The Whole Will of God – The Full Gospel

In a court of Law when a witness is being sworn in they are asked, “Do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”  For justice to prevail the whole truth must be known.  A partial truth is no truth at all.  Webster's dictionary defines truth as "the body of real things, events, and facts: actuality.  Most everyone understands, from his or her personal experience, that a partial truth can be as misleading as an outright lie.  Nowhere is the need for the whole truth more important than as it relates to faith in God. The whole truth relates perfectly to the person and the character of God.  However, partial truth is certain to misrepresent God, His purposes and His plans.  To miss the truth is to miss God,

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).

Paul makes a powerful claim about the gospel. What is recorded is extremely important, indicating the consequences if man does not have the whole truth. He said,

I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God (Acts 20:26-27).

This underscores the importance of receiving the whole truth.  But, what does this expression, “innocent of the blood of all men” mean?  Lets look at a similar statement Paul made earlier.

But when the Jews opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles" (Acts 18:6).

In the Old Testament we find that God first used this expression when giving Moses instructions about the law. This is what Yahweh said,

“If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads” (Leviticus 20:13).

“A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads” (Leviticus 20:27)

The expression, “their blood will be on their own heads,” means that the responsibility for their lives will be theirs.  In Ezekiel, Yahweh uses the expression again speaking of eternal life.

"Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself (Ezekiel 3:17-19).

The word of Yahweh came to me: "Son of man, speak to your countrymen and say to them: 'When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head. Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning, his blood will be on his own head. If he had taken warning, he would have saved himself. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.' "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you will surely die,' and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his ways and he does not do so, he will die for his sin, but you will have saved yourself (Ezekiel 33:1-9).

Clearly the man of God has significant responsibility both for the eternal well being of his audience and for himself.  First, he must understand the whole will of God in order to proclaim it.  Then he must ensure his audience understands so they can decide, believe and obey - or perish.

With this in mind, what then is "the whole will of God"?  Is the whole will of God being proclaimed in the church today?  The answer is almost universally, NO!  We do not proclaim the Full Gospel today!

Many pastors neglect the justice of God while exaggerating His mercy, because they are afraid that the Full Gospel message will scare people away.  They market the church, making it attractive to the world so the world will come in and the church will grow.  Some Evangelicals even preach that God loves everyone, so believe and be saved.  This is not the gospel! The gospel calls us to repent, turn from our ways to Yahweh's ways, so that we may be saved by His grace.  Without repentance there will be no salvation!

Many churchgoers seek comfort from the Bible and ignore the righteous requirements of obedience.  Not knowing that Jesus will soon return to judge and punish the world for its unbelief and disobedience.

He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus (2 Thessalonians 1:8) .

Do you know “the whole will of God”?  Are you reading for understanding, the Word of God, or are you trusting in man?  Remember, “a partial truth is a whole lie,”

Your eternal life depends on the Truth!

Richard H Perry