As Newborn Babes
By David J. Stewart
“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” —1st Peter 2:2
The Bible likens new believers in Christ to “newborn babes”. Carefully notice that the Bible doesn’t say “babies”; but rather, “newborn babies”. Whereas an older baby might be able to perform certain advanced intellectual functions, such as saying “mama” or “papa”; a newborn baby is completely ignorant of its new life.
Likewise, when a lost sinner repents by turning to Jesus Christ to be forgiven of their sins, they are born-again in Christ Jesus. At that point they are as helpless in their new spiritual lives as is a baby physically born from its mother’s womb. Everything becomes new to them:
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” -2nd Corinthians 5:17.
This is why the Apostle Peter, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in 1st Peter 2:2, said that a baby believer needs the “MILK OF THE WORD” to grow.
The Lie of Lordship Salvation
In view of this Biblical truth, the false doctrine of “Lordship Salvation” becomes even more absurd. Lordship Salvation is the teaching that a sinner cannot merely place their trust in Jesus Christ to be saved; but in addition, that sinner must surrender to Christ’s Lordship, and thus be willing to forsake one’s sins as part of saving faith. This is works salvation and a guaranteed road to Hellfire and damnation. The gift of God is eternal life (Romans 6:23) and it is without any works of self-righteousness (Titus 3:5).
The Word of God plainly states that Christ’s righteousness is IMPUTED (i.e. placed upon our heavenly record) to the sinner who rests his or her faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.
“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him [Jesus] that justifieth the ungodly [you and me], his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin” (Romans 4:5-8).
This is biblical salvation; not the false gospel of heretics like John MacArthur, Paul Washer, Aiden Tozer, Jack Chick, Ray Comfort, and a host of others. The Bible plainly warns us in 2nd Corinthians 11:3,4 that Satan would attempt to corrupt the “simplicity that is in Christ” through ignorant and unlearned men who pervert the Scriptures.
“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.”
All of the men I just mentioned to you are guilty of preaching “another gospel” not taught in the Scriptures. 2nd Peter 3:16 also warns against those who ignorantly pervert the Scriptures.
“As also in all his [Paul’s] epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.”
It is no trifle matter that Jack Chick is sincerely ignorant in his false gospel. People are going to Hell. Unquestionably, untold thousands of lost sinners have refused to accept Christ after reading a Chick Tract, because they were unwilling to “be willing to turn from sin” to be saved as Mr. Chick requires in his tracts. No Sir, you don’t have to be willing to turn from sin to be saved! You simply need to believe upon Jesus as the Christ with a childlike faith to be forgiven of your sins. It’s that simple.
Just as a little newborn baby who’s just come forth from its mother’s womb, so is the new believer in Christ. Just as nothing can reasonably be expected of a newborn baby; likewise, nothing should be expected of a new believer in Christ. Salvation does not instantly cause a new believer to walk a “narrow path” (as Paul Washer proudly teaches), anymore than a newborn child can use a calculator, run a marathon, or construct something with building blocks. There is a necessary growth process that cannot be bypassed. The same is true of every new believer in Christ Jesus.
In salvation, a lost sinner, who realizes their guilt under God’s Law, comes to Jesus Christ by faith to be forgiven and saved. This is the second birth. Absolutely nothing can be reasonably expected of a new believer who hasn’t been trained, mentored and given the opportunity to grow in the Lord. It is wickedness, and a false gospel, when men like John MacArthur and Ray Comfort pervert the gospel into works salvation, by teaching that faith alone in Christ is not enough to save a person from Hell. Yes faith alone in Christ is biblically enough for Salvation.
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13)
The heresy of Lordship Salvation bypasses growth in grace, and unreasonably demands a changed life, or a willingness to change one’s life, as part of saving faith. There is no such foolish teaching in the Scriptures.
Dear One,
I am confident that you have the very best of intentions in your teachings, but to claim that there is absolutely no need to be willing to turn from your sin in order to be saved is a contradiction of much of the New Testament.
Acts 3:26 should be sufficient proof t9 you of that. Certainly, it is true that it is utterly impossible for any of us to turn from anything out from ourselves. Our unaided human will is utterly useless, but the Lord does indeed command us to repent of our sins and anyone who purports to be His that does not experience a deep desire for holiness and purity cannot possibly have experienced the new birth.
I am not trying to imply that anything other than TRUE faith in Christ is necessary for salvation, but all who truly believe with all of their heart will believe His promises to “subdue all of their iniquities” and to “turn them from all of their iniquities. (Also read 2Peter 2:20)
I am afraid a gospel that forbids Christians to repent with the threat of damnation because of “works salvation” was birthed in the pit as surely as the one that says that if our good works outweigh our bad ones we will go to heaven!
In His Love,
Bro. Bob Stegall
Comment by Bob Stegall — August 30, 2008 @ 2:52 pm
Hi Bob Stegall,
Acts 3:26 “Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.”
Notice that Jesus comes to turn “every one of you from his iniquities” and that we don’t turn from our iniquities to come to Jesus.
You say: “Certainly, it is true that it is utterly impossible for any of us to turn from anything out from ourselves. Our unaided human will is utterly useless, but the Lord does indeed command us to repent of our sins and anyone who purports to be His that does not experience a deep desire for holiness and purity cannot possibly have experienced the new birth.”
Yes, that is true. I am not against believers who live their lives for the Lord. What I am against in this article is the unbiblical Lordship Salvation teaching that requires unsaved sinners to forsake their sins BEFORE they can be saved.
You say: “I am afraid a gospel that forbids Christians to repent with the threat of damnation because of “works salvation” was birthed in the pit as surely as the one that says that if our good works outweigh our bad ones we will go to heaven!”
The Bible never teach any Gospel that does not include repentance. Here is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus CHrist:
***Jesus Christ is God incarnate in the flesh Who came to this world to shed His blood for our sins on the cross. Jesus was dead and resurrected three days after being crucified. Jesus, then, rose up to Heaven and applied His shed blood to the Mercy Seat so that all sinners who have faith in Him will be justified before God.
***We are all wretched and desperate sinners. We can do nothing to earn Heaven. Our own self-righteousness, good works, money, reputation…etc can do absolutely nothing to save us from Hellfire.
***Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Faith is not feelings, emotions, philosophies, lifestyles…etc but a TOTAL TRUST upon Jesus Christ for eternal Salvation.
***We come to the Lord Jesus Christ by repentance and believing.
***Repentance: a change in the sinner’s mind. When listening to the preaching of the Gospel, the sinner realizes that he is GUILTY of breaking God’s Laws. The sinner realizes that he himself is a sinner who deserves nothing but Hellfire.
***Believing: the sinner then comes to the cross realizing that only Jesus Christ can save him out of Hell. The sinner puts all of his trust upon Jesus Christ for his eternal Salvation.
——–> At that very moment, the sinner is saved, he is forever free from the condemnation of God’s Laws through the precious blood of Jesus Christ. The sinner is born-again, he is a new creature. The church then will yoke with him, exhorts him, teaches him biblical doctrines, and encourages him to lay his life for the Lord.
I hope that will clarify some of my ideas in this articles.
God bless his faithful servants.
Regards
Comment by Bearing The Cross — August 31, 2008 @ 12:45 pm
Do u realise that your vicious unkind remarks + comments cause many people to stumble. My understanding of christianity is that christians represent Jesus Christ here on earth. However my impression of the many various ‘groups’ is that they all seem to have their own Jesus + have moulded him to suit the agenda of their ‘group’ + interpretation of the Bible. They cannot tolerate one another, so have very public mud slinging sessions. What happened to ‘by your love for one another, this is how you will be known as my diciples’. ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ What happened to respect? I may not agree with you, but we can disagree with our respect for one another intact. Jesus never even treated a prostitute in a disrepectful manner. He was a gentleman. The pharasees + scribes seemed to irk him somewhat, because they were so self righteous. Unfortunately people like me see a fragmented Jesus whom i find very difficult to relate to. Yet I long to love + serve him as I should + long for that blessed assurance that he loves me.
Comment by CONFUSED & DEPRESSED — September 14, 2008 @ 5:54 pm
It boils my blood when I hear someone say “what about love they neighbor?” Loving one’s neighbor would be to expose soul damning heresies such as lordship salvation and baptismal regeneration. Jesus went into a temple and used whips to clear all the sells men out, what happened to His love? He showed His love by protecting His Fathers house! The bible doesn’t say to be spineless and whimpy, but to defend the faith and exhort one another. If no one spoke against the evil doctrines people have today then how can people get saved? Before I got saved I was a catholic, and people from my girlfriends church would explain to me that the catholic church is NO church and that I needed to get saved. The reason why I came down the isle for salvation is because I heard the testimony of an ex catholic. We NEED people to expose false teachings!
Comment by James — September 17, 2008 @ 6:47 pm
Unconditional love is definitly not an easy, wimpy kind of love. Love is kind, patient etc. If you love the Lord your God with everything you have & your neighbour as yourself, you will not break the commandments.GOD IS LOVE!!! What Bible do you read James? Jesus was hopping mad because the people were desecrating the Fathers house by what they were doing. He also lost his cool with the ‘teachers of the law’! Everything Jesus did(in his Father’s name) was based on LOVE. Once again the love that Jesus practised was the kind, very very few of his so called ‘diciples’ know anything about! They’ve twisted it to accomodate their ‘i’ll love you if’……
Comment by CONFUSED & DEPRESSED — September 18, 2008 @ 2:54 am