Distinct Characteristics of Hope Bible Church (Pt. 8)
In our last edition we underscored the importance of holding fast to the historic and biblical gospel that saves by faith alone, through grace alone, in Christ alone. That pure gospel is one that removes works of righteousness and relies solely on the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Another error when it comes to salvation is that a mere intellectual assent to the gospel saves a soul from Hell and results in a true Christian. The Bible teaches that true, saving faith is a humble and repentant kind of faith. It embraces Jesus as Lord not just as Savior. In other words, when the Bible calls us to believe in Jesus, we are to believe in Him as He truly is — Lord! “That if you will confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved,” Romans 10:9. Belief in His lordship necessarily involves submission to His authority. In Jesus’ own words in Luke 6:46 “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?”
True faith and repentance necessarily involves a submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Lordship is not a secondary step one takes after believing in Christ. Belief in the Lordship of Christ is necessary for salvation. Acts 16:30-31 “and after he brought them out, he said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’”
Kenneth Gentry, in his book Lord of the Saved, writes on p. 47, “A person cannot truly trust and receive Christ as Savior while consciously clinging to sin, which militates against Christ’s nature. Certainly more sin will be discovered in one’s life as he spiritually matures, but deliberately stowing away sin as an act of defiance cannot coexist with saving faith. Christ, the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2:8), detests sin and will have no one come to him while remaining in love with his sin. In fact, love of sin is the very thing that keeps people from coming to Christ (John 3:19).”
Walter J. Chantry, in his exposition of Jesus’ evangelizing The Rich Young Ruler in the book Today’s Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic? writes on P. 54, “… the Evangelicals have invented the idea of carnal Christians. These are said to be folks who have taken the gift of eternal life without turning from sin. They have allowed Jesus to be their savior; but they have not yet yielded their life to the Lord. Trying to patch up a faulty evangelism, the church has adopted a faulty follow-up. It defends the questionable experiences of men and women as conversion and holds out the added carrot of victorious life to those who will take a second step. Well, the rich young ruler would gladly have been a carnal Christian. Wouldn’t he delight to be assured of eternal life while serving the devil on earth? Needless to say, the Bible knows of no such grotesque creature as one who is saved but unrepentant. No illegitimate sons will enter God’s kingdom. They must have faith as their mother. But they must also have repentance as their father.”
Dr. John MacArthur, in his book Faith Works points out on p. 76-77, “… the predominate no-lordship view on repentance is simply to redefine repentance as a change of mind – not turning from sin or a change of purpose … Repentance by that definition is simply a synonym for the no-lordship definition of faith. It is simply an intellectual exercise … One could experience that kind of repentance without any understanding of the gravity of sin or the severity of God’s judgment against sinners. It is a remorseless, hollow, pseudorepentance.”
John MacArthur’s church elders have even written out this distinctive in a brochure to explain the importance of this. Part of what they wrote is this. “The gospel that Jesus proclaimed was a call to discipleship, a call to follow him in submissive obedience, not just a plea to make a decision or pray a prayer. Jesus’ message liberated people from the bondage of their sin while it confronted and condemned hypocrisy. It was an offer of eternal life and forgiveness for repentant sinners, but at the same time it was a rebuke to outwardly religious people whose lives were devoid of true righteousness. It put sinners on notice that they must turn from sin and embrace God’s righteousness.”
Any church that sends a message to people that they can be saved without turning away from a rebellious life of sin, is deceiving their people and leaving them in a precarious spiritual position. Jesus made it clear that on judgment day the rebellious who claimed to believe will be rejected, Matthew 7:21-23. These churches will also increasingly be filled with folks who claim to believe but are not truly changed. They will have an increasing number of church members who are disobedient to the word of God. That will necessarily result in an unregenerate membership. That can’t do anything but hurt the power and witness of that church.
We are glad that many churches remain faithful to proclaim repentance from sin as a requirement for salvation. We stand with them. Unfortunately, we list it as a distinctive because it seems increasingly more difficult to find churches that tell the hard truths to their people. Lordship salvation is one of the important distinctive characteristics of Hope Bible Church — a hard truth out of love we make known to our people.
We have always desired to be honest with people about the demands of Jesus Christ on their lives. Salvation is free; but it comes with faith. Faith involves a true trust in Christ as Lord. Where there is a trust in Jesus as Lord, there is a submissive attitude. There is a desire to learn from Jesus and have lives transformed. That is what it means to be a believer. That is what it means to be a Christian.
Any so-called faith that does not result in following Jesus Christ in one’s life is not a true faith.