2026 Summer Gospel Meeting: James Luedecke - Restoring the Simple Gospel Plan for Man's Salvation

Tonight we consider or we continue our series

concerning restoring New Testament Christianity

I Hope over the last couple days. We've set a

good foundation for the things that we hope to

begin to talk about Concerning restoring the

faith doctrine and practices of the church that

Jesus Christ built Tonight we're going to talk

about restoring the simple gospel plan for man's

salvation God has a plan for your salvation.

He has a plan for my salvation. It is a simple

plan. And we want to go to the Bible tonight

to study that plan and see what God has to tell

us through His Word about His plan for man's

salvation. The word gospel means good news. It

literally means good news. And the gospel truly

does consist of wonderful, amazing news. But

you know sometimes I fear that Maybe people fail

to appreciate the good news of the gospel because

they first don't understand how bad news The

bad news of sin really is so I want to spend

a few moments with you tonight It would probably

be good for all of us to be reminded how terribly

bad The bad news of sin really is Sin is the

worst news I want us to stop and think about

our sin for just a moment. You know, in the beginning,

God created mankind. He created him in His image,

the Bible says. He created him unlike any other

thing in creation. We were made in the image

of God in that we have a heart, a mind, and a

will, just like God does. And God put us on this

planet and He provided everything we would ever

need. The water we drink, the food we eat, the

air that we breathe, the sunlight that lights

our path. God provided everything that we would

need. then He gave us a law to follow. He had

expectations. He had a will for us to follow

as we passed our time here on this planet that

He created. He gave us dominion over this creation

and told us to subdue it. And after all that,

after all the wonderful amazing things that God

did for us, To show us how much he loved us and

care for us in making us creating for us and

providing for us After all that it wasn't enough

It wasn't enough You know God told Adam and Eve

he said you see all these Trees here in this

garden. He said you can eat of all the trees

of the garden Except for that one tree in the

middle of the garden, the tree of the knowledge

of good and evil, God told Adam and Eve, don't

eat of it, don't even touch it, if you do, you'll

surely die. You know, they had one rule to live

by. They had one rule to follow. They had a hundred

yeses and one no. But you know what, it still

wasn't enough. Because you know when Satan came

in the form of a serpent and tempted Adam and

Eve and told them to reach out and take hold

of the one no When they had a hundred different

yeses they could have took instead They gave

in to the devil's temptation and they committed

sin You know, they didn't want to feel like they

were missing out, right? You know, that's one

of the tactics I believe the devil used to deceive

them Let them to believe that they were missing

out, you know God knows in the day that you eat

that fruit Your eyes will be open. You'll be

as God's knowing good and evil You know the devil

deceived him into believing, you know, you're

really missing out on something God wants you

to he wants to hold you back and have you miss

out on something By not eating that fruit of

the tree of the knowledge of good and evil You

know, I know we're talking about Adam and Eve

and a person can say well that was Adam and Eve

That's not me. Is it really? Are we really all

that much different than Adam and Eve? We have

the will of God. We understand what He wants

for us. But we do the very same thing, don't

we? We commit sin. We transgress the will of

God. We do things that are contrary to His holy,

divine will after all the many wonderful things

that He's done for us. In return for that, we

give Him what? Rebellion. We give him what? Disrespect.

We dishonor him. We disobey him. You know, that's

what makes sin such terrible bad news. When we

commit sin, we are dishonoring, disrespecting,

and rebelling against the all -loving, all -powerful,

all -knowing Creator who made us and everything

around us for the purpose of reflecting His holiness,

His glory, and His righteousness. That's why

He put us here. And when we commit sin, we fall

so far short of our purpose in living and being

here on this earth. And for those reasons and

more, I hope you can see and I hope you've been

reminded tonight that sin is bad news. It's bad

news. It separates us from God. We can't have

a relationship with God when we're guilty of

sin. God is a perfect sinless and holy God. And

sin separates us and it drives us away from God.

And that's even more evidence to the fact that

sin is bad, terrible, the worst news imaginable.

But you know what? The gospel is good news. You

know, the gospel provides the solution, the only

solution to this problem of sin. The gospel is

the best news that I could ever imagine bringing

to you tonight. The gospel is the good news of

the fact that Jesus came, died, was buried, rose

from the dead, and He offers salvation to all

them who come to Him and trust Him and obey Him.

despite the fact that we rebelled against God

and dishonored Him and disrespected Him, despite

that fact He still loves us and gave His Son

as a sacrifice to cleanse us and forgive us and

bring us out of that guilt and condemnation so

that we can have that relationship with our God

restored back to what God intended it to be.

That is good news. Where would we be today without

that? We'd be lost. With no hope of eternal life,

we'd be helpless and we wouldn't have a chance

of spending eternity with the God that made us.

And for those reasons and many more, I'm here

to tell you tonight, and I'm so glad to be here

to tell you that the gospel is good news. It

is good news. We need to understand a few things

about the gospel. Romans 1 -16, Paul talks about

the good news of the gospel. He says, For I am

not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Why? For

it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone

that believeth, to the Jew first and also to

the Greek. The gospel is the saving power of

God. God saves people today. And every time God

saves someone, He does it. Through the gospel

because the gospel is the saving power of God

and we notice that that gospel is made Available

to everyone. It's the saving power of God to

everyone Not to a limited few or a select few.

It's the saving power of God to everyone Who

believes and comes to Jesus Christ according

to the teaching of the gospel? Gospels powerful.

It's God's power to save today When we talk about

the gospel, the good news, it all boils down

to three fundamental facts. The fundamental facts

of the gospel are these, that Jesus died, that

He was buried, and that He rose again. Now, the

death, burial, and resurrection, it might seem

like it just rolls off the tongue so quickly.

And it's easy for us to say it and recite it.

It's easy for us to talk about the death, burial

and resurrection of Jesus. But it's not just

the simple fact that he died, the simple fact

that he was buried, the simple fact that he rose

from the dead. It's the significance of his death.

It's what his death means to us. The significance

of that burial and that resurrection, everything

that resurrection implies, everything it signifies,

every blessing it makes available to us, all

that is wrapped up in the good news of the gospel.

But when you boil it all down to its to its fundamental

facts, it's the death, burial and resurrection

of Jesus. In First Corinthians 15, one to four,

listen to what Paul says. Paul says, Moreover,

brethren, he says, I declare unto you the gospel.

Paul's gonna declare the gospel to these Corinthians.

He says, which I preached unto you. He'd already

preached this gospel to them. This wasn't the

first time they heard it. He says, I preach this

gospel to you which also ye have received and

wherein ye stand. He acknowledges that these

Corinthians had heard and received the gospel

and they were standing in the present truth of

the gospel. He says, by which also ye are saved.

Same thing he told The Romans, the gospel is

the saving power of God. He reminds them that

they are saved by the gospel. But he says, if

if you keep in memory what I preached unto you,

unless you have believed in vain, even though

they'd heard the gospel, they believed and received

the gospel, even though they were standing in

the saving grace of the gospel, Paul still found

it necessary to remind them, didn't he? He said,

I'm going to remind you anyway so you can keep

the gospel in memory. It's good for us today

to be reminded of the gospel. You may have heard

the gospel for the first time 40, 50, 60 years

ago. You may have put on Christ in baptism 40,

50, 60 years ago. But guess what? It's still

good for us today to hear that gospel, to be

reminded of it, and to keep it in memory. If

it was good for these Corinthians, it's good

for us. Paul says in verse 3 he goes on to declare

those three fundamental facts of the gospel.

He says, for I delivered unto you first of all

that which I also received. How that Christ died

for our sins according to the scriptures. There's

the first fact. Christ died for our sins according

to the scriptures and that he was buried. There's

the second fact, the burial of Jesus and that

he rose again the third day. According to the

scriptures. There's the third fact here in these

verses. We find the simple gospel as It's laid

out by God in the scriptures. It's the death

It's the burial and it's the resurrection of

Jesus Christ So when you think about the word

gospel you we need to think about the good news

We need to think about the idea that God saves

people today through the gospel. He saves us

through the gospel and the gospel consists of

the fact that Jesus died, that He was buried,

and He rose from the dead. That's what it's all

about. This is what the gospel is all about.

We could talk the rest of the night about the

death of Jesus. We could talk the rest of the

night about His burial, about His resurrection.

It's a very touching message. It's easy to put

it on a PowerPoint slide and make it look nice

and give it symbols. But it's more than just

words and illustrations on a screen. It's a story

of God's love, mercy, and grace. How many people

would you die for? How many people would you

die for? Be honest. Would you die for me? Would

you die for me? There are some people I would

die for But I'm just going to be completely honest

with you that the list of people I would die

for is a short list It's a short list I Don't

think I could die for every murderer every rapist

every child molester every thief Every liar in

Warren County. I don't think I could do that

much less every murderer, rapist, thief, child

molester, and liar in the state of Tennessee,

much less every sinner in the United States of

America, much less every sinner that has ever

lived, is living, or will ever live. I couldn't

do it. Would you give your only child, your only

son as a sacrifice for every drunk? Every murderer

every rapist every child molester every terrorist

that's ever lived his living or will ever live

I Couldn't do it. I Just don't love I love people

I try to love people Because I understand the

love of God and how much of God loves me and

he loves people so I I'm bound I'm commanded

by Jesus to love people and I try to do that

But I'm here to tell you I don't love the world

enough I don't love the world enough to give

my only son for the sinners of this world. Somehow,

someway, I don't know. It's hard to describe.

It's hard to imagine. It's hard to fathom. But

that's exactly what God did. He gave His only

son. Not just for my sin and not just for your

sin, but every sinner that's ever walked the

face of this planet. How He did it, I don't know.

I just know I couldn't do it. I'm glad he was

able to do it because of his willingness, his

love, his mercy, and his grace in giving Jesus

to die for us. Every sinner that's ever lived

has an opportunity to come to this salvation

that comes through Christ and comes through this

gospel. So you see, it's more than just words

and an illustration on a screen. It's the most

powerful story, the most touching story that's

ever been told. Tonight we're going to put into

practice a four -step approach that we talked

about Sunday as we talk about restoring, going

back to God's original pattern and plan for this

gospel that we're talking about tonight. We're

going to take a four -step approach. to consider

the gospel plan of salvation. And the first step

here is we're going to consider the original

pattern of the gospel as it was revealed in the

first century by the apostles and as is recorded

in our New Testament. We're going to start with

the original and go to the New Testament and

see what it says about God's plan for our salvation.

That original gospel that the apostles preached

to first century churches was a gospel of grace.

It was a gospel of grace. In fact, that's what

Paul told the elders of the Ephesian Church in

Acts 20 and 24. Paul is talking to them. He says,

I want to finish my course or my race with joy

and the ministry which I have received of the

Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace

of God. Paul is telling them, I want to finish

my race. I want to finish strong. I want to complete

the work, the ministry the Lord's given me to

do. And I'm just going to keep testifying. of

the gospel, which he says is a gospel of the

grace of God. You know, without God's grace,

everything else is really pointless. If it hadn't

been for the love, mercy and grace of God, none

of this would really matter. All the doctrinal

things that we're going to talk about as we go

through this meeting, which are very important,

none of those things would be important. if it

wasn't for God's mercy and grace and the giving

of His Son Jesus Christ. It all starts there.

It all starts there. And we need to understand

what grace is. You know, the gospel of grace

means that the gospel is a gospel of undeserved

mercy and favor from God. Were you so good that

Jesus deserved the death that He died for you?

Did Jesus die for you because you were so good?

or we deserved it somehow, God owed it to us

to give us His Son. Is that why Jesus went to

the cross? Absolutely not. Jesus didn't go to

the cross and die for us because we were so good.

Romans chapter 5 teaches that while we were yet

Romans 5 · chapter mention

sinners, Christ died for us. It says every now

and then occasionally some will die for a good

man. Occasionally a secret service agent will

step in front of the bullet For the president,

right? Occasionally, on rare occasions, someone

might die for the sake of another to protect

an important person like the president, right?

That's not why Jesus died for us, because we

were so good and so special. We were sinners.

We were lost and dead and sin. Yet Jesus still

died for us. We didn't deserve his death. His

death was a demonstration not of what we deserved

or merited or earned, but it was a demonstration

of God's undeserved favor and mercy. That's why

it's called a gospel of grace. The original gospel

that the apostles preached in the first century

churches, not only was it a gospel of grace,

it was a gospel for preaching. It was a gospel

for preaching. In March 1615, this is what Jesus

told his apostles right before he went back to

the Father. These were his final orders to his

apostles. We call it the Great Commission. The

Bible says in March 1615, he, that's Jesus, said

unto them, Go into all the world, he told them,

and preach the gospel. Preach the gospel to every

creature he that believeth and is baptized shall

be saved But he that believeth not shall be damned

or condemned notice Jesus told his apostles to

go and To take that gospel with them and to do

what to preach it That original gospel was a

gospel of grace and it was for preaching not

only was it a gospel for preaching It was a gospel

for believing A gospel for believing. We read

that right there in Mark chapter 16 verse 15

Mark 16:15

and 16. He said, go preach the gospel in all

the world. He said, he that believeth and is

baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth

not shall be damned. You see, part of the obedient

response to the preaching of the gospel included

belief, a choice to believe that gospel which

was being preached. It was the Apostle's job

to preach it. And for the people that heard that

preaching, it was their job to believe it, to

receive it. And, you know, that requires a choice,

a conscious effort, a decision on our part, an

act of our own volition and will. You know, we

make choices all the time, don't we? We can choose

every day to accept what we hear or reject what

we hear. And when it comes to the gospel, the

gospel was to be preached and those who heard

it needed to make a choice. If they wanted salvation,

they needed to make a choice to believe that

gospel. It was a gospel that was for believing.

The original gospel was a gospel of grace that

was for preaching. It was for believing and it

was also for obeying. The gospel, the original

gospel was for obeying. And again, we go back

to Mark 16, 15 to 16 to see that. Jesus said,

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.

There's that obedient response to the death,

burial and resurrection of Jesus. A choice to

be baptized, to submit to the water of baptism

was necessary for salvation. If a person heard

the gospel, Yes, they needed to believe it, but

they also needed to obey it by being baptized.

And I want to go back and I want you to see the

significance of this obedience to the gospel.

We understand that the gospel is the death, the

burial, the resurrection of Jesus. We read that

in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 verse 1 to 4. Well,

the Bible teaches us in Romans 6 verses 3 to

Romans 6:3–5

5 that we obey the death of Jesus through baptism.

Jesus died for us and in baptism we die with

Him. In baptism we are buried with Christ. Jesus

was buried for us and in baptism we're buried

with Him. And just like Jesus was raised up from

the dead through His glorious resurrection, we're

getting ready to see the Bible teach us that

we come up out of the waters of baptism raised

to walk in a new spiritual life. We have our

own spiritual resurrection when we come up out

of the water of baptism. So in baptism, you know,

we have an intimate encounter with the death,

the burial, the resurrection of Jesus. And according

to the New Testament, it's the only way to obey

the gospel. It's the only way it teaches to obey

the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus.

It's through water baptism. Let's read that for

ourselves in Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter

Romans 6 · chapter mention Romans 6:3–4

6, verses 3 to 4. Paul says, no, you're not.

Don't you understand? that so many of us were

baptized into Jesus Christ. He says you were

baptized into his death. You were baptized into

his death. He says therefore we are buried with

him. We are buried with him. How? He says by

baptism into death. That like as Christ was raised

up from the dead by the glory of the Father even

so we also should walk in newness of life. Do

you see the gospel in that passage? Do you see

the gospel? I see the gospel in that passage.

I see a death. Jesus died for us. The Bible teaches,

know you not that so many of us as were baptized

into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death.

That's what Paul says. I see a burial. He says

therefore we're buried with him by baptism. And

I see a resurrection. He says, just like God

raised up Christ from the dead, we come up out

of the waters of baptism, raised to walk in the

newness of a new spiritual life. It's beautiful,

isn't it? Baptism paints a perfect picture of

what Jesus did for us to bring us salvation.

His death, His burial, His resurrection. Now

we don't have to go hang on a cross and die like

He did. We don't have to be put in a tomb like

He was. Just hope that the God that God is going

to raise this up on the third day But you know

in baptism we do reenact don't we that very thing

That brought us our salvation the death the burial

the resurrection of Jesus And that's the only

way to obey the gospel according to the scriptures

now we started by Going to the Word of God the

New Testament and finding the original simple

plan for man's salvation Now we're going to move

to the second step in our four -step approach.

Now we're going to do a quick survey of church

history and see how that through the centuries

many different forms of error have evolved concerning

the teaching, the preaching, and the preaching

of the gospel. I want to do a little bit of history

here and help you see how that over time Error

slowly evolved and one of the first things that

happened even very early in the first century

right after the gospel started being Preached

false Gospels Came on the scene and false Gospels

were actually preached in the first century churches

We're gonna talk talk about Galatians chapter

Galatians 1 · chapter mention

1 in just a moment and see the warning that's

given there about preaching false Gospels I want

to tell you another false gospel that was preached

in the first, second, and third centuries of

the church, and that was the rise of Gnosticism.

Let me tell you a few things about Gnosticism.

Gnosticism was an ancient worldview. It came

into the church between 50 and 250 AD, but Gnosticism

was much older than that. It existed in many

different forms and many different varieties.

So it was already around when the gospel began

to be preached, but slowly over this 200 year

period of time it sort of infiltrated itself

into certain segments and parts of the church.

And let me try to explain Gnosticism to you as

best as I understand it. We learn a lot about

Gnosticism by reading the writings of a man named

Irenaeus. Irenaeus lived in the second century

AD. He was a church leader He was an early theologian,

we would say. He was a prolific writer. And Irenaeus

wrote a work called Against Heresies. And in

that work, Irenaeus was writing about and confronting

some of the false doctrines and false gospels

that were infiltrating the church. And so some

of his writings give us insight into one of the

false gospels being Gnosticism. Irenaeus wrote

against it. And that helps us understand what

it was. Gnosticism was this worldview that everything

in the world that was made of matter, everything

material in this world is evil by nature. So

my boots, made of matter, evil by nature. This

PowerPoint projector, made of matter, evil by

nature. This pine tree out here, made of matter,

evil by nature. That everything in the material

world was evil. There was a spiritual world where

things were good, but in this material world

everything is evil. You can see it, touch it,

taste it, feel it, hear it. It's evil. That was

the world view. That was the idea. And so if

you were a Gnostic and you wanted to become a

Christian and you heard the gospel of Jesus Christ,

it would be hard for you to accept the gospel

of Jesus Christ because The idea that Jesus came

into the world and He was the sinless Son of

God, that was a hard pill for them to swallow.

Because if Jesus came in the flesh, He was made

of matter. And if all matter is evil, that would

make Jesus evil. That would make Him sinful.

And so it was hard for the Gnostics to believe

that Jesus came in the flesh. You know what they

taught? They taught the idea that Jesus didn't

come, but He didn't come in the flesh. They were

teaching that He was just a spirit being. Oh,

yes, he looked like a physical being with a human

body, but he was really just a spirit being.

He didn't have any fleshly form. Now what's the

problem with that? Well that changes the gospel

completely, doesn't it? Because if Jesus never

came in a physical body, a flesh and blood body,

how is he going to die on the cross? How is he

going to shed his blood? If he came in an immortal

spiritual body, how is he going to die? See,

that completely undermined and changed the gospel

and that's why Gnosticism was a heresy and that's

why it was so dangerous. That's why Irenaeus

wrote against it. The Gnostics, any time they

were confronted with this idea, know Jesus did

come in the flesh. They would say, well, you

just don't understand. We have this secret knowledge

that God gave us and He told us, God gave us

this secret revelation and secret knowledge that

He didn't come in the flesh. And so that was

their trump card, right? To anything and everything

they might try to teach them from the Word of

God, they'd say, well, you just don't understand

and don't know because you don't have the secret

knowledge that we Gnostics have. That's Gnosticism

in a nutshell, and it was a false gospel. I believe

the Apostle John was writing against some early

forms of Gnosticism that were creeping into the

church even in the first century. I want to show

you this. 1 John chapter 4 verse 2. John wrote

1 John 4:2

this. He said, Every spirit that confesseth that

Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.

And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus

Christ is come in the flesh is not of God, and

this is that spirit of Antichrist. You ever read

that and thought, well, that's kind of strange.

Well, who in the world would believe that Jesus

didn't come in the flesh? We don't run into that

much today. Most everyone who calls themselves

Christians believes, yes, Jesus came in the flesh.

But you know, in the first century, Gnostic Christians

were rejecting the idea that Jesus came in the

flesh. And I think that's probably why John wrote

what he did. He said, listen, anyone who says

that Jesus did not come in the flesh, They're

teaching something that is not from God. In fact,

they have a spirit is not the spirit of God.

It is the spirit of Antichrist. John refutes

the false gospel of Gnosticism in 1st John. Here's

the warning Galatians 1 gives us about teaching

and preaching false Gospels. There are many other

examples we could look at. But all of those false

Gospels would be condemned by this scripture,

this warning. Paul told the Galatians, Galatians

1 6, I marvel that you are so soon removed from

Him that called you into the grace of Christ

unto another gospel, which is not another. But

there be some that trouble you and would pervert

or change or twist the gospel of Christ. But

though we are an angel from heaven, preach any

other gospel unto you than that which we have

preached unto you, let him be a curse. That's

a strong warning, isn't it? If anyone comes and

brings any other gospel different than the one

the apostles preached, Paul says it's a false

gospel, it's a perverted gospel, it's not really

a gospel at all because it's not the original,

it's not the true gospel. He says let people

that preach those gospels be accursed. So false

gospels were something that... the church had

to deal with in the first, second, and third

centuries. As times continued to go on in church

history, another attack came upon the true gospel

of Jesus. And slowly over a period of about 600

years, the idea developed that man could be saved

by his own good works. Works -based salvation.

This idea began to permeate Christianity and

permeate the church from the year 100 to 600

AD and this time period corresponds to the rise

of Roman Catholicism. Over this period of time

the idea of salvation shifted to this idea, the

idea that a person is saved, a person is made

worthy to go to heaven so long as they faithfully

observe the seven sacraments or the seven sacred

rites of the Roman Catholic Church. This doctrine

of the sacrament slowly evolved over this period

of time and Roman Catholicism still teaches today

that salvation comes. A person is made worthy

to go to heaven by their faithful observance

to seven things, seven religious rites that the

Catholic Church calls sacraments. So what has

salvation become now? Salvation has now become

a test as to whether or not how well or not so

well that people can keep seven man -made doctrines

and traditions that are raised up and called

sacraments by the Roman Catholic Church. And

that is a form of what we would call works -based

salvation. Us being saved by our own abilities

to follow some list man -made doctrines and traditions

that are made tests for whether or not we can

go to heaven. Okay, that's man man -made works

based salvation in a nutshell. Okay, now here's

what we understand about works based salvation.

We can never work and earn our salvation from

God. It's not how it works, right? Because as

we've already seen the gospel is a gospel of

grace and we are forever indebted to God for

Him being good and gracious and giving us His

Son Jesus. God owes us nothing. He owes us nothing.

You know, in Romans 4 and 4, Paul says this,

Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned

of grace, but of debt. And that's what works

based salvation taught. The idea that if you

do all these works that God owes you this reward

of salvation and taking you to heaven. He owes

it to you because You know, you worked for it.

You faithfully kept the seven sacraments. You

see that nullifies really the gospel of grace,

doesn't it? Nullifies the gospel of grace. Paul

would later go on to explain that to the Romans

in Romans 11 and six. He's talking about salvation.

And he says, if it's by grace, then it is no

more works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace.

But if it be of works. then it is no more grace,

otherwise work is no more work. Salvation by

grace and salvation by works are incompatible.

They're incompatible. They just won't work together.

It's either going to be one or the other, not

a little bit of grace and a little bit of works.

It's going to be one or the other. Paul's trying

to help the Romans, trying to help us understand

that works by salvation. isn't compatible with

this idea of a gospel of grace that saves us.

The bottom line is this, we cannot earn our salvation

by obeying the seven sacraments of the Roman

Catholic Church. It's not God's plan for our

salvation. In Ephesians 2, 8 -9, Bible says,

For by grace are you saved through faith, that

not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not

of works, lest any man should boast. We continued

forward. a little further in church history.

And we come into a period of time around the

1500s when there was another error that was introduced

into Christianity concerning the gospel. And

it is the idea that a person in and of themselves

doesn't have the power or ability to believe

the gospel because they don't have free will.

I want to tell you a little bit about this doctrine.

Sometimes it's called Reform Theology. Sometimes

it's called Calvinism and that's attributed to

one of its founding authors and founding formulators.

His name was John Calvin. He was a French theologian

who lived in the 16th century. He wrote many

works, a lot of works which sort of formed the

fundamental framework for Reform Theology or

Calvinism. You remember Calvin was a leading

figure in the Protestant Reformation from 1517

on into the 1600s. And he came up with the Doctor

of Calvinism. And this was Calvinism's teaching

concerning salvation. Calvin taught that God

is so sovereign. He's so high above us. He's

so powerful and he is so sovereign that his sovereignty

eliminates our own free will. to choose to believe

the gospel. Calvin would tell us tonight that

we could try as hard as we might want to to believe

the gospel but we could not do it. We could not

do it not unless God gave us the gift of faith.

Faith itself was a gift from God and unless God

gave you the gift of faith you could not believe

the gospel. Try as hard as you want. It goes

along with another idea, another doctrine, that

before the foundation of the world, God already

decided how many people would be saved, how many

people would be lost, and that number of saved

and lost could never be altered by anything man

ever does. And if God preselected you for salvation,

then He would give you the gift of faith so that

you could believe and be saved. But if you weren't

preselected for salvation, well, sorry, He wasn't

going to give you the gift of faith. He was going

to withhold that from you. so that you could

never believe and you could never be saved. So

the idea that God is so sovereign that man can

never make a choice for himself, a free will

choice to believe and accept Christ and come

to salvation through his own choice of belief.

That's the doctrine of Calvinism in a nutshell.

Now, here's what I want you to understand about

Calvinism, about reform theology. Calvinism was

a reactionary response. to hundreds and hundreds

and hundreds of years of man -made works based

salvation that was given and taken away by a

group of Corrupt religious leaders that's you

got to realize the idea of Calvinism sounds strange

until you think about everything Calvin ever

knew about salvation You know Calvin and his

parents and his grandparents and his great -grandparents

his great -great -great -great -grandparents

had seen for hundreds and hundreds of years They'd

seen Catholic priests stand up and say, you can't

be saved unless you keep the seven sacraments.

And you know who administered the seven sacraments?

The priest. The power of salvation was in the

priest. If the priest didn't like you, guess

what he'd do? Withhold the sacraments from you.

And if he withheld the sacraments from you, guess

what? You couldn't be saved and go to heaven.

If the priest didn't like you, he withheld the

sacraments and you couldn't be saved and go to

heaven. That's all they had ever seen for hundreds

and hundreds and hundreds of years that kind

of system That's a terrible system. And so it

doesn't excuse the error of Calvinism But it

does explain how they came to the conclusion

They said all we've ever seen is salvation in

the hands of men based on works We're gonna take

salvation out of the hands of men altogether

so much so that you don't even get to decide

whether you're saved or not And it's not going

to be according to a man's choice. It's not even

going to be according to your own choice. We're

going to let God decide who is saved. And we're

going to take salvation out of man's hands altogether

and just put it in the hands of God. That's like

swinging the pendulum from one extreme to the

other, isn't it? It was a reactionary response

to hundreds and hundreds of years of corruption

and man -made and works -based salvation. Now

Calvinism... is not in line with what the Scriptures

teach. The doctrine of Calvinism is just another

one of these false Gospels. Listen, God would

never command us to believe if we were incapable

of making a choice to believe. Would God ever

command us to do something we were incapable

of doing? In Mark 1 and 5, Mark 1 and 15 Jesus

said the time is fulfilled the kingdom of heaven

of God is at hand repent ye and believe the gospel

Jesus preached and told people to repent and

believe the gospel would God and Christ command

people to believe the gospel If they didn't have

any free will to make a choice to believe Not

only that would God Admonish us for unbelief

if we were incapable of believing That's exactly

what Christ did to the apostles. He appeared

to them after His resurrection and the Bible

says He abraded them for their unbelief, for

their hardness of heart because they believed

not that which had seen Him after He was risen.

The apostles after Christ was risen, they were

hearing rumors that people had seen Him and they

didn't believe it. They were living in unbelief

and Jesus came to them and abraded them. He corrected

them. He scolded them. Why did you not believe?

Well, we didn't believe Lord because we don't

have free will to believe, you know Belief is

a gift. God will give us if he wants us to have

it. Was that the Apostles response? No You know

God God would never admonish us for unbelief

if we were incapable of believing and certainly

God would never punish us for unbelief If we

were incapable of believing that's not a just

God Jesus said he that believeth not shall be

damned He that believes not is condemned the

Lord truly going to condemn us and damn us for

not believing you when all along we were incapable

of belief I don't think God will do that I don't

think he's that kind of a God this idea that

we have no free will to believe the gospel is

not in line with the scripture we can come to

faith and belief in God and the Bible tells us

how to do that doesn't it Romans 10 17 where

does faith come from Faith cometh by hearing

and hearing by the Word of God. That's where

faith comes from. We don't sit back and wait

for God to drop faith on our head, you know,

like a gift so we can be saved. We go to the

Word of God and the Bible tells us that we can

cultivate faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing

by the Word of God. The fourth and the final

error. I want to speak to you about tonight Concerning

the gospel plan of salvation and this is the

most recent error that we are more familiar with

in our modern -day times It's the idea that people

don't really need to obey the gospel and baptism

that baptism really isn't all that important

Now this this idea this false gospel really wasn't

all that common until the 1940s, the 1950s on

into the present day. And it corresponded with

the rise of what was first radio evangelism and

then later TV evangelism, okay? As radios and

televisions became more common and more popular,

preachers took advantage and they went to the

airwaves and they got on television screens and

they preached the gospel. But it was different

this time. Because, you know, in the past the

preacher had to be present with the people he

was preaching to, with the sinners. And it was

easy to encourage them to believe, repent, and

be baptized. But now, you know, no telling where

these people are that we're preaching to. They're

in their television, maybe out in the middle

of the woods or at the North Pole. You know,

the people are all over the world hearing and

seeing preachers preach on radio and TV. And

there's not a convenient way to baptize these

people. And so what slowly emerged is this idea

that you can be saved listening to your radio,

watching your TV, you can be saved by simply

hearing and repeating a prayer, sometimes called

the sinner's prayer. And as this sinner's prayer

gained popularity, less and less emphasis was

placed on the need to obey the gospel in baptism.

This is one of the things that influenced the

rise Not the only thing but one of the things

that influenced this rise of the no need to obey

the gospel and baptism false doctrine Now prayer

is a good thing Prayer is a good thing. We should

pray to God But you know what the Bible never

teaches that salvation from our sin and the washing

away of our sin comes through prayer We have

the Apostle Paul. He was Saul of Tarsus before

he was the Apostle Paul He went to Damascus.

He met the Lord. He was blinded and he was led

into Damascus. And the Bible tells us that Saul

was there in Acts 9 and 9. He was there three

days blind without his sight. Neither did he

eat or drink. He fasted. The Lord appeared to

a preacher in Damascus, Ananias, and told Ananias

in verse 11, arise and go and go down straight

street to the house of one Judas. And he said,

inquire for one Saul of Tarsus. He's there. What's

he doing? For behold he prayeth In the process

of Saul's conversion he was blinded he couldn't

see he was led to a house in Damascus and there

he prayed and There he fasted the Bible tells

us for three days Three days of prayer and fasting

the Lord told Ananias to go find him and When

Ananias found Saul, what did he tell Saul to

do? Did he say Saul? You've been praying long

and hard. Surely you're already forgiven of your

sins." He said, no. He said, and now why tarries

thou? Acts 22 -16, and now why tarries thou?

Saul, what are you waiting for? Arise and be

baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the

name of the Lord. After three days of prayer

and fasting, Saul was still in his sins. You

know what that tells me? And that should tell

all of us that praying a simple prayer with the

preacher on TV does not wash away our sins. It

didn't wash away Paul's sins when he prayed for

three days. He needed to do something more. There

was one more thing he needed to do. Ann and I

said, why are you waiting to do it? Get up and

be baptized. And when you do that, what will

happen? Your sins will be washed away because

you'll be calling on the name of the Lord. And

so this is one of the things the New Testament

teaches us that makes us clear to us that this

idea that you don't have to be baptized, just

pray a prayer and you're saved. That's not the

gospel that's given to us in God's Word. That's

certainly not the gospel that Saul heard, believed,

and obeyed when he was converted to Christ. Here's

the fact. Here's a reality. Here's a fact. Jesus

is coming back someday. We need to heed the warning

of 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 8 to 9. Jesus

2 Thessalonians 1:8–9

is coming back someday and when he comes he's

going to come and take vengeance on those who

don't obey the gospel. That's why it's so important

that we obey the gospel. That's why it's so important

that we encourage others to obey the gospel.

The Bible says that Jesus is coming back and

when he comes he's coming in flaming fire and

he's going to be coming to take vengeance on

them that know not God. those that obey not the

gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be

punished with everlasting destruction from the

presence of the Lord and from the glory of his

power Jesus is coming back he's gonna take vengeance

on two groups of people those who don't know

God and those who don't obey the gospel that's

why we teach and preach and beg with people to

come to know God and come to a place where they

submit and obey the gospel and baptism before

it's too late. Now I want to keep working our

way around the circle here. I want to go to our

third step. I want us to stop for just a moment

and consider some of the modern -day practices,

some of the modern -day teachings concerning

the gospel in our time today. We've looked at

church history and how a lot of error has been

taught concerning the gospel. What about today?

You know, today it's very popular in our time

to hear of the prosperity gospel. Prosperity

gospel is a very selfish gospel. It's a gospel

that promises us all the health and wealth and

material blessings we could ever want or hope

to gain. It's the idea, and we hear the preachers

on TV and on the radio preach this gospel. They

preach a message that God wants to bless us with

all the material things our hearts have ever

wanted, that God wants us to grant us our every

earthly desire. And we know what our earthly

desires are, right? Wealth, money, fast cars,

nice houses, two or three houses if we can get

them, right? All the earthly things this world

has to offer. You know, Jesus came not to make

sure we had our every earthly desire satisfied.

He came to give us spiritual blessings. He came

to save our soul, which is really our most valuable

possession. You know, our soul, your soul, my

soul, it's more valuable than all the cars, all

the homes, all the lands, all the money I'll

ever manage to have. My soul is more valuable

than all that. Your soul is more valuable than

any earthly possession you'll ever manage to

gain. You know what Jesus was more concerned

about when He came to this world? He wasn't as

concerned about us having a big nice house or

a nice fast car. He was concerned about the salvation

of our soul because our soul is that which we

will take on into eternity. Every house, car,

piece of land I've ever owned I'm going to leave

behind here on earth when I die and when the

Lord comes back it's all going to be burned up

in the end anyway. I'm only going to take one

thing with me on into eternity and that's my

soul. That's what makes my soul my most valuable

possession. And this health, wealth, selfish

prosperity gospel does very little To speak to

the salvation of our soul what it speaks to is

the satisfaction of men's covetousness and their

greed and their desire for earthly things You

know Paul told Timothy that there would come

men who would Have perverse disputings. He's

he warns about first perverse disputings of men

of corrupt minds men that are destitute of the

truth supposing that gain is godliness And that's

really the underlying message behind the prosperity

gospel that gain is godliness That if you're

close to God God will give you all these things

that your heart desires Paul told Timothy from

such withdraw thyself Godliness is learning to

be content with such things as we have that's

what Paul would later go on to tell Timothy To

be content with what little or what or what lot

or what much God has blessed us with Here's another

false gospel that we see preached today. It's

a casual, faith -only gospel. It's the idea that

you just need to believe in Jesus and as long

as you come to Jesus as you are and just accept

Him as your Lord and Savior, Jesus will save

you and He just wants to tag along with you through

life like your self -help coach, like your best

buddy. You and Jesus can be pals. You really

don't have to change your life. Jesus is really

not looking for any kind of a commitment. Just

come to Jesus. Just ask Him into your heart.

You're saved. Go on about your way. And that's

really about as deep as it gets. Right? It's

a very casual, a very low commitment. Faith only

gospel. Just believe and God saves you. Don't

worry about the rest. I'm here to tell you tonight,

that sounds good and it's appealing to a lot

of people today, but that's not the truth of

the gospel. You know, this is what Paul told

the Romans. He taught the Romans that the gospel

demands a life -changing commitment. In Romans

6, 1 to 2, shall we continue in sin that grace

may abound? God forbid. How are we going to come

to Christ and accept Him and get salvation from

our sin and just keep on living in sin? giving

little thought to it or little care to how we

live for the Lord. We don't want to continue

in sin that grace may abound. God forbid, how

shall we that are dead to sin live any longer

therein? The gospel demands a life -changing

commitment and a call to holiness and righteousness.

Christ calls us to deny our will so that we can

accept and embrace His will. It's not like we

get to come to the Lord on our own terms and

live our own life and do our own thing and Jesus

will just follow us through life. It's the other

way around. We need to sacrifice our will to

get behind Him and follow Him. In Matthew 16

24, Jesus said to His disciples, if any man will

come after Me, let him deny himself, take up

his cross and follow Me. That's what it means

to be a true disciple. That's what it means to

be a true follower of Jesus Christ. self -denial,

laying aside our will to embrace the will of

Jesus Christ. And then the last false gospel

that we hear preached so often today is a gospel

that tells us all we need to do is call on the

name of the Lord and don't worry about anything

else and God will save us. I want to talk about

this call on the name of the Lord gospel. This

idea that all we need to do is just trust Jesus

as your personal Savior and cry out to salvation

for Him. He will save you. You know this this

idea comes from a verse in the New Testament

It's found in a few different places. One of

those places is Romans 10 13 This is where Paul

says whosoever shall call upon the name of the

Lord shall be saved Whosoever shall call upon

the name of the Lord shall be saved you know

I'm here to tell you brethren that verse right

there Romans 10 13 is true All day long every

day of the week and every day of the year It's

true. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will

be saved. But the question we need to ask is

this, what does it really mean to call on the

name of the Lord? You know, if we miss the mark

in defining what it means to call upon the name

of the Lord, we miss the purpose and the meaning

of this verse altogether. What does it mean to

call upon the name of the Lord? You know, when

you study this phrase, call upon the name of

the Lord, here's what it means. It means to make

an appeal to or invokes Christ's power and authority

to save us. That's what it means to call on the

name of the Lord, to come to Jesus in faith and

submission to Him realizing He's the only one

who has the power to save us and we need His

help and we invoke and we appeal to Him to save

us from our sins. That's really all it means

to call on the name of the Lord. Here's the deal.

We can't call on the name of the Lord. We can't

appeal to Jesus to save us, but then turn around

and outright reject and ignore everything Jesus

taught about how to be saved. That's like saying,

Lord, I want you to save me, but I'm gonna ignore

everything you told me to do to be saved. We

can't have it both ways. You remember what Jesus

said in Luke 646? Why call you me, Lord, Lord?

do not the things which I say if Jesus is our

Lord and we're coming to him for salvation we

need to be willing to hear receive and obey what

he taught about salvation and we know there's

some things that Jesus taught about salvation

one being that we got to be baptized to be saved

but people say oh no just call on the name of

the Lord and you don't need to be baptized that's

like saying Lord save me but I'm not gonna do

what you said In Mark 16, 16, you told me to

be baptized if I wanted to be saved. I'm not

going to do that. I'm just going to expect you

to save me in my rebellion, to your word. You

remember in Acts 22, 16, we talked about this

earlier, when Saul there in Damascus? When he

got up and was baptized and had his sins washed

away, what was he doing? The Bible says he was

calling on the name of the Lord. Part of Saul's

calling on the name of the Lord included this,

included getting up and being baptized for the

remission of his sins. That was part of his calling

on the name of the Lord. So we can't divorce

baptism from the idea of calling on the name

of the Lord. They come hand -in -hand and they

work together. We're gonna look at the fourth

and final step in our four -step approach tonight.

Given where we've been and how the gospel has

changed so much and so much error has been taught

about it through the centuries and how there

are many false gospels taught today, let's talk

about how we restore God's simple plan and pattern

for the gospel. Here's what we need to teach

and preach today. Here's what I teach and preach

today and here's what I know this congregation

stands for when it comes to the gospel today.

People got to hear the gospel. How shall they

believe in Him of whom they've not heard, Paul

says in Romans 10 -14. People got to hear the

gospel before they can have faith in it. After

people hear the gospel because we're preaching

it, people need to believe the gospel. In John

8 24, Jesus said, if you believe not that I am

He, ye shall die in your sins. So we've got to

believe the gospel. If we don't believe the gospel,

we will die in our sins. Not only do we have

to believe the gospel, we got to believe it so

much that we're willing to repent, to turn away

from sin and turn toward the sinless Son of God.

And that change in our life, a change of heart

and mind leading to a change of course and direction

in our life is called repentance. And we got

to repent of our sin. It's part of the plan of

salvation. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 7 -10,

Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation.

We're sorry for our sin, we turn away from sin,

that's repentance, and that leads to what? That

leads to salvation not to be repented of. True

faith responds in obedience to God through bringing

forth the fruits of repentance. Not only do we

need to repent of our sin, we need to confess

our faith in Christ. In Romans chapter 10 verse

Romans 10:9

9 it says that if thou shalt confess with thy

mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine

heart that God raised him from the dead, thou

shalt be saved. It says for with the heart men

believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth

confession is made unto salvation. It's not hard

to confess our faith in Christ when we truly

have that belief, that faith in our hearts. And

then the last thing we need to do is we need

to be baptized into Christ. We have to take that

obedient step of baptism as we've talked about

tonight. That's what Peter told the Jews in Acts

2 on Pentecost Day. Acts 2 .38, Peter told them

to repent and be baptized, every one of you,

in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission

or for the forgiveness of sins. And ye shall

receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Baptism is

for the remission, the forgiveness of our sins.

That's why it's so essential that we take that

step and obey the gospel. Obey the death, burial,

and resurrection of Jesus in baptism, because

when we do that, God gives us forgiveness and

remission of sins. Just like we talked about

the gospel, the death, the burial, the resurrection,

we obey that gospel in baptism. God cleanses

us and forgives us of our sin, raises us up to

walk in a new spiritual life with Christ. That's

the gospel we need to believe, and that's the

gospel we need to obey. This is God's plan for

our salvation and this is the plan we need to

be teaching and preaching and by doing so guess

what we can restore the pure and simple plan

for God's salvation for all of us. I want to

close tonight with a question and I hope you'll

take this question to heart. I hope you'll stop

and earnestly and carefully consider this question.

Have you heard the true gospel? I don't know

what you've been taught. I don't know where you've

been. I don't know what churches you've been

a part of or not been a part of. I don't know

your religious history. I don't know what you've

been taught. I don't know what you've heard in

religion. But prior to the night, have you heard,

have you been taught the true gospel of Jesus?

Have you believed the true gospel of Jesus? And

then have you obeyed the true and saving gospel

of Christ? What gospel were you taught? Only

you can answer that. I don't know. Only you can

answer that. What gospel did you believe? And

what gospel did you obey when you came to Christ,

when you were converted? It is so very important

that when it comes to hearing, believing, and

obeying the gospel, that we hear, believe, and

obey the truth. As we've already seen tonight,

there's a lot of error. There's a lot of false

teaching. in the religious world concerning the

gospel. What should matter the most to us is

that we hear, we believe, and we obey the truth.

I want to show that to you from 1 Peter chapter

1 Peter 1:22–23

1, verse 22 to 23. Peter says, seeing ye have

purified your souls, he writes to Christians,

people who were already saved, and he reminds

them, he says, you purified your souls. In obeying

what? Obeying the truth. Peter says we purify

our souls in obeying the truth. Obeying error

does not purify our soul. Obeying false teaching,

false Gospels, false doctrine does not purify

our souls. The Bible tells us that it's through

obeying the truth. our souls are purified. Seeing

you have purified yourselves in obeying the truth

through the Spirit unto unfeigned it means sincere

love of the brethren." He says, see that you

love one another with a pure heart fervently.

Look at what he says in verse 23, being born

again. Being born again. We got to be born again.

How? Not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible.

Being born again by what? By the Word of God.

Which liveth and abideth forever, you know if

we were born again By something other than the

Word of God if we were born again By the doctrines

and traditions of men if we were born again by

some false gospel Have we truly been born again

by the Word of God that lives and abides forever?

Have we truly purified our souls by obeying the

truth if we were taught religious lies look this

isn't This isn't a matter of questioning a person's

sincerity or their love for God or their heart

I Don't I try not to question anyone's sincerity

or their love for God or their heart because

I can't see their heart But you know what I can

question and I think it's wise for all of us

to question this whether or not we were taught

the truth Because if we weren't taught the truth

of the gospel, how could we believe the truth?

And if we didn't believe the truth of the gospel,

how could we obey the truth? That's the only

thing we're calling into question. And that's

the only thing I'm asking you to consider tonight.

Were you taught the truth? Did you believe the

truth? And did you obey the truth of the gospel?

And if you were taught anything other than the

truth, I want you to know this. When it comes

to your soul salvation, getting it right matters.

Getting it right matters more than anything.

If you weren't taught the truth, if you didn't

believe the truth, if you obeyed some different

gospel, some false gospel, if you didn't obey

the truth of the gospel, I've got good news for

you. You can make it right tonight. I've taught

you the truth tonight, straight from the Scriptures.

The rest is up to you. You can believe that truth

and you can obey that truth tonight. You have

an opportunity to make it right and making it

right makes all the difference. It's the most

important thing in the world that when it comes

to your salvation and your soul, you get it right.

We don't want to stand before God and come to

find out that we were wrong, that our faith,

that our salvation was based on something that

was false. You can be saved tonight look if you're

here tonight, and you Need salvation if you can

be saved by the truth error won't save us the

truth will Jesus said if you continue in my word

Then are you my disciples indeed you shall know

the truth the truth shall make you free. It's

as simple as this hear the word Obey the truth

let Jesus make you free. It's as simple as that