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Dear Arthur and Sandra:

(an email response to a student who had questions resulting from talks given at a retreat at the student's church)

Dear Student:

We've had four sick (fever, runny nose & cough) kids over the last week and a half, and two of them are still sick. Thus, my time and energy is extremely limited. Our nights have been pretty crazy with Daniel and Angela waking up and crying all the time. I only tell you this to say that what I'm about to write is VERY sketchy and isn't organized or fluid. It's off the top of my head. I haven't been able to research or anything what W (a pastor that spoke at Student's retreat) wrote. There's much more I could write and express (and more clearly). Perhaps we can go more in depth over Christmas. Just in case you wanted some brief thoughts for this weekend, here are some.

1. I don't like the term "free grace". I wouldn't settle for using that term in my discussions. Grace is, by definition, free. It's redundant (like born again Christian). However, in using that term, it implies that the opposition is not "free" grace but "bound" grace (an oxymoron) or something. So the playing field is not level to begin with.

2. Neither would I use "Lordship salvation" unqualified, due to connotations it may evoke that I'm not aware of. I'll use that term here, however.

3. "Lordship salvation" doesn't garble the gospel, it clarifies it. Lordship salvationists aren't the ones always wondering, "What exactly do I need to believe to be saved?" In other words, "What's the minimum requirement for me to be able to "qualify" as a disciple?" "How much of my own life and ways can I still keep?" Truthfully, these aren't the questions of real disciples. It doesn't really have the Lord at its heart. It has self at the heart of it.

Jesus said clearly, "If any man come after me (be my disciple), let him DENY HIMSELF, TAKE UP HIS CROSS, and follow me. Let him hate his father and mother and even his own life. If anyone seeks to gain his life, he'll lose it. If anyone loses his life (for His sake), he'll gain it." To the average 1st century Palestinian Jew living under Roman rule, this was clear. 1. We must deny ourselves our dreams, wants, lusts, desires, etc. 2. We must take up our cross - a one way ticket to death. No dreams for vacation, retirement, etc. The imagery is chilling, for they knew that when He referred to that diabolical instrument used for the worst criminals, the cross, He was saying "Follow me all the way, even unto death". This is the fundamental gospel NOT some super gospel for the super Christians.

The Christian equation is a life for a life. His life for ours. He never says, "I'll give you my life and you give me a down payment on yours. If you decide later to pay in full, that's up to you." The Christians in China, Indonesia, Russia, Cuba, Vietnam, etc. all understand this, for when they become Christians, they know what it will cost them. And they do it. And it does cost them. What a slap in the face to them and other martyrs this "free grace" doctrine is.

4. LS doesn't annihilate assurance, it gives assurance because it is based on God's work and decree and not our own "decision". Any time we are the "lynch pin" holding things (in this case, our decision for our salvation) together, there can't truly be full assurance since we are not fully trustworthy.

5. Is W telling me that Luther, Calvin, Knox, Warfield, Tyndale, Edwards, Spurgeon, Tozer, Pink, Packer, Sproul, MacArthur, Piper and on and on represent muddled motivation? Oh that I may be so muddled.

6. The nagging question posed by W2 (a leader in this student's church asking W about the bottom line requirements for salvation) , "What must I believe to be saved?" sounds like the question the rich young ruler asked in Matt. 19, "What must I do to obtain eternal life (be saved)?" In both cases, the presupposition of the question is wrong. The ruler presupposed that there was something he could do to obtain eternal life. Jesus told him to sell all he had as a way to prove that he was not of the Master's fold, not born of God, for those born of God do what the Master asks. In short, salvation is by grace ALONE - He elects, He births, He gives the gift of faith unto salvation, He saves. True grace means that EVERYTHING related to grace given is undeserved by the recipient and is freely given by God to the recipient, even the faith to believe in Jesus (Eph. 2). Now that's a grace that's free. It's not merely an offer of life to a spiritually dead person. There's no ability to receive it in this case. That's not grace. Ensuring life for his children is grace.

In the, "What must I believe to be saved?" question (and in context of W.'s and W2's comments), the false presupposition is that all one needs to do to become a Christian is give mental assent (their understanding of believe) to something. W says that "the only condition is believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God" . The real question then is not, What must I believe to be saved?, but rather, What does the term believe mean? and Who is Jesus?. Is it mere mental/cognitive assent? Is that biblical believing? Or is it, as a TD'er once put it, "believe believe"? What she meant was that if one really believed it, he would trust in it and give his life to it? Why? Because he really believed it. It's clear from W other statements that he believes that mental assent that Jesus is the Son of God is all one needs to be saved and that anything more (like commitment and trust in Him) is having "strings attached". Yet, even the demons believe in Jesus. In fact, their Christology is better than ours. Mormon, Jehovah's witnesses, Roman Catholics, and many others believe mentally that Jesus is the Son of God but in a different way and sense than the Bible teaches. 7. W2 says, "...what is the content one needs in order to become a Christian? In other words is it Jesus or Jesus and what He has done for you?" That's a false dichotomy. Who Jesus is can't be divorced from what He has done. Take away what Jesus has done, what are we left with? Who is Jesus then? Who are you when you divorce yourself from what you've done in life?

8. W2 states, "The thing that confuses me and others is how one can be saved by Christ but not understand what He has done for them." If you don't understand what He's saving you from, what exactly are you believing when you "believe in Jesus" for salvation? (i.e. "Lord, please save me. I don't know what from but I believe in you to save me nonetheless)

Student, I'm running out of time so I'll just make a few comments on W's arguments according to his numbering. 3, 4. Who is the Son of God? The sacrificial lamb that laid down His life. What particularly bothers me about these statements made by W2 and W. is the treating of salvation as this one-moment-in-time transaction. Salvation is not a transaction that happened in the past at one particular moment. It is a state of relationship as God's child, by God's eternal decree, through God the Holy Spirit. This is what his citation of 1 John 5:1 is referring to - "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God . . ."- it doesn't mean that if you believe Jesus is the Christ then you birthed yourself to become born of God. Rather, it means that anyone who truly believes (not mere assent) that Jesus is the Christ does so because he is born of God or begotten by God (the Spirit).

It is God who births us into His family and not we ourselves. Thus, because we are adopted into His family (again He adopts, not us) and by virtue of the gift of the Spirit of truth, we are enabled to truly believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and grow in that understanding as we grow in our sanctification (sanctification is still part of salvation - Phil. 2:12 tells us to continue to work out our salvation with fear and trembling)

Do you see that His children are His ("I will not lose one of them"), none will be lost, and they will grow in grace and knowledge of Jesus because that is what the Spirit, who resides in the believer, wants? Each believer has a different starting point as far as knowledge goes but each believer's heart is devoted to the Lord. It's not a matter of, How little can I know and still be saved? Or once someone professed to believe in Jesus, they're saved, no matter what happens later. No, the later proves the validity or invalidity of their belief. I assume Judas professed to believe Jesus was the Son of God. Was he a child of God and saved? 5, 6. We are responsible for what we know. Due to progressive revelation, Paul knew more about redemption in Christ then, let's say, Moses. We, as believers now, are accountable to that which we know and should not be compared to true OT saints, who if they knew what we know, they would believe it. But yet, they knew more than what we give them credit for.

It's not true that OT saints didn't know anything about the cross or Christ's coming death. Isaiah 53 fortells Christ's death and manner of death and what it would accomplish. The sacrificial lamb in the OT was to atone for their sins until the Lamb of God did it once and for all. BTW, using pre-cross Peter as a proof ("Peter actually rebuked Jesus for saying He was going to die") that one can believe and not know of His death is not effective. Jesus called Peter Satan immediately afterwards. Post-cross Peter (the one who believed, even unto death) is a more appropriate model. Pre-cross Peter boldly proclaimed his love and belief in Jesus. Jesus had to show him that he really didn't believe, even though he said he did. When Peter was asked whether he knew Jesus, he said "I don't know the man!" For the first time, he told the truth.

You see, the cross is a stumbling point for many. It separates wheat from chaff. If there was no cross involved in Christianity (Jesus' or ours), everyone can easily believe in Jesus. Peter and the disciples stumbled over the cross, as W alludes to. But the story didn't end there, did it? They were humbled, broken, tested, then purified. Since they were born of God, He got them through it. Then, what happened? They became the most powerful band of disciples the world has ever seen, and they really believed! All but one died a martyr's death.

As an end note, please let me reiterate that God will work His will fully and completely in a believer's life before he dies - "He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." Phil 2:6. The goal of His work was not simply to get people "saved" as in "fire" insurance. That's our modern day understanding and evangelism. It's not His. His goal is discipleship and life long growth in our relationship with Him. I can't believe people preach that you can receive all the benefits of Christ's atoning work without having to be committed to Him. That is so antithetical to all of Scripture! It's like saying it's OK for a man to marry his wife but not have to be committed to her. He doesn't have to forsake all other women and be only hers. As His bride, we are "married" to Christ and can have no other gods before Him. Think of God's covenants with Adam and Eve, Abraham, Israel, etc. All of them require commitment to Him, otherwise the deal's off.

I'm sure this all seems like rambling. However, I've got lots more to say about this but I need to stop. Sandra has some very good points and perspectives as well. You should hear them over Christmas. Let me know what you think. God bless.

Arthur

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Total Devotion is the High School Fellowship at Mandarin Baptist Church of Los Angeles.

Total Devotion meets on every Friday night from 730 PM to 10 PM in Room 131 except for the last Friday of each month.