Don't Make A Christ Out Of Your Repentance

John 6:37-40, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. 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.”

Notice in the following quote that Pastor Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) accurately teaches that repentance does not precede believing. When a man sees Christ (John 6:40), he changes his mind (repents) and believes at the same time. And then it is the precious indwelling Holy Ghost Who turns us from sin. That's how the new birth works! ...

“Repentance will not make you see Christ; but to see Christ will give you repentance. You may not make a Christ out of your repentance, but you must look for repentance to Christ. The Holy Ghost, by turning us to Christ, turns us from sin. Look away, then, from the effect to the cause, from your own repenting to the Lord Jesus, who is exalted on high to give repentance.” —Charles Spurgeon; "All Of Grace," Chapter 11 - "Alas! I Can Do Nothing"

Boy, that was brilliantly said. Yes, that is right! Those pastors today who falsely teach that you must turn away from your sin to be saved are looking to the effect (repentance) rather than the cause (which is Christ). We must look to the Lord Jesus, and not to our own repenting. Certainly every believer still sins (Romans 7:14-25), but the indwelling Holy Spirit will chastise every child of God when we sin. I agree with Spurgeon's preceding quote. It is the Holy Spirit Who turns us from sin (Philippians 2:13), and not our own repentance. Repentance is a grace from God (2nd Timothy 2:25). This doesn't mean we should look for changes in a believer's life to determine if they are saved. Only God can see someone's heart.

When I got saved as a boy at age 13, the Holy Spirit immediately began to convict me about the sin in my life. Pastor Spurgeon is right that we don't have to turn away from sin to be saved. That is not how salvation works. You come to God as a guilty sinner, believing on Christ, and in so doing you have repented. This is what I think Spurgeon meant. We don't have to turn away from sin to be saved; but rather, when we believe on Christ, the Holy Spirit begins to work in our life concerning our sins. This doesn't mean that every believer will turn away from sinning. No believer has ever turned away from all their sinning. Even the best saints will sin, because we are still in the flesh. 

So the very idea that a Christian must turn perpetually away from their sins to prove that they are saved is preposterous! It is the Holy Spirit who works in every believer to turn us from our sins, but many believers choose to dwell in Sodom. Demas forsook Paul because he loved this present world. Lot lived a life of sin. Samson chased women all his life. Samson build altars for his pagan wives. If you are saved, then the Holy Spirit deals with you concerning the sin in your life, even though you may be disobedient and still choose to wallow in the hogpen of sin like the Prodigal Son. Every believer has God's Spirit in them (1st John 3:24).

John 3:20-21, "For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." The word "repent" in the Bible only means "a change of mind." We know that it must deal with sin, because John 3:20 says people who do evil won't come to the light to be saved. This helps us to understand repentance. The person who repents has changed their mind. Verse 21 is very important, which says that "HE THAT DOETH TRUTH COMETH TO THE LIGHT." 

So here we see that the opposite of the unrepentant man is the man who doeth (or acknowledges the truth). What truth? The LAW clearly teaches us that it is THE TRUTH that all men are guilty sinners. Romans 3:19, "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." It is wrong to teach that repentance has nothing to do with sin. You must know what you are being saved from. I think Pastor Harry Ironside said it well:

“Repentance is the very opposite of meritorious experience. It is the confession that one is utterly without merit, and if he is ever saved at all it can only be through the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, 'who gave himself a ransom for all.' Here is firm footing for the soul who realizes that all self-effort is but sinking sand. Christ alone is the Rock of our salvation.”—Harry A. Ironside; "Except Ye Repent," pg. 36

The Epistle of 1st John was written to believers that our joy may be full (1st John 1:4), by helping us as individual believers to “know that ye are saved” (1st John 5:13b). The test given in 1st John 3:8-9 is not to see if we are saved because we have turned away from our sin; but rather, to determine if we have the indwelling Holy Spirit (1st John 3:24). The Holy Spirit will convict a believer when we sin. If you don't have that conviction from God's Spirit living in you, then you need to get saved. That was the truth that compelled me to come to Christ as a 13 year old boy. Certainly, it would be heresy to say that the Holy Spirit doesn't work within every believer to influence us to turn away from our sins. Philippians 2:13, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” 2nd Timothy 2:19b, “...Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”

Repentance and faith are inseparable. The Gospel of John mentions the word “believe” 85-times, but the word “repent” is never mentioned even once. In genuine salvation, one who believes on Jesus Christ has repented, and the one who repents has believed on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. The Good News (i.e., Gospel) is that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for our sins, was buried and triumphantly raised up from the dead, so that He can save those who believe.