Take Off Your Theological Lenses!

So many different churches and pastors and priests teach different ways of getting to heaven or getting saved. Catholics teach a different way than Methodists, who teach a different way than Presbyterians, who teach a different way than Church of Christ, who teach a different way than Episcopals, who teach a different way than Baptists.
And many of these various splinters of "Christianity"teach different ways within the splinter groups of their own titles. For example, Reformed Baptist teach differently on salvation than other Baptist churches.

With so many types of Christianity that teach different ways to be saved, it begs the question: "which one is correct on their teaching of how to get to heaven?"

Well, rather than listening to what the churches, pastors, priests, and authors who hold to man-made theologies say, why not go to the Word of God itself? What does it say?

Acts 16:30-31 is one of, it not the most, straightforward verses on this matter. In the passage a jailor asks Paul and Silas, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Paul and Silas promptly reply: "BELIEVE in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved!". Seems pretty simple, doesn't it?

Sadly, verses like these are either ignored or twisted to fit a certain brand of theology.

Most of these types of Christianity are based on man-made theologies and philosophies that they interpret scripture though the lens of. Most have a preconceived idea or philosophy going into reading there Bible. They approach it with certain teachings or doctrines that they believe as truths. As they read scripture they understand certain verses to mean certain things in regards to their theology. That is how they explain the verses.

Heres an illustration to help you understand that:

Lets say that you have green tinted glasses, everything that you see through them will be various shades of green because you are looking through green lenses. But in reality, most things aren't really green. Sure, there are some things that really are green and those match up with the lenses,  but not everything is green.
Its the same with theological lenses. Sure, some things seen through theological lenses match up with scripture and are true, but in reality, a lot of things don't match up with them, therefore they only see them in light of that theology's teachings. People are so accustomed to wearing these theological lenses that they refuse to take them off and see what is actually there. They are so used to a world of green that they are convinced that everything is green and everyone who sees differently must be wrong.

I realized several years ago that the traditions and doctrines I had been brought up in didn't line up with scripture. Sure, they were loosely based on scripture, but when I started studying the Bible for myself I quickly realized the truth. I could either stick with the theologies and doctrines that I was brought up with, or I could believe in what scripture says. Now, don't get me wrong, the ways I was brought up in the church weren't that far off from the truth, but they were far enough that I could see an obvious difference between them and scripture. 

I prayed about this and started seeking the Lord's will in the matter. He showed me that sticking to scripture in context was more important than what any pastor, priest, author, or church says. In Acts 17:11 Paul shared the gospel with the Bereans. They received the message with great eagerness, yet they were wise and noble enough to be cautious not to automatically believe what he was saying. Instead, these people examined the scripture to see if what Paul said was true. This is how we should treat everything we hear. 

Ive heard many times that in order to easily detect fake dollar bills, bankers study every aspect and detail of the real dollar bills. If you study the real thing enough, the things that are false will be easy to spot. 

Like with the dollar bills, we should cast off all theological lenses and pray for the Lord to speak the truth to us every time we read scripture. We should dive into the word daily and allow scripture to speak for itself. I have found that many of the confusing passages of scripture can be understood by other parts of scripture. Use scripture to interpret scripture, rather than theology. 

I am by no means perfect. And Im not saying that the church I go to is "the only correct teaching". That would be arrogant and foolish. I am simply encouraging everyone to cast aside all external teachings and look to scripture for what it is. Allow the Word of God to shape your beliefs and your life, rather than what the church or church leaders say. Trust the Lord over man.  

Deceitful Phrases Used To Share False Gospels

This past weekend I attended my church's annual Men's Retreat at Land O Lakes in Brooksville, MS. It was a good but rainy weekend. We had about 25 men at the retreat and our guest speaker was Dr Fred Chay. Dr. Chay is the Dean of Doctoral Studies at Grace School of Theology. He did an amazing job talking about the differences between man-made theologies that twist and distort Scripture and what Scripture actually says. It is sad to see that most of the churches in America today hold to what theologies say rather than taking scripture as it is. Whenever I listen to a sermon or read stuff from Christian authors, 9 times out of 10 a false gospel is presented. Sadly, most church laymen won't recognize this false teaching.

As I've previously written, most of these false Gospel presentations combine Justification and Sanctification.  This problem leads to unbelievers thinking they must do good works in order to be saved. Of course the teachers of this confusing false gospel messages have some type of philosophical semantic loophole that they use to explain how their conditions for salvation aren't good works, but that is simply an attempt to make scripture fit their theologies. I believe that many of these teachers of this false Gospel mean well. I think many of them are saved. I just think that their minds have been twisted by false teaching of theologies that do not line up with scripture. I pray for them and I hope that their blinders are taken off and they see the simplicity of the Gospel of God's amazing grace!

Dr. Chay gave a list of the most common phrases used by teachers that teach this false gospel.

1. "Give your heart to Christ"
2. "If any man wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me"
3. "James 4:7-10 is the clearest presentation of the gospel: "submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double minded."."
4. "May the Lord reveal to the sinners that the only way for them to be saved from their sins is to repent with godly sorrow inn their hearts to the Lord."
5. "We have the warning of Christ that He will not receive us into His Kingdom until we are ready to give up all, until we are ready to turn from all sin in our lives."
6. "Do we literally have to give away everything  we own to become Christians? No, but we do have to be willing to forsake all."
7. "Come forward and follow Christ in baptism."
8. "No one was ever saved by simply believing  without a commitment and the manifestation of righteousness."
9. "Repentance, confession, and submitting to the lordship of Christ are the intrinsic elements of gracious salvation and transformation."
10. "Believing in Christ is: believing God is the loving Father and that Jesus Christ is God and that all that He says is true and have an unswerving, unchanging, unquestioning obedience to that belief. That is saving faith."
11. "How are we saved? We must accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. That's the beginning, but then we must come to Him as Lord and commit our entire life to Him. And there must be the manifestation of the fruit of repentance."

In his book, "Desiring God", theologian, author, and pastor John Piper puts forth six conditions for salvation:

"These are just some of the conditions that the New Testament says we must meet in order to inherit final salvation. We must believe on Jesus and receive Him and turn from our sin and obey Him and humble ourselves like little children and love Him more than we love our family, possessions, or our own life. This is what it means to be converted to Christ. This alone is the way of Life everlasting."(pgs. 65-66).

Likewise, another popular theologian, author, and pastor John MacArthur lists three conditions for salvation in his book "Hard to Believe":

"It's pretty simple. Anyone who wants to come after Jesus into the Kingdom of God - anyone who wants to be a Christian - has to face three commands: 1) Deny himself, 2) take up his cross daily, and 3) follow Him." (pg. 6).

Those 11 phrases and the two quotes from these well-known authors are prime examples of how this popular false gospel of faith plus good works is presented.

Scripture tells us many places that the sole requirement for salvation is to simply believe.
Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."
In Acts 16:30-31 we read: " 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' So they said, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved...'."
John 3:16 says: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

The purpose of the book of John is stated in chapter 19 verse 31: "These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name". With a book with that evangelistic purpose, you would expect for it to tell how to receive everlasting life. If what all the 11 phrases and the quotes from the pastors say are correct, you would expect to see those conditions of good works listed in this evangelistic book to tell people how to be saved, yet not once in the entire book are any of those conditions listed. On the contrary, over 73 times in that book alone the word "belief" or "faith" is used as the sole means by which one is saved.

Adding all these other conditions for salvation is in complete opposition to scripture. Don't get me wrong, all of those things are great things that we should do as believers, but they are all listed in scripture as acts of good works that we should do AFTER we are saved. We are not obligated to do these things. Yet, we should do them out of love and thankfulness to the Lord. These good works are a part of our sanctification, our Christian life, becoming more and more holy and Christ-like. These things are not automatic or inevitable for all Christians.  More times than not this attitude and living a life of good works in service and commitment to the Lord comes from discipleship and spending time in in the word and in prayer.

These things are not conditions for eternal life, but are conditions for walking in fellowship with God, sanctification, and receiving rewards in the Kingdom.

 Eternal life is given freely as a gift from God, received simply by believing in Christ for salvation. Being saved is only the beginning of the Christian life. Yes, many who have simply believed do not grow in their walk with the Lord, they remain as babes in Christ, but Scripture tells us that God wants so much more for us. Although we are saved and will spend eternity with Him, there is so much more that He wants for us. Yes, getting saved is great, and that is how we receive everlasting life, but that is not all that is available to us as believers. He loves us and wants to fellowship with us here and now in our earthly bodies. As believers, if we choose to accept His offer of fellowship, He can bring about amazing experiences for us now.

In his book, "Absolutely Free!", the late Zane Hodges describes this amazing experience that Christ offers specifically to believers:

"The Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, offers Himself to individual believers as a divine Guest. If they will respond to Him, if they will love and obey Him, He will make their hearts and lives His personal habitation so that their experience will be like having supper with their Savior. Across the common 'table' which they share, they can communicate freely and He can make Himself known to them. He can manifest Himself to them... Yes, our bodies are the temple of God (1 Co 6:19-20). But our lives—our earthly experiences—can likewise become His place of residence." 

“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ... that He would grant you ... to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith..." (‭‭Eph‬ ‭3:14, 16-17‬) 

But did not Christ already dwell in their hearts? Most assuredly He did. Yet Paul can conceive of a special kind of inner experience of the Savior, which he associates with inward, spiritual strength (Eph 3:16) and with 'being rooted and grounded in love' (Eph 3:17). "
No, love is not an automatic response which every believer inevitably gives to God. The Christian is not a robot who has been programmed to love the Lord and who can do nothing but what he or she was programmed to do. The very thought is unnatural and abhorrent. 

God did not create machines. He created real flesh-and-blood human beings. And when humankind fell in the Garden of Eden and lost the capacity to love their Maker,  God redeemed them through the cross and re-imparted this capacity to every believer in Christ. Now He calls His children to the kind of loving obedience which is rooted in a gift of life that is absolutely free. 'We love Him because He first loved us' (1Jn 4:19).
But God Himself loves us freely and He loves us with infinite spontaneity. So He obviously desires that our love for Him should mirror His own for us and be spontaneous in return. 

For that reason, in the New Testament Scriptures, God seeks our love. He encourages and invites it, and He promises to meet it with an experience of rich fellowship with Himself. He desires our love greatly, to be sure. But He will never compel it: 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock.' "

        This summer I have been living with a couple outside of DC and every Friday I have been going with the husband to his men's Bible Study that meets weekly at Panera Bread for breakfast, fellowship and devotion. They have been going through a book called "In Christ Alone: Living the Gospel Centered Life" by  Sinclair Ferguson, a Scottish professor of systematic theology at Redeemer Seminary in Dallas, Texas. He is a reformed/Calvinist Christian, which as any of you who know me well enough know, I strongly am against that deceptive teaching. Regardless of that, in a chapter of Dr Ferguson's book, he writes about the assurance of salvation. This is something that is totally backed up by scripture that Catholic teachings are against. I have also met many reformed/Calvinists who are against it. Heck, the entire reformed/Calvinist teaching of salvation is completely contrary to having and knowing assurance of salvation. However, I digress... Despite Dr Ferguson's un-biblical beliefs, his writing comes across as very biblical and is spot on. I guess that goes to show that the Lord can work through and speak through even the most flawed teachings and theologies. Anywho, I wanted to share this chapter with y'all.

“The Greatest of All Protestant Heresies”?

by Sinclair Ferguson

"Let us begin with a church history exam question. Cardinal Robert Bellarmine (1542–1621) was a figure not to be taken lightly. He was Pope Clement VIII’s personal theologian and one of the most able figures in the Counter-Reformation movement within sixteenth-century Roman Catholicism. On one occasion, he wrote: “The greatest of all Protestant heresies is _______ .” Complete, explain, and discuss Bellarmine’s statement.

How would you answer? What is the greatest of all Protestant heresies? Perhaps justification by faith? Perhaps Scripture alone, or one of the other Reformation watchwords?

Those answers make logical sense. But none of them completes Bellarmine’s sentence. What he wrote was: “The greatest of all Protestant heresies is assurance.”

A moment’s reflection explains why. If justification is not by faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone — if faith needs to be completed by works; if Christ’s work is somehow repeated; if grace is not free and sovereign, then something always needs to be done, to be “added” for final justification to be ours. That is exactly the problem. If final justification is dependent on something we have to complete it is not possible to enjoy assurance of salvation. For then, theologically, final justification is contingent and uncertain, and it is impossible for anyone (apart from special revelation, Rome conceded) to be sure of salvation. But if Christ has done everything, if justification is by grace, without contributory works; it is received by faith’s empty hands — then assurance, even “full assurance” is possible for every believer.

No wonder Bellarmine thought full, free, unfettered grace was dangerous! No wonder the Reformers loved the letter to the Hebrews!

This is why, as the author of Hebrews pauses for breath at the climax of his exposition of Christ’s work (Heb. 10:18), he continues his argument with a Paul-like “therefore” (Heb. 10:19). He then urges us to “draw near … in full assurance of faith” (Heb. 10:22). We do not need to re-read the whole letter to see the logical power of his “therefore.” Christ is our High Priest; our hearts have been sprinkled clean from an evil conscience just as our bodies have been washed with pure water (v.22).

Christ has once-for-all become the sacrifice for our sins, and has been raised and vindicated in the power of an indestructible life as our representative priest. By faith in Him, we are as righteous before the throne of God as He is righteous. For we are justified in His righteousness, His justification alone is ours! And we can no more lose this justification than He can fall from heaven. Thus our justification does not need to be completed any more than does Christ’s!

With this in view, the author says, “by one offering He has perfected for all time those who come to God by him” (Heb. 10:14). The reason we can stand before God in full assurance is because we now experience our “hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and … bodies washed with pure water” (Heb. 10:22).

“Ah,” retorted Cardinal Bellarmine’s Rome, “teach this and those who believe it will live in license and antinomianism.” But listen instead to the logic of Hebrews. Enjoying this assurance leads to four things: First, an unwavering faithfulness to our confession of faith in Jesus Christ alone as our hope (v.23); second, a careful consideration of how we can encourage each other to “love and good works” (v.24); third, an ongoing communion with other Christians in worship and every aspect of our fellowship (v.25a); fourth, a life in which we exhort one another to keep looking to Christ and to be faithful to him, as the time of his return draws ever nearer (25b).

It is the good tree that produces good fruit, not the other way round. We are not saved by works; we are saved for works. In fact we are God’s workmanship at work (Eph. 2:9–10)! Thus, rather than lead to a life of moral and spiritual indifference, the once-for-all work of Jesus Christ and the full-assurance faith it produces, provides believers with the most powerful impetus to live for God’s glory and pleasure. Furthermore, this full assurance is rooted in the fact that God Himself has done all this for us. He has revealed His heart to us in Christ. The Father does not require the death of Christ to persuade Him to love us. Christ died because the Father loves us (John 3:16). He does not lurk behind His Son with sinister intent wishing He could do us ill — were it not for the sacrifice his Son had made! No, a thousand times no! — the Father Himself loves us in the love of the Son and the love of the Spirit.

Those who enjoy such assurance do not go to the saints or to Mary. Those who look only to Jesus need look nowhere else. In Him we enjoy full assurance of salvation. The greatest of all heresies? If heresy, let me enjoy this most blessed of “heresies”! For it is God’s own truth and grace!"

Do "Good Works/Fruits" Validate Salvation?

The following was written by a friend of mine who I have done some video work for. He is a fantastic speaker and theologian and illusionist. In the past he was big into Reformed Theology/Calvinism/Lordship and listened to and read tons of John MacArthur's sermons and books. He then later came to believe in what the bible teaches about salvation, rather than what man teaches about it. I strongly urge you to check out his website www.scriptureunlocked.org

As I said, he wrote all of the following and I claim no rights to it. Enjoy!

Fruits of a Believer to Validate Salvation or Could a Believer be 100% Devoid of Any Fruits After Being Justified?

By René A. López, PhD

The Bible never teaches that fruits should be used to validate someone's justification. Of course, someone will read this and think of a number of passages that they believe explains such views. However, on careful inspection of them, they are not referring to using fruits to validate one's justification by faith alone in Christ which results in one getting justified at God's tribunal, which means "to be declared 100% righteous at that point in time forever, 'not' up to a point in the future. Some of these passages used to validate these misguided interpretations are Matthew 7:15-21 and Jas. 2:14-26. For a thorough treatment of these passages see the articles in www.scripture unlocked.org.

However, having said that, there are other people that believe Christians can go all their lives w/o having any fruit at all. I don't believe the Bible ever teachers that, and neither has that animal—figuratively speaking—has ever existed. Part of the problem with both of these views, incorrectly taken by some, is that they become the arbitrar of what exhaustively determines "good fruits." Not only that, such folks also become the judge of where and when should such fruits appear. Look, just like the Bible never draws the line on how much fruits, or lack thereof, bands one from entering the kingdom (again some folks use 1 Cor. 6:9-11; Gal. 5:19-21; and Eph. 5:5-7, but for treatment on these passages which I wrote my dissertation on see www.scriptureunlocked.org), neither does it say that people after receiving Christ can be 100% evil (something that also does not exist—even in Satan who practices evil but of necessity having to do some things good in order to promote his kingdom and agenda, since evil employed at 100% level would cancel itself out—search below where I have written on this). Furthermore, for someone to say a Christian can go his entire life w/o having a single fruit, that person would have to have spent all, and I mean all of his entire life with that person. This is something that no one has done either. Similar to the argument of atheism, which does not exist. That is, someone claiming to be an atheist has had to have gone to every place in the universe to be able to claim that w/absolute certainty. No one has or will be able to do that on this side of heaven, Hence, the best such people could claim is to be an agnostic (he/she may not be sure that God exist). Hence, no one can claim a believer can go his entire life w/o ever having had fruits. This is bizarre to say the least.

So, in conclusion, let it never be said that "fruits" validate whether one is or is not a believer (although knowing that one professes faith in Christ people that know a little expect this to be manifested in their life, as John 15 and 1 John argues). Let it also never be said that a believer can go an entire life w/o having any fruits, for no one has hung around that long with a person to claim that from experience and God's Word does not teach that either.

Be careful what paradigms we seek defend, because in our zeal we may be placing grids on the Bible and forcing it to say what it does not. Check your interpretive methods so that you can correctly unlock Scripture.

Faith Without Works Is Dead???

"Faith Without Works is Dead" is a verse that is thrown around by Reformed folks all the time. This is one of the most misunderstood verses in the bible. Many false Lordship teachers teach this as meaning "if you don't have visible good works, then you were never saved at all" this couldn't be farther than the truth. This verse & surrounding passages is talking to believers about their relation to non believers. The Lord's brother is saying that we should show our faith to others by doing good works. 

I'm a man who loves illustrations and analogies, so bear with me for a second. 

Now, faith is an internal thing, much like a thought is. You can't physically pull a thought out and show it to someone. You express a thought to others by speaking it or acting on it. That's how you show a thought. Just because you don't express a thought to others doesn't mean that you don't have that thought. Likewise, you show your faith to others by acting it out in good works for The Lord. But just because you don't do good works, doesn't mean you don't have faith, it just means that you aren't showing your faith to others. 

An analogy that I find most useful in explaining this verse actually came from someone I was trying to explain this verse to. I was explaining this passage to my dear friend Erin, and all of a sudden she said: " Ooh! It's like a doctor who doesn't help people! They have their medical degree and are a doctor, nothing can take that away from them, they will always be a doctor, but they don't practice medicine or help people. Sure they are a doctor, but what good are they to anyone else if they don't put that to use?"

Needless to say, I didn't have to say anything else! Ha! I ran this analogy by a family friend of ours who is a well-respected family doctor in town, an elder at my church, and my old Sunday school teacher, and he was amazed and said that was exactly right!

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying or advocating that we shouldn't do works. In Romans 6, the apostle Paul tells us, "shall we go on sinning so that grace may abound? BY NO MEANS!"

 I'm simply saying that works has nothing to do with salvation.  Ephesians 2:8-9 and John 3:16 clearly state that we are saved by God's grace through our faith alone in Christ alone, not by works. The moment we believe in Christ, we are saved. We are justified, or made righteous in God's eyes because of Christ. Romans 3:28 & Galatians 2:16 clearly say that we are justified by faith, apart from works. Romans 11:6 says "If it by grace, it is no longer of works, and if it is of works it is no longer of grace."

We SHOULD do good works to please The Lord and to show our faith so that we may share the gospel with unbelievers. But those works have nothing to do with whether we go to heaven or not, we go to heaven based on Our Faith alone in Christ alone by the Grace of God. 

Here is an excerpt from one of Dr Dave Anderson's books. It explains this passage in James 2 very well. I've met Dr Anderson on numerous occasions when he led men's retreats  for my church. 

***

"Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." (James 2:17).

"My faith, concludes James, without any works, is dead. This does not say my faith was never alive. It is dead. Paul talked about the root. James talks about the fruit. Paul looks at the tree and talks about the root where it began. James looks at the tree and talks about the fruit. He does not say it is a fake tree, but that the tree, which was once very much alive and productive, now has no fruit. It has lost its life. It needs rejuvenating, revitalizing"

"James says there is so much more to life than heaven and hell. To James, our life is like a house we are building. Capturing our Lord’s parable from the Sermon on the Mount, he says if we build on the firm foundation of hearing and doing, i.e. faith plus works, our house (meaning our life), will endure, and be preserved in the storm. It will be saved both literally and figuratively. The life lived in accordance with God’s Word will be a healthier and happier life on earth, and its value and worth will be saved and preserved for eternity at the JSC [Judgment Seat of Christ]. But the Christian who builds his life, his house, on just hearing God’s Word without aligning his life with it is a fool, says Christ. He builds his house on sand with no concrete. The first big storm will send it crumbling. He will be miserable in this life, and his life will have no profit to show at the JSC.

"That is why we stress God’s Word. According to James 1:21, it has the potential to save our lives, both on earth and in heaven. God’s Word touches every area of our lives. When we hear and do as it instructs, we are like wise men who build their lives on a solid foundation. We will find success min this life and significance in the next. Every area of our lives that we submit to the wisdom of His Word can have eternal value and worth— family, business, recreation, friendships, health, worship, parenting, you name it. God is interested in preserving far more than our spirits for eternity. Our spirits are preserved by faith alone. He also wants to preserve every area of our life on earth, so it can weather the storms and yield fruit for eternity. This requires more than faith. It requires hearing and doing. That dynamic combination of faith and works has the potential of giving us a healthy, happy life today, the value of which is being preserved in the world to come. With a life built on God’s Word, no storm can blow our house down."

*Anderson, David R. (2013-07-08). Triumph Through Trials: The Epistle of James 

An Argument For Grace

A friend of mine who graduated with me from Summit Ministries contacted me about my stance on Eternal Salvation and how we should live a Christian life. He was coming from a “Lordship Salvation” point of view, whereas I was coming from a biblical point of view that Salvation is by God’s Grace alone, through Faith alone, in Christ alone. This is the response that I sent him in regards to some of the points that he made in our discussion. Instead of putting his claims on here, I simply worded the response in a way that made it obvious what the claim said. 

First , one of the main things that I have seen from the teachers of Reformed Theology, Calvinism, and Lordship is that they constantly confuse Justification and Sanctification. It is very difficult to determine to whom they are speaking (saved or unsaved). 

Scripture is clear that we are saved (or justified) by God’s grace alone, through our faith alone, in Christ Jesus alone, not by our works. It is a free gift of God which we do not deserve or earn, which is the definition of grace (Eph. 2:8-9). The word justified is a legal term which basically means to “be made right”. We cannot enter into heaven unless we are righteous.  Because we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, we are not righteous. That is why Christ died for our sins. When we believe in Christ as our savior, it is accredited to us as righteousness. The innocent blood of Christ covers us and we are sealed in Christ. Nothing can snatch us from His hand nor his Father’s hand (John 10:27-30). This divine double grip guarantees our preservation for all eternity. It is not our  holding on to Him, but His holding on to us that keeps us securely saved. Once we believe/put our faith in Christ, we are justified, or made right, in the eyes of God. Nothing can take that from us.

Once we have been justified, we start the process which the scripture calls sanctification, or being made holy, is what we call the Christian life. This deals with our everyday living and how we should live as believers.  We are supposed to live our lives in a way that pleases the Lord. We do this by doing good works, spreading the gospel, discipling other believers, bringing people to Christ, etc. This lifestyle would be pretty similar to what Lordship folks say is “living for the Lord” or “Submitting your life to the Lordship of Christ”. As believers, we are supposed to live this way, but sadly in some cases, people become believers, and stay, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians and 1 Peter, “babes in Christ”. They are believers; they have put their faith in Christ as their Savior, but they haven't done anything since that. Scripture tells more mature believers to mentor and disciple these babes in order to help them become more mature in their faith and come to live their lives in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. 

Almost all Lordship teachers and followers think that someone must be living a good Christian life in order to be “truly” saved. But that is never mentioned in scripture because if our good works in our Christian life are what make us saved/justified, then the object of salvation is not Christ, but our works, thus making Christ death be in vain (Gal. 2:21). Our works are completely separate from our faith in regards to salvation/justification. 

Christ died for our sins because we could never achieve righteousness through the law/works. Therefore when we have put our faith in Christ and are saved/justified, we are no longer obligated to obey the law because Christ fulfilled it and we are seen as righteous as he is. Now, just because we are not obligated to do good works to get to heaven does that mean that we should just live however we want? By no means! Freedom from the law through faith in Christ means that we can freely and by our own accord choose to serve and follow him. Galatians 2:11-21 describes this beautifully. 

One other thing that bugs me about the phrases that Lordship folks use is the emphasis on the words “really” and similar words used to describe salvation. Often times  Lordship people like to say “Well, some people who think they are saved, really arent.” or “They were never really saved” or “There faith wasn't real”. They seem to indicate that there are different types of faith, but scripture shows us that there is just one type of faith, and that is the saving faith of believing in Christ Jesus as your savior for eternal life. You either have faith or you don't. You either are saved, or you are not. There are no varying degrees of faith. 

Matthew 7: 15-23

The purpose of this passage in Matthew, the Sermon on the Mount, was not to present the way of salvation, because his disciples were already saved, but it is presenting a way of righteous living for those who are in God's family. He is instructing his disciples on how to work with other people. 

In chapter 7, starting in verse 15 and following, he specifically says he is talking about false teachers. He is warning his disciples about false teachers who come across as sheep but are really wolves. He is saying that they may come across as good teachers, but inwardly they are vicious false teachers. He is telling them that they will be able to tell if they are false teachers by what they teach. If it is contrary to the truth, then it is bad fruit. If they are false teachers they will not say the truth (have good fruit).  He is talking specifically about false teachers in this context. 

Now, continuing in verse 21, he is saying that not everyone who calls out to him will go to heaven, but only those who do the will of his father. Now, what is the will of his father? God’s will for unsaved people is not merely proper theology and impressive works. In the context, Jesus wants people to accept God’s Way (7:13-14) and God’s Word (7:24-27), and obey accordingly. Previously in this Sermon, Jesus taught that the kingdom of heaven was entered only by those whose righteousness exceeds that of the self-righteous Jewish leaders (5:20-48). The righteousness required for eternal life is not based on outward conduct (5:21-28), which is why they should seek God’s righteousness (6:33). Jesus is the narrow gate that leads to God’s righteousness and life (7:13-14; John 10:9). Similar words and concepts in 7:21-23 and 21:23-46 show that the issue is belief in Christ and His righteousness (21:25, 32). Other Bible passages help us know how to receive God’s righteousness (Rom. 3:21-24). Works are not acceptable for obtaining God’s righteousness (Rom. 4:4-5). The only thing God wants an unbeliever to do is believe in His Son, Jesus Christ (John 6:27-29). The will of the Father is to believe in Jesus Christ for righteousness (Matthew 12:50; John 6:40).*

He is saying that only those who believe in Christ as their savior will go to heaven. The reason he said that the people who said "Lord Lord" will not enter is because they never believed in him for eternal life. 

It is further explained in the following verses. He says that many who have done lots of good works such as having preached and spoken as prophets, performed exorcisms, and done many supernatural signs, are trusting in their works to merit eternal life. Their plea to Christ reveals an attempt to justify their entrance into the kingdom of heaven based on their magnificent performances. Their pride in their deeds reveals an attitude of self-righteousness. In their plea, they do not say, “Have we not believed in You alone?” They are thinking that they can get into heaven by those good works.* 

In verse 23 He says to them that he never knew them. Now, if they were believers, then he would have at least known them at one point, but that is not the case here. He says he NEVER knew them, meaning they had never put their faith in Him as their savior, meaning they were never what we call Christians.*

They may have thought that their works and doing those things were what made them Christian, but a what makes someone a Christian/believer is putting your faith alone in Christ alone as your savior from sin. 

These people might have submitted to the Lordship of Jesus but Submission to Christ’s lordship is not enough to save a person. Someone can surrender all of his or her life and be a devoted follower and servant of Christ’s ethical commands, but not know Jesus Christ as Savior. After all, the people in this passage do not cry “Savior, Savior.” Good works, no matter how great they are, are not enough to save a person. Neither can one’s deeds prove a relationship to Jesus Christ as Savior. Miraculous performances can come from sources other than God (Acts 19:13; 2 Thess. 2:9; Rev. 13:1-12). *

James 2:14-26

In relation to the much debated passage in James 2 about the “faith vs works”,  the whole book was written to those that were already justified before God/saved. This passage is in reference to how we should be towards others that are not saved, and how we should show our faith to them so that they might believe. A common misconception that I’ve seen is that people see this passage, and specifically the “faith without works is dead” part and they think that it means that if the person has no good works, then their faith is not real, or that they have no faith. This idea is not what the passages are saying. As I pointed out, in context, this book is written to those who already believe, its purpose is not to show how to get saved/justified, it is to show how we should live our life once we are saved, in a way that can bring others to Christ. The word “dead” used in verse 26 is, in context, best translated as “useless”. Our faith, without good works, is useless to unbelievers. Yes, we have faith, and that is what has saved/justified us and nothing can take that away from us, but it is useless to others if we don't do good works to help people or to bring people to Christ. A good analogy of this would be: A man who has his medical doctorate is useless if he doesn't practice medicine. Yes, he has his degree and he is a doctor, nothing can take that away from him, but what good is he to people if he does not help them? He isn't, his profession is dead or useless because he doesn't use it in the way it is supposed to be used. Does that mean he doesn't have his medical degree? Of course not! He still has it; he benefits from it, but others do not. 

Another thing to keep in mind is in verse 21 the justification of Abraham by his faith alone is mentioned, “Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?” Also, verse 23 references Genesis  15:6 which states, “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” That is what saved Abraham, believing/putting his faith in God. Some 30 years later Abraham was justified before men by his works when he offered Isaac in Genesis 22. That was to be shown before men that he was saved.  Before God justification is by faith alone, before men, in order for them to see, faith must be demonstrated in works.  

Assurance of Salvation

My friend said this about assurance of salvation and Paul: 

1 Corinthians 9:27 - “But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

If anyone would have total assurance of salvation, it would be the Apostle Paul, But he doesn't

In reference to what you said about Paul not having the assurance of salvation:

I think you misread that verse and read it out of context. Throughout that chapter he has talked about rewards for doing good things. This reward is NOT heaven, it is the inheritance/rewards that we will receive in heaven for our works. He is saying that he is disciplining himself so that he will not be disqualified from the rewards. A cross reference about this reward is 1 Corinthians 3:14, which says “If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward”. In context he is talking about any man who, after believing in Christ, does good works that are in the right motive in serving the Lord, then those things will survive the fire and shall receive rewards for that. Salvation is a free gift, but rewards, for those who are saved, are earned. The quality of our service is the criterion. Rewards are often spoke of as crowns (1 Corinth. 9:25; 1 Thess. 2:19, 2 Tim. 4:8, James 1:12, 1 Peter 5:4, Rev. 2:10, 3:11, 4:4, and 10). Also the reward is mentioned in 2 John 8. 

When we are discussing this issue of assurance of salvation. we have to deal with the biblical data. There is no doubt that the New Testament authors knew they were saved. Just read the introduction to some of the epistles and see how they referred to themselves. Romans 1:1 Paul says “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God.” No uncertainty there! Paul knew that if he were to die he would immediately pass into the presence of the Lord. “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.” (2 Cor. 5:8). No Uncertainty there either. We get the same certainty from James (James 1:1), Peter (1 Peter 1:1, 2 Peter 1:1), Jude (Jude 1), and John. In 1 John 5:11-13 he says, “ And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” John tells his readers that if they have Jesus Christ, they have eternal life. Since they have believed in Jesus they should know that they have eternal life. It is a simple statement of fact. All people born into the family of God through faith in Jesus Christ should know that they have eternal life. 

If God wants us to know we are saved,  it is presumptuous not to know . If God made us a promise to be believed, then it is foolish not to take God at His word. Who are we to say His promise cannot be true for us? His word is true as stated. God thinks that we should know and that we need to know. *

Can Good Works Prove Salvation? *

Some who would agree that we are saved through faith alone and not by works nevertheless teach that works are necessary to prove that salvation is genuine. Instead of frontloading the gospel with works, they backload it. One popular saying is, “We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.” While this may sound good at first, on closer examination it is a nonsensical and contradictory statement, because it says that faith must be alone but never alone!

There is every reason to think that those who have believed in Jesus Christ as Savior and are consequently born into God’s family will experience a changed life to some degree. Some would say that this changed life is evidenced by good works which proves they are saved. If that is true, then the converse is true: if there are no good works, then there is no salvation. In this view, good works (sometimes called “fruit” or evidence of a changed life) prove or disprove one’s eternal salvation.

Some passages are used to contend that works can prove or disprove one’s eternal salvation. Probably the most common are James 2:14-26, John 15:6, and Matthew 7:15-20. But James is writing to Christians about the usefulness of their faith, not its genuineness. Likewise, in John 15:6 Jesus is talking about fruitless believers and compares them to branches that are burned, in other words, not of much use. Matthew 7:15-20 warns against false prophets (not believers in general) who can be evaluated on the basis of their evil deeds or heretical teaching (not an absence of works in general).

There is no passage of Scripture that claims works can prove salvation. In fact, there are many problems with trying to use works to prove salvation, or the lack of works to disprove salvation.

Good works can characterize non-Christians. Works in and of themselves can not prove that anyone is eternally saved because those who have not believed in Christ will often do good things. In fact, good deeds are essential to many non-Christian religions. Sometimes the outward morality of non-Christians exceeds that of established Christians. In Matthew 7:21-23 we see the possibility of those who do not know Christ doing great works, but their works are useless in demonstrating their salvation; they are not saved.

Good works can be hard to define. Though we might define a good work as something done by a Christian through the Spirit for the Lord, how can we always know when that is true? It is hard to imagine even a single day when a Christian (or non-Christian, for that matter) would not do something good like go to work to provide for a family, hold a door for someone, or brake for a squirrel. How can we know when these things are done through the Spirit and for the Lord, especially if they can be done by non-Christians?

Good works are relative. While a person’s behavior may seem excessive, it may actually demonstrate great progress in that person’s Christian growth. A man slips with a curse word that startles other believers, but those believers do not know that before his conversion, curse words flowed freely. The amount of fruit must be considered in the context of one’s total past life, a difficult thing to do. It may also be relative to the amount of sin in one’s present life. For example, if a Christian were to commit adultery, we might focus our thinking on that sin so that we ignore the other good things he is doing.

Good works can be passive in nature. The fruit of salvation is not always what we do, but often what we do not do. As a Christian, one may no longer get drunk or may refrain from yelling at an inconsiderate motorist. This fruit of the Spirit, self-control, may not be detected by others because of its passive nature.

Good works can be unseen. In Matthew 6:1-6 Jesus told his followers to give and pray in secret rather than publicly. A person who never prays in a group may breathe a prayer while driving and no one will ever know. Another may not attend church, but give regularly to a Christian charity. These are works that go unobserved by others.

Good works can be deceptive. Since we can not know one’s motives, a seeming good work could be done for the wrong reason. A person might give money to a church to impress others. Another might volunteer to work with church children only to wait for an opportunity to sexually abuse them. These are not actually good works at all! Motives are difficult to discern, even for the doer, but God knows each person’s heart (1 Cor. 4:3-5)

Good works can be inconsistent. The Bible allows the possibility of believers who begin well, but fall away from their walk with the Lord or fall into sin (1 Cor. 11:30; 2 Tim. 4:10; James 5:19-20). If a Christian shows the evidence of a changed life, but later falls away, at what point in their life do we examine them to prove or disprove their salvation? If there can be lapses in good works, how long does the lapse continue before one is judged as never saved?

Nowhere does the Bible teach that fruit or good works can prove one’s eternal salvation. Since the fruit of good works is not easily discerned or quantified, it can not be reliable proof of salvation. The subjective nature of measuring one’s fruit creates the impossibility of knowing objectively whether someone is saved. The amount of fruit necessary to please one Christian “fruit inspector” may not please the next “fruit inspector.” As Christians, we are created in Jesus Christ to do good works (Eph. 2:10) and expected to do good works (1 Tim. 6:18; Titus 2:7, 14; Heb. 10:24), but good works are never attached to the condition for salvation, which is faith alone in Christ alone (Rom. 4:4-5). While good works can be corroborating evidence for one’s faith in Christ, they are not sufficient to prove or disprove it. Only faith in God’s promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ guarantees and proves our salvation.

Since our salvation is grounded in God's promise and not our performance, since it is a free undeserved gift and not something we must earn,  we are secure. God's promise is sure and he cannot lie. Romans 3:4 says, "Let God be true but every man a liar." In 2 Timothy 2:13 he says, "If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny himself ." In other words, even if we were to deny our relationship to Jesus Christ (as the disciple Peter did), God is faithful to His promise to give us His salvation.

*The majority of this is written by me, but in some parts I used text from Dr. Charles C. Bing’s book “Simply by Grace” and his website gracelife.org