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The Apostle Paul warned in
the strongest possible terms about the attitude of God toward those who
would pervert the gospel of Jesus Christ. We can understand this, as it
cost God his only son, and Jesus a horrible death by crucifixion. He
stated:
"But though we, or an
angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we
have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I
now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have
received, let him be accursed." Galatians 1:8, 9
So, what is the Gospel? It will be the purpose of this page
to state clearly from the Scripture what the gospel is and what it is not.
Much confusion about this matter exists. There are several "gospels" in
the Scripture. In the verses quoted above, Paul says :
"But though we, or an angel from
heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached
unto you, let him be accursed. Yet in Rev 14:6,7
John says, "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven,
having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth,
and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people (7) Saying with a
loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment
is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the
fountains of waters.
Anyone reading the context of that passage would quickly understand
that the angel in Rev. 14 is not accursed, yet he has another gospel. How
can this be? Are the scriptures contradictory, or is there something we
are not seeing? The answer can be found in Paul's admonition to young
Timothy on the proper and only method of understanding the word of God. He
said :
"Study to show thyself approved unto
God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word
of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15).
The words "rightly dividing" are critical to our subject. There are
critical and proper divisions in the Scripture that we must observe in
order to keep our understanding, not only of the gospel, but of the Bible
itself, in proper perspective. The word "dispensationalist" is a dirty
word in many circles, but in reality, any real Christian is a
dispensationalist. The word simply means one who recognizes that God has
worked differently in the past, and will do so in the future. There is a
marked difference in how God worked in the Old Testament as compared to
the New. Even within the New Testament, there was a progression of truth
that culminated in the teaching of Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles. This
concept can be seen clearly in Acts 18:24 - 26:
"And a certain Jew named Apollos,
born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to
Ephesus. (25) This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being
fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the
Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. (26) And he began to speak boldly
in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him
unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.
Apollos loved the Lord, but was short in his knowledge of the
progression of truth. John the Baptist preached the gospel of the Kingdom
of Heaven:
Mat 3:1 "In those days came John the
Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, (2) And saying, Repent ye:
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Jesus himself preached the same:
Mat 4:23 And Jesus went about
all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the
kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease
among the people.
One can easily discern that the gospel of the Kingdom, which Christ
preached long before his death and resurrection, is not the same as that
which Paul calls "my gospel".
Romans 2:16 In the day when God
shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
Romans 16:25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my
gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of
the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
2 Timothy 2:8 Remember that
Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my
gospel:
What is Paul's gospel? Is it the same as the gospel of the Kingdom? If
not, what is the difference? Let's investigate:
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: 1Cor 15:3,4
The above has been called the "gospel in a nutshell". It is the clearest
statement on the gospel in the New Testament. It is not what we do for
God, but rather what He, through Christ, has done for us. Our
responsibility lies only in receiving it with a repentant heart.
John 1:12 But as many as
received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to
them that believe on his name:
We receive him by faith:
Eph 2:8,9 For by grace are ye
saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
In short, a man or woman is saved in this age by simple faith in the
substitutionary (in our place) sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We, like the
Philippian jailor, have only to:
"Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved . . .". Acts 16:31
That belief takes place when a man or woman repents, in other words,
changes his or her mind about themselves and about God. I am wrong and God
is right. I am a sinner and He is righteous. I am without real hope; He is
everything I need. Understanding this and admitting my hopelessness, I
receive Jesus Christ simply by believing on Him and in what He did -
alone. No baptism, no sacraments, no good works, I just simply receive the
free gift:
Romans 5:15 But not as the
offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many
be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by
one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Romans 5:16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the
judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences
unto justification.
Romans 5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men
to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came
upon all men unto justification of life.
SALVATION IN OUR AGE IS A FREE GIFT!! HALLELUJAH!
Some will undoubtedly disagree and say that the angel in Revelation is
preaching the same gospel Paul preached, and that all are saved the same
way throughout the Bible. To this we would partially agree. All are saved
by the blood of Christ, however all are not saved the same way. Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord, yet he was required to build something for
his salvation. You are required to build nothing. However, the difficulty
does not cease there. In Matthew (remember the Kingdom gospel) chapter 24
we find these words:
Matthew 24:13 But he that shall
endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. (14) And this gospel of the
kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations;
and then shall the end come.
You are not commanded to endure to the end of anything!! The verses above
have no bearing on you whatsoever as far as your salvation is concerned.
Your salvation is a free gift. Enduring to the end is not! The context is
the Jewish Kingdom, and since Israel rejected both King and Kingdom, they
will be required to endure to the end of a time called "Jacob's trouble":
Alas! for that day is great, so
that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall
be saved out of it. (Jer 30:7)
That time is commonly called the "Tribulation", and will last for three
and one-half years. The person who endures without compromise, in other
words, without taking the mark of the Beast or worshipping his image (Rev
13;15\16), either to the end of the tribulation or the end of his life,
will be saved in that time. That is what Jesus taught when he said:
Matthew 10:39 He that findeth
his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find
it.
Matthew 16:25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and
whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. Matthew 16:25
The gospel is not the same in every age. In the Old Testament no one was
sealed with the Holy Spirit as a Church Age saint is. Noah had to build an
ark or he would have drowned and gone to hell. Tribulation saints must
endure to the end. YOU must simply put all your trust in the shed blood of
Jesus Christ and cease and desist from trying to earn His favour He offers
you a free gift!!
Now to the crux of the whole matter. If the gospel is a free gift for you,
can baptism (infant or otherwise) save you? Can the mass contribute? Can
good works or church membership? What could you do to add something to
what he called finished? Answer - NOTHING!
So what then is this dangerous "other gospel"?
1. It is any other scriptural gospel taken out of its
scriptural setting.
a. Gospel of the kingdom - Matthew 24
b. Everlasting gospel - Revelation 14
c. Something that doesn't claim to be a gospel but is touted as one:
Acts 2:37 Now when they heard
this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the
rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins,
and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Please notice in the above two verses no one asked, "What shall we do TO
BE SAVED?" They had crucified their Messiah - King, and asked "What shall
we do. They were answered "Repent and be baptized". That was an
opportunity to repent for crucifying their messiah. Baptism was a
requirement because it was the Kingdom gospel. (see Matthew 3: 1-6 g'wan,
look it up!) If baptism is a requirement for salvation in this age of
grace, Paul surely said a foolish thing in 1 Cor 1:14. There he say's "I
thank God that I baptized none of you. . .",
d. Some other plan outside the Scriptures which purport to find a path to
heaven.
What have we learned? There are "other" gospels in the Scripture. You
attempt to follow them and you will wind up in hell. You cannot endure to
the end because you will not be here if you are saved. If you are not
saved - have not trusted Jesus Christ and his completed sacrifice on
Calvary - alone, you might prepare yourself to endure, because if you are
here during that horrible time, you will need to give up your life to save
it. If you take the mark, you go to hell.
If you are alive now and have not put your trust in the shed blood of
Jesus Christ, discounting all else, including your religion, baptism, good
works, sacraments, candles, hail Mary's, our Fathers, Masses, prayers to
the Holy Ghost, or any other thing you think you can do to commend
yourself to God, it is imperative that you, right now, renounce all
allegiance to whatever you are trusting, and put ALL your trust in Jesus
alone. You can get "baptized" with the "Holy Ghost", speak in tongues,
witness lying wonders (2 Thess 2:9) with Benny and company, but if you are
not trusting ONLY in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, you
are trusting in:
"ANOTHER GOSPEL".
We did not write this page to be mean spirited. Satan is having a hey-day
of confusion when it comes to this critical matter of the gospel. If you
are genuinely concerned about your soul; if you desire to correspond, I
promise you we will deal humbly, only with what the word of God says. It
is the most critical issue of our time. May God help you to see this
clearly.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
Recommended
reading
 How
to Lose salvation
38
Things Happen when we get saved
A
Know So Salvation
Heaven
Bound
Conditional
Security Scripturally Refuted
John 10:9 I am the door: by me if
any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find
pasture.
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