You
Every day over
150,000 deaths occur worldwide
All people of all ages have to face this devastating truth at some point in their life
Death's door comes to young and old
rich and poor
Death is no respecter of persons
Many people who face this reality never thought it would be their time to go
When someone dies Bible teaches clearly throughout that a person's soul goes on to a judgment
Every religion believes and holds to the thought of an afterlife
Most people in these religions think that they can merit salvation by how good they are
The rituals they practice their baptism how often they attend church?
Throughout the scriptures we find that the concept of salvation has never changed
Through this film we will discover that Jesus
The apostles and the prophets taught that salvation is by faith and faith alone
We will see that there are only two concepts of religion
People either believe in a faith-based salvation
or works-based salvation
We are about to set out on a journey to see how salvation is applied
eternal life is given
If it truly is by faith alone
The war in Afghanistan has been going on so long now that many of the men and women fighting it were still in grade school when it started
The war has receded in the background of many Americans preoccupied with daily life and caught up in other news, lingering high unemployment, the disaster in the Gulf, but nine years in this war has now hit a new level of ferocity
as US forces leave the Taliban head on and cancel peace night
The war in Afghanistan has been going on so long now that many of the men and women fighting it were still in grade school
The war has been going on so long now that many of the men and women fighting it were still in grade school
The war has been going on so long now that intro to restricts of their relationship to call the family
and to install culture for peace
Salvation belongeth to the Lord, so it's His from start to finish.
Salvation really is a love story from Genesis to Revelation.
Genesis opens up with Adam and Eve, a husband and a wife, a love scene, and it ends in
Revelation with the words, and the Spirit and the Bride say come.
So before the foundation of the world, that's the Bible words, God had a plan, and it was
in that plan that He created salvation.
So salvation is the reason for everything.
Salvation is the reason for creation.
Salvation is the reason even for the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the
Holy Spirit.
So before the foundation of the world, the Godhead, as the Bible calls it, was perfect
and had need of nothing.
God decided that He wanted to have an everlasting love, a bride if you will, and this is
where the plan of salvation came from, it came from the heart of God.
And so when the Bible says, when Jesus said that for God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son, He was talking about an eternal plan that started from before
the creation, and Jesus was a fulfillment of that plan.
When God created the world, He didn't create it for people to just be worried about their
salvation and never come to an understanding of whether they're going to go to heaven
or hell when they die.
When God created salvation and created this world, He wanted everybody to be able to
understand salvation and be able to have a chance to receive Him as Savior.
We're justified by faith alone, so many people trying to work their way to heaven,
but why did Christ come and die on the cross?
He came to die on the cross to save man from their sin, and if we could justify
ourselves through works, or we could somehow earn God's favor, His death on the cross
would have not been necessary, so we're justified truly by trusting in Christ alone.
It's very, very clear, very, very clear that the apostles themselves were arguing
this, you don't need anything other than grace, you don't need anything other than
faith in Jesus Christ.
He says, but these are written, he's telling you why the book of John is written,
that ye might believe, there's that word, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing, there it is again, He might have life through His name.
You know that word believes in the Gospel of John 90 times, and that's the book that
tells you how to be saved.
In Romans, it's not works that we're justified by, it's faith that we're justified
by before God.
If you believe in your heart, in Christ, as your Savior has shed blood, and whether
you have a big, long, elaborate prayer, or just, God have mercy on me, a sinner.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
You don't have to be anywhere near a church to be saved.
That has nothing whatsoever to do with a physical building, or a denomination, or any lineage
of pastors, priests, rabbis, or anyone.
I do remember as a boy, I made a deal with my mom and dad, if I make half the price
of this bicycle, could you pay the other half, and they agreed with that.
That wasn't a gift, I had to work for it.
But a gift is something that you receive, it's not something that you earn, it is
a gift of God, not of works.
That was the key, that was the key to everything, you know, people don't need their good works.
Good works are wonderful, and Christians should be producing fruit and doing good
works, but it isn't going to do anything to get them to heaven.
The only thing is through the blood shed of Christ.
What sets us apart from every, when I say every, I mean every religion out there is
that we believe not in a due religion, but in a done Christianity, in a done faith.
Christ did everything for us to get us to heaven, and we simply have to put our
faith and trust in His finished work on the cross.
Of course, there's the true gospel, but there
also are many pseudo-gospels.
Just change one little element of the gospel, take away the deity of Christ.
Make Jesus a man who became God, rather than God who became man.
Change salvation to be faith plus something, and you have another gospel.
And so there are a lot of other gospels out there, and of course, many of the cults
present skewed views of the gospel.
They are immersed into that baptismal pool, and then as they come out of the
pool, they're anointed with oil.
So that's kind of like that sign of, that's kind of like that moment where
they get saved, you might say.
Well, it's like the moment that brings it to completion.
Ultimately, we don't know who is going to be in heaven and who is not going to be heaven.
What we can do, and what we're told as Muslims, is to be good and do good.
What is a Mormon perspective of salvation?
What is that step that somebody needs to take to kind of enter into God's presence
from a Solific standpoint?
And we're commanded to be baptized.
Baptism is a sacrament that allows us to enter His faith.
And then there comes the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands.
Through these rituals of initiation, water baptism, anointing,
being sealed with the Spirit.
So to kind of gain at a spot in the world to come, you need to live a good
life, you know, kind of be an overall good person in the sense of keeping the commandments
of God and following Him.
It goes according to our actions.
So if a person wants to sort of get paid, he has to do the work.
Not to curse your Creator.
Not to murder.
Not to steal.
Not to eat any limb or part of a limb that came off an animal while it was still alive.
So baptism is kind of that moment where salvation comes to a completion, I take it.
It's the entry.
It's the way you enter in.
And then we have to keep going on.
What are some of the determining factors when somebody stands before God?
What are some of the determining factors that God would look at to let them in?
Sure.
Well, I mentioned one of them there.
Did we feed the hungry?
Did we clothe the naked?
Did we welcome the stranger?
Did we visit the one in prison?
Throughout scripture talks about our deeds.
Our deeds matter.
In Islam, we have some principles for a person worthy of entering into paradise.
Every good deed has a weight, has a reward, and we believe in that.
We actually believe there are scales.
We don't know the description of the scales.
We see scales in this world, but what?
Scales can be even electronically in a scale model, you know, technology.
So how would you scale the actions of a believer, men and women?
So every good deed has a weight.
So by keeping those laws as a Gentile, that kind of guarantees their spot in the world
to come.
Correct.
Once you've entered in by baptism, is it done?
No, it's not done.
You have to press forward and endure to the end.
That's one way, but it's not the only way.
The other step is anointing, and it's like an immersion into the mystery of the Spirit.
Keep on the path.
You know, keep going.
Did they feed the hungry?
Did they clothe the naked?
Did they give drink to the thirsty?
Did they visit the sick?
It's not Jewish.
Only has to follow the seven Noahide laws, and then we have to keep going on.
Through these rituals of initiation.
Every good deed has a weight.
After baptism, anointing, if a person wants to get paid, he has to do the work.
All religions in the world really come down to some sort of working out of your salvation
by some set of rules, by some set of understandings, and they all are different
from the Gospel, from the true biblical Christian faith, in that we only just look
to Jesus for our salvation.
So really, all religions come down to really two things.
Doing or done.
And Jesus said on the cross, it's finished.
It was done.
My salvation was bought.
It was purchased.
God owes us nothing.
He's done everything He needs to do for us, and that's sending His Son Jesus Christ to
die on the cross so that we can believe on Him, place our faith on Him.
The word grace again means unmerited favor.
God gave us.
It's a gift from God's salvation.
And so when people want to say that I'll be a good person, I can do these things,
I can be religious enough, I can trust in my baptism, whatever it may be that they're
trusting in, if they're not trusting in Christ alone, then they're saying God owes me.
But when we trust it by faith in Jesus Christ alone, hey, we understand we're debtors
before God.
Maybe that time is now.
Today is the day of salvation.
Today is that day.
If you feel God calling, you feel that emptiness inside, or maybe you just have just always
wondered, what is this Jesus thing?
Who is God?
I don't understand this.
Does He even exist?
Well, of course He does.
Today is the day.
Now is the time.
You know, He says, you shall be saved.
He says, you believe on Christ, you're saved.
But the reality is that God saves us from our sin.
Our sin is condemning.
And we can try to be good, we can try to be religious, we can try to do good deeds,
but none of these things, none of these repetitious forms of religion can really remove
us from our sins.
Only the power of the gospel, only the power of the blood of Christ can wash away
our sins.
Keep on the path, you know, keep going.
Did they feed the hungry?
Did they clothe the naked?
Did they give drink to the thirsty?
Did they visit the sick and the imprisoned?
And then we have to keep going on.
Through these rituals of initiation, water baptism, anointing.
If a person wants to get paid, he has to do the work.
The Bible says, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed into
the day of redemption.
So it's very clear that once you're saved, the Bible says that you're sealed onto the
day of redemption.
If you're sealed, that means, you know, for the ladies out there that cook, or the
different people that take and cook stuff up and then can it, they'll take this, something
that's precious to them, which your soul is very precious to the Lord, they'll take
something that's precious to them, food that they want to preserve, they'll put it
in a ball jar, they heat it to a certain temperature, they put the product in the ball
jar that's clean, it's sterile, and then they, kind of like the Lord's hand,
you know, put it in that jar, and they put this lid on it, over the product, whatever
it is, peas or beans or corn or beets or whatever, you know, is in that.
And they put this little can lid on there, and it goes, sucks in in the middle,
and it seals.
And you know what?
That stuff stays good for years and years and years, and don't go bad.
The only time it goes bad is if the seal goes pop, then that stuff will rot in there.
If it didn't seal properly, then you got troubles.
Who's doing the sealing?
How much did you mean to Christ?
He put you in that hand, he put you in that jar, he sealed you with that Holy Spirit
promise.
You're sealed.
If you're sealed by him, you think he's going to make any mistakes?
You think he's going to seal you good, or you think his seal might break?
Or you could be in there and say, I don't want to go where he's at, I'm going to
bust the seal to get out.
You're going to bust, you're going to open, you're going to unseal something he's
sealed you in?
When we trust in Christ, we believe in Christ as our Savior, the eternal gift of God
is given to us.
The seal, the promise of the Holy Spirit is given to us.
Philippians chapter 1 verse 6, where the Bible says, being confident is very thing,
and he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus
Christ.
So how long is he going to perform your salvation?
He's the one who began it, and he'll perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
That's God's perseverance.
We are kept by the power of God.
Our eternal security, our eternal life does not depend on us.
It depends wholly on the promises of God in the scripture, and at the end of the
day, I have to rest in those promises.
I have to rest in John chapter 10 verses 28 and 29 that say that no man shall be able
to pluck them out of Jesus' hand, let alone the Father's hand.
Such a great passage to think about that my salvation rests entirely in Jesus and his
Word at all times.
What shall separate us from the love of God?
What shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Can we sin enough to separate us from the love of Christ?
Can we negate what the cross did for us?
And the answer is no.
Paul says, I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor
powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature.
That means even ourselves cannot separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.
Everything was done for us on the cross.
There's nothing that we did to get saved.
There's nothing we can do to keep ourselves saved, and there's absolutely nothing we can
do to even break that covenant.
There's nothing we can do to undo that covenant.
So if it's everlasting, that means it cannot end.
And so once a person's truly been saved, they can't lose their salvation.
We are saved by grace and by the power of God, and the Bible tells us that we are
kept by his power.
And so for us to try to somehow God give us a free gift and then take it away from
us because we've sinned, well, we're going to fall short.
When do we cross that line where, okay, I'm saved here, but now I've sinned, and
where's that point in my life that I lose my salvation?
The Bible's very clear about when we get saved by trusting in Jesus Christ, but the
Bible says nothing about, oh, at this point you lose what I have given you, the free
gift that I have given you.
So the Word of God teaches us that once we're saved, we are in the hands of the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Not only that, we're in the hand of the Father, and no man can pluck us out of his
hand.
So once we've been born into the family of God, we can't get kicked out.
And I thank the Lord for that.
We are his, and he says nothing is able to separate us from his love.
We belong to Christ.
So that's God's promise.
Jesus said in John 6, 47, he says, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth
on me hath everlasting life.
So if I have everlasting life today, and it ends tomorrow, that's not everlasting.
So when Jesus said, hey, you have everlasting life today, the moment you believe on me,
and it lasts for 10 minutes, that's not everlasting.
When he said it's everlasting, he meant it.
That's why the Bible says, and this is the promise that God promised us, even eternal
life.
It's a promise of God.
So when somebody says, well, it can just end whenever, they're calling God a liar.
They're saying, well, God really hasn't given us eternal life.
He's just given us life until we mess up.
But the Bible teaches all throughout that God has given us eternal life.
Because he loves us that much, and he wanted that cross knowing what he was going through
for you and I.
It's exciting to know how much he loves us.
For God so loved the world, we know this scripture, but do we understand what he went
through for us?
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth
on him should not perish, but have.
Everlasting life, not ever stopping life or ever ceasing life.
Death really is a door that everyone has to walk through in order to experience the
kingdom of God.
God's ultimate kingdom is not something that's experienced in the flesh.
It's something that's experienced in the spirit.
So people can be spiritually alive and spiritually born.
Jesus said born again of the spirit, not of the flesh.
And people that are spiritually born live everlasting from that point.
And so even though right now I'm physically alive, I'm also spiritually everlasting
alive.
Wait till I'm dead to have that.
I have that now.
And so what that does is that takes away the sting of death.
It takes away the fear of the grave.
And if I were talking to someone that was facing death, and I do that just about every
day as a pastor, talk to someone about death.
And I've been with people as they've passed over from life unto death.
And there's a difference when people understand that God loves them, that they're going to
his kingdom, that there's an everlasting covenant, that there's a real relationship that
even death cannot break.
It gives them hope, yea, even an excitement so that they can close their eyes with peace.
And I've been with people when the light of everlasting life has shined and they've
what we call crossed over that river.
I've been with them.
And when you're with someone that has that hope, well, I'll tell you what, it just
takes away all the fear of death.
And I'll tell you what, it just takes away all the fear of death.
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