Bigchrisfilm,
Im familiar with the ministry of the late Baptist Pastor Jack Hyles. No doubt there are many fine Christians at the church where he served as pastor. And he does deserve credit for his strong emphasis on evangelism. Lets take a look though again at the quote from Hyles regarding repentance: "If a person were saved by good works, then he would have to repent of bad works, or of not doing good works, in order to be saved. If a person were saved by quitting his sinning, then he would have to repent of his sinning in order to be saved. A person is saved by believing, so he repents of his unbelief or turns from his unbelief in order to be saved." Repentance goes further than simply turning from unbelief to belief. It is a change of heart and mind, which is ongoing throughout the Christian life.
Note the contrast in Hyles teaching on repentance and that of the late Baptist Evangelist John R. Rice: Does not the Bible say that we must repent? Yes, the Bible plainly says that "God ... commandeth all men every where to repent" (Acts 17:30), and again, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3, 5). This was the preaching of John the Baptist, of Jesus, of Peter and of Paul, that men should repent. And certainly repentance is God's plan of salvation
To repent literally means to have a change of mind or spirit toward God and toward sin. It means to turn from your sins, earnestly, with all your heart, and trust in Jesus Christ to save you. You can see, then, how the man who believes in Christ repents and the man who repents believes in Christ. The jailer repented when he turned from sin to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. (What Must I Do to Be Saved? http://libertarianchristians.org/saved) Note that repentance here is both a change of mind or spirit toward God and toward sin, not simply turning from unbelief to belief.
The 18th century Evangelist George Whitefield characterized true repentance in this way: If your repentance is true, you are renewed throughout, both in soul and body; your understandings are enlightened with the knowledge of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ; and your wills, which were stubborn, obstinate, and hated all good, are obedient and conformable to the will of God. (Great Sermons by Great Preachers, p. 66)
Martin Luther in his famous Ninety-Five Theses characterized repentance as ongoing and outward as well as inward:
1. Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, in saying Repent ye, etc., meant that whole life of the faithful to be an act of repentance.
3. Yet he does not mean interior repentance only; nay, interior repentance is void if it does not externally produce different kinds of mortifications of the flesh. (quoted in John MacArthurs The Gospel According to Jesus, p.257)
John Wesley characterized repentance as something marking the beginning of the Christian life and part of our ongoing growth in Christ: ..there is a repentance and a faith, which are, more especially, necessary at the beginning: a repentance, which is a conviction of our utter sinfulness, and guiltiness, and helplessness; and which precedes our receiving that kingdom of God, which, our Lord observes, is "within us;" and a faith, whereby we receive that kingdom, even "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
there is also a repentance and a faith (taking the words in another sense, a sense not quite the same, nor yet entirely different) which are requisite after we have "believed the gospel;" yea, and in every subsequent stage of our Christian course, or we cannot "run the race which is set before us." And this repentance and faith are full as necessary, in order to our continuance and growth in grace, as the former faith and repentance were, in order to our entering into the kingdom of God. ("The Repentance of Believers": http://gbgm-umc.org/UMhistory/Wesley/sermons/serm-014.stm)
The Bible teaches assurance of salvation, and it also teaches that we can not be reconciled to God through good works. We shouldnt look to ourselves for assurance of faith but to Christ. Yet at the same time, Scripture also teaches that those who life a life characterized by habitual, unrepentant sin will not inherit the kingdom of God. (I Corinthians 6:10)
And those who live a life characterized by lawlessness will not inherit the kingdom of God either:
21 Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? 23 And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness! (Matthew 7:21-23)
Commenting on these verses in Matthew, Pastor John MacArthur write in his book The Gospel According to Jesus:
'Our Lord was not speaking about an isolated group of fringe followers. There will be many on that day who will stand before him, stunned to learn they are not included in the kingdom. I fear that multitudes who now fill church pews in the mainstream of the evangelical movement will be among those turned away because they did not do the will of the Father.' (pp.28-29)
Any theology which limits repentance to simply a change from unbelief to belief potentially opens the door to someone professing faith in Christ but yet living a life of unrepentant sin or lawlessness in good conscience. Be wary of this type of teaching. It is not Biblical.
God Bless
