Archival Series: The Faith of the Gospel Dr. Bob Jones, III
Previously I posted a sermon excerpt from Dr. Bob Jones, III. That was a continuation of a discussion I had at one of the Gospel Coalition blogs. There was some confusion there over whether or not Bob Jones, Sr., Jr., and the III preach the same gospel message as Dr. John MacArthur. In The Faith of the Gospel, Part Three1 we saw that there is a vast chasm between the gospel of grace and the works based, man-centered message of John MacArthur commonly known as “Lordship Salvation.”2 We saw that Dr. Kevin Bauder is wrong when he says that “fundamentalists and evangelicals believe preach and defend the [same] gospel.”3 Today, I am sharing opening portions from the fourth and final in the series, The Faith of the Gospel. Let’s hear from and read Dr. Bob Jones, III.
“Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel,” (Phil. 1:27).
I hope you students and all university family know that I am preaching this series of messages out of a grandfatherly concern, out of a pastoral concern, for you. Because what you do with your lives after you graduate and leave this place is of immense importance….
The faith of the gospel…is the outflow of the saving gospel of Jesus Christ. The faith of the gospel, which as we have been trying to say in these previous messages encompasses everything about the Christian life. And this is a verse about behavior, it says so right there in the first phrase…Let it be about the gospel stemming from the gospel. We have tried to make it clear in these messages that those who say, “Well, it’s all about the gospel.” If it’s all just about the gospel then we’ve missed the whole point of the gospel.
There is the saving gospel, which introduces us to the faith of the gospel. And if we embrace the philosophy that it’s just about the gospel we can put our arms around about every wrong, unbecoming Christian behavior in all the world. We can put our stamp of approval on counterfeit Christianity. If they’re preaching the gospel… no matter what else is going on in those ministries, no matter what endorsements and involvements they have with liberal unbelieving religion, no matter what ecumenical reach they may have, no matter what distortions they may have, no matter what tolerance for the intolerable…we can embrace all of that and say that’s fine, that’s good they’re preaching the gospel. This verse makes it very clear that there is a lot more than that….
I beg you to think about how the gospel is changed when it is conveyed in an unholy conveyance [that] God did not intend…
I encourage all guests to listen to the balance of this message (24 minutes) in its entirety. Dr. Bob Jones, III, The Faith of the Gospel, BJU Chapel, April 21, 2011 can be heard in its entirety at Sermon Audio.
Footnotes:
1) The Faith of the Gospel, Part 3
“First Corinthians 15:1-3, the nutshell of the Gospel, the saving Gospel. There is a difference between the saving Gospel, which starts it all and without which there is no faith in the Gospel. We love the saving message of the Gospel. It’s to be on our lips at all times and in all places wherever we go. But Paul is dealing here [Phil. 1:27] with the governing gospel. That which governs us, as members of the household of faith, citizens of Heaven, AFTER we have received and believed into the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
2) Summary of Lordship Salvation From a Single Page
3) Do Fundamentalists & Evangelicals, “Believe, Preach and Defend the [Same] Gospel?”
Posting on behalf of Pastor Travis D. Smith, Hillsdale Baptist Church, Tampa, FL.
ReplyDeleteLou,
Thank you for the recent posts regarding Lordship Salvation and the “New Gospel”. I believe has infected fundamental ministries across the country.
I have heard for a decade or more a renewed emphasis on “The Gospel” that had to my ears and understanding a different “ring”, an uncertain, albeit “new” sound. The proponents of “The Gospel” were younger and in subtle ways, implied at least tacitly, the older generation had lost its way and drifted from preaching the simple, sincere message of the Gospel.
I discerned something was different. Of course, fundamental pastors do not want their passion for the Gospel questioned no more than we want to diminish a younger pastor or evangelist’s passion for preaching and sharing the Gospel.
Enough time has passed for my fears and concerns about “The Gospel” to come to fruition. “The Gospel is all that matters” is publicly stated by the new generation of “fundamentalists”, many of whom are branding as “progressives”, but their philosophy is unquestionably that of the Neo-Evangelicals of my generation.
“The New Gospel” is, in my estimation, a message I describe as “Lawless Grace”. The preachers of “The New Gospel” shy from preaching the Law and Commandments (a pattern Andy Stanley is following in the Southern Baptist denomination), emphasizing a Liberty less the call to holiness, sanctification, and a life that is a “living sacrifice”.
Preaching “The Gospel”, but failing to teach the whole counsel of God, has desensitized the souls of a generation who profess Christ as Savior, believe salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone, but are insensitive to their own sins, “for by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20).
Travis D. Smith
From the Heart of a Shepherd