Let's read our text again in
Mark chapter one, verses 14 and 15. Now, after
the John was put in prison, 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 ye and believe the gospel. What a blessing it would be if
every one of us would walk out of this room in repentance, believing
the gospel. And I pray that that is precisely
what the Lord will cause to take place. I've entitled this message,
Repentance and Faith. That's the summary of the Lord's
preaching when he opened his public ministry, Repentance and
Faith. The Lord came preaching. The Lord was a preacher. He said,
the spirit of the Lord is upon me, he hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor. The Lord was the preacher. I
think it's funny, Spurgeon was called the Prince of Preachers.
I like Spurgeon, but I don't think so. There is only one who
can be described as the Prince of Preachers, and that is the
Lord Jesus Christ. He came preaching. That's something
to think about. The Lord was a preacher. In Ecclesiastes,
it begins, I, the preacher, was king in Israel. Now, he didn't
say I, the king, was a preacher. He said, I, the preacher. That
is how he identified himself, this great type of Christ, Solomon,
the son of David. And he came preaching. First
Corinthians 121, to please God by the foolishness of preaching,
to save them that believe. And he came preaching the gospel
of the kingdom of God. Now, gospel means good news. Look in verse one of this chapter. The beginning of the gospel of
Jesus Christ, the son of God. That's the whole gospel right
there. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, The Son of God. Now, we read of the word of the
gospel. There are always words involved in the declaration of
the gospel, a particular message, a particular content. We read
of the gospel of the grace of God. The gospel of God. The gospel of Christ. The gospel
of his son. I love it when Paul calls it
my gospel. and I love to be able to call
it my gospel. We read of the glorious gospel
and the gospel of the glory of the blessed God. We read of the
truth of the gospel. The gospel is a declaration of
the truth, a declaration of the true character of God, the true
character of man, and salvation, the truth of the gospel. We read
The gospel of your salvation, I like that, don't you? The goodness
of your salvation. The gospel of peace, the mystery
of the gospel, the hope of the gospel, the faith of the gospel. These are all scriptural terms.
And I love what John said in the book of Revelation, the everlasting
gospel. A gospel that had no beginning
and will have no end, the eternal gospel. Now, he came preaching
the gospel of the kingdom of God. Now, this kingdom, the kingdom
of God is like no earthly kingdom. I love the way the Lord said,
my kingdom is not of this world. It's other worldly. It's not
like anything in this world. I love it when the Lord said
to the kingdom, God come with observation. No one can say,
well, there it is. No, it didn't come that way.
This kingdom is other worldly. And I love what is said of this
kingdom. Christ is the king. That's what
makes this kingdom so special. Oh, to be a subject of this kingdom
where Christ is the king. You see, he's the king of kings
and the Lord of lords. And the description of those
that are subjects of his kingdom are this, Revelation 17, 14,
they that are with him are called, called by invincible, irresistible
grace, chosen, chosen in eternal election, chosen by Christ, and
faithful. They all believe the gospel. There's another scripture that
gives the character of the subjects of his kingdom. Blessed are the
poor in spirit. for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Now, here's how this kingdom
is like no other kingdom. There's a lot of ways we could
say that, but it's called in Hebrews 12, 28, a kingdom that
cannot be moved. There any other kingdoms like
that? All earthly kingdoms are going to crumble and be destroyed. There's none that will last.
The ones that are in the future will not last. But this kingdom,
the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, cannot be moved because
Christ is the king. The king is eternal. Listen to
this description of our king. He's eternal. He's absolutely
sovereign. His will is always done. He's
omnipotent. He has the power to always make
His will come to pass. He's omniscient, all-wise, all-knowing. He is holy. He is absolutely
just. He is gracious. He's merciful. He's independent, he has no needs,
what a king. That's why this kingdom cannot
be moved. Because Christ is the king, then
there are no threats to his kingdom. He sits on no precarious throne.
Christ is the king. Now let's look at verse 15. Now
here's what he said. He came preaching the gospel
of the kingdom of God, saying, the time is fulfilled. and the kingdom of God is at
hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel. Now I love the way he says the
time is fulfilled. God determined what was going
to take place. It's taken place. The time is fulfilled. The eternal God made this thing
we call time for his purposes to come to pass and they come
to pass when he decrees for it to come to pass. I just love
thinking about this. The Lord, everything that takes
place in time was decreed in eternity. Everything, most especially
the cross. Everything was determined before
time began. Known unto God are all of his
works from the beginning. The lot is cast in the lap, but
the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. We know he controls
everything, but God created the universe because of the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world had to come in time
to glorify his father and fulfill his purpose. And the Lord announces. The time is fulfilled. Galatians 4, 4, but when the
fullness of the time was done, God sent forth his son, made
of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under
the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. We just
heard it. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren, these many sons. His timing is always perfect. Now, what he says next, The time
is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. It's very
near. It's right in your presence.
And the reason the kingdom of God is at hand is because the
king's here. That's why. The king of kings and the Lord
of lords. I, the king, am here. And I love
to think about this kingdom, which is at hand. Paul described
it in Romans chapter 14, verse 17, as the kingdom of God is
not meat and drink. It's not do's and don'ts. It's not you'll
be better off if you avoid this or take that. It's not about
meat and drink. It's not about religious ceremonies
and religious circumstance. It's not that. It's righteousness,
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. This is the only righteous kingdom.
And the only righteousness of this kingdom is the righteousness
and merits of Christ. He's the only righteousness I
have. This is a kingdom of peace. What peace we experience when
we see that all God requires of us, He looks to His Son for,
and all of our sin has been put away and we don't have any sin,
we don't have anything to be distraught about. What peace
that creates, the peace of justification. And joy, oh the joy of this kingdom. I tell you what, if you believe
you have His righteousness and you experience this peace knowing
that His righteousness is everything, it's gonna make you rejoice.
There is joy in the gospel, the joy and peace of believing. Now, the king is here, I am here,
therefore the kingdom of God is at hand. And then he makes
this statement and this summarizes everything. This is the gospel
message. Repent ye and believe the gospel. Now, Paul, The apostle followed
his master in this. Would you turn with me to Acts
chapter 20 for a moment? Repent ye, and believe the gospel. Now Paul says in verse 20, I kept back nothing that was
profitable unto you. He says later on in this message,
I've not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God, but I have
showed you and have taught you publicly and from house to house. Same message in public, same
message in private. Testifying, that's the manner
of preaching, bearing testimony both to the Jews and the Greeks,
they all get the same message. Jew or Gentile, they don't have
a different message, the same message. Testifying both to the
Jews and to the Greeks, repentance toward God. and faith toward
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's a summary of all true
preaching. Repentance toward God and faith
toward our Lord Jesus Christ. It is what every believer does. He exercises repentance toward
God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and
faith. While they're not the same thing,
They can never be separated one from another. Repentance and
faith are the two sides of the same sheet of paper. They cannot
be separated. They always go together. And
the relationship is that the one is the evidence of the other. Now think about that. The one
is the evidence of the other. What is proof that I have true
repentance before God? If I have faith toward the Lord
Jesus Christ, if I look to Him only as everything in my salvation,
I have repented. What is the proof that I have
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? repentance, this change of mind. Wherever you have this change
of mind, this repentance, you have faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. They always go together. They cannot be separated. Now, repent and believe. Change your mind. And I think
this goes together so much. You don't believe the gospel.
Change your mind. Believe it. Isn't that simple? You don't believe. Change your
mind. Believe the gospel. Now the gospel obviously has
a content that must be believed and God uses the whole Bible
to state that content. What do you gotta believe? Everything
God says. Any problem with that? What do
you gotta believe? everything God says. And God uses this book to define,
to declare, to preach the gospel. Now, let's think of these two
things, repentance and faith. And then I want to show an example,
a very powerful example in the scripture to teach us what exactly
these two things are and how they go together. You can't have
one without the other. Now, what is repentance? Well,
it means simply a change of mind. Most people, when they think
about repentance, they think, well, you've got to be sorry
for your sin and you got to turn from it and not return to it.
That's what the idea of repentance is. You need to be sorry. remorseful
before God, that godly sorrow, the work of repentance. You need
to be sorry. You need to turn from your sin
and not commit it anymore and not return to it. Now, you ought
to be sorry for your sin. Amen. You ought to turn from
your sin. Amen. You ought not return to
it. Amen. But you've heard me say
this before. When are you sorry enough? And let me ask you a question.
Are there sins right now in your life that you've returned to
over and over and over and over again? I'm not asking anybody
to give an answer. I don't want to know. Well, I
already know. I already know. I don't have
to ask that. But the point is, if that's what
repentance is, Men, you haven't repented. Isn't that so? If that's what repentance is,
there's not one person in this room that's repented. Repentance
is a change of mind. And the reason you change your
mind is God changed your mind. That's what repentance is. A
change of mind. And you'll notice in that passage
of scripture, I read in Acts chapter 20, Paul called it repentance
toward God. Repentance is toward God. And what's that mean? It's a change of mind concerning
the living God. Now, before you were given repentance,
you either had a wrong view of God that nobody's mad at that
God, a God that you could control. You either had a wrong view of
God or what you knew of God you didn't like. You didn't like
his absolute sovereignty. You thought it was unfair that
he could save some and just pass by others, or you didn't like
Christ dying only for the elect. It didn't seem fair. God's too
holy. God's too strict. He's too righteous. His law is too exacting. And what you hear of God, you
don't really, in your heart, in your heart of hearts, you
don't really like him. As a matter of fact, according
to Scripture, you hate him. The carnal mind, the flesh-laden
mind is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. But when God changes your mind,
you love the way he is. You love every one of his attributes,
every one of them. And if it were in your power,
you wouldn't change him if you could. He is perfect. Just the way he is. God changes your mind. And you have a change of mind
about yourself. You used to think, well, I'm
not perfect. I've got problems, I've got issues, everybody does.
I make mistakes, I even commit sins and do things that are wrong.
Most people will take that position. I've never met anybody who says,
I never sin, I'm perfect. There might be some people like
that, but I've never met one. But what the Bible says about
me being totally and completely depraved and totally evil. I don't even have a good thought,
a good motive. Everything about me is evil.
I don't know about that. Now, when God grants you repentance,
your mind has changed about yourself. You really believe. You are described
as God described man when he said, God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually. And you
believe that about yourself. You believe that about everybody
else, too, because it's what God's Word says. But there's a change of
mind concerning yourself. And there's such a change of
mind concerning Christ. Now, you might have had good
thoughts of Christ. I think he was a great preacher. I think
he's the Savior. You would have said all kinds
of good things about him. But you didn't believe he was
all. You didn't have any understanding
of him being all in the Bible, all in doctrine. all in the preaching
of the word, all as the only object of your faith, all to
God, all in your salvation. You didn't have a notion of that.
And then God changed your mind and you really believe that he
is all in all. That's what happens when someone
repents. I love thinking about repentance regarding forgiveness. You have those two words together
so much throughout the New Testament, repentance and forgiveness of
sins. And when God changes your mind, here's the way you did
think, you thought, well, forgiveness is the end of this process. If
I do this, if I do that, and if I stop doing that, I'll have
the forgiveness of sins. That's not even salvation by
works. It's all it is. There's no truth to that. But
when God grants you with regard to the forgiveness
of sins, you find out, and this is the most blessed thing to
find out, salvation begins with the complete forgiveness of sins. That's where it begins. Now he says, repent and believe
thee Gospel. Repent, change your mind, and
let me say this. Lord, grant me repentance. Lord,
cause my mind to be changed. Don't leave me to myself. Grant
me this repentance. If you can't come to Christ in
repentance, come to Christ for repentance. Lord, give me this
repentance. Whatever repentance is, I wanna
have the real thing. Repentance toward God. And faith,
as Paul put it, believe the gospel, Paul put it this way, faith toward
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let me remind you of this.
I probably ought to remind us of this every time I preach.
Faith doesn't have anything to do with what you believe about
yourself. Faith has wholly to do with what you believe concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith isn't believing you're
saved, faith is believing He's the Savior. believing that he
is all. It's faith toward our Lord Jesus
Christ. And Paul put it this way. I know who I have believed. Second Timothy 1.12. I know who
I have believed. And you know, I know whom I believe. What's the proof that you know
whom you believe? You're persuaded. You've been persuaded. I know
whom I have believed and I've been persuaded. that he is able. All faith is, which is a whole
lot, is believing his ability. His ability to save you with
no contribution from you. Just like the Lord said to those
two blind men, do you believe that I am able? to do this. Do you believe that He is able
to save you without any works on your part? That's saving faith. I know whom I have believed. I'm persuaded He is able to keep
that which I've committed to Him. Now usually when people
think of commitment, they think of being really dedicated and
consecrated, and that's a good way to be. I want to be that.
I want to be all in, don't you? I want to follow the Lord wholly.
But that's really not what Paul is talking about when he's talking
about that commitment. He's saying, I have committed
the entire salvation of my soul to him. If he didn't do it all,
if I need anything else, I will not be saved because I'm looking
to him only. I know whom I have believed,
and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have
committed to him against that day. Now, the gospel has a content
that must be believed. I hate it when people say, well,
how much you got to believe to be saved? Everything God says.
Who has got the ability to, well, this part you gotta believe,
but that part you don't. No, you gotta believe all that God
says. And there are many places in scripture we could go to to
get a clear and concise statement defining the gospel. And any
message preached where the gospel's not preached was a mistake in
its conception. and a crime in its execution. Every message must be the gospel
being preached. I don't care what it is. Every
message must be the gospel. I believe the greatest example
of repentance and faith going together is the thief on the
cross. If you want to find out what
repentance and faith is, what the content of the gospel is,
an example of a man given repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
there is no greater example than the thief on the cross. Now we know he was saved, don't
we? There isn't any doubt about it.
The Lord said to him, and he didn't say this to anybody else,
today, Thou shalt be with me in paradise. You know, somebody
says, is there some kind of intermediate period between death and going
to heaven? Well, the Lord said to him today. Today. I don't understand how all that
works before the resurrection, but today. Thou shalt be with
me in paradise. The Lord didn't give that much
assurance to anybody. We know that this man was saved
and believed the gospel. Now turn with me to Matthew 27
for a moment. Matthew 27, beginning in verse Then were
there two thieves crucified with him. They were having the same
horrible pain that the Lord was physically, one on the right
hand and another on the left. And they that passed by reviled
him. wagging their heads and saying, thou that destroyest
the temple and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If
thou be the son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise,
also the chief priests mocking him with the scribes and elders
said, he saved others, himself he cannot save. If he be the
king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross and we'll
believe him. He trusted in God, let him deliver him now if he'll
have him. For he said, I'm the son of God, the thieves also. which were crucified with him,
cast the same in his teeth." Now, both of these men were hurling
out profanities at the Lord Jesus Christ in unbelief and rage. Mark's account tells us they
reviled him. Both of them reviled him. They both hated the Lord
Jesus Christ. But turn to Luke 23. Verse 33, or verse 32, and there
were also two other malfactors, the two thieves, led with him
to be put to death. And when they were come to the
place which is called Calvary, there they crucified him and
the malfactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left.
And we know from the other passages of Scripture that both of these
men are hurling out their insults at the Lord Jesus Christ in utter
hatred and bitterness. But all of a sudden, one has his mind changed. He no longer is cursing Christ,
while the other one is cursing bitterly, making fun of Christ,
questioning who he is. The other thief grows strangely
silent. He has been given repentance. He has a complete change of mind
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. What he believed, he does not
believe anymore. How he viewed Christ. He has
had a complete change of mind. I pick up in verse 39. And one of the male factors,
which were hanged, railed on him. Now they both had been railing,
but now only one rails. Saying, if thou be Christ, save
thyself and us. Calling into question who he
is. But the other answering rebuked him. You know, if you have love for
Christ, you can't deal with it when someone
is reviling him, when they're questioning whether or not he's
the Christ, the son of the living God. And now this man becomes
a bold confessor of Christ before men. And he rebuked the other
thief, and we see exactly what the content of faith is by his
confession. First, dost thou not fear God? Now I know people when they usually
read that, they think, don't you have the fear of God that
you talk that way? But I don't have any question
in my mind that when he was saying, don't you fear God, he knew that
one hanging beside him was God almighty, the son of the living
God. How'd he know that? Same way
you know it if you know it. God revealed it to him. And he knew who this man was. Do you have to believe that Jesus
Christ is God? Of course you do. If he's not
God, he can't save anymore than I can. But he is the God of glory. And that thief knew exactly who
he was. Don't you fear God. And let's go on reading. But
the other answered him, rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear
God? Seeing thou art in the same condemnation, and we indeed justly,
for we receive the due reward of our deeds. Now, this man believed
in the absolute justice of God. We are getting exactly what we
deserve. We are getting the due reward. We're getting our due. We're
getting exactly what we deserve. Now, when someone is granted
repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, something they
no longer do is judge God and call him unfair and be upset
with the way he does things. Well, how can it be fair for
God to save one and pass by another. How can it be fair for God to
elect one and not another? How can it be fair? Fair as hell. That's what you learn when you
or granted repentance and faith in Christ, you know, with regard
to you, God would be absolutely just if He cast you off forever. And that man knew that. He understood
that. He said, we're getting exactly
what we deserve. No calling into question God's
justice. No blaming circumstances. Not
thinking, well, I just had a bad I didn't have the opportunities
other people had. No, you don't blame your circumstances. God's just. God's just. Just and holy is his name. Now let me ask you a question.
Would God be unjust if he sent you to hell? Now, if Christ died for you,
he would be, and that'll never happen. But if God gives you
simply what you deserve, yes, he's just in sending me, he's
just in sending you to hell. God is absolutely just. Justice and judgment are the
habitation of thy throne. And when you're granted repentance,
you don't sit in judgment on God. You know you have no business
doing that. Just and holy is his name. Look what else he said,
verse 41. But this man hath done nothing
amiss. You believe in the sinless humanity
and perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. You believe he's
God, you believe he's absolutely just, and you believe his sinless
humanity. He has done Nothing amiss. He never sinned. Perfect righteousness. Everybody that has faith believes
in the sinless humanity of Christ. And you know that it's his sinless
humanity that is your righteousness before God. You know that. Okay,
verse 42. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, Now, he didn't have anything by way
of sight that would enable him to call him Lord. He sure didn't
seem like the Lord. He was nailed to a tree. His
disciples had forsaken him and fled. He heard him say, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He saw everybody turn thumbs
down on Him. Everybody hated Him. He was all
alone, seemingly helpless, and weak, and dying, and unable to
come down from that cross. And He says, Lord. He knew that He was the Lord. He knew He was the Lord of creation. He knew He was the Lord of providence,
controlling everything. He knew He was the Lord of salvation. He saw by faith that this One
who sure didn't seem like Lord, He didn't have anything external
to make Him think He was other than the revelation of God Almighty. He knew this is the Lord. And look what He said. Lord, remember Me. He understood that his salvation
was totally up to Christ. Just like that leper, Lord, if
you will, you can make me clean. Lord, remember me. If you remember me, if you own
me, everything's fine. Lord, you're the Lord. Remember
me. when you come into your kingdom.
Now the thief knew that the Lord was not going to stay dead. He
knew that. You're going to come back as
a mighty reigning king. You see, he knew who he was.
That's all you can say about it. He knew who he was. You're
not going to stay dead. You're going to be successful
in whatever it is you're doing. You see, everybody he died for
must be saved. And the issue of Christ dying
for the elect, limited atonement, particular redemption, call it
what you want. The issue is he's successful. That is the issue. He's successful in whatever he
does because he's the king. And remember me when you come
back as a mighty, reigning king. He returns as king of the kingdom
of God, and thus we have the content of the gospel. His mind has been changed. He
has a completely different attitude, changed attitude toward the Lord
Jesus Christ. He believes He's God, that He's
absolutely just. He knew He was nothing but guilt. He believed in the sinless humanity
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He believed in the Lordship of
Jesus Christ. He believed in His success. He
will not stay dead, but return as the King. the king of the
kingdom of heaven. Now, if you want to know what
repentance and faith is, you're not going to find a greater example
of it than the thief on the cross. And may the Lord make us just
like him. Let's pray. Lord, I ask in Christ's name
that you would put this prayer in the heart of each person here. Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. In Christ's name we pray, amen. At least I'm closing here.