By Mike Lii
In my family, I’m notorious for being a bargain hunter. I get a thrill when I can purchase a high-value item at a heavily discounted price. For example, my wife and son get hot during parts of the day during the summer months here in Texas. Why? I selected a nights-free electricity plan and have asked them not to turn on the air conditioning until 8:00 pm unless we have guests. (Needless to say, they very much appreciate daytime guests during the summer!) The motto of one of my favorite stores is: “Good stuff cheap.”1
Now, let’s apply bargain-hunting to everlasting life. What is the value of everlasting life? What is a good price to pay for everlasting life?
VALUE OF EVERLASTING LIFE
Everlasting life is everlasting. It is Christ’s life in us (John 11:25-27). Once a person has it, he is guaranteed to be with Jesus forever. This life can be experienced more abundantly now and in the future as we enjoy fellowship with Him and His people (John 10:10). It is a life that will ultimately have no death, no sorrow, and no crying throughout eternity (Rev 21:4). What is the value of such a life? Everlasting life is of infinite value and infinite worth for infinite time. Even a finite price for something of infinite worth would make everlasting life the ultimate bargain.
EVERLASTING LIFE IS FREE, NOT A GREAT DEAL
The Lord indicated that receiving everlasting life costs us nothing: “Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely [or, without cost]” (Rev 22:17).
Who wouldn’t want everlasting life? It is free for the taking. We know how to take literal water freely, but how does one metaphorically take and receive everlasting life freely? In John 6:47, we find Jesus’ explanation:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.”
To receive everlasting life, one needs only to believe Jesus’ promise to give it to anyone who believes in Him for it.
Everlasting life is free, not cheap. Cheap would imply a bargain price to be paid by the buyer. Everlasting life is not the ultimate bargain; instead, it is absolutely free to all who believe Jesus’ promise.2
LORDSHIP SALVATION AS A GREAT DEAL
What is the gospel according to Lordship Salvation? Lordship Salvation teaches that everlasting life is received if one commits to obeying Jesus as master of his life, gives up his known sins, and perseveres in following Him. Lordship Salvation, therefore, teaches that there is a cost to receiving everlasting life.
Lordship Salvation’s cost for everlasting life is relatively cheap. If true, Lordship Salvation is the ultimate deal. Some may think the cost is high, but what is promised is worth infinitely more. Lordship Salvation teaches that everlasting life requires sacrifice and the forsaking of known sin during one’s lifetime. Instead of interpreting Jesus’ encounter with the rich young ruler as pre-evangelism (e.g., highlighting the ruler’s sinfulness and misconception of Jesus’s deity) and an explanation of how one receives eternal reward,3 Lordship Salvation teaches that Jesus’ gospel offer to the rich young ruler was: “Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me” (Luke 18:22). In interpreting the Gospel of Luke (a book written for believers), Lordship Salvation mistakenly equates “treasure in heaven” (a promise of eternal reward) with “everlasting life.”
Now assume for a moment that Lordship Salvation’s gospel offer is true. By sacrificing all for the remainder of one’s life (probably ninety years at most), one receives in return life forever in God’s wonderful kingdom. Even though the cost is very high, what is received in return far outweighs the sacrifice.
Under Lordship Salvation, everlasting life is received on the cheap. If true, it would be the best deal anyone could ever receive. The cost is finite, and the return on investment is infinite. A finite temporal sacrifice (one’s life here and now) is all that is needed to receive a benefit of infinite value and unending duration (everlasting life). What a deal! What a bargain!
LORDSHIP SALVATION AS A FRAUD
In commercial transactions, fraud occurs when one pays the specified price for something but does not receive what was promised. For example, about twenty years ago, I paid a street vendor in San Francisco’s Chinatown $10.00 for eight rechargeable batteries. I thought I’d gotten a very good deal. However, when I got home, I discovered that these batteries couldn’t even hold a charge. They weren’t worth the $10.00 I paid for them. I had been a victim of fraud.
How is Lordship Salvation a fraud? First, let’s look at the truth: Scripture teaches that everlasting life is received only by believing in Jesus specifically for the promise of everlasting life (John 3:16; 5:24; 6:47; 11:25-27). Lordship Salvation, on the other hand, teaches that one must be committed and must give up one’s known sins—in other words, do works—in order to be saved. One who accepts this teaching is a victim of spiritual fraud. If he believes this teaching, it is impossible that he is also believing in Jesus for everlasting life in the sense that Scripture teaches. He is doubting Jesus’ clear promise of everlasting life to all who simply believe in Him, and Him alone, for it. He will, therefore, not have eternal life if he continues in this way of thinking.
This is the great tragedy of Lordship Salvation. If one believes the works message of Lordship Salvation and tries to live up to it, at the end he will not have everlasting life.4 Since Lordship Salvation’s message is false and one does not receive what is promised, it is a fraud. Lordship Salvation should be more accurately named Fraudulent Grace.
CONCLUSION
We can’t buy everlasting life. It is an absolutely free gift and can only be received as a gift by believing in Jesus’ promise to give it to everyone who believes in Him for it. The Lord Jesus paid the price with His death on the cross. Lordship Salvation, if true, would make everlasting life the ultimate bargain and the best deal ever offered to mankind. But Lordship Salvation and any other works-related salvation is the saddest fraud ever perpetuated. Do not be a victim of this fraud. Believe in the saving message of Jesus. He said:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life” (John 5:24).
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Mike Lii is a finance attorney. He and his wife, Letitia, a member of the GES board, and their son, Payton, live in Dallas and serve at Vista Ridge Bible Fellowship in Lewisville, Texas. Mike and Letitia also run the Zane Hodges Library online (zanehodges.org).
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1 Ollie’s Bargain Outlet.
2 Although everlasting life is offered to us freely, it cost Jesus His life and extreme sacrifice on the cross to provide it.
3 See Chapter 5 of Grace in Eclipse, Zane C. Hodges, Grace Evangelical Society (2016).
4 Note: This is not to say that one who currently believes the message of Lordship Salvation has never believed in Jesus alone for everlasting life. If one has at any time believed in Jesus for everlasting life, they have everlasting life. Everlasting life, once received, is irrevocable, even for believers who later lose their faith in Jesus or come to believe a false gospel.