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Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Blessed Jesus. Blessed Jesus. Now has got us like we are. We are the garden of our way. Keep thy deep when we go astray. Blessed Jesus. Blessed Jesus. Blessed Jesus. Here all hear us when we pray. Blessed Jesus. Blessed Jesus. Here all hear us when we pray. Thou hast most conceived of us. O rain sinful though we be. Thou hast cursed to relieve us to pleasant heart to free. Blessed Jesus. Blessed Jesus. Early let us turn to thee. Blessed Jesus. Blessed Jesus. Early let us turn to thee. Early let us seek thy favor. Blessed holy, holy Savior with thy love and mercy still. Blessed Jesus. Blessed Jesus. Thou hast loved us love us still. Blessed Jesus. Blessed Jesus. Thou hast loved us love us still. All right. Let us pray. Father God, thank you for allowing us to be here this morning. I thank you for all your blessings. I pray that you bless the service and help us to glorify you so we can worship you. I pray that you fill Pastor Shelley with the Holy Ghost so you can preach and edify us in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. For the next song 449 song number 449 Dwelling in Beulah Land. That's song number 449 Dwelling in Beulah Land. 449 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2 3, 2, 3, 2, 3 2, 3 3, 2, 3, 2, 3 3, 2, 3, 2, 3 3, 2, 3 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3 3, 2, 3 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3 3, 2, 3, 2, 3 3, 2, 3, 3, 2, 3, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 3, 2, 3 3, 2, 3, 3, 2, 3, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3, 3, 2, 3, 2, 3 4 5 6 all right well the offering plates are being passed around please turn your bibles to second timothy chapter number three second timothy chapter number three second timothy chapter three the bible reads this know also that in the last days perilous time shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves covetous boasters proud blasphemers disobedient to parents unthankful unholy without natural affection truce breakers false accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good traders heady high-minded lovers of pleasures more than lovers of god having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof from such turn away for of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins led away with diverse lusts ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth now as janice and jambres withstood moses so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith but they shall proceed no further for their folly shall be manifest unto all men as theirs also was but thou hast fully known my doctrine manner of life purpose faith long-suffering charity patience persecutions afflictions which came unto me at antioc at iconium at lystra what persecutions i endured but out of them all the lord delivered me yea and all that will live godly in christ jesus shall suffer persecution but evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived but continue thou and the things which thou hast learned and has been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in christ jesus all scripture is given by inspiration of god and is profitable for doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the man of god may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good works let's bow our heads for a word of prayer father we thank you for our church and we pray that you bless the service this morning and also lord that you fill pastor shelley with your spirit and help him to preach his sermon for us boldly give him clarity of mind and lord i also pray that you help us to pay close attention to the message so we can learn as much as possible from the sermon this morning we also pray that you bless the soul winning time coming up later in jesus name i pray amen amen let's look back at verse number 15 the bible reads and that from a child thou has known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in christ jesus and the title of my sermon this morning is salvation by faith salvation by faith and i'm really looking this phrase here we find straight from the bible where it says that the word of god is able to make you wise unto salvation through faith now the bible is crystal clear that salvation is by faith and i'm going to be able to show you so many different verses in the bible that teach that salvation is only by faith it's through faith it's faith that saves us and because the bible is so clear on this doctrine because the bible just makes it crystal clear that it's just faith that saves us what a lot of false teachers false prophets and the devil have done is they've tried to twist the definition of faith into something that it's not so as to still teach a works-based salvation and way that i kind of explain this is people think that the word faith means faithful they conflate these two different concepts of faith meaning faithful or they think that faith means obedience or they think that faith means following the commandments whereas faith in the bible simply means the trust in christ and so a lot of times when you run into somebody and you're asking them about salvation you're asking them about going to heaven they'll say oh of course we're saved by faith but their definition of faith could be completely different than what the bible teaches about faith and so a lot of times these people are still actually unsaved because they believe the word faith means obedience or they mean faith means a lifestyle of faithfulness or continuing to be faithful in every aspect of their life and so that's why it's important to ask other questions to people and basically try to figure out what do they mean by faith are they saying this is a one-time event are they saying this is simple trust in what christ did are they saying this is works that's why i often will couple this question with another question saying do you believe salvation is just faith in jesus what he did for us or is it faith plus works and this is where the majority of people will just openly admit it's salvation faith plus works they'll just say well that's both you can't just have simple faith in christ and be saved and the bible makes it clear anyone who thinks that salvation is anything other than simple faith and christ is not saved they will go to hell you cannot add any amount of works you can't add a faithfulness or a lifestyle to salvation and be saved if you believe salvation is anything other than simple one-time faith in christ it's because you're not saved and so the importance of this sermon is that you see what the bible is clearly teaching and that we show you that the bible makes it clear salvation is only a faith and it's that simple go if you would to matthew chapter 9 for a moment go to matthew chapter number nine now there's a lot of things that we could look at in the bible but what i want to do is i want to show you how in every gospel the bible still teaches that salvation is by faith now that does not mean that the gospels don't teach other doctrines or other important aspects of our life and what you have to understand is when christ was on this earth many of the things he said were in parables as the bible says now parable is designed to disguise the truth in which christ is trying to preach so when he was talking to great multitudes he wanted to be able to communicate a message to people that were saved while the unsaved had no idea what he was saying and so you don't want to take parables as the best picture of what you have to do or how to get saved because it's not even designed for the unsaved parables are designed for the safe but even though he taught a lot of parables jesus still shows a lot of pictures in the gospels of how salvation is always by faith and he uses a physical picture of salvation to illustrate a spiritual picture of salvation look at matthew chapter 9 verse 22 but jesus turned about him and when he saw her he said daughter be of good comfort thy faith hath made thee whole and the woman was made whole from that hour so many people approach christ they want to be healed or they want devils cast out of them or they need some kind of a physical salvation a physical healing and every time that jesus christ healed them he would make this statement to them thy faith hath made thee whole why because he's trying to illustrate the fact that faith is what saves you go to mark chapter 5 let me show you in mark as well so in matthew mark and luke when he's performing these physical healings and these miracles he's trying to make it clear to them what ended up saving them was faith it wasn't that they turned over a new leaf it wasn't that they started living a more righteous life it wasn't they did some kind of a penance it wasn't that they you know did anything there's no i'm willing to follow you now no it was simply just their faith in christ that gave them that physical salvation and it's the same spiritually that if we want eternal life or we want to go to heaven it's a simple faith in christ look at mark chapter 5 verse 34 and he said and her daughter thy faith hath made thee whole go in peace and be whole of thy plague so notice again he's emphasizing that what faith hath made thee whole go go into luke chapter 7 go to luke chapter 7 now i like the way this is worded because notice it says it's made you whole if you're whole that means you need nothing else meaning there's not any extra because you've been made complete and salvation in christ is a complete process it's a complete transaction and meaning once you've trusted in christ you don't need anything else to get you to heaven it's a whole package deal look at luke chapter 7 verse 50 and he said to the woman thy faith has saved thee go in peace so notice again another woman where he's talking to her and you know a lot of these are the same but i'm just saying in all these instances or all these recollect recolations of these events he's saying the faith is what saved them now go back to matthew 21 go back to matthew 21 we don't want to base our doctrine though on just a picture i'm just showing you that there's clear pictures in the bible where the faith is what saves them and even though there was a physical salvation it's illustrating a bigger point a more important point that spiritual salvation is also by simple faith in jesus christ now we also have clear statements in these gospels as well that salvation is by faith look at matthew 21 verse 31 whether them twain did the will of his father they say in them the first jesus saith unto them verily i say unto you that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of god before you for john came unto you in the way of righteousness and he believed him not but the publicans and the harlots believed him and he when he had seen it repented not afterward that you might believe him so the bible makes it clear that really sinful people they ended up believing what john the baptist had taught about christ that he was the messiah that he was the one that was going to take away the sins of the world that he was the lamb of god and because really sinful people believed in him the bible says they're going to the kingdom of heaven but people that are you know in the world's eyes or in human eyes more righteous or more godly or less sinful they didn't believe so they're not going into the kingdom of heaven and notice what it defines repentance as it says they repented not afterward what that they might believe in him so notice what repentance was defined as here as someone changing their mind and believing in christ because that's what the bible teaches repentance is go to mark chapter number one go to mark chapter one now obviously the gospel of john and we'll get there in a moment is the most clear on this subject but what i want to illustrate for you is this that matthew mark and luke all have clear statements about faith saving you about just simple faith in christ or believing in we have the pictures we have clear statements look at mark chapter one verse 15 and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of god is at hand repent ye and believe the gospel so again christ went around preaching for them to believe the gospel and if we tie this repentance to the previous passage what was that repentance stop trusting in whatever it is you are trusting in to get you to heaven and believe only in jesus christ to get you to heaven go to mark chapter 16 go to mark chapter number 16 for a moment and we'll have another statement here where it's emphasizing that what you believe is what saves you now mark chapter number 16 look at verse 16 the bible says this he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned now here it's saying that if you believe and you're baptized you'd be saved now some people take this statement and they'll say oh you have to be baptized to be saved but notice at the end of this verse it doesn't say if you believe and you're not baptized you won't be saved it just says if you don't believe because it's only the belief that saves you and i'll prove to you that the baptism while it's important in this statement it's not saying you have to be baptized to be saved go if you would to first corinthians chapter one first corinthians chapter one but already the bible's whittled it down even if you thought it was a baptism that saved you it's still not saying here follow all the commandments it's still not saying here turn over a new leaf it's still not saying here do anything other than that but i can show you that the bible also teaches it's not even baptism because believing the gospel has nothing to do with baptism they are separate things look what it says in first corinthians chapter one verse 17 for christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the gospel now that clearly illustrates a very important point that baptism is not the gospel it's a different event now obviously the baptism is based on the gospel it's you know it's it's related to the gospel it's about the gospel but it's not the gospel these things are completely separate it's simply believing the gospel that saves you and after you believe you should follow in baptism as the first step of obedience but even if you're the thief on the cross next to jesus christ and you believe alone you will be saved the bible makes it crystal clear it's just believing the gospel that gets you saved go back to luke go back to luke so we've already seen matthew have clear statements about belief we see mark has clear statements about believing that's what saves you how about luke luke also has clear statements about believing to be saved look at luke chapter 8 verse 12 now this is about the parable of the sower the bible tells the sower is the word so someone's going out and preaching the gospel and he explains what happens how people respond to hearing the word of god being preached it says in verse 12 those by the wayside are they that hear then cometh the devil and taketh away the word out of their hearts notice this phrase lest they should believe and be saved so notice it's making a clear statement here that if you hear the word of god and you believe it what happens you're saved so what does the devil want to do the devil wants to come and take away the word of god out of your heart he wants to stop you from believing the gospel of jesus christ he wants you to stop putting your trust in jesus christ so that you will not be saved and notice that saved there is a past tense word it's not saying that you could be saved you might be saved it's that you are saved because the moment you believe you are saved according to the bible and i don't like this phrase a lot of people say to be saved you have to accept jesus in your heart well here's the thing jesus is the word of god the bible makes it clear in the beginning was the word okay so jesus is the word of god in this verse that we have right here we have people who have jesus in their heart don't they because don't they have the word of god in their heart but are they saved and the answer is no there is a lot of people that can quote bible verses they've heard the word of god before it's down inside they could even reiterate a lot of verses from the bible but the problem is they've never really believed it and because they've never truly believed it they're just not saved i'll run into people they can quote for me john 3 16 that says whosoever believeth in him should not perish but everlasting life and i'll say so what do you have to do to be saved and they say go to church they say be a good person and it's not that they don't have the word of god in their heart it's not that they haven't heard it the problem is they haven't believed it yet they haven't trusted it yet that's why they are not saved now go to john 3 where i just quoted for you let's read that verse again let's look at john the the clearest gospel on this issue would be the gospel of john but i want to make it clear every gospel has verses telling you that salvation is by believing because some people say oh well you have to take the whole of scripture and other passages are teaching that it's by works and so you have to combine it no no no the bible's saying it's only by faith everywhere it's only by believing it's always been by faith and i'm going to show you so many verses that teach it's by faith that you have to be misunderstanding any other passage if you believe it's by works look at john 3 16 again 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 very clear verse very simple the bible's making it clear the only thing you have to do to be saved is believe in him now believing in someone means to trust them it does not simply mean to acknowledge their existence of a vast majority of people on this earth acknowledge jesus christ existence that does not save them it's deciding that all the things that he did for you his death burial and resurrection paid all of your sins that's what it means to believe in him and that's what actually saves you if you think your baptism going to church being a good person gets you to heaven you're not believing in him you're believing in yourself and you're not saved so you have to repent meaning change what you believe in and believe in christ the Pharisees thought they were going to heaven because of what they did them following the law the fact that they're a Pharisee the fact of all their works that they have and what they needed to do was repent meaning change their mind and believe in christ and in fact this passage john three you know who jesus christ is talking to a Pharisee look at verse number one there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus a ruler of the jews so this guy is you know in the world's eyes the most righteous person on the planet he's already repented of his sins he's already trying to live a righteous life so-called as it were but notice what christ is telling him to do believe in jesus not to believe in himself not to believe in the things that he does and look no matter how much you try to clean up your life you will never ever get to heaven that way you have to believe in jesus now look at the verse before verse 16 see if it says something different that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life isn't that the exact same thing look at verse 18 he that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of god one person believes in christ and is saved the other person does not believe and they're not saved it's that simple look at verse 36 he that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life that's present tense and he that believeth not the sun shall not see life but the wrath of god abided on him the bible makes it clear there's only two people in the world someone is trusting that jesus christ's death burial and resurrection is what's going to take them to heaven and then people who trust anything else and if you mix anything else with what christ did for you you're also not saved it's that simple it's a one-time trusting in what christ did for you that saves you look at john chapter 5 verse 24 barely barely i stand you he that heareth my word and believeth on him that send me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death and life so again the bible's saying once you believe you can't even come into future condemnation because a lot of people ask this question all right pastor cell you're saying if i believe in christ i'll get to heaven but what if i sin what if i lie what if i steal what if i cheat what if i commit murder you know that's probably the worst thing you could even dream up committing murder the bible says that you shall not come into condemnation why because you've been passed from death unto life you currently have everlasting life there's no future condemnation you can enter into because what christ did truly paid all of your sins to say that i'm going to come into future condemnation is to say that christ did not pay all of my sins is to deny what jesus christ did for me is to deny the fact that the blood of jesus christ cleanseth us from all sin which is what the bible clearly says he did for us look at john 6 verse 47 the bible says barely barely i say unto you he that believeth on me hath everlasting life so that's present tense again look at john chapter 11 john chapter 11 and look at verse 26 the bible says and whosoever and believeth in me shall never die believeth thou this so notice he's trying to get her to believe in what eternal security why because eternal security is in coordination with the gospel either you believe you're saved forever or you don't understand the gospel because what the gospel emphasizes the fact that once you believe you have everlasting life once you believe all your sins have been forgiven once you believe you become a child of god and so nothing can change that and so what christ is really digging at is he's saying look do you believe this or not if you believe in me you'll never die do you believe that because he's trying to emphasize that jesus christ has done it all he and at this point he's emphasizing that he will do it you know people in the old testament how did they get saved believing that christ would come and pay off their sins us in the new testament we believe what christ did already paid for all of our sins and we're all looking to the exact same event either you're looking to what christ did for you and you're saved or would have done for you if you lived in the old testament or you're just not saved it's that simple it's that clear go to acts chapter eight go to acts chapter number eight and some people say well i just don't know if it's that simple i don't know if it's that quick can someone really just show up and just preach the gospel to somebody quickly and get them saved and the answer is yes and that's the uh model we have for us throughout the entire bible and it makes the most sense if we realize that there's over seven billion people on this planet and our admonition our objective from jesus christ is to go and to preach the gospel to every creature if it took days weeks years to get one person saved we would never be able to accomplish that task but if it's a very short amount of time that it takes to give someone the gospel and get them saved now we actually have the capability of going into all the world and preaching the gospel to getting everybody saved look what it says in acts chapter number eight verse 36 and as they went on their way they came into certain water and the eunuch said see here's water what doth hinder me be baptized so there's a eunuch that's reading the bible he doesn't understand it the bible tells us that philip was told of the holy ghost to come join himself under this man and basically he's asking him if he understands the bible and he says how can i accept some man should guide me now as they're going on their way philip is preaching him the gospel he's telling him that isaiah is about jesus christ about his death burial and resurrection he's reading some of the most famous verses in the bible about jesus christ specifically and so as they're coming on their way this guy says well what's stopping me from getting baptized now that's been a very short amount of time i mean he's basically just preaching the bible he's like i'm ready to get baptized and what did god people today would actually want to get baptized right away what did god people actually follow their faith in baptism but baptism is a picture of someone that's already saved so if they're already saved then there has to have been a way for us to identify if this this person's been saved number one and number two there had to have been a way for us to get this person saved very quickly because this is the same day i mean we don't know how long this has been but this could have been 10 minutes an hour but it's not been very long that this guy has been communicating with this eunuch and let's see what philip's response is verse 37 and philip said if thou believeth with all thine heart thou mayest and he answered and said i believe that jesus christ is the son of god so notice the only requirement to getting baptized is believing in jesus christ and what do we see in mark chapter 16 he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved but he that believeth not shall be damned so according to the bible it's just simple faith that saves you and then obviously we should get baptized but as first corinthians 1 tells us that's not part of the gospel you don't have to in order to be saved it's simple faith in christ that saves us go to acts chapter number 10 acts chapter number 10 now as soon as he's done baptizing him the bible says that the spirit just whistled away he just like vanishes from the guy so he just comes in preaches the gospel gets the guy saved then he baptizes him and then he's gone just in a whirlwind and some people would criticize our church by saying oh you guys just go out and you just preach the gospel to somebody and then just move on to the next door but that's the example that was given to us in the book of acts that's exactly what they were doing they go into a town preach to a bunch of people move to the next town move to the next town and you know i can't force someone to get baptized that wouldn't be a real baptism okay it wouldn't be it wouldn't be as real if i'm like you believe okay grab them and just be like dunk you know like you're baptized no it should be on the person's part that they're willing they want to and that they're heartily deciding that they want to also serve christ and their life but you know what even if they never get baptized at least they'll see them in heaven at least they're going to heaven i mean i've already done the the best thing i can possibly do for this person is getting them saved is helping them believe on the lord jesus christ and again the bible's emphasizing that it was just a simple faith that this guy had that allows him to get baptized that allows him to get into heaven all he did was confess christ he didn't say i'm willing to turn for my sins too notice he didn't tell philip i'm going to turn over a new leaf now hey i'm going to be i'm going to join uh israel no he was still an ethiopian wasn't he he was headed back to ethiopia and and the god the holy spirit didn't even allow philip to then force him or like try to tell him to come to jerusalem or do anything differently why because you don't have to be a part of a physical nation or part of a church or part of a denomination to be saved all you have to do is believe in jesus christ look at acts chapter 10 verse 43 acts chapter 10 verse 43 to him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins notice again the bible is saying the entire bible all of the prophets said one thing that what was that one thing that they were saying that whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission doesn't that sound like john 316 that whosoever believeth in him it's the exact same phrase that's why john 316 is like the most popular verse of human history i mean you go to a football game people are holding signs up with john 316 on them you go to in and out burger which don't get the fries you know what if you get the cup at the bottom of it it says john 316 why because it's the clearest verse and it's the theme throughout the whole bible that whosoever believeth in him is going to be saved okay go if you went to act chapter 13 go to act chapter 13 the bible is so clear on this issue and what's frustrating is that when we go out we run into people all day long and they say i go to this baptist church i go to this church and you ask them what they have to do to be saved and they say be a good person they say follow the commandments they say i don't even know and it's like how is someone coming to a church where the bible has one consistent theme every prophet saying believe in jesus christ every gospel has clear statements about believing in jesus christ yet they have no idea what a shame under that church you know it would be embarrassing to me if a bunch of people from my church were asked how do you get to heaven they're like i don't know be a good person you know i don't really know faithless works that would be a shame under me that would be a shame under my church yet this is what we see when we go out in the world today that the vast majority of churches today their congregation is not even saved they don't even know what the bible says now look i can't force someone to believe that but everyone should realize that's what the bible says whether or not you're saved or not you should realize that's what the bible teaches and you say well why is it that so many people are screwed up on this it's because the majority of pastors are false prophets in this world today they're not saved and because they're not saved they don't understand the bible so whenever they read it it makes no sense to them now look at verse number uh 39 and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of moses so the bible makes it clear that if you believe you're justified from notice this all things and it says from which you could not be justified by the law of moses meaning what there's no commandment that could give you any justification when it comes to salvation you believe all things you've been justified from the law can't justify you in any point in any way it's simply believing that gives you that justification now go to romans chapter one go to romans chapter one for a moment so we've seen matthew we've seen mark we've seen luke we've seen john we've seen acts and what is the theme that we keep seeing believe faith salvations by faith by trusting by believing it's always by believing it's always been by believing and there's also other doctrines that we can learn in these chapters but i'm showing you the bible is very consistent and then when we get in the book of romans it even becomes more clear and keeps hitting the same points look at romans chapter 1 verse 16 for i'm not ashamed of the gospel of christ for it is the power of god unto salvation so he's saying the gospel is what saves us the gospel has the power to save us and you say well how do i get that to everyone that believeth it's that clear you believe and you get that power to be saved by the gospel of jesus christ it says to the jew first and also to the greek for therein is the righteousness of god revealed from faith to faith as it is written the just shall live by faith so the bible hammers the fact that salvation is only by faith and it's accessed by anyone who believes to everyone that believes whosoever believeth in him now go if you would to chapter two and look at verse number 21 i'm sorry i meant chapter three look at chapter three and look at verse 21 but now the righteousness of god without the law is manifested being witnessed by the law and the prophets even the righteousness of god which is by faith of jesus christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference so notice again he's saying i get god's righteousness through what through believing it says it comes upon anybody who believes and it's by faith of jesus christ so the bible is defining for you what faith means faith means believe believe means faith also in ephesians the bible tells us that it also means trust and so all three of these words are synonyms faith believe trust other things you could think of as confidence or a reliance you know we're putting our reliance in jesus christ our trust our confidence our faith believing and the bible use these words interchangeably to illustrate the same fact that it's our faith in christ that saves us not our works let's keep reading and see this look at verse 23 for all of sin it comes short of the glory of god being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in christ jesus whom god has set forth to be a propitiation through faith and his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of god so the bible says what saves us is faith in his blood whose blood jesus's blood okay now what's an important point here is it says to declare his righteousness so whose righteousness do i declare to get salvation jesus but if i say well i'm going to heaven because i go to church i'm a good person i read the bible i got baptized whose righteousness is my declaring i'm declaring my righteousness and i don't have that righteousness look what it says in verse 10 as it is written there is none righteous no not one so notice if i try to declare my righteousness god will look at me and say you're not righteous but if i declare christ's righteousness then he will give me that righteousness through faith and i have imputed righteousness as the bible describes it i'll show you that in a minute but the bible makes it clear i get jesus christ's righteousness or i have none that's it and it's not through works that i've done it it's not through effort it's not through something i just really desire to serve god it was simply by trusting in what he did for me it says in verse 26 to declare i say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in jesus so the only one that's just is god the only one that's just is jesus and the only person that can be just is someone who believes in jesus not anybody that did anything special worked their way did anything right you would say verse 27 where is boasting then he's saying well then how can you brag you can't there is no bragging and being saved if you're saved it was a gift it was free all you did was believe in jesus any kind of bragging any kind of boasting illustrates the fact that person's not saved because they don't understand that the gospel is simply his righteousness not our own it says it is excluded by what law of works nay but by the law of faith therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law so you can technically do nothing good your entire life and believe in christ and go to heaven that's how clear the gospel is that's how simple the gospel is and it even says it more look at verse three of chapter four for what sayeth the scripture so it's going to tell you what the bible says okay let the bible tell you what the bible says all right he says abraham believed god and it was counted unto him for righteousness so why is abraham considered a righteous person was it based on his lifestyle was it based on the fact that abraham went around lying about the fact that he wasn't married to his wife was that his righteousness is that what made abraham such a good guy or was it the fact that he believed in god or is the fact that he had trust in the lord jesus christ and that's what gave him righteousness the bible says that's what gave him righteousness it says in verse four 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 justified the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness so the bible says if salvation has anything to do with work then god would owe it to you for the works that you've done somehow god would become a debtor but the bible says it's only by grace meaning i could never earn it it's not something god owes me i can only receive it by his unmerited favor unmerited means undeserved i didn't do anything to earn it or work for it it even takes it to an extreme here in verse 5 saying but to him that worketh not meaning someone that never did any good works nothing good in their life but believed on him that justified the ungodly his faith is kind of righteousness so i could honestly be the worst person on the planet and if i believed in christ i would be saved is what the bible says verse 6 even as david also described the blessings of the man under god and puteth righteousness without works without works notice what he's saying that it comes to you without any kind of works why because faith is not works they're not the same word they have completely different definitions they have completely different understandings whereas people again will conflate faith with faithful or being faith having faithfulness that is works okay but faith is trust and confidence in the lord jesus christ we never want to mix these two because when you mix them you're not saved look at romans chapter 5 verse 1 therefore being justified by faith we have peace with god through our lord jesus christ so i've just illustrated for you dozens and dozens and dozens of places in the bible where it clearly says salvation is by faith it's through faith it's whosoever believes believes believes it i even showed you passages where the bible's saying every old testament prophet said it was just by believing i just showed you here in romans he's saying what is the scripture saying it's just by believing yet so many people today are just not saved and they don't understand this point and you really have to ask this question why i'll tell you why it's because of false prophets okay now go forward to titus chapter three for a moment go to titus chapter number three there's a lot of false teachers out there unfortunately the bible says they're the majority and when you read the bible and you study it it's always the majority the it's never a majority of good preachers or great men of god it's usually one or maybe a handful and they're usually faced off with hundreds you know when elijah came on the scene he had to kill 400 plus profits of bail you know that's a lot think about that ratio one to 400 and it's crazy because i looked up statistics in the dallas fort worth area and and this is any area but i looked up specifically our area you can go to a website it's like the southern baptist convention i don't remember that's the exact title you go to the southern baptist convention's main website and you can look up churches in your area well i put in a zip code for like the central area of dallas fort worth and you can say like what area radius you want to look in i put in a 50 mile radius okay so a 50 mile radius of like a center point of vfw it basically goes down into like it's like midlothian dentin you know it kind of just encompasses all of dallas fort worth and just kind of those areas they said that there's over 1600 southern baptist churches 1600 and i looked in all other areas we are the most saturated by far i mean you look at areas like la and it was in the hundreds you look in new york hundreds and new york has like 20 million people okay they're like almost triple the size of the area that we live in yet this area is so saturated with so many baptist churches and so much you would think that when we go out everybody be saved you think everybody's heard the gospel you would think everybody knows how to get to heaven and you say so what's the problem it's because they're filled with false prophets today they're filled with false teachers today and even outside of baptist circles today you go to the non-denominational churches you go to the methodist churches you go to all these other churches they also are teaching salvation is not simple faith in christ but it works see how do you know that pastor shelley we'll ask anybody in this room that goes out so many because we we run into every church and we run into the methodist he says it's works you run into the catholic works you're under the non-denominational works you run into a lot of baptists works today and it's sad and it's frustrating but the bible has a clear statement here look what it says in titus chapter 3 verse 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost the bible says it's not of works now because the bible makes all these so many clear statements people will say both then because they they realize that the bible says this so like well it's not by works it's by faith and you're like okay so then what does that mean well it's serving him your whole life and it's like that's works it's like they just don't they twist the definition of faith because the bible's so clear it's not of works it's so clear it's by faith that these people have to be fed a false narrative of what faith looks like now i've gathered together a couple articles and a couple quotes here from people how what do they say okay now there's a website called got questions.org and got questions.org is one of the most popular websites when it comes to any question regarding the bible because if you type in a question about the word of god it's usually one of the top results no matter what you ask now this is what they say on this question specifically about salvation by faith they say a genuine salvation experience by faith in Jesus Christ will inevitably result in good works and they quote Ephesians 2 10 it says the works are the demonstration and proof of faith James 2 18 a faith without works is useless James 2 20 and dead James 2 17 in other words it is not true faith at all salvation is by faith alone but that faith will never be alone now go to James 2 for a moment okay because it's funny because in their quote they said James 2 17 okay and i've heard this phrase from a lot of people they say oh salvation is by faith but that faith is never alone and then they quote James 2 okay now just let's read this verse and then think about how ironic the statement is okay look at James 2 verse 17 even so faith if it hath not works is dead being alone the bible says that faith without works is alone and they're telling you that this verse just doesn't even mean anything they literally quote this verse and then tell you that faith can never be alone when the bible says that it can be alone it's saying if faith doesn't have works it is alone you know what that proves that faith and works are different because if i can have one without the other it's because they're different they're trying to create a narrative where they could never be different because they want to teach that faith is works that's what they're basically trying to teach here and look i believe James 2 all day long and this is probably the most common passage if someone is not saved and they believe salvation's by works they always bring up James 2 i mean it's just they pair faith that works is dead faith that works is dead but you know what that would have to discount every single passage i've already shown you i mean am i really gonna say that every single verse i've seen where it's saying like every single prophet what is the scripture saying what is matthew mark luke john saying what is act saying what is roman saying or is it possible that you're just wrong about one passage right is it possible that i'm right about the 9000 passages i showed you and you're wrong about one or that i'm wrong about the thousands of passages of clear statements and you're right about one passage okay well let's just slow down and read James 2 for a moment and talk about this because look people that believe it's by works are usually caught on something like James 2 or they believe James 2 teaches something different but it does not look at James chapter 2 verse 14 what does it profit my brethren though man say he hath faith and have not works can faith save him verse 15 of a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say unto them depart in peace be warmed and filled notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body what does it profit even so faith if that not works is dead being alone so it's saying if someone walks in to our church and does not have food they don't have clothing and i look at them and i say i believe god is going to provide for you but then i don't help them the bible is just saying how is that going to end up profiting this guy he's saying if every christian all they do is just believe god's going to help someone but they never actually help someone in their life it's saying what's the point in that the point is for us to also exercise our faith by being their answer to prayer by then providing them the food by them going out and clothing them and doing good unto them and if i don't then i have a faith that's alone and that faith is dead because it didn't profit anybody anything if i never help anybody if i do no works how is that going to profit anyone it won't profit anyone anything therefore i need to also have works in my life i also need to not just believe in jesus christ and be saved i need to also not just believe god's going to help people i need to help people that's real clear and it seems like pretty needful preaching right saying don't just you know say you're going to help people why don't you actually do it don't just say you believe god's going to help this guy why don't you just be the answer to their prayer and do it okay if you look at verse 14 again what doth it profit my brethren though man say you have faith and have not works can faith save him so you could interpret this a couple of different ways but first of all if i don't help that guy i just had the faith but no works did it profit him no did it save him no did it save him when he was hungry did it save him when he was needing of clothing no and here's another way you could look at this if i have faith but i don't have any works is that going to save me from god being displeased with me or punishing me no so i need to have both faith and works for any way you look at this verse look at what it says in verse 18 yay 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 so the apostle or james and the you know basically the author of this book is trying to tell us you know instead of telling us how godly you are instead of going around proclaiming the faith that you have why don't you just exercise that faith you know instead of me getting up here and pontificating about how i believe god's going to save people why don't i just go out and preach the gospel and get people saved right and he's saying you want to seize people that actually believe someone's going to get saved by preaching the gospel then you're going to be going out and preaching the gospel what sense does it make if i get up here and say i believe if you preach the gospel people they'll get saved but then i never do it kind of hard to convince me that you actually believe that right whereas the person that's actually going out and preaching the gospel and getting people saved we don't even have to ask him do you believe people get saved by preaching the gospel they're evidencing the fact that they believe that by what they do okay so that's what the bible is emphasizing here it says in verse 19 thou believeth that there is one god thou doest well the devils also believe and tremble but wilt thou know of a man that faith without works is dead so it's saying just believing god exists does nothing he says the devils believe look someone who does not believe that god exists is a fool is what the bible says the fool has said in his heart there is no god is what the bible says and look the dumbest person on the planet is an atheist today the person that says there's no god is denying all reality all science everything they can see with their eyes all the cognitive thinking that they have we all know that there's a god on this planet but you know what even the devil believes that there's a god but that doesn't make him saved what makes someone saved is trusting in the death burial and resurrection of jesus christ that's what saves you and he's saying there's no point in just believing the promises of god without actually doing them in the sense that it's not going to profit other people it's not going to be beneficial to them verse 21 was not abraham our father justified by works when he'd offered isaac a son upon the altar now let's pause for a moment in this passage have we brought up eternal life have we brought up going to heaven have you brought up salvation in any context no i mean we're we're not having that in view here we're talking about in the earlier part of the chapter not being respected person in the middle portion of the chapter helping people that are in need okay he's not saying what must i do to go to be saved he's not saying this is how you have eternal life that's not even in the context of this chapter it's nothing about that so maybe this justification is about something else now submit to you that it has to be when we compare it with other verses keep your finger here and go to ephesians chapter 2 again was not abraham our father justified by works is that talking about justification to go to heaven well let's see if the bible says something about justification by works in other places which we've already read ephesians chapter 2 look at verse number 8 for by grace be saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of god not of works so if the bible says it's not of works in this chapter as far as being saved going to heaven getting the gift of god then there's no way that james 2 21 is about the gift of god salvation or going to heaven right go to romans chapter 4 go back to romans chapter 4 well i don't know if that's you know in the same context of abraham well let's go where it's the exact same context as abraham romans chapter 4 look at verse number 1 what shall we say then that abraham our father as pertaining the flesh has found for if abraham were justified by works he hath were of the glory but not before god for what sayeth the scripture abraham believed god and it was counted unto him for righteousness so the bible makes it abundantly clear he wasn't justified by works when we're in the context of salvation we're in the context of going to heaven we're in the context of what he had found you know what otherwise you could brag about being saved but we already show in ephesians chapter 2 lest no man should boast okay lest any man should boast we already see that we're declaring his righteousness and the bible said where is boasting then it is excluded so it's saying if salvation whereby works you could brag about it but you cannot brag about it go back to james chapter 2 go back to james chapter number 2 so if you actually believe the bible today if you actually believe that god's not contradicting himself left and right then you have to realize that james 2 is a different context here of justification and it is now look at verse 22 see is that how faith wrought with his works and by works was faith made perfect now again if it has here faith is being wrought with his works that has to be two different things because you can't mix the same thing together it's the same thing so he's obviously mixing two different components two completely different things together and he's saying your works improve your faith or complete your faith verse 23 and the scripture was fulfilled which saith abraham believed god and it was imputed unto him for righteousness now doesn't that say the exact same thing we read in romans chapter 4 that abraham believed god and that's what actually gave him salvation that's what actually gave him righteousness it is but it also has another statement here and and he was called the friend of god so not only is abraham saved he was also god's friend he was also a great man of god well why was abraham god's friend why was abraham a good man of god well you see verse 24 you see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only so you know being saved is simple faith in christ but if you want to be god's friend that's through your works that's through following his commandments doing right just like every friendship you have what is your friendship predicated on isn't it based on how they treat you i mean are you really going to be friends with people that hate you are you going to be friends with people that have signs that they're waving out to the public saying how much they hate you and lying and slandering about is that going to be your friends or are you going to be friends with people that are nice to you kind to you doing good unto you so the same is with god you want to be god's friend you follow his commandments you do that which is right you pray you go to church you read the bible and and that's what justifies you in the sense that you're god's friend right that's the whole point of james chapter 2 is doing works to what perfect your faith and to improve your christian life but the book of james is written to the brethren the book of james is written to people that are already saved yet false prophets and false teachers all day long want to rip verses out of these passages to teach a works-based salvation and they deny all the clear passages in the bible go back to john chapter one for a moment go to john chapter one so got questions.org is a wicked website and let me tell you what they're calvinist which is also a wicked false doctrine they don't believe in salvation by faith alone no matter how much they may say it they twist the definition of faith into being a works-based salvation and that is a bad website to get any answer to any question i only ever look up what they have to say as uh basically a proof text of what not to believe you know i try to print out what they say so as i know what the enemy's saying or what devils are saying so i can preach against it but i'm not ever looking up any question that i have and wanting to know what they say and actually believing it because if you're wrong about salvation you're wrong about everything you know they they're always wrong about something else and they always twist or pervert something else and so you don't want to learn from someone that doesn't even have salvation right okay here's another website i looked up catholic answers and look catholics are not saved it's not even a question okay i run into catholics all the time but catholics realize how off they are from the bible so again they have to try and twist everything in the bible to try and fit their narrative and i've heard catholics say salvation by faith alone but you as a soul winner don't be naive don't think like oh wow i met a catholic and he saved it's like no they're not saved they don't believe what you're what you believe okay you have to ask other questions you have to drill down a little bit you have to ask a few more things what that means by faith okay here's what catholic answer says we affirm that trust in christ is essential to salvation so they're like hey trust in christ is what's essential it sounds good but our faith in and confession of christ a one-time event or our faith and verbal confession necessary for one's entire life we believe the bible teaches that one cannot just profess faith once and then be eternally secure as it were one must live out this faith by a life of obedience and good works so they're saying oh it's just faith but that faith is obedience and good works because they conflate the two and they say it's not a one-time event well then how did philip know to get that guy baptized because wasn't that a one-time confession of christ how could you know anybody saved you couldn't know anything you couldn't even know if you're saved that's why catholics have no idea if they're safe that's why they go to confession every single week i literally ran into an archbishop he was my neighbor at one point in time i talked to him about salvation and i said are you sure you're going to heaven and he says yes i had a good confession today because they believe it's a lifestyle of confession and repentance and good works and you know what it's sad it's sad that these people are trying so hard to get saved and they never will that way that they have to humble themselves and accept christ and look the bible teaches it's a moment in time it's a one-time event look at john 112 but as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of god even to them that believe on his name which were born now is birth a lifestyle or a moment in time praise the lord it's a moment in time it's not a lifestyle okay it's not like i'm still being born you know i still have the umbilical cord it's been cut you know it's not this long drawn out process that's why the bible is using pictures like being born again or birth to illustrate salvation because it's a one-time event and after birth you cannot change anything about that birth you can't change who your mom is you can't change who your dad is you can't change the fact that you're a son it doesn't matter you're sealed in time as their child if they die you die it does not matter you are their child and the same is spiritually the moment you're spiritually born you are god's child no matter what but you have to become his child you do not start his child you can only become a child of god by believing in him and that's what the bible is clearly teaching some people have been born a different way they become a child of the devil now go to first john chapter three let me show you a few verses here but again the bible makes it clear it's a one-time event and once you believe you are his child look at some present tense statements here first john chapter three look at verse number two beloved now are we the sons of god notice what the bible says we are the sons of god so it already happened meaning what i can look back to a past event of me being born again that's why catholics don't like that phrase of being born again because it illustrates a one-time event doesn't it and we're we're children of god we already are children of god catholics will teach everybody's a child of god and they deny look at this verse verse 10 in this the children of god are manifest and the children of the devil look there are people on this planet that are children of the devil and you say where without the church the bible says without our dogs and you know it's not a popular doctrine but you know what the people that hate god the children of the devil they're going to attack the children of god and it's manifest manifest means obvious it means that it's really clear it's not something to be confused and look who the children of the devil are it's really clear it's all the people standing outside look this group out here you know what they say they say they're atheists witches pagans homos it's like who are the children of the devil uh witches pagans fags that's the children of the devil and you say that seems really clear yes that's what the bible teaches and you say well who are the children of the god look at all the normal people in this room look at all the normal you know men and women and children and people that actually love god and believe on the lord jesus christ and you know what's the biggest difference between us and them i believe in jesus christ and they don't that's the biggest difference that's the only reason i'm saved i'm not better than them there's nothing about me that makes me better than them what makes me better than them is my faith in christ what makes me better than them is christ in me but it's not by works of righteousness which we have done it's by his mercy that he saved us and it's just the fact that they hate jesus they hate god that's why they have all these signs blaspheming jesus that's why literally some of those protesters they've literally had signs calling jesus a homo they've literally had signs calling god the father a homo they literally have signs blaspheming the bible god and then they say we're christian what they're so wicked and so evil and then it's it's it's sick how christians will drive by and they want to sympathize for them they want to love the children of the devil look you believe in jesus christ and you're a child of god and the children of the devil they're also just as obvious okay look at chapter five verse number one whosoever believeth that jesus is the christ is born of god and everyone that loveth him that begat loveth them also that is begotten of him by this we know that we love the children of god when we love god and keep his commandments so look in order for this diversity to be true there has to be children of god and because there's children of god we can love them and we can fellowship with them we are now the children of god because there's a one-time event and obviously the bible has other doctrines and information for us we have to realize that there's some people that are of the devil go to john chapter eight john chapter number eight and that's why it's important to believe in jesus now the fact that it's a one-time event stresses this important fact you need to believe now if you are not saved if you are not a child of god you need to get saved now because it is a moment in time and you're not afforded tomorrow god doesn't promise you a morrow god doesn't promise you another second on this planet okay and you don't want to become a child of the devil by rejecting the clear gift of salvation once it's been made clear to you that salvation is just by faith once it's been clear to you it's just believing in jesus christ you better believe now while you actually can understand that because you can get to a point where god literally destroys your mind and you'll never believe the pharisees got to this point the bible says he had hardened their hearts and blinded their eyes and they would not believe in him the bible makes it clear there's people on this planet that will never believe in him okay and what are they well look at john chapter 8 verse 44 year of your father the devil and the lust of your father you will do he was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own for he is a liar and the father of it the children of the devil are the biggest liars today they're hypocrites they're deceitful they're flatterers they don't mean anything that they say and they're really frustrating to get along with why because all they do is lie to you they lie to themselves and they're just a bunch of liars they hate the truth jesus christ said i'm the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the father but by me if you're not saved you need to get saved now and anybody that's hearing this message has been made abundantly clear what you have to do go to romans chapter 5 you say well i'm still unclear then ask anybody in this room how to get saved then just ask somebody to say hey i heard this message and i just want to make sure i'm a child of god can you show me and i guarantee the vast majority if not almost every person in this room can open the bible and show you exactly how to be saved and you can take care of it right now today could be your spiritual birthday if you're not already there and you know what call or email our church we'd love to help you become born again and become a child of god it's simple it's easy it's just by believing what makes it hard is all the false prophets out there what makes it hard is all the lies out there what makes it hard is the pride in your heart wanting you to stop from believing in jesus look at romans chapter 5 verse 11 and not only so but we also join god through our lord jesus christ by whom we have now received the atonement you know the bible says now is the day of salvation you know the bible says what must they do to be saved believe on the lord jesus christ and thou shalt be saved and that saved as a d at the end because it's done now i brought up baptist for this reason the southern baptist convention their doctrinal statement they all point to is the baptist faith in message 2000 and this is what it says it says regeneration or the new birth isn't that what we've been talking about being born again being a child of god says the work of god's grace whereby believers become new creatures in christ jesus it is a change of heart wrought by the holy spirit through conviction of sin to which the sinner responds in repentance toward god and faith in the lord jesus christ repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace repentance is a genuine turning from sin to god faith is the acceptance of jesus christ and commitment of the entire personality to him as lord and savior so they're saying in order to be saved you have to repent of your sins genuinely genuinely i would love to know who has stopped having a foolish thought who has never looked upon anybody with lust who's never is done lying who's done doing anything wrong you've never been disobedient your parents that person's a liar that person has never genuinely turned away from all their sin repent of all this it's impossible they're literally adding the most hardcore works to salvation that's why when i go out and i knock on doors of baptists today they sell me that salvation's by works they say it's impossible to be saved if you don't have all the works it's impossible to not be living a great life and be in be saved somehow or they say it's not just professing you know your faith in christ that saves you did you really turn from all your sins why because they're pointing to their works to be saved and they have leaders like jd greer the false prophet getting up and telling them the same thing in fact jd greer who's the ex-former president of the southern baptist convention i think his term expired this is what he says about john 316 i'm sorry john 336 john we already read this passage and in your king james bible it makes it clear that it's if you believe in him you have everlasting life and he who believes not but this is what he says a more literal translation of john 336 render the two categories of that verse he who believes and he who does not obey the interchange of believe and obey is helpful it shows us that belief and obedience are in a way synonyms he says that it's synonyms go to romans chapter nine for a moment go to romans chapter number nine you know what the the title of his book is that i got this quote from stop asking jesus into your heart it's like this guy's literally attacking the gospel in plain sight and people it just goes over people's heads all the southern baptists elected this guy as their president last year this guy who literally is denying salvation by faith their doctrinal statement as a group is saying you have to repent of your sins to be saved a genuine turning weight from your sins that's not what the bible says look at romans chapter 9 look at verse 31 but israel which followed after the law of righteousness hath not attained to the law of righteousness wherefore because they sought it not by faith but as it were by the works of the law so they say look they didn't get it because they didn't do faith they did works meaning that the obedience in the works is not the faith if they had sought it by faith they would have gotten saved but because they went by obedience and works they were not saved and look jd greer is not saved and his followers are not saved because they're seeking the righteousness of god by works by obedience rather than by faith in jesus christ here's some other quotes from this stupid book repentance is belief in action he says faith is belief in action he says faith starts with mental assent but if this mental assent does not lead to obedience it is not yet faith he's making it clear what is he doing he's twisting the definition of what word faith so that when i ask somebody is salvation by faith they can say yes but in their heart in their mind they believe it's works the devil is a subtle beast is what the bible says and he wants to try and twist the definition of words so as to damn people to hell here's another wicked false prophet robert morris of gateway and it is the largest church in this area it's arguably the largest church in america okay and this guy has got up and he says well if jesus isn't lord of all he's not lord at all who's heard that statement before that is a stupid statement let me prove this why this is so stupid go to psalms two for a moment okay go to psalms chapter two for a moment whether you make jesus lord or not he is the lord number one number two you can't make anyone lord you don't have any power you are powerless okay and making someone lord jesus is the lord period someone who is a god-hating atheist you know who is their lord jesus it doesn't matter if they make him the lord you can't make him your lord that it's like when i go to work i'm not making my boss my boss by obeying him he's my boss and if i don't obey my boss he'll fire me because he's my boss it's not like if i disobey my boss at work and he's like you're fired i'm like why didn't make you my boss so see it doesn't matter no they're gonna throw you out because he's the boss whether you make him the boss or not whether you obey him or not it's so stupid look at psalms chapter two verse one why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the lord and against his anointed saying let us break their bands asunder and cast away their courts from us he that said in the heavens shall laugh the lord shall have them in derision then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sword displeasure yet if i set my king upon my holy hill as i am so he's like oh you don't want him to be your king i'm gonna laugh in your face and still make him the king whether you make him king or not he's king and you know he's laughing at all these people that say well if he's not lord of all then he's not lord at all it's like he's the lord period you fool go to acts chapter two let me show you again you don't make jesus lord he is the lord and if anybody makes him lord it's god the father okay it's not you that makes him lord let's look at this bible says in acts chapter 2 verse 36 acts chapter 2 verse 36 therefore let all the house of israel know assuredly that god hath made that same jesus whom ye have crucified both lord and christ so notice who makes jesus lord god and the people that rejected him he was still their lord god still made him the lord he's still the christ whether you accept that or not whether you obey christ or not has no impact on if you're going to heaven you can't make him the lord and people that teach that are teaching a works-based salvation go to matthew 7 and i'm almost finished this morning but we need to go out and champion this doctrine and we need to go out and shout this from the thunder top or from the house tops we need to go and make it clear that these false prophets are leading people to hell today and robert morris is going to be the people here in matthew chapter number seven that think they're saved by their works that are not let me give you a few more quotes from robert morris he said in order to be saved you have to give control of your life well all i know is we're all going to hell that's true because no one in this room has given their their entire life is control to jesus you don't obey him in every area of your life neither do i that's silly we should try but even at your best efforts you will never ever be perfect he says this is how you know if you're saved or not who's the boss he said if you're still in charge you are going to go to hell so let me ask you a question did you read your bible yesterday because if you didn't you're going to hell did you pray did you pray every day last week and read your bible every single day last week because if you didn't according to robert morris you're going to hell because he's saying if you're still the boss are you making any decision here think do you have free will because that would mean you're not saved either he's basically attacking i'm not a slave i don't just like magically just serve god regardless of my own will i'm not just like ready to serve god today i will read bible i will pray i worship him i worship him no that's a calvinist view of who god is and it's wicked you are still in the driver's seat and you can literally drive your car off the cliff and god will still take you to heaven because it's not about how faithful you are it's not about how obedient you are the people that think it's obedience are going to stand before christ and be rejected look at matthew chapter 7 in verse number 21 not everyone that saith unto me lord lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven but he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven many will say to me in that day lord lord have we not prophesied thy name and thy name who cast out devils and thy name to many wonderful works and then will i profess in them i never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity so i see a group of people they think they're going to heaven why because of their wonderful works but christ is going to reject them and say i never knew you he didn't say well you were doing pretty good and then you got off the wrong track he's saying never they were never on the right track and people look at this and say how do you believe salvation by faith alone with matthew 7 these people never mentioned faith they never mentioned believing in jesus they didn't bring up hey salvation was uh by believing in christ why aren't you letting me in heaven they're saying look what i did i preached i prophesied i cast out devils i did all these wonderful works and you know what robert morris is going to stand and look at jesus in the eye and he's going to say i preached and he's going to say i never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity go to john chapter 20 is the last place i've returned john chapter 20 i'll read from second gryntheus chapter 11 the bible says in verse 3 i i fear lest by any means as the serpent beguiled eve through his subtlety so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in christ the bible says that salvation is simple and the pharisees they were willing to justify themselves we have to realize that salvation is not justifying ourselves it's justifying christ he's the one that's just he's the one that was obedient he's the one that was faithful we don't have to be faithful to be saved we just have to have simple faith and jesus christ and and when you go out and you talk to people you need to help them understand that there's a difference between simple faith in christ and being faithful for your entire life those are completely different things obviously the bible teaches both but to be saved it's only that faith in christ that saves us and and the gospel of john is our best uh basic book that's telling us this truth and look how it's ending it's telling us what the purpose of the book of john is it says in john chapter 20 verse 30 and many other signs truly to jesus in the presence of disciples which are not written in this book but these are written that you might believe that jesus is the christ the son of god and that believing you might have life through his name when you understand the bible is written so that we can use it to show people it's just faith in christ and if all they do is believe in jesus they're going to have life through his name let's go in prayer thank you heavenly father so much for giving us this free gift of eternal life and salvation just by faith i pray that we would never mix up works with faith that we would never pervert the definition of faith and that all those false prophets and false teachers that are mixing these two that we could expose them that we could show people that salvation is just a free gift that all they have to do is put their trust in christ and that they can know that they're a child of god they can know they have eternal life that they can know they're on their way to heaven and that they wouldn't be confused any longer and in jesus name we pray amen all right for the final song song number 389 song number 389 bring them in a song number 389 bring them in astray bring the wonder to jesus bring the lost ones to the fall where they'll be shot through rock and roll bring them in, bring them in bring them in in the cause of sin bring them in, bring them in bring the wonder to jesus out in the desert hear their cry out on the mountains wild and high artist and master speaks to me go find my sheep, give them the key bring them in, bring them in bring them in in the cause of sin bring them in, bring them in bring the wonder to jesus amen you are dismissed god bless have a good day thank you