The Gospel According To Jesus is one of the most important books that I have ever read.  In fact, it is truly one of the most important books that has been written in the last hundred years.  In it author John MacArthur exposes the heresy of “easy-believism.”

Easy believism is the widespread notion that you can truly be saved by accepting Christ as Savior but not as Lord.  Proponents of this view misunderstand completely the bible’s portrait of conversion.   In the Scriptures conversion to Christ consists of both repentance and faith.  These two acts: repentance, turning from sin, and faith, turning to Christ, are the two essential components of true salvation.

The Bible teaches that if a sinner is to be saved he must turn from (repentance) being the master of his own life and surrender himself to the lordship of Jesus Christ.

In spite of the clarity of this doctrine in Scripture and the fact that it has been consistently taught throughout church history, nevertheless, the church of the 20th century nearly abandoned it altogether.  The doctrine of easy believism swept across the evangelical world like a wildfire.  It was the publishing of this book in 1988 that proved to be pivotal in stemming the tide of error.  For in The Gospel According to Jesus, John MacArthur takes us back to the Bible to answer the question—“What does true salvation look like?”

Chapter after chapter he unfolds for us in his marvelous expositional style the teachings of Jesus himself regarding salvation.  When we see the nature of salvation from Jesus’ teachings we see that true salvation is nothing less than the transformation of a human life, and true salvation consists of a radical reorientation of the soul:

“If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow Me.”
Luke 9:23