We live in a time when we must fight to define the terms.
Evangelicals hold endearment to presidents that say “God bless America”, feel
satisfied if a friend says, “I’ll pray for you”, or believe they have agreement
if they both “Go to church.” The truth is that there is little truth in these
words alone. They have become empty and there are many more of them within
evangelical expression. One of the most significant words that must be
redefined is “Gospel”.
There was once an endeavor of getting the Gospel down to
irreducible minimums. A 3-step prayer or 4 spiritual laws was all that was
needed. Along with this attempt to make believing in Jesus as “easy as 1-2-3”
the true truth of Jesus was lost all together. We feel the results. I am not
sure we have responded with the answers.
Paul Washer has given us a response.
In his book, Gospel
Assurances and Warnings, Washer sets the record straight by both responding
to where we have lost clarity of the Gospel by attempting reduction and
pointing to where we must go if we are to recover the true truth of the Gospel.
Washer writes with a pointed and organized style. He is easy to follow and his
chapters break down easily for discussion or personal study.
This book is organized into two major sections. The first
section deals with assurances that one may have that he or she is a true
believer of the Gospel. Washer walks through the text of 1 John and shows from
the plain witness of scripture what a person must expect if they are truly a
believer in the Gospel.
The second section is a set of warnings from the Gospels.
Here Washer uses Matthew 7 to lay out the “two ways” teaching of Jesus and call
his readers to proclaim the Gospel with clarity but also to avoid reducing the
truths of the Gospel below what scripture will allow. Washer calls the
evangelist to rethink the practices employed according to the harsh warnings of
scripture lest these unsuspecting adherents to the “sinner’s prayer” hear “away
from me, I never knew you”.
This book by Paul Washer is timely and necessary. There are
many within evangelical circles that will cringe at some of the mistakes they
have made. We have all made some mistakes in ministry. I have repented of many
of my mistakes. This is not a mistake that we can continue to make. We must
turn and repent and communicate the true truth of the Gospel.
I am sincerely hoping that Washer’s book along with a few
more written recently mark a shift away from the faulty, easy-believism of our
past and sets us on a course to recovering the true Gospel for the glory of
Christ.