Matthew 7:21-23, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
I love this simple and clear passage of Scripture, because it is a classic example of Lordship Salvation in the inspired Holy Bible. These people called Jesus “Lord, Lord,” but the dear Savior denied knowing them as His redeemed sheep. They sadly went to Hell forever in their sins. They had spent their time on earth living the Christian life, but without ever being born again. Tragically, this is exactly the situation with 99% of churchgoers today. Satan's greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without ever being born again. John 3:3, “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The new birth is NOT optional.
By just adding trusting in water baptism, turning away from your sinful bad habits, repenting of sinful ways, following Christ as the Lord of your life, surrendering all to Him, doing good works, forsaking the world, et cetera—it is now IMPOSSIBLE to be born anew by the Holy Spirit of God. No one has ever been born again (saved) who trusted anything more Jesus, who is the Christ, the only begotten (biological) Son of God.
We Are Saved By Trusting The Gospel (which means, 'Good News')
Look at these simple passages of Scripture, which reiterate that we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ...
Galatians 3:26, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”Ephesians 1:12-14, “That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”
The Bible makes it very easy for us, by defining exactly what is 'THE GOSPEL'...
1st Corinthians 15:1-6, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered 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: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.”
There you have it. THE GOSPEL is comprised of three things:
- Jesus DIED on a cross for our sins.
- He was BURIED.
- Three days later Jesus RESURRECTED bodily from the dead.
That is THE GOOD NEWS by which all who BELIEVE IT are saved. Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
Ephesians 1:12-13a, “That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit...”
This is how you get saved—after you hear the truth of the Gospel preached, you BELIEVE IT!
That is exactly how Cornelius and his friends were saved in Acts 10:34-44. The Apostle Peter preached the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ unto them, and they quietly listened. After they heard THE TRUTH of the Gospel preached unto them, THEY BELIEVED IT and were saved in verse 44.
This is what the Apostle Paul means in Galatians 3:2, “This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” Paul wanted to know from the churches of Galatia how they got saved (i.e., how did they become indwelt with the Holy Spirit). The apostle gives them a multiple choice question. Did they get saved by doing the works of the Old Testament law to be saved; or, did they get saved by trusting in the truth of the Gospel after hearing it preached unto them? Did you get saved by works or by faith? I love Paul's choice of words, “the hearing of faith.”
With that beautiful phrase in mind, please apply it to Hebrews 4:2, “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” I love that! The writer of Hebrews (I humbly think it was Paul but we don't know for certain) is speaking here about the Jews who wandered in the Wilderness for 40 years. They wandered because they were trying really hard to find their way out, but God had made it impossible for them to escape. As we just read, Moses preached the truth of the Gospel unto them for 40 years, but they didn't get saved because they lacked faith in what they heard. They didn't have “the hearing of faith” which Paul spoke of to the Galatians. Unfortuntely for those Jews, they had the hearing of doubt.
Dear reader, it is that simple to be saved. When you hear the truth of the Gospel (Jesus' death, burial and resurrection) preached unto you (or you read it in a book), you simply need to BELIEVE IT to be saved and receive eternal life. The moment you are saved, all your sins (past, present and future) are all forgiven forever.
I love all these precious Bible passages. Perhaps you've never heard God's simple plan of salvation presented so simply before. Obtaining eternal life is simply a matter of trusting that Jesus has done it all for you. Here are some of my favorite statements about salvation...
- Good works are not the payment for sin, the payment for sin is death.
- Salvation is not a reward for the righteous, it is a gift for the guilty!
- Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith.
- Turning away from sinful ways would be a work. Faith puts all of the merit where it belongs, on the object of our faith, Jesus and His work.
- If to “repent” means to forsake our sinful ways TO BE SAVED, but Jesus already paid for our sins by dying on the cross, then what are we repenting from?
- The true Gospel always points you to CHRIST; a false gospel always points to YOU.
- We must stay true to the simplicity of the Gospel. Repentance regarding salvation is a change of mind from unbelief to belief. We must earnestly contend for the faith (Jude 1:3).
The Gospel Needs Your Help
Sometimes people who follow my internet ministry ask me why I preach against Lordship Salvation, corrupt Bibles and misunderstood repentance so much. The simple reasons are that very few preachers are exposing these evils today, and also because your eternal destination depends upon getting the truth right. RIGHT DOCTRINE MATTERS!!!
Our text passage of Scripture provides clear biblical evidence that it is possible to diligently serve Christ for a lifetime, to do many wonderful works (not just a few), and to follow Christ as the supreme Lord of your life, and yet still go to Hell. I love this thought provoking quote from one of my favorite preachers, Pastor Harry A. ironside (1876-1951):
“The Gospel is not a call to repentance, or to amendment of our ways, to make restitution for past sins, or to promise to do better in the future. These things are proper in their place, but they do not constitute the Gospel; for the Gospel is not good advice to be obeyed, it is good news to be believed. Do not make the mistake then of thinking that the Gospel is a call to duty or a call to reformation, a call to better your condition, to behave yourself in a more perfect way than you have been doing in the past …
Nor is the Gospel a demand that you give up the world, that you give up your sins, that you break off bad habits, and try to cultivate good ones. You may do all these things, and yet never believe the Gospel and consequently never be saved at all.”
SOURCE: Harry A. Ironside, from the tract: 'What Is The Gospel?'
That is one of my favorite preacher quotes! Pastor Ironside gets the Gospel 100% right! I think my ministry friend, Michael P. Bowen, in his excellent defense of the Christian faith titled, I NEVER KNEW YOU, said it best:
I am at eternal odds with the false, counterfeit messages of salvation-by-works that are taught from virtually every pulpit today, on every television channel, and on every Christian radio station; however, I am not at eternal odds with the individuals who preach these counterfeit messages. My heart literally goes out to all of them because they simply do not understand Christ’s plan of salvation. They have been lied to by a crafty enemy named Satan, whose sole aim is to take as many people with him to the lake of fire as he can possibly manage to steal away from God using a counterfeit plan of salvation that appears so real, so genuine, and so holy that few ever realize they have been deceived by it. Oh reader, so many of today’s professing Christians who think they are going to heaven when they die are not going to make it to heaven as they had assumed because they’ve been lied to by today’s error-filled gospel messages.
SOURCE: Michael Patrick Bowen, 'I NEVER KNEW YOU,' p. 17; © 2009, Xulonpress.com. Hard Copies Available
It is my heart's sincere desire that an army of truth-telling Christian believers rise up on social media, to help me expose the Devil's lies of Lordship Salvation, Misunderstood Repentance and the fraudulent modern Bible revisioons which pervert God's simple plan of salvation. The preceding three links are to excellent articles written by my hero of the faith, Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001), from his helpful book titled: 'ENEMIES OF SOULWINNING.'
Dear friend, the Gospel needs your help and mine. Everywhere we turn today in the churches and on social media, the Gospel is being embellished, watered-down, corrupted, changed and made impotent to save. The Bible calls a corrupt gospel “another gospel” (2nd Corinthians 11:3-4). You can help others by sharing truthful free grace Gospel resources on social media. My websites and blogs are loaded with helpful resources. I make no money, have never made any money, and never will make any money from my ministry labors. I have never received a single penny for serving God, and I don't plan to start now or in the future. I labor for God alone out of a genuine uncinditional love for Jesus, truth and people (John 14:15). My rewards are waiting for me in Heaven (1st Corinthians 3:8; Matthew 6:19-20; Daniel 12:3).
I encourage you to share edifying articles, sermons, memes and other helpful resources that expose the Devil's lies of Lordship Salvation, Misunderstood Repentance, False Bibles and False Prophets like Billy Graham.
Inexcusable Blatant Corruption In The Modern Bible Versions
You cannot lead a lost sinner to the Lord with a corrupt plan of salvation, which is what all of the Devil's modern bibles contain.
For example: Here is Mark 1:15 from the contemptible Easy-To-Read Version (ERV), which the ungodly Harvest Baptist Church on Guam uses, sells and promotes, to their shame:
Mark 1:15, “He said, “The right time is now here. God’s kingdom is very near. Change your hearts and lives, and believe the Good News!”
Now here is what the inspired King James Bible reads:
Mark 1:15, “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”
The Greek word for “repent” in this verse is the verb metanoeo, which means “to think differently.” The noun form metanoia means “a change of mind.” So, where in the world prey tell me did the translators of the ERV get the idea that repentance means to “change your hearts and lives”? Do you see how these dishonest Bible publishers today wickedly change the Holy Bible to say wnatever they want? Their translations are not even based upon the ancient Hebrew, Chaldean and Greek. They just pulled their new changes from their behinds! Proverbs 30:5-6, “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.”
Dear friend, I could literally spend hours enlightening you with such blatant dishonest perversions (unjustified changes) which today's hundreds of corrupt English Bible revisions have done to wrest, butcher and pervert God's inspired Words. Jeremiah 23:36, “And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man's word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God.”
Closing Remarks
I wish I could open up the understanding of every Christian today, to see the woeful danger posed by today's perverted Bible revisions, counterfeit plans of salvation (wrong repentance and Lordship Salvation), false prophets, et cetera. The $64,000 question is: Do you care?
I know that I relentlessly preach on the topic of salvation and heresies related to getting saved, but life is short dear reader, Hell is hot and eternity is a long time. These new rotten bibles today are lethal spiritually, for a lost person or a baby believer. Right words matter, they really do! God's inspired Word is not open for debate, correction and alteration. There is no controversy if you believe the Holy Bible. Jeremiah 5:31, “The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?” The biggest problem in the churches today is the church member who doesn't SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES as Jesus commanded (John 5:39), to verify if the things their pastor is saying are true (Acts 17:10-11). Sadly, most pastors are LIARS.
By God's grace, I have dedicated the remainder of my life to contend for the Christian faith (Jude 1:3). I welcome you to join me. Calvinism must be exposed! (an excellent video by Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold). There is something that every saint of God can do to further the Gospel for the sake of Jesus and the Kingdom of God (Mark 10:29-30). Every child of God ought to be doing something to serve God. Use whatever talents, resources and abilities which God has given you for the cause of Christ. The simple Gospel must be defended and preached, because the Devil relentlessly works to blind the lost, to hunder them from seeing the truth of the Gospel (2nd Corinthians 4:3-4). Thank you for reading my ministry blog.
