Dear Believer, Don’t Ever Graduate from the Gospel!

I admit that I am one of those people who have – for a long time – believed that the Gospel message is only for lost people, and that they must only hear it 2 times in their lifetime; 5 minutes before they repent and 2 minutes before they pass away. In the meantime, believers really don’t need to hear the “elementary” preaching of the Gospel; they are too mature for that. Well, it’s sad that many are caught up in that skewed idea. I would like to present to you today that the Gospel message is both simple enough to be believed by babies and at the same time so complex that no human mind will ever fully understand it in this life. For this reason, we all need the Gospel; the best and the worst of God’s people. As Pastor John Piper says. “You never, never…never outgrow your need for the Gospel. Don’t ever think of the Gospel as, thus the way to get saved and then you get strong by leaving it and doing something else.”  I have listed below why you must hear this Gospel as often as you eat your daily meals.

Strength/ Daily Sanctification

My mind is already drawn toward 1 Corinthians 15:1-2, Where Paul, speaking to people who were already believers says, “I would remind you, brothers, of the Gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.” It means we are not only saved by this Gospel, but that same Gospel is the means by which we remain saved and sustained in the faith. A daily reminder of what my Savior did on the Cross has a tremendous effect on strengthening my faith. Think about it this way, what can give me victory during temptations to sin? What can give me endurance and patience when I have lost a loved one? All that strength can only be drawn from the rich knowledge and reminder that I have a Saviour who has died for me, Hence He is for me and not against me, in the end, all things shall work together for good for me who love Him. 

Zeal for evangelism

It’s not just me, but all of us are aware that the word “evangelism” has almost become a curse word to the ears of the modern Church. Somehow we no longer have strength nor time to go about bothering people in the name of “telling them about Jesus.” Why is this so, I mean what happened? There is only one reason for that; that is, the Cross Message itself disappeared from our pulpits. Hence, we can’t expect people to have zeal about a message they only hear once in 5 years at some Easter Conference. Yet, if we get back to reminding ourselves; to reminding our congregates that Gospel that they first received, and that first love for their Lord will be re-ignited and we won’t need to manipulate them to do evangelism. They will gladly go out and proclaim the Saviour of souls to the lost souls.

Gratitude

Scripture instructs us to always have hearts that are abounding with thanksgiving. Why; what’s there to be thankful about? Answer: what Christ has done for you on that Cross deserves a thousand words of thanks from you. Just like the Israelites, the more they took their minds away from that which the Lord had done when He took them out of Egypt, the moment they murmured and complained about their present situations. That must be a lesson to us to whom the end of the world has come. A heart can only remain overflowing with gratitude as long as it continues to hear about such great works of God; the Calvary Cross.

To keep us humble

Once in a while something prideful sneaks into our hearts, and we start congratulating ourselves for being such “wonderful Christians.” Hence it is only the Gospel message that can bring us down to earth through a constant reminder that “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast (Eph 2:8-9).” How about that?

To protect us from false gospels

What do you think is the reason for such gullibility and lack of discernment from among our church members? It’s because they are not familiar with the genuine Gospel; it’s not regularly taught. Therefore, we need to hear more and more about this Good News until our hearts are saturated with it. So that when some famous false prophet makes his way into our town, we can just ignore him because we are grounded on the truth of what Christ has done on the Cross.

To motivate unto good works

The great price that our Redeemer has paid for our redemption, and the regular reminder of that story is vital in preparing and empowering believers to do anything for their King and for the people in general. Apart from the Gospel, any other motivation will eventually fade into discouragement and weariness.

Let’s summarize: Dear believer, you should hear the Gospel every Sunday at your church, meditate on the Gospel through your daily studies and regularly share the Gospel with others. This is crucial in your overall sanctification. Therefore, l hope we will stop this un-interest towards this message of our salvation, as if it’s an elementary thing that we must graduate from. I mean, where is the story of the life, death and resurrection of our Lord from our testimonies, daily conversation and even our preaching? Friends, let us go back to the rock from which we were cut.

Sinothi Ncube 

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