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‘The Gospel in which I Believe’
Why don’t all men believe the Gospel? This sounds like a fair enough question! And what about man’s freedom to believe God or not to believe God; a question often raised. But the truth is a great many men have come and gone throughout history, having passed through this world without faith, and have returned to the dust of the earth from which God promised in the curse just before He expelled Adam from the garden, Gen. 3:19 "By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
This promise found in a cruse was not relegated to Adam alone but to his entire progeny.
Rom. 5:17 "for if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one," and do we not know this by experience to be true...! Who has ever escaped death? 5:18 Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, Do you know what the condemnation is? Jesus tells us in plain language what the condemnation is. John 3:19 "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 "For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. Some might argue that there is room here for a man to escape, because once in a while you might come across a man who does not practice evil. And even Paul's words can be twisted at this point when he said... Rom. 5:19 "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners," But in it's context the truth is clear... "through one man's offense judgment came to all men", (vs.18) And the result is... 5:21 "so that as sin reigned in death,..." death is the great enemy of man, it is the enemy that all men are in bondage to, and it is the last enemy to be destroyed when God purges all things that offend in the Kingdom at the end of the age.
The truth again is, man by nature has never been a free creature in the truest sense of the word. The scriptures are clear that a man is either a slave of sin or he is a slave of righteousness (Rom. 6:18-23) All other ground is mans invention in this idea of freedom. Men are by nature lovers of darkness and when a man is in the darkness he is not a free being. If there ever was a clearer test of mans bondage to chose between believing God and not believing -it was demonstrated in the disobedience to the command to not eat of the forbidden tree while Adam was in the Garden of Eden. Adam failed to obey because in truth he was not a free creature. Did not Adam take of the fruit before sin entered into the picture? (Rom. 5:12) Sin had not yet entered into the world so Adam was not yet a slave of sin. And yet, where was the freedom in Adam's act? You might ask why would God make Adam, and put him in the garden and then place a command upon him that he was not going to keep. The screams can be heard across the land by such a question especially from within the church. But this question was addressed long ago when the Apostle Paul said... "You will say to me then, "Why then does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?" But who indeed are you, a human being, to argue with God? Will what is molded say to the one who molds it, "Why have you made me like this?" Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one object for special use and another for ordinary use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath that are made for destruction; and what if he has done so in order to make known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory--" Romans 9:19-23
The truth is, Man in his nature is a creature of bondage, and from the very beginning. Man is a prisoner to his own will and Adam proved it for us. Adam could not have done anything more or less then what he did. Wars have been fought and blood has been spilled and the arguments continue this day over the freedom of man's will. But what you have in the end is man fighting in vain against the creator. If man has a free will to choose or not to choose to believe God, then there would have been no precedence for God's messiah planned before the foundations of the earth were ever laid. The apostle touches this truth when he said... "But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."
It was in God's good pleasure that he wanted to reveal the riches of His glory for the objects of mercy (those people who have been called out of darkness for His name sake) which He has prepared beforehand for glory. The Gospel is the good news that God has set free the prisoners. Psa.102:19 "that he looked down from his holy height, from heaven the LORD looked at the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die;..."
Acts 13:39 "by this Jesus everyone who believes is set free from all those sins from which you could not be freed by the Law of Moses."
The gospel is the promise of the man who came from heaven and said, "...and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). True freedom, real freedom is the essence of the gospel. The gospel is the proclamation that God is setting men free. Even creation itself has the promise of being set free from the decay that it has been subjected upon it. Rom. 8:19 "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope, that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God."
Freedom is the essence of the gospel. It is the good news that God is calling a people out of the darkness (condemnation) and bringing them into the light that they might see God. We see God through the face of Jesus Christ. "It is the God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness who has shown in our hearts the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2Cor.4:6). He is the light, he the life, he is the way through death for He is the one who has conquered death by entering into death and being raised from the dead by the spirit of holiness. His death and resurrection was proof that God is satisfied. God's justice was met in the man Jesus of Nazareth and because of this, Jesus who is the Christ, has set men free from death. Jesus has promised to all who will come to him in faith to raise them up at the last day (John 6). The resurrection being the great hope and expectation of the believer. "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (1Jn.3:2). To be conformed to His image, (Rom. 8:29) that is the good news of the gospel. This is the gospel in which I believe.
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This page last updated 10/01/06