On a recent trip to Mexico, I took part in a class on the Book of Romans. An older Mexican national was teaching the class. He favorably quoted John MacArthur on many occasions, saying that good fruit will automatically follow in the life of a person who has truly believed. You will, he maintained, know a true Christian by his fruit.

Once, however, he quoted from MacArthur and made a noticeable pause. In talking about Rom 10:9, where Paul says that if “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus…you will be saved,” the teacher spoke about making Jesus Lord of your life. Doing so was necessary to obtain eternal salvation. He said that MacArthur agreed. That theologian had famously said, “If Jesus is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all.” The teacher said that what MacArthur was saying is that if a person wants to be saved, Jesus must be Lord of everything in his life.

Here is where the pause occurred. He clenched his teeth together and breathed in through them, making a kind of hissing noise. It was obvious that he had a problem with that statement. He had to think about that one. The whole class could tell he was troubled by what MacArthur had said, even though the teacher didn’t say a word. He then made his feelings clear. He rubbed his stomach and said, “That statement makes me sick to my stomach.”

It was kind of surprising. The teacher had many positive things to say about Lordship Salvation and its most popular proponent. But it was clear that for him, at least on this occasion, MacArthur had bitten off more than he could chew. We then got into a discussion on the matter.

I asked if the Lord was Lord over every area of MacArthur’s life. Was there no area in which MacArthur did what he wanted to do in spite of the fact that the Lord would desire something else from him? Had he obtained complete sanctification? Was he able to do that at the very moment of faith?

Any Lordship Salvation teacher would hedge his bets here. He would say that the new believer must be willing to make Jesus Lord of every area of his life before he can be saved. The new believer does not yet know what is required of him, so he will certainly show immaturity in this area. But once he knows what he is to do, he will submit to the Lordship of Christ. Sure, he will fail at times, but he will know that Christ has the right to rule over every area.

But do such concessions or toning down of the requirements of the statement make it easier to accept? Not to the teacher in the class. His uneasiness over MacArthur’s statement was most clearly seen in his admission that the Lord was not Lord over every area of his life. He was a man in his late 60s and had been a Christian for a long time. He then asked if any student in the class would claim that Jesus was Lord over every area of their life. All of them admitted that He was not.

The reason he said MacArthur’s theology here made him sick to his stomach was because if Lordship Salvation were true, then he was not going to be in the kingdom. The same was true of all the students in class. Even though he wasn’t literally sick, it was a good figure of speech. If one dwelt on MacArthur’s words, the fear and anxiety they cause would be enough to make a person sick. If one was spiritually sensitive and took the words at face value, it would drive him crazy.

Free Grace people often speak of the discipline of God. God disciplines His children when they stray from the truth or live immorally. Such discipline can take many different forms. One such form is literal physical sickness. God can bring that into our lives to get us to repent when needed.

In a figurative way, the teacher was demonstrating this reality. Bad theology, such as Lordship Salvation, will make you sick. A person can believe in Jesus for eternal life but then fall prey to such teaching. It won’t be good for their spiritual or physical health. The same is true for unbelievers who are enslaved to such teaching. As long as they hold to it, they will not be able to understand the message of God’s grace and the offer of eternal life as a free gift. Such grace does not demand the impossible task of committing one’s entire life to the lordship of Christ. The quote from MacArthur is, indeed, sickening.

I don’t know the spiritual condition of that teacher. He said he felt sick because of the venomous words he heard. Whether or not he had ever believed in Jesus for eternal life, I hope he went to the Great Physician to find the cure for what was ailing him. He would prescribe what he needed. His words are the cure: “He who believes in Me has eternal life” (John 6:47).