Great Doctrines of Salvation - Introduction
Mike Doyle · Jan 3, 2010
Great Doctrines of Salvation, No. 01
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926151187242

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

What I want to do is just launch into the first chapter. I gave you all the questions on chapter 1, and this will kind of give us a feel for where we're going to go and what we're going to do. The word in scripture for repentance, and that's the first subject we're going to cover, is repentance.

What do you think it means? Everybody can answer except for Courtney. Have a change of mind. That's exactly right. And what you find about this word is that lots and lots of people have attached meanings to this word that shouldn't be there. It's, if I can read the Greek word, meta noceo, which means, meta means afterwards, Noheo means to exercise the mind, to have another mind or to think differently. So repentance just means to have a change of mind. It means nothing other than that. So, is repentance necessary for salvation?

No. What do you think? Everybody agree with him? It's okay to disagree with him. I'll protect you. So repentance means to have a change of mind. Is it necessary for salvation? If you don't change your mind about God and Christ and death and all of that, how are you going to be saved?

Do you understand what she said? So then you would say... You have to believe in the sacrifice. You have to believe in the sacrifice. So you have to have a change of mind in order to be saved. What do you think about that? You said no, why do you say no? Well, you can't add repentance onto salvation. You have to believe. That's all you have to do. What do you think? Courtney is going like this. You must be right. Isn't it a simultaneous thing? What's that? Would you say this, that it's not necessary but it's included in salvation? What's the only necessity? Faith. Right?

Now we're going to expand on this, that just isn't the end of that discussion. So what would you say, question three, what would you say the relationship between salvation and repentance is? And did I give you some verses to look up? Let's look at Acts 20, 21. For those of you who brought your Bibles.

Don't you have to realize Is realization of the fact that I'm a sinner, would you define that as repentance? I might realize I'm a Republican but I'm not going to change my mind. I might realize that I'm a sinner and I kind of like it that way and I'm going to stay there. So realization is not repentance.

Somebody read Acts 20, 21. We'll resolve this. Stay with me. Come on, I know you can read. Testifying to Jews and also to Greeks, repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh gee, that sounds like both of them, doesn't it? So when this word says repentance towards God, what's a substitute repentance there for change of mind? Say, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks, who are the Greeks? Is there anybody who aren't Jews? A change of mind towards God. and faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ. How would you change your mind towards God? What would change your mind about God?

Knowledge. Stay with us. Knowledge? Yes. Okay. What would you change from to? Realizing the Savior that needed the Savior. No, this is a change of mind towards God, not you. This is towards God. How would you... You have to realize that you're not number one. I'm not number one, okay? But that still doesn't put God in the framework. Where does God come in here?

I'm changing my mind about God. What am I changing? I can tell you mine. Basically, it went from changing my mind that God doesn't exist Boy, there's repentance from a non-existence to existence. Wow, that's pretty cool, isn't it? You can come join us. There's a book over here.

He says, I am, I am that I am, and it all just follows from there. And our natural Adam's theme denies that. And so I guess through the process, you're changing your mind about God's self-proclamation as to who He is. Romans chapter 1 states clearly that all men are without excuse, because all men know that God exists. How? By looking at nature and by their conscience. But that doesn't mean that all men acknowledge Him to be God.

They could think God is evolution. I bet that sounds good on tape. It's interesting, Paul is telling Gentiles in Acts 20, he testified both to Jews and to Gentiles. He's given a testimony, here's what they needed to do, they needed to change their mind about God, and especially if you were a Gentile, who did you think God was? Pick one. They had hundreds of them, right? There were temples in every town he went into to some sort of God or Gods. So repentance towards God is to change your mind from Athena to the God of the universe. So there is a lot of changing of the mind that goes on.

Second one, Romans 2.4. Somebody go there and read that.

Romans 2.4. When you get there read it.

Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God is too rich of this? Oh, wow. How cool is that? You know, most of us think that God's going to come along with a big stick and beat us up a little bit, and then that'll change our mind. But this verse says what? That it is God's kindness that has the effect and His goodness that leads a man to change his mind about who God is. If you're like me, and some of you are, some of you aren't, I met the Lord at 35, but I grew up in a Catholic environment. My view of God was, He was a nasty guy who lived in a white office in the corner, and if I didn't toe the line, He was going to smack me about. Right? He was the God of the Old Testament. He was a fearful person. So when the Holy Spirit came towards me, that was one of the things he was doing, was changing my mind about who God was. His goodness was the thing that attracted me.

The fact that he loved me was just overwhelming to me. It knocked me down. The God of the universe is interested in me and he loves me? to the point that he sent his son to die just for me, that's a change of mind. I changed my mind about who God was and kind of what his character was. He wasn't the big ogre that I always thought he was. He was a God who loved me and gave himself for me. Repentance changed my mind. I had my mind changed but I didn't do anything yet.

2 Peter 3.9 Whoever gets there can read it first.

The Lord is not slacking concerning His promise, and some men don't slackness, but it is unsuffering to us who are not willing that we should perish, but all should come to a presence. Okay. The Lord is not willing. He's not slacking. In other words, He's not just because He hasn't performed something that you would anticipate Him doing. It doesn't mean that he's not a God that loves you and the thing is that God is a long-suffering God.

He has to be for most of us. And so when it says that he wishes that none should perish but that all should come to repentance, that all should come to what? A change of mind about what? According to this verse. He made a promise. He was going to send a savior. People were saying, well gee whiz, especially Jews, where's the Messiah? It's been an awful long time. If God says he's going to do something and he hasn't done it yet, he must have been kidding.

Or he isn't good to his word. But Peter says no. that what he really is, is he's slow, he's long-suffering, he's slow to wrath, and that he wishes that everybody, that none should perish, but all should have a change of mind, should come to a change of mind about him.

So what would you say the relationship between repentance and salvation is here? I think these verses conclude that Repentance is involved in salvation. Don't you agree? It's not a separate act, but you can't be saved unless you have a change of mind about who God is and what he's up to. You agree with that? Does anybody in this room, of course some of you probably have been saved from, until you can't remember, but anybody in this room say to me, well gee, I got saved thinking God was the same before I was saved. and up until the time he was saved. Is he now different? Is your viewpoint of God the same as you always thought him to be?

It grows. What's that? The more you know, the more it grows. That's right. But before you were saved, or even as a young believer, as you grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus, don't you change your mind a lot about who God is? about his character, about his love for you, about grace, about what it costs God to save us. We're kind of awestruck about this God that we have to do with. See, when you arrive, our friend Jacob, Jacob is going to grow up fearing God. Do you agree with that?

He's going to be afraid of God. Why? You may not admit it, but there's a fear of God. Why? Because we're sinners. And we have sin natures. And the sin nature doesn't want to have to face God. He'll be religious, but he doesn't want to have to face God. And God says, no, you've got to face me. But I'm a loving God.

I've given my life for you. And so there's a change of mind. So the premise is that although repentance is not a separate act that you must do in order to be saved, it's included in salvation. Understand that? Now I know you haven't read the chapter. Steve? Not to sideline it, but back to that Acts 20, 21. There seems to be a distinction between repentance is directed towards God and faith is directed towards the Lord. Functionally. So what's the elaboration on that? The change of mind towards God is the change of mind towards who he is.

Salvation is faith in Christ. God so loved the world that he sent his only son. If you recognize that he loved the world and sent his son, that would change your mind about who he was. And then he says, whosoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life. Salvation is by believing in his son. Or believing in him that he sent his son. That's pretty important because a lot of people believe in God. Yeah, that he exists.

They don't have faith in the work of Christ. If you can believe in God but not believe in the atoning work of Christ, you'd have to have your mind changed about that, wouldn't you? She agrees. I go back to the Romans all know God. I remember you talking about this and it struck me how most of them really went to buy it came here, that there's always, all throughout all cultures, there's a knowledge of God, and that he's angry or needs to be satisfied. That's why the sacrifices, the offerings, all around all religions, knows that there's God, and he's either angry or needs to be satisfied. Everybody agree with that? All you have to do is study anthropology, or study history, and that's in every culture. Every culture is trying to do something to appease an angry god.

And I used that example after I had been to... We were one of the only cities that got that Aztec thing, I don't know how many years ago it was now, probably 20, 25 years. And I was struck when we went down and went through that, that the Aztecs knew that that they had more than one God but they knew he wasn't real happy and they knew that somehow he wanted a blood sacrifice and the ultimate blood sacrifice to them was a human. Oh boy, it had to be a girl who was a virgin. Wow, God would really be pleased with that, wouldn't he? How did they know that? Nobody shipped them an Old Testament from Palestine.

It's built into every person and so there has to be for salvation built into the program a change of mind about who God is. Yeah, God has an issue with sin, but the change of mind comes when you realize that he took care of that issue himself. You see that? He propitiated himself. Do you understand that?

He took out all his wrath and his anger on his son, and he did it because he loved us. It proves that He didn't need us to forgive us. No, He did not. And that's extremely important. Everybody hear that? He didn't need us to forgive us. Anybody not understand what she means by that? Okay.

When the Father and the Son got together, and came up with what we know as the Eternal Covenant. A covenant is a deal, a transaction between two parties. In the Eternal Covenant, the transaction was between the Father and the Son. They were the two parties, nobody else.

And the deal was God being satisfied about sin committed against Him, which is all sin. And so the arrangement was this, if you become a man, and pay the penalty, die for the sins of the world, I will raise you up." The Lord Jesus agrees, he comes and he does that, and God raises him up. God is now satisfied about the sin issue.

Is he under any obligation to extend it to me? Now that he's satisfied, is he obligated to say, OK, now I'm satisfied, I'm going to give you a chance to be saved. Does he have to do that? Answer, no, he doesn't. Absolutely not. He could have said, OK, I'm satisfied, we're blipping all of you out of existence. He could have done that. He could have really done that. And you know why that's really important? Because your salvation is by his grace alone. If it was obligatory in any way, it wouldn't have been by grace. You see that? Does that make sense?

Now, knowing that you hadn't read the chapter, there were four things that the author said that do not in and of themselves constitute repentance. The first one was sorrow. What do you think about that? Now, if you have had any conversations with anybody about their sinfulness, Sorrow is a big deal, is it not? Don't you think you've got to be sorry in order to repent? Do you think sorrow is in the repentance part of it? What do you think? We already had a yes and a no, we can do it again. Do you think you have to be sorry for your sins in order to demonstrate to God? No, you have to agree with the sin. What's interesting is that you will hear in Christian circles that repentance and sorrow go together, and they don't. Sorrow has nothing to do with whether you changed your mind or not. It may contribute to it, right?

But you can't go to God and say, I am really, really, really, really sorry, and not have changed your mind. Any of you who have teenage sons, like I do, he's really sorry about a lot of stuff, but he doesn't change his mind. He's still going to do it again. So you can be really sorry and not repentant. Or you can be both.

But God doesn't look out on this group here today and say, now they've all sinned since 6 o'clock this morning. and the one that really is sorry is the one I'm going to forgive first. Or, I mean, don't you hear that all over the place? You have to really be sorry. I mean, Peter's weeping in the streets, maybe I should do that. See, repentance, you have to stay on the issue of repentance being a change of mind. It's not an emotion. Although an emotion can be involved in. But whenever you see the word repentance, Peter stands up in the day of Pentecost and he says to those Jews, you need to repent. What did they need to change their mind about? What was it telling them to change their mind about? About the fact that they were sinners?

About who Christ was. Who was Christ in their mind? He was just a guy from Galilee. who was sort of a rebel rouser and they hung him on a cross and killed him. He stands up and says, no, you need to change your mind about who he is. That's the repentance. It wasn't about their sinfulness, it was about who Christ was. And he is. Next one. Weeping. Is that part of repentance? Gotta cry. Get out the tissues. I have to tell you that it just seems normal and logical that we should be really sorry about our sins and little tears wouldn't hurt. God would really look favorably and he would really know I'm sorry if I did that, right? So am I saying...

I just have a question. So is repentance a one-time deal or is repentance something that happens throughout the law and you have a change of mind? I don't know, some simple act you've been doing that you didn't realize you were doing, and so I'm shifting my mind from that simple act towards something that I now knowledge, so this is something that I'm pursuing. Good question. I think that repentance, when it comes to salvation, is a one-time deal.

Repentance, you're going to repent your whole life about your thinking about things. Like, I could be a believer for quite some time, and I could be struggling with a sin. Maybe I just get angry all the time, and I'm really trying hard not to be angry, but I can't help it. Every time Courtney punches me, I get mad at her.

So some information comes my way, regarding my crucifixion with Christ. And it dawns on me, wow, what God would have me do is just believe him about my crucifixion and I've been separated from that old man. I'm changing my mind about what I'm going to do from now on. I'm not going to go down the I'm going to try hard road anymore. I'm changing my mind to trust God.

Is that repentance? Yeah, I think so. I think so. And you will see the word repentance all over the New Testament, but you won't see it much in Paul's epistles, because Paul assumes you've already changed your mind. But as new information shows up, it may change your mind about a way you were thinking before, that you're not going to think that way anymore. Is that okay?

How about making resolutions? This is New Year's. You guys all repented on New Year's Eve, didn't you? Do resolutions have anything to do with repentance? You see the subtlety of resolutions? Resolutions have to do with something that you say to yourself that you're going to do. Now you may change your mind. You may decide that You know, going to movies is not for me anymore. I'm changing my mind about that. I'm not going to go to movies anymore. There's nothing wrong with that.

Is there? You know, when we studied the grace class, you remember when we talked about one of the ways you can discover whether something you do in your life is an issue of sin with you or not? And one of them was, does it control you? Are there things in your life that control you? You may be a golfer. Sorry. You may be a Bronco fan. I don't know. You may be whatever. And you come to a realization one day that that controls me.

The example that Macaulay used was a guy who was a gardener. that gardening controlled this guy so much that when he came home from work at night he never even took his coat and tie off. He went right into the garden and started messing with it. And he'd be there until dark every day. It controlled him.

See that? So the Spirit of God comes along and persuades you that something controls you. It doesn't have to be a bad thing. And you change your mind about it. That's called repentance. But you don't How do I say this? You could make a resolution not to garden anymore, but that's not the same thing as repentance, because you haven't changed your mind. You see that? That makes sense? Plus it seems like you're making the resolution yourself and you're not asking God for help to change it. Yeah, that's good.

I would add one more thing to that, to realize that God has already put in place the ability for me to trust Him and to abide in the fact that I'm not I'm not a gardener or I'm not to be controlled by anything other than Christ. Him alone. And I agree with him about that. So I don't make a resolution.

Let me have a show of hands. How many of you in some place in your life have made a resolution about some sort of sin that you're not going to do it anymore and within 24 hours you've done it? Everybody. Everybody. It's not repentance. That's not repentance. Repentance is a total change of mind about the entire issue of sin. You trust God not only with the sin but with the information he supplies you about what he did about sin.

It's really important to have the information. That's why we have Bible study. That's why we have Sunday school. That's why we come to church. That's why we hang out together. We're learning all the time and what we're learning is about God's grace and there's not anything that he hasn't made provision for. It isn't a matter of, oh please, oh please, oh please help me. It's, oh I see that you took care of that and I trust you. See that? And this is the one I really love.

How about penance? Anybody know what penance is? You Catholics know what penance is. We're passing out hair shirts at 10.30. Penance means that you do something to make up for the sin that you've committed. And you think that the makeup will somehow make it okay. Or at least get you to even. That's right. That's like those Aztecs and their sacrifices. Now we're going to play a little game. I want you to look up the following verses and you're going to get one of three answers. Is that the way I have it on yours? Oh, you already did it. Alright.

Matthew 3.2 and here's what I want you to do. What group of people is he referring to?

Matthew 3.2. Somebody get it and read it and then tell me who he's talking about. Who's he talking to? Jews, Gentiles or both? He's talking about Jews. Why? It's a call to the Jews to have a change of mind. Do you see that?

What's the kingdom of heaven is at hand? What does he mean by that? Christ is the kingdom of heaven. Wherever Christ is, is where heaven is. So he's standing in front of them saying, the kingdom of heaven is right here. It isn't later. It isn't somewhere else. It's at hand. It's right here. You Jews need to change your mind about the kingdom because the king is here. I am the king. So it's pointed right at Jews.

The next one is Acts 2.38.

And it would be okay with me if one of you went ahead and looked up Romans 2.4.

Acts 2.38. Somebody read it. Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Okay.

Acts 2.38. Who's Peter talking to? This is the day of Pentecost. It's in Jerusalem. It's right after the feast of Pentecost. Who's in town? Jews? How many Gentiles are there? No more than a handful. This message is to Jews, Gentiles or both? Only to Jews.

And here's how I know. Remember when Peter was at Ananias' house and there was what we can refer to as the Gentile Pentecost. Remember that? And Peter came back to Jerusalem and said, I'll be darned. The Lord's going to save those Gentiles. Remember what a surprise it was to him?

So in Acts 2.38 Peter is talking only to Jews.

It's a really important point to understand. In Acts 1 when the Lord had all his disciples gathered around right before he went to heaven, he said to them that they were to wait until they got power from on high and that they were to be witnesses to him in three places, Jerusalem, Samaria and the world. So it starts in Jerusalem, expands to Samaria, and then goes to the world. It starts with the Jews first. Peter is talking only to Jews here, and so he's telling Jews to repent, to have a change of mind, and we've already talked about this, a change of mind about who Christ is.

When somebody in Palestine said, Jesus of Nazareth, was that a complimentary term? What's the town around here that if you came from, people would say, wrong side of the tracks? Commerce City. It was like saying Jesus from Commerce City. That's really what it was like. Nazareth is a town that you didn't want to be from. You didn't want to be from there.

But he was known as Jesus of Nazareth. So when Peter is standing up, he's saying to him, you need to change your mind about who Jesus of Nazareth is. He's the Messiah of Israel. He's the Son of God. And they need to be baptized, they need to be identified with who He is and His work. See that? Jews only.

Romans 2.4. Okay. This side of the room.

Romans 2.4. Who's he talking to? Romans. Who are the Romans? They're Gentiles. Haven't you ever noticed that it's kind of cool how God set things up? He sends twelve apostles to, or eleven apostles to the Jews and one to the Gentiles. Do you think the Jews were just slow learners? No. They had so much to unlearn, the Gentiles had nothing. They started from scratch.

Acts 20, 21. Acts 20, 21. Okay, this side. So, attestifying to Jews and also to the Greeks are repentance towards God and faith towards Who's he talking to? Both Jews and Gentiles. Both of them. Do you understand the difference between a Greek and a barbarian? If you're a Jew, there was Jews and Gentiles, but underneath the Gentiles there were two categories. There were barbarians and there were Greeks. The Greeks were the educated Gentiles, the barbarians were the dumb ones.

The uneducated ones, sorry. Revelation 3.19. The uninformed ones. Ignorant. Sorry.

Revelation 3.19. Those whom I love I would prove indisciplined, therefore be zealous and repentant.

Who's he talking to? Church. Who? Church. The church. No Jew? No Gentile? Whole new group of people. Now he's speaking to the church. Now, Trish asked before, is repentance something that goes on? Here's an example of it. He's telling people in the church to change their mind. Why does he use the word zealous in front of repent there? Say that? Why does he use the word zealous in front of repent there? In Revelation?

Yeah. Let me look. Read yours. Read mine? Yeah. As many as I love, I rebuke and chase and therefore be zealous in repent. Oh, I don't know. Always because he's talking to the Laodiceans who are lukewarm. Ah, is that who he's talking to? Yeah. Is that the church he's talking to? That would be the reason. Actually, the Greek word is be hot. Be hot. Ooh. Be hot. He'd rather they be hot or cold than lukewarm. That was a very unacceptable way for food to be eaten. He said, I spit you out of my mouth. I think that's a good answer.

Don't you? Don't you think sometimes, how's this all going to happen? There are millions of people out there, that maybe have had exposure to the gospel, but they're not believers. How come? As an example, if you grow up a Catholic, and you go to Catholic grade school, and I went to grade school, high school, and college. So when my friends started talking to me about Christ, I said to them, wait a minute, We were in Religion 101 together. I know who Christ is. What didn't I know? What didn't I know about Christ? I mean, I could quote the Baltimore Catechism. Who is God? God is my Heavenly Father. Right answer? Isn't that the right answer?

I guess I would say that you didn't know that you could have a personal relationship with God. That's true. I didn't know that. I didn't know that the sacrifice of Christ on the cross was just for me. Me, personally. I didn't know that. How did I find out about that? How did I find out about that? Someone witnessed to you. Somebody witness to me.

There you go. The role of the Holy Spirit in this equation is really, really critical because you will not change your mind unless He acts on you. Do you agree with that? Does He act on everybody? I think He does when it comes to, when you look at John 15, or John 16, Jesus said, I have to go, it's expedient for me to go, and when I go, I'm going to send a comforter. And what's the comforter going to do?

He's going to convict the world of sin and of righteousness. Is the Holy Spirit about the job of convicting the world of sin today? Boy, if you read the Denver Post, you wouldn't think so. If you watch CNN, you wouldn't think so. Is He doing His job? The answer is, sure He is. How's He doing it? Is the world being convicted of sin or convinced that they're sinners?

Yeah. But there's no response. There's no change of mind. There's no repentance. You see that? So you have to assume, and I don't know, I can't stand up here and give you evidence, well, the boy was convicting there and there and there and, you know, they just didn't report it.

I just assume that if he says that's what he's going to do, that he's doing it. Because he does it quietly. Right? So he comes to every one of us at some point, and he persuades us about who he is, about who God is, and about the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, about who Christ is, and about our lack of any standing before him. I'm persuaded, so how do I respond? I have a change of mind. So who's responsible? He really is, although God holds me responsible for my decision, doesn't he? Repentance of the heart is accomplished only by the Holy Spirit. What about the verse that no man comes after me unless the Father draw him?

When you say what about it, what do you mean? I think so. She's saying that we should equate God with the Holy Spirit being drawn to Christ. Yeah, I think so. I'm of a mind that at the Great White Throne Judgment, when every human being goes before Christ to be judged, not a single person is going to say, oh, give me another chance.

Not one. Oh, I want to change my mind now. No, they won't. It breaks the heart of the Lord Jesus, but they're going to want to go to hell. He's not going to have to kick them in there. They're going to ask for where the door is. It isn't that, it's that they can't stand to be where He is. Do you see that? The sin nature is so anti-God that when they come in front of Christ in all of His glory, they're not going to want to be there. That would be worse for them in all eternity than hell.

Does that make sense? Because of the torment he was in. Oh, that's a great question. Did the rich man have a change of mind? He didn't like it. We know that. Yeah, but he said to Lazarus, Boy, if you could go back and tell my brothers You know this isn't really, you don't want to be going here on vacation. This is a really hot place and maybe they'll repent. What was Lazarus' answer?

If they didn't already, they wouldn't anyway. Yeah, but he, doesn't it sound like he maybe have changed his mind? What's the problem with that? Did he repent? He may have, but it's too late for him, and he knows it's too late, but for his brothers, it's not too late. And he wants better for his brothers. He assumes that if his brothers got informed, that they would have a change of mind. He didn't ask for himself, he asked for his brothers.

Yeah. Oh, interesting. He didn't change his own mind, did he? He said, go change their mind. He did. He wanted a drink of water. He's already sealed. What's that? His fate is already sealed. Yeah. Their's wasn't. Well, I think he got a big, the deal with him is that he had a big dose of reality. You know, this is really, this is real, this is not, and he didn't want his brothers or people he cared about to end up where he was. Not that he changed his mind so much about there he didn't want his brothers to come there and the answer was is that more than just telling them had already been communicated to them and they aren't going to change their mind. See the supposition... But if someone comes back from the dead and tells them they will believe, that's his hope. There's only one hope left. But you know what? Somebody did come back from the dead and they still don't believe.

Okay, so what we'll do This is kind of how it's going to go. We'll pick up with question seven and next week. And I should have brought eight, but we probably won't. Chapter two. So start reading the book and I think you'll find it's it's helpful. It's informative. And if you have questions, write them down because we love questions. Right. OK, let's go.

Father, how we thank you for your grace and your mercy and how we thank you for your salvation and the fact that you are careful to explain to us your grace towards us, Father. We are without excuse in one sense, but in another sense we must learn how to receive the grace that you've supplied to us, Father. We thank you. We pray in your Son's name. Amen.