Why I Believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ

There is too much information. There is remarkable confusion about the information. One can surely know what the information entails. Having knowledge of volumes of information does not ensure one has the truth, however. Truth is essential as a means and an end. Truth is what men must believe.

Truth, as a body of knowledge, is not generated by man. Man discovers truth, but he is never the source of it. In addition, discovery of truth is entirely dependent on revelation. Even revelation is autonomous. It exists whether it is apprehended or not. The blind man cannot see the light of day, but the day and the light exist with or without him.

God is true and every man is a liar (Rom 3:4); therefore, it is problematic for man. Humanity is deceived, and people deceive one another. We live in a world of lies and misinformation. In his natural state, a man may claim he is interested in the truth, but in truth, he is content with convenient lies that benefit him.

Education, without truth, is simply causing people to know more and more information. It is common for people to always be learning, but coming to the knowledge of the truth is elusive. It is noble for one to tell another, “Seek the truth,” but if the mind is blinded from knowing the truth (2 Cor 4:4), then all is vanity (Eccl 1:9).

A vaporous life of futility is complicated by a desperate quest for survival. The end, however, remains the same. Death comes to all flesh, which means a show of prowess, at survival, is meaningless. Simply put, in Adam, all die (1 Cor 15:22), first the soul and then the body. After this, there comes the judgment (Heb 9:27). Man is guilty of sin, and his primary need is salvation, from the punishment issued by God, in eternal, fiery hell (Mt 25:46; Jude 7; Rev 20:14–15). There is only one Savior of sinners, Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12; Titus 1:4; 2:13; 3:6).

Revelation is God making Himself known, and salvation is knowing Him. To know Him, one must first be known by Him. In other words, the truth is conveyed by God, to whom He chooses to reveal Himself (Mt 11:25, 27; 16:17). Revelation received is an act of mercy (Rom 9:15). One either has the Son of God or he does not (Jn 3:36; 1 Jn 5:12).

Jesus Christ is the revealed truth of God, come into the world (Jn 1:14; 14:6). He existed for a short season, as God incarnate, but many did not receive Him. Some did receive Him, by the will of God (Jn 1:12–13), as an act of God’s grace. Therefore, we see God’s revealed mercy and grace in salvation.

Only by the grace of God does a spiritually blind man see the truth, as it is in Jesus Christ (Eph 4:21). To receive Jesus is to receive the truth. The truth sets people free (Jn 8:32), from their futile existence in an ocean of lies. Jesus came to set the captives free (Lk 4:18), from enslavement to sin (Rom 6:6, 16–20).

Who would believe our report in these matters (Is 53:1; Lk 12:38; Rom 10:16)? The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God (1 Cor 2:15) because he does not have the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:9), who is the Spirit of Christ. Only the Spirit of truth can guide one into all truth (Jn 16:13). It is the will of God for one to receive the Spirit of Christ (Jn 1:13; Rom 9:16), and when this grace visits one of God’s elect, it is new life (Eph 2:5, 8–9). Having Christ Jesus, the received and now apprehended truth of God, comes with the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16).

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was focused on God the Father. With Christ’s Spirit indwelling each redeemed soul, He causes our attention to focus on Christ, risen from the dead, glorified, and enthroned as King of kings (Rev 1:5).

Each person is warned by Holy Scripture that the revelation of Jesus Christ is foolishness (1 Cor 1:18), unless one has received the Spirit of the Son of God. Thus, no one can believe the Gospel of Jesus, so to be saved (Acts 16:31), unless he has been saved by God (Titus 3:5), so as to believe in Jesus.

Stated another way, God sends the Spirit of truth (Jn 14:26; 15:26), to whom He wills, so that where two may hear the same Gospel message preached (Mt 24:14; Mk 16:15), only one believes, by virtue of the grace granted and worked in the soul (heart and mind) of the elect, redeemed one.

Believers in Jesus are transferred into Christ’s kingdom (Col 1:13), and they simply bear witness of what God has graciously chosen to do (Acts 1:18; Rom 11:5; Titus 3:5). As beneficiaries of so great a salvation, having received a token of an unfathomable inheritance (2 Cor 5:5), it would be blasphemous for the heir of God to claim he has done anything to secure the blessing of God on his own accord (Rom 8:17).

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the Word of Christ (Rom 10:17), which is preached by the Holy Spirit, who plants it in good soil He Himself has cultivated (Lk 8:4–15; Jas 1:21). Faith is merely the apparatus installed by the Spirit’s permanent presence, in God’s chosen people, redeemed by Christ.

Believers believe because God has caused them to believe. He has given them Someone to believe in, and by putting the Spirit of that Someone in them, they have no choice but to believe. They cannot, not believe in Christ because He lives in them. There is no denying Christ because God cannot deny Himself. Otherwise, He would be a liar.

If the Spirit of Christ has come upon you, to baptize and permanently indwell you (Jn 14:17; Rom 8:9, 11; Jas 4:5); then the testimony of Christ is in you (1 Cor 2:1; Rev 19:10). If the Spirit has not come upon you, then you have no faith and no Gospel witness. You do not believe because you do not belong to Christ (Jn 10:26).

When the Holy Spirit has come upon you, then you will be Christ’s witness wherever He has placed you in the world (Acts 1:8). With this divine teacher and guide, you will walk in the manner of His wisdom and in His power (1 Cor 1:24).

I believe this Gospel of Jesus Christ because it has been granted to me, not only to believe it, but also to suffer for its sake (Acts 13:48; Phil 1:29)…or should I say, for His sake and for the sake of His elect body of saints (Col 1:24; 2 Tim 2:10). I not only believe this, but this is why I believe it.

David Norczyk

Spokane Valley, Washington

December 6, 2022