Religiously Sincere but not Saved!
Sincerity is admirable but what we think or do can never be enough to satisfy the God who made us. The story of the Rev. William Haslam deserves to be more widely known. From childhood he had been sickly but he found much comfort in hearing the Anglican Prayers for the Sick which assured him that if he died he would go to heaven. He did recover but still took his religious obligations seriously and eventually was ordained. Later he wrote,
"I little dreamed if I had died in that unpardoned and Christless state, I should have been lost for ever for I was profoundly ignorant of the necessity of a change of heart - perfectly unconscious that I must be born again of the Spirit".
He regarded faith as his commitment to serve God instead of the fact that Jesus had come from God to die for him. It was his attempts to being righteousness that were his hope. He said,
“I did not look to the Bible, but to the Church, for teaching, for I was led to consider the private judgement on the subject of Scripture statements was very presumptuous. I got moreover, into a legal state, and thought my acceptance with God depended upon my works, and that His future favour would result upon my faithfulness and attention to works of righteousness which I was going. This made me very diligent in prayer, fasting and good deeds ... I took it for granted that I was a child of God, because I had been baptised and brought into the Church and having been confirmed and admitted to the Lord's Table, I concluded that I was safely on the way to heaven. I see now the error of this earnest devotion, and that I was going about to establish my own righteousness instead of submitting to the righteousness of God.”
His preaching at this time was all about the Church, he thought that church membership gave salvation
“I preached that forgiveness and salvation were to be had in and by the Church, which was as the Ark in which Noah was saved. Baptism was the door of the Ark, and Holy Communion the token of abiding in it and all who were not inside were lost.”
Yet there were many people living in Cornwall who were Methodists or followers of John Bunyan and he wondered what would happen to them when they faced God in judgment. Would they be saved? One day he asked a man why he did not come to the parish church. He replied,
“Cornish people are too enlightened. Only unconverted people and backsliders go to such a place.”
He became increasingly perturbed about this new birth that so many were talking about. Then his gardener fell seriously ill. The doctors pronounced him a dying man. When faced with eternity, all the teachings of the Church and sacraments that the vicar had given him failed to give him an assurance of peace with God. In his distress, the poor man asked a converted neighbour to visit him. This man, instead of giving him false comfort, showed him from the bible that he, like everybody else, was a lost sinner in the sight of God, and that he needed to come to Christ just as he was for pardon and peace. The gardener was brought under deep conviction of sin, and found great peace when he believed what the Lord Jesus Christ had done for him. The news spread all over the parish that the ‘parson's servant had been converted’. Mr. Haslam called upon the sick man, to try and reclaim him for the Church. When he called, instead of finding him lying upon his bed, a dying man, he found him walking about the room full of joy. The gardener told his vicar the peace and joy he had found in the Saviour, and then declared he was going to pray for ‘his dear master’ to be converted too.
Shortly after this he visit ed the Rev R Aitken, a nearby evangelical vicar, who asked why he was dissatisfied in his work. He replied,
“Because I am making a rope of sand, which looks very well till I pull it, and then, when I expect it to hold, it gives way. These Cornish people are ingrained schismatics.”
Mr. Haslam then spoke of his gardener's conversion.
“Well,” said Mr. Aitken, “If I were ill, I certainly would not send for you. If you had been converted you would have remained at home to rejoice with him. It is very clear you are not converted."
“Not converted? How can you tell?”
“Have you peace with God?”
“Yes.”
“How did you get peace?”
“I have it continually. I get it at the Daily Service, I get it through prayer and reading, and especially at the Holy Communion; I have made it a rule to carry my sins there every Sunday, and have often come away from that sacrament feeling as happy and free as a bird.”
“How long does this peace last?”
“I suppose, not a week, for I have to do the same thing every Sunday.”
“I thought so,” he replied. Then, opening the Bible, he read from the fourth chapter of John, "Whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst: but the water that I shall give him shall be in him, a well of water springing up into eternal life".
Mr. Aitken then pointed out the difference between getting water by drawing from a well, and having a living well within, springing up.
Mr Haslam said that he had never had heard of such a thing, so asked him:
“Have you this living water?”
“Yes, thank God, I have had it for the last thirty years.”
“How did you get it?”
He pointed to the tenth verse,
“You would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water".
“Shall we ask Him?” said Mr. Haslam.
Together they knelt down and prayed. Mr. Haslam was overcome, and wept. On the way home he was greatly troubled lest he should be one of those the Bible talks about, who had thought they were all right, and yet heard the Lord say to them,
“Depart from me; I never knew you.”
His mind was in a turmoil from Thursday till Sunday and he felt totally unfit to take the service. However, he nerved himself for the effort. He had not prepared a sermon, but when he was reading the Gospel he thought he would just say a few words of explanation, and then dismiss the people. He took his text from the Gospel for that day, “What think ye of Christ?” He explained how, when Christ put this question to the Pharisees, they did not understand that He had come to save them. In his own words, he then describes the marvellous happening that took place:
“Something was telling me, all the time, ‘You are no better than the Pharisees. You do not believe He has come to save you any more than they did.’ I do not remember all I said, but I felt a wonderful light and joy coming into my soul, and I was beginning to see what the Pharisees did not. Whether it was in my words, or my manner, or my look, I know not; but all of a sudden, a local preacher, who happened to be in the congregation, stood up, and putting up his arms, shouted out in Cornish fashion, ‘The parson is converted! The parson is converted! Hallelujah!’ In another moment his voice was lost in the shouts and praises of three or four hundred of the congregation. Instead of rebuking this extraordinary ‘brawling'’as I should have done in former time, I joined in the outbreak of praise, and then gave out the Doxology - ‘Praise God from whom all blessings flow’, and the people sang it over and over again.
At least twenty other people that morning found real peace through the Saviour. The news spread in all directions that ‘the parson had been converted, and that in his own pulpit, and by his own sermon’.
The church could not hold the crowds that came in the evening. I told the people that if I had died last week I should have been lost for ever, but now the Lord had ‘brought me out of a horrible pit, and out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a Rock and put a new song in my mouth’.
The Church was filled with praise, and many were saved. The glorious work that God had started spread, and revival broke out in many places around.
This is an extraordinary story but is it what Jesus and his apostles taught?
True worship in the New Testament
Nicodemus was a distinguished Jewish leader who went to visit Jesus one night. He was an upright religious man with orthodox Jewish views. Yet some of the first words Jesus said to him were,
“I tell you the truth, no-one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” John 3:3
This great theologian could not understand what Jesus was saying,
“How can a man be born when he is old?” John 3:4
To this Jesus somewhat cryptically replied,
“I tell you the truth, no-one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” John 3:5-6
Jesus is saying that a spiritual rebirth or new beginning is essential for people to enter the kingdom of God. We become new people, the old life has gone (2 Corinthians 5:17). Jesus is teaching Nicodemus that this new life centres on himself,
“No-one has ever gone into heaven, except the one who came from heaven - Son of Man.” John 3:13
This is then explained very clearly in what has become perhaps the most famous verse in the Bible,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
Everything centres on having this deep, personal relationship, this belief in Jesus. This paragraph continues,
“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” John 3:18
Jesus is God’s truth and the decision to put him in the centre of our lives is the way into God’s Kingdom of Light, and this will produce an obvious change that all can see.
“But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” John 3:21
Paul wrote about many of his fellow Jews,
“Brothers, my hearts desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to Christ’s righteousness. Romans 10:1-3
The concern here is that people may be saved. According to Paul being religious and even being zealous about the religion we believe in does not mean that someone is right with God, that they are saved. Zeal that is not based on God’s truth does not impress God. The only righteousness that is enough for us to acceptable by God is a righteousness received as a gift because we are committed to God’s Son.
The very religious Pharisees were appalled at the teaching of Jesus who regarded them as the enemies of God. In contrast, the Pharisees considered that their zeal and the fact that they followed what they understood God’s word to say, meant that God must accept them. However Jesus taught that the only way to salvation was to believe in him and that meant to obey and follow him as he is the only Son of God. He said,
“I tell you the truth. A time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.” John 5:25-26
It is our attitude to Jesus that determines whether we are saved or not. A man who had been born blind was healed by Jesus. The Pharisees were livid because Jesus had done this miracle on the Sabbath when they allowed no form of work. The healed man was excommunicated from the Jewish fraternity because of his allegiance to Jesus.
“Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ ‘Who is he, sir?’ the man asked, ‘Tell me that I may believe in him.’ Jesus said, ‘You now have seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.’ Then the man said, ‘Lord, I believe,’” and he worshipped him.” John 9:35-38
This is a remarkable conversation. Excommunication was a frightening fate. Others were not allowed to talk with you or trade with you. You were exiled and the only hope was to move and start again in an area where you are not known. Yet Jesus does not spend time commiserating with the healed man – there was something far more important. This man needed to understand who it was that had healed him as faith in him gives the benefit of eternal life.
Religion had ostracised this man but, because he became a worshipper of Jesus, he was given something much greater. Jesus is stressing that it is possible to be religious but not to realise that that does not give relief from God’s judgement. How we respond to Jesus now will be the basis for our future judgment when we meet God face to face. Jesus goes on to explain this,
“For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blin will see and those who see will become blind.” John 9:39
The religious Pharisees thought they knew the truth, but they had overlooked that their Scriptures point repeatedly to the coming of the Messiah, the man they were rejecting. Clearly some of them understood what Jesus was inferring,
“Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, ‘What? Are we blind too?’ Jesus said, ‘If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.” John 9:40-41
They thought they could hide behind their religion and their zeal – what a terrible mistake. What Jesus demands is that we worship him both ‘in spirit and in truth’. Jesus explained to the Samaritan woman, who had had five husbands, that up to that time people could only become the people of God through Judaism but now this was to be opened to people of all nations,
“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the |Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit and his worshippers must worship him is spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-24
Jesus is teaching us that there is much ‘false worship’. The worship God requires is inward, it is a spiritual act not an activity. It must also be based on the truth and he repeatedly reminds us that he alone is the only truth acceptable to God. Jesus said later,
“I am the way, the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
There is no eternal benefit in being involved in a church or any other religious activity, if Jesus Christ is not Lord of my life, if his Holy Spirit is not living in me. The evidence that I have the Holy Spirit is not that I have been baptised or confirmed, it is my life is seen to be under the control of the Lord Jesus. The effects of the Holy Spirit’s presence will include,
We have been given a love for Jesus, what he wants is most important in my life.
We begin to hate the sin in our lives, our consciences become more acute.
We are given a love for the Bible, the Word of God, we want to understand it more.
We are given a love for other Christians and enjoy meeting with them.
He helps us to pray and involve the Lord in all we do.
He gives us a longing to share Jesus with others.
If we do not have these marks of the Holy Spirit developing in our lives we must ask ourselves whether we are really Christians. Paul wrote,
“You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” Romans 8:9
To love my church, my denomination or my religion will not save me in that final judgment. To live relatively good lives will not save us, it is only through a personal surrender to Christ that I can receive His Spirit and so be saved.
“Brother, are you saved?” We think such wording is only the territory of religious fanatics. But the word ‘saved’ is a good Bible word, and we ought not to avoid it. In Acts, chapter 16, the Philippian jailor, who was about to take his own life said to Paul,
“What must I do to be saved?”
Paul said,
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
It’s the most important question you can ever ask. “How can I be saved?”
True worship in the Old Testament
The is a widespread misunderstanding that in Old Testament times people were saved by obeying God’s laws. The Pharisees took this to an extreme and thought that because they meticulously followed the rules they would be acceptable to God. Jesus disabused them of such ideas.
In all of time, people have only been saved by a personal commitment to God. In the first book of the Bible, the need for personal faith is emphasised,
“Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” Genesis 15:6
To be acceptable to God we must be righteous people but when we try to be holy by our actions we all fail miserably. Righteousness is a gift that is only given to those who have entered into a personal relationship with God and subsequently with his Son. The prophet Isaiah realised this,
“All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are as filthy rags.” Isaiah 64:6
Outward religious devotion and social activities cannot make us righteous, we need the righteousness that only comes as gift, a gift to those who have opened their hearts to the Lord. The proff that we have opned our hearts will be a changed life that centres on living to please Jesus. This will be seen in the way we obey him, just as in Old Testament times obedience to the Law of God was not the means of becoming righteous but the effect of being made righteous through faith.
When Moses summarised the teaching of God to his people, before they entered the Promised Land, his emphasis was on the relationship with God that everyone needs.
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:4
“Fear the LORD your God, serve him only . . .” Deuteronomy 6:13
Evidence of this love will then be seen in obedience,
“Be sure to keep the commandments of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. Do what is right and good in the LORD’s sight so that it may go well with you . . .” Deuteronomy 6:17-18
Jesus himself made the same point, salvation can only be found in a love for Jesus, but such true true faith will always be followed by obedience,
“If you love me, you will obey what I command.” John 14:15
He then repeats this, just to ensure that we all hear his message!
“If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.” John 14:23
Joshua became the leader of the Children of Israel as they took over the Promised Land. When he was born in Egypt, his parents had called him ‘Hoshea’ which means ‘Saviour’. Later, as they travelled through the wilderness Moses changed his name as no man could be called the Saviour of God’s people. His name was changed to ‘Joshua’ which means ‘the Lord saves’ (Numbers 13:16). It is an abominable heresy to think that by our own behaviour we sinful people can ever become righteous enough for God. Our salvation depends to God giving us the status of being righteous as a result of our relationship with the Lord Jesus.
Joshua was clearly concerned that the Children of Israel had not clearly understood the necessity of having a personal relationship with the Lord. He summonsed all the people to meet him at Shechem. There they ‘presented themselves before God’. This was to be the Lord’s final message he was to give to his people through the elderly Joshua, who died soon afterwards. Joshua begins by emphasising the source of what he had to say,
“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says . . .” Joshua 24:3
No-one could go away saying that what followed was just Joshua’s own ideas. He then related the story of how the Lord had first called Abram, who came from a family who ‘worshipped other Gods’ and brought him into a relationship with him alone.
Repentance means a change of mind, in which we agree to live as God wants and not as our selfish natures prefer. It is the key to true spiritual worship. Everything was initiated by the Lord for his own ends. Then the Lord sent Moses to deliver his people from slavery in Egypt and the Lord brought them into the Promised land which he gave to them. But this initiative by the Lord requires a response,
“Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness . . . But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods of your forefathers . . . But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 2:14-15
Joshua was teaching the people that what God requires is genuine heartfelt worship of the Lord who has chosen them and given them so much. This has never changed. The people made a quick decision,
“We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God.” Joshua 24:18
But Joshua knows people, quick decisions can easily be reneged upon so he reminds them of their weakness and of the consequences if the are insincere.
“You are not able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.” Joshua 24:19-20
True worship involves a radical change in life in which we each make a permanent decision. In this respect it is similar to what marriage is intended to be – a lifelong relationship of service.
“But the people said to Joshua, ‘No! We will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:21
That generation had made their decision, The Lord will be their God, they will live as he wants.
The prophet Joel reminded God’s people that they must worship God authentically and not just outwardly,
“Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love and he relents from sending catastrophe.” Joel 2:13
John Wesley
John Wesley was an ordained Anglican minister who was full of zeal but he was almost in despair. He did not have the faith to continue to preach. When death stared him in the face, he was fearful and found little comfort in his religion. To Peter Böhler, a Moravian friend, he confessed his growing misery and decision to give up the ministry. Böhler counseled otherwise. “Preach faith till you have it,” he advised. “And then because you have it, you will preach faith.” A wise Christian once made a similar statement: “Act as if you have faith and it will be granted to you.”
John acted on this advice. He led a prisoner to Christ by preaching faith in Christ alone for forgiveness of sins. The prisoner was immediately converted. John was astonished. He had been struggling for years. Here was a man transformed instantly. John made a study of the New Testament and found to his astonishment that the longest recorded delay in salvation was three days - while the apostle Paul waited for someone’s eyes to open.
The Moravians assured him their personal experiences had also been instantaneous. John found himself crying out, “Lord, help my unbelief!” However, he felt dull within and little motivated even to pray for his own salvation. On that day, May 24th, 1738 he opened his Bible at about five in the morning and came across these words, "There are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, even that ye should partakers of the divine nature." He then read similar words in other places.
That evening he reluctantly attended a meeting in Aldersgate, London. Someone read from Luther's Preface to the Epistle to Romans. About 8:45 p.m. “while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.” He was especially encouraged by the following words,
“For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.” Romans 1:17
It took him some time to learn how to live the life of faith, for he did not always experience this joy and thought he had fallen from salvation. It took time for him to see that it is not Christ and good works, but Christ alone who saves, resulting in good works.
As time went on, John Wesley was mightily used of the Lord to reform England. His Methodists became a national force. John rode thousands of miles (as many as 20,000 a year) preaching as only a man filled with the Holy Spirit can preach, telling the gospel to all who would listen. He acted "as though he were out of breath in pursuit of souls." Wherever he preached, lives changed and manners and morals altered for the better. It is often conjectured that his preaching helped spare England the kind of revolution that occurred in France.
Today there are many who accept the need for Christian morality but reject Christ. The Scriptures are clear that he alone is the pillar of our faith, and if we belong to him we are also pillars on which the house of God is built. Without having Jesus as the Lord of our lives no-one will be eternally saved. Winston Churchill rejected what Jesus claimed about his being God but was a strong advocate for Christian morality. Once he said, to his eternal loss:
“I could hardly be called a pillar of the Church. I am more in the nature of a buttress, for I support it from the outside.”
BVP
Bibliography:
1.Egermeier, Elsie E. John Wesley, the Christian hero. Anderson, Indiana: Gospel Trumpet, 1923.
