Word of Jesus Part 25
I have a series on the book of Mark so I will only use verses that emphasis
the actual words of Jesus but only the ones not already covered in Matthew.
Some of the first words of Jesus to us is to repent and believe.
Mar 1:15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand:
repent ye, and believe the gospel.
Matthew says, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
The meaning of the gospel is:
The history of the birth, life, actions, death, resurrection, ascension and
doctrines of Jesus Christ; or a revelation of the grace of God to fallen man
through a mediator, including the character, actions, and doctrines of Christ,
with the whole scheme of salvation, as revealed by Christ and his apostles. This
gospel is said to have been preached to Abraham, by the promise, "in thee shall
all nations be blessed." Gal 3:8.
Actually, we are to repent and believe the gospel of the kingdom.
Time now to take advantage of God's plan of salvation and believe the gospel
that will save the soul from eternal death. This is not something we should take
lightly as just good sound advice. The actual words of Jesus should never
be taken lightly.
Mar 1:23 And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he
cried out,
Mar 1:24 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of
Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of
God.
Mar 1:25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him.
Mar 1:26 And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice,
he came out of him.
Mar 1:27 And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among
themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with
authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.
The devils know that their days are short. They knew who Jesus was and that one
day their judgment was coming when they would not longer be allowed access to
humans. When Adam sinned by his disobedience to God, the devil then had access
to all humans. If Adam would have said no, the devil would not have corrupted
all human flesh. This time though is coming to a close. The second Adam, Jesus
Christ started the process over 2000 years ago and it will be completed at
Christ's second coming. These demons asked the Lord if He had come to destroy
them before the time.
Mat 8:29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee,
Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?
Mar 1:35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out,
and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.
Mar 1:36 And Simon and they that were with him followed after him.
Mar 1:37 And when they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee.
Mar 1:38 And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach
there also: for therefore came I forth.
Jesus proved to us by his actions time and again that His goal was not to set up
an earthly kingdom yet but to preach the gospel to all who would listen. He
could have stayed in one place, build a cathedral and made himself a great name
eventually gaining enough power to take over the government. This is did not do
because of a greater task of preaching the gospel to others as well, and then dying for the sins of
all who would believe that gospel.
We see the temptation today to leave off preaching the gospel and build great
buildings of worship. That is not wrong of course because some of them send out
missionaries and preachers to start other churches but if all we do is build big
buildings that do not evangelize the world, then we just have a religion. The
gospel is to go forth into all the world as soon as possible. We all have
different callings but winning the lost is our main goal. Teaching and exhorting
is necessary though to keep the gospel from being watered down and meaningless.
We can't focus on numbers so much that we water down the message of salvation.
Then we might have large numbers but no fruit in the converts of a changed life.
Repentance is the necessary part that leads to a changed life after believing
the gospel. If we skip repentance and just have someone accept Christ,
they may be in danger of just thinking they are saved but the fruits of a
changed heart and life are not present. Repentance means to stop in our
tracks, turn around and change in another direction. This is what the true
gospel does in the lives of a true believer. It is not a formal outward
religious act of repeating a prayer. It is an inward "born again"
experience of change. All this of course is accomplished by faith in Jesus
Christ to make that change. We can't do it apart from Christ by just
repenting of sin and we can't accept Christ entirely without repenting of sin.
Both are necessary to bring about salvation of the soul. Something happens
when we come to Christ by faith. There is an inward experience. Some
preach only faith and no experience but something is experienced when we are
"born again" by the spirit of God. Something happens inside the soul and
spirit of the inner man.
We need those that preach the simple gospel and we need those that teach the
deeper truths of God's word. We should all be working together to build and send
forth.
