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The Gospel Truth
By Warren Zehrung - November 5, 2011 |
I have often heard people say, in order to emphasize their point when they wanted to be believed, "And that's the gospel truth!"
Here, in Colossians, will we see a verse where that saying may have come from. Paul, in his greetings to the Colossians, wrote:
Colossians 1:3-5 We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel.
Brethren, this is where I got the title from, because verse 5 could literally be translated as “The message of the truth which is the gospel," or "The message of the Gospel Truth."
Sometimes the King James translators get a little far out in trying to translate from the Greek to the English, and also our English has changed a good deal today.
Colossians 1:6 Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and brings forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:
It is interesting because Paul is talking about the Gospel Truth going to the entire world. I suppose that in 60 AD, about the time that Paul wrote this epistle, the Gospel Truth was going to the known world in a powerful way. Paul had no reason to believe that it would not go to all of the world, because of the words of Jesus Christ. Paul knew that Jesus had said: "And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come! (Matthew 24:14)
What is “the Gospel,” and how important is it?
Mark 1:14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Gospel [with a clarification] of the Kingdom of God,
So that is what the Gospel is, it is all about the Kingdom of God.
Acts 8:12 But when they believed Philip [Philip was one of the first deacons] preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
It is obvious, just from that one verse that the Kingdom of God was being elaborated upon by Philip. And Philip would have learned that from the apostles.
So, brethren, please understand this – God intends for us to understand a great deal more than just the simple phrase,”the Kingdom of God.” We are to understand more about the Kingdom of God. There is much more to the story than just one simple phrase! Let us get down to the fundamental basics.
Let us continue with Jesus’ words:
Mark 1:14-15 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the Gospel.
What is it that we are supposed to believe? Obviously, there is more to this than meets the eye.
Please understand that the “Gospel” was not new when Jesus preached it here. The Gospel was preached to Abraham, and it was preached to those in the Old Testament.
Galatians 3:8 The scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
Abraham heard the Gospel and what did it result in?
Hebrews 11:10 Abraham looking for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Even Abraham wanted to know some more details about the Kingdom of God.
We will see that Moses preached the Gospel to the Israelites. The Gospel needs to be expounded upon in great detail.
Hebrews 4:1-2 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the Gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
Here is a red flag scripture. They heard the gospel but it did not profit them. Because, “it was not mixed with faith in them that heard it.”
So we are right back to the words of Jesus Christ that we saw in Mark 1:15, “Believe the Gospel.” There is a great deal of detail there. We need to believe the Gospel, and if it is not mixed with faith what would be our end?
Let us understand that knowing the Gospel Truth brings with it a special responsibility:
Romans 1:1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God.
He was set apart from the world for the purpose of preaching the Gospel of God.
Romans 1:2 Which He (God) had promised afore by His prophets in the holy scriptures.
So Paul is saying that the prophets of old, who wrote the Old Testament, were preaching the Gospel.
We understand, that as the God of the Old Testament, Jesus had foretold the eventuality of the Kingdom of God from the foundation of the world.
Acts 3:20-21 "[God] shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began."
Daniel, just like all of the other prophets of God, was inspired (God breathed) to write about the Gospel.
Daniel 2:44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a Kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the Kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
This might come as a surprise to you, but even the angels of God preach the Gospel. They have in the past, and they will again in the future.
Luke 1:19 And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to show you these glad tidings.
When you read in the scriptures “glad tidings” that is the same wording that is translated “Gospel” in other places, and it could just as easily been translated
“to show you the Gospel.”
Let us look at something that we do not often consider, but we should. We know the scripture: "This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." (Matthew 24:14)
You may know that there are some who say that the Gospel has already been preached in all the world, and that it need not go to the world any more. Do not believe it, brethren.
Let me give you an example. We were sending out eight million Plain Truth magazines in the 1980’s, and they were going into nearly every country around the world.
Had we sent the Plain Truth to another eight million people, every year for twelve years, that would have been one hundred million people, or even households, that would have received the Plain Truth Magazine. Had we kept it up at that pace, every year adding eight million new people, for one hundred and twenty years, we would have reached one billion households.
But, of course, we did not do that. We did not preach the Gospel to a billion.
The population of the world has recently surpassed the seven billion mark!
A generation ago, Herbert W. Armstrong had a high rate of name recognition, but today how many have heard his name, and how many have heard the Gospel preached?
Way over six billion people have never heard the True Gospel being preached.
And brethren, let us face it, we are not getting the job done!
We are going to break into the thought here, in Revelation 14, and this is after the 144,000 have been redeemed from the earth.
Revelation 14:6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
Does it sound a little bit familiar?
Revelation 14:7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him.
Jesus Christ said, quite clearly, that the Gospel and the warning message were to go to the entire world, to all nations, and to all them that dwell on the earth.
And we know that the apostles, even though Paul thought and felt that the Gospel would increase and that Jesus would come back possibly in his time, did not fully complete the mission of having the Gospel go to all of the world.
Like Jesus, brethren, we are about our Father's business. We were not called to salvation because we were so extra special to God above everyone else in the world. Sometimes we act like that, but that is not the case.
We are called now to be an extension of those, like Jesus and the apostles, who had the opportunity and the gift to bring the Gospel to the world. We have been called now to show the good news of God’s Kingdom, to preach it, to tell it, to publish it, and to live it.
This is not a responsibility that we can shirk off, or leave to others. I am speaking on this today because it seems like the greater Church of God is forgetting that we have a great duty to perform. People are going from church organization to church organization looking for a place of comfort, or they are saying that they will know the Word of God when they hear it.
Brethren, be that as it may, the Church is being scattered, and further scattered. But that does not relinquish the duty that we have to be a part of the end-time Gospel. There are no others to preach the Gospel Truth.
The word, “Gospel” simply means "good news," or "good message."
Jesus proclaimed the good news, and told us to believe it.
But what is this “good news” that we must believe? It is the good news of the Kingdom of God
Jesus taught that God’s Kingdom would replace the kingdom of Satan that we find ourselves in. The world does not know that, and they do not even know that they are in the kingdom of Satan.
Jesus also taught what the Kingdom of God would be like, and how we must change in order to qualify for it.
Again, “Gospel” means “good news” or “glad tidings,” “good tidings,” or “good message.”
Let us have a little Greek lesson here, brethren, and I think that it will be informative. Let us start off with the word for angel. In Greek it is ‘aggelos.’ It is also Greek for ‘messenger.’ It would be much better to translate ‘aggelos’ as messenger, each time we saw it. Because we are in Satan’s corrupted kingdom, and even months before Christmas you start to see decorations, and one of the decorations is always an angel. We start thinking of angels in a way that is non-scriptural. We should think of an angel as a messenger from God.
One other word from the Greek is ‘eu’ and this is a prefix most of the time, and it just means ‘good.’ Seventy four times in the scriptures we see these two words put together ‘euaggelion’ and that is the word for Gospel. It means “good message.” And fifty two times it has a little bit different ending, and this is ‘euaggelizo,’ and that is the word “to announce the Good Message,” or to “proclaim, preach or teach the Good Message.”
That is where our English word evangelize comes from. This has changed very little from the original Greek, because if you write the word “evangelize” out you see that it has the word ‘angel’ right in the middle of it. The ending has changed very little from the original Greek. I bring that out to have a little bit of clarification between angels and messengers, and proclaiming the Good News, or the Good Message. This is what Jesus taught about the Gospel, it was the Good News that Jesus brought about the Kingdom of God.
I was reading an article that came from this dark, evil, confused world of Satan’s, and most people do not think of the world in that way. They think that the people in the world love God; they know God and they love Jesus. They have given their heart to Jesus, and this is His church, and they think of their church that way.
But, brethren, let us understand that we have been called to be separate from the world.
2 Corinthians 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
2 Corinthians 6:18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
When I was reading that article, I came across a definition of ‘Gospel.’ This is not our definition, but this is the world’s definition of the Gospel:
“The Gospel is the truth about Jesus Christ, His birth, His divinity, His healings, His death, and resurrection.”
The world accepts that definition for Gospel. It is a WRONG definition. That is a gospel ABOUT Jesus.
But the Gospel is not about Jesus Christ’s birth, His divinity, His healings, His death, and His resurrection.”
The Gospel is something altogether different. This is not taking away from Jesus Christ. He came preaching the Gospel, and they are two different things.
If we look closely at how Jesus handled the Gospel, we will see that the Gospel that Jesus preached was not about Himself, His birth, His divinity, His death, and resurrection, etc.
The Gospel that Jesus preached is all but lost on the world.
Matthew 4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues,
That is what Jesus did. He was not shy, He was not weak. But He was brave and courageous, and He was not ashamed of the Gospel, that is for sure.
Matthew 4:23b….and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
Notice that Jesus’ miracles of healings were something in addition to, something other than the Gospel of the Kingdom. He preached the Gospel, and He healed people.
The healings Jesus performed are not a part of the Gospel message. Neither is His birth, His divinity, and His resurrection, and so forth. The Gospel is a separate subject.
The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven are one and the same thing.
Most men have not yet submitted to God’s authority or to His doctrine and rule over their lives.
They do not know or believe the Gospel.
The Kingdom of God is not a church, although this is what the Catholic Church teaches. It is not an organization, a location, or a period of time that is relegated to the future. Right now, God’s Kingdom is extant – and it is spiritual in nature. The Gospel of the Kingdom of God is the story of mankind's Hope. The Gospel is a message of Hope. Jesus Christ preached the message about the Kingdom of God.
Isaiah preached the Gospel:
Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publishes peace; that brings good tidings of good, that publishes salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigns!
The life and miracles of Jesus are not the Gospel. But, we must understand that Jesus' life, death and resurrection are central to the fulfillment of the Gospel, and our being in the Kingdom of God.
I had a supervisor in the Worldwide Church of God who said that he was ashamed to even mention the words “Jesus Christ.” He did not read the scriptures because Peter preached Jesus Christ.
Acts 5:42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
And along with that was the message of Christ, and what Christ taught. Christ taught about the coming Kingdom of His Father over all the earth.
The world has believed Satan's false gospel. They need to hear the True Gospel that Jesus Christ preached.
The Bible speaks of two kingdoms, one is God’s Kingdom, and the other is Satan’s kingdom.
Jesus refers to Satan’s kingdom in Luke 11:18:
Luke 11:18 "If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub.
What Satan has is a kingdom. We can read all of the scriptures telling us that Satan is the prince of the power of the air, and that he is the god of this present world, and so forth (2 Corinthians 4:4, Ephesians 2:2, John 14:30, Revelation 12:9, John 16:11).
Today we will lay the foundation that is necessary to have a proper understanding of this subject – the Gospel Truth.
To understand the Gospel Truth, it is necessary that we go all of the way back to the two trees of Genesis.
Most of the people who laughed at the sermons about the two trees are gone, and they never did get it, although they thought they did.
Let us look at what the Bible says as though we have never heard the story of the two trees before.
Let us not assume that we have a full grasp of the “Gospel Message,” or that we have a full grasp of the “Kingdom of God.” It is far too simplistic to say, “Well, the Gospel is what we preach on the air-waves.” “It is the Gospel of the Kingdom of God that Jesus will set up at His return.”
That is true, brethren, but that is shallow, because there is a great deal more than that. Let us understand that we must come out of the kingdom of Satan.
These are the words of Jesus Christ to Paul telling him what his commission was:
Acts 26:18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
The world is in sin still. In one of Jesus’ parables He likened the Kingdom of God unto a tree:
Matthew 13:31-32 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: "The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, "which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches."
God, in all of His analogies, uses a tree to represent the Kingdom of God.
In the Garden of Eden, the two trees represented the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan.
Genesis 2:9 And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The Tree of Life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
We understand that to have a part in the Kingdom of God, we must have God's Spirit - which is represented by the Tree of Life, in the Garden of Eden. The Spirit of God places us in the Family of God, and makes us Children of God, and Children of the Kingdom of God.
Matthew 13:38 "The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the Kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.
I John 3:2 Beloved, now we are Children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
God's intention was that Adam would take of the "Tree of Life," which represented His Spirit, and that Adam's family would grow into a great nation and eventually would become the Kingdom of God.
We all have a pedigree. On my pedigree, my family tree, you would find my Dad’s name, my Grandfather’s name, my Great Grandfather’s name. And if you are like me, you have tried to extend that back as far as you possibly can, maybe even to when our forefathers first came to America or Canada. Or maybe back into the times of the Kings of England. Adam's pedigree, or family tree, would have begun with God. When we are tracing back the pedigree of Jesus Christ, the lineage, the family tree of Jesus Christ, it goes all of the way back to Adam. Then Luke adds that Adam was the son of God:
Luke 3:38 Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.
Do we realize that if we follow our family tree back far enough it too extends all of the way to Adam? But let us understand that Adam was the son of God, but he did not choose God. He did not take of the Tree of Life. He would not have God rule over him, and he did not believe God. He was not obedient to God, and instead he believed Satan. Jesus said to the men of His day:
John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil.
This is why we are in Satan’s kingdom. Had Adam not rejected the offer of His Creator God, and had taken of the Tree of Life, he would have become a member of the Family of God. God the Father would be at the base root of his family tree. But it is not that way. God made Adam, and was Adam’s family, but Adam rejected the offer of His Creator God and chose Satan.
Had Adam chosen God, then all of his family after him would have their pedigree extend back to God. This would have been all of His children, including us. Then we would be in the Kingdom of God with God as the One that we look to. Pedigrees or family trees begin with the oldest patriarch.
So by taking of the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil Adam chose Satan as his father and the kingdom of Satan for all of his children. That includes the entire world right now.
Jesus pointed that out in His day, speaking to the Jewish Pharisees, of all people, “You are of your father the devil.” (John 8:44)
As a result of that wrong choice, the death penalty was incurred for all of Adam's family.
Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eat thereof thou shalt surely die.
So Adam and Eve brought the death penalty on themselves and on all humanity.
Do we understand that the death penalty, for all of mankind, was bad news for all humanity?
We need some Good News – we need the Gospel Truth.
The death penalty was indeed bad news.
The Good News, that is able to overcome the bad news, is the Gospel Truth. Jesus came preaching the Good News. Somehow we are going to escape Satan’s kingdom, escape death and live – that is what the Gospel message is all about.
Man can find life and salvation in the Kingdom of God through Jesus Christ
II Peter 1:4, 11 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, [we can live] having escaped the corruption [Satan’s kingdom] that is in the world through lust. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
That is the Good News, that is the Gospel Truth, and that is what Jesus Christ preached.
The Gospel is the promise of the Kingdom of God.
The Good News is that this present evil world of Satan's will soon be superseded.
Mankind is blind to the Good News of the glorious Kingdom of God, because Satan is now the god of this world, and the world is his kingdom.
Ephesians 2:2 …You once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.
The Gospel is hidden to those who are lost.
II Corinthians 4:4 The god of this world [Satan] hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
Brethren, we are to expound on the Gospel and understand it. It says to come out of the darkness and into the brilliance of God.
God's plan will soon be put back on track when the kingdom of Satan is displaced.
Picture the world in which we live today, with all of its adultery, idolatry, hatred, wrath, strife, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, and such.
Galatians 5:20-21 …idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
That is Satan's kingdom being described, and it is in exact opposition to God’s Kingdom.
Matthew 13:38 "The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the Kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.
We can see the consequences of Satan’s kingdom in the lying, killing, stealing, hate, and fear that is so prevalent in the world around us.
On the other hand, the Kingdom of God is the actuality of God’s perfect way of love, truth, peace, enlightenment, law, life, and even eternal life. God’s Kingdom is more powerful than Satan’s kingdom.
Jesus told His disciples:
Matthew 12:28 If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God is come unto you.”
Our entering into the Kingdom of God is what the Gospel is all about.
All hope was lost when Adam and Eve rejected the way to eternal life.
The promise that life eternal would be available to mankind, once again, is what the Gospel is all about.
Paul clearly shows that converted Christians have come out of Satan’s kingdom, and have been transferred into the Kingdom of God.
Colossians 1:12-13 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness [Satan’s kingdom], and hath translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son.”
It is so clear in those two verses that we are to come out of the world, and we are to separate ourselves from the world. We are to come out of Satan’s kingdom. We, who have been called by God, have been called into this light. We have been delivered from the power of darkness.
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God was not a new concept that originated at the time of Jesus' ministry.
When Adam and Eve sinned that wicked act initiated the "foundation of the world." With God's plan subverted, set aside and rejected, the foundation of this world in which we live was established. We are still in it physically. We put our feet in it, we rub shoulders with people in it, we do business with people in it, but spiritually in our minds, in our hearts, and in our actions, we come out of Satan’s kingdom. God tells us to come out and be separate.
From the very moment that Adam and Eve sinned, it became necessary for mankind to be delivered from the clutches of Satan. Satan has had his hooks in mankind thereafter. Jesus Christ is the only one who overcame Satan. Jesus Christ is qualified to establish the Kingdom of God in place of Satan’s kingdom. Satan’s kingdom will be removed for ever.
The Gospel of Christ is the message of the Kingdom that Jesus Christ preached.
Jesus did not come only to proclaim the true Gospel, but He came in order to conquer Satan’s kingdom, making possible the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth.
Christ’s atoning sacrifice, paying for the sin of the world, makes the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God possible.
Beware of those who say that the Gospel has been preached. They say that we went out to all of the world, that we were on all of the powerful radio stations, and that many people heard it. So keep sending that money in, and we will just sit on all it, and maybe we will use it to flee to the Place of Safety, but we will not use it to preach the Gospel.
Matthew 26:7, 12-13 There came unto [Jesus] a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on His head, as He sat at meat. For in that she hath poured this ointment on My body, she did it for My burial. Verily I say unto you, Where-so-ever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.
Jesus Christ knew that the Gospel was not going to die when He died, and that it was going to go to the whole world. But, brethren, we see the Gospel not yet having gone to the whole world.
The Good News for the Church of God is this: We live according to the rules, customs and the way of life of the Kingdom of God now! Jesus Christ, the prophesied Messiah, will establish the Kingdom of God in all the earth. Even now we are privileged to know about the spiritual Kingdom of God. But, we will not be fully in the Kingdom of God until our resurrection as Spirit-born children of God. To enter into the Kingdom of God is to enter into life itself.
Mark 9:45,47 "And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— "And if your eye causes you to sin, 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 hell fire—
Too many of the brethren, of the Church of God, have believed that the Kingdom of God is something that is off in the future that we are waiting for. Do not think of it as being off in the future, because Jesus said that the Kingdom of God was at hand.” He told one group of people that the Kingdom of God is among you, because Jesus is a representative of the Kingdom of God. We are the children of the Kingdom now, brethren. We are to live it now, we are to teach it now, and we are to be ambassadors of the Kingdom – even now.
When Jesus Christ said that the Kingdom of God was at hand, He was teaching that it was for those who believe the Gospel, even here and now.
The question that we should be asking ourselves is this, “Am I a good representative of the Kingdom of God, now? That is a big and hard test. How many of us would stand up and say, “I am a perfect representative of the Kingdom of God?” While on earth, Jesus was the perfect representative of the Kingdom. We are to follow in His steps and be representatives and ambassadors of the Gospel too.
We could go through many scriptures that show that even the Queen of Sheba is going to come up in the resurrection and remember how she was dealt with, and what the people acted like. We need to examine our lives, and the relationships of people that we have dealt with. Are there some who will stand up and look at you and say, “You knew about the Kingdom of God, you were a representative of the Kingdom of God?”
The Bible sometimes uses the word Ambassadors. Mr. Armstrong was an Ambassador for the Church of God.
Paul gave his job description this way: “I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel.” (Ephesians 6:19-20)
Paul was in jail. He was not cursing the jailor, he did not rant and rave, and he did not put all good common morals aside. So, whether we are sick, in jail, on the job, or no matter where we are, we are representatives and ambassadors of the Gospel. We have said how the world does not know the true Gospel. They think that it is the Gospel about Jesus Christ. They sing the beautiful Christmas carols that point to a false doctrine. That is why we need to be so careful of what we are doing, and what we are saying.
The rules of the Kingdom bring about perfect peace, unity of the brethren, and order, to the Family of God. As we look at the Church of God today, the way that it is separating and being further separated, we have to ask ourselves again, “Are we truly representatives of the Kingdom of God?”
At Christ’s return, He will establish the millennial Kingdom of the Father over all the earth, and He will administer the laws of the Kingdom with perfect justice and righteousness. This world is going to be changed. Why is the Church of God not being changed now? Why are we not better representatives of the Kingdom now?
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God?” (1Corinthians 6:9)
This should be a red flag, brethren. If we are breaking the rules of the Kingdom, right now, we shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.
If our light is not shining, to all men with whom we come into contact, then we are denying the purpose God has called us to. We are not just called to sit back and soak up a sermon every Sabbath, and just wait for Christ to do His thing, and we will be there. We are to be representatives of the Kingdom of God with all that we come into contact with.
Mark 4:13-14 And [Jesus] said unto them, Know ye not this parable? And how then will ye know all parables? The sower sows the Word.
Jesus is talking about the Gospel being preached.
Mark 4:15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.
Most of the world is in Satan’s kingdom. They prefer this, and they prefer to be with their friends. They do the things that their friends do, laugh at their friends’ jokes, and wink at their friends sins. They hear the Word of God, but Satan comes immediately and he takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.
Mark 4:19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the Word, and it becomes unfruitful.
The word of God does have a difficult time in this world.
Mark 4:21-22 And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? And not to be set on a candlestick? For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad.
Jesus Christ is saying that what we must be careful of how we are living, and the example that we are showing to those in the church, in our family, and to people in the workplace, as they are measuring us. We are saying to them that we are representatives of the Kingdom. They will remember.
Mark 4:23-25 If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.
Unfortunately we have seen brethren that did not put their Christianity into practice, and did not live according to the rules of the Kingdom. They lost the understanding that they once had, and they have turned their back on God. It is a fearful thing.
Mark 4:26 And [Jesus] said, So is the Kingdom of God...
Brethren, we are the representatives of the Kingdom of God. Are we preaching the True Gospel of Jesus Christ by the example of our lives to others?
Life eternal can take place only in the Kingdom of God. That is why Jesus came preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom.
The true saints of God are being converted from the ways of this world, to the way of the Kingdom of God. The true saints of God are those who are in compliance with the laws of the Kingdom of God. They will reign and rule in the Kingdom of God with Jesus Christ in the millennium.
Because of Jesus, we can have eternal life in the Kingdom of God. Jesus is our Savior.
It was God’s plan, from the foundation of the world, that Jesus make the fulfillment of the Gospel possible by redeeming sinful mankind.
II Timothy 1: 9-10 Jesus has saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel."
Daniel 7:18 ‘But the saints of the Most High shall receive the Kingdom, and possess the Kingdom forever, even forever and ever.’
Satan’s kingdom will be abolished, and the glorious good news of the Gospel will come to fruition in the Kingdom of God.
Daniel 7:27 The Kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the Kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whoseKingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.
WZ/pp/sl
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Sermon: |
"The Gospel Truth" |
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