Matthew 4:12-17
Suggest further reading: Romans 2:1-11
There is no greater honor for a believer to have than to share the Gospel with others because nothing is more important than the saving of souls. Our Lord dedicated Himself to this task. To this, He ap-pointed His twelve apostles. About this task, the Apostle Paul in his final letter encourages Timothy to “preach the word”. The preaching of the Gospel is the God chosen means, more than any other, for con-version and spiritual growth. The church’s most effective periods in history were those when preaching the Word has been honored and her darkest days were those when it was lightly esteemed. Let us hon-or the ordinances, public prayers and congregational singing and reverently use them but not at the expense of the proclamation of the Gospel.
The first item in our Lord’s preaching was the demand for people to repent. Repentance is the proper and necessary response people can give to the Gospel in which we learn what God has done to save us. But repentance cannot be minimized or ignored. Jesus demands it from everyone who wishes to be delivered from God’s judgment. Repentance is a grace given by God, but it involves a person’s responsibility. This is no trivial matter. Repentance begins with a change of thinking in the mind and results in a change of behavior in the life, a change from living for self to living for Him. But this repentance is inseparable from saving faith in Christ.
Repentance is often missing in today’s “God loves you just the way you are” preaching. But the Gospel demands it and we are responsible to both preach and live it, even with the knowledge that our repentance is never perfect and may itself need a further repentance.
Lanny Tanton is the Pastor at The Bible Church of the Lakes in Horseshoe Bay, Texas – just outside of Marble Falls. Pastor Tanton welcomes you to our website and hopes that you’ll enjoy reading these insightful blog posts. Please contact us if you have further questions!!
