Some follow up thoughts

• There is not only a narrow gate, there is a narrow way. What is the biblical evidence for the assurance of salvation? The church says, "Did you pray a prayer?" The Bible says, "Examine yourself..." Is your life in the process of being changed?
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• The evidence of our salvation is that we do, as a style of life, the will of the Father... that we practice the will of the Father... and when we veer from that, the Holy Spirit comes and puts us back on the path again.
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• The most important thing in life is not that you know Jesus, it's that Jesus knows you. I will not get into the White House because I say, "I know George Bush." In order to get into the White House, George Bush would have to say, "I know Paul Washer."
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• Jesus is utilizing Hebrew parallelism in this passage, repeatedly making the same point in different ways. There are two gates, two ways, two trees, two types of people (those who obey and those who do not), and two foundations (saved and counterfeit).

So what do I think? I think Paul Washer was spot on in his exegesis of Matthew 7. He wasn't suggesting that we earn our salvation through our works. Without question, we are saved one way and only one way: by grace, through faith in Christ ALONE (Eph. 2:8-9). Nothing on our part could ever be added to the sacrificial work of Christ on the cross (Heb. 10:11-14).

Our good works are absolutely worthless with regard to EARNING our salvation, but make no mistake, they are essential in EXPRESSING our salvation (Matt. 7:16-20). We are saved by believing, not by achieving, but if our faith is genuine, it will be evidenced by a life that is being changed by God's grace. It's been said that while our salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. . . genuine faith is never alone (James 2:17).

In fact, James talks about a counterfeit faith that does not save. To the Christian James says, But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that — and shudder. (James 2:18-19)

It may not be popular to talk about, but the Bible does warn against a false faith that does not save. What are the characteristics of this false faith?

• Counterfeit faith can have the right theology. Do you think the demons know who God is? Do you think they are confused about that? Not a chance. In fact, they are monotheistic. They probably know God's Person better than we do! They've seen more of God's work than all of mankind combined. They have a knowledge of the visible and invisible realms, so they have a lot of knowledge, but it is not a knowledge that saves.
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• Counterfeit faith can fear the reality of judgment. James acknowledges that demons believe and tremble. When they encountered Jesus while he was on earth, they often cried out in terror, "Don't send us to the pit!" So they represent a type of "belief" that is accompanied by knowledge and a genuine fear of judgment.
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• Counterfeit faith can even include a lot of religious experience. It's been in the church from the beginning, masquerading as false teachers and leaders, disguised as angels of light. (II Cor. 11:3-15).

So what's the point? There are plenty of people who have knowledge, but who are not saved. And there are people who fear God's judgment, but they are like Felix in Acts 24. They know what it's like to feel guilt and conviction, but it never goes any farther than that. And there are still others who desire eternal life, but like the rich young ruler, decide that the cost of commitment is just too high.

So the point is that you can have a knowledge of the facts, you can believe in the reality of those facts, you can feel conviction over your sin, fear God's judgment, talk about desiring eternal life, even participate in the services of a church. . . and still not be saved.

So what is missing? I mean, if that's a counterfeit faith, then what is the real deal? If those aren't the marks of saving faith, then what is? Paul states it clearly and concisely in Romans 10:9-10 - "That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."

Notice the confession. We are to confess with our mouth, what? We are to confess that Jesus is Lord. What does that mean? Does it involve our lips? Yes, of course. Is it limited to our lips? No. This is where we've got to be careful that we're not reading our experience into the Bible, but instead, are allowing the Bible to speak out and into our experience.

There's more here than just the idea of coming down to the front of an auditorium and "confessing" as the pastor says, "Repeat after me..." The point that Paul is making here is that true saving faith acknowledges Jesus is Lord. In other words, genuine salvation is always evidenced by the acknowledgment that Jesus is the sovereign ruler of your life. Confession isn't limited to our lips, it is evidenced by our life.

When Peter got up and preached the first Gospel sermon on the Day of Pentecost, the punch-line which led to literally thousands of conversions was this: "Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, who you crucified both Lord and Christ." (Acts 2:36)

In Romans 14, Paul echoed this same truth - "If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that He might be the Lord of both the dead and the living." (Rom. 14:8-9)

If I've done my homework correctly, I've discovered that in the book of Acts, Jesus is called "Savior" two times. He is called "Lord" more than 90 times! If you want to extend that out through the rest of the New Testament. "Savior" appears less than 25 times, while the term "Lord" appears over 700 times. Now that doesn't minimize that Jesus is indeed our Savior, but it does emphasize that Lordship is inherent to Jesus Christ.

In other words, while we are saved and kept by grace through faith in Christ alone, saving faith will never be truly "alone." It will always be evidenced by a repentant life willing to submit to His authority.

Paul Washer's message reminded me another preacher. This particular preacher was murdered in a Nazi POW camp in World War II. His name was Deitrich Bonhoeffer. Before being martyred he wrote a book entitled, The Cost of Discipleship. In that book he contrasted what he called "cheap grace" versus "costly grace."

Bonhoeffer's "cheap grace" is often called "easy-believe-ism" today. This is what he wrote:

"Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate."

In contrast, he described "costly grace" this way:

"Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of His Son, and it is grace, because God did not reckon His Son too dear a price to pay for our life. And what has cost God so much could never be cheap for us."

Amen! Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!