On Sunday, July 12th, I was watching Fox and Friends before Sunday school. I learned that Lindsey Graham had died unexpectedly. Franklin Graham came on to give a Christian perspective.
I was struck by how much Franklin looks like his father, Billy Graham. And he sounds a lot like him, too.
The Scripture he chose to quote was Heb 9:27, “…it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment…” I was struck by what he said about that verse:
The only way God will receive us is if we come to Him, accepting His Son Jesus Christ and follow Him and make Him the Lord of our life, and surrender our life to Him. That’s all we have to do, the only way we’re going to make it heaven.
While the words “accepting His Son Jesus Christ” are vague and do not, by themselves, convey the faith-alone-in-Christ-alone message, they do have some Biblical precedent. John 1:12 does say that whoever receives Him becomes a child of God. Of course, that verse goes on to explain that receiving Him means believing in His name.
Unfortunately, everything Franklin said after those words was confusing and misleading. We are not born again by following Jesus, by making Him the Lord of our lives,i or by surrendering our lives to Him. All of those are certainly good deeds we can do, but they do not give us everlasting life.
To be fair, Franklin Graham said what most Evangelicals believe to be correct. Most Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants agree with him that to be saved, one must surrender to Christ and follow Him for the rest of one’s life. The three hosts on Fox News Weekend did not correct Franklin.
Unfortunately, most Evangelicals are wrong. The condition of everlasting life is believing in the Lord Jesus Christ for that life. Surrendering and following are discipleship concepts, not conditions for everlasting life.
The Lord Jesus said, “He who believes in Me has everlasting life” (John 6:47). John’s Gospel reports scores of times when He said that whoever believes in Him has everlasting life and will never perish, never hunger, never thirst, never be cast out, and never die spiritually (e.g., John 3:16; 5:24; 6:35, 37; 10:28; 11:25-27).
Remember the bracelets that had the four letters WWJD on them? Those letters stood for “What would Jesus do?” We know what He would do if He were being interviewed on TV about what one must do to guarantee that he will spend eternity with Him. He’d say that whoever believes in Him has everlasting life.
If we keep grace in focus, we will do what He did when we evangelize.
