Submission To the Lordship of Christ for Salvation?

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One of the things that was confusing for me when I first started engaging in Lordship Salvation was there was a clear

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Orthodox understanding of the gospel when just presenting the gospel, but when we started talking about the

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Christian life, or we started talking about the evidence of those who believe in such things, there was a mixture of two things, a mixture of the law and the gospel, and then there was also a mixture of what we would say justification and sanctification.

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One of the passages that is used often in most of the books that have been written or in the argumentation is that there are demands of the gospel upon you.

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Again, remember, it's news, so you can't have something demanding you if they're talking about what's been done.

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So it's something to believe or accept, but there's no due part to it. And so you have these passages that talk about, take up your cross and follow me.

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You don't pick up your cross in order to be saved. You pick up your cross because you've been saved. Any act of obedience is always the result, or any obedience to the law is the result of your salvation.

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It cannot be the cause of your salvation. We can get really confused if we don't have the categories of the law and gospel.

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So the rich young ruler is a good example, is he walks up to Jesus and he says to him, what must

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I do, right, action, to inherit the kingdom of God?

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Of course, Jesus, the only road to salvation, the only door to salvation is standing before him.

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And he didn't walk up to him and asked Jesus, how can I be saved? He said, what can

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I do in order to gain this? I have already, and so Jesus tells him, you know, obey the law perfectly.

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Now you just have to stop right there at that moment and say, is Jesus presenting to him law or gospel? Because remember, law is do this and gain righteousness and gain the approval of God.

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And the gospel is Jesus did it and you gain it because of a gift that's given to you.

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And the evidence of that gift being received is your faith. So Jesus says, okay, if you want to earn it, which is not gospel, this is law, then obey the law.

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And the rich man says, well, I've done that from my youth. What Jesus does, he doesn't give, he doesn't give the man the means of what he's lacking.

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He tries to show him that he is far beyond keeping the law. He is far beyond earning righteousness for himself.

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And so he tells the man to sell everything that he has, gives it to poor and come follow him. To which the man says, walked away because he was very wealthy.

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The man, it wasn't that he didn't count the cost. It wasn't that the man thought, well,

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I don't want to lose all my money. So he wasn't willing to give up everything. Is that the man, he was never presented the gospel because he couldn't see the gospel because he thought he could actually achieve righteousness by obedience.

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Do you know what that disciples say to Jesus after he walks away? Well, then Jesus, if that man cannot be saved, who can be saved?

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And what does Jesus say? With man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.

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If Jesus really wanted people to hear that it takes sacrifice, dedication, you have to make

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Jesus Lord, you have to abandon everything. Why would he say that to the disciples? You go to Nicodemus and the story where Nicodemus comes to him again, a ruler, a teacher, one who is righteous in his own eyes that he's asking

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Jesus, how is it that I can inherit eternal life? And Jesus tells him something that is impossible.

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He says, well, you have to be born again. And he says, well, how am I to enter into my mother's womb again?

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He says, no, you're not understanding. You're thinking physical. I'm talking spiritual. And that act is a work of the spirit and the wind blows wherever it wishes.

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No one knows where it goes. Just so with the spirit, we don't know to whom the spirit will bring to life.

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It doesn't work when you say in order for you to be saved, you must make Jesus Lord of your life because you can't do that.

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It's not a possibility that can happen in your own power. It has to be granted to you. You have to be brought to life.

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So as an example, when you take the law and you make it gospel, you then change the very nature of the gospel.

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Nobody can be saved in their own power. Nobody can make Jesus Lord of their life. Nobody can do anything that is spiritual.

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This is Romans when Paul says that those who look at the wisdom of God in the gospel and can't

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He says they're spiritually discerned. You need the spirit in order to discern the realities of the gospel.