What Final Task did Jesus Give His Disciples?
They must call on all to repentJesus appeared alive to His disciples on many occasions and explained to them (again) that it was essential for Him to die and be raised from the dead. He also told them to proclaim forgiveness, through His death, to the whole world beginning at Jerusalem. This wonderful offer of salvation was conditional on turning from sin and believing on Christ.
The New Testament tells us that Jesus was finally received back to Heaven in a cloud and enthroned at God’s right hand.
They must invite all to repentJesus commanded His disciples to tell people everywhere to turn from their sinful ways. This is called repentance. The first person to proclaim repentance after Jesus came alive was Peter, one of the leading disciples. He proclaimed forgiveness (by faith in Christ) to those in Jerusalem who had killed Jesus – but they must first repent of their sin.
Acts 2 v38Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you,in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
What is significant in this passage?
The nature of repentanceTrue repentance begins with a deep awareness of personal failure. See how conscious they were of their sin when Peter preached to them.
Acts 2 v37When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles,"Brothers, what shall we do?"
But true repentance is more than regretting our sin; it is confessing and forsaking it. Repentance always involves a change of life.
Acts 26 v20First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also,I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.
Once sin has been confessed and forsaken, there is only one remaining condition for salvation. It is faith in Christ (next).They must call on all to believeJesus commanded His disciples to proclaim Him to a world that had never seen Him. And although they had never seen Jesus, they must believe the witness of those who had.
They must not only believe about Jesus, they must also believe on Jesus by trusting His saving death to put them right with God. Faith in Christ is the second condition for salvation.
They must invite all to believeJohn the disciple wrote “The Gospel of John” so that his readers might believe.
John 20 v31But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Paul was a church leader who was wrongly imprisoned. He preached the Gospel to his jailer. He told him to believe on Christ for salvation.
Acts 16 v31They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved--you and your household."
The true nature of saving FaithA person who has Saving Faith trusts Christ’s death alone to put him right with God. A drowning man must first give-up all hope of saving himself, then he will trust another to save him. Those who trust their goodness to put them right with God are unlikely to trust the cross to save them. Forgiveness is by faith alone, not good deeds, lest any person should boast.
Ephesians 2 v8-9For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves,it is the gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast.
Real faith will lead to action. If we really believe a building is on fire we will quickly leave it. And if we sincerely believe that God hates sin we will do our best to forsake it. Faith without works is dead. Real faith will be seen by the way we live.
James 2 v17-18In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
Faith is not an idea in the mind, or a written statement of doctrine. It is a strong sense of certainty that is unashamed to own Christ before others.
They must baptise new disciplesBefore Jesus left His disciples to return to Heaven, He told them to baptise those who would believe on Him as a result of their preaching the Gospel. This would become the practice of the church. But unlike repentance and faith, baptism was not a condition for salvation.
Baptism is a test of obedienceWhen Peter preached Christ, he told those who believed to confess their faith in baptism (see Acts 2:38 on page 21). He did this because Jesus had commanded believers to be baptised. True believers will want to obey their loving Saviour and be baptised.
Matthew 28 v19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Baptism symbolised the washing away of sinThose baptised by Peter and Paul had already become Christians. They did not become Christians by being baptised. Baptism symbolised what Christ had already done for them – their sins had been washed away.
1 Corinthians 6 v9-11Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Baptism cannot wash away sin – only Christ’s blood can.They must proclaim Him as world judgeOne of the last instructions Jesus gave is often overlooked. The disciples were told to tell the world that Jesus would be its future Judge. Yes, the very person who had come to save the world would return to judge it! This is an awesome thought, and should motivate us to get right with God now, while we have the opportunity.
Jesus the world's judgeMuch of Jesus’ teaching was about His future role as Judge. So it is not surprising that Jesus should give this command.
Acts 10 v42He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom Godappointed as judge of the living and the dead.
Jesus the fair judgeJesus will justly condemn those who have not repented, for He is too righteous to judge unfairly.
Acts 17 v31For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed.He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."
And FinallyThe New Testament is a record of the amazing lengths to which God has gone to reconcile sinners to Himself. However, the writers warn us against ignoring what God has done. Now is the time to act – “now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
It is wrong and offensive to put off our response to another time. What excuse can we make to Almighty God for keeping Him waiting? If we have not turned from sin, and trusted Christ as Saviour, we should do so now. We must not be indecisive. Jesus said that if we are not for Him, we are against Him.
Copyright © 2002 Homerton Baptist Church.Designed by SolfaWEB, Hosted by SolfaNETSend mail to the Webmaster with questions or comments about this web site.
