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All right.
Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
If we will, let's turn to our hymn books of song number 448.
Song number 448, brethren, we have met to worship.
Again, that's song number 448.
Brethren, we have been to worship and adore the Lord our God.
Will you pray with all your power while we try to preach the word?
All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down.
Brethren, pray and holy manna will be showered all around.
Brethren, see poor sinners round you, some bring on the brink of woe.
Death is coming, hell is moving, can you bear to let them go?
See our fathers and our mothers and our children sinking down.
Brethren, pray and holy manna will be showered all around.
Sisters, will you join in? Help us, Moses, sister, aid in Him.
Will you help the trembling mourners who are struggling hard with sin?
Tell them all about the Savior, tell them that He will be found.
Sisters, pray and holy manna will be showered all around.
Let us love our God supremely, let us love each other too.
Let us love and pray for sinners till our God makes all things new.
Then He'll call us home to heaven, at His table we'll sit down.
Christ will earn Himself and serve us with sweet manna all around.
Amen, let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father of God, thank you for allowing us to be here this morning.
Thank you for this church and for everyone that came here together so we could worship you, Lord.
And I just pray that you bless the service and help us to glorify you in Jesus' name, Amen.
Alright, for the next song we're going to go to song number 65.
Song number 65, Just Over in the Glory Land.
That's song number 65, Just Over in the Glory Land.
I've a home prepared where the saints abide, Just over in the glory land.
And I long to be by my Savior's side, Just over in the glory land.
Just over in the glory land, I'll join the happy angel band, Just over in the glory land.
Just over in the glory land, wherewith the mighty host I'll stand, Just over in the glory land.
I'm on my way to those missions fair, Just over in the glory land.
There to sing God's praise and His glory share, Just over in the glory land.
Just over in the glory land, I'll join the happy angel band, Just over in the glory land.
Just over in the glory land, therewith the mighty host I'll stand, Just over in the glory land.
What a joyful thought that my Lord I'll sing, Just over in the glory land.
And with kindreds saved will forever be, Just over in the glory land.
Just over in the glory land, I'll join the happy angel band, Just over in the glory land.
Just over in the glory land, therewith the mighty host I'll stand, Just over in the glory land.
With the blood washed throng, I will shout and sing, Just over in the glory land.
That holds in us to Christ the Lord and King, Just over in the glory land.
Just over in the glory land, I'll join the happy angel band, Just over in the glory land.
Just over in the glory land, therewith the mighty host I'll stand, Just over in the glory land.
And we're on verse number 18.
If you can quote the entire chapter, you will receive a special prize.
On the inside, we have our service times.
We have three English services, one at 10.30 this morning, one at 5.30 this evening,
and then a Bible study on Wednesdays at 7.
We're going through the book of Genesis, and so I'd really encourage you to come and be a part of that.
We also have a Spanish service today at 4.30, and the service is completely in Spanish.
We also have several soul-winning times that are meeting here at the building.
Church-wide soul-winning meets here, and then regional soul-winning meets at different parts throughout the city.
On our Saturday time at 10 a.m., brother David Negara is leading that,
and he wants to start doing a breakfast at 9 a.m. before.
And so if you'd like to come out for that soul-winning time, you can show up about 9 a.m.,
and they're going to be providing breakfast for you.
He did say that if you can let him know, just that you're planning on coming,
or if that's a time you'd like to show up, just so he can make sure and provide that.
But hey, you get fed physically, so then you can go feed people spiritually afterwards.
So that's a great thing.
Also we have our church stats down below.
We have on the right our expecting ladies, several ladies to pray for,
and we have also a prayer list with several other prayer requests.
If you have any prayer requests throughout the week, you can send those in,
and we'll try to add those into our prayer list.
On the back we have some upcoming events.
We have the Ardmore Oklahoma Soul-winning marathon.
There should be a sign-up sheet for that
if you'd like to sign up for the Ardmore Oklahoma Soul-winning marathon.
We'll be meeting out there for breakfast.
I'll get the exact details on breakfast, but we'll definitely be out there for lunch and for dinner.
We'll be meeting somewhere.
I don't know exactly where we're going to meet for those meals.
I'm confirming those details.
But we will have a caravan that meets here at the church and goes up too,
so if you need a ride.
But go ahead and sign up so that way we know.
And then we have a Soul-winning marathon that's going to be here July 3rd,
as well as our fire-breathing Baptist Fellowship October 6th.
We also have information cards that are over there on our cabinet,
and so if you are out Soul-winning and you'd like to get some more information
from whoever it is that you talk to, you can have them fill out this card.
And then we have an optional follow-up program where if you would like to take them out to lunch or dinner
or grab a coffee or just anything like that,
you can go ahead and meet with them, and if you bring them with their seat,
the church will reimburse you for your meal and everything like that.
So it's just a nice way to get to know people better and try and encourage them to come to church.
It's sometimes hard to visit a church if you don't really know anybody or you haven't made a friendship,
and so that's a completely optional program, but it's something that if you'd like to employ, you can.
Also this upcoming month, June, we're about to enter into June, which is summer.
It doesn't really seem like summer today, but, you know, we're getting close.
And I guess some people like the heat to stay away, so, you know, hey, I like the heat,
but I'll try to bring in the preaching just for, no, just kidding.
But for June, the world likes to celebrate pride. We're going to celebrate anti-pride in June,
and so a couple extra things.
If you want to participate, we're having an optional Romans 1 challenge.
Who's already got Romans 1 pretty much dialed in? You've got Romans 1s memorized.
Alright, we've got a few, but if you can quote all of Romans 1 in the month of June to a non-family member,
you'll receive a special prize, as well as, I'm going to be incorporating Romans 1 in every single sermon somehow
in the month of June, and then the final day of June is June 30th, which is a Wednesday,
and our Bible study will be in Genesis 19.
So God willing, I'll be here if I'm sick or not, you know, I'm going to get to Genesis, no, just kidding.
We'll get there, alright? God willing.
And so I'd encourage you to, you know, be here for the month of June,
and that's pretty much all I have for announcements at this time,
but we're going to have lots of good stuff in the month of June with that theme, alright?
Brother Alberto? Song 124?
Psalm number 124, God will take care of you.
Be not dismayed, but every time God will take care of you.
Beneath his wings of love abide, God will take care of you.
God will take care of you, through every day or all the week.
He will take care of you, God will take care of you.
Through days of toil and hard to fail, God will take care of you.
When dangers fierce your path thus sail, God will take care of you.
God will take care of you, through every day or all the week.
He will take care of you, God will take care of you.
All you may need he will provide, God will take care of you.
Nothing you ask will be denied, God will take care of you.
God will take care of you, through every day or all the week.
He will take care of you, God will take care of you.
No matter what he beat the test, God will take care of you.
Meet everyone upon his breast, God will take care of you.
God will take care of you, through every day or all the week.
He will take care of you, God will take care of you.
As the offering plates are being passed around, please turn your Bibles to Exodus chapter 20.
The Bible reads in Exodus chapter 20.
As the offering plates are being passed around, please turn your Bibles to Exodus chapter 20.
engraving it and they start shaping it to how they want it to look.
But here's the thing, either you have the whole stone of Jesus Christ or you're not
saved.
Either you don't lift up any tool upon it or you're not saved.
Because the reality is salvation is only of faith.
There is no work, there is no engraving, there's no shaping, there's no any of that.
God will refuse your altar if it has been carved.
He doesn't want that type of an altar.
He wants an altar that's just holy of Him.
Think about it, you can't make a stone.
Stones are what God made.
But we could corrupt it, we could pollute it, we could change it, we could alter it.
And here's the thing, the gospel's not of man, it's not what man did, it has nothing
to do with us, Jesus Christ and God did it all.
And therefore we don't want to use our graving tools, we don't want to lift any kind of iron
tool upon it, no it's just not of works.
Now I wish there was a chapter, oh yeah there is.
We're in chapter two, look at verse number eight.
Maybe there's a chapter that says that salvation's not of works.
Wouldn't that be nice if the Bible just told you plainly, like whether or not salvation
was of works or not?
Well let's read.
For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves.
It is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.
So the Bible plainly states salvation's not of works.
It's not even a difficult subject to prove.
The reason why a lot of people reject it though today is because of pride.
Now let's keep with our analogy though, let's think about this altar.
Let's say I have an altar where I literally just took a bunch of stones and just threw
them together.
And then you have an altar where you shaped it and you carved it and you put hours and
energy and you built this beautiful, you know, column or you built this beautiful statue
or whatever.
And essentially whenever we perform our offerings, God likes your altar better.
Wouldn't you then be able to brag about the fact that it's like, well, of course he likes
mine.
Look how much effort I put into it.
Look how much energy and look at how I shaped these stones and look how I built them together.
That's the same with this picture here in Ephesians chapter number two saying, look,
if you going to heaven has anything to do with your works, then you could brag about
it.
Then you could boast about it.
But if you say, hey, just grab some stones like I did and just throw them down, there's
no boasting in that.
There's no bragging in the stone.
Look, a stone's a stone.
A rock is a rock.
And here's the thing, the gospel is a gift that's just given of God.
He gets all the honor.
He gets all the glory.
He gets all the recognition for salvation.
And as soon as you start shaping that rock to look like something different than what
God made, it's no longer going to be accepted with God.
God doesn't like your carved altar.
He doesn't like your rock that's been shaped the way you want.
Go to John chapter number one.
And I'm kind of laying a foundation for this sermon this morning, but the Bible makes it
clear that salvation's not of works, yet there's so many denominations, there's so many churches,
there's so many pastors, there's so many preachers, there's so many people today that are literally
polluting salvation with works.
They're polluting the gospel with works.
They're trying to add some kind of works.
They just want to shape it a little bit.
They just want to, you know, grave it a little bit, or they just want to square it off a
little bit.
Well, these stones, they don't fit together as well as I would like, so let's just make
them into bricks or, you know, whatever it is that they want, or let's tongue and groove
these rocks or these stones so that they kind of shape together and they fit together better.
Look, that's using your own reasoning and logic.
But the Bible makes it clear, salvation's not of man.
Look what it says in John chapter 1 verse 12, but as many as received him, this is talking
about Jesus Christ, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on his name.
Now, the word even means specifically.
So if you're going to define what it means to receive him, specifically it means those
that believe on his name, okay?
So the people that believe on Jesus Christ, they're the ones that received him and they
do what?
They become a child of God.
It's not just that you're not automatically a child of God, you have to become a child
of God through what?
Through faith.
We're all children of God by faith is what the Bible teaches.
Look at the next verse though, which were born and it says very clearly, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Now let's break these things down for a second.
Not of blood, what does that mean?
That means that Jews are not automatically saved.
That means it doesn't matter who your parents are.
It doesn't matter if you're black, red, yellow, white, they're all precious in his sight.
It doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter who your parents are, it has nothing to do with physical DNA, it's
nothing physical.
Again, salvation is not of us.
It says in the next phrase, nor the will of the flesh.
Now this, you know, to me would be the things that you're doing or not doing, right?
I mean the will of the flesh, you know, subduing that flesh or giving up sin or stopping sinning
or trying really hard to serve the Lord or whatever it is that you're doing in your flesh,
the things that you're capable of doing, notice your salvation is not of that.
It's not about what you're doing or what you're not doing.
It even says in the next phrase, well some people say, of course we're all sinners and
we're not going to be perfect, but you have to desire it.
You know, you have to want to.
But look at the next phrase, nor the will of man.
It's not even the desire to not do things or the desire to do things.
You know, some people say you have to be willing to give up your sin to be saved.
No.
It says it's not of the will of man.
It's not the will of...well, you have to desire to want to serve God.
Nope.
It's just not any of that.
It's just of God.
It's just a whole stone.
You just accept it by faith.
You receive it.
It's not about what you're doing.
It's not about what you can do.
It's not about what you will do.
You just receive it.
You just take the rock and you just, hey, this is my altar.
That's it.
It's that simple.
It's that easy.
Yet, so many people want to pollute it with all three of these, don't they?
They want to pollute it by saying, well, you have to be a certain ethnicity or you have
to be a certain race.
You say, who would be like that?
I don't know, the black Hebrew Israelites.
They look at a white person and say, you can't be saved.
Or vice versa.
There's probably white Baptist Briters or some racist group, Ku Klux Klan or something.
I don't know.
Peter Ruckman or something.
He said the only reason he didn't join the KKK is because they were against the Jews.
But here's the thing.
There's probably some racist group that says because you're dark, you can't get in.
Oh yeah, the Mormons.
I mean, there's always going to be groups that say, well, it's based on your blood.
That's polluting it.
That's polluting salvation.
Or they'll say, well, you have to repent of your sin to get saved, don't they?
They say, oh, you have to give up something.
You have to subdue that will of your flesh.
You have to give something up.
That's polluting salvation.
Or they get even more tricky.
You have to want to give it up.
No one's going to give it up, but you have to want it.
And if you don't really want it, then you're not really saved.
You need to get saved again.
And you'll have people sitting there thinking like, I believe in Jesus, but I kind of want
to sin.
What do I have to do?
And it's confusing to them.
It'd be confusing to them if I said, hey, you have to take these stones and you have
to carve them so that God will be pleased unto what you make.
And you say, what am I supposed to carve it like?
I don't know.
What tools should I use?
I don't know.
But if you don't use one, you're not saved.
He's not going to like your own.
That's what they get up and teach all day long.
They teach you have to use this tool or you have to want to use this tool or you have
to shape it right.
And you're just like, how do I do it?
And they're like, no one knows.
That's confusing.
Salvation's not confusing.
It's very simple.
Go to Romans chapter three.
Romans makes it real clear.
In fact, it's so clear that if you don't get it, it's because you're spiritually blinded.
And really, that's the thing we have to understand is that salvation is so simple.
It's so easy that you're either spiritually blinded.
It's a spiritual problem if you don't get it.
Because it's just so straightforward from the scriptures.
Look at Romans chapter three, verse twenty one.
But now the righteousness of God without the laws manifested being witnessed by the law
and the prophets, even meaning specifically the righteousness of God, which is by faith
of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference.
Now there is no difference.
That helps confirm the fact that it was not of blood, is it?
It wasn't Jew or Gentile.
It's just, hey, whoever believes is saved.
And notice this is called the righteousness of God because that's what it is that saves
us.
It's the righteousness of God that saves us, not my righteousness, not your righteousness.
It's the righteousness of God.
And we get it by faith of Jesus Christ.
And notice it's all that believe.
Verse twenty three, for all sin and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely
by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Notice salvation is freely given.
It's freely accepted.
Verse twenty five, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his
blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past the forbearance
of God.
You say, well, why are you saved, Pastor Shelley?
Because of his righteousness.
Hey, when you go out and you preach the gospel, what do you preach?
His righteousness.
Hey, what is your church here to honor and glorify?
His righteousness.
It's not about my righteousness.
I don't have righteousness.
It already told us that for all sin, that's me.
That's you.
That's where the center group, the righteousness group is God.
That's it.
And if you want to be righteous, you get his righteousness.
That's how we get the forgiveness of sins.
Verse twenty six, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness.
What are we declaring here?
When we go to and we preach the gospel, his righteousness, it says that he might be just
two, God, Christ, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
The only way I get justified is by believing in Jesus.
That's it.
So you'd say, well, verse twenty six, where is boasting then?
It's almost like you just thought of every question.
You're like, it's just you follow this logically.
It just fits in perfect.
You say, well, if all it is is what Jesus did, then where can I boast?
Where can I brag?
It's excluded.
There is none.
Just like if you grab a bunch of stones and make an altar and he grabs a bunch of stones
and makes an altar, it's like, well, where's the bragging?
It's excluded.
You can't.
Because you can't look at the stone and be like, well, I, I graved these one real special.
I put my name on it, you know, or I shaped it this way or I did this.
No, it's just, it's so all of him.
It says it is excluded by what law of works nay, but by the law of faith.
Verse 28.
I love this verse.
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Salvation is just not of the deeds of the law.
It's not of works.
The Bible couldn't be clearer.
Look at chapter four, verse four.
Now to him that worketh is a reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
Here's the thing.
If your works has anything to do with getting you saved, now God owes you something.
Just like that altar.
When you build that altar special, now God kind of owes you something because of the
work you put into the altar.
But here's the thing.
If you just take all the stones that he already provided you with, it's not of debt.
He gave it to you.
Just like salvation is just given to you.
Verse five.
But to him that worketh not, doesn't that sound like someone that's not lifting up their
tool upon the stone?
Someone that's not doing any work, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly.
His faith is counted for righteousness.
You could literally have zero works and be saved.
Just like your altar can have zero work done to it, and God still accepts your altar.
That's how simple salvation is.
That's how clear salvation is.
That's how easy it is.
Verse six.
Even meaning specifically, as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God impudeth
righteousness.
I love this phrase.
Without works.
You say, Pastor Shirley, I feel like we're getting a theme here.
The Bible just hammers.
No works.
Not of works.
Without works.
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
It has nothing to do with what you do and everything to do with what he did.
That's it.
And we don't want to pollute it by adding something that we did or what we do or what
we will do or what we could do or what we want to do.
No.
It's just all what he did.
That's it.
Look at chapter five, verse one.
Therefore being justified by faith.
We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
You know I have peace with God?
Jesus.
Faith in what he did.
Look at verse 18.
Therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so
by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
The book of Romans just hammers this.
The free gift.
How can you argue with the free gift?
It's not anything that you do.
Now obviously our world today, they trick you and they say, hey, come in and we'll give
you a free lunch.
And then a lower print, it's like if you buy 20.
It's like that's not a free gift.
That's a gimmick.
People are saying free, free, free.
Here's the thing.
Even Santa Claus rips this off and distorts it and pollutes it because you don't get gifts
from Santa for free.
You have to be good to get it, don't you?
Otherwise you get a lump of coal.
Here's the thing.
That's not the gospel.
The gospel is it be good and get something.
It's free.
It's the only thing that's really free in this world.
All you do is just believe in Jesus Christ and he gives it unto you.
Now it wasn't free to Jesus.
It wasn't free to God.
God the Father paid the ultimate price by sacrificing his son.
The son paid the ultimate price by coming here and sacrificing himself and going through
all the pain and the sufferings and the evil that he had to go through and being rejected
of his own father.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Hey, it wasn't free for them.
It's too bad for you because it's too expensive for you.
You don't have a gift to offer like that.
Your stones aren't going to be as good as the ones that God has.
Therefore you either take his altar or you're not saved.
That's it.
Look at chapter 10.
Just flip over.
Now I get why it's the Romans road, don't you?
He's just like, faith, faith, faith, free gift, free gift, free gift, free, free, free.
And then you get to chapter 10 and he's just like, all right.
Verse three, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish
their own righteousness have not submitted themselves into the righteousness of God.
Look, the Jews didn't get saved.
They didn't want to get saved because you know what?
They want to carve those stones.
They want to create their own righteousness.
They want to create their own altar.
They want to pollute it.
And so instead of just accepting and submitting themselves to what God has provided for them,
they have to provide it for themselves.
And it comes from a heart of pride.
Verse four, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.
Hey, you say, do I have to get saved by following the law?
No, it's ended by believing in Jesus Christ.
You say, well, what commandments do I also have to fulfill?
It's ended.
It's done.
The end of the law for righteousness.
There is no law that I have to keep to be righteous as soon as I believe in Jesus Christ
righteous.
And you say, well, what other law do you have to keep?
None.
Zero.
It's done.
That's why the Bible says saved with a D at the end.
It doesn't say being saved or could be saved or might be saved.
Just saved, done.
I am saved.
Look at verse nine.
Say, how does that work?
Well it says that if thou shalt confess with the mouth of the Lord Jesus and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Look it's done.
As soon as you confess and believe in your heart, it's done.
Just like that altar.
All you have to do is just throw the rocks, you're done.
Verse 10, for with the heart man believeth in righteousness and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation.
For the scripture saith, whosoever, meaning anyone, whosoever believeth on him, notice
this, shall not be ashamed.
Now ashamed there would be in the context of the fact that when you stand before God
and you're going to be judged, if you were standing there naked, wouldn't you be kind
of ashamed?
But here's the thing, you're not going to be standing there naked.
You're going to be standing there clothed with Jesus Christ's righteousness.
So you're not going to be ashamed.
But here's the thing, without his robe, you're going to stand before him naked and you're
going to be ashamed just like Adam and Eve were in the garden.
And what did they do to try and cover it?
Their works, their fig leaves, the things that they did.
But here's the thing, you can't make the garment that's going to cover your sin.
It's either you take Jesus Christ's garment or it's nothing.
That's why you don't mix woolen and linen, there's other things that we could look at
in the pictures here.
But in the context of our stone, hey, if God's looking at your altar and your altar's got
some graving on it, you're not getting in.
He's not going to accept that type of an altar.
You either have a whole stone offering or it's nothing.
And if you believe in him, notice you won't be ashamed.
No one who believed in Jesus will be ashamed.
It doesn't say like, well, some people believe but then they screwed up later and they're
going to be ashamed.
No, whosoever believe in him shall not be ashamed.
You say, well, I'm nervous about standing before God.
Well, if you believed in him, you don't have to be nervous because none of you will be
ashamed.
You'll be clothed with his righteousness.
It's perfect.
Verse 13, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Then he gives us a recipe, how then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed
and how so they believe in him in whom they have not heard and how so they hear without
a preacher and how so they preach except they be sent as it is written, how beautiful are
the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things.
So notice the way people get saved is they call upon the name of the Lord but specifically
they have to have that faith.
Did it mention here from 13 to 15 on how to get people saved, anything about them turning
from their sins, repenting of their sins, living a righteous life, anything?
It's just, did you call on the Lord in faith or did you not?
And notice we go out and we preach glad tidings.
Isn't that good news when you walk up to people and say, I have a free gift for you rather
than saying, I have a bunch of work for you.
And if you don't do all this work perfect, you're going to hell for all of eternity.
That's not glad tidings.
That's a message of condemnation.
That's the law.
Isn't that the law?
Think about the law.
What does the law say?
Follow all this perfectly or go to hell?
That's not glad tidings.
You know what's glad tidings is saying, just believe in what Jesus did for you and you
go to heaven.
He said, well, what if I don't live right, you still go to heaven.
What if I screw up, you still go to heaven.
What if, it doesn't matter, you're still going to heaven because once you're saved, you're
always saved.
It was never of works.
It never will be of works.
And if you go out and preach works, you're a messenger of condemnation, not a messenger
of hope.
The only hope we have is in Jesus Christ.
And we don't want to pollute the gospel with works today.
We want to be a clear preacher of the gospel, preaching it by faith alone.
That's it.
Nothing else.
But there's so many Christians today in this world, and you know what they're doing?
They're offering sacrifices on a polluted altar.
But here's the thing, because they have the wrong altar, God's never going to be pleased
with them or any of their sacrifices.
You can go down.
There's going to be, there's probably a million people in this area in a church this morning.
At least hundreds of thousands.
I mean, this is the Bible Belt, you know?
Actually it's nice driving on Sunday mornings because nobody's on the road, right?
But there's still probably a lot of people in a church on the weekend, aren't there?
Millions in this area.
And here's the thing, a lot of them are performing sacrifices.
They're going to church, they're giving money, they're giving time, they're giving effort,
they're giving energy, they're doing all these things.
But here's a problem.
Their altar is the wrong altar.
They're offering sacrifices on a hewn stone altar rather than the whole stone altar of
the Gospel by faith.
And here's the thing, God will have no respect to those sacrifices.
Just like God did not respect Cain's sacrifice, God did not respect Cain's offering, anybody
that has the wrong altar will not be accepted with God.
And it's frustrating because when you try to talk to people about salvation, what do
they bring up?
Their sacrifices.
But we're trying to talk to them about their altar, saying, okay, great, that's wonderful
about all your sacrifices.
Let's talk about your altar for a moment.
Let's talk about what your altar looks like.
And here's the thing, their altar is a faith plus works altar.
And I have two pollutions that I really want to talk about this morning.
Number one is a faith and works salvation.
Now go to Romans 11, we're right there, you don't even have to turn the page.
But when I go out and I talk to people, almost every single time I ask them, is salvation
faith alone or faith plus works, and they almost all just say faith plus works.
I mean I don't even have to be tricky, I don't have to be tricky, I'm not up there with like
some cool smooth transition or I'm not doing anything cool, I'm just like, hey how's it
going, do you believe salvation is by faith alone or faith plus works?
And they're just like faith plus works, both.
That's what they say.
I don't even have to like try and ask them all these clever questions or whatever, I'm
just like, hey is it both or is it just faith?
And you know what they tell me, it's both.
But isn't that an altar where they've graved upon it?
Isn't that a stone that they've modified and they've chipped and they've changed?
And here's the thing, if you do that, you completely ruin salvation.
And in their mind, they're thinking, well there's no problem in adding extra.
You know it's like, can I get extra pickles on my burger?
They're like, well there's nothing wrong with extra pickles, you know.
They think it's like, well if all I have to do is faith, you know, to be saved, then there's
no problem in adding some extra.
It's like, mom and dad, if you add cheese to the broccoli, I'm still eating the broccoli.
You know, they're thinking like, as long as I get the job done, right, so in the mind
of Catholics, in the mind of Protestants, in the mind of many Baptists today, they think
it's a faith plus works salvation.
But here's the thing, if that's your altar, you're just not even saved.
You cannot, it's not adding to or doing better.
Look, that's changing the shape of the rock.
That's changing what your altar looks like.
And the Bible makes it clear here, Romans chapter 11, look at verse number five.
Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of
grace.
Now, here's the context.
Look at verse one for a moment.
It says, I say then as God cast away his people.
So Paul's going to now explain, is God done with the nation of Israel?
Is God done with every single Israelite or every Jew or those that were the physical
descendants of Abraham?
And the reality is, it says in the next statement, God forbid, no, God is not done with every
physical descendant of the nation of Israel, but the majority of them he is.
That's why it says in verse number five, even so at this present time also there is a remnant
according to the election of grace.
What is remnant?
It's a small leftover group, a faction, a minuscule amount.
It's just some kind of residual, a smaller portion.
So he's saying only a little bit, only a remnant, only a small group of Israelites has he not
cast away.
Now why were they not cast away?
Is it because of their physical heritage?
No.
He says, by grace, according to the election of grace.
Election means choosing.
God chose those Israelites to still use because of grace.
Now what is grace?
Grace is unmerited favor.
It's something that you don't deserve, I don't deserve.
It makes it really clear in verse six.
It says, and if by grace, then is it 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.
So some people get confused, they're like, well, why can't it be both?
Because these are two contradictory items.
You can't have both.
It's either grace or it's work.
But it can't be both, otherwise you destroy the definition of both words.
What is grace?
Grace is no work.
What is work?
No grace.
So here's the thing, you can't have both.
You can't say, well, this is what a lot of people say, well, God gives us the grace to
do the works.
And it's like, that would be like me saying, I have something really free for you, but
it's going to cost.
But I'm freely giving you the work to do to get it for free.
If I said, hey, I have something free, I want to give you my Bible completely free, but
you have to give me $100.
Are both of those statements true?
If it's free, then you don't have to give me money.
If you have to give me money, then it's not free.
You can't have both.
If I said, well, I am giving you so much freedom to buy this from me that it's free.
That's what they basically do.
God's giving you so much grace to do the works.
Well, then it's no more grace.
Just like if you took a stone and you did no work to it, then it's a whole stone.
But as soon as you grave it, it can't be both.
It's no longer whole, it's now carved, it's now graven, it's now been shaped.
Both cannot be true.
So as soon as you add works to salvation, as soon as you add works to grace, it ceases
to be grace, it ceases to be free, it ceases to be the gospel of Jesus Christ.
You cannot have both.
Now, people will bring up certain verses.
I'm going to go to probably, in my mind, the most common verse section where people argue
on this topic.
Go to James chapter 2, go to James chapter number 2.
Now, for me, this is pretty much number 1, 2, 3, and 4 of arguments against what I'm
teaching here at the door.
I'm talking to somebody.
There's other places in the Bible that some people twist, but your common, normal person,
the only really verse they can think of or they usually go to to prove works of salvation
is James 2.
They'll say, well, yeah, but what about faith without works?
Isn't it dead?
It's like, yeah, that verse is in the Bible, sure.
It doesn't say exactly that, but basically it's saying that in essence if we were going
to get a verbatim quote.
But here's the thing.
I can prove salvation is by faith alone in James 2 just as well.
James 2 also teaches that salvation is by faith alone, okay?
Now, look at verse number 17.
This is the verse that they're thinking of in their mind.
Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone.
Now, let's keep with our analogy because I believe when we use the pictures of the Bible
it helps us understand everything so well, okay?
Here's the thing.
This is basically what they're asking.
If I have an altar of whole stones but I never do any sacrifices on it, okay, what is the
benefit of that altar essentially, okay?
Now, here's the thing.
From a humanistic perspective and being pleasing to God, it's not going to go all the way and
please Him to the fullest extent because He wanted you to build that altar to go ahead
and put burnt offerings on, right?
Isn't that the whole point of making the altar is then to go ahead and put sacrifices and
put offerings on?
But then the question is, well, what if we only had that altar though?
And we're talking and bringing it into the spiritual picture of salvation.
It is alone.
No one's going to argue that it's not alone.
Well, okay, let's read a little bit and see what it says.
Verse 21, was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son
upon the altar?
Now, what is he talking about?
Is he talking about the altar itself or is he talking about the sacrifice he's putting
on the altar?
Talking about a sacrifice he's putting on the altar, right?
Verse 22, seest 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 unto
him for righteousness and he was called the friend of God.
Now here's the thing, let's slow down and unpack verse 23.
What does verse 23 say?
It says that Abraham believed God and then notice, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness.
So what did that just tell us you have to do to get imputed righteousness, believe?
What's the problem with James 2?
James 2 said that all you have to do is believe and you're saved.
Hey, that is exactly what it says in Romans chapter number 4, that Abraham believed God
is accounted on him for righteousness.
That's the exact same thing, but it says something also.
It says and, and he was called the friend of God.
Then it says in verse 24, you see then how that by works a man is justified and not by
faith only.
Now here's the thing, if I have a whole stone altar, okay, and I never sacrifice on there,
will God be pleased at the fullest extent?
No, because he wants me to also do my burnt offerings, my peace offerings, thy sheep and
thine oxen.
He wants me to do those things.
And a picture of Abraham is offering his son Isaac upon that altar, okay?
And that would be a picture of, you know, you bringing your sacrifice, doing the things
that you do in order to serve the Lord.
So here's the thing, is it very profitable for me to build an altar and never sacrifice?
No, it'd be profitable for me to build that altar and then also sacrifice on top of that.
And then God will be pleased with those sacrifices.
So here's the thing, James 2 is showing you that by getting saved, God is not going to
just be pleased with you no matter what.
There's something more than just being saved in life.
You know what's another thing that'd be cool?
Being called the friend of God.
And here's the thing, you can be saved and not the friend of God.
Jesus Christ said, if you're my friend, you would do the things I say.
If you're my friend, keep my commandments.
I mean, you could just go all over the Bible and make it clear, hey, you want to be God's
friend?
You also have to do things that are right and pleasing unto him, just like all of your
friends.
Are you friends with people that don't do any, they never call me, they never talk to
me, they're never nice, they never do anything I say, but they're my buddy.
It's like, that's kind of a weird buddy, right?
Wouldn't your buddy be someone you talk to, you hang out with, they do good things unto
you?
The same's with God.
You want to be God's friend, what are you going to do?
Hang out with him, called reading the Bible, talk to him, called praying, going to church,
being around him, where two or three are gathered together, there in my name, there in my in
the midst.
I mean, it makes sense that you need also works in order to be pleasing unto God, but
here's the thing.
What if I didn't have any of those works?
We already read the Bible says I'm saved without works.
We already proved that beyond a shout out.
Even James 2 itself says that Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness.
But then it says also, and he was called the friend of God.
Why is Abraham called the friend of God?
Because he wasn't just saved, he also was following God's commandments.
He was also willing to sacrifice things unto the Lord.
And then it says in verse 24, you see then how that by works a man is justified and not
by faith only.
And what way is Abraham being justified?
He's being justified by being called the friend of God.
Because you can't be called the friend of God if you're not putting on the sacrifices.
But here's the thing.
If you have a huge stone altar, it doesn't matter how many sacrifices you're putting
on there.
You're not saved or the friend of God, you're neither.
That's why you have to have the right altar.
It's important to talk about what the altar looks like.
And this is what a lot of people will say, well, if you don't have works, then you're
not saved.
Okay?
They say, if you don't have any works, then you're not saved.
But here's the thing.
Salvation wasn't about the sacrifices we were putting on there.
It was about the stones.
Can I have no sacrifices and still have an altar stone, a whole stone offering?
Basically I build an altar and it's just of whole stones.
That can exist without sacrifices.
Therefore I ignore all the sacrifices.
I ignore all your works and I'm looking at what kind of altar you have.
That's what's going to determine if you're saved or not.
Not how many sacrifices you put on there.
Not what kind of sacrifices you put on there.
Look, there are some people that have no works, they just have that altar.
And guess what?
They're going to make it in just by that altar alone.
Just by putting their faith in Jesus Christ.
But doesn't it bring to life verse 17?
Even so, faith that if it hath not works is dead being alone.
It's like, well, this is kind of an unprofitable altar you got here, buddy.
Why don't you go ahead and sacrifice something?
Why don't you actually do something for the Lord Jesus Christ?
And obviously we should.
Obviously that's the whole point.
Obviously that's what God's commanding us and instructing us and giving us all these
reasons to do it.
But here's the thing.
If you have the wrong altar, everything else is meaningless.
Quit telling me about what sacrifices you're putting on the altar.
Let's just talk about your altar.
They want to point to all the sacrifices.
Well, but I go to church and I fast and I give money and I tithe.
Okay, great.
But what altar do you have?
Did you carve your altar up?
Is your altar just a faith?
Because here's the thing.
They want to point to the sacrifices they're putting on the altar rather than the altar
that they have.
And that's why we go out and we try to convince people to have the right altar.
Don't have any hewn stones in your altar or you're not saved.
Now go to Jonah chapter number two, Jonah chapter number two.
The Bible is so clear.
It's so easy to prove to somebody that salvation is just by faith alone.
And I love going to Romans.
I love showing a lot of those verses.
If someone brings up James 2, I'll sometimes just point out 23 and say, well, it says Abraham
believed God and was impudent unto righteousness.
And then go back to Romans 4 and say the exact same thing and say, what's wrong here?
And then say, yeah, obviously God wants us to also have works and be his friend and for
him to be pleased with us.
But here's the thing.
It has nothing to do with that.
Either you believe only in him, either it's all what he did, or you're just not saved.
It's that clear.
It's that simple.
James 2 is not an epistle written to even get you saved.
It would be silly to try and use that as your proof text for salvation when the whole point's
not trying to get people saved, it's trying to encourage people to have works.
So if you have an entire epistle written on encouraging you to do works, I wonder why
false prophets and false teachers love to go there to prove to you how to get saved.
What do they love?
Hebrews, James.
They love to go to the chapters of the Bible that are proving the importance of works to
try and conflate it with salvation.
But here's the thing.
Why don't we go to passages like John 3, which is like Jesus trying to tell people how to
get saved, or go to the book of Romans, which is telling you how to get people saved.
That's going to be the best doctrine on salvation is when the context is about getting saved,
being saved, what it looks like to be saved, all the doctrines about salvation.
Now here's another thing that people pollute salvation with is this repenting of your sins.
Now Jonah chapter number 2 is going to give us some insight because here's the problem
with this doctrine, probably the biggest problem is that phrase is never even found in your
Bible.
Now this is bizarre because the Bible says faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the
word of God.
So how can I truly believe that something that's necessary for my salvation is never
said even one time in the Bible?
Wouldn't that be kind of scary?
What does it take to get saved if this doesn't even have a single time mentioning what you
have to do to be saved?
You need a guru.
You need a cult leader to come around and tell you, well I know that's what the Bible
says, but let me tell you how to get saved.
No, no, no, no, no.
It's either in here or it's not true.
God didn't leave out.
The most important thing, the most principal thing, the most foundational thing is getting
saved, but there's a really important step that I didn't include.
It's like everything you got from China, parts not included.
It's like well I would have enjoyed this product but they didn't give me the batteries or they
didn't give me the screws or the bolts or whatever it is that I need.
It's like that's not God.
All the parts are included and in fact they're like you have extra.
I don't even need all the salvation verses that he gave me necessarily to get saved.
I mean I have so many to get saved from.
Now obviously I need every single verse, but I'm saying just for salvation I wouldn't have
to show you every verse on salvation to get saved.
That would take a really long time.
You just need some.
You just need one.
Just John 3.16 is enough to get someone saved.
But this philosophy, repenting of your sins or turning from sins, you can find this concept
in the Bible.
And the Bible does teach that we should try to turn away from sin, that we should give
up sin, that we should stop sinning, that we should repent of sin.
But here's the thing, that context is never in context of salvation.
And the Bible makes it clear it works.
Look at Jonah chapter, I meant to say three, I said two.
Look at Jonah chapter 3, look at verse 10.
And God saw their works that they turned from their evil way and God repented of the
evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not.
Now this is a great verse for so many reasons, but number one is it's explaining if you turn
from sin, if you stop sinning, if you're going a different direction in your life.
I was a drinker, I was going to the bar, and then all of a sudden I gave up drinking.
I was a smoker, I smoked 12 packs a day, and then I gave up smoking.
I was a liar and a thief and a blasphemer and a persecutor and then I gave that up.
When God looks at someone doing that, he says it's something very specific, works.
But I thought we already read in the Bible, salvation's not of works.
You know why?
Because it has nothing to do with giving up a sinful lifestyle.
Because if you were honest with yourself, you would realize you have to give up a sinful
lifestyle until you die.
We haven't arrived.
You have to die daily.
You have to crucify the flesh daily.
And in fact, anybody that thinks they've given up sin is only deceiving themselves.
I could, you know, even being a pastor of a Baptist church, I guarantee I can't convince
anybody that I've never sinned or I'm not sinning.
You going to this church, you try to, I don't sin anymore.
No one will believe you.
You could scream it, you could yell it.
You could make a shirt about it.
It doesn't matter.
No one will ever believe you.
The only person that could believe you is yourself.
You could only trick yourself.
That's why salvation's not of repenting.
And here's the thing, well, maybe it's repenting of the big sins.
Well, unfortunately, lying will get you into hell too.
Unfortunately any sin will get you into hell.
So if you're going to give up the big sins, let's throw the little ones in there too,
like the thought of foolishness.
Good luck on that one.
Not looking at things that are sinful.
Good luck on that one.
Welcome to America.
I mean, you're going to have to have a hijab without the eyes opening.
You're just going to have to.
And then guess what?
You can't even imagine something sinful.
Good luck on that one.
You might as well just get all the government recommended vaccinations and then maybe you
won't think right.
You can't stop, you can't stop it.
You're a sin machine.
You're going to keep sinning.
That's why you have to keep trying and working at it is hard work.
It's so much effort and you'll never, ever make it there.
That's why salvation has nothing to do with it.
But you say, well, repentance always means turning from sin.
Well, doesn't it say in the same verse that God repented of the evil?
Does that mean that God turned from evil?
Like wickedness, like sin?
Well, here's the thing, evil can mean one of two things.
Evil can mean sin or something that's sinful or it could mean harm.
What was God going to do to the end of it?
Destroy it.
So what's the evil mean here, harm?
So what did God repent of?
He didn't repent of sin.
He has no sin to repent of.
He couldn't repent if he wanted to because there's no sin to repent of.
What do you do?
He decided not to destroy them.
Why?
Because they hearkened to the message.
They got right with God and he was merciful and long suffering and gracious to them.
So he decided not to destroy them.
That's what we call a change of mind.
And here's the thing, when it comes to salvation, which type of repentance do we need?
Do we need to turn from our sin or do we need to change our mind?
We need to change our mind and stop thinking that it has anything to do with our works
and believe only in what he did.
That's the only repentance necessary for salvation.
Go to Acts chapter number 20.
Go to Acts chapter 20.
Yet, there's so many doctrinal statements, even of Baptists today, that will pollute
salvation with works today.
They pollute salvation with works.
They add a repentance of sin for salvation today and it's garbage.
It's false doctrine.
It's heresy and it's not getting anybody saved.
Anybody that teaches this is teaching a false gospel.
Now what do they turn to?
Well, there is no verse that says repent of your sins, okay?
So they can't turn to that verse.
It's not like, well, yeah, you have to repent of your sins.
It's like, which verse is that?
The only English Bible I know of that has that phrase is the New Living Translation,
which should be called like the New Luciferian Translation, really.
It adds it in there tons of times.
You know what?
That's a bad translation and it's not what the Bible teaches.
Look at Acts chapter 20 verse 21.
The Bible says, testifying both to the Jews and also the Greeks, repentance toward God
and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now here's the thing.
The Bible often restates things.
So when it says repentance towards God, what's equivalent to that?
Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what he's defining repentance for you.
He's defining what that repentance looks like or means specifically.
If in Acts chapters, you know, 13 through all the way up to this point, every time they're
preaching to the Gentiles, they're all worshiping false gods.
They all have a false religion.
What do you think they probably need to do to go ahead and believe on Jesus?
Don't they have to stop believing in their false god?
Stop believing in Diana?
Stop believing in their false god, whatever it is?
Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
Hey, that's a carved stone, isn't it?
Isn't it interesting that all the idols are carved stones?
But what is the salvation?
Oh yeah, it's a whole stone.
It's only what God created, isn't it?
So you have to get rid of those carved stones and grab a whole stone.
And here's the thing.
Just because you don't have in your church a picture of Diana, what if your little stone
has repent of your sins written on it?
It's just as garbage.
It's just as wrong and they have to repent of that stone and get rid of that stone and
grab a whole stone.
It's either a whole stone.
You're either all saved or not saved.
There's no percentage of, well, I'm kind of saved.
No, you're just either saved or not.
You either have the right repentance or you don't.
And you say, well, what's the right repentance?
Flip back and look at chapter 19, verse 4.
He'll define for you what repentance is.
And said Paul, John verily baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying unto the people
that they should believe on him which should come after him.
That is on Christ Jesus.
So notice what repentance even means, believing on Jesus Christ in the context of salvation.
Now hey, the word repent can have multiple meanings.
Just like the word go could have multiple definitions.
Going to the store, I'm going to the bathroom, right?
I mean, go is a word that just could be put in any kind of context and you could use it
however you want.
That's the word repent.
But every time the word repent is used in relation to salvation, what is it?
Stop trusting in whatever you're trusting to get you to heaven that's not Jesus and
put it all in what Jesus did.
That's all it is.
Yet, I've looked at a lot of doctoral statements, this is what they say.
Repentance is a persistent turning away from sin.
I'm not going to say it's turning away, it's persistent.
This is from a Baptist church.
They say that faith is inseparably united with repentance.
Now here's the thing, properly defined, I agree.
But here's the thing, they define for you what repentance is.
What was it?
A persistent turning away from sin.
That would be a what?
Faith plus work salvation.
Isn't that what everybody...
That's what the Catholics believe.
That's what every false religion believes.
That it's just faith towards God and living the best life that you can possibly live and
God will finally get you in there.
You ask the Hindu, that's how they get saved.
You ask the Muslim, that's how they get saved.
You ask the Catholic, that's how they get saved.
You ask the Protestant, that's how they get saved.
You ask Baptist today, that's what they say.
It's sick.
It's gross.
They're polluting salvation with works today.
Look, it has nothing to do with repenting of your sins and we need preachers to be clear
on this issue.
Not more confusing.
Not having a hewn stone altar and trying to get people to offer sacrifices on the wrong
altar.
Who cares about every other issue?
Honestly.
I mean, if you are going to a church with the wrong altar and they're trying to get
you to put every sacrifice under the sun on that altar, that's going to profit you nothing.
They should be thundering forth the right gospel message.
And look, there's so many Baptist churches today that they have this kind of doctoral
statement.
They don't preach on salvation and if you try to ask them, they get offended and they
won't tell you.
And it's like, what could be more important?
Oh, we got a brother.
We need to worry about more important things like tithing and church attendance and the
COVID restrictions and what the government's doing, blah, blah.
Look, there's nothing more important than the gospel.
If you can't give me a clear message on the gospel, bye.
Why would I want to even listen to a preacher that's mixing up the gospel, not clear, not
thundering it forth, not making it manifest.
And look, their view of salvation is a very Calvinistic view when you think about it.
A persistent turning away from sin is inseparable with your faith.
And they say this is a grace wrought by the Holy Spirit.
This inseparable, you know, adding of grace, I'm sorry, of faith and repentance is this
grace wrought by the Holy Spirit.
But here's the thing.
Their view of salvation, let me give you my parable, okay, is like riding on a carnival
cruise ship.
And then singing this song, row, row, row your boat gently down the stream.
Here's the thing.
From a Calvinistic viewpoint, you didn't choose to believe.
You didn't choose to do the works.
It's just all automatic.
Just like you getting on that cruise ship, you're not going to do anything to determine
where it goes.
I mean, that ships go where you're just along for the ride.
Whereas the Bible is like you with a canoe and a paddle.
And then it's singing, row, row, row your boat.
It's like you either go or nothing happens.
And here's the reality.
You get saved.
And after you get saved, you have the choice to either row or not.
Your works are not automatic.
You persistently turning away from sin, you have to be like, all right, not going to sin,
not going to sin today, not going to sin today.
You're not just on this carnival cruise ship just like, woo!
I'm not sinning.
Praise the Lord.
I just gave up every sin automatically.
The Lord saved me, you know.
These guys are fake.
They're phony.
The Lord saved me from drugs and He saved me from alcohol and He saved me from this
and He saved me from that.
Look, those guys are just getting on and putting up a show.
A vain show.
They're just like on the little carnival cruise, you know, saying like, woo!
How does that even make sense when the Bible is constantly instructing you to row your
boat?
And it's constantly telling you to give up sin and die daily and crucify the flesh.
Like, if it's so automatic, then why do I have so many commandments telling me it's
not automatic?
That doesn't make very much sense.
Why are you giving me, you know, all these instructions on how to go down the stream
if I don't even need them?
I don't even have a choice.
Now when it comes to this issue, we should never compromise on this issue.
And yet there's a lot of Baptists today that are going to compromise on this issue.
And you say, how could a church like us compromise on this issue?
I'll tell you exactly how they do it.
Friends.
Baptist churches want to be friends with another Baptist and guess what this Baptist does?
He pollutes salvation with works.
So they'll get up and they'll say, well, I know that this preacher gets up and says
that salvation's repenting of your sins, but he doesn't really mean it.
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone told me they don't really mean what they
say.
I'd have enough to buy a two by four by now.
What's the point of getting up and preaching things that you don't mean?
Go to Matthew chapter 12.
What if I sat up here and I built an altar that's all hewn stone and I'm like, this
is the type of altar that you need, and then someone comes up and they're like, well,
that's not going to do it.
God's not going to be pleased with that.
Well, that's not what I meant.
It's not unclear.
It's either you don't grave it or you do.
People that are getting up and saying, oh, you have to repent of your sins to be saved
are lying.
They're teaching false doctrine.
They should be called out.
You should separate from these people.
You should have nothing to do.
But Baptists, they don't want to separate from these people.
They don't want to distinguish themselves from these people, so what do they do?
They compromise and they say, oh, well, I know he says that, teaches it, and explains
it, but that's not what he meant.
What?
Why would I get up and try to show you a brick that I've carved and say, this is salvation,
but I don't really mean it.
Just grab one and don't do anything to it.
That doesn't even make sense.
How can it make sense?
The most important doctrine, I'm confusing.
I'm polluting.
Why are you a preacher?
What's the point?
Well, I get up and I teach all kinds of other stuff.
Yeah, but if you're putting all kinds of sacrifices on the wrong altar, it doesn't matter.
Nothing matters.
If you have the wrong foundation, imagine we're going to go ahead and build the most
beautiful house on the sand today.
Who cares, because the oceans is going to come and knock it all down, but did you see
the curtains that we put in there?
Did you see all the beautiful marble and the tile and who cares?
It's going to get knocked down.
You either have the right foundation or nothing, and these preachers that are getting up and
being a compromiser and saying, well, yeah, you're attacking good men that are preaching
work salvation.
Well, they don't wear it that way.
You're attacking good men that are confused on repentance.
Well, then you're not good.
How could you say he's good?
How could you say that that's good preaching?
But he puts really good sacrifices on the wrong altar.
Have you heard this sermon that's not about salvation?
That he preaches?
It's really good.
Yeah, what does he teach on salvation?
Well, I know it's wrong, but then get away from that person.
Have nothing to do with that person.
Don't compromise.
Why do they want to be friends with this person?
Because it's political.
Let me tell you what.
Independent fundamental Baptist churches are political today.
You say, what, Republican?
No, I'm saying within themselves.
They're all buddies of a certain Bible college.
They're all buddies with a certain area.
They want to be invited to certain conferences.
They want to have certain guest preachers come to their church.
They want to rub shoulders with the right guys.
They want to get recognition.
They want to have notoriety.
They don't want to have to separate from people.
They don't want to ruffle feathers.
They don't want people to get mad at them.
So they compromise on this issue.
Why would you compromise on salvation?
Why would you get up and rub shoulders with somebody that's teaching a works-based salvation?
You're a compromiser.
It's wicked.
It makes no sense.
Now, hey, maybe there's someone that uses the wrong terminology, and I'm not going to
throw them in hell.
But they're a bad preacher, period.
Don't get up to me and defend me, somebody that's preaching works salvation, and say,
this guy is a great preacher, though.
Yeah, but he doesn't really mean it when he teaches works salvation.
I don't care if he means it or not.
What does the Bible say?
Does it really matter what I think?
No.
It only matters what the Bible says, okay?
So let's ask this question.
If I teach something wrong but I don't mean it, does it matter?
Okay, well, let's ask.
Matthew chapter 12, verse 35, a good man under the good treasure of the heart bringing forth
good things, and the evil man under the evil treasure bringing forth evil things.
But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account
thereof in the day of judgment.
For by thy words, thou shalt be justified, and by thy words, thou shalt be condemned.
Now let me ask this question.
Does it say, by what you meant, you shall be justified, and by what you meant, you shall
be condemned?
Or does it say the words?
It's the words.
And here's the thing, it's sick, how many preachers get up and preach lies and heresy,
and they can say, well, that's not what I meant, and people are like, oh, okay, no problem,
then.
Yeah, what did you mean?
What do you want me to mean?
I know I taught repent of your sins, and that if you're not living a righteous life, then
you're not saved, but what I meant by that is it's all by grace.
What?
Look, I've visited other Baptist churches, and I've talked to their assistant pastors
and other, and this one assistant pastor told me, he got up in front of his church and he
said, if you don't have works, you're not saved.
And he was acting like he was real tough and big, and I'm just thinking, like, I want to
stay away from you.
Like, I just want to, before the lightning bolt strikes.
Yet, I know all kinds of other Baptists that fall all over themselves to be friends with
these people because they're popular, because they have a big YouTube channel, because they
have a following, because they're so much more gracious and loving.
I'm not going to be gracious towards a work's salvation.
I'm not going to be loving.
Well, you're mean about it.
Good.
I would hate it for someone to say, you're really nice to people that teach a work's
salvation.
I hope they say you're the meanest person about it.
You're ugly about it.
You call people out about it.
You make everyone uncomfortable about it.
Great!
Because the whole world's going to die and go to hell.
Because people are compromising on this issue, because people are not making it clear on
this issue.
In fact, the majority of the people that we reach, or people that come to a church like
ours, they were confused on this for a while.
They don't want someone to get up and kowtow, and be vague, or not saying what they mean,
or getting up and just, well, some people believe in pretty weird sins, whatever, it's
not a big deal.
No, it is a big deal.
Get rid of your stupid doctrinal statement.
Well, I don't think it's fair that people should be able to call me and ask me what
I believe.
Aren't you a preacher?
What profession are you in?
This is like, you know, all the states, wherever they're doing these election audits, and they're
like, you don't have any right to audit us, and it's like, well, what are you hiding?
Why would you not be able to audit?
Why would you not want to be able to check these things and ask these things?
Look, you know, I don't get mad at somebody asking me what I believe.
I want the whole world to hear what I have to say, especially on salvation.
Why would I think, like, someone's calling me and they want to know about salvation.
I don't want to have to tell them that.
I thought it was I love to tell the story.
How hard is it for you to declare His righteousness?
Is that really difficult for you to say?
You get really offended when you have to tell people about Jesus Christ.
Think about it.
These preachers, they're, I'm so offended, somebody wants to know what I believe about
salvation.
Is it because you teach a work salvation?
Because if you don't, why are you so offended?
Why can't you just tell us what you believe?
Here's the thing.
There's people that just make it clear where they stand, and then there's vague people,
okay?
All the vague people are trash.
And the people that are clear and wrong, they're trash.
You know what's good?
The people that are clear and right.
That's it.
Why would I want to be, and look, riddle me this.
Let's find all these people that don't believe wrong on salvation, but they do teach it wrong
like they're polluting it with repent of your sins, but they somehow believe it right in
their heart.
Show me all their fruit.
Show me all the people that they got saved, that are fired up, serving the Lord, doing
great things, because what I notice is they're not doing great things.
What I notice is that basically they're just riding on the coattails of whoever it was
that gave them a church, or whatever Bible college they're riding the coattails of.
And these people that are friends, that end up befriending these heretics and these false
preachers, they also don't have good fruit either.
Because when you start compromising on this issue, you're not going to be making waves
and changing the world.
Look, who's really getting lots of people saved?
The people that are super clear, unapologetic, really mean about it, those are the people
that are getting lots of people saved that have lots of fruit.
Look, why would I want to sit here and compromise just to be friends with a certain person?
Friendship, that's being respected of persons.
I'm not interested in that kind of person.
And notice, I'm basically aligning myself potentially with lots of false prophets that
can literally say, of work salvation, I'm not going to separate from that person.
Just skip back a few verses.
Verse 33, either make the tree good and his fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt
and his fruit corrupt, for the tree is known by his fruit.
O generation of vipers, how can ye being evil speak good things, for out of the abundance
of the heart the mouse beaketh.
Well, why do you want to pick on this guy for preaching false doctrine?
Well, either make the tree good and his fruit good, or make it corrupt.
What's the point in being, well, I kind of have some corrupt fruit, but I'm a good tree?
What?
Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouse beaketh.
You know what you're never going to catch me accidentally preaching?
Work salvation.
I'm not going to, you know, I can stumble over my words.
I could call David Daniel and Daniel David.
I could mix up a name.
I could mix up a place.
But I'm not going to be like accidentally just like, oh, and by the way, if you don't
have works, then you're not going to heaven, and you can lose your salvation, and the Bible's
not real.
Oh, I was so nervous up here that I just started preaching heresy.
It's like, what?
That's what people act like.
They're like, well, when you get up there, and there's all these people in front of you.
When you get really nervous, you know what starts coming out?
What's ever really in your heart.
Look, when you start getting under pressure, that's why cops put people under pressure,
and they bring all the pressure, and the heat, and they're making you nervous, because they
know the truth will eke out.
The truth ekes out when you get up and start preaching, and when you can't ever eke out
the right gospel, it's not there.
It's funny.
I look at preachers, and I can tell everything they believe by what I can't find.
When I can't find salvation by faith, I can't find a sermon.
Look, go look at a preacher.
Go find a preacher that you have respect for, that you're not sure where he stands, and
find me any sermon where he's preaching clearly on salvation.
You're like, well, I can't find one.
It's because he's wrong.
How could you be saved, and there's no gospel presentation.
There's no sermon about it.
You're just never preaching the right gospel?
Well, the few times he did, he saw something wrong.
That's because he's wrong.
Why would I want to compromise with these people?
Here's why they want to compromise them, because they have a beautiful altar.
Have you seen that guy's pulpit?
Have you seen that guy's church?
It's so beautiful.
And that pulpit, I mean, it just looks like it came down from heaven, and it's all carved
all nice.
Yeah, but what is he preaching behind that pulpit?
And people just want to go preach for that guy, or be that guy's buddy, or be that guy's
friend.
Look, I'm not interested in being friends with compromisers on this issue.
You say, well, is that going to cost you friends?
I hope so.
I don't want to be friends.
Anybody that wants to compromise on this issue, just stop being my friend immediately.
And you say, well, are you going to call people out for preaching this?
I hope so.
I hope I have enough courage to call people out if they start compromising and getting
weak on this doctrine and weak on this issue.
And what is it going to benefit you if I start befriending people that teach repent of your
sins but don't mean it?
That's just going to make you more weak, you more watered down, you more compromised.
It's not going to get anybody saved.
It's sick.
It's gross.
It's disgusting.
And what do these compromisers and heretics do?
Instead of producing good fruit, they just choke someone else's.
You know, there's a lot of people that are quote, unquote, new IFB these days, but I
know there's a lot of them are compromisers.
And you say, which ones?
Well, I don't know.
They change every week.
But you know what I notice about these compromisers?
You know what I know about these people that get so offended at calling out somebody who
preaches repent of your sins?
They don't have any fruit of their own.
They're just choking the fruit that was given to them.
They all have this fruit from somebody like Pastor Anderson or Pastor Jimenez that are
coming to their church that are doing a lot of great works, but they haven't produced
any fruit.
All they're doing is just choking all the fruit that's in that church by being a compromiser.
And why, of all the people to defend on this planet today, why am I going to fall backwards
defending people that are preaching a false gospel?
Defending a works-based salvation.
That doesn't even make any sense.
Isn't the most important thing getting people saved?
Don't we go out and preach the gospel just day after day, week after week, just every
– we have so many times all the time where we're going out and trying to make it clear.
And who are we fighting against?
We're fighting against all the preachers that have been lying to these people and telling
them the exact opposite.
How could I then say that this guy's my friend when he's literally producing people that
I'm going to have to go out and reteach the gospel to?
He's not my friend.
If you're against me, you're not with me.
You're either on my team or not.
I don't remember in the Bible where Moses drew a line in the sand and said, well, some
people are standing on the wrong side, but that's not where they really want to stand.
They didn't mean to stand over there.
No, it's like get on the right side or die.
Well, that's mean.
Look, he's killing the heretics.
I haven't killed a single heretic yet, okay?
Start calling me mean when I start killing heretics, okay?
Well, you preached against them.
Oh, no.
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words hurt way worse.
Yeah, but good people leave my church whenever you preach against me.
Great.
Isn't that wonderful?
All the heretics stay with you and all the good people leave.
Look, we should never stop calling people out for this.
And look, if my church member calls somebody out for that, I'm not going to be like, why
are you attacking great men of God for calling out this guy believing a wrong gospel, for
believing a false gospel?
And like, whose job is it?
Is that your job?
Well, you know, the apostle Paul didn't cease to warn night and day, and guess what?
He wasn't a pastor.
Well, you're not a pastor.
You don't get to do it.
Should I have said that to Paul?
Acts chapter 20.
He's like, I cease not to warn night and day.
Well, you're not a pastor, Paul, so you don't get to do it.
You don't get to warn about anybody.
Look, I hope you warn everybody about every false prophet that ever exists.
And even if they're saved and mixed up, warn about them.
Why would I want to hang out with somebody that's saved and mixed up either?
We're supposed to be separated from the world.
We're supposed to be different.
We're independent.
Independent.
I'm independent of any work of salvation, of any false gospel.
Don't ask me to compromise, don't expect me to compromise, and if you want me to be friends
with any of these compromisers, just leave now, before you get your feelings hurt, all
right?
Let's go to prayer.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for giving us such an easy gospel, just a free gospel, something
that's so simple.
I pray that we wouldn't just corrupt the gospel.
We know there's many which corrupt the gospel.
And the Bible says that we're not supposed to tolerate it even for an hour.
And I think today, people are just so interested in being friends with everybody, and they
care about what men think, and they care about being friends with the world.
But I pray that we just care about being friends with you.
And we know that setting up the wrong altar is going to destroy people's lives.
They're going to go to hell if they don't have that right altar, which is Jesus Christ.
And I pray that we would not corrupt the gospel.
We would be excited to declare His righteousness and what He's done, and that we would never
be a compromising church, but rather we would stand firm on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
For the final song, song number 130.
Song number 130, Yesterday, Today, Forever.
We're getting that song number 130.
Oh, how sweet the glorious message simple men may claim.
Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same.
Still He loves to save the sinful, heal the sick, and lay.
Cheer the mourner, still the tempest glory to His name.
Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same.
All may change, but Jesus never, glory to His name.
Glory to His name, glory to His name.
All may change, but Jesus never, glory to His name.
Oh, how sweet the glorious message simple men may claim.
Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same.
He who let the loved disciple on His bus and rest,
busy still with love as tender, lean upon His crest.
Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same.
All may change, but Jesus never, glory to His name.
Glory to His name, glory to His name.
All may change, but Jesus never, glory to His name.
He who made the ranging billows rock upon the sea.
He who left the wildest tip and says of Galilee,
He who wept and prayed in anguish and simony,
drinks with us each cup a-drilling in our raggedy.
Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same.
All may change, but Jesus never, glory to His name.
Glory to His name, glory to His name.
All may change, but Jesus never, glory to His name.
As of old, He walked to be my strength and to abide.
So through all life's way, He walketh ever near our side.
Soon again shall we be home in peace, then, Lord, the day.
But we'll still be missing Jesus as He went away.
Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same.
All may change, but Jesus never, glory to His name.
Glory to His name, glory to His name.
All may change, but Jesus never, glory to His name.
We have a baptism this morning.
We have Thomas and Abrianna Johnson's son, Tylan.
He's 10 years old, and he's following in believers'
baptism this morning.
Brother Tylan, have you trusted Christ as your Savior?
And I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost, buried in the likeness of His death,
raised to walk in newness of life.
Congratulations.
Make sure to congratulate Brother Tylan on his baptism.
You are dismissed.