Do You Know What the Gospel Is?
The “gospel” is referred to in many places in the New Testament but the bible never really tells you exactly what the gospel is until we get to the book of Hebrews.
The bible says this in Matthew 4:23
“And Yeshua (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.”
Then we see in Matthew 9:35
“Then Yeshua (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.”
Yeshua (Jesus” healed every sickness and every disease that the people had!
And here in Matthew 11:5
“The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
And what is this Yeshua (Jesus) says in Mark 1:14?
“Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
And here in Mark 8:35
“For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.”
Yeshua (Jesus) differentiates himself from the gospel, we see!”
And we see the promise of great things to those who believe the gospel in Luke 4:18
“The Spirit of YHVH (the Lord) is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
So, He preaches something called the gospel to the poor, and He heals the brokenhearted, proclaims liberty, and heals the blind.
And then in Luke 9 we see absolutely amazing things! “9 Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. 2 He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 3 And He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey, neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money; and do not have two tunics apiece.
4 “Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. 5 And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them.”
6 So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.”
So, he gave the disciples, his 12 disciples power and authority and they went to many towns, preached the gospel and healing everywhere!
We all know the story that Jesus was crucified, buried, rose again from the dead on the third day, then taught the disciples for 40 more days then went to heaven where He is right now at the Right Hand of God the Father.
Then, Jesus sends the Holy Spirit in great fire and power on the day of Pentecost and incredible things happen like in Acts 5 “12 And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. 13 Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. 14 And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 15 so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. 16 Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.
That was Peter but here is Phillip! Acts 8 “6 And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. 8 And there was great joy in that city.”
GREAT JOY!!! So…
What are you thinking?
What is this gospel? Let’s go to Hebrews 3
The Son Was Faithful
3 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, 2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. 3 For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. 5 And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, 6 but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.
Be Faithful
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
In the day of trial in the wilderness,
9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,
And saw My works forty years.
10 Therefore I was angry with that generation,
And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they have not known My ways.’
11 So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’”
12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, 15 while it is said:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Hebrews 4
New King James Version (NKJV)
4 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them
STOP THE PRESSES!!!!!!
Hold everything right there!
Hebrews is telling us the gospel preached in the new testament IS THE SAME GOSPEL PREACHED IN THE WILDERNESS BY MOSES!
So, what is this gospel that Moses preached in the wilderness?
It is found in the books Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
Therefore, the gospel of the kingdom of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel preached in the new testament IS the commandments of God the Father as stated in the new testament.
Start in Exodus 1, it tells the story of Moses, then how he met God the Father, Yehovah, and then went to Egypt to free Yehovah’s children named Israel from bondage under Pharoah, then Moses leads the children of Israel out of Egypt to the Red Sea, waves his staff and 8 miles of the Red Sea part and the children walk over on dry land, and the Egyptians follow after them to kill them and God the Father YeHoVaH closes the water back on them and all the Egyptians are killed. After that, through those 4 books, the commandments are given by YeHoVaH and the story is told about obeying the commandments of God the Father, those who obey receive many blessings in life and prosper greatly!
You have heard of the Ten Commandments but there are many more commandments that give us life. One of the most important commandments is in Exodus 20 “8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
Read them all. Read those 4 books. They are the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And, in case you are wondering about Jesus Christ since some have told you He is the gospel, go to Deuteronomy 18 and here is the prophecy of one to come (Jesus Christ) who the children of Israel would have to hear, follow and obey “15 YeHoVaH thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; and “18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. 19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my WORDS which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.
Now go to John 1. “14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
That’s it. Jesus Christ IS the Word of God who became flesh, a man, and lived with them and died for them that they might know the truth. John 8 “32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Jesus Christ IS the commandments of YeHoVaH, the Father!!
To obtain eternal life, it is necessary to become born again, keep the commandments of God the Father, and follow and obey Jesus Christ.
Look what it says in Revelation 12!
17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
And then in Revelation 14 “12 Here is the patience of the saints, here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
And then Jesus Christ’s last words Revelation 22:
“14 Blessed are those who DO His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. “
As we all can plainly see, keeping the Father’s (YeHoVaH’s) commandments IS essential to receiving eternal life. The word “believe” in the bible is not the same as believing as we are taught in school to believe 2+2=4. In order to “believe” in the bible the term is “shema” and means to “hear AND obey”.
To find out more, visit the website at www.TheChurchofActs.com Email: TCOA@thechurchofacts.com, mail donation to: The Church of Acts, PO Box 777, Belleville, IL 62220. See Isaiah 56.