What Does Repentance Mean?
January 15, 2026
Turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 19. And we’re going to read, well, I think the first seven verses and get a little story there, but we’re really going to focus on one word here in just a minute. And it’s a subject of controversy sometimes.
But I think as your pastor, I want to take some time and just talk to you and teach you about the subject here in just a minute. Now I got your interest here. You’re going to talk about now, so that’s good.
But Acts 19, they had just started the third missionary journey. And Paul and Silas had left Antioch, and they had made a beeline over to Ephesus. It seems in chapter 16 they had wanted to go there. Remember that’s when the Holy Spirit said, no, no, no. And finally, they got the leadership from the Lord. And maybe, you know, God’s timing is always right. Maybe the timing wasn’t just quite right because this time they go to Ephesus. And there are some disciples. Now that term is interesting. I think these 12 men were saved.
But they lacked a lot of knowledge. They knew of John’s baptism. Remember John kept saying, hey, you know, he’s about to come, and he was preparing the way of the Lord. But it seems they did not know that much beyond that and that Jesus was the one to come. And so, of course, Paul teaches them about the Holy Ghost and about Jesus.
But we’re going to pick up one word in it. But we’re going to kind of get the feel of it first. We’ll get started here. Acts 19. And we’re going to start in verse number one. Acts 19 and verse number one.
Look at verse number one. Here we go, and it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coast, came to Ephesus, finding certain disciples.
Now, these are these 12 disciples. They seem like they lacked a lot of knowledge about John and his baptism, but not beyond that a lot. Verse number two, and he said to them, “Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?” And they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.”
And he said to them, “Unto what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.”
Remember John? He was out there baptizing. Well, everybody came to where John was baptizing, and the whole Jerusalem and all, that whole area that came out there. And to the point that the Pharisees were coming. And John said, well, you know, you who warned you over there after come? And you’re a bunch of hypocrites. I don’t know if I want to baptize you, that type feeling. But a lot of people were coming to getting baptized, and it was known. And it seems these 12 apostles or 12 disciples that got baptized by John, you know anything about the Holy Ghost. I’m not sure how much they knew about Jesus. John was saying that the Messiah is coming.
Now, once John baptized Jesus, he said twice after that, he said, remember God had told him, you know, when you see the Spirit descending, then that’s the one. So after that, he said, “The Lamb of God will take away the sin of the world.” Then about a day or so later, he said it twice. But I don’t know how clear it was for a long time for John. Then even when John was in prison later on, he sent messengers, disciples, “Hey, are you the ones who are looking for another?” I don’t know how clear it was. And I don’t know how much these 12 men understood, but they were baptized under John’s baptism.
Verse number four. Then said Paul, he’s going to explain a little bit more about what all John was teaching and preaching. “John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”
Look, look, it is the one that should come, but it’s very clear that one is Jesus. Okay? Now look what they did, verse number five. “And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” By the way, that’s not teaching you’re only baptized in the name of Jesus. No, Jesus said over in Matthew 28, the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. Okay? But they want everybody to clear: it’s not just the one that John says is coming; it’s Jesus.
And verse number six, “When Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came upon them, and they spake with tongues and prophesied,” and all the men were about 12.
I want to go back up to verse number four. We’re just kind of want to use this as a springboard as we’re going through the book of Acts. Sometimes we’ll come to a subject I feel like we need to just discuss. And that word there in verse number four, with the baptism of repentance. We want to talk for a little bit tonight about that word repentance. And we’ll try to just teach you biblically about what the Bible talks or teaches about repentance.
Now, this subject of repentance, several years back, it was really just a hot button. If you wanted to argue with someone, you say, “Repentance.” And either you better duck or you better pucker, you know, it’s whichever way you want to go. And here’s a little bit about this thing. And I’m not debating, but I feel like I ought to as your pastor teach you. We’ll be very biblical about it tonight.
But I remember years ago we had a fellow in our church, and he had a real big issue with this thing of repentance, and he was coming to me and awed me about it. In fact, somewhat, probably some of the reason why I left the church, but he came and he said, “Well, the Bible teaches repentance.” And obviously the Bible does teach repentance. John the Baptist taught it, Jesus taught it, Paul taught it, Peter taught it, Ezekiel taught it. It’s all through the Bible, but it’s almost like a—it’s kind of getting away from the real discussion. I don’t really know of anyone that denies repentance is necessary, but the true discussion is about what does repentance mean?
And I forget, he gave me a book. It was maybe 100, 150—I would say probably close to 150 pages. And I don’t know, I got another book to read. But since it was a discussion, I read every page of that book. And the whole book was basically this: the Bible teaches repentance. And I had always said the Bible teaches repentance, but it never gave a scriptural definition of what repentance is. So kind of be careful. A lot of times you’ll get into this debate: Is repentance necessary? Yes, it’s necessary, but what does it mean?
That is a real discussion when we come to this thing of repenting or repentance: what does it mean? All right, y’all owe me out there. You on board with that? So often that gets just twisted, and so yes, it’s very clear in Scripture, and you can write a book 500 pages: it is biblical to repent, and repentance is necessary for salvation. But what does it mean? All right, so let’s get some hard facts about repentance. Some of these you may want to write down if you’d like to. But just going to give you some facts. This is not debatable. These are very biblical things.
Mentions of repentance in Scripture. The word repent, in your King James Bible, just the word repent—not repentance—is found 46 times in the Bible. Repented is found 32 times in the Bible. Repentance, 26 times in the Bible, and repenteth is five times in the Bible. Altogether, some form of repentance is mentioned 109 times in your King James Bible, okay? So it’s not something that, as I only mentioned a couple times—109 times in Scripture, some form of repentance is mentioned. That’s just giving some hard facts about the Bible in repentance.
Here’s the second thing. Of those 109 times in the Bible, over 20—I did not count, but I know for sure it’s over 20, it could push 30, I don’t know if that be true—but over 20 times it is God that is doing the repenting in Scripture. So over 20 of those times, very clearly in Scripture, it has got…
Look over in Genesis chapter number six. This is the first mention of repented—is the word of repentance or repent—the first time it ever occurs is here in Genesis chapter number six. It uses the word repented here, and let’s find out what Scripture says. The first mention is always very, very important of a doctrine. And just look at this: Genesis chapter number six and verse number six in the Bible. “And it came to pass, when the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, that it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”
Psalm 135:14: “For the Lord will judge his people; he will repent himself concerning his servants.” I studied this for years, but today I really looked over it again, and I was just shocked how much in the Bible the Lord is willing or does repent. It’s really kind of surprising if you study it out. It’s found very often in Scripture, many, many times, and nobody can really debate that. It’s very, very clear in many, many places in the Bible that the Lord—now, the Lord doesn’t change who he is and what he is, his character—but he does repent, very clear in Scripture, Jonah and plenty of other places, Exodus and other places where he repented.
But there are some things that the Lord says he will not repent about. He said, “I’m not going to change my mind about those things there.” Psalms 110, verse number four: “The Lord has sworn and will not repent, ‘Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.’” By the way, I think that has to do with your eternal security, and the Lord says, “I’m not going to change my mind about it. I’m not going to repent about that right there.”
The most famous place in the Bible, and you’ve heard it, it’s over there in Romans 11: “For the gifts and callings of God are without what?” Without repentance. And we usually apply that to someone: they’re gifted, they’re called, that preacher’s call, whatnot. And I don’t think it does Scripture an injustice, but if you get very specific, he’s actually over there, Romans 11, talking about God and the nation of Israel, and that’s a special people. By the way, that would be interesting to show it to Tucker Carlson right now, you know. Or what’s, what’s, what’s it, what’s it, Candace Owens? Yeah, that’d be an interesting one. And that’s specifically what is talking about: God says, “I’m not going to change my mind about Israel; that’s my special people.” And though they backslid and rejected me, they’re still my special—I’m not going to repent about that.
And so there are some things; often God does repent in Scripture, but there are some things God said, “I’m not going to repent about,” and I’m just not going to do it.
And then just some facts about it. Sometimes repentance in Scripture is speaking to God’s people. Remember there were in Revelation chapter 2, in the seven churches of Asia Minor, chapter 2 and chapter 3. That first church, the church at Ephesus. Good church. It’s a church I think for the most part he’s speaking to saved people. He said, “You’re good. You’ve got some patience and you’ve worked hard and you’ve tried to stand for what’s right, but I’ve got one problem with you.” What was it? The church that ever you’ve left your what? Your first love. Remember what he said to about it? He said over there, I think it’s verse number five: “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy first works.” Three-part remedy. I think of the tail-end, if y’all don’t take too long during this sermon, we’ll maybe kind of close out on that right there. I’m teasing with you a little bit. But three-part remedy: remember, repent, and do your first work. And that was to God’s people.
Psalm 146:4: “Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD, Repent.” So sometimes it is to God’s people, saved people, his chosen people.
Now here’s an interesting thing just as we’re trying to get some facts out of Scripture about this thing of repentance. Maybe you’ll be surprised. I don’t think you really—sometimes we just hadn’t thought about it—but many times the gospel is given out and people are saved, and repentance is never mentioned one time in many times in Scripture.
Acts chapter 8 over there, and remember Philip? And it’s Philip LeClerc. He could speak Koine Greek or French or English. I’m teasing. He’s not here tonight, you know. But the evangelist, Philip, and the Ethiopian eunuch, remember that? And he’s reading from the Bible, Isaiah 53. And he said, “How can I accept him unless someone explains it to me?” And Philip went up and shared and joined him. And man, he was ready. He was ready. And just, boy, it’s one of those just wide open, imagine leading to the Lord. And you know what? He’s preaching him Jesus. It says that in Acts 8. You look it up. And they came upon some water. And he says, “Here is some water. What does hinder me to be baptized?”
And he said, “Well, do you believe with all your heart?” Am I? That’s very important. And he said, “Well, I believe that Jesus Christ is the—is the—let me read it for you. I’ve got it in here.” And Philip said, “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” And, you know, he went down in the water and baptized him, and repent is never mentioned one time in the book of Acts.
Now I’ve already said it’s necessary for salvation, so it must be—it must be when you just give out the old clear plan of salvation. Repentance must be included because they don’t bring it up many, many times when people are getting saved in Scripture. Acts chapter 8, they didn’t bring it up.
Paul, when he was converted over there in Acts chapter 9 and he’s on the road to Damascus. And Jesus Christ, that bright light, boy, he couldn’t even—he fell, and he couldn’t even see for three days. And he was blinded, and he’s hard for you to kick against the pricks. God had been convicting him for all, and he’d been kicking against that conviction. And eventually he went over there to Damascus and Ananias. And he got baptized. You know, repentance is never mentioned one time in Acts chapter 9. Not one. Check it out. Read it all.
Well, my goodness, if you got to mention repentance and that word every time, then Philip messed up, and Paul messed up. And then over there in Acts 16 in the Philippian jailer. Remember that? Probably the clearest place. I like that because, man, that jailer, he knew the right lingo. He knew the Bible lingo. He knew the right question. He just point blank: “What must I do to be saved?”
You know, if you check it out in Acts 16, they never mentioned repentance. Never did. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,” and in thy house. He went over the house, preached to them Jesus, and they believed on Jesus, got baptized, and you won’t find it. Well, my goodness, Philip’s done messed up, and, you know, Paul—I don’t know about his salvation because I mentioned Philippian jailer—Paul and Silas messed up there.
Well, Jesus, surely Jesus knows how to win somebody to the Lord. Well, if you go over there to John chapter 4, and Jesus is there at that well at lunchtime, and the Baptist preachers are doing what Baptist preachers are good at: they’re in town eating. Come on now. They’re at the preacher’s fellowship, you know. I’m one of those, so I can say those things, you know. And Jesus is out there witnessing to this lady at the well. He talked about the living water and her life and all that. Do you know if you read that—people can read into it—but if you read Scripture, you won’t find repentance anywhere in there in John chapter 4. Check it out. Jesus, he didn’t bring it up when he led her to the Lord.
Well, it must be it’s included in the plan because Jesus didn’t bring it up. John chapter 3, Jesus—by the way, Jesus was a good—he didn’t just come to save; he came to seek and to save that which is lost. He was a personal soul winner, Jesus was. Because Jesus was talking to Nicodemus at nighttime, and Nicodemus is bragging on Jesus. And Jesus said, “Just keep it coming. Come on, come on, come on, keep ragging on me.” You know what Jesus did? He cut to the chase. He said, “Let’s talk about what’s important. You can’t enter the kingdom of heaven unless you’re born again.” Jesus brought up sin. Jesus was a personal soul winner. By the way, he didn’t spend a whole lot of time building a relationship. Well, I got to build—I got to talk to you for three weeks before I can witness. Jesus didn’t do that. Didn’t do it in the woman at the well either. Now I’m for building relationships, but Jesus didn’t do that, friend. I mean, he just, boom, he got, boom, let’s talk about it: you’re going to heaven or not.
John chapter 3, great passage. That’s where we get the famous John 3:16. Come on, the Super Bowl, hopefully someone will hold it up somewhere, you know. I mean, I’d rather they’d be in church, but they’re going to be there, somebody to hold it up, you know. John 3:16, you know. But I mean, it’s just clear in Scripture. But you know, all through John chapter 3, and he just gave him a perfect opportunity. He said, “Well, how can you go? Be born again. You go back in your mom’s stomach?” You know, Jesus never brought up repentance one time. Check it out, John 3 is not there. I love that last verse, 3:36. That’s one of my favorites. If you’re trying to give eternal security to someone, it puts everyone in the world in one or two categories: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life”—that’s one category. “He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.” Whoa. I like just clear on or off, no in between. You know, Jesus never brought up repentance there. I’m just saying, you check it out in Scripture. I know what so-and-so said in some book, but let’s talk about God’s book right there. Amen.
Jesus is on the cross and seven utterances. I mean, the last, last minutes of Jesus’ life on earth before he died and was buried and rose again—he always was—but his life here on earth. And I love it, one of his last acts he did, he led someone to the Lord: the thief on the cross. At one point, both of them were railing on him, giving him a hard time, both of them. One fellow got convicted, and boy, he—he said, “Hang on here.” He said, “We’re—” he yelled over there, “Hey, we’re here deservedly. He didn’t do anything wrong. He’s here for our sins.”
And he said, “Lord, remember me.” You know, it was a nine-word prayer, the thief from the cross: “Lord, remember me when thou comest into thine kingdom.” By the way, well, they’ve got to pray so long? Just nine words. And what did Jesus say? Well, if you repent? Jesus said that? You won’t find it, friend. He said, “Today thou shalt be with me in paradise.”
You just don’t find it in so many places where the gospels are being given out, and people are getting saved. So what’s the deal? Let’s get to this here: What does repentance mean? By the way, the argument is not as repentance is necessary. Yes, it’s necessary. I don’t really know if anybody that’s debated that. It’s all throughout Scripture. But the debate is, what does repentance mean? See? All right? Y’all want me out there? By the way, how many times has repent or repented or repentance been found in Scripture? Man, y’all are listening. I’m impressed. Or you wrote it down. That’s even smarter there. Amen. That’s where I’m to the stage; I’ve got to write it down. That’s it. Good, good, good job.
Now, let’s see here. The first—well, let’s talk about this. Let me just give you the definition: Repentance means a change of mind. All right? Now let’s see, does that line up? Go back over to Genesis chapter number six. Go back over to Genesis chapter six. Now let’s see if this lines up with Scripture. We won’t have time to go through all 109 times, but we’ll look at the first mention of it, that’s very significant in Scripture. Genesis chapter number six and look in verse number five. Genesis 6 and verse number five: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Boy, that’s just—that’s bad. Only evil continually. Wow. I mean, we’re pretty bad, and I don’t know if we’re that bad in our day and time. Every—it’s just amazing. And what’s verse number six? “And it repented the Lord.” If you will, the Lord had a change of mind. He said, “Oh, this creation is so wicked.” He had a change of mind. Just so sinful, so wicked. “And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” Of course, the flood’s coming. But you see how it lines up with Scripture, the first time it’s mentioned.
Of the 109 times that the word repentance in some form is mentioned in Scripture, the majority of them—66 of those times—is found in the New Testament. Okay? So all together in all the Bible, how many times does it found? How many? Help me out. And the New Testament, how many times is it found? Man, y’all know your stuff.
By the way, the New Testament is—you know, the Old Testament gives the gospel to Isaiah 53 is a wonderful one, started over there in Genesis 3:15, and on and on, prophecies of the coming Messiah and shedding the blood, the one that covered their sins of Adam and Eve. I don’t know if it was Garrett or Josh. One of them got excited about the basketball game they were watching back there in the PA booth, you know, but Josh is pointing to Garrett, so I guess, you know, Garrett’s not saying anything, so I guess it was.
So somebody’s enjoying it. I don’t know who it was, but 66 times in the New Testament is just crystal—I mean, it’s not just the coming Messiah. The New Testament is there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12). Just Jesus. It’s so clear about salvation, Jesus, Jesus. It’s just crystal clear about salvation.
And in the New Testament, the Greek word that is translated into repentance is metanoia. There’s a noun form, it—a verb form of it. Not every time that you find repentance in some form in the New Testament is from that. Of the 66, about 58, 59 of them are this word. In that word, that Greek word, it’s two Greek words put together: meta, where we get metamorphosis, and the caterpillar goes in there and it comes out and it comes out a butterfly, so you’ve got a change. And the nous has to do with knowledge or your mind. So you’ve got a change of mind.
All right. So, now help me out here. Help me out here. Let’s go back a little bit. Some of the very common definitions we’ll hear in our day and time of repentance is to turn from your sin. Anybody ever heard that? Well, if God repented over 20 times in the Bible, and that’s very clear in Scripture, I have a problem, friend. And if it’s turning from sin, there are some things God says, “I won’t repent about.” Well, if that means he’s not going to turn on some sins, Houston, we’ve got a problem, you know. Or even some—you’ll hear this sometimes—well, you’ve got to be willing to turn from your sin. Well, God doesn’t have to be willing to turn because he never sinned. Or even if it’s being sorry for my sin, God no way to be sorry; he never sinned. See? No, no. It means a change of mind.
Now, go back over to Acts 19, where we started. Acts 19. Look at verse number four. Acts 19, verse number four, if you would, please there. Acts 19, verse number four. By the way, so you know when you’re out wherever where the Bible stands on these issues, I want you to know about these things, all right? And look at Acts 19. We’ve got to learn a little bit of repentance. Now let’s put it into this verse right here. These 12 disciples, they knew about John’s baptism, but they didn’t know much about Jesus, or they didn’t know the full details of the Holy Ghost and Jesus and all Jesus. Excuse me, John preaches and teaches them.
Now look at verse number four: “Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.” So, hey, you need to change your minds because these were kind of coming out of the Old Testament, if you will—legalism, they call it. And they were looking to the law, many of them, these Pharisees and whatnot, for sure. He said, “You need to change your mind. What’s saying unto the people that they should believe on Jesus?”
So you need to have a change of mind of what you’re trusting in. Because you’ve been trusting in this Old Testament law and doing all these sacraments and these certain things, and no, that’s not going. You need to have a change of mind and believe on Jesus. Is that what it’s saying right there or not? That’s what I’m saying. Yeah.
Repentance is a change of mind. And specifically when it comes to salvation, it’s a change of mind of what I have been believing on or trusting in. Help me out. You’ll know this: What’s the one sin that will send someone to hell? That’s one where the Holy Ghost won’t convict you and pull you to them anymore, but what’s the sin that will send you to hell? Unbelief—not believing on Jesus Christ. You don’t want to trust him. So if I’m going to repent, I have to change my mind. I have to change my mind from what I’m—it’s the one sin that will send me down—from what I’m trusting in. And that could be a lot of different things. They’re trusting in Jesus. I have a change of mind about what I’ve been believing in. Typically, we’re believing in our good works and all the…
Here’s the best illustration I know of repentance, the book of repentance in our day and time. I was witnessing to a Spanish lady in Chicago. I needed some of our Spanish-speaking soul winners like Miss Maria or Ms. Giselle or somebody there, you know. But I was there, and she was limited in English. I was limited in Spanish. I know my 10 Spanish words, you know. And I was witnessing to her. She was a very kind, very nice lady, but she was Catholic. And she kept saying she goes to church and her good works. It was limited. And so she was basically saying this: “I good. I good. I could.” And I am—I’m limited, you know—was trying to say, “Hey, we’re all sinners,” and try to give her some things. “Hey, we’re none of us are, you know, we’re all sinners. None of us are good enough. We all got some sin and all that.” And she kept saying, “I good. I good.”
And praise the Lord, the Holy Ghost got involved. And the Holy Ghost started convicting and drawing like we cannot. And it just, boom, it’s like somebody turned the light on. And all of a sudden, she really got teary eyes. She started crying a little bit, and she said, “I not good. I not good.” And, man, it wasn’t much after that; she was ready to believe on Jesus Christ.
Now, friend, sometimes it booms like that. Sometimes it’s not, but it should change your mind from what they were trusting in to trusting in Jesus. By the way, God is the one that grants repentance. Well, some people just, they’ve got all this works, works, works, just their mind and their heart and their attitudes wrapped up in that. Some of these churches are muddying the water. And boy, you try to show them from Scripture, “Hey, it’s not your good works. It’s not—you stop believing it yet. I’m believing on Jesus.” Yeah, but you keep saying if you’re not good enough, you’re going to go to hell, so you’re not believing in Jesus. And they just can’t get it. Anybody ever heard something like that? And it’s got to be God that grants them that repentance. It’s a change of mind. And from whatever they’re trusting in, they’re trusting in Jesus Christ.
Now, you say, “Preacher, why is that so important? Why is it? We’ll take a whole Wednesday night and discuss this subject here.” A couple things. We’re going to go home, all right?
Number one: It confuses salvation. It muddies the water. If repentance means I have to turn from my sin, then did I truly repent or get saved? I mean, because I messed up. I did some of those things that I didn’t want to do anymore. I don’t know if I fully turned from my sin or not. Am I saved or not? By the way, you didn’t fully turn from your sin either, friend.
Well, it’s not—you know, turning from your sin. You’ve got to be willing to turn from your sin. Well, well, here’s the thing: Is I’ve got to be willing? Well, if I go back and I did it, was I really willing or not? Because I went back and did the same thing. Come on now. You see how confusing it is? I mean, God is—the devil is the author of confusion. He just—Christ declared it. Well, I’ve got to be sorry. Was I sorry enough? If I was sorry enough, I probably wouldn’t do it again. I did it again, so I probably wasn’t really sorry for it. You understand what I’m saying? It’s just confusing.
And my Bible says in 1 John 5:13, he has written the Bible—he has wrote those sayings—that “ye may know that ye have eternal life.” You don’t want to wonder about it. It’s just so confusing, friend. It just muddies the water: Am I saved or not? And as a soul winner, it’s very confusing. Did they cry enough? Well, I only saw all three drops. I don’t know if that’s really sorry or not, you know.
You know, sometimes the people that are just—I think of a man, praise the Lord, he comes to our church still. He’s in my office. We got that on. And he had been through—I was teaching the class at the time, the foundation class time—and we were talking about your salvation: you need a day and a time. And you might not remember the date, but you need a day and a time when you look back. That’s when I was born again. And God was working in his heart. It came to my office. We got on our knees. And he wasn’t emotional. He didn’t cry. He didn’t say, “I’m going to stop doing all this sin here.” You know, but, but, but he—he got on his knees and he prayed. Now, he used to be a savior—and he got out. First thing he said, “I got a day and a time.” And praise the Lord, he’s—he’s got growing to do like all of us, but he’s still in church.
And he didn’t say, “I’m going to turn from my sin.” He didn’t cry. He wasn’t emotional. I remember my dad always told about a guy that argued the whole way through the plan of salvation. He just wanted to argue about everything, you know. And it’s kind of one of those, “Well, you know, the guy’s just kind of cold-hearted and wants to argue.” “No emotion at all.” “Do you want to pray and ask Jesus to be yourself?” “Yep.” “Do you mean that yet?” “You want to pray?” “You’re going to pray?” “Not yet.” “Yeah.” You know, just kind of, yeah. Just no emotion at all, you know. And the guy prayed.
And you know what? You think that guy never got saved? That guy came to church, got baptized, and ended up being a deacon in the church. So you’re like, “Well, I’ve got to be emotional.” You don’t know what’s going on in their heart for it. Only one heart doctor is God, amen. He just tells them the truth, the Word of God, and let him do the work.
Satan’s the author of confusion. If this thing—got to turn from your sin, to be sorry for your sin, and willing to turn—all that, it is so confusing. No, it’s a change of mind about what you’ve been trusting in, and I’m going to trust in the blood of Jesus Christ to wash away my sin. That’s it.
Why is it important? Because it confuses salvation so very, very much. Then number two, let me just say this: People would question, “Can I get saved?” Take it. If I got to turn from my sins, if we’re willing to turn for my sins, they’ve got to be sorry enough for my sins to be saved. And if I’ve got to do all that to be saved… Think about a guy that’s drank for pretty much all his life.
We had some people that moved next to us years and years ago. I tell the story—it’s story number 35. Remember that story? And one guy moved next to us. I’m in the backyard over by the fence, and he was a Hungarian. I thought he was going to be the one to get saved. I started witnessing to him. He listened to him, wouldn’t get saved. Now, he said this: He said, “Look, I’m the—I’m the forerunner.” He didn’t use that word, but he said, “I’m coming ahead. This married couple is coming down from Michigan. We’re all moving from Michigan. And they sent me ahead, supposed to find a place for them to live, all of us that were going to live here, you know.” He said, “The one thing they said: ‘Don’t you move us close to a church?’” And he said, “Look at this. I’ve already ridden a place out, and there’s a preacher next door. Doesn’t God have a sense of humor?”
And he said, “I don’t mind you talking to me,” he said, “but don’t you talk to these people that are moving down about what you just talked to me about. And he said, I’m telling you, it’s not going to go good if you tell them about it.” He never got saved. The honest truth is it took maybe a year or two, I don’t know how long. Mike and Denise is in heaven. Last time Mike had moved away, he had visited us. But anyway, here’s the story: They had been alcoholics for years.
And I’ve been around religion that said you’ve got to be good enough. And they were like, “I’ve tried all my life to stop drinking. I can’t stop drinking.” And so fully on the whole religious thing, I just want to get away from as far as I can and enjoy the time I have.
Praise the Lord, Denise—my wife—led Denise to the Lord in the hospital. A little bit later, Mike, the husband, got saved, and she ended up passing. She’s in heaven now. Mike came back if they moved away and came back and visited us and whatnot. Just turned out sweet, sweet people. But look, if I said, “Hey now, you’ve got to repent. You’ve got to turn from your sin, to be willing to turn from your sin. You’re going to be sorry enough for your sin to get saved.” They had said, “That’s what we’ve been hearing all this time, this religious stuff. I ain’t got no power to save myself, but that had been the honest truth.” Think about a guy that cursed all his life, and he’s got to be willing to quit all that cursing. He said, “I don’t know if I can.”
And on their own, they can’t, by the way. They get saved, God has changed them. But it’s not the changing that saves them; it’s the blood of Jesus that saves them, for it. You see how it would be if they got to turn and get all this stuff right to get saved? How many people say, “I don’t know if I can get saved because I’ve had a perverted mind for years”? You understand what that—that’s just the honest truth where a lot of people are. Amen. That’s just reality, friends. No.
It’d be so confusing, and a whole lot of people say, “Well, I never can get saved.” And then number three, we’re going to be done. It would be adding works to salvation. If it’s me turning from my sin, well, that’s a work for sure. If it’s me being willing to turn from my sin, that’s a work in your heart for sure. If it’s me being sorry enough for my sin, that’s a work. And Titus 3:5 says, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.” Otherwise, the regeneration and the whole ghost—no, friend, your works, if you get one ounce of your works in your salvation, you mess it all up because the best you can do is filter eggs. Nothing you can do to save yourself. No, you’ll never turn over a new leaf and turn all the—and be sorry and all that stuff’s not going to save you. Jesus is the only thing that’s going to save anybody. Don’t add works to salvation. Satan’s always trying to find some way to add works to salvation.
Oh, it is. Repentance and works are two different things. Look over in Acts 26. Acts 26. You’re already in Acts 19, a couple chapters to Acts 26 and verse number 20. Acts 26, verse number 20: “But showed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coast of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.” You understand? Two different things. Works of repentance? That you do the works that kind of show the repentance, but no, there are two different things.
Look over in Revelation chapter 2. We’ve already talked about this. Revelation 2. Church at Ephesus, good church. But they left—I used to say lost—they didn’t want to lose it; they left it—but they left their first love. God gives them a three-part remedy to this thing. By the way, you can use it in marriage. Well, I’ve left my—I don’t love my wife. I don’t love my husband anymore. Well, you have a three-part remedy to that, leaving your first love. Come on. God, I’m the church over here, Jesus in the church, but you can pile it elsewhere.
Look what he says over there. What do you do about it? Revelation 2 and verse number 5: “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen.” By the way, first love isn’t necessarily when you just got saved. I would say the majority of people—I don’t know, a lot of people—it’s right after they got saved. But it may be later on; you’re saved for a year or two, and that’s when you were best. First love has to do not with the timeline, but the best love. When you’re just totally in love with the Lord. It may be when you got rededicated your life, and man, you’re just so in love with that. That’s what I was talking about that time period.
He said, first of all, remember. Remember when you were in love with the Lord? Man, you just couldn’t wait to get up and pray. You felt like in your prayer closet, God was right there with you. I mean, you enjoyed the time alone. You got up, you said, “Man, that coffee’s good, but that Word’s good right there. I like that.” That’s your first love. “I want to tell everybody about Jesus, my best friend. He never let me down one time. He’s been better than I deserve. I want to tell everybody about Jesus.” That’s your first love. And you remember. Remember all that time. Man, you couldn’t wait to get to church. Preacher’s a little crazy, but I said, “I want to hear the Word. Man, let me get in church.” You know, your first love.
He said, “Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen.” Then he says, “What’s the next thing? And repent.” Oh, let me have a change of mind. I’m not right. I thought I’ve been so right and high and mighty. I’m not right with the Lord. I’m far from where I used to be. I’ve remembered—by the remembering is so important of the formula. I remember what it used to be like. Man, I’ve gone through—I’ve tried to remember that—and I’m not where I ought to be. And, Lord, my heart is cold. And you repent. I change your mind. Oh, my goodness. I want to get back to where I used to be.
And the once—the last thing on this thing here: “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy first works.” Two different things: repent and work. But you go back, you read your Bible like you used to. Stay in church. Start going back to witnessing to people. Go back to praying again. And God says, “You remember, you repent, do your first works.” That first love will come back. Guide thine heart in the way. Don’t let it guide you; you guide it. Come back. Delight that. That’s up also, Lord. We preach about Sunday morning. He shall give the desires of thine heart. Yeah, yeah. That’s God’s formula. But two different things: repent and works. Two different things. Two different things.
Would you bow your heads? Our heads about eyes are closed just for a minute. Would you spend some time with the Lord? How have you guided you? Let’s do this. Would you stand, please? We’re going to have a word of prayer. And our pianists will play a little bit. You spend some time on an altar wherever, however. And let’s just spend some time with the Lord. Maybe for me, for sure, many, many times I need to remember, repent, and do my first work. Have God lead you. You’ll be obedient to him. Lord, thank you for the clarity of your word. Lord, just seal your word in the hearts and minds of your people. And Lord, we’ll thank you for what you do in Jesus that we pray. Amen.
Good, you’re here. Glad to have you. Wednesday night’s awesome. Isn’t God good? Man, I don’t earn my salvation. He just lovingly gives it to me. I just, by faith, I receive what he’s given out. It’s awesome. Good to have it. Honor to have our guests with us tonight and appreciate them being with us. That’s great. And they have some stories. They said that they’ll tell you about Marlene, their cousin, if you have enough money. She said her head yes. Of course, I appreciate Ms. Marlene. She’s substituted for us today in school. I appreciate that. That’s a blessing. And praise the Lord for it. Good to see everybody here on a Wednesday night and honored to see you here. That’s great.
Original File: 2026-01-15 - Pastor Paul Chisgar - ＂What Does Repentance Mean？＂ Wednesday 1⧸14⧸26