JM is questioned about LS

[webdog]

Don't see a biblical thing wrong with this statement. :godisgood:

If Jesus made the Gospel hard...why did He say we need the faith of a child?

 

[Rippon]

If Jesus made the Gospel hard...why did He say we need the faith of a child?

Why did He say narrow is the way and straight is the gate? Why did He say strive to enter?

 

[TCGreek]

I own and have read all three works of Dr. MacArthur on the Lordship issue, but I cannot come to his defense, even as a fellow calvinist.

 

[webdog]

Why did He say narrow is the way and straight is the gate?

Because the path is narrow (by grace through faith only)

Why did He say strive to enter?

See my signature. Grace is opposed to earning...not effort.

 

[Bob Alkire]

I own and have read all three works of Dr. MacArthur on the Lordship issue, but I cannot come to his defense, even as a fellow calvinist.

TC, Thanks, you have turned back the clock. Truth is number one!!! I agree with you 100% and I'm not calvinist. I recall the day when we seemed to get along better with folks who we disagreed with their theology than it looks like we do today. Some of the best minds in the Church over the years haven't got this problem settled and I'm not seeing it getting done today.
I went to a military school in HS and they had most of the pastors from churches near and around Chatham and Danville, Va. come and speak. Most seem to build the others up rather than rip them apart. All knew where they disagreed but out in public were more into getting the Gospel out than fighting over theology.

 

[ReformedBaptist]

This Lordship Controversy issue has been interesting. I think its been good to the degree that it is bringing attention to an important doctrine: the nature of faith. What is still a question in my mind is why those who oppose JM in this think he is teaching a works-based salvation message/gospel. While I am still exploring the answer to that, I am beginning to think its because those in that camp have an unbiblical understanding of the nature of faith. Consider:

Question: Does the lordship view teach salvation by works?

No, absolutely not. God grants repentance (2 Tim. 2:25) when He changes the heart at the moment of regeneration (Titus 3:5-7), and makes the sinner into a new creature (2 Cor. 5:17). We are not saved by works (Eph. 2:8-9), but we are saved unto good works (Eph. 2:10). We are freed from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2) and made slaves to righteousness (Rom. 6:22). Works (meaning "acts of obedience") are not a precondition for salvation. But they do characterize the lives of those who have been genuinely saved (Rom. 8:5-9).
http://www.gty.org/Resources/Issues&Answers/2545

The accusation, so it seems, is that Mac is teaching salvation by works. He emphatically states that acts of obedience are not a precondition for salvation but that they characterize the lives of those who have been truly saved. Let me be on record as saying..AMEN!

In another place it was taught that the thief on the cross proves Mac's position wrong. But listen to how Mac explains this because of someone who posed the question to him:

One reader cited the thief on the cross as an exception to this rule. But that thief bore more fruit in a few minutes than many churchgoers bear in an entire lifetime. His repentance was manifested by a striking change in behavior. He did count the cost; he acknowledged that his cross was just and deserved. And he did bow to Christ's lordship; "Lord" is how he addressed the Savior. That dying thief was no example of inactive, fruitless faith.

To this, again, I say AMEN!

One last snipet from JM.

QUESTION: Why do you use language like "forsake everything," "death to self," and "unconditional surrender"? The absoluteness of those demands is intimidating. Aren't you afraid you'll turn people away from Christ?

Actually, it was Jesus himself who said, "Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:33 KJV). And he said, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:23).

Jesus also preached, "If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off ... and if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off ... and if your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into hell" (Mark 9:43-47). And, "I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.... He who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me" (Matt. 10:35, 38). And, "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26).

It was Jesus, after all, who first stated, "No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62).

We could go on and on quoting from Jesus' hard sayings, which he often preached to unbelieving multitudes but never offset with any qualification. Clearly he was insisting on wholehearted commitment. He did not soften his demands with words that would accommodate the halfhearted.

Our Lord was certainly not fearful that people would be turned away by such hard demands. He said, "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me" (John 6:37). Likewise, I am confident that those being drawn by the Father and convicted by the Holy Spirit will not be turned away by the straightforward truth of his Word.

Again I say, AMEN!!!