Jesus’s Teaching on Salvation, Gosepel Book of Mark
“and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:15
“And Jesus said to them, Come after Me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.” Mark 1:17
“When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, Son, your sins are forgiven you.” Mark 2:5
“Which is easier: To say to the paralytic, Your sins are forgiven you; or to say, Arise, take up your bed and walk? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…” Mark 2:9-10a
“When Jesus heard it, He said to them, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” Mark 2:17
“And He said to them, To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things are in parables, so that seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand; lest they should convert, and their sins be forgiven them.” Mark 4:11-12
“And when He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” Mark 8:34-38
“But Jesus said, Do not forbid him, for no one who does a work of power in My name will soon afterward be able to speak evil of Me. For he who is not against us is on our behalf. For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, Truly, I say to you, He will by no means lose his reward. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him if a millstone is hung around his neck, and he be thrown into the sea. If your hand makes you stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to Gehenna, into the fire that shall never be quenched; where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. And if your foot makes you stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into Gehenna, into the fire that shall never be quenched; where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. And if your eye makes you stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into the fire of Gehenna; where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. For everyone will be salted with fire, and every sacrifice will be salted with salt. Salt is good, but if the salt loses its saltiness, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” Mark 9:39-50
“Truly, I say to you, Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” Mark 10:15
“Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” Mark 10:21
“So Jesus answered and said, Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, on account of Me and the gospel, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time; houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” Mark 10:29-31
“Jesus answered and said to them, Are you not therefore in error, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in Heaven. But concerning the dead, that they are raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, how God spoke to him at the bush, saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You are therefore greatly in error.” Mark 12:24-27
“Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is: Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:29-31
“And He said to them in His teaching, Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the chief seats in the synagogues, and the chief places at feasts, who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive surpassing condemnation.” Mark 12:38-40
“And Jesus, answering them, began to say: Take heed that no one leads you astray. For many will come in My name, saying, I AM, and will lead many astray. But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled; for it is necessary for such things to come about, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of travail. But take heed to yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils, and you will be beaten in the synagogues. You will be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony to them. And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations. But when they lead you away and deliver you up, do not be anxious beforehand, or premeditate what you will speak. But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that; for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit. Now brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by everyone on account of My name. But he who endures to the end shall be kept safe. So when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. And let him who is on the housetop not go down into the house, nor enter to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! And pray that your flight may not be in winter. For in those days there will be affliction, such as has not been since the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, nor ever shall be. And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh would be kept safe alive; but because of the elect, whom He chose, He has shortened the days. Then if anyone says to you, Look, here is the Christ; or, Look, He is there; do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and show signs and wonders to cause, if possible, even the elect to go astray. But take heed; behold, I have foretold you all things. But in those days, after that affliction, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars of heaven will be falling, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then He will send His angels, and gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven. Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender, and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see these things happening, know that it is near; at the doors. Truly, I say to you, This generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. But of that day and hour no one knows, not the angels in Heaven, nor the Son, except the Father. Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming; in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning; that, coming suddenly, he not find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch.” Mark 13:5-37
Now to a brief summary that is not all inclusive…
This summary is not going to include the parables or the meaning of the parables as I did not feel that is what I should focus on. What we will focus on here after having taken a look at the book of Mark and Jesus’s teachings on Salvation is the main factors that we see running through the gospel book of Mark.
First and foremost we see something that is definitely lacking in the church nowadays, a call to repent or repentance. Jesus often, throughout all of the gospel books, tells man to repent. Unfortunately this is lacking in the basic salvation message that is put out there by almost EVERY single church in the nation that name the name of Christ. That do not have regard for Jesus’s teachings, they have no regard for biblical truths and they are the blind leading the blind or the masses of those who are destined to hell leading the rest of the flock right along with them. The problem is that they claim the name of Jesus and believe that they are saved, when in fact how can one get saved if they do not repent?
There was some time ago that a church that Brandon had mentioned going to or going to go to in Wolverine was brought up. I did some googling and came to their website. On there they had a so-called comprehensive salvation plan. After going through their plan I realized that NOT ONCE, let me repeat, NOT EVEN ONE TIME, did they use a bible verse that referred to repentance. This is so very sad but our Savior Himself often spoke of repentance and also repentance is a repeating theme throughout the New Testament.
Secondly Jesus speaks of giving up the world, whether family or wealth or whatever and following Him. This is another basis of Salvation that is repeated in the gospel of Mark on more than one occasion. In fact Jesus said that you have to follow God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength. So we start off with repentance. Now we move onto follow God fully with all that we have. Think about this for a second. If first you need to repent you would need to believe in order to repent. For why would someone repent of their sins if they at first didn’t believe they had sin? Or why would someone claim to be a Christian if they didn’t believe in Jesus? Is it not clear that first one would believe, then one would repent, then one would truly follow God. And would not a true Christian truly follow God because he indeed did love Him with all of his hearth, soul, body and strength? After all if the person truly claims to love Christ would they not obey?
“If you love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15
See how simple that is…
Now finally Jesus ends with a warn with the last word simply being Watch. As Christians all we can do is watch and marvel at the world and how they have twisted the simplicity that is in Christ.
“But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” 2nd Corinthians 11:3
The path to Salvation is an easy one that anyone can choose to follow. Jesus opened the door for us to seek Salvation by dying on the cross for our sins. All one has to do is believe, repent and truly follow Him. How much simpler can it get than that? Yet the world with all of there twisting and apostasy has created barriers of false doctrine every way we turn. While most people proclaim to follow Christ they do not follow Him or the God of the bible but rather created their own god to their own destruction. We must simply follow Him and not worry about what other people are doing. We need to have our focuses on Him and Him alone, striving to meet the goal while reading the bible and praying often.
