A few years ago I attended an Athletes International Ministries luncheon. I was pretty excited because Michael "Little Hands of Stone" Carbajal and Earnie "Black Destroyer" Shavers were the keynote speakers. I really enjoyed listening to the testimony of Shavers. He recounted the time that he fought Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden back in 1977. Ali said that Shavers was one of the toughest men he ever fought.
Near the end of his speech Mr. Shavers asked everyone in the room to bow their heads in prayer. Dutifully everyone did so. I can't remember the exact words, but they went something like this:
Shavers: "Please repeat after me. Dear Jesus, I am sorry for my sins."
Crowd: "Dear Jesus, I am sorry for my sins."
Shavers: "I want to ask you into my heart as my savior today."
Crowd: "I want to ask you into my heart as my savior today."
Shavers: "Amen!"
Crowd: "Amen!"
Shavers: "Who here prayed that prayer for the first time in your life?"
In a crowd of about 2oo, four hands went up.
Shavers: "I want everyone to give these folks a big hand and welcome them into the kingdom of God!"
I almost fell out of my chair. I once read a story about a king that marched his troops through a nearby river in order to "baptize" them. His theory was that if he got them wet, their souls would be saved. Mr. Shavers' theory isn't much different. If you get folks to recite a prayer, then they're saved! Are they?
One of the most often quoted scriptures in the Bible is John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." If you can remember back that far, there was a guy in the 1970's that used to figure out the camera angles at every big sporting event. He always sported a rainbow colored wig and usually had a sign with John 3:16 brightly displayed. Most casual church attenders are at least somewhat familiar with this passage.
On the face of it, the verse seems pretty straight forward. If you believe in Jesus you're saved. It sounds simple enough to me. Is it? Let's look at another passage that I mentioned earlier this week. James 2:19b . . . the demons also believe, and shudder. Are the demons saved? They certainly believe. They more than human beings, have been around long enough to see God's power demonstrated in the Lord Jesus Christ. Even though they are created beings and therefore finite, have seen all of the evidence. They were certainly there at the crucifixion. They saw Jesus' body laid in the tomb. They watched as the most incredible miracle in history occurred when God raised Jesus from the dead. Of course they believe!
Against this evidence alone we can see that to believe MUST mean more than an intellectual affirmation of facts about the Son of God. First, I must affirm that faith in Christ alone is all that is necessary for salvation. The so-called "good" works of men, (Isaiah 64:6), are not only insufficient to save you, but if you ADD works to the Gospel of Christ, the Gospel is no longer the Gospel and it has no power to save. (Galatians 1) So what is faith? A dictionary definition alone is certainly not enough to explain it. The proper way to understand the Bible is to let the Bible interpret the Bible.
John wrote John 3:16, so our best bet for proper interpretation is the words of John himself. In this case we don't have far to go. John 3:36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (italics mine) John is setting up a comparison here. He is making an equation between belief and obedience. Are there other passages that would support this? James 2:14 "What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?" According to this passage the answer is clearly NO! Wait a minute! D. L., didn't you just say that if you add works to the Gospel it can't save you? Yes I did. Again, context is king.
The passage in James 2 has been the most misunderstood passage in all of Christendom. It has been used by many cults and false, so-called Christian religions to enslave their practitioners to liturgies, sacraments, rights and rituals that ultimately will cause their demise. James 2:20-24 is that passage that caused Martin Luther to declare the entire Book of James to be the "Epistle of Straw". It states, "But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone."
Are works involved in salvation? Yes. Do works need to be added to faith in order to be saved? Absolutely NOT! Is this just my opinion? Allow me to prove it. James 2:20-24 uses Abraham as the example to make James' point. Here's the big question. When was Abraham saved? Genesis 15:6 is not only quoted here, "Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness", but is also quoted by Paul in two other passages, (Galatians 3:6 and Romans 4:3) as the declaration of Abraham's salvation. How old was Abraham in Genesis 15? He was 80 years old. At 80 Abraham was declared right before God. James continues with his example. The DEMONSTRATION of Abraham's faith was when he "offered up Isaac his son on the altar." How old was Abraham when that happened? He was 100 years old when Isaac was born. It must be assumed that Isaac must have at least been a strapping young teenager when he went with his father out into the wilderness in Genesis 22. Some have suggested that he could have been in his 30's. Here's the point. God declared Abraham righteous when he was 80. Abraham demonstrated that his faith was REAL when he sacrificed his son Isaac at least 35 years later. James could not and was not saying that you need to add works to faith to be saved. What he was telling his reader was that if you SAY you have faith, but no works follow, you don't really have faith at all! James 2:18 "But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” Notice that the conversation that James is having is NOT demonstrating good works for God, but demonstrating good works in the sight of other men, including ourselves.
One of those men that need that demonstration in order to KNOW if he is saved is ME. John gave this test in 1 John 4:7-8 "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love." Paul commanded us to examine ourselves in 2 Corinthians 13:5 "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?" There are 13 tests in 1 John for people like me to "test" myself to see if I am "in the faith". Let's face it, if I don't love, then I'm not a Christian. If no "good works" are present in my life, then I'm not saved. 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." If no new thing have come, it didn't happen.
Belief is more than an affirmation of a set of facts. True belief is a conviction and will ALWAYS produce action. Before we are saved, good works and faith are mortal enemies. (If we add our "good works" to faith, it's not the Gospel and our faith cannot save us.) After we are saved, good works and faith are inseparable twins. (If there is no evidence of a changed life, then salvation NEVER HAPPENED.)
His servant,
D. L. Culiver
Near the end of his speech Mr. Shavers asked everyone in the room to bow their heads in prayer. Dutifully everyone did so. I can't remember the exact words, but they went something like this:
Shavers: "Please repeat after me. Dear Jesus, I am sorry for my sins."
Crowd: "Dear Jesus, I am sorry for my sins."
Shavers: "I want to ask you into my heart as my savior today."
Crowd: "I want to ask you into my heart as my savior today."
Shavers: "Amen!"
Crowd: "Amen!"
Shavers: "Who here prayed that prayer for the first time in your life?"
In a crowd of about 2oo, four hands went up.
Shavers: "I want everyone to give these folks a big hand and welcome them into the kingdom of God!"
I almost fell out of my chair. I once read a story about a king that marched his troops through a nearby river in order to "baptize" them. His theory was that if he got them wet, their souls would be saved. Mr. Shavers' theory isn't much different. If you get folks to recite a prayer, then they're saved! Are they?
One of the most often quoted scriptures in the Bible is John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." If you can remember back that far, there was a guy in the 1970's that used to figure out the camera angles at every big sporting event. He always sported a rainbow colored wig and usually had a sign with John 3:16 brightly displayed. Most casual church attenders are at least somewhat familiar with this passage.
On the face of it, the verse seems pretty straight forward. If you believe in Jesus you're saved. It sounds simple enough to me. Is it? Let's look at another passage that I mentioned earlier this week. James 2:19b . . . the demons also believe, and shudder. Are the demons saved? They certainly believe. They more than human beings, have been around long enough to see God's power demonstrated in the Lord Jesus Christ. Even though they are created beings and therefore finite, have seen all of the evidence. They were certainly there at the crucifixion. They saw Jesus' body laid in the tomb. They watched as the most incredible miracle in history occurred when God raised Jesus from the dead. Of course they believe!
Against this evidence alone we can see that to believe MUST mean more than an intellectual affirmation of facts about the Son of God. First, I must affirm that faith in Christ alone is all that is necessary for salvation. The so-called "good" works of men, (Isaiah 64:6), are not only insufficient to save you, but if you ADD works to the Gospel of Christ, the Gospel is no longer the Gospel and it has no power to save. (Galatians 1) So what is faith? A dictionary definition alone is certainly not enough to explain it. The proper way to understand the Bible is to let the Bible interpret the Bible.
John wrote John 3:16, so our best bet for proper interpretation is the words of John himself. In this case we don't have far to go. John 3:36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (italics mine) John is setting up a comparison here. He is making an equation between belief and obedience. Are there other passages that would support this? James 2:14 "What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?" According to this passage the answer is clearly NO! Wait a minute! D. L., didn't you just say that if you add works to the Gospel it can't save you? Yes I did. Again, context is king.
The passage in James 2 has been the most misunderstood passage in all of Christendom. It has been used by many cults and false, so-called Christian religions to enslave their practitioners to liturgies, sacraments, rights and rituals that ultimately will cause their demise. James 2:20-24 is that passage that caused Martin Luther to declare the entire Book of James to be the "Epistle of Straw". It states, "But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone."
Are works involved in salvation? Yes. Do works need to be added to faith in order to be saved? Absolutely NOT! Is this just my opinion? Allow me to prove it. James 2:20-24 uses Abraham as the example to make James' point. Here's the big question. When was Abraham saved? Genesis 15:6 is not only quoted here, "Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness", but is also quoted by Paul in two other passages, (Galatians 3:6 and Romans 4:3) as the declaration of Abraham's salvation. How old was Abraham in Genesis 15? He was 80 years old. At 80 Abraham was declared right before God. James continues with his example. The DEMONSTRATION of Abraham's faith was when he "offered up Isaac his son on the altar." How old was Abraham when that happened? He was 100 years old when Isaac was born. It must be assumed that Isaac must have at least been a strapping young teenager when he went with his father out into the wilderness in Genesis 22. Some have suggested that he could have been in his 30's. Here's the point. God declared Abraham righteous when he was 80. Abraham demonstrated that his faith was REAL when he sacrificed his son Isaac at least 35 years later. James could not and was not saying that you need to add works to faith to be saved. What he was telling his reader was that if you SAY you have faith, but no works follow, you don't really have faith at all! James 2:18 "But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” Notice that the conversation that James is having is NOT demonstrating good works for God, but demonstrating good works in the sight of other men, including ourselves.
One of those men that need that demonstration in order to KNOW if he is saved is ME. John gave this test in 1 John 4:7-8 "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love." Paul commanded us to examine ourselves in 2 Corinthians 13:5 "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?" There are 13 tests in 1 John for people like me to "test" myself to see if I am "in the faith". Let's face it, if I don't love, then I'm not a Christian. If no "good works" are present in my life, then I'm not saved. 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." If no new thing have come, it didn't happen.
Belief is more than an affirmation of a set of facts. True belief is a conviction and will ALWAYS produce action. Before we are saved, good works and faith are mortal enemies. (If we add our "good works" to faith, it's not the Gospel and our faith cannot save us.) After we are saved, good works and faith are inseparable twins. (If there is no evidence of a changed life, then salvation NEVER HAPPENED.)
His servant,
D. L. Culiver
Very nicely done.
ReplyDeleteAmen, it bothers me that some think a prayer or a simple professing of the lips of believe means salvation. It all must be backed up by evidence of a changed lifestyle. God Bless you man and keep shining his light!
ReplyDeleteYour brother in Christ, Tommy
typo..belief not believe! lol
ReplyDelete