It seems steve7150 is the only one who caught the point I was attempting to make and addressed my concern. Earlier Steve (Gregg) had written:
In my post I listed a few scriptures that indicate salvation (justification) is by faith. To my mind Jesus' story of the tax gatherer in Matthew 18:13 perfectly illustrates the idea: we are saved by admitting our helplessness and casting ourself, by faith, on the mercies of our Lord. These scriptures are unambiguous. As steve7150 has pointed out, statements like the quote above leave a person unsure of exactly what level of conformity to the ideal is sufficient. And they leave a feeling that, as Paul said of the Law, only brings condemnation, for we do not always put God's interests above our own, or even know what His interest is.A man is saved when he denies himself, and places God's interests above his own. Until then, he is just playing at religion—a game that might not keep him from hell anyway.
Perhaps an illustration will help. We have a large yard with a number of mature deciduous trees. There will soon be a huge amout of leaves to clean up. I have rakes and an old gas powered leaf blower that doesn't work very well. I am thinking when I go into town tomorrow that I will buy a good leaf blower. But what are God's interests in the matter? Should I rake them by hand, a huge and time consuming task, and give the price of the leaf blower to the poor? Hire some kids to rake leaves? Or will God be satisfied with whatever decision I make? Or does our giving that we routinely do "give us a pass" on this one? I do not know.
I occasionally listen to and enjoy R. C. Sproul, although I am not at all a Calvinist. But I regard him as a brother and respect him. The other day he made an honest and humble confession. He said that the greatest commandment was to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And he confessed that there was not a day in his life that he could say he lived up to that commandment. Is R. C. saved or lost? It seems to me he is in the same place as the tax collector I referenced earlier.
I realize I am off-topic here and perhaps this requires a new thread, but I can not think of a more important topic.