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Sermons and messages from Pastor Jason White and others at Colonial Hills Baptist Church in Tyler, TX
So all summer long, we have been doing this message series that we have titled that's not what that verse means. And those of you who have been here know that we've been looking at a number of different verses that sometimes people take out of context, and they say to mean one thing, when, in fact, when you really dive into the context, you find the true meaning of what was being said and then the true meaning of how it applies to our lives. And we've covered a number of verses so far. And again, you can always go back and listen to those on our podcast or watch those on our YouTube channel. But today, we go to another verse in Scripture that does get taken out of context, and that is this. It's Mark chapter one, verse 15. I'll start in verse 14. And it says this, after John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, the gospel. He says, The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near, Repent and believe the good news. Now, when some people read this verse And they take it or they try to preach or teach from it, a lot of times, they'll camp out on those two things right there, repent and believe and really focus in on those two things being necessary for salvation, in order to be saved, in order to go to heaven, when you die one day, and when they use the word repent, the way it's often referred to is repentance from sins. You need to repent of your sins. And when they say that, what they mean is you need to grieve your sin. You need to turn away from your sin. You need to strive to stop sinning. It's a commitment to stop doing all the bad things that you've been doing and start doing the good things that Jesus wants you to do. And so what it comes down to is really a two step process. They'll say, in order to be saved, in order to have eternal life with Jesus, then yeah, you need to believe in Him, but secondarily, you also need to repent from your sins, meaning you need to make a commitment to stop sinning and commit to doing the right things from now on. This is the message that sometimes gets taught with Mark, chapter one, verse 15, where Jesus said, Repent and believe the kingdom of God is near. Now. Here's what happens often when we teach from this perspective, it happened at our church camp, you just saw a number of students get baptized, and God was doing some great things, obviously, at camp, and Garrett and others could go on and on and tell you about more things that God was doing in there. But the thing that you don't know is that there were a number, a number of students that continuously kept coming to Garrett, our student minister, and expressing their doubt of salvation, their lack of assurance of salvation, and it mostly had to do with this idea of true repentance, the conversation something like, I'm not really sure if I'm saved, Because I don't think I've ever truly repented of my sins. I've been doing some things that I know I shouldn't be doing, and I feel ashamed of those. And so I just don't think that I've really repented from my sins and given my entire life to Jesus when maybe I was quote, unquote, saved the first time. And so what they're really saying is this time, I mean it, this time I really commit to stop sinning. I want to do better. I want to give my whole life to Jesus. I want to drop everything and follow Him. I want to truly have a salvation experience. Now, this all feels really good in the moment, because it feels like you're stirring up. You really want to do something. You want to chase after the good things and stop doing all of the bad things, but it only feels good until the next mess up happens.
Oh no, I
thought that I had truly repented when this happened before. I really meant it then, but I guess I really didn't mean it because it is happening again. And so this verse and the emphasis on this true repentance of sins and believing in Jesus to be saved can sometimes cause so much confusion, so many doubts. Am I really saved? Cause anxiety and really fear about our salvation. But guys, it does not have to be that way, because that is not what that verse means. When we look at this verb and verse, and we look at the word repent. Faith that is used here. The Greek word is metanoia, and here's what the Strong's Bible Dictionary says about what this Greek word, metaneo means to think differently or afterwards, to reconsider, to change your mind. So let's keep that in mind, and let's go back to our verse. Jesus said, The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Metanoia, think differently, reconsider, change your mind and believe the good news. Jesus is saying, You guys have believed one way about God, and gotten so caught up in the law and carried it to the nth degree that it was never really meant to be. You've been thinking about God and how the Messiah was going to come and be someone who would overthrow Rome, reestablish military might and political power and authority for Israel. But now, now you need to think differently. You need to understand that I am the Messiah, that I've come to save you, not from Rome, but from your sins. You need to come to an understanding that I am the way, that I am the truth and that I am the Life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. So notice again, what we don't see Jesus saying is, fill sorrow for your sins, STOP SINNING and commit to being good in following my rules. The biggest problem we see then is that the word repent does not really convey in English what the Greek word metanoia really means in mark 115 and listen, I don't want you to take my word for it, because while I'm your pastor and I stand up here and teach and preach, I'm not a biblical scholar. I'm not an academic minded scholar, like people who really dive into the Greek and Hebrew languages and write commentaries, and I mean, understand this way beyond 99% of the people around and so let's not just take my word for it. Let's go to some people who really do study this kind of thing. The first one is at Robertson, who was a New Testament scholar in the area of Greek and he says this idea of metanoia and the way it's been translated, is a linguistic and theological tragedy. I mean, that's a strong word that someone who truly understands this is saying. Joseph Butler, another theologian, says, in the Greek, there is none of the sorrow or regret contained in the words repentance and repent, an utter mistranslation. He says, No English word can adequately convey the meaning of the Greek words. Let's take one of our church fathers, toulian in the second century. Says, In Greek, metanoia is not a confession of sins, but a change of mind. This one's a little bit longer, but I think it's really helpful, and it'll be the last one that we look at on here. It says, in order to clarify the subject, it may be well to observe carefully what repentance is not, and then to notice what it is first, repentance is not to be confounded with penitence. What is penitence? Penitence is simply sorrow for sin. Nowhere, he says, nowhere is man exhorted to fill a certain amount of sorrow for his sins in order to come to Christ. I mean, think about that, if that was necessary for salvation, how much sorrow do you need to have? Will just a little bit of sorrow be okay? Do you have to have a medium amount of sorrow? Do you have to be really, really, really, really sorrow? Do you have to cry? Can you cry in your heart? I mean, where's the measurement, right? There's no assurance if you have to have sorrow in your heart, in the definition of however much sorrow that might be for those things. Second, then he says, penance is not repentance. Penance is the effort in some way, to atone for the wrong you've done. I want to do better. I gotta make up for it. I've been bad, right? I mean, that's the way we think in this world, if I have been doing bad things, but I start to do good things, and I feel better about myself because I've been doing good things, so I bet it makes up for the bad things that I've done. It's not that and then he goes on and finishes up and says, in the third place, let us remember that reformation is not repentance. Need I add that repentance is not to be considered synonymous with joining a church, taking up one's religious duties, as people say, it is not doing anything. The Greek word, he says, metanoia, which is translated repentance in our English Bibles, literally means a change of mind. So once again, when we come back to Mark chapter 115, 18, and we look at it one more time, the kingdom of God has come.
Change your mind.
Change your mind about you, what you were believing, and believe the good news instead. In other words, what Jesus is saying here is not two separate things, but one thing together right to believe in Christ is to change one's mind about Jesus and trust in Him and in Him alone for salvation. This is what Peter ends in the moody Handbook of theology says. He says repentance should not listen to this should not be understood as a separate condition for believing in Christ. If repentance is cited as a condition for salvation in terms of feeling sorry for one's sins, then it is a wrong usage of the term. It should not be understood as a separate step in salvation. Acts 2021 indicates that repentance and faith should not be seen as separate items in response to the gospel, but together, together, they signify belief in Christ. Again, what I just said to believe in Christ is to change one's mind about Christ and trust Him in him alone for salvation. So if this is true, if that's what this really means, then why do so many evangelists, so many other pastors and teachers talk about salvation in terms of repenting from sins and this full commitment to following Jesus, striving to stop sinning and trying to become more like Him. Well, I think it's born out of good intentions. Behavior is important, right? We all know that Jesus created us to live a certain way. There are right things to do, there are wrong things to do, and so I think sometimes, a lot of times, evangelists want to make sure that we don't misunderstand the gospel to just be like this ticket to heaven, right? And so therefore, if we don't want people to see that, it's just a ticket to heaven that you get because you're forgiven, and then you get to go there one day, and then you can live however it is that you want to, let's make sure that they know upfront what this is really about you on the other side of your salvation, better make this firm commitment to being like Jesus. You better make a firm commitment to make sure that you are following him. You gotta leave everything just like Matthew the tax collector did, and you have to follow him, right? But it's almost like the thought process. Then when we think about this, is this, listen, you aren't going to want to follow Jesus. You're not going to want to do the right thing after you believe in him. So you better make sure that you do know what this thing is all about. And you better make sure you are committed to being like Jesus and not taking his salvation for granted. But guys, if that is true, then that is or honestly, I'll just say it this way, that is a misunderstanding of what happens to us the moment we simply believe in Jesus for salvation, or we're really just not teaching the full gospel message, instead of trying to get some super strong commitment from people because we feel like they're really not going to want to do it anyway, to be like Jesus, then how about instead we tell them about the full work of Jesus on the cross, and that their sins aren't just forgiven, But they've been radically and forever changed in him. That's the full gospel message that's being left out here. The other half of the Gospel were transformed, were changed into someone completely different the moment we change our mind about who Jesus was and how to be in heaven one day, and we come to believe that he's the Way, the Truth and the Life, and when we receive His free gift of salvation, we are forever changed. As a matter of fact, let's put this way, John, chapter one, verse 12 and 13, John says yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. Now notice
what he says here to who,
those who believed in his name,
if repentance of sin, meaning a commitment to stop sinning and strive to be more like Jesus and do all of the right things and leave everything and follow him, was necessary for salvation, then how come John doesn't mention it here. How come he just says to those who believed in his name, and when he says to. Those who believed in his name. Here's what he says. Happens. They were born of God. That's what happened to them. They were radically transformed and changed and reborn into someone that they were not the moment before they came to believe in his name. If it really is necessary, it would be really confusing for them to sometimes say, well, all it seems like you have to do is believe, and other times say, No, you have to really commit and repent of your sins in this way and believe. Then, okay, well, which one is it?
Radically transformed and changed at the core of their being, and when we understand that, then we start to understand the full gospel message that now you will want to end up doing what it is that Jesus is asking of us, what it is that He created us to do, and how he works in us and through us to actually make Even that happen, I'm just going to draw this really quickly, because I know a number of you have already seen it before, but honestly, sometimes I feel like I've done this a number of times for those who have been around, and I still talk to people after I've taught on certain things, or we've talked about it, and I know it's been taught in other places, and there's like no idea what we were even talking about at that point in time, and so I don't think it ever it ever hurts to be repetitious in this manner. And then, of course, there's always new people around as well. And so what we talk about all the time to just visually be able to see this a little bit better, because these are like, What do you mean? Born of God, and I've been changed, and all of those other things. Well, we know that we're told in scripture that we are a spirit and that we are a soul and that we are a body, right? And scripture says that we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And so there is sin. We have this sin nature that produces sins, and as a result of that, we are spiritually dead. God cannot dwell within us because he is a holy and a perfect God, and he cannot dwell in an environment with sin and corruption at the very core of our being. So we're spiritually dead, cut off from our life source that we were meant to be in union with for ever. Of course, that's the whole gospel message, the good news, the kingdom of God is near. Jesus came, and he died on the cross for my sins, for your sins, for the sins of the entire world, past, present and future. He took them all to the cross, and He defeated them through the power of sin and death forever. And then after he was raised from God and defeated the power of sin and death forever, that He offers us that forgiveness as a free gift in the moment we believe, the moment we change our mind about who Jesus is, what it is that did on the cross to secure our salvation, the moment that happens, our sin is completely forgiven, and at that point in Time, the Holy Spirit God, the God of the universe, comes to dwell in us the capital S, Holy Spirit joins in union with lower case spirit hours, and we are in Union now, a spiritual union with the God of the universe. Forever change.
It is in this place, right here, that
we just read about in John, that we are born of God. You're spiritually reborn. You weren't born of God. You were dead, but now you're alive, and you're born of God. Paul puts it this way, you become a new creation. In Christ, you are different. You are no longer the same as you used to be. Now what happens then here in the way the prophet Ezekiel described it even in the Old Testament, about what would happen one day, what God would do. Remember, the old covenant is an if then covenant. If you do this, then these things will happen. The New Covenant is not an if then you go back and read about it. It's just, I will do this, I will do this. I will do this. I will accomplish it. Thus, says the Lord. It's him, right? And so as he does that, the Prophet, Ezekiel, prophesying about what would happen, says this, one day in the future, when Jesus comes. He's referring to this moment. I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your Stony, stubborn heart, but I'll give you a tender and a responsive heart instead. Notice again, I will, I will.
It's God
is the one who accomplished this in and through Jesus, Christ and His finished work on the cross. Not you committing to no longer sin, committing to follow Jesus one day. If you do that, then, no, that's old covenant God says. I will, I will, I will. And this is what will happen. He will give you new desires. Sin will start to feel yucky. You know why? Because it's no longer compatible with who you are at the very core of your being, in this new heart that He has given you. So if this has happened, then what's our job? Keep our eyes fixed on Jesus to actually believe who we are in Christ and that he is working to conform our behavior on the outside, to match who it is that he's recreated us into on the inside. The problem with this
stupid Satan.
Satan does not want you to know this. Satan does not want you to experience the abundant life. We're told First Peter five eight, be alert in a sober mind. Why? Because your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Satan knows that he has lost you to Jesus now and forever, and he does not want you to know who you are in Christ. He doesn't want you to experience life in Christ. He doesn't want you to have assurance of your salvation. He's going to keep trying to keep you forever out of the know that this is what happened to you again, just to put it back here, this is the reality, right? So again, body, soul, spirit, new heart, all right? We have a mind, we have emotions, and we have a will. Satan knows that he has lost you to Jesus forever. He cannot touch you at the very core of your being, his work is finished. There's nothing that he can do. And so where does Satan attack? He attacks in the outer circles, right? He attacks your mind. You know what? I'm going to make sure they never understand the new life that they have in Christ. I'm going to make sure they don't ever really get it. I'm going to deceive them from knowing that. I'm going to make them think that they still have a sin nature, that there's something wrong with them that they don't want to do what God wants them to do, and they're going to have to try and try and try, and then when they fail, I'm going to come over here with their will and the choices that they've made, and I'm going to put to it, I'm going to say, if you were a Christian, you wouldn't have really done that. Did you see the choices that you made? You are a lousy, dirty, rotten sinner. You're not really a Christian.
He'll mess with your emotions. Do
you see how you feel right now? You don't really feel like a Christian. You know why? Because you're not really a Christian. He's prowling around trying to deceive and devour the life that we have. He can't touch you here, but if he can keep messing with your mind and never knowing these things and messing with your emotions and your choices, then you'll never experience the new life that you have in there. Satan wants to rob you of that experience the rest of your time. That is why it is so important that we must know the truth that I pointed to earlier, to all who believed are born of God. Satan tries to mess with you and says, Hey, a real Christian wouldn't have done those things. You see how you feel. You see those choices that you made. You go, no, no, I have believed in Jesus's name, and therefore I am born of God. Take that Satan
right.
In other words, Satan is going to want to keep you focused on your behavior, your commitment to stop sinning, when our identity has never been found in our behavior. This doesn't say that you became a child of God because of your behavior. What does it say you became a child of God because of a new birth? Birth determines identity. Behavior does not determine your core identity. Satan will attack you at that and make you believe that we're going to think that, but that is not the truth, and that's why we must constantly renew our minds to the truth. In other words, when Satan begins to attack, when he begins to make us doubt about our salvation, you know, I don't think you've truly repented of your sins. I don't think you ever really, truly committed to following Jesus. You haven't left everything and followed Jesus. Here's the thing,
you don't have to truly get saved now,
because if you understood the simple gospel message, no matter how old you were the moment that you understood you were a sinner, you were separated from God. Jesus died for those sins, rose again. It you believed in Him and who he was and what it is that he did and accomplished. Then all of that stuff happened to you, whether you feel like it happened to you or not, doesn't make it true. Jesus makes it true. All we have to do in those moments is return to believing the truth about who we are in Christ, all that we have in him and that he is continuing even after our bad choices, even though we don't feel right sometimes, that he is still at work to conform us to the image of Christ through our behavior and actions on the outside. So guys, when we start to understand the true context of this the Greek word metanoia, what it really means when it's translated, repent, and all of those things here, we can finally have assurance of salvation when you understand the full gospel message that your sins are not just forgiven and you don't just have a ticket to heaven, but that you've been forever changed, born of God, and you have new hearts, then not only do you have assurance, but you can finally start to live out who you are. How can you live out who God's recreated you into? If you still think you're a dirty, rotten sinner at the core, and you don't have a new heart, you're constantly trying to make yourself into something that God already says, I've made you into. No wonder the Christian life can be so frustrating. Sometimes we've gotta believe what it is that he said, that he did, and then we can walk out and live. Just start to live who you are. He's already made you into that keep your eyes fixed on him. Now that's if you put your faith and trust in Jesus, assurance of salvation, the transformation that takes place in you and through you. But if you're here today and you're going, man, I've seen a problem, because I've never changed my mind about Jesus. I've never come to believe in Him as my Savior, well, you have an opportunity to change that today, because no matter who you are, no matter where you've been, no matter what it is that you've done. Out of His abundant love for You, Jesus left the glory and riches of heaven and came here and suffered and died for all of your sins so that they could be forgiven, so that he could come dwell in you, and that you could be born of God and have this new heart to live and be who you were always created to be, but you couldn't be because of the sin nature that you had. And so if that's you, this morning, I want to give you the chance to receive this good news into your life in this very moment. Let's bow our heads and let's close our eyes and I.