“How To Respond To The Good News”
Mark 1:14-15
Sermon Series: “The Gospel”
Introduction: Over the past couple of weeks, we have seen that the gospel is the good news of the love and grace of God bestowed upon undeserving sinners through the substitutionary and sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross for our sins and His glorious and powerful resurrection. Over the next couple of weeks, we are going to focus on how and how not to respond to the gospel. This week, let’s look at how Jesus taught us to respond to His good news.
I. Announcement-The good news is that the King has come.
God rules and reigns over all (Psalm 47).
Jesus is Lord and King (Psalm 2). We do not make Jesus Lord because He already is, but we must acknowledge Him as Lord and King in order to truly receive Him (Luke 2:11; Acts 2:36, 10:36, Romans 10:9-10, Philippians 2:5-11).
Jesus; the eternal Lord, God, and King; left heaven and came to earth as a man who lived a perfect life (John 1:1, 14).
Our King, Jesus, died in our place for our sins, victoriously rose from the dead, and will some day come back triumphantly in unveiled glory to rule and reign as Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
II. Response to the good news-repentance and faith. We are to respond to the gospel of Jesus by repenting of sin (Luke 5:31-32; Acts 3:19, 17:30) and trusting Him (John 3:16). Jesus receives us and gives us salvation when we respond in that manner. Let me share several statements about repentance and faith so we will understand what it really means to repent and trust Jesus.
Remember that we are responding to royalty.
Repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin, which means that you cannot have one without the other (Acts 11:21, 20:21).
Repentance and faith are both gifts from God (2 Timothy 2:25, Acts 11:18).
Repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change of heart that leads to a change of action (Luke 3:8, Acts 26:20). It is basically a turning from sin to God in trust and surrender (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10). It involves being convicted of our sin, being truly sorrowful towards God for our sin (2 Corinthians 7:10), confessing our sin, and forsaking our sin (John 8:11).
Faith is belief, trust, dependence, and reliance. Faith is taking God at His Word and acting on it. It is trusting Jesus alone, who He is and what He has done for us, for our salvation and life.
The key to faith is its object, and Jesus is completely reliable and trustworthy (Proverbs 14:15, Acts 16:31, John 3:36).
Both repentance and faith involve the mind,
emotions, and will.
Repentance and faith are the initial response to the gospel, but they are also part of the daily life of the believer. I have to confess and repent of sin every day. I have to trust God every day. In fact, Habakkuk 2:4 says, “Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.” Timothy George has written, “This means that saving faith cannot be reduced to a one-time decision or event in the past; it is a living, dynamic reality permeating every aspect of the believer’s life.”
Conclusion: Have you truly repented of sin and trusted the Lord Jesus Christ? The gospel is only good news for us personally if we truly receive Jesus by faith and repentance.
