What Is The Gospel? Part 2

What Is The Gospel? Part 2

In the previous post, I shared that it's not about clocking salvation testimonies and numbers. People are not numbers. They are lives that Jesus died for. It is easy to 'win' someone to Christ if we simply share an incomplete Gospel.

For many years, I did the same thing. I thought I fully knew how to present the Gospel to the lost in the streets. Many evangelists I know (in my limited exposure) do the same. How else can the Gospel be different? It's the same old Good News, presented in various different approaches, but it's still the same message.

Recently, I was nudged by the Holy Spirit to study every passage on the Gospel in the New Testament. I discovered what is missing in the 'Gospel' that we share with the lost.

Many events marked the history of Israel and you have to read the Old Testament and some historical backgrounds to find out why and how Israel was divided into two kingdoms (Northern & Southern); being exiled and returned from the Babylonian captivity; fell under the reigns of Greeks, Egyptians and Syrians, and eventually ruled by the Romans. In the days of John the Baptist, King Herod (Antipas) was reigning (Matt 2:1; Mark 6:14; Luke 1:5). The Herodian kingdom was a client state of the Romans. In other words, the Roman empire was still in power over Israel (Luke 3:1). 

This background is important to set the context of the preaching of John and Jesus.

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” - Matt 3:1-2

We must remember that John came to prepare the way for Jesus (Matt 3:3). John came preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins (Mark 1:4). In other words, you had to repent in order to be forgiven. Jesus came preaching the same message in Matt 4:17 after John was imprisoned.

From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” - Matt 4:17

Note: This sequence changed after the finished works of Jesus. Now you repent BECAUSE you have been forgiven (Rom 2:3; Eph 4:32; 2 Cor 5:19; Heb 9:11-10:18). There's a difference between being forgiven and believing in Christ. But that's not the main point of this post. We must understand that while the books of the Gospel are classified as the New Testament, not every passage falls under the New Covenant. We need to divide the Word rightly between the New and the Old Covenant. In fact, there are a number of covenants in the Bible.

Going back to Matt 4:17, the word 'repent' in the Greek means 'to change one's mind'. Why did John and Jesus preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”?

The Jews were waiting for God to restore their kingdom (Luke 2:25; 17:20; Acts 1:6). The literal kingdom of Israel. They had been under the reigns of various kingdoms (and now under the Romans). They wanted the Messiah to come and restore Israel (you'll need to read the Old Testament so that you know the promises of God to Israel). However, their lives (especially the Pharisees and the Sadduccees) were living in contrary to the commandments of God given to them (Matt 3:7-10).

The message of John and Jesus was actually consistent with God's message to Israel through His prophets in the Old Testament. “RETURN TO ME...” (Joel 2:13; Hosea 14:1; Zech 1:3; Neh 1:9; Jer 3:12; 3:14; 3:22; 4:1; Isa 31:6; Mal 3:7). 

The entire Bible is extremely consistent, because every part is connected. God's original intent for mankind was to live in fellowship with Him and through that, to take dominion on earth under His reign. This has not changed.

Jesus, by calling the Jews to “repent (Matt 3:17) because the kingdom of heaven is at hand”, was preaching a completely different message than what they had expected. For Jesus came to reveal the Father's kingdom (Luke 4:43). In fact, He expounded what the Gospel is in Mark 1:14-15.

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, and believe in the GOSPEL.” - Mark 1:14-15 (emphasis added)

The word 'Gospel' in the Greek literally means 'God's good news'. Remember, Christ had not died. Yet He preached the Gospel. He did not preach, “It's time for Me to die and save the world.” No. Instead, He preached, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.” 

How did He challenge the people to respond? “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”

In other words, He was calling the Jews, “Return to God! Change your mind about the restoration of Israel's kingdom. Return to God and His reign. His kingdom is here!”

If the kingdom of Israel were to be restored, it would not have an impact on the Jews' lives, because they didn't need to change their lives. But if Jesus came to present another Kingdom and the Jews were to return to God and be submitted to His reign and His kingdom, then their lives could not stay the same anymore. That requires repentance ------ a change of mind.

Throughout Jesus' ministry, He preached and demonstrated the Gospel. He was very consistent with His Good News about returning to the King and His kingdom.

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. - Matt 4:23 (emphasis added)

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, PREACHING THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM, and HEALING every sickness and every disease among the people. - Matt 9:35 (emphasis added)

Healing, miracles, signs and wonders were always the validation of the Father's kingdom, revealing the reign and dominion of another world which belongs to the King. Because in the Father's world, there is no sickness and disease. There is no chaos. There is no dissension and strife. There is no lack, and the list goes on. Jesus' demonstration is the representation of the Father's kingdom. He did not come to restore Israel's kingdom. He came to present God's kingdom.

But if I CAST OUT DEMONS by the Spirit of God, surely the KINGDOM OF GOD has come upon you. - Matt 12:28 (emphasis added)

It is the consistent message that Jesus told His disciples to preach. 

And as you go, PREACH, saying, ‘The KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND.’ HEAL the sick, CLEANSE the lepers, RAISE the dead, CAST OUT demons. Freely you have received, freely give. - Matt 10:7-8 (emphasis added)

And HEAL the sick there, and say to them, ‘The KINGDOM OF GOD has come near to you.’ - Luke 10:9 (emphasis added)

Note: In the book of Mark, the 'kingdom of God' is used instead of the 'kingdom of heaven'. Some believe that there is a difference between the two, while most theologians believe that they are interchangeable. Again, that's not the main point of this topic. So we can put that aside for the purpose of the Gospel presentation to the lost.

The disciples did what Jesus did. They preached the Gospel with the validation of God's kingdom by signs and wonders. Jesus and His disciples were reaching out to the lost sheep of Israel to return to the true kingdom and the God who so loved them.

There are other verses about the Gospel in the four books of the Gospel as well as the reason why Jesus is only returning when the Bride is glorious (Matt 24:14). But the main point is this... to share the Gospel with the lost from Romans 3:23 only is to miss out the whole counsel of the Word on the Gospel. By the way, there is no salvation/sinner’s prayer in the Bible. You can’t say a prayer to enter the kingdom of God. There are many people who said the prayer and claim to be Christians, but I’m not sure (only God knows because He is the Judge) if they are really believers (and saved). Salvation is not proved by prayer. It is proved by mind renewal ------ the process of sanctification of our soul and body. A good tree will bear good fruit (Matt 7:17).

In fact, the word 'kingdom' in the Greek speaks of 'God's rule and divine administration in the world', as well as 'the rule of Christ in believers' hearts'. It is not about receiving Jesus into your life. Christianity is not about incorporating Christ into your life. None of the early disciples did that. It's about giving yours to Him. 

The Gospel is not just about forgiveness of sins. It's beyond that. To stop short at “Jesus loves you and He died for your sins. Do you want to receive Him into your life?” when sharing with the lost in the streets is an incomplete Gospel that has little power to transform the life of that individual and eventually, the society and the nation. I have heard people sharing, “Jesus just healed you. It proves that He loves you. Would you want to receive Him?” Of course, everybody will respond to this kind of incomplete message. I have experienced a certain race that will almost always accept Jesus until I decided to tweak the message one day. I simply added, “Jesus is the only true God. The rest are not. He is the only Way to the Father. There is no other way.” Immediately, I saw the responses of that particular race dropped significantly, because they do not accept Jesus as the one and only true God.

I learnt that it is better to minister signs and wonders and simply leave with “Jesus loves you”, than to minister signs and wonders and share an incomplete Gospel, leading the person to be 'born again' when he is ignorant of everything. It brings damage to Christianity to do the latter. So many people I encountered are bruised by Christianity because of how 'Christians' live according to an incomplete Gospel.

Note: I put 'born again' with inverted commas, because I do question if some are really saved after hearing an incomplete Gospel. In fact, they merely made a decision to know Jesus (but not yet believe in Him). We have encountered people who 'accepted' Christ, but realised that they were not ready during the follow-up sessions when they heard more about the Gospel, because it was presented haphazardly on the first time.

Some said that we can just leave it to the Holy Spirit to teach the complete Gospel. I beg to differ. If that is the case, no one needs discipleship. No one needs the Bible. We can leave everything to the Holy Spirit. Just because certain testimonies happened as a result of God's sovereignty does not mean that we don't have to be good stewards of His Word. I believe that we are responsible to deliver the Gospel message properly. It took me many years to understand the Gospel because my foundation was built wrongly. If we can share it fully with a non-believer and he gets born again, it can shorten his whole process of growth in the Lord. He becomes a powerful weapon that destroys hell for a living.

Jesus preached, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” While this seems to be the complete message that we should share with the lost, it is still not quite fully complete. This message is full of truth for a non-believer but it lacks power.

In Part 3, we will see the complete message of the Gospel (with power) from the Scriptures and how we should be presenting it to the lost in fullness.