PSEUDO-GOSPEL - Looking for jackanapes & wiseacres!

Jeff Robinson, writing for Baptist Press, reminds us ...

The father of the Protestant Reformation, [Martin Luther], in the final sermon of his life in 1546, used ["jackanapes" and "wiseacres"] to upbraid ministers in his day who proclaimed a weak, truncated and unbiblical gospel.

He goes on to say ...

Reformed theologian R.C. Sproul told more than 300 attendees of the annual Founders Ministries fellowship breakfast June 21 that many contemporary preachers proclaim a similar pseudo-gospel that would certainly draw the ire of the great reformer were he alive today.

I have to agree (see "The Purpose" is not the gospel nor is the book the Bible! and Something big in Godblogdom!) with both Luther and Robinson on this one ...

The message that is often preached is not the full-orbed biblical Gospel that God uses to bring about genuine revival and reformation [...]. Authentic reformation and revival will come only when the Gospel is preached in its biblical purity and fullness [...].

Sproul evidently told attendees (predominantly Southern Baptists) true revival could not be secured by human means ...

"A reformation is nothing we can generate on our own. We cannot manipulate it. We do not have the power at our disposal in ourselves to bring the life-transforming change that reformation yields."

I think Jesus might agree with that, "Apart from Me you can do nothing" [John 15:5b].

As I told someone yesterday, the problem of false or psuedo-gospels has been with us since Peter had to deal with Ananias and Sapphira and since Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians.

Sproul understands this according to Robinson ...

Throughout the history of the church, human ingenuity has exhibited a penchant for taming the offensive nature of the Gospel to fit contemporary sensibilities so that more people will embrace it. When this has happened, many doctrines central to the Gospel (e.g., the doctrines of sin, holiness, separation, surrender, accountability) have gone into eclipse.

That's where people are today; they don't feel the personal weight of their sin. So, they're not excited about the Gospel. They are looking somewhere else for the right program or system or entertainment to make our church feel right and to keep them from getting bored.

"When the character of God is eclipsed, His law is eclipsed. And when the law is eclipsed, our awareness of sin is eclipsed. And when we have no awareness of sin, who needs the Gospel?"

Robinson quotes Sproul again ...

"The Gospel is not about purpose for your life. The Gospel is not about making you feel good. In the first instance, the Gospel is about who Jesus is and what He did. The Gospel also includes ... how the objective work of Christ is subjectively appropriated. We receive the benefits of Christ by faith and by faith alone. So without sola fide, you don't have the Gospel."

The Gospel is about a person, not a purpose, it's not a horizontal construct; the Gospel is about a relationship, not a religion, it's an upward directed supernatural power.

Paul makes this point in Colossians 3:1-3 ...

Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Sproul reminded me of something I knew but had not consciously considered in some time ...

"... the imputation of Christ's righteousness to the sinner. Imputation is the biblical teaching that God, in reconciling sinners to Himself, deposits the perfect ighteousness of Christ into their accounts; because of Christ's righteousness, sinners are considered righteous in the eyes of God.

"I have no hope in heaven and earth except I receive somebody else's righteousness," Sproul said. "The heart of the Gospel is the idea that the righteousness by which I am justified is an alien righteousness, a righteousness that is not my own.

"The only way I receive it is if it is imputed to me, if God counts me righteous which is accomplished if and when I put my trust in Christ alone [...] . It's really not that hard to understand [...] .

It is elementary theology. To get it in the bloodstream is the toughest thing to do as a Christian ... because the devil comes and tells me I have to do something else [to be saved]."

Robinson's closing statements are worthy ...

Referencing Luther's sermon, Sproul reminded listeners that those who preached a false gospel that necessitated the Protestant Reformation did so because they were seeking power. It is not so different today with the popularity of watered-down gospels, Sproul said, and Christians must follow Luther's example and settle for nothing less than the uncompromised Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation.

"You can't improve upon the Gospel," Sproul said. "You want a reformation, preach it. Don't hide it. Make it clear and let God work."

AMEN, and AMEN!