Copyright © 1997 Warren Litzman (Christ-Life Fellowship). From the booklet This Then is The Message Which We Have Heard of Him. Used by permission.
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This is The Message Which We Have Heard of Him
"This then is the message which we have heard of Him" (I John 1:5 KJV).
There exists a message which is not from man, not from prophets, and not from apostles. This message has come strictly by Him. There is no other message like it. It is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I want to share with you what "The Message" is. In every generation of time, God has had a message for His people. It was so all the way through the Old Testament, where God had specific a prophet, for a specific day, to bring a specific message enlarging God's plan. But in all they preached, men fell short, for there was none that could do what God had set for them to do.
When Christ the Word came to this earth, He came to His own. He preached to them that the Kingdom of heaven was at hand, but His own rejected Him and turned down His message so that God was forced to set aside His own people, Israel, and raise up for Himself another people so that He could give to them a Gospel truth that would fulfill His desires and His wishes. That's "The Message" which John speaks of.
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The Apostle Paul spoke of the same Gospel when on three occasions he used the term, "my gospel". That word "my" was in opposition to Peter, who yet preached the gospel of circumcision, which was bound to Judaism and the Mosaic law. This meant that Paul's Gospel was different from what the early Church at Jerusalem preached, for Paul said, "I preach unto you a Gospel which is my gospel. I'll take the credit for receiving it and for delivering it, because it's something which has never been given on this earth before."
There is a message like that in the world today which John would call "The Message," and Paul would call "my gospel." There are neither two messages nor two gospels for today. There is only one. The Scripture says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." There can't be two Words. The essence of that Word is the Person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
In our world today there is only one Gospel and one message, and we have to get that fixed in our minds if we're ever going to go on with God. This one message is not about Christ. It is not about what He can do. It is not about the things that He did. It is not about the things that His people are doing today. The message, John said, is "of Him." There is a big difference between a message being "of Him" and a message being "about Him." It is not just that Jesus Christ was born and that He lived and that He died. The Gospel is more than that. The true Gospel is Jesus, Himself. It's who He is, not who He was in Judea 1900 years ago. It is not who He was when you got saved or filled with the Spirit. The true Gospel is who He is in you right now.
The fact that you are in Christ is an abounding, tremendous, awesome truth, which religion and Satan would do all in their power to keep you from knowing. That is where the move of God is today. It is centered around a message in which God is able to speak directly to the hearts of those who love Him, and bring them to an understanding they've never known nor had before.
The Christ-life message is a message which is spreading over the face of the earth. We are not the only ones who have this Gospel, "The Message," nor are we the only ones who preach the Christ-life. There are people everywhere who are broadcasting and telling the good news of Jesus Christ because this message is of God. It is a work of the Spirit: no man controls it, no man has raised it up, and no man can continue it. It is a work of God. The Christ-life is Christ in every born-again believer because that's the only kind of salvation God has.
The message, as we present it in the Christ-life, is divided into seven points. I want you to see those seven points.
Copyright © 1997 Warren Litzman; used by permission. The Bible text in this publication, except where otherwise indicated, is from the King James Version. This article appears on the site: http://www.peterwade.com/.
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