There Is No Salvation For Any Soul Until It Looks Away From Self and To God Alone

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"The doctrine of God's sovereignty repudiates the heresy of salvation by works.

"There is a way that seems right to a man—but its end is the way to death" (Proverbs 14:12).

The way which "seems right" and which ends in "death," eternal death, is salvation by human effort and merit.

The belief in salvation by works is one that is common to human nature.....Many preachers are saying, God is willing to do His part—if you will do yours—is a wretched and excuseless denial of the Gospel of His grace. To declare that God helps those who help themselves—is to repudiate one of the most precious truths taught in the Bible! The Bible alone, teaches that God helps those who are unable to help themselves, who have tried again and again only to fail. To say that the sinner's salvation turns upon the action of his own will—is another form of the God-dishonoring dogma of salvation by human efforts. In the final analysis, any movement of the will is a work: it is something from me, something which I do.

But the doctrine of God's sovereignty lays the axe at the root of this evil tree by declaring, "it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs—but of God who shows mercy" (Romans 9:16). Does someone say, Such a doctrine will drive sinners to despair! The reply is—Be it so; it is just such despair, that the writer longs to see prevail. It is not until the sinner despairs of any help from himself, that he will ever fall into the arms of sovereign mercy. But if once the Holy Spirit convicts him that there is no help in himself—then he will recognize that he is lost, and will cry, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" And such a cry will be heard!

If the author may be allowed to bear personal witness, he has found during the course of his ministry that, the sermons he has preached on human depravity, the sinner's helplessness to do anything himself, and the salvation of the soul turning upon the sovereign mercy of God—have been those most owned and blessed in the salvation of the lost.

We repeat, then—a sense of utter helplessness is the first prerequisite to any sound conversion. There is no salvation for any soul until it looks away from itself, looks to something, yes, to Someone, outside of itself!"

~ Arthur Pink, "The Sovereignty of God"

Look at that last line again:

"We repeat, then—a sense of utter helplessness is the first prerequisite to any sound conversion. There is no salvation for any soul until it looks away from itself, looks to something, yes, to Someone, outside of itself!"

What Pink says is absolutely biblical. Contrast that very clear declaration with what John Piper has said in regard to the Roman Catholic Church:

Quote:

The reason for saying, “when consistently worked out,” is because I think it is possible to inconsistently deny the truth of imputation while embracing other aspects of the gospel (blood bought forgiveness, and propitiation, for example), through which God mercifully saves.

I am thankful that God is willing to save us even when our grasp of the gospel may be partial or defective. None of us has a comprehensive or perfect grasp of it.

End quote.

Piper is saying that one can reject the doctrine of Justification--that's what the imputation of Christ's righteousness to us is (and our's to Him on the cross as our substitution), and still have a gospel that saves! That is heretical!