Question: Why don’t people believe the gospel message of Jesus Christ? One answer only, today: It’s too simple. Did I get that answer from a book? Not at all. I got it (and get it) as a response to my sharing it with people. A common response: “There has got to be more to it than that.” More to it than what? We are sinners; only Jesus Christ can save us; repent and submit to God; believe Jesus came to earth and died on a cross, shedding His blood to pay the price for our sins and then rose again; ask God to save our soul; ask Jesus to be Lord of our life. That’s it, essentially.
I too once said, “There has got to be more to it than that,” after reading the word of Jesus (in a book), The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out John 6:37. I didn’t know at the time that God the Father was the Initiator of it all! I didn’t find that out until I picked up a New Testament and read the first part, All that the Father gives Me will come to Me. Until that time, my concepts of God were those of most people I later shared the gospel with. Those concepts were anything but the one Jesus gave earlier in the gospel of John. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life John 3:16. We had never before heard about the love of God, only the wrath, the justice and judgment of God.
We had never before known that Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me John 14:6. As for being sinners, all of us intuitively knew, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God Romans 3:23. What we didn’t intuitively know was that the gospel of Christ tells us we can be justified freely by His (God’s) grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus Romans 3:24. We had never before been told, there is one Mediator between God and men (people), the Man Christ Jesus 1 Timothy 2:5. We had never before been told, 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 Ephesians 2:8-9.
Fancy that! Saved by grace through faith – a gift from God! We don’t deserve it but God willingly grants it anyway! We had never before been told, that not only did God love us, but He wanted us to know Him personally and that this would be the reality if we received Jesus, the Incarnation of God, as Savior and Lord. Too, we had never before been told, that not only was God a forgiver of our sins, He was also a forgetter of our sins. I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins Isaiah 43:25, cf. Hebrews 8:12. What we had been told was, we must be good people and do good, otherwise God, who watches everything we do and say, would strike us down without mercy sooner or later.
What we had been told was, the way to be good people was to attend church on Sundays, obey the 10 Commandments, pray, do good works and don’t judge others. In addition, believe your church is the one true, and that the others are bordering on the untrue! Like myself earlier, the people I shared the gospel with knew they had failed to live up to that standard. The result? They set their own standard, but not realizing that they were doing exactly the same thing as the religionists. “Good works” become the order of their day and when that’s so, boasting is sure to follow, even though it’ll probably be wrapped in a cloak of false humility! As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one Romans 3:10. Thank God gospel recipients are cloaked in the righteousness of Christ!
And so, whether one applies the standard imposed by the religionists or that which is self-imposed, it is natural for one to respond, “There has got to be more to it than that,” when they hear God’s word on the matter of salvation. Of course, self-reliance has always been much more appealing to human nature than Christ-reliance for the saving of one’s soul, hence the world being full of both religious and secular institutions and organizations. Tell somebody from either one of these their service or knowledge or title or qualifications are meaningless to God unless they’ve humbly responded to the gospel of Christ and you’ll soon know you’ve deeply offended them. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved Acts 4:12.
Nor is there salvation in any other. Quote: “No kind of healing, whether for body or soul, can come through any but Him who is called Jesus. The spirit of health resides in Him; and from Him alone its influences must be received.” For there is no other name – “Not only no other person, but no name except that divinely appointed one, by which salvation from sin can be expected – none given under heaven – no other means ever devised by God himself for the salvation of a lost world. All other means were only subordinate, and referred to Him, and had their efficacy from Him alone. He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world; and no man ever came, or can come, to the Father but by Him.” – Adam Clarke. (Underline mine).
“There has got to be more to it than that.” Truly, what more could be added to “that”? Even to this day this should be the greatest story ever told. Instead, it is the greatest story never told! God Almighty Himself came to earth, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even to the cross Philippians 2:7-8. What dishonoring, deceitful cowards those “Christians” are in pulpits, politics and other places of influence, who say we all serve the same God and that there are many roads to heaven. My question to you, if you’re one of them. How many Saviors did God send to earth to shed their blood and die on a cross for you?
Quote: “What must sin have been in the sight of God, when it required such abasement in Jesus Christ to make an atonement for it, and undo its influence and malignity!” – Adam Clarke. Such a low view of sin, God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Bible those “Christians” have. What a cancer they are to society! I believe God has more respect for hard line, hell-bound Marxists, Socialists and Communists than He does this crowd; at least they don’t hide behind religious facades pretending to be something they are not! The same applies to Christians forever in our face pushing their agenda’s, globalism, open boarders and social justice – quoting Bible Scriptures out of context as they do so. We never hear them preaching salvation Scriptures in their correct context.
The gospel of Christ is “too simple” but only as far as receiving goes. What is believed however, is most profound in every way imaginable. For starters, we are elevated from the natural into the supernatural. That means we are resurrected from spiritual death into spiritual life, God’s life. We are not reformed (which is the best religionists can offer), we are transformed. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things become new 2 Corinthians 5:17. In reality, that means our old history comes to an end at the Cross of Christ; the slate has been wiped clean. Our new history then begins with our spiritual resurrection. That’s why God can say He will not remember our sins. They’re gone, just like our old self is gone!
How’s this for a “too simple” gospel: The Spirit of Jesus comes to indwell the recipient. Now that’s profound! That’s how we come to know God personally. We speak to the Lord through prayer, He speaks to us through the Scriptures; therefore the more we respond according to them, obeying them, the more we know God. Jesus said, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me John 10:27. Not only do we obey Christ, but we seek to imitate him; we seek to go where His Spirit and providence lead us, yielding ourselves to His guidance, seeking always to be led by Him. The result of that over time? Peace, plan, power, purpose and direction. Added to this, when we speak and act for the Lord, we do so in His spiritual power and His spiritual authority.
Now, the wrath of God and the justice and judgment of God are realities, absolutely. But they are last resorts, not first resorts. That’s why Scripture tells us God is, patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance 2 Peter 3:9. God has done everything possible for the saving of one’s soul. To believe, “There’s got to be more to it than that,” is to entertain a lie from the father of lies, Satan. Embrace the truth; it sets you free. There’s nothing more to be added to “that.” There is enough in the “too simple” gospel message of Jesus Christ to keep us occupied for a lifetime – both this one and the eternal one to follow. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever Isaiah 40:8. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away Matthew 24:35.