We're Using The Wrong Hymns For Church Invitations

I'm wary of several popular hymns, such as: “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus,” “I Surrender All” and “The Old Time Religion.” The first two can seem to suggest that a lifestyle change is necessary to be saved, which is certainly false.

With much thanks to the Holy Spirit, and the excellent resources provided through sermons from Pastor Jack Hyles and others, I am indeed awake to righteousnes, and I never want to go back to sleep again. Because of that, I have begun to evaluate things I formerly liked, including “The Old Time Religion.” Quite frankly, the lyrics of that hymn are unbiblical. The song gives credit to religion for this, religion for that, even claiming that religion will take us all to Heaven. The Bible says nothing of the kind (John 14:6).

One of the most subtle, yet important things I have learned is distinguishing religious material from biblical truth, because the two are not the same thing. Religion is all over the place, but the truth has few friends. I've often heard people (usually unsaved people) bemoaning the decline of “religion” in the United States, and reminiscing about ages past when more people supported religion. What difference does religion make if you're going to Hell? You can follow religion until you're blue in the face, but that won't get you closer to receiving eternal life (Matthew 15:8; Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 13:23-24). Religion never saved anybody!

Think about it dear reader, why do we sing, “I Have Decided To Follow Jesus,” for an invitation song? Since we don't “follow Jesus” to get to Heaven, why do we see such an innapropriate song during an invitation? I'd much prefer to use the hymn, “Just As I Am.” God saves a lost sinner just as he or she is by grace through faith, without any commitment to follow Christ or turn away from one's sinful behavior. That is not repentance, it is reformation!

Why do we sing inappropriate hymns like, “I Surrender All,” at the invitation time in church? Do you have to “surrender all” to get to Heaven? No, absolutely not. I humbly think that using such inappropriate hymns runs the risk of confusing people. One of my favorite hymns is titled, “Is Your All On The Altar?,” but do you have to lay your all on the latar to be saved? No, you don't, you just need to BELIEVE ON JESUS. John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”

What Bible Repentance Is Not

Repentance is NOT a change of lifestyle. I think Pastor Harry Ironside (1876-1951), who pastored the Moody Memorial Church in Chicago from 1930 to 1948, said it very well...

“Repentance is the very opposite of meritorious experience. It is the confession that one is utterly without merit, and if he is ever saved at all it can only be through the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, 'who gave himself a ransom for all.' Here is firm footing for the soul who realizes that all self-effort is but sinking sand. Christ alone is the Rock of our salvation.”

SOURCE: Harry A. Ironside; 'Except Ye Repent,' p. 36

Clearly, Ironside taught a Free Grace view of the Gospel. Consider further the following awesome 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?'

I love that quote from Pastor Ironside.

Sadly, Moody Ministries today (75 years after Dr. Ironside's pastorate) has become doctrinally corrupted by false prophets such as Dr. John MacArthur (they publish all of MacArthur's new books and have honored him at their Founder's Week for many years). MacArthur plainly teaches a false plan of salvation in his book, 'HARD TO BELIEVE'...

“Don’t believe anyone who says it’s easy to become a Christian. Salvation for sinners cost God His own Son; it cost God’s Son His life, and it’ll cost you the same thing. Salvation isn’t gained by reciting mere words. Saving faith transforms the heart, and that in turn transforms behavior. Faith’s fruit is seen in actions, not intentions. There’s no room for passive spectators: words without actions are empty and futile. Remember that what John saw in his vision of judgment was a Book of Life, not a book of Words or Book of Intellectual Musings. The life we live, not the words we speak, reveals whether our faith is authentic. [emphasis added]" (Hard to Believe, p. 93)”

BLASPHEMY!

First, it is not hard to believe. The reason why most people aren't saved is NOT because it is hard; but rather, because they love their sins and won't come to Jesus to be saved (John 3:20; 5:40). John 3:21 teaches that repentance unto life of a matter of acknowledging THE TRUTH, and not of turning away from one's sinful ways (cf., 2nd Timothy 2:25). John 3:2, “But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” The Bible plainly says HE THAT DOETH TRUTH cometh to the light to be saved, not HE THAT TURNETH FROM HIS SINS. 2nd Timothy 2:25b-26 reads, “peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” Again, please notice that the Bible doesn't say that repentance leads to forsaking sinful bad habits; but rather, to acknowledge (admit) the truth.

Second, the upright life that we try to live as believers is the FRUIT of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and not a part of the ROOT of saving faith. We should live right because WE ARE saved, not TO BE saved. The Holy Bible teaches that Jesus Christ lives the Christian life through us. Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” The life we live cannot get us to Heaven, because God does NOT accept works of self-righteousness. Isaiah 64:6, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”

John MacArthur is a deadly Calvinist who errant teaches that if you're saved, you WILL live a changed life, but the Bible says in Titus 2:12 that believers SHOULD live achanged life. There's a big difference between WILL and SHOULD dear reader. We should do a lot of things as God's redeemed children, that we fail to do. This in no way suggests that we are not saved, it simply means that we are all struggling sinners. It is extremely dangerous and unbiblical to associate a changed life with possessing God's free gift of eternal life.

We are saved by HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS (that is, by wearing Christ's robe of righteousness, and not our own). I try to live upright because I love my Lord and don't want to grieve Him (John 14:15). I fail horribly sometimes, and it makes me mad at myself, and I get up and ask God to help me to do much better. That's how the Christian life is lived, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Even the best Christians are still sinners who battle daily with the flesh (Romans 7:14-25).

Misunderstood Repentance: An Enemy Of Soulwinning (a doctrinally-sound book by Dr. Jack Hyles)

The word “repent” (metanoeo, such as in Mark 1:15, “Repent ye, and believe the gospel”), simply means “a change of mind.” Evangelist David Cloud errantly defines the meaning as “a change of mind that results in a change of life.” That's not what the Bible teaches. Biblically, a changed life is the fruit of the indwelling Holy Spirit, which is not required for salvation.

I think Michael P. Bowen, in his excellent defense of the Christian faith titled, I NEVER KNEW YOU, says it best. ...

I am at eternal odds with the false, counterfeit messages of salvation-by-works that are taught from virtually every pulpit today, on every television channel, and on every Christian radio station; however, I am not at eternal odds with the individuals who preach these counterfeit messages. My heart literally goes out to all of them because they simply do not understand Christ’s plan of salvation. They have been lied to by a crafty enemy named Satan, whose sole aim is to take as many people with him to the lake of fire as he can possibly manage to steal away from God using a counterfeit plan of salvation that appears so real, so genuine, and so holy that few ever realize they have been deceived by it. Oh reader, so many of today’s professing Christians who think they are going to heaven when they die are not going to make it to heaven as they had assumed because they’ve been lied to by today’s error-filled gospel messages.

SOURCE: Michael Patrick Bowen, 'I NEVER KNEW YOU,' p. 17; © 2009, Xulonpress.com. Hard Copies Available

A tree without fruit is still a tree with roots. This is evidenced by the parable of the sower and the seed in Luke 8:11-15. Of the four groups, only the first are unsaved, because the Devil removed the seed from their heart before it could sprout into new life. The second and third group represent believers who never mature to bear fruit (leading others to Christ). They never mature into fruit-bearing Christians because of shallow roots, or because they are choked by the cares, riches and pleasures of this life. Ah, but the fourth group mature, having an honest heart, keeping the Lord's Word, bearing much fruit unto Christ (John 15:1-7). Just because the second and third groups don't bear fruit doesn't mean that they are not saved, as Ray Comfort and David Cloud errantly teach. The point of Jesus' parable is to win souls.

I humbly think it is not a good thing to use songs like, “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus” and “I Surrender All” during a church salvation invitation. These seemingly innocent songs subtly suggest that a lifestyle change is necessary to be saved, which is false. For someone who is as lost as a moose in a caboose in Tallapoosa, hearing such songs may obscure the Gospel. I humbly think that it would be much more appropriate to use hymns like “Amazing Grace” or “Just As I Am.

Honestly, I'd rather see a church use Elvis Presley's hit songs: “Ain't Nothing But A Houndog” or “Are You Lonesome Tonight?” for a salvation invitation, than to use “I Have Decided To Follow Jesus.” The folks in Matthew 7:21-23 followed Jesus, but the dear Savior denied knowing them as His sheep because they had never been born again. Satan's greatest weapon is to con people into living the Christian life without ever being born again (Luke 13:23-24).

Evangelist Ray Comfort Gets 'Born Again' Wrong

Jesus, in no uncertain terms, stressed the importance that in order to enter into God's Kingdom, “YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN” (John 3:3b).

Tragically, very few people understand what it really means to be born again. There's a popular evangelist named Ray Comfort, who has a flawed view of the new birth. According to Ray Comfort, being “born again” means to have a radical change of behavior. Ladies and gentlemen, your behavior improving has absolutely nothing to do with being born again. Since Adam opened the floodgate of sin upon the world, sin and death have been imputed to all mankind (Romans 5:12). Consequently, we were all born spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1-2).

That is why we all must be born anew by the Holy Spirit of God. The seed of which is the inspired Word of God (Luke 8:11; 1st Peter 1:23). When a man places his childlike faith (trust, reliance) in the seed of God's Word (i.e., the Gospel of Jesus Christ), God works the miracle of the new birth, and that sinful individual is regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God, made a permanent member of God's heavenly family. The new birth is a miracle wrought by God, and not merely a radical change in one's behavior as Ray Camfort falsely teaches.

Right Doctrine Matters

I loathe many of the hymns we sing in church today. The church I reguarly attend likes to sing the hymn, “Victory In Jesus,” which I hate. I detest the song because of the phrase, “Then I repented of my sin and won the victory.” Is that biblical? What saith the Scripture? 1st John 5:4, “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” The inspired Scripture teaches that it is our FAITH that wins the victory, and not repenting of our sins.

Do you see how quite a few of the popular hymns that we sing in church are corrupt and misleading? Whenever we sing that atrocious song on Sundays, I always keep my mouth closed while everyone else is bellowing out those heretical words. I refuse to participate in spreading heresy! If I had my way, I'd either get rid of that song; or do as Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995) did years ago, when he edited and changed many hymns to make them doctrinally correct. His new songbook is titled: 'SOUL-STIRRING SONGS AND HYMNS.'

May we be careful to choose better songs to use in our church invitations, which accurately represent the Gospel truth, and not the Devil's lies of Lordship Salvation and Misunderstood Repentance. RIGHT DOCTRINE MATTERS!!!

Wrong Repentance, No Salvation (MP3, by Pastor Hank Lindstrom)