OH WOW, AND I THOUGHT I WAS SAVED ALL THESE YEARS!!!

What is the Gospel?

It may be awfully surprising to learn that a lot of “Christians” do not know how to answer this question. Don’t judge them. You probably don’t yourself. Well, I didn’t for a very very long time.

First thing you should know is this: the gospel (Good News) is the most important message in scriptures. There is absolutely no salvation without it. NO Salvation. So, you must know what it is.

Like I said, I didn’t know how to define or explain it for a long time. Did I go to church? Of course! Did I do evangelism? Now, I wonder how I was able to manage to preach a gospel I didn’t even know about; but absolutely, I did evangelize! Did I parade myself as a Christian? Oh, you bet I did. I even started and hosted a number of Bible Studies hoping that people will find what “I had found in Christ”… What a joke!

For 12 years – TWELVE solid years, I had proclaimed Christianity… Or should I say, Christian Religion; because what I practiced was nothing other than that – Religion. I did things by the book, constantly made efforts to do right, and regardless of what I did, was continuously tormented and condemned by the spirit of religion.

You know, Roberts Liardon said something about this spirit in his amazing book God’s Generals: the Roaring Reformers (2003). He said, “I’ve encountered all kinds of evil, deceptive spirits. But I’ve never seen a meaner, more vicious spirit than the spirit of religion. It disguises itself so you think you are serving God. It is a murdering spirit with a “nice” camouflage… You’ll never appease it, nor will you ever please God through it”

I agree with him 100%.

For 12 years, I practiced and preached the Christian religion, thinking I was serving God. No relationship. No experience. Somewhere within me, I knew it had to be more than this. Something wasn’t right, I knew, but didn’t know what was wrong. Thank God for good friends.

It was a “real” Christian friend that showed me what was missing. He explained that what happened was I hadn’t even understood the basis behind my salvation; so how could I have lived a saved and renewed life?

Romans 1:16 says that the gospel of Christ is the power of God UNTO salvation to everyone that believes. Oh wow, so it means I believed in who Christ was, but I lacked the power that could save me. I had not properly received the gospel message. As Kenneth Hagin put it, I knew about Christ just like I knew about Abraham Lincoln (not like I know so well about the ex-president even).

1st Corinthians 4:15 says that Christ begat us through the gospel. This means that without understanding the message of the gospel, believing it with your heart and confessing it with your mouth (Romans 10:9-10), you cannot be saved. So if you automatically became a Christian because your dad and mom are Christians and took you to Sunday School as a kid, please, check your salvation again. You may be professing Christ, but you may not have been truly saved.

My friend (the real Christian friend) and I were discussing one day, and he mentioned that there are several pastors that do not even know the gospel and aren’t saved, yet they tell people about Jesus and do good works.

I pondered upon what he said, but not until I had a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit that completely changed my life did I understand what he meant. No wonder there are several pastors and believers in Christ who can’t pray for the sick to get healed, or cast out a demon, or even demonstrate faith in God for their own problems to be solved. Didn’t Christ say ‘these’ signs shall follow them that believe? Mark 16:17-18. No power (Romans 1:16). No blessing (Romans 15:29). No truth (Colossians 1:5). No peace (Ephesians 6:15). No hope (Colossians 1:23). No faith (Philippians 1:27). No salvation (Romans 1:16). No glory (1st Timothy 1:11).

Brother Hagin gave two examples of how a person can lead a church and lead people in Christ for years without being saved and without knowing it.

He told of a sister who had left her church after her wedding to join her husband in his church. On getting there, she began to hear things she had never heard before. She heard the gospel being preached and so she got “truly” saved and baptized in the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in new tongues. Then she began to wonder if her former pastor knew the things that she had heard. “I mean if he knew, he would have told it to us,” she thought. Some months passed and she was invited to her former church for an event, and so she used that opportunity to preach the gospel of Christ to her former pastor. He got saved that day and became baptized in the Holy Ghost.

Brother Hagin also told a more interesting story of a pastor who retired from his fifty-years of ministry. He had preached and served in the church for 50 whole years but was not saved, and he did not know. At the age of 75 after he had retired as a pastor, he had an encounter with the Holy Spirit, got saved, and spoke in tongues for the first time ever. Brother Hagin mentioned that this elderly pastor said that “I have learned so much and experienced God so much than I did in all my 50 years of ministry put together.”

So, you may ask if all I’ve heard and known isn’t the gospel, then what is the gospel? The funny thing is you already know the gospel message. I am almost 100% certain that you know what the gospel is. You just may not know that that is the gospel.

A commentary in my Bible (The King James Study Bible, Liberty University © 1988) explains that the gospel is both a proposition and a person.

So, here it is – the proposition. In 1st Corinthians 15:1-8, the apostle Paul declares the gospel message of Christ:

“…how that Christ died for our sins according the scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen…”

But it is also a person – and that is the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ (Mark 1:1).

Now, one is saved when you (1) receive the person of the Lord Jesus as Savior (Revelation 3:20), and (2) if you believe the proposition of the gospel in your heart and you confess it with your mouth (Romans 10:9-10).

So, it is not enough to know about God. It is not enough to go to Bible colleges and earn theology and divinity degrees. It is not enough to buy theology books to learn about God (like I did). It is not enough to just go to church and tell people about God. While all those things are wonderful and are supposed to be evidences of a saved life, those things in themselves cannot save you (Ephesians 2:8-9).

The gospel message brings about a reconciliation of man to God. The gospel has to not only make you believe in Christ’s complete work of salvation, and has to not only make you accept this work; but even more, it has to restore you to a fellowship with the Father. That is the whole essence of Jesus’ coming anyway.

If I were you, I’d tell God to search me out (Psalm 139:23). You may like to consider the following questions:

-          Does your salvation carry power? John 1:12

-          Was there a fullness of blessing with the gospel you received? Romans 15:29.

-          Are you filled with and being led by the Spirit of God? Ephesians 5:18; Romans 8:14.

-          Did you experience peace through the gospel? Ephesians 6:15

-          Does your gospel lack faith in the complete work of Jesus? Philippians 1:27

-          Do you have hope of a glorious future? Col 1:23

-          Is your gospel true? Colossians 1:5

-          Did you ever take the conscious step to accept Christ as Lord and Savior – to believe it in your heart and confess it with your mouth? Romans 10:9-10, and

-          Did the gospel you heard reconcile you to God?

It will be absolutely terribly horrible if after all your “works” for the sake of Christ, you find out that you never really were saved, and that there’s no place for you in heaven.

The gospel is true. It is salvation. It is faith. It is glorious. It brings peace. Accept Christ today. Believe in your heart and confess with your mouth Christ’s complete work on Calvary and be saved. For me, it was after 12 years of thinking I was saved, did I become actually saved. For that elderly retired pastor, it was after 50 years. It is never too late, as long as you still have life in you.

Your works are good, but they should be evidences of your faith, not the other way around. You cannot earn enough good works to purchase your faith or to purchase salvation.