When we don't live the truth of the gospel, we live in ALL THE LIGHT WE DO NOT SEE.
We must allow the gospel, as God's truth and reality, to transform our minds and transform our hearts, as Paul says.
The gospel is meant to straighten out our thinking. Isaiah says God's thoughts are far above our thoughts, but the gospel shortens the distance and levels the curve.
Excerpt:
The very first words out of the mouth of our Lord Jesus, after he had just spent 40 days in the wilderness with Satan, were for us to repent and forsake all other beliefs, theologies, opinions, assumptions, and all preaching of man —
and to only believe
and live his gospel!
This is quite a challenge because Paul talks about 10,000 ‘instructors in Christ,’ versus a very few ‘fathers of the gospel.’1 At the time Paul lived, there are many more disagreeable, non-gospel preachers.
This is true even if Paul says anyone not preaching his gospel should be cursed.2 With all
the hundreds of denominations and non-denominational preachers today, this can be staggering. They all say something a little different, and they all claim they are right.
I’ve begun to call this —
’The Second Tower of Babel.’
Jesus is the light and the truth. If we live exclusively in his gospel light and truth, we have understanding, knowledge and revelation. We are even given the mind of Christ himself, because the gospel is his one message to us.3 If we don’t live the gospel, we live in a degree of darkness and confusion.
If we don’t live the gospel, our worldview is mixed with what is called ‘the world, the flesh and the devil.’
We must believe and live the gospel. God told Moses centuries earlier that he would ’REQUIRE’ it of us.
The gospel is God’s only requirement of us for salvation and a victorious life in Christ.5 God knows that correct gospel belief will produce good things in us and will bless us, so this is why he gave it to us and says to live it.
The Hardest Gospel Thing to Believe
The gospel of the New Testament Jesus came to bring us has so many things that we often struggle with trying to believe them. Most of them will be in this message. But there is one I have found that heads the list, at least in my thinking.
This is what the gospel says about US… about you and me as Christian believers.
This is so contrary to any worldview, opinion, theology of man, or general church teaching that we hear, read or listen to preached. After all, we are all ‘children who live what we hear and learn.’ Often, our beliefs don’t go any further than the last book we read or sermon we heard.
We’re told we must ‘receive a love of the truth.’ Jesus says we must be ‘of the truth’ to hear his voice. If we don’t live his gospel truth, we are not ‘of his truth.’
We are called to believe… the unbelievable.
This is how the gospel appears to many:
“It’s just too good to be true.”
“Even God can’t be this good.”
Thus, Paul calls the gospel:
“Good news of good things.”
Thus we’re called ‘believers,’ not ‘reasoners’ or ‘understanders.’
The almost unbelievable things the gospel says about us is the number one thing we’re called to believe.
This is what this whole message is about.