I'm lucky to have been able to read many of my third-great grandfather's sermons from the 1800's. It's interesting to see what he thought and believed. And, it was fun to see how we believe so much alike in so many things.
To me, the 1800s was a great time to live in! The Victorian Age was really the Golden Age of modern History, especially with the many revivals worldwide in that time-period. Compare that to today. Things are much different. There isn't nationwide Revival, rather world-wide Apostasy!
With this in mind, I thought about the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and how in modern times it's been changed time and again, just as the apostle Paul warned it would be. My third-great-grandfather, it's been written, had a knack at presenting the blood-stained Gospel plain and clearly. He preached Christ crucified, and pointed sinners to Him alone for salvation. And he saw many converts because of it. All because he honored Jesus and His blood atonement for the sins of mankind. He preached a BLOODY Gospel, and his converts were fruitful Christians, serving God of a pure heart.
But this is not what is being preached today by many modern preachers, especially Fundamentalists ones. Many are simply instructing sinners to DO or SAY something instead of rest solely upon the finished work of Jesus Christ DONE once at Calvary for all mankind. And their converts are shallow, oftentimes never changing, nor desiring spiritual things. One must wonder if they are even saved at all. Could it be they've been taught another Gospel, and this is why they are so "fruitless?"
The true Bible Gospel is clearly found in the scriptures in 1 Corinthians chapter fifteen, verses one through four. I'll not list it here, as hopefully, you'll look it up for yourself. (There are King James Bible search engines all over the internet!). In that passage we are told exactly what the Gospel it. It is the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ for our sins, according to the scriptures. It is His blood atonement for the sins of mankind and His bodily assention unto heaven, where he waits to return again one day. If you trust this sacrifice of Jesus Christ by FAITH (Eph. 2:8-9), then your are gloriously and wonderfully saved! If you don't, you are lost, and on your way to Hell Fire.
As a Minister of the Gospel myself, I preach this, not because my third-great grandfather preached it, but because it's in the Bible, and I'm commanded of God to do so.
What's odd to me is that I've recently been told by several modern Fundamentalist preachers that my preaching of the Gospel this way is not correct, and I'm guilty of preaching a modern "New Fangled Gospel" (their words, not mine). But how can this be? I'm only pointing sinners to Christ crucified, and to the forgiveness of sins through His shed blood!
As I studied these men and why they would say such a thing, I found out the reason they were against me was because they were the ones guilty of preaching a modern Gospel. They had a "Bloodless Gospel" which left out the blood of Jesus Christ entirely, and instructed sinners to trust in something they DO or SAY, instead of trusting in what God SAID and DID for mankind in paying their sin debt on Calvary.
Their modern "new-fangled" Gospel can be preached many different ways. Such as:
"Simply ask Jesus to save you"
"Ask Jesus into your heart"
"Confess your sins to God and beg Him for horgiveness"
"Give your heart to God"
"Commit your life to Christ"
"Repent of your sins"
Etc. and Etc.
At first glance, you might be reading this and you might say to yourself, "What? What's wrong with saying those things? I hear them preached all the time!"
The answer is that none of these are the Biblical plan of salvation. You can not find one verse of Scripture that instruct anyone to do these things to be saved. (And even if you did, you've have a command for a man to DO something for salvation. I.e. a works set-up, when we are told savation is not of works, but by faith alone. See Eph. 2:8,9).
Further, if someone does these things, we must ask, "But, where is their faith in the blood atonement of Jesus Christ?" For it's easy to do or say anything or commit to anything with the mouth, but not believe from the heart.
You see, salvation is not of works, it's not anything we DO. It's a heart thing, and it's simply trusting what Jesus Christ has DONE for you. To preach anything else is to preach a "Modern New Fangled Gospel."
With this stated, let me ask you a question. Are you trusting only in Jesus' blood sacrifice alone for salvation, or are you trusting in something you've done?
If you are a minister of the Gospel, let me ask you something. Are you preaching "another gospel" (a gospel of DO) or are you preaching the biblical Gospel of believing by faith from the heart in the finished work of Christ (the DONE Gospel).
If my third-great granddaddy where here today, I'm sure he'd be shocked at how few ministers preach the true Biblical Gospel. Instead of, REPENT, many preaching simply REPEAT after me! This leads to a person thinking the prayer they utter with the lips is what saves them, instead of heartfelt faith in Christ. How sad. No wonder we hear of many who claim they've seen revival, but there are very few true converts, very little fruit, and very little change in the morality in the world.
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