" Ol' Time Gospel? "
Come home, Come home..Jesus is pleading..His mercies..and pardon
for you and for me... Calling, 'O sinner, come home!'" Words from a
favorite ol' time invitation hymn, written in the later 1800's.
Here's another, "There's a wideness in God's mercy..welcome for
the sinner and more graces for the good..if our love were but more
simple, we should take Him at His word...our lives would be all sunshine
in the sweetness of our Lord."
Or, how about, "All my life long I had panted for a draught from
some clear spring..well of water, ever springing, Bread of life so rich
and free, Untold wealth that never faileth, My Redeemer is to me. Halle-
lujah! I have found Him."
"The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever
tell..."
Billy Graham's Website "message" is entitled "You can Come Home to
God." Closing with a misquote, "There is great rejoicing in heaven when
a sinner comes home."
Campus Crusade for Christ preaches, "God loves you and has a
wonderful plan for your life" (law1) "Man is continually trying to reach
to God." (~law2) "Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the
cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my
Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal
life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person
You want me to be." (sample prayer for salvation)
In a recent E-mail somebody suggested, "prophets of God will not
JUST preach doom and gloom. Repentance and salvation are what are most
important to God, not just warning the people."
There is "Truth" in pretty much all these excerpts. Jesus does
invite, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest."(Mt11:28) "Rest" being one of the characteristics of
"heaven"; "..that they may rest from their labors.." (Rev14:13)
Yes, there is a "wideness in God's mercy." As far as the east is
from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
(Ps103:12) And no limit to His love, "...neither death nor life, nor
angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to
come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able
to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Rom 8:38-39)
Jesus promises a "fountain of water springing up into everlasting
life."(Jn4:14) And that He is the "bread of life."(Jn6:35) And His love
was so great that God sent Jesus to "save" the world."(Jn3:16-17)
But when Billy Graham and Campus Crusade preach that we must "come
HOME" to God...that God has a "wonderful plan" for your life...that all
we must do is to receive the salvation provided, with thanksgiving; is
that what the Prophets and Apostles preached? This that we often call
the "Ol' Time Gospel" ..is it what Jesus preached? Is it enough to know
that the "wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal
life?"(Rom6:23)
To only see God's love, Jesus' death on the cross; to hear Jesus'
invitation to come to Him, to realize that forgiveness is available, and
that inexpressible joy is waiting for the one who comes...is like going
into a deli where all sorts of wonderful morsels of food await, just for
the asking...ON THE OTHER SIDE of the Glass. You can walk into the store
and look through that glass, and see all the delicacies. You can desire
to have them for yourself. You can hear the Proprietor express to you
how wonderful they will taste. And you can say, "Yes...that's what I
want! Thank you very much."
The Proprietor says, "This is all FREE." Just one thing. "Let me
Wash your hands." "Oh, they're clean enough...I washed them this morning
when I got up..Ok, where's the washroom, and I'll do it." "No...sorry, I
must wash them for you." "What do you mean!? I know how to wash my own
hands! They're not all THAT dirty...! SEE?!"
Jesus says, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with
Me."(Jn13:8)
The problem with most "gospel messages" being preached is that
people are coming "just as I am..." The song has been transformed by
deleting "without one plea." Now they preach, "God accepts you JUST AS
YOU ARE!" There is no recognition of sin, let alone, any remorse for it.
Repentance now turns to God to "follow Him better."
Peter preached, "..God has made..Jesus WHOM YOU CRUCIFIED, both
Lord and Christ."(Acts2:36) What was the reaction to this "unloving
personal attack"? "Now when they heard this, they were CUT TO THE HEART,
and said...'what shall we do?' ...REPENT."
Job, when confronted with God's glory, reacts, "I abhor myself,
and repent in dust and ashes!" (Job42:6) What?! No.."I'm worth it"?
"Love and grace"? "Jesus loves me & He's my FRIEND, & will come along
BESIDE ME & take my hand"?
Jesus, the One Who loves and invites, also expressed about the two
who went to the temple to pray. And the "sinner" who "would not so much
as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, 'God be
merciful to me a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house
justified rather than the other." (Lk18:13-14)
James writes, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-
minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to
mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the
Lord, and He will lift you up. (James 4:8-10) This is a far cry from
the jocular frolicking manner of those who "go forward" at crusades!
For the unregenerate, there is no "HOME" to "return" to. The
person must first be "adopted" as a son."(Rom8:15) One must first BECOME
part of the family through the "new birth."(Jn3:3)
Rather than "ever striving to reach" God as Campus Crusade says,
"all we like sheep have gone astray." (Is53:6) And so, how does one
present the message of "salvation and repentance?" By warning them.
Rather than a "loving" message, John preached, "Brood of vipers! Who
warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"(Mt3:7) You notice, he labels
them for what they are, and then tells what their "doom" is.
Jonah's message is even more striking. "Yet 40 days, and Nineveh
shall be overthrown!"(Jon3:4) You notice, he doesn't even preach "love,
forgiveness, repentance, mercy." But what was the result? The people
humbled themselves before God, and were spared judgment. "..others save
with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled
by the flesh."(Jude23)
Rather than a gospel of "graces for the good and loving" and
singing "Just as I am, I come" the message preached needs to lead to, "A
sinner, undone, I come." Let's correct here Graham's misquote, the verse
actually says, "there will be..joy in heaven over one sinner who
REPENTS."(Lk15:7)
Amen!
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