Anytime one hears the word of God, there is some form of reaction to it. It is interesting that often the same message results in different reactions from those that hear it. The apostle Peter preached Christ and Him crucified to those present on Pentecost. Luke records, “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do” (Acts 2:37). Just three chapters later in the same book, the same apostle proclaimed the same message about salvation in Christ Jesus. This time, the inspired writer records; “When they heard that, they were cut to the heart, and took counsel to slay them” (Acts 5:33).
Another two chapters and we find a different proclaimer, Stephen instead of Peter, proclaiming the same message with the reaction; “When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth” (Acts 7:54). In the first of these examples, those who heard the gospel taught, sought to know more and followed it up by obedience to God’s word (Acts 2:41), while the other two not only rejected the truth of God’s word, but openly and actively opposed it. One of the greatest factors in how one receives the word is one’s sincere desire to obtain salvation. There is no doubt whatsoever that God requires our obedience to be real and from the heart, not just outward actions.
To the Romans the apostle Paul wrote, “But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness” (Rom. 6:17-18).
Jesus told the woman at the well, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). As with obedience to the gospel, even our worship must be real and sincere to be pleasing to God. However, what we wish to consider here is whether sincerity is enough. In other words, will honesty and sincerity guarantee salvation?
Common sense should tell us the answer to that question. Common sense may well be nothing more than simply using good logic in one’s reasoning. Common sense tells us that no matter how strongly one believes something to be true, that sincere belief does not make it true. Older readers may remember a good number of years ago the situation that occurred with the tainted Tylenol. Someone put poison in Tylenol capsules that was sold on the shelf in a number of stores. People purchased that Tylenol with complete confidence that it would cure their aches and pains. They believed it would help them, when in a number of cases it killed them.
No matter how many schools teach that truth is subjective, common sense tells us it is not. Being sincere does not equate to being right. Yet in the realm of what people accept as being “Christianity”, many people have either adopted the truth is subjective view or they think that it really does not matter if you do what the Bible says or not, so long as you are sincere in that which you believe and practice. In many cases people, even preachers, have openly verbalized this belief in sincerity trumping obedience. However, no amount of sincerity will save one without obedience. Let us consider a couple of examples of sincerity without obedience.
The first example we will consider is the case of Saul of Tarsus, later to be known as the apostle Paul. When Paul was given opportunity to address the Jewish mob that brought about his arrest in Jerusalem, the scripture states, “And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day” (Acts 23:1). To live in all good conscience is to say that he had been true, honest and sincere in all that he did. But, let us go back and look at what he had done. “As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison” (Acts 8:3). Paul described himself saying, “I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which things I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them” (Acts 26:9-10). This is enough to see that while sincerely thinking he was doing God’s will, Paul was being disobedient to God. When the Lord appeared to him on the road to Damascus, He stated that Paul was persecuting Him (Acts 9:5). Paul was sincere, but we know that Paul was not yet saved, for he had not yet been washed free of his sins (Acts 22:16). ‘
Secondly, consider the words of Jesus; “Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works?” They may well have been sincere, but Jesus said, depart from me ye workers of iniquity (Matt. 7:22-23)
It is a fact that one cannot be saved without being sincere in heart, but it is also a fact that said sincerity will not save one who is not obeying the Lord.