All right, we're here in James chapter 2, and since we've had these two anniversaries
in November and we have Christmas next week, I've kind of taken a bit of a break from kind
of the series we were going through and the book we were going through.
In two weeks, we'll get back into the Fundamental Family Tips series and also going through
Romans verse by verse, but I didn't want to restart it up and take a break.
And so I kind of have some standalone sermons here to preach today, and the name of the
sermon is American Gospel Christ Alone Documentary Exposed, and this is a popular documentary
on YouTube that had millions of views, and it's called American Gospel Christ Alone.
It's really a documentary that's meant to say that people like Joel Osteen and these
famous new evangelicals are phonies, and so they say some things that are true.
However, here are the main characters in this documentary of the ones that are kind of famous,
and you'll get an idea of kind of who put out this documentary.
Paul Washer, John MacArthur, John Piper, Ray Comfort, Nabeel Qureshi, which was a good
friend of Rabbi Zacharias, he was an apologist, a guy who supposedly converted from Islam
to Christianity.
So you're having a bunch of Calvinist and Repentive Sins heretics that are making this
documentary.
And so I don't want to spend the entire sermon, though, talking about what they said about
the gospel, because I've done that in a lot of sermons.
I'll talk about that a little bit, but then they talked about some other stuff that was
just crazy, and you'll see that later on.
One thing they say in this documentary, which is false, they say that true faith always
produces good works.
If you're really saved, you will have good works is what they say.
Now obviously the Bible does not say that, but let us see what the Bible says here.
James 2, verse 20, But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the
altar?
Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
So they say that if you really have faith, you're going to have works.
And this is the most famous chapter that they go to, right?
James 2 is a famous chapter.
Well, what does it say in verse 20?
It says, But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
According to verse 20, is it possible to have faith without works?
Yes.
It says faith without works.
I mean, people literally quote you this verse, well, see, you can't have faith without works.
It just said faith without works.
In the verse you're quoting, it tells you that you can have faith without works.
It does not say faith without works will send you to hell.
Is that what your Bible says?
No, it says faith without works is dead.
You say, well, what does that mean, brother Stuckey?
Well, think about if you have a dead computer.
If you have a dead computer, let's say, for example, that I go home today and I pour water
all over my computer.
It's going to die, right?
It's not going to work anymore.
But does it exist?
Yes.
It's not going to work.
It's useless.
It's dead, but it still exists.
I mean, think about if you have a major problem with a car.
What are you going to say when your car stops working?
Man, my car is dead.
But does that mean it doesn't exist?
No, it just means it doesn't have any value anymore.
It doesn't have any use anymore.
See, this verse says faith without works is dead.
What that's saying is if you have faith and you never have any good works, that is useless.
It's not helpful.
It does nothing for anybody.
And doesn't that make sense?
There's a lot of saved people out there that they have faith and they don't have works.
It doesn't help anybody else.
They don't get anybody saved.
They don't do anything productive for Christianity.
It doesn't mean they don't have faith, though.
It just means they don't have works.
And what that is is a dead faith, meaning that faith doesn't produce anything.
That does not mean, though, that they don't have faith.
Okay?
It just means they're not producing anything.
Verse 23, And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God, and it
was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.
So notice that in the verses before it talks about Abraham having works, then it talks
about him having faith, then in verse 23 it says he was called the friend of God.
What the Bible is saying is this.
If you want to be the friend of God, you must have faith and works.
That's what it's saying.
To be the friend of God, you must have faith and works.
To be saved, you must have faith.
That's all you need.
But to be the friend of God, you have to have faith and works, according to verses 20-23.
There is a requirement to being the friend of God, and that's called having faith and
having works.
Verse 24, Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
See, what makes you the friend of God is if you have works and faith.
That's the context of verse 24.
You're the friend of God if you have works and faith.
This is consistent throughout the entire Bible, though.
Go to John 15, John 15, John 15.
The Bible teaches to be saved you just must believe, but to be the friend of God, according
to the Bible, you must have faith and works to be the friend of God.
John 15, verse 12.
Because they say, well, if you're really saved, you're automatically going to have good works.
Well, then why does God say to save people, hey, if you want to be my friend, you have
the faith, that's great.
You also need the works to be my friend.
Because it's not automatic.
John 15, verse 12.
This is my commandment that ye love one another as I have loved you.
Better love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Notice verse 14, ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.
So look, according to John 15, verse 14, if you're saved but you don't obey God's rules,
are you his friend?
No.
He says, you're my friend if ye do whatsoever I command you.
That's not the same as salvation, though.
He doesn't say you're saved if ye do whatsoever I command you.
He says ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.
There's a big difference there.
Salvation is by faith alone, and that's consistent throughout the entire Bible.
But if you want to be the friend of God, you need faith and works.
Verse 15, henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord
doeth, but I have called you friends.
For all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
He told his closest followers, you are my friends.
I have called you friends.
Now go to James 4, James 4, James chapter 4.
Now look, this actually makes perfect logical sense if you're a parent.
When it comes to my children, I want to be friends with my children.
Shouldn't every parent want to be friends with their children?
Love them, care about them, spend time with them, and be their friend.
However, what if those children are disobeying everything you say?
Well, they're no longer your friend.
It's called now you're the authority that's going to punish them for what they've done
wrong.
You want to be the friend of your child, but you also have to be that authority figure
as well.
It's the same thing with God.
You are God's friend when you're obeying, and he's having fellowship, and he's happy
with you.
But then if you're disobeying, he says, you know what, I can't be friends with you right
now.
I've got to discipline you.
God wants to be friends with us.
He loves us.
He cares about us.
I want to be friends with my children, but there does come a time as a parent where you
have to punish your children if they're not doing what's right.
It's the same thing with God.
You're his friends if you're obeying what he says.
Jane, actually, here's a quote from the documentary.
I'm going to have a lot of quotes from the documentary.
One thing this guy says is this, and he's mocking this idea of being able to be saved
and being worldly.
He says, I had Jesus, and I was worldly, and I did what I wanted during the week.
What he's implying is he wasn't really saved because he said, well, I said I had Jesus,
but I was still living a worldly life.
You know what's funny about this is that same guy later in the documentary, they're having
like a midweek Bible study.
They're playing like a Christian rock song, and you're seeing the way all of them are
dressed, and it's like, you guys were worldly?
And it's like, look, I understand it takes time for people to grow and make changes,
but it's just like, you know, it's funny how these people say, hey, you know what?
I was worldly, but now that I have Jesus, man, I'm just all the way righteous, not doing
anything wrong.
It's like, you know, you look at the way they're dressed, though, it looks like the world.
That's what worldly is.
You look exactly like the world.
You're dressed exactly like the world.
And so it's funny how you're saying I was worldly, and then I got saved and changed.
It's like, well, I wonder how you look before this, right?
Because like you look just like the world, okay?
Look, people get saved and they're still worldly.
You can be saved and make no changes, okay?
I mean, look, there are plenty of people that are saved that listen to the same music.
They watch the same movies.
Everything's the same.
That doesn't mean they're not saved, because salvation is by faith alone, okay?
James 4 verse 4, ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world
is enmity with God, whosoever therefore be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
And so in James 4, what the Bible says is this, that you've got a choice.
Do you want to be friends with the world, or do you want to be friends with God?
Here's the thing.
If you side with the world, you're not God's friend.
That doesn't mean that you're not saved, but if you are worldly, you are not God's friend.
That's what the Bible's saying.
Wouldn't that make sense?
Let's say, for example, you have a situation of two sides to choose, and then you side
against this friend.
It's like, well, you're not really their friend in that situation, right?
And see, the Bible's saying this.
If you are friends of the world, if you side against God, how can you say you're God's
friend?
How can you say you love God?
That doesn't mean that you're not saved, though, right?
You see a lot of Baptists that they justify these wicked people.
They side up with the world.
They would side against me for preaching a sermon against the LGBT or worldliness or
the death penalty or whatever, but then they act like they're friends with God.
Then they act like they love God.
Then why are you siding against the men of God that are preaching against sin?
You can sit here and say that you're friends with God, but if you're not doing the works,
according to the Bible, you're not friends with God, because Jesus said, ye are my friends
if ye do whatsoever I command you.
That is a requirement to being a friend with God.
It's not a requirement for salvation, though.
Salvation is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's that simple.
Let's go to Romans 1, Romans 1, Romans 1.
Another quote from the documentary is this, when you come in contact with him, you change.
I mean, these quotes sound really cute, right?
What's missing from this documentary is Bible verses to support all of these quotes.
I mean, they don't have the Bible verses.
It's like when you come in contact with him, you change.
No, the Bible says you're a new creature, not a changed creature.
Why don't you use the Bible to support what you believe, rather than coming up with quotes
that sound good from a worldly standpoint?
I mean, there's a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways
of death.
It sounds good.
Man, you come in contact with him, you change.
They're trying to say, when you get saved, you know what?
You're going to change.
No.
If you come in contact by reading the Bible every day and praying and coming to church
and hearing preaching, yes, you will change, but that doesn't happen automatically at salvation.
You've got a free will choice if you're going to obey him or not.
Another quote is this.
This guy says, I went from a guy that hated Jesus to a guy that loved Jesus and spent
all his time at church.
He says, you know, I used to hate Jesus, but now I love Jesus and spend all my time at
church.
Now, I hope for the sake of this person, I'm not saying this guy is a reprobate.
I hope he's being overly dramatic just because he's trying to put an extra emphasis, but
Ask yourself this question.
Before you were saved, did you hate Jesus?
Did you hate God?
I have never even had that thought come into my mind that I hated God.
Now, I thought I loved God, which I didn't because I wasn't reading his word.
I wasn't doing what he said, but I never would have said I hated God.
Saying that you hate God, that's actually an attribute of reprobate.
So I hope for the sake of this person that he didn't actually hate Jesus.
I hope he's just trying to drive home a point by lying.
I hope that's what he's doing.
Romans 1 verse 29, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness,
full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers, backbiters, haters of God.
Hating God is an attribute of a wicked reprobate, a wicked devil, a child of the devil.
So look, when you got saved, you know what?
Before that, you didn't hate God.
And I'd be a little bit afraid if you told me, man, I used to hate God.
I used to pray, you know, that God would be destroyed and I hated him.
And I used to pray to the devil that he, I mean, good night.
It's like, I'm afraid of you now, right?
It's just like this person said, I went from a guy that hated Jesus.
I've never hated Jesus.
And I would doubt there's anybody in this room who would say, I used to hate Jesus.
Turn your Bible to Romans 4, Romans 4.
I mean, it sounds cool.
Sounds like a cute quote.
I used to hate Jesus.
Now I love him because I got saved.
You used to hate Jesus?
It's like, what in the world?
Another quote from this guy who is mocking easy believism.
He says this, Jesus died for my sins.
That's so convenient for me.
I don't have to go to hell, but I'm going to go and do my own thing.
And he's mocking the idea that yes, Jesus died for all your sins and you can believe
and do your own thing and go to heaven.
He's mocking easy believism.
You know what?
You can't back away from saying, yes, I believe in easy believism.
That's all you have to do is believe.
Yes, you can go out and do whatever you want and go to heaven if you believe.
That's what the Bible teaches.
Now sometimes you go out soul winning and people bring this up.
They say, are you saying I can go out and do whatever I want and as long as I believe
I'll go to heaven?
And here's the thing.
When people say that, I will always tell them that in this life you'll pay for your sins.
So I'm not saying it's okay to go out and do whatever you want, but yes, you can get
saved and become a drug dealer and become a drunk, a drug addict and whatever and you'll
go to heaven.
There are people in heaven that killed people.
There are people in heaven that were drunks.
There are people in heaven that committed all kinds of sins and didn't live a righteous
life.
That doesn't mean that they weren't saved.
Lot did nothing in the Bible that you see where you're like, man, good job Lot.
But he saved.
The Bible says he was saved.
Did he have works?
Nope, but he had faith and that's what gets you to heaven.
Another quote is this, the gospel produces faith, faith produces love, love produces
the fruit of good works.
Once again, that sounds very cute.
Where's the Bible verse to back that up?
Faith produces love and love produces the fruit of good works.
Well, show me the Bible verse for that because I'll show you a Bible verse that disproves
that.
Romans 4 verse 4.
Now to him that worketh is a reward not reckoned of grace, but of debts.
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justified the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness.
According to the Bible, if you have faith, verse five, but you don't work, to him that
worketh not, but believeth, faith without works, it says your faith is counted for righteousness.
Brother Stuckey, can you have faith and not have works?
Well, what does the Bible say?
Yes, you can.
That's what it says in Romans 4 verse 5.
Turn to Matthew chapter 4, Matthew 4, Matthew 4.
And look, I'm trying to speed past this part of the sermon because I know I've preached
stuff like this before.
I'm trying to preach it in a bit of a different way, use different explanations like the friend
of God and stuff, but I know we've heard this before.
But another thing they say in this documentary is this, here's a quote, if a church is out
of control morally, it's probably because they don't understand the gospel.
These are direct quotes.
I'm not giving my own words.
This is exactly what it says.
If a church is out of control morally, it's probably because they don't understand the
gospel.
Ask yourself this question.
What is the one church in the Bible that is out of control morally that is very sinful?
Church of Corinth.
Is there any indication they're confused about the gospel?
No.
Yet, you've got the church of Galatia.
Do they seem out of control morally?
Not really.
Nothing really to indicate that, but guess what?
They get mixed up by these sorts of false teachers and they're a little bit confused
about the gospel.
You know what Paul the apostle says?
I'm worried about the church of Galatia.
Some of these people I thought were saved, I don't know if they're saved because they're
a little bit mixed up on salvation.
The church of Corinth, he's not worried at all.
His fear is this.
He gives examples about how God killed people for these sins.
It's like, I don't want God to kill you, but he doesn't say he's worried about the salvation
of the church of Corinth.
He trusted they were saved, they were just out of control morally, and yet they understood
the gospel.
There's no indication they didn't understand the gospel.
Hey, that sounds great, that quote, but is it biblical?
No.
Another quote is this.
The call of the gospel is to follow him.
Paul said Christ crucified, I will submit and follow after Christ.
So according to them, the gospel is following Christ.
I thought the gospel was the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
What does it say following him is part of being saved?
Because they say following him, that's the call of the gospel.
What does it say in Matthew 4 verse 18?
And Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew
his brother, casting a net into the sea for their fishers.
And he saith unto them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
Now notice what he says, if you follow me, you will be a fisher of men, right?
Is this when they got saved?
No.
I mean, they got saved far earlier.
I mean, before they even knew Christ, they were already saved because they believed in
the coming Messiah.
Okay.
This is not their salvation.
What Jesus says is this, if you follow me, you will be a fisher of men.
What does that mean?
You'll get soul saved.
So what the Bible is saying is, hey, if you're not a fisher of men, you're not following
me.
That doesn't mean that you're not saved.
See, one requirement to be following God, to be following Jesus is that you are winning
souls to the Lord.
That's why we believe in soul winning around here.
And we preach that, but that is not a requirement to get to heaven.
That is a requirement to following Jesus is to being a soul winner.
That has nothing to do with getting to heaven though.
We don't go soul winning to get ourselves saved.
Do you understand that?
We go soul winning to get other people saved.
And if I didn't know I was saved, why would I go soul winning?
I mean, can you imagine that going door to door?
It's just like, hey, I don't know if I'm going to heaven, but I hope this will help
me.
It's like, and hey, if you start coming to church and you start doing the same, it might
help you too.
Right?
That's not what we do out soul winning.
We go soul winning because we're 100% confident we know what we're talking about.
And if I didn't know what I was talking about, if I wasn't sure myself, I wouldn't go soul
winning.
But I'm sure hell is a real place.
I'm sure the Bible says it's by faith alone.
I'm sure it's not of works.
And that's why we go out with confidence to explain that to other people that are confused.
Go to Luke chapter 18, Luke 18, Luke 18.
Another quote is this, the true Christian is the only one who can say they're going
to heaven without being self-righteous.
They say the true Christian is the only one who can say they're going to heaven without
being self-righteous.
Now, let me say this.
This statement is accidentally correct because the true Christian, someone who is actually
saved, you can say 100% you're going to heaven without being self-righteous because you're
not trusting in your works.
But what they mean by the true Christian is someone who has works because they judge salvation
by works.
So this statement is actually correct that the true Christian, which is us that believe
on Jesus by faith alone, we can say we're going to heaven without being arrogant.
But they think they're the true Christians and they're judging their salvation by their
works and they say, we can confidently say we're going to heaven and we're not arrogant.
You're basing it on your works.
You're saying I deserve to go to heaven.
Yeah, that's arrogant.
And Luke 18 explains this to us, two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee
and the other a publican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I think that I'm not as other men are,
extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican, I fast twice in the week.
I give tithes of all that I possess and the publican standing afar off would not lift
up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote or beat upon his breast saying, God be merciful
to me a sinner.
Now, I don't do this anymore, but a long time ago, maybe 12, 13, 14 years ago, I would always
bring up this conversation in the gospel at the beginning and say, which one of these
people do you think went to heaven?
And pretty much everyone says the Pharisee because he's doing what's right.
He's fasting.
He's giving tithes of all that he possesses.
I mean, surely this publican can't go to heaven.
I mean, he's a sinner, right?
And that shows they don't understand the gospel, right?
Because when you're reading this story, this Pharisee is arrogant.
He's miavong, trusting in his works.
He's like, thank you for helping me not be as this publican.
And the publican's like, man, I don't deserve to go to heaven.
God just be merciful to me.
And isn't that what we do when we get saved?
We realize, man, I'm guilty.
I don't deserve to go to heaven.
God, please save me.
And you know what?
God saves you.
But you know, the Pharisee doesn't get saved.
You say, well, that's your opinion, brother Stuckey.
What does verse 14 say?
I tell you this man, he was just talking about the publican in verse 14.
I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.
You say, why?
For everyone that exalts himself, the Pharisee shall be abased.
And he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
So if these people, which I presume almost all these people are Calvinists that took
part of this documentary, they are trusting in their works and they are exalting themselves,
I deserve to go to heaven because look at all my good works.
Well, according to the Bible, you're going to be humbled because you're exalting yourself.
See, the person that gets saved is the one that humbly admits, I don't deserve to go
to heaven.
They believe on Jesus.
They trust him alone.
And guess what?
They will be exalted.
These people say, well, the true Christian can say they're going to heaven without being
self-righteous.
Well, not if you're trusting in your works.
That makes you arrogant just by definition of what you're saying gets you to heaven because
you're trusting yourself rather than trusting Jesus.
Go to 1 Peter chapter three, 1 Peter three, 1 Peter three.
So the first point was they say true salvation produces good works.
Well, obviously that's false.
I preached on that a lot.
I quickly went through it because I want to focus on other things.
One other quick thing that I wanted to highlight, which is where you see these people are Calvinists,
is they really highlight that God must regenerate you.
And look, we understand we get born again and the spirit regenerates us, but what they
mean by that is that basically you're a dead man.
You can do nothing.
You're a wicked reprobate.
And then all of a sudden, boom, God goes boom and regenerates you, right?
Here's some quotes.
There must be a supernatural rebirth.
Well, once again, that's accidentally correct, right?
Because the new birth is supernatural, but when they say it's a supernatural rebirth,
they mean that when you get saved, something happens, right?
There's some sort of change.
There's some biology or chemistry change or whatever, and all of a sudden you're just
like a new man, right?
Something just, there's a supernatural, not just a rebirth.
It's supernatural, my friend, right?
They say God must perform a resurrection, okay?
What they're saying is, you know what, you're a dead person and God must resurrect you apart
from your free will because you're dead.
You can't do anything.
You're just dead, right?
I don't think I'm dead.
I'm talking, I'm yelling, right?
I don't think I'm dead right now, okay?
And another quote they have is very famous with Calvinists.
What can a dead man do?
Once again, that's a cute quote, but let me explain to you what a dead man can do.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what a dead man can do.
They can believe on Jesus because guess what?
My flesh is alive and unsaved people out there, their flesh is alive and when they hear the
gospel, that spiritually dead person can choose to believe on Jesus and get saved.
So look, that quote sounds really cool.
What can a dead man do?
But they don't give you any Bible to back that up.
The dead person can believe on Jesus when they hear the gospel.
Now here's the thing.
They can't believe on Jesus without somebody giving them the gospel because they can't
understand this book on their own, but when us as soul winners preach them the gospel
and we preach them the word of God, they can believe on Jesus, okay?
First Peter three verse 18, for Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for
the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by
the spirit.
Now quick means to make alive.
There's an old Western movie called the quick and the dead, meaning the alive and the dead.
So when it's saying quickened by the spirit, it doesn't mean that you're really fast, right?
They're like Usain Bolt, right?
Really quick or really fast, right?
Now it's saying you're made alive by the Holy Spirit.
Yes, the Holy Spirit is what makes you alive, but it is based on the fact if you believe
on Jesus Christ, that's throughout the entire Bible.
He that believeth on the son hath everlasting life.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and now shall be saved.
Whosoever believeth in him is what the Bible says.
Go to Acts chapter 20, Acts 20.
Point one was this, they teach that true salvation always produces good works.
That's false.
They teach that God must regenerate you because you're a wicked reprobate.
Well, that's false.
Point three, they teach that salvation should be preached at every single church service.
Every single sermon should be about salvation.
Now I'll be honest, I didn't really know that that was like a hardcore thing for most Calvinists,
but apparently they teach salvation should be every single church service, okay?
Paul Washer, perhaps the most famous Calvinist out there, right?
Probably the biggest heretic out of them all, which is quite an accomplishment.
Good job, Paul Washer.
He talks about how he's guest preaching at a church and the person who had him guest
preaching said, well, everybody at this church understands the gospel and then they said,
so what are you going to preach on?
He says, I'm going to preach on the gospel and they're like, we just told you everybody
understands the gospel.
And then he goes on and on in this documentary, he talks about how, you know, that, that,
you know, at churches, most people aren't saved and everything like that and what they
really need is the gospel.
Now here's the thing.
At most churches, most people are not saved.
I am sure at Paul Washer's church, there's only a small remnant that are actually saved,
right?
At our church, almost everybody is saved because we explain the gospel all the time.
The vast majority of people at our church are saved.
No question about it.
I mean, we go soul winning and so many times people tell us, man, that makes so much more
sense than anything I've ever heard.
I mean, they've been Catholic for 30 years and then they tell you, that makes more sense
than what I've learned for 30 years.
And 15 minutes like, man, that makes a lot of sense.
That's why Jesus died and look, I'm not mocking them because that's the way I felt when I
got saved.
I was like, oh man, how mobile was I?
How did I not get it?
But unsaved people, unless they have someone preach the gospel, it just, it just doesn't
make sense, right?
This is a spiritual thing.
That's for all of us.
Look, whatever you believe before you're saved, let's be honest, we were all just a little
bit dumb.
And then once you hear the gospel, you're like, man, that's why Jesus died.
Oh, he died for all my sins.
That makes sense.
Okay.
Perfect sense, right?
Well, Paul Washer says, though, I'm going to preach in the gospel because most people
aren't saved.
And then he talks about how every single church service, this sermon should be about the gospel.
Well, what does the Bible say?
Acts 20, because point number one is this, or part A of this point is this, church is
for believers.
Not unbelievers.
The local church is for saved people, it's for believers, not unbelievers.
This is what it says in Acts 20 verse 26, wherefore I take you to record this day that
I am pure from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you the gospel
every single church service.
Is that what your Bible says?
This is why, this is why I make sure I want to make sure you guys are actually looking
at your Bible, right?
For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
That means, hey, everything in this book, Paul says, you know what, I've taught you
everything.
There's nothing I avoided, right?
And look, that's something that is not really said about too many Baptist churches because
they intentionally avoid topics because they don't want to offend people.
But see, the goal is if you're preaching sermons that you declare all of the counsel of God.
Verse 28, take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the Holy
Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with
his own blood.
For I know this that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing
the flock.
Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after
them.
Therefore, watch and remember that by the space of three years, I cease not to warn
everyone night and day with tears, okay?
He says over the course of three years, I warned everybody night and day with tears.
And what I take away from this is that a goal of a preacher is that over the course of three
years, you can accurately say, I preached on everything.
Now that doesn't mean that you preach every single verse in the Bible, but you preached
on all topics of the Bible.
And look, I'll be honest, that's harder than it seems because you get to the end of your
first year of ministry and you're like, Oh man, there's all these things I've never preached
on.
Get to the end of your second year and you're like, man, I got to make sure I fill in these
gaps because we only got, you know, 11 and a half months left.
It goes by quickly.
It is hard to preach on everything.
Now if you just, if you just preach short sermons and just mention a verse and don't
really explain it, then I guess you could cover everything, but that's not really gonna
help the people.
You need to hear real sermons that explains everything from the Bible so people understand
why they believe stuff, what they believe.
They know how to teach people and they're fully confident.
I believe this not because brother Stuckey said this, but that is what it says in the
Bible.
Okay?
That takes long sermons and it takes three years to cover everything, right?
Now he said in verse 28, take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over
the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God.
When you're preaching sermons, what you're doing is you're feeding the church, okay?
Now let me ask you a question because we love to have pandesal in the morning, right?
But let's say for every anniversary, what's, what's on the meal?
It's just pandesal.
Just pandesal.
You know, what's the special, you know, anniversary?
It's pandesal.
What about the Christmas party next week?
Pandesal.
That's all we're going to eat.
It's like just pandesal, pandesal, pandesal.
I mean, wouldn't that get old after a while?
I mean, I like pandesal, but every single meal, all you eat is pandesal, you know, can
we have meat?
Nope.
Only pandesal.
We're not even vegetarians, right?
We don't eat any meat.
We don't eat any veggies or fruits, just pandesal, right?
That would get old after a while.
That's what they're claiming that you should do at church.
But wait a minute, does that really make sense of feeding the church of God?
No, you need to hit everything, right?
Everything.
I mean, if you miss one major food group in your diet, you're going to have problems.
You need every single food group.
Even the Bible says about bread, bread strengtheneth the heart, right?
So bread is very important for your heart, according to the Bible.
You need vegetables.
You need meat for protein.
You need vegetables and fruits for vitamins.
You need dairy product.
Dairy is like the most important part for your teeth.
I mean, everything matters, and if it's made by God, it's good.
It's made by God.
It's good for you.
And if you're just intentionally avoiding this one thing, you're going to have a deficiency
in your diet.
Right.
And the same thing spiritually.
If I never preach on an aspect of the Bible, there's going to be a deficiency.
I need to cover everything.
That's what Paul said.
Go to Matthew chapter nine, Matthew nine, Matthew nine.
What they failed to understand in this documentary is that salvation, that church is for believers.
And I think the reason why they struggle with that is they fail to understand what a believer
is.
They don't understand that church is for saved people.
Now, don't misunderstand me.
If an unsaved person visits our church, praise the Lord for that.
That's great.
I'm happy if unsaved people visit our church, and we will try to give them the gospel afterwards.
But I am not going to change my sermon for just some unsaved person that walked in.
Now there's kind of a temptation when you first start preaching.
The first sermon I ever preached, you know, my best friend at the time, he was inviting
his mom to come to church, and his mom wasn't saved, and I asked the pastor, should I preach
on this?
He's like, no, no, no.
Don't change your sermon.
He's like, whatever God gave you, just stick with it.
And although I wouldn't really love that church today, I mean, that was good advice, though.
If you've got a sermon, you don't change your sermon because, oh, somebody came in.
It's like, oh, just remove this point.
Right?
No, it's just like, you know what, it's possible that whatever you, because sometimes there's
a tendency, you have a sermon preached, and then somebody walks in, oh, man, I'll be preaching
against them.
Maybe God wants that.
Maybe that's what they need to hear, right?
Whatever God gives you, you stick with what you have, and look, church is for believers.
It's not for unbelievers.
If unbelievers come, praise the Lord for that, but you know what?
I'm preaching to edify us.
Why?
Because preaching toward believers is what gets you 3,000 plus salvations in one year.
If all I preached on was salvation, you know what?
We would be starving spiritually, and we would not have as many salvations.
Notice what it says in Matthew 9, verse 37.
Matthew chapter 9, verse 37.
Then saith the unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the labors are few.
Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labors into his harvest.
What Jesus said is pray for labors.
Pray for soul winners.
Okay?
Why?
Because of the fact, us as soul winners, we go out, outside of the church, and we get
people saved.
See, the soul winning takes place outside of church, not during the services.
Right?
Now, look, I'm not saying somebody can't get saved hearing a sermon.
Obviously, if I preach on salvation, it's possible that someone could get saved, but
let me be honest, it is a bad way to win souls to the Lord.
Most people do not get saved from a sermon.
They get saved from a 15 minute conversation.
Right?
Look at Matthew chapter 10, verse 1.
Let me show you this to you.
Soul winning is done outside the church, Matthew 10, verse 1.
When he had called unto him his 12 disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits
to cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.
Now, the names of the 12 apostles are these.
The first, Simon, who is called Peter and Andrew's brother.
Go down to verse 5.
These 12, Jesus sent forth.
What is he doing?
He's sending them out to preach the gospel.
Okay?
Now these churches that put together this documentary, they never do any soul winning.
They just say, just have the preacher preach about salvation.
They never do any soul winning.
But what do you see in the Bible?
Jesus sends them out to preach the gospel.
And you know what?
Here's the thing.
You don't find Jesus preaching on salvation when he talks to large crowds.
Now they disagree with that, and we'll talk about that here in a little bit, but look,
when you're reading the Bible as a saved person that understands it, Jesus is not preaching
about salvation.
When he preaches to large crowds, he's preaching edifying sermons, which is what we do at church.
Okay?
Sermons are a bad way to get people saved because they will tune out a lot of it, and
they will have questions, and they'll walk away unsaved.
I literally know somebody that I led to the Lord, and he had been listening to online
preaching for a year.
He came out soul winning with me the first time, and that's when he got saved, when he
heard me give the gospel.
Now, were the sermons he heard online good?
Of course.
They were hearing great preaching, but the best way to get somebody saved is a 15 minute
conversation.
Now, if somebody listened to a lot of preaching, they can get saved, but quite honestly, I
know many cases of people listening to a lot of preaching online, they came to church,
they weren't saved yet though.
And then somebody gave them the gospel, and boom, it clicks because this is the way God
designed it.
That's why you always see him sending people out to preach the gospel.
Look, you know, we had 70 salvations on Tuesday, but I'll tell you what.
If we just were able to get 100,000 people to listen to a sermon on salvation for an
hour, less people would have gotten saved.
You say, why?
Because they get saved through a one on one conversation.
This is the way that God set it up, and it kind of makes sense, because think about this.
An unsaved person that visits here, a lot of this stuff kind of goes over their head.
They don't understand the purpose of all of it.
Think about when you've listened to speeches before.
Do you listen to every single word?
No.
You tune it out, but there's something about a one on one conversation where you can see
if they're paying attention.
They stop paying attention, and you're like, hey.
You bring them back, and look, the truth is if they fade out during the gospel presentation,
guess what does not happen?
They don't get saved.
When people don't pay attention to the whole gospel, I mean, many times you preach the
gospel, your soul winning partner says, hey, how did it go?
Hey, he was listening for five minutes, stopped paying attention, started missing every single
question.
Isn't that true?
And unfortunately, many people have very low attention spans, because we've got this
video game generation and movies and music and just all these lights and all this exciting
stuff.
And you know what?
People just aren't used to reading anymore, so they can't pay attention just to what's
being said.
Unfortunately, that is often the case, okay?
Turn your Bible to Isaiah 58, Isaiah 58.
Here's a quote from a guy in this documentary.
He says, I think the gospel should be preached in every sermon.
Okay, well, first off, what does it matter what you think?
What does the Bible say?
Right?
Why is it?
It's always these people, I think, I think, I think.
What does the Bible say?
I think the gospel should be preached in every sermon.
If I've got someone I've been trying to get to come to for three years to church like
my next door neighbor, and the guy preaching today is talking about the joys of motherhood.
I like mothers, I'm for mothers, but if that's all this visitor hears, that's just a shame.
So apparently on Mother's Day, brother, what are you preaching on Mother's Day?
Salvation, right?
It should be every single sermon.
I mean, you guys don't need to hear about being good moms, right?
I mean, you guys already got that covered.
It's all about salvation, salvation, salvation.
Never preach on moms, according to this person.
Now here's my question.
You've got a guy you've been trying to get to come to church for three years, your next
door neighbor, why don't you preach the gospel to him?
It's like, I've been trying to get this unsaved person to come to church for three years.
It's like, why didn't you open up your mouth and preach the gospel to him?
It's like, good night.
It's like, man, they're making an excuse for not preaching the gospel.
I finally got him to come to church.
It's this church's fault they didn't get saved.
You had three years to preach the gospel to him.
And then you're going to blame the church for preaching about being a good mom.
How dare him preach about being a good mom on Mother's Day.
It's like, what in the world?
It's like, you know, but these people, they don't understand how so many works.
It's like, no, we go out and preach the gospel.
And look, many people in this room, you know, you led people to the Lord that were acquaintances
and friends and family members.
Why?
Because you opened up your mouth.
And look, it's good to invite people to church.
And look, if you're not sure how to preach the gospel or you're not sure if they're saved
or whatever, hey, no problem bringing unsaved people because unsaved people, they will probably
like the sermons.
Most of them do.
And after the sermon, we will preach the gospel to them.
But look, if it's been three years, you're like, man, I've been, I mean, this person
trying to get them to come for three years.
So obviously this is someone he talks to every single week.
Every single week you talk to the same person for three years trying to get them to come
to church, but you never preached the gospel to them.
And then you blame the church.
That's ridiculous.
And once again, there's no Bible verse to back up what he says, right?
See, we go out and preach the gospel.
You say, why?
Because sermons are not the best way to get somebody saved.
When I first got saved and I first started preaching, I invited lots of friends to hear
me preach.
And I thought in man's wisdom, not knowing what the Bible said, man, if I get unsaved
people to listen to me for an hour, preach on salvation, they're going to get saved.
I had a Mormon friend of mine come to hear me preach for an hour about salvation.
And after he's like, man, that was great.
He was still completely lost, right?
That's just not the best way to get unsaved people saved.
The best way is to open up your mouth and talk to them one on one.
Now, I'm not saying that you can't get them saved through sermons and stuff like that,
but the best way is to talk to them one on one.
Another quote is this.
If your sermon could be preached in a Jewish synagogue, that's not a Christian sermon.
Once again, that's a very cute statement and it's not true.
If your sermon could be preached in a Jewish synagogue, that's not a Christian sermon.
You know why that's not a true statement?
Because if I preached at a Seventh-day Adventist church and just ripped the Catholic church
to shreds, they would say, man, that was awesome.
You know why?
Because they hate the Catholics.
They say the Catholics are the great whore of Babylon from Revelation 17.
They're like, they agree, right?
I mean, they're a thing.
I mean, if I went to a Jehovah's Witness church and preached about these pictures of Jesus
are feminine, they're not what Jesus looked like, he had short hair, Jehovah's Witnesses
would say, that's right, amen.
Does that mean it wasn't a Christian or biblical sermon because they agreed with something?
Because look, the pictures that Jehovah's Witnesses have of Jesus, I mean, he doesn't
only have short hair.
He's like, Arnold Schwarzenegger, I mean, he's ripped to shreds, super strong.
So they agree that these pictures of this effeminate, a woman looking, sodomite, whatever
picture of Jesus is phony, it's fake, it's false.
They're right about something.
Just because there might be something that Jews are right about, that doesn't mean it's
not a Christian sermon, okay?
Unsaved people are right about things, right?
I mean, some of these cults, they hate the other cults.
If you preach a sermon against one of the other cults, they say, that was great.
We agree with everything, right?
They are right about some things.
So that's a cute statement.
If your sermon could be preached in a Jewish synagogue, that's not a Christian sermon.
However, it's not always true though.
You could preach a sermon that's biblically accurate and it's a Christian sermon, but
other people might agree with you, okay?
Isaiah 58, I mean, think about it.
The Muslims believe in the death penalty.
If I preach a sermon for the death penalty, they'd be like, I agree with that.
Does that mean it's not a Christian sermon?
Which means that they're right about something, okay?
One thing they say is true salvation always produces good works, that's false.
Another thing they say is God must regenerate us.
What they mean by that is false when they say, you know, Calvinism and you don't have
free will.
Another thing they say is salvation should be preached every service, that is false.
Another thing they say is moralistic and motivational preaching is wrong.
You should never preach morals.
You should never preach motivational sermons.
I mean, I'll give you the quotes.
I mean, I was shocked because here's the thing.
When I do my work, you know, it's remotely, it's online, and many times I'll have something
on in the background and I'll just kind of listen.
Sometimes I learn things.
Sometimes I listen to good sermons.
Sometimes I listen to stuff like this.
Maybe I'll...
And I had to pause.
I'm like, did I hear him right?
It's wrong to preach against sin?
It's wrong to try to motivate people to live for God?
It's wrong, right?
Here's a quote.
My next sermon today is on drinking alcohol.
I guess that's a bad sermon because I'm going to try to convince you not to drink alcohol.
How dare I, right?
Here's a quote.
Moralistic preaching, or sometimes identified as moralism, is preaching the commands of
scripture or the morals of scripture and nothing else.
Just preaching, saying to the people, you be a good person and God will love you for
that.
While we don't intend it, that's not only a sub-Christian message, it's an anti-Christian
message.
It's anti-Christian to preach that if you obey God's commandments, God will love you.
If he loved me, keep my commandments.
And God says, you will be my friend if you obey my commandments.
Isn't that what we just saw earlier in the sermon?
That if you obey God's commandments, he will love you.
That's exactly what the Bible says.
But according to this Calvinist, no, no, that's an anti-Christian message to preach people
that if you obey God's commandments, God will love you.
I mean, it's hard to even...
But what does the Bible say?
Okay, because some of these things you got to stop and say, what in the world?
What does the Bible say?
Isaiah 58 verse 1, cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, indicating
yelling during what you preach.
But I want to highlight something and show my people their transgression and the house
of Jacob, their sins.
Do you notice how in this verse, what it says is what you cry about is the things that the
people are guilty of, okay?
The things that they're struggling with, the things that they don't understand, the things
they need to change, that's what you preach about.
If you got a problem at the church, you got to preach on that, right?
Depending on where your church is located, it could change the types of sermons you preached.
I mean, if I was a missionary to India, I'd be preaching on the nature of God and against
all these false idols all the time, right?
Most people understand the Trinity here, so I don't have to preach on the nature of God,
you know, every other month or whatever, okay?
You preach what is applicable to who you're preaching to.
And it says the house of Jacob, their sins, right?
Show my people their transgression.
So what are you doing?
You're preaching against the sins of the people.
It's moralistic preaching.
Whatever the fancy theological term is, moralistic preaching.
Yes, I'm preaching against sins, if that's what you mean, right?
Turn to Matthew 7, Matthew 7, Matthew 7.
And look, at the end, I'll explain why they teach this weird stuff and it will make sense
why the Calvinists teach this, but there's this other guy who had been a preacher for
a long time and what he says is that when he was younger, he preached a sermon about
10 ways to be sexually pure or 10 tips about being sexually pure from the Sermon on the
Mount.
Then he says, that is bad preaching because the purpose of the Sermon on the Mount is
that we can't be.
So according to him, the Sermon on the Mount teaches you that you can't help but fornicate.
You can't help but commit.
I mean, I'm like, how do you even respond to this?
According to him, the point of the Sermon on the Mount is a fact that you can't obey
God's commandments.
You can't help but commit those sins because every sermon is about salvation, according
to them.
So according to them, the Sermon on the Mount is completely about salvation.
Judge not, lest he be judged.
I mean, how is the Sermon on the Mount about salvation?
Right?
I mean, he touches on false prophets and things like that, but is the whole sermon about salvation?
Well, what does the Bible say?
Let's look at the very end, Matthew 7 verses 24 through 27, because this guy said you can't
keep the commandments.
That's the whole point of the Sermon on the Mount.
Well Matthew 7 verse 24, therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them,
I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock and the rain descended
and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell not for is
founded upon a rock.
Do you notice how in verses 24 and 25, Jesus says that if you keep these sayings that you're
going to last through the storm?
He says you can hear these things and do them.
Look, when people hear a sermon about don't fornicate, they are capable of obeying that.
Okay?
And what the Calvinists believe is before your Savior, this helpless reprobate, you're
just going to commit whatever sins and you can't help yourself.
It's like, don't make excuses for being a bad person, right?
Jesus says you can keep these sayings.
You can do them.
Okay?
Go to Matthew 5, also in the Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew 5, in Matthew 5 verse 48 is their big proof that the whole Sermon on the Mount
is about salvation.
It says in Matthew 5 verse 48, be therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven
is perfect.
And they go to this verse and say, well see, the whole point was God was trying to show
you, you can't be perfect.
He says you must be perfect and since you can't, you need Jesus Christ.
That is what they're saying the whole Sermon on the Mount is about.
Well, here's one major problem.
The word perfect does not mean sinless in the Bible.
I feel bad for these Calvinists.
It's like they think they have a really good point.
They think they're so smart.
It's like that's not what the word perfect means in the Bible.
Perfect means complete.
And Jesus is saying, I want you to be complete.
I want you to be well-rounded as a Christian because guess who was perfect according to
the Bible?
Noah.
Right?
Job.
There were characters that were called perfect.
That doesn't mean that they were sinless.
When it said perfect in their generations, that means they were the most complete, well-rounded
believer that there was.
They were very godly, but of course they weren't perfect because there was none righteous,
no, not one.
Look, the Sermon on the Mount is not a whole sermon about salvation.
Jesus preaches on many different things.
That's why he says, whosoever heareth these sayings, plural of mine, not just one saying,
but these sayings.
He said, I covered a lot of different stuff and if you apply this to your life, you'll
last through the storm.
That's what it's about.
It's not about salvation, but they have to say that because they believe every sermon
should be about salvation.
Turn in your Bible to Exodus 20, Exodus 20, Exodus 20.
Another quote is this, preaching a be good sermon will damn people to hell because we
can't be good.
Well, once again, we're preaching to save people.
We're preaching to believers.
We're not going door to door saying, you know what, hey, if you don't do this, that means
you're guilty of this, this, and this.
No, no, no.
We show them they're guilty, then we show them the gospel.
I'm preaching to save people.
I don't need to preach to you about salvation every single week because you're saved.
You don't need works to prove your salvation.
If you believe, you're saved.
But they say, no, no, no, you shouldn't preach against sins.
You should just preach about salvation.
Where did you get that in the Bible?
Another thing they say is this, that you should not try to motivate people to make changes
in their life.
They don't just say motivational preaching is unwise.
They say it's anti-Christian to do this, to preach against sin and to try to motivate
you.
Well, there goes all my preaching, right?
That's what I try to do.
I try to motivate you to make changes.
I try to motivate myself.
Here's a quote.
I used to think that my goal was to get people to do something they don't want to do.
But that's still my goal.
If you don't read the Bible, my goal is in January, you read the New Testament.
If you've got sins in your life, my goal is you get the sins out of your life.
Look, if you don't go soul winning, my goal is for you to go soul winning.
If you're not living for God, my goal is to motivate you to live for God, and that is
the job of a preacher.
But according to them, no, no, no, you shouldn't preach and try to motivate people.
I mean, what are you doing up here then?
You're not preaching against sins.
And then what's funny is they try to justify the fact that they say don't preach against
sins.
They're like, we're not saying that you should preach to sin.
We're just saying don't preach not to sin, right?
Just don't preach on sin at all.
All right.
I mean, it's a documentary against Joel Osteen.
Now you sound like Joel Osteen, who doesn't say the word sin, right?
Why do they teach this?
Well, the reason why they teach this is because according to Calvinism, living for God is
automatic if you're really saved.
Isn't that what they teach?
If you're really saved, sanctification and living for God is automatic.
So it doesn't matter what I say.
If you're saved, you're going to read the Bible because you're saved.
This is what they teach, not what I teach.
They teach that if a person is saved, they're automatically going to obey God's commandments.
So I guess my only job is to preach on salvation every week and somehow make that entertaining.
They say every single sermon should be about salvation because that's all people need to
hear because if they're saved, they're just going to obey automatically.
I don't need to preach against sins because the reason why, according to them in the church
of Corinth, there's all the sin in the church is because people aren't saved.
Well, Paul didn't seem to think that because he never questioned their salvation.
Right?
I mean, this is ridiculous.
It's absurd.
But that is what their theology teaches, that if you're really saved, you automatically
do good.
So I never need to try to motivate you to do right because it's going to happen automatically.
And here's the thing, if you're not reading the Bible every day, you might want to check
your salvation.
Isn't that what they say?
Because if you're really saved, it's going to be automatic.
And while these same people are drinking wine all the time and watching the same movies
and listening to the same music, and they're going to get up here and say, well, you know,
if you're really saved, you're going to obey God's commandments.
And you know what happens?
Instead of actually living a godly life, they lessen the standards of sin to justify their
own sin.
And look, I have found this before in false religions as well.
Mormonism is a religion that I have a lot of experience with because I had a good friend
who was a Mormon.
So I was in Utah for a couple of summers, which is like the big hub of Mormonism.
And I read all of these books about Mormons and all their false prophecies and all this
weird stuff.
And they really highlight, they always say, they'll quote Matthew 5 verse 48, be therefore
perfect as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
And they also don't understand the word perfect, but they say you should strive to do everything.
And look, I agree, you should strive to do what's right.
But here's the thing, they claim that you have the ability to do that.
But because they have this theology, and because they believe your works save you, instead
of actually living godly lives, they actually lessen what a sin is to justify themselves.
Right?
Look, I'm not suggesting that you do this, but one time in college I was hanging out
with my friend playing ping pong at the Latter-day Saints church in Morgantown like 12 or 13
years ago.
And I thought I was good at table tennis, but this one Mormon guy, he was really good.
Okay?
But it was funny because the music that they were playing was just like rock music and
everything.
And so I thought these Mormons were supposed to be like, because they preached, hey, it's
wrong to drink Coca-Cola, wow, the Mormons used to own a large portion of Coca-Cola.
Right?
It's like the number one country to ship out cow meat is India.
But they would never eat it themselves, they'd just ship it out for everybody else to eat.
It's like, all right, that's cool to be a hypocrite, my friend.
But they lessen the value of what sin is.
Here's a few quotes real quickly to go through.
They say, here's a quote, leaving it in their hands, meaning leaving it in the hands of
the people leaves a weight they can't bear.
So basically, if I preached to you that you should start reading the Bible, you can't
bear that.
How dare I preach a sermon like that?
Preaching about the necessity of being sexually pure is a hopeless message to those guilty.
So look, if you're guilty of committing adultery, it's hopeless for me to tell you not to commit
adultery because you can't help yourself.
Right?
I mean, this is what they're saying.
Here's a really cute one.
Works is not the root, it's the fruit.
Hey, that rhymes, that's really good.
Yeah, that's not true, though.
Works is neither the root of salvation, neither is it the fruit of salvation.
Okay?
Christians and non-Christians are being told to move forward but are stuck because Christ
is the fuel.
What they're saying is Christians and non-Christians, all these people aren't saved.
If they just had Christ, they would automatically move forward.
They just don't have the fuel.
That's why they're committing adultery.
That's why they're fornicating.
Even though Jesus and God in the Old Testament is always preaching against the people for
committing these sins and blaming them, it's actually just because they're not saved
according to them.
They say that dare to be a Daniel.
You know we just sung that song, there's a reason why we sung it.
Dare to be a Daniel, you think of the story where Daniel stands up and he still obeys
God and he refuses not to pray and everything like that.
They say that whole story has nothing to do with Daniel.
Dare to be a Daniel is all about Jesus.
Nothing to do with Daniel standing up for what's right.
Then he also says David and Goliath, that entire story is about Jesus.
If I remember correctly in the story of David and Goliath, there was all of these believers
and no one was willing to fight Goliath and one man actually stood up to fight Goliath.
Now of course we realize God gave them the power to win that battle, but one person had
to step up.
Guess what?
I'm sure there was a lot of other saved people that stopped praying when Daniel chose to
keep praying, right?
I'm sure there was a lot of other people that chose to back down, but Daniel actually stood
up.
That's a good song, dare to be a Daniel standing up for what's right in a wicked world when
the world is telling you not to pray, not to read the Bible, not to do what's right.
That's a good sermon.
You know what?
It's not about Jesus.
It's about Daniel.
Now is there a symbolism that we can apply to Jesus?
I'm sure.
All the stories there's got symbolism, but you know what?
It's about one man standing up for what's right.
That is what it's about.
Another quote is this, and this one's really cute, and we're almost done here.
You're in Exodus 20, but they say this, the goal of a lecture is information.
The goal of a motivational speech is to leave you with action steps.
The goal of a gospel sermon is worshiping.
The goal of a lecture is information.
Well I thought church was the pillar and ground of the truth.
Isn't that information if we're talking about truth?
I mean this is a cute quote, but where's your Bible verse to back it up?
Church is the pillar and ground of the truth, and one large part of church is information.
That's correct.
That's probably the number one thing you do as a preacher, is to just teach people stuff.
Teach them new information.
The goal of a motivational speech is you leave with action steps.
Yeah, you know what?
In the Bible as well, you try to motivate people to make changes in their lives.
The goal of a gospel sermon is worshiping.
Well look, if the sermon was about the gospel, the goal would be to get people saved.
And this sounds good.
It's about worshiping.
Where's your Bible verse to back this up?
They say that the whole story of Exodus through Deuteronomy, the whole purpose of just dwelling
in the wilderness for all those years is to show that God brought them through it.
It had nothing to do with the people because they're robots and they have no free will.
They talk about this a lot during the documentary.
And they use Exodus 20 verse 2 as their proof text.
It says, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out
of the house of bondage.
And they say, see, the Lord thy God brought them out of the land of Egypt.
And it's like, yeah, we understand that God gave them the power and led them out of Egypt,
but go to Numbers 14, because it was contingent upon the people doing what's right.
And if you read carefully, I don't have time to go into it, we're already out of time,
but throughout the Old Testament, remember in the book of Judges, they're praying for
deliver and once they pray for deliver, then God gives them one.
God's like, I'm waiting for you, I want to deliver you, I want to help you out because
I want you to serve me, but I'm waiting for you.
It's the same thing with Moses.
They wait for the people, if you read carefully, to cry out to God and once they cry out, boom,
it's time for Moses.
Because 40 years earlier, Moses was ready and it's like, well, the people aren't ready.
Forty years later, though, when Moses decides he doesn't want to do this anymore, the people
are ready and then Moses is used to do this.
Why?
Because the people cried out to God and then God answers, right?
God answers prayer.
And look, it's funny because if you ever go online and you listen to these Calvinists
talk, you know, what's the purpose of prayer if God's already foreordained everything that's
going to happen?
And you'll have like a 45 minute explanation and you're like, what did he say?
I don't understand.
It's like, he didn't even answer the question, because guess what?
If we're all robots, there is no purpose of praying.
And what it means is the only reason why you're praying is because God forced you to.
Right?
I mean, it doesn't make any sense.
But notice what it says in Numbers 14.
We're going to close up here in Numbers 14, verse 32.
But as for you, your carcasses, they shall fall in this wilderness, and your children
shall wander in the wilderness 40 years and bear your hoardings.
And until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness, after the number of the days in
which ye search the land, even 40 days each day for a year shall ye bear your iniquities.
In 40 years, and ye shall know my breach of promise, I the Lord have said, I will surely
do it on to all this evil congregation that are gathered together against me.
So the people gather together against God, and they disobey God, they don't go into the
promised land.
And because the people choose not to bring a good report, and they choose not to go into
the promised land, you know what God says, okay, well, I'm not going to let you go into
the promised land.
The reason why they didn't go in is not because God said, you know what, I just decided to
make you wait.
It's because of the fact they didn't do what God told them to do.
That's free will, my friend.
I don't know how you can read Exodus through Deuteronomy and say, well, it's all just,
you know, Calvinism, and we're just robots.
That's not what you see in that story.
You see that God's people were required to do what was right, and when they chose not
to, God says, I can't bless you.
And you know what?
The same is true with your life as a safe person, because look, the vast majority of
people in this room, and I hope everybody that's old enough to understand, is saved.
You believe on Jesus Christ.
That does not automatically mean you're going to do what's right.
And here's the thing, there might be a lot of things where God does want to bless you.
But here's the thing, if you're not obeying God, you're not praying to God, it's not God's
fault when he doesn't bless you.
If you would actually obey God and do what he says, God can bless you.
But you know what?
It's contingent upon us as people.
And you know what?
God even says in the Bible, it says in Ezekiel, I sought for a man.
I was looking for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap for
the land, but I found none.
God says, I was looking for somebody and I didn't find anybody.
God was saying, I want somebody, but I can't find a single person.
You know why?
Because it's based on whether or not we are willing to stand up and do what's right.
And look, it is your choice whether tomorrow morning you wake up and read the Bible and
pray or not.
It's your choice whether you go soul winning.
It's your choice whether you come to church.
God's choice is, yes, I want you to do those things.
But we have free will to make our own choice.
Let's close in order prayer.
Your heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and getting to see your
word God and help us to apply this to our lives, help us to understand what we believe
about the Bible and help us to understand that there's many false prophets in this world
and help us as a church to strive to live for you more and more each and every day.
We pray this in Jesus name.
Amen.