In whom 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, - Ephesians 1:13
The Word of truth—the Gospel, is synonymous with Christ.
What I am saying is this: Christ is the Word of truth, and without Christ there is no true Gospel. We cannot have one without the other. The Lord Jesus Christ is revealed in the Gospel, therefore, without the Gospel there is no saving knowledge of Christ. The preaching and hearing of the Gospel—the truth, is vital to God calling chosen sinners to Christ by his sovereign, irresistible grace. For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe (1 Cor 1:21). God’s ordained way and means of saving sinners is shown to us in this; But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. (2 Thes 2:13).
To say that we were saved before we heard the Gospel of our salvation (which is the Word of truth), is a contradiction to the Word of God. False preachers and a false Gospel have their place in God’s great scheme of things, but it is not to the salvation of men’s souls. It is to the praise of the glory of God’s justice and to the condemnation of those who preach it and believe it. A misrepresentation of the truth of God can only lead to a false faith in a false god, and a false hope in a false christ. Those of God’s elect who were saved while in Egypt were not saved by bowing to the Egyptian gods, they were saved by his grace, when he sent his messenger to them with a word from Him.
This is God’s ordained way; So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom 10:17). The preaching of the Gospel of Christ is not just another way of preaching Christ, it is the only message of the Bible, and the only way that God uses to reveal Christ savingly to his people. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it isthe power of God (1 Cor 1:18). Are we going in a different direction or have we just changed horses and continuing in the same direction? To hang on to a false profession made under a false Gospel glorifies a lie and dishonors the glorious Gospel of God’s redeeming grace, which we now profess to believe.
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