Repent And Believe | Episode 16

Thank you for listening to this week's episode!  Today we unpack what it means to turn from sin and trust Jesus as Lord, why every person needs to respond, and how life changes on the other side of repentance. Scripture anchors the call, assurance steadies the heart, and a clear next step invites action.

• the meaning of repentance as a turning to Jesus
• belief defined as trusting Jesus as Lord
• why we must repent from Romans 3
• freedom, sanctification and eternal life in Romans 6
• everyone called to repent in Acts 2
• walking in the light and confession in 1 John 1
• assurance of salvation from John 10
• daily discipleship and practical next steps
• invitation to prayer and local church connection

Check out thechurchwaffle.com

Transcript

Welcome And Topic Set: Repent And Believe

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hey, Johnny Underwood here with the Undivided Podcast. Thank you for tuning in today. I really hope you're blessed by this episode. Good afternoon, Undivided Podcast listeners. Thank you so much for tuning in today. I'm so excited to engage you on our topic of choice today. I really believe that you're gonna be blessed by what we're gonna jump into.

Defining Repentance And Belief

SPEAKER_00 0:27

And our topic today is uh repent and believe. So uh this here several months ago, I came across a great website called the churchwaffle.com. Goofy fun name. But if you go check it out, thechurchwaffe.com, I think that you'll find some great materials here. I have found some great materials. One of those great materials is the topic of repent and believe. So that's what we're gonna jump into today. And we're gonna break down what it means to repent, what it means to believe, and what why we need to do this, and what happens on the other side of this being done.

The Gospel And Why Jesus

SPEAKER_00 1:03

So our text today is out of Mark uh chapter one, verses 14 and 15. That's where we're gonna start. And the scripture is now after John was arrested, this is John the Baptist was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. So obviously, we're gonna focus in on this repent and believe in the gospel. So what does it mean to repent? Repent means to turn, turn away, to go in a different direction. And in this um, in reference to scripture here, it's to turn away from sin and to follow Jesus. So that's what we're called to do. We're called to repent, to turn from our wicked ways, our sinful ways, and to give up this lifestyle of sin, right? Uh, and to follow Jesus. And to to turn away, it sounds so easy, right? It really means, and we're gonna jump into this, what it means, and what the gospel is, uh, but to turn away is to not just I've made a willful decision, I'm going to do this on my with my own effort, right? It's to acknowledge that we can't do that on our own. So, but anyway, that's our definition of repent. And then we're going to walk into what does believe mean. Believe means to choose to trust in Jesus as Lord. Lord, that's a key word, and I know we've touched on this in different episodes, several, or maybe it's at least a couple of other episodes, but to make Jesus Lord, to make him boss, to make him the one that our life begins to orbit around and we surrender our life to. So, and why Jesus, right? That's would be the the next question I would ask. If it's to believe, it's to believe in what? It's to believe in Jesus. And what is the gospel, right? The gospel is the good news. And we again we've touched on this in previous episodes, but it's the good news that Jesus is the Son of God. He's the part of the triune God, he's part of the Godhead, and Christ has come to earth in the form of a man and made a made the sacrifice, uh, which was the demand to ransom us from this bondage, this slavery of sin and to sin and eventually to death. And death in the sense of like physical dying, but also death is as in eternally separated from God. Right? So Jesus is the one who's done that. That's the gospel. Gospel means good news, and Jesus is the work he's done is the good news, that we're no longer, we no longer have to be bound to to be slaves to sin. We can actually be freed from sin and walk in this holy relationship with a holy God because of what Jesus has done. So that's what it means. Uh, to repent is to turn away from our old way, to and the way that we do that is by believing on Jesus Christ, and then we due to the gift of Jesus on the cross and the empty grave and the gift of the Holy Spirit, we're able to have a completely different adventure in this life, and then we have an eternity with God in the life to come. So that is what that means there in Mark 1, 14 and 15. Now we're going to jump into a couple of different scriptures.

Why We Must Repent: Romans 3

SPEAKER_00 4:46

Uh, one is uh, and we're gonna answer a couple different questions. This question is, is why should we repent? So the answer I've we find it in a couple different scriptures here, but this one is Romans uh chapter 3, verses 23 through verse 26, and it just starts out with, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Why do we need to repent? Because we have fallen, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Right? We have a righteous God who has righteous expectations of his creation, his son, the men and men, you know, humans, male and female, and we have fallen short, so we need to repent. And there was a time that we couldn't repent, but now in Christ we can repent. And so all men and women are afforded this opportunity, right, based on John 3.16. But we have a choice, we have a free will, and we exercise that free will to repent. But we have to do so, we have to acknowledge that we have sinned and we have fallen short of the glory of God. So I'm gonna go on with the scripture. It says, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift. That's what Jesus has done for us. He's given us this gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propriation by his blood to be received by faith. So that's what we do. We accept this gift of God that is Jesus Christ, and the shedding of Jesus' blood, and we receive this by faith. Appropriation is he stood in that space for us. This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins, period. It is to show his righteousness at this present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. So what we have here is a generous God who has put away or overlooked uh the sins of the past, and is to, and that is a reality that God, that God has done that. He has passed over those former sins, and in Christ, we now have not just do we passed over, we now have there's an accounting of our sins if we accept Jesus Christ, that there's an accounting and that accounting, that account has been settled by the blood of Jesus Christ, and we accept that gift. And now that that gift is here, right, that the a just God has made justification for our sins in Jesus Christ, we now we we're held accountable. If we embrace this gift, we are then justified in Jesus Christ. And if we don't accept the gift, then we're held accountable for the sins of our of our life and the consequences of said sins. So we need to, right, we need to repent. We need to embrace the gift of Jesus Christ, repent of our sins, and acknowledge that we have fallen short of the glory of God, and but in Christ we can be redeemed back to God. So that's Romans 3, 23 through 26.

Freedom And Lordship: Romans 6

SPEAKER_00 8:09

We're also going to jump here into Romans 6, 22, and 20, uh, verses 22 and 23. And here's what it says: it says, But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, right? We've already covered that, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. So because of Jesus Christ, because of our commitment to follow him and make him the Lord of our life, we have this free gift, right? It's free to us, it costs Jesus everything, and the gift of that, the return on that gift or the unwrapping of that gift is eternal life in Jesus Christ because we've made him Lord. Right? We I don't believe that we can just receive the gift and not make him Lord, right? That is to believe that Jesus is who he says he is, but then not to do anything with it. Right? To make him Lord means to repent of our sins and to accept this gift and then to make him the Lord, the boss of our lives. So that's the call, that's the invitation, and we are called to do that, right? If we want an eternity that is secure, then this is the pathway towards that.

Who Should Repent: Acts 2

SPEAKER_00 9:34

So, and then the question is who should repent? Everyone should repent, right? And we're gonna cover that here in verses uh in Acts uh 2, 38 through 42. And so this is uh Peter speaking, it says, and Peter said to them, them being uh the the listeners in that scene, uh they're in scripture, repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. So everyone, everyone needs to repent. Right? If you can hear my voice, I'm talking to you. If you're reading this in in the book of Acts, Paul or uh Peter is talking to you. It says, Repent, excuse me, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off. Everyone, key thing there, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself, and with many other words he, Peter, bore witness and continued to exhort uh exhort them, saying, Save yourself from this crooked generation. So those who received his words were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls, and they devoted themselves to the apostles' teachings and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayers. So that goes on there in Acts to unpack some things of what it looks like on the other side of repentance and believing. But what we see and what I want to point to right now is that we're called to repent. And then in one of our future episodes, we're gonna talk about the importance of baptism and what life looks like on the other side of repentance. So, and what do we get

Life After Repentance: 1 John 1

SPEAKER_00 11:37

from this? What's the what's a bonus, if you will, um, that we get on the other side of believing and repenting? We get obviously we get a this uh promise of an eternal life. And I'm gonna read a couple of scriptures here that reference that. And the first one's out of 1 John chapter 1, verses 5 through through 10. And so then we'll we'll unpack some of this. Says, this is the message we heard from him and proclaimed to you. This is John speaking, that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is is the is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all our sins. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Here's the key thing if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Let me tell you, friends, it's an incredible thing to be cleansed of all unrighteousness. It's a holy thing to be able to live a cleansed life, to be free from the bondages of sin, as I've mentioned in previous episodes, is at one point in my life, a long point in time in my life, it was not if I was going to sin, it was when I was going to sin. But to be able to live now in a way that it is it's a choice that I make, and it's a choice I get to make if I'm going to sin or not sin. And to be able to say, I choose not to sin, I choose not to walk in bondage, I choose not to walk in unrighteousness. Right? And how did I how did I get to that, right? I confessed my sins, right? That's what he says here. If we confess our sins, I've confessed my sins. He, Jesus, is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. I walk as a cleansed man. You can walk as a cleansed man or a cleansed woman. That's what we're called to, that's what we're invited to do. If we say we have not sinned, we make him God out to be a liar, and his word is not in us. Right? I come in contact with people frequently, I won't say all the time, but frequently, that would take the position they've not sinned. They don't believe in sin. They don't believe in right or wrong. They believe in what one would call or we say in society is situational ethics, right? It's really there is no right or wrong. It's if the

Assurance Of Salvation: John 10

SPEAKER_00 14:25

decision is made between two consensual people, then it's okay. If my actions don't hurt anyone, then it's okay. Rather than there being a clear black and white line of right and wrong, right? That there is an absolute truth. Our creator, God, is the one who established what truth is. And the word says that Jesus is truth, and then we choose to walk in the truth or we choose to walk in darkness, we choose to walk in deception, right? And I encourage you to go re listen to uh episode 15 where we talk about deception, and he says, Do not, Paul is speaking there in Ephesians, and he says, Do not let anyone deceive you, right? We can choose to walk in deception and say, hey, there is no light, there is no darkness, there is no truth, there is no um evil. Um, but the reality is that there is, and we want to acknowledge that and we want to confess that we've walked in sin, we've walked in deception, but in and through Jesus Christ, that's no longer we no longer have to walk there and stay in that place. We can walk in the truth. So that's my my aim. Uh, and really the purpose of any of our podcasts that we do is to break down what is uh what we're called to, and then to encourage you to walk in the truth, and then help disciple you into walking a holy, righteous life with our holy, righteous God. So that's the aim of all things, the undivided podcast and the various other things that we do in ministry are all pointing towards that. So I'm gonna read one more scripture here. It's John 10, uh, not first John, but the actual uh book of John, John 10, verses 27 through 30. He says, My sheep hear my voice. This is Jesus, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand. I and the father are one. So, guys, as we do this, as we ex repent, as we engage this with God, and we say, I accept, I accept this gift of Jesus Christ on God's terms, right? And we we walk in in

Living A Repented Life Daily

SPEAKER_00 17:02

to believing and we walk through repentance. On the other side of that is this promise of eternal life. And what what Jesus is saying here is no one can snatch us out of out of the hands of our Father, right? Not nothing, just nothing. It's all it's all the work is done by Jesus Christ here, and we can rest secure, right? Assured of our salvation, we can rest secure knowing that our eternity is solid, it's promised, and we we have this book, right? The Bible, that is 66 many, many smaller books of stories and examples of the faithfulness of God, even in our unfaithfulness, that God is a covenant keeper even when we break our promises, when we break covenant. So this is what we have in Jesus Christ, and through Jesus Christ, we have this assurance, this promise that God's going to keep his covenant with us, and nothing can break us or snatch us from that, from this promise, this guarantee of eternity with Him. And again, I would just offer to you like, oh, I can just say this one thing, this one prayer, and I'm in forever. And I would just offer to you the answers no there, because it's it is a prayer that we pray, it is a prayer of repentance that we pray, but it's also a life lived on the other side of that. It's not just believing and praying, it's repenting and then living that repented life out through making him the Lord of our lives, in my case, making him the Lord of my life, and me giving my life to him and living from that position, that posture, the rest of my days. And from that, it's there's there's challenges in life, right? In this life, I still have a flesh that wakes up every day and wants to do life and wants to make its own demands and live for the moment or live for pleasure, live for comfort. But to say, no, Jesus, how would you have me live today? Right. And then I get in the word and I spend time with the word. I spend time in prayer in relationship with the Father, right? And then by his spirit, I live a different life as he leads me and guides me, right? But it all starts with believing and repenting, and that's the start of this adventure. And then through this adventure is this ongoing life of sanctification as he shows me different aspects of my life that I that need to be laid down or need to be refined as the attributes and character qualities of Jesus Christ are being matured and developed in my life. And that's what he wants to do with you. That's what he wants to do with each of us, is that he wants the attributes of Christ to be developed in us, and he wants to do that in relationship with us, right?

Prayer And Invitation

SPEAKER_00 20:08

On the other side of repentance is the beginning of an ongoing relationship with the living God, the creator of the universe, who says, I know your name, and I get to do fellowship with him, I get to do life with him, I get to introduce others to him, I get to help be a part of discipling others to know him and have the attributes of Christ developed in them too. So that's what that's that's what was on my heart today as we jump into uh what repentance and believing is. And I just encourage you again to visit the uh the website, the churchwaffle.com. There's more content there, some of which we will jump into in future episodes, as they do a great job of presenting some of these things. And I want to definitely give them credit for what they've done there and invite you to go to their website, and then I will also be sharing things from their website here on the uh the Undivided Podcast in episodes to come. So thank you for tuning in today. Uh my aim here next is to to pray over us and then to send you on your way. So let's just take that next step and pray. So, Heavenly Father, we just come before you. Lord, we thank you for this opportunity to get together. Uh Lord, I just believe that you're gonna take uh your word that's been read and spoken today, and you're gonna do something with it uh with the in the hearts of the listeners. That Father, that more than they hear my words, that Father, I ask they would hear your words, Father, spoken over them. That Father, they would hear, that they would say, God, are you inviting me to believe? Are you inviting me to repent? And that Father, if you are, that Father, they would seize this moment, they would seize this time today and engage you. That Father, they would hear your heart for them. And Father, that you love them, that you came to earth to redeem them back into yourself because you want relationship with them. That they would know that they would hear, even as they hear my words, that you, God, love them. That you want to forgive them their sins. You want to extend grace to them. You want to know them. You want to do these this life adventure under the sun with them. So Father, I ask that even now

Next Steps And Closing

SPEAKER_00 22:33

that you would stir in them a response. Your word says, No one comes except you call. So, Father, those that you're calling today, I ask that Father, that they would respond to you to this call, Father. And I thank you for doing it. I thank you for this opportunity to do this podcast, to share this gospel, the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ with this listening audience, Father. I ask that you would take it and you would do mighty works with it, God. And if you um yeah, let's just say amen there, and then I'll give some other instruction. If you are, if you've responded, I just invite you to go to our website, theundivided.org, and and check in there. There's our phone numbers, there's a form that you can uh fill out and reach out to us. Someone on our team will reach back out to you and engage you. If you don't want to do that, I encourage you to find a local church and reach out there and say, hey, I've given my life to Christ, or I need to give my life to Christ. Can you help me? I need to repent. I need Jesus. I've made a mess in my life. I've not been a good Lord or master of my own life. And I need to make Jesus the Lord of my life, and I need his guidance and direction. If that's you, I encourage you to reach out, whether it's our website or a local church. If you reach out to our website, I will help you, or someone on our team will help you find a local church. But you need that. We cannot make it through this life without Jesus, and we do not have a promise of a holy eternity and a good eternity with God outside of Jesus Christ. So please reach out and engage Christ while he may be found. Thank you for listening. God bless you. I look forward to seeing you in a week.