January 3, 2021 Lord’s Day Service
The Beginning of the Gospel
(Mark 1:1-8)
Overseer Sung-Hyun Kim
God
is the Father.
Since He
is the One and Only, He loved the Son,
set Him as Heir of all things (Heb 1:2),
and made the world through Him and for Him.
He made all things, and it all belongs to Him (Ps 100:3).
Nothing appeared without Him, and they submit to Him.
This is because they are all His (Heb 11:3).
To finally reveal the Creator to His creatures,
He chose Abraham and he became a blessing (Gen 12:2).
He kept Abraham in solitude, and he was called ‘a Hebrew’ (Gen 14:13).
However, Abraham’s blessings were passed to a thousand generations (Ps 105:4-11)
and they arrived in the land of Canaan, according to His covenant.
It started from Mount Sinai until Jerusalem (Jn 4:21).
God kept the first covenant, which is the Law and the Prophets (Num 23:19-20).
John the Baptist is the last prophet (Jn 1:6-8).
Since he is the end of the Law and the Prophets (Mt 11:13),
the last prophet is called ‘Elijah’ (Mal 4:1-6).
Repentance – which the first covenant did not have – was finally preached (Mt 3:1-2).
A king does not repent in place of others, but each person must repent (Acts 2:38).
○ The first covenant was the faith of Israel (who was Abraham’s descendant).
Because the new covenant is given to the whole world and each person,
it is called the Gospel of grace.
○ The life of Jesus Christ is the beginning of the Gospel.
The Gospel erased the Law and the Prophets (Mt 17:4-5)
and only refers to the merit done by Jesus Christ.
○ God personally witnessed to
the word, power and love of Jesus Christ (Jn 5:32-37),
and the Holy Spirit enters our hearts and testifies (Jn 15:26).
※ You must certainly know the Gospel to know the truth.
You must know the truth to be free indeed.
This is complete liberation from the nature of the universe (which is called hades).