THE GOSPEL OF JESUS

THE GOSPEL OF JESUS

When I go to my trusty Collins Dictionary, I find that ’gospel’ simply means; ‘the teaching of Jesus Christ.’ That seems very reasonable and logical to my mind. Every church I have ever attended, and that is literally hundreds, in several countries, have all professed to be preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I thought about this last night, as I lay in bed waiting to go to sleep. I remembered all the posts I had seen on X, and the different things I have heard from pulpits in all of those churches. That got me thinking, ‘surely there must be only one correct Gospel of Jesus Christ.’ I have attempted to correct many Xers when they post stuff that has zero relevance to what Jesus, Paul, John, Peter, of James taught when they trudged the dusty roads of Galilee, Judea & Samaria, 2000 years ago.

But sadly, the same Xer will repeat the same nonsense over and over again. That proves that X is NOT a place where people can interact with each other: which is what ‘social media’ was invented for. Obviously those Xers do NOT have notifications turned on. But one would imagine that whoever opens X, will read some posts from others, right?? Well, there are many Xers who continue to post the exact same nonsense, over and over again! So that leads me to believe that these folks have zero desire to interact with others, and are simply there to incite likes, followers, attention, acclamation, praise, or flattery. They clearly have zero intention of learning anything from anyone else. It’s not that I simply tell them they are wrong, and include my opinion, as different to theirs. I always give them a scripture reference, or even one typed out in full.

However, during the years of searching for the truth in God’s word, I was struck seriously with the call of God for someone to make a stand against sin. I had a dream like no other, one night, and had a distinct feeling it was a message from God, so I got up and opened my bible to the place I had stopped studying the day before. But let me describe this strange dream for you.

‘I was wondering along, minding my own business, when a group of several gang members attacked me. I looked down, and saw an ordinary bread and butter knife on the ground. I picked it up, and defended myself as best as I could. Then I was some distance from them, and looked back to see a police car on the site, and several gang members lying on the ground. I return to the site to explain to the police what had happened.’

There was nothing more!! Of course I felt robbed of any result or consequence for what I had done; and had I killed those gang members with my little blunt knife?? But I began reading from Psalm 94, and verse sixteen read like this;

Whom will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?

I literally wept real tears as I told God I could not do that, because I was a sinner myself. But that event will forever remain as a huge step in my searching for truth. There was one other event that equals the importance of that dream.

In New Zealand, the primary schools in rural areas, hold what they used to call ‘calf-club-day’ each year. Students would bring a calf or lamb to school, where it would be judged on its behavior as the student led it around on a lead, and of course on the health and quality of the animal. My two youngest boys had each chosen a calf, that had been taken off it’s mother at birth, and spent many hours bottle-feeding it, teaching it to follow them on a lead and on the day, they were up at sparrow fart washing, shampooing, and wiping their calves down, until they looked pristine. I borrowed a steel-netting stock pen from someone that did not fit into the length of my trailer. It was a tad too long. But I left the rear door open on the trailer and led the calves up a ramp onto the trailer. I actually tied the first one to the steel-netting side, as I got the next one onto the trailer, then closed the door of the pen. From our home, we had to drive down a track, across a home-made bridge, then up a dirt road to the main road. Part way up that dirt road I looked in the rear view mirror, and saw a calf tumbling along behind the trailer, turning over and over on the dirt and shingle surface of the road. The stock crate had slipped backwards and left a gap big enough for the calf tied to the cage to fall through. After I stopped and got out to rescue this poor animal my boys followed me, and the look on the youngest boy’s face was such that he did not need to say what he was thinking. I heard, in my head, ‘Dad, you say you love, me but you did this to my calf?’ Then I heard another voice in my head, “this is exactly what I feel whenever I see my children sinning.” That was like being hit over the head with a sledge hammer!!

As I continued my search for God, and His truth, these events were prominent in my heart. I had never heard any preacher preach against sin! Almost everything that ‘jumped out at me’ as I studied my bible, was somehow related to sin. I got to know that God is a God of justice, upholding righteousness. He really did mean what He said about sin sending one to hell. That ‘Gospel’ began in the garden of Eden when He told Adam and Eave that if they obeyed Him, they would live, but if they disobeyed Him they would die. He told Cain the same thing after he had killed his brother.

For the LORD your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you. Deut. 23:14

David was an evil man, even though the nation had made him king. He let the ‘brains between his legs’ seduce him to have sex with the wife of one of his soldiers who was out on the battlefield, fighting for him. When she became pregnant as result of that, he ordered the man in charge of the battle to move the husband to a dangerous place on the front lines, then move all others out of danger, leaving him there, to be killed. But David was still learning about God, and His attitude to sin, so God sent His prophet to David, to rebuke him for that wicked conduct. Due to the humble attitude of this ‘greatest king of Israel,’ he got the message, loud and clear, and repented, to be in true relationship with God. David gives us a very transparent look at his life after that, in his 119th Psalm. Here is a small example of that….

That is how any person who has got to know God would feel, or converse with a holy God. David is one of the greatest examples of true Christianity in the bible. And he did all of this without being indwelt with the Holy Spirit!!

Much later, in the history of the Jews, we find the Messiah, being born in a manger in Bethlehem. His mother gave Him the name Jesus, as the angel had told her to do. Jesus was true man!! He had discarded all of His ‘Son of God’ rights and status, to become as you and I are today. He lived for about thirty three years, then ascended back to heaven to take back His rightful role as ‘God, the Son.’ He lived life as a perfect example of how God demands each of His children must live. 1 Jn. 2:3-6 He was tempted by Satan, as we are, but He never sinned!! He told His disciples, that knowing God, is eternal life. Jn. 17:3. He included Jesus Christ in that as well, because He had already told His disciples that if they knew Him, they knew God. There is nowhere in the bible that commands us to know Jesus. But repeatedly, we are commanded to know God, or at least to search for Him, with all our hearts so He can reveal Himself to us. Jer. 29:11-14. Knowing God is essential for salvation!!

They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. 2 Thes. 1:8-9

That is one example of Paul’s teaching the ‘Gospel of Jesus Christ.’ He had been personally trained by Jesus, as to how to teach His gospel!! Gal. 1:11-12

If one studies Paul’s teaching, one gets a very good understanding of what a Christian’s life must be. He makes it abundantly clear that sin must not, and actually cannot be a part of a Christian’s life. Romans six makes that abundantly clear. Ephesians chapters four and five leave us NO DOUBT about that fact.

When Jesus was about to ascend to heaven, He gave us ‘The Great Commission.’

Are the preachers and evangelists of today aware of what Jesus commanded us?? Obviously not, because they NEVER teach that!! Many pastors post stuff on X, but never tell us this truth!! It’s not rocket science to know that disciples of Jesus do NOT sin. He preached repentance everywhere He went. If you want a biblical example of repentance, go to Ezek. 33:11-6. James offers us a great description of what repentance is like in Js. 4:7-10. The Greek word, ‘metanoia,’ from which repentance came, means:

The state of changing any or all of the elements composing ones life: attitudes, thoughts, and behaviors concerning the demands of God for right living.

We have seen that sin negates ‘right living’ in God’s eyes.

The Gospel of Jesus, incredible as one may think, is the exact same Gospel of God from the beginning of time. “Obey Me & live, or don’t, & don’t.” Gen 2:17. Jesus, Paul & John, confirmed that gospel centuries later.

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Matt. 7:21

You need to persevere, so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.Heb. 10:36

The wordl and it’s desires pass away, but those who do the will of God live forever. 1 Jn. 2:17

I have heard preachers assure their flock that no person can live free from sin!! The Jews did so without the help of the Holy Spirit, which every child of God is the home of. If you really believe that a holy God can live in a sinner, then you do NOT know God!! In fact, you insult Him tremendously!!

Jesus commanded us to be perfect as God is perfect. Matt. 5:48

To stop sinning. Jn. 5:14, Matt. 5:27-30

Be afraid of God. Matt. 10:28

Give up everything you have. Lk 13:3 and 5.

That’s all included in ‘The Gospel of Jesus Christ,’ folks!!

I spent from 1992 to 2011 researching American Christianity across America, and was so broken-hearted that I wrote a book explaining clearly why America is where she is today, and how God can heal her. Amazon has ‘A Nation Broken,’ and it comes very highly recommended. Please get a copy today if you love America, and want to know God personally.