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good news that, on the first Good
Friday, Christ died for our sins and
that He rose from the dead on the
first Easter morning-and that
God is willing to forgive us our
sins- and give us new life, peace
and joy."
All too many preachers- and
their followers-say this
is the gos–
pel.
The "experts" are WRONG!
Don' t misunderstand me! Those
actions by our loving Savior are
most important
and
vital
to salva–
tion. We would have no hope what–
soever without them. Christ's will–
ingness to die poignantly portrays
the
consummate
GRACE and
super–
lative
COMPASSION of our ever-mer–
ciful Redeemer. He bought us back
from sin and its destructiveness.
His resurrection opens the way into
immortality.
Nonetheless, these actions, of
themselves, do not explain the ulti–
mate purpose for mankind. The
gospel is meant to explain all of
this. We can know the purpose for
this uttermost expression of God's
!ove.
God's Word makes it plain.
The shroud of mystery can be
drawn back.
Let's look into it. Let's KNOW!
Let's filter out the pollution and
find out just what the aooo NEWS
really is.
Bad News
The news has been almost totally
bad
ever since man has recorded
anything about himself. He leaves
a record of wantonness, rebellion,
war, rape, robbery.
He hotly pursues !ove, but love
eludes him. He eagerly anticipates
joy but is enveloped by despair. He
strives for peace, but another war
breaks out.
He has, from time to time, man–
aged to delude himself that at long
last he has utopía in his grasp. To–
mor row always proves him wrong.
His scheme backfires. He awakens
with a hangover . His !ove proves tó
be a debauch, bis joy an orgy, his
peace only slight and temporary re–
lief from grinding away at the rut he
is making in this derelict , vicious age
(or "evil world," Galatians 1:4).
30
lt is absolutely true that we are
only able to find our way out of the
present system through Jesus
Christ. The fact remains that we
are in a system from which we seek
release.
It
follows that if we leave
this system, we will then move
toward another system. What is
this different s.ystem?
Christ Preached the Gospel
Note that Christ did NOT preach
about H is
own
life. He didn't
preach
His life- HE LIVED IT!
Preachers today all too often
simply preach
about
the life and
death-the person-<>f Christ and
assume
that is ·the gospel.
The fi rst four books of the New
Testament have unwittingly been
entitled the "Gospels." Those books
were not called by that name until
long, long
after
the resurrection of
Christ. They were not even written
until sorne thirty to fifty years
after
His ascension. These four books
are
about
the life of Christ. They con–
tain His message a lso. Both of
those themes are very important.
But we must make certain that we
do not create a "gospel" out of the
story of Christ's life if it clouds and
covers the GOSPEL message HE
PREACHEO. He preached ABOUT
THE KINGDOM. Tbat is the gos–
pel-the GOOD NEWS!
In fact and truth, the gospel of
Jesus Christ is about a Kingdom–
the Kingdom of God- and so about
government. A kingdom
cannot
exist without
government~
Govern–
ment is an integral part of
al/
king–
doms. So, the gospel is the
good
news
that
finally- ultimately-a
really aooo government is going to
be established which will free the
earth and its inhabitants from evil.
Christ is going to
rule
over that
government. Satan and his evil will
be "bound" for a thousand years.
All mankind will finally experience
goodness and peace in ACTUAL
FACT! (Revelation 20:4-8; Romans
11:32; 1 Corinthians 15:22-24.)
Cbrist told people about the King–
dom
before
He died and was resur–
rected. He didn't continually
talle
about His life and death- He contin–
ually preached tbe gospel of the King–
dom. There is a difference!
Certa inly His life, death and res–
urrection are vitally important to
our attaining salvation ; but the
good news for man- what the fu–
ture
holds- proceeds forward from
those incidents.
It
leaps forward al–
most immediately sorne 2000
YEARS, graphically describes yet
another thousand years of Christ's
millennial RULE, and boldly chal–
lenges man's imaginative percep–
tion of that same government as it
will exist in eternity!
Christ did NOT preach
about
His
OWN LIFE- as most ministers now
do, calling this biographical resume
"the gospel." He LJVED His own
life as an example of proper disci–
pline and self-government. He told
men to live this same way so that
they might thereby qualify for a
position in the Kingdom.
Their works could not buy salva–
tion or entrance into the Kingdom.
The GRACE of God provides for
sin's
pardon.
But men must prove
their willingness to come under the
good, holy, just laws which God
commands. These same laws will
be in effect in the Kingdom of God.
The gospel- the good news-is
about how man can get into that
Kingdom- that divine Family–
and be with God and see Him as
He is
( 1
John 3:2). The gospel is
about how mancan be born into the
God Family.
Christ explains that that en–
trance into the Kingdom is of ut–
most importance. We are directly
told it must be our primary goal
(Matthew 6:33).
Every kingdom
musi
have four
parts: l) a king, 2) territory, 3) inhabi–
tants or subjects, and 4) laws.
If
any
one of these essentials is missing, it
simply is nota kingdom.
The Klng Has Been Appointed
On the night that Jesus was boro,
an angel carne, saying, "I bring you
good tidings
[remember the mean–
ing of the word "gospel"] of great
joy.... For unto you is born ... a
Saviour, which is Christ the Lord"
(Luke 2:10-ll). Note t oo that
"Lord" means "one who owns or
possesses, one who controls, sover–
eign, prince, chief." Most definitely
Christ is King.
The
PLAIN TRUTH December 1979