【Bible Study】

【2016-11-16 Version】

Bible Study Text Version

How to Discern the True Gospel: Look at What He Does!

The first chapter of Galatians, if you read it in Paul's tone, is a book of very strong language. He mentions several very crucial concepts. The crux of the argument is: What is the true gospel? This question becomes what we need to ask most today. We need to ask: What kind of gospel have you received? Let me give you an example: a person receives the gospel, but still lives a hard, difficult, and miserable life, struggling for basic needs all day long, with their physical ailments only increasing. Is that the gospel? I think not! But many people preach that kind of gospel, and even say it is bearing the cross. In fact, that is not suffering for the gospel, but suffering for life. It is the same as unbelievers, with no glory to speak of. A person who receives the true gospel will definitely receive grace, joy, peace, honour, and health from God. Therefore, when discerning whether a gospel is pure or impure, we must carefully study Paul's epistles. We cannot take verses out of context. We cannot choose to believe the gospel in a way that suits our taste.

The first chapter of Galatians, if you were to give it a title: This is a gospel of revelation from heaven. If you read this passage, you will find that Paul emphasizes that this revelation comes directly from heaven, from Jesus Christ. This statement actually has a very deep impact on us. How deep is the impact? Without revelation from God, there is no way to establish a church, not even a church of two or three people. There must be revelation from God. How do we discern which revelation is from God and which is not? This involves many, many things to examine, and what is the basis of this examination? We must return to what Jesus taught, and later Paul's other epistles also taught the same.

When we examine things, there is a very, very simple principle, but people often forget this principle. How do you examine whether a person's reception is from God? I tell you: don't look at what he says, look at what he does! He may say, but he does not do, so don't easily believe. Paul not only said, but also could do it for you with the power of the Holy Spirit! Is a gospel that only speaks but does not act useful? No! Is it the gospel to be under the control of the devil, and then turn a blind eye, letting him continue to suffer there, continue to be controlled, and then preach a gospel that you can go to heaven after death? I don't think so. Because the gospel is to set people free, the gospel is for people to overcome the power of death in this world, the gospel is for people to live out the glory of Jesus Christ, the gospel is for people to live out joy, peace, and health!

Therefore, I often give myself a word, and I also encourage everyone to do the same. The word is: What would Jesus do in this situation? When Jesus sees a woman, a man, a child, or an old man, as long as he or she is in a very painful state of being possessed by a demon, when they come to Jesus, Jesus will definitely set him or her free! That is for sure. So what did Jesus say when he preached the gospel? He said: To proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free (Luke 4:18).

You need to know that there are too many problems in this world, and then there is another doctrine. Before, you learned mathematics, physics, chemistry, science, and all kinds of economics. Today, there is another Christianity, and you learn one more. You are already overwhelmed. An accountant, the accounts are already unbalanced, and then you believe in the Lord, but you cannot be freed, but you have to carry the burden of going to church, which is very hard! Today, once our Christian faith deviates, we immediately see the results of the deviation. The result of the deviation is that it can no longer solve people's problems, and it becomes an extra burden for people! The Lord Jesus' promise that those who are weary and burdened, come to me and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28) becomes empty. In fact, if we believe in the Lord according to what Paul taught, we will definitely receive all the good things promised by this gospel!

So the church needs to know that it is to let those who are weary and burdened come to Jesus and find rest, isn't it? You don't need to read the Bible too thoroughly. You read those four Gospels, Matthew, Luke, and what Jesus said is nothing too profound. If you hear a gospel that is very profound and you can't understand it, and you applaud at the bottom, you have been deceived. Don't listen to that kind of gospel. Just look at what that person does, right? So brothers and sisters, don't be deceived. This person has a revelation from heaven, and the revelation from God must solve our problems. Our gospel is a very, very simple gospel. God has already done the complicated things. So I came to a conclusion from this: We do what Jesus does; we do what Paul does. If you don't do what Jesus does and you don't do what Paul does, and then you are preaching the gospel, what gospel are you preaching? So today we really have to learn how to discern which ones are from God. If you yourself are deceived and only preach a doctrine without doing what Jesus Christ did, I tell you, you are very dangerous!

So today I want to re-analyse what the gospel is. We need to look at what the gospel Paul preached from the words Paul used in Galatians. I want to remind everyone not to interpret it according to our own experiences. Our experiences are limited. But if we look at and understand it from what Paul experienced, I believe we will see that these words are faithful and that we can experience them. You believe, you receive. This is faith-based. As Paul said in Romans: For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:17) Start with believing, then experience, and then believe even more. Then life begins to have the power of life! We begin to talk about the essence of the gospel from the following aspects.

The Gospel of Revelation

First: It is a gospel of revelation. This revelation is a revelation from heaven. Because this gospel comes from heaven, this gospel does not come from man, nor is it invented by man himself, but it comes from the God of heaven, who can save us from death. Only the gospel from heaven can help us! This is absolutely different from other religions.

I feel that if a Christian does not have revelation from heaven, and does not have the Holy Spirit's touch, that Christian will be very hard. If there is no Holy Spirit's touch, no fellowship, and no reception when reading the Bible, it will feel very strange. Brothers and sisters, we need to know that so many people come here together for Bible study every Wednesday night, not for anything else, but to receive the words from God. Not dead words, but fresh touches that God gives us when we study the Bible. I myself am also very surprised that the number of people is increasing. At this time last year, there were only a dozen people, but today they are all here. Why? Do you know? It is because after everyone listens here, the words in the Bible begin to come alive. That is the revelation of God. Reading it has the light of God's word.

Once these words enter you, you will find that these words can provide us with spiritual food. It's like we have eaten a wonderful spiritual meal. If we do not have the Holy Spirit's touch, we will not receive anything. When we eat spiritual food, our faith will be lifted, and in us it can become our strength, which can solve my inner problems, and then solve our external problems! This is pastoring. The greatest effect of pastoring is to build up the faith of those who are pastored. When people's faith is built up, God works through people's faith to manifest God's power, and their difficulties will definitely be trampled under their feet. This is the gospel.

The Gospel of Faith, Not the Gospel of Works

Paul in Galatians strongly argues for us on one thing: whether it is by works or by faith. Thank the Lord that there is a book called Galatians included in the Bible. I believe that is also a miracle of God's work. Today we must return to faith. When we return to faith, God will definitely be able to begin to shape our behaviour. You cannot take your behaviour and come before God and say, I deserve something. You deserve nothing. This is the gospel that David preached three thousand years ago: But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. (1 Chronicles 29:14) This is a declaration of faith. We are not worthy, but God is willing to love us and even gave us his only begotten Son, so that we will not perish, but have eternal life. What good news this is!

I want to tell you that from all generations, from the days of Genesis to today, it has almost always been a day of spiritual warfare. What is the battle for? It is the plan of salvation. Before Jesus Christ came, in the days of the Old Testament, the devil was fighting against God to stop the redemption of Jesus Christ. He tried every means to stop the redemption. The method was to prevent Jesus Christ from having the opportunity to be born into the world. If you grasp this line and read the Old Testament again, you will understand it as soon as you read it. It is easy to understand because the devil is destroying this plan of redemption of God.

Why was there Noah's Ark and the destruction of the flood? Because the devil wanted to defile all of man. If it was not destroyed, the entire human race would not be able to find a woman who could conceive by the Holy Spirit. Then it would have been impossible for Jesus Christ to be born. After Jesus Christ was born, crucified, and resurrected from the dead, the devil was completely defeated, and this redemption was successful.

But the devil did not stop destroying the salvation. It just changed its tricks, which is to change the essence of this gospel, so the devil has been constantly changing the gospel, and some people actually accept it, which also surprises me. In Paul's day, he said: I am really surprised that you have deviated from the gospel so quickly, and so quickly listened to another gospel, and then followed another gospel? People are really strange. They do not believe in the pure gospel, and the black and white words in the Bible are written so clearly, but they just cannot see it. Even among us, if you go astray, I will not be surprised, because in this world, the devil uses people's desires to seduce people to go on the path of the wrong gospel. Even today, I am speaking so earnestly, how much can you hear?

The faith of Jesus Christ is a faith based on faith, not a faith based on works. The faith-based belief is the root cause of solving our problems, because if we rely on our own behaviour, and after adjusting it well, we will receive grace, then we will receive nothing after we die, but if we have faith, our behaviour has not been adjusted, but we can come to God's presence with boldness, and we can receive His grace. Next, God uses our faith to renew us, and our behaviour will definitely change. That is the new person created by God! This faith is to believe that God will do a holy work in us. This faith is to believe that God will do a good work in us. We believe, and we will give ourselves to Him!

Gospel of Grace and Peace

The first is the Gospel of Revelation, and the second is the Gospel of Faith. The third is the Gospel of Grace and Peace. Therefore, Paul often says, Grace and peace be unto you from our Lord Jesus! I tell you, when you come among us, do not think that you have to be here for a long time to receive grace. No! You will receive grace very quickly. Even before their behavior changes, they begin to see grace. Why? Because of people's faith! Those who believe receive. I have found that building a person's faith is very simple. I tell you, if you believe, you will receive. After receiving, you will find that God is real, and your inner self begins to change. The faith within begins to change, and God's power will be manifested through your faith.

Faith is the foundation, and grace and peace come to you with faith, not because of what you have done, but because you begin to believe. From Genesis to today, God has been speaking about the Gospel of Faith. It is not because Jacob was a saint that he received God's grace, but because Jacob had that faith. He received God's grace even when he was in a bad state. So we must begin to learn this concept: faith can change people. Zacchaeus sat in a tree to see Jesus, and Jesus said that day, I must stay at your house (Luke 19). It was not because Zacchaeus' behavior had changed, but because he began to have faith in his heart: Jesus Christ is God, my Savior, and I must see Him. He began to believe. So when you begin to believe, you will surely experience grace and peace, whether in finding a job or in life, you will experience God. Therefore, for a believer, life and work are not problems at all. Those who receive the grace of the Lord Jesus, these are not problems!

Gospel of the Power of the Holy Spirit

Fourth: This Gospel is the Gospel of the Power of the Holy Spirit. When the devil deceives people, it likes to confuse several concepts, the first being salvation, the second being the gospel, the third being faith, and then the Holy Spirit and freedom. Through the operation of the dark forces of the devil, people receive wrong information and lose grace and peace. So today we must know that the devil's work is to corrupt people by confusing these concepts. Confusing people's concepts of the Holy Spirit is the most common trick used by the devil to corrupt people.

I also thank God that those who came among us for the first time, although they did not quite understand what the Holy Spirit was, I still boldly said, Come, let me lead you to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I myself was very surprised that no one thought it was a problem. In fact, I used to have many concerns, and I have worked hard to overcome them. I often asked them, Are you afraid when you see us praying in tongues like this? They said they were not afraid and were quite used to it. I said, God, you are really God! You are so divine! They are not afraid to pray like this, and they even think it's good to pray in a circle with everyone praying loudly! They left happily and came back to church next time. I am really amazed at how great God's power is! This is obvious to everyone!

The devil's work is to take the power of the Holy Spirit away from your life. Even if the gospel you believe in is pure, without the power of the Holy Spirit, that gospel is no longer the gospel. The gospel is complete and cannot be divided. It is not enough to believe in Jesus to be a Christian. Believing in Jesus means believing in what Jesus said. This concept must be established!

Why is Paul's gospel called the Gospel of the Power of the Holy Spirit? We can refer to Galatians 3:2-5: I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing? If it really was for nothing. Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard? It is clearly stated. Paul regards the power of the Holy Spirit as the key to the gospel, and this power of the Holy Spirit is obtained through justification by faith.

Later, I saw an example in the Book of Acts. The gospel preached by Peter and Paul amazed me. These few words changed my approach. How did I lead people before? I always hoped to explain the filling of the Holy Spirit clearly before praying for them to receive the Holy Spirit. In the end, I found that it was the same as not explaining it. After explaining it for a long time, my mouth was dry and my tongue was parched, and I consulted 1 Corinthians 14, Romans, etc., and after all the tossing and turning, the two people stared at me with wide eyes, and they may or may not have understood.

In fact, is receiving the power of the Holy Spirit through being filled with the Holy Spirit reliant on explaining it clearly? No! Later, I read Acts 8 and 19 and found that the apostles Peter and Paul did not do this. Paul and Peter were never like this. They came up and asked: Do you believe in Jesus? If they believed, they would ask, Have you been baptized? If they had been baptized, they would ask, Have you received the Holy Spirit? If that person said, I have never heard of the Holy Spirit being given, Peter and Paul did not say: Come, I will give you a two-hour lesson and talk about what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. No. What did they do? They said, Come, I will lay my hands on you so you can receive the Holy Spirit. It changed immediately. The Bible is so amazing! We do what the Bible says.

So if you want to believe in the Christian faith in its pure form, it is very simple. Just do it! After doing it, you will understand! Don't be like me, because I took many detours because no one led me. I thought I had to explain it clearly to people. Our rationality is actually very limited. Don't doubt God's power. Just lead them to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and they will be filled with the Holy Spirit. They will change, they will experience it, and then they will come again the second time. Aren't all the newcomers among us like this? There are no confusions, right? Thank the Lord. The devil's biggest trick is to make people understand before accepting, not to walk the path of faith. In fact, corrupting people's faith and adding human behavior into the foundation is not the biggest trick. The biggest trick is to remove the power of the Holy Spirit. Today I can boldly say a word: I don't know if it is still the gospel if the power of the Holy Spirit is lost. When the gospel loses the power of the Holy Spirit to the point where it cannot solve people's problems and cannot free people from the dominion of the devil, is it still the gospel? No!

Revelation Needs Mental Understanding

Although I said that being filled with the Holy Spirit does not require understanding before being baptized in the Holy Spirit, the revelations from God are all understandable words. That revelation is definitely not something that people cannot understand. I think there are still many concepts that need to be adjusted. Now I want to mention one thing: Having this revelation, do we still need our minds to understand? Is it needed or not? Yes! The Colossians that we studied explain it very clearly. Go and see it. Don't think I'm talking nonsense. Colossians 2:2: My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ. When the Spirit of God moves, and revelation comes to us, what does our mind receive? It receives revelation, right? Is revelation understanding? Is it that we receive a word that can be spoken? Yes!

After a period of praying in tongues, there is a feeling inside that this sister or brother has some kind of bondage, and then you have to lead him/her to pray with understanding to break that bondage. That is receiving, it is understanding. These revelations are definite, and we can understand them. The Christian faith does not completely deny understanding. If it were all like jumping around like a shaman, that would be troublesome. The Christian faith systematically discusses what kind of gospel people receive in understanding. It is definitely not a muddled way of telling you to just do it this way. No! Although being filled with the Holy Spirit results in speaking in tongues, Paul's teaching is that you must pray with your mind and also pray in tongues (1 Corinthians 14:15). So today our gospel must return to the Bible.

To Persist in the Purity of the Gospel, One Must Not Please People, But Only Please God!

In the first chapter, Paul mentions a very important topic: Do I seek to please people or God?

This is a very important principle! When you persist in the purity of the gospel, you will face a problem, the problem that Paul faced. When you persist, you must choose whether to please people or to please God! In fact, the biggest obstacle to building a church is pleasing people. Thank God that God has given my wife and me such a determination: We will no longer please people. You cannot build a church by pleasing people. Only by pleasing God and receiving revelation from God do you not need to curry favor with certain people. So in the church, some brothers and sisters, listen carefully, if a very rich person comes into our church in the future, do you think I will curry favor with him? I will not curry favor with him at all. I know that he needs me to free him from the dominion of the devil. I know that I need to impart God's grace and peace to him. I know that he needs the church, not that the church needs him. Don't get this wrong.

Don't bring a very rich person and say, Pastor, this person is very rich. Can we give him some special treatment? No! What do I want to please people for! If I were trying to please people, I would not come to build a church. So brothers and sisters, we have a big obstacle, which is pleasing people. The problem of pleasing people is not only reflected in the pastor, but also in the brothers and sisters. If you want to please people when you preach the gospel, you will not be able to preach the gospel. There is no need to please. Paul is like this!

In this world, whether in the company, in the family, or in life, there is no need to please anyone! It is useless to please people. Someone says, Can you lend me some money? You can't get over your pride, so you lend it to him. After lending it to him, you turn against him when he doesn't pay you back, and you put yourself in temptation. If you don't need to please people, you don't need to ask people for anything in this life. How good is that! We have Jesus Christ, I have the power of the Holy Spirit in my hand, I have God's omnipotence in my hand, I am a child of God, I don't need to please people. So brothers and sisters, this gospel is really the gospel. If you deviate from such a gospel to pursue some other things, I tell you, you will suffer a heavy loss!

Questions for reflection:

• What are the conditions for us to receive the grace of Jesus Christ? Must our behavior become better? Or must we have faith?

• When you preach the gospel, do you feel afraid in your heart? Are you worried that the other person will not like what you say?