THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM

WHAT IS THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM? The word Gospel is thrown around
haphazardly in today's world, describing everything from the basic message of
Christianity to a certain style of music. I recently heard a pop-artist announce that
she was going to sing a "gospel song." She proceeded to croon, Aretha Franklin-
style, how she met a guy at the club, they were drinkin', boozin', and dancin' it up,
and how he was gonna take her home toni-i-i-i-i-ght. And this ungodliness plainly
marketed as "Gospel."

But the true Gospel that Jesus came to demonstrate wasn't a doctrine, a
theological concept, or a style of music. He came preaching the "Gospel of the
Kingdom." The word Gospel means "good news." Jesus came to Earth to tell
everyone the good news, and to teach them to go around preaching this same good
news. The good news—the Gospel—is stated in conjunction with the words the
Kingdom (see Matthew 4:23). Jesus' good news has to do with God's Kingdom, or to
use a word relevant to our culture, God's government.

The Old Testament prophet Isaiah talked about Jesus' future arrival, saying, "For
a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on
His shoulders.... There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace"
(Isaiah 9:6-7 NASB). Much later, Isaiah articulated the details of this government:

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to
bring good news to the afflicted;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the
captives and freedom to prisoners; to
proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.... (Isaiah 61:1-2a NASB)

At the beginning of Jesus' ministry, He opened to this scripture and read it aloud:
"`The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to
the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to
the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the
Lord" (Luke 4:18-19 NASB). This passage clearly shows us what Jesus' anointing, or
calling, was. This is the true good news. It consists most faithfully of good news!

We have been told that the Gospel says, "Repent! You are all going to hell if you
don't turn from your wicked ways and accept Jesus!" But this cannot be the true
Gospel message because it is not good news! This common interpretation violates
the very definition of the word Gospel! We have been preaching bad news and
calling it good news! We must stop doing this!

The word repent literally means, "Change your mind." Indeed, this word has been
misconstrued to mean, "Weep and cry out to God, declaring that you are a sinner,
asking for His forgiveness." But the true message of repentance is simple: Think
different. This is a word that today's Church must start heeding. We must begin to
think differently about the message Jesus came to preach. In addition, the Gospel
has nothing to do with telling people to stop sinning. This instruction is moot. They
can't stop sinning! That's why Jesus came to save them! The true good news is this:
Your sin isn't separating you from God anymore. God is not angry with you. You are
no longer on the outs with God. So stop thinking that you are—change your mind!
Change your way of thinking, your way of believing!
 As you read this, you might be thinking, But our sin does separate us from God.
This couldn't be further from the truth. Because of the Cross, the chasm is breached.
There is no more separation between man and God. We are forgiven, forgiven,
forgiven! Even those people who aren't Christians, who haven't accepted Jesus yet,
are just as forgiven as you and I are! The Bible says, "[Jesus] Himself is the
propitiation (satisfaction) for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the
whole world" (1 John 2:2 NASB). It couldn't be any plainer than this. Jesus'
forgiveness was not only for those who would receive Him, but for every single
person on Earth!

The Apostle Paul teaches this exact same Gospel. He wrote, "God was in Christ
reconciling the world to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of
reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not
counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of
reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:19 NASB). Paul tells us that our job of preaching the
Gospel, here called the ministry or word of reconciliation, is to tell people this good
"World, God, through Jesus, has reconciled you to Himself. He is not counting your
trespasses against you!"

It doesn't matter who it is—a prostitute, drug dealer, or thief—God is not counting
their sins against them. Are you bold enough to tell them that message? The real
good news? This Gospel has rarely been preached. All you have to do is try to talk to
a stranger about Jesus. Their perspective is always the same: They know that they're
going to hell because they're a sinner, and they will never be able to be good
enough to merit Heaven. What this response demonstrates is that few people
actually understand the message of the Gospel. If an unbeliever still believes that
his or her sins are keeping her out of Heaven, they have not heard the good news,
the word of reconciliation.

Now, if everyone on Earth is forgiven and reconciled to God, does that mean that
everyone is going to Heaven? Unfortunately, no. You see, having your sins forgiven is
not what gives you access to Heaven. Hell will be filled with forgiven people. The
Bible teaches that because of sin, unbelievers suffer from spiritual death. While sin
itself has been forgiven, unless a person accepts Jesus and is born again (see John
3:3), they remain spiritually dead. Spiritually dead people cannot enter the Kingdom
of God. They must receive new life in order to partake of the Kingdom. They are
reconciled to God even without accepting Jesus. His death purchased forgiveness for
absolutely everyone. However, forgiveness is not salvation. You can be totally
forgiven and still dead—it doesn’t do you much good. Paul said it well: "For if while
we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much
more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life" (Romans 5:10 NASB).

Think of it this way: Because of Adam's transgression, all men were brought into
this world spiritually dead— sinners. Jesus, the Last Adam, reversed Adam's sin,
resulting in a reverse effect: The same all men have been forgiven. The only thing
left to do is receive this forgiveness, applying it to your heart. This is the life that
saves you, the life that gains you access to the Kingdom. If we would quit preaching
condemnation and fear to the unsaved, if we would start preaching the true Gospel
of the Kingdom—"Good news, everyone: Because of Jesus, you are all set right with
God! He's not mad at you!"—we would start seeing the monumental results that
Jesus promised. In addition, the signs and wonders that accompany the Gospel
would be far more frequent because we would be preaching the real Gospel!
Miracles endorse the Good News, and it's no wonder we haven't seen that many
miracles—the Church has failed to preach Good News! Jesus' ministry was clear.
Let's examine how He presented the Gospel, and use that as our model. When we do
the same things He does, we'll get the same results He gets!

Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their
synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the
kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.
Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them,
because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.
Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest
is plentiful, but the workers are few." (Matthew 9:35-37 NASB)

When Jesus saw all these broken, sick, sinners, He did not warn them,
commanding them to weep and cry out to God for forgiveness! This so-called
"gospel" was unknown to Him. Rather, He preached the message of reconciliation.
He told them that their sins were forgiven. To prove it, to demonstrate God's good
will and compassion, He healed their physical ailments as well. He didn't feel angry
at them; He had compassion. He wanted to shepherd them. Jesus recognized this
key reality: The harvest was plentiful—people were ripe for salvation, eager and
ready to hear the Good News. But sadly, the workers were few.

Friends, I believe we are in this same place today. There are billions of people who
simply do not know the Good News, that they have already been reconciled to the
Father. They still feel like they have to do something to be forgiven. But Christianity
isn't about what we do, it's about what God did! When we preach this true Gospel,
the word of Christ, faith will blossom in people's hearts (see Romans 10:17).
Unfortunately, the workers are few. There are few people willing to preach the
Gospel of the Kingdom today. Please pray that God would send out the workers, and
then go yourself. When you speak with people, you don't have to get a response.
Just be the messenger: "Extra! Extra! Read all about it! God isn't mad anymore! Your
sins aren't keeping you out of the Kingdom! Believe it and receive new life!"