Is "BEING GOOD" good enough to get you into heaven?
Here is an excerpt from John MacArthur's message, "A Testimony to Scripture's Sufficiency (TMU Chapel)" on Sept 4, 2004. The BIBLE alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured.
I was listening to an interview with President Trump a couple of days ago, and the interviewer said, “When you pray, President Trump, what do you pray for?” And he said, “I pray for the world, I pray for our nation, I pray for our family, and I pray for myself.” “Well, what specifically do you pray for?” “Well, I pray that I’ll be good because if I’m good, I’ll go to heaven; and if I’m not good, I’ll go to the other place.”
That is the prime heresy: that you’re going to go to heaven if you’re good.
I don’t know how many pastors have intersected into his life, but how can he be at the age he is, surrounded by so many “evangelical pastors,” and not know the first thing about salvation—that it is “not by works, lest any man should”—what?—“should boast.” It’s “by grace . . . through faith” alone, and Christ alone. The entire Protestant Reformation was built on that. That’s not a minor error; that’s Satan’s dominant lie, that justifies every form of religion in existence.
Salvation comes by true understanding of the gospel.
In Romans 10, Paul says, “Faith comes by hearing the message concerning Christ”—hearing and understanding it.
So you have to know what the Bible says, and then believe it to the point that it becomes a CONVICTION, because you will live your convictions.
Your CONVICTIONS are what MOTIVATE you; they’re what FRAME you; they’re what RESTRAIN you.
And then I would take another step and say you have to have that CONVICTION to the degree that your default position in life IS TO BE OBEDIENT to that conviction, that it’s not a battle every time you face the temptation to violate a biblical standard, a biblical command, a biblical truth. It shouldn’t be a battle every time that happens.
If it’s a real conviction, it frames your thinking.
If you genuinely believe it and you own it, then the default position should be that “I obey it.”
If you don’t obey it, then you could question whether it’s really a conviction.
But having said all of that about comprehension of Scripture, conviction of Scripture, commitment to Scripture, where you want to be in life is at a step higher, and I call that affection, affection.
I’ve been around long enough to know the difference between KNOWING Scripture and LOVING it.
I’ve been around long enough to know the difference between battling to hold on to what is right, AND being powerful against temptation because I not only know it, believe it, hold it as a conviction, but I LOVE IT. I love it.
This is where you want to be in your life.
To love the Word of God is to love God because the revelation of God is merely a reflection of His nature.
Here is the link to this message so you can listen-watch-read the transcript.
https://www.gty.org/sermons/TMU297/a-testimony-to-scriptures-sufficiency-tmu-chapel?fbclid=IwY2xjawLTAMNleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFWWGZnYUZjd1g0SzdyMnhNAR7M9uQovK4M7ZVqYacZbP6-DL6jq4RJYvYnLw-8oVosO2EKUKPeEOkqICDFxA_aem_eQEQX29MlRunNmg2WQI7aQ
Here is an excerpt from John MacArthur's message, "A Testimony to Scripture's Sufficiency (TMU Chapel)" on Sept 4, 2004. The BIBLE alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured.
I was listening to an interview with President Trump a couple of days ago, and the interviewer said, “When you pray, President Trump, what do you pray for?” And he said, “I pray for the world, I pray for our nation, I pray for our family, and I pray for myself.” “Well, what specifically do you pray for?” “Well, I pray that I’ll be good because if I’m good, I’ll go to heaven; and if I’m not good, I’ll go to the other place.”
That is the prime heresy: that you’re going to go to heaven if you’re good.
I don’t know how many pastors have intersected into his life, but how can he be at the age he is, surrounded by so many “evangelical pastors,” and not know the first thing about salvation—that it is “not by works, lest any man should”—what?—“should boast.” It’s “by grace . . . through faith” alone, and Christ alone. The entire Protestant Reformation was built on that. That’s not a minor error; that’s Satan’s dominant lie, that justifies every form of religion in existence.
Salvation comes by true understanding of the gospel.
In Romans 10, Paul says, “Faith comes by hearing the message concerning Christ”—hearing and understanding it.
So you have to know what the Bible says, and then believe it to the point that it becomes a CONVICTION, because you will live your convictions.
Your CONVICTIONS are what MOTIVATE you; they’re what FRAME you; they’re what RESTRAIN you.
And then I would take another step and say you have to have that CONVICTION to the degree that your default position in life IS TO BE OBEDIENT to that conviction, that it’s not a battle every time you face the temptation to violate a biblical standard, a biblical command, a biblical truth. It shouldn’t be a battle every time that happens.
If it’s a real conviction, it frames your thinking.
If you genuinely believe it and you own it, then the default position should be that “I obey it.”
If you don’t obey it, then you could question whether it’s really a conviction.
But having said all of that about comprehension of Scripture, conviction of Scripture, commitment to Scripture, where you want to be in life is at a step higher, and I call that affection, affection.
I’ve been around long enough to know the difference between KNOWING Scripture and LOVING it.
I’ve been around long enough to know the difference between battling to hold on to what is right, AND being powerful against temptation because I not only know it, believe it, hold it as a conviction, but I LOVE IT. I love it.
This is where you want to be in your life.
To love the Word of God is to love God because the revelation of God is merely a reflection of His nature.
Here is the link to this message so you can listen-watch-read the transcript.
https://www.gty.org/sermons/TMU297/a-testimony-to-scriptures-sufficiency-tmu-chapel?fbclid=IwY2xjawLTAMNleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFWWGZnYUZjd1g0SzdyMnhNAR7M9uQovK4M7ZVqYacZbP6-DL6jq4RJYvYnLw-8oVosO2EKUKPeEOkqICDFxA_aem_eQEQX29MlRunNmg2WQI7aQ
Is "BEING GOOD" good enough to get you into heaven?
Here is an excerpt from John MacArthur's message, "A Testimony to Scripture's Sufficiency (TMU Chapel)" on Sept 4, 2004. The BIBLE alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured.
I was listening to an interview with President Trump a couple of days ago, and the interviewer said, “When you pray, President Trump, what do you pray for?” And he said, “I pray for the world, I pray for our nation, I pray for our family, and I pray for myself.” “Well, what specifically do you pray for?” “Well, I pray that I’ll be good because if I’m good, I’ll go to heaven; and if I’m not good, I’ll go to the other place.”
That is the prime heresy: that you’re going to go to heaven if you’re good.
I don’t know how many pastors have intersected into his life, but how can he be at the age he is, surrounded by so many “evangelical pastors,” and not know the first thing about salvation—that it is “not by works, lest any man should”—what?—“should boast.” It’s “by grace . . . through faith” alone, and Christ alone. The entire Protestant Reformation was built on that. That’s not a minor error; that’s Satan’s dominant lie, that justifies every form of religion in existence.
Salvation comes by true understanding of the gospel.
In Romans 10, Paul says, “Faith comes by hearing the message concerning Christ”—hearing and understanding it.
So you have to know what the Bible says, and then believe it to the point that it becomes a CONVICTION, because you will live your convictions.
Your CONVICTIONS are what MOTIVATE you; they’re what FRAME you; they’re what RESTRAIN you.
And then I would take another step and say you have to have that CONVICTION to the degree that your default position in life IS TO BE OBEDIENT to that conviction, that it’s not a battle every time you face the temptation to violate a biblical standard, a biblical command, a biblical truth. It shouldn’t be a battle every time that happens.
If it’s a real conviction, it frames your thinking.
If you genuinely believe it and you own it, then the default position should be that “I obey it.”
If you don’t obey it, then you could question whether it’s really a conviction.
But having said all of that about comprehension of Scripture, conviction of Scripture, commitment to Scripture, where you want to be in life is at a step higher, and I call that affection, affection.
I’ve been around long enough to know the difference between KNOWING Scripture and LOVING it.
I’ve been around long enough to know the difference between battling to hold on to what is right, AND being powerful against temptation because I not only know it, believe it, hold it as a conviction, but I LOVE IT. I love it.
This is where you want to be in your life.
To love the Word of God is to love God because the revelation of God is merely a reflection of His nature.
Here is the link to this message so you can listen-watch-read the transcript.
https://www.gty.org/sermons/TMU297/a-testimony-to-scriptures-sufficiency-tmu-chapel?fbclid=IwY2xjawLTAMNleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFWWGZnYUZjd1g0SzdyMnhNAR7M9uQovK4M7ZVqYacZbP6-DL6jq4RJYvYnLw-8oVosO2EKUKPeEOkqICDFxA_aem_eQEQX29MlRunNmg2WQI7aQ
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