WHAT ABOUT THOSE MEN AND WOMEN WHO DO NOT BELIEVE THE GOSPEL OF GRACE

I am often asked whether or not those people who are in Arminian churches, where the works of the flesh and free-will are made the basis of salvation, are saved. I know that most of those people to whom I minister came out of such churches. We all have relatives and friends who are involved in free-will, fundamentalist religion. But these things must not be allowed to cloud our judgment. Our opinions about such grave issues must be drawn from Holy Scripture.

The Word of God makes it abundantly clear that THERE IS BUT ONE GOSPEL. It is the gospel of substitutionary redemption and effectual grace in Christ. Paul pronounces a curse upon those who preach any other gospel and declares that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ (Gal. 1:6-8; Phil. 3:18). When the Bible talks about the grace of God, it makes three things perfectly clear: (1) The grace of God is free and unmerited. (2) The grace of God is sovereign and distinguishing, and (3) the grace of God is effectual and irresistible. The Word of God never talks about the atonement of Christ or the saving grace of God as things which must be aided and completed by man.

Christ has redeemed all of God's elect, by his once, for all sacrifice at Calvary. He both fulfilled the law's requirements for perfect righteousness and satisfied the law's penalty for all his people. And the Lord God saves whom he will. He is gracious to whom he will be gracious. To deny the efficacy of Christ's atonement or the efficacy of God's saving grace is to deny the gospel. It matters not whether the scoffer stands in a fundamentalist pulpit or an atheistic university.

The Bible also makes it clear that NO ONE IS SAVED WHO DOES NOT HEAR AND BELIEVE THE GOSPEL. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." I know that God is sovereign. Had he chosen to do so, he could have revealed the gospel to each of his elect without the use of preachers. But he has not so chosen. "It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe."

And we know that ARMINIANISM, FREE-WILLISM, DECISIONISM, AND EASY-BELIEVISM, IN ANY FORM, IN ANY DENOMINATION, IS NOT THE GOSPEL. I am aware of the fact that many who give lip service to the doctrines of grace consider Calvinism to be one branch of Christian doctrine and Arminianism another. But any reasonable man cannot accept such foolish compromise. If one man declares that salvation is altogether by grace and another declares that it is part grace and part works, if one declares that it is altogether the work of God and the other that it is a co-operative effort between God and man, both of those men cannot be right. If the one is preaching the gospel, the other is not. And if the one believes the gospel, the other does not.

THEREFORE, IT MUST BE CONCLUDED THAT NO ONE IS SAVED IN A FALSE RELIGION. In his good providence, God may use anything, even Arminian fundamentalism, to cause his elect to begin seeking him. But the Word of God forbids us to look upon anyone as being saved until he hears, believes, and confesses the gospel of Christ. It is not enough that men believe in a god, trust a Jesus, and receive a gospel. In order to obtain salvation, sinners must believe God as he has revealed himself in Holy Scripture. They must trust the finished work of Jesus Christ the Lord, as it has been revealed in the Word of God. And they must receive the gospel of the grace of God as it is plainly laid down in the Bible.

The Apostle Paul plainly teaches us that ANY PERSON WHO RESTS HIS SOUL'S SALVATION UPON ANYTHING, IN ANY MEASURE WHATSOEVER, OTHER THAN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST IS LOST IN DARKNESS AND SIN (Gal. 5:2,4; Rom. 11:6). Salvation is in Christ alone! It is not Christ and the church, Christ and the lodge, Christ and an experience, Christ and a decision, Christ and baptism, Christ and works, but Christ alone who saves the soul.

I am gravely concerned for this generation in which we are living. This generation has been thrown a curve by their religious leaders; and they have fallen for it to the ruin of their souls (II Cor. 11:1-4, 10-15). The one thing that gives me comforts in the midst of this apostate religious world is the blessed fact that IT IS NOT POSSIBLE FOR GOD'S ELECT TO BE DECEIVED. For the elect's sake these days shall be shortened. Christ's sheep hear his voice, and know it. "And a stranger will they not follow, but, will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers." "Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things." God's elect shall not be deluded by the false gospel that is being preached in our day, because they know the truth. It has been established in our hearts.

Men will accuse us of being proud, self-righteous, divisive antinomians. Let them do what they will in retaliation. Here I stand. I can do no more. The souls of men and the glory of Christ demand that I speak clearly. "If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?" There is but one gospel. Those who do not know it are perishing: Therefore, I am obliged to do what I can to make the gospel known in this generation. In the day of judgment we will find out whether or not any other gospel will be sufficient.