How did Jesus Christ teach the Salvation Message?

Jesus Christ began to teach and preach the message of salvation in much the same way as John the Baptist before him. It says in Matthew 4:17

From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Jesus called upon people to repent. The Hebrew meaning of this word is to turn around or change direction. The Greek meaning of the word repent is to "change your mind". Both are required. The mind and the body need to turn away from sin towards God. That is how Jesus taught it. Jesus said in Luke 13:3 "Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish".

Anyone who teaches a version of the Christian faith that does not require you to REPENT in the way Jesus defined it, is not teaching the true gospel.

The next thing recorded about Jesus is that he is walking by some fishermen. He says to them "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." (Matthew 4:19)

Is it necessary to follow after Jesus to be saved? We might ask: "Saved from what?" Saved from hell? Saved from sin?

Well Jesus said this:

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." (John 10:27).

All Jesus' sheep follow him.

Is it possible to be saved without being a "sheep" of Jesus? Is it possible to be saved if it is NOT true of you that "The Lord is my shepherd?"

Surely the "repentance" that the Lord Jesus Christ is after is to turn away from self and the ever-present leadings of demons, to HIM, the Good Shepherd, who lays His life down for the sheep.

In the world we live in, which is a spiritual as well as a natural world, we are constantly being bombarded with thoughts and suggestions. Many people do not realise that many of these thoughts are not their own thoughts at all. Rather they are planted in there. Satan is one source of thoughts. He uses his demons to implant thoughts, temptations and suggestions directly into our minds. I believe that if we refuse to listen to and follow the Lord Jesus Christ, who speaks to us today by His Word and His Spirit, then we will inevitably find ourselves following some way of thinking that is inspired by evil spirits, either directly or indirectly. A perusal of the media in popular culture should reveal how hostile much of the philosophy of the mass media is to the Christian idea of godliness. To fail to follow Jesus is to fall short of God's mark, and it leaves people vulnerable to the many different kind of "wolves" out there which spiritually speaking want to have us for breakfast.

Jesus instructed his disciples to make more disciples along the same lines of how they were taught by Him (see Matthew 28:18-20). This discipleship process involved a call to follow Jesus. To refuse this call is to refuse discipleship.

One of the results that "following Jesus' is going to have is that He will make us fishers of men. Some might argue that this was only true for the people that Jesus called at that time, but again: Jesus comnanded his disciples to preach the gospel, and to make disciples who would obey that command also. Not only are we to preach/communicate the gospel, but we are also called to allow Jesus Christ to shape us and teach us so that we become EFFECTIVE in this enterprise – that is, we BECOME "fishers of men".

The next way we see Jesus teaching salvation in Matthews gospel was more by means of a practical demonstration. 

" And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demonized, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them.  Great multitudes followed Him—from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan." (Matthew 4:23-25)

Jesus demonstrated a very practical part of salvation in healing the sick and driving out demons. We don't have recorded the sermons of Jesus which preceded such ministry, but we know that in general Jesus preached the message of the Kingdom of God. Part of this message is in the ministry of the Spirit which results in freedom for the oppressed. Jesus said, "If I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then surely the Kingdom of God has come among you". (Matthew 12:28)

A salvation which leaves you still partially bound by Satan is not a fully manifested salvation. It is incomplete and to the extent that it is incomplete, it is also unconvincing to others. It is not enough to preach that Jesus is the Liberator, we must show that He has liberated us and that He can and does liberate others. The demons are the same today, Jesus is the same today, and the deliverance and salvation that Jesus brings is the same today.