Bible Doctrine

How Learning To Speak The 3 Most Powerful Words In The Universe Will Radically Change Your Life

Jesus told His astonished disciples that God’s standard for forgiveness was ten times that amount, minimum. Forgive your brother 7 times? No, try 490 times

Published

7 years ago

October 12, 2018

Geoffrey Grider

SHARE NOW THE END BEGINS:

Jesus told His astonished disciples that God’s standard for forgiveness was ten times that amount, minimum. Forgive your brother 7 times? No, try 490 times

The Bible is an amazing Book, from cover to cover and in both Testaments we are shown the true character and nature of the God of Abraham who created the whole world, the entire universe and everything in it. Upon reading it, we quickly learn that the two main attributes of God are love and forgiveness.

“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.” Luke 23:33 (KJV)

Shedding His own blood on the cross to pay for our sins, Jesus Christ with His dying breaths asked the Father to forgive the two thieves crucified on either side of Him. One asked to be forgiven and the other did not. Not only that, they mocked Him and spit in His face. Still Jesus asked for forgiveness for both men.

The apostle Peter was talking with Jesus and asked Him a great question. Peter turns to Jesus and says “how often should I forgive my brother who sins against me, would 7 times be enough?” Think about that, Peter is offering to forgive someone who has offended him 7 times, that’s pretty good, right? Wrong.

“Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” Matthew 18:21,22 (KJV)

Jesus told His astonished disciples that God’s standard for forgiveness was ten times that amount, minimum. Forgive your brother 7 times? No, try 490 times. Jesus was not speaking parabolically or metaphorically, He was speaking literally and actually.

OK, someone will say, that’s the New Testament, what about the Old Testament?

Glad you asked. In the Church Age, we call it the Age of Grace because we are saved by grace through faith plus nothing. And after we are saved, we are kept eternally secure by the same heavenly decree.

“That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:7-9 (KJV)

But in the Old Testament this is not the case. Believers in that time were kept ‘safe’ by having faith in what God told them to do, and then producing works to prove they believed what they professed to believe. This means that they had a conditional salvation which could be lost based on their works.

King Saul had God’s Holy Spirit and it propelled him to some amazing victories. But before he died, King Saul’s actions caused the Holy Spirit to leave him and he died in abject spiritual poverty and failure. God took His Spirit from King Saul, and Saul never recovered from that.

Then along comes King David, and he is the hands-down best king Israel ever had. So much so, in fact, that the Bible says that David was a man ‘after God’s own heart’. Wow, what a testimony, what an incredible honor for the God of the Universe to say about one man. Then that man fell into sin that was just as dark and black that anything King Saul did, but the outcome of the two men are radically different.

What was the difference? This was.

“[[To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.]] Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” Psalm 51 (KJV)

When Saul sinned, he did not seek God’s forgiveness and restoration but was primarily concerned about holding onto his kingdom. When David sinned and was confronted by Nathan the prophet, he threw himself on God’s mercy and forgiveness. David knew that he could lose God’s Spirit just like Saul did, but he also knew that God’s main attribute was forgiveness.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.” Psalm 51:10,11 (KJV)

The Bible goes on to record that David was in fact forgiven by God, and remains one of the greatest characters in the entire Bible despite the fact that he committed fornication, adultery and murder. David threw himself on God’s mercy, just like the one thief on the cross in the New Testament, and like that thief he obtained the forgiveness that he sought.

The 3 most powerful words in the world

The title of this article tells you that there are 3 words that you can speak that are more powerful than anything else you could say. What are those 3 words? I think you already know by now, but just in case you don’t here they are:

“I forgive you.”

Hearing someone say ‘I love you’ thrills our soul like nothing else can, they are the 3 most beautiful words in English or any other language. But hearing someone say ‘I forgive you’ unleashes a spiritual power that comes straight from the Throne Room of Heaven itself.

For in those words are the power to cleanse, to heal, to reclaim and to restore.

Could you forgive a Nazi guard after watching your whole family die in a concentration camp?

Corrie Ten Boom, the Dutch Christian woman whose whole family risked their lives to save the Jews during the Nazi occupation of Holland, almost died in the Concentration Camps in Ravensbrück. Corrie and her family were taken there and she is the only one that lived through it.

When she got out, she began to speak in local churches in Europe recounting the horrors of the Holocaust, and telling people about the love and forgiveness of God. One day, in 1947, she came face to face with a former Nazi guard, and he had a ‘nuclear bomb’ of a question to ask her. Listen to Corrie tell it in her own words:

Betsie and I had been arrested for concealing Jews in our home during the Nazi occupation of Holland; this man had been a guard at Ravensbrück concentration camp where we were sent.

Now he was in front of me, hand thrust out: “A fine message, fräulein! How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!”

And I, who had spoken so glibly of forgiveness, fumbled in my pocketbook rather than take that hand. He would not remember me, of course–how could he remember one prisoner among those thousands of women?

But I remembered him and the leather crop swinging from his belt. It was the first time since my release that I had been face to face with one of my captors and my blood seemed to freeze.

“You mentioned Ravensbrück in your talk,” he was saying. “I was a guard in there.” No, he did not remember me.

“But since that time,” he went on, “I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fräulein”–again the hand came out–“will you forgive me?”

And I stood there–I whose sins had every day to be forgiven–and could not. Betsie had died in that place–could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking?

It could not have been many seconds that he stood there, hand held out, but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do.

For I had to do it–I knew that. The message that God forgives has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us. “If you do not forgive men their trespasses,” Jesus says, “neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

I knew it not only as a commandment of God, but as a daily experience. Since the end of the war I had had a home in Holland for victims of Nazi brutality.

Those who were able to forgive their former enemies were able also to return to the outside world and rebuild their lives, no matter what the physical scars. Those who nursed their bitterness remained invalids. It was as simple and as horrible as that.

And still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an emotion–I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.

“Jesus, help me!” I prayed silently. “I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling.”

And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.

“I forgive you, brother!” I cried. “With all my heart!” – from ‘The Hiding Place‘

How could Corrie forgive the Nazi guard after watching her whole family die in Hitler’s concentration camps? And so soon after being released from there! Remember, it was only 1947 and the memories would still be quite raw and searingly fresh. But you just read her testimony, didn’t you? Maybe you need to go back and read it again.

Corrie could forgive the Nazi guard because she claimed to know God, and the greatest attribute of God is His awesome willingness to forgive those who ask Him for forgiveness. That means that we not only need to forgive those who have wronged us, we must forgive those who have wronged us.

“Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.” Luke 7:47,48 (KJV)

When Corrie reached deep into her soul that afternoon and forgave the Nazi guard, two amazing things happened. First, he was relieved of his guilt for the wrong he had done and was set free. Second, Corrie was also set free from the heavy baggage of bitterness and resentment she had been carrying around with her since her time at Ravensbrück.

It’s great to know how to rightly divide the Bible as we are commanded to do, and it’s a wonderful thing to know and understand the intricacies of prophecy. But when you’re ready to leave the ‘farm team’ and play in the ‘big leagues’, you will find it will all hinge on your ability to love the unlovable, and to forgive the unforgivable. Restoration follows next.

“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:1,2 (KJV)

When you forgive someone, two people are set free.

Comments

Bible Doctrine

Don’t Be Fooled Into Observing Phony Roman Catholic ‘Holy Week’ Rituals Like Easter, Here Is What Actually Happened To Jesus During His Week Of Passion

Published

1 week ago

April 15, 2025

Geoffrey Grider

SHARE NOW THE END BEGINS:

The weeklong passion of Jesus and the Easter Holy Week of the Roman Catholic Church have very little in common if truth and accuracy are of any value to you

For starters, we call it Passion Week because ‘passion’ is the term the Bible gives the events that took placed during that time, and it lasted from Sunday to Sunday. The Roman Catholic Church calls it ‘Holy Week’, sounds about the same, right? It does, until you come to realization that the path the Roman Church takes you down is not the path that Jesus walked.

“To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:” Acts 1:3 (KJB)

The apologist site Catholic Answers says this about ‘holy week’: “Holy Week is the most sacred seven days each year in the Catholic Church. It encompasses the crescendo of Lent, the sorrow of Good Friday, and the joy of the Easter Vigil which commences the celebration of Easter Sunday. There are many other rich traditions and key events during the week, from Jesus’s institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday to the solemn events of Good Friday, including the Stations of the Cross.” source

So what’s wrong with that? Plenty. In the Bible, there is no Lent, there is no Good Friday, and the only people celebrating Easter are the pagan Romans like Herod who killed Christians. It breaks my heart seeing Baptist churches putting up signs for ‘holy week’, and ‘come celebrate Good Friday with us’, proving just how hard it is to extricate yourself from the grip of Mother Rome, even for Baptists. That’s why I wrote the handy, little guide showing you the Bible truth about the week-long passion of Jesus Christ. For extra credit, please also read ‘Lent Is Taken From The Babylonian Practice Of Weeping For Tammuz’, and ‘Good Friday’ Is A Roman Catholic Invention, The Bible Says Jesus Went To The Cross On A Wednesday’ Hope it’s a blessing, enjoy and share!

The Two Babylons

For a detailed and eye-opening look at the actual origins of pagan practices like Easter and Lent, we highly recommend you purchase of copy of The Two Babylons and see where the Roman perversion of Easter comes from.

The Passion Week Of Jesus

SUNDAY: “And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.” Matthew 21:9 (KJB) Here we have the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy from places like Zechariah 9:9 (KJB) showing you what will turn out to be, one day, the Second Advent of Jesus Christ where the literal, physical and literal Kingdom of Heaven will be established on this earth. Jesus the King of the Kingdom of Heaven, riding on the ass, and Jesus King of the Kingdom of God, made possible by His death on the cross. The so-called ‘Palm Sunday’ is actually a presentation of the entire Bible. From here Jesus goes to the Temple and flips over the tables of the moneychangers, and heals the blind and the lame. All this happens on that Sunday.
MONDAY: “Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered.” Matthew 21:18 (KJB) All day Monday, Jesus preaches and teaches the people, prophesying what is about to befall the Jews and the nation of Israel. On Sunday He was presented as a King, here on Monday He is presented as a Prophet. “But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.” Matthew 21:46 (KJB) When Jesus goes to the cross two days from now, He will be presented as a Priest. “Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.” Matthew 26:2 (KJB)
TUESDAY: “Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.” Matthew 26:6,7,12 (KJB) Mary of Bethany, sister to Martha and that Lazarus Jesus raised from the dead, is seen here anointing the body of Jesus in anticipation of His death and burial. The devil Judas hates it and tries to stop her from doing it, but to no avail. Now everything is in place for the last supper the disciples will have with the Lord in the upper room.
WEDNESDAY: “Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?” Matthew 26:17 (KJB) The number one thing you must keep in mind is that the Jewish day starts at sundown. When does the Jewish ‘Saturday sabbath’ begin? It starts at sundown on Friday evening. So when Jesus and the disciples are in the upper room at night, it is the beginning of the day not the end of it. It is in this 12-hour period on Wednesday (at night on our Tuesday), that the events of the last supper, betrayal and arrest of Jesus will take place. When the sun comes up, it is still the same day, on the Hebrew calendar, that started the previous evening. It is here on Wednesday morning at around 9 AM, that Jesus will be crucified. He will be dead by approximately 3 PM later that same day.
THURSDAY – DAY ONE: “The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.” John 19:31 (KJB) This is DAY ONE of the 3 days and 3 nights that the body of Jesus will be in the grave. It is also a special High Sabbath, not to be confused with the upcoming regular Saturday sabbath.
FRIDAY – DAY TWO: “And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.” Mark 16:1 (KJB) The women come and anoint the body of Jesus after the High Sabbath and before the Saturday sabbath. This is DAY TWO of the 3 days and 3 nights the body of Jesus will be in the grave.
SATURDAY – DAY THREE: “And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.” Luke 23:56 (KJB) As we said before, this anointing of the body takes place between two different sabbath days. This is DAY THREE of the 3 days and 3 nights the body of Jesus will be in the grave. You will note that three consecutive 24-hour days, as a day is defined in Genesis 1, have now taken place. You will further note that this is only possible by starting our clock on Wednesday and not “good” Friday, which is not possible.
SUNDAY: “In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.” Matthew 28:1-6 (KJB) Remember how we showed you that the Jewish day on the Hebrew calendar begins at sundown? Ok, so the Saturday sabbath that began Sunday on Friday is now coming to an end at sundown on Saturday. Sunday is starting, and it is here, sometime between now and the sunrise of the next day, that Jesus will have risen from the dead. The Bible says that as the sun was coming up, Jesus was already up. This is not Easter, this is the biblical resurrection day of the ever-living God, Jesus the Christ.

This is Roman Catholic Holy Week

QUESTION: Is this a celebration of the Roman Catholic Holy Week in Salamanca Spain, or is this a demonic ritual calling on Ashtaroth and Tammuz? pic.twitter.com/nFtkD9oEfX

— Now The End Begins (@NowTheEndBegins) April 16, 2025

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORT…TO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

Bible Doctrine

King Cyrus Had A Biblical Mandate To Authorize The Rebuilding Of The Temple In Jerusalem, President Donald Trump Does Not, And That’s A Huge Problem

Published

2 months ago

February 18, 2025

Geoffrey Grider

SHARE NOW THE END BEGINS:

King Cyrus had a biblical mandate from God to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple, no such mandate exists in the Church Age with Donald Trump. Any Temple built before the Second Advent will be for Antichrist

American president Donald Trump is making momentous changes that will have a global impact, he has only been in office for 28 days, but off to a furious start. One of the things he has said he will take control of is Gaza and the West Bank to the north of Israel proper. It remains to be seen if he can actually do that, but he certainly wants to. In the midst of all this, predictably, comes talk of Trump making it possible for the Jews to rebuild their Temple in Jerusalem. To that point, many are calling Trump a modern-day King Cyrus, a nice sentiment and certainly a compliment, but quite impossible if you believe the Bible.

“That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.” Isaiah 44:28 (KJB)

One of the most astonishing prophecies anywhere in the Old Testament of your King James Bible, outside of those concerning the birth of Jesus, would have to be the foretelling of a king named Cyrus whom God would use to help the Jews rebuild the city of Jerusalem and the Temple after the events of the 70 years of Babylonian captivity. Isaiah makes this amazing prophecy roughly 250 years before Cyrus, who would grow up to be king over the Persian empire, authorized the Jews to go back and begin the rebuilding process. We read about that in 2 Chronicles.

“Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.” 2 Chronicles 36:23 (KJB)

So the first point I would like to make for you to consider in any conversation regarding the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem is that there must needs be authorization from God to build it. King David wanted to do it, but God wouldn’t let him because he had shed too much blood. Instead the LORD chose his son Solomon to build the House of the LORD.

“And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.” 2 Samuel 7:12,13 (KJB)

The Temple built by King Solomon was authorized by God, the rebuilding of that Temple at the decree of King Cyrus was authorized by God, and the Temple in which King Jesus will rule and reign with also be, obviously, authorized by God. Chapters 40-48 in the book of Ezekiel lay it all out for you to read.

“And the man said unto me, Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall shew thee; for to the intent that I might shew them unto thee art thou brought hither: declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel.” Ezekiel 40:4 (KJB)

Do you see the problem? The Bible accounts for the first Temple, second Temple and the last Temple, but gives no instructions, decrees, commands or charges for any Jew to build the Temple that will exist during the time of Jacob’s trouble. We know that it will be rebuilt because we see it standing in the book of Revelation at the start of the Great Tribulation, the midpoint of the 7-year time of Jacob’s trouble.

“And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.” Revelation 11:1-3 (KJB)

A casual reading of those verses might tempt you to think that Revelation 11 is talking about the Temple of God as in the LORD God of Heaven, but you might want to cross-reference that with these verses before you come to any hasty conclusions.

“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:3,4 (KJB)

Antichrist does not come as a god, he comes as the God Almighty and deceives the whole world who is now under the strong delusion in the days after the Pretribulation Rapture of the Church takes place. Paul is clearly showing us that Antichrist, as God, claims the rebuilt Temple as his own, just as Jesus warns about in Matthew. And guess what? The actual God gives Antichrist the whole thing lock, stock and barrel.

“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)” Matthew 24:15 (KJB)

What does all this mean for us here in the closing hours of the Church Age? It means that any Temple that is built in Jerusalem before the Second Advent will be the Temple in which Antichrist will be worshipped. That is a non-negotiable fact if you believe the Bible. Donald Trump has no authority from God, and neither does anyone else, to build God’s Temple in His Holy City of Jerusalem. If a Temple is built, and you just may see that happen before the Rapture, it will be the Temple of Antichrist.

clarence-larkin-bible-commentary-book-of-revelation-nteb-christian-bookstore-saint-augustine-florida

GOD WROTE THE BIBLE DISPENSATIONALLY AND IT SHOULD BE STUDIED THAT WAY AS WELL. CLICK TO VIEW AND PURCHASE COMMENTARIES FROM CLARENCE LARKIN!!

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

Bible Doctrine

Clearing Up The Confusion That Many Christians Have Regarding The Role That Repentance Absolutely Does Play In Your Salvation In The Church Age

Published

7 months ago

September 17, 2024

Geoffrey Grider

jesus-sermon-on-mount-biblical-repentance-to-salvation-nteb-king-james-bible

SHARE NOW THE END BEGINS:

Biblical repentance toward God unto salvation is the repenting of your disbelief in Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of God

The role that repentance plays in salvation for born again believers in the Church Age is one of those topics that always seems to create a controversy, and that need not be. God has given us the tool of rightly dividing the scriptures we read for situations just like this. Paul says we are saved by grace through faith, and he says that repentance is necessary in the salvation of a sinner. The question becomes then, what type of repentance is Paul talking about? What, wait…there’s more than one? Yep.

“Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Acts 20:21 (KJB)

In the Church Age, there are no works attached to or associated with a lost sinner becoming born again, it is all a work of the LORD. He provides the salvation with Himself crucified in your place on the cross at Calvary, He shed His Blood for the payment for your sin, and it is presented to you as a free gift. Case closed. Baptism does not saved you, the sacraments do not save you, the eucharist does not save you, Mary does not saved you. It is all of Jesus. There is just one problem, though, like the thief on the cross, the lost sinner is lost because he or she does not believe the good news of the gospel that Jesus Christ was crucified, died, buried and rose again on the third day according to the scriptures. It is their disbelief that is keeping them from getting saved, not their sins. Jesus died for your sins, He wants your sins, but your disbelief has to be shed by you.

“Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” Romans 4:23-25 (KJB)

Jesus was crucified between two thieves, both of whom mocked and insulted Jesus as they all were up on their respective crosses. Both those thieves mocked and reviled Him equally, in the beginning.

“Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.” Mark 15:32 (KJB)

But then a change took place in the heart of one of the thieves, after thoughtfully and carefully considering the entirety of the scene playing out before him in real time, he repented. Not of his crimes, not of his sins, and not by making restitution at all to anyone. But what he did do was to repent of his disbelief in Jesus Christ. That was not a work, it is simply a change of mind, which not coincidentally is the definition of the word ‘repentance’ according to Jonah 3:10. The work is of God.

“Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” John 6:29 (KJB)

When a lost sinner repents of their disbelief in Jesus, they go from rejecting the gospel to believing the gospel, and when they do, they receive the free gift of God’s salvation. For me, that happened a few minutes to midnight on March 14th back in 1991. When did that take place for you? If you are saved, then you should be able to point to a place and time where you believed the gospel and became saved. If you can’t, that’s a problem. No one in the Church Age is born saved, no one is saved because their granddaddy was a preacher, or because you were raised on the mission field, or because you ‘just always knew that you were’. No one is saved against their will, or without their knowledge. Unless you are a very small child, mentally incapable or some other situation that Romans 5:13 points to, you did not get saved without first repenting of your disbelief and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.

“And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Acts 16:30,31 (KJB)

So what about repenting of your sins? Glad you asked! After a soul gets saved, then repentance of and from personal sin becomes a vital, daily part of our walk with the Lord. Make no mistake about it, when you got saved you were given God’s imputed righteousness for your soul and you became born again in your spirit. But your body did not, and there’s the battle. There is no such as a sinner who gets saved who never again commits sin, that is a lie of the Devil. No sin you commit is held to your account that is true, from an eternal perspective, but a saved sinner here on Earth absolutely commits sin after salvation. God has provided the remedy for that as well.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” 1 John 1:9,10 (KJB)

We hope this short little Bible study on the two types of repentance involved in salvation clears up some of the confusion surrounding this needlessly controversial subject. As with most other doctrines in your King James Bible, rightly dividing works every time. In Part #2, we will show you how after the Church Age, people will get saved by belief in Jesus and kept saved by enduring to the end with their works. A whole different ball game.