Departing From the Gospel

In the Saturday Men’s Bible Study that I attend at my church, the first lesson in our Galatians Study Guide by John MacArthur was departing from the Gospel. In the opening verses in Galatians 1: 1-9, we read where the Apostle Paul is addressing the churches he founded in Galatia, that he is gravely concerned that they have abandoned the Gospel message that they learned from Paul for another, or counterfeit gospel. The question for us is: how can we, like the Galatians, know the true gospel from the false gospel?

US Treasury Agents are law enforcement professionals who protect our nation’s currency by stopping counterfeiters. These agents receive special training in how to recognize a genuine versus a counterfeit bill. This training involves the Treasury Agent becoming so very familiar with what an original bill looks like, that they are immediately able to recognize a bill that is different.

In the same way, we should become very familiar with the true gospel, so that we are not confused or fooled into believing a counterfeit. Some people have only known a counterfeit and not the original gospel. What is the genuine gospel?

The genuine gospel compared with a false gospel can be summed up this way:

• Genuine Gospel: Faith/belief in Jesus Christ + zero (nothing) = Salvation
• Counterfeit Gospel: Faith/belief in Jesus Christ + works (something else) = Salvation

The "works" in the counterfeit gospel include law keeping, rituals, partaking in sacraments, good deeds, church membership, tithing, etc. Basically works are anything we do that adds to what Christ has done, or are things that prevent us from depending completely on Christ alone for our salvation. All other religions and belief systems involve some type of works/salvation system. Only the true gospel of Christianity is by faith alone in Jesus Christ and what he has already done for us.

Our study guide referenced Romans 3: 19-28. These verses contain a detailed theology of salvation by grace through faith alone.

• Verse 22 says the righteousness of God is by faith in Jesus Christ.
• Verse 24 states we are justified (declared innocent) freely (without cost on our part) by His grace.
• Verse 26 states that God is the justifier (judge that declares us innocent) of the one who has faith in Jesus.
• Verse 28 states that man is justified apart from (excluding or not involving) deeds of the law (good works or rules).

Remember the true gospel: Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose on the third day. Our repentance (turning away from sin in a new direction) & faith in his sacrifice alone for forgiveness of sins is what saves us.

Justification: The Heart of the Gospel

Justification is an important word in the New Testament; it means to be declared innocent (or not guilty) by God. The basis of our justification is by faith in Christ alone for salvation. I recently found a good article on Justification on the Ligonier Ministries blog that I wanted to share:

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by Nathan Bingham, Ligonier Ministries

For the Apostle Paul, the doctrine of justification was the heart of the gospel (Rom 1:17; 3:21-5:21; Gal. 2: 15-5:1). Martin Luther declared that justification was the doctrine by which “the church either stands or falls.” R.C. Sproul’s mentor John Gerstner goes further in reminding us that it’s not only the church that stands or falls by this doctrine, “but the individual also.”

As justification is so important, it’s necessary that we have a clear understanding of what this doctrine teaches. While reading Galatians in the The Reformation Study Bible recently, I appreciated the clear and succinct explanation offered in its theological article on justification.

Justification is God’s act of pardoning sinners and accepting them as righteous for Christ’s sake. In it, God puts permanently right their previously estranged relationship with Himself. This justifying sentence is God’s bestowal of a status of acceptance for Jesus’ sake (2 Cor. 5:21).

God’s justifying judgment seems strange, for pronouncing sinners righteous may appear to be precisely the kind of unjust action by a judge that God’s own law forbids (Deut 25:1; Prov. 17:15). Yet it is a just judgment, for its basis is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. As “the last Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45), our representative head acting on our behalf, Christ obeyed the law that bound us and endured the punishment for lawlessness that we deserved, and so “merited” our justification. Our justification is on a just basis (Rom. 3:25, 26; 1 John 1:9), with Christ’s righteousness reckoned to our account (Rom. 5:18, 19).

God’s justifying decision is in effect the judgment of the Last Day regarding where we will spend eternity, brought forward into the present and pronounced here and now. It is a judgment on our eternal destiny; God will never go back on it, however much Satan may appeal against the verdict (Zech. 3:1; Rom. 8:33, 34; Rev. 12:10). To be justified is to be eternally secure (Rom. 5:1-5; 8:30).

The necessary means of justification is personal faith in Jesus Christ as crucified Savior and risen Lord (Rom. 4: 23-25; 10:8-13). Faith is necessary because the meritorious ground of our justification is entirely in Christ. As we give ourselves in faith to Jesus, Jesus gives us His gift of righteousness, so that in the very act of “closing with Christ,” as older Reformed teachers put It, we receive the divine pardon and acceptance we can find nowhere else (Gal. 2:15, 16; 3:24).

Source: http://www.ligonier.org/blog/justification-heart-gospel/

Jesus Heals the Paralytic

Mark 2: 1-12: When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, "My child, your sins are forgiven." But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, "What is he saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!" Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, "Why do you question this in your hearts? Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’? So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins." Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, "Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!" And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, "We’ve never seen anything like this before!" (NLT Bible)

The paralytic was totally helpless. We are not told in this passage whether he was a paraplegic or a quadriplegic, only that he was so helpless and that it required his friends to carry him on a mat in order for him to go anywhere. No wheelchairs, scooters, or medical care existed. In the ancient near East, paralysis was a condition that would probably lead to death sooner rather than later.

The people that amaze me in this passage are the paralytic’s friends. They believed that Jesus could do something for their paralytic friend. They believed it so strongly that they were willing to carry their helpless friend all the way to the house where Jesus was. It must have been hard, carrying the dead weight of the paralytic on his mat, but the friends did it. Not being deterred by the crowds at the house where Jesus was, the friend’s faith was such that they improvised and carried, even lifting the paralytic up to the roof of the house, where they opened a hole in the roof and lowered the paralytic down into the house in front of Jesus. Amazing.

The text then tells us that Jesus saw their faith, the faith of the friends and the paralytic. Jesus immediately responded to seeing their faith by declaring to the paralytic that his sins were forgiven. The question that comes to my mind here is: Why did Jesus declare that the paralytic’s sins were forgiven instead of healing him?

I believe the answer to the question is that the paralytic’s greatest need was forgiveness of sins rather than to be physically healed. The paralytic symbolizes the human race. Like the paralytic, we humans are in a hopeless and helpless condition, due to our sins. Our sins condemn us to death and an eternity without God. It was also a teaching moment for Jesus. The religious teachers recognized this when they questioned Jesus’ authority to forgive sins, rightly pointing out that only God can forgive sins. However, they missed Jesus’ point. By forgiving sins, Jesus was indicating that he IS Messiah, the righteous and divine Son of God. This passage is a clear, unmistakable indication of Jesus’ divinity. Jesus reinforces the point by telling the religious teachers that as the Son of Man, He had the authority and divine identity to forgive sins. Jesus then heals the paralytic as a demonstration of that authority. The response of the crowd to the healing was that they praised God.

The question for us today is: Like the paralytic and his friends, do you have the faith to come to Jesus for forgiveness in your helpless and hopeless condition? Jesus has the authority to forgive sins. He gave himself as a sacrifice for your sins on the cross. He will forgive your sin just as He forgave the paralytic. When you repent and believe, you can have your sins forgiven and you can have a relationship with the Living God and have hope for the future in Eternity. Ask Jesus to heal and forgive you today.

Please contact me if you would like to talk to someone about your decision, if you have any questions, or you would like to discuss this Good News.

Dave Moore