The reason it is a fatal error not to believe the truth of Gospel essentials such as sovereign election by the free grace and will of God, the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ, the eternal security of the man whom God has elected unto salvation and for whom Christ has died, and that unless one is submitted to the Righteousness of Christ one cannot be saved, is that not believing these truths, or even being undecided, shows that one is believing something other than the Truth of God which, naturally, would contradict His truth. That which does not come from God is that which opposes Him and what He has said. The person who believes in that which God has not said is in ignorance/darkness, which is what a person in a saved state is brought out from in the first place. Either way, they are not believing the Truth.

Belief of the truth, which is revealed in the doctrine of God and in which every true believer abides (2 Jn. 9), is what distinguishes a saved person, who has been brought out of darkness into God’s marvellous Light, from a person who is lost and sitting in darkness. The state of every man by nature is shown clearly in the following verse: "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart" (Eph. 4:18 cf. Jn. 1:5). The blinded heart cannot pump the blood of eternal life. None are born again who remain in darkness and ignorance of what the Gospel is: "...if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost" (2 Cor. 4:3). If the Gospel is hid to any man, he cannot see it and he is therefore ignorant of it. This is evidence that he is lost, for God has not revealed His truth to Him. The truth of God is revealed to His elect, and to others it is not given: "...it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given....he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it" (Matt. 13:11,23). Just as in physical birth one is brought out of darkness (the womb), so too, in spiritual birth one is brought out of darkness (ignorance of the truth) into God’s marvellous Light—His Truth. Ignorance is an unmistakeable sign of lostness. Ignorance is the womb, if you will, from which a man receives no sustenance but is brought out of when he is given birth to by God through His Truth (Jas. 1:18).

The Bible teaches that one cannot believe in the true Christ whilst in ignorance of Who He is and what He has done. One is not born as long as one is in the womb—one is not born again as long as one is in ignorance. Only after one has heard of the true Christ can one rightly claim to believe in Him: "In Whom (Christ) ye also trusted, AFTER that ye heard the Word of Truth, THE GOSPEL of your salvation: in Whom also AFTER that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise" (Eph. 1:13). This Scripture shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that one cannot believe in the true Christ who has not had that Christ revealed to them via the word of truth, His doctrine: His Gospel. The only hope for sinners is revealed in God’s Gospel Message: "For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before IN THE WORD OF THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL" (Col. 1:5). The message of the sure hope of Heaven lies in the doctrines of the Gospel and none can bear fruit unto God before they hear His Gospel and know the grace of God IN TRUTH (see Col. 1:6 cf. Matt. 13:23). One cannot believe and trust in Christ until after one has heard His Gospel and none are sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise who have not believed that glorious Gospel, wherein Christ and His Righteousness are revealed, and rejected all others (Rom. 1:16,17).

One cannot have true saving God-given Faith if one does not believe the one, true, God-given Gospel. One cannot have true saving faith if one believes that one was saved whilst believing in another gospel, because true saving faith trusts only in one Gospel and believes only one Gospel to be the truth, and only one Gospel that can save. This would be like a person who wrongly imagined twelve inches to be a certain length, then upon discovering how long twelve inches really was, nevertheless insisting that their previous appraisal was just as accurate as that deemed by the ruler! None are saved whilst insisting they were saved before hearing and ‘believing’ THE Gospel, for the very Gospel of God which such people claim to believe denies that such a thing is possible! Such people often base their salvation on a variety of experiences and see such life-changing and morally reforming episodes as unquestionable proof of spiritual rebirth, despite the absence of the Seed of God by which a man is born again: the Gospel! God recognises only one Gospel as His and so do all His people. The Gospel of God will have no part of a person who professes his love for it and yet is married to another gospel. Imagine getting married to a person who insists on bringing along their previous husband/wife!! One must be dead to all other gospels before one can savingly and rightly be joined to God’s Gospel. The Gospel of God cannot be yoked together with someone who believes they were saved prior to hearing and believing it and who will not reject every other gospel they previously believed in. This would be like having two wives—a case of spiritual bigamy if you will. Equally, none are saved who insist that such a person is saved or who says a person that has not heard or does not believe THE Gospel is saved regardless. For they are saying—contrary to what the Gospel declares—that one can be ignorant of the Gospel—wilfully or otherwise—and be nonetheless saved. Salvation, then, would be something based on a person’s sincerity and ‘genuine desire for God’ rather than on God’s genuine love for a person, shown by His revealing His Gospel to them and providing them with the faith to believe it. Any gospel that is not THE Gospel simply cannot save. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mk. 16:16).

There is no contingency plan of salvation for those who believe error about Christ. There is no likelihood that any of God’s chosen will not believe His Gospel in its entirety. One hireling informed this author that he does not know how much error God is willing to put up with in His people. The answer is: no error that contributes to the perversion of the Gospel of Christ, thereby revealing another gospel that God has not declared and another christ that God does not claim to be HIS Son, will be tolerated. Error is the spoiler. Error is the leaven that leaveneth the whole lump. God never overlooks the error that leavens the whole lump (see Gal 5:9). Fatal error is that which changes truth into a lie and THE Gospel into another gospel. No one has ever been saved by acknowledging error! Heaven is for lovers of the truth, not those who are enamoured with a lie. Those who believe a lie, ie. another gospel, far from being saved, are under strong delusion (2 Thess. 2:11). There are no allowances made in God’s plan of salvation for those who believe error, for the whole idea of that Great Plan is that it be believed in order that people be saved. Knowledge of God’s Truth is the fulfilment of God’s Plan for the salvation of His people.

Saving faith ALWAYS believes THE TRUE Gospel, never a false one, for it is the faith that comes from God (2 Thess. 2:13,14). The faith which does not save, which does not come from God as His gift, is that which believes salvation can either come before or without belief in God’s only Gospel. The Faith that God gives finds refuge, comfort and security ONLY in the doctrine of Christ. The faith that finds refuge, comfort and security in anything other than the doctrine of Christ ALONE hasn’t come from God.

* The majority of this article was excerpted from the author’s booklet Election Is Just Not Fair!

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