Audio Worship, 8/10/2025, "He Came Proclaiming the Gospel" Mark 1.14-15

Princeton Presbyterian Church (EPC) Sermon # 1697

August 10, 2025

Mark 1.14-15          Click here for audio worship.

Dr. Ed Pettus

(This is an extended outline, not a verbatim transcript.)

 

“He Came Proclaiming the Gospel”

 

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

 

 

Imagine you are among the people who are within earshot of Jesus on this day. Imagine you hear Him saying these words, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Mark reports nothing more. I cannot help but think there was more. But Mark does not fill in the gaps. Jesus offers a trailer of coming attractions. This short sermon sets the stage for the gospel of Mark and all the gospels, and sets the stage for the life of Christ. Perhaps the audience at the time had some context of understanding. Perhaps they knew what Jesus was saying had some bearing on Old Testament prophecy. Perhaps the people there were spiritually touched, the Holy Spirit giving them understanding, or at least touching their hearts in such a way that they began to follow Jesus to find out more. Something more was there in Jesus and in His words that drew people to Him. We have been seeking to elaborate on His words ever since that day. Of course, we have the whole of Scripture to guide us, to expound or expand the understanding of this short message. The message is the same today as it was then. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” This is our message to the world. The time is still fulfilled in Jesus. The Kingdom is near in Jesus. Repentance is the only good and proper response to Jesus. Trust and believing in His Gospel is the life we are called to live from this point on.

 

  • It’s Time

 

Jesus opens with, “The time is fulfilled…” The time has come, now is the time of salvation. The apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians, For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation (6.2). It is time. It is time for the Messiah. It is time for the fulfillment of prophecy regarding the Christ. It is time for the Kingdom. It is time to come to Jesus. Today is the day, now is the time.

The long awaited salvation of God had come in the person of Jesus Christ and the time had come for all to see and hear the good news. Every generation since Jesus first uttered these words has been called to know this, it is time. Many will think, “Oh, I have plenty of time for faith later.” Others might never consider the time at all. But we know the time is short and the time is now and the time is fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ. There is, in these opening words, a sense of urgency that I think we forget. We also think that we have time, that others have time, and yet, time flies by. My dad used to tell me that time flies by even faster the older we get.

It is time to share the gospel of Christ with those around us. God puts people in our lives for a variety of reasons, and one of the most important reasons is so that we might proclaim the time is fulfilled, that Jesus has come, that Jesus calls, that Jesus saves. We do not have much time precisely because the time is fulfilled.

What time is it? It is time to see and to know that the Kingdom of God is close at hand.

 

 

  • The Kingdom Close at Hand

 

This is the second point in Jesus’ very short sermon. “the kingdom of God is at hand...”

How is this so? It is so because the King has arrived, the time is fulfilled. Jesus has ushered in the Kingdom, at least a glimpse or portion of the Kingdom. There is even more to come. But Jesus, as King, has revealed the Kingdom at hand, near, in our midst. We live in the Kingdom of God that is a Kingdom not of this world, not one built with stone and mortar. Jesus had a special way of revealing the Kingdom, somewhat like He revealed things through parables. He was plainly obvious to those who could see and yet completely mysterious to those who refused to see. In Luke we read of the Pharisees who were blinded by their traditions,

 

Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (Luke 17.20-21).

 

The Kingdom of God is in the midst of you because Jesus is in the midst of you! We are living in the Kingdom because we abide in Jesus and Jesus abides in us. We see the world and all the kingdoms of the world through the lens of God’s Kingdom.

What were the signs of the Kingdom close at hand? One sign was the healing power of Christ: "But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you" (Luke 11.20). I have no doubt that casting out demons, healing sicknesses, preaching and teaching with authority, and everything Jesus said and did while He walked the earth was a sign of the Kingdom come. R.C. Sproul once wrote of men and Jesus, “Men would be blind to His kingship, so His disciples were given the task of making it visible. The fundamental task of the church is to bear witness to the kingdom of God. Our King reigns now...Our King has come and has inaugurated the kingdom of God.” (https://learn.ligonier.org/articles/kingdom-god-strictly-future)

The Kingdom of God is here, now, at hand, near. So, what now? What do we do with this revelation?

 

  • What Now?

 

The time has come, it is time to repent. One of my favorite chapters in the Bible is Isaiah 55.

“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (55.6-7). This is the same message we get with Jesus, the Kingdom is near, repent and believe. “Call upon Him while He is near, let the wicked forsake his way.” While I have already spoken of the urgency of time, there is also a great gift to all people in God’s patience. Paul writes in Romans, “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? (Romans 2.4). The Kingdom of God is at hand, the time is now, and yet, God is patient by His great kindness to lead people to repentance.

Our confession of faith, the Westminster Confession, tells us what repentance means. In the Shorter Catechism - "Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, does, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience" (Question 87). Repentance is about a new life, a new life of obedience to Jesus Christ and His Kingdom rule on the earth. It is also a saving grace of God, a gift to us in opening our eyes to our own sinful hearts. In repentance we come to know the mercy of Christ, the love of Christ, and the call upon our lives to turn away from sin and turn completely to life in Jesus Christ. See, this opening sermon of Jesus is short, but packed with more than what we might first see and hear. It is about time and the Kingdom and a new way of living. It is the message of the gospel, the good news of Jesus, God’s only Son, sent to save us from ourselves, from our sin, from death and the devil. I hate to say it, but sometimes a shorter sermon is a better sermon!

 

  • An Act of Faith

 

The last point of Jesus’ message is one of belief. It is time to believe. “...believe in the gospel.” It is time to trust and receive. It is time to embrace the gospel, to affirm faith in Jesus. The time has come for men and women to take a leap of faith, an act of faith. The gospel, the good news is Jesus Himself. He is the One, God incarnate, THE Messiah, Savior of His people. What is revealed in the gift of faith is the ability to see the Kingdom and to proclaim the Kingdom, to see the Gospel and proclaim the Gospel. It is a cornerstone of the Reformed Faith to understand faith as a gift.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2.8-9). It is only by the gift of God that we can come to believe. We are dead in our sin and there is nothing we can do in our sin apart from what God makes possible by His gift of saving grace. This is the culmination of the sermon of Jesus in Mark 1: the time fulfilled, the Kingdom come, the call to repentance, the gift of faith. Jesus came to save. The time was right and is right for the fulfillment of God’s promises, for the Kingdom at hand in the Savior. The time was right and is now for people to repent and believe and in those gifts of repentance and faith, we have a new life. We are made new creations (2 Cor 5.17). We are transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Christ (Col 1.13). This is the good news today and every day. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”