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The title of my sermon tonight is Evidence of Salvation. Evidence of Salvation. Now if you would, flip over to Romans chapter number 4. Romans chapter number 4. We're going to come back to Matthew 7 a little bit later. Romans chapter 4. Now what is the evidence of salvation? A lot of people will talk about this subject of evidences of salvation in someone that is claiming to be saved. Is that person really saved? Now when it comes to ourselves, we know whether or not we're saved because we know whether we have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and whether we have fully trusted Him for our salvation. But we can't necessarily know that about other people. Other people, we could look at them and we might think that they're saved and then it turns out later on that they were actually not saved. Or we could sometimes think that someone's not saved and it turns out they really are saved because at the end of the day the one person who we really know has trusted Christ is ourself. And the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And I'm not going to talk in this sermon about people doubting their salvation. That's a whole other sermon and I've preached about that other times if you want to look up that sermon and get that settled. But you know whether or not you have fully trusted Jesus as your Savior. Whether all of your faith is in Him or whether it's in something else. Whether you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ or not. That's pretty obvious. But I'm talking about when it comes to other people. How do we know if they're saved or not saved? Because we sometimes would want to know that or ascertain that about people. Now a lot of people what they would say to that is, well you look at their works and if they have good works then they're saved. And if they don't have the works then they're not saved. But that's actually not a biblical test for determining someone's salvation. And let me show you what I mean by that. In Romans chapter 4 verse 5 the Bible reads, But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. And what I want to point out here is that the Bible is talking about a guy who worketh not. This guy is not doing works. But he does believe on him that justifieth the ungodly. The Bible says his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works. Saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. And this goes to show that salvation has always been by faith. Because it brings up Abraham and it brings up David and it brings up us today as all being saved by faith without works. So anyone who teaches that salvation used to be by works or something is blatantly disregarding what this scripture says. And the thing that's so dumb about teaching that people could have been saved by works in the Old Testament is that well if that worked for them then why doesn't it work now? It doesn't work now the same reason why it didn't work back then because our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. And that's what they were back then and that's what they are now. And back then there was none righteous, no not one. And today there's none righteous, no not one. So does it, well back then they were saved by works, what were they righteous back then? I mean give me a break. It doesn't even make any sense. It's never been by works. It never could be by works. It never shall be by works. It's by grace. And flip over if you would to Romans chapter 11 because there's no mixing of grace and works. I was preaching in the college here, just the community college, the public school about a week and a half ago I was preaching in a religion class and I preached the gospel and I preached the fact that we're not saved by our works, we're saved by our faith in Jesus Christ over at South Mountain Community College a few miles away here. And there was a student there who took issue with that because he was a Mormon. And so he said it's by works and he wanted to go to James 2 and talk about how it's by works and so I refuted that and I showed him that he was wrong. And I asked him if he saw now the light on it and he said, well, I do believe what you're saying that salvation is by grace but he said it's by grace and works. He said it's both. We need both. And so I asked the teacher to pull up because he had the internet pulled up on a giant overhead projector. I said pull up Romans 11 6. And I said look at this verse. And if by grace then is it no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works then is it no more grace, otherwise work is no more work. The whole class just burst out laughing and said, wow, that settles that. I mean they all saw it. Everybody saw it immediately, just wow, that's clear. I mean it doesn't get, I love that verse. And by the way, the modern versions, they change this verse. Does that surprise you? Yeah, in fact, I don't have any of this in my notes but let me just go off on a tangent here. This is one of the most, this is one of the top five Bible versions in America today, the ESV. And if you look up this passage in the ESV, you're in the King James version there. And a lot of people don't understand why, you know, why are we King James only? Why does that really matter? Well, it matters if you're staking everything you believe on one book and we're basing everything that we do and believe on a book and we're staking our soul and our eternity on this book, the Word of God, the Bible, it matters what it says. Listen to what, you look down at your Bible, listen to Romans 11, 6 in the ESV. Listen to this. But if it is by grace, then it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace. And then it just stops there. So basically the second half of the verse is completely removed where he really drills it in further by saying it the other way around, right? And that's what made this verse so funny where the students all laughed at it was how he says it twice, both ways, frontwards and backwards to where there's no misunderstanding. Well, in the ESV, the second half is completely removed, but the worst part is that what it says is, but if it is by grace, then it is no longer on the basis of works and by removing the second half, the implication there is that it used to be by works, but it's no longer of works. It's not by works anymore like it used to be. See how you could just get a false doctrine from the verse, but you would never get that false doctrine reading into the King James because if you read the second half, if it be of works, then is it no more grace? Otherwise work is no more work. Nobody would think, hey, it used to be by grace and now it became by works. There's no misunderstanding the King James. Oh, I need a modern version. It's easier to understand. You know, I think the King James is a lot easier to understand here because you know what? You walk away, even unsaved students saw how ludicrous it would be to think that salvation could be both by grace and still have any kind of works component in light of this verse. It's madness and folly, even to someone who didn't know anything about it. So if you would, put your finger in Romans 4 and let's look at James 2 quickly. And this is kind of just introduction because I'm going to get into some of the evidences of salvation, but first I just want to drive this in that works are not required for salvation nor are works the evidence of salvation. The Bible says for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. But look at James 2 and let me show you what it says in light of Romans 4. The Bible says in verse 14, what of the prophet, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and have not works, can faith save him? Now the one thing that should just jump out at you right away is that it doesn't say if a man have faith, it says if a man say he have faith. So notice right here, it's already questionable whether or not this guy is saved, right? If a man say he have faith, because he could have just said, oh, if a man has faith but he doesn't have works, would he be saved? But that's not what's being asked here. Now let me ask you this. If a person says they have faith, does that really mean that they have faith? Absolutely not. Then he gives this illustration, verse 15, if a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and I want you to notice the next words, and one of you. So he starts out in verse 14 saying, my brethren, what doth it profit? And then he says, one of you, so he's talking to Christians, say unto them, depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body, what did the profit, even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone. Yea, a man may say, thou has faith and I have works, show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. Thou believeth that there's one God, thou doest well, of course, believing that there's one God doesn't save you, you have to fully trust in Jesus Christ as your savior. But he says, even Muslims believe in one God. Thou believeth that there's one God, thou doest well, the devils also believe and tremble, but wilt thou know, O faint man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? 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. You see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. So what the Bible is saying here is that Abraham was justified by works when he offered Isaac his son upon the altar. And here's the thing about that, he was 130 years old when he did that. Is that when he got saved? No, he got saved long before that, while he was yet uncircumcised, the Bible says in Romans 4. So he was saved long before that, but offering Isaac his son upon the altar was an outward show that was a great testimony to the rest of the world of his great faith. So he was justified in the sight of the world, in the sight of man, by his works. That's why, keep your finger in James 2, look at Romans 4 and see what he says carefully about Abraham. Romans 4 verse 1, What shall we say then that Abraham our father as pertained to the flesh hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, if he were justified by works, he hath whereof the glory, but not before God. Not before God. For what saith the scripture, Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Again, he goes on, the part that we already read about how it's all without works and him that worketh not and so forth. So we are justified by faith in the sight of God. We are not justified by works in the sight of God. The Bible says in Romans 5 verse 1, Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. See, justification before God is 100% by faith, always has been, always will be. Works justify us in front of our fellow man. And what does justify mean? Justify means to declare righteous or to show to be righteous. So our righteousness is shown unto our fellow man by our deeds. Why? Because our fellow man cannot look at our soul or our heart and talk is cheap. Our fellow man sees our deeds and our works and that's what justifies us in their sight. Now the Bible says a man may say, Thou hast faith and I have works, show me thy faith without thy works, I'll show thee my faith by works. The Bible is not saying that we should go around saying that. The Bible is not saying that we should demand that as a test for salvation. The Bible is just saying that's what people are going to say. That's what people do. People are going to judge you by your deeds and if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior, but you don't have any works, people are going to look down on that and criticize that and ridicule that. I mean, don't you think that's true? If you go to your job and your school and your neighborhood and you say, oh yeah, I'm a Christian, I believe on Jesus Christ and you're doing all kinds of wicked things and you know, they're going to look at that and they're going to criticize that and it's going to be a joke. And even though you're on your way to heaven, that doesn't help them. That doesn't help your testimony and so forth. So what you have to understand is that there's a difference between justified in the eyes of man and justified in the eyes of God. But this is not, to those of us who understand the Gospel, this is not our test of salvation, checking your works. Now, that's what the world will look at. The world will look at that. That's what James 2 is telling us. They're going to look at you, they're going to judge you by your deeds. They're judging me today by my deeds and you today by your deeds. But when it comes to those of us that are saved, we know that that's not the test of salvation that Christ teaches. Why not? Well, because if salvation has nothing to do with works and if it's possible to work not and yet believe on him that justified at the end, golly, that wouldn't be a very good test of salvation, would it? If it's quite possible for someone to be saved and not have any works. Now some people will teach, well, if you're saved, you will have the works. But if that were the case, if the works were automatic, then James 2 would be a meaningless chapter because James 2 says faith without works is dead. Now let me ask you this, and everybody listen carefully, does James 2 say faith without works does not exist? No. If faith was always accompanied by works, it would say faith without works does not exist. But that's not what it says. It says faith without works is dead. So he's rebuking Christians who have faith but they don't have the works to go with it saying your faith is dead. What does your faith profit the guy who's naked or destitute of daily food? It's going to take works to profit him, to profit your brother, to profit the unsaved. If works were the evidence of salvation, then Alcoholics Anonymous is producing a lot of salvations because a lot of people will point to, oh, this guy quit drinking. There's the evidence of salvation. Look at his works. But wait a minute, people go to 12-step programs all the time and quit drinking and quit doing drugs. Does that mean that they're saved? Look, Alcoholics Anonymous does not teach that you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. They're not teaching religion or salvation. Alcoholics Anonymous is trying to get people to stop drinking and they're effective at that, it seems like, and I'm not against Alcoholics Anonymous as a last resort for somebody who's struggling to get over alcohol or drug addiction. If that's what they need, great. Get off it, for crying out loud, before you destroy yourself and everyone around you. But I'll say this, there's a big difference between quitting drinking or quitting smoking or quitting your drugs or quitting whatever the sin and getting saved. Getting saved is not turning over new leaf. And if it is, then Alcoholics Anonymous is quite a soul winner. But they're not even talking about Jesus. They're just saying, hey, you got to believe in a supreme being, just believe in God. Well, that's not enough. So let's look at some biblical evidences of salvation. Look at John chapter 8, John chapter number 8. You see, the true biblical evidence of salvation is whether or not someone believes what the Bible says, whether or not someone believes the Word of God, because that shows whether they have faith in the Word of God. And it also shows whether they have the Holy Spirit living inside of them. That's one of the evidences of salvation. John chapter 8 verse 47, look down at your Bible. The Bible says, he that is of God heareth God's words, ye therefore hear them not because you're not of God. So right there we can see that people that are of God, they hear God's Word. People that are not of God do not hear God's Word. Now flip over to John chapter 10 and he's going to expand on this a little bit. Just a page to the right in your Bible. John chapter 10, the Bible reads in verse 25, but ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice. Now remember what it said a couple chapters ago. He that is of God heareth God's words, ye therefore hear them not because you're not of God. He says right here, I told you and ye believe not. I'm sorry, am I in the wrong place? 10 25, let's read 10 25, Jesus answered them, I told you and ye believe not. The works that I do in my Father's name they bear witness of me, but ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. Notice what he said there in verse 27, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. Now let's back up in the chapter where he talks about this at the beginning of the chapter. It says in verse number 4, and when he putteth forth his own sheep, talking about the good shepherd, John 10 4, he goeth before them, watch this, and the sheep follow him for they know his voice and a stranger will they not follow but will flee from him for they know not the voice of strangers. So the man who is of God, the Bible says he heareth God's words. Those who do not hear God's words are not of God. He said the reason that you believe not, he's talking to unbelievers, is because you're not of my sheep. Because my sheep hear my voice and they follow. They know not the voice of strangers. They know the voice of the shepherd. They hear my voice is what he's saying. Look at 1 John chapter number 4, 1 John chapter number 4 teaches the same thing. This is one of the apostles speaking, the apostle John. And of course we know that the apostles are speaking God's word just like Jesus Christ was speaking God's word. And so the Bible says in 1 John chapter number 4 verse 5, they are of the world, therefore speak they of the world and the world heareth them. We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. How do we recognize the spirit of truth versus the spirit of error? You see the Bible said in the book of John also that when Jesus Christ would be resurrected and glorified that he would send unto them the comforter. He would send unto them the Holy Spirit and he calls it over and over again the spirit of truth. He said when the spirit of truth is come unto you, the Holy Ghost, the comforter, he will guide you into all truth. God is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth. And that's why the Bible is telling us here we can determine the spirit of the truth from the spirit of error because the Bible says we are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us. And he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby by this the Bible says we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. And here's the thing. When you're talking to somebody and you're showing them what the word of God says. And I'm not talking about things that are a gray area. I'm not talking about vague doctrines. I'm talking about stuff that's just crystal clear in the Bible. It's black and white. I'm not talking about, you know, interpretations of Bible prophecy or end times. I'm talking about stuff that's just clear. It's just black and white. It's right in front of you. And you show someone something in the Bible and they just don't get it. Doesn't that sometimes just blow your mind? They just don't see it. They just don't get it. Then you show them something else. And they don't hear that either. And then you show them a third thing. They don't see it. They don't hear it. They don't perceive. What does it mean to hear? Especially when he says they don't hear God's words. It's not that I'm up here preaching and I'm just... You know, and they're just sitting there like, I don't hear anything. When the Bible says he that is of God heareth God's word, it's saying they hear it, meaning they heed it. They understand it. They believe it. It has to do with belief. They hear it and they say, you know what? That's the truth. That's correct. I believe that. You see, the saved person, when confronted with God's word, recognizes the voice of the shepherd. And when confronted with lies and heresy says, whoa, that's the voice of a stranger. Jesus said, a stranger will they not follow, a stranger will they flee from, for they know not the voice of strangers. But when they hear God's word, they say, okay, that's the shepherd. And how do they know? The Holy Spirit tells them that. You know, I tried to explain this to James White and he acted like I was crazy. He said, oh, so you're the one who determines what the truth is. But hold on a second. No, I have the Holy Spirit inside of me guiding me into all truth. It's not just me by myself deciding what's right and wrong. It's actually the Holy Ghost guiding me into all truth. And when I hear something, because I am saved, because I am one of the sheep, not one of the goats, when I hear God's word being preached, I recognize it to be God's word. I know that voice. That's the voice of the shepherd. That's Jesus. But when I hear something else that's not of the shepherd, I'm saying, whoa, that doesn't sound right. Something's wrong there. There's something weird about that. And then you go study your Bible and you figure out what's wrong with it because it didn't come from the shepherd. He that is of God heareth God's words, ye therefore hear them not because you're not of God. A stranger will the sheep not follow. A stranger will they flee from. They know not the voice of the shepherd. Go to Matthew 24. I mean, this is pretty clear in the Bible. There's a lot on this. There's quite a bit on this that really the evidence of someone being saved is whether or not they hear God's word, whether or not they understand God's word. Now why is that? Because it's impossible for the unsaved person to understand God's word. So if you really want a true test, this is a better test. Because unsaved people cannot understand God's word. Only a saved person can understand God's word. Now can an unsaved person do works? Of course. Okay. Can a saved person not do any works? Yeah. So that test doesn't really make sense. But Matthew 24 says this. In verse 24, it says, for there shall arise false Christs and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders in so much that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Guess what? It's not possible. That's what he's saying. He's saying these guys will be so convincing that if it were possible, they would deceive the elect. But what does that mean if it were possible? It's saying it's not possible. But if it were possible, they'd be so convincing that even the elect would be deceived. You see, it's not possible. If some guy shows up claiming to be Jesus Christ, anyone who starts following that guy is not saved. Now people who can't grasp this concept would say, oh, you're saying they could lose their salvation. It's not possible to lose your salvation. But if somebody starts following an antichrist, then that shows us that that person was never saved in the first place. They are not of the sheep because they're following the voice of a stranger. Now obviously, there are guys who creep in and they say all the right things. Look at Judas Iscariot. He crept in, he said all the right things, and the apostles all thought that he was legitimate. And at the Last Supper, when he said, one of you shall betray me, they were saying, is it I, Lord? They weren't saying. Nobody knew. And even when Jesus flat out pointed out that it was Judas, they still didn't understand it. They still didn't believe it until they saw it in the Garden of Gethsemane. That's when they believed it. So the point is that I'm not saying that a saved Christian won't get sucked in to going to a church where the pastor is not saved or where false teaching is being taught. But I'm saying when it comes to antichrists and false christs, I mean, when somebody is claiming to be the second coming or teaching just radically different doctrine than what the Bible teaches, they won't be deceived. They're not going to... Look, anybody who leaves our church and goes and joins the Latter-day Saints or leaves our church and joins the Roman Catholic Church or leaves our church and starts following some guy claiming to be the second coming of Christ, that just shows us that that person was never saved in the first place. They clearly don't know the voice of the shepherd. They clearly don't hear God's word or understand the Gospel or understand salvation because once you understand it, you understand it. Now look at 1 Corinthians chapter 2, 1 Corinthians chapter 2. And the Bible reiterates this again in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14. And this is a key passage, 1 Corinthians 2, 14, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Watch this. Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. That shows us right there that it is impossible for the natural man, the unregenerate man, the unsaved man, to understand the Bible. He cannot understand the word of God because the word of God is spiritually discerned. He cannot know the things of the Spirit of God. But he that is spiritual, verse 15, judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord that we may instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ. So, the person who is saved with the Holy Spirit living inside of them, guiding them into all truth, they understand the things that the word of God teaches. An unsaved person does not understand. And look, I've seen this so many times in my life where you'll be talking to somebody that you think is saved, but they'll start saying things or asking questions that show, wow, this person doesn't grasp the Gospel. Or they'll just go down some horrible path of doctrine that just shows, wow, this person can't understand the Bible. They're blind. Saved people aren't blind. Saved people have the eyes opened through being saved. The Holy Ghost comes inside them. They understand the Bible. Now, does that mean that a saved person is never going to go into sin? No, because the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. I believe it's possible for a saved person to become a drunkard. I believe it's possible for a saved person to become a fornicator, an adultery, even an adulterer, or even a murderer. I believe it's possible for a saved person to return to their old sins and go back to the old way of life. That's why the Bible says, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Let me tell you something. I do not for one second believe it is possible for a saved person to go become a Roman Catholic or a Mormon or a Jehovah's Witness or a Muslim or a Buddhist or a Hindu. That just shows that that person is not saved and never was saved in the first place. You say, well, how can that be? Because not everybody who says, Lord, Lord is saved. That's why we read it in Matthew. Many people are trusting in their works. And they say they believe in Jesus, but in their heart, they're trusting in their works. And those people in Matthew 7 said, we've done all these wonderful works. And Jesus said, I never knew you. And he didn't say, I used to know you. And then you lost your salvation. No, no. I knew you. And so we have to understand that just because people claim to be saved, it doesn't, yeah, but I knew them and they were saved. You don't know that. You don't know that. People claim to be saved. Sometimes they're just pretending to be saved to please family, to please friends, to put on a show. Sometimes they're actually not even believing the Word of God at all. And sometimes they are just mixed up and thinking that it's by works and they've never put all their faith and trust in Jesus. They've always been trusting in their own deeds and in their own works. So 1 Corinthians 2 drives that in. Go if you would to Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter number 7. I'm going to show you something else in Matthew chapter 7. So just a quick review of what we're looking at today. So far we've seen that obviously salvation is by faith. It's not by works. It's all by grace. That's pretty clear. And you know, I'm not going to preach a salvation message because 90 some percent of us here are saved, right? Number 2, we saw that works are not a great test of whether or not someone is saved because of the fact that many unsaved people do many wonderful works in the name of Jesus according to Matthew 7, and many saved people don't do works but they're still saved. That's not the test. But then we saw that over and over again there is a test of hey, if you're saved, you will hear, meaning you will comprehend God's Word. I mean if somebody says I hear you, I hear you, what do they mean by that? They're saying I understand what you're saying. I'm picking up what you're putting down. That's what they're saying. Okay. I hear you. I comprehend what you're saying. And the Bible says that if you're of God, you hear God's Word and you will not follow the voice of strangers teaching strange doctrines. And again, I don't want anybody to misquote me on this. I'm not saying stuff that could be more complicated, complex, gray area, differences of opinion. Look, there are things in the Bible that aren't as clear that people have different opinions about or that people can get mixed up on. I'm talking about stuff that's clear, that's black and white and they just look at the Bible and they just don't believe it and they just don't get it. That's a real bad sign. And when Bible believing saved preachers are getting up and preaching the Word of God and they hate it and don't want to hear it and then they flock to false teachers, what does that tell you? It tells you that they're not saved. They love the stranger and they flee the true man of God, the true servant of God. They hate him. They bash upon him with their teeth. Now Matthew chapter 7 says in verse 15, beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire, wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is heaven. I'm not going to reread that. We already went over that in many other sermons. What I want to focus on is this part about the false prophets being known by their fruits. Now a lot of people will misunderstand this and here's what they'll walk away from this passage and say. We can tell if someone's saved by checking their fruits. That's not what this says. This says the false prophet is known by his fruits. Now what do I mean by that? Just because a person doesn't have any fruit does not mean that they're not saved. Let me illustrate to you this way. The Bible says the tree is known by his fruit, okay? Now this is not a real tree, okay? Everybody asks, why is this here? The only reason this is here is because there's a pillar here that cannot be removed. See that white pillar back there? This is a pillar like that and it has to be here because it's holding up the building. Don't tell Samson that. But anyway, this pillar is holding up the structure. So we can't remove it and it was kind of an eyesore. So we decided to just hide it with this tree and then it just looks a little nicer because it goes in with the tree mirror. I like it. You can have your own opinion about this thing up here. But this tree doesn't have any fruit on it. I don't know what kind of tree this is. Now if I see a tree with no fruit, can I really just look at that thing and say that's not a tree? That's not a tree. It has no fruit. That wouldn't make any sense, would it? Okay now think about this. If I see a tree with apples on it, I know it's an apple tree, right? And if I see a tree with oranges on it, I know it's an orange tree. Look, an apple tree cannot produce oranges and an orange tree cannot produce apples. The good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit and the corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit because the tree is known by its fruit. We look at the fruit, we know what kind of tree it is. Now here's the thing about that. If I take an apple and that apple reproduces itself, it will reproduce apples. I'm not going to take an apple, bury it in the earth and a tree grows up and oranges come off of it. That can't happen. But is it possible that I take an apple, eat it and it never reproduces because I ate it? Does that mean it wasn't an apple? Do you have to reproduce to be human? But if you reproduce, you're going to reproduce what? Other humans. Now if someone gave birth to something other than a human, I'd say that wasn't a human because they did not give birth to a human. Everything brings forth after its own kind. But what if a woman or a man are just single and they never reproduce? That doesn't mean that they didn't exist or that they weren't human and just because an apple does not produce apples, it doesn't mean that that wasn't really an apple. It was. Okay, what percentage of apples actually end up reproducing? Not money, right? Most of them are going to be eaten and very few of them will become a tree that will produce other apples. So when the Bible says beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves, ye shall know them by their fruits and he talks about the good tree versus the bad tree. Look, a prophet is a tree. Everybody get this? A prophet is a tree and the way we can tell whether that prophet is a false prophet, meaning an unsaved, evil, corrupt, false prophet or a good prophet, a good preacher, a good teacher of the Word of God is by examining the fruit because the good preacher will produce good fruit, the bad preacher will produce bad fruit. Does everybody follow so far? Now what if there's a preacher who produces no fruit? Well then we can't necessarily make a determination about him. He might just be lazy or ineffective or whatever if there's just no fruit, right? How can we examine that which is not there? Now if he's a preacher and he's a tree and he's not producing any fruit, that's wicked because God demands that his trees bring forth good fruit but what I mean by that though is that we can't look at that guy and say he's not saved. He might just be a bad tree and God has parables about him, hey, let's dig around it, let's dung it and try to help that thing produce some fruit, okay, down the road. Otherwise it might just need to be cut down and God might have to take him out. But the point is we're talking tonight about what? The evidence of salvation. We're talking about the test of salvation. Well if we look at a guy who is winning people to Christ, people are legitimately being saved and the fruit is for sure there, that is evidence that that guy is a true prophet of God. Whereas if we don't see that and we see a bunch of unsaved false converts coming out of this guy's ministry, then that's the evidence that he's a false prophet. Does everybody understand that? Why? Because, and listen, get this, it's not possible for an unsaved person to win someone to Christ because everything brings forth after its own kind. An unsaved person without the Holy Spirit is not going to go out and produce what you say how do you know? Because a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit, period. And if the tree is the preacher and the preacher is not even saved, he's a corrupt, unsaved false prophet of a preacher, how can he produce good fruit? That would be as ridiculous as saying the apple tree is going to produce oranges or vice versa. It doesn't make any sense, does it? I mean think about an apple tree, it's all apples and there's five oranges on it. You say that's nonsense. Well it's nonsense to tell me well that false teacher, he did get some people saved, impossible. That's not true. Because the one thing that a saved person can do that an unsaved person could never do is win someone to Christ. And the other thing that a saved person could do that it's impossible for an unsaved person to do is to understand the truths of the Bible. Now an unsaved false prophet can get up and preach right things that he's parroting or repeating that he heard from other people. But he cannot comprehend and understand the word of God for himself. So don't get this idea that well I heard that preacher say the truth before so he's a good preacher. Wait a minute. What about Judas Iscariot? He went out preaching every day for three and a half years. Think about this now. Judas Iscariot went out and Jesus sent them out two by two. So Judas wasn't off by himself teaching lies and nobody heard him. I want to know who Judas' soul winning partner was. When I get to heaven I'm going to say alright which of you guys was paired up with Judas? And you know maybe they all rotated through, right? They probably rotated soul winning partners, who knows, right? They probably all had been with him out soul winning. And you know what? If he would have gone out and taught lies, you know what they would have said? Jesus, this guy is corrupt. He's not teaching what you told him to preach. Judas said all the right things because he heard what Jesus said. He heard what the apostles said and he repeated it. So sometimes people can really be convincing by walking the walk and talking the talk outwardly but in their heart they don't get it and things will slip sometimes. And eventually it will become apparent that they didn't understand in the first place. So the Bible is saying here that the false prophet is known by his fruit. Now here's one of the dangerous things about a TV preacher or a radio preacher or an internet only type preacher. How do you check the fruits? How do you examine the fruit? How do you know? See if you wanted to examine Pastor Steven L. Anderson, all you have to do is show up at Faithful Word Baptist Church, 2741 West Southern Avenue, Suite 14, Tempe, Arizona 85282 and walk in the door and do a fruit inspection. Or not even that, I mean people who listen to my preaching, they could show up at one of these soul winning marathons that we do all over the country. We're doing one in Maine, the state of Maine later this week. And you know what, because when I show up at these soul winning marathons, I have people coming up to me, lots of different people coming up to me and saying, hey, I just want you to know I got saved listening to your preaching. I got saved watching after the tribulation from the salvation plan given at the end of the film. You know, people are coming up, and look, people could go and talk to those people and see what they believe, oh, okay, you're saved as a result of listening to this, okay, let's see what you believe. Come to Faithful Word Baptist Church, walk around and talk to all these hundreds of people here and guess what you'll see? That they believe right on salvation. That they're growing in the Lord, that they understand God's word, that they hear God's word. Now, if we were to go, for example, to Joel Osteen's church in Houston and show up and just start asking people what they believe, we'd get a whole gamut of crazy doctrine. It'd be all over the place. And you know what, we're constantly doing a fruit inspection of our area. Because when we go out soul winning, we say, oh, where do you go to church? They tell us where they go to church and then we ask them, do you know for sure if you die today you go to heaven? What do you believe a person has to do to be saved? And here's the thing, you know what you'll notice? And look, you that go soul winning, correct me if I'm wrong, don't you notice that certain churches, everybody will be unsaved? You know what I'm talking about? And certain churches, everybody you talk to gives you the wrong answer on salvation, wrong answer on salvation, wrong answer on salvation. And then other churches, even if they're different than our church, even if they're watered down, even if they're a different style church, you'll knock a whole bunch of doors of people from that church and they'll all give you the right answer that they're saved. Or 90% will give you the right answer versus over here, 90% gave you the wrong answer. That kind of tells you, okay, that pastor is saved. This pastor is a false prophet because, you know, 90 and then here's the thing, 90 some percent of the people from a certain church will be unsaved. And then the 10% that are saved, here's what they'll say, oh yeah, I got saved as a kid at a Baptist church or a Baptist summer camp or, you know, something like that. And then they'll start quoting your verses out of the King James Bible, oh yeah, it's John 3.16 and whatever. They didn't get saved at that church. And then 90% of the church members are not saved. Other church you go to, even if it's lame, even if we don't agree with it, 90% of the people are saved, we can tell ourselves, okay, that's a pretty good church. The guys at least saved, the people are at least saved, they know the gospel over there. That's a fruit inspection right there of that pastor if he's a false prophet or not, if he's a false teacher or not. Why the trees, but here's the thing, the guy who just sets up a camera and starts uploading sermons to YouTube from his mother's basement, how do we, how do we check the fruit on that? How are we going to know him by his fruit when there's no fruit for us to even check? There's no way to verify. He's not holding a soul-winning event where we can meet all his converts and ask them what they believe. And so that's what's dangerous about the radio, TV, and internet only preacher that doesn't actually have a physical church like the Bible would mandate, you know, a physical congregation, a physical assembly where the fruit is gathered into the storehouse, into the barn and we can get together and, and, and talk to each other and know each other and know whether what's being preached is the voice of the shepherd. Is it, is it Jesus Christ's words that are being taught and expounded or is it lies that are being taught and expounded from a corrupt heart? Now if you would flip over to first John chapter two, first John chapter two and where it's kind of a Bible study tonight as we, as we go through these passages and look at these things and break them down from the word of God. Now keep in mind also, how do we know if people are saved? They hear God's word. They understand God's word. They believe God's word. But when it comes to checking the fruit, that's not talking about whether average Joe is saved or not. That's about whether a preacher is a false preacher or not. See, see how those are two different things. So first we just talked about how do we tell if average Joe is saved? How we can tell by does he hear God's word? When we show him stuff in the Bible, does he understand what we're saying? Does he comprehend biblical truths? Does he say, I believe that I believe God's word? Does he confess that or does he not comprehend the things of God? That's a great test right there. Do we see him following the voice of strangers? That's a bad sign. But when it comes to pastors, we can take it a step further and say, you know, what's the fruit? And I like what Brother Garrett Cursway said in his sermon a few months ago where he pretty much said the same thing. He said, you know, the best way to figure out what a pastor believes is not to ask that pastor, ask his church members. Because, you know, that will show you the fruit of his teaching. What do they believe? The people in the pew. You go to a church, it's King James only but the pew is filled with the NIV and the ESV. You know, that tells you more about the church than what the pastor's got in his hand. All right. You know, check the flock. That's how you know. I mean, look, if I want to know how good a shepherd is, and I don't know, forgive me because I know nothing about agriculture or husbandry, but I haven't been a city slicker my entire life. I've had an urban upbringing. But just using common sense and reading the Bible, if I wanted to tell whether someone were a good shepherd or not, I wouldn't pull out one of those little devices where you look inside somebody's ear that the doctor uses and start checking him out. You know, I'd probably go to the sheep and check them out. I mean, you know, forgive me if I lack knowledge in these areas. But I would say, let's examine the flock. Let's see how many sheep there are. Do they look healthy? Do they look good? Okay, this guy's doing a good job as a shepherd. I mean, if I wanted to judge the farmer, I'd probably look at the fruit of the field. Let me see the crop. I wouldn't say, how strong are you, farmer? How much do you bench? Let me look in your ear. Let me take your temperature. Or let me ask you, are you a good farmer? Did you do a good job as a shepherd? No, you check the product, right? You check the product. Well, that's how you check a preacher. You check the product. Check the product. 1 John 2.18, the Bible says, little children is the last time, and as ye have heard that antichrists shall come, notice that's singular, antichrists singular shall come, even now are there many antichrists, plural, whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us. Now some people would twist this scripture and say, hey, anybody who leaves the church was never of us. But that's not what it says. It says that the antichrists who went out from us were not of us. It's not saying anybody who leaves was never of us. That's not what it's saying. Just because somebody leaves the church or quits any church doesn't mean that they weren't saved. What it does mean is that when you see false prophets, antichrists, false teachers, liars, who used to be a Baptist preacher, they used to be a preacher of sound doctrine, that tells us, well, they went out from us because they were not of us. Because if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us. So for example, let's say Faithful Word Baptist Church ordains a preacher, and then that preacher goes out and starts preaching heresy. And I'm not talking about little differences of opinion or differences in practice. I'm talking about heresy. I'm talking about just lies and false doctrine. We would know right there that guy, he went out from us, but he was not of us. If he had been of us, he would no doubt, there's no doubt that he would have continued with us. But he went out that he might be made manifest, that they were not all of us. Look at this. But you have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I've not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He's antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father. But he that acknowledgeeth the Son hath the Father also. Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he had promised us, even eternal life. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. So he's warning you about antichrists or false prophets that would seduce them away from the truth. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing, which is the same as the unction from verse 20, but the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, that anointing is the Holy Spirit, and ye need not that any man teach you. But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. Look, the Bible says you need not that any man teach you. The anointing that is inside you will teach you of all things. Now, that's not saying don't go to church, don't listen to preaching. What that's saying is that there's nothing that the preacher can teach you that you can't learn on your own. That's what it's saying. Now obviously going to church you learn things. And God gave us preaching and teaching to help us to grow in the faith. But if there's something that only Pastor Anderson can explain to you, only Pastor Anderson can teach you, it's a lie. Because you have the Holy Spirit and you need not, you have no need that any man teach you anything. Because you are capable as a child of God going directly to the Scriptures of learning any doctrine by going directly to the Scriptures yourself. Now is that what the Roman Catholic Church is going to tell you? Oh, that's dangerous for you to interpret the Bible on your own. Is that what the Amish are going to tell you? No, the Amish will tell you, oh, be careful. You can't just read the Bible on your own. You need us to interpret it for you. Many churches, many pastors will teach that. You need us to interpret it for you. No, we don't. It helps us to hear preaching. It edifies us. It builds us up. It can help us learn faster. But we don't have to have it in order to learn anything. We can learn everything on our own. So even if our pastor fails to teach us something, God's still going to hold us accountable. He'll just say, well, you should have read that in the Bible on your own. You had the unction. You had the anointing. You had the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of truth will guide you into all truth. But if you're not saved, you don't have the Holy Spirit. You don't have the unction. You don't have that anointing. Therefore, you can't understand God's word without it. You do need somebody to teach you everything. Because you don't have the Holy Spirit if you're not saved. But if you're saved, you know, that's why the Ethiopian eunuch, he didn't understand the Bible. And Philip said, understandest thou what thou readest? He said, how can I except some man should guide me? But once you're saved, you don't have to have a man to guide you. And listen, tomorrow morning, you open your Bible and you read it by yourself. And don't listen to what anybody says. Just read it by yourself tomorrow. And you, oh, can you recommend a study Bible? Yeah, one that has nothing in it except the text of the Bible. That's the study Bible I recommend. Why? Because yes, preaching is good. Yes, teaching is good. But you need to have some time where it's just you and the Lord. And look, I enjoy taking my wife out with the kids or with another family. But you know what, sometimes there better be some time where it's just me and my wife. Wouldn't you agree? We need some time alone. And you know, otherwise, our relationship is going to go downhill. Well, it's the same thing with you and the Lord. You need some time alone with the Lord. You don't need Pastor Anderson on your shoulder every time. And you don't need Schofield or anybody else on your shoulder or Thompson or whoever, the commentator. You know, what you need is some time where it's just you and the Holy Spirit to read your Bible. And then, after you do that on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, then when you show up on Sunday and the preacher gets up to preach, you're going to know whether what he's preaching jives with what you've been reading in that book or whether it does not jive with what you've been reading in that book. Why? Because you have the Holy Spirit to guide you and to teach you. And your final guide is the Holy Spirit, not any man. It's the Holy Ghost. It's the Spirit of truth. Now, look, when it comes to what people believe, when it comes to whether they're saved or not, the Bible says this in Isaiah 8.20, you don't have to turn there, to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it's because there's no light in them. I'm talking about false prophets. If they speak not according to this word, it's because there's no light in them. To the law and to the testimony, to the word of God. You know, that's the test. This is the final measuring stick. And let me tell you something, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. Now a lot of people, when they want to defend false prophets and say, oh, he's saved, here's what they'll say. Well, I heard him tell the truth about salvation, ergo, he's saved. Well, Judas Iscariot told the truth about salvation, otherwise he would have outed himself the first soul winning expedition. He preached the truth. Why? He's regurgitating true things. He's repeating true things. They're not coming from his heart. He's just saying one thing. He's outwardly a sheep, but he's a wolf. On the inside, he's a wolf in sheep's clothing. But those who are false prophets, listen to me now, those who are unsaved, they will eventually spill the poison out of their mouth. They can't put on a show. No one can put on a show all the time. Eventually what's in their heart is going to come out. Why? Because we cannot help but speak the things that we've seen and heard. And what's in your heart will eventually come out. Now think about this, aren't politicians the masters of saying both? How many videos have you seen where somebody puts together on YouTube whoever the politician, whether it's Barack Obama, Donald Trump, Mitt Romney, whoever the politician from both sides where they'll show them like, I'm pro-choice, I'm pro-life, life begins at birth, life begins at conception, you know. And they show them back and forth and make a mockery of these guys because it just depends on who they're talking to. Whether oh man, I'm going to do more for the homosexuals than anybody or oh man, we got to stop these homos, you know. They say it both. So what happens is people who want to support them will pick the thing that lines up with what, and see, he believes like me. This is my guy. Let me wear the button and go vote and this is my guy. Because that's what they want to hear. They latch on to what they want to hear. Well here's the thing, people are the same way about preachers. People go into a certain sermon either liking the preacher or disliking the preacher. Believing that he's a good guy or believing he's a bad guy. If they believe he's a good guy, every time he says something weird or heretical, they're kind of telling themselves, I don't think he really meant that. I think that was just a slip of the tongue. I don't think that's it. I heard him say it right a different time. That's what they'll tell themselves. But the people who go into it thinking he's a bad guy are just like, what in the world? Did you hear what he just said? Right? Now here's the thing, a true, listen carefully, a true man of God, is he going to say things that are incorrect? Of course. Is he going to make mistakes? Of course. Why? I've said things, every once in a while I'll be preaching and I'll say something backwards or get discombobulated and somebody will call me on the carpet and say, hey, at minute and second number whatever, you slipped and said that it's the saved who go to hell and the unsaved who go to heaven or that husbands have to obey their wives or something or you slipped and said that it's the men that need to have the long hair and the women that need to have the shorter hair. People are going to slip and make mistakes. You know what I said as soon as somebody said, hey, what's up with minute 53, second 22 and you know what I said? Oh, whoops, I slipped. Yeah, I got backwards. I said it wrong. Whoops. It's obvious to anybody who's listening, oh, that was a mistake. That was an accident because he just spent 10 minutes explaining to us that men are supposed to have short hair and women are supposed to have long hair and then he accidentally reversed it because he slipped because when you're up in front of people, you make mistakes. Any normal person would just, oh, I messed up. You know what? You'll never hear a saved preacher just get up and start preaching work salvation, oops, I slipped. Just get up and just start teaching heresy, teaching that Jesus is not God, that Jesus is a created being, Jesus is Michael the archangel, the brother of Lucifer. You know, you're not going to hear him just get up and start teaching all this crazy stuff. Now, here's the thing. You'll never hear that but what you will hear from false prophets, you'll hear a false prophet preach one day that it's by faith and then another day, he'll preach that it's by works. And look, when you show people he's preaching work salvation here, listen to what's coming out of his mouth, showing us another time when he said it was by faith is not a legitimate defense because false prophets do both. All you're proving is that he lies out of both sides of his mouth. That's all you're doing. Okay, because there's a difference between a slip of the tongue. One time I slipped and said that there were five continents instead of seven, right? And I was just like, whoops, I slipped, I made an error. I'm not going to sit there and say, well, no, what I said was right. There's actually five. Go back and count again, you know, or no, I meant that, you know, or it's like, what? It's stupid, right? You just say, oh yeah, that was just a slip, but you know what? When you preach horrible doctrines and blasphemies, that's not a slip. That's your heart, you know, and the reason I bring that up is because of the whole thing last week with Sam Gibb, okay, where Sam Gibb just gets up and spends several minutes teaching heresy and, and this isn't the first time, okay, he gets up and starts teaching this whole thing that Jesus wasn't really supposed to be named Jesus, but that the angel told them to name him Emmanuel and then they disobeyed and any five year old could read Matthew one or Luke one or Luke two and see that that's not what it says. It says the exact opposite of what he said that it said. He gets up and just starts and just starts saying this and he didn't just, he didn't just say it once, he said it multiple times. He taught it in the morning and then he taught it again at night, the same sermon, okay, and then he's writing it on a board. So unless his hand and his mouth slipped, okay, that's not a slip. I mean, he's just getting up and teaching and then, and then he takes it to just even a step further and says, well, when Jesus Christ returns at the second coming, no one's going to call him Jesus. No one's going to call him Jesus. They're there. They're just going to call him God with us. That's all they're going to call him. Okay. Now what is his response to being called out for this lie, this blasphemy against the name of Jesus? Here's his response, oh, I never said that, even though it's on tape, even though anybody can watch the tape and hear it for themselves, he's just like, oh, I never said that. All I said, and whenever people say all I said, whoever says that, well, all I said, it's not all they said. He said, well, all I said was that when people come, when Jesus comes back, they're going to call him God with us. No, no, that's not what you said though. You said no one will call him Jesus. That's what you said. And that's a big difference, okay? And not only that, but he clearly said that the angel told him, name him Emmanuel and that he said, okay, what'd you name the baby, Joseph, Jesus. And then he explained that the reason why Joseph named is Jesus is because he came unto his own, his own received him not, implying that Joseph didn't have the faith that he was God with. No, actually Joseph was never told to name him that. Joseph was told to name him Jesus. And then the Matthew, the book of Matthew just tells us, hey, by the way, this was fulfilling this prophecy back in Isaiah where he was Emmanuel. You know, you know how Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of being called Emmanuel? People call him Emmanuel all the time. There's whole churches named Emmanuel Baptist. It's been fulfilled, right? I mean, look, you know what? That prophecy is fulfilled every Christmas when I get a Christmas card that says Emmanuel, right? People call that all the time, but you know what? When it's a warped perverse doctrine of somebody attacking the name of Jesus saying, oh, that wasn't really the, the intended name. That name was a plan B. So when he comes back, we'll call him by what he should have been called by all along. Okay. Now, look, he doesn't get up and say, I slipped, I made a mistake. It was an accident. Even if he said that, that'd be stupid because he taught the same thing in the morning as at night and he wrote it on a board and he talked about it for like five minutes. So how can that be a slip of the tongue? But at least if he got up and said, hey, I was confused, I'm getting old, I'm losing it, then at least you could give, you could give the guy the benefit of the doubt and say, well, God bless him. The old fool, whatever, but no, the guy gets up and he says, oh, I never said that. I never said that. Here's all I said. No, we don't have to have you tell us all you said cause we can listen to the original. And then in the past he had taught heresy when he said Jesus is not his Messiah. That's not a slip of the tongue. You know what? I never, this is, this is, this is what he said verbatim. You know what? I never called Jesus Christ. I never call him my Messiah. And then he said, he's not your Messiah either unless you're a Jew. He ain't your Messiah. He's not your Messiah. He's not my Messiah. That's what he said. And look, anybody can listen to it. And here's what he said about this week and last time. He said, I was taken out of context. Well guess what? I uploaded the full sermon. Now the church where he preached these lies and heresy, oh, they were quick to delete all the files, but not before I downloaded them all. I downloaded them all and then they deleted them all. I put them all on YouTube. It's funny. Why don't you see them saying, hey, Gipp's comments were taken out of context. Here we're going to upload the whole sermon and show you the context so you can see that it was taken. That's not what they did. I'm the one who has to upload the whole sermon because they wouldn't. And you say, well, how did you download it? From a password protected area of their website? That's how I downloaded it before it was scrubbed. Now it's gone. It was never uploaded publicly by them. They had it live streamed and I captured it from the live stream. I downloaded it from a password protected area of the site. The audio to go with the video live streaming. I uploaded the full sermon. Why? Because I'm just trying to show people I didn't take them out of context. Look, three years ago I uploaded the full sermon where he said that Jesus was not his Messiah and said, okay, here's the context. Did he come out and say, you know what, I'm sorry you're right. I wasn't taken out of context. No, he just digs in and says, you lied. You took me out of context. I uploaded the video. How can I lie by uploading what you said? This week I upload the whole sermon. He digs in and the church where he preached this heresy, yeah, they delete it all from their website, but isn't it interesting they don't come out and say, hey, we're sorry that these lies were taught. No, they get up and condemn me for pointing it out. I'm condemned for pointing it out. But what I'm trying to say is that somebody teaches something as weird as that because that's weird. Jesus is not my Messiah. Jesus was not supposed to be named Jesus. He was actually supposed to be named something else. I mean, anybody who teaches that, and I made this statement last week and I'm sticking to it, I made the statement that anybody who hears Sam Gipp say that and walks away saying what he said was fine, what he said was not blasphemous, what he said was okay is not saved. Why? Because they're just embracing the most strange voice of all time. I mean, when you start, look, and by the way, I'll take it a step further. People who get sucked into this Yeshua thing and start saying Jesus is not the name of our Savior, that just tells me that that person's not saved. They are not saved. When anybody comes to me and says his name is not Jesus, I just mark it out, not saved. You are not saved. I don't care if you're a Hebrew roots, a black Hebrew Israelite, or a Sam Gipp follower, or whatever, when you start saying, hey, his name's not Jesus, or Jesus was not supposed to be his name, or the angel told him to name him something else, and you're going to believe that and think that that's okay, you're not saved. Look, he that is of God heareth God's word. Any saved person who heard Matthew chapter 1 verses 21 through 25 read to them and listened to what Sam Gipp said, any saved person will say he lied. He lied. And even if they wanted to be gracious with him, they could say, hey, he's an idiot, he's an imbecile, he's dumb. That would be the gracious thing to say, he's dumb. Or he lied. But for someone to say what he said was right, or what he said was correct, what he said was fine, what he said was not blasphemous, you know what, that tells me that that person is not saved, and I don't have any doubt about it. I wonder if these people are saved, no, no, no, when they don't hear God's word on something so clear, this isn't some vague thing, it's Matthew chapter 1. It's chapter 1, I mean, it's not, this isn't like, hey, who's Babylon, who's the great whore, you know, who's the, you know, what about the fifth seal and the third trumpet, no, no, no, it's Matthew chapter 1, it's the Christmas story. If you don't understand the Christmas story, you're not saved. And you say, well, you're saying I'm not saved. You got it right. If you don't understand that story. But you know what's funny is, I made that statement, hey, if you don't understand that, you're not saved. And here's what they did, they played for their church, me saying that. They played the whole video of me saying that for their church, and then the pastor gets up and says, you know what he just said? He just said that all of you are not saved. But you know what he's saying, he's saying that, he's just assuming that everybody in the church disagrees with him. Because I didn't say you're not saved if you go to that church. I said if you go to that church and agree with what was preached, you're not saved. And you know what? Over the next few months, the pastors who continue to have Sam Gipp come preach and defend him and say, oh, brother Sam Gipp's being attacked by the devil right now. All it's showing is just that they're not saved. They're just saying we're not saved. We don't hear God's word, we don't understand God's word. We would rather hate and gnash our teeth on a righteous man of God who defends the name of Jesus. And we love this stranger. And Sam Gipp's a stranger. They love him. They love his preaching because they're not saved. Because they're not saved. So don't tell me, well, but yeah, but on March whatever the date, Sam Gipp kneeled down and asked, not everybody who says Lord, Lord is saved. Well, but so and so the church member who's a hardcore ruckmanite or hyper dispensationalist or hyper Calvinist or whatever the heresy and lack of understanding of basic teaching is saved because they prayed that prayer. Praying a prayer doesn't save you, friend. You have to fully trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know what happens when you fully trust in Jesus? You get the Holy Spirit. And you know what happens when you get the Holy Spirit? You know the voice of the shepherd. And you hear God's word. Now look, you're not always going to obey it because the spirit's willing, the flesh is weak. You're not always going to do what's right. And you will be led astray on things that aren't as clear. But you're never going to walk out and say, oh, it turns out Jesus is the wrong name. No, I won't believe it any more than I would believe somebody could walk out of here and join the Orthodox Church or the Catholic Church or the Mormon Church and still be saved. Now could a person walk out of here and go join the non-denominational fun center and be saved? Absolutely. There's no doctrine even being preached down there. There's neither the voice of the stranger or the voice of the shepherd down there. It's just a rock band and a motivational speaker. But they're not going to go down and start going like this and forgive me, Father, for I've sinned. It's been X amount of time since my last confession. Not going to happen. I don't believe it. I don't believe it. Now we might find them drunk in the gutter, but we're not going to find them down at the Latter-day Saints picking up their holy underwear. It's just not going to happen. It isn't happening. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and we thank you so much for salvation, Lord, and thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit. Because without the Holy Spirit, we could be deceived and fooled by a lot of things that the Holy Spirit actually protects us from. And Lord, obviously we know we have to study to show ourselves approved, and obviously it is possible for us to be duped by a Judas Iscariot, Lord, but thank you for at least guiding us into all truth and showing us the light that when we read our Bibles, we can understand it. And when just extreme heresy is preached, things that clearly go against the word, thank you so much for giving us the Holy Spirit as just to cry foul and just set off that alarm inside of us, Lord, when we hear these things. And Lord, we just pray that every single person here, Lord, would know that they're saved. Lord, if there's anybody here who doesn't know that they're saved, I pray that they would ask someone here how to be saved and that they could be saved tonight before it's eternally too late, Lord. And those that are saved, I pray that we would seek to get other people saved and watch for these signs of people being unsaved so that we can know, hey, that's somebody that I need to win to Christ because they're not saved and to know when these false prophets are not saved so that we can avoid them like the plague and not listen to their teachings and be corrupted. And Lord, we thank you for the word of God and the Holy Spirit in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.