Dr. John R. Rice Refutes Lordship Salvation

I was recently reading one of Dr. John R. Rice's books titled: Dr. Rice... Here Are More Questions, in which he beautifully refutes the heresy of Lordship Salvation. The following is a question submitted to Dr. John R. Rice by a lady in a church concerning professed young Christians who live in sin and misbehave at church:

"We have young folks in our church who are supposed to be saved and who giggle and whisper all during church services and who say they 'just hate' church and 'can't stand' to listen to our pastor preach. They attend movies and worldly amusements. I feel that as pastors and Sunday school teachers we do not warn those enough who think they are saved but are not born again.  Shouldn't we plead with them to go to the alter again?" —Dr. Rice... Here Are More Questions, by John R. Rice, pg. 76, Sword of the Lord Publishers; ISBN: 0-87398-157-X

The following is Dr. Rice's response to the preceding question:

"Being saved, born again, is one thing; learning to live a consecrated Christian life is an entirely different thing. There is not any way you can judge whether people are born again except as you take their testimony that they have put their trust in Jesus Christ and depended on Him for salvation. Some of these young people indeed may not have been taught to trust in Christ. If they were looking for "an experience," a certain kind of feeling or emotion, then they may have been misled. But if they honestly turned their hearts to Christ and depended on Him for salvation, they were saved. 

Now a Christian should live a consecrated Christian life but that does not automatically follow.  People who are saved will find, like Paul, "When I would do good, evil is present with me . . . . So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin" (Romans 7:21,25).  

Every saved person still has the old carnal nature and often-times has the same kind of temptation he had before. Some people who have truly been born again have a desperate fight to quit tobacco, and some have never seemed to get the victory over that or other bad habits. Some Christians have never learned to trust the Lord enough to bring tithes and offerings, and some have never learned to win souls. When a baby is born, he is not born grown. Being born is one thing; growing is another thing entirely.  

So the thing to do is to take for granted that people are saved when they trust Christ for salvation. Then one should set out to teach them to read the Bible daily, to learn to pray about their daily needs, to confess their sins and failures and grow in grace day by day. It is as foolish to expect young Christians to be good Christians by themselves as it is to expect a child, born in the family, to automatically be a great credit to the family without any rearing—whether they are spiritual babes or physical babes. I assure you that unless people are taught to be consecrated Christians, taught to read the Bible and pray, they are not likely to be good Christians, even if they are truly born again. —Dr. Rice... Here Are More Questions, by John R. Rice, pg. 76,77, Sword of the Lord Publishers; ISBN: 0-87398-157-X

Dr. Rice is 100% correct, "Being saved, born again, is one thing; learning to live a consecrated Christian life is an entirely different thing." A changed life comes from growing in grace as a result of genuine repentance; and not as a part of saving-faith itself. Salvation is receiving; NOT giving.

There are many ministers today, such as Dr. John MacArthur, who falsely teach that one's salvation is CONDITIONAL upon the life we live. MacArthur foolishly states:

"Submission to the will of God, to Christ’s lordship, and to the guiding of the Spirit is an essential, not an optional, part of saving faith" (EPHESIANS, p. 249).

"Salvation isn't the result of an intellectual exercise. It comes from a life lived in obedience and service to Christ as revealed in the Scripture; it's the fruit of actions, not intentions. There's no room for passive spectators: words without actions are empty and futile...The life we live, not the words we speak, determines our eternal destiny" (Hard to Believe, p. 93).  

The inspired Word of God calls John MacArthur a liar in Romans 4:5... "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Could the Bible be any plainer? The Scriptures speak plainly that we are saved by Jesus' righteousness (Romans 10:3-4; 2nd Corinthians 5:21); and not any self-righteousness of our own (Isaiah 64:6; Ephesians 2:8,9; Titus 3:5). We are sinners; Jesus is the Savior. 

John R. Rice is correct, "So the thing to do is to take for granted that people are saved when they trust Christ for salvation." Proponents of the Lordship Salvation heresy expect new believers to live a consecrated Christian life from the get-go of salvation. This is not reasonable nor Biblical. New believers need to be taught and discipled. 

Dr. Rice states in his excellent book: Dr. Rice... Here is My Question:

“When you get saved, you get saved not because you deserve it, but because you simply let God save you and because you confess your own poor sinful state and your inability to save yourself.” —Dr. Rice... Here is My Question, by Dr. John R. Rice, pg. 304; 1962, Sword of the Lord Publishers; ISBN: 0-87398-158-8

Amen, I couldn't agree more. This is what the Bible teaches. Dr. Rice also states in his Gospel tract, What Must I Do To Be Saved?:

“The change in your heart, sinner, is God's part and you may be sure He will attend to that. Your part is to simply believe in Him. Whatever else is necessary in your eternal salvation, the Lord attends to when you trust in Him, or believe in Him.” —What Must I DO To Be Saved?, by Dr. John R. Rice

Amen! Dr. Rice is correct. Who are we to judge whether or not a person is sincere. There's a self-righteous group today in our churches, who demand a changed-life as a prerequisite or proof for salvation. This is unbiblical, a heresy, and a perversion of the simple Gospel of Christ Jesus. The thing to do is to take for granted that people are saved when they simply trust Jesus Christ for salvation.

Dear reader, beware of the Devil's counterfeit gospel of Lordship Salvation. In the true Gospel, faith is the only righteous thing that we can do to be saved. David made this clear in Psalms 32:1-2, which the Apostle Paul quotes in Romans 4:6-7, “Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.” God's gift of eternal life has always been by God's grace through faith alone, without works! Did you read that friend?... WITHOUT WORKS! I love it!!!

Lordship Salvation adds WORKS to grace! Proponents of Lordship Salvation errantly teach that faith is not enough to be saved. In addition, they pervert the biblical meaning of repentance from “a change of mind” (Greek: metanoia) to turning away from your sinful behavior instead. This is a VERY different meaning than to change your mind “toward God” (Acts 20:21), “from dead works” (Hebrews 6:1) and to acknowledge “the truth” (2nd Timothy 2:24).

Repentance is simply admitting that you are a guilty sinner in God's sight. You must know what you are being saved from and why you need to be saved in the first place. We are all guilty sinners (Romans 3:10-23), for which the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). This includes the second death in Hell forever (Revelation 20:11-14; 21:8). You must change your mind about WHO YOU ARE and WHO JESUS IS. You are a dirty SINNER (me too), and Jesus is the blessed SAVIOR.

If you'll trust in Christ as your only hope for forgiveness of sins and eternal life, then you are permanently saved dear reader. Simply receive Jesus' sacrifice on the cross as full payment for your sins, believing that He was buried, but then physically resurrected from the dead three days later. This is “the Gospel” (Good News) by which all who BELIEVE IT are saved instantly, irrevocably and eternally (1st Corinthians 15:1-4; Romans 1:16). We are saved by HIS (JESUS') RIGHTEOUSNESS alone (Matthew 6:33; Romans 10:3-4; Philippians 3:9).