Latest / Reformed Thinking / Repent and Believe: Christ’s First Command (Mark 1:15) | Charles Spurgeon

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Repent and Believe: Christ’s First Command (Mark 1:15) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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  S announcers warm, inviting welcome to Reformed thinking,
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  where we prayerfully consider foundational truths, encouraging
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  a mind for Christ. Hello and welcome to the Deep
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  Dive. This is where we take, well, a
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  whole stack of insights and knowledge, and we try to distill
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  the most compelling takeaways for you.
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  That's the goal. And today we're digging into
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  something really central. It's presented as the very heart
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  of Jesus Christ's initial ministry.
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  These twin commands repentance and faith.
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  Repenti and believe the gospel. Foundational stuff.
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  Absolutely. We'll be drawing mainly from the
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  the powerful words of Charles Spurgeon on this, but also
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  bringing in some observations from DM Lloyd Jones to help us
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  understand these commands and why they still matter so much
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  today. 2 heavy hitters and reformed thought for sure.
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  Right. So our mission today really is
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  to unpack these instructions and crucially, not just to suggest,
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  you know, but as divine decrees. That's a key distinction right
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  there. We want to look at what real
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  repentance and true faith actually involve, how they're
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  linked together. You can't really separate them
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  it seems, and why getting this right is just vital.
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  It really is. So much hangs on it.
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  Hopefully you'll get a clearer view on why these ideas often
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  face resistance, but also why grasping them truly makes all
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  the difference. OK, let's get into it.
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  Sounds good, where do we start? Well, our sources kick off by
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  looking at how Christ actually began his public ministry.
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  He comes out of the wilderness temptation.
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  Yeah, that whole testing period, right.
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  And Spurgeon uses this description, newly anointed,
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  like the bridegroom, from his chamber.
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  It gives this sense of readiness, doesn't it?
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  Purity. Purpose.
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  Like he's perfectly prepared stepping onto the stage.
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  Exactly. Fully prepared for His office,
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  it says, having been tempted in all points like as we are, yet
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  without sin. So from that place of perfect
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  readiness that He gives His first message to mankind.
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  And Spurgeon calls them love notes, which is interesting
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  given the content. It is these love notes were
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  these two core commands. Repent ye and believe the
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  Gospel. Simple, but incredibly weighty.
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  And according to Spurgeon, this isn't just one message among
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  many. He says it's the sum and
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  substance of Jesus Christ's whole teaching, the Alpha and
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  Omega of his entire ministry. Wow, the beginning and the end.
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  Everything encapsulated right there.
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  Coming from the lips of such a one at such a time, with such
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  peculiar strength, it demands our most serious attention.
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  And what's? Really fascinating, as you
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  alluded to earlier, is how the source clarifies the nature of
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  this message. Because, you know, Christ did
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  reason with people. He did.
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  He invited them. Come now and let us reason
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  together. He used arguments, persuasion.
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  He lovingly wooed them, didn't he?
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  Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden.
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  That tender invitation. Yes, and Spurgeon even says he
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  and treated them as a beggar to his own sinful creatures, which
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  is an incredible picture of humility.
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  It really is. But, and this is the crucial
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  part, despite all that reasoning and wooing, his gospel message
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  still retains all the dignity and force of a command.
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  So it's not just a kind suggestion.
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  Then it's got teeth. It absolutely does.
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  It carries the full weight of divine authority.
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  The source is very clear on this if we're going to preach the
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  gospel the way Christ did. Which we should aim to do.
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  Right. We must proclaim it as a command
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  from God attended with a divine sanction, and listen to this
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  part not to be neglected, save at the infinite peril of the
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  soul. Infinite peril?
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  That's sobering. It is, and Spurgeon draws this
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  direct parallel. He says Repent ye is as much a
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  command of God as thou shalt not steal.
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  OK, that puts it on the level of the 10 commandments.
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  Exactly. And likewise believe on the Lord
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  Jesus Christ has as fully a divine authority as thou shalt.
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  Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy
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  soul, and with all thy strength. So these aren't optional extras
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  for the Christian life. They're right at the core,
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  commanded by God. That's the point.
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  These aren't suggestions you can take or leave.
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  They're divine imperatives. So thinking about how we hear
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  this today, or maybe how it's sometimes presented, it seems we
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  might risk downplaying that command aspect, making it sound
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  more like an offer. That's a real danger.
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  I think Spurgeon really hammers this home.
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  The gospel is not a thing left to your option to choose it or
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  not, right? He speaks directly to the
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  listener to you, warning against despising this word from heaven
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  and bringing guilt upon yourself.
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  So ignoring it isn't neutral, it's actively despising it.
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  That's how he frames it. Neglecting it shall fill up the
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  measure of your iniquity. And then that shilling question
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  from Hebrews How shall we escape if we neglect so great
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  salvation? Yeah, you can't just shrug this
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  off. No, and listen to the authority
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  behind it. This command comes from the same
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  God before whom Sinai was moved and was all together on a smoke.
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  The God of the Law. The awesome, terrifying God.
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  The God who proclaimed the law with sound of trumpet, with
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  lightnings and thunders, that same God now speaks, yes, more
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  gently, through his Son. Through Jesus.
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  But still as divinely the authority hasn't lessened, the
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  words are still repent ye, and believe the gospel.
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  So the tone might be gentler than Sinai, but the source of
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  the authority is identical. Precisely.
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  This is a decree from God to all the nations of the earth.
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  It's issued by Jehovah that made you.
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  The creator. He who gives you the breath of
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  your nostrils. The Sustainer.
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  He against whom you have offended.
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  The judge. Yeah, Spurgeon says.
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  It's written as with a sunbeam God in Christ commandeth men to
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  repent and believe the gospel. It couldn't be clearer.
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  This sets the stage for how seriously we need to take these
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  two words it. Really.
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  Does it establishes the absolute gravity of this message.
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  OK, so let's take the first part of that command.
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  Repent, ye? This is a word we hear a lot in
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  Christian circles, isn't it? We do, and maybe familiarity
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  breeds, well, a bit of shallowness sometimes.
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  That seems to be what the sources suggest.
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  Some people apparently interpret repentance as a a somewhat
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  slider thing, yeah. Like just a mere change of mind.
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  Which comes from one of the Greek words often used right,
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  metanoia. Correct.
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  Metanoia literally means a change of mind or thought, but
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  Spurgeon cautions against stopping there.
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  He says the Holy Ghost never preaches repentance as A trifle.
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  So it's not just a minor mental adjustment, it's something much
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  deeper, much more substantial. Far deeper.
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  While metanoia is part of it, you do have to change your
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  thinking about sin, about God, about yourself.
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  The fuller biblical sense involves more Spurgeon points
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  out. There's another Greek word used
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  sometimes, metamela my. OK, what does that one add?
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  It signifies an aftercare or kind of regret or sorrow.
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  It has in it something more of sorrow and anxiety than just
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  intellectually changing your mind.
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  So it brings in the emotion, the effective component, not just
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  the intellectual. Exactly.
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  This change of mind or understanding of which the
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  Gospel speaks is a very solemn work and must not on any account
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  be depreciated. It's not simply deciding to
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  think differently. It's more than just
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  acknowledging. OK, I guess that was wrong.
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  Much more, Spurgeon insists there must be sorrow for sin and
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  hatred of it in true repentance. It's not enough to just regret
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  the consequences, you have to hate the sin itself.
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  A hatred app. Yes, he calls it a thorough
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  change of the understanding and all that is in the mind, which
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  includes an illumination, an illumination of the Holy Spirit.
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  So it's not something we can just conjure up ourselves, It's
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  a work of God within. Us.
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  That's crucial. It's a divine work.
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  This Holy Spirit elimination leads to a discovery of
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  iniquity, really seeing sin for what it is and a hatred of it.
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  Without that, Spurgeon says, there can hardly be a genuine
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  repentance. And what does that discovery and
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  hatred lead to? What does it look like
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  practically? It makes you flee from sin as
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  from a serpent. You recoil from it
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  instinctively. Like it's poisonous, Dangerous.
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  Right, and you detest it as the murderer of their best friend.
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  That's a striking image. Sin killed Christ.
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  True repentance sees that and hates sin for it.
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  That perspective changes everything, doesn't it?
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  Seeing sin not just as rule breaking, but as something that
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  cost the life of your Savior. It does.
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  It moves it from the abstract to the deeply personal and
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  relational. So what are the effects of this
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  kind of deep spirit work? Repentance in a person's life?
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  What does it actually do? Well, first, it's called a
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  blessed grace of God the Holy Spirit, and it's stated to be
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  absolutely necessary unto salvation.
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  You can't be saved without about it.
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  OK, necessary and its effects. It involves being sunk low as
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  hell in self detestation for sin.
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  That phrase again, sunk low as hell.
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  It implies A profound awareness of 1's own unworthiness and
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  guilt before a holy God. Not a pleasant feeling, but
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  maybe a necessary one. Necessary to see the reality of
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  our condition. It makes you lament that you
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  need to be saved. You mourn your own state.
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  You see the need clearly. And you mourn because this need
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  of yours has put the Savior to open shame to frightful
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  sufferings into a terrible death.
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  The sorrow isn't just self pity, it's grief over what your sin
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  costs Jesus. So it turns your eyes outward to
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  the cross. Yes, and inwardly it ejects sin
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  as an evil tenant, like kicking out someone who's been trashing
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  your house. It purges the soul from dead
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  works. Actions done apart from true
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  faith and love for God. It's a cleaning out of
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  purification, yeah. Definitely.
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  Spurgeon uses vivid metaphors. Repentance pulls down the old
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  structures of sin in your life. It scatters stones like
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  dismantling A Pagan altar. Demolition process and IT.
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  Ordains a time to weep. It acknowledges the
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  appropriateness, the necessity of real sorrow over sin.
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  It's a serious foundational work.
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  Okay, that gives a much weightier picture of repentance.
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  It's not just feeling bad. It's a fundamental reorientation
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  driven by the Spirit, involving sorrow, hatred of sin and it
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  turning away from it. Precisely, it lays the
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  groundwork. But it's only half the command,
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  isn't it? Repenti and believes the gospel.
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  So let's shift to that second part.
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  What is genuine faith? Well, the source puts it
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  plainly. Faith means trust in Christ.
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  Simple definition, but again, easily misunderstood.
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  How so? Well, Spurgeon acknowledges that
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  some well meaning preachers, in their desire to emphasize simple
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  trust in Christ which is right in itself, might sometimes omit
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  to remind the Sinner that no faith can be genuine, but such
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  as is perfectly consistent with repentance for past sin.
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  So they might present faith almost in isolation from
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  repentance. Potentially, and that risks
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  creating a skewed understanding. True faith and true repentance
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  are inextricably linked. You can't have saving faith
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  without genuine repentance accompanying it.
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  OK, so this leads to a critical question.
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  What kind of faith the Spurgeon identify as not genuine?
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  What are the warning signs? He's quite specific.
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  First, any faith that allows them to think lightly of past
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  sin. If you're supposed faith makes
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  you minimize or excuse your history of rebellion against
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  God. That's a red flag.
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  A huge 1. He calls that the faith of
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  devils, not the faith of God's elect.
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  Strong words again. Why the faith of devils?
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  Because James tells us, the demons believe they have
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  intellectual ascent to theological facts.
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  They know who Jesus is, but it doesn't change their nature or
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  save them. It just makes them tremble.
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  So mere belief isn't saving faith.
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  Got it. What else?
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  He also targets a faith that allows them to live carelessly
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  in the present. This is huge.
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  Living carelessly? How does he describe that?
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  He pictures people saying, well, I am saved by a simple faith,
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  but then their lives show no difference.
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  They might sit on the ale bench with the drunkard, or stand at
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  the bar with the spirit drinker, or go into worldly company and
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  enjoy the carnal pleasures and the lusts of the flesh.
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  Basically claiming faith but living like the world.
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  Exactly. And Spurgeon doesn't mince
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  words. Such people are liars.
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  They have a deceitful hypocrisy and not the faith that will save
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  the soul. So a faith that doesn't produce
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  a changed life, a separation from sin, isn't real saving
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  faith. That's the argument.
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  It's a counterfeit. It sounds like any faith that
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  coexist comfortably with sin is suspect.
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  Deeply suspect, Spurgeon describes a faith that leads
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  them to no hatred of sin. Remember how central hatred of
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  sin was to true repentance? Well, this false faith lacks
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  that. People with it might even laugh,
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  laugh at what others commit, or take pleasure in the vices of
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  others. Wow.
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  Finding amusement in sin. Or laughing at profane jests,
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  smiling at loose speeches. Yeah, this kind of faith dallies
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  with sin. It plays around the edges and
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  make excuses for. It rationalizing it away.
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  Or condemning things in public but doing them in private,
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  calling grave offenses, slight faults and little defalcations.
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  Minimizing language. Right.
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  Or maybe wink at departures from uprightness and business,
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  calling them mere matters of trade.
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  You see the pattern? Yeah, it's a faith that makes
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  peace with sin, one way or another.
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  It will sit down, arm in arm with sin and eat and drink at
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  the same table with unrighteousness.
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  It compromises constantly. And Spurgeon's conclusion about
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  this kind of faith? It's blunt.
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  If that describes your faith, it is of no good to you, he says.
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  The sooner you're cleaned out of it, the better for you, because
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  this Sandy foundation shall all be be washed away it.
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  Won't hold up under pressure, especially the final judgement.
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  Exactly. It offers false security.
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  It's like trying to build your eternal hope on something flimsy
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  and shifting. OK, that's a sobering picture of
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  false faith. So turning it around, what is
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  true, genuine faith supposed to do?
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  What are its characteristics? Well, first, as we've touched
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  on, genuine faith leads you to true repentance.
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  They fuel each other. It also leads you to hate the
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  very thought of sin. Not just the action, but the
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  inclination itself, yes. A sensitivity to sin develops
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  and inspires a desire to tear from its throne any dearest
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  idol. Dethroning rivals to Christ.
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  What does that mean practically? It means whatever you've put in
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  God's place, maybe money, career, reputation,
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  relationships come for even yourself.
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  True faith wants to pull that down so that you may worship
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  Christ and Christ only. A radical reordering of
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  allegiances. Totally true faith admits Christ
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  to be the sole master of the heart.
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  It yields Lordship to Him, and it fills the soul with living
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  works. So it's not passive, it produces
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  good fruit actions that flow from that.
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  Trust, right? Unlike the dead works purged by
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  repentance, faith brings forth living works.
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  And remember how repentance pulled down and scattered
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  stones. Yes, the demolition work.
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  Well, faith builds up and puts stones together.
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  It's it's constructive. It builds a life founded on
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  Christ. The contrast is clear.
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  Repentance clears the ground. Faith build on it.
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  Beautifully put. And where repentance ordains a
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  time to weep, faith gives a time to dance.
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  It brings joy, assurance, freedom.
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  So there's both the sorrow over sin and the joy and salvation.
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  Yes, faith is meant to lift him, a person high as heaven in trust
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  contrasting with repentance, sinking him low in self
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  detestation. It's this dynamic combination
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  that marks genuine Christian experience.
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  This is getting really interesting now, seeing that
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  these two fit together. You said they're inseparable.
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  Our sources stress they form a twofold command explaining
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  itself. What does that mean for how they
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  relate? It means they aren't just two
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  separate items on a checklist. They are perfectly consistent,
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  the one with the other. They define and require each
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  other. OK, Spurgeon states it plainly.
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  No repentance is true but that which consorts with faith.
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  No faith is true but that which is linked with a hearty and
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  sincere repentance on account of past sin.
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  So you can't have one without the other, genuinely.
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  Correct. Think back to the imagery, the
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  repentance that sinks a man low as hell in sorrow.
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  It's of no use, except there is the faith also that lifts him as
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  high as heaven. So repentance alone just leads
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  to despair. It could without faith bringing
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  the hope and relief found in Christ and faith without
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  repentance. Is that superficial devil's
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  faith we talked about? It needs the grounding and the
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  reality of sin. That visual contrast, sinking
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  low and lifting high, really captures their interplay.
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  Can you elaborate on how this works out in the life of a
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  believer? Yeah, Spurgeon describes this
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  paradox that true Christians live.
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  He says they repent as bitterly for sin as if they knew they
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  should be damned for it. A deep, ongoing awareness of
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  sin's gravity. But they rejoice as much in
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  Christ as if sin were nothing at all.
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  Wow. Holding both realities at once,
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  the horror of sin and the complete sufficiency of Christ's
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  forgiveness. Exactly.
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  It's living in that tension. Spurgeon calls it the stripping
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  of repentance and the clothing of faith.
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  Stripping in clothing like taking off filthy rags and
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  putting on Christ's righteousness.
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  Precisely. Repentance ejects sin as an evil
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  tenant. Faith admits Christ to be the
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  sole master of the heart. Repentance purges the soul from
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  dead works. Faith fills the soul with living
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  works. It's like two sides of a coin.
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  There may be two necessary actions happening
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  simultaneously. Yes, Repentance pulls down.
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  Faith builds up. Repentance scatter stones.
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  Faith puts stones together. Repentance brings a time to
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  weep. Faith brings a time to dance.
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  The whole process of redemption and restoration.
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  That's it. These two things, Spurgeon
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  concludes, together make up the work of grace within, whereby
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  men's souls are saved. Not one or the other, but both
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  together. Both together and, he adds, this
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  truth is most plainly written and can be preached without any
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  difficulty. Whatever.
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  It's fundamental. So if this command is so clear,
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  so central, and this combination of repentance and faith is the
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  very mechanism of salvation, why is it so often resisted?
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  This brings us back to the tension we started.
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  With yeah, it does. And this is where the sources
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  get quite pointed about human nature, Spurgeon says.
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  It is one of the saddest proofs of man's utter depravity that he
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  will not obey this command. Man's depravity or inherent
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  fallenness? Yes, he says that instead of
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  obeying, man will despise Christ and so make his doom worse than
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  the doom of Sodom and Gomorrah. That refusal isn't neutral, it
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  actively increases guilt. Despising Christ by refusing his
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  command to repent and believe. That's a heavy thought, and
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  Lloyd Jones picks up on this resistance too, doesn't he?
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  He does, very sharply. He notes that the need for
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  repentance is another fundamental postulate of the
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  Christian faith, and it is also one of the truths that people
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  most resent. Resent.
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  That's a strong word. Why resentment?
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  Lloyd Jones observes that teaching about repentance
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  utterly infuriates people today, as it did these rulers in
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  Jerusalem. He sees absolutely no difference
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  whatsoever in this respect between the 1st and the 20th
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  centuries. So this isn't just a modern
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  perversion, it's something timeless in the human heart.
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  People get angry when told they need to repent.
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  Apparently so. Think about it.
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  The message is inherently confrontational.
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  It tells you that you are fundamentally wrong, that your
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  direction is wrong, that your nature is sinful and you need to
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  turn around completely. Yeah, that's not exactly
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  flattering, is it? Not at all.
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  And Lloyd Jones pinpoints why this message causes such fury.
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  He says the fact that repentance is regarded as a very great
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  insult is itself. An insult.
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  Yes, the message itself is seen as insulting.
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  And that reaction, Lloyd Jones argues, is further proof of that
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  fatal self righteousness that is always the greatest hindrance to
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  acceptance of the gospel message.
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  Fatal self righteousness. OK, unpack that.
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  It's the belief, deep down, that we're basically OK, that we
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  don't really need saving, or at least not that kind of saving,
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  that requires admitting we're deeply sinful and helpless.
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  We think our own goodness, our efforts, our status, whatever it
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  is, makes us acceptable. So the call to repent feels like
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  an attack on our perceived goodness, our self worth.
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  Precisely. It cuts right through our self
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  justification. Man's inherent depravity, our
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  fallen nature manifests in this proud self-righteous attitude
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  that naturally resists the divine command.
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  Repent you and believe the gospel.
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  Instead of humbling ourselves, we get defensive, maybe even
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  angry. We despise Christ, as a Bergin
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  put it, by rejecting his diagnosis and his remedy, and
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  tragically, this only worsens our spiritual condition.
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  It really highlights how stubborn that self-righteous
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  streak is and all of us, doesn't it?
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  And why it's considered the greatest hindrance.
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  It is because until you see your need, until you acknowledge your
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  sinfulness and inability to save yourself, you won't truly turn
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  to Christ independent faith. You'll rely on yourself or on a
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  superficial version of faith and repentance.
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  And that kind of superficiality, that self-reliance dressed up as
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  religion, where does that lead? According to the sources, any
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  other sort of repentance and faith, anything built on that
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  sandy foundation of self righteousness, is ultimately A
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  falsehood and a refuge of lies. Strong terminology again, a
• 20:48
  refuge of lies. Yes, because it provides a false
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  sense of security. It might feel OK for a while,
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  but it will be useless on a deathbed or at the last.
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  When reality hits, it won't stand up to God's judgement.
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  So the stakes are incredibly high in getting this right,
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  understanding true repentance and true faith and dealing with
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  that internal resistance that's of righteousness.
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  Absolutely critical. It's the difference between a
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  foundation on rock and a foundation on sand.
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  OK, let's try to pull this together then.
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  For you listening, what are the key takeaways here?
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  We started with Christ's first command, repent ye and believe
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  the gospel. And we saw this isn't just
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  advice, it's a divine decree from God himself.
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  Carrying his full authority. Then we looked at repentance,
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  not just changing your mind, but a deep spirit given sorrow for
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  and hatred of sin, a turning away from self and towards God.
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  A fundamental internal reorientation.
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  In genuine faith, not just intellectual agreement, but an
• 21:45
  act of trust in Christ alone that yields lordship to Him,
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  hates sin, and produces a changed life.
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  Living works. A faith that works, that
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  transforms, though maybe transforms is one of those words
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  we were avoiding. A faith that leads to change.
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  A real. Change, right?
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  A faith that results in real change.
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  And crucially, it is too. Repentance and faith are
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  inseparable. They work together spurgeon
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  stripping of repentance in the clothing of faith.
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  Two sides of the one coin of grace.
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  Making up the work of grace within, whereby men's souls are
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  saved. And finally we saw why this
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  clear life giving message is often met with such resistance,
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  such resentment even. Pointing to that deep seated
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  fatal self righteousness that blinds us to our need and makes
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  us cling to our own perceived goodness instead of casting
• 22:29
  ourselves wholly on Christ. Which leads to a vital question
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  really for self examination. Yeah, if true faith and true
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  repentance are so tightly connected, if they always
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  produce a hatred of sin alongside or rejoicing in
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  Christ, how can you be sure? Be sure about what?
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  Be sure that the peace you might feel, the assurance you might
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  have, how do you know it's really from God?
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  How do you know it's not built on that Sandy foundation that.
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  Falsehood and a refuge of lies that won't hold up.
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  Exactly. Especially when you get on a
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  deathbed and see the reality of things.
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  It's a searching question. What kind of repentance have you
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  experienced? What kind of faith are you
• 23:06
  resting in right now? Is it the kind that sinks you
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  low in humility and lifts you high in Christ alone?
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  That's definitely something worth pondering.
• 23:13
  Seriously, we really hope this deep dock today is giving you
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  some clarity, maybe some fresh insight into these absolute core
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  commands and prompts. You prompts all of us to examine
• 23:22
  our own hearts before God announce her voice.
• 23:25
  Warm, inviting. You've been listening to the
• 23:28
  Deep Dive, a production of Reformed thinking.
• 23:30
  Join us next. Time as we prayerfully.
• 23:32
  Consider another foundational truth encouraging a mind for
• 23:35
  Christ.