The Direct Commandments of Jesus

The first words of John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus were a direct commandment. Both John and Jesus said the same thing:

And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. (Mark 1:4—NIV)

"The time has come," he (the Lord Jesus) said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" (Mark 1:15—NIV)

"Repent and believe." "Repent and believe." "Repent and believe."

These are direct commandments given by the Lord Jesus.

Our whole Christians life is to be one of repenting and believing. This is how we enter the Kingdom of God.

You may notice in the Book of Act that the Apostles invariably commanded repentance when they preached the forgiveness available through Jesus Christ.

To repent and believe are one act, actually. True belief always results in repentance.

Since to repent is a "work," repentance is not always preached today. The preaching is "believe and receive" not "repent and believe." There is a world of difference between "believe and receive" and "repent and believe."

To repent is to turn away from the world, the lusts of the flesh, and self will. Each day we are to renew our belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. Each day will bring to our attention a new area of our personality from which we need, by the Lord's help, to turn away. Each day we press into the Kingdom of God.

Our salvation is not a one-time occurrence. Salvation is always "today." The moment we cease repenting and believing, in that moment the forces of decay and death press into our personality.

The moment we cease brushing our teeth the forces of decay seek to enter. Tooth decay is always present, looking for an opportunity to cause harm. Worldliness, lust, and self-will are always present, looking for an opportunity to bring death into our personality, to drive from us the Kingdom of God.

"Repent and believe." This is one of the greatest commandments of all and the means by which we enter the Kingdom of God.

"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." (Mark 1:17—NIV)

It is my personal point of view that one of the most damaging burdens placed on today's Christian believers is that we all are supposed to be personal workers; we all are to go out into the world and get souls saved; we all are to have "a passion for souls."

Whenever there is a damaging burden it has originated with Satan. What does Satan have in mind by oppressing believers with this unscriptural responsibility? It is to get their minds off the Lord and onto their own dead works. It is to keep the believers in guilt and confusion because the great majority of them do not have the Divine grace that will enable them to be a personal worker or to go into all the world and "save souls." Neither do they have the "passion for souls" (where did this unscriptural concept originate?).

It is scriptural to have a passion for Jesus. It is not scriptural to have a passion for souls. I think this expression reveals the influence of Humanism.

This writer has on occasion felt the passion of Christ for particular people and in one instance for an entire nation. I expect to visit that nation in the day of the Lord. That emotionally wrenching experience will probably be vindicated at some point.

But usually I go about my business without any great "passion for souls." I always have a passion for Christ but not always for souls. I must be a heartless believer, although I am giving my life, in obedience to Jesus, to attempt to explain the way the new covenant operates.

The Lord did not command us to go fishing but to follow Him!

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, (I Peter 3:15—NIV)

If we live in Christ and walk as He walked, people will be drawn to us. Then we can respond to their questions. This is what the Bible teaches and what we ought to do.

Christian believers announce with one voice that "we ought to go out and get souls saved; we ought to have a passion for souls; we all have been charged to evangelize; we must bear witness to everyone we meet."

In the meanwhile many such "evangelists" often live like the devil himself with their gossip, slander, backbiting, selfishness, self-centeredness, manipulations to get their own way, divisiveness, covetousness, arrogance, haughtiness, impatience, immorality, spiritual pride, party loyalties, and everything else of evil report. Instead of being peacemakers they bring hatred and division wherever they go.

The Christian churches are bywords in America because of the evil works of the so-called Christians.

The Lord did not command us to be fishers of men, please note carefully. He commanded us to follow Him. When we follow Him He always makes us fishers of men.

First He has to get our personality straightened out. What fish is going to be drawn to a blind, deaf novice thrashing around in the water and using the wrong kind of bait?

This is what we are until we follow the Lord and He makes us a fisher of men.

There are all kinds of fish and all kinds of bait and techniques for catching them.

Each one of us is a unique kind of bait. The Lord instructs us until we are using the right technique, some for trout, some for cod, some for eel.

It may be true for most of us that the "fishing" we do we are not even aware of. It is the fruit of a personality walking continually in the light of the Presence of Christ. There is rest and refreshing in this.

As far as I'm concerned, we could do without the work of proselyting being enjoined on the newly converted!

As Oswald Chambers says, when the people around us sense our desire to proselyte them they smell the gunpowder and are repulsed. Yet Brother Chambers has proven to be quite a successful fisherman!

We are commanded to leave all and to follow Christ. Whoever obeys the Lord's command will be made a unique bait for specific fish that the Lord desires. Let Christ build His own Church. You concentrate on following Him as closely as you can.

Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets. (Luke 6:22,23—NIV)

Christ commanded us to rejoice and leap for joy when people hate us, when they exclude us, when they insult us, when they reject our name as evil—all because we belong to Jesus Christ.

This commandment runs directly against our evil, adamic nature. It crucifies us. In order to obey it we have to pray fervently until the fires of the flesh are extinguished. Then the light and the glory of the Holy Spirit enter us and we can rejoice and leap for joy.

All people, including Christians, have a problem when they believe they are being treated unjustly. When we are persecuted unjustly in any manner our adamic nature comes to the front. The desire for revenge is tremendous but the Spirit of God is stronger.

If we avenge ourselves, or develop a bitter, hateful attitude, continually speaking angrily of those who have harmed us, Christ will not be formed in us. If Christ is not formed in us we will be cut from the Vine whether or not our doctrine is correct and we have taken "the four steps of salvation" (actually there are four billion steps of salvation!).

We have not been given an option. If we are to be the children of the prophets, to have a great reward in Heaven, we simply must obey God's commandments.

We have seen then that by inference and direct commandment the Lord Jesus instructed us how we should behave. To ignore these commandments, saying we are saved by grace and do not have to keep them, is to ignore and disobey God. Let no person be so foolish as to believe he or she can ignore and disobey God and then be saved by grace and mercy. This is the great error, the massive satanic hoax of our day.

Let us proceed to the Apostles. When the Apostles issued a commandment, either by inference or direct injunction, it was Christ who was speaking in them. Most or all of the commandments given by Christ in the four Gospels can be found in the Epistles in one form or another. There was no change because we passed from the Gospels to the Epistles! It is all one Christ, one set of commandments. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, not by the Apostles themselves.

The Commandments of the Apostles by Inference

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:24—NIV)

At this point the Apostle Paul did not directly command us to crucify our sinful nature with its passions and desires, he merely said such an action is true of all who belong to Christ Jesus. A few verses earlier Paul stipulated that if we live according to our sinful nature we will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

But in actuality Paul is commanding us to crucify our sinful nature with its passions and desires. If we do not do so we will not inherit the Kingdom of God, and it will be true of us that we do not belong to Jesus Christ.

If we do not crucify our sinful nature, presenting our body a living sacrifice, Christ will not be formed in us. Will we be "saved" anyway? If one can be saved without inheriting the Kingdom of God, without belonging to Jesus Christ, maybe it is true that we will be saved anyway (whatever that would mean).

The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:8—NIV)

While Paul did not command us in so many words he actually was requiring that we renounce our sinful nature and walk in the Spirit of God. He declared plainly that if we do not do so we will not reap eternal life. Divine grace does not operate to destroy the Kingdom principles of cause and effect—never!

But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast. (Hebrews 3:6—NIV)

The writer of Hebrews does not command us to hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast. He merely warns us that if we do not do so we will not be part of Christ's house.

However the writer by inference indeed is commanding us to hold faithfully to our courage and our hope in Christ. He reminds us of the Jews who were saved out of Egypt and then perished in the wilderness because they did not continue in faith in God.

The Apostles not only issued indirect and direct commands but also portrayed Christ's commandments by their lives of righteousness, holiness, and obedience to God. Paul's efforts to bring material support to the poor believers is an example of the attitude Christ would have us take toward those in need.

We are way out of balance today with our bloated justification, a warped, poisonous doctrine that destroys God's intention under the new covenant. Will the Christian churches of America every recover from the false doctrine that is prevalent?