The Gospel is : Jesus saves!
Now, I want you to understand something. When we talk about what the Gospel is, we need to also say (especially today when so many false gospels are
around) what the Gospel is NOT.
The Gospel is NOT: Jesus tries to save
The Gospel is NOT: Jesus wants to save everyone, if they will let Him.
The Gospel is NOT: Jesus has left it up to us, if we want to be saved, and is waiting to see who will choose Him.
The Gospel is NOT: God loves everybody, but not everybody will be saved.
The Gospel is NOT: Man makes Jesus his ''own and personal Saviour'' by inviting Him into his heart.
Now, most of those ''non-gospels'' are believed by many, many people who call themselves 'born again Christians', but they are all lies.
The Gospel is that Jesus actually and truly saves, and He saves by dying on the cross to actually and truly take away the sins of His people. He actually and truly gives faith whereby His people believe on Jesus and are given ALL the benefits which Jesus secured (not just made possible, but actually secured) on the cross.
Now, what do I mean by God not loving everybody?
I mean this, that God's love is a holy love, a righteous love, an eternal love, an unchanging love, a love which works, a love which is successful, a love which SAVES. God is love, but God is also holy, righteous, eternal, unchanging and successful, so His love MUST be like Him.
Now, if God's love is like that, He cannot love sin, can He?
He cannot have a love which changes, can He?
He cannot have a love which ends, can He?
He cannot have a love which is against His justice, can He?
He cannot have a love which is unsuccessful, can He?
He cannot have a love which does not save the ones He loves, can He?
Is it not true that this God who is love will punish some people in hell for ever? What does God think of those in hell? Does He love them? Why are they in hell for ever, if God loves them?
What does the Psalmist say?
''The LORD trieth the righteous, but the wicked [person] and him that loves violence his [God's] soul hateth. Upon the wicked he [God] shall rain snares and fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup'' (Psalm 11:5-6)
Notice how God shows his hatred to people, [some people], he pours fire on them!
Compare this with what Jeremiah says,
''Yea, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you'' (Jeremiah 31:3)
Notice, that (a) God's love is everlasting and (b) therefore God draws the ones He loves to Himself.
You may say, well, He did love them, but they rejected His love. I would reply, did God's love change and end? [not everlasting and not unchanging]
You may say, He wanted to save them, and they wouldn't have Him, and He loves them, but still punishes them. I would reply, Is God's love not saving? Is God's love a failing love?
And if God still loves the damned, is He not miserable in heaven? Is that God?
Worse than that, Can I rely on God's love if some people He loves end up in hell anyway And are God's love and Jesus attempts at atonement the reason for salvation in that system of belief? No. They may help toward it, but the real reason for salvation in the freewill false gospel is me.
What does the Bible say about you and me by nature? Are we described as people who can just choose when and if we are saved?
Look at some verses with me:
1 Cor 1:18 says that the preaching of the cross is foolishness to us by nature [will I believe if I think the message is foolish?]
1 Cor 2:14 says that the natural man does not receive the things of God's Spirit [that includes the Gospel]
Rom 3:11 says that none seek after God [we all tend to avoid God]
Eph 2:1 says that people are dead in sins [ dead to God, that is]
Rom 8:7 says that we are by nature [fallen nature] enemies of God and we cannot please Him
John 3:19-20 says that men love darkness and hate light.
If we can agree on all of the above, where does that leave freewill? If a man is dead to righteousess, a lover of darkness, disinclined to seek God, an enemy of God in his mind, devoid of understanding, and someone who finds the Gospel foolishness, how can he choose to believe?? The points above describe man's NATURE after he has fallen.
The fact is that man is God's enemy, and it is not as simple as deciding to become God's friend. It is a matter of God making people His friends by removing all of the causes of conflict between us and Him, and how?
By the cross.
People today talk a lot about the cross, but what they teach about what Jesus ACCOMPLISHED there often a great big lie.
Jesus did not die for everybody on the cross.
If He did, everybody would be saved, because if Jesus died for all people's sins from Adam onwards God would have no reason to damn anyone. All sin would be paid for, every sin every committed [including unbelief, including stubborness, including rejecting Jesus, including hating God, including blasphemy, all sins!].
The Bible says Jesus died for the world, but the word ''world'' cannot always mean ''everybody from Adam to the end of time''. It doesn't even mean that in our common language. It means a lot of people, from every nation, every tribe, every type and class of person. God loves people from all nations, and Jesus died for such people.
But, again, what does the Bible say,
''He shall see the travail [or anguish] of His soul and be satisfied: by his knowledge He shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities'' (Isaiah 53:11)
''Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save [not might save, will try to save, but SHALL save] His people [not everybody] from their sins'' (Matt 1:21)
''I am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep'' (John 10:11)
(are all people his sheep? Was God a shepherd to any nation but Israel in the Old Testament. What about the new Testament? What does Jesus say to the Pharisees?
''Ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep'' (John 10:26)
''The Son of Man . . gave His life as a ransom for many'' (Matt 20:28)
''the church of God which He has purchased [He actually bought His church] with His own blood'' (Acts 20:28)
''Christ loved the church and gave himself for it'' (Eph 5:25)
The modern day belief about Calvary is that Jesus made salvation possible, but He accomplished [strictly speaking] nothing at all. Is that not an insult to Jesus?
''He had by Himself purged our sins'' (Heb 1:3)
''Having obtained eternal redemption for us'' (Heb 9:12)
''By one offering He has perfected for ever them that are sanctified'' (Heb 10:14)
''Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances which was against us . . nailing it to his cross'' (Col 2:14)
''In whom we have redemption in His blood, even the forgiveness of sins'' (Col 1:14) see also Eph 1:7
'For God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of Jesus Christ...'' (Gal 6:14)
Today people say ''God forbid that I should glory save in my acceptance of the cross of Christ, without which it would have all been in vain''
''Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect. It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemns, it is Christ that died...'' (Romans 8:33-34)
All of these verses speak of the fact that the reason for salvation is that JESUS DIED for His People, and NOT for anything they do or contribute to the salvation process.
Is faith neccessary? Yes! But the question always is: who gets the credit for faith? God or me? What does the Bible say?
''No man can come unto Me, except it were given him of the Father'' (John 6:65)
''Lydia . . whose heart the Lord opened'' (Acts 16:14) [ notice, she didn't ask Jesus into her heart!]
''which had believed through grace'' (Acts 18:27)
''who believe according to the working of His mighty power'' (Eph 1:19)
''For unto you it is given . . to believe on Him'' (Phil 1:29)
''And you being dead . . has He quickened together'' (Col 2:13)
''But God . . '' (Eph 2:4-6)
Ephesians 2 is a marvellous chapter and speaks of what God has done in the light of the hopelessness of the Ephesians before their salvation came to them. Read it a lot and may God impress its truth on you.
I may have rambled a lot but I hope you will come back with any questions and I will be more than happy to answer them.
I am not looking for respect or honour among men. I am seeking to proclaim the truth of the Bible, and when I do, I get persecuted. God told me that would happen. People don't like the Bible, because it offends them and praises God. Most people's religion praises man and offends God.
''For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? If I yet [still, NB, Paul's former religion as a Pharisee pleased men] pleased men, I should not be a servant of Christ'' (Galatians 1:10)
''As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh [what is the flesh?, it is what comes from me, what I produce of my, say, mind, ability, even ''freewill''] they constrain you to be circumcised [again, an example of my ''contribution''] only lest they suffer persecution for the cross of Christ'' (Galatians 6:12)
So, why are people against what am I saying?? They are against God's word.
I do not believe that Jesus died for everybody. I believe Jesus died for those people from every nation that God chose. God did not choose everybody to be saved. If He had, all would be saved.
The Bible is very clear on the teaching that God chose people, for reasons only known to Himself. Many people will say that God chose, but they will say by that, ''God knew who would choose him, and so he chose them''. That makes God depend on us, and the Bible says that God's choice is according to His Will, not our will.
''According as He [God] hath chosen us [the people to whom the book was written] before the foundation of the world, that we should be [not because we were] holy and without blame before Him in love having predestinated us [God shows His love to His people by choosing them to salvation and actually saving them]'' (Eph 1:4-5)
''Blessed is the man whom You [God] choose and cause to approach unto You (Psalm 65:4)
''that He [God] might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He had before prepared unto glory, even us [the Christians in Rome, and by extension all Christians] whom He has called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles'' (Rom 9:23-24)
''But God hath chosen the foolish . the weak...the base...the things which are despised has God chosen'' (1 Cor 1:27-29)
''Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved'' (Col 3:12)
''Knowing brethren beloved your election of God'' (1 Thes 1:4)
''God has from the beginning chosen you [believers in Thessalonica] to salvation'' (2 Thes 2:13)
''Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus'' (2 Tim 2:10)
Anyone who submits by God's grace to Scripture can see that I am not a false teacher.
So, the Bible is clear, God loves some people, because of His love He elects them, and sends Christ to atone for all of their sins, He sends His Spirit to call them to Christ and gives them faith to believe. Salvation is God's work, by God's power. Man contributes NOTHING.
God sent His Son to be a Sacrifice for His beloved people, and them only''
''God commends [or proves] His own love for us [that is believers] in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us [God's elect]. Much more then being now justified by His blood we shall be saved from wrath through Him'' (Romans 5:8-9)
''He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all [not all, ''us all'' = all elect people, since Romans was written to believers] how shall He [God] not freely give us all things?'' (Romans 8:32)
If God sacrifices His Son for a person, He gives that person freely all things. That must prove that those who are in hell [and did not receive all things] were not beneficiaries of Christ's sacrifice, and He did not die for them.
Christ saves successfully, completely, and to God's glory.
I would encourage you to read all the texts I quote in context and pray that God would reveal the truth to you.
