Pastors Who Preach Lordship Salvation Will Be Sorry

Matthew 7:21-23, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

In our text passage of Scripture Jesus makes some startling comments. Here we see a dedicated group of people who were aggressive about serving Christ as their Lord. They even referred to Jesus as “Lord, Lord.” They followed Christ. They recognized Him as their absolute Lord and Master. They did many wonderful works during their time on earth. The preached to people in Jesus' name. By all outward appearance these were true Christians. They went to church faithfully. They tithed. They prayed. They lived the Christian life. Yet, Jesus spoke these horrifying words to them: “I NEVER KNEW YOU: DEPART FROM ME YE THAT WORK INIQUITY!” Jesus had the angels cast them into the outer darkness of Hell to burn!!!

Jesus tells us exactly why these wicked false prophets went to Hell, even though they faithfully followed and served Him as their absolute Lord and Master on earth. It is simply because they failed to completely trust, to rest, in the blessed Savior. Acts 16:30-31, “And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” Paul and Silas didn't tell the Roman jailor to follow Christ as absolute Lord and Master! Neither did they tell the Roman jailor to turn away from his sins, surrender all to Christ, nor to serve Him by doing many wonderful works! No, Paul and Silas simply told the Roman jailor to BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND THOU SHALT BE SAVED!!!

In his beautiful sermon titled: "EASY BELIEVISM," Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold leads a man to Christ with the simple Gospel, and he makes these post comments about the matter:

“Now, I spent just a few minutes explaining the Gospel to Him. But it's simple enough so that he can share it with somebody else, and somebody else, and somebody else. Now, I believe that there are a lot of preachers who will never have the joy of this, for the simple reason, they gotta make the Gospel so hard and complicated that they won't share it. I can share it with anybody at any given time, and it makes sense, and they trust the Lord. And I've seen their lives change. When they simply believe it. I didn't try to change anybody's life, but I've seen it happen, 'cause I know that the power of the Gospel works on people.” ~Pastor Ralph Yankee Arnold, “EASY BELIEVISM.”

I love that! Pastor Yankee presented the Gospel so simple to the man, that after leading him to Jesus Christ, that man went out and also started leading people to Christ, because the message was so simple and easy to believe. How sad and tragic it is today, to see men like Evangelist Ray Comfort confounding and complicating the Gospel, muddying it up so much with extra garbage that God does not require, that no one ever gets saved!!! If you watch all of Ray Comfort's videos, he never, NOT ONCE, even leads a single person to Jesus Christ! That is because Ray requires people to turn away from their sinful bad habits, and to continue “LIVING A LIFESTYLE” of repentance for the rest of their life to get to Heaven. Those are Ray Comfort's exact words: LIVING A LIFESTYLE!!!

Dear friend, you don't have to live any kind of lifestyle to be saved. Nor do you have to forsake a sinful lifestyle to be saved. Jesus Christ came to die on the cross to PAY FOR OUR SINS, because we were unable to pay for them ourselves. The only way that we could ever pay for our own sins would be to burn in Hell forever and ever!!! The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). We deserve to die! We deserve to be punished in Hell, which the Bible calls the “second death” (Revelation 21:8). We sinful humans cannot understand the holiness of a righteous God, so in our feeble minds we don't think eternal damnation is fair, but in God's holy sight it is completely fair. The Bible says CHRIST CAME TO SAVE SINNERS (Romans 5:6-9). All humanity are sinners (Romans 3:23). We all deserve to die for our sins!

But Jesus paid our debt of sin with His precious blood, which He shed on the cross and sprinkled on the Mercy Seat in Heaven (Hebrews 9:12, 22-24; 12:24). The Gospel means “Good News.” It is the Good News of three things; namely, Jesus DIED on the cross to pay for our sins. He was BURIED, and after three days Christ RESURRECTED from the dead for our justification (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). When Christ raised up, our decision to trust Him was justified, because CHRIST IS RISEN!!! 1st Corinthians 15:13-14, “But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.” Thank God that Christ is indeed risen!!!

These wicked preachers today who require that people surrender all to Christ, repent and turn away from their sins, live a lifestyle of repentance, run the race, count the cost and pay the price to be saved are preaching another gospel accursed by God. Galatians 1:6-8, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” It is no trifle matter to God for pastors to change, embellish and corrupt the simplicity that is in Christ, which is the Gospel (Romans 1:16).

Galatians 6:7-8, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” These ungodly pastors in the Bob Jones University (BJU) camp today, and the ungodly Pensacola Christian College (PCC) Camp who wickedly bid Godspeed to them, will be sorry in eternity. The Bob Jones crowd are not going to Heaven. No one is going to Heaven who believes that faith is insufficient to be saved. No one is saved who also thinks that you must repent of your sins, and turn away from them, and forsake a lifestyle of sinning, and surrender your entire personality to Christ to be saved. Those things are not a part of the Gospel. 

Again, when asked by the Roman jailor what he needed to do to be saved, Paul and Silas simply told him to BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. Acts 16:30-31, “And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” So why do so many incompetent pastors and evangelists and Bible professors today, get the Gospel WRONG?

I'll tell you why, because they heard some other preacher teach Lordship Salvation, and it sounds so good to the carnal man. Heresy makes sense to the unsaved man! Dear reader, have you believed a lie? I sure hope not. Please avoid Dr. John MacArthur, the Bob Jones University crowd, and the Southern Baptist Convention today. These influences are all pulling on the same rope as the Devil, requiring you to KEEP THE LAW to be saved. When they tell you to turn away from sin with all your heart, they are telling you to KEEP THE LAW to be saved. Romans 3:19-20 warns that no one ever gets saved by the works of the law!

What do you think the law is? Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain, et cetera. So if you must do your best to cease from doing these sinful things to be saved, how is that not keeping God's law? It sure is keeping the law! It is WORKS!!! Romans 4:4-5, “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.” Romans 4:4 absolutely proves that no one was ever saved by faith plus works in the Old Testament, because if they were then God would OWE THEM salvation. Salvation is by God's undeserved grace, paid for by the precious blood of Jesus Christ (1st Peter 1:18-19).

When a curious disciple asked Jesus if many people are saved, the Lord confirmed that there aren't. Luke 13:23-24, “Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” There are thousands of false religions, corrupt churches and Bible colleges all across American today, who preach a false gospel of Lordship Salvation, Calvinism, misunderstood repentance or a combination thereof.

Only childlike faith a free grace Gospel produces the new birth in Christ Jesus. You simply come to God as a guilty sinner and BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST; receiving His sacrifice on the cross as payment for your sins, believing that He is risen from the dead. That's it! To be saved you must know the FACTS of the Gospel, which I just gave you (Christ's death, burial and resurrection), and then you must BELIEVE them for yourself. Christ died, that's history; Christ died and raised up for me, that's salvation. 1st Thessalonians 4:14, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”

It is that easy, free and simple to be saved. Please don't infidels like Marty Herron, Steve Pettit, Gary Walton, Chuck Phelps, Sam Horn and John MacArthur take your soul to Hell with them. Matthew 23:13, “But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.” The corrupt Bob Jones University camp today, with all their thousands of graduates, are no different than the self-righteous wicked Pharisees of Bible times! BJU and their alumni go around telling everyone that unless you “repent and turn away from your sin,” you cannot be saved. Yet, nowhere does the inspired King James Bible teaches this theological garbage. I am telling THE TRUTH (Romans 3:4). 

One of my favorite preachers, Pilgrim's Progress author, John Bunyan, said this great truth:

“If you do not put a difference between justification wrought by the man Christ without and sanctification wrought by the Spirit of Christ within, you are not able to divide the Word aright; but contrariwise, you corrupt the Word of God, and cast stumbling blocks before the people.” —John Bunyan (1628-1688)

John Bunyan nailed it! That is exactly where all these preachers are going astray today. Instead of keeping justification without (salvation and sonship), separate from sanctification within (discipleship and service)—they corrupt the Word of God and cast stumbling blocks before the people. I love this helpful explanation by Dr. M.R. DeHaan (1891-1965):

“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.” —Pastor M.R. DeHaan, Hebrews; Zondervan Publishing House, 1959 (p. 117)

Pastor Jack Hyles (1926-2001) wrote these helpful words: “Conversion And Salvation.”

I marvel that so many preachers nowadays have strayed away from the hope of the Gospel. Colossians 1:23, “If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;” The Word of God is so abundantly plain and clear. The Gospel of John never mentions the word “repent,” not even once! Yet we find the word “believe” mentioned 88 times!!! Clearly, repentance is automatic. The man who believes has also repented. That is, he has simply changed his mind from unbelief to belief.

I am wearied with these incompetent pastors today, who falsely assume that Lordship Salvation falls within the realm of orthodox theology, just as does a free grace Gospel. But friend, nothing could be further from THE TRUTH. You must either turn away with all your heart from sinning to be saved, or else you don't have to quit one sin to be saved, but it cannot be both! Salvation is either by grace or by works, but it cannot be by both (Romans 11:6)

I marvel in astonishment that so many pastors today, fail to understand that Lordship Salvation is keeping the law. You are putting people under the law, when you require them to love God and keep His commandments to be saved:

Mark 12:28-33, "And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."

Ladies and gentlemen, as you just read for yourself, making Jesus the Lord and the Master of your life is keeping the law. Lordship Salvation requires that you surrender ALL to be saved. That is a counterfeit gospel which does not produce the new birth necessary to get into God's Kingdom. Jesus said in John 3:3b, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” You MUST be born-again! Satan's greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without ever being born-again. John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”