Is Our Gospel THE Gospel?
Is it possible that Jesus would not approve of most of the “gospel” messages that are being portrayed as truth on various platforms? Could it be that most of these lack nearly every major point that Jesus Himself taught?
Mark 8:38 (NLT) If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
Paul declared his allegiance to the Gospel in Romans and the power of it:
Romans 1:16 (NLT) For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes.
Paul goes on to instruct Timothy his protégé:
2 Timothy 1:8 (NLT) So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. And don’t be ashamed of me, either, even though I’m in prison for him. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the Good News.
I think the question that should come to mind if we are not speaking the Gospel that Jesus taught is, “What are we ashamed of?”
Why would we want to change the Good News of Jesus?
Why would we remove most of the Gospel’s vital parts and replace them with artificial limbs of our own making?
Paul asked this of the church of Galatia.
Galatians 1:6-10 (ESV) I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel--not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
There have been parts surgically removed, and in this discussion, we look at one of the parts removed.
Removed:
- The Blood of Jesus
It’s a fact that the word blood can make many people sweat and become faint. But it’s also a fact that the Blood of Christ achieves the same reaction from Satan. The Blood of Jesus scares Satan because it is the only cure for the epidemic of sin.
Romans 5:9 (NLT) And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation.
Can you imagine that verse or any of the teachings of Paul or really any of the NT writers, if they had been squeamish about the power of the Blood of Jesus?
We have lost the certain theological truths because there are things we don’t like to talk about. Things like:
- Death being required to give life.
- Blood being required for atonement.
It seems like we have torn out the book of Leviticus and with it the book of Hebrews from the Bible because they talk about atonement and atonement by the covering of blood. Yet, the whole concept of forgiveness of sin has to do with blood applied to the sinner.
Hebrews 9:12-14a (NLT) With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever. Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God.
If we remove the Blood of Jesus from the preaching the Gospel, we remove the power to conquer sin and Satan and we put the souls of men and women in a position of peril.