No Other Message

It really is amazing how many different Pentecostal affiliations have “the message.” It really is. Friends, there is NO MESSAGE apart from, or varied from the Gospel that the apostle Paul received from the Lord and taught to the Gentile believers: “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed… But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 1:8,11,12). The time of the Gentile dispensation of the Gospel is still in effect, and there can be NO OTHER ’message’ other than the one that Paul preached (Rom. 11:25). And that message simply is the fulfillment of the old testament format of the law: “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law” (Rom. 3:31). And to clarify the simplicity of how we “establish,” or fulfill the law, he stated; “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13:10). And one more time for good measure: “Now the end [totality] of the commandment is [love] out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned” (I Tim. 1:5). So to have and employ the real and true love of God in our lives is the entirety of the only Gospel message in existence, to which Jesus also agreed: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets” (Mat. 7:12). So it comes down first of all to how we GET the love of God into our lives so that we CAN employ it: “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Rom. 5:5). So then we must receive the holy Ghost, which is to be baptized with the holy Ghost, in order to even HAVE the love of God. This is the experience through faith in Jesus that literally infuses the divine love of God into our hearts and souls, and thereby washes away our sins by the power of God (Jn. 7:37,38; Acts 5:32; Gal. 3:14; I Cor. 6:11). Not to mention that it is the only experience of faith that will put anyone into the one body of Christ, which is the only place that a true believer CAN be while on earth (I Cor. 12:13; Eph. 4:4,5). And being baptized with the Spirit into the body of Christ is the same as being born into the kingdom of God, which new birth Jesus clearly said was by the Spirit of God (Jn. 3:5; Rom. 14:17).

After we receive the Spirit, it is only a matter of learning how to “walk in the Spirit,” and thereby “keep [ourselves] in the love of God” (Gal. 5:16; Jd. 1:21). Jude said that “praying in the holy Ghost” is a main ingredient to that recipe, and John really nailed it down tight by saying, “And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (Jd. 1:20; I Jn. 3:3). To this Jesus also attested:”Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Mat. 5:8). The apostle Paul also addressed and defined this issue of true pureness of heart, and that it is necessary to have it and keep it in order to be saved: “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). And for sure, it is only by the power of the Spirit that we can purify ourselves from all sin, and thereby have true holiness (Acts 15:8; Acts 10:44-46; Tit. 3:5). In the end it just comes down to the simplicity that Paul stated to the Colossians: “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him” (Col. 2:6). And seeing that “the Lord IS that Spirit,” we again see that being baptized by Jesus with the holy Ghost, and learning to follow after that same Spirit, is how we fulfill the law of God’s love in our lives. And seeing that the scriptures are replete with the instruction that we must be taught by the Spirit of God, it is evident that staying filled with that holy love is the essence of what the Spirit will teach us (Jn. 14:26; Jn. 16:13; I Jn. 2:27). So the evident Gospel message can be summed up thusly: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). Reason being that the holy Ghost will only lead us into dying to the flesh and developing more of the love of God (Rom. 6:3-6; I Pet. 4:1,2). The overall significance of this holy truth is that ONLY those who perfect that love in themselves, and continue therein till death, will be saved (Mat. 24:12,13; I Jn. 3:10,14; I Jn. 4:20; Rev. 21:8). Any other more complicated ‘message’ than that serves only as a distraction from the one true calling, and as a thwarting to that one purpose of the true Gospel. No ceremonies, no secretive exclusive mysteries, no religious frills, no special anointed ones to follow; just God’s holy love abiding in our hearts, showing all men the reality of the only true Gospel, and the Son of God who died and rose to establish it: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By THIS shall all men know that ye are my disciples, IF ye have love one to another” (Jn. 13:34,35). End of story.