Jesus Taught a Message of Repentance

Jesus taught a message of repentance, forgotten or ignored today. God has historically called for people to repent, to change their lives, to follow him. Peter wrote: 2 Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." On Pentecost Peter told the people: Acts 2:38 "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

Repentance was the most prominent characteristic of the preaching of the prophets. Repentance meant to return to active obedience to the Law of Moses. The standard of repentance was then and is today God's word. Jesus taught: Matthew 4:17 "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" and Luke 3:10-14 "'Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise." Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, 'Teacher, what shall we do?' And he said to them, 'Collect no more than you are authorized to do.' Soldiers also asked him, 'And we, what shall we do?' And he said to them, 'Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.'"

Repentance meant polygamists were called to monogamy, drunkards were called to sobriety, homosexuals were called to behave according to God's law, idolaters were called to worship the true God, those who practiced Judaism were called to submit to the Christ. Repentance meant and means to leave a sinful lifestyle or ungodly religious practices and turn to God and His will. These are not works they are the way one lives their life. Examples in the Bible show one must be able to repent in order to be immersed and receive forgiveness of their sins.

We talk about the symbolism of immersion but one fact remains, examples found in the Bible indicate it is only by being immersed can we receive forgiveness of our sins. It is only by following the Christ that we can be saved. One does not join the church, one does not become Christian when one is immersed for the forgiveness of their sins God adds them to the number previously immersed, the saved. One becom a Christian when they follow the Christ, when they follow the Christ's teachings. As on Pentecost, the question is not how do I join the church or how do I become Christian, it is: Acts 2:37 "when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Or as the jailer: Acts 16:29-30 "And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" As on Pentecost the answer is: Acts 2:38 "And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" and as with the jailer: Acts 16:31-33 "'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.' And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family."

Anything else does not work.

Relying on grace is not enough. Jude 1:4-8 "certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire."

While God wants everyone to be saved not all will be. Unless God is willing to do away with the free-will of His creation, some will be lost.

The Lost Generation

Don Campbell:

Don Campbell:

 

Reference your article The Lost Generation in the March 2010 Gospel Advocate. I enjoyed your article but I have a question.

 

You mention "Today we are confronted with a worldly church ---not in the 19th century sense of a dancing, smoking, card-playing, mixed bathing church but in the sense that the church has turned into just another secular institution with vague spiritual aims."

 

Since before Christ each generation has thought the following generation was going to Hell. Today the church generally accepts behavior considered anathema by earlier generations. Could it be we so decadent we do not realize how evil we are or could it be the next generation is not as secularized as you might think and why? Consider your article as if you had written in during the early 20th century about the direction the church was going at the time. The church as we are today.

 

Just a question.

 

Good article.

 

My grandmother on my mother's side was a Campbell and I was born in 1943. I mention the year in case the year in your email refers to the year in which you were born.

Thanks, John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN

Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Website: http://www.greenbriersolutions.com  
Blog: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/

"Telling shoeless people to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps is not only cruel, it's also pointless."
Martin Luther King

Was that an inch or a millimeter

On December 11, 1998 NASA launched the Mars Climate Orbiter at a cost exceeding $327 million. The orbiter carried a wide range of equipment to observe weather data from mars and to relay the information back to Earth. Nine months later, the spacecraft  reached Mars. It began an orbit of the planet but was almost immediately lost in a catastrophic mishap. The contractor providing the software that steered the Orbiter used English units of measurement whereas NASA built the spacecraft to receive instructions in the metric system. Before the error was detected the Orbiter flew too close to the surface of Mars and was burned up in the Martian atmosphere. Bummer....

 

 

Thanks, John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN

Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Website: http://www.greenbriersolutions.com  
Blog: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/

"Telling shoeless people to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps is not only cruel, it's also pointless."
Martin Luther King

The Old Testament Scriptures

In the NT when scriptures are mentioned they are referring to the OT. Paul "powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus." Luke wrote that "a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures."

Do you suppose if Christians were competent in the Scriptures, the OT Scriptures, the church would be more evangelistic?

Faith / Works

One of the problems we have when discussing bible topics is that we use bible words which mean nothing and anything. Faith is such a word.

The Bible defines faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, based on the KJV identifies all words translated ‘faith” in James as #4102. #4102 is defined as conviction (of a religious truth, or the truthfulness of God, or a religious teacher) especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstract constancy in such a profession’ by extension the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself: ---assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.

Webster’s New World College Dictionary defines faith as: 1) unquestioning belief that does not require proof or evidence; 2) unquestioning belief in God, religious tenets etc. 3) a religion or system of religious beliefs; 4) anything believed; 5) complete trust, confidence, or reliance; 6) allegiance to some person or thing; loyalty.

When James says faith without works is dead all he is saying is our assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen have not affected our lives at all. Our reliance upon Christ for salvation has not changed us in the least. Our unquestioning belief in God has not had any affect on us. How can anyone believe in God, rely on Christ for salvation, have assurance and hope without it causing major changes in our life? James is saying it cannot.

When Paul writes to the church in Corinth “we walk by faith, not by sight” he uses the same word James uses. To walk by faith is to walk by our assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen; our reliance upon Christ for salvation; our unquestioning belief in God. To do that our lives of necessity will have been changed. When we walk by sight we are walking as we are able to see. We are relying on ourselves not God the Father not the Son and not the Holy Spirit.

When Paul writes to the church in Ephesus “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.” Again the word translated faith is #4102. Instead of walking by faith we are saved through faith. The word translated “through” is #1223 in Strong’s Concordance. #1223 is defined as: denoting the channel of an act; because of; by; for (cause); by reason of; for sake; that, thereby, therefore. “Works” is #2041, (to work), toil, (as an effort or occupation); by implication an act: ---deed, doing, labor, work.

We are saved through our unquestioning belief in God, our reliance upon Christ for salvation which causes changes to occur in our lives. We are to be a channel where God’s will may be done on earth (in our lives) as it is in Heaven.

The Ten Commandments or the Great Commandment

When we study the bible we should look through First-Century Glasses. That requires that we learn what the author had in mind and then understand what the people to whom he wrote understood the author to say.

Throughout his letters Paul refers to “us” referring to himself and the people with him while he is writing or the people to whom he is writing or mankind across all time. To understand Paul we must understand the us(s).

Paul wrote to the church in Rome “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” That is if we are children of God. He told the Christians in Corinth to “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? —unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” Reading it does not make it refer to us.

Not understanding the us(s) leads many to think they have the same background as Paul. Paul told Christians in Rome God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” It is possible that on the day Jesus was crucified Paul may have been one of the reasons most of the apostles were hiding. Jesus died for Paul while Paul was a sinner. Jesus died for me before I was.

Paul told the people of Galatia “Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian (schoolmaster) until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian (schoolmaster), for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”

That is correct for Paul and others of Jewish descendant of the time. Unlike Paul, Gentiles were never captive under. According to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible which is based on the KJV classifies it as #3807 a boy-leader i.e. a servant whose office was to take the children to school; by implication a tutor; instructor, schoolmaster.

Today many people claiming to be Christian believe the Ten Commandments are part of their Christian heritage thus their strong views on Ten Commandments in government buildings and elsewhere.

In the beginning God had a relationship with Adam and Eve. Due to sin that relationship changed. Today we call it the Patriarchal Age. God dealt directly with the heads of families. When God chose Abraham-Isaac linage to provide for the Messiah the relationship changed for them and their descendants. There is nothing in the bible that indicates the relationship changed for everyone else so I must conclude the relationship remained as it had been. God dealt directly with heads of families as he had done from Adam to Abraham.

Until Cornelius, the people outside the linage of Abraham-Isaac continued with the same relationship to God as Abraham had before God told him to leave Ur. Paul defines that relationship in Romans. “. . .when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.” That is they do the moral aspects of the law that had been in affect from the beginning.

The law given to Moses did not affect them. The Patriarchal age did not end with the beginning of what we call the Mosaic age. It paralleled it and continued until Cornelius.The purpose of the law was to preserve a people and to prepare a people. Once God selected the Abraham-Isaac linage he had to work with them. Jesus, talking about marriage and divorce, said because of the hardness of the people’s heart God changed the rules intended from the beginning. Imagine the creator of everything had to bend to the stubborn will of his creation. Of course he could have destroyed his creation but unless he was to do away with free-will he had to bend enough to ensure a remnant would remain so the Messiah could be born. Once the Messiah was born the law had fulfilled its purpose. Once the Messiah had arrived God had no need to bend anymore. Understanding this might help folks understand how Jesus fulfilled the law. It might help them to understand that the same parts of the law that justified the gentiles when they did by nature the things of the law are in Jesus' teachings. Should help them to understand that there never were two plans and that Jesus is not Plan B.

Maybe then Christians would fight to have what Jesus considered the great commandment: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind; and a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself displayed in courthouses, school buildings, and other public places.

It just might help Christians understand the United States does not have to help Israel return to their promise land so Jesus can return.

Clarifying and understanding the us(s) may be a good first step for Christians better to understand their history as well as their relationship with God.