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The Real Gospel
Norm Du Val, Stevensville, MT, USA
What is the gospel? If you were to ask several people you would probably get several different answers. Some will say that the word gospel means "good news," and it does, but that's just a definition. You want to know, what is the good news, and where does it come from.
Some will tell you that the gospel is the story about Jesus, as written by the New Testament writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. After all, these stories are often called the "Four Gospels." Others will say that the good news is that God sent his son to earth as a sacrifice to die, and to rise again, in order to atone for the sins of mankind. Still others say that Jesus' death on the cross was a ransom paid by God to redeem mankind from the Devil, and so on.
In the New Testament it says that Jesus and the apostles went from city to city, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God to the multitudes.
And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. (Matt. 9:35)
And it came to pass...that Jesus went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him...(Luke, 8:1; also see Matt 4:23; Mark 1:14, Luke 4:43)
We can tell from these two verses that the gospel was something that Jesus actually preached and taught. Thus, the question of where the gospel comes from is answered. It comes from Jesus.
The word gospel means "good news" and "glad tidings," but what exactly was Jesus telling the crowds? What was the message? And has the essence of this message, the actual gospel, the teachings of Jesus, been partly lost to us today, and replaced by another message, another gospel, the teachings about Jesus?
On these preaching tours, Jesus was giving the people very important information (the good news!), and it must have been powerful, positive, and focused on a few specific ideas. The gospel that Jesus taught could only be that information which satisfies our deepest spiritual hopes, needs and desires: to better know our Father in heaven and our relationship with mankind, to be of the Spirit, and to show the fruits of the Spirit, and to have eternal life with God.
We can tell from his teachings that the gospel of Jesus, even what we can call the "religion of Jesus," must have been, and still is, this:
God is your loving spiritual Father and you are all His children, sons and daughters in His family, and if you love God and love one another, you will have eternal life in heaven.
Have you heard the expression, "I got it straight from the horse's mouth?" When people say this, they mean they got some information right from the source, and therefore it is true, correct. It is like a gold miner finding the mother lode. The actual teachings of Jesus are from the true source, the mother lode, from God Himself, as personified by His son.
Here then are the high spiritual teachings of Jesus. These are the truths that Jesus and the apostles were telling the throngs of people who came to hear. The teachings of Jesus, the real gospel. All you need to know.
Jesus teaches about doing the Father's will and entering the kingdom of heaven.
Not every one who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (Matt. 7:21)
Doing the Father's will is the key to entering the kingdom of heaven. And what is the Father's will? It is simply loving God and loving and serving your brothers and sisters on earth, your brothers and sisters in God's family.
Jesus tells us how we can have eternal life.
And behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tested him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus said to him, What is written in the law? And he answered saying, Thou shall love God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself. And Jesus said to him, Thou has answered right; do this and thou shall live. (Luke 10: 25-28)
Do this and you will have eternal life! Love God, and love your neighbor. Could it be any clearer or simpler? Jesus knows that loving all of our fellow humans may not be easy for
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