James chapter 2 James chapter 2 the Bible reads my brethren have not the
faith of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory with respect of persons for if
there come under your assembly a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel and
there come in also a poor man in viral raiment and you have respect to him that
wear at the gay clothing and say unto him sit thou here in a good place and say to
the poor stand now there or sit here under my footstool are you not then
partial in yourselves and are become judges of evil thoughts? Harken my
beloved brethren have not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith and
heirs of the kingdom which he have promised to them that love him but you
have despised the poor do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the
judgment seats do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are
called if you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture thou shall
love thy neighbor as thyself you do well but if you have respect to persons you
commit sin and are convinced of the law as transgressors for whosoever shall
keep the whole law yet offended one point he is guilty of all for he for he
that has said do not commit adultery said also do not kill now if thou
commit no adultery yet if thou kill thou art become a transgressor of the law so
speak ye and so do as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty for he
shall have judgment without mercy that has showed no mercy and mercy rejoiceth
against judgment what does it profit my brethren though a man say he hath faith
and have not works can faith save him if a brother or sister be naked and
destitute of daily food and one of you say unto them depart in peace be warmed
and filled notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to
the body what doth it profit even so faith if it had not works is dead being
alone yeah man may say thou has faith and I have works show me thy faith
without thy works and I will show thee my faith by my works thou believeth that
there is one God thou doest well the devil's also believe in trouble but
wilt thou know O vain 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
see us thou how faith wrought with his works and by works was faith made
perfect and the scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham believed God and it
was imputed onto him for righteousness and he was called the friend of God he
see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only likewise
also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had received the
messengers and had sent them out another way for as the body without the
spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also let us pray father thank you
for this great church we thank you for pastor and his family we just pray
tonight that you'll the Holy Spirit will rest upon his shoulders and give him
boldness and please give him wisdom to articulate the sermon that he's prepared
for us we also thank you for all the souls that were one to Christ today and
we just thank you for your son's precious blood that cleanses us from all
sin and we pray these things in Jesus name and that men so we're here in James
2 I want to look at a specific verse that's going to kind of be just it's
really just kind of I'm taking this one verse from this chapter it's not going
to be a sermon on James 2 but the Bible does say in verse 19
and tremble and so we have a verse here
that believing that there's one God
there's nothing wrong with believing that there's one God of course that's
because there is only one God so you know great
certain facts about who God is and certain facts that are true and they
even have a fear of God yet according to the scripture they're going to be
destined for hell and they're not going to you know they're not going to be in
heaven because it's talking about a devil so you know what you have to
understand is not only can Devils believe things that are true and you
know of course we don't know that Devils actually have an opportunity to be saved
or not but you know from a humanistic perspective he's kind of relating the
two so that leads me to believe that the Devils in this context is also true
about because you believe that there's one God hey Devils also believe that so
is kind of connecting the human experience with the angel with an
angelic type experience so also in the same way I would submit to you that
there's plenty of people who believe certain facts about God but they're not
saved and the title of my sermon this evening is this how you believe in
Christ how you believe in Christ now there's this accusation that's usually
hurled at a church like ours or at people that go out soul-winning that we
simply believe if you just get to a certain level of knowledge you know if
you assent as they call it to a certain level of facts then you're saved
basically once you just identified that Jesus died was buried and rose again and
that salvation by faith then you're just saved and of course they they try to
accuse us of believing something that really no one believes I mean I I venture
to say I've never heard of or met a single person that's ever communicated
that is simply just really believes that if the even if they do it's kind of a
rare thing people don't believe this we of course though believe that salvation
is still easy we still believe that it is just a simple trust a one-time
trusting and believing in Christ that saves you and the Bible could not be
clearer that that's what saves you we have to understand is there are people
that you can meet that will come to the knowledge of the facts of the gospel and
not be saved now I want to illustrate two very obvious examples of this okay
number one group is atheists there are atheists out there and I'm not saying
all of them but there's plenty of atheists that can tell you all of the
right answers of the Bible they can tell you yes according to the Bible Jesus
Christ is the Son of God according to the Bible Jesus Christ died on the cross
according to the Bible it's just faith alone in him and his finished work that
Ben Shapiro Ben Shapiro can tell you exactly what the Bible says to be safe
I've seen it I've heard it you know he argues with Matt Walsh because Matt
Walt is a Catholic which Catholics don't believe the Bible so maybe you should
you know tell that to Ben Shapiro because Ben Shapiro is always confused
at why Matt Walsh doesn't believe the Bible even though he claims to be a
Christian and Matt Walsh or Jordan Peterson or any of these people that are
out there when they were to talk to Ben Shapiro about what Christianity is he's
always correcting them and he's like well actually you know the difference
between Judaism and the Bible is that you know the finished work of Jesus
Christ paid for all of your sins and if you believe in him then you're saved and
it's like right because that's what the Bible says and it's like here's a guy
who could tell you exactly what the Bible is communicating about salvation
and then not believing it think about this William Tyndale was burned at the
stake what was the primary what was the number one accusation against him now
obviously my film better know this first he maintained that faith alone justifies
they could obviously wrap their head around the fact of what he believed
that's why they killed him so it's not like all of the same facts that we do
they do
they don't trust in the Lord okay so just believing certain facts doesn't
save you no one actually believes this and if that is what saved you every
person that believes in work salvation will be saved because think about it
every person that believes in work salvation believes that Jesus Christ is
the son of God virtually speaking they all believe Jesus died on the cross for
their sins they all believe that he died and rose again basically I mean you would
have to basically say every single Christian and Catholic and one is coming
to a certain ascent of knowledge and frankly speaking because they mix up
works and faith they would all be saved every lordship salvation is ever repent
of your sin I mean all of them because they give lips or they say hey yeah
salvation is faith alone yep Jesus died I mean they'll
separates what we believe and what the Bible teaches about how you believe in
and what all these other people are doing okay well go to Romans chapter
number 10 let's the Bible actually explains being saved Romans chapter
number 10
I'm out the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God has raised them
from the dead thou shalt be saved for with the heart men believeth unto
righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation for
the scripture saith whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed so according
to the scripture the method in which you believe on Christ the way how you
believe on Christ is by confessing with your mouth and simultaneously you
believe in your heart in Jesus Christ and you're saved so it's really that
simple but of course when we go out and preach the gospel this is not the only
verse that we use because we want people to understand this statement otherwise
it's a vain exercise notice that the belief there had to be there before you
prayed with someone otherwise how are they going to get saved so of course we
show that they're a sinner why would you show someone that they're a sinner
because if you're a sinner you're going to go to hell and if you're going to go
to hell then you need to be saved why would I ask God to save me if I didn't
need to be saved so we have to help them realize hey you want to be saved you
have to first realize you need to be saved second point is that we explained
that Jesus Christ died on the cross and was buried and rose again I mean that we
explained he did that for us so that we could be saved right and then once we've
explained that Jesus Christ died on the cross was buried and rose again then the
last element that we're basically trying to instill in this person's mind is the
difference between someone believing those things are true and trusting them
I mean at the end of the day the next step no matter what you call it no
matter what verses you're going to by explaining eternal security or
explaining what believe means you're ultimately just trying to get them to
cross this threshold of acknowledging facts about the gospel to trusting them
alone as your salvation and of course we use other verses in the Bible like
Ephesians 2 8 9 to help us realize that simply acknowledging the facts of the
gospel will not save you you know it's it's salvation is not of yourself it's
not of works as any man should boast you know passages in Romans 11 we're right
here look at Romans 11 and verse 6 and if by grace then it is no more of works
otherwise grace is no more grace but if it be of works then it is no more grace
otherwise work is no more work he's saying look if we get saved that has
anything to do with works then we weren't saved by grace so you're either
saved by grace or you weren't and you know you say well how do you know that
you're right pastor Shelly because think about it I mean we're not God we
don't we can't look into someone's heart and know whether or not someone saved I
mean who's been able to look into someone's heart and know that they're
saved okay no one that's weird yeah I was gonna see if I could find a weirdo
in our church obviously we can't do that right and you know there's there's
plenty of verses you could just turn to that says like you know if you just
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord you know or you know who's ever believes
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God I mean you oh I guess everybody saved
then right how would you know that we're right about our interpretation about
these things well let me explain to you why I know that I'm right we're right
for sure is that everyone that disagrees with us can't understand any other part
of the Bible I mean show me the people that believe in work salvation or
believe in a hardcore Lordship salvation that understand any of the
Bible why are they wrong on everything else why do they always have the wrong
Bible why are they always not following the voice of the Shepherd why is it that
they don't do any soul winning why I mean if you just look at the fruit of
the argument you realize hey we're right here you know you could get you could
get to a point where you get jaded and you're like I don't think so winning
works and I don't think that these nuances matter I just think we're all
saved and let's just all go watch this football game you know it's like that's
stupid no no no nuance matters and getting the exact right interpretation
of the gospel matters and here's another thing that matters calling on the name
of the Lord matters because if you don't believe that you know what there's
nothing separating you from the atheist that believes the same facts and how
would anybody have any assurance I mean if you did not call the name of the Lord
in simple faith to get saved you don't have to call in the name of the Lord how
would you have any confidence that you believed enough to even be saved because
what would be that signifying mark well you're like okay I understood the facts
now what do I do you're saved oh really okay like if you believed oh yeah yeah
I believed it how do I how do I know that I believed it and then of course
this is where John MacArthur comes along well if you have the works then you
believed it and then he basically gets you to believe in what work salvation so
they need some basically because they have no actual understanding of how to
believe in Christ and they have nothing that actually points to how they believed
in Christ then essentially what ends up replacing it is some kind of a pseudo
works based salvation and it's dangerous that's dangerous it's dangerous to get
away from the correct interpretation of Romans 10 which clearly I mean you I
have to believe you're an idiot or unsaved to misunderstand this passage
telling you to confess I mean what in verse 9 say it that if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth notice what it's starting with talking this verse starts
talking then it brings up believing and then it says you're gonna be saved and
then some people say oh you don't have to actually say anything or you don't
have to confess or call the name of the Lord or ask to be saved and you know
where they start they just start in verse 10 well in verse 10 it says for
with the heart man believe you know why there's a word for there because it's
explaining something for means because and you know it's not a good way to
start an explanation something because what do you have to do to be saved
because you believed you were you got righteousness what no no it's like how
do I believe in Jesus Christ because you believed what do you mean because why
are you starting your sentence with because that's stupid you know you start
the sentence that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth right and then of course
you know they they not only they start in verse 10 they stop in the middle of
verse 10 because the next the next phrase says and with the mouth
confession is made in the salvation so you know according to the Bible there's
a lot of things that lead up to salvation you know and I don't like to
put a number on it because you could argue there's you know the feel like
there's two things you have to be saved or five things have to be saved or ten
things are to be said that's arbitrary the Bible doesn't say that there is no
number of steps because you could argue all day long all kinds of different
numbers you could say oh it's two things right confession and believing okay well
what about verse 14 how then so they call on him that's one and then they've
not believed and now so they believe in him and they have not heard the belief
that's number two and how so they hear without a preacher hearing that's number
three Oh preaching that's number four said that's number five I mean how are
you gonna how you can identify the steps some people say oh you got it well you
got a first step you believe to your center you got to believe that you
deserve hell then you got to believe the gospel but what if instead of saying
believe the gospel you got to first believe that Jesus was born of a virgin
and then third you got to believe that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life and
then fourth I mean you could just come up with an arbitrary number of things
that's why this is what I always say there's one thing you have to do to be
saved because that's the only one thing you have to do it's believe but you know
when we explain all the other stuff we're explaining how you believe in
Jesus and when I get to the fact that you've understood it and we're now
needing to pray you know what I don't say there's another thing you have to do
you know what I don't say there's two things you have to do you know what I
don't say well there's ten more it this is how you believe which was still the
one thing and you know every time I've explained this to someone else so any
you know they've never had a problem with it I've never in my entire life and
I've gotten so winning a lot I've never one time said hey what's the one thing
you have to do to be saved they said believe and I say this is how it's by
praying oh I thought you said there's only one thing was belief buddy what's
all this prayer talk about I thought you said it was a free gift what's all
this works you're adding in now you know I've never had that happen in real life
you know why because other the people that I go out and preach the gospel and
get saved are not idiots is why they're not fools they're they're being
enlightened by the Holy Spirit you know there's all these stupid idiots online
that will say that praying is a work they'll say that asking Jesus to be
saved is believe works in fact there's a guy he commented on a video where I
explained this and he said that I'm teaching a total work salvation some
idiot called Jack smack on YouTube he's pretty popular out there some idiots
saying I'm teaching a total work salvation for saying that the way you
believe in Christ is by confession and by calling upon the name of the Lord and
there's other idiots online norm Diamante which I've already preached
against and this guy needs to be preached against as much as possible
because he's just such a downer on soul winning and he's such a loser that
instead of just believing the Bible and reading the whole verse he just has to
say well actually you already saved right there and in verse 10 before the
end and the second part is just physical salvation what what kind of physical
salvation am I in need of I mean what if someone walked up to you and said you
need physical salvation what would be your most logical question what am I in
danger like what's about to happen you know like I'm not even aware of what
physical danger I'm in and to say oh but you have to understand in the context in
Romans this is about Israel's physical salvation well that's weird that he
wrote it to the Romans what good is that going to do hey I wrote to you Romans
what I wish that physical Israel would do so that they could be physically
saved I mean what good is that what about like hey you know brother Ben
really needs some help here so I wrote a letter to Dylan about it about what he
should do you know that's the stupidity of these people is there's oh this is
physical salvation well okay what's verse 1 say brethren my heart's desire
and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved what are they being
saved from verse 2 fry bear them record that they have a zeal of God but not
according to knowledge for they being ignorant of God's righteousness and
going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted
themselves under the righteousness of God now wait a minute where in this
verses did it mention that Israel is in grave physical danger you know what he's
he's mad about he's mad about that they have no knowledge hey they have a zeal
but then they don't have the right knowledge what's the wrong knowledge
what's the issue with the knowledge well they're ignorant of God's righteousness
so what is it that he wants them to get God's righteousness and what what was
the what does verse 1 say brethren my heart's desire and prayer to God for
Israel is that they might be saved so what's the salvation salvation is
getting God's righteousness I feel like we're really close to the context here
verse 4 for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness through everyone that
believeth okay so we don't get the righteousness of the law we get the
righteousness of Christ which is through believing for Moses describeth the
righteousness which the law the man which do those things shall live by them
but the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise say not in thine
heart who shall ascend into heaven that is to bring Christ down from above or
who should ascend in the deep that is to bring up Christ again from the dead but
what saith it the word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that is
the word of faith which we preach that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the
Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God is raised from the dead
thou shalt be saved so what is that it what is this saved how is that different
than the saved in verse 1 and what was it that the Apostle Paul really wants
his brethren to do he wants them to not have their own righteousness which they
invented based on their works and he wants them to have the righteousness
which is of God which is by faith in Jesus Christ I mean it could not be
clearer we're what is it oh there I'm afraid that physical Israel is going to
be destroyed physically where did you get that it didn't say that in verse 10
it explains why this works because or for with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation does
this salvation any different than the one in verse 9 or in verse 1 know so
what what gave me the salvation that means I got God's righteous is imputed
unto me it was me using my mouth to confess the Lord Jesus Christ and I
believed in my heart so this is explaining how you believed and how you
receive that salvation that's why it says in verse number 11 for the
scripture saith whosoever believeth on him should not be ashamed verse 12 for
there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek for the same Lord over all
is rich unto all that call upon him now isn't it interesting in verse 11 it's
saying whosoever believeth meaning anyone that believes and then verse 12
one explains this it's saying that whosoever includes both Jews and Gentiles
you know it doesn't say believe you know what it says it says in verse
number 12 unto all that call upon him you know why because calling upon him
and believing on him is the same thing and then they'll say like you're
teaching work salvation they're two completely different things what do you
mean they're two completely different things what do you think that they were
calling about what how is me confessing to Jesus that I believe in him different
than me believing in him what are you talking about what is the difference
you're just an idiot you're a prideful idiot if you don't understand that
that's the same thing verse number 12 for there is no difference between the
Jew and the Greek for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him
for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved oh that's
talking about physical salvation again it was the same context saved in verse
9 saved in verse 10 saved in verse number 13 saved in verse number 1 is
talking about getting God's righteousness imputed unto them why in
the world would I then believe it's about physical salvation I wouldn't
because I'm not an idiot I would because I actually read the chapter now let's
keep reading though verse 14 how then shall they call on him in whom they have
not believed meaning what if you pray to God every single day of your life but
you don't believe the facts of the gospel and you're not trusting alone in
him it will not save you Catholics pray all the time and they're not saved and
he's saying how could you truly call on Jesus if you haven't truly believed the
gospel and that's why they don't you know what are their prayers Mary will
you please help me today to have strength they don't even pray to Jesus
they're praying to Mary st. Thomas will you help me to have more money they're
not calling upon the name of the Lord because if you think about it what is
calling on the name of the Lord Lord I'm a sinner I'm putting all my trust in you
save me that's what it means to call in the name of the Lord so you they're not
even calling on the name of the Lord they're calling on Mary they're calling
on themselves Lord I think thee that I'm not like other men that's not calling on
the name of the Lord that's calling on your own name that was justifying
yourself the whole essence of calling on the name of the Lord is the act of
believing on Christ and it's explaining that you can't do that unless you
believed first and he's saying how shall they believe in him in whom they have
not heard and also they hear without a preacher and they'll say this well you
already saved before you called because you believed but here's the thing you
have to understand there was a there was a point in in the salvation process
where you believed the facts of the gospel and then there was a there was a
moment where it changed where you went from believing them to be true to
believing in them to believing on them and you say what was that process it was
called calling upon the name of the Lord where you went from hey that's true
Jesus is the Savior if I believe in him I will be saved and I do believe that so
you know what I'm gonna do I'm gonna tell God I believe that and I'm gonna
believe in him it's the act of believing in him it's the act of believing on him
and it separates you from the atheist that acknowledges hey that might be true
or that I probably believe that's true but I just don't even want to believe in
Christ because I do believe there are people that understand the facts of the
gospel and choose not to believe in him still and they're not saved whether or
not they acknowledge that they're true it's not acknowledging that they're true
it's truly trusting in them for your salvation and that moment of trusting in
Christ is illustrated in the Bible as a one-time confession as a one-time
calling upon the name of the Lord and now you're sealed you're saved you're
some people make a big deal again because these people are pedantic and
idiots they'll say oh you're saying that people that can't speak can't get saved
pastor Joey no I'm not you idiot you know I can do lots of things even if
even if I wasn't physically able to in the essence of I'm trying and according
to the scripture you don't have to have a mouth talk because Sarah laughed and
her mouth didn't even move well how did she love well you're an idiot how did
they pray if they didn't use their mouth because you can pray without moving your
mouth now of course if you have a mouth it's most likely that when you pray
you'll probably use it yeah let's let's dumb down the Bible to the less than 0
0 0 1% of the population that can't even use their mouth at all to then not
believe that calling upon the name of the Lord is necessary for salvation but
this is stupid and they'll say well you got to ask Jesus for everything but
salvation and it's like that's just because you're not saved well you ask
you got to ask for physical salvation just not that spiritual one you better
not do that actually in fact by asking it it works so you won't be saved so you
get everything that you asked for from God except for spiritual salvation you
know when Peter was drowning he shouldn't have asked the Lord Lord saved
me he should just believed it he's gonna he dies and goes to heaven and Jesus is
like what happened I believed it he's like well why didn't you say anything
well I believed it you know no you didn't it's so stupid it's such a it's
such a pedantic stupid doctrine but you know why people believe this junk it's
because they don't want to go soul winning or they're just a devil I mean
that's your kind of your two options you're either just a lazy jerk that
doesn't want to go soloing or you're just an unsaved false prophet devil but
there's no there's no good option for you when you're you're attacking soul
winning you're attacking these methods I mean I love how this keeps reading in
verse 15 it says how so they preach except they be sent as written how
beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things but they have not all obeyed the gospel now think
about this he's saying everything that we just explained was the gospel but
wait a minute does the gospel have works inside of it if you're gonna say
praying or confessing is works then how is he saying this was the gospel that
he just explained it can't because this passage has nothing to do with works
calling on the name of the Lord to be saved is not works I've heard idiots say
you know Church of Christ I heard a Church of Christ podcast they said
believing is a work that's stupid because they'll point to some passage in
the Bible where it says you know what are the works of God that we must do and
he's like this is the work of God believe on him whom he has sent and like
oh see it's the work it's like that's the stupidity of the Catholics eating
the Eucharist and thinking it's literally Christ's body I mean this
that's the type of scholarship you get from the unsaved is they will never
truly be able to fit together the pieces of the Bible they're just you know
unlearned and rest the scriptures to their own destruction but we don't want
to be those type of people I want to prove a few more things on this point
because I think it's important but go to acts 22 for a moment and I preached
other sermons on this but here's the thing it's really important that you
realize that online world is filled with lies and that you need to live in
the real world because when you only go to church online and you only soul
winning online and you only do anything every online you have just a warped
perspective on reality people that go to door-to-door soul winning they don't get
mixed up on this very easily because you know they're not just sitting here like
wondering how to get these people safe they've helped people pray and call the
name of the Lord so many times that it's like it's stupid to think otherwise and
I've had plenty of people I'm going out soul winning and I'm kind of getting to
the end but I've showed them just over and over like believe this is just
believe it's just faith it's belief and you can tell they already believe that
and they want to get saved and they they sometimes interrupt me and they say well
then how do I do that how do I believe because that's a logical question
the logical question after just explaining the only thing you have to do
to be saved is believe is then well then how do I believe oh well do you believe
that but think about this even their own dog doctrine they would say well do you
believe that and they're like yes how do they get them to acknowledge that they
believed it they said it with their mouth didn't they I believe that well
the way did you just say that out loud you don't believe it then you must
believe it works because you just said that you believed in him I mean how do
you even walk all these landmines look some people really want to over
complicate getting saved it's not hard it's not this complicated you know what
you know where confusion comes from the devil
salvation is really as simple as believing the gospel and calling on his
name one time getting saved it's that simple but why do people want to attack
that well because the devil doesn't want people to get saved and he'll try any and
all methods to stop people from believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and
making a decision for Christ and of course that decision is not well I walk
the aisle the decisions not to get baptized that decisions not to repent of
your sins that decisions not to surrender the decisions not to lay down
your life the decision is to call the name of the Lord in faith that's the
decision and you know there's been church services I've been to most of the
churches I've ever seen they'll even have people you know just praise quietly
in their seat and you know someone did that they got saved they didn't have to
walk the aisle they didn't have to do a bunch of hoopla they didn't have to say
in front of everybody I confess Christ but you know what in their heart they
had to believe on him somehow and that's through the calling on the name of the
Lord now the Apostle Paul is no exception to this you know the Apostle
Paul wasn't born saved in fact he was Saul first okay and Saul was actually
not a great person according to him he was the chief of sinners now I believe
he was using hyperbole there he's not truly the chief of sinners in the sense
that Judas Iscariot got him covered I'm pretty sure okay folks but he just felt
really bad about how he had persecuted the church and of course the Apostle
Paul does get saved in the scripture now acts 22 is a recounting or retelling of
this but I just want to I want to read this and we're gonna go back and we kind
of want to I want to study this for a moment but if you have the right
interpretation of acts 22 16 you cannot believe the stupidity that calling on
the name of Lord isn't necessary salvation or isn't the way you believe
in Christ because it explicitly says it look at verse 16 and now why Terry is
thou this is Ananias speaking to Paul arise and be baptized and wash away thy
sins calling on the name of the Lord now this is just clear an example of the
connection of salvation and calling on the name of Lord why because me washing
away your sins is only a one-time event of believing in Christ there's no other
event that's gonna wash away your sins it's you know we could go to Revelation
chapter number one and make it really clear that he washed us in his blood
okay we just saying are you washed in the blood what it really saved us the
blood of Jesus Christ and being washed in it so what's gonna wash away my sin
is a sacrifice in the altar no repenting of my sins no getting baptized no that's
not gonna wash away my sins the only thing that washed away is your sins
believing in Christ now unless you go to a Church of Christ you don't even have
to ask this question but baptism clearly didn't do that baptism can't do that now
here's the thing baptism might be a it's a symbol of a lot of things there's not
just one thing baptism signals but it signifies obviously death to self dying
with Christ it signifies death to this world and then the rebirth the
resurrection being resurrected with Christ the Bible talks and revel in
Romans chapter number six to walk in newness of life it's also a picture of
the fact that you now are gonna try and serve God with your life and you're
saved in my opinion from future sins because if you weren't gonna go through
this process you're probably gonna go down a more sinful path then by
committing to Christ saying hey I want to walk in news of life and essentially
being saved from the filth of this world in essence and of course it's a symbol
there's nothing physical about it at all it's just a symbol but you know I don't
get from this passage why Ananias needs him to metaphorically wash away a sense
what's the point of that if he was already thinking about that if you're
already saved you don't necessarily need to metaphorically wash away your sins now of
course you should be baptized and you say okay well does baptism metaphorically
wash away your sins sure let's just say that it does and I think that in a case
it does you know there's there's a way to say that but is this verse saying
that no why well because grammatically it's impossible notice it says and be
baptized and the notice is comma and now notice this wash away thy sins does it
say and no it says calling on the name of the Lord you know what that means
that the two things that are connected are washing away thy sins and calling on
the name of the Lord so it's not the baptism that even did that in this
passage even if you want to believe hey obviously baptism is a symbol of that
sure right because as soon as you get saved you're supposed to get baptized
right away which picture the fact you trusted in Christ and that's what
washed away your sins sure we got it you know how you actually wash away your
sins you actually achieve that by calling on the name of the Lord in faith
and then of course you should get baptized now this is what idiots like
norm Diamante will say Oh calling on the name of the Lord just the function of
the believer it's just something you do afterwards you just pray okay sure we
all pray you know people can pray before they're saved as evidence in the book of
Acts how about all kinds of different people that are praying and asking for
the Lord to send some send Peter unto them so that they could be saved we see
ton you can pray I mean Catholics pray they're not saying folks it's not like
the only people that have ever prayed in their life or the people have already
been saved and the Apostle Paul according to the Bible was praying before this go
back to Acts chapter number nine go back to Acts chapter number nine let's get
the story here Acts chapter number nine look at verse number three and as he
journeyed he came near Damascus and suddenly there shined round about him a
light from heaven and he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him
Saul Saul why persecutors thou me and he said who art thou Lord and he and the
Lord said I am Jesus whom thou persecutors it is hard for thee to kick
against the pricks and he trembling and astonished said Lord what wilt thou have
me to do and the Lord sent him arise and go into the city and it shall be told
thee what thou must do now I want to come back to this but skip down to verse
10 and there was a certain disciple of Damascus named an Ananias and to him
said the Lord in a vision Ananias and he said behold I am here Lord and the Lord
said him arise and go into the street which is called straight and inquire in
the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus for behold he prayeth and
hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand
on him that he might receive his sight now I want to I'm pointing this out for
a reason if the Apostle Paul as opposed by Norm Diamante was already saved he
just got saved and he's praying for a couple days then why does he need to
pray again when Ananias shows up to wash away his sins what's the point of that
there's no number one he's already saved number two he's already been praying so
what's the point of this this other prayer and of course the Bible told us
the point of it was to wash away the sins but why do you need to wash away
your sins if you're already saved you don't but here's the thing in order for
Norm Diamante not to look like a giant idiot he has to believe that Paul wasn't
saved already because if Paul wasn't saved and he got saved when Ananias came
and preached to him well then his entire doctrine is wrong and he looks like an
idiot so you know what happens when you get put into a corner and you're a loser
you just start believing weird junk it's like here's the verse that proves you
wrong well then let's believe something weird about it but notice he was already
praying and think about this we already read verses four through six of what
happened which verse four or five or six indicates to you that Paul got saved
was it was it the one where he said who art thou hey Paul you're persecuting
Jesus and he's like here are mine he's like who are you that's usually what I
think of people that get saved they don't even know who God is I mean
they're confronted with Jesus he's confronted with Jesus Christ he doesn't
even know what Jesus Christ looks like he doesn't even know who he is is that
when he got saved now what he says in verse six any trembling and astonished
said Lord what wilt thou have me to do still doesn't sound saved and the Lord
said unto him arise and go into the city and it shall be told me what that must
do where's the indication that Jesus preached him the gospel told him to
believe on him told him to call on his name told him anything to be saved here
the Lord just appeared unto him and told him what to do and you say well by the
Lord appearing to him that means he's saved or he got saved okay so every
single time the Lord appeared on somebody they got saved I mean you know
how about Balaam is Balaam saved I mean the Lord appeared unto him how
about this Cain must be saved if you don't believe the Balaam doctrine how
about Calem Cain Cain obviously is saved I mean we just got all the all the great
people in the Bible you know Cain Balaam I mean as soon as the Lord shows up to
you and talks to you I mean hey the Lord talked to Pharaoh I mean think
about when when Abraham was traveling down there the Lord showed up and told
him hey why are you gonna be with his wife he probably got saved instant save
right salvation just right then and there I mean that's a stupid doctrine
the Lord can appear to you and tell you to do something and it doesn't mean you
got saved that's it's I mean the Lord came in flesh to a lot of people and
they didn't get saved and he told them lots of things to do and some of them
even did it but they didn't get saved so it's it's silly to then try to have to
just force the idea that he got saved right here so that you don't look like
an idiot for denying the fact you have to call upon the name of Lord to be
saved now he said in verse number 13 then and I answered Lord I have heard by
many of this man how much evil he had done to thy Saints at Jerusalem and here
he hath authority from the chief priest of bind all that call on thy name notice
how Ananias describes people that are Saints all notice what he said all that
call on my name why why is he using that as a deciding factor of who say because
that's how you got saved he didn't say all that believe on you he said all the
call on my name but you know why because it's the same thing folks isn't that
interesting that in the chapter that explains people being saved by calling
on the name of the Lord is people saying this is a chapter proving you don't have
to call the name of the Lord it even says it again look at verse 21 but all
that hurt him were amazed and said is not this he that destroyed them which
call on this name in Jerusalem every time they wanted to decide decide who
saved or who believed in Christ how do they decide that all the ones who called
on Jesus Christ it's like what what in the world it's so simple it's so
straightforward and came hither for that intent that he might bind or bring them
bound of the chief priests so who is it that the Apostle Paul wants to get it's
the people who really believed in Christ well how do I know which ones really
believed it's the ones that called it's the ones that called upon his name those
are the ones that actually got saved well but I think that you know I can
prove you wrong look at the next chapter pastor Shelley because you know what
Peter was preaching and people just got saved just as soon as they believed it
soon as they heard it they just believe they're saved okay well let's test your
theory Acts chapter 10 verse 43 to him give all the prophets witness that
through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins
while Peter yet spake these words the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard
the word see proof positive all you have to do is just I mean they were just
hearing it and just in their seat they just believed it and then they were just
saved but wait a minute how did he know that they were saved because they'll say
that they didn't have to say anything to be saved they said nothing oh so you're
looking at a bunch you just preach into a group and they're just like oh he got
saved oh he got saved no no no that's not what happened what does it say in
the next verse it says and they have the circumcision which believe were
astonished as many as came with Peter because that on the Gentiles also has
poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost for they heard them speak now let me
explain something if you're hearing someone speaking they're talking and if
they're talking they're saying stuff and you know how you say stuff with your
mouth and you know where salvation comes from now speaking what what kind
of bizarre nonsense oh well this proves that they didn't call a name and Lord to
be saved the only reason you even know they were saved because they were
praising God with their mouth and confessing Christ with their mouth
that's stupid that confirms everything that I'm saying but think about this
these people the moment they got saved the moment they got saved did they not
have the Holy Ghost is that not the right interpretation of this the moment
they believe they were filled with the Holy Ghost go back to chapter 9
look at verse 17 and I asked when his way and entered in the house and putting
his hands on him said brother Saul the Lord even Jesus that appeared unto thee
in the way as thou camest has sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight and
notice this and be filled with all the ghosts wait a minute if he already got
saved why does he need the Holy Ghost I
thought it acts have number tennis do they believe they had the Holy Ghost so
why has Paul been lacking for these three days oh well you need the right
people to give you the Holy Ghost Oh cuz Jesus can't give it to you I mean think
about their logic Jesus got him saved but didn't give him the Holy Ghost so
then he had to wait for Peter well how did Peter get the Holy Ghost Jesus
breathed on him the Holy Ghost I mean so so if you're gonna tell me that the
Apostle Paul wasn't saved why didn't he have the Holy Ghost why do you have to
wait for Ananias to show up to give him the Holy Ghost it's because he wasn't
saved yet and it's because he had to call the name of the Lord and that's
when he got filled with the Holy Ghost and that's when he got back why didn't
he get baptized yet either if he's already saved here's another thing which
person in Jesus Christ ministry got saved and went from being able to see to
blind or was it that every single person that got saved went from being blind to
seeing instantly what's the more common example let's see zero on this side
every other time on the other side now let's think about what happened with
Paul when Paul encountered Jesus did he go from blind to sight or sight to blind
he went from seeing to not being able to see and then as soon as Ananias comes in
there and lays hands on him and he calls the name of the Lord now he can see and
what is the picture of salvation is it going from blind to seeing clearly hey
when I was unsaved I didn't understand anything it was like I was blind and
then the light of the gospel came unto me and then everything made sense and I
could finally see it's like every picture of the Bible is destroyed by
believing that the Apostle Paul got saved and blinded simultaneous what was
the point of that hey I really want you to get saved but just just because it I
just wanna blind you anyways though this is an extra punishment for getting saved
I'll be weird you know he's getting blinded because it's kind of like when
we go out so winning what's the first step we do hey you're a sinner deserving
hell right buddy we kind of put them in their place first and get them in a mode
and get them in a get them in a place and now get saved and now then once they
get in that place so it's like God's putting the Apostle Paul in his place to
set him up for the real site and helping him realize you're you've been blinded
buddy you are blind you everything you believe is wrong now of course someone
like norm you might say oh no no he got saved you know by Jesus because
Galatians 1 I'm not going to go there and prove that but you know if you look
at their encounter and I wanted to go to one other place here let's go back to
acts 22 I think acts 22
I can't remember which verse I think it maybe it's acts 26 I don't know let me
let me think about this for a second yes that's what I want acts 26 let's let's
read verse 14 and when we were all fallen to the earth I heard a voice
speaking unto me and saying in the Hebrew tongue Saul Saul why persecute is
thou me it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks and I said who art
thou Lord and he said I am Jesus whom thou persecute us but rise and stand
upon my feet for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose to make thee a
minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen and of those
things in the which I will appear unto thee so number one he appeared unto him
to give him one aspect he needs to be in a pot if he's gonna be an apostle he
hasn't seen the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ so he's giving him that initial
encounter then he's gonna go on this journey of being blind he's gonna get
saved and baptized filled with the Holy Ghost but notice what Jesus very
clearly says he says in verse 16 and of those things in the which I will appear
unto thee so he's saying hey I'm gonna come back in the future and then I'm
gonna show you even more thing I'm gonna explain more thing doesn't it make sense
to let's get Paul let's go let's let Paul get saved and then now that he's
saved and as the Holy Ghost inside of him then Jesus can come back and show
him and teach him all kinds of things in the Bible and what the Bible says in
Galatians chapter 1 is he's like hey I wasn't taught this by man I was taught
by revelation of Jesus Christ he's not explaining that he got saved in this
moment what he's saying is the things that he preached and all the great
revelations he had were hand given to him by Jesus just showing up and
appearing to him and giving him all kinds of special knowledge but that
doesn't mean it was at that point it was after he got saved too yeah he got the
initial encounter and then this guy just blinded him but what happens later he
ends up getting saved and think about this he says I've appeared unto thee for
this purpose to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which
now see now this first encounter who did Jesus make Paul a minister and a
witness to no one he just told him to go and wait meaning that when he's saying
this encounter he's not saying like just this moment he's saying like in general
the whole purpose of me showing up was this kickstart this process but
obviously there's more things that need to happen in order for this to be
fulfilled and so that's why he's saying he's gonna get saved and then once he
gets saved then God's gonna do what then he starts sending him out and having a
minister and doing all those different works but it wasn't until he gets saved
and all the other events that that starts happening go if you would to
another place in Scripture go back to Acts chapter 2 now I want to go to back
to Acts chapter 2 now what's interesting is when I read in my Bible which I have
a reference Bible in Acts 22 verse 16 which was the fact that it says in the
washaway thy sins calling on the name of the Lord in my Bible you know what it
says right next to that acts 238 now here's the thing that I want you to
understand I did not write or publish this book
Stephen Anderson pastor Stephen Anderson did not write or publish this book
someone else did okay some people say this the new I have be invented the
doctrine of calling on the new Lord to be saved you're an idiot you are an
idiot the new I have be did not produce this Bible okay someone else and someone
else decided that acts 22 16 is the same as acts 238 because they put a reference
there you could I can show you in my Bible if you want to look at it okay now
I like this I think this is great why because it's the same thing look at acts
238 then Peter said on them repent and be baptized every one of you in the name
of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you should receive the gift of
the Holy Ghost isn't that exactly what Ananias told the Apostle Paul he's
saying be baptized and wash away thy sins calling on the name of the Lord
what is Peter saying repent now what does repent mean believe in Christ
because if you read Acts chapter number two what was the whole point of it you
crucified him you didn't believe in him you with wicked hands have crucified
and slain him and they're like what shall we do repent meaning what believe
in the guy that you just crucified believe in the Messiah and then of
course why not give I mean of course being baptized is the great step to do
to signify that you trusted in Christ and of course that's what gives you the
forgiveness of sins of believing it says and every one of you in the name of
Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the
Lord goes you don't have to be baptized to be saved and of course I had some guy
screaming this at me while so any today his brother Joe that started him off you
know but I mean there's this guy we were sowing and like he gets out of his
apartment and he's just screaming like you have to repent to be baptized to be
saved why don't you believe the verse won't you believe the Bible it's like I
do idiot and then he's like John 3 16 says you have to believe and be baptized
to be saved and brother Joe's like no and I'm like that's mark 16 and he's just
like well you don't believe the Bible you don't have a reasonable conversation
no you're not reasonable and I said you're in the cult of the Church of
Christ and he's like how do you know I go to that church because I because we
run into people all the time we already know what y'all believe we know what
everybody believes we know the Catholics believe we know the church Christ and we
also know this none of y'all believe the Bible and none of y'all are reasonable
okay y'all are in cults but yeah I can go to mark 16 and it says he that
believe it and is baptized shall be saved amen that is what the Bible says
and that's true but you know what the Bible did not say whosoever believes in
their baptism is going to be saved you know the Bible doesn't say what must I
do to be saved be baptized if someone believes in Christ they're saved what if
what is this believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you know eat a sandwich and
you'll be saved that's true but of course you know it's not saying eat a
sandwich because that's pointless being baptized is an important step and your
Christian walk and in your what you should be doing and of course when the
Bible think about this where is that verse found mark chapter number 16 what
is mark chapter number 16 it's the end of a gospel and here's the thing did
Jesus only want people to get saved no you want people to get saved baptized
and follow all of the commandments that's why at the end of Matthew it says
all of that so you know the the gospel of mark is not explaining you the
nuances of salvation it's explaining what you should just do Peter is not
explaining the nuances of the gospel in acts 238 he's just they just said what
should we do well you know what if someone said hey pastor Shelley what do
you think I should do in my life I'm an unsaved guy we should believe on Christ
and then you should get baptized and then you should join our church and then
you should start reading the Bible why would I not say that and if you do that
you know you're gonna be saved and go to heaven now what if they said this well
do I have to do all of that to be saved I would say no but there was nothing
wrong with me including all of that because they're just generally asking me
what I should do and of course Peter is not going to say hey believe on Christ
and then just go home and do nothing no get baptized don't change your life yes
serve God with your life but think about the context of this passage go back to
verse number 15 for these are not drunken as he suppose seeing it is but
the third hour of the day so they hearing everybody speak in other tongues
the preaching the gospel and everybody's speaking in other tongues and it's this
crazy event something they've never seen before and and the people that don't
believe they're like oh they must be drunk and he says they're not drunk
verse 16 but this is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel so he's
saying scriptures being fulfilled right now right now people preaching and
repenting and getting saved is being fulfilled right now and Joel's gonna
explain to you what that is okay let's let Joel explain it to us and it's going
to pass the last day say it God I'll pour out my spirit upon all flesh and
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see
visions and your old men shall dream dreams and on my servants and on my
handmaidens I'll pour out in those days of my spirit and they shall prophesy and
I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath blood and
fire and vapor of smoke the Sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into
blood before that great and notable day of the Lord come and it shall come to
pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved notice
what the Bible is saying hey all these people that got saved today you know
what the Bible explains that ask calling on the name of the Lord when it
says hey they repented and they got their salvation it was because they
called on the name of the Lord let's let you say oh I don't remember them praying
or asking for salvation yeah well let's let Joel tell you what they did Joel
just told you exactly how everybody got saved in Acts chapter number two they
called on the name of the Lord and people say I don't go out and pray with
people well I guess you don't believe the book of Joel I guess you don't
believe acts 2 I guess you don't believe Romans 10 I guess you don't believe any
of the Bible because every time I see Jesus pies getting people safe they're
confessing in with their mouths I mean the guy what you know if your doctrine
was true then why is it that just randomly Jesus didn't just look at one
of the thieves on the cross and just say today that shall be with me in paradise
why was it the guy that said Lord remember me when thou comest in thy
kingdom why didn't Jesus turn him say you total work salvation as you how
dare you ask me you know what do you are you part of the new IFB do you listen to
pastor Steven Anderson do you listen to steadfast Baptist Church no no he said
hey today thou shalt be with me in paradise why because that's how you
believe on Christ you call on him you know why is it so important that in
Proverbs chapter 1 those who call are not answered because they didn't call at
the right time but it wasn't because they were calling oh well they must
live in work salvation no they call too late because Christ is knocking at the
door Christ is inviting Christ's Word is being preached everywhere and it's an
invitation that whosoever will may come he's just pleading for people please
just ask me to save you and I'll save you he's looking at people like Peter
are drowning in the sea and he's ready to rescue them but he's just waiting
for them to say Lord save me these idiots what oh just just believe it yeah
if you believed it then you would ask go to 1st Corinthians chapter number one
go to 1st Corinthians chapter 1 there's so much verses that we could look to I
mean Jesus clearly says in John chapter number four to the woman at the well if
thou knewest who is the spoke of thee and the gift that he had you would have
asked he would have given thee oh well if you ask it's not a gift well then why
did Christ say he was gonna give it to her that's a stupid asking as makes it
not a gift that means you could never ask for a gift that would make the whole
charade about you know Santa Claus even worse because you go and give them your
list your list of demands apparently not of gifts hey Santa I already worked
really hard for this I asked you for it what that's so silly that's so foolish
that's not working and look even if in some way you could define that as work
it doesn't matter to me because the Bible made it clear that salvation is
not of works you know obviously in their English language you have to
understand that English words have multiple definitions you know in some
languages it's kind of the almost feels like the opposite and I'm not saying
that it is entirely but you know when I compare a Spanish vocabulary list to an
English it's different in my mind in this way it seems like in Spanish you
have ten words that mean the same thing and in English you have one word that
means ten things and so it's it's like it's really hard and in fact the word
set s-e-t is the most versatile word in the English language I believe it has
approximately you can look this up was approximately four hundred and twelve or
four hundred thirteen possible definitions or context in which the word
set could be used so which language do you think would be easy for someone to
twist your words or twist the context of what you're saying English and of
course that's what the devil has done is he's taken words like believe faith
works grace all these words wine and he because they have all kinds of different
definitions he's made a lot of false doctrines that's why context is very
important in English because you have so many words in English that have so many
definitions that you have to let the Bible tell you what it's really saying
and people could twist your words so easily in English and they love to do it
but you know what the Bible is very consistent it's very clear calling on
the name of the Lord is how you believe in Christ and 1st Corinthians 1 confirms
that look at verse 2 under the Church of God which is at Corinth to them that are
sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be saints with all that in every place call
upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours you know how he
defines people that are saved the people that call the name of Lord you know I
didn't even show you every time the Bible bring this up isn't it's in
Genesis it's all throughout the Old Testament it's all through the New
Testament it's everywhere it's the clear reading of the text and you know what
people people listen to me people that do not believe you have to call on the
name of the Lord are not welcome to do so any with us they should be rebuked
sharply and I want to hear about it and really this only comes from YouTube and
bozo internet land people that don't really go so winning and of course they
just you know why they want this is because they just want to have like a
hundred thousand views on their YouTube video and say look how many people I got
saved but you and I know they didn't get anybody saved but they just want to pat
themselves on the back and they just want to be like soul winnings pointless
why am I going around because think about it if I don't have to help someone
pray then we don't really have to go so winning we could just let's just google
ads let's just maximize their YouTube views just maximize everything they just
get all the information out there you know if track save we don't have to go
let's just send out a track if hey just Martin Luther gets savory in the Bible
mail everybody a Bible hey if all you have to do is just say Christ is Lord
and you're saved well then all then all we need to do is just convince the
atheist that Jesus is real you know it's all these stupid lazy it's like people
working hard to be lazy it's stupid it's like just do the real work just go up to
a person and love them and say hey believe on Christ call on his name and
you know this vocabulary should just become the standard for us that would
you explain salvation you say this hey Romans 10 9 is explaining how you
believe in Christ it's how you believe in Jesus calling on the name of the Lord
is how you believe in him it's not an extra step it's not a different step
there's no new thing it's how you believe it's explaining it let's close
in prayer Thank You Heavenly Father so much for our church thank you so much
for so many dedicated soul winners and people that care about the lost I pray
that we wouldn't get infected with all kinds of weird heresy and junk or just a
spirit of laziness and pride and just the works of the flesh that draw out
weird heresies to try and discourage us from actually preaching the truth
preaching the gospel I pray that we filled with boldness would be filled
with knowledge and the truth that we would have confidence to go help others
to call in the name of the Lord to put their faith in Jesus Christ and I pray
that you would just help our church to be unified and rally together and the
in the good fight of faith in Jesus name we pray amen
song number 102 song number 102 he hideth my soul
that's song number 102 he hideth my soul song number 102
Oh wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord a wonderful Savior to me
he hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock where rivers of pleasure I see he
hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry thirsty land he
hideeth my life in the depths of his love and covers me there with his hand
and covers me there with his hand a wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord he
taken his burdens away he holdeth me up and I shall not be moved he gaveth me
strength as my day he hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry
thirsty land he hideth my life in the depths of Islam and covers me there with
his head and covers me there with his hand with numberless blessings each
moment he crowns and filled with his fullness divine I sing in my rapture Oh
glory to God for such a Redeemer as mine he hideth my soul in the cleft of the
rock that shadows a dry thirsty land he hideeth my life in the depths of Islam
and covers me there with his hand and covers me there with his hand in clothing
his brightness transported our eyes to meet him in clouds of the sky his perfect
salvation is wonderful love how shot with the millions on high he hideth my
soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry thirsty land he hideth my
life in the depths of Islam and covers me there with his hand and covers me
there with his hand God bless you are dismissed this evening