This will perhaps be an offensive article to some. However, there are many people in the world that need to be offended because the true Gospel is offensive. We live in a day where it is expected for all to speak and write in such a gracious way that no one will be offended. Jesus, Paul, and the prophets would not live down to such standards. That should show us that our ideas on these things are not biblical. Jesus spoke the following words: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS'” (Mat 7:21-23).
This text should chill us all to the depths of our souls. It should make us examine ourselves as Paul said in II Corinthians 13:5. It should wake us up and teach us to be careful about those we assume are believers. Jesus not only said that “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom, but He went on to say that “Many will say to me on that day.” They had prophesied in His name, cast demons out in His name, and did many miracles in His name. Once again, Jesus the Lord of all said that “Many will say to me on that day.” Many who were very religious, then, will hear the words that bring utter despair to the soul: “Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.” One can be sure that these people had some sort of experience that made them think that they were believers. We can be sure that these people had some kind of correct theology. Apparently many of these people preached in the name of the Lord (prophesy). Others were quite charismatic in that they cast out demons and performed many miracles. They not only did some miracles, but they did many miracles. We can see clearly from this text that many religious things, even miracles and casting out demons, are not sure signs of salvation.
What was it that these people did that was not consistent with salvation? They were lawbreakers that did not practice the law. Earlier in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells us this:
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Whatever we say about the Gospel or about the law in our day, it must keep in mind these words of Jesus. The Matthew 7 passage (listed above) speaks of Jesus as looking ahead and speaking of the last day. He did not say these words and expect them not to be true at a different point, but they were true then, they are true now, and they will be true on judgment day. While there are many groups and theologies that attempt to do away with the Law in our day, we must keep in mind the words of Jesus. It does not matter how religious a person is, nor the amount of religious activities a person does, a person that is a lawbreaker and does not truly do the will of God will enter into everlasting and eternal torment. It does not matter if a person is a preacher or not, preachers that practice lawlessness will have to depart from Christ. We are warned not to annul even the least of His commandments.
In the last newsletter I gave a quote from Arthur Pink who wrote in the 1930’s. Here is part of it again:
“Alas, alas, God’s ‘way of salvation’ is almost entirely unknown today, the nature of Christ’s salvation is almost universally misunderstood, and the terms of His salvation misrepresented on every hand. The ‘Gospel’ which is being proclaimed is, in nine cases of every ten, but a perversion of the Truth, and tens of thousands, assured that they are bound for Heaven, are now hastening to Hell, as fast as they can take them…all that is needed is to bring before a sinner a few verses of Scripture which describe his lost condition, one or two which contain the word ‘believer,’ and then a little persuasion for him to ‘accept Christ.’ And the awful thing is that so very, very few see anything wrong with this-blind to the fact that such a process proves it is only the devil’s drug to lull thousands into a false peace…But this we greatly fear unless God is pleased to grant a real revival, it will not be long ere ‘the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people’ (Isa. 60:2), for the light of the true gospel is rapidly disappearing. (Genuine Salvation, International Outreach, 1999).
Some might think Pink was an alarmist and certainly not to be listened to. But remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:21-23. Then listen to His words in Mat 7:13-14: “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” If we take this passage seriously, it will hit us like a ton of bricks. How many people are really even trying to enter heaven now? How many people will even try to be on a broad road? How few are those that even attempt to be on a road at all. So if just a few find the narrow gate and the narrow road that leads to life, how few are those in reality. We are living in a day where these words of Jesus are not taken very seriously at all. They seem to be dismissed rather easily and quickly.
There was a day when Pelagian teaching was universally said to be a broad road, but today it passes as just a difference of opinion. There was a day when people feared Arminian teaching as a broad road, but now we build bridges to it. There was a day when people feared dead Calvinism as a broad road, but now we think more teaching or more exciting music is what is needed. We have people wanting to change things because people are different now. When did it become the case that people are not born dead in sins and trespasses? When did it become the truth that people are not depraved sinners who do all out of self-love rather than love for God? When was it that God left the throne and left worship up to the whims of fallen and changing human beings? What we need is God Himself as He reveals Himself in Scripture. What we need is a recovery of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and true conversion so that the glory of God will shine with its beauty in the souls of those that have been truly converted.
It cannot be stressed any stronger than Jesus stressed it. Souls must be converted or they will perish in hell forever. A person may be charismatic and yet be utterly lost. A person may be Arminian and yet be utterly lost. A person may be a Calvinist and yet be utterly lost. A person may be a preacher for many years and yet be utterly lost. Jesus did not make any distinctions but simply and with power said that those that practice lawlessness are not converted people since they will be told to depart from Him. A converted person is one that loves and keeps the commands of God (John 14:21; I John 3:24). If a person does not love God and keep His commandments, that person is not a converted person. No matter what else a person is or what a person does, a person that does not keep the commandments of God out of love has not been converted from practicing lawlessness.
The quote from Arthur Pink (listed above) lists several practices of today that are in conflict with the teachings of Jesus (given above from Matthew). The Gospel presented so much today is a perversion of the truth and is at odds with the teachings of Jesus Himself. People are told, after they have been given a few verses on sin and on what faith is, to pray a prayer and no matter what they are saved forever. Jesus told us that no matter what a person did in religion that person would be lost if that person practiced lawlessness. Who are we to believe? We must believe what Jesus said. Could it be true that millions are being deluded with false gospels today? Could it be that we are in such darkness in our land that the true Gospel is very if not exceedingly rare? We must not forget the plain words of Jesus Christ as seen in the texts of Scripture above. A soul that practices lawlessness is a lost soul.
We must think soberly and prayerfully on Scripture. We take things as signs of salvation that Scripture denies are signs. We must begin to think of true salvation as souls that are converted by the living God from one type of creature to being a new creature in Christ Jesus. It is nothing that a prayer can effectually do. It is nothing that an act of the human will can carry out, but instead is only something that the power of the living God can do. It is God alone who can take one whose mind is “hostile toward God” and “does not subject itself to the law of God” (Rom 8:7) and make it a soul that loves God and keeps His commandments. There are many nice pastors and teachers in the modern day that masquerade as lovers of the Bible that hate the Law of God in reality. These are dangerous people in many ways, but one of those ways is that they do not understand conversion. God converts sinners to be like Him in loving His Law. No one can love God apart from loving the Greatest Commandment. No one can keep the Greatest Commandment apart from the Ten Commandments. No one is a converted soul unless that person loves the true God and desires to be like Him in true holiness. True salvation is to be a converted soul, not just one that is religious. Christ condemned sin in the flesh “so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Rom 8:4). Christ came to fulfill the Law. One of the ways He does that is through truly converted souls. If He is not fulfilling His Law in a soul, then He is not the life of that soul. If Christ is not the life of a soul, that soul is not converted. Christ will tell every person that practices lawlessness to “depart from Me.” But souls that He has converted love His Law as He loves His Law.
God Loves... Himself 
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