| Poster | Thread |
| | When did you repent? | | Miles said that in the Ukraine, they don't ask "when did you get saved" but they ask "when did you repent?" because they believe without repentance you cannot be saved.
I recently asked this same question to a man who told me that he repented after he was justified, because nothing is required in order to be saved except "believing". So he was justified while he was still in active, unrepented sin (he said).
So what do you guys think? Does a person need to "repent and believe" in order to be saved?
When did you repent? Before you were saved or after you were saved? Before you were justified or after you were justified? |
|  2007/7/23 1:48 | | sermonindex
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Online! | | Re: When did you repent? | | At church this morning the pastor said "do you have a testimony? if you don't you need to repent."
There is a great need for clear, biblical, full repentance from sin. A believe only gospel can damn people. Repentance is sorely needed as a clear step in salvation.
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| | 2007/7/23 1:52 | Profile | roaringlamb
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| | Re: When did you repent? | | I think this a difficult question in our day as there are so many forms of a gospel that many are led to believe they have repented under the true Gospel, but may yet be far from the Kingdom.
In my own testimony, a gentleman shared Scritpure with me over the phone(wrong number by the way!), and it was as if a light went on, and I saw tha had offended God, and I asked Christ to save me. It of course has been a continual repentance from that day forward. Yet prior to that, I did not really care about my soul. I was troubled in conscience off and on, yet had no power to change what was troubling me as I couldn't put my finger on it. This is why it must be the Spirit that convicts of sin, and illuminates Christ through the preaching of the Scriptures, and not a manipulation of emotion, or reason simply to gain a statistic.
I firmly believe that a man cannot truly repent unless he is regenerated first so that he sees his crime. A natural man has no care for his offence against God, so it is impossible for a natural man to repent. But praise God, he commands that men repent and believe, and gives the ability to repent and believe to whom He will.
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patrick heaviside
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| | 2007/7/23 1:58 | Profile | Tears_of_joy
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| | Re: | | Quote:
roaringlamb wrote:
But praise God, he commands that men repent and believe, [b]and gives the ability to repent and believe [u]to whom He will.[/u][/b]
Amen, and the Scripture reveals His will:
1Ti 2:3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
1Ti 2:4 [b]Who will have all men to be saved,[/b] and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
Praise God for that! And His will and actions are not in contradiction.
After the Lord draws you to Him, illuminate your soul, reveals your sins, now it's your turn, you can harden your heart or you can respond and turn to God in repentance:
Act 26:20 But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that [b]they[/b] should repent and [b]turn[/b] to God, and [b]do[/b] works meet for repentance.
John the baptist says the same thing:
Luke 3:8 [b]Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance,[/b] and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, [u]That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.[/u]
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| | 2007/7/23 2:17 | Profile |
| | Re: | | That's right, God calls - requires - and expects all men to repent because God has given all men the ability to repent! The choice is theirs to make.
But nobody can be saved unless they repent. If a person refuses to turn from their sin, then they will die in their sin, and will be judged and condemned for their sin. |
| | 2007/7/23 2:24 | | hmmhmm
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Posts: 4994
Sweden
| | Re: | | I want you to know that the greatest heresy in the American evangelical and protestant church is
that, if you pray and ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart, He will definitely come in. You
will not find that in any place in Scripture. You will not find that anywhere in Baptist history
until about 50 years ago. What you need to know is that salvation is by faith and faith alone in
Jesus Christ. [b]And faith alone in Jesus Christ is preceded and followed by repentance[/b] . . . a
turning away from sin, a hatred for the things that God hates and a love for the things that God
loves, a growing in holiness and a desire not to be like Britney Spears, not to be like the world,
and not to be like the great majority of American Christians, but to be like Jesus Christ!
Paul Washer
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CHRISTIAN
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| | 2007/7/23 2:25 | Profile |
| | Re: | | Faith is not a mere intellectual belief, or a mental affirmation.
Faith is a state or an attidue of the heart, and consists of both repenting and believing from the heart.
Faith without repentance is not faith, just like faith without believing is not faith. True faith consists in repenting and believing from the heart.
Faith is not a mere intellectual belief or mental affirmation.
Faith is an attitude of the heart and therefore includes both turning from sin (in your heart) and trusting in Christ (in your heart). And so none but those who repent and believe can be considered faithful. |
| | 2007/7/23 2:28 | | Tears_of_joy
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Joined: 2003/10/30
Posts: 1554
| | Re: | | Quote:
Faith is a state or an attidue of the heart, and consists of both repenting and believing from the heart...
...and seeking Him.
Heb 11:6 But [b]without faith[/b] it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God [b]must believe[/b] that he is, and that he is a rewarder of [b]them that diligently seek him.[/b]
Jeremiah 29:13 [b]And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me [u]with all your heart.[/u] [/b]
John 7:36 What manner of saying is this that he said, [b]Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me:[/b] and where I am, thither ye cannot come?
John 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, [b]Jesus stood and cried,[/b] saying, If [b][u]any man[/u][/b] thirst, let him [b]come unto me,[/b] and drink.
Jesus is crying, you need to stand up and go and you will say I am dead and I cannot hear His voice and cannot stand, you don't have excuse because when Jesus said come that means you can come, when He says repent that means you must repent, when says seek Me that means you can seek Him, and not because this is something from [b]you[/b], but because He gave ability and revealed His will, by His mercy and grace [b]everyone[/b] who will come, He will not reject!
Joh 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and [b]him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.[/b]
Joh 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
Joh 6:39 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.
Joh 6:40 [b][u]And this is[/u] the will of him that sent me, [u]that every one[/u] which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life:[/b] and I will raise him up at the last day. |
| | 2007/7/23 3:02 | Profile | hmmhmm
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Posts: 4994
Sweden
| | Re: | | NIV Ezekiel 18:31 Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel?
NIV Ezekiel 18:32 For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!
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| | 2007/7/23 3:11 | Profile |
| | Re: | | This is a good one too:
Romans 10:9-10 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt [b]believe in thine [u]heart[/u][/b] that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For [b]with the [u]heart[/u] man [u]believeth unto righteousness[/u];[/b] and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
It's not an intellectual or mental thing, nor a mere outward thing (like the Pharisees) but it is an internal thing, it's a new heart, and without this new heart no man can be saved.
This new heart must believe, but also believe unto righteousness. It must both trust in Christ and turn from all sin. And a heart that does not trust and turn cannot be considered a new heart.
If there is no difference, no actual change, no actual transformation, no actual regereration, no radical new birth, then it simply isn't a new heart. Nothing can be considered believing from the heart except believing unto righteousness. |
| | 2007/7/23 3:14 | |
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