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Man, the title of my sermon tonight is The Problem with Protestants. The Problem with Protestants. Now, let me start out tonight by talking about all the things that I like about Protestantism. Before I get on the Protestants and talk about what the problem is with the Protestants, first of all, number one, the thing I like about Protestantism is that many great Bibles were translated into European languages by the Protestants. During the Protestant Reformation, all kinds of great Bible translations were produced and given out to the masses in their native tongues. In fact, the printing press coming to Europe and Bibles being mass produced is what even sparked the Protestant Reformation in the first place because so many people were able to own their own Bible and read the Bible on their own, and it just spread knowledge like never before. A lot of people don't realize that the printing press was actually invented in China, and it was the Mongolian Empire that connected China to Europe, and that technology made its way over from China into Europe, and then they were able to start cranking out Bibles in Europe, and the rest is history. Our King James Bible itself was translated in England, and most of the translators were part of the Church of England. It was a Protestant denomination. Other great Bibles in other European languages as well. Number two, the five solas of the Protestant Reformation. Now the Protestant Reformation, they have this slogan with these five solas or soli, and this is what they are, sola scriptura, means like only scripture, right? Like they're only gonna base what they believe on what the Bible says, not on traditions or other things. Number two, sola fide, which means only faith. Faith alone for salvation, amen. Not of works. Sola gratia, not by our own merits, but it's by grace. Only by grace. Sola gratia, right? Solo Christo, meaning we don't have to go through the priests, right? We just have one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Sounds great so far, huh? Soli Deo gloria, to God alone be the glory, not worshiping saints, Mary, idols, et cetera. I mean, that all sounds great to me, amen? By grace alone, through faith alone, to God alone be the glory, right? It all sounds great. So I like that. I like all this. Here's the problem with the Protestants. They don't take their own advice here. Because if they actually believed these five things, then it'd be great. The problem is that they don't take their own advice. They didn't go far enough in their reformation, and so they still retain a lot of the false doctrine and traditions of the Roman Catholic Church, and that's the problem. Now let's start out by talking about the biggest problem, which is infant baptism and baptism by sprinkling. Now this did not come from sola scriptura. There's no way that you're just going to read the Bible only and come up with infant baptism or baptism by sprinkling. I mean, anybody who picks up the New Testament, what are they going to read? Matthew chapter 3, Jesus, when he was baptized, went down into the water, right? Philip and the eunuch, they went down, both of them, into the water and baptized him. So the Bible's pretty clear that baptism is by immersion, going underwater, et cetera. Also in Acts chapter 8, the eunuch says, what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip says to him in verse 37, if thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still, and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized them. So Philip's answer was, you've got to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and then you may get baptized. Because baptism is supposed to follow salvation, and baptism is down in the water, going underwater. So I've spoken to Protestants about this, and I challenged one particular Protestant about this. And he brought me to Colossians chapter 2. This is their big proof text for baptizing babies. It says in Colossians chapter 2, verse 6, as ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. And you know what, that's great advice for Protestants not to be spoiled by the tradition of men. This baby sprinkling, baby baptizing tradition that came from the Roman Catholic Church that's not found in the Bible one time. You'll never find a single baby being dunked in the New Testament. You'll never find any infant baptism, and you'll never find baptism by pouring or sprinkling. You will only find people being dunked underwater after believing in Christ every single time. There's not one exception to that. But they take you to Colossians 2 here to supposedly show you their proof text, and we'll get there. For in him, Jesus Christ that is, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Godhead is just an old form of the word godhood. If you look up Godhead in the dictionary, one of the definitions will be Godhood. And if you look this verse up in any other language, it's going to come up with Godhood or something like that. Like in Spanish, it's divinity, like divinity or deity. So the Godhood dwells in him bodily, meaning that Jesus Christ is fully God, fully deity, full divinity dwells in him. Verse number 10. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power, in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses. See it's right there folks, infant baptism, don't you see it? No you don't see it because it isn't there. But this is their proof text because they say, well, God is connecting baptism and circumcision, and since babies were circumcised, babies should be baptized. Well first of all, circumcision is not just for babies. Circumcision was for anybody who joined the nation of Israel, even as an adult, number one. Number two, nowhere does this verse say baptism is the new circumcision. You see, we should base what we believe on clear scripture, not read things into the text that aren't there and just kind of say, well, he talked about circumcision, and then he talked about baptism, and then he talked about circumcision again, a little circumcision sandwich with baptism in there. But you know what, that doesn't prove anything, that's not a clear scripture saying that, and that would contradict the rest of scripture. But here's the elephant in the room, and I couldn't even believe that this Protestant would show this verse to me with a straight face to prove infant baptism, what's the first word of verse 12? Buried! I said, oh, so when you go to a burial, you just sprinkle a little dirt, and you call that burying somebody, right? You just lay somebody on the ground and sprinkle a little dirt on their head and call them buried? No. This man, the guy that I was talking to in this particular story, was Dutch Reformed, that was the particular brand of Protestant, but the same thing goes for the Lutherans or any other Protestants that you want to talk about, they have the same doctrine about infant sprinkling. And this guy looked at my little son, Steven, who was a toddler at the time, or maybe it was Boaz, but he looked down at my little son and he said, I'll bet you, you haven't even baptized this little boy, shame on you, this little two-year-old that I had with me. And I said, oh, you think I'm delinquent for not baptizing my two-year-old? I got news for you, buddy, neither you nor your wife nor any of your children have been baptized because you were sprinkled, and that's not baptism, because we're buried with him by baptism. Go to Romans chapter 6. So this is actually a great proof text to debunk their little sprinkling baptism, pouring baptism, because baptism is clearly by immersion, we're buried with him in baptism, and it does not say that baptism is the new circumcision. The Bible tells us what the new circumcision is. We don't have to just make things up. The Bible tells in Philippians chapter 3, for we are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. That's what the Bible says the new circumcision is. It's when you believe on Jesus Christ, you rejoice in Jesus Christ, and you don't put any confidence in your works or in the flesh. That's the new circumcision. The Bible says circumcision is of the heart and of the Spirit. It doesn't say that you're circumcised by baptism. You say, well, why does it relate those two things? Well, of course it's going to relate baptism and salvation, because guess what? You get saved, and then you get baptized. Those things are related, aren't they? Now, are salvation and baptism the same thing? No. You can be saved without being baptized. You can be baptized without being saved. The relationship is one of getting saved and then getting baptized. It's a relationship there, right? So it makes sense to bring up in the same breath. You're saved, and you're baptized, right? So you're circumcised in Christ with a spiritual circumcision not made with hands, and you're also baptized. Okay, it doesn't mean that those are both the same thing. He's just listing two different things that happen to you. Look if you would at Romans chapter 6 for more evidence, verse number 1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. Now, he just finished telling us at the end of chapter 5 that if we continue in sin, grace will abound. He said where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. But then he's asking in verse 1 of chapter 6, you know, should we do that? I mean, should we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. Obviously we shouldn't continue in sin, even though if we do sin, grace will abound. His grace is sufficient, but that doesn't mean that we should test that or push that to the limit. Why? Because how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? You know, we should walk in newness of life, amen? It says in verse 3, know ye not that so many of us as we're baptized into Jesus Christ, we're baptized into his death, therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life, for if we've been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. So baptism is a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. The likeness of his death, raised in the likeness of his resurrection. So we're buried with him by baptism into death. So when we go under the water, it's a picture of Jesus being buried, and when we come up out of the water, it's a picture of him rising from the dead. No sprinkling or pouring would ever signify that. That is not sola scriptura. You know, I'd be a Protestant if it weren't for Protestants. You know what I mean? Like, those five solas sound great to me. If only they actually believed those things. Because if they were sola scriptura, there'd be no infant baptism, there'd be no sprinkling, there'd be no baby baptism, no way. Here's another thing that's wrong about the Protestant teaching on baptism. They teach that baptism is a sacrament, okay? And the word sacrament has to do with the fact that they think that it has to do with salvation or that it confers grace upon the participant or that it somehow has a part in their salvation, okay? That's what sacrament means. Now again, what happened to sola fide? Faith alone, right? So what are these sacraments doing in there? So the Lutherans have two sacraments, whereas the Roman Catholics have seven sacraments, okay? So again, you see that the reformers, they're getting rid of some unscriptural things, but then they're still keeping some wrong things around. They didn't go far enough. They didn't get rid of enough of the vain tradition. So there are seven sacraments. Here are the seven sacraments that the Roman Catholics have, and they think that all seven of these will work toward getting your sins forgiven. Because for us, salvation is a one-time thing. It's a moment. It's a twinkling of an eye. You believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you're passed from death unto life. You're saved eternally. You have everlasting life, and you'll never perish, right? But for the Catholics, they're continually trying to work their way into heaven and earn their salvation as a process, and different things that they do earn them more points toward salvation, right? So the seven sacraments are each earning them points toward getting saved, okay? So the first sacrament is baptism. I'll read off the seven Catholic sacraments. Baptism, the Eucharist, or what we know as communion or the Lord's Supper, penance, or what we would know as confession, right, going to the confessional booth. Confirmation, you know, because they baptized some baby that had no clue what was even going on. So then later, they have to have this thing called confirmation where they actually, now you actually believe in this stuff, right? Later on. So they go through a catechism class and everything to prepare them to be confirmed. And that, you know, Brother Dave Berzins has a great story about his confirmation in the Presbyterian Church. Of course, he wasn't even saved, but he got confirmed in the Presbyterian Church, no problem. But anyway, confirmation would be the fourth. Holy matrimony would be the fifth, what we would call just getting married, right, having a wedding at church. That is holy matrimony. Number six would be holy orders. This is where you're being ordained as, you know, a bishop, a priest, or a deacon, taking orders. And then lastly would be the last rites or anointing of the sick, right? James chapter five, is any sick among you? Let them call for the elders of the church. They twist that into having something to do with salvation as opposed to just praying for sick people to get well, which is what it's really talking about. Okay, so those are the seven sacraments. Well the Protestants came along and they reduced that to two sacraments. So they said, well, there's only two sacraments, baptism and the Lord's Supper, and they call the other five non-sacramental rites. So they still do the other five. Obviously, you know, they get married for penance, they kind of just come to church and all collectively kind of just confess to God. Holy matrimony, obviously they get married, obviously they ordain, you know, bishops and deacons, no priests though. And then, you know, they do anoint the sick, of course, which is biblical. So basically what they've done is they've taken the seven Catholic sacraments and said, well, we're going to keep two and then we're going to take the other five and we're still going to do them, but we're not going to say they're sacraments because what they're saying is that they have nothing to do with salvation. What they're saying is that confession, confirmation, matrimony, taking orders or anointing the sick has nothing to do with salvation. And they're right about that. Those things do have nothing to do with salvation. But newsflash, the first two don't have anything to do with salvation either. So they needed to ditch all seven sacraments, instead they kept two sacraments. And so they tie in baptism and the Lord's Supper with salvation, which is not sola fide, which is a wicked false doctrine. We're saved by faith alone. You don't have to come to church and get baptized or come to church and receive the Lord's Supper or have someone bring the Lord's Supper to you in your home in order to be saved. Salvation is between you and the Lord Jesus Christ. You just have to put your faith and trust in Him and call upon Him and you shall be saved. Nothing to do with salvation. Now flip over if you would to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Now Baptists have their own vain tradition in this regard where they have morphed the two sacraments into two ordinances. Who's heard this thing of two ordinances in the church? You've heard that doctrine before? I mean it's in most statement of faiths of independent Baptist Church. I'm not saying that there are bad churches that have this in their statement of faith, but I'm saying it's a false doctrine to say, oh there's two church ordinances, baptism and the Lord's Supper. That is found nowhere in scripture. Let me tell you exactly where that comes from. This is how the progression was. Catholics have seven sacraments. They reduce it with the Protestants to two sacraments because they only think that two things are tied in with salvation. And then the Baptists come along and say, none of that stuff's tied in with salvation. We don't have any sacraments. So they're like, well, it's not two sacraments, it's two ordinances. But why do we need two of anything? Why did we need seven of anything? You see, why do we need to try to match up with the Catholics or the Protestants? Well if the Catholics have their seven sacraments and the Lutherans have their two sacraments, well we're going to have the same two things as the Lutherans, but we're just going to call them ordinances. That way we kind of look like Luther. I'm not trying to look like a Lutheran. I don't have my collar turned around backwards up here. I'm not wearing a long dress like a Catholic priest or like a Lutheran rector or whatever. I'm not trying to be Protestant. I'm not trying to be a Catholic. I'm trying to be a Bible-believing Baptist, a Christian, sola scriptura, amen? I don't need to try to match up. Now let me ask this. Does two ordinances come from the Bible? I mean if we're going to have a statement of faith, it should reflect the clear teachings of the Bible, especially because many churches hold their statement of faith up as like something that can never change or never be altered. It's like the law of the Medes and Persians. Well if you're going to make this document that's the definitive document of what you believe, shouldn't it all be based on scripture? So where in the world do you get two ordinances? The only way you get it is from the Lutherans. And then you're just like, well it's not going to save you so let's call it an ordinance. Let's see if there are two ordinances. Look down at your Bible at 1 Corinthians 11 verse 1. Be ye followers of me even as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you brethren that you remember me in all things and keep the ordinances as I deliver them to you. Now what is he praising them for? Put away all preconceived ideas. Don't get all upset because you know that there's two ordinances because you learned that Baptist spells, you know, B is for believers baptism, A is for autonomy of the local church, P is for priests of the believer, and T is for two ordinances. Don't get all nervous. Just look what the Bible says. What is he praising them for? He's praising them for doing what? For keeping the ordinances and not only for keeping the ordinances but for doing it the way that he told them to do it. Isn't that what it says? I mean is anybody's Bible saying anything different? I mean it says, I praise you brethren that you remember me in all things and keep the ordinances as I deliver them to you. So he's about to really rip into these people but he starts out by complimenting them. It's sort of like I kind of complimented the Protestants and now I'm going to spend the rest of the sermon ripping into them. So that's kind of what Paul did here. He says, you know, I'm going to praise you because you did keep the ordinances as I delivered them to you. There are some things you're doing right but, and then the whole rest of the chapter is a big but of everything that they're doing wrong, okay, but I would have you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of the woman is the man, the head of Christ is God. We're not going to read the whole chapter for sake of time but jump down to verse 20. When you come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. For in eating, everyone taketh before other his own supper and one is hungry and another is drunken, what? Have you not houses to eat and to drink in? Or despise ye the church of God and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. So what is he not praising them for? He's not praising them for the way that they're observing the Lord's supper. I mean, does everybody see that? He's saying, look, you are messing up the Lord's supper. Should I praise you for it? I praise you not. So 18 verses ago he said, hey, I just want to praise you that you keep the ordinances. I mean, look at verse 2. I praise you. Does everybody see that? For doing what? Praising the ordinances. What's he saying I'm not praising you about the Lord's supper? So let me just help you with math. If there are two ordinances, right, baptism and the Lord's supper, and they're screwing up the Lord's supper royally and he's saying I'm not praising you, then is it humanly possible for him to be praising them for keeping the ordinances? I praise you for keeping the ordinance one, just baptism. No, because you know what, there aren't two ordinances, that's why. And in fact, when Paul said the ordinances, he's not even including the Lord's supper. That's not even a church ordinance. He's not even including that because he says you're doing the ordinances right, but you're screwing up the Lord's supper. How can they be the same thing? Somebody help me out here. I mean, it just doesn't work. Now, one person said to me, well, what he's saying is he's glad that they're keeping the ordinances, you know, at least they're keeping it. He's praising them for keeping it, but he's not praising them because they're doing it wrong. But at least he's praising them that at least they do it. But that's not what the Bible says, because in verse 2 he says, I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the ordinances as I deliver them to you. So whatever the ordinances are that he's referring to, they're doing it as he delivered it to them. They're doing it correctly, whereas they're doing the Lord's supper incorrectly. Does everybody see that? So they can't be the same thing, folks, it's just simple logic. Now, there are lots of things that are ordinances in the Bible, because the word ordinance, and by the way, look at verse 17 in case you think, oh, he's just glad they're doing it even though they're not doing it right. Look at verse 17. Now, on this I declare unto you, I praise you not that you come together, not for the better, but for the worse. And this is in the context of them observing the Lord's supper. He's saying, it'd be better if you didn't even come together at all. The way you're coming together, not for the better, but for the worse. It's worse the way you're doing it, as not doing it. Does everybody see that? So what are the ordinance? Go back to 1 Corinthians 7. The true story is, friend, that ordinance just simply means anything that's ordained. Ordinance is just the noun to go with the verb ordain. So anything that's appointed to be done in church is an ordinance. I mean, reading the Bible out loud in church is an ordinance. And certainly, marriage is an ordinance. You know, look what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 7, verse 17. And this is in the context of teachings on marriage. 1 Corinthians 7 is a teaching on marriage. And it says in verse 17, but as God had distributed to every man, as the Lord had called everyone, so let him walk, and so ordain I in all the churches. So he's ordained marriage in the churches. So isn't that an ordinance, since it was ordained? Now look, that was on the original Catholic seven sacrament list. Why didn't Martin Luther keep that one? Oh yeah, because his two sacraments had to do with salvation, which is how he came up with the two, baptism and Lord's Supper. So why would we as Baptists take that list of two, which is meaningless as an ordinance, doesn't even mean anything. Because you know what else is, how about this, ordaining preachers, isn't that an ordinance? How about marriage? How about everything else he ordained? How about where the Bible says, at the front of our King James, appointed to be read in churches? That's an ordination there, that it be read in church, ordinance. So anyway, that was kind of for free tonight, because that doesn't really have anything to do with the Protestants. But the point is that look, I'm not just up here saying, hey, Baptists good, Protestant bad. You know, the Bible's good. And here's the thing, we even as Baptists could be wrong about this or that, and so we need to tighten up our doctrine and believe sola scriptura, not sola, you know, doctrina statementa, you know, and sola what the Bible college taught me, you know, we need to be sola scriptura and not be a hypocrite and say, oh yeah, everything we believe is based on the Bible. But there's two ordinances. Really? You got chapter and verse on that? I didn't think so. So here's what the Lutherans teach, because remember they've got their two sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. You say, how do those tie in with salvation? Well, here's what the Lutherans teach, and here's what Martin Luther taught about Baptism. Here's what they say. They say Baptism is necessary for salvation, but not absolutely necessary. Now, can you, try figuring that one out, okay. And Brother Shelley, would you help me out? Right inside my office, if you walk in, on the little end table on the left is Martin Luther's book. I think it's just laying open to the page I want. So bring that to me and don't lose the page, please. But you know, it's necessary for salvation, but it's not absolutely necessary. What is it, just kind of necessary? So what does that mean? Is it necessary or is it not necessary? So what you'll get from the Protestants is kind of a little bit of a double talk about whether Baptism is necessary. Because remember, they're claiming sola fide, right? Only faith. But then it's like, well, where do these two sacraments come in? Where does this Baptism come in? Well, it's not absolutely necessary. So they're saying like, well, it's necessary for salvation except when it's not. You know, so like if you want to get baptized, you're okay. He said, well, it's just contempt of Baptism. That's the problem. You know, you're, you're condemned for contempt of the sacraments, not for not doing them. So that's how they'd get around like the thief on the cross and stuff like that. You know, you know, that's a false doctrine. It's nothing like that in the Bible. You know, so here's what you'll never find. Let me just make this issue of Baptism real simple for you, okay? We got a lot of verses about salvation by faith alone, amen? And I'm not even going to go through all and there's too many to even go through. Just read the book of John, amen? It's on every page. Have fun going through John, underline every time salvation is by faith alone. You're going to have it quite marked up by the time you're done with that short Gospel of John, okay? Here's what you'll never find in the New Testament, okay? I don't care what people try to show you who believe Baptism saves, whether they be Pentecostals or whether they be Lutherans or whoever wants to defend this Catholics. Here's what you're never going to find in the New Testament and what you would need to find if Baptism was necessary for salvation or if contempt of the sacrament is going to damn you. There's not one verse in the entire New Testament that tells you that if you don't get baptized, you're not saved. Have fun finding that. Show me a verse in the Bible that says that if you don't get baptized, you're not going to heaven. It just isn't there. Can we find verses that say if you don't believe? Oh yeah, of course, because it says, he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten son of God. He that hath son hath life, but he that hath not the son of God hath not life, right? If you believe on him, you have everlasting life, but he that believeth not shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. The Bible says that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure and unrighteousness. So wouldn't you expect if Baptism were necessary for salvation to find one verse somewhere that says what? Hey, if you don't get baptized, you're going to hell because you'll find a lot of verses that say if you don't believe, you're going to hell. Now they'll take verses and twist them. Like for example, they'll take 1 Peter 3 21 where it says the like figure wear unto, figure like figurative, the like figure wear unto Baptism doth also now save us, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a clear conscience toward God by the resurrection of Christ. What's that saying? The picture of Baptism saves us. Why? Because Baptism is a picture of what saves us. It's a figure. It's figurative of the death, burial, and resurrection. And it even says in that same verse that Baptism does not cleanse the filth of the flesh. It's the answer of a good conscience toward God. Hey, the answer comes after the question, buddy. The answer of a good conscience toward God. When you have a good conscience toward God, when you have faith in Christ and you're saved and you have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, the answer to that, the next step is what? Baptism. Okay. Or they'll try to pull out Mark 16 16. Whosoever believeth and is baptized shall be saved. But what's the next phrase say? But he that believeth not shall be damned. Notice it doesn't say, but he that's not baptized shall be damned. Of course, if you believe and get baptized, you'll be saved. If you believe and stand on your head, you'll be saved. If you believe and eat a jalapeno, you'll be saved. Why? Because believing is enough to save you. You can add anything you want to it and you'll still be saved as long as you have all of your faith and trust in Christ. But you know what it doesn't say is, but if you don't get baptized, you won't be saved. No, you can believe on Christ and not get baptized and you will still be saved. And so the Protestants are trying to kind of hang on to some of that Catholic stuff and they should just let go of it, right? Now this book, this is the last book that Martin Luther ever wrote. So you know, if you want to know where Martin Luther stood at the end of his life, I mean, this is his final book. It's called On the Jews and Their Lies. Okay. So he wrote this right before that. Now let me just say this. I've read this whole book cover to cover and this book has a lot of great stuff in it. You know, I really enjoyed this book. Now some of it's a little bit hard to read because, I mean, Martin Luther is very uncouth, very crude, very vulgar. So I mean, it's pretty rough at times. So sometimes I had to take this book in small doses because it's just so negative. I mean, it makes me look like a soft preacher. Okay. I mean, he's just ripping face on every page. And so as I read this book, sometimes it was just like, man, this is so negative. I just need to take a break from this because like it was just so intense. But anyway, but I definitely agreed with what he's teaching in this book. I mean, he makes a lot of great points, obviously not everything in it is correct, but there's a lot of great stuff in this book and I'm just sitting there thinking, man, this is a really informative book. But then I get to this one part that just kind of ruins the book where I don't even want to recommend the book to anyone because of this one part. Because you know, early on in the book on this particular edition, it's on page 51, he says, he's talking about circumcision, he's tying it in with baptism, kind of like what I was talking about earlier in the sermon. And he says, similarly, our children received the complete, true and full baptism, the word with the sign and do not separate one from the other. They received the kernel in the shell. God is present. He baptizes and speaks with them and thereby saves them. So these babies are getting baptized and thereby they're saved. And I'm just like, just ruin this whole book with your baptismal regeneration or baptism for salvation. You know, cause if you read that, it certainly sounds like he's teaching that baptism saves and that, you know, this is right at the end of his life. I mean, that just kind of ruins it, right. You know? Anyway, no Lutheran has ever read this book anyway, by the way. This book was not even translated into English, even though it's written by one of the most famous theologians of all time. It wasn't translated into English until like less than 20 years ago. Okay. Because Lutherans aren't exactly proud of this. Whenever I meet Lutherans, I say, oh, I, you know, have you read all the Jews and their lies? And they're like, oh, well, I can explain. I'm like, no, no, no, it's good. It's good. It's okay. Not at all for you, you know? Now go, if you would, to second Corinthians chapter six. What's wrong with the Protestants today? What's wrong with them? Why are we not Protestants? I mean, those five solas sound great. I mean, you know, they've given us some great Bibles, but what is it translations that is, but what is it that's wrong with them? Well, here's what's wrong with them. Baptizing babies. Here's what's wrong with them. Here's what's wrong with them keeping two of the sacraments of the Catholic church instead of getting rid of sacraments altogether and doing what they said they were going to do, which was sola fide. What's wrong with the Lutherans or the Protestants? Well, they're teaching that baptism is necessary for salvation, you know, even though it's not absolutely necessary. A little bit of double talk there on whether baptism is necessary. So far, we've been talking about everything that would apply to the actual founders of the Protestant Reformation themselves, you know, Martin Luther and friends, but let's talk about the modern Protestants, right, because, you know, that's really what matters is 2018, right? What's wrong with the Protestants? The problem with the Protestants. Well, I'll tell you, one of the biggest problems with the Protestants is ecumenicalism, ecumenicalism. The Protestants today are in bed with the Roman Catholic church. The whole point of the Protestant Reformation was to get out of the Catholic church and now they're back in bed with the Catholic church. All the little children are going back to mama. The children of the great harlot, the great whore's offspring, the mother of abominations, Mystery Babylon, they're going back home to mama. And so today in Germany, for example, which is a place I know a lot about because my wife was born and raised in Germany and I've been to Germany many times. I even went to public school in Germany for one week and I sat in religion classes every day that were taught by the Lutheran church and I was probably the only kid in the class who was listening because I was actually interested in the things of God, so I was listening in very carefully for a week of religion classes and so I know a little bit about what's taught over there. I read the German newspaper and magazines and while I was there, the newspaper was announcing, because this was close to the year 2000, 1999. They were announcing how for the big 2000 jubilee, the Catholics and the Protestants are putting aside their differences in Germany and here's literally what they said. The Protestant reformation was just one big misunderstanding. That is literally what they said in the newspaper in Germany. And the Catholics said, we believe in salvation by faith too. We all believe in salvation by faith. No you don't. You both don't believe in it. That's why you're getting along so well these days. Major ecumenicalism. Listen, in Germany today, forgive me if my statistics are a little bit off, but I believe I have some exact statistics coming a little later in the sermon, but just from memory, I want to say that Germany, and maybe my wife can correct me if I'm wrong, has about 60% Catholic and 40% Lutheran, somewhere thereabouts, right? So it's kind of split down the middle and it's regional. You know, if you're in Bavaria, southern Germany, it's very Catholic. If you're in northern Germany, it's very Lutheran or what they actually called over there is the evangelical church, but it's a Lutheran church. And of course Martin Luther is from Germany, so that's a relevant place to talk about. Well today in Germany, the Catholics and the Lutherans are best buddies. Like they have these ecumenical meetings where all the Catholic clergy and all the Lutheran clergy, they're buddies, they're friends, they love each other. Now, Martin Luther said, I used to think that the Pope was the vicar of Christ, but now I believe the Pope is the vicar of hell. That's what Martin Luther said, but is that what his followers are saying now? You know, you Lutherans are nothing like your Luther, you know? I would be a Protestant if it weren't for Protestants. No, I'm just kidding. That was my spinoff on the Gandhi quote. But anyway, 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14. Look what the Bible says, 2 Corinthians 6, 14. Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? Listen, the Roman Catholic Church is unrighteous. How can we have fellowship with them? What communion hath light with darkness? They have a whole period of time named after them, the Dark Ages. That's about the Roman Catholic Church. What conquered hath Christ with Belial? That's the devil, Satan, Beelzebub, Baal. Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? And what was one of their solos, right? Don't make me sing a solo. What was their solo? Soli Deo Gloria. Right? They're not going to worship the saints, Mary, the idols that the church hath. So look, if they're saying to God alone, be the glory, then how can they fellowship with the temple of idols? How can the temple of God, right, which is the house of God, which is our body that's the temple of the Holy Spirit, which the church of the living God, the body of Christ, the house of God, the temple of God. How can you agree with a Mary statue or a saint statue or any other idolatry you can't? And so if you're truly going to believe in solo Deo Gloria, then you're not going to be able to have fellowship with idolatry like that, right? He says, you are the temple of the living God, verse 16. As God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Therefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord. Okay, isn't that what the Protestants supposedly were doing? And touch not the unclean thing, but then they come back and give the right hand of fellowship, as the Bible says, to some pedophile Catholic priest, some idolater. The Bible says we're not supposed to eat with who? He that is called a brother, that's an idolater. 1 Corinthians 5, if one's called a brother and he's an idolater with such a one, know not to eat. How could I have a prayer breakfast with a guy who's claiming to be in Christ and he's an idolater? He's got a Mary statue. He's got a Saint Stephen statue, Saint Nicholas, jolly old Saint Nick or whatever. And then it says here, and we'll be, wherefore, sorry, let me back up here. Verse 16, he said, I'll dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and will be a father unto you and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Flip over to Matthew 7. What's wrong with the Protestants today? Baptizing babies? What's wrong with the Protestants today? Baptism by sprinkling? What's wrong with the Protestants today? Baptism for salvation? So you can see that most of the biggest problems with the Protestants have to do with this issue of Baptism. Doesn't that seem to be the key issue on a lot of these things? What's wrong with the Protestants of today, ecumenicalism? What else is wrong with the Protestants of today? Well let's talk about the fruit of Protestantism. Isn't the tree known by its fruit? The Bible says in Matthew 7.15, beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing. 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. So shouldn't we be able to know the Protestants by their fruits? We should be able to test these Protestant preachers. We should be able to test the Protestant religious leaders and see if they're a false prophet or not by their fruits. We should be able to look at the Protestant religion, whether it's the Lutherans or the Dutch Reformed or whatever type of Protestant and see the fruit. Well let's check the fruit of Protestantism. Let's start our fruit inspection in Scandinavia. I'm talking Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland. It's funny, we were just out to eat yesterday and we were talking about what the most atheistic country in the world is or the most atheistic country in Europe and I mentioned how the Czech Republic is the most irreligious or atheistic country and somebody said, well wait a minute, isn't that Sweden? Because isn't that what we hear all the time? Who here has heard about Sweden being a great atheist country? Put up your hand if you've heard about Sweden being atheist or Norway or Denmark being these atheist places. When you try to point the atheists to Red China and the USSR for being atheistic governments, they're like, whoa there tiger, what about Sweden? So they love to point out Scandinavia as atheism at its finest and the atheists hold it up as an example and your average person that you talk to thinks that the Scandinavian countries are atheists. Let me give you the religious statistics, the current 2018 statistics on religion in Scandinavia. Sweden, 67% are members of the Lutheran Church. Did you hear me? 67%, 2 out of 3 people are members down at the Lutheran Church. Only 28% of the population is considered unaffiliated, meaning no religion. That doesn't even mean that they're an atheist. It just means they're not affiliated with any particular religion or denomination. They might still be an agnostic or kind of believe in God or whatever, but the bottom line is that only 28% are unaffiliated and 67% are Lutheran. How about Norway? 72% belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway. Denmark, 67% of the population are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark. Finland, 71% belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. Iceland, 67% are part of the Lutheran Church of Iceland and there's 6% that are part of other denominations of Lutheranism. So in Iceland, they have a total of 73% Lutheran in Iceland. Now why are they thought of as being atheists? Because they are such wicked, godless, immoral places. People just assume, well, these people must be hardcore atheists. Look at the way they live their life. I mean, if Lutheranism is a righteous religion, wouldn't you expect a place where two-thirds of the people are Lutheran to be a really godly place? Oh, man. I mean, imagine if we were living in Phoenix, Arizona, it's two-thirds Baptist. That'd be great, right? I mean, two-thirds Lutheran. But you know what? Scandinavia is known for just always the worst filth and perversion and smut and horrific news stories. Whenever there's some transgender kindergarten, whenever they're talking about how Iceland murders every Down syndrome baby so they literally have zero Down syndrome babies being born because they murder every single one, so they will. And you're saying, we're going to eliminate Down syndrome from Iceland completely because never again is a Down syndrome baby going to be born in this country because we murdered them all. This is what Iceland is known for. I mean, watch our video, Iceland, the Nation of Bastards. Just hardcore feminism, hardcore abortion, just wife-swapping like you can't even believe. Four different kids with four different women is the norm. No respect for righteousness, morality, godliness. By the way, the most antidepressant consumption in the world. Look at the list put out by the OECD of who takes the most antidepressants. It's the Scandinavian countries. Totally wicked on adultery, fornication, bastards, drugs, I mean, speaking of antidepressants that is. I mean, just filthy places. It's whenever you see something that's just the most sodomite, tranny filth, isn't it always like Finland, Sweden? Who's seen that kind of stuff where it's everywhere? The worst news. Why? So that doesn't really bode very well for the fruit of Lutheranism. Now a lot of people when you try to say this, it's like, well, these Lutherans are so godless, they should be counted as atheists. That's what the atheists will tell you. We want to claim them. I've confronted atheists with, oh, really? Well, 67% of Sweden is a Lutheran. And they're like, yeah, but they're us, OK? They're one of us. That's pretty sad when you're being, you know, it'd be like if people said, well, you know, we know faithful words Baptist, but look at their beliefs and look at the way they live their life. We're going to consider them atheist. That's pretty bad, isn't it? It's wicked. Now God's punishing them right now with a Muslim invasion, right? He's sending all the heathen Muslim hordes to punish them for their wickedness and filth. And they're just, they're so stupid, they don't even realize what's happening. They're just like, yeah, bring in all the Muslims and just let them rape and pillage with impunity. It's their culture. Don't be culturally insensitive. You know, don't say things like piss me upon him about their prophet Mohammed. We got to be culturally sensitive. I don't want to be culturally sensitive to that godless, wicked religion of Islam. You think Lutheranism is bad, but that's another sermon that shall be preached at another time. So let me close with this thought. I'm going to close with this question. You know, are Protestants saved? Are Protestants going to heaven? Here's the thing. Let me start out by saying this because, you know, I'm kind of focusing in on the Lutherans because that's kind of the big one. But, you know, there's the Presbyterians, the Church of England, also known as Episcopalian or Anglican, and then you've got your Dutch Reformed and stuff like that. Well, here's the thing. When it comes to Lutherans in America, there are three kinds of Lutherans, okay? There's what's called the ELCA or ELCA or the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. Now like 90% of Lutherans are ELCA. And let me tell you something. The people in the ELCA are on a bobsled to hell, okay? That's the only way I can describe it. Now the other kind of Lutheran is the Missouri Synod Lutheran. Who's heard of that? That's a smaller percentage of Lutherans, and they're the more conservative. They're more like what Martin Luther actually taught. And when you talk to Missouri Synod Lutherans, I've talked to Missouri Synod Lutherans and also the third type of Lutheran, which is a free Lutheran, sort of like an independent Lutheran, like we're independent Baptists. When you talk to free Lutherans or Missouri Synod Lutherans, they tell me the ELCA is worshipping Satan. That's what they told me. Like they don't even, I mean they look at the ELCA, and I said like, oh, they're really bad, huh? And he's like, no, they're not bad. They're worshipping Satan. Like he was acting like I wasn't condemning them harshly enough. And he's a Lutheran. No, no, no. Let me repeat it for you. They're worshipping the devil. And the reason that he said that is because the ELCA is so liberal. I mean they're the ones who are like ordaining sodomites, they have the lesbian pastors and everything like that. In fact, we have an ELCA Lutheran church that's literally just a few miles from here. The usher at the church that takes the offerings and opens sodomite. What in the world? They're the types that will have like a rainbow flag on the outside of their building just advertising sodomy. So ELCA, no way Jose are these people saved. Not only are they not saved, they're of the devil. They're very wicked. They promote just the worst filth and sin. And you know what they're like? They're like the Norwegian and Sweden and Denmark prevailing culture. There's a godless, wicked society. ELCA is on a bobsled to hell, okay? Now the Missouri Synod and Free Lutheran, you know, if you want to know if they're saved, go soul-winning. Go soul-winning. Because if you go soul-winning, you know who you're going to talk to? You're going to talk to Lutherans. You're going to talk to every religion. And you get a really good picture of who's saved because you can ask them, do you know for sure if you're going to heaven? And how do you know? And I'll say this, it's rare that I find Lutherans that are saved. Most of the time they're not saved. The vast majority of the time. Even if they're Missouri Synod. They don't know the gospel. Most of the time. Now one place that I have found several saved Lutherans, and I was just talking to people today that said, hey, we were on the Apache Reservation and we ran into a few saved Lutherans. But that's because on the Apache Reservation, those churches kind of just have their own beliefs. They don't really go with the denomination. The denominational headquarters isn't like, what are they teaching down on the Apache Reservation? They don't care about that. I mean, look, I've been invited to preach on a Southern Baptist church on the Indian Reservation. And I went and I preached a couple sermons at a Southern Baptist church on the Indian Reservation. But you think any Southern Baptist churches in Phoenix would be allowed to have me come preach? They'd be kicked out of the convention for even saying hi to me. OK. But in small towns, I mean, for example, there was a guy who got saved listening to my preaching who went to a United Methodist church. But it was out in the middle of nowhere. So this guy is a member. He's a young man. He's a member of a Methodist church. And the church was without a pastor. So they're having this guy get up and preach. This guy got saved listening to my preaching. He came to Phoenix and I baptized him. So he's getting up and preaching in a United Methodist church, baptism by immersion. He's teaching salvation by faith alone. He's teaching King James only. And the people are just eating it up. And it's just in a small town. The denomination doesn't know what's going on. They don't care what's going on. And they're not even sending a pastor. So he's just getting up and preaching all this great doctrine, OK? So the point is, yeah, you'll run into saved Lutherans here and there because they do claim to believe in salvation by faith alone, although it's kind of a double talk. So you could run into individuals that happen to be saved. But I'm telling you, friend, the sad truth is most of them are going to go to hell because they do not believe in salvation by faith. Now if they actually believed their five solas, they'd be saved, amen? The sad thing is they don't, though. Most of them when you talk to them, when you ask the average Lutheran, what do you have to do to be saved? What's the average Lutheran tell you? Live a good life, be a good person. That's not what Martin Luther taught. But they'll say, oh, you've got to go to church, stop sinning, live a good life, be a good person, at least try. Or they'll say you've got to confess your sins every day, and if you die in a state of unconfessed sin, you'll go to hell. So it's like you have to keep, you know, so when that car's coming at you at 70 miles an hour, you better just confess everything fast. Like, Lord, I'm sorry for what I did, 36, oh, yes, I made it in. I got it taken care of. You know, they call being in a state of grace. When you confess everything, you're like, okay, I'm going to state of grace until I screw up again. So you know, you will run into individuals that are saved, but look, it's not that often. And if you think I'm wrong about that, well, then go prove me wrong. Go out and knock a whole bunch of doors, and every time you run into a Lutheran, check their salvation and keep a tally of how many you run into that are saved versus how many are not saved. And you know, it's going to be a real depressing number, friend. So what's the answer? The answer is for us to get out there and win some Protestants to the Lord. We don't want to just assume that the Protestants are saved because they claim salvation's by faith alone. Because when you actually talk to Joe Protestant in 2018, he does not believe in sola fide, period. He doesn't believe in it. And when I was a teenager, I assumed that Protestants were saved. You know, I remember I asked a girl out on a date, and she was an Episcopalian. And I was just like, oh, she's not Catholic. She's not Pentecostal. Great. You know, I was just that naive, because I'd never been soul winning. And it's like, what in the world? Episcopalian? You know, but the bottom line is, when you get out there soul winning, you're going to find that these people aren't saved. You've got to give them the gospel. And you know, we need to get out and knock every door, preach the gospel. And so this isn't a sermon just ripping on Protestants like, nah, nah, nah, nah, we're better or something. The whole point of this sermon is to say, look, we need to realize these people need the gospel. We need to get them the gospel. And Europe is in a sad condition today. That's why they're being judged by God in many ways, and they're going to continue to be judged. That's why it's becoming a more godless place all the time. Europe's in big trouble. You know, when you go to Germany, this is what they think in Germany. I know it's like this in a lot of other European places. Our visitors from Slovakia said it's the same way there, where this is what they think in Germany. You're either Catholic, Lutheran, or you're in a cult. That's what they think. Catherine, or Catherine, good night. Yeah, that's what they are. They're a bunch of Catharines and Luthalics, is what they are. Catharines and Luthalics, okay? But you know, these Lutherans and Catholics, they think that's the only kind of Christianity there is. Otherwise, you know what, they'll just lump you in with the JFWs and the Mormons and the Scientology. It's just like you're either Catholic, Lutheran, or you're in a cult. My wife's nodding her head. That's what they talk over there. That's what people think over there. My wife, she got to a point where she realized the Catholic Church was false, and she didn't believe in the Lutheran Church either, so she just got out of church as a young teenager before she was saved, and just basically kind of became an agnostic because she thought that was the only kind of Christianity there was. She just thought there's Catholic and Lutheran, and if they're both wrong, she just kind of threw up her hands and said, well, God's out there somewhere, maybe. You know, it wasn't until some Baptist came up to her and showed her the Roman's Road. His name starts with an S and ends in T. Van Anderson, and you know, gave her the gospel. That was the first time she even knew that there was even another option, and we've got missionaries to the Europe that are just failing. Don't even learn the language. Hello. Is anybody home? Remember that from Wednesday night? But not only that, missionaries that go there, the average European missionary, all they do is just whine about how hard it is. Oh, it's so hard over here, and then you say, well, let's go soul winning. Oh, well, you can't go soul winning here, brother. It's a different culture. You can't go soul winning because of the doorbells. Wrong kind of doorbell. Look, if I had a nickel for every time I had some missionary to Europe tell me, well, you can't go soul winning there because intercoms, I've heard that. I'd be a wealthy man if I had a nickel for every time I heard that intercom story, because they're like, well, you know, you go to the door and you push the intercom, and they just tell you no through the intercom. You know, it sounds like it'll save you time, buddy, so you can get to the next door faster. And you know what? I've been soul winning in Europe, and you know what I did? I wacked up the intercom and I pushed the button. And I said, hey, I'm here from a Baptist church. And you know what they said? No. And you know what they said about 30 doors later? Yes. Because if you go long enough, you'll find somebody who wants to listen to the gospel. And you know, it's funny. There are people that are succeeding over there. You know, our friends from Slovakia had three saved on the mega marathon, or the, what was it called? The mega marathon, right? The one where we did it all over? Yeah, the mega marathon, they had three saved. Okay. It can be done. Hey, I went to Norway itself. I mean, you want to talk about the Lutheran headquarters, right? Super high percentage of Lutherans. I went soul winning there for four days, and between me and the pastor that I was soul winning with different times, we had a total of nine people saved in four days. Now we went soul winning a lot, and I went a whole eight-hour day without even giving the gospel to one person. But you know, isn't it funny? On four days, we got nine people saved. Isn't it amazing how he's succeeding? He's got a church. He's winning people to Christ. It can be done. And you know what? We run into intercoms here. We could say the same. You know what we could say? Well, soul winning doesn't work in Phoenix because pit bulls, right, because chain link fences. Oh, soul winning doesn't work on the reservation because res dogs. Oh, we got a taser that will take care of that. And no, we don't tase the dogs, okay? But we just push a button and it goes, and the dogs run away scared. It's only the threat of violence on the dogs. We don't actually hurt any dogs. No dogs were harmed in the filming of this sermon either, okay, just so you know. So the point is that, you know, soul winning works anywhere if you'll do the work. And Europe tonight needs the gospel. And we need some actual real missionaries to go there and actually win people to Christ and quit whining about how hard it is and figure out a way to get it done. Otherwise they need to give a refund to all these churches who are sending them money for their little European vacation. And they need to come home, be recalled from the field, and also they should throw vegetables at them or dunk them in a dunk tank for being such an idiot. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord. We thank you for soul winning and we thank you for the opportunity to go out and preach the gospel to every creature. Lord, we pray for the Protestants tonight, Lord. They need the gospel. They've become Catholic light. They've always kind of been Catholic light. Lord, help us to get them all the way out of that Catholic church and into Bible believing Christianity. Lord, help us to shine the light of the glorious gospel to as many Lutherans as we possibly can. And in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.