of God Almighty. And we have them in our hand, dear God. I pray that we would realize what
a treasure we have in the Bible, preserved in 2006, dear God, every word of God in the
King James Bible. Then Father, I just pray that you would help us to glean some great
truth from the Bible tonight. And in Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
Now this story starts out in Matthew 21 with a very familiar passage. It's the triumphal
entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. This is Palm Sunday, the holiday that we celebrate
by this. This is one week before he would raise from the dead. This is three days before
he would die on the cross. Now if you look at verse number one, it says,
And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Betphagee under the mount of
Olives, then sent Jesus to disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over against
you, and straightway you shall find an ashtide and a colt with her. Loose them and bring
them unto me. So you see, they get into town, and Jesus is coming toward Jerusalem. He says,
I want you to go ahead of me. And he says, when you walk, you're going to go around this
street and you're going to take a left, and you're going to find Jesus, because God knows
everything. And so Jesus Christ tells them there's going to be an ashtide and a colt
right there. He says, I want you to just walk up to that house and just untie them and just
take them. I mean, they're not theirs. Just go take them. And he says, if anybody tries
to stop you or says, you know, what do you think you're doing taking our animals, just
say, the Lord hath need of them. And the guy will just let you take them. And that's
exactly what happened. They go down there, and they just start loosening up these guys'
animals and taking them with them. And the man comes out and says, what are you doing?
What's this about? And he says, hey, the Lord hath need of them. And he said, OK, go right
ahead then. And they took them, they set Jesus on this. And this is the zenith of Jesus Christ's
ministry on this earth. I mean, this is the culmination of everything. I mean, you know,
he's been preaching. He's constantly been sending out his disciples. First, he sent
out the 12 two by two into every city preaching the gospel. Later, he ordained 70 apostles
and sent out those 70 men preaching the gospel throughout the whole kingdom. He's had these
great preaching services to thousands and feeding the 5,000, the 4,000, and later an
innumerable multitude. And it's just been building up and building up. And now Jesus
Christ is coming toward Jerusalem for the last time. In three days, he's going to die
on the cross. And he comes into town sitting on this donkey, this ass as the Bible calls
it, and he rides into town and people are cheering, people are yelling, they're shouting,
they're excited. They're saying, Hosanna, praise the Lord. This is the great King of
Israel. This is God's man that he promised that he would send in the Old Testament, the
Messiah, the Christ, God's anointed. And it's just an exciting day. It's a thrilling day.
And when it says a little bit later, if you look in verse number, let's see here, I got
the wrong verse. The Pharisees hear what's going on. Let me find this. Oh, here we go.
Look at verse number 15. Verse number 15, you'll see the reaction that some of the religious
leaders have. Because you have to understand, the people that are screaming and yelling
and cheering, these aren't really the religious crowd. This isn't really the Pharisees and
the scribes and the Sadducees and the people who were supposedly godly and religious. This
is just the multitude. This is just the crowd of just common people, just everyday people
who are excited. They've seen the great miracles. They've heard Jesus' great preaching, and
they're thrilled by it. Look at the jealousy of these religious leaders in verse number
15. It says, and when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that
he did, and the children crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David, they
were sore displeased, and said unto him, Here's how what these say, and Jesus saith unto them,
Yea, have ye never read? Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected
praise. You see, in another gospel, the Bible says, if you're reading in the book of Luke,
that when Jesus went into town and they're screaming and shouting and saying, Glory to
God, Jesus is here. He said, Don't you know that if these would hold their peace, that
even the stones would cry out? Because this has been prophesied from hundreds of years
ago. This is the great day of the Lord when Jesus Christ would enter Jerusalem. And he
said, If these would hold their peace and not cry out to me, he said, then the rocks
would begin to scream out and praise God, because it had to be fulfilled. Now, let me
point out a few things about this story. First of all, I want you to understand something
about the chronology here. Now, I preached on this a few months ago, but you have to
understand that when Jesus is coming into this city, it's not just an exciting day where
a lot of people are seeing him and shouting and glorifying God. This is a symbol of something
a lot deeper. Look, if you would, at Exodus chapter 12. Keep your finger there and go
back to Exodus chapter 12, and I'll show you something that you may not have noticed before,
but it's an Exodus chapter 12 about the Passover. Now, we know that Jesus Christ came into this
world for one reason. He said, I've come to seek and to save that which was lost. He said,
I've come to give my life a ransom for many. He says, I've come that you might have life
and that you might have it more abundantly. The word abundance means an excess quantity.
He says, I'm going to give you life that's eternal, that never ends, an endless supply
of life. He says, I came here to bring salvation. I came here to die on the cross, not to be
a great teacher, not to be as throughout this chapter they keep saying, oh, here's the great
prophet. This is more than a prophet. This is God in the flesh coming to die on the cross
for mankind. Now, look here in Exodus chapter 12, you'll see a foreshadowing of this day.
The Bible says in Exodus 12, verse number 2, this month shall be unto you the beginning
of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation
of Israel saying, in the tenth day of this month, so in the tenth day of the first month
he's saying, they shall take to them every man a lamb according to the house of their
fathers, a lamb for a house. And then look if you would at verse number 5, your lamb
shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. Ye shall take it out from the sheep
or from the goats, and ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month,
and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening, and
they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door
posts of the houses wherein they shall eat it. Now, let me explain to you what's going
on, and this is the story of the Passover, of course. Moses is about to lead the children
out of Israel out of the land of Egypt, and he gives them this command, God does, and
he says, this month from now on, I don't care whether it's the Egyptians say it's the fourth
month or July or September, he says, from now on this is going to be the first month
for you. It's going to be called Abib. And he says, this is going to be your first month,
and in the tenth day of this month, I want you to go to your flocks and your herds, and
I want you to pick out a lamb, and I want this lamb to be perfect, without blemish,
without spot. The best lamb that you have, it has to be a male lamb, he says. And he
says, I want you to take that lamb and set it aside on the tenth day of the month. And
they were to take that lamb and just watch it for those three days until the fourteenth
day at evening, which is six o'clock on the thirteenth day, because, just to explain it
to you quickly, the day started in the Bible on the evening. It starts at six p.m. the
next day, the next calendar day. A little different than we do it. That's why in Genesis
chapter one it says the evening and the morning were the first day. And so here they take
this lamb, and they set it aside. Now, they didn't kill it the same day, because God wanted
them to watch it for three days and make sure there was nothing wrong with it. Because he
said it's so important that this lamb have nothing wrong with it, because it's a picture
of Jesus Christ. I mean, it's a picture of the sinless life of Jesus Christ. It's a picture
of the perfection of the sacrifice that God was going to make when he sacrificed his own
life on the cross, when he sacrificed his own blood on the cross. And so they took it
out on the tenth day of the month. And then they waited through, the tenth day was a Sunday
in this case, on Palm Sunday that we're reading about in Matthew 21. That's Sunday, the tenth
day. Then Monday was the eleventh day. Tuesday was the twelfth day. Wednesday was the thirteenth
day. And at Wednesday night at six o'clock, it became the fourteenth day of the month.
Because that's the way the calendar went. That's when Jesus died on the cross on Wednesday
night. Contrary to what you might know as Good Friday. Now, Good Friday is a hoax, friend.
Because if Jesus were to die on the cross on Good Friday, well then that means he was
in the grave Friday night, Saturday night, and rose again Sunday morning. Now, maybe
I'm not the best at math, but that's one day and two nights in the grave. That doesn't
make any sense. If you think about it, if Jesus dies on Friday night, as the Catholic
Church has made so prevalent teaching, then that's only one day and two nights. Friday
night, Saturday night, and Saturday all day. Now, I don't think that God is that silly
when he says, the Son of Man shall be in the heart of the earth for three days and three
nights. I think God can count. And if you understand the foreshadowing here, Jesus Christ
being presented on his triumphal entry into Jerusalem is the exact parallel with them
getting out the lamb, putting the lamb out there, and saying, this is the Lamb of God.
This, and for everybody to see his greatness, for everybody to see his glory, for everybody
to see his perfection. Because three days later, on Wednesday night around 6 p.m., he's
going to give up the ghost on the cross and die for the sins of mankind. He is going to
be the Passover Lamb of Exodus chapter 12, fulfilled in the New Testament, culminated
in this great moment. And so you have to understand that this is a day that was prophesied in
many places in Exodus chapter 12 and several other places I could show you in the Bible
where this great triumphal entry into Jerusalem is prophesied. And so Jesus Christ was not
crucified on a Friday. Because number one, Friday was the 16th day of the month of Abib.
And even if it was Friday night, that would still be the 15th day. And also, it's just
not three days and three nights. The map just doesn't add up. So we have to let the Bible
be our authority. He was crucified on Wednesday night. I mean, that's just the fact of the
matter. He was crucified Wednesday night. He spent the whole day and night Thursday,
Friday, and Saturday in the grave. Those are the three days and three nights. Sunday morning,
he was already risen from the dead before they even got there, and they went there way
before six o'clock. And so he rose from the dead during the night of the Sunday morning.
And so that's when he rose from the dead. Now, if you go back to Matthew chapter 21,
so here we start off the chapter with Jesus' triumphal entry, Jesus being glorified, coming
into the city of Jerusalem. Now, he makes a stop right away. Look, if you would, at
verse number 12. This is his first stop when he gets into town. And Jesus went into the
temple of God. Now, this is the Old Testament. And so what happened is they had a temple
set up. It was a temple built out of gold and silver and precious stones. This is where
they offered the daily sacrifices in the evening and the morning, where they killed a lamb
on an altar every day in the evening and in the morning. And that was a picture, of course,
one day Jesus Christ would come and be the Lamb of God. But he comes into the house of
God because in the New Testament, the house of God is the local church. But in the Old
Testament, the house of God was the temple. And the Bible calls the temple in the Old
Testament the house of God. In the New Testament, the Bible says that you ought to know how
to behave yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar
and ground of the truth. So here we have Jesus walking into the house of God, the temple
of God. And look what he does. The Bible says in verse 12 that he cast out all them that
sold and bought in the temple and overthrew the tables of the money changers and the seats
of them that sold doves and said unto them, it is written, my house shall be called the
house of prayer, but you've made it a den of thieves. You see, Jesus Christ comes into
the temple and he just walks in and you've got to take this literally here, what the
Bible says. He walked in and he overturned the tables of the money changer. Now let's
just read that over and visualize, you've got to visualize this in your mind. Can you
imagine Jesus walks into the temple and here they've got their whole enterprise set up,
they're selling stuff, they're buying stuff, they've got everybody working. I mean, there's
hundreds of people in the temple and he just walks in, just picks up a table and just throws
it over. Now maybe this is a little bit different than the Jesus that you might be picturing,
but if so, it's the wrong Jesus that you're picturing. Maybe Hallmark got it wrong on
some of the cards that I've seen, you know, where Jesus looks like a long haired hippie
and he's only missing the blunt hanging out of his mouth because he looks like a hippie
from the sixties. That's just the truth. He looks like he's some kind of a peacenik.
He looks like he's some kind of a dope smoking, long haired hippie. And he looks like sometimes
he looks like a homosexual. I'll just tell you that right now. And I think it's wrong
and I think it's a sin to take an image and say this is Jesus Christ and it's just some
gay looking guy that they drew in some artist's shop somewhere. Hey, look, that's God. That's
the son of the living God. That's the one that they're crying and shouting about, Hosanna,
to him that cometh in the name of the Lord. We don't need to make him down to an image
of some kind of a sissified guy that we think is what Jesus would be like. Hey, let's see
what the Bible says Jesus is like. Hey, that's why I don't have any pictures of Jesus on
the wall in here. I'm not going to have some kind of image that I bow down and worship.
I bow myself to God in heaven. I don't bow myself to images made by hands. And especially
I'm not going to bow myself to an image that's nothing like the real Jesus of the Bible.
And so here's Jesus. He walks in. He flips over the tables. And I love this. He takes
their money and he dumps it out on the ground. Can you imagine the chaos that that would
cause? Pouring money on the ground? What do you think would happen if you went into Walmart
and just started pouring money on the ground? People would be screaming and grabbing money.
It would be chaos. And he chases them out of the temple. Look if you would at John chapter
2, and I'm going to show you something else. He said in there, he said, My house shall
be called the house of prayer, but you've made it a den of thieves. Now what did Jesus
mean by that when he said, You've made it a den of thieves? Is buying and selling stealing
to buy and sell? I mean, why would he say that it's a den of thieves? Now I've heard
many preachers say, Well, the reason that Jesus said it was a den of thieves is because
they were ripping people off. You know, they were selling stuff for the wrong price. And
so they're ripping people off. You know, I just don't buy that. That doesn't make a lot
of sense to me. I'll tell you why it was a den of thieves. Look if you would at John
chapter 2 and begin reading in verse number 13 of John chapter 2, the Bible says, And
the Jews Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem and found in the temple those
that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money, excuse me, the changers
of money sitting. And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the
temple and the sheep and the oxen and poured out the changers money and overthrew the tables.
So you see here in this account, it gives a little bit of a different, and this is a
different time that he did it. He did this twice, but the Bible says here that he made,
he sat outside the temple and he made a little scourge like a little whip and he chased them
out with a whip is what the Bible says here in John chapter 2. But look what he says in
this passage. He says in verse 16 and said unto them that sold doves, take these things
hence, make not my father's house a house of merchandise. He says it's a den of thieves
because it's a house of merchandise. Now let me give you an illustration to help you understand
this. Let's say I were to go down to Walmart tonight and I go down to Walmart and I set
up a table in front of Walmart and I just start selling stuff. I mean stuff that I made
at home or stuff that I bought off eBay and I'm selling stuff and I got it stacked up
on these tables and I'm selling stuff. Now do you think that's going to fly with Walmart?
If I'm at Walmart in front of their store selling my own stuff. I'll tell you exactly
why it wouldn't fly. They'd probably come out to me and say, sir, what do you think
you're doing? And I say, look, well, I'm set up my table and I'm selling these things.
I'm just providing a little healthy competition. And they'd say, this is why you cannot sell
these things here, sir. Because number one, we paid millions of dollars for TV commercials
all over America promoting Walmart. Do you see all these crowds here, Mr. Anderson? Do
you see all these cars in this parking lot? The reason that this parking lot is filled
with cars, the reason that there are thousands of people going in and out these doors is
because we've spent the millions of dollars to attract them here through billboards, through
newspaper advertisements, through magazines, and our sales department has bought the people
here. We've also stocked an entire store with merchandise that we paid for, that we paid
to have shipped here to attract all these people here. They're here because of us and
you are trying to capitalize on that. And so you're stealing from us. Now, look, if
I come to church and I try to use the church, now why do people come to church? To buy things?
No. I mean, they come to church because of the Bible is what brought them here. You know,
Jesus Christ is what brought them here. They came because they wanted to learn the Bible.
They came because they wanted to learn something about God. They came because they wanted to
please God. Now, when you try to use church for financial gain, when you try to sell things
at church, here's what you're doing. You're taking what God used, his sales team, because
you didn't have to sell, you didn't have to go out and knock doors and find your own business.
No, you just came to church where God has already got all the people together for you
and then you're just going to use those people to sell things. I say it's as wicked as hell.
You hear me? I say it's ungodly. I say that if Jesus Christ walked into a church today,
and because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, so it's the same Jesus
Christ in 2006, I think if he walked in and saw people making merchandise in the house
of God, I think he'd start throwing some tables over. I think he'd start dumping some money
out. You say, what am I talking about? Hey, I'm talking about people who are businessmen
and they come to church and they do their selling at church. I've seen it my whole life.
They come to church and a new couple comes to church, a first time visitor on Sunday
morning. They sit down and there may be a little shy, it's their first time in church,
so somebody makes a beeline over to them. Hey, how you doing? God bless you. I'm so
glad you're here. Why don't you come over to our house for dinner on Thursday night?
Yes, I know this story because this is what happened to my parents on their first time
in a church before. These people came up and said, oh, we'd love to have you over for dinner.
My parents came home from church and said, man, this is a friendly church. Wow, this
is great. Boy, this is exciting. First day in church and people are inviting us over
to dinner. I mean, people want to reach out to us and be our friend. I think this is a
good church. Thursday night rolls around. My parents go over to these people's house.
They sit down, have a nice dinner, and then the Amway presentation begins. Did you hear
me? The Amway presentation begins. That's wrong. That's a sin. That's ungodly. You're
taking some, you're taking advantage of somebody. You're abusing somebody. You get somebody
all excited like you want to be their friend. You don't care about them. You care about
their money. You want to reach into their pocket and take their money out of their pocket.
And you think maybe they're going to feel like, oh, well, you know, we got to be nice
to people from church. We got to buy their stupid Amway trash. No, my friend, don't make
God's house into a house of merchandise. You could offend somebody. Do you think my parents
went back to that church? They didn't. They didn't go back. I bet the pastor was real
happy, if he would have ever found that out. That a brand new family comes in, wants to
be a part of his church, and somebody turns them away because they're trying to reach
into their pocket and take their money. It's ungodly and it's wrong. I hope it never creeps
up its ugly head in this church. People trying to sell the multi-level marketing and the
pyramid scheme and the Tupperware parties and stuff. Because you know what it is? They
don't have, you know, it's such a great source of customers, isn't it? You come to church,
the pastor's already got them all together for you. The soul winners in the church have
already won people the Lord and brought them all in and got them all in there. Everybody's
got their guard down because they expect people at church to love them. They expect people
at church to care about them. They expect people at church to not be in it for themselves.
And so they got their guard down and they get sucked in and somebody just uses them
for financial gain. I was in a church not too long ago. Well, a church that I attended
several years ago. And this lady, she only ever showed up, but once every couple months.
And she'd show up for a few services in a row and promote a Pampered Chef party, you
know, where she was going to sell Pampered Chef. And I'm thinking to myself, I thought
to myself, you thief, you're coming into church. You don't love this church. You don't love
us. You don't love the things of God. You come in here to get customers so you can make
money. And it's wrong and it's a sin. And let me show you how Jesus felt about it. Look
at verse number 17. And his disciples remembered. Because, I mean, they see Jesus. They're like,
Jesus, what are you doing? He's flipping tables over. He's knocking over chairs, the Bible
says. He's chasing people with a whip. He's angry. And then they remembered how it's written
in the book of Psalms. The zeal of thine house has eaten me up. Jesus said it just eats me
up inside when somebody's going to take my house and prostitute the house of God for
financial gain. And I'm not just talking about the church member either. There are pastors
who are guilty of it. There are staff members who are guilty of it. They use church to make
money and it's wrong. I'm to the point where if I open up the Yellow Pages, and, you know,
this is my personal opinion, this part right here. That part was not my opinion. That's
God's opinion. I open up the Yellow Pages. I see the little Jesus fish. Next ad. I'll
go to the next ad. Because I don't want somebody using Jesus as their little advertisement.
Their little money making thing to get their foot in the door. They use Jesus as some kind
of a tool to get people to call their number and buy their plumbing services. I'd rather
go to the world than somebody who's trying to use Jesus as advertising for their plumbing
company. I'm telling you the truth. And, you know, you may not agree with me on that.
That's fine. But I'm just telling you what I do. I open the Yellow Pages. When I see
the Jesus fish, I skip to the next ad, friend. Also because the Bible says not to make any
images and graven images. I don't know why some fish is a picture of Christianity anyway.
I don't worship a fish. I worship God Almighty. I worship God. I don't bring him down to the
level of like a human being or like an animal, like the Bible talks about. I worship the
Creator God Almighty in heaven. I bow my knee to the God of glory. I don't bow toward
some city called Mecca in Arabia. I don't bow myself toward some kind of a statue or
a necklace or an image. I bow myself to heaven. And I lift up my voice to God. And I praise
God. And I don't praise some kind of a picture that some man drew. Leonardo da Vinci, some
God-hating sodomite. Michelangelo, some God-hating pervert pedophile. Hey, I'm not going to worship
some picture that he drew. I'm going to take it and throw it in the sink and garbage can
where it belongs because it's an effigy of Jesus when you've got Jesus up there in long
hair looking like a sissy. But look, if you would, at Malachi chapter 2. We're going to
go a little further into this. And boy, I love this passage. Look at Malachi chapter
2. This is right before the book of Matthew. This is the last book in the Old Testament.
Malachi chapter 2. And so far we've seen this story in Matthew 21. We've seen it in John
2. Now we're going to see, actually, this is interesting. This is actually a prophecy
of Jesus coming into the temple and doing this. We're going to see this prophesied 400
years before Jesus ever came along. And look, if you would, at verse number 2. And by the
way, this is a good one for the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons who don't believe
that Jesus is God. Watch this. Look at verse number 17 of Malachi chapter 2. Ye have wearied
the Lord with your words. He's saying, you wear me out. Yet ye say, wherein have we wearied
him? When you say, everyone that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth
in them. Now look at the last phrase in this verse. Or, where is the God of judgment? You
say, where is the God of judgment? I don't see God executing judgment in the world. Where
is God? Look at verse number 1 of chapter 3. Behold, I will send my messenger, and he
shall prepare the way before me. Now, who's talking? The Lord. Look at verse 17 in the
second line there. See how it says you've wearied the Lord, capital L, capital O, capital
R, capital D? That's Jehovah God. That's God the Father. And he says in verse number 1
of chapter 3, Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. Now
in Mark chapter 1 verse 2, the Bible says that this verse is about John the Baptist.
So who did John the Baptist prepare the way for? Jesus Christ, who happens to be the same
as Jehovah God in the Old Testament. And not only that, but look at this, it goes even
further. He says, I'll send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me, and
the Lord whom ye seek. Now the word seek means to look for something. Remember at the end
of chapter 2 verse 17, where is the God of judgment? Hey, where is he? Here's the answer.
And the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant
whom ye delight in. Behold, he shall come, sayeth the Lord of hosts. But who may abide
the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appears? He says, who can face Jesus
Christ? I mean, on this day when he's going to come into the temple, I mean, he's just
ridden in on the pole of an ash. I mean, he's just ridden in in triumphant glory, the
King of kings and Lord of lords. He marches into the temple, he marches into his house,
and he throws over the tables. Who can abide the day of his coming? He said, no one could
face him. Nobody could even lift up their eyes and look them in the eye. This is God
Almighty in the flesh. He says, the Lord whom ye seek shall come suddenly to his temple.
You see, Jesus is God. Jesus coming into the temple was God Almighty walking into that
temple. And so the Bible says here, and who shall stand when he appeared? Verse number
two, for he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap. And he shall sit as a refiner
and purifier of silver. And he shall purify the sons of Levi, those are the ones that
served in the temple, Levites, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto
the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem
be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old and as in former years. He's saying,
look, it's not a right offering when they came to the temple and they bought the offering,
because they were supposed to get it out of their own flock, the lamb. And those guys
were selling sacrifices like, you know what, my stuff's too nice. I'm going to keep my
stuff. I've been raising this stuff. I'm just going to go down to the temple and just say,
you know what, I'm just going to pull out a ten dollar bill and buy this sheep that
they're selling here and just sacrifice that to God. That's not what God told them to do.
And you see, the things of God can't be purchased with money. If you think that your spirituality
is measured by how much money you put in the operating plate, you're wrong. That says nothing
about your spirituality. And so you can't just walk in and say, oh, here God, here's
100 bucks, God, and that's going to somehow pacify God. Oh, okay, I'm satisfied. Just
give me enough money and I'll be off your case. He says, no, I don't want your money.
He says, I want righteousness. I want an offering of righteousness. I want you to do what I
told you to do. I want you to obey this book. You can't buy favor with God. This isn't the
Catholic Church offering indulgences where you buy tickets into heaven, where you buy
righteousness. No, my friend, the righteousness is righteousness that you do in the power
of the Holy Spirit. And the righteousness that gets you to heaven is the righteousness
that's imputed unto you, the righteousness of Jesus Christ himself. You can't buy, number
one, you can't buy salvation. And number two, you can't buy being right with God. You obey
God. That's how you're right with God. And you put money in that offering plate all day
long, it's not going to get you anywhere with God. Because putting money in the plate does
not buy favor with God. Doing what God commanded you to do buys favor with God. And so look
at Matthew chapter 21 again. If you're still, got your finger there. Just the next book
after Malachi, we're in Matthew. And let me make another point before I move on from this
story. Look at verse number 13 of Matthew 21. Here's another aspect of what, and there's
so much in this chapter, I'm trying to get to the end of the chapter, but there's so
much to preach here. But look at verse number 13. And said unto them, it is written, my
house shall be called the house of prayer. But you've made it a den of thieves. I won't
have you turn there for the sake of time, I'll just turn there myself. But Isaiah 56
7 is where this quote is from, and I'm going to read you what it actually says. The Bible
says, even then will I bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar. Listen
to this, for mine house shall be called a house of prayer for all people. You see that
phrase? For all people. Let me tell you something. Everybody is welcome in church. The church
here, Faithful Word Baptist Church, is a house of prayer for all people. I mean, I don't
care if it's the poor, rich, I don't care what race, I don't care what social standing.
This church, the house of God here at Faithful Word Baptist Church, this particular local
church is for everybody. You say, how do we solve the race problems that people have?
You know, sometimes people have a problem with a certain race, and you know, it seems
like sometimes black people have an animosity against white people, and white people have
animosity toward black people, or white people have animosity toward Hispanic people, or
whatever. You say, how do we get along? How do we solve these racial problems? I'll tell
you how you solve the racial problems. You walk outside, and you go to your black neighbor
across the street, and you take your Bible and you win him to Christ. And then you say,
why don't you come to church with me, sir? Why don't you sit right next to me on the
pew, because you're a son of God just like I am, and you're my brother. And here we can
both sit in the house of God and be brothers in Christ. That's the answer to the race problem.
The answer is Jesus Christ. You see, without Jesus Christ is where all the hatred and variance
toward people of other races and people that aren't like us, and I'm going to tell you
something that's wrong. Baptist churches that are segregated, and they have a black Baptist
church that's all black, and then they have over here just a white Baptist church, and
you've got to be white to go there. Hey, that's a sin, friend. That's wrong, because the house
of God is to be a house of prayer for all people. Red and yellow, black and white, they're
precious in His sight. And I'm going to tell you something. The Bible says He's made all
nations of the earth, all kindreds of the earth, of one blood. The word race is not
even found in the Bible in reference to people. The Bible talks about kindreds and families
and nations, but a person, a black man in the Old Testament, an Ethiopian man, could
be circumcised and be a part of the nation of Israel, and he was considered exactly on
par with the Jew. Everything was the same. All the laws were the same. He could come
into the temple, he could eat the Passover, he could do everything that they could do,
because the house of prayer, the house of God, is for all people. Don't ever despise
or disdain somebody who walks through that door, because they're not like you, or they're
the kind of person that you don't like. When they walk through that door, when they're
born again and say they're your brother, or they're your sister in Christ, and you treat
them like they're your own family, because this house of prayer is for all people. And
I don't believe it's right to have these segregated, you know, this church is just
for Chinese people. You know, I understand that they're doing it in that language, but
I don't think it's right, this separation, because it's not biblical, it's not in the
Bible. The Bible talks, and you can go on and on with this, in Acts chapter 13, when
they're in the church there, the Bible talks about a Nigerian man there, who's one of the
preachers in the church, and another man he is from this country, and another man he is
from Jerusalem, and yeah, it's a house of prayer for all people. You understand that?
And it's not just some kind of a thing where if we like them, and if they fit in, then
okay, look, everybody has a place in the house of God. And so I just wanted to make that
point before we move on from that story. But look if you would at verse 16, let me just
point out a few words to you. Look halfway down the verse, it says, Have you never read
out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? Now first of all, that's
always the problem. And you'll see this throughout the book of Matthew, almost every chapter.
Whenever the Pharisees come to him and try to criticize him or tell him something that
he's doing wrong, it's always, What? Have you not read? Didn't you read in the Bible
where it says this? Oh wait a minute, you must not have read where it says, oh, go you
and learn what that means, where God said this. Because the problem with people's doctrine
is when they don't read the Bible. We were just talking about this before the service.
People who read the Bible cover to cover and they know what it says, there's a big difference
between them and people who just rely on what comes from the pulpit. There's a big difference
between somebody who's read the Bible themselves and fed themselves. Not like a baby in a high
chair their whole life. I mean, you've been saved for 20 years, but you're going to sit
in a high chair with your bib on and expect Pastor Anderson to spoon applesauce and carrots
into your mouth. Hey, pick up the knife and fork yourself Monday through Friday, Monday
through Saturday, and eat the T-bone steak of God's word yourself and chew it up real
good and swallow it. Because you need to get the word of God for yourself and you need
to read the Bible yourself. There's no substitute for reading the Bible. Going to church every
day is not a substitute for reading the Bible. God said, what, you haven't read? Wait a minute,
wait a minute Pharisee, you're supposed to be a religious leader? He should have been
a religious reader because he said, you should have read this book, that's why you're wrong.
People that are wrong about doctrine, it's because they've been reading other books.
They've been reading The Purpose Driven Life, they've been reading The Purpose Driven Church,
they've been reading The Prayer of Jabez, they've been reading Our Daily Bread and some
devotional book, but they forgot to read The Words of Almighty God. Now I'm sure you have
all kinds of time where you can read The Prayer of Jabez and Purpose Driven Church and all
these liberal charismatic books and still find time to meditate on the word of God day
and night and to fill your mind with this book, but I can't. I find that I only have
time for one book and it's the Bible and so I don't mess with these other books out
there because I don't want Jesus to say to me one day, Pastor Anderson, haven't you read?
Look at your church, look at what you're preaching, have you not read? That's the problem right
there with most churches, the lack of reading of God's word. We need to have a revival of
God's people reading God's word. I mean picking it up and looking at it and reading it physically
every day. That's what we need, it would change America, it would change the world.
Go ahead and take that, I've got to find my next scripture anyway. But it says in verse
number 16 also, I want to point this out, out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou
is perfected praise. You see here, I was thinking about this, it's funny because my kids were
just really singing out tonight and I was thinking to myself, man I like that, I like
the way they sing out. You say, well I don't know, they sing kind of loud and it's just
kind of louder than everybody else. Hey, why don't you start singing a little louder? Huh?
Why don't you lift up your voice in the congregation as the Bible says? Why don't you sing praise
to God in the midst of the church? Why don't you lift up your voice so loud that we wouldn't
even hear them because everybody in the church is praising God? And I'm going to tell you
something, these are some of the most important people in church tonight. And that's why I'm
not going to ship them out to some daycare for church. Well, I'll let them go play with
toys. They're just little kids, they can go play with toys in the other room, in the nursery.
No, they're not going to play with toys. They're going to sit down and they're going to sing
praises to God because God likes that. God likes to hear the mouths of babes and sucklings
praising God. I think God was very pleased during the song service when he hears them
not singing the Barney and Friends theme song, not singing the theme song to Sesame Street,
but shouting out, to God be the glory, great things he had done. Shouting out, there's
power in the blood, are you washed in the blood? Hey, God likes that when children are
praising God. Hey, God likes that when they're in church listening to preaching, be stirred
up by the things of God. Don't discount children and ship them off somewhere so that they can't
hear the preaching of God's word, so that they can't sing the praises of God. Hey, get
them in church where they belong from day one and then maybe they'll be in church at
age 21 when they're in church from day one and say, okay, let's take a kid at age seven
and stick him in church because now he's ready to go to church. It's like, good night. He's
never been in church and all of a sudden it's just not as fun to him as Nintendo. It's just
not as fun as PS2. But if he's been in church from day one, maybe he's got a fire burning
in his heart by the time he gets to age seven because he's been singing the praises of God
his whole life. And so I love having children in church and I love listening to children
sing praises to God and so does God, by the way. But I got to hurry. Quickly, I have to
blow through this, but the parable of the fig tree and the Bible says in verse number
19, and when he saw a fig tree in the way, Jesus is very hungry. This is verse number
19, he's starving hungry. And he sees this fig tree way off in the distance and Jesus
is thinking, man, that would be good to eat some figs right now. That'd be excellent.
He starts walking toward the fig tree in verse number 19 it says, and when he saw a fig tree
in the way, he came to it and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it,
let no fruit grow on thee, henceforward forever. And presently the fig tree withered away.
In the other, in the book of Luke, it says that he cursed the fig tree. He cursed that
fig tree and said, you're never going to bear fruit again, you stupid fig tree. Bunch of
leaves? I'm not going to eat a bunch of leaves. I don't want a salad. I want to eat some figs.
And he gets to this fig tree and he curses it. And you know what happened when Jesus
saw that this fig tree was just not producing fruit? He says, it started withering away.
It started dying. That's the way the Christian life is. If you're not a producer, I mean
if you're not producing fruit, you're going to wither away. Now what does it mean to produce
fruit? Well, producing fruit is when you multiply yourself. When an apple produces fruit, it
becomes a tree that produces more apples. When a Christian produces fruit, they become
a tree that produces more Christians. That means they win somebody to Christ. That means
they give somebody the gospel and they get saved. And God says the only way that your
Christianity is not going to wither and dry up, the only way that your Christianity is
not going to be here today and gone tomorrow is when you produce fruit. I thought of another
story, and I'm not sure which of the four gospels this is in, but where Jesus tells
the parable about the man who has a tree out in his orchard. And he comes to the tree and
he tells his servant, he says, you know what? This tree has not produced fruit for the last
two years. Here it's been for two years, it hasn't produced any fruit. He says, I feel
like it's just wasting space on my property. I feel like it's just wasting nourishment
out of the ground. And the servant says to him, well listen, listen God. I'm sorry, not
God, but it pictures God. But he says to the man, he says, listen boss, he says, why don't
we just dig around the tree a little bit and put some dung there, put some manure down,
and let's give it another year. And let's see what happens. And if it produces this
year, then great. And if it doesn't, then you're not worried about it. And I was thinking
about it, there's so many great meanings to that. Because number one, if a tree doesn't
produce fruit, God just, he's not pleased. I'll put it that way. God doesn't want a pretty
tree with flowers and leaves as much as he wants something that produces fruit. And there's
nothing more beautiful than a fruit tree that's producing fruit, in my mind. I mean, I love
to see something that's productive. Not just a showpiece, but something that actually produces.
And so he says, here's what we'll do. He says, I've spent years on this tree, and they just
refuse to win people to Christ. I mean, they just refuse to be fruitful. I feel like I'm
just going to let them wither away. But notice the servant. Who does the servant represent?
That's another Christian. The servant says, God, would you please just be patient with
this tree, and give it a little bit of time to produce some fruit, and then we'll see
what happens. See, that's intercessory prayer. That's when you pray for your new convert,
that you've won to the Lord, or somebody that's a younger Christian. That's where you pray
and ask God to be merciful to somebody else. And what does God say? He says, okay, well,
here's what I'll do. I'm going to put some manure in there, put some dung in there, and
maybe that'll help it produce fruit. Hey, you want to know where some of the dung in
your life comes from? Some of the dung that God puts into your life, and you say, why
is this happening to me? Hey, he's trying to get you to be fruitful. Some of the things
that are not very pleasant, they don't smell very good, that God sends your way, he's trying
to get you to be productive. He's trying to make you a fruitful tree. You'll be happier.
He'll be glorified. People will be saved. He wants you to produce. And you can resist
that your whole life and say, I refuse to be a soul winner. I refuse to show up for
soul winning. I refuse to open my mouth to friends at work and loved ones. I refuse to
invite somebody to church. I'm just not going to produce fruit. And you know, God will be
patient with you. He'll try to work with you. And he's going to send some dung into your
life and try to get your attention somehow. But if that doesn't work, friend, your Christianity
might wither up. And I've seen a lot of withered up trees in my lifetime. A lot of Christians
that pretty soon the Bible just got boring to them. You know, they've been interested.
You know, they're excited about it at first. Pretty soon church got boring. The Bible got
boring. Prayer got boring. What's the use? This is stupid. It's because you're not a
soul winner. That's why it's stupid. Church wouldn't be boring if you have your visitors
sitting next to you. Church is never boring when you've got somebody that you want to
the Lord and they're getting baptized after the service. I've never been to a boring service
where I had my friend with me that I had won to the Lord and he's getting baptized after
the service. I was never bored. I was on the edge of my seat. Because that's the exciting
thing. Christianity is where you're producing fruit. The withered up, dried up, dead, kind
of a boring, tasteless Christianity is the Christianity that doesn't produce fruit. And
you can resist it and resist it, but there's going to come a time where God's going to
say, look, you must produce fruit because you're cumbering the ground here. You're just
dead weight here. You're spreading this, in church, this attitude of just never producing.
It's going to spread. And so he says, I'm going to give you another chance, but I really
want you to produce. And that's what that parable is about. I have to skip over that
quickly. Verse 22, great verse, underline that in your Bible. And all things whatsoever
you shall ask in prayer, believing you shall receive. I'm not going to spend time on that
because I just preached a whole sermon on that. When I was preaching about having power
with God, I believe it was last Sunday morning or the one before that, I can't remember.
And so that was a sermon that dealt with that in detail. I'm going to have to skip it just
for the sake of time. But let me get to the last point that I want to make tonight. And
this is the most important point of the whole sermon. I've had to skip a lot, but look at
verse 32. Actually, I'm sorry, look at verse 31. Let's start reading in verse number 31,
chapter 21. The Bible says, whether of them twain did the will of his father, they say
unto him the first, Jesus saith unto them, verily I say unto you that the publicans and
the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. Boy, can you imagine? That always took
me back when I read it because here he's talking to pastors. These are pastors. I mean, these
are religious leaders, Pharisees and the Sadducees. And he asks them a parable, he explains them
the story, and they gave him the correct answer. And he says, okay, let me tell you something.
He says, the publicans and the harlots are going to get it in before you do. Now, what's
a harlot? A prostitute. That's what it is. And he's saying, there's more hope that this
prostitute here is going to get saved and go to heaven than for you. And this is why,
look at the next verse. For John came unto you. We're talking about John the Baptist,
the greatest man who ever lived according to Jesus. We saw that in Matthew 11. For John
came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not. But the publicans
and the harlots believed him. And ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward that
you might believe. He says, the publicans and the harlots believed on Jesus Christ.
They didn't have any trouble admitting, hey, I'm a sinner. I deserve to go to hell. That's
what I said to Galvin when I was a six-year-old boy. I said, I know I'm a sinner, and I know
I'm on my way to hell if I don't get saved. And I just prayed and asked Jesus Christ to
save me. Boy, you talk to the publicans and the harlots of this world, they usually don't
tell you, well, I'm going to heaven because I'm a good person. Right? While they were
a prostitute the night before. I'm going to heaven because I'm a good person. No. And
that's why God says they're more likely to get saved, ironically. Ironically, there's
going to be more prostitutes in heaven than there are religious people. Because religious
people have this pride and this arrogance where they will not believe on Jesus Christ,
they're going to trust in their own righteousness to get them to heaven. And he says, I'm sorry
to say this to you, but the publicans, that's talking about thieves, he says the publicans
and the harlots are going to go to heaven before you do it. He says that's just the
honest truth of it. And look at this, I'm going to close with this. Look at that word
repented toward the end of the verse there. Now there's a lot of misunderstanding about
this word repentance, and actually I don't think it's a misunderstanding at all. I think
it's a lot of heresy about this word repentance. I think it's a lot of lies about this word
repentance. A lot of people will try to construe the word repentance as being willing to turn
away from your sins. Now listen, my friend, I'm not willing to turn away from my sins
right now, all of them. And if you are, then you must be God and Jesus Christ wrapped into
one because there's nobody in the world who's without sin. There's not a just man upon the
earth that doeth good and sinneth not. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us. And so can any man say, I've made myself pure, I'm free from
sin, is what Job said? You can't ever come to the point where you're willing to turn
away from all your sins. I mean, good night. When I got saved, I didn't even know what
all my sins were. I didn't even know what one-tenth of my sins were. I hadn't read the
Bible when I got saved. I just knew enough of the Bible to know I needed Jesus Christ
as my savior. And I was not willing to turn from my sin when I got saved. I believed on
the Lord Jesus Christ when I got saved. Because the Bible says that salvation is by grace
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest
any man should boast. And so, yes, I admitted that I was a sinner. Yes, I confessed my sinful
condition to God, and I told God that I believed, you know, that I deserved to go to hell like
you said in your word. But Jesus, would you save me? But I'm going to tell you something.
Look how clear the Bible is about this word repentance. See, the Bible word repentance
here when it's talking about salvation, it's not talking about turning away from your sins.
It's talking about changing what you believe. You see, the word repent has a very simple
meaning. It means to change. Repent means to change. It could mean to change your actions,
to change your mind, to change anything. But look what the Bible says. Let's let the Bible
define it for us. It says right here in Matthew 21, 32, for John came unto you in the way
of righteousness, and you believed him not. That's why they're not saved, right? Because
they didn't believe Jesus Christ. Because salvation is whosoever believing. And so he
says, John came unto you in the way of righteousness, but you believed him not, but the publicans
and the harlots believed him. So they're going to heaven, and you're not, is what he's
saying. And then look at the next verse. And ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward
that ye might turn away from all your sins. Is that what your Bible says? No. It says,
And ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward that ye might believe him. He says,
look, these people did not believe in Jesus Christ. They're not saved. These people, yes,
they do believe on Jesus Christ. They are saved. They're going to heaven. And these
people that did not believe on Jesus Christ, they did not repent afterward that they might
believe on him. See, the repentance is where they say, I'm going to stop not believing,
and I'm going to change to believing on Jesus Christ to give me to heaven. That's repentance.
Repentance is not I'm willing to give up drinking and smoking and cussing. What? That's ridiculous.
That's a joke. That's work salvation. That's Roman Catholicism. That's Church of Christ,
seven steps to salvation. And I'm going to call a spade a spade. And the independent
Baptist church that's ten miles from here that preaches that you have to be willing
to turn from your sins to go to heaven. And they said, you have to be so sorry for your
sins that you'll stop doing them. That's how sorry you have to be to be saved. You have
to be so sorry that you'll stop sinning in order to go to heaven. I guess I'm on my way
to hell tonight. What am I doing preaching in church when I'm on my way to hell myself?
I'm going to talk about the blind, leading the blind. And if you tell me that you're
so sorry for all your sins that you're willing to stop doing them, you're a liar. Because
if you were so sorry to stop doing them, I guess you must have stopped doing them. And
I guess you must be God in the flesh because everybody's a sinner. And so not only that,
but if you have to turn from your sins in order to be saved, well then I guess whosoever
believeth is not true. Because if somebody could believe and not turn from their sins
and go to hell, well then God's a liar because he said, whosoever believeth. Then in the
book of Romans he said, to everyone that believeth. And so God is saying here the repentance
is where you change from not believing to believing because salvation is wrapped up
in one word. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Whosoever believeth.
Turn over if you would to Acts chapter 19. I'm hurrying up and finishing this point and
then we'll be done. Look at Acts chapter 19. We'll see this again. God will define the
word repentance better than the pastor down the street who's an independent fundamental
Baptist but he thinks that you have to give up sins and that if you're living with your
girlfriend you can't be saved until you're willing to give that up. That's a bunch of
bologna friend. That's a lie out of the pit of hell. Look at Acts chapter 19 and look
at verse number 4. We'll see the exact same thing. Here's some men that come to the Apostle
Paul and Paul is explaining to them the ministry of John the Baptist because they had to misunderstand,
they didn't really understand what the purpose of John the Baptist was. And so Paul is going
to explain to these men what John the Baptist was all about. It says, then said Paul, John
verily baptized with the baptism of repentance saying unto the people that they should believe
on him which should come after him that is on Christ Jesus. It says he preached repentance
and the way that he preached repentance was saying that they should believe on him that
should come after. That's what repentance was to John the Baptist. Hey, that's what
it is to me. That's what it is to God. That's all it is. Because otherwise the Bible contradicts
itself the 90 times in the book of John alone that it tells you to believe for salvation.
If believing is not enough, okay, you have to believe and get baptized. Wrong. Oh, you
have to believe and be willing to give up your sins. Wrong. You have to believe and
turn over a new leaf in your life. Wrong. You have to believe and go to church to be
saved. Wrong. It's believed. Period. It's everyone that believed it. Good and bad the
Bible says. We're going to see that next week in Matthew 22. And then you see here that
again repentance is believing. Look at Mark chapter 1. Just three books back, Mark chapter
1. And we see this over and over where God defines this himself. Look at Mark chapter
1 verse number 4. We'll see the story of John the Baptist. Mark chapter 1 verse number 4,
the book after Matthew, it says John did baptize in the wilderness and preached the baptism
of repentance for the remission of sins. Now we just saw in Acts 19 4 that when he preached
the baptism of repentance, he was saying that they should believe on him that should
come after him, that is Christ Jesus. That's why in verse number 15, look, Mark 1 15, this
is Jesus comes on the scene and preaches and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom
of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel. That's the repentance when you believe
the gospel. So I'm going to tell you something. I'm against this stuff about how you have
to repent of your sins to be saved. I'm against it. I'll preach against it. You say, oh, you
don't preach that people should have to repent of their sins to be saved. Well, number one,
the word repent of your sins is never found in the Bible. Those three words, I'm sorry,
those four words, repent of your sins or repent of sin. Never will you find those three words
together in the Bible. Never will you find the words repent and saved in the Bible. You
can find the word believe and saved hundreds of times. Same verse. And so, no, I don't
just not preach that people have to repent of their sins to be saved. I preach against
preaching that you have to repent of your sins to be saved. And I get up and I scream
about it and I yell about it and I shout it on the mountaintops that salvation is by grace
through faith alone, not of works, not by the works of the law, not by keeping the law,
not by keeping the Ten Commandments, not by being willing to keep the Ten Commandments,
not by saying that the Ten Commandments are the way I want to live my life, but by believing
that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins. That's how you go to heaven, my friend.
And look, hey, I'm all for preaching on sin. I preach against sin as hard as I can. I preach
every sin I can. I sit down and write a list of every sin that I can think of and then
decide that I'm going to preach about it. And look, when I win people to Christ, I tell
them they're a sinner. If they say they're not a sinner, I prove to them they're a sinner.
I show them that they're on their way to hell, that they're not saved, that they're condemned
to hell, and that they need to turn to Jesus Christ for salvation, not turn away from their
sins. Because if they have to turn away from their sins to be saved, then nobody can be
saved, because I have not yet turned from my sins. No one has turned from their sins
in this life. They turn to Jesus Christ and say, God, save me, the sinner that I am. Oh,
be merciful to me, a sinner, God. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. That's salvation.
And so we've got to be very careful and on guard about this, because all throughout history,
all throughout time, I'll close with this. Look at Matthew 21 and look at verse number
38. This has been the devil's plan all throughout history, and I didn't get a chance to teach
this parable. But he says here, But when the husbandmen saw the Son, talking about Jesus
Christ, they said among themselves, This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and let us
seize on his inheritance. See, all throughout the Bible, people are trying to seize on the
inheritance of Jesus Christ. They want to steal it. They want to say, I'm going to get
myself to heaven. I'm going to earn my own way into heaven. And this has been repackaged
in a million different ways. The Catholic Church packages it as the seven sacraments,
and they say you have to keep the seven sacraments. The seven sacraments will get you to heaven.
Taking the Holy Mass will get you to heaven. Getting baptized will get you to heaven. Confessing
your sins to the priest will get you to heaven. Church attendance will get you to heaven.
The Church of Christ, they package it as you must believe and be baptized and speak in
tongues to go to heaven. That's the way they package it. It's the same thing. It's just
working your way to heaven yourself. And then the Nazarenes, this is how they package their
work salvation. They say you believe on Jesus Christ to get it, but then you have to live
right because you might lose it if you don't live right. And if you keep living wrong,
then you will stop believing and lose your salvation. See, that's just another form.
Again, it's just you have to live right. You have to do this. You have to do that. And
then now a lot of Baptists are packaging it as you have to repent of your sins to be saved.
You have to turn away from your sins to be saved. Again, the emphasis on what you're
doing. You have to change something about your life to go to heaven. Friend, that's
not the Bible salvation. The Bible salvation is Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. It's
believe and receive the Gospel. That's salvation. And will I budge on that? Will I talk to you
about that and we can come to some kind of a compromise about that? No. There's no compromise.
It's 100 percent what Jesus did. It's zero percent what I did. All I did was just put
my faith in him and just receive it one day as a six-year-old boy. That's all I did. That's
all you have to do to be saved. It's like drinking a glass of water, the Bible says.
It's like eating a piece of bread. It's like opening a door. He says, I'm the door. If
any man enter in, he might be saved. He says, it's like Noah's ark. You just get on the
ark and you're saved. You can be a pervert, like Ham. Ham was a pervert. But he's on the
ark. Hey, as long as you're on the ark, you don't drown. And that's salvation, friend.
You don't have to be a good person. You have to give up your sins to be saved. You just
have to believe on Jesus Christ. And then once you get saved, then you'll even be able
to give up your sins. I mean, you're not even going to have a desire to give up your
sins until you get saved. When you get saved, that's where you begin to love God. Everyone
that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. You don't even have the capacity to love God
until you're saved. Unsaved people don't love God because everyone that loveth is born of
God and knoweth God. What motivates me tonight to try to keep God's commandments? What motivates
me tonight to try to turn for my sins? What motivates me tonight to try to live the Christian
life if it's not love for God? That's what motivates me. We love him because he first
loved us. It says, if you love me, keep my commandments. Well, the love comes after you
get saved. But you know what made me get saved? Not love. Love did not compel me to get saved.
Fear compelled me to get saved. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. By the
fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. And of course, evil is talking about what they're
going to suffer in hell, as we learned about a few weeks ago when we talked about what
evil is. It's the harm and the destruction they're going to suffer in hell. And so God
is saved. It starts with fear when you get saved. You get saved because you're afraid
of going to hell. And you don't want to go to hell. That's why I got saved. And so you
turn to Jesus Christ and beg for mercy and say, God, please save me. And he saves you.
Then you start to grow in love. And the Bible says, there is no fear in love, but perfect
love cast about fear. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. So you start with fear
when you get saved. And then you end up no more fear, because now you know you're on
your way to heaven. And then you grow in love toward God. And you go from fear, 100% fear,
no love, when you're not saved. And then a gradual process of after you get saved, then
the process begins of no fear, and it's just all love that's compelling you to serve God.
That's the transition that you go from fear to love. And the Southern Baptists, yes, the
Southern Baptists of our day in 2006, at least the ones in California, and at least
on their website and their statement of faith, they say you have to make Jesus the Lord of
your life to be saved. They say it's all by faith, all by faith, but you've got to make
Jesus the Lord of your life. That means you're going to let him tell you what to do. That's
work salvation again. You have to be willing to let God tell you what to do. That means
that if so and so is living with their girlfriend, they can't get saved until they're willing
to give that up. You're making it hard for people to get saved, and God never said that.
God won somebody to the Lord at the well. She was living with a man. He didn't say you
have to give up that relationship before you can be saved. He said if you knew who you
were talking to, you'd ask of me and I'd give you a living one. He said you'd ask me for
it, and I'd give it to you. And that's salvation. You ask for it, and you get it if your faith
is 100% in Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ alone. Let's bow our heads and have a word
of prayer. God, I thank you so much for the Bible. I thank you so much for the simplicity
of salvation.