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GOOD NEWS FOR FALLEN MAN
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."
The Gospel is the good news and the 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 lapdogs, 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 2022. 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. 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. All the sins of the entire world (past, present and future) were transferred to His Paschal Lamb. The Great Transaction was complete. 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!
The word Jesus used was ‘Tetelestai’, from the Greek verb ‘teleo’, which has
three essential meanings: To finish something, to bring something to an end; to fulfill something; to pay that which is owed. Jesus had finished His work of Redemption. He
had brought to an end Satan’s power; He had fulfilled all the Scriptures in the Old Testament about Himself; He had paid that which was owed!
"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 GEAT EXCHANGE WAS DONE!
The sins of Adam that were imputed to the 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 about Jesus Christ to the pagan philosophers of Greece, 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 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 ‘Telemark Avis’, 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 an honour and 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 Chernobyl, 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. 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.
PREACHING TO MUSLIMS IN DARFUR!
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 Sinai desert during the Six Day War with Israel in 1967. 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.
