This is a balancing message — a message to bring us into balance.

Why our gospel, John 3:16 is not the true gospel.

The heart of the gospel is not that God loves us. We’ve made a terrible mistake emphasizing something the Bible does not.

“So we have had what I believe is an overemphasis on the God of love in our preaching to non-believers, something that the New Testament apostles never did, as I will show you from the Bible in a few moments.”

“Unconditional love” is not found in the Bible.

“God is righteous. … Everything He does is right. … You can trust God totally.”

“He died to make us holy.”

Description from David Pawson.org…, which also has the video:

What kind of God do we present and what kind of gospel do we preach to a lost world ? Most Christians today answer in terms of God’s love, yet there are surprisingly few references to this in the Bible. … Particularly significant in the absence of any mention in Acts, the only record we have of evangelism in the early church.

By contrast, Scripture concentrates on divine goodness and righteousness. Everything God does is right; He is incapable of doing anything wrong. One day, He will put right everything that has gone wrong in His good world, punishing and banishing evil and making a brand new earth and heaven the ‘home of righteousness’.

But can we be a part of this? The good news is that, through the Cross and Resurrection, God offers His own righteousness to us, provided we are willing to repent of our sins and our self-righteousness. Bad people can be made good, sinners can turn into saints, the wicked can become righteous and we can be recycled to live in a righteous universe. The world needs to hear about God and the Gospel of righteousness

Given at New Life School of Ministries, Croydon on 26/6/03

Related:

(video) David Pawson: “Once Saved Always Saved?” — “80 PASSAGES in the New Testament that WARN US not to lose what we’ve found in Christ” • “People who believe in ‘once saved always saved’ believe it because they’ve listened to someone who taught it” • “Preachers rarely quote Romans 11: ‘if you do not continue in His kindness you too will be cut off’” — Jesus said: only those who overcome will not have their names removed from the Book of Life

(video) David Pawson on PAUL and JAMES: Paul was defending Gentiles from JEWISH *works-of-the-law* LEGALISM; James was defending Jews from Gentile LICENSE TO SIN. • When Paul says ‘WORKS’ he means *works of the law,* but James means *actions*. • “Faith without actions cannot save you.” • FAITH + ACTIONS = SAVING FAITH!

(video) David Pawson Interview on “Divorce & Remarriage” — Unbiblically married? What to do…

Who-Goes-To-Heaven Scriptures — Narrow is the Way | Who are the Children of God? — “There is therefore now *no condemnation* to those who are IN CHRIST Jesus, who don’t WALK according to the flesh, but ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT.”