Knowing What We Believe And Why

Q. I heard a lesson recently from (a well known Bible teacher).   The topic was – Are you saved?
His premise was basically- profession or belief doesn’t equal automatic salvation. It’s the quality or caliber of the belief that determines genuine salvation. He said that not everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved, but only those who “do the will of my father.”  Meaning whoever just talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk is not saved no matter how many sinners prayers we pray. It’s the doing that’s the proving. He discussed the seed sown, wheat and weed parables.  You must abide in my word.  You must bear fruit to be saved.

He said even demons believe in Jesus and tremble. Many people believe in Jesus but you can’t tell who is wheat or weed, or who is saved or unsaved.

How does that synch up with:  Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
This is what one must be done to be saved, to believe in the one whom he sent.

Makes me feel like a lukewarm Christian. But every human continues to sin. We are not perfect in this life.  If this was the criteria for salvation,  no one would be saved. This is quite a conflict for me.

A. There’s no Biblical support for the view this teacher espouses.  In the first place he misquoted the Lord and in doing do makes Paul contradict Him.

Matt. 7:21 actually says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

Addressing Him as Lord is not the same as calling upon His Name for salvation.  In Romans 10:13 Paul said “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” He was quoting Joel 2:32, so it wasn’t a new idea with him.

Jesus also explained what His Father’s will is concerning our salvation. “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:40)

Then the teacher misquoted James 2:19 which really says, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”

The demons believe there is one God because they’ve seen Him.  But nowhere does the Bible say that they asked the Lord for His forgiveness and didn’t receive it.  And in Hebrews 2 we learn that Jesus didn’t become an angel to save angels.  He became a man to save mankind.

The teacher is also wrong in his interpretation of the wheat and tares, and his claim that you have to bear fruit to be saved. The Parable of the Wheat and Tares actually confirms the point he’s arguing against.  You often can’t tell one from the other until the harvest.  And salvation is not a fruit bearing experience.  We are called to bear fruit after we’re saved, but not as a condition of salvation.  For the Church, salvation is based on what we believe, not how we behave.

In these last days we have to be even more on guard against the false teaching coming from within the Church, than from that which comes from the outside. We must know what we believe and why we believe it to avoid being shaken.