The Gospel of Jesus Christ, The New Covenant and The Foundational Principles

 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ, The New Covenant and The Foundational Principles.

 

 

As Christians we know how important it is in laying a firm foundation. The word “foundation” is borrowed from the language of building and architecture. It refers to the very first thing done in the building process which is preparing a solid and stable support for a superstructure.

 

Likewise the foundation that must be laid in us as Christians is the Doctrine or Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Fundamental Doctrines (teachings ie. Christian conduct) which is the basis upon which all later development depends.

 

In this lesson we will answer the following questions: What is the Gospel of Jesus Christ? What are the principles of the Gospel? What is the testimony of Christ? What is the record of Christ? What is the New Covenant? What is the Spirit of Christ?

 

These questions may sound elementary but you will be surprised at how many Christians don’t know the answer to these questions.

 

The Gospel or Doctrine of Jesus Christ

 

Simply It is the good news that Christ died for our sins and because He died, He redeemed (purchased) us by His blood to reconcile us to God (Rom. 5:10). It is by this redemptive and propitiatory work of Christ that we are Justified and declared righteous (both are judicial acts of God whereby He justly declares and treats as righteous the one who believes in Jesus Christ laying nothing to our charge [Rom. 3:22-26]) ; that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day. The fact that He was buried and was resurrected means that it was done for our justification. In other words His resurrection is the proof that our sins are gone (Rom. 4:25). Therefore as believers we are saved by grace through faith by believing in Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:5, 8). Please search the Scriptures and continue your study on the Gospel of Jesus Christ which gathers into itself all the redemptive acts and processes such as Justification, redemption, grace, propitiation, imputation, forgiveness (remission of sin), sanctification and glorification.

 

 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God that grants salvation to everyone that will believes it (Romans 1:16). 

 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is comprised of principles and Hebrews chapter 6 tells us they are:

 

The First Principle

 

Repentance from dead works – repentance is to change one’s mind or purpose; to turn from one’s own way to God’s way and what leads us to repentance is:

 

1. Conviction – Acts 2:37 says, “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?”. Those who heard Peter preach the gospel were pierced in their hearts. They had a conviction from God that they were wrong. They recognized it and were compelled to ask what they must do to rectify the situation.

 

2. The Goodness of God – Romans 2:4 says, “Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?”

 

The Apostle Paul teaches us that knowing the goodness of God, His forbearance and longsuffering for us is what leads a man to repent. This is diametrically opposed and contrary to what we hear some folks preach today. They preach hell, fire, and brimstone to get people to respond. They leave out the gospel and expect people to be moved by fear rather than a Godly conviction of sin and the result of sin which is separation from God.

 

The Scripture says explicitly that knowing the goodness of God leads us to repent. Nowhere do we ever read of the apostles preaching “the gospel of hell, fire and brimstone” to lead people to Christ and to obtain salvation.

 

3. Godly Sorrow – II Corinthians 7:9-10 says, “Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”

 

We all know what the sorrow of the world is. For a short while one will repent (change their ways), but like the dog that returns to it’s vomit, so will they repent yet again. This type of lifestyle leads to death.

 

Repentance is the changing of the mind to turn from one’s own way to God or to turn from the ways of the world (which represent sin and is contrary to God) toward God. Therefore conviction, the goodness of God, and godly sorrow leads to repentance when one hears the gospel and testimony of Jesus Christ.

 

The second principle

 

Faith toward God.  Faith toward God is a fully persuaded belief that is followed by actions (obedience) coinciding with that belief. We express our faith toward God by our obedience to Him.

 

Biblical faith provokes a person to act upon that belief in some fashion and allows it to dictate their actions. Faith toward God comprises of a firm conviction or a fully persuaded belief and trust in God.

 

• It is a personal surrender to Him

 

• It is showing conduct inspired by such surrender or the fruit of our repentance (Obedience)

 

• It is an abandonment of self into the care of Christ.

 

These are all acts and James 2:20 teaches us that faith requires action or it is dead.

 

The Third principle

 

The third principle is the doctrine of baptisms. The word baptize means to dip and it consists of the process of immersion. Water baptism is a type of death and burial with Jesus Christ. Water baptism is the act of faith through obedience that applies the blood of Christ to our lives, washing away our sins and purging our conscience from the guilt and shame of our own sin and failures and more specifically from dead works to serve the living God. It represents us dyeing to our sin and being raised right now, with Him through the faith of the operation of God (Romans chapter 6).

 

The baptism of the Holy Ghost

 

We are not only to be baptized in water but with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is the promise of the Father, ” For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. “ (Acts 1:4

 

 

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”   (Acts 1:5,8)

 

So the promise of the Father is the baptism in the Holy Ghost. When they received the indwelling of the Holy Ghost they received power and became witnesses to all nations starting from Jerusalem throughout the world and in Acts chapter 2, we see this being manifested. The disciples along with other believers all making up the 120 who were waiting in the upper room and received the promise of the Father and began to speak in tongues and they looked like drunken people.

 

Peter was the first to preach the gospel in the anointing of the Spirit and during his preaching, he testified of the man named Jesus that God raised from the dead who has been exalted at the “right hand of God”. And Peter explained that what everyone now sees and hears (the speaking in tongues and seeming in some manner to be drunk) was the promise of the Father spoken to them that they would receive.

 

The Holy Ghost is the Spirit that rose Jesus from the dead. This was the Spirit that now indwelled the 120 and quickened (made alive) their mortal bodies to live for God (Romans 8:11). They could now walk in the Spirit because the Spirit of God dwelled in them. Paul said if you do not have the Spirit of Christ (which is the Spirit of God) you are not His (Romans 8:9).

 

Peter also spoke to them saying that this promise was also for them, but that they needed to obey the gospel he just preached. The listeners asked Peter and the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” for having crucified the Lord of Glory Himself. Peter answered,  “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. “ (Acts 2:38)

 

The promise was not only for the disciples (turned apostles of Jesus Christ). The promise was for all men who would obey the gospel. Peter told them to repent (turn from their sin and turn toward God), get baptized in the name of Jesus so their sins would be forgiven, and receive the same promise of the Holy Spirit that they had. So The Holy Spirit is God and is sent by the Him as a gift to seal the faith of those who would repent, believe the gospel and obey it.

 

Baptisms are not optional, but they are a commandment. The baptism of the Spirit is accompanied by the witness of tongues. Receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost is not something that we just simply believe in our hearts and it is done right there as some teach. When one received the Holy Ghost something happened and people saw and heard it and the testimony of these occurrences is in the book of Acts and it cannot be disputed and the very same promise is for us today. 

 

What is the record of Christ?

 

It is 1 John 5:11: “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”

 

What is The New Covenant?

 

It is the Oath that God swore by Himself and sealed in the blood of Jesus Christ. The New Covenant rests upon the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and secures the eternal blessedness of all who believe (Matt. 26:28). Hebrews 9:7-13 tells us what the New Covenant is; it is the sovereign act of God to:

 

• put His laws into our minds
• write His laws in our hearts
• be to us a God and we shall be to Him a people
• know Him
• be merciful to our unrighteousness and our sins and iniquities He will remember no more

 

 

The Fourth Principle

 

Laying on of hands. Laying on of hands, from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant, has always been used as a means of imparting something. In short it could be something negative or positive. We see it being negative in Nehemiah 13:21, “Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall?  if ye do so again, I will lay hands on you.  From that time forth came they no more on the Sabbath.” Nehemiah used the term “I will lay hands on you” as a threat. We see the same term used in Matthew 21:45-46, “And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet. “

 

Positively speaking we see in the New Testament that the laying on of hands was used to heal (Mark 16:15-18) and to impart the Holy Ghost (Acts 8:14-19).

 

The Fifth Principle

 

The Resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.

 

Today, some believe in reincarnation and others believe that there is no life after death. But for those in the kingdom, it says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3)

 

There is a hope that we have because we know that our Savior rose from the dead. If our Savior had not risen from the dead then everything we are doing right now is in vain. There is no reason to believe in God. There is no reason to believe in life after death and there is really no purpose in living. If He had not risen from the dead, if He had remained dead and in the grave, then there is really nothing for us to look forward to. As Paul said (paraphrased), “We might as well just live out our lives, drink, be merry, get fat, get old, and die” – so in the Scriptures, what we are taught in 1 Cor. Ch.15 we know that we are resurrected from being dead to sin to being alive in Christ and we know that when we die naturally we will be resurrected with Him unto eternal life.

No Comments Yet

No comments yet.

Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI