In this engaging episode of The Flatline, Rick Hughes delves into the true concept of repentance and its significance in the path to salvation. While many may feel burdened by the notion of having to repent for their sins, Rick provides a thoughtful and enlightening perspective on what repentance really means from a biblical standpoint. Addressing common misconceptions, he highlights how salvation is primarily about faith in Jesus Christ and not about feeling regret for past actions.
00:25:54 Misinterpretations of Repentance and Final Thoughts
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to the Flatline with your host, Rick Hughes. For the next 30 minutes, you’ll be inspired, motivated, educated, but never manipulated. Now, your host, Rick Hughes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. Flat, F-L-O-T, forward line of troops. God’s wonderful problem-solving devices, at least 10 of them, If you’ll learn them and use them and put them inside of your brain, they will be a fantastic problem-solving devices for you in your life. So thank you for listening to The Flatline. 30 minutes of motivation, some inspiration, a whole lot of education, and we do not use any manipulation because we don’t con you. We’re not trying to get money out of you. We just want to give you some information from the Word of God that will help you verify and hopefully identify God’s plan for your specific life If you will do so, then I want you to orient and adjust to the plan and have a wonderful life just as God has designed and planned for you in your life. But as we begin our show today, 986 radio shows over the last, I don’t know how many years that is. It’s 52 Sundays every year, so 986 Sundays will get on the air. Let me encourage you as we make this show to make sure you are in fellowship with God. It’s critical. If you’re a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and you hear the word of God, you cannot transfer what you hear. You cannot capture what you hear if you’re not filled with the Holy Spirit. If you’re under the control of your sin nature, then at best you’ll be able to hear it, but you won’t be able to apply it into your life. So let me encourage you to make sure that you are filled with the Holy Spirit. How do you do that? Well, if you have any known sin in your life, then obviously God’s Holy Spirit is quenched and grieved and the ability to receive divine inspiration from the scriptures you’re going to hear today will be nullified. Therefore, 1 John 1, 9 is your recovery verse. And it’s very clear. It says what? If we confess our sin, he’s faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and purify us from all of our wrongdoing. I have to make sure that I’m in fellowship when I do these radio shows, and you have to make sure you’re in fellowship when you listen. And I hope you’ll do that. I hope you won’t try to listen to me with known sin in your life, quenching and grieving the Holy Spirit, because you’ll never be able to apply the information I’m going to give you today. And if you have never been born again, if you’ve never trusted Christ to save you, Let me encourage you to consider your eternal destiny and stop gambling with your future. 2 Corinthians 6 verse 2 says, for he says, he says God, in an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is the accepted time, and now is the day of salvation. Don’t put it off. Today is your day. You have no written contract, no written guarantee, that you will be here tomorrow. Why gamble with your eternal future? If you’ve never made that decision, trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and what he did for you on the cross and become a believer and you will have eternal life. A lot of people that I talk to are confused about what’s necessary in order to be saved. Many don’t think you can ever even be certain that you really are saved. And many people think there are certain things necessary for you to do before you can be born again. One of the most confusing things that I run into is this idea that you must repent of your sins. Repent of your sins. They get that from certain verses, Matthew 4, 17. For example, from that time Jesus began to preach and say, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The key here is what the word repent is in the English and the Greeks, two different words. In the Greek, we have the word metanoeo, and I’ll explain it here in a minute. Repent, metanoeo, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Why do I say the Greek? Because it was written in the original language. In the Koine Greek dialect is how the New Testament was written, and this is the word that was used for what we translate repent, metanoeo. In 2 Peter 3.9, again, the Bible says, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering towards us, Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. All should come to repentance. And we have another Greek word, metanoia, metanoia. That’s the Greek word. All should come to repentance. Then in Luke 13, three, I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. And I’ll explain that word here in just one minute. And then in Luke 15, 7, I say to you likewise that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 just persons who need no repentance. Metanoia. So these verses clearly say that unless we repent, we cannot be saved. I don’t disagree with that. So what exactly does it mean to repent? Now let’s start with Luke 13, three. I tell you, Jesus said, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. The original Greek manuscript that I told you about uses the word metanoeo here for the English word repent. That is a verb. Metanoeo means to change your way of thinking or to change your mind. The noun is metanoia. It’s the same word except it’s a noun. And it means a change of mind or turning away. And it’s critical that we understand these words if we wish to know what it means for you to repent. Because I can tell you it does not mean for you to feel sorry for all of your sins and promise God that you’re never gonna sin again. That’s not what it means. All right? So, this word is used for, sometimes there’s another Greek word, I wanna go with that one with you too. Another Greek word we need to understand, which is translated repent, in some passages is metamelomai, metamelomai. But that word should actually be translated regret, never translated repent. It should be translated regret, because it’s an emotional connotation of feeling sorry about something. But it means to feel sorry for something you’ve done. Meta, what? Melami, metamelami. So we have three words I’ve given you. Metanoeo, metanoia, and metamelami. All three words translated in the New Testament, repent. This word metamelomai is used for regretting a previous action that you’ve done. In Matthew 21, 29, he answered and said, I will not, but afterwards he regretted it and went away. In Matthew 27, 3, Judas regretted what he had done to our Lord. Listen as I read it to you. Then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that he had been condemned, was remorseful. There’s your word, metamelomai, and brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and to the elders. So Judas made a mistake. He realized he had been conned and been used, and he was repentant of that. Meta what? Metamelomai. He regretted it. But here’s the principle I want you to remember today. No one ever gets saved by feeling sorry for their sins. No one ever gets saved by turning from their sins. Because your sins have been paid for and are not even an issue in your salvation. The issue is Jesus Christ, and that’s why it’s always faith alone and Christ alone, because your very own personal sins were paid for on the cross when Christ bore them in his own body. In 2 Corinthians 5 21, for he, God, made him Christ, the one who knew no sin to be sin for us, so we might become the righteousness of God by means of him. So he took our sins. He was punished for our sins. He took our place. We can never be saved by feeling sorry for our sins. Luke records in the book of Acts the conversion of a Roman jailer who had been in charge of Paul and Silas when they were imprisoned. They had been arrested because they had healed a slave girl who was demon-possessed and had the ability to tell fortunes. This aggravated Nero, her owner, who had been using her to acquire money. So he made some false claims against Paul and Silas and eventually had them arrested. Listen to Acts 16, 20 through 24. And they brought them to the magistrates and said, “‘These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city.'” and they teach customs that are not lawful for us being Romans, listen to that self-righteousness, to receive or observe these customs, that’s the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. So then the multitude rose up together against them and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes on them, that means they beat the heck out of them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into inner prison and fastened their hands and their feet in stocks. Why were they arrested? For freeing a demon-possessed woman. But God intervened in a miraculous way. Why don’t you listen while I tell you what God did. In Acts 16, 25, by that midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. And the prisoners that were there were listening to them do this. And what happened, suddenly there was a great earthquake right in the middle of the prison, a great earthquake. So that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everybody’s chains were loosened. And the keeper of the prison awoke from his sleep, seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew out his sword and was about to fall on it and kill himself because he knew what was going to happen. And Paul said, hey, wait a minute. Paul called out, don’t do that. Don’t harm yourself. We’re still here. Can you imagine that? And the jailer called for a light in verse 29 and ran in and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. and brought them out and said, sir, what must I do to be saved? Now listen carefully, here it is. And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household. They did not tell him to repent of his sins, just simply believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. To repent means to change your mind about the true identity of Jesus. If you’ve been an unbeliever, now you change your mind and you become a believer. Notice the words of Jesus in Matthew 16, 13 through 17. When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, who do men say that I, the son of man, am? And they said, well, some think you’re John the Baptist. Some say you’re Elijah and others say Jeremiah, one of the prophets. And he said to them, but who do you say that I am? And Peter answered, Peter said clearly, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. He had repented. He had changed his mind. He believed in the true identity of Jesus as the anointed son of God. During the ministry of Peter, after later in his life, he would often baptize those who had accepted the true identity of Jesus as truly the Son of God and as a public sign acknowledging their repentance. But in the case of Cornelius, for example, a Gentile, In Acts chapter 10, we find Peter saying these words, different now, it’s different. In Acts 10, 39, and we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. This is Peter speaking. Him God raised up on the third day and showed him openly, not to all people, but to witnesses chosen before God, even to us who ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that it is he who was ordained by God to be the judge of the living and of the dead. To him and all the prophets witnessed that. Through his name, whoever believes in him will receive remission of sin. Did you hear it? Whoever believes in him will receive remission of sin. Once again, you heard nothing about repentance. But notice Cornelius was a Gentile, not a Jew. And later in this passage, after Cornelius had indeed been saved, Peter baptized him. In Acts 10, 47 through 48, can anyone forbid water that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? Now notice, they’re already saved. They’ve already been given the Holy Spirit. And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord and they asked him to stay for a few days. They were baptized after they got saved, not how they got saved. The Apostles Paul ministry was entirely different. He didn’t preach to the Jews, he came to preach to the Gentiles. In Acts 13, 44, on the next Sabbath, almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. And when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, looking at Gentiles, and contradicting and blaspheming, and they opposed the things that Paul was saying. And then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, quote, it is necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first, Jews, but since you have rejected it, and you judge yourself unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we will now turn to the Gentiles, For the Lord has commanded us, I’ve set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed, believed. What do you got to do to be saved? Believe in the true identity of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Is he the anointed Son of God or is he not? They have believed in the true identity of Jesus. Paul made it clear that he was not sent to baptize them, but he was sent to preach the gospel to them. In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 17, we find these words. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, and not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should make of none effect. So he made that clear. He didn’t come to baptize the Gentiles. He came to give them the gospel. Why? Why is that all he needs to do? Well, in Romans 1.17, he makes it clear. I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, he said, for it, the gospel of Christ, is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe it, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. What do you have to do to be saved? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you ever done that? Have you ever made that single decision in your life to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you tried to get yourself into heaven by repenting of your sin, by saying, oh Lord, I’m not going to sin anymore, Lord. I’m going to turn to you and ask you to forgive me for all my sins I’ve done. Your sins were already forgiven on the cross. Your sins were paid for on the cross. What you haven’t done yet is you haven’t received Christ as your Savior. Because the Bible clearly says, to as many as receive him, to them gave he right to become the sons of God, even to them that just believe in his name. and whosoever believeth not shall not see life, and the breath of God shall abide on him forever. Have you made that decision? Do you believe that Jesus is the true son of God? Do you believe he died on the cross for your sins? Have you expressed your faith to God in prayer? Because that’s how you do it. The Bible says whosoever should call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You don’t have to repent. You have to believe. And you can do that right now. Right now you can pray with me and you can ask God to save you if you’ve never done that before. You don’t have to do it repeatedly. One time is enough. But if you’ve never asked God to save you, why don’t you do that today? Why don’t you pray along with me? I’ll lead you in a prayer. I’ll give you the prayer. And you can pray it silently or you can pray it out loud, whatever you want to do. But I encourage you to pray this prayer with me today. Heavenly Father, I believe Jesus is your anointed son. Hear me, Heavenly Father, I believe Jesus is your anointed son and I am willing to accept him as my savior. I’m willing to accept him as my savior. Thank you, God, for hearing my prayer. Thank you for giving me eternal life. That’s a simple prayer. That’s really all I did the night I got saved. I prayed a prayer very similar to that. I don’t remember exactly the words, but I got on my knees in a bedroom in a home I’d never been to before and I prayed and I asked God to save me. I told God that I was willing to accept Christ as my Savior. And I didn’t hear bells and I didn’t see the lights flash and I didn’t hear harps, but it happened. If you just prayed with me, If you repeated that prayer after me, and you’ve never done that before, it happened to you as well. This is the day you got saved. This is the day you were born again. And you didn’t have to repent, and you didn’t have to be baptized. Now after you’ve accepted Christ as your Savior, you may want to be baptized, that’s fine. I encourage you to talk to a local pastor and tell him what you’ve done, and follow his instructions. That’s not how you get saved. How you get saved is faith alone in Christ alone, which you just did. You just made a faith decision to believe in the finished work of Christ on the cross, and you told God the Father that you were willing to believe that Jesus Christ died for you, and you were willing to accept him as your Savior. You won’t feel it. It’s not something you feel, but it’s something that happened. God’s not a liar. He promised in 1 John 5, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. He did that for you. What you have to do is the same thing I had to do. I didn’t realize what had happened to me, but I had to grow. I had to learn how to live my life, my new life, my new life in Christ. I was born again. I have a second birthday. You’ve probably heard me say before, you’re either going to be born twice or die twice. I mean, that’s the way it happens. The first birth is your physical birth, as you’ve heard me say. The second birth is your spiritual birth when you’re born again. By that I mean your dead human spirit that was dead and dormant because of Adam’s original sin is now made alive and you are now able to have fellowship with God because God is a spirit and you are a spirit. But more importantly than that, because you now have the righteousness of Christ given to you. You can’t earn God’s forgiveness by trying not to sin. The Bible said clearly he that knew no sin was made sin for us so that we might be made the righteousness of God through him. You now have equal righteousness. You are able to come to the throne room of God because Christ’s righteousness is given to you. He took your sin. He gave you his perfect standings with the Father. And you now have it as a member of the royal family of God. You can now pray and have your prayers answered. You can now read the Bible and by means of the Holy Spirit be able to understand how it applies to your life because you now have a spiritual life, not just a physical life, but a spiritual life. There are two of you living now. Physically, yes, everybody can see you physically. We can see what you look like. But spiritually, only God sees that. It’s your human spirit. And the Holy Spirit is living inside of you now. Now he came to live inside of you. He made your human spirit alive in Christ. And that human spirit will never, ever die. You will have eternal life. You will get a new body, a resurrection body. and there will be no more tears and no more pain and no more sorrow and the old things will be passed away. And the Bible says all things become new. Amazing. Now in regards to confessing sin to God as per 1 John 1, 9, we talked about that earlier. If we confess our sin, he’s faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Do we have to feel sorry when we sin? Metamelomai, do we have to regret it when we sin? In order for 1 John 1, 9 to work, should you feel sorry about what you did? Do you have to promise God that you’re never going to do that again before he will forgive you? The answer is absolutely not. If you felt sorry for what you did, you wouldn’t have done it to start with. Most people, like me, like you, feel sorry when we get caught. But to promise God that we’re not gonna do it again is crazy. We have a sin nature. We have to learn how to keep that sin nature under control by means of the Holy Spirit. But if we really felt sorry about it, we wouldn’t have done it to start with. And if we promise that we’re not gonna do it again, we’re just kidding ourselves. Because more than likely, you will commit a same sin over and over and over again until you gain a little more maturity and gain control of your flesh. If you have a temper, it’ll come out. If you grow in grace, you can learn to control that temper a little bit. If you have a lust pattern, it’ll come out. I’m not saying it’ll come out every day, but it’ll come out. But if you grow in grace, you’ll learn how to recognize what triggers that lust pattern and how Satan uses it to get you out of fellowship. But you’re not perfect. And so don’t try to promise God you’re not gonna do it again. Don’t try to tell God you’re so sorry about what you did. That’s not what the verse says. The verse says simply this word, if we confess. That word confess is a compound verb. It’s two words put together. The two words are homo, H-O-M-O, And you know we use that in our English vocabulary, homosexual. And the word logeo means to say the same. Logeo is to say and homo is the same. So if we say the same, 1 John 1, 9 means confess. If we homo logeo, if we say the same, then he is faithful, he is just to forgive us of our sin and to purify us from all wrongdoing. All God asks out of you is to admit what you did. That’s all he asks. Tell him exactly what you did. Don’t beat around the bush. Say, oh, Lord, I was a bad boy. Tell him what you did. I lied. I cheated. I lusted. Whatever your sin is, I got angry, I was jealous, I was bitter. These are all sins that have to be dealt with because they will all quench the Holy Spirit. But there’s nothing in that verse about feeling sorry about what you did or regretting what you did or promising you’re going to do better. That’s a trap. Satan will use that back against you. He’ll tell you, see, you promised God you weren’t going to do it again and now you went and did it again. Look at you, you’re not a very good person. But we know we’re not very good people. That’s why God gave us this verse to take a bath in, to get our feet clean that Jesus did in John chapter 13, clean the disciples’ feet. When we go to 1 John 1, 9 and confess our sin, we get our feet cleansed from sin. What a wonderful way to live. But as far as that word repent goes, three different words, metanoia, metamelomai, and metanoeo. Be careful. Don’t let someone trick you into saying, you need to repent, brother. You need to repent, brother. Go down front and get up in front of the church and repent of all the sins you’ve done. If they tell you that, get out of there and go somewhere else. That is a lie. That is not true. And that’s someone trying to manipulate you. Use guilt to try to manipulate you. That’s not the Christian life, I promise you. Well, I hope you’re learning something. I probably have stirred up a hornet’s nest, but that’s okay. I hope you’ll come back next Sunday, same time, same place. And I hope you’ll get in fellowship and stay in fellowship by using homo legeo, 1 John 1.9. It’s my honor and my privilege to come to you every Sunday morning, compliments of God’s wonderful grace. So until next Sunday, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for listening to The Flotline.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you for listening to The Floodline with your host, Rick Hughes. If you’d like to contact Rick, please write to him at P.O. Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama, 35054, or online at www.rickhughesministries.org.
