Sunday, July 14, 2024

What's the HEART of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

 We'll praise Jesus today everyone. It's another hot and muggy day in California. But we're here to praise the Lord and to give Jesus Christ glory that we can be pleasing to God and that other people can come into the household of faith, that people might be saved and not end in hell or destruction or throw their lives away. What I wanted to speak about today is the heart of the Gospel. What is at the very heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Now most of you if you are acquainted with my channel most likely you know the basics of the Gospel of Jesus, that Jesus is the son of God, that He Himself is God, and that He came to this earth to save people from their sins, that He lived on this earth until He was about 33 years old, that He had a ministry an earthly ministry where He had 12 disciples and He walked on this planet for three years with those disciples that He called, and He preached the Gospel of repentance, He talked about the kingdom of God. Jesus wasn't preaching the kingdom of church or the kingdom of the pharisees. He wasn't preaching religion or even 10 commandments. But Jesus was preaching the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. He talked about beyond the 10 commandments that your righteousness has to exceed that of the pharisees. Jesus got down to the very heart of the Gospel and He expanded on that with all of the parables about the kingdom of God. So if you're not sure what Jesus came to this earth for or what the parables He taught were all about, I deeply encourage you to read the Gospels and pay specific attention to what Jesus taught, the sermon on the mount, the beatitudes, all of these things. Pay attention to what Jesus said because this is the core of the Gospel. So read Matthew Mark Luke and John. A lot of bibles have the words of Jesus in red, pay attention to those, read it over and over again. Read it for yourself, read it with your children, and read it with your grandchildren. A lot of Christians get really distracted with other people's version of the Gospel, and some of their versions are better than others, and a lot of people's testimonies. One Christian testimony that is true and valid but that a lot of people get distracted with is the testimony of the apostle Paul. As we know the apostle Paul wrote a lot of the New Testament like Ephesians, Galatians, first and second Thessalonians, first and second Timothy and the apostle Paul speaks a lot of things that are hard to understand and you should know that a lot of people misinterpret Paul and they have a lot of reasons why they dislike him. Paul seems to be in some ways against women, so they think or against marriage after someone is widowed. But it's all people's interpretations of what Paul was saying. And they get so wrapped up in what the apostle Paul says and his version of the Gospel, that then they totally are distracted from the real Gospel and the heart of the Gospel which Jesus taught.

So if you want to be at the heart of the Gospel, get to know what Jesus actually taught, acquaint yourself with His words, read the Gospel teach it to your children pray and ask Jesus to speak His truth into his heart because all authority and all power has been given to Jesus. And if you abide in Him and if you eat His flesh and drink His blood like Jesus commands His disciples to do, then you will start to know what is His heart and the heart of the Gospel He teaches. And you won't be distracted by all these other Christian doctrines such as how you should properly dress to look like a Christian or having the correct lingo or going to bible college, you know basically looking like a modern day pharisee. So we want to steer away from all of the Gospels of men, and the doctrines that men create, and get down to the very heart the very basics of what Jesus taught and then grow in the things that He is teaching. Because if we stay connected to Him and keep our eyes on Him, we're not going to go wrong. But the moment that we try to emulate Paul or peter or Timothy and act like these men even though they were our fellow brothers and laborers in the kingdom of God, then we're bound to get a few degrees off from the truth.

 So the first thing I wanted to speak about here is what the Gospel of Jesus is not. Because a lot of Christians are turning people away from Jesus by a Gospel that appears to be the Lord's. But in some ways, it's off and it's just a big turnoff to people. So what is the kingdom of God not or what is the Gospel of Jesus not. Well, a few things that this is not an exhaustive list but a few things that come to mind, one of them the Gospel of Jesus is not about becoming a monk who just denies yourself. If that were true, then there are a lot of religions of the world that practice self-denial to the extreme. And all of the religions of the world that practice this would be getting to heaven if it were just to deny themselves that led to happiness and everlasting life and the plenty that God desires for His children. But self-denial in itself is not the way to everlasting life of course we have to deny our self, pick up our cross and follow the Lord. But there is a false Gospel that says that you will be at the heart of the Gospel if you simply do things that you just don't want to do. So maybe you have recently bought a house and now you feel condemned, because you're living in that house, and you enjoy it, so you feel condemned because you actually like your living quarters. And the devil basically accuses you and says, “well you're not denying yourself because you're living in a place that you enjoy, therefore you need to sell your house or get out of your apartment, and live on the street, otherwise you're not denying yourself properly. And because you're not denying yourself in this manner, you're not at the heart of Jesus.” And that is just not true. Sometimes Jesus would tell people to leave what they have, sell it and to come follow Him. But other times Jesus would tell them to stay in their own town and to be a witness there. So in each case it is situational what we do and how we live out the Gospel. But at the heart of the Gospel is not self-denial. It's not just becoming a monk. Now don't get me wrong there are some people who don't deny themselves, they want to continue to live a sinful life, and that's not what I’m talking about here. I’m talking about thinking that you can get to heaven by self-denial in itself, like how monks think they're going to achieve everlasting life by being able to whip themselves or fast for long periods of time or never have any kind of relationship with people just living in a cave, you know those sorts of things.

Jesus didn't design us as humans just to deny all the pleasures of life. That's not at the very heart of the Gospel. But if your idea of fun is immorality, then also you're going the wrong direction. So as disciples of Jesus, we need to figure out how to deny ourselves in a way that is truly denying the flesh things that are evil, but also accepting the blessings of God, because after all God has given us many blessings and things to enjoy if we truly are in His love and at the heart of His Gospel. He's given us children to enjoy if we are parents. He's given us a spouse to enjoy if we are married. He's given these things because He loves us, and He wants us also to love Him and enjoy the things that He is given. So again, at the heart of the Gospel is not this self-righteous, self-denial that some Christians are preaching.

 Another thing, some people think that at the heart of the Gospel is condemnation. They're convinced that God is just going to slay. He's going to kill all men that are evil and send them to hell. And you have this as an example in the bible even the apostles thought this in Luke chapter 9, you could look at it for yourselves, but it's Luke 9:55 through 56, the disciples were trying to get Jesus ready to go through Samaria into Jerusalem. And Jesus was just going to be passing through the town of Samaria. But as we know Samaritans don't really like Jewish people very much and vice versa as well. So when the Samaritans figured out that the that Jesus was actually going to Jerusalem they reported back to His disciples and they said, “well we don't want your Jesus to come here if he's going to Jerusalem.” And they rejected Jesus because He was going to Jerusalem. And so when the disciples reported back to Jesus, they said, “The Samaritans rejected you they don't want you going there should we send down fire from heaven to destroy them such as Elijah did?” And in response to what the disciples were saying, Jesus said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the son of man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them.”

A lot of times our heart is not close to the Gospel, it's not close to the kingdom of God, because we start going down this road of judgment thinking that God should just kill everyone that's evil. And while there are a lot of evil people that are going to fall under God's judgment, it is not the will of God that anyone goes to hell that anyone perishes, but it is the will of Jesus that men repent of their sins and they don't come under the condemnation of God, but they come under His grace. So rather we ought to be praying for people of this world to repent and to really get to know Jesus because Jesus is love, He is truth, He is not this kind of condemnation where He just wants to kill everyone. Of course, people will be condemned if they stay in their sins and if they continue to rebel against God. But we know as Christians that at the heart of the Gospel is love and righteousness. It's the love of God that wants to save people from their sins so that they can become holy and be in God's presence, not just hoping like how Jonah hoped that Nineveh would just perish. God rebuked the prophet for that because Jonah just wanted the people to die He was upset that God extended them mercy. So if we are going to be God's disciples and at the heart of the Gospel, we need to desperately love the lost world and want them to come to know Jesus because this was Jesus's hope that sinners would come to repentance. God does not love sinfulness. He does not love sinful people. But He does want all people that are sinners to repent and come into the light of the truth. So this is at the heart of the Gospel, guys.

Another deception that I see that people think is the heart of the Gospel when it is not, is that, it's what a lot of the churches are teaching that that somehow God is going to give people freedom in their sins and not of their sins. A lot of churches they have passages posted that say come as you are or we are accepting of all people. They fly the homosexual flag, they're very inclusive acting as if those who commit sin are a race. They don't claim it as sin anymore, and they act as though the heart of the Gospel was to accept sinful people as if they're going to heaven and that God accepts the sinner which is also a false Gospel. There are a lot of Christian churches now that at the heart of their Gospel they're accepting and condoning evil. Because they themselves love evil and they don't want to come into the truth. So we have to get away from that false Gospel that accepts sin and says that we are or God just came to set us free from the condemnation of sin, but that we could basically live in sin ourselves without being condemned.

Okay, another thing that I see that people believe at the heart of the Gospel which is not is the social justice Gospel. There are some groups of people that believe that if we put our faith in Jesus, if we do what's right, then we should be involved in all these social justice projects, and that we should be reinventing what health care looks like, giving money to the poor or getting Donald Trump elected or getting a certain politician elected, and they basically mix this social justice and these political agendas with Christianity. And at the heart of Gospel is not social justice. If that were true, Jesus would have worked to overthrow the Roman government. But Jesus' was not going around trying to overthrow Rome in order to set up the kingdom of God. In fact, when the disciples tried that and they tried to forcibly set up Jesus as king, Jesus quickly ran out of their midst, because He knew their hearts and He took off in the opposite direction. It was not the heart of the Gospel. It was not what Jesus was teaching. And Jesus didn't come to just set people free politically. Now, I know that a lot of people get really heated about that. They're very persuasive. They think that, you know, getting Trump in office or whoever their political candidate is, is the same as the Gospel. But these things are not the truth.

So let's talk about what is really the heart of the Gospel. The heart of the Gospel all comes down to love. Jesus came to this earth because He wanted to save you, He wanted to save me from our sins. At the heart of the Gospel is to save souls from sin and to set them free spiritually, so that they could be liberated from sin. God could not liberate us from sin and let us enter into His holy kingdom unless there was a blood sacrifice. The men of old would sacrifice lambs, they would sacrifice birds, they would have all these sacrifices that ultimately would never be able to perfectly atone for people's sins. And all of these sacrifices pointed to the perfect Passover lamb, which would be Jesus Christ, God's son. And when Jesus came, He died and He shed His blood, that His blood would wash over us, that He could atone or make the payment for our sins, that then He could stand before God with our sins atoned for, that then we could also stand before God if we accept what He has done for us.

So this is at the heart of the Gospel. If we put our faith in Jesus and if we ask His blood to cleanse us, to wash over us, and if we follow Him with our actions, then we will be washed clean. So don't let anyone tell you that His blood won't wash you clean or that you should add something else to this Gospel, such as church attendance or tithing or going on certain trips around the world. Because if you believe in Jesus and ask Him to cleanse you from unrighteousness, you can know that He will wash you clean. The door is open for you for salvation. Those who knock the door will be opened. So knock on the door and ask for salvation, and Jesus will give you the gift of life, the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is the Gospel. Jesus saves souls, He gives them peace with God, and He gives us a place to live with God. If we do not accept the offering of God's Son, of what Jesus did on the cross, if we try to enter in by some other way, thinking that religion will save us, that going to Catholic Mass will save us, that paying tithes will save us, then we're missing the point. Because at the heart of the Gospel is to accept what Jesus Christ did and then to fully dedicate ourselves to Him, not to thinking that we're going to be able to be with God because of some just religious practices or joining some cult practice, or doing something of self-denial, like how some cult may tell you that you have to do. Because following Jesus is about hearing from His Holy Spirit and then obeying whatever He puts on your conscience to do.

So guys, this is what I have to speak about today, the heart of the Gospel. I hope that you understand the heart of the Gospel, but again, if you're not clear on what the heart of the Gospel is, the best way to understand it is to pray, to read the Gospels, read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John for yourself, and then ask Jesus to guide you, that He would give you the Holy Spirit to teach you and to lead you into all truth, that you wouldn't be deceived by any of the Christian churches today or the people that claim to be brothers or sisters or whatever they claim. Don't be distracted by the world or other Gospels. Listen to what Jesus actually taught and ask Him to continually teach you because He promised you the gift of the Holy Spirit to lead you and to guide you into all truth. Well, this is all I have on that topic for today, guys.

Yes, amen. I pray for those of you that are wanting prayer. “Lord Jesus, I pray for my fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord who want to come out of evil and oppression, that want to be set free from all the bonds of sin, addiction, whatever it is that holds them in the world and keeps them under the thumb of Satan. I pray that you set them free, Lord Jesus, in your name and that they can truly have eyes that see and ears to hear and a heart that beats for your kingdom, that they will eat your flesh and drink your blood, Lord, and not be discouraged by Satan that constantly comes against us, always either throwing temptations at us or telling us that we're not worthy. I pray, Lord, that we can overcome in your name and not listen to the accusations of the devil or fall into His temptations, but that we can fix our eyes on you, Lord, and overcome in your name. So I pray for my fellow brethren in your name, Lord Jesus, amen.”