Jesus Paid it All — So — what’s your down payment?
Phrases that don’t be
long in the gospel
I heard a song by a Lordship doctrine singer (Load-ship more properly identified). It started out well, about how Jesus paid it all, yet soon enough, he had his additions to the gospel, I found it so sadly ironic. (No, this was not the traditional hymn he was singing).
From this doctrine, many of these phrases have been spawned, and some people have heard them over and over until they just believe them to be true. Likely because it’s been drummed into our/their minds. We’ve/They’ve neglected to be noble Bereans and are not correctly or rightly dividing God’s Word, nor presenting a clear gospel.
People like Billy Graham or Navigators point you to ‘putting Jesus on the throne‘, or ‘repenting of sin‘ or ‘saying a certain prayer‘ in order to be saved.
This is not how we receive the free gift of eternal life.
Paul Washer’s false Gospel
Paul Washer will mock ‘easy believers‘, and say they believe a magic prayer saves, but he will have you doing works to be saved. He will say a ‘real’ Christian will keep repenting all of their lives (he means turn from sin), and if you haven’t done this or that, you are not saved. (Yes believers SHOULD turn from sin and maintain good works. But the epistles are written because it is not automatic and we need exhortation from His Word). Wonder how the turning from sin every day is working for Mr. Washer — what percentage is acceptable in God’s sight, does he know? I don’t wonder why after sitting under his preaching, his wife Charo found herself believing she is unsaved. Saddest part? Does she know the Lord yet? In other words, how can she be sure? Or is she still turning from sin and waiting to see if she has persevered or not to prove she belongs to Him.
Washer uses terms like “making Jesus Lord of your life“, repenting for the rest of your life — or worse, “the gospel, the most TERRIFYING truth of Scripture”. Has he not heard that gospel means good news? There are so many other things he says YOU must do in addition to believing the good news — which he does not preach clearly. (see Paul Washer’s false gospel here, Part 1, Part 2)
John MacArthur and John Piper also have it wrong
John MacArthur and John Piper and other such five – seven point (Piper) Calvinists give a long, long list of discipleship requirements: abandon all, or take up your cross, hate your mother and father. They don’t agree this means to have your priorities straight with God first. Or love less. Or this one Mac likes to use — I’d like to know when he did this? Sell ALL that you have and give it to the poor…. He looks pretty well off to me. There are many other things from the Word they take out of context and add it to the REQUIREMENTS for salvation. See John MacArthur’s accursed gospel here.
They claim some ungodly sinner without strength will somehow be able to muster up strength to do all those works — but they will then they will turn around and tell you, that you are unable to ‘muster up faith‘…. oh, the irony, the irony…
Neither of them, nor any Calvinist, will ever be able to give you assurance of being saved, and they indeed do not know. For there is a hidden little reformed doctrine called ‘evanescent grace‘ which (in Calvinist-speak) basically means God is fooling them into believing they are saved. They may say they know, but they really can’t, because the proof is in the perseverance they do, not in believing the testimony God gave of His Son.
Perseverance of the Saints (the ‘P’ in TULIP)
Perseverance of the saints means you must prove your salvation by a lifetime of obedience. How much? They cannot say. All I know is John Piper says it takes a whole village to stay saved (see article here).
To understand why the doctrine of Perseverance of the Saints does not = eternal security, I highly recommend this book for an understanding on Perseverance of the Saints, replete with much Scripture. Secure Forever! God’s Promise or Our Perseverance?
Ray Comfort and Living Waters
Ray Comfort has a very jazzed up television program that may do a good job of pointing people to their sin, but the Law, which is written on our conscience, is able to do the same.
However, Comfort’s gospel is tainted and therefore accursed. He uses phrases such as ‘turn from all your sins‘ and ‘stop sinning‘ as part of the gospel message.
He frightens people based on them ‘practicing lawlessness‘ and says they have no regard for the ‘divine law‘.
What/Who saves? Jesus, or the Law? He sells Jesus as the ‘parachute’ but keeping the law adds to the strength to the parachute. See Ray Comfort’s false gospel here:
I don’t judge their motives or thoughts of any of these men to be good or bad. By the way, neither one is righteous judgment, we can not know (Jn 7:24) until that day. But I will protest if you tell me they are a brother. Whether they once believed and are brethren in bondage, I’ll leave that to God, I cannot know for sure. But if so, they are hypocrites (Gal 2) and not straightforward about their truth of the gospel. Or they are flat out preaching an accursed gospel, there is no way to know.
But I can do (and we all must do) is judge their doctrine — (you will know them by their fruits). Judge their gospel presentation with a righteous judgment, (not according to the appearance) but by contrasting it to God’s Word. I will publicly say they all preach another gospel. A work’s laden law-filled gospel that will and cannot save. See MacArthur’s Lies or Self-Deceived here:
Why am I so sure none of these men’s ‘gospels’ will save?
Because God’s Word is clear, we cannot be saved by any works. And their messages are loaded with works, or promises, their own self-righteousness, law , etc. — it is a false gospel altogether (Calvinism, Arminianism, Roman Catholicism, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, all rely on works as all religions have through time). Why do I use a blanket statement with these doctrines? Surely some are saved? Of course there are. I speak only to the doctrine, I do not judge another person’s salvation, unless they tell me themselves they have never believed the clear gospel.
Those who have believed the simple gospel (1 Cor 15:1-11) without adding works before, on top, or after the gospel (front, top, and back loading), are the ones who have received the free gift of eternal life — they are saved forever.
They are saved eternally by believing on Jesus as their Savior. Saved from eternal death. Jesus died in their place on the cross for their sin.
He was buried and risen again in three days as the Scripture said. He proved He was God by having the power to take His life back up again as the Scriptures said He would. Who did this? The Lord (means God the Messiah), Jesus (means Jehovah Saves or is salvation) Christ (the Anointed One that was prophesied to come).
The people spoken to (when Paul by the Holy Spirit declared the gospel in 1 Cor 15), had already received Jesus and they needed to stand in the gospel the apostles ALL preached.
Please, examine the teacher’s and pastor’s speech you listen to, and see if you find the gospel presented this way by the apostles. When did the New Covenant go into force (Heb 9:15-17)? It was at the CROSS. Jesus was preaching law before the cross. Why? The purpose of the law, is to point people >>to CHRIST.
Test the spirits, prove all things, check their accusations against the Word of God. Please, remember, we are not given a spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and a sound mind (2 Tim 1). This is exactly what these men promote, fear. Also, most importantly, examine the Scripture they use. Very often, they use a verse here and a verse there and tell you what it is saying.
PLEASE, be noble (Acts 17:11), search the Scriptures to see if what they are saying is really so. Always, go back and see who/ what/ where/ why/ when/ how/ the passage, chapter, or even book is speaking.
Check EVERYONE, we have a responsibility to be sure what people tell us is so.
The Gospel we believe is found in 1 Cor 15:3-4, and here is another given to me by my friend Debra, and also my friend John from expreacherman.com who says this is one of his favorites:
But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. Rom 4:24-25
LOAD-SHIPPING SONG
This is a little “Ode” I was inspired to write, when I heard the ‘singing’ of legalism of this deceived man who wrote a new take on an old hymn. This is their ‘schtick’. Beware….
Friends…
Don’t listen to these men!!! What we need to believe, is on who Jesus is, and His work on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. He alone can save!
AGAIN: He is Lord (kyrios – God, the Messiah), Jesus means = Jehovah is salvation.
HE DID IT ALL
Only Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, could die on the cross for OUR sins.
Only Jesus could be buried in our place, and He rose again in three days, as the Scriptures foretold and as Jesus Himself said He would.
In John 10, Jesus explained, that no man took His life. He laid it down willingly, and He would take it back up again, because He had to the power to do so. Only God can take up His life again.
He died for you, to give you ETERNAL LIFE freely, if you will believe on what He has done for you in your place.
Do NOT add to His gospel. God bless you to hear the good news and believe!
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17
Um,
This was a very different version from the one I remember singing.
The one I remember is from long time ago & the chorus goes like this :Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.
Yes the other version is sooo full of deceit & lies! Also I agree just another song called a gospel song that has nothing to do with the Gospel.
Amen Terry, unfortunately, well meaning people as well as deceivers are using wrong language which is adding and taking away from the true gospel. We should all be very careful, the gospel we are presenting, comes from truth and nothing of ourselves, or church language we learned.
most calvinists have never heard of evanescent grace so you might want to reconsider iys usage in the article. most get angry when you tell them that TULIP is not the gospel although it contains it. and i am reformed
Bruce – or Mark, not sure which, I apologize. Thank you for commenting, the Calvinists I know are mostly familiar with it, but it may be because a lot of them are pastors or teachers of Calvinism. TULIP does not contain the gospel. To say man is totally unable to respond in belief (T) is not quite true. God has never lied, and when He says one must believe, it is that they must believe or be condemned. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin — BECAUSE they BELIEVE NOT on me… (John 16) Now, if it was God that made them believe not, He’d be guilty of sin.
Unconditional Election – no matter which way you look at it, is not good news. God chose a few for salvation and chose many to be reprobates/damned. That is not what He says when He says He was the propitiation for the WHOLE WORLD. You know, I am familiar with the proof texting on both sides, but to get to the point where you can ignore, that He says He died for the world, for every man, for all, for even the false prophet who would deny Him (2 Pet 2:1) then someone is ignoring clear Scripture. God has given every man a chance to be saved, and Has manifest Himself to all men (Rom 1), He has drawn ALL MEN when He was lifted up on the cross. Please do understand, I’ve heard the best of the best in the arguments, so it’s tiring for me to hear that TULIP is the gospel.
It is not. It has some truth in God’s lovingkindness to draw men, to convict men, to die for men, but it is an ugly lie to say He only died for some, when He specifically says He was a ransom for all and asks us to pray for all for that reason (1 Tim 2:1-6).
Many reformed people within the church are not aware of where it takes them. I have friends who have come out of the reformed church because of finally inductively studying the Word outside the lens of systematic theology. I pray you will too, for no one will ever be saved by preaching tulip.
Consider these please, both true stories.
https://redeemingmoments.com/2015/03/13/the-total-depravity-of-certain-calvinists/
https://redeemingmoments.com/2014/12/20/confessions-of-an-ex-calvinist/
May the Lord stir your heart, and may you dig into His Word, asking Him if these things you have believed are really so. God bless you.
Hi, holly, about jesus paid it all, I recently have a question. When was our price paid, was it paid at the moment when he died, or was it paid at the moment when we believe?
I like to think of it a few different ways, although I’m sure a good pastor would explain it better.
It was all paid at His cross when He died (tetestelai). He obviously foreknew who would believe, a difficult concept for us, but all sins were paid then (Col 2:13-15). Paid in full when He said it was (John 19:30). But that gift needs to be received, and that happens when we believe. So everyone could have a gift waiting on the table, but if many don’t believe and go in belief, they won’t get their free gift. He died not only for our sins, but the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:14; 1 Tim 4:10).
Hope that helps, God bless you, thanks for asking. Holly
But even if he died for us, it we don’t believe we can’t be saved. Can we say that our penalty was not fully paid until we believe?
Xavier, I’m not sure that I could say that. I believe the price was paid at His cross for everyone. But it doesn’t become effective to the individual unless they believe His promise of eternal life (which includes of course, who He is and what He did for us). Jesus is God who does everything perfectly. Not always easy for us to understand. But if it was finished at His cross, I believe it was perfectly done there. We see a picture in the Passover Lamb. The Blood was efficacious to save, but only if they applied it to their own doorposts. Some people use a prison scenario where a person pays the bail for a criminal. But if the criminal didn’t leave the prison, it still doesn’t negate the fact that the bail was paid in full.