Introduction

©Tom Dolhanty

The Gospel in brief:

• The triune, sovereign, eternal, holy, omnipotent, omniscient, and compassionate God created man for His own glory and because it pleased Him to do so.
• Man was to act as God's regent, ruling over nature under God's authority and for God's honour.
• When called upon to demonstrate his obedience to, and honour for God, man deliberately, and of his own free will, rebelled and attempted to usurp God's place. He presumed to act independently of, and in defiance of, the Almigty Creator and Sustainer of all life.
• This rebellion of our first parents brought upon themselves and their progeny the judgment of death as God had warned.
• Death in the physical and temporal sense means the destruction of the body. Death in the spiritual and eternal sense means eternal separation from God, and all that is good and right and holy.
• Before the foundation of the earth a merciful God, having foreseen man's rebellion, made provision to deliver some men and women from His wrath. These are the ones Scripture calls the "elect".
• On behalf of His people, and to satisfy justice, God took upon Himself in the person of His Son the terrible judgment owing to them.
• Known to God from all time are His elect - those whom He has chosen to deliver from wrath, and to make co-heirs with Christ of all the riches of eternity.
• By his sovereign will, by His infinite mercy, and through no goodness on the part of any man, God calls His elect to receive salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
• This call is an effectual call, which will not fail to save to the uttermost. Not one of God's chosen ones will be lost.
• Whoever "hears God's voice" and "sees the kingdom of God" through the preaching of the Gospel is strongly exhorted and warned to put his or her entire trust in Christ Jesus, and to give himself or herself entirely to seeking the kingdom of God.
• Those whom God has not chosen - who have refused His outstretched hand of salvation - are left to suffer the wrath of God which their sinful natures and sinful lives have deserved. Having scorned God's mercy they are given over to God's justice.
• From this judgment, there is no deliverance either in time or in eternity.
• "Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness," Hebrews 3:7-8, and " if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9

The Gospel in History:

It is very important at the outset of our discussion to note that, from the time of the resurrection of Christ, God has patiently maintained the witness of the Gospel in the world. The Gospel went out into the whole civilized world shortly after the resurrection, and the Holy Spirit has maintained the voice of the true Gospel in the world right down to the present day. The second important point to note regarding the voice of the Gospel down through the ages is that from the very beginning there has been a ferocious and relentless attack on the true Gospel. This has taken many different forms, and different attacks have been associated with different ages, but the attacks themselves have continued from the very days of Christ Himself to the present time. Time and again, it appeared that the true Gospel had been lost, but again and again the Holy Spirit has revived His Church and restored the message. In this section, I give a very brief overview of the path by which the Gospel has come down to the modern era. My primary reason for giving this overview is to point out the the path of the true Gospel and especially to identify key teachers that God has used down through the ages. In a day when there is so much error and so many voices claiming to be the truth, it is very important to recognize who were the key teachers given by Christ to guide the Church and what their teachings were.

In this discussion we are using the term "Gospel" in the narrower sense of the good news of salvation declared to the whole world from the time of the resurrection. In the larger sense, the Gospel was first proclaimed by God Himself, when he promised our fallen first parents in paradise that from their offspring would come one who would crush their enemy. Throughout the Old Testament period, the Gospel was confined to the nation of Israel for the most part. The Apostle Peter was first assigned to bring the Gospel to the gentiles shortly after the day of Pentecost, when he was directed by the Holy Spirit to bring the message of salvation to the house of a Roman centurion - to the astonishment of the fledgling Jewish Christian community in Jerusalem. It was a young Pharisee named Saul, however, who was converted, and commissioned by the risen Christ to bring the message of salvation and deliverance to the entire gentile world. Until that time, with very few exceptions, the Jews alone had received the revelation of God. The gentiles were "separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. " Php 2:12. Saul, who became the Apostle Paul, was the first missionary in the modern sense of the word. He received "great grace" to declare Christ to the known world, and He expended that grace with astounding effect.

For the first couple of centuries after the time of the Apostles the Gospel spread slowly through the known world, often attended by much persecution. In the early part of the 4th Century AD, the Gospel became the official religion of the Roman Empire and entered into a long dark night which Martin Luther termed the "Babylonian Captivity". This dark period lasted for approximately a millennium - the period known in secular history as the "dark ages". The message of the free gift of God through Christ Jesus was suppressed by what became the Roman Catholic Church, and was replaced by a message of earning salvation by good works, and even of buying salvation through the sale of "indulgences". The Roman Catholic Church eventually became so blatantly corrupt that even dedicated supporters called out for a thorough renovation. It fell to a German monk named Martin Luther, however, to rediscover in the Scriptures the glorious truth of salvation by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. Through Luther, the Holy Spirit overturned the entire secular and religious order of the 16th Century world. The Gospel of mercy through trust in Jesus Christ was restored.

It is important to note here, before we leave this period of the "Babylonian Captivity" that, despite the evil designs of wicked and fallen men, God has never left himself without a witness to the true nature of the grace of God in Christ Jesus. One of the greatest teachers of the entire Church era, Augustine of Hippo, appeared at the beginning the Roman period, and he gleaned from Scripture many of the great principles of the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith which would be taken up again by Luther, Calvin, the Puritans and others. There were always a few throughout the entire age of darkness who held true to the Gospel - men such as Bernard of Clairvaux, the Waldensians of France, John Huss of Bohemia, John Wycliffe of Britain, and countless others who received the revelation of the Gospel, and who held fast to their testimony, often at great cost to themselves personally. Many paid for their confession with their lives.

After Luther had, by divine appointment and enablement, turned the entire religious and secular order of his day upside down, the torch of the Gospel was passed to John Calvin in Geneva where it burned very brightly for a season. The Gospel fire kindled in Calvin's Church in Geneva sent sparks flying over the entire world - indeed over generations not yet born. For example John Knox of Scotland was enlightened through the work of Calvin, as were the Puritans, as were many from Britain and elsewhere. Geneva became the centre of the world for the Gospel throughout an entire generation, and the work of Calvin and his followers would influence all subsequent generations right down to the present day. The Puritans of Britain and the Presbyterians of Scotland carried the torch from the mid sixteenth to the mid seventeenth Centuries, with the Presbyterians playing a major role right up to the last quarter of the 19th Century.

In the eighteenth Century, God commissioned George Whitefield, John and Charles Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, and many other bright lights such as Daniel Rowland and Howell Harris of Wales, and the Moravians who had dispersed across Northern Europe. The Methodist movement was a vital movement throughout most of the 18th Century, and reached to the four corners of the world. In the 19th Century there was Charles Spurgeon in London, DL Moody in America, George Muller in Bristol, and a great host of others, such as the great men of Princeton (BB Warfield, Charles Hodge etc.) who declared the true Gospel of Christ to a lost world and in opposition to the false church of their day. In the early part of the 20th Century Martyn Lloyd-Jones of Wales became Pastor of Westminster Chaptel in central London, and led a movement to revive the teaching of the great divines from the Puritan era. Meantime J. Gresham Machen left Princeton in protest over the liberal slide there and founded Westminster Theological Seminary in Philidelphia.

Here I am able to track the the Gospel in history with only the broadest of brush strokes, but as I said at the outset, I consider it important to trace the path of the true Gospel and to identify key teachers along the way. This is an age in which many have lost their footing because they do not understand the history of God's work in the Church. I have touched on the major teachers, in order to give a sense of God's faithfulness, and to point the way for others who wish to trace the path more carefully. It is a most rewarding study. To study the actual works of Augustine and Luther and especially of Calvin and the great Puritans of Britain - especially John Owen - and Jonathan Edwards of New England was for me a journey of profound importance and enlightenment. Their followers and descendants in the 19th and 20th centuries - men like Spurgeon, Van Til, Lloyd-Jones, and so many others have all fought valiantly to preserve the great light of the Gospel, as did men like Whitefield in the 18th Century.

Once again, with respect to the attacks on the Gospel, it is beyond the scope of this exercise to delve into the character of the various attacks. Some of this will be dealt with in the following articles. Though it would be most interesting to explore the Arian heresy of the early centuries, or the Pelagian deception which "morphed" into the Arminian heresy, or the hyper-spiritualism of the Anabaptists which threatened the Reformation itself, these are beyond the scope of our work here. What is truly remarkable and truly ominous about every age, is the false sense of security and the confidence experienced by those who, in fact, are enemies of Christ and His Gospel. This to me is the great tragedy of the entire Gospel era, and the Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles warned of it many times. The parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1-13) is just one example.

Each age, it seems, has had its own particular focus of attack on the Gospel. In the first centuries, the attack was one of cruel persecution, tortures and murders combined with sustained attacks on the central truths and especially the truth concerning the nature and person of Jesus Christ Himself. From the very beginning there has been a sustained attempt to replace the Gospel of grace through faith with a gospel of merit through the works of men. The Roman Catholic Church became the champion of this corrupt message. At other times, such as the latter half of the 16th Century, there was reliance upon doctrine rather than on Christ Himself and His Holy Spirit. With the "Age of Enlightenment" and the exaltation of human reason in the 18th Century, began a long and sustained attack on the Scriptures themselves. From the rationalists of the early 18th Century to the German Enlightenment of the early 19th Century, many souls were lost to the god of human reason. This attack on the Scriptures continues unabated right down to the present day.

While the attack on the Bible has continued without letup throughout the twentieth Century, many would argue that the most serious attack on the truth has come in the form of the false doctrine which has come to be known as "easy believism". This is the teaching which promotes the idea that all who subscribe to a set of propositions, and signal their assent with some sort of verbal agreement, are saved. It is a direct outcome of the Arminian heresy which has plagued the Church since the time of Calvin, and which has become the accepted view of the majority in the 20th Century Church. Indeed, this heresy is traced back to Augustine and his battles with the British monk Pelagius. Multitudes upon multitudes live out their lives with the idea that they are safe, and yet have never had a real encounter with God, have never been born again, and are yet in their sins. This is the great tragedy that the Lord Christ warned about again and again in such parables as the "foolish virgins" of Matthew 25. Even among those who have been born again, many are guilty of robbing God of His rightful honour and glory, and of promoting a message which exalts human will and human nature at the expense of the truth.

My Personal Encounter with the Gospel:

I give here a very (very) brief account of my own encounter with the Gospel to illustrate some of the points I will make in the following essays. I was raised a Roman Catholic, was serious about my religion as a child, but abandoned all religion at the age of 21. I was convinced by the modern message that religion - any religion - is superstition, that science and learning was the one hope of development for the human race, and that human intelligence was probably the most sophisticated intelligence in the universe. Alas, it was not very many years after adopting this creed that I found the foundations of my new 'religion' to be riddled with flaws, and full of contradictions. I saw clearly that wherever modern science moved beyond the realm of relative truth, it was just as biased and unbalanced in its view as the most primitive religion. Human intelligence, on its own, has no reference point from which to measure ultimate truth. Science and human reason, on its own, is confined to observing creation, and is unable to say anything of value regarding origins, purpose, larger context or ultimate meaning. When science defines its universe in terms of what it can observe and what human reason can grasp, and then declares that there is nothing beyond this universe, it is simply silly. And when human reason sets out to define truth beyond its prescribed bounds, it is forced to postulate nonsensical and foolish paradigms such as meaning and predictability in a random system.

This depressing and startling discovery left me feeling very naked, and I 'poked around' in various belief systems (mostly religions of the east) over a period of about 7 years from the mid 1960's on. In 1974, however, a most remarkable series of coincidences brought my wife and me into contact with Christians who had just been swept up in the Charismatic move. In the fall of 1974 I had a dramatic encounter with the Holy Spirit which radically changed my life. My wife and I embraced Christ and the Bible, and were transformed over the next period of years in ways which I could never have imagined. We became Christians, fully committed to Christ and His Church.

As the years rolled by, however we became more and more aware that there were serious flaws in our understanding of the faith. We were offended by excesses in Charismatic circles, and we were troubled by great gaps between what we had been taught about the faith, and what seemed to be our experience and our observation. As this dilemma grew, I found that I turned my interests more and more to things of the world and my career, and we gradually became quite cold in our faith. This disturbed us much, and, when we could see that we were truly backslidden, I made plans to take an early retirement from my role as senior administrator in a small university, and try to find my way back to right relationship with God. At about this time, also, we suffered a financial reversal which stripped us of all that we had built up over the past years. We were broken and disheartened and yet at this very juncture a new light began to dawn on us that comforted us very much. In fact the light was not new at all, but a familiar one which we had slowly turned our backs on over the few years prior to this time. This is the light of the Holy Spirit.

I made up my mind to give myself entirely to a study of the faith for a couple of years. Eventually this intent was expanded to include a study of the theology of the giants of the faith, a study of the history of the Church, a review of the biographies of established leaders of the faith over the centuries, and a study of the original languages of the Bible - Greek and Hebrew. The planned period of two years eventually became a six year period of dedicated study. The truths that I discovered from very early on both startled me and thrilled me. I was filled with a whole new awe of God - the awe that is known in the Bible as "the fear of the Lord." I was also filled with great alarm for the many in the Christian community who professed Christ but who did not know Christ at all, and were in exactly the same place as the foolish virgins of Matthew 25. I can imagine no greater tragedy in this life or the next, then to walk in a false confidence of salvation until it is too late to make changes, and then to be cast out of the presence of the God who you felt you knew.

My journey began with the reading of a couple of books on the Puritan era by J.I.Packer, and then to Luther's "Bondage of the Will" which absolutely astounded me. I began to realize that I simply had never understood the foundational truths upon which the whole Reformation was based. We had never been taught the great doctrines of the faith. I was thrilled, I was enlightened, I was embarrassed that I had been so ignorant for so much of my Christian walk. Over the next years I spent almost all of my waking hours studying the foundational truths of the Gospel, and the lives of the 'giants' of the faith, and the languages of the Bible, and the history of the saints. I read Augustine. I read Calvin at length, and I read John Owen at length, and I read all the great works of Jonathan Edwards. It seemed like I just could not get enough! Eventually I studied the lives and work of more recent saints including Whitefield, Spurgeon, B.B. Warfield, Charles Hodge, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Cornelius Van Til, John Murray, and many, many others. Even though I am fully persuaded that I became a new creature in Christ back in 1974, I could now see that I was quite crippled in my faith because of the wrong doctrine I had received. I was taught pietism and a very unbalanced view of spiritual gifts by sincere, but very incompetent teachers and leaders. I, of course, taught the same errors to others .

Since my "conversion" to the truth of the Gospel, it has been my great desire and prayer that I might be able to help a few others to a "more accurate" understanding of the faith (Acts 18:25-28). Also, I have a passion to warn those who feel that membership in a "good Church" or subscription to a set of propositions is the same as being born again by the Holy Spirit of God. True Christianity cannot be reduced to formulae, or dry doctrine or religious excitement. True Christianity is eternal relationship with the eternal God, made possible through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary and carried out by means of the re-creation of the individual from one who is dead and lost to one who has the life of Christ dwelling in him. This is a miracle of cosmic proportions - not some limp agreement with a set of propositions. Furthermore, for this "new creature in Christ Jesus" (2Cor 5:17) to reach maturity there must be a thoughtful, anointed, and competent teaching of the Scriptures. Very very few indeed are those who receive such guidance in this dark age.

The offence of the Gospel:

One of the marks of the true Gospel, as opposed to false versions, is that with the true Gospel comes offence. It's just that simple. And nothing could be clearer in Scripture than this. Jesus warned again and again that true followers - all true followers - would be hated by the world and hated by the religious world. It was true of Him, it was true of his immediate disciples, and it's been true of all real Christians in all ages. For years and years as new Christians we wondered where the 'offence of the Gospel' was. We had no difficulty finding it once we embraced the real Gospel and began to share it with others. And many of those offended by our message profess to be Christians! There is an offence that comes with the true Gospel.

"A servant is not greater than his master", taught Jesus (John 15:18-20). The world and especially the religious community hated Him, hated his followers and will surely hate you if you testify to the true Gospel. Anyone who tells you differently is probably not confessing Christ himself or herself. I once had a preacher tell me that he had preached from Romans Chapter 1 ONCE, and "there were not too many amens". What he was saying, of course, is that he preaches what the people want, not what the servant of Christ is commissioned to preach. He was only giving voice to what the majority practice - give the people what they want. And they surely do not want to be told that they are lawless hypocrites and truth-suppressers. Anyone who wishes to follow after Christ should be given the same warning that Christ Himself gave His disciples - "If you seek to save your life, you will lose it" (Mark 8:35), and "Blessed is he who is not offended in me."(Matthew 11:6) In truth, most professors would rather offend Christ and the Gospel than offend those 'nice people' who will not receive the "whole counsel of God".

So what is the offence of the Gospel? Well, the real Gospel declares that all men are guilty and all men are evil, and that all men will surely be thrown into hell unless they turn and take hold of Christ by faith. Moreover, they are not able to turn and not able to believe, except they be chosen by God the Father and unless the Holy Spirit should intervene in their lives. They are so given to evil that they are incapable of even desiring God on their own. Instead, they spend their lives suppressing the truth and promoting a lie. This is NOT the message that tends to make people feel good about themselves. This is not "seeker friendly". Tell a modern North American upper middle class congregation they are wicked and lost and capable only of evil and you will most likely be ushered off the property by a couple of burly ushers. Teach the 'First Church of Suburbia' the true meaning of seeking first the kingdom of God, and taking up your cross, and you will find yourself looking for another teaching position rather quickly. The true Gospel is no more welcome now than it was in the world of the Apostles.

As for the secular world, be prepared to be called a bigot, superstitious, illogical, or 'holier than thou'. Be prepared to be passed over for promotions and excluded from cliques on the job or in the class or at the club. Get set for hushed silences when you enter rooms and for condescending comments if you dare to speak forth your faith even though every other ungodly position on the planet can be discussed openly. Of course, boldness by itself is not virtue and rude religious bravado deserves to be punished. There are those who claim to be speaking on behalf of the Gospel who are simply obnoxious boors. But I speak here of respectfully putting forth the basic tenets of the true faith. There is offence with the Gospel. If you do not experience that, you really need to examine your belief and your walk. If you cannot bear the thought of that, and will not bear the offence of Christ, then you are not called. It is just that simple.

Can the whole world be wrong?

The foundation upon which a true Christian bases his life or her life is entirely different from the foundation of the belief system of the world. (Yes - the world does have a belief system!) This is not simply just a matter of lifestyle or moral code. This is the essential understanding of reality, and it affects every aspect of a life. In this sense, a non-believer is thoroughly a person of the world, and a true Christian is thoroughly a child of the kingdom of God. Most in North America who profess Christ have really no idea of the radical nature of true Christianity. They do not really believe that "... the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." 1 John 5:19. Either they do not understand or they do not accept the Bible teaching that the world's primary agenda is to suppress the knowledge of God and of His Christ. Thus a compromised and lukewarm Church joins with the world everywhere, and it is virtually impossible to discern a dividing line between the world and this false Church. Whether in education, or politics or social norms or even moral standards, many who profess Christ are, in fact, people of the world. They abhor the very idea of the cross and of separation from this evil generation.

For those, however, who believe the Word of God and seek to obey it, a dramatically different situation pertains. These ones find themselves at odds with the world at every turn. What the world celebrates, these ones abhor. The education system which is highly regarded by the world is, to the true believer, a sophisticated program designed to destroy all knowledge of God in the minds of the youth of the nation. It is much more of course, but its basic foundational belief is antichristian. What the world rewards, the true believer shies away from. When the world rejoices, the Christian weeps. The legal system which seeks to restore criminals rather than punish them, is a perversion of justice to Christians who know that Caesar is given "the sword" by God (Romans 13:4) in order to maintain order and peace - not to convert. And so the rapist rapes again and the murderer murders again, and the child molester molests again. And so it is with every aspect in life, the true believer encounters a world which is intent on suppressing the truth he holds more precious than life, and so he dwells on the fringe.

But for a "citizen of heaven" (Php 3:20), all these things pale compared to the conflict between the undergirding philosophy of the world and the teaching of Scripture. The world has invented an entire cosmos to replace the truth of God's Word. In place of the seven days of creation (6+1), there is something called the "big bang", in place of the sovereign hand of God's governorship, there is random chance. Instead of all truth coming as a revelation from God, there are "brute facts" which human intelligence encounters and defines. The whole focus of the Christian life is to be with Christ in the resurrection, while the world preaches that death has the last say for everyone, and that life in the absolute sense has no meaning at all. The world preaches that human intelligence is the ultimate measure, and that by the rules of human reason there can be no such thing as God. The Christian sees himself as one who is created, and he knows nothing truly except that which is revealed to him by the sovereign Lord and Creator of all. The positions are as radically opposed to each other as possible - and that is no accident. The world system is God's enemy, and therefore the Christian's enemy.

Moreover, the implications of this radical opposition are profound and far-reaching, even if the ordinary North American 'Christian' knows nothing of this. The true Christian finds himself living in an alien environment which despises him. This should not be a surprise, of course, because it is stated in Scripture over and over again. There the world is pictured consistently as a committed enemy of God and a willing slave of Satan. This picture culminates with the dramatic depictions in the Book of Revelations which portrays the world system as the very centre of that which opposes God.

The answer to our question then, "Can the whole world be wrong?" is just this; if one does not see the whole world as wrong then one has to examine very carefully the very foundation of one's faith. To be a friend of the world is to be an enemy of God (James 4:4). This is what the Scriptures teach, and anyone who knows the Scriptures well cannot doubt this because the very foundation of life which are put forth in the Scriptures is completely at odds with that put forth by the world. The whole world is wrong.

What - or who - can I trust?

When I first committed myself to study the foundations of the faith, the looming question was just this, 'What, or who, can I trust?' The attack on the Bible has been so relentless for hundreds of years now, I wondered how I was to regard the Bible. Furthermore, there are so, so many voices claiming to speak for Christianity that one is dazed and confused when trying to discern how to separate that voice which represents the truth from that which will lead into deception. I know now that I was lead by a most gracious Holy Spirit over this time. Furthermore, I am now quite certain that men and women do not have a chance of finding the truth unless the Holy Spirit of God undertakes for them. It is simply not possible to discern right from wrong without divine guidance every step of the way.

There is also, however, one most critical truth here that is often suppressed and confused by those who preach and teach in the name of Christ. The truth is that I would not - could not - even desire to seek and obey God unless it were given to me from God Himself. Scripture teaches most clearly and most persistently that lost humanity is "dead in trespasses and sins" and is utterly incapable of perceiving the kingdom of God or even desiring God or His truth. There are many people, indeed many millions of people, of course, who desire a god of their own invention, or one of the countless gods put forth by false religions which seem so 'right' to so many. But only those who have been given eyes to see, and ears to hear, and a "heart of flesh" will desire the true God and His kingdom.

So the direct and disturbing answer is, 'You can't trust anyone. And most certainly, you cannot trust yourself.' The human race is wicked and rebellious in the eyes of God, and I, as a part of the human race, am wicked and rebellious. I gravitate toward the lie and away from the light. I seek to act as if I were independent and owed nothing at all to the Creator who made me and who sustains me every minute of every day. To love God with my whole being, to deny myself and prefer God in everything, to love others as I love myself - to love even my enemies and to pray for them - these concepts are not native to me! I do not naturally do these things. In fact, I naturally resist doing these things. What then? Is there any hope? NO! NO HOPE! Unless, that is, God should reach out and give you eyes to see, and ears to hear, and a heart to perceive. This is the real Gospel. And if you DO have eyes to see; if you DO HEAR the Word of God; if you DO, of a sudden become aware of the kingdom of God, then spare no effort to follow hard after God. The Scripture says, "today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." (Hebrews 3:15) To do so is to reject the wonderful mercy of God. You have no guarantee that you'll ever see it again.

For those who have received the gift of sight and the gift of hearing, by the gracious work of the Holy Spirit, the Scriptures can - indeed must - be trusted implicitly. This is the voice of God to mankind. Furthermore, I have come to trust the great and recognized teachers of the faith - the giants - but not in the same way as I trust Scripture. This difference is very important. These teachers have authority to help the Church understand the Word of God. They have no authority to add to, or take away from the Scriptures, and each of them has his own flaws and frailties, so they are most certainly not to be raised up above their brethren in the sense of reverence. But God has given these teachers to the Church to help the saints understand His Word. When they teach, the true saint has an inner witness that testifies to him, 'Here is the truth of Scripture rightly expounded'. I count among these teachers Augustine, Luther, Calvin, John Owen, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Spurgeon, Benjamin Warfield, Cornelius Van Til, John Murray, and Martyn Lloyd-Jones. There are many others. In the essential parts of their teaching, they agree and their teaching complements that of their fellow 'giants'.

There have been many thousands of true teachers of the faith over the centuries, of course, and there are many now who work in local congregations and function in the gift of teaching. What is important is that in their central message, these all teach the same truths, and that the centre of their teachings align with that of the giants like Augustine and Calvin, Owen and Edwards. Doctrinal innovation and intellectual individualism have no part in the teaching of a true servant of Christ. Ambassadors don't invent, they receive and deliver, always being faithful to the one who sent them. The great and terrible error made in my early years as a Christian was to look for something new, and to imagine myself capable of receiving truth directly by revelation as a more or less normal way of living out my Christian life. This is bound to lead one into error, and I have seen exactly that in my friends of those days. Many have wandered far from the Word of God. The Scriptures must be the centre and the Christian should look there to receive teaching and revelation from the Lord. Moreover, it is arrogant and very dangerous to remain ignorant of the teachings of the key teachers given to the Church over the centuries. Because of this ignorance my teachers neither understood nor taught the doctrines of the faith correctly.

So then, trust God. Trust the Scriptures, and trust the Holy Spirit to guide you in the reading of them. Look to the giants of the faith for assistance - God has given them to us - but never trust even them as a substitute for the Scriptures. And never forget that even the Scriptures themselves require the gracious light of the Holy Spirit to be rightly understood. We will speak much of this in the next essay.

It's not fair.

The first reaction of many, many people to the true Gospel when they finally grasp the message is, 'It's not fair. How can God save some and not others? How can a loving God condemn human beings to eternal suffering? It just isn't fair!' This certainly was my reaction to the real Gospel. As a young Christian I had received a 'renovated' Gospel - reworked to comply with the ideas of men. And to be sure, there are great and terrible questions raised by the Scriptures. But eventually I have come to see that this very reaction is an expression of the arrogance and pride of fallen man. Who am I, a created being, a being who is inclined towards rebellion and sin and independence from God - who am I to impugn God's goodness and His kindness and his justice? In the light of God's countenance I've come to see who and what I really am and, like Job when he finally looked upon a holy God, I "despise myself" (Job 42:6) and "put my hand over my mouth" Job 40:4.

This reaction - 'it's not fair' - can be understood in one of two ways. First, 'It is not right, just, or good and therefore it can't be what Scripture really teaches'. Second, 'What God is doing is unfair, or unloving, or even unjust.' The Apostle Paul deals with both of these reactions in the Letter to the Romans. In the latter instance, Paul asks, "But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?" Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?" Romans 9:20-21. In other words, as I said above, the very reaction demonstrates my evil attitude toward my Creator.

At what point did I decide that I, a fallen and and very limited and unholy creature, was in a position to challenge the goodness, justice, kindness and wisdom of the Almighty God? If this were not so offensive to the honour of the glorious God, it would surely be laughable. But for the astonishing kindness and patience of God, He would destroy me for this alone.

Regarding the first understanding - 'this can't be what the Scriptures say because it doesn't seem fair to me' - this also is a most arrogant reaction, and a very wrong way to handle the Word of God. This is the sin of our first parents, who decided that they were qualified to evaluate the Word of the Almighty God rather than simply obey. Our task is to discern WHAT God's Word is - and then to obey that Word joyfully, immediately, and fully. It is not our prerogative to evaluate the Word of God according to our own evil and very limited understanding. We are not speaking of understanding or of honest questions or of reasonable consideration, of course. We are saying that humans are not in a position to weigh the Word of God as to its legitmacy or its rightness or its goodness. It is only when I am willing to receive the Word of God as it is, and to bring my understanding and life into harmony with it, that I will begin to understand anything in its true colours.

I've lived a pretty good life. I've said the sinner's prayer. I go to Church. I'm OK.

Many Christians have tried to 'reason people into the kingdom of God', and I certainly count myself among that group. I have tried to prove this and disprove that, and argue this point and that point. And please understand that it is always right to try to answer honest questions, and even to engage in Godly debate at times in explaining and defending the Gospel. However, I believe that Calvin and those who came after him like Van Til are absolutely right to point out that BOTH sides of the convert-by-reason exercise are based on a wrong foundation. The kingdom of God comes by revelation, and that revelation comes by the preaching of the Gospel. Or, as the Scripture states it, "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." Romans 10:17. It does not come by reason. I cannot 'reach out and take it' as so many teach. The truth comes by revelation, and this revelation is the gracious work of the Holy Spirit, who chooses to give light to some who hear the Word of God. Reason, of course, is involved. All of the faculties of a human being are involved in conversion. What we are saying is that reason is not the foundation. In the matter of salvation reason is enlightened by divine intervention. The truth comes to the convert because he or she has received the gift of sight in the spiritual sense.

The terrible thing about the heresies that have crept into the modern Church is that on the surface the lie appears so close to the truth and it all seems so 'reasonable' to fallen human reason. When one examines the matter more carefully, however, one sees a shocking picture. Human will is supreme. Faith is possible for anyone, and it is the real basis for salvation. Judgment is gone. The cross is gone. The offence of Christ is gone. God becomes a servant to human beings. Humans become the author of their own salvation. The focus is on everything but fallen humanity and a sovereign God who will judge all. Christianity becomes just one of the many religions of the world. If I BELIEVE, it seems, it is ME who deserves the credit for my salvation, rather than Christ. The whole thing is a heinous perversion of the truth.

People everywhere are taught that salvation is really up to them. They simply have to 'pick up their gift'. God is a sort of benign old man who just longs for disinterested worldly people to befriend Him. And so 'salvation' is reduced to a typically tepid agreement with a set of propositions. Often it boils down simply to saying, 'I accept Jesus Christ as my Saviour'. And then, after this bold act of consecration, the subscriber is informed that he or she is now part of the eternal kingdom of God, co-heir with Christ, partaker of all the riches of heaven, and the centre of God's doting care and attention. It is a blasphemous picture, and a most serious sin against the glory and the majesty and the sovereignty of the eternal God. How many who have lived their whole lies under this delusion, are now eternally separated from the God who they never really knew? How many entered eternity with false confidence only to discover too late that their entire life was one of religious fraud?

"Do not be deceived. God is not mocked," (Galatians 6:7) That which promotes the independence of human beings is a lie. That which robs God of His rightful glory and honour is a lie and a direct affront to the holy and merciful and almighty Creator and Sustainer of life. No matter how many false preachers preach it, or how many respectable "Christians" hold to it, or how many popular books promote it - the lie will not stand. In that day when it really matters, there is only one vote that will be counted, and oh how many will be rejected because they put their trust in the judgment of fallen human being and false preachers rather than in the Word of God and the true teachers of the Word of God.

The question is not what YOU did. The question is not whether YOU "accepted" Jesus into your heart. The question is not whether YOU "know God". The question is not what YOU think is right or good or kind. The question is, 'Have you understood your great need for deliverance?' 'Have you come to God in the manner which He prescribes? 'DOES GOD KNOW YOU?' 'Are you born again of the Spirit of God?' 'Are you a "new creature in Christ Jesus"?' (2Cor 5:17) 'Have you heard the call of God, and having heard have you left all to follow Him?' The former is the beginning of true faith, the latter is the result of true faith. Only those chosen of God will come to Christ. No one else will come to Christ, and every single one of those who are called will come to Christ (John 6:37, 44). Tremble and be extremely afraid if you have not turned and been converted. Call upon God day and night, and give the Lord no peace until you have the assurance that He has heard you. This is the Gospel. Those who have received grace to see themselves in the light of God's holiness will understand immediately. They will say with Isaiah the Prophet, "Woe is me. I am ruined." (Isaiah 6:5) This is the beginning of their deliverance - not some shallow formula whispered to some false preacher.

What must I do to be saved?

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved." This is the Gospel and it is just that simple. Let us be clear, though, about what we mean when we say "believe". No one can simply 'believe'. To believe in the Biblical sense, one must be given eyes to see. Only those who have been enabled by the Holy Spirit will truly believe, and every time this happens it is a miracle of cosmic proportions. And when this happens in truth, and not just as some bit of religious theatre, a life is transformed for ever. The person will never be the same again. I once stood beside a 'Pastor' who demanded that a seeker believe after praying the 'sinner's prayer'. This is nothing short of spiritual abuse. This is what comes of the miserable Arminian lie which has invaded so much of the modern Church. The poor woman couldn't believe. She had no eyes to see, no ears to hear. She at least was honest, and withstood the pressure from this incompetent nincompoop to declare something which was not true. There is still hope for her. God help those who have responded with false faith to a false message.

Very often the convert does not receive all faith and confidence at the beginning. On the contrary, he or she often wrestles much over this believing. God will very often cause the one He is calling to reach and seek before he or she is able to embrace the truth. Nevertheless, there is no turning back for the one truly called. While there may be a struggle to break through, he or she who is called by God will not fail to be converted in the end. And the first tentative steps of faith, if it is true faith, will mature into the "obedience of faith" by which the saint is "crucified unto the world, and the world unto him." (Galatians 6:14). Let us be quick to add, also, that there are no 'rules' here. The Holy Spirit does what He will, not what we legislate. There are more than a few who hear and believe and are gloriously converted - all in an instant, or so it seems. The issue is not method or time. The issue is 'Have you heard? 'Have you seen?' 'Do you believe?'

It is very important to be clear about what faith is and what it is not. Imagine that I had stumbled over a precipice and was dangling over a 2,000 foot drop, hanging onto a bush, and ready to fall to a terrible death. A man happens upon this scene and risks his life (Christ gave His life) to pull me up just before my strength gives out. As this man pulls me up to safety, a small crowd gathers. Do you imagine that this crowd would spend all its time praising and admiring me because I took hold of the man's hands? What else would I do? It is the intervention of the man which saved me. I simply responded from my helplessness to his outstretched arm of deliverance. Wouldn't both I and the crowd praise the man who risked his life and actually saved me, rather than praising me who just responded in my own interest.

This little metaphor may help us somewhat to understand faith - but like all metaphors it is imperfect. My taking hold and holding on is not what saved me. It is simply the necessary result of the man's intervention in my crisis. So it is with God. It is not my faith that saves me, but Jesus Christ. My faith is simply the only reasonable response to the outstretched hand of God, once my eyes have been opened to see. Thus, "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8. As for my faith, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

The metaphor is imperfect because as I hung over that precipice, I at least WANTED to be saved. I desired with all my being to be delivered from the certain death that threatened me. The sinner has no such desire. He hates God, and flees from the light. If God reaches out to him, he flees. When God sent His son in mercy to help us, we sinners murdered Him. So before I even desire to be saved God must re-create me by the power of His Holy Spirit. Only then do I understand my dilemma and reach out in faith. That faith itself is a gift of God.

Under our last heading - 'The Gospel' - we will elaborate on the whole question of God's salvation. For now, and with the explanation given above, we say, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved...." because ... "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved..." (Romans 10:9-10)