find yourself the Lord is in today's in today to pay the sacrifice for our sins
you that he rose again from the dead you we appreciate salvation pray that we'd
all have a burden to get others saved love you in Jesus name Amen next song
let's go to 32 for service and soul winning time so we have our church to
have upcoming event down below we have March 31st you made it our Easter and
communion services so this evening immediately following the evening
service we're gonna observe the Lord's Supper this evening and so if you'd like
to join us please do some people may ask do you have open or closed communion
our our policy is open of course it is closed to those who are saved and those
who are not in violation of church discipline issues but we are open to
people that are not an official member of our church because if you're saved
you're part of the body of Christ and so that is our policy April 6th is going to
be the next preaching class April 9th through the 10th is the very Baptist
youth rally geared towards teenagers April 13th is the serive port Louisiana
soul-winning marathon and we have a sign-up sheet it looks like a lot of
people have already signed up it's a great opportunity to travel not that far
just a few hours away and honestly it's some of the best soul-winning we've had
consistently over the years we've gone there pretty much every year for the last
few years and it's been really receptive everybody usually really enjoys that
specific trip and so if you can travel with us please consider doing so May
5th is a spring swap potentially we're just gonna bring items of value that
you have no need for that you just like to donate to others and then of course
any individual that would like any of the items that are donated may take them
freely if you do have anything that you're considering donating we're not
gonna have you bring them or we don't want you to bring them until the
Wednesday before May 5th and so also one other item if you're bringing anything
heavy big bulky or furniture you need to have someone lined up that's already
agreed to take it don't bring any of those items unless you have someone
already agreed to take it so you could post it in one of our groups whether
that be Facebook what's app signal any of the above or anything email or
something if you have somebody lined up you can but we just want to make sure
that we don't have a lot of items that we can't physically get rid of down
below we have the note we had a soul winning marathon yesterday and we had a
lot of people come out and join us we ended up having 53 salvations for the
day so praise the Lord on that honestly that's still a really good number I
didn't get an exact count of the soul winners but I would say maybe about 50
60 maybe in the morning and honestly when you can match about the salvations
per soul winners that's really a pretty good day a very receptive area and so you
know we still have a great work to do a great harvest that's out there but we
have to put in the labor we have to put in the work of going out there and so I
definitely appreciate everybody who participated and put in effort and
energy yesterday on the back we have the note of our prayer list please be in
prayer for our church family I was gonna make a note on the front of our bulletin
is our Bible memory passage and typically what we do is we wait until
we've completed the entire passage to hand out any kind of prizes but I am
gonna make an exception for this specific proverb and I have some unique
prizes with me so we actually made some custom tumblers with different colors so
since it's Proverbs 31 I thought maybe I could entice some individuals to you
know memorize this chapter now I don't have infinite number of these but I do
have several I have over a couple dozen and I have limited quantities of colors
and everything like this so what it's gonna be is it's gonna be a first come
first serve now there is other prizes if you have completed Proverse 31 there's
also a gift card prize that's approximately the same value so you can
if you'd like to just get like an Amazon gift card or something you can just take
that or you can get one of these mugs if you've already completed the challenge
you can see brother Dylan and you can say I want either the gift card or I
want one of these tumblers and you can get them okay you can do that right now
after service or from now until we get to the end of the the line but you have
to have completed it in order to complete you have to quote the entire
passage Proverbs 31 word perfect to a non-family member that's how you can
receive that prize so like I said if you want to you can claim your prize
already if you're that person if not you can see him after the service we're
gonna go ahead and sing our hymn of the week we usually been doing a psalm of
the week but this is a new hymn that was written and I want to sing it's called
where the spirit blows so we're gonna sing that now called them flasks I think
last week or something like that some people you know quick their neck or
whatever but I guess the brand is called hydro flask okay so it's not like I'm
just coming up with these things out of nowhere of course you we drink water in
these things okay and but coffee and maybe I don't know if you like dirty
water but just basically at least something that has to do with water okay
we're gonna sing our third song this morning where the spirit blows for
soul-winning Corinthians chapter the entire passage as the offering plates
are passed around so if you would please turn your Bibles to 1st Corinthians
chapter number 15 we are saved if you keep in memory what I preached unto you
unless you have believed in vain for I delivered unto you first of all that
which I also received how that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day
according to the scriptures and that he was seen of Cephas then of the twelve
after that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once of whom the
greater part remain unto this present but some are fallen asleep after that he
was seen of James then of all the Apostles and last of all he was seen of
me also as of one born out of due time for I am the least of the Apostles that
them not meet to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God
but by the grace of God I am what I am and his grace which was bestowed upon me
was not in vain but I labored more abundantly than they all yet not I but
the grace of God which was with me therefore whether it were I or they so we
preach and so ye believed now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead
how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead but if there be
no resurrection of the dead then is Christ not risen and if Christ be not
risen then is our preaching vain and your faith is also vain yea and we are
found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised up
Christ whom he raised not up if so be that the dead rise not for if the dead
rise not then is not Christ raised and if Christ be not raised your faith is vain
ye are yet in your sins then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are
perished if in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most
miserable but now is Christ risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of
them that slept for since by man came death by a man came also the
resurrection of the dead for as in Adam all died even so in Christ shall all be
made alive but every man in his own order Christ the firstfruits afterward
they that are Christ's that is coming then come at the end when he shall have
delivered up the kingdom to God even the Father when he shall have put down all
rule and all authority and power for he must reign till he hath put all enemies
under his feet the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death for he hath put
all things under his feet but when he saith all things are put under him it
is manifest that he is accepted which did put all things under him and when
all things shall be subdued unto him then shall the Sun also himself be
subject unto him that put all things under him that God may be all in all
else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead if the dead rise
not at all why are they then baptized for the dead and why stand we in jeopardy
every hour I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord I
die daily if after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus what
advantage is it me if the dead rise not let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die
be not deceived evil communications corrupt good manners awake to
righteousness and sin not for some have not the knowledge of God I speak this to
your shame but some man will say how are the dead raised up and with what body do
they come thou fool that which thou sowest is not quickened except that die
and that which thou sowest thou sowest not that body that shall be but bare
grain it may chance of wheat or of some other grain but God giveth it a body as
as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
All flesh is not the same flesh, but there
is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts,
another of fishes, and another of birds.
There are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial.
But the glory of the celestial is one,
and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon,
and another glory of the stars.
For one star defereth from another star in glory.
So also is the resurrection of the dead.
It is sown in corruption.
It is raised in incorruption.
It is sown in dishonor.
It is raised in glory.
It is sown in weakness.
It is raised in power.
It is sown a natural body.
It is raised a spiritual body.
There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
And so it is written, the first man Adam
was made a living soul.
The last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual,
but that which is natural, and afterward that
which is spiritual.
The first man is of the earth, earthy.
The second man is the Lord from heaven.
As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy.
And as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
And as we have borne the image of the earthy,
we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption
inherit incorruption.
Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump,
for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead
shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption,
and this mortal must put on immortality.
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption,
and this mortal shall have put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin
is the law.
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast,
unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
for as much as ye know that your labor is not
in vain in the Lord.
With our heads for a word of prayer, Father God,
we thank you so much, Lord, for Easter
and just for our church services today.
I pray that you fill Pastor Shelley with the fullness
and power of the Holy Spirit as he preaches to us.
Give him clarity of mind and enable
him to preach his message with boldness.
And Lord, help us to receive the sermon with open ears
and soft hearts.
And we thank you, Lord, for the free gift of salvation
as well.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Amen.
1 Corinthians 15 is a very famous chapter
about the resurrection.
And it starts in verse number one, saying,
"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you
the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have
received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved,
if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you,
unless ye have believed in vain."
Now, in 1 Corinthians chapter 15,
he's dealing with a church issue where
some people in the congregation are denying a resurrection.
They're not just denying Christ's resurrection.
They're denying the idea that anyone can rise again
from the dead, which is really a doctrine coming
from the Sadducees.
The Sadducees are ones who denied the resurrection.
And so there are people in this church denying
the resurrection.
And of course, that would apply to Jesus Christ himself.
And the Apostle Paul is saying, you
have to remember the gospel I preach,
because the gospel I preach was the death, burial,
and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And he makes it abundantly clear in this chapter.
But one concept that he brings up here in verse number two
is this, the idea that some people may
have believed in vain.
Some people may have believed in vain.
Now, I want to preach a sermon this morning
on believing in vain, believing in vain.
What does that mean?
What was it talking about in this specific chapter?
Well, I believe it's very clear when
you study the whole context of this passage
and just the rest of the Bible that what he's trying to say
here is to believe in vain is talking about understanding,
acknowledging, or acquiescing to certain facts of the Bible
or of the Gospel, but not having actually put your faith
in the Gospel.
So there's a certain level of knowledge
that people can acquire about God, about Jesus Christ,
about the Gospel, and still not be saved.
If I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross,
if I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,
if I believe that Jesus Christ was God manifest in the flesh,
but I deny the resurrection, I'm still not saved.
Someone who denies the resurrection is not saved.
They haven't fully trusted in Christ yet.
And because of that fact,
because of their status of not being saved,
all the other things that they believed are in vain,
meaning that they're meaningless,
that they don't accomplish anything.
Acknowledging the facts of the gospel
is not enough to save you.
And there are many Christians today,
there are many people in this world today
that believe the facts of the gospel,
or they believe certain facts about Jesus Christ,
yet they haven't trusted in the gospel to save them,
and they're not saved.
One of these aspects, specifically,
is that you have to believe
in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Jehovah's Witnesses deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
They deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ,
and whatever belief they have,
whatever their religion is, is in vain.
All of the works that they're doing,
they're going to church,
they're going out and talking to people on the street,
they're changing of their life,
they're repenting of their sins,
they're acknowledging of Jesus,
they're writing of pamphlets,
and their own twisted, corrupted perversion
is profiting them nothing.
They are still unsaved,
and if they die, they will die in their sins,
and they will not go to heaven.
They have believed in vain.
And what we must do is we must convince many people today
who are believing in vain to change their mind
about what they believe and to actually get saved.
There are so many Christians today,
there are so many Protestants today,
and there are so many Catholics today
who are believing in vain,
meaning that they're not saved.
It doesn't mean that they don't acknowledge
certain facts of the gospel.
It doesn't mean that they don't understand
that Jesus is the Son of God.
And in fact, many of them will acknowledge the resurrection.
The problem is that they're not trusting that to save them.
And the Bible's very clear that you have to believe
in the resurrection to be saved.
Go through it to Romans chapter number 10.
Let's go to another passage here.
I'm not going to come back to 1 Corinthians for a while.
So you don't have to keep a finger there.
I want to flip through a lot of other passages though.
Go to Romans chapter number 10 and look at verse number nine here for a moment.
Catholics going to mass this morning and performing a pagan ritual of bowing down to graven statues
and performing a blasphemous form of communion called the Eucharist.
They're doing it all in vain.
It's not benefiting them in any way.
It's not making them more saved.
They're unsaved.
And what they're doing is in vain.
Now when it comes to salvation specifically, you have to believe in the resurrection or
every other part of your belief is in vain.
Look at Romans chapter number 10 verse 9, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart, that God, the raiser of the dead, thou
shalt be saved."
So according to the Bible, you have to believe in the resurrection.
What this tells me is that it's not simply enough to just acknowledge that Jesus is
the Son of God to be saved.
Because you could find passages in the Bible, or you could see loosely interpreted passages
that talk about, "Hey, if you believe Jesus is the Christ and you're born of God," or,
you know, we see many times in the Gospel people are acknowledging that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God, and it appears like that's the moment that they got saved.
And here's the thing, that's true.
There's nothing not true about that.
But from a Jewish perspective, when people were acknowledging the Christ or that Jesus
was the Son of God, they were acknowledging that He was the one that was going to die
and be sacrificed for them.
So they already had a presuppositional view of what the Christ meant, of what the Son
of God meant, including the resurrection.
So by them acknowledging that Christ was the Lamb that was going to be slain, by them
acknowledging that He was the Son of God, they were already embracing the resurrection.
But for many Gentiles who have no concept of the Bible, who don't really understand
anything about scripture, who have no idea what the word Christ even means, it would
be easier for someone like that to not necessarily attach every single definition to Christ that
should be attached to Christ.
They may be confused and be compartmentalized on certain facts.
And so they have to be educated a lot more about what that even means to be Christ, or
the Son of God, or that there's a resurrection.
I mean, these people were pagan idolaters.
These people were caught up in all kinds of fake and false religion.
So they have to have a quick education session of, look, all of what you believe is just
wrong.
There is one God, and he's comprised of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Son created
the worlds.
I mean, think about what's being taught in the New Testament epistles.
All kinds of great doctrine, a lot of foundational teachings and stuff, because they're needing
to be educated and brought up to speed and understanding a lot of these different doctrines
and facts.
So there's certain individuals in these Gentile churches who are denying the resurrection.
Well, you know what?
You're not saved.
You have to believe in the resurrection.
And so as the Apostle Paul is going throughout the world, he keeps discovering new situations
where, oh, well, I didn't understand that would be a case, like I can't believe that
I would literally come to you and preach that Jesus Christ died, was buried, and rose again.
And then you say you don't even believe in a resurrection, like, that's bizarre, I don't
understand that.
He's like, if you believe that, you're not saved.
So the Apostle Paul is saying there are certain qualifications of someone's belief to understand
that they're saved.
And when we go out soul winning, we try our best to cover a certain number of bases.
Like you have to admit you're a sinner.
I mean, if you can't admit that you're a sinner deserving of help, what do you need to be
saved from?
You really don't have, you don't have a need for salvation.
So we must acquiesce, we must understand, we must embrace the fact that we're a sinner
deserving of hell before we can even embrace salvation itself.
Additionally, we must then understand the facts of the gospel.
We have to understand that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
We must understand that Jesus Christ died on the cross and paid for our sins, not his
sin.
That he was sinless.
And that he took all of the sins of the whole world and put them upon himself.
That he was then crucified, slain, put in the tomb, but did not stay dead, but rather
rose again from the dead after three days and three nights.
Now while I teach this, I usually explain that he also went to hell.
I don't think that someone has to understand that to be saved, but I always incorporate
that.
And I virtually have never had a problem with anybody understanding that fact or embracing
that truth of the gospel as well.
And once they've understood the gospel, this is when the real challenge comes in.
Explaining to this person that salvation is by faith alone in that gospel that we just
explained.
That it's not, well, I know that Jesus did his part, but you got to do your part.
Or well, Jesus, you got to embrace Jesus and you got to do some extra things too.
Go through the Galatians chapter number one, it covers that specific issue because there
are many Christians today who believe in the death by resurrection that are celebrating
Easter today and they're not saved.
And you want to know why they're not saved.
It's because they haven't embraced the gospel as the truth.
They haven't accepted the gospel as the only form of their salvation.
As the payment for their salvation, they're still trying to pay for their salvation.
They're still trying to earn their salvation.
And in Galatians chapter number one, we see another situation where we could have a group
of people believing in vain.
What does it mean to believe in vain again?
Well, the word vain just means meaningless.
It doesn't have any value, could just mean nothing.
And it's saying whatever you believe is meaningless.
It doesn't accomplish anything.
In the context of salvation, if you don't believe the right gospel, if you don't believe
the right facts of the gospel, and if you don't put a hundred percent of your faith
in that gospel, you're not saved.
It's not going to benefit you.
It's not going to give you that salvation that you desire.
You must believe in the gospel to be saved.
Now, Galatians chapter one addresses this, verse six, "I marvel that you're so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel."
Now notice, the Apostle Paul brings up the fact that there's a church that got mixed
up in another gospel.
So this must be different than the gospel that the Apostle Paul preached, right?
But then look at verse number seven, "Which is not another."
Now that's an important caveat.
You know what the Apostle Paul is trying to explain to them?
He's saying it's another gospel, but they didn't change the facts.
He's saying it's not like someone's going around saying something other than that Jesus
Christ died and the cross was buried and rose again, but they've somehow taken that and
they've perverted what it means.
They've perverted what it means and they've perverted what it means to believe in the
gospel and the words surrounding it.
And verse seven, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert
the gospel of Christ.
Pervert means to make crooked, to change, to alter, and it says here in verse number
eight, "But though we are 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 you have received, let him be accursed.
For do I now persuade men or God, or do I seek to please men?
For if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ."
The Apostle Paul takes this so seriously.
Why would he take this so seriously?
Because another gospel doesn't save.
Because another gospel is someone believing in vain.
If you go out here not far, if you go under the highway, the 20 over here, you're going
to see a giant church and it's going to say, "The full gospel."
It's a big church, a big building, and it's like, "Hey, the full gospel church."
Well, let me explain something to you.
Their church has another gospel, and when they put the word "full" there, what they're
trying to say is it should be F-O-O-L gospel, because you know what?
They're a bunch of Pentecostal tongue-talking freaks that go over there and they teach you
can lose your salvation.
They teach that salvation is not simply by trusting in Christ.
They add works to their gospel, and if you go and talk to people out here and say, "Oh
yeah, I go to the full gospel church," you know what?
They're not saved.
They're believing in vain, and you know what?
You'll notice there's a lot of churches in this area that are fooling many people with
another gospel.
And unfortunately, there's so many people in this area, I mean, I'll be honest with
you, atheism seems like a white man religion, because when I go in these areas, I mean,
this Cedar Hill is pretty notorious for being a lot larger black population than other areas.
I think it's almost like 50% of the population here, which is way larger because in America
it's only 13%.
So it's a lot higher percentage.
And when I run into young black people here, or really any black people here, they're all
religious.
They all go to church.
They all know Jesus.
And you know what?
They all think that they're saved.
But you know what?
The vast majority of them are believing in vain.
They're believing in vain, and they've been called into another gospel, which is not another,
but they're people perverting the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they're causing people
to die and go to hell.
And you know what?
Preachers like that should be a curse of God.
They should be a curse because they're damning souls to hell.
Let me explain to you this other gospel from what?
Keep your fingers because we're coming right back to Galatians.
Go to Acts chapter 15.
You say, "Well, what does a perverted gospel look like, Pastor Shelley?"
How could someone pervert the gospel?
Well, we have a very clear example of this in the Bible for us.
Of what someone did to pervert it.
And let's see how extreme they went.
Let's see how much they added.
Because you have to ask this question, "Well, they didn't change it that much."
Oh, no, no.
Let me explain something to you, friend.
You change it even one iota, and it's now another gospel, and it doesn't save.
You say, "Well, you say it's faith alone."
I say it's faith plus just one thing.
What's that one thing?
Well, look at Acts chapter 15, look at verse 1, "And certain men, which came down from
Judea, taught the brethren, and said, 'Accept to be circumcised under the manner of Moses,
you cannot be saved.'"
Look what they said.
Hey, I like your faith thing, I like your gospel, but let me just add one thing.
You gotta get circumcised.
Because if you don't get circumcised, notice they made it clear, you can't be saved.
And look, there are people today who do the exact same thing.
They go out and they just add one thing.
Let me explain something to you.
That's another gospel.
Go back to Galatians chapter one, go back to Galatians chapter number one.
He's addressing that in this specific epistle, this idea of people adding to the gospel
and putting more things into the gospel.
Look at chapter two and look at verse 21, "I do not frustrate the grace of God, for
if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain."
You know what?
If you have to add anything to what Jesus did or it has something to do with the law,
it's saying everything that Christ did or accomplished was in vain.
And that's similar to what first Corinthians 15 is explaining.
It's saying, look, if Jesus didn't rise from the dead, everything he did was in vain.
Do you realize by Christ being born of a virgin, performing just countless miracles, all kinds
of healing people and raising people from the dead and walking on water and preaching the
greatest sermons that have ever been preached for years and witnessing and doing all these
things and then dying on the cross as a perfect and spotless lamb and then going to hell.
If he didn't rise from the dead, all that's in vain.
And if you add anything to that, all of it's all in vain too.
That's what the Bible's saying, meaning it's meaningless.
And you know what, we don't want to take everything that Jesus did.
We don't want to take the nails that were put into Jesus' hand and the nails put in
Jesus' feet and the crown of thorns that was shoved on his brow and all of the stripes
that struck on his back and the blood that gushed out of his body and is going and descending
into hell and rising to death.
You don't want to take all of that and throw it in the trash by adding to the gospel.
You are trashing Jesus Christ.
You are making his death and burial and resurrection meaningless by adding to the gospel.
I mean, how excruciating would it be to have to watch your Lord and Savior be spit on
and punched and just brutally beaten and laughed at and mocked and then for someone to just
say like, "Oh, I know you did all that and that was really rough, but it was meaningless."
Doesn't count for anything.
Do over.
You have to do it again.
That's what people do when they add to the gospel.
It should make you angry.
It should make you frustrated.
Imagine how a little toddler feels when he gets all the blocks and he starts organizing
them and he builds this nice little building, he builds a little house, and then his brother
just comes along and just like, "Brrr."
He's like, "You built that in vain."
You know what they do?
They're like, "Argh!" and you start beating, you know, they start fighting, right?
He gets angry at the work that he just did.
The two minutes of work he did building blocks, he's so mad at, and it's like, just imagine
all the things that Jesus literally had to do, just being completely wiped off and just
being meaningless.
That should make you angry.
Ah, you seem mad at people that add to the gospel.
You better believe it.
It should make you angry, too, if you love Jesus.
It should make you angry, too, if you understand what Jesus had to do for us, and to add to
that and to try to diminish from what He did and try to take away from what He did or to
try to make it vain.
You know what?
He says, I'm not going to frustrate, frustrate the grace of God, because if you add anything
from the law, you know what?
Christ is dead in vain.
Look at chapter four for a moment, look at chapter number four for a moment, and look
at verse 11.
Galatians chapter four, look at verse number 11.
I'm afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain, saying, look, if I preach
the gospel to you. If I explained to you that Jesus Christ died and was buried and rose
again and that salvation is a free gift and it's just by trusting in him and once you
believe in him you have eternal life and then you say, "I think I have to get circumcised."
He's like, "It's all in vain." He's like, "I'm afraid that I've literally wasted
my time explaining to you guys the gospel because even though you may acknowledge all
that and say, "Yep, that's true. Yep, that's true. Yep, that's true. Yep, that's true.
I've got to get baptized. I've got to repent of my sins. I've got to go do the catechism.
I've got to go do the Eucharist. I've got to go do whatever or I can't be saved." You
know what? All of that labor was in vain. And that's what the apostle Paul is explaining.
He's like, "Man, I feel like I've set up this church and it was a complete waste of time.
I didn't realize I was setting up a Jehovah's Witness cult or something. I didn't realize
y'all were going to all be given over to the Mormons or become Catholic or something."
He's just saying, "I feel like everything I've done is in vain." That's what he's afraid
of. That's what he's saying to these people. Go to Galatians chapter 5 and look at verse
3. "For I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the
whole law. Christ has 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 the
righteousness by faith." So according to the Bible, if you get circumcised, thinking
that that has something to do to save you, notice what he says, "If you be circumcised,
Christ shall profit you nothing." And verse number two, sorry, I don't know if we read
that verse, but look at verse two again, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit
you nothing. It's meaningless. Everything you believe about Christ, if you decide to
get circumcised, now it's meaningless. You know who's someone like that? Young Don. His
name's reborn, but it's really just reprobate. Young Don reprobate. Because this guy literally
expounded what I'm saying today. He expounded that salvation was a free gift, that Jesus
Christ died on the cross. He explained that Jesus Christ was buried. He explained that
Jesus Christ rose again from the dead. He said you can't lose your salvation. And then
you know what? He said all that's a lie and he got circumcised. An adult man. Look, when
an adult man willingly circumcises himself, he's a reprobate folks. That's an extreme
rejection of the gospel. And notice what he's saying here, very specifically. If you be
circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. Oh, well, he's going to be pleased with what
I did. Not at all. None. Notice he says in verse number four, Christ has become of no
effect unto you, whosoever you are justified by the law, you're fallen from grace. What
does that mean, to be fallen from grace? What is he trying to say here? Well, to be justified
by the law means that you're pointing to anything other than the gospel as a part of salvation.
Like saying, hey, you have to be circumcised or you cannot be saved. They're being justified
by the law to circumcise. If you say, well, you can't commit murder and go to heaven.
Oh, so now you're being justified by the law for not having kept murder. Oh, well you have
to repent of your sins in order. Now you're trying to justify yourself by the law. You
know what? The Pharisees were willing to justify themselves, what the Bible says. They thought
because they kept the law that they were saved. And you know what? Jesus kept trying to put
out to them how they didn't keep the law. Because if someone thinks they keep the law,
you have to first explain to them how they don't. Be like, if you think you're getting
to heaven by keeping the law, what about this sin? Oops. You know, the young rich ruler
is just saying like, what good things shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And
he's like, you know, keep the commandments. And then I like the witch. You know, what
a punk. Of course, all of them, bro. You know, like not just the ones that you want to keep.
You have to keep all of them. And Jesus Christ just goes through this whole list of commandments.
He's just like, all these have I kept from my youth up. What lack I yet? And he's like,
oh, you're going to be perfect then sell all that thou hast and give to the poor and come
and follow me. And then he went away sorrowful. Why? Because he's a sinner, because literally
no one is perfect, because literally no one is going to keep the law. And those who are
justified by the law, they're fallen from grace. Now, some people would say, oh, look,
this person lost their salvation. Wrong. Wrong. Grace is unmerited favor. Grace is the opportunity
to even get saved. You know what? For by grace are you saved through faith. The grace is
offered to everyone. Grace is offered to every single person. But the only way the grace
applies to you is when you accept it by faith. So everyone is offered the God's grace, the
salvation grace is offered to them. But you know what? Those who seek to be justified
by the law, they fall in from that grace. They fall in from that opportunity to be saved.
They rejected that grace that's been offered unto them. And so therefore, they are fallen
from grace and they're not saved. It's not saying that they got saved and then lost it
later or something like that. No, no, no. It's saying that they were offered the opportunity
to be saved. God's grace was extended towards them and they rejected it. You're late on
your rent payment and the owner says, Hey, no problem. My son's willing to pay for you.
All you have to do is ask him for it. If you just, if you just say, Hey, landowner son,
you know, Weinstein or whatever Goldberg, they always say Jesus is a Jew, right? They
say, Hey, will you pay my rent? He'll do it. And it's like, this guy's offering you grace.
He's offering this grace saying, look, you're, my son will literally pay your rent debt.
All you have to do is just ask him for it. And they say, no, I don't want to ask him
for it. They've fallen from grace. It was offered to them and they rejected it. Look,
the grace of God is extended to all men. God loves everybody. We can tell that when Jesus
Christ was born and the angels are coming and singing and glorifying God, they were
saying, Hey, there's goodwill towards men. There's grace extended to everybody, but there's
so many people that have fallen from grace because they're wanting to be justified by
the law and there shall no flesh be justified by the law. The Bible's super clear. Hey,
why? I don't think that you have to get circumcised, but you do have to get baptized. Wrong. If
you are getting baptized to go to heaven, you're not saved. If you're going to church
to go to heaven, you're not saved. If you're getting catechized to go to heaven, you're
not saved. If you're doing Hail Mary's to go to heaven, you know what? You're going
to go to hell. If you think going to church is going to get you into heaven, you're going
to hell. And if you think that repenting of your sin is getting you into heaven, you're
going to hell.
Why do you preach like this? Because you know what? I don't want anyone here to believe
in vain. I don't want anybody, any child, any visitor, any longtime member to have believed
in vain and to not recognize that salvation is a free gift. And if you didn't accept it
as a free gift, you didn't get saved.
You can know a hundred percent sure that you're saved and you can know that you're on your
way to heaven, but you know what? You better recognize that has nothing to do with what
you did, will do, or are doing, it's only what Jesus did.
That's why our invitation literally says Jesus paid it all.
And that's not just a cool saying, we believe it.
That's what we believe when we go out and preach the gospel.
And a lot of people give lip service to it, but then they add and attach their works.
Look at verse 12 here in Galatians chapter 5.
Now this is what the apostle Paul thinks of people who are mixed up on the gospel or trying
to confuse people.
I would that they were even cut off, which trouble you, meaning that he wishes that these
people would just be excommunicated from society.
These people were just completely just abandoned.
No one would have anything to do with them ever again.
That basically heretics would be excommunicated in a sense.
Okay.
If you read the modern versions, it says something really weird here, right?
Emasculated or something.
It's like, it's weird.
Okay.
But look at verse 13.
This is important.
"When ye have been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh,
but by love serve one another."
Now this is where the Bible is making a good transition, okay?
And I want to make a transition in my sermon as well.
When we talk about believing in vain, and specifically in the context of 1 Corinthians
chapter number 15, it's very clear what we're talking about is salvation.
Someone believing facts about the gospel or believing facts about Jesus and not having
them all together or not putting all their trust in that and what they believed is ultimately
in vain and they're not saved.
There are people who are saved and can also still believe in vain in another context and
I want to talk about that as well.
And here's the thing, notice what it's trying to say in verse number 13, "You have been
called unto liberty."
Look, somebody will say, "Oh, you're telling me that I can believe in Jesus and do whatever
I want and I'll still go to heaven?"
Yes.
You have liberty.
Are you telling me that God's going to put a man in the garden of Eden and give him access
to every tree, even trees he doesn't want to allow him to eat, and allow him to eat
them?
Yes, I am.
Because God gives us free will.
God allows us to make good decisions.
God allows us to make bad decisions.
And you know what gives God honor and glory?
When we make good decisions.
And you know what makes God upset?
When we make bad decisions.
But at the end of the day, praise God that He took off the table me having to make all
the right decisions to go to heaven, and He said, "You only have to make one decision."
Trusting in Jesus Christ.
And once you've made that decision, you're safe for all of eternity.
But notice, since I have this liberty, what should I do with it, right?
I could technically literally do anything.
I could right now just go, just quit church, just walk out right now, drive to the bank,
drain my bank account with all the money in it, just go to the Bahamas or something or
go to Mexico and just rent a boat and just go hang out on the ocean.
I could just go play golf all day, every day.
I could literally just go lay on the sidewalk and do nothing ever again.
And if you ever come up to me, I'll be like, I don't even know who you are, go away from
me.
I could literally just do, I could do anything I want and I would still go to heaven.
You know what?
I'm not going to use my liberty as an occasion to the flesh.
And being homeless isn't that great anyways, okay?
So don't try it, all right?
But there are some things that we could do that are fun.
Give temporary pleasure, temporary satisfaction.
But the Bible is saying don't use that liberty for an occasion to the flesh.
But notice this, by love, notice this, serve one another.
What is the opposite of serving the flesh?
Serving other people.
You want to know if you're right with God?
Well let me ask you this question.
How many other people did you serve this week?
Who did you serve on Saturday?
Well I had a pretty good time serving myself.
Well you know what?
You're using your liberty as an occasion to the flesh.
Notice what he's trying to command us to do and what he's trying to encourage us to
do is to take that liberty that we have and choose to love other people, choose to serve
other people, to do good unto other people.
Go to James chapter number one, go to James chapter number one.
I want to talk about believing in vain, well here's something, how about going to church
and then literally doing nothing for God?
Let me explain something to you.
You're believing in vain.
You think showing up at this building physically is going to magically give you favor with
God?
You're deceiving yourself.
And I want to explain this, look at James chapter 1, look at verse 22, "But be doers
of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."
Let me explain something.
Hearing the word of God is not your goal in life.
You need to be a doer of the word.
God takes pleasure in those who do the word, not those who hear only, because notice what
it says, you're deceiving yourselves.
Why?
You're believing in vain.
Well, you don't understand Pastor Shelley.
I understand everything in the Bible.
I have all the right doctrines.
I literally know everything.
Every verse, every line.
Well, what do you do?
Nothing.
It's all in vain.
You've believed it all in vain.
And you're deceiving yourself by thinking that God magically just wants to bless you
just because you've heard the Bible or you've heard good preaching.
Hey, coming to this church and hearing preaching, let's just say even if it was objectively
better than some other preaching, but you do nothing.
And then the guy that heard the lame preaching does something.
He's better off.
He knows the blessed person, the doer of the work, not the hearer.
You know what?
The hearer has a responsibility to do what he's been told.
The information that he's received, not, oh, and now I'm just automatically blessed because
I heard it.
Look at verse 23, for if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto
a man beholding his natural face in the glass for he beholdeth himself and goeth his way
and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was, meaning that if I look in the
mirror and I see that I have a problem but I choose not to address it, what will happen
as soon as I stop looking in the mirror, I'll forget that I even have that problem because
you can't look at your face.
I don't even know this, unless you're a Jew, you can't even see your nose.
If you can see your nose, there's a little bit of Jew in you, all right?
That's the test, okay?
You wanted to know, you don't need a DNA test, okay?
That's the DNA test right there.
And you say, "Why do Jews have such big noses?"
Because air is free, exactly.
Hey, they might change that pretty soon, you never know.
But at the end of the day, you know, we should not be Christians
who spend all day looking in the mirror doing nothing.
Oh, I got all this mud and trash on my face.
I got all these problems on my face.
And I can see it.
Boy, do I look ugly.
Why don't you comb your hair then?
Why don't you wash your face a little bit?
Why don't you deal with the issue that's going on since you can see?
And notice, "They forgetteth what manner of man that they are."
You know, what would be an example of this?
Well, it's when Christians think that their God is pleased with them, but he's not.
What is the manner of man?
Well, here's the thing.
When you look at the Bible and you go to church,
you know you're reminded you're a Christian.
You're a Christian.
You know, but then you leave church and you'll say,
"Oh, I know I'm a Christian, but I kind of forgot about that
because I've been reminded that I'm a Cowboys fan.
I'm an American. I'm a Texan.
I'm a carpenter. I'm a dad. I'm a son.
I'm a friend. I'm a boyfriend. I'm a husband."
There's a lot of things that you are, but you know what?
When you go to church, you should be reminded,
"Hey, you're a Christian."
But what many times will happen is many Christians will leave church
and then they forget that they're a Christian
and they spend their life remembering,
"Well, I'm a Cowboys fan and I'm a Texan and I'm a husband
and I'm an employee and I'm a boss and I'm all these other things."
And you know what?
Then their life is in vain.
They believe in vain.
They accomplish nothing with their life.
You know what?
Our lives are not here to just be carpenters and builders
and sons and fathers and husbands and everything else.
Because you know what the Bible says?
Once we die, we want to remember that we're married or not married.
None of that will even matter.
We won't remember all the houses and the cars and the jobs
and the buildings and all the other stuff that we had.
We won't even remember any of these things
because they're vain.
The only things that will matter
are the things that were done for Christ.
We come to church to be reminded
of what manner of man that we are.
Hey, we're Christians.
Hey, we're Baptists.
Hey, we're fundamental Baptists.
You know, a lot of people forget
that they're a fundamental Baptist
as soon as they leave these doors.
Then they're an '80s punk kid.
Then they're a rebel.
Then they're whatever, Yahoo.
Then they're a worldly person.
You know what?
You're deceiving yourself.
Why show up?
Why can't-- I mean, imagine if you had a mirror in your house
and you look at it every day, and you never allow that to affect you.
You never do your hair.
And someone's like, do you have a mirror at home?
Like, yeah, I look at it every day.
They're like, you look at it every day?
What's wrong with you?
Have you not noticed what's going on with your face?
Can you not know what's going on with your hair?
I mean, that's the insanity of going to church on a regular basis
and reading the Bible and then not making any changes,
not trying to be a Christian, not doing anything for God.
You know, you're just believing in vain.
Verse 25, "But whoso looketh in the perfect law of liberty
and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful here,
but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed."
Notice the blessings come from God when you're a doer of the work,
not someone who just believes in vain.
And this is what James really, really hammers.
It really, really hammers this.
And if we're living this Christian life and not doing anything for God,
it's like, what's the point?
Keep your finger. I want to come back to James, too,
but go to First Corinthians, Chapter 15 again.
Let's go to First Corinthians, Chapter 15 for just a moment.
You know what? Christians will show up at church on Easter.
And you know what they're going to be reminded about?
You know what's being heard in almost every pulpit in America right now?
The resurrection of Jesus Christ.
I mean, isn't that like what we're talking about?
Isn't that what probably every church, at least God fearing churches
or any any any semblance of godliness,
they're probably talking about the resurrection.
Well, you know what? You know what's important about the resurrection?
You're going to be resurrected.
And you know, when you're resurrected, you know what?
You're going to leave behind some things.
This body, this life, this world, all the things that were done.
So you come to church on Easter morning
and you're reminded about the resurrection
and then you go outside of church
and you forget that there's even going to be a resurrection
and you only live for this life.
You don't even do anything for the resurrection.
You're believing in vain.
I even go, what are you doing?
The Apostle Paul is trying to show how absurd
the idea of not even believing the resurrection would be
and what kind of a lifestyle that person would have.
He says in verse 12,
"Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead,
I'll say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead."
It's like, that's stupid.
Verse 13, "But if there be no resurrection of the dead,
then Christ is not risen.
And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain.
And your faith is also vain."
He's saying like, what are we even doing here?
Our entire religion is built on the resurrection.
Why would it, if that wasn't true,
then everything I've ever preached,
everything that we're doing is meaningless.
It has no value.
It has no point is what he's trying to say.
He's saying in verse 15, "Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God
because we have testified of God that he has raised up Christ,
whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised.
And if Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins."
Notice how he's going to explain to us what believing in vain means here.
What's the problem with denying the resurrection?
Well, if you deny the resurrection,
then whatever faith you had in Jesus Christ is meaningless
because you're still a sinner and you're still going to die and go to hell.
So it didn't even matter that you went to church.
It didn't even matter that you learned about Jesus or any of these facts.
Verse, I'm sorry, verse 18.
"Then they also which are falling asleep in Christ are perished."
This is an important verse to understanding what we're about to say.
He's saying if there is no resurrection, every single person that has already died is gone forever.
David's gone forever, like his whole life, it's all now gone forever.
There'll never be another David.
David never gets to do anything ever again.
Everything was ever accomplished is just gone.
Every single person that has died is just gone and in the grave and it's over and it's done with
and there's no more mentioning of them.
It doesn't even matter anymore.
It's just over for them.
They just perished.
It's meaningless.
Verse 19.
And in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
You know what he's saying?
If this is the only life we get, you know, the stupid YOLO, you only live once, you know,
the only people that that's true for are unsaved people that are going to burn in hell.
For us that are saved, we have the resurrection.
Hey, we're going to live twice, buddy.
In fact, I'm never going to die according to the scripture.
I'm not going to taste of death because I'm just shedding this flesh.
You know what?
My spirit and soul are never going to die and I'm not going to experience death.
There is no sting of death.
That's what's being clear in this particular chapter.
But he's trying to say here in verse number 19,
why in the world would I ever choose to be a Christian if the end goal is the grave?
Why wouldn't I be selfish?
Why wouldn't I live for myself?
Why would I want to go through persecution and not being popular and not getting to enjoy money?
I mean, why in the world would you tithe and give money to church
if this is the only life do you have?
Why in the world would we do anything that we're doing?
He's saying it all makes no sense.
He would say, in fact, not only that, the apostle is saying like my life is the worst.
It would be.
I mean, the guy's traveling from town to town getting beaten and shipwrecked and stoned
and just like everybody hates this guy.
They're chasing him down.
They want to kill him.
Nobody likes him.
Everybody turns against him.
He's thinking like, man, if there's no resurrection,
this is a terrible way to live my life.
Like the worst.
He's saying, we apostles, we're the most miserable.
It wouldn't even make sense at all.
Go if you would to verse 30.
Go to verse 30.
He elaborates on this point.
And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?
The apostle Paul's life is being threatened every hour, folks.
In fact, in one passage of scripture, 40 men make an oath.
They swear that they're not going to eat or drink until they kill Paul.
They're constantly hunting him down.
He's having to be let out of windows.
He's on the run. He has to go to prison.
He's saying, like, I'm standing in jeopardy every hour.
You read the book of Acts. He's constantly in threat of death.
I mean, he could die in the shipwreck.
I mean, they're in the sea and it's tumultuous and storms and winds.
And then the the guards just want to slay all the prisoners
and they have to convince them not to kill all the prisoners.
Then they have to go under this little barbarous island.
And as soon as they get on the barbarous island,
a snake comes out of nowhere and bites him.
I mean, the apostle Paul is literally, his life is hazarded every hour.
And he's saying like, "Why in the world would I live a life
standing in jeopardy every hour? Why?"
Verse 31, "I protest by your rejoicing, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I die daily. If after the manner of men I fought with the beasts at Ephesus,
what advantage is it me if the dead rise not?
Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die."
The apostle Paul says, "Hey, if you don't believe in the resurrection,
get out of church. Just eat and drink before you die because it's all meaningless anyways."
And how could the apostle Paul be convinced of such a stupid doctrine
when he's basically torching his own personal life for no enjoyment whatsoever
if he doesn't believe in a resurrection? You know why he does everything that he does?
Because he's putting it all on the table. He's doing everything for the resurrection.
The apostle Paul is not someone who believed in vain.
You know what? He took his faith to the max and he put it all on the table.
And he said, I'm going to put my life in jeopardy every hour.
I'm going to fight with the beast at steadfast. I'm sorry, Ephesus.
Hey, you know what? There are some beasts
that have been fighting with us through the last few years.
And he kind of has this question like, what is the advantage of that?
None of this is even real. There is none. No one wants to see that.
Literally, no one wants to see that. It's gross and disgusting.
It's filthy. Why do you think they have to make it illegal
to discriminate against these people? Because everyone hates them.
Because they're gross and disgusting. There's certain people in this world
that can only be described as a beast, as a brute beast, as a filthy animal.
And according to the Bible, you know what? There's no point if there's no resurrection.
But you know what? You're not in a church where you don't believe in resurrection.
If you believe the gospel, we believe you're not someone who denies the resurrection.
But you know what you could be? You could be a Christian who shows up at church
and believes the resurrection while being preached, and as soon as you leave, you forget.
You forget what man or man you are. You forget that you're a Christian.
You forget that you're a Baptist. You forget that you're a fundamental Baptist.
You forget that you're going to be risen again from the dead,
and that all of your works are going to be judged before the judgment seat of Christ.
You forget about that, don't you?
And you go and you just live for yourself and do your own thing.
And you know what? All you're believing is just in vain.
Well, I believe the reprobate doctrine.
Okay. But what are you doing for Christ?
Nothing. Then you believe in vain.
I watched the sodomite deception a hundred times.
Okay. But do you preach the gospel?
No. Well, then you believe in vain.
Well, I believe in King James only.
Well, do you read your Bible?
No. Well, you believe it in vain.
You forget that you're King James only.
You just go out in the world and you don't even read the Bible.
You read some devotional that doesn't even use the King James version.
Look, I know people that go to fundamental Baptist churches
where they're preaching King James only.
And then the Congress go out and they just share some NIV verse on Facebook.
You believed in vain, my friend.
What a joke.
Oh, I believe in do-it-yourself missions.
I don't like all these moochinaries going out there
and taking bucks from people
and going out there on deputation for such a long time
and not really accomplishing much for Christ.
Oh, okay. When's the last time you went on a mission trip?
Never.
Well, you know what? You believe that in vain.
Because even the moochinary still got his own kid saved or a few people saved.
And you know what?
Even the moochinary who believes in the pre-trib rapture and has squandered a lot of money,
him getting at least a few people saved is more than you doing nothing and criticizing him.
Oh, I believe what he's doing is not right.
Okay, well, instead of just telling us that, why don't you show us what's better?
Why don't you do something and not just be a forgetful hearer?
Well, I believe in the post-trib rapture.
Great. But you know what?
If you're not going to go soul winning during the end times, you're worthless.
The pre-tribber who's like, "Wow, I was wrong. I'm going to get some people saved,"
is way better off than the guy that believed in the post-trib the whole time
and goes and hides on his compound with all of his Alex Jones supplements.
He bought all the storable food and he's going to go over there and squander
and forget what manner of man he is, and he's just going to say,
"I forgot that I'm a Christian, and I forgot that I'm a Baptist,
and I forgot that I'm a soul winner, and I forgot that I'm an ambassador of Christ,
and I forgot that I'm going to be risen again from the dead,
and I'm just living to preserve this worthless, meaningless, old carcass that I call the old man.
Why in the world do I care so much about my old man?
You know what? I should be building up the new man by preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ,
and not just believing in vain."
"Well, I believe, you know, women should wear dresses."
"Okay, great. But are you serving God? There are so many people, I mean,
women out there are doing so many things for God, and they don't believe that doctrine,
but you that believe it, you're not better off just because you believe that doctrine."
"You better do something for God." "Well, I believe in a Thursday crucifixion."
"Okay, but if you never preach the death-bound resurrection, doesn't matter."
"There's so many Baptists out there that believe he was crucified on Wednesday or Friday,
and they're preaching the gospel, getting people saved. They're way better off than you
believing it's on Thursday doing nothing." "Do nothing, Christians. It means nothing
that you believe right." "I believe right." "Congratulations."
Now look, I'm not against believing right. I'm all for believing everything the Bible says.
Hey, I want to be right on doctrine. Hey, I want to be King James only.
Hey, I want to be post-trib. Hey, I want to be a fundamental Baptist.
But you know what? If we don't put it into practice, it's in vain, my friend.
If we don't do something with it, it was meaningless.
Go to James chapter 2. Go to James chapter number 2.
Hey, we look at Christians who aren't saved, Catholics who aren't saved.
They're believing in vain, and we think how silly that is.
But you know what? It's also silly for us that are saved to believe so much things
that are right and not do anything with it. Silly. It's silly.
It doesn't make sense. The apostle Paul is saying this just is bonkers.
Why don't we just eat and drink and be merry because tomorrow we die?
You know, what are we even doing here?
Let's put ourselves into practice. Let's do something for Christ.
You know, I'm not going to check a box like, "Oh, I showed up at church on Easter." I'm good.
It's in vain if you don't exercise any of the Christian faith.
If you don't actually go out and do something.
James chapter 2 addresses this point, look at verse 20.
"But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?"
Notice what he calls this person, a vain man.
Why? Because he's believing in vain.
He's believing in vain.
Look at verse 14, let's understand this passage a little bit better.
Notice it says, "What doth it profit, my brethren?
Though a man say he hath faith and have not works, can faith save him?"
Now here's the thing, it asks two different questions here.
First of all, I never established doctrine on a question.
It says, "Can faith save him?"
I think everybody and their mother would say, "What does that mean?"
And you know why they say, "What does that mean?"
Because it hasn't been explained.
It's like when you watch a movie with your wife
and a new person shows up in the movie that they haven't explained at all
on the screen and she's like, "Who's this guy?"
You're like, "I don't know. He just showed up in the movie.
They haven't explained it yet."
"But what is he doing?"
"I don't know. Watch the movie."
"Who's experienced this?"
"Okay, I saw a little lack of it."
"All right."
She's saying like, "Just wait."
"Okay, you have to do this with James. Can faith save him?"
It's like, "We didn't explain it yet."
"Just hold on, okay?"
"Just wait a second."
"Let's keep reading."
"If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food,
and one of you saying to them, 'Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,'
notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body,
what does it profit?"
You know what?
That kind of makes sense with the idea of can faith save him.
Hey, if somebody's about to die of starvation,
and I have food in my hands,
and I look at this guy and I say,
"Well, I sure hope God blesses you somehow,
and I don't give him any food."
Can my faith save him?
No, it can't.
You know what would save him?
Me giving him the food.
That would save him.
Now, if you notice something very cool in this passage,
look at the first phrase of verse 14.
"What doth it profit?"
Did you notice that phrase?
Then look at the end of chapter 16, or sorry, 16.
"What doth it profit?"
It's sandwiched there.
It's explaining what that meant.
So you have to take those three verses, 14, 15, and 16,
and read them as a package and understand what it's saying.
Does this have anything to do with going to heaven,
eternal life, being saved?
It didn't even mention it.
It's saying what is it going to profit people
if you have faith in the Bible and you do nothing with it?
It does nothing.
You being saved, you knowing the gospel,
and you going to work, and you buying your co-worker lunch
is not going to profit him for salvation.
You know the only way that you can profit your co-worker
is if you open your mouth boldly
and make known the mystery of the gospel and you save him.
You tell him how to be saved.
That's the only way.
You believe in the gospel, isn't it?
You can't rub it off on other people.
You have to literally tell them.
You have to do something.
That's what it says.
Just like if I have the food.
Me having food doesn't help hungry people
unless I give it to them.
Me having the gospel doesn't help anybody
and else unless I give it to other people.
And you know what?
There is a lot of Christians, most Christians
that have the gospel are not sharing.
They're selfish with it.
And you know what? That's a bad attitude
that James is trying to address here.
And he's saying that's vain.
What it's meaningless for other people.
It's not profiting other people.
Yeah, it may have profited you, but let's share, right?
Hey, me having food profits me, but it doesn't profit other people.
Me having the gospel profits me, but it doesn't profit other people.
And if we want to profit other people,
let us share the gospel of Jesus Christ,
which is even more important than food.
Look at verse 17.
Even so, meaning in the same way, faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone.
Meaning what?
Hey, like not sharing food is the same as not sharing the gospel.
Verse 18, "Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works.
Show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works."
He's saying, look, you want to show someone your faith?
The best way is by doing it.
If you really want people to be saved,
it's not by you just believing the gospel.
It's by you going out there and knocking on the door and telling them the gospel.
That's the best way to convince them of your faith.
Verse 19, "Thou believeest that there is one God, thou doest well.
The devils also believe in Trimble.
But wilt thou know of any man that faith without works is dead?
Was not Abraham our father justified by works,
when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
Seest thou how faith wrought with his works,
and by works was faith made perfect."
So if you want to be perfect, if you want to be entire and wanting nothing,
you not only need to believe the Bible, you need to do the Bible.
And he's saying, "Look, here's a guy that not only believed in God
and believed the promises, he acted on those promises,
to an extreme of even being willing to sacrifice his own son."
Verse 23, "And the Scripture was fulfilled to say that Abraham believed God,
and it was imputed unto him for righteousness." Now this is what's so funny to me.
So many people go to James 2 to prove that salvation is not by faith alone,
but then in James chapter 2 it proves that salvation is by faith alone.
Did you read the verse I read? Notice what it said, "And the Scripture was
fulfilled to say that Abraham believed God."
What's the only thing he did? Belief. And it was imputed unto him for righteousness.
How did Abraham get righteousness? By believing. Did it say by works?
No, it said by just believing. And then notice it says something else though.
And he was called the friend of God. Not only is he saved, he's the friend of God.
Verse 24, "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only."
What is the justification that's being mentioned here? Abraham being a friend of God.
The only way you'll be a friend of God is by doing the works.
Just like if you want to have friends in this room, the only way you'll have friends in this room or in this world is by works.
If you show up to some, if you meet somebody for the first time and just say like, "We're besties," they're going to be like, "Uh, you're weird."
Hey, we should get matching rings that say, "We're besties for life." You're going to be like, "Ah, let's not."
You know how you become a friend? You say like, "Hey, I want to buy you lunch. Hey, let's go hang out. Hey, let's go preach the gospel together.
Hey, let's go to a game together. Hey, let's do this together." And then you hang out and you do work together and you do all these activities
and you do all these things, and then you start to build a friendship. And then over time, by being loyal and faithful and talking to this person
and being friendly to this person, you end up becoming friends. And you know what? Abraham was a friend of God, not because he just believed,
but because he did the works as well. And you know what? If you, Christian, want to be a friend of God, you got to do the works.
You got to read the Bible. You got to pray. You got to go to church. You got to go out there and preach the gospel.
That's how you're going to be justified in being called a friend of God. But you know what? It's not saying that Abraham got to heaven because he did the works.
That's another gospel. That's another gospel and that person's not saved. Go if you would to 2 Corinthians 6 and I'll finish.
Let us not be Christians who believe in vain. Of course, we want everyone to be saved. First application I made is for salvation.
We must believe all the facts of the gospel, but then ultimately put all of our trust in it.
It's a one-time decision by faith alone and once you're saved, you're always saved.
You can never lose it for thus for those of us the vast majority of us that are saved.
We also don't want to be someone who's categorized as believing in vain like James 1 and 2 is bringing up where we simply
just hear the Bible and we constantly go to church and we're numb to it and we're not doing anything.
You say like what's something I could do.
We know there's a soul-winning time on virtually every day of the week of the search and I know this that is for sure doing
something. I know that that's doing something and I know this if you do it enough, you'll eventually get someone saved too.
If you share the gospel with enough people someone will get saved.
Now if you go to hard areas, if you're in an unreceptive area, it may take hours, days, weeks even sometimes.
But you know what? I know this if you just keep doing it over and over you'll finally find someone and it's just it's so
refreshing. I'll be honest with you.
I've gone a long time recently without getting someone saved in English and yesterday was the first time I got someone saved in
English in a while. And I'll just be honest like it was kind of it was kind of taxing. It was just kind of frustrating.
Oh man, it's just like, you know, especially Wednesdays.
We don't have been going to very receptive areas and you know, you go sometimes you just it just doesn't work out.
I've gotten some people saved in Spanish.
So at least that's refreshing.
But I got someone saved yesterday in English and I was just it was just so refreshing to the soul my friend.
It just it was like this is what life is about is helping someone recognize what it means to be saved and to go to heaven.
You say like, oh, well, did that person come to church? Not yet, but maybe they went to another church.
What does it matter? He's going to heaven.
And guess what? I didn't go out preaching a workspace salvation.
So even if he has no works, he's still saved.
I practice what I preach.
I don't have to expect everyone to show up to actually prove that they're saved or something like that.
You know, if you go to a church like that where they have to prove that they're saved, those people might not even be saved.
They might be the ones that are mixed up in fact.
But you know, I know a lot of these people are saved because you'll go to the same neighborhood and you'll run into them every once in a while.
And he'll be like, "Hey, what do you believe?"
He's like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's free gift. I'm saved. Yeah, yeah. I'll see you at church, buddy."
That's what they tell me. And I'm just like, "Okay. Well, at least you're saved, right? At least you're saved by faith."
Because you're a liar. That's for sure.
Boy, so many people, they start off their first Christian life with a lie.
"I'm coming to church!"
It's like, "Stop. No, no, no. Don't do that because I know that you're not."
But you know, hey, I guarantee that tons and tons of people that we get saved
went to church just probably not ours.
They probably just went back to their church or another church or whatever.
And it's like, hey, at least they're saved.
You know, it's unrealistic to think that everybody's going to travel
as far as you do for church or be as zealous as you are for church
or be willing to fight with the beasts at Ephesus or whatever
or to hear Pastor Shelley get up and scream and yell for an hour plus.
People are like freaked out by that.
Like, I've never heard that much yelling in my life.
Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 1.
"We then as workers together with them beseech you also
that you receive not the grace of God in vain."
This is what we're talking about.
Hey, don't be the Christian that received the grace of God in vain.
"For he sayeth, I have heard thee in a time accepted in the day of salvation,
if I succored thee. Behold, now is the accepted time."
Behold, now is the day of salvation.
"Giving no offense in anything that the ministry be not blamed."
He's saying, you know what's another reason not to use your liberty
for occasion of the flesh is it causes a reproach on Christ.
The ministry gets blamed and a lot of people say like,
"Well, I don't want to go to church because they're a bunch of hypocrites."
Well, you know what? The world's full of hypocrites too, buddy.
It's not like the church is the only one that's got some hypocrites.
Everyone's a hypocrite. But you know what?
As Christians, we need to do our best to prevent that type of accusation
being made against us and against our ministry and against our church.
So we take the commandments of God seriously and we're not just hearers.
We're doers. What's a hypocrite? One that says and does not.
"Oh, I go to this church and they do soul wedding."
"Oh, you go soul wedding?" "No, the church goes soul wedding."
"Oh, I go to this church where all the women wear dresses and skirts."
"Oh, you wear dresses and skirts?" "No, but the church does."
"Oh, I go to a church where they're King James only."
"Oh, you're King James only?" "No, no, the church is."
"Hey, I go to a church where we actually care about Christian, you know, morals
and actually having godliness in our life."
"Oh, so you're godly?" "No, no, no, the church is."
"Hey, I go to a church where we actually raise our children to love God."
"Oh, you do that? No, I don't even watch my kids."
You know, there's so many people that are hypocrites today.
And you know who sees through all the hypocrisy? Children do.
Children see all of our hypocrisy.
Don't be a hypocrite for their sake.
Don't be a hypocrite for the ministry's sake.
Don't be a hypocrite for this church's sake.
Giving no offense in anything that the ministry be not blamed,
but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God
and much patience and afflictions and necessities and distresses
and stripes and imprisonments and tumults and labors
and watchings and fastings by pureness, by knowledge,
by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost,
by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, by the power of God,
by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,
by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report,
as deceivers and yet true, as unknown and yet well-known,
as dying and behold, we live, as chastened and not killed,
as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich,
as having nothing and yet possessing all things.
That is the Christian life.
That is one who is not believing in vain.
That is one who has said, you know what?
I die daily because you know what?
This is not my life.
I'm living for the resurrection and blessed be the God of our salvation
who's given us the victory over death and was risen again from the dead
and we celebrate his life by living a life that's worthy of him.
Close on prayer.
Thank you Heavenly Father so much for giving us the sacrifice of your Son
and the blessed resurrection of your Son the Lord Jesus Christ
that we too could die to ourselves and live in newness of life
that we could walk in the spirit and not in the flesh
that we wouldn't just look at the perfect law of liberty
and forget what manner of man that we are
but we'd remember that we're Christian.
We'd remember that we're saved.
We'd remember that one day we will be resurrected
and the only thing that will matter
is what's done for Christ.
I pray that you would motivate our spirits
to do that which is pleasing unto you
and that we wouldn't live for ourselves
but that we'd live for Christ.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
All right, for our final song, let's go to 36, Christ Arose.
Song 36, Christ Arose.
Three, six, Christ Arose.
Baptisms this morning.
We have Miss Hannah coming for baptism.
Brother Wyatt, have you trusted Christ as your Savior?
I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Buried in the lightness of His death.
Praised to walk in newness of life.
Another verse before our next baptism.
Baptism today.
Brother Wyatt, have you trusted Christ as your Savior?
Then I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Buried in the lightness of His death.
Praised to walk in newness of life.
Also coming for baptism.
Ezekiel, have you trusted Christ as your Savior?
Then I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Buried in the lightness of His death.
Praised to walk in newness of life.
We're here to congratulate all our baptisms today.
Also, we have a lot of leftover pizza for any of the soul winners that want to stick around,
and there's still a lot of donuts in our fellowship room.
Please try to eat those in the fellowship room for us.
If anybody wants one, you can have one.
You are dismissed.
God bless and have a great Easter.