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Lordship Salvation
THE INCOMPATIBILITY OF THE LORDSHIP GOSPEL WITH THE GOSPEL OF GRACE
"But though we, or an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you,
let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man
preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be
accursed."
Galatians 1:8,9
The importance of this question can't be overestimated in relation to
both salvation and sanctification. The message of faith only and the
message of commitment of life can't both be the gospel; therefore, one of
them is a false gospel and come under the curse of perverting the gospel or
preaching another gospel.
"It is an inexcusable error to confront sinners with problems that
concern the Christian life and call upon them to make promises regarding
them. An unsaved person is never called upon to surrender himself to
God. The saving act is in no instance represented as our 'giving ourselves
to God'; it is, on the contrary, taking His Son as our Savior." Ryrie,
Charles. Balancing the Christian Life. Moody Press, Inc., 1969 (p. 170).
"The second approach finds faith in the gospel alone an 'easy
Believism' and seeks to add something to faith in order to accomplish
salvation. To repent is to 'change one's mind,' and to believe is to remove
one's trust from that in which it has rested and place it in
Christ." Howard, William. "Is Faith Enough to Save?" Bibliotheca
Sacra. January-March, 1942 (p.99).
"This kind of faith is not 'easy believism'. It is not easy to say, 'I
can't save myself, I must recognize that there is something wrong with me,
and I must seek help from someone else.'" Hook, H. Phillip. "A Biblical
Definition of Saving Faith." Bibliotheca Sacra. April-June, 1964 (p. 133,
138).
"Eternal life is free. Discipleship is immeasurably hard. The former
is attained by faith alone, the latter by a faith that works... the former
brings with it the righteousness of God so that a man is 'justified freely
by his grace' (Romans 3:24). The latter develops a personal righteousness,
based on good deeds, so that a man was also 'justified by works' (James
2:24). The former constituted the believer God's workmanship, the latter
fulfilled the wonderful purpose for which he had been created. The former
cost man nothing, the latter could cost him everything, including life
itself." Hodges, Zane C. The Hungry Inherit. Moody Press, Inc., 1972 (p.
114, 115).
"There is a vast difference between coming to Jesus for salvation and
coming after Jesus for service. Coming to Christ makes one a believer,
while coming after Christ makes one a disciple. All believers are not
disciples. To become a believer one accepts the invitation of the Gospel,
to be a disciple one obeys the challenge to a life of dedicated service and
separation. Salvation comes through the sacrifice of Christ; discipleship
comes only by sacrifice of self and surrender to His call for devoted
service. Salvation is free, but discipleship involves paying the price of a
separated walk. Salvation can't be lost because it depends upon God's
faithfulness, but discipleship can be lost because it depends upon our
faithfulness." Dehaan, M. R. Hebrews. Zondervan Publishing House, 1959
(p. 117).
"For the unregenerate man, repentance is the change of mind whereby he
turns from unbelief to faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ." Post,
Roger. "The Meanings of the Words Translated 'Repent' and 'Repentance' in
the New Testament." Master's Thesis, Wheaton College, June 1972 (p. 80).
"There are those who, in their zeal to get people to turn from their
sinful ways and receive the Lord, almost put repentance on a par with
believing... Repentance, as it relates to Christ, means to change our minds
about Him, who He is and what He's done to provide forgiveness and
deliverance from our sins. When we place faith in Jesus as having taken our
place personally on the cross and borne the penalty due our sins, then we're
automatically repenting, because we couldn't accept Him in this way without
having had to change our minds in some way concerning Him." Lindsey,
Hal. The Liberation of Planet Earth. Zondervan Publishing House, 1974 (p.
136, 137).
"Discipleship is frequently equated with salvation and often
erroneously made a condition for becoming a Christian". Pentecost, J.
Dwight. Design for Discipleship. Zondervan Publishing House, 1971 (p. 11).
"Certainly discipleship is a most important aspect of our relation to
Christ, but it belongs to the sphere of Christian life rather than entrance
upon that life... One does not become a disciple in order to become a
Christian, but because he has become a Christian by faith in the Savior, it
is fitting that he embark upon a life of discipleship". Harrison, Everett
F. "Must Christ be Lord to Be Savior?-No." Eternity, September 1959 (p.
14).
"There is no more piously subtle abrogation of the Gospel than to tell
a Sinner that he must not only believe in the Savior, but dedicate himself
to do God's will, crown the Savior Lord of his life, etc., etc. Obviously,
dedication and service are highly desirable, but they are the privilege and
the duty of the saved, never a condition of salvation for the unsaved (cf.
Romans 12:1, 2)." Unger, Merrill F. God is Waiting to Meet You. Moody
Press, 1975 (p. 117, 118).
"People are sometimes led to believe that there is saving value in some
public confession of Christ, or profession of a decision. "With the heart
man believeth unto righteousness." This is salvation. "With the mouth
confession is made unto salvation." This is the voice of the newborn child
speaking to and of its father. The only condition on which one may be saved
is to believe." Chafer, Lewis Sperry. Salvation. Dunham Publishing
Company, 1917 (p. 46).
SUMMARY
Lordship salvation is where someone teaches
that there must be a commitment to Christ as Lord of one's life in order to
be saved. Recently there has been a modification of this position to say
that willingness to be controlled by the Lord at the time of salvation is
all that is required in addition to faith in order to be saved. The message
of faith only and the message of faith plus commitment of life can't both be
the gospel; therefore, one of them is a FALSE GOSPEL and comes under the
curse of perverting the gospel or preaching another gospel. Galatians 1:8,
9 says, "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel
unto you, than that which we have preached unto you, let him be
accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any
other gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed." If
only committed people are saved people, then where is there room for carnal
Christians? What kind of dedication must be preached to people, if in order
to be saved, they have already dedicated their lives to the Lord? Where do
you stop if you start adding something else to this which is the gospel
revealed in the Bible? Look at what God says about adding to the revelation
of Jesus Christ (gospel), "For I testify unto every man that heareth the
words of the prophecy of this book (Revelation 22:18)." The Bible plainly
declares that we are saved by faith, and not by works. Where does it say
this? Ephesians 2:8, 9 "For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast." What are you trusting in to get you to heaven?
* Written by Dr. Hank Lindstrom
The moment you put your trust in Jesus Christ, God who can read your
mind knows, saves YOU and gives you the Gift of God, eternal Life.
You do not need anyone to pray over you, or pray for you, because this is
between you and God in heaven. Because of your new trust in the shed blood
of Jesus Christ you are now a child of God. Before you trusted in Jesus, God
was your creator but now and forevermore he will be your father.
You are saved in a moment of time, because you are trusting in the
true Savior now, not working your way to heaven day by day which is not even
possible.
Once saved you can never be lost, for any reason. This is because you were
born spiritually the moment you put your trust in Him. Just like your
physical birth which brought you into this human world, your spiritual birth
gave you a new spiritual life that is permanent. You were born-again, made
righteous and holy in Gods eyes. In fact you have the righteousness of God
himself, your are sinless and perfect in God's eyes now and that's why you
can enter into a perfect heaven.
My favorite saying is:
God will not save anyone who is
trying to be saved, He will only save those who are trusting to be saved.
You MUST put ALL your trust in Jesus to be
saved, trust in the blood that He shed on the cross, trust that He is God in
the flesh, trust that He made the complete payment for your sins, not just
part; He paid for ALL of your sins (past, present, and future)! Trust that
He rose again from the dead after 3 days and 3 nights, and in return for
this trust, He gives YOU Eternal Life. All false Christians put part of
their trust in Jesus and part of their trust the Church and part of their
trust in themselves. If you put 99.99% trust in Jesus and 00.01% in
something else, you will go to hell. It must be 100% trust in Jesus and what
He did and 0% in you or your church! This
information in critical... (grace always cancels works!) You are going to
hell if it's by your works or you are going to heaven by Gods grace. It's as
simple as that.
So I guess the question comes down to who
are you trusting. Are you trusting yourself to get to heaven by being a good
person and giving lots of money to your church or are you trusting Jesus,
the lamb of God, that was slain for the sins of the world to get you to
heaven? You receive the Gift of God (Eternal Life) as soon as you stop
trusting in yourself, your church, your synagogue, your mosque, your money,
or any other works and put your trust in Him and Him ALONE, Jesus Christ,
Yeshua, The King of Kings, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the
Alpha and Omega, the Mighty God.
False religions are everywhere and
they will find you, the one true God and His plan of salvation must be
found.
If all this makes sense to you and
you would like to trust Jesus as your personal Savior right now then
tell the Mighty God in Heaven of your decision to trust Jesus Christ as your
only hope of heaven. Tell Him that you are no longer putting your trust in
your actions, or your church, or your church membership, or in your money,
or in your Rabbi, or in your synagogue or your Mosque but that you are
putting all of your trust in Him and the shed blood of the cross to pay your
sin debt. Thank Him for doing it for you! Thank Him for giving you the Gift
of Eternal Life that He paid for with His life. There is no greater deed
than that of laying down your life for another.
Will you trust Jesus as your Savior
right now, the one who shed His precious blood on the cross of Calvary to
pay for all your sins?
Sinners Prayer:
Lord, I admit that I'm a sinner & I don't understand a whole lot about the
bible, but I do believe that Jesus Christ died & paid for my sins in full,
by His death & shed blood on the cross. I trust right now the He died for
me, was buried & rose again from the dead and will live forever more. I
trust Jesus Christ right now to save me, to be my savior, to forgive my
sins & to give me the GIFT OF GOD Eternal Life. Amen
By reading this sinners prayer aloud, you
are putting your trust in God and His plan of salvation. You are not saved
by saying this prayer, you are saved the moment your mind made the switch
from trusting in yourself to putting your COMPLETE TRUST IN JESUS
CHRIST. That moment may have been five paragraphs up on this page or that
moment may have been on another one of our pages. You will not feel any
different, but you will be changed and changed for the better forever. Once
you have trusted Jesus as your savior and received his gift of eternal life,
this gift can NEVER be lost. You can NEVER go to hell for ANY reason.
Your past, present and future sins were paid in full the moment you put your
trust in Him. You are blameless and Holy in God's eyes now and FOREVER. If
you have eternal life today what kind of life will you have in five years?
ETERNAL! What kind of life will you have in ten years? ETERNAL!! What kind
of life will you have in 50 years? ETERNAL!!! God does not give probationary
life or temporary life, His gift is ETERNAL LIFE! Thanks be to GOD!
Why be good, now that I am assured of going to heaven? Because God's law of
sowing and reaping still applies to you and me. You will reap what you sow.
You will reap more than you sow and you will reap later than you sow. If you
drink alcohol like a fish, you will reap a diseased liver. If you smoke like
a chimney everyday, you will reap lung cancer. If you rob, murder, and steal
you will reap a life in prison. You will reap what you sow. I guarantee it!
Now that you are saved, when you do good things you WILL be rewarded here on
earth and in Heaven. And when you do bad things you WILL lose rewards that
God had planned on giving you here on earth and in Heaven. But you will NEVER lose
your guarantee of going to heaven. That can never be lost for any reason!!
You have God's word that your salvation can never be lost for any reason.
You did not earn salvation and you do not work to keep salvation! Eternal
Life, salvation, being born again, becoming a child of God, was, is,
and always will be the GIFT OF GOD.
Remember: If your not saved forever... you are not saved!
Why is this true you might ask? Because if a person is not sure that they
are saved TODAY / RIGHT NOW it means that they are still trying to be the
savior! They can't be sure they are going to heaven because they don't know
what sin's they may commit next week, next month or next year. We who have
trusted in Jesus alone, can have comfort knowing that all our sins have been
paid in full on the Cross of Calvary (past, present, and future sins). Jesus
has already died for my sins so I don't need to pay for any sin I have or
will commit in the future because Jesus already paid the price in full with
His blood. So called Christians who say that you can lose your salvation
because of suicide or murder or falling away from the church don't have a
clue what the Bible says and clearly have not trusted Jesus ALONE!
Biblical Salvation is forsaking
any other means of salvation but Christ and casting ourselves fully upon Him
for eternal life.
The Gift of God, Eternal Life can never be lost once possessed for any
reason. John 6:39 " And this is the Father's will which hath sent Me, that
of all which He hath given Me I should LOSE NOTHING, but should raise it up
again at the last day." You have God's promise that once you put your trust
in Jesus you can never be lost for ANY reason whatsoever.
"For the gifts
and calling of God are
without repentance” Romans 11:29 Again, God is telling you that this Gift of
God that you have just received is without repentance. He can never take His
gift back for any reason, no matter how bad you get, or how bad your sins
are it is not possible. God would have to cease to exist for that to happen
because He cannot lie.
Thanks for visiting GetGodsGift.
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