“So with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people.” Luke 3:18

John the Baptist was the one who preaching about the coming Kingdom and the coming Messiah. He called for repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of sins. But John would not allow people to be baptized unless they were really seeking to do God’s will. He called some snakes and to others he told them to quit sinning, be happy with their wages, stop abusing people, and so forth. He even told the local governor that his marriage was sinful and unlawful. He got put in prison for that and it eventually cost him his life.

So John is out in the wilderness preaching baptism and calling for repentance. Luke says “with many other exhortations he preached the gospel.” Think about that. How many wimpy preachers would say John was just a negative preacher, emphasizing “works salvation”! When new age preachers say the Gospel is limited to telling about the cross and the resurrection, tell them they are perverting the gospel.

Remember this that the gospel is what saves. And without repentance and baptism there is no salvation. Therefore the gospel must include the proper faith response to it.

We can’t preach the Gospel without telling about Jesus, but we haven’t finished telling the Gospel until we have taught disciples to obey everything which he commanded, Mt 28:18-20.

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