THE KING’ S BUSINESS
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3. But as glad and glorious and full as these glad tidings are, eveh this does not constitute the full Gospel. The' Apostle Paul, not only preached a Christ who died for men’s sins, who became sin for us that we might' become the righteousness of God in Him, a Saviour who made per fect atonement for sin, and through whom we may have pardon for. all our sins by simply believing in Him, and a Saviour who rose again and is now living to make intercession for us and who can and will give us daily victory over sin if we only trust in H im : H e preached furthermore the “ Glad Tidings'’ that this same Saviour some day is coming back again and that glad news is a part o f the missionary’s message. The Apostle Paul says in Phil. 3 :20, 21, writing to a church where he had done wonderful missionary work under, very difficult circumstances, “Our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we wait for a Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall fashion anew the body o f our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory, according to: •the working whereby He is able even to subject all things unto Hmiself.” That this was a very important and constantly emphasized part o f the Gospel that Paul preached, is evident from his epistle to the Thessaloni- ans. This was the first inspired epistle that he ever wrote, or at least the first epistle o f which we have any record. It was to a church where he had been a missionary and where he had preached the Gospel “ not in word only: but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance” (1 Thess. 1:5). And the epistle is addressed to young converts; but in every one o f the five short chapters in that epistle is a ref erence to the Second Coming o f Christ and it is evident from that epistle and from the Second Epistle to the same church, that the Second Coming o f Christ had been an important and prominent part o f Paul’s missionary message to the people o f Thes- salonica. Not only so, but he also com mands the young converts in Thessalonica to emphasize this truth in comforting one another in their afflictions. Paul says in
a very essential part o f the Gospel which the missionary is to preach, and that is not only do we have Christ for us on the cross through whom we ■, have perfect atonement for our sins, but we also have Christ for us at the right had o f God as an everlasting intercessor, and One who has all power in heaven and on earth and Who therefore has power to give' us vic tory over sin in all its manifestations every day o f our life. It is a part o f the mis sionary’s message to preach a risen Saviour who has all authority in heaven and on earth (as one o f our texts puts it) and w h o, therefore' can, as a .Saviour living today with “all power,” come into our lives and take the weakest o f us ahd make possible for us a life o f daily victory. “Good News” o f a risen Christ for us at the right hand of the Father involves the Good News of a Christ dwelling “ in us, the hope o f glory.” And the missionary in his message should not only point men in all lands to Christ on the cross through whom they may have pardon, .but to Christ on the throne who is ready to come down and dwell in their hearts and make over thdir lives into the likeness o f His own. This is a message that men and women in the darkness of heathenism sorely need today. The two great problems that confront lost men and. women in the heathen world today are, first; how to get pardon for the sins already committed, and second, how to get deliver ance from the power o f sin. These prob lems are fully solved in the missionary’s message, in the Gospel, the Gospel of Christ. The problem o f how to get par don for sin is solved in “the Good News” o f the atoning blood, the problem o f how to get victory over sin in daily life is solved by “the Good News” o f a Living, Risen Christ who is ready to come into our hearts and lives and give us victory, and Who is able t o , come and dwell in our hearts and take possession o f our lives and make them over into the likeness o f His own life. This is the message that the world is longing for today, and for lack o f knowledge o f which, the world is per ishing today.
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