A Perversion of The Gospel!
Lordship Salvation
By Dr. Curtis Hutson
CHAPTER THREE
III. Bible Examples of Uncommitted Believers
Let me give you some Bible examples of uncommitted believers. First, I will call your attention to some who had definite lapses from a fully surrendered life after they were saved. Second, I will call attention to believers who did not commit their lives to Christ until long after they were saved. Third, we will call attention to one in the Bible who trusted Christ as Saviour but never surrendered to the Lordship of Christ.
David is an example of one who had a definite lapse in his surrender. Now David may or may not have surrendered his life to the Lordship of Christ at the moment of salvation, but Jesus dead sure wasn't Lord of David's life when he committed adultery with Bathsheba. David was lord at the time; David was running the show. David may or may not have surrendered to the Lordship of Christ at the moment of salvation, but Jesus Christ was not Lord of David's life when he sent Uriah into battle and had him killed. If Jesus was Lord of David's life, then it is certain that David had a lapse of his surrender. David's life was not committed to the Lordship of Christ when he committed adultery and murder! So If he had committed his life, he definitely had a lapse.
If total surrender to Christ was a prerequisite for salvation, then David lost his salvation until he totally surrendered again. But he didn't lose it! According to Psalm 51:12, all he lost was the joy of salvation. He prayed, "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation." He didn't pray, "Lord, save me because You have not been the Lord of my life."
Noah is another example of one saved by the grace of God who, if ever committed to Christ, had a relapse. The Bible says in Genesis 6:8, "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." Noah was saved and may or may not have surrendered to the Lordship of Christ at the moment of salvation. But when the ark landed, Noah got drunk; and in a drunken stupor lay naked before his sons. If Noah had surrendered and committed his life to the Lordship of Christ when he was saved, he certainly had a lapse. You can't say Jesus Christ was controlling Noah's life when he got drunk! Noah was controlling his own life. You can't blame his immoral conduct on the Lord.
The Apostle Peter is another example of one who, if ever committed, had a relapse. Peter said, "Though al men forsake thee, I will never leave thee" (Matthew 26:33). But he followed the enemy and warmed himself by the Devil's fire.
One of the enemy came and said, "Hey! That fellow there is one of them; he's one of the Lord's boys."
Peter said, "Oh, no! I don't know Jesus."
Another one said, "Yes, Peter is one of Jesus' followers."
Peter insisted, "No, I don't know Christ. I'm not one of them!"
A woman said, "You are one of His disciples! Your speech betrays you."
And Peter began to curse. He said, "You blankety-blank-blank, low-down, sneakin' woman, I don't know Jesus Christ and never knew Him!"
If he surrendered to the Lordship of Christ in total commitment at the moment of salvation, he certainly had a lapse when he cursed and said, "I never knew Jesus Christ!"
In John 21, Peter quit the ministry. He said, "I go a fishing" (vs. 3). This was a public announcement that he never intended to preach again. "I am through preaching--I quit!" And six preachers went with him! When he got out on the lake in a boat, he took off his clothes and was out there naked in the middle of the night in a boat, fishing. It is all in John 21. If he was surrendered to Jesus Christ totally at the moment of salvation, he was not surrendered totally now. He quit the ministry and never intended to preach again! The Lord had to come and warm his backslidden heart by the fires of John, chapter 21, before he preached in Acts, chapter 2, and had 3,000 conversions.
There are other examples in the Bible of men whom if they were totally surrendered, had a lapse in their yieldedness or commitment after they were saved.
Now let me give you an example from the Bible of some believers who were saved and later made a commitment of their lives to Christ.
In Acts 19 we have the conversion of some people at Ephesus who had been worshipping the goddess Diana. An important part of worship included the superstitious dependence on magical words and charms and saying. Paul had been there two years preaching, and these people had believed on Christ. "And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds" (vs. 18). Some of them had believed as much as two years earlier. Verse 19 says, "Many of them also which used curious [magical] arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver"--$9,300 worth of books burned! They were just now burning their books of magic--two years after trusting Christ! These people were saved without surrendering to the Lordship of Christ at the moment of salvation.
We know many believers who trusted Christ as Saviour, then years later quit bad habits such as smoking. We even know some who, like Noah, got drunk after they were saved. Now we are not condoning sin; we are simply showing that Jesus was not Lord of these believers' lives.
I know some Christians who were saved and a year later quit some habits, while others waited several years. As a matter of fact, I don't know one Christian anywhere who surrendered to the absolute Lordship of Christ at the moment of conversion and has continued a life of complete surrender.
One dear man who teaches Lordship salvation told me that if Jesus was not Lord of an individual's life, then that individual was not saved. He also said that he had surrendered to the Lordship of Christ at the moment he was saved. Later this man was dismissed from a Christian organization because of conduct unbecoming of a Christian.
You don't get better to get saved; you get saved to get better. You can't get better until you do get saved. You don't have anything to get better with. In Acts 19 we have people who were saved though they had not totally committed themselves to Christ at the moment of trusting Him as Saviour. Two years later they burned their magic books--two years late! These people certainly contradict the teaching of Lordship salvation.
The third example is one of a lifelong refusal to commit oneself to the Lordship of Christ. If you read only the Old Testament references to Lot, you wouldn't believe he was saved. But the Bibles says in 2nd Peter 2:7-8 "And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked. (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)" Twice in verse 8 he is called "righteous," and verse 7 calls him "just Lot"
Now Lot was saved, justified. Second Peter 2:7-8 makes this amply clear. But when you read the Old Testament account of his life, it is plain to see that he was never surrendered to God before or after he was saved.
His Uncle Abraham set out on a journey, and Lot just followed his uncle! In the process, his herd of cattle grew; and his herdsmen began to fight with Abraham's herdsmen. Then they decided they had better separate. This little, puny, potato-string backboned nephew looked up at this giant of faith, Abraham, who said to Lot, "You choose either direction you want.' Lot looked towards the mountains, then toward the well-watered plains of Jordan. If he had been surrendered, he would have said, "Uncle Abraham, I am not even supposed to be out here. I just followed you. You make the choice, and I'll take the one you don't want." But that little pipsqueak took the well-watered plains of Jordan. He wasn't surrendered.
When he went down to Sodom and called the Sodomites "brothers"--that is not being surrendered. If you call somebody who doesn't believe the Bible a "brother in Christ," you are not surrendered. It shows you don't know much about the Bible. The only man who is your brother is the one who has received Jesus Christ as Saviour. You become a Son of God by faith (John 1:12). When he called those wicked Sodomites "brethren," do you think he was surrendered to Christ?
Two angels came down from Heaven, and Lot took them into his house. The young and old men of the city of Sodom compassed about the house of Lot and clamored and cried, "Send those men out to us that we may know them" (Genesis 19:5). They wanted to commit homosexuality with two angels who came from Heaven. That is where we get the word "sodomy."
Do you know what Lot did? "I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof." Does that sound like a committed Christian? It certainly doesn't!
When God sent an angel down to get Lot out of Sodom, Lot lingered. He didn't want to leave. Finally the angel had to get him by the arm and drag him out of Sodom before the fire and brimstone rained down from Heaven. He was so worldly and uncommitted and unsurrendered that his sons-in-law laughed at him when he tried to get them to leave. They laughed at his testimony.
But keep following him; his life gets worse. Before fire and brimstone rains down from God out of Heaven, they leave Sodom and Gomorrah. He takes with him his wife and two daughters. His wife looks back and turns into a pillar of salt. Lot goes into a cave with his two daughters and gets drunk. There was no liquor store in that cave, so Lot must have brought that wine with him when he left Sodom. While he was drunk, he committed incest with both his daughters; and both gave birth to babies.
Lot is a Bible example of one never surrendered to the Lordship of Christ, one who never made a total commitment to the Saviour. But we know he was saved because the Bible says so in 2nd Peter 2:7-8.
So you have three Bible examples of uncommitted believers: those who trusted Christ had lapses in their yieldedness or surrender after they trusted Christ as Saviour but did not surrender until some time later, and Lot who never did yield his life to the Lordship of Christ.End of Chapter Three
