The Bible says, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ, our Lord.
God has a gift.
He wants to give it to everybody.
It's a gift of eternal life.
It's a simple message.
Even a child could understand it.
The first thing that Adam tried to do when him and Eve had sinned was to cover themselves
up.
The Bible says they sewed together fig leaves and they tried to cover up their own sin.
The Bible tells us that God, in this verse, it says unto Adam also and to his wife did
the Lord God make coats of skins and clothe them.
Skins are from animals.
It required death.
We see the same thing when Cain and Abel, Cain brought forth the fruit of the ground
of an offering unto the Lord and Abel he also brought the firstlings of his flock
and the fat thereof and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering.
God had respect for a sacrifice, for a substitute lamb.
But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect and Cain was very wroth and his
countenance fell.
God has no respect for those who try to earn salvation.
These are the first two generations in the Bible.
What about the Tower of Babel?
Let's move forward just a little bit in time.
They said go to, let us build a city and a tower whose top may reach unto where?
What are these people trying to do?
They're trying to literally build a tower.
They're trying to work real hard to get to heaven.
But what did God do?
Bible says go to, let us go down, the Trinity, God, and there confound their language.
Bible says the Lord scattered them abroad from the face of the earth.
We see another example of salvation in the Bible where the children of Israel had turned
their back on God and the Lord said, you know what, you have to be judged and he sent fiery
serpents into the camp.
Does anybody familiar with this story?
The Lord actually sent fiery serpents into the camp of the Israelites and when the
serpents would bite the Israelites, they would die.
God told Moses, he says, put a serpent up on a pole, take one of these serpents,
put them up on a pole, raise the pole really high and tell the people three words, look
and live.
The Bible says that when somebody beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
People say you preach easy believe-ism, Brother Powell.
Independent Fundamental Baptists preach that it's easy to be saved.
It's as simple as looking to Christ.
It is as simple as looking to Christ.
God said, look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God
and there is none else.
The Bible says if you want to be saved, look to Jesus.
Don't look to Jesus and the baptism.
Some people say, well, Brother Powell, I've got to give up my sins.
I've got to turn over a new leaf and trust in Jesus to take me to heaven.
Look, the Bible says if it be of grace, then it is no more work.
Otherwise, grace is no more grace.
And if it be of work, then it is no more grace.
Otherwise, work is no more work.
Salvation is either by faith or works.
The Bible tells us that at the end of time, when everybody stands before Jesus,
Jesus said many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name
and in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful,
what's the last word there?
What are these people trusting to take them to heaven?
Trusting their works.
Lord, we've prophesied.
We've cast out devils.
I know people that say, I've cast out devils in Jesus' name.
That's why I know I'm saved.
No, that's arrogant.
Bible says no flesh to glory in his presence.
If I say I'm going to heaven because I'm a great person, I go to church every week
and I tithe to the offering, which I should, that's arrogant, right?
If I said, Lord, I'm going to go to heaven because I've kept the faith.
No, Jesus kept the faith.
The Bible says he's the one who endured the cross, despised the shame.
He's the one who sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Jesus deserves the glory.
Now, notice what Jesus says to these people who are trusting in their works.
The many broad is the way which leadeth to destruction.
Notice what Jesus says to them.
Jesus says, then I will profess unto them, I never knew you.
Now, what if I said, Brother Tom, I never knew you?
I would be lying, right, because I know who you are.
What if Jesus tells somebody that's damned on judgment day, I never knew you?
What does that mean?
It doesn't mean that they got saved and lost.
It means they were people that Jesus never knew.
Jesus never knew them.
They were never in the family of God to begin with.
He didn't say, well, I don't know you anymore.
You lost it.
You lost this salvation.
No, the Bible says he that hath begun a good work in you will perform it to the
day of Jesus Christ.
That's what the Bible actually says.
Being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Many people say, well, Mr. Powell, you're preaching a license to sin.
This is what they accused the Apostle Paul of too.
You're saying that you can get away with all this sin, that you can live however you
want and still be saved.
Well, the Bible says that if his children forsake my law and walk not in my
judgments, if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments.
So these are people that are living in sin.
This is an exact comparison.
Then will I visit their transgression with the what?
The rod.
What does a father do when his son or daughter messes up?
He disciplines them.
But what kind of father would abandon their child?
See, people that teach a works-based salvation, they teach you can lose it.
Really, what they're saying is it comes down to works that keep you saved
because they're trusting their own reformation, they're trusting their own
goodness, and they're trusting that, well, as long as I don't turn my back on
God.
Some guy said, Matt, I'm not going to turn my back on God so he doesn't turn
his back on me too.
Man, who are you worshiping?
That's a false Christ.
That's not the Christ of the Bible.
And we're going to get into that a little bit more here in a minute.
It says, then will I visit their transgression with the rod and their
iniquity with stripes.
Nevertheless, my loving kindness.
This is what God says.
He says, my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my
faithfulness to fail.
My covenant will I not break.
So when you're saved, the Bible says you're born again, can you be unborn
once you're born?
Do you know why Jesus used permanent examples throughout the Bible of being
saved?
Because he's showing that it's a permanent salvation.
My covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that has gone out of my
lips.
They say, well, you're preaching a license to sin.
No, false.
People that are saved, catch this, people that are saved cannot get away
with sin.
The Bible says, for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth
every son whom he receiveth.
But who does get away with sin?
The unsaved.
They're going to get away with it until they die and go to hell, right?
God's not going to punish someone who's not his child.
Thou shall also consider in thine heart that God, that as the man
chasteneth his son, so shall the Lord thy God chasten thee.
Look, Jesus will never leave us or forsake us.
I might turn my back on God.
I might do what the Bible says and commit sin, but the Bible says God will
punish me and chasten me.
But whoso cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.
That's what Jesus said.
He says, in no wise, no matter what.
In that moment, when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that's when you
receive the gift of eternal life.
It's an everlasting redemption.
This is a fundamental of faith.
This is a fundamental of the Bible.
Jesus said, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and
believeth on him that sent me hath what?
Everlasting life.
If I said, Francis, I'm going to give you this iPhone.
It's got 40%.
It never will go below 40%.
It will never die.
It's an everlasting iPhone.
What if I gave it to her and it died?
What did I just do?
I lied.
The Bible says, he that believeth not the son of God have made God a liar.
Because he believeth not that it's a record of eternal life, right?
That's what the Bible says.
So if you say, well, Jesus is saving me temporarily,
Jesus is saving me until I stop believing.
The Bible says if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful,
he cannot deny himself.
What if I believed that my dad wasn't my dad?
Would I no longer be his son?
What if I believe God's no longer my father, but he's my father?
Am I no longer his son?
The Bible says, as a father chasteneth his son,
so shall the Lord your God chasten thee.
I will never leave thee or forsake thee.
The Old Testament says, it is he that goeth with thee,
he will not forsake thee.
Bible says, and shall not come into condemnation,
but is passed from death into life.
Those are powerful words.
Jesus said, if you're saved,
you shall not come into condemnation.
He says, I love you.
I will never forget you.
And if you go to hell,
it's only because he never knew them.
I never knew you is what he said.
He didn't say I used to know you, and you lost it.
You fell away.
Look, it's not about my endurance.
It's not about my commitments.
Jesus was committed.
Jesus was the one who endured.
It's about Christ.
It's not about our goodness.
And people typically get offended when I preach this
because a lot of times people want to feel
like they have something to do
with getting themselves to heaven,
because it feels good.
It does feel good to say, well,
I'm a co-savior with the Lord.
I can keep my salvation if I just stay on the path.
But what did Jesus say?
He says, I am the bread of life.
He that cometh to me shall never hunger.
He that believeth on me shall never thirst.
Do you see how salvation's a one-time thing?
You come to Jesus Christ, you eat of the bread of life.
In the Old Testament,
when they put the blood on the doorpost of the house,
how many times did they have to do that
before the death angel would pass over?
One time.
How many times did they have to cross
through the Red Sea on dry ground,
and then the Egyptians were killed behind them?
How many times do they have to pass through?
Once.
People say once saved, always saved.
It's the most popular Christian doctrine
that leads so many to hell.
No, Jesus said, all that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out.
This is the Father's will which has sent me,
that of all which he have given me,
I should lose some of them.
Some of them will lose their salvation.
No, he says that all that these given me,
I should lose nothing,
but should raise it up again at the last day.
This is the will of him that sent me.
This is God's will, that everyone would seeth the Son.
He said, if I be lifted up,
I'll draw men to myself, and believeth on him.
Trusts in Jesus.
Says, Lord, I'm not a good person,
but I'm trusting you to take me to heaven.
That's the kind of attitude God's looking for.
He says, and believeth on him may have everlasting life,
and I will raise him up again at the last day.
I am the living bread which came down from heaven.
If any man eateth this bread, he shall live forever.
Jesus says that you should just trust him.
Jesus said, I give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish.
Like we covered, it's everlasting.
He'd be a liar if it wasn't eternal.
He says, and they shall never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
And a lot of people will say,
well, what if I wanna jump out of his hand?
What if I really wanna get away from God
and jump out of his hand?
Well, here's the thing.
The Bible says, no man shall be able to pluck them
out of my father's hand.
Are you a man, or a woman, or a human?
If you're a person,
you cannot be plucked out of the father's hand.
Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life.
He that believeth in me, though he were dead,
yet shall he live.
Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
It is the gift of God, the Bible says.
The Bible says, grieve not the Holy Spirit of God,
whereby ye are sealed until you mess up,
until you lose your salvation.
No, that's not what this says.
He says, you are sealed until the day of redemption,
being born again.
You can't be unborn, not of corruptible seed,
but of incorruptible.
So not only have we been born again,
we've been born of incorruptible seed.
Oh, I can be corrupted.
I can turn my back and stop believing.
Well, since so many people say
that it's a popular doctrine,
I know I didn't have a lot of time to prepare this message,
but I did go to some of the websites
of different denominations.
Let's see what the popular doctrine is.
Let's see what most people,
90% of Christianity actually believes.
This is from the Catholic Church's website.
They say, while salvation is a gift,
it requires our effort.
Now, is that a gift?
That's on their website.
When we willingly break the bond of charity with Christ,
we lose our salvation.
Here's from the Pentecostal Church of God.
It says, man can at any time
after the new birth experience,
turn away from God and die in a state of sin
with the consequences of hell to look forward to.
So the Pentecostal Church is saying
that as long as we keep on the path,
as long as we keep enduring,
let me tell you something.
For sake of time, we're gonna move very quickly.
Pay close attention, folks.
This is very important.
Saul in the Bible turned his back on Jesus.
Everybody here probably knows the story.
He turned his back on our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the Bible says that he went and besought a witch,
and the witch raised up Samuel from the dead.
Getting into familiar spirits and all that stuff,
that's evil.
Our culture loves that.
They're fascinated by it.
The Bible tells us that that's evil.
We shouldn't be doing Ouija boards
and all this weird stuff.
The Bible says that Saul is in heaven.
Saul committed suicide.
Jesus' blood was enough to keep Saul,
who committed suicide, who turned his back on God,
who said, you know what?
This isn't worth it.
God had the power to keep Saul saved,
and he's in heaven right now.
The Bible says that Samson, who committed suicide,
people always say, Matt, I have to endure to the very end.
I have to endure.
Notice the wording.
A guy told me, Brother Powell,
I love what you're doing with creation science,
but you're not preaching the full gospel.
I said, well, the full gospel, what's that?
He says, well, I believe that to be saved,
you gotta stop smoking and trust in Jesus.
You know what he's trusting?
Not Jesus, he's trusting as long as he doesn't smoke.
Some people say, well, I stopped drinking,
so I'm going to heaven.
You're trusting, not drinking.
Some people say, well, to prove that you're really saved,
you gotta do good works.
You know who does a lot of good works?
The Mormon Church.
Some of the most moral people
I've ever met have been Mormons.
You have to feel sorry for your sins, Matt.
You have to really feel a godly sorrow.
You should feel a godly sorrow,
but Judas, who was never saved,
felt sorry for his sins, the Bible says.
Who was never saved.
Works are not a test of salvation.
The test of salvation is when you open up the Bible
and you ask somebody,
what do you think it takes to go to heaven?
And if somebody says, nothing in my hand I bring,
simply to his cross I cling.
On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand.
There is a fountain filled with blood
drawn from Emmanuel's veins,
and all sinners plunged beneath that flood
lose all of their guilty stains.
Past, present, and future, blessed is the man
to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
He won't even impute my future sins unto me
as far as my salvation is concerned.
Samson died by committing suicide.
But guess where he is?
He's in the cloud of witnesses.
Why?
Because he's good?
No.
Why'd he make it to heaven?
Because he looked to Jesus.
He trusted Jesus.
He knew he couldn't make it to heaven on his own.
Pentecostal church of God, very sad.
Jehovah's Witness.
A person who has been saved from sin
but fails to keep exercising faith
could lose out on salvation.
Did you know that the original reason
that us Baptists considered Jehovah's Witness a cult
was because they believed they could lose their salvation
because they were preaching this?
That was the original reason that we thought.
But now, as fundamental Baptists,
sometimes different ones will embrace,
other denominations say they're all saved.
Look, if they don't believe God's given us eternal life,
if they think they are temporarily redeemed,
are they saved?
No.
If you think God is gonna save your soul temporarily
until I mess up, then you've made it about yourself.
Here's from the Methodist church.
Our church teaches that we can end up
losing the salvation God has begun in us.
And the consequence of this in the age to come
is our eternal destruction in hell.
Again, all of these other denominations,
what do they preach?
The same thing, that you can lose your salvation,
that it's not eternal, that it's not everlasting.
They're denying a fundamental orthodox
doctrine of the Bible.
Once saved, always saved is not biblical.
If we fall short, we seek grace and repent quickly.
And in faith, confess our sins
and continue in our journey.
Salvation is not a journey.
It's not about a commitment.
It's about a person, our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is from the Mormon church.
They say we have been saved, but with conditions.
We believe that through the atonement of Christ,
all mankind may be saved by what?
Obedience to the laws and the ordinances of the gospel.
So they're saying obedience to God's laws.
And when I interviewed Mormons in one of my films,
I asked them, was Judas saved?
Judas is a perfect example, Matt,
of somebody that got saved and lost their salvation.
Jesus said, have not I chosen you 12
and one of you is a what?
Was Judas ever saved?
This is at the beginning of the ministry.
He fell away, he lost his salvation.
No, the Bible actually says that Judas was never saved
at the beginning of Christ's ministry.
This is from the Lutheran church.
They say salvation can be lost.
Once saved, always saved is a teaching
that is contrary to our beliefs.
Even though you may have accepted Christ fully
and with all your heart, you can lose your salvation
from the church of the Nazarene,
from the Seventh-day Adventist church,
salvation can be lost.
Go on any of these websites.
You can verify what I'm saying.
What do they all have in common?
They all believe that everlasting doesn't mean everlasting,
even though we defined it.
Salvation is defined as eternal redemption.
That is the definition of salvation.
None of these other denominations are preaching this
and that's why they consider us heretics.
They consider us, they'll say easy believe-ism,
once saved, always saved.
I say to all of that, amen.
I believe in easy believe-ism, once saved, always saved
because Jesus paid it all, all to him we owe.
David, they say, well, you gotta make him Lord
of your life to go to heaven.
Let's answer just a few objections.
You have to make Jesus the Lord of your life.
Well, Jesus is the Lord.
And if making Jesus Lord of my life
was gonna get me saved,
then everybody would go to heaven.
Do you know why?
Because every knee will actually bow
and every tongue will confess that what?
Jesus Christ is Lord.
Just confessing him as Lord doesn't mean you're saved.
It's trusting his cross, relying wholly on him
and him alone to take you into eternity with him.
Think of the guy in the temple
that was with the Pharisees and the Pharisees said,
well, I tithe of all that I have.
I'm a good person, God notices me.
What did the other guy say?
Lord be merciful to me a sinner.
He knew that his righteousness was as filthy rags
and the only person who could take him to heaven
was Jesus.
Think of the thief on the cross.
He said, Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom.
Would you remember me Jesus?
We do not believe in the eternal security of the believer.
No one can have assurance of salvation.
Okay, wait a minute.
We don't believe in eternal security.
You can't have assurance of salvation.
Do you see how the Episcopal Church is saying
that these things are linked?
If you wanna have assurance of salvation,
believe in eternal security?
No one can have assurance.
Bible says, I've written unto you these things
that you may know that you have eternal life.
Those who rely only on faith and Christ
risk the loss of eternal salvation.
Do you see why Jesus said,
many will say unto me in that day,
Lord, we've done many wonderful works.
We kept it Lord.
We've cast out devils.
Look, Bible says, no flesh should glory in his presence.
I wanna deal with one other thing.
The most popular phrase in our Christian culture
is repent of your sins.
Now I believe in repenting of sins.
I think that's a good thing to do.
If you have sin in your life, repent of that.
Turn from your sins.
But many people will say that to go to heaven,
because they just wanna find a way
to add a little works in there somehow.
So what they'll do is they'll twist
the doctrine of repentance.
The Bible says in Jonah 3, 10, it says,
and God saw their works that they what?
That they turn from their evil way.
So if you're turning over a new leaf
to try to get to heaven, God says that is works.
That is a good work.
But that's not gonna get you to heaven.
And notice what the Bible says,
and it says in God repented of the evil
that he said that he would do unto them and he did it not.
Did you know God repented more in the Bible than man?
Most people don't know this.
If you type in the word repent or repented,
God repented more than man.
Do you know what that means?
Repentance doesn't mean you're turning all over
a new leaf, giving up your old paths to follow Christ.
It means that you're changing your mind
from what you're trusting.
Okay, I was trusting my goodness.
I'm repenting and I'm trusting in Jesus.
Some people say, I'm gonna trust in my baptism.
No, you need to repent of that and trust in Jesus.
Some people say I'm going to heaven
because I'm turning over a new leaf.
I'm repenting of my sins.
Did you know the phrase repent of your sins
is found not once in the Bible?
But you know where the phrase repent of your sins
is found in the Book of Mormon.
Notice this, Jacob chapter three, verse eight.
This is not the Bible.
It says, Oh my brethren, I fear that unless you shall
repent of your sins, that their skins
shall be whiter than yours.
So not only is the Book of Mormon promoting racism,
they would say that somebody like Sister Rose
is not a good person, that she lived
a bad previous life just because
she has a darker shade of skin.
It's literal racism.
Not only that, they're saying that to go to heaven,
this is what the Mormon church teaches,
that you have to repent of your sins.
The phrase repent of your sins
is not found once in the Bible.
God repented more in the Bible.
What that means is you're simply changing your mind,
you're turning from what you're trusting
to trusting in Jesus.
And if you go to any college campus
and you ask somebody, what does repentance mean?
Turn from sin.
But who repented more in the Bible?
God, did God have to turn from sin?
There is a confusion that has been brought in
to the church today in different denominations
that says you must repent of your sins.
Well, you're making it about you and Christ
at that point.
It's either that Jesus did it,
the thief on the cross didn't have enough time
to turn from his sins.
And by the way, just Lot,
Lot committed horrible sins.
Did he repent of all his sins?
Was God the Lord of Lot's life
all throughout his life?
Was Jesus the Lord of David's life
or of Saul's life or Moses' life
when Moses took and shattered the 10 commandments?
People, many times, it goes against the wisdom of man.
And again, I wanna answer another objection.
People will say, well, in order to be saved,
and this kinda goes back to the Pentecostal church,
they'll say you have to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.
And this is what the Bible says.
It says Peter, and this is the verse
they take out of context.
It says, Peter said unto them,
Repent and be baptized,
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sins,
and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
See, in order to go to heaven,
you have to be saved and baptized
for the remission of sins.
False.
What if I said you're going to jail for stealing?
That means you're going to jail because of stealing.
What if I say be baptized for the remission of sins?
Do you know what that means?
Be baptized because of the remission of sins.
Do you see how easy that is to understand?
But people and false prophets of the world today,
they wanna twist it and say
you have to be baptized to go to heaven,
and that is not what the Bible says.
Otherwise, it wouldn't be a gift.
But notice here, it says repent.
What does repent mean?
Well, the very three verses later defines it.
It says, and then they that gladly received his word
were baptized.
Do you see how repent and receive
are used interchangeably?
It doesn't mean that
then they that gladly turned from their sins.
It means that they that gladly repented
received his word.
You know why that says that?
Because for God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son.
He gave, what does that mean?
It's a gift.
If he says I gave it, it's a gift.
It's a godly gift.
The Bible says, for the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life.
Well, I got the gift of God, Matt,
but it wasn't eternal life.
Well, then you didn't get the gift of God.
If you think Jesus can just save you temporarily,
that's not the gift of eternal life.
The Bible says that if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus
and shall believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved.
Not thou might be saved,
not thou could be saved if you continue in faith,
thou shalt be saved.
The Bible says, for 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 shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
There's nothing that can separate you
once you're saved from Jesus's love.
And if you go to hell after that you've been saved,
that's not the love of Jesus,
that's the wrath or the hatred of Jesus.
Bible does say Jesus has hate.
It's the wrath of the lamb
is the reason why people go to hell.
He said, he'll never turn his back on you.
He says, my covenant shall I not break.
This is an unpopular message.
If I knocked on a door of a Mormon
and I asked him, what do you got to do to go to heaven?
They're gonna say, repent of your sins.
If I knock on the door of a Jehovah's Witness
or a Pentecostal or any other denomination,
you know what they're gonna say?
Repent of your sins and believe in Jesus,
but you have to repent of your sins.
You gotta give up your old paths.
I believe you should give up your old paths,
but that's not gonna get you to heaven.
You can't give up enough sins.
You can't clean up your life enough.
Look, Brother Treadway has always said,
you don't clean a fish before you catch it.
And if we're fishers of men,
you can't tell people to turn from their sins
to go to heaven when even saved people
still have to turn from their sins every single day.
The Bible says the thought of foolishness is sin.
How unworthy are we?
Think of, and I'll end with this thought.
Think of how horrible it is.
We see stuff going on,
she was mentioning earlier with Hamas.
And these protests should make you angry
that these people are standing with literal terrorists
against our nation.
They're spitting on the flag.
They're burning American flags.
They're promoting Saddam Hussein, Saddam insane, right?
They're promoting all of these crazy terrorists
of the past.
They've totally, our nation has lost its mind.
How grievous is it to God
that they would spit on our flag
and how they would disregard our veterans who have died,
who shed their blood.
Our veterans, our World War II veterans
shed their blood for this nation.
But can you imagine
if God's only son, only begotten son
gave himself a perfect sacrifice for sin
and somebody hears the message and they reject it
and reject it and reject it and reject it.
Say, nope, I'm gonna keep my own salvation, Lord.
They reject it and they reject it.
Nope, I'm not gonna let you in to give me eternal life.
I'm gonna keep it myself.
And you hear that message and God allowing his son
to be butchered on a cross.
You don't think that the wrath of God
is gonna be upon someone who rejects
the ultimate sacrifice greater than any sacrifice
that's ever been made by any veterans.
Lord bless them better than any sacrifice
of people giving their lives for each other.
The ultimate sacrifice, you don't think God
is gonna have wrath when you hear the gospel
and you reject it?
Some people say, Matt, I'm going to heaven.
And if there is a God, atheists always say,
if there is a God, he's gonna let me in
because I haven't done anything too bad.
A lot of people are gonna stand before him
and Jesus is gonna say, why didn't you get saved?
Why didn't you just trust me?
Why didn't you trust me?
And a lot of people will say, Lord,
but we've done many wonderful works,
just like we covered earlier.
We've prophesied your name.
We've done preaching in your name.
Imagine rejecting the ultimate sacrifice.
In this hopeless generation, atheists always tell me,
how can there be a God?
Who has ever heard this?
How can there be a God when bad things happen on earth?
Look, if evil exists, what must exist?
Good.
Where does good come from?
God.
If evil exists, that means that there must be good.
And by the way, if there is no God,
they say it's so horrible.
Okay, well, if it's so terrible and there's no God,
then there's no justice.
Nothing will ever be fixed.
So it's all hopeless.
You know who the real problem of evil is for?
It's for secular humanists.
They say the problem of evil disproves Christianity.
Do they have a solution for it?
We have a solution.
We don't have a problem of evil.
Actually, evil benefits our worldview
because it proves there's good.
And if there's good, there's a moral law giver.
If there's right, there's wrong.
If there's wrong, there's right.
Somebody said, yep.
Somebody said, Matt, there's no right or wrong.
Well, is that right?
Do people ever think about what they say?
They say there's no right or wrong.
If there's no right or wrong,
how could that statement be right?
Somebody told me the other day, there is no truth, Matt.
Is that true?
Because if it's true that there's no truth,
how can the statement be true that there is no truth?
People are so deceived today,
and they're deceived on the gospel.
On with this verse.
He that believeth on the Son of God
hath a witness in himself.
He that believeth not God hath made him a liar.
You're calling Jesus a liar
by saying he's not given you eternal life
because he believeth not the record.
What is the record?
This is the record that God gave us, eternal life.
If you don't believe that God gave you eternal life
when you got saved, you don't believe God.
You're calling him a liar.
You're trusting your works.
We're going to end with that.
Let's go ahead and close with a word of prayer.
We don't have time for questions.
Let's pray.
Dear Lord, thank you for this time.
I pray that if anybody's here and they're not saved,
that they would trust you alone.
And I pray for Pastor
as he's going through this difficult time.
You keep him safe.
Please help us as we go our separate ways later.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Sometimes does it seem too good to be true
that God's only Son lived and died just for you.
Is it hard to believe that his love's really there
in spite of your sin, he continues to care?
I don't know what a sinner you are,
but I know what a Savior he is.
I don't know where your feet have taken you,
but his life's up Calvary's hill.
I don't know what kind of words you've spoken,
but his words were, Father, forgive.
I don't know what a sinner you are,
but I know what a Savior he is.
Sometimes does it seem you've wandered so far
you'll never get back to your place in his arms.
Don't you know that he waits for the sound of your prayer
just whisper his name and you'll find that he's there.
I don't know what a sinner you are,
but I know what a Savior he is.
I don't know where your feet have taken you,
but his life's up Calvary's hill.
I don't know what kind of words you've spoken,
but his words were, Father, forgive.
I don't know what a sinner you are,
but I know what a Savior he is.
Oh, what a Savior!
Oh, hallelujah!
His heart was broken,
on Calvary.
His hands were nailed here,
his sight was driven.
He gave his life's blood,
for even me.
I don't know what kind of words you've spoken,
but his words were, Father, forgive.
I don't know what a sinner you are,
but I know what a Savior he is.
Oh, what a Savior!