Turn in your songbooks to song 374, Send the Light.
Song 374.
374.
There's a call comes ringing for the restless waves
Send the light, send the light
There are souls to rescue, there are souls to save
Send the light, send the light
Send the light, the blessed God's full light
Let it shine from shore to shore
Send the light, the blessed God's full light
Let it shine forevermore
We have heard the Macedonian call today
Send the light, send the light
And a fold in offering at the cross we lay
Send the light, send the light
Send the light, the blessed God's full light
Let it shine from shore to shore
Send the light, the blessed God's full light
Let it shine forevermore
Let us pray and praise be everywhere about
Send the light, send the light
Take advice like spirit everywhere be found
Send the light, send the light
Send the light, the blessed God's full light
Let it shine from shore to shore
Send the light, the blessed God's full light
Let it shine forevermore
Let us not grow weary in the work of love
Send the light, send the light
Let us gather to turn the ground above
Send the light, send the light
Send the light, the blessed God's full light
Let it shine from shore to shore
Send the light, the blessed God's full light
Let it shine forevermore
Father in heaven, thank you for the gathering of believers in the church
I pray that you please bless all aspects of the service
and Pastor Anderson's preaching as well
and help us, your children, get edified
In Jesus' name I pray, Amen
Amen
Amen, we're going to turn to our next song
Song number 254
Whosoever Will
Song 254
Whosoever hear, read, shout, shout, astound
Spread the blessed tidings all around
Tell the joyful news wherever man is found
Whosoever will may come
Whosoever will, whosoever will
Send the proclamation over bell and hill
Tis the loving Father called to wander home
Whosoever will may come
Whosoever come, if he not delay
Now the door is open, enter while you may
Jesus is the truth, the only living blame
Whosoever will may come
Whosoever will, whosoever will
Send the proclamation over bell and hill
Tis the loving Father called to wander home
Whosoever will may come
Whosoever will, the promise is secure
Whosoever will, for everlasting health
Whosoever will, tis life forever born
Whosoever will may come
Whosoever will, whosoever will
Send the proclamation over bell and hill
Tis the loving Father called to wander home
Whosoever will may come
And across the page there, due to staff contracting COVID-19, the weekly singing class and upcoming Spanish night have been cancelled.
And if you've been in contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID, we ask that you do not attend church for two weeks from the time of contact.
Also, just if you're sick, stay home. If people in your family are sick, stay home.
Thankfully, even though the entire staff got COVID, it didn't really spread further than that.
It was only just a handful of people that have gotten it. It's been like less than 10 people.
So thank God for that. We want to keep it that way. We don't want it to just kind of rip through the church and everybody get it.
So just keep washing your hands, do fist bumps instead of handshakes, and just use a little bit of common sense so that we don't have some big blow up with that.
And then below that, the giving statements for 2020 are available by request.
If you need one, go ahead and email the church at faithforward1 at gmail.com.
It provides a tax benefit to almost no one anymore because in the last few years they've changed the tax code and raised the standard deduction.
But if you want to itemize or if you think it could help you, then go ahead and email the church for that.
On the back, we've got the list of expectant ladies. Pray that everyone has a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery.
And then the homeschool field trip to Maya's farm later this month has been canceled.
Sorry for the disappointment. A couple other notes there. That's about it for announcements.
So let's go ahead and sing our next song. Come lead us.
All right, we're going to do Still Sweeter Every Day. It should be in your hymnal, but please raise your hand if you don't have that.
One there should bring it to you. Still Sweeter Every Day.
Still Sweeter Every Day.
All right, we're going to do one more song in our hymnals.
Song one thirty-seven.
Song one forty-seven.
One four seven.
What a fellowship, what a joy divine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
What a blessed kiss, what a peace of mind,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
Leaning, leaning,
Safe and secure from all alarms.
Leaning, leaning,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
Oh how sweet the law in this Milford way,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
Oh how bright the bath rose from day to day,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
Leaning, leaning,
Safe and secure from all alarms.
Leaning, leaning,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
Leaning, leaning,
Safe and secure from all alarms.
Leaning, leaning,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
Alright, this time we'll pass our offering plates around, and as we do, let's turn our Bibles to 1 John chapter 5,
toward the very end of the New Testament.
Couple books before Revelation, 1 John chapter number 5, as we always do, we'll read the entire chapter,
beginning in verse number 1, follow along silently with brother Varon as he reads.
1 John chapter 5, beginning in verse number 1.
1 John chapter 5, the Bible reads,
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God,
and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous.
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world,
and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ.
Not by water only, but by water and blood.
And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.
And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, and these three agree on one.
If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater.
For this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.
He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.
He that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
These things have written unto you, that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us.
And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desire of him.
If any man see his brother sin a sin, which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death.
There is a sin unto death. I do not say that he shall pray for it.
All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not unto death.
We know that whosoever is born of sin, sinneth not.
But he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.
And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.
And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ.
This is the true God, and eternal life.
Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.
Brother Daniel, would you pray?
Dear Father in Heaven, please bless us all as we, he can give us ears to hear the sermon, and please fill the pastoring with your spirit.
Um, and, and may we all be out of fad today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen. The title of my sermon this morning is Salvation by Faith Defined.
Salvation by Faith Defined. It seems like sometimes the words that we use the most often, sometimes we take them for granted, or some of the concepts that are the most basic and rudimentary, sometimes people can still misunderstand them or be wrong about them.
And so sometimes it's important to lay down some of these strong foundations, because what could be more important, what could be more foundational than salvation?
I mean if you get every other doctrine in the Bible right and you get salvation wrong, it's all completely in vain. Of course that would be impossible, because in order to understand the other doctrines of the Bible, you have to have salvation right so you can have the Holy Spirit indwelling.
But salvation by faith is the first and most important thing to us as believers. We want to make sure that we're going to Heaven, and we want to make sure that not only we're going to Heaven, but that we can articulate salvation to other people.
We want to have a clear and firm understanding of this so that we can tell other people how to be saved. Now the first place I want you to turn this morning is Ephesians chapter 1.
The title of the sermon is Salvation by Faith Defined. I want to explain what do we mean when we say that salvation is by faith, because I'll tell you this right now.
We as Baptists believe in salvation by faith, but there are a lot of other denominations out there that will still give lip service saying, oh we believe in salvation by faith, but they mean something completely different.
They don't mean what the Bible means. They don't mean what we mean as Baptists, because everybody will usually give some kind of lip service to that.
So what does salvation by faith mean? The title is Salvation by Faith Defined. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 12 says this, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ.
And I want you to notice that word trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
And so the Bible here uses the words trusted and believed, it uses them interchangeably. He starts out saying you trusted in Christ and then after you believed in Christ you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
So to believe in Christ is to trust in Christ, to put your faith and trust in him. Another way of putting that would be to rely on Christ as your way to heaven.
You're trusting his finished work on the cross, his death, burial, and resurrection as your ticket to heaven. Let's continue reading.
It said at the end of verse 13 you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory.
Now if you've ever bought a house before you know about the earnest money. When you go to buy a house you put an offer on the house and you put down the earnest money to let them know that you're serious.
So it could be a thousand dollars. Typically these days it's more like four or five thousand dollars that you send with your offer. Here's five thousand bucks and in many cases you could lose the earnest money if you back out for no reason or whatever.
And so that's the word here earnest. Obviously this is different than a home buying transaction but the word earnest is synonymous with serious, right? Remember Frank and Ernest?
And so what the Bible is saying here is that God has given us the Holy Spirit of promise. That is the earnest to show us that when he makes us that promise of eternal life he says look here's the Holy Spirit to let you know that I'm serious.
And it is the guarantee that he which has begun a good work in us will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit inside of us is the guarantee that we could never lose our salvation and that we have eternal life.
He will never leave us or forsake us and the Holy Spirit is that earnest of our salvation, earnest of the inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.
So we've already been purchased but the redemption of our body will take place in the future at that first resurrection or at the rapture and so we have the Holy Spirit as the earnest.
And then it says in verse 15 wherefore also after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers.
Now go to John chapter 7 if you would. John chapter 7 we're going to see a negative example of this. So what are we talking about this morning? We're defining salvation by faith.
What does it mean to believe in Christ? We all know that we get saved by believing in Jesus but what does that mean?
And the first thing I want to show you that it means is that it means you're trusting in Jesus.
And he is trustworthy because he has given us the Holy Spirit of promise and he will redeem that purchased possession and our salvation is guaranteed by the Holy Spirit himself.
So what does it mean to believe? It's to trust. While you're turning to John chapter 7 I'm going to read for you a famous verse, 2 Timothy 1.12
For the which cause I also suffer these things nevertheless I'm not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
So he says I know whom I've believed and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. Come up here for a second Daniel.
So here's what it means what I've committed unto him. The word commit there has to do with entrusting something to someone for safe keeping.
So if I were to commit unto Daniel my wallet here I'm basically trusting him to hold onto it for me. I've committed my wallet. It's valuable. It's got my ID. It's got credit cards.
It's got well no not a lot of money. No I'm just kidding. But anyway it's got cash in it. So Daniel go ahead and sit down with that cause I'm trusting Daniel here.
Now notice I picked Daniel. You know I didn't just pick like a first time visitor. Say here you go buddy you know hang onto this for me.
You know I would even be comfortable giving that to Daniel and picking it up tomorrow. You know but that would be a certain amount of trust that I'm putting in Daniel wouldn't it?
I'm entrusting something. That's what it means to commit something. Like when Paul says that he's committing Phoebe unto them. He's commending Phoebe unto them rather I should say.
But to commit something to someone is to entrust it to them for safe keeping for them to hold onto it.
And so Paul is saying I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day.
Just like if I gave my wallet to Daniel I said hey I'm gonna get that from you tomorrow. Well here's the thing with God. We're committing unto him our soul.
We're committing unto him our eternal destiny. We're committing unto him our salvation and that requires us trusting him that he is going to do what he has said he would do.
That is what it means to trust Christ. Now here's an example of people not trusting in Christ.
Look at verse number three of John chapter seven.
His brethren, these are Jesus's physical half-brothers, the children of Joseph and Mary.
His brethren therefore said unto him, depart hence and go into Judea that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest.
For there is no man that doeth anything in secret and he himself seeketh to be known openly.
If thou do these things show thyself to the world, watch verse five, for neither did his brethren believe in him.
Now the reason that I show you this verse is because a lot of people when they hear the term believe in they think it just means you believe that he exists.
Now let me ask you this. Did Jesus's physical brothers think that he existed or know that he exists or believe that he existed or do you think that they're deaf?
I don't even think Jesus is a real person. They live with him. They grew up with him.
But yet his brethren didn't believe in him. Why? Because believe in doesn't mean you're saying it exists, it means that you're trusting in.
And his brethren are not trusting in him. They're not relying on him for salvation. They don't believe that he's the son of God.
They believe he exists and that's why a lot of people will take out of context in James chapter two where it says,
Thou believeth that there's one God, thou doest well, the devils also believe in tremble.
And people say, well the devils believe in Jesus. Oh you don't believe in Jesus enough.
Hold on a second. It says thou believeth that there's one God, thou doest well, the devils also believe in tremble.
Does the Bible say the devils believe in Jesus? Can somebody show me in the Bible where it says the devils believe in Jesus?
Does it say that? It says the devils believe that God exists. The devil believes that there's one God.
He's not trusting and relying on Jesus. That's ridiculous, okay? So we don't want to misunderstand that.
It's not enough to believe that God exists. Oh I believe in God so I'm going to heaven.
Well, what do you mean by that? Because if you just believe God exists, that's not enough.
You just believe Jesus existed? That's not enough. You believe the historical facts about Jesus?
Believe that he lived and walked Galilee and died on the cross? That's not enough.
You have to trust Jesus, believing in Jesus, trusting in Jesus as your savior.
That's number one. Go to 1 John chapter 5 and we'll see number two.
So point one, when we say believe in, it doesn't mean just the existence of, but it's a trust in, reliance upon.
That's what we're talking about. It's sort of like if I were to, you know, show up to a sporting event
where you were playing, let's say, basketball and it's the big basketball game and I said to you,
hey man, I believe in you. What do I mean by that? I'm saying, look, I trust that you can get out there
and execute, that you can get out there and perform what you're here to do.
That's what we're talking about here when it says believe in Jesus, it's saying you're trusting in Jesus, okay?
And we've seen that in a couple places. But number two, salvation by faith includes believing a specific record.
There's a specific record that God gave of his son that you have to believe.
You know, what is it that you have to trust in Jesus for or believe in Jesus on?
Well, you know, here's one example. In 1 John 5, there's a specific record. Look at verse 5 of 1 John 5.
Who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the son of God?
So obviously we know you have to believe that Jesus is the son of God to be saved.
That's one thing that you have to believe to be saved. And this is why none of the Muslims are saved.
And if you go out and preach the gospel to Muslims, here's what they'll tell you when you teach them that
salvation is by believing in Jesus Christ. Here's what they'll say, of course I believe in Jesus, I'm a Muslim.
Who's ever had a Muslim tell you that? Look, this is what Muslims have said to me.
They say, well of course I believe in Jesus, I can't be a Muslim unless I believe in Jesus.
I am required as a Muslim to believe in Jesus. But wait a minute, are they trusting in Jesus as their savior? Nope.
Number two, do they believe that he's the son of God? No, because Muslims only believe that Jesus is a prophet.
So they'll say, oh yeah, I believe in Jesus, but it's another Jesus. It's not the Jesus of the Bible.
It's not the son of God. It is just a prophet in a series of prophets and they think Mohammed's better than Jesus.
Because they have a series of prophets that gets better and better. You know, as they go down the list of Abraham,
Moses, David, Jesus, Mohammed, they think it keeps getting better. When the Antichrist shows up, they're going to think he's the ultimate.
You know, he's even better than Mohammed. That's going to be their climax right there with the Antichrist.
So we need to understand that not only is believing in Christ, trusting in Christ, but there are specific things that you have to believe about Christ.
There's a certain record that you have to believe and of course it all starts with believing he's the son of God. That's required.
Look at verse number six. This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ.
Not by water only, but by water and blood, and is the spirit that beareth witness, because the spirit is truth.
For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.
So we see here that we are relying upon the testimony of three witnesses.
Okay, when it comes to the story about Jesus physically coming to this earth, Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
and he died on the cross and was buried and rose again. We're relying upon three witnesses for that.
Now here's the thing, if an event happened and there's only one witness, we'll often be skeptical of that.
We want two witnesses, we want three witnesses.
Well, there are three witnesses, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. These are three witnesses.
And by the way, this is why oneness Pentecostalism makes no sense, because they're claiming that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are all one person.
They reject the Trinity. The Trinity teaches three persons, one God.
Oneness Pentecostalism teaches that it's just one person that wears a different hat. He puts on the Father hat, puts on the Son hat, puts on the Holy Ghost hat.
That's not three witnesses. If it's just three different roles that he plays, that's not three witnesses.
Imagine me going to court and saying, your honor, I have three witnesses.
You know, and I'm going to call to the stand, first of all, Corbin Russell, the Father.
And Corbin Russell comes and gives testimony. Alright, for my second witness I'm going to call Corbin Russell, the Son.
Because, I mean, is Corbin Russell both a father and a son? Yeah. He's a father, he's a son, right?
And then I said, okay, now I've got a third witness, your honor. At this time I'd like to call Corbin Russell, the Deacon, to the stand.
That would be ridiculous because it's the same witness three times.
Okay, but the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are three distinct witnesses. Now they're all equally God.
Jesus is God, the Father is God, the Holy Spirit is God, but Jesus is not the Father, the Father's not the Son, the Son's not the Holy Ghost.
Three persons, one God. These three were always co-eternally existing as God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost in all eternity.
So these three witnesses are bearing witness to the truth of Jesus Christ in order for us to be saved. We have to believe that record.
And so the Bible tells us here, let's keep reading in verse 8, there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree in one.
Verse 9, if we receive the witness of men, meaning that if a bunch of witnesses told us the same thing, we'd believe them.
The witness of God is greater, for this is the witness of God which he had testified of his Son.
He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. That's talking about the Holy Spirit, that's one of the three witnesses.
He that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
Okay, so let's talk about another definition of believe here, another aspect of believing.
The first point was that believing in Christ is trusting in Jesus Christ. We all understand that.
But number two, it also has to do with believing the record that God gave of his Son. Now that record is found in scripture.
This is the record right here, the Word of God, the Bible is the record that God gave of his Son.
And here's the thing, the Bible says if we don't believe that record, we make God a liar.
So this helps us understand another aspect of believing is acknowledging the truth of something.
So for example, if I got up here and said, you know, I own a black van, do you believe me?
And if someone said yes, I believe you, they're basically saying that I'm telling the truth.
And if they said no, I don't believe you, they're calling me a liar.
And so the Bible says here that he that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
So if you don't believe the record in God's Word, you're calling God a liar, which makes perfect sense because we know what the word believe means.
So yes, the word believe means trust, but trust what?
We have to trust the truth of what we're being told in scripture about Jesus as well.
You know, we have to believe the record that God gave the Son.
What is that record? Well the Bible tells us in the next verse, in verse 11, it says,
And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
Now, what are the key components of this record?
First of all, we see that God has given to us eternal life.
Does that say that God has sold us eternal life?
Or that we have to work for eternal life?
We have to pay for eternal life?
You know, I think of the billboard for the Marines, you know, earned, not given.
Does everybody know what I'm talking about? Who's seen that ad campaign?
Earned, never given.
Okay, well guess what? There's earned and then there's given.
Did we earn our salvation?
Do we work our way to heaven by being a good person, following the commandments, doing good deeds?
No, no, no. It's paid for by Jesus.
God has given to us, and then, let's get the next component, what did God give us?
Eternal life.
Eternal life means that it never ends.
This means that once you're saved, you have eternal life, you're sealed with the Holy Spirit
under the day of redemption, and that nothing can separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
He will never leave us or forsake us.
We have eternal life.
God has given to us past tense eternal life, and this life is in his Son,
and of course, salvation is through Jesus alone.
So, we understand salvation is a gift, it's eternal, and it's through Jesus.
That's the specific record here.
If somebody doesn't believe that record, they're not saved.
If somebody says, well, I believe God gave it to us, and I believe it's through his Son,
but I don't think it's eternal, I think you could lose it, you could screw it up, you know,
if you sin too much or whatever, then it's like, you're not believing the record.
And by the way, you're not even trusting Christ because you're trusting yourself not to screw it up.
Or if somebody says, well, you know, I believe it's eternal, and I believe it's in his Son,
but, you know, I don't really think it's a gift, I think, you know, you gotta work for it.
You gotta do the work. Nope. Wrong.
He that hath the Son, verse 12, hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life,
these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God,
that you may know that you have, present tense, right now, you have eternal life,
and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.
Now, what does it mean to have eternal life?
It means you're never gonna do what?
So, if I say, today, January, whatever it is today, what's today today?
Today, January 17th, I have eternal life.
If I lost it sometime in February, was it eternal on January 17th?
In order to be eternal on January 17th, it has to last forever, not, like, until I mess up.
And that's why the Bible doesn't say you have to be born again and again and again and again.
It's just born again.
It's not like, now I'm saved, now I'm not, now I'm saved, now I'm not.
You get saved one time and it's eternal life.
So, point number one was that believing in Christ is trusting in Christ.
Number two, salvation by faith includes believing a specific record.
You know, there's certain things that if people don't believe this, they're not trusting in Christ.
They do believe it.
If you went to any saved person, they would acknowledge that record we just saw.
They'd say, yeah, God gave us eternal life and it's through his Son.
You know, that's easy.
That's not hard for anybody who's saved to believe that it's a gift, that it's eternal, and that it's through Jesus.
Now, a lot of people think they're saved and they're not.
And they would say, like, well, you know, you can't just live however you want, you know, because they don't get it.
And the fact that they're saying that shows that they don't get it.
It's already done.
It's already paid for.
The Holy Ghost is already inside of us.
We're sealed until the day of redemption, et cetera.
Nothing can pluck us out of his hand.
But number three, go to Romans chapter 10.
Salvation requires a step of faith.
It requires a step of faith.
Number one, it's trusting in Christ.
Number two, it's believing the record about Christ.
Because how do we know that he died and buried and was risen again?
It's only through scripture that we have that record.
But number three, it requires a step of faith.
Now, let me give you an illustration for this that's very fresh in my mind.
You know, a couple days ago, me and my sons had received this Christmas present of doing this extreme adventure course in Flagstaff that involved a lot of zip lines and, like, a ropes course.
You're swinging on ropes, climbing on nets, and going on these, like, Tweety Bird swings where you have to kind of jump from one to the next and so forth.
And here's the thing.
You know, there was some faith required in some of this equipment.
Now, what was the highest zip line that we did that you guys said?
How many feet was it?
So we're like, you're like 61 feet off the ground.
So imagine you're 61 feet off the ground and it's like, okay, you know, you're harnessed up and you latch in, but then you have to jump.
And here's the thing.
If that cable doesn't hold you, and I'm looking at the harness, I'm like, there's one point of failure.
Like, if that fails, everything fails.
There's another point of failure.
There's another possible point of failure.
But here's the thing.
At the end of the day, I just had to have the faith to say, you know, and here's the thing.
I don't know anything about what kind of metal was used to make this equipment.
I didn't ask them for some kind of a, you know, a breakdown of the alloy.
I don't know how this fabric is woven and these cords and straps and so forth.
But at the end of the day, I just had to trust this company, just this random company.
I just have to trust them.
Like, well, you know, everybody else is doing it.
It's working.
But here's the thing.
There had to be that point where I stepped off the edge and went on the ride.
And then it's a fun ride.
Now, what if I told you, I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that this thing's going to hold me.
But then I'm like, I'm not doing that.
I'm not going on that.
I'm not.
Forget this.
Sixty-one feet.
Are you serious?
Folks, in order to have salvation by faith, there's a step of faith required.
You know, you have to actually trust Jesus.
Right?
And I'm trusting that zip line when I step off the platform.
And salvation is a similar idea.
Look, if you would, at Romans chapter 10, verse 9.
Romans chapter 10, verse 9.
Romans 10, 9, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt 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.
And then verse 11 is often misunderstood.
It says in verse 11, for the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
If you study the word ashamed in the Bible, because it says as it is written.
You know, you go back to the Old Testament and you look at these verses about not being
ashamed and trusting in the Lord, not being ashamed.
What that word means is that you're not going to be let down.
You're not going to be disappointed.
You're not going to be put to shame like, I put all my faith in Jesus and he didn't
come through for me.
That's what it means biblically to be ashamed if you study that word throughout scripture.
It'd be like if I stepped out on the zip line and the thing broke.
Now, that's not going to happen with Jesus.
Now, here's another illustration that's pretty popular.
I heard this illustration a lot growing up in church of a chair.
You know, basically you could be standing next to the chair and say, you know, I believe
in the chair, the chair can hold my weight, if I sit on it, it's going to work, everything's
going to be great, but then there's actually sitting on the chair.
Right?
So in order to be saved, we have to put our faith on Christ.
We can't just say like, yeah, yeah, yeah, affirm the facts about Christ, believe facts
about Christ, say that he exists or something.
You know, at the end of the day, we have to say, hey, I'm putting my trust in Christ.
And there's a moment when you sit in that chair.
There's a moment when I stepped off that platform.
There's a moment where you place your faith and trust in Christ.
And the Bible describes this here as a moment when somebody calls upon the name of the Lord
as their Savior.
And that's the vehicle whereby they put their faith in Christ of actually trusting him,
actually calling out to him and confessing with their mouth the Lord Jesus and believing
in their heart that God raised him from the dead and they're saved.
And the Bible says, with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession
is made unto salvation.
So, it's clear that confession leads to salvation.
Right?
But obviously, if you look at verse 13, it says, for whosoever shall call upon the name
of the Lord shall be saved, how then shall they call on him in whom they've not believed?
So, here's the thing, if you don't believe in Christ, if you're not trusting in Christ,
if you don't believe the record that God gave his Son, you can call out any words and
it's going to do nothing for you.
You know, you could say words, you could repeat a sinner's prayer, you could repeat and say
anything, even if what you say is perfect.
If you don't believe in your heart, that's not salvation.
You know, the heart is where man believes unto righteousness and then with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation.
But a lot of people might just have kind of a head knowledge or just kind of believe the
fact about Jesus that he existed, but they're not relying on him for salvation.
They have not put their faith and trust in salvation.
And one of the key points I want to make here is that salvation occurs in a moment.
Salvation is not a process.
Now, coming to faith in Christ could be a process, right, where you, you know, first
you hear a Bible verse and you start thinking about it, you're digesting it, seed's been
planted, and then that seed is watered and someone else talks to you and then something
else happens in your life.
You know, it might take someone hearing the gospel multiple times, different people talk
to them, different preaching that they hear, events in their life leading them, but there
is a moment, there is a twinkling of an I moment where salvation occurs.
Salvation is in a moment.
It's that moment that you step off the platform on the zip line, it's the moment that you
sit in the chair, it's putting your faith and trust in Christ, and it's just simply
calling out to the Lord and relying on him to be your savior, and asking him to save
you.
It's that simple.
Nothing complicated.
And number four, if you would go to Galatians chapter five, salvation by faith has no backup
or fail safe.
There's no backup mechanism or fail safe.
What do I mean by that?
Well, maybe there was a little less faith required in that zip line than I let on earlier,
because not only did we latch in the deal that actually rolls on the zip line, but there
were these two other cables that we latched on that were like a backup mechanism.
So that if something did go wrong with that one device, then one of these other backups
would kick in.
In fact, throughout the day as we did this ropes course, at all times, we had two things
clipped in all the time, so that if one were to accidentally open, you've got the other
one as a backup.
Okay, now here's the thing about salvation by faith.
There's no backup.
There's no fail safe.
So you don't want to be like, okay, all right, I'm ready to do the ropes course.
Let's go Jesus and Buddha.
All right, let's go.
Let's do it.
That's not going to work.
You cannot have a fail safe or a backup.
So we said, number one, salvation by faith is trusting in Christ.
Well, here's the thing.
If you trust Christ, you don't need a backup, do you?
I mean, what if I said, I fully trust this parachute.
I'm putting 100% of my faith in this parachute, but just in case I got a backup shoot, do
I have 100% faith in that parachute?
Because if I had 100% faith, there'd be no need for the backup shoot.
And in order to be saved, you can't have a backup shoot called good works.
You can't have a backup shoot called Judaism.
You can't have a backup shoot called Hinduism.
You can't have a backup shoot called my good works and my good deeds and my other religion.
It's got to be all Jesus.
You have to put your faith in Jesus.
Now you say, how much faith do I need to be saved?
You don't need a lot of faith to be saved.
You only just need a tiny little bit of faith, but here's the requirement.
You put it all in Jesus.
Maybe your faith is small.
Well, join the club.
You know, the disciples said, Lord, increase our faith.
And he said to them, if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this
mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea.
So let me ask you this.
Did the disciples even reach mustard seed level faith at that?
No.
He's telling them you don't even have faith.
You want to increase your faith.
Your faith is microscopic.
But were they saved?
Yeah.
Obviously, with the exception of Judas, they're saved.
They're on their way to heaven.
Why?
Because it's not that we have to have some gigantic mountain moving faith.
Obviously, we grow into, you know, the longer we're saved, our faith grows and we build
up to those things.
God willing, we're never probably going to even achieve that level.
But the point is that we just have to take whatever faith we have, even if it's just
a little grain of sand or smaller, and we have to put that all in Jesus.
We can't split that.
We can't split that and say, okay, it's Jesus and Mohammed.
It's Jesus and Buddha.
It's not going to work.
It's got to be all Jesus.
And that includes trusting in Jesus and our good works.
And this is what most, you know, most people are not trying to do a hybrid of Christianity
and Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism.
Most people aren't doing that, are they?
What most people are doing is, well, I believe in Jesus, but I also believe I have to live
a good life to get to heaven.
Or, well, I believe in Jesus, but I'm also doing all the rituals of the church and that's
going to get me into heaven.
Look what the Bible says in Galatians chapter 5 verse 1.
Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage.
Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
For I testify again to every man that's circumcised that he's a debtor to do the whole law.
Now, what is he saying here?
He's saying, look, if you're going to say that there's a certain biblical commandment
that we have to keep in addition to trust in Christ, we also have to keep this one commandment.
He's saying you might as well say we've got to keep all the commandments.
And if you think we have to keep all the commandments, then nobody's going to heaven.
I mean, think about that.
He's saying, look, if you say, okay, the only part of the law that you have to do to get
to heaven is just to get circumcised, he's saying, okay, well now you've got to do the
whole law.
You're a debtor to do the whole law.
Because it's either all faith or it's faith and works, and if it's faith and works, good
luck keeping the law perfectly because you're a debtor to do the whole law.
You've just obligated yourself to doing the entire law.
Anybody want to try to keep the entire law perfectly?
None of us is without sin.
We all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
And as soon as you add one legal requirement of you must be certain.
Because a lot of the Jews, they were having trouble letting go of these things.
They didn't like the fact that Gentiles are getting saved so easy.
They're just believing in Jesus and they're saved.
They're like, well, you've got to keep the Mosaic law.
And the apostles are like, no you don't.
But then they're like, okay, but you do have to do this one thing.
Come on, at least you've got to get circumcised.
And he says, look, if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
Now obviously, you know, people who are circumcised can still go to heaven.
That's not what he's saying here is that if you go out and get circumcised because you
think that's a requirement for salvation, Christ shall profit you nothing.
And by the way, we don't practice circumcision in the New Testament.
The Bible's clear on that.
That's a whole other sermon.
There are many scriptures in the New Testament.
And some of the older generation have a problem with that because they got brainwashed in
their generation by a bunch of Jewish doctors that brought circumcision in the United States.
You know, before World War II, Americans weren't circumcised, my friend.
You know, everybody in my grandpa's generation, they didn't get circumcised.
But then by the time it got to my dad's generation and my generation, they're circumcising everybody.
Now people are starting to get away from that once again.
But circumcision is not a New Testament practice.
The Bible is specific about that.
But what we're talking about specifically here is that circumcision as a requirement
for salvation, okay, well then everything's required.
You can't just pick one thing.
And this would be like if somebody said, well, it's just believing in Christ to get you to
heaven, but you also have to, you also at least have to follow that one commandment,
thou shalt not kill.
Okay, but he that said do not kill, he's the same one who said do not commit adultery.
And the Bible says in James chapter 2 verse 10, what does it say in James chapter 2 verse
10?
Whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offended one point, he's guilty of all.
Did you hear that?
Whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offended one point, he's guilty of all.
For he that said do not commit adultery said also do not kill.
Now if thou commit no adultery, but yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor
of the law.
And it's so funny how people love to go to James 2 to prove a workspace salvation.
You know, they should have started back in verse 10.
Because back in verse 10 of James 2, it says that if you keep the whole law and offended
one point, you're guilty of all.
So I don't care how good you are, you can never earn your way into heaven with the
works of the law at all.
And you say well it's Jesus plus the law.
Nonsense.
Because the Bible is talking about people here who are trusting Jesus and circumcision.
But you know what he says?
He's saying if you believe in Jesus and circumcision, Christ is of no effect unto you.
Does it sound like you're going to heaven if Christ is of no effect unto you?
If Christ is of no effect unto you, that's another way of saying you're going to hell,
buddy.
You're not saved.
Christ has become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law.
Are you there in verse 4 of Galatians 5?
Sorry, I didn't tell you that.
He said in verse 3, I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he's a debtor
to do the whole law.
Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law.
You are fallen from grace, for we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness
by faith.
Those of us that are saved, we're relying on faith to save us.
We're relying on the hope of righteousness through faith.
Those of you that are justified by the law, now let me ask you this.
Is anyone actually justified by the law?
No, the Bible says by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
So when he says those of you who are justified by the law, he's saying those of you who think
you're justified by the law, Christ has become of no effect unto you, you are fallen from
grace.
They're not actually fallen from grace because they never actually were in a place of grace,
but they thought they were.
They thought they were justified by the law.
They thought that they were saved by grace, but they weren't because they are fallen from
grace.
They do not have salvation.
Now look, just because we're talking about circumcision, you could insert anything into
that same blank.
You could say, you know, if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you.
You could substitute that as, you know, if you be catechized, Christ shall profit you
nothing.
If you think that that's what you have to do in order to go to heaven.
You know, if you do mass and think that that's going to get you to heaven.
Or if you think, well, it's my baptism that's going to get me to heaven.
Or well, it's that I don't do any of the big sins.
You know, I don't commit adultery, I don't kill, I don't steal, you know, I don't do
these certain sins.
You say, well you just obligated yourself to keep the whole law, right?
You just played yourself, alright?
You are now a debtor to keep the entire law because you have started mixing the law with
salvation.
Well, it's a package deal, buddy, because whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet
offend in one point, he's guilty of all.
You've got to be saved by grace through faith.
So with salvation by faith, there's no backup or fail-safe.
It's not like, well Jesus is the parachute, but my good works are the backup parachute.
My circumcision is the backup parachute, right?
My, you know, my baptism, catechism, first communion, that's the backup parachute.
The confessional booth is my backup.
Buddhism is my backup.
Hinduism is my backup.
Muhammad is my backup.
You know what?
That's not how it works because in this backpack that contains the Jesus parachute, there's
only room for Jesus.
Both can't coexist in this backpack, so you know, when you're packing the chute, you better
make sure that only Jesus is in the pack.
That's how Jesus is going to work properly and deploy, otherwise you're going to fall
from grace, right, and go splat with the parachute illustration, right?
And so we said, number one, that salvation by faith means trusting in Christ.
Number two, salvation by faith includes believing a specific record.
It's not like, oh yeah, you know, I'm trusting Jesus, but it's like, you know, well do you
believe that he, you know, was born of a virgin?
No.
You believe he came in the flesh?
No.
You believe that he physically, bodily rose again?
No.
You believe he's the son of God?
No.
You believe in the deity of Christ?
No.
Is that person saved?
No.
I mean, they're believing in Christ, right?
Trusting in Christ.
Look, you've got to believe the record that God gave his son, and specifically things
that are highlighted are that God has given to us eternal life.
Why is it important that it's a gift?
Because if it's not a gift, you're relying on the backup parachute of works.
The gift means Jesus paid it all.
It's in his son.
It's eternal, right?
You can't lose your salvation.
So number two, salvation includes believing a specific record.
Number three, salvation by faith requires a step of faith.
A step of faith.
Actually putting the trust in Jesus.
Not just intellectually thinking about it, but actually saying, you know what?
Jesus is my savior.
I'm going to take Jesus as my savior.
I'm going to actually call upon the name of the Lord to be saved and make this personal
to me.
And the thing I'm really getting at with that is that salvation occurs in a moment.
That's what the Bible teaches.
Just like your physical birth took place in a moment.
You know, I was born on July 24th, 1981 at 1611 in the afternoon.
That's how fundamental I am.
But anyway, I was literally born at 1611 on military time.
So it's my destiny.
It's not my birth certificate.
But here's the thing.
I wasn't, it wasn't like, well, you know, I was born over the course of 1981 and 1982.
I was born from, you know, I started being born on July 23rd and I was finished around
July 27th.
Is that how birth works?
No.
I mean, once the head comes out, everything goes pretty quick.
You know, it's getting the head out that's the hurdle.
Once the head comes out, boom.
It's like it launches.
That's why they call it catching the baby, right?
And so then, you know what, they write down on the birth certificate, they write down
a moment in time, right?
Before 11pm is when I was born.
That was the time, and it wasn't like over the course of an hour or a day or a week.
It was a moment, well, the new birth is the same way.
Born again is the same way.
You know, there's a moment when you believe on Christ and you're regenerated and you're
saved.
But fourthly, we said that salvation by faith has no backup or fail safe.
Here's a statement I want to give you on this.
Unless Jesus comes through, I'm through.
Okay, you got that?
If Jesus doesn't come through, I'm through.
That's faith in Christ.
Where all reliance is on Jesus.
Just like if my parachute doesn't work, I'm through.
If this zip line doesn't work, I'm through.
If Jesus doesn't come through, I'm through because all of my reliance is on Jesus to
save me and nothing else.
Jesus plus works is not salvation.
Faith plus works is not salvation.
Somebody could say all day long that they believe in Jesus, but if they are trusting
in their works or their ritual or their church or the things that they do, they're not actually
trusting in Jesus.
They are relying on themselves.
You know, it's so funny when people, yeah, I believe in Jesus, well, why do you think
you go to heaven?
Oh, because I, uh, you know, I'm good to my fellow man and I rescue animals and I go to
church and I got baptized and I got catechized and I go to confession and I do this.
Well, what if you stop doing those things?
Well, I mean, yeah, I mean, if I could lose it, you know, you can't just live however
you want.
Who's really the one they're relying on here?
Themselves.
And look, let's face it, the Christian life's not always easy.
A lot of times the Christian life is very difficult.
A lot of times we struggle through the Christian life and often we're going to make mistakes.
We're going to sin either by sins of commission where we commit sin or sins of omission where
we omit things because the Bible says to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to
him it is sin.
So you could go through the whole day and say, I didn't steal, I didn't kill anyone
today, I didn't commit adultery, I didn't bear false witness.
You know, you could go down the list, I didn't do idols, you know, but then it's like, okay,
but did you do all the good things that you were supposed to do?
Folks, we all come short.
None of us measures up.
We're saved by grace.
And then again, let's define grace because again, some of these words we take for granted
what they mean.
What is grace?
What does grace mean?
Well think about this.
What about when my bills come due and there's a grace period?
What does that mean?
The grace period means it's due on the first, but you know what, I'm going to give you until
the 10th.
Now, do I deserve to have until the 10th?
No, because I agreed to pay it by the first.
That's what I bargained for.
But they're saying, hey look, since we print our own money anyway, since it's fractional
reserve lending, it's no skin off our back, we're going to give you grace until the 10th.
Well if anybody prints their own money, it's God because, you know, he paved the streets
in heaven with gold.
So you know what?
He's got plenty of grace to extend, even more than the bank could ever extend.
He'll extend grace, okay?
And what does grace mean?
It means he's basically giving you something that you don't deserve.
It's a gift, right?
It's by grace.
That means it's a gift.
It's not earned.
It's given.
It's free.
And the Bible says if it be by grace, then is it no more works?
Otherwise grace is no more grace.
But if it be of works, then is it no more grace?
Otherwise work is no more work.
It's one or the other.
There's no mixing of grace and works.
It's sort of like this.
If I were to give you this Bible for free, it's a gift, but if I charge you five bucks
for it, it's not a gift.
But here's the thing.
How much would I have to charge for this before it stops being a gift?
How much could I charge and it, you know, is there a certain like, well if you do it
for 10 cents, it's still a gift.
If you do it for 50 cents, it's still a gift.
But when you get to a dollar, that's not a gift anymore.
Is that how gifts work?
No, because what point does this stop being a gift?
As soon as I have to pay anything.
Even if it's one penny, it's not a gift.
Now have you ever known people who for legal reasons sold a piece of land or sold a house
even or sold a car for one dollar?
Who knows who's ever known somebody who sold a car or a house?
Lots of people.
Why?
Because it's not a gift.
They don't want it to go down legally as a gift.
They want it to be considered a sale.
And so instead of giving it to the person, they say, okay, I'll sell it to you for one
dollar and then it's not a gift anymore because you pay for it.
So why don't we take that, I think we all understand that, right?
And I think if we were to go out soul winning, a lot of people understand that concept.
No problem.
If only now we could get them to see that salvation is the same way.
You know, you pull out that one dollar, and by the way, all your good works put together,
that's about what they're worth, about a buck.
All your good works that you're so proud of and I cleaned up my life and I went to the
12 step program and I quit drinking and I quit drugs and God cleaned up my life so much,
you know, he gets all the glory for how good I am, right?
People try to bring God into it to try to hide the fact that they're really bragging
about how good they are.
Well, I mean, God gets all the glory for how stinking awesome I am and how perfect I am
and how I give up my rock and roll lifestyle, you know, because I was just all set to be
a big star, you know, but I gave all that up for Christ, you know.
But it's all through, he gets all the glory for how cool I am and how good I am and how
many sins I've, look, don't be fooled by people who try to mix in a little Jesus with their
good works, with their good life, with their turning over a new leaf and I turned from
all my sins and I've, folks, the real testimony of salvation is that we believed in Christ.
We put our faith in Christ, we trusted Christ and we received a free gift.
There's no glory in receiving a free gift.
You know who gets the glory for a free gift is the giver.
Jesus actually gets the glory and that's why the Bible says, and we'll close with this
if you would, go to Ephesians chapter 2, Ephesians chapter 2.
The Bible says in Ephesians chapter 2, I'll read the famous verses while you're turning
there verses 8 and 9, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves
it is the gift of God, and then look at verse 9, not of works lest any man should boast.
Folks, if our salvation were by works, we could boast about it.
And you know what, believe it or not, there are people boasting in the circumcision.
I mean that's what Paul says in Galatians 5 and 6.
He says that they compel you to be circumcised that they might glory in your flesh.
Hey everybody, look at the sky, I got circumcised.
It's like, you're an idiot.
What's so cool about that?
There's nothing cool about that.
But their glory, not only are they glory in their own flesh, they're glory in some other
guy's flesh, or lack of flesh in this case, you know.
And so it's like, oh wow, you know, they compel you to be circumcised that they could glory
in your flesh, but he said, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
Hey God forbid that I should boast about anything except the cross.
And you say, well you know, the apostle Paul gave his testimony.
You know what, here's the thing.
The apostle Paul said it was all dung.
All the cool stuff I did was dung.
Yeah, oh the Jews' religion, yeah I excelled in dung.
I was a doctor of dung.
I had a DD, okay, that's what the apostle Paul said.
I was a doctor of the philosophy of dung.
He said, look, if we were saved by good works, we would have whereof to glory, and boast,
and brag, and say, I'm better than so and so, that's why I'm going to heaven.
He said, not of works does any man should boast, because if it were of works, there'd
be boasting that we could do.
Oh, I got myself into heaven.
But here's the thing.
God forbid that I should glory, and what is glory there in that context is like boasting,
bragging.
God forbid that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, right?
That is the bragging rights when it comes to going to heaven.
And then he says in verse 10, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good
works.
Are we saved by good works?
No.
We're saved unto good works, which God had before ordained that we should walk in them.
Now, should we do good works?
Yes.
Yes, we should.
Has God ordained works for us to do?
Has God planned works for Stephen Anderson to do and for you to do?
God has a plan for our lives, my friend, but let me tell you something, we've got to get
saved and salvation has nothing to do with those works that we're going to do later.
And if we don't do those works, we're still saved.
Because look, there's another belief out there, and I'm just going to briefly touch on this.
There's another belief out there that says, well, you're not saved by works at all.
No works involved in salvation, but if you get saved, you're going to do good works as
a result.
Now look, I do believe that people who believe this are still saved, you know, as long as
they mean what they're saying and they're truly trusting in Christ and his finished
work on the cross, if they're truly trusting Christ and his finished work on the cross
and they just think that, you know, the Holy Spirit moving in is going to have an effect
and you're going to do the works, whatever.
Okay, I'm not saying that they're unsaved, but they are dead wrong.
Because if that were true, if that were true that everybody who's saved just automatically
does the works, this world would be a very different place.
Because I'll tell you what I see, I see 99% of people who are actually even saved doing
virtually nothing for God.
I'm talking about people that are truly saved.
I'm not talking about a bunch of fakes who don't even know what salvation is and they
don't even understand the Gospel and they're not even trusting Christ.
I'm talking about people who actually believe in the right Gospel, the right salvation.
How many of them are actually doing something big for God?
Well, you know what, it's not a lot.
So to sit there and say, oh, but then people say, well, okay, but you're talking about
doing a lot of works.
I'm just saying they're going to do just a little bit.
You know, they'll do something.
Come on, they're going to do something.
But what does the Bible say?
The Bible says to him that worketh not, worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly.
His faith is counted for righteousness.
The guy who works not, but he believes.
You know, the Bible teaches that there are going to be people who get to that judgment
seat of Christ in 1 Corinthians 3 and all their works are wood-hand stubble and the
Bible says that all their works are burned up, nothing made it through the fire, nothing
was of eternal value, nothing was worth a darn.
And they get there and it says, yet he himself shall be saved, yet so is by fire.
The Bible says he'll suffer loss of reward, yet he himself shall be saved, yet so is by
fire.
So it's possible to believe in Jesus, be truly saved, and then quench the Spirit, walk in
the flesh, not do good deeds, get to the judgment seat of Christ, and you're totally
empty-handed on rewards and you're like, but you know what?
I still made it in.
Yet he himself shall be saved.
Who?
The guy who all his works were burned up, yet he himself shall be saved.
Why?
Because there's not one little work required.
It's not like you're at the judgment seat of Christ, you know, picture it sort of like
a conveyor belt, right?
You know, I bring all my, everything I've done in my life and I plop it down on the
conveyor belt and the conveyor belt's just like, it just burns everything, right?
All the woodhand stubble just gets smoked.
And then what comes out are the things that can make it through fire, you know, the gold,
the silver, the precious stones.
So think about this.
Let's say I put all of my good works in, everything I've done my whole life, and it goes through,
it gets torched, a whole bunch of it wasn't worth anything, a whole bunch of it didn't
matter, a whole bunch of it didn't count, and then it's like, okay, I get to the other
side, I gather up, okay, this is what I get a reward for.
Everybody get it?
This is like the parable, this is the illustration.
Obviously it's not going to be actually like this, but this is what God is using to explain
it to us, you know, so we can understand it on our level.
Okay, well what if you go through this thing and it just burns up like virtually everything?
And then there's just like this little gold flake.
You know, who's ever just been handed little flakes of gold for free?
And you're like, whoa, this is real good, but it's like so thin and so light it's virtually
worthless.
At the home school convention they were just like giving out fake, kids are getting real
excited about these flakes of gold.
So just imagine, you know, imagine, you know, Gabriel or whatever, you know, gets out like
one of those little hand lenses that a geologist uses, right?
And he's like, wait, wait, because at first he's about to say no reward.
You know, he's about to just put a zero and you're like, wait, you know, you hand him
the hand lens, he gets up there and he's like, you're right.
There is a little spat, you actually did something right, you know, you actually, and you know,
you actually achieved something.
And then it's like, yes, I'm saved, yes, I get to go to heaven, woo!
Is that how it works?
No, because here's the thing, you can have nothing come out the other side, be a hundred
percent empty handed, and what does the Bible say?
If your works are burned, you suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so is by
fire.
It's understandable to just get into heaven on the grace of God even though you didn't
do anything whatsoever, as far as any kind of a good works afterward, okay?
It's out there.
The Bible teaches that.
Now look, does that mean that we shouldn't do good works?
No, because the Bible says we're saved unto good works, which God has before ordained
that we should walk in them.
God has a wonderful plan for our life, God has works for us to achieve, God has a vision
for our life.
I want to get on his program, I want to earn those rewards, you know, I want the machine
to jam up when my works are going through, you know, because it's like red alert because
the conveyor belt's so bogged down, and I want to do as much works as I can.
I want to get as many people saved as I can, I want to do what God wants me to do because
God has before ordained the works, I've been saved not by works, but I've been saved unto
good works, which God has before ordained that I should walk in them, but folks, don't
confuse that with salvation.
Hey, every single week I get up and preach to people not to sin.
I get up and preach against stealing, murder, adultery, lying, and then I get up and preach,
go soul winning, read your Bible, pray, right, I'm always getting up and telling people do
good works, don't do bad things, do good works, don't do bad things.
But here's the thing, those have nothing to do with salvation though.
You know why I get up and preach that week after week?
Because 90-some percent of people here are already saved.
So I don't have to just get up and preach about salvation, now I'm preaching about salvation
this morning, but next Sunday morning it's not going to be salvation again.
Now I've been to some churches that are like that, where it's just salvation, look, next
week it'll be something totally different.
But let me just be very clear on this, salvation and doing good works are not connected whatsoever.
Except for in one way that says you can't really do any works that God's really going
to like until after you're saved.
That's really the only connection, is that if I'm not saved, nothing I do pleases God.
Once I'm saved I can actually do something that pleases God.
But that work has nothing to do with purchasing my salvation, with or without it I'm saved
because salvation is 100% by grace through faith.
And folks, I hope that the salvation sermon this morning was easy to understand.
I hope it was easy, because it's meant to be easy.
Because even though there's four points, that's just an illusion that makes it seem like it's
more complicated than it is, because it's really just one point.
The point is just fully rely on Jesus for your salvation and what he did.
Right?
We could just all sum it up like that.
But I broke it down into four points of, you know, trusting in Christ, believing the record
that God gave of his son, taking that step of faith with no backup or fail-safe.
That's just a more detailed way of saying, put all your faith in what Jesus already did,
the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for the fact that you've given us salvation as a free gift,
Lord.
I hope that this sermon would help people to maybe have additional clarity or maybe
give them some ideas of ways that they could explain this to other people, Lord.
Because we need to explain this to our friends.
We need to explain this to our loved ones, Lord.
And Lord, help us to always use the Bible when we explain it so that we can have access
to the power of scripture as we're presenting the gospel, Lord.
And Lord, if there's anybody here today who's not saved, I pray that they would get saved
before it's eternally too late, that they would ask someone here, because almost everyone
in this church knows how to present the gospel to them.
And so we just pray that anyone who's not sure would reach out and get saved.
And Lord, if there's anybody here today who's saved, but they've never won anyone else to
Christ, I pray that they would set a goal for 2021 of getting at least one person saved
this year.
And Lord, help us to support them in doing that, and Lord, help our soul-winning times
to facilitate that, Lord.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.
We're going to do one more song, song number 19.
There is a Fountain.
Song 19.
There is a fountain filled with what's drawn from the angel's wings.
And sinners, what do you need but what?
Lose all their guilty sins.
And sinners, what do you need but what?
Lose all their guilty sins.
The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his vein.
And there behind the wildest heat, watch all my sins obey.
Watch all my sins obey.
And there behind the wildest heat, watch all my sins obey.
Dear dying lamb, thy precious blood shall never lose its power.
Till all the ransomed church have come, be saved to sin no more.
Be saved to sin no more, be saved to sin no more.
Till all the ransomed church have come, be saved to sin no more.
And since my faith I saw the street, my glowing blue sun's fire.
Redeeming blood that's in my teeth and shall be till I die.
And shall be till I die.
Redeeming blood that's in my teeth and shall be till I die.
And in a low-earth sweeter's song I'll sing I'm bound to sing.
When this wildest hate's every done, lie silent in the grave.
Lie silent in the grave, lie silent in the grave.
When this wildest hate's every done, lie silent in the grave.