a repentance from unbelief in order
to believe. It is simply a change of direction. It means a
turning around. You are going away from believing, and
you decide to turn around and believe. You change your
direction; you change your mind. With your will you
believe and rely upon Christ to save you. In order to
believe, you have to repent of unbelief. That which
makes a man lost must be corrected.
Now turn to John 5:40, "And ye will not come to me, that
ye might have life." Oh, how simple this is, and yet how
plain! Why does a person not have life, according to
this verse? Because he will not come to Christ. So, if a
person is going away from Christ, he must turn around and
come to Christ, which is a change of direction of a change
of mind. This is repentance-- repenting of the thing that
keeps one from being saved, repenting from "going away"
to "coming to".
Notice Isaiah 53:6, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we
have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath
laid on him the iniquity of us all." Especially notice the
words, "we have turned every one to his own way." That's
what not being saved is-- turning to our own way.
Now if we turn to God's way, which is putting our faith
and trust in Jesus, we turn around from going our own
way to going His way, from unbelief to belief. This is
Bible repentance. Bear in mind, it is the faith that saves.
The turning around is necessary in order to put our faith
in Christ. One must repent from that thing that keeps him
from being saved in order to be saved. If a person were
saved by good works, then he would have to repent of bad
works, or of not doing good works, in order to be
saved. If a person were saved by quitting his sinning, then
he would have to repent of his sinning in order to be saved.
A person is saved by believing, so he repents of his
belief or turns from his unbelief in order to be saved.
Let us look at the verses that teach us we are saved by
belief.
John 3:15, "That whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have eternal life."
John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life."
John 3:18, "He that believeth on him is not condemned:
but he that believeth not is condemned already, because
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son
of God."
John 3:36, "He that believeth on the Son hath
everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."
Acts 16:31, "And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."
There are those who say we have to repent of our sins in
order to be saved. No, we have to repent only of the thing
that makes us unsaved, and that is unbelief. If a person
needs to turn from his sins in order to be saved, what
sins does he turn from? Does he turn from pride? Does he
turn from selfishness? Does he turn from covetousness?
The truth is, nobody can turn from all of his sins until he is
raptured and he receives a body like the body of the
Saviour. I John 3:2, "Beloved, now are we the sons of
God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we
know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for
we shall see him as he is." According to Psalm 19:12, we
do not even know all of our sins. David said,
"Cleanse thou me from secret faults." What he is talking
about here is being cleansed from faults he doesn't even
know he has. A person, when he is first saved, does not
know all the things that he is doing that are wrong, and
if a person has to repent of all his sins, where is growth in
grace? Where is being a babe in Christ? Where does the
carnal Christian fit in here?
Now don't misunderstand me. I am certainly for
separation and for living a godly life, but the cleansing of
our lives is not one by us any more than salvation is done
by us. Salvation is simply repenting of unbelief, and
believing, and letting Christ save us. We yield to Him to
save us; He does! Immediately the Holy Spirit comes in to
live.
The Holy Spirit begins His work of cleansing in our lives.
He is the one Who points our sins out to us after we are
saved just as He is the one Who saves us when we are
saved.
This chapter is being dictated in San Antonio, Texas. I am
sitting in a Holiday Inn. Tommorow morning early I
will catch a plane for Chicago. Let's suppose I get on that
plane, and I am trusting the pilot to take me to
Chicago. I do not know how to operate the plane, nor do I
know the route to Chicago by air. There is nothing I can
do to get myself to Chicago by that plane. I trust the pilot
to get me there. So, we get up in the air thousands of feet
high, and let's suppose I get a knife and cut up the seat in
front of me. Now, where I am going? I'm still going to
Chicago. Why? I repented of "not trusting the plane to
take me" to "trusting the plane to take me."
The stewardess comes and says, "Mr. Hyles, what are you
doing back here?" I say, "I'm just cutting up a little bit!"
Then suppose I reach up and cut off a lock of her hair.
Now where am I going? I'm going to Chicago. You see,
how I behave on the flight does not determine my
destination.
So, the stewardess goes to the pilot and says, "Mr. Hyles,
back in seat 14A is causing some disturbance. Look at my
hair. Go back and look at the seat." The pilot leaves the
plane in the hands of the co-pilot and comes back to seat
14A and says, "Mr. Hyles, what are you doing back here?"
He looks at the seat I've cut up, he sees the lock of hair
that I've cut off the stewardess, and I reach out and cut
off his tie.
Now where am I going? I'm going to Chicago. That was
all determined when I got on the airplane. Now the truth
is, I will not enjoy Chicago as much as I would have
enjoyed it, nor will I go to the part of Chicago I'd
planned to, but I'm still going to Chicago.
When we put our faith and trust in Christ, and repent of
unbelief, and believe, God's Holy Spirit comes in to live
and begins to straighten us out. He points out our sins, and
as we yield to Him, He cleanses us from our sins. If we
misbehave on the journey, we are still going to Heaven,
because we go to Heaven by trusting Christ to take us
there.
The Holy Spirit Who came in to live begins to point out
things that we should and should not do. If we do not obey
Him, if we misbehave on the journey, we will still go to
Heaven; we simply will not enjoy it as much as we would
have had we behave, just as I would not enjoy Chicago as
much as I would had I behaved.
I know a young man who recently got married. He got
an apartment several months before he got married and
lived there alone until the wedding took place. What a
mess that apartment was! His pants were hung on the
bedpost, his shoes were left on the floor beside the bed,
and the bed was never made. Then one day he got
married. Now how did he get married? He got married by
turning from being single to being married. He repented
of not being married and got married. When he took his
new bride to the apartment, she was aghast, but
immediately SHE began to straighten things up. She put
his shoes in the closet, took his shirt off the chair, removed
his clothes off the bedpost, and made a lovely little
apartment out of the mess that he had made. Now he was
not married because he cleaned up his apartment; he was
married because he repented of that thing that kept him
from being married. He repeated the vows and accepted
her as his wife. It was then that she came in; it was then
that his apartment began to get clean!
Practically every false doctrine comes from getting
things out of order. God's divine order is salvation, then
change; not change and then salvation! If one has to be
changed to be saved, that's salvation by works. It is also
salvation by the flesh. The truth is, one is cleansed from
the sins of the flesh just as he is saved; by yielding to the
Holy Spirit and letting Him do His work.
