That may sound like a silly question. After all, your church has Bibles, the pastor quotes from it, everybody thinks of themselves as a Christian (and most of them act like it, at least in church)…of course the Gospel is preached!
I hope your church really does preach the true Gospel. But some churches, even though they have all the outward appearances of being a Christian church, preach and teach another “gospel” which is not a gospel at all — it is a clever counterfeit of the real one, what Paul called a “perversion of the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:7).
We should not be surprised that this could happen. In the book of Galatians God exposes a counterfeit gospel. And the Lord Jesus condemns counterfeit churches in the book of Revelation. Those are just two examples: the entire Bible, New as well as Old Testament, condemns false churches.
True Gospel preaching displays Jesus Christ as Lord and commands everyone to repent and trust in Him to be saved. The Gospel teaches that all who trust in Him will be saved and will never lose their salvation. It teaches that it is the faith of Christ, His righteousness credited to the sinner, that saves — not anything we have done or will do (the Bible calls good deeds “works”). There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation. Good works are a result of salvation, not the cause.
“Works? Works? A man get to heaven by works? I would as soon think of climbing to the moon on a rope of sand!” — George Whitefield
Counterfeit preaching rarely mentions repentance for sins, as though the Lord of all creation is begging and pleading for people to just give Him a chance to believe in Him. This leaves salvation ultimately up to what the sinner does – rather than being based entirely upon what Christ has done. It is man-centered, teaching that man has the power to veto God’s desires — to deny the will of God. That is exactly what Satan promised Eve in the garden of Eden: that if she and Adam disobeyed God and ate of the forbidden fruit, they (and their descendants, which are all of us) would believe we have the ability to deny the will of God and live according to our own rules.
Counterfeit preaching degrades Christ by denying that His death actually saved anyone. If “accepting Christ,” “making a decision for Christ” was entirely up to each person, and if no one ever chose Him, His death would have been in vain and without apparent purpose. This false presentation of the Gospel teaches that Christ’s suffering and death wasn’t quite good enough. It says that Jesus didn’t do it all; He needs our help, our OK in order to save us. Counterfeit preaching says that He cannot save us unless we agree to it.
In essence, we save ourselves.
A false gospel, counterfeit preaching, always denies Christ’s finished work on the cross. Always. And that is to deny Christ Himself.
Of course you remember that Lazarus was raised from the dead by the Lord Jesus. Lazarus was a real person, but he is also a picture of every person before they are called by Christ. There was a time, some years earlier, when Lazarus was born. Do you think he helped his mother in the birth process? Did he make a “decision” to be born? Did he help the Lord Jesus call him out of the tomb after he was dead and rotting for several days? Did he make a “decision” to “accept” Christ? You know the answer. A dead man cannot make decisions. He cannot respond to anything, including the Gospel, unless the Lord gives him ears to hear. The Bible says it was Christ and Christ alone who called Lazarus. He raised him from the dead, gave him ears to hear His call, and gave him the will to believe in Christ for his eternal salvation.
Faithful Gospel preaching does not dishonor God by turning Him into a pathetic figure begging us to give Him our approval. True Gospel preaching teaches that we need God, but He does not need us. True Gospel preaching teaches that it is not us who should pity Christ, begging people to believe in Him, but that Christ pities us – although pity is the last thing we deserve. True Gospel preaching teaches that His people, past, present and future, were actually saved by His suffering, death and Resurrection (Mt. 1:2); that His death on the cross had meaning — it was the most important event in history — because it actually, at that very moment over 2,000 years ago, saved His people; past, present and future.
Having faith is not something we decide to do: “it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9). God decides to give the gift of faith to whom He chooses, and He uses the Gospel as the means to do it. “No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” (Jn. 6:44). All whom the Father has given to the Son will believe and be saved (John chapter 17). True Gospel preaching invites all to come to Christ and find rest for their souls. We preach the Gospel out of love for all, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (II Pet. 3:9) and in obedience to our Lord’s commandment to preach the Gospel to every person we possibly can:
“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.” (Mt. 28:18-20)
No one can know whom the Lord has called to faith in Christ, so we are to present the Gospel to all.
Rather than “bringing people to Christ,” which implies that it is people who are the active agent and Christ is passive, true Gospel preaching “brings Christ to people.” As the Lord Jesus Christ is set before men, women and children, He convicts people of their sin, moves them to repentance, awakens them to faith, and draws their hearts to Him.
If you do not know the difference between the true Gospel and a clever counterfeit, how will you know how to present the true Gospel to others with power? Do you think God will bless a man-centered message that does not give God all the glory? Remember what happened to King Herod:
“So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. And the people kept shouting, ‘The voice of a god and not of a man!’ Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died. But the word of God grew and multiplied.” (Acts 12:21-24)
And how will you distinguish between the true Gospel and a clever counterfeit for the salvation of your own soul?
Rev. Brian Schwertley observes:
“A proper understanding of the new birth is crucial to the Christian faith. An unbiblical view of the new birth will compromise and pervert many other important truths. It is remarkable that most fundamentalists and evangelicals who champion the new birth have completely perverted the doctrine. They have made it dependent upon man’s choice rather than God’s choice.
“There is no excuse for anyone to misunderstand this doctrine; the Bible is very clear. If you do not believe what the Bible teaches regarding the new birth, then you must repent and submit to Christ’s teaching. If you have changed your view of the new birth and yet find yourself in a church that rejects the Bible’s teaching in this area, it’s time for you to find a new church. Jesus Christ clearly implied that men who did not understand this doctrine were not fit to be teachers of His people (Jn. 3:10).”
¹ http://www.theologue.org/TheNewBirth-BSchwertley.html
What is your church preaching and teaching — the true Gospel or a counterfeit one?
If it is the former, praise God! But if it is the latter, remember the words of the Lord Jesus Christ: “Take heed what ye hear” (Mk. 4:24).
“Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.” (Jer. 6:16)