Message 29 - By Jerry D. Green
Submission
to the Gospel
Introduction
Why is it the gospel seems to work for some and not for others?
Well I can tell you with certainty that it’s not because of any insufficiency
on the part of the gospel. The gospel is all sufficient for any person on this
planet who honestly wills to be saved and will meet a few basic but necessary
requirements. First, we must hear the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Secondly, we must believe
the true gospel. Basically, that
Jesus is the Son, the Messiah, the Christ, of the true and living God; and that
He is the Savior of every person that sincerely desires and wills to be saved. Thirdly, we must come to Him with a true heart of repentance for
our sins (all wrong we have ever committed
against both God and man [it’s not necessary to name every sin individually])
and for our sin (that old inherent sin nature which everyone of us were
born with). This means being truly sorry for our sin and our sins. And last
of all, but not by any means least, we must be willing to SUBMIT our
self, our life, our will, our all, to Jesus, the Savior, and the working within
us of the true gospel of Him. If any
person on this planet will honestly meet these few basic steps, that person
will receive salvation. I hope this little introduction will open the eyes of
every person to the great importance of SUBMITTING
themselves to the “True Gospel
of Jesus Christ.” JDG
------------------------------------------------------------------
Submission to the Gospel
Romans 10:1-4
1. “Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they
might be SAVED.
2. For I bear them record that they have A ZEAL of God, but NOT ACCORDING
TO KNOWLEDGE.
3. For they being IGNORANT of GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS, and going about to
establish their OWN righteousness, HAVE NOT SUBMITTED THEMSELVES unto THE
RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD (which is revealed in the true gospel of Jesus Christ; Romans 1:15-18 below).
4. For Christ is the end of the law (the Old Covenant law of Moses and
the religious laws of all men) for RIGHTEOUSNESS to every one that believeth (in Him and in
the true gospel of Him, for these constitute the New Covenant which God made
with, and through, and in His Son; Isaiah
42:6; 49:8).”
Romans 1:15-18
15. “So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the GOSPEL to you that
are at Rome also.
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 (it); to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
17. For THEREIN (IN the true gospel of Christ) is the RIGHTEOUSNESS (the JUSTICE, or JUSTNESS) of God REVEALED
from faith to faith: (For) as it is written, The just shall live
by faith.
18. For the WRATH of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and (all) unrighteousness of men, who hold the TRUTH (of Jesus Christ and the gospel of Him) in unrighteousness.”
Paul’s heart was very heavy for his Jewish brethren. So much so
that he says in Romans 9:3, “…I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my
kinsmen according to the flesh;” but of course that could never be. For there could never be but one
acceptable substitute and that was and is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. So why
was it that his brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh were not saved? He attested to the fact that
they had a zeal of God, but they
also had a zeal for the Old Covenant law of Moses and the keeping of its commandments
and ordinances (Acts 21:20). Their
zeal for God was simply not according to
knowledge.
What is this knowledge Paul spoke of? It was, and is, the revelation knowledge of Jesus Christ
which is revealed in the true gospel
of Him (Romans 1:17). In Isaiah 53:11-12, the prophet prophesied
of a deliverer who was to come, saying that “He (God the Father) shall see of the travail of His (Jesus’) soul, and shall be satisfied: (For) by His knowledge … (Not just God’s
and Jesus’ knowledge, but by our
knowledge OF Jesus, and all that He
accomplished FOR US through the suffering of all those atrocities. Those
atrocities included: the cruel, merciless whipping; the crown of thorns, and
the death of that cruel cross; but His burial, resurrection, and ascension into
heaven were, and are also, very distinctive and essential elements of the
gospel. Nevertheless this knowledge of what He did in our behalf can only be
truly known to us by the revelation of the Spirit. All of this is what Isaiah
spoke of as His knowledge. So then, by His knowledge [by our understanding of
that hidden knowledge which is in Jesus Christ and the true gospel of Him,
through which] THE RIGHTEOUSNESS [or
justice] of God is revealed unto us,
by the Spirit of God, Romans 1:17) …shall my righteous
servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I
divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil, with the
strong (the true gospel believer; for after He was
resurrected, ‘…Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, ALL POWER [authority, Strong’s #1849] is given unto me [both] in heaven and in
earth;’ Matthew 28:18. And He also says to them the day before
He went to the cross (John 16:13-15):
13 ‘Howbeit when He,
the Spirit of Truth, is come [which could not
happen until after He had suffered
the death of the cross; John 16:7; 3:14], He will guide you into all truth:
for He shall NOT speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will *shew [tell, declare,
announce, reveal to] you, things [that at the
time He was speaking were yet] to come. [In this,]
14 He (the Spirit of
Truth) shall
glorify me: for He shall receive of MINE, and shall *shew (reveal) it (them) unto you.
------------------------------------------------------------------
*shew - Strong’s #312,
“To announce in detail.” Thayer’s, “To announce, to make known, to report, to
bring back tidings.” In other words, the Spirit of Truth would reveal to them, and will reveal to us, that which Jesus Himself
could not communicate to them, and could not have communicated to us, with
words of the natural voice through our natural mind or understanding (John 16:7-15; I Corinthians 2:9-10).
------------------------------------------------------------------
15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he (the Father) shall take of mine,
and shall *shew it unto you.
All things that the Father
hath are mine: … (And the Father ‘…hath put ALL THINGS under His [Jesus’] feet, and gave Him [Jesus] to be the head over ALL THINGS to the church, Which is His body, the
fulness of Him that filleth all in all’ [Ephesians 1:22-23.]) therefore said I, that He [‘…the Spirit of Truth…;’ ‘the Spirit of the
Father’] shall TAKE OF MINE, and shall *shew it [reveal it in
greater detail] unto you.’ “…because He hath poured out his soul
unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of
many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12). Without the revelation knowledge of Jesus Christ and His gospel, Ephesians 1:17-21, the most zealous
person on the planet will never save the soul of themselves or of anyone else. The Apostle Paul knew this from experience,
for before his conversion, he was such a person. But (after Christ and His gospel was revealed
both to, and in, him (Galatians 1:15-16),
he says in Romans 1:16-17, “…I am not ashamed of the GOSPEL OF CHRIST: for IT is the POWER OF GOD
UNTO SALVATION to everyone that believeth (it); to the Jew first, and also to the
Greek” (the Gentile).
For therein (in the true gospel of Christ) is the RIGHTEOUSNESS (justness, or justice) of God REVEALED
from faith to faith: (For) as it is written, The just (the justified) shall live by faith (or, as Habakkuk 2:4,
which Paul is quoting, ‘…by His faith…’) that is to say,
by our faith (our believing) in the revealed knowledge and true
gospel of Christ, which is THE FAITH.
To the Ephesians Paul says it this way; “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give
unto you the spirit of WISDOM and REVELATION in the KNOWLEDGE OF HIM” ([Jesus] Ephesians 1:17). Once again, this is the knowledge which Isaiah spoke of
as “…HIS KNOWLEDGE…”). For it is in the true gospel of
Jesus Christ that the RIGHTEOUSNESS
(justness; justice) of God is revealed.
So why would anyone refuse to receive and believe such a great and
glorious gospel? Because the very nature
of the old man is to be selfish and self-sufficient. He believes that somehow
he will be able to save himself through some means other than submitting (fully surrendering) himself
to Jesus Christ and something as foolish as the gospel of Him, for salvation. It would be utter foolishness
to believe that anything so simple, could put a person in right standing with
God. Surely there must be some other way and/or something more I can do to
please God and be received into heaven. This is what Paul was speaking of when he
said, “…being IGNORANT of God’s RIGHTEOUSNESS and going
about to establish their own righteousness….” This ignorance
was what kept Israel, Paul’s kinsmen according to the flesh, from being saved.
And this ignorance (to the true gospel; once heard) is what keeps mankind,
wherever they are found, from being saved. And though there was a time when God
“…winked…” (closed His eyes to; overlooked) the
ignorance of man; He now “…commandeth
ALL men EVERY WHERE to repent” “…and
believe the gospel” (Acts 17:30; Mark 1:15; Acts 20:21). Man will do
most ANYTHING in his power to save himself, except, to submit himself unto the righteousness
of God which is in Jesus Christ and
His gospel. Man of himself cannot bring
himself to believe and surrender to the true gospel of Jesus Christ which is
both the righteousness of God and the power of God unto salvation; for it is
out and out foolishness to the carnal
mind, whether that mind is religious or not.
“But now (since Calvary) the righteousness (or justice) of God without the
law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the
righteousness of God which is by (the)
faith of Jesus Christ (the true gospel
of Christ) unto all and upon all them that (will) believe: for there is no difference” (with God between the Jew and the Gentile [the religious sinner and the out and out sinner] Romans 3:21-22). For God will SAVE every kind of sinner from their sin if they will only hear, believe, repent, and submit
themselves unto Jesus Christ and His Gospel.
But “…thanks be unto God, … (who) always causeth us to triumph IN Christ, and maketh manifest the (sweet smelling) savour of HIS KNOWLEDGE (the knowledge of the righteousness
of God which is revealed to us, in the true gospel of Christ) by us in every place” (we go; II Corinthians 2:14).
Let me quickly point out more exactly what it is that makes the
TRUE gospel of Christ so hard for a person to believe and receive. First of
all, this gospel is a spiritual
message which must be revealed unto
us by the Spirit (the Holy Spirit of
Truth; I Corinthians 2:9-14). This gospel, which the Apostle Paul
tried so hard to communicate to those churches, and though he didn’t know it at
the time, was also conveying to all men through those letters he wrote to those
churches, could and can never be
understood by a person, except it be revealed
unto him by the Holy Spirit of Truth. And some of the more important of those things are the very fact that the
old sin nature of every man, woman,
boy, girl; every person of every race, every descendent of Adam, was and is crucified (died) IN union with, Jesus Christ on that cross on
Calvary (Romans 6:6). And that we (our old man of sin, our old sin nature)
were and are buried (put away in the grave) IN union with Jesus Christ. And were and are resurrected in newness of life, IN union with Jesus Christ (Romans 6:4-5). And were and are made to sit
together in heavenly places, IN union with Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:6). This is where the carnal mind of man staggers in unbelief, for it cannot lay hold of
the spiritual truth of God’s Word. So then, all of this which happened both to and for us, IN Christ, is also the part which must be revealed (made real) both to and in us, by the Holy Spirit of Truth.
So what about you? Have you
heard and/or do you know what the TRUE Gospel of Christ is? If not, I urge you to earnestly pray and ask
God to lead you to a good source of the TRUE gospel. First and foremost, read only, the King James
Version of the Bible, beginning in the New Testament, asking God to reveal the
truth of His Word to you. For today there is so much of what is called Christian Gospel books and
programs that are any and every thing but
the TRUE gospel of Christ, that only those who earnestly love the truth (II Thessalonians 2:8-10) will ever be
able to navigate their way through the obstacle course of religion (all
religion[s], including Christian religion) to the TRUE, soul saving gospel of
Christ (Matthew 7:13-20). But just
the fact that you are reading this message, tells me that God has already led
you to one such source. These messages right here on The True Gospel Web Site
are a wonderful source of true gospel messages. But no matter how good the message, it still
takes God, by His Holy Spirit of Truth to draw
a person to Jesus the Savior; to convict that person of their sin. For Jesus
says, “No
man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me DRAW him: and I will
raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44). It is by God’s Holy Spirit of Truth that He draws a
soul to Jesus; but it still takes God, by His Holy Spirit of Truth, to reveal the truth of the shed blood and the cross of Christ, both to and
in us. There is absolutely no other
way to be saved outside of faith in Jesus Christ and the TRUE gospel of Him. We
must, however, still come to God with repentant heart and willingly SUBMIT ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ and to
THE TRUE GOSPEL of Him; and to it’s
work within us; But if a person will earnestly seek God in this manner, He
will save that person, that soul,
from their sin, their sins, and from themselves (and by extension, save their soul from an eternal hell).
JDG Message 29 - Submission to the Gospel
------------------------------------------------------------------
TOP of PAGE
NEXT MESSAGE
PREVIOUS MESSAGE
JDG MESSAGES
Keith Surface MESSAGES
Leroy Surface MESSAGES
