Overcoming In Times of Doubt - Pastor Bruce Mejia

After chapter 10, look down at your Bibles in verse 22, it says,

Let us draw near with the pure heart in full assurance of faith,

having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience,

and our bodies washed with pure water.

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith, and I want you to notice this

without wavering, without wavering, for he is faithful that promise.

And the title of my sermon this morning is Overcoming Doubt.

Overcoming Doubt. I want to talk about the subject of doubt this morning.

And what the Bible says about doubt and how to have victory over our doubts,

how to overcome our doubts, how to be people who profess our faith

without wavering, as it says here in verse 23.

Now, what does it mean to doubt?

Well, doubt is a state of uncertainty in which a person wavers between

belief and unbelief, right?

Questioning whether something is true or not.

And in the context of spiritual matters, it's when a person wavers

or hesitates in believing the promises of God as found within the Bible.

It's when we stagger. It's when we question things.

And I think everyone can agree that we, at any given time or another,

regardless if you are a babe in Christ, if you're mature in the Lord,

we all struggle with doubt in our lives, right?

There are instances where we question whether God is going to provide,

whether he's going to come through,

whether he's going to show himself strong on our behalf,

whether he's actually going to fulfill his promises or not.

And quite frankly, I'm going to be honest with you,

I've been saved going on 20 years next year,

and I've read the Bible scores of times.

I've read the Bible cover to cover.

I've memorized a lot of scriptures.

I've been serving God, but yet even I struggle with doubt sometimes.

There are instances in my personal life where I'm like,

well, I know this is what the Bible says.

I know God has shown himself strong in the past,

but is he going to do it again though?

Will he actually provide this time?

Will he actually come through on this instance?

Will he actually show himself strong on my behalf today as he did in the past?

What is that? It's called doubt.

And it's very normal for every Christian to experience this from time to time

where you doubt whether God is actually going to fulfill his promises or not.

This is a struggle that many Christians have from season to season time to time.

Mark chapter 9, you don't have to turn there.

Mark 9 · chapter mention

It says in straight way, the father of the child cried out and said with tears,

Lord, I believe, and I love what he says here, help thou mine unbelief.

And I think all of us have experienced that at one time or another, right?

Like, oh, no, no, no, I believe for sure.

I know this is true, but help my unbelief though, okay?

This is essentially demonstrating that within every Christian,

there's a percentage of our heart that can struggle with doubting God

and doubting his promises and doubting his power.

Now, look, folks, it's important to note that doubt in and of itself is not a sin, okay?

It's not a sin to doubt.

It only becomes a sin when it prevents you from obeying God, okay?

It becomes a sin when it prevents you from obeying God

and it becomes a sin when it causes you to fear and make no mistake about it.

Fear is a sin in the Bible.

The Bible tells us that God did not give us a spirit of fear,

but of power, love, and a sound mind.

The Bible tells us that fear hath torment, right?

The Bible tells us that the fearful are part of those who go into the lake of fire

and so forth demonstrating how severe the sin of fear is in God's eyes.

Matthew chapter 14 and verse 30 says this,

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid and beginning to sink.

He cried saying, Lord, save me.

This is referring to Peter when he walked on water to walk towards Jesus

and immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him,

O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

So we see here Peter had enough faith to come out of the boat,

but then eventually he wavered, began to sink and in doing so,

God essentially corrected him and said, you have little faith.

Why did you doubt?

Matthew chapter 21 and verse 21 goes on to say,

Matthew 21 · chapter mention

Jesus answered and sent unto them, verily I say unto you,

if ye have faith and doubt not,

ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree,

but also if ye shall say unto this mountain,

be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, it shall be done.

First Timothy chapter 2 and verse 8 also says,

1 Timothy 2 · chapter mention

I will therefore that men pray everywhere,

lifting up holy hands without wrath and without doubting.

Now look folks, even though doubting is a normal thing for us to feel,

we shouldn't live in doubt, right?

We shouldn't be Christians that are characterized by doubt

because the longer you remain in doubt,

the more likely it is that you're going to become a fearful person.

And if you become a fearful person,

in turn you will become a disobedient Christian,

a disobedient person.

And that for sure is the sin in the eyes of God.

So what's the answer?

The answer is this, we need to increase our faith

by overcoming our doubts.

Increase our faith by overcoming our doubts.

Go to Matthew chapter 19, if you would.

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 19.

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

Now there's two parts to this sermon

and I'm going to cover both in this sermon,

but I'm going to spend the bulk of it in the first section.

And that is that we're going to talk about doubting your salvation, okay?

Let's talk about having doubts about salvation.

Now obviously in our church we're very explicit

when it comes to our gospel presentation,

what we believe about the doctrine of justification,

what the Bible says about that.

But that's not to say that sometimes people won't doubt, right?

There's times that people doubt, they go through seasons of doubt,

and there's a variety of reasons why that happens.

Why do people doubt whether they're saved or not?

Man, did I really get saved or something?

And let me just explain something

before I get into my first point.

And that is to get saved, you obviously have to place your faith

in Jesus Christ exclusively to be saved, right?

And sometimes people get into these like

navel gazing type questions like,

yeah, but how much faith though did I put?

And just whatever faith you had, okay?

You're like, well what if I'm a person of little faith?

Then just take that little faith and put it in Jesus Christ.

Like how did I know that I put 100% of that faith?

Well if you believe that Jesus Christ died and he resurrected

and that you can't lose your salvation

and you're trusting only him, that's, you got it, okay?

That's pretty much it.

And you don't need to like, you know,

make a graph or a chart of your heart and say like,

I believe this much and what about the rest of the,

it's nonsense, okay?

If you believe that, guess what?

You're saved.

And look, you know, I'm gonna get into some of the reasons

why people doubt their salvation.

The first reason is the reason why I think

that people should doubt their salvation, okay?

And so if this is you, yeah, you should doubt

whether you're saved or not, okay?

You should question it.

You should doubt.

It should cause you to fear and not sleep at night

and you know, be afraid, be very afraid

because it's the most important one

and that is that people sometimes doubt

because they believe in a false gospel.

So if you believe in a false gospel,

you're like, man, I'm down in my salvation.

Well what do you think it has,

you have to do to be saved?

Well, I believe you have to believe in Jesus

but I also believe you have to repent of your sins.

I believe you have to keep God's commandments.

Well, yeah, that's why you're doubting

because you believe in a false gospel

and it's just like, well, you know,

what if, you know, you believe

but you don't repent of your sins

although you're not saved, okay?

Then you're not saved, okay?

Because if that's what you believe,

then obviously that's the reason why

you're constantly questioning

whether you're saved or not.

Let me explain to you the reason you're doubting

is because you're constantly striving for a standard

that you will never be able to meet.

You're like, oh man, I don't know if I'm good enough.

You're not good enough.

And it's just like, oh yeah,

and here's the thing folks,

Catholics are major culprits of this

because they speak about the things of God

as though they're just,

they're just like the masters of theology here.

They know all about salvation

but if you're to ask them, are you 100% sure?

Like, well, no one's 100% sure.

Like how can you not be 100% sure?

No one can be 100% sure.

The Bible says these things

have I written unto you

that believe on the name of the Son of God.

Listen to this,

that ye may know the eternal life.

Oh, you don't have the authority to interpret that.

You knew the authority of the church

follows you to interpret that.

But somehow you're gonna tell me

what the right salvation is,

what the right doctrine is,

but you don't even know

what it takes to be born again.

It's like Nicodemus who was a master of Israel.

Bro was supposed to know everything about theology

and the history of Israel

but he didn't know how to be born again.

And what did Jesus say?

Art thou a master of Israel?

No, it's not these things.

And it's just like, how can a man

go into his mother's womb again?

It's just like, this is what happens

when you have people

who study church history

and doctrine without being saved.

That's what happens

because the natural man

received not the things of the Spirit of God

and neither can he know them

for their spiritually discerned.

So if you doubt your salvation,

you know, first of all,

you need to check your theology.

You need to check your justification, doctrine.

And that is, what do you believe about salvation?

If you believe in a gospel

that is anything outside of the biblical form of salvation,

then yeah, there's major reasons to doubt.

If you think it's because

you have to keep God's commandments,

yeah, that's why you doubt

because you believe in a false gospel

because no one can keep

all of God's commandments perfectly.

It's not a just man upon earth

to do with good and sin and not.

The Bible says that

therefore we conclude that a man

is justified by faith

without the deeds of the law.

You know, the Bible tells us

whosoever keepeth the whole law

yet offended one point,

he's guilty of all.

So you know what?

I can understand why people

when they believe a false gospel,

why they doubt

because you don't really know.

You don't know.

You know, how many commandments

do you have to keep?

How many times you have to,

you know, how many sins

you have to repent of to be saved?

You know, how many times

you have to be baptized?

You know, well,

we just believe you have to repent

of your sin.

So you're saying you can stop sinning?

Well, no, I just mean

you have to like want to stop sinning.

You know?

And then just constantly moving

the goalposts,

constantly moving the standard

and you wonder why

you're always questioning

whether you're saved or not.

And look, folks,

I know what I'm talking about

because I've gone door knocking

for many years

and you know what?

We're always talking to people

of a variety of different churches.

They go to Calvary Chapel,

they're Catholics,

they're Orthodox,

they're this, that and the other

and they're always giving

the wrong answers

and that's why they don't know

if they're saved or not.

You know, they want to school you

on church history,

they want to school you on doctrine,

but then when you asked

the most basic question

about salvation,

it was like,

well, I don't really know,

I don't think anybody knows.

You know, that's something

I never really got,

you know, I never really figured out.

Yeah, you're doubting

because you just,

you're not saved, okay?

And that's because

you believe in a false gospel.

You're in Matthew 19,

let me read to you

from Matthew 23,

Matthew 23:13

verse 13 says,

but woe unto you

scribes and Pharisees,

hypocrites,

for ye shut up the kingdom

of heaven against men,

for ye neither go in yourselves,

neither suffer ye them

that are entering to go in.

These Pharisees

are supposed to be the ones

who teach the Bible,

they have the corner of truth

in Israel supposedly,

but yet the Bible says

that they're not going

into the kingdom of heaven

and they're trying

to hinder others

from going in as well.

So you have pastors today,

you have these preachers

and teachers in these churches

that want to make themselves

the standard of doctrine,

but they themselves

are not even going

into the kingdom of heaven

because they don't believe

in the right gospel, okay?

Look folks, salvation is

through believing

on the Lord Jesus Christ

exclusively.

It means that

you're trusting Christ alone

outside at the exclusion

of literally everything else,

outside of Mary.

Let me repeat that again,

outside of Mary.

And you know,

sometimes people think,

you know,

well, I witness to this

Catholic and they say

they claim to believe

exactly like I do

and they even agreed

with believing

on Jesus Christ.

Yeah, but you know

you're going to have to like

open this other door

and say, okay,

what about Mary though?

We're like, oh yeah,

you have to believe in her too.

And that's a little piece

of information

they kind of leave out

when you're talking to Catholics, okay?

This is why it's important,

folks, that we ask

the right questions.

You know,

we need to make sure

that people believe right.

And let me also say this,

you know, salvation

is, yes,

believing on Jesus Christ,

but you know what comes

included with that?

What comes included

is believing

you can never lose

your salvation

for any reason

whatsoever.

Because then at that point,

why are you even

trusting in Christ?

At that point,

why even say

you trust in Christ

if you don't believe

that it's eternal?

Why do you even believe

and talk about eternal life

if you think you can lose it

at any given moment?

Then at that point,

it's not even everlasting.

And so eternal life,

the everlasting life

is the gospel.

And you know what,

if someone does,

if someone believes

they can lose their salvation,

that is a different gospel.

Like how so?

You know,

if they trust in Christ,

if they believe

it's only by their faith

in Jesus Christ,

but they just believe

you can lose your salvation,

well then ask them,

how do you lose it?

And if they say,

well, if you sin,

so based upon that answer,

you're asserting

that you have to keep

God's commandments

in order to stay saved

because sin is

the transgression

of the law,

meaning that you believe

that you have to keep

God's law

in order to keep

your salvation.

And that is

a false gospel.

Right.

Okay.

Look at Matthew 19,

Matthew 19:16

verse 16 here.

It says here in verse 16,

and behold,

one came

and said unto him,

good master,

what good thing

shall I do

that I may have eternal life?

Now, I think all of us

can collectively agree

this guy doesn't know

if he's saving or not.

Right.

But why are you asking?

If you know,

why ask?

I'll tell you why

because he doesn't know.

Verse 17,

he said unto them,

why callest thou me good?

There is none good but one.

That is God.

But if that will enter into life,

keep the commandments.

Notice he didn't say eternal life,

just life,

keep the commandments.

He said unto him,

which Jesus said,

thou shalt do no murder,

thou shalt not commit adultery,

thou shalt not steal,

thou shalt not bear false witness,

honor thy father and thy mother,

and thou shalt love thy neighbor

as thyself.

Listen to this.

The young man said unto him,

all these things

have I kept for my youth up.

What lack I yet?

Oh, it sounds like

you're already saved in, huh?

No, it's not

because you don't keep

God's commandments to be saved.

And we have an example here

of someone who thinks

they've kept all of God's commandments

and yet they're still asking,

what must I do to inherit eternal life?

Well, that demonstrates to me

that if someone thinks

they have to keep the law

to be saved,

you know what?

They're not saved

and they don't have

the assurance of salvation

as noted by the fact

that this guy did it.

No.

And let me tell you folks,

if you don't know

beyond a shadow of a doubt

that you're saved

based upon what you believe,

you better get saved today.

Do not wait till tomorrow

to have the opportunity.

Well, I'll just think about it.

You better not think about it

too long.

Today is the day of salvation.

Now is the appointed time.

Now is the time to say,

you know what?

I believe wrong about salvation

but I want to believe

right about salvation

because I don't want to

walk out these doors,

get hit by a car

and die and go to hell.

Get saved today.

Why not?

You know, and you say,

well, what does it take

to be saved?

Well, obviously it takes

for you to humble yourself

to recognize that you're wrong

about whatever it is

that you're believing in

for salvation

and to place your faith

exclusively upon Christ,

call upon him in faith

and you can have it

right then and there.

You're saying that

I just have to pray a prayer?

Yeah, yeah.

Based upon what you believe?

Yeah.

Well, how's that biblical?

How about this?

That if Thou shalt confess

with Thy mouth,

the Lord Jesus

and believe in Thine heart

that God hath raised

them from the dead,

Thou shalt be saved.

You know,

whosoever shall call upon

the name of the Lord

shall be saved.

Oh, that sounds

like the sinner's prayer.

You got it.

That's, you know,

let me just tell you this.

Every prayer

that a person prays

is a sinner's prayer.

Got that?

Oh, I don't believe

in the sinner's prayer.

I mean, just plenty of

sinners that pray in the Bible

and every person

who asked for salvation

had to pray

and they were sinners.

What is the sinner's prayer?

I'll tell you what

the sinner's prayer is.

How about the thief on the cross?

Lord, remember me

when Thou comest into

Thy kingdom.

How about that?

Today Thou shalt

be with me in paradise.

It's called the

sinner's prayer.

Because the thief on the cross

was the sinner

and he asked the Lord

to save him.

Obviously,

he didn't have to go

through the same

exact words,

but the Lord knew

what was in his heart.

He knew that

what he was asking

for was salvation.

You say then,

what's the little prayer

do you guys

got going on there?

It's just a systematic way

to help someone

to call upon

the name of the Lord

based upon the presentation

of the gospel.

Well, I just think

that baptism

saves you.

You have to be baptized.

And the funny thing

about that is

that most people

who believe that

believe in the

sprinkling baptism.

It's just like

if you believe,

wouldn't you want to get

all the way in,

first and foremost?

You're just trying to

save your head

or something like that

or what?

But secondly,

you know,

there's nothing in the

Bible

that states that

water baptism

washes away

all of your sins.

And in fact,

the Bible consistently

says that it's

the blood of Jesus

Christ

that washes away

your sins.

Okay?

And here's the thing,

folks,

it's such a

contradictory statement

to say that

baptism can save you

and that it can wash

away your sins

because the same people

who believe that

believe you can lose

your salvation.

How does that work?

Folks, it's nonsense,

but if you believe

any of those things,

then yeah,

you have reason to doubt

and I hope you doubt

your salvation.

If you believe

that salvation is

by works,

if you believe

that salvation

is by repenting

of your sin,

that it's by baptism,

that it's by

persevering

in the Christian life

by your works,

yeah, I hope you doubt.

I hope you doubt

your salvation

so you can believe

in the right gospel

and not have to worry

about that ever again.

You know,

and it's funny,

sometimes I'll get into

these conversations

with these people

who believe

like you have to do works

and they're trying

to like condemn me

to like

you're teaching

a false gospel,

you have to do works,

the Bible says

to do works

and it's just like,

well, let's go ahead

and take an inventory

of your works

compared to my works

because you're talking

to someone who's been

serving the Lord

over the past 20 years

consistently serving the Lord

and I'm looking at you

and I'm looking

at your Instagram page

and it looks like

all you do is fornicate

and drink alcohol.

So how are you going to

condemn me

telling me

trying to school me

on how to do works?

You know,

based upon your standard

I'm still more saved than you.

But thankfully

we're not saved by our works,

amen.

You're like,

why do you do works?

Because of rewards.

Because I love the Lord

because I don't want to

be punished by God

because there

there comes consequences

to our actions

here in this world.

There's a variety of reasons

why we do that

but here's the great news

but to him

that work is not.

But believe it on him

to justify it

and God

his faith is counted

for righteousness.

And so go with me

if you would to

you are in

Matthew

you go to

2 Corinthians chapter 11

2 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

2 Corinthians chapter 11

2 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

I'm going to read to you

from Galatians 1 6

it says,

I marveled the year

so soon removed from him

that called you

out into the grace of Christ

unto another gospel

which is not another

but there be some

that trouble you

that would pervert

the gospel of Christ.

Now when you read

through the book of Galatians

you end up seeing that

the apostle Paul has no quarrels

with causing the Galatians

to question whether

they're saving or not.

Why? Because

these Judaizers

were coming into the churches

preaching a false gospel.

And so he's telling them

like if you believe this

then you're done for.

You've fallen from grace.

You're not saved.

I'm afraid of you.

He's not saying that

because he's trying to invoke

doubt in people

that already believe

in the right gospel.

He's trying to invoke down

on those who claim

to believe another gospel.

And look again

if you're in here

and you believe something

contrary to what I'm

explaining from the word of God

then you're not saved.

And if in your mind

you're like he's wrong

about that.

He's wrong.

I don't believe that.

That's wrong.

You do have to repent.

You do have to do good works.

You do have to do this,

that and the other.

Then guess what?

You do believe

in a false gospel.

Okay.

That's a fact.

And you know what?

We can spar all day long

in the Bible

and the Bible will always

be on my side

because the Bible

consistently collectively teaches

that it's not by works at all.

And here's this argument

that people always propose.

Oh, so what you're saying

is that I could just believe

and just live however you want.

You're already doing that.

What do you mean?

You live however you want

even knowing the fact

that you believe

your false gospel.

You still live however you want.

What are you talking about?

You hypocrite.

It's just like

oh what you're saying.

I'm not saying that.

The Lord's saying that.

And here's the thing.

Who said

where in the Bible does it say

oh yeah you're saved

now have at it.

Rape, murder, kill,

destroy, steal.

No one teaches that.

That notion,

that example stems from people

with wicked hearts

who are not saved.

Because there's never been a time

when I got saved.

I've never met a Christian like this

or like they get saved.

They believe in the right gospel

and it's just like

all right.

I'm not going to hell

since it's time to go raw people.

Time to go kill my neighbor real quick.

Because I'm not going to hell you know.

No one believes that.

Who saved?

It's only these like

unregenerated people

and when they tell me that

I'm like I think to myself

this guy's a dangerous person.

Because out of the abundance of the heart

I'm not speaking.

That's like the thing that's coming

out of their mouth.

They're like so what you're saying is that

and I'm just kind of thinking like

on the other side of the screen

they're like so what you're saying.

Wait a minute you know.

They're just kind of thinking

of the most devious things

that they can do

because they're not going to go to hell.

But you know what

a safe person doesn't really think that.

You know over the last 20 years

I've never thought about that to myself.

Like you know what

free will.

I got free will.

I'm saved.

I'm going to go rob a bank

see what that's like.

Doesn't exist my friends.

I'm not a psychopath.

These guys are.

Philippians chapter 3 verse 9

Philippians 3:9

says and be found in him

not having listened to this

mine own righteousness

which is of the law

but that which is

through the faith of Christ

the righteousness which is of God

by faith.

The point being here is that

you know there is a reason

to doubt your salvation

if you are not saved.

And you know if that's you today

you can get saved today.

It's real easy.

Oh that sounds like easy

believism.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

Super easy to be saved.

You know why because Jesus Christ

did all the hard work for you.

He's the one that died on the cross.

He's the one that bore the sins

of the whole world upon his own body.

He's the one the Bible says

that went to hell for three days

and three nights

but his soul was not left in hell

neither did his flesh

seek corruption.

Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

He's the one that resurrected.

He was the one who

that was delivered for our offenses

and raised again for our

justification.

That's what the Bible says.

He did all the work for us

and the Bible specifically tells us

that we are kept by the power

of God through faith.

So you don't keep your salvation

based upon your works

I give unto them eternal life

and they shall never perish

neither shall any man

and your any man

pluck them out of my hand.

You know I get

I grow weary

of these corny cliches.

Corny.

Yeah but you could walk away.

Where are you gonna go?

Where?

Yeah but you could walk away from

where are you gonna go?

Jonah could even

he couldn't go.

You gotta swallow it up.

You know David's like

if I make my bed in hell

thou art there.

You can't run from the presence

of God.

There's no you don't even know

how to give salvation back

even if you tried.

Yeah it's a gift

but you could give

you could give the gift back.

How?

How?

Explain to me how you give

the gift back.

It's a stupid notion

and it doesn't even exist

in the Bible.

There's zero examples

of anyone in the Bible

giving back salvation.

And here's the thing folks

is like

again I've never

made a Christian

and it's just like

you know what

I think I'm gonna give it back.

I'm done with this.

They treat

they treat it like Costco

or something you know

I'm just gonna go

give it back

their return policy is

really easy.

Just go back

and just

hey I change my mind

rather be orthodox

or something.

And look folks

if there's someone

who claims to be a Christian

claims to believe

in the right salvation

and then becomes a Catholic

the Bible

listen to me

the Bible

categorizes that person

not as someone who

lost their salvation

they categorize them

as being someone who never

had it to begin with.

It's called an apostate.

It's called a fake

and a phony

and guess what

the Bible has proof of that.

His name is Judas Iscariot.

No he lost his salvation.

No Jesus said

that he never believed

from the beginning.

That's what it says

actually.

So if you're gonna

use the Bible

go ahead and quote it.

That's what the Bible

actually says

about Judas Iscariot.

He was a devil

from the beginning

he didn't believe

he was a fake

and a phony

the whole time

because he wanted

to steal the money.

That's what it was.

Point number two

when it comes to doubting

salvation

point number one

we said that

people doubt

because of the

false gospel

but let me say this

some people doubt

because of bad preaching.

So the first example

has more so to do

with people who are

just not saved.

But then this

from here on out

we're gonna talk about

people who are saved

who doubt their salvation

and let me explain to you

why they doubt sometimes

it's because they're

in a bad church

under bad preaching

using bad terminology.

And again

we've run into people

like this

out

when we're door knocking

people who visited our church

and they kind of

give mixed answers.

They're just kind of

like mixed up

but then like

once you talk to them

once you question them

they basically say

well no actually

it's only by your faith

in Jesus Christ

it's not by giving

your life to him

or something

but you know what

sometimes people

get confused

they doubt sometimes

because of the fact

that they have

some false prophet

for a pastor

who gets up

behind the pulpit

and says

if you're in sin

I doubt whether you're

saved or not

and it's just like

oh man

and if you're saying that

to a babe in Christ

you're saying that

to someone

who is tossed to and fro

carried about

with every wind of doctrine

you can cause them

to become confused

it's called like

spiritual molestation

is what it is

it's like bad preaching

who are just like

molesting the congregation

with heresy and doctrine

causing people

to become confused

and they're just like

oh man

am I saved

like man

well the

the authority is saying

you know

the authority of the church

over here

is saying

that if I

commit this sin

then somehow

that means that

I might not be saved

or something

yeah

you know

people get confused

like that

and if people are not

grounded in the word

they can become confused

look at 2nd Corinthians

chapter 11 verse 1

what to God

he could bear with me

a little in my folly

and indeed bear with me

for I am jealous

over you with godly

for I have espoused you to one husband

that I may present you

a chaste version to Christ

but I fear

listen to this

let's find a means

as the serpent beguiled

Eve through his subtlety

so your mind

should be corrupted

from the simplicity

that is in Christ

for if he that cometh

preacheth

another Jesus

whom we have not preached

or if you receive

another spear

which you have not received

or another gospel

which you have not accepted

ye might well bear with him

the Bible says

so obviously

if you're dealing with

babes in Christ

they're unskillful

in the word of righteousness

they don't know what the Bible says

they just know the basics

of salvation

they don't necessarily know

how to defend the faith

they can get deceived

and you add on top of that

a pastor

who just uses all this

fake Christian terminology

on top of that

they can become even more confused

you know

give your life to God

and how many times have you

run into someone

was like you know

are you 100% sure you're saved

yeah

I gave my life to God

when I was like five

six years old

and it's just like

and then you know

you kind of just lovingly

kind of bring them along

and you explain to them

what the Bible says

and they're like

oh yeah

that's what I believe

but they're just parroting

what others are saying

you know

give your life to God

to God

surrender your life to God

oh it's because I just

you know

whatever

it is this liberal talk

that people have

when going to these churches

because you know

these big mega churches

are only concerned about being

theatrical

and just you know

having these

vainly puffed up words

these great swelling words

of vanity

and so if you say

those terms long enough

what's going to happen

is people are going to

start using them

and look

this is why it's important

for us to use the words

which the Holy Ghost uses

right

to make sure we use

biblical terminology

when it comes to salvation

when it comes to Jesus

Christ

when it comes to faith

when it comes to believe

and when it comes to the Bible

because then there is no

confusion

you know

well you know

I surrendered my life

I gave my life

and that sounds noble

and everything

but folks

the gospel is not about

you giving your life to Christ

it's about the fact

that Christ gave his life to you

that's literally what it is

and you know

I've repeated that

scores of times

over the years

and it

when a person tells me that

they're

they're just like

oh I gave my life to God

that's why I'm saved

and I say

well the gospel is not

you giving your life to him

it's him giving his life

for you

and they're just like

oh yeah that's true

it's like a light bulb goes on

they're just like

huh

why am I saying that

yeah it's because

you're under bad preaching

that's why it's important

for you to go

to a right church

that is explicit

in their doctrine

that uses the right terminology

and it's not just

looking to inspire you

motivate you

the Lord loves you

and just

makes you raise your hands

the entire time

you know

with the purple lights

and the smoke

and the mirrors

trying to create

this environment

that mimics a spiritual

environment

but all this is just

fleshly services

that does nothing for you

but just make you

even more

dumber in the bible

that's a fact

okay and I've never

been to a church like that

I just

we just have

former liberals in our church

that have

testified of such environments

and I'm just like

really that's a real thing

you know they're just like

yeah this is what they say

this is what they do

and you know

a lot of people like

those churches

because of the bells

and whistles

the colors and the lights

and and the music

that's mainly the reason why

a lot of people go to these churches

let me just be honest

and look

just save people in these churches

by the way

there are saved people

I mean you may not believe me

but it's true

there are saved people in these

churches like

then why do they go there

for the music

for the loose standards

in the music

because they're just

they like gay music

they just really like gay music

because that music's gay

you know

and you may think

oh you're talking about the ladies

some of the dudes

like that music too

guys from like

churches like this

they prefer Tupac

or you know

but guys from churches like that

they prefer like

whatever your mainstream

liberal christian

ccm dude is right

the torn jeans

and the whatnot

I'm not really interested in that

but you know

some people have developed

an appetite

for that type of music

and you know what

you need to change your appetite

because it's gay

and you know if

if you like that kind of music

don't tell anybody

because that's embarrassing

okay

and if you come to me

I'm not going to shame you

but don't

you know

don't be surprised

if I wince

okay

like you know

I just kind of like

oh okay

I'm not going to approve of that

I'm just like

you know

if that's

that's what you like

you know

some people like tofu

some people like actual meat

some people prefer

you know

ribeye

some people prefer

beyond meat

some people

are carnivores

some people are vegans

right

and so that's you

but but here's the thing

that's the reason

why people go

to these types of churches

but what comes

what comes with the package

the bad doctrine

and the bad preaching

and I can't tell you

how many times

people have told me

about like

for example

Jack Hibbs

which by the way

is not saved

he's not a saved person

how do you know

because he is in

he's online

his preaching is online

and you can just

make a quick search

about what he believes about salvation

and he'll give you the wrong gospel

he's confused

then he shouldn't be a pastor

because folks

no pastor should be confused about salvation

congregation

all right

we'll give him a pass

amen

it may not know better

but a pastor who's teaching the bible

should not be confused about salvation

so either one

he's confused

or two

he's just a false prophet

who's intentionally preaching a false gospel

and I'm telling you

I met people

from that Calvary Chapel

from a bunch of different Calvary Chappals

and I think about their problem

like oh that guy's not

in my mind

I'm like

that guy's not saved

and they're like

he's a good guy

and I'm like

you know

I think he's saved

I don't know

you know

this guy's preaching a false gospel

he doesn't believe in the right salvation

and that makes people

uncomfortable

when I say things like that

because they don't like

explicit stuff like that

they it bothers them

when you can just

call out

whether someone is saved or not

but the bible does that though

right

and you may not know that

because you haven't read the bible

you just listen to

the CCM

and the weak preaching

and all that

and you just take that at face value

but let me tell you

the bible's very explicit

and there's plenty of times

where like the apostle Paul

questioned the salvation of people

and he didn't care

that's a fact

and so you know

I'm like

oh that guy's not saved

they're like

well he's a good

what makes him a good guy

because if there's a pastor

who's pastoring a church

he's leading a church

he's preaching a false gospel

and he has a lot of influence

that means he's making people

believe a false gospel

and if they die

they're going to go to hell

so you tell me why

how that makes him good

well he's just really nice

you know

oh he's just you know

I don't know

I just think he he just does well

he's just he's just wrong on Israel

no he yeah

he's wrong on Israel for sure

okay

100 percent

okay

he he's definitely like

you know

an Israeli infiltrator

you know

or he's just

you know

he's definitely

I wasn't going to say something

but you know

he's bad okay

okay

you know

he's definitely a prostitute for Israel

for sure

that's a fact

okay

but you know what

and and you

you know how I feel about

replacement theology

in Zionism

but let me say this

you know

I would kind of like

be like

oh yeah

he's like that

if he had the right gospel

I'd be like

oh at least he's saved

but it's not even that though

so he's wrong

he's just wrong on everything

okay

well then why does he have a big church

because

prod is the way

that leads to destruction

and many there be

which go in there at

and most of those churches

are filled

with old women anyways

that's all it is

am I

where's the lie

am I capping

that's a fact

they're filled with

older women

dudes don't really like

to go to that church

and if there is a dude

you know

he's like a

eunuch or something

he's missing his stones

and you know

he's probably just there

to please his wife or whatever

that's a fact

you know it's true

and you may be mad at me

for saying this

but you know it's a fact

and you may be angry

at me for saying this

but guess what

I'm right though

you know it's true

but you know guys

like that

confuse people

they confuse people

they cause people to question

their salvation

because of their dumb terminology

and you know what

that's it's not just a

cover chapel

it's an independent

fundamental Baptist

churches too

because you'll have pastors

that you know

they believe the right

gospel they teach

but then they have some

false prophet come in

believe me after repenting

your sins to be saved

and it's just like

what's going on here

and then the pastor

will be like

well he's just wrong

wrong on some areas

you know he's just off

in this area or whatever

it's just like

yeah it's eternal life

he's definitely off on that

we're not going to see him

in the millennial reign

the guy's not saved

Galatians 5 once said

stand fast therefore

in the liberty

wherewith Christ

hath made us free

and be not entangled

again with the yoke of bondage

behold I Paul saying to you

if ye be circumcised

Christ shall profit you

nothing

for I testify again

to every man that is circumcised

that he is a debtor

to do the whole law

Christ has become

of no effect unto you

whosoever you are

justified by the law

ye are fallen from grace

for we through the spirit

wait for the adoption of right

of hope of righteousness

by faith

for in Jesus Christ

neither circumcision

availeth anything

nor uncircumcision

but faith which worketh by love

ye did run well

he says

who did hinder you

that ye should not obey the truth

this persuasion

comeeth not of him

that calleth you

so what is the apostle

Paul saying

well these Judaizers

are coming in saying

hey you have to be

circumcised to be saved

and some dudes went through with it

and this is like

if you're circumcised

Christ shall profit you

nothing

and you know

sorry that happened to you

it's one thing to think

ye have to keep the law

and then you abstain

from like shrimp

but another thing

where it's just like

you got circumcised

all right

it's like man

but you know apparently

these are babes in Christ

who just

they're just easily deceived

this is how it is

and look folks

this is why it's important

for you to be in a church

that teaches you doctrine

that expounds to you

what salvation is

and not just salvation

let us go on into perfection

amen

to learn about other things

so that you can discern for yourself

you can prove all things

hold fast that which is good

you can search the scriptures daily

to see if these things are so

you can be like the Bereans

and make sure that you can say well

you know what that guy's saying up there

and what the Bible says here

are two different things

this is not a good

this is not good

he's a false prophet

I'm not for this

I'm out of here

okay

and so it's important for us to recognize

why people doubt

why are they doubting

I'll tell you why

because they had

they've been given a false gospel

or two

they just are under bad preaching

go to Romans chapter 8 if you would

Romans 8 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 8

Romans 8 · chapter mention

so the first point is

more geared towards those who are not saved

the second point is

more geared towards those who are saved

but they're babes in Christ

they haven't fully learned doctrine

they can be deceived

and they kind of think to themselves like

oh man he says that I have to like

persevere in my works

he's saying that like

if I don't repent of my sin then

I you know

they wonder if I'm even saved or not

you know

and that causes people to question

here's another reason

why people question

some people doubt because

they're backslidden

or they just have a carnal mind

okay

but this is important

okay

because this can happen to anybody

even if they're not

a babe in Christ

because you could backslide

Christians who have been

you know

Christians for a long time

they've grown in their faith

but they allow some sin in their life

they allow some bitterness in their life

or whatever

they can get out of church

and become

you know

they can regress spiritually

right

and the result of regressing is a carnal mind

and when you have a carnal mind

you're living in sin

you can often question

man am I saved

am I really saved

even if you believe in the right gospel

you say

how so

because do they believe that like

not sinning will get you saved

no here's the thing

okay

sometimes people commit sin

you know

such grievous sin in the past

or they're so backslidden

that they're not really walking in the spirit

right

and if they're not walking in the spirit

they're not being filled with the spirit

they're not feeding the spirit

they're just feeding the flesh

that doubt can come in their mind like

man I'm not living righteously

I'm not doing right

I'm not like

obeying the spirit

I'm just kind of being carnal

am I even saved

you know

and I've helped people like this

all the time

and every time I talk to people like this

I always tell them like

what do you think you have to do to be saved

and they're like believe on Jesus Christ

I'm like oh then you're saved

you're saved

okay

and I would say like 90% of the time

they'll respond with something like

I know I just feel like I just haven't been living right

and I'm not even sure why I'm doubting

I'm just like struggling in my mind

you know

that's why

and you know what that does happen

it's called a carnal mind

okay

and look folks

you know

we preach hard against doing works

for salvation

but we equally preach hard to do works

just to be a good Christian

and to just clean up your mind

and to read the Bible

because the corruptible body is just horrific

it can it can just absolutely destroy your mind

okay

it can make you weak in the faith

and you know

our old man

you know the heart is deceitful above all things

desperately wicked who can know it

and the heart will just lie to you

when you are in a carnal state of mind

and look

if you've been in the world

if you've been backslidden

think about this folks

you're not

you're not reading the Bible

you're not praying

okay

you're consuming pornography

you're playing video games

you're not in church

you're you're literally just starving the old man

and he's still

I mean

you're starving the new man

and he's still there

but you're starving him

you're not strong in the Lord

and the power of his might

you're just constantly feeding the flesh

yeah

you're gonna be a cesspool of fear

and doubt and anxiety

that's exactly the result of doing that

this is why I tell you

don't minimize the importance of just

being in the Christian life

like being in church

reading the Bible

and you're like man

I didn't feel like reading my Bible today

read a couple verses

do something

give yourself a fighting chance

for crying out loud

you know

and and look folks

it's important for us to obey the Bible

and serve God

because there's blessings that come with it

but just for the sake of not being destroyed

because look folks

all of us to a certain degree

if you didn't grow up in church

you have a past

you have things that happened to you

you have things that you did

you have things that you were exposed to

you have things that people expose you to

and you know what

I'm sorry to tell you this

but that's gonna stay with you

for the rest of your life

and that's the harsh reality

I hate to tell you that

you know I'm not gonna get up here

like some of these false prophets

and say like you'll never sin again

you'll never desire another cigarette again

you'll never watch pornography again

you'll never do this ever again

it's not true

that's not true

this flesh is gonna stay with us

until the day that we die

and the stinking guy just won't leave us alone

just won't leave us alone

you can be a Christian for decades

and that's that that youthful sin

will still creep up on you

decades later

always be there

no not me

you know

I overcame that

I don't desire that at all

oh so you're a liar

that's the sin that you struggle with

because everyone battles sin

everyone does

and you know what

you could be 50 years old

you know years in the faith

you could be 60 70 years old

and I'm telling you right now

you will still struggle with the sins of your youth

because that's your old man

you say then what do I do

it sounds hopeless

no it's not hopeless

because we also have the new man

and the feed the more you

the more you feed the new man

the more you know spiritual protein

you give the new man

the more extra spiritual exercise

you give the new man

the more you're in church

the more you read the bible

the more scripture you memorize

and the the more you you starve the old man

the less likely it is

that you'll go back

but let me just say this

it starts in strengthening the mind though

okay

and look

you know when you got saved

you were forgiven of all sins

past present future

praise god for that

meaning that like

the lord cast him into the deepest part of the ocean

he separates our transgressions

as far as east is from west

he cleanses us from all unrighteousness

so he doesn't dangle that over you

once you got saved

and you're forgiven

like it's it's over with

let me just say it's just stop bringing it up

because it's done

like the lord is all about moving forward

the lord is all

he's all about forgiving

cleansing

and let's just go forward from here

he doesn't want you looking back

he doesn't want you

just ruminating on past sins

past failures

just past things that you've done

you know

he wants you to press forward

towards the mark

for the prize of the high calling of Jesus Christ

he doesn't want you to do that

why because he understands

and you should understand

that when you meditate upon old failures

and old sins

you're just more likely

to like return to those things

and even if you don't return to those things

you just become defeated in your mind

and look folks

you know

the lord wants us to be encouraged

you know the bible says

that david encouraged himself and the lord

he doesn't want us to be downtrodden

like oh yeah i'm just such a sinner

yeah you are

but you know like lift up your shoulders a little bit

hope in the lord

god is good

he's all powerful

and you know what

yeah you're a sinner