I recently heard Dr. John F. MacArthur, Jr. speaking on the radio (his sermon tape,
The Call To Repentance). MacArthur quoted Harry A. Ironside
(1876-1951) in an
attempt to support his damnable heresy of Lordship Salvation. MacArthur states...
Let me quote from the book he
wrote
entitled Except Ye Repent. He was a champion for repentance and rightly
so. He wrote this, "The doctrine of repentance is the missing note in
many otherwise orthodox and fundamentally sound circles today." This is
not a new battle. This is an old battle. People today are preaching a
gospel that says, "Well, look, just believe, don't worry about your sin,
don't worry about your past, just believe and that will all come later."
Ironside fought that battle in 1937.
Further he said this,
he spoke of, quote: "Professed preachers of grace who like the
antinomians of old decry the necessity of repentance lest it seem to
invalidate the freedom of grace and that was the core issue." There were
some who said if you call for repentance you're invalidating the freedom
of grace and grace is so gracious and so free you don't have to do
anything but just believe. Ironside recognized in his day the dangers of
an insipient easy believism.
SOURCE:
The Call to Repentance - John MacArthur
John MacArthur deceitfully picks and chooses
quotes by great men, twisting their words, in a malicious attempt to
support his false teachings. This has been the deceitful, lying tactic
incorporated by the entire Lordship Salvation crowd. However it shows the
fatal flaw and weakness of their perverted theology. They cannot use the
Bible, so as a secondary authority, "great men of the past" are being
erected as straw-men to bolster their false gospel.
They take excerpts carefully chosen from
archived sermons, twisting them out of context, well
suited with the error of Balaam, to deceive the Church. So now we have Satan’s
new gospel (actually the same old lie) for our modern day.
These men are motivated by the flesh, so it is not strange they will use the
sins of the flesh (lying) to exalt the flesh. Sadly, they believe that they
are spiritual! They do not fully understand true GRACE and Christ’s imputed
righteousness. How can a person truly be saved and follow the perverted
gospel of Lordship Salvation? There are really only 2 religions in
the world; it is salvation by human works or by God's Grace alone.
It is
apparent to me that Ray Comfort is trying to maintain a middle-of-the-road
position on the issue of Free Grace versus Lordship Salvation.
John MacArthur is clearly on the side of Lordship Salvation. The
Bible teaches Free Grace. Eternal life is receiving; not giving.
H.A. Ironside DIDN'T teach Lordship
Salvation, he simply taught that Biblical repentance was necessary for
salvation, which is evidenced in the following quote by Pastor Ironside...
"Repentance is the very
opposite of meritorious experience. It is the confession that one is
utterly without merit, and if he is ever saved at all it can only be
through the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, 'who gave himself a ransom
for all.' Here is firm footing for the soul who realizes that all
self-effort is but sinking sand. Christ alone is the Rock of our
salvation."
SOURCE: Harry A. Ironside;
Except Ye Repent, pg. 36
Clearly, Ironside taught a Free Grace view
of the Gospel. Consider further the following quote by Dr.
Ironside...
“The
Gospel is not a call to repentance, or to amendment of our ways, to make
restitution for past sins, or to promise to do better in the future. These
things are proper in their place, but they do not constitute the Gospel; for
the Gospel is not good advice to be obeyed, it is good news to be believed. Do
not make the mistake then of thinking that the Gospel is a call to duty or a
call to reformation, a call to better your condition, to behave yourself in a
more perfect way than you have been doing in the past …
Nor
is the Gospel a demand that you give up the world, that you give up your sins,
that you break off bad habits, and try to cultivate good ones. You may do all
these things, and yet never believe the Gospel and consequently never be saved
at all.”
SOURCE:
Harry A. Ironside, from the sermon:
What
Is The Gospel?
I highly suggest that John MacArthur
actually read Dr. Ironside's books before making any more quotes,
because he's really making a fool out of himself. I'm not trying to be
unkind; but MacArthur is trying to make a case where there is NONE.
Read what Dr. Ironside said in his Gospel
tract, ANOTHER GOSPEL? ...
"When
anyone comes promising salvation to those ‘who make full surrender' of all that
they have to God, and who 'pay the price of full salvation' he is preaching
another gospel, for the price was paid on Calvary's cross and the work that
saves is finished. It was Christ Jesus who made the full surrender when He
yielded His life on
Calvary that saves us, not
our surrender in any way to Him."
SOURCE: Harry
A. Ironside, from the Gospel tract,
Another
Gospel.
In your face MacArthur! Harry Ironside just
contradicted everything MacArthur teaches concerning salvation. In sharp
contrast to Harry Ironside, here are some of MacArthur's foolish
unbiblical
teachings from his book, The Gospel According to Jesus (Zondervan
1988)...
Saving faith
is "unconditional surrender, a complete resignation of self and
absolute submission" (page 153).
"Salvation is for those who are
willing to forsake everything" (page 78).
"Saving faith is a commitment to
leave sin and follow Jesus Christ at all costs. Jesus takes no one
unwilling to come on those terms" (page 87).
"Eternal life brings immediate
death to self" (page 140).
Is this true? Absolutely not. John
MacArthur is of the Devil and his doctrines are demonic!!! There is no
way possible to reconcile the beliefs of Harry Ironside with those of
John MacArthur and only a wicked person would try. MacArthur clearly
teaches that no one can be saved unless they are willing to
UNCONDITIONALLY SURRENDER and FORSAKE EVERYTHING. This is not what the
Word of God teaches. Please Read:
Dr.
John R. Rice Refutes Lordship Salvation.
Now let me quote to you again the great man
of God, Dr. Ironside...
"Nor is the Gospel a demand that you give up the world, that you give up your
sins, that you break off bad habits, and try to cultivate good ones. You may do
all these things, and yet never believe the Gospel and consequently never be
saved at all."
SOURCE:
Harry A. Ironside, from the sermon:
What
Is The Gospel?
Salvation is a gift, paid for by Jesus'
literal, physical, precious blood (1st Peter 1:18,19; 1st John 1:7;
Hebrews 9:12; Revelation 1:5). We are saved by HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS
(Matthew 6:33; Romans 10:3,4; 1st Corinthians 5:21); and not our own
willingness to do better (Isaiah 64:6; Ephesians 2:8,9; Titus 3:5;
Romans 4:5,6,22).
We don't give up our sins to get saved; we give up our
sins because we are saved, and that requires time to grow in God's grace
(1st Peter 2:2).
John MacArthur is a False
Prophet
The
false repentance which MacArthur promotes is entwined in self-effort. John MacArthur teaches a false gospel which corrupts "the simplicity
that is in Christ" (2nd Corinthians 11:3,4). In MacArthur's
audio sermon, The Call To Repentance, he exploits Charles
Spurgeon, Harry Ironside, and others in an unscholarly attempt to support
his erroneous position on Lordship Salvation.
As with other
false prophets, MacArthur fails to properly exegete the Scriptures, and
rests heavily upon manipulating the quotes of great men.
MacArthur wrongly accuses opponents of
Lordship Salvation (such as myself) of teaching that repentance is
not necessary for salvation. Nothing could be further from the
truth.
Repentance is absolutely necessary for salvation... "The
time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye,
and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15). However, repentance unto
life is not what John MacArthur says it is...
"That's exactly what James said. Friendship with the world is enmity
with God. You are either the friend of the world or the friend of
God, not both... that's repentance."
SOURCE:
The Call to
Repentance - John MacArthur
MacArthur teaches that in order to be
saved, a person must forsake the sinful world and stop living in sin. He falsely defines this as repentance. In sharp contrast, the
KOINE Greek in which the New Testament is written defines the word
repent simply as "a change of mind" (Greek: metanoia).
Forsaking the sinful world is a fruit (i.e., result) of genuine
repentance; but all that God requires for salvation is that a person
acknowledge his or her guilty condition as a sinner, thus renouncing the
world in their heart, and trust upon the Savior to be eternally
forgiven... "To him give all the prophets witness, that through his
name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins"
(Acts 10:43).
However, this DOESN'T mean that a person
who is unwilling to stop drinking booze, stop gambling, or stop
shacking-up with a girlfriend, cannot be saved. Please
read Evangelist John R. Rice's rebuttal of Lordship Salvation. To say otherwise
is to pervert the simplicity that is in Christ and to corrupt the gift
of God, which is eternal life (Romans 6:23). Salvation is
receiving; not giving. God only requires that a lost sinner
acknowledge their guilt of sin (Romans 3:19), and turn by faith to Jesus
Christ to be forgiven of their sins (John 3:16).
If one's repentance is genuine, then there
has been an initial change of heart (2nd Corinthians 5:17), and
hopefully it will ultimately lead to a life of soulwinning, holiness and
commitment to God; BUT, many believers are carnal (1st Corinthians 3:1),
have been choked by the cares and pleasures of this world (Luke 8:14),
have been overtaken by faults (Galatians 6:1), have not committed their
lives to God (Romans 12:1), are more concerned about worldly things than
the things of God (1st Corinthians 7:32,33), and some even live for
Satan (1st Corinthians 5:5).
Conclusion
May
I quote the words of H.A. Ironside once again...
"Repentance is the very
opposite of meritorious experience. It is the confession that one is
utterly without merit, and if he is ever saved at all it can only be
through the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, 'who gave himself a ransom
for all.' Here is firm footing for the soul who realizes that all
self-effort is but sinking sand. Christ alone is the Rock of our
salvation."
SOURCE: Harry A. Ironside;
Except Ye Repent, pg. 36)
Clearly, Ironside taught a Free Grace view
of the Gospel. Dr. Ironside correctly recognized repentance as
the confession that "one is utterly without merit" and that if one is
"ever saved at all it can only be through the merits of our Lord Jesus
Christ." Salvation is without works of self-righteousness. Romans 4:5 plainly teaches that a man's faith is COUNTED for
righteousness, i.e., the righteousness of Jesus Christ is imputed to
one's heavenly record by faith.
"Repentance is the recognition of my
sinnership — the owning before God that I am as vile as He has declared me to be
in His holy Word."
SOURCE:
Except Ye Repent, by Dr. Harry Ironside,
chapter 3
Repentance and faith are inseparable. The Gospel of John mentions the word "believe" 85-times; but the word
"repent" is never mentioned even once. In genuine salvation, one
who believes on Jesus Christ has repented; and one who repents has
believed on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.
