Salvation Without Holiness is Like Salvation Without Christ — E.A. Johnston

The Modern Church’s Tolerance of Sin

I believe the biggest lie Satan has convinced the modern church into believing is that people can still sin and yet be saved. Pastors have failed miserably in teaching their people what obedience and disobedience means.

Many preachers preach a sin in religion, and most church members live it. Some of the biggest scoundrels I have known in church have been Baptist deacons who talk like Mr. Sanctimonious on Sunday morning and then talk like a silver tongue devil during the week.

They love sharing a dirty joke with their golfing buddies and see nothing wrong with it. Now why is that? I believe it's the fault of the pulpit in not condemning sin. Pastors feel a need to be well liked by their congregation so they don't want to rock the boat by being controversial, so they stay neutral on hot topics such as sin and holy living.

We have soft-soap Christianity so much in this country, friends, that you cannot distinguish a Christian from a non-believer anymore. They look and behave the same. If you are that kind of pastor who uses soft-soap messages that you hope will encourage your people to lead better lives because you love your people too much to hurt their feelings, then you don't love them at all.

You love yourself and you love your reputation. True love awakens a man to reality. You have to teach your folks what obedience and disobedience means. Listen, friends, salvation without holiness is like salvation without Christ.

It's hell for you. And there are a lot of in-for-help church members in this country who hug their sins as their little darlings and still believe they are on the way to heaven. But it's not so, friends.

It's not so. The title of my message this evening is Salvation Without Holiness Is Like Salvation Without Christ. Now, you try to get to heaven without Jesus, friend. Just go on and try. And you try to get to heaven without holiness, friend.

You just go on and try. God will have no rebels in his kingdom. You try and force your way in there and he will grab you by your ears and bind your hand and foot and cast you into hell where all rebels belong.

Holiness Without Which No One Will See the Lord

Like I said, the pulpit of today has utterly failed to teach folks what obedience and disobedience means. That's why we can have good church deacons who act like devils during the week. Everything is gray in the modern church today.

There's no black or white, no dividing lines anymore. We have broadened the way to heaven when Jesus never did. He always said it was a narrow way and few there be that find it. God declares in Hebrews 12, 14, holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.

But most folks don't believe that today because most preachers don't preach it. But God's demand for holiness is clear. Be ye holy for I am holy. Listen to me, dear friends. There are church people in hell right now who had a pastor who glossed over sin.

And because that pastor glossed over sin, they thought God glossed over it. And they are using that pastor's name as a cuss word in hell right now. They're crying out, you lied to us and you have damned us.

A minister's job is to awaken people from their delusions of their belief that Christianity is something when it's not. Or to break up the false foundations that people sit on and not help them build those false foundations.

A Low View of God Produces a Low View of Sin

Let me tell you what happened in this country over the last 60 years. These things happened and I will lay them out for us right now because three things are the main reason why the church and society is in the shape it's in today.

Are you ready? Number one, the church shrunk God down to man's size and put him on man's level. I was sitting in a large Baptist church and the seminary trained pastor made the following comment. He said, I can't wait to get to heaven, folks.

Do you know what I'm going to do when I get to heaven? I'm going to run right up to Jesus and grab him by the hand and shake his hand for all he has done for me. That's what the old boy said. I guess that seminary trained pastor never read the passage in the book of Revelation in chapter one where the apostle John is on the Isle of Patmos and he sees a vision of the risen Christ.

Let me read it to you. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me and being turned, I saw a seven golden candlesticks and in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the son of man, clothed with garment down to the foot and gird about the paps with a golden girdle, his head and his hairs were white like wool as white as snow and his eyes were as a flame of fire and his feet like unto fine brass as if they burned in a furnace and his voice as the sound of many waters and he had in his right hand seven stars and out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength and when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.

John dropped down as a dead man as he encountered the living Christ in all his glory, but this foolish pastor is going to run up to Jesus and pump his hand like he would a deacon he just met in the hallway at church.

That's because the church of our day, friends, has shrunken God down to our size. We put him on our level. And when you do that, friend, you have a low view of sin. You can tolerate sin because you don't think God has a problem with it since you don't have a problem with it.

And when we maintain a low view of God, we will maintain a low view of sin. That's why so many churches today who claim to be Christians tolerate sin in their lives. The pastor doesn't teach them what obedience and disobedience means.

Repentance as a Condition of Salvation

Number two, the church removed the necessity of repentance as a condition to salvation. We preach an only-believed gospel today. Just believe, friend. Just believe in Jesus and walk this aisle and repeat this little prayer and you will go to heaven.

And most folks do just that. They do what the evangelist tells them to do and to join the church. But the problem is they are still unchanged. They are still in their sins. Let me describe this generation of in-for-help church members with a Bible verse.

It is found in the book of Proverbs. It is Proverbs 30, 12, which states, there is a generation that are pure in their own eyes and yet is not washed from their filthiness. And that means you, friend, even if you are the chairman of the deacons.

We tell folks today they can have Christ in heaven without turning from their sins. But Christ did not die to whitewash us. He died to recreate us into new creatures. When Jesus was here in his earthly ministry, as he passed through towns and villages, those individuals who encountered him experienced change.

You see, friends, when a person truly comes to Christ, savingly, something happens. A self is dethroned and another is enthroned there, the Lord Jesus Christ. And there is only room for one there, either self or Christ the Lord.

If you are sitting on the throne of your heart and ruling there, then there is no room for Christ there, friend. There is only room for one. You are either pursuing a life of holiness unto the Lord for his glory, or you are living for yourself, plain and simple.

Obedience or disobedience, there is a difference, friend. My Bible declares that God isn't as interested in your giving money to him. He isn't even so much as interested in your worshiping him. But he is interested in your obeying him.

He says, to obey is better than sacrifice. That's what got King Saul kicked off the throne, his disobedience to God. King Saul was a self-ruled man. And any self-ruled man and any self-ruled woman will end up in a self-ruined hell.

The Lordship of Jesus Christ

And that brings me to our third big thing, which has occurred in our churches over the last 60 years, and that's the elimination of the doctrine of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Preachers today are afraid to make the following statement.

Do you know what that statement is, friend? Here it is. If Christ is not your Lord, then he is not your Savior. That's a statement you don't hear much today. But it's true, friend. It's true. It's the reason why you will end up in the devil's hell, because you lived your life like a devil under the guise of religion.

Listen, friend. Christ died to make men holy. He must be your Lord. And if you are planning on getting to heaven, then you must go to him where he is. Christ is a living Lord who sits on a heavenly throne.

He sits at the right hand of the Father. And he earned that right by way of a bloody cross. That cross had Christ's blood all over it because of sin. My dirty, rotten sins. Your filthy, wretched sins.

Do you think that Jesus Christ suffered and died on that cruel, ignoble cross for sin so you can hang on to yours? Do you? If you believe that, and you suddenly drop dead tonight, you would die on your sins and drop into hell without having time to pack your suitcase.

I will not candy coat the gospel to make you happy. I didn't come here to please you or entertain you. I came here to save you from a devil's hell. And you will never make it to heaven without holiness unto the Lord.

Now either you believe that or you don't. Many of you don't. Some of you are mad at me for even saying that. But listen to me, friend. You may be living your last year on earth. Don't let your present good health fool you.

Or don't let your young age fool you into believing you have a long life ahead of you. You may not. What I have to say, you can write down in the margin of your Bibles and put it down big, plain, and straight.

It's ink on a white page. If Jesus Christ is not your Lord now, he will one day be your judge. Did you hear me? If he's not your Lord now, he will one day be your judge. And if you drop into hell because you refuse to believe and refuse to give up and part with your darling sins, then I want you to know there was at least one preacher who was honest enough with you to tell you the truth.

The trouble is, we've got too many dishonest preachers going around today who aren't honest with folks. They candy coat the gospel and hide all the rights and claims that Christ has on a follower of his.

Listen friend, if you want Christ and if you want heaven, then you must part with your darling sins. You must throw down your shotgun of rebellion at the feet of a sovereign and surrender all your rights to him.

He must be Lord. He must have your all. He must be a complete master. He gave his all for you. He didn't hold anything back on Calvary for a sinner. He can save the vilest sinner in town if that person would just come to him in repentance and faith.

He can not only save that vile sinner from the penalty of hell, he can save that vile sinner from the power of hell because he can give you power over sin. He can transform your life and clean you up and place you back in this filthy, sin-soaked world to live a life of holiness unto God in such a way that you'll be a marvel to mankind as you bring God glory with your holy life.

Holiness, Revival, and Separation from Worldliness

Why did God use men and women so powerfully back in yonder years? And why doesn't he seem to have a D .L. Moody or a George Whitfield today? Why is that? I'll tell you why. D .L. Moody and Whitfield were men who were intoxicated with Christ, sold out to God, and they lived for eternity through their holy lives.

But we today like our candy bars. We have to have our television shows even if they promote evil and desensitize us to sin. Your typical pastor of yonder years would spend his free time in his Bible and on his knees.

Your typical pastor today sits in front of his television until his eyes grow the size of saucers and his brain the size of a pea. But we today live in a lawless society where evil is called good and good evil, and this generation of church people is the biggest bunch of lawless people on their way to hell because they see nothing wrong with sin because of their low view of God and having a pastor who refuses to teach them the difference between obedience and disobedience.

Repentance, the Sinfulness of Sin, and the Final Appeal

Listen, friend. Repentance is God's requirement for heaven. Jesus spoke very plainly on this point. He said, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. And repentance means confessing your sins and forsaking them and turning away from them and turning to God.

And when you surrender every inch of you to the Lord Jesus Christ, a sin will be seen by you for what it is, a dangerous viper, a venomous snake. We don't hear many sermons today on the sinfulness of sin, but go pick up a book by one of the good old Puritan writers and read some sermons on the sinfulness of sin.

It will do you good, friend. Like I said, salvation without holiness is like salvation without Christ. Listen, friend. Good people don't go to heaven. Only forgiven people go there. Listen to me, young person.

You can choose to live like an oddball in this world in a life of recklessness for Jesus or you can choose to live recklessly in your sins. But if you do that, you run the risk of dying in your sins and being cast into a burning hell.

Now let me ask you a question. Are your sins washed in the blood? Are your sins washed in the blood? Are your sins washed in the blood? I was a married man when I got saved. My wife was away on vacation.

While she was away, God showed me I was a lost church member. I'd been a Sunday school teacher for years. I had been involved in evangelism explosion and witnessed on a regular basis. I had a long track record of good works and I had a good opinion of myself as a Christian.

But the trouble was, I was lost. One afternoon, God showed me that not only was I on my way to hell, but that I deserved to go there. I couldn't believe it. I argued with him and I told him I already had invited Jesus into my heart.

But he showed me that I was lost. I became undone. All my props were kicked out from beneath me. As my false foundation of security was broken up by the spirit of God, I became a seeker of God that day friends.

And for the next several hours, I wrestled with God in prayer, on my face, in my study, and blessed God. I became an object of his mercy. I rose to my feet a saved man. I didn't tell my wife what happened to me for several weeks.

Finally, one morning in her kitchen, I walked up to her and said, I want you to know that while you were away out of town, I got saved. God really saved me. She looked at me and replied, I have noticed a change in you since I've been back.

Let me ask you friend, can your spouse say of you that you are a changed individual because of your Christianity? Can your children say of you that they have a godly parent in the home? Ask the Holy Spirit to shine a spotlight of purity in your life, to reveal to you what you need to give to him.

Do it friend. Eternity is forever.