When I was a kid, I really enjoyed going to this famous shopping mall in Jakarta that sold counterfeit items (i.e.: knock-off branded clothes, shoes, etc.) (Yes, I confess my sin here so please do not follow my footsteps). When me and my family went to that shopping center, I saw a lot of famous brands there. If I only saw it at a glance, I really couldn’t tell the difference between the counterfeit one and the real one.

One day I bought a ‘branded’ belt which looked so good to me.  I was happy, because the original one would cost ten times more. However, the belt eventually broke apart. It did  not last, not even a couple of months. I was sad and disappointed. But then I realized that I did not deserve to sulk because I did not buy the original one. From there I learnt that you get what you paid for, basically.

In this post-Christian era, when we talk about the Gospel, it turns out that there are a lot of other ‘counterfeit gospels’ around us. The question is: Which one are you currently following ? Are you sure you are following the true Gospel? When we dig deeper into these ‘gospels’, they may seem to make sense or even appealing, but it is not based on what the Bible teaches us. 

In Galatians 1:8-9: “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you have received, he is to be accursed!”

This is a clear and firm warning from Apostle Paul to the Churches in Galatians in regards to false gospel. But his warning seems as applicable to us now as it was 2000 years ago.

In the present time, one of the most seductive false gospels is ‘moralism’. The basic structure of moralism comes down to this—the belief that the Gospel can be reduced to improvements in behavior.  Sadly, this kind of gospel may “sound” right to many people just because we believe that doing a morally good thing equals good person. 

But, without the profound understanding of the message of the Cross, can you really fulfill all of the law that God has written? 

Again, in Galatians 2:16, Apostle Paul said:

“know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.”

Therefore, while moralism may make sense and sound appealing to sinners, unfortunately, moralism is not the Gospel because it won’t save you. Moralism will drain you out instead.  The only true Gospel we need to hear is: Christ Jesus died on the Cross for all of us, and that is enough.

On the other side of the coin, have you heard about the term antinomian? if moralism is on the very left, antinomianism view sit on the very right of the spectrum.

So what is antinomian?

Antinomian is basically a view or belief where people at that time rejected the law or legalism part since we are live now under grace. Some people who hold this view think “Jesus already died on the cross for me, i can do whatever i want since He redeemed me already”. Antinomianism twists the true gospel by separating salvation from sanctification (the process of becoming holy). The Bible clearly teaches:

Ephesians 2:8-10: “ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Apostle Paul said in Romans 6:1-2: “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?”

One of the 5 solas of the Reformation is sola fide, which means ‘faith alone’. We are justified by faith alone, saved by grace alone.  What we need to understand and remember is, The true Gospel of Jesus Christ transforms sinners like us into thinking, we are doing good deeds not because we are morally a good person, but because He first loved us.

In conclusion : 

We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ Alone. Grace is not a license to sin. Nothing that we do good or bad can increase the love of God for us. because He already love us, paid you with precious blood to redeem our sin (1 peter 1:18-19) So, let us examine our hearts again and ask this question: have you? truly read your own bible and meditate on it?