Reading: Luke 4:16-22 or Matthew 5,6 and 7.
There is a big difference between a teacher and a preacher. Yeshua was both; but his main occupation during his stay on earth was preaching. Notice how he introduced himself and listed his 'terms of reference' at the start of his ministry. Especially note his threefold reference to preaching.
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Luke 4:18 |
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to:
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In our zeal to present Yahweh's law, to publish the truth about the Signature of the Most High and Satan's counterfeit the Mark of the Beast, we must not forget to preach the Gospel.
What is the Gospel? The Gospel is the good news of salvation. The Gospel is Yahweh's offer of mercy and life to sinners destined for hell. The Gospel is your passport to the Kingdom of Heaven where you are invited to live for all time with God Himself. The Gospel is the sweetest and best message this world has ever heard. The Gospel is the good news of salvation made possible by the Saviour's death on your behalf. The Gospel offers you freedom from sin, suffering and death - at no cost to you. God's Son came to earth to preach the Gospel to the poor: and that includes you and me.
The world is reeling under a burden of bad news. Daily we are bombarded with it. From all angles come a sickening avalanche of violence, vice, vandalism, misery and death. What's more, the situation worsens as time passes. The need for good news - the Gospel - is therefore extremely urgent. And so the Gospel must be preached - more than ever - to counteract the imbalance of woe.
The Saviour, the twelve Apostles and the Apostle Paul all set the pattern.
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Matthew 11:4-5 |
"... Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight; the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached unto them." |
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Mark 1:14 |
"Now after that John was put into prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God." |
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Luke 20:1 |
"And it came to pass that on one of those days, as he taught the people in the Temple and preached the Gospel ..." |
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Acts 8:25 |
"And they ... returned to Jerusalem and preached the Gospel in many villages of the Samaritans." |
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1 Corinthians 9:16 |
"For though I preach the gospel I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea woe is me, if I preach not the Gospel." |
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God that Jesus preached was good news. In the Sermon on the Mount the Saviour introduces the various aspects of this good news. I will briefly list them.
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Matthew 5:1-12 |
A list of blessings |
... This is good news. |
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v13-16 |
The value and work of a believer |
... This is good news. |
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v17-32 |
The eternal nature of Yahweh's law |
... This is good news. |
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v33-48 |
The greatness of Yahweh's mercy |
... This is good news. |
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Matthew 6:1-18 |
The rewards for humility and prayer |
... This is good news. |
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v19-34 |
The providence of the Almighty |
... This is good news. |
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7:1-5 |
The final victory of true judgement |
... This is good news. |
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v6-11 |
The value of truth and prayer |
... This is good news. |
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v12-20 |
Invaluable warnings about deception |
... This is good news. |
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v21-29 |
The final overthrow of hypocrisy |
... This is good news. |
"Christ is the only teacher this world has ever known whose life exactly accorded with his instructions. No object is so edifying with this accordance. The perfect holiness of the Redeemer would have been less clearly seen and less deeply felt, if we could not have compared his actions with the perfect rules of life, uttered by his mouth." (Dwight's Theology Vol. 1. page 365)
His friends would, understandably, praise him. But consider these testimonies of the Roman rulers after they had examined him by every method they could imagine - beatings, insult and humiliation.
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John 18:38 |
"Pilot ... saith unto them: I find in him no fault at all." |
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Luke 23:47 |
"Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying: Certainly this was a righteous man." |
Now consider Christ's evaluation of himself:
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John 15:10 |
"I have kept my father's commandments." |
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John 8:46 |
"Which of you convinceth me of sin?" |
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John 17:4 |
"I have glorified thee on earth: I have finished the work thou hast given me to do." |
No man who has ever lived could honestly say that of himself except Jesus Christ.
Though the Saviour never, to our knowledge, wrote a book or travelled to foreign countries to preach, who will doubt these facts:
Yes, the Saviour has had an enormous effect on the world. And even though comparatively few people avail themselves of his salvation, there are in total many millions who will be in the Kingdom of God because of what he has done. When he sees the great gathering the Bible says he shall be satisfied.
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Isaiah 53:11 |
"He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many." |
This is the Gospel era. Soon it will be over. The acceptable year is a time when mercy and salvation are available and must be accepted. Failure to accept the Gospel in the acceptable year will be disastrous for millions of souls who have spurned Yahweh's offer of mercy and salvation. Now is that accepted time.
Have you accepted? Or are you putting it off?
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Psalm 69:13 |
"But as for me, my prayer is unto thee O Lord, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation." |
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2 Corinthians 6:2 |
"For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: Behold now is the accepted time; behold now is the day of salvation." |
Failure to act on these facts is the greatest mistake any soul can make.
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