Unashamed of Grace

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Does Anybody Agree with this Quotation XII

by Antonio da Rosa

Pastor Steve Lawson, preaching at a conference sponsered by John MacArthur and his Grace Community Church:

If you want to receive this gift it will cost you the total commitment of all that you are to the Lord Jesus Christ. There are many here who think they are saved, but are not; they have never really done business with God.

Question: Is eternal salvation the result of doing "business with God" as if it were some contractual arrangement whereby the "cost" is the undying obedience of the sinner, and once paid God makes good with His stipulated obligation to save?

I want to single you out in the midst of this crowd. Have you taken up a cross in order to follow after Christ? Have you recognized your own sinfulness, acknowledged that God's judgment is true, have you acknowledged Christ's right to rule your life? Have you submitted to the Lordship of Christ? Have you really come to the end of self? Because Jesus does not begin until you end.

Question: Does Christ receive sinners into His family as they are or does He require that they put all things on the table up front, putting an "end [to] self"?

You need to make terms of peace with this king or you will be subjected in damnation forever. Christ has made terms of peace and you need to settle out-of-court with him. You do not want to go into that final day of conflict with Christ, for He will be ruthless in the execution of justice. He offers mercy today. He will agree to terms of peace and surrender, but they are His terms of peace, not ours. His terms are this: you must love Him more than anything. If you cannot do this, you will meet Him in the final judgment and glorify God in your destruction.

Question: Must we love Christ more than anything or we cannot be saved? What happened to "just as I am", and the ideas of growth in grace and knowledge?

Final question:

How can this man escape the charge of works-salvation?

15 Comments:

Ok, I can't ever seem to log in and publish these days. Does anyone else have this problem or is it just me? 75% of the time I can't get into blogger when trying to make a comment - it clicks to a "page not found" screen. Am I the only one?

Antonio,
You are right. This is a works salvation. This is trading my "commitment" ... my self-abasement ... for a relationship with God. This is like if I were to hand my child a nicely wrapped package and tell him he could have it only if he promised to drop everything he is doing and do whatever I am doing the rest of the day. Is this a gift? No ... that would be more like a bribe ... or a prize.

Gifts don't cost anything. A gift isn't about "doing business." The only time I think the phrase "doing business" is good is if you think of it like a trade. I trade my sin and its eternal consequences for His righteousness. PERIOD.

NO - I don't agree with any of the quotations.

By Anonymous, at Wednesday, March 07, 2007 5:33:00 AM
Antonio,

Of course, no one who understands grace would agree with this stupid statement of Lawson's.

But...

Given the fact that their soteriology springs out of their covenant theology, the notion of a "give and take" in this contract makes perfect sense.

It is wrong. Dead wrong. It is a false gospel. It is heresy.

But the interior logic itself is sensible. That's why a lot of otherwise very smart people can believe such ridiculous things.

By Anonymous, at Wednesday, March 07, 2007 5:55:00 AM
Yesterday during one of the plenary sessions Bob Wilkin said that some Calvinists are now acknowledging that their position is a "works salvation."

I'm going to get some more info. about this from Bob and see if we can document this.

By Anonymous, at Wednesday, March 07, 2007 7:13:00 AM
By promoting Steve Lawson, John MacArthur is being true to himself but against God's Grace... Then again, what's new?

Romans 11:6
"And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work."

Galatians 1:8
"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."

Then, let him be accursed!

Case closed!

ExP(Jack)

By Anonymous, at Wednesday, March 07, 2007 8:56:00 AM
Antonio said:

How can this man escape the charge of works-salvation?

He can't, he might as well be a Roman Catholic.

Lawson said:

I want to single you out in the midst of this crowd. Have you taken up a cross in order to follow after Christ? Have you recognized your own sinfulness, acknowledged that God's judgment is true, have you acknowledged Christ's right to rule your life? Have you submitted to the Lordship of Christ? Have you really come to the end of self? Because Jesus does not begin until you end.

If he was talking about sanctification here, I would say, amen. Tragically this is his view of justification--sad--and destructive for those who submit to such teaching. Again, if I were Lawson I would become a Roman Catholic.

By Anonymous, at Wednesday, March 07, 2007 11:23:00 AM
After reading this I can't help but recall and offer these scriptures below.
Is he actually a false prophet? I hope not...but Jesus does tell us we can know them by their fruit.

16"You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?

17"So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.

18"A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.

19"Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

20"So then, you will know them by their fruits.

Am I being to harsh on Lawson? Am I going somewhere I shouldn't go?
I really want someone to help me out here. This is how I honestly feel about these words of his. If I am wrong I really need to know it.

By Kris, at Wednesday, March 07, 2007 9:25:00 PM
Hey Kris,

Matthew 7:15-23 definitely spells out the peril of the false prophets, who try to enter the Kingdom by works. While the passage seems specifically targeted toward people who calls themselves prophets, the passage applies to people who have NEVER believed that Jesus freely gives eternal life apart from works. Their fruits are obviously their doctrine (Matthew 12:33-37). But you know all that.

If Lawson has always believed this blatant works-righteousness message, then the passage applies. But if there was ever a time when Lawson simply believed that Jesus freely gave him life, then he has life. But you know that. I've seen your posts before, and I am glad that you are a fellow Grace guy.

By Anonymous, at Wednesday, March 07, 2007 9:56:00 PM
Thanks Danny.

I do agree that anyone who has believed in Christ alone at anytime is eternally secure.

My first thoughts are why do preachers of the "gospel" do this?

If they have believed then why do they put a yoke on others that they didn't put on themselves when they believed?

If they did put this yoke on themselves when they "believed" then did they really believe the the true saving message?

By Kris, at Thursday, March 08, 2007 6:52:00 AM
As Bobby said, if this had been a matter of exhorting to sanctification I would also give a hearty amen!

However, this kind of gospel makes one look intently at themselves rather than to Christ and His finished work on the cross. It is true that we will have contrition over our sin at the time of conversion but our hope and comfort is in Christ and His power to save us, not in our efforts to deny ourselves and take up our cross.

By Jim, at Thursday, March 08, 2007 6:55:00 AM
Unbelievable.

It leaves me breathless.

The smell of Rome is distinct.

I now convinced the right of passage from free grace into Calvinian spoofery is a full lobotomy.

God have mercy.

By Anonymous, at Thursday, March 08, 2007 9:28:00 AM
I am not surprised, in these days of the Great Apostacy, "doctrines of demons" are rampant in the churches!
John MacArthur may call his program "Grace To You", but he is not into grace. Not the free because it is totally paid for on the cross grace! Anything less tramples the Blood of Christ underfoot by saying that HIS sacrifice was insufficient! Oooops!
Hi, ExP! Chased over here to check the link!
BG-You're right, if it was about sanctification, I'd say go-go-go!
But since it's not...
Good afternoon, G*D bless and Maranatha!

tmw
BTW, Jack, I copied another article about Rick Warren and his purported drivel lies(as my friend calls them)!

By The Merry Widow, at Thursday, March 08, 2007 12:31:00 PM
Hey Kris,

You said, "If they have believed then why do they put a yoke on others that they didn't put on themselves when they believed?"

Because in a case like that they no longer believe the message of God's Grace. Since they get duped into thinking that faith is something complicated that requires works or commitment, it is natural that they put a yoke on others.

You asked, "If they did put this yoke on themselves when they 'believed' then did they really believe the the true saving message?"

Like I said in my previous comment, if they have always believed a blatant works-righteousness message, then they are not saved. If however, they believed at one point that Jesus freely gives eternal life apart from works, then they have eternal life.

But of course, in a case where someone who once believed the true gospel gets duped into believing a false gospel of works-salvation, that person ends up barring other people from receiving life.

A person can believe that Jesus freely gives them eternal life, and then at some point, get duped into believing the Lordship message. In such a case, they are obviously saved, but by switching to Lordship, they prevent others from receiving eternal life.

So let's just keep preaching God's Free Grace.

By Anonymous, at Thursday, March 08, 2007 3:51:00 PM
BTW, Antonio,
Yesterday our pastor mentioned this speaker. Actually, he highly extolled Steve Lawson. Lawson is the keynote speaker at the Toledo Reformed Theological Conference. Our church allows this reformed group to use our building for the conference every year for these last 3 years, I think. Our pastor speaks at it, too. It irritates me and John!

Now I want to ask you for help: where did you find this quote? I want to present it to someone ... or maybe a few someones ... but I would want to make sure I had documentation, that I had proof he really spoke like this.

By Rose~, at Monday, March 12, 2007 10:36:00 AM
Rose,

Lawson said these things during "The Resolved Conference", February of this year.

They are quoted by Tim Challies, Reformed blogger, who was at the conference.

http://www.challies.com/archives/002384.php

Hope this helps.

Antonio

By Antonio, at Monday, March 12, 2007 2:03:00 PM
I posted a few quotes from MacArthur, Boice, Thomas and Quinn, and Piper to show that they are deliberately teaching a works salvation gospel.

And they are proud of it.

By Anonymous, at Wednesday, March 14, 2007 4:14:00 PM