What is a Christian? We are burdened and not alone in our belief that the modern church, in its eagerness to bring in the masses during a time of increasing godlessness and secularism (certainly a worthy motive), has weakened its influence in the world by not giving a careful, scriptural answer to the most basic Bible question of all: “What is a true Christian?” John the Baptist’s message of  “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:1), was also the message of Jesus (Matt. 4:17), and also of the Apostles, who insisted to their hearers  “that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance” (Acts 26:20).

One of the most significant characteristics of our Savior’s earthly ministry — a theme found in nearly all of His parables — was His continual challenge for His hearers to examine their hearts to be sure their devotion to God was genuine. This was nothing new, for centuries earlier, Jeremiah had pressed that same theme when he said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.  Who can know it?”  Perhaps Jesus’ most sober warning is found in Matthew 7:22-23:  “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”

But it seems the last 100 years have brought us a new, “kinder, gentler” gospel, one which expects little of its recipients, and gives little in return except a bold, but often unfounded, assurance of eternal life. The great doctrinal creeds, with all their scriptural proofs, which carefully spelled out the Bible doctrine held in common over the centuries by believers, have been abandoned; the old message of “repent and turn to God” has become merely to “believe” in its easiest sense; and the so-called “carnal Christians” who too often fill our church pews, instead of being challenged to “Repent therefore, and be converted,” as would have been done by every great preacher and evangelist up to and including C.H. Spurgeon, are now routinely reassured that, regardless of long-term backsliding, spiritual apathy, and lack of fellowship with God, they can still be still be born-again Christians.  This is a modern perversion of the true Gospel, and may God save us from such delusions!

Please consider prayerfully the following thoughts as we examine briefly the issue of biblical salvation by considering what has been said about it (1) by noteworthy Christian leaders of earlier times and (2) by Scripture. We believe that SALVATION is man’s most important issue to know aright. But it seems the hard Bible truth about it has been neglected in our modern gilded age.  It is our hope and prayer that your heart will be challenged and even encouraged as you consider what the Bible says about God’s great and powerful gift to those whom He loves.

What Does the Bible Say?

In recent years, two radically different views of salvation have been offered. One of them, by far the most common in our day, offers Christ, comfort, heaven, and all the promises of the Christian life to anyone who shows even the slightest interest in pursuing a relationship with God. The other side, like a voice crying in the wilderness, insists that being a Christian will involve serious, lifelong commitment to Christ, a love of holy brethren, obedience to Christ’s commandments, testing by persecution, and evidence that God has permanently changed the heart and life and thus a new birth has taken place. Because these two “gospels,” one easy and one demanding, contradict each other, the average person has often settled into the dangerous belief that the truth is somewhere in the middle, and such would be the “balanced view.”

The problem is that “the middle” is not a fixed location – for, as one side moves further to the extreme, the “middle” also moves.  We believe, and can prove from church history, that this is exactly what happened over the last 150 years. The issue at stake, then, is not “What is the balanced position?” but “What is the Biblical position?” With that in mind, we urge you, dear reader, to read the following Bible passages with an honest heart, asking God to remove any prejudices that might cloud your understanding, as you seek the truth on the issue that trumps all others: the issue of what, according to God, is a true, biblical Christian.

Bible 101: A Principle for Understanding the Bible

So what exactly does the Bible say about salvation?  In the effort to reach busy people in our fast-food age, salvation is often presented as a “plan” having a few simple steps, each with a supporting Bible verse or two, which the would-be Christian can follow and proceed to instant assurance of the forgiveness of sins before God.  But promises of eternal life are never made to mere casual seekers, and salvation has become over simplified. Major Bible doctrines cannot be summarized into a few verses taken out of context, or built upon a few proof texts while ignoring others. We need not all be theologians, but we must be willing to look at the Scriptures as a whole before we can determine what the Bible teaches on any given subject.

This principle may be understood when we think of reading the events recorded in the four Gospels. An account of an event in one Gospel may be found recorded in one, two, or all three of the other Gospel accounts, often with apparent contradiction until we look more closely and understand the different perspective or audience intended. Consider the following example.  Mark 2:13-17 records the call of Levi the publican, an event also recorded in Matthew 9:9-13 and Luke 5:27-32.  In the Mark and Luke accounts, this man is called “Levi,” whereas in Matthew’s account, he calls himself Matthew.  Which name is correct? Obviously, both are correct: he went by more one name. In another event recorded in three Gospels, when Jesus was asked why His disciples did not fast, Mark’s account (Mark 2:18-22) gives us the impression that those asking the question included both the disciples of John and the Pharisees; Matthew (9:14-17) mentions only the disciples of John as the interrogators, and Luke (5:33-39) could give us the impression that they were only scribes and Pharisees.  Which of the three is correct?  We believe all three, but certain details noteworthy to one writer, and important for his audience, were not as important to the others.  In reading all three accounts, we have a more complete understanding of the event. This principle of biblical interpretation applies to the determining of any Bible teaching: When two passages appear to contradict each other, we are not free to choose the one we prefer; they must be reconciled into a unified whole.

Bible 102: Understanding the Bible on Salvation

Let’s apply this axiom to the biblical doctrine of salvation.  Some will cite verses such as John 3:16, Acts 16:31, Romans 10:9, and others, to prove that all that is necessary for salvation is to “believe.”  To their insisting that we are saved by believing, we say “Amen”:  “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved,” Paul said to the Philippian jailor in Acts 16:31. But the Bible tells us of many who “believed” in some way, but were not saved, such as those in Jerusalem during the Passover feast, when “many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man” (John 2:23-25). Even “the demons believe, and tremble” (James 2:19)!

This means that until we consider what the Scriptures tell us about those who have “believed” unto salvation, we are preaching to the world a half-truth and not the whole counsel of God. The Apostles’ words to the jailor in Acts 16:31 do not exist in a vacuum, and do not give an adequate “gospel” for all. The verses before it give us some idea of how God prepared the heart of this jailor for receiving saving faith. The verse after it, which says “they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house,” indicates that Paul had much more to say before the jailor and his household before they would even know what or in Whom they were believing; and the verse after that, which says the jailor “took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds,” indicates the immediate fruit of his newfound faith.  Thus, to be saved is indeed to “believe,” but the Bible truth about salvation cannot ignore the following truths  Because they may be familiar verses to you, we urge you to read them especially carefully and think about what they are really saying:

1.  The true “believer” is one who receives the Scriptures as the God-given record of eternal truth.

John 5:47:  “But if you do not believe his [Moses’] writings, how will you believe My words?”

1 John 5:10:  “He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son.”

2.  The true “believer” is one who has been elected or appointed to salvation, and drawn to Christ by God.

John 6:44-45:  “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him… It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.”

Acts 13:48:  “Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.”

3.  The true “believer” is one who has repented, not by his own will, but through an act of God, yet one that effects a change in the will and actions.

Acts 11:18:  “When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, ‘Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.’”

2 Timothy 2:24-25:  “…be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth.”

Acts 26:20:  “[I, Paul], declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.”

Ephesians 2:8-9:  “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

4.  The true “believer” is one who has had a complete change of life and heart.

2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Romans 6:6:  “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”

5.  The true “believer” is one who lives according to Christian belief and practice.

Romans 6:14-18, 22:  “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.  What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!  Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?  But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness…. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.”

Romans 8:1, 6, 9, 13-14:  “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit…. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace…. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His…. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

Galatians 5:22-24:  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self–control. Against such there is no law.  And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

Titus 2:11-14:  “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”

1 John 2:3-5:  “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.  He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.  But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.”

6.  The true “believer” is one whose mouth will utter the truth that his heart has received.

Romans 10:10-13:  “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’  For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.  For ‘whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.’”

7.  The true “believer” is one who will continue steadfastly in the faith.

Romans 2:5-9:  “God…will render to each one according to his deeds:  eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self–seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness––indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil…”

Colossians 1:21-23:  “And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight –– if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard.”

1 Timothy 4:16:  “Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.”

Jude 1:24:   “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.”

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but points to the fact that to “believe” is not merely acknowledging a set of facts about the Gospel, going to church, using Christian vocabulary, and willingly involving oneself with Christian people in doing Christian things.  Scripture has told us many things salvation, and God will doubtless require more of our generation, which has been given the complete Bible paid for by the blood of the martyrs, than knowing merely a few proof tests for a shallow “gospel” that is too powerless to offend anyone. Certainly the greatest preachers, evangelists, missionaries and writers of church history never defined salvation as broadly as it is defined today. Evidence for this fact is presented in the following section.

What Do Preachers & Authors of Earlier Times Say?

There was a time when the shallow definition of “Christian” that so dominates mainstream “Christianity” today would have been put to the test by the church (i.e., by the general body of Christ, its pastors, teachers, and writers) and found to be deficient, even heretical. We urge you to consider whether their exhortations and warnings, given not so very long ago, are being sounded clearly today.

Richard Baxter (1615-91), beloved pastor and once acknowledged as one of the church’s greatest writers on practical Christian living: “O people, conversion is a different kind of work than most are aware of!  It is not a small matter to bring an earthly mind to heaven, and to show man the amiable excellencies of God, till he is overwhelmed by such love to Him that it can never be quenched; to break the heart for sin, and make him fly for refuge to Christ, and thankfully embrace Him as the life of his soul; to have the very drift and direction of the heart and life changed; so that he renounces that which he took for good fortune, and places his treasure where he never did before, and no longer lives for the same purpose, and is not driven by  the same love for the world as he formerly was: in a word, he that is in Christ is a ‘new creation’: ‘old things are passed away, behold, all things have become new.’ (2 Corinthians 5:17).  He has a new understanding, a new will and resolution, new sorrows, and desires, and love, and delight: new thoughts, new speeches, new company, (if possible) and new conversation. Sin, which was previously amusing to him, is now so distasteful and terrible to him, that he flees from it as from death. The world, which was so lovely in his eyes, now troubles him and appears as nothing but vanity.”

John Owen (1616-83), Puritan scholar and author, considered one of the greatest Christian theologians of all time: Where there is not an inward experience of the power, virtue, and effectual power of gospel truths in their hearts, those living under a profession of religion, regardless of what they profess, are very near to atheism, or at least exposed to great temptations in that direction.  If ‘they profess they know God, but in works deny him,’ they are ‘abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate,’ Titus 1:16. Let such professors …give up themselves to a free and a rational consideration of things, and they will quickly find that all their profession is but a miserable self-deceiving, and that, indeed, they believe not one word of the religion which they profess: for of what their religion affirms to be in themselves they find not any thing true or real; and what reason have they, then, to believe that the things which it speaks of outside of themselves are one jot better? … For instance, he who professes the gospel avows that the death of Christ crucifies sin; that faith purifies the heart; that the Holy Spirit makes alive and enables the soul unto duty; that God is good and gracious to all who come unto Him; that there is precious communion to be enjoyed with Christ; that there is great joy in believing. These things are plainly, openly, frequently insisted on in the gospel. … Now, if people have lived long in the profession of these things, saying they are so, but indeed find nothing of truth, reality, or power in them, and have no experience of the effects of them in their own hearts or souls, what stable ground have they of believing any thing else in the gospel in which they cannot have experience?”

John Bunyan (1628-88), pastor & evangelist, known to his contemporaries as “Mr. Bible”; author of Pilgrim’s Progress, one of history’s most loved and widely-read books: “There is a [false] profession that will stand alongside an unsanctified heart and life. The sin of such will overpower the salvation of their souls; neither will a mere profession be able to excuse them (Ephesians 5:3-6). The gate will be too narrow for such as these to enter in. One may partake of salvation in part, but not of salvation in whole. God saved the children of Israel out of Egypt, but overthrew them in the wilderness: — “I will therefore put you in remembrance, though you once knew this, how that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards destroyed them that believed not.” So we see that (notwithstanding their beginning) “they could not enter in, because of unbelief” (Jude 1:5; Hebrews 3:19)…. [Therefore, one is commanded to]“strive to enter in at the narrow gate.” These words are fitly added, for since the gate is narrow, it follows that they who will enter in must strive.  This word “strive” supposeth that great idleness is natural to professors; they think to get to heaven by lying, as it were, on their elbows. It also concludeth, that only the laboring Christian, man or woman, will get in thither. When he saith, Strive, it is as much as to say, bend yourselves to the work with all your might. And, more particularly, this word strive is expressed by several other terms; It is expressed by that word, ‘So run that you may obtain’ (1 Corinthians 9:24, 25).  It is expressed by that word, ‘Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold of eternal life” (1 Timothy 6:12).  It is expressed by that word, ‘Labor not for the meat that perisheth, but for that meat that endureth to everlasting life’ (John 6:27).  It is expressed by that word, ‘We wrestle with principalities and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world,” (Ephesians 6:12).  Therefore, when he saith, ‘Strive,’ it is as much as to say, Run for heaven, Fight for heaven, Labor for heaven, Wrestle for heaven, or you are like to go without it.’ (from The Strait Gate)

Joseph Alleine (1634-1668), Pastor, evangelist, and writer, whose single great book, An Alarm to the Unconverted, written from prison, had a profound influence on George Whitefield, C.H. Spurgeon, and many others. “Every man’s vote is for salvation from suffering—but they do not desire to be saved from sinning. They would have their lives saved—but still would have their lusts. Indeed, many divide here again; they would be content to have some of their sins destroyed—but they cannot leave the lap of Delilah, or divorce the beloved Herodias. They cannot be cruel to the right eye or right hand.  O be infinitely careful here; your soul depends upon it. The sound convert takes a whole Christ, and takes Him for all intents and purposes, without exceptions, without limitations, without reserve. He is willing to have Christ upon any terms; he is willing to have the dominion of Christ as well as deliverance by Christ. He says with Paul, ‘Lord, what will you have me to do?’ [Acts 9:6] Anything, Lord! He gives Christ the blank page—to write down His own conditions.  Here the hypocrite’s rottenness may be discovered. He desires holiness, as one well said, only as a bridge to heaven, and inquires earnestly what is the least that will serve his turn; and if he can get but so much as may bring him to heaven, this is all he cares for. But the sound convert desires holiness for holiness’ sake, and not merely for heaven’s sake. He would not be satisfied with so much holiness as might save him from hell—but desires the highest degree. Yet desires are not enough. What is your way and your course? Are the drift and scope of your life altered? Is holiness your pursuit, and piety your business? If not, you fall short of sound conversion.” (From An Alarm to the Unconverted, also titled A Sure Guide to Heaven.)

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), Pastor, theologian, writer, revival preacher, and missionary to native Americans. “[People] are most likely way to obtain the kingdom of heaven when the intent of their minds, and the engagedness of their spirits, is about their proper work and business, and all the bent of their souls is to attend on God’s means, and to do what he commands and directs them to. The apostle tells us, I Corinthians 9:26, ‘I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air.’ Our time is short enough; there are real difficulties and enemies enough for us to encounter…. If there were no opposition, but the way was all clear and open, there would be no need of pressing to get along. Therefore, those who are pressing into the kingdom of God will go on with such engagedness that they break through the difficulties in the way. They are so set for salvation that those things by which others are discouraged, and stopped, and turned back, do not stop them, but they press through them. Persons ought to be so resolved for heaven, that if by any means they can obtain, they will obtain…. But is it a required means of my obtaining an interest in Jesus Christ, and eternal salvation? Thus the apostle in Philippians 3:11 said, ‘If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.’ He tells us there what difficulties he broke through, that he suffered the loss of all things, and was willingly made conformable even to Christ’s death, though that was attended with such extreme torment and humiliation. (From a sermon entitled “Pressing into the Kingdom of God.”)

George Whitefield (1714-70): “To be washed in his blood; to be clothed in his glorious imputed righteousness … will be a conversion from sin to holiness. They that are truly converted to Jesus, and are justified by faith in the Son of God, will take care to evidence their conversion, not only by the having grace implanted in their hearts, but by that grace diffusing itself through every faculty of the soul, and making an universal change in the whole man.”  (from a sermon entitled “True Conversion.”)

J.C. Ryle (1816-1900): “There are three things which a professing Christian must renounce and give up, and three enemies which he must fight with and resist. These three are the flesh, the devil, and the world.  All three are terrible foes, and all three must be overcome if we would be saved…. This is the great rock on which thousands of young people are continually being crushed against and destroyed. They don’t object to any of the truths of the Christian faith. They do not deliberately choose evil, and openly rebel against God. They hope somehow to get to heaven in the end…. The last day alone will prove how many souls ‘the world’ has slain. Hundreds will be found to have been trained in Christian homes, and to have known the Gospel from their very childhood, and yet missed heaven.”
“It does seem clear that heaven would be a miserable place to an unholy man.  It cannot be otherwise…. We must be heavenly-minded, and have heavenly tastes, in the life that now is, or else we shall never find ourselves in heaven, in the life to come…. Christ’s true servants were always unlike the world around them:  they are a separate nation, a peculiar people, and you must be so too, if you would be saved!…  I look at the world and see the greater part of it lying in wickedness. I look at professing Christians and see the vast majority having nothing of Christianity but the name. I turn to the Bible and I hear the Spirit saying, ‘Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.’ You may say, at this rate very few will be saved. I answer, I know it. It is precisely what we are told in the Sermon on the Mount. The Lord Jesus said, ‘Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it’ (Matt. 7:14). Few will be saved because few will take the trouble to seek salvation.”

Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-92): “I have heard it often asserted that if you believe that Jesus Christ died for you, you will be saved.  My dear hearer, do not be deluded by such an idea.  You may believe that Jesus Christ died for you, and may believe what is not true; you may believe that which will bring you no sort of good whatever.  That is not saving faith.  The man who has saving faith afterwards attains to the coviction that Christ died for him, but it is not the essence of saving faith.  Do not get that into your head, or it will ruin you…. A man does not have salvation until he comes by the power of God’s Spirit through faith to a living, personal, vital, intimate union with Christ as the Lord. A man is not a Christian until he has a vital union with Christ. A man is not a Christian until he is inseparably joined – personally joined to Jesus Christ. A man is not a Christian until Christ becomes his life. A man is not a Christian unless you can cut into his heart and find love for Christ; cut into his mind and find thoughts of Christ; and cut into his soul and find a panting after Christ.”

H.A. Ironside (1876-1951): “It needs  ever to be insisted on that the faith that justifies is not a mere intellectual process- not  simply crediting certain historical facts or doctrinal statements; but it is a faith that  springs from a divinely wrought conviction of sin which produces a repentance that is sincere and genuine….  Shallow preaching that does not grapple with the terrible act of man’s sinfulness and guilt, calling on ‘all men everywhere to repent,’ results in shallow conversions; and so we have a myriad of glib-tongued professing Christians today who give no evidence of regeneration whatever. Prating of salvation by grace, they manifest no grace in their lives. Loudly declaring they are justified by faith alone, they fail to remember that ‘faith without works is dead.’ … No man can truly believe in Christ, who does not first repent.  Nor will his repentance end when he has saving faith, but the more he knows God as he goes on through the years, the deeper that repentance will become.”  (from Except Ye Repent by H.A. Ironside.)

A.W. Pink (1886-1952): “No one can receive Christ as his Savior while he rejects Him as Lord.  It is true the preacher adds that the one who accepts Christ should also surrender to Him as Lord, but he at once spoils it by asserting that though the convert fails to do so, nevertheless Heaven is sure to him.  That is one of the Devil’s lies.  … Those who have not bowed to Christ’s scepter and enthroned Him in their hearts and lives, and yet imagine that they are trusting in Him as their Savior, are deceived, and unless god disillusions them they will go down to the everlasting burnings with a lie in their right (Isaiah 44:20).  Christ is ‘the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him’ (Hebrews 5:9).”

“Calvary supplied the most solemn and awe inspiring display of God’s hatred of sin that time or eternity will ever furnish. And do you imagine that the Gospel is magnified or God glorified by going to worldlings and telling them that they ‘may be saved at this moment by simply accepting Christ as their personal Savior’ while they are wedded to their idols and their hearts still in love with sin? If I do so, I tell them a lie, pervert the Gospel, insult Christ, and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness.”

“On every side are people full of assurance, certain that they are journeying to Heaven; yet their daily lives show plainly that they are deceived, and that their assurance is only a fleshly one.  Thousands are, to use their own words, ‘resting’ on John 3:16, 5:24, and have not the slightest doubt they will spend eternity with Christ…. Now dear reader, you too may be quite sure that your faith in Christ is true…and yet, after all, be mistaken.  The danger of this is not to be fancied, but real.  The human heart is dreadfully deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9).  God’s word plainly warns us that ‘There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness’ (Proverbs 30:12).  Do you ask (O that you may, in deep earnestness and sincerity), How can I be sure that my faith is genuine and saving one?  The answer is, Test it.”  (all from Studies on Saving Faith by A.W. Pink, 1937.)

A.W. Tozer (1897-1963): “All unannounced and mostly undetected there has come in modern times a new cross into popular evangelical circles. It is like the old cross, but different; the likenesses are superficial, the differences fundamental…. The new cross encourages a new and entirely different evangelistic approach. The evangelist does not demand abnegation of the old life before the new life can be received. He preaches not contrasts but similarities. He seeks to key into public interest by showing that Christianity makes no unpleasant demands; rather it offers the same things the world does, only on a higher level…. If I see aright, the cross of popular Evangelicalism is not the cross of the New Testament.  It is, rather, a new bright ornament upon the bosom of a self-assured and carnal Christianity.  The old cross slew men; the new cross entertains them.  The old cross condemned; the new cross amuses.  The old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh; the new cross encourages it.”

“The doctrine of justification by faith-a Biblical truth, and a blessed relief from sterile legalism and unavailing self-effort-has in our time fallen into evil company and been interpreted by many in such manner as actually to bar men from the knowledge of God.  The whole transaction of religious conversion has been made mechanical and spiritless.  Faith may now be exercised without a jar to the moral life and without embarrassment to the Adamic ego.  Christ may be “received” without creating any special love for Him in the soul of the receiver.  The man is “saved,” but he is not hungry nor thirsty after God.  In fact he is specifically taught to be satisfied and encouraged to be content with little…. How tragic that we in this dark day have had our seeking done for us by our teachers.  Everything is made to center upon the initial act of ‘accepting’ Christ (a term, incidentally, which is not found in the Bible) and we are not expected thereafter to crave any further revelation of God to our souls.  We have been snared in the coils of a spurious logic which insists that if we have found Him we need no more seek Him.”  (from The Pursuit of God, 1948.)

You may read this article in its entirety here.