The Bible says in Galatians 1:8, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.” Paul says anyone who proclaims a false way to Heaven goes to Hell. That’s pretty strong language, which is understandable if we think about it.
Suppose that you believe in God, and you believe in Heaven and Hell, and you want to be sure you go to Heaven. So you begin a journey to find the way to Heaven, and during your journey you come across a person who seems nice and very sincere, and they give you a map that shows you the way to Heaven. You are so thankful that you eagerly take the map, and from that day forward you follow the map, looking forward to the day that you reach your destination, being eternal joy and happiness in Heaven.
And then finally the day comes when you pass over the threshold of death and into eternity, eager to enter the pearly gates and enjoy God forever. But something’s wrong. You’re not in Heaven, you’re in Hell. There’s no joy, no friends or family, and nothing that resembles a hint of happiness. To your horror, you realize the map you’d followed your entire life wasn’t the true way to Heaven, and now you can’t go back, as the door of hope was slammed shut in your dying. Your entire existence has been baptized into the torment of God’s judgment. Forever.
No wonder the Bible speaks so severely to those who proclaim a false gospel. So lets go to the map that God Himself inspired for the true way to Heaven, the true gospel. 1 Timothy 2:3-4 says, “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” In other words, to understand the true gospel, one must understand some basic knowledge.
1) To understand the true gospel, one must understand SIN. When the first man, Adam, disobeyed God, he and his descendants (that includes you) lost their innocence, becoming corrupt in nature, acquiring the penalty of spiritual and physical death. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death.”
2) To understand the true gospel, one must understand JUDGMENT. Romans 2:16 says, “In the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.” The sin of Adam and his descendants (again, that includes you) personally offended God, causing all of man to become the object of God’s wrath, hopelessly lost, waiting for the day when we give an account before God. Matthew 12:36 says, “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.”
3) To understand the true gospel, one must understand CHRIST. Since mankind (again, you) is completely unable to recover its innocence, God inserted Himself into humanity in the person of Jesus Christ. He lived a life of sinless innocence. Hebrews 4:15 says that Jesus “was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
4) To understand the true gospel, one must understand SUBSTITUTIONARY ATONEMENT. Since Jesus lived a life without sin, his death on the cross was a death for our sins, taking God’s wrath and judgment in our place. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Christ’s substitutionary death makes it possible for our sins to be forgiven and to have His righteousness attributed to us.
5) To understand the true gospel, one must understand the RESURRECTION. 2 Timothy 2:8 says, “Remember that Jesus Christ…was raised from the dead according to my gospel.” Three days after Jesus was buried He was raised from the dead, proving He was indeed God’s Son. Romans 1:4 says that Jesus was “declared to be the Son of God with power… by the resurrection from the dead.” Jesus’ resurrection prefigures the resurrection of all who embrace the true gospel. 1 Corinthians 15:20 says, “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Jesus’ death and resurrection calls us to die to our old life and to live a new life. Romans 6:4 says, “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
6) To understand the true gospel, one must understand REPENTANCE. Luke 13:3 says, “But unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” Repentance is when one turns away from all sin. This involves one’s mind, emotions, and will. In other words, one intellectually understands sin to be evil and offensive to God, resulting in an emotional response as sin becomes repulsive, further resulting in a change of will as one desires to stop sinning and to begin doing what is right. Acts 26:20 says, “That they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.”
7) To understand the true gospel, one must understand FAITH. Faith is more than just believing the facts about Jesus, but it is confessing Him as Savior and submitting to Him as Lord. John 3:36 says, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” Notice that John mentions obedience as a synonym for believing. Acts 6:7 says, “Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.” Genuine faith results in the birth of a disciple who obeys Christ as Lord.
As you can see, the true gospel is radically different than a lot of false gospels you may have heard. So have you embraced the true gospel? Or are you still under the heavy hand of God’s wrath, looking forward to His judgment? When you die, will you be surprised you’re not in Heaven because you followed a false gospel? I leave you with Paul’s challenge from 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you are disqualified.”
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