'Salvation'—It Will Cost You Nothing

By David J. Stewart | June 2019

Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

       I found a horrible, theologically errant, foolish article on the internet by a guy named Justin Edwards, which highlights a terrible sermon by Dr. Steve Lawson called, “It Will Cost You Everything.” The inspired Word of God does NOT agree with either Justin Edwards or Steve Lawson (who are followers of Dr. John MacArthur). Kindly, these men are reprobates concerning the Christian faith!

Here are some key excerpts from Justin Edward's article, and my rebuttal from the Word of God...

‘Lordship Salvation’ – It Will Cost You Everything
Posted on October 13, 2010

By Justin Edwards

Fundamentally (to the fault of misunderstanding or ignorance), to reject “lordship” salvation is to reject the teachings of the greatest theologians and preachers of church history, notably since the Reformation. If you believe in the Gospel as taught by Martin Luther, John Calvin, the Puritans, Jonathan Edwards, Matthew Henry, George Whitefield, John Bunyan, Charles Spurgeon, J.C. Ryle, B.B. Warfield, R.A. Torrey, W.H. Griffith Thomas, Leonard Ravenhill, A.W. Pink, and A.W. Tozer, then you believe in the Gospel according to the doctrine of lordship salvation. If you are a born again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, even if you did not understand the full implications of His lordship or have never heard the term before, you submitted to His Lordship on the day of your salvation. It is impossible to be justified by God without submitting to His authority over your life. You cannot accept Him as Savior but reject Him as Lord. This idea is absurd really, and is the result of the modern message plaguing the church in the last century. [emphasis added]

https://airocross.com/2010/10/13/lordship-salvation-it-will-cost-you-everything

Martin Luther (1483-1546) taught the damnable heresy of Baptismal Regeneration up until his death. John Calvin (1509-1564) literally murdered 58 people (including women and children) for merely disagreeing with his damnable heresy of Infant Baptism! What a monster! Great men of God? Kindly, either Justin Edwards doesn't know his history very well, or else he is so desperate to support his straw man heresy of Lordship Salvation that he doesn't care.

Furthermore, Justin Edwards says to be saved you must be “submitted to His lordship.” In sharp contrast, the inspired Word of God teaches that to be saved a person must be, SUBMITTED TO GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS! Romans 10:3-4, “For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”

The article continues:

...What is known as “lordship” salvation is either the Gospel or it is not. It is either a work of God or a work of man. If it is a work of man, then salvation requires works. If lordship salvation teaches works-based salvation or if it is works-centered, and indeed it does not and is not, then it is heresy. If it is heresy, then those who teach it are heretics. If they be heretics, then the godly men above are heretics, so too are John MacArthur, Paul Washer, Al Mohler, John Piper, Phil Johnson, Alistair Begg, James MacDonald, Ray Comfort, Steve Lawson, Kirk Cameron, David Platt, Justin Peters, Todd Friel, Jack Chick, Mike Ratliff, Ken Silva, and James White. Now, I ask you: what do you truly believe? If you are to be consistent in your accusations against what is known as “lordship” salvation, then you must also be willing to declare all of these men heretics. Are you willing to do that? If you are not, then I urge you to study this doctrine closely, lest you continue to declare biblical truth heresy, even if out of ignorance. [emphasis added]

https://airocross.com/2010/10/13/lordship-salvation-it-will-cost-you-everything

“Lordship” Salvation is NOT the Gospel. Eternal life is a free gift according to the Bible (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 5:15). To truly be a “gift” salvation cannot cost anything! Please notice that cartoon evangelist Jack Chick is recognized as being in the Lordship Salvation camp (and he sadly was).

One of my favorite preachers was Dr. Harry A. Ironside (1876-1951), who exposed the heresy of “surrendering one's life to Christ” to be saved . . .

“When anyone comes promising salvation to those ‘who make full surrender' of all that they have to God, and who 'pay the price of full salvation' he is preaching another gospel, for the price was paid on Calvary's cross and the work that saves is finished. It was Christ Jesus who made the full surrender when He yielded His life on Calvary that saves us, not our surrender in any way to Him.”

SOURCE: Harry A. Ironside, from the Gospel tract, Another Gospel?

Justin Edwards further states:

...What else can explain the potential millions of church goers who have not been born again? These Christians-in-name-only continue to live a lifestyle of habitual sin or depend on their own righteousness to be justified. These false converts have a false assurance of salvation simply because they rely on a one-time response to an altar call, said a prayer once to “ask Jesus into their hearts”, they might go to Bible study, they may have filled out a “decision for Christ” card, or they think by doing stuff they are making God happy. But they have never come into right relationship with Christ by submitting to His authority to rule and reign in their lives. No doubt God can and will save people despite the message they responded to, but the danger of the repentant-less message of “cheap grace” or “easy-believism” is that it gives people a false security in salvation. It leads people to believe they are saved when they are desperately lost. And oftentimes, as illustrated in Jesus’ Parable of the Sower, many fall away from faith because their “decision” to be saved was based on an emotional high or a desire to be saved from their troubles or for their felt-needs to be met. This rash decision led to a shallow root, and the only explanation for why these fall away or that they never go on to bear fruit or be sanctified is that they never counted the cost and they never submitted their lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. [emphasis added]

https://airocross.com/2010/10/13/lordship-salvation-it-will-cost-you-everything

That last paragraph is utter heresy! In the parable of the Sower And The Seeds (Luke 8:11-15), only the first group of seeds didn't get saved. The second group did get saved, but they had shallow roots, so they fell away when persecution came. This has NOTHING to do with salvation. The parable is about reaching maturity as a Christian to bear fruit. Justin Edwards foolishly applies it to salvation, teaching errantly that the second group did “fall away from faith.” The Bible says they did “receive the word with joy,” which means they got saved.

Please also notice that Justin Edwards condemns the idea that a person can be saved in “A ONE-TIME RESPONSE TO AN ALTER CALL.” My friend, a baby is born in a ONE-TIME trip to the delivery room of a hospital! Likewise, every Christian believer was born-again in a MOMENT OF TIME. I remember the place where I was born-again as a 13 year old boy, in a ONE-TIME EVENT. Mr. Edwards is teaching a false gospel. The group of seeds who fell away in Luke 8:11 only failed because they weren't strong enough to handle persecution. That has nothing to do with salvation! Submitting to Christ's rule and reign in your life is NOT the Gospel, it is discipleship (Romans 12:1-2).

Justin Edwards continues:

...Let it be clear – salvation comes by the grace of God alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. No amount of gold, no amount of good works, no amount of anything can earn your way to heaven. We are justified by faith alone, and it is only by the righteousness of Jesus Christ that we gain access to the Father in heaven. Moreover, salvation is a sovereign work of God, and because it is His work in Christ through the regenerated, surrendering to the Lordship of Christ is no more a work of the believer than is faith and repentance. The Holy Spirit will bring about repentance, sanctification, and submission to the Lordship of Christ in all who truly have faith in Jesus. [emphasis added]

https://airocross.com/2010/10/13/lordship-salvation-it-will-cost-you-everything

What a theological liar! Surrendering is absolutely “a work,” because you must SACRIFICE SOMETHING, he says, to be saved. These people are woefully ignorant of the Word of God! John MacArthur, Justin Edwards and Steve Lawson errantly teach there is a “COST” to be saved, but the inspired Word of God says there is NO COST to the sinner, because JESUS PAID THE COST WITH HIS OWN PRECIOUS BLOOD!!! 1st Peter 1:18-19, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

...Coming under the Lordship of Christ is merely responding to the call of Jesus to be His disciple. Subjecting yourself to the Lordship of Christ is coming to saving faith. It is committing your life to Him. It is surrendering your life to God. It is being born again. The Bible makes no distinction between being a believer and a disciple – they are one in the same. Contrary to popular and modern teaching, one does not become a believer then at some point down the road become a disciple of Christ. Discipleship is not a call to some higher level of Christianity. It is Christianity and it is based on the work of Christ and our following Him. When one is born again, they become a follower, or a disciple, of the Lord Jesus Christ. [emphasis added]

https://airocross.com/2010/10/13/lordship-salvation-it-will-cost-you-everything

Justin really messes up doctrinally in the preceding comments. He says that the Holy Bible makes no distinction between a believer and a disciple. Really? Evidently he has never read Romans 12:1-2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Clearly, they had not yet received Jesus as the “Lord” of their life, because the apostle Paul is pleading with them to surrender.

Justin in this next paragraph blasphemes the Word of God, by corrupting the truth, teaching a false Gospel...

...You must go through the Narrow Gate (Matthew 7:13-14). Only few enter through this gate because only few are willing to lay their lives down for the Lord Jesus Christ. Only few are willing to forsake everything for Christ. Only few are willing to submit to the rightful rule of the Lord over their lives. Only few desire to pursue God, to be conformed to His image, to be transformed, to obey Him, and to become holy as He is holy. And Jesus knew how easy it was to just be a part of the crowd, so much so that He raised the bar by demanding total commitment. He did not manipulate decisions or induce the crowd. He did not sugar coat His message or soften the requirement. He asked for nothing less than complete surrender. [emphasis added]

https://airocross.com/2010/10/13/lordship-salvation-it-will-cost-you-everything

LIES! The gate is narrow in that “few there be that FIND IT!” That is what the Bible says in Matthew 7:13-14, not few there be that go through it! Matthew 7:14, “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” FIND IT! The way of salvation is so simple that most people pass right over it, deceived by false religion, worldly philosophies, evolution and the appealing lies of the Devil.

This is Satanic heresy, all of it...

As Dr. Lawson says, these terms of salvation are nonnegotiable, absolute, fixed and set, and unalterable, and they are the same for all of us. He calls for radical submission and surrender or we cannot be His disciple. Christ must be worth more to us than anything else. We must consider Him more valuable than everything else as we see in Matthew 13:44-45. We must surrender our will, and we will continue to surrender our will for the rest of our lives. He is asking for supreme devotion. We cannot serve Christ and ourselves. He calls for absolute allegiance to Himself, even though we will never hit that mark perfectly nor might we understand the full implications of this surrender on the day of salvation. [emphasis added]

https://airocross.com/2010/10/13/lordship-salvation-it-will-cost-you-everything

You have just read THE BIGGEST LIE which Satan ever told, that is—Salvation is by grace alone but there is a cost to obtain it!

Dear reader, NONE OF THAT IS THE GOSPEL of free grace!!! Ephesians2:8, “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.” John MacArthur's damnable heresy of salvation by grace through works is of the Devil. 'Salvation'—It Will Cost You Nothing!

“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false
teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies...” —2nd Peter 2:1

END OF ARTICLE

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