As an ensign fair, we lift it up to-day,
While as ransomed ones we sing, Marching on, marching on,
For Christ count everything but loss, And to crown Him King, toil and sing,
Neath the banner of the cross.
Good singing, let's sing it out on the second.
Though the foe may rage and gather as a foe, Let the standard be displayed,
And beneath this folds as soldier of the low, For the truth be not dismayed.
Marching on, marching on, For Christ count everything but loss,
And to crown Him King, toil and sing, Neath the banner of the cross.
Over land and sea, wherever men may dwell, Make the glorious tidings known,
Of the crimson banner, now the story told, For the Lord shall claim His own.
Marching on, marching on, For Christ count everything but loss,
And to crown Him King, toil and sing, Neath the banner of the cross.
Good, let's sing it out on the last.
When the glory dawns, His shine very near, It is hastening day by day,
And before the King the foe shall disappear, And the cross of heroes shall sing.
Marching on, marching on, For Christ count everything but loss,
And to crown Him King, toil and sing, Neath the banner of the cross.
Good singing.
Turn your Bibles to First Timothy chapter two.
First Timothy chapter two.
If you don't have a Bible, please raise your hand and Usher will bring you one.
First Timothy chapter two.
Just keep your hands up and Usher will bring your Bible.
First Timothy chapter two.
The Bible says, I exhort therefore that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions,
and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings, and for all that are in authority,
that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.
Who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of truth?
For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave
himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time.
Whereunto I am ordained a preacher and an apostle.
I speak the truth in Christ and lie not, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.
I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting,
in like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shame-facedness and
sobriety, not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array, but which becometh
women profess in godliness with good works.
Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection, but I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to
assert authority over the man, but to be in silence.
For Adam was first formed, then Eve, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived
was in the transgression.
Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and
holiness with sobriety.
Let's pray.
Almighty Father, thank you for this conference and thank you for this day.
Please bless Pastor Anderson.
Please bless the message.
Open our hearts and our ears to your word.
In the name of Jesus Christ I pray, amen.
Great to be here tonight.
Thanks everybody for coming.
First Timothy chapter two, starting in verse number three, for this is good and acceptable
in the sight of God our savior, who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge
of the truth.
For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave
himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time.
The title of my sermon tonight is, what I hate about Calvinism.
What I hate about Calvinism.
Now this is something that's always been a big subject for me.
I remember I met a girl in my 20s that I'd gone to school with back in the fourth grade
and she literally said to me, I just remember you arguing about Calvinism on the playground
even when you were nine years old in the fourth grade.
I don't like Calvinism.
One of the things that I've been known for is my vitriol and hard preaching on the subject
of Calvinism.
I want to explain tonight what it is that I hate about Calvinism, what it is that bothers
me about Calvinism.
I'm not here tonight to disprove Calvinism because I know the vast majority of people
here, they already know that Calvinism is wrong.
They don't believe in Calvinism, so I'm not going to spend the time tonight debunking
Calvinism or anything like that, but I want to preach what it is that I hate about Calvinism.
Let's say you don't even know what Calvinism is.
Maybe you're new to church or you're not familiar with this doctrine.
It's basically, in a nutshell, the doctrine that says that God decides who goes to heaven
and who goes to hell.
God has made that decision.
It's not up to us.
It's up to him as opposed to what the Bible clearly teaches that God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have
everlasting life.
He said, whosoever will.
That means whosoever wants to let him take the water of life freely.
That's what the Bible teaches.
Number one, I'm going to give you three reasons that I hate Calvinism.
Number one is because it causes people not to evangelize.
Look, people are dying and going to hell today, and they're not going to be saved if we don't
evangelize.
This doctrine of Calvinism that says that God decides who goes to heaven and who goes
to hell, it causes people not to evangelize.
Go if you went to Matthew chapter number seven.
Matthew chapter number seven.
If you say this to a Calvinist, they'll say, well, that's not true.
We believe in evangelism, but you know what?
Talk is cheap because you can say I'm for evangelism, I believe in evangelism, but if
I don't see you going out and evangelizing, if I don't see you going out and soul winning,
then that shows me you don't really believe in it.
You're just giving some lip service to it.
You might talk about it, but if you actually were believing in it, you'd be out doing it.
So Calvinists will claim that they believe in evangelizing.
They'll claim, well, just because God made the decision, we should still go out and preach
the gospel to every creature.
We're still supposed to do that duty, but yet you see them not doing it and it makes
sense because if you had this doctrine that says, well, God makes the decision who goes
to heaven and who goes to hell, it's going to be a lot easier to decide to just stay
home and not do it because soul winning is hard work.
Soul winning is hard work.
Now, soul winning can be a lot of fun, but sometimes soul winning can be a drudgery.
Sometimes soul winning can be a slog, but you know what?
We do it anyway because we love the lost, want to pull them out of the fire, and we
believe that what we're doing is actually making a difference in people's lives.
And when you point out to Calvinists how their doctrine discourages evangelism and how people
are not evangelizing that are Calvinists, often they'll point to Jonathan Edwards and
William Carey.
So basically they have to go back 250 years, literally, 250 years and say, oh yeah, what
about this Calvinist Jonathan Edwards?
He evangelized.
What about William Carey?
Folks, can you give me something a little more recent?
Finding a Calvinist who wants to go soul winning, it's like finding a pterodactyl.
I mean, it might be out there, but it's difficult to find.
It's rare to find a Calvinist who wants to go soul winning.
So the fruit of this Calvinist doctrine, what is the fruit of it?
You can tell me all you want about the tree, but the tree is known by its fruit.
And so when you have these guys who are emphasizing predestination, emphasizing election, emphasizing
the sovereignty of God, guess what the fruit of that is?
Deadness and a lack of evangelism.
Not to mention the fact that it's not a biblical concept in the first place.
We don't believe in their predestination doctrine.
Look what the Bible says in Matthew 7 15, beware of false prophets which come to you
in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they're ravening wolves.
You shall know them by their fruits.
Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?
Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil
fruit.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good
fruit.
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire, wherefore
by their fruits ye shall know them.
The good tree brings forth good fruit, the corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit.
And when you look at the fruit of the Calvinist doctrine, you know what you see?
Evil fruit is corruption because it's a lack of soul winning, a lack of evangelism.
Jesus Christ gave us the great commission when he said, go therefore and teach all nations.
Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature as my father had sent me.
So said I, you.
He didn't say it.
I'm sending you to a seminary or a college to get locked up in a library somewhere, locked
up in an ivory tower somewhere to sit there and navel gaze and do all this theology and
come up with all these apologetics and all these complicated arguments that Joe Blow
on the street doesn't even care about.
You know, it's funny how these Calvinists will say, we don't have apologetics.
If we're King James only, we don't have an apologetic.
You know, James White, arch Calvinist said to me, he said, well, you're not going to
be able to argue with Catholics like I can with that, with that, with that doctrine you
got there with that apologetic you got there.
You know, it's funny.
I've been out soul winning every week for the last 20 years and I've never had somebody
bring up to me, codex vanicanus or conex sinaiaticus or codex Alexandrinus on the doorstep.
And I've been soul winning to literally tens of thousands of doors.
Nobody's ever brought these things up to me.
Nobody's ever wanted to talk about the papyri.
Okay.
Joe plumber and Joe six pack are going to respond to the simple gospel of Jesus Christ.
And you know what it says of Jesus Christ, the common people heard him gladly.
Can these Calvinists say that, that common people gladly listen to their preaching?
No way.
What's the fruit of the look, either make the tree good and his fruit good or else make
the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt.
The tree is known by his fruit.
What good has come of this predestination Calvinist doctrine?
All it does is throw a wet blanket on soul winning.
It kills the soul winning spirit.
In fact, I was talking to a Calvinist a couple days ago in person in real life.
These encounters still exist where you actually flesh and bone, get together and actually
talk to people, look at their faces and interact in real life.
And he was talking about the fact that a lot of people criticize my soul winning.
I've got a soul winning demonstration video and there are examples of me soul winning
online and there's a Bible way to heaven video where I'm presenting the gospel in ASU and
so forth.
And he said, you know, I wanted to go on line and see if I could, you know, get some videos
of Calvinists solely.
I want to see how Calvinists go.
So any, cause they don't like the way you go soul winning.
So I want to see how they're going soul winning and he searched and he searched, he went on
YouTube, he typed in Calvinist soul winning.
He said the first 75 results were independent fundamental Baptist soul winning.
Most of them from us and our friends when they typed in the word Calvinist, they want
to see a Calvinist soul winning and Steven Anderson pops up, Bruce Mejia pops up, Manly
Perry pops up.
Why?
Because there aren't videos of Calvinists going soul winning and he tried a bunch of
other search terms.
He was trying to find an example.
Well how do our reformed buddies go soul winning?
They can't find it because there's so little evangelism going on amongst Calvinism and
they can give lip service to it, but the fact is that they rarely do it.
And if you find an independent fundamental Baptist church that's Calvinist because guess
what?
There are independent fundamental King James Baptist churches that are Calvinist and guess
what?
The soul winning program is not going to be on fire.
It probably doesn't even exist.
This is just the reality.
You can talk about theory all you want.
How about taking a look at the real world and see what's actually happening?
Now I can actually give you an example of a Calvinist out soul winning.
I'm pretty sure Ray Comfort is a Calvinist.
Is he?
Am I right about that?
And you know what?
I've seen his soul winning is soul losing.
He goes out there.
He talks to the weirdest people he can find.
But when he preaches to them, I can't even count how many times and I haven't watched
all his videos, but I watched a bunch of these encounters and I can't even count how many
times he gets to the end of the conversation.
He goes through his plan of salvation with these people and he gets to the end and this
is how he ends the conversation.
So when are you going to turn from your sins?
So when are you going to repent of your sins?
Who's watched his videos and contested by that?
That's how many of them end.
Yeah, hands all over the building.
So when are you going to turn from your sins?
When are you going to repent of your sins?
And they're like, well, I don't know.
And he's like, well, that's what you got to do.
Okay, bye.
You don't see people actually getting saved because that's not the gospel.
What kind of good news is that?
Hey, turn your life around, turn over a new leaf, stop sinning, be willing to turn from
your sins, repent of all your sins, give up your sins.
When are you going to be ready to give up that live-in girlfriend?
When are you going to be ready to give up your drinking?
When are you going to be ready to give up this sin?
And that's it.
That's not the gospel.
Hey, you got to give up that sin.
You want to talk about a man-centered salvation and that's what the Calvinists will accuse
fundamental Baptist having a man-centered salvation.
Here's a man-centered salvation.
Turn from your sins to be saved.
Here's a Christ-centered salvation.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Believe in the finished work of Christ on Calvary, his death, his burial, his resurrection.
That is your ticket to heaven.
That's a Christ-centered salvation.
And Ray Comfort spends more time talking about the Ten Commandments than he does talking
about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The gospel is like an afterthought.
It's like, P.S., Jesus died on the cross.
Let's go back to talking about your sins again and how you need to give them up and turn
from them.
It's works.
It's a workspace salvation.
Way of the bastards.
It's called way of the masters.
No, it's way of the bastards because they're not sons of God, they are bastards.
But we see in 2 Corinthians 4, you don't have to turn there, but this is one of the most
important scriptures about sowing it says, but if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them
that are lost in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe
not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine
unto them.
If our gospel is hid, it's hid to the lost.
They suffer when they don't hear the gospel, when we don't evangelize.
They're so into theology, aren't they?
They sit around studying and admiring the sword, sharpening the sword, polishing the
sword that they forget to take the sword out into battle.
They forget that the sword is a weapon to be used, not enshrined.
And in fact, in the case of the ESV, which is usually what the Calvinists are using,
nine times out of 10, that's not even a sword, that's a butter knife.
They're sitting around polishing up their butter knife, looking at their reflection
in a butter knife, playing around, fooling around with a spork and a butter knife.
They're bringing a knife to a gunfight.
They're bringing a butter knife to a gunfight.
It's a joke.
The ESV is not the word of God.
The ESV is a corruption of scripture, which leads me to my next point.
Go to Romans chapter 11.
Romans chapter 11, I'm going to show you a verse that the ESV corrupts that's a key verse
in regard to salvation.
So what is it that I hate about Calvinism?
The first thing I hate about Calvinism is how it causes people not to evangelize.
And any honest Calvinist would admit, you know what, we're super weak on evangelism.
Because that's just a fact.
But here's what's even worse.
So number one, it causes people not to evangelize.
Because even in independent fundamental Baptist churches, when the Calvinism comes in, soul
winning doesn't ramp up.
Soul winning fizzles out.
It's not going to have any good fruit.
It's only going to be a lack of fruit, negative fruit, because it's a bad doctrine.
If it were a good doctrine, it would bring forth good fruit, because the good tree always
brings forth good fruit, and the bad tree brings forth bad fruit.
But this is the worst part about Calvinism.
I want to focus on point number two.
Point number one was that it caused people not to evangelize.
Point number two is that Calvinists often mix faith with works.
They often will mix faith and works.
What does the Bible say?
Of course, the famous verse is, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not
of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
Salvation is not of works, lest any man should boast.
Is salvation of faith?
It's by faith.
It's not by works.
These two things don't mix.
They're separate.
It's by faith, by grace through faith, over here, yes.
This is the yes area.
By faith through grace, it's not of works.
Do you see the division here?
These things are far apart.
Grace and faith works.
They don't go together, friend.
Now you say, well, sure, they always go together.
Look, friend, when it comes to salvation, no mixing.
Grace and faith are over here, works over here.
Now in our Christian practical lives, of course they're mixing.
We should be exercising faith every day, doing works every day, having faith, doing works.
But in the discussion of salvation, they're totally separate things.
In regard to salvation, you've got grace through faith, not of works.
Yes, by faith, not by works.
Romans 4-5 says, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly.
His faith is counted for righteousness, even as David also described it, the blessedness
of the man unto whom God impudeth righteousness without works, saying blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered.
David is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
It's not that he doesn't sin, it's just that the Lord doesn't impute his sin because he's
saved by faith.
He that believeth on him that justifies the ungodly.
His faith is counted for righteousness.
Look at Romans 11, verse 5, it's a powerful verse.
Verse 6 is really the key, but it says, even so, then at this present time also there is
a remnant according to the election of grace.
Now, there's a phrase that the Calvinists should love to home in on, the election of
grace.
Okay, well, let's keep reading, and if by grace, if you're going to claim to believe
it's by grace, if you're going to say you're preaching salvation by grace, then it is no
more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace.
Don't tell me you're teaching a salvation by grace if it's of works, because grace and
works cannot mix in regard to salvation.
Could it be any more clear?
And then he says this, and I love the second half of the verse, it says, otherwise grace
is no more grace, but if it be of works, then is it no more grace, otherwise work is no
more work.
You know what the modern versions do, including the ESV, which is the Calvinist Bible of choice,
they chop off the second half of the verse, and here's what they say, I don't have it
in front of me, but from memory, it basically says, well, if it's by grace, then it's no
longer of works.
You know what that makes it sound like?
It makes it sound like it was by works in the past, and it's no longer by works.
Now it's by grace.
It makes it sound like it's not by works anymore, but folks, it's never been by works.
It's always been by works.
Abraham believed God, and it was counted in for righteousness.
But when you read it in the King James Bible, there can be no doubt, because it's so clear,
because he flips it over and says it both ways.
He says, well, if it's by grace, then it's no more of works, otherwise grace is no more
grace, and if it be of works, then it's no more grace, otherwise work is no more work.
There's no way to misunderstand this in the King James, and the ESV is misleading, and
it sounds like, oh, it used to be by works, now it's by grace.
That's a lie.
You like how they chop out a key verse like this that says that there's no mixing between
faith and works?
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 3.
This is key.
First Corinthians chapter number 3.
Now what do I mean when I say that Calvinists often mix faith and works?
Because if you say to a Calvinist, hey, you're teaching work salvation, you're mixing faith
and works, they're going to deny that.
But here's what they do and how deceptive it is.
In fact, let me use a couple of guys as an illustration.
Can I just get a couple of volunteers up here, a couple of men to come up here, and volunteer
to step up here, a couple of guys, you guys that are up in the front?
I think I only need these two.
Thank you.
I think I'm good with these two.
Here's what's going on.
You're going to represent works, okay?
You're going to represent faith.
So go over here, please.
So remember how I said this is the yes zone of what, does this have to do with salvation?
Is this what gets us to heaven?
Is this what saves us?
Yes.
Faith is a yes, okay?
What about this over here, works?
Is this getting us to heaven?
No way.
This is the no column.
Not the same.
Here's what the Calvinist does.
The Calvinist says, well, this doesn't get you to heaven either.
They put faith and works both in the no column.
They say, oh, well, you get saved first, you get regenerated first, and then faith follows
and works follow.
They say, God unconditionally elects you.
See, in our doctrine, this is the condition.
Here's the condition.
If thou believeth with all thine heart, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God is raised from the dead, thou shalt be
saved.
But they say, no, it's unconditional.
You know what's over here?
This is just the will of God.
So faith gets put over here.
Have you noticed how close these guys are now?
Have you noticed how they're mixing?
You see them mixing?
So they're like, oh, no, no, it's not of works, not of works, not of works.
They'll say it's not of works, but you know what they'll also say, oh, it's not even of
faith.
What have they just done?
They just mixed faith and works.
What they ought to be doing is saying, yes, it's by our faith that we're saved.
Yes, it's believed.
It's not works.
You stay over there, and you stay over there.
That's what, I mean, look, that's what they ought to believe.
You stay there.
You are a yes.
We are saved by faith.
You know what's so hypocritical about so many of these Calvinists is that one of the five
mottos of the Protestant Reformation, they have five mottos.
They're called the five solas.
And let me just help you out.
Sola means only.
If you know Spanish, you know that, right?
Solo means it's only the only solo to me, a more solo to, you know, I'm just making
that up, but I'm sure there's a song like that.
Am I saying, am I doing that?
Can the Spanish speaker?
Is that correct?
Is that good grammar?
Sola to only, okay.
So here, here are their solas of the Protestant Reformation.
You know what one of them is?
Sola fide.
You know what that means?
Only faith, faith alone.
I mean, this is their motto, sola fide, faith alone.
But is that what you see Calvinists today teaching often?
Oh, salvation by faith alone.
That's not what they teach.
They either bring this guy over here or they bring this guy over here.
But, you know, at the end of the day, these guys are rubbing shoulders when you talk to
most Calvinists.
That's what ends up happening.
These guys end up in the same category, okay?
Look, I said in my sermon a while back, and I encourage you to listen to this sermon if
you haven't already, I preached a sermon called The Problem with Protestants.
And I kind of jokingly quoted Gandhi instead of saying, I'd be a Christian if it weren't
for Christians.
I said, I'd be a Protestant if it weren't for Protestants.
You know, I jokingly said, you know, you Lutherans are nothing like your Luther, you know, or
whatever.
But the point is, and I'm not for Martin Luther, but what I'm saying, because he baptized babies,
amen?
But listen to this, okay?
Sola fide is a great slogan.
It's a great motto, faith alone.
If only they would believe that.
It'd be great, right?
But what do we see the vast majority of the time?
The mixing.
Sola scriptura.
Hey, that's a great scripture alone.
That's a great motto too.
Shame that they typically don't believe that.
Okay?
Go ahead and have a seat, gentlemen.
We appreciate you being a good sport.
Sola fide, faith alone.
By grace alone, through faith alone, to God alone be the glory, for by grace are you saved
through faith, not of works a city man should boast.
Right?
This is their theme song.
This is literally their anthem, the Protestant anthem.
By grace alone, through faith alone, to God alone be the glory, hey, sounds great.
Too bad.
They don't believe in it.
Sounds great though, doesn't it?
But when you start talking about salvation by faith alone, they get mad.
They do a lot of mixing, don't they?
Look what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3, this is a key passage to understand because
a lot of times Calvinists will say that, well, you got to have works, it's just the works
come later, but you got to have them.
What does the Bible say?
1 Corinthians 3, 11, for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is
Jesus Christ.
Now, if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay,
stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it.
Because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what
sort it is.
If any man's work abide which he has built there upon, he shall receive a reward.
If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved,
yet so is by fire.
What a key passage.
Mark this in your Bible, put a bookmark, underline it, make it a memory verse.
What's he saying?
He's saying, look, someday our works are going to be tested.
I believe it's a reference to the judgment seat of Christ.
And at the judgment seat of Christ, our works are going to be examined, and the works that
had eternal value, gold, silver, precious stones, they will abide the fire, and we will
cash them in like a token for spiritual rewards and eternal rewards.
All the things that we did that had no eternal value, your athletic achievements, your business
achievements, all the things that you did artistically, things that just didn't have
any eternal value, and they're not even necessarily bad things.
He didn't say it was dung, he said it was wood, hay, and stubble.
Wood, hay, and stubble are wonderful materials.
They have their place, but they have no eternal value.
So if you only lived your life doing things that have no eternal value, your works are
going to be burned up, and you know what you're going to be left with?
You know what this guy's left with in this passage?
Nothing.
Isn't that clear?
Can you get anything else out of this, 1 Corinthians 3, other than the fact that it's all burned
up?
Because what is it saying?
It's saying, if any man's work shall be burned, so all right, Lord, here's the work I did,
all gone, all burned up, nothing there.
He didn't do jack that was worthy of any reward from Christ.
He shall suffer loss.
What does that mean?
He's lacking or missing out on rewards, but here's the key, but he himself shall be saved,
yet so is by fire.
This is people who make it into heaven by the skin of their teeth, and guess what?
They made it.
They believed on Christ.
How many good works did they have?
How many works did Christ say, well, at least you did this.
Well, here's something.
Well, wait, look, here's a little tiny diamond here.
Wait, here's a little speck of gold dust here for you.
Hey, I found a little glitter here that made it through the fire.
Folks, it's all gone.
Because so is by fire salvation, everything's gone.
I mean, does everybody see that in your Bible?
So can you get to heaven without doing any good works and worthy of any reward?
Absolutely.
That's right.
Amen.
Now, go to John 8.
One of the key doctrines of the reformed crowd or the Protestant crowd or the Calvinist crowd,
and of course not all Protestants are Calvinists, of course, when we think of reformed or reformed
Baptists or Presbyterians or Calvinists.
That's what we're talking about tonight.
They believe in a doctrine, and this is one of their key doctrines, it's called perseverance
of the saints.
Their doctrine is known as TULIP.
This is an acronym to remember their doctrine.
And this is something that they will say, yes, I subscribe to TULIP.
So you've got these five things, total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement,
irresistible grace.
And then the fifth one is perseverance of the saints.
Okay.
Now, here's the thing about this.
There is some truth in this.
It really depends on how you look at this.
Now, my dad's here tonight, and there are certain things that my dad really drilled
into me growing up.
There are certain biblical doctrines that he would just hammer again and again, certain
themes that he would come back to again and again and again.
And if I've heard my dad quote these verses that I'm about to show you, if I've heard
him once, I've literally probably heard him quote these verses 50 times.
I mean, he had these verses down.
I mean, he was just constantly bringing this up.
So this is something that was deeply ingrained in me.
And in fact, it's been a theme of my preaching.
It's something I have hammered and preached for years, ever since I've been pastoring.
It's something I've believed strongly since I was a little kid, because from a child,
I knew the Holy Scriptures and specifically these verses that my dad just hammered into me.
And I thank God for that, because it's great doctrine.
Look what the Bible says in John 8.47.
Sound familiar, Dad?
He that is of God heareth God's words.
Ye therefore hear them not, because you're not of God.
This was hammered into me.
Go to John chapter 10.
John chapter 10, verse 4.
And when he putteth forth his sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice.
And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice
of strangers.
Remember talking about that, Dad, a few times?
Yeah.
John chapter 7.
Then said Jesus unto them, again, verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the
sheep.
All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, and I love this part.
But the sheep did not hear them.
All the false Christs, false Messiahs, the sheep did not hear them.
He said they don't know the voice of strangers, they won't follow another, they know not the
voice of strangers.
And you know, that's why it says in Matthew 24 that the Antichrist would be so slick that
if it were possible, he would deceive the elect.
You know what?
It's not possible.
No saved, born again child of God is going to be worshipping the Antichrist and receiving
the mark of the beast.
Sorry, John MacArthur, if you get the mark of the beast, you're going to hell, period.
He said you can get the mark of the beast and still be saved.
Look it up.
Repeatedly, he said that.
Here's a key, John 10 26, but you believe not because you're not of my sheep as I said
unto you.
My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal
life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My father which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out
of my father's hand.
Now if you would turn to 1 John chapter 2, 1 John chapter number 2, 1 John chapter number
2, those scriptures that I just showed you from John chapter 8 and from John chapter
10 are something that my dad ingrained into me.
And you know what my dad was teaching me and what I've constantly preached is this.
If somebody leaves our church and goes and becomes a Mormon, if somebody who claims to
be saved goes and joins the Roman Catholic Church and says, nope, I'm a former Baptist,
now I'm Roman Catholic.
If somebody who claims to be a Christian or goes to our church, goes out and joins the
Russian Orthodox Church, the Jehovah's false witnesses, or if they become an atheist or
a homo, what would we say about that person?
We would say that person was never saved in the first place.
And I'm not saying I don't think they were never saved, I'm saying they for sure were
not saved.
We had a family in our church leave our church and join the Russian Orthodox Church and I
said, you were never saved, you are going to hell.
You are not saved.
You believe all that hocus pocus mumbo jumbo and look friend, I just got back from Cyprus
and I was filming that documentary about going back to the Greek and let me tell you something,
I talked to Orthodox person after Orthodox after Orthodox, look everybody that we won
to Christ on that trip, all 25 people that were won to Christ were all Orthodox, all
of them.
And you know what they said when we asked them, do you know for sure you're going to
heaven?
They said, I think I'd probably go to hell.
Or they said, I don't know.
Rarely someone said, yeah, I know I'm going to heaven.
Why?
Because I'm a good person.
No mention of Jesus, no mention of Christ, no mention of the cross, right?
I'm a good person.
You think that's, don't defend the Orthodox Church to me.
Don't defend the Orthodox Church.
Folks, I've been there.
I talk to people on the street and if you've been out soul winning around here, I'm sure
you've run into, who's run into the Russian Orthodox here or the Greek Orthodox or the
Romanian Orthodox?
Folks, you talk to them, they don't have salvation.
It's another gospel.
Now listen, if somebody becomes an atheist, if somebody starts believing in Catholicism,
Mormonism, Jehovah's way, they were never saved in the first place.
That's what I've always taught.
That's what my dad taught me.
That's what the Bible says.
It's clear.
That's what, and look, we had a guy in the LA church.
He didn't like that doctrine, did he, brother Bruce?
He made videos and you know what he called us, Calvinists for believing that.
He said, we're teaching perseverance of the saints.
Well, you know what, if that's what perseverance of the saints is, then I believe in perseverance
of the saints.
You know what I believe?
I believe that every person that is truly saved will persevere in their belief in Christ
in the faith.
They won't say, oh, I don't believe in Jesus anymore.
It's all a lie.
It's a fairytale.
That person was never saved.
If you agree with me, say amen right now, that person was never saved because the spirit
itself beareth witness with our spirit that we're the children of God.
When you see people going out and denying the Trinity and teaching damnable heresy,
they were never saved in the first place.
Look down at your Bible, 1 John 2, verse 18, little children, it is the last time, and
as you've heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists, whereby
we know that it is the last time.
They went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would
no doubt, no doubt, no doubt have continued.
Is there any doubt?
Is there any doubt in this verse?
They would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that they might be made
manifest that they were not of us, so that we could all see what a phony they were, so
that we could see that they were a liar, that they were a Judas, that they were a phony
and a devil from the beginning.
They went out and preached these lies and joined these phony churches and made these
damnable professions of their wicked, ungodly faith in lies to show us all and to be made
manifest that they were not of us in the first place.
We thought they were of us, but they didn't continue with us because they weren't even
of us in the first place.
Look, this is what the Bible says.
Here's the problem with the Calvinists.
You know what a Calvinist will typically say about perseverance of the saints?
When you actually talk to them and get down to the nitty-gritty, to them it means persevere
in church, persevere in works, persevere in living a godly life, persevere in being a
good Christian.
They say, oh, if you don't keep living the Christian life, if you don't keep doing the
works, if you don't stay faithful to church, well, then you weren't saved in the first
place.
If you didn't get saved in the works, if I don't see you earning works, rewards, you
didn't get saved in the, that's garbage.
But you know what?
You do have to persevere in the faith.
Why?
Because if you stop believing in Jesus, you know what, that tells me that you were never
saved in the first place if you're just like, I'm an atheist now.
You can like that or lump that, that is what, and somebody said, oh, this doctrine is creeping
into the new IFB.
Really?
I thought I started the new IFB and I've been preaching that since 2006.
I've been preaching it since I was nine years old.
And my dad was teaching it before I was even born.
What kind of garbage is it?
What is this junk that says, oh, you can join the Mormon church and you're saved?
Why don't you just take the mark of the beast and be saved then?
Stupid doctrine.
Because you know what, if you're actually saved, you're going to continue believing
in Jesus Christ.
I don't believe this junk that says, oh yeah, well now they're a Catholic, but you know,
they got, they used to believe right, so they're saved.
No, once you're saved, you're always saved.
And once you're saved, the Holy Spirit lives inside you and you don't follow strangers.
Now look, I'm not saying people can't get mixed up on doctrine.
I'm saying, I'm not saying people can't get confused or get caught up in stupid teachings
and false teachings, but nobody's going to become a full-blown atheist, a full-blown
homo, a full-blown agnostic, a full-blown, if there is such a thing, a full-blown Catholic
Jehovah's Witness Mormon.
That's stupid and I don't believe in that and it's dumb.
And you know what, it's people taking the truth and going to unbiblical stupid extremes.
It's like these dumb soul winning presentations that I was rebuking at the Detroit Soul Winning
Conference where it's like, yeah, you know, I mean, even if you just totally stop believing
in Christ and just completely, you're still going to heaven.
No, because that would show you didn't even believe in him the first time.
Hello, is anybody home?
But here's the unbiblical perseverance of the saints that you hear Calvinists teaching
constantly is, oh, you got backslidden, you went back to the world, you went back to your
old ways of sin, must have never really been saved.
Now, look, let me give you an illustration to help drive this point home, okay, because
the problem with that is you're mixing works at that point.
If you say, oh, you can never backslide or you weren't really saved in the first place.
That's like a defacto lose your salvation or something, okay.
Let me give you an illustration.
I had a buddy when I was 17 years old, this guy was my best friend at the time, and he
had been sent to one of these brat camps that reforms you, okay.
You know, like your parents, they can't handle you, maybe you get in trouble with the law.
So he got sent to one of these brat camps, it was like a Lester Roloff home type of a
place where it's like a drill instructor and they beat you and whip you into submission,
they're like barely legal, you know.
You know, or like, who knows what I'm talking about.
They're just like pumping Bible verses and hymns on loudspeakers all day.
It's like this hardcore indoctrination camp, okay.
And this guy was my best friend.
I mean, I got really close to this guy, and so I, you know, he told me all about it.
He said everybody that would get there when they would first get there, they'd all come
down the aisle and get saved, but they didn't really understand salvation, they just kind
of knew that's what they're supposed to do.
But then he said, you know, usually a few weeks later after they'd heard a lot of preaching
and stuff, they would end up actually understanding the gospel, and then they'd actually get saved.
And he got saved at that home.
So even though there were things about it that were bad, he was thankful at least that
he got saved at this place.
So this guy came back, and I mean, he was straight laced.
I mean, the first time I met this guy, he had like a perfect haircut, suit and tie,
dimple in the tie, he's carrying like a giant King James.
He walked into my church, and there were like no young people in my church my age.
So when this guy walked in, it's like, this is my new best friend, because he's my age.
So I hit it off with this guy, his name was John.
And so me and John, man, I used to give him rides to church, we became best buddies, we'd
go soul-winning together, we'd talk about the Bible together, we hung out and had a
good time.
But here's the thing about a lot of those type of homes is that when people come out
of them and they no longer have that drill instructor kind of breathing down their throat,
a lot of times those people end up reverting back to their old ways of life.
But what kind of kept this guy on the right path was the fact that I was his best friend,
and I was really pulling him in a spiritual direction.
So as long as I was with him, things were going good with him spiritually, he was serving
God, he was going soul-winning, he was faithful to church, and we were just iron sharpening
iron and it was all great.
But it was sort of like that Bible story where, you know, as soon as Jehoi the priest dies
and then all of a sudden Joe Ash is no longer serving the Lord, when he doesn't have that
person that's pushing him.
So I was kind of that person's life pushing him.
We ended up going our separate ways.
I went off to Bible college and then he just kind of didn't have a close friend in the
church, and what did he do?
He faded away from the church because he didn't have somebody helping him and motivating him.
To make a long story short, before he went to that brat camp, he lived a very wicked
life.
He had been into drugs.
He had been into a lot of really bad fornication.
Even though he was just young, he was just a wild teenager.
So over the course of the years that I was gone at Bible college, he just went back to
a sinful life, totally went back to his old ways, hanging around with the same old friends
that he used to have because he didn't have me as a friend, so he went back to old friends.
They pulled him back into a life of sin.
So anyway, I ended up coming back and getting in touch with him and wanting to reach out
to him.
I called his relatives.
Hey, can I get a phone number?
You know, I finally found him and caught up with him, and he was just living in a house
with a bunch of other derelict young people, and I told him, I said, you're not right with
God.
You're living in sin.
You know what?
I know.
I'm sorry.
I shouldn't be doing this.
I fell into this.
I'm sorry.
And you know what?
I came upon him unawares, like he didn't know that I was going to get in touch with him.
He didn't have time to plan this or prepare this, but he had a backpack on him when I
found him and confronted him, and he pulled out of his backpack a King James Bible, and
he said, you know what?
I still carry this with me everywhere I go.
I still love the Lord.
I love Christ, but you know what?
I'm just, I've gotten into sin.
I'm in the flesh.
I'm backslidden.
I'm sorry.
And I tried to help him out.
I tried to say, hey, let's get you to clean up your life.
I can get you a job at the company I work for.
I'll vouch for you.
If you need to stay at my house for a couple days, you can stay at my house.
What can I do to get you back on track?
But you know what?
He just, he ended up just continuing in that life of sin.
Fast forward 10 years later, my sister and my mom, they see him, and he's basically like
a dirty bum sitting by the side of the road, because that's where sin is going to take
you, right?
He looked like a dirty homeless person, just looked like a bum, looked like a derelict,
but you know what?
He still confessed Christ as a Savior.
He still believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.
He knew what he was doing was wrong.
He knew he was in sin.
He felt bad about it.
That guy was saved.
His belief never, he never said, oh, I'm not sure if I even believe the gospel anymore.
He knew the gospel was true.
He knew Christ was his Savior.
He knew the Bible was the word of God.
And you know what the Bible says?
The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
And here's a key verse.
I'm giving you some really key verses tonight.
Romans chapter 7, I delight in the law of God after the inward man.
But I find another law warring in my members.
And you know what?
Paul explained that it was the flesh that was causing him to sin.
But on the inside, deep down, he wanted to do what was right.
He delighted in the law of God after the inward man.
The spirit is willing, but often the flesh is weak.
And so we see people go into sin.
So the perseverance of the saints doctrine that you'll hear most Calvinists preaching
today, you know what they'll say?
They'll say, oh, that guy wasn't really saved because he didn't continue.
You know what?
He did continue in his faith.
He didn't continue in the works.
And you know what?
That guy, when he gets to heaven, is not going to be gaining a bunch of rewards.
He's not going to be ruling and reigning with Christ in a marvelous way.
He is going to be very little in the kingdom of heaven because he's wasting his life doing
nothing, living a life of sin.
He's going to just pile up all that wood hand stubble someday and it's going to be
burned up.
But he himself shall be saved.
Amen.
That's what I believe.
Now I don't know his heart.
I can't see in his heart to say for sure he's saved, but I knew this guy very well.
I believe it's obvious that he was saved, but you know what?
People who have been addicted to drugs, the chances of relapsing are so high.
Don't ever even mess with that stuff, kids.
Don't even try it.
I mean, just look up the statistics on people who are drug addicts who relapse.
It's astronomical.
Astronomical.
Okay.
And you know what?
How many times have you seen people, it's not drugs maybe, but it's drunkenness.
You know, we had a godly Native American man in our church and you know what?
They struggle with alcohol out on that reservation and this guy was fired up.
He was soul winning.
He loved the Lord.
Faithful to church.
Believed right.
There was even talk of him being a pastor.
But he just fell back into drinking and he's been out of church for probably like a decade
now.
Why?
Because he can't come to church and be a drunk.
The Bible says no.
And so the pull of alcohol on his life is so strong and he's failing to overcome that.
Does that mean he's not saved?
Did he lose his salvation?
No.
You can't lose your salvation.
So look, this is a false, this perseverance of the saints doctrine that says, oh, you're
going to keep on serving God.
You're going to keep on doing the works.
Really?
Because I see Christians that fail and that doesn't mean that they're not saved.
Now if they start saying that they believe in Mormonism now, well then they were never
saved in the first place.
But it's not based on their works.
It's based on their faith because what saved them?
Works?
Faith saved them.
That's a false doctrine.
Now look, I just put out this documentary last, who saw my documentary that I uploaded
last night?
I put out this documentary and I received some criticism from people because of the
fact that in that documentary I have a guy that I took with me on that trip who's a reformed
Baptist who believes in predestination, Calvinism, which is a doctrine that I strongly disagree
with and strongly disapprove of.
And people say, why in the world would you have this guy working with you?
Why would you bring him with you?
Why would you befriend this guy?
And they said, all Calvinists aren't saved.
I don't believe that.
I don't believe that all Calvinists are not saved.
I do believe that the majority of Calvinists out there are mixing faith and works and are
not saved because they are teaching a workspace salvation.
You say, well, how, why do you believe that this guy saved?
Well, let me give you some reasons why I believe he saved.
Because number one, he believes that salvation is a hundred percent by faith and he doesn't
mix faith and works at all.
And in fact, he even agrees with me on the issue of repentance.
We've talked about repentance at length and he is not into this repentance of sin, turnover
a new leaf gospel that you're constantly hearing from reformed Baptists like James White and
Jeff Durbin.
He agrees with us on repentance.
He is King James only.
In fact, all goes so far is to say, I have talked to him at length.
We made a whole documentary about the text of the Bible and I'll say this, he believes
exactly what I believe about the King James Bible because he believes that the Greek text
is the perfect preserved word of God and that the King James is a translation of that text
that is without error.
It's a right translation of the right manuscript.
I don't believe in this spooky ruckmanite trash that somehow the King James is a new
revelation or that, you know, the superstitious thing that it has to say eternal instead of
everlasting or everlasting instead of eternal, when those both mean the exact same thing
or if it's not capitalized, it's not the word of God, it's kind of stupid.
I don't believe in that stupid doctrine.
I believe that we have the Hebrew preserved in the Masoretic text, we have the Greek preserved
in the Texas Receptus and that the King James is a perfect translation without error.
It's without error.
That's why it is my final authority because I am an English speaker and as an English
speaker, that's my Bible.
That's the Bible that I base my faith on.
You say, wow, why don't you go to the Greek and Hebrew?
Folks, I believe that the King James says the same thing that the Greek says.
You know, James White lied about me and said, oh, you think the English corrects the Greek.
No, I don't.
You're mixing me up with bozos like Sam Gipp and Gene Kim.
I don't believe that the King James and the Greek ever deviate.
I believe that they say the same thing.
You know what?
And you can read the Bible in other languages, it should say the same thing.
And the King James does say the same thing is what the original Greek says.
He believes the same thing on the King James.
He believes the same thing on repentance.
He believes that salvation is by faith.
He hates the doctrine of losing your salvation.
He believes right on these things.
Now look, he's wrong on predestination.
He's wrong about that.
And you know what?
Everybody wants to dig up old clips of stuff that he said, but you know what?
I'm talking about what he believes right now from talking to him right now.
This is a guy who ditched the ESV a year and a half ago, turned his whole church over to
the King James.
And you know what?
Let me say this.
Okay.
You know what he told me?
He said, well, I always liked the King James better anyway.
I just thought I had to use the ESV because that's what everybody was telling me was so
accurate.
Isn't that what these Bible colleges and seminaries are lying and teaching people?
Oh, you got to use the ESV.
Now look, I'm not making excuses for doctrinal errors that this guy has, but I am saying
that I believe that he's a brother in Christ.
And you know what?
I thought it was great to actually find a Calvinist who wants to go soul winning because
you know what the vast majority of Calvinists think about our soul winning ministry?
They think it's garbage.
That's the typical reform Baptist Presbyterian or whatever.
They'll tell, oh, that's soul winning.
That's garbage.
That's one, two, three, repeat after me.
That's easy.
Believism.
That's junk.
That's what they'll accuse us of.
You know what?
This guy loves our soul winning program.
He wants to go soul winning.
He's implementing soul winning.
He's willing to go out and go soul winning.
You know, why would I not reach out to a brother in Christ who wants to grow, who wants to
do right, who's constantly learning and growing and wants to do right.
And you know what?
I'd rather hang around with him any day of the week than an independent fundamental Baptist
who's against soul winning.
I don't want anything to do with independent fundamental Baptists that don't go soul winning.
And let me just drop a name that some of you guys might even be friends with, Matt First.
You know, we had a guy named Matt First in our film, Marching Design.
And let me tell you, I saw him publicly criticizing soul winning.
And you know what I said?
I want nothing to do with that guy ever again.
I don't care if he's right on Israel, I don't care if he's right on the rapture.
I don't care what he's right about.
I don't care if he's an independent fundamental Baptist, if he's against soul winning, then
I don't want anything to do with them.
I'd rather hang around with a reformed guy who wants to go out soul winning and win people
to Christ than some dead as a doornail independent fundamental Baptist.
Look, I'm not saying go to his church.
I'm not saying that Calvinism is okay.
I hate Calvinism.
I think it's a stupid doctrine.
In fact, that's my whole sermon is what I don't like about it.
It discourages soul winning.
It often ends up mixing faith and works.
I haven't even got to the third point.
I asked this guy about perseverance of the saints and you know what he said?
He said, they're going to persevere.
I said, let me ask you this.
Do you think there's any way that you could ever backslide and go back to a life of sin?
Of course.
I asked this church members, do you think there's any way you could backslide and go
back into a life sin?
Of course.
Would that make you doubt your salvation?
No way.
It would not make me doubt my salvation because that's not what my salvation is based on.
Now let me tell you another story.
So I'm in Cyprus with this reformed Baptist pastor.
We walk into an independent fundamental Baptist church and the pastor, the moment I walked
in started just praising me and Oh, Steven Anderson, you know, the moment I walked in,
he's like, Oh man, I've always wanted to meet you.
I can't believe you're here.
This is so great.
God has answered all my prayers.
It's so amazing.
I've wanted to go so away.
It's so great.
Hey, we went out to eat with the guy and talk to him and the guy wasn't saved.
And you know what he said?
He said, I can never go back to the life of sin is that would just never happen.
Couldn't happen.
I asked his church members, I said, what do you think a person has to do to get to heaven?
I took aside some of his church members.
I said, what do you think a person has to do to get to heaven?
You know what he said or they said, live a good life, obey Jesus, do the right things.
That was a little fruit inspection that failed.
So we're sitting, we're sitting at this dinner.
I'm sitting here.
Reformed Baptist is sitting here.
Independent fundamental Baptist is sitting across from us.
And we both look at each other and we both say, this guy isn't saved.
This guy's trusting works.
This guy's not believing in salvation by faith alone.
And we got up and walked out of the dinner.
And I'm like, I can't take this guy soul winning with me.
This guy's a false teacher.
This guy's a false prophet.
And you know what?
Guess what?
Independent fundamental Baptist, many of them are teaching a workspace salvation.
This repent of your sins and you know, you got to make Jesus the Lord.
You don't think there are Lordship salvationists amongst independent fundamental Baptist.
Guess what?
There are.
It's out there.
You know, it's out there.
Now look, obviously, and I'm saying, look, I'm not saying, Hey, it doesn't matter what
denomination you are.
I'm saying this, I'm saying that I think that the vast majority of Calvinists are not saved
because I hear them teaching work salvation.
And you know what?
I told this to these guys.
And they said, Hey, we think you're right.
Cause we're seeing a lot of the same thing.
We're seeing a lot of so-called Calvinists that are teaching workspace salvation.
And look in the path and everybody wants to throw my old preaching back in my face and
say, well, you said that you're never going to have fellowship with reform Baptist.
You're never got fellowship with Calvin.
Let me tell you something.
That's cause I never met a Calvinist who's King James only wants to go soul winning and
agrees with me on the repentance doctrine.
I didn't even think that there was such a bird in existence.
And so look, if I can basically reach out to this guy and create a film that shows some
different perspectives of saying, Hey, here's an independent fundamental Baptist.
Here's a reform Baptist.
And here's a native of Greece who grew up in the Greek school system.
He's a former Orthodox member.
Now he saved, we're going to go to Greece and we're going to prove that the Greek that's
being taught in seminaries is a joke.
And you know what?
That film is going to reach a lot of reform people.
That film is going to influence a lot of people.
And you know what?
People can sit and criticize it all they want, but you know what I'm doing every single month?
I'm bringing new people into this movement.
I'm bringing new people in to church.
I'm bringing new people in as you know, I don't want to preach to the choir.
I don't want to just get up and have all my T's cross and my I's dotted with all my
buddies and we can all sit around and pat each other on the back how we all believe
exactly the same.
You know what I want to do?
I want to get out and take some guys out soul winning that have never been soul winning.
I want to take some guys out that haven't been soul winning in a long time and get them
back out soul winning.
I want to reach out to some guys and bring them into the full and get people, you know,
over to our side.
And you know what?
Even if people don't come all the way to our side, I can still be friends with whoever
I want to be friends with if they're a brother in Christ.
And you know what?
I'd rather be with somebody, I'd rather be friends with somebody who's farther away from
me doctrinally but coming the right direction than some bozo who's right next to me going
the wrong direction.
And you know what?
Let me tell you something.
This movement is not really even a movement.
It's just a bunch of independent Baptists.
And so if you don't like what I'm doing, then you know what?
You can go do something else.
Because I'm an independent fundamental Baptist, I'm going to do whatever I want.
And I, you know, I don't want to have some movement to be my policeman and my watchdog.
If you don't like what I'm doing, then go lump it.
Go jump in a lake.
I answer to God.
I don't answer to you.
And you know what?
There are preachers in this movement who preach things that I don't like all the time.
Hey, you came here to hear hard preaching, right?
You just want me to rip on fags and Calvinists and everybody?
Well, you know what?
Look in the mirror.
There are preachers in this movement that preach stuff I don't like.
There are preachers in this movement that do things I don't like.
And you know what I don't do?
I don't attack them publicly.
I don't criticize them.
I might call them personally and express my concerns to them.
But you know what?
I don't take shots at them and pick them apart and try to police them and be a watchdog on
them.
You know why?
They're independent.
And I'm not trying to control them and I don't want them to try to control me.
I want to do my own thing.
And you know what?
I don't need this movement.
I have a local church that I pastor.
That's all I need.
If you don't like me, walk away.
You don't like what I'm doing, walk away.
You don't like the fact that I have a friend who I'm trying to help and be a blessing to
and that I'm working together at a good goal with, then you know what?
Walk away.
Go criticize me, mouth off about me, do whatever you want, but you know what?
I'm going to do what's right.
And you know what?
I'm going to keep reaching people.
And you know what?
I personally, even though I hate Calvinism, I'm glad that every single meeting that I've
preached at for the past six months, listen to me now.
Somebody has walked up to me at that meeting who was a first-time visitor and said, I'm
a Calvinist who loves your preaching, and that's why I'm here.
Hey, you know what?
I'm glad.
You know, when I see Muslims watching my videos, I love that.
When I see Roman Catholics and Greek Orthodox watching my videos, I love that.
When I see people saying, hey, I'm an atheist, but I just can't stop listening to your preaching,
I love that.
You know why?
Because I know the Word of God's powerful.
I have members in my church that say, when they first started listening to my preaching,
they wanted to physically hurt me.
They literally said that they fantasized about coming to Phoenix to injure me.
And now, that guy is one of my best friends.
Let's overcome evil with good.
They say, oh, you're compromised.
What did I compromise?
I'm not compromising anything.
I don't have a Calvinist bone in my body, and I never will.
I don't like Calvinism.
In fact, it makes me angry, because I see people going to hell, and I see Calvinism
throwing a wet blanket on soul-winning all the time makes me mad.
And you know what?
I don't like Calvinism, because they're often mixing faith and works.
And here's the third reason I don't like Calvinism, because it's a debate culture.
It's a debate culture.
It's wrong.
Now, listen to what the Bible says about debate.
Now, look, we talk a lot about how debate is bad, because Romans 1 says that the reprobates
are full of debate.
Amen?
That's a great verse.
But that's not our only verse, folks.
We're not basing that on one verse, because you don't just look up the verses about debate.
Look up the verse about contention.
Look up the verse about striving, you know, there are other things, right?
Listen to these verses.
2 Corinthians 12, 20.
Don't turn to these, because I'm just going to rattle through these.
For I fear, lest when I should come, I shall not find you as I would, and that I shall
be found unto you such as you would not, lest there be debates, envings, wraths, strifes,
backbiting, whisperings, swellings, tumults.
1 Corinthians 3, 3.
For you are yet carnal, for whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions,
are you not carnal and walk as men?
Notice how envying and debate, envying and strife, notice how they go together.
I'm going to explain that in a moment.
The Bible says a fool's lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes.
The Bible says in Philippians 1, 16, the one preached Christ of contention, not sincerely.
The people who love debate and love contention and love strife, they're not preaching sincerely.
Who hath woe?
This is a perfect verse for the Calvinists, the reform crowd.
Who hath woe?
Who hath sorrow?
Who hath contentions?
They tarry long at the wine.
They go to seek mixed wine.
They want to drink a wine cooler.
It's a beer church.
Most of these reformed churches are like a beer church.
They love their beer, they love their wine, and they love contention.
Who has contentions?
And I'm kind of a little bit facetious reading the scripture, but the shoe fits, doesn't
it?
Avoid foolish questions.
Avoid genealogies.
Avoid contentions.
Avoid strivings about the law.
Foolish and unlearned questions.
Avoid knowing that they do gender strife.
They create debate.
They create strife.
They create contentions.
Listen to me.
I guarantee you, if you walked up to James White and said, why aren't you evangelizing,
you Calvinists?
Why don't you go out and evangelize?
You know, he'll say, oh, I evangelize my debates.
I'd be willing to bet that if you pinned him down, when do you evangelize, buddy?
He'll tell you.
Well, look at all the debates I did.
These people have replaced soul winning with debate.
They've replaced preaching the gospel with a debate.
God said avoid debate, avoid contentions, avoid the strife, avoid arguments.
Say well, you're argumentative.
Really?
Because last time I checked, preaching is not an argument because there's only one person
talking.
Who am I arguing with right now?
Wouldn't it take two people to have an argument right now?
Who am I arguing with?
There's one person preaching.
Hey, you know, when I go out door to door soul winning and somebody wants to argue,
you know what I do?
I walk away.
I avoid arguments, I avoid contentions, I avoid strife.
These people thrive on debate.
They thrive on arguing.
They thrive on strife.
And you know why?
One word, envy, envy.
You know what envy is?
I'm better than you.
You know what envy is?
I'm the best.
I'm the greatest.
I'm first.
And you know what?
Let me explain to you what a debate is.
It's a pissing match.
That's what a debate is.
It's a pissing match.
You know what it is?
It's I'm smarter than you.
Because you know what?
You know who wins the debate?
Not the guy who's right.
The guy who's better at debating.
You know who wins the debate?
Look, I've watched debates where the wrong side won.
Why?
Because they're smarter, better at arguing, better at debate.
Or maybe they're just full of debate so they win the argument.
That doesn't make them right.
And you know what?
A pissing match is not what Christ has called.
Go into all the world and show everybody how you're smarter than them.
You know, I'm not ashamed of how smart I am because it's the power of God unto salvation.
It's unprofitable and vain.
It's ego driven.
Ego.
Ego driven.
Soul winning is humble.
Debate is ego driven.
It's a wicked thing to be into striving.
Oh, you're misinterpreting Romans 1.
What am I misinterpreting?
The other 10 verses I just read that said avoid contention.
Whoops, sorry.
Avoid strife.
Watch that first step.
Excuse me.
Avoid contention.
Avoid strife.
Avoid debates.
Quit being envious.
You're trying to be puffed up and be better than other people.
That's what these debates are.
That's all they are.
It's like politics and religion of mixtures.
You know, these political debates, they make me sick.
And these religious debates make me sick too.
I don't want to argue with somebody about doctrine.
I want to preach doctrine.
I want to listen to people preach to me.
I'm okay to have a dialogue or discussion, talk about things.
It's good to have a good conversation.
But not a debate where neither side wants to budge and they just want to fight
for the sake of having a public fight so everybody can look.
Look at me.
I traveled to South Africa and did debates.
I traveled to Germany.
I'm banned from all those places.
I traveled to an Indian reservation.
Oh, I go to Europe and engage in debates.
Well, you know, I go to a reservation and dodge the rez dogs
and give the gospel to Native Americans.
And you know what?
The Native Americans on the rez, they don't want to talk about textual criticism.
They don't want to talk about nomena sacra and apex ligomenon
and homo teleaton.
They don't care.
But they'll talk about Romans 3.23.
They'll talk about Romans 6.23.
They'll talk about Revelation 21.8.
They'll talk about Romans 5.8.
Look, folks, what do I hate about Calvinism?
Why the anger?
Why the vitriol toward Calvinism?
I'll tell you why, because number one, the number one reason why
is because it caused people not to evangelize.
That's the fruit of that doctrine.
Number two, it often mixes faith and works.
And that's why I believe the majority of Calvinists are not saved,
because, look, just the fact that they love the ESV so much,
why do they love that voice of a stranger?
It's the English stranger version.
Why do they love it?
Why don't they love the true word of God, the King James?
Why don't they just love it?
And number three, because it's a culture of debate,
and I don't like debate, and God doesn't like debate,
and debate is not a virtue.
That's why I hate Calvinism.
Now, does this mean I hate all Calvinists?
No.
Do I think many Calvinists are wicked false prophets,
like the demoniac Jeff Dirtbin and James White
and their wickedness and false teaching and lies?
Yes, I believe it's wicked, but you know what?
There are some good people out there that could be wrong on things.
And you know what?
A lot of you in here are wrong on things,
or you've been wrong on things in the past,
or you used to be wrong on things.
And you know what?
You used to like Paul Washer,
and you used to listen to John MacArthur,
and you used to listen to a lot of these same bozos.
How many of you used to...
Let's be honest.
Every head bowed and every eye is closed.
Who used to like Ray Comfort?
Put up your hand if you ever liked Ray Comfort.
Look around.
Whoever liked Paul Washer?
Whoever liked John MacArthur?
Okay, so I guess you can just go to hell, you idiot,
and I don't want anything to do with you.
No, folks.
Look, hey, John MacArthur and Paul Washer and Ray Comfort
can go to hell.
But you know what?
A lot of good people in here.
They used to be into those guys,
but all of a sudden, you know, oh, you know,
the guy you took to Cyprus, you know,
he said that he was into those guys.
Well, you know what?
He's not into James White anymore.
He's not into dirt bin anymore.
So why don't you just cut him some slack?
And you say, well, I don't want to cut him.
Then don't.
But you know what?
Why don't you just sit back and let me do something for God
without picking me apart?
Because I don't pick you apart.
And guess what?
I could.
Because nobody's perfect.
But you know what?
I know that what I did is right.
I think it's a great movie.
I'm looking forward to seeing what it's going to do.
I think it's going to bring forth a lot of great fruit.
I think it's important.
And you know what?
I'm going to continue to be friends
with Pastor Dane Johanson.
I don't recommend his church.
He's not recommending my church.
I'm not recommending his church.
But you know what?
We are friends over the issue of the Greek language.
And you know what?
I wish I had some independent fundamental Baptist friends
that I could speak Greek with.
But I don't.
Because none of them know Greek.
And you know what?
I'm not saying you need to learn Greek.
In fact, I think 99% of Baptist pastors
don't need to know Greek.
And I don't think that a layman needs to know it at all.
I don't think a pastor needs to know it.
If you watch my movie, we make that abundantly clear.
But I will say this.
We need some people in each generation
that actually know the languages so they can defend
what the Bible says in the King James Version.
And who's going to be that guy in the coming generation?
Who's it going to be?
I mean, look.
And look, Pastor Jonathan Shelley got up here
and just said in his sermon, he said,
well, I went to church and everybody's King James,
but they don't know why.
Well, you know what?
We need to fight that battle again in every generation
and be able to fight these.
And I'm sick of the Reform Baptist and the Calvinist
having the monopoly on the Greek language.
I'm sick of it.
Well, you know what?
It's time for a few, a very few.
I'm not saying it needs to be a bunch of people.
But you know what?
We need some young guys that are still young enough
to learn a foreign language because when you get older,
it becomes almost impossible.
But we need a few young guys, just a few guys.
We need some young guys to learn Greek.
We need some young guys to learn Hebrew
so that we can shut the mouths of these foolish naysayers.
And we can hold this book up and not be a numskull
and an imbecile like Sam Giff defending.
Who do you want to defend the King James Party?
Sam Giff?
You want Gail Ripplinger to do it?
You want Peter Ruckman to do it?
Or would you rather have just a couple of NIFB guys
who actually know the languages
that can take these people to task?
That's what, the last generation had some guys like that,
but they're passing off the scene.
You know, I think Dr. Roland Rasmussen was a great defender
of the King James Bible and extremely knowledgeable
and knowledgeable in Greek
and knowledgeable about these things.
But you know what?
He's 90-some years old.
He's totally retired.
Who's going to carry the torch in the next generation?
We need a few people.
And so that's why I did what I did.
It doesn't mean I'm Calvinist.
And you know what?
Some people I think are just looking for something
to pick apart about me.
Well, you know what?
Guess what?
I'm not Calvinist.
I hate Calvinism.
I don't believe that it's predestined
which people will go to heaven
and which people will go to hell.
I believe it's up to the choice of whosoever will may come.
And you know what?
I thank God.
I thank God for the opportunity to serve him
and reach people through the Internet
in an unprecedented way in human history
to be able to just reach the masses.
It's so cool to be able to do that.
And I'm not going to compromise to do that.
Last time I checked, my preaching is not compromised.
It, in fact, is considered hate speech.
It gets me banned from countries.
It gets censored on social media.
But you know what?
It's not compromised to reach out to somebody
and be a blessing to them if they're saved.
And you know what?
If this guy's not saved, then explain to me why he's not.
Because he believes in salvation totally by faith.
If he wants to believe some navel-gazing doctrine
about God making the decision before the world began,
it's a wrong doctrine.
It doesn't negate his salvation.
I've seen saved people get mixed up in that, too.
And so we need to understand this is a bad doctrine.
Calvinism bad.
Does anybody not understand what I just said?
Calvinism bad.
Soul winning good.
Go watch my movie.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, thank you so much for the chance to preach tonight, Lord.
And Lord, thank you so much for raising up a church in my hometown.
I love this church.
I love Sacramento.
I'm always moved and nostalgic when I come here.
I love my family.
I love my parents.
I love my siblings.
It's a blessing to be here.
And thank you, Lord, for Pastor Jimenez being a light in this city
and preaching the gospel and being faithful.
And Lord God, I just pray that this church would continue to thrive.
I hope that this church would never get Calvinist
or start sitting back and thinking it's all predetermined, Lord.
I wish that they would just always believe that the sky is the limit
of how many people we can get saved.
That's what I believe.
Lord God, thank you for the opportunity for me to preach in my hometown
without being shoved off a cliff,
as they tried to do to you when you preached in your hometown, Lord.
I pray that you'd bless this whole conference, Lord,
and use it in a powerful way.
And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Let's turn to song number 409.
Song number 409.
Let's sing it out on the first.
No Christian soldier
Against who fakes his turn away
With armor gleaming
And colors streaming
We'll ride in long and gates today
The fight is on but be not weary
Be strong and in his might hold fast
If God before us is better o'er us
We'll sing the victory song at last
The fight is on around
See soldiers brave and true
Jehovah leads
And victory we'll assure
Go but go long
The armor God has given you
And in his strength
Forever we'll endure
The fight is on
No Christian soldier
Against who fakes his turn away
With armor gleaming
And colors streaming
We'll ride in long and gates today
The fight is on but be not weary
Be strong and in his might hold fast
If God before us is better o'er us
We'll sing the victory song at last
Let's sing it out on the last.
The fight is leading on to certain victory
The bow of promise scans the eastern sky
His glorious name may never let your honor be
The horn will break
The dawn of peace is nigh
The fight is on
No Christian soldier
Against who fakes his turn away
With armor gleaming
And colors streaming
We'll ride in long and gates today
The fight is on but be not weary
Be strong and in his might hold fast
If God before us is better o'er us
We'll sing the victory song at last
Amen. Good singing.
All right, before we pray tonight,
I just want to have a couple of announcements.
We have dessert. We have three dessert tables.
We have one in the foyer, one in the break room,
and another in the secondary foyer over there.
Also, just as a reminder,
service starts tomorrow at 10 a.m. in the morning.
So let's go ahead and pray for the food.
Dear Jesus, we just thank you for the sermons
that were preached tonight, Lord.
I pray that we would take these things
and apply it to our lives and our hearts.
I pray, Lord, that you would be with the rest of this conference
and bless it, Lord, and be with the food
and the fellowship tonight.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.