Daily Friendship with God #8 Repentance

Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel. Mark 1:15

There is a pathway to the Gospel the first step is to Repent the next step is to Believe in the Gospel as noted in (Mark 1:15) Repent means in its original language the following: 

To change one’s mind. Next Jesus says the next step is to Believe in the Gospel. To believe means: To think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in.

It is interesting that both repent and believe have to do with the way the mind is thinking with the result of confidence towards something, in this case the Gospel. This leads us to what is the Gospel that Jesus is telling us to change our mind and think to be true? It is this:

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures      (1 Corinthians 15:1-8)

So when we think of Repentance and Belief in the Gospel we are to think that Jesus died in our place for our sins, and that Jesus buried our sins (which causes death) in the grave and left them there and He rose from the dead victorious over sin and death on our behalf. That is really GOOD NEWS! Jesus takes ours sins and gives His life that is eternal. In fact, that is what the word Gospel means in its original language and definition. There are many places in God’s word that teach about repentance. Please keep this understanding of repentance in mind when you read the following verses. 

1.    In those days John the Baptist came preaching as an open public proclamation in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:1-2). In this we see that John the Baptist preached repentance. 

2.    From that time Jesus began to preach as an open public proclamation and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”(Matthew 4:17). In this we see that Jesus preached as an open public proclamation repentance.

3.    So they (the disciples/ followers of Jesus while He was on the earth) went out and preached as an open public proclamation that people should repent” (Mark 6:12). In this we see that the message that the disciples shared wherever they went was the message of Repentance or rethinking about the way you think of Jesus and the way to enter into eternal life. 

4.    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. (Acts 2:38) In this we see that after Jesus died was buried, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven one of His followers Peter openly in publicly proclaimed that people should Repent and be Baptized for the remission of sins. Remission means forgiveness or pardon, of sins (letting them go as if they had never been committed), remission of the penalty  

5.     I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 20:20) In this we see that many years after Jesus had ascended into heaven that His followers still kept the message of repentance as the foundation to beginning a relationship with God. 

6.     Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations (Luke 24:47-47). In this Jesus openly proclaims the Gospel of His death and resurrection and that truth should be preached openly to all nations. 

7.    “Unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:5) In this we see that Jesus tells us the results if you do not repent. Here the word parish means to destroy, to declare that one must be put to death, to devote or give over to eternal misery in hell. Here we can see why Jesus calls all to repent. Jesus is desiring any to parish but that all will come to repentance and be saved from perishing. 

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. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:16-17)

 “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Luke 5:32) 

Jesus called sinners (those that have done wrong) to change their minds towards God which leads to the change of mind towards sin. 

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?...knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. (Romans 6:1-3, 6-7) 

The two words that are used here know and knowing are very different. The first is of the mind know: To be ignorant, not to know not to understand, unknown to err or sin through mistake, to be wrong. 

The second is of the heart and mind knowing: indicates a relation between the person. 

This is where the change of the mind comes in. We are to change our mind to agree with God that our old sinful life was killed with Christ on the Cross so that we can live life from the mind of Christ who did not sin.  

One of the key things that we will change our mind about when we believe the Gospel is about how loved we are by God and how much He desires to be apart of every part of our life. Jesus wants to become your best friend because He knows that you will become more like Him (someone that does not sin) which is the best thing for you. This all starts with repentance and belief in the Gospel of Jesus in order to enter into a personal relationship with Him and gain eternal life. 

Here is a prayer you may want to say to Jesus now. Lord Jesus, I repent of not believing in you and your Gospel. I now change my mind about my ability to save myself from the wrongs I have done. I know you died for all the wrongs I have ever done and buried them in the grave and rose from the dead to set me free from sin and death.  Now I believe in the you as my Lord and your Gospel. I think that it is important to openly tell others the Good News of your Gospel, just as you did and all your followers did and have all been called to do. Amen.