The choice of verses was excellent. Yet, I was surprised that 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 wasn’t featured in the sermon (although implied).

One of the problems I had of coming to the Lord through the Charismatic way in 1975 was not hearing the gospel as it was stated by the Apostles, that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, then raised on the third day. This was the message that Paul said we must maintain in memory, and for good reason.

The simple message arms us fully against the impressive speech of false apostles who are selling a modified gospel. In that one, Jesus died for our sins, OK (but hardly mentioned or emphasized), but also really, for carnal, temporal benefits – health, wealth and soul-satisfying experiences. It is the pursuit of these last earthly things that undoes the work of the cross because it brings out those sinful desires that Jesus actually died to remove from us.

It took a long time before I saw this error in my own life and in the churches I frequented.

Thankfully, John MacArthur knows the gospel and can and will defend it in any format, even on Larry King’s show before a mocking world and panels of false ministers who are offended because their oh-so-nuanced “gospel” includes so many more people.

We have to stand our ground as Paul admonishes in Eph. 6 after we have been fully armed with the truth of the gospel message. So, we need the sincere milk of the word of God, not the poison of worldly ministers who have set up highly successful “goblin markets.”