The greatest war in history is raging today. It is a war between two great ideas, and it is being fought by Christians. The one idea is held by a handful of very stubborn people. It is: That Christ in His death accomplished everything necessary to bridge the otherwise unbridgeable gap that must, of necessity, exist between a God of infinite holiness and sinners in abject ruin. Most people in Christendom hold the opposite view, and are equally stubborn in its defense. They contend that: Something must be added to the death of Christ by the sinner before salvation can be complete and final.

The majority of Christians consider the first view "cheap grace," and its acceptance "easy believism." They believe that for God to do all of the saving, without the least bit of cooperation from the sinner, would encourage the Christian to sin. Usually throughout their messages, and always in their invitations to people to become Christians, they will give the sinner something to "do" in order to be fully and finally saved.

A dear Roman Catholic friend was sitting with me at my kitchen table. He asked me to explain in the simplest of terms the difference between what I believe and what his church teaches. Since he is a police official, with authority over 120 deputies, I stood two .44 magnum cartridges on the table. Pointing to the first one, I said, "Rome teaches that Christ’s death merely threw the door of Heaven open. But, in order to enter, the sinner needs the mediation of Mary, the death of the martyrs, the suffering of the saints, the sacraments of the church, some attendance at ritual, some of his own good works, plus some time (days, weeks, months, or years) in a river of fire called Purgatory." Pointing to the second cartridge I used it to represent what the Bible teaches, "Christ died for sinners...Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved." Pointing to the second cartridge, the one representing the all sufficiency of Calvary alone to completely save, he exclaimed, "This one glorifies God!" He had grasped in an instant the fact that escapes most people for a lifetime...That God is only glorified by what He is and does.

Religionists, whether Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox, many times seek to protect God from making a bad investment. If God should save someone who turned out badly, who continued to live selfishly, who persisted in certain sinful practices, who failed to appreciate his Savior, who abused Grace; that would be unfair to God. Frequently, the religionist worries that someone might gain Heaven with less difficulty than himself and that would never do!

Religionists fail to recognize two things. First, that God is not glorified by His ability to bargain shrewdly with sinners, but by His infinite generosity in avalanching Grace (unmerited favor, undeserved kindness) to His enemies. Second, that the greatest motivation the Universe will ever witness is the unconditional, unretractable love from Christ at Calvary. To put it another way, at Calvary God credited your sins and mine to His Son Who had no sins, in order that He might credit His righteousness to us who had no righteousness. Peter saw this and wrote, "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18). If standing at the cross, in my mind’s eye, and seeing God the Son dying my death does not make me want to know Him better, love Him more, and serve Him faithfully, nothing will! God does not need the protection afforded Him by religion! He has never saved one person that deserved to be saved...and He never will!

That there is a life-style that is appropriate for saved people is beyond dispute. The Pauline Epistles are full of exhortations to conduct ourselves befitting our exalted position as those whom God has saved and blessed. But the fact that those exhortations are there also proves that they are needed...that there are believers whose life-styles do not accord with the will of God for us as revealed in Scripture. This is true of all of us some of the time, and some of us all of the time.

But the question is not, do all Christians always behave as they should? The question is, did Christ on Calvary’s cross fully satisfy the justice of God for us or must we contribute something to our salvation? Did Christ there die for all of our sins or must we suffer for some of them? Is salvation a totally free gift for us because bought and fully paid for by our Lord on His cross or is there still something that we must "ante up?"

Protestants have proved that they can add as many things to Calvary as Rome does. How many times have you heard that men must "Repent and believe" to be saved? The Greek word rendered "repent" means to rethink. It is impossible to believe something that one didn’t believe a minute before without rethinking. These are two sides to one coin, but men read all sorts of things into repentance. Recently I heard the world’s most famous evangelist saying that "to repent means to change your life...you must change your life!" He was giving lost people four or five things to do to be saved including changing their lives. God gives us one thing to do, believe. Believing is the only thing that you and I can do without actually doing anything. When I believe in the crosswork of Christ--His death for my sins--I stop doing anything and trust in what He has done!

As a totally lost sinner I cannot change my life and make it pleasing to God. "Those that are in the flesh cannot please God" (Romans 8:8). All change must come from God after I have been saved.

Some believe that they are to do the best they can and that Christ’s death will make up for what they lack. Others believe that Christ’s death provided some of their salvation and that they must contribute the rest. Either way, to be partly saved would be to be completely lost. Even if Christ’s death provided 99% of a person’s salvation he would still not be saved. 99% saved is 100% lost. If Christ effected 99% of my salvation I would be lost until I contributed the remaining one percent, and then I would have become my own savior. But God will not share His glory with another, and saving people who don’t deserve to be saved is what glorifies Him in Time and Eternity.

Men may say, Believe and be baptized... Believe and pray...Believe and turn your back on sin...Believe and give your heart to Jesus...Believe and make a commitment to God...Believe and make Christ Lord of your life...etc. God says only--Believe! While God was still dealing with Israel as a nation, water baptism was a required demonstration of one’s faith--though the water itself saved no one. There are no required demonstrations of faith in the present Dispensation of Grace--it is simply Believe (trust) and be saved!

"Lordship salvation," the teaching that one cannot be saved without making Christ the Lord of his life, is simply a euphemism for the ancient heresy of justification by works. It is the old Trojan horse with a fresh coat of paint. It robs God of His glory by compromising His grace. I’m aware that some "Lordshippers" teach that one is not saved by "making Christ Lord," but that all saved people do instantly "make Him Lord." God and Paul address the Romans as "saints." Had the Romans "made Him Lord of their lives" at the moment of salvation? They still had not presented their bodies living sacrifices at the time God and Paul wrote them exhorting them to do so (Romans 12:1). Could He be "made Lord" without their being made "sacrifices?" God and Paul address the Corinthians as "saints." They were "carnal" and "walking as men." Had they made Him Lord in order to be saved, or because they were saved?

Actually, Scripture nowhere enjoins us to "make Christ Lord of our lives," either to be saved, or because we have been saved. Only the Father could make the Son Lord, and He has done that (Acts 2:36). But we are exhorted to present our bodies living sacrifices, not in order to be saved but because we have been saved. We would not need this exhortation if we had done this automatically at the moment of our coming to Christ. Unless and until we do this, we are actually rejecting His reign in our hearts and lives. All the talk about His Lordship does not change this fact.

The appeal to already saved people to present their bodies as living sacrifices is made on the basis of "the mercies of God." These mercies fill the first eleven chapters of Romans, "The Handbook of Salvation." We are to become Christ’s slaves, in a practical sense, and serve Him daily... hourly because we have already been saved gratuitously, without any cause in us (Romans 3:23-24). This is our greatest responsibility and our highest privilege!

No, God is not on Maxwell Street striking bargains with men. We must meet Him at Calvary, where He does all the saving and we do only all the being saved!