you
And now send men to Joppa and call for one Simon whose surname is Peter. He lodges with one Simon a tanner whose house is by the seaside. He shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do.
You say, well brother Stuckey, how do you know that this man gets saved?
It just says he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. Go to Acts chapter 11, Acts 11, Acts chapter 11.
Because in Acts 11, we have the soul winner basically repeating the story and explaining what took place.
Acts chapter 11, Acts 11 verse 12.
And the spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover, the six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man's house.
And he showed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa and call for Simon whose surname is Peter, who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.
See, a soul winner is specifically sent to preach to this man. He goes a long distance because here's a man who fears God, who's unsaved.
He needs a soul winner to preach the gospel to him. The question is, why didn't he just get saved on his own?
I mean, if he fears God, I'm assuming he's reading the scriptures, he's praying to God, he's giving alms to the people, and yet he is not saved.
You say, why? Nobody gets saved on their own. It's impossible. It's not just that it's hard, it's literally impossible.
Not a single person on this planet that gets saved, gets saved on their own. A soul winner preaches the gospel to them.
Okay, turn your Bible to Romans 10. Romans chapter 10.
Look, I know a lot of us or most of us are familiar with this, but we need to be reminded of these things.
And I think it's very obvious in the Bible, but you got a lot of people that will say things like, well, I think someone can just, you know, get saved on their own.
I think they can just pick up the Bible and read it for themselves and get saved. But what about the Ethiopian eunuch?
I mean, he literally picked up the Bible on his own, he picked up the scriptures, he read about a prophecy of Jesus Christ, and he's like, I don't know who this is about.
It goes straight over his head, right? I mean, there would be an example of someone who, if they could get saved on their own, they would have.
But they didn't. It is impossible to get saved on your own. Now, here's what's interesting about this.
You know, what I'm saying to you right now, I'm giving you Bible to prove what I believe.
What people do who say you can get saved without a soul winner, what they'll do is say, well, I think.
Well, what difference does it make what you think? What difference does it make what you think?
What difference does it make what seems right to you? What makes the difference is what does the Bible say?
See, certain things seem right, it doesn't mean they are right.
There are many things that I think one thing through the years, and I see what the Bible says, and it's like, well, I'm wrong about that.
Right? It doesn't matter what you think, it matters what the Bible says, and the Bible is very clear you need a soul winner to get somebody saved.
Romans 10, verse 13. Romans 10, verse 13.
Romans 10, verse 13. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Now, this is obviously a famous verse, and as soul winners, we often think of verses 9 through 13, but the chapter is not over, and the thought is not over.
The Bible gives us more information. It says in verse 14, how then shall they call in him in whom they have not believed?
Well, that seems pretty obvious, right? I mean, how can you call on God to save you if you don't believe?
To this day, I've only heard one Baptist pastor, a pastor here in the Philippines, say that you can call on him without believing, but you know what?
That shows just being a Baptist pastor doesn't mean you know what you're talking about, right?
But it says in Romans 10, verse 14, that you can't call unless you believe.
You can say words, but you can't call for salvation unless you believe and understand what that message is.
You have to believe in your heart, right? And then it says this, and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
Well, I mean, that makes sense, right? I mean, if you're going to believe something, you have to have actually heard about it, right?
And then it's very specific in case there's any questions about in whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher, right?
It says very clearly there, you need a preacher to actually explain it to them so they can understand that.
Now realize, when it says a preacher, it's not referring to somebody preaching behind a pulpit, okay?
When it comes to preaching behind a pulpit, that's a different thing.
I'm preaching a sermon, however, every one of us that's saved should preach the gospel, men and women, adults and children if they're saved, right?
Preaching the gospel. And how should they hear without a preacher?
Look, an unsaved person needs a saved person to preach the gospel to them in order for them to get saved.
Go to 1 Corinthians 2, 1 Corinthians chapter 2.
I mean, that's right at the beginning of 1 Corinthians 15, that's what it starts off talking about.
Paul says that every single person that's saved, they receive this message.
They heard the gospel, and he says, you know what? Me too.
I heard it from somebody else. I didn't get saved on my own.
And look, Paul's another great example of someone who would have gotten saved on his own if he could.
He was very zealous. He was reading the scriptures.
But because he had the wrong religion, he did a lot of bad things.
But he wasn't openly trying to sin, like getting drunk and doing these sins like that.
He honestly thought he was right, but he didn't get saved on his own.
He needed a soul winner to preach the gospel to him.
It says in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 13,
As a saved person, when we try to understand the Bible, if we're confused on something,
what we do is we compare spiritual with spiritual.
Sometimes something else in the Bible will explain something else that we might be confused about.
Verse 14,
And so basically what it's saying is, the unsaved person, if they read the Bible, they don't receive it.
It goes straight over their head.
And see, you have to realize this is a spiritual book.
And to understand a spiritual book, you need the Spirit of God inside of you to teach you.
An unsaved person, the natural man, the person who is not born again,
the person who does not have everlasting life, they cannot understand the Bible.
If they read this, it will go straight over their heads.
And look, sometimes we see this out soul winning.
There's many verses that are very obvious to us. They're not complicated.
James 2 is not complicated, in my opinion. It's not complicated.
I would never read that and think you've got to live a good life to go to heaven.
But isn't that what unsaved people say?
It's like they'll literally quote, faith without works is dead.
Therefore, you cannot have faith without works.
It's like you just quoted faith without works, and now you're telling me you can't have faith without works.
Which is it?
You literally quoted a verse that says you can have faith without works.
And then you explain it to people, it's like they never thought about it.
They either get angry or they're just like, oh wow, I never thought about that before.
Now the reason why it says it's dead is the same reason if, and I'm not going to do this, at least not with my phone,
but if I poured water on my phone right now, we would say it's dead.
But does it exist? Yes, it does.
A dead faith means that the faith doesn't produce anything.
But it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
Or they'll turn to Matthew 7.
They'll turn to Matthew 7 verses 21 through 23 and they'll say, well see, here's a person,
he has wonderful works and he didn't go to heaven.
Therefore, he didn't do enough good works.
And you're just like, oh man.
I mean it's been so long since I've been unsaved, it's hard for me to think like an unsaved,
it's like no, he's not saved because he's trusting in his works.
And by the way, we have no indication he's actually doing wonderful works, that's just his opinion.
I mean he is a worker of iniquity, so I don't really think he's doing too much good.
But it's like, no, he's trusting in his works, that's why he's not saved.
But see, with an unsaved person, they don't get it.
Or they'll say, well wait a minute, there's no fruit, therefore there's no salvation.
It's like the Bible's very clear what the fruit is talking about, and yet it goes over people's heads.
Why? They're not saved.
You need to be saved to actually understand the Bible.
Turn your Bible to Matthew 7.
Now this is very obvious in the Bible.
The Bible's very clear, you need a soul winner to get somebody saved.
But people will ask stupid questions.
And I'm not going to preach a whole sermon about the stupid questions they ask related to this,
I'll just kind of give you one.
People ask a question like this and say, well what about, you know, could an unsaved person get somebody saved?
It's like you're saying you need a soul winner to get saved,
what if an unsaved person preached the Gospel to an unsaved person,
could an unsaved person get an unsaved person saved?
Okay.
Now look, any questions we have, the Bible actually has the answers to these questions.
Matthew 7, verse 15.
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.
Now this passage is about false prophets, and what it says is a corrupt tree, a false prophet, cannot 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.
So the Bible's saying is an unsaved person, a corrupt tree, cannot bring forth good fruit.
What's that mean?
An unsaved person cannot get somebody saved.
That's what it means.
It's very obvious in the Bible.
You say, well what about Judas Iscariot?
Are you saying that Judas Iscariot never preached the Gospel?
I'm sure he did preach the Gospel.
He didn't get anybody saved though.
And look, my opinion, I don't think he preached an incomplete Gospel.
I don't think he preached a false Gospel.
You say, why don't you think he preached a false Gospel?
Well, here's the reason why.
Because all the disciples thought he was a good guy.
I mean, if he was preaching a false Gospel, it wouldn't be very hard to figure out who's the phony in the group.
I mean, Judas brings, hey, I've got a new convert here at church.
Oh, great.
You know, what do you think it takes to get to heaven?
Well, you've got to be baptized and speak in tongues.
It's like, what did you tell him, Judas?
I mean, it would be pretty obvious that Judas was a phony if he's preaching a false Gospel
and realized in Matthew 10 they're sent out two by two.
Now, I'm not saying at every single door they're always together.
Just like at our church, you know, you're not always together with your soul winning partner.
But you will hear, if you're going out soul winning with someone over and over again, you're going to hear their Gospel.
You're going to hear what they're saying.
And so, look, obviously Judas' soul winning partner didn't realize Judas was a bad guy.
So here's the thing.
He wasn't preaching a false Gospel.
Here's the thing.
He wasn't preaching an incomplete Gospel either.
And that's what a lot of people think.
They say, well, maybe he just wasn't explaining enough for somebody to get saved.
Once again, it would be very obvious he was a phony.
If he had a bad Gospel presentation, everybody would realize he's a bad guy.
I think he probably had the best Gospel presentation amongst the 12, to be honest.
It was probably very smooth.
I mean, everything just made sense.
It clicked at the end, but they didn't get anybody saved.
Say, how do you know that?
How do you know that?
Because the Bible says neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
See, I'm using verses for my belief.
I'm not using what seems right to me.
Maybe it seems right to you that an unsaved person can get somebody saved.
It doesn't matter if it seems right to you.
What does the Bible say?
Turn your Bible to 1 Corinthians 15.
1 Corinthians 15.
I mean, this is why Judas was so great at deceiving everybody
because his words were very convincing.
I mean, that's part of the act.
He did it for the sake of money.
I mean, he was talking about something else.
We missed it.
You say, why?
Well, because Judas just on the outside was just very convincing.
I'm sure in hindsight, if you paid close attention,
there were subtle clues and little things like that
because we even see them with Judas in the Bible,
how he starts problems and starts fights,
and he gets the other disciples on board with him.
But here's the thing.
They're not obvious things.
They're things that we tend to just kind of allow to go over ahead.
We don't notice them.
And all of us tend to do that.
When I see somebody who's saved do something that's kind of stupid,
I just kind of assume, well, I'm sure they didn't mean it like that.
And that's what we tend to do.
But then when you add it up over the time, it's like, wow, Judas did a lot of stuff.
I mean, why are you taking $100 from the offering?
Well, I got to buy bread.
And he does it every single week.
It's like, okay, it should be pretty obvious,
but we tend to just kind of forget these things, right?
So go back to 1 Corinthians 15.
Point number one, for a person to be saved, they must hear the Gospel, okay?
They must hear the Gospel.
Now, the Bible tells us in these first verses of 1 Corinthians 15
what the Gospel is.
It says it's the death, the burial, and the resurrection.
Notice what it says in verse 2.
By which also ye are saved if ye keep in memory what I preached on you,
unless ye have believed in vain.
For I delivered on you first of all that which I also received,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
and that he was buried, and that he rose again the thirty nights.
That has nothing to do, though, with...
And of course I went to Babylon, and I believed the wrong thing.
I trusted what I heard from preachers,
and I didn't trust what I was reading myself.
Because I literally was wondering about Acts 2.31.
I was like, it says he went to hell,
but my pastor knows more about the Bible than me,
so I must misunderstand what it's talking about.
And many of us have been the same way.
It's like you see something plain as day, but it's like,
well, I mean, obviously my pastor knows more than me.
I mean, I guess I just don't understand, right?
But what I'm saying is for a person to be saved,
they have to believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus.
They don't have to believe that his soul was in hell
for three days and three nights, though.
But they do have to believe that he rose again.
If somebody believes that Jesus died for them and never rose again,
they cannot be saved.
Now, there is a common Christian,
I use that word very lightly,
Christian religion called the Jehovah's Witnesses.
And their biggest holiday is Easter,
and what they teach on Easter is that Jesus did not rise again from the dead.
It's kind of strange to me.
Their big event is always Easter time,
and what they teach people is he did not rise again, right?
Well, you're a false witness, as this chapter says.
You can call yourself Jehovah's Witness all you want,
and you're a Jehovah's false witness, according to the Bible,
if you don't believe that he rose again.
It's like, what do you think happened to the body, right?
I mean, the body's not there, okay?
And he bodily rose again.
Somebody must believe that.
Now, the good news for us in the Philippines
is that most people already believe that before we preach the gospel to them.
They already believe that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again.
They're just mixed up on the works and eternal security and things such as that.
It's actually very easy to preach the gospel in the Philippines.
Because people have a good foundation of just basic beliefs.
You're not preaching to Buddhists and Hindus and Muslims,
where you'd have to talk about a lot of other topics.
Most people, if you ask them,
do you believe that Jesus died for you and rose again?
Most people would say yes, right?
And that makes it a lot easier to preach them.
Go to Acts chapter 16.
Acts 16.
No, it's up to you, personally, whether or not you want to talk about,
you know, explain during your gospel presentation
that the soul of Jesus was in hell for three days and three nights.
I do think it can be a helpful thing for people to understand.
And if somebody's listening to the gospel
and believing what you're saying,
they never have problems with that.
You'll explain how, you know what, we deserve to go to hell,
but Jesus paid for our sins.
Where would we go to pay for our sins?
To hell.
So Jesus took our place. Where did he go?
Oh, he went to hell.
Makes sense, right?
I mean, it's not that complicated.
And they never have a problem with it when you explain it.
Now, I personally don't usually explain that,
but, you know, I did in the past.
It's completely up to you.
But the point is that someone doesn't have to believe
that Jesus was in hell for three days and three nights to be saved.
If they believe in the doctrine of paradise, they can still be saved.
I'm sure there are a lot of Baptists that are saved in the Philippines
that believe in the paradise of Jesus.
Probably a lot of people in our room that in the past you were like me
and you believed in the Abraham's bosom doctrine.
You believed in the paradise doctrine.
You thought there was a non-burning part to hell
like I used to think and everything like that
because that's what you were taught.
I used to believe that, but I was saved.
I understood salvation is a free gift.
You can't lose it. It's not of works.
It's only in Jesus Christ.
I just learned some false doctrine after I got saved, right?
But there's a lot of false doctrine.
Look, there's a lot of things we teach at our church,
but people don't have to believe all of these things to be saved.
I mean, people don't have to believe in a post-trib rapture to be saved.
I don't question someone's salvation if they believe in a pre-trib rapture.
Why would I question their salvation?
If they understand the gospel and it's a free gift,
it's eternal and you can't lose it, it's not turning from your sins,
why would I question their salvation if they're wrong in the rapture?
That has nothing to do with salvation.
And sometimes people think that when they say things like,
well, if they don't believe that, I don't think they're saved.
They think they're being really hardcore.
No, you're actually making salvation very confusing
because now you're making it very difficult because,
look, when I got saved, I didn't even know there was a rapture.
I knew nothing about the Bible.
I didn't even know the Bible taught that there was a rapture,
that there was a debate about it.
If you said, do you believe pre-trib, mid-trib, or post-trib,
what? What are you talking about?
What are you talking about? I had no idea, right?
I didn't learn that doctrine until a long time later on.
Look, when we get somebody saved, we don't have to explain
every single doctrine under the sun for them to get saved.
It's like, all right, well, here's about the rapture.
Let me explain that to you.
Let me explain to you about the reprobate doctrine.
Let me explain to you about, I mean, they don't have to believe
all the right things in every doctrine to be saved.
And people are mixed up on doctrines.
What they must believe in terms of the resurrection
is the bodily resurrection
because that is what the focus is in 1 Corinthians 15,
linked with salvation, okay?
Acts 16, verse 30.
And brought them out and said,
Sirs, what must they do to be saved?
And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved in thy house.
Now, I think that probably most of us are aware of this,
and I think it kind of goes without saying,
but they didn't just explain,
and they said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's a summation of what they said.
It's not like those are the only explaining believe,
but in the midst of what they're explaining,
they're explaining that Jesus died for them
and that he was buried and that he rose again.
You say, why?
Because their salvation is linked with the gospel.
That is what people must believe.
Now, turn your Bible to Romans 1.
I'll show you a lot of verses,
and it always talks about preaching the gospel,
preaching the gospel, preaching the gospel.
Romans chapter 1.
Now, realize this too,
to be saved, somebody has to believe the gospel,
the death, burial, and resurrection,
but they have to understand what that means as well,
because I would say almost everybody in the Philippines
believes that Jesus died for them,
was buried, and then he rose again.
Isn't that true?
Most people we talk to, they already believe that.
They just do not understand that, okay?
In other parts of the world, they wouldn't believe that.
Here in the Philippines, they already believe that.
They don't understand what that means though.
The fact that he died, was buried, and rose again
means the payment has been made.
That's why he died.
That's why he was crucified, was buried, and rose again
to pay for our sins.
Of course, as saved people, we understand that,
but the problem with unsaved people
is they don't understand what that means.
They already believe that Jesus
was buried and rose again though.
Everybody in the Philippines believes that.
They don't understand what that means though, okay?
Romans 1, verse 15.
So as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel
to you that are at Rome also,
for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first,
and also the Greek.
So what Paul is preaching is the gospel.
And look, of course, he's explaining what that means.
The fact that Jesus did die, was buried,
and what did rise again means
that you don't have to live a good life.
It means the payment's been made.
It means all your sin, past, present,
and future has been paid for, right?
So it's not that he's simply saying,
hey, you know what, Jesus died, was buried, and rose again.
Well, they have to understand what that means.
Obviously, that's implied in there that he's explaining it
because we have many verses that say it's not a works
and you have to believe it's a gift.
It's eternal life.
And of course, they have to believe the gospel.
These things are meshed together.
The fact that he was died, buried, rose again
tells you that it's not a works, okay?
Go to Romans 10, Romans 10.
Romans 10.
Romans chapter 10.
And look, I haven't done this in a while,
but I've done this before when I preach the gospel.
I've asked people when they're confused,
like, well, why do you believe Jesus died for you?
And then they're like, man,
I've never really thought about that.
They might give a generic answer like he died for their sin
but it's like, well, what does that mean exactly?
And I've asked questions like, well, you know what,
if he died for your sins,
then why would your own good works get you to heaven
if he's the one who died?
What was the point of him dying for you
if your own works got you to heaven?
And they're like, that's a good question.
What would be the purpose of him dying
if my own works get me to heaven?
They don't even think about these things, right?
They understand that he died, was buried, and rose again.
I mean, almost everybody in the Philippines believes that.
And if they don't believe that,
they've at least heard it for sure, right?
They just don't understand what that means.
Now, here 2,000 years ago,
I think for some people this was kind of a new message.
And I believe everybody knew the name of Jesus
because his name spread throughout the whole world.
It doesn't mean that they had heard
every single thing that happened.
Here in the Philippines, everybody's heard about this.
Everybody knows that Jesus was buried and he rose again.
Romans 10, Romans 10, verse 15.
And how shall they preach, except they be sent?
As it is written,
how beautiful are the feet of them
that preach the gospel of peace
and bring glad tidings of good things.
So what they're preaching, which is linked with salvation
and what needs to be believed, is the gospel, okay?
See, the death, burial, and resurrection
is required for a person to believe in order to get saved.
Go to Galatians chapter one,
Galatians one.
Verses like that are always interesting to me
because it says how beautiful are the feet
because that's not exactly the part of the body
that you would first say
is like the most beautiful part of the body, right?
The feet are not exactly
the most beautiful feature in our bodies,
but in God's eyes, I mean, they have a purpose.
And if you think of one part of your body
that's necessary for a person to get saved,
I mean, it's probably gonna be the feet.
The feet and the mouth
because you're explaining the gospel
and then your feet are going to the location, right?
Because we go from, you know,
because look, if you knock on a door,
you don't have to knock with both hands.
It's kind of weird to be like,
I've never done that before, okay?
You knock with one hand
and you don't even have to knock.
Of course, sometimes, you know,
there's already people there.
You just talk to them in the street.
But here's the thing,
you had to actually go to those people.
It's like the one defining feature of our body.
It's doing the work,
going from person to person to person to person, right?
And so in God's eyes,
it's beautiful because they're doing what is necessary.
And when you think about it,
I mean, if you're walking and walking and walking,
it doesn't really make your feet look that nice.
They look worn out.
You get blisters and all the things like that.
But in God's eyes, it's different.
He said, no, that's actually the purpose
of that part of your body is to actually go
and preach the gospel to people.
Go to people.
Galatians 1, verse 6.
I marvel that you're so soon removed from him
that called you into the grace of Christ
onto another gospel, which is not another,
but there be some that trouble you
and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
But though we are an angel from heaven
preach any other gospel on you
than that which we have preached on you,
let him be accursed.
As we said before, so say now,
again, if any man preach any other gospel on you
than that you have received, let him be accursed.
So Paul speaks about the fact that
when the gospel is being preached,
we need to make sure it's pure,
not adding any works, not making it confusing
because he says if you're preaching a false gospel,
let that person be damned.
Let them go to hell.
Let them be accursed, okay?
Now, this is not just a normal, unsaved person.
It's somebody who's preaching a false gospel.
Somebody could go to Catholic church every single week.
I don't hate that person.
But what about the Catholic priest
that's preaching a work of salvation?
Well, that's a lot different, right?
Now, what's interesting in verse number eight
is it says, but though we are an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel.
And it's interesting that it mentions an angel from heaven.
Now, historically speaking, some of the big religions,
this is exactly what they'll say about their faith.
It started because of an angel.
This is the message of Muhammad and Islam
and the second biggest religion in the world
where basically an angel brought this message to Muhammad
and he brought a false gospel.
Now, my opinion is that Muhammad
actually did see something demonic,
like some sort of devil that basically deceived him,
in my opinion.
He was obviously already a bad guy,
but I think he probably did actually see something.
I could be wrong.
Maybe he was just lying about it.
But what's interesting is it's a story
of an angel actually came to him.
Same thing with Mormonism.
The angel Moroni, right?
The Moronic angel that came to Joseph Smith
and gave him a false gospel, right?
It's kind of interesting that God specifically mentions this
and Mormonism is Christian, so-called.
And it said, yet the Bible says
if someone comes preaching a different gospel,
then let them be accursed, okay?
Now, Revelation 14.
Go to Revelation 14.
Revelation 14.
And so, look, people get saved by believing the gospel, okay?
Now, when we live in 2022,
the truth is we know more about this message of salvation
than they did 3,000 years ago.
What I mean by that is we know the name Jesus Christ.
They did not know the name Jesus Christ 3,000 years ago, okay?
They were saved by faith, just like we are,
and they look forward to this one coming and dying for them,
but realize Abraham was saved by faith.
But realize Abraham even told his son,
God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.
They were not completely ignorant
of what was gonna take place.
It's not that they just generally had this basic faith in God
and that got them saved.
No, they understood the basic message,
because here's what you need to realize.
Jesus is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
It was always in God's plan
that Jesus Christ was gonna come and die and pay for our sins.
You say, why?
Well, why is it that we can't get saved today?
Because we're sinners.
Did you know people sinned 3,000 years ago?
Guess why they can't get to heaven?
Because they're sinners.
They needed to be saved just like we do.
So they couldn't get saved by their works,
just like we can't get saved by their works,
because they're sinners, right?
And look, we get saved by believing
in the death, burial, and resurrection
and understanding what that means.
Here's the thing.
In the Old Testament, they also believed that.
They just didn't have everything pieced together
as clearly as we do, okay?
And notice what it says in Revelation 14, verse number 6.
And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven,
having the everlasting gospel to preach
unto them that dwell on the earth,
and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people.
And so here we do see an angel preaching a gospel,
but it is the everlasting gospel,
saying it's the same gospel.
It lasts forever.
It has not changed.
Because some people will tell you,
well, there's several gospels in the Bible.
There's a gospel here and a different gospel here
and a different gospel here.
Well, here's the problem with this,
because you've got a lot of Baptist churches
that are called dispensational Baptist churches,
and what they'll believe is, like,
seven dispensations or time periods they will say,
and what they'll say is, Adam and Eve got saved
because they did not eat the fruit.
That was their salvation, and when they ate the fruit,
they were in trouble, right?
And they'll say, well, salvation in the Old Testament
in general, at least during the Mosaic time,
you had to do these sacrifices, these offerings.
You had to live a good life.
Well, once again, we cannot get to heaven
because of the fact we're sinners.
They were also sinners.
They needed the blood of Jesus just as much as we do, okay?
But what people will say that believe in dispensationalism
is they'll say that during the time of Galatians 1,
what Paul is preaching is part of the dispensation of grace,
and they'll say we are under the same time period
or dispensation today.
They will say that in Galatians 1, it was by faith alone
because you'd have to be an idiot to read Galatians
and think that it teaches anything besides faith alone.
I mean, in my opinion, it's actually more clear
than probably Romans, maybe even John,
in terms of the fact it's not of works.
I mean, it's very clearly faith, faith.
I mean, I don't usually use Galatians for soul winning
because it's more like an in-depth book about salvation,
but it's like, how could you walk away from that
and think of work salvation?
So they'll say, well, Galatians 1,
they're under the same dispensation of grace
that we are today that we're saved by grace through faith.
And they'll say, but in Revelation 14,
that's during the end times,
and during the end times, you've got to endure
under the end to be saved
because they don't realize that's talking about the rapture
physically being saved.
And they'll say that in Revelation 14,
it is a different gospel
that's being preached in Galatians chapter one.
Now, here's what I'm saying.
In Galatians one, it said,
even if it's an angel from heaven,
if it's another gospel, let him be accursed.
And what the dispensational Baptist churches teach
is that an angel preaches another gospel in the future.
And it's just like, let him be accursed.
It's like, what don't you understand about that?
I mean, there's a reason I believe that God put in an angel
to make it very clear.
It's like even if an angel from heaven
preaches something and it's not by grace alone,
let him be accursed.
And what they'll say is, well, in Revelation chapter 14,
that angel is preaching.
They'll say it's the everlasting gospel
because it started and God's saying,
this one's going to last forever.
It's like the gospel is not a new thing that just came up.
The gospel's been preached for thousands and thousands of years,
and you know what?
It's everlasting, never changes, same gospel.
And look, if that's what you believe in these dispensations,
you've got a big contradiction from Galatians 1 to Revelation 14, 6,
and there is no way to wiggle out of that
because they literally say an angel's preaching another gospel
and Galatians 1 says, let him be accursed then,
let him go to hell, right?
So look, salvation has always been about the gospel.
Now, we very clearly understand the death, burial,
and resurrection of Jesus Christ
whereas the disciples of Jesus, you know,
when these events took place,
it's not that they didn't believe in a resurrection,
they just didn't have an idea when it was going to happen.
They were confused on the timing of stuff.
So basically, you know, after Jesus rose again,
they were not aware it's going to be in three days
and it's immediately going to happen.
Somehow it just kind of went over their head.
But it's not that they were ignorant of what was going to take place.
They understood Jesus was going to die for them.
Now, it's easy for us to understand this today
because we look back and the Bible's written
and we know very clearly what took place.
But if you're looking at something in the future,
it's a little bit easier to get confused.
But they still got saved by believing that God would come and die
and pay for their sins and that there would be a resurrection.
They just didn't have it pieced together as clearly as we do today, okay?
Now turn in your Bible to 1 Corinthians 15.
1 Corinthians 15.
If the sermon goes too long, then the men are going to have less time this afternoon.
No, I'm just kidding.
I'll wrap up here soon.
I'll skip some places.
But anyways, point number one is for a person to be saved,
they have to hear the Gospel from somebody.
And for a person to be saved, number two,
they must believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.
They don't have to understand the Abraham's bosom in paradise.
And look, the average person, they don't even know what you're talking about
if you start talking about Abraham's bosom.
They're going to be confused.
You're going to make your Gospel presentation really confusing
if you go too in-depth on stuff, right?
I mean, just keep it basic.
We're explaining it's a gift.
I mean, obviously you spend the time to explain what it means,
but you want to make it as simple as possible, right?
And so it takes time, but it's not a complicated thing we're explaining.
They just believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus,
and of course they need to understand what that means.
But lastly, the last point I want to explain to you is this,
that when it comes to what we believe about the death,
burial, and resurrection of Jesus,
they knew Jesus Christ rose again.
There was no question whatsoever.
Now turn in your Bible to Acts 1, Acts 1.
You say, well, how is this different than other religions or other faiths?
It's actually very different
because when it comes to Joseph Smith and Mormonism,
he basically tells this account of he was in the woods,
and he had these tablets,
and he was running away from people trying to destroy him or kill him or whatever,
and he had like two witnesses, family members,
and one of them left the religion later on and said it was all a lie.
He got two witnesses, and they were in on it.
And it's like, we expect you to believe this, though.
I mean, the Hadith, most of the Hadith, the second big book for Muslims,
all these miracles Muhammad's doing, but nobody saw them.
We don't know the location.
We don't know the time, but it happened.
That's not the way it is with Jesus Christ.
When he did miracles, he fed over 5,000 people,
5,000 men plus a lot of other people.
People saw it.
People knew it took place.
He didn't perform some miracle, and nobody saw it,
but trust me, it happened.
Now, what we believe makes sense.
There were witnesses of these things.
It wasn't some vague thing that nobody saw, and we just believe it.
And look, don't misunderstand me.
I believe in Christianity.
I mean, I didn't get saved at a young age, but I had a Christian background.
And yes, you know what?
We're very fortunate to be raised with a Christian background,
and that's a big advantage to growing up in the Muslim world or the Hindu world.
But here's the truth.
What we believe makes sense, what they believe does not make sense.
It doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
Tell me what makes sense about your big prophet marrying a five-year-old girl
and consummating the marriage at the age of nine like Islam.
Tell me how that makes sense.
That's your big prophet that you believe in.
It's like, are you kidding me?
It's like what we believe, we believe in a perfect sinless savior.
What we believe actually makes sense.
Tell me what makes sense about bowing down before a cow and praying to it.
That doesn't make any sense whatsoever, but that's what they do in India.
That's what they do with Hinduism.
Tell me what makes sense about Buddhism where their big leader Buddha
deserted his family right after his son was born
in search of salvation for like ten years and just left his family.
That's what you call a loser.
That's what you call a derelict.
Just deserted his family.
And look, those are the big three religions outside of Christianity.
None of them make sense.
It's not like, well, you know what?
You believe this and they believe that.
How do you know what's right?
Because what we believe makes sense.
What they believe doesn't make sense.
And look, it doesn't matter to me whether or not we're the minority.
I know that what we believe actually makes sense.
What they believe makes no sense whatsoever.
Acts chapter one, verse one.
Acts one, verse one.
The former treatise have I made, O Theopolis, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach
until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost
had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen,
to whom also he showed himself alive after his passion
by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days
and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
So see, they didn't just see him.
He actually was there for forty days.
He's explaining what's going to take place.
And it couldn't be denied.
People saw him.
Look, all they had to do, because our salvation, our religion,
is based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Because here's the thing, yes, when Jesus died, he died for our sins.
But if he didn't rise again, it would be like, okay, we were wrong.
The rising again was kind of the last part, and that was the proof.
That's what we celebrate with Easter.
And look, if he didn't rise again, everything we're doing is in vain.
That's what the Bible says.
The resurrection is the big thing.
I mean, that's the central part of what we believe as Christians.
It's about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
All they had to do, because look, the political leaders wanted to destroy Christianity.
All they had to do was show his body.
Right?
That's all they had to do.
Why would that be so hard for you to do?
All you got to do, I mean, because they were guarding the tomb very closely.
It's like, make sure you guard this.
Right?
It's like, oh, by the way, we forgot to tell you he's going to rise again.
Make sure you guard this tomb.
Do not let him rise again.
All they had to do was show the body.
And since they couldn't show the body, it's like, well, I mean, obviously, he had risen again,
just like the Bible said, and it couldn't be denied.
And look, the disciples were confused on a lot of these things.
But here's the thing, when Jesus rose again and explained things,
now they fully understand all this stuff, all the prophecies,
and now they're spreading it to the rest of the world.
And this is growing, because here's the thing,
if somebody says they saw something with their own eyes and they heard it,
it's going to be pretty powerful to you.
Look, if 20 people come to you and say, I talked to Jesus Christ,
I didn't just hear about it, he rose again, I talked to him,
it's going to be kind of hard to deny it.
I mean, you can be like Thomas and hold out to the last minute,
but it's kind of hard to deny.
And people, even if they didn't fully know or they weren't sure,
I mean, they were obviously curious about it,
and then as the gospel began preached, a lot of people were getting saved
during this time period in Acts 2.
I mean, you see this great salvation that's taking place,
because these things are in the minds of people.
This was, you know, the big news that went worldwide about Jesus Christ,
it spread to the entire world, and people were wondering about this event.
All they had to do was produce the body.
That's all they had to do.
Now look, I understand we live 2,000 years later,
but all of these events, they cannot be denied.
I mean, our time system, I know they've changed B, C, and A, D
to try to like change everything, but it's based on Jesus Christ.
This is not some vague thing where while we believe something,
how do you know it's true? I mean, our time system is based on it.
Look, and it's not just Jesus.
Historically speaking, it's a fact that Paul the Apostle lived.
Regardless of what you think about him,
you cannot deny, unless you're an idiot, that Paul the Apostle lived.
You can't deny that Peter lived either.
I mean, some of them were pretty famous characters in history.
There's so much written about them, you'd be a fool to deny that they existed.
It would be more likely that Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great didn't live,
because there's so much written about Paul the Apostle and Peter.
So for atheists to say, well, how do you even know Jesus lived?
You're an idiot to say that.
There's no more proof of anybody than Jesus Christ.
Turn to your Bible.
Let's just close in Matthew 28 for sake of time.
Matthew 28. Matthew 28.
We get saved by faith, but what I want you to realize is
we do not have a blind and stupid faith.
What we believe makes sense.
Now, here's a blind and stupid faith that there is no proof for.
Well, I just believe that billions of years ago rocks came alive,
and here we are today, and just evolution over time,
and these animals just have all these vestigial organs
that don't work anymore and everything.
Where is any proof of that?
The same people, they mock us, well, where's your proof of this?
It's like, what we believe makes sense.
What you believe is ridiculous.
What we believe, yes, we get saved by faith.
I'm not saying we go soul winning and we give all these facts
for people to get saved.
We preach the gospel.
That's how people get saved.
People get saved by faith, but as saved people,
I'm just trying to help you explain, what we believe makes sense.
Our religion makes sense.
The Bible makes sense.
It's not like, well, there's all these religions,
and they all kind of equally make sense,
but we just kind of believe this one.
No, no, no, no, no.
What we believe makes sense.
What other religions believe, they don't make any sense.
Now, as saved people, we understand this,
because when we see false religions,
you want to laugh at it sometimes of how foolish it is.
It doesn't make any sense, right?
But what we believe actually does make sense.
Matthew 28, verse 11.
Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city
and showed on the chief priests all the things that were done.
And when they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel,
they gave large money under the soldiers saying,
Say ye, his disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept.
So basically they're saying, okay, the body's not there.
We ought to come up with something.
It's like, let's just say he was stolen,
because all you have to do is produce the body,
and that would have destroyed Christianity.
Everyone would realize they're wrong,
because Jesus said he was going to rise again from the dead.
All they had to do was show his body and say, well, see, you're wrong.
They weren't able to do that.
Look, I mean, they were keeping, they were guarding that body
to make sure nothing took place.
For sure they would have actually showed it if it was there.
But they're saying, well, it's not there. What are we going to do?
Let's just say he was stolen, okay?
And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him and secure you.
So they took the money and did as they were taught,
and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
Now when it says this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day,
it's referring to 2,000 years ago, okay?
Because these things were written down shortly after the events,
but during that time period it was commonly reported.
But let me just say it is still commonly reported among the Jews
that the body of Jesus was stolen, okay?
That's not referring to that in verse 15, but I can say that in 2022
it is still commonly reported amongst the Jews that he did not rise again,
that the body was stolen.
That's what they're trying to tell people and explain to people.
But look, what we believe, there's many infallible proofs for it.
It's ridiculous to deny.
I mean, honestly, especially being a saved person,
I look back and I think, how foolish was I before I was saved?
Because what we believe actually makes sense.
When it comes to the gospel, people, they must hear the gospel to be saved.
They're not going to get saved on their own.
As obvious as this is to us, it's just not obvious to unsaved people.
It's going to go straight to us.
Of course, we explain that it means salvation is a gift and it's eternal,
but what they need to understand is the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ,
which here in the Philippines is not normally going to be an issue.
But lastly, when it comes to the resurrection and 1 Corinthians 15,
what we believe, it actually makes sense.
There's proof for it.
You're a fool to deny it, okay?
Let's close in a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today
and thank you for sending your son to die for us and to pay for our sins
and for the resurrection, God.
Help us remember this holiday and how important it is
and how central it is to our faith and that the core of what we believe
is based on the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen. Let's get our hymns and turn to hymn number 33.
Hymn number 33, let's sing the song Christ the Lord is with us today.
All together on the first.