There's only one TRUE gospel message...

Have you heard the gospel message similar to this? All things should be tested with scripture. Praise God we have the gospel in its complete form within the book of Romans.

The Perseverance of the Saints

This demands the perseverance^[a] of the saints, who keep God’s commands and their faith in Jesus. Revelation 14:12

Perseverance is a word that requires a deeper understanding. In fact the bible gives us a number of passages that reveal what biblical perseverance looks like. Let me start by explaining what perseverance is not. Perseverance is not about committing yourself to church every Sunday. Biblical perseverance has nothing to do with simply calling yourself a Christian, when the scriptures demand so much more with such an incredible title.

One passage I often keep bringing up with friends is Ephesians 6:10. “Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by His vast strength.” Given Paul’s historic ministry to many people, it’s easy to say that he most certainly provided an example of what it means to rest on his vast strength. But there are countless situations where we could apply the strength of the Lord to rest upon. In these trying times, our world’s moral values are decaying around us. And the social influences are easily making their way into the church. This is where we ought to rest on the vast strength of the Lord, seeking His counsel in all things. But what does it look like to rest on the strength of the Lord? I’ll give you a number of examples.

²¹ Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back with a powerful east wind all that night and turned the sea into dry land. So the waters were divided, ²² and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left. Exodus 14:21-22

This has got to be one of the most prime examples of what it means to rest upon the Lord’s strength. It must have been a terrifying experience to step foot on dry land in the Red Sea, only to see that a chasm of water had been formed perfectly. What choice did they have? Pharaoh’s men were in hot pursuit of the Israelites, it was a ‘do or die’ situation for them.  And this is fitting why Paul mentions in Romans 8:13 “for if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Consider the typology of the Israelites facing the Red Sea as it’s just been parted. Turn around and you will die, but go forward in the strength of the Lord and you shall live.

Perseverance is not always about having a ‘peace’ about something. I doubt very much that the Israelites had a peace during the exodus. But their trust in the Lord out weighted the desire to turn back when they faced the parted Red Sea! And this is what it means to persevere and to press on, not that we will have an ‘easy life’ but that God provides a chasm of sanctuary in Him. He is our source of strength and our refuge in times of overwhelming distress. In Romans 7 Paul mentions the inner battle that he has with sin. He mentions “I do what I don’t want to do; I don’t do what I do want to do!” This is repeated, most likely emphasising his frustration over the battle with his personal sin. But the finale, his conclusion is most fitting for the situation at hand.

²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this dying body? ²⁵ I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord!^[k] So then, with my mind I myself am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh, to the law of sin. Romans 7:24-25

Let us press on like good soldiers, brothers and sisters. Let us make war on the flesh, let us not be influenced by worldly desires. Let us make certain that the church keeps her purity, undefiled from worldly influences. We are fighting a battle, there’s no peace but we rest on His strength who gave us the sword.

Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. Matthew 10:34

God’s Uniting Attribute of Love

When we think of God’s love, some of us may be drawn to John 3:16 for example “For God so loved the world…” Or perhaps it’s Romans 5:8 (my personal favourite verse)” But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!” But have you ever considered this, that God’s attributes are inseparable to one another? When we read through Joshua in the Old Testament, are we quick to say “God is so loving to have ordered the promise land to be taken by force?” It’s not usually something you usually hear around the common bible study. And though we may read of how God ordered Joshua and his men to take the promise land by force, leaving no survivors, God is still loving to have done that!

Some Christians may argue that they only focus on the New Testament to argue that God is ‘more’ loving when Jesus comes into the picture, as if the Old Testament does not still apply. But this is a wrong way to look at scripture. In fact I would say with much confidence that we are quick to draw our truth of love from television shows, commercials, billboards and various advertisements. If our understanding of love is not biblical, than we’ve missed the point of the gospel entirely. We cannot use the worldly philosophies of love to understand biblical love, that’s not how anyone should read scripture.

This morning I was listening to a sermon by Voddie Baucham, he was speaking on Romans 12:2. “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” He gave some wonderful examples of what it means  when someone is conformed to this age. One example would be watching particular movies that may appear harmless but instead they are in sighting adultery, theft, violence etc. Don’t hear me say that “you can’t watch movies!” that’s not my point. My point is simply this, our understanding of truth and love must come from scripture. If we get it from the movies we watch or the television programs, than we have a temptation to read the Hollywood version of love into the scriptures. And that’s essentially how you get Christians who don’t read the Old Testament because they presuppose God is different, unloving and judgmental.

So how do we overcome this hurdle? It’s easy to say “read the scriptures” but harder to take up a right hermeneutic. But the only way we can be transformed by the renewing of our minds is that we have a biblical understanding of all things, including the movies we watch. So how is God loving by ordering Joshua to take the promise land by force? Much like He was loving when Christ took up that cross. His love displayed justice over sin, the Father’s wrath poured out and it was done for His people. Consider the promise land now; justice over sin, the Father’s wrath poured out and He did it for His people. This is a biblical understanding of love! The promise land taken by force has to point to what Christ did on the cross to make any sense of this at all. This is how we understand the nature of God’s love and how it’s inseparable to the rest of His attributes.