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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Gospel of the Kingdom, #4
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, (Titus 2:11,12—NIV)
Today many thousands of Christians, including pastors, are living ungodly lives because they trust that God's grace is continually covering their sinful practices.
Many pastors have fallen into immorality in the last ten years. This is because the iron axe-head of Gospel truth has been lost. It is time for the stick, the cross, to be thrown into the water. Then the iron will "swim" in the preaching and lives of Christian people.
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God is not about a "rapture" to save us from trouble, or eternal rest in a mansion in Heaven. The Gospel of the Kingdom has to do with the birth and growth of Christ in us so a new righteous creation has come forth. It is the Kingdom of God and His righteousness that is formed in us.
When the saints have been brought to the stature of the fullness of Christ, Christ and they will appear and establish the government of God on the earth. The coming of the government of God to the earth is good news for the people of the nations who desire to practice righteousness. Christ and His saints will bring justice to the nations by destroying all wickedness from the earth.
In order to understand the Gospel of the Kingdom we must hold in our mind the difference between the Kingdom of God, which is the Christian Church, and the nations of saved people.
That there shall be two classes of people who are kept from destruction in the Day of the Lord, the Kingdom and the saved nations, is hardly understood in the Christian churches. Yet, if one does not understand the difference between the Kingdom and the saved nations it is impossible to understand the Old Testament, or the fact that the Church is a royal priesthood.
As of the present hour we are in the Church Age. This means the Holy Spirit continually is seeking out God's elect and bringing the Gospel to them. Whoever has been ordained to eternal life believes the Gospel and becomes a part of the Church, the elect, the Israel of God.
The Church is the one Seed of Abraham. All who truly are a part of Jesus Christ are members of the Church, the one Seed of Abraham, the new Jerusalem, the house of God, the Kingdom of God, the Wife of the Lamb.
Such people are the brothers of Jesus Christ. God has called them from the beginning of the world according to His foreknowledge.
On the other hand we have the nations of the earth. God told Abraham that in Abraham's Seed the nations of the earth shall be blessed.
According to the prayer of the Lord Jesus in the Gospel of John, as soon as the members of the Church have been made one in Christ in God, the world will believe it is God who has sent the Lord Jesus to us.
To be continued.