All language subtitles for We need to preach repentance, not only faith in Jesus. - Torben Søndergaard, Jon Bjarnastein

Welcome to this video where we want
to talk about repentance.

It is so important that we preach repentance.

And we want to talk about that and define
what repentance truly is.

The sad thing is that what you see in the
church today many places,

is that people are preaching faith, faith
to God, faith to Jesus, without repentance.

But we need to preach repentance.

It's not enough to say: believe.
You need to preach: repent.

When Jesus in Mark 1 started preaching -
the first thing that came out of His mouth

was: "The time is fulfilled,
the Kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe in the gospel."
So, the first word that came out of Jesus' mouth

was: Repent. They needed to repent.
Jesus was then preaching repentance.

He died on the cross, He rose up again,
He went to His disciples

and He said to them something before
ascending to Heaven.

"And He said to them: This is written that
the Christ should suffer and on the third

day rise from the dead and that repentance
and forgiveness of sins should be

proclaimed in His name to all nations,
beginning in Jerusalem".

So, Jesus was saying that repentance and
forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed

to all people. Then the first disciples
received the Holy Spirit and Peter stood up

in Acts 2:38. And what did he say?
He did not just say: Believe in Christ.

Believe in Jesus. He there said:
Repent. Turn away from your sin.

He said: Repent and be baptized every one
of you in the name of Jesus Christ

for the forgiveness of your sins
and you shall receive the Holy Spirit.

We need to preach repentance.
But what is repentance?

What does it mean to repent?
You can talk a little about what repentance is.

Yeah. First of all, I just want to say
what is not repentance,

because I think many people have
misunderstood repentance

because when people think repentance is
only confessing your sin and being remorseful,

feeling sorry because you've done something
wrong, now the thing is - this is okay

to confess, it's okay to be remorseful,
but that's not the only, that's not the full picture

of what repentance is. Because true biblical
repentance starts that we recognize

that we have sinned against the holy and
righteous God and we are guilty.

But it doesn't stop there. When we recognize,
we start to turn away from our sins,

to turn away from our sinful lifestyle where
we used to do before,

like to stop drinking, to stop lying, to stop
living life in sin.

You know, the Greek word for repentance
means to rethink, which is good, but

the interesting part, the Hebrew word for
repentance means to turn and to turn again.

It means to turn away from your sin, but
then after - turn to God.

If people truly understand what faith
in Jesus is, then, of course, they will repent

because it's not so much faith in Jesus,
it's not just to believe in Jesus.

It's believe Jesus. So, if Jesus' first words
was: repent and we believe Jesus,

we, therefore, of course, repent. But we
have met many people in churches today

who have misunderstood both what faith is,
but also truly what repentance is.

It's not just having a change of mind
up here. It starts here.

But repentance really goes deeper.
It's down here. It's something we do.

We choose to repent. When we choose
to repent and put our faith in God

or faith in Jesus, God is going to take out
that stone heart and give us a new heart

of flesh. It's like if you look at the heart
like the conscience, the conscience

is sharp in the beginning, but every time
you do sin and you go against your

conscience, the conscience becomes
weaker, weaker, weaker and weaker.

I remember, many years ago, I stole
a bicycle. I was from a non-Christian

family, I did not know God's law.
I stole a bicycle. But I felt so bad.

I felt so bad. Why? My conscience
convicted me, even without knowing God,

I knew: that was wrong. Next time
I stole a bicycle I felt less.

Next time I felt even less. And next time
I took something I almost felt nothing.

But just because you feel nothing
doesn't mean that everything is okay.

Because the conscience becomes weaker,
and weaker, and weaker.

Then I heard the law of God,
the Ten Commandments.

I saw God's standard and I saw how far
I have fallen.

And then I changed, I repented,
I felt sorry for my sins, I said sorry to God,

and I chose to turn away from my sins.
When you do that, when I did that,

God is then going to take that weak
conscience, that stony heart

and He's going to give a new conscience,
a heart of flesh where He is going to write

His law. And it is so concrete, it is so
life changing, so you just know when it

happens. And I went home to my sinful
lifestyle, doing what I was used to do,

but when I did it again: Oh, oh, oh...
I could not continue in sin

because my conscience was now sharp.
And you have also experienced, can you?

Yeah, I've experienced that and this is
so real. That's the same thing with me.

Like before I became a Christian I was
going out, drinking, smoking, parting

and all this kind of stuff, but when I
turned away from my sins,

when I came to Christ and turn away
from all my sins, as he explained,

God comes and gives that new heart,
where I had that new heart.

Like before, I could curse, I could hurt
people without feeling bad conscience,

but after repenting, when I lie, when I'm
hurting people, when I did something

wrong, it was screaming. It was like:
Oh, this is wrong, this is wrong,

because something new have started,
something clean and you just want to

hold on to that.

And that is important that after repent
you take the next step,

that is baptism in water and then you
need the Holy Spirit,

so you can hold on to that clean
conscience you have now got.

What I really love with repentance is,
as I said, it's so concrete in that way -

you know when you've repented.
It's not just up here. It's really down here.

You cannot keep on sinning.
I have met many "Christians"

who say they believe in God, but us
who really have the faith in God,

we know they don't believe, or they
have misunderstood what faith in God is.

But faith is so confused by many, like:
Yeah, I believe, I believe, or:

Maybe I believe, I don't know if I believe
enough, or: How much do you need to believe,

but repentance is very like: You have
repented or you have not repented.

If you have experienced what Jon have
experienced, if you have experienced

what I have experienced - you know about
that new conscience. You know about that

suddenly you cannot do what you did before.
You hate what you before loved.

Many of you, most of you, maybe,
who are seeing this video, know what

we are talking about. You have experienced
the same. You who have not experienced it,

you have no clue what we are talking about.
You are lost. You are still lost.

You are still in your sins. Because this is
where the life with Jesus starts.

This is where the new birth starts.
And if you have not experienced that -

you are still in your sins. It's not enough
you have it up here. You need to have it

down here. And remember, repentance
is something you do.

So, when we baptize people who have not
repented, when we talk with them,

we say: Go and repent. God and talk with
God, say you feel sorry for your sins

and then change. You decide to turn away
from your sins. And when you do that -

God is going to give you a new heart.
I want to read a place here where it just...

It's very, very clear. In 1 John 3:
"Everyone who makes a practice of sinning

also practices lawlessness;
sin is lawlessness.

You know that he", that is Jesus,
"appeared in order to take away sins,

and in him", Jesus, "there is no sin.
No one who abides in him keeps on sinning;

no one who keeps on sinning has either
seen him or known him. Little children,

let no one deceive you." Why it's written
here: "Let no one deceive you"?

Because this is an area where many,
many, many people today are being deceived.

They have a faith in God but a wrong faith.
They have a faith in Jesus but don't

understand faith. That is why I did two
videos short time ago where I talked about

what faith is. They think they have repented,
but they have not repented yet.

"Little children, let no one deceive you.
Whoever practices righteousness is righteous,

as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice
of sinning is of the devil,

for the devil has been sinning from
the beginning.

The reason the Son of God appeared
was to destroy the works of the devil.

No one born of God makes a practice of
sinning, for God's seed abides in him;

and he cannot keep on sinning,
because he has been born of God.

By this it is evident...", or by this you
know who is the son of God

and who is the son of Satan.
By this you know, not by who read the Bible,

not by who have the faith in God,
not by who have faith in Jesus,

not by who attend church on Sundays or...
but by this you know who is and who is not.

If you have fully repented, if you are born
of God, you cannot go on sinning.

You cannot have a practice of sinning.
You'll experience like Jon, you'll experience

like me. That is repentance. After repentance
you will do something that's wrong

and then you ask forgiveness and God is
righteous to forgive you as 1 John 1:9

is saying. So, there is a difference between
living a holy life and doing something

that's wrong - you then repent and turn
away from it and then keep on sinning.

You cannot keep on sinning. You cannot
have a sinful lifestyle if you are born again,

if you have repented.
Do you want to say something in the end?

Yeah, I just want to say: It is really,
really important that we actually come back

to the true understanding of repentance
because repentance is part of the foundation,

when we talk about the message of the gospel.
And the saddest part of what we hear

and see in the church, that there are so
many people in the church who are, actually,

really, really struggling with sin. And when
we listen to their stories

and to hear why they are struggling with sin,
it's because that many people are trying

to live their Christian life without
actually having repenting from the beginning,

because now we have taken that message,
where we take the repentance

out of the message of the gospel,
where we are telling people:

You only need to believe in Jesus and
confess your sins, it's only confession,

but not putting the message of repentance,
to turn away from our sins -

then we have truly misunderstood
everything.

And we don't help people by that. - No.
We need to set people free

and true repentance is beautiful.
It's a change of heart.

It's a new conscience toward God.
It's so important - it's where it starts.

Maybe you think: Yeah, but we are
under the grace of God.

Yeah, but true grace is not a licence
to sin. True grace is, actually,

an ability to overcome sin and live
in freedom and we are going to

talk about that in the next video.
So, we want to end up here saying:

Make sure you have repented.
Make sure that you have experiences

what we are talking about,
what we read here.

And you who have repented, try to see how,
not only what people are preaching

but what people are not preaching,
what is missing.

It starts with repentance. Repentance is
the foundation. We start preach: Repent,

and then, afterward - believe.
It's not enough to just preach faith in Christ

without repentance.

See you next time. Hope you loved
this video. Share this video

and make sure that people understand
what repentance is.

I want to recommend a book that is
talking more about repentance -

the Bible. Read it. There is so many
things about repentance here in the Bible.

God bless you!
Bye-bye!

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