THE GOSPEL

2 Timothy 1:14 “Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you — guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.”

I believe that reformation will bring us back to the real gospel and what the real gospel can do. Paul said in Romans 1:16 “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”

Do we, like Paul, believe that this gospel is powerful, REALLY powerful? Do we believe that it can enter into a man’s heart and change him (or her), changing even the outcome of his (or her) life? Or do we believe that something ‘else’ is needed to bring about the change in a person? Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

It seems that a new gospel has snuck into the church that is being preached today. A gospel where Jesus does all of the dying; a gospel where there is no personal sacrifice, no giving up of worthless things, no dying to self so that Christ can live out His life through our bodies; a gospel where basically – Jesus is absent.

I am reminded of the passage in Scripture when Jesus was 12 years of age and he went with his parents to the temple in Jerusalem. After two days on their way back they thought that Jesus was with them, but He wasn’t. He was back in the temple doing His heavenly Father’s business. (Luke 2:41-49) For two days Mary and Joseph did not know that Jesus was absent from them. In the same way the church is not aware that Jesus is absent because of this “new gospel” being preached today.

The gospel that Paul was talking about in 1 & 2 Timothy was a radical gospel which called a man or woman to come and then die. Like Paul, the early church realized that this gospel delivered them from their empty self-life. 2 Corinthians 5:15 “And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”

When the gospel came into a man’s life he realized several things:

1. That he was not his own; he had been bought with a price. 1 Peter 1:18-19 “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ.”
2. That there was a new Lord or Master in his life. Romans 14:9 “For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.” Self who had been in control has now been replaced by a new King: King Jesus.
3. That there was a new beginning and direction in his life. “He is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
4. That this gospel was ‘free,’ but it was not cheap. It cost more to God, but it must cost us for it to be real and lasting. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

It was this gospel that went out and changed the course of history in the first century. In the first 60 years the gospel had gone forth throughout the Roman Empire, when churches were planted and lives had been changed with the new hope that had pervaded the world. The world would never be the same.

It was this gospel that changed a man by the name of Martin Luther and ushered in the reformation five hundred years ago which changed Western Civilization. It is this gospel that we need to come back to in our preaching and everyday living.

Psalms 74:2 “Remember the people (NATION) you purchased of old, the tribe of your inheritance, whom you redeemed —Mount Zion, where you dwelt.”

In every society or culture we have what we call “opinion makers.” These are people who use words to make a living. We see how God used George Whitfield who came in with a message from the Lord and brought in the right opinion which led into the great awakening and the American experiment.

A similar thing took place in Europe over 500 years ago when Martin Luther stood up with a message from God and we have the Western civilization we have today.

However, in the Western world we are in the process of losing this connection with the Lord. Consequently, we are in need of more George Whitfield’s and Martin Luther’s.

Isaiah 60:1 “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.”

There are three words that we are hearing quite often and they are: reformation, revival and transformation. Reformation is the ministry of John the Baptist preparing the way for the Lord; revival as Martin Lloyd Jones says is God passing by; and transformation is the result.

This past July 4th we celebrated our 241st year of when we (USA) declared our independence. God has been reminding me that before we had our independence the Lord sent a powerful preacher to our shores called George Whitfield. He had a powerful influence upon our country and there was a spiritual awakening. One could say that before our independence we had a reformation – a calling back to God and the things of God.

A war of independence was fought and through the revolution we gained our independence. We were set free and through that freedom a new experiment was undertaken that never had been done before in the history of mankind; that man could govern himself.

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE says “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The references to God in the Declaration of Independence provide a foundation for a moral argument within civil society that has brought the transformation.

One can Google and read the rest of the declaration, but what the Lord was showing me was the pattern that was laid down that I mentioned above about reformation, revival and transformation. In this case with the birth of the United States we had George Whitfield (reformation) calling us back to the truths of the Word of God and our responsibilities.

Thomas Jefferson said to Richard Price, 1789: “Reformation in government follows reformation in opinion.” George Whitfield in his powerful preaching was bringing in the opinion of God. This was the forerunner of what was to come. It was said about Whitfield in his biography: “More than any other preacher of his day, he made the Great Awakening a vital, far-reaching force, religiously, socially, and politically, in America.” In America he preached a series of revivals that came to be known as the Great Awakening of 1740.

Revival, but in this case revolution where we were set free and with the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE a document for the law of the land – brought in transformation or reconstruction. Yes, there are many things wrong that need fixing in our country, but there is no doubt about the transformation or reconstruction that has taken place in our country over these past 239 years to be a free society – freedom of religion, freedom of the press, habeas corpus (this is a legal action through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. It is an important legal instrument safeguarding individual freedom against arbitrary state action), trial by jury, and a representative legislature.

Thomas Jefferson said: “Every generation needs a new revolution.”  In reading the first paragraph of the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE the thought that comes is that God wants to raise up tens of thousands of pastors who from the pulpit will be calling the people to exercise their responsibility and come back to the fundamentals that our country was founded on. Gary Bauer said: “Pastors were instrumental in America’s founding. The Church has long been a pillar of strength in our society. We need their leadership in turning the tide and once again making America a shining city upon a hill.”

Through this ‘reformation’ we will see a ‘revolution of love’ (God is love) in the hearts of millions that will spark them into a labor of love in every aspect of society; which in turn ushers in ‘transformation.’ 1 Thessalonians 1:3

Chuck Colson said: “We need to confess our moral failures and our national sins. We need to repent of the lies that justify killing innocent babies and the elderly. The road to renewal begins on our knees. And it’s there that we hear soul-searching questions from God himself, asking: ‘How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.'” Psalms 82:2-4

Proverbs 8:12-16 “I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion. To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have understanding and power. By me kings reign and rulers make laws that are just; by me princes govern, and all nobles who rule on earth.”

My article’s title, God or Man, could be stated Christian vs. Humanistic Worldview. When we think of the battle that we are in it is really a war of worldviews. This is what we are faced with in the United States and the West, and in the rest of the world – although it takes a different form in each country depending on its dominant religion. But here in the West it is either Christianity or humanism that make decisions for the nation. It is a battle between man and God as to who will make decisions for us all.

In the U.S.A. as well as Western Europe we see the great divide between these two worldviews. Here in the U.S.A. we saw this in our last election and see how it has become even more distinct today. This divide centers around issues of life, family, morality, property rights, the role of government in business and as well as our Constitutional laws and liberties.

What are some of the differences between these two worldviews? A biblical or Christian worldview has truth rooted in God and His Word; it will embrace limited government, support and defend its borders and the freedom of religion and property. This biblical worldview recognizes that laws cannot change man’s heart or behavior, but can only restrict his unlawful actions by the fear of punishment. (Romans 13) Law from a Christian or biblical worldview, the way our Founding Fathers viewed, originates with God and not man. This laws rooted in truth are reveal to us through nature, through our conscience and through the clear revelation of the Holy Scripture. For the biblical worldview, man’s ‘law(s)’ can NOT change the heart nor the attitude of man. No law or set of laws can make man moral. A Christian worldview recognizes the moral basis for all laws to be made. We see this with the Ten Commandments. In other words, all law must have a moral concern for the good of its society, but for the Christian worldview the question is: Whose morality does ‘the law’ legislate?

Law from a humanistic view point originates with man and not God; it’s executed through the state and based on what the majority says, or of a powerful minority-judicial system.  For those who operate from a humanistic worldview they see the evils in society but arrive at different solutions because there is no higher authority than man. There is no savior, there is no hope of internal regeneration or transformation in man. So if changes come – it must come from man himself. To carry this out to its logical conclusion: man relies on government with its laws to eliminate evil and bring about utopia; man becomes god and government is his instrument to bring about salvation. This is one of the reasons why there is such a divide right now in the U.S.A. The ones who advocate the humanistic worldview fight to have the power of the government. The Christian worldview sees the role of government not trampling on the unalienable rights of man. Government is not the main source for what we need, for we have a higher source that we can go to; we have the Savior. Our Founding Fathers believed this.

By contrast the biblical worldview sees that ‘laws’ can only restrain man from doing evil deeds, but cannot change the heart of man, and because of that there will be no advancement towards a better society. Thomas Jefferson’s pastor, Charles Clay, said: “The sacred cause of liberty is the cause of God.” John Adams said: “The world, the flesh, and the devil, have always maintained a confederacy against liberty, from the fall of Adam to this hour, and will, probably continue so until the fall of antichrist.” Stephen McDowell was right when he said: “Every nation is built upon some set of presuppositions, some basic ideas of right or wrong, which are ultimately rooted in the religion of the people. With the humanistic worldview there are no absolutes. Right and wrong are based upon what the majority says or what a minority power says, therefore, law is always evolving.”

We see that ideas have consequences and this is being played out in the world today. Although I have concentrated mainly on the Western countries those of you in other countries are faced with the same situation of a biblical worldview versus whatever your dominant religion is. Eventually these other worldviews will fall, because they are not rooted in God’s truth.

Proverbs 29:14 “If a king judges the poor with fairness, his throne will always be secure. When the wicked thrive, so does sin, the righteous will see their downfall.”

A question that has been coming to me is: Am I working for God or is God working for me? I would ask you who read this the same question. Are you working for God or is God working for you? I know that some of you will say it is both, but what comes first; working for God or God working for us?

When we think of someone working for us we think in terms of employee and employer and it is difficult for us to think that God is our employee if God is working for us.

It says in Isaiah 64:4 “For from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen a God besides thee, who worketh for him that waiteth for him.” (ASV)

What we have here is what we call a “Patron Client” and patron is where we get the word for father. For example, we do hire people who, in one sense, will ‘boss’ us. Think of lawyers.  We hire them to give us advice and tell us what to do. Right? The same is true with accountants, etc. We do not hire God in the secular sense, but the key word is the word ‘wait.’ We are waiting for advice, instruction on what to do, where to go, etc. I have found that one of the hardest things in the world for most of us is to wait. We want it and we want it now, seems to be the culture that we have and grew up with. One of the great lacks in our character is patience and it is the one thing that is necessary in order to be used of God.

However, when we wait it does not mean that we are not actively engaged. When we wait we are showing to the Father that we love Him; we are showing to Him that we honor and worship Him; we are showing to the Father that we are relying on Him. It is also bringing out that we have faith in Him. We know “without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing (unto him); for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and (that) he is a rewarder of them that seek after him.” Hebrews 11:6

How often when we are in a waiting situation that we seem to think that it is a futile time, or wasted time and we sense that nothing is being accomplished. However, what we forget is that during this waiting time – God is working for you. He is doing things that we do not see, nor apprehend with the physical senses, but He is working out His plan and purpose.

God in the meantime is working on our behalf in showing His love and mercy. He is supporting us in ways that perhaps we do not fully see or understand. How many times He has protected us without us even noticing it; how His grace has been poured out on us. Perhaps we need to spend more time in studying about the ‘grace of God.’

So, God works for those who wait on Him. When we wait on Him, He is the One that will give wisdom, insight and understanding in what to do. When Joshua and the Children of Israel entered the Promise Land the first battle was the battle of Jericho. God gave them the plan and they had victory, but what came next was Ai. Joshua sent spies to spy out Ai and they came back and said: “Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; make not all the people to toil thither; for they are but few.” Joshua 7:3

We see that Joshua did not wait for God, but after the great victory of Jericho, he and the people assumed what the spies said. They did not know about the “sin of Achan,” but if Joshua had waited on God he would have known, but he found out the hard way.

King David is another example that we can learn from. When the Philistines heard that they had anointed David as king they assembled in the valley of Rephaim for battle. We read that David inquired of the Lord (he waited for instructions) and God told him what to do: “Jehovah said unto David, ‘Go up; for I will certainly deliver the Philistines into thy hand.’” 2 Samuel 5:19

We see that later the Philistines gathered again together for battle, but David did not assume that the same tactic would work for this time, but again inquired of the Lord and God gave Him instructions. “And when David inquired of Jehovah, he said, ‘Thou shalt not go up: make a circuit behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry-trees. And it shall be, when thou hearest the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry-trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself; for then is Jehovah gone out before thee to smite the host of the Philistines.’ And David did so, as Jehovah commanded him, and he smote the Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gezer.” (Samuel 5:23-25) What a victory!

Remember that God works for those who wait on Him!

Ephesians 6:18 “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.”

We must remember that when Jesus was here in the flesh He was engaged in the same conflict that we are in. The devil assailed Him and the weapons that Christ used are the same weapons that we Christians have as well to defeat the enemy.

Ephesians 6:18 starts out with the words, “praying always.” Prayer is not necessarily another piece of armor that we put on, but when we are putting on the armor it means that we are covered with each piece as we pray with all prayer and supplication. I believe it is like some Bible scholars bring out that the armor which is provided for us by God is not effective unless we are in fellowship and communion with God.

We can be orthodox in our theology, but that is not enough. There is such a thing as a dead orthodoxy. There can be people who understand the truth with their mind, point out the errors in other people’s teaching and yet their life is no value to anyone, because they are still being defeated by the devil.

The same can be applied to the church as a whole. Often this might be the case of why so many churches, traditional in their theology, are making very little impact in their society or in their surrounding area. Why is this the case? Perhaps it is because they have forgotten the further admonition of the apostle Paul when he said, “praying always.” It is possible that the people or churches who are the most orthodox are those who realize least – the value of prayer.

In one sense, to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, is not to forget this last admonition of the apostle Paul of praying always. We cannot rely upon our own intellect, philosophy, traditions, rituals, etc., but on the power of God and our continual close communion with Him

When we look at the New Testament, and especially the four gospels, we see the example of the Lord Jesus Christ – through prayer walking the earth in human form depending solely on His Father. We see Jesus constantly arising early in the morning to seek out a place to pray; we see Him praying all night; we see Him constantly going off seeking a place where He might meet with His Heavenly Father. This is why in the gospel of Luke the disciples came and said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Luke 11:1

Our ultimate position as Christians is tested by the character of our prayer life. Prayer to the Father is more important than knowledge and understanding. If all my knowledge and understanding does not lead me to prayer then there is something wrong with me.

What does Paul mean when he talks about praying with all prayer? I would tend to think that he is referring to private prayer, communal prayer, oral prayer, silent prayer and possibly even different positions of prayer. It does not mean that we have to be in a church building for prayer, we can pray as we walk, as we drive, take a shower, as we go about our daily business; we can be talking with our Heavenly Father just as we talk with our spouse or close friend.

Some of our prayers can be orderly as we see with the Lord’s Prayer. Our prayers need to be intelligent knowing what God says in His Word. Also, prayers can be a groan or a cry from the heart that words cannot express. Paul said in Romans that the Spirit makes intercession for us.

Look at the prayers of the prophets, like Isaiah, who prayed with adoration, worship, thanksgiving and praise to our Heavenly Father. We are to pray bringing our petitions before God because we are told to “let your requests be made known unto God.”

However, Paul says “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” “In the Spirit,” I believe, is the real essence of true prayer. Just as Jesus had access to the Father so we too find in Ephesians 2:18 that “through Him, we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” Paul refers to the same thing in other epistles – like in Romans 8:6.

When Paul uses the phrase “in the Spirit” in relation to prayer – prayer is to have its proper place before the Father. It will not be because of our repetitions like the Pharisees who loved to hear themselves pray, or by the length of our prayers, etc., but it is to be “in the Spirit” that we pray.

Prayer “in the Spirit” is the opposite of prayer that relies upon forms of rituals, as we again see with the Pharisees. Praying in the Spirit is the opposite of cold, heartless, proud and formal prayers. We do not come before the Father and just ‘say a prayer.’ Praying in the Spirit becomes the most important part of a person, and as natural as having a conversation with a friend or your spouse. Praying in the Spirit is not necessarily an emotional prayer although it can be, but what it means is that it is the Holy Spirit that is directing us in prayer. He creates the prayer within us and empowers us to offer it with confidence. This also results in worship, praise and adoration to our Heavenly Father.

Prayer is not a duty, but rather it should be a delight to talk to our heavenly Father – just as it is a delight to have a two-way conversation with your spouse or close friend.