2nd Corinthians 11:3-4, “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. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.”
The Word of God, in the inspired King James Bible, warns us about “ANOTHER
GOSPEL.” But there is ONLY one true Gospel, which is the first I am going to
share with you from the Bible.
FIRST, the Gospel of free grace. We are sinners. Nothing imperfect can enter into Heaven (Revelation 21:27). Thus, we need someone perfect to pay for our sins. Jesus is that sinless Lamb of God, Who was slain on the cross for our sins, paying the debt we could not pay. Jesus' shed His precious blood as the price for our sins. Anyone who believes (places their trust) in the record God has given us in His Word, of Christ Who DIED on the cross, was BURIED and bodily RESURRECTED the third day, is immediately and permanently saved. Nothing more is required. The only righteousness which the believer possess to make them worthy of Heaven is GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS, which is imputed by faith alone in Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:9).
SECOND, a false Gospel of partial faith in Christ plus works (human effort). Proponents of this heresy teach that faith alone is not enough to be saved. They say there must be a sincere desire to turn away from sinful behavior. They horribly misunderstand this to mean “repentance” (which is no where taught in the Scriptures). Although there are many different versions of this second corrupt Gospel, it always somehow, someway, adds behavior modification to the Gospel. Seventh-day Adventists falsely teach that we are saved by faith, but if we're really saved, then Christ's character will be formed in us, and that righteous character is what gets us into Heaven. Clearly, this is a works-based plan of salvation. Satan is very subtle, twisting the truth combined with lies, so that an unlearned person cannot discern the difference. In this second manmade Gospel, a false believer's only righteousness is SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS (Romans 10:3-4).
Clearly, these are two very different Gospels. Truly, only one is the Gospel, meaning “Good News.” The other is Bad News!!!
Satan's greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without being born-again! Once you see the clarity and simplicity of the true Gospel, you'll never go astray doctrinally again concerning God's plan of salvation. It is as clear as the bright shining sun in the sky on a cloudless day. If you grasp the simplicity of the Gospel, then you know that either salvation is forever, or else you are not saved. No one ever “loses” eternal life. How can you lose that which was not yours to give in the first place? How can you lose by bad works that which you did not obtain by good works? Eternal life is a gift from God (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-10). A person may merely ascribe to the philosophy of Christianity, embracing religion for a time, but later recant his beliefs, but this is only because he was never born-again to begin with. Once saved, always saved!
Salvation is not doing your best, it is having Christ's best put to your account through receiving Him by faith. God will not save anyone who is trying to be saved, He will only save those who are trusting to be saved. Either God does the saving, all of it, or else you don't go to Heaven! The sole source of my righteousness is in Christ's sacrifice upon the cross for my sins, and not in any part because of my personal behavior or character. Jesus plainly said that believing crooked tax collectors (publicans) and prostitutes would go to Heaven, but the self-righteous Pharisees WOULDN'T!!! Matthew 21:31b, “Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.”
My friend, it is God's
righteousness, not yours, that gets you into Heaven! Any plan of salvation
that detracts from Christ's finished work of redemption for our sins is a
false Gospel. Any plan of salvation that places the burden of sin upon the
sinner (i.e., turning from sins), instead of solely upon Jesus Christ, is a
false Gospel. My faith is solely in Christ alone, in His death on the cross
for MY SINS, His burial and physical resurrection.
Turning From Sin is Impossible As far As Salvation
James 2:10, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”
Truthfully, a
believer could go
out and party hardy in gross immorality if they wanted, and still be 100%
safe in God's salvation!!! If that bothers you, then you are not saved. I am
not saying that God gives anyone permission to sin, clearly He does not
(Romans 3:31). God chastises all His children, because we all still sin
(Hebrews 12:6-8). At the Judgment Seat of Christ, every believer will
receive according to the good and bad done in the body (2nd Corinthians
5:10). God commands all His children to, “Be ye holy; for I am holy”
(1st Peter 1:16). But this has nothing to do with receiving the “free
gift” of eternal life (Romans 5:15). Once you get saved—your
relationship is forever settled—you become God's child and He is your
heavenly Father. How you choose to live your life as God's redeemed child is
an entirely different matter. Certainly, we ought to present our body “a
living sacrifice” unto the Lord (Romans 12:1). But this is a matter of
discipleship, and not sonship. For eternal life to truly be a “gift,” this
can be the only way.
But doesn't the Bible say, “He that committeth sin is of the devil”? Yes. 1st John 3:8, “He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” But carefully notice the next verse, which most people don't read... 1st John 3:9, “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” Notice that phrase, “he cannot sin.” Well, we ALL sin, don't we! So how can this be true? What is the Bible saying? It means that the indwelling Holy Spirit is incapable of sinning. When we sin as believers, it is only because we are walking in the flesh, and not walking in the Spirit. We always have a choice. Sin is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Being offended is a choice. Hurting others is a choice. Being miserable in our soul is a choice. The way we live is a choice. I choose to rejoice in the Lord. Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.” The apostle Paul write that Scripture from a prison cell.
So the Bible is saying that
if you don't have the indwelling Holy Spirit, you are not saved. Even the
best saints sill commit horrible sins. There is no such thing as “little
white lies.” All sins are big sins in God's sight. Humans categorize
sin, deciding which ones are really bad and which ones are not so bad. But
with God, all sin is very horrible. King David
commit adultery and murder. Was he of the Devil? Samson went with harlots.
Was Samson of the Devil? These were saved men! Yet, Cornelius in Acts 10 was
a good man who loved God, he gave alms to the poor, a devout man, who fasted
and prayed, yet he was hellbound without Christ. So we see that you cannot
judge a book by its cover. 1st John 5:13b says the Epistle was
written so the individual believer could “KNOW THAT YE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE,”
not so that others could decide who is or isn't saved. The Bible was written
to the individual, not to a group.
Modern Bible Perversions a Major Cause of False Gospels in the Churches
And may I say, all of the corrupt Alexandrian modern Bible PERversions teach this second Gospel. For example: Mark 1:15 is horribly corrupted in the popular Easy-To-Read Version (ERV), which says you must “change your hearts and lives” to be saved. Folks, behavior modification is works! No wonder so many churches are messed up today doctrinally! Satan has masterminded the perfect plot to corrupt the churches on a grand scale, by corrupting the Word of God. Beware of ALL modern Bible versions. Thankfully, the pure words of God are “INCORRUPTIBLE” (1st Peter 1:23), which we have today in the inspired King James Bible!!!!!!!
