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So, yeah, we're up to chapter number three in the Book of Jonah, and he makes it finally to Nineveh, and he preaches to them, and they get right with God. Hey, successful preaching that we see here with Jonah. And there's a lot of thoughts about what took place with the people of Nineveh. You know, one of the questions that I would often just scratch my head about when I was a child was, did Ninevites get saved? You know, at the end of the day, that's what I guess matters in the long term. You know, I mean, a city getting right with God for a period of time is great, but did the people actually get saved? That was something that I was always wondering about. But if you have a look at Jonah chapter three, verse number five, it says, So the people of Nineveh believed God. The title for the sermon tonight is The People of Nineveh Believed God. The people of Nineveh believed God. Now let's start there in verse number one, Jonah chapter three, verse one, it says, And the world Lord came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So God is once again reminding Jonah, I mean, he already knew what his mission was, but reinforcing now that Jonah has been spat out of the way, that he is to go to Nineveh and to preach to that city, you know, and ultimately he's preaching destruction. He's preaching that God's wrath is going to fall upon this city. Now, you know, we have two kind of questions that we can think about here. Number one, did the Ninevites get saved? Did the Ninevites get saved? And number two, if they did get saved, how did they get saved? You know, I remember in one of my old churches, one of my old pastors, after he was preaching through the conversion of the Ninevites, I went up to him after the service, and I'm not having a go at my pastor, okay, but I just asked him, I said, look, one thing that I couldn't really get clear out of your sermon was, did the Ninevites get saved? Like I told you, it was a question that has a child. So what's my pastor's preaching about? I was like, okay, did the Ninevites get saved? And he said, well, you know, that question can be answered in two ways, basically. There are some people that believe they got saved, and some people don't. They just, you know, got kind of right with God. God just withheld his judgment against them. But ultimately, they didn't really get saved. And so I didn't really get this clear answer, okay. But actually, when you start looking at all the passages dealing with the Ninevites and Nineveh, it's actually confirmed for us in the New Testament that they definitely got saved. Okay, they definitely got saved. Now let me just, before we go too much into this chapter, let me take you to Luke chapter 11 in your New Testament. So keep your finger there in Jonah chapter 3, and turn to Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11, verse number 29. Luke chapter 11, I'll give you a moment to turn there. Luke chapter 11 and verse number 29. And again, we're going to the Gospels, we're going to the preaching of Christ. You know, these are the words of Christ himself. It says there in verse number 29, Luke 11, 29. And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, this is an evil generation, they seek a sign, and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. And we know in another passage of the Bible that the sign was that Christ would be in the whale's belly three days and three nights, and that he would be resurrected from that death, or resurrected from that deliverance, okay. Or from that, yeah, from the whale's belly, from Jonah's perspective, but of course, the death that Christ suffered for us when he died on the cross. But then it continues there, in terms of verse number 30. For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation. So the generation he's speaking to is of course the generation he's preaching to. He says, look, this is a wicked generation. The only sign that a wicked generation needs to receive is the sign of Jonas the prophet. Of course, Christ resurrected from the dead after three days and three nights. The gospel message, the fact that Christ died in our place, that he was buried, that he rose again three days later. That's the sign, that's the message that we need to go out to a wicked generation and preach the gospel unto them. And so isn't it interesting that Jonas is a sign in the same way, to Ninevites, the same way as Christ is a sign to us. And so we know that the preaching would be the same. If Christ is referring to his gospel message, his death, burial, and resurrection, as the same as Jonas, then Jonas must have been preaching the same message. Okay, let's keep going there. I'll prove this further. Verse number 31, it says, The Queen of the South, this is speaking about the times of Solomon, shall rise up in judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold a greater than Solomon is here. You know, this Queen of the South, she came to Solomon because Solomon's kingdom of Israel was so great, was so rich, was so powerful, was so God-fearing, was so right and just. And she came seeking the wisdom of Solomon and Solomon preached unto her the gospel. And the Bible tells us here that she would rise up in judgment against the generation that Christ is preaching to. Because many of the people Christ is preaching to rejected him as the Savior. So if this woman, this Queen, is going to rise in judgment against these that are rejecting Jesus, then what did she do? She accepted Jesus. She received Jesus. This is why she has the ability to rise in judgment against those that are rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ. But look what it says in verse number 32. The men of Nineveh, this is Nineveh in Greek of course, the men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it for they repented at the preaching of Jonas and behold a greater than Jonas is here. Jesus Christ is greater than Solomon. Jesus Christ is greater than Jonas. It says the people of Nineveh, Nineveh here, they repented from the preaching of Jonas and that the people of Nineveh, they're going to rise in judgment against the Jews that rejected Jesus Christ. So what should that tell you about the people of Nineveh? When Jonas came preaching, repentance toward them, they got saved in order for them to rise in judgment against those that rejected Christ. And so this idea of rising in judgment, you know, God's people, now we know that Christ is the one that passes judgment, but Christ is going to give his believers, his saints, the ability to pass judgment as well. We already saw here that believers are going to rise in judgment against non-believers. You know, some other examples, I'll quickly read to you from Luke 22 verse 30. It says that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel. And so one of the honors that the 12 apostles are going to receive is that they're going to be placed in a prominent and high position to pass judgment over the 12 tribes of Israel. You know, this is coming at the time of the millennial reign of Christ. You know, also in 1 Corinthians 6, 3, it says, Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life? Brethren, you know, Paul is writing to the Corinthian church, a Gentile church. He says, don't you know? One day we're going to judge angels. Isn't that interesting? Like all the angels that are serving God in heaven, we as believers, one day God's going to point us to judge them, to see how well, to judge them how well have they served God. And so this idea of judgment is given to believers against non-believers. So if the people of Nineveh have been risen in judgment against those that are rejecting Christ, this proves that they actually got saved. It's not a question. It's not like, I don't know, it's a gray area. No, they definitely got saved. Okay, so that answers question number one. Did the Ninevehites get saved? They definitely got saved, all right? But that brings the next question. How did they get saved? I think you're still there in Luke chapter 11. Let's keep going there. Let's keep going to verse number 33. Luke 11, verse number 33, sorry. Because we just continued the thought that Nineveh, the men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment against, with this generation. But then it says in verse number 33, No man, when he have lights and a candle, put it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light. So we know this idea of the candle. Once we're saved, we should shine the light of Jesus Christ, shine the light of the gospel. It says in verse number 34, The light of the body is the eye. Therefore, when thine eye is single, that idea of single is whole. You know, when you think about, let's keep going there. I'll explain it to you in a moment. It says, Therefore, when the eye is single, the whole body also is full of light, but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. So this idea of the eye being single means that the eye is full. It can receive the light. It's not in darkness. The eye is in perfect health. But it says that if your eye has darkness, like if you have cataracts or you're going blind, it's going to be a difficult process for you to walk in the light of Christ. It continues then, verse number 35, Take heed, therefore, that the light which is indeed be not darkness, if thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shine of a candle doth give thee light. And so the reason I wanted to read the rest of that is to give you a greater context when we're talking about the men of Nineveh rising in judgment against this wicked generation that they are people that have received the light of Christ. You know, once again, this just proves that these people definitely got saved, okay, through the preaching of Jonas. Hey, but when Christ came, someone greater than Jonas was here, and many of them rejected Jesus Christ. It's amazing, okay, that these Gentiles, these Ninevites received the gospel message. They received the light. But then you've got this wicked generation seeing the great miracles of Christ, rejecting him. All right, let's go back to Jonah chapter 3. Jonah chapter 3 and verse number 3. Jonah chapter 3, verse number 3. So we'll soon get to the question, how did the Ninevites get saved? Well, in verse number 3 it says, So Jonah arose and went into Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days journey. And so to get around Nineveh requires about three days of travel. Now I don't know if this means nonstop travel. You know, I don't believe that's the case. That would be a huge city, okay. That would be a massive city, you know, three full days of traveling. Don't forget, Jonah is coming to preach, okay. He's preaching what the Lord wants him to preach against this city. So he's not just walking through the city, but, you know, the fact is he's preaching to the people he's coming across. You know, whatever opportunities he has as he proclaims the preaching that God has given him, of course he's going to stop. Of course he's going to have to explain what he's teaching, okay. And so, you know, to get through the whole city, it required Jonah three days to get through as he's preaching the words that God has given him. So pretty much it's a three day mega marathon. You know, this coming Saturday, if you're able to get out there, you know, Monday, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, so many mega marathon, two hours in the morning, lunch and then two hours in the afternoon. You know, Jonah basically was doing this three days straight, a three day mega marathon. Let's keep going, verse number four. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey and he cried and said, yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So they've got forty days to get things right with God. In forty days they're going to be destroyed. Now verse number five is often overlooked. I've asked you, I've asked my past, my old past, I've asked other Christians, did Nineveh get saved? And how did they get saved? It's amazing to me that verse number five just gets overlooked so quickly. Because verse number five basically tells us how they got saved. Okay, verse number five says, so the people of Nineveh believed God. So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them. Alright brethren, so you can see they believed God. It's not saying they just believed Jonah. It's not saying they just believed the message. They believed God. Their faith was on the God of Jonah. That's how they got saved. It's not complicated. Salvation's the same. Old Testament, New Testament, it's your belief, it's your faith. So the people of Nineveh believed God. Keep your finger there and turn to Romans chapter four. Turn to Romans chapter four and verse number three. Romans chapter four, verse number three. There's another place in the Bible that refers to this idea of simply a person or a city believing God in Romans 4-3. Romans 4-3 it says, for what saved the scripture, Abraham believed God. Hey, what did it say in the book of Jonah? The people of Nineveh believed God. It says here, Abraham believed God. Did they do the same thing? They did the same thing. When it says Abraham believed God, it says, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Abraham was made right with God the moment he believed on him. Therefore, the people of Nineveh were made right the moment they believed on God as well. Okay, keep going there. Verse number four it says, Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt, but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Salvation is crystal clear in the time of Abraham, before the Old Testament. Don't forget the Old Testament came into effect with Moses when God gave the commandments to Moses in Mount Sinai. Abraham existed before Moses, obviously. Moses and the Israelites are descendants of who Abraham was. Okay, so before the Old Testament, people were saved simply by placing their faith on God. Okay, it says Abraham believed God. The Bible tells us in the Book of Jonah that the men of Nineveh, the people of Nineveh believed God. This is how they got saved. Salvation is the same. It is not by works. It is by your faith. Doesn't matter if you were living in the time of Jonah and you were the Ninevites. Doesn't matter if you were the time living in Abraham's time. It doesn't matter if you're living in 2022. It's the same way that we get saved. Not by works. By our faith alone in the Lord God. Now, I'll tell you to just keep a bookmark or a finger there in Romans chapter 4, because we're going to come back to that a bit later. But if you can go back to Jonah chapter 3. Jonah chapter 3. I mean, this shouldn't be complicated, right? That should be it. That should just tell us, all right, they believed God. Okay, you know, Jonah was not just preaching destruction. He was teaching them how they can place their faith on the God of Jonah. Okay, I mean, we don't have great long texts of what Jonah preached. But the fact that they were able to place their faith on the God of Jonah tells us there was the gospel message, there was the plan of salvation being preached unto these Ninevites, unto these Gentiles. Okay, look at verse number 6. I also like verse number 6 because it tells us how did such a great city with so many people actually get right with God. It says in verse number 6, For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. So the king gets convicted by the preaching. He goes, I don't want my city to be destroyed. Hey, I want to believe this God of Jonah. So he gets right with God. And of course, one of the great things, you know, when someone of great prominence, like a king, as wicked as this city was originally, this king sets his heart on the God of Jonah. He gets things right. Hey, he takes off his robe, kind of picturing that hey, he knows he can't be right with God, with his wealth, with his status. He can't make it right with God, with his royal garbs. He needs to take off that righteousness, as it were. He needs to take off his own righteousness. He needs to take off whatever he was trusting in and only trust in the Lord God. And what's wonderful about that, when you have kings and politicians who have a fear of God, it's going to bleed into the rest of the city. It's going to bleed into the rest of the nation. This is why it's so important that we are praying for our kings, our politicians, our premiers, our prime minister. You know, pray that God would instill in their hearts a fear of God. You know, that God would take down the wicked politicians and put in, install politicians that have a fear of God. You know, if we just have politicians who fear God, who fear to do things that are contrary to his word, this nation will be in a much better place. People's hearts will be more receptive to receive what God has to say to us through his word. But see, the king's heart has an influence on the hearts of his people. Can you please turn to Matthew chapter 11? There's something else that I want to teach you through this lesson here. The people, now obviously, you know, do I believe that every single person, every single man, woman, and child actually got right with God? I doubt it. I mean, I can't tell you for sure. But I doubt it, okay? I mean, the likelihood of an entire city, like not even the entire nation of Israel was right with God. You know, there weren't many that were saved, but there were obviously many that were unsaved as well. You know, when you have prominent people who love the Lord, who are removed out of their capacity for whatever reason, usually people's hearts will turn toward false gods because many of them were not saved, okay? But obviously, a great number, maybe the majority of Ninevites got saved. They got right with God, okay? So it changed the... What's the word I'm looking for? It changed the... I guess the demographic. It changed the demographic. I was going to say dynamics. It changed the dynamics of the city, okay? And so God could look down and see a righteous people because they had trusted the God of Jonah. But something that I want to show you here in Matthew chapter 11, verse 20, something that we don't often think about, it's kind of the same idea what I just mentioned earlier about the people of Nineveh rising up against this wicked generation, that there's going to be judgment from God's people against those that have rejected Christ. But, you know, as people that reject Christ, we know they go to hell. But did you know that in hell, there are different levels of punishment in hell? Were you aware of that? Were you aware that, you know, the more wicked someone is, the worse their punishment in hell will be, versus someone that may have lived a reasonably clean life on this earth, you know, that has just died without Christ, they're not going to be punished to the same extent as someone who is excessively wicked, all right? And we get this teaching from Matthew chapter 11, verse 20. Let me just show you this. Matthew 11, verse 20. It says here, Then began he to abrade the cities, wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not. Now the Ninevehites, they repented. But these cities, they did not repent, okay? So Christ starts to abrade. This means he starts to basically, you know, speak against these cities. He says in verse number 21, Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! Hey, these are cities of the Jews. Christ is saying, Woe to these cities! Because they rejected Christ, okay? It says here, For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, these are Gentile cities, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. So notice these cities, Bethsaida and Chorazin, they've had the opportunity. Christ has done mighty works before them. They can see that Christ is the Messiah, and they still reject him. Alright? But it says that, hey, if I had done this to these other cities, if I had done it to Tyre and Sidon, Gentile cities, they would have repented. They would have got right with God. Verse number 22, But I say unto you, Look at this, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you. Notice that. It's going to be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than it would be for Bethsaida and Chorazin at the time of judgment. What does that mean? That they're going to be judged worse. Okay? These two cities that saw the worst of Christ, they're going to be judged harsher. They're going to suffer a greater punishment. Judgment and hell is going to be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon. Because they did not get the same opportunities like these other cities got. You can see that it's not the same. You know, people often say about Christianity, you need to be more tolerable. I thought Christianity was a religion of tolerance. Meaning that we should just put up with whatever filth and whatever sin and whatever weakness and just accept people. You know, because we just, isn't that the religion of Christianity? Tolerance? Does the Bible teach tolerance? It does. This is the only place that teaches tolerance. It means how tolerable hell will be. How tolerable God's judgment will be on the cities that have rejected Christ. That's where tolerance is taught. Okay? We know that to some extent, you know, we have the story of the rich ruler who died and went to hell. And he's able to, you know, he's obviously very thirsty. He's been tormented in the flames. But he's able to carry a conversation with Abraham. He may remember that story. Okay? So is he in torment? He says he's in torment. Is he thirsty? He says he's thirsty. But he's still able to communicate to Abraham. So obviously, he's not suffering to the same extent as someone who would be excessively wicked. Don't forget that hell was created for the devil and his angels. Okay? It's a place of punishment. But again, how tolerable that punishment will be, the judgment that falls upon them will be different, depending on how wicked they were and what opportunities they had to receive Christ as Savior. Let's keep going there. It says in verse number 23, And thou, Capernaum, it's another Jewish city, which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell. For if the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for thee. Now, we know how wicked the sodomites were. Hey, but it's going to be even worse for Capernaum because Capernaum had Christ walking in the midst. Okay? And they still rejected Christ. So we know things are going to be horrible for the sodomites, but it's even going to be worse for those that were living in Capernaum, the Jews that rejected Christ. So you can see once again, and look, I'm not pulling that out of context. It said there in verse number 23, And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell. Okay? So this is definitely speaking about these people living in these cities who have rejected Christ, who were excessively wicked, or that had the opportunity to believe in Christ. It's going to be worse for them in hell than for other people that didn't have the same opportunities or were not as wicked as other people of other cities. So I just want to show that to you, you know? That, hey, is Sydney a wicked city? It is a wicked city. Okay? It is definitely a wicked city. But thank God for, you know, at the end of the day, salvation comes down to the individual. You know, thank God we don't have to suffer the consequences of judgment or of sin upon us and upon the generation that we've lived in, in the city that we've lived in. We've been delivered from that. God's wrath has been removed from us. You know, Christ took our wrath. Christ took the curse upon himself, and we've been delivered. We've been made free. Praise God for salvation. Praise God for salvation. So, you know, as Nineveh got right with God, don't forget, yes, the King got right, which then passes down to the people, but at the end of the day, it's an individual choice whether they wanted to be made right with God, whether they want to be saved, whether they want to believe on the God of Jonah, or whether they did not want to. Back to Jonah chapter 3, verse number 7. Jonah chapter 3, verse number 7. So this is about the King. It says, So the King caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the King and his noble saying, Let neither man nor beast herd nor flock taste anything, let them not feed nor drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. What is he saying to his people? Hey, send a decree, make this official, that people would cry mightily unto God. Yea, let them turn everyone from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands. 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. So a few things. How did Jonah's preaching reach the entire city? How did this thought of crying to the God of Jonah reach the entire city? Yes, it started with Jonah. Yes, he had three days to accomplish such a work. But the king helped out. The king started to take down what Jonah was saying and it was published throughout all the land. Alright? And he said, look, all of you, all of us need to cry mightily unto God. Okay? We all need to believe in the God of Jonah. Alright? Now again, how did they get saved? Well, a lot of people would turn right there to verse number 9 and say, it says, uh, sorry. Yeah, sorry, verse number 8, I should say. But let them in beasts be covered in the sack of crying mightily unto God and they'll say this, well, yea, let them turn everyone from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands. So a few things there. Number 1, we see why God was so angry at the city because it says that there was violence in their hands. It was a very violent city. That's one main reason why God was going to judge and destroy the city in 40 days. But secondly, the king is saying, let them turn everyone from his evil way. Hey, turn from your sins. Turn from your wickedness. Okay? Get right with God. God's going to destroy us because of our wickedness, because of our violence. Stop doing this is his message. So then people say, well, that's how they got saved. They got saved because they turned from their sins. Because they turned from their evil way. Now I can understand when you read that, that could be your thought there. But don't forget, initially in verse number five, they had believed God. They already had placed their faith on God. Okay? What is salvation? What is salvation? Is salvation repenting from your sins? Or is salvation your faith on the Lord God? Your faith for the Lord Jesus Christ? Which of these two? Okay? Now, you know, this is where people get confused. You know, and I've heard preachers behind the pulpit teach that, hey, to be saved, you have to turn from your sins to be saved. And then you kind of ask them, can you show me where that's in the Bible? Where in the Bible does it say you have to repent of your sins to be saved? And they won't find anything in the New Testament. They'll often turn to a story like Jonah and say, well, the Ninevites, they repented from their evil way. So that's how they got saved. Really? Is that how they got saved? Okay. Well, let's keep going. Look at verse number 10 again. Now, did the Ninevites turn from their wicked way? Of course they did. Should we as Christians turn from our wicked ways? Of course we should. Okay. Most of my preaching is teaching you how to live holy lives, how to live lives that are pleasing to God, you know, preaching against sin. You know, my desire is that you're repenting from sin every single day. My desire is that you're living more holy every single day. My desire is that you're keeping the commandments of God more so every single day. But is that how you get saved? No. That's not how you get saved. Is it right to get baptised? Of course it's right to get baptised. Is that how we get saved? No. Is it right to be in God's house, to be in church? Yes. Is that how we get saved? No. Is it right to read the Bible? Yes. Is that how we get saved? No. Okay. Look, is it right to repent from your sins? Of course it's right. But is that how we get saved? Of course not. Because there is not a single one of you that have successfully repented from their sins. I guarantee you, you've sinned today. I guarantee you're going to sin tomorrow and you're going to commit sins to the day you die. So if repenting from your sins is necessary to be saved, then no one is saved. What did we learn in verse number five? They believed God. They believed God. It's their faith that saved them. Then, once they believed in the God of Jonah and they've cried upon Him for salvation, then they're living a cleaner life. Then they're trying to save the destruction of their city. Brethren, if you're saved and you live a wicked life, you know what's going to happen? God's going to judge you. God's going to bring His right of correction upon you. Just because you're saved doesn't mean you escape the judgment of God in this life. Just because the Ninevites have believed God, it doesn't mean God's not going to destroy the city. They had to give up on their violence, give up on their wicked ways, for God to keep that city alive, to keep that city functioning, for God to turn from the wicked that He would do, sorry, for the evil that He would do upon that city. Say, I don't know, Pastor Kevin, it sounds quite clear to me that they turned from the evil way and that's how they got saved. No, no, no. They've turned from the evil way. That's how the city was not destroyed. Okay? Their souls was by faith. Okay? Now, what's wonderful about verse number 10, just in case somebody's trying to tell you that repenting from sins is how you get saved, it's like God put verse number 10 on purpose there to combat that as a false gospel. Because it says in verse number 10, and God saw their works. What works? That they turned from their evil way. Brethren, turning from your evil way, what is it? It's a work. God saw their works. If someone tells you in order to be saved you have to repent of your sins, what is that? What are they teaching? Works. They're saying salvation is by works. The Bible makes it so clear. This is the writing of the Holy Ghost, of God Himself. It says, and God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. Look, and God repented of the evil that He had said that He would do unto them and He did it not. Hey, who also repented? God repented. The people of Nineveh repented and then God repented. Now, you know what another crazy teaching that's out there in churches, they'll say, well, you know, the word repent or repentance means automatically to turn from sins. Well, it says and God repented so did God repent of sins? Is God a sinner? Of course not. Repentance does not mean turn from sin. Repentance just means to change or to turn. That's all. That's all it means. Okay, to change or to turn and the context of what is written around that tells you what you've turned from. That's all it is. You know? For example, this is my pulpit. I'm going right. I'm walking right. You know what? I'm going to repent from that and I'm going to walk left. Did I just turn from my sins? No, of course not. Did I just sin? Did I just do something evil by walking right? No, but did I repent? Of course. I repented. And now I'm going left instead. Did I repent? Now look, can you commit, you know, if you committed some sin that you're strong with, let's say you're strong with alcohol and you say, you know what, I'm going to repent from that sin and I'm going to go this way instead and I'm going to give up on alcohol and live a sober life. You know, did that man repent as well? Of course he repented. But the context of that is he repented from drinking alcohol to not drinking alcohol. Okay? So yeah, in that context, of course that man is repenting from sin. Hey, but I can say, you know, let's say I'm not a pastor. I'm just a church member and you know, I love being in fellowship with God's people but then some struggles come in life, some issues come in life and you know what, I'm going to repent from being in God's house and I'm just, I'm going to choose not to be in church. Did that man repent as well? Of course he repented. Did he repent from sin though? No, because going to church was not a sin. In fact, that's what God wants us to do. In fact, he turned towards something that is sinful to be away from church, to be away from God's people, away from fellowship. You can repent from evil, you can repent from good, you can repent from things that are not even sinful. I was going right, decided to go left. I was going to Woolworths, I repented, I'm going to Coles instead. Okay, does that mean you turn from your sins? No, it just means you changed your mind. You changed, you had to turn. I turn from one way, I turn to another way and again, when he has to do turning from sins, if someone is saying you've got to turn from sins, then you're basically saying you've got to work. You've got to work for salvation. Okay, and salvation is very clearly not by works. Please keep your finger there. Please keep your finger there and go back to Romans chapter 4. Please go back to Romans chapter number 4. Romans chapter 4 please. Now while you're turning to Romans chapter 4, let me read to you a familiar passage, 1 John 3.4. 1 John 3.4, which says, Whosoever committh sin, transgresseth also the law. For sin is, the Bible is about to define for us what sin is. For sin is the transgression of the law. What is sin brethren? The transgression of the law. This book, this book that God gives us, his commandments, okay, his words, if you transgress his words, you've committed sin. If you've broken the laws of God, you've committed sin. Amen. That's the biblical definition of sin. Alright. Every time you sin, you've broken God's laws. Okay. That's the definition of sin. Alright. Now think about this. Preachers all across Australia, all across this world, have no problem for whatever reason to say, you know, in order for you to get right with God, in order for you to be saved, you've got to repent of your sins. And the congregation will be, Amen. Amen. You've got to repent of your sins. But what is he saying when you think about that? When you break down what he's saying, you've got to repent which is to turn from your sins which is the transgression of the law. Okay. So what is he saying? To repent of your sins means to turn from breaking or transgressing God's law. So how do we get saved? Well these preachers will say, they'll say, Repent of your sins. Amen. Amen. But it goes over people's heads. They don't understand the veiled message that they're given. The preacher is saying, in order to be saved, you have to stop transgressing God's law. In other words, you've got to keep the law is what they're teaching, which is another gospel, which is works. It blows my mind how many preachers, even within the independent Baptist churches, will tell the congregation they've got to repent of their sins to be saved when that preacher themselves still commits sin. That preacher themselves is still struggling with sin. Because everyone struggles with sin. We still have the sinful flesh. We don't go to heaven based on our righteousness. We don't go to heaven based on how clean we can make our lives. We go to heaven based on the righteousness of Christ. Okay. He's given us His righteousness. We're clothed in His blood, in His righteousness. When God the Father sees us, those of us that have trust in Christ, He sees us through His Son. He sees us through Jesus. No. It doesn't matter how much you clean your life up, Reverend. Your righteousness are still filthy rags. This is why you go to heaven based on the righteousness of Christ. Salvation is what Christ has done for us. Repenting from your sins is a good work to do, but it is not how you get saved. Okay. It is not how you get saved. Getting baptized is a good work to do, but it is not how you get saved. You know, being in church is a good work to do, but it's not how you get saved. Okay. This should be basic. This should be basic. But look, it's got to be preached because people get confused. And why do people get confused? Why do people get confused? You know, it's because the importance of the gospel is no longer being uplifted within churches. The clarity of the gospel, the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus, is not being lifted in churches anymore. It's about the boys club. You know, oh yeah, you know, we have fellowship with this church because, you know, we come out of the same Bible college. Oh, because you're, you know, this person's brother-in-law, relative, that went to start that church. Do you believe the same gospel or not? I mean, if your church teaches that salvation is in Christ, then why are you fellowshiping with a church that believes salvation is by repenting of your sins? You've got different gospels. You've got a different message. One is by works and one is by faith. It surprises me, brethren. You know, like, you know, people that want to divide over doctrines, they want to divide over every single little secondary or tertiary doctrine, but when it comes to the most important doctrine, who cares? Let's overlook that. Repenting of your sins, ah, yeah, you're my brother. Come and preach behind my pulpit. I don't understand it. And look, if you think you understand it, please tell me. I don't understand it except to say that we know that we have an enemy, the devil, that comes in and he sows his tears amongst the wheat. Okay? Now, I ask you to turn to Romans 4, verse number 1, verse number 2. Actually, before we read that, I will say this, okay? I will say this. I also recognise there's a lot of Christians that are saved, that are legitimately children of God, that will use the phrase you have to repent of your sins. Okay? Because I have these conversations with people, I come across people, say, oh, you do have to repent of your sins. I say, well, what do you mean by that? Well, you've got to recognise you're a sinner. Yeah. Is that what you mean by repenting of sins? Yeah, yeah. Okay. Look, if that's what you think is repenting of sins is, you know, then you're my saved brother and Lord. But you're wrong. That's not what repent of sins means. Repent means to turn from your wickedness, to stop doing sins. And some of the people are like, well, you know, I believe repent of sins means just to have a sorrow. You know, I have a broken contrite heart for having done wrong against the Lord. Okay, well, I mean, that's good. You know, if people are broken, they have a contrite heart and, you know, they feel bad for the sins that they've done, I mean, that's good, Like, you don't get saved because you have sorrow or because you have joy. You know, I've given the gospel to people and I've seen people weep and have sorrow and they've caught upon the Lord and be saved. I've also given the gospel to people and they've just been rejoicing, just happy, knowing the good news and they've caught upon the Lord and be saved. Their emotions do not play a part in how you get saved. Salvation is not be sad and believe in the Lord and thou shalt be saved. Rejoice and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Emotions does not play. In fact, this is what the Charismatics are all about. All about the emotional, all the feelings. I feel we're saved. We feel, oh, the right feelings. See, emotions play no part. It's your faith that saves you. Now, look, if you're broken and you're sad about your sins, well, praise God. You know, that will lead you to, you know, be able to recognize that you need to get made right with God. Amen. That is everyone's journey of salvation because that is not a condition of salvation. How you feel is not a condition. The condition, the only condition is faith. So, when people say, well, repentance of sins means just recognize your sinful condition, well, I would say that person is saved. If someone says that repentance of sins is basically having a broken, contrite heart and being sad for the sins that you've committed, well, it's just emotions. You know, I still count you I've heard pastors within the IFB, within Sydney, okay, preach such things and pastors that would actually go all the way and say, repentance of sins and they would interpret this accurately, they'll say, repentance of sins is turning from sins and then they'll start preaching things like this. Well, if someone's a drunkard and they want to get saved, then they have to stop drinking alcohol. You say, Pastor Kevin, surely no pastors preach that. They do. They're out there. They're out there in Sydney right now within independent fundamental Baptist churches. Well, the guy committing fornication with his girlfriend, he's got to stop committing fornication in order to get saved. Have you heard that kind of preaching? Brethren, this is works. Alright, what did it say? And God saw their works that they turn from their evil way. If you're saying to be saved, you have to turn from your evil way, then you're saying that you've got to be saved by works. You've got to keep the law. You've got to stop transgressing the law. But look, it's funny because these people actually interpret that phrase correctly. Okay, so listen, brethren, I'm not saying every time someone says repent of sins, go and attack them and think they're unsaved or something. Hey, ask them what do they mean by that? Okay, I found this is the easiest way to determine whether a so-called brother is false, brethren, whether they're not saved These are the two ways that I've determined. Number one, they just come out and start preaching works. You've got to stop doing this sin and that sin and this sin. The drunk has got to stop drinking alcohol and all these things to be saved. Then you've got a false prophet because he's adding works to the gospel message. The second way that I've determined a false prophet is when they mock salvation by faith alone. And you say to this preacher, preacher, the Bible says it's wrong. It's by believing what Christ has done and they're like, what, just believe? What, just believe and ask Jesus to save you and that's all? Hey, that kind of person is also an unsaved devil and they mock salvation by belief alone or if they're just openly preaching works. Okay, now somewhere in between, there's a lot of brethren that are saved but they've got bad terminology. Repent of your sins. That phrase is not even in your Bible. It's crazy because we're meant to be Bible believing Christians. Okay, and you start using phrases that are not in the Bible to explain salvation. It blows my mind. It blows my mind. Why would we move away from the Bible which is God's word and start teaching things that is the wisdom of man is actually coming from ministers of Satan to muddy the gospel to confuse people and if people have not trusted Christ by faith alone, then look, they can be in church their whole life. They can live a clean Christian life their whole life but they're going to die and go to hell. Sorry, Romans 4, let's go. I've said it for a while now. We're going to read it this time. Romans 4, we already read the first few verses. Romans 4, too. For if Abraham were justified by works. So that should automatically say, hey, he wasn't justified by works. Okay, he had whereof to glory but not before God. You see, salvation was by works. Man would have something to glory about and I've heard these testimonies. Oh, man, you know, the moment I got saved, you know, I stopped taking drugs. The moment I got saved, I stopped drinking the alcohol. The moment I got saved, I got behind the pulpit and started preaching hour-long sermons and it's me, me, look how clean I am. Look at my life. Look at me. Look at me. Look at my glory. I know I'm saved because look how clean I am. That's what works would do. If salvation was by works, that's what it would create. People boasting of themselves. I went to a Christian high school. We'd have guest speakers. That's all they would do. You'd have, you know, some gang member that was in prison for 10 years dealing with drugs. You have tattoo, bikie people, bikie gangs and they'd come and be like, oh, man, look how Jesus cleaned up my life and, you know, I was doing all these things and now I'm no longer doing those things. So what's salvation? Is salvation cleaning up your life? Is salvation repenting from your sins? I don't understand. You know, it was never about glorying in Christ. It was glorying about themselves. Look how good I am. I must be saved because look how clean I am now. Reverend, that's not salvation. If that was how we got saved, then it would have to be by works because then you can glory about yourself. Look what I've done Verse number three. Now, brethren, in the New Testament, 99% of the times when it says what saved the scripture, okay, it's talking about the Old Testament scriptures because the New Testament scriptures were not yet completed, okay? We're talking about Old Testament teaching. What saved the scripture? Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. How was Abraham made righteous with God? He just believed God. It's his belief, all right? Verse number four. So look, if you try to work your way to heaven, if you try to repent of your sins to be saved, it's not of grace, not reckoned of grace. You're not saved by grace but of debt. It's like God owes you. Oh, you worked hard for salvation, so God owes you salvation. No, it's grace. It's a free gift. It's been paid for by God, okay? But you trying to work your way, you're bypassing grace, okay? That's what it's saying there. Verse number five. Now again, Paul is writing to the Romans. He's writing to the Gentiles of the New Testament. He says this is how the Gentiles get saved. You, okay? The same way as Abraham. Abraham is before the old covenant, before Moses. But then it says this, verse number six. Even as David also, who's David? King David? He lived under the old covenant. He lived after Moses. He was the king of Israel who was under the old covenant with the Lord God, okay? So how did David get saved? Even as David. So just like Abraham, even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputed for righteousness. Look, without works. How did David get saved? Without works. How did people get saved under the old covenant? Without works. How did people get saved before the old covenant? Without works. How did people get saved in the New Testament? Without works. It's always been the same. So you can't turn around and say the Ninevites got saved because God saw their works. You don't get saved by works. The Bible's clear about this. Verse number seven. Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Look at verse number nine. Cometh this blessedness upon the circumcision only? Is this only for the circumcision that salvation is without works? Or upon the uncircumcision also? Hey, the uncircumcision in the story of Jonah would be the Ninevites. They were Gentiles, right? It was an Assyrian city. For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? When he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision but in uncircumcision. Before Abraham circumcised himself he was already saved. Whether you're circumcised or not is irrelevant. It's your faith that saves you is what is being pointed out there. Okay? It's the same for the Jews and the Gentiles. Circumcision or uncircumcision. Salvation is the same. Verse number 11. And he received the sign of circumcision. Circumcision is just a sign. It's symbolic. Like our baptism. It's symbolic that we have placed our faith on the Lord God, right? You see, the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet been uncircumcised, that he might be the father. Look at it. The father of all them that believe. Do the Ninevites believe at the preaching of Jonah? Yes. He's the father of all them that believe. Jew, Gentile, Israelite, Ninevite, Romans, Australians, the same. Abraham is the father of all that believe. Abraham is our spiritual father. Okay? As much as he's the spiritual father of the Israelites that have believed on Christ, he's the spiritual father of the Gentiles that have believed on Christ. It's the same, brethren. What am I up to? Verse number 11, the last part of it. Though they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed unto them also. As the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, he's not just the father of the Jews that got saved, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham which he had been yet uncircumcised. For the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed. Look, through the law, it's not given to Abraham and his seed. Through the law, hey, what is sin? The transgression of the law. What is repenting of sin? Trying to keep the law. That's not how you get saved. That's not how you get righteous. All right? It's not through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of none effect. Let's stop there at verse 114. Those pastors that say to be saved, you have to stop sinning or you have to give up on this certain sin or that certain sin. Like I said, the drunken has to stop giving up on his alcohol to be saved. Those pastors, okay, those preachers, it says, for if they which are of the law be heirs, okay, faith is made void and the promise made of none effect. If that's how you get saved, then faith is useless. Okay? So what is that saying? Those that teach you have to repent of your sin to be saved, they don't have the faith. They don't have the righteousness of Christ imputed upon them. They're trying to go to heaven based on the law, based on their works. Based on their works. Look at verse 15. Because the law worketh wrath, for where no law is, there is no transgression. We're not saved by the law and if we're not saved by the law, then there is no transgression. You understand? Christ kept the law perfectly. We go to heaven because of Christ. Okay? Verse number 16. Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace, right? For by grace we are saved through faith. Same thing. Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure, look, to all the seed and not to only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all. So those that were under the law, the Jews, and those that are not under the law, the New Testament days, look, Abraham is the father of all, of all those that basically had the faith of Abraham, right? But to that also which is of the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all once again. Brethren, salvation is the same. Did the Ninevites get saved? Absolutely. Why did they get saved? Because they believed God. Okay? Again, it's not saying they just believed Jonah or they believed the teaching of Jonah. They believed the God of Jonah. They placed their faith on the God of Jonah. All right? They got saved. Many of them. I'm not saying every single human being in Nineveh got saved. I don't know. Okay? But their salvation was by faith. Then once they had put their faith on the God of Jonah, then they decided, all right, let's do some works. Let's stop sinning. Let's overcome the violence in our city. Let's get made right with God because if we don't stop this, then God's going to destroy us. And they said, look, there's a chance to save our city. There's a chance that we would not if we just make sure we walk righteously. If we do the works, and brethren, we should do the works not to be saved. We should do the works to live a life that is holy to God. We should do the works that we would not be judged by God severely. We should do the works that we could live holy lives. Be holy as He is holy, the Bible says. Our goal ought to be to be like the Lord Jesus Christ, to clean up our lives, to be less sinful, to be more righteous. That's the goal of the Christian, brethren, to see souls saved. That's our goal, to walk in holiness. But that's not how you get saved. Salvation, praise God, is by faith and by grace. Grace. Grace means free. Gratis in Spanish is where you get the word grace. Gratis in Spanish means free. Grace means free. It automatically just means something that is free, something that is undeserved. We get given the grace of God. And how do we access that grace? Through faith. Not by works, not by the law. Alright? And I personally believe, when you read, when you know this, and you know exactly what the Bible teaches on this topic, then Jonah chapter 3 is not complicated. It really is not complicated. You get to verse number 5, they believed God. Well we know that Abraham believed God and his faith was counted unto righteousness. Then the Bible's consistent. The Bible does not change. Whether they lived under the old covenant or before the old covenant, or in the new covenant, salvation has always been the same. Believe the Lord God, your faith upon Him, and that is what gives you righteousness in the eyes of God. Okay, let's pray.