Now today in churches, there's a lot of preaching going on, and I don't think that there's any
shortage of motivational preaching, and encouraging preaching, and even some preaching that is
inspiring and maybe even preaching, but one thing that I think is lacking more than any
other type of preaching is doctrinal preaching. We need doctrinal preaching. That's the first
thing he said. He said, Preach the word, be instant, in season, out of season, reprove,
rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and what? Doctrine. Doctrine. He said in 1 Corinthians
14, if you're going to prophesy, you're going to preach, let it be by doctrine. Preach doctrine.
Preach what the Bible teaches about doctrine. Now, the doctrine that I want to preach about
is basically some of the doctrine that involves our soul winning, and that's what I want to
preach on this morning, the doctrine of sin, because when we go out soul winning, we go
out and knock on doors and win and keep it to Christ, the first thing that we establish
with people is that they're a sinner. That's what I do. Whenever I knock on their door,
before I need to show them the need for salvation, before they can understand what it means to
be saved from their sins, as the Bible says, to be saved from the penalty of their sins
of going to hell and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ their savior, the first thing they
need to see is that they're a sinner. Now, why is that so important? Well, turn, if you
would, to 1 John. You're in Revelation 21. Just go back a few pages, and I'm going to
deal with this subject in great depth this morning, because even people who've been saved
a long time can sometimes not quite comprehend some of the things that I'm going to lay out
this morning, and we need to know what we're talking about and understand why we believe
the things that we believe. See, the first verse I ever show anybody that I'm going to
read the Gospel to is Romans 3.23. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Why is that so important? Because
it says right here in 1 John 1.8. 1 John 1.8 says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and what is not in us? The truth is not in us. Look at verse 10. If we say
that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. Of course, Jesus
Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but
by me. And let me tell you something. A person who does not admit that they're a sinner,
if they say that they have no sin, if they say that they've not sinned, God's word is
not abiding in them. The truth is not abiding in them. The Spirit of Christ is not abiding
in them. They are not saved. You must believe that you have sinned and that you're a sinner
in order to be saved. That's what the Bible says to you. But, look if you would at Revelation
21 where we started. Let's go back over there. There's another verse I like to use when I'm
out soul winning. First I like to show people Romans 3.23 that they're a sinner, and then
I show them that there's a penalty for sin where the Bible says for the wages of sin
is death. But then I take them to Revelation and I show them the second death. Look at
Revelation 20 verses 14 and 15. It says, and death and hell were cast into the lake of
fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life
was cast into the lake of fire. That's talking about hell. Look if you would at Revelation
28.1.8. Let's start in verse 7. I always show this verse, Revelation 21.8, but in verse
7 it says, he that overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall
be my son. But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers
and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth
with fire and brimstone which is the second death. The first point I want to make this
morning is that number one, you've got to believe that you're a sinner in order to be
saved. You have to believe that you sinned. But number two, no sin is allowed into heaven
whatsoever. No sin can enter heaven. No sinful person can enter into heaven. There is no
sin at all. Heaven is a perfect place. That's what's so great about heaven. As he said,
I make all things new, everything is new, everything is different, everything is according
to God's will. That's why we pray, we say, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven
because no sin can enter into heaven, not even one. That's why he even said all liars
shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. But it's worse than
that. Look at verse 27. If you're in Revelation 21, go to verse 27. And there shall in no
lies entered into it, talking about entering into heaven, anything that defileth. Neither
whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh how many lies? Or maketh a lie. But who doesn't
know who is going to be there? They which are written in the Lamb's book of life. Now
you say, wait a minute, Pastor Anderson, I'm confused. If the Bible says here that no sin
can enter heaven, no liar will enter into heaven, no murderer will enter heaven, no
one who even makes a lie will enter into heaven, but then he said that the nations of them
which are saved are going to be there, and he said those which are written in the Lamb's
book of life are going to be there, how can these things be? Because we're all sinners,
aren't we? We all commit sin. But no sin can enter heaven. People will try to say, well
when he says all the liars, that's talking about somebody who lies all the time. No sin
can enter heaven. No sin can enter heaven. The only way to go to heaven is to be saved
and to have your sins forgiven and washed away and separated from us as far as the east
is from the west. Now turn, if you would, to Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7. We've
got Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans. Romans chapter 7. You see a lot of times people
will pull up these lists in the Bible of people who are not going to be in heaven, like in
Revelation 21. There's a similar list in Galatians where he lists drunkards, he lists a lot of
other things, and people will try to twist these scriptures to say, well if someone's
drinking they're not saved. Well that isn't true. A person can drink and still be saved.
Because whosoever believeth in him shall not perish forever. I'm going to explain to you
why that is this morning. Look at Romans chapter 7. It says in verse 14 of Romans 7, for we
know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal. Carnal means fleshly. He says, sold under
sin. For that which I do, I allow not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate,
that do I. Say that five times fast. If then I do that, which I would not, I consent under
the law that it is good. But look at verse 17. Now then, it is no more I that do it,
but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not.
For the good that I would, I do not. But the evil which I would not, that I do. And I know
this is a very tongue-tasting course of scripture, but try to follow what he's saying here. Now
if I do that, I would not. It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Verse 21. I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight
in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members, members are
body parts, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the
law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so then with the mind I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
You see, the moment that you believe on Jesus Christ, you remember Adam back in the Garden
of Eden when he was told, in the day that thou eatest of the fruit of the knowledge
of the tree of good and evil, thou shall surely die? His spirit died. And the moment that
you believe on Jesus Christ as your savior, your spirit is resurrected. You're a new creature
your spirit is reborn, but your flesh stays the same. I mean, did anybody notice a difference
in your flesh when you got saved when you believed on Christ? Is your flesh perfect?
No, you still have the same physical ailments, you still have the same sinful nature, and
let me tell you something, your flesh will never change. It will never become righteous.
It is impossible, flip over to chapter 8 if you would, verse 7, chapter 8 verse 7 says,
because the carnal mind, the mind of the flesh, he's saying, the fleshly mind, is enmity against
God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be, so that they that are
in the flesh cannot please God. You see, our flesh, our physical body and our physical
mind without the spirit, without God, and without the new creature that God created
of our spirit when we were saved, can't do the right thing. Our flesh wants to do everything
that's wrong. Our flesh wants to be greedy, wants to steal, wants to lie, wants to look
upon the opposite gender with lust, wants to watch every DVD in every Hollywood movie
that they put out, wants to do everything wrong. That's our flesh, but when we got saved,
God created a new man, the spiritual man, but guess what? We still are in the flesh.
And so there's a war going on in our body, the Bible says. The flesh lusted against the
spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and the two are contrary, one to another,
so that you cannot do the things you would. What was Paul saying with all that? I would,
I would not, I'd try to do the things, you know. What is he saying? He's saying, look,
I want to do what's right after the inward man. My spirit wants to do what's right. Have
you ever heard this saying, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak? That's what
this is talking about. My spirit wants to do right. You know, I want to go to church,
I want to read the Bible, I want to pray, I want to stop sinning, but he said I find
another law in my body. I find my flesh is pulling me in the other direction. He said
every day, every day the flesh is trying to draw us into sin. Every day, the lust of the
flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life is trying to draw us back into sinful
habits every single day, and every day we're going to sin. We're going to make him safe.
That's why John, one of the greatest men in the Bible said, if we say that we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. I mean, we sin on a daily basis
because the Bible even says the thought of foolishness is sin. I mean, we sin on a daily
basis because we're living in the flesh. And let me tell you something, just because you're
saved does not mean that you can't go back and commit the same type of sins that you
committed before you were saved, because that same flesh is still there. You've got to walk
in the spirit that you might not fulfill the lust of the flesh. But you see, no sin
can enter into heaven. That's why the Bible said there will be no liar there, there will
be no drunk there. Not that a person who's saved can't do those things on this earth
in the flesh, because let me tell you what, they can do those things. But the moment that
you breathe your last breath, when the flesh dies, the flesh will be gone forever, your
soul and spirit will go to heaven, and you will never sin again. You'll never sin again.
But you see, when the unbeliever dies, the body dies. They don't have a living spirit
that will go live with the Father in heaven, with Jesus Christ in heaven. And so the moment
that their body dies, their soul goes down into hell. And they are basically punished
and tormented in hell for all of eternity. You see, the believer's body dies, and the
soul and spirit go up to be with the Lord in heaven. To be absent from the body is to
be present with the Lord, the Bible teaches. The unbeliever, his soul descends into hell,
his body is buried in the ground, just like the believer's body is buried in the ground.
And then at the first resurrection, also known as the rapture, that body is going to be resurrected
in a brand new, perfect, sinless body. So, on that resurrection day, when the trumpet
sounds and we're resurrected, if we're dead in Christ at that time, or maybe we'll be
alive and remain until that time, who knows, at that moment, we'll be changed in a moment
and twinkling of an eye. And the Bible says in Philippians 3, 21, that he shall change
our vile body, that it may be fastened like unto his glorious body, according to the working
whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. The only way to go to heaven
is to be sinlessly perfect. And let me tell you something, none of us lives a sinlessly
perfect life. We've got to be a new creature. He's got to create the new creature. We've
got to have our spirit regenerated so that when we die, when we breathe our last breath,
the body and the sinful flesh will die, and we can go to heaven and live in a perfect
place and never sin again. That's why you'll never sin again when you go to heaven, because
you won't have this flesh anymore. You won't have the fleshly mind. You won't have the
fleshly body. And so the first thing I want to establish there is that no sin can enter
into heaven. You've got to be saved. You've got to believe on Jesus Christ and he'll wash
all your sins away. Now, here's what a lot of people will say. They'll say, well, in
order to be saved, you've got to repent of your sins. You have to turn away from your
sins to be saved. But wait a minute. That's not what the Bible says. The Bible makes it
clear that there's only one thing you have to do to be saved, and that's believe. The
Bible says in the most famous verse in the whole Bible, John 3, 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. What must I do to be saved? And they said, believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, and I shall be saved at my house. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me has everlasting life. Jesus saith unto her, I am the resurrection
and the life he that believeth in me, though he were dead, talking about the spirit, yet
shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. He believeth thou this?
That's what he said. He said, I'm 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. Now look,
if he said it's for whosoever believeth, if he said it's everyone that believeth, that
means if there's somebody who believes on Christ who isn't saved, then he lied. Because
he said that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life. Because
he said over and over that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. He
said, but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness. Faith is not something that is just part of salvation.
Faith is all that is necessary for salvation. It's by believing on Jesus Christ, that's
what he said. So the first thing we establish is that look, you're a sinner. If you say
that you don't sin, if you're going to sit there and tell me that you never did anything
wrong this week, you're a liar. And the Bible says you're a liar. Tell me that you turned
from all your sins and repented from all your sins. Oh, I repented of all my sins? Yeah,
right. You, it's garbage. You've done wrong this week. I promise you, I promise you I've
done wrong. You have thought a foolish thought. You may have told a lie. You may have not
done something that you should have done because the Bible says to him that knoweth to do good
and doeth not, to him it is sin. And so you go through life sinning. And if you say that
you don't have any sin, you're a liar and the truth is not in you. If you say that you've
never sinned, then you're calling him a liar. Everyone sins. Everyone. Children this week,
you've disobeyed your parents at some point. You might have skipped a day on reading your
Bible when the Bible says thou shalt read therein all the days of your life. You might
have went without praying this week when the Bible says that it is a sin not to pray. You
could go through life and name sin after sin after sin that we commit. You've got to admit
that you're a sinner. You must believe that you're a sinner. But number two, no sin can
enter into heaven. So you're going to have to be reborn. You're going to have to be regenerated.
It doesn't mean you're going to stop sinning on this earth, but it does mean that when
the flesh is gone, you'll never sin again. And that until then, there will be a war going
on between the new man and the old man. They're going to keep fighting each other. Isn't this
the battle that we fight every day? Every day, the old Steven Anderson wants to rule
and reign in my life. Every single day, the old Steven Anderson wants to draw me into
all kinds of sin. Justin represents here the old Steven Anderson. Before I got saved,
this is all there was. Just the old man. Sinning, not able to please God, not able to do what
was right. Now the moment I got saved, we didn't change him. God didn't change this
Steven Anderson at all. No, he's still the old Steven Anderson. This is the flesh. The
spirit was dead. The spirit was not even in the picture, because the body, soul, and spirit.
But the moment that the old Steven Anderson here believed on Jesus Christ, God resurrected
the spirit of Steven Anderson, and now we have the new Steven Anderson. So this is the
flesh, and this is the spirit. Here I am, standing behind the pulpit, I'm Steven Anderson
here, try to get me out of the way. He doesn't like this dude. Take my spot. He doesn't like
the fact that he's being replaced. He wants to run things. He doesn't want to just sit
back and say, get out of here. He doesn't want me to sit here and make all the, he doesn't
want to go to church, and I'm going to drag his carcass to church. And he doesn't want
to go to church. You will go to church! Hey look, read this Bible right here, read it!
You see, now here's the thing. Who is going to decide who's in charge here between us?
There's going to be a fight every day going on. The deciding factor is who's stronger.
That's who's going to win. Now if I'm stronger than him, every single day, it's going to
get easier and easier just to literally kill him. Just destroy him, get him out of there.
Throw him on the ground, step on him, and say, no, I'm the boss. I'm running things
here. That's the fight that's going on literally. Let me ask you something. What if he eats
three square meals a day? What if he eats at an all-you-can-eat buffet, breakfast, lunch,
and dinner? And what if I'm just on a ration of just bread and water? What if he's going
to the gym and exercising every day? He's eating all kinds of great food, and I'm basically
just sitting around eating bread and water. Who's going to be stronger? He's going to
be stronger. And I'm going to be like, I want to go to church. No! Can we read the Bible?
Shut up! I want to watch CSI Miami. Can we just maybe read one chapter? No! We're missing
the best part of the movie. He's going to be stronger. And this is the way it is in
our life. If we feed the flesh, the flesh is going to take over. I mean, if it's just
constantly just TV, movies, magazines, and just rock and roll, and just everything that's
just the flesh, the flesh, the flesh. The flesh is getting stronger every time. Every
time you give in to sin, every time you fill your mind with junk, every time you listen
to wrong things, every time you look at things you shouldn't look at, you're just feeding
the flesh. He's going to take over. It's going to rule in your life. If you go to church,
read the Bible, pray, you're feeding the Spirit. You're feeding the new man. He's going to
get stronger and stronger and win the battle. It doesn't mean there's not going to be battle.
It doesn't matter how weak he gets. He'll keep fighting. He'll keep trying as long as
he's alive and kicking. This is why so many people believe on Jesus Christ as their Savior
and you look at their life and you don't see a change many times in how they live. Because
God doesn't change the old man. And if they're going to walk in the flesh, they're going
to fulfill the lust of the flesh. But if they put on the new man, that's when you'll look
at them and you won't even say, wow, what a change. You'll say, wow, it's like he's
a different person. I mean, when somebody gets saved and they start living the Christian
life and walking the new man, it's like a whole new person. But let me tell you something,
other people get saved and they are truly saved if they believe on Jesus Christ. But
this guy is ruling and reigning in their life. The flesh. He's taking over. So there's constantly
a battle going on and every day I have to just, no! Die! Every day. Go ahead, sit down.
It's true. This is a Bible doctrine. He said it's a war. Daily, warring against the law
of the inward man, the mind, is the flesh. It's a war that's going on. Now look at the
Bible, if you would, at 1 John 3. 1 John 3. 1 John 3. The Bible says in 1 John 3, now
everybody knows the term born again, right? We've heard that as many times, you know,
born again. And in the chapter, John 3, when he said you must be born again, he explained
what that entails. He said, you know, whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have
eternal life. He basically explained that being born again is believing on Jesus Christ.
That's how you get born again. There's no mention in that chapter of Nicodemus turning
away from his sins or repenting of his sins or stop sinning, Nicodemus. If you just stop
sinning, Nicodemus, no. He said you've got to be born again and the way you do that is
by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ because he that believeth on him is not condemned.
Explain that. No mention of not sinning. When you're born again, is your flesh born again?
No, your flesh is the same old flesh. It's going to die one day and be resurrected. The
flesh will. But the moment you got saved, your spirit was born again. The new man was
born again, right? Remember our illustration here? This guy is not born again. I'm not
talking about Justin. But you know, the old Steven Anderson, the flesh, the body, look,
it's not a perfect body, folks. I mean, my finger goes out of joint every time I make
a fist with my right hand. We have problems with our body. My flesh wants to sin. It's
not perfect. It's not born again. The spirit is born again. But look what he says in 1
John 3. Now keep in mind, you always want to take the Bible in context. You're not going
to believe this, but before you read 1 John chapter 3, you should read 1 John 1 and 2
because it goes 1, 2, 3. Does that make sense? Chapter 1 explains, look, we sin. We have
sinned. If we say that we don't sin, we lie. But look what he says in 1 John 3, 9. It says,
Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin. You see that? For his seed remaineth in him
and he cannot sin because he is born of God. Now, people will take this verse and try to
twist it and say, people who are saved never sin, but go on. We just read in chapter 1
that if you say that, you're a liar. Only the one who is born of God doesn't sin. And
that's the spirit. That's the new man. The flesh is not born of God. The old man has
never been born of God until the resurrection, which hasn't happened yet, which is going
to happen in the future someday. And so this is talking about the new man, which is why
when the flesh dies, when we go to heaven, we'll never sin again. Now, people will try
to go back to the Greek and say, well, you know, if you go back to the Greek, this is
talking about somebody who sins a lot or sins continually or sins all the time. That's not
what it says. It says, whosoever is born of God does not commit sin. For his seed remaineth
in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God. Flip back, if you would, to 2 Corinthians
chapter number 5. 2 Corinthians chapter number 5. 2 Corinthians chapter number 5. What do
you have to do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
I quoted several verses. I could quote a hundred for you. I quoted about 10 or 11, 12. I could
quote more. We could go on all day with that. I mean, there are so many verses that say
that salvation is by believing on Jesus Christ. I mean, it says again and again and again.
John 3, 36 is a good one. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, but he that
believeth not the Son shall not see life for the wrath of God and light of God. He said,
these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that
you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son
of God. But in 2 Corinthians 5, 17 it says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold, some things are become new. Is that
what it says? No. It says old things are passed away, behold, all things have become new.
If this is talking about our lifestyle, then we would never sin, but we know that we do
sin on a daily basis. It's talking about the new creature, the new man. This guy doesn't
sin. This guy will continually sin, and that's why there's a battle going on every single
day. But many will teach that you have to repent of your sins to be saved. You have
to turn from your sins to be saved. Turn, if you would, in your Bible to Acts chapter
19, verse number 4. Acts 19, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts. Now it's amazing to me how
these things can get repeated over and over again and they're never found in the Bible.
This phrase, repent of your sins, or repent of sin, is never found in the Bible even once.
It never is. Show it to me. Show me repent of sin in the Bible. The closest thing you
can find to repent of sin in the entire Bible is in Acts chapter 8, when a man who's already
saved, a man who already believed on Jesus Christ, the Bible's clear that he believed
on Christ as his savior. A man who's already saved does something wrong, and he's told
by Peter, repent of this therefore thy wickedness. So the closest thing to repenting of your
sin, that word, is where it says repent of your wickedness, and it's talking to somebody
who's already saved. You know what repent usually is talking about? Believers. And you
know what repent is often talking about? God and self-repenting. And you know what? You
can repent of anything. The church that laid out the seal was lukewarm. They were neither
cold nor hot, and he told them, be zealous therefore and repent. He said repent of being
lukewarm. It had nothing to do with salvation. Now keep your finger there. Where did I have
a turn? Keep your finger in Acts 19. Go back to Jonah chapter 3. At the end of the Old
Testament, you find the 12 minor prophets. One of them is the book of Jonah. You see,
Pastor Anderson, why do you make such a big deal about this, repenting of your sins, not
being part of salvation? Well, look at Jonah 3.10, and I'll show you why this is such important
teaching. Jonah 3.10 says this, and God saw their works. What did he see? Their works.
God saw their works, and then he's going to tell us what those works were. God saw their
works that they turned from their evil way, and God repented of the evil which he had
said that he would do unto them and he did not. The Bible says that turning from your
evil way works. So if you believe that a person has to turn from their evil way, turn
from their sins, you're saying that salvation is by works. And if you say to get saved you
just have to repent of your sins and believe on Jesus Christ, here's what you're saying.
Do works and repent and believe on Jesus Christ. That's what you're saying. No, my Bible says
for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God
not of works lest any man should boast. The Bible says but to him that it worketh not
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodliest faith is counted for righteousness. And so
turning from your evil ways is works. Turning from your sins is works. And today we have
people preaching a works-based salvation when they say in order to be saved you have to
turn from this and turn from drinking and turn from this. No! You believe on Jesus Christ
to be saved. And it's impossible to turn from all your sins while the flesh is still
with you. Until this guy is put in the grave once and for all, you will continue to sin.
Until he's gone. You'll never turn from all your sins. You're going to be able to turn
from this guy every day. And so it's works. But turn to Acts 19 core. So the Bible explains
to us what repentance is. Repentance is a change or a turning, right? A turning from
whatever. Now let me ask you something. If being saved is by believing on Jesus Christ,
what needs to change in order for you to be saved? What you believe has to change. I mean
if you believe that you're going to heaven because of how good you are, that's going
to have to change or else you're not going to heaven. If you think that Buddha is taking
you to heaven or Islam or Mohammed or Joseph Smith is going to take you to heaven, that's
going to have to change or you're not going to heaven. If you are trusting in the Roman
Catholic Church, if you're trusting in the priests to forgive your sins, if you're trusting
in the Holy Father, blasphemously so called, the Pope to get you to heaven, that is going
to need to change. Because you can't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ if you believe on
all these other people to get you to heaven, all these other things. If you're trusting
in your own works to get you to heaven, that's going to have to change. But let me tell you
something. Does your lifestyle and habits have to change in order for you to be saved?
No. That would be working your own way to heaven. That would be works. And the Bible
says it's by faith alone. If you have to change the way that you live, you'd have to change
everything about the way you live and nobody's ever done that because they have the flesh.
That's why we're saved by faith. So what did it mean when John the Baptist said, repent
of your sins and believe the Gospel? Did he say repent of your sins and believe the
Gospel? No. Look what it says in Acts 19.4. Then said Paul, John, verily baptized with
the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, so when he preached repentance, what
was he preaching? What was he saying? Saying unto the people that they should believe on
him, which should come after him, that is on Christ Jesus. So his message of repentance
was to believe on Christ because they did not believe on Christ. He looked at the Pharisees
and the Sadducees who were trusting in their man-made religion to get them to heaven and
he looked at them and he said, repent and believe the Gospel. Now the Philippian jailer
didn't believe anything. He just walked in and didn't know what he believed so he just
said, what do I have to do to be saved? He wasn't told to repent. He was just told to
believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The only reason those people had to be told
to repent is because they were believing in a false religion and they needed to change
what they believed. Change what they believed. Repent and believe the Gospel. Now my son
Solomon, when he got saved, did he have to change what he believed when he got saved?
He didn't really believe anything. He grew up. He was not saved. He's a sinner. He was
growing up. He's a sinner. He's in the flesh. If he did not get saved, where would he go?
To hell, right? He made the choice to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as his savior and
that's why he's on his way to heaven. But did he have to repent of Roman Catholicism?
Did he have to repent of Judaism? Did he have to repent of believing in an idol and turn
to the living God? No. Because he didn't believe in any of those things. He just had to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ as his savior. Look at Matthew 21. Matthew, first book of the
New Testament, Matthew 21. I hope I'm making this clear this morning because we want to
understand this doctrine of our sins. We sin. Wherefore is by one man? Sin entered into
the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. We
have all sinned. Because of our sins, the Bible says that we are destined for the lake
of fire. Jesus Christ came to this earth, paid the penalty for our sins. The moment
we believe on Jesus Christ, he forgives all our sins. He creates a new creature. He resurrects
us from the dead spiritually and one day we will go to be with him in heaven in a perfect
place and we will no longer sin. But do we have to turn from our sins to be saved? I'm
not seeing it in the Bible, folks. It says right here in Matthew 21, 32, for John came
unto you in the way of righteousness and he believed him not. So John the Baptist came
preaching. Did the Pharisees believe him? No. But the publicans and the harlots believed
him. The harlots what? Prostitute. He said but the publicans and the harlots believed
him and he, when he had seen it, repented not afterward that you might believe him.
Here's what he's saying. John came, you didn't believe him. The publicans and the
harlots believed him. You saw the publicans and the harlots believed him and you did not
change and believe when you saw that happen. You repented not. Did he say you didn't quit
drinking and that's why you're not saved? The Pharisees were very separated people,
weren't they? Did you know what the word Pharisee means, the separated ones? Oh, they lived
a separated life but Jesus said except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness
of the scribes and Pharisees. You shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
But how can your righteousness exceed some religious fanatic like the Pharisees because
he said he found in him not having my own righteousness which is of the law but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of God by faith. And so we don't
have to repent of our sins to be saved and show me one place in the Bible where it says
repent of your sins and you'll be saved. But you see every time they see the word repent
they'll try to just add that in, of your sins. Every time they see repent of your
sins. What about repent and believe the gospel? What about in 1 Timothy 2.25 where it says
where God her adventurer will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. That can
be repentance too, just acknowledging the truth when you didn't acknowledge it before.
So you don't have to turn from your sins to be saved. But there's another trap that people
will fall into. And this is my final point. Another trap that people will fall into, do
we believe that you have to admit you're a sinner to be saved? Oh yeah. Because if you
say you don't have any sin, you're deceiving yourself and the truth is not in you. But
this is what they'll say. A person has to be very, very, very sorry for their sins.
That's what they'll say. You have to hate your sin. You have to see yourself as just,
and I've literally heard these used words. This is not me making this up. This is not
my way of thinking. But this is what they'll say. You have to see yourself as a vile, wretched,
disgusting sinner in the eyes of God in order to be saved. Who's ever heard that type of
use? In order to be saved, you have to realize just how wicked and wretched and vile you
are. It's like this emotional experience where if you weren't crying when you got saved,
you didn't really get saved. That's not true. When Philip got saved, he was rejoicing. When
Zacchaeus got saved, he was rejoicing. There's no mention of him crying. He was just happy
about it. And they'll make salvation into an emotional experience. And I've literally
heard preachers say that if they're giving the Gospel to somebody and that person doesn't
seem sad or sorrowful or crying, then they're not getting it. It's good news. The Bible
calls the Gospel to good news. When I get good news, I don't start crying. Now some
people might start crying about it, but most of the time if I gave somebody the Gospel
and they started crying, it was usually they were just crying just for an understanding
of how much Jesus loved them that he paid for their sins. They weren't crying. I'm so
horrible. I'm so wicked. I'm disgusting. Look, it's not about you. And we've made the Gospel
all about you. You're this and you're that. No, the Gospel's about what Jesus did on the
cross. That's what you've got to believe. You have to know you're a sinner. And here's
the biggest problem with this thing of you have to see yourself as just as wicked, vile,
wretched. Hold on a second. How bad do you have to be to go to hell? Do you have to be
a wretched, vile, disgusting? No. All you have to do is make one lie. And we give people
a false idea that only really bad people go to hell. So we're going to try to convince
them how really bad they are so that they'll think they're going there. No, my friend.
You are going there if you're a sinner and everybody's a sinner. It doesn't matter. And
people will just think, well, I'm not that bad. How many times do you knock their door
and give them the Gospel? And they say, well, I haven't done anything that bad. And then
people will try to convince them how bad they are. And they'll think, well, I'm just not
that bad. But that's not the point. You lied. That's not the point. You've lusted. You've
coveted. You've taken God's name. Whatever it is, you're a sinner. That's enough to take
you there. You don't have to realize just exactly how bad you are. And you know, if
you go around to people just telling them how disgusting and wicked and filthy they
are, they're probably just going to shut the door in your face before you even get to the
good news. I mean, think about it. Here's the good news. You are disgusting. It doesn't
make any sense. That's not what Jesus preached. Where do you see Jesus going up to people
and dressing them down? Only the people who thought that they were perfect, the Pharisees,
the Sadducees, didn't He expose their sins. But when He was at the publicans and harlots,
He didn't just go on and on and on. You know what He went on and on about? Eternal life,
everlasting life, believing on Christ, being saved, being born again, the living water.
That's what He went on and on about. That's the power of common salvation. Look, if you
would, at John Checker 8 verse 9. We're going to turn to two more places. John Checker 8
verse 9 on this final point. Let's do a quick review of what we've learned so far. We learned,
first of all, that a person has to admit that they're a sinner in order to be saved. We
also learned that no sin is allowed into heaven whatsoever. So in order to be saved and go
to heaven, they have to have their sins forgiven and washed away in the blood of the Lamb by
believing on Christ. The old man's going to have to die, eventually the flesh, and their
spirit and soul will go to heaven to be with Him eternally in heaven. They'll never lie,
they'll never do wrong, all things will be new. We establish that. The next thing that
we establish is that you don't have to turn from your sins or stop sinning to be saved
or else we're all in trouble. We're all in big trouble if that's what you have to do
to be saved because none of us has turned from our sins or repented of all our sins.
But have we believed on Jesus Christ? Praise the Lord, I have. We learned that. And the
last thing we've learned is that you don't have to sit there and have this big pity party
or feel sorry about your sins. And here's the word that's often used, conviction. Put
up your hand if you know what conviction, if you've heard that word, conviction. And
here's the thing about conviction. Conviction basically means guilt. That's what conviction
is, guilt. I mean, if somebody's convicted, what does it mean? What's the opposite of
being convicted? Not guilty. Conviction is a feeling of guilt. That's what conviction
is. And people will say if there's no conviction, there's no salvation. Now, hold on a second.
Do people have to just admit that they're guilty? Yes, they do have to admit they're
guilty. They have to admit, I've sinned. Yes, I've sinned. Yes, I deserve to go to hell.
I've sinned. But do they have to have a guilty feeling of conviction? Because that's what
conviction is, a guilty feeling. And I hear people all the time, I was just giving the
Gospel to somebody yesterday. Yesterday, I'm giving somebody the Gospel, and I'm trying
to show them it's just faith, it's just belief. Jesus paid it all. It's nothing you do. You
just have to believe on what Jesus did. Jesus is the Savior. Believe on Christ. And here's
what this person said. No, no, no, no. They said, you know, what about repentance? What
about repentance? I said, look. And I explained to them the biblical doctrine of repentance,
how, you know, you don't have to repent of your sins to be saved. You just have to believe
on Christ. And I was going through this, and this is what they said. There's got to
be that conviction. This is what they kept saying. There's got to be conviction. If there's
not that feeling of conviction, if there's not that, you know, that conviction there
and sorrow, they can't be saved. You know what's funny about these words, like conviction,
that have just become so ingrained in us? Did you know that the word conviction is never
used in this entire book one time? 31,000 and some verses in this book I'm holding in
my hand, the King James Bible. And not one of them says conviction. Not even one. So
why are we so dogmatic about something that the Bible doesn't say? There's got to be conviction.
It's not in the Bible. There's one place that a wording similar to conviction is used, convicted.
Let's look at it. John chapter 8 verse 9. This is the woman who was taken in adultery,
do you remember? And she stood before the Pharisees and they asked Jesus whether they
should stone her or not. And he told them, he that is without sin among you, let him
first cast his stone at her. Everybody know the story? Let him first cast his stone at
her. Look at verse 9. And they returned it being convicted by their own conscience. So
was God giving them the conviction? They were convicted by their own conscience. Went
out one by one beginning at the eldest even under the last and Jesus was left alone and
the woman standing in the midst and those people went to hell. The Pharisees who were
the ones convicted went to hell. They had a guilty feeling and then they went to hell.
You know Judas had a pretty guilty feeling too. You remember Judas Iscariot? He repented.
He repented of the sin. But he went to hell. He went afterward. After he betrayed Jesus
he went out and said to the Pharisees, I have betrayed the innocent blood. They said, what
is that to us? We don't care. We already arrested them. And Judas was so upset he had the thirty
pieces of silver that he sold Jesus. He was so upset he threw it on the ground. He just
threw it all over the temple and ran out. And what did he do? He went out and hanged
himself because he was so guilty. But the Bible says that he went to hell. Because being
sorry for your sins isn't what saves you. Feeling bad. Being convicted isn't what saves
you. It didn't save you. The only people in the Bible who were convicted in John 8
didn't get saved. People will often bring up the example of Felix. You don't have to
turn there. In Acts 24-25 it says, and as he reasoned, this is Paul preaching, and as
he reasoned of righteousness, temperance and judgment to come, Felix trembled. And they
say, that's the kind of preaching we need where people tremble. But did you know that
Felix is in hell right now? Because he did not receive Christ. He never believed on Christ.
Bad example. You know, bad example of the conviction. Bad example of the trembling and
shaking. You know, I wasn't shaking when I got saved. I'm not a Quaker. You know, I didn't
start shaking, but I'll tell you what, when I got saved, I just got on my knees by my
bedside with my mother. And my mother put me by the bedside there on my knees, and I
was with my mother. She showed me in the Bible several scriptures. And she went through the
Romans road with me. She showed me also the verse, verily I say unto you, he that heareth
my word, and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come
into condemnation, but is past from death and the light. She showed me all these scriptures,
and I got on my knees by the bedside with my mother, and I prayed, and I just said,
God, I know I'm a sinner. I don't deserve to go to heaven. I deserve hell, but I just
said, save me. I'm trusting you, Jesus. I believe on you as my Savior. You know, that's
the moment that I got saved, and nothing can ever take that away from me. It's eternal
life. It's the gift of God. It's everlasting life. Did I turn from my wicked, sinful past
of taking cookies from the cookie jar? You know, I was six years old. Did I turn from
my wicked past of putting, I used to steal the fruit roll up the Farley's fruit snacks.
You remember these little Farley's fruit snacks? My mom would buy a big box of them at Price
Club. I think now it's Costco. She'd get a big old thing of these fruit snacks, and we
were only allowed that one per day. But we would take extra. We would smuggle them back
to our bedroom. We'd be in bed under the covers eating them. And then we'd put the
wrapper underneath the mattress. And after years and years, we ended up moving the beds
around. My mom opened it up, and she saw all the evidence, all the Farley's wrappers. You
know, but then it had been so long we couldn't really get spanked because it had been years.
Since she couldn't really spank us for what we did years ago. But let me tell you something.
When I got saved, I got all the way saved, and I never ate more than one Farley's to
this day. No, that's not what salvation was. I turned from a wicked and sinful life of
watching the Smurfs when my parents told me no because Gargamel is satanic, and then I
never watched it again. That's not what it is. But anyway, that's not the point. But
the point is, hey, that's not what salvation was for me. Salvation was me trusting Jesus
as my Savior, believing on Christ. It was all about Jesus, that He died, that He buried,
that He rose again. And let me tell you something, I knew that without Jesus Christ I would not
be saved. And I knew there was nothing I could do. It wasn't how good I was. It was all about
believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. It didn't turn from my sin. I didn't have some extreme
guilt. I didn't start shaking as I thought of the Farley's fruit snacks. I didn't start
shaking as I thought of sneaking out after bedtime and playing with my toys. I wasn't
shaking. I wasn't crying. And many people today will say this, oh, it's so confusing
for children who grow up in a Christian home. Oh, it's so confusing for them because they're
not really sure if they're saved because they didn't have that dramatic change. They don't
have that testimony of turning from drugs and turning from drunkenness and adultery.
You know why they're confused? Because you're confusing them when you tell them that somebody's
saved because they gave up drugs or gave up alcohol. You're confusing them. Quit making
the Gospel confusing. The Gospel is simple. Now this morning I might be teaching you some
deep things doctrinally. And this morning's sermon is maybe a little more of the strong
meat of the Word. But there's nothing confusing about the fact that you're a sinner, you deserve
to go to hell, and there's nothing you can do about going to heaven. All you've got to
do is rely on Christ and He'll save you. Whoever you are, He said believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved. No matter who you are, no matter what you've done, no
matter what your sins are, if you just believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven
and call upon His name for salvation as your only way to heaven and trust Him to give you
eternal life. How complicated is it? Jesus did it all. It's nothing that you've done.
It's all Jesus, not you. All you've got to do is just receive that gift. Just believe
it. Just call upon Him. It's simple. And if you're trusting anything else, you're not
saved. If you're not trusting Jesus alone. But people are making it confusing, folks.
They'll confuse people when they'll say things like this. Oh, so and so knew they weren't
saved but they struggled with it for a month because they were afraid to come down the
aisle and get saved. What? You can get saved at your seat. You can get saved in your house.
You can get saved like I did by the bedside. You can get saved like I won my homework at
the Lord nine years ago in a hotel room at 12.30 a.m. when I got on my knees beside him
by the bedside and he just prayed and asked Jesus to save me. He was trusting Jesus alone.
You can get saved anywhere. You don't have to come down an aisle to get saved. You have
to get saved in church. And I guarantee you a person who grew up in a fundamental Baptist
church knows how to be saved. So why would they have to come down the aisle and have
somebody show them how to be saved if they've already been shown a million times? But you
confuse people like it's some big event of emotion and coming down an aisle, crying and
tick. No. It's faith, not an emotional experience. It's not turning from your sins. It's not
repenting of your sins. It's not a guilty feeling for your sins. It's not this feeling
of conviction or tears rolling down your face. Different people have different emotions.
I've given the Gospel to somebody. There was a story that was told a lot by Brother
Hyles back a long time ago. I heard this story told by Brother Hyles. It was a really good
story. He went out and told it to me and he went to talk to this guy and he gives him
the Gospel and the guy is like, what do you want? I just want to know if you were to die
today, if you were to go to heaven. No. Can I show you from the Bible how to be saved?
Yes. Very grubbed, really kind of a mean star guy. He shows him everything in the Bible
how to be saved. He shows him everything and he's like, do you believe this? Yes. It's
in the Bible, isn't it? Yes, I do believe that. Do you want to be saved? Yes. Let me
help you right now. You can pray this prayer. Dear Jesus, I went through the whole thing.
Thanks, bye. He told this story. I've had similar experiences. I just like his story.
Then he literally, a few hours later, the same day, knocks on a guy's door, gives the
guy the Gospel. The guy starts crying. This is so great. He prays. He asks Jesus to save
him. He gets on the phone. He's calling people. I just got saved. He's hugging Brother Hyles.
He's hugging everybody. That guy, he turned out he wasn't even saved. He turned out he
didn't even believe. He believed totally wrong, was not saved, didn't come to church,
nothing. Not that you have to go to church to be saved, of course, because many people
get saved and never go to church. This guy turned out later that he wasn't saved. The
guy who was so grub ended up coming to church that Sunday, getting baptized. He became a
deacon in the church and made it manifest that he was saved by becoming a soul winner
and all these other things. Not that you have to do any of those things to prove that
you're saved. But it was just clear that the one guy who was saved who had no emotion and
Mr. Emotional turned out to not even be saved. The emotion is not an issue. Whatever people
act or do on the outside, it's what's in their heart when they believe on Christ that determines
whether they're saved. If they don't believe on Christ, it doesn't matter how many tears
they shed or if they're beating on the floor, I'm so wretched, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry,
God. If they are believing in some other way to heaven, like the fact that they're giving
all that stuff up. And that's what a lot of people think. I know I'm going to heaven because
I gave up this lifestyle. Wrong. You better be putting your faith on Christ, because your
righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Your little giving up of sin is not going to do it. Believe
on Christ and thou shalt be saved. Now look, when we go out sowing, we show these people
verses. Romans 3.23, Romans 6.23, I show them Revelation 20, 14, and 15, Revelation 21.8.
That's all I show on lunchtime. Just what I just listed for you. I'll give you the listing
again quickly. Romans 3.23, Romans 6.23, Revelation 20, 14, and 15, Revelation 21.8. And at that
point I get off the subject of sin and I get on believing on Christ. And that's where I
want to spend most of my time. I spend about one minute on sin, just showing them you're
a sinner, you're on your way to hell. I spend about 10 or 15 minutes on the good news. Believing
on Christ, Jesus paid it all, eternal life, eternal salvation. But I want you as the church
member to understand what that first part is all about. Do you understand it? Why we
show in Revelation 21.8? And if we understand, it's one thing to know something, and then
there's another thing to know that you know it, and to know why you know it. And so let's
bow your heads and have a word of prayer. Father, I preached doctrine this morning,
maybe a little more of the strong meat of the word, went a little bit deeper this morning.
And God, I just pray that you help every single person who's here to clearly understand. I
know that those who are saved today are the ones who are going to be able to comprehend
spiritual things, dear God. And I just pray that these things would sink down and they
would know what they believe and why. That someone wouldn't be able to show them a verse
that says, well, no drunkard is going to be in the kingdom of heaven. And they'd think
that a person has to give up alcohol to be saved when it also says all liars are gone.
It also says the fearful. God, help us to know what we believe and why. And Father,
I pray that if there's someone here who's not saved today, that someone would take the
time and just explain to them how they can be saved and know for sure they're going
to heaven. Because that's the, what does a man profit from being so gay in the whole
world and lose his own soul? Help every single person to know for sure they're going to
heaven because they're trusting Jesus Christ alone as their Savior. And we love you and
thank you and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.