Repent and Believe the Gospel

Repent and Believe

Mark 1:15, Jesus saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

Acts 2

13 Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.”

Peter’s First Sermon

14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

17 

‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,

That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;

Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,

Your young men shall see visions,

Your old men shall dream dreams.

18 

And on My menservants and on My maidservants

I will pour out My Spirit in those days;

And they shall prophesy.

19 

I will show wonders in heaven above

And signs in the earth beneath:

Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.

20 

The sun shall be turned into darkness,

And the moon into blood,

Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.

21 

And it shall come to pass

That whoever calls on the name of the Lord

Shall be saved.’

22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— 23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; 24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. 25 For David says concerning Him:

‘I foresaw the Lord always before my face,

For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.

26 

Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad;

Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope.

27 

For You will not leave my soul in Hades,

Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.

28 

You have made known to me the ways of life;

You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’

29 “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, 31 he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. 33 Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.

34 “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself:

‘The Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit at My right hand,

35 

Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”’

36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

Repentance and belief are intricately woven together, you can not have one without the other.   Repentance is a conversion of the soul that gives rise to belief.  Repentance and belief are the work of faith.

Repentance comes with a change in understanding at the core of your being or a change of your heart.  Take note in Acts 2:37, that the people that heard Peter’s message of the Christ who they crucified and put to death were cut to the heart.  

The revelation of who God is, the revelation of Jesus Christ will cut to the heart.  This change of the heart is expressed in repentance.  A physical picture of repentance is a laying down low in the dust, your belly to the ground.  It is a realization that before God, I am nothing but dust.  From dust I came and to dust I will return apart from Jesus, life giving Spirit.  Job was a blameless and upright man.  He was one who feared God and shunned evil.  He knew God through the hearing of His Word.  He was quite secure in His knowledge of God.  When he was tested, Job had no sins to repent of.  He was a just and blameless man who was afflicted and ridiculed by his friends.  He complained to God justly.  He never put away his integrity.  But then, the Lord reveals Himself to Job.  The Lord takes Him through all His creation, the work of His hands in the wonders of the earth and heavens, displaying His indescribable strength holding it all together by His power, His all-knowingness from everlasting to everlasting, and His incomparable wisdom.  

Job answers, 4 

“Behold, I am vile;

What shall I answer You?

I lay my hand over my mouth.

5 

Once I have spoken, but I will not answer;

Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.”

God does not let Job off the hook there; He is not finished with him.

6 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:

7 

“Now prepare yourself like a man;

I will question you, and you shall answer Me:

8 

“Would you indeed annul My judgment?

Would you condemn Me that you may be justified?

9 

Have you an arm like God?

Or can you thunder with a voice like His?

10 

Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor,

And array yourself with glory and beauty.

11 

Disperse the rage of your wrath;

Look on everyone who is proud, and humble him.

12 

Look on everyone who is proud, and bring him low;

Tread down the wicked in their place.

13 

Hide them in the dust together,

Bind their faces in hidden darkness.

14 

Then I will also confess to you

That your own right hand can save you.

When the Lord was done, one and a half chapters later,

42 Then Job answered the Lord and said:

2 

“I know that You can do everything,

And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.

3 

You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’

Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,

Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

4 

Listen, please, and let me speak;

You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’

5 

“I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear,

But now my eye sees You.

6 

Therefore I abhor myself,

And repent in dust and ashes.”

Many of us are not blameless like Job, but look at ourselves by our own standard and compare ourselves with others.  We don’t think we smell, look, or sound so bad.  “I am not that bad a sinner,” one might say.  “I might eek into God’s presence by being a good person.”  “I’m quite satisfied with all the services and care I do for others, shouldn’t God be?”  Or even, “I believe in Jesus, go to church every Sunday, put money in the offering, and volunteer in church related ministries.”  This is all works based religion and not faith.  This is a perilous place to be because it is not repentance and belief unto salvation.

Jesus gave a parable to illustrate this point.

Luke 18

9 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ 13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

We must see ourselves in relationship to God, not other people!

Romans 3

21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

We are all in need of Amazing Grace.  We were all wretched, lost, and blind.  Some of us need eye salve.  Many knew that they were miserable, poor, trapped sinners, needing to be set free.  These were at an advantage for coming to Jesus through repentance and saving faith.  

Matthew 9

12 When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

Mark 2

“How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”

17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”

I rejoice in the amazing grace of God in my life that He gave me this record of Job.  I am one with a self-righteousness akin to Job.  But when the Lord revealed  Himself to me, I was completely broken.  I was broken by His love.  I saw myself according to God’s standard, by the standard of the old law, a woman standing in my nakedness, unclean in my monthly flow, untouchable.  Uncleanness often meant you were to remain outside the camp until one could go through a purification rite.  But because of the blood of Jesus, I can draw near the Holy of Holies.  I am covered in Christ’s righteousness.  I can stand in my own naked skin before the Father.  I can have the Holy Spirt filling me!  I can stand in the shower naked and the Holy Spirit can pour over me like the water!  

On an ongoing basis He reminds me to keep my head low.   “I have uttered things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.”  I know why Job laid himself in the dust and ashes.  “I put my hand over my mouth.  I will proceed no further” in my own knowledge and understanding.  

Romans 11:33

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

Repentance is not condemning, punishing, hurtful, or oppressing.   Repentance brings tears, but tears that are washing and cleansing.  Repentance brings us into a knowledge of our standing before God; It brings us into a right standing before Him.  It brings a humility, a proper positioning before God that a person can rest in.  REST.  I am not a god, holding the world in my hands.  I can let Him be God.  Repentance may bruise, as in a contrite heart, but it is a good pain that brings blessing.  Repentance brings relief.  Not only are your sins forgiven, but they are blotted out, no more.  Repentance brings us underneath God, a place of safety under His protection.  Repentance circumcises the heart, it cuts away parts that tempt us to distance ourselves from God. Repentance draws us near to Him.  Repentance brings REFRESHING.

Acts 3:19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, 

Hebrews 6:1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

Repentance is foundational.  Repentance is an elementary principle of Christ.  We can not truly believe in Christ Jesus without a knowledge of our profound need for Him.  We can not believe without a knowledge of our standing before God outside of Christ Jesus.  We can not believe in the salvation of Christ Jesus without the understanding of our need to be saved!   

Matthew 5 - The Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount describe the fruits of repentance.  

3 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,

    For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 

Blessed are those who mourn,

    For they shall be comforted.

5 

Blessed are the meek,

    For they shall inherit the earth.

6 

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

    For they shall be filled.

7 

Blessed are the merciful,

    For they shall obtain mercy.

8 

Blessed are the pure in heart,

    For they shall see God.

Repentance shows us our poverty, our nakedness, our uncleanness before the holiness of God, that we might be clothed in Christ’s righteousness for the Kingdom.  The knowledge of our offenses towards God, the seriousness and darkness of our rebellion, and that He would love us so much to redeem us with His blood,  produces a godly sorrow, a mourning in the gloom of our own souls.  He removes our sins and comforts us in His love.  Repentance brings a meekness, a humility before God, a surrender to His will that transforms us into weak vessels that may display His power and not our own. Repentance shows us the great mercy of God, that we might extend and receive mercy.  Repentance brings purification of the heart that we can see God.

Repentance turns us from our own dead works, our own salvation plan, and turns us towards Jesus Christ’s finished work, His one and only salvation plan, faith in Him.

Hebrews 10:10, By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

John 6:29, Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

The gospel is Jesus Christ, seeing that there was no mediator, intercessor between God and man, He came from the throne room of heaven Himself and became flesh for the purpose of your salvation through the sacrifice of Himself, the shedding of blood.  He bought you back from the death sentence, and gives you the free gift of eternal life.  This is to everyone who believes on Him. 

Isaiah 53:3, He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.  Philippians 2:6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.   Galations 3:13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 

John 3:13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

This is the Door to the Kingdom.  Repent and Believe on Him.

The evidence of God is displayed in the creation, so that I am without excuse.  What am I in the eye of the hurricane?  What am I in the wake of the earth rolling beneath my feet and shaking like a freight train?  What am I faced with a forest fire roaring and licking up everything in its path?   Who can tame these things?  Can I save myself from their path of destruction?  Who has the power to save?  The Lord of Heaven and Earth made the winds and seas roar, the earth shake and the wildfires to consume the mountain forests.  Did we heed the warning?  Did we pay attention to the wake up call?  Do you know that these things are the signs of the end of the age?  Did you know that when He lifts His restraining Hand, that we will be in the Great Tribulation?  His restraining Hand, His merciful Hand, displayed His power over all flesh.  Did we pay attention?  We have lived under grace and the merciful Hand for so long, generation after generation.  Do we take it for granted?  Is it our prayers that saved our loved ones?  Is He compelled to hear our prayers?  Must He obey us?  Is He at our command?  Do we have any fear of Him?

Job 28:28 

And to man He said,

‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,

And to depart from evil is understanding.’”

Psalm 111:10 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;

A good understanding have all those who do His commandments.

His praise endures forever.

Proverbs 1:7 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,

But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 9:10 

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,

And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Proverbs 15:33 

The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom,

And before honor is humility.

Isaiah 11 - Even Jesus with the Spirit of the Lord upon Him delights in the fear of the Lord!

2 

The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,

The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

The Spirit of counsel and might,

The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

3 

His delight is in the fear of the Lord,

Isaiah 33:6 

Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times,

And the strength of salvation;

The fear of the Lord is His treasure.

We are to fear Him!  The knowledge of God, seeing Him in His glory, power, strength, holiness, majesty is fearsome!  We can not even imagine.  We posture ourselves under Him so carelessly.  Bow yourself low before Him under His Hand of mercy and grace!

Romans 2

4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

1 Corinthians 7

9 Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. 10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

Jesus is coming!  The Lord of Heaven and Earth, the King of Kings, the Risen Lord is going to be in our midst.  The Light of the world is coming!  Malachi 3:2 says,

“But who can endure the day of His coming?

And who can stand when He appears?

For He is like a refiner’s fire

And like launderers’ soap.

He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver;

He is going to be purifying His people!

2 Thessalonians 2 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him,

Jesus is coming!  He is going to gather us together to Him from all the ends of the earth!  Are you watching for Him?

Micah 7:15 

“As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,

I will show them wonders.”

16 

The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might;

They shall put their hand over their mouth;

Their ears shall be deaf.

17 

They shall lick the dust like a serpent;

They shall crawl from their holes like snakes of the earth.

They shall be afraid of the Lord our God,

And shall fear because of You.

18 

Who is a God like You,

Pardoning iniquity

And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?

He does not retain His anger forever,

Because He delights in mercy.

19 

He will again have compassion on us,

And will subdue our iniquities.

You will cast all our sins

Into the depths of the sea.

20 

You will give truth to Jacob

And mercy to Abraham,

Which You have sworn to our fathers

From days of old.

Jesus is coming and as He gathers us together to Him, His first priority is the work of repentance, pardoning ALL our iniquity, and giving truth and mercy!  You must just come through the Narrow Gate, the Door of the Kingdom.  Repent and believe the Gospel!!

Isaiah 9:

10 

“And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,

Who shall stand as a banner to the people;

For the Gentiles shall seek Him,

And His resting place shall be glorious.”

11 

It shall come to pass in that day

That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time

To recover the remnant of His people who are left,

Hosea 6 

Come, and let us return to the Lord;

For He has torn, but He will heal us;

He has stricken, but He will bind us up.

2 

After two days He will revive us;

On the third day He will raise us up,

That we may live in His sight.

Psalm 111

2 

The works of the Lord are great,

Studied by all who have pleasure in them.

3 

His work is honorable and glorious,

And His righteousness endures forever.

4 

He has made His wonderful works to be remembered;

The Lord is gracious and full of compassion.

Amen.