FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP
RENEWING
THE MIND – IV
THE
GOSPEL - 2
…..
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this
world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove
what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of IAUE.
The problem with humanity is
that it is incapable of obeying the will of IAUE.
Two things in particular had to
be done for man that he could not do for himself,
in order to be able to respond
favorably to the will of IAUE.
- The issue of sins must be
resolved. (“The soul that sins shall surely die.”)
- The quality of righteousness must
be restored to man.
Last
week we discussed how the issue of sins was resolved in the sacrifice of
Yahushua.
Now
that man’s sins have been removed as a barrier to a restored relationship with
IAUE, there is only one thing that is lacking to complete the reconciliation,
and that is righteousness. Righteousness
is a quality or condition that exists in a sinless environment; because it is
the nature of always being right; and right is measured by the nature of IAUE as
manifested by the will of IAUE.
Abraham’s
faith in IAUE and in the promise of His coming deliverer was “reckoned” unto
Abraham for righteousness (Romans 4:3). It was a down payment
IAUE made on his behalf for the real thing that was to come; but Abraham was
not, in fact, righteous. Today, by faith
in the shed blood of the sacrifice of Yahushua and belief that he was raised
from the dead, man can be born-again by the power of IAUE and placed into the spiritual
body of Messiah. In Messiah, we are
clothed with HIS righteousness, thus completing the prerequisites for
relationship and fellowship with IAUE.
So,
from last week’s study, we can understand why Yahushua ordered repentance to be
preached in his name. Through
repentance, the two barriers to relationship and fellowship with IAUE are
resolved. However, Yahushua ordered TWO
things to be preached in his name.
Luke
24:46 And
said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Messiah to suffer, and
to rise from the dead the third day:
47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name
among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
For
far too long the church has understood this to mean repentance and forgiveness
of sins…and then conveniently decided that repentance was not really
necessary. As a result, preachers and
teachers and individual believers for decades, if not for centuries, have been
telling people they need to ask Yahushua to forgive them of their sins; and if
they do, they will be “saved.” The fact
is, they do not have to ask Yahushua to forgive them of anything. He already paid the price for their
sins. Forgiveness is a done deal. It
does not require obtaining a receipt for it to be real. Mankind’s sins are
already forgiven. To tell someone they
must ask to be forgiven is to misrepresent the facts and to dishonor the love
of IAUE.
Romans 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Messiah died
for the ungodly.
7 For
scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some
would even dare to die.
8 But IAUE commendeth his love
toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Messiah died for us.
9 Much
more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath
through him.
By
forgiving man of his acts of rebellion against His authority (sins) without
condition, IAUE “commends His love to us.” That means IAUE demonstrated that He loves man. He does not stand with a whip in hand looking
to avenge every sin we commit. He loves us. He proved it by paying a severe
price for our forgiveness; something we did not even ask or desire Him to
do. He did it on His own initiative
because He loves us.
Forgiveness
of sins, however only removes a barrier…one that man put up between himself and
IAUE; that is, man’s rebellion against the will of IAUE and His right to rule. Forgiveness
is incomplete in itself to make possible the objective of our deliverance: the freedom to do the will of IAUE. It is for this reason that the Master ordered
that remission of sins be preached in his name.
If
I am only forgiven of the sins that
hold my life in bondage; how does that make it any easier for me to obey IAUE? How does that enable me to terminate my
disobedience, especially when I am bound by certain behaviors, attitudes,
actions, etc.? Remission of sins is
freedom from the power of sins which IAUE has already forgiven.
Luke 4:16 And he came to Nazareth,
where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the
synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
17 And
there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had
opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
18 The Spirit of IAUE is upon me, because he
hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the
brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19 To
preach the acceptable year of IAUE.
20 And he
closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the
eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in
your ears.
Yahushua
was anointed to break the power of sin and death, to destroy the works of the
devil. He was anointed to deliver the
poor, heal the sorrowful, free those in bondage, heal the blind and liberate
man from the works of the devil. Was it
just words, or did he actually do it?
Matthew 4:23 And Yahushua went
about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the
people.
Matthew 8:16 When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were
possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and
healed all that were sick:
Matthew 9:35 And Yahushua went about all the cities and villages,
teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of
the kingdom, and healing
every sickness and every disease among the people.
Matthew 10:1 And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power (literally,
“authority”) against
unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all
manner of disease.
7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The
kingdom of heaven is at hand.
8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise
the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely
give.
Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go
ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
16 He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be
damned.
17 And these signs shall follow
them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with
new tongues;
18 They shall take up serpents;
and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay
hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Daily,
Messiah ministered to all that came to him.
He cast out demons that held their life in bondage, healed them of
sicknesses and diseases that disabled their lives. He set them free; and he even gave the
authority to do the same to his disciples who walked with him, as well as to
his disciples who would believe on him after his resurrection. Towards the end of the life and ministry of
the apostle Paul, he declares this:
Romans 15:19 Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the
Spirit of IAUE; so that from
Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I
have fully preached the gospel of
Messiah.
Most
believers, today, did not respond to a message that was confirmed with signs
and wonders; nor have they witnessed to others, providing them with signs and
wonders to confirm what they are saying. They have never witnessed nor
experienced the miraculous deliverance that accompanies the gospel when it is
properly presented. Most of the church,
today, believes a message that has never been confirmed by a demonstration of the
power of IAUE; and yet, it was regarded by Messiah and the early apostles and
disciples as a necessary and intrinsic part of preaching the gospel. Signs and wonders confirm the preaching of
the gospel. If they are absent, the
correct gospel message has not been preached.
The
disciples of Messiah, today, do not tend to experience this mighty
deliverance. They do not experience
freedom from the bondage of sin. They
continue to sin as though they have little power over it in their lives. Why is this?
It is because remission of sins was not preached to them. They answered to a message of forgiveness of
sins, only. They do not know that
freedom from the power of sin, which includes freedom from the bondage to evil
spirits, healing of all sickness and all disease, even deliverance from
poverty, are all-inclusive provisions of our redemption in Messiah. If repentance and remission of sins were
preached as Yahushua commanded, the church would be a vibrant supernatural
force of righteousness in the earth that continues to destroy the works of the
devil in peoples’ lives, just as did the early church in the book of Acts. A true understanding that ALL authority both
in Heaven and on Earth has been given to Yahushua Messiah would avail the
disciple of the freedom from anything that would dare to interfere with his/her
obedience to the will of IAUE.
Have
you ever heard the old illustration of a relative’s passing who leaves a
fortune to you in his will? Let’s add to
that picture that you were one who rejected your family, and walked away. A rift existed between you and your family…which
was your doing. You took offense at
something and walked away. However, in
the will, it is declared that your relative forgave you and does not hold your
rebellion and rejection of him against you. The offense that prevented you from
partaking of your family’s inheritance has been removed. You benefit from his
forgiveness insofar as it removed the barrier to you being placed in his will
as a beneficiary. You do not benefit from the fortune bequeathed to you,
however, if you do not know about it; and if you are unaware that you have been
forgiven. Additionally, you do not
benefit from it if you are told of it, but you do not believe it is true, or if
you refuse to act upon it as a fact, or if you simply reject his forgiveness because
you choose to remain offended. So, too, is remission of sins. Though forgiveness of sins does not need to
be acted upon as it is something that has been done for man without condition; remission
of sins is not realized, it is not experienced, until it is believed and acted
upon as an intrinsic element of what was accomplished for us in the shed blood
of Messiah.
We
have been too long without a proper presentation of the gospel. Believing and receiving what we have never before
been told requires renewing the mind. IAUE
did not sacrifice His son to provide an incomplete redemption for mankind.
Repentance and Remission of sins
are to be preached in the name of Yahushua…and
yet, this is NOT the gospel. Next week,
we will discuss what the gospel actually is; and why preaching repentance and
remission of sins was commanded to be preached alongside the gospel.
Kingdom
heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the
performance of the will of IAUE.
No comments:
Post a Comment