Debut: The Gospel

Welcome to Truology. My name is Belushi Prevalon, and I will be your host. This is the very first episode, so I'm excited to get started and get this show on the road.

I've been planning to do this for a very long time, and now that I finally get to do it, it's a wonderful thing, and I hope that through this, you'll be encouraged and be able to learn something in all the topics that we discuss together.

I want to talk about a little bit about myself, just so you could get to know just a little bit about who I am and why

I've decided to start Truology. I am a Christian. I did not grow up in a

Christian home. I grew up like any secular kid did. You know, I was typically nominally

Christian. Whenever discussions about, you know, what religion, you know, you are in schools came about,

I would always just say Christian because my parents were professing Christians, but of course our home wasn't really organized after the

Christian ethics and so on, so I kind of just grew up normal, you know, average American boy. But sometime after I had graduated high school, earlier years in college,

I started really questioning, you know, what is the purpose of life? You know, who am I?

What happens to me when I die? You know, started asking the really big questions of life, and of course, you know,

God is good, and through doing that, He eventually used the path that I was leaning towards, which at the time was kind of a new age kind of journey thing.

He used that to get me before resources that could present to me the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that's when

I got saved, and I joined a local church, and it's been just wonderful serving the

Lord since. I've recently joined, enrolled into a

Bible college where I currently am still going, actually, because my burden is to disciple people, and I want to see people grow in their faith, actually have a robust theology, and just be able to glorify

God in every area of life, and that's really one of the reasons why I've also kind of just created this show is so that I can help people do that.

I figured, you know, the internet is such a growing phenomenon in our time today, and you know, what better way to preach the gospel than through media and really get the name of Christ, the

Word of God out there. Before we go on, I just want to give a quick disclosure. The views that are expressed here are completely my own.

They do not represent the views of the school or the local church that I attend. In other words, each opinion or theological position mentioned here comes from my persuasion of my studies in the scriptures and my personal convictions, and the reason for that is because there may be some nuances or disagreements that may be held with people in my church or the school

I go to, so I just want to make it very clear that these come from my own studies and reflections and what

I believe the Bible teaches. The stated purpose of truology is to be a

Christian resource for theology, the Christian worldview, and apologetics expressed through a faithful commitment to the authority of the scriptures and the lordship of Jesus Christ in the realm of knowledge, beliefs, and all of life.

Now, of course, you know, when anyone sticks ology at the end of any word, it makes it the study of, but where I actually originally got the idea for this was

John 18 38, where Pilate is inquiring of Jesus, and he asked, what is truth, not knowing that the word that became flesh, the one who is full of grace and truth, is standing literally before him.

So, I do not want you, Christian or not, to be negligent of the truth that is seen in the authority of the scriptures and what it teaches and the lordship of Jesus Christ as the very embodiment of truth.

He is the way, the life, and the truth, so don't be like Pilate, don't miss it.

Tune into truology and learn from God's word, as we will do momentarily. Now, I want to get into some of the content that you can expect to see here in truology, and of course, that is going to be

Christian theology. A lot of expressions of that will be in this show. Of course, also the

Christian worldview and Christian apologetics, giving a defense for what we believe about Christianity in particular, right?

I also want to do critiques on scholars, political things, current events, historical events, whatever they may be.

Eventually, this is in the future, I'd like to do interviews and maybe even some debates, but of course, that's far into the future,

Lord willing. If I'm able to do those things, I have microphones here.

I could always just plug another one in, invite someone to come live and just chat with me, or I could do this when

I get the YouTube channel running, present this on video. But until then, we're doing audio podcasting at this point, and I do hope that God will use it however

He wills through this opportunity. So, we also want to do street evangelism.

I want to get onto the streets of the local cities around me here and actually help believers know what it's like to actually evangelize.

If you've ever seen Ray Comfort's Living Waters ministry where he goes around with a camera and he literally just points the microphone to those he encounters on the streets, he has to interview them, and he preaches the gospel to them, and he witnesses to them.

Hope to do some of that, but of course, like I said, that's way into the future, but for now we're just doing audio podcast.

All right, and our first topic actually is going to be the heart of Christianity.

Yes, and if you know what I'm talking about here, you know that I'm talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is a very important topic for both the saved and the lost.

For the saved, because this is a chance to hear the gospel renewed to you and accurately presented to you so that I can encourage you to go study it out in the scriptures and then go apply it.

For the lost, this is an opportunity to hear the truth as it is found in the

Word of God concerning the person and work of Jesus Christ. In the day in which we live in, the gospel is always being perverted, so on Truology, today in the very first episode,

I wanted to present the gospel of Jesus Christ and discuss some things in regards to how it's been misrepresented in our time, especially in America.

One of the perversions of the gospel has notably been the prosperity gospel.

This is the gospel by which you are promised that God will make you rich if you come to him through Christ.

It promises an unrealistic optimism, sometimes healing.

You can see modern Pentecostals adhere to this. People like Joe Osteen, Joyce Myers, T .D.

Jakes, and even people like Michael Todd, for example, are big on these kinds of things.

God wants to make you rich and prosper and bless you, name it and claim it, all of that nonsense.

That's a perversion of the gospel called the prosperity gospel, and it's not true. God has not brought salvation simply just to make you wealthy, take you out of poverty, and make you rich, at least not in the physical, monetary sense.

Christ did leave the riches of heaven to come make you rich and bless in what he can give you as an eternal inheritance, but the gospel specifically does not promise that he will make you monetarily rich on earth so long as you obey him and follow the means for blessing.

And the prosperity gospel has greatly destroyed and warped the truth of the gospel, and sadly there are many people that are in churches where this kind of perversion is preached, and I would say most, if not all, that are under that kind of spell are not saved people, and they have never heard the unadulterated gospel and therefore are still lost and dead in sin and are following the lust of their hearts being preached by false prophets.

Another form of the gospel's perversion comes through cultic corruption.

I'm sure some of you listeners are familiar with the Jehovah's Witnesses who present to you a

Jesus that is not the real Jesus, a Jesus that is the greatest creation of Jehovah God but who himself is not the

God, and through this kind of Jesus is presented a gospel which is really anchored in obedience unreservedly to the organization, the

Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. I'm sure some of you have also heard of Mormons.

Most of us have. We've seen them on their bikes, and we've seen their white shirts and their black ties and their conservative outlook and their emphasis on family and their enthusiasm to serve.

You know, Mormons are cults. They present to you a gospel of works, and it is not the pure gospel of grace, but rather it is through this organizational obedience and submission that really is the basis of what they're told is salvation and the real truth of Scripture.

But of course, that's a modern day and even historical, in many cases, perversion of the gospel.

We're gonna go through just a couple more here. Another one is, you know, just the ignorance of the masses.

You know, some people have just a simplistic faith, and this could come through inadequate preaching.

I mean, you know, I mean, how often from the pulpit, you know, if you're listening here, do you hear the gospel preached to you accurately and biblically?

You know, not just a quick, you know, believe in Jesus and you're all good or something like that, but rather a deeply meaningful presentation of the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ on the cross and the grace and righteousness of God being imputed unto the believer through faith.

It is, you know, I would say, you know, not many churches across America, especially big evangelical churches, are not really preaching that, and therefore, you know, the masses of people that, you know, fill these churches are not receiving a full gospel.

They're not receiving the full counsels of God in regards to the matter of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and therefore, you know,

I want to address some of that as we go on and really specify what the gospel is and how

God has brought it to us. There's also a lot of man -centeredness in the gospel these days.

You know, in Western North American culture, you know, we've dealt with modernism and liberalism and these things,

I mean, in Europe, too, and pretty much all across the world, but, you know, over here in America, you know, there's a lot of, you know, these days there's a lot of psychology and so -called preaching in churches today.

You know, instead of actually getting Bible teaching and exposition, you get psychology, you get the you gospel, you know, you get the add

Jesus to your life gospel so that you can follow your ambitions, you know, he'll help you on your way to be a better you, and, you know, this kind of resembles some of Joel Osteenism, you know, live your best life now on earth through these principles, but, you know, it's really a man -centered gospel.

That's not really the gospel of Jesus Christ centered around what the Bible teaches and reveals about him and who he is and what he's done.

Last reason why I think we should cover this very important topic to Christianity is secularism.

If this is not the biggest threat the church has faced in its entire life,

I don't know what is. Secularism. The growing worldview that things are just regular and mundane, there is no supernatural aspect to reality, you know, the influence of evolution and neo -Darwinianism and scientism and logical positivism and empiricism, all these things that encompass, you know, the secular worldview, including agnosticism and so forth, it presents a big threat to Christianity, and if we have a gospel that is weak biblically, then we are no threat to it.

It will continue to grow as it has, and it will prosper in its own right.

Therefore, we need a gospel that can crush the head of the serpent and proclaim liberty to the captives.

The gospel of Jesus Christ, which brings light to darkness, and without that pure and sanctified gospel that emits from the

Word of God, we cannot rightfully call ourselves um prophetic, you know, servants of the truth.

And I only put it that way because that's what, you know, Christians are called to be. We're called to be prophetic in the sense that we're to go out into the world and preach the gospel and proclaim the

Word of God and the good news that there's a king in heaven who saves sinners.

So, we need to be critical. Why do we need to be critical? Well, because there's present perversions out there.

I have several reasons here why we should be critical when we hear the gospel or when we preach the gospel so that we can make sure that we're, you know, it's biblically accurate whether we're hearing someone else preach it, it's coming from the pulpit, or when we go out and we're trying to witness to other people that we're committed to what

Scripture teaches about the gospel and we're not presenting something else. So, we need to be critical.

First reason why I have listed here is, well, there are some things that honestly misdirect our own accuracy of the gospel, like tradition.

You know, traditions can blind us, and we all have biases that we've ascribed to, and we have traditions that have been passed down to us, and whether it's the culture of your church or whatnot, you know, we all have traditions that have affected, most likely, the way we present the gospel today.

And sometimes when we're really committed to those traditions, we don't want to forsake them, and we want to hold on to them, and it affects the entirety of our

Christian life. And it is what it is, but we must be subject to the

Word of God and how the Word of God has come through its revelation and presented the gospel of Jesus Christ to us so that we can calibrate whatever traditions we have with that.

There's also, we need to be, you know, other things that misdirect our accuracy of the gospel can be things like cultural respect, you know.

Some people just do not like the doctrine of sin in hell, and honestly,

I'm talking to Christians right now. There are Christians in the pews every week that sit there and honestly hate the doctrine of sin in hell.

Whether they're Christians or not, that's for a different discussion, but, you know, we have such a distaste for those doctrines because it just beats on our pride, and it can be offensive to our friends and family, and we can, there's tendencies to, you know, stay away from that doctrinal stuff, you know, and therefore, you know, we seek cultural respect.

We want to be more acceptable, and therefore we don't talk about the tough things of scripture like the wrath of God and the fact that those who are lost and dead in sin are the children of the devil, right?

Cultural respect, I mean, you know, that misdirects our accuracy of the gospel, and let it be known.

Whether in your church or you've bumped into a professing Christian at work or elsewhere, they probably don't like that kind of stuff.

You know, there's also worldly ambition, like some of the stuff I mentioned earlier in regards to, you know, like Joe Osteen -ism, where, you know, you add

Jesus to your life, get a little bit of good psychology that helps you think better, and, you know, the

Holy Spirit just comes along in your journey and helps you become the best you you can be, you know, and in many ways it's not entirely wrong because, you know, the

Holy Spirit of God is conforming us to the image of Christ, but the way, you know, this worldly ambitious kind of perspective usually presents itself through this modern psychology rather than Bible preaching is that it is so man -centered, and it, you know, it becomes all about you rather than about Christ.

Our own hearts can also be another thing that deceives us, and if that's not the, you know, if that's not the center of it all,

I don't know what it is, you know, our hearts, you know, there are just certain things that we can convince ourselves to believe about the truths of Scripture, even when it's very clear to us.

So we need to be critical. Another reason why I have here is we may not be familiar with the biblical gospel in general.

I mean, honestly, you know, some people out there just believe in slogans. They have a superficial understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It's really nothing deep. It's the death, burial, and resurrection, and really, that's all it is.

There's nothing behind those words, and therefore, you know, when we hear the gospel, we need to hear the love of God, the wrath of God, the justification through faith alone.

Jesus, the Incarnate One, come to bear the sins of the world. It's Him rising again, victory over sin and death.

It's, you know, there needs to be more there, and honestly, I don't know how I can give you a percentage.

I'm not even going to try to give you a percentage of Americans or people around the world that probably are stuck in this kind of circumstance where they hear nothing but slogans, or they repeat slogans themselves and really have no depth in their faith, and it's tragic.

You know, we might not also be familiar with the biblical gospel also because, you know, we've probably moved away from the true gospel to a watered -down gospel presentation, you know?

We might be holding to opposing extreme views, like there are those who believe in lordship salvation to the point where it is the quantity of your works that gives you absolute assurance of your salvation.

I don't think that's true, but on the opposite end of the spectrum, we have easy -believism, you know?

And it is just that, you know, all that necessitates salvation is belief, you know?

You don't have to repent. You don't have to be sorry for your sins. It's just you acquiesce to the basic facts of Christianity, and boom, you're saved, regenerated, adopted into the faith as one of God's children.

Ta -da! Another, you know, opposing extreme view that is so prominent today across America is the sinner's prayer.

Yes, the sinner's prayer, which is always justified by passages like Romans 10 .9.

I'd like to get into that later, but, you know, the sinner's prayer, you know, kind of gives not only the person that is presenting to you the gospel, but also you, you know?

You're always told that if you pray this prayer or repeat after me, and if you mean this with all your heart and you're sincere about it, then

Jesus has forgiven you, because he has to own up to his word. You prayed the prayer. You jumped through the right hoops.

You dotted the right things, and it's...no.

It's, you know, those kinds of things just seem to really give us a false gospel presentation, and it's not the biblical gospel.

The apostles did not preach that way. They did not use those methods, and it can really just bring you down the wrong way.

The third reason I have here for why we should be critical is, you know, we're just not aware of the life that the gospel actually calls for.

You know, the salvation of the gospel is more than just having a hope for heaven one day.

You know, it is the call for repentance. It is a presentation of the sacrifice of the

Son of God, the imputation of sin upon him and his righteousness upon us through his death.

It is the justification that comes through grace by faith.

You know, the life that the gospel calls for is a life full of worship towards the

Lord. You know, the one that died on the cross was L -O -R -D. He was Kyrios.

He was the master. He was God. You know, the gospel calls us to a renewed relationship to the

Lord God. The same God that was in the Old Testament is the same God that was in flesh on the cross, and he is to be worshiped, and he is to be obeyed, and the gospel calls us to a renewed life through him, you know, walking in newness of life.

If we've died in him, then we rise just as he is risen by the glory of God the Father to this new life that we are to live in him.

In other words, we are to be committed to Christ as Lord. We are to walk in God's laws.

God's laws are the, you know, the standard of Christian living. You know, the gospel calls us not just for hopes in heaven, but it also calls us for the advancement of the kingdom of God.

Like, we are citizens of a new spiritual kingdom, and that kingdom has a king, and that king is sitting in heaven being worshiped by angels, you know, and the host of heaven, and he's ruling and reigning right now in heaven and in earth.

He said it. He has all power, and on that basis, he has vested his disciples to go baptize in the name of the triune

God all nations. So, in conclusion, you know, we need to be biblically critical, because there are many things such as tradition, culture, ignorance, false beliefs that can misdirect the truth of the gospel to us.

We can counter misrepresentations of the gospel by submitting ourselves to analyzing what we believe about the gospel through the lens of scripture, and then committing ourselves to its teachings and applications.

So, you know, we should be critical, because we're talking about the most important thing in all the universe.

We're talking about Jesus Christ, the good news of his work and life to his creatures, mankind.

Most important thing to everyone at this moment. Save their laws, the gospel.

It is the center of all your life if you're saved. It is the place you need to come if you're not saved.

Therefore, we need to be biblically critical about it whenever we hear it preached to us or how we preach it and how we study it.

We shouldn't let traditions blind us. We shouldn't have worldly ambitions come between us and serving the

Lord, and we shouldn't just see the gospel as just, you know, something ethereal out there later, heaven in the distance, but rather something here and now, a present truth that we are part of God's kingdom.

We are his people in Christ, called out as an assembly for the worship of his name and the purpose of his commission.

Okay, the gospel. What is it? Well, 1 Corinthians 15 verses 3 and 4,

Paul speaks to Corinthian church in this letter and says, "...for I deliver unto you first of all that which

I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures."

All right, if you have one minute to, like, talk to somebody about this gospel, then

I can understand if, you know, you say something like, hey, you know, I just want to share this with you.

Let's say you're handing them a track or something. I just want to share this with you, and it tells you about the hope of Jesus Christ and the salvation that comes through him, and all that he did in dying for sinners, being buried, and then rising the third day for our justification.

When you get a chance, just read this. You know, I get if you have, like, one minute to present the gospel to someone in that fashion, give them a track and be on your way.

Sure, you know, you can give something like I just did there, or maybe even a little more simple, like, you know, just hitting basically the big points like the death, burial, and resurrection.

You know, here Paul says the gospel, in summary, is how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

If you have one minute and that's all you have to say, then, you know, by God's grace, I hope you can, you know, his spirit will use that witness and bring that person to salvation in Jesus Christ.

Sure, but let's say you have, like, 10 minutes to talk to a friend, family member, or whoever it is in public, right?

What are you going to say? You know, clearly you're going to have to say more than just the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ in that, you know, quick, you know, summarized way.

There's going to be a lot more to fill in there. So in regards to the gospel of Jesus Christ, you know, as a

Christian, do you know how to present the gospel? Do you know the gospel itself? Do you have a robust understanding of what scripture has taught in regards to the person of Jesus Christ, his work, and life?

Well, if not, let's take a second to consider this, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I have here three preachers from history that would help us with our understanding of the gospel.

First one is Charles Spurgeon. I wonder if anyone's ever heard of him. In reference to 2

Corinthians 521, in his sermon, he says, like, as if he was speaking as God the

Father here, he says, "...my son, the pure and perfect, shall stand in your stead and be accounted guilty.

And you, the guilty one, shall stand in my son's stead and be accounted righteous."

He continues, and he goes on to say, "...the father treats the son as if he were a sinner, and he treats the sinner as if he or she were the precious irreplaceable

Christ." So central to the gospel message here, in reference to 2

Corinthians 521, which actually says, let me pull it up, says, "...for

he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

Central to the Christian gospel is the substitutionary atonement of Christ, the fact that he was the propitiation for our sins, meaning that he was the satisfactory payment for the judgment that we rightfully deserve.

The wrath of God was appeased in the Lamb of God who was slain that day.

And what great exchange, what amazing love this is indeed.

God the Son came to take my place in judgment, being separated from God for a moment so that I might be reconciled back to God through him.

Glory be to the Lord for what he did for us. The second person I have here, the second preacher,

Augustine says this, "...the Jews looked upon a serpent to be freed from serpents, and we, talking of Christians, look upon the death of Christ to be delivered from death."

And praise the Lord for it. Through Jesus Christ, you know, dying on the cross as the perfect Lamb of God without blemish, taking upon himself the guilt of the world.

You see, he delivered us from death, condemning death in his flesh so that we might live as he now lives, being resurrected, glorified, seated in and enthroned in heaven.

The third person I have here, A .W. Tozer, says this in one of his quotes, he says, "...Jesus

is not one of many ways to approach God, nor is he the best of several ways.

He is the only way." You see, the Christian message in regards to the gospel, as we focus on this theme of substitutionary atonement, says this, that Jesus is the only way, the only modality for the salvation of mankind.

The brokenness that is between man and God is only through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

He, dying on the cross, delivers us from eternal death. He took upon himself our sins, our guilt, our brokenness, our judgment, satisfied it in all that he was, pure and perfect, the

Son of God, God in the flesh. He didn't die as God. He died as the perfect man, a substitution for those who had fallen.

You see, that is amazing. That is something that should be so vital to our presentations of the gospel, especially if we have 10 minutes to sit down with someone.

This is not just a quick spiel on what the gospel is and how Christ died for us, and then be on your way, but rather it's like, you know,

Jesus came. The good news is that this King in heaven, he is the crucified

Messiah, the chosen one. He has come to liberate all those who will look to him in faith, those who will repent and believe that he has been set as the only modality for the freedom of our souls.

To further enhance our understanding of the gospel, we must understand what it means when the

Bible says that Jesus is the Christ. Funny story, one time

I was actually preaching to a group of kids, and I decided to ask this.

I said, what is Jesus' last name? And you won't believe what they all yelled out.

Christ! You know, everyone just kind of instantaneously just said it all at once, you know,

Jesus' last name is Christ. No, Jesus' last name is not Christ. Christ means

Messiah, the anointed one of God, the holy one, the chosen one. He is the deliverer.

It is a title appealing to his office as, you know,

God's anointed one. And being a deliverer, as the title of Christ indicates, you know, a good question to ask is delivered from what?

Well, you know, as Spurgeon says, you know, he's taking our place of judgment. You know,

Augustine said that he's delivering us from eternal death, delivered from death through Christ.

You know, that death includes the death that is rightly placed in hell and consummated in hell.

You know, Christ has come to deliver us from that. You know, one of my favorite passages in Scripture, I believe it's

Colossians 1 .13, correct me if I'm wrong,

I believe it says, you know, he has translated us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear son.

We've been translated. We've been moved from one place to another because of Christ's atonement, you know, by the grace of God.

You know, the gospel did not originate in the New Testament. It originated in Genesis, you know, specifically in Genesis, you know, chapter three, where we get the first presentation of the good news of what

God's going to do with the curse and death that has come now into the world and his creation.

He is going to crush the head of the serpent and the seed of the woman is going to, you know, be that modality by which men are going to be saved.

The serpent is going to bruise his heel, but the serpent's head is going to be bruised also.

And we see Jesus Christ coming in the New Testament as he that is, you know, who prevails and defeats the temptations of the devil, and then marches to Calvary and, you know, at his very last words, he says, it is finished, completing the prophecies that went before him, and that he, the

Christ, the deliverer, the Messiah, the anointed one of God, the holy one has come to deliver men.

You see, the problem overall that the gospel answers is the division between man and God.

You know, the world today is due to the results of the sin of our father, our first father

Adam, and we were made, we're born in his likeness, and we need to be renewed again. That thing which fell in the beginning, mankind, is the thing that, you know,

God has become to reconcile and renew that which was fallen.

Man, his soul separated from God, renewed and reconciled through atoning blood.

There's a quote here I want to read. It's by Paul Washer, well -known preacher.

He says, if God is holy and can have nothing to do with sin, if God is righteous and must always come against sin, then how can we ever be reconciled to God?

And isn't that the question that so many religions around the world right now are trying to answer?

How can man be reconciled to God? I mean, most religions don't have a holy perspective of God as Christianity does and as Scripture teaches, but, you know, overall, you know, every religion in the world, you know, as I've heard and many of us know, it basically presents to you, you know, how you can be right with God through, you know, doing this or that work.

And, you know, and at the end, you know, your goods will be outweighed. If your goods outweigh your bad deeds, and, you know, maybe you'll, you know, get into the pearly gates or something like that.

But you see, you know, you see the problem is the division between man and God. And, you know, and sin has affected, you know, you know, our morals.

It has affected the universe. And, you know, Paul Washer goes on, actually, in that same quote, he says,

How can sinful man be reconciled to a just God, whose justice demands that they be punished?

Well, you see, though sin has come into the world and death through sin, you see, the answer to all the death and the sin and the curse that is that we're now all living in, particularly in our flesh also, it could all be answered in this person, in Jesus Christ.

You see, when Christ died on the cross, he actually really accomplished something.

And now the Holy Spirit of God is applying that accomplished and finished work to those that will turn and believe on Christ.

You see, this is the great exchange that those who stood once guilty in the courtroom of God are being acquitted, not because they're innocent, oh boy, we're guilty, but rather because someone else paid the price.

And now we can, you know, be let go, so to say, be made free through that person.

And our gratitude, of course, should be to that one who paid it all for us, being made a curse for us, hanging in the tree, dying, enduring that tragedy, separated from the

Father for our redemption, to the glory of God. You see, this is why

Christ can now be praised and worshiped. He's established in heaven as the Exalted One.

God's given him a name above every name, and at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow indeed.

And we, you know, as Christians, we gladly so bow down because the good news that there is an established

King from whom flows life, peace, and the forgiveness of sins. And will you come and bow down to that King?

Because he saves sinners. It's all to the glory of God. The necessity of Jesus is that he is literally the only mediator between God and man.

1 Timothy 2 .5 makes this clear. There is no other mediator. You can't go to a priest.

You can't go to any sage. You can't go through any monk or monastery or whatever it is to cleanse yourself enough or anything like that to be made right before God.

No, you must come through Jesus Christ. John 14 .6, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man comes to the Father except by me, Jesus says. You see, Christian assurance is that because of Christ's righteousness given to us, imputed unto us, we have no worries.

We don't have to work up our own righteousness, but rather we have taken upon the whole pleasing life of Jesus Christ, the one that he lived on as a man for several years is being accounted to us.

Yes, us, those who are undeserving and have not lived the best of lives pleasing to God, even on our best days.

Yes, the righteousness of Christ is ours. And from that righteousness, we can live in that abundance of grace to serve him without having to worry about God sending a lightning bolt to us every time we mess up.

Right? Grace is now ruling, and grace enables us to live obediently in that righteousness which comes through Christ.

Now, you see, we've spent most of our time at this point talking about the gospel, especially as it regards to the substitutionary atonement of Christ, him delivering us from death, imputation of sin, being justified by faith.

There's obviously more we could have covered in this time, but just to conclude our first episode of Truology, I'd like to recommend some things pertaining to the gospel.

Meditate through scripture on these things. Go through the records of the gospels,

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and spend some time in private study in what Jesus did in his earthly ministry, and then go through the church epistles and really see the theology that is being presented from people like Paul, Peter, and see what the

Word of God has to attest to in regards to the person, life, and work of Jesus Christ and what it means to us as church members.

You know, watch sermons in the gospel. Listen to them. Listen to respected preachers.

Ask questions to those that are in authority in your church like your pastors and your deacons who should know these things with great accuracy as they have devoted their lives to minister to you.

I would recommend getting books on the gospel. There's so many theology books available today.

We live in a great part of history where we just have so much handed down to us and passed down to us from great theologians that have written on this stuff.

You know, theology is not just for the pastors or the in the church. It's for everyone.

You know, theology is central to your daily Christian life. Therefore, you know, whether it's preaching the gospel publicly or, you know, sharing the gospel in weekly fellowship, it should be very precious to us, and we should have a zeal to get it correct and not skew its accuracy by anything.

So, as we conclude here, I would like to say thank you so much for tuning in to Trueology.

If you would like to know when my next episode is dropping, please follow me on social media.

Right now, you're probably listening to this on Spotify podcast where I can be found at Trueology.

If you want to follow me on YouTube, you can look me up on the search bar by typing in trueologydebutthegospel.

My official account is drbluethetruologist, and there you can like, comment, subscribe, and of course hitting the bell notification so you can be alerted when the very next episode of Trueology drops.

I'm also available on Instagram at studyofthetruth and at you'remyboyblue.

Boy in that particular account is spelled B -O -I -I, so on Instagram at studyofthetruth and you'remyboyblue.

Be sure to also look me up on Facebook at BelushiPrevalon, which is my full name, my first name being spelled

B -E -L -U -S -H -I, and my last name P -R -E -V -I -L -O -N.

So, until then, don't be like Pilot. He was in front of the truth, and he knew it not. I hope

Trueology has encouraged you in some way or some form to be a good Berean, to investigate these things, to see whether the things that were discussed here were in fact true.

So, I hope to see you next time on Trueology, the study of the truth, as it is in Jesus.