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Works, salvation by
The “Holy Club”
During his years at Oxford John became associated with the “Holy Club,” a group of serious churchmen committed to a methodically rigorous regimen of religious observance with the brothers John and Charles Wesley as the leading spirits. Their remarkable earnestness manifested itself in ascetic living, regular devotions, charitable works, and solemn discussion, but it was unenlightened by the Gospel.
“I began to fast twice a week for thirty-six hours together,” Whitefield wrote in later years, “prayed many times a day and received the sacrament every Lord’s Day. I fasted myself almost to death all the forty days of Lent, during which I made it a point of duty never to go less than three times a day to public worship, besides seven times a day to my private prayers. Yet I knew no more that I was to be born a new creature in Christ Jesus than if I had never been born at all.”
Deeply dissatisfied at heart, the reading of a book with the title The Life of God in the Soul of Man by Henry Scougal made plain to him the necessity of personal commitment to and union with Christ as Saviour and Lord. Desperately seeking this relationship, he increased his self-affliction to such an extent that his weakness brought him near to death. At last, however, the grace of God enabled him to trust solely in Christ instead of in his own religious exercises: “God was pleased to remove the heavy load,” he testified, “to enable me to lay hold of His dear Son by a living faith, and by giving me the Spirit of adoption, to seal me even to the day of everlasting redemption.”
His life continued to be one of zeal and self-discipline and was carefully planned from day to day; but from now on his overruling desire was to proclaim Christ and his grace to the world.
Source unknown
Aristotle Onasis
It is reported that just prior to his death, Aristotle Onasis started giving away vast sums of money to various charities, trying to see if it wasn’t possible to earn a place in heaven.
Source unknown
Survey
In a survey conducted by the Barna Research Group in 1992, nearly 1/3 of all born-again Christians stated that all good people will go to heaven, whether they have embraced Jesus Christ or not.
While 88% in a recent Barna poll believe Jesus Christ was a real person, what they believe about him differs sharply from scriptural teaching. 42% (even 1/4th of the “born-again” Christians) believe that while on earth Jesus sinned just like other people. 61% believe the devil is just a symbol of evil, not a living being. And 54% think that if people are good enough, they will earn a place in heaven regardless of their religious beliefs.
Barna Research Group, Nov. 2, 1994
Not of Works
Grace, triumphant in the throne,
Scorns a rival, reigns alone;
Come and bow beneath her sway!
Cast your idol works away!
Works of man, when made his plea,
Never shall accepted be;
Fruits of pride (vain-glorious worm!)
Are the best he can perform.
Self, the god his soul adores,
Influences all his powers;
Jesus is a slighted name,
Self-advancement all his aim.
But when God the Judge shall come,
To pronounce the final doom,
Then for rocks and hills to hide
All his works and all his pride!
Still the boasting heart replies,
What the worthy and the wise,
Friends to temperance and peace,
Have not these a righteousness?
Banish every vain pretense
Built on human excellence;
Perish every thing in man
But the grace that never can.
Olney Hymns, William Cowper, from Cowper’s Poems, Sheldon & Company, New York
Quote
- The most damnable and pernicious heresy that has ever plagued the mind of man was the idea that somehow he could make himself good enough to deserve to live with an all-holy God. - Martin Luther
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Widespread Confusion About the Gospel
Glendale, California. - A survey by the Barna Research Group suggests widespread confusion about the gospel - even among churchgoers who feel responsible to spread the gospel. Almost half of the respondents (46 percent) say they have a personal responsibility to explain their beliefs to others. Most of those “evangelizers” (81 percent) believe that the Bible is accurate in all its teachings and that Jesus Christ was crucified and resurrected (94 percent). But 48 percent of the evangelizers also believe that “if people are generally good, or do enough good things for others...they will earn places in heaven.”
“There is plenty of reason for churches to worry if nearly one-half of their people who believe in evangelism also believe in salvation by works,” says George Barna, president of the Barna Research Group. “The central message of Protestantism is in salvation by faith alone in Christ, yet (many) Protestant evangelizers seem to be preaching a different message.”
Respondents from “mainline” Protestant churches tended to believe in salvation by works more frequently than those from “evangelical” churches. Yet pastors from mainline churches seemed more confident in their members’ ability to evangelize. Almost half (46 percent) of mainline pastors believe their congregations are qualified to present the gospel, while only one-fourth (24 percent) of Baptist pastors do.
Moody Monthly, October 1993, p. 67
Poll
[According to a recent poll] 88% of Catholics and a majority of Presbyterian and Methodist evangelizers [those who actively try to share their “faith”] believe that “if people are generally good, or do enough good things for others during their lives, they will earn a place in heaven.”
National & International Religion Report, 8-23-93
Resources
- P. Brand, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, p. 108, quoting Merton
- P. Strommen, Five Cries of Youth (New York: Harper & Row, 1974) p. 76
- Between Two Truths, Klyne Snodgrass, Zondervan, 1990, p. 95.
- The Fight, J. White, IVP, pp. 218ff
- Between Two Truths, Klyne Snodgrass, Zondervan, 1990, p. 159
- A Holy Rebellion, T. Ice & R. Dean, Harvest House, 1990, pp. 59ff
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India’s Ritual Bathing in the River
A total of 36,000 Sadhus (Hindu holy men) were part of the estimated crowd of 40 million attending the two month Kumbh Mela festival in India last spring. More than 200 American Sadhus of the Hari Krishna groups brought millions of dollars worth of Hindu literature to the festival. One of our partners in South India explains the purpose of the ritual bathing in the river,
“They come for forgiveness of sins and salvation. Some thousands come stark naked—some of them rolling on the rough roads for miles, believing the festering sores on their bodies would earn them salvation...Hundreds have kept one arm lifted up for years until the arm gets shriveled with dry gangrene...others have stood on one leg for years, hanging on to a suspended sling while sleeping...all these are done to appease angry gods.”
During the festival, which takes place in the heat of summer, our Indian Christian partners set up free medical clinics. About 150 Christian students passed out literature and talked with pilgrims about the love of Christ. “Some received us with friendliness, some merely tolerated us, and others ferociously objected to the spread of Christianity,” wrote our partner. A number of pilgrims accepted Christ, though circumstances prevented them from taking an open stand at the Kumbh Mela. But five Hindus, including two Sadhus, were baptized—the ultimate step of courage for a Hindu.
Partners, published by Partners International, August, 1992, p. 7
Salvation Sounds Too Easy
I read about an instant cake mix that was a big flop. The instructions said all you had to do was add water and bake. The company couldn’t understand why it didn’t sell—until their research discovered that the buying public felt uneasy about a mix that required only water. Apparently people thought it was too easy. So the company altered the formula and changed the directions to call for adding an egg to the mix in addition to the water. The idea worked and sales jumped dramatically.
That story reminds me of how some people react to the plan of salvation. To them it sounds too easy and simple to be true, even though the Bible says, “By grace you have been saved through faith...; it is the gift of God, not of works” (Eph. 2:8-9). They feel that there is something more they must do, something they must add to God’s “recipe” for salvation. They think they must perform good works to gain God’s favor and earn eternal life. But the Bible is clear—we are saved, “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy” (Titus 3:5).
Unlike the cake-mix manufacturer, God has not changed His “formula” to make salvation more marketable. The gospel we proclaim must be free of works, even though it may sound too easy. R.W.D.
Our Daily Bread, June 2, 1992
Survey
7000 Protestant youth from many denominations were asked whether they agreed with the following statements: “The way to be accepted by God is to try sincerely to live a good life.”
- More than 60% agreed “God is satisfied if a person lives the best life he can.”
- Almost 70% agreed “The main emphasis of the gospel is on God’s rules for right living.” More than half agreed.
Source unknown
Barna Research
Despite the efforts of evangelists, parachurch ministries and local churches, the percentage of American adults who are born again Christians is no different now than in 1982, according to a study by the Barna Research Group. The study found that 34% of all Americans can be identified as born again—that is, they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ, and say they will go to heaven because they have confessed their sins and accepted Christ as their savior.
Among those surveyed, 62% said they had made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their lives today. However, among those who have made a commitment to Christ, only 55 percent believe they will go to heaven because of accepting Christ as their personal savior (the basic belief in the “born again” movement)...Most of those surveyed said they would go to heaven because of living a good life, or obeying the 10 commandments, or because all people will go to heaven. Others who said they had made a commitment to Christ said they were unsure about what will happen to them after they die.
Reported in Inland Northwest Christian News, March, 1990, p. 3
Escaped Criminal
In one of his sermons, A. C. Dixon told of an incident that took place in Brooklyn, N.Y. A detective who had been looking for a local citizen finally tracked him down in a drugstore. As the man began to make his purchase, the officer laid his hand on the citizen’s shoulder and said, “You’re under arrest; come with me!” Stunned, the man demanded, “What did I do?” The detective calmly replied, “You know what you did. You escaped from the Albany penitentiary several years ago. You went west, got married, and then came back here to live. We’ve been watching for you since you returned.”
Quietly the man admitted, “That’s true, but I was sure you’d never find me. Before you take me in, could we stop by my house so I can talk to my family?” The officer agreed. When they got to his home, the man looked at his wife and asked, “Haven’t I been a kind husband and a good father? Haven’t I worked hard to make a living?” His wife answered, “Of course you have, but why are you asking me these questions?” Her husband then proceeded to explain what had happened and that he was now under arrest.
He apparently had hoped that his record as an exemplary husband and father would impress the officer. Even so, he was still an escaped criminal. Though he was “right” with his family, he was all wrong with the state of New York.
Source unknown
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