The Beginning of the Gospel

Mark 1:1-4 ESV

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,

‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face,

    who will prepare your way,

the voice of one crying in the wilderness:

    “Prepare the way of the Lord,

    make his paths straight,”’

“John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” 

As I began reading this passage of Scripture this morning, the first words to stand out to me were “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” But then it went on to tell of John the Baptist and his calling and his ministry. So what we are to see here, I believe, is that John the Baptist’s calling of God and his life and ministry were the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So we are to connect this with the gospel of Christ.

So, what was John called to do? He was to prepare the way for the Lord and for his ministry, and for the people to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and as Savior of their lives, by preaching repentance. He was to prepare the way of the Lord and to make his paths straight. And it appears he was also to be a voice crying in the wilderness telling the people to prepare the way of the Lord and to make his paths straight. So what is the way of the Lord? 

The way of the Lord is the way of the forsaking of our sins to follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his commands. And it is the way of holiness and righteousness, and of living godly, holy, upright, honest, self-controlled, morally pure and faithful lives to the glory of God and in the power of God and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. And this is the way that is straight (upright, honest, and morally pure).

And this is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ which teaches us that we must die with Christ to sin and be raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. This is the beginning of the gospel of Christ which teaches that if we are to come after Christ we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow (obey) Jesus Christ.

For repentance, which involves a forsaking of our sins to follow Jesus in obedience, is for the forgiveness of sins. Our sins are not forgiven if we do not reject a life of sin to walk now in righteousness and in holiness in obedience to our Lord and to his commands under the New Covenant. For we must, by genuine faith in Christ, die with him to sin, but not just once, but daily, and we must walk in obedience to his commands, in practice, if we want to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God.

[Matt 4:17; Matt 7:21-23; Matt 11:20-21; Matt 12:41; Matt 21:28-31; Mk 1:14-15; Lu 5:32; Lu 9:23-26; Lu 13:1-5; Lu 15:2-7; Lu 24:45-47; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 8:31-32,51; Jn 10:27-30; Jn 14:15-24; Jn 15:1-11] 

Many people today are teaching that we can just make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ once in our lives and now all our sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and heaven is now guaranteed us when we die, and it can’t be taken away from us, but regardless of how we live. That is a lie from hell. That is a gross misrepresentation of the gospel as taught by Jesus and by his NT apostles, and its purpose is to deceive and to trick and to trap and to get you to reject the gospel of Christ and to believe the lies.

Thus, many who are believing the lies are still walking in sin and in immorality, deliberately and habitually. Many are engaged in what is immoral, wicked, dishonest, and corrupt, in practice. They are hating and abusing and persecuting the righteous because those who are righteous in the eyes of God are those who are living righteously, in practice. But those who are immoral, wicked, and dishonest, their deeds are evil. And so the wicked hate the righteous, and so they do evil against them.

For those who make a practice of doing evil (sinning) are the rebellious and the lawless who are unstable in all their ways. And even if they make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, they will not inherit eternal life with God. For Jesus said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one DOING the will of God the Father. So many will stand before God one day claiming all the things they did in his name, and he will say to them, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of iniquity,” because they refused to obey God (Matthew 7:21-23).

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

Caution: This link may contain ads