“The message Jesus proclaimed was a call to discipleship – not to faith alone but to faith and obedience. Jesus gave a solemn warning: “Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord’, will enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mathews 7:21). Obedience is the evidence of the reality of our repentance and faith. Our obedience does not achieve salvation, but it is the evidence of it.
Present-day preaching finds little place for repentance, yet without repentance there can be no regeneration. Many have been encouraged to believe that because they have come forward to an appeal or signed a decision card, or prayed to receive Christ, they are saved-whether or not there is any subsequent change in their lives.
It needs to be reiterated that “saving faith is more than just understanding the facts (of the gospel) and mentally acquiescing. It is inseparable from repentance, submission, and a supernatural eagerness to obey. The biblical concept of saving faith includes all these elements.”
It is sad but true that whenever the way of the cross and its implications are preached, superficial believers, whose conversion experience have been shallow , fall away. “
J. Oswald Sanders “Spiritual Discipleship – Principles of following Christ for every believer” page 21-22
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