Hearing is Not Enough: Responding to the Gospel
Knowing vs. Responding
I once had a experienced bull rider tell me right before my ride, "You have to want to stay on the bull more than the bull wants to get you off." That advice made perfect sense. I had the head knowledge. I understood what I needed to do. But knowing wasn’t enough. I had to commit. I had to apply what I knew, hold on with everything I had, and actually ride.
The same is true for faith. Knowing about Jesus isn’t the same as responding to Him. You can have all the head knowledge, all the religious experience, and still miss it. The gospel isn’t just something to hear—it’s something to respond to.
The Danger of Just Knowing
There’s a massive difference between knowing about Jesus and actually following Him. You can grow up in church, memorize scripture, and serve in ministry but still not be walking in obedience. The question isn’t, Have you heard the gospel? but, Have you responded to it?
Jesus Himself made it clear:
📖 Luke 9:23 (NASB 1995) “And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.’”
What It Means to Die to Self
Dying to self means laying down personal desires, ambitions, and pride for the sake of following Jesus. It means rejecting the me first culture that tells us happiness is the ultimate goal. It’s giving up our own definitions of success, comfort, and self-promotion in order to live in full obedience to Christ.
In a world that says, Be true to yourself, Jesus says, Die to yourself.
Countercultural Faith
We live in a culture obsessed with self-fulfillment. The world tells us to follow your heart—but scripture warns against this:
📖 Jeremiah 17:9 (NASB 1995) “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?”
Social media, self-help books, and influencers preach that happiness, comfort, and self-expression are the highest goals in life. But Jesus calls us to something greater:
📖 Matthew 16:25 (NASB 1995) “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
Jesus Never Promised Happiness—But He Did Promise Peace
I recently heard a preacher say, Jesus never offered anyone happiness, but He did offer peace.
Our world is obsessed with chasing happiness, but happiness is based on external circumstances—and circumstances change. Jesus offers something far greater: eternal joy and peace that isn’t shaken by what happens around us.
📖 John 16:33 (NASB 1995) “These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
The Western world has bought into the lie that life is about pursuing happiness, comfort, and success. But Jesus never said, Follow Me, and life will be easy. He said, Take up your cross. He said, Lose your life for My sake, and you will find it.
📖 Matthew 6:19-20 (NASB 1995) “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on the earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.”
Responding to the gospel isn’t just about believing in Jesus—it’s about surrendering to Him. It’s about laying down our version of success and picking up His mission. It’s about realizing that we don’t live for the temporary, but for the eternal.
Hearing vs. Responding
The greatest battle we face today isn’t external—it’s internal. The battle of self versus surrender. The world says, Live for yourself, but Jesus says, Live for Me. The world says, Find your truth, but Jesus says, I am the truth. The world says, You are enough, but the gospel says, You need a Savior.
And the difference between those two perspectives is the difference between just hearing the gospel and actually responding to it.
Paul understood this when he wrote to the Romans, pleading with his people to stop relying on their own efforts and fully surrender to Christ:
📖 Romans 10:1-4 (NASB 1995) “Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”
The Call to Respond
Many people in church today are religious, active in ministry, and passionate about good works—but they have never fully surrendered to Jesus. Like the Jews Paul was writing to, they may have enthusiasm for God, but it is not based on true faith in Christ.
📖 John 5:39-40 (NASB 1995) “You examine the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is those very Scriptures that testify about Me, and yet you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.”
Passion without truth is dangerous, and truth without application is useless. You can know the Bible from cover to cover, but if you don’t know Jesus, you’re still lost.
God isn’t impressed by how much you know—He’s moved by how much you obey. The worst deception isn’t ignorance—it’s thinking you’re right with God when you’re not. The gospel is not for head knowledge—it’s for life change.
Responding to the gospel means more than hearing it. It means surrender. It means obedience. It means living for Jesus instead of ourselves.
Have you just heard the gospel? Or have you responded to it?