GospelNotes.life

Author: Adam

  • Do.Not.Mix.Faith.And.Works!

    4 types of people:

    • Those who have faith in Christ alone — the truth and only way.
    • Those who mix faith in Christ and their works — the most dangerous.
    • Those who reject Christ and try to work their way to heaven.
    • Those who flat out reject the concept of God altogether.

    To those who mix faith in Christ and their own works, it is the most dangerous and they will be rejected by the Lord:

    Matthew 7:21-23 — “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ [see they have “faith”] will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father [John 6:40 – believe on Jesus alone] who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name [bringing their work of prophesying] and in your name drive out demons [bringing their work of casting out demons] and in your name perform many miracles [bringing their works of miracles performed]?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers [We are all evil and all have sinned. None of us are righteous by our own works.]!’

  • My Identity as a Child of God

    John 8:35 — Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.

    What am I as a child of God?

    • An adopted son.
    • A citizen of Heaven.
    • A member of His household.
    • Blessed with every spiritual blessing.
    • Holy.
    • Blameless.
    • Chosen by God.
    • Heir.
    • Loved.
    • Redeemed.
    • Forgiven.
    • Receiving grace upon grace.
    • Sealed by the Holy Spirit.
    • Access to the Father.
    • Able to approach God with freedom and confidence.
    • To know how wide, long, high and deep Gods love is for me.

    How does God view me?

    • A legitimate son.
    • A citizen.
    • A member of his household.
    • Blessed.
    • Holy.
    • Blameless.
    • Heir.
    • Loved.
    • Redeemed.
    • Forgiven.
    • Seated in the Heavenly realms.
    • Accessible to Himself.

  • Jesus Bought Me Everlasting Life

    Jesus and I walked into a large store, owned and operated by God the Father. Jesus said to me, “Pick out anything you want and it will be my gift to you.” So I spent hours upon hours searching through the store. Finally I came upon the item of Everlasting Life. I turned to Jesus and said, “This is what I want…Everlasting Life.” He said, “OK”, grabbed the package and we went up to the register to checkout. God the Father was behind the register. Jesus put the Everlasting Life on the counter and the Father rang it up. He said to me, “That will be a cost of ‘the blood of a single sinless man.’” Jesus stepped in and said to the Father, “No one but Myself can afford this. I am purchasing this Everlasting Life as a gift for him. Here is my blood.” The Father took the payment in full, handed Jesus the package of Everlasting Life and said, “The transaction is finished — paid in full — nothing else needed.” As Jesus and I left the store, Jesus handed me the package of Everlasting Life and said, “This is a gift from me to you. You did not earn it for yourself. It is simply an irrevocable gift from Me, paid for with my blood. Thank you for accepting it. I love you, my son. Enjoy!”

  • Why I’ll Gladly Worship God Forever

    • I’m loved unmeasurably.
    • Gentle, kind, good to and patient with me.
    • A peace that transcends all understanding.
    • The fullness of joy in His presence.
    • Pleasures forevermore in His right hand.
    • A new, sinless, immortal body that:
      • Never gets sick.
      • Can teleport.
      • Fly.
      • Talk telepathically.
      • Doesn’t feel pain.
      • Doesn’t get tired or need to sleep.
    • A mansion.
    • Eye has not seen, ear has not heard nor mind has conceived what awaits those who love Him.
    • No more death.
    • No more fear.
    • No more sin.
    • No more pain.
    • No more suffering.
    • No more sadness.
    • No more depression.
    • No more tears.
    • No more boredom.
    • No more curse of hard toil and labor.
    • No more condemnation.

  • A Changed Life?

    Faith + nothing = salvation
    Faith + works = “a changed life”, false gospel

    Faith alone in Christ alone. Don’t be a fruit (works) inspector. The only fruit to inspect is the fruit of faith. Everyone grows at different rates. Everyone stumbles daily.

  • Childlike Faith

    A child doesn’t need to know the inner workings of something, or even how it works at all. They don’t need to see it. Nor do they have anything to bring to the table or offer. They are just told something simple and told that it’s true, and they simply believe.

    Believe with childlike faith the true, pure, unadulterated – and above all – simple Gospel message and you will be saved: that Christ died on the cross to pay for your sins, was buried and on the third day rose from the dead. It’s that beautifully simple, and it confounds and frustrates the prideful and wise who think they can be “good enough” to earn their way into heaven.

    Matthew 19:14 — Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these [who have nothing to offer and simply just believe who He says He is].”

    Acts 16:30-31 — He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
    They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household [as in – tell your household to believe in Jesus as well and they too shall be saved along with you – those who believe].”

    1 Corinthians 1:18-19 — For the message of the cross [the simple gospel] is foolishness to those who are perishing [the prideful, wise and learned], but to us who are being saved [those with childlike faith] it is the power of God [to save — Romans 1:16]. For it is written: “I [God] will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

  • Gospel Equations

    Equation for area of a square:

    True: area = length x width
    False: area = length + width

    Equation for salvation:

    True: salvation = faith + nothing
    False: salvation = faith + works

  • The Only Unforgivable Sins

    Unbelief = sin

    Well, and taking the mark of the beast is unforgivable.

  • The Book of John: Faith, not works.

    John 1:7 – He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.

    John 1:12 – Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

    John 3:15 – that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.

    John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

    John 3:18 – Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

    John 3:36 – Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

    John 4:14 – but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

    John 5:24 – “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.

    John 6:28-29 – Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

    John 6:35 – Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

    John 6:40 – For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

    John 6:47 – Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.

    John 6:50-51 – But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

    John 6:54 – Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.

    John 7:38-39 – Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

    John 8:24 – I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.”

    John 10:9 – I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.

    John 11:25-26 – Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

    John 12:36 – Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

    John 17:3 – Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

    John 20:31 – But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

  • Don’t Negate Faith Verses with Seemingly Works Verses

    Remember, a handful of seemingly condemning works-based scriptures cannot negate the over 200 verses explaining that salvation is through faith in Christ alone. There must be another way to interpret them.

    John 3:16 — For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

    Ephesians 2:8-9 — 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.

  • Imputed Righteousness

    Christ is righteous. He obeyed the law perfectly and never sinned.

    No other human is righteous on their own, as “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”, and, “our righteousness is but filthy menstrual rags.”

    Humans cannot obtain self-righteousness through following the law, because all humans except Christ have broken the law.

    However, we have available to us a righteousness apart from the law – a righteousness that is by faith in Christ.

    When we believe the gospel, Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us, thus we have a righteousness that is not from following the law, but rather through faith in Christ.

  • Verse Construct

    John 3:15-17, 20, 23

    [book] [chapter]:[beginning verse]-[end verse], [another verse in this chapter]

  • Sin in the Book of Hebrews

    The sin talked about in Hebrews is the sin of unbelief.

  • When God Looks at You

    When God looks at you – that is, your reborn inner man (your soul and spirit) – He sees the imputed righteousness of Christ. A righteousness apart from the law – a righteousness that is by faith in the gospel alone.

    He doesn’t look at your dead, crucified, buried flesh and it’s evil deeds and judge that day-to-day. He’s dealt with that 2,000 years ago on the cross. “It is finished.” Sin debt paid in full.

    No…He sees the real you – the reborn inner man. He has forgotten all of your sins, and has removed them “as far as the east is from the west.”

  • Baptism

    When you believe in Christ, you “follow” Him into His death, burial and resurrection.

    The nanosecond you believe the gospel, you are “crucified” with Christ, “buried” with Him – putting off the old, dead, sinful flesh – your inner man is spiritually reborn, and then you are “raised” with Him to newness of life. This resurrection will be manifest in the resurrection at the rapture.

    Christ was the first to be resurrected into His new sinless, incorruptible, spiritual body. There will be another resurrection for the believers – believers both in heaven and alive on earth – at the rapture.

    In the resurrection at the rapture, Christ will descend into the clouds, and the believers that have already died will be resurrected into their new spiritual, sinless, incorruptible bodies, then they will be caught up into the clouds with Christ. Then the believers who are alive and remain, their bodies will be transformed into their new spiritual, sinless, incorruptible bodies, and will then be snatched up into the clouds with Christ, and then He will take us all to heaven for seven years.

    During that seven years, Christ will pour out His wrath on an unbelieving world for seven years. This is called The Tribulation.

    Water baptism by a pastor in a church is not required for salvation. Only believing the gospel for spiritual baptism by The Holy Spirit is required.

  • Renew Mind Daily

    Romans 12:2 — And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

    Renew your mind daily. Meditate on these truths daily:

    The Gospel
    Christ died for ALL of my sins (past, present and future), was buried and rose from the dead the third day for my justification.

    Christ said on the cross upon death, “It is finished!”, meaning — sin debt paid in full, nothing more to do.

    The nanosecond I believed the gospel, I was indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit, which is the guarantee of my salvation.

    The nanosecond I believed the gospel, I received the imputed righteousness of Christ. A righteousness apart from the law. A righteousness that is by faith. When God looks at me, He sees the righteousness of Christ – not my sinful flesh.

    Positional Truths
    I am:

    • Righteous
    • Holy
    • Blameless
    • Without spot or blemish
    • Justified (declared not guilty)
    • Sanctified (set apart, made holy)
    • A child of God
    • A citizen of heaven
    • An heir
    • A co-heir with Christ
    • Loved beyond measure
    • Redeemed
    • Forgiven
    • Receiving grace upon grace
    • Sealed by the Holy Spirit
    • Access to the Father
    • – Able to approach God with freedom and confidence

    Spiritual Baptism
    The nanosecond I believed the gospel alone, I was spiritually baptized into Christ’s death, burial and resurrection by the Holy Spirit. I have been “crucified” (with my old sinful flesh dying), been “buried”, spiritually reborn with the righteousness of Christ, and have been “risen” to newness of life. In the resurrection at the rapture, I will receive my new spiritual, sinless, glorified, incorruptible body.

  • Confessing Sins

    We don’t confess our sins and ask for forgiveness for each sin in the flesh, every time we sin, in order to be forgiven at that moment for that sin. We’re already forgiven of our sins the nanosecond we believe the gospel, and all our sins are removed from us “as far as the East is from the west”.

    Our sins are also forgotten the nanosecond we believe the gospel, so why keep reminding God of sins that were already dealt with on the cross?

    When God looks at us, He is perfectly pleased with us, as He sees us with the imputed righteousness of Christ. Our sinful flesh has been crucified and buried with Christ. It’s dead. He doesn’t look at our dead, outer flesh’s performance…He looks at our renewed inner man that’s been reborn, made perfect and cannot sin because it has been born of incorruptible seed.

    We don’t lose fellowship either every time we sin in the flesh. If that were the case, no one would ever have fellowship with God. Again, our sin was dealt with on the cross – God’s righteous wrath, punishment and anger was poured out on Jesus on the cross. It was dealt with. We’ve been declared justified – He’s not going to bring it up again every time we sin in the flesh.

    Scripture says in 1 John 4:18 — There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

    If we were to lose fellowship with God and be punished every time we sin in the flesh, we would be living in fear, because fear has to do with punishment. But per the above scripture, we are to be made perfect in love, which casts out all fear, because there is no fear (punishment) in love.

    While our inner man (us a soul and spirit) has been reborn of incorruptible seed, made a new creation, kept from stumbling and cannot sin, our unregenerate outward man (the sinful flesh) still sins. We are exhorted, encouraged, asked to, pleaded with and begged to possess our flesh in a manner of holiness, not using our liberty from freedom from the law in regards to salvation to indulge the sinful passions and desires of the flesh. However, this is not for salvation. It’s for a joyful and peaceful life on this earth.

  • Matthew 5-7

    Matthew chapters 5-7 may sound scary. But all Jesus is doing is elevating the law to its proper place to get His listeners to ask the question, “well who then can be saved?”

    The answer is – no one can be saved by keeping the law, because no one can keep it perfectly. Thus, Jesus is getting them to start looking to the messiah (Him) for salvation, rather than by keeping the law (that they thought they were keeping perfectly).

  • Bible Reading List

    The Bible is a pretty difficult read the first few times you read it. A lot of times it says a word that’s not specifically defined till later in the book, or even in another book. The wording and sentences can also be confusing, with long, run-on sentences. It also uses multiple words for the same definition. If I’m not lying, I hated reading the Bible the first few times I read it, because I barely understood what any of it meant. However, the more times you read it, the more connections you make, and the more it comes alive and becomes super exciting. Every time you read it, you learn something new. You see something new. You connect new things. It’s amazing. I’ve grown to love reading the Bible now (specifically the New Testament). Hopefully my notes will speed up your learning and understanding of the Bible. However, you have to accept the fact that us humans are just not going to understand everything the Bible has to say 100% until we get to heaven. There may seem like contradictions in the Bible, but God does not contradict Himself. Let yourself be at peace with this, and hold fast to the gospel. Below is a reading list to guide you:

    1. John (Jesus’ life and gospel)
    2. Acts (events after Jesus leaves earth)
    3. Romans (justification by faith alone)
    4. Galatians (justification by faith alone)
    5. Ephesians (our position in Christ)
    6. Genesis (the beginning)
    7. Exodus (escape from Egypt. Giving of law)
    8. Leviticus (law)
    9. Numbers (law)
    10. Deuteronomy (law)
    11. Joshua (taking the promised land)
    12. Matthew (Christ’s life and work on earth)
    13. Revelation (end times Tribulation prophecy)
    14. 1 Thessalonians
    15. 2 Thessalonians
    16. 1 Timothy
    17. 2 Timothy
    18. Titus
    19. Anything else.

  • How to Read the Bible

    Reading through the lens of grace vs law:
    When reading the bible, you MUST read it through the lens of “grace.” If you read it through the lens of “law“, it will condemn you at every corner.

    For example, see the note: The Works, The Will, The Command, The Overcomer, The Righteous, The Obedience

    Just in the note title alone, if you were to come across those words reading the bible through the lens of “law”, you’d probably think that “The Works” are to follow the law and do good deeds, “The Will” is to follow the law, “The Command” is to follow the law, “The Overcomer” is one who turns from all their sins, “The Righteous” are those that follow the law and “The Obedience” are those that obey the law.

    However, when you come across those words and read them through the lens of “grace”, you can see that they all pertain to simply believing in Jesus. *See note for full definitions.

    Reading a verse in context:

    You cannot cherry pick verses out of thin air and get their proper meaning. You have to understand the meaning of a verse based on (in order of importance):

    1. The immediate, surrounding verses.
    2. The chapter.
    3. The book.
    4. The entire bible.

    Reading the entire book at once:

    It greatly helps to read the entire book in one sitting (not the entire bible at once, but the book, example: John, Romans, Galatians, etc). This is because other parts of the book require the context of previous parts of the book to understand the book as a whole, and if you put it down for a day or so, you will easily forget what you read before. Most books in the New Testament can be read in under 30 minutes, as many are only a few chapters long. The lengthiest one, Matthew or Acts (28 chapters each), can be read in 2-3 hours.

    Understanding the words’ original language meaning:

    The original biblical texts that were divinely inspired by God were written in Hebrew and Aramaic (for the Old Testament), and Greek for the New Testament. English translations (and rather all other language translations) were translated from these original languages, and are not inspired by God, meaning, they aren’t perfect in translation, which is why there’s so many revisions of the Bible in other languages. Let’s talk about the New Testament: English is a rather poor language to use for reading the Bible, and the original Greek is excellent. Why? Because in the original Greek texts, there will be, say, four different words that have a different meaning, yet in English, the same English word is used for all four different Greek words, making the English version confusing and muddled. So, what do we have to do in our English translations to understand a verse that contains a word that isn’t clear? We have to get to the root of that word in its original Greek meaning. We can do this through what is known as The Strong’s Concordance and the Thayer’s Greek Lexicon. Strong’s is named after the author James Strong, and Thayer’s is named after the author Joseph Thayer. What Strong has done, is given each word in the bible a number, and provided its definition in the Greek. Example, Strongs G726 (Greek 726) is the Greek word of “harpazo”, and is the original greek word behind the phrase “caught up” in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 in the English translation. Harpazo in the Greek means “To seize, snatch, take away by force”. When you’re reading an English Bible and don’t understand the meaning of a word, look it up in Strong’s and Thayer’s Greek Lexicon. To do this, simply Google the book and chapter you want, along with the “Strongs” keyword. For example, if you were reading 1 Thessalonians 4:17 and wanted to know what the word “caught up” means in the original greek, simply Google “Strongs 1 Thessalonians 4:17” and look for Bible Hub’s (biblehub.com) “1 Thessalonians 4 KJV + Strong’s” webpage. Once you click on that, it will show the chapter in the King James Version bible, where you can click the specific word you’re looking for, and it will go to a new page where it will give you the Strong’s definition of the word, and if not more importantly, the Thayer’s Greek Lexicon for the specific meaning of the word in context of that verse. Thayer’s can be lengthy, because it provides the meaning of the greek word in all its various forms throughout the bible, so just do a simple search on the page for the verse you’re looking for (example: 1 Thessalonians 4:17) and it will bring you to the specific meaning for the Greek word in that verse context.