Repentance And Faith Are Inseparable

2nd Timothy 3:15, “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

There is a false doctrine, called “Lordship Salvation,” which Satan has crept into many churches today, which errantly teaches that a person must repent of sins first, and then have faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Advocates of the Lordship Salvation heresy errantly teach that “repentance” means to “turn away from sins, to intent to reform, amend one's ways, and to cease from lifelong sinful bad habits.” And then second, the person is led to place their faith in Jesus as their Savior. Such a false plan of salvation cannot produce the new birth. Biblically, repentance and faith happen at the same time. 

Repentance and faith are two parts of one act of getting saved. You cannot have one without the other! If a man turns from sins, that is merely reformation, not repentance. Sorrow for sins in penitence, not repentance. Making a mend for one's sins is penance, not repentance. Repentance is “a change of mind” from wrong thinking to believing the Gospel. To “repent” is to acknowledge THE TRUTH that you are a guilty sinner in need of redemption (2nd Timothy 2:25; Romans 3:19-20), and then you are saved by believing THE TRUTH of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Romans 1:16). 

Getting saved is solely a matter of embracing and believing THE TRUTH. 2nd Timothy 2:25, “In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;” Colossians 1:5, “For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;” Galatians 2:5, “To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.” Paul is saying here that he didn't tolerate heretics for even one hour, to ensure that the truth of the Gospel remained, otherwise people cannot be saved from a false gospel. Bob Jones University (BJU) needs to fire Dr. Steve Pettit, instead of letting him move them away from the hope of the Gospel. BJU is now a cesspool of iniquity, preaching Lordship Salvation instead of the Gospel of free grace.

Look at our text Bible verse above. Isn't it beautiful? In 2nd Timothy 3:15 we see the “SIMPLICITY THAT IS IN CHRIST” (2nd Corinthians 11:3-4), which is “THE GOSPEL”! The Gospel is simply the “GOOD NEWS” of the Lord Jesus Christ Who DIED on the cross to pay our debt of sin, and then He was BURIED, and miraculously Jesus RESURRECTED bodily three days later for our justification (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). Simply believe the 'GOOD NEWS' dear reader and you are eternally saved!!! 2nd Timothy 3:15b, “...salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” I marvel that thousands of preachers today ignore such plain, blatant and inspired Scriptures, adding instead a bunch of requirements that God does not, perverting the plan of salvation. If turning away from sins were required to be saved, then the Bible would have mentioned it here in 2nd Timothy 3:15, but it does not! We are simply taught to HAVE FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST!

So does a person need to REPENT to be saved? Yes, of course, absolutely! But repentance does not mean “to turn from sins,” it means “to think differently” (the Greek verb metanoeo). We see this verb form used in Mark 1:15, “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” A literal interpretation of the verse would be—“THINK DIFFERENTLY AND BELIEVE THE 'GOOD NEWS' THAT CHRIST DIED ON THE CROSS FOR YOUR SINS, WAS BURIED, AND BODILY RESURRECTED THREE DAYS LATER!” Repentance is unto the Gospel itself. We don't repent AND believe as false teachers claim, we repent TO believe. We are not saved by repenting from anything, we are saved by BELIEVING THE GOSPEL!!! What saith the Scripture? ...

1st Corinthians 15:1-4, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”

We are saved by BELIEVING “the Gospel,” which is the power of God unto salvation. Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” John 6:28-29, “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” It is that simple to be saved. If you admit that you are a guilty sinner in God's sight, in need of redemption, and you receive Christ's sacrifice on the cross as full payment for your sins, believing that He was buried, and bodily resurrected three days later, and that is your only hope for eternal life, then YOU ARE IMMEDIATELY, SECURELY AND FOREVER SAVED!!!

The Bible teaches that repentance and faith are inseparable and happen at the SAME time. Repentance is an automatic thing, so that it need not even be mentioned when presenting THE GOSPEL to a lost sinner. If someone desires to be saved because they understand that they are a sinner, they are saved the very second they trust (rely) upon the crucified, buried and risen Savior!!! Being born-again is that simple. God only saves ungodly sinners!

“You know the greatest difficulty and hindrance today, is not that people are not good enough. The great hindrance is they're not bad enough, to be saved!” —Pastor J. Vernon McGee, a truthful quote the MP3 sermon, “Why The Gospel Is Not Preached Today”

You don't repent of your sins and then secondarily place your faith in Christ. Salvation doesn't work that way. Biblically, the man who has repented has believed, and the man who believes has repented. This truth is evidenced by the fact that the Gospel of John mentions the words “believe” 85 times, but the word “repent” is never mentioned once. The only requirement to believing the Gospel is to realize that you are a guilty sinner in the sight of a holy God. You've got to know what you are being saved from! ...

“The purpose of the law was never to save; the law has to make us speechless before God, before grace can even begin with us! ...My friend, God is only saving GUILTY SINNERS, those whose mouths are stopped, those who say 'I have nothing to offer God!' I come, just as I AM!” —Pastor J. Vernon McGee, a truthful quote the MP3 sermon, “Why The Gospel Is Not Preached Today”

I absolutely love the following passage of Scripture quoted below from Romans. ...

Romans 3:19-24,  “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

Oh, notice my dear friend that “THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IS BY FAITH OF JESUS CHRIST”!!! And don't miss who gets saved... “ALL THEM THAT BELIEVE”!!! What further saith the Scripture? ...“BEING JUSTIFIED FREELY BY HIS GRACE THROUGH THE REDEMPTION THAT IS IN CHRIST”!!! Wow, it doesn't get any plainer than that!!! Amen, hallelujah!!!

Now I ask you dear reader, where in the preceding passage of Holy Scripture are we taught to turn away from sinful ways? Where are we instructed to be willing to turn from our sins to be saved? Where are we told to surrender to Christ's Lordship as Master of our life, willing to follow and obey Him? Where are we instructed to forsake the world or have a negative attitude toward the pet sins in our life? You cannot show me any of that! Do you see friend what the Devil is doing nowadays? Satan has corrupted the Gospel, getting people to listen to Tv and internet preachers instead of “SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES” as Jesus commanded in John 5:39, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” I hear people who are utterly confused about their salvation, citing quotes which they've heard from John MacArthur, Paul Washer, John Goetsch, Chip Ingram, Jon Piper, Stephen Davies, and Ray Comfort, instead of quoting Bible verses. That tells me right away that they are listening to flawed men instead of God's inspired Word.

I challenge you friend to listen only to the Word of God (i.e., the inspired King James Bible) for a few months, and you will see that salvation is by FAITH ALONE WITHOUT WORKS. The biggest lie that I hear in pseudo-Christendom today is that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, but they say you still have to do works by turning from sin. It is a contradictory false Gospel, a forked tongue plan of salvation, based upon a double-standard of hypocrisy. What saith the Scripture? Romans 11:6, “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” Could the Bible be any plainer? I think not. Salvation is either by works or by grace, but it absolutely cannot be both.

Galatians 3:2, “This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” The apostle Paul didn't ark them if they had turned away from their sins. Paul wasn't concerned whether or not they had submitted to Jesus as their Lord and Master. Paul didn't inquire if they had been water baptized. Paul didn't ask them if they forsook the world. Paul only wanted to know one thing—How did you get saved?—“BY THE WORKS OF THE LAW” or “BY THE HEARING OF FAITH.” When the apostle Peter presented the Gospel to Cornelius and others in Acts chapter 10, Peter never instructed them to do anything, he simply told them THE STORY OF JESUS, and when they believed they were immediately and forever saved! Whew that's good stuff!!!