THE HOUSE OF GOD - part 5

 

 

Believing God’s Gospel disengages a person from the belief that any other gospel has the competence to save. Believing in a false gospel blinds one to the fact that only God’s Gospel saves. To believe a gospel is to believe the god of that gospel. To believe in God’s Gospel is to believe in the true and only God, and to believe in an erroneous gospel, one which differs in any way to any degree with what the Gospel of God teaches, is to believe in a false god that cannot save you. There is no corruption, or deception within the House of God, for it is “…the pillar and ground of the Truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). The truth of God. The House of God only supports the truth of God, for it is founded on the doctrines of the apostles, and its chief corner stone is the Lord Jesus Christ. This adds further weight to 1 Peter 4:17 where Peter reveals that only those who believe the Gospel of God are of the House of God. The Church of God, the people of God, are the only ones who are the pillar and ground of God’s truth, and, so no one who forms part of the House of God can have any corruption, or deception within them—when it comes to what the Gospel of God is—for the Church of God cannot collectively be the pillar and ground of God’s truth, if those who are part of it are not individually the pillar and ground of God’s truth. How can God’s Church be the pillar and ground of truth if those who make up that Church are subject to error, deception and unbelief when it comes to who God is, and how God saves? Each individual in God’s House is the pillar and ground of the truth. How could it be any other way? Collectively, Christians are the pillar and ground of the truth, but not individually? Nonsense! How would any qualify as part of the pillar and ground of the truth if they were not believers in the Gospel of God, if they themselves were not pillars and ground of the truth in the first place? The Church of God is the pillar and ground of the truth of God, therefore, each member of God’s called out ones is predicated on truth. How can one who believes not the Gospel of Truth possibly qualify as being part of that which is the pillar and ground of the Gospel of Truth? None who are part of God’s House can be deceived, or corrupted by those who are without, especially when it comes to what the Gospel of salvation is, of whom, and how, God saves, “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Matt. 24:24). But, it is not possible that the elect of God can be deceived, or kept away from the Gospel of God, and, therefore, the House of God. Consequently, none who are part of the House of God can in any way be disobeyers, or disbelievers, of the Gospel of God.

 

All who do not believe the Gospel of God alone, as God’s only power to save, but whose faith is (also) in other gospels, are of the world, a world which is filled with spiritual deception and corruption. A world which is filled with false Christians, lies, religious and spiritual corruptness, and a multitude of false gospels. God’s House is the House of Truth. Only the believers in, and preachers of, God’s Gospel are part of that majestic House, and no one else can be. All is vanity, in terms of good works and loving one’s neighbour etc., if one does not believe in the only true Gospel of God. Scripture says “...faith without works is dead” (Jas. 2:20), but what must also be pointed out is the fact that works without saving faith are just as dead. Works without the Faith which believes only in the Gospel of Christ, which comes from God as a gift to His people, are nothing but vanity when it comes to salvation. If you do not possess the gift of Faith, then your dead works (as the Scripture calls them in Hebrews 6:1) will not help you, for a man is not justified by his works, but only by the FAITH which is given to him, “Therefore being justified by Faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1 cf. Gal. 2:16). Of course, the true faith given by God leads to corresponding works, otherwise it would be a dead faith, but these works are in no way part of the reason why a believer is justified. A man is created, he is born again unto good works, and not as the result of good works (see Eph. 2:10). The jailer, in Acts 16:30, asked, “…what must I do to be saved?” He may just as well have asked ‘What must I do to be part of the House of God?’ The reply he was given was “…believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…” (Acts 16:31). ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, for there is no other way, no other gospel which can save you. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be part of the Household of God’.

 

“For the time is come that judgement must begin at the House of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God? And if the Righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” (1 Pet. 4:17,18 cf. Matt. 3:10; Psa. 7:11; Jn. 3:18, 19, 36). The key words in this passage pertinent to our study are all underlined. Those who are of the House of God are the elect, the righteous, who all obey the Gospel of God. Those who do not obey the Gospel of God are unrighteous, ungodly sinners. Again, two distinct groups of people are defined, and are made easily distinguishable from each other. Not only are they distinguishable, but that which distinguishes them is also defined with the utmost clarity. The first group is made up of  those who are described as being part of the House of God. They are referred to as the righteous. Peter’s addressing his Letter to the elect, coupled with the fact that he includes himself among this group by his use of the word us, confirms that the righteous who abide in the House of God are Christians, God’s chosen people who all obey the same Gospel, for they are all of the same God. “…their Righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord” (Isa. 54:17), to which the saints all respond by referring to God as “…the Lord our Righteousness” (Jer. 23:6). The ones who make up the second group in this passage are described as those that do not obey the Gospel of God. They are not of the House of God, and are further identified as ungodly, sinners, and, by implication, unrighteous. They are identified as not among the elect of God, a fact which is evidenced by their failure to obey the Gospel of God. “He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (Jn. 3:18 cf. Jn. 3:19,36). We learn from these Scriptures that Christians, all Christians, are of the House of God, or the Household of God, the Household of Faith, for they all obey the Gospel of God. If this were not so they would surely not be among the righteous, but among the ungodly sinners of the world who do not obey the Gospel of God. Those who are not Christians includes those who believe they are Christian, yet paradoxically do not believe/obey the Gospel of God. While believing themselves to be Christian, they are, according to the Scriptures, of the world, for they believe and trust in other gospels for their salvation apart from, or in addition to, the Gospel of God. Believing and trusting in a false gospel is to disbelieve and distrust the Gospel of God, and the God of the Gospel.

 

To be bound to any of religion’s false gospels is like trying to swim to safety whilst chained to a one hundred ton safe at the bottom of an ocean. Whilst freedom of religion exists, there is no such thing as freedom in religion, for all religions bind a person to gospels which place the unbearable burden of getting saved, and/or staying saved, upon a person’s individual obedience to a set of laws and regulations. “The word ‘religion’ comes from the Latin word ‘religio’ which has a meaning influenced by the verb ‘religare’ which means to bind, in the sense of place an obligation on.” Religare also means to bind fast, to fasten, hold back, restrain. The truth of Christ’s Gospel will make you free from religion and all of its restrictive and insufferable burdens. Christ says: “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30). Christ speaks to those “…who groan, being burdened with the guilt of sin upon their consciences, and are pressed down with the unsupportable yoke of the law, and the load of human traditions; and have been labouring till they are weary, in order to obtain peace of conscience, and rest for their souls, by the observance of these things, but in vain. These are encouraged to come to Him, lay down their burdens at His feet, look to, and lay hold by faith on His Person, Blood, Righteousness, and Sacrifice; when they should enjoy that true spiritual consolation, which could never be attained to by the works of the law”. The truth of Christianity makes a man free from the burden of the rules and regulations which man-made-religion has attached to the empty ‘hope of salvation’ it offers. The Gospel of Christ declares the Good News that salvation is by grace through faith in the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ, by His Righteousness imputed to the elect, and of their sins being charged to Christ’s account. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Gal. 5:1). Religion is bondage – Christ is freedom. All religion is shunned by the true believer, for he has now been made free from the religious traditions of men by the truth which is God’s Gospel. The true Christian is now “…complete in HIM…” (Col. 2:10), free in Jesus, and freed by Jesus, “For Christ is the end of the law for Righteousness to every one that believeth” (Rom. 10:4). Righteousness must be fulfilled, and seeing that it is impossible for man to justify himself before God, or, to be “just, or justified with God”, man requires the Righteousness of another. “…in Thy sight shall no man living be justified” (Psa. 143:2). As Job said, “…how should man be just with God?” (Job 9:2). The apostle Paul addressing  the called of Jesus Christ, and beloved of God, wrote of God sending His Son: “That the Righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us…” (Rom. 8:4). Notice Paul did not say that the Righteousness of the law would be fulfilled by us, but rather in us, by another. “…this is not fulfilled by us in our own persons, nor can it be…man might then be justified by his works, and so the Grace of God, and the Righteousness of Christ, must be set aside: there never was any mere man that could fulfil the law; for obedience to it must not only be performed perfectly, but with intenseness of mind and spirit; a man must be sinless in thought, word, and deed…” The apostle Paul declared the Righteousness of Christ, “…that He might be Just, and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Rom 3:26 cf. Job 9:2). No man can come to Christ, but Christ comes to His people, and saves them, and His Holy Spirit of truth has led each and every one of them to believe in God’s Gospel which reveals this glorious truth.

 

There are not a few false gods which are called ‘God’ and ‘Jesus’ in this world. But if the jesus you believe in is not the Jesus of Whom God testifies in His Holy Gospel, you are deceived and remain unsaved (see 1 Jn. 5:10). People whose belief and trust are not exclusively in the Gospel of God, are not of God’s House, they are not part of the chosen family of God, and, so are rightly referred to as ungodly sinners. Many millions of professing Christians who believe they were saved prior to believing the only Gospel of God, or that people can be saved without even hearing the Gospel of God, are not in the House of God. They are not lively stones, but rather, dead rock. You see, the Gospel of God is GOD’S ONLY power unto salvation. No other gospel has the power to save anyone, and no one who truly believes the doctrines of the Gospel of God holds to the erroneous belief that faith in any other gospel is equivalent to believing in the Word of God. To believe is to trust, and if one’s trust is placed in a gospel which is not God’s Gospel one is trusting in a method, a plan of salvation, which is not God’s method, not God’s plan, and, therefore, one which cannot save, for it does not herald the true God. To believe in lies is to not obey the truth. Likewise, to obey a mixture of lies and truth is to not believe the truth, for like grace and works, one is a denial of the other. You cannot simultaneously be in two trains travelling in the opposite direction. You will either be in one or the other. You cannot truly believe that 2 + 2 = 4, if you believe that any other number is, was, or potentially could be, the true answer. To be saved is to only trust in the true God and how He saves, by only believing in the doctrines which embody His Gospel, and which reveal the true God, and define His Way of salvation. True salvation comes not by way of ignorance of the true God, nor does saving faith keep one hoping and trusting in a salvation plan which is simply not God’s Way of salvation. So, it is right and proper to conclude that believing in a gospel that is not God’s Gospel cannot save, nor is believing that one was, or can be, saved prior to hearing the Gospel, or without hearing and believing in God’s Gospel, the evidence that one is saved. There is no Scriptural evidence whatsoever which would indicate the presence of salvation in any whose belief and trust is not exclusively in the Gospel of God (see 2 Cor. 4:3). To claim to believe in God’s Gospel, but to also insist that one can be saved without it, or whilst believing another gospel, is like the football fan who cheers on one team whilst wearing the other team’s colors, and claiming to be faithful to both.

 

“And if the Righteous”, in 1 Peter 4:18, is a direct reference to those who are of the House of God, the elect of God, the us of verse 17. These righteous ones do obey the Gospel of God. The unrighteous do not obey the Gospel of God. Their obedience is either toward no gospel, or another gospel, therefore, they are trusting in another god, a false god that can never save. A saved man, a righteous man is one who exclusively obeys the Gospel of God. Belief in any other gospel, or no gospel at all, is the very essence of disobedience toward the only Gospel of God. The saved man’s trust is only in the one true God, and how He saves. He does not believe any other gospel, for he has no trust in any other way to salvation apart from the true God’s way as revealed in the true God’s Gospel. Importantly, no saved person believes they were saved whilst believing a false gospel, for the determining characteristic, the epitome of a saved person, a true Christian, is that they believe only in God’s Gospel. They believe that salvation begins with God’s Gospel, and not before. Just as his trust is in no other god, the saved person’s faith is in no other gospel. Not only does a true Christian believe one cannot be saved believing a false gospel, they also do not believe anyone claiming to now believe the true Gospel is saved if the claimant insists on the lie that they were also saved whilst abiding in a false gospel. It is quite bizarre how many false Christians have written to this author claiming to believe the true Gospel, and having no problem with the fact that there is no salvation in a false god, yet believing most vehemently that they were saved while trusting in another gospel, by which false gods are defined. I am sure the absurdity of all this is not lost on the reader. To say one was saved whilst believing a false gospel is like saying one was out of the fire whilst still in it, or one was born whilst still in the womb. Perhaps I am suffering from cognitive dysfunction, but I always thought one was out of the fire only when one was no longer in the fire; I always believed that one was born only when one was out of the womb. The Scriptures declare that one is not made alive unto God before one is born again of God. Only when one’s complete trust, faith and hope are exclusively in the Gospel of God may one rightly consider themselves Christian. Faith in any other gospel gives no one the right to presume oneself a believer in the true God. The reason being that the saved person has been made a new creature in Christ, and has been saved by grace, and granted the faith which comes from God so that they will only believe in God’s Gospel, and no longer believe in any false gospel. To believe God’s Gospel is to believe in grace alone. To believe in the empty, vacuous, and abstract notions of grace coupled with anything else deemed to be necessary to one’s salvation, is to believe in a false gospel. This shows that without the grace of God, the gift of faith cannot be given, and if one has not the gift of faith one can only have the faith which is common to all men who, by their nature, are dead in sin, dead to the true God and His Gospel of salvation by grace alone. Without the grace of God none can be saved, so too, without the gift of faith which comes from God that ensures all who are provided with it believe only His Gospel, none can be saved. All who believe in the false gospels of religion, have not the faith of God, but only the faith which is common to all men.

 

Those who are of the House of God are the us, the elect of God mentioned in 1 Peter 1 to whom Peter is writing. They are “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience…” (1 Pet. 1:2). As in 1 Peter 4:17, the apostle immediately identifies himself with these people in 1 Peter 1 when referring to “…the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…” (1 Pet. 1:3). The elect are they who obey the Gospel of God, and only the Gospel of God, for they have been given the only faith which justifies, and so they rightly belong to the House of God. The primary characteristic of the House of God is that all pertaining to it are believers in the Gospel of God to the exclusion of all others. “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Gal. 2:16 cf. Rom. 1-4; Jn. 6:63). “…by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20). Any religion, any gospel, any person who teaches that a man’s works, his efforts at obedience, play any part in a man’s justification denies the sufficiency and efficiency, the very power of grace alone as that which saves a man. It is within the power of grace alone to obtain and provide salvation. One can only be saved from the Wrath of God, by the Grace of God. Nothing a person can do will dissuade God from exacting vengeance upon them. Only by the God of grace is a man saved from the Wrath of God. Salvation cannot be achieved, it is not something which can be grasped by the natural abilities of man, but that which can only be given by the supernatural grace of God. If you advocate the lie that salvation ultimately waits upon the grace of God to enable a man to do that which must be done before a man can be saved, you have nothing but a subtle form of a works gospel. Such gospels only sound good to the ears of those who cannot hear the truth of God, who, consequently, do not believe the Gospel of God. False gospels are what the truth sounds like to the lost. What hundreds of millions of professing Christians fail to realise is that salvation is of the Lord, therefore, salvation is wholly dependent upon God, on what GOD, AND NO ONE ELSE, DOES. Salvation is by grace, therefore, salvation is wholly dependent on what GRACE, AND NOTHING ELSE, DOES. Salvation is of the Lord, it comes from the Lord and is given by the Lord. Therefore, what a man believes he must do, and can do, can never lead him to salvation, for salvation’s only source is grace. A saved man’s Righteousness comes only from God (see Isa. 54:17). The only outlet for salvation is grace. Salvation cannot come through any other means but by grace, and, is therefore, not as a result of any other means, but grace. The grace of God gives salvation, it does not enable anyone to procure it.

 

If salvation is not by grace alone then salvation is not by God alone, and, therefore, is something which cannot do without the efforts of man. If the works of man are necessary to his salvation, then Romans 11:6 would need to be changed from “…if by grace, then is it no more of works…” to ‘if by grace, then it must also be of works’. It would simply make no sense at all, and would be a direct attack upon the Biblical pairing of grace through faith with no room, or need, of works. It would also necessitate changing “…if it be of works, then is it no more grace…” to ‘if it be of works, then it is still by grace’. Sheer nonsense. The Word of God contrasts grace and works—the one cancelling out the need for the other—the gospels of men, however, teach an unholy harmonization between grace and works. God’s Word says: God does not need man to do anything to save him, for man is dead in sin which is why grace was necessary in the first place. Man can do nothing, therefore, grace does everything. Grace does everything, so there is no need for man to do anything even if he could. All the glory for salvation belongs to the Lord, so if salvation is by grace, then all the glory for salvation by grace belongs to the Lord. This immediately debunks the false doctrine that grace enables a man to do that which his salvation cannot do without. All the glory for salvation belongs to God, therefore, it is transparently clear that grace has done everything which is essential to a man’s salvation. All the glory for salvation is merited by God, for salvation is of the Lord, it is His to give, and He gives salvation by His grace through the gift of faith to all His people. Therefore, there is no glory for salvation attributable to man at all, thus giving him no reason whatsoever to boast in anything he has done, consequently, there is nothing which a man does, or can do, to procure his salvation. If any part of saving grace is missing from a gospel, that which must be believed for any to be saved, then that gospel is promoting salvation by works, or at least partly by works. You see, if grace doesn’t cover absolutely everything to do with salvation, there would be room for a man’s works, there would be room for him to boast. Seeing that the Scriptures speak clearly on this, that man is saved purely by grace, and not at all according to works, the Gospel of God must not have any room in it to give man’s works a foothold. The only way it could do this is for God to fill His Gospel with His grace. If man were not, by nature, dead in sin then salvation would not be impossible for him to achieve in and of himself—there would be something he could do to get saved, thus there would be room for man to boast. If God had not elected a people by grace alone He must have done it according to respect of persons, or according to the works of a man, and so there would be room for man to boast. If  Righteousness did not have to come from another, then man’s own righteousness would have sufficed, and so there would be room for man to boast. If man did not need the Holy Spirit to quicken him, to raise him up from his spiritually dead state, then it must be that man can do this himself, thus there would be room for man to boast. If any of these things were true, the Gospel of God would not be the showcase of God’s glorious grace in salvation, but that which points to the ability of man to get himself out of the spiritual dilemma he is in. As this could never be with a God Who saves by grace alone, Who justifies His people by grace alone, it must be concluded that the Gospel of God is filled to the brim with the saving grace of God, whereby God teaches all His grace necessary in the salvation of His people.

 

A saved man is justified, not by his own righteousness, but by the Righteousness of Christ: “Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law” (Rom. 3:27,28). Grace rules out any need for works. The law of Faith alone in what the Saviour has done rules the hearts and minds of all true believers. If all boasting is excluded, then there is nothing which man can do of which he can boast, of which he can say, 'I chose God’, or ‘I chose to believe’, etc. There is no part of salvation which man can rightly say was reliant upon his doing something. Salvation does not wait upon a work of man’s, but only upon the will of God. If salvation is by grace, then there is no call for works, otherwise, if salvation were dependent on a man’s works, grace would not be required. If salvation is a gift, then it is by grace, but if salvation is something which must be earned, or merited, then it is no longer a gift, and, therefore, no longer by grace, consequently the glory for salvation would no longer belong to God alone. If you hold to a gospel which has taught you that salvation waits upon what you do, then you have not the true God, you have not the God of all grace. Gospels which promote the necessity of a man’s works, whether, or not, they attribute those works to the ‘enabling grace’ of God, allow room for man to boast in salvation. Such gospels do not support the law of grace and faith, for they do not exclude boasting. It is by the work of God (grace) that a man is in Christ, therefore, “…He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (1 Cor. 1:31 cf. Gal. 6:14-16). The Bible talks about God’s people being in Christ: “...Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus...” (1 Pet. 5:14); “...in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22); "...if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature” (2 Cor. 5:17 cf. 1 Thess. 4:16). The key question which must be asked at this point is, ‘How did these people get to be in Christ?’ Was it through the Person and Work of Christ? Was it through their ‘free-will’ choice? How did these people get to be the ones Christ would die for? Scripture tells us plainly: “...OF HIM are ye in Christ Jesus, Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30). Galatians 1:6 talks about “..Him that called you into the grace of Christ...” One needs to be in the grace of Christ to be saved, but equally important is how you get there. It is God the Father Who has placed His elect ones in Christ to receive the benefits of Christ, for Christ is the Saviour sent of God to redeem His people. The Scriptures teach clearly that if salvation were of ourselves it would not be a gift from God, but by the works of man, thereby, allowing room for man to boast, and to his rightfully laying claim to at least some of the glory for salvation. But the Word of God clearly teaches that salvation by grace through faith is strictly “NOT OF WORKS, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:9). Romans 9 is a chapter which many enemies of the cross avoid. Not a few ‘pastors’ in their ‘studies on Romans’  have literally skipped from chapter 8 to chapter 10, for they have no answers to what is presented in Chapter 9. There is nothing in the Scriptures which a true Christian would even think of avoiding. One of the most confronting verses the enemies of the cross of Christ will ever see is from Romans 9 “(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth;)” (Rom. 9:11 cf. Rom. 11:5). Here we see clearly that no one is elected by God because of what they do, or have done. Election is entirely by the grace and mercy of Him who calls, and is in no way by the works of man. Verse 14 “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.” This verse sees Paul dealing with the opposition he, no doubt, often received when teaching election, the claim that such a teaching would make God unrighteous. That it would be unfair of God to choose some, and not others. Paul's immediate answer was the same answer God gave to Moses after Moses had asked to see the Lord's glory: “For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion” (Rom. 9:15 cf. Ex. 33:18,19; Rom. 11:30). The following verse concludes that if election is according to whom God chooses to have mercy upon, then  it cannot be something which is conditioned on man’s will, or works, but solely on God Who shows mercy: “So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy” (Rom. 9:16 cf. Jn. 1:13; Jas. 1:18). It is solely by the election of grace that God has reserved to Himself those He wills to be saved (see Rom. 11:4,5). Salvation is neither a reward for, nor as the result of, anything which a man can do. Salvation is given to make alive those who were spiritually dead.

 

Man’s natural superstitious/religious nature has him imprisoned in a world where he is ultimately reliant on what he does to get saved, his righteousness, therefore, such people’s only hope for salvation is in themselves coupled with a little mercy from God. For others, Satan presents them with a deceptively subtler form of doing to get saved, by saying that the only way a man can do is by God’s grace. Contrary to most people’s thinking, this is NOT grace, it does not glorify God, for it exalts only man. It exalts only man, because it deems that salvation does not come by an act of God, but by an act of man’s which is completely independent of the grace of God. The prevenient grace of Arminianism, which is derived from Roman Catholicism, and even finds its roots as far back as old 5th century Pelagianism, does not save anyone, but only begins a work which only man can finish. This satanic grace is said to prompt man to sit up in bed, then assists a man to sit up in bed, but the decision as to whether, or not, the man gets up out of bed is solely the domain of the man and his alleged free will. The key point of all such false gospels is ‘man must do’. If salvation ultimately depends on what a man must do, then grace is taken completely out of the picture, for God’s Word says salvation is by grace, it is BY WHAT GRACE DOES, that a man is saved. Again, all of the glory for salvation belongs to God, therefore, all of salvation is by God, by grace. The law of salvation by grace through faith excludes any room for boasting (see Rom. 3:25-28). “…in Thy sight shall no man living be justified” (Psa. 143:2). “…in a legal sense, so as to be acquitted in open court, and not condemned; that is, by the deeds of the law, as the apostle explains it, (Rom. 3:20); by obedience to it, by a man's own works of righteousness; because these are imperfect, are opposed to the grace of God, and would disannul the death of Christ, and encourage boasting; and much less in the sight of God; for, however men may be justified hereby in their own sight, and before men, in their esteem and account, yet not before God, the Omniscient God; Who sees not as man sees, and judges not according to the outward appearance, and is perfectly Holy and strictly Just; and none but the Righteousness of Christ can make men righteous, or justify them before Him; and this can and does, and presents men unblameable and unreproveable in his sight.” Believing that man must do something to at least contribute to his salvation is the damnable sign that one remains a prisoner of one’s own accursedness, and not one who has been made free in and by Christ. A Christian is saved, because the faith which he has been given, by grace, believes only in the Gospel of the grace of God which reveals the Righteousness of Christ as the only ground of salvation, and not by any works of the Christian. The Christian’s believing only in God’s Gospel of grace is the direct result, the chain reaction, the cause and effect of the gift of faith given by grace. Faith itself does not save, for it is the object of a saved man’s faith, Jesus Christ, which saves. “Not that faith is at the first of our justification; for that is a sentence which passed in the mind of God from all eternity, and which passed on Christ, and on all the elect considered in Him, when He rose from the dead; (see Rom. 4:25 ); nor is it the chief, or has it the chief place in justification; it is not the efficient cause of it, it is God that justifies, and not faith; it is not the moving cause of it, that is the free grace of God; it is not the matter of it, that is the Righteousness of Christ: we are not justified by faith, either as God's work in us, for, as such, it is a part of sanctification; nor as our work or act, as exercised by us, for then we should be justified by works, by something of our own, and have whereof to glory; but we are justified by faith objectively and relatively, as that relates to the object Christ, and His Righteousness; or as it is a means of our knowledge, and perception of our justification by Christ's Righteousness, and of our enjoying the comfort of it…”

 

People ask, ‘Why is it so important to believe every doctrine of the Gospel? Isn’t it enough just to believe that God saves?’ The reason it is so vital that a person hears, understands and believes the doctrines of the Gospel of God, is the fact that by nature man is completely opposed to, and utterly detests, the principle of grace alone which is the foundation stone of those doctrines. Man’s sin nature has him vehemently opposed to the true God, and loathes the teaching that says man’s only hope for salvation is the very God he so hates. Those who will never savingly believe God’s Gospel will never form part of the House of God. Their unbelief shows that they were never among the elect, but only ever among those who do not obey the Gospel of God, who are ungodly and sinners. They have not been chosen to obey, and their lord is not the Lord Jesus Christ regardless of  how vociferous their claims to the contrary are, voiced by the multitudes of professing, yet false, Christians. Those who are of the House of God are those who believe and obey the Gospel of God, and are referred to as the righteous. They are not among the ungodly, but the righteous, for their sins have all been imputed to Christ, and His Righteousness has been charged to them: “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the Righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21 cf. Isa. 61:10; Isa. 53:6; Zech. 3:4; Gal. 3:13; 1 Jn. 3:5). “…and their Righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord” (Isa. 54:17 cf. Psa. 71:16; Jer. 23:6; Rom. 3:22; Phil. 3:9). Their having been made Righteous in Christ, by His Righteousness alone is evidenced by their obedience, their exclusive “…subjection unto the Gospel of Christ…” (2 Cor. 9:13), and no other. Proof of salvation can never be evinced by those whose loyalties lie with another gospel. By grace, Christians have acknowledged and submitted themselves, not to heretical concepts of what the Gospel of God is, and of how God saves, but to the very Gospel of God itself which alone presents the doctrines of grace that detail Who God is and how God saves, what is to be believed and trusted in for salvation. By the grace of God, the Christian has been saved from, and brought out of the kingdom of darkness and ignorance, rescued from belief in heretical concepts of the Gospel, and translated into God’s Kingdom of Light. This is why all Christians only believe God’s Gospel. Jesus said: “I am come a Light into the world, that whosoever believeth on Me should not abide in darkness” (Jn. 12:46). “God's elect themselves, whilst in a state of unregeneracy and unbelief, are in darkness; when Christ shines in upon them, and infuses the light of faith into them, they are no longer in darkness; the darkness is past, at least in a great measure, and the true light shines; in which they see light, see glory and grace of Christ, and the invisible realities of another world: nor do they continue in the darkness of sin, ignorance, and unbelief; but walk in the light of truth, faith, and holiness…” The minds of the lost have all been blinded by Satan, the god of this world. They do not believe the Gospel of God, for their blindness precludes them from seeing it as the true and only Gospel of God, the true and only way God saves. The light of the glorious Gospel of Christ shines upon every saved child of God (see 2 Cor. 4:3,4). Any who claim to be Christian, yet believe they, or others, were, or can be, saved whilst believing another gospel, are still under the domain of man’s religion, and they remain blinded residents of the satanic kingdom of darkness. They are blinded by the god of this world to the truth that the Gospel of God is God’s only power unto salvation (see Rom. 1:16,17). The Gospel of God at once shows what is to be believed, and what a person is to no longer subject oneself to in matters of salvation. The Gospel believer believes in grace alone, and no longer in his efforts at obedience, but in the Obedience of Another. The word subjection simply means to obey. Scripture speaks of no one who is not submitted, or subjected, to the Gospel of God as being of the House of God, or the House of Faith. The House of God is a House of one people, who have been given one Faith by one God to believe in one Gospel.