By David J. Stewart | June 2017
Jonah 3:9-10, “Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.”
One of my dear web visitors (Aleksandr) showed me this Scripture yesterday
and asked me to write an article. I was immediately impressed with this
Bible truth and thanked him for teaching me this. I learn from my web
visitors too, just as you all learn from me. Proverbs 27:17, “Iron
sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” I
love feeding the Lord's sheep (John 21:17). Thank you everyone for letting
my website ministry be a part of your life. I am just a humble servant of
the Lord, a nobody who by God's grace is making a difference!
First, please read again our text passage from Jonah 3:9-10. Notice in Verse 9 that God can “repent” (i.e., change His mind). Now, if the word “repent” means “turning from sins” (as the modern corrupt Bible versions and many corrupt churches today teach), then how could God repent, seeing that He is sinless? Obviously, repentance in Jonah 3:9 DOESN'T mean turning away from sins. Biblical repentance is simply “a change of mind.” It is changing your mind from WRONG THOUGHTS to believing THE GOSPEL.
Respectfully, I heard Pastor Charles Lawson of the Temple Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, criticize Bible colleges and preachers who teach easy-believism, accusing them of leaving off repentance for salvation (which he errantly understands to mean turning away from one's sins to be saved).
And now please notice Verse 10. The Bible says that God “SAW THEIR WORKS”! God saw their works... “THAT THEY TURNED FROM THEIR EVIL WAY”!!! After spending three days and three nights in the belly of a whale, Jonah had been vomited out on dry land. God told the great fish to do that! We know that it was a whale, because the New Testament uses the word ketos, from which our word “cetology” today is derived, meaning, the study of marine life and whales. By the way, the corrupt New King James Bible (NKJB or NKJV) never tells you what kind of “great fish” swallowed Jonah. Please don't use the NKJV!!! The Bible says that Jonah ran so fast, he made a three day journey in just ONE DAY!!! That ole boy ran his tail off!!! Jonah preached and the Ninevites turned away from their evil ways. The Bible calls this “WORKS”!!! We know explicitly from Ephesians 2:8-9 that salvation is without WORKS!!!
Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” And again we read in Romans 4:5-6, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.” Could the Holy Bible be any plainer? I think not! Salvation is WITHOUT WORKS! That is, no human effort, such as turning away from evil ways, is required nor necessary nor allowed to be saved. Either God does the saving, all of it, or you don't go!
The people of Nineveh turned from their evil ways, and God called it WORKS! The wonderful plan of salvation offered to all humanity by God is by faith alone in the precious Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 3:9, “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” 1st Peter 2:7, “Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner.” 1st Peter 1:18-19, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
Jonah 3:10 evidences that turning away from evil ways is WORKS, and we know plainly from the New Testament that God doesn't allow WORKS to be added to THE GOSPEL. Romans 10:3-4, “For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”
Here is a very precious quote from Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001) from a sermon he preached in 1987...
“You're not unsaved because you're bad. You're not unsaved because you're mean. You're not unsaved because you're a drunkard. You're not unsaved because you're an adulterer. You're not unsaved because you're a liar. You're unsaved for one reason—YOU HAVE NOT SUBMITTED YOUR SELF UNTO THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD! God offers to give you His righteousness, to put on your record in Heaven, to cover your sins—not to stop your sins, you'll still be imperfect after you get saved—but judicially God offers to put His record in Heaven on your record, and blot out your sins as far as God's sight of your sins is concerned. And that is the imputation of God's righteousness!!!”
SOURCE: Dr. Jack Hyles - A quote from the classic MP3 sermon, “The Mystery Of Godliness”
The Lord Himself said that the only “WORK” necessary or allowed to be saved is to BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ. John 6:28-29, “Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” That is the ONLY work my friend that is required to be saved, just SIMPLY BELIEVE the Gospel. We are not saved by repenting, we are saved by placing our trust in Jesus; but we wouldn't place our trust in Jesus if we didn't repent! Repentance Biblically is a change of mind—a change of mind from wrong thoughts to believing the Gospel. The Scriptures are VERY clear that we are saved solely by BELIEVING. We don't repent AND believe, we repent TO believe. Here is Scriptural proof from 1st Corinthians 1:21, “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” Amen... TO SAVE THEM THAT BELIEVE!!!
