“The thing about demanding instant works is that it can give a person a false sense of being saved.”
The thing about basing assurance of salvation on having said the “sinner’s prayer” might also give a person a false sense of being saved.
“I can see why she’d never go back to MacArthur’s church.”
Nothing about MacArtur’s request was inconsistent with Biblical preaching that calls for repentance and faith. Why would asking a repentant prostitute to burn her list of contacts be unreasonable?
“If this story is true and not some Christian urban legend, then God dealt with her if her commitment was genuine.”
Maybe I’m misunderstanding your post. Are you suggesting that MacArthur made up this story? Wouldn’t her refusal to get rid of her customer contacts be an indication that her commitment was not genuine?
“I am forever grateful that nobody pounced on me and demanded I start going to church, get a Bible and start reading it, start giving to church, etc. I did it because I felt I needed to, but it did NOT happen instantly. Soon after my decision, yes, but it was a process.”
Certainly, MOST of the outward changes in believers’ lives occur over time. But there is a big difference between expecting a believer to demonstrate spiritual growth in their Bible study or church attendance versus expecting gradual change to happen when it comes to things like murder, adultery, or, in this case, prostitution. A new believer may gradually break away from the habits of cigarette smoking, overeating, or getting irritable in bad traffic, but he does not start cutting back on the number of murders he is committing. He quits altogether. Some changes are reasonably expected to be instant.
Is it possible for a true believer to fall into such sins? Certainly. But that’s a big difference from choosing to remain in this lifestyle when a way out is being offered. The choice to hang onto her book of clients of prostitution (and specifically because of its monetary value) shows a bad intention. Anyone can say the words of a “sinner’s prayer”, but the behavior that follows is the true measure of whether the prayer was sincere. Ironically, even the woman herself recognized that this indicated she was not fully sincere.
Repentance goes beyond just giving up a certain lifestyle. It is evidenced by doing the opposite. Zacheus didn’t just stop stealing. He made restitution. What does that show about his life?
Luke 19:8-10 NKJV
Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
Assurance of salvation is based on Scripture, not a *sinner’s prayer*.
Zaccheus immediately make that decision for himself to give half his possessions to the poor, but when the Christians in Ephesus burned their scrolls, it was a choice they made and not at the demand of Paul and i doubt it happened immediately.
I’m not going to be legalistic about someone because they don’t immediately do what I think they should or what I demand. I wait to see the fruit. THAT is what proves the genuineness of their faith.
I’ll help them, give them advice, etc, but for their faith to mean anything, it must be a genuine outworking of the Holy Spirit in their lives.