What did Jesus say in the Bible?

As for His teaching, He taught men of the Father (Matt. 5 — 7), and taught His disciples to pray to the Father (Matt. 6); and intimated that true, acceptable, spiritual worship His disciples were to cultivate, even worshipping the Father in spirit and in truth. Very early in His ministry He introduced the teaching of the heavenly calling (Matt. 5:11-12; Luke 6:22-23). He set forth too the way of salvation, unfolding that it now depended on faith in Him, so was open to all who would enter in by Him, the door (John 10:9). Then He spoke, and that frequently, of everlasting life, and presented Himself as the object of faith for men to possess it (John 3:16), and stood forth as the light of the world, whom, following, men would not walk in darkness, but have the light of life (John 8:12). To the weary and the heavy-laden He offered rest (Matt. 11:28). To the hungry, to the thirsty, to the unsatisfied ones, He stood forth as the answer to all their need (John 6:35, 7:37). What a ministry indeed it was!

Then in Matt. 5-7 He on the mount lays down authoritatively the principles of the kingdom in contrast to the law, with the manifestation of the Father's name and the suited word, concluding with the security of the obedient, but the sin and vanity and ruin of mere profession.

And here, let me add, appears to be one chief cause of the falling off in the power and effect of the gospel preaching at the present day. The conscience is little dealt with, and the religious sentiments of the natural heart appealed to and wrought upon instead. True gospel preaching always begins with "Repent." The gospel of the kingdom began with "Repent" for its keynote, be its preacher John the Baptist, or the Lord Himself, or His apostles. "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," was the burden of the fore-runner's preaching (Matt. 3:2). "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," the Master Himself preached (ver. 17). And as to His apostles, "They went out and preached that men should repent," (Mark 6:12). At the close of the first transitional gospel at Pentecost, the agonised enquiry of the Jews: "Men, brethren, what shall we do? is again answered by; "Repent, and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." And even after the gospel of grace, peace and glory, as preached by the apostle of the Gentiles, had assumed its full Christian character, Paul was "testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ." Acts 20:21.

When our Lord was here on earth, He summed up the law most beautifully under one word, LOVE. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matt. 22:37-39). What a happy world this would be, if this law of love were faithfully carried out! Do we love God with all our heart? Do we love our neighbours as oneself? We are commanded not to kill, not to commit adultery, not to steal, not to bear false witness, not to covet. We would certainly not do any of these forbidden things, did we love our neighbour as oneself.

While on earth, the Lord plainly foretold His resurrection, recalling Jonah's three days in the belly of the great fish, and telling His hearers that He would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. He also recalled that which was spoken of Himself in Psalm 110, "Sit thou on My right hand, till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool", and said to the Jews when they asked Him for a sign, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19). Frequently He told His disciples that He would be crucified, and rise again the third day (Matt. 16:21; Matt. 17:23; Matt. 20:19). Even the enemies of the Lord recalled what He had said about His rising again (Matthew 27:63).

Anxious reader, do ponder this. It is of the very deepest importance. It concerns the peace and rest of your soul. We would call your earnest attention to the weighty fact that what you are called upon to believe is not something about yourself, but something about Christ. “Verily, verily, I say to you, He that believes on Me has everlasting life” (John 6:47). Do you simply and heartily believe in Jesus? Do you confide in Him? Are you thoroughly satisfied with Him? If so, you have eternal life, and you should from this moment, know it and rejoice in it. Our Lord does not say, “He that feeleth he is one of My sheep shall have eternal life.” Nothing of the kind, nothing like it, nothing approaching to it. “He that believes on Me.” So also in that well-known passage in John 5. “Verily, verily, I say to you. He that hears My word and believes on Him that sent Me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death to life.”

In the sermon on the mount the remnant are morally distinguished; the qualities of those who should have part in the kingdom, are clearly and fully stated in contrast with the current self-righteousness of the Jews. Two great principles characterise this teaching of the Lord - the spiritual character of the law, and the revelation of the Father's name. It is to be remarked that persecution is supposed, and reward in heaven presented as the fruit of it. Thus we have the Lord's teaching in Israel clearly and fully brought before us. Obedience to His teaching was like a man building his house on the rock; while Israel was warned he was in the way with God, and if he did not come to agreement with Him, he would be cast into prison till all was paid. Compare Isaiah 40:2. It will be remarked, that all this is divine government, not divine salvation.

Well might the officers who were sent by the Pharisees and chief priests to arrest Jesus say, “Never man spake like this Man,” for surely it was so. Hitherto men had spoken of the claims of God, man’s responsibility and failure, but Jesus spoke of the grace of God to man; not of man’s righteousness, but of God’s; not of man’s goodness, but of God’s; not of man’s love, but of God’s; not of man’s work, but of God’s; not of what man ought to be, but of what God is. He did not set man to toil to obtain righteousness and life, but presented these blessings in Himself for all, through the rich grace of a Saviour God. He could say, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Moses had set the people to toil, with a promise of rest when they had fulfilled their obligations. They were to work their six days, and get their Sabbath when they had done all their work; but as they never did all their work, they never got their Sabbath. But Jesus gives the Sabbath to begin with. The prophets testified of the intervention of God in a coming day, but in the meantime man must go on laden with a burden which was altogether too heavy for him, but in Jesus the intervention of God was manifested, and the burden was to be transferred from the shoulders of the creature to His, who upholds the universe. Nothing had been accomplished by the efforts of man. At the end of man’s long probation Satan remained the oppressor of the human race, sin reigned in the power of death, and the power of darkness held undisputed dominion. The law had brought no deliverance for those under it, it revealed no object for the heart, and in spite of its prohibitions and denunciations man still wandered in his own wilful way. It was ushered in with blackness and darkness and tempest, and these accompaniments characterized its whole history, and its merciless curse blasted all under its sway. But in Jesus we are face to face with God fully revealed. He draws near to man in the kindness and love of His heart. He comes not in devouring fire, and draped in blackness, mists and obscurity, but through the human veil of the flesh of Jesus the light of His fathomless love shines in all its power before the eyes of men. God Himself is there in the Person of His Son as the Saviour of the lost, and Satan must relax his hold upon his wretched captive, the evils that afflict man must back into the shadows at His approach, and the brazen gates of death and hades confess weakness and defeat. The Seed of the woman that was to bruise the serpent’s head is revealed, and the strong man no longer retains in peace armed possession of his palace, for the stronger than he is there plundering his goods. The virgin’s Son, whose birth had been long foretold by the prophet, has come into the world, and God says to Him, “Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee.”

Of these the Lord spoke often to His disciples when unbelief became more and more pronounced. "From that time Jesus began to show to his disciples that he must go away [being then near Caesarea-Philippi] to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief-priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised" (Matt. 16:21). Then after the transfiguration, while they abode in Galilee, He said to them, "The Son of man is about to be given up into men's hands, and they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised up" (Matt. 17:22-23). Again, in Matt. 20:17-19, He took the Twelve apart, and said, "Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man will be given up to the chief-priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death; and they will give him up to the Gentiles, to mock and to scourge, and to crucify, and the third day he shall rise again." Compare Acts 2:22-23, 36; Acts 3:13-15; Acts 4:10; Acts 5:30-31.

92 The Lord then, seeing that His teaching had attracted the crowd, gathers His disciples and proclaims the great essential principles which were to serve as moral foundations for His kingdom, and to characterise those who were to have part in it. The first sixteen verses of chapter 5 contain the enunciation of these principles, as well as the character and position of the true sons of the kingdom. What follows to the end of chapter 7 consists of warning against the wanderings of the heart of man, and puts the ancient sayings and precepts which had currency among the Jews in contrast with the morality required by the kingdom of the heavens. It was a question of having the heart pure and clear from hatred, and the spirit submissive in such a way that impatience should not rise up, and that its evil should not come to light in the heart itself; it was a question of the patience and the gentleness which is more bent on keeping the heavenly character than one's own goods - of the goodness ready to give and resembling the character of God Himself their Father who loves without being loved.