What did Jesus Christ, the Highest Authority on all that the Holy Bible Teaches, mean when He says at the start of His earthly Ministry,
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)
Matthew records Jesus as saying,
“From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (4:17)
In Luke’s Gospel, chapter 13, verses 1-5, again Jesus says;
“There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
There are some, especially from the “reformed” Christians, who reject what the Lord Jesus Christ here very clearly Teaches, that true Biblical “repentance” is not merely changing ones mind on what they though about the God of the Holy Bible, or Jesus Christ; but, that “repentance from sins” is also included. Which is a deep sorrow for sins committed against the God of the Bible, and a willingness to change and turn around and live a life that is worthy of salvation. This was the message preached in the New Testament, By John the Baptist, “And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Luke 3:3), and which Jesus Christ continued to Preach. There is no evidence in the New Testament, that what Jesus Christ Preached on repentance, was any different to what John the Baptist said.
In the Gospel of Matthew 11:20-24, (and other Gospels), Jesus says to those who refused to “repent”, after He had Preached the Gospel:
“Then He began to denounce the cities where most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”
The phrase “sackcloth and ashes” signifies extreme sorrow for sins, as we read in Jonah 3:6-9
“The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”
And in verse 10 we read, “When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.”
The same of the tax collector in Luke 18:13, “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’”
Yet there are some who actually mock what the Bible Teaches on “Repentance for the forgiveness of sins”, as though it is a strange Teaching and somehow a “work” that is to “merit” our salvation! Such is the deception of the devil, whereby he has caused some of “the elect” to be fooled that what the Word of God actually Teaches, is not true!
Again the Teachings of Jesus Christ, at the close of His earthly Ministry, when He Commissioned His Disciples to go into all the world, “and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His Name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. (Luke 24:47)
This was followed by the Disciples, like the Apostle Peter in his first “sermon”, where we read in Acts 2:37-38:
“Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”
When those who were convicted (cut to the heart) by God the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel by Peter, they said to them “what shall we DO”. Peter did not say to them, “you have to do nothing, simply believe”. No! He clearly tells them to REPENT FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF YOUR SINS. Which is what John the Baptist taught, and Jesus Christ.
Sinners are asking this same question “what shall we DO”, and all Christians have a duty to tell them exactly what Jesus Christ, God Incarnate Commanded that we tell them: REPENT FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF YOUR SINS, and “BELIEVE IN THE GOSPEL”. This is the ONLY Message for the salvation of lost sinners, to reduce this to no repentance and only faith, is to preach half the Gospel Message, and “another gospel”, which really cannot save any lost souls!
Sadly, there are those who are more concerned about their warped “theology”, who will nonetheless still reject the Teachings of the Holy Bible, and try to argue against what Jesus Christ and the Bible actually says! No human being can ever get into heaven without “repenting and believing in the Gospel”.
