Good morning and welcome to Hope Church Clinton’s Virtual Church Livestream. I want to begin by asking you to hit that share button in the corner of your screen so we can get this message to the masses.

Today, I’m going to be talking about a bible doctrine that is of utmost importance. It is central to our Christian faith and is the only way we gain access to heaven. This morning I want to spend a few minutes talking about salvation, being saved, conversion, being born again, placing your faith in Jesus, or one of the many terms we have for receiving eternal life.

Wayne Grudem defines conversion as “our willing response to the gospel call, in which we sincerely repent of sins and place our trust in Christ for salvation" (Grudem, 1994). When we think about “conversion,” we think about “turning” one thing into something else. The doctrine of biblical conversion involves repentance and faith. When we undergo a spiritual conversion to the Christian faith, we are “turning” from a life of sin putting our faith in Jesus Christ. We cannot have repentance without faith, nor can we have faith without repentance.

First, let’s talk about saving faith. True saving faith includes three elements: knowledge, approval, and personal trust.

• 1We must have knowledge about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but simply knowing “about” Jesus is not enough to gain access to heaven. James the Apostle tells us “You believe God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe -and shudder!” (James 2:19, English Standard Version). We all know that just because the demons know who Jesus is does not mean that they are saved.
• 2Simply knowing about Jesus and agreeing with the facts is not enough. In John 3, we meet a man by the name of Nicodemus. In verse 2 he says to Jesus, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him” (ESV). Even though by this time, Nicodemus knew that Jesus had come from God, it wasn’t enough unless he placed his trust in Jesus for salvation or “believe in Him.”
• 3You must decide to depend on Jesus to save you. You can know the facts. You can approve of the facts, but you must decide to depend on Jesus to save you. When you depend on Jesus to save you, you enter a personal relationship with him. You “trust” in Jesus alone for salvation.
• 4Your faith should increase as your knowledge increases. The more you learn about Christ, the stronger your faith will grow. In Romans 10:17, Paul the Apostle says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (ESV).

Now, lets talk about repentance. Remember faith and repentance must accompany one another in salvation. The Bible is very clear about that. Even Jesus himself said, “Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15b, ESV). What is repentance? “Repentance is a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncing of it, and a sincere commitment to forsake it and walk in obedience to Christ” (Grudem, 1994). Once we have repented, our changed lives will show it. It’s important to note that repentance isn’t just saying “I’m sorry” or promising that you won’t commit that sin again. Repentance is a serious decision to do away with sin that has been committed against God. I feel like we forget sometimes that all sin is an offense to God. Yes, you may sin against your parents, your spouse, your boss -but more importantly, in each of those cases, you have sinned against God. Let me remind you here that repentance is two-fold. It is a one-time event and it is a process. When we first come to Christ, we repent of our sins and we continue to repent each time we sin against God. Repentance is an attitude, not just an action.

Becoming a follower of Jesus doesn’t mean that life will be perfect -I think through the years we have let that false teaching creep into our churches. For years, preachers turned the Christian life into a list of rules that one must follow to please God. “If you do x, God will bless you, but be sure not to do y, or He will curse you.” Here’s the truth, if you are a Christian, you will crash and burn. You are going to mess up. It’s what you do after you sin that really matters. If you are a true believer in Christ, you will repent in godly sorrow. You will commit to never do that sin again. Is it hard? Absolutely. I personally believe the devil steps up his game when we make that commitment, so we must lean on Christ during those times of temptation. All throughout the Bible, we find believers who fall, but they get up and find repentance and restoration.

One of the finest examples in Scripture is King David. You can find his story in Second Samuel 11. I don’t have time to read the entire chapter to you this morning, but you may have heard the story. Basically, instead of going to war like a king was supposed to do, King David decides to stay home and is walking on his roof at night. He sees a woman bathing and inquires about her. He knows she is married, but like much of the world today, he didn’t seem to care. She comes over to his castle, they have relations and she ends up pregnant. Now, David must protect his honor so he sends for her husband to come home so maybe the kingdom would think her husband, Uriah, got her pregnant. Well, Uriah is a good man and committed to the war effort, so instead of going home, he sleeps on the castle steps. Eventually David sends him back to the battle to the front lines where he is sure to be killed.

An evening walk turned into lust which turned to adultery which turned to murder. How easy it is to fall! David is living his life until a prophet by the name of Nathan makes him realize that he has sinned against God. David repents but God has meted his punishment already -his baby boy with Bathsheba dies because of David’s sin.

As a result of his sin, he writes a song to God. A song that today we know as Psalm 51 (READ).

Like I said earlier, you will fall. You will mess up. It’s how you respond to that sin that matters. When you find yourself in sin, you have two choices: You can ignore it, put a smile on your face, and pretend that all is well OR you can confess that sin to God and repent like David. He used words like “have mercy on me,” “cleanse me,” “wash me,” “deliver me,” “restore me,” etc.  You see, God loves his children so much, it doesn’t matter how bad you have messed up, he’s there waiting to forgive and restore you just like King David.

We must always remember that even though salvation is free, it certainly wasn’t cheap. Jesus gave his life on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. Sin is a breaking of God’s laws -something we all have done. God’s Word says that the penalty of sin is death, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. God is a righteous judge who demands justice, and that is why Jesus came to the earth. Someone had to pay for breaking the law. Jesus bore our sins on the cross. He walked out of the grave three days later and in doing so, conquered death. The perfect Lamb of God who knew no sin, became sin for us. He took the punishment. He paid the price. We have been set free from the penalty of the law. We have been liberated from the grip of the grave.

So, now you know the facts. I hope that you accept the facts, but most importantly, I hope that you have or will put your trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you would like to experience salvation, all you must do is “repent and believe in the gospel.” I know it’s a hard decision. I know sin is fun. If it weren’t, we wouldn’t be so attracted to it. But are we willing to trade an eternity in heaven for a few years of fun on the earth?

If you are a believer, maybe your life isn’t what it should be. Perhaps you’ve slipped and fell into sin and you can’t find a way out. You’ve been away from God for some time. When was the last time you read His Word? When was the last time you talked intimately with God? You need to get back in relationship with Jesus. Start by repenting and asking God to forgive you. He will restore you!

I want to hear your story. Please text me, call me, Facebook message me. Better yet, let the world hear your Jesus story! Never be ashamed of your faith in Jesus.

I want to say thanks for watching today. Once again, we are planning on meeting together on June 7^th at 930 am. We won’t have a coffee bar that morning or children’s church, but we will have hand sanitizer and disinfectant! I’ll be sharing more about that as we inch closer to that date. I want to give a Hope Church shoutout to Bobby Gifford. Bobby has been hitting the stores acquiring the disinfectants we need to ensure a safe worship atmosphere when we meet again. Thanks, Gifford!

Until we see each other again, my prayer is that you love God and love your neighbor. If you need anything, you can reach me anytime. I miss you and I love you, Hope Church! I’ll see you right here on Facebook Live next Sunday! Good bye!