JESUS CHRIST IS
NOT NEGOTIABLE
By Pastor Max Solbrekken D.D.
The Gospel
is Good News for Fallen Man! It is the Glad Tidings of the great love, mercy
and grace of God projected toward a sinful and rebellious race! The
Evangelical Dictionary of Theology states: "The Gospel is the joyous
proclamation of God's activity in Christ on behalf of man."
We
are nearing the Easter season and true believers in Jesus Christ and His
glorious Gospel will be heralding the amazing Bible account of the God's great
mercy and grace toward sinful man. The word Gospel means Good News!
The
Gospel is the good news and glad tidings that Light has come into a
world of Darkness; that Peace has come into a world
of Turmoil; that Healing has come into a world of Sickness; that
that Love has come into a world of Hate;
that Forgiveness has come into a world of Sin;
that Life has come into a world of Death; that Freedom has
come into a world of Bondage; that Slaves are made free by
the Liberator of the Human Race!
And that Light, Peace, Healing, Love, Forgiveness, Life,
Liberty, Freedom and Eternal Life is none other than Jesus Christ the Son of
God. That He was crucified for us, arose from the dead and sitting on the Right
hand of God as Saviour, Redeemer, Advocate, High Priest and Intercessor!
Soon the usual liberal "enemies of the
cross" theologians and their lap-dogs, the money hungry Hollywood
Producers and actors, will be spreading lies and falsehoods about Jesus Christ
and His Gospel. I found this powerful statement on Google recently: It
was my position in 1993 and it is my position today, in 2019. The Western
Report Feb. 8, 1993 story of Christian Unity in Alberta carried
this excerpt:
“Edmonton’s Dr. Max Solbrekken is more blunt,‘We
can’t sit at the same table with people who presume to change the word of God -
call God the Father ‘she,’ license homosexual acts, change Christ’s own words
on marriage, or deny that He rose from the dead. That’s blasphemy. The
only truth that unites Christians is the person of Jesus, and he is not
negotiable. I’m all for Christians joining together, but Christ is the living
Word, not an ‘evolving idea,’ and He doesn’t change with the times.”
FROM THE MANGER TO THE CROSS!
What a
journey Jesus Christ had: From the Manger to the Cross - the Cross of
Calvary - the place of pain, shame and agony, where our Saviour shed His precious
blood to set the captives free!
Christ's
vicarious (substitutionary) death and glorious resurrection from the dead
drives us to Repentance and Faith, as we see His hand of mercy
extended to a lost, fearful and sick world.
The
Cross is the expression of God's love for us. It is the very pinnacle of His
mercy and grace to an enslaved people, bound by lust, greed, pride and hate.
The Cross of Christ has been referred to as the axis of salvation, the climax
of the cosmic battle between God and Satan, between good and evil!
JESUS
said: "As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: and I lay
down My life for the sheep. Therefore, doth My Father love Me, because I lay
down My life, that I might take it again.
"No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it of Myself. I have power to lay it
down, and I have power to take it again. This command have I received of
My Father," (John 10: 15-18); "Greater love hath no man
than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15: 13)
"For when we were yet without strength (hopeless) in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
"For when we were yet without strength (hopeless) in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
"But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were
yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His
blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
"For if, when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we
shall be saved by His life." (Rom.5: 8-10)
THE
SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD!
The
Sovereignty of God demanded punishment for sin and the Cross provided the Final
Solution! From the Gates of Eden - after the Fall - until the
death of Jesus of Nazareth on Golgotha, God used the sacrificial system to
forgive the sins of His people. Innocent lambs, goats and bulls were sacrificed
as substitutes for sinning man!
When Jesus
cried, "It is Finished", Almighty God rent the vail in the
Temple and left the Holy of Holies. Standing on Golgotha's Hill, He laid His
hands on the head of His Son, transferring the sins of the entire
world (past, present and future) to His Paschal Lamb.
The
Lamb of God had been sacrificed. He had propitiated for our sins. The Father
was satisfied. The account was settled for time and eternity! The fountain of
blood was opened for sin and uncleanness. His blood was flowing. JESUS had met
the Demands of Divine Justice in the courts of Heaven, in payment for all our
sins!
"And
he (thief) said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy
Kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou
be with Me in Paradise.
"And
the sun was darkened and the VAIL in the temple was rent in the
midst. And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father, into
Thy hands I commend My spirit: and having thus said, He gave up the
ghost." (Luke 23: 42-46)
THE GREAT EXCHANGE WAS DONE!
The sins of Adam that was imputed to the
entire human race had now been transferred to God's incarnated Son. Our sins
were imputed to Christ and in exchange, His righteousness was imputed to us!
(Rom.3:21-26; 4:6-8; 5:11-21)
The
BIBLE states: "But Christ being come an High Priest of good things to
come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to
say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by
His own Blood He entered in once into the Holy Place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us.
"For if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of a heifer
sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more
shall the blood of Christ Who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the Living
God?" (Heb. 9: 11-14)
Speaking to the pagan philosophers of Greece about Jesus Christ,
St. Paul stated: "Forasmuch then that we are the offspring of God, we
ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone,
graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at;
but now commandeth all men everywhere to Repent.
"Because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world
in righteousness by that Man, Whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath
given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the
dead." (Acts 17: 30, 31)
LIFE THROUGH THE BLOOD!
DR.
DEHANN wrote: “The blood of Jesus is
sinless blood, and since it is incorruptible, for sin brings corruption and where no sin is, there is no corruption.
Every drop of blood which flowed in Jesus’ body is still in existence, and is
just as fresh as it was when it flowed from His broken skin in Gethsemane, the
blood that was smeared about His back when the cruel weighted tongs cut through
His flesh as the flagellator scourged Him, the blood that oozed out under the
thorny crown and flowed from His hands, His head, His feet was never destroyed for
it was incorruptible blood.
“David, in speaking of Him in the 16th Psalm,
while Peter quotes in Acts 2, says, “Thou wilt not leave His soul in Hell,
nether wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption.
Although the body of the Lord Jesus lay in the tomb in death for three days and
nights with no corruption in it for that body contained incorruptible blood.”
DR. ANDREW MURRAY
wrote: "Reconciliation and deliverance from guilt become the blessed
entrance for us into a life in which the Blood, as it was transported into
Heaven and abides there will be truly the power of divine abiding life in
us." - The Blood of the Cross
MARTIN
LUTHER stated: "First, the blood of Christ remains the same blood of
Christ. For we believe and hold that the blood of Christ that is now at the
Right Hand of God, was shed for us only ONCE." - Church & Ministry, Luther's Works, vol. 40, p. 215
ST. PAUL states: "But this Man, because He continueth ever,
hath an unchanging priesthood. Wherefore He is able to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God through Him, seeing He ever liveth to make
intercession for them.
"For such an High Priest became us, Who is holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens: Who needeth
not daily, as those high priests to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins,
and then for the people's; for this He did ONCE, when He offered up
Himself.
"For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity, but the word of
the OATH, which was since the law, maketh the SON, who is consecrated
forevermore." (Heb.7:24-28)
MY CONFESSION OF FAITH!
Clearly stated, there is but ONE God and Father and ONE Lord Jesus Christ
Who is both Creator and Sustainer of the world and Sole Saviour and Redeemer of
the entire Human Race, and ONE Blessed Holy Spirit of God, who draws all men to
Christ!
All other
so-called gods and goddesses and deities are mere Counterfeits, Imitators and
Pretenders. It is Christ and Christ Alone who saves, heals, delivers and
liberates from sin, fear, sickness, disease and all the powers of Darkness and
Satan!
"But to us (Christians) there is but ONE God, the Father, of Whom are
all things, and we in Him, and ONE Lord Jesus Christ by Whom are all things,
and we by Him." (1 Cor.8: 6). Amen
After
discussing the outstanding miracle healings that had occurred under my ministry
in Norway, the editor of a major Norwegian newspaper
asked, “Who is Max Solbrekken?” I
replied, “The boy delivering telegrams does his job and gets back on his
bicycle, often without being thanked. The boy is not important, but the
telegram is. Max Solbrekken isn't important, but the message is very
important. I am just a messenger boy for Jesus!”
Next day's Newspaper had a large picture of this preacher, and the article
covered a full page. The headline screamed, “Max Solbrekken: A Messenger Boy
for Jesus!” That was the most beautiful thing I could ever have written
about me. I was so excited and thrilled to be publicly linked to Jesus in that
manner. What a privilege!
For
more than 50 years, I have carried the Gospel of Jesus Christ to multitudes
across the world, the Lord working with us and confirming the Word with miracles,
sign and wonders! From 1989 to 1995, God
gave us many open doors across the former Soviet Union with great success. I
will never forget touring Chernigov
not long after the catastrophic nuclear explosion there. We preached in the new
town of Slavutich, forty miles away.
In 2004 and 2005, together with Dr. Manoel Ferreira of the Assemblies of
God, Donna and I preached in four Ministers Conventions with a total of 10,000
preachers.
PREACHING
TO MUSLIMS IN DARFUR!
And in Parque Brasil in Paulinia,
S.P. Brazil I was invited to preach to more than 300,000 people on April 13,
2005. Our latest Gospel Unity Crusade was in Kampala, Uganda in 2011.
One of my
greatest joys was preaching to Muslims in Sudan including Darfur in 2006 and 2007. Norwegian Missionary Jan Ernst Gabrielsen
and I had some glorious revivals there. Our time together with Dr. Boutros
Boktor at the Assembly of God in Cairo Egypt in 2007 was special.
He said: “Dr. Max, there is a saying that once you drink of the waters
of the Nile, you will come back again and again. We want you to come back again
and again.” Sadly, before I could make it back to Cairo, the Lord called him Home.
Fortunately, I produced a video with Dr. Boktor of his experience as an
Egyptian soldier on the desert during the Six Day War with Israel. In great detail,
he related his one-on-one meeting with JESUS and his miraculous escape from the
bombardment by Israeli jets that killed hundreds and captured of several thousand
of his fellow soldiers.
To God be all the honour, praise and glory, through Jesus Christ the
Lord! I praise Him for His grace and pure love with which He has showered Donna
and me and our beautiful family throughout all these years. Amen.