Lordship, Wth Caution

Although I am strongly opposed to the teachings of Zane Hodges and Charles Ryrie on the so-called "Free Grace" theology, I also hold some reservations about certain forms of "Lordship Salvation" teaching. I feel that the "Lordship Salvation" preaching I've heard over the years has a bad tendency to drift into legalism, if the preacher isn't careful. We must not blur the biblical distinction between faith with faithfulness. Belief in Christ motivates loyalty to Christ, but loyalty isn't a synonym for faith. We aren't saved by our loyalty to or love for Christ, since love is a work (it's the root of all ten of the 10 Commandments), and we are not saved by good works. Romans 12:1 and John 3:16 are about two related but distinct issues. Romans 12:1 is not the Gospel. Web should not expect an excessive amount of automatic righteousness out of the new birth (the free-grace movement expects nothing or very little). LS preachers, to my thinking, sometimes seem to believe in almost a "first work of grace" perfectionism. It becomes a Calvinist perfectionism, as opposed to the usual Wesleyan perfectionism. And I am a 4.5 Calvinist saying this. We must never confuse the fruits of faith with conditions for justification. For example, faith will motivate a Christian to place his love for his own father and mother on a lower rung than his love for Christ, as Christ taught His disciples they must do. But no one is justified of his sins by "hating father and mother." Christ's demands of discipleship were not conditions of justification from the guilt of sin. We pastors should not feel driven to strip Christians of the assurance of their own salvation. Doubting your salvation when you are is just as bad a problem as believing yourself saved when you aren't. Willful or habitual sin in the life of a believer is not proof that the person is not a child of God, because the sin that breaks fellowship (the sin to which 1st John 1:9 speaks) is known sin. The Biblical view of regeneration and faith leaves room for the "sin that so easily entangles" (Hebrews 12:1), and it recognizes that there are Christians who are immature, ignorant, and worldly (1 Corinthians 3:1).