Romans 4:3-5, “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
There has been an ongoing battle between salvation by grace versus works, since the beginning of human civilization. In the Garden of Eden, after Adam and Eve sinned, Adam sewed together some fig leaves to cover their nakedness to hide their shame. God killed an innocent animal to provide skins to cloth Adam and Eve. Man's fig leaf religion is not acceptable to God.
Adam and Eve bear children, the first being Cain and his brother Abel. Abel offered up a blood sacrifice to God, from a slain innocent animal, which the Lord accepted. That slain animal represented Jesus Christ, the slain lamb of God from the foundations of the world. However, Cain brought God a grain and vegetable offering from his fields. God was not impressed with Cain's works. Only faith pleases God (Hebrews 11:6).
Having said that as introduction, there is still an ongoing raging battle today between salvation by grace versus works. The Devil has always used the effective warfare tactics of infiltration and imitation. Consequently, one of the Devil's most effective deceptions is the HALF-TRUTH. This is why many false prophets merge grace with works, to deceive and confuse people. A classic example of a half-truth is the following quote from the Jehovah's Witness' Watchtower official website, in an article titled: “What Must We Do To Be Saved?” ...
“Salvation is a free gift from God. It cannot be earned. Yet it does require effort on our part.”
SOURCE: Watchtower, “ What Must We Do To Be Saved?”
The part of the half-truth that is true can be defended with incontestable logic. It is true that salvation is a free gift from God. Who can argue with that? It is also true that salvation cannot be earned. So far, so good. However, it is untrue that salvation requires effort on our part. Nowhere in the Word of God are we told that effort is required to obtain eternal life. It is a free gift! Another classic example of a half-truth is the Devil's lie of Lordship Salvation, which has sadly infected 75% of Baptist churches today. This is largely because of the theologically morbid influence of apostate Bible colleges like Bob Jones University and Moody Bible Institute. The Devil is a beautiful liar!
Also, tragically, Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago, has thrust forward full throttle into Lordship Salvation, perverting the grace of God with their “UNSHACKLED” radio program worldwide. Lordship Salvation is a HALF-TRUTH, whose proponents still insist that salvation is wholly by God's grace, but also maintain that you must faithfully run and complete the race to get to Heaven. That is exactly what Dr. Steve Pettit (president of Bob Jones University) heretically taught 2,700 students and faculty on January 26, 2015 in chapel. No Sir, that is not the Gospel of free grace, it is a false plan of salvation rooted in deception and human effort.
What About Pastor Charles Spurgeon?
You have to be careful about judging a man based on only a handful of statements. Anybody can cherry-pick and claim someone is a heretic. I've had preachers do it to me, cherry-picking my articles. You need to find what a man truly believes. Here is a great quote from Charles Spurgeon, which seems to clearly reveal that he believed salvation is by grace alone. Spurgeon didn't teach that you have to “turn from your sin” to be saved, as does the heretical Bob Jones University camp today. I love these words from Pastor Spurgeon:
Oh friend, the great grace of God surpasses my conception and your conception, and I would have you think worthily of it! As high as the heavens are above the earth; so high are God's thoughts above our thoughts. He can abundantly pardon. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners: forgiveness is for the guilty. Do not attempt to touch yourself up and make yourself something other than you really are; but come as you are to Him who justifies the ungodly. [emphasis added]
SOURCE: Pastor Charles Spurgeon, “All Of Grace,” p. 14
Amen! Evangelist Ray Comfort twists Spurgeon's teachings, claiming that Spurgeon required a person to continually repent of sin all their life to be saved. At a glance, by cherry-picking Spurgeon's sermons, it seems that Spurgeon agrees with Ray Comfort. However, it is obvious to me that these men did not agree. Granted, Spurgeon had some flaws in his theology, one being the Calvinist heresy of Limited Atonement (i.e., Jesus only died for the saints, not all sinners). The Bible blatantly calls Mr. Spurgeon a liar! 1st John 2:2, “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” Christ died for all humanity, even for Christ rejecters who deny Him. 2nd Peter 2:1, “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.”
Although I share a quote from Spurgeon from time to time with blog visitors, I am NOT a big Spurgeon fan. His writings are superb and incredibly scholarly, yet as with ALL MEN, we must never elevate man's words to the same level as God's inspired and infallible words in the Holy Bible. Men are flawed, sinners and incapable of always being right. Romans 3:4, “God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.” I am fully aware that God will hold me accountable in eternity for every word that I type on the internet (Matthew 12:36). Romans 3:4 is my defence! If my constant criticisms against the Harvest Baptist Church on Guam and Bob Jones University, and all the other apostates in our crooked generation today, AGREE WITH GOD'S WORD, then my many sayings will be justified. Lordship Salvation is of the Devil. Men are saved by faith alone, without works, and nothing else is required of a person to obtain and keep the gift of eternal life. It is clear to me that Charles Spurgeon also believed this truth.
In chapter 6 of “All Of Grace” titled: “Concerning Deliverance From Sinning,” Spurgeon says:
Dear friend, salvation would be a sadly incomplete affair if it did not deal with this part of our ruined estate. We want to be purified as well as pardoned. Justification without sanctification would not be salvation at all. [emphasis added]
SOURCE: Pastor Charles Spurgeon, “All Of Grace,” p. 28
Taken by itself, this quote could be used to claim that Spurgeon taught Lordship Salvation. However, we have to differentiate between the gift of eternal life, and the salvaging of a life for God. Notice that Pastor Spurgeon prefixes the entire following paragraph with the important word “IF.” Service (discipleship) to Christ is a separate decision from receiving the free gift of God, which is eternal life...
If you yield yourself up to His divine working, the Lord will alter your nature; He will subdue the old nature, and breathe new life into you. Put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and He will take the stony heart out of your flesh, and He will give you a heart of flesh. Where everything was hard, everything shall be tender; where everything was vicious, everything shall be virtuous: where everything tended downward, everything shall rise upward with impetuous force. The lion of anger shall give place to the lamb of meekness; the raven of uncleanness shall fly before the dove of purity;
SOURCE: Pastor Charles Spurgeon, “All Of Grace,” p. 31
Clearly, Spurgeon recognizes that living for Christ is a choice, not something that is mandatory to be saved. There is much theological debate over this issue, so much so that many Bible colleges and churches these days are embracing both sides as being within the realm of orthodox theology. IT IS NOT!!! Calvinism is a completely different mindset than a Free Grace Theology. In Free Grace Theology, you simply believe The Gospel (Good News) of Jesus Christ crucified on the cross for your sins, buried, and bodily risen the third day.
But in Calvinism, YOU must persevere in holiness until the end, or else you are said never to have been saved at all. I believe the Holy Spirit perseveres in a born-again believer until the end, not the believer persevering in holiness to run the race until the end. The former is God's work alone, by which a saint has been sealed with the Spirit of God (Ephesians 1:13-15). The latter is a damnable false plan of salvation, depriving a person of the sweet assurance of salvation, which is the essence of demonic Calvinism. Calvinism is NOT the Gospel.
Dr. Harry Ironside (1876-1951), former faithful pastor of Moody Church (1930-1948) in Chicago, had these wonderful words of rebuke to say about Lordship Salvation...
"When anyone comes promising salvation to those ‘who make full surrender' of all that they have to God, and who 'pay the price of full salvation' he is preaching another gospel, for the price was paid on Calvary's cross and the work that saves is finished. It was Christ Jesus who made the full surrender when He yielded His life on Calvary that saves us, not our surrender in any way to Him."
SOURCE: Harry A. Ironside, from the Gospel tract, Another Gospel.
Gently said, those dishonest folks at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago have slandered Dr. Ironside horribly, accusing him of moving to a “mild Calvinist position” in his latter ministry. Nothing could be further from the truth. Dr. Ironside was 100% against Lordship Salvation!!! Clearly, Ironside taught a Free Grace view of the Gospel. Consider further the following quote by Dr. Ironside:
“The Gospel is not a call to repentance, or to amendment of our ways, to make restitution for past sins, or to promise to do better in the future. These things are proper in their place, but they do not constitute the Gospel; for the Gospel is not good advice to be obeyed, it is good news to be believed. Do not make the mistake then of thinking that the Gospel is a call to duty or a call to reformation, a call to better your condition, to behave yourself in a more perfect way than you have been doing in the past …
Nor is the Gospel a demand that you give up the world, that you give up your sins, that you break off bad habits, and try to cultivate good ones. You may do all these things, and yet never believe the Gospel and consequently never be saved at all.”
SOURCE: Harry A. Ironside, from the sermon: “What Is The Gospel?”
Ray Comfort Preaches Another Gospel
With the truth I just shared with you, now read what Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron falsely teach to millions of people. They teach that lost sinners MUST forsake their actual sins to be saved:
"You must turn away from sin and turn to God. Desire to have NOTHING to do with sin, and surrender your life to the One who can save you... If you will confess and forsake your sins..."
WRONG! Someone from Ray Comfort's organization contacted me years ago, claiming that I and Ray essentially believe the SAME GOSPEL. They were kindly asking me to stop criticizing Ray Comfort as a false teacher. I cut quickly to the chase with this statement: “I believe that a person can be saved and continue to wilfully live in sin, but Ray Comfort does not. We do not believe the SAME Gospel.” That ended our conversation. A big emphasis of Ray Comfort's ministry is that a person who hasn't experienced a drastic change in their life is not saved. In fact, Ray totally misunderstands this drastic change to mean “born again.”
That is not what it means to be “born again,” not at all. Being born anew means that God's Holy Spirit has quickened (made alive) our dead spirit by faith (Ephesians 2:1-2). John 1:12-13, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Being born-again means that a believer has the Holy Spirit in them (Romans 8:9; 1st Corinthians 3:16-17; 1st John 3:24).
On page 1513 of “THE EVIDENCE BIBLE,” under the section “Questions & Objections,” Ray Comfort addresses the statement: “Because Jesus died on the cross we are forgiven of every sin.” Here’s Ray Comfort’s reply to this statement…
“The forgiveness that is in Jesus Christ is conditional upon ‘repentance towards God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Acts 20:21). It is a gift that God offers to everyone, but individuals must receive it by repenting and trusting in Christ, or they will remain dead in their sins. No one has Biblical grounds to continue in sin, assuming that they are safe just because Jesus died on the cross. See 1 John 3:4-6.” [Emphasis added]
SOURCE: 'THE EVIDENCE BIBLE,' by Ray Comfort, pg. 1513; 2003, Bridge-Logos Publishers, Orlando, Florida
That is so wrong on many levels. Dear reader, if you are a redeemed child of God, YOU ARE 100% SAFE because Jesus died on the cross. Whether or not you choose to live your life to honor God has nothing to do with the GIFT of eternal life. That is why God calls it a “gift”!
Search The Scriptures!
Ray Comfort extensively quotes Charles Spurgeon in 'The Evidence Bible.' False teachers like Ray Comfort, John MacArthur, John Piper, R.C. Sproul, Paul Washer and thousands more, selectively quote famous preachers like Spurgeon, as a secondary authority in an attempt to validate their false teachings. Jesus doesn't command us to read the books and sermons of great preachers, He exhorts us to SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES. John 5:39. “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”
When Jesus walked with the two curious men on the road to Emmaus, He didn't quote the theological philosophies of Moses, Elijah, Jacob, Nahum and other preachers of the past. No, the Lord expounded them in THE SCRIPTURES!!! Luke 24:27, “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” We need to get back to basics in 2021! I frequently receive emails from confused people, who are struggling with the assurance of salvation or other matters. They all share one thing in common—they've been listening to preachers instead of SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES!!!
May I quote Pastor Charles Surgeon once again to settle this matter of what he believed:
“You must not expect that you will be perfect in 'repentance' before you are saved. No Christian can be perfect. 'Repentance' is a grace. Some people preach it as a condition of salvation. Condition of nonsense! There are no conditions of salvation. God gives the salvation himself...” —Pastor Charles Spurgeon
SOURCE: http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0044.htm (Charles Spurgeon, from a sermon titled, “REPENTANCE UNTO LIFE,” preached at the New Park Street Chapel, Southwark, on Sept. 23, 1855)
"There is a vast difference between coming to Jesus for salvation and coming after Jesus for service. Coming to Christ makes one a believer, while coming after Christ makes one a disciple. All believers are not disciples. To become a believer one accepts the invitation of the Gospel, to be a disciple one obeys the challenge to a life of dedicated service and separation. Salvation comes through the sacrifice of Christ; discipleship comes only by sacrifice of self and surrender to His call for devoted service. Salvation is free, but discipleship involves paying the price of a separated walk. Salvation can't be lost because it depends upon God's faithfulness, but discipleship can be lost because it depends upon our faithfulness." DeHaan, M. R. Hebrews. Zondervan Publishing House, 1959 (p. 117).
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