There is a gospel of Satan and a Gospel of Christ; the one is the exact antithesis of the other. Satan’s gospel has no place for the grace of God. Satan’s gospel reverses God’s estimate of the natural man. It does not admit that in himself, he is hopelessly incurable and incorrigible, even though it does have to say that he is still imperfect. The basic tenet of his gospel is man’s natural worthiness, which can be increased, and for which man will take to himself the glory. Satan’s gospel admits the natural man’s need for spiritual garments. Still, it teaches men that these garments can be made by themselves and urges them to borrow the pattern from the earthly life of Jesus and then make the garments to fit themselves. In Satan’s gospel, the sinner does not penitently beseech God to save him, but he politely requests God to help him save himself and then endorse what he has done.

The Gospel of Christ has place for nothing but the grace of God, by which a salvation is provided that the sinner accepts by faith as a gift. God’s Gospel declares that the natural man is a sinner, a rebel, and an outlaw and that he is separated from God and condemned by God. In God’s Gospel, the sinner admits that this is his standing and his state before God and that he is absolutely helpless to change it and, therefore, hopeless. He comes to God in true penitence and cries to God for salvation. The basic tenet of God’s Gospel is the infinite worth of His Son and the worthiness of his finished work of redemption. God’s Gospel declares the spiritual nakedness of the natural man and his inability to stand in the presence of God unless clothed in the garment of His Son’s righteousness, which He will graciously bestow upon all who will accept Him by faith.

Which Gospel are you believing? There is but one Gospel that is the power of God unto salvation. Anything which departs an iota from the truth of that Gospel is “another gospel,” even the gospel of Satan.

Romans 1:16

“For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believeth.”

Galatians 1:6-9

⁶ “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, ⁷ which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. ⁹ As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.

We have been facing the question, “What must I do to be saved?” and endeavoring to answer it. I trust it has been made clear that salvation does not consist in anything that man makes of himself or that education and environment make of him. Nor does it consist of anything he does for God or man. Neither is salvation a mere matter of a changed manner of living. It does not mean elevating the natural man’s life to a better state of living, still on the natural plane. As long as he remains on the natural plane, he is unsaved, no matter how cultured, educated, moral, or even religious he is.

Salvation is not man’s work for God, but God’s work for man. Salvation calls us to put our faith not in what man is or does but in what Christ is and has done. Salvation’s first concern is not what kind of a life a man lives but what is his relationship to God. So, its first dealing is not with the good in man but with the bad. Salvation does not try to improve the standing and state of the natural man through reformation, but it transfers him into a totally new sphere of life through regeneration.

Every attempt to save the natural man through character, education, good works, or religion will prove utterly futile because it has failed to deal effectually with that trinity of evil, sin, self, and Satan. Anything that leaves a man “in Adam,” “in the flesh,” and under “the power of Satan” is not salvation and is not acceptable to God. Dear reader, which way are you going to take?

Will you proudly and arrogantly try to save yourself, or will you humbly and penitently accept the salvation provided for you in Another? Will you go the way of Cain, who presented to God as a sacrifice, the finest fruit of his garden and the best product of his toil, or will you go the way of Abel, who acknowledged his need of a Savior and accepted by faith God’s sacrifice?

Will you attempt to secure access to and acceptability with God on the ground of good works, or will you rest on the finished work of God’s Son?

Will you try to improve the old sinful nature, which is your inheritance in Adam, or will you partake by faith of that new divine nature that God bestows in Christ? Will you try to conform your character and conduct to the standards of Satan’s worldly system, or will you yield yourself to Christ to be transformed into His image through the infilling of the Holy Spirit?

Will you follow Satan’s way or God’s? Upon your answer to this question, your present happiness and your eternal destiny depend.

Source: “Life on the Highest Plane” by Ruth Paxson

Lord, we are not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ!