Why I Left Lordship Salvation (Part Two) | Theocast

Welcome back to part two of why I left Lordship Salvation, and we're going to really just pick up where we left off last week in law gospel distinction. One of the things that is so great about the Reformation is the clarity of the distinction between what the Bible considers to be the law, that which condemns us, that which is a mirror to show us our sinfulness, what we consider underneath the Reformed theology, the first use of the law is designed to be that schoolmaster that kind of shows us we cannot stand up to God's standards.

And the gospel is news. That's the thing about it is that you always have to remember the gospel doesn't have a due part to it. There's nothing to be done because it's news of what has already been done.

And when we confuse the gospel with any part of it that you must do, then you now have a glossople, or you have a mixing of the law and the gospel, right? So let's just clarify. The law is do this perfectly and live.

It's what we are told by James that literally says if you fail in one part of the law, you have failed in all parts of the law and now held guilty. So it requires perfection, right? Gospel is the declaration that Jesus Christ came as our replacement.

He lived the life that we could not live where Adam failed. He then paid for our sins because of our failure to the Father and being born into Adam. He rose from the grave conquering death and now sits at the right hand of God, ruling and reigning as our king and priest and representative and prophet.

And forevermore, we are adopted by God's choosing of us. So this all comes to us. And how do we know it belongs to us? Here's the good news, right? Here's the good news of the part that we know that it belongs to us.

It's that Jesus says, believe in me and you will know that you belong to me, right? By faith, we are told constantly that it's faith is the evidence of our salvation. So that is the good news. We always must remember that the good news is news.

It is something that's been done past tense. There's nothing left for the future. Well, one of the things that was confusing for me when I first started engaging in Lordship Salvation was there was a clear Orthodox understanding of the gospel when just presenting the gospel.

But when we started talking about the Christian life or we started talking about what the evidence of those who believe in such things, that there was a mixture of two things we're going to talk about in this episode, a mixture of the law and the gospel.

And then there was also a mixture of what we would say justification and sanctification, right? So justification means the way in which that I am brought right to God. My sins go from a debt to credit, right?

And then righteousness is those—it's not just having a bank account that is zero, but righteousness is having the actual 100 percent righteousness of Jesus Christ credited to us. And the process of that is what we have sanctification, but that is after our justification, right?

So we must be justified, and then God starts the process of transforming us into his image, which Paul tells us, he who began a good work in you will complete it. So even our sanctification is not a work of our own.

That is the work of the Spirit. Hebrews even tells us we look unto Jesus, the beginner, the author and finisher of our faith. So we'll look at those two and kind of compare them to my experience of lordship salvation.

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. And again, remember, it's news, so you can't have something demanding you if it's just talking about what's been done.

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, which in the link we did a podcast on that, and I've preached several sermons on that.

You can go and listen to those. But to take up your cross is the response of a believer. That's Jesus warning that those who follow him, that there's nothing about their life that they are bringing with them into this relationship with Jesus.

And so to confuse that, 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, 30 years to the law, any obedience at all is the result of your salvation.

It cannot be the cause of your salvation. And we can get really confused if we don't have the categories of the law and gospel. So the rich young ruler is a good example. He walks up to Jesus and he says to him, what must I do, right, action, to inherit the kingdom of God?

Of course, Jesus, the only road to salvation, the only door to salvation is standing before him. And he didn't walk up to him and ask Jesus, how can I be saved? He said, what can I do in order to gain this?

I have already, and so Jesus tells him, you know, obey the law perfectly. 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.

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

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. He tries to show him that he is far beyond keeping the law.

He is far beyond earning righteousness for himself. 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.

The man, it wasn't that he didn't count the cost. It wasn't that the man thought, well, I don't want to lose all my money. And so he wasn't willing to give up everything. It's that the man never was presented the law.

I'm sorry, he was never presented the gospel because he couldn't see the gospel because he thought he could actually achieve righteousness by obedience. Do you know what the disciples say to Jesus after he walks away?

Well, then Jesus, if that man cannot be saved, who can be saved? And what does Jesus say? With man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. If Jesus really wanted people to hear that it takes sacrifice, dedication, you have to make Jesus Lord, you have to abandon everything.

Why would he say that to the disciples? It doesn't flow with the text. Now, just so you understand, historically, the problem is here is that the wealthiness, having much money, was a sign of God's blessing and righteousness according to that culture.

So they were confused, thinking this man obviously is being blessed by God, therefore is a godly man, and if he can't inherit the kingdom of heaven, then nobody can inherit the kingdom of heaven. Jesus seems to be a little strict here, and the disciples weren't understanding the story, and then eventually he does.

You go to Nicodemus and the story, when Nicodemus comes to him, again, a ruler, a teacher, one who is righteous in his own eyes, and he's asking Jesus, how is it that I can inherit eternal life? And Jesus tells him something that is impossible.

He says, well, you have to be born again. And he says, well, how am I to enter into my mother's womb again? 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, and no one knows where it goes.

Just so with the Spirit, we don't know to whom the Spirit will bring to life. So 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.

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

Nobody can be saved in their own power. Nobody can make Jesus Lord of their life. Nobody can do anything that is spiritual. This is Romans, when Paul says that those who look at the wisdom of God in the gospel and can't believe it, he says, they're spiritually discerned.

You need the Spirit in order to discern the realities of the gospel. So the gospel is what brings us to life, but the Spirit is what's necessary. This leads us to our second point, which is kind of confusing justification and sanctification, or often what we call the order of salutis, the way in which salvation works.

It is very important to understand that how salvation is presented to us in the Bible, there is an order to it. If you just go to Ephesians chapter 2, and in Ephesians 2, it says, we were dead in our trespasses and sins.

He, Jesus, made us alive. And then in chapter 2, verses 10 and following, he says, we then do good works, right? Why? Because those were preordained by the Father for us to do. But the order is always dead, brought to life, then obey.

And what I was so confused with, there was this heavy emphasis on the reality of if you aren't willing to make Jesus Lord, then you are not saved. And so it wasn't an emphasis. So let me just put it this way.

If we can look at someone's life and they truly aren't trusting Jesus as their Savior, let's put it this way. They're not living in obedience. They're not making Jesus Lord of their life. Can a dead person make Jesus Lord of their life?

No, they can't. So if you're looking at someone who's not in obedience, not obeying, they're not willing to, and you just tell them, well, you need to make Jesus Lord of your life. It's like telling a dead man they need to breathe or they need to get up out of the grave.

Literally, Paul says you were dead in your trespasses and sins and you must be made alive. So if I'm dealing with somebody that's not a believer, I don't tell them make Jesus Lord of your life. I tell them, hey, there's some news you need to hear about.

And it's really good. And you're in a really bad situation. And let me explain your situation. You're not able to obey the law and you're in Adam. And it means you're not righteous and you are not loving God as you should.

And that's held against you. And the only thing that can set you free from that is Christ. But yet, I can't demand them to make Jesus Lord of their life. They can't do that until they've been brought to life.

And so I give them the gospel. I call them to believe it. And if they do, at that moment, now they have the power to repent of not trusting in Christ and repent of their sin and turn towards loving and obedience to Christ.

But that's after they're saved, not before. And so we confuse. We put repentance and making Jesus Lord of our life before faith and before regeneration. And you can't do that. And that's been my understanding of a lot of the teachings that is surrounded.

And so this makes us understand that even the flow of Romans 8, where it talks about how we are then called and then we are regenerated and then there's sanctification and glorification, right, the glorious chain of redemption.

It's always we're saved and now we're sanctified. We aren't sanctifying ourselves in order to be saved. And to be clear, some would say, well, those who espouse lordship salvation wouldn't believe in that either.

And this is where I agree with you that there are times that we can get these categories correct. But by and large, the confusion is a collapsing of law and gospel. When you start telling me passages like the rich young ruler is gospel, that is not gospel.

That's law. Or take up your cross and follow, or unless you're willing to forsake your mother, father, and all that you have, you cannot be my disciple. Jesus is not giving you good news there. That's bad news, okay?

If there's something you must do to inherit your adoption papers, you have reasons to boast. Now, some would say that's the cost of discipleship. Then if you're not willing to do that, so now we have a willing thing.

If you're not willing to do that, then you're not truly a disciple of Jesus. So we agree with you, John. You must be regenerated. You must be brought to life. But if you're not willing to do this, well, how much willingness is there?

Can I be willing to do it and not do it? Is that the same thing? Can I be willing to be faithful to my wife? Is that good enough in the eyes of God? Then I can still be unfaithful, but as long as I'm willing?

It doesn't work that way. You have to understand gospel is God-completed all works. So this leads me to this last section where people struggle with assurance. They're always looking to their works to say, have I fully surrendered?

Have I fully picked up my cross? Have I fully sold everything and followed Jesus? So they're looking, and this is probably the thing that's the most confusing and why I decided to do this video, is that we become self-introspective.

This is pietism where we're constantly examining our works and ourselves to determine whether God is good with us or whether we have made Jesus Lord of our life. Let me put it this way. Have we fully surrendered everything to God?

And my answer to that is no. To fully surrender yourselves to God is to fully love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And no one's ever done that ever. You can't. We still battle the flesh.

We need the Spirit's power within us to help us continue to repent of our sins. This is why we repent constantly. 1 John tells us that if you don't believe you have sin, you're a liar. So we repent constantly.

No one has fully surrendered themselves to the Lord. So you cannot look at surrender as being the form of assurance. God doesn't say at the end of your life, you fully surrendered yourself to me, therefore I have saved you.

That's not what he says, right? That's not what he says. He looks to the work of Christ. He says by faith you were justified. And Paul says foolish Galatians who bewitched you. You begin by the faith and now you're going to be continued by works?

No. You begin and you finish the same way. It's by faith. And multiple times in scripture we are told these things. This is why Philippians, he who began a good work and you will complete it. So why do we do good works?

Let me just end this with here. So what's my motivation to obey God? Well, I think it's really important that we look at this. A couple of passages that we'll look at right now. The first one, real quick, is just 2 Peter chapter 1.

Listen to the motivation that Peter gives the believer as to why they should obey. He says this, Simon Peter, servant of the apostle Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God.

Equal standing by the righteousness of Christ, meaning that they stand before God seen equally no matter who you are. Why? Because it's Jesus' righteousness, not yours. He is not looking to your righteousness, believer.

He's looking to Jesus'. May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.

So it's not our power. We didn't make Jesus Lord. His power has given us everything that we need by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises so that through them, God's promises to us, you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in this world because of sinful desires.

So far, he's not talking about any of your power or any things that you've done. He's talked about God's promises and God's power. Now he says, for this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and virtue with knowledge and knowledge of self-control.

And he gives a wonderful list here. What is the motivation to be virtuous and godly and self-control and steadfast? It's not to confirm your faith. It's not to affirm your faith. It's not to prove lordship.

It's because you have been justified. He says it differently in Ephesians. He says, walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called with gentleness and meekness and patience. He says, because you're saved, do these things.

It's not do these things to prove or affirm or confirm your salvation. And how do we know that we have this steadfastness, this standing before him? It's faith. Our faith is the evidence that God is working in us, not just faith in general.

It's not faith in our faith. It's faith in Jesus Christ. Let me keep going here in Peter. He says this towards the end of his list. He says, for if these qualities are yours and increasing, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Ineffective in what? Well, who needs affection and brotherly love? Your brothers do. So if you're not obeying these qualities, you're not effective in doing the work that's been given to you. But what if you're not doing these things?

Well, you should question your salvation, somebody says. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. So if you're not obeying, he says, you need to remember you've been justified.

You've been cleaned. You've been washed. And that's your motivation to continue doing good works, not to prove to God you're saved. He doesn't need your proof. Your brothers need the reflection of the glory of God because this world is hard to live in.

You know, one passage that's often used, and we'll use this one to close. I know this video is already long. Work out your salvation with fear and trimming. Man, you hear this all the time, right? You better be working it out to prove that you are truly a believer of God.

And if you're not, you should question your salvation. And so if I am questioning my salvation, if I'm dead in my sins, can I make myself alive by obeying? No one has made themselves alive, right? So it's always the gospel.

The gospel is always what brings us to life. So if you look at Philippians chapter 1, he talks about how Jesus died for us, literally how he went and he emptied himself, took on the form of a servant, died, was buried, raised again, and therefore God is highly exalted and bestows on him the name of every name.

And it's this glorious picture of what Christ has done. So then he says, by the way, there's nothing negative in Philippians. He's not worried about that. It's all positive. It's encouragement. He says, therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only as in my presence, but all the more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do his good pleasure.

This is really a complicated translation to work out your salvation. Another way of saying this, and you can see it, it's translated, the same word is translated in other sections of the New Testament of make evident or see the reality of.

And what he's saying is Jesus Christ died, did all the work for you, and he is working in you. So take the joy of Christ and what he has done, and he says, give it away. It's in you. Give it out, because the power of the spirit is working in you.

Fear and trembling, he's not saying that to be afraid, like you better obey or else. It's out of reverence and awe. He just said, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that you are the God of the universe.

And so when you're doing the work of the God of the universe, it's kind of like, yeah, you're doing this out of respect and awe for this main reason. You aren't looking to your own evidence to say you can have some pride in it.

You can have some, like, oh, yeah, I've done well. He's saying it's God who works in you. So when this passage is used to beat you down, you need to stop and look at it and say, no, he faithfully died on the cross.

He came and brought me to life. And for the king's sake, I can't believe that I get to go and do the works that he's put inside of me. He's working inside me. And now Paul says, go do that. You're already obeying.

Keep doing that. So that's why I hold to a Reformed confessional perspective of the Bible. It's leading me to see that rest in Christ is not based upon my works. When I rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ and in my justification, knowing it's fully by faith and that God has granted that to me, I now have every reason to go and be gentle and kind and patient and sacrifice and godly.

I don't do it out of fear. I do it out of joy, which is what the confessions tell us and what Paul says. Complete my joy. Complete my joy by doing these things. Hopefully, this was helpful for you. If you would like to ask me any questions or reach out to me, you can do so on our website.

And leave me a comment below. We look forward to engaging with you there. And my encouragement to you is to look into two things, law gospel distinction and what that means and how that's helpful. And when we get into passages that may look like the law or the gospel.

And then the other thing is the order of salutis. We've been taught throughout history that we are first regenerated and then we obey. I think that might help you get some clarity on some of the confusion in law gospel.

Thanks.