I
Heard A Preacher Say “Turn From Sin” To
Be Saved! Is He Teaching Lordship Salvation?
By David J. Stewart |
December 2013 | Updated November 2022
Not necessarily! A lot of good preachers use that terminology, but I don't
like it because it's not found in the Bible. Likewise, I don't like the term
“Trinity” because it's not found in the Bible. However, the all-important
word “Godhead” is found in Acts 17:29; Romans 1:20 and Colossians 2:9 in the
King James Bible. All modern corrupted Bibles remove the word completely to
attack the Lord's deity (that He is almighty God). Gotta love the dear King
James Bible!!!
A man once wrote to me, saying that he'd read where Evangelist Oliver B.
Greene, Pastor John R. Rice and Brother Lester Roloff had use the phrase
“turn from sin” concerning
salvation in their sermons. The man asked me to expose these great men of God as heretics
for teaching the lie of
Lordship
Salvation. However, as you will see, they certainly weren't
teaching heresy. I have found at least two dozen variations of the Lordship
Salvation heresy amongst today's numerous radio preachers, Bible colleges
and pastors. One way or another they all errantly place the burden of sin
upon the sinner, instead of allowing Christ to bear the total weight of our
sins as the Bible teaches (2nd Corinthians 5:21).
- First, we must understand (and not forget)
that man's words are NOT inspired nor infallible as are GOD'S WORDS IN THE
BIBLE. Charles Spurgeon was a prolific author. Yet, Spurgeon's words were not
infallible, nor inspired. Our Final Authority is THE BIBLE!
- Second, we must understand that truth often
exists in paradoxes. The Bible is filled with examples of apparent (or
alleged) discrepancies, simply due to the paradoxical nature of truth.
For
example: Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall
be called the children of God.” Matthew 10:34, “Think not that I am come
to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.”
Jesus said that He didn't come to bring peace to earth, but a sword. So
why did the angel proclaim peace on earth at Jesus' birth?
Romans 5:1, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jesus didn't come to bring us peace
because JESUS IS OUR PEACE. Matthew 10:35, “For I am come to set a
man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother,
and the daughter in law against her mother in law.” Truth divides
families and churches!!! Ephesians 2:14, “For
he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down
the middle wall of partition between us.” So as we see, there is
no discrepancy at all. Only the cross of Jesus Christ can restore peaceful
harmony between God and man. God didn't promise peace to the earth; but
rather, God promises peace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
- We must be extremely careful about labeling every man of God who teaches
that we must “turn from sin” to be saved as a heretic, because many of them,
especially the older preachers like Charles Spurgeon, Lester Roloff, John R.
Rice and Oliver B. Greene,
didn't mean what people are trying to attribute them as saying. You cannot
determine any man's beliefs based upon one quote. The same is true of the
Bible.
In the following helpful video by Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995),
he explains that it DEPENDS on what a preacher means by “repent of
sin”...
Dr. John R. Rice DIDN'T Teach Lordship Salvation
For example:
Here is a quote from the beloved
Dr. John R. Rice...
“To repent literally means
to have a change of mind or spirit toward God and toward sin. It means
to turn from your sins, earnestly, with all your heart, and trust in
Jesus Christ to save you. You can see, then, how the man who believes in
Christ repents and the man who repents believes in Christ. The jailer
repented when he turned from sin to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ”
(John R. Rice, What Must I Do to Be Saved?, 1940).
Now, the above statement can really be
distorted if you don't read carefully what Brother Rice says. Dr. Rice
clearly states that he views repentance and faith toward our Lord Jesus
Christ as one in the same... “You can see, then, how the man who
believes in Christ repents and the man who repents believes in Christ.”
Thus, the “turning from sin” which Brother Rice speaks of is only in the
sense of a realization of one's guilt; not actually ceasing from committing
sin as a prerequisite to salvation.
Considering this quote by itself, one could be
misled to believe that Brother Rice was teaching Lordship Salvation; BUT, he
certainly is not. Dr. Rice goes on to state...
The change in your heart, sinner, is God's part and you may be sure He will
attend to that. Your part is to simply believe in Him. Whatever else is
necessary in your eternal salvation, the Lord attends to when you trust in
Him, or believe in Him.
SOURCE:
What Must I DO To Be Saved, by Dr. John R. Rice
Did you read what Dr. Rice said?, "The change
is in your heart..." This is exactly what Brother Hutson and Pastor
Hyles taught. Salvation is of the heart; not of works. Salvation is of God, not man. Our part is simply
to believe, but it is God who changes our heart. Dr. Rice further
states...
“One who believes
in Christ has repented.”
SOURCE:
What Must I DO To Be Saved, by Dr. John R. Rice
This statement alone by Dr. John R. Rice
clearly shows that he didn't believe in Lordship Salvation!
It bothers me when Baptist churches skew (a
slanted position) Dr. Rice's writings, misrepresenting what he really
taught. Anyone who represents Dr. Rice as teaching that you have to turn
from sins, as a separate act from believing, is slandering him! Please
read what Dr. Rice actually believes and teaches:
There are those
hyper-dispensationalists who think that John the Baptist preached a
different Gospel from Christ when he commanded repentance (Matt.
3:2). But it is the same repentance Jesus commanded in Matthew 4:17,
in Luke 13:3 and 5, and the same repentance that Paul preached in
Athens that God “now commandeth all men every where to repent” (Acts
17:30 31). Repentance is not a different plan of salvation from
having faith: it is part of the same plan of salvation. Or
rather repentance is simply another way of describing or looking at
the plan of salvation. One who turns from sin to God has done so
by trusting in Jesus Christ. A change of mind toward sin is
necessarily involved in saving faith.
Everyone who genuinely repented under the preaching of John the
Baptist put his trust in the Saviour John the Baptist preached, and
was regenerated. There is no such thing as being “a disciple of John
the Baptist” in any honest sense without being a disciple of Jesus,
that is, without trusting Christ for salvation. [emphasis added]
SOURCE: Evangelist John R. Rice, “Acts: Filled With The Spirit,” pp.
251-252; Sword Of The Lord, Murfreesboro, Tennessee; ©1963
Oh dear friend, that is so beautiful. Please
don't miss it! I have heard
Missionary David W. Cloud and other false teachers, attempt to
portray Dr. Rice as a proponent of Lordship Salvation, saying he taught
that people must turn away from a lifestyle of sin to be saved. David
Cloud even goes as far as to pitch Dr. John R. Rice against his
successor Pastor Curtis Hutson (1934-1995). I explain this issue in the
preceding hyperlink. Mr. Cloud claims that Curtis Hutson leaves off
repentance, thus corrupting the Gospel.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
I guarantee you that neither Oliver B. Greene, nor Lester Roloff, nor John
R. Rice, believed
that a person had to forsake sinful bad habits to be saved. What they did
believe, and I do too, is that a person must realize their guilty condition
as a needy sinner in order
to be saved. Romans 3:19 teaches that God gave mankind the Law so that “all
the world may become guilty before God.” That is what Brother Rice is saying.
Galatians 3:25-26 says that the Law is a school teacher that points us to
the Master (Jesus Christ) for salvation.
The word
"repent" in the Bible means, “A CHANGE OF MIND,” but we don't know exactly
what that change of mind is. I think Dr. Jack Hyles explains repentance the
best, and I agree with him 100%.In Brother Hyle's
book, Enemies of Soulwinning, in the chapter
Misunderstood Repentance, he states:
So, from what must a
person repent in order to be saved? He must repent of that which makes
him lost. Since "believing not" makes him lost, "believing" makes him
saved. In repentance there is a turning from the thing that keeps him
from being saved to the thing that saves him. So, yes, there is a repentance
from unbelief in order to believe. It is simply a change of direction. It means
a turning around. You are going away from believing, and you decide to turn
around and believe. You change your direction; you change your mind. With your
will you believe and rely upon Christ to save you. In order to believe, you have
to repent of unbelief. That which makes a man lost must be corrected.
Dr. Hyles loved, promoted and honored Bro.
Roloff often. Do you think Bro. Hyles would have honored Bro. Roloff if he
taught heresy? No way! Obviously, many great men of God used (and use)
the phrase "turn from sin" when preaching about salvation. I don't
think they should have used that phrase, because it is UNBIBLICAL.
However, in the case of
Oliver B. Greene, John R. Rice, Charles H. Spurgeon, Dwight L. Moody and Lester
Roloff—they are all referring to the evidence that only the indwelling Holy
Spirit can generate in a believer—a changed life! But please understand
that living a changed life is NOT proof of being saved, because even
unsaved religious people (like Roman Catholics, Seventh-Day Adventists
and Mormons) can live a changed life too. The ONLY thing that a
Christian has to prove that they are saved, which an unsaved person
cannot have, is the indwelling Holy Spirit. What saith the Scripture?
1st John 3:24, “And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him,
and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the
Spirit which he hath given us.” That is something that ONLY YOU
can know, as an individual. That is the purpose for which God authored
the Epistle of 1st John (1st John 5:13).
I love this video. God used a drunk Christian
man to rebuke Ray Comfort's damnable Calvinist heresy that you must
"repent of your sins" to get to Heaven...
Heretics On Salvation
However, here are some heretics that clearly
teach works salvation:
I expose pastor, John MacArthur, because he foolishly teaches...
"Salvation isn't the result
of an intellectual exercise. It comes from a life lived in obedience
and service to Christ as revealed in the Scripture; it's the
fruit of actions, not intentions. There's no room for passive
spectators: words without actions are empty and futile...The life we
live, not the words we speak, determines our eternal destiny" (Hard
to Believe, p. 93). [emphasis
added]
Well MacArthur certainly makes it hard to
believe! MacArthur speaks blasphemous lies! Salvation is
receiving; not giving. It is obvious that MacArthur is teaching works
salvation, even though he repeatedly teaches salvation by grace through
faith in other places. MacArthur is confused and confusing at best. Did you
know that
Mormons and
Seventh Day Adventists teach the same false understanding of repentance
as John MacArthur!
Ray
Comfort agrees with the Jehovah's Witnesses!
Evangelist,
Ray Comfort, has
also become entangled into this new evangelical misunderstanding of
repentance.
I know many old preachers who say that a person should receive Jesus as
their "Lord and Savior." I could technically criticize them for preaching
Lordship Salvation," but I'd be dead wrong. Jesus is the Lord and
everyone who gets saved has already received Christ as their Lord (i.e., the
one supreme in authority, God). We don't make Jesus Lord; He is Lord! The
idea of "making a commitment" or "surrendering" to Christ is Christian
discipleship and has nothing to do with being saved. Salvation is a
free gift.
I expose the Salvation Army, because they clearly teach works salvation. If
you look at the Salvation Army's list of doctrines, you'll come down to
doctrine # 9, which reads as follows...
"We believe that
continuance in a state of salvation depends upon continued obedient
faith in Christ."
SOURCE:
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Wolves/salvation_army_heresy.htm
It's damnable heresy! If someone can show me
anywhere where Lester Roloff, John R. Rice or Oliver B. Greene taught that
doctrine I'll expose them as heretics too.
Repentance Is Recognizing My Need
For The Savior As A Sinner!
It's as simple as this... if you realize that you're enough of a sinner to
need the Savior, then come to Him and you will be saved! Jesus PROMISED in
John 6:37 that
“Him That Cometh To Me I Will In No Wise Cast Out.” Don't let
anyone sell you on the lie that you have to first be sorry for your sins, or
be willing to give up sinful bad habits or forsake the world to be saved. No
you don't! All you need to do to be saved is believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ (Acts 16:30-31).
This is definitely a delicate issue. Certainly, Lester Roloff and
Oliver B. Greene are not wrong on repentance. When viewed from the Lordship Salvation window of our time, it may appear that preachers who
used the phrase "turn
from sin" back then were heretics; but preachers back then taught
salvation and repentance from sin as almost being synonymous, because
genuine repentance brings forth new life—i.e., a changed life.
However, none of the great preachers of the past required sinners to forsake
the act of sin as a prerequisite to be saved. No, rather, they simply
taught that genuine repentance is mandatory for true salvation, which brings
forth a life of righteousness. Of course, even the best of Christians
still sin every day, and the Bible if filled with flawed believers who
messed up horribly. There is a fine line between seeing our sinnership and
recognizing our need for the Savior; verses the turning from sin that false
prophets require for people to get saved.
If we're wrong on repentance as believers, then we're wrong on everything
else too.
Romans 4:5 plainly teaches that a man's
faith is COUNTED for righteousness, i.e., the righteousness of Jesus
Christ is imputed to one's heavenly record by faith.
"Repentance is the recognition of my
sinnership — the owning before God that I am as vile as He has declared me to be
in His holy Word."
SOURCE:
Except Ye Repent, by Dr. Harry Ironside,
chapter 3
Repentance and faith are inseparable. The Gospel of John mentions the word "believe" 85-times; but the word
"repent" is never mentioned even once. In genuine salvation, one
who believes on Jesus Christ has repented; and one who repents has
believed on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.
