Message Four—The High Gospel
Rom. 1:2-3a Which [the gospel] He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son…
The High Gospel Being Revealed
in the New Testament
We need to preach the high gospel revealed in the New Testament. In the New Testament different terms are used related to the gospel, such as the gospel of grace (Acts 20:24), the gospel of God (Rom. 1:1; 15:16), the gospel of Christ (v. 19), the gospel of Jesus Christ (Mark 1:1), the gospel of the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 4:4), the gospel of peace (Eph. 6:15), and the gospel of our salvation (1:13). The gospel of the kingdom (Matt. 4:23) includes not only forgiveness of sins (cf. Luke 24:47) and the impartation of life (cf. John 20:31) but also the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 24:14). In Ephesians 3:8 Paul says that he preached the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel. When I was young, I heard much concerning the gospel of grace and the forgiveness of sins, but I never heard of the gospel of the kingdom. Even for many years in the Lord’s recovery, we did not see the gospel of the unsearchable riches of Christ. (CWWL, 1987, vol. 2, “The God-Ordained Way to Practice the New Testament Economy,” msg. 14)
The Gospel Being a Wonderful Person
The gospel is Christ, who is the very embodiment of the processed Triune God, reaching us as the consummated Spirit, who is the consummation of the Triune God for our enjoyment. According to the truth, the gospel is the entire New Testament. Christians are used to saying that there are four Gospels, but Paul tells us that the entire book of Romans is the gospel of God (1:1, 15). It includes the preaching of God, the condemnation of God upon fallen man, and the Body life, including the local churches in chapter 16. Have you ever received such a broad view of the definition of the gospel? Personally, the gospel is a wonderful person, and according to the truth, the gospel is the entire divine revelation of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. God’s New Testament economy is the gospel. We have to believe in such a gospel, preach such a gospel, and live uniquely for such a gospel. The consummated Spirit, who is God Himself reaching us, eventually has become the seven Spirits in Revelation (1:4; 4:5; 5:6). The seven Spirits are also a part of the gospel.
The Gospel Being the Entire Revelation
of God’s New Testament Economy
Truthwise, the gospel is the entire revelation of God’s New Testament economy, including the first verse of Matthew, “Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham,” and including the last verse of Revelation, “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.” Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham, in Matthew 1:1 is the very grace in Revelation 22:21. In the first chapter of Matthew, the first chapter of the entire New Testament, we are also told that God was born into Mary (v. 20). The gospel includes God being born into Mary. The conception of the Savior was God’s incarnation (John 1:14). The Gospel of Matthew also includes the church. In Matthew 16 Jesus Christ our Lord told His disciples that He would build His church upon this rock, the revelation concerning Himself as the Christ, the Son of the living God (vv. 16-18). In Matthew 24:14 the Lord told us that the gospel of the kingdom, which is the gospel of Matthew, will be preached to the whole inhabited earth.
Consider how much truth is in the Gospel of John, especially in chapters 14 through 16, concerning the Divine Trinity and concerning you and me as branches of the processed Triune God (15:5). Do you realize that we are the branches of the processed Triune God? When I come to the details of John 14—16, I get excited. The Son is in the Father, the Father is in the Son (14:10-11), and eventually this Son is realized as the Spirit (vv. 17-20), so the entire Triune God comes to make an abode with us (v. 23). Where are you now? You have to say that you are in the processed Triune God. And where is He now? He is in us. This mutual abode of us in the Triune God and of Him in us is the church, and this is the central point, the focus, of the Gospel of John.
Needing to Go to Preach the High Gospel
We need to go to preach the high gospel. The booklet we have published entitled The Mystery of Human Life really works. Thousands have been saved through this booklet. In it is the central way to present people the high gospel starting from God’s creation of man. The parts of man are presented with a diagram of three circles showing man’s spirit, soul, and body. It unveils God’s intention to come into man’s spirit so that man as a container, a vessel, may contain God. This high gospel of God’s economy captures the thoughtful, educated people. After being educated, nearly every human being begins to think about the meaning of human life. Before the trainees presented the booklet, many said they were not interested. But the trainees said, “Just give us thirty seconds to read to you from The Mystery of Human Life.” This subject attracts people. After listening to the reading of the first page, many will say that it is very good. When you hear, “Very good,” that means that person is a son of peace. When he says, “Very good,” or “Not bad,” that is the time for you to say, “Let’s pray.” Then you can turn to the back of the booklet and lead him to pray and call upon the name of the Lord. Following this, read the portion in the back of the booklet on baptism and show him Mark 16:16—believe and be baptized. Then lead him to be baptized in his bathtub. Exercise the authority in heaven and on earth that has been given to you. Regardless of this person’s status, he will be a little lamb, going along with you to get changed and get into the water. In baptism we have a very prevailing prayer: “Lord, we place this one into You. We baptize him into the Triune God.” This is the way to get people baptized within fifteen minutes.
In doing anything successfully there is a certain principle. You must get the principle and learn it. Do not think that to knock on doors to get people baptized is easy. No, it has its principle. There are principles in learning how to play the piano. Now we are endeavoring to live uniquely for the gospel, and no other way is prevailing but the Lord’s new way. This has been proved by Christian history for centuries. We studied many of the practices of the past and tried them. We had many of the books of the leading mystics translated into Chinese close to fifty years ago. We studied nearly all of the leading books of the inner life. I learned a lot from them. I was with the Brethren, and Brother Nee studied many books put out by the Brethren teachers. We even tried some items of the Pentecostal movement and found out that they were not profitable. We must cut off “the tail” of the leaven of Christianity to have a new way, and the new way is fully ordained by God and recorded in the Bible. It is here now for us to practice. We have tried this way, and it works.
If each one of you would rise up and go out for some time once a week for two or three hours, everyone will get one a month or twelve a year. What an increase we will have! I must be faithful to tell you this. After telling you this, you bear the responsibility. We must visit people to share with them the high gospel, that is, the Triune God Himself to be our life and content. (CWWL, 1987, vol. 1, “Being Desperate and Living Uniquely for the Gospel,” ch. 3)
