WORTHLESSNESS OF INOFFENSIVE GOSPEL

By Akin Ojumu

All this time you’ve been going to Church, when was the last time you heard a new song about the wrath of God? Can you remember when last the praise and worship leader raised a chorus that talks about the fury and anger of God that’s coming upon the doer of unrighteousness? Is the terror of the LORD that’s going to be visited upon all the workers of ungodliness a theme of any of the messages preached in your place of worship lately?

Haven’t you noticed that the vast majority of the sermons that emanate from the pulpits are all about blessings, miracles, and gaining the world? Isn’t it the case that the theme of the songs is almost always about enlargement of territories, fulfillment of destinies, and accomplishment of purposes? You’d agree that the most popular sermons – the ones that elicit the loudest cheers of “Preach it, Pastor! Go on soun, Papa!” – are often about instantaneous breakthroughs and spontaneous increases.

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” (Romans 1:18).

Howbeit, we know from Scripture that without the bad news of man’s wretchedness, there can be no Good News of God’s righteousness. The message of salvation is incomplete without a mention of God’s wrath for sin. 

Unfortunately, that’s not a popular subject in modern-day Churchianity. It is considered an offense for anyone to talk about the coming judgement of God on both unbelievers and pretend-Believers alike. To talk about sin and punishment is deemed to be unkind.

As a result, many contemporary preachers present a Gospel that’s more acceptable to the listening audience. To tickle the ears of the hearers, they sugarcoat the message of the Cross to make it more palatable to reprobate minds. Candy-coating the wrath of God, they laden the Gospel with empty promises. 

In an appeal to fleshly desires, God’s judgement for sin is layered over a lot of worthless buzzwords and hollow verbiage. Well-practiced in their deceitful craft, these vendors of sweet news talk about God’s love ad infinitum ad nauseam without ever mentioning God’s wrath. A God who hates sin is a bête noire to peddlers of the sweet news.

While these Gospel hucksters busy themselves hawking their sweet news devoid of bad news, the Bible makes it abundantly clear that the really Good News, i.e., the message of the Cross, was made necessary because of the wrath of God, and that Christ died, so that the sinner might live.

Christ became sin, in order for sinful man to become the righteousness of God. In order that the sinner does not perish that God, because of His love, gave His only begotten Son. It was for this that death – which is the wages of man’s sin – was put upon Him instead.

Know ye this day that an inoffensive gospel is an ineffective gospel. When the offense of the Cross is buried under a mountain of empty platitudes, it renders the Gospel message powerless. The preaching of the sweet news, as a convenient substitute for the Good News, is an exercise in futility. The eternally tragic end result is that it turns the hearers into twice the children of hell as those who preach such messages themselves.

It is for this reason the places of worship are packed full of damned people who see no need for the cleansing of their unregenerate souls. They keep on coming, drawn to the entertainment and the enticing words, and then they return to the muck of sin from where they came.