Zeal without knowledge by doug sehorne

ZEAL WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE A Doctrinal Essay Covering the Topics of Easy-believism, Repentance and the Lordship of Christ as they Relate to Salvation By: Evangelist Doug Sehorne About The Author: Pastor Doug Sehorne was born and reared in Southeastern Kentucky. Saved at age fifteen, he began preaching one year later.

Upon graduation from High School, he attended Bible College where he met his lovely wife, Vickie Anderson, to whom he has been happily married since 1972.

Brother Sehorne is a hard hitting, dynamic, yet compassionate preacher of the Gospel. He is an independent, fundamental, separated, local church, Baptist, KJV preacher in his stand for the truth.

He can be reached for special meetings and revivals at the following address:

Evangelist Doug Sehorne 127 Pennsylvania Ave. Round O, SC 29474 kjv.revivals@gmail.com www.kjvrevivals.webs.com

Zeal Without Knowledge

Title: Zeal Without Knowledge Š 1992, 1994, 2012 Publisher: King James Baptist Publishers 127 Pennsylvania Ave. Round O, SC 29474 803-386-3161

DEDICATION This little booklet is dedicated to all the "little preachers" and their "little churches", whom our Lord referred to as His "little flock" (Luke 12:31,32).

Evangelist Doug Sehorne January, 1992 December, 2012

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INTRODUCTION TO THIS NEW EDITION We have no qualms with soul-winning. Matter of fact, my brethren who hold to the RepentanceLordship position are among the most zealous, soulwinning, missions-minded preachers that I know.

However, we are against unscriptural, watereddown soul-winning, that makes a person "two-fold more the child of hell". The men who hold to the easy-believism position do not understand that Jesus is Lord; and that the sinner must recognize Jesus as Lord, acknowledge that he has been living in rebellion against His Lordship; repent of this rebellion; and desire to begin a life of obedience to His Lordship.

As repentance is an attitude toward sin, so Lordship is an attitude toward the person of Christ. There are no works involved here, only the attitude of the heart. As repentance involves no promise to never sin again, so Lordship involves no promise to always live obediently. It involves attitude, the desire of the heart. This is the teaching of the sower and the soils. The soil has to be in the right condition to receive the seed. The heart must be repentant, surrendered, and believing in order for the seed of the gospel to take root and bring forth fruit. God does not save rebels; only repentant sinners. This quote sums it up: "If rebellion is the essence of sin, then submission must be the essence of salvation."

Please compare John 3:16 with John 2:24, where the word "believe" in 3:16, is translated "commit" in 2

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2:24. The King James translators (the greatest Greek scholars of any age) understood that even faith (believe) is more than mere mental assent. It involved a commitment of ones' self to Christ. Cf. 2nd Tim 1:12.

After reading this book, you will no longer have "zeal without knowledge". And if you "sin against the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." This is a serious consequence, indeed! Think about it!

Romans 10:2, “For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.�

Table Of Contents BOOK ONE: Fundamentalism, Easy-Believism and the Church - Pages 4 - 29 BOOK TWO: Repentance - What saith the Scriptures? - Pages 30 - 48 BOOK THREE: Lordship Salvation In Light of the Scriptures - Pages 49 - 75 BOOK FOUR: Clarifying the Gospel - Answering Dr. Jack Hyles - Pages 76 - 93 BOOK FIVE: Soul-Winning the Bible Way Pages 94 - 99

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FUNDAMENTALISM, EASY BELIEVISM, AND THE CHURCH Introduction: To the absolute shock of many, there is a great difference between Fundamentalism and the Church. To the ignorant majority, they are one and the same. However, the Bible says nothing of "fundamentalism”, but much about the Church.  The Church has her LORD, fundamentalism only has "leaders."  The Church is a divine institution, fundamentalism is a man-made movement.  The Church has the promise of perpetuity, fundamentalism has no declared future.  The Church began with Christ, fundamentalism with a committee.  The Church has Revivals, fundamentalists hold conferences.  Churches exalt Christ, fundamentalists promote one another.  Churches have preaching, fundamentalists have programs.  Churches are local, fundamentalists are "nationally known."  When fundamentalism is a thing of the past, Churches will still be kicking at the gates of Hell!  Churches discipline their members, fundamentalists cover for one another.  Churches have a Potentate, fundamentalism only has personalities.

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GOOD NEWS I have good news for young preachers (and old ones humble enough to listen). FUNDAMENTALISM IS NOT THE CHURCH, AND THE CHURCH IS NOT DEPENDENT UPON FUNDAMENTALISM FOR ITS FUTURE EXISTENCE. A true church is dependent only on the Blood, the Bible, and the Holy Ghost! AMEN! HYLES' PASTORS SCHOOL I just received an advertisement (1992) of four full pages from Pastor’s School. The name of Christ was not mentioned once, while Hyles referred to himself over thirty times. Well, I suppose that it is HIS school. The flyer went on to promote the attendance of the School by offering cars, jewelry, buses, Hyles' sermons, and cash rewards to the Pastor bringing the most delegates.

What a religious circus! These things will certainly appeal to the flesh, but will also surely grieve the Holy Ghost.

Another part of the advertisement states that Hyles will "teach his philosophies of a life time never before made public." Is he elevating his philosophies above the Word of God? Is he saying that his "philosophies" are not scriptural, since the Bible is a public book?

SURPRISED! To be honest, I was surprised to see several preachers listed as either supporting the school, or preaching in it. I know some of these men, and they have stated that they do not agree with Hyles' high 5

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pressure, 1-2-3 repeat after me soul-winning methods. I suppose they have compromised truth for money and meetings! What a sorry excuse for a god!

CHAPTER ONE: DOCTRINAL HERESY Normally, heresy begins when you form a "philosophy," and then try to prove it from scripture. Simply put, these prophets of easybelievism do not really believe the King James Bible they wave overhead as they preach. They will not allow it to be their only and final authority. I was speaking to another preacher the other day and gave him scripture for a position that I hold. Since he could not refute scripture, his only response was, "What does Hyles and the BIG preachers believe about that?" Evidently, their "philosophy" was more important than scripture (Mark 7:9).

Please note also, that I am not dealing with any of the alleged adultery, financial discrepancies, double marriages, or any other moral issues concerning these "Big" preachers. We are dealing only with their doctrinal departures in this booklet.

1. REPENTANCE For a complete doctrinal study of this subject please see section two (pg. 23), Repentance: What Saith The Scriptures. It details the inconsistencies of their doctrine. For sake of space, paper, and money, I am not going to list the scriptures dealing with each doctrine, trusting that you are not too lazy to look them up and study them for yourself: Luke 6

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13:3-5; 14:25-27; 24:47; Acts 17:30; 2:38; 3:19; 20:21. These scriptures teach that all men, of all ages, of all nations must repent.

Ex 13:17, And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:Here we see that repentance means “to return” or turn back. Repentance involves a turning!

Ezekiel 18:30, “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.”

Scripturally defined, it is a change of mind that always results in a change of behavior and lifestyle.

The easy-believism crowd does not believe that or they would reduce their convert statistics by 90%.

But that would not be approved by the "leaders," now would it?

I speak from experience. I pastored one church in the early 80's that had 716 professions of faith and 70 baptisms and was listed 19th in the nation in the Sword of the Lord for number of converts that year.

This was all done using the easy-believism plan of soul-winning and follow up. We grew one family that year. One family out of 716 professions.

Something was rotten in Denmark! I'm doing better than that now without deceiving 700 people.

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repentance in their soul-winning. Change, faithfulness, and consistency are not easily detected in the lives of their converts.

2. REGENERATION Please study Titus 3:5, 2 Cor. 5:17, and Eph. 2:1,5.

These men must not believe that dead spirits are raised, a divine nature imparted, and a new creature emerges when one is truly born gain. I personally heard Evangelist Dennis Corle say that the reason so many of his converts did not come to church was that they had no "character." He, in essence, was denying the power of the gospel and of the Holy Ghost to impart life, change lives (character) and to move and motivate a true child of God. 3. CHASTENING Read Hebrews 12:5-14. Please note that God does chasten, that He chastens immediately (Acts 5:10), and that the result of chastening is either "holiness" (Heb. 12: 10,14) or the "sin unto death" (1 John 5:17). These men must not believe that or again they would have to reduce their statistics. They believe that God is such a poor Father, that He will allow His children to live years in sin and disobedience before chastening them. Not only from the scriptures, but from experience, I know He does not!

4. FEW SAVED Read Matthew 7:21-27. Notice several things from these verses: not everyone that "prays this prayer" 8

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is saved, and that he that truly gets saved "doeth the will of God" and "heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them." Obedience is the sign of a truly saved person. Also study Matthew 21:28-32. It's not what you say or pray that counts, it is the repentant, believing heart that turns from sin and disobedience that is real. I really would like to hear one of these fellows preach on this text: "and few there be that find it."

5. FAITH PRODUCES WORKS Read Ephesians 2:10 with James 2:14-26. These fundamentalist preachers of easy-believism really do not believe this or again, they would have to reduce their "reports," for most of their converts never darken the door of any church after they are "saved." Why report statistics that show no fruit of repentance and do not pass the test of scripture?

Just doesn't look good in the "Sword of the Lord" now does it?

CONCLUSION I have must conclude that these men are preaching another gospel. They are deceiving thousands of souls into a false profession of faith. Matthew 7:22 will surely come to pass as "fundamentalist" preachers fill Hell with trees without fruit (Matthew 7:19). Only the truth can set you free. If a man does not know the whole truth, a half-truth cannot save him.

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Chapter Two DAMNED SOULS, DEVASTATING RESULTS In January, 1986, I entered the ministry of full-time evangelism and a whole new world of education came my way. It was the Lord's way of delivering me from the false doctrine of easy-believism. I preached over 800 times in 160 different churches in the next four years. What an eye-opener!

One of the things I begin to see was the devastating results of this false soul-winning method, especially in small towns. It will also affect larger towns, if continued long enough. I have several pastor friends who are thoroughly frustrated in their ministries because of some "fundamentalist" church across town. The problem is that almost everyone in the town has made a profession of faith and maybe even been baptized.

So, here comes a fellow to the door with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. You ask him if he's saved. "Oh, yes," he replies, "the preacher from Easy-Believism Baptist Church came by and told me I was saved, baptized me, and I'm a member of his church!" Now, this man has not darkened the door of any church since his profession and baptism, and still drinks, smokes, cusses, and may be living in fornication, etc. The problem is that now no amount of witnessing can convince the man that he never was really saved in the first place. His only hope is if that preacher who "told him he was saved" would go and tell him that he really did not get converted. (I like that word, 10

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don't you?) That's the only honest thing a preacher can do!

If you really desire to do so, just read him 1st John 2:3, 3:9, 3:14, 4:13, and 5:4. His testimony and life will not pass the 1st John test. This is exactly what I do. Instead of reporting another false profession of faith to the "Sword of the Lord", I go back and face the convert and tell him he didn't get converted!

Maybe you have a few (or a bunch) of people you need to go back and be honest with!

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Chapter Three A DOOMED MOVEMENT I have noticed that throughout religious history, movements usually begin for the right reason and with good motives, to win souls and glorify the Son of God. But as time progresses, movements and their leaders usually become their own gods. Since the Lord will not share His Glory with another, He will tear down these kingdoms, empires, and mancentered movements. He alone is to be served and worshipped. He alone is to be exalted.

When His Name is not mentioned, but the "leader's" name is listed over thirty times, we know who has become the "god" of the movement. When this happens, God removes his hand of blessing, and the kingdom crumbles. Then the leaders, in order to save face must resort to bubble gum, cars, cash, and jewelry to give the impression that everything is fine in the kingdom.

Please turn and read Matthew 16:18 and 1st Cor. 3:6,7. Jesus founded HIS Church, will protect HIS church, and will perpetuate HIS Church, without the help of any man-made movement. I wonder how the churches of the dark ages survived without "fundamentalist leaders"?

I have stopped planning, programming, pushing, and pressuring; and have started watering, planting, preaching, and praying. Truly, God must give the increase! If He doesn't give it, then the increase you thought you had, will be sadly missing at the 12

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Judgment Seat of Christ. And their blood will STILL be required at your hands! Ezekiel says that we are simply to "warn" them, not lead them to a false profession of faith, sealing their eternal doom by a religious act. God help us to begin praying and preaching toward an old-fashioned Revival of Holy Ghost conviction and true conversions.

In many of my evangelistic meetings, it was church members who were being saved. One of the greatest mission fields in the world is a "fundamentalist" church. They just would not pass the 1 John test!

I am not against soul-winning. I am against unscriptural, half-truth presentations of the gospel.

Jesus never pulled any punches or withheld any truth from anyone, especially the sinner. In Luke 14, He is speaking to the "multitudes," (definitely an unsaved crowd) and demands that they "forsake all and follow Him." Jesus was not trying to get saved folk to become disciples. SAVED FOLK ARE DISCIPLES. If you don't believe that, then take your Strong's Concordance and do a study of the word "disciples." You will find the word used for new-born converts as well as those mature in faith.

Study Mark 10:17-22.

Any fundamentalist Evangelist would have had the rich young ruler down the aisle and baptized, and his statistic recorded in the "Sword of the Lord". But sadly, the man would have been another lost church member whose number had been used to build the reputation of a great fundamentalist pastor or evangelist. Jesus 13

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preached the LAW to this man! Why? Because He knew that unless a man knows that he has broken the law of God and offended a holy God, he cannot be saved. It is still, "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ."

Let's quit trying to impress one another and start serving God. How heart broken our Lord must be, seeing we have commercialized the Church, compromised the gospel, and made merchandise of the souls of men. James Stewart was right, when in 1945, he wrote that “repentance and Lordship would be the missing elements in future preaching�.

Let's be faithful and leave the results to Him. Let's allow Him to have the preeminence in the Church, and not the attendance board or the baptistry. Let's worship our Lord "in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him." He alone is Lord of the Church and He will not give His glory to another.

BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS! To the honest, open-hearted seeker of truth, let me encourage you to do a little research on your own.

Call some of these men and ask some questions, such as their Wednesday night attendance, and compare that with their baptisms last year. Listen to their flimsy excuses as they try to defend the weak results of the false gospel they present.

Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and other cults are growing and have the look of success as far as the world is concerned. But, that does not mean they 14

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are preaching the gospel. Remember, Jude said that "certain men are crept in" and that they have "turned the grace of our God into lasciviousness."

These men are preaching a grace that allows men to pray a prayer, be baptized, and never show forth any fruit meet for repentance.

BE ENCOURAGED Cheer up, faithful pastor, for your Church may be more doctrinally sound, financially stable, blessed by the presence of God, and more successful in TRUE results than the "BIG" churches!

Everything that glitters is not made of gold!

Pastor your Church to the glory of God. Visit your town, preach the true gospel of God to every sinner.

Shepherd your flock and worship your Savior.

You'll be found "good and faithful" at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Big is not better in Heaven's point of view. Check out 2nd Cor. 10:12 and Zechariah 4:10.

There has always been just a "remnant" serving God. "Be content with such things as ye have," not allowing envy, jealousy, or pride to control your ministry. Glorify God! Preach the whole counsel of God! Preach against every form and fashion of sin, demanding that men repent and turn from their sin. Preach that Jesus saves from SIN. Many sinners want to be saved from Hell, without being saved from sin. THERE JUST AIN'T NO SUCH KIND OF SALVATION! Whom He justifies, He always sanctifies.

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A NO-NO QUESTION Hold on! Get ready to call me "critical and judgmental!" Here goes: Are these fundamentalists, easy-believism preachers truly saved? With all the warnings in scripture about false prophets "crept in unawares," should there not be a note of caution about this situation, today? The scriptures speak not only of many false prophets going out into the world, but those who come into the Churches. We are aware of the obvious false prophets of Mormonism, the Charismatic movement, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the New Evangelicals. But who are these that have “crept in unawares"? A real thought-provoking question!

Who are the "wolves in sheep's clothing" of Matthew 7, who lead many to a false profession of faith, who turn grace into lasciviousness? Just who are these men who have "crept in"?

It may be that these men do not preach the truth because they cannot see the truth. It may be that the reason they preach heresy, is that they have believed heresy.

MY PERSONAL TESTIMONY One of the things that brought me to my spiritual senses was my own testimony. I realized that I was preaching a gospel that I had not experienced. I was demanding less of the sinner than the Holy Ghost had demanded of me. I remembered the seven long months of Holy Ghost conviction, the guilt and the shame. I remembered HIM bringing 16

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my sins before my face and declaring me guilty. I remember knowing that I would have to forsake these sins if I were to be saved.

On Wednesday night, June 11th, 1969, I got on my knees and asked the Lord to save me from my sins.

Thank God, I've not been the same and have never had the desire to go back and live as I did before.

This year, 2012, is my 40th year in the ministry. I praise His Holy Name for all His blessings, for the blessed assurance based on the scriptural results of salvation. Hallelujah! I passed the 1st John test.

It may be that these men cannot see the truth because they are still blind. They cannot preach that which they have never experienced. They cannot demand of sinners that which has never been demanded of them through Holy Ghost conviction.

Let's get away from "Bigness" and back to the Bible, away from this soul-damning heresy and back to the old-fashioned gospel preached by Lester Roloff, Oliver Greene, and others. Away from this weak, anemic gospel that leaves men in their sin and disobedience, and back to the life-changing gospel of the Risen Lord Of Glory!

If you have been blistered or blessed by this booklet, then I have accomplished my purpose. If you have received light and help, I would appreciate hearing from you. My address is on the first page.

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PROOF THAT JOHN R. RICE and many others BELIEVED AND TAUGHT LORDSHIP SALVATION! The following material was anonymously sent to me by another pastor. He researched the "Sword of the Lord" magazine back forty years and concluded that many of the present easy-believism crowd used to believe in "Lordship Salvation," but have changed their position. They had to change either their message or their methods. Evidently, they changed the former. I will give in the following pages the date, author, sermon title, and location of the quotes.

Feb. 1, 1980, John Rice, "Saved In Three Minutes".

"The dying thief surrendered to Jesus as Lord . . .

He called Him Lord . . . Will you right now surrender to Jesus as Lord?"

Dec. 12, 1980, John Rice, "The Angel Said, Merry Christmas Everyone". ". . . claim one of the above promises and receive Him as Lord and Savior today."

"All about Christian Giving". Page 14, John Rice "We ought to give to the Lord Jesus of our money, our time, our praise, our obedience, because we belong to Him. He is the Lord of our lives."

Page 19: ". . .to every Christian Jesus Christ is absolute Lord."

March 22, 1957, At the end of a sermon by Charles Spurgeon, Dr. Rice gave this invitation: "If you will 18

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turn to Christ, take Him as Savior and Lord, in earnest repentance and faith, please sign this statement."

June 26, 1981, John Rice, "Almost Persuaded".

Page 10, last column: "There is only one reason why men are lost. . . and that reason is the wicked love of sin, that rebellion against the will of God, that unwillingness to give up to Jesus Christ, and trust him wholly, and let Him be Lord and Boss of the life."

Oct. 20, 1961, Dr. Jim Mercer, "How To Be Saved and Know It". Page 6, Column 2: ". . .no one can be saved unless Jesus Christ . . .becomes Lord over them . . .The scriptures put his Lordship first.

Saving faith includes repentance, and surrender to Jesus Christ as Lord."

June 22, 1973, Dr. Jack Hyles, "Seeing Him Who Is Invisible". Concerning the conversion of Saul on the Road to Damascus: ". . .he did not know who He was, but he knew who ever He was, He was LORD from then on...If You can make me feel this way, You are my Lord from now on . . .I don't know who You are, but You are my LORD." From "Double Breasted" by Lee Roberson, on Page 82: "When was he saved? When he said, 'LORD.' No man can call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Ghost."

From the Book, "Cowboy Boots in Darkest Africa"

by Dr. Bill Rice, Page 80: "With all the sincerity of my heart, I urge you to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. Receive Him as your Lord and Savior and 19

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do it now."

Sword, Nov. 14, 1975, Dr. R.A. Torrey, "The Most Important Question of The Day". Pg. 10, Col. 3: "Will you enthrone Him as King in your heart? . . .

Will you say honestly to Him, 'Lord Jesus take the throne of my heart and live and reign there supreme'? . . . Confess Him before the world as your Lord and Master . . .Who will begin the confession of Him as Lord?"

June 30, 1961, Dr. Paul Levin, "The Duration of Damnation". Page 12, Col. 4: ". . . Just bow your head, and your knees, too, and tell the Lord Jesus that you receive Him now. By an act of your will, turn yourself over to the Lord Of Glory. Commit yourself to Him. Trust Him. Make Him your Lord."

From the Book, "Ye Must Be Born Again" by Dr. Hyman Appleman, Page 52: "Faith is the opening of the heart, of the soul, of the life for the Lord Jesus Christ to come in . . .Faith is a coming to Jesus Christ now and a surrender of all to Him." From the book, "Repent or Else" by Dr. Vance Havner, Page 117: ". . . no man can knowingly and willfully take Christ as Savior and reject him as Lord and be saved. Paul . . . would not have the jailer take Christ as Savior and think over his Lordship until some later time . . . It is significant that the word 'Savior' occurs only 24 times in the New Testament, while the word 'Lord' is found 433 times."

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OBSERVATIONS Many more quotes could be given from such men as Harold Sightler, Oliver Greene, James Stewart, Lester Roloff, etc. The label "Lordship Salvation" was not needed then to define their view of the gospel. It was the normal and accepted fact that the Lordship of Christ was a part of the gospel.

It seems to me that about the time that Curtis Hutson became editor of the "Sword of the Lord", he edited out all material that presented the Lordship of Christ in Salvation. Some of the men quoted above still believe and preach Lordship in their messages. No criticism is aimed at them.

However, many have changed their message, because it conflicted with their methods and their "reports." No way to be the #1 church if you only count those who show forth the evidence of repentance.

Some one ought to suggest a new category of competition, "MOST SAVED, MOST BAPTIZED, AND MOST STILL IN CHURCH 6 MONTHS LATER." Well, all the evidence in the world will not convince some who do not want to be confused with the facts. But enough has been presented here to prove our point: Today's socalled "fundamentalist (easy-believism) preachers" are not true fundamentalists and are not preaching the same gospel of their forefathers. Someone has changed. Guess who?

Let me leave you with one scripture for thought! Romans 14:9: "For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived that He might be Lord both of the dead and the living." AMEN! 21

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"FUNDAMENTALISM OR FOOLISHNESS" AN OPEN LETTER FROM GARY BANE According to Webster's 1828 dictionary, the word "fundamental" means: "pertaining to the foundation of, a rule or law that serves as the ground work of a system." In comparison, the word "foolish" means: "void of understanding, void of sound judgment, weak in intellect, unwise, acting without judgment, ridiculous, marked with folly, silly, vain, and proceeding from depravity." Quite a comparison, wouldn't you say?

Lately, I have been more aware of the foolishness that seems to be creeping into the so-called fundamental Baptist movement. Many things are being blamed upon the devil with which he has nothing to do. We as weak-minded, spineless, and cowardly preachers are allowing foolish things to go on unconfronted because of our fear of being attacked or being excommunicated from worldly circles of fellowshipping preacherettes. We accept things as truth without ever really finding out for ourselves. We want popularity in the fellowship meetings more than we desire the blessings of Almighty God upon our churches and ourselves.

We do things in the ministry only because we have heard some "big church builder" say that is the way it must be done if we are to be "successful" and as "big" as he thinks he is. We never seem to take the time to research our King James Bible to see what God says about the subject. We spend time and money to go to some super know-it-all conference instead.

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Many of our churches are anemic or dying because we are preaching from one of the "successful" preacher's tapes, books, or class notes. I believe that God is lonely for some preacher to take time to talk to Him about the most important problems of life and church building, as He desires it to be done.

Where are the practices of our historic Baptist forefathers? We seem to be bombarded with new thoughts today about church growth by men who are not mature enough to have new thoughts.

Where is the authority of the local church today?

These super-churches are now trying to eliminate the old time ways of our Baptist heritage. With their financial power, large staffs of robots and their national ministries, they are constantly promoting the idea that "bigger is better." They brag about being led of God to do such and such, but I believe many times it is their super egos instead of being Spirit-led. They have the ability to buy their way into the right circles of our fundamental camps today, to promote their "philosophies of life never before told." They can hire the cream of the crop as staff members and then go on a recruiting campaign to draw the best prospects out of our smaller churches leaving the local pastor with a great task to do and not too many to help him accomplish it.

These religious chancellors never seem to promote anyone but themselves and then train these robots to be 100% for them without question. They all seem to use the guise of fulfilling the great commission, but I wonder if they are only filling their bank accounts and attendance boards.

Why won't 23

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someone take the defense of the local church and expose these religious hucksters? We were excited when some charismatic leaders were caught and exposed in their sin, but allow our so-called Baptist popes to go on and never preach against them because we need them to be our spiritual gurus! We act as though these super-heroes of our movement are infallible just because they say they are. Since when does God turn His head on adultery, stealing, coveting, lusting, money mismanagement and man worship? Why will we not heed the warning of Job 19:29 "Be ye afraid of the sword, for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that we may know there is a judgment"? The sword Job talks about is not from Tennessee either, it is the sword of Almighty God that we must fear and honor.

How can divorced men be used as evangelists or pastors? How can colleges put their stamp of approval upon these men and allow them to go into our churches to represent our Lord? How can legal organizations that are being supported by local church mission giving lay hands on a man that has been proven to be an adulterer, a child abuser, and sexual pervert? How can these unqualified men be at the forefront of our movement? Why do not good men of God separate from these leaders who are hindering national revival?

Why do we feel that we must have a super-hero to follow? Is it our depraved natures that want to worship someone in the flesh? Are we really any different than the Roman Catholic Church? Have our preachers become so weak, that we cannot 24

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know God's truths anymore without an interpreter?

I received an advertisement on bright goldenrod paper recently inviting me to send them some of my hard-earned money so I could come and spend a week in one of our nation's most beautiful locations to see "how we do things at _____." The nightly themes that they are promoting for their easybelievism super conference are topics that any good Bible believing Baptist should be preaching to their people on a regular basis anyway. They said that if I would pay my dues I would have a chance to be a grand prize winner.

I was all excited until I saw that I could never be included in their chapel program or to preach in their church because I am not a graduate of their organization for higher education of easy believism techniques. I was sort of discouraged until I saw that I would be spending my week in the midst of some "men who are doing it." It made me wonder what they were doing that I needed to know! (I bet that if we wait long enough we will find out what these leaders have really been doing.) I knew that I would be rubbing shoulders with fundamental royalty, but I remembered that I have known and even visited some of these churches. Then I came back to the reality that these guys were only human as I am, and that I was just as important to God Almighty as they were. They only have more money to spend on their trip than I would.

All the stories of all the converts and baptisms will be told to impress the little preachers in the crowd, but somehow I wonder where they all are now? Or 25

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more importantly, where will they spend their eternity? What if these big numbers only represent a pawn on some eager staff member's attendance report?

I seemed to be drawn by the big, bold letters on page 3 that said: "Amazing Awards will be given"; an old Buick car, a used mail car, a diamond ring, two busses and tapes of old sermons and a chance to go to the Holy Land and to win cash money up to five thousand dollars, but just then my eye caught two words: "Rules and Numbers". Then I knew what this was all about . . . NUMBERS . . . not the book in our Bible - but how to get more numbers to come to help in the last ditch effort to be old #1 again in "fundamentalism." I was reminded of Proverbs 19:4: "Wealth maketh many friends," and verse 6: "Many will intreat the favor of the prince: and every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts." I learned that I could even win a Bible that hadn't been used very much. Why wasn't I surprised at that either? All this sounds like another dog and pony show to me.

This advertisement also asked me to bring as many of my church members as I could so I could win something for all my effort. I realized that if I did that, it would only confuse them because they know that I have preached against this sort of foolishness ever since I became their Pastor. I knew also that our local church would suffer if I brought many with me. Our deacons, workers, faithful members, and our newest converts would be discouraged by all the "bigness preaching." They might really 26

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believe the preaching of the big shots that say if we aren't baptizing at least 200 every year, we aren't worthy to be called a church. I will not place my good church family under that kind of lying, and besides, I have an old car, a fake diamond ring and many of these sermons on tape. If I won the cash or the $5,000 ring I could buy our church a bus that could be used to bring people to a place where they will be more than just another number, or maybe I could share this money with a true Baptist missionary or preacher in some remote location that cannot ever have a big ministry. I surely would not use it to buy a woman in our church a new car or a new condo!

As I look over this whole situation and invitation to "come see how it's done," I think I'll just stay home, do what I can for my Lord and for the good people He has given me to serve. I think I'll just continue to do things God's way and try not to be influenced by these easy-believism preachers and their numbers racket. I believe I'll just recommit myself to my Lord to preach harder against this modern philosophy of bigness and more on repentance and faith than ever before and continue to preach about my Savior's Lordship over His people. I'll try to encourage true born again believers to watch and be ready for the soon coming Redeemer of their soul who will separate the easy believer from the repentant sinner. What will YOU do!??

Pastor Gary Bane / Keokuk, Iowa (1992) Testimony From Pastor R.R. In Alabama: February 4th, 1994 27

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"...we attended a "revival" at a church in Dothan. I wanted to go just for the sake of seeing for myself what went on in one of these meetings. In this particular case it was Dennis Corle who was speaking and my wife and I were much saddened by the lack of Bible teaching about salvation, though 12 to 15 people were "saved", and then immediately baptized "like they did in the Bible days".

All seemed to be going well, from their standpoint at least, until they were putting the last guy in.

After being asked, "Have you asked Jesus to come into your heart?" (which was about as scriptural as anything else that had happened so far) the young man responded, "Well, I guess so." Surely this would stop "the show"! Nope!!! Without further ado, they put him under!!! Chock up another number for this month's paper!!! Of course, there were several other "decisions." Such as, "I haven't been the Christian I ought to be." WHO HAS? And "I haven't been as good a witness as I could have." WHO HAS? "Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?" (Prov.

20:9) It was really sad to see these folks being led "to the slaughter." Most will never set foot in church again and will have a false assurance of their eternal soul's destiny."

Author's Final Note: A "fundamental" is a law which serves as the ground work of a system. The ground work of fundamentalism included repentance and what we have termed "Lordship Salvation." One can readily see that R.A. Torrey strongly believed in repentance 28

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and Lordship as part of the gospel message. As one of the founders of the fundamentalist movement, if one does not agree with Mr. Torrey (who edited the original set of books entitled, "The Fundamentals"), then one is really not a fundamentalist. If one does not adhere to the original doctrines of the movement, then one is not a fundamentalist.

Hence, these easy-believism preachers are NOT fundamentalists. We must realize that this easybelievism is a relatively new doctrine. Don't be deceived. If something is not scriptural, then it is not spiritual, no matter how successful it appears!

To HIM be all the Glory in the Church!

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Book Two: REPENTANCE: What Saith The Scriptures?

INTRODUCTION There is much confusion today concerning the doctrine of Repentance. However, it is a clear Bible teaching. I believe the confusion has arisen because of either ignorant or dishonest preachers. Some may be just plain ignorant of Bible knowledge. I can understand this to a degree. But a dishonest preacher who denies plain Bible teaching and endeavors to make it fit him, his preaching, and his ministry is a fraud and ought to quit the ministry.

CHAPTER ONE: Many False Professions I honestly believe that thousands upon thousands have been deceived into a false profession of faith by well-meaning soul-winners who have been pushed and shamed into getting their quota of baptisms for the week. What a disgrace!

I have also come to know some of the things behind the scenes of the so-called "big" churches. How they trick people into the baptistry and baptize innocent little bus children 3 or 4 times a year so that they can boast of their numbers! They are making merchandise of the eternal souls of men.

I believe that the doctrines of Lordship and Repentance are being denied and avoided by the larger churches in order to be less offensive, draw larger crowds, have more professions of faith and baptisms, and justify the 90% of their "converts" that never show forth any spiritual fruit of salvation.

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I am not against large churches. It is the dream and burden of any God-called preacher that his church grow. However, I refuse to sacrifice truth on the altar of growth, numbers, and popularity among the brethren.

CHAPTER TWO: The Preacher's Responsibility If we are going to return to a sound, sane, Biblical ministry there are several things we must come to understand. First of all, God never called us to build large churches. The size of a congregation has nothing to do with a man's sincerity, love for the Lord, character, or his success. God doesn't love big churches any more than the smaller churches.

Secondly, we must come to understand our responsibility as preachers of the Word of God. What does God expect of me? What will be required of me at the Judgment seat of Christ?

Well, there must be a sincere love for the person of our Lord (Luke 14:26). One may well build a large ministry; but if he is not motivated by love, it comes to nothing (I Cor. 13:1-3).

Acts 6:4 says, that we are to give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the word.

Let's be honest. How many of us spend enough time on our knees? But this is our #1 priority.

Then, we are to "preach the Word." That is Paul's emphasis in the pastoral epistles. Preaching is the great responsibility of the man of God. There is a real famine of old fashioned Bible preaching in our churches today. Most pastors get so involved in 31

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preaching motivational type sermons to keep the "programs" going, that very little doctrinal preaching is delivered. As a result, the sheep are not well fed, become weak and disgruntled, usually cause problems, and then scatter.

Why did not Paul mention numbers and growth in the pastoral epistles? Why did he not challenge Titus and Timothy to baptize at least 1,000 each year? Oh yes, I am aware that there are numbers in the book of Acts. The numbers are 3,000 saved, 3,000 baptized, and 3,000 continued steadfastly.

Let's see the modern day easy-believism crowd match those statistics today.

Paul says in I Cor. 3:5-9 that my responsibility is to plant and to water. It is God that must give the increase. But some preachers have determined to have an increase, whether God gives it or not. They have devised fleshly schemes to make an outward show so that they can parade their personal accomplishments in the National Christian Periodical.

The New Testament Church did 4 things. They prayed, preached, sang, and knocked on doors (Acts 5:42). As a preacher, if you do these four things on a weekly basis, you ought to have a clear conscience before the Lord, whether there are results or not, or an increase or not. The pressure of "succeeding" is driving many preachers into sin, to seek a larger church, their families to fall apart, to suicide, etc. This pressure was never intended of God. I am to be faithful! That is success!

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When pastoring, there are several things I did each week to avoid this pressure, and have a clear conscience before God. I would spend sufficient time in prayer, diligently prepare my messages, and knock on doors. When I stood on Sunday to preach, I could then expect God to bless my faithfulness. If there were no outward results, I still had the joy of knowing that I had been faithful. This is much better that the guilt of failure.

CHAPTER THREE: What Is Repentance?

The bottom line is, what saith the Scriptures? The leading fundamental evangelist says that "repentance is not turning from sin," and that "to ask a sinner to repent is to place more on him than he can bear," and that "repentance is included in the word believe". Now that's his opinion! But what saith the Scriptures?

There are three things that are essential in salvation.

First of all, no one will be saved apart from Holy In this Ghost conviction (John 16:8-11). supernatural, divine work of grace, the Holy Spirit reveals to a man his sins and sinfulness before God. Most men do not think that they are wicked enough to go to Hell. Recently, I was soul-winning in the Washington, D.C. area, and met a young man named Rusty. After reading and explaining Rom. 3:23, he seemed to understand that he was a sinner.

I went on to Rom. 6:23, explaining that if a man dies in his sin, he must go to Hell. I then asked, "Rusty, if you were to die right now, according to the Bible, where would you go?" He responded, "To 33

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Hell!" I then asked him this heart revealing question, "Do you really believe that you deserve to go to Hell?" His response, "No, I haven't done anything that bad!" Do you see the difference? The Holy Spirit had not yet broken through and convinced him that he was a lost sinner who deserved Hell. Holy Ghost conviction convinces a man that he is the "chiefest of sinners" and deserves the lowest place in Hell. Then and only then can he be saved.

Secondly, there must be repentance. We will discuss this more fully in the following paragraphs.

Thirdly, there must be saving faith, and I emphasize SAVING faith. The devils believe and tremble, and we must remind ourselves that faith without works is dead. In Heb. 10:39, it speaks of those ". . . who have believed to the saving of the soul." Evidently some had believed, but not to the saving of the soul.

Saving faith is faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is trusting alone in the finished work of Christ.

This is the theme of most gospel preaching. I'm sorry to say that the themes of Conviction and Repentance are missing from most sermons today.

Now, we finally arrive at REPENTANCE! What is repentance? What are the fruits of repentance?

Repentance in its various forms is found 111 times in our Bible (the KJV, of course). Forty-six times in the O.T. and 65 times in the N.T. Most of us understand that the word "repent" basically means to change one's mind. But the changing of one's mind always results in the changing of one's 34

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behavior. Man can change his mind about sin, but he cannot change his behavior. He must turn to God for the change of behavior. However, he will never turn to God to change his behavior, until he changes his mind about his sin. Repentance always carries the idea of turning from sin.

For Scriptural support, look up and read Exodus 13:17. Here God says that He led the Jews in a round-about way lest they should "repent" and "return to Egypt". Here we see that repentance is turning around. Go now to Ezekiel 18:30,31 and again we see repentance defined as "turn yourselves from all transgressions." (It seems funny to me that the leading fundamental evangelist avoided these verses in his booklet on REPENTANCE.) John The Baptist, Jesus, Paul, and the Apostle John all preached repentance. Jesus included repentance in the Great Commission of Luke 24:47 and commanded that it be preached to all nations. Paul in Acts 17:30, commanded "all men everywhere to repent." Here, the context is clearly turning from idols, but includes every man everywhere. Peter on Pentecost responded with "Repent!" Jesus said in John 8 to the woman caught in adultery, "Go and sin no more." If that's not repentance, then pray tell what is! How many scriptural examples does it take to prove repentance is definitely, without doubt, a turning from sin?

Now that we have examined a few, but I think a sufficient number, of the scriptures concerning repentance, let me give you a practical definition 35

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and explanation. I must conclude that BIBLICAL REPENTANCE is a 180 degree turn from sin (in the mind, heart, and attitude). It is a total turn of the whole man involving the mind, emotions, and will.

It is a continual turn and it results in a permanent turn when one trusts Christ as Savior. Peter warned about the dog that returns to its vomit and the sow to her mud as having never repented (2 Pet. 2:2022).

Now, the question arises, "If I am to repent of sin, then what is sin?" The essence of sin is a selfwilled way of life. Sin is simply doing what I want to do in contrast to what God wants me to do.

Adam illustrated this for us in the garden. Adam's sin was eating a piece of fruit, for which he could have died and gone to Hell. The sin of eating a piece of fruit plunged the whole human race into the depths of depravity. What was the horribleness of Adam's sin? It was Adam doing what God had forbidden. It was Adam doing what he wanted to do, going his own way, living his own life in disobedience to God. That's why Jesus said in Matt.

7:21 that only those who do His will have truly been saved. It shows that they have turned from their own will. That's why Paul said on the Damascus Road, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" It proved that he had turned from his own will to do the will of God. Therefore, repentance is turning from a self-willed way of life that has been lived apart from the will of God. It is seeing my sin, hating my sin, and desiring to be freed from my sin. It is turning from 36

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idols to serve the living and true God. Conviction brings a man to repentance, and repentance causes a man to cry out, "What must I do to be saved [from my sin]?" We can then respond with the good news, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."

Repentance is not turning from a particular sin; but rather, turning from sin as a self-willed way of life.

Repentance is not reforming or promising God you will never sin again. It is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit enlightening man's mind to see his sin, his life for what it is - rebellion against God. It prepares the heart to receive the good news of the gospel, "believe." It is an absolute essential that should be preached often from every pulpit.

CHAPTER FOUR: What Others Believe Our first quote will come from the mighty pen of the most famous of all English preachers, Charles H. Spurgeon.

These quotes are taken from SPURGEON'S EXPOSITORY ENCYCLOPEDIA, Vol. 13, Baker Book House, from the sermons on repentance pages 86-109. ". . . the repentance which is necessary to salvation is not a full and complete view of sin . . . but if there be this germ of it, - that thou dost sincerely wish to be delivered from sin, - that thou dost sincerely hate the sin which thou didst love, - thou hast the repentance that saves thee . . . the necessary thing at the first, . . . is a turning from sin, a loathing of it; if thou hast that, thou hast true repentance." ". . . no true minister of Christ need be either afraid 37

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or ashamed to tell sinners and the very worst sinners, they should repent."

Commenting on Acts 2:37,38: "Peter was not like those hyper-Calvinists who are afraid to give an exhortation to a sinner because he is spiritually dead, but he spoke out boldly to those who asked, "What shall we do?" and said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ . . ." ". . . I believe that under God's blessing, those experimental (repentance) preachers were the means of producing very sturdy Christians. They did a great deal of deep ploughing, with a very sharp ploughshare, before they began to sow the good seed of the kingdom. They took care to take the pointed needle of the law to make a way for the silken thread of the gospel, so that what they did sow was well sewn, and the garments which they made did not rend or tear quite so easily as much of the spiritual raiment does which is made these days of more showy, but less substantial labor." ". . . I sometimes fear lest there should be all sowing and no ploughing; - lest there should be the preaching only of the remedy, with almost an entire ignoring of the disease; - lest the message, "Believe and live", should take the place of that other great truth, "Ye must be born again". It will never do for men to think they are healed before they know that they are sick unto death . . . It would be a happy circumstance, if in our preaching , we could have a blending of these two elements, so that we could have deep experimental (repentance) preaching, 38

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and with it, . . . a plain, unfettered delivery of the gospel declaration, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." These two truths are both taught in scripture and therefore cannot be at variance with one another. Therefore, let them both be preached.

Our next quote comes from the BAPTIST ENCYCLOPEDIA, originally published in 1881, and edited by William Cathcart. This is a general history of Baptist preachers, practices, doctrines, and ordinances. The following quotes are from page 971, under Repentance.

"There is implied in it , sorrow for unbelief and sin, and a turning from them to God. Until a man repents, he commonly feels comfortable about himself and his ways . . . This change of mind instantly attended by a change of heart, like the prodigal loathing his husks, the penitent abhors his sins, and his whole soul turns from them . ."

Our next quote comes from one of the great preachers of our day, the beloved Harold Sightler, pastor of the Tabernacle Baptist Church, Greenville, SC. The quotes are taken from pages 10 and 11 of his booklet, CHASTENING AND REPENTANCE, originally printed in 1963.

"Now from the positive side, we may consider what repentance is. Repentance is essential to salvation.

Repentance and faith unto salvation are tied together in the economy of God. Either one alone will not save. The two together will produce eternal life. The Holy Spirit, moving upon the sinner's heart, will create a sense of guilt. The realization 39

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leads the sinner to repent of the sins for which he is condemned. Recognizing his guilt, there is a turning from sin. There is a turning to God. The actual word, repentance means a turning completely around: a change of course: a change of mind."

"First, repentance is connected WITH TURNING FROM ALL INIQUITY. In Ezekiel 18:30 we read, "Repent and turn yourselves from all your iniquity; so iniquity will not be your ruin . . ."

Also, in John 8 Jesus said to the woman taken in the act of adultery, "Go and sin no more". To think of repentance that does not cause the sinner to turn gladly from his sins is impossible. It is the realization of the horror of sin and the terrible guilt of sin that leads sinners to repent. I know that we have a shallow religious movement in our times that will allow men to profess faith in Christ and at the same time continue to live in the world. Such a shallow religious faith is not real. These are mere professors and have no part with God in salvation."

Our last quote comes from the late Oliver B. Green, the beloved radio preacher, whose recorded messages can still be heard nationwide. These quotes come from his commentary on THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, explaining Acts 2:37,38.

"True repentance is sorrow for sin committed against a holy God - and not only sorrow for sin, but turning from sin, forsaking sin and turning to God. Sin nailed the Savior to the cross and certainly that fact alone is sufficient reason why all who have genuinely repented hate sin and forsake sinful 40

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ways."

"When we deal with those who are convicted of sin, we should urge them to repent immediately and exercise faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ."

The list could go on and on, but its plain to see that the old time preachers had no problem preaching repentance and defining it as "turning from sin." I would rather take my stand with the likes of Spurgeon, Green, and Dr. Sightler than today's leading fundamental evangelist and the modern easy-believism crowd.

CHAPTER FIVE: The Fruits of Repentance John the Baptist told the Pharisees to "bring forth fruits meet for repentance" (Matt. 3:8). Paul spoke of "things that accompany salvation" (Heb. 6:9).

Jesus said you can "know them by their fruit" (Matt.

7:16). And James said that "faith without works is dead" (James 2:17-26). What then are the works or fruits that accompany salvation? What should we expect to see in the life of one who has made a profession of faith in Christ? Are there visible signs of inward faith?

I know that some emotional evangelists give a long list of experiences, feelings, etc. and say that if you didn't get it that way, that you are not saved. That's not what I am talking about. I am speaking of SCRIPTURAL SIGNS OF SURE SALVATION. These specific, definite, signs are found in John's first epistle.

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In 1 John 5:13, John says that he has just written some things so that his inquirers could know that they have eternal life. Remember, in John's day they had no New Testament or Romans Road. The people had to receive by faith the preaching of the apostles. John's audience was asking, "How can we know that we have believed the right thing, that we have truly received eternal life? How can we know that our sins have been forgiven and we have been born again?" John does not point them to their emotions or religious experiences, but to a changed life and the fruits of repentance.

Five times in his first epistle, John states, "we know that we are in Him if . . . " and then gives a visible, outward sign of true repentance and faith. John is plain in stating that if you are bearing this fruit you are saved, but if not, then you have never been born again. He speaks of definite, consistent fruit that can be detected by the professor himself and those around him.

The first fruit of repentance is found in I John 2:3-5.

Read these verses for yourself! John is definitely teaching that God put in the heart of the true believer a desire to keep his commandments and do His will. Is this not why Jesus said in Matt. 7:21 that only those who do His will are saved? Is this not why Paul cried out on the Damascus Road, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" John says that those who claim to know the Lord, yet do not keep his commandments are liars and the truth is not in them. Strong language from the Apostle of love!

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John furthermore states in chapter 5, verse 3, that "His commandments are not grievous." The true believer does not serve out of grief, but from a heart of joy. It is not a burdensome drudgery to serve the Lord, but joy beyond compare. But many do not enjoy the things of God. They do not enjoy church, preaching, or the singing of the songs of Zion. The only reason they come to church is that the wife nags them into it, or the children, or some other outside pressure. But a real child of God will love the things of God because of inward desire, not outward pressure.

John, of course, is not speaking here of the Ten Commandments, but of the New Testament commandments of our Lord. One such command is found in Acts 10:48, namely, baptism. Not one convert in the scriptures failed to be baptized, nor did they have to be tricked into the baptistry room.

Yet, 90% of those professing Christ today in most churches never show up for baptism. Is this New Testament salvation as presented in the Word of God? No, one does not keep the commandments in order to get saved, but because he is saved!

I can hear someone objecting already, "But can't you backslide and get out of the will of God?" Yes, of course. But in the New Testament, backsliding is a very temporary experience. How long did it take God to chasten Ananias and Sapphira? God will surely chasten quickly (Heb. 12:6) or the sin unto death (1 John 5:16) will fall upon the true believer.

The second fruit of repentance is found in 1 John 43

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2:29 and 3:6-10. Read these verses for yourself very carefully. John states this particular truth in a positive and in a negative way.

On the negative side, he says 4 times that the true believer cannot sin. But what is the definition of sin? A self-willed way of life! He that is born of God cannot live (practice) a self-willed way of life, he cannot go on doing his own thing, living his own life apart from the will of God. Sure he can commit an act of sin, but he cannot go on in a self-willed way indefinitely. His conscience will be stricken with conviction and his life chastened by the Lord.

Yet many professors sit on their pews (especially on Sunday mornings) week after week, saying to themselves, "I will come when I want to, I will give what I want to, I will serve when I want to, no preacher is going to tell me how to live." The problem? They are still self-willed! They need to repent (turn from a self-willed way of life) and be born again!

Now, on the positive side of the same truth, John says that the true believer will be practicing righteousness. He is not speaking here of the positional imputed righteousness of Christ, but something that the believer "doeth." Jesus said in Matt. 5:20 that only those whose righteousness exceeded that of the Scribes and Pharisees, would enter the kingdom of Heaven, He explains in the following verses of the same chapter what He meant. He says the Pharisees give with usury, but the saved should give expecting nothing in return.

The Pharisees will go one mile, but the true believer 44

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will go two. The Pharisee can love his neighbor, but the saved person can love his enemy. The Pharisee will give his cloak, but the born again child of God will give his coat, also. Jesus is saying that the true believer has been enabled and empowered to exceed the righteousness of the lost, but religious, hypocrite.

Now, how is your level of righteousness???

The third fruit of repentance found in 1 John 3:14, is a love for the brethren. Now, love will make you do strange things. When I was dating my wife to be, I once drove 450 miles for a date! Why? Because I wanted to be with the one that I love.

Yet, most professing Christians today would rather stay at home and watch television than to come to church to be with God's people. I drove 450 miles to be with the one that I love, but they won't drive 5 miles back to church on Sunday night to be in the house of God with the "brethren." You don't go to church to get saved, but you go because God puts within the heart of the true believer a love for one another (John 13:35).

The fourth fruit found in 1 John 3:24 and 4:13 is the indwelling presence and ministry of the Holy Spirit. When one is saved, he is at that moment indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has a multi-fold ministry in the life of the true believer.

He assures (Rom. 8:16), He teaches (I Cor. 2:13,14), He comforts, strengthens, sanctifies, and convicts the believer. He leads us to prayer, to the Bible, and to be a witness for the Lord. And He is not lazy! He will do His work in your heart, if He is 45

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in your heart.

Have you sensed His still, small voice lately telling you to go pray, or read the Word? Did you feel His convicting power when you started to sin? If you do not sense His working in your life, then you are not saved.

The fifth and last fruit of repentance is found in chapter 5, verse 4. Here the Scripture states that the true believer will overcome the world. John does not say that you should, ought to, or might overcome the world, but that you will. He is saying that a real child of God can no longer enjoy the things of the world.

Before I was saved , I lived for the pleasure and popularity of the world. But on June 11th, 1969, the world lost its attraction and appeal to this 15 year old country boy. Popularity and sports ceased to be my gods. Sunday afternoons found me reading the Bible, instead of playing baseball as always before. The Truth had set me free! I no longer enjoyed my old friends, music, etc. A new life, new love, and new longings were mine. My life had been transformed by the power of the Gospel. I had accepted Christ as my LORD and Savior. [Excuse me while I have a shouting fit. . . .

I'm back now].

How about you?

Have you experienced the transforming power of the LORD in your life?

Christianity is not a religion, it is a Person. I am not religious, I have been saved. I did not join a church, 46

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I was born into the family of God. I did not adhere to a creed, I was convicted and converted the old fashioned way, by repentance and faith.

Are you bearing the fruits of repentance? Can you identify with what has been set forth in the scriptures above? If not, my friend, you have not been saved. You cannot save yourself. You cannot reform. You must repent and turn to Christ for your salvation. You must come to know that you are a Hell deserving sinner without hope. Then and only then will you truly turn to the Lord Jesus in real saving faith. Why not now cast yourself upon his mercy? Call upon Him. He will save you, forgive you and change your life (Rom. 10:9).

If this booklet has been a blessing to you or if you have been saved by reading it, we would love to hear from you. Write to me today at the address on the back of the booklet.

CLOSING STATEMENTS I believe this kind of message desperately needs to be preached from every pulpit in America. I exhort my preacher friends to "PREACH THE WORD"!

God will hold you responsible for those who listen to you week after week. Pray that God will send REVIVAL and will convict and convert the religious, but lost in your church.

I would also encourage ever soul-winner to develop a 1 John Road using the above scriptures. This could help convince the false professor that he does not possess real salvation. I would also encourage 47

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you to include some verses on repentance in your soul-winning. If explained properly, it will help weed out those false professors and help others make a stronger decision to trust the LORD Jesus as their Savior.

May God richly bless you as you study His Word and seek to share with others!

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Book Three: LORDSHIP SALVATION: In Light Of The Scriptures INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND PRINTING

I realize that this booklet will not gain me any acceptance or popularity with most preachers today.

However, I promised the Lord many years ago that I would preach the whole counsel of God regardless of the cost. In these last days, we must return to the old fashioned gospel preached by our Baptist forefathers. We must return to Biblical Salvation at any and all costs. Without it, men cannot be saved.

Isn't it a sad day, when even fundamental Baptist preachers cannot agree on what Biblical Salvation really is? If there is one doctrine we must be right on, it is the doctrine of salvation.

I simply ask the reader to study this booklet with an open mind and an open Bible. Pray that the Holy Ghost will teach you the truth, then go out, and preach it with all the conviction of your heart. May God bless all who read with the understanding of the truth.

Evangelist Doug Sehorne

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(Please Read Carefully) No one believes in salvation by grace through faith any more strongly than I do. The teaching of Lordship does not contradict salvation by grace any more than repentance does.

Just as repentance means a willingness to forsake sin, so Lordship teaches a willingness to obey.

Repentance is not a promise to never sin again, nor is Lordship the promise always to obey. The reader must not equate Lordship and sinless perfection.

Again I say, Lordship is simply the willingness to obey. We are speaking of the attitude of the heart.

Since the essence of sin is rebellion, the essence of salvation must needs be submission.

Lordship is not a promise of obedience, it is the desire to obey, just as repentance is the desire to be freed from sin. Therefore, if repentance is not works, then Lordship is not works.

One objection that is raised by those who endeavor to deny this truth is, "What about carnal believers like Lot, David, Samson, and Demas? Was Jesus the Lord of their lives?"

Answer: Carnal Christians are chastened because Jesus is their Lord (Heb. 12:6). Lordship does not nullify growth in grace, carnality, or chastening. It actually strengthens each of these teachings. Since Jesus is the Lord, the true believer will grow in grace. If he becomes carnal through disobedience, the Lord will chasten him. You can see the Lordship of Christ in 50

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the lives of these men as you see the hand of chastening and correction.

Many of the things that have been written by those who deny Lordship Salvation were written against those who take this doctrine to an extreme. You will find that this booklet is not an extremist view, but a sound, sane, sensible, and Scriptural approach to the subject.

Introduction There is much confusion today concerning the term, "Lordship Salvation." Much of the confusion comes because well meaning preachers who believe the doctrine have not expressed their views properly, using vague language and misleading terminology. I trust this little booklet will help clear the water, answer the critics, and help our friends to properly express the truth.

CHAPTER ONE: WHAT IT IS NOT One leading evangelist, in his booklet Lordship Salvation, grossly misrepresents the truth concerning the subject. However, he may have done so because well meaning brethren have misrepresented the truth to him as mentioned above.

After reading the booklet, I feel that this evangelist has missed the point entirely. He calls Lordship Salvation a "perversion of the gospel," "a gospel of works," and "another gospel." I believe that when the true doctrine is presented, Lordship Salvation is the Biblical Doctrine of Salvation.

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1. It is not "making Jesus the Lord of your life..."

This is probably he most confusing statement of all and to deny the above statement may seem to deny the doctrine completely. However, remember that terminology is everything! The word "make" is the source of confusion. When one is saved, he does not "make Jesus Lord," for Jesus is the Lord, already. He has always been the Lord and will always be the Lord forever. He was Lord before you were saved, He is Lord in your salvation, and He will be Lord after your salvation. In salvation, you are simply recognizing Him for who He is, "the Lord Jesus Christ," and submitting to the authority that the name "Lord" implies. More will be said about this in a subsequent chapter.

2. It is Not Sinless Perfection Once again, some make this doctrine sound like works by implying that if one "makes Jesus the Lord of their life" at the moment of salvation, he would never sin again. It is a matter of attitude. I still sin, and will sin until Jesus comes. But when I sin, it grieves me. Why? Because I know that Jesus is the Lord of my life and sin grieves Him. Lordship Salvation is simply acknowledging Who it is that is doing the saving. It is the Lord, and if He is Who He says He is, then He has the right to rule my life. If you take Lordship out of salvation, you are left with a human savior named Jesus. This produced the Jesus Freaks of the 1960's. If you do not know Who is saving you, then you cannot be saved. If Jesus is not the Lord in salvation, then 52

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you have no salvation.

3. It Is Not Works We are speaking here of attitude, not of action.

How can an attitude be works? Is not repentance "a change of mind"? Repentance and Lordship are so closely related that you cannot discuss one without the other. What am I to repent of? Or what am I to change my mind concerning?

First of all, one must change his mind about the Savior. Before one is saved, he may have thought that Jesus was a good man, a prophet, a good teacher, etc., but before he can be saved, he must recognize Jesus to be Lord.

One must also repent of his sin. Before my salvation, I thought sin was fun and that I was really doing no one any harm at all. However, when convicted of my sin by the Holy Spirit, I recognized my sin for what it was - rebellion against God. Thirdly, one must repent of self. I had to change my mind about myself. Before I was saved, I thought myself to be a pretty good person. But when convicted by the Holy Spirit, I recognized myself to be a Hell deserving sinner. I realized "self" had almost destroyed me and was leading me in the wrong direction. I then renounced self, and desired that the Lord take control of my life (Lordship).

One must also repent or change his mind about salvation. Before they are saved, most people believe that in some way you must work your way 53

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to Heaven. But one must come to believe that salvation is by grace through faith in the sacrifice of Christ for our sins.

We are not saying that Lordship Salvation is obedience, but that it results in obedience.

However, my disobedience does not change the Lordship of Christ at all.

Let me illustrate. At this writing, George Bush is the President of the United States. Being of sound mind, I recognize that he is President and possesses certain authority. If I disobey the law, does he cease to be my President? If I had voted against him, does that mean that he is not my President? If he enacts a law with which I disagree, does that nullify my vote made in November of 1988? Of course not!! Neither my disagreement with him, nor my disobedience to him, changes his position in the least.

My friend, if you don't believe that Jesus is the Lord in your salvation, just get out of line, watch Him raise His "scepter of righteousness," exercise His Lordship, and bring you into conformity to His Kingdom. If you deny the Lordship of Christ in salvation, then you are saying that He has no right to chasten you, until you do "make Him the Lord."

The critics will say that He chastens you as your Heavenly Father. But, the Scriptures say, "For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. . ."

He can only be your Father if He is your Lord.

Both speak of positions of authority. A father is the 54

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"lord" in his home. Did not Sarah call Abraham, "lord"? Is not the husband the head of his home?

To deny Lordship in Salvation is to deny the Fatherhood of God in salvation. If He is not your Father, then you have not been born into His family!

CHAPTER TWO: WHAT IT IS 1. Let's Look At the Scriptures Acts 2:21, And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

This verse is a part of Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost. The Lord has commanded the Apostles to preach the Gospel. Here is Peter, preaching the Gospel and proclaiming that Jesus is Lord. Sure, Peter was preaching to the Jews, but is there one gospel for the Jews and another gospel for the Gentiles? Of course not. They must both alike recognize Who Jesus is, and His claim upon their life.

Acts 2:36, "Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ."

Acts 8:37, "And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." Philip had just explained Isa. 53 to the Ethiopian Eunuch. The Eunuch not only believed that Jesus was the Innocent Lamb slain for the sins of the Eunuch, but he also acknowledged who Jesus was "the Christ, the Son of God." This most assuredly 55

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speaks of Lordship. How could he have known this unless Philip had preached unto him that Jesus was more than a human savior, but that He was the Divine, Eternal, Son of God? Acts 16:31, And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

Here again is another verse declaring Who Jesus is and in Whom we are to trust for salvation. When one realizes and recognizes that Jesus is Lord, he must also acknowledge the authority of the One that is coming into his life as Savior. Honestly, how can one be saved with a heart attitude of, "I want Jesus as my Savior, but not as my Lord," or, "I want to go to Heaven, but I want to continue to run my life as before"? How absurd!!

Romans 10:9, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Here again is a definite emphasis upon the Lordship of Christ in salvation. Here, Jesus is presented as the risen Lord, saving those who believe. Here one is instructed not only to believe in Jesus (Humanity), but in the "Lord Jesus," who proved Himself to be Lord by His resurrection from the dead. This is the same emphasis that Jesus was declared to be Lord because of His resurrection, that Peter is stressed Acts 2:30-36. To deny Lordship in Salvation is to deny the necessity of the resurrection, which one must believe to be saved.

2nd Cor. 4:5, For we preach not ourselves, but 56

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Christ Jesus the Lord. . .

In these verses, Paul is speaking of the gospel that enlightens the minds of those who are in darkness (Chapter 4:3,4). This gospel that shines and dispels the darkness is "Christ Jesus the Lord."

2. It Is Realizing Who Jesus Is We stress again the truth that one cannot be saved until he realizes Who Jesus is. He is more than just a man; more than another religious leader; more than a martyr; more than someone offering to forgive sins and lift burdens. He is the Eternal Lord of Glory.

3. It Is Acknowledging That Since Jesus Is the Lord, He Has The Right To Rule My Life Romans 10:9, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Rom. 10:9, used by most soul winners, is the heartbeat of the gospel. Without it, verse 13 would be meaningless. This verse is one of the strongest arguments for Lordship Salvation.

I am a strong KJV Bible believer and understand that it needs no support. This King James verse states emphatically that saved people will "confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus." However, for our Greek critics, you will find no quarter in your Greek manuscripts. Some will occasionally try to sidestep the obvious and succinct meaning of the King James by referring to the "original Greek," but the "literal Greek" rendering of Rom. 10:9 is, "That if 57

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thou shalt confess with thy mouth that Jesus is Lord . . . thou shalt be saved." Powerful statement!! The emphasis is "the Lord Jesus. . ."

You see, in Paul's day, almost everyone professed some religious view. From the Epicureans to the Sadducees, all claimed to worship some deity. The Jews claimed to worship Jehovah through the Old Testament, but had been side-tracked and mislead.

The Gentiles had their pagan temples and sacrificed to their heathen gods. Now, when one embraced Christianity, he would have to lay aside (repent of) his idols, philosophy, and religion and publicly confess that now Jesus was his Savior, the object of his worship, and the new controlling factor of his life (his Lord).

Before his salvation, a Gentile's belief about a pagan god determined his lifestyle and behavior.

Now, at salvation, he understands that Jesus becomes the controlling factor of his life; that is, his Lord. Can you imagine someone asking the Apostle Paul, "Do I have to turn from my idols to be saved?"

How absurd!

Paul demanded repentance in Acts 17:16-34, and that was to turn from their gods to the one and true God (Acts 17:27).

That's the reason that Paul was so persecuted. He demanded repentance and that Jesus be acknowledged as Lord.

The same is true today. Everyone is controlled by something or someone. Everyone has a master.

Alcohol, sex perversion, drugs, money, fame, and power have all become gods today. The bottom line 58

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is sin and self. One must not give up a particular sin in order to be saved, but he must desire that sin no longer be the controlling factor of his life.

Now, there are some who want to be saved from the penalty and the consequences of their sin, without being saved from the sin itself. While soul winning, I have been asked on occasion, "Preacher, do I have to quit smoking and drinking if I get saved?" Now, understand that this man has heard, believes all the facts, and has given mental and verbal consent to the Gospel. But, he is not sincere in his desire to be saved from sin. When the sinner brings his sin up to you, he is acknowledging that it is a sin. He does not have a repentant heart, nor does he recognize the right of the Lord to rule his life if he desires to hold onto his sin. Yet many a soul winner will go on to lead this man to a false profession of faith, quoting Rom. 10:13, telling him all he has to do to go to Heaven is to "Believe and pray this prayer� or “Believe and squeeze my hand". Now, that's a shame and a real perversion of the Gospel! Before he can be saved, he must repent (Acts 17:30). That is, he must realize that he has sinned, what sin has done to him, and where it will send him.

Repentance is the turning from sin as the controlling factor in one's life and the desire to be freed from sin's power. This desire is accomplished only through the conviction of the Holy Spirit (John 16:8-11). Since the Holy Ghost speaks only of Christ (John 15:26), He will then point to Jesus as incoming Savior, the new controlling factor of his life, and his new Lord and Master.

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When one receives Christ as Savior, he must receive Him for all that He is. He is not only the man Jesus, He is the Lord. He not only died, but rose again proving Himself to be Lord. He is the "fullness of the Godhead bodily."

Let me illustrate. When I enter a room, I enter in a three-fold position. I am the son of my father, the husband of my wife, and the father of my children.

I am a son, a father, and a husband. If I enter a room, I must enter as all three or not at all. He who died for my sins is Jesus, Lord, and Christ. He cannot enter a man's heart as only one of these. He enters as the Lord Jesus Christ, or not at all. The sinner must receive Him for all that He is.

CHAPTER THREE: WHAT IT DOES 1. It Exalts Christ in Salvation In the true doctrine of Lordship Salvation, Christ is exalted as the "author and finisher of our faith." He is present in salvation not only as the Forgiver of sins, but the Forger of new life and the Foundation of new liberty. Only when Christ is presented in His fullness can He free the sinner from the power of sin.

2. It Presents the Claims of Christ To The Sinner This doctrine presents Christ in the fullness of His Person. He claims to be the Sovereign Judge, the Sinless Son, and the Savior of Man. He demanded repentance and warned all who refused of the consequences of rejecting Him. This doctrine alone 60

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does justice to the Person of Christ.

3. It Demands Repentance From the Sinner When Jesus is presented as Lord, and not only as Savior, the sinner is then commanded to "turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God." 4. It Helps the Sinner Make a Clear Cut Choice Many people have been led to believe that they can hang on to their sin and accept Christ as Savior only. Thus, when someone preaches against sin or demands separation from sin they are shocked into "backsliding." The Christian life was dishonestly misrepresented to them. However, when the claims of Christ are completely presented, then and only then, can the sinner make an honest and intelligent choice between his sin and the Savior. It must be one or the other, he cannot choose both.

5. When Believed, It Changes the Life The twin doctrines of Lordship Salvation and Repentance are the basis of a changed life. When these two truths are not presented, the transforming power of the Gospel has no platform from which to thrust itself. This is the reason that easy-believism has such poor results. The fact is that in most churches, only 10 percent of those making a profession of faith ever follow the Lord in baptism, and only a few of those that do ever show forth any spiritual life whatsoever. I believe that over the years, this has filled our churches with unsaved heathen, and are the reason that pastors have so many problems with rebellion and stubbornness from their people.

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CHAPTER FOUR: WHAT OTHERS HAVE TAUGHT [Some of the following statements are underlined for emphasis] 1. THE EXPOSITOR'S GREEK NEW TESTAMENT, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll, Volume 2, page 671, commenting on Rom. 10:9 "We confess, when we say, 'Jesus is Lord' . . . he who believes in his heart that God raised Christ from the dead can confess with his mouth that Jesus is Lord."

2. WUEST WORD STUDIES IN THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT, Vol. 1, pages 177-178, commenting on Rom. 10:9 "To confess the Lord Jesus means therefore to be in agreement with all that Scripture says about Him, which includes all that these two names imply. A. T. Robertson translates, 'confess Jesus as Lord' . . . no Gentile would do that who had not ceased worshipping the emperor as 'kurios' (Lord). The word 'kurios' (Lord) was and is the touchstone of faith. . ."

3. EXPOSITIONS OF BIBLE DOCTRINES,

by Donald Grey Barnhouse, vol. 4, page 72, commenting on Rom. 10:9. "This is a grammatical construction which must be translated fully, 'if thou shalt confess with thy mouth that Jesus is thy Lord‌ It is taken for granted that the hearer has heard the Gospel. He has been told that certain historical events have happened and that these events are the basis of faith and salvation . . . Not only had these facts to be accepted as historically 62

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true, but the individual had to make a personal commitment of his own being to this Messiah: he had to confess that Jesus is his Lord. . .�

4. EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS,

by James Stifler, Moody Press, page 177, commenting on Romans 10:9. "If one believes with the heart, that belief brings him into righteousness, right standing before God, and if he now confesses openly in his life his adherence to Jesus, that confession leads on to final salvation."

5. GREAT VERSES THROUGH THE BIBLE,

by F. B. Meyer, page 417, commenting on Romans 10:9. "Salvation here is evidently to be taken in its most extended meaning . . . We must confess Jesus as Lord. Throughout the Scripture there is a close connection between Christ's Royalty and His Saviourship. We shall never know Christ as Saviour . . . until we have definitely and absolutely enthroned Him in our hearts."

6. PEPPER AND SALT,

by Vance Havner, page 21, "Salvation is not a cafeteria where you take what you want and leave the rest. You cannot take Christ as Saviour and refuse Him as Lord and be saved."

The list could go on and on. You will find the phrase that one must believe and receive Christ as Lord and Savior, in the writings of Moody, Spurgeon, Wesley, and even Dr. John R. Rice.

What about Dr. Rice's sermon, Turn or Burn?

Sounds like repentance and Lordship Salvation to 63

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me.

One of the reasons that you will not find much debate about this doctrine from the old time preachers is because they all believed it. They did not deny nor debate clear Bible doctrines, they just believed them and preached them. They conformed their preaching and their practice to the Bible, not vice versa.

Would you condemn the above mentioned men to damnation as preachers of "another gospel" as in Galatians 1:6-8?

CHAPTER FIVE: WHY DENY IT? (Why The Recent Denial Of This Doctrine?)

As an evangelist, having preached in over 160 churches in the past three years, I feel I can give an eyewitness account of what is being said across the nation in this area.

Some time ago, I attended a soul winning seminar by a leading evangelist. He was giving a pep talk to a group of people who were about to go out soulwinning during one of his revivals. Here is what he said, "You will be able to lead several souls to Christ today, but do not get discouraged if they will not come to church with you. People do not have any character today, so they are not disciplined enough to come to church or take upon themselves any responsibility."

Isn't that encouraging?! That week 125 people made professions of faith. The next Sunday there was no increase in church attendance. Is that really 64

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New Testament Christianity? Is that the result of real Holy Ghost conviction? If it is, we are in BIG trouble.

Now, let's analyze his statement. If what he said is true, then the gospel is only powerful enough to change the lives of those who have character. If what he said is true, then we can't experience much church growth.

Let's apply Bible teaching to the statement. Have men ever had any character? Did Cain have any character when he killed Abel? Did Balaam have any character when he hired himself out to ruin the people of God? Did Ahab have any character when he worshipped false gods? The truth is, man has never had any character since the fall of Adam in the Garden! Man is TOTALLY depraved. You can't get any worse than that. The problem is not with the character of the sinner.

Let's apply another Bible Doctrine. What about the doctrine of REGENERATION? Does not the doctrine of regeneration teach that the dead spirit of man is resurrected at the moment of salvation?

Does it not teach that what I lost in Adam, I regained in Christ? Does it not mean that what I lost in the fall, is restored in redemption? Is not salvation more than just the forgiveness of sins?

Now, let's get to the root of the problem. Why is this excuse, that I have heard nationwide, offered in the first place? I believe that the excuse is given, and this doctrine of Lordship Salvation denied, in 65

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order to justify the poor results of easy-believism.

No, I don't believe in hard-believism, but it is hard to repent. Furthermore, remember "few there be that find it." When you have 100 professions of faith, 10 baptisms, and maybe 1 faithful member resulting from this, you have to change your doctrine to justify your methods and statistics. In contrast, I just preached a revival where 14 were saved, 16 were baptized, and all were in church the following week.

CHAPTER SIX: WHAT IS THE ANSWER? I believe the answer is four-fold. First of all, preachers must come to realize that God never called them to build a "big" church. I am to preach the Word and leave the results to Him. He is the one who must give the increase. I do not have to work it up in the flesh. Preachers are crumbling, falling into sin, and leaving the ministry because of self-created pressure, the pressure of trying to keep up with the church across town.

Secondly, we must get back to our knees, back to prayer. This will automatically produce the next need and that is‌ Thirdly, for old fashioned Holy Ghost conviction and power. Read and meditate upon I Thess. 1:5.

Fourthly, the content of our preaching and soul winning must include the "whole counsel of God." We must demand repentance and include Lordship. This is not works, but will test the 66

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sincerity of their faith and profession. Sure, it will result in fewer decisions (empty professions), but then ninety percent of those are not in attendance, anyway.

The lack of results causes even more problems. It discourages many pastors. I have talked with pastor after pastor, who is at a loss of how to get people to church. They have read all the books, but to no avail.

On top of that, the soul-winners get discouraged. Many churches who used to have scores of people out on visitation, have only a few now, because they say, "It doesn't do any good, our converts won't come to church." Most pastors have to continually preach motivational sermons to keep the "programs" going. The people then hear very little doctrinal, meaty preaching and are withering away.

I am not saying that we can duplicate the quantity of Pentecost or the Book of Acts, but I am saying we should have the same quality of salvation that the New Testament presents; that is, a life changing gospel. Pastors can eliminate a lot of false professions, stop deceiving people, and encourage their members to be faithful, instead of demanding that they be successful, (especially so the pastor's or evangelist's name can be listed in the top 100 Churches of America). God help us to return to old fashioned Holy Ghost preaching that demands repentance and includes Lordship.

Yes, the gospel is the "good news." But the good news will not be received in heart faith until the bad 67

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news is understood. The bad news is not only that man is a sinner, but that he must turn from his sin in order to be saved. He must turn from a self-willed way of life to one of surrender to the will of God (Matt. 7:21). Let's remember that "salvation is of the Lord," and is a supernatural, divine work of grace wrought in the heart of man. When one experiences the transforming power of the gospel, it will, without doubt, express itself on the outside for all to see.

CHAPTER SEVEN: LORDSHIP IS OWNERSHIP (A sermon edited for print by Pastor Johnny Jones) TEXT: 1 Cor. 6:19,20 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

Acts 20: 28 - Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

I. Lordship Is The Major Theme Presented In Every Parallel Showing The Relationship Of Christ To The Saved.

Lordship is not a doctrine strange to the old-timers.

It was so much a part of their thinking that they did not have to debate the subject. Today, we face a new crowd who has designed their own way of accomplishing the work of God, and in doing so 68

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they must reject a major teaching of the Scripture.

They also will discredit all those who hold fast to the old paths and refuse to compromise with the new crowd.

Lordship is not in conflict with the plan of salvation. Not one Bible-believing gospel preacher teaches that anyone can work or earn salvation.

Most of the old writers agreed that Rom. 10:9 taught that one must confess that Jesus is Lord. We know that salvation is by grace and that only Jesus could provide that. Lordship illuminates that perfect salvation. Lordship is not something that a few believers have achieved. No one makes Jesus Lord. He is already the Lord and therefore should be glorified for who He is. Rom. 1:21 says, "when they knew God, they glorified him not as God. . ."

II. Lordship Is Rightly Dividing The Word Of Truth.

On our part, Lordship is simply giving consent to what is already true. The only way we can understand Lordship is in the light of what other Scriptures teach about the position that our Lord holds today and always has held.

Let's just suppose the word in conflict was not "Lordship," but "ownership." Let's refer to it as "Ownership Salvation." This doctrine is clearly taught in I Cor. 6:19. "We are not our own, for we have been bought with a price." We are told, that our body is His and that He indwells us through the Holy Ghost. Because of this, we are to glorify Him in our body and in our spirit. If you own something, you have control over it.

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Now the question is, when did Jesus become our owner? Is it one day when the Christian says, "I will make Jesus the Lord of my life"? No, my friend. He automatically became the Owner, the day you received His payment for your sin. Paul is not pleading here for you to make Jesus your Owner or your Lord. He is pleading with us to glorify Christ, because He is our Owner and He is our Lord.

III. The Bible Never Presents A Choice The Bible does not ask the sinner what he would like to make Jesus. It tells the sinner Who and What Jesus is. The sinner must receive Jesus for Who He is and for all that He is. No choice is ever given to the sinner or to the saint as to what he would like to make Jesus in his life.

Every plea for obedience and surrender in the Scriptures is given from the standpoint that Jesus is Lord. Paul never pleads for one to make Jesus Lord, but demands obedience because He is the Lord. If Jesus was not Lord at salvation, the Christian would in no way be obligated to a life of obedience. But, because He is the Lord, we are asked to "present our bodies." Not in order to make Jesus the Lord, but because He is the Lord.

Again, we say every parallel, picture, and parable speaks of the Lordship of Christ. He is the Creator, and we are the creature. Does not the Creator have power over the creature? Could the sinner say that he wants to be one of His creatures, 70

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but does not want God to be Creator over him?

However, when we were saved, we became new creatures in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).

John 1:12 says that we are the sons of God. He is the Father and we are the children. Does not the Father have control over His children? Could the sinner say that he wants to be a child of God, but does not want the Lord to be the Father over him?

John 10:1-5 says that He is the Shepherd and we are the sheep. Does not that speak of authority and Lordship? Could the sinner say, "I want to be a sheep, but I do not want Christ as Shepherd?"

In the parables, Jesus is presented as a Lord over His stewards. Can the sinner say, "I want to be entrusted with talents, but do not want to have to give an account to the Lord?"

Again, Jesus is presented as King and we are His subjects. Can the sinner say, "I want to be included in His kingdom, but I do not want to have to be subject to the King?" How ridiculous!

IV. Lordship Is As Much A Part Of Salvation As Faith.

"Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God." The Word of God is not alphabet soup where you spoon out and spell out what you want.

When a person is saved, he must believe all that the Scriptures say about the Lord Jesus Christ. They do not make the Scriptures true, they are already true.

He just receives the truth as it is given.

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Let me give you a few more illustrations of Lordship. Jesus is the Teacher and we are His disciples. He is the Leader and we are His followers. He is the Redeemer and we are the redeemed. Every teaching strikes another note to the heart saying that Jesus is the Lord of all.

Lordship is not what I make Jesus, it is simply presenting Christ for Who and What He is.

Lordship is not expressing my ability or achievement, but proclaiming Jesus as the Lord of all.

V. Why Is Lordship Being Rejected?

Why would any Bible-believing, Christ-honoring saint of God reject this teaching? It is rejected by many preachers because it allows them to justify the shallow results of easy-believism, which has filled churches with unsaved members. They say that these are saved people who do not obey the Savior, and they are sheep who do not obey the Shepherd, and children who disobey their Father, and disciples who do not follow their Teacher. They go on and on with the excuses for the condition of the lives of the heathen who have been made church members without salvation.

Lordship salvation is also rejected by the world.

This allows them to continue to live for the world, while enjoying a false peace. But the truth is that they are still lost and on their way to Hell. Since they have accepted a "No-Lordship Salvation," they are living without the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.

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My friend, when the Holy Ghost witnesses, He witnesses to the Lordship of Christ. When He draws the sinner, he draws to Him Who is the Lord of all. When he illuminates the mind, that sinner has no doubt that Jesus is the Lord. When the Holy Ghost placed Paul in the light, he responded with, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" (Acts 9:6).

VI. The Resulting Dilemma Without the teaching of Lordship, the lost will not hear the whole truth. As a result, there will be no change in their lives. Therefore, artificial results will be forced upon them in the flesh. This is why other books are now being used to offset the failure of not preaching the truth. Books such as "How To Get Sinners To Pray The Sinners Prayer," and "How To Get Converts To Church," and "How To Get Converts Down the Aisle and Baptized," and "How To Get Church Members To Be Faithful."

The converts in the book of Acts did this automatically, because the truth had set them free.

VII. What Is The Answer?

I have an easy answer to all of these problems, and one doesn't need a half dozen books to figure it out.

Just preach the whole truth, get the folks saved and born again. Only the truth will set them free.

Allow the Holy Ghost to do His work. Our job is to preach the Word. He is the one who does the drawing, the saving, and the changing, and He never fails.

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insurance salesman after a seminar on the "Romans Road." But he will only produce more lost church members and will need all the above mentioned books to do it.

Oh, preacher, let's get back to the old paths. Let us get back to the whole counsel of God by demanding repentance and presenting Christ as the Lord in Salvation. AMEN! CLOSING THOUGHTS "Lordship Salvation" is really just Biblical Salvation with a definitive title. No verses have been twisted, no fundamental doctrines have been denied in previous pages. Our Savior has been presented as the Lord Jesus Christ. It is interesting to note that the word "Saviour" is found only 37 times in the entire Bible, 24 of these in the New Testament. The word "Lord" is found 670 times in the New Testament. The word "Saviour" is not found in the book of Romans, while "Lord" is found 39 times. The word "Lord" is also found 102 times in the book of Acts, while "Saviour" is found only 2 times. The Scriptural emphasis is upon His LORDSHIP. There is nothing at all to be afraid of concerning this Bible truth. Only those who have something to hide will deny it.

INVITATION Perhaps you have made a profession of faith in Christ that did not change your life (2 Cor. 5:17).

You have no burning desire to do God's will (Matt.7:21), and no real victory (I John 5:4). You find it grievous and burdensome to live for God (Matt. 11:28), and are just going through the 74

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motions. My friend, you most likely need to be saved!

There must have been a lack of understanding and repentance in your profession.

God does not save you in your sin, but from your sin. Only when you become sick and tired of your dead religion will you, "Repent and believe the gospel." Then and only then can you receive newness of life. I urge you today to repent of your sin and trust Jesus as the Lord and Savior! AMEN! If you have been saved through the reading of this booklet, please let us know. You can write to me personally or to Scripture Vision Press. Both addresses are found elsewhere in this booklet.

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BOOK FOUR: CLARIFYING THE GOSPEL ANSWERING DR. HYLES CHAPTER ONE: "CLARIFYING THE GOSPEL" NOTE: This is the outline of a sermon preached by Doug Sehorne to the congregation of the Victory Baptist Church on Thursday night, April 7th, 1994.

Introductory Thoughts: 1. Salvation is the most important doctrine in the Bible. 2 Cor. 4:4; John 14:6 2. Salvation is the most important decision of life.

Mark 8:36 3.

This is the reason for so many Satanic Distractions! (i.e. making a living, pleasures, hobbies, sports, no time to think about God) 4.

This is the reason for so many Satanic Deceptions! (works salvation - universal salvation charismatic movement - baptismal regeneration new age reincarnation - easy believism) 2 Pet. 2:1; 1 John 4:1 5. So, What is the Gospel? 1 Cor. 15:1-6 The death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. These verses deal only with the content of the gospel but do not address grace, faith, conviction, repentance or the blood. Nor do they address what the sinner must do with the gospel nor what is required of him to become a partaker of it.

6. So, what is required in salvation?

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I. THE CONVICTION OF GOD A. The Savior's Part 1. God uses the Holy Spirit to bring conviction to the sinner. John 16:8; 2 Thess.1:5 ; 2. God uses the Holy Scriptures to bring conviction to the sinner. 2 Tim. 3:15-17; Rom. 1:16; Acts 2:37; Acts 7:54 B. The Saints Part 1. Prayer - Acts 4:31 We are not to pray for God to save sinners, (for "he is not willing that any should perish") but that we will have the power and boldness to witness, and that the sinner will respond to the conviction of God. 2. Preaching - (witnessing) Acts 1:8; 1 Cor. 1:21 (Note: Salvation is of the heart (Rom. 10:9). This is illustrated by the parable of the sower and the soils.

There is nothing wrong with the seed or the sower, the only difference is in the soil (those who receive the seed or the hearers). In order for a man to be saved, he must have a repentant, surrendered, believing heart.

II. REPENTANCE NOTE: 1. Repentance is an attitude toward sin ...God doesn't save rebels, only repentant sinners.

2. Repentance is not a promise to never sin again, but it is the desire to be free from sin's power.

(Acts17:30,31) SO, WHAT DOES REPENTANCE INVOLVE? A. Confession - "God be merciful to me a sinner" B. Sorrow - "godly sorrow worketh repentance" 77

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C. Turning from - "ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God" (Matt. 21:32) III. SURRENDER TO THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST 1. As repentance is an attitude toward sin, so Lordship is an attitude toward the Savior.

2. As repentance is not a promise to never sin again, so Lordship is not a promise to always obey.

But it is the recognition that I have an obligation to obey. It is the desire to obey.

3. It is an attitude toward the person of Christ, His ownership, lordship, authority.

A. Acknowledging Who Jesus is: LORD! Romans 10:9; Phil. 2:9-11; Acts 9:6 Note: When a sinner surrenders to the Lordship of Christ, he is NOT making Jesus Lord of his life, for Jesus has always been his Lord. He is the Creator, Master, and Lord of all (Acts 10:36). This leads us to the next point.

B. Confessing Rebellion against His Lordship Isa.53:6.

1. The sinner is not making Jesus his Lord, he is acknowledging that Jesus has always been his Lord, but that he has been living in rebellion against that Lordship.

2. When a child is disobedient to his Father, that does not change the position of the Father, he is still the Father. So my years of disobedience to Jesus, did not change His position, He has always been Lord and will always be Lord. My obedience or disobedience does not change WHO HE IS. C. Sorrow For This Rebellion - Again, repentance 78

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is involved, for "godly sorrow worketh repentance."

D. Turning From This Rebellion 1. Acts 9:6 2. This is submission. "Since rebellion is the essence of sin, then submission is the essence of salvation."

E. A Desire to Begin a Life of Obedience to Christ 1. Luke 6:46 - Notice that in the mind of God that the term "Lord," always implies obedience. It is more than just a title. It implies authority. Cp. Luke 19:14,27.

2. Every parable speaks of his Lordship: a. Lord over his stewards b. Shepherd over his sheep c. Father over his children d. King over his subjects.

You do not get saved, then at some later time decide that you want to be a steward, a sheep, a child, or a subject. You become these things the moment you are saved and all of these denote submission.

IV. FAITH IN CHRIST NOTE: 1.

Faith is the sinner's attitude toward the Scriptures. The object of my faith is the Lord as He is revealed in the Scriptures.

2. Notice the words "believe" and "faith" in the following verses: Eph. 2:8,9; Acts. 16:31; Jn. 3:16.

A. Faith is Complete Trust In Christ Rom. 10:9,10; meaning to rely on, to place complete faith in the word of another. The sinner places complete faith in Christ as the atonement, payment for his sin.

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B. Faith is Commitment - Notice the words "did not commit" in John 2:24. Now notice the words "do not obey" in Romans 2:8. They are the same root word as "faith" (Greek, pistos) with the negative prefix "a". In other words, the King James translators (the greatest Greek Scholars of all time) understood that faith is more than mental assent, it involved and resulted in commitment (2 Tim.1:12) and obedience to Christ. Pistos means to believe, apistueo means to disobey. The fruit of faith is obedience. A life of disobedience proves one void of saving faith, for "faith without works is dead."

Conclusion: Prayer and Preaching produce conviction, and conviction produces a repentant, surrendered, believing heart which can be exercised toward Christ that the sinner might experience true, lifechanging salvation. AMEN AND AMEN! Do you have a repentant, surrendered, believing heart right now? "Being confident of this very thing, that he who hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: " Phil.

1:6.

CHAPTER TWO: A CRITIQUE OF “THE ENEMIES OF SOUL-WINNING�

by Dr. Jack Hyles" There are many good chapters in this book by Dr. Hyles with which we agree.

However, we definitely disagree with the chapters entitled, 80

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"LORDSHIPSALVATION", "MISUNDERSTOOD REPENTANCE", and "WHERE ARE THE NINE?".

We will deal with them in that order.

LORDSHIP SALVATION: 1. Lordship Salvation is not sinless perfection.

On Page 1, paragraph 1, Dr. Hyles erroneously equates Lordship Salvation with sinless perfection.

I have several books by different authors on the subject and none of them teach sinless perfection. It is a straw man conclusion based upon Dr. Hyles misunderstanding of Lordship. Just as faith is not a promise to never doubt, so Lordship is not a promise to never sin. Lordship is the sinner acknowledging that Jesus is Lord, repenting of his rebellion against that Lordship, submitting to his Lordship, and believing that Jesus' blood can cleanse him from his sin and rebellion.

2. Jesus Is Lord of the disobedient.

On page 1, paragraph 2, Dr. Hyles states that Jesus was not even Lord over the Apostle Paul. What he does not understand is that Jesus is "Lord over all...", Acts 10:36. He was my LORD before I was saved, but through the conviction of the Holy Ghost, I came to the realization that He was Lord, godly sorrow worked repentance, I repented of my rebellion and asked forgiveness based on His blood.

Paul said many times that Jesus was his Lord. For instance, 1 Cor. 1:2 states, "with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ OUR LORD, both theirs and ours.." Paul said that He is 81

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Lord over all that call upon Him. Again, in this same chapter, verses 7-9, Paul calls Jesus "our Lord", 3 more times. In Phil. 3:8 Paul calls him "Christ Jesus MY LORD".

Again, as stated earlier in the book, what Dr. Hyles does not understand is that my obedience or disobedience does not change His position. For example, I have 3 children; if they obey me I am their father; if they disobey, I am still their father.

To prove I am their father, I discipline them. When I disobey my Heavenly Father (or Lord, see Hebrews 12:6-11 where "father" and "Lord" are used interchangeably), He chastens me, thus proving His Lordship (Fatherhood). If He doesn't chasten me, it proves that I am not His child.

The later part of the chapter picks up on this thought and more false conclusions are drawn from Dr. Hyles' misunderstanding of Lordship. He states that since David, Lot, Noah, and the carnal Corinthian believers all sinned, then Jesus could not have been their Lord. However, as proven above, He proves his Lordship over the disobedient through chastening.

Just read how many times David called Jesus "Lord" in the Psalms (103:19). "No man can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Ghost", 1 Cor. 12:5. Peter said, "Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God", and Jesus responded that this was revealed to him by the Father. So that calling Jesus "Lord", owning Him as "Lord", is not a work of the flesh, but a result of the work of the Holy Ghost.

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Therefore, is it of grace! Rom. 14:9 declares, "For to this end Christ both died...that he might be Lord both of the dead (those now perfect) and the living (those NOT yet perfect)." Jesus is Lord over all (Acts 10:36); the perfect and the imperfect, the obedient and the disobedient, "the dead and the living".

3. Lordship is not works!

On page 2 of the book, Dr. Hyles draws yet another false conclusion stating that Lordship is a works salvation. We have proven above that it is the work of God in the heart, not a work of the flesh, and thus of grace. Again, we say that Lordship is the sinner recognizing who Jesus is, and surrendering to His Person and Power. As a sinner, Paul said, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" . He called Jesus "Lord" and then submitted to His will (Matt. 7:21, "not everyone that saith...Lord...but he that doeth the will of my Father..."). Was Paul saved by works by calling Jesus Lord and expressing a submissive will? Of course, not! It is an attitude of the heart toward the person and authority of Christ.

By using Dr. Hyles logic, I could endeavor to prove that "believing" is works. Consider John 6:29, "...This is the work of God that ye believe..." . Jesus said that believing is the work that God requires.

So, by Dr. Hyles reasoning, if I stop believing or if I lapse into a moment of doubt (as John the Baptist), then I would be lost!

WHAT UTTER NONSENSE! 4. Lordship is not something I practice, it is 83

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something Jesus exercises!

On page 5, the last paragraph states that Lordship can only be practiced by mature Christians. He quotes 2 Pet. 3:18 as his proof text. However, study the verse carefully for it supports Lordship.

"But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of OUR LORD and Saviour Jesus Christ."

The babe in Christ is to grow in the knowledge of his new found "Lord" . Jesus is Lord over the babe as well as the adult Christian. THE BIBLE SAYS SO! It is amazing how a preconceived idea can blind a man to so obvious a truth. Lordship guarantees growth in grace. It is guaranteed by conviction (1 John 4:13); by circumstances (Rom. 8:28); and by chastening (Heb. 12:5-11).

5. Faith is heart surrender to the claims and commands of Christ. (Rom. 10:9,10) On the next to the last page of the book (pg. 147), Dr. Hyles finally gives us his definition of faith. He says that the Greek word simply means "to roll upon" or "to depend upon". The problem is he didn't read far enough into Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon: "a conviction, a joyful trust conjoined with obedience; in faith to give one's self up to another". (Dr. Hyles would do well to check the Greek definition of repentance: "to be sorry for...to feel remorse...to turn one's soul from something".)

By how Dr. Hyles uses and applies the words "faith" and "believe", it is indeed easy-believism that he teaches; just mental assent to some historical facts about a man named Jesus. There are several instances in the Bible where men "believed", and 84

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were still lost. We have already mentioned John 2:23,24 and John 8:31-47. Remember James 2:19, "...the devils also believe and tremble ?" A careful study of Acts 8:9-24 will reveal that Simon the sorcerer "believed" (v.13), but yet needed to "repent" (v.22) and was still in the "bond of iniquity" (v.23). So the Bible illustrates a faith that is heart-faith, not mere head-faith. One is easybelievism and one is heart-believism (Rom. 10:9,10).

Since Dr. Hyles is so good with Greek definitions, we suggest that he check any conservative, fundamental Greek commentary on Rom. 10:9 and see if they do not all agree that the Greek interpretation and understanding of this verse is: "That is thou shalt confess with thy mouth that JESUS IS LORD..." Go ahead, check it and see!

Dr. Hyles sarcastically says that he doesn't preach "hard-believism". I say that it is not only hard to believe, it is impossible to believe apart from the supernatural work of the Holy Ghost in the heart of the sinner. Faith is heart commitment to the person of Christ. Read again where 'pistueo' (Greek for "believe" ) is translated "commit" in John 2:24.

Faith involves surrender and commitment based on trust (2 Tim. 1:12) QUESTIONS FOR DR. HYLES 1. When did Jesus become Lord? Mal. 3:6; Acts 2:36 2. Over whom is Jesus Lord? Acts. 10:36; Psalm 103:19; Romans 14:9 85

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3. Did not Paul (Acts 9:6) and David (Ps. 110:1) own Jesus as their Lord?

4. Can a sinner be saved and yet still harbor rebellion in his heart against the Lord?

5. Can a man be saved who wants to be saved from Hell only; but does not want deliverance from his sin?

6. Does a sinner not have to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord and not just a human savior in order to be saved?

7. Does God save rebels who want to be saved only from the consequences of their sin; or does he save humble, broken, sin-sick, repentant sinners?

8. Will you not admit that you do not preach the gospel of the old time preachers such as Oliver B. Greene, Lester Roloff, John R. Rice, and Harold Sightler who stated that repentance is "turning from sin and iniquity"?

MISUNDERSTOOD REPENTANCE In this chapter, Dr. Hyles teaches that since unbelief is the only sin that makes a man lost, then it is the only sin of which he must repent. His text, John 3:18, states that a man is "condemned already because he hath not believed..." Notice that it does not say that this is the ONLY sin that sends a man to hell. Nor does it say that this is the ONLY sin that a man must repent of. It is simply saying that this is the sin that hinders all of his other sins from being forgiven and keeps the condemnation of God on him. Jesus said to the Pharisees, "ye shall die in your sins� (plural).

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1. If what Dr. Hyles concludes is true, then unbelief is the only sin for which Jesus would have had to die.

If it is true that this is the only sin that sends a man to hell, then one must logically conclude that this is the only sin for which Jesus had to die. However, the scriptures teach that Christ is the, "propitiation for the sins of the whole world" and that "the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." If Jesus died for all my sins, then it must be that all my sins had a part in condemning me to Hell.

2. Repentance is turning from self-will and rebellion.

When I say that a man must repent of sin, I understand sin to be rebellion against God. Sin is a self-willed way of life. Isa. 53:6, "...we have turned everyone to his own way..." Take a look at 1 Thess. 1:9, "ye turned to God (faith) from idols (repentance) to serve (Lordship) the living and true God." No, a man does not have to repent of or name his sins individually. But he must confess that he is a sinner, experience godly sorrow for his sin, and desire to be set free from a life of rebellion against God. 3. Repentance and Faith are different.

If what Dr. Hyles says is true, then repentance and believing are one and the same. If repentance is "ceasing to not believe" and belief is "to start believing," then you cannot do one without automatically doing the other.

The word "repentance" would therefore be a redundant, unnecessary term that could only cause confusion.

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The scriptures declare that lost Pharisees "believed" on Jesus (John 8:31), but that they were still of their father the devil (8:44). Listen to Matt. 21:32, "and ye...repented not afterward, that ye might believe him." Jesus said you can't truly believe until you repent. They cannot be one and the same.

Repentance always precedes faith. It is "repent and believe", "repent and be baptized", "repent and be converted", repentance and the remission of sins."

It is "repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." Repentance is expressed toward the Father, for it is His law I have broken and His holiness that I have offended. It is faith toward Christ, for it is He who died for me and it is He to whom I owe my obedience.

4. Unbelief is stubborn rebellion against God. Even if "not believing" or "unbelief" were the only sin that sends a man to Hell, it is the sin of refusing to make a heart surrender to the LORD. Again, Dr. Hyles falls short of the Biblical definition and illustration of faith. When Jesus gave an invitation to a lost multitude, He said, "...whosoever doth not...come after me...forsakes not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple", Luke 14:25,27, and 33.

If you check the context, Jesus is preaching a salvation message to lost people, not a discipleship message to saved people. If you study the word "disciple", you will find it does NOT always refer to dedicated, mature Christians; but to new converts as well.

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Go back and read the statements by Oliver Greene and Harold Sightler stating that repentance has to do with "turning from all iniquity." It is clear that Dr. Hyles does not preach the same gospel as the old time preachers!

Question: How can those who have never heard the gospel be guilty of unbelief? Romans 10:14 says, "...how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard...?" According to Rom. 1:20, they are "without excuse". Not because of unbelief, for "when they knew God, they glorified him not as God". They knew God, they believed there was God, they understood His "eternal power and Godhead". But they rejected the light of conscience and creation. Their sin was the sin of rebellion and it expressed itself in the sins mentioned in Romans 1:23-32, of which "unbelief" is not named (unless, Dr. Hyles wants to admit that unbelief is, in fact, rebellion against God). Unbelief is the refusal to believe. It is not a passive thing. It is an aggressive, hateful, rebellious, stubborn refusal to surrender to the claims of Christ.

Quote from John R. Rice: June 26, 1981, in the Sword of the Lord, Page 10: "There is only one reason why men are lost...and that reason is the wicked love of sin, that rebellion against the will of God, that unwillingness to give up to Jesus Christ, and ...let Him be Lord and Boss of the life".

Dr. Hyles does not believe this, but Dr. Rice did.

We must understand that the gospel is not just a call, it is a command. Acts 17:30, "...God commandeth all men...to repent." "Believe on the 89

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LORD Jesus Christ" is an imperative command.

2nd Thess. 1:8 states, "In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that obey not the gospel...". To not believe the gospel is to disobey the gospel.

That's why in Rom. 2:8, "apeithousi," (which is "pisteuo" with the negative prefix "a") is translated, "do not obey" . Therefore, unbelief is disobedience and rebellion against the command of God. Faith, on the other hand, is submission to the command of God. Repentance is therefore turning from sin, from a life of rebellion against God, because unbelief is stubborn, aggressive rebellion against the will of God. The honest student must conclude that repentance is more than turning from a passive unbelief as defined by Dr. Hyles.

WHERE ARE THE NINE? I must make a couple of comments about this chapter. As he so often does, Dr. Hyles takes Luke 17:12-19 out of context and omits the key verse (19). He is endeavoring to justify his easybelievism method of soul-winning.

His interpretation is that Jesus healed (saved) 10, but only one returned to give God the glory. But what Dr. Hyles conveniently failed to deal with is verse 19. Speaking to the only one who returned to give thanks, Jesus said, "Thy faith hath made thee whole." The clear application is that the others had no faith, and though they were physically healed, they were not spiritually made whole. Where are the nine? Healed, but unthankful, and still lost.

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never were made whole; they were spiritually incomplete and still dead in sin. People who get made whole, bring glory to God! After having pastored a church where 95 % of the converts (oops! professions) didn't show for the second time, I know where the nine are. After having preached in over 160 different churches, and having spoken with many discouraged pastors, I know where the nine are! They are unthankful, lost, and still spiritually incomplete.

I am speaking of people who are not unstable transients, not servicemen, not rescue mission men; but average, everyday, middle class working people whom you can find home every evening of the week. But they have no desire to come to church and when you go back for a follow-up visit, they will slam the door in your face, if they answer it at all.

I knew something was wrong after implementing the "1-2-3 pray after me" soul-winning plan of Hyles, Fisk, and Gray (Texas). So I went to the Bible for the answer and found out I wasn't preaching the whole truth. Only the truth can set men free. You will not find the words "repent," "sorrow for sin," "turn," "surrender," "submit," or "commit" in the soul-winning plan of these men.

They are deceiving thousands and making them two-fold more the child of Hell.

It is nearly impossible to reach a person once he has been convinced (against his will) by a soul-winner, 91

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but not convicted by the Holy Ghost. Only the supernatural conviction of the Holy Ghost can produce true repentance and faith in the heart of the sinner and cause him to turn from his sin and bow his knee to the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is not the power of God when a super salesman talks a sinner into praying a prayer so he can escape Hell. It is the power of God that causes a jailor to fall on his knees and cry out, "what must I do to be saved?" Remember, "a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still." Only God can change a man's heart!

These men are not soul-winners, they are souldeceivers. They have "turned the grace of God into lasciviousness" . But that is another sermon book in itself! Think about it!

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Book Five: SOUL-WINNING THE BIBLE WAY SOUL-WINNING FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN REPENTANCE & LORDSHIP Preparation of the Heart 1. Always confess sin (1 John 1:9) and ask to be filled with the Holy Ghost (Eph. 5:18; Acts 1:8; Luke 11:13).

2. Always carry a small N.T. with you and some tracts.

3. Always have a joyful countenance and a relaxed spirit. Remember, you are not out to cram something down their throat or get your quota. You will not be judged as unspiritual because you do not have several professions of faith. Relax, speak slowly and clearly, and trust God for the results.

Always be open and honest with the hearer.

Conversation with the Hearer Introduction of Yourself: 1. If you are on the street or in a store, present a tract, and say something like this, "Hi, I'm _______________, and I would like to give you something to read and an invitation to my church.

Do you attend church regularly?- If you where to die right now, do you know for sure that you would go to Heaven?"

2. If you are on door-to-door visitation, introduce yourself this way: "Hello, my name is _________________, and we are from _________ Baptist Church. We are in the neighborhood today getting to know some folks, and we came by to 93

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invite you and your family to our church. Here is a tract with the time of our services.

What is your name? Do you attend church anywhere regularly?If you were to die right now, do you know for sure that you would go to heaven?Transition to the Scriptures: 1. If they answer the question about going to Heaven with a "Yes, I think so," then reply with, "Could you explain to me from the Bible why you believe you are going to Heaven?" If they give a good solid testimony, thank them for their time and go on.

2. If they answer the question about Heaven with a "No!", then follow up with this question, "If I could take the Bible and show you how you can know for sure that you are saved, would you let me do that?"

If they say "No, not today", then give them the gospel in a nutshell by saying something like this, "Well, let me say one thing before I leave, I know that God loves you, and that Jesus died for your sins, and that if you will repent of your sins and believe on Christ, you can know that you are saved and on your way to Heaven."

3. Present the gospel by stating the point, give the verses, explain the verses, then ask questions to make sure that they understand it and agree.

Throughout the conversation, look for signs of genuine interest and conviction. By doing this, you will know how much to press for a decision.

Presentation of the Gospel: 1. Continue the conversation this way; "There 94

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are 3 things a person must know and believe before he can be saved.

First of all, a person must acknowledge that he is a sinner before God. Show him Romans 3:10 & 23.

These verses tell us that there is no righteous or perfect person on the face of the earth. The reason is that we have all sinned. Mr. ____________, have you ever sinned? Do you understand that there are things in your life that are offensive and displeasing to God? Secondly, a person must also realize that the penalty of his sin is death and Hell. (Show him Romans 6:23.) This verse tell us the wages, that is, the payment for our sins is death. Death in the Bible is more than just physical, it is spiritual death, which is separation from God forever in the place called Hell. (Revelation 21:8). From this verse, we learn that death is the lake of fire. Now, Mr. ____________, if you were to die right now, according to the Bible, where would you spend eternity?" (If there is any hesitation, review briefly and ask the question again. Give your own testimony about how you came to be convinced that you were a sinner that deserved Hell.)

Thirdly, a person must understand that he is saved by grace through faith and there is really nothing that we can do to save ourselves. (Ephesians 2:8,9) Grace is a free gift from God. Faith is simply believing what God says about us, about Jesus, and about salvation. We are not saved by works, by going to church, living a good life, or any other thing that we can think of. It is the free gift of God! You are probably wondering now, how can I be 95

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saved or how can I receive this free gift?"

2. "Well, salvation is a matter of the heart (Romans10:10). Salvation is not outward works, it depends on the inward condition of the heart. When your heart is in the right condition, God will save you. There are 3 words that describe the condition of the heart that is ready to be saved.

First of all, one must have a repentant heart.

Remember, the Bible says we are sinners and we must have the right heart attitude toward sin in order to be saved. (Acts 17:30) Repentance involves confessing that I am a sinner, being sorrowful for my sins, and the willingness to turn from my sins. A few minutes ago, you agreed or confessed that you had sinned against God. But are you sorry for your sins? Are you willing to turn from all known sin in your life? Is there anything that you are not willing to give up in order that God may save you?

Secondly, a person must also have a surrendered heart. (Acts 9:6) [Briefly, tell the story of Saul on the Damascus Road and how he has now been brought to a place of surrender and obedience to God.] From this point on, Paul was willing to live a life of obedience to God. You cannot retain rebellion in your heart and be saved. There must be a heart attitude of surrender to God's will and word.

God tells us that we will be expected to forsake sin, be baptized, and come to church after we are saved.

We do not do these things in order to be saved, but because we have been saved. But we must have a surrendered heart, a willingness to obey God. This is not a promise to obey, it is simply an attitude of 96

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willingness. Are you willing to begin a life of obedience to God? Thirdly, a person must have a believing heart.

(Romans 10:9). Here the Bible tells us that we must believe that Jesus died for our sins and rose again from the dead that we might be saved. When Jesus died on Calvary, God placed all my sins on Christ.

Since the wages of sin is death, someone has to die for my sins! If I choose to live my own life and go my own way, I will die in my sins and go to Hell.

But Jesus died for me (Romans 5:8) and if I believe on Him, God will forgive me of all my sins. Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross? Do you believe that when He died, He paid for all your sins? Do you believe that He is able to forgive you and save you from your sins?Let me review the three things that describe the heart that God will save and forgive. A repentant heart, are you willing to turn from your sins? A surrendered heart, are you willing to begin a life of obedience to God? A believing heart, do you believe that Jesus died for your sins, and that he is able to save you and forgive you? Would you like to be saved?- Then look at Romans10:13. "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved". That is the promise of God to those who have a right heart attitude toward their sin, and toward the Savior. According to this verse, if you were to call upon the name of the Lord, would He save you?- Can God tell a lie? Will you right now call on God, confessing your sinfulness, asking Him to save you from a life of sin?"

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Have them pray aloud in their own words! If you do not detect Holy Ghost conviction and repentance, do not press for a decision. Remember, "a man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still." Let the gospel and the Holy Spirit do their work!

3. Assurance Verses: John 3:16; 5:24; 10:28,29.

For a complete list of books available from the publisher, please contact us at:

KING JAMES BAPTIST PUBLISHERS 127 Pennsylvania Ave. Round O, SC 29474 Phone: 803-386-3161 kjv.revivals@gmail.com www.kjvrevivals.webs.com

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