We have the gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
But in Romans 2: 16 The Spirit, through Paul, says something astonishing.
Romans 2:16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets (a person’s personal life they keep hidden) of men, according to my gospel through Jesus Christ.
My gospel! From anyone but Paul, this would be almost blasphemy.
But the Spirit-ruled heart has a consciousness that Paul is telling the truth.
Roman 1: 1 says, Paul (small), a bondservant (a love-slave, a person’s will being altogether consumed in the will of Yeshua) of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God.
Paul is called by Jesus himself to be an Apostle. He’s been separated by Jesus Christ unto the good news of God.
He was called to be an Apostle, then he went into the wilderness of testing and revelation from the Holy Spirit for two years. Then he went to see Peter to confirm his revelation a year later. Then he was a tent maker from 7 to 8 years. Then he spent a year being a teacher and the Ministry of helps then after 14 years from being called to chosen he became an Apostle.
Many of us are called. But we are never separated. That separation is a threefold thing.
First, the New Creation separates us from the old life.
Second, as the Word is built into us, we become a disciple, and then our dedication is tested and consecrated by Jesus.
First, there’s a separation from the world. Then there’s a separation unto the Master, Jesus becomes the Lord of our lives. His word dominates us.
And thirdly, in our walk, there comes our own choice. We separate ourselves from that which is not sinful but is unnecessary, we put the kingdom first, and then the secondary things in life, that we must do, like working and living a blameless life.
And this separation continues year after year until the world has lost its dominion over us.
We are giving up good things for the best.
We are learning to walk in the fullness of fellowship with God. Paul was called to be an apostle, but it took 14 years before he was chosen and consecrated to operate in that office.
He was called to be an Apostle, then he went into the wilderness of testing and revelation from the Holy Spirit for two years. Then he went to see peter to confirm his revelation a year later. Then he was a tent maker from 7 to 8 years. Then he spent a year being a teacher and the Ministry of helps then after 14 years from being called to chosen he became an Apostle.
Many of us are called. But we are never separated. That separation is a threefold thing.
First, the New Creation separates us from the old life.
Second, as the Word is built into us, we become a disciple, and then our dedication is tested and consecratedby Jesus.
First, there’s a separation from the world.
Then there’s a separation unto the Master, Jesus becomes the Lord of our lives. His word dominates us.
And thirdly, in our walk, there comes our own choice. We separate ourselves from that which is not sinful but is unnecessary, we put the kingdom first, and then the secondary things in life, that we must do, like working and living a blameless life.
And this separation continues year after year until the world has lost its dominion over us.
We are giving up good things for the best.
We are learning to walk in the fullness of fellowship with God. Paul was called to be an apostle.
THE FOUR GOSPELS
The four gospels give us a picture of the incarnation of the Son of God.
Each one of the four gives us a different vision of the incarnate one.
Matthew gives us a picture of the kingdom.
Mark, of service.
Luke, of fellowship.
And John, of sonship.
In John, we catch a vivid picture of the Father.
Jesus said in John 14: 9 He who has seen Me has seen the Father. John 19: 30 I and My Father are one.”
In the Gospel of John, many times he says, the words that I speak are not mine, but the Father’s.
John 12: 45 says-And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. Jesus is introducing the Father to the disciples.
John 1:18 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared Him.
Rotherham translates it this way. The only begotten Son, who is now in the bosom of the Father, has introduced him.
Jesus comes with a revelation of the Father.
But the Jews cannot understand it. When he calls God his Father, they try to stone him.
John 5: 18 tells us for this cause therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him not only because he broke the Sabbath but because he also called God his father this is the only charge they brought against him.
John 19: 7 we have a law, and by that law he ought to die.
The Jew could not accept the revelation of God as a Father because they were natural men.
John1 :14 says, And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. The glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Here’s something most people miss.
In the four gospels, there is no substitutionary sacrifice taught.
Had it been taught, no one would have understood it.
Nowhere do any of the gospels speak of Jesus being made sin on our behalf.
The great revelations of the church are sometimes spoken in parable form.
But no one could have understood them if the Jesus had attempted to teach them, until they were born again.
THE DISCIPLES DID NOT UNDERTAND IDENTIFICATION AND TRANSFERENCE
When Jesus was arrested, the disciples hoped in some way he would perform a miracle and save himself from his enemies.
The disciples had only Physical sense knowledge.
Peter received a revelation that Jesus was the Christ.
Matthew 16:16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
But for the most part, they did not have real transforming revelation that renews the mind.
Jesus would take them aside and explain the parables he spoke in, and when they were born again, the Holy Spirit would bring to remembrance the things Jesus said, and the light would come on.
The crowds asked Jesus
John 6: 28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” 30 Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do?
The disciples all forsook him when he was arrested. But when John stood before him on the cross, he could not see Jesus as a substitute.
None of the disciples believed that Jesus was dying for their sins. To them, he was dying as a martyr.
And during the three dark days that his body was lying in the tomb, no one believed that he was to rise from the dead. No one understood.
If this is making you see the gospels in a completely new light,
We need to see the difference between what Jesus taught and what Paul revealed.
Because this changes everything about how you read scripture.
When Jesus arose from the dead none of the disciples believed it.
On the first day of the week certain women came to anoint Jesus’ body with spices, and two angels appeared to them and said-
Matthew 24: 6 He is not here but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ 8 And they remembered His words. 9 Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles. 11 And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them.
The disciples disbelieved the women after the resurrection and still did not grasp the significance of his substitutionary sacrifice.
The disciples had only physical sense knowledge. They believed that he was the Messiah, the Son of God.
But they did not believe that he was to die for their sins and be raised for their justification.
That was to come when they had been liberated from their darkness, disbelief and doubt, when they were born again.
Think about what this means. The disciples walked with Jesus for three years. They saw his miracles. They heard his teaching. They witnessed his power. But they didn’t understand the gospel, not the way Paul would later reveal it.
They didn’t grasp substitutionary sacrifice.
They didn’t comprehend redemption.
They didn’t understand the new creation. Why?
Because they spirit was not yet quickened, made alive to God. They hadn’t yet received “the eternal life of God” into their spirit through the living Word.
They were operating on sense knowledge, not revelation knowledge.
They believed Jesus was the Messiah based on what they saw and heard. But they didn’t have the inner witness of the Spirit.
They didn’t have the revelation that would come through Paul’s gospel.
This is why Paul could say my gospel without it being blasphemy.
He received a revelation that the twelve didn’t have during Jesus’ earthly ministry.
He understood things that couldn’t be taught until after the resurrection.
He grasped the mystery of Christ that had been hidden for ages.
He revealed the New Creation, the many member body of Christ in the earth, our legal position in the heavenlies.
THE REVELATION PAUL RECEIVED
The four Gospels show us Jesus.
But Paul’s epistles show us what Jesus accomplished.
The Gospels reveal the Incarnate One.
But Paul’s letters reveal the implications of his death, burial, and resurrection.
The Gospels introduce the Father.
But Paul explains how we become sons of the Father. This is not to diminish the gospels. They are foundational. They are essential. They reveal who Jesus is.
But without Paul’s revelation, we would miss the full significance of what Jesus did.
We would see him as a great teacher, a miracle worker, a martyr.
But we wouldn’t fully understand him as our substitute, our Redeemer, the one who made us new creations.
The disciples needed eternal life before they could grasp eternal truths.
They needed to be born again before they could understand spiritual realities.
They needed the Holy Spirit before they could comprehend the mystery of the gospel. And so do you.
You can read the gospels with natural understanding and miss the depth of what happened.
You can admire Jesus as a moral teacher and miss him as your substitute and Savior.
You can appreciate his miracles and miss “the miracle of the New birth”.
You can respect his sacrifice and miss the fact that he became sin with your sin nature so you could become the righteousness of God in him.
This is why studying Paul’s epistles is so crucial.
This is why understanding Paul’s gospel matters.
This is why you need more than physical sense-knowledge-faith. You need revelation-knowledge-faith.
You need the eyes of your understanding enlightened.
You need the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what Jesus accomplished on the Cross.
The disciples stood at the cross and saw a martyr.
Paul looked back at the cross and saw a substitute.
The disciples saw a dead body in a tomb.
Paul saw the death of the old creation and the birth of the new.
The disciples mourned a lost leader.
Paul celebrated a victorious Savior who conquered death, hell, and the grave.
What’s the difference?
Revelation?
The Holy Spirit opening our spiritual eyes.
Receiving the eternal life of God, the seed of God, the DNA of God in our spirit gives us the capacity to understand spiritual truth.
The Gospel according to Paul revealing what the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John pointed toward but couldn’t fully explain.
So, here’s your assignment. Don’t just read the Gospels and stop there. Move into the Epistles.
Study what Paul revealed.
Ask the Holy Spirit to give you revelation knowledge.
Let the Living Word get inside your spirit until you see yourself as a New Creation in Christ.
Learn the legal aspect of your redemption, that you are perfect in the sight of God in heaven because He sees you in Jesus. How the Father see’s you in heaven is perfect in Christ, that is how you approach the Father in heaven at the throne of Gace.
Then learn the vital aspects of Redemption for you here on earth, how to walk with God as a dedicated disciple.
Separate yourself from the old life. Surrender to the Lordship of Jesus over your spirit, so that it is strengthened, so that you can bring your soul and body into subjection to the Lordship of Jesus over you spirit.
So that you can surrender the rest of your life to His lordship, it does not happen overnight, it is a process.
Let his word dominate you until the world loses its grip on you.
You’re called, but you also must be chosen to have the anointing of God upon what God has called you to do, it is called consecration or sanctification.
Now let the separation happen. You’re saved. Now let the sanctification process do its work.
You have eternal life. Now let it transform how you see everything Jesus did for you.
The disciples didn’t understand until they received the Holy Spirit.
You won’t fully understand without the Holy Spirit’s revelation either, he is the great teacher and will lead you into all the truth, but this requires a willingness to do God’s will and a pure heart, and you must become like a little child.
Forget everything you learned in church, and bible schools and theological degree’s they mean nothing when it comes to hearing God’s voice.
But when the Holy Spirit opens your spiritual eyes, everything changes.
The finished work of Christ has provided everything Jesus is, his divine nature and Authority.
And the Holy Spirit provides the power when you are willing to pay the price.
Smith Wigglesworth said, if you want to have the kind of miracle working power that he had in his ministry, you must pay the price.
Andrew Murray said the most important thing in the Christians life is “Absolute surrender”.
The resurrection becomes your victory.
The ascension becomes your position.
And Paul’s gospel becomes your gospel.
The good news is that you’ve been redeemed, recreated, and re-positioned as a son of God.
Begin to live in that truth today.