When We Believe the Gospel

            The following is an excerpt from Mike Mason’s book, The Gospel According to Job, p. 302: All the New Testament epistles were written to people who knew the gospel, but who had not quite worked out all the details of it yet. We are regenerated overnight—in an instant—but we do not change all our ways overnight. Rome is not demolished, nor Jerusalem built in a day. Yet in a single moment the foundation-stone of a brand-new city can certainly be laid, and in the spiritual life this turns out to be the only stone that counts: Christ the cornerstone. As Christians we see the laying of this stone in ourselves as an accomplished fact, and we can rest assured that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion” (Philippians 1:6). Strictly speaking we cannot “imitate Christ”; but by faith we can allow Him the use of our bodies to imitate Himself. When we believe the gospel, God guarantees that His laws will be written on our hearts (Hebrews 10:16), so that His will is no longer an external standard we must live up to, but an internal energy that we delight to see discharged. Accordingly, there is no point in trying to “put on” any behavior or action that the Lord has not already excited our hearts to perform. As Jeremiah 17:10 states, “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.” Why should the Lord search a man’s heart in order to know his deeds? Can good deeds not stand on their own and be judged in their own light? No—because however good a deed may appear on the surface, its true character can only be know by the motive behind it. It is only as good as the faith that powers it.

          “They” tell me that repetition is good, so listen up: When we believe the gospel, God guarantees that His laws will be written on our hearts (Hebrews 10:16), so that His will is no longer an external standard we must live up to, but an internal energy that we delight to see discharged. Accordingly, there is no point in trying to “put on” any behavior or action that the Lord has not already excited our hearts to perform.

          Notice the key: When we believe the gospel. The problem? Very few people believe the one true gospel; consequently, for them God’s laws are very burdensome and, thus, anything but an internal energy they delight in seeing discharged. They spend much of their lives trying to “put on” a behavior (action) that will somehow appease God.

          Remember this: The true character of the behavior can only be known by the motive behind it, and it is only as good as the faith that powers it. Think about this the next time you take some fried chicken and tater salad to someone who has just lost a loved one, or the next time you attend the wedding of one of your friend’s children, or the next time you contribute to your local church, or the next time you volunteer to help with the Red Cross, or the next time you have a quiet time, or the next time you visit someone in the hospital.

          I will think about it the next time I stand in the pulpit, and I will be certain not only that the Lord has excited my heart to preach, but also that I am delighting in seeing His energy discharged; otherwise, I will only be attempting to “put on” a behavior—a work of the flesh.

         

"This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent" (John 6:29 NASB).