He Said A Lot Of Good Things, But . . .
How many times have we heard someone make this statement after listening to a preacher or reading an article? I was reading an article in our local newspaper this morning in which a person made some statements concerning God and how good he is and how people should depend on him and seek him etc.
This person finished their article with this sentence; “I can only pray and hope that people will come to know God and EARN THEIR SALVATION.”
You and I could have lived with all the other things this person said concerning God. But then came the poison! Then came the words that will kill you dead! “Earn their salvation!” That last sentence was not only poison but it poisoned everything else that person said. 2% poison in rat bait makes the whole batch poison. Would any of us sit down to eat a little bowl of rat bait and try to carefully divide the 2% from the 98%? We would never think of doing such a thing. If there is one sentence of deadly heresy in a message or article or a conversation etc., refuse it all. A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
We have heard people say, “there are some things good about Catholicism.” There is nothing good about it. There is poison in that pot. Go and eat at the table of Catholicism and you will die. Do we expect the Holy Spirit to put his blessing upon heresy? He is the SPIRIT OF TRUTH. God is truth. Jesus Christ is Truth. Add a little damnable heresy to truth and the whole is poisoned. If you and I eat of it, we will die. Salvation is not earned, it is the sovereign and free gift of God. It comes to any believer freely by the grace of God through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ the Lord and only Savior (Rom. 3:24). I am certain the person who wrote the newspaper article felt like they were really encouraging people to trust in God. They had little or no idea they were poisoning to death the poor, miserable souls of those who believed what they were saying.
-Bruce Crabtree, Pastor of Sovereign Grace Church, meeting in New Castle, Indiana, USA