Why repentance comes before salvation

In this article I’m going to explain how repentance comes before salvation or why a person cannot be saved unless they first repent from their sin.

Repentance is an essential part of the gospel message yet it is not preached enough, indeed many preach that one can be “saved” before ever repenting from sin.

Is that true? What does the bible say?

Acts 3:19 repent ye therefore and be converted...

Repent here means literally “a change of mind.”

Like the prodigal son who “came to himself” while in the pig pen. (Luke 15:17)

Converted means “turn to”

The prodigal son left the pig pen and began walking back to his fathers house.

Therefore a true change of mind will result in a change of direction. That is turning from sin and turning towards God.

The second part of Acts 3:19 reads

…that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord.

See how repentance precedes salvation?

It is after repentance that ones sins are blotted out or forgiven by God. It is after repentance that the times of refreshing shall come. Refreshing means “revival” or “recovery of breath”, in other words it’s when we are made spiritually alive by God, unto salvation.

There is one thing we need to understand for what I’m saying in this video to make sense and that is, all those who have salvation, have the Holy Spirit dwelling within them. 

This is confirmed in Romans 8:9 

...if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his.

Therefore the opposite is true, if we are of Christ we have the Spirit of Christ. If we are part of his kingdom, his body, we have his Spirit within us.

But there’s one problem.

The Holy Spirit cannot enter a rebellious heart, hardened by sin. Just as a seed cannot enter or take root in hard ground.

What is sin?

Sin means to miss the mark, wander from the path of uprightness or to do wrong. In other words sin is going the wrong way.

God however is holy and righteous. Righteousness means rightness or correctness. Gods way is the right way.

Therefore a person who is committing sin is in rebellion to God. 

1 John 3:8

He that committeth sin is of the devil...

The very first step therefore towards receiving salvation is for that hard heart, hardened by sin, to be broken up.

Psalm 51:17

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God thou wilt not despise 

This verse corresponds with Hosea 10:12 which uses a farming analogy

...brake up your fallow ground for it is time to seek the lord till he come and rain righteousness upon you

“Fallow” means untilled, hard ground. Ones hard heart needs to be tilled, turned over, ploughed and broken up before it is ready to receive the seed, that is, the Spirit of Christ.

What breaks up the heart? Godly sorrow and repentance.

2 Corinthians 7:10 

For Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation...

See the order here? Godly sorrow “works” or “renders us fit” for repentance which then produces salvation.

Vs 11 of 2 Cor. 7 reads 

what clearing of yourselves...what vehement desire yea what zeal...

Godly sorrow is feeling so heavily convicted of ones sin that one is motivated to forsake it. That is the “vehement desire” and “zeal” spoken of in verse 11.

Sadly such conviction is put to sleep when people preach and believe that we can be saved without first repenting.

The word “clear” in verse 11 means “pure” and “clean” therefore “what clearing of yourselves” means removing all impurities from ones life. 

James 4: 8-10 shares a similar sentiment 

Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you, cleanse your hands ye sinners and purify your hearts ye double minded. 

How do we draw near to God?? Cleanse your hands… hands represent our actions, our activities, how we live, what we do. 

We must remove the sin from our lives and thus cleanse our behaviours.

Purify your hearts… Purify means cleanse and heart means the soul or mind, thoughts and feelings.

Therefore this scripture could be read, “clean up your mind, clean up your actions”.

Vs 10 states

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up.

Notice the order here? It is after we draw near to God that he draws near to us. It is after we humble ourselves in Gods sight that he lifts us up, or spiritually resurrects us to walk in “newness of life” (Romans 6) and we receive salvation.

When the prodigal son left the pig pen and began walking back to his fathers house in a state of absolute humility, his father saw him from afar off and ran to receive him (Luke 15:20)

So too God watches and waits for us to make a move towards him, then rushes out to meet us. 

Luke 8

Vs 5-8 A sower went out to sow his seed...

Some fell by the wayside...some fell upon a rock...some fell among thorns...and other fell on good ground and sprang up and bare fruit...

Vs 11 The seed is the word of God

Vs 15 But that on the good ground are they, which in a honest and good heart, having heard the word keep it and bring forth fruit with patience

A heart which is broken up, ploughed, tilled and turned over through repentance is the “good ground” or “honest and good heart” in which Gods seed can truely take root.

Heb 10:19&22

Having therefore brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest...

...let us draw near with a true heart...

To enter the holy of holies which means enter a right relationship with God, we must FIRST have a “true heart”, that is, a heart fully yielded to God, not one in active rebellion to God because of sin.

James 1:21

Wherefore Lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness (abundance of wickedness) and receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls.

Engrafted means implanted.

See the order again? We must first lay apart all our filthiness and wickedness before we can receive the seed, that is, Jesus into our heart and thereby be saved.

In conclusion,

I hope you can see how in order to receive salvation, ones heart must first be broken up by way of godly sorrow and a genuine repentance from sin. This ploughing produces “good ground”, that is, an honest, good or true heart in which the seed, Jesus, can enter a person via his Holy Spirit and take firm root, thereby producing spiritual life, which is salvation.

May we each work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. God bless.

Explaining Grace, Faith and Works

In this article I want to explain a well known yet widely misunderstood scripture and that is Ephesians 2:8&9

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.

This article can also be read on ‘the godly life’ website which contains an abundance of sound material, just click on the link below

https://thegodlylife.org/2019/11/19/explaining-saved-by-grace-through-faith-not-of-works/

Now the word grace is often described as God’s unmerited favour towards mankind and yes God is merciful, kind, loving and forgiving. However, if we look at the Greek word behind that English word Grace we get a much better and fuller understanding of what grace actually means.

The Greek word is khar-ece and means…

The merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ…it also means…the divine influence upon the heart and its reflection in the life…

So many in the church world, see grace as just “God forgave me of my sin even though I did absolutely nothing to deserve his forgiveness”.

However, khar-ece is God’s divine influence upon the heart or, in other words, God, through his Word and Sprit, convicting a person of their sin, bringing them to a place of brokenness which the bible calls Godly sorrow, motivating them to turn from sin and turn to Christ.

What is sin? There’s the obvious sins like adultery, fornication, murder, theft, lying and drunkeness but even if you don’t do those things but in your heart you think you don’t need God, you think your way is best, that is also sin! It’s the pride of life.

1 John 2:16

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

So, let’s talk about faith.

For by grace are ye saved through faith…

What is faith? Is it simply giving mental ascent to what Jesus did for us on the cross? Is it an abstract concept?

Again, if we look at the Greek word behind the English word faith, we get a much better, fuller understanding of what faith is.

The Greek word is pis-tis

It does mean belief and conviction but it also means faithfulness and fidelity which reminds me of a marriage.

Therefore, true faith means entering and abiding within a covenant relationship with God, forsaking all others to love and serve him.

To further expand upon our understanding of faith, lets look at James 2:26

For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Works means an act or deed. According to James, faith is evidenced through actions or demonstrated through deeds, therefore, true faith produces repentance and steadfast obedience to God.

Lets now look at Acts 26:20

…that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance

Here works, again, means deeds or actions and meet means worthy of. Therefore, one could read this verse as saying…that they should repent and turn to God and do deeds worthy of repentance.

Yes, to receive salvation one has to DO something.

James 4:8&10

Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands ye sinners, purify your hearts ye double minded.

Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up.

So I hear you ask, if we demonstrate our faith through works, why then does Ephesians 2:9 say…not of works lest any man should boast

Well, the works here are referring to dead works. 

Old Testament believers performed many ceremonies and rituals such as animal sacrifice, diverse washings and circumcision.

These are dead works in that, under new testament salvation, they mean nothing to God and cannot make a person righteous.

Hebrew 9:13&14

For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purification of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

Animal sacrifice was replaced with Jesus’s death on the cross. Only by partaking in HIS death and resurrection can one be saved.

How does one partake in it?

By grace through faith!

When God, by Grace, convicts one of sin and one responds to this Grace by repenting from sin and submitting one’s will to God’s will, one is crucified WITH Christ and resurrected WITH him to walk in newness of life which is being born-again by the Spirit. 

In conclusion,

Rather than seeing Grace as God’s unmerited favour towards mankind…let’s see grace as God’s divine influence upon the heart, convicting a person of their sin and drawing them to Christ.

Rather than seeing faith as an abstract concept…let’s see faith as entering and abiding within a covenant relationship with God that includes faithfulness and fidelity.

Finally, rather than seeing not of works as meaning we do nothing in order to receive salvation…I hope you can see that works in this verse is referring to the dead works of animal sacrifice, diverse washings and other ordinances performed under the old covenant, which are not able to make a person righteous.

Those old rituals and ceremonies point to the spiritual reality of forgiveness and relationship with God through partaking in his death and resurrection…being crucified and resurrected WITH Christ.

Let us each work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. God bless.