I'm neither a preacher nor the son of a preacher but if ever I felt the urge to preach, it was when I saw the November 1, 1988 S-- with its front-page sermon by its editor, H--, entitled, "Lordship Salvation: A Perversion of the Gospel." In it Dr. H-- borrows the Apostle Paul's condemnatory statement from Galatians 1: "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." H-- then asserts that those who preach Lordship salvation are preaching another gospel.
So now biblical, historic Christianity has been relegated to hell and the modern easy-believism cult has been elevated to orthodoxy.
Am I angry? You better believe it. But more bewildered than anything, that a man in H--'s position, whom preachers all over America respect and follow, who purports to be a Bible preacher, could come up with such a gross distortion of the gospel! And it is in "defense of the faith" that this editorial is written. We must love the Truth for which thousands have died to defend, more than we seek to appear in harmony with all that calls itself "Biblical" or "Christian."
Just what is "Lordship Salvation"?, you ask. Merely what scripture and Christian experience bear out to be true. That a person is not saved if he is not committed to Christ. Any "believing in Christ" that is not committed to Him is not true faith. ". . . The devils also believe, and tremble."
This commitment is not a work to merit eternal life. Salvation is all of grace. But mere faith without works is dead (James 2:26). The works are not to earn eternal life, but rather, they show if our faith is genuine saving faith.
There seems to be a fundamental misunderstanding among Non-Lordship people regarding salvation. True, we're not saved by works, but when the Holy Spirit regenerates someone, they become "a new creature, old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). What Lordship people are saying is not that one commits himself to the Lord in order to merit salvation, but rather that when God has truly changed a person, he has new desires, new allegiances, new commitments. If he does not, then there is reason to believe that he is still "in the bond of iniquity and the gall of bitterness." There must be some evidence of salvation, some fruits (Matthew 7:20), some works.
But H-- doesn't believe in such works at all. At best he believes they are a good idea. You'll get more stars in your crown, and what's more, the Lord won't "take you home early." To H-- there is a distinct difference between salvation and discipleship. According to him, when Jesus says (in Matthew 16:24), "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me", He (Jesus) was talking about discipleship and not salvation. Even if Jesus was talking about discipleship here, so what? There is no dichotomy between Christian discipleship and salvation in the New Testament. Sure, there were 12 disciples, but there are none today in the physical sense.
But Jesus was talking about salvation. Read on: (verse 25) "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. (verse 26) For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Only monstrous exegesis would force this passage to mean "discipleship" as opposed to "salvation".
Why would a man of H--'s caliber, a "Bible-believing fundamentalist," twist scriptures so much? Simply because Lordship salvation, if it is true, is an indictment against his whole ministry. He loves to go around the country getting people signed up for heaven, dropping them on God's doorstep like a sack full of unwanted kittens. But if there is more to salvation than "accepting Jesus as your personal Saviour", then one gets the feeling that H-- is not really in the soul-winning ministry at all. Doesn't Jesus say in the Great Commission, "Go ye therefore and teach [disciple] all nations, baptizing them . . .", etc.? Then let's get with it! If soul-winning isn't discipling, then let's quit "soul-winning" and start discipling.
Our model is the early church of the book of Acts. You would think--if H-- is right--that here Jesus is referred to as Saviour much more than as Lord. The reverse is true. Only two times is the word "Saviour" mentioned in the entire book, while Jesus is referred to as Lord a total of ninety-two times. Indeed, the truth that the Holy Spirit used to draw in 3,000 souls at Pentecost was: "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36). It seems that Peter is "guilty" of preaching a Lordship salvation and that God is "guilty" of blessing it.
H-- goes on to cite examples from the Bible of people who were saved and yet failed to acknowledge Jesus as Lord. Anytime we set up sub-normal examples as the standard, we are headed for trouble. Besides that, there is a vast difference between the examples H-- cites and the great, innumerable crowd of "believers in Jesus" today who have not committed themselves totally to the Lord. Most of today's uncommitted believers have their church's blessing. Most of today's uncommitted believers have been told, and honestly believe, they are on their way to heaven. H-- and other Non-Lordship people (R--, for instance) sum up their objection to the Lordship doctrine by saying we are not saved by faith plus commitment, but by faith plus nothing. I agree, it's faith plus nothing, but any faith that has no repentance, submission, and commitment all wrapped up in it is a false faith, a false hope. And any grace that does not change lives in the here and now is cheap grace.
We also find H-- grasping at straws:
There is no difference between being saved and "really saved." There is no such thing as degrees in salvation. . ..
Saying one is "really saved" is like going to a funeral home, pointing to a casket and saying, "The person in that casket is dead," then pointing to another casket and saying, "The one in that casket is really dead!" There is no such thing as being dead, deader, and deadest.
H--'s problem is easily solved. While anyone would agree that
there is no difference between being saved and being "really
saved", anyone with any sense would have to admit there is a
difference between being "really saved" and With H--, if a person has "gone the route," i.e., has gone
forward, has prayed the sinner's prayer, has "accepted Christ as
his/her Saviour", then they are saved, and there should be no
question about it. With H-- there is no such thing as a spiritual
miscarriage. With H-- there is no such thing as thorny ground.
With H-- there is no such thing as stony ground. With H-- all is
good ground.
But the Bible presents much evidence to the contrary, e.g., John
2:23-24: ". . . many believed in his name . . . but Jesus did not
commit himself unto them, because he knew all men"; the case of
Simon the sorcerer who is said to have believed (Acts 8:13); John
8:31: "Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye
continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. . ."
[notice the ambiguity here between salvation and discipleship];
and numerous other places.
H-- misrepresents Lordship salvation by quoting some supposed
proponents as saying, "Unless you make Jesus Lord of your life,
you are not saved." I detest language like this, though not for
the same reasons as Mr. H--. Imagine a person making Jesus Lord
of his life:
He also quotes Luke 6:46: "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do
not the things which I say?" His point is that it is inconsistent
to call Jesus "Lord" and not do what He says? My question is:
If those that call Jesus "Lord" might not be saved, then what
happens to those who refuse to call Him "Lord," follow Him as
"Lord," or whatever?<$FCredit Pastor Bob Logan with this
question, raised in a controversial sermon on Lordship, or rather
Discipleship Salvation, preached in Bible college.>
So the issue is not "have you made Him Lord?" but "are you
following the Lord?", "are you serving the Lord?", "are you
really committed to the Lord you say you believe in?"
H-- wisely omits a sinner's prayer from the end of his message,
for to be consistent with his teaching, it would have to go
something like this: "
The talk of a penitent is more along the lines of, "love so
amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all."
I could go on and on, but as I said at the outset, I'm not a
preacher. Suffice it to say, Christianity is neither promoted,
nor is the world benefited, by preachers who attempt to fill pews
as well as the ranks of the Kingdom with non-committed
"believers" who want the benefits of the Gospel (heaven), but who
have not counted the cost.
For more reading on this subject, here is the article,
"The Great Option: A Study of the Lordship Controversy," by
Kenneth L. Gentry, was published in the Spring 1976 Baptist
Reformation Review. In it Mr. Gentry shows that Non-Lordship
people have deficient views of faith, repentance, Lordship, and
discipleship.
--David R. Heesen
Click here for other writings.
PERSON: "Okay, Jesus, I now make you Lord of
my life."
The truth is, if we have the power to "make Jesus Lord" of
anything, then we are really Lord. But we are not Lord. Jesus
Christ is Lord. God has made Him Lord (Acts 2:36). "Wherefore God
also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above
every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of
things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the
earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11)." H--
rightly states that even though these here are bowing the knee,
that doesn't necessarily mean they are saved.
Someday, Jesus, I may accept you as
Lord, but right now I'm accepting you as Saviour. Jesus, it's not
your commandments I'm interested in but your promises. I don't
want to be saved from my sin necessarily, just save me from hell.
I want a ticket to heaven, and the glorious freedom to someday
exercise my will to serve You."
And this is not the talk of a penitent.