Sincerity and Salvation
by Rick Sparks
SINCERITY
Sincerity is honest authenticity and
genuine wholeheartedness. It is freedom
from hypocrisy, and is often a pleasure
to see. What is the relationship of this
wonderful attribute to the salvation of the
human soul?
THE NECESSITY OF SINCERITY
Sincerity is required by our Creator:
"Who may ascend into the hill of the
LORD? Or who may stand in His holy
place? He who has clean hands (obedience
in the outer life) and a pure heart (sincerity
in the inner life)..." (Psalm 24:3, 4).
Amaziah the king "did what was right in
the sight of the LORD, but not with a loyal
heart" (2 Chronicles 25:1, 2). God places
great importance on sincerity.
God spoke to His children about the
sacrifices they were offering, and told
them He couldn't stand it: "Bring me no
more futile sacrifices" (Isaiah 1:13). They
were obeying after a fashion, but it was
just a series of perfunctory acts; they
were just going through the motions. It
meant nothing to them, thus they stood
condemned (Isaiah 1:16, 18). We see this
in the Old Testament time and again.
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they
shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). "Now the
purpose of the commandment is love
from a pure heart, from a good conscience,
and from sincere faith" (1 Timothy 1:15).
Sincerity is necessary. God required it from
the beginning and still requires it today.
Nobody can successfully approach God
through a legalistic form to be justified by
the deeds he performs, without regard to
how his heart is toward God. There must be
an honest mind set on pleasing the Lord.
THE INSUFFICIENCY OF SINCERITY
It seems that no matter what God requires,
somebody adds that little four letter word
"only." We often hear of one who has not
obeyed the gospel, but who's sincere:
"He is trying to do his best. Surely he'll be
saved." That's salvation by sincerity only.
The truth is that God has never set forth
any one thing as a human response that
we could say is the only thing necessary
for salvation. We're saved by faith (Romans
3:28), but not by faith only. We're saved by
works (James 2:24), but not by works only.
By grace (Ephesians 2:8), but not by grace
only. By baptism (1 Peter 3:21), but not by
baptism only. By sincerity (Hebrews 10:22),
but not sincerity only. Sincerity is essential,
but in itself, insufficient.
We all understand the consequences of
being sincerely wrong ("I didn't think the
gun was loaded." "I didn't think there were
any cars coming."), until we get to the
area of salvation. Then some say, "It's all
right as long as you're sincere." Where is
the indication that Cain was not sincere
in his offering (Genesis 4:3-7)? Yet God
"did not respect Cain and his offering"
(Genesis 4:5), because his sacrifice was
not by faith (Hebrews 11:4). Where is the
indication that Naaman was not sincere
in his belief that the prophet had done the
wrong thing (2 Kings 5:10-13)? If he'd gone
home and washed in the better rivers of
Syria, sincerely believing, would he have
been cleansed? He was still a leper until he
obeyed God.
"There is a way which seems right to a man,
but its end is the way of death" (Proverbs
16:25). That's a blatant condemnation of
sincerity only. It's a warning against it. If that
verse does not teach that you can go forth
with assurance of mind, believing that you're
doing right, and still stand condemned in
the eyes of God, it teaches nothing.
EDUCATING THE CONSCIENCE
God has given us a standard so that we
don't have to rely on our own thoughts. His
thoughts are higher than ours, as the heavens
are higher than earth (Isaiah 55:8, 9). The
world through wisdom did not know God
(1 Corinthians 1:21). "O LORD, I know the
way of man is not in himself; it is not in man
who walks to direct his own steps" (Jeremiah
10:23). God loves us so much, He gave us His
word. We can in this all-sufficient standard
(2 Timothy 3:16, 17) find the narrow path
of which the Lord spoke (Matthew 7:14).
We need to leave the idea of "sincerity only"
behind us, and bring our sincerity to a
search of God's word.
The people in Athens were so sincere they
built altars to every god they thought existed,
and thinking they must have missed one,
they erected an altar "TO THE UNKNOWN
GOD" (Acts 17:23). But Paul, in declaring
the unknown God to them, preached to
them as lost and dying sinners, just as
he himself had been when he was killing
Christians, sincerely believing that he did
God service (1 Timothy 1:12, 13; Ac. 23:1).
Conscience is a function of education. If the
education is faulty, the conscience will be
skewed. We dare not let conscience alone
be our guide. Still, we dare not go against
our conscience, for then we are not sincere.
The only solution is to let our sincerity lead
us to the word of God, and then let God's
standard educate our conscience.
