The Gift Of Eternal Life Is Wrapped In The Wonderful Package Of Jesus

by David J. Stewart | May 2020

Romans 5:18, “Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

       I was reading a wonderful book today by one of my favorite preachers, Dr. Bob Jones Sr. (1883-1968). As I read his books and hear him preach, I see Dr. Bob Jones Sr. in Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001). It is clear to me that Brother Jones had a tremendous influence on the life and preaching of Dr. Jack Hyles. I love both of these dear men of God!

It grieves my heart to see how our nation has changed for the worse in my lifetime. What discourages me is that today's professed Christians (particularly my own camp of independent Baptists) cannot see the forest for the trees! We are changing so quickly and most Baptists are in woeful denial. Here is a beautiful quote from Evangelist Bob Jones Sr.:

“Young people, you can't buy salvation. You can't pay for it after you get it. But if you don't already have it, you can have it. Somebody is giving it away around here. His name is Jesus and He wants to give you salvation.

Before I stop I will use an illustration I have used many times here at the college.  Maybe those of you who have heard it have forgotten it.

Do you see this quarter? I want to give it to you. But I am a peculiar man. I just give away quarters one way. I put a quarter in a book, shut the book, and offer you the book. You don't want the book? Well, all right, you can't have my quarter, then. I have a right to put the quarter in any sort of package I wish. You, of course, have the privilege of rejecting the quarter.

God has something He wants to give you. It is eternal life. He wrapped it in the most wonderful package you ever heard of. He put it in Jesus. People looked at Jesus. He had no form or comeliness; there wasn't anything about Him to be desired. And they didn't realize what was wrapped up in that package. They put Jesus on a cross. They nailed Him there. They killed Him. Then He rose from the dead, and He has been scarred ever since that time. If you could see Jesus today, the glorified, risen Son of God, you would find scars on His brow and scars in His hands. If you could look at His side you would find a wound there. His feet are scarred. But, say, He has wrapped in Himself a wonderful gift. God gives you eternal life when you take Him. Eternal life is wrapped up in Christ.” —Dr. Bob Jones Sr., “Things I Have Learned: Chapel Talks,” pages 222-223; Bob Jones University Press, ©1945

Amen and amen! That was so simply, beautiful and eloquently said. Dr. Bob Jones Sr. preached the simplicity that is in Jesus Christ (2nd Corinthians 11:3-4).
 

Bob Jones University Preaches Another Gospel Today

Dr. Jones would be appalled, disgusted and angry if he heard Dr. Steve Pettit (president of Bob Jones University since 2014) teaching the students that to be saved, they “must persevere” in holiness, ministry and service to others, and faithfully “run the race” to obtain the “award” of Heaven itself. Dr. Pettit is preaching another gospel, not the Gospel of free grace once delivered unto the saints! Dr. Pettit made this blasphemous statement at Bob Jones University (BJU) to 2,700 impressionable students on January 26, 2015:

You can't just speak about getting saved, and you accepted Christ, and then that's it! There is a justification; There is a sanctification; There's ultimately a glorification, and though there are three parts, they are all part of the whole, and you cannot separate them. In order for you to qualify for the award, you have to get into the race, you have to stay in the race, and you have to finish the race. If you want to win, you have to run to the end; and winning in the Christian life is everything, because if you lose—if you don't finish—you lose everything—you lose your SOUL. And so, the Christian race is the life of faith that begins, is run, and is finished when we cross over into Heaven!” [emphasis added] —Dr. Steve Pettit (“What Does It Mean To Run 'The Race'?” - 11:34)

Folks, that is the exact oppossite of what the founder, Dr. Bob Jones Sr., believed and taught the students at BJU. Dr. Jones would blow up the college he started with dynamite (he said so himself | MP4 | MP3) if he could today! Kindly said, Steve Pettit is a religious liberal! They actually pay him a 6-digit salary to preach a counterfeit gospel, sending those misled students to Hell. Still not convinced? Read this heretical quote from Dr. Pettit...

“So when we talk about 'The Race,' what are we talking about? We're talking about beginning and salvation, and then running the race through pursuing holiness and ministry, and service to others. But then let me say, that number three: This race HAS TO be faithfully run to the finish! You HAVE TO finish. Salvation is not just a past reality—“I GOT SAVED,” but is a future destiny! The race is not completed until you cross the finish line at death. What is this race—it is the race as we are running as we are headed toward Heaven.” —Dr. Steve Pettit (“What Does It Mean To Run 'The Race'?” -  10:27)

“We run the race, we cross the finish line, and so what’s the prize? What is the award? Well, there are different viewpoints. Some would have the viewpoint that the awards are crowns in Heaven. But as I read the book of Hebrews and see the whole gist of the book and the flow of the book, I don’t believe its referring to crowns in Heaven. I think it is referring to Heaven itself.” [emphasis added] —Dr. Steve Pettit (“What Does It Mean To Run 'The Race'?” - 22:57)

Dr. Pettit teaches strange doctrines. I shared with you earlier what Dr. Bob Jones Sr. taught. These two men are light-years apart in their plans of salvation! Steve Pettit teaches BJU students that if they perpetually lie, they'll go to Hell. That is another gospel!!! If you are saved, you can lie all you want and still go to Heaven (Acts 13:39; Romans 5:20). You shouldn't lie. Lying is a sin. God hates lying. However, none of that has anything to do with the free gift of God, which is eternal life (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9).

I am not trying to be mean. I don't get paid a single penny for my preaching. Since I began my online ministry in 2002, I've never accepted one cent! I've had people send me money, and I sent it back to them, every penny! I do what I do because I love God, truth and people!!! I have a full reward in Heaven, the greatest being all the souls saved and lives changed through my humble labors for Jesus Christ. To God alone be all the credit, praise and glory!!! Jesus said without Him we cannot do anything (John 15:5). Jesus even keeps you and me breathing (Acts 17:25). Jesus is precious!!!
 

Telling The Truth Makes Enemies

There's a price for telling the truth. The truth always causes either revival or riot! Like myself, Brother Lester Roloff (1914-1982) made enemies preaching THE TRUTH. This Sermon Will Cost Me Many Friends (Brother Roloff: “No church is free until its pulpit is free!”). The Day Will Come When Every Person Will Say, “The Preacher Was Right!” (God is right!). How To Lose Friends And Influence History (Pastor Roy Thompson; I've tried it and it works!). These men all paid a price for telling THE TRUTH! The apostle Paul was even counted as an enemy of the very church he started in Galatia, because he told THE TRUTH (Galatians 4:16).

Kindly, I have prayed day and night since 2014 for God to avenge me of the cold-hearted Harvest Baptist Church on Guam. Luke 18:7-8, “And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” At a very difficult and dark time in my life in 2014, when I humbly crawled into their church needing their love and help, they embraced me for a year as their friend; but then kicked me in the head and left me for dead, when I befriended them with THE TRUTH. Ironically, Evangelist Tom Ferrell preached behind the pulpit of Harvest and said: “A friend helps a friend to see!” That is very true and a great statement! But the Bob Jones' camp only hear what they want to hear, not the truth they desperately need! That is why many of them are going to Hell (I just quoted Dr. Steve Pettit's junk theology with you). As Dr. Bob Jones Sr. would tell them if he could today (I can), the Bob Jones crowd today can GO TO HELL!!! Take your counterfeit Bible revisions with you to Hell! Take your counterfeit gospel with you to Hell! Take your haughty pride and arrogance with you to Hell! But they have no cloke for their wickedness! John 15:22, “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.”

Unfortunately, the Bob Jones University crowd who comprise the pastoral leadership and staff at Harvest don't want THE TRUTH. This type of wickedness is not new. They had the same exact problem in the Old Testament. Jeremiah 5:31, “The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?” Isn't that something? The preachers were telling lies and falsehoods, but the people LOVED TO HAVE IT THAT WAY! What saith the Scripture? 2nd Timothy 4:3, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;” Sadly, if you took away John MacArthur, Bob Jones University and the modern Bible perversions, the Harvest Baptist Church on Guam would cease to exist, because the things I just mentioned define who they are! That is tragic. Brother, a church ought to be built solely upon the inspired King James Bible. You don't need John MacArthur! You don't need Bob Jones University! You don't need 39 different Bible revisions! All you need is the inspired Word of God!!! Sadly, weak-kneed churches all across America cannot stand upon their own two feet, without some spiritually dead Bible college to hold them up!!! That's what happens when Bible colleges send out preachers instead of churches!

Bob Jones University is a disgrace to Dr. Bob Jones Sr. today. Brother Jones is disgusted up in Heaven. If he could, he'd take dynamite and blow the college into a heap of rubbish. Likewise, Pastor Jack Hyles is disgusted with the First Baptist Church of Hammond and Hyles-Anderson College today since 2008! They can't hide behind soulwinning and good works for denying the inspiration of the King James Bible!!! The Devil has crept into these institutions! I am a loner by nature. I realize now that God made me this way, so I would stand alone, like John the Baptist. If I were a part of the group, I couldn't be used of God like Moses. Moses was a total misfit, like me. He was Hebrew, so he didn't fit in in Egypt. Since he grew up in Egypt in Pharaoh's house, he didn't fit in with the Hebrews either. Moses certainly didn't fit in with the Midianites.

Like Moses, I am a misfit. That is why I have a website ministry like I do, instead of pastoring a church. I just feel awkward around people. That is why I am alone and cannot find a wife, and doubt if I ever will. Praise the Lord! I will keep preaching THE TRUTH!!! I am the Lord's, and He is mine! Let the heathen rage at Bob Jones University! Let the religious liberals rage at Harvest Baptist Church on Guam. Let the Devil's modernist crowd keep corrupting the Word of God. The Bob Jones' camp love their perversions!!! Let the Devil's religious Bob Jones' crowd keep perverting the faith, God will deal with them in His own time! I have preached THE TRUTH of the Gospel of free grace!!!
 

Eternal Life Comes In The Wonderful Package Of Jesus!

I like what Dr. Bob Jones Sr. said about being “a peculiar man.” I am too! Brother Jones gave away quarters (which was a lot of money in 1944). He always placed the quarter into a book, and then offered someone the book. If the person refused the book, then they didn't get the quarter. I do the same thing! I print my own Gospel tracts. I often place $20 in one of the tracts, and fold it up, keeping it ready under my sun-visor in my car to give away to a needy person. When someone asks for money, I hand them the Gospel tract. If they refuse it, then they don't get the $20. They cannot see the money until they unfold the tract.

One day I saw a homeless man in a store parking lot. I offered him a Gospel tract. He was offended and cursed the name of Jesus. So I put the Gospel tract back into my pocket, and he never knew there was $20 inside. I don't give people money when they ask, I offer them a Gospel tract, which if they accept comes with a gift of $20. That is the same thing that Dr. Bob Jones Sr. liked doing! I was happy when I read that he did that too! God is offering everyone eternal life, but it comes in the wonderful package of Jesus Christ!

Evangelist Bob Jones Sr. (1883-1968)

Dr. Bob Jones Sr. Contended For Salvation By Faith

Meaningful Quotes By Evangelist Bob Jones Sr.

The Gospel In Just One Minute (by Pastor Max D. Younce)

1st Corinthians 16:24, “My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.”

END OF ARTICLE


Souls Are Dying!

How Permanent Is Your Salvation?
(an excellent MP3 sermon by Pastor Hank Lindstrom, 1940-2008)

Mark 1:15, “...repent ye, and believe the gospel.”

“The mark of the child of God is that he loves everybody!”
(a quote from Pastor Jack Hyles' classic MP3 sermon, “
FORGIVENESS”)

Mark 11:22, And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.


Ye Must Be Born Again!

You Need HIS Righteousness!