In Mark 1:15, Jesus announced His ministry with these words: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” – a simple yet profound statement. Those two words (repent and believe) will determine where and how a person will live throughout eternity.Repentance and belief are both essential in entering the kingdom of God.  I didn’t say that; Jesus did.

The word ‘repent’ in the original language is metanoia. It means to stop and think about what you are doing and where you are headed. Am I going in the right direction? If not, how do I find the right path in life? Repentance has to do with a change in what we believe and how we live. The word ‘repent’ is found thirty-four times in the New Testament. It is one of my favorite words in the Bible. Why? Because repenting is like hitting the reset on your computer. After trying everything you know to fix the problem, you hit the reset – and the computer reboots. Repentance allows us to start over again…every time we mess up. 

In Mark 6:7-13, Jesus sent out twelve disciples on their very first missionary trip. And He called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits. He commanded them to take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bag, no bread, no copper in their money belts— but to wear sandals, and not to put on two tunics. Also, He said to them, “In whatever place you enter a house, stay there till you depart from that place. And whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!”  So, they went out and preached that people should repent. And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them.

Jesus sent them out with no bag, no money, and no bread – only the sandals on their feet and the clothes on their back. They were to enter a home and stay there until they left that place. If the people would not receive them, they were to shake the dust off their feet as a sign against them. Jesus said it would be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for those people. So, they went out and preached that people should repent. And while they were at it, they cast out many demons, anointed the sick with oil, and healed them. 

Did you get the gist of that message? Go out and tell the people to repent of the way they are living – and then prove that the kingdom of God is at hand by casting out demons and healing the sick. 

John the Baptist preached a similar message according to Matthew 3:1-2. In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” John didn’t mince words. The kingdom of heaven is at hand – and if you want to enter the kingdom – you must repent! There is no back door into God’s kingdom. Repentance is the door into the kingdom of heaven; there is no other way. Without repentance, no one can be saved. 

Jesus spoke about repentance thirteen times in the gospel accounts. He scolded the people for not repenting at the mighty works He performed. He didn’t come to call the righteous; He came to call sinners to repentance. The problem, however, is that no one is righteous! We are all sinners, so all must repent.

On another occasion, He told the people that unless they repent, they will all perish. And later, He declared that repentance and the remission of sins should be preached to all nations in His name. 

Unfortunately, we don’t hear the call to repentance very much today, as many seem to think it’s a negative word…

Often, we associate it with feeling sorry about our sins. Indeed, being remorseful for sin is part of repentance. Yet, a person can be sorry for their sins, weep and lament – and never change. Repentance is more than a moment of contrition. It means we realize that we are heading in the wrong direction. When this happens, we need to stop, turn around, and go the other way – because sin has carried us down a wide road that ends in death and destruction!

If we say we repent and yet continue to live in sin – we are only fooling ourselves. That’s because repentance is powerful. It releases the power of God that can lift us off the highway to hell and onto the narrow path of eternal life. Not everything will change immediately. We will still struggle, as we learn to walk in the newness of life, but we will be free from the old path of sin and death – and that is more than worth it!

As we repent, the Holy Spirit guides and supports us at every step of the journey. Only true repentance will result in a changed life; there is no other way.

The other side of repentance is belief. It is not enough to repent for our sins, we must also believe. Believe what? The gospel! “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”John 3:16is the most well-known verse in the Bible, but reading it and understanding it are not always the same thing… 

To ‘believe’, according to Scripture, is more than an intellectual agreement with a biblical doctrine. It may start out that way, but to truly believe (as stated in John 3:16) has more to do with a radical change in how we think, act, and live for the rest of our lives. 

When a person sincerely believes in Jesus Christ and what He has done for us on the cross, God becomes the center of their universe. Their life will forever change! How could it not? Think about that… The creator of the universe comes to live inside of us through the person of the Holy Spirit, and in that moment, life starts over! We become a new person in the eyes of God.

Believing in Jesus is more than walking an aisle, saying a prayer, getting baptized, and going to church. Those can be good things, but none of those things can save us. Unless we are born again by the Spirit of God, we will never enter the kingdom of God. (John 3:5)

Believing in Jesus as our Lord and Savior requires a total surrender of our life to Him. The word ‘believe’ is a verb – an action word. If we truly believe in something, we will act upon it. To call Jesus our Lord and Savior means He is our boss, master, owner, and the supreme authority in our life. This act of believing moves us from an old way of life to a whole new way of living. 2 Corinthians 5:17 explains it this way: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (NKJV)

The new birth can happen in a split second, when the Holy Spirit takes the imperishable seed of the Word of God, plants it in our heart, and a new life is born. When this happens, our life starts over as a new creation in Christ Jesus. That is the promise in Acts 16:31a: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” 

This is what Jesus meant in Mark 1:15, when He said, “God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” The promise of eternal life is for everyone who will turn from (repent of) sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ – the One who died to save us. That is why Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through Me.” (John 14:6) 

Salvation is a gift we can never earn. It is a free gift from God to all who will repent and believe. Are you willing to turn from sin and believe in what Jesus did to save you – with all your heart? If so, you can enter the kingdom of God here and now. 

“Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world.” (Matthew 25:34b NLT)