The text invites us to look at two things:
I. The Preacher. "Jesus began to preach." Jesus was the Son of man and the Son of God. Who, then, can equal Him in sympathy and in wisdom? It should be understood that very much depends upon the preacher as well as upon the doctrine preached. (1) There was more human nature in Jesus Christ than was ever in any other man. He needed not that any should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin without that one defilement which impairs and ruins the finest qualities of human nature. Preachers must be intensely human if they would reach with good effect the hearts of men. (2) There was more intellectual ability and spiritual insight in Jesus Christ than ever distinguished any other preacher. Look at the answers which He gave to cavillers. Look at the keenness of His discrimination as to moral differences hypocrisy, falseness, half-heartedness. Look at His love of truth simple, pure, eternal truth.
II. The Subject of His Preaching. That subject was repentance. Hear this marvellous Preacher Repent! That is one of the most solemnly suggestive words in all human language. (1) Repent then men are in a wrong moral condition. But for this Jesus would never have come. (2) Repent then there is a work which men must do themselves. One man cannot repent for another. See the power and the weakness of human nature in this particular. One man can suffer for another; can pay for another; can work for another; can even die for another, but never can one man repent for another. (3) Repent, then, until this special work is done; everything else that is seemingly good is worthless. If Jesus preached repentance, then (a) all true preachers will do the same; (b) it is certain that repentance is vitally necessary for all mankind; (c) if repentance is the first act needed, it is vicious and absurd to attempt to make religious progress without it.
Parker, City Temple,vol. iii., p. 116.
The Privilege of Repentance.
I. There are two different words used in the New Testament, both of which are translated into the English word Repentance; one of them conveys especially the notion of being sorry for having done wrong; the other conveys specially the notion of changing one's mind as to things, seeing things in a different light, and then shaping one's conduct accordingly, trying to mend one's life. It is this second word which Christ used; which you can see is the fuller and larger word, including substantially the meaning of the first word too; taking in the being sorry for the wrongdoing and ashamed of it; coming to right views, beginning afresh, and trying to do better.
II. The religion Christ taught was the first which offered forgiveness without suffering, on the part of the penitent, or inflicted by the penitent. All the suffering was borne, long ago, and once for all, that brought our salvation. And now, "if we confess our sins" that is all God "is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Christ's preaching starts from a fact; the fact that there is something wrong; the fact that men are sinners. Now repentance is just the right and healthy feeling of the awakened soul that sees its own sin. Once a man is made to see he is a sinner, then, if his mind be in any way healthy and true, the state of feeling which arises in it is what we call Repentance.
III. Is it not strange that repentance should be so commonly thought a painful duty? It is a grand and inexpressible privilege. There is nothing degrading in it; the degradation is all in the state it takes us out of. It is degrading to stay in sin, not to get out of it. And there is no humiliation, beyond the fact that it is a humble thing to be a human being, in confessing that we have been wrong. That Christ's Gospel invites us to repentance just means that man is not tied down to go on in his wrong and misery. It means that he has not got into that miserable lane in which there is no turning.
A. K. H. B., From a Quiet Place,p. 32.
References: Matthew 4:17. J. Martineau, Endeavours after the Christian Life,p. 87; Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. vi., No. 329; H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxx., p. 209. Matthew 4:18. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. xiii., p. 276. Matthew 4:18; Matthew 4:19. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xii., No. 702.Matthew 4:18-20. H. W. Beecher, Plymouth Pulpit,p. 469.