Faith In The Gospel

Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

A few weeks back I was reading in Matthew concerning the Temptation of Jesus and according to the Scripture Jesus was in the Wilderness for 40 days fasting and praying. It was after that time that the Devil tempted Him, He overcame and the Devil fled. As I have mentioned I have been in a crazy time in my life facing things I never thought I would ever have to face, and during this time it has indeed felt as though I have been led into the Wilderness.

It was with that thought that God began to deal with my heart concerning 40 days, this is a number that is often repeated in the Bible and while there could be much to be said concerning the deeper meaning behind the number 40 and the times it is mentioned in the Bible, what was placed on my heart at that time was that I need to measure out 40 days unto myself, for fasting and praying. There were a few things God showed me that I needed to focus on during these 40 days and one of them is to make sure to get back to writing on this page at least once a week.

So this week I have been wondering what it would be that I would write on here, kind of waiting to see or hear what God would want me to meditate on, to think on. Something where God stirred my heart and I truly felt the Spirit speak to me. As the week wore on I still I had nothing that really stirred me up for this weeks post, not that God hasn't been moving in my life because He has and mighlty but nothing that seemed right for this Ministry.

However as I was driving around listening to the Bible, something caught my ear, even though I have read, re read, listened, hear and re heard this Scripture dozens of times, something sprang up to me that I had never noticed before and when I started to think and pray on it, I could feel the Spirit moving in my heart and knew exactly what it was I was to write on for this week.

I've had a two fold thought concerning what to write on, the first is that God has really been pounding into my heart about the Gospel. The need to preach, teach, and tell the simpleness, the stripped down no filler Gospel. We can write for ages about the Gospel, but do the Lost need hour long sermons, 20 page lessons on the Gospel? No they just need the Gospel simple, short and more importantly in the Spirit and Power.

So what is the Gospel? The Gospel is the Good News about Jesus Christ. The Gospel is revealing to you an aspect of yourself that you already know but hate to look at and admit, which is that you are a Sinner. You already know it deep down but in case it isn't clear enough for you to readily admit, God gave us the Law and the 10 Commandments to expose our Sins.

If you go down just the 10 Commandments, you know that you have broken at least one, but really all 10. You are guilty before God for breaking His Commandments. In the Law that shows your Sins it also says that Death is due you for your Sin, there is no amount of work or talking or charity or anything else that you can do in and of yourself to remove that guilt and the sentence that is upon you.

That all sounds like Bad News, so where is the Good News? I am glad you asked, the Good News is, Jesus has come and taken up your Sins on the Cross, He has taken your place in Death so that you can be made free. Christ came, lived perfectly with no Sin, went to the Cross, took your punishment, took the Wrath due you so that you can be given Eternal Life and all of this is given to you for free.

That is the simpleness of the Gospel, you are a Sinner but Christ came so that you can be made free from the Judgement that is due to you.

I wanted to relay and set down the Gospel as simply as possible, that was the first fold, the second came as I was listening to the Bible. As I said I have heard and read this a dozen times but that night it just hit my heart in a completely different way.

Many of us have heard of the story of Abraham and Issac, that Abraham was called by God to take Issac to an Altar and sacrifice him, and when he reached the top God stopped him from doing so and instead provided a ram in the bushes to be sacrificed instead. I have read that incident many times, I have heard it preach on, taught on, and almost if not every time I have heard about this incident the focus has always been that Abraham knew that God was going to provide a substitute for Issac.

The substitute is an amazing and powerful thing to think on, and how it relates to the Gospel I mentioned above, that Jesus came as a substitute to be Sacrificed for you and me. And I in no way intend on diminishing that wonderful allegory, but it was as I was listening to Hebrews 11, the so called Hall of Faith Chapter, that something just as powerful, just as amazing, just as wonderful dawned on me by the revealing of the Holy Spirit.

In the simplistic Gospel I laid out there was one thing I didn't mention, a key component of the Gospel. We can all hear the Gospel, we can all know the Gospel, but if we don't have Faith, if we don't believe in the Gospel then it is of no value to us. The Word of God tells us in Romans

1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth;

The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to those who believe it, who have Faith in it. In that story of Abraham offering Issac we can see the Gospel of Christ in the substitution, but I am here to tell you that Abraham didn't believe that God would provide an offering in substitution of his son, he believed in something deeper, something grander, something greater, he believed in the Power of the Resurrection!!!

Christ not only died for our Sins but on that 3rd and appointed day, the greatest day in Human History, Christ Resurrected from the Grave and overcame Death and Hell so that we no longer need to fear either one, if we have Faith in Him, in His Life, Death and Resurrection!!!

Here is what Paul wrote about Abraham and the Issac incident:

Hebrews 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,

18 Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:

19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

This Faith is staggering, just put yourself in Abraham's shoes, God has commanded you to take your only begotten son and place him on an altar and sacrifice him, to kill him yourself. Now it's one thing to think Abraham knew that there would be a ram provided as a substitute, but it is a whole other thing to know that Abraham believed so much in the promise that God has given him concerning Issac being the seed, that he was going to actually sacrifice him having Faith God was literally going to resurrect him, bring him back from the dead!!!

It's that Faith that is needed in Christ for Salvation, that absolute belief that God DID raise His only begotten Son from the dead. If you are Lost and you have come to accept and know that you are a Sinner condemned to die and go to Hell, then all you must do to be saved is believe in your heart with no doubts, just as Abraham did that God HAS sent His Son to be your substitute on the Cross and that God HAS Resurrected Christ. If you believe this with your whole heart and confess with your mouth then according to Scripture you will be Born Again!!!

So I have believed this, I know I have been Saved but this message is just as needed for us who are Saved as it is to the Lost. What would happen if we had the feet under our belief in our lives not just for Salvation but for our everyday needs that Abraham had walking his son up the mountain?

If we literally believed 100% in all the promises God has made us in His Word. If we had that kind of belief then we would be able to walk up any mountain, endure all things, overcome any obstacle, because I can not think of anything harder to be asked in this World than to walk my child up a mountain to their death by my hands. Abraham was willing to do it, why? Because he had absolute 100% Faith in the Promise made to him by God. Let us too strive to have that kind of Faith!!! I know I want it, how about you??

I love you all, have a great day and blessed day in the Lord!

If you need prayer or anything else please feel free to reach out to me and I will help you the best I can and if I can't help I know one man that can, this man named Jesus!

Disciples

Are

Continually

Influencing

Peoples

Living

Existence

1 Corth 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.