If you love Me, keep My commandments.
John 14:15
Did you know that the New Testament has listed certain commands that we are instructed to follow? One of which is the one listed above. There are a total of forty-nine commands that Jesus spoke. But I’m going to focus on just one right now.
So, what was the first command of Jesus? It is found in Matthew 4:17 which says, “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
It’s what He didn’t say that I also find interesting: He didn’t say to “accept the free gift of salvation,” or, “if you just say a ‘sinners’ prayer” you will be saved. I know that there are at least seven references to salvation being a gift that comes from the Lord. One of those is, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23) But the preface to receiving that gift begins first by repenting of our sins.
It seems to me that as we go and teach all nations, as we were instructed to do in Matthew 28:19-20, that we must first teach repentance from sin. For everything else is of no value until we first teach that.