Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at The Finality of The Cross P40 (11-08-21)
The Gospel in all its Truth
The Gospel in all its fullness, a righteousness from God that has been revealed, Christ alive living in you, your only hope of glory, is bearing fruit. When people think of the gospel, is that what they have heard and understood? Or, have you heard a half gospel, a gospel of merely getting your sins forgiven? Have you understand that there is a righteousness from God that has been revealed or are you still trying to obtain righteousness by what you do? Are you begging God to forgive you when you sin? Have you made up your own ideas of what righteousness is and how to get it? If so, then that is what man-made religion is.
Man-made religion never made anyone righteous in the sight of God any more than the Jews could under Judaism, by following the laws of Moses, the ten commandments and all the rest. Neither can man make himself righteous by doing the best he can. Any sort of system man makes up, whether confessing your sins to a priest to get forgiveness or going to an altar begging God to forgive you, or doing this 1 John 1:9 of keeping short accounts with God. Man never had any righteousness of his own, and the Law, the ten commandments and all the rest, never made anyone righteous in the sight of God, but rather only made man conscious of sin (Romans 3:20).
When Christ died to reconcile the world unto Himself, by shedding His blood on a cross, He did that before you and I were ever born. In other words, you can be a forgiven, dead person. Your sins were forgiven from God’s vantage point, but until you are made alive in Christ, you are still dead in your sins (1 Corinthians 15:16-19). So if you have been reconciled, then be reconciled (Romans 5:10, 2 Corinthians 5:20). Receive what God has done for you by coming alive in Christ Jesus. Receive the only righteousness there is, from the only one who is righteous (Mark 10:18), Christ Jesus, and have His righteousness imputed to you (Romans 4:1-25), and that by faith in His death, burial and resurrection for you (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), understanding what all that means personally for you. Jesus died for us then so He can live in us now. Christ alive in you is your only hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). Unless you are made alive in Christ Jesus, then you did not receive the gospel. If the Spirit of God is not living in you, then you do not belong to Christ (Romans 8:9).
Romans 1:17
17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed – a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”[Habbakuk 2:4]
So listen now as Bob George explains from the scriptures, from the book of Colossians and supporting passages from the apostle Paul’s writings in Romans about this full gospel that has gone out and is bearing fruit. What is this fruit that is being talked about? It is the fruit of the Spirit, what the Spirit produces, and is not about leading people to Christ in the energy of your flesh. Recall the testimony last week about John Wesley. John Wesley realized that although he had been doing a lot for God, he had never trusted what God had done for him in the person of Jesus Christ.
Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
The fruit of the Spirit that we are to bear is joy, peace that surpasses understanding, and all that we read there in Galatians 5:22-23. Anyone who is born again, who understands the fullness of the gospel, the grace of God in all its truth, is to be experiencing. You cannot experience this fruit if you have not understood the fullness of the gospel, relying on the grace of God, allowing Him to live his life in you and through you, abiding in Christ as Jesus spoke of in John 15 in the parable of the vine and the branches.
You have to grasp the full meaning that Christ’s righteousness has been imputed to you. You are no longer seeking for what in Christ you already have, the forgiveness of sins and His righteousness. So many songs today have words to the effect, “I want more of you in my life” or “more power, more glory and more of you in my life”, yet that is contrary to what the word of God says we already have in Him. We access what God has already given us, and that by faith, what Martin Luther began to understand, that the righteous shall live by faith.
Romans 1:17
17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed – a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”[Habbakuk 2:4]
