Lordship and False Followers – Matthew 7:21-23

In a recent article about this passage, Dr Charlie Bing starts "This passage is often cited to show that many professing Christians are not actually saved..."

No doubt you have heard this passage used this way as well. I recall in particular having heard a sermon by Ray in a well-known sermon of his called Hell's Best Kept Secret. If you've heard this sermon then you should know what a travesty it is against salvation by grace through faith as taught in the Bible. In a nutshell, Ray claims this passage to support the idea that salvation is like a parachute in that it's something we can be offered, and even accept, but it's still up to us to keep holding onto it. Ray's message, and the Lordship Salvation he and others teach, remind me of Matt 23:4 (NLT) which says, "They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden."

Contrarily, Matt 7 is a precision indictment against the very Lordship Salvation he and so many popular pastors espouse today.

Read the rest of his insightful article which addresses the common misuse of this passage.

http://gracelife.org/resources/gracenotes.asp?id=52

Free: Chapter 2 of Back to Faith on James 2:14 ff

This is a link to a free chapter from a book by an author friend of mine. James, chapter 2 in particular, is widely misused and misunderstood that I think it's worth your time to take another look... does James (2) really teach what many of us have been taught? I don't think so. What do you think?

http://www.backtofaith.com/biblically-speaking/free-chapter-2-of-back-to-faith-on-james-214-ff/

Tekton Ticker - Sun Stand Still: Conclusion

This is why ‘life change’ is not the gospel. Sure, life change is good. God answering big prayer is good. But it’s not the Gospel.

-- Tekton Ticker - Sun Stand Still: Conclusion

On Being a Christ Follower

It's good to be a Christ-follower, but you're saved by being a Christ-believer. John 6:66 reveals the tragedy of those who "followed" Christ -- were even called disciples -- but didn't believe in Him. Don't fool yourself into thinking you're saved because you've "surrendered your life to Christ". So far as salvation goes God isn't interested in what you've done, are doing, or intend to do for Him; He's only interested in whether you believe what He has already done.

from http://www.freegracealliance.com/covenant.htm ...
* The sole means of receiving the free gift of eternal life is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whose substitutionary death on the cross fully satisfied the requirement for our justification.

* Faith is a personal response, apart from our works, whereby we are persuaded that the finished work of Jesus Christ has delivered us from condemnation and guaranteed our eternal life.

Lordship and the Folly of Discipleship/Salvation synonymy

A central issue with LS is a failure to accurately distinguish discipleship from salvation. A passage that clearly shows a negative example of the difference is John 6:66. "Disciples" abandoned Jesus precisely because they didn't believe him, yet the word is the same as is used for disciple some 260 other times. Disciples aren't necessarily faithful believers , so the concepts are clearly not as synonymous as the average LS proponent would have us believe. Allowing the Bible to define it's own terms and their use --discipleship isn't salvation, and salvation isn't discipleship -- it's folly to enjoin them as functionally synonymous.