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==February Repent or Perish!

A growing debate in our fundamental churches is the issue of repentance. Since large churches are often built by "not scaring anyone away," it is becoming very common to hear sermons and read newsletters which proclaim a repentless salvation. That is, many are boldly proclaiming that one does not have to repent of his sins to be saved. I recently heard a message on tape by a very popular preacher who stated that every New Testament command to repent is addressed to a saved person. His reasoning was that lost people just need to trust Christ and not worry about sins. This man has preached this doctrine for many years, and many have followed in his steps. Most any Bible-believing preacher or personal worker can tell you numerous stories about the so-called "Christians" they've met who were supposedly saved after repeating a brief prayer. There was no Holy Ghost conviction, no change of attitude about the world, the flesh, or their numerous sins, and there was no evidence of a new life after their conversion. Yet, this person was "chalked up" as another new addition to the kingdom of God.

I know of a church which used to send out a monthly bulletin which gave the totals for their converts and baptisms for the month. Nearly every issue stated that between two and three hundred people had been saved in the previous thirty days. This went on for about three or four years, which means that over 7,000 people made professions. Did this church have 7,000 members? No, they did not. Did they have at least 5,000? No, they did not. At least 1,000? Nope. Maybe 500? I think not! On a big day this church might break 300. On an average Sunday, their attendance was less than 200 people. They had 200 in attendance, yet they really believed that they had been leading 200 to Christ every month for over thirty-six months straight! One of their members ran into me at the county fair one night where we were passing out tracts. He said, "Hey, we've had twelve saved tonight!" I don't know if these twelve ever made it to church, but I'm certain they made the monthly bulletin.

The trouble is that too many preachers have been convinced that getting a profession and getting folks to church is the main thing. "If we can just get them in church, we can work on the repentance later" seems to be the rule of the day. Another rule goes like this: "We don't want to say or do anything to scare them off." Naturally, the word "repent" scares the daylights out of lost people, so repentance is forsaken in order to get the person to make a profession and maybe even come to church. As the years roll by, the church becomes a great big nursery filled with lost people and spiritual babies. Less than ten percent of the membership does over ninety percent of the spiritual work of the church. However, the weak majority still FEELS important because they have their picture in the church directory, and they get to argue and vote in business meetings.

This whole stinking mess started when the ambitious preacher got the "bright" idea to ignore a word that occurs over one hundred times in the Bible in its various forms. With the inspired words of God being our guide, let us study the subject of repentance and hopefully help someone to stay on the straight and narrow way.

Repentance in the Bible has three basic elements: a genuine sorrow towards God (II Cor. 7:9-10), a genuine separation from sin (Heb. 6:1; Acts 26:20), and a genuine submission to God's will (Acts 9:6; I Ths. 1:9). In other words, repentance involves a totally changed life. II Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." According to the Bible, all things are new once a man is in Christ, and old things are passed away. Repentance is certainly a requirement. Jesus began his ministry preaching, "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Mat. 4:17) In Matthew 9:13 he said, ". . . I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." He upbraided cities in Matthew 11:20 "because they repented not." Repentance is required for salvation, and no honest and serious student of Scripture can claim otherwise.

To Read More "Repent or Perish!"

Do you have a ministry or a business Do you have a called of God ministry where your whole purpose is to "feed the sheep", and God supplies your needs, or do you have books, tapes, videos, etc. that you SELL for a "donation", or just outright SELL, and your buyers supply your needs?

There is nothing wrong with being in business and selling things. However, if you are a church or any kind of "ministry", you may want to check your motive for how you are conducting the work of the Lord.

Remember the money changers in the temple where JESUS turned over the tables and threw them out. They were selling things in the "CHURCH". (God made it quite clear to us that we were not to charge for anything, that HE is our source.)