There are so many different gospels being preached today. How do we know what is true?

Paul tells us the way:

Galatians 1 “⁸ 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! ⁹ As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!”

We must compare the Gospel to the Apostle Paul and all other apostles.

The true Gospel is this:

• All humanity has sinned. Our sins result in death and judgment. (Romans 3)
• God so loved the world that He sent His Only Son Jesus Christ. (John 3:16)
• Jesus never sinned but He died for our sins. He was judged for our sins on the cross. (2nd Corinthians 5:17-21)
• Jesus was buried and then rose from the dead on the third day. (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)
• Jesus will come again to judge the world. (Revelation 19-22)
• Everyone who believes in Jesus is forgiven, made righteous and will be resurrected to live forever with God having immortal bodies. (Revelation 21-22)
• The unbeliever will be resurrected and condemned in the lake of fire forever. (Matthew 25, Revelation 20)

But the devil has tricked people to believe in “another Gospel” with “another Jesus”

2nd Corinthians 11 “³ But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. ⁴ For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.”

How did the devil deceive Eve?

Genesis 3 “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” ² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³ but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” ⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

God told Adam & Eve that if they ate from the tree of knowledge of good & evil, then they will die.

But the devil made them doubt the word of God. They believed the LIE of the devil and died !!

So this is how the devil comes to deceive people today! The devil tells people “Did God really say that? You can ignore God’s word.”

For example here are the two main false gospels today:

1- Works-based salvation:

God tells us that we cannot be saved by our works. If we trust in our works then we will be condemned.

We are only saved by faith in Christ by GRACE.

Galatians 3 “¹⁰ For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, “

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

Galatians 5 “² Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all.”

If we require any works for salvation, then we will be condemned.

But the devil will say “Did God say that? Are you sure it is only by faith? Don’t you need to do works to be saved? God is very demanding and He needs works for salvation” – this deceives people to do works for salvation by presenting another Jesus who requires works for salvation !! Hearing such a false teaching will deceive people and prevent them from having faith in Christ.

The false Jesus requires works for salvation.

The true Jesus and the true Gospel: We are saved by grace through faith in Christ apart from works!

2- Universal salvation:

God tells us in John 3:16-18, Acts 13, Revelation 21-22 that only the believers will be saved by faith in Christ. All unbelievers and those who love wickedness will not be saved. There is no salvation for unbelievers!

John 3:16-18 “¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ 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.”

Revelation 21 “⁶ He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. ⁷ Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. ⁸ But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

Acts 13 ” ³⁸ “Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. ³⁹ Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses. ⁴⁰ Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you: ⁴¹ “‘Look, you scoffers,  wonder and perish, for I am going to do something in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you.’”

But the devil will say “Did God say that only believers will be saved? Even unbelievers can be saved because God is so loving that He will eventually save everyone”. The false teaching of universalism says that God is so loving that even unbelievers will be saved. This teaching says that unbelievers will be purified in the lake of fire and be saved eventually. This teaching says that the devil will also be saved eventually!

But this is false teaching because it reveals “another Jesus” who saves unbelievers also!

The true Jesus saves only believers. He will judge unbelievers!

Some other false teachings say that there is no hell or devil and that all people will simply go to heaven with God.

Hearing such false teachings will cause unbelievers to never come to faith. It also causes believers to leave the faith thinking they don’t need to believe anymore.

But God NEVER said that unbelievers will be saved. Jesus clearly said in Matthew 25 that the sheep (believers) live forever in God’s kingdom but the goats (unbelievers) go to the lake of fire with the devil forever. The judgment is final and there is no change of decision after death. There is a hell for judgment and the devil is deceiving people even today with false gospels and wrong ideas.

If everyone is going to be saved without faith, then Paul would not have made this stern warning:

Galatians 1 “⁸ 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! ⁹ As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!”

The true gospel is that only the believer will be saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. It is not by our works, it is the GIFT of God that we receive by FAITH in Christ.