Is Faith Alone Enough? - Pastor Jonathan Shelley | Stedfast Baptist Church

Amen.

Amen.

So here in Romans chapter number four,

we have a really clear statement in verse five.

It says,

but to him that worketh not,

but believeeth on him that justify the ungodly,

his faith is counted for righteousness.

And I believe that this is an important verse

to help us understand that faith alone

is enough to save someone.

That's an important phrase.

And that's what I'm preaching about tonight

is faith alone enough.

And the answer is yes.

And it's really to combat what I hear often taught

about saving faith.

Some people will give this terminology

of saving faith versus a non-saving faith.

And they try to act like you can believe the gospel,

but if you don't have enough works

that you're still not saved.

And I really wanna dispel that idea this evening

and look at what scripture says,

but notice very carefully a few things about verse five.

It says someone that worketh not.

So it's not saying that they're working,

but they were justified by their faith.

It's saying they're not working.

So it's saying someone that's not doing any works.

And then it says additionally,

but believeeth on him that justify,

notice this, the ungodly.

It's not, the word justify in the Bible

is meaning to declare just.

Okay, we're declaring someone just.

Declaring someone just is declaring someone morally right.

How can we declare someone morally right that is ungodly?

This is almost like a contradiction

because ungodly means they're not morally right,

but we're declaring them morally right.

Why?

Through faith.

Now again, how can that make sense?

It's because Jesus was morally right.

Jesus was righteous.

And so when we believe in Jesus,

his righteousness is then applied to us.

So what causes me to be just,

what causes me to be justified,

what causes me to be righteous

is Christ's righteousness given to me

by me believing in him.

Now this is spelled out in the previous chapter.

Let's look at a few times

where it's mentioning this idea of justification.

Look at verse 24.

Being justified freely by his grace

through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

So I am justified freely.

That means I am considered right with God, absolutely free.

I didn't do anything through my works or good efforts

to be considered right with God.

I'm justified freely

and I was redeemed by what specifically

I was redeemed through Jesus Christ, his grace.

It says in verse 24.

Being justified freely by his grace, right?

Verse 25, whom God has set forth

to be a propitiation through faith in his blood

to declare his righteousness

for their mission of sins that are passed

to the reverence of God.

So God allowed the payment or the propitiation to be

done through our faith in Jesus' blood.

So the payment for my sin is my faith in Jesus' blood.

He paid it and has applied to me through my faith.

And we're really just declaring Jesus' righteousness

for the forgiveness of my sins.

Verse 26, to declare, I say at this time,

his righteousness, who's righteousness?

Jesus' righteousness that he might be just.

So Jesus is just because he actually is just.

He's the only one that was righteous.

He was the only one that did good.

Keep your finger right because we're coming right back.

Look at chapter five again and look at verse number 18.

It says, in the middle, even so by the righteousness

of one, the free gift came upon all men

in the justification of life.

Who is the only one that was righteous?

It was Jesus.

And what does it mean to be righteous?

It means that he always did right.

The Bible says Jesus was tempted in all points

like as we are yet without sin.

So what the Bible teaches is that Jesus Christ

never lied, he never disobeyed his parents,

he never committed any sin in the Bible.

He was righteous all the time.

And so by the righteousness of one,

the free gift is given to us.

Go back to verse 26, to declare, I say at this time,

his righteousness, who's righteousness?

Are we declaring the righteousness of the one,

Jesus Christ, that he might be just,

and notice this, and the justifier

of him which believeth in Jesus.

Notice he's a justifier,

meaning he's making other people just.

Who does Jesus make just?

Those who believe in him.

Not those who were good enough,

not those who had enough works,

but those who believed in him.

So then the question would be, where is boasting then?

And the answer's clear, it is excluded.

So you can't boast in anything you've ever done

because that didn't get you saved.

By what law of works, name it by the law of faith.

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified

by faith without the deeds of the law.

So a man is declared morally right with God

without any works, just his faith in Jesus Christ, okay?

And then it's like verse one of chapter four,

what shall we say then that Abraham our father

as pertaining to the flesh hath found?

For if Abraham were justified by works,

he hath wear of the glory, but not before God.

So it's saying, okay then what the heck

is going on with Abraham?

Like what's the whole story about Abraham?

And like, how do we understand this?

Well, Abraham was not justified by works,

otherwise he could brag about it.

If what got me saved was turning my life over

turning over a new leaf, repenting of my sin, giving up,

then I could brag about that.

I could say, well I used to be a drug dealer, now I'm not.

Or I used to smoke crack and now I don't.

Or I used to be a gang banger, now I don't.

Or I killed people in prison and I have all these

teardrops, now I don't kill people or something.

And look, you go to churches and it'll be like that.

And it'll be like, that's why they're going to heaven.

Oh, I repented of my sin, I gave my money,

I gave up this, I did this.

So they're boasting, they're bragging in what they did.

But the Bible says there is no boasting, it's excluded.

All we do when we preach the gospel is we declare

his righteousness, we're declaring that Jesus was perfect

and Jesus paid for all of our sins.

That's what we're declaring.

Abraham has nowhere to glory.

He cannot glory in anything.

So then verse three for what saved the scripture.

Abraham believed God and it was counted

under him for righteousness.

So Abraham got saved the same way I did.

He believed the gospel and he got saved

by believing the gospel.

Verse four, now to him that worketh

is there were not reckoned of grace but of debt.

Now this is just basically an explanation of saying

that if salvation were of works,

then God would basically owe us something.

If salvation had anything to do with me doing something

then God has a debt obligation to me,

he owes me something, but that's the whole reason

why salvation's not of works is God doesn't owe me salvation

is by grace.

It's not by debt.

God is not indebted to me.

God does not owe me heaven.

God is not indebted to me to put me in heaven.

I get to go to heaven by grace

and that grace is given to us because God loves us.

God loves us to give us the grace

of the opportunity to go to heaven.

What gets us to heaven is our faith

and what Jesus Christ did and the Bible takes it

to an extreme to say that someone

that literally did nothing.

I mean it says in verse five,

but to him that worketh not, he did no works

but believed on him that justified the ungodly

his faith is kind of a righteousness.

So that's why we can see someone like the thief

on the cross who was ungodly, had no works,

never did works but yet believed in Jesus Christ

in the last moments of his life,

still went to heaven because he was justified

by his faith.

He was justified by believing in Jesus Christ.

Now some people believe that this thief

that died on the cross would have magically

got off that cross and been the greatest Christian

to ever live if given the chance

and he just didn't get the chance.

But here's the thing, there's no evidence

that he was gonna be that way.

Lot, this guy according to the Bible considered just,

just lot as the Bible describes him,

show me his accolades.

Show me the evidence in the fruit of this guy's life.

Here's a guy who departed from the greatest man

in the Bible at the time.

I mean, he was living with one of the greatest Christians,

leaves him, leaves him for money,

decides to live in the most wicked city,

chasing after money, chasing after covetousness,

marries his daughters of sodomites,

then he commits some weird

Kentucky Backwoods country song

and basically knocks up both of his own daughters

after getting drunk.

He gets so drunk that he knocks up both of his daughter

and doesn't even know.

I'm my own grandpa and don't even know.

It's like, I mean, this is weirder

than most country music songs you could ever dream up.

And it's like, I'm supposed to believe

that this guy, Lot, is a picture of someone

that's just doing all the works or something.

It's like, what work did Lot even do?

He lives in the most wicked city.

According to the sodomite testimony,

they say this guy must need to be a judge.

Like, he hasn't been a judge before.

So he got no one saved in the town.

Let's be honest, no one was saved there.

No one got saved there.

No one got judged there.

Then he left and hid in a cave,

knocked up his own two daughters.

Okay, I don't even know how that works.

The whole story is crazy and insane.

And it's like, but you know what?

It just goes to show you that some people

are saved by faith alone.

Hey, the guy, the thief on the cross

was faith alone enough?

Yes.

Hey, is faith alone enough for Lot?

Yes.

How about the nine?

Where are the nine?

Was faith alone enough?

They didn't even come back and just say thank you.

It wasn't even a thank you.

Yet, hey, they were cleansed.

10 lepers are cleansed, where are the nine?

It's not that they weren't cleansed,

it's that they were cleansed

and they didn't even come back to say thank you.

Let alone actually then have this complete

transformation of their life.

Naaman is cleansed and then his first act.

His first act is to say,

hey, I'm gonna still worship a false God.

Is that okay?

I mean, how is that a picture of repentance?

I mean, we can of course wish for and hope for

people to change their lives radically.

The apostle Paul pretty much changes his life radically

after getting saved.

I mean, the guy just goes out there

and lives the most transformed life

you could ever imagine.

Many of the heathen drop their idolatry,

they burn their books,

they dedicate their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ,

they get saved.

So yeah, some people get, as they would call,

radically saved.

But let me tell you something,

you don't have to be radically saved to be saved,

you just have to be saved.

And faith alone is enough.

The Bible's crystal clear on this point.

Let's just keep reading though.

Look at chapter five.

Well, let's keep reading here in verse four

a little bit more and then we'll go to chapter five.

Look at verse six.

Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven

and whose sins are covered.

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.

So let's just think about it this way.

If all my sins were forgiven

when I believed in Jesus Christ

and then all my future sins will not be imputed,

how could I not go to heaven?

Like even if I do nothing good,

well, all my sins have been forgiven

and all my sins are not imputed.

So then how could I not go to heaven?

It's just, I will go to heaven.

Now here's the thing.

Will I get any rewards for doing nothing?

No, God is not a communist, okay?

God is not gonna just give you rewards just because.

But guess what?

You're not gonna go to hell.

So if all my sins have been forgiven

and all my sins are not gonna be imputed,

well, then it sounds like I'm good.

And of course, he saves both the Gentiles

and the Jews by faith alone.

And we could go to other verses on this,

but look at chapter five, verse one,

therefore being justified by faith.

We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

So what declares me morally right?

My faith.

Look at chapter five, verse nine,

much more than being now justified by his blood.

We shall be saved from wrath through him.

So notice I'm declared righteous again

because of his blood, which is illustrated in chapter three.

Continue all the way to chapter five.

Verses 16 through 18, we read a little bit of 18,

but let's read verse 16.

And not as it was by one that sinned,

so as the gift for the judgment was by one decontamination,

but the free gift is of many offenses under justification.

So even though we have so many sins,

we were still given the free gift

and were considered justified,

even though it's just one gift to many offenses.

Says in verse 17, for by one man's offense,

death reigned by one, much more they would receive

abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign

in life by one Jesus Christ.

Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon

all men and decontamination,

even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came

upon all men and justification of life.

So one guy sinned causes all to go down the same path

that we all sinned, but then one guy was righteous

and it causes all of us that believe in him

to then be righteous.

So it's just kind of just showing how one person

kind of had the impact on both groups, right?

The impact of one sinner caused us all to sin.

The impact of the one being righteous

causes those who believe in him to then be righteous.

Not because I'm righteous by my own work,

not because I'm righteous by my own accord,

but I'm simply righteous because of my faith

and belief in Jesus Christ and that's it.

Go to Galatians chapter two now,

go to Galatians chapter number two.

So we're answering this question again.

I'm gonna get into why this question's important

a little bit more in this sermon,

but I'm just trying to prove very clearly

the Bible makes it clear salvation is a free gift.

We receive it by faith alone in Jesus Christ

and that faith alone can be alone

and still gets you to heaven.

Now we don't believe that faith should be alone.

We just believe faith alone's enough.

And this is an important doctrine.

Of course, a lot of people will say,

well it's faith alone, but that faith is never alone.

What's the point of faith alone if faith's never alone?

Yeah, exactly, yeah.

Then it doesn't even matter.

Then you would, here's the question.

If faith alone saves, yet no one ever actually

had faith alone, then it's a meaningless statement

because you would have to say it's faith and works

because if you didn't have the works, then you're not saved

and that's what a lot of lying false teachers will say.

And of course they say this

because the vast majority of Christian teachers

in this world are not saved

and the vast majority of people throughout history

have not been saved.

And the Bible says that there's many false prophets

that have gone out into the world.

And the Roman Catholic Church is a church that's not of God

that doesn't have the spirit of God that teaches lies

and people say, well if you wanna go

with the historic position,

the historic position's always been faith and works.

So then they have to figure out

how to give either lip service to that

or believe in that so they don't feel like

they're part of the historic church.

Well you know what, I don't care

if I'm part of the quote historic church or not

because the vast majority of people have been wrong.

And you say, well how far back does that go?

Well it goes all the way back to Cain and Abel.

Your historic church goes back to the church of Cain

which was by works and you know what?

His offering was not respected.

It's not that he didn't offer to the Lord.

I mean can't you argue that Cain has some faith

in the Lord?

He's offering a sacrifice to him.

It's not that he denies his existence.

It's not that he doesn't realize

he even needs to offer a sacrifice.

It's that he's offering a sacrifice

picturing his works and Abel is offering a sacrifice

picturing his faith.

And so Abel realizes he's saved by faith alone

and that's enough and we have Cain

who thinks his works need to be in there

and he wants to glory and you know what?

God did not have respect under Cain's offering.

God does not respect the faith of the Catholic church

or the faith of these other churches

because they're believing in their works to save them.

And if you think you have to be a good person

to go to heaven, you won't make it.

If you think you have to be a good swimmer

to swim over to Europe, you're not gonna make it.

Either you put all your faith in that pilot

and he's gonna get you there

and you're gonna do absolutely nothing

contributing to your effort to getting there

other than just simply getting on the plane.

But it's like well you also have to be a good swimmer

to get there.

What does that mean I had to be a good swimmer?

Like are you saying like halfway out

they're gonna drop me off

and I'm gonna have to swim the rest of the way

across the ocean?

Cause if that's true, you're not gonna make it.

It's like well Jesus did his part.

He flew the plane a little bit.

Now you have to get out and swim the rest of the way.

Well how far would it even have to get?

Like how close would you have to get

for you to actually make it?

Right?

It'd be like in theory it's like well

you can't sin again after getting saved

and then still make it to heaven.

Well then I better hope I'm only gonna live

for about five or 10 more seconds.

You know?

And it's like well if the flight is

I have to swim part of the way.

I better be dropped off about 20 meters

from the shore or something.

Because otherwise, and if I have to fall out

of the plane at 20 meters depth

I might just die from the impact, okay?

It'd be too shallow or something.

I mean this scenario's weird.

You know why salvation is by faith alone?

Because that's the only thing

that was gonna get you there.

But alone from that particular analogy

if you put me in the cockpit of a plane

I can't fly to Europe because I don't even know where to go.

Like I don't know how to fly to Europe.

If I got up in the clouds

it just all looked like clouds to me.

You know I wouldn't know without someone telling me

or instructing me or guiding me or whatever.

And here's the thing I don't know

how to get to heaven either.

But Jesus does and so that's why we believe in Jesus

and he gets us to heaven and you know what?

I can be a passenger that literally just

puts on the blinders and the earbuds

and falls asleep and I'm getting there.

I can do absolutely nothing on that plane ride

and I'm getting to heaven, okay?

And so I use this analogy sometimes

but it's just like look,

that's what it means to believe in Jesus

is they're getting on his plane

and they're letting him take you to heaven.

It's not by, I'm not gonna be swimming my way

or working my way or riding a bike or anything else.

And I'm definitely not taking over the plane.

That ends up in a crash, okay?

Into two towers and that's a train wreck, you know?

It's like confusing, all right?

It's really hot magically, you know?

It's like 2,000 degrees lava pool at the bottom

of that plane crash somehow magically.

I mean, jet fuel can't even burn that hot

but somehow it does, you know?

Well, guess what?

Hot's even, you know, hell's even hotter, okay?

So, and you're not getting shipped to China

or any of this weird stuff, you know?

It's just gonna be,

you're gonna burn in hell for all of eternity.

So you know what you need?

You just really believe in Jesus Christ

and then you get to heaven.

It's that simple.

Acts 13, did I have you turn there?

No, I had you do Galatians first, okay?

Let's look at Galatians chapter two verse 16.

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law

but by the faith of Jesus Christ,

even we have believed in Jesus Christ.

That we might be justified by the faith of Christ

and not by the works of the law

for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Again, and justified as meaning what?

Declared morally right.

We're not declared morally right with God

by the works of the law

but only by faith in Jesus Christ.

How could anyone be one of these hyper dispensationalists

that get up and say in the Old Testament

they had to also have works?

I mean think about what we read in Romans chapter four.

We read about Abraham and David

and then now we have Paul.

So it's like which dispensation do you wanna talk about?

Because David is definitely in the dispensation of the law.

You know it's like before the law saved by grace.

During the law saved by grace.

After the law saved by grace.

And you know what?

No flesh.

It's not like oh except for the millions of people

that were saved in the Old Testament.

No no, no flesh shall be justified

by the works of the law.

Look we are not even under the law.

What would be the point of telling us this

when we weren't even the ones under the law?

How about the ones that were actually under the law?

Hey the ones that were actually under the law

they also weren't justified by the works of the law.

No one's ever been justified by the works of the law

or ever will be justified by the works of the law.

And such as people that believe such nonsense

I think are unsaved.

If someone gets up and says

salvation was by works in the Old Testament

and salvation will be by works in the New Testament

in the future, I don't believe that person's saved.

You can argue with me and they're like

let's by faith now.

Okay well you're weird.

There's something weird about you.

Okay there's something really off about you

and I just don't even think that you're saved.

And I don't want a fellowship with anybody

that believes this nonsense.

I don't even want to be nice to that kind of a person.

I don't want to subject myself

to a two hour podcast of this nonsense.

You know doesn't the apostle Paul say only one hour?

I also don't want to try and word your things

better for you to help you sound a little bit better.

Like I don't want to clean up your heresy

to make it sound a little cooler or something like that.

Now I would just say hey you're a heretic.

Look at chapter three verse eight.

And the scripture for seeing that God

would justify the heathen through faith

preached before the gospel in Abraham saying

in thee shall all nations be blessed.

Verse 11 but that no man is justified

by the law on the side of God.

It is evident for the just shall live by faith.

And the law is not a faith

but the man that doeth them shall live in them.

Christ that there deemed us from the curse of the law

being made a curse for us.

For it is written curse is everyone

that hangeth on a tree that the blessing of Abraham

might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ

that we might receive the promise of the spirit

through faith.

So what does the Bible saying?

The Bible is saying that when we believe

in Jesus Christ we are saved from the curse of the law.

What was the curse of the law?

The curse of the law is that when you die

you would go to hell.

That you would die physically and go to hell.

So what Jesus did is he became a curse for us

by dying, taking our place in hell

so that we wouldn't have to go.

He tasted of death so that we would not

have to taste death.

The Bible says he tasted death for every man too.

So he didn't just taste death for some people

he tasted death for every man

and we that believe shall never taste of death

is what the Bible says.

Meaning we'll never experience hell even for a moment

let alone a thousand year cooking off period or something.

You know the Catholics believe in this purgatory

word not found in your Bible.

They believe that many people will go to hell

just for a little while.

Like they just, you know you gotta get cleaned up

or whatever, you gotta get punished a little bit

and then eventually we'll let you back into heaven

or something like that.

And so they'll pray for people in purgatory.

They used to sell indulgences and sell to the congregation.

They say hey give us money and your grandma

she'll get a few years off her sentence in purgatory.

Which is crazy.

I mean like if you actually believed this

you're like well grandma was gonna be

in purgatory for a while.

You know and I love grandma.

She was a really nice lady but she had some issues

and it's like I don't want her to be in hell.

I don't wanna be in purgatory for a really long time

so I better give money to the church to try and get it.

Look no money to a Catholic pedophile

is gonna get grandma out of purgatory.

Okay.

God doesn't accept any ransom like that.

You know what gets you out of hell?

Never going ever because Jesus took your place.

Once you go you're stuck.

The only people that we really see in the Bible

getting out are Jesus, the Antichrist and Satan.

Okay.

And unfortunately you're not Satan.

You know or fortunately you know

it depends on your look on that.

And you're also not the Antichrist.

Okay.

So the Bible says that he descends out.

You know he ascends out of the bottom of his pit

somehow after three days of dying.

The devil after being there for a thousand years

he gets out.

No one else to deceive the nations one last time.

But everyone else.

Hey you're stuck in hell and you're gonna be judged

and go into the lake of fire for all of eternity.

You know there's no.

Hey I'm gonna get out of hell and go back to heaven.

Never gonna happen.

Once you're there you're there.

That's why it's important to believe now.

That's why we believe it's important

to help people make the decision now.

And you know that's why we say if you were to die there

because no one's promised another second.

No one knows when they're gonna die.

And so that's why we have preaching with urgency

the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ

trying to get people saved now

so that you know that you'll never go to hell.

So you know you have eternal life.

I wanna go to one more place.

Let's go to Acts chapter 13

Acts 13 · chapter mention

and we'll see another verse here.

Acts chapter 13, is faith alone enough?

Acts 13 · chapter mention

Absolutely. Yes it is.

Because what Jesus did is he paid all of our sins.

His blood is enough.

His work is enough.

His death is enough.

To say that it's not enough

is to say what Jesus did is not enough.

To say it's not enough is to say

Jesus didn't pay for all your sins.

To say it's not enough says that

Jesus did not impute his righteousness unto you.

To say it's not enough is to say

his righteousness isn't enough righteousness.

But you know what?

Those of us that believe in Jesus

believe he paid all of our sins.

That his blood was shed for all of our sins.

That we get the forgiveness of sins through him.

That he was righteous

and that he declares us righteousness

by putting our faith in him.

We believe that.

That's why the Catholic

doesn't actually believe in Jesus.

Cause he doesn't believe

that Jesus paid for all of his sins.

He may say that but he doesn't believe it.

He may say that Jesus died on the cross

and went to hell

but they don't realize they did it in his place.

They're not really believing in that.

They think they have to be good enough.

They don't believe that Jesus' righteousness

has been imputed unto them.

They think they have to be righteous enough

to get to heaven.

They don't believe

when the Bible says the righteous is of one

that there's only been one righteous.

They think they're actually righteous

by their works.

And the Bible says

there's no flesh

that's gonna be justified by the deeds of law.

No flesh is gonna be justified

by the works of the law.

No one can be justified that way.

What justifies you?

Well, Acts chapter 13, look at verse 38.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

Be it known on you therefore men and brethren

that through this man talking of Jesus

is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.

And by him all that believe

are justified from all things

from which you could not be justified

by the law of Moses.

So you know what?

The law of Moses never justified a single person.

It was only ever faith in Jesus Christ.

That's how you get the forgiveness of sins

and that's how you were declared right,

morally right with God

was your faith in Jesus Christ specifically.

Now, bear with me for a moment.

We're gonna get to James two here in a second.

But I have with me a sermon

and I'm just gonna read some excerpts for it.

Okay, so try it.

I know sometimes it'd be a little boring

to hear some excerpts,

but I'll try to read it as best I can.

It's a sermon from the 1500s

by a guy named Martin Luther.

Who knows who Martin Luther is, all right?

He's typically considered the person

who started the Protestant Reformation.

He had a sermon that he preached

called Justification by Faith.

And in his sermon, and I'm not gonna read the whole sermon,

the sermon is arguing against Catholics

who believe that you have to basically pray to the saints

and do good to dead saints

and hopes that they'll bring you

into their everlasting habitations in heaven, okay?

And he's preaching against that.

I agree, that's stupid.

It's nonsense, it's not true, it's not real.

It's a bad idea.

And he makes a lot of great statements

in this sermon at the beginning.

So I wanna clarify that I agree

with virtually everything I'm about to read, okay?

And then I'll tell you when I switch, all right?

But this is what Martin Luther said in the 1500s.

This is what he said.

I have taught very extensively

how faith alone without work justifies.

I mean, how can you disagree with that?

He said, good works are done first after we believe.

He says, I perceive that the gospel abides

and prospers only among the few.

Yeah, I agree with that too.

He's saying there's very few people teaching this,

very few people that actually believe this.

He says, about the Catholics,

he says, quote, the friends may receive us

in everlasting habitation just as though

we should serve the saints and trust in them

to get to heaven.

So he's saying they're preaching

that you have to serve dead saints

and trust in them to get into heaven.

False, there's only one way in heaven,

it's Jesus Christ and it's not by works.

So he's preaching against this.

He says the foundation must be maintained without wavering.

That faith without any works, without any merit,

reconciles man to God and makes him good

as Paul says to the Romans.

But now the righteousness of God

without the law is manifested,

being witnessed by the law and the prophets,

even the righteousness of God

which is by faith of Jesus Christ,

unto all them that believe, Romans 321 verses 22.

Paul in another place says to Abraham,

is faithless reckoned for righteousness?

So also with us again,

therefore being justified by faith,

we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Romans 5 1.

Again, for with the heart man believeth under righteousness

and with a mouth confession is made in the salvation.

Romans 10 10.

These and many similar passages we must firmly hold

and trust in them immovably

so that to faith alone without any assistance of works

is a tribute to the forgiveness of sins

and our justification.

I mean, this guy sounds like us in this section, okay?

All right, I'm just trying to make,

I'm just trying to be honest with the text.

He sounds exactly like us.

He's saying the same verses.

He's doing the same proof points.

Take for an illustration the parable of Christ,

even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit,

but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit, Matthew 7 17.

Here you see that the fruit does not make the tree good

but without any fruit and before any fruit

the tree must first be first good

or made good before it can bear good fruit.

As he also says, either make the tree good

and its fruit good or else make the tree corrupt

and its fruit corrupt for the tree is known by its fruit.

Then he quotes Matthew 12 33.

And he says it is clear how impossible it is

that a man should become good by works

when he is not good before he does the good works.

For Christ stands firm when he says,

how can ye being evil speak good things?

And hence follows, how can ye being evil do good things?

Again, how can I disagree with it?

Pretty good logic, he's saying the tree has to be good

before it does anything,

before it can actually do something good.

He's saying it has to be a good tree

before it can ever even produce a good fruit.

And I'm like, amen.

You can't even do good things until you're a good tree.

You can't even do good works until you're even saved.

You know who couldn't do good works?

Judas Iscariot, okay?

He wasn't good so he could never produce a good fruit.

He also says, this great and precious something

is the noble word of God,

which offers us in the gospel,

excuse me, the grace of God in Christ.

He who hears and believes this,

thereby becomes good and righteous.

So again, sounds good.

He says, wherefore it is called in the word of life,

a word of grace, a word of forgiveness,

but he who neither hears nor believes it

can in no way become good.

Just re-emphasizing that entire point.

Now, here is where the shift is made though.

And I think this is important.

And this is why I'm preaching the sermon a little bit,

is because many people will give the right answer

about salvation and say salvation is faith alone.

Without works.

But then they create this saving faith idea, okay?

And this is where I wanna combat this idea.

He says this.

Therefore faith is something very powerful,

active, restless, effective,

which at once renews a person and again regenerates him

and leads them all together into a new manner

and character of life.

So that is impossible not to do good without ceasing.

So he went from salvation is faith alone

to then saying if you do get saved though,

it's impossible for you to never not do good

without ceasing, meaning forever.

So you're gonna only ever do good until you die

because you've been saved.

Now that starts to sound Calvinistic a little bit, okay?

And it's like, well, why would the Bible bring up

the guy that's not working, getting saved,

if when you get saved it's impossible

not to only do good but do it without ceasing?

Why is the Bible constantly telling us to do good things?

We wouldn't even need it.

You don't even need church, you just need to get saved

and then once you're saved, you're gonna do,

listen to this, it is impossible not to do good

without ceasing.

What?

Have you ever met someone that's like that?

Have you ever met the person that it's impossible

for them to do anything but good stuff

and they never stop doing good stuff?

I mean, it's crazy.

He says for just as natural it is for the tree

to produce fruit, so natural it is for faith

to produce good works and just as it is quite unnecessary

to command the tree to bear fruit,

so there is no command given to the believer,

as Paul says, nor urging necessary for him to do good.

Now, who in here believes that the Bible

has zero commandments to believers to do good?

It's like, what do you mean?

That's the whole New Testament.

I mean, in fact, sometimes the Bible just says be good.

Okay, to do good.

The Bible says to him that knoweth to do good

and doeth not to him it is a sin.

Oh, just kidding, you can never do that

because you're a saved believer?

No, no, obviously the Bible is constantly telling us

to do good because you can not do good.

It's called Romans 7.

Bro, need to just go a little bit further in Romans 7

when the apostle Paul is saying,

hey, you know, I find that which is to do good

and I find myself not doing it.

He's like saying, hey, I wanna do good

and I'm not doing it and I'm carnal

and I'm not doing what I preaching.

It's just like, bro, it's silly to say that nowhere

in the Bible are we told to do good.

You just do it automatically.

Just as you sleep, eat, drink, put on clothes,

hear, speak and go and come.

So just like you breathing,

no one has to tell you to breathe, that's true, right?

Isn't that called an involuntary response of the body?

You're heart beating.

No one's told like, make sure your heart's beating.

Hey, is it beating?

Beat your heart, okay?

Don't stop beating your heart.

We don't have to tell people that

and we get this, it's called an involuntary response.

You know what?

We don't have to be like that with church

and say like, oh, you know what?

We don't need church anymore.

We're all gonna just do all the things right.

Let's just go.

What would be the point of reading the Bible

or studying or praying or going to church or that?

Like, no one can even be church disciplined

because if you're church disciplined

you obviously weren't even saved

because you did something wrong.

I mean like, this is nonsense.

And how far are you gonna take this?

And of course this is what the saving faith type mentality

top typically produces is they have to create a scenario

where you are perfect and you're doing good.

So they have to lower the standard

of what good actually is

because they have to say you're good all the time.

And then this is where you get the practicing

syn doctrine you'll hear from an non-enormant church.

They're like, well, no one that makes a practice

of sin is actually saved.

And it's like, what's a practice of sin anyways?

First of all, I don't know if I've ever actually practiced

sin, but I have sinned a lot.

You know, I wasn't like, hey, I'm gonna practice lying.

It's just, you just lied.

You know, you just like, just,

I'm not practicing disobeying my parents.

It's like, okay, I'm gonna practice sneaking in

and getting a cookie when I can.

So then when I'm told I'm not,

then I'll know what to do.

It's like, no, no, no, they're just,

they just sneak in and get a cookie.

It's like, you don't need to practice.

You're already an expert.

Two year olds are already experts at this, okay?

You didn't need practice.

You've been doing this your whole life.

It's silly.

The practicing sin doctrine is a lie.

Here's more of his statements.

He says, where works do not follow,

a man cannot know whether his faith is right.

So Zane, if you don't have any works, you can't know.

He says, yay, he may be certain

that his faith is a dream

and not right as it should be.

He says, externally and publicly before men and himself,

he is justified by works that he is at heart

and honest believer in pious.

So let me read a little bit more of this comment.

He said, we're justified by faith alone without works,

but externally and publicly before men and himself,

he is justified by works that he is at heart

and honest believer in pious.

Now, this is where you can tell he's kind of

getting James two vibe.

And that's where we're gonna go there.

But then he spells out something else from James two.

He says, this is what James means

when he says in his epistle,

faith without works is dead.

That is as the works do not follow,

it is a sure sign that there is no faith there,

but only an empty thought and dream

which they falsely call faith.

So in his sermon, I'm not reading all the sections,

but he says there's a true faith and a false faith.

And he says, if you don't have works,

then you have a false faith.

And he's like, there's some people that claim this,

but they're claiming a false faith.

Well, let's read some James two

and let's see what the text actually says.

Now, he's quoting the last verse here

in James chapter number two.

And of course, James chapter one,

I'm sorry, James chapter two verse one says,

my brethren, we were talking about saying people here.

It says in verse 26,

for as the body without the spirit is dead,

so faith without works is dead also.

That's a true statement.

The Bible says that it's recorded,

but you know what he's not quoting is verse 17.

Look at this, even so,

if it hath not works, is dead being alone.

So faith, if it doesn't have works,

does the Bible say it's false faith?

No, it never says false faith.

Does it say it doesn't exist?

No, it doesn't say it's a dream.

It just says it's alone.

So you know, a lot of people say,

oh, faith that works doesn't exist.

No, no, no, the Bible says it does exist.

It's just alone.

It's something that is real.

The question is then,

if I have a faith that doesn't have works,

can I be safe?

Well, we already answered that

in Romans chapter four, verse five.

If I work not, and I'm ungodly,

I'm still justified by my faith in Jesus Christ.

Yep, man.

So yes, I am.

I'm saved.

So they say, oh, okay, then what is James two telling us?

Well, in the first section of James chapter two,

it's saying that we shouldn't have respect of persons.

That's what it says in verse one.

My brethren, I'm not the faith

of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Lord of glory with respect of persons, okay?

If there come under your assembly

a man with a gold ring and gold, goodly apparel,

and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment,

and you have respect to him that wear at the gay clothing

and say unto him, sit thou here in a good place

and say to the poor, stand thou there,

or sit here under my footstool.

Are you not then partial in yourselves

and are you become judges of evil thoughts?

So what is he saying?

We shouldn't treat rich people better than poor people.

Clear statement.

We don't want to have a faith in Jesus Christ

where we prefer rich people over poor people

and that we don't want to be around poor people.

Look at verse six, but you have despised the poor.

So he's saying, don't have our respect

of persons who are the poor, don't despise the poor.

Then in a little bit later,

he says here in verse number 14,

what doth it profit my brethren,

though man sayeth faith, and have not worse,

can faith save him?

If a brother or sister be naked

and deser to daily food, and one of you say unto them,

the party and peace be warmed and filled,

notwithstanding you give them,

not those things which are need for the body,

what doth it profit?

Saying, okay, we shouldn't have a bad opinion

of poor people.

We shouldn't treat them differently

than we would treat a rich person.

We shouldn't despise poor people

and we also shouldn't tell people that are poor,

hey, I hope God helps you and not help them.

Because then what does that actually do?

What does that actually profit?

Isn't that what it starts?

Verse 14, what doth it profit?

Then notice in verse 16, the last statement,

what doth it profit?

That means that verses 14 to 16 are the same thought, okay?

A man says he has faith, but he doesn't have works.

Then we have in this story, in the example,

he says unto him, depart in peace be warmed and filled.

So there's the, it sounds like faith,

notwithstanding he gives them

not those things which are needful,

meaning he didn't have any works,

then it's like, how doth it profit that guy, okay?

Can a guy who is starving to death

and has no clothes, is he gonna be profited

by you just telling him, have a good day, right?

Is that gonna help him in any way?

No, it's not gonna help him.

And in fact, while we live in America,

so we don't necessarily fully understand

some of these things, not having food

and having insufficient clothing

and harsh conditions outside, you will die.

You would literally die.

It's not, it's like a real death threat, okay?

Especially, I mean, it's saying he's naked.

And you know, in some parts of the world, especially,

it can get very cold, it is very cold,

it's rainy, you get pneumonia, whatever.

I mean, the chances of you dying

by being insufficiently fed

and not having sufficient clothing is a real threat.

So this guy is like on the verge of death

and you just saying, I hope someone helps you,

doesn't help him, does it?

Giving him what he actually needs would help him.

Now, this is where, I wanna be very clear

about what I'm saying here, okay?

And I wanna be clear about my interpretation

of this passage, okay?

I don't think that we have to worry about this phrase,

but I'm just gonna tell you what I think about this phrase.

But this is what people will say,

look at this, can't they save him?

They'll say, well, this is saying a guy

that says he has faith and doesn't have works,

isn't saved and isn't gonna go to heaven.

At no point in James chapter two,

have we been bringing up heaven,

having eternal life,

who's justified in the sight of God to go to heaven or not,

whose sins have been forgiven.

Like that's never been in view in this chapter

at any point, okay?

Poor people have been in view the entire time, okay?

Including in verse six, we have despised the poor.

So in an extreme minority reading

and in extreme minority opinion, which I also hold,

they would say that when it says can't they save him,

we're not actually talking about the guy in verse 14.

We're talking about a poor guy.

We're talking about the poor guy

that was brought up in the verse six

and is then explained in verses 15 and 16.

Now people will say grammatically that doesn't make sense

because you're kinda bringing in a pronoun

before you explain the guy.

And I understand that argument

and I'm not gonna say that this is grammatically

the most coherent interpretation.

And if you have a different interpretation, go for it.

But I believe what it's saying is can't they save him?

It's like, hey, can your faith without works

save this poor guy, this destitute of daily food

and destitute of clothing?

Can you actually save that guy?

And the answer is no, okay?

But what it's definitely not saying,

even if you disagree with what I just said,

even if you said I think it's something else,

you know what it's not saying?

Hey, you have to have works to go to heaven.

That's not in view.

That's not brought up in the context.

It disagrees with every other portion of scripture.

But they'll say, oh, this proves that there's a saving faith

and a non-saving faith.

Saving faith is not a phrase used in your Bible ever.

Yeah.

But again, why would it bring up?

Again, notice the sandwich again, verse 14.

What did the prophet in verse 16, what did the prophet?

It makes clear that we're kinda talking

about saving somebody from what?

Dying of not having food, not having clothing.

Yeah, is it possible that in a strange rhetorical sense,

he's kinda bringing up the guy

before he answers the question?

I think it's possible.

Now, if you have a different interpretation,

I haven't heard a good explanation of this

from people that actually saved,

especially not the unsaved crowd,

but to take this question, can they save him

and then flip all the clear statements

in the Bible on their head,

is a horrible way to reinterpret the Bible.

You know, and even if we were to answer the question,

if you believe in Jesus Christ, if you are saved

and some poor person comes into our church

and they're completely naked

and they haven't eaten a meal in weeks

and you just say, well, I hope someone helps you

and they leave, are you still saved?

The answer's yes.

Even if that's what this was asking.

Even if the question was, can that type of faith

save this guy?

Well, guess what?

If he believed in Jesus, he's still saved.

You know what I mean?

But I just think that's kinda strange

because that's not really been in the context.

That's not what we're really talking about.

We don't have to give money to poor people

to prove that we're saved

or to stay saved or become saved or get saved.

We give money to the poor because we love them

and you know what?

Hey, that's the right thing to do.

Not because we're gonna get to heaven

because we give money to the poor.

And people say, where's your soup kitchen?

Well, I don't have a soup kitchen.

Okay.

But you know what we will do is we'll go into the highways

and hedges and we'll give the gospel to people.

And it's not that none of us have ever helped the poor person.

We're just not gonna go around bragging about it

because that's not the point.

Now, again, he says in verse 17,

even so faith, if it hath not works is dead.

Being alone, yea, a man may say thou's faith

and I have works, show me thy faith without thy works

and I'll show thee my faith by my works.

Thou believest that there is one God,

thou doest well.

The devil's also believe in tremble.

But wilt thou know, vain man,

that faith thou works is dead.

Meaning what?

That it's not helping.

If your phone is dead, you can't use it.

What if I said, hey, I'm gonna give you a phone

and it has no battery and it's dead

and you can never have another battery?

What doth it profit?

It's like it doesn't really profit anything.

Okay.

You know, the whole point of having a phone battery

so you can call people, you can actually text people,

you can do something with it, right?

In the same way that if I know

that you can go to heaven by believing in Jesus Christ

and I never tell you, what is that gonna profit you?

You're not gonna know how to call on God and get saved.

I actually do something.

I have to go out there and preach the gospel

and I have to help you.

And of course, if I believe in Jesus Christ

and I've been saved and he's helped me,

then if I never do anything to help anybody,

what was the point of being saved before I die?

Like, I might as well just died on my deathbed

rather than getting saved way earlier in life

if I'm never gonna do anything with that salvation

I've never actually served God or have any good works.

Okay.

So the whole point is to get saved.

This does not live for ourselves and be selfish anymore

but rather to help other people, of course

and to do good things.

Verse 21 was not Abraham our father justified by works

when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar.

See as to how faith wrought with his works

and by works his faith made perfect

and the scripture was fulfilled with saved

Abraham believed God and was imputed on him

for righteousness and he was called the friend of God.

You see then how that by works

a man is justified and not by faith only.

Now, here's the thing.

We've read so many verses this evening on justification

and justified meaning that you're declared morally right.

Okay.

You're declared morally right by believing in Jesus Christ

you're right with God.

So then how could this passage exist?

And of course, Martin Luther didn't think James too

was even the Bible, which is interesting.

It's like, I've heard that he didn't even want

James to be in the Bible

and then he's quoting James too in his sermon.

Okay, so I don't know how that works.

I don't know how to reconcile those two things.

Okay, but either way, when we're reading here

in this particular passage, most people that are saved

this is how they would interpret it.

They say that this justification is not before God

it's before man, okay.

That it's just saying I'm declared to be morally right

in the eyes of man by my works.

Meaning what?

If a poor person needs help and I help them,

won't people look at me and think that I'm a good person

because I did that?

But you know, at the end of the day

that's just not what gets me into heaven.

And I'm not justified in the sight of God

for anything that I did.

It's just that people will see that

and they will think this guy is a just person.

This guy is a morally right person.

Could I convince somebody that I am morally right

if I literally do nothing good ever?

Like could I convince you that Joe Biden is morally good?

Or you know, some guy that, some Jew

that owns all of the online smut industry or something

like this guy is morally good.

You know, can I prove, like no one's gonna believe that.

Okay, so in a sense, you know,

you're not gonna be considered just

if you're never doing anything good.

And so you could argue that works helps us

to be justified in the sight of man, okay?

Why would that be important?

Well, I think it's only important in the context of

the fact that we're saved to do good works

and to give glory to God, okay?

So if people being saved, let's just think about it

this way, if everybody that got saved did nothing different

well then that doesn't really give much glory to God

as salvation being very special.

But if everybody, if the vast majority of people

getting saved, if the normal experience is people

actually being different and doing good things,

well then it gives glory to God to show like,

oh see, salvation and the gospel is good.

It's teaching us to deny ungodliness

and to live soberly and to do right.

So then you get passages like Matthew 25 and others

that are showing a clear difference between the group

of saved people versus the unsaved.

Hey, the saved people are doing good things,

the unsaved are kinda doing rotten things, okay?

So there is a difference from categories

but that doesn't mean that an individual

who didn't contribute, who is just drug along on the team

that he doesn't get the trophy, he still gets the trophy.

The guy on the bench that never got in the game

the whole season, a guy that got traded to our team

at the end of the season and never played

still gets the ring, still gets the trophy.

He did no works, okay, but here's the thing,

it's not like everybody on the team is that guy, okay?

There was somebody on our team that was scoring, okay?

There was somebody in the game passing the ball,

otherwise we wouldn't have won, okay?

So in a sense from a Christian perspective as a whole,

yes, lots of Christians are living different lives,

lots of Christians are doing good things,

lots of Christians are serving the Lord

and that's what we want to see, that's the good experience

but we're not gonna sit here and demonize those

that are not and say, well, you're not even on the team.

Those that are not doing works, you're not even saved,

that's the wrong attitude, that's the wrong belief, okay?

And I think it's important for a couple reasons

and I'm gonna go there, go to Luke chapter eight,

go to Luke chapter eight.

Now you say, well, so is Martin Luther saved

or not saved?

What's the thing?

You know, when I try to figure out

if someone saved or not, you know what I do?

I ask them what they believe, right?

And here's what I, based on what I've read,

this is what I think would happen.

If I asked Martin Luther, hey,

what do you think it takes to go to heaven?

You know, I think you would have said,

well, it's faith alone, what Jesus Christ did.

But here's the thing, when I go soul winning,

you know that's not the only question I ask.

I ask a second question.

And you know what that second question I ask?

Could you lose your salvation?

All right?

So I'm gonna read another thing that Martin Luther wrote,

okay, or another sermon, excerpt or something.

I don't know if it's a sermon specifically

or it's just some letter he wrote.

This is something that he wrote, though.

He said, it is accordingly necessary to know

and to teach that when holy men still having

and feeling original sin, also daily repenting

and striving with it, happened to fall

into manifest sins, as David into adultery,

murder and blasphemy, that then faith

and the Holy Ghost has departed from them

for they cast out faith and the Holy Ghost.

For the Holy Ghost does not permit sin to have dominion

to gain the upper hand so as to be accomplished

but represses and restrains it

so that it must not do what it wishes.

But if it does what it wishes,

the Holy Ghost and faith are certainly not present.

For St. John says,

who serves as born of God does not commit sin

and he cannot sin.

So, according to Martin Luther,

he's saying if you ever commit murder or adultery

or you're like David, you're not saved.

Not only are you not saved, you've lost yourself,

but you pushed the Holy Ghost out, okay.

Now, if you heard that at the door,

would you say this guy's saved or unsaved?

Unsaved, yeah.

Well, that's my opinion too, okay.

Now, again, it's weird because he sounds really good

on the faith alone part.

But then you have to understand,

a lot of these people have this weird saving faith idea

and they say, well, saving faith is never alone,

it has all these works and it's gonna endure under the end

and it's never gonna commit these big sins

and it's never gonna practice sin, whatever.

And it just seems like most of the preachers

and pastors teaching this stuff are just not saved.

A lordship style salvation, a saving faith salvation,

a lot of Calvinists kind of teach this stuff, okay.

But I do wanna make something clearer to our group

and to our congregation that if someone

does adhere to this saving faith doctrine, okay,

they believe that if someone gets saved,

they will have some good works, they will have a change,

that they are wrong, but I do not believe

that means they're unsaved.

If I asked Martin Luther, what do you have to do

to be saved and he said faith alone in Christ

and I said, can you lose it?

And he said, no, I would say he's saved,

even if he has this wrong saving faith doctrine.

Because if we throw everybody in hell

that has the saving faith doctrine,

it's gonna be a really small group

because the vast majority of Christians

have this weird saving faith doctrine.

Now again, a lot of people have an experience

where they believe in Jesus Christ and they do change.

So it is a pretty normal, common experience.

The problem is we don't want to believe

that those are the only ones going to heaven

for a lot of reasons, okay.

Why a lot of reasons?

Well, look at Luke chapter eight, verse 12.

Those by the wayside are they that hear,

then come to the devil and take away the word

out of their hearts, lest they should believe

and be saved.

They on the rock are they, which when they hear

receive the word of joy and these have no root,

which for a while believe and in time of temptation

fall away.

All these saving faith people would say that verse 12,

all those people are not saved.

Then they would say and verse 13, that next group,

verse 13 and 14 are not saved.

Look at this, they on the rock are they,

which when they hear receive the word of joy

and these have no root which for a while believe

and in time of temptation fall away

and that which fell among thorns are they

which when they have heard go forth

and are choked with cares and riches

and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection.

Does the group 14 have any fruit?

They have no fruit, which according to Martin Luther

it's impossible to not have good fruit without ceasing.

So they would say only, only the group 15 is saved.

And look, I hear this from non-the-non preachers,

from Calvinist preachers, from Presbyterian teachers,

just virtually everyone is saying this kind of stuff.

And so either everyone's unsaved

or just most everybody's wrong, okay?

Again, most everybody is wrong.

But how do I determine who's saved and who's not saved?

Well, the ones that are saying it's fate alone

and you can't lose it, I think are saved.

Even though they mad to hear this saving faith doctrine.

The ones that are like Martin Luther that says,

well, yeah, you could lose it

or if you don't have the works,

you're not saved, whatever.

I'm definitely afraid of someone

that has any combination.

If they say you can't lose it, I think they're just not saved.

Anybody that's denying that you,

or anybody that's saying you can push the Holy Ghost out,

anybody that's saying that you can lose your salvation

or walk away or whatever,

I don't think they're saved at all.

Okay, and I will continue to believe that.

Now again, go to Matthew 13 as well.

If somebody says, I think you can lose your salvation

if you become an atheist or something.

Or I think if you stop believing,

I'm not gonna say that person's unsaved.

I think that some people are confused

about apostasy specifically.

But I'm saying, if they're saying you commit murder

or adultery or a sin or unrepentant sin

and you're losing your salvation,

I don't believe those people are saved ever.

If you think sin is losing your salvation, not saved.

If you're a little bit confused on apostasy,

I think you could still probably be saved.

I would still sure them up on that.

I'd still correct them on that.

But I wouldn't necessarily say they're unsaved.

And the reason why I think this is important

is because when we go soul winning,

I'll see sometimes people,

I feel like they're a little bit hyper on this issue.

Because I'll see them, they'll talk to me and say,

hey, what do you have to do to go to heaven?

And the person will say, oh, it's believing in Jesus.

And they're like, yeah,

well, do you think someone can lose their salvation?

No.

And they're like, okay, well, what if someone believed

but then they're like an ax murdering psycho killer?

Do you still think that person's saved?

And they're like, I'm not sure.

Well, actually you don't believe right at all

and you're not saved.

Can I show you the Bible teaches something completely different?

And I'm like, completely different.

What do you mean?

This person's just confused that a psycho serial killer

actually believes the gospel.

That's all he's confused about

is your weird hypothetical.

He's also getting a weird vibe from you.

Okay.

Like, you don't have to be so weird.

If they think it's faith alone and you can't lose it,

like go team, you know?

It's like, we don't have to,

we don't have to get super weird about this kind of stuff.

All right?

You know, to me, if I don't have something like really clear,

you know, I'm not gonna sit here

and jump all over these people or whatever.

And if they have this saving faith doctrine,

I'm not gonna declare them unsafe.

I've seen it, I've heard it.

You know, I think it's a waste of time.

I'll correct them out so when I'll say,

hey, can I show you a verse?

I'll show them Romans four or five and say,

hey, or if you feel like you've spent just a few minutes,

like I don't wanna spend very long questioning people.

I'm just saying, if you've gone like two or three

questions deep and it's a little confusing,

here's the best thing to do.

Just tell them exactly what we believe

and ask if they believe it or not.

Just say, well, I believe salvation is a free gift

by faith and you can never lose it for any reason.

Is that what you believe?

And if they're like, no, right?

Well, can I show you that?

And if they say yes, then be like, go team.

We're not out there to trip people up.

We're not out there to trap them or something like that.

I get that we're trying to help them figure out

where they're at in life, but you know what?

We can be pretty clear.

I used to think that you couldn't say this,

and now I use it every time.

It's like, do you think salvation is faith alone

or faith works?

Because I thought, well, we can't say that

because it'll all just say faith.

But virtually everybody just says it's faith and works.

Because I'm not trying to trap anybody.

I'm just trying to figure out what do you believe?

This is what I believe.

Do you want me to show you something different or not?

Do you want me to show you it's a free gift by faith?

And again, are people who think

that someone who has no works is not saved,

does that mean they're not saved?

Not necessarily.

We want to ask the questions that we stick to.

We want to stick to the simple things.

And again, Martin Luther would have failed the test

so we're fine.

The test works.

Don't try and reinvent the test to some other idea.

Look, if we were gonna see what other doctrines

are you wrong on to see if you're saved or not,

no one's saved, okay?

Because people are screwed up on virtually

anything and everything, all right?

But in general, we're just trying to test to see,

hey, do they believe in faith alone?

Do they believe they can lose their salvation?

And this is important because we want

to protect these groups.

We do believe that you can have no works and be saved.

Look at Matthew chapter 13, verse 21.

Matthew 13:21

Yet, this is talking about the Parable of Sower.

Yet hathy no-rude in himself but dureth for a while

for when tribulation and persecution arrive

because of the word, by and by he is offended.

Look, if someone we get saved, out-so-winning,

comes into church and they don't like the service

and they immediately leave,

I'm not gonna say they're unsaved.

I've known somebody that was in my,

that I got saved, I brought them to church,

they got baptized, they were gonna end up

getting married.

But then they stumbled, they offended, okay?

And then I never saw them again

and they got out of church and whatever.

But praise God, even my pastor, my old IP pastor

who came up to me and said,

well, at least we know he's going to heaven.

And it's like, yeah.

Hey, you know what?

Even if he didn't get baptized, he's still saved.

You know, some pastors, I guess, need that message again.

You know, there was a podcast

where pastor Jason Robinson was on

where he was letting a Calvinist

explain the saving faith doctrine

and then he affirmed and agreed and amplified by saying this.

He said, if a believer, if someone's really a believer

and they completely reject baptism,

are they really a believer?

Well, let's just go with your statement.

Because you said they're really a believer.

Think about it.

If someone's really a believer

but they rejected baptism, are they really a believer?

Yeah, because you said they were really a believer.

This is weird.

And think about it.

You know what that does?

That just puts a wet blanket on soul winning.

If we're gonna say the only people that actually got saved

were the people that showed up and got baptized later,

we're gonna have, again, a really small list.

And you know what?

It's gonna make us not even wanna go soul winning anymore.

And it's gonna make us wanna become

some Greek theologian,

some Calvinist again, studying church history

because we have nothing else to do with our lives.

Instead of becoming so smart

and just learning all the church history,

why don't you just go soul winning?

You know what?

Why don't you just go preach the gospel?

And you know what?

Some people will be a little bit wiser

if they would just preach the gospel

instead of preaching all these church fathers nonsense.

Yeah, that's right.

You start going down that road

and you're gonna sound like an idiot.

You're gonna sound like a fool.

And you know what?

It's tearing down soul winning.

It's putting a wet blanket on soul winning.

And I'm not saying these people don't go soul winning.

I'm not saying they aren't gonna put some effort in.

But you know what?

It's gonna hinder the gospel

and it's gonna hinder soul winning

and it's caused some people to not wanna go.

I don't, look, I'm a Baptist.

I believe in baptism.

I wanna baptize every person that gets saved.

But let me tell you something.

I am not wondering if they're saved or not

if they get baptized.

Yeah.

When I go back out in the ghetto

and I run back into them

and they haven't got baptized yet,

I'm saying, hey, what do you believe?

And if they believe right, hey, you're saved.

It's stuck.

It's not like, did you get wet yet?

Well, I don't know if you really believe them, brother.

Yeah.

Because then what else are you gonna add?

And again, in the context of this conversation,

then they say, oh, that's why all the Roman Catholics

for history said you had to follow the sacraments too.

Because, well, if you're a believer,

then you're gonna, of course, follow the sacraments.

And if you're a believer,

then you're gonna keep doing good without ceasing,

as Martin Luther clearly said.

And then the guy that didn't keep believing

or keep doing the works or whatever,

they didn't really say to them, you know?

It's like, because they use believe as just doing works.

They just twist that word into like,

well, you must not be believing

because he's not doing the works anymore.

And again, their works are never like actually going

soul-winning and preaching the gospel.

Their works are whatever they dream up in their mind.

Selling indulgences or something.

Go to first Corinthians three.

Look, the thief on the cross,

we're gonna put him in heaven

because you don't have to have any works.

The parable of the sower,

we're putting those two groups in heaven.

The nine, where are the nine?

They're in heaven!

That's where they are.

How many works do they have?

Or how many rewards do they have?

I don't know if they had any.

But you know what they're in heaven.

You say, oh, how do you know they're in heaven?

First Corinthians, chapter number three.

And again, they're in heaven.

How could this even apply?

How could first Corinthians chapter number three

even apply according to Martin Luther's doctrine?

Because according to Martin Luther's doctrine,

if you are saved, just as natural it is to breathe

will be the good works that come out of you.

So who wouldn't have good works?

Everyone, I mean, who's not taking a breath

since they've gotten saved?

First Corinthians chapter three though,

what does it say?

Verse 13, every man's work shall be made manifest

for the day shall declare it

because it shall be revealed by fire.

And the fire shall try every man's work

of what sort it is.

If any man's work abide what you have built thereon,

thereupon he shall receive reward.

If any man's work shall be burned,

he shall suffer loss,

but he himself shall be saved, yet so is by fire.

So there could be a guy,

hey, he doesn't have any works, they're all burned up.

But yet he himself is still saved.

Well, but the works show that his faith wasn't genuine.

It wasn't a genuine faith.

It wasn't a saving faith.

It wasn't a good faith.

Look, sorry, your works are not gonna have any impact

than if you're in heaven or hell.

If you believed, if you believed in Jesus Christ,

is faith alone enough?

Yes.

What is saving faith?

Saving faith is believing the right thing

about the gospel.

There is, I guess, a vain faith

the Bible brings up in First Corinthians 15.

If you deny the resurrection, you're not saved.

If you don't believe what Jesus did

fully paid all your sins, you're not saved.

If you have a different Jesus, you're not saved.

But here's the thing, if you really believe, you're saved.

Case closed, I don't care if you got baptized or not.

I don't care if you went to church or not.

I don't care if you performed communion or not.

I don't care if you've ever given the gospel

to anybody else, you are saved.

And you know what?

It's important that we teach that and believe that

so that we'll all go keep preaching the gospel.

Because the vast majority of people

are probably gonna do very little after getting saved.

Did you notice it was where is the nine?

10 people get cleansed, one only says thank you.

So you know what that tells me?

The vast majority of people

aren't even gonna say thank you.

The vast majority of people aren't gonna show up.

You really expect me that Jesus Christ

and all of his disciples for three plus years

go out and they only got 120 people saved?

Here's riddle me this, Pastor Jason Robinson.

What about the Jews who the Bible says they believed

but they were afraid to confess him openly

for fear of the Jews?

Did they get publicly baptized?

Or were they afraid to get baptized?

I mean, baptized is a pretty open public thing

and they're afraid to even say they believe in Jesus Christ

for fear of the Jews.

Oh, I guess they didn't really believe them.

We're just gonna throw them in hell too.

We're just gonna throw everybody in hell

that isn't a Calvinist and has all the works

and whatever.

You know what?

Get out of this stupid junk.

Calvinism is lies.

Calvinism is false.

You have a choice, reject Calvinism.

Is it stupid?

Reject Roman Catholicism.

Reject the church father.

I don't need to know what all these people believe.

Oh, well Martin Luther.

Martin Luther isn't saved.

If you believe your gospel presentation is right,

then Martin Luther is not saved

because he's clearly saying that,

hey, David's not even saved.

He committed murder.

You think that David lost his salvation in the Bible?

Like, what's wrong with you?

And if David's not saved, then who's saved, you know?

I'm like, good night.

Just Martin Luther, right?

The drunkard, the guy that loves drinking.

Guy that's drinking alcohol under a tree

and figured out the Bible.

That's a pretty common experience, isn't it?

And look, he has all kinds of other weird beliefs.

You know, that's why when you run into Luther

and they're not saved, by and large,

they don't believe.

And they believe like, you have to do the works

and you can, it's like the soul of Fide, just joking.

Faith alone is meaningless

if it's not actually something that could really save you.

We actually believe it.

Hey, I love faith alone.

I love soul of Fide.

Hey, faith alone is enough

and we should continue to champion this.

And you know what?

It's gonna put a wet blanket on soul winning

if we deny it.

I'm not willing to do it.

Isn't it interesting,

the people that break with us,

they're always somehow putting down soul winning,

tacking soul winning, getting weird, changing doctrines,

going to a Catholic trinity.

I mean, why do we need to become more Catholic?

Let's be less Catholic in 2026.

Not more Catholic.

I don't need Catholic theologians

to tell me what the Bible really means.

They're not saved.

They've never been saved.

They're not gonna get saved.

They're not getting out of purgatory.

It's called hell.

They're not getting out.

Mother Teresa's in hell.

I'm sorry.

She gave a bunch of food to the poor,

but she's still not saved.

Okay, I don't even think she did that.

She did weird stuff or whatever.

Look, this is important folks.

And you know what?

There's so many reasons to stop going soul winning

and there's gonna be so many attacks

and there's gonna be so many excuses

because the flesh is lazy

because we're prideful

and people don't wanna go into the ghetto

and people don't wanna waste their time

and people don't wanna go out in the rain

and they don't wanna go out in the cold

and they don't wanna go in the dark

and they don't wanna see all the drugs

and the mud and the stains and the whatever.

But you know what?

Who's gonna save Brittany

and who's gonna save Amari

and who's gonna save the people

that I went and knocked on the door?

They're going to full gospel church right now

is where they were going,

which is a Pentecostal church

where they bark like a dog and do whatever.

Who's gonna go get that person saved?

What Calvinist is gonna go down there

and explain divine simplicity to her

so that she can figure it out.

I mean, look, these Calvinists,

they can sit here and pretend like they're so smart,

but at the end of the day,

what's your practical solution for that person getting saved?

She said she can't even,

she's not capable of even leaving the house right now

because of physical problems.

How is she gonna get baptized?

How are the elderly gonna sometimes get baptized?

How is every one of these kids gonna,

well, they didn't get baptized,

they didn't really get saved.

Lies.

Hey, I'm for baptism.

I wanna make it as available and easy as possible.

But you know what?

It's stupid to go down this road

and why are people going down this road?

I'll tell you why.

It's because of pride.

It's always pride.

It's because they know that they're wrong

and they know they've left the good thing

and so they have to try and put it down

to try and justify their wicked actions.

You know what?

Just be a soul.

You know what, these people are afraid of saying

like soul winning is the most important thing

and soul winning is why we're here

and soul winning is what we should be after

because you know what?

Then they'll be like,

well, then why do we hate the new IVB again?

And it'll be like,

can I go on a soul winning trip with them

and can I go on a missions trip with them

and oh man, their sermons are always better

and they're afraid of that.

So they have to tear it down and make it seem bad

and oh, they don't have the historic Catholic position.

They don't understand the difference

between divine simplicity and soteriology

and they don't have all philosophical terminology.

They don't understand these theological terms.

They're not gonna get a degree in seminary.

They don't speak Greek.

They don't know the difference between theostus and theos.

Or as some of these freaks say, like theos.

You know, it's like, you don't speak Greek like I do.

You know, it's theos and alpha and omega.

It's like, bro, I don't think you speak Greek.

You just have a feeling, okay?

I think that you might be a fraud

and these people are a fraud

because you know what?

If you spoke Greek, you know what you would read?

That faith alone is enough to save you.

If you could speak Greek, you know what you would believe?

So when he's the thing that matters.

If you could speak Greek, you know what you would believe?

We just need the King James Bible

because it says the same thing.

These people that have to go back to the Greek

don't speak Greek because if you spoke Greek

you'd realize all you need is a King James Bible.

Because I do know someone that speaks Greek really well

and has read the Greek New Testament cover cover

and he says you don't need it

because it's the same thing right here.

It's the same word of God.

It's the same concepts, it's the same ideas.

There's not a secret understanding in the Greek

or in the Hebrew.

And look, if you're learning Greek

for any reason other than to make these fools look like fools

it's in vain.

If you're not learning Greek

to get people saved in Greek, you should just stop

because there's no other hidden secret meeting.

We have the sufficiency in the King James Bible

and you know what?

We need to just die living our lives

like faith alone justifies.

Because then you'll be motivated

to go into the highways and the hedges and the ghettos

where people are never gonna say thank you.

They're never gonna darken the door of our church.

They're never gonna, some of them

are never even get baptized

but you know what?