The Folly Of Turning From Sins To Be Saved

Mark 10:17-21, “And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.”

Our text passage is about “The Rich Young Ruler And Jesus.” This young man came to Jesus, literally running after Him. The young man kneeled before the Lord, recognizing Him as Good Master, but not God and Savior. That is why in this particular passage the Bible doesn't say he worshipped Jesus, as in most other passages (cf. Matthew 8:2). The young man was wealthy. Since his youth he had tried to keep the deeds of the law of God. Now he comes to Jesus, asking: “What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” 

Many preachers interpret this passage wrongly, saying that Jesus was telling the young man to forsake his sins to be saved. Literally, that is what Billy Graham, Ray Comfort and John MacArthur all errantly teach concerning this passage. Jesus wasn't giving this young man a plan of salvation; but rather, He was using the law as it was intended to be used, as a measuring stick to compare one's self to (Romans 3:19-20). The law shows humanity that we are guilty sinners, incapable of saving ourselves, in need of the sinless Savior (Galatians 3:24-26). The young man was stuck on the law, bragging that he had kept all God's commandments since his youth. Jesus reminds him that he is still covetous, and in fact HASN'T perfectly kept the law. In great sorrow the young man left, because he owned many riches, and Jesus told him to sell all that he possessed, and give it to the poor. 

Let's imagine for a moment shall we? What would Ray Comfort have advised that young man? How would Ray have answered the same question: “What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” We don't have to guess, here are Mr. Comfort's own words:

“So man, think about that. this is your eternity, you don't know when you're going to die. You know, God offers you everlasting life as a free gift, if you'll let go of your sins. And we love to fornicate, we love pornography, we love our lust; but like a kid holding onto a stick of dynamite, not realizing that it will be the death of us! So think about that. Think how much you value your eyes, and think about how much you value your life. Jesus said, 'What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul.” —Evangelist Ray Comfort, YouTube video titled: “Ray Comfort Doesn't Share the Gospel with Him...” (video posted on May 31, 2020)

This exposes Evangelist Ray Comfort's counterfeit gospel. According to the Bible, you must be absolutely 100% perfect to enter into Heaven. Ray Comfort teaches that to be saved you must forsake (let go) of a lifestyle of sin. We can only logically conclude that Ray would have told the rich young ruler to forsake all his wealth. But wait a big minute! Ray Comfort's Living Waters ministry took in $3,314,483 in 2018, with Ray Comfort as the CEO paying himself a staggering $131,106. At what point does one's personal wealth become the sin of covetousness? Ken Ham is another religious Snake-oil salesman, who took in $34,739,452 in 2018, paying himself a sickening $234,754. These are ungodly religious conmen who exploit Christianity to make a buck! They both teach the damnable heresy of Lordship Salvation, just like John MacArthur, who has a net worth of $14,000,000. These hypocrites tell everybody to “FORSAKE YOUR SINS” to be saved, while they define the sin of covetousness!!! The Bible warns saints in 1st Timothy 6:10 against THE LOVE OF MONEY!

There is no commandment from God in the Bible to “turn from your sins” or “repent of your sins” or “let go of your sins” regarding salvation. Folks, it is simply not possible! God’s requirement to get to Heaven is total perfection! Adding human effort perverts the Gospel into “another gospel” (Galatians 1:6-9). Even the best Christian is still a horrible sinner! You may live above reproach, but NO ONE can live above sin! No one!!! 1st Timothy 5:24, “Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.” Please don't miss that important Bible verse! Everyone is a woeful sinner, the only difference is some men's sins are OPEN BEFOREHAND, and other men's sins FOLLOW AFTER them to eternity to the Judgment Seat Of Christ (2nd Corinthians 5:9-11; 1st Corinthians 3:11-15; 1st Thessalonians 4:6; Romans 14:10-12). 

In 1st John 1:8, the Apostle John said, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” If a Christian must make an effort to forsake their sinning, then how can we ever really know that we are saved? How can we know if we've done enough to please God? At one level of sinning are we in danger of not being saved anymore, or proving that we never were saved? According to heretic Dr. Steve Pettit (president of Bob Jones University since 2014), you cannot KNOW you are truly saved until you finally cross the finish-line in Heaven. That is a counterfeit gospel of works! Pettit states:

“You can't just speak about getting saved, and you accepted Christ, and then that's it! There is a justification; There is a sanctification; There's ultimately a glorification, and though there are three parts, they are all part of the whole, and you cannot separate them. In order for you to qualify for the award, you have to get into the race, you have to stay in the race, and you have to finish the race. If you want to win, you have to run to the end; and winning in the Christian life is everything, because if you lose—if you don't finish—you lose everything—you lose your SOUL. And so, the Christian race is the life of faith that begins, is run, and is finished when we cross over into Heaven!” —Dr. Steve Pettit (“What Does It Mean To Run 'The Race'?” - 11:34)

I have received countless emails from people who were emotionally devastated, incessantly worried and confused, afraid of going to Hell because they could not forsake their sinning. They even mention that Ray Comfort, Paul Washer and John MacArthur did this to them! God's curse is upon the Steve Pettits of this world, who ROB people of their faith as Dr. Bob Jones Sr. (1883-1968) warned:

“He [Jude] said, well it was 'needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith, which once for all [was] delivered unto the saints.'

Now wait a minute, you've got something worth contending for! Isn't it strange that something so valuable and so wonderful as saving faith is something we that have to be exhorted to contend for? Why, if you had a diamond worth $5,000 you wouldn't leave it just lying around anywhere. If you had $1,000,000 in gold, you'd go put it in a vault. [If] Anybody tried to get it, you'd fight to keep them from gettin' it. And we just sit down and just let people steal the faith that Christians have, and never bother about it. Some of us pay 'em to do that! Some of us pay preachers to stand in the pulpit and steal the faith of the saints of God, and send our children to Hell. The most crooked crook on God Almighty's earth is a preacher who stands in a Trinitarian pulpit, and steals the faith of people!

You know I've said it many a time; if I was up in Heaven, fifty years from now (and the Lord tarried), and any religious liberal ever sat in a classroom in this institution, and tried to disseminate his infidelity, I'd ask God Almighty to excuse me for a little while, and I'd come back down to this school and get a stick of dynamite, and I'd blow it into smithereens! I'd rather see this school a heap of rubbish, just a little rubbish here and a little rubbish yonder, than see the time ever come we could be such softies, we'll sit down and let the Devil put his modernists and religious liberals in here to rob them of the faith. And yet that things going on in America, from one end of this country to the other!” —Dr. Bob Jones Sr.; YouTube | MP4 | MP3

As you just read, Dr. Bob Jones Sr. said he would rather see Bob Jones University (BJU) destroyed, than to let modernists and religious liberals (like Steve Pettit) corrupt one student with infidelity that robs them of their faith! Professed Christians nowadays are so deceived by the Devil, that they even pay infidels to destroy the faith of young people in the Word of God and the Gospel of free grace! Bob Jones University sells, sanctions and uses multiple Bible revisions! They sanction the Devil's corrupt Alexandrian manuscripts! BJU horribly betrays the inspired Word of God. Sadly, Bob Jones University has been going downhill in spiritual deterioration for decades, hobnobbing with ungodly neo-evangelicals. They've been infected with ecumenism, Lordship Salvation, Calvinism, John MacArthur and corruptible seed at Bob Jones University!

It is impossible to fully turn from your sins, or to turn from sinning. The Gospel has nothing to do with “turning from your sins” to be saved. Eternal life is the free gift of God, paid for by Jesus' precious blood. The Gospel is placing your faith in Jesus Christ alone, for what He did for you on the cross—He died for your sins and mine, and did what you cannot do for yourself. Jesus paid a debt He did not owe, because we owed a debt we could not pay. If we died for our sins, we would end up in Hell forever. Jesus was buried, and three days later He physically resurrected from the dead for our justification (i.e., for the justification of our faith in Him as our Savior).

The Rich Young Ruler's problem was that he was self-righteous. The solution wasn't (as Ray Comfort teaches) for him to “forsake his sins”; but rather, to forsake his “DEAD WORKS” (Hebrews 6:1) and rest completely in the finished work of Jesus Christ! Hebrews 4:9-11, “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” You get saved simply by ceasing from your own efforts, and trusting what Christ did to pay for your sins through the cross of Calvary. Simply rest wholly in Jesus' name!

Acts 13:39, “And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.”