Bulletin Articles
OBEDIENCE IS ESSENTIAL!
OBEDIENCE IS ESSENTIAL!
I know it’s hard to believe, but there are some so-called “Christians” who do not believe that obedience is essential to salvation. Instead, they argue that salvation is “by faith alone, apart from any acts of obedience.” They also believe that once someone has been saved, they cannot be lost – aka, “once saved, always saved.” Faithful Christians have fought against such false doctrines for as long as I can remember. Once again, I know that for those who believe the Bible, it is hard to believe that anyone would deny the need to obey the Lord. So, in this article, I wanted to provide some actual proof that this is not a “made-up” controversy; that some actually do teach these things.
To begin, I shall quote a man named Sam Morris, who is a Baptist preacher: “We take the position that a Christian’s sins do not damn his soul! The way a Christian lives, what he says, his character, his conduct, or his attitude toward other people have nothing whatever to do with the salvation of his soul… All the prayers a man may pray, all the Bibles he may read, all the churches he may belong to, all the services he may attend, all the sermons he may practice, all the debt he may pay, all the ordinances he may observe, all the laws he may keep, all the benevolent acts he may perform, will not make his soul one wit safer; and all the sins he may commit from idolatry to murder will not make his soul in any more danger… The way a man lives has nothing whatever to do with the salvation of his soul.” (From: A Discussion Which Involves a Subject Pertinent to All Men).
Another man, named Bill Foster, said, “If I killed my wife and mother, and debauched a thousand women, I couldn’t go to hell – in fact, I couldn’t go to hell if I wanted to. If, on the judgment day, I should find that my loved ones are lost and should lose all desire to be saved, and should beg God to send me to hell with them, He couldn’t do it.” (From: The Weekly Worker, March 12, 1959).
Now friends, I do not know how these men could have been any plainer! According to them, whether you obey the Lord or not has nothing to do with salvation. Simply put, they do not believe obedience is essential to salvation! And these are just two examples of many which could be cited. Now, let’s compare that with the word of God…
“But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: ‘We ought to obey God rather than men’” (Ac.5:29).
“But to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness — indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek” (Rm.2:8-9).
“Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” (Rm.6:16-18).
“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?” (Ga.3:1).
“And to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,
in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2Th.1:7-9).
“Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Hb.5:8-9).
“For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1Pt.4:17).
After reading the above, let me ask you: “Who do you believe, God or men?”
--Lanny Smith
