1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,160 To start on page 12, because repentance and faith go hand in 2 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:09,000 hand and you know, we're not we're not trying to this, this 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:13,080 is actually really it was it was this church there in Australia, 4 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:16,040 it's called Northside Baptist Church and Pastor Simeon Western 5 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:18,480 is the pastor there. I met them in Israel. 6 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:20,640 I say them because his brother was there as well. 7 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:24,000 And so got to spend some time with him and meet his wife. 8 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:26,520 And then I spent some time with his brother and met his wife. 9 00:00:26,520 --> 00:00:32,040 And Pastor Simeon has eight kids and Pastor Dan has five. 10 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:34,240 I think there's a lot of, a lot of big families in the church. 11 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:36,800 It was great to see a bunch of kids and, and young people 12 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:39,920 running around. But, you know, they, they, I 13 00:00:39,920 --> 00:00:42,400 think, have a very balanced approach to this as well, 14 00:00:42,400 --> 00:00:45,800 because we're not trying to make it impossible for people to get 15 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:49,400 saved, which I think it can kind of turn into that sometimes 16 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:53,240 when, you know, the whole idea of repentance, you know, there's 17 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:55,760 got to be repentance and there does have to be repentance. 18 00:00:56,160 --> 00:00:58,880 But I think sometimes, you know, there's a ditch on both sides of 19 00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:02,080 the road where some people are so loose with it that there's no 20 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:04,280 mention of repentance at all. And then some people are so 21 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:07,040 strict with it that, you know, nobody can get saved unless 22 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:09,640 they've been through a, you know, 30 week course on how to 23 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:12,280 be saved and everything else. And so, you know, it kind of 24 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:15,960 takes out the idea that God could convict somebody and you 25 00:01:15,960 --> 00:01:18,760 can sit down with them and go through the gospel with them for 26 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:21,440 an hour and they can get saved. It's possible, right? 27 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:24,560 So we're not, we're not just, we're not trying to make it so 28 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:28,280 hard to be saved that nobody can, but we're just trying to be 29 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:30,720 very careful and make sure that we go through these things and 30 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:32,000 make sure that people understand it. 31 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:35,160 What we're running into with a lot of people today, especially, 32 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:38,720 and Steven Anderson is not the one that started it, but he's 33 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:42,400 the one that really has propagated this idea a lot that 34 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:46,480 that salvation is just a change from unbelief to belief. 35 00:01:47,160 --> 00:01:50,160 And, and that's part of it, but you're missing a huge part. 36 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:53,640 And they, they just, you know, the idea of biblical repentance 37 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:56,320 to them, they, they essentially just completely throw it out 38 00:01:56,680 --> 00:02:00,240 because biblical repentance is works and it's not works. 39 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:04,440 But every time we see somebody get saved in the Bible, it, it 40 00:02:04,440 --> 00:02:06,600 resulted in a change in their life. 41 00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:10,560 And oh, well, the book of John doesn't mention the idea of 42 00:02:10,560 --> 00:02:12,880 repentance at all. Well, I think it's a foolish 43 00:02:12,880 --> 00:02:15,440 argument because when you say the book of John doesn't mention 44 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:18,080 repentance, OK, then let's just throw it out completely. 45 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:20,080 That's kind of their argument with it. 46 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:22,160 Well, you find it in the whole rest of the New Testament, 47 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:23,480 right? And it's, and in fact, it's 48 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:26,480 commanded repent. So you have to include 49 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:28,880 repentance and salvation or it's not salvation. 50 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:34,400 But in Acts chapter 20 and verse #21 this is the verse that we 51 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:37,440 looked at all the way through the idea of repentance, 52 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:41,880 testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance 53 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:45,040 towards God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. 54 00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:47,840 So both of them are necessary. You have to have repentance and 55 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:51,480 you have to have faith. So going back to what repentance 56 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:54,680 is, and we talked about what it was not, but to just kind of 57 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:57,120 summarize that again, that we're on page 12. 58 00:02:57,120 --> 00:02:59,880 If you have your book, we'll only just do this for a second 59 00:02:59,880 --> 00:03:02,680 to, to review. But repentance is admitting that 60 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:05,760 I've sinned against God and being sorry for that, right? 61 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:10,640 It's not, it's not reformation. It's it's not just a change. 62 00:03:10,640 --> 00:03:13,640 That would be a work. And many people have turned 63 00:03:13,640 --> 00:03:15,640 their lives around that never got saved. 64 00:03:15,640 --> 00:03:18,160 That's not repentance. Repentance is recognizing that I 65 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:20,040 have sinned against God. I'm being sorry for that. 66 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:24,120 Repentance means to turn around or to change the direction. 67 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:26,960 It means to surrender to God's rule. 68 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:30,200 It means it's not a change of life if it's, it's a change of 69 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:33,600 mind about God and sin that results in a change of life. 70 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:37,200 It's and then we, we kind of looked at those ideas from a 71 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:40,360 couple quotes there on page 13. Repentance is an assassin laying 72 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:42,960 down his knife. Repentance is a thief returning 73 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:45,320 the stolen property. That's just those are things 74 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:48,240 that that are a result of understanding that you are a 75 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:51,200 Sinner, understanding that your sin is sending you to hell, 76 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:54,400 understanding that you need a Savior to save you from that 77 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:58,400 and, and wanting to not sin again, right. 78 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:01,760 There's a lot of people and you know, I think we're going to 79 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:03,600 talk a little bit about some of this tonight. 80 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:06,560 But you look even at even there on page 13 with the 81 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:10,160 Thessalonians, they turn to God from idols to serve the living 82 00:04:10,600 --> 00:04:13,840 and true God, right. There's a there's a turning away 83 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:18,000 from the things that are putting that, that that put that, that 84 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:25,680 are things above making Christ Lord in your life and, and just 85 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:28,640 the idea of faith. So we talked a lot about that. 86 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:30,560 We spent a couple weeks on that. So I don't want to spend any 87 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:32,640 more time on if you have any questions about that, then 88 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:35,400 certainly ask and we'd, you know, be glad to go through some 89 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:39,760 of those things with you. But we turn now to faith then, 90 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:43,040 which is on page 17. And if you have a copy of it, 91 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:45,000 then this is this should be what you have there. 92 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:49,440 So in the first two lessons, in these first two lessons, we're 93 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:51,760 considering man's part in salvation, two things, 94 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:54,760 repentance and faith. So having examined repentance in 95 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:57,000 the first lesson, we will now examine faith. 96 00:04:57,160 --> 00:05:00,440 And I want to turn over, We already read Acts 2021, but I 97 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:04,480 want to turn over to Acts chapter 16 and we'll look at 98 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:06,600 this a little bit. There's not so many verses that 99 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:09,040 I need a lot of you to read these necessarily tonight. 100 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:11,600 So I will probably just try to turn to a lot of these together. 101 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:16,480 But here in Acts, obviously, you know the story, the Philippian 102 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:22,680 jailer and he had heard Paul and Silas singing, praying. 103 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:27,040 We don't have a record of this, but there's a possibility that 104 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:31,600 they even they talked. And you know, this Philippian 105 00:05:31,600 --> 00:05:36,440 jailer was obviously under conviction because as soon as he 106 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:39,400 found out that everybody was back in the jail and that Paul 107 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:42,400 and Silas had kind of done all of that and and had gotten them 108 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:44,480 together, of course he was glad to have his life. 109 00:05:44,840 --> 00:05:48,440 But the first question that he said verse 29. 110 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:51,960 Well, go back to verse 28. But Paul cried with a loud 111 00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:55,360 voice, saying, Do thyself no harm, for we are all here. 112 00:05:56,320 --> 00:05:58,640 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, 113 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:01,240 and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out and 114 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:04,080 said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 115 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:06,080 I don't know what Paul and Silas said. 116 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:08,400 I don't know what Paul and Silas were singing. 117 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:10,880 But whatever it was, it was enough to convict this 118 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:13,520 Philippian jailer that he needed to be saved. 119 00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:16,640 And so he says, what must I do to be saved? 120 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:19,320 And we don't have any mention of repent here. 121 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:22,720 They said Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be 122 00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:25,800 saved in thy house. And the reason why there's no 123 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:28,880 mention mention of repentance in this passage with the Philippian 124 00:06:28,880 --> 00:06:31,240 jailer is because he was already under conviction. 125 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:35,320 He had already come to the recognize recognition that he 126 00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:38,120 was a Sinner, right? And that's a lot of what the 127 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:41,040 idea of repentance is. He was ready to give up. 128 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:43,880 He was surrendering. And that's what that's what 129 00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:46,520 repentance is. Repentance is surrendering to 130 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:50,720 God. And so as we saw in the first 131 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:53,120 lesson, and we, as we read already, Paul preached 132 00:06:53,120 --> 00:06:55,320 repentance toward God, faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. 133 00:06:55,320 --> 00:06:56,720 And you have to have both of those. 134 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:02,920 We've offended God by our own self will and by our 135 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:05,480 disobedience. And so we must put our faith in 136 00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:07,480 Jesus Christ because he's the one that died for our sins. 137 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:09,800 So there's three things that we need to consider here. 138 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:12,040 And we'll, we'll try to get through all of these tonight. 139 00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:14,440 But number one, then what is saving faith? 140 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:17,360 And, and he points out here, and I think this is a great point, 141 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:19,320 that it's important to understand that it's not just 142 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:21,480 believing in some historical facts. 143 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:25,560 Oh, I believe that Jesus lived and that he did miracles and 144 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:28,360 that he died and that he rose from the from the dead and that, 145 00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:31,120 you know, he went back to heaven. 146 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:34,440 I mean, that's, that's, that's just to believe historical facts 147 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:36,640 the same way that somebody believes that George Washington 148 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:39,640 lived or that Hitler lived. And you know that all of these 149 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:41,440 other thing happened. These these other things 150 00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:45,040 happened. You know, Mahatma Gandhi lives 151 00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:48,520 in India, but those beliefs don't change the lives of the 152 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:52,480 lives of those who believe that. So a lot of people believe that 153 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:55,000 Jesus lived, that he died, he did a lot of wonderful things, 154 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:57,320 but that belief is not changing their life. 155 00:07:57,320 --> 00:08:00,640 And I think it's the difference between believing in and 156 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:03,240 believing on and I know it's a small difference, but that's 157 00:08:03,240 --> 00:08:06,480 what we're going to talk about believing in something versus 158 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:09,080 believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. 159 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:12,960 So a few things that he points out here that I think are worth 160 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:14,520 mentioning. In fact, let's turn over to John 161 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:19,280 chapter 14, John chapter 14, and verse number six. 162 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:24,920 And again, this is Thomas coming to Jesus and you know, we know 163 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:27,120 him as doubting Thomas for a reason. 164 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:30,720 Thomas verse number six saith unto him, Lord, we know not 165 00:08:30,720 --> 00:08:32,799 whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? 166 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:36,360 Verse #6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the 167 00:08:36,360 --> 00:08:39,679 life and the and the key is this no man cometh unto the Father, 168 00:08:39,679 --> 00:08:43,440 but by me. So saving faith is an undivided 169 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:45,040 faith. That's that's the first point 170 00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:47,120 there. And and what I'd recommend is 171 00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:50,120 maybe you highlight underline, write a few notes in your there 172 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:51,520 in your notes, whatever you want to do. 173 00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:57,760 But to be saved, I must believe that Jesus Christ alone is Lord 174 00:08:57,760 --> 00:08:59,360 and Savior, just as the Bible says. 175 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:01,520 Now this is a little bit different than what we would 176 00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:04,840 call Lordship salvation. And I don't have time to go 177 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:07,720 through Lordship salvation tonight, but Lordship salvation 178 00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:10,360 really has a lot to do with the, the Calvinism idea. 179 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:16,520 And you know, really it, it, it ends up, I should say that it's 180 00:09:16,520 --> 00:09:19,160 heavily influenced by Calvinism. But what ends up happening is 181 00:09:19,160 --> 00:09:23,560 that people never have the assurance of their salvation 182 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:26,720 Calvinism. OK, so there's, there's a 183 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:29,280 difference between Calvinism and Arminianism. 184 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:31,120 And I don't agree with either one of them. 185 00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:36,120 Calvinism actually has the idea that you have to persevere to 186 00:09:36,120 --> 00:09:37,760 the end. And if you didn't persevere to 187 00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:40,200 the end, it's not that you lost your salvation, it's that you 188 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:42,600 never had salvation in the 1st place, right? 189 00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:45,120 That's the Calvinism idea. And that's essentially what 190 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:50,000 Lordship salvation is. Arminianism is, you know, the 191 00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:53,960 opposite of Calvinism. Basically, you don't have to 192 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:56,920 persevere to the end, but you can lose your salvation. 193 00:09:57,600 --> 00:09:59,480 And obviously I don't agree with either one of those. 194 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:01,520 So, you know, are you Calvinist or are you a minion? 195 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:03,760 I'm not either one of those. You know, I'm biblical. 196 00:10:03,760 --> 00:10:06,440 I go with what the Bible says, and I don't have to fit into 197 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:10,080 anybody's camp, you know, as far as those things go. 198 00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:16,120 But to say that you have to make Christ Lord and Savior is not a 199 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:19,120 lordship salvation. To say that you're making Christ 200 00:10:19,120 --> 00:10:23,120 Lord and Savior is that we're not adding Jesus Christ to a 201 00:10:23,120 --> 00:10:26,800 list of other gods. He is Lord, He is the Savior. 202 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:30,600 There is nobody else beside Christ that I am counting in or 203 00:10:30,600 --> 00:10:35,120 counting on for my salvation. And I think an easy explanation 204 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:38,720 or an easy example of that would be Hinduism, right? 205 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:42,800 I spent time in India, and that's one of the things about 206 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:45,080 the Indians, of the Indian culture and Hinduism. 207 00:10:45,080 --> 00:10:47,880 They have hundreds, I probably have thousands of gods. 208 00:10:48,680 --> 00:10:51,720 And it's just a matter of, you know, pick which one or two or 209 00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:53,680 three you feel like helped you the most. 210 00:10:53,680 --> 00:10:56,240 And that's the one you worship and that's the one you pray to. 211 00:10:56,240 --> 00:11:00,960 And sometimes the idea for Hindus is just add Jesus to the 212 00:11:00,960 --> 00:11:02,960 list. Wow, I can see the value of, of, 213 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:05,000 of Jesus Christ. And I understand that man, he 214 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:07,360 died for my sins. Well, he'd be a great one to add 215 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:09,000 to the list of all these other gods that I'm already 216 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:11,520 worshipping, Right? This is then that's not what 217 00:11:11,520 --> 00:11:13,840 we're saying. It's an undivided faith. 218 00:11:14,160 --> 00:11:18,520 It is you have Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior alone or 219 00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:22,120 you don't have salvation. And that's the that's the point 220 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:24,920 that that's being made there. So a lot of people want to 221 00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:27,760 believe in Jesus while believing in other Lords as well. 222 00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:29,240 And nobody can be saved that way. 223 00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:33,440 And so that's why we say it's an undivided faith #2 saving faith 224 00:11:33,440 --> 00:11:36,440 is a trusting faith. The word believe in the Bible 225 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:38,880 means to trust. It means to depend upon, to 226 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:41,800 commit oneself to. So to be saved, a person must 227 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:45,080 fully trust his soul and eternal destiny to the Lord Jesus 228 00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:47,520 Christ. He must rely upon Jesus and 229 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:50,880 Jesus alone to forgive his sin and make him right with God and 230 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:53,240 carry him to heaven. And he uses the example here of 231 00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:56,000 trusting a boat to carry you across the lake. 232 00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:58,240 You can sit there and look at it and admire the boat and think, 233 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:00,560 wow, that's a beautiful boat. I think it's got all the ability 234 00:12:00,560 --> 00:12:03,320 to take me across the lake. But until you get in the boat 235 00:12:03,320 --> 00:12:06,200 and actually go across the lake, you don't prove that you have 236 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:10,000 faith in it, right? The illustration I've used a lot 237 00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:13,280 when I'm giving the gospel is the idea of, you know, the 238 00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:16,080 building's on fire and you're trying to jump across the street 239 00:12:16,080 --> 00:12:18,560 to get to the other building. And and obviously it's no matter 240 00:12:18,560 --> 00:12:21,000 how hard you try, you're not going to get to the other 241 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:23,160 building because it's impossible to jump across. 242 00:12:23,560 --> 00:12:27,000 You know that distance, right? It's the same thing when it says 243 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:30,120 for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. 244 00:12:30,560 --> 00:12:33,320 We cannot get there on our own, no matter how hard we try. 245 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:36,440 And some people may get farther than other people because of, 246 00:12:36,720 --> 00:12:40,400 you know, their good deeds or whatever else, but you still 247 00:12:40,400 --> 00:12:42,800 can't get there on your own. You're always going to fall 248 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:44,440 short because we are all sinners. 249 00:12:44,800 --> 00:12:48,960 So the idea then is somebody built the bridge from this 250 00:12:48,960 --> 00:12:51,280 building to the other building. Well, I don't know if I can 251 00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:52,840 trust that that bridge is going to hold me up. 252 00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:55,680 I don't know who built it. I don't know when it was built. 253 00:12:55,840 --> 00:12:58,160 I don't know if I can trust it. You're telling me to go across 254 00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:00,320 the bridge, right? Well, at some point you just 255 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:03,520 have to exercise faith and say, I don't know how it's going to 256 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:04,720 hold me up. I don't know if it's going to 257 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:06,040 hold me up, but I trust that it will. 258 00:13:06,040 --> 00:13:08,120 I'm taking that bridge and I'm going to use that to get across 259 00:13:08,120 --> 00:13:09,840 the street. And that's exactly what we're 260 00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:12,400 talking about when it comes to this saving faith, being 261 00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:15,200 trusting faith. I've never been to heaven. 262 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:19,560 I've never seen God. I wasn't here when Jesus lived 263 00:13:19,560 --> 00:13:21,040 on the earth. I didn't see him die in the 264 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:22,480 cross. I didn't see him rise from the 265 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:24,200 dead. I didn't see him ascend back to 266 00:13:24,200 --> 00:13:25,720 heaven. I don't know if he's building 267 00:13:25,720 --> 00:13:27,640 mansions for us. The only thing that I have to go 268 00:13:27,640 --> 00:13:31,240 off of is what the Bible says that Jesus told us he was going 269 00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:33,040 to do. So it's a trusting faith. 270 00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:36,840 I have to trust that he's going to do what he said he's going to 271 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:38,720 do, right? And that's what we're talking 272 00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:40,720 about. So the question then is, have 273 00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:42,680 you trusted Jesus to take away your sins? 274 00:13:42,680 --> 00:13:45,560 Some people say they believe in Jesus, but they continue to go 275 00:13:45,560 --> 00:13:47,040 through their old religious rituals. 276 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:50,320 This proves they're not only trusting Jesus. 277 00:13:50,680 --> 00:13:53,360 When we trust Jesus, we realize that we don't need any vain 278 00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:55,600 religious rituals for salvation, right? 279 00:13:55,600 --> 00:13:58,160 And that's why I say it's hard for me to believe that somebody 280 00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:01,280 that that attends the Catholic Church is saved. 281 00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:05,960 You know, if, if, if you are trusting in Christ alone, then 282 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:09,000 you have no necessity for the Catholic Church because you 283 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:13,560 don't need the, you know, the, the ordinances and all of those 284 00:14:13,560 --> 00:14:15,800 things that they do to try to earn their way to heaven. 285 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:18,800 So you can say, well, yeah, I believe that Jesus Christ died 286 00:14:18,800 --> 00:14:20,840 of the cross. And I'm, I'm trusting him and I 287 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:23,360 know that I'm saved because I've accepted him as my Savior. 288 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:26,000 And then you continue to do all these religious rituals. 289 00:14:26,120 --> 00:14:28,280 You are proving that it's not trusting faith. 290 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:31,280 You are still doing all of these other things to try to help you 291 00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:34,440 get to heaven. And so it's not, it's not 292 00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:37,040 trusting faith. It's like, it's like saying, 293 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:38,960 yes, I believe that this chair can hold me up. 294 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:41,160 But then going and getting 2 stacks of Psalm books and 295 00:14:41,160 --> 00:14:43,520 putting them underneath the chair so that when I sit down, 296 00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:45,720 if the legs break, at least the Psalm books are going to hold me 297 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:47,920 up, right? You don't trust the chair if you 298 00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:50,800 don't trust the chair, right? And that's exactly what 299 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:53,640 salvation is. If you don't trust Christ to do 300 00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:56,240 what he said He's going to do and you have to add other things 301 00:14:56,240 --> 00:14:59,600 to it, then it's not a trusting faith and it's not faith at all. 302 00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:03,360 So it's an important part of it. So saving faith is an undivided 303 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:04,640 faith. It's a trusting faith. 304 00:15:04,640 --> 00:15:08,080 It's a convinced faith. Let's go over to John chapter 6. 305 00:15:09,440 --> 00:15:13,920 To be saved, I have to fully be convinced that Jesus is Lord and 306 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:17,480 Savior and that he will fulfill his promises to me. 307 00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:20,560 True salvation is a know So salvation. 308 00:15:20,560 --> 00:15:23,680 That's the kind of faith that Jesus disciples had. 309 00:15:24,600 --> 00:15:29,240 It's, it's one of those things that if somebody comes and asks 310 00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:32,440 me if I know for sure that I'm on my way to heaven, I can say, 311 00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:35,520 yes, I know for sure that I'm on my way to heaven, right? 312 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:38,600 Most people, when you ask them that, they would say, well, I 313 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:44,040 hope so or I think so or maybe or probably that's not a, that's 314 00:15:44,040 --> 00:15:48,800 not a convinced faith, right? Those who truly have put their 315 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:53,040 faith in Christ know based on everything that we find in God's 316 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:56,320 Word, that that we can be saved. So Peter's testimony in John 317 00:15:56,320 --> 00:16:01,360 chapter 6 and verse #66 From that time many of his disciples 318 00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:02,920 went back and walked no more with him. 319 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:06,520 Then said Jesus, unto the 12 Will ye also go away? 320 00:16:06,840 --> 00:16:09,400 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? 321 00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:13,120 Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and are 322 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:16,120 sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 323 00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:18,800 Jesus answered Then haven't I not chosen you? 324 00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:21,920 12 And one of you is the devil. He spake of Judas Iscariot, the 325 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:24,880 son of Simon, for he it was that should betray him, being one of 326 00:16:24,880 --> 00:16:29,920 the 12 But you talk about a convinced faith in verse 69. 327 00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:34,200 We believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the son of 328 00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:37,000 the living God. That's a convinced faith and 329 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:38,240 that's that's what we have to have. 330 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:41,000 That's the kind of testimony of a genuinely saved person, and we 331 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:44,720 can be sure of God's promise. In fact, first John chapter 5 332 00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:48,600 and verse 13 is typically one of the first places that I take 333 00:16:48,600 --> 00:16:51,600 somebody to when I'm giving them the gospel, especially if 334 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:55,040 they're unfamiliar with it. First, John 5 and verse 13 says 335 00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:59,160 that she may know that she have eternal life, right? 336 00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:01,840 And if the Bible says that you may know that you have eternal 337 00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:05,040 life, then there's got to be a way that we can get to that 338 00:17:05,040 --> 00:17:08,280 know. So salvation, he said he met a 339 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:11,800 guy in Nepal that said he was 99%. 340 00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:14,200 He had 99% faith in Jesus Christ. 341 00:17:14,359 --> 00:17:17,560 Well, that 1% is what's going to keep you out of heaven because 342 00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:22,040 it's a convinced faith. Saving faith then is unmixed. 343 00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:25,000 And I think for this one, we'll turn over to Ephesians chapter 344 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:28,240 2. Ephesians chapter 2. 345 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:31,120 Saving faith cannot be mixed with human works. 346 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:33,800 You have to receive Christ's salvation as a free gift, not as 347 00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:37,800 a reward for good works. And this is where baptism is 348 00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:40,440 completely. And here you go blown out of the 349 00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:44,000 water, right? There is no baptism as part of 350 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:47,880 salvation. But but so many today are having 351 00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:50,560 their salvation experience because they got baptized, 352 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:52,960 right? And I mean, you were seeing that 353 00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:56,840 all over the place, social media especially blowing up because of 354 00:17:56,840 --> 00:18:00,000 all the Charlie Kirk stuff and so many people getting back to 355 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:02,840 Christianity and all of these other things. 356 00:18:02,840 --> 00:18:05,520 But but what they're saying is, oh, it was a wonderful day at 357 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:08,080 church. We had 55 people baptized today. 358 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:12,520 Basically what they're saying is we had 55 people saved, but 359 00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:14,280 those people were not saved. They just got wet. 360 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:17,240 That's it. Baptism is a work, right? 361 00:18:17,240 --> 00:18:18,880 It it doesn't do anything for us. 362 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:22,120 It's not washing your sins away. Sure, it may be identifying with 363 00:18:22,120 --> 00:18:26,440 Christ, but it can only come after repentance and faith. 364 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:30,240 Baptism is just a picture to show everybody else, hey, I've 365 00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:32,520 accepted Christ as my Savior. I've repented. 366 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:35,840 I've put my faith in Christ, and I want everybody to know that. 367 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:39,680 So again, if I try to pay something for a gift, it's not a 368 00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:41,880 gift. If you ask me to pay something 369 00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:44,320 for a gift, it's not a gift. A gift is something that is 370 00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:46,360 absolutely free. There is nothing that I can do 371 00:18:46,360 --> 00:18:48,160 for it. There is nothing that I can do 372 00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:50,680 to earn it. It's free. 373 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:54,480 So if you're trying to do anything to earn your salvation, 374 00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:57,120 then you, you have a mixed faith. 375 00:18:58,000 --> 00:18:59,840 And that's not salvation, that's not faith. 376 00:19:00,280 --> 00:19:03,640 So Ephesians 2 verse 8 and 9 makes it very, very clear. 377 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:07,400 For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of 378 00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:10,640 yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of 379 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:13,760 works, lest any man should boast, not of works, lest any 380 00:19:13,760 --> 00:19:18,280 man should boast, Right. The only thing that we can do is 381 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:20,680 accept Christ, accept that free gift. 382 00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:23,720 There's nothing else that we can add to salvation that makes it 383 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:26,920 any more valuable than what it was when Christ died in the 384 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:28,920 cross. And, and if I, if I do add 385 00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:30,600 anything to it, then it's not salvation. 386 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:35,320 So saving faith is unmixed faith number. 387 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:39,560 What is that 5? I guess it's number 512345. 388 00:19:39,560 --> 00:19:42,000 Saving faith is a receiving faith. 389 00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:45,240 Let's turn over to Matthew Chapter 11. 390 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:50,960 Saving faith in receives Jesus as Lord and Savior. 391 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:55,840 And again, it's in contrast to a lordship salvation. 392 00:19:55,840 --> 00:19:59,720 You don't have to. It's not, it's not that idea 393 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:03,960 that we just talked about, but it's it is making him the only 394 00:20:03,960 --> 00:20:09,400 Lord and the only Savior. And again, kind of almost a 395 00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:11,720 summary, but it's not just believing in Jesus as a 396 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:14,560 historical person, it's calling out to Him and asking Him for 397 00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:17,240 salvation. Matthew Chapter 11, verse 28 and 398 00:20:17,240 --> 00:20:19,560 29. Come unto me, all you that labor 399 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:22,360 and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 400 00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:25,440 Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly 401 00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:28,360 in heart, and ye shall find rest for your souls. 402 00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:30,960 Come unto me. It's a receiving faith. 403 00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:35,160 I've just accepted what he said. Romans 10/13 is another one for 404 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:38,840 whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 405 00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:43,040 So that is saving faith. But then what is the place of 406 00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:45,920 works in the Christian life? All right, it's a good question 407 00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:51,440 because I think what's happened often is in fact, let's go back 408 00:20:51,440 --> 00:20:53,920 over to Ephesians chapter 2 should have had you keep your 409 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:56,320 finger there. But I think what happens often 410 00:20:56,320 --> 00:21:02,280 is we've allowed this happens with several things, OK, 411 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:07,120 Pentecostals almost have made people scared of the work of the 412 00:21:07,120 --> 00:21:09,560 Holy Spirit, right? Because they've taken it to such 413 00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:11,160 a far extreme. And they say, you know, they're 414 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:13,120 talking about speaking in tongues and everything else. 415 00:21:13,120 --> 00:21:17,000 And so we get scared of the work of the Holy Spirit because of 416 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:18,400 what the Pentecostals have done with it. 417 00:21:18,920 --> 00:21:20,760 And I think the same thing happens when we start talking 418 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:24,040 about good works. The Catholics have so marred the 419 00:21:24,040 --> 00:21:27,120 idea of good works, and they've used that for so long as a way 420 00:21:27,120 --> 00:21:30,080 to get to heaven, that we get scared to talk about good works. 421 00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:34,280 But there ought to be good works, that that's what proves 422 00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:36,960 your salvation, right? There ought to be something that 423 00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:40,040 that that gives an indication. So does believing in Christ mean 424 00:21:40,040 --> 00:21:42,080 that I don't have to do any works in the Christian life? 425 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:44,440 What's the place of work? All right, well, here's what the 426 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:45,720 Bible says. Ephesians 2. 427 00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:47,560 We already read verse 8 and then verse 9. 428 00:21:47,560 --> 00:21:49,760 Not of works, lest any man should boast, but he says this. 429 00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:54,480 For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto 430 00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:59,600 good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should 431 00:21:59,600 --> 00:22:03,760 walk in them. So for those who are saved, he 432 00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:08,920 is ordained before time for us to walk and to do good works, to 433 00:22:08,920 --> 00:22:11,680 walk in and to do good works. So God wants us to live 434 00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:14,400 obedient, holy lives, right? But that comes only after 435 00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:17,080 salvation. Good works are a product of 436 00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:20,080 salvation, not the way of salvation. 437 00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:21,960 And that's a very, very key difference. 438 00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:28,360 But it has to be part of it. If there's no fruit, if there's 439 00:22:28,360 --> 00:22:31,640 no fruit, then they're very obviously never was a tree 440 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:34,600 planted right? Or it's a if it, if it's a tree 441 00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:37,200 that's not producing any fruit, then there is there's a serious 442 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:39,400 question about the salvation there, right? 443 00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:42,280 There ought to be good works. Good works are produced in the 444 00:22:42,280 --> 00:22:45,320 believer by the Holy Spirit. And I'm not going to take the 445 00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:46,680 time. This is one of the things that 446 00:22:46,680 --> 00:22:48,560 I'm going to skip over. If you want to do this as a 447 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:51,080 Bible study, I think it'd be a great study to do. 448 00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:55,040 But in the Epistle of Ephesians, just in Ephesians, there are 90 449 00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:56,880 commandments that the believer is to obey. 450 00:22:57,320 --> 00:23:01,040 There's something, I, I, I counted it up one time and I, I 451 00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:04,880 think there's, I think there's 1070 commands in the Bible or 452 00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:06,760 something like that. There's a lot of commands in the 453 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:08,960 Bible, right? That's, that's a lot. 454 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:13,280 There's 90 just in the book of Ephesians and, and there's a 455 00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:16,920 list of all of the different things, humble, long-suffering, 456 00:23:16,920 --> 00:23:19,200 putting away lying, putting away anger, not stealing, not 457 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:21,720 speaking, any corrupt thing, being kind, forgiving, putting 458 00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:22,960 away fornication and uncleanness. 459 00:23:23,120 --> 00:23:24,600 And this just goes on and on and on. 460 00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:27,360 So there are some of the works that God wants the believers to 461 00:23:27,360 --> 00:23:30,040 obey, but we can't do those until we're first saved, right? 462 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:33,800 The natural man cannot understand the things of God, 463 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:36,000 neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. 464 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:39,560 So if you're unsaved, and this is where I go back to talking 465 00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:43,160 about the idea of repentance, so many people have put the idea of 466 00:23:43,480 --> 00:23:45,960 sanctification in front of justification. 467 00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:47,920 They're trying to live as a Christian. 468 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:49,640 They're trying to do Christian things. 469 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:52,480 They've never been justified. And so they're just struggling 470 00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:55,120 nonstop in their Christian life. They can't figure out why. 471 00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:56,760 Why do I keep going back to the sin? 472 00:23:56,760 --> 00:23:58,440 Why can't I obey God? Why am not? 473 00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:00,400 Why am I not seeing victory in my Christian life? 474 00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:03,600 The reason why is because you're putting sanctification in front 475 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:07,120 of justification. You're trying to do all of these 476 00:24:07,120 --> 00:24:10,680 commands, you're trying to do all of these good works, but 477 00:24:10,680 --> 00:24:12,920 you've never been saved. And so you're, you're doing it 478 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:14,680 all in your flesh. You're doing it all in the 479 00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:18,040 natural man and the natural man cannot understand the things of 480 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:20,120 the Spirit of God, neither can he know them. 481 00:24:20,120 --> 00:24:22,120 The Bible says because they're spiritually discerned. 482 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:25,520 You don't understand them. It's your eyes are still 483 00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:28,200 darkened even though you know there and, and this is where it 484 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:30,760 where it's sad many times. I think there's people in 485 00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:33,880 churches all throughout the country, good churches and, and, 486 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:35,840 and probably honestly, even in our church. 487 00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:38,520 I'm not under any illusion that 100% of the people here are 488 00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:41,760 saved. I would like to think that, but 489 00:24:41,800 --> 00:24:46,400 the, the problem is, is that people have gotten so good at 490 00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:49,840 blending in with Christianity because they've been in it their 491 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:53,080 entire life or they've been in church for a long time because 492 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:56,080 they, they decided that they needed to reform and change. 493 00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:57,360 And so they started going to church. 494 00:24:57,360 --> 00:24:59,440 And the more you go to church, the more you learn what those 495 00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:02,200 changes need to be. So you implement those changes 496 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:05,360 and you start doing Christian things without actually being a 497 00:25:05,360 --> 00:25:07,280 Christian. But you're always going to 498 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:10,080 struggle in your Christian life. You're never going to have that 499 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:12,480 victory because you're just doing Christian things. 500 00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:15,560 You're not being a Christian because you're, you can't be if 501 00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:19,520 you're not one, right? So all of these good works are 502 00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:21,720 things that we should be doing, but it's the Holy Spirit that 503 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:23,800 gives us the power to do those good works. 504 00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:27,240 It's the Holy Spirit that gives us the power to overcome the bad 505 00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:30,240 works, right? And to and to to obey the 506 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:32,640 negative commandments. Don't do this, don't do this, 507 00:25:32,640 --> 00:25:35,200 don't do this, right? But that's what happened so many 508 00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:39,640 times is, is people have never been through the repentance in 509 00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:42,440 the faith. They, they are trying to live 510 00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:44,200 the justification side of things, sorry, the 511 00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:46,760 sanctification side of things without the justification coming 512 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:50,240 1st and it and it can't happen. So we have to be reconciled to 513 00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:52,880 God through Jesus Christ. We have to be forgiven of our 514 00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:55,360 sins and indwelt with the Holy Spirit. 515 00:25:55,360 --> 00:25:57,200 Only then can we serve God acceptably. 516 00:25:57,520 --> 00:26:01,680 I've changed my, my approach when it comes to talking about 517 00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:03,840 the gospel. I don't ask anybody anymore. 518 00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:05,960 Are you 100% sure that you're going to go to heaven when you 519 00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:08,720 die? Now, I don't think God would 520 00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:10,720 have told us about heaven if he didn't want us to go there, 521 00:26:11,120 --> 00:26:12,040 right? And I don't think he would have 522 00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:13,440 told us about hell if he didn't want us to. 523 00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:16,240 Not if he didn't want us to not want to go there, right? 524 00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:18,200 He wouldn't have told us about those things. 525 00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:21,600 So there is that that certainly can be some of the motivation 526 00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:24,400 the same way that if he didn't want us to live for the crowns 527 00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:26,480 that we can earn, he wouldn't have told us about the crowns 528 00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:28,080 and the rewards and everything else, right? 529 00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:30,680 We would just get to heaven and find out, oh wow, look what I 530 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:33,080 got right? He told us about those things 531 00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:35,760 because I think, I think he wants us to be motivated to earn 532 00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:38,240 some of those crowns and to live for him in that way, right? 533 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:45,440 So having said that, I think what what happens though, is we 534 00:26:45,440 --> 00:26:47,520 started telling people, hey, do you want to go to heaven when 535 00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:48,840 you die? Here's how you go to heaven, 536 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:50,960 right? And and again, nothing wrong 537 00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:54,480 with that, but that's where you it, that's where it can very 538 00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:57,080 easily move into this quick prayer ISM thing. 539 00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:00,440 You want to go to heaven, right? Well, you're a Sinner and you 540 00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:02,560 need to ask Christ to forgive you for the sins and he'll take 541 00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:03,880 you to heaven. OK, well, I want to go to 542 00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:05,240 heaven. Pray this prayer. 543 00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:06,240 All right, I'll pray that prayer. 544 00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:08,080 Now you're going to heaven. Nobody can convince you 545 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:11,600 otherwise, right? But I have changed my approach. 546 00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:14,000 I don't ask that question. Are you 100% sure that you're 547 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:14,960 going to go to heaven when you die? 548 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:17,960 I do kind of include that, but usually when I'm talking to 549 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:20,640 somebody, I said, are you 100% sure that your sins are 550 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:23,920 forgiven, that Jesus Christ is your savior and you're on your 551 00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:26,680 way to heaven, right? Because that's, that's 552 00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:29,920 repentance, right? Just one thing to go to heaven, 553 00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:33,000 Who, who's going to say no to that, right? 554 00:27:33,280 --> 00:27:34,520 You want to go to heaven when you die? 555 00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:37,520 Well, hey, what if I told you, you don't have to change 556 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:38,960 anything and you can go to heaven? 557 00:27:39,680 --> 00:27:44,320 Pray this prayer, right? In fact, you know what I wasn't 558 00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:46,880 even I wasn't even planning to do this, but I, I remembered 559 00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:51,200 this just now. All right, this is this is this 560 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:59,920 is some of the here it is this is some of the salesman tactics 561 00:27:59,920 --> 00:28:03,840 that have been used for years to try to get somebody to accept 562 00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:07,200 Christ as their savior. OK, this is not salvation while 563 00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:10,440 at a restaurant. This guy Carl Hatch was was very 564 00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:18,120 well known as a bold soul winner and I think he was bold but I 565 00:28:18,120 --> 00:28:21,120 don't know how many souls he won the Christ while at a 566 00:28:21,120 --> 00:28:23,800 restaurant, a buffet, brother Hatch yelled loudly. 567 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:25,360 This is a guy giving his testimony. 568 00:28:25,360 --> 00:28:29,440 He was in there with with several other people, yelled 569 00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:32,600 loudly to me so that all the Golden Corral could hear. 570 00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:34,840 Brother Phillips, why are you so happy? 571 00:28:35,120 --> 00:28:37,440 My response was, well, because I got saved and I'm going to 572 00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:39,600 heaven now. And they replied, do you want 573 00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:41,680 all these fine people like Golden Corral to go to heaven 574 00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:43,600 with you? I said yes. 575 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:46,120 He said, tell them how you know you're going to heaven. 576 00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:49,040 I told them the gospel and he said if you want to go to heaven 577 00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:51,680 with me and Brother Phillips bow your heads right now and let's 578 00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:55,000 make heaven your home. He prayed and how many were not 579 00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:57,200 ashamed to raise their hand to tell him that they had gotten 580 00:28:57,200 --> 00:28:59,000 saved. He looked around and asked 581 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:01,320 people that didn't raise their hands and said did you get 582 00:29:01,320 --> 00:29:02,520 saved? Did you get saved? 583 00:29:02,760 --> 00:29:05,560 Everyone got saved because he embarrassed them publicly. 584 00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:08,360 As we walked out the door a man was walking in. 585 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:11,440 He said Sir I don't have but 30 seconds to talk but if you would 586 00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:14,200 shake my right hand you would be confessing your trusting Jesus 587 00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:16,680 as your savior from hell. But if you shake my left hand, 588 00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:19,120 you would be saying I don't want Jesus in heaven and will take my 589 00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:21,480 chances with hell and the devil for eternity. 590 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:24,200 The man asked which hand was the heaven hand. 591 00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:26,480 Then he shook it and we rushed to the midweek service where he 592 00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:29,880 claimed 51 souls were saved just in the last hour by him. 593 00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:34,520 I told my wife this was crazy. We quit the 123 program he was 594 00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:36,440 teaching just days after he started teaching it. 595 00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:38,960 It was all about the numbers and it was reported in the sort of 596 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:42,800 the Lord paper the next month. That is not salvation. 597 00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:47,200 But that's what so many people have been doing for so many 598 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:50,320 years. That's not salvation, 30 seconds 599 00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:52,240 or shake my right hand or shake my left hand. 600 00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:53,440 If you want to go to heaven or hell. 601 00:29:53,440 --> 00:29:55,440 I mean, what? That is not salvation. 602 00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:57,760 That's not repentance, it's not faith. 603 00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:00,440 It's putting some, it's a salesman tactic, right? 604 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:04,320 And they and they used to call it the Carl Hatch squeeze. 605 00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:07,920 He talked about this when somebody was trying to, you 606 00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:11,640 know, maybe understand it a little bit more, wiggle out of 607 00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:14,080 it a little bit more, put your hand on your shoulder and just 608 00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:15,600 squeeze his shoulder a little bit. 609 00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:18,240 That usually gets him to make that decision. 610 00:30:19,440 --> 00:30:22,880 Why are you trying to sneak salvation past somebody? 611 00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:24,760 Right. And that's, that's why I'm 612 00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:27,280 saying I'm not, we're not trying to make it impossible for 613 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:30,760 somebody to get saved, but we are trying to be careful to make 614 00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:32,760 sure that they actually are getting saved. 615 00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:36,240 There has to be repentance and there has to be faith. 616 00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:39,600 And if there's not those, then there is no salvation. 617 00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:43,800 So what place does works have in the Christian life? 618 00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:47,800 Well, nothing for salvation, but everything for a Christian who 619 00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:50,480 is saved. You ought to want to please the 620 00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:53,600 Lord, and you have the power of the Holy Spirit to help you do 621 00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:57,600 that. So not necessary for salvation, 622 00:30:57,600 --> 00:31:00,720 but absolutely necessary to prove your salvation, if you 623 00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:03,640 will. Now, is salvation a religious 624 00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:06,240 process? Well, let's go over to Matthew 625 00:31:06,240 --> 00:31:15,960 18, Matthew 18. And by the way, there are story 626 00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:18,640 after story after story after story, just like that. 627 00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:22,320 That's the 123 pray after me. That's what I'm talking about 628 00:31:22,320 --> 00:31:26,000 when I say quick prayer ISM. It used to be called easy 629 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:27,680 believism. And I still, I think, I think a 630 00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:28,880 lot of people still call it that. 631 00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:31,600 I don't like to call it easy believism because it is easy to 632 00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:33,320 believe. It's not hard to be saved, 633 00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:37,320 right? But this quick prayer ISM idea. 634 00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:40,240 Hey, all you people in Golden Corral, while you're sitting 635 00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:43,560 there eating your meal, pray this prayer after me and you can 636 00:31:43,560 --> 00:31:46,000 go to heaven. Well, who wouldn't do that, 637 00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:49,600 right? But those people are not saved. 638 00:31:50,120 --> 00:31:53,200 They did not repent. They had no mention of theirs, 639 00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:56,800 of their sin being part of the reason why they're on their way 640 00:31:56,800 --> 00:31:59,640 to hell. There's no individual talking 641 00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:03,480 back and forth with somebody to make sure that they understand 642 00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:05,440 what you're explaining to them from the word of God. 643 00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:10,520 All right, and in, in, in whatever 5 minutes, 50 people 644 00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:12,920 get saved and another one in 30 seconds walking out the door. 645 00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:16,280 That's, that's what it all became about was the numbers. 646 00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:20,880 I get up and I would say I got 51 people saved just in the last 647 00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:22,160 hour. How many people did you get 648 00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:25,040 saved in the last hour? Well, look at you slackers. 649 00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:27,560 You're not even leading people to Christ, right? 650 00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:29,000 And, and that's what it all became about. 651 00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:32,280 So then now somebody's like, man, he's like 51 souls the 652 00:32:32,280 --> 00:32:34,240 Christ in an hour. I better go get busy. 653 00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:35,640 I can at least do that in a week. 654 00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:39,160 And now they want to come back and say, well, yeah, I LED, I 655 00:32:39,160 --> 00:32:42,960 LED 55 people this week. You know, they used to and, and, 656 00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:47,720 and really a lot of this, a lot of this philosophy originated 657 00:32:47,720 --> 00:32:50,000 out of, out of Hiles First Baptist Church in Hammond. 658 00:32:50,360 --> 00:32:51,960 And I, and I don't think it started that way. 659 00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:55,560 I think brother Hiles started off with the with the right goal 660 00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:57,520 and with the right mindset and with the right motivation and 661 00:32:57,520 --> 00:33:00,160 everything else. But it, it did become all about 662 00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:01,920 the numbers. And when it becomes about the 663 00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:05,880 numbers they used to have so winning contests and and brother 664 00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:09,000 Hiles own daughter said, by the time I graduated from high 665 00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:12,480 school, I had won thousands of people to Christ, thousands of 666 00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:15,040 people to Christ by the time she graduated high school. 667 00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:18,480 Because when you have a contest to see who can lead the most 668 00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:20,280 people to Christ, do you think you're being careful with it? 669 00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:24,120 No, that's why it's foolish to have a contest to see who can 670 00:33:24,120 --> 00:33:26,160 lead the most people to Christ. You're not going to be thorough. 671 00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:27,960 You're not going to make sure that somebody knows for sure 672 00:33:27,960 --> 00:33:29,400 they're saved. You're going to walk up to a 673 00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:31,920 group of kids on a basketball court and say, hey, hang on real 674 00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:33,840 quick. How many of you would say that 675 00:33:33,840 --> 00:33:35,240 you want to go to heaven when you die? 676 00:33:35,880 --> 00:33:38,640 All right, what if I told you that in 30 seconds I could tell 677 00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:40,040 you how that would happen? Would you want to? 678 00:33:40,120 --> 00:33:42,160 Would you let me sit here and tell you how to be saved? 679 00:33:42,320 --> 00:33:44,400 Well, absolutely. All right, here's how you'd be 680 00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:46,480 saved. You know, blah, blah, blah. 681 00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:48,040 All right, who wants to be saved? 682 00:33:48,040 --> 00:33:50,000 Pray this prayer after me. How many of you prayed this 683 00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:53,160 prayer? Everybody raises their hand, 10 684 00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:55,960 people just got saved and you walk away with 10 more notches 685 00:33:55,960 --> 00:33:58,520 in your belt. That's that's what it was all 686 00:33:58,520 --> 00:34:00,720 about. And that's why we are being so 687 00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:03,920 careful with it, because I believe there are thousands and 688 00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:06,800 thousands and thousands, probably hundreds of thousands 689 00:34:06,800 --> 00:34:09,880 of people sitting in churches across the country who are in 690 00:34:09,880 --> 00:34:13,480 good churches, who have good standards of dress and music and 691 00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:16,440 everything else. And probably a big majority of 692 00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:18,440 the people in that church are not even saved. 693 00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:21,280 And I know that's a bold statement, but what happens is 694 00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:25,760 somebody who gets saved that way then goes off the Bible college, 695 00:34:25,880 --> 00:34:29,400 trains for the ministry, learns that philosophy of ministry, and 696 00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:30,560 then goes out and starts a church. 697 00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:33,199 And now he's leading thousands more people to Christ in the 698 00:34:33,199 --> 00:34:35,840 exact same way. Some of them are going to stick 699 00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:38,000 and start coming to church because they, they realize the 700 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:40,920 necessity of reformation and they're going to start doing 701 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:43,080 Christian things because they were taught that this is what 702 00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:45,840 they need to do now that they're saved and they never came to 703 00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:48,600 Christ. They're just doing 704 00:34:48,639 --> 00:34:52,639 sanctification things, but they've never been justified. 705 00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:56,760 And I, it's sad, but I think there's probably thousands and 706 00:34:56,760 --> 00:34:59,520 thousands and thousands of people across this country who 707 00:34:59,520 --> 00:35:03,120 think they're saved because they had this quick prayer and they 708 00:35:03,240 --> 00:35:06,720 have no idea. Now somebody comes along and 709 00:35:06,720 --> 00:35:08,680 they ask him, hey, do you know for sure that your sins are 710 00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:10,800 forgiven? You're on your way to heaven and 711 00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:12,480 you know that Jesus Christ is your Savior. 712 00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:15,640 Oh, yeah, I did that when, well, I, I accepted Christ as my 713 00:35:15,640 --> 00:35:17,240 savior at such and such time and place. 714 00:35:17,240 --> 00:35:19,440 And I'm like, oh, well, you wouldn't say that if you didn't 715 00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:21,320 know what you were talking about, right? 716 00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:24,680 But many of them, no evidence of salvation. 717 00:35:25,160 --> 00:35:27,040 Many of them. You know, Brother Cloud 718 00:35:27,440 --> 00:35:29,800 mentioned this one time. I heard him kind of talking 719 00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:33,080 through this. And he said that he and his 720 00:35:33,080 --> 00:35:37,080 wife, they had a huge campaign at, at, at some church that they 721 00:35:37,080 --> 00:35:42,920 were attending for, for a time. And 150 people or something like 722 00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:45,160 that got saved on a Sunday, on a special Sunday. 723 00:35:45,960 --> 00:35:50,240 And the next, the next week, not one of those people came back, 724 00:35:50,560 --> 00:35:53,480 not one. And so he said, Hey, do we have 725 00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:55,160 all the cards of everybody that got saved? 726 00:35:55,160 --> 00:35:57,640 I'd, I'd just like to go follow up with, with all of these 727 00:35:57,640 --> 00:35:59,560 people and just kind of talk to them and make sure they got 728 00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:02,120 saved, you know? And he said out of that 150 729 00:36:02,120 --> 00:36:06,240 people, not one single person wanted to talk to them at all 730 00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:09,080 about the gospel. Not one. 731 00:36:09,200 --> 00:36:11,080 And I think I might be wrong. I don't think it was actually a 732 00:36:11,080 --> 00:36:12,520 church service. I think it was some kind of 733 00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:14,120 campaign that they did or something like that where they 734 00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:17,240 were going out and they had 150 people saved in one night or one 735 00:36:17,240 --> 00:36:19,400 evening or I forget exactly what it was. 736 00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:21,760 But he wanted to follow up and just, you know, make sure that 737 00:36:21,760 --> 00:36:24,440 they were saved. He said not one out of all of 738 00:36:24,440 --> 00:36:27,800 those people, most of them didn't even come to the door, 739 00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:29,960 heard him inside, didn't even come to the door. 740 00:36:29,960 --> 00:36:31,640 Some of that came to the door were like, you know, I'm not 741 00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:32,520 interested. Thank you. 742 00:36:33,240 --> 00:36:35,320 I mean, somebody that genuinely got saved is going to want to 743 00:36:35,320 --> 00:36:38,320 talk about it, right? He said not one out of all of 744 00:36:38,320 --> 00:36:41,200 those people wanted to talk about what happened with them. 745 00:36:41,920 --> 00:36:44,160 It's not salvation when you get saved. 746 00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:48,640 There's a transformation in your life and it's and it's it's an 747 00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:51,840 obvious transformation. And so is is salvation a 748 00:36:51,840 --> 00:36:54,240 religious process? Well, it's not a process. 749 00:36:54,400 --> 00:37:00,000 Now you remember when we went through the, the, the lesson 750 00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:02,680 that I did or the message that I did on a Sunday night a few 751 00:37:02,680 --> 00:37:05,600 weeks ago, maybe a month or two ago on the necessity of 752 00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:07,560 separation, right? And I went through and I showed 753 00:37:07,560 --> 00:37:11,880 you all the Bible verses in the ESV and how different they are 754 00:37:12,120 --> 00:37:14,560 from what the King James Bible says, right? 755 00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:18,840 One of those verses said there is now therefore no condemnation 756 00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:22,080 to them who are being saved, right? 757 00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:25,600 And it makes it sound like salvation is a process. 758 00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:28,720 Salvation is not a process. It's a one time thing. 759 00:37:28,720 --> 00:37:31,200 But here's what he says. A popular heresy today is the 760 00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:33,880 teaching that salvation is a process. 761 00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:38,720 And how do you blame people when you're using the wrong Bible? 762 00:37:38,720 --> 00:37:42,600 You're going to come up with the wrong doctrines when you're 763 00:37:42,600 --> 00:37:45,160 using the wrong version. And it says to them who are 764 00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:49,080 being saved, it sure sounds like salvation is a process. 765 00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:51,160 Why wouldn't they believe that? That's what the Bible says. 766 00:37:52,160 --> 00:37:55,200 Well, it's not the Bible and that's where, that's where 767 00:37:55,200 --> 00:37:58,000 there's a huge mistake. But the Bible says it's a 768 00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:00,080 miraculous conversion experience. 769 00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:02,640 This is what Jesus taught Matthew chapter 18 and verse #3. 770 00:38:04,280 --> 00:38:07,240 And Jesus said, verily I say unto you, except you be 771 00:38:07,240 --> 00:38:10,080 converted and become as little children, you shall not enter 772 00:38:10,080 --> 00:38:12,880 into the Kingdom of God. Sorry, sorry, Kingdom of heaven. 773 00:38:13,200 --> 00:38:15,160 Let's, let's go over and look at John chapter 3. 774 00:38:22,110 --> 00:38:30,880 John chapter 3 and verse #3. Verse #3 Jesus answered and said 775 00:38:30,880 --> 00:38:33,080 unto him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except the man be 776 00:38:33,080 --> 00:38:35,960 born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. 777 00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:41,600 Now let's, let's talk about this, all right, a second birth, 778 00:38:41,600 --> 00:38:46,320 All right, is, is a birth a process, or is it something that 779 00:38:46,320 --> 00:38:50,680 happens? Something that happens, right? 780 00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:52,600 A birth is something that just happens. 781 00:38:52,600 --> 00:38:56,320 Now to get to the birth, it could take a little bit of time, 782 00:38:56,720 --> 00:39:00,080 right? Nine months, some more, some 783 00:39:00,080 --> 00:39:03,280 less, right? But it's a process to get to the 784 00:39:03,280 --> 00:39:04,760 birth. But the birth happens 785 00:39:04,760 --> 00:39:08,080 instantaneously, right? The new birth conversion is not 786 00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:10,640 a long process. It's a supernatural life 787 00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:13,080 changing event. And when we say supernatural, 788 00:39:13,080 --> 00:39:17,080 it's not, oh, I saw this big bright light one night and the 789 00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:18,920 next thing you know, I knew I was saved. 790 00:39:18,960 --> 00:39:21,160 You know, it's, that's not, it's not what we're talking about, 791 00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:23,560 but it's a supernatural life changing event. 792 00:39:23,560 --> 00:39:26,040 And this happens when the Sinner repents of his sin and puts his 793 00:39:26,040 --> 00:39:28,920 faith in Jesus Christ as his only savior. 794 00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:32,760 So coming to repentance and faith can be a process, but 795 00:39:32,760 --> 00:39:37,680 salvation itself is a birth and a conversion experience. 796 00:39:38,120 --> 00:39:40,240 And we see a lot of those things. 797 00:39:40,240 --> 00:39:41,680 Let's just turn over to Acts chapter 2. 798 00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:46,160 We'll end with this. Those who were saved in the book 799 00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:50,520 of Acts were saved on the very day they received Christ, right? 800 00:39:50,520 --> 00:39:52,440 It's not. Well, I got to wait around and 801 00:39:52,440 --> 00:39:55,520 see if I persevere to the end to know if I'm saved or not. 802 00:39:58,280 --> 00:40:02,960 When you come to Christ, what does he offer us? 803 00:40:04,480 --> 00:40:07,120 When you accept Christ as your Savior, obviously he offers us 804 00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:08,160 forgiveness of sins. Never. 805 00:40:08,160 --> 00:40:10,160 It's not a trick question, but what do you get when you get 806 00:40:10,160 --> 00:40:13,920 saved? Starts with an E Eternal life, 807 00:40:14,080 --> 00:40:17,680 right? If you could lose it, is it 808 00:40:17,680 --> 00:40:21,080 eternal? Kind of hard to be eternal if it 809 00:40:21,080 --> 00:40:26,320 stops after two days, right? Eternal life is eternal life. 810 00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:29,080 You either have it or you don't, right? 811 00:40:29,200 --> 00:40:33,520 So those who were saved in the Bible, it was not some long 812 00:40:33,520 --> 00:40:36,120 drawn out process where they had to go through this and do that 813 00:40:36,120 --> 00:40:40,120 and do this and do that. No Acts chapter 2 and verse #41 814 00:40:41,240 --> 00:40:43,560 Then they that glad they received His word were baptized 815 00:40:43,560 --> 00:40:47,800 and the same day they were added unto them about 3000 souls, 816 00:40:48,400 --> 00:40:50,120 right? The Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 817 00:40:50,120 --> 00:40:53,520 chapter 8 verse 36 understand this what thou readest. 818 00:40:53,520 --> 00:40:55,360 How can I accept some man guide me? 819 00:40:55,760 --> 00:41:00,240 And he he started in the Gospels and and or no, it doesn't say he 820 00:41:00,240 --> 00:41:04,880 started in the Gospels, but he, he preached unto him Jesus, 821 00:41:05,440 --> 00:41:09,600 right and then what happened after that He said, hey, here's 822 00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:10,920 water. What defended me from being 823 00:41:10,920 --> 00:41:12,600 baptized? And he said, do you believe that 824 00:41:12,600 --> 00:41:13,920 Jesus is the Christ the Son of God? 825 00:41:13,920 --> 00:41:16,640 And he said, I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of 826 00:41:16,640 --> 00:41:18,240 God. He says, I'm paraphrasing, but 827 00:41:18,240 --> 00:41:19,680 that's what he said. And he went down in the water 828 00:41:19,680 --> 00:41:22,280 and he baptized him. It was not some months long 829 00:41:22,280 --> 00:41:24,640 process that it took the Philippi, I mean the Ethiopian 830 00:41:24,640 --> 00:41:29,480 unit to get saved, right? He understood the Gospel, he 831 00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:31,840 accepted it. He was baptized. 832 00:41:32,920 --> 00:41:35,640 It was instant. Same thing with Cornelius in his 833 00:41:35,640 --> 00:41:37,000 household. Same thing with Lydia. 834 00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:38,960 We already read about the Philippian jailer in his 835 00:41:38,960 --> 00:41:40,520 household. Acts 1631. 836 00:41:40,520 --> 00:41:42,480 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. 837 00:41:42,480 --> 00:41:44,400 And he did. And his whole house believed in 838 00:41:44,400 --> 00:41:47,320 Jesus Christ as their Savior. And he baptized him that same 839 00:41:47,320 --> 00:41:49,440 night, right? It was instant. 840 00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:51,320 It was not some long drawn out process. 841 00:41:51,320 --> 00:41:53,520 It was not some, you know, long thing. 842 00:41:53,520 --> 00:41:56,400 Now, I don't know how long the Philippian jailer had been 843 00:41:56,400 --> 00:41:58,440 thinking about it. There's a good possibility that 844 00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:01,440 he heard Paul and Silas preaching earlier in the day or 845 00:42:01,440 --> 00:42:03,640 earlier in the week before they were beaten and put in prison, 846 00:42:04,080 --> 00:42:05,840 right? Could have been that, that, that 847 00:42:05,840 --> 00:42:07,840 he would had been convicted when they were preaching that. 848 00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:10,520 And this is just the end of that conviction process, right? 849 00:42:10,680 --> 00:42:14,720 The conviction process may take some time, but salvation is not 850 00:42:14,720 --> 00:42:17,360 a long drawn out process. It's a momentary decision. 851 00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:21,800 It's a salvation experience that happens instantaneously and 852 00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:23,560 you're either saved or you're not, right? 853 00:42:24,320 --> 00:42:27,760 So all of these, it happened the same way for all of them. 854 00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:34,480 And it's it's, it's you're saved, you get baptized and you 855 00:42:34,480 --> 00:42:36,600 know, Christ is shave. It's a new birthright. 856 00:42:37,120 --> 00:42:40,040 It's the same way that it happens with with a physical 857 00:42:40,040 --> 00:42:41,640 birthright. It's there, it's done. 858 00:42:41,640 --> 00:42:44,760 That's it. So anyway, the whole idea here 859 00:42:44,760 --> 00:42:48,120 then is faith is absolutely necessary for salvation. 860 00:42:48,400 --> 00:42:51,920 Problem is that most people only emphasize the faith, right? 861 00:42:52,440 --> 00:42:55,240 It's faith. It changed from unbelief to 862 00:42:55,240 --> 00:42:56,680 belief. Well, it is. 863 00:42:56,680 --> 00:42:59,200 That's part of it, right? Because you didn't believe that 864 00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:01,760 he can get you to heaven. Now you do, or you're counting 865 00:43:01,760 --> 00:43:03,120 in something else to get you to heaven. 866 00:43:03,120 --> 00:43:07,480 Now, you're not, right? But repentance and faith are 867 00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:09,560 both absolutely necessary for salvation. 868 00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:13,880 And so when it comes to putting this into a practical step for 869 00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:16,480 us, we've just got to make sure that we're very careful with it, 870 00:43:16,760 --> 00:43:19,360 right? I think a kid can be saved, but 871 00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:21,320 but I think a kid also has to understand the idea of 872 00:43:21,320 --> 00:43:22,560 repentance. They have to understand that 873 00:43:22,560 --> 00:43:25,000 they're a Sinner and they have to not want to sin anymore. 874 00:43:25,320 --> 00:43:28,120 Doesn't mean that they're that they have to stop sinning, but 875 00:43:28,120 --> 00:43:29,840 they have to want to stop sinning. 876 00:43:29,960 --> 00:43:32,680 They have to understand that their sin is what is sending 877 00:43:32,680 --> 00:43:34,600 them to hell. They have to understand that 878 00:43:34,600 --> 00:43:37,080 their sin is what made Christ have to die on the cross. 879 00:43:37,520 --> 00:43:40,640 So without a recognition of that, there cannot be any 880 00:43:40,640 --> 00:43:43,280 salvation because repentance and faith are both necessary for 881 00:43:43,280 --> 00:43:47,360 salvation. Acts 2021, right, repentance 882 00:43:47,360 --> 00:43:50,720 toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 distinct 883 00:43:50,720 --> 00:43:54,080 things that Paul talks about, and both of those things are, 884 00:43:54,160 --> 00:43:58,520 are heavily, heavily talked about throughout the entire rest 885 00:43:58,520 --> 00:44:02,320 of the New Testament. So very, very important for us 886 00:44:02,680 --> 00:44:05,440 when it comes down to a practically for us, we just have 887 00:44:05,440 --> 00:44:09,760 to be very, very, very careful about about leading somebody to 888 00:44:09,760 --> 00:44:12,720 Christ. Not that somebody could not get 889 00:44:12,720 --> 00:44:16,000 saved the first time they hear it, right? 890 00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:18,840 It happened. It happened in in many different 891 00:44:18,840 --> 00:44:21,520 places when Paul preached. So somebody can hear the gospel 892 00:44:21,520 --> 00:44:25,720 and get saved on the first time. But we just have to be very 893 00:44:25,720 --> 00:44:28,440 careful and make sure that we're being thorough and that people 894 00:44:28,440 --> 00:44:31,280 understand what the gospel is before we just lead them in a 895 00:44:31,280 --> 00:44:36,600 prayer and declare them saved. And they don't really have any 896 00:44:36,600 --> 00:44:38,440 idea if they are or not. Right. 897 00:44:39,840 --> 00:44:42,040 All right, well in there, let's pray. 898 00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:44,440 We'll get into a new lesson next week. 899 00:44:44,440 --> 00:44:46,320 Father, again, we thank you so much for your goodness to us. 900 00:44:46,320 --> 00:44:48,760 Thank you for the opportunity that we have to to study these 901 00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:51,000 things from your word. Pray that it would continue to 902 00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:53,520 be a help to us and that we'd be able to use it to lead more 903 00:44:53,520 --> 00:44:56,680 people to Christ. Pray that you would put people 904 00:44:56,680 --> 00:45:00,000 in our pathway that we can share the gospel with, but also that 905 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:02,240 as you do, we take those opportunities to share the 906 00:45:02,240 --> 00:45:04,440 gospel. Thank you again for all you do 907 00:45:04,440 --> 00:45:05,920 for us in Jesus name, Amen.