JUDAS AND LORDSHIP SALVATION

 Before Judas went out and hanged himself, he checked the boxes required for salvation according to those who hold to the position known as Lordship Salvation. We know this because we have the record of his activities before he tied the noose around his neck and attached it to that dry branch. 

Consider:

1. Judas felt sorry for his sin. The record says, "Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” Feeling sorry for one's sins isn't biblical repentance; "feeling sorry" and "repent" are two different Greek words. The former means "regret," "sorrow," the latter means, "a change of mind."

2.  Judas made restitution for his sin. The betrayer returned the money with a forceful gesture. This was a good deed on his part. 

3. He mended his ways. He loved money so much that he stole it from the other disciples since his duty was to care for the money given to their ministry. He who loved money came to hate 30 pieces of silver.

But he never did the only thing required for salvation: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved." His sorrow for his sin, his moral act, his believing Jesus to be innocent and not deserving the death penalty were not faith alone in Christ alone. 

A lady once said, "God will not forgive you unless you say you're sorry." Judas was sorry. Thomas Jefferson believed that Jesus was innocent in the sense that He exhibited and taught the highest ethical system in the history of mankind. 

But the record states the final, accurate assessment of Judas: "The Son of Man is to go, just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.” and, Jesus prayed to the Father "While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled."

Judas checked the boxes required for salvation among those who hold to Lordship salvation, boxes which put the spotlight on us and our works, not on Christ and His finished work. 

One of the leading advocates of Lordship salvation, John MacArthur, writes that the following text, James 4:7-10, is a clear presentation of the gospel, and therefore, there are ten things that a person must do to be saved:

"Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you."

Ten things? That's strange because in the most famous verse in the Bible, we don't find those ten requirements: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." 

I can't find those ten in Acts 16:30-31: "And after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?³¹ They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

In the Gospel of John, written to tell a person how to be saved, those ten aren't there; "believe" is, 99 times. 

Therefore, there are none of his or any lordship salvationists' books that I would recommend because, although they may be correct on  other doctrine, if they are wrong on the gospel, they are wrong on the most important thing (I Cor. 15:3): "For I delivered to you as of first importance [the gospel]."

Do you find lordship salvation authors on your book shelves or in your church library? Why? Paul is very clear on this: Read and heed Galatians 1:8-9.