My Sweet Wife and I are blessed to have a dear friend (along with his family), Pastor, Author and Lecturer, Dr. Tom Cucuzza, of Northland Bible Baptist Church in St. Cloud, MN. (His excellent book, Secure Forever! is mentioned here on the right sidebar of this page. Check it out).
In the middle seventies our small South Florida church was blessed to have Tom as our Youth Pastor and later our Assistant Pastor. He and his wonderful wife Sue worked tirelessly with us for the Lord.
Tom and I recently had an email discussion about people and organizations who publish Christian commentaries, books and DVDs. We find it disappointing and inexcusable when we see so much good media spoiled by the proclamation of a misleading “gospel” message. We see such phrases as:
- you must give your life to Christ to be saved
- turn from sin to be saved
- come under Christ in obedience and to the study of His Word in Holy Scripture to appropriate God’s Grace
- Make Christ the Lord of your life to be saved — and many more.
These are important things to do AFTER one is saved but an unbeliever can never claim these as a means to gain eternal life. Salvation is only by faith in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross alone — without works of righteousness. (Titus 3:5 and Ephesians 2:8-9)
Shirley and I both were thrilled by the succinct wisdom of Tom’s statement in an email we received today:
“I do not understand why [Christian] people have to change the gospel. We are simply His [the Lord’s] ambassadors to bring His message to people. We need to represent the Lord properly by saying what He has given us to say.” Dr. Tom Cucuzza
There are some Christians who will agree with Tom’s statement but few who actually follow such a simple, profound truth. Why it is so difficult for Christians to comprehend that?
Of course we may guess why some would sacrifice the truth for error. Could it be because of ignorance, deceit, conceit, self importance or just trying to build a bigger and “better” church? Regardless of the reason, there is no Biblical justification for error.
The Apostle Paul warned in Galatians 1:6-9
“I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”
And the Apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:25
“But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.”
Thanks, Tom, for a great paragraph of truth.
Notes From A Retired Preacher 
Hello ExP
Thankyou for your kind wishes for my anniversary.I truly see Gods hand in all my blessings
Even the faith by which we are saved is the gift of God. When He said on the cross, “It is finished!”, He meant it… it was done, and He did it all.
How can we EVER give Him enough praise and gratitude? The thing is, when we offer all that we are because we love Him and that’s all we “have”, He accepts that sacrifice of love and is well pleased. The God of the Universe needs nothing… but He wants our love. His grace and mercy are amazing!
In my view, we see all this emphasis on “me, me, me” because of the me-generation promoted by the humanistic philosophy which because prevalent during the 1960’s. As a result, so many people today cannot accept with humility our Lord’s words: “No man comes to the Father except the Spirit draws him.”
ExP-You know, it is extremely distressing to me, to see all these various “versions” of the Bible; a “gay” version, a “green” version…all reinterpreting G*D’s Word.
Now I can understand a men’s study Bible, or a woman’s…that makes some sense…but reinterpretation gives me the heebie-jeebies!
The church in America is certainly living down to Paul’s writings on heresy, apostasy and itching ears.
G*D bless and MARANATHA!
tmw
“These are important things to do AFTER one is saved …”
Indeed a subtle but important point. It’s easy to get it mixed up.
Thanks Tom,
Great analysis and right to the point.
Appreciate your stopping by our humble Blog.,
In Christ eternally,
ExP(Jack)
Dear Jack and friends,
One of the keys in all of this is something I heard several years ago. It is this: Keep the direction of salvation clear! God does the giving. We do the receiving. We receive salvation from God as a gift. Rom. 6:23, Eph. 2:8-9. We do not give anything to God to be saved. All that a lost person has to offer God is filthy rags. Isaiah 64:6. These are worthless.
We receive Christ by trusting in Him alone as our Savior. He gives eternal life as a gift.
Anyone who is trying to give God their works, life, dedication, heart, will, etc, etc, for salvation, as sincere as they might be, will not get eternal life because it is a gift. God GIVES, we RECEIVE.
Z,
Thanks for your comment. You are right, Salvation is only by faith in Jesus Christ — and not by our works.
The words “accept” Jesus or Christ are not found in the Bible… However I would not necessarily giggle to myself at one who says he has “accepted” Jesus as his Savior. I might ask him exactly what he means by that phrase to make sure he understands what he believes.
John 1:12
“But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, to them that believe on His name:”
The Greek word for “received” (lambano) in the verse above has a meaning of “taken or accepted.”
When we understand the Savior and salvation clearly explained — we must personally make a decision to reject or receive (accept) Jesus Christ as our Savior.
Again, I would not argue — but would simply ask for an explanation of what is meant by the statement. If he says it means “received or trusted or believed in Christ” that is Biblical.
Naturally I always question a person more than that — just to be sure.
Good point, Z.
In Christ eternally,
ExP(Jack)
I balk when I hear (SO OFTEN) “I ACCEPTED Jesus” ….I giggle to myself and think “THAT was big of you!”
Faith, faith, faith in Christ.. and the rest comes naturally when we are “new creatures”….
Wonderful post, Exp!!
Any & all praise to God, HE is worthy! Thank you bro. Jack for the encouragement. Your blog is a blessing & God-honoring too.
When we see the works-salvation message & how it condemns eternal souls for whom Christ died, no wonder it is accursed! God Bless you bro. Jack.
Thanks TMW,
Excellent point… and those works must come from a believer in Christ — not to be saved but because we are saved by Jesus.
Good works by an unbeliever gets his reward from adulation of the world, nothing eternal.
Good works by one who has already trusted Christ will receive the praise of his Savior, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.”
In Christ eternally,
ExP(Jack)
Works need to come from a grateful heart, toward a gracious and loving G*D.
Not to win approval, but to express our gratitude…and to share the good gifts given to us by HIS Grace!
Anything else t’ain’t love!
Hi, Jack & Shirley…been busy, but you weren’t forgotten!
G*D bless,
tmw
Bro. David,
Thanks… I pray that what is said here glorifies only the Lord Jesus.
I am happy you were able to teach that class and correct the error in the SS lesson. Good for you!! The Lord was honored.
You prevented a works message — such as — somehow if we try a tad harder our efforts could get God’s approval for salvation — an accursed message..
In Christ eternally,
ExP(Jack)
Bro. Jack,
I know why you were the first blogger I linked to in my humble blog! You always inspire & excite me with your posts. You are so right…….again. My wonderful wife & I were so disappointed in our SS material this past Sunday. I was teaching, & the lesson was on Genesis 4 & Cain & Abel. I was making the point that God rejected Cain’s sacrifice mainly due to his rejection of God’s authority, & that authority had called for a blood sacrifice to cover sin (until the Perfect One came!) But the book never even mentioned the Blood, but said that Cain was rejected because he didn’t bring his best to God! Of course, I believe he DID bring his best & was extremely proud of it, why else would his countenance drop when God said No to it? But even with his best, it is still filthy rags without Christ’s Blood. Anyway, keep up the fight (1 Ti.6:12) brother Jack!
Thanks Alex,
Yes I remember you well….
Help keep Moody doctrinally straight!!
Come back any tine.
In Christ eternally,
ExP(Jack)
It’s been a long time since I’ve been on here! I have some reading to catch up on!
You made some great points in this post (as always), and I agree with what you wrote. The phrases you listed are very common in what I call “Pop Culture Christianity”. Those catchy phrases spread like wildfire throughout Christian literature, Christian schools, churches, etc.
Keep the faith!
-Alex
(PS – If you don’t remember me, I’m the Moody student that used to comment here occasionally. I’m back!)
Clark,
Good thoughts..
Meet me out on the highways and byways.. and lets win a few souls by God’s Grace.
In Christ eternally,
ExP(Jack)
Of all the things Christians have to say, the Gospel message is the most important. And the only message that unbelievers need to hear.
So often Christians can be heard arguing with each other. If two Christians are disagreeing louding in public about whether or not there is going to be a rapture, then non-Christians will conclude we don’t even know whtat we believe. Plenty of people in the world think that Christianity is all about voting for Prop 8, or building the Creation museum. Too few of us are out in the highways and byways proclaiming that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
HelenL
Thanks for stopping by again..
I am not sure I understand your point.. Are you now a Universalist?
Yes, ALL will be drawn but all will not choose to believe in Jesus Christ. Pity.
John 3:18
“He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
In Christ eternally,
ExP(Jack)
“‘Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me, [said Jesus]’ This he said, signifying what death he should die.’ John 12:31-33.
I don’t care what you and Tom believe. Jesus said, we’d ALL be drawn to Him.