Class Notes: 4/24/2013

Mark 1:15; Jesus came preaching repent and believe the gospel


In our verse by verse study of Mark we are now in Mark 1; 14-15; where after his evidence testing Jesus is launched into his ministry and He came "preaching the gospel of God" saying "repent and believe the in the gospel.

v14-15 Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, saying, "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."

When we left off last time we were discussing the word "repent" that means to "change your mind. ' Every believer sin Jesus Christ repented at the moment of salvation. Repentance is a decision based on mentality, not emotion. It is rational.

When witnessing, you only give information, you do not try to get the unbeliever to "repent" or do anything. Repentance is the result of the work of God the Holy Spirit who uses the Gospel information you have provided.

God the Holy Spirit will encourage them to change their mind about Christ, you just present the correct information to them.

Salvation repentance is the change of mind that follows understanding of the information presented in the Gospel. Under the principle of common grace, God the Holy Spirit takes the message of the witness and makes it a reality in the thinking of the unbeliever.

Common grace is required because the unbeliever cannot understand spiritual information. 1Cor 2:14; But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

This means that God the Holy Spirit acts as the human spirit in the full understanding of the Gospel. John 16:8-11; 2Tim 2:25;

When the Gospel is understood and received with positive volition a change of mental attitude occurs that results in faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ and repentance are therefore two sides of the same coin. A change in mental attitude about the person and work of Christ equals repentance.

Repentance results in of faith in Jesus Christ, salvation adjustment to the justice of God.

Mark 1:14-15; And after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel."

Jesus is teaching us that a change of mind about Messiah occurs first and then there is belief. We see from this that emotion never saves anyone. Feeling sorry for your sins does not save you, only believing in Christ saves you.

"change your mind and believe in the gospel." Believe is the Greek word "pisteuo" that means to "place confidence in" or to "trust in." The same Greek word is translated "faith"

It means to have a confident attitude toward something or someone. It is transitive so it always has an object. Believing is a non-meritorious system of perception based on confidence in the authority, veracity and integrity of another.

Perception by faith is always non-meritorious. It depends on the authority, veracity, faithfulness and ability of someone else. Faith also means a system of doctrine or a creed that is perceived by faith; or believed.

In our passage the object of belief or faith is "the gospel." this brings us to a study of the doctrine of "the gospel".

The Greek noun translated "gospel", is "euaggelion" it is a compound noun. "eu" means good; "aggelos" means a messenger, one who is an envoy, or one who brings the news. It is also used for angels as messengers of God, but in this case the word "Gospel" actually means the "good news."

God's good news to unbelieving mankind is called "the Gospel." The Greek verb "euaggelizo" means to announce good news. It is translated in the Scripture to proclaim, to announce good news; or to communicate.

It means to bring good news of victory, to declare good news of victory in a battle or war. In our context it means to announce God's good news of salvation for all of mankind.

The Gospel therefore is the communication of the doctrine of salvation. The doctrines of salvation are the best news humanity could receive. The Gospel is the doctrine that explains the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

The Gospel has always been available. This means that in every generation of mankind in every dispensation of human history those who were positive responded to it. The pattern for this is Abraham who is known as the father of the faith. Gen 15:6; Rom 4:1-3,16;

The context indicates what the good news is because "good news" doesn't always refer to salvation.

The boundaries of the Gospel are stated in 1Cor 15:1-4; "Now I communicate to you, brethren, the Gospel which I preached to you, which also you received in which also you stand,

v2 through which you are also saved, which doctrine I preached to you if you hold fast (first class condition and you do) unless you have believed in vain (to no purpose)."

In Corinth, Paul was teaching a Greek audience and he had to explain the boundaries of the Gospel to them because some of the Greeks who had accepted Christ as Savior were having trouble with the concept of a literal, physical, bodily resurrection.

It was a cultural problem because resurrection was not a Greek concept so there was a conflict between their culture and what the Bible teaches.

Verse two tells us that they were saved but not fulfilling God's plan. Paul uses the first class condition of if and assumes that the Corinthians response to the Gospel excluded resurrection, and in their case it did because they had choked on it.

Believing in Christ is the only way of salvation, and the Corinthians had believed in Christ for eternal life and as a result they possessed eternal life, but these Greek Corinthians were not able to accept the concept of a literal physical resurrection of Jesus Christ because it was contrary to what their cultural norms and standards taught.

This does not mean that the Corinthians were unsaved, but it implies that part of the benefit of their faith in Christ is eliminated during the time that they reject any doctrine, in this case the doctrine of resurrection, a part of the Gospel was not of any benefit to them because they did not accept it.

Whatever part of the Gospel the believer rejects after salvation through faith in Jesus Christ indicates that in that area their faith is empty of content in that area and not fulfilling it's purpose or as the verse says is empty or vain.

In other words, you're saved and going to heaven but not advancing as God wants you to advance in His plan for you because of your failure to completely believe what God has actually done for you at salvation.

As Greeks, the Corinthian believers have a cultural background problem. They actually find a physical resurrection abhorrent and that results in the Corinthians being tempted to reject or deny that part of the Gospel.

These Corinthian believers have eternal life but by rejecting resurrection as a part of the Gospel so they are missing out on the confidence (hope) they should have in the fantastic blessing of their own future, if the exit resurrection had occurred during their lifetime they would have been shocked.

The more important thing is that they are missing out on a point of grace, that resurrection is God's victory. We can do nothing to earn or deserve resurrection. The greatest illustration of grace is that the manner and time of both our physical death and resurrection are strictly a matter of God's sovereignty, and are therefore His victory entirely.

Salvation is not their problem, their problem is their post-salvation understanding of the Bible doctrine related to resurrection.

After salvation through faith in Christ, rejection or neglect of Bible doctrine that results in failure to enter into post-salvation spiritual renovation, rehabilitation and growth means failure to execute the protocol plan of God.

A failure to believe the entire package results in a miserable and frustrating life, characterized by emotion and arrogance including worry fear, guilt, self-absorption, self-deception and self-justification.

Their failure however does not change the facts. 2Tim 2:13; Rom 3:3;

Failure to execute the protocol plan of God is always due to ignorance of doctrine. Ignorance breeds emotionalism and arrogance. Believers who do this are drifting off course from grace and as a result they are miserable for their entire physical life on this earth in the devil's world even though their eternal destiny is heaven.

A person does not have to believe in resurrection for salvation, because salvation only requires believing in the person and the work of Christ on the cross. The cross is the issue. Nevertheless, resurrection is a part of the greater Gospel message.

Understanding the boundaries of the Gospel therefore helps believers to appreciate salvation, and gives them assurance regarding the hope of their calling. Eph 1:18;

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