The gospel that we preach in the Lord’s recovery is the purest, highest, most complete gospel

In the last days of this age, the Lord has raised us up and given us a twofold commission: on the one hand, we are to dispose of everything negative, and on the other hand, we are to preach to people – not in part but in full – the pure, high and complete gospel.

We are not preaching the gospel which speaks only about the brevity and sorrow of human life and how believing in Jesus results in not going to hell, having a better living, and receiving blessings and peace in the human life. These are all too shallow and cannot make known God’s eternal economy, His eternal plan. In preaching the gospel, the first thing we speak about is the mystery of human life and the meaning of human life. What is the meaning of human life? It is to be a vessel of God to contain God within us. We need to be persons who contain God, who are filled with God, and who take God as life, that we may become God’s expression and God’s declaration. This is full of light. This is a part of the pure and high gospel.

This preaching is not done through inviting a spiritual giant to do the speaking; that is not according to the Bible. The Lord wants us to go. God was the first to go to someone’s “door” to pay him a visit. Four thousand years later God Himself became flesh, put on a physical body, and came among men as a man to go to men’s doors to pay them a visit. He went to the door of Zaccheus, and He went into the house of Zaccheus (Luke 19:1-10). He also paid a visit to the Samaritan woman beside the well (John 4:1-42). During His three and a half years of preaching, He did much work of visiting, never doing anything by calling people to organize a meeting or inviting people to a meeting.

Therefore, we need to go against our former practice, no longer inviting people to come but going to where people are. Today our preaching of the gospel and the truth is not inviting people to our “restaurant” but delivering food to their homes. Not only do we need to know people’s situation, but more importantly we need to preach to them the pure, high and complete gospel. Then little by little we can teach them the pure, high, and complete truth. In this way the Lord will be able to gain a propel church prepared as His bride so that He can come back to marry us. This is our commission today.

Hymns, #1292 -> http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/h/1292

Yes, we're holy brothers with Christ,

No higher could any man be.

This highest of all gospels is;

This gospel each human must see.

Partakers of this heavenly call,

Could any this gospel reject?

With Christ sitting far above all—

This highest of all gospels yet!

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Scriptural base & additional references

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1)      Rom. 1:1, 3-4 (ref: http://online.recoveryversion.org/BibleChapters.asp?fcid=118&lcid=118)

1 ¹Paul, a ²slave of ³Christ ⁴Jesus, a ⁵called ⁶apostle, ⁷separated ⁸unto the ⁹gospel of God,

3 Concerning ¹His Son, who ²came ³out of the ^4aseed of David according to the ⁵flesh,

4 Who was ¹designated the ^2aSon of God in ³power according to the ⁴Spirit of ⁵holiness ⁶out of the resurrection of the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord;

2)      Acts 20:24  (ref: http://online.recoveryversion.org/BibleChapters.asp?fcid=109&lcid=109)

24 But I ¹consider my ^2alife of no account as if precious to myself, in order that I may finish my ^bcourse and the ^cministry which I have received from the Lord Jesus to solemnly ^dtestify of the ^egospel of the ^fgrace of God.

3)      Eph. 3:8    (ref: http://online.recoveryversion.org/BibleChapters.asp?fcid=171&lcid=171)

8 To me, ¹less than the ^aleast of all saints, was this ^bgrace given to announce to the ^cGentiles the ²unsearchable ^3driches of Christ as the gospel

4)      Eph. 6:15   (ref: http://online.recoveryversion.org/BibleChapters.asp?fcid=174&lcid=174)

15 And having ¹shod your ^afeet with the ²firm foundation of the ^bgospel of ^cpeace;

5)      2 Cor. 4:4   (ref: http://online.recoveryversion.org/BibleChapters.asp?fcid=153&lcid=153)

4 In whom the ^1agod of ^bthis age has ^2cblinded the ^3dthoughts of the unbelievers that the ^4eillumination of the gospel of the ^fglory of Christ, who is the ^gimage of God, might not ⁵shine on them.

6)      The Mystery of the Universe and the Meaning of Human Life, chs. 5-6, by Witness Lee

(ref: http://www.ministrybooks.org/books.cfm?id=%23%22Y%5B%2F%0A)

In the Scriptures there is only one flow, only one divine stream. We need to keep ourselves in this one flow.

The history of the church shows that this stream has continued to flow from generation to generation right up to this very day, and it is flowing still. Where it flows, there is the life of God; where it flows, there is the fellowship of the Body; where it flows, there is the testimony of Jesus; and where it flows, there is also the work of God. It is the stream of life, the stream of fellowship, the stream of testimony, and the stream of the work of God. (1 John 1:1-3)

Brothers and sisters, we must be in this stream. If we are not in this stream, we are out of life, we are out of the fellowship of the Body, we are out of the testimony of the Lord Jesus, and we are out of the work of God. Oh, if we are simply in this stream, we will have everything. If we have this stream we have everything. If we are in this stream, then we are in God, we are in the Lamb with the throne, we are in the life, we are in the fellowship, we are in the testimony, and we are in the work of God.

We look to the Lord that it will be increasing in this country and even to all parts of the world. May we remember this in our prayers, and may we be ready to go along with the Lord that this stream may have a free way to flow without any hindrance in us. We must be faithful to the flowing of this stream of the divine life, of the fellowship of the Body, of the testimony of the Lord Jesus, and of the work of God.

Many times we are conscious that we are out of the flowing of this stream. Then, sometimes we know that we are in its flowing. What have we to do then? It is really quite simple. We just have to keep ourselves in the flowing of the stream. Whenever we feel that the flowing of the stream within us is cut off, we must turn to the Lord immediately to seek the reason. Why has the stream within we stopped flowing? We must discover the reason and deal with the Lord about it until the flowing is recovered. Wherever we are going and whatever we are about to do, if there is the sense that the flowing of the stream will be stopped by proceeding in that matter, then we must stop. Stop in order to maintain the flowing. To maintain the flowing we must refrain from all those activities which are not of the Lord, that is, which are not of the flowing of the stream within us.

There is only one stream, and we have to keep ourselves in this one stream. If we study carefully the history of the church, we will find that throughout the generations there has been one stream of the Holy Spirit flowing all the time. Many have been working for the Lord, but not all have been in the flowing of that one stream. If we will accept the mercy and the grace of the Lord, we will be brought into that very stream that is flowing today.

What we must do today is just go along with the stream, just subject ourselves to the current of the work of the Holy Spirit. In this matter we have no personal liberty. It is not according to our thoughts, but according to His flowing. Wherever we go, we do not go on our own. We just as a boat in the current; wherever the current goes, we carry on. It is so easy. It is not our strength, our energy, or our endurance; it is the flowing of the stream. The words of a hymn (#907) say:

Not where we elect to go,
But where Jesus leads the way;
There the living waters flow,
There our darkness turns to day.

 http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/h/907

May the Lord always keep us in the flowing of the life, in the fellowship, in the testimony, in the work, and in the building of the house of God. 

 

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Scriptural base & additional references

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1)      1 John 1:1-3   (ref: http://online.recoveryversion.org/BibleChapters.asp?fcid=231&lcid=231)

1 ¹That which was ²from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have ^aseen with our ^beyes, which we ³beheld and our hands ^4chandled, concerning the ⁵Word of ⁶life

2 (And the ^1alife was ^2bmanifested, and we have seen and ^ctestify and report to you ³the ^deternal life, which was ^4ewith the ⁵Father and was⁶manifested to us);

3 That which we have ¹seen and heard we report ²also to you that you ²also may have ^3afellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the⁴Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

2)      The Divine Stream, by Witness Lee

(ref: http://www.ministrybooks.org/books.cfm?id=%23%23%2C%25%27%0A)

Christ established Himself, in His body, as the sacrifice of the new covenant

God not delighting in and not requiring sacrifices and offering points to terminate His economy in the Old Testament. The revelation in Psalms 40:6-8 is one of the important and greatest revelations concerning Christ in His commission of His incarnation. Verse 6 says, "You do not delight in sacrifice and offering," and again, "You do not require burnt offering and sin offering." This indicates that God was intending to give up His Old Testament economy. In Hebrews 10, Paul indicated that to stop the sacrifices and offerings of the Old Testament is to replace the Old Testament for the establishment of the New Testament.

Christ will come to do the will of God (Psalms 40:6-8), and the will of God is that Christ has to replace everyone, everything, and every matter. In the whole universe, God does not want anything except Christ. God wants only one person—Christ. He wants Christ to replace all the offerings, to replace all things, to replace all matters, and to replace all men. David encouraged people to keep the law, but Christ crucifies, terminates, every law-keeper. Christ does not want to see anyone endeavoring to keep the law. He wants to see every law-keeper terminated by the cross.

In Psalm 40:6, "You have bored My ears" signifies that God required obedience of Christ as His Slave in Christ's humanity. This obedience was for Him to do the will of God by being the sacrifice and offering in His crucifixion in the flesh, the body. Hebrew 10:9 and the prophecies in Psalm 40 also show us clearly that Christ was a Person who lived His life absolutely for God. Every part of His being, His every breath, and every drop of His blood, were altogether absolutely for God. Because of this He was qualified to be our sin offering to deal with our sin and to take away our sins which we inherited by birth. This is not a shallow thing; this is not an easy thing. It needs One who lived a life absolutely for God.

Today, by Christ's first coming, the entire Old Testament has been terminated and replaced. Now our offering and sacrifice are Christ. Day and night we offer Christ to God as all kinds of offerings. Whenever we sin, we ask God to forgive us, taking Christ, God's Son, as our sin offering and trespass offering. He is the real offering for our sin and transgressions. When we need peace toward God, we can take Christ as our peace offering. We can also take Him as our burnt offering and meal offering. Christ is everything to us because He fulfilled all the Old Testament types and has taken them away. Praise the Lord! Today He is the reality of all the types in the Old Testament.

Hymns, #1188

Upon the throne of Jesus Christ

  We've taken up our seat.

The world and Satan, sin and self

  Are all beneath our feet!

Christ's finished work did put us here.

  When once for all He died;

No more are we the sinners poor,

  We're fully glorified.

http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/h/1188

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Scriptural base & additional references

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1)      Psalms 40:6-8

6 You do not delight in sacrifice and offering; You have prepared ears for Me; You do not require burnt offering and sin offering.

7 Then I said, Behold, I have come; In the scroll of the book It is written concerning Me.

8 I delight in doing Your will, O My God; Indeed Your law is within My inward parts.

2)      Hebrews 10:8-9

8 Saying above, "Sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You did not desire nor delight in'' (which are offered according to the law),

9 He then has said, "Behold, I have come to do Your will.'' He takes away the first that He may establish the second,

3)      Life-Study of Psalms, Chapter 17-18

4)      Experiencing Christ as the Offerings for the Church Meetings, Chapter 9