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Repentance
What is this "Gospel"
referred to by scripture?
Matthew
4:17
gives an insight into the repentance message of Jesus:
"From that time Jesus began to preach,
and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"
Jesus called people to REPENT,
even before he called them to believe! Look at Mark
1:14-15.
"Now after that
John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel
of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom
of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe
the gospel."
Matthew 9:10-13 speaks volumes:
"And it came to pass, as Jesus sat
at meat in the
house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him
and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his
disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? But when
Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will
have
mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance."
That opens the proverbial
can of worms! If Jesus didn't come to call the righteous to repentance,
does this imply that there 'are' righteous people? IF there are
righteous people, what is it that Jesus called sinners to do?
Could it be that he wanted them to change from their sinful life into or
toward a life of righteousness?
J esus preached
REPENTANCE as part of the Gospel. Look at the gospel and the statement
of Jesus concerning the Gospel in Luke 24:45-47:
"Then opened he their understanding,
that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus
it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from
the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should
be
preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."
Repentance and Remission of Sins
should FIRST be preached where? According to Jesus, Repentance and
remission of sins would be preached ... Beginning at Jerusalem! When did this
happen?
We first see
the "Gospel" being preached AT JERUSALEM on the DAY OF PENTECOST by
Peter.
What was this "Gospel" that
Peter preached? It was not, as some suppose, Acts 2:38.
Acts 2:38-39 was what Peter told men to do in
response to the gospel
message, but it was not the gospel! Look at Acts
2:14 when Peter began to speak. Peter stood up with the 11 (remember Matthias was
now a Apostle number 12, in the place of Judas).
Not
only was Peter present
with the "11", but a quick review of previous passages will
show that there were an additional 108 (or more) people. Acts
1:15 tells us that Mary, the Mother of Jesus wa there also.
If that is true (and it is), She was also filled with the Holy
Ghost and spake in tongues just like everyone else present!
What does this tell us? At it's core, we learn that Mary
was required to come by the same plan of salvation as everyone
who had ever lived! Yes, she had to believe in Jesus as
the Messiah and receive him as her
own Lord and Savior!
Before I go much further, let me ask you
something. Was Peter wrong in his preaching? Did he attempt to teach
something that Jesus did NOT teach? Did he somehow "misunderstand" the
teachings of Jesus during 4 years of being with Jesus day and night? Did
he, being FULL
of the HOLY GHOST along with 100+ other people who were also
filled with the Holy Ghost,
teach a false doctrine to the people on that day?
No, of
course he didn't teach falsely. It is ludicrous to believe
that he did!
Peter knew
exactly what the plan
of salvation was, he knew exactly
what REPENTANCE and REMISSION
of sins was all about.
There are
those today who teach that Peter was either backslidden and preached wrongly in his state of "emotionalism",
or that he misunderstood the "easy" plan of salvation. NEITHER of those statements are true
and it is RIDICULOUS to even attempt to believe that.
Let's reason it
out. You mean to tell me that 119 people who had received the same HOLY
GHOST as Peter, just stood by and let Peter teach something they knew
was not true? THAT doesn't even line up with Scripture. The fact is
that EVERYONE in that upper room agreed with Peter and COULD NOT doubt
nor dispute what Peter preached concerning SALVATION. Peter's
message was right on the mark!
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