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The Gospel
March 8, 2008 | 
Author What is the Gospel?
I asked this question in a Bible study group with about twenty people. I gave them time to write out their answer. The answers were unexpectedly varied indicating that there is little common understanding of what the gospel is. Can “the gospel” have different meanings? Paul said, there was one gospel which is the death burial and resurrection of Jesus. 1Corinthians 15:1-4
The term is frequently used in preaching, teaching and Bible studies and many times seems to imply more than Paul’s statement. When used in this way, it is a term which people will define by projecting their particular idea into it, similiar to the terms “hope” and “change” which politicians use.
How many passages in the Bible can be considered the gospel, or “good news”? Many denominations preach the “Sermon on the Mount” as applicable to Christian living.
17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. Matt 5:17-20 (KJV)
Was that “good news” for the Jews He was teaching?
Here is what Jesus said to Martha in Chapter 11 of John’s Gospel.
21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. 22 But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. 23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. 24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. 25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? John 11:21-26 (KJV)
So what do you say the Gospel is?
John MacArthur’s book “the Gospel According to Jesus” is about “Lordship salvation” and “making” Jesus Lord in our life. Is that “Good news”?
Jesus is Lord of our life; we don’t make Him Lord of our lives.
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What is Saving Faith?
We know God does the saving, but what is our part? We repent and believe. Does repenting mean we must make a commitment to make Jesus the Lord of our life before we are saved?
Listen to this seven minutes of a sermon on why a Pastor thinks that a guy he is talking to can’t be saved. Click on Sermon to play audio.
Posted in Grace, Faith & Life, Life Study Series, New Covenant, Salvation, Saving Faith, The Blog | 
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How do We Increase in Faith?
Christian faith is not our intellectual resolve and commitment to something, this is just religious belief.
Faith is not our hope in a promise.
Faith has to do with our experiencing the object of our faith in our heart.
God has never spoken to me, or anyone I’ve ever known, verbally, or through any means of direct revelation. He has spoken to us in His written Word. But, I know Him through a “spiritual” communication in my heart. (It is not our conscience; I will cover that in a later topic.) I believe God speaks to us spiritually with a still small voice deep in our inner being which is also sometimes called our “heart”, when we come to understand the “Truth” of His scripture for all areas of our life.
If this is true, then I understand faith to be “responding to what God puts into my heart“.
What is Growing in Grace?
There are several terms used for essentially the same process in a Christian’s life, “increasing faith”, “growing in grace”, “spiritual maturity”, and “sanctification”.
Increasing Faith 2Peter 1:5-12 Eph 4:14-24
When we talk about increasing our faith, we are talking about spiritual maturity in terms of “putting on” something new. When we were “born again”, we didn’t get a new old (old being the Flesh). We were not made righteous in the Flesh. By the grace of God, we are being changed from the image of Adam into the image of Christ. This change comes by responding to what God puts into our heart by the Holy Spirit enlightening us as to the meaning of Scripture. He is not looking for “sacrifice” but a contrite heart. The Psalms 37:4 “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart”. I think this means He is changing the desires of our heart, not giving us what we want.
Sanctification
Sanctification is not about us trying to clean-up our “old-nature” by obedience.
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. –2 Thess. 2: 13.
Bob George says, “sanctification of something means it is being used for the intelligent purpose for which it was created”.
Spiritual maturity is not about what we do for God, but understanding what God does in us. It is about putting on the right thing in the right way. What comes out is our love of God and our love of others. This is the “law of Christ” and “obedience of faith”.
14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. 15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. 19 We love him, because he first loved us. 20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also. 1 John 4:14-21 (KJV)
Until we are enlightened by the Holy Spirit to really understand this part, we are probably out there giving it all we’ve got to “win” for God. Kind of like our “sacrifice” for God which He said He didn’t want. He wants us to know Him which requires a different attitude in our heart. This attitude change won’t happen until we come to understand and believe that there is nothing we can do for God. This would be kind of humbling, wouldn’t it? Scripture calls it the “offense of the cross”. It all comes from Him if we just come without any fleshly pride and commitments and allow “Christ in us” and His Word to work it out in our life.
Eph 4:21-24
21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.Acts 20:32
32 And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.
Copyright © 1996 Theophilos www.gflstudy.org
New-Life Plan
Our problem is not our sin.
Our problem is that we are spiritually dead.
GUILTY and DEAD
From a Biblical perspective, everyone is born in the image of Adam, born without the Spirit of God in them. This means that we not only have the distinction of having the same basic fallen nature of Adam, but we are also dead spiritually.
If we are guilty and dead, we not only need to be forgiven, but we need life. Jesus not only came to pay the penalty for our sins, but to give us life. Romans 5:10
Chapter two of Genesis explains how Adam was created in God’s image. And that God breathed the breath of life into man.
The soul consists of the MIND, EMOTION and WILL. Animals have this, but animals don’t consider where they came from or how they came to be. Animals don’t have the “breath of life” which God gave man.
The Bible and our experience indicates that man is BODY, SOUL and SPIRIT. Man was created by God, in the image of God. Created with free- will, the ability to choose.
An unanswerable truth, for natural man, is “how are we here” and “why are we here”? These are spiritual questions which reveal the difference between spirit and soul (man and animal).
Lack of understanding of the difference between the spirit and the “flesh” is the major misunderstanding of Christianity today. Scripture talks about the contention between the spirit and the flesh. Scripture also says God is spirit and “speaks” to us Spirit to spirit.
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Law and Grace
The law (moral and ceremonial) is what God required of Israel under the old covenant. John 1:17 Gal 3:23-25 Heb 8:10, 10:20
Legalism is a self-defined, or religiously defined set of laws (works) and expectations for satisfying our commitment to Godbased on a misunderstanding of how we come to God and how we walk as Christians.
Rom 6:11-14 Gal 2:20-21 Mark 7:5-9
The “law” and legalistic terms always speak to our “flesh”.
Grace is god acting in our life to reveal, by the Holy Spirit, spiritual truths in the Word of God.
Church Growth
How do churches grow? For many people, growth in numbers is “the” measure of success.
There are many ways churches grow and sometimes it may even be due to the working of the Holy Spirit.
A charismatic motivational leader can motivate high achievers in the congregation to be part of making a “successful” enterprise. It doesn’t matter how.
Most of the “Mega” churches in America have written books and have leadership programs for how they did it. Read the rest of this entry »
Why do Christians have so many attitudes?
Attitude testifies to a person’s view of Christianity as a spiritual experience from God or as a religion trying to come to God or please God on their own terms …..
Everyone should understand that there are a lot of counterfeit Christians and counterfeit Christian denominations out there.
There are some who practice a counterfeit religion because they have been deceived. There are also alot of charlatans whose purpose is to deceive. They get personal gratification from controlling others through religious deception. Some may even be well meaning, but they can’t stand to have people really understand their freedom in Christ, so they keep people in all kinds of religious bondage, and the people are willing because they don’t take responsibility for knowing the scriptures. Jeremiah 5:26-31
In order to be accepted or to belong to a group, some people will pretend that they have had the same experience which others claim that they have had. (Many denominational clergy and cult leaders are all to willing to allow this and to use these people to their advantage.)
Some people are discouraged in their faith when they do not experience God in the same way as others claim they do. They may fall away from a counterfeit religion and never come to understand that their faith should be based on their own relationship to God as revealed to them in scripture and not what someone else claims. There is a big difference between what God puts into our heart and what someone else puts into our mind.
Our Conscience
The function of conscience is knowing right from wrong coupled with an expectation that we should act accordingly. The first part of this function tends to make us feel autonomous. We don’t need any one telling us what to do,especially God, and we certainly don’t need, nor do we even believe in, absolute standards.This puts us right up there with God, doesn’t it? I mean all I need to do is be true to myself and I will…, will what?
The problem is that our concept of what is right is not even close to what God says is right. When the rubber hits the road, we are always going to look out for our own. God says, in the Bible, that in His ideal society, we should have an attitude which puts others first, but it is our natural nature to do what pleases us.
Conscience is also coupled with the idea that we should always act accordingly. This is one of the problems. We may think that we know right from wrong in a limited sense, but we will not keep on doing the right thing. We do not have that power. That is not in our nature.
This leads to another function of conscience which is to produce feelings of guilt when we don’t act according to our conscience. Conscience not only responds to some wrong which we did, but also to something which we believe we should have done and didn’t, or even something which we believe we should have been and weren’t.
Conscience is that part of our nature which causes us to think that we don’t really need God, because we know what is good.Conscience coupled with pride produces feelings of autonomy.Conclusion: Conscience is not from God and it is not how God speaks to us.When we don’t do things consistent with who we believe ourselves to be, conscience produces feelings of guilt, shame, inferiority, anxiety, or fear; resulting in some form of defensive behavior, self-punishment, hiding, avoidance; or repression, rebellion, compulsive activity, or obcessive thinking. (Because of a function of the mind called imagination, what we believe ourselves to be may be completely unrealistic.)There is a difference between being guilty and feeling guilty. Our mind can make us feel guilty, due to unrealistic expectations from ourself or from others. On the other hand, we can also be guilty without feeling guilty.Conclusion: Guilt feelings should never be used to motivate others, whether it is preaching or parenting.
Following is scripture from the 2nd and 3rd chapters of the Bible, this is probably one of the best known passages in all of the Bible. I believe this tells about what happened to humanity. It also shows that God created Adam and Eve with freewill, the freedom to choose. They chose to be disobedient in the hope of becoming like God and thereby be independent of God.
- Genesis 2:15-17 15. And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
- Genesis 2:24-25 24. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
- Genesis 3:1-14 1. Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6. And when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, and that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make [one] wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
- Genesis 3:7 7. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they [were] naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
- Genesis 3:8-13 8. And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. 9. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where [art] thou? 10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I [was] naked; and I hid myself. 11. And he said, Who told thee that thou [wast] naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest [to be] with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What [is] this [that] thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
It seems pretty clear to me that Adam and Eve changed, they were different and their relationship with God was different. I believe Adam and Eve received exactly what was intended, through their disobedience they realized a conscience. They obtained a degree of knowledge of good and evil. They did not, however, receive power over it.What was the last thing God asked them? Would He have asked that if He knew they already had a faculty for knowing it before they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil?
What was their feeling? They experienced shame, fear & anxiety.
What did they do? They covered themselves and they hid.
We should also note that this fear did not bring them to repentence.[1] This fear is not the same as how we are to fear God. The change described here is their death, the presence of God is no longer in them. The condition is still present in all of us, because we are born in the image of Adam. It is also our death. It is the death part of “Guilty and Dead”. We are not only guilty of disobedience, but we are spiritually dead, because, unless we have been “born again”, we are missing the image of God.
HUMANISM:
This new characteristic is the basis for people to think that they don’t really need God, because they are pretty good.
This new character (which is known as the “fallen” nature, or the “Flesh“) is the basis for all humanistic religious philosophies and systems. Even Christian humanism which uses a biblical vocabulary, to establish a system which teaches “If it is going to be, it is up to me”. Understanding our human nature, is one of the primary requirements to come to an understanding of our condition before God.
In this day, it is not difficult for us to imagine someone, even a neighbor, killing us over an argument, or cheating us out of our property, destroying our property for the fun of it, or saying things to hurt us. If we really think about it, it is not difficult to know that we have had, and responded to, similiar thoughts based on retaliation, envy or ways that we can succeeed at someone else’s expense. The Bible says everyone is like this. This is how we are born.
Our condition before God is all bad, but our conscience might have us believe otherwise.The whole biblical message is about this condition in humanity and what God did about it.
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SEARCHING FOR MEANING AND PURPOSE, STRIVING FOR SUCCESS:
Because of some part of our nature(conscience), we are driven to be accepted by others(no one wants to be rejected). Thus we are driven to do things which are expected by others in order to be accepted by them, or to get our way with them. There are two ways to look at this, we can be either the driver or the drivee. Relative to each relationship which we have, we are creating the expectations or we are responding to the expectations of others. We usually want to be the dominate person in a relationship. We want our way.
God’s way is just the opposite. We are to think about the well being of others and put them first. Down deep inside, we all yearn for this type of peaceful, noncompetitive life, but this is only found in the spiritual relationship with God.
Church Muddle
We usually speak of the church as the building, or as a group of people in “the” building who are all “born again” and have a common understanding of their faith.
The Church, which is the spiritual body of Christ in the New Testament, is not the same as our denominational “Christian” churches.
I have heard of statements from prominent preachers that “ninety percent of the people in churches are not saved”. I am not sure I agree with this. I will agree that ninety percent of the people in churches don’t exhibit an understanding of what it means to be “in Christ”. I attribute much of the blame for this on what new Christians are taught. Being “in Christ” is spiritual, how do people learn to understand their spiritual relationship with God when they are taught organizational planning, and denominational doctrines and methods?There are many different types of believers in every local denominational congregation.
Truth Is “That which is reality whether we believe it or not.”
TRUTH
- When we speak of truth from God, it is that understanding which gives meaning and purpose to life. To have meaning and purpose, is to know how to be who we were created to be.
Truth testifies to the meaning and purpose of life.
Ephesians 4:14-16
14 That we [henceforth] be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, [and] cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, [even] Christ: 16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
Nothing which man does in the Flesh (our fallen nature) gives meaning and purpose to life, ultimately all is vanity. Man in the Flesh is spiritually dead. Many people are searching for meaning and purpose in life, but they are searching in terms of the desires and expectations of their flesh and the standards of the World.
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