Repent and Believe in the Gospel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bible Verses ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mark 1:15 And saying, The time is fulfilled and the kingdom
of God has drawn near. Repent and believe in the gospel.
Acts 5:31 This One God has exalted to His right hand as
Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and
forgiveness of sins.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Words of Ministry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As used in Mark 1:15, the word "repent" literally means to
think differently afterward, that is, to have a change of
mind. To repent before God is, on the negative side, to repent
not only of sins and wrongdoings, but also to repent of the
world and its corruption that usurp and corrupt people whom
God made for Himself, and to repent of our God-forsaking life
in the past. On the positive side, to repent is to turn to God
in every way and in everything for fulfilling His purpose in
making mankind. This is a "repentance unto God"; it is to
"repent and turn to God" (Acts 20:21; 26:20).
In His preaching the Lord told people to repent and believe in
the gospel. To repent is mainly in the mind; to believe is
mainly in the heart (Rom. 10:9). To believe in something is to
believe into the thing which we believe. It is also to receive
the things which we believe into us. To believe in the gospel
is mainly to believe in the Slave-Savior (Acts 16:31), and to
believe in Him is to believe into Him (John 3:15-16) and
receive Him into us (John 1:12), so that we may be organically
united with Him. Such a faith in Christ is given to us by God
(Eph. 2:8) through our hearing the word of the truth of the
gospel (Rom. 10:17). This faith brings us into all the
blessings of the gospel (Gal. 3:14). Hence, it is precious to
us (2 Pet. 1:1). Such precious faith requires repentance to
precede it.
To believe is to receive the Slave-Savior not only for
forgiveness of sins (Acts 10:43) but also for regeneration (1
Pet. 1:21, 23), that those who believe may become the children
of God (John 1:12-13) and the members of Christ (Eph. 5:30) in
an organic union with the Triune God (Matt. 28:19).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(c) Living Stream Ministry. Bible verses are taken from the
Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from
Witness Lee, Life-study of Mark, pp. 49. Both are
published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA
Please visit us at www.emanna.com
Comments to: comment@emanna.com.
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