“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.” Mark 1:14-15

What did the Old Testament prophets teach? “Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin” (Ezekiel 18:30; Cf. Jonah 3).

What did John the Baptist preach? “John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Mark 1:4).

What did Jesus preach? “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” (Mark 1:14-15).

What did Jesus command His disciples to preach? That “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” (Luke 24:46-47).

What did Peter preach on the day of Pentecost? “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins…” (Acts 2:38).

What do ministers preach today? “It’s OK. God loves you. Don’t judge; just love everybody.”

What’s wrong with this picture? Have we forgotten to preach repentance from sin and dead works, and faith in Christ Jesus and His blood shed upon the cross for the sins of the world? Have we forgotten our need for repentance – to turn from our sinful ways to God for mercy and forgiveness for Jesus’ sake? Have we forgotten our need for daily contrition and repentance?

God’s Word says: “As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11).

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness … If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 1:8-9, 2:1-2).

The message of God’s Word to you and to me is this: We are, by nature, sinful and unclean and we live in a world headed for judgment. If we continue on in our own selfish and sinful ways and follow the course of this world, we will be judged and condemned to the eternal torments of hell. Rather, God would have us repent of our evil ways and turn to Him for mercy and forgiveness for the sake of the sacrifice of the Son, Messiah Jesus (cf. 2 Peter 3:9). He calls us by His Word, and His Spirit convicts us of our sin and guilt and offers us full pardon and life eternal through faith in Christ Jesus.

O gracious God, we are sinful and unclean and have gone our own way – a way which leads to eternal death and damnation. Have mercy on us. Forgive us for Jesus’ sake. And lead us in the way everlasting. Amen.

[Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible]

“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timotheus our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Colossians 1:1-2

The book of Colossians is actually a letter, sent by the apostle Paul and Timothy to the believers in Colosse by the hand of Tychicus and Onesimus. And this letter was to be read by all the believers in Colosse and then read also in the church at Laodicea (Colossians 4:16); and the Colossians were directed to read a letter sent to the church in Laodicea (a letter which we apparently no longer have).

Because God preserved this letter and moved the churches to include it in the Bible, we still read this letter today and can learn much about Jesus Christ, who He is and what He has done for us. It lays out for us the fact that we are complete and have eternal salvation through faith alone in Jesus Christ and His atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. This short epistle also shows us how we should live as believers in this world while we await Christ’s return and our partaking of the eternal joys of heaven which He won for us.

Notice that Paul, formerly known as Saul, was an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. Acts 9 explains how the Lord Jesus met Saul on the road to Damascus and called him from being a persecutor of the church to being an apostle to the Gentiles. Paul himself explains more about his calling in his letter to the church at Galatia (Galatians 1:11ff.). Timothy is our brother in the Lord too. He came to faith in Jesus through the teaching of his mother and grandmother and was adopted by the apostle Paul to help in his ministry to the churches (cf. Acts 16:1ff.; 2 Timothy 1:2-5; 3:14-17).

And this letter is addressed “to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse.” It is addressed to those who are counted righteous and holy through faith in Christ Jesus – to the believers in Colosse. And, as a part of God’s inspired Word, it is addressed to all who today are saints – counted righteous and holy not by our works but through faith in Christ Jesus – faith which is worked in our hearts by God the Holy Spirit through the hearing of God’s Word (Romans 10:17).

And Paul’s salutation or greeting was a blessing: “Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” God’s grace, His undeserved love and favor toward us, is offered and given to us for the sake of Jesus and His atoning sacrifice on the cross for the sins of all.

When we trust in Jesus, we have peace with God, the peace of sins forgiven and God’s acceptance of us as His dear children. It is as the apostle wrote in another letter to the believers in Rome: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1-2).

O gracious and merciful God, we thank You for preserving for us this letter of the apostle Paul to the believers in Colosse that we too might read it and from it be strengthened in our faith in Messiah Jesus that we might hold fast to Him and receive the eternal joys of heaven He won for us by His death upon the cross for our sins and by His glorious resurrection. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

What does the Bible teach? Sad to say, most people have not read the Bible in its entirety and many have no idea what it really teaches. Though much more detail could be provided, what follows is a brief summary of the Bible’s teaching.

What does the Bible teach?

1) That the Triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – created all things good, including man, as described in Genesis 1-2, and that He still preserves all things. It is as the Bible says in Nehemiah 9:6: “Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.”

2) Though God created man to honor and respect God as his Maker, to love Him and to trust Him, the first man and woman fell into sin as described in Genesis 3 and, as a result, all of mankind is fallen and no longer loves, trusts and honors God above all things. Instead, people are born into this world turned in upon themselves and seeking their own will and ways which are selfish and sinful. People do not and cannot keep all of God’s commandments as God requires. It is as the Bible says in Genesis 8:21 and Jeremiah 17:9: “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth,” and “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Ecclesiastes 7:20 says: “For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.”

3) In order to redeem and save mankind from the just and eternal punishment we all deserve on account of our sinfulness and disobedience to God and to restore us to fellowship with Him, God sent His only-begotten Son into the world, a true man, that He might fulfill all that God’s holy law requires of us and bear our sin and suffer our punishment by dying on the cross to atone for the sins of the world. This God did through the incarnation, birth, life, sufferings, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is true God and true man. The animal sacrifices of the Old Testament pointed ahead to the promised Seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15) who would make atonement for the sins of all and undo the work of the devil when he tempted Adam and Eve and brought sin and God’s curse upon God’s creation.

John 3:16 says: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 says: “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures … he was buried … he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”

Hebrews 2:14-17 says: “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.”

4) The forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God which Christ Jesus won for all when he suffered and died upon the cross and then rose again on the third day becomes ours through faith in Jesus Christ and not by our own works or merits. Ephesians 2:8-9 says: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” Romans 3:21-26 says: “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” And, Romans 5:1-2 says: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

5) God desires all people to repent of their sinful and rebellious ways and trust in Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins and life everlasting. “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). For that reason, He commands that His Word be preached to all people (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:46-47), and His Holy Spirit works through the Word and Baptism to create saving faith in the hearts of hearers and to regenerate them, giving them new life in fellowship with God through faith in Jesus Christ.

On the day of Pentecost, Peter told the people (Acts 2:38-39): “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”

Titus 3:3-7 says: “For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

6) As Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us, we are saved by God’s grace alone and through faith alone in Jesus Christ, and even that faith is the gracious working of God the Holy Spirit in us, but God also desires that we amend our ways and live for Him: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10).” 2 Corinthians 5:15 says: “And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.” And, since the fruit of true faith in Christ is the desire to live for God and be pleasing to Him, those who refuse to amend their lives and willfully continue on in their sinful ways demonstrate their unbelief and lack of saving faith in Christ.

7) Christ Jesus will return to this world on the Last Day and carry out God’s just judgment upon all. Those who believe in Christ and are baptized into His name will be saved and those who do not believe will be damned (Mark 16:16). John 3:36 says: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”

Yes, much more can be said. And, indeed, it is said in the Bible. The Bible reveals the sad results of man’s sinfulness and how God judges sin even now, in this world. It tells how God carried out His plan to send His Son to be our Savior, and it reveals how God continually calls us to repent of our sinful and erring ways and look to Christ Jesus in faith. It points out the terrible judgment of God which will come upon all who remain impenitent, and it offers a glimpse of the glories of heaven which await all who believe. The Bible warns the impenitent and unbelieving and gives comfort to those who acknowledge their sins and look to Christ and His cross.

Some parts are difficult for our sin-darkened minds to understand; but other parts are so simple the smallest child can, by God’s grace, grasp its message. So, don’t be discouraged. Pick it up and read it. The Bible is a book of books (66 books and letters) and doesn’t have to be read in chronological order from Genesis to Revelation. I usually recommend reading the first chapters of Genesis and reading in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) first, before plowing through the sections on Old Testament worship. It’s a book to study for a lifetime, and there is always more to learn and to understand, so keep reading.

Writing to Timothy, a young minister, the apostle Paul said (2 Timothy 3:14-17): “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” The Bible was given us to teach us the way of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ and to guide us in living for Him. As such, reading and studying its message is the most important reading a person can ever do — indeed, your eternal destiny depends upon heeding the Bible’s message! I hope and pray you’ll read it.

“Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” John 1:45

Do you remember the billboard and bumper sticker campaign launched back in 1976 by Campus Crusade for Christ (now CRU)? The billboards and bumper stickers simply said, “I Found It!” and the intent was that when people inquired as to what it was which had been found, the response would be Jesus and the salvation He won for all by His holy life and innocent sufferings and death on the cross, giving opportunity to share the Bible’s message with those who had never heard.

Some rightly argued that it would be better to say, “He found me,” since it is only by the gracious working of God’s Holy Spirit that anyone can come to know and trust in Jesus as Savior. But semantic arguments aside, Christians are called to tell others the Bible’s message and to introduce lost souls to Jesus that they too might come to know and trust in Him as their crucified and risen Savior.

After Jesus called Phillip to follow him, Phillip was not content to keep his faith in Jesus as the Messiah and Savior to himself. He found Nathanael and told him that he, along with Peter and Andrew, had found the one of whom Moses wrote in the Torah (the law) and of whom the prophets also did write. Moses spoke of a special prophet to come who, like Moses, would mediate a new covenant (Deuteronomy 18:15ff.), and the prophets spoke repeatedly of the person and work of the coming Messiah and Savior. He would be the Seed of the Woman, the Son of God, Jehovah God in the flesh and He would make atonement for and redeem His people from their sins (Genesis 3:15; Psalm 2; Psalm 110; 130:7-8; Isaiah 7:14; 9:6-7; 53:5-6; Jeremiah 23:5-6; etc.).

When Phillip identified the one they had found as “Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph,” Nathanael rightly questioned Phillip: “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (v. 46). Nathanael, no doubt, knew that the Messiah was to come from Bethlehem of Judea, as Micah had prophesied (Micah 5:2). What he didn’t yet know was that Jesus’ ancestors came from Bethlehem and Jesus was born there. Nor did he yet understand Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the Messiah: “For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground …” (Isaiah 53:2).

How did Phillip overcome Nathanael’s objections? “Philip saith unto him, Come and see” (v. 46). And, oftentimes, that is the best answer. Even if we cannot answer every objection to the truth of who Jesus is and what He has done for us, we can still invite people to come and see.

And Jesus proved to Nathanael that He was and is indeed the Son of God and the Messiah and King of God’s people by His intimate knowledge of Nathanael before Nathanael even met Jesus face to face. Jesus knew Nathanael as an Israelite in whom was no guile or deceit (v. 47), meaning Nathanael was not self-deceived but acknowledged the truth of his own sinfulness and looked for the coming Savior. Jesus knows everything about you and me, too!

And, when Nathanael questioned Jesus as to how He knew him, Jesus responded, “Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee” (v. 48). Nathanael then confessed: “Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel” (v. 49). After meeting and talking with Jesus, Nathanael, who doubted Phillip’s word at first, now believed.

And, of course, those who come to know and trust in Jesus because He reveals our sinfulness and Himself as God’s Son and our Savior, will continue to see more and more proofs concerning Jesus, who He is and what He has done for us lost sinners. As Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man” (v. 51). We will see our crucified, risen and ascended Savior coming again in glory and with His heavenly hosts to establish His everlasting kingdom.

Indeed, by the grace of God, I have found Him and have come to know and believe that Jesus is the eternal Son of God and my Savior from sin and eternal punishment. I pray that you will find Him too! Come and see!

Dearest Lord Jesus, thank you for revealing Yourself to me as my Lord and Savior and grant that I might call upon others, too, to come to You and see. Amen.

[Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.]

“And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.” Mark 1:9

Since John the Baptist came preaching a “baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Mark 1:4) and Jesus was holy and without sin (cf. Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 2:22), we might wonder why Jesus came to John to be baptized in the Jordan.

Indeed, John asked the same question of Jesus. Matthew 3:13-15 says: “Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.” It was, as Jesus said, necessary to fulfill all righteousness and complete the work Jesus came into this world to do.

Jesus came into this world to fulfill all righteousness in our stead that He might also take our place under the curse of God’s law and make full atonement for our sins. The Bible tells us that “when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Galatians 4:4-5). And, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree” (Galatians 3:13).

Perhaps even more significant is the fact that Christ Jesus, God’s Son and our Savior, was establishing a new covenant — a covenant of grace in which our sins are cleansed and forgiven for the sake of Jesus’ blood shed upon the cross for the sins of all.

The Bible tells us in Hebrews 9:11-15: “But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” Cf. Jeremiah 31-31-34.

And, since baptism is called “the circumcision made without hands” (Colossians 2:11) and the way in which we are joined to Christ in His death and resurrection and made recipients of the blessings of this new covenant established by Christ’s blood (cf. Colossians 2:11-15; Romans 6:1-14), it is only fitting that Christ Himself be baptized in order to establish this new covenant and make it possible for us to be joined to him through our baptism (cf. Galatians 3:26-27; Hebrews 10:19ff.).

Indeed, it is because Christ was baptized and then took our place under the law to fulfill it for us and to suffer our just punishment (cf. Isaiah 53:6) that we are baptized into Christ that our sins might be washed away and we might be counted righteous and holy in God’s eyes through faith in Jesus’ name. Because Christ, the mediator of the new covenant by His atoning sacrifice on the cross, was baptized, we who are baptized into His name receive the gracious blessings of the covenant — namely, forgiveness for all our sins and a place in His eternal kingdom!

Thus, Jesus commanded and the disciples preached repentance and baptism in Jesus’ name for the remission of sins (cf. Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 24:46-47; Acts 2:38-39). And all who trusted in Christ and were baptized into His name — the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost — were saved.

Why was Jesus baptized? He was baptized that you, through your baptism, might be joined to Him and receive the blessings promised and guaranteed in the new covenant He established with His own blood! The sinless Son of God was baptized that sinners like you and me might receive the mercy and forgiveness He won for all by His atoning sacrifice on the cross! Jesus was baptized that all who believe and are baptized might be saved (Cf. Mark 16:15-16)!

We give You thanks and praise, dear Jesus, that You were baptized and established a new covenant whereby we, through our baptism, might be joined to You and receive the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting You won for all by Your holy life and innocent sufferings and death for the sins of the world. Amen.

[Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.]