What is the Gospel? (per Hebrews 4)

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Sean
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What is the Gospel? (per Hebrews 4)

Post by Sean » Thu Jul 10, 2014 11:09 pm

Had a chat with someone who insisted we are under the Law of Moses as Christians and try to use Hebrews 3-4 as proof. He also sent me a PDF claiming the same. (I'll try to post it here)

The main argument is that Hebrews 4:2 says that the Gospel was preached to us as well as them, meaning the Law of Moses is the Gospel.

Would love to hear comments on this as it's some far out stuff!

Here is their propaganda:
Do You Know What the Gospel Is?
The “gospel” is referred to in many places in the New Testament but the bible never really tells you exactly what the gospel is until we get to the book of Hebrews.
The bible says this in Matthew 23 “23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.
Then we see in Matthew 9 “35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
Jesus healed every sickness and every disease that the people had!
And here in Matthew 11 “5 The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
And what is this Jesus says in Mark 1? “14 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”
And here in Mark 8 “35 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.” Jesus differentiates himself from the gospel, we see!!!
And we see the promise of great things to those who believe the gospel in Luke 4 “18 “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
And then in Luke 9 we see absolutely amazing things! “9 Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave
them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. 2 He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 3 And He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey, neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money; and do not have two tunics apiece.
4 “Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. 5 And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them.”
6 So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.”
So, he gave the disciples, his 12 disciples power and authority and they went to many towns, preached the gospel and healing everywhere!
We all know the story that Jesus was crucified, buried, rose again from the dead on the third day, then taught the disciples for 40 more days then went to heaven where He is right now at the Right Hand of God the Father.
Then, Jesus sends the Holy Spirit in great fire and power on the day of Pentecost and incredible things happen like in Acts 5 “12 And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. 13 Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. 14 And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 15 so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. 16 Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.
That was Peter but here is Phillip! Acts 8 “6 And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. 8 And there was great joy in that city.”
GREAT JOY!!! So... What are you thinking?
What is this gospel? Let’s go to Hebrews 3
The Son Was Faithful
3 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, 2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. 3 For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. 5 And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, 6 but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.
Be Faithful
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness,
9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,
And saw My works forty years.
10 Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’
11 So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’”
12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, 15 while it is said:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Hebrews 4
New King James Version (NKJV)
4 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them
STOP THE PRESSES!!!!!!
Hold everything right there!
Hebrews is telling us the gospel preached in the new testament IS THE SAME GOSPEL PREACHED IN THE WILDERNESS BY MOSES!
So, what is this gospel that Moses preached in the wilderness?
It is found in the books Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
Therefore, the gospel of the kingdom of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel preached in the new testament IS the commandments of God the Father as stated in the new testament.
Start in Exodus 1, it tells the story of Moses, then how he met God the Father, Yehovah, and then went to Egypt to free Yehovah’s children named Israel from bondage under Pharoah, then Moses leads the children of Israel out of Egypt to the Red Sea, waves his staff and 8 miles of the Red Sea part and the children walk over on dry land, and the Egyptians follow after them to kill them and God the Father YeHoVaH closes the water back on them and all the Egyptians are killed. After that, through those 4 books, the commandments are given by YeHoVaH and the story is told about obeying the commandments of God the Father, those who obey receive many blessings in life and prosper greatly!
You have heard of the Ten Commandments but there are many more commandments that give us life. One of the most important commandments is in Exodus 20 “8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
Read them all. Read those 4 books. They are the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And, in case you are wondering about Jesus Christ since some have told you He is the gospel, go to Deuteronomy 18 and here is the prophecy of one to come (Jesus Christ) who the children of Israel would have to hear, follow and obey “15 YeHoVaH thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; and “18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. 19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my WORDS which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.
Now go to John 1. “14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
That’s it. Jesus Christ IS the Word of God who became flesh, a man, and lived with them and died for them that they might know the truth. John 8 “32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Jesus Christ IS the commandments of YeHoVaH, the Father!!
To obtain eternal life, it is necessary to become born again, keep the commandments of God the Father, and follow and obey Jesus Christ.
Look what it says in Revelation 12!
17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
And then in Revelation 14 “12 Here is the patience of the saints, here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
And then Jesus Christ’s last words Revelation 22:
“14 Blessed are those who DO His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. “
As we all can plainly see, keeping the Father’s (YeHoVaH’s) commandments IS essential to receiving eternal life. The word “believe” in the bible is not the same as believing as we are taught in school to believe 2+2=4. In order to “believe” in the bible the term is “shema” and means to “hear AND obey”.
He will not fail nor be discouraged till He has established justice in the earth. (Isaiah 42:4)

dizerner

Re: What is the Gospel? (per Hebrews 4)

Post by dizerner » Fri Jul 11, 2014 2:14 am

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Paidion
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Re: What is the Gospel? (per Hebrews 4)

Post by Paidion » Fri Jul 11, 2014 12:41 pm

Jesus revealed the law of God in his teachings in Matt 5, 6, and 7. We must differentiate between "the law of Moses" and "the law of God". As I see it, not all that was given by Moses was the law of God. For example, I doubt that God instructed the Israelites to have rebellious sons stoned or to cut off the hands of women or to kill people. In the "Sermon on the Mount" Jesus gives the law of God in its pure form. This is known as "the law of Christ".
To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. (1Cor 9:21 ESV)

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Gal 6:2 ESV)
It is of utmost importance to submit to the pure law of God, by fullfilling the law of Christ. As Jesus said:
And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” (Matt 7:23-27 ESV)
It is a grave error of our day to presume that one can be "covered by Christ's blood alone" and that righteousness is good, but unnecessary. To those who think that way, consider the following words of Paul. Is it possible to accept Paul's teaching below while still maintaing that good works are unncessary?

For He will render to everyone according to his works.

To those who by perseverance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, He will give eternal life, but for those who are self-seeking and are not persuaded by the truth, but are persuaded by unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.

Affliction and anguish for every person who does evil, but glory and honour and well-being for
every one who does good... for God shows no partiality. (Romans 2:6-10)
It is not "Jesus plus works", rather it is "works because of Jesus, whose sacrifice makes available the enabling grace of God in order to carry them out":
For the grace of God has appeared for the salvation of all people, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and to live sensible, righteous, and devout lives in the present age, expecting the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of the great God and of our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good works. Declare these things; encourage and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you. (Titus 2:11-15)
This passage tells us that the very reason for Jesus' sacrifice on the cross was to “redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good works.” Other passages which give us the same reason for Christ's death are as follows:
I Peter 2:24 He himself endured our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

II Corinthians 5:15 And he died for all, that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

Romans 14:9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

Heb 9:26 ...he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Paidion

Man judges a person by his past deeds, and administers penalties for his wrongdoing. God judges a person by his present character, and disciplines him that he may become righteous.

Avatar shows me at 75 years old. I am now 83.

dizerner

Re: What is the Gospel? (per Hebrews 4)

Post by dizerner » Fri Jul 11, 2014 2:01 pm

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Paidion
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Re: What is the Gospel? (per Hebrews 4)

Post by Paidion » Fri Jul 11, 2014 6:16 pm

if Christ's sacrifice was everything, nothing can add to it nor take away.


Have you carefully read what I wrote, and the scriptures I quoted? Have I remotely suggested that anything can be added or taken away from Christ's sacrifice?
But faith in that resurrection will produce fruit and holiness in us, but this holiness comes only by faith.
It is not faith in the ressurection but faith or trust in Him that is our part. No amount of faith on our part will "produce fruit and holiness in us". God will not sovereignly produce righteousness, nor can we through self-effort produce righteousness. But "working together with Him", righteousness CAN result. Only by coöperating with God's enabling grace can it be achieved. Otherwise we are "receiving the grace of God in vain."

Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. (2Cor 6:1 ESV)
The reality of our faith cannot be contingent on what we see with the eye. We are to judge a tree by its fruit, but we are not to judge our faith by what we see.
The fruit of the tree IS what we see. "By their fruits you shall know them"(Matt 7:16,20). What a person does is the ONLY basis upon which we can assess them. We cannot see their faith.
We look first in faith to the cross that burns up all our own righteousness, then as we keep looking in faith Christ reproduces his life in us—but only by faith, or it isn't by faith anymore. Remember, if our righteousness is not a complete miracle that we could not even hope of ever achieving, how is it a gift of God, how is it reaching to his infinite standard? We cannot attain that level of purity (Job 15:15). The more seriously we try to be righteous in sincerity, the more we honestly feel and see inside just how much we fall short of it. Can we look inside and see a person's faith in God? It would be a more accurate indicator of their righteousness than works we see with the eye.
But we cannot look inside a person and see their faith. The works they do is the ONLY indicator we have or their righteousness. The apostle John had it right:

No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:6-10 ESV)
Paidion

Man judges a person by his past deeds, and administers penalties for his wrongdoing. God judges a person by his present character, and disciplines him that he may become righteous.

Avatar shows me at 75 years old. I am now 83.

dizerner

Re: What is the Gospel? (per Hebrews 4)

Post by dizerner » Fri Jul 11, 2014 11:23 pm

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Re: What is the Gospel? (per Hebrews 4)

Post by Paidion » Sat Jul 12, 2014 10:25 am

dizerner, you wrote:I actually am a synergist too! However the only thing we can "contribute" is our failure plus our faith.
How about our coöperation with God's enabling grace? God can enable us to work righteousness, but unless we agree, it won't happen.

This is all excellent of course. But Romans 7 gives us another paradigm, where we are slaves to righteousness or slaves to sin.
Not quite. Paul, in Romans 7, using the hypothetical "I", describes how a person cannot by sheer effort, consistently accomplish that which is in his heart to do. The chapter ends with:

So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. (Rom 7:25 NKJV)

Though the chapter ends there (chapters were arbitrarily formed), Paul's dissertation does NOT end there. Without the enabling grace of God, the law of sin and death takes over so that we often cannot carry out our intentions. But praise God!

...the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. (Rom 8:2 NKJV)
Paidion

Man judges a person by his past deeds, and administers penalties for his wrongdoing. God judges a person by his present character, and disciplines him that he may become righteous.

Avatar shows me at 75 years old. I am now 83.

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