How the Spirit helped me to find the gospel Paul preached? (1)
A. God must help me find the gospel Paul preached! Gal.1:8-12
1. Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the
one we preached to you, let him be condemned! As we have already said,
so now I say again: If anybody is preaching you a gospel other than
what you accepted, let him be condemned! 1:8-9
***I believe, God will not call me to preach a gospel that is different from
the one gospel which he gave Paul to preach!
2. Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying
to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a
servant of Christ. 1:10
***This one fit my life long character! I don’t know how to win the approval
of men. In order to save myself and those listen to me I have to try my
best to win the approval of God. I always believe, as long as I preach to
please God, I will win the approval of those who love God!
3. I want you to know, brothers, the gospel I preached is not something
man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it;
rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. (1:11-12)
a. It was dangerous at first! I was taught in the most prestigious seminary
among the Chinese people at the time! I learned what my teachers taught
me and follow their example to begin my journey in preaching!
b. By God’s grace, I was challenged by preachers from churches of Christ! They kept going to Mk.16:16--> He that believed and is baptized shall be saved!
And Acts 2:38--> Peter told the 3000 believers to repent and be baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins…
They kept telling me these scriptures said salvation is after baptism!
c. While I was taught to preach Romans 10:9!
Romans 10:9--> Confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord and believe in your
heart that God raised Jesus from the dead you are saved!
This verse said, salvation is before and without baptism! Paul said it!
d. The different is clear! The gospel I was preaching was salvation before
and without water baptism!
e. So I kept going back to school to ask my teachers to help me explain it!
Their final word to me is this: This is our conviction!
But I am not convinced! It was very agonizing and much frustrating!
B. By the mercy of God!
I found Romans 1:7, 10:4, Acts 15:1-2 and Mark 16:15! (This was hard!)
Ro.1:7--> To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:…
This verse says, Romans 10:9 was written to the saved saints in the church!
Ro.10:4-->Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness
for everyone who believes. (Saved in Christ or saved by obeying the law!)
This says Romans 10:9 is about Christ is the end of the law!
We are saved in Christ, salvation by obeying the law has ended!
Ac. 15:1-2-->Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the
brothers: "Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by
Moses, you cannot be saved." This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp
dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along
with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and
elders about this question.
These verses make it clear, the whole book of Romans was written to help
the saved saints in the church not to be confused by these heretics!
Mk.16:15-->He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to
all creation. This verse says, Mark 16:16 is for the unsaved in the world!
C. Thank God, I found the one gospel Paul preached 2000 years ago!
He that believed and is baptized shall be saved! Mk.16:16