Which Gospel Are You Under?

Galatians 1:6-8 “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!”

• Paul warns us to be on guard for deceptive doctrines and different gospels. He even goes as far to say that any gospel other than the one true gospel of grace is a false and CURSED gospel!

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While there are many similarities between Latter Day Saints and Bible based Christians, there are also some very essential differences. Let’s start by examining the gospel of the LDS Church directly from the LDS Church website.

• What are these things that we must do if we want to receive eternal life?

• You cannot enter into the presence of God without receiving these “saving ordinances” which are also commonly referred to as “covenants” or “temple works.”

• It is important to note that “Eternal Life” is not just living eternally. It is specifically living in the presence of God in his heavenly kingdom. And that is what we all want, right? According to the LDS gospel, how exactly can I get there?

• This gives us a much better idea of the what the LDS gospel entails and what is required for me to receive eternal life/live in the presence of God.

• The forgiveness of your sins depends on how faithfully you keep the covenants. This sounds like a lot of pressure.

• This is the LDS Church’s 3^rd Article of Faith. There are 13 Articles of Faither for the LDS Church, which is like a statement of their beliefs. Given the information from the previous screenshots, it is easy to understand how it all comes together and why the things we must do are called, “saving ordinances.” Without these essential ordinances/temples works, we cannot enter into the presence of God.

In September, 2013, General Authority Brad Wilcox gave a talk called, “His Grace Is Sufficient.” But the one thing he never tells us is this: What exactly is God’s grace sufficient for? The impression he leaves us with is this: The grace of God enables/empowers us to do the required works, receive the essential ordinances and keep the required covenants in order to qualify for eternal life. You do the works and keep your covenants, then you will receive eternal life and live in the presence of God only if you faithfully do so. One way to summarize this is: You do the works, receive the ordinances, and make the covenants in order to gain access to God’s grace, then God’s grace enables you to live in his presence.

In October, 2003, General Authority Dallin Oaks gave a talk called, “Repentance and Change.” Here is a quote from him: “Practices must be changed by those who wish to qualify for God’s choicest blessings…The gospel plan is based on individual responsibility…The plan of the father and the savior is based on individual choice and individual effort.”

• The choicest blessing anyone can receive is eternal life/living in the presence of God. This is something you must qualify for. What does your qualification for eternal life depend on? Your own choices and your own efforts in receiving the ordinances and keeping the covenants.
  
  Alma 5:35 “Yea, come unto me and bring forth works of righteousness, and ye shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire”
  
  Below is an equation that sums up the LDS gospel:
  
  Grace + Works = Eternal Life (entrance into God’s kingdom)

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What did Jesus and his apostles teach?

John 3:16 & 18 “Whoever believes in him (Jesus) shall not perish but have eternal life…Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

• If you believe in Jesus, you will receive eternal life. If you don’t, then you will stand condemned and not receive eternal life. Pretty straight forward.

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (This begs the question: what is the will of the Father?)

John 6:40 “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life.”

John 6:28-29 “Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

• When these people asked Jesus, “What are the works that God requires?” this would have been a perfect opportunity for Jesus to say, “You see the temple right over there? Go inside, receive the saving ordinances and make the temple covenants…but he doesn’t! He says that the work that the Father requires is to believe in Jesus.
• Only those who do the will and work of the Father can enter into his kingdom and receive eternal life. The will and work of the Father is to genuinely believe in Jesus.

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”

• Only those who have faith in Christ will be saved. That is a conditional statement. The necessary condition and requirement of faith implies that this verse is talking about eternal life/living in the presence of God, not general salvation (immortality). It is saying that by grace and through faith/trust in Jesus alone that we will receive eternal life…and not by our own works and effort as Dallin Oaks taught.

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

• Eternal life is gift of God. Think of a birthday party. You get gifts from friends and family. One friend holds out a present to you and says, “Before I give you this gift, you have to do 100 pushups, then I will give you your gift.” You are going to look at your friend and think, “First of all, it’s my birthday and I don’t feel like doing any pushups. Secondly, that’s no longer a gift. Anything that has obligations or required works that I must perform is not gift. In order for something to be truly classified as a gift, the only condition is that you must choose to accept it for what it is. That is what a free gift is. And according to God’s Word: eternal life is a free gift.

Titus 3:3-5 “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.”

• Our righteous works and obedience do not play any role in our salvation and eternal life. It is ALL about the mercy and grace of Jesus. Faith in his work, not our own.

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Romans 4:3-6 “What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation.However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works.”

• The apostle Paul distinguishes a gospel of grace from a gospel of works. If we are required to work to become righteous and receive eternal life, it would then be wages due and not a gift from God.
• Jesus is the only person who perfectly fulfilled the Old Covenant by keeping all 613 laws. He alone is perfectly righteous. And if we have sincere faith/trust in Jesus and HIS works, HIS perfect life and HIS atoning sacrifice, then Jesus will cover us with his perfect righteousness as a gift apart from works. We don’t work for our own righteousness. We trust in the righteousness of Christ and then all of our sin-stained garments will be covered and forgiven by the blood and perfect righteousness of Jesus.

Romans 3:27-28 “Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.”

• When we stand before God on judgement day, it will not be our works the justify us and get us into the presence of God. It is by faith alone, and not of works.

Romans 11:5-6 “So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.”

• This is the true gospel of grace. If even one work is required for us to be saved, forgiven and receive eternal life, we have then fallen from grace and are under a gospel of works. Some Latter-Day Saints might respond by saying, “Paul, the things we do in the temple are honoring to God. They are covenants that we make BECAUSE we love Him.” But here is the thing: those covenants as defined by the LDS Church are “things that you must do.” And “things you must do” are also defined by the LDS Church as “works.” This is what makes it a works-based gospel.

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All of this is NOT to say that Christians can just say a prayer, say “Jesus is my home boy” and then continue living in their sin (Romans 6 & James 2). Works are absolutely important, and we ought to obey the commands of Christ…but works are not how we get closer to and qualify for eternal life. Our works simply demonstrate our love and devotion for Jesus.

The truth is: if you don’t care about obeying Jesus, keeping his commands and doing good works, then that sadly could be a sign that you haven’t been changed by his grace, not been born again, and are still under God’s condemnation.

John 14:15 “If you love me, you will keep my commands.”

Our works, obedience, and love for God only come AFTER one has been born again, forgiven, declared righteous and received the gift of eternal life. True faith in Jesus will always produce good works and obedience. The works can only come AFTER one has been born again.

You are either an enemy of God or you are part of his family and church. There is no in between. You cannot please God and do good works for Him until you have first placed all of your faith in Jesus, His work and His sacrifice.

Below is an equation that is in accordance with the New Testament:

Grace  +  Nothing = Eternal Life + Works

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Which gospel are you under:  The true gospel of grace? Or a cursed gospel of works?

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Notice in the picture above that it is Jesus who is doing all the work. We become clean and righteous through his work that he did on our behalf.

1 John 5:13 “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

My desire is that you will receive the true gospel of grace so that you can have this blessed peace and assurance of eternal life all because of the work of Christ. If you would like to learn more about what it means for Jesus to be your “personal” Lord and Savior, check out my Bible lesson, “Who Is Your Personal Mediator?” (https://jllds.org/2023/12/13/who-is-your-personal-mediator/)

Please let me know your thoughts, things you appreciated or things that you disagreed with in the comment section below. Thank you for reading and never stop chasing after Jesus!