The Gospel:
At its Core

 

An Eternal Perspective on Justice — Heavenly Justice.

 

Romans 1:18 (KJV)

For the Wrath of God

• is revealed from heaven
• against all ungodliness
• and unrighteousness of men,
• who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

You will notice that the Wrath of God is directed generally unto all ungodliness, and the specific acts of unrighteous of men (See: Romans 1:19-32, where all the evidence is listed in detail). And it describes the reason men feel free and clear to commit unrighteousness and ungodliness: Men are able to justify their own evil and wickedness by holding the Truth in Unrighteousness.

That is when things get scary. When Men choose to sear their consciences, “as with a hot iron.” (1 Timothy 4:1-2).

When Men block themselves off from the Truth, and cut themselves off from the one and only remedy to cure their wickedness. They freely choose to cut themselves off from the Life of God itself. Then they scorn the Truth. They lay down layer upon layer of lies and deception. They heap up arrogance like a mountain. They ignorantly propound ungodly opinions, and promote mocking, and pour out systemic abuse upon the Truth. They even reject the idea that there is such a thing as Truth. They reject the only cure that can rescue them from their deception. All their darkness, and their continued destruction, can now have full free reign, without any accountability, having cut themselves off from the Truth–that is until the Wrath of God shall come:

 

Jude 1:14-19 (KJV)

14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying,

Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

• To execute judgment upon all,
• and to convince all that are ungodly among them
• of all their ungodly deeds
• which they have ungodly committed,
• and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.

17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; 18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. 19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.

Because of all that: the Wrath of God has been revealed, and is being revealed, and ultimately will be finally revealed to all mankind, when every man must give a thorough and complete accounting of every unrighteous deed they have ever done. Every single man will give an account of every action done or spoken against God, against His Son, against His Word, and against every one of his Children. For every unconfessed and unrepented of sin, that is not covered under the blood of Jesus, there will be a full accounting.

 

Hebrews 9:27-28 (KJV)

And as it is appointed unto men once to die,

• but after this the judgment:

So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many;

• And unto them that look for him,
• [To them] shall he appear the second time,
• Without sin unto salvation.

Judgement Day is Coming and no man or woman will escape it. We will ALL be held accountable: for every wicked and careless word spoken, and ungodly deed done, when We Face the Wrath of God on the Day of Judgment.
(SEE: THIS WAS YOUR LIFE)

The apostle Paul understood the Day of Judgment is coming, and explicitly warned his people to flee the Wrath of God, by receiving the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Matthew 3:7, Luke 3:7).

 

Matthew 3:7-8 (KJV)

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them:

• O generation of vipers,
• who hath warned you to flee from the wrath [of God] to come?
• Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:

 

Paul understood and clearly preached, this essential core truth about the gospel (just as John the Baptist did, and as Jesus, the Messiah did, and Peter, his brother in Christ did): that the gospel central message is to flee the Wrath of God, that is revealed from heaven: Against all ungodliness and all unrighteousness of men.

 

Without a clear and pure teaching on THE WRATH OF GOD, THE GOSPEL is drained of its POWER, drained of its AUTHORITY, drained of its Purpose: DEPTH, BREATH, HEIGHT, AND LONGEVITY.

In other words, the modern preaching of a false shepherd can then twist The Gospel of Salvation to tickle the ears of the sheep and lull them to sleep (rather than wake them up and make them alert), when it is not a Salvation from the Wrath of God to come; But rather, it can become whatever anyone wants to make it:

• Salvation from my Bad Feelings about myself, my low self-esteem.
• Salvation from my anxiety about my Debt and lack of prosperity,
• Salvation from my bad Marriage, my daddy, or mommy, issues, etc.

 

The truth be told:

When a man truly aligns himself with the word of God, to obey it, preach it, and overcomes the world, he is going to be persecuted (not blessed in a worldly selfish manner).

In a worldly sense, his life is not going to get better, it’s going to get worse. Instead of gaining friends, he will likely lose most of his friends. Instead of families becoming more friendly, hositility towards the Gospel will inevitably divide family relationships. Instead of gaining positions of power and wealth, and general acceptance from the world, a man of faith will often lose those positions, and lose those benefits.

From God’s Perspective, these are all the blessings of Heaven:

 

Matthew 5:10-12 (KJV)

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake:

• for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are ye,

• when men shall revile you,
• and persecute you,
• and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

Rejoice, and be exceeding glad:

• for great is your reward in heaven:
• for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

So where is my Blessing? Where is my benefit? How is being reviled, persecuted, and spoken evil of—a Blessing?

Oh Yeah! Let’s not forget:

I get to escape the Wrath of God to Come, and Teach others how to escape it as Well! I get to teach true Converts How to Follow God, and Lead them into the Truth, to become Like Christ. I get to lay up eternal treasures in Heaven, that will last for eternity, and where moth, and rust cannot corrupt, and theives can’t break in and steal!

Let’s not forget: 

We have been invited into the most exclusive, the most intimate, the most pure, the most holy, the most enduring, permanent, infinite, incredible, and beyond our farthest imagination, relationship with God, his angels, his saints, in other words, his entire family, in their unmitigated, glory, power, grace, and truth, to enjoy forever and ever and ever and ever.

That is, if we have chosen to prepare ourselves to enter his clean and pure house of holiness. For without holiness, no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14) 

We have been invited into the most incredible relationship offered to any person, anywhere on the earth, at any time, from any family, from any background, with any vision for the future. God’s Invitation Trumps every other one.

 

But as a result of watered down teaching: the gospel has less power to make godly converts, but instead generates multitudes of false converts (looking for worldly benefits), with a general false understanding of the Gospel, which brings genuine ridicule against the True Gospel, and True Christians, who are Truly following in Christ’s Footsteps: Who Hold the Truth in Righteousness.

 

In other words, Every GOSPEL PREACHER WHO DOES NOT CENTER HIS GOSPEL MESSAGE AROUND THE WRATH OF God, and thoroughly embed his disciples in the Fear of God, will likely compromise his gospel message, and likely create compromised fruit in his own life, as well as deficient fruit in a life of his flock.

 

Until the reality of the Wrath of God is fully understood and fully applied to the life of every single believer, in every single congregation, and every potential new convert—the end result will be compromised fruit.

Compromised faith creates compromised fruit. Compromised fruit creates instability in the faith. Instability in the faith produces, the likelihood of eventually turning away when experiencing hardships. 

 

The gospel message, teaches that many will fall away from the faith, when they experience hardships. That is because, they were never truly and permanently grafted into the Vine. They were never truly and deeply rooted and connected to the pure, and undefiled Word of God. In other words, their root was not deep enough to hold them secure. Their foundation was not strong enough to stand up against the storm (Matthew 7:25-27). Essentially, the convert (not deeply rooted) will inevitably fall away from the faith, according to Jesus, because he has not dug his foundation deep enough to be securely attached to the eternal rock of Christ himself.  (Luke 6:48) 

 

Jesus taught his disciples that those who have a shallow root, will inevitably turn away from the faith (Matthew 13:5-6) when persecutions arise (Matthew 13:20-21). And those who plant themselves in a thorny weed field (Matthew 13:7), will inevitably be choked by their own false and deceitful desires. It will turn out that the environment in which they tried to grow their faith will eventually choke them out of the faith (Matthew 13:22, Judas Iscariot, being a prime example). These are just some of the dangers every new convert will need to contend with, as they attempt to grow in their faith, and establish themselves as strong and faithful, loyal and devoted, sons and daughters, of the one true God.

We must always remember:  God never promises that our road will be easy when walking with him. He in fact promises us the opposite, that we must pick up our own cross and follow him, even as his own son picked up his cross, and finished his work to accomplish the salvation of all mankind, so we like little Christs, carry our cross as an example to those around us, sharing his word, speaking his promises, and warning people about the wrath of God that is to come–that they may be convicted and converted, saved and delivered, in time before His Return or their death.

Yes, the stakes are high for everyone declaring the message to Flee the Wrath to Come, but the consequences of not sharing that message are higher still. No matter which way your audience receives the Message of the Gospel, your reward is secure in Heaven, and the Word of God will not return to Him void. Granted: “The stakes are high,” but the rewards are higher still.

 

The apostle Paul clearly taught that he himself was not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. He taught the core principle of Salvation was freedom from the Wrath of God, but today, it appears that many preachers, possibly the great majority are not warning their constituents to Flee from the Wrath of God to come, and not preparing them to live Holy, and Chaste, and Righteously, in this present hour, and to perform works meet for repentance (Matthew 3:8; Acts 26:28). Today, many are disobedient to their call, but to Paul it was not so.

 

Acts 26:19-21 (KJV) 

Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:  But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should:

1. Repent and
2. Turn to God, and
3. Do works meet for repentance.

For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me.

 

[Now, everyone who gets the true gospel of God, and is securely grounded on the rock of Christ, will daily choose to walk out their faith with fear and trembling, and with joy and rejoicing, doing these three things, continually, and repeatedly throughout their lives, choosing to grow in their faith and skill in the gospel as they grow up into Christ who is the Head of the church. True faith, and true biblical obedience is not based on a one time prayer  {often called “the sinners prayer”} said at a church altar many years ago. True faith is based on a daily perseverance, to daily grow the muscle of faith. As a man goes to the gym to build his body strong, so does the believer go to the Word, and to Prayer, to build his faith strong, and he renews it on a daily basis. Jesus said: if you want to be his disciple, you will have to continue in his word. Please SEE  A Disciple: Continues in His Word (Part 1) ]

Notice How Paul’s Life is Blessed by God, and follows the Pattern of God.

“Blessed are ye,

• • • when men shall revile you,
    • and persecute you,
    • and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

Rejoice, and be exceeding glad:

• • • for great is your reward in heaven:
    • for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”Paul’s enemies did not want Paul not only to stop preaching the message of the gospel, they wanted to kill Paul, in order to punish him for not obeying their commandments.

 

The true gospel of Jesus Christ, is not intended to leave people comfortable in their own sin, and rebellion to God. It is designed to strip men of their evil excuses, and their wicked self justifications. [And there is a cost that needs to be paid, for convicting people of their sins: Generally speaking people don’t like to find out they are sinning against God, especially when they have no desire to repent. When you expose this problem you will be hated, at least by many initially.] When the True Gospel is Preached:  There is no provision for the flesh to hide behind. When lies and worldly deceptions are being exposed, sin has no place to hide, and yes, it feels uncomfortable. And yes, that makes people upset.

 

Take, for example, the sermon on the mount, in Matthew chapters five through seven. Jesus exposes multiple false teachings. Jesus deals with multiple false attitudes. Jesus turns up the heat saying: it’s better to cut off your hand, and pluck out your eye, and chop off your foot, and to enter into heaven with one eye, one hand, and one foot–thus escaping the wrath of God to come; than it is to enter the flames of hell, having two eyes, two hands, and two feet, and to be exposed to the full wrath of God. (And get this: The religious people hate him for it, but the sinners, actually repent and get saved–“Go Figure!”)

 

Jesus exposes, hypocrisy, religiosity, false prophets, wolves in sheep’s clothing, false converts, and calls his followers to come out and be separate: to be lights in the darkness, and to be like salt in the wound that burns, but cleanses and disinfects the wound. The wound is our sin, and the gospel is the salt.

 

Jesus causes his people to lay up their treasures in Heaven: in order to prepare themselves for the Hope of his Second Coming (which purifies our souls). The goal of our Faith is to become like Jesus, like a mirror image of Our Savior, living by the same Truth, obeying the same Holy Spirit, walking with the same Father God, in all of His Glory, Power, Majesty, Love, and Service to others. Hope in Christ, purifies us, see below:

 

1 John 3:2-3 (KJV)

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

But how do false preachers prepare their people to enter the Gates of Heaven, when they are doing their best to conform to the world, to be accepted by the world, to be loved and applauded by those in the world, like Hollywood Celebrities, they want people to focus on them, and not on Jesus. They simply are not preparing the sheep to hear the Words: “Well Done, my good and faithful servant. Enter into the Joy of your Master!” Or “Depart from Me: I never knew you!”

 

Paul clearly and concisely tells us:

 

Romans 1:16-17 (KJV)

For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ:

• for it is the power of God unto Salvation
• to every one that Believeth; * 
• to the Jew first,
• and also to the Greek.

 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written,

• The just shall live by faith.

* [Note: True Biblical Believing comes with the evidence of true Biblical actions, choices, and works consistent with genuine repentance, and genuine faith and obedience to God’s Eternal Word, and Commandments. And it expressed in a deep divine love relationship with God and a genuine Love for His Commandments (John 14:15), that proves we are true and faithful followers of God and Christ, and the Holy Spirit.] That’s what it means: The Just shall Live by Faith.

 

I would dare to say that the vast majority of people walking on the Earth today, carry around a huge chip on their shoulder bigger than a bowling ball. And on that bowling ball sized chip, it ireads these words: “How dare God judge me! I am acceptable just as I am! I don’t have to change for nobody!”  [Hope you can enjoy the double negative. See grammar note, at the end of this post.]

 

When the gospel is not accurately preached, according to the truth, not going into specific detail about the righteousness of God, sinners can come into the church with this bad attitude, deeply embedded in their hearts, and then they leave the church with the exact same attitude deeply embedded in their hearts.

 

That is a church that has diluted the Power of the Gospel by deleting the Message of the Wrath of God that is coming against all who live ungodly and unrighteous lives. The job of the preacher is to warn false converts, and strike the fear of God into their hearts. Once they have the fear of God, deeply embedded into their souls, the preacher’s job is done. The Holy Spirit now abiding in them is able to guide them freely into the truth of the gospel. But, if there is no true conviction, and realization about the coming condemnation for sin, the preacher has not done his job well.

 

As a result, there is no true transformation of the soul. There is no dramatic conversion from darkness to light. From sinfulness to righteousness. From social mental disease to soulful holiness. There is no transition from the fear of Man, to the fear of God.

 

God says:

Proverbs 1:7 (KJV)

The Fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge:

• but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

 

In other words, without the fear of the Lord, sinners come into the church,  wet and soggy, drenched in moldy, stinky, vile, feces impregnated, bacteria ridden, corrupt spiritual clothing, and they leave the church the same as they came in. 

 

Those who hate God’s reproof, will never understand his righteousness. As a result, they can never become clean from their sin — the way God intended them to be set free. They can never understand how sin separates them from Life, from Heaven, from the Truth, from Love, from genuine Joy, from Holy Living, from every good thing that God created for men to enjoy.

 

The fact is there is no life in God, or with God without reproof.

 

The word of the Lord says this to those who hate his reproof:

Proverbs 1:22-33 (KJV)

How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?

• and the scorners delight in their scorning,
• and fools hate knowledge?

Turn you at my reproof:

• behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you,
• I will make known my words unto you.

Because I have called, and ye refused;

• I have stretched out my hand,
• and no man regarded;

But [instead] ye have set at nought all my counsel,

• and would none of my reproof:

I also will laugh at your calamity;

• I will mock when your fear cometh;

When your fear cometh as desolation,

• and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind;
• when distress and anguish cometh upon you.

Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer;

• they shall seek me early,
• but they shall not find me:

For that they hated knowledge,

• and did not choose The Fear of the LORD:

They would [have] none of my counsel:

• they despised all my reproof.

Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way,

• and be filled with their own devices.

For the turning away of the simple shall slay them,

• and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely,

• and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

 

The true gospel of God centered on the wrath of God has the power to deliver the sinner from his sin.

That means that the sinner is separated from his sin, and in the similitude of clothing: the sinner removes his garbaged, rotten, and diseased clothing, and exchanges them for the royal Christine, clean and holy white linen garments of God.

The modern gospel of political correctness, political politeness, and make everyone feel good about themselves gospel, is actually evil, demonic, and Satan inspired. Because it has no power to separate the sinner from his sin. An actuality it encourages Center to keep on singing against the Lord, and against his chur and against the kingdom of God. The modern gospel of treat me the way I want to be treated, is sending millions to hell in a handbasket.

Isaiah 64:6 (KJV)

But we are all as an unclean thing,

• and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;
• and we all do fade as a leaf;
• and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

 

In other words, the power of God is transferred from the throne of heaven, into the heart of the new believer, and such a believer wants only to be clean and holy before God, and do the works of the kingdom of God, all the days of his life. Seeking to be pleasing to the one home before he despised.