Are You Believing a Half-Gospel? | Kingdom

The Kingdom Podcast and the Aim of Clarifying the Gospel

Welcome back to the Kingdom podcast, where we are trying to seek first the Kingdom of God. That's our aim and our goal, and we do this by clarifying the Gospel and reclaiming the purpose of what this podcast is about, the Kingdom.

I'm your host John Moffitt, I'm the pastor of Grace Reformed Church in Springhill, Tennessee, and I'm also the co-host of Theocast, a weekly podcast we do about Reformed theology. We're gonna be picking up where we've been for the last few weeks, engaging your Bible.

Sometimes when we think about our Bible and we think some about some of the verses that are in there, we tend to remove the mystery because we have grown up in a culture that is very pragmatic when it thinks about the supernatural.

We seem to always want to have a scientific explanation for everything that happens because we want to be seen as educated and acceptable in our culture. But the Bible just doesn't let you do that. The Bible makes things very complicated for you, and you begin to even wonder about a lot of things.

I'll just read to you a verse that is quoted all of the time, but we tend to remove a character in this verse, and I'm going to show you why we do this, and then we'll talk about how it affects the Gospel and how I think the Gospel is being affected right now.

Galatians 1:8 and the Warning Against a Half-Gospel

But this is Paul in Galatians where the Gospel has been cut in half. It's a half gospel, and he makes this statement about where this message is coming from. If there's a alteration to the Gospel, he's saying, if that alteration is even coming from me, and listen to this, this is Galatians 1 .8, but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.

Like, Paul just kind of says that like it's normal, you know, and some people are like, oh, that's hyperbole, or he's just kind of making a reference. Maybe that might be true. I want us to step back, and I want you to pay attention to how Paul views this war of the Gospel, this war of doctrine and truth, comparative to maybe how we view it.

Daniel 10, the Prince of Persia, and Spiritual Conflict

I'm not going to get into the whole story, but you can go read it. You should go read Daniel chapter 10 sometime, where Daniel is waiting on God. He's requested some information to know how to deal with the king, and 21 days later, this man shows up and tells him that I am here as a messenger from God, and Daniel describes them as the parents of a man.

We know that he touches Daniel and interacts with Daniel, but he makes this statement that he would have been here 21 days ago, but he got held up by the prince of Persia, and that Gabriel had to come and help him to free him so he could come deliver this message, and now he's got to go deal with the prince of Greece.

There's this idea of territories, authorities, and powers. Now, I'm not getting into deliverance ministry nor territory demons. Just hear me out as we're talking about this. The New Testament makes it sound like that there is a war that is happening between the spiritual realm and the physical realm, and the two often intermingle.

They collapse into each other, specifically as it relates to the messaging of lying and truth. This is why we all know this passage, but hopefully you'll look at it a little bit different. Ephesians chapter 6, when he says, verse 12, we're not wrestling against flesh and blood, but he names things like authorities, rulers, prince of powers of the air, so he starts local and kind of works out, and I think he means local rulers.

We know that there has been demonic influence upon local rulers in the New Testament, even causing Pharaoh to kill all of the children trying to get rid of Jesus. But when it comes down to practical for us today, like in the church today, are we really worried about angels showing up?

Are we really worried about demons showing up into our churches? We tend to just gloss over these passages, and we categorize them, like I talked about last week, as, well, that's the old Bible. We don't really have that today.

1 Timothy 4:1, 2 Corinthians 11, and 1 John 4 on False Spirits

Well, I want to read to you four passages that I would say are designed by Paul and by John to guide us in thinking about it, not as a old theology that's related to when there was kind of a weirder time, but he's preparing the entire church and going forward to think of it this way, and then I'll show you how it applies practically.

Listen to what he writes to. This is fascinating. 1 Timothy 4 .1. Okay? What we know about the demonic realm and we know about demons is that we often think they're translucent beings, they're only spirits, and there's no way you're going to ever interact with them on a physical realm, so you're probably just going to be interacting with them in a information base, like truth and lies.

Well, that's not necessarily what he's saying. He says the teachings of demons. Well, why would we take that to be an actual demon or an actual angel, a fallen angel, deceiving the church? Because this is exactly what Paul says.

Look at another passage, 2 Corinthians 11, verse 13 and following. He says this, And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So what he says, if me or any other angel comes to you from heaven, this is connected to Galatians chapter 1, verse 8.

So Paul is saying that no wonder, even Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light. Look at verse 15. So it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds, meaning you'll be able to identify them, just watch how their life goes.

You'll be able to see this. There's one other passage that I think is going to wrap all of this up. Remember, this is just an introduction. I just want to begin to get you thinking about the spiritual realm entering into the physical realm.

So when Paul says we're not wrestling against flesh and blood, he's saying it's not a fight with a sword, not a physical one, but it's a fight with a spiritual sword. So you are fighting back physical entities, but you're doing so with truth, and you have to understand how that truth works.

Look at 1 John 4 .1. He says this, So I have more passages. You can go back and listen to my sermon that I did recently on the gospel of peace. We'll put it in the notes here. But just from these four passages, it's safe to indicate that the spiritual realm is influencing the church, and it's not just influencing it through media, but there are actual beings that come and are presenting false teaching, the doctrines of demons, false spirits.

Paul even says they will give an alternate gospel. Let me give an example of what you can hear as an alternate gospel today. So you could be able to identify, is this truly of the Spirit of God, or is this the Spirit of man?

I mean, listen to this. By this you'll know the Spirit of God. This is verse 2, 1 John 4 .2. By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.

So there are ways by using scripture to identify, is this person telling me of Christ, of the Bible, or is this an alternate, a doctrine of demon, a false spirit? Is this of Satan? One of the things that I think is really prevalent today is what I call a half gospel.

The Difference Between a Half Gospel and the Full Gospel

If you think about lies, in general lies are based on facts. And even when your children try to manipulate you with their lies, or children do in general, they're going to do it by slightly alterating the facts.

They're even smart enough to know that you can't just change the scenario all the way. You know, like, a pink unicorn came and ate it, Daddy. I don't know how that cookie is no longer there. They wouldn't do that, right?

That just, everyone knows that a pink unicorn is not gonna... well, at least I think. I don't know, maybe. Just kidding. When it relates to this, Paul is making statements that they're not to be seen as pictorial.

I don't know how else you interpret this. So what is a half gospel? Well, it is safe to say that in any way, shape, or form, if Satan can get our eyes off of the sufficiency of Christ's work, even half of it, then that's enough to detract us, and distract us, and pull us either away from the hope that we have in Christ, or properly preaching the gospel.

Here's an example. When we think about the gospel, we, in modern-day times, we really emphasize the cleansing part of it, where Christ cleanses us from our sins. And this is true, and it's important, that if we hear the gospel, we believe the gospel, he washes away all of our sins, and therefore we are no longer going to be held accountable for our sins.

But if that's where the gospel stops, that's what we call a half gospel, and this is often how it's presented. Because then, the second part of the gospel is not presented as gospel, it's presented as law.

Now that you've been saved, now that you've been cleansed, here's your obligation. And I've pointed this out in many times, where there's Final Justification, and Federal Vision, and some of these teachings that are out there, and even Roman Catholicism, Pietism, and often even Lordship Salvation, where you are emphasizing the work of the individual as either the second part of the guarantee of their salvation, or what's required of them in order to be saved.

And this is dangerous, because the moment you say that salvation is dependent upon your obedience, you have, at that moment, changed the gospel. This is the very thing that Paul says in Galatians 6 .1.

He even uses demonic language. He says, who's bewitched you? Who's caused you to believe things that are in line with witchcraft? Because this is not of God. Salvation is of the whole person. That means he cleanses them and declares them righteous.

He puts righteousness on them. This is why it says we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. In union, we're one with Christ. So when you think about a half-gospel, sometimes we think that it's going to be so easy to identify like black and white.

You know, we know what white is, and the moment we see black, we'll be able to identify it. Well, this wouldn't mean that Satan isn't good at what he does, which is the exact opposite of what we're being told of in the New Testament.

That he is a liar, he's been a liar from the beginning, he's the father of lies, he's deceitful, and he wants to take you out with his lies, and even uses agents to use them as agents of light to distract you from the light.

The Full Gospel: Cleansing, Righteousness, and Faith Alone

So then what is a full gospel? This is so important because if we don't understand this part of the gospel, we have no hope. To be in the presence of God, God demands that one is pure, that means without defilement, and righteous, that means the presence of actual evidence that one is proof they can obey and have obeyed, right?

So to declare someone righteous is like to say it this way, is declare someone wealthy. Just because someone's debt-free does not mean they have wealth, it just means they don't owe anybody. That's often how we describe the gospel, is debt-free.

But the gospel's not just that you can be debt-free, but that you can have all of the wealth that is required, even better, all of the wealth of Jesus, all of the wealth of God is upon you, and that is, too, part of the gift.

And you don't earn it, you don't maintain it, or you don't do something not to lose it, it can't be lost, because he who began a good work in you will complete it, right? It's why it's offered as a free gift lest anyone would boast.

And how do you know that you have it? Jesus says by faith. If you believe this to be true, you know that you have it because you can't believe this unless it's been granted to you, because even your faith in both of these aspects of the gospel are gifted to you so that no one will boast.

I have seen it over and over again in modern-day teaching and in a lot of churches today, where we emphasize the first part of the gospel being debt-free, we are no longer under the condemnation of God, and then a new gospel comes in where we must do works to show the evidence of our salvation, because at the end of our life, God's going to examine us to see whether we are truly of the faith.

I'm going to tell you right now, he absolutely is going to examine you and me. I have no doubt in that, and I have no fear to stand before him, none. I am not afraid to stand before my Father, because I know where he's looking.

He's looking past my righteousness, which is going to be burned up, and he's looking at Jesus's wealth that is on me, and all of this righteousness that he's looking at and accepting with a loving smile, saying, son, well done, come on home, is all been gifted to me.

That's the good news of the gospel. That's what we herald around the world. It's not, he'll cleanse you, now you do your part. The good news of the gospel is, everything that you could ever need to be in a relationship with God and live with him forever has been gifted to you by Jesus's death.

He died for your sins, and then he lived for your righteousness. Paul is saying, there are entities that will sound right and sound powerful and will look like they are presenting a message that is coming from God.

But he says, if that message does not align with both sides of the gospel, he says, tell them they're cursed. That's what he says. I mean, let me read it to you again. He says, let him be accursed. So if someone presents to you a gospel that is, God saves you, now you do your work, he says, you curse them.

You tell them that is damnable, that's heresy, and I will not allow that to be taught because it is an anti-gospel. The more and more that we are not aware that the demonic realm wants to come in and skew the gospel.

Anytime you see a false gospel, you know where it's coming from. It's not, it's coming from the demonic realm. That, I sound crazy. I mean, where's my tinfoil hat? You're all wanting to put it on you.

You're about ready to click the video, you know, the down thumbs. John's lost it. You know, he's, he's gone off into the deep end. Do me a favor, go read these passages and conclude to yourself, how do I not see that Paul is worried about the gospel being attacked by the great deceiver?

Genesis 3, the Deceiver, and the Need for a Whole Gospel

I'm going to introduce something to you right now. I'm going to talk about it next week, but from the beginning of the story of the Bible, is the opposition of Satan deceiving and changing the hope of the believer or the hope of humanity from the beginning?

Just go to Genesis chapter three. Did God really say, what did he do with Eve? He twisted it. We're going to talk about that next week, but just hear me out. If you are not hearing a whole gospel where you are saved and sanctified and glorified by the work of Christ, then whatever church that you're at, you need to ask why you're not hearing a whole gospel.

And if someone is explaining the gospel to you and they don't give you a whole gospel, you need to ask them what they left off. We're not trying to be technicality police. They may use different languages, they may not have all the words, but what we need to know is, does God cleanse us from our sins and provide all of the righteousness that we need by faith alone?

Because if he doesn't, that's half a gospel, it's called accursed, and we don't want anything to do with it. So I may have come off a little hot, but I just kind of feel like this is the tone that's coming from Paul, and I think we should listen to that.

If we are going to take the kingdom's message into the kingdom of dark, we've got to know, first of all, who our opponent is, we've got to know what they're doing, and we have to make sure we're clear, knowing this last verse, Paul says, the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but of divine power, and that divine power is related to truth, and that truth has to be clear.

That's how we tear down all of the false gospels that are there, by having a clear gospel message. So let's be clear that we are sinners who are cleansed by Christ's blood and then covered by Christ's righteousness, by faith alone, in Christ alone, for God's glory alone.

We'll see you next week.