Unpacking the Mystery of the Gospel

(Ephesians 3:4-6)

To many people the gospel is a mystery, and not just those outside the church, but many inside it as well.

The unpacking of the mystery of the gospel has been occurring for hundreds of years and the truth is available to all who seek it.

The most important trait any person needs to hold onto is to be willing to seek the truth, understanding that what they currently know may be wrong. We need to understand that there are many things that have been taught in the church that are not part of the gospel of truth. But the revelation of the truth that was first given by Jesus Christ to His apostles, prophets and the disciples of the early church, which was subsequently lost for generations, is now once again being revealed in these last days.

The Gospel Lost

The early church was taught by Jesus Christ directly through face to face and word of mouth revelation. The early church had it right from the Son of God Himself and so the teaching was correct.

When Jesus was put to death, which had to happen for our sake and our benefit, His direct disciples were charged through the Great Commission after Jesus was resurrected to carry the gospel to all the nations. His words were:

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

Three instructions were given to the disciples from Jesus in the Great Commission, which were to:

Make disciples of all the nations Baptise them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit Teach them to observe all that Jesus had taught the first disciples

They did this and in a short period of time the gospel went out to the whole Jewish nation as well as the Gentiles who were now brought into the fold and could become the people and children of God as well through faith.

Letters were written to the new churches and between various people, and God made sure that those that covered the fullness of the gospel and the New Covenant were collected together into the New Testament that we have today.

And then the gospel was lost.

The church began to take on different practices, they integrated with pagan religions and they developed forms of worship that were not part of the original Christian covenant. They introduced foreign teachings and practises that shifted the focus from things of the Spirit and God, to the wants of man.

They took the Bible and translated it into a dead language, Latin, that only scholars could learn and the gospel was effectively taken away from the common people. The common man did not have access to the word of the truth and had to rely on church appointed ministers, who also did not rely on the truth of the Covenant but the false doctrines of the leaders of what had become the apostate church.

And in this way the gospel was lost.

Reformation

But God knew what was going on and He still had His servants working to ensure any who truly sought Him would find Him.

The gospel was lost for over a millennia and the truth did not begin to reappear until the time of Martin Luther.

Luther was the first to publicly denounce and reject the teachings of the church in his discovery from the gospel about righteousness by faith. Luther took hold of this idea, which he understood from reading the book of Romans, and rejected the ministries of works, indulgences and many of the practises of the church at that time.

Needless to say he was roundly castigated, excommunicated and vilified for his teachings, but he cracked open the first part of the mystery of the gospel, and opened the floodgates for others to follow.

Luther’s work also included translating the bible out of the dead Latin language and into a common language (German) so that the bible and the truth of the gospel became available once again to the common man.

It was timely that this occurred at the same time as William Tyndale produced the first English translation of the Bible, which contributed to the major portion of the King James bible. And again, the purpose for which Tyndale sought to produce the English bible was to make the word of God available to the common man so that they would no longer be led astray and at the mercy of the false teachings that ran rampant through the church at that time.

The work of these two men broke open the floodgates of the truth, enabling the gradual re-emergence of truth and unpacking the mystery of the gospel in subsequent generations through the efforts of people like William Booth, John and Charles Wesley, John Calvin, John Knox, John Smyth, William Miller, James and Ellen White, Charles Russel, Charles Fox Parham, and many, many others.

Each of these people was responsible for bringing forth a new piece of doctrine that was rooted in the truth of the gospel and that had previously been lost because of the issues mentioned above.

God worked with these people and others to progressively restore the truth for the common man to be able to read and understand so that we could become the people of God as originally envisioned and taught by Jesus Christ.

Are you being held back?

But…even as these people brought forth something new from the gospel, the old ways would not go away easily. Many of these people suffered greatly for their new-found beliefs that were actually based upon the recovery of a teaching going back to the days of the first church.

They were excommunicated, run out of places, ridiculed and some were even put to death for the sake of their beliefs.

And many of the old beliefs, the false doctrines brought into the church during the dark ages still persist today. There is still a great deal of false teaching in the church today, some of which would get you labelled as an heretic if you oppose it, but which must be rejected if we are to find the fullness of the truth and to fully unpack the mystery of the gospel.

Each and every one of us needs to question what we are believing to ensure it is fully aligned with the gospel as delivered by Christ, and written down for our instruction by His apostles, prophets and teachers.

The question I ask of everyone reading this is, who are you learning from? Who is teaching you? And if you are being taught by a man (or woman), where did they learn what they are teaching?

The bible tells us that under the New Covenant we will be taught by God. (see John 6:45) It also says that God will appoint His people into ministry giving them gifts to be able to teach, preach and minister to the church. (see Ephesians 4:11-13)

But what we see in many of the churches today are men, ordained through bible schools or colleges into ministry, who have received their ordination by adhering to the teachings of that particular church, group or sect. If they deviate or question the syllabus they are often failed or forced to leave the school. So many stick rigidly to what they are taught, which often is the old false teachings handed down from generation to generation and has become the doctrine of that church, rather than the doctrine of the truth.

Is this the fault of the ministers and students of these bible teaching institutions? Not really, because these ministers have little choice but to go along with what they are being taught for to do so would put their future prospects in jeopardy.

And so the falsehoods of the earlier church are replicated causing people to suffer because they are not being taught the truth. Through these doctrines of men, the power of the gospel has been emptied and the truth of the New Covenant has become a victim and the people are led astray until someone puts their hand up and says, “No more.”

So again I ask, are you being held back? Are you holding to a teaching that is forcing you into bondage and keeping you away from the truth that Jesus wants you to hear? And if you hear a new teaching, do you immediately reject it without testing to see if there is truth in it?

Questioning like this is important if you want to find the truth. To do otherwise is to neglect your salvation, the salvation that Jesus died to give to you.

Do not be led astray by strange teachings that have nothing to do with the gospel and have no basis in the New Covenant. Seek the truth. Find out for yourself.

We are in an age where it is easier to get access to the word of God and to learn for yourself than ever existed. You can even download a free bible onto your phone and read it while in transit or listen to the bible in audio format.

Never has it been easier to unpack the mystery of the Gospel than it is today, and best of all, God wants to help you. He wants you to find and know the truth so ask Him to show you.

The gospel is open to everyone and anyone to find, if they are willing to look. It is not just the purvey of the Jews, nor the ministers of the church, but everyone can find it for themselves, as this verse today tells us.

4 When you read this you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; 6 that is, how the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. (Ephesians 3:4-6)

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