What Is The Gospel and what does it do?

Faith & Science Conversation
169

Is this a judgment of me or just you wondering about me. Either way it doesn’t matter. Instead of looking at me, a person who may be of the most pure of heart or the worst hypocrite who ever lived, you should judge the words, the concepts. What I speak is the truth and therefore can be of help to the humble of heart who receive it. The more we fill our minds with the words of Jesus and obey them, the more we are free in this present age and the more we are pleasing to the Father. Also, the more we will know both the Father and the Son. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments and I and my Father will make our home in you.”
If I were to declare what Jesus has done in me and through me, some would say I was self righteous, standing on a street corner declaring how holy I was. If I was to speak of my failures, others would say I was a hypocrite for not living up to what I preach. In the sight of those who would judge me, I am damned if I do and damned if I don’t.

Forget me. The words and concepts that I present are true and will bring liberty to those who trust in them. I don’t speak of myself, I speak of Christ and the Father. It is they who have revealed these things to me through the plain teachings in the scripture, there for all to see and believe.

John 16:7-But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; 10 in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned."
Am I to be thought of as high minded or self centered because I trust that the Spirit is convicting me of sin, righteousness and judgement, when that is the very thing Jesus said He would do? Am I to be thought down upon because I believe that through the cross of Christ, I have died to sin and sin to me and that it is now Christ that lives in me? Just because some don’t believe, that has no barring on me. I have no where else to go but Jesus, for He alone has the words of eternal life. As I trust Him and His word and obey Him, His salvation is made active in my soul and I am delivered from the works of the flesh. This is the promise of Jesus. It is for this very reason He offered Himself on the cross, to execute me and to raise me up in Him, a New Creation, created in Christ Jesus.
This is my hope. This is my salvation. Jesus is my Lord.

170

Niether. I was just a question and a challenge. You could reply that this is one valid way of serving people.

It does matter, because the whole point is that the words can be used in both ways. For many people, having heard the words used in a bad way makes the words difficult to listen to.

I would not. It is only when someone turns to the condemnation of others for doing differently when I would think that of them.

Then I would think they were the ones being self righteous. Nobody can even live up to their own standard… they pretty much have to keep moving the line to do that. That is the nature of sin. It is degenerative – making us worse and worse. If this decay can only be halted and turned around, that is a work of God.

No. It is only when one looks down on others that one is thought so.

It is one thing to repent of your sins. It is quite another to seek out the sins of others and demand that they repent of them. The latter can do great harm.

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There are many ways that are appropriate to bring up sins and call the person or persons to repentance and to deal with those who are sinning.
Matt 7:5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Luke 17:3-“If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 4 If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

1 Cor 5:11- But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”

1 Tim 5:20 Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning.

Gal 6:1 Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

Titus 3:10-Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. 11 You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.

Matt 18:15-"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

A general call to repentance from sin and turning to faith and love for God is always acceptable. Declaring what sin is, so that people can clearly see it, is part of the calling for those who are born of God. Both John and Jesus began their preaching by calling people to repent. In their declaration of what the Kingdom of Heaven was like they both preached what sin is.

I have talked to many people and brought up sin and even brought up their sin if I knew what it was. My attitude was to help bring them to the knowledge of their guilt so they would repent. Also, so they could understand the nature of sin and the wages of it. Many of the things I say here I have said to others face to face and those that were humble received it and were benefited by it. The problem has not been my presentation, it is the attitude of the hearer. The humble and meek will listen and will receive instruction in the way of righteousness.

Take for example my post on Entertainment. I have posted the same content else where and it was received by some in a welcoming manner. I and others have benefited from turning away from the godless, so called entertainment, of godless writers and producers. There is no benefit being entertained by watching, reading or listening to the wicked imaginations of the ungodly. Again, the meek and humble will understand and will repent.

If Jesus is our Lord, let us live a life pleasing to Him.

(I am confident you are aware of these scriptures and others.)

172

YES! Good example! When they judge others, it is entirely appropriate to point out their sins too.

When they really do harm to others it is indeed appropriate to rebuke them. But it can go overboard when you are working from a purely theological basis and making up sins which are not even there – or even projecting your own sinful thought upon them. Just because there are sinful thoughts in your head doesn’t mean the other person is thinking them. While it is quite true that no one is without sin, it is not true that everyones sins are the same.

173

Please explain what sinful actions or attitudes I am making up. Or what personal sinful thoughts of my own I am projecting onto others.

174

I was not talking about you.

In English grammar and in particular in casual English, generic, impersonal, or indefinite you is the use of the pronoun you to refer to an unspecified person (Wikipedia)

This was made clear by the hypothetical context: " But it can go overboard when"

175

Ok, I understand. But do you think I am doing that?
I’ll let you know I am not. I am pointing out the character of this present age and how we can be free from it through the new birth and faith and love for the Father and Jesus. It is that simple and straight forward.

176

I do not see your participation in the forum that way, if that is what you mean.

My guess is that you need to be most careful of this with children, where at least some unconditional love is needed.

But back to my original statement:

The point was that some caution is needed. You wouldn’t for example want Jesus to be talking about you in Matthew 7:5.

177

I am very aware of 1st Corinthians 9:27and am often encouraged by its warning.

178

So what is the good news again? And what is its effect? In one sentence?

179

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; for in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith; " for in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority; in him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God , who raised him from the dead; for we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. (Only one period, means only one sentence.)

180

tl;dr: The Times standard is what is needed.

181

Ignorant American here. Don’t know what the Times standard is.
But my looooong sentence should be sufficient an answer to your question.

182

No it’s not mate. You’ll have the same standard by a different name, so the ignorance is mutual. It’s all about more being always less.

I bet it deconstructs to turn or burn.

183

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls.

3 Likes
184

So true!!! The way of the Lord is peace and life.
Rom 6:22-But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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Mark 16:15 "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

John 10:9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Acts 17:31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."

186

The Times-Standard is the only major local daily newspaper covering the far North Coast of California. Headquartered in Eureka, the paper provides coverage of international, national, state and local news in addition to entertainment, sports, and classified listings. (Wikipedia)

187

I would like to point out another freedom that Jesus has given us, freedom from the love of the things of this present age. We are commanded not to covet or lust after the things of this world.

Covetousness is idolatry. A person who covets has set up a created thing as a god and we must not have any other gods.

Phil 4:12 I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

1 Tim 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Heb 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Whether a man covets or lusts after a woman, another man or a woman lusts after a man or another woman, it is all bondage. If a person covets or lusts after a new home, vehicle, sports equipment, tool, money or anything, they become slaves to sin. They idolize these things, but we are commanded not to covet. We came into this world with nothing and we will leave the same way.

What God has promised us is a Heavenly Kingdom that will never fade away. All the things of this life are decaying. That new vehicle is already decaying the moment you buy it. What kind of god is that to serve? The charming and beautiful woman or that handsome man was in the process of decaying and dying the moment they were born. As God has said, “Beauty is vain and charm a deceit but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised”.

So since through the cross of Christ we have died to this world and its ways, let us set our affections on things above and not on the things of this world.

Covetousness which is idolatry is vain and foolish and destroys those who are captured by it. Let us put off the old man and his ways and put on the new man which is created in Christ Jesus.

For freedom sake, Christ has set us free. He must be our passion, our love, our life, our Lord.
Jesus is everything to the Father, He must be our everything. Only in Jesus is there salvation.

188

Yeah… I never could understand that sin. I could see people doing that and it seemed very strange to me. If I really wanted something then I would have worked and made an effort to get that or make it myself. Of course there is plenty I simply don’t want that much.

Oh… but that reminds me of worst kind of coveting I have seen… coveting someone’s spouse or date (girlfriend or boyfriend)… as if that person were nothing but a thing you could own. I have always had a hard time understanding that one. This notion that somehow you deserve it – don’t make no sense to me.

idolatry perhaps… but vain and foolish? I think you are right about that one!