Religion and the Gospel

Acts 4:1~12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. (12)

♬ Hymn for scheduled worship: Korean/English Hymnal #84 The Lord of Glory, the Light of Earth (#96 in previous version)

Peter was put on religious trial because he healed a crippled man and preached Christ to the Israelites. At that time, Peter made a historic proclamation. Such is the content of today’s passage. The Early Church did nothing wrong, but they were falsely accused as a heresy and were greatly persecuted. The reason God allowed persecution to befall the Early Church and permitted hardships to the evangelists was to find and establish true disciples. What does God want to do through true disciples?

1. He wants to save people fallen into idolatry and disasters

The Bible says not to make idols or bow down to them. The works of Satan and the evil spirits absolutely arise through idol worship. In each age, Satan leads powerful nations away from the knowledge of God and instead, makes them worship idols; he leads them to follow the idolatrous culture and drives them into confusion.Genesis 3, 6, 11 All the powerful nations that worshiped idols eventually perished. In addition, Satan will bring tremendous spiritual confusion in the end times. In order to block this, we need evangelism disciples who have the conclusion of only Gospel.

2. He wants to save the church that has become a mere religion

A religious church is the same as other religions that worship idols. The Israelites who did not know the Gospel faced many great disasters. The Israelites who thought they were living a walk of faith in their own way were dragged off as slaves or captives to other powerful nations that did not know God. God however, evangelized Rome in 250 years through the apostles and true disciples who restored the Gospel. Religion and the Gospel are two different things. God has called all of us who have the Gospel in order to save the church that has become a mere religion, which is the same as idolatry.

3. He desires the restoration of the true Gospel

400 years after slavery in Egypt, Moses held on to the words to offer a blood sacrifice and restored the Gospel. The Gospel grew faint after the time of the prophet Malachi, then was restored in 700 years through the Early Church. In 1,500 years, it was again restored by Martin Luther. This is the history of Christianity. But the Gospel is growing faint yet again. It is at this time that God has called us to restore the true Gospel.

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What this age needs the most is the Gospel, and what God is looking for is a disciple with the true Gospel. Find God’s plan for you and deeply meditate on it.

Immanuel Church Sunday Worship 2nd Service / 2013.6.9