The Gospel to All Creation - Preaching the Gospel to Christians

Welcome to the roots, or it's all about who. It's

all about Jesus. We love God, we love people, We

reach the lost, and we make disciples. That's what we

do here. So grab your Bibles because you're gonna need

them today and we're going to be starting in Matthew

chapter seven. If you need a Bible, we have a

bunch of them at the resource desk and a lobby.

Please grab one. We want you to have a Bible,

either to keep order, bar or whatever. We want you

to have the Bible in front of you. And while

you guys are turning there, I want you to think

about this mind blowing question I had this week. Where

does the wind come from? I mean, like I was

sitting there thinking, like, you know, someplace they are always

just windy, and there's like usually a ravine or something,

so it makes sense like the wind is kind of

like funneled through areas, so it's like always windy there.

And then I thought, but what started the first wind?

Where is it coming from? So welcome? I think it's

God saying, you know, breeding, and then it's just that's

the same breeze it's just been going around the whole planet. There,

you go. But no, it made John three. This is

totally not has nothing to do with the message today,

but it made John three come alive to me even

more when Jesus tells Nicodemus, you don't know how the

wind works, but you see it working. We don't know. Yeah,

So there you go, you guys in Matthew chapter seven. Cool,

we're going to read it in like a long time,

but let me pray first. God, we thank you for

it today. We thank you for your word. We thank

you for the wind. God for you doing amazing things

that we can't always understand or explain. But God, we

just thank you for this moment to set aside all

other distractions and focus wholly on you and your word

and the work that you want to do in us

today as we go through it. So, God, we just

thank you for this time, give it all to you

for your glory, and thank you for the benefit of us.

We thank you for this all in Jesus name. Everybody said, Amen. Well,

we've been in a short series called the Gospel to

All Creation. The Gospel to All Creation, and in Mark's

account of the Great Commission, Jesus tells the disciples to

go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to

the whole creation. So go out into the world, go

tell everyone everywhere the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.

And I'm actually currently reading a book that has a

few really really awesome things in it. They're awesome and

challenging things to say. But one of the things that

said was at the most basic level, the Bible says

that Jesus doesn't have two classes of disciple, those who

abandon their lives to his service and those who don't.

The call to discipleship is the same for all. Every

disciple is called to the same thing. It says to

be a disciple is to be a slave of Christ

and to confess his name openly before others. We are

slaves without rights, even though we are free. That's what

it means to be a disciple of Jesus, disciple of God.

We're no longer our own, but we were bought with

a price. We don't belong to ourselves. God saved us

for a reason. There's a reason that he saved us.

Look at Ephesians chapter two. You don't have to turn there,

it'll be on the screen. But Ephesians chapter two, Verse

ten says, for we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus.

For what good works which God prepared beforehand, that we

should what okay, say that part loud walk in them.

He has a job for you. And it's not just

good works that He prepared in advance. It if you

feel like doing did go do them? No? No, no, no no,

that we should walk in them. He has a job

for you and we should do that job. We are

called as servants of the Most High to preach the

Gospel to all creation. So that's our aim for the series.

That's why we're going through this series all month for

us all to be equipped to go and proclaim or

to preach the Gospel to all creation. We saw the

first week we did this was on Easter, and it

started talking about what exactly is the gospel? What is

the gospel? And although it is a well too deep

to ever reach the bottom of, to fully fathom the

depths of the gospel message, you will never reach the

bottom of that well. So even though it's a well

too deep to reach the bottom, that the gospel message

is simple. It's so simple that child can understand it,

so simple that I can understand it. It's simple. I

believe Jesus died for my sins. I believe Jesus died

for my sins. That's an admission of guilt before God.

I've sin. That's a recognition that it took Jesus dying

to pay the penalty for my sin. And third, that's

an active response of faith that Jesus death is only

for those who believe. Now, it can go a lot

deeper than that, but at the core, that is the

gospel message. That's the core. I believe Jesus died for

my sins. You've sinned against God and deserve what death?

I asked the boys all the time, what do we deserve?

Nothing but death for our sin? But we've everything in Christ.

We've sinned against God and deserved death. But all those

who put faith in Jesus, Jesus death paid the debt

that we owe to God and we get eternal life.

So repent of your sins and believe in Jesus. That's

the gospel message. So the first step and proclaiming the

gospel to all creations. We've got to know what the

gospel is. That's the first step. But the second step

that Pastor Duncan talked about last week was to preach

the Gospel to ourselves that we're part of the all

creation that needs the Gospel being preached to ourselves, and

not only that of us being part of all creation,

but also preaching the Gospel to ourselves or to other

starts with preaching it to ourselves, we need to be

able to preach it to ourselves. Our belief in the

Gospel was never meant to be a one and done thing,

something for you to only believe in once and then

just move on. Because in the same way the example

that was used was you don't just fill up your

car with gas once. No, gas doesn't just get your

car started. Gas is what keeps your car going. And

that's the same thing for the Gospel message. For us,

it doesn't only get us saved, it's what sustains us.

The Gospel message is what motivates. It's the main motivation

that drives us. It's the truth that we cling to

when times get hard. As believers, we are reliant upon

the Gospel every moment of every single day. This is

not a one and done thing. We need to keep

filling up the tank. And I love what Pastor Duncan said.

He said we need the Gospel every day to make

it all the way. It's a little silly saying, but

it's so true. We need the Gospel every day to

make it all the way. It's the destination our future,

eternal glory that gets us through the journey of life.

Setting our minds on the eternal future we have with

Jesus is the thing that gets us through the sufferings

of life. So now though we've started the practice of

preaching the Gospel to ourselves, because we all do that

last week, right, every day, we gotta do it now

we started this practice. The next group of people that

we need to preach the Gospel to is those who

think they know. Today we're talking about preaching the Gospel

to Christians, to quote unquote Christians. There are a lot

of false Christian beliefs out there today. But as I

often like to say, truth adjacent or adjacent being next

to right. Truth adjacent is not the truth. It's not

the truth. Close to the truth is still not the truth.

Who here remembers playing the board game Battleship grown up

love Battleship. You say hate it because you can't win.

It's like me and Phase ten. I never win, So

we're not allowed to play that game. Yeah, Jordan, you

need to get your wife in line. Battleship, So it's

one of the best feelings in that game is someone

is calling out a number and it's the space right

next to one of your ships, because then you get

to save this the magic word miss exactly. But what

makes that feeling even better is on their next time,

instead of picking the spot next to it, they skip

over one and go on directly on the other side

of your ship and you get to say the magic

word again miss. Is that not one of the greatest

feelings ever? Why is it one of the greatest feelings

Because they're so close, but it's a miss. They're off.

There's only dead on hit. When it comes to the truth,

there is no close enough when it comes to the truth,

there's no close enough rule. Just like in battleship, and

especially when it comes to the gospel, there is no

close enough to the Gospel. What I really want us

to see today is it's only the true Gospel of

Jesus Christ that can save. Only the true Gospel Jesus

Christ as defined in God's Word. Because it's not a mystery,

it's not a secret. Only that true gospel is defining

God's word can save. There is one gospel, there is

one truth. There's no other way to receive forgiveness for

sins and eternal life, no matter what anyone else says

to you, no matter how close it may be to

the actual truth, if it isn't the true Gospel of

Jesus Christ, it's a false gospel and it cannot save you.

I want you to listen. Now that I had you

turned to Matthew seven, like ten years ago, we're finally

going to read it. I want you to listen to

what Jesus says in Matthew seven. And these I think

are some of the scariest verses in the entire Bible.

At least they scared me growing up. We're going to

start in verse thirteen says, enter by the narrow gate.

For the gate is wide, and the way is easy,

that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it

are many. For the gate is narrow, and the way

is hard that leads to life, and those who find

it are few. Okay, so Jesus is saying there's two

ways to go here. There's a wide and easy way

that leads to destruction, and there's a narrow and hard

way that leads to life. And then he continues in

verse fifteen, beware of false prophets who come to you

in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will

recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes,

or figs from thistles. So every healthy tree bears good fruit,

but the disease tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree

cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a disease tree bear

good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit

is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you

will recognize them by their fruits. Now, why would Jesus,

after talking about these two paths, start talking about false

prophets all the sudden. Jesus isn't like he doesn't have

EIGHTYHD brain. He's not zipping back and forth to different topics.

There's some common theme he's getting at when he preaches

and when he teaches. So this is a warning for

the people. There are already people who are on the

wide and easy path that leads to destruction. He's saying,

look at the fruit of their life, and do not

follow them. False teachers false prophets, beware of them. They're

already on this path. But after saying don't follow them,

comes the really terrifying part. Jesus gives a sobering reality

for these false prophets and for the many who will

be deceived and follow them on the wide path the

destruction verse twenty one. Not everyone who says to me,

Lord Lord, will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but the

one who does the will of my Father, who is

in heaven. And on that day many will say to me,

Lord Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and

cast out demons in your name? And do many mighty

works in your name? Declare to them, I never knew

you depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. I never

knew you depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. But

weren't they doing the right things? Weren't they doing the

Christian things? They said? Didn't we do the mighty things

in your name? And Jesus answers a question in a

very similar way in Luke thirteen. Look at Luke Chapter thirteen,

starting in verse twenty three, says in someone said to him, Lord,

will those who are saved be few? And he said

to them, strive to enter through the what the narrow door?

For many I tell you will seek to enter and

will not be able to. When once the Master of

the house has risen and shut the door, and you

begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, Lord,

open to us, then he will answer to you, answer you,

I do not know where you come from. Then you

will begin to say, we ate and drank in your presence,

and you taught in our streets. But he will say,

I tell you, I do not know where you come from.

Depart from me, all you workers of evil. Again, didn't

we do all the right things? We ate and we

drank with you, We even heard you teach, we went

to church. But the truth is that there are many

people today sitting in church every Sunday, serving on teams,

going to discipleship groups, feeding the homeless, bumping their Christian

music as they drive down the street, thinking they're saved.

But they aren't. They've been deceived by false teachers, or

false prophets, or even their own wicked heart. I think

it was John Calvin who said our hearts are perpetual

idol factories. On the outside, they may appear as followers

of Jesus. I mean, they're doing all the Christian things right,

but in reality following a false gospel, false Christian belief

I think about it this way, They're following a map

that doesn't lead where they think it leads. Gone to

the corn maze right, follow last year's map all you want,

it will never get you to the exit of this

year's maze. Again, truth adjacent is not truth. So what

I want to do right now is clear up a

bunch of that. There's two I have two goals for today.

We're gonna clear up the most common what I think

are probably the most common false Christian beliefs that I

see today, and we're gonna let God's word correct them.

And the two reasons I want to do this is

one is I want to clear up any false beliefs

that you might have because I'm a pastor of this flock,

so it's kind of important for me to do that.

But the second reason is I want to equip you

with the dead on truth so that when you preach

the Gospel to others, you can address these false beliefs

as you hear them. Sound good, say know the true Gospel. Okay,

we need to know the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Say believe the true gospel. Believe we need to believe

the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now say preach the

true gospel. We need to know it and we need

to believe it. Also that we can preach the true

Gospel of Jesus Christ. So let's look at this first

false Christian belief. False belief Number one, being a good

person gets you into heaven. Being a good person gets

you into heaven. How many have you heard that before.

I'm a pretty good person. I know I'm not perfect.

I'm not as bad as other people. I haven't done

anything that bad. I always try to do the right thing.

I'm not a bad person. Why wouldn't I get into heaven?

But what's at the root of all of those statements,

at the center of them all? Yeah, I gotta her

eye down there. It's all works based salvation. What did

I do or what can I do to be okay?

To be good? It's a work based salvation. It equates

salvation as a reward for good behavior. It also has

the high potential to diminish sin in your own life.

And not only that, it does seem like the primary

focus of this false belief is just getting into heaven,

just making it into heaven. If the false belief is

that being a good person gets you into heaven, what

does God say? What does God say about that? Well,

first off, we all have a problem because none of

us is actually good. That's the bummer news that we have.

Romans three, chapter three, verse ten says, as it is written,

none is righteous, no, not one. No one understands, no

one seeks for God. All have turned aside together they

have become worthless. No one does good, not even how many,

not even not none, not even one. And this is

Paul quoting the psalms no one is good, everyone is bad,

which in cave man speak we say man bad, God good.

Man is bad, God is good. Well, what does King

David say if you don't want to listen to Paul?

In Psalm fifty one, this is one of the best

psalms of repentance cuts you to the heart. This is

Psalm fifty one to five. Behold, I was brought forth

in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me?

He's saying he was born in sin. We're born sinful.

That's what King David is saying about himself, and none

of us gets to escape this. None of us get

to escape it. The first problem with this false Christian

belief is that we're all born sinners. We're all born

in Adam, and we all inherit his sinful nature, his

desire to sin. God created man good, and man wants

to sin. And I think any of us, anecdotally speaking,

if you stop and thought about it, you say, Man,

when I did the wrong sinful thing, I kind of

wanted to do it. Now you would feel conviction after

if you're a believer. But that's from the sin nature

that we all inherited from Adam. Romans five twelve says, therefore,

just as sin came into the world through one man,

and death through sin, and so spread to all men

because all sins. So we're all born sinners, and we

all sin. We aren't good like at all. We're just

not good. So how can we expect to be good enough,

so good that God should save us. You would have

to be perfect, you would have to have no sin.

There's only one person I know has ever done that,

and that's Jesus. But Paul wants to make this painfully

clear in Romans chapter three, starting in verse twenty three.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory

of God. All have sinned and fall short of the

glory of God, and are justified by His grace as

a what as a gift through the redemption that is

in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation

by his blood to be received by faith. All have

sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We

are all in need of saving. You're not good enough

to be saved on your own. There's not enough things

or that you could do to outweigh the cost of

the bad one thing you ever could have done. But

these verses not only give us the remedy for that problem,

but they also blow the rest of this false Christian

belief completely out of the water. We aren't justified by

our works or by being good enough. What are we

justified by? It's by the grace of God through the

blood of Jesus, as a gift from Him which is

received by faith. And the nail in the coffin of

this false belief. If you are still not convinced, is

Ephesians too, For by grace you have been saved through faith.

For by grace. You have been saved through faith, and

this is not your own doing. It is the gift

of God, not a result of works, So that no

one may boast. So no, being a good person does

not get you into heaven. It's not about works, it's

not about merit. Salvation is received by the grace of God,

not through works, not through merit of your own. There's

nothing you can do to work your way into heaven.

There's not enough things you can do to make God

and owe you salvation. The debt is too great. So

next time someone says they're Christian and saved because they're

a good person, gently and lovingly and with all humility,

tell them the truth. You hate to break it to them,

but they're not good. I'm not good, and that's okay

because salvation isn't by works, Praise God, It's only through

faith in Jesus. But before we move on to the

next false Christian belief that I want to talk about,

I want to point out how sneaky that this particular

false belief can be. It can weasel its way into

our heads, in our hearts, because how often is believers

who know that salvation is through grace is by grace

through faith. We already know this. When we struggle with sin,

can start to believe a little lie. There's a little

lie that works its way into our heads and into

our hearts, that this lie that maybe God won't accept

me anymore. But what is that saying? That's falling into

the same works based false Christian belief. That's what that's

falling into. If God saved you by no works of

your own, he saved you through nothing that you did,

but by grace through faith in Jesus, you think your

own works are suddenly going to take over and sustain

your salvation. Have a silly example. It's like being on

an airplane. You take off, you're at thirty thousand feet,

and then you start flapping your wings, your arms like wings,

thinking it's going to keep that plane flying. Homie, your

arms aren't doing anything. They're doing nothing to keep you flying.

The same faith in Jesus that saves us is the

same faith that keeps us not works. You continue to

cling to Jesus knowing that your salvation is secure in Him,

not by the things you do. To keep you in

the good graces of God. You will respond in faith

and obedience, but that is not what saves you, and

stop sinning, lovingly, knock it off, just stop. But if

this grace here that we understand, because this is beautiful,

amazing grace, they write songs about it. But if this

grace is abused, it can lead to the second or

the next false Christian belief that I want to talk about,

which is I said a prayer once. It doesn't matter

how I live. You guys heard that before this one's

a two firm and we're actually technically two things were

covering here. Who grew up in the youth church days. Yeah,

lots of fun in those days, mostly playing video games

before church, just kidding, lots of great things out of that.

Or maybe you were in a church where the pastor

would have you all bow your heads and close your eyes,

and the pastor would say, if you want to give

your life to Jesus, just raise your hand, and they

ne'd say, there's hands going up all over the place,

or I see you, I see you, even if no

one's hands were going up full pastor trick, everyone's eyes

closed to lie to the congregation. Just kidding, that's mean.

I shouldn't have said that. That was all mean. It

was I know Jordan's gonna call me out on that

even harder. Later he'll he'll admonish me. But they would

have everyone after you raise your hands. I did everyone

repeat the same prayer. We'd say a specific prayer, and

I don't. I'm not knocking the prayer at all. That's

not what I'm trying to do. I think it's because

it is a vocal profession of faith. It's a willing

confession of sin, and it's calling out for Jesus to

save you from your sin. But it's not the prayer

that saves you. It's not this magic phrase that make

sure you stay out of hell. That's not what this

prayer is. And that's actually how I thought of it

growing up. Every single night when I would go to bed,

in my nighttime prayers, i'd say the salvation prayer just

in case I lost my salvation that day. I didn't

want to die in the middle of my sleep and

wake up in Hell. I was scared of it, so

I would say this magic phrase every single night. Our

faith is not in the magic phrase. Our faith is

in Jesus. Our faith is in Christ, our Lord. So

again I want to say, I'm not knocking the prayer

or even being led through a prayer. I'm not saying

that's wrong, but there are plenty of people, because there

are plenty of people who, out of a genuine response

to the gift of grace that God has given them,

has responded in a prayer with true faith and belief

in Jesus. But it never was that prayer, those special

words that saved them. But that's only the first part

of this Christian belief, because there are many who say

I went up to the front of the church during

an altar call, or if you went to a youth

camp and you know your motions are high, and you

hear some like dynamic speaking, and then you walk up

and you want to give your life to Jesus and

you say a prayer. And these people say, I said

a prayer, so I'm saved, So it doesn't matter how

I live. But God has some strong things to say

about that too. I want you to look at Romans

chapter six, where'd I leave you guys in your Bible.

You guys are in three. Go to Romans chapter six.

I still feel bad that I said a bunch of

pastors lie to their congregations Romans chapter six. So Paul

just finished saying, where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.

This is what he just finished talking about. So in

verse one it says, how shall we say then, or

what excuse? What shall we say? Then? Are we to

continue in sin that grace may abound? What does he say?

By no means? How can we who died to sin

still live in it? Do you not know that all

of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were

baptized into his death. We were buried therefore with him,

and by baptism into death in order that just as

Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of

the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

How can we who died to sin still live in it?

We are called as those brought from death to life

to walk in the newness of life. We are a

new creature, a new creation, and we've been given a

new nature. And we don't abuse the grace of God

like that. We don't abuse it. In fact, listen to

how Hebrews it's put in Hebrews ten, verse twenty six.

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the

knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice

for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment and a

fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who

has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy

on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much

more or how much worse punishment do you think will

be deserved by the one who is trampled underfoot the

son of God and has profaned the blood of the

Covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the

spirit of grace. This is heavy. These are some strong words.

It's the mark of a non believer to hear the

truth of what Jesus did for sin and to continue

willingly walking in it. To be indifferent and not care.

That's a mark of a non believer. It's the equivalent

Hebrews is saying, it's the equivalent of walking all over

Jesus and profaning his precious blood. I've been listening to

this album in this specific song on repeat, and the

lyrics of this song called Lamb of God. It's actually written,

I think in nineteen eighty five. It's like a modern

modern Ish hymn. It says one of the verses says,

your gift of love, they crucified, They laughed and goarned

him as he died, the humble king they named a

fraud and sacrificed the lamb of God. This is the

category of a non believer, one who spits on Jesus

as he's crucified, continues to sin willingly, indifferently. And John

straight up calls you a liar if you claim to

be a believer and willingly continue to sin. This is

in First John one. This is the message we have

heard from him and proclaimed to you, that God is light,

and in him there is no darkness at all. If

we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk

in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

You are a liar if you say you follow Jesus,

but it has no effect on how you live. But you, guys,

are perfect in here, so this isn't about you, right.

The reason is is that those who are true believers

are new creatures in Christ. We're new. You will look different, perfect, No,

you will look different. Your affections will change the things

you love, Your desires will change the things that you

want and chase after and again will you do it perfectly. No,

And John gives us provision for that too. If you

keep reading in First John chapter two. In fact, let's

turn there. Did you guys get to I kind of

just went on without letting you guys turn there, But

go to First John chapter two. This chunk is really

important for us to know. It's the first six verses. Guys,

they're sweet First John chapter to my little children. It's

a sweet and endearing thing for him to say, I'm

writing these things. The things that he just wrote in

the first chapter which we just read, says you're a

liar if you just claim to be with Christ and

you don't follow him. I'm writing these things to you

so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin,

we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.

He's the propitiation for our sins. That's the full satisfaction

of God's wrath or payment due to him. He is

the propitiation for our sins, and not only for ours,

not for ours only, but also for the sins of

the whole world. And by this we know that we

have come to know him if we keep his commandments.

Whoever says I know him, but does not keep his

commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

But whoever keeps his word in him, truly the love

of God is perfected by this we know we are

in him. Whoever says he abides in him ought to

walk in the same way in which He walked. So

John's goal here is for believers to not sin. I'm

writing these things so you don't sin. But when we do,

because this side of eternity, this side of Christ returning,

we're going to continue to fall and scrape our knees.

And when we fall and scrape our knee, we need

to remember that we have an advocate, Jesus Christ, who

paid the penalty for your sins, past, present, and future,

and that fully satisfies the debt that you owe to God.

That's amazing news. Saying a prayer does not save you

and true faith will change you. True believer cannot continue

to willingly walk and sin and just be fine with it.

You guys, you know, okay, you're ready for more? Are

in the words of Home alone? You give up or

you're thirsty for more. The next false belief is I

believe in God. That's good enough. I believe in God,

that's good enough. And to that, I say, that's a

good start, but that's not the gospel. It's a good start,

but it's not the gospel. I've actually asked people do

you know the gospel? Are you a believer? And their

response to me is, you don't have to worry about me.

I believe in God. And I think the best response

to this is one single verse in the Book of

James James, chapter two, verse nineteen. You could turn there

if you want. I'm gonna put on the screen. You

believe that God is one? You do well. Even the

demons believe and shudder. Congratulations, you believe that God exists.

So do the demons, but even they shudder. True Gospel

of Jesus isn't the belief that God exists. It's a

recognition that you have broken the laws of that eternal God,

that you are not in right standing with him, that

you stand guilty before him. And it's only when we

see the problem that the solution makes sense. It's only

when we see the problem that the solution makes sense.

Otherwise this solution is just foolishness. I say, it's like

having an answer key to a math test. You aren't

taking what's the point of that. The answer, key or

the solution only makes sense if you see the problem.

Jesus perfect life and his substitutionary death that means dying

in place for somebody else is the solution. But we

only see him as a solution when we see the

problem of our sin, when we see that there's a

problem between God and us, and it's not on his side,

it's on our side. So, like I said, believing that

God exists is a great start, but the Gospel message

goes beyond that. It goes into our relation to this

perfect and holy God. Or have of this next false belief.

Jesus is only one of the ways to God, or

he's only one of the ways to be saved. Wrong, wrong,

He's the only way. And this might be the most

offensive thing you tell someone who's open minded and inclusive

to every religion. This might be the most offensive thing

you say. There's a very popular lie out there right

now that all religions lead to God, as though God

is sitting at the top of a mountain and there

are many paths up this mountain to God. But the

main problem with that ideology or that thought is that's

not what God says. God says, there's only one way.

John fourteen. Turn there. This is a big verse for

you guys to memorize. John chapter fourteen. I'm making you

guys work out in your Bible today. This is good.

Get your reps in. I like it. John chapter fourteen

and verse six. Jesus said to him him being Thomas,

I am the Way and the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me. No

one comes to the Father except through me. Jesus says, this.

The only way to get to God, the Father is

through who. There's no other way. There's no other way,

no matter what someone else says. Even if they come

to you and say you want to experience the divine,

start this new meditation practice, or they say, why don't

you look inside yourself? The Divine is in us all,

Or how about look to the stars. What's your sign? Personally?

I'm an asparagus, just kidding, that's a dad joke. For sure.

The Divine is in nature. God is in everything. Charge

up these crystals, listen to this very specific frequency and

have an out of body experience. None of those are

ways to God the Father. None of them. The only

way to get to God, the Father is through the

only way, the only truth, and the only life, and

that's through Jesus, because he is God. Wasn't it Thomas

who was doubting, And he's like, how can you Jesus, Like,

how can you say? Show us the Father? If you

see me, You've seen the Father. That's what Jesus says.

And it's only by the name of Jesus that we,

a sinful man, can find salvation. This is what we're

talking about here. Look at Acts chapter four, Verses eleven

and twelve, says this, Jesus is the stone that was

rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone,

that's the chief stone that everything else is built off of.

And there is salvation in what what does it say?

No one else? For there is no other name under

Heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

Jesus can't be a way to God and salvation because

God says he is the way to Him into salvation.

There is no other name, There is no other perfect sacrifice,

there is no other perfect substitute for us, only Jesus.

It's only Jesus. Now, if you or someone who is

following this, you know this truth adjacent false belief. They

might not outright say that there are other ways for salvation,

but what it might sound like is it might sound

like Jesus plus something. Sure, Jesus was a good teacher

and we should follow him. But also as soon as

they say, but also they've gone into Jesus plus something.

Even those who would rightly say that Jesus was a

good teacher, if they pin him only to that, they're

actually denying his deity. He's the divine son of God.

He is God incarnate, the image of the invisible one.

Jesus is God. There is no But also when it

comes to the Gospel, Jesus plus nothing is everything. Jesus

plus nothing is everything. You don't need Jesus plus good vibes.

You don't need Jesus plus sinlessness. That's merits that go

back to the first false belief. You don't need Jesus

plus Jewish heritage. You don't need Jesus plus goose bumps

or some experience. I didn't really feel goosebumps in worship today,

so the spirit must not have been moving wrong. You

don't need Jesus plus religious tradition. Now, religious tradition isn't

all bad, but it doesn't equal salvation. You don't need

Jesus plus a special revelation. I was meditating in the

forest and he showed me another way. No, he didn't.

He did not show you another way. God doesn't contradict

his revealed will in scripture, and his revealed will in

Scripture is sufficient for everything we need to believe and

do nerdy words, orthodoxy and orthopraxy. What we believe in

what we do. God has made it very clear. It's

by no other name that we must be saved but

the name of Jesus. It's Jesus the it's faith in

Jesus plus nothing that equals salvation. He's the only way

to God. And the last false belief that I want

to cover for today, and I'll try to pick things

up so we're not here too much later. The false

belief is I was born in a Christian family, so

I'm saved. Or you might also hear it this way.

I grew up in church, or I go to church,

so of course I'm a Christian. But I think this

speaks to who Jesus was rebuking the most in those

terrifying verses that we read in the beginning, because it

does not matter the family that you grew up in,

does not matter the church you went to, or even

the fact that you were born in Texas. None of

those things make you a Christian. None of those things

make you a believer. I mean, some of those things

actually put you an advantage over others. I will give

you that. Maybe not the Texas thing, but being born

in a Christian family, I think gives you a great advantage,

but it does not save you. Doesn't automatically make you

a believer. Look at what John, the baptism As are

said of the Pharisees and the saddest Sees. In Matthew

chapter three says, and do not presume to say to

yourselves we have Abraham as our father. For I tell

you God is able from these stones to raise up

children for Abraham. That's a slap in the face for them.

John's rebuking the religious leaders who think they are good

with God because the family they were born in. Salvation

is not tied to your earthly heritage. John one verse

twelve tells us, but to all who did receive him,

who believed in his name, this is so good. He

gave the right to become what children of God? What's

the last line of that Lamb of God's song. It says,

I was so lost, I should have died, But he

has brought me. You have brought me to your side

to be led by your staff and rod and become

a child of God. Oh my Gosh, he gave the

right to become children of God who were born not

of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor

of the will of man, but of God. The true

children of God are those who are born of the

will of God, who receive Jesus and believe in his name,

not those who were born in a certain family. And

Paul tells the Galatians in Galatians one, and if you

are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring heirs according to

the promise. So it's those who are in Christ. It's

not those who were born with Jewish heritage. So those

were born in Christ who are truly God's people. The

true errors to the promises of God are those who

are in Jesus. All the promises of God find their

yes and amen in Christ. Doesn't matter whose family are born,

and that is not what saves you. Doesn't matter that

you grew up in church. I'm going to say this

Church Attendants does not save you. This is not a

license to skip church, though I'm me saying that. Side

note is every Christian will go to church because we're

told not to forsake the gathering. The gathering of believers

to worship the Lord should be a top priority for

every single Christian. But it is not what saves you.

Remember Tarzan? Where are you going with this one? Greg?

Growing up in church? You have Phil Collins such a

great album, He's the goat. Growing up in church or

growing up going to church every Sunday doesn't make you

a Christian anymore than Tarzan growing up with apes makes

him an actual ape like that does not make you

a Christian. Growing up in church does not save you.

Faith in Jesus is what saves you. Knowing you're a

sinner and believing that Jesus died for your sins is

what saves you. Can't have the worship team come up,

please thank you? So I want to, like, really quickly

just go over these five false beliefs and say the

answer to them, just so they're fresh in our minds.

First false belief, being a good person gets you to Heaven, No,

it doesn't. Salvation is by grace through faith, not by works.

The second one second false belief is saying a prayer

once saves you and it doesn't matter how you live.

The answer is there's no magic sentence or phrase that

saves you. Faith in Jesus does, and those who truly

believe will live like it. The third false Christian belief

is I believe in God, that's enough to be saved.

But remember even the demons believe and they shudder. You

have to know you're a sinner in need of saving,

and only faith in Jesus saves the force. Fourth false belief, well,

Jesus is only one of the ways to sellalvation. Know

he is the only way. He's the way, the truth,

and the life. There's no other name by which men

must be saved. And the fifth false Christian belief we

talked about as I grew up in a Christian family,

so I'm saved, but your bloodline does not matter it

So those who are born of God, by receiving and

believing in Jesus who are saved. But what do all

of these false Christian beliefs have in common? What's this

like common theme running through all of them. I think

it's that I set the terms for salvation. I set

the terms, or this is how I think salvation should work.

But who coulds to set the terms? God kind of does,

doesn't he. God created everything. God's the one whose laws

that we broke. God's the one that we rejected and

rebelled against. God's the one that created you and I.

God gets to set the terms. God gets to set

the terms for how to make right what we broke. Now,

I don't think that most people who are following any

of these false gospels or false Christian beliefs. I don't

think they consciously think of it that way. Not usually,

or they definitely wouldn't articulate it that way. But if

you stop and think about it for a second, that's

exactly what they're saying. Because God is set, has clearly

set the terms for salvation in his word. Remember, the

Gospel is simple. It may be a well too deep

to reach the bottom, but it is simple. Terms are clear.

Salvation is by God's grace alone, through the gift of

faith alone, in the only Son of God, Jesus Christ alone.

There's no other way to receive forgiveness for sin. There's

no other way for us to be reconciled to God

or be made right with God. There's no other way

for us to be made righteous from unrighteous, filthy to clean.

There's no other way for us to receive the future

inheritance of eternal life with Jesus. Because, like I said

at the beginning, only the true Gospel of Jesus Christ

can save. And God has defined the true gospel for

us in his word. There is one gospel. And I

want to make you repeat him again because there's three

things I want us to get from this. Say, know

the true gospel. We need to know the true gospel

of Jesus Christ. Say believe the true gospel. We need

to believe the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Also that

we can say, preach the true gospel, especially to those

who are following a false gospel, who have been deceived.

And I want to look at Paul's words to the

church in Glatia. This is Galatians chapter one, if you

want to turn there with me. Galatians chapter one, verses

six through nine. Say, I am astonished that you were

so quickly deserting him who called you in the great

of Christ. And are turning to a different gospel, not

that there is another one. But there are some who

trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

But even if we or an angel from heaven should

preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we

preach to you, let him be a cursed. As we

have said before, So now I say again, if anyone

is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one

you received, let him be a cursed. And that word

a curse is anathema. Damned is what that word means.

We need to take this warning from Paul to heart.

We must know the true gospel so we aren't taken

captive to false ones. So we don't abandon the true gospel.

We must believe the true gospel. It's only by this

gospel where saved ourselves. And then we must preach the

true gospel. We can't preach any other gospel, not that

there is one. I love that Paul puts that in there.

The point of the gospel is not to fix your finances.

The point of the gospel is not to save your

failing marriage. Now, the gospel will affect those things, but

they are not the point the point of the gospel,

as you are a sinner headed for hell, and you

need to be saved from the wrath of God on

you because of your sin for all eternity. And this

salvation is received through faith in Jesus. This is the

good news that people need to hear, the good news

that saves them from their sin, that saves them from

the wrath of God for all eternity. The good news

that calls them out of darkness and into light, from

death to life. It's the good news that adopts them

as children of the Most High. It's the good news

that makes them a co heir with Christ to all

the promises of God. And if it's only the true

Gospel that brings salvation, the true Gospel of Jesus that

brings salvation. And all of your friends and family members

who are following a false gospel walking through life thinking

that they're good with God, they are not good with God.

They've been deceived by a false teacher or false prophet,

or a swindler, or someone who is just an eloquent speaker,

or who's someone who told you that the gospel is

all about having your finances be better and your marriage

be better. They might be deceived by the sin in

their hearts, or maybe by Satan himself. He's a liar,

but they are not good with God. They have to

know the truth. We have to be ready to preach

the true gospel of Jesus Christ, even to quote unquote Christians.

But as we do, I really want us to remember

Colauss four. I feel like this is helpful because what

we say is the most important thing. How we say

it is not inconsequential. Clausans four, five and six say,

walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of

time of the time. Let your speech always be gracious,

seasoned with solid so that you may know how you

ought to answer each person. So as we go and

we preach the true gospel to those following a fake

gospel or a false gospel, make sure we speak the

truth and love, gentle, humble, full of grace, and seasoned

with sault. Amen. Can you guys stand your feet please,