First the Question: Nothing of the return of the Son of Man to save Israel out of the Great Tribulation is mentioned in the Gospel of John. True or False?
Please take a moment to respond at the LLM Question of the Day
And now the answer to the LLM Question of 11-6-2011
Question: The word GOSPEL is not found even once in the twenty one chapters of the Gospel of John. True or False?
Answer: TRUE! Now, out of the 704 responses we received to this question, 82.6% of you got it right! Therefore,
Today let us consider, THE GOSPEL OF JOHN....THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST, pt. 29 of 30
ACCORDING TO JOHN’S RECORD WHAT GOSPEL DID CHRIST AND JOHN PREACH?
The word GOSPEL is not found once in the twenty one chapters of John’s Record. We have also observed that in the twenty one chapters of John, (aside from the statement in John 3:22 and John 4:1-2 that the disciples were with Christ baptizing), we have very, very, little information in John’s Record as to the preaching ministry of the twelve apostles, who, by the way, are not called “apostles” in John. In Luke 9:1-6 and Matthew 10:5-8 we learn that the twelve were instructed to preach The Gospel of the Kingdom and perform miracles, or permit the LORD to perform miracles by them. We learn in Matthew 4:23 and Matthew 9:35 that Jesus Christ was carrying on the same ministry which He instructed and empowered the twelve to carry on; the ministry which is explained in Acts 2:22, that Jesus of Nazareth was in the midst of Israel, a Man approved of God by wonders and signs. In Matthew 4:23 and Matthew 9:35 we learn that Christ on earth, (a Minister of the circumcision with a program in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Romans 15:8, Galatians 4:4), was preaching The Gospel of the Kingdom.
It is interesting to study together Luke 9:6 and Luke 18:31-35 with 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. In Luke 9:6 we read concerning the Apostle John and eleven other Apostles, “they departed, and went through the towns preaching the gospel, and healing everywhere.”
In 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 we have the Gospel of Salvation for this present Age and Dispensation stated very definitely in such plain language that any rational adult should understand it with one reading; namely, the truth that, in fulfillment of prophecy, the Lord of Glory, Christ, died for our sins, and was buried and rose the third day.
What do we read about this gospel in these four verses? The Apostle Paul received it from the LORD. It is the Gospel by which believers are saved. Some months after the twelve Apostles preached the gospel and healed (Luke 9:6), “healing the sick, cleansing the lepers, raising the dead, casting out demons” (Matthew 10:7-8), Christ told them that He was going to experience the events of 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 which would provide the saving gospel for sinners. Read what the Apostles did, according to Luke 18:31-35, when the LOR Jesus told them He was going to be rejected, delivered to the Gentiles, be put to death, and the third day rise again, “they understood none of these things, and this saying was hid from them; neither knew they the things which were spoken.” As you compare Luke 18.31-34 with 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, keep in mind that the twelve apostles had preached the gospel and performed miracles of healing MONTHS before Christ told them of His coming death and resurrection. Certainly any minister of Christ, who teaches, after reading these several Scriptures, that there is only one gospel in the New Testament Scriptures, and who does not know the difference between The Gospel of the Kingdom and The Gospel of the Grace of God (Acts 20:24, Ephesians 3:1-3), is certainly NOT a faithful steward of The Mysteries of God (! Corinthians 4:1-4), but is rather a workman who needeth to be ashamed because he does not RIGHTLY divide the Word of Truth. ( 2 Timothy 2:15).
We mentioned the fact that there are 741 verses in the first seventeen chapters of John, up to the time that Christ was betrayed by Judas with a kiss, and that in more than 700 of the 741 verses facts are recorded not found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, in all of the 2900 verses in these three Records. Of the seventeen chapters of John there are thirteen solid chapters of facts not recorded in the other three Books.
In all of the chapters in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, up to the time of the betrayal of Christ, more than ninety five percent of the facts contained in them are not recorded in John’s Gospel. In John nothing of the birth of Jesus, nothing of the wise men, or the shepherds keeping their flock, nothing of the flight to Egypt, nothing of the murder of the infants around Bethlehem, nothing stating that John’s baptism was for the remission of sins, nothing of Satan’s temptation of Christ, nothing of the call of the four fishermen while mending and cleaning their nets, nothing of the call of Levi (Matthew) the publican and the feast which he made for the Savior and other publicans, nothing of the beatitudes, the sermon on the mount, the golden rule, The Our Father (Kingdom) prayer. There is nothing in John of the thirteen or fourteen (kingdom) parables in Matthew. As we related, the word Kingdom is found 55 times in 55 verses in Matthew, whereas the word Kingdom is found in only three verses in John. Namely, John 3:3, John 3:5 and John 18:36.
In John’s Gospel is presented a phase of the Kingdom different in many respects from the Kingdom presented in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In Matthew alone, as we said, the children of the kingdom (Matthew 8:12), are instructed to obey many things which belonged to God’s Old Testament program, about 56 such orders. In John the one thing the unbelieving children of the kingdom are told to do, is BELIEVE. Read the first seventeen chapters of John and learn all that the Lord Jesus told his believing disciples to do. As the all important work of the unbelievers was to believe, so the all important work for the believers to do, was to keep the LORD’s Love commandment and wash one another’s feet.
We repeat that we cannot find in these seventeen chapters of the Gospel of John, what gospel the twelve apostles preached, or what they were instructed to preach. We do not find that they performed any miracles, or that they were told to do so, although we read in John 14:12, greater works shall the believer do, because Christ was going to His Father.
According to the documentary evidence, John’s Record of the life and ministry, sayings and doings, the death and resurrection of the LORD Jesus Christ, in which Record we do NOT find the word GOSPEL, we must decide that if Christ was preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, that Gospel was likewise the Gospel of Grace. According to John 3:17-18 those who BELIEVED in Christ were not condemned. According to John 3:14-16 those who BELIEVED in Christ received eternal life. According to John 5:24 those who BELIEVED in God’s Word and God’s Son passed out of death into life. According to John 1:12-13 those who BELIEVED in Christ and RECEIVED Him as Savior became the regenerated sons of God. According to John 6:29 and John 6:40 those who BELIEVED in Christ did the will of God and the work of God. According to John 1:16 those who BELIEVED in Christ received of His fullness, and Grace upon Grace. According to John 3:18 UN-believers were condemned because they did NOT believe in Christ: upon such the wrath of God abideth forever (John 3:36); and they shall die in their sins. (John 8:24).
“Believe on the LORD Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” Acts 16:31, while there is still time!
So There You Have it!
Spread this message to everyone you know, far and wide. The time is short
Grace be to you and peace, from God: our Father, and The LORD Jesus Christ.
In The LORD Jesus Christ,
The Lion and Lamb Ministry
Pastor David Picos, D.D.
Minister and Ambassador for Christ in the Ministry of Reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20)
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