Tonight we consider or we continue our series
concerning restoring New Testament Christianity
I Hope over the last couple days. We've set a
good foundation for the things that we hope to
begin to talk about Concerning restoring the
faith doctrine and practices of the church that
Jesus Christ built Tonight we're going to talk
about restoring the simple gospel plan for man's
salvation God has a plan for your salvation.
He has a plan for my salvation. It is a simple
plan. And we want to go to the Bible tonight
to study that plan and see what God has to tell
us through His Word about His plan for man's
salvation. The word gospel means good news. It
literally means good news. And the gospel truly
does consist of wonderful, amazing news. But
you know sometimes I fear that Maybe people fail
to appreciate the good news of the gospel because
they first don't understand how bad news The
bad news of sin really is so I want to spend
a few moments with you tonight It would probably
be good for all of us to be reminded how terribly
bad The bad news of sin really is Sin is the
worst news I want us to stop and think about
our sin for just a moment. You know, in the beginning,
God created mankind. He created him in His image,
the Bible says. He created him unlike any other
thing in creation. We were made in the image
of God in that we have a heart, a mind, and a
will, just like God does. And God put us on this
planet and He provided everything we would ever
need. The water we drink, the food we eat, the
air that we breathe, the sunlight that lights
our path. God provided everything that we would
need. then He gave us a law to follow. He had
expectations. He had a will for us to follow
as we passed our time here on this planet that
He created. He gave us dominion over this creation
and told us to subdue it. And after all that,
after all the wonderful amazing things that God
did for us, To show us how much he loved us and
care for us in making us creating for us and
providing for us After all that it wasn't enough
It wasn't enough You know God told Adam and Eve
he said you see all these Trees here in this
garden. He said you can eat of all the trees
of the garden Except for that one tree in the
middle of the garden, the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, God told Adam and Eve, don't
eat of it, don't even touch it, if you do, you'll
surely die. You know, they had one rule to live
by. They had one rule to follow. They had a hundred
yeses and one no. But you know what, it still
wasn't enough. Because you know when Satan came
in the form of a serpent and tempted Adam and
Eve and told them to reach out and take hold
of the one no When they had a hundred different
yeses they could have took instead They gave
in to the devil's temptation and they committed
sin You know, they didn't want to feel like they
were missing out, right? You know, that's one
of the tactics I believe the devil used to deceive
them Let them to believe that they were missing
out, you know God knows in the day that you eat
that fruit Your eyes will be open. You'll be
as God's knowing good and evil You know the devil
deceived him into believing, you know, you're
really missing out on something God wants you
to he wants to hold you back and have you miss
out on something By not eating that fruit of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil You
know, I know we're talking about Adam and Eve
and a person can say well that was Adam and Eve
That's not me. Is it really? Are we really all
that much different than Adam and Eve? We have
the will of God. We understand what He wants
for us. But we do the very same thing, don't
we? We commit sin. We transgress the will of
God. We do things that are contrary to His holy,
divine will after all the many wonderful things
that He's done for us. In return for that, we
give Him what? Rebellion. We give him what? Disrespect.
We dishonor him. We disobey him. You know, that's
what makes sin such terrible bad news. When we
commit sin, we are dishonoring, disrespecting,
and rebelling against the all -loving, all -powerful,
all -knowing Creator who made us and everything
around us for the purpose of reflecting His holiness,
His glory, and His righteousness. That's why
He put us here. And when we commit sin, we fall
so far short of our purpose in living and being
here on this earth. And for those reasons and
more, I hope you can see and I hope you've been
reminded tonight that sin is bad news. It's bad
news. It separates us from God. We can't have
a relationship with God when we're guilty of
sin. God is a perfect sinless and holy God. And
sin separates us and it drives us away from God.
And that's even more evidence to the fact that
sin is bad, terrible, the worst news imaginable.
But you know what? The gospel is good news. You
know, the gospel provides the solution, the only
solution to this problem of sin. The gospel is
the best news that I could ever imagine bringing
to you tonight. The gospel is the good news of
the fact that Jesus came, died, was buried, rose
from the dead, and He offers salvation to all
them who come to Him and trust Him and obey Him.
despite the fact that we rebelled against God
and dishonored Him and disrespected Him, despite
that fact He still loves us and gave His Son
as a sacrifice to cleanse us and forgive us and
bring us out of that guilt and condemnation so
that we can have that relationship with our God
restored back to what God intended it to be.
That is good news. Where would we be today without
that? We'd be lost. With no hope of eternal life,
we'd be helpless and we wouldn't have a chance
of spending eternity with the God that made us.
And for those reasons and many more, I'm here
to tell you tonight, and I'm so glad to be here
to tell you that the gospel is good news. It
is good news. We need to understand a few things
about the gospel. Romans 1 -16, Paul talks about
the good news of the gospel. He says, For I am
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Why? For
it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to
the Greek. The gospel is the saving power of
God. God saves people today. And every time God
saves someone, He does it. Through the gospel
because the gospel is the saving power of God
and we notice that that gospel is made Available
to everyone. It's the saving power of God to
everyone Not to a limited few or a select few.
It's the saving power of God to everyone Who
believes and comes to Jesus Christ according
to the teaching of the gospel? Gospels powerful.
It's God's power to save today When we talk about
the gospel, the good news, it all boils down
to three fundamental facts. The fundamental facts
of the gospel are these, that Jesus died, that
He was buried, and that He rose again. Now, the
death, burial, and resurrection, it might seem
like it just rolls off the tongue so quickly.
And it's easy for us to say it and recite it.
It's easy for us to talk about the death, burial
and resurrection of Jesus. But it's not just
the simple fact that he died, the simple fact
that he was buried, the simple fact that he rose
from the dead. It's the significance of his death.
It's what his death means to us. The significance
of that burial and that resurrection, everything
that resurrection implies, everything it signifies,
every blessing it makes available to us, all
that is wrapped up in the good news of the gospel.
But when you boil it all down to its to its fundamental
facts, it's the death, burial and resurrection
of Jesus. In First Corinthians 15, one to four,
listen to what Paul says. Paul says, Moreover,
brethren, he says, I declare unto you the gospel.
Paul's gonna declare the gospel to these Corinthians.
He says, which I preached unto you. He'd already
preached this gospel to them. This wasn't the
first time they heard it. He says, I preach this
gospel to you which also ye have received and
wherein ye stand. He acknowledges that these
Corinthians had heard and received the gospel
and they were standing in the present truth of
the gospel. He says, by which also ye are saved.
Same thing he told The Romans, the gospel is
the saving power of God. He reminds them that
they are saved by the gospel. But he says, if
if you keep in memory what I preached unto you,
unless you have believed in vain, even though
they'd heard the gospel, they believed and received
the gospel, even though they were standing in
the saving grace of the gospel, Paul still found
it necessary to remind them, didn't he? He said,
I'm going to remind you anyway so you can keep
the gospel in memory. It's good for us today
to be reminded of the gospel. You may have heard
the gospel for the first time 40, 50, 60 years
ago. You may have put on Christ in baptism 40,
50, 60 years ago. But guess what? It's still
good for us today to hear that gospel, to be
reminded of it, and to keep it in memory. If
it was good for these Corinthians, it's good
for us. Paul says in verse 3 he goes on to declare
those three fundamental facts of the gospel.
He says, for I delivered unto you first of all
that which I also received. How that Christ died
for our sins according to the scriptures. There's
the first fact. Christ died for our sins according
to the scriptures and that he was buried. There's
the second fact, the burial of Jesus and that
he rose again the third day. According to the
scriptures. There's the third fact here in these
verses. We find the simple gospel as It's laid
out by God in the scriptures. It's the death
It's the burial and it's the resurrection of
Jesus Christ So when you think about the word
gospel you we need to think about the good news
We need to think about the idea that God saves
people today through the gospel. He saves us
through the gospel and the gospel consists of
the fact that Jesus died, that He was buried,
and He rose from the dead. That's what it's all
about. This is what the gospel is all about.
We could talk the rest of the night about the
death of Jesus. We could talk the rest of the
night about His burial, about His resurrection.
It's a very touching message. It's easy to put
it on a PowerPoint slide and make it look nice
and give it symbols. But it's more than just
words and illustrations on a screen. It's a story
of God's love, mercy, and grace. How many people
would you die for? How many people would you
die for? Be honest. Would you die for me? Would
you die for me? There are some people I would
die for But I'm just going to be completely honest
with you that the list of people I would die
for is a short list It's a short list I Don't
think I could die for every murderer every rapist
every child molester every thief Every liar in
Warren County. I don't think I could do that
much less every murderer, rapist, thief, child
molester, and liar in the state of Tennessee,
much less every sinner in the United States of
America, much less every sinner that has ever
lived, is living, or will ever live. I couldn't
do it. Would you give your only child, your only
son as a sacrifice for every drunk? Every murderer
every rapist every child molester every terrorist
that's ever lived his living or will ever live
I Couldn't do it. I Just don't love I love people
I try to love people Because I understand the
love of God and how much of God loves me and
he loves people so I I'm bound I'm commanded
by Jesus to love people and I try to do that
But I'm here to tell you I don't love the world
enough I don't love the world enough to give
my only son for the sinners of this world. Somehow,
someway, I don't know. It's hard to describe.
It's hard to imagine. It's hard to fathom. But
that's exactly what God did. He gave His only
son. Not just for my sin and not just for your
sin, but every sinner that's ever walked the
face of this planet. How He did it, I don't know.
I just know I couldn't do it. I'm glad he was
able to do it because of his willingness, his
love, his mercy, and his grace in giving Jesus
to die for us. Every sinner that's ever lived
has an opportunity to come to this salvation
that comes through Christ and comes through this
gospel. So you see, it's more than just words
and an illustration on a screen. It's the most
powerful story, the most touching story that's
ever been told. Tonight we're going to put into
practice a four -step approach that we talked
about Sunday as we talk about restoring, going
back to God's original pattern and plan for this
gospel that we're talking about tonight. We're
going to take a four -step approach. to consider
the gospel plan of salvation. And the first step
here is we're going to consider the original
pattern of the gospel as it was revealed in the
first century by the apostles and as is recorded
in our New Testament. We're going to start with
the original and go to the New Testament and
see what it says about God's plan for our salvation.
That original gospel that the apostles preached
to first century churches was a gospel of grace.
It was a gospel of grace. In fact, that's what
Paul told the elders of the Ephesian Church in
Acts 20 and 24. Paul is talking to them. He says,
I want to finish my course or my race with joy
and the ministry which I have received of the
Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace
of God. Paul is telling them, I want to finish
my race. I want to finish strong. I want to complete
the work, the ministry the Lord's given me to
do. And I'm just going to keep testifying. of
the gospel, which he says is a gospel of the
grace of God. You know, without God's grace,
everything else is really pointless. If it hadn't
been for the love, mercy and grace of God, none
of this would really matter. All the doctrinal
things that we're going to talk about as we go
through this meeting, which are very important,
none of those things would be important. if it
wasn't for God's mercy and grace and the giving
of His Son Jesus Christ. It all starts there.
It all starts there. And we need to understand
what grace is. You know, the gospel of grace
means that the gospel is a gospel of undeserved
mercy and favor from God. Were you so good that
Jesus deserved the death that He died for you?
Did Jesus die for you because you were so good?
or we deserved it somehow, God owed it to us
to give us His Son. Is that why Jesus went to
the cross? Absolutely not. Jesus didn't go to
the cross and die for us because we were so good.
Romans chapter 5 teaches that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. It says every now
and then occasionally some will die for a good
man. Occasionally a secret service agent will
step in front of the bullet For the president,
right? Occasionally, on rare occasions, someone
might die for the sake of another to protect
an important person like the president, right?
That's not why Jesus died for us, because we
were so good and so special. We were sinners.
We were lost and dead and sin. Yet Jesus still
died for us. We didn't deserve his death. His
death was a demonstration not of what we deserved
or merited or earned, but it was a demonstration
of God's undeserved favor and mercy. That's why
it's called a gospel of grace. The original gospel
that the apostles preached in the first century
churches, not only was it a gospel of grace,
it was a gospel for preaching. It was a gospel
for preaching. In March 1615, this is what Jesus
told his apostles right before he went back to
the Father. These were his final orders to his
apostles. We call it the Great Commission. The
Bible says in March 1615, he, that's Jesus, said
unto them, Go into all the world, he told them,
and preach the gospel. Preach the gospel to every
creature he that believeth and is baptized shall
be saved But he that believeth not shall be damned
or condemned notice Jesus told his apostles to
go and To take that gospel with them and to do
what to preach it That original gospel was a
gospel of grace and it was for preaching not
only was it a gospel for preaching It was a gospel
for believing A gospel for believing. We read
that right there in Mark chapter 16 verse 15
and 16. He said, go preach the gospel in all
the world. He said, he that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth
not shall be damned. You see, part of the obedient
response to the preaching of the gospel included
belief, a choice to believe that gospel which
was being preached. It was the Apostle's job
to preach it. And for the people that heard that
preaching, it was their job to believe it, to
receive it. And, you know, that requires a choice,
a conscious effort, a decision on our part, an
act of our own volition and will. You know, we
make choices all the time, don't we? We can choose
every day to accept what we hear or reject what
we hear. And when it comes to the gospel, the
gospel was to be preached and those who heard
it needed to make a choice. If they wanted salvation,
they needed to make a choice to believe that
gospel. It was a gospel that was for believing.
The original gospel was a gospel of grace that
was for preaching. It was for believing and it
was also for obeying. The gospel, the original
gospel was for obeying. And again, we go back
to Mark 16, 15 to 16 to see that. Jesus said,
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.
There's that obedient response to the death,
burial and resurrection of Jesus. A choice to
be baptized, to submit to the water of baptism
was necessary for salvation. If a person heard
the gospel, Yes, they needed to believe it, but
they also needed to obey it by being baptized.
And I want to go back and I want you to see the
significance of this obedience to the gospel.
We understand that the gospel is the death, the
burial, the resurrection of Jesus. We read that
in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 verse 1 to 4. Well,
the Bible teaches us in Romans 6 verses 3 to
5 that we obey the death of Jesus through baptism.
Jesus died for us and in baptism we die with
Him. In baptism we are buried with Christ. Jesus
was buried for us and in baptism we're buried
with Him. And just like Jesus was raised up from
the dead through His glorious resurrection, we're
getting ready to see the Bible teach us that
we come up out of the waters of baptism raised
to walk in a new spiritual life. We have our
own spiritual resurrection when we come up out
of the water of baptism. So in baptism, you know,
we have an intimate encounter with the death,
the burial, the resurrection of Jesus. And according
to the New Testament, it's the only way to obey
the gospel. It's the only way it teaches to obey
the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus.
It's through water baptism. Let's read that for
ourselves in Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter
6, verses 3 to 4. Paul says, no, you're not.
Don't you understand? that so many of us were
baptized into Jesus Christ. He says you were
baptized into his death. You were baptized into
his death. He says therefore we are buried with
him. We are buried with him. How? He says by
baptism into death. That like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of the Father even
so we also should walk in newness of life. Do
you see the gospel in that passage? Do you see
the gospel? I see the gospel in that passage.
I see a death. Jesus died for us. The Bible teaches,
know you not that so many of us as were baptized
into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death.
That's what Paul says. I see a burial. He says
therefore we're buried with him by baptism. And
I see a resurrection. He says, just like God
raised up Christ from the dead, we come up out
of the waters of baptism, raised to walk in the
newness of a new spiritual life. It's beautiful,
isn't it? Baptism paints a perfect picture of
what Jesus did for us to bring us salvation.
His death, His burial, His resurrection. Now
we don't have to go hang on a cross and die like
He did. We don't have to be put in a tomb like
He was. Just hope that the God that God is going
to raise this up on the third day But you know
in baptism we do reenact don't we that very thing
That brought us our salvation the death the burial
the resurrection of Jesus And that's the only
way to obey the gospel according to the scriptures
now we started by Going to the Word of God the
New Testament and finding the original simple
plan for man's salvation Now we're going to move
to the second step in our four -step approach.
Now we're going to do a quick survey of church
history and see how that through the centuries
many different forms of error have evolved concerning
the teaching, the preaching, and the preaching
of the gospel. I want to do a little bit of history
here and help you see how that over time Error
slowly evolved and one of the first things that
happened even very early in the first century
right after the gospel started being Preached
false Gospels Came on the scene and false Gospels
were actually preached in the first century churches
We're gonna talk talk about Galatians chapter
1 in just a moment and see the warning that's
given there about preaching false Gospels I want
to tell you another false gospel that was preached
in the first, second, and third centuries of
the church, and that was the rise of Gnosticism.
Let me tell you a few things about Gnosticism.
Gnosticism was an ancient worldview. It came
into the church between 50 and 250 AD, but Gnosticism
was much older than that. It existed in many
different forms and many different varieties.
So it was already around when the gospel began
to be preached, but slowly over this 200 year
period of time it sort of infiltrated itself
into certain segments and parts of the church.
And let me try to explain Gnosticism to you as
best as I understand it. We learn a lot about
Gnosticism by reading the writings of a man named
Irenaeus. Irenaeus lived in the second century
AD. He was a church leader He was an early theologian,
we would say. He was a prolific writer. And Irenaeus
wrote a work called Against Heresies. And in
that work, Irenaeus was writing about and confronting
some of the false doctrines and false gospels
that were infiltrating the church. And so some
of his writings give us insight into one of the
false gospels being Gnosticism. Irenaeus wrote
against it. And that helps us understand what
it was. Gnosticism was this worldview that everything
in the world that was made of matter, everything
material in this world is evil by nature. So
my boots, made of matter, evil by nature. This
PowerPoint projector, made of matter, evil by
nature. This pine tree out here, made of matter,
evil by nature. That everything in the material
world was evil. There was a spiritual world where
things were good, but in this material world
everything is evil. You can see it, touch it,
taste it, feel it, hear it. It's evil. That was
the world view. That was the idea. And so if
you were a Gnostic and you wanted to become a
Christian and you heard the gospel of Jesus Christ,
it would be hard for you to accept the gospel
of Jesus Christ because The idea that Jesus came
into the world and He was the sinless Son of
God, that was a hard pill for them to swallow.
Because if Jesus came in the flesh, He was made
of matter. And if all matter is evil, that would
make Jesus evil. That would make Him sinful.
And so it was hard for the Gnostics to believe
that Jesus came in the flesh. You know what they
taught? They taught the idea that Jesus didn't
come, but He didn't come in the flesh. They were
teaching that He was just a spirit being. Oh,
yes, he looked like a physical being with a human
body, but he was really just a spirit being.
He didn't have any fleshly form. Now what's the
problem with that? Well that changes the gospel
completely, doesn't it? Because if Jesus never
came in a physical body, a flesh and blood body,
how is he going to die on the cross? How is he
going to shed his blood? If he came in an immortal
spiritual body, how is he going to die? See,
that completely undermined and changed the gospel
and that's why Gnosticism was a heresy and that's
why it was so dangerous. That's why Irenaeus
wrote against it. The Gnostics, any time they
were confronted with this idea, know Jesus did
come in the flesh. They would say, well, you
just don't understand. We have this secret knowledge
that God gave us and He told us, God gave us
this secret revelation and secret knowledge that
He didn't come in the flesh. And so that was
their trump card, right? To anything and everything
they might try to teach them from the Word of
God, they'd say, well, you just don't understand
and don't know because you don't have the secret
knowledge that we Gnostics have. That's Gnosticism
in a nutshell, and it was a false gospel. I believe
the Apostle John was writing against some early
forms of Gnosticism that were creeping into the
church even in the first century. I want to show
you this. 1 John chapter 4 verse 2. John wrote
this. He said, Every spirit that confesseth that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.
And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh is not of God, and
this is that spirit of Antichrist. You ever read
that and thought, well, that's kind of strange.
Well, who in the world would believe that Jesus
didn't come in the flesh? We don't run into that
much today. Most everyone who calls themselves
Christians believes, yes, Jesus came in the flesh.
But you know, in the first century, Gnostic Christians
were rejecting the idea that Jesus came in the
flesh. And I think that's probably why John wrote
what he did. He said, listen, anyone who says
that Jesus did not come in the flesh, They're
teaching something that is not from God. In fact,
they have a spirit is not the spirit of God.
It is the spirit of Antichrist. John refutes
the false gospel of Gnosticism in 1st John. Here's
the warning Galatians 1 gives us about teaching
and preaching false Gospels. There are many other
examples we could look at. But all of those false
Gospels would be condemned by this scripture,
this warning. Paul told the Galatians, Galatians
1 6, I marvel that you are so soon removed from
Him that called you into the grace of Christ
unto another gospel, which is not another. But
there be some that trouble you and would pervert
or change or twist the gospel of Christ. But
though we are an angel from heaven, preach any
other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be a curse. That's
a strong warning, isn't it? If anyone comes and
brings any other gospel different than the one
the apostles preached, Paul says it's a false
gospel, it's a perverted gospel, it's not really
a gospel at all because it's not the original,
it's not the true gospel. He says let people
that preach those gospels be accursed. So false
gospels were something that... the church had
to deal with in the first, second, and third
centuries. As times continued to go on in church
history, another attack came upon the true gospel
of Jesus. And slowly over a period of about 600
years, the idea developed that man could be saved
by his own good works. Works -based salvation.
This idea began to permeate Christianity and
permeate the church from the year 100 to 600
AD and this time period corresponds to the rise
of Roman Catholicism. Over this period of time
the idea of salvation shifted to this idea, the
idea that a person is saved, a person is made
worthy to go to heaven so long as they faithfully
observe the seven sacraments or the seven sacred
rites of the Roman Catholic Church. This doctrine
of the sacrament slowly evolved over this period
of time and Roman Catholicism still teaches today
that salvation comes. A person is made worthy
to go to heaven by their faithful observance
to seven things, seven religious rites that the
Catholic Church calls sacraments. So what has
salvation become now? Salvation has now become
a test as to whether or not how well or not so
well that people can keep seven man -made doctrines
and traditions that are raised up and called
sacraments by the Roman Catholic Church. And
that is a form of what we would call works -based
salvation. Us being saved by our own abilities
to follow some list man -made doctrines and traditions
that are made tests for whether or not we can
go to heaven. Okay, that's man man -made works
based salvation in a nutshell. Okay, now here's
what we understand about works based salvation.
We can never work and earn our salvation from
God. It's not how it works, right? Because as
we've already seen the gospel is a gospel of
grace and we are forever indebted to God for
Him being good and gracious and giving us His
Son Jesus. God owes us nothing. He owes us nothing.
You know, in Romans 4 and 4, Paul says this,
Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned
of grace, but of debt. And that's what works
based salvation taught. The idea that if you
do all these works that God owes you this reward
of salvation and taking you to heaven. He owes
it to you because You know, you worked for it.
You faithfully kept the seven sacraments. You
see that nullifies really the gospel of grace,
doesn't it? Nullifies the gospel of grace. Paul
would later go on to explain that to the Romans
in Romans 11 and six. He's talking about salvation.
And he says, if it's by grace, then it is no
more works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace.
But if it be of works. then it is no more grace,
otherwise work is no more work. Salvation by
grace and salvation by works are incompatible.
They're incompatible. They just won't work together.
It's either going to be one or the other, not
a little bit of grace and a little bit of works.
It's going to be one or the other. Paul's trying
to help the Romans, trying to help us understand
that works by salvation. isn't compatible with
this idea of a gospel of grace that saves us.
The bottom line is this, we cannot earn our salvation
by obeying the seven sacraments of the Roman
Catholic Church. It's not God's plan for our
salvation. In Ephesians 2, 8 -9, Bible says,
For by grace are you saved through faith, that
not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not
of works, lest any man should boast. We continued
forward. a little further in church history.
And we come into a period of time around the
1500s when there was another error that was introduced
into Christianity concerning the gospel. And
it is the idea that a person in and of themselves
doesn't have the power or ability to believe
the gospel because they don't have free will.
I want to tell you a little bit about this doctrine.
Sometimes it's called Reform Theology. Sometimes
it's called Calvinism and that's attributed to
one of its founding authors and founding formulators.
His name was John Calvin. He was a French theologian
who lived in the 16th century. He wrote many
works, a lot of works which sort of formed the
fundamental framework for Reform Theology or
Calvinism. You remember Calvin was a leading
figure in the Protestant Reformation from 1517
on into the 1600s. And he came up with the Doctor
of Calvinism. And this was Calvinism's teaching
concerning salvation. Calvin taught that God
is so sovereign. He's so high above us. He's
so powerful and he is so sovereign that his sovereignty
eliminates our own free will. to choose to believe
the gospel. Calvin would tell us tonight that
we could try as hard as we might want to to believe
the gospel but we could not do it. We could not
do it not unless God gave us the gift of faith.
Faith itself was a gift from God and unless God
gave you the gift of faith you could not believe
the gospel. Try as hard as you want. It goes
along with another idea, another doctrine, that
before the foundation of the world, God already
decided how many people would be saved, how many
people would be lost, and that number of saved
and lost could never be altered by anything man
ever does. And if God preselected you for salvation,
then He would give you the gift of faith so that
you could believe and be saved. But if you weren't
preselected for salvation, well, sorry, He wasn't
going to give you the gift of faith. He was going
to withhold that from you. so that you could
never believe and you could never be saved. So
the idea that God is so sovereign that man can
never make a choice for himself, a free will
choice to believe and accept Christ and come
to salvation through his own choice of belief.
That's the doctrine of Calvinism in a nutshell.
Now, here's what I want you to understand about
Calvinism, about reform theology. Calvinism was
a reactionary response. to hundreds and hundreds
and hundreds of years of man -made works based
salvation that was given and taken away by a
group of Corrupt religious leaders that's you
got to realize the idea of Calvinism sounds strange
until you think about everything Calvin ever
knew about salvation You know Calvin and his
parents and his grandparents and his great -grandparents
his great -great -great -great -grandparents
had seen for hundreds and hundreds of years They'd
seen Catholic priests stand up and say, you can't
be saved unless you keep the seven sacraments.
And you know who administered the seven sacraments?
The priest. The power of salvation was in the
priest. If the priest didn't like you, guess
what he'd do? Withhold the sacraments from you.
And if he withheld the sacraments from you, guess
what? You couldn't be saved and go to heaven.
If the priest didn't like you, he withheld the
sacraments and you couldn't be saved and go to
heaven. That's all they had ever seen for hundreds
and hundreds and hundreds of years that kind
of system That's a terrible system. And so it
doesn't excuse the error of Calvinism But it
does explain how they came to the conclusion
They said all we've ever seen is salvation in
the hands of men based on works We're gonna take
salvation out of the hands of men altogether
so much so that you don't even get to decide
whether you're saved or not And it's not going
to be according to a man's choice. It's not even
going to be according to your own choice. We're
going to let God decide who is saved. And we're
going to take salvation out of man's hands altogether
and just put it in the hands of God. That's like
swinging the pendulum from one extreme to the
other, isn't it? It was a reactionary response
to hundreds and hundreds of years of corruption
and man -made and works -based salvation. Now
Calvinism... is not in line with what the Scriptures
teach. The doctrine of Calvinism is just another
one of these false Gospels. Listen, God would
never command us to believe if we were incapable
of making a choice to believe. Would God ever
command us to do something we were incapable
of doing? In Mark 1 and 5, Mark 1 and 15 Jesus
said the time is fulfilled the kingdom of heaven
of God is at hand repent ye and believe the gospel
Jesus preached and told people to repent and
believe the gospel would God and Christ command
people to believe the gospel If they didn't have
any free will to make a choice to believe Not
only that would God Admonish us for unbelief
if we were incapable of believing That's exactly
what Christ did to the apostles. He appeared
to them after His resurrection and the Bible
says He abraded them for their unbelief, for
their hardness of heart because they believed
not that which had seen Him after He was risen.
The apostles after Christ was risen, they were
hearing rumors that people had seen Him and they
didn't believe it. They were living in unbelief
and Jesus came to them and abraded them. He corrected
them. He scolded them. Why did you not believe?
Well, we didn't believe Lord because we don't
have free will to believe, you know Belief is
a gift. God will give us if he wants us to have
it. Was that the Apostles response? No You know
God God would never admonish us for unbelief
if we were incapable of believing and certainly
God would never punish us for unbelief If we
were incapable of believing that's not a just
God Jesus said he that believeth not shall be
damned He that believes not is condemned the
Lord truly going to condemn us and damn us for
not believing you when all along we were incapable
of belief I don't think God will do that I don't
think he's that kind of a God this idea that
we have no free will to believe the gospel is
not in line with the scripture we can come to
faith and belief in God and the Bible tells us
how to do that doesn't it Romans 10 17 where
does faith come from Faith cometh by hearing
and hearing by the Word of God. That's where
faith comes from. We don't sit back and wait
for God to drop faith on our head, you know,
like a gift so we can be saved. We go to the
Word of God and the Bible tells us that we can
cultivate faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God. The fourth and the final
error. I want to speak to you about tonight Concerning
the gospel plan of salvation and this is the
most recent error that we are more familiar with
in our modern -day times It's the idea that people
don't really need to obey the gospel and baptism
that baptism really isn't all that important
Now this this idea this false gospel really wasn't
all that common until the 1940s, the 1950s on
into the present day. And it corresponded with
the rise of what was first radio evangelism and
then later TV evangelism, okay? As radios and
televisions became more common and more popular,
preachers took advantage and they went to the
airwaves and they got on television screens and
they preached the gospel. But it was different
this time. Because, you know, in the past the
preacher had to be present with the people he
was preaching to, with the sinners. And it was
easy to encourage them to believe, repent, and
be baptized. But now, you know, no telling where
these people are that we're preaching to. They're
in their television, maybe out in the middle
of the woods or at the North Pole. You know,
the people are all over the world hearing and
seeing preachers preach on radio and TV. And
there's not a convenient way to baptize these
people. And so what slowly emerged is this idea
that you can be saved listening to your radio,
watching your TV, you can be saved by simply
hearing and repeating a prayer, sometimes called
the sinner's prayer. And as this sinner's prayer
gained popularity, less and less emphasis was
placed on the need to obey the gospel in baptism.
This is one of the things that influenced the
rise Not the only thing but one of the things
that influenced this rise of the no need to obey
the gospel and baptism false doctrine Now prayer
is a good thing Prayer is a good thing. We should
pray to God But you know what the Bible never
teaches that salvation from our sin and the washing
away of our sin comes through prayer We have
the Apostle Paul. He was Saul of Tarsus before
he was the Apostle Paul He went to Damascus.
He met the Lord. He was blinded and he was led
into Damascus. And the Bible tells us that Saul
was there in Acts 9 and 9. He was there three
days blind without his sight. Neither did he
eat or drink. He fasted. The Lord appeared to
a preacher in Damascus, Ananias, and told Ananias
in verse 11, arise and go and go down straight
street to the house of one Judas. And he said,
inquire for one Saul of Tarsus. He's there. What's
he doing? For behold he prayeth In the process
of Saul's conversion he was blinded he couldn't
see he was led to a house in Damascus and there
he prayed and There he fasted the Bible tells
us for three days Three days of prayer and fasting
the Lord told Ananias to go find him and When
Ananias found Saul, what did he tell Saul to
do? Did he say Saul? You've been praying long
and hard. Surely you're already forgiven of your
sins." He said, no. He said, and now why tarries
thou? Acts 22 -16, and now why tarries thou?
Saul, what are you waiting for? Arise and be
baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the
name of the Lord. After three days of prayer
and fasting, Saul was still in his sins. You
know what that tells me? And that should tell
all of us that praying a simple prayer with the
preacher on TV does not wash away our sins. It
didn't wash away Paul's sins when he prayed for
three days. He needed to do something more. There
was one more thing he needed to do. Ann and I
said, why are you waiting to do it? Get up and
be baptized. And when you do that, what will
happen? Your sins will be washed away because
you'll be calling on the name of the Lord. And
so this is one of the things the New Testament
teaches us that makes us clear to us that this
idea that you don't have to be baptized, just
pray a prayer and you're saved. That's not the
gospel that's given to us in God's Word. That's
certainly not the gospel that Saul heard, believed,
and obeyed when he was converted to Christ. Here's
the fact. Here's a reality. Here's a fact. Jesus
is coming back someday. We need to heed the warning
of 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 8 to 9. Jesus
is coming back someday and when he comes he's
going to come and take vengeance on those who
don't obey the gospel. That's why it's so important
that we obey the gospel. That's why it's so important
that we encourage others to obey the gospel.
The Bible says that Jesus is coming back and
when he comes he's coming in flaming fire and
he's going to be coming to take vengeance on
them that know not God. those that obey not the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be
punished with everlasting destruction from the
presence of the Lord and from the glory of his
power Jesus is coming back he's gonna take vengeance
on two groups of people those who don't know
God and those who don't obey the gospel that's
why we teach and preach and beg with people to
come to know God and come to a place where they
submit and obey the gospel and baptism before
it's too late. Now I want to keep working our
way around the circle here. I want to go to our
third step. I want us to stop for just a moment
and consider some of the modern -day practices,
some of the modern -day teachings concerning
the gospel in our time today. We've looked at
church history and how a lot of error has been
taught concerning the gospel. What about today?
You know, today it's very popular in our time
to hear of the prosperity gospel. Prosperity
gospel is a very selfish gospel. It's a gospel
that promises us all the health and wealth and
material blessings we could ever want or hope
to gain. It's the idea, and we hear the preachers
on TV and on the radio preach this gospel. They
preach a message that God wants to bless us with
all the material things our hearts have ever
wanted, that God wants us to grant us our every
earthly desire. And we know what our earthly
desires are, right? Wealth, money, fast cars,
nice houses, two or three houses if we can get
them, right? All the earthly things this world
has to offer. You know, Jesus came not to make
sure we had our every earthly desire satisfied.
He came to give us spiritual blessings. He came
to save our soul, which is really our most valuable
possession. You know, our soul, your soul, my
soul, it's more valuable than all the cars, all
the homes, all the lands, all the money I'll
ever manage to have. My soul is more valuable
than all that. Your soul is more valuable than
any earthly possession you'll ever manage to
gain. You know what Jesus was more concerned
about when He came to this world? He wasn't as
concerned about us having a big nice house or
a nice fast car. He was concerned about the salvation
of our soul because our soul is that which we
will take on into eternity. Every house, car,
piece of land I've ever owned I'm going to leave
behind here on earth when I die and when the
Lord comes back it's all going to be burned up
in the end anyway. I'm only going to take one
thing with me on into eternity and that's my
soul. That's what makes my soul my most valuable
possession. And this health, wealth, selfish
prosperity gospel does very little To speak to
the salvation of our soul what it speaks to is
the satisfaction of men's covetousness and their
greed and their desire for earthly things You
know Paul told Timothy that there would come
men who would Have perverse disputings. He's
he warns about first perverse disputings of men
of corrupt minds men that are destitute of the
truth supposing that gain is godliness And that's
really the underlying message behind the prosperity
gospel that gain is godliness That if you're
close to God God will give you all these things
that your heart desires Paul told Timothy from
such withdraw thyself Godliness is learning to
be content with such things as we have that's
what Paul would later go on to tell Timothy To
be content with what little or what or what lot
or what much God has blessed us with Here's another
false gospel that we see preached today. It's
a casual, faith -only gospel. It's the idea that
you just need to believe in Jesus and as long
as you come to Jesus as you are and just accept
Him as your Lord and Savior, Jesus will save
you and He just wants to tag along with you through
life like your self -help coach, like your best
buddy. You and Jesus can be pals. You really
don't have to change your life. Jesus is really
not looking for any kind of a commitment. Just
come to Jesus. Just ask Him into your heart.
You're saved. Go on about your way. And that's
really about as deep as it gets. Right? It's
a very casual, a very low commitment. Faith only
gospel. Just believe and God saves you. Don't
worry about the rest. I'm here to tell you tonight,
that sounds good and it's appealing to a lot
of people today, but that's not the truth of
the gospel. You know, this is what Paul told
the Romans. He taught the Romans that the gospel
demands a life -changing commitment. In Romans
6, 1 to 2, shall we continue in sin that grace
may abound? God forbid. How are we going to come
to Christ and accept Him and get salvation from
our sin and just keep on living in sin? giving
little thought to it or little care to how we
live for the Lord. We don't want to continue
in sin that grace may abound. God forbid, how
shall we that are dead to sin live any longer
therein? The gospel demands a life -changing
commitment and a call to holiness and righteousness.
Christ calls us to deny our will so that we can
accept and embrace His will. It's not like we
get to come to the Lord on our own terms and
live our own life and do our own thing and Jesus
will just follow us through life. It's the other
way around. We need to sacrifice our will to
get behind Him and follow Him. In Matthew 16
24, Jesus said to His disciples, if any man will
come after Me, let him deny himself, take up
his cross and follow Me. That's what it means
to be a true disciple. That's what it means to
be a true follower of Jesus Christ. self -denial,
laying aside our will to embrace the will of
Jesus Christ. And then the last false gospel
that we hear preached so often today is a gospel
that tells us all we need to do is call on the
name of the Lord and don't worry about anything
else and God will save us. I want to talk about
this call on the name of the Lord gospel. This
idea that all we need to do is just trust Jesus
as your personal Savior and cry out to salvation
for Him. He will save you. You know this this
idea comes from a verse in the New Testament
It's found in a few different places. One of
those places is Romans 10 13 This is where Paul
says whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved Whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved you know
I'm here to tell you brethren that verse right
there Romans 10 13 is true All day long every
day of the week and every day of the year It's
true. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will
be saved. But the question we need to ask is
this, what does it really mean to call on the
name of the Lord? You know, if we miss the mark
in defining what it means to call upon the name
of the Lord, we miss the purpose and the meaning
of this verse altogether. What does it mean to
call upon the name of the Lord? You know, when
you study this phrase, call upon the name of
the Lord, here's what it means. It means to make
an appeal to or invokes Christ's power and authority
to save us. That's what it means to call on the
name of the Lord, to come to Jesus in faith and
submission to Him realizing He's the only one
who has the power to save us and we need His
help and we invoke and we appeal to Him to save
us from our sins. That's really all it means
to call on the name of the Lord. Here's the deal.
We can't call on the name of the Lord. We can't
appeal to Jesus to save us, but then turn around
and outright reject and ignore everything Jesus
taught about how to be saved. That's like saying,
Lord, I want you to save me, but I'm gonna ignore
everything you told me to do to be saved. We
can't have it both ways. You remember what Jesus
said in Luke 646? Why call you me, Lord, Lord?
do not the things which I say if Jesus is our
Lord and we're coming to him for salvation we
need to be willing to hear receive and obey what
he taught about salvation and we know there's
some things that Jesus taught about salvation
one being that we got to be baptized to be saved
but people say oh no just call on the name of
the Lord and you don't need to be baptized that's
like saying Lord save me but I'm not gonna do
what you said In Mark 16, 16, you told me to
be baptized if I wanted to be saved. I'm not
going to do that. I'm just going to expect you
to save me in my rebellion, to your word. You
remember in Acts 22, 16, we talked about this
earlier, when Saul there in Damascus? When he
got up and was baptized and had his sins washed
away, what was he doing? The Bible says he was
calling on the name of the Lord. Part of Saul's
calling on the name of the Lord included this,
included getting up and being baptized for the
remission of his sins. That was part of his calling
on the name of the Lord. So we can't divorce
baptism from the idea of calling on the name
of the Lord. They come hand -in -hand and they
work together. We're gonna look at the fourth
and final step in our four -step approach tonight.
Given where we've been and how the gospel has
changed so much and so much error has been taught
about it through the centuries and how there
are many false gospels taught today, let's talk
about how we restore God's simple plan and pattern
for the gospel. Here's what we need to teach
and preach today. Here's what I teach and preach
today and here's what I know this congregation
stands for when it comes to the gospel today.
People got to hear the gospel. How shall they
believe in Him of whom they've not heard, Paul
says in Romans 10 -14. People got to hear the
gospel before they can have faith in it. After
people hear the gospel because we're preaching
it, people need to believe the gospel. In John
8 24, Jesus said, if you believe not that I am
He, ye shall die in your sins. So we've got to
believe the gospel. If we don't believe the gospel,
we will die in our sins. Not only do we have
to believe the gospel, we got to believe it so
much that we're willing to repent, to turn away
from sin and turn toward the sinless Son of God.
And that change in our life, a change of heart
and mind leading to a change of course and direction
in our life is called repentance. And we got
to repent of our sin. It's part of the plan of
salvation. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 7 -10,
Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation.
We're sorry for our sin, we turn away from sin,
that's repentance, and that leads to what? That
leads to salvation not to be repented of. True
faith responds in obedience to God through bringing
forth the fruits of repentance. Not only do we
need to repent of our sin, we need to confess
our faith in Christ. In Romans chapter 10 verse
9 it says that if thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine
heart that God raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved. It says for with the heart men
believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. It's not hard
to confess our faith in Christ when we truly
have that belief, that faith in our hearts. And
then the last thing we need to do is we need
to be baptized into Christ. We have to take that
obedient step of baptism as we've talked about
tonight. That's what Peter told the Jews in Acts
2 on Pentecost Day. Acts 2 .38, Peter told them
to repent and be baptized, every one of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission
or for the forgiveness of sins. And ye shall
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Baptism is
for the remission, the forgiveness of our sins.
That's why it's so essential that we take that
step and obey the gospel. Obey the death, burial,
and resurrection of Jesus in baptism, because
when we do that, God gives us forgiveness and
remission of sins. Just like we talked about
the gospel, the death, the burial, the resurrection,
we obey that gospel in baptism. God cleanses
us and forgives us of our sin, raises us up to
walk in a new spiritual life with Christ. That's
the gospel we need to believe, and that's the
gospel we need to obey. This is God's plan for
our salvation and this is the plan we need to
be teaching and preaching and by doing so guess
what we can restore the pure and simple plan
for God's salvation for all of us. I want to
close tonight with a question and I hope you'll
take this question to heart. I hope you'll stop
and earnestly and carefully consider this question.
Have you heard the true gospel? I don't know
what you've been taught. I don't know where you've
been. I don't know what churches you've been
a part of or not been a part of. I don't know
your religious history. I don't know what you've
been taught. I don't know what you've heard in
religion. But prior to the night, have you heard,
have you been taught the true gospel of Jesus?
Have you believed the true gospel of Jesus? And
then have you obeyed the true and saving gospel
of Christ? What gospel were you taught? Only
you can answer that. I don't know. Only you can
answer that. What gospel did you believe? And
what gospel did you obey when you came to Christ,
when you were converted? It is so very important
that when it comes to hearing, believing, and
obeying the gospel, that we hear, believe, and
obey the truth. As we've already seen tonight,
there's a lot of error. There's a lot of false
teaching. in the religious world concerning the
gospel. What should matter the most to us is
that we hear, we believe, and we obey the truth.
I want to show that to you from 1 Peter chapter
1, verse 22 to 23. Peter says, seeing ye have
purified your souls, he writes to Christians,
people who were already saved, and he reminds
them, he says, you purified your souls. In obeying
what? Obeying the truth. Peter says we purify
our souls in obeying the truth. Obeying error
does not purify our soul. Obeying false teaching,
false Gospels, false doctrine does not purify
our souls. The Bible tells us that it's through
obeying the truth. our souls are purified. Seeing
you have purified yourselves in obeying the truth
through the Spirit unto unfeigned it means sincere
love of the brethren." He says, see that you
love one another with a pure heart fervently.
Look at what he says in verse 23, being born
again. Being born again. We got to be born again.
How? Not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible.
Being born again by what? By the Word of God.
Which liveth and abideth forever, you know if
we were born again By something other than the
Word of God if we were born again By the doctrines
and traditions of men if we were born again by
some false gospel Have we truly been born again
by the Word of God that lives and abides forever?
Have we truly purified our souls by obeying the
truth if we were taught religious lies look this
isn't This isn't a matter of questioning a person's
sincerity or their love for God or their heart
I Don't I try not to question anyone's sincerity
or their love for God or their heart because
I can't see their heart But you know what I can
question and I think it's wise for all of us
to question this whether or not we were taught
the truth Because if we weren't taught the truth
of the gospel, how could we believe the truth?
And if we didn't believe the truth of the gospel,
how could we obey the truth? That's the only
thing we're calling into question. And that's
the only thing I'm asking you to consider tonight.
Were you taught the truth? Did you believe the
truth? And did you obey the truth of the gospel?
And if you were taught anything other than the
truth, I want you to know this. When it comes
to your soul salvation, getting it right matters.
Getting it right matters more than anything.
If you weren't taught the truth, if you didn't
believe the truth, if you obeyed some different
gospel, some false gospel, if you didn't obey
the truth of the gospel, I've got good news for
you. You can make it right tonight. I've taught
you the truth tonight, straight from the Scriptures.
The rest is up to you. You can believe that truth
and you can obey that truth tonight. You have
an opportunity to make it right and making it
right makes all the difference. It's the most
important thing in the world that when it comes
to your salvation and your soul, you get it right.
We don't want to stand before God and come to
find out that we were wrong, that our faith,
that our salvation was based on something that
was false. You can be saved tonight look if you're
here tonight, and you Need salvation if you can
be saved by the truth error won't save us the
truth will Jesus said if you continue in my word
Then are you my disciples indeed you shall know
the truth the truth shall make you free. It's
as simple as this hear the word Obey the truth
let Jesus make you free. It's as simple as that