The True Test
of
Your Gospel
Each person’s belief in the gospel is influenced
and
shaped by their exposure to
it
and by the extent to which
their mind has been
renewed, but unfortunately also by the earthly traditions they still
hold
on
to.
…making the Word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have delivered. (Mar 7:13 NKJV)
Paul the apostle, who wrote most of the New Testament, preached
a gospel that was revealed
to him directly
from God.
And, brothers, I make known to you the gospel which
was preached by me, that it is not according to
man.
For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it except by a revelation of Jesus Christ. (Gal
1:11-12)
This gospel is known
as
the Gospel of Grace:
But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I
received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. (Acts 20:24
NKJV, emphasis added)
I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel. (Gal 1:6 NKJV, emphasis added)
…just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense
and
confirmation
of
the gospel, you
all
are
partakers with me of grace.
(Phil
1:7
NKJV, emphasis added)
Therefore they stayed
there
a long
time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the
word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. (Acts 14:3 NKJV, emphasis
added)
So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the
word of His grace, which is able to build you up
and give you
an inheritance
among
all
those
who
are
sanctified. (Acts 20:32 NKJV, emphasis added)
There is a flood of grace hitting our planet at the moment, with millions and millions of people waking up to
the truth that we are not justified by observing the law or living up to some moral standard anymore, but
simply by believing in Jesus Christ.
Therefore we
conclude that a
man is justified
by
faith without the works of the
law. (Rom 3:28
NKJV)
Just like Paul the apostle prophesied in Galatians 4 however, those who believe in this gospel of grace will be
persecuted
by those who want to be
justified by their own works:
But then even as he born according to flesh [Ishmael was the son born out of the flesh, which represents the works of the law]
persecuted him born according to the Spirit [Isaac was the son born out of the promise, which represents grace], so it is also now. (Gal 4:29 NKJV, annotations and
emphasis added)
And here is the true test of the gospel of grace: If the
gospel we are preaching does not put us in danger of
being misunderstood by the legalists, in
the
sense
that they might think we are
saying
that people can
just go out and
sin
as
much as they want, then we are
not
preaching grace to the extent that Paul was preaching
it.
True grace lifts the law off believers so completely that according to
the legalists it sets us free
in more ways
than it should. Legalists believe that the moment you lift the law off a believer, he or she will simply run out
and
begin to live in full blown depravity and fall into all kinds of wickedness. But they forget that we have a born
again
spirit on the inside
of
us that does not want to live like that!
Paul had to defend the
gospel of grace in the same
way. We can
see from the
“question and
answer” manner
that much of the book of Romans was written in, that he was countering many of the arguments
which the
religious crowd of the day was throwing at him. They were probably accusing him of preaching that the
believers, because they weren’t under the law anymore, could go out and sin as
much as
they wanted! Here
was Paul’s reply:
Why not say, then, "Let us do evil so that good may come"? Some people, indeed, have insulted me
by accusing
me of saying this very thing! They will
be condemned, as they should
be.
(Rom 3:8 GNB)
What shall we
say
then? Shall we
continue in
sin that grace
may
abound? Certainly not! How shall we
who
died
to
sin live any longer in it? (Rom 6:1-2
NKJV)
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under Law, but under grace? Certainly not! (Rom 6:15
NKJV)
As for you, my friends, you were called to be free. But do not let this freedom become an excuse for letting your physical desires control you. Instead, let love make you serve one another. (Gal 5:13
GNB)
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