All right, we're here in Philippians chapter 2, and I just want to thank Pastor Menez for
all the opportunities I've had to preach and my chance to spiritually grow here at this
church over the last three years, and also everybody here just listening to me when I
came here to preach and everything like that and trying to apply this to their lives.
It means a lot.
Now I don't know if you can tell, but my voice is a little bit messed up today, so I'll do
my best to be as dynamic as I can, but this might be more of just kind of like a teaching
time here tonight.
The passage we're looking at is kind of more about that anyway in Philippians chapter 2,
and so I want you to notice in verses 12 and 13 where the Bible reads,
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more
in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Now this is kind of appropriate because he says, as ye have obeyed in my presence, but
now much more in my absence, and obviously, you know, I've preached here for three years,
and now, you know, obviously, we're going to be leaving here soon, and honestly, this
passage has been coming up a lot recently.
People have asked me questions about it online and things like that, and the part that people
are confused about is where it says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
If you were to go online and look at the biggest places people turn to to say that you have
to do good works to be saved, this is going to be one of their big places.
They're going to say, well, you've got to work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling, and when they say that, they mean one of three things.
They mean either you have to do good works to be saved, which we know is false, or they'll
say, you know, if you're saved, good works will automatically follow, or they'll say
if you're not doing good works, you ought to question your own salvation, because you
know what?
You need to work it out with fear and trembling.
Fear and trembling, you're going to go to hell, but that is not what this is saying
at all.
We're going to see very clearly tonight that, obviously, we know this, that salvation is
by grace through faith, but we're going to see very clearly what the Bible is speaking
about.
But let me give you just quickly two different extremes.
We got the Calvinists, and we got the Armenians.
Maybe you've been there before where people have asked you this question, are you a Calvinist
or are you an Armenian?
Because supposedly, these two people believe opposite things.
Isn't that what we hear?
That they're on two ends of the spectrum.
But let's see their interpretation of these verses.
John Bloom, he wrote this on John Piper's website.
John Piper, if you're not aware, is one of the two most famous Calvinists.
Him and John MacArthur, I would say, are the two biggest Calvinists there are out there.
He wrote this on the Desiring God website.
By the way, if you ever find anything on the Desiring God website, just go away from that
website.
It's a completely Calvinist website of John Piper.
But this is what he says in this passage.
He says, because though we are saved by God's unconditional electing grace, through the
gift of faith, the works we do prove that our faith is real.
Works are evidence of salvation.
So he says, we're saved by grace, but if you're really saved, guess what?
You're going to do the works.
That's one end of the spectrum.
The Calvinists who supposedly believe salvation is just by grace alone.
They don't believe we have anything to do with salvation, supposedly, but out of their
own mouths, on the biggest website when it comes to Calvinists, they look at this passage
and say, well see, if you're really saved, you're going to do good works.
Let's hear what an Arminian has to say.
John Wesley, who is probably the most famous when it comes to Arminians out there.
John Wesley, this is what his interpretation is.
He says, he exhorts them to secure the salvation which Christ has purchased.
Now, I don't know about you, but I secured my salvation when I was 18 years old.
I believed on Jesus Christ, and it's a done deal.
I don't have to spend my entire life trying to secure my salvation.
So you've got two sides here.
You've got the Calvinists who are telling you that if you're not doing good works, you've
got to question your salvation your whole life.
And then you've got John Wesley saying, you better do good works or you're going to go
to hell.
So they're basically teaching the exact same thing.
This is one of these verses that just kind of shows you that there are two religions
in the world.
There's a religion that we believe that salvation is by grace through faith, and there's a religion
of Cain, where you bring your offering, your works, and they package it in a different
way.
There's so many different religions out there, but there really are just two religions.
There's ones that say you've got to work your way to heaven, and ones that say it's by grace
through faith.
And this is just one of those verses where every unsaved person is going to interpret
it the exact same way, pretty much.
There's other places we're going to look at.
We're going to look at one other place tonight where it's kind of a litmus test when it comes
to people about their salvation.
How people that you think say it's by grace alone out of their own mouth will say works
when they look at certain passages.
Now the first thing that they say is this.
Some people say that you must do good works to be saved.
They look at this passage and say, well, if you have to work out your salvation with fear
and trembling, you must do good works in order to be saved.
Well there's a couple problems with that.
For starters, this is written to save people.
This is not written to unsave people.
I mean, that ought to look just stupid to them right at the beginning.
Obviously he's writing to save people.
You say, well, how do you know that?
Well, look at what he says in verse number 12, wherefore my beloved.
Does that sound like save people, or does that sound like unsaved people?
He says wherefore my beloved, and he says as ye have always obeyed.
So notice that he's preached to them a lot.
He's taught them a lot of things.
And he says, you have obeyed when I've talked to you before.
He's clearly talking to save people.
There's no question about it.
He's not talking to unsaved people.
And unsaved people seem to think the entire Bible is about salvation.
But the Bible is so much more about living a godly life than it is about being saved.
The being saved is pretty simple.
Living the godly life, that's pretty complicated.
It takes a lot of work.
It takes a lot of effort.
And so oftentimes you'll see unsaved people turn to a place like this, and they see the
word work, and they see the word salvation, and they say, well see, you've got to do
good works to be saved.
But from the context you can tell that these are already saved people, very clearly.
Now turn to Matthew chapter 5.
And another thing I want us to notice from Philippians, too, as you turn to Matthew 5,
is that Paul is commanding them.
He says you have always obeyed.
He's commanding them.
If you're telling someone that they need to obey, basically you're giving them orders.
He says you've always obeyed.
So basically Paul has been preaching to them before, and he's given them commandments and
rules to follow, and he says you have always obeyed.
Now here's the thing.
If our works automatically follow our faith, why does he have to command them to do good
works?
It doesn't make any sense.
I mean, if it's automatic that they're going to happen no matter what, why would he have
to command them?
But he says you've obeyed because he was giving them orders, and they had the free will choice
if they're going to do them or if they're not going to do them.
So he commanded them.
He says you have always obeyed.
It says in Matthew, and this is consistent throughout the entire Bible.
We can look throughout the entire New Testament, because people like to say that, well, the
Old Testament, God gave a bunch of orders, but now God's all about love, and he doesn't
tell us to follow the law anymore.
It's all about just love your neighbor as yourself, and that's it.
But notice what it says in Matthew 5, verse 48.
Jesus says, be therefore perfect, even as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect.
Notice that he's commanding them.
He says be therefore perfect.
He's telling them they need to be complete as Christians.
They need to live a godly and holy life.
So right there, Jesus is commanding them.
Now I thought the New Testament was all about grace and all about love, but there's Jesus
commanding them to obey what he has to say.
Turn to Romans chapter 12, verse 1, Romans 12, verse 1.
So now let's look at the Pauline Epistles, because some people will look at the Gospels
and say, well, that's still the Old Covenant because Jesus hadn't died yet.
But let's see what Paul says, because people often say that Paul is the guy who always
taught about just grace, grace, grace, and love, love, love.
I mean, obviously they've never read Romans 1, apparently, in other places.
But I mean, throughout Paul's writing, he's giving them commandments to follow.
Notice what it says in Romans 12, verse 1, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto
God, which is your reasonable service.
Now those are big words to follow, presenting your bodies a living sacrifice, meaning basically
your entire life you're supposed to be devoted to God.
Now when you really think about that, that's pretty extreme.
That means every single day we need to zealously read the Bible.
Every single day we need to zealously pray.
Every single week we need to be out sowing.
We need to be at all the church services.
That's a big responsibility.
That's what Paul commanded here.
He says, I beseech you, he's pleading with them.
And so throughout the New Testament, not just in the Old Testament, but you see Jesus and
you see here in the Pauline epistles about how they are commanding people to obey.
Turn to 1 Peter, chapter 1.
Let us see if Peter was a little nicer, because I've heard Paul was all about grace.
That's what Joseph Prince loves to tell us, about how he's all about grace now, forget
about the laws, grace, grace, grace.
Well, we just read what Paul said, and apparently he's never read Romans chapter 1.
I think there's a reason why he doesn't want to read Romans 1 if you ever take a look at
him.
But in 1 Peter chapter 1, let's look at verses 15 through 16.
Notice what it says.
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation,
because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy.
And so he's commanding them to be holy.
So it's not just the Old Testament where God commands us to be holy and to obey his rules.
Throughout the New Testament, we're seeing the same thing.
And so if the works are automatic, why is it that throughout the entire Bible, God's
people are always commanding people to obey?
If our pastor was up here and he never gave us commandments and orders and told us what
the Bible said about what we need to do, look, we wouldn't follow it that well.
We need to hear the hard preaching.
We need to have somebody come up here who's spirit-filled, who's bold, who's not afraid
to cry aloud, and who's going to command us of what the Bible says, that studied the Word
of God and knows what it says and commands us.
And that's what you see throughout the entire Bible.
And you see preachers today that are afraid to command anything.
They don't say anything.
You could step into the average church out there, and it's pretty much the same across
the line.
Whether you're at a Protestant church, a non-denominational, an IFB, a Southern Baptist, it's pretty
much all the same, because it's all about grace, it's all about love.
And yes, that's important, and yes, God is love, but you know what?
God is also consuming fire.
And throughout the Bible, you see that God is commanding us.
And so throughout the Bible, he's commanding us.
And here in Philippians chapter 2, he says, ye have always obeyed.
But even in the phrase itself where it says, work out your own salvation, notice he's commanding
them to work it out, okay?
If it was automatic, he wouldn't have to command them.
But he commands them, work out your own salvation with fear and tremble.
We're going to get on later on to exactly what that's referring to, but turn to Romans
chapter 4, Romans 4.
And so people have this idea that, well, if you're really saved, if you really believe
works are automatically going to follow you, that's just not what the Bible teaches.
And one of the big places they're going to tell you as you turn to Romans 4 is in James
2.
How many of us have heard that faith without works is dead?
I think just about everybody in this, if you've ever been soul winning, you've heard faith
without works is dead.
And they say, well, see that if you really have faith, you're going to have works.
It's like, do you not realize what you just read?
Faith without works, which means you can have faith without works.
It's like it goes completely over their head.
It's like you turn to James 2 to tell us why works always accompany faith, but in James
2 it says faith without works, which means you can have faith without works.
You say, how come they don't get it?
Because they're not saved.
When they're turning to James 2 and telling you you've got to do good works, they just
don't get it.
Any time they see works and salvation or works in heaven or works in faith, they just say,
see, you've got to do good works in order to be saved.
You've got to do good works.
You're going to do good works if you really believe.
Notice what it says in Romans 4, verses 4 and 5.
It says, now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness.
So according to Romans 4, 5, is it possible to believe and not have works?
Yes it is.
So to say that works automatically accompany faith, that is completely false.
And that is complete heresy.
And to say that you ought to question your salvation because you're not doing good works,
that is complete heresy.
And honestly, this is where the rubber meets the road with these repentance preachers.
Because you will have Baptist preachers that believe in repentance of sins.
And a lot of people like to tell us that they believe the same thing as us.
But those same preachers, because I've been in those churches before, when they preach,
they will basically say that if you do not have a changed lifestyle, you ought to question
your salvation.
But is that what the Bible teaches?
No it's not.
You know, there are people out here right now, hopefully not in this room, but there
are people in this world that are complete drunks, that are saved and on their way to
heaven.
You say, why?
Because you know what?
Drinking does not affect whether or not you go to heaven or hell.
It comes down to whether or not you believe.
There are people that are drug addicts that are going to end up in heaven one day.
And there's IFB preachers that are going to end up in hell because they're telling people
they've got to turn from their sins and they're completely pride-filled and self-righteous
to say that they've turned over a new leaf and they don't sin anymore.
You know, that's ridiculous.
To suggest that works are automatically going to follow faith, it's nowhere in the Bible.
They have this idea that you're going to make this massive change.
Well, what happens to a five-year-old that gets saved?
Okay?
Because all you've got to do is believe to be saved.
Does a five-year-old make massive changes in their life when they get saved?
I mean, seriously, it doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
You know, some people, they do make changes when they get saved, and some people, they
don't really change much at all.
To be honest, most of the people that we get saved that are door-to-door are probably
not going to make major changes in their life because if they don't start reading this book
and if they don't start coming to a church like this, they're not going to make major
changes because you need the hard preaching, you need the person commanding like Paul is
commanding them in Philippians 2 in order to make those changes.
And if you're not in a church like this, you're probably going to live like the world, you're
going to live like everybody else out there.
You're probably not going to make many changes at all.
Turn to Acts chapter 16, and so remember it said, work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling, fear and trembling.
And so people have different ideas of what does it mean by fear and trembling.
Now the general, unsafe person is going to tell you, well, obviously, fear of going to
hell.
That's how they interpret this, that you ought to have fear and be trembling every single
day that if you're not walking the walk, you might end up in hell.
I've heard plenty of people preach this before, plenty of IFB pastors that believe in repentance
of sins and they believe that you ought to fear your entire life of going to hell.
But you know, this is what the Bible says in Acts 16 verse 30 and 31.
I know we know these verses, but this is how simple it is.
And brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved?
And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house.
I still remember when I got saved, it was the biggest feeling of relief I've ever had
my entire life because I was afraid I was going to die and go to hell and I did not
know.
And I was trying to do what was right, but I knew I disobeyed things that I knew what
was right and I just chose to do wrong sometimes.
I didn't know if God was going to let me into heaven or not.
But you know, when you get saved, it's the biggest feeling of relief.
And then you got these false prophets that are trying to take away that relief and trying
to put you in fear every single day of whether or not you're going to heaven or hell.
So if you have a day where you stumble a little bit or you kind of backslide in your
Bible reading, all of a sudden you ought to worry, well maybe I'm not even saved.
That's ridiculous.
The Bible says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Turn to John chapter 3, John 3.
And so what you'll see, and the reason why we're turning to famous common verses is because
we're doing the opposite of what these preachers do.
They take you to more vague verses.
They take you to verses that people can interpret different ways.
But there's no way that you can interpret Acts chapter 16, because what must I do to
be saved?
And they said, believe.
The best excuse I heard from a Repentance of Sins preacher, and this is a terrible excuse,
he said the repentance was obvious because they heard them singing.
So obviously they were singing about repentance.
That's the reason why he didn't have to tell them to repent, because he heard them singing
about repentance because they were singing there in prison.
I mean that's just ridiculous.
It's like sometimes if you don't have the answer you're better off just keeping your
mouth shut.
But it says in John 3 verse 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
It says whosoever believeth.
That includes the drunk.
That includes the person that does not repent of their sins.
That includes the person that doesn't live a very good life.
The Bible says it's whosoever believeth, and when you believe you receive everlasting
life.
It's not conditional.
It's not temporary.
It's not everlasting.
And he never says in these verses, you'll never see him say, but if there's not a change
after you believe you ought to question whether you really believe to begin with.
In any of these verses he just says believe, and that's it.
Whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Now turn to Hebrews chapter 13, and see another thing that you'll hear people that what they
like to say is this, well maybe the fear is talking about a fear of man.
That's not usually people that are necessarily false prophets, but I've heard a lot of people
say, I'm just trying to explain all these verses, but it's not referring to a fear of
man.
Look at what it says in Hebrews chapter 13 verses 5 and 6.
Let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have.
For he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say,
The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
We're not supposed to fear what man can do to us.
We're supposed to live boldly, live for the Lord, and realize he is able to protect us,
he is able to comfort us, and we might go through trials and tribulations in this life,
but we have to worry about God, not about man.
If something ended up happening to me that was God's choice, but you know what, who I'm
supposed to fear is not man, I'm supposed to fear God.
Fear is not something, he's not giving us the spirit of fear, the Bible says.
He doesn't want us to live in fear our entire lives.
Why do people not go soul winning?
Because they're afraid of being embarrassed at the door by a man.
That's why they don't go soul winning.
They're afraid of being embarrassed.
We are not supposed to fear man.
One thing you'll notice is that people that are filled with the spirit are bold.
They're not afraid.
They will boldly preach what the Bible says, not even worrying about the repercussions.
Turn to Matthew chapter 10, Matthew 10.
Honestly sometimes you look at certain situations where maybe somebody's preaching the gospel,
or maybe they're preaching behind the pulpit, and they're just filled with boldness.
Really the only explanation is the fact that they're filled with the spirit of God.
Because as a man, you would never be that filled.
I think about when our pastor preached right after we had the big protest a couple of years
ago, and that sermon completely spirit filled, bold, not afraid of anything.
What's the answer to that?
Is it because one person is so powerful?
No, it's because God gives you the spirit to overcome anything.
He will give you boldness.
And when you're filled with the spirit of God, it shows that you have boldness.
God's spirit will give you boldness.
So what the Bible says is who we're supposed to fear, we're supposed to fear God.
Notice what it says in Matthew 10, starting in verse 27.
What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light, and what ye hear in the ear, that
preach ye upon the housetops.
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.
So he's talking about man.
Man is not able to kill the soul.
Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.
But rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body and hell.
Now a false prophet would misinterpret this verse.
Because what it's not saying is, he's not telling them, well you ought to fear me because
I'm able to throw you in hell one day.
It's just simply saying that God is the one who has the power to throw people in hell.
Obviously he won't throw his children in hell because they have eternal life.
He's the only one who has that power.
He's not telling them, well you ought to fear that I'm going to throw you in hell.
He's saying, no, you ought to be afraid of me because I have the sort of power that I
can throw people in hell.
And realize that in this life we're going to be judged for our actions.
But we do not have to fear if God's going to throw us in hell because if we believed
on Jesus Christ we have eternal life.
So he's not saying in verse 28, well fear that I'm going to throw you in hell.
He says no fear the person who has that sort of power.
But obviously he's not going to throw a saved person into hell.
He's going to throw unsaved people into hell.
Then he says in verse 29, are not two sparrows sold for farthing?
And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father.
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Fear ye not, therefore ye are of more value than many sparrows.
And so we need to realize that God does love us, but at the same time he is a consuming
fire and he is going to chasten us and discipline us in this life.
So you know what?
We ought to fear God.
We ought to be afraid of what God can do to us in this life.
And you know what?
If you live in fornication, you ought to fear what God's going to do to you.
Because the Bible speaks about in one day 23,000 die.
And overall 24,000 that have been died and one day 23,000 people die.
And God has the ability.
He does have your life in your hands.
And if you're living a wicked life, you don't have to fear and say, oh no, I might go to
hell.
But you ought to fear what God's going to do to you in this life.
You might reap consequences and they might be permanent ones.
And so yes, we do need to live holy lives, but not because we're afraid we're going to
die and go to hell.
Now turn to Matthew.
Actually, turn back to Philippians 2 real quickly.
And so what we see here is that he commands us to do good.
And we're supposed to fear God, not fear man.
And I want you to notice also in verse 13, and this is what the Calvinists love where
it says, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
So let's say, well see, God works in you, which means it all comes from God.
And so Calvinists like to play this game where basically, verses just contradict themselves
one after another.
You know, one verse God's commanding you to do something, and then the next verse, oh,
it's automatic.
I mean, it doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
They don't understand the Bible.
But what it says is God works in you, but you know, that's consistent in the Bible.
Now turn to Matthew 28, Matthew 28.
And so what the Bible is teaching us is that when you work out your salvation, God will
work with you.
He doesn't just leave us out there on our own.
When we go soul winning on Saturdays or Thursdays or whatever day we go, we're not out there
by ourselves.
God's out there helping us and working with us.
That's why it's so foolish to just brag and boast about all the people that you get saved
because we have to realize that God's the one who gives us that ability.
He's given to us the ministry of reconciliation, and he's with us and helping us every step
of the way.
It says in Matthew 28, starting at verse 18, And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying,
All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded
you.
I love this next part.
And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.
Amen.
I love it when he commands us to go soul winning, that then he just kind of reminds us, hey,
you know what?
I'm with you.
I'm there with you.
You're not out there by yourself.
Mark 16, Mark 16.
And sometimes in these soul winning verses or verses where it tells us to go out and
preach the gospel, we focus so much that we're commanded to preach the gospel that we kind
of miss the fact that God is always there with us, helping us out every single step
of the way.
So when we work out our salvation, when we're going door to door working out our salvation,
guess what?
God's out there helping us every single step of the way.
He's working with us.
And notice in Mark 16, let's look at the last verse.
And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them.
The Lord working with them.
They were not doing it by themselves.
God was actually out there helping them out.
The Lord was working with them.
Now turn to Ephesians chapter 2, Ephesians 2.
And so we see that God works in us.
So what is the meaning of work out your own salvation?
What is the Bible trying to tell us?
Well, you know, this is honestly pretty consistent throughout the entire Bible, because oftentimes
you'll see when God is talking about salvation, right afterwards, He's going to talk about
how we need to live a godly life and we need to do good works.
Not in order to be saved, not to prove we're saved, but God expects us to work for Him.
You know, the Bible says in Titus 2, as you turn to Ephesians 2, it says, for the grace
of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.
Meaning us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously
and godly in this present world.
And so throughout the Bible, God tells us we should live soberly and righteously.
We should be a peculiar person.
Yes, the grace of God that bringeth salvation appears to everyone.
But after the salvation, guess what?
For us that are saved, God says, I want you to work.
I want you to do something with your salvation.
Ephesians 2, verses 8 through 10, this really shows us this.
For by grace are ye saved through faith.
And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.
For we are his workmanship, creating Christ Jesus onto good works, which God hath before
deigned that we should walk in them.
Once again, it says we should walk in them.
It's not a guarantee.
We have our choice whether or not we're going to obey God's rules or we don't.
But we see in verses 8 and 9 how salvation is by grace through faith.
But notice in verse 10, we are his workmanship.
Look, God does have a plan for your life after you get saved.
God has good works that he wants you to do.
And it could be different for me than it could be for you.
For some people in this room, God probably wants you to be a preacher one day.
He wants you to work out your salvation in that way that you one day become a preacher.
That's the works that he's set for you.
We have different roles, different responsibilities God has given us.
But one thing that is consistent is, salvation is by grace alone.
And everybody that's saved, God does have a plan for your life.
He does want you to work out your salvation in one form or another.
Not to prove you're saved, but he wants you to do good works for him.
Because we're the only people that are going to do it.
It's only going to be saved people.
And quite honestly, in Sacramento, how many people are getting saved outside of the influence
of this church?
I mean, pretty much nobody.
We're the only church that I know of knocking the doors in this area.
And so throughout the Bible, he's always commanding them to work out their salvation.
Now I want you to turn to Matthew 7.
Matthew 7.
Now I've heard people that are good people that have different interpretations of these
verses, which is fine.
But what I want to talk about here is, let's talk about the false prophets.
Why is it that they have such a warped view of this?
Because it's pretty obvious these people are saved.
So to say you've got to do good works to be saved, they're already saved.
And to say that they automatically follow, then why is he commanding them to do good
works?
There's nothing like that in this.
But I'm going to give you four quick reasons why unsaved people really are attracted to
these verses, and have a bizarre interpretation.
Obviously one thing is the fact that they're not saved.
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him.
I mean, literally, when we show an unsaved person a verse, and they interpret it and
we interpret it, we're using two different methods.
We're using the Spirit of God.
They're using their fleshly understanding.
And it just doesn't make sense what the answer is sometimes.
They do not understand the Bible.
But another thing I want you to look at is Matthew 7, verses 22 through 23.
It says, Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy
name?
And in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works.
And then while I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work in
equity.
This is actually the first sermon I ever preached was on Matthew 7, verses 22 through 23.
I preached a sermon on salvation.
I think it's pretty obvious what's being said.
In verse 23, it's clear they were never saved because he says, I never knew you.
That's very clear.
And it's very clear this person goes to hell because he's self-righteous, trusting in his
works.
The justification he has for why he's going to heaven is, he's cast out devils, he's done
many wonderful works.
Now, it's very clear to all of us that that's what this is talking about.
But you know, I've heard a lot of unsaved people interpret this, and they use these
verses to try to prove their point that you've got to do good works to be saved.
Basically what they think is, well, this person went to hell because he just didn't have enough
good works.
It's like, yes, you did some good works, but not quite enough.
I remember Brother Jared, I don't know if he remembers, but we were out soul-winding
one time, and he was speaking at the door to this person, and this person knew the Bible
decently.
I believe he was Catholic, he was an unsaved person.
And he said, Matthew 7, verses 22 through 23.
This was his reasoning.
And it's just like, how in the world are you interpreting this?
And it's just like, they look at that, and they just don't understand.
Because they think works are attached to salvation, whenever they see works, they just assume,
okay, well, you've got to do good works to be saved.
They don't understand it.
It doesn't make sense to us as saved people, but honestly, if I was 17 years old in this
room because I was not saved at 17, I probably would have looked pretty foolish interpreting
some of these verses as well.
Because the natural man just receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
They just do not understand the Bible.
And so Matthew 7, I believe that's actually the best litmus test for someone.
When you show them that, you can clearly see whether or not they're saved or not.
But you know, Philippians 2 is another great place as well.
Now turn to 1 John 5.
1 John 5.
So four reasons why they have this weird interpretation.
One is obviously they just don't understand the Bible.
Number two is they also believe salvation is by works.
So any passage on works, they're going to assume it's attached to salvation.
You can talk to an unsaved person and tell them, the Bible says, if you love me, keep
my commandments.
The way they're going to interpret that is, well, see, you're not going to go to heaven
unless you keep his commandments.
It's like, no, it says, if you love me, you don't have to love God to go to heaven, you
got to believe on Jesus Christ.
He says, if you love me, keep my commandments.
But they will look at that, or they'll look at a place where it talks about, you know,
thou shalt not kill.
And they'll say, well, no, if you commit murder, you're definitely going to hell.
And you'll say, well, the Bible says it's eternal life.
You can't lose your salvation.
And then they'll say, well, yeah, but isn't that a sin?
And it's like, well, yeah, so is having a bad thought.
So is telling a lie.
But they just don't get it because they are not saved.
They don't understand the Bible.
But you know, another reason why they have a weird interpretation?
Unsaved people are scared to death out there right now.
Now they might not tell you that at the door, but I'll tell you what, somebody who believes
in hell but is not saved, they are scared right now.
They do not know where they're going to spend eternity.
And this might be something that's hard to understand maybe.
You know, people that get saved at a young age, you might not have really felt that.
But you know, fear is a big motivator.
And fear of hell is what got me saved.
And I can tell you for a couple years before I got saved, I was scared pretty much every
single night where I was going to go.
Because I knew God was real.
I knew heaven and hell were real, and I had no clue how to get to heaven.
And I assumed it was by living a good life or doing what I thought was right.
And I knew that sometimes I just chose to disobey what I knew was right or I was rude
to my parents or whatever.
Let me tell you something.
Unsaved people, they are scared.
They do not know if they're going to heaven.
In 1 John 5 verse 13, these things have I written unto you that believe in the name
of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life and that ye may believe
in the name of the Son of God.
See, the Bible says that you can know you have eternal life, but the unsaved person
out there, they do not know where they're going to spend eternity.
Now we go door to door.
Some people are better at masking that than others.
Some people tell us they know they're going to heaven, and it's so obvious it's a lie.
They're just trying to get rid of us or say something cool, and they obviously feel no
shame in just telling a lie.
But they'll say they know they're going to heaven, and it's very obvious to us that they
have no idea whatsoever.
Some people are better at masking it.
I've talked a little bit about the Calvinists in this sermon, and they are probably the
group that's pretty good at masking the fact that they'll say that they know they're going
to heaven.
They don't know they're going to heaven, though.
Now, they're very confident they're one of the elect, and the reason why they're confident
is because they're doing good works and because they love God, quote unquote.
They must be one of the elect, even though that most of them are a bunch of, they go
out and they drink all the time, they all have television, and it's just like, in what
ways are you doing all these great works for God?
They never go soul-winning.
They never seem to really read the Bible much, but they'll do a good job of making it seem
like they know, because they'll say, well, it's by grace alone.
It's not our works at all, and oh, I know I'm going to heaven, but they don't know because
they're basing it on their works, and you cannot know if you're going to heaven if you're
basing it on your works, because you do not know where the cutoff line is.
You don't know if it's up here.
You don't know if it's down here.
They do not know.
Now, they're very confident they're one of the elect.
We had a video on our old channel where this guy was talking about how the Puritans, who
were Calvinists, how it was known in history books that right before they died, they were
scared to death.
They would let out what their feelings actually were.
They were scared they were going to hell, and their whole life they had just pretended
like they knew.
They said they were one of the elect.
They knew they were going to heaven, but the true reality came out on their deathbeds that
they were scared where they were going, but you as a saved person, you don't have to fear
eternity, because when you believe on Jesus Christ, you have eternal life.
Now, I'm not saying you can never have any doubts whatsoever as a Christian, but realize
that if you're living in sin, that doesn't negate the fact that you're saved, because
if you believe on Jesus Christ, it's a done deal, and these false prophets do a good job
of scaring people, people that get saved and then they preach how you've got to make this
change in your life.
That's nowhere in the Bible.
The Bible never says that works are automatically going to follow salvation, and so unsaved
people, they are afraid of their eternal destiny, so when they say work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling, they automatically assume it's saying fear and trembling of hell.
Why?
Because they're scared they're going to hell, and so they're saying, man, we've got to do
good works to prove we're one of the elect, so we won't go to hell.
They're scared to death about their eternity, so when they see these verses, that's how
they interpret them, and one other thing, one other reason why I think they misinterpret
these verses is simply they do not understand the depth of the Bible.
When you get saved and you start going to church and you hear the preaching, you start
realizing this book has the answers to everything in life.
But before that, when you don't know much about the Bible, you kind of assume everything's
about salvation.
When I first got saved, the only thing I really cared about was whether or not somebody believed
salvation was by grace through faith and whether they believed in eternal security.
I didn't realize there was all these other important issues, and unsaved people, they
certainly don't know that the Bible talks about everything, but the Bible is incredibly
in depth, and when you've been at a church like this for a while, you really start to
realize that.
Now, I want you to turn back to Philippians 2 real quickly, and this is a famous passage
that people use to say that you've got to do good works, you know, a famous passage
false prophets will use, but there's a verse here, or not a verse, but a word that I've
not focused on that's really the key for us as believers to understand, because obviously
we know that you don't have to do good works to be saved.
But what can we draw from this?
Notice when it says, work out your own salvation.
Notice that word own.
Now, in the context here, these people are already saved, so he's not really talking
about how, you know, in order to be saved, obviously that's a personal choice, but he's
telling people that are already saved, work out their salvation, and realize this is an
individual thing.
He says, your own salvation.
So when he's preaching the word, he's saying, you individually, you have the choice to make
whether or not you're going to work out your own salvation or not.
See, when we hear the preaching of God's word, we need to not look at other people and worry
about whether or not they're doing it.
We need to worry about ourselves, not worry about, well, is so-and-so reading the Bible,
is so-and-so praying, is so-and-so coming to church, is so-and-so going to so many?
Worry about ourselves, because I don't know about you, but I have a lot of issues that
I still need to fix.
You know, if Pastor Jimenez was waiting for me to become perfect, you know what, I'd be
here for a lot longer.
I still have a lot of things I'm trying to work out, so you know, when I hear preaching,
I need to worry about my own salvation.
I need to worry about, man, how can I apply this to my life?
Even sermons I preach, I look at them and I'm like, man, I really need to apply this
to my life.
This is an individual thing.
When we make the decision, what are we going to do with the salvation that we have?
Now let me just quickly give you a couple different ways that I would like to see people
in this room work out their salvation.
Couple quick things.
One, for people that have a desire to be a pastor or an evangelist, or have had that
desire at one time, I would like to see you work out your salvation and reach that goal.
I would like to see a lot of great churches start from this church.
Now I don't believe that every single person has that calling on their life.
I know not everybody has that calling, but I do believe that certain people have been
touched with that calling.
They have that desire, and they've been put in a position where they can be a pastor one
day, and I'd like to see many pastors, many evangelists, many churches started from this
room.
This is an individual thing, because when it comes to being a preacher, there's a lot
of people that decide one day they want to be a preacher, and a lot drop out somewhere
along the lines.
This is an individual thing that everyone's got to make their own decision of what they
wanted to do.
Now, if I was being completely honest with you, the first time I had a desire to be a
preacher was when I was 19 years old.
It was a year after I got saved.
I preached my first sermon from Matthew 7, verses 22 through 23.
The church I went to was a Baptist church by name, but they met in a movie theater.
They were kind of like a non-denominational type church, and so meeting in a movie theater,
my first sermon I ever preached, I was looking up at the crowd.
It's intimidating preaching when you're looking down at everybody, but imagine your first
sermon and everybody's like 10 rows back.
I'm yelling.
It's my first ever sermon, and I'm petrified and everything like that.
Nobody's near the front.
It was pretty difficult, but that was the first time I ever had a desire to be a pastor.
You say, well, over the last 14, 15 years, have you always kept that desire?
Honestly, there have been times where it's waned, and it's gone away.
You go through ups and downs in your life.
There's been times where I started wondering, maybe I don't really want this in my life.
But honestly, one thing that always brought me back was it's not really a question of
what I want in my life.
It doesn't really matter what we want.
It matters what God wants.
For me personally, I knew very clearly that that's what God wanted me to do with my life.
He wanted me to be a preacher of His word.
Obviously, we're all supposed to be preachers door-to-door, but I mean to actually lead
a church.
It was very obvious to me that that's what God wanted with my life.
That just kind of came back to my mind.
When I wanted to backside, when I wanted to fade, it's just like, well, who cares what
I want?
It doesn't matter if I want to stay six months into the Philippines, man, obviously we get
a lot of people saved here, but this is so much work.
I'd rather just be one of the church members, just kind of hang out and relax.
It doesn't matter what I want.
It matters what God wants.
If you're someone who says, you know what, I believe that God wants me to be a pastor,
you know what?
You need to fulfill that.
You need to follow your salvation, because we are in desperate need for good churches.
You say, well, you know, Brother Stuckey, I've never had that desire.
I've never wanted to be a pastor.
That's fine, because a church like this, we just had worker appreciation Sunday.
If you notice, there's a lot of great things that we're doing.
There's a lot of things to do at a church.
And honestly, the more help you have, the more workers you have, the more you can do.
So we need men at this church to be devoted workers and to be at home devoted husbands,
devoted fathers that have a personal walk with God, that they know the scriptures, they
know the Bible.
They can teach their family and train up the next generation.
All men need to be involved in this, whether or not you want to be a pastor or not.
We need moms to say, you know what, I don't have to just sit on the sidelines, but I can
be out there going soul winning, and I can do the best job I can to be a great mom and
a great wife.
Obviously, we need zealous soul winners every single week preaching the gospel.
We need to work out our salvation here in Sacramento, California.
And here's one thing I can promise you when it comes to the churches in the Philippines.
When it comes to the churches in the Philippines, other churches have the money.
They have the resources.
They have the members.
They have everything.
But you know what they don't have is the Spirit of God upon their lives, and I promise you
we're going to outwork every single one of those.
And I believe that's the same here in Sacramento, but at the same time, this is still an individual
thing where you have to work out your own salvation.
So let us all try to apply this to our lives.
Let us close in a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be in your house this evening.
I ask you to help us to apply this to our lives, help us, including myself, to look
at my life and realize I need to work as hard as I can and try to accomplish something
great in this life, God, and we just pray that you'll help with us, and we know that
you will, God.
We pray this in Jesus' name.