Here is a story: A man goes to the DOCTOR. He is not having any health problems. He’s just going for his yearly wellness check. The doctor discovers that he has a small, malignant brain tumor. Surgery is necessary.
The man goes to see a SURGEON. The surgeon removes most of the tumor, but was not able to get it all. Chemotherapy is needed.
While in the hospital recovering from his brain surgery, it is “touch and go”. He almost dies, but the excellent medical staff of the HOSPITAL manages to pull him through.
After his recovery from the surgery. He begins 9 weeks of CHEMOTHERAPY. The chemotherapy successfully removes the rest of his cancer. He is now well and cancer free.
You may be wondering what this has to do with this post. Here is the question. WHO/WHAT SAVED THIS MAN’s LIFE? Was it the doctor? The surgeon? The hospital? The chemotherapy? Obviously, it was ALL of them. Each person and each step played a part in this man’s recovery. He would not have gotten well or made it out of this ALIVE if he had left out even 1 part of the process.
If the doctor had not FOUND the tumor, he would have died. If the surgeon had not REMOVED the tumor he would have died, If the HOSPITAL had not been there during his recovery, he would have died. And without the CHEMOTHERAPY , he would have died.
This was his treatment plan to remove the cancer and give him life!
Likewise, (do you see the parallel?) in religion, we are NOT saved by just ONE. thing. That’s why we have so much CONTROVERSY and bickering about WHAT SAVES US! Even on this post we have one person saying we are saved by FAITH ALONE and another taking exception to that , saying no, our salvation is strictly by God’s GRACE. Then you have the problem of how to get repentance in there. We know it is necessary to salvation ( there’s just too much damaging scripture to deny it) so, some try to put repentance BEFORE faith. Which is not logical because repentance is not ONLY changing your mind. The Holy Spirit says that repentance is “godly sorrow.” 2 Cor. 7:9-10. It is impossible to feel sorry about something WITHOUT BELIEVING in the thing you are sorry for. You can’t be sorry for your sins first, before you even believe in Jesus and that you have sins. Belief must come first in order for us to have something to feel sorry about. So, repentance ( godly sorrow) cannot come BEFORE faith. YES, repentance is a change of mind, but WITHOUT FAITH, that is just the “sorrow of the world”. 2 Cor. 7:10. That is not Bible repentance. Bible repentance is “godly sorrow”. Google it. “Godly sorrow is a deep grief for sin and …comes from a realization that sin has offended God’s holiness and violated His will. You can’t have GODLY SORROW with out having faith FIRST. To put repentance before faith is a desperate effort by false teachers to save the doctrine of “faith alone “ salvation. You can see their dilemma if repentance comes as a TESULT of faith, meaning AFTER faith, and we are saved by faith alone. Then repentance has nothing to do with our salvation. Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19, Acts 17:30, Luke 13;3. They are saying that to save an erroneous doctrine.
Teaching that faith INCLUDES. repentance is another effort to save their false doctrine. Where is the scripture that says that?? We must have book, chapter, and verse for what we believe or we are building on “sand” and not “rock.” Don’t trust your soul’s salvation to what someone “says” with no solid evidence. Scripture does not teach that faith includes repentance.
The Bible says we are saved by several things—not just ONE thing.
We are saved by GRACE. Ephesians 2:8;
We are saved by the NAME of Jesus Acts
Acts 4:22;
We are saved by His BLOOD Rom. 5:9;
We are saved by His DEATH, Rom. 5:10;
We are saved by CONFESSION, Rom. 10:10
WE are saved by the GOSPEL, 1 Cor. 15:1-2;
We are saved by FAITH, John 3:16;
We are saved by BAPTISM, 1 Peter 3:21;
We are saved by God’s MERCY, Titus 3:5;
We are saved by REPENTANCE, Acts 3:19;
We are saved by HOPE, Romans 8:24.
God, the Holy Spirit plainly says in The Bible that we are saved by at least ELEVEN different things. BUT, you have men that say, not only are we saved by just ONE THING, but by ONLY one thing. That means they are DENYING 99% of what the Bible says about salvation. Can’t you see how wrong that is? Aren’t we concerned that we have and believe the “truth” of the Bible? Does Revelation 22:18-19 scare us? I’m asking you to please consider ALL that the Bible says about salvation. And not just believe it, but accept it as “truth.” God does not lie.
Just like the man in our story was saved by ALL of the steps taken in his healing, even so, WE ARE SAVED BY ALL THE THINGS STATED in these verses. WE ARE NOT SAVED BY JUST ONE THING. Please don’t be deceived; it’s a lie.
Jesus was sent to call sinners to repentance. He himself said this. Acts 11: 17-18 Forasmuch, then, as God gave them the same gift as he did unt us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I, that I could withstand God? When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. The state of Repentance is given by God.