Matthew 4:17
The scripture for today is Matthew 4:17
Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Jesus heard that John the Baptist was put into prison (verse 12) and He knew that John would never be released. John’s work as the forerunner of Christ had been completed. Jesus, from that time, began to preach the same message that John the Baptist had proclaimed before Him. That message was a message of repentance. “Every preacher commissioned by God to proclaim salvation to a lost world begins his work with preaching the doctrine of repentance. This was the case with all the prophets, John the Baptist, Jesus Christ, all the apostles, and all their genuine successors in the Christian ministry.” Adam Clarke John, the forerunner, and Christ Himself were models for proclaiming the gospel message.
If the doctrine of repentance is not preached, the message of salvation cannot be preached, for salvation is based upon repentance and receiving the atonement for sin, the blood of Jesus Christ. Without repentance, there can be no salvation, no experience of being “born again.” The counterfeit message of salvation, filled with cheap grace, no repentance, and no conversion, is popular today and many have been deceived by this unbiblical “salvation” which has the flesh as its motivation and not Christ. Jesus preached repentance, His servants will preach the same message.
Jesus came to save us from our sins, not to save us in our sins. When Jesus comes into a life, sin no longer rules there, a new Master has moved in and the old life is dead. Repentance means that the person has turned around and is now walking in another direction; they are no longer following the ways of the world but the ways of righteousness.
May we continue to proclaim the message of repentance and more importantly, may we live the message that we proclaim.
God bless you as you continue in His service.
Tim