Discussion of the Words of Jesus
Part 1

The book of Acts chapter 3 verse 22 declares Jesus Christ to be the prophet Moses spoke about in Deuteronomy 18:15:

Deuteronomy 18:15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

Peter's words:

Act 3:22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.

Seeing that the words of Jesus is so important that both Moses and Peter warns us to listen and hear all things that Jesus says to us, I decided to study diligently all the words of Jesus that are recorded for us to read.

God did not leave us without witnesses. Here is John the Baptist's prophecy of the one who shall baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire.

Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

The first words of Jesus we read about is recorded in the book of Matthew. Matthew was one of the disciples who followed Jesus daily. His first words that were recorded by Matthew is to John the Baptist when Jesus desired to be baptized. John felt unworthy
to baptize Jesus but Jesus needed to fulfill all righteousness. This baptism was part of fulfilling all righteousness.  He had to fulfill everything concerning righteousness to be a fit candidate to pay the price for sin.  Had Jesus failed in one point, He could not have been the spotless lamb to die for sins and we would still be without a way of salvation.  Jesus actually had to live every day of His life in perfection.  One sin would have stopped Him from being able to save us.  This is why Satan tried so hard to tempt Him and get Him off this path of righteousness.  Since the law of God condemns us to death eternally, Jesus had to keep the law in all points, so that He didn't deserve death.  When He died, His death can count in our behalf because He did not break the law and so He died without deserving that death.  In order for His sacrifice to count on our behalf, we have to believe in Him.

Matthew 3:15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.

Suffer it to be so means to allow it to be so. Allow me to be baptized. Even though Jesus didn't need to repent, He wanted to be baptized to fulfill all righteousness. This was an act of obedience. Our water baptism is also an act of obedience.

Matthew 3:16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
Matthew 3:17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

God also witnessed to those present that Jesus was His Son in whom He was pleased.

Matthew 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

The second words of Jesus is to the devil when the devil wanted Him to use His power to satisfy His natural hunger.

I believe Jesus was telling us that the word of God is just as necessary as our natural food. So many of us go about earning a living, seeking entertainment and other pursuits and hardly spend 5 minutes in the word of God that is necessary for us to have
eternal life. This life is temporary. Seeking only things here is vain if you neglect to seek the spiritual things. When Satan wanted to challenge Jesus to use His power to save His own life, Jesus replied:

Matthew 4:7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

The next words were directed also to Satan to refuse His temporary offer of power. Jesus knew that He could in the natural man, have power and authority over the whole world. He knew though that that power would only be temporary. This life is short.
God had a better plan to usher in eternal salvation to all mankind reversing the curse from the fall. Jesus was sent to fulfill and bring in this new way of salvation. Satan tries his best to stop the plan of God by getting us to seek only material things that we can see. Had Jesus of yielded to this temptation, none of us would be saved today.

Matthew 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

WE can have no other gods before the Lord. No other thing can occupy our hearts. Let us study further the important words of Jesus himself to make sure we give heed to all His words in obedience to the words in Deut. 18:15.
The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

The first recorded words of Jesus was to John the Baptist, the second to the devil and now He speaks to us.

Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Repentance is the first message preached to us. Are we still preaching repentance? If we are not, that is why there is no fear of God and why we are having so much problems with sin in the church. We preach forgiveness of sin but not turning from sin. We need to forsake sin as well as ask forgiveness for our sins.

Matthew 4:19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

His first message to us was repent, His second message was when He called His first disciples and I believe that applies to us also, "Follow Me." After we repent or turn around from our ways, we are to follow Christ  If one thinks that the message "Follow me" only refers to His apostles there are plenty of other passages that make it clear that "follow me" is for all who believe and we shall see when we study further.

Matthew 4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

This wasn't His actual words in verse 23 but I added it only because seeing what Jesus did and what He preached is important for us to read to discern His words and what He wants us to do.

Words of Jesus Part 2