Repent and believe in the gospel! (Mark 1:1-15)

[Stephan Choe]

June 6, 2024

Leading verse 15:       “And he said, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come. Repent and believe in the gospel!’"

There are various seemingly good things in this world. However, the Bible offers us the best, namely eternal life and the kingdom of heaven.

The account of the initial work of Jesus Christ is powerful and encourages us to receive the kingdom of God through repentance and faith in the gospel.

We want to learn the way to receive the kingdom of heaven through this sermon.

1 John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah (Mark 1:1-8)

The Gospel of Mark begins with verse 1 “the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”.

It says to us that this is the beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ.

One person was introduced as the forerunner of the coming of Jesus Christ as Christ: the Baptist John.

The Gospel of Mark asks us the question: Is Jesus Christ good news for me too? Or is he just the usual good news like all other news, such as employment with a company?

Or: Is Jesus just a past historical figure who has died and can therefore hardly help us anymore?

Why is Jesus still very important for me today and now?

In the first section of this book we are told that the Baptist John introduces us to Jesus. John's appearance was foretold by the prophets Isaiah and Malachi before Jesus actually appeared (Mk. 1:2-3, cf. Mal. 3:1, Isa. 40:3).

What did John do?

He baptized people into repentance and proclaimed Jesus Christ to them as the one who baptizes them with the Holy Spirit. Water baptism can only make people clean on the outside, but the baptism of Jesus by the Holy Spirit can make people completely clean from sin in their hearts and turn them into children of God, like the meaning of the name “Jesus”.

“Jesus” means “God saves his people from the sin” (Mt. 1:21).

John's water baptism was therefore intended to help people confess their sin and be prepared to receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.

And in spiritual terms, Jesus is the “Son of God” (1b) because he is God incarnate (John 1:14). God came into the world in Jesus as a human being in order to make himself known to us humans and to save us. No man, however great he may be, can save us from the power of sin and death. Only Jesus alone can be the Savior for us, because he is the Son of God. We can only be saved from the power of sin and death through faith in him.

This is why Peter says in Acts 4:12: “There is salvation in no one else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

John came and baptized the people who confessed their sins with water from the Jordan River.

Mark 1:5 tells us that “the whole country of Judea and Jerusalem came to John and were baptized by him.”

This water baptism was a movement - a repentance movement. These people were convinced enough to make the effort to respond to John's preaching of repentance and be baptized. It is not necessarily convenient to confess their sin and be baptized.

Mark also tells us about John's way of life. He was clothed in a mantle of camel's hair, wore a leather belt and fed on locusts and wild honey. He could quickly wash the camel's hair cloak with water. And he did not have to worry about food because he ate locusts or wild honey. This was similar to the prototype of the prophet Elijah (cf. 2 Kings 1:8). He therefore did not need to worry about his needs such as clothing or food. He was therefore able to devote himself entirely to prayer and meditation. In this way, he could be filled with the Spirit of God and listen to God's voice. He then proclaimed an unconventional, divine message in the power of the Spirit. He proclaimed a message in which he showed the way to heaven through Jesus Christ. He said that they confessed their sin, the barrier between them and God, to God so that God would blot out their sin so that they could come to God by believing Jesus.

The first part of John's message dealt with the sin of the people.

But in the second part he said that one will come after him who is much more powerful than he is. In his message, he emphasizes the power of Jesus Christ.

John had a specific goal with his message. John's message was prophetic in nature. It was credible because it was a divine message. John belittled himself and exalted Jesus! John said he was not even worthy to untie Jesus' sandal straps.

John's attitude was so different from what we are used to! It was not a matter of low self-esteem, but John saw something else in Jesus. He saw in Jesus the promised Savior, the Son of God.

All over the world, people try to make them out to be better than others. But John did not try to exalt himself! That is the basic attitude of conversion or repentance! If you compare yourself with other people, you will either be proud of yourself or feel inferior. But when we look at ourselves before Jesus Christ, we become humble of heart and repentant.

True repentance happens when we look at ourselves before Jesus Christ.

2 The beginning of Jesus' ministry (Mark 1:9-13)

What was the first thing Jesus did when he began his ministry?

He was baptized.

Why? Isn't baptism a sign of repentance for sin?

Baptism is an image of salvation: You are immersed in water, and someone raises you up. We cannot baptize ourselves and neither can we save ourselves!

But Jesus is the only person who had no guilt because he is the Son of God.

Why was he baptized anyway?

Matthew 3:15 gives us the answer: He wanted to fulfill all righteousness.

The only sinless one was baptized for our sin so that we could be cleansed from our sins.

How did heaven react to what Jesus did (Mark 1:10-11)?

When Jesus emerged from the water, the fullness of the triune God was revealed. The Son was in the water, the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove, and the invisible Father said: “You are my beloved Son, I am well pleased with you.” 

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

And the heavenly Father declared: “You are my beloved Son, with you, I am well pleased”, because Jesus identified with sinners and allowed himself to be baptized for their sin.

We have the love of God, which is shown in Jesus Christ!

After his baptism, Jesus was tempted by Satan, according to verses 12 and 13.

Why?

Because the divine task of the Christ, the Savior, is to save people who have been tempted by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Mark showed us that Jesus as the redeemer of people from the curse of the devil.

Therefore, when he appeared in public, he was baptized to fight against the devil. Death came into the world through a man named Adam, but eternal life came into the world through another man Jesus Christ.

Jesus triumphed over the 40-day temptation and began his messianic work.

What did Jesus do now?

Verses 14+15 give us the following:

"Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come. Repent and believe in the gospel!‘"

First, he said in verse 15: “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come!”

What did John mean by this word?

He meant that the kingdom of God has come through Jesus Christ, because the kingdom of God is a kingdom in which the rule of God reigns. Jesus Christ came to free us from the tyranny of the devil through sin and death and to bring us under the reign of God through eternal life and joy. We will experience the reign of God in two stages:

First, God's reign of joy and peace during our earthly life,

and then in the kingdom of heaven without death and suffering nor sin (Rev. 21:3-4).

Because we are God's children, we call God “my dear Daddy” and come to him at any time with our problems, sorrows, and wishes and ask him for his help. After all, we will rise from the dead and enter the kingdom of heaven.

Secondly, Jesus says in verse 15: “Repent and believe in the gospel!”

In order to receive the kingdom of God, one must repent and believe in the gospel.

“Repent” means to confess your sin before God.

You should confess your sin to God and ask God for forgiveness. To do this, you should perceive the presence of God so that you honestly confess your sin and ask him for forgiveness. Repenting seems painful. But it is like surgery for cancer cells.

After repenting, we should then believe in the gospel.

We are to believe that Jesus took all our sin upon himself and died on the cross.

Prophet Jesus wrote the following about the significance of Jesus' death on the cross in Isaiah 53:5, 6:

"But he (the Christ) is wounded for our transgression and bruised for our sin. The punishment is upon him that we may have peace, and by his wounds we are healed. We all went astray like sheep, each one looking to his own way. But the Lord cast our sins upon him."

Because Jesus has already received the divine punishment for all our sins, God forgives us our sins and accepts us as his children with joy and gives us peace, joy and eternal life. He saves us from the power of death and from hell and leads us into his heavenly kingdom, where we can experience no sorrow or death. There we will enjoy great joy, divine blessings and eternal life.

I am sharing a factual report from missionary Paulus Kwon in the winter of 1994/1975.

"Yesterday, Missionary Paul Kwon, Missionary Isaac Lee and two other missionaries were driving a car on the highway from Frankfurt to Cologne. They were in the fast lane, but another car overtook on their right and then cut in just in front of them. When missionary Paulus Kwon braked, the car skidded because the road was wet, hit the left guardrail, spun and ended up in the far right lane. That was an event of two or three seconds. In that brief moment, missionary Isaac Lee prayed aloud: “Father, help us!”

God answered his prayer and protected all four of them so that they were not injured. Isaac Lee urgently told the driver of the tow truck and other people who came to help that they should believe in the gospel and receive eternal life.

I want to say the same thing today: All people need to confess their sin and believe the gospel now!

As Jesus said in verse 15:

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come: Repent and believe in the gospel!"