MIONE@pisces.rutgers.edu (01/04/90)
I just finished reading a book by Dr. Charles Ryrie entitled "So Great Salvation". It discusses some problems with the "Lordship/Mastery Salvation" theology. It is quite well written and it is easy reading (its about 150 pages long). The book was more of an overview of the issues instead of an in-depth treatise. Can anyone recommend a book which goes into greater detail than this one (speaking, of course, from the "Unconditional Salvation-by-faith" viewpoint)? Tony:: (VMS Systems, CCIS) [I didn't understand the term "Lordship/Mastery Salvation" theology, so I got the following clarification from Tony: --clh] Lordship Salvation, as I understand it, suggests that unless you make Jesus Lord of every aspect of your life, you do not have a 'saving faith'. Granted that the believer should be striving to be more Christlike each day of his/her life. But this theology suggests that unless the believer is totally committed to God and His will, he is probably not saved. This starts to suggest that our salvation is in some way dependant upon our works or performance. Charles Ryrie takes the opposite view...that our salvation is not dependant upon our deeds in any way, just on a sincere profession of faith and reliance upon Christ's blood for the forgiveness of sins. If you are interested in borrowing the book, I am finished with it and it is very easy reading. As I mentioned in my posting, the Lordship Salvation view is presented in "The Gospel According to Jesus" by John MacArthur. I have not read that yet, but probably will in the coming 6 months or so. Tony:: (VMS Systems, CCIS) [I can't help suspecting that I am going to disagree with both alternatives. It is hard to believe that anyone in this life is actually going to be committed completely to God, though that is certainly our obligation. And I certainly am unwilling to suggest that salvation is a reward for something we have accomplished. But I am also uncomfortable with the suggestion that salvation doesn't commit us to anything. I don't have any neat way to reconcile these two. The closest I've ever come to seeing someone to justice to both sides is Bonhoeffer's book "The Cost of Discipleship". Let me quote one relevant paragraph: Luther had said that all we can do is of no avail, however good a life we live. He had said that nothing can avail us in the sight of God but "the grace and favour which confers the forgiveness of sin." But he spoke as one who knew that at the very moment of his crisis he was called to leave all that he had a second time and follow Jesus. The recognition of grace was his final, radical breach with his besetting sin, but it was never the justification of that sin. By laying hold of God's forgiveness, he made the final, radical renunciation of a self-willed life, and this breach was such that it led inevitably to a serious following of Christ. He always looked upon it as the answer to a sum, but an answer which had been arrived at by God, not by man. But then his followers changed the "answer" into the data for a calculation of their own. That was the root of the trouble. If grace is God's answer, the gift of Christian life, then we cannot for a moment dispense with following Christ. But if grace is the data for my Christian life, it means tha I set out to live the Christian life in the world with all my sins justified beforehand. I can go and sin as much as I like, and rely on this grace to forgive me, for after all the world is justified in principle by grace. I can therefore cling to my bourgeois secular existence, and remain as I was before, but with the added assurance that the grace of God will cover me. It is under the influence of this kind of "grace" that the world has been made "Christian," but at the cost of secularizing the Christian religion as never before. The antithesis between the Christian life and the life of bourgeois respectability is at an end. The Christian life comes to mean nothing more than living in the world and as the world, in being no different from the world, in fact, in being prohibited from being different from the world for the sake of grace. The upshot of it all is that my only duty as a Christian is to leave the world for an hour or so on a Sunday morning and go to church to be assured that my sins are all forgiven. I need no longer try to follow Christ, for cheap grace, the bitterest foe of discipleship, which true discipleship must loathe and detest, has freed me from that. Grace as the data for our calculations means grace at the cheapest price, but grace as the answer to the sum means costly grace. It is terrifying to realize what use can be made of a genuine evangelical doctrine. In both cases we have the identical formula -- "justification by faith alone." Yet the misuse of the formula leads to the complete destruction of its very essence. --clh]
NU169273@vm1.nodak.edu (06/15/91)
"So great salvation"
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We are living in a day of apostasy! The fundamental truths of
God's Word are not being emphasized. The trumpet of modern day
Christianity is giving forth an uncertain sound. In this
uncertain age when men's hearts are failing them for fear, we
need a sure word, an anchor of the soul. We need to turn again
to the simplicity of God's Word and find there the certainty that
brings assurance and peace.
Do you feel a need in your heart? Has religion been as dry
husks in your mouth? Are you searching for a satisfaction you
have never found? Underneath it all, does doubt, fear and guilt
continually tug at your very being? What do you really know
about your personal relationship with God? Will you, right now,
determine to let God speak to you...directly to you from His
Word? Are you willing to put aside all personal ideas, past
opinions, preconceived notions, etc. and let God speak?
It will be my purpose to point you to God's Word and God's Word
only. This you can believe. Here is a certainty.
SALVATION! This is a much used and little understood word. The
^^^^^^^^^^
theme of salvation soars through the entire Bible. It is the
central theme. Everything else is secondary. Modern day
Christianity, in its pride and intellect, pictures itself as
having progressed beyond a need for salvation. Deep in the
individual heart we know different. The Bible knows different.
God's Word speaks of a "great salvation."
"How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
at the first began to be spoken of by the Lord, and was
confirmed unto us by them that heard him." (Hebrews 2:3)
GREAT SALVATION. This is the wonderful song of the Bible. GREAT
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SALVATION. The prophets, poets and historians of the Old
testament proclaimed this salvation. GREAT SALVATION. This was
the thrilling message of Christ. Listen to His words.
"For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
lost." (Luke 19:10)
GREAT SALVATION. The New Testament writers join in the same
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
chorus. Listen to the words of Paul.
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the
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power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth."
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(Romans 1:16)
GREAT SALVATION. The Apostle Peter proclaimed the same message.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
souls." (I Peter 1:9)
^^^^^
GREAT SALVATION. The salvation of souls! This is God's Word.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is His message. Hear ye Him. Our sophisticated age scoffs.
Man's wisdom makes him too proud to hear. In sophistication,
pride and wisdom, this age has produced many religions.
Conflicting claims and confusing cults are on every hand. In the
midst of all this chaos, God's message of a great salvation
remains unchanged. Let us hear Him. Let us turn from everything
else and determine to hear what God says about this great
salvation. After all, if this is the central theme of the Bible,
it has to be the most important thing in your life.
Saved or Lost?
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The Bible truths concerning salvation are expressed in the
simplest terms. Man has tried to make it complicated, but the
message itself remains simple...all may understand. The Bible
speaks of two classes of people, those who are saved and those
who are lost.
"For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that
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are saved, and in them that are perish:"
^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
(II Corinthians 2:15).
Please remember...this is God's Word. Look at it again. It
speaks of two classes of people, "them that are saved" and "them
that perish." Saved or lost? We do not hear this kind of
language in our modern day religion. We have been led into thinking
that everyone is eventually going to Heaven. We make a joke of
hell. Despite the attitude of popular religion, however, it
still remains a fact of God's Word that there are those who are
lost and those who are saved. This fact is stated many times in
God's Word.
"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
God." (I Corinthians 1:18)
Again notice the language of God's Word to you. It speaks of
just two classes of people, "them that perish" and "us which are
saved." Nothing complicated. Nothing hard to understand. This
is God's simple statement of fact that is repeated many times.
"He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
believeth not is condemned already," (John 3:18).
^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Is not condemned"..."is condemned." Which are you? No greater
thought can occupy your mind. No greater concern can fill your
heart. Listen again to God's Word.
"And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the
resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
resurrection of damnation." (John 5:29)
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"Resurrection of life" or "resurrection of damnation." There are
just these two so it must be one or the other. Saved or lost?
Condemned or not condemned? Life or damnation? What is your
answer? This is not merely a philosophy of life or a man-made
creed. In all its simplicity and purity, this is God's Word.
This is what you face. Do you have an assurance or is there
nothing but cold doubt and uncertainty that grips your heart?
One of the great blessings that God has given us is the
privilege of coming directly to God's Word for ourselves. It is
an extremely easy thing to be confused by the conflicting claims
of today's multitude of religions. How wonderful to turn to the
sure Word of God. Who is lost? Who is condemned? The Bible
speaks plainly. Are you willing to accept the Bible description
that is given to you?
"As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
(Romans 3:10).
"There is none righteous." The Bible states this fact many
times. We like to think that ourselves as pretty good, or, at
least not so bad. God says that none of us are good, none of us
are righteous. Somehow, in our heart, all of us know this is the
truth. Listen to the scriptures.
"Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith
to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be
stopped, and all the world become guilty before God."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
(Romans 3:19)
"Guilty before God." We hear much today about a 'guilt complex.'
In a very real sense, we all have experienced this feeling. A
vague uneasiness about our relationship with God. A feeling of
need to appease God for our wrong doing. We all are aware of
being "guilty before God." Hear God's Word.
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
(Romans 3:23)
This is the fact we find so hard to face. "All have sinned."
There are no exceptions. This means me and it means you. This
is the diagnosis given by God. All have sinned and all are
guilty before God. Somehow we find ourselves resenting this
picture of ourselves as guilty sinners, yet, we know it is true.
God speaks again.
"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered the world, and death by
sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have
^^^^^^^^
sinned:" (Romans 5:12).
^^^^^^
Again the same statement..."all have sinned." Here we face our
greatest difficulty. Everything in us seems to rebel at the idea
of facing the fact that we are guilty sinners. We want to look
at our goodness, but God reminds us of our sin. Before we can
ever approach God we must accept God's diagnosis of our
condition. It is necessary to acknowledge our sin and our guilt.
What are the results of being a guilty sinner?
Sin separates us from God!
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"But your iniquities have separated between you and your God,
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and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not
hear." (Isaiah 59:2)
Read it again. God says our sins separate us from Him. Sin
hides God's face from the sinner. The Bible speaks of this as
being alienated from God. (Ephesians 4:18; Colossians 1:21).
Listen to what the Bible says about God.
"Thou are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not
^^^^^^^^^
look on iniquity:" (Habakkuk 1:13).
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
God cannot tolerate sin. He will not look on sin. This means
God is separated from each sinner. We have already discovered
that God says, "There is none righteous, no, not one." Now
listen to God's Word.
"Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
kingdom of God?" (I Corinthians 6:9)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
God says that we are unrighteous and that as such we cannot
inherit the kingdom of God. We are guilty sinners, separated
from God and shut out of the kingdom of God. The Bible speaks of
those away from God as lost and condemned. Let us think again of
what God has said to us. We have seen that salvation is the
central theme of the Bible. The Bible only speaks of two classes
of people...saved and lost. The lost sinner is separated from
God and cannot inherit the kingdom of God. To be saved means to
be eternally saved and to be lost means eternally lost. We have
been deceived into thinking of this life and neglecting eternity.
Again, God's Word speaks.
"And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
the righteous into life eternal." (Matthew 25:46)
^^^^^^^^^^^^
The Bible says that the lost "go away into everlasting
punishment" and the saved "into life eternal." These facts are
not to be debated. They must be faced because they are God's
Word. What is your eternal destiny? Do you know?
"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath
^^^^^^^^^
of God abideth on him." (John 3:36)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Everlasting life" or "the wrath of God?" These are the eternal
realities we face. The Bible uses such terms as "eternal
damnation" (Mark 3:29) and "everlasting destruction"
(II Thessalonians 1:9) to describe the eternal state of those who
die lost.
| Note: please read part two "Christ Jesus came into the world |
| to save sinners" |
K. Paulson
N. D. S. U. student
1372 32nd Street South West
Fargo, ND 58103