I learned much of the following information from Pastor Hank Lindstrom (1940-2008). The message of faith alone, 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 (i.e., preaching another gospel). The 16th U.S. President, Abraham Lincoln, said it well:
“In great contests [battles], each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God—both may be, but one must be, wrong—God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time!” —President Abraham LincolnLikewise, God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time—either a person must surrender to Christ's Lordship and commit to turning away from sins to be saved, or they do not to receive the free gift of eternal life, but it cannot be both! Here are some helpful preacher's quotes differentiating between SALVATION and DISCIPLESHIP...
"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).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, “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?
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? The moment you put your trust in Jesus Christ, God (who can read your mind) knows, saves and gives YOU the Gift of God, which is Eternal Life. 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. You do not need anyone to pray over you, or pray for you, because this is between you and God in Heaven. If you believe you are saved! 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 heavenly Father.
Once saved you can never be lost, for any reason. This is because you were born spiritually the moment you put your trust in Jesus Christ. Just like your physical birth which brought you into this human world, your spiritual birth gave you a new spiritual life (the Holy Spirit) 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. 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. Simply 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 in 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, because grace always cancels works! You are going to Hell if it's by your works, or you are going to Heaven by Gods grace alone. It's as simple as that!
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.
I get tired of hearing soulwinners tell people that we are not saved by “praying a prayer,” but then they try to lead you in a sinner's prayer. Why? Dear reader, there is absolutely no need for you to pray anything to get saved. You can simply BELIEVE on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. Acts 16:30-31, “And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” The phrase “thy house” is simply an extension of the invitation to be saved to the whole family. WHOSOEVER WILL may believe and be saved! Throughout the Gospel of John, 85 times we are taught simply to “BELIEVE,” without any mention of praying a sinner's prayer to receive Eternal Life.
Once you have trusted Jesus as your personal Savior, receiving His free 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? You will still have ETERNAL LIFE! What kind of life will you have in ten years? You will still have ETERNAL LIFE! What kind of life will you have in 50 years? You will still have ETERNAL LIFE! 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 by faith alone? Simply because God's law of sowing and reaping still applies to you and me. You will reap what you sow. You will likely 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. The Bible guarantees 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 hoped to give you 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 RIGHT NOW (TODAY), 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 sins they may commit next week, next month or next year. We who have trusted in Jesus alone, can have comfort, knowing that all of our sins have been paid in full through 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 sins I have already committed, am committing now, 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 Holy 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. Romans 11:29, “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” Again, the Bible is telling you that the Gift of God (that you have just received) is without repentance. That is, God can never take His gift back for any reason, no matter how bad of a person you may become, or how low in sin you may go. God would have to cease to exist for that to happen, because He cannot lie. Titus 1:2, “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;”
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