Man, the title of my sermon this morning is Old Testament Salvation.
Old Testament Salvation.
There are a lot of great scriptures in the New Testament that explain to us very clearly
that people in the Old Testament were saved by their faith, not by their works.
Plenty of scriptures like that.
This is probably the best one, which is why we're going to start here.
But there's a lot of evidence for this.
But there's a false teaching out there that says that people used to be saved by works
in the Old Testament.
It's called dispensationalism.
Most people who believe in dispensationalism, they subscribe to this to some degree.
Now there are some people that they'll call a hyper-dispensationalist, and other people
say, well, I'm a dispensationalist, but I don't believe in different modes of salvation.
So you will find so-called dispensationalists who don't believe that salvation was by works
in the Old Testament.
But if you really look at the architects of the false doctrine of dispensationalism,
that's what they believed in different modes of salvation for different time periods.
Now this is a really bad doctrine for a lot of reasons.
Because of the fact that if people could be saved by works in the Old Testament, then
what do you even need Jesus for if you could somehow be good enough to go to heaven?
The bottom line is, no one's good enough to go to heaven.
No one's ever been good enough to go to heaven.
No one ever will be good enough to go to heaven by their own works.
So if you can't do it now, how could you do it then?
It doesn't make any sense.
And they say, well, it was before Jesus died on the cross.
So what?
You still aren't good enough to go to heaven.
You still can't earn your way in.
Jesus is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Everyone who's ever gone to heaven, everyone who ever will go to heaven goes through
the blood of Christ.
Now let me just prove that to you from the Bible before we go any further.
Look at Romans chapter 4.
We're going to see if dispensationalism holds up to scrutiny, which states that there
are different dispensations for Abraham, for Moses, for the New Testament.
They have seven dispensations in all.
Let's look at this scripture and see if it pans out.
Verse 1 of Romans 4, what shall we say then that Abraham, our father, as pertaining to
the flesh hath found?
And notice, he's speaking to the Romans, and he's saying Abraham, our father.
For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God.
So he's saying right there that Abraham was not justified by works.
If he had been justified by works, he would have had something to boast about or brag
about or something whereof to glory, but not before God.
He could have gloried to his fellow man, but that kind of glorying isn't going to
hold up in God's eyes.
Why?
Because God is so much greater and holier than any of us.
We can't glory to him about our own works.
So it says here that if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but
not before God.
For what sayeth the scripture, Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for
righteousness.
Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his
faith is counted for righteousness.
So that right there states that the person who does not do works, but believes on Christ
is justified by his faith because his faith is counted for righteousness.
This also flies in the face of those who would teach that because faith without works
is dead, they'll teach that you can't go to heaven without works.
That's a lie because the Bible says right here that to him that worketh not, but
believeth, it says that he's saved.
His faith is counted for righteousness.
He's justified.
So this idea that says, well, faith is always accompanied by works is a fraud because Romans
4-5 talks about a guy who has the faith, but he doesn't have the works.
In fact, that's what James 2 is all about when it said faith without works is dead.
If faith were always accompanied by works, the statement faith without works is dead
would be a meaningless statement because that condition would never even exist.
So what the Bible is saying in James 2 is that if we have faith but we don't have works,
our faith is dead, meaning, and he explains, that it is unfruitful.
It doesn't help anyone else.
It isn't a blessing to anyone else around us because man can't see our faith.
Man can only see our works.
So we are justified in the eyes of man by our works.
They look at our life.
But in the eyes of God, no flesh is justified in his sight by the works of the law.
So people are mistaking James 2, which is telling people that are already saved but
they're just dead in their Christian life, that they need to get out there and do
some works so that they can be a blessing to other people and that other people might
see their good works and glorify their Father which is in heaven.
Whereas in Romans 4, we're talking about justification in the sight of God.
We're talking about being saved.
He says in Romans 4, 5, But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness, even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.
Now let me ask you something.
How in the world could we use David as an illustration of being saved without works
if they were saved by works in the Old Testament?
Can you explain that to me?
Abraham was not saved by works.
He's saved by faith.
David was not saved by works.
He's saved by faith.
This would make no sense to pull this out as an example if these guys were actually
saved by their works.
So you see how this dispensational salvation is the most foolish unbiblical garbage that
just completely contradicts what we're reading in Scripture.
How could you explain this?
And I've heard these people try to explain it.
It's bizarre what they say.
I heard one of them say, well, I believe it was Peter Ruckman said, you know, well,
Paul here is using that Scripture from David out of context, you know, just to make
a point.
It's the Word of God.
It's inspired Scripture.
It's inspired by the Holy Ghost.
It's not taken out of context.
It's in context.
If God quotes it, I think he knows how to quote himself and keep it in the right context.
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodliest faith
is counted for righteousness, even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man
unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.
Notice he says no works.
It's without works.
Him that worketh not.
People are like, well, you're not saved by works, but if you're saved, you'll do the
works.
Really?
Because this guy worketh not, and this is justification just without works at all.
It says he describes the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness
without works, saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins
are covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
Look, that's the only way anybody's going to get to heaven.
Because if the Lord imputed our sins, we'd have to be punished for them in hell.
But thanks be to God, Jesus Christ took all of our sins upon him.
He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him.
So all of Christ's righteousness is imputed unto us, and all of our sins were imputed
unto Christ, and he took our punishment for us as a substitute on the cross.
This is the gospel.
This is basic.
And the Bible is clear that it was the same way for Abraham, and it was the same way
for David.
Look what verse 8 says.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
Who is he talking about?
Well, according to those that are these hyper dispensationalists, I guess he's only talking
about in the New Testament, the age of grace, the dispensation of grace.
But let's see who the Bible says it's talking about.
Verse 9, cometh this blessedness.
Now what's the blessedness?
Not having your sins imputed unto you.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
The Bible says in verse 6, even as David also described it, the blessedness of the
man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.
So what's the blessedness?
Having righteousness imputed unto you without works.
Meaning you didn't do any righteous deeds, but the righteousness of Christ, his deeds,
his good works, his perfect life were imputed unto you.
That's the blessedness.
What's the other aspect of the blessedness?
Your own sins not being imputed unto you.
So this is the dual blessedness of being saved.
Cometh this blessedness, verse 9, now that we know what the blessedness is.
Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also.
Before we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness, how was it then
reckoned?
When he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision?
Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.
Let me ask you this.
Did Abraham have the blessedness?
That's the whole point of this whole chapter.
The whole point of this whole scripture is that Abraham had that blessedness.
So how can you say, oh, well salvation was by works in the Old Testament.
No, no, no.
Abraham had the blessedness of being saved without works.
That's what we just read.
And then you say, well, and this is what I've heard from a lot of dispensationalists
as well.
Well, that's because Abraham was pre-law.
So they'll say, well, you know, that dispensation with Abraham, salvation was by faith.
But then after Moses, it became by works.
Okay.
Well then what about David?
Because David is under the law.
He's long after Moses and he's long before Christ.
He's right smack dab in the middle of their so-called dispensation of the law, old covenant.
He's right smack dab in the middle.
And he's in the exact same boat as Abraham in regard to salvation.
And he's in the exact same boat as we are in regard to salvation.
Saved by faith without works, the righteousness of Christ imputed unto him and his sins
not imputed unto him without any works on his own part.
This scripture couldn't be any clearer.
Let's keep reading.
And by the way, the Bible tells us when Abraham received that blessedness of salvation,
he received it before he got circumcised.
Well, when did he get circumcised?
Well, we know that he got circumcised when he was approximately 100 years old.
He got circumcised.
So he must have been already saved before that.
Okay.
When did he offer Isaac his son upon the altar?
Long after he was 100 years old.
So therefore, when the Bible talks in James 2 about him being justified when he offered
Isaac his son upon the altar, that's not talking about his salvation.
That's talking about being justified by man, by the readers of the book of Genesis, by
the people around him, by the people who would hear that story.
They know him as a great man of faith because of that story.
But hold on a second.
When did he get saved?
He got saved when he was uncircumcised.
That's what the Bible says.
How was it then reckoned, verse 10, when he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision?
Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.
And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which
he had being yet uncircumcised that he might be the father of all them that believe.
Now isn't that what I said about verse 1?
Our father, Abraham, our father?
You say, well, you know, the Jews, they look to Father Abraham.
No, no, no.
We're all the children of Abraham through faith in Christ Jesus.
The Bible says here that Abraham was the father of all them that believed, verse 11, halfway
through, though they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed unto them
also, and the father of circumcision, to them who are not of the circumcision only,
but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father, Abraham, which he had
being yet uncircumcised.
For the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or his seed
through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
I mean, this is a great passage.
It's so clear.
I mean, it just puts dispensational salvation to bed.
It's a lie of the devil.
It's a heresy.
It's a false doctrine.
Over and over again, throughout the Old Testament, we see Abraham believed God, and it was
imputed unto him for righteousness.
We see statements like, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
We see David talking about calling upon the name of the Lord to receive salvation.
Now go to Galatians chapter 1, just a few pages to the right in your Bible, Galatians
chapter 1.
Galatians chapter 1 warns about those who would preach another gospel.
Galatians chapter 1 verse 6, I marvel that you're so soon removed from him that called
you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be
some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
You know what this evil, demonic, other gospel is?
This damning false gospel.
The Bible tells us it's not another, meaning a totally separate, new gospel with new people,
new characters, new places.
No, no, no.
It's a perversion of the true gospel.
That's the most dangerous, damning kind.
It's in the name of Jesus, right?
It's not some other gospel, hey, there's a totally other savior, it's Buddha.
There's a total other savior, it's this God or that God, no, no, no.
The dangerous doctrine that's being referred to here is perverting the gospel of Christ.
So these people will say, we're preaching the gospel of Christ, but it's a corruption,
a twisting, perversion means twisted, it's corrupted.
It says, there be some, verse 7, that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ,
but though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that
which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you
than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
Now those who preach this dispensational salvation, they believe that there are other
gospels that are true, that are right, that are of God.
We only believe in one gospel.
There's one gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, but they teach that there is a different
gospel in the Old Testament, a different gospel in the New Testament, and then yet
another gospel during the tribulation, and then another gospel during the millennium.
And I've heard these guys come right out and say, well, there's three gospels.
I've heard other people come out and say, there's seven gospels.
Now the Bible's pretty clear that if you preach any other gospel than Paul's gospel,
you're to be accursed.
But these fools preach, these liars, these heretics, these false prophets say, Paul preached
a different gospel than Jesus, they say.
Well, you know what?
Then I don't want anything to do with the apostle Paul then, because Jesus is my
savior and I wasn't baptized in the name of Paul.
Okay, Paul didn't die on the cross for me.
Paul didn't rise again from the dead.
Paul's not the one seated at the right hand of the Father right now.
Paul is not the judge of quick and dead.
So Jesus Christ is the savior of the world, and Paul better be preaching the same gospel
that Jesus preached.
And guess what?
He is.
Guess what?
Paul is a true apostle of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
But if I had to choose between Paul and Jesus, give me Jesus.
But thankfully, Paul is of Christ.
And everything that Paul preaches is in perfect harmony with what Jesus Christ preached.
Everything he teaches on the rapture is in harmony with what Christ taught on the rapture.
Everything that he taught about salvation, everything that he taught about marriage,
it's all in perfect harmony with Christ's teachings, otherwise it would make him a
false prophet.
He comes along and says, oh, I've got another revelation of a different gospel.
Then what?
Is Paul like Joseph Smith to them?
Is he like Mohammed to them?
No, no, no.
Jesus said, he that believeth on me has everlasting life.
Is that the same gospel that Paul preached?
Is that what Romans 3 says?
Yes.
Is that what Romans 4 says?
Yes.
Is that what Romans 5 teaches?
Yes.
It teaches the exact same thing.
Why?
Because Paul is just preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And Jesus said, whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
What about the famous verse John 3 16?
Did Paul write that?
No.
That was with Jesus talking to Nicodemus.
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.
If Jesus looked at the crowds and said, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth
my word and believeth on him that sent me half, right now, present tense, everlasting
life and shall not come into condemnation.
But his past from death unto life.
But when did the New Testament start?
The New Testament didn't start until Jesus died on the cross.
Because it was the covenant was made in his blood.
Okay.
So years before the beginning of the New Testament, Jesus was already preaching salvation
by faith to Nicodemus, to the 5,000, to all different groups.
The whole book of John says believe 90 times.
And it claims to be a book written to tell you how to get saved, which is not what any
book that the apostle Paul wrote claims to be written for.
So this whole nonsense of different gospels and Paul and Jesus preached two different
gospels, it's a damnable heresy.
It's not just a difference in opinion.
It's not just a mistake or an error.
It's a lie out of the pit of hell.
It's a damnable heresy.
It's a false doctrine.
Let me say this.
I do believe that saved people could get mixed up in it if they're just a complete
babe in Christ.
They don't know the Bible.
They get mixed up.
But the preachers of this doctrine, I believe, are unsaved.
When you hear a preacher get up and say, well, in the Old Testament, they're saved
by works.
Well, the Jews, they're saved by works.
Well, when the tribulation happens, they're going to be saved by works.
That just tells me that that guy is a false prophet.
He's not even saved.
Why?
If you're saved, wouldn't you understand the gospel?
How can a saved person think that anybody ever was good enough or anybody ever will
be good enough to get to heaven on their works?
Your works are like filthy rags.
You think that they got saved by a filthy rag in the Old Testament?
It's garbage.
A filthy rag never saved anybody.
It's the precious blood of Christ that saves us.
Always has, always will.
Well, but they got it through works.
Shut up.
It's a lie.
It's false.
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
David describes the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputed righteousness without
works.
Let them be accursed.
See how you're too hard on these people.
Well, cursing them, that's pretty harsh.
What does it mean to curse someone?
It's not cussing.
What does it mean to curse?
It means the opposite of to bless them.
What does it mean to bless someone?
Here are some examples of blessings in the Bible.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, amen.
Peace be upon you.
The blessings are when you're wishing good upon someone.
If I say to you, have a nice day, that's a blessing, because I'm blessing you, telling
you, hey, I want things to go well for you.
If I said, live long and prosper, that'd be a blessing.
I'm telling somebody, I want good things to happen to you, right?
So what would a curse be?
A curse would be the exact opposite.
May you go out of here and slip on a banana peel.
That's a curse, right?
That's a curse.
And you'll see people in the Bible curse themselves and curse others.
People will put a curse on themselves and say, the Lord do so to me and more also
if X, Y, and Z.
We shouldn't talk that way.
We shouldn't say things like that.
But people do that in the Bible, don't they, in the Old Testament.
They put these oaths and curses on themselves and on other people.
And so the Bible says, let them be a curse, meaning don't bless them.
Don't promote them.
Don't wish them to have a good day.
You say, well, be nice to them.
No, no, let them be accursed.
Let them all go slip on a banana peel.
Let them all go fall down the stairs if they're preaching a false gospel, if they're preaching
another gospel than the gospel we've received.
They're ministers of Satan, the Bible teaches.
Now if you would flip over to Galatians 3, one of these false teachers I just heard
this week, Bill Grady.
Bill Grady is going to split hell wide open.
I don't care if he wrote a book about the King James.
Let him be accursed.
He really exposed the sinister agenda behind this doctrine because you say, well, what's
the big deal, Pastor Anderson?
As long as people believe that salvation is by faith now, that's all that matters
in this dispensation.
Who cares if they think it's going to be by works later, which since they also
believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, they think it might be by works even tomorrow,
right?
Because they think they think this can change at any moment and become by works
even tomorrow.
And that it was by works until, well, that's okay.
As long as they believe it's by faith now, what's the big deal?
Why does this matter?
I'll tell you why it matters because this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Old Testament salvation by works is the gateway drug to even worse doctrine and even
weirder doctrine that changes the gospel.
And you'll notice these people get even wrong about salvation even now.
Why?
Because that's just the gateway drug.
It starts with, well, they're saved by works of the Old Testament.
This is what this Bill Grady taught.
He said, well, and I've never heard this before, but you know, there's just so many
heresies you hear new ones all the time, but isn't it always the same junk just
repackaged in a different way.
But this guy, Bill Grady, who's ever heard of this guy, Bill Grady, who knows what I'm
talking about.
Well, this guy, he says, well, according to Romans 2, in the Old Testament, the Gentiles
were saved by works.
And then he said, quote, they were saved by their own conscience.
How can your own conscience deliver you from the fires of hell?
How can your own conscience get you to heaven?
But they said, well, the Gentiles in the Old Testament are saved by their own conscience
in that dispensation.
And then he said, well, and I think maybe that that could even apply today to people
who are out in the jungle somewhere.
If they don't hear about Jesus in the jungle, they could be saved, too, just by their
own conscience, their own works.
And here's his scriptural proof text for that, shall not the God of the earth do right?
So basically, he decides what's right.
He decides that God's wrong when God said that anyone who is not believing in Christ
is not saved.
I mean, God flat out said, neither is there salvation in any other.
There's none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Jesus is the only way to heaven.
That name, that gospel, he said, well, you know, maybe that'll go for the guy in the
jungle, too.
And then he mocks what he called an Anderson crowd.
But then he admits in the next breath, he said, you know, this kind of flies in the
face of what the Anderson crowd teaches.
And then in the next breath, he admits, and you know what every other independent
fundamental Baptist pretty much teaches.
Yeah, because it has nothing to do with Anderson.
It has to do with just the Bible.
It has to do with independent Baptists in general believe the Bible.
Before there ever was a Steven Anderson, before I was even a gleam in my father's eye, there
were hundreds, yay, thousands of Bible-believing preachers all over California and Arizona
and everywhere else teaching that salvation has always been by faith.
I was taught it as a little boy.
They said, hey, the Old Testament people, they looked forward to the cross.
And we look back on it, but it's all about the cross.
It's all about Jesus.
It's all about his death, burial, and resurrection.
So he claims that these heathen in the jungle.
And then he appeals to the authority Clarence Larkin, which is one of their dispensational
gurus from the 1800s who invented this garbage in the 1800s.
He wrote the book Dispensational Truth.
He said, well, Clarence Larkin says that, you know, the people in the jungle, even
in this dispensation, could be saved the same way the Gentiles were in the Old Testament
by just their own conscience.
Well, that just tells me that Clarence Larkin's in hell.
That's all that tells me, that he was a false prophet, that he believed lies.
Look, when people start telling you that there are people out in this world somewhere
who are saved by just sort of following the light that they have, that just tells
me that person's not saved.
That's the kind of talk you hear from people when you're out soul winning from unbelievers.
That's what atheists will pull out.
Well, what about that guy out in the jungle?
That's what all the non-believers will pull out.
Look, here's my answer to them.
Why don't you go get on an airplane, Bill Grady, instead of being on your stupid book
tour, promoting your lies, worshiping Jews and worshiping Israel, and turning God's
house into a house of merchandise so you can just sell your book everywhere.
Why don't you get on a plane and go find that guy in the jungle and go give him the
gospel because if you don't get him saved, he's going to go to hell.
That's why.
That's why we even do missions.
Otherwise missions would be pointless.
How shall they hear without a preacher?
Oh, shall not the God of the earth do right?
What is he implying that God's way is wrong?
He's right.
Do it my way, God.
Then you'll be right in my eyes.
That's basically what he's saying.
Look, Romans chapter 2 is super easy to understand.
Chris, I've never even met a Baptist who didn't understand Romans 2.
Romans 2 is saying that if you do good deeds, you'll be saved.
And then he follows it up right after by saying, except for the fact that we've
all sinned, except for the fact that there's none righteous, no, not one, therefore we
conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
So he explains, theoretically, he says, it's not the hearers of the law that are justified,
but the doers of the law shall be justified.
He explains in Romans 2.
It's not just hearing the law that gets you saved, you have to do all the works.
But then he explained, we've all sinned, both Jews and Gentiles, we're all under sin.
There's none righteous.
That's why it's only through faith that we can be saved because no one can ever work
their way to heaven.
So to just pull Romans 2 out of context and say, oh, it's for another dispensation, wrong.
The only time I've ever heard that doctrine was I got a pamphlet from the Catholic church
in the mail, and they said, we can prove all our doctrines from the Bible.
We can prove that Mary is to be worshiped.
We can prove salvation by works.
So I looked through the book to see like, where are they going to get Bible verses
for some of this stuff that they believe in?
And under salvation by works, they said, well, you know, some dispensationalists claim
that only Paul's epistles are dispensation.
And they said, you know, even Romans 2 by Paul teaches salvation by works.
Look only to an unsaved person would they look at that and say, oh, it's by works.
In any dispensation, why?
Because it's crystal clear when you read Romans 1 and 2, he's explaining how bad people
are, what they've done, how they're saved.
And in chapter 2, he says, OK, well, the Jews, though, they've done a lot of the
same things, and the Jews don't follow the law.
Yeah, they'd be saved by following the law.
Yeah, the Gentiles could be saved if they would live a perfect life, except that we've
all sinned.
That's why chapters 3, 4, and 5 are there to explain to you that the chapter 2 method
isn't going to work.
I mean, it's just, it's bizarre, folks.
So this goes to show you how teaching this dispensational salvation in the past is just
the gateway drug to start telling you, well, and this is exactly what he said, well, if
God did it then, why can't he do it now?
And you know what?
That's a great question.
That's an excellent question.
If God saved people by works in the Old Testament, maybe he could save them by works
right now.
Yeah, that's why we don't believe they were saved by works in the Old Testament,
because it's a slippery slope, and it's a bobsled to hell when you get on that course
of thinking.
It's a false, it's a false doctrine.
And him and his other two little fellow heretics on his right and left, then they
start saying that in the end times, Jesus only baptism might come back.
Well, you know, since Jesus only baptism only started in 1913, why would it come back
in the end time?
Here's what they're saying.
They're saying, well, in another dispensation, it was a Jesus only baptism in the Book
of Acts.
That was another dispensation.
You know, now we baptize by the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, but in the Book
of Acts, they were baptized in the name of Jesus only, and then that's going to come
back possibly in the end times.
So preparing people for an end times modalist baptism.
I mean, is that unbelievable?
It's unbelievable.
No, actually, people were told to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Ghost in Matthew 28, which comes before the Book of Acts.
And you say, well, then why did they baptize in the name of Jesus only?
Show me where one time, show me one time in the Bible where it says they baptize
in the name of Jesus only.
You'll never find it.
They're adding that word only.
Jesus only.
No, no, no.
It doesn't say Jesus only.
It just says they're baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Well, I've got news for you.
If you get baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, guess
who's included in that?
Guess who's included?
Isn't he the Son?
So if I got baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, would
it be inaccurate to say, yeah, he's baptized in the name of Jesus?
That's totally accurate.
Why?
Because that's the Son.
I mean, it's not that hard to understand this stuff.
But that's why all the way up until 1913 nobody batted an eye at the difference
between being baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost, and
Jesus.
Because they knew that when Luke writes about them being baptized in the name of
Jesus, if they're baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,
that's still accurate.
He's just emphasizing the part that it was about Jesus.
Okay.
But in 1913, these Charismatics got together at the Arroyo Seco campground for this
revival and healings and speaking in tongues and ecstatic utterances.
And a preacher got up at that campground and preached that it's different.
And then this guy got a revelation where God told him that the name of the Father
is Jesus and it snowballed into a oneness Pentecostal doctrine that caused a lot of
paths to be thrown out of the Assemblies of God in the early 20th century and to go
start their own oneness cult, which eventually became the UPCI, United Pentecostal
Churches Incorporated.
And look, most Pentecostals don't believe in that Jesus-only oneness modulus
doctrine.
Only about 25% in the United States believe in it.
The Assemblies of God do not believe in it.
Other Pentecostals believe in the Trinity as well.
So the point is that these guys with their dispensational junk, it just opens the door
to bring in any kind of crazy doctrine now.
They're already getting ready for an end times work salvation and an end times modulus
baptism of Jesus-onlyism, which makes no sense.
But it does make sense when you realize that they're just false prophets being controlled
by the devil.
And so the devil is going to put all these weird ideas into their mind so that they
could teach lies.
Look at Galatians 3.
It says in verse 1, oh foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that you should not
obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified
among you?
This only would I learn of you.
Receive ye the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith.
Are you so foolish having begun in the Spirit?
Are you now made perfect by the flesh?
Have you suffered so many things in vain, if it be yet in vain?
You say, you preach too hard.
He's preaching pretty hard here.
He's calling them names.
He's angry.
He's preaching hard.
Are you so foolish?
Are you that stupid?
He says, have you suffered so many things in vain, if it be yet in vain?
He therefore that ministered to you the Spirit and worketh miracles among you.
Doeth ye it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith, even as Abraham believed
God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached
before the gospel unto Abraham saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed.
What do we see here?
That Abraham was justified the same way the Galatians are justified.
He tells them, look, did you get saved?
Did you receive the Spirit by works or by the hearing of faith?
And then he says, even as Abraham, just like Abraham believed God and it was imputed
unto him for righteousness.
And then the Bible tells us that the gospel was preached unto Abraham.
Do you see that?
Verse eight, halfway through, preached before the gospel unto Abraham saying, in thee shall
all nations be blessed.
So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
So in the Old Testament, we find the gospel.
In the Old Testament, we find people being saved by faith.
It's foolish to teach that it's by works now or then.
And that's why Paul rebukes both.
He says, you're not saved by works now.
And then he rebukes them and says, what about Abraham?
Was he saved by works?
No, he wasn't.
He had the gospel preached unto him.
Which gospel?
There's only one.
And you know what?
It's the gospel that Jesus Christ came to this world to save sinners.
That's the only gospel there is, right?
Salvation in his death, burial and resurrection, right?
Faith in him that saves us, his death, his burial, his resurrection.
He's the atonement.
He's the sacrifice.
He's our way to heaven.
It's always been like that.
You say, well, show me in the Old Testament.
OK, let's go back to Genesis chapter 4.
Genesis chapter 4, you say, I want to see you in the Old Testament.
You're showing me New Testament.
First of all, the New Testament should be enough.
I shouldn't have to show you anything in the Old Testament because if you believe
that the New Testament's the Word of God, then it's authoritative.
Why should I have to show you from a certain part of the Bible?
The New Testament is referring back to the Old Testament, telling you, here's how
things were back then.
They got saved by faith.
That's a case closed.
But a lot of people, here's a mistake they make when they try to understand the Bible.
I want you to listen very carefully to this part of the sermon.
This is a key point.
Major Bible study mistake alert is when you go back and try to put your mind back
in the Old Testament times and say, OK, what parts of the Bible did they have available
to them?
I'm only going to read those and try to figure out what conclusion I would draw because they
only had these books, so I'm only going to read those and see if I could get salvation
by faith out of that.
That's a ridiculous way to read the Bible.
Can I tell you why?
Because you don't know exactly what scripture they had because the scripture was not all
in written form in the Old Testament.
In the Old Testament, much of it was oral.
So to sit there and say, well, in Abraham's day, here's exactly what they knew.
You don't know exactly what they knew.
Well, in Moses' day, all they knew was this because this is what they had as far
as scripture.
All they had was the first five books in the Bible.
You'll hear people say that.
Well, they didn't really understand X, Y, and Z because all they had was just the
Pentateuch, the first five books.
Or they'll go to another period in history and say, well, they only had the Bible up
to this point.
That's not true because the Bible says God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners,
spake in time past unto the fathers through the prophets.
It doesn't say he spake in one way.
It says he spake in diverse ways, diverse manners through the prophets, hath in these
last days spoken unto us by his son.
And there was a lot of preaching and prophesying of God's word that went on in the Old
Testament that wasn't written down back then.
You say, prove it.
Well, what about the words of Enoch?
You know, Jude says that Enoch preached before the flood.
Behold, the Lord cometh with 10,000 of his saints.
So Enoch's prophesying about the second coming of Christ before the flood.
Was that written down?
No.
The so-called book of Enoch is a fraud.
Don't even get me started.
Obviously every book that's mentioned in the Old Testament, book of Jasher, somebody's
going to go out and write some fraud called the book of Jasher, the gospel of Bartholomew,
the gospel.
You know, it's all nonsense.
I'm not even going to waste my time talking about it this morning.
I've done it in other sermons.
But the point is that there was all kinds of preaching going on before the flood.
Noah was a preacher of righteousness.
Okay, show me what he preached.
What was Noah's sermon?
Right?
If Noah's a preacher of righteousness for, you know, over 100 years, probably many hundreds
of years, if he's a preacher of righteousness, what did he preach?
We don't have it recorded, right?
Well, did he preach God's word?
Yeah.
Okay, so I'm sure he was preaching stuff that appeared in later books, just like
what Enoch preached eventually appeared in the book of Jude.
And you'll find, you know, different prophets, Micah and Isaiah, preaching a lot of the
same things.
Jeremiah and Zechariah preaching the same things.
It's God's word.
And so a lot of it was just the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, they preached,
nobody wrote it down.
But it's still the word of God, it's still out of power, they still believed it,
they still understood it.
So it's a false method of Bible study to try to put yourself back then and try
to figure out exactly what they knew and what they didn't know.
Why don't you just believe Romans 4?
Why don't you just believe Galatians 3?
Why don't you just believe what the New Testament told you?
Okay, so that's a wrong Bible study method.
But here, in Genesis 4, we see...
Before I get into that though, let me just say one thing.
Here's what they did not know in the Old Testament.
You know what they didn't know?
They did not know the name of Jesus.
That had not been revealed.
They did not know the name of Jesus.
But what did they know?
They knew about that there's a Son of God.
They knew that there's going to be a sacrifice, a Messiah, that Christ is going to die for
their sins.
You know, they didn't know the name.
They didn't know the method of execution necessarily, that it was going to be a cross.
But Isaiah 53 could give them some indications that He's going to be beaten and killed
and so forth.
They didn't know the details.
They saw through a glass darkly, but they still looked forward to that Lamb of God
that was going to be the Savior of the world.
All the way back to Genesis chapter 3, when Christ's coming is prophesied, where He says
that Christ would bruise the head of the serpent.
But look at Genesis 4 verse 26.
This is a key verse on Old Testament salvation right toward the beginning of your Bible.
It says, it does saith to him also there was born a son, and he called his name
Enos, then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.
So when did men begin to call upon the name of the Lord?
When Seth's son Enos is born, we are still in the generation when all the first people
are still alive.
Adam's still alive.
Eve is still alive.
Now Abel's dead because he was murdered, but Adam and Eve are still alive.
It's like the first generation of human beings on the earth.
It's Adam's grandson being born.
I hope I'm still alive when my grandson's born.
Most people are alive when their grandkids are born, especially when people before the
flood are living to be 900.
Yeah, they're alive when their grandson's born.
So the point is, in the very first generation of people around the time that Enos is born
is when men, plural, begin to call upon the name of the Lord.
Now notice what this verse does not say.
This verse does not say, before that no one had ever called upon the name of the
Lord.
No.
This does not prevent Abel from having called upon the name of the Lord, Adam and Eve from
calling upon the name of the Lord.
It's just saying that when Enos was born, that's when men began to call upon the
name of the Lord.
So you see a bunch of people at that time getting saved, believing our God.
Not just one person, Abel.
Not just one couple, Adam and Eve, but actually just people in general begin to call upon
the name of the Lord.
It's early, isn't it?
Now does it say, then began men to work their way to heaven.
Then began men to perform workspace salvation.
Then men offered sacrifices that covered their sins and got them into heaven.
No, no, no.
It says that men began to call upon the name of the Lord.
Now how do we get saved in the New Testament?
By calling upon the name of the Lord.
So we can go all the way back to the beginning of mankind and we see that they
began to call upon the name of the Lord.
Peter talks about Abraham, Isaac, other people, Jacob, calling upon the name of the Lord.
Go to Romans 10.
Romans 10.
So we go back to the New Testament and look at salvation in this covenant, in this
New Testament.
It says in Romans chapter 10, beginning verse number 5, for Moses described at the blessing
of the law, that the man which doeth those things shall live by them.
But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, say not in thine heart
who shall ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down from above, or who shall
descend into the deep, that is to bring up Christ again from the dead.
But what saith it, the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that
is the word of faith which we preach.
So he's quoting Moses again in order to teach salvation now.
He says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in
thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation.
For the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek.
For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him, for whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Now notice what verses 10, 11, 12, and 13, they all start with the same word.
What is it?
For, which means because.
So he makes a statement, he says because this, because this, because this, because this.
So the root cause of all of these becausees, all of these fours, the root cause is verse
13.
This is the foundation, is in verse 13.
That whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
So let me ask you this, in Genesis 4 when man began to call on the name of the Lord,
were those people saved or not?
They're saved.
Why?
They called on the name of the Lord.
And this is the foundational truth that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved.
Then he explains deeper in verses 14 and 15 what it means to call on the name of the
Lord.
It's not just calling out a name, but it's believing in him and calling upon him, trusting
him, putting your faith in him.
And that's explained in verse, chapter four of Romans two, you know, being fully persuaded
that what he's promised he's able also to perform.
He says he can get you to heaven, he can get you to heaven.
He says he died for you and was risen again.
We believe that, okay?
So notice this here, the foundational truth, which is an Old Testament truth, it's a quote
from Joel chapter two in the Old Testament.
It's mentioned throughout the book of Psalms, law of Moses, prophets, the idea of calling
upon the name of the Lord.
The foundational truth is that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
So because of that, because of that, we know in verse nine that if we shall confess
with our mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in our heart that God raised him from the
dead, we shall be saved.
How do we know that?
Because whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
So let me ask you this, when it says whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved, what name is that here?
That's the name of Jesus.
Because verse nine says that if we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and shall
believe in our heart that God has raised him from the dead, we shall be saved.
Why?
Because whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Everybody got that?
Okay.
Well, here's the thing.
Abraham did not know the Lord by his name of Jehovah.
In Exodus chapter six, it says, I appeared unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by the name
of God Almighty, but by my name of Jehovah was I not known unto them.
Exodus chapter six, either verse three or four.
So when Abraham called upon the name of the Lord, he called on the name of God Almighty.
When David called upon the name of the Lord in Psalms, he called upon the name of Jehovah.
And when we in the New Testament call upon the name of the Lord, we call upon the
name Jesus for salvation.
And there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
Now that the name of Jesus has been revealed, it's essential for salvation.
Now in the Old Testament, salvation was the same way it is now in the sense that it was
by faith then, it's by faith now.
It was by calling upon the name of the Lord then, it's by calling upon the name
of the Lord now.
It's always been by faith.
It's always calling out to him to save us.
Always been that way from the beginning of time until now.
Never was it by works, by how good you are, by your conscience, by offering animal
sacrifices, never has been, never will be.
Quickly go to Hebrews 10, I'm out of time, I've got a lot more to say here, but
running out of time, let me just give you a couple more things in closing.
Here's a great verse that just, one verse, you just want one verse to just
demolish dispensationalism?
How about just one?
One that you could write on the back of a postage stamp, Acts 10 43.
So if you only know one verse and you come across these heretics, the Bill
Grady's of this world, the Peter Ruckman's of this world, if you run into this
junk, all you need is one verse, Acts 10 43, to him give all the prophets
witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive
remission of sins.
All the prophets taught that.
That you're saved by what?
Whosoever believeth.
End of story.
Case closed.
Look, Romans 4 couldn't be any clearer.
And if you just want to boil it down to one verse because somebody doesn't have the attention
span for the whole chapter of Romans 4, go for Acts 10 43.
That's just your silver bullet for destroying this doctrine right there.
But look at Hebrews chapter 10 verse 1, for the law, having a shadow of good things
to come and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which
they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
For then would they not have ceased to be offered, because that the worshippers once
purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
Here he's making it clear, look, salvation's a one-time thing.
It's always been a one-time thing.
So if salvation's a one-time thing, how could it be a sacrifice that you do over
and over again?
Wouldn't you just do it once then?
That's what he's saying here.
But in those sacrifices, there's a remembrance again made of sins every year.
Why?
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
You know what?
He didn't say, well, it used to be possible.
It's never been possible that the blood of bulls and of goats could take away sins.
Never.
It was always a shadow of good things to come, of Christ the Lamb of God.
Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, when who comes into the world?
Christ.
Sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me.
Which proves that Christ existed before his body.
But a body hast thou prepared me.
In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure.
Then said I, lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do
thy will, O God.
Above when he said, sacrifice an offering and burnt offerings and offerings for sin,
thou wouldest not.
Neither hadst pleasure therein which are offered by the law.
Then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God, he taketh away the first, the first
what?
Covenant, testament, that he may establish the second, the New Testament.
And notice, not seven dispensations, a first and a second, testament, covenant.
He taketh away the first that he may establish the second, not the third, not the fourth,
not the fifth, or whatever dispensation they claim we're in, the second.
By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ
once for all.
And every priest standing daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices
which can never take away sins.
But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the
right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, whereof the Holy
Ghost also is a witness to us.
For after that he had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, saith the Lord.
I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and
their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin, having therefore,
brethren, boldness, to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and
living way which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh,
and having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart
in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our
bodies washed with pure water.
Now some people would misunderstand this in verse 20 and think, oh, there's a new way
to heaven.
A new way to heaven.
Wrong.
There's only one way to heaven.
It's always been through grace.
It's always been through Jesus.
No, no, no.
Look at verse 19.
Having therefore, brethren, boldness, to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.
What's the holiest?
Well, remember, in the Old Testament they had what?
The holy place and then the holiest of all it was called.
So they had the holy and the holiest of all.
He says now there's a new way, not to get saved, not a new way to get to heaven,
there's a new way into the holiest of all through the veil.
Why?
Because the holiest of all had a veil in front of it, a curtain.
Everybody follow?
There's a place at the mercy seat of God in the old temple that had a curtain in
front of it called the veil.
And when Christ died on the cross, the veil was rent in twain.
Right down the middle.
What is it saying here?
It's saying there's a new way to enter the holiest.
It used to be that you entered through the Levitical priesthood.
You entered through the Day of Atonement and you went through these rituals and ordinances
and carnal ordinances.
He says now there's a new way through the blood of Jesus into the holiest through
the veil, which is symbolic of his flesh.
And having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with true heart
in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our
bodies washed with pure water.
Why?
Because the Old Testament priest would be sprinkled in blood and then he would be
washed in the laver and he would go into the holiest clean, physically cleaned by water.
In the New Testament there's a new way where we can boldly come to the throne
of grace.
There's a new way into the holiest of all.
We have access.
Our high priest is no longer a Levitist Jesus.
So what's the difference between Old Testament and New Testament?
It's not a new salvation.
It's not a new way to heaven.
I'll tell you what it is.
It's a New Testament that brings us all nigh to the house of God.
We don't have to be a Jew to come to God's house.
We don't have to be a Jew to be a part of the royal priesthood, the chosen nation.
We don't have to be a Jew to be one of God's chosen people.
We don't have to be a Jew to be a child of Abraham.
The New Testament brings us all nigh to Christ Jesus.
But see, the dispensationalist, they reject that.
They call it replacement theology, which I think is a great name for it.
But the dispensationalist, because they reject the New Testament, which is that we're
all God's chosen people, we all can waltz into that holiest of all, right?
We're all brought nigh by the blood of Christ, red and yellow, black and white.
Because they reject that, they have to come up with some other New Testament.
So now they have a New Testament where it's a new way to get to heaven.
It's garbage.
If you could be saved by works then, you could be saved by works now, because that
would mean your works were something other than a filthy rag.
But they're not.
They're a filthy rag.
It's only through Jesus, and it's only through faith.
It's always been by grace.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for the clear teaching of your word, Lord.
I pray that everyone who's here would read the scriptures, Lord.
I pray that they would let these things sink down in their ears and that they would
continue to read the Bible and learn more so that they're not carried about with
every wind of doctrine, Lord.
And when the false teachers come along and the false gospels and the false doctrine
comes along, Lord, I pray that they would be able to recognize it for what it is because
they're rooted and grounded in the truth, Lord.
Thank you for a group of people, Lord, who come to church to hear doctrine, to learn
the Bible, to go deep, Lord, and not to just get a pat on the back.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.