Change Your Mind And Believe The Gospel

Mark 1:15, “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”

The Bible simply teaches to “Repent ye, and believe the Gospel.” That is, we repent TO believe, not repent AND believe. Repentance and believing are simply two different ways of looking at salvation. That is why in the Gospel of John the word “believe” is mentioned 85 times, but there is no mention of the word “repent” even once. The man who believes has repented, and the man who repents has believed.

The word “repent” here in Mark 1:15 is the Greek verb metanoeo, which simply means “to think differently.” The noun form of “repent” is metanoia, meaning “a change of mind.” The preacher who attempts to tell us what to think about is adding to the Scriptures. God intentionally chose this open-ended word, not telling us what we must think differently about, deliberately to make it all-inclusive. That is, the object of repenting is always to “BELIEVE.”

We know from verses like John 3:20 and Romans 3:19 that repentance must involve some realization of one's guilt as a sinner. John 3:20, “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.” Romans 3:19, “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” No one has ever been saved who didn't admit to being a sinner in God's sight.

Where false preachers go very wrong on the Gospel is when they add the requirement to “turn away from your sin” to be saved. Nothing in the preceding verses, nor anywhere else in the Bible, teaches that a person must forsake their sinful ways to receive God's gift. Being a “new creature” in 2nd Corinthians 5:17 simply means that every believer has the indwelling Holy Spirit (1st Corinthians 3:16-17; Romans 8:9; 1st John 3:24). This does not guarantee that someone's lifestyle will immediately transform. It does mean that a new believer is a spiritual baby, and needs the milk of the Word to grow (1st Peter 2:2). Just as a little baby cannot crawl or walk yet, so also a new Christian is weak and immature. 

The Bible simply teaches to change one's mind (repent) and believe the Gospel. Since God Himself didn't tell us what to change our mind about, it would be wrong for us to fill in the blanks. All we KNOW is that a person must come as a guilty sinner. That is the purpose of the Old Testament law according to Galatians 3:24-26, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” So we see that the only requirement to be saved is to realize what we are being saved from. We are sinners (Romans 3:10-23). There is a penalty for sin, which is death (Romans 6:23). The Bible warns of a second death in a lake which burns with fire and brimstone (Revelation 21:8). I agree with Pastor Harry Ironside (1876-1951) that repentance is the admission I am as guilty a sinner as God has declared me to be in His holy Word.

But again, it must be emphasized that the word “repent” is an open-ended, all-inclusive, term. In other words, you must change your mind about anything and everything that is hindering you from BELIEVING the Gospel to be saved. Please don't miss that. We are saved by believing, not by repenting. Repentance facilitates (makes possible) believing. Repentance is necessary for salvation, because if you didn't change your mind, you wouldn't put your trust in Jesus as your personal Savior. Preachers love to get hung up on what it means to “repent.” The Bible already tells us. It is a change of mind. That is all it means. So the person who believes has most definitely also repented. If you hadn't repented, you couldn't have believed. 

The person who claims to believe, but refuses to admit being a sinner, is a liar. 1st John 1:10, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” John the Baptist came preaching repentance, preparing the people to receive the Messiah. After all, that is what John was created to do—prepare the way for the coming Lord (Malachi 3:1). John simply showed them that they were needy sinners, so that they would believe on the Messiah to be saved. 

That is what John meant when he said that he baptized them with water, but Jesus would baptize them with the fire of the Holy Spirit (salvation). Water baptism never saved anybody. Today, water baptism is one's public profession of faith. Many people have gone to Heaven without being water baptized. Pastor Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899) didn't baptize people in his church. I don't judge him, but that is unbiblical. Converts should be baptized immediately, but it has absolutely nothing to do with actually receiving the free gift of God, which is by faith. I was saved at age 13, but not water baptized until I was 17 years old.

The free gift of eternal life, which God freely offers, is freely available through the precious blood of Jesus Christ (1st Peter 1:18-19). Our only part in salvation is to get out of the way, and let God do the saving, all of it. Hebrews 4:10-11, “For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” If forsaking a sinful life were required to be saved, then we would have to WORK for it! But Jesus did all the work through Calvary's cross. Everything that's hard and complicated about salvation is God's side of it! My part is to simply believe God at His Word, as recorded in the Scriptures.