Luke 8:1-3
"And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him. And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance," Luke 8:1-3.
Jesus Christ has been extremely busy since His baptism in Luke 3. For forty days and nights He was tempted by the devil (Luke 4:1-13); He stood up to read the Scriptures in His hometown of Nazareth and they tried to throw Him off a cliff (Luke 4:14-30). In Luke chapters 4-7 Jesus heals multitudes upon multitudes of people. He healed some on the sabbath day which caused an uproar from the religious crowds. Jesus Christ has interrupted the religious leaders system of worship when in John 2 He made a small whip and drove out the salesmen and animals while turning over the tables in the temple. He has preached to thousands on the mount. It was there that He really exposed the false religious system of the religious leaders. Jesus Christ is only doing what the Father would have Him do, and He is only saying what the Father would have Him say. Being obedient to His Heavenly Father in all things has put a bull's eye on Himself. The religious leaders are becoming more hostile towards Jesus, especially as He continues to expose their false religion and their hypocrisy. If Christ would just go away, contradict Himself, or compromise His message, the religious leaders could get back to business as normal. But Christ is not leaving at this time, He will never contradict Himself, and He will not compromise His message. Jesus Christ is faithful.
"And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him," Luke 8:1. Jesus Christ traveled to every city and village in Galilee. He walked every where He went. As He walked and in every city and village He preached. "Preached" in this verse is the Greek word "kerusso" and means especially to preach, publish, or announce religious truth, the gospel with its attendant privileges and obligations, the gospel dispensation. This is not speaking of the style of the preaching but the substance of the preaching. Christ's preaching was also inclusive. His main ministry was to the nation of Israel, but He preached to everyone in the crowd. It did not matter what your social status was, Christ preached to you. What did Christ preach?
Jesus Christ preached the glad tidings, the "euaggelizo", which is the annunciation of the gospel of Christ and all that pertains to it: to preach, proclaim the idea of glad tidings being implied. To preach the kingdom of God, meaning the things concerning the kingdom of God. For the weary soul seeking refuge from his own sinfulness and the penalty thereof, Christ's message would be a fountain of life in the midst of a desert. No matter where Christ went the message He preached did not change. You and I proclaim the exact same message; it has not changed. Why change the message? It is perfect just like it is. We cannot make it better. Don't dress it up with worldly analogies, don't water it down so as not to offend people. The gospel is complete, simply proclaim it. All we are is the waiter, don't spill the meal.
The glad tidings that Christ was proclaiming was not what the religious leaders had been proclaiming. When you change what is being taught you will have some push back at first, but after a couple of generations there will be very little push back because the newer generations will assume what they are being taught is the truth. This is what the religious crowds did. They had taken the people captive, and the people did not know any better. So, when the people would hear Christ preaching they would be shocked. They were amazed that someone would preach with such authority. With this being said, have we examined what is being preached in the world today? Have we been influenced by a dressed up gospel to the point that when we hear the true gospel we are offended? A dressed up gospel has some scripture with it, but the true gospel is scripture alone. The true gospel is not about a better life in this life. The true gospel is not come to Jesus and He will make all your problems go away, fix your marriage, and your bank account. You come to Jesus when the light of the gospel has exposed you for who you are. By God's grace He shows you that you are lost, He shows you the only way to be saved, and He is the One who saves you. "So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy," Romans 9:16. "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved," Ephesians 2:4-5.
Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the world, He is the only Saviour this world has ever known. We must make sure that what we believe about the bible is in the bible. What did Christ preach? Let us look at some Scripture. John 3:7, 14-15; 4:26; 5:39; 6:27-33, 35, 47; 7:37-38; 8:12; 11:25-26; 12:46; etc. The message that we preach is Christ crucified, buried, risen, ascended to heaven, seated at the Father's right hand, and coming back one day! We point all to Jesus Christ. The gospel is God's message, if you dress it up you mess it up.
For the last 100 years we have been bombarded by a watered down gospel. I will ask again, have you been affected by it? Are you saved? If so, saved from what? saved to what? How many have been taught that salvation is a feeling, an emotion, so you end up trusting a feeling or an emotion and not Christ. How many of you have been taught to repeat a prayer? You end up trusting what you said instead of trusting Christ. How many of you have been taught that you must ask Jesus Christ to come into your heart and save you? Where is that in the Scriptures? It is not there. Do you see how we have been infected and affected by a watered down gospel, which is not biblical, which means it is not the gospel? I hope this is shocking you and causing you to examine what you believe and why you believe it.
Lord help us to preach the whole gospel! You are a sinner and you deserve to suffer the wrath of God for eternity. God does not love you just like you are, He actually hates you in your sinful state. In your lost condition God is your Enemy. If you die lost you will suffer His wrath for eternity. God has only given one way to be delivered from His wrath, and that is through the sacrifice of His eternal Son Jesus Christ. Please do not deceive yourself. Positive thinking will not get you to heaven. I beg you to truly examine yourself by the Word of God to see if you are saved or lost. Why would you gamble on eternity? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be ye saved! (John 6:37).
Please send questions and comments to richardsonbaptistchurch@gmail.com. Soli Deo Gloria.
