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I wish to publicly apologize for overstating my objection to a paragraph in John MacArthur's book, Hard to Believe.  I apologize to Dr. MacArthur for this overstatement.  Much of Dr. MacArthur's book is commendable.  Yet I do fear that there is a tendency toward synergism in it.  For instance, in the third paragraph of page 33.  It is not "hard" for man to believe.  It is impossible for him to believe apart from God's grace (I Corinthians 2:14; John 6:44).  Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached a sermon on this subject, "Christianity - Impossible With Men," based on Mark 10:26, 27.  

I read the notes in The MacArthur Study Bible every day. I like most of what John MacArthur writes. But sometimes he is wrong. His book, Hard to Believe (Thomas Nelson, 2003), surprised me when I read these words in it the other day:   

Salvation isn't the result of an intellectual exercise. It comes from a life lived in obedience and service to Christ as revealed in Scripture; it's the fruit of actions, not intentions (John MacArthur, Hard to Believe, Thomas Nelson, first edition, 2003, p. 93, emphasis by Dr. Hymers).

What Dr. MacArthur said sounds to me like synergism, the idea that man cooperates with God in salvation.  Dr. MacArthur is not a first-year seminary student.  He is a sixty-six-year-old, fifth-generation preacher.  When he writes something, he has thought it through ahead of time.  He wrote the words.  He corrected the manuscript.  He read the galley proofs.  This book has gone out to thousands of people.  At the very least, I wish he had been more careful in his wording.  Semi-Pelagianism has wrought havoc in our churches since the days of Charles G. Finney in the nineteenth century.  I wince when I read anything that sounds man-centered in regard to salvation.  

I did not get saved by "a life lived in obedience and service to Christ." Did you? I got saved by coming under conviction of sin and turning to Jesus Christ. Obedience and service to Christ were nothing but stubble and thorns, which had to be rooted out of my life until I was willing to come and throw myself at the feet of Jesus. I knew I was lost, and I knew that no one but Jesus, by His great mercy, could save a lost, undone, depraved sinner like me. I depended solely on the Blood of Jesus to cancel my sin and give me justification in the sight of a thrice-holy God. The great Puritan author and preacher John Owen said, "...it is not any other grace, as charity and the like, nor any obedience, that gives life and form to this faith; but it is this faith that gives life and efficacy unto all other graces, and form unto all evangelical obedience" (John Owen, The Works of John Owen, Banner of Truth Trust, 1990 reprint, volume V, p. 104).  Owen was pointing out that obedience flows out of saving faith, not the other way around.  I know that Dr. MacArthur has made statements like Owen's elsewhere, even in this book, but the title, several comments in the book, and the statement on page 93, seem to point in the other direction.  I do not believe we can cure antinomianism by strong doses of synergism. We need to go back to the Puritans on salvation.  They understood what it meant for a man to come to the end of himself and then trust Christ.   

I tried for seven years to be saved by "a life lived in obedience and service to Christ" (ibid.). I tried that, but I couldn't be obedient enough to give me peace with God. I tried to be saved by "service to Christ," but hard as I tried I couldn't serve Christ enough to earn justification. I found that I was "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). I found that Toplady was right when he said,

Not the labours of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law's demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy riven side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Cleanse me from its guilt and power.
    ("Rock of Ages, Cleft For Me" by Augustus M. Toplady, 1740-1778).

No, salvation does not come "from a life lived in obedience and service to Christ." Not at all does salvation come this way.

Not the labours of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law's demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Let the water and the blood,
From Thy riven side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Cleanse me from its guilt and power.

"How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?" (Job 25:4).

Not by "a life lived in obedience and service to Christ." Never! Never in time, and never in eternity!

"Without shedding of blood is no remission"? (Hebrews 9:22).

"The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin"
      (I John 1:7).

Certainly, though, we can agree with Dr. MacArthur that "Salvation isn't the result of an intellectual exercise." That much of his statement is absolutely true. You can learn Bible verses and that will not save you. You can say the "right" words, and that will not save you. You can pray the right words, and the words will not save you.  Dr. MacArthur is right on that.  You can draw near to Christ with your mouth, but if your heart is far from Him, how can you be saved?

"For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness"
      (Romans 10:10).

Yes, Dr. MacArthur is right when he says, "Salvation isn't the result of an intellectual exercise."

"For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,"

not with the mind or the words. But he is wrong when he says, "It comes from a life lived in obedience and service to Christ." Both ideas are wrong. You can't be saved by saying the words you have learned in "an intellectual exercise," and you can't be saved by "a life lived in obedience and service" either!  You can't learn it and you can't earn it either!  

"How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?" (Job 25:4).

We can go over this again and again and you will not find the answer until God, by His grace reveals to you the simple truths in Romans 3:25-28. Let us stand and read these verses aloud.

"Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood…" (Romans 3:24-25).

Drop down to the second half of verse 26.

"…that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Romans 3:26).

Now read verse 28.

"Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law" (Romans 3:28).

You may be seated.

"How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?" (Job 25:4).

"Through faith in his blood" (Romans 3:25).

"[God is] the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus"
      (Romans 3:26).

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified with God, and made clean in the sight of God, by faith in Jesus, by faith in His Blood, by faith in Him alone!

"How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?" (Job 25:4).

By faith in Jesus Christ alone! That is the answer of the Bible! That is the answer of the Reformation! That is the answer of Luther and Calvin and Bunyan and Wesley and Whitefield and Spurgeon!   This is the answer that got Hus burned at the stake.  This is the answer that got Latimer and Ridley burned at the stake.  This is the message that got Luther excommunicated.  This is the message of the New Testament.  And the Apostle Paul said,

"If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:9).

"How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?" (Job 25:4).

"Through faith in his blood" (Romans 3:25).

"How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?" (Job 25:4).

"[God is] the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus"
      (Romans 3:26).

"How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?" (Job 25:4).

"As many as touched were made perfectly whole"
      (Matthew 14:36).

"How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?" (Job 25:4).

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

"How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?" (Job 25:4).

"Through faith in his blood" (Romans 3:25).

"How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?" (Job 25:4).

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31).

"How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?" (Job 25:4).

"As many as touched were made perfectly whole"
      (Matthew 14:36).

Come to Jesus Christ, the Son of God! Touch Him by faith! "Through faith in his blood!" God is "the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Romans 3:26). That is how you can be justified with God! That is how you can be made clean in His sight!

Though your faith be small, yet if you come to Jesus, He will not cast you out. Come to Him with faith that is ever so small and He will receive you.

"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3).

"How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?" (Job 25:4).

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31).

May Almighty God grant you saving faith in Jesus Christ. Amen.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE MATERIAL ON DR. MACARTHUR AND THE BLOOD

Scripture Read Before the Sermon by Dr. Kreighton L. Chan: Romans 3:21-28.
Solo Sung Before the Sermon by Mr. Benjamin Kincaid Griffith:

"Rock of Ages, Cleft For Me" (by Augustus M. Toplady, 1740-1778).