Through my thirty plus years of ministry I have seen a real disconnect in many believers’ lives between what they say they believe and how they actually live. I have seen what I call a GOSPEL GAP in their lives. We know that Jesus teaches us that he came to give us abundant life and that he came to give us HIS JOY. Yet, I have heard words of disenchantment with the Christian life because of this gap in their lives. “Where is this joy that Jesus said he came to give us? I don’t see anything like an abundant life anywhere around me. Have I been sold a bill of goods?”
Rather than doubting the power and sufficiency of the gospel, professing believers need to explore aspects of gospel living that they are misunderstanding, and promises that they are not applying. Could it be that though believers espouse that they are SAVED by grace, they are depending on their own efforts to grow in grace. Do we really believe that we grow by the same faith that first brought us to Christ in the first place? Could it be that we often fail to tap into the power sources that God gave us to enable us to live abundantly and in joy?
I am writing this blog on my I-Pad. What a marvelous machine. It has wonderful graphics and word processing software and many other great bells and whistles. This “Magic Keyboard” truly makes typing an easier and efficient task. However, without the IOS operating system, I could not do anything. I could not do any of the tasks that the computer promises to perform without the operating system. Is it the same way for the Christian life?
I will be contributing a series of blogs on the theme of the “Gospel Operating System.” We will be seeing how the gospel not only leads us to Christ, but it also leads us to the means of growing in Christ. These means are powerful, energizing, and catalytic to the Christian life. So, in this first blog I will try to make a few foundational points that will be expounded upon in the coming weeks.
First of all we need to reckon with the reality that Jesus did not come simply to make
something possible. Jesus did not come simply to make salvation available. He did not
come to make salvation possible. He came to accomplish salvation. He came to set
captives free. He came to give sight to the blind. He came to set free the downtrodden.
He accomplished it. It is done. It is sealed. It is fulfilled. It is finished.
It is no small Savior that we worship. It is no small gospel that we offer. It is no tiny cross
that we proclaim. Jesus has set the captives free through His perfect life, death, and
resurrection. For all who come to Him there is rest, peace, forgiveness, and eternal life. It is certain, it is sure, for He has saved His people. Not one of all those whom the Father
gave to the Son shall be lost.
This reality was certainly not lost on the “Prince of preachers,” C. Haddon Spurgeon.
Listen to His words:
Ah! what a mercy it is that it is not your hold of Christ that saves you, but his hold of you! What a sweet fact that it is not how you grasp his hand, but his grasp of yours, that saves you.
In Romans 5: 10-11, the Apostle Paul goes so far to say that we are saved by the life of
Jesus:
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Many years ago I preached on this passage. Every time I do so I feel that I have very
insufficiently communicated the radical and glorious truth contained in these verses.
When I had made my way to the vestibule of the church building I heard a dear lady say
over and over again, “I am saved by Jesus’ life…I am saved by Jesus’ life.” She just kept repeating this over and over again, like a mantra. She had gotten it and could not get over it. Thank you Holy Spirit for working in spite of myself.
In Romans 5 Paul contrasts the work and results of two men, Adam, the first Adam, and
Jesus, the last Adam. The first Adam disobeyed God and brought upon us judgment,
condemnation, and death. His actions are greatly affecting us even now. Through Him we are even conceived in sin.
However, there is another Adam, the Lord Jesus, who perfectly obeyed the Father. He did so not only for Himself, but for a new humanity, His sheep, given to Him before the foundation of the world. So, His actions resulted in justification, abundance of grace, and righteousness for many.
Paul goes on to say in this chapter that not only are we saved by Jesus’ life, but we are
made righteous through His obedience. So, rather than assessing ourselves as to how
well we are behaving and living as if our righteousness were rooted in our actions and
works, we should ask ourselves, “Where is my righteousness?” Well, according to Paul,
my righteousness is seated at the right hand of God. This is the basis of my being right
with God, RIGHT NOW! This is why I can obey God with joy and confidence.
Far too many professing believers lack joy and confident hope in their professed faith
because they treat their faith as if it were “helicopter theology,” as something hovering over their heads but unreachable and beyond every day experience. It is as if the gospel were a mere story rather than the message of a victory that has taken place and is sealed and finished. So, they live as if their sanctification, or growth in Christ-likeness, were truly based upon their personal obedience and self-righteousness.
Remember the teaching of Romans 5. We shall be saved by the life of Jesus. Salvation,
biblically speaking, encompasses more than just coming to Christ. It encompasses
everything from regeneration (being born again) to glorification in heaven. So, all that we call sanctification is included in the salvation won for us and applied to our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
Why are so many professing believers living without this joy and confidence? It is a failure to believe in what Jesus actually accomplished. Too many professing believers are living with a truncated, Frankenstinian gospel. The gospel is truncated when we apply faith only to the process of coming to Christ. While many speak of being saved by grace, they live like they are changed through their works. Also, like Dr. Frankenstein’s monster, too much of the modern gospel borrows from many other false theologies, philosophies, and even psychologies. What one has when he does this is a powerless monster that cannot save or empower.
I don’t know about you but even after being a believer for 56 years I realize even more that what I need is POWER. As the Apostle Paul teaches us, the Kingdom of God is not about words, it is about power. So, as a result of these next several weeks, I pray that we will learn to turn away from worthless means of growth and depend and rely on the power that God uses to transform us. It is my prayer that you will truly be able to say with integrity that you will pursue living “for the joy set before me.”