The Unbiblical REPENTANCE Heresy!
And they went out, and preached that men should repent. Mark 6:12
by David J. Stewart
It is a dangerous thing to ADD anything to simple faith in Jesus Christ. God's plan of salvation is SIMPLE...
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ" (2nd Corinthians 11:3).
To be born again (saved), God only requires for a person to realize their sinful condition and come to the Saviour, Jesus Christ, for forgiveness (Romans 10:13). The thief on the cross simply asked Jesus to "remember" him. The publican who went up to the temple simply prayed "God be merciful to me a sinner."
I recently came across a webpage about repentance and read some disturbing statements...
"Getting saved is no esoteric, mystical event brought about by saying a couple of words."
"This altered message of today that you can gladly receive Christ without following Him, is a false humanistic teaching taught by media Bible teachers. Jesus' invitation is: receive Me, then follow Me."
"We Bible believers have our little formulas for leading people to Jesus, but we are leaving out a most necessary part of sharing the gospel--the preaching of REPENTANCE. As a result, there are a lot of heathens walking around thinking they are saved."
The above statements are dangerous. Did not the thief on the cross utter just a few words? Does not the Bible proclaim in Romans 10:13..."For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." London's mightiest preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, was saved at the age of fifteen by obeying Isaiah 45:22, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else." Salvation is a FREE gift of God (Romans 5:15; 6:23). A gift CANNOT be earned. The ONLY thing that a person needs to repent of to be saved is their unbelief. Nowhere in the Bible does God say that we have to "follow Jesus" to be saved. The truth is that God ONLY requires a childlike faith to be saved. Does God want us to follow Him, Yes...but not to get saved (Isaiah 64:6).
I believe that many of the folks that are often labeled as "Lordship salvation" heretics are sincere, but sincerely wrong. I understand where they are coming from. I mean, I'm sick and tired of meeting professed "Christians" too who are as phony as can be. Christians at best are people, and people at best are sinners. Truthfully, whether you want to admit it or not (in your sanctimonious high tower), we are all phonies to some degree. Can anyone live perfect? No! I'll tell you what bothers me as much as worldly believers, it's the staunch sanctimonious believers who are filled with utter contempt and hate for those worldly believers. We are supposed to RESTORE a brother who is weak in the spirit of MEEKNESS, not accuse him of never being saved. The hidden agenda behind the Lordship Salvation crowd is one of hostility towards worldly believers. It really makes some believers mad when they're trying to live right while others don't care. If you'll check the Bible, some of the Jews in the Wilderness did go to heaven even though they never made it to the promised land. Just because a believer isn't carrying their cross for the Lord doesn't mean their not saved. There are some believers legitimately sitting behind bars for crimes committed. Though some foolish believers would like to say that such a person is not a believer, it is simply not true. Born again believers are sinners just like anyone else. I agree that we are living in a generation of milktoast, weak-kneed believers, but that doesn't mean they're all not saved. God uses sinners, and it's a good thing or He wouldn't have anyone to use. Remember, one third of the Bible was written by inspired murderers.
Jesus taught that we are supposed to carry our cross and follow after Him. I believe that. I don't have a problem with that. I'll be the first to condemn this heathen generation of Christless believers (like the heathens over at Christianity Today who endorse Harry Potter). However, we are talking about discipleship here, NOT salvation. As an example, the Catholics mandate baptism as a holy sacrament to be saved. The Bible condemns such heresy and clearly teaches that baptism is only an ordinance, not a sacrament. You do NOT have to be baptized to go to heaven. A person gets baptized because they are ALREADY saved, not to get saved. Likewise, we are supposed to depart from iniquity because we are ALREADY saved, NOT to get saved. I couldn't agree more that a Christian should depart from sin, but this is NOT mandatory to be saved. I know this ruffles some people's feathers, but it is Bible. The Lordship Salvation crowd confuses discipleship with salvation. Becoming a born again believer is the EASIEST thing in the world (2nd Corinthians 11:3). You must simply come as a sinner to Jesus in faith, believing that He paid for your sins, and ask Him to forgive you. We must NOT add anything to simple faith in Christ. If you think this gives a person a license to sin, then you don't understand the Bible. No one gets away with anything. The Bible clearly teaches in Hebrews that God will "chastise" His children.
So does a person need to REPENT to be saved? Of course, but not the type of repentance that the Lordship Salvation crowd is propagating. There is a common misunderstanding about Biblical repentance. Many sincere people believe that repentance means to cease from committing sin, but it does not. Ceasing from sin is a by product of repentance. Doing righteousness is also a by-product of repentance. Repentance is a change of heart and mind that eventually leads to a changed life. For some people, it is right away; yet other may take much longer. Some people are very slow to change, but ultimately become the best Christians because they are...slow to change. Everybody responds differently. It is one's attitude towards sin that first changes at the time of salvation, not necessarily the departing from sin. Repentance begins in the heart, not in our lifestyle. The Bible teaches...
"For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death." -2nd Corinthians 7:10
Biblical repentance is a "turn around" (U-TURN). When we are truly sorry to God for our sins, it causes us to come to God for forgiveness. Notice that the Bible says, "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation..." Godly sorrow causes a person to repent to salvation, not to live a certain type of lifestyle. I am not saying that believers have a license to sin, not at all. I am just saying that our salvation does NOT hinge on departing from our sins, but rather upon getting our sins forgiven. 1st Peter 2:2 speaks of growing in the Lord...as new born babes. Surely, you wouldn't expect a little baby to walk around the house, let alone run? When a lost sinner comes to Christ for salvation, the salvaging process only begins. Salvation is more than being saved. When we receive Jesus Christ into our heart as our personal Saviour, we instantly become a child of God and our name is written in heaven. But now the lifelong process of growing in the Lord begins. Just as a baby is physically born into the world and grows for the rest of his or her life, so does a spiritually born (born again) person grow throughout the remainder of their life. Sadly, many believers are midgets, suffering from stunted growth. Every Christian needs the milk of God's Word to grow into a healthy mature believer.
Jesus clearly said that he WILL forgive all who come to Him...
"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." -John 6:37
Jesus will save the vilest sinner, the most wicked murderer, the sleaziest adulterer...If they will simply come to Jesus for forgiveness. Jesus only asks that we believe on Him.
When does repentance take place? Repentance occurs that very moment when we turn to God for salvation. When you BELIEVE upon the Lord Jesus Christ and turn to Him for salvation, then you have already turned your back on sin. You have repented in your heart and mind. You can't be saved without admitting to God that you are a sinner deserving of hell. It was your repentance that caused you to realize your sinful condition and then turn to God. The Bible clearly teaches that Godly SORROW worketh repentance. If someone has the flagrant attitude that they can just admit they're a sinner, ask Jesus to forgive them, and then continue living in sin...GUARANTEED...that person is NOT saved. Why? Because salvation is of the heart and your heart is not there. You cannot fool God. Some people just can't stand the thought that a person can be saved and still have sin in their life. Folks, that is true of every single person who has ever been saved! Is anybody without sin apart from our Lord? No! I am not condoning sin, not at all. I am simply saying that following Jesus is NOT a Biblical requirement to be saved. Making a commitment to Jesus is NOT a Biblical requirement to be saved. Making Jesus the Lord of your life is NOT a Biblical requirement to be saved. All that God requires is for us to turn away from our unbelief and place our complete trust upon the precious Saviour, Jesus Christ.
It is dangerous to separate repentance from faith in Christ. The Lordship salvation crowd has attacked simple faith in Jesus Christ, demanding that REPENTANCE from sins be added to salvation. If you realize that you're a hell-deserving sinner, and believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God Who shed His blood upon the cross for your sins, and you are willing to rely upon Him alone for salvation...then all you need to do is to call upon the Lord to forgive you. If you were sincere, then you are not going to have the attitude that you have a license to sin. You are going to be thankful and want to change some things in your life. I've never led anyone to the Lord who didn't have a desire to please God to some extent. I realize that the Bible speaks MUCH about REPENTANCE, but it is the repentance of faith towards God...not towards sins.
"Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." -Acts 20:21
Our repentance is TOWARDS GOD. Isaiah proclaimed that anyone who would look to the Saviour would live. Jesus spoke of the Water of Life, the Bread of life, the Door, the Resurrection, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. It is ONLY through Jesus Christ that anyone can be saved. To teach that lost sinners must "follow" Jesus to be saved is heresy. No, lost sinners must only TRUST Jesus to be saved.
New converts need to be taught. We must teach them the Bible, prayer, faithfulness to church, soul winning, baptism, holy living, separation, etc. We must allow the Holy Spirit to work in their heart and not try to do the Holy Spirit's job. If they are truly saved, we should see some signs of God working in their life, some desire for the things of God. I have known professed believers who never showed any signs of being a Christian. If you asked them about their salvation, they knew all the correct lingo. Are they saved? I sincerely doubt it, but only God knows for certain. I doubt very much that George W. Bush is a believer, he shows more signs of being an occult member than anything. Is Billy graham a Christian? I doubt it. Yet, we must keep in mind that some of the most sinful men in the Bible (like Lot and Solomon) were believers.
The purpose of this article is not to try to decipher who is saved and who is not, the purpose of my article is to expose the heresy about unbiblical repentance. Biblical repentance is simply being sorry for our sins enough to place our faith in Jesus Christ to forgive us of those sins. Unbiblical repentance is when someone teaches that a person must depart from sin or follow Christ to be saved. I NEVER ask anyone to receive Jesus Christ as their "Lord and Saviour"...only as "Saviour." The Greek Word for "Lord" is simply "curious" ("Supreme in authority"...God). Jesus is God, Almighty God. I believe that a person MUST receive Jesus Christ for Who He really is...God! Many false religions portray a distorted image of Christ, "another Jesus" as the Apostle Paul warned us about. If you believe that Jesus Christ is Almighty God, Who came in the flesh, in the form of a man, born of a virgin, Jesus Christ, to atone for our sins...then you have seen the True Saviour. John 6:40 says that God's will is for us to believe upon the Son when we see Him...
"And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day." -John 6:40
I don't see anything in the above Scripture about making a commitment, turning over a new leaf, following Jesus, making Jesus Lord, or anything even similar. I only see what the Bible says..."...every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life..."
Below is another statement from the same article about repentance that I mentioned at the beginning of this article...
"I've encountered MANY, MANY, individuals who claim they've been Christians for years--but they can't stand to hear about the things of God. They don't even go to church. Then you've got the ones that go to church and think it is a social club never preaching the gospel to a single soul. They are concerned with soup kitchens and hospitals and special music and newsletters which is alright--but they don't even share the gospel with the lost! A man can go to hell on a full stomach. Then you've got the ones that go to church once a week and as soon as they leave out the doors they get to cussin' and doing whatever they please. All these categories got something in common--NO REPENTANCE. "
It is not that these people haven't repented, it is because they are immature in the Lord. Very few believers are fortunate enough to have a wise pastor with a hungry heart for souls. Most pastors are just making a living, and the people in his congregation are following him. Judgment MUST begin at the house of God. When Charles Spurgeon was asked what to do with people who fall asleep in church, he wisely responded "Wake the preacher!" America's pulpits are DEAD and so our pews are dead as well. Instead of standing on the promises, most believers are sitting on the premises. Again, it is heresy to try to force a person to give up their sins to be saved. Jesus never asked us to give up anything to be saved. In Romans 12:1, the Apostle Paul said...
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."
Paul is asking these BELIEVERS to make a commitment to God. They are ALREADY saved, but they have NOT yielded themselves to God yet. According to the Lordship Salvation crowd these people were never saved. How ridiculous! When a baby is born into this world physically, everything is new to him (or her). The same is true about being born again, everything becomes new, a whole new world of understanding is opened. Now the growing process has begun and God's Holy Spirit will nurture that child of God through the Word of God and preaching (Titus 1:3).
I agree totally with the sad fact that so many believers have lost their fire for God. It is tragic that the world is going to hell while believers across America are merely playing church. Thank God for the zealous few Christians who are trying to make a difference for God in this world. HOWEVER, we are talking about Christian maturity here, not salvation. America is filled with immature believers. My guesstimate is that 95% of all true believers are as carnal as can be, caught up in the cares and riches of this life. Many of them look like good Christians, but as I have often found...they are only "Christian" to a degree. Still, this doesn't mean that they are not saved. It does mean that they're backslidden or have never matured in the Lord to begin with. We can only teach them, pray with them, and CHALLENGE them to live for God.
The simple and plain truth of God's Word is that we must be born again (John 3:3). This is the "repentance" that God expects of us to go to heaven. Yes, a person should live righteously to please God, but this will be a natural result (by-product) of repentance when that person gets saved. A person who truly gets saved will experience changes in their life. The Bible is clear on this in 2nd Corinthians 5:17...
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
God expects us to carry our cross and separate from the world. Something is wrong with a generation of professed Christians who carry no cross, never offend anyone, never witness to anyone, etc. But these are not prerequisites to be saved. Jesus saves us, and then He cleans up our life through the Word of God and the Holy Spirit if we'll yield to Him. This is the process of growing in the Lord. Does this give a new convert a license to sin? Of course not, but a new convert may not see anything wrong with drinking a beer as a mature Christian certainly would. We have to be careful about where we draw lines concerning who is saved or who is not. Samson commit fornication, Noah got drunk, King David committed adultery and murder, Jacob lied and stole, etc. I am not condoning sin, I am simply saying that there is a great misunderstanding about repentance.
The Lordship Salvation crowd is understandably upset with all the phony "Christians" in the world who bare no cross for the Lord. I am too! But we must not make the grave mistake of ADDING works to salvation in the name of "repentance." The repentance itself should bring about the changed life, we don't have to add it to salvation. It's the seed of the Word of God that produces new life in the believer. We shouldn't try to change the seed to make it grow better.
Why don't Christians carry their crosses (live godly) today for the Lord? For two reasons:
1. MANY people who profess to be "Christian" are not. Every Roman Catholic, Jehovah Witness, Lutheran, Church of Christ, and Seventh-Day Adventist falsely profess to be "Christian." They are false religions! They have all ADDED works to their faith in one way or another, though some subtly. Many southern Baptists like Bill and Hillary Clinton are not "Christian." One southern Baptist church in Tennessee recently called a lesbian to be their pastor. I have no doubt that these people are not saved.
2. True Christians have gotten away from the Bible. It's as simple as that. Never before have so many believers fallen hook, line and sinker for the devil's lies and deceptions. Sin abounds everywhere we turn. The TV has replaced the Bible in the average "Christian" home. We have been desensitized as a nation. The average believer dreads talking about the Bible.
The solution is not to try to change the way people get saved, the solution is to fill America's pulpits with men of God who will PREACH the Word of God and challenge God's children to live for God. There is nothing wrong with America that couldn't be solved by a generation of Billy Sunday's.
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20 ... heresy.htm