"We offer up ourselves daily as a living sacrifice holy and incorruptible in the sight of God"

By David Kurkov

Did you know that “88 percent of children raised in evangelical homes leave the church at the age of 18…never to return?” That’s what makes up many of what we erroneously call “backsliders.” I once did a seminar, at the church that I attend, called “What are They Teaching Our Children in Public School?” At the time I thought that the major reason kids left their Christian faith was because of what the schools are teaching (EXPLICIT SEX ED, OCCULT EDUCATION, DEATH EDUCATION, ETC). Now I have come to the knowledge that most of our Sunday schools are teaching a doctrine contrary to that of the gospel. They are teaching that works equal salvation; this leads to kids having a false hope and a false understanding of Christianity, and contributes to the numbers of the above statistic. This may sound absurd to you, but please bear with me, I will explain in detail in the next few pages as to what I mean.

For those who do not know who Marin Luther was, here is a brief summary:

Without quite intending to, Martin Luther changed the course of Christianity and Western history. His 1517 complaint against specific abuses in the Roman Catholic Church -- a document now known as the 95 Theses -- sparked the explosive Protestant Reformation that swept Europe for the rest of the century. Born to a Roman Catholic family (his father was a copper miner), Luther graduated from the University of Erfurt in 1505 but abandoned his legal studies to enter a monastery devoted to St. Augustine. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1507, and by 1512 was a doctor of theology and a Bible professor at the University of Wittenberg. Luther was a gifted preacher but his theology began to clash with that of the Catholic Church: he wrote that salvation came not by any human work but by absolute faith in God's promise of forgiveness on account of Jesus Christ. His controversial beliefs earned him excommunication from the church, but he pressed on with many new followers. Luther was the father of Protestant Christianity and is remembered for many things such as the production of the “first reader-friendly German translation of the Bible, and the development of a new form of Christian worship that emphasized preaching and popular hymns, permitted the clergy to marry, and honored ordinary life in the world as a field for God's service.”¹    However, the thing that Luther is most remembered for is defining and defending a great Biblical truth which is a cornerstone of the Christian faith.

Martin Luther said (pertaining to good works),

“Little children are saved only by faith, without any good works; therefore faith alone justifies. If God’s power is able to effect that in one, then He is also able to accomplish it in all; for the power of the child does not effect it, but the power of faith; ….It is a mischievous thing [to think] that we miserable, sinful wretches will upbraid [rebuke] God, and hit Him in the teeth with our works, and think thereby to be justified before Him. But God will not allow it.”²

When I went to Sunday school, I learned many good moral things. I learned that the Ten Commandments were a guideline that God gave us to follow, and that a person must love Jesus, and do good works in order to get to heaven. Now to illustrate the unscriptural nature of this very popular teaching, I'd like you to read very carefully the following anecdote, because the essence of what I'm saying pivots on this particular illustration.

You say to me, “I purchased this brand new car and I’m giving it to you as a free gift.” I turn to you and say “thanks,” and flip a penny to you. You say, “No you didn’t hear me, I’m giving this car to you as a free gift.” How would you feel? I’m sure you would feel anger and disbelief in that someone you were trying to give a gift to tried to make it seem as though he bought it from you. Imagine the great sacrifice God did, He sent His only begotten Son to this Earth to suffer and die on the cross for our sins. What do we do? We turn to Him and offer our good (self-righteous) works in hope of paying God back!

In Sunday school I didn’t learn the very thing that could save my soul. Sure, I heard that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, but was never told I have to repent. My sin was never made personal to me, I didn’t see sin as being “exceedingly sinful,”³ therefore the sacrifice that God made by sending His “only begotten Son”⁴ Jesus Christ to pay the punishment for my sins on the cross was “foolishness”⁵ to me. For the law didn’t yet act as a “schoolmaster to bring me to Christ.”⁶ Therefore I thought that in order to get to heaven I have to “Love Jesus, accept Him into my heart, and obey my parents.”

If you ask the average Sunday school kid,⁷ “How does a person get to heaven (obtain salvation)?” You will find to your surprise, as did I, that his/her theology is based on good works! They will usually say something like, “Well you have to obey your parents, help people, don’t be greedy, and love Jesus. Is that it?” you might ask, “Yep. That’s it.” You stand there to see this child smile at you, proud of them self for remembering so vividly what they learned in Sunday school. You should try this sometime, so far the kids I’ve talked to answered in this manner. What I had to do was explain to them that one cannot earn salvation based on good works,⁸ for God sees even our “righteous (good) deeds as filthy rags.”⁹ Also what they were saying about not being greedy and honoring their parents are known as the “Ten Commandments,”¹⁰ which James calls “the perfect Law of Liberty.”¹¹

The Ten Commandments are like a mirror, ¹² they reflect how we are in truth. You cannot use a mirror to cleanse yourself; all you can do is look into it and see yourself as you really are. You must go to the running water of Jesus Christ to wash yourself: you must repent which means to confess and forsake your sins, and put your trust in Jesus Christ to save you.¹³ God promises in his word that when you do that, He will give you a new nature, a new heart, and new desires; you will hate to sin.¹⁴ You see, no one can get to heaven simply by doing good, even mother Teresa said that she needed Jesus Christ to cleanse her of her sin.

Remember in Matthew Chapter 19, when the young ruler came to Jesus saying, “Good Master [Jesus], what good thing [should] I do, that I may have eternal life?” This young man thought that in order to obtain “eternal life” one must do some “good thing.” Then Jesus answered and said, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is, God: but if you want to enter into life [heaven], keep the commandments.” Here Jesus reproved the young man’s understanding as to the word good. He showed him, by quoting the Ten Commandments, that God “requires truth in the inward parts,”¹⁵ and that we should “love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our mind, and all our strength.”¹⁶

Furthermore verse 18 says, “He [young man] said to Him, Which [of the 10 Commandments]?’ Jesus said, ‘do not murder, do not commit adultery [includes looking with lust], do not steal [the value of item stolen is irrelevant], do not bear false witness [lie], Honor your father and your mother: and love your neighbor as yourself.’ The young man said to him, ‘All these things [Commandments] I have kept from my youth up: what do I still lack?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If you are perfect, go and sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.” Here Jesus showed this young man the one thing he lacked, Love for God above all things, which is the first of the Ten Commandments. “You cannot serve both God and mammon.”¹⁷ This young man’s understanding of salvation was to do good works and obey the law. Jesus helped the young man understand that he is not “good” enough to get to heaven; he showed him that the law goes even deeper; it searches out the heart of man, and it is impossible for man with his sinful nature to keep the law. We can never keep the law in spirit and letter, therefore salvation is only by repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

In America we pride ourselves for living in a Christian nation where we are free to be Christians without the fear of persecution. A number of months back I heard of “A little five year old boy from the Himalayan Mountains, named Andrew Mamon, who was shot by a Muslim five times in the stomach and then was left on the sidewalk to die, simply because he cried, ‘I am so afraid. But I cannot deny Jesus Christ! Please, don’t kill me. But I will not deny him!’ And he died in a pool of blood!”¹⁸ Yet here in America “Christian” kids leave their faith in droves willingly. Something is radically wrong!

“I want you to know that the greatest heresy in the American, Evangelical, and Protestant Church, is that if you pray and ask Jesus to come into your heart, he will definitely come in. You will not find that in any place in Scripture! What you need to know is that salvation is by faith and faith alone in Jesus Christ! And faith in Jesus Christ is preceded and followed by repentance…a turning away from sin. A hatred for the things that God hates, and a love for the things that God loves.”¹⁹

Charles Spurgeon said on the instruction of children,

‘We testify that Christ is able to change man’s nature and then good fruits will come as a matter of course. But I am afraid that in many Sunday-schools the children are taught a different doctrine, somewhat after this fashion: “Now, dear children, be very good, and obey your parents, and love Jesus, and you will be saved” That is not the gospel, and it is not true. Often do I hear it said, “Love Jesus, dear children.” That is not the gospel. It is, “Trust Him-Believe.” Not love, but faith is the saving grace, and that love of Jesus of a sentimental kind, which does not spring out of faith in Him, is a spurious emotion, a counterfeit of love, not at all the love of God, shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit. The root of the matter is, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shalt be saved;” and that is the gospel for a child of two years of age, and the gospel for a man of a hundred. There is only one gospel for all that are born on the face of the earth-“Believe in Jesus.’²⁰

According to the Barna Research Group, “more than half of all adults (53%) believe that if a person is generally good, or does enough good things for others during their life, they will earn a place in Heaven.”²¹ Apostle Paul said in Romans, “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.”²² By adding the Doctrine of Salvation by Works, some (such as the Mormons and Catholics) have claimed in the name of Christ that the grace of God is not sufficient to satisfy the demands of eternal justice. I am afraid that this theology has also crept into the Protestant Church. ²³

I cannot emphasize it enough dear friends, we must teach our children that Gods Law -The Ten Commandments- is only a mirror to see ourselves in our true state, not a means of salvation, and we must also show them that salvation is not of works but of grace and grace alone.

David A. Kurkov

Founder of Living Sacrifice Evangelism

www.DavidKurkov.com

David@davidkurkov.com

Bibliography:

¹ http://www.answers.com/Martin+Luther?cat=entertainment (Tuesday, December 25, 2007, 10:44 PM PST)

² Table Talk by Martin Luther, Bridge Logos Publishing, PP. 200, Article CCCIV (emphasis and words mine).

³ Romans 7:13 (KJV)

⁴ John 3:16 (KJV)

⁵ 1 Corinthians 1:18 (KJV)

⁶ Galatians 3:24

⁷ I did this at my local church and was surprised.

⁸ Romans 11:6 (KJV)

⁹ Isaiah 64:6 (KJV)

¹⁰ Exodus 20 (KJV)

¹¹ James 1:25 (KJV)

¹² James 1:23 (KJV) “glass (mirror”

¹³ Acts 20:21 (KJV)

¹⁴ Ezekiel 36:26-27

¹⁵ Psalm 51:6 (KJV)

¹⁶ Mark 12:30 (KJV)

¹⁷ Matthew 6:24 (KJV)

¹⁸ Paul Washer (www.HeartCryMissionary.com)

¹⁹ Paul Washer (www.HeartCryMissionary.com)

²⁰ Spurgeon Gold Compiled by Ray Comfort, Bridge Logos Publishing, PP.7 (emphasis mine).

²¹ http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=Topic&TopicID=4 (Thursday November 29, 2007; 12:07 AM PST]

²² Romans 11:6 (KJV)

²³ Jude 1:4 (KJV)