2nd Corinthians 4:3-4, “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
Perhaps the greatest sin being committed today by churches, missionaries and Bible colleges everywhere is that they embellish God's simple plan of salvation, adding their own human interpretation to the Gospel. In this blog I am going to present the simple Gospel, and expose what is not the Gospel, so that you will from hereafter KNOW God's simple plan of salvation dear reader.
What saith the Scripture?
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.”
From 1st Corinthians 15:16 we know that the Gospel is comprised of three things:
- Jesus DIED by crucifixtion on a cross to pay for our sins.
- He was BURIED.
- Christ RESURRECTED from the dead three days later.
The only prerequisite to believing the Gospel is to know why you need to be saved in the first place (which is because you are a guilty sinner in God's sight); and you must know what you are being saved from (which is from being punished in the fires of Hell forever for your own sins). No one has ever been saved who didn't admit to being a needy sinner.
I love how military chaplain David Rutkin explains God's simple plan of salvation...
Don't muddy the Gospel. Explain it simply so it can be understood by the hearer.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the most significant element of the Christian faith.
Needless to say, the Gospel should be preached at church and I firmly believe at every occasion.
The Apostle Paul separated himself from others according to the clear Gospel message of Christ (Rom. 1:1). The Gospel is where he divided himself from another.
The clear Gospel message should be the foundation of where a church stands. If one does not get the Gospel saving message correct (Rom. 1:16), then they are likely to err in other understandings of Scripture.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is His sinless shed blood, death, burial, and resurrection as the full substitute payment which saves a sinner from eternal damnation when believed by faith.
If the Gospel is tampered with at all and not explained vividly, it can lose its saving effect. Notice the verses below.
“For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.” - 1 Corinthians 1:17
“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” - 2 Corinthians 11:3
“Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” - Galatians 5:4
This is a harsh reality, and a real tragedy which is going on in many Christian churches today. Every Bible-believing church should give a clear presentation of the Gospel and invitation to accept Jesus Christ alone as Savior by personal faith.
I’m a stickler for a clear presentation of the Gospel.
Salvation is not a sinner promising to turn from sin, sorrow for sin, or giving their life/heart to Jesus so that He will save them. Salvation has nothing to do with our promises or gifts to Christ. Salvation is simply us accepting Jesus’ satisfactory payment on the cross of Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins. We simply trust in Jesus alone to save us (Acts 16:31, Rom. 4:5, 1 Cor. 15:1-4, Eph. 2:8-9).
Jesus gave His life for us (Gal. 1:4, 1 Tim. 2:6, Tit. 2:14); we don’t give anything to Christ for salvation.
“I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain” (Gal. 2:21).
If we make salvation about us or something we promise to do for God, then salvation is no longer a gift, but we earned it (Rom. 4:16, 11:6). A sinner must understand they have nothing to offer Christ, but simply trust in Him alone to save them by accepting His substitutionary payment for their sins. SOURCE
That being said, I am sickened that thousands of churches all across the United States are wickedly partaking of Franklin Graham's Operation Christmas Child (OCC). In fact, Billy and Franklin Graham preach another gospel. They preach the Devil's falsehood of Lordship Salvation (grace plus Christian service), not a truly free grace Gospel message (grace plus nothing). In supporting OCC, churches are wickedly bidding Godspeed to a counterfeit plan of salvation, which OCC includes in every box that is shipped to foreign countries. It doesn't matter what churches put into the boxes, OCC poisons them with a false gospel that teaches Lordship Salvation that obscure the Gospel. 2nd John 1:11, “For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.”
Sadly, there is a lackadaisical attitude of indifference in most Baptist churches today, so that clergy and laity alike couldn't care less about doctrinal integrity. Nor do they care about the purity of God's Word. I am tired of fools critiquing the inspired King James Bible, while defending Satan's perverted modern revisions that attack Jesus' deity and Godhead.
The reason why so many churches are contributing and supporting this dangerous parachurch ministry is sadly because of a woeful lack of ministry outreach into our local communities. Let's be honest, the average church today is spiritually dead. I have seen pastor after pastor who are guilty of teaching Ken Ham's perverted Answers-In-Genesis garbage, or using other things they've found on social media, instead of doing their own homework as pastors to prepare sermons and Bible studies. They are lazy pastors!
Most churches feel like a funeral home where someone has died, full of mostly old people at the end of life's journey. Youth want no part of today's lifeless neo-evangelical churches with their superficial Sunday morning so-called “worship.” The Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) that is sung in most churches today is a disgrace to the cause of Jesus Christ. I love the old hymns with their rich theological lyrics, which is woefully lacking in today's CCM.
Dear reader, the Gospel of free grace taught in God's Word does NOT include:
- Being willing to turn from your sins
- Forsaking sinful bad habits
- Receiving Jesus as Lord of your life
- Exchanging all that you are for all that Christ is
- Living a lifestyle of repentance
- Forsaking the old sinful ways
- Living a changed life
- Committing yourself to live for Christ
- Inviting Jesus into your heart
- Asking God to save you
- Praying a sinner's prayer
- Going to church
- Doing good works
- Forsaking the world
- Forsaking a lifestyle of sinning
- Publicly confess Jesus
- Become a Christ follower
- Do sacraments
- Confess your sins to a priest or minister
- Have your sins absolved by a priest
- Serve Christ faithfully
- Live the Christian life
- Persevere to the end in holiness
- Run the race
- Be water baptized
Dear friend, you may do all of the preceding things and yet never have been born again at all. Jesus warned in no uncertain terms that to enter into the Kingdom of God you MUST BE 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.” You get born again by having Jesus, who is the beginning and the end (Revelation 1:7), born in you by His Holy Spirit (John 1:12-13). In Romans 8:9 the blessed Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of Christ.”
I love what Pastor Harry Ironside (1876-1951) said:
WHEN THE REVIVALIST comes promising salvation to those "who make a full surrender" of all that they have to God, and who "pay the price of full salvation," he is preaching another gospel, for the price was paid on Calvary's cross and the work that saves is finished. It was Christ Jesus who made the full surrender, when He yielded Himself unto death for us that we might be redeemed from the curse of the broken law and forever saved from the judgment to come upon all who refuse His grace. —Pastor Harry Ironside, “Another Gospel”
Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold is one of few preachers today who fully understands the grave importance of getting the Gospel correct...
“There is power in this Gospel message. Most people just don't know how to present it... The clarity of the Gospel is what makes it easy for them to believe.”—Pastor Yankee Arnold, “WHY GRACE CAN SAVE THE WORST MAN!”
Folks, right doctrine matters. I said, RIGHT DOCTRINE MATTERS! More people are going to spend eternity in Hell because they trusted too much. Satan's greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without ever being born again (Matthew 7:21-23). So, please beware of FALSE PROPHETS who embellish God's simple plan of salvation in their woeful ignorance, “which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” (2nd Peter 3:16).
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