The focal verse for this series is 2 Corinthians 2:2 where the Apostle Paul tells the saints in the church at Colosse: “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”  This was (and still is) “THE TESTIMONY OF GOD” (vs 1).  Simply put, God’s singular testimony (declaration of Truth) is: “Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”  This, Paul said, was his message from God to His church.  Warning: do not, as have billions of salvation seekers, embrace the theology that believing that the crucifixion of Christ for the salvation of the believer’s soul actually saves the believer’s soul.  Nor does “taking Christ as one’s Savior,” which is the act that supposedly changes a salvation seeker from the Satan owned and operated “old man” that he has always been into the God owned and operated “new man” that has instantly come into being following the completion of a prescribed ritual and the repeating of “the sinner’s prayer” (Col. 3:9).  So what is the difference between the old man and the new man?  The answer is always the same–faith.  If we believe the wholesale salvation merchants, one’s faith and God’s grace automatically change a vile sinner into a righteous saint.   Are the “only believe,” “the fix is in” salvation peddlers forgetting something?

Yes.  They are forgetting the Christ that Paul preached.  Question: What was it that Christ Himself tells us time and again that we must do to be saved?  Answer: BELIEVE AND OBEY HIS MESSAGE.  What is it that the Father arranged to have preserved for thousands of years? that serves as our rules of engagement that must be followed in letter and spirit in order to be saved?  HIS MESSAGE.  And what is His message? THE GOSPEL–the good news about the coming Kingdom of God on earth.  Read The Kingdom of God.  Key word–Kingdom.  A MAJOR PROBLEM manifested by professing Christendom involves the SUBJECT of the Gospel.

The Catholic/Protestant Church System proclaims that the subject of the Gospel is Jesus Christ Himself–who He was and what He did.  This in spite of the fact that God commands His apostles to proclaim and His disciples to learn “the Gospel of (about) the Kingdom of God,” which was the Gospel of Christ.  This is the one and only Gospel Jesus preached and commanded His apostles to preach until His return.  This is plainly proclaimed in Matthew 24:14 in which He states: “And this GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM will go fourth into all nations as a testimony to all men, then the end (of the world) will come.”  Note it: ONE GOSPEL will be preached throughout all the world until His return.  The question is: WHAT IS THAT GOSPEL? and WHY IS IT STILL PREACHED IN GOD’S TRUE CHURCH?

Early on there arose within the New Covenant Church a serious contention relative to the subject of the Gospel.  Some believed that the Gospel message should be about the man Jesus–who He was and what He did.  Others believed that the Gospel should be about the coming earthly Kingdom of God.  The vast majority chose the former while a small minority has continued to choose the latter.  Why the division?  The larger group chose to do what seemed logical to man’s intellect,  Adam, Eve and Cain being that ideology’s first proponents.  The smaller group chose to do what the Lord commanded, Abel being that belief’s first practitioner.  Let us examine what the Almighty commanded relative to the subject of the Gospel.

The word “Gospel” is found over 100 times in the New Testament.  Galatians 3:8 and Hebrews 4:2 (first, read 3:15-4:1) tell us that the same Gospel preached to the New Testament apostles and disciples was preached to Abraham, as well as to the ancient Israelites thousands of years before Christ walked the earth.  The defining statement relative to its subject is connected to Jesus Christ Himself.  The first time the Gospel is mentioned in Scripture is found in Matthew 4:23: “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM ….”  Following this proclamation we find Him saying such things as: “THIS GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations ….” (Mat. 24:14) and “… repent and believe THE GOSPEL” (Mk. 1:15).  Throughout the Holy Bible there is only one Gospel ever mentioned–THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD.  One will notice that of the numerous times Jesus spoke about the Gospel, not once did He mention Himself in that context.  His focus was always on 1) the greatness of the Father, 2) the kingdom of God and 3) how to enter His kingdom.

Beyond a doubt the most significant statement found in Scripture relative to the importance of the Gospel message is found in Acts 1:3.  Here we find that, following His resurrection and ascent into heaven, Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives where, “being with them (His disciples) for 40 days, He spoke to them about the things pertaining to THE KINGDOM OF GOD ….”  Note that He did not return to earth to remind the 120 or so followers about Himself, His life, His death, His resurrection, etc.  HE SPOKE TO THEM ABOUT THE FUTURE EARTHLY KINGDOM OF GOD THAT HE WOULD ESTABLISH UPON HIS RETURN TO EARTH.  HIS EMPHASIS WAS NOT ON HIMSELF, BUT RATHER HIS FATHER’S EARTHLY KINGDOM WHERE HIS VERY ELECT WOULD SPEND ETERNITY WITH THE TWO MEMBERS OF THE GODHEAD.  What could be so important that the Son of God would spend 40 days talking about it?  Question: When is the last time you heard a message about the Kingdom of God as it is presented in the Holy Scriptures?  Many have intellectualized the kingdom by describing it as “the presence of God in one’s heart,” and “the uniting of all churches into one” and “the Holy Spirit working in the hearts of men.”  Read The Kingdom of God.  Key word–Kingdom to learn exactly what God says about that kingdom.  I have written many times concerning how to enter God’s kingdom so I will refrain from doing so again, at least not in this series.  The Scriptural fact of the matter is, IF ONE DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO ENTER THE KINGDOM, BELIEF THAT IT WILL EXIST IS MEANINGLESS.  The irony of the situation is that professing Christendom does not believe Christ’s words concerning the kingdom.  “The church” has everyone going to heaven.  Nowhere does God say that any human being has ever gone or will ever go to heaven except Jesus Christ.

Now let us approach the second part of Paul’s statement relative to his message.  He wrote that he declared to the church Jesus Christ “and Him crucified.”  In order to understand exactly what those three words mean, one must diligently study the meaning of the crucifixion.  Let us turn to the only reliable source of such information–the Holy Bible.

There are a number of positive things that resulted from Christ’s crucifixion, all of which have been written about on this website several times.  Therefore I will focus on one result, without which none of the other outcomes could have taken place.  That primary result of the crucifixion was the Lord’s making good on His promise to fill His saints with the Holy Spirit.  We find Jesus speaking to His disciples about this phenomenon in Luke 24:46-49 where He foretold about His death and resurrection and His sending the “promise of My Father” upon them.  Following His 40-day teaching session, He then told them to “tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”  That power was the Holy Spirit which would enable those disciples, apostles and their modern day counterparts to do what must be done (obey the Law) in order to inherit eternal life.  In verse 8 He told them: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you ….” (Acts 1:8).  Jesus Himself had to have that power to obey God and overcome Satan.  Are we greater than He was?  Read The Message of the Cross.  Key word–Message.

In summary, Paul’s words to God’s people both anciently and today is two-fold: we are to study, learn and believe CHRIST’S MESSAGE, which is the focus of the entire Bible.  We must then obey His message, thereby qualifying to receive eternal life upon His Second Advent.  Both His message (Gospel) of the Kingdom of God and His instructions on how to enter it are essential.  Praise God that He loves us enough to provide both.  L.J.