All right, folks, it's about that time.
We're gonna go ahead and get started this evening.
Welcome to Pure Words Baptist Church.
You would go ahead and find a seat and a hymnal.
Turn to our first song this evening,
our first hymn, I should say.
Hymn number 24.
Hymn number 2424, and can it be that I should gain?
Hymn 2424.
We'll sing there starting on that first verse.
♪ And can it be that I should gain ♪
♪ An interest in the Savior ♪
♪ He bore me his pain ♪
♪ Me to death to last fall ♪
We're singing this evening.
Brother James, will you open us in a word of prayer?
Amen.
For the next hymn this evening, turn if you would
to 125, hymn 125, 125, the solid rock.
125, the solid rock, we'll sing there as always
starting on the first verse.
My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand.
All other ground is sinking sand.
Darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace.
Every high and stormy gale,
my heart holds within the veil.
Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand.
Sinking sand doth His covenant,
His blood supports me,
His soul gives way, He can stay.
Christ the solid rock I stand,
sinking sand shall come.
Trumpet sound holdeth in,
in His righteousness alone.
For us to stand before the throne.
Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand.
All other ground is sinking sand.
Amen. Good singing this evening. At this time, we'll go over our announcements
for the church. If you need a bulletin, if you don't have one,
raise your hand. Brother Brandon has got those. He can make the rounds with them.
Of course, on the on the front there, welcome to Pure Words Baptist Church.
November 4th, we have our Bible memory passage
for this Sunday. So it would be this week, Romans 8, chapter 34. So you got a few weeks left if
you're trying to learn that chapter, Romans chapter number eight, just to be diligent.
It's never too late to start, you know, a few weeks was that four or five weeks at this point,
because we're kind of in the middle, four and a half, we'll call it, split the difference there.
Plenty of time to learn that chapter. And the bigger the chapter, you know, brother Nick and
pastor said before, the bigger the reward. So definitely, and the biggest reward is having the
word of God in your heart, right? Memorized. So if you open up there on the top left,
we have our service times and underneath that we have our church-wide soul winning times. We did
go out this evening. We had two from the church group that went this evening. Is there any other
salvationist report between Sunday and today that's not yet been counted? Going once, going twice,
sold. So that's two. So that's good. That puts us over $5.99. I saw that number doing the
bulletin and I thought, man, we just need at least one to hit 600. So remember though, the goal this
year is 1,000. It's not too late. We can always just come out swinging. But still, even at that,
you know, 599 people that won't have to taste hell, you know, because you guys are doing the work.
That's a great blessing. Keep it up. Of course, we have on the top right side there are expecting
ladies. Please continue to be in prayer for Ms. Gomez and Ms. Darnell as their due dates come.
Ms. Gomez really quickly and Ms. Darnell a little bit there in the future, but just be in prayer for
them and their families. Underneath that, for upcoming events at the end of this month around
Thanksgiving time, our Thursday service, which would be Thursday the 25th, is not happening.
So don't show up Thursday the 25th. Rather, that's being moved to Tuesday the 23rd. We've had this in
the bulletin for a while. You're probably glossing over it at this point, but it's coming up. So
don't miss the Tuesday service and then show up for the Thursday because you're going to be out of
luck. All right. And then next month on Thursday, December 23rd, we will have the Christmas candle
light service. And so that'll be fun. Underneath that, we have our prayer request, of course,
still be in prayer for Brother Edward. He's here this evening. He's been here for a few services
after kind of the surgery and the procedure. It sounds like everything's still going well. Is
that right, brother? Amen. Well, we're going to keep you in our prayers and keep praying for you.
We're glad. And I know Brother Edward has been really kind of a motivator for me, for sure,
for soul winning. You know, because if Brother Edward's out there doing it, I'm like, I'm not
letting anything slow me down, right? And so just a great encouragement. And so we want to make sure
that we're lifting each other up in prayer and encouraging each other. If you have any prayer
requests, even if they're not something public necessarily that you want to announce, that's
fine. It can be an unspoken request or a private request. Go ahead and email those in though to
purewordsbaptist@gmail.com. I know the pastor does like to look over those and keep people in
prayer. And man, if you want any prayer warrior on your side, it's Pastor Shelley, right? I'd know
that for sure. On the back there, we have a spot for notes and then the date again. And with that,
we're going to go ahead and move on to our third hymn, our final hymn before the service, 129,
hymn number 129, "Rock of Ages." 129, 129, "Rock of Ages, Clef for Me." We'll sing there,
starting on that first verse. Rock of ages, clef for me. Let me hide myself in thee.
Let the water and the blood from thy wounded side which flowed
be of sin the double cure. Save from wrath and make me pure.
Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no longer know? Leaves for sin could not atone.
Thou must save and thou alone. In my hand no price I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling. While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyes shall close in death, When I run to worlds unknown,
And behold, beyond thy throng of ages, Plead for me, let me hold myself in thee.
Amen. At this time we'll pass the offering plate around. While the plate's going around,
if you would turn to Romans chapter number four, Romans chapter number four, brother Brandon will
read that chapter for us here in Romans chapter number four, when the Bible reads, "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 whereof the glory. But not before God, for what saith the scripture,
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also described the
blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without work, saying, "Blessed are
they those iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered." Blessed is the man whom the Lord
will not impute sin. Cometh his blessedness, then upon the circumcision only, or upon the
uncircumcision also. For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was
it then reckoned, when he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in
uncircumcision. He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith,
which he had yet being uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all them that believe,
though they be not circumcised, the righteousness might be imputed unto them also. And the father
of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the
steps of the faith of our father Abraham, which he had yet being uncircumcised for the
promise that he should be heir of the world, but not to Abraham or to his seed through the law,
but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs of faith,
is made void, and the promise made of none effect, because the law worketh wrath;
but where no law is, there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith that I might be,
by grace, to the end of the promise, might be sure to all the seed, not to that only which
is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.
As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations before him who he believed even God,
who quicketh the dead, calleth those things which be not as though they were,
who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations according to
that which was spoken, so shall they seed be, and being not weak in faith, he considered not his own
body now dead, when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb.
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith giving glory
to God, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform, and therefore
it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed
to him, but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus
our Lord from the dead who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification.
Have a quick word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you. And all right, thank you all for coming.
Great to be down here again, and I know it's been a while, but first I want to thank Pastor Shelley
for giving me the opportunity to preach, and the last couple times that I've been down here,
obviously it's been a while, but we've been doing the book of Romans, preached through Romans 2 and
3. We skipped one because I started right at the end of anti-pride month, and I figured, you know,
we'd heard enough of that for a while. I'm sure everyone's got that chapter nailed down, and maybe
we'll come back to that at the end of Romans. We'll revisit Romans 1. But we're in Romans chapter
4 tonight, and I want to go verse through verse through Romans chapter 4 and just see what lessons
we can pull out of this great chapter in God's Word. Let's start in verse number 1, Romans chapter
4. It says, "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 whereof to glory, but not before God." Now right
off the bat, the first thing we can pull out of this chapter is that salvation is by faith, not
of works. Salvation is by faith, not of works. And hey, we should never ever get tired of hearing
about this doctrine or tired about hearing preaching about this subject because our main
job as Christians is to go out into the world and teach people this doctrine right here, is to teach
people this truth. And even today, you know, we talk to many people that did not understand this.
And thank God we were able to explain this doctrine to two people that got saved. But
most people out in this world do not understand this. But right off the bat, look at what it
says. It's saying, "What shall we say then that Abraham our father has retained to the flesh hath
found? For if..." That word "if" is very important right there. "For if Abraham were justified by
works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God." So he's saying, "If Abraham were saved by works,
he would be able to boast." What is that implying? It's implying that he was not saved by works,
that he was not able to boast. He's saying "if." It'd be like if I said, "If brother Cameron were
preaching tonight, he'd be preaching on beans, but he's not preaching tonight, so he won't be
preaching on genes." Right? It's implied that "if" is very important. "If Abraham," or I'm sorry,
yeah, "if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God," meaning he
was not justified by works. What's the only way to be justified? It's by faith, which we talked a lot
about in Romans chapter three. And so this thought of salvation is being picked up again
in chapter number four. Now, notice it says that if he were justified by works, let's just play
this hypothetical game for a moment and just pretend that salvation was by works, which it's
absolutely not. What's the logical conclusion? If you were saved by what you do in your life,
if you were saved by all of the good actions and good works that you personally perform, wouldn't
you be able to boast about that? Wouldn't you be able to brag about all the good works that you do?
And it says if he were justified by works, he would have whereof to glory. So Abraham would be
able to boast and would be able to glory about all the great works that he did. And I've noticed
a very common thing with people that believe in a work salvation, and it's that they're all a bunch
of boasters. They all love to boast and tell you how great you are. Even today, the guy that we
talked to that was unsaved, he said, Oh, my mom and my dad are ministers. And he literally said
these exact words. I know a lot. I know them more than the average person. I know a lot. He kept
repeating that like two or three times in the project. Exactly. You know, what is he? He's
glorying. He's boasting. He knows so much about the Bible. He's done so many great works for God,
even though the guy seemed like he just got done smoking a joint just by the way he was talking
in the way that his house smelled. He wants to brag to us. But guess what? If you were justified
by works and if you were living a really clean life, theoretically, you would be able to glory.
But I've got news for you. The Bible teaches that that's not the case. I'll read for you Ephesians
chapter 2 is a very familiar verse to you all. Verse 8 and 9 says, "For by grace are you saved
through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should
boast." And one of the things that Pastor Shelley has taught that you should do is you should just
ask them these theoretical questions like, "Hey, you know, if I were to tell you, 'Hey, I'm going
to heaven because I'm a really good person. I read the Bible every day. I go soul hunting every week.
I go to church. Does it sound like I'm trusting in myself or in Jesus?" And it kind of helps them
to click. It sounds like you're trusting in yourself because you're talking about all the
things that you do and all that you're trusting in is what you're doing, your works. And basically
you're saying, "Look, I have whereof to boast. I have whereof to glory because of all these good
works that I've done." But guess what? It doesn't matter how many good works that you've done.
No one will ever be saved by works. No one is able to be good enough. No one is able to repent
of enough sin to cut back enough sin in their life. It is impossible, and that is why salvation is by
faith alone. And Romans chapter 4 is a great chapter, just like chapter 3 and just like the
book of Romans as a whole, to teach and to support this doctrine and to defend this doctrine. Now,
keep your place there throughout the sermon, but go to James chapter number 2. James chapter number
2. James chapter number 2 is obviously a great chapter in God's Word, and obviously we believe
every word of it, but it's a chapter that unfortunately has been taken out of context
and has been twisted and manipulated into teaching things that it's not teaching. And many false
prophets love to take James chapter 2 and twist it and try to teach a workspace salvation from it.
I believe that Romans chapter 4 is one of the best chapters in the Bible to help debunk the false
teaching used out of James chapter number 2. Now look at James chapter number 2 verse 17. This is
where a lot of people will take you who believe in a workspace salvation. It says in verse number
17 even so faith if it hath not works is dead being alone and usually they'll just say well you
know the Bible says that faith without works is dead so salvation is a mixture of works and faith
that's something that they'll use but let's actually read this in context starting in verse
number 14 James 2 14 it said it starts with this question it says what does it profit my brethren
though a man say he hath faith and hath not works can faith save him so the question is being posed
what profit is it going to be if a man says he has faith but he doesn't have works can that faith
save him and it's a question verse 15 if your brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily
food and one of you say unto them depart in peace be warmed and filled notwithstanding he give them
not those things which are needful to the body here's this common theme again what doth it profit
it asks that question once again even so so now it's connecting what he had just spoken even so
faith if it hath not works is dead being alone so when you actually read this in context what is
a dead faith well it's a faith that's not profitable it's a faith that doesn't profit
your brothers and sisters in christ i mean look at the example that it's using actually think
about this if a brother or sister is naked and destitute this is not some bum that's just
refusing to work back begging on the side of the road for money for free handouts this is someone
that's naked and destitute and you're like be warmed and filled but you actually don't help
them out you actually don't give them the clothes that they need the food that they need to fill
their belly to help them you don't give them that well then at that point your faith is dead
meaning what does that mean that you're not saved no what does it actually mean in context
of james stepper 2 it means that it's not profitable to your brother or to your sister
that's naked or destitute but the question is can a person theoretically be saved by having
zero works whatsoever can faith save him can you be saved by having faith and no works whatsoever
well roman's chapter 4 answers that question directly look at roman's chapter 4 in verse number
5 but let's read verse 4 now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt
verse 5 but to him that worketh not this doesn't say that he has a little bit of works that he
sometimes goes to church that he sometimes repents of his sins no this person has no
works at all none but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly
that's christ his faith is counted for righteousness so in the eyes of god if a person has no works
whatsoever they don't go to church they don't repent of their sins they don't pray they don't
read their bible but they believe on him that justifies the ungodly jesus christ god counts it
for righteousness god looks down from heaven and sees a righteous person why because of their works
no because of the person that justifies the ungodly jesus christ so god looks down from heaven and
sees that a man is righteous based on his son what jesus christ did not based on that person
so a person can have a dead faith and still be safe because roman's chapter four clearly teaches
that if a man has no works whatsoever but faith he still is safe now you got false prophets like
james white who really really love james chapter two and i'll actually get to his quote in a minute
let's let's keep reading in james chapter number two let's look at verse number 18
in context of what we just talked about james chapter two let's read verses 18 says yea a man
may say thou is faith and i have works show me thy faith without thy works and i will show thee my
faith by my works and when you think about it from a human perspective how am i going to show
you my faith by my works that's the only way that you as a human being can see it but god can see
your faith whether you have works or not god can see your faith verse 19 now believe us that there
is one god thou do us well the devils also believe and tremble now when we're talking about having
faith for salvation it's not like a head knowledge faith saying oh i believe there was this guy named
jesus who existed and who died on the cross and who rose again it's not just a head knowledge
faith like saying oh i believe there's one god the devils have that head knowledge faith as well
the faith is trust where you're placing your trust i like the example of hey you know there
could be a police officer over there and i could believe that he exists but does that mean that i
trust him no not necessarily when it comes to salvation it's not whether or not you believe
jesus was a real person it's not whether or not you even believe the facts about jesus's life and
the things that he did there's people that believe that jesus really rose again from the dead that
are going to split hell wide open because they believe salvation by works or they believe they
can lose their salvation what faith is in salvation is where you're placing your trust are you placing
your trust in yourself are you placing your trust in your church are you placing your trust in the
fact that your mommy and your daddy was a minister like that guy was are you placing your trust in
how many times that you've read the bible or are you placing your faith and trust in what christ did
for you in his sacrifice and are you trusting fully on him that is sufficient to take you to
heaven rather than on your own works verse 20 but will thou know oh vain man that faith without
works is dead was not abraham our father justified by works when he had offered isaac his son upon
the altar so you have romans 4 saying if abraham were justified by works implying that he was not
then you have james 2 saying that abraham was justified by works how do we reconcile these two
things well let's keep reading when he had offered isaac his son upon the altar seeest thou how now
that word how is important because how it means in what way in what manner in what way in what
manner faith wrought with his works and by works faith was made perfect meaning his faith was made
complete and the scripture was fulfilled which saith abraham believed god and it was imputed
unto him for righteousness for he was called the friend of god ye see then how meaning what way
that by works a man is justified and not by faith only so how do we reconcile these these two things
you have romans 4 clearly teaching that abraham's justified by faith that if he were justified by
works he'd be able to boast and glory then you have james chapter 2 saying that he's justified
by works and not faith only well it's really there's only two conclusions you can come to
either you have to come to the conclusion that salvation is a mixture of faith and works
which is what many false prophets teach or you come to the conclusion that your works can justify
you in the sight of men and your faith can justify you in the sight of god because god can see the
heart of a person where even if he has no works whatsoever but believes on him to justify the
ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness he's justified he's saved why because he has faith now
does that justify you in the sight of men no because if you say to your brother or sister who's
naked and destitute be warmed and filled and give them not the things that are needful i mean you're
not you're not having works to show with that faith and so you're not justifying yourself in
the sight of men now if you're like abraham who has enough faith to sacrifice his son who has
enough faith to be circumcised and circumcised his whole family and to obey god's commandments
you could say that he was justified both in front of god and in front of men now obviously when you
have that understanding this is not a contradiction in god's work james too does not contradict
roman chapter four it's talking about being justified in front of two different audiences
god and man now i was i brought up james white i saw this video on youtube the other day it was
called greek roman catholics james 224 continued and in this this whole video he's just going
back to the greek he's pontificating about all these greek words and he's basically just trying
to twist what james chapter two is teaching this is what he says he says in james 224 which let's
read that it says you see then how that by works of man is justified and not by faith only this is
what he says he says a true saving faith demonstrates itself as it did in the life of abraham true
saving faith demonstrates itself as it did in the life of abraham so basically according to james
white if you're truly saved that means that you're going to live out that faith by showing works not
only just works but works like it did in the in the life of abraham which abraham had an extreme
amount of faith willing to sacrifice his son i guarantee there's a lot of safe people if the
button was put on on the pole bit sacrifice your son because god told you to they would not have
enough faith to push that button but are they still safe yes now this is just a slippery slope
that james white is teaching towards work salvation saying oh well yeah it's by faith
but if you really have faith it'll display itself in works all that is is a thinly veiled work
salvation this is what the mormons love to tell you when you talk to the mormon missionaries
they'll say we're saved by faith after all that we can do that's what they say that they repeat
that same mantra over and over and over they think that james too is confirming that false doctrine
but look romans chapter four destroys this let's read this this verse one more time
roman chapter four look at verse four again it says now to him that worketh is the reward not
reckoned of grace but of dead but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifies
the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness it's very clear salvation's not by works it's by
faith only and i like what it says but to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but
of debt let's just play this hypothetical game again that we're saying that salvation was by
works and then what god would owe us would be a debt salvation would be a debt that god owes us
rather than a gift by grace but do i really have to prove to you that salvation is a gift i mean
how many times in romans chapter 5 does the word gift appear speaking of salvation or romans chapter
6 or ephesians chapter 2 i mean over and over the bible tells us that salvation is a gift by grace
we don't deserve it it's not owed to us god doesn't owe us anything but if you believe in a work
salvation you have to say then god owes me that salvation that it's that it's now a debt that he
owes me that it's a reward not that it's a gift by grace and that's why you see the people in
matthew chapter 7 so upset you know that they're not being let in and jesus is saying i never knew
you they're so upset because they're expecting that they think it's what's owed to them us we
realize that we don't deserve it the debt that we actually owe is hell for the wages of sin is
death but the gift of god is eternal life through jesus christ our lord that's the debt that we
really owe that's what god owes me is hell but guess what he had grace he sent his son to live
the perfect life that i can't live he offered me a free gift that all i have to do is place my
faith on what jesus christ did for me and then he justifies me in the sight of god by believing in
him i don't have to worry about works to get myself to heaven because guess what it's impossible
now should we do good works absolutely and the story of abraham not only proves that salvations
by faith but it also proves that we absolutely should do good works and demonstrate that faith
but it's important to understand that salvation is by faith now what's another thing that we can
learn so far from the verses that we've been talking about not only is salvation by faith
but salvation has always been by faith salvation was always by faith in jesus christ even in the
old testament it's not like god had a different dispensation back then that had a different mode
by which you're saved no abraham before the law was saved by grace through faith and so you know
we picked on the calvinists a little bit with james white but how about the ruckmanites the
ruckmanites love to teach that there's seven dispensations and that and not all all dispensationalists
believe this but many dispensationalists believe that salvation was different in the old testament
that it is right now they'll say right now we're saved by grace through faith in jesus christ there's
no other way to be saved they'll give lip service to that but they'll say but back in the old
testament it was a mixture of both works and faith or they'll say again in the tribulation period in
the future it'll go back to being a system to where it's by works and faith this is completely
false this is in my opinion extremely serious heresy to teach that salvation was ever any other
way than faith alone now let's look at romans chapter four again and look at verse number one
what shall we say then that abraham our father as pertaining to the flesh hath found for if
abraham were justified by works he had wear up to glory but not before god who is this talking
about abraham is abraham an old testament or a new testament character old testament character
is he before the law or after the law before the law so i don't care what dispensation you want
to save the dispensation of the law before the law you know whatever dispensations you want to
cut it up to abraham was saved by faith but there's another person mentioned who is an old
testament character in this chapter look at verse number six it says even as david also described
it the blessedness of the man under whom god imputed righteousness without works how now how
was david said was what was it by worth works no because his righteousness was imputed to him
without works now david is someone who came after the law so you have an example here of abraham
before the law david after the law how were they both saved by faith not by works so you can't
teach that salvation was any other way in the old testament now obviously there is a difference in
the fact that the son of god was not manifested the name jesus christ was not manifested but
guess what people knew that there was a messiah coming that was going to pay for their sins that
was going to sacrifice himself for them and that they had to place their trust in him to be saved
that's what they knew in the old testament and guess what that's what abraham believed and that's
what david believed and thank god for the new testament that sheds light on the old testament
and we can see exactly how these characters were saved in the bible look at verse number seven
this is still david this is what he was saying saying blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven and whose sins are covered blessed is the man to whom the lord will not impute sin
sounds to me like david understood salvation he's saying no my sins are forgiven he's not going to
impute any sin to me you know i'm justified by faith it's very clear even in the old testament
now i'll read for you this go to psalm 103 while you're turning to psalm 103 i'll read for you
galatians chapter number three it says in the scripture foreseeing that god would justify the
heathen through faith preached before the gospel unto abraham saying in thee shall all the nations
be blessed you say brother dylan how did abraham get saved by hearing the gospel that's what
galatians says abraham heard the gospel there's not multiple different gospels there's one gospel
the everlasting gospel that was preached from adam until the last human being on this earth dies
one way to be saved no multiple ways of salvation not by a mix of works and of faith it's faith
alone in the messiah in jesus christ that's always how it has been now go to psalms chapter 103
psalms 103 and we're going to read what david was quoted as saying in roman's chapter number four
and let's read a couple verses here it says in verse number one bless the lord oh my soul
and all that is within me bless his holy name bless the lord oh my soul and forget not not all his
benefits who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases who redeemeth thy life
from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies who satisfied thy
mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed like eagles the lord executeth righteousness
and judgment for all that are oppressed he made known his ways unto moses his acts under the
children of israel the lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and plenius in mercy
he will not always chide neither will he keep his anger forever he hath not dealt with us after our
sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities sounds like he's talking about grace to me for as
the heaven is high above the earth so great is his mercy toward them that fear him as far as the
east is from the west so far hath he removed our transgressions from us sounds a lot like eternal
security to me because unless you're a flat earther the east and the west can never coincide okay
you can just keep going west and you'll just always be going west you can keep going east and
you'll just always be going east you know you have to just have this stupid retarded doctrine of the
flat earth to ruin this great picture of eternal security that guess what your your transgressions
are removed far away from each other you're always safe once you're safe you're always safe
and that's a doctrine that you can learn from the old testament meaning that people understood this
during the old testament it's not like when jesus christ came on the scene there's this
brand new method of salvation that everyone had to relearn this new dispensation in which god
is giving us a new plan of salvation dispensational salvation is a damnable heresy it is false
doctrine and in my opinion any person that believes in dispensational salvation is not saved
why why would you say that brother dylan here's why because point one of of salvation the first
thing you got to understand is that you are a sinner condemned to hell and that you cannot earn
salvation on your own because you're in a sinful condition i mean do we need to go back to romans
chapter three when god's explaining how wicked mankind really is talking about you know the
poison poison of asp is under their lips their throat's an open sepulcher their feet are swift
to shed blood i mean god told us what mankind is really like step one of the gospels romans chapter
three for all of sin it comes short of the glory of god and if you're going to tell me that you
think it's ever been possible for someone to be saved by works or by a combination of works and
faith it just shows me you don't even understand man's sinful condition you don't even understand
point one apparently this water bottle doesn't understand to stay on the pulpit you don't even
understand point one of the gospel our sinful condition anyone that believes in different
modes of salvation the old testament in my opinion is not even safe if you're out there teaching that
in the tribulation period that you've got to work your way to heaven and believe in jesus christ as
a combination you're not even safe you're going to split hell wide open it is a horrible horrible
false doctrine so james chapter number two oh yeah okay so james two i'll read for you this
you could go to job 19 james 210 says for whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet
offend in one point he is guilty of all so if we're going to take their standard that you're
saved by mixture of faith and works how would david have even been saved then because if david
offended at one point he's guilty of all well i can think of a few times david offended about
murder about adultery those are some pretty serious sins yet the bible is very clear that
david was saved so it doesn't even make sense if you're going to add this mix of works and faith
into a salvation process it makes no sense whatsoever here's another person that was saved
by grace in the old testament genesis 6 8 says but noah found grace in the eyes of the lord
there is no dispensation of grace grace has always existed god has always given grace to mankind
every single person that's ever been saved has been saved by grace now i'll read for you
acts 1043 as you're there in job 19 acts 1043 if i just had to hang my hat on one verse to prove
this doctrine i'd say acts 1043 this is what it says to him speaking of jesus give all the prophets
witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sin let's slow
down on that verse to him to jesus christ all the prophets witness meaning they're bearing witness
of jesus christ that meaning so that the reason for this the reason why all the prophets are
bearing witness of jesus christ is that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive
remission of sins so let me ask you if salvation was not by faith alone in christ in the old
testament why does the bible say that all the prophets gave witness of jesus christ so that
they would be saved by believing in his name i mean you cannot get around this verse and tell
me that salvation was different in the old testament acts 1043 destroys that false doctrine
now i think job understood this doctrine as well you're there in job 19 job 19 verse 25
is what job said said for i know that my redeemer liveth who is the redeemer who is the savior it's
jesus christ i know that my redeemer live it and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the
earth and though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh i shall see god so he
understands job understands that he's going to see his redeemer he understands that he's going
to die that worms are going to eat his flesh but in his flesh he will see god verse 27 whom
i shall see for myself he's like let me make it really really clear to you i'm going to see him
in my flesh whom i shall see for myself and mine eyes shall behold and not another it's like wow
okay i get it job it's you're gonna see him though my reigns be consumed within me i mean how can you
look at this and not see jesus christ you have to be unsafe you have to just not understand the bible
to not see that job is talking about jesus christ and that he believes that someday he will be
physically resurrected just like jesus christ don't tell me that they didn't believe in the
resurrection in the old testament because job is prophesying of the resurrection right here
i mean he made it so clear worms are going to destroy my body yet in my flesh shall i see god
whom i shall see for myself and mine eyes shall behold and not another i mean he wants to really
drive it in for us that he's going to physically rise again and see his redeemer his savior i don't
know how these dispensational get around these verses i'll read for you second timothy 315 it
says this is paul to timothy it says and that from a child thou has known the holy scriptures
which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in christ jesus now
obviously this verse applies to all scripture but when you think about the time that timothy
was around the new testament was being written when it says that from a child he has known the
holy scriptures you know what that's referring to the old testament and what is it that the old
testament did it says that the old testament was able to make him wise unto salvation through faith
through who which is in christ jesus so the old testament can get someone saved by pointing them
to christ jesus now obviously in the old testament like i said you all find the name jesus christ in
the old testament but you'll find jesus christ on every page of the old testament you'll find him
the whole book is about jesus christ the whole bible is about the lord jesus christ go to axe
chapter number eight axe chapter number eight we'll see another story proving that salvation
has always been by faith it's always been through christ axe chapter number eight let's look at
verse number 30 and philip ran thither to him speaking of the eunuch and heard him read the
prophet ezias and said understandest thou what thou readest the eunuch is reading the book of
isaiah by himself philip the spirit tells philip to go and preach to him he goes up to him he
asks him if he understands what he's reading verse 31 and he said how can i accept some man
should guide me and he desired philip that he would come up and sit with him the place of
the scripture which he read was this he was led as a sheep to the slaughter and like a lamb dumb
before his shearer so opened he not his mouth in his humiliation his judgment was taken away
and who shall declare his generation for his life is taken from the earth and eunuch answered
philip and said i pray thee of whom speaketh the prophet this of himself or of some other man so
what is the scripture talking about who is this talking about he's asking verse 35 then philips
opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached unto him jesus so guess what philip's
preaching to him from the old testament the lord jesus christ because he is all over the old
testament and does this person get saved yes he does look at verse 36 and as they went on their
way they came unto a certain water and the eunuch said see here is water what doth hinder me to be
baptized and philip said if thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest and he answered and
said i believe that jesus christ is the son of god how did he come to that saving faith in jesus
christ through the scriptures of the old testament now look i'm not recommending that we go out
soul-winning and go through the ecclesiastes road okay i don't think we should go through the
song of solomon road i think we should go through the roman's road okay the book of romans is the
best book about teaching someone how to get saved but what i'm saying is that jesus christ still is
in ecclesiastes he's still in song of solomon he's still all over the old testament and salvation
has always been by faith through him last one i'll show you on this is uh luke chapter number 24
luke chapter number 24 this is after jesus christ had resurrected and look at verse number 44 it
says and he said unto them these are the words which i spake unto you while i was yet with you
that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of moses and in the prophets
and in the psalm we all agree that's the old testament what does he say concerning me concerning
the lord jesus christ all of those scriptures were about him verse 45 then opened he had their
understanding that they might understand the scriptures and so when someone can read genesis
and just keep on going through the whole testament and they say i just can't see jesus there i just
can't i just don't know how anyone could have gotten saved in the old testament by believing
in christ it's like are you is your mind not open to the scriptures or something i mean are you even
saved that's what i would want to know like it's so clear all over the old testament salvation has
always been by faith and roman's chapter four is a great place to prove that because you got abraham
and david now let's go back to roman's chapter four roman's chapter number four so look at verse
number nine says come at this blessedness then talking about salvation come at this blessedness
then upon the circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also for we say that faith was
reckoned to abraham for righteousness how was it then reckoned when he was in circumcision or in
uncircumcision not in circumcision but in uncircumcision so when was abraham saved was it
after he got circumcised or before because before he got circumcised verse 11 and he received the
sign of circumcision i want you to remember that word sign he received the sign of circumcision
a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised that he might be the
father of all them that believe though they be not circumcised that righteousness might be imputed
unto them also and the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only but who
also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised."
Now, I think an important thing to pull out of this is that it's talking about how Abraham was
circumcised, talking about how he was justified before he was circumcised, but this circumcision
was still important. It signifies that he'll be the father of many nations. And notice how this
circumcision, what it's called, it's called a sign. It's a symbol. It's a sign. It's something
that signifies something else. And I think it's really important to understand that there's a lot
of things in the Bible that are signs, that are good, that we should believe in, that we should
embrace, that are good things. But we have to be careful that people don't take them to such an
unhealthy extreme that it becomes a false doctrine. Because if someone wants to tell me that you have
to be circumcised to be saved, they've taken something that God used that was a sign, that was
good, and now they're teaching a false doctrine from it. We have to focus more on what the sign
represents rather than just coming up with these weird false doctrines that you need to, you know,
be circumcised to be saved or something like that. I'll read for you John 6 63. It says,
"It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing." The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. You're not going to get saved by anything involving your
flesh whatsoever. It profits you nothing. But circumcision still is an important sign. I mean,
it was a sign outwardly of the faith that he had inwardly. It was a sign, what's the exact
wording, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised. It was a
sign of that faith that he had inside. So what's another example of something that is a sign,
that is a symbol that's good, but people sometimes take to an unhealthy extreme and turn it into a
false doctrine? How about baptism? Isn't baptism a sign? I mean, does baptism save you? Does that
actually wash the sins away from you? Absolutely not. Go to Romans chapter 6. Flip the page to
Romans chapter 6. It says this, "No, you're not. That so many of us, as we're baptized into Jesus
Christ, we're baptized into his death. Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death,
that like his Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death,
we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection." Well, so what does baptism
signify? What's it a sign of? Well, it signifies that we are buried with him. It signifies the
burial of Jesus Christ. We're buried with him into death. And then it says that, like as Christ was
raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, when you're baptized, aren't you put
completely under the water, completely submerged, you're buried, and then you're raised up. What
does that signify? It signifies the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ. It's a
sign, is what it is. It's a sign that now we should walk in newness of life. And it's a sign
that during the last days that we're going to be resurrected with Christ. Just like Christ was
resurrected, our bodies will be resurrected someday. Now, this is a great sign, right? But
you have false teachers, people like from the Church of Christ, for example, that want to teach
this doctrine of baptismal regeneration, that you have to literally get baptized to be saved. That
would be taking a sign and turning it into a false doctrine. That'd be like if you told me that you
had to be circumcised to be saved, even though the Bible says that Abraham was saved before he was
circumcised. In fact, you have to be saved before you're baptized. If you're going to do it biblically,
I'll read for you 1 Peter 3 verse 21. It says, "The like figure, whereunto even baptism doth
also now save us." And it has in parentheses not the putting away of the filth of the flesh,
but the answer of a good conscience toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
So notice what 1 Peter 3 clearly says that baptism is. It says it's a figure. I'm not just making
this up saying that it's a sign. Baptism is a figure. It's a sign. It's what the Bible says.
And if you read that, it says that the figure is actually what saves us. It's not saying that the
baptism is actually what saves us, because if you take off the parentheses and you just read this
sentence straight through, the like figure, the sign, whereunto even baptism doth also now save us
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We're saved by Jesus Christ. We're saved by his death, burial,
and resurrection. We're not saved by getting wet in a tub. I mean, it's just crazy what the carnal
mind will come up with, thinking that they're going to be excused of their sins because they
got wet in a tub. It's unbelievable. "The flesh profiteth nothing," it said in John chapter 6.
It's not going to save you. You know, the Church of Christ probably would have a big problem with
the Apostle Paul. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number one, 1 Corinthians chapter number one,
we'll do verse number 14. Paul said, "I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and
Gaius." So if you take the doctrine that you have to be baptized to be saved, I guess this is how a
Church of Christ would read this verse. It would say, "I thank God that I saved none of you, but
Crispus and Gaius." I mean, does anyone really want to say that that's all the people that Paul
got saved? "Lest I should say, lest any should say that I baptized in my own name, and I baptized
also the household of Stephanus. Besides, I know not whether I baptized any other. For Christ sent
me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ
should be made of none effect." So he's separating these two things, saying, "Christ did not send me
to baptize, but he sent me to preach the gospel." How could these be the same thing? They can't. So
you can't say that salvation can be by baptism. Otherwise, you're saying that Paul only got a few
people saved. But that would be taking a sign, like circumcision, and making it into a false doctrine.
What's something else that the Bible says was a sign? How about the Sabbath? Go to Exodus chapter
number 31. The Sabbath was a sign. The Sabbath itself was not something by which you could obtain
salvation by following. It was a sign to signify something spiritual. In Exodus 31.13, it says,
"Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily, my Sabbaths ye shall keep,
for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that ye may know that I am the Lord
that doth sanctify you." Notice who sanctifies you? The Lord. Not you keeping the Sabbath.
The Lord sanctifies you, but by the Sabbaths that He gave them, it was a sign to remind them,
"Oh yeah, God is my Lord that sanctifies me." Oh yeah, God created the heaven in six days and He
rested the seventh day. I rest my way into heaven. Salvation is by trusting in Jesus Christ. It's
rest to be saved. That's the sign that it gives. Flip the page to Exodus 35. Exodus 35 verse 2 says,
"Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you in holy day a Sabbath,
which we already learned was a sign of rest to the Lord. Whosoever doeth work therein shall be put
to death." And you're thinking, wow, why is there such a severe punishment for breaking the Sabbath?
I mean, being put to death for breaking the Sabbath? In Numbers chapter 16, you see a story
of a man that picks up sticks on the Sabbath day and he's killed. And you're like, man, isn't that
kind of harsh, picking up sticks and being put to death? But remember, it's a sign. What does it
signify? Well, guess what? If you miss out on the New Testament Sabbath, you'll be put to death
spiritually in hell for eternity. It's a very severe punishment when you miss the Sabbath of
the New Testament, because what's the Sabbath of the New Testament? Go to Hebrews chapter number
four. Hebrews chapter number four. Hebrews four, look at verse number one, it says, "Let us therefore
fear." Sounds like this is an intense thing we're talking about. "Lest a promise being left of us,
lest, sorry, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem
to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them. But the word
preached did not profit them, not being mixed in faith in them that heard it. For we which have
believed do enter into rest." And that's all the Sabbath is. The Sabbath is a rest. He's saying
that when we believe, when we have faith in Christ, we've entered into rest. As he said,
"I have sworn in my wrath if they shall enter into my rest," although the works were finished from
the foundation of the world. Let's skip for the sake of time to verse 9. It says, "There remaineth
therefore a rest to the people of God." So there does remain a Sabbath in the New Testament. It's
just not the Sabbath that the Seventh-day Adventists want to tell you about. It's the
Sabbath of believing in Christ. It's the Sabbath of resting in Christ. Verse number 10, "For he
that has entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his."
So the Sabbath is a perfect sign signifying salvation. You don't do any work. Well, guess
what? In salvation, we already talked about it, you don't do any work. All you're doing is resting
and trusting in the Lord. And notice, it's saying we should fear lest that promise is left of us.
If you don't believe in Christ, you should fear. If you pick up sticks on the Sabbath day when
God commanded you not to, you should fear. Why? Because you'll be put to death. That's what
happened. Well, if you miss out on the New Testament Sabbath, you should fear because
you're going to be put to death for eternal death in hell. It's a very severe punishment,
but it's a sign yet you have false religions like the Seventh-day Adventists that want to tell you
that keeping the Sabbath is part of salvation. Is there anything wrong with the sign? Is there
anything wrong with the Sabbath? Absolutely not. There's nothing wrong with any of God's
commandments. It's one of the Ten Commandments. It's a great law, but guess what? It has nothing
to do with salvation. Don't turn that sign into a false doctrine. And even from a practical
perspective. You know, it's just good wisdom to take a day off. You know, work six days,
take a day off. That's even good on a practical level. And you should work six days. If you're
blessed and you live in America and you have a five day a week job, well, I'd love to see you
soul winning on Saturday and get that six day in. You know, work six days, but take that Sabbath.
But guess what? That Sabbath doesn't save you. It's ridiculous. Here's another sign. You're there
in Hebrews. Go to Hebrews chapter number nine. Another sign, just like circumcision, just like
baptism, just like the Sabbath. Another sign you can look at is all of the Old Testament sacrifices.
That is a sign. Look at Hebrews chapter number nine. Look at verse six. It says, "Now when these
things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the
service of God, but into the second with the high priest, alone once every year, not without blood,
which he offered for himself and for the heirs of the people. The Holy Ghost, this signifying
that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was
yet standing. Verse number nine, which was a figure. So again, I'm not just making this up,
this is what the Bible says, it is a sign, it is a figure, which was a figure for the time present,
in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service
perfect as pertaining to the conscience. Could the people that performed the sacrifices, could
they be saved from their sins? Could they be made perfect by doing that? No, it was the sign
that actually saved them. Verse 10, which stood only in meats and drinks and diverse washings
and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation. But Christ being come and
high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands,
that is to say not of this building. And I want to read one more verse. This is in Hebrews,
chapter 10, verse four. It says, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats
should take away sins. So again, the tabernacle, the sacrifices, what was it? It was all a sign.
It was all signifying the true tabernacle, signifying the true sacrifice. You know,
the lamb wasn't the true sacrifice. The lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world,
that was the true sacrifice. That's actually what can save you from your sins, wash you from your
sins with that blood, not the blood of goats and calves and bulls and all of those things.
So look, there's nothing wrong with the sign. I love reading the stories in Leviticus about
the sacrifices. I love the law of the Sabbath. I love baptism. I mean, we're Baptists, okay? And
every single one of God's commandments is good, is holy, is just. But don't take one of God's signs
and turn them into a commandment for salvation. It's just taking things way out of context.
We can learn a lot from these signs, but the sign itself is not what saved us. It's what the signs
represent, which is Jesus Christ. Go back to Romans chapter four, Romans chapter number four,
verse 13, it says, "For the promise that he should be the heir of the world," talking about Abraham,
"was not to Abraham, or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." Now,
again, notice salvation by faith has always been the plan. He's saying, look, this promise wasn't
given to Abraham through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. So even when it was given
to Abraham before the law, it was given by faith. That was always the plan. It says in verse 14,
"For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none."
So I was saying, if these people that are of the law, now, who would these people be that are of
the law? Well, I think this is obviously talking about the Jews, those people that are clinging to
the law. They've rejected the New Testament. They've rejected Jesus Christ. They are of the
law. And he's saying, if they were heirs, if they were the people that were inheriting this promise
that was given to Abraham, then faith would be made void and the promise of God would be made of
none effect. So what can we learn from this? That Jews are not the heirs. The Jews are not God's
chosen people. The Jews are not those that have inherited those promises. Because if they were,
then the promise of God would be made of none effect. I mean, you would just have to just rip
up the Bible and just say it's of none effect if you're going to tell me that the Jews are the ones
that inherited promises. If you're going to tell me that the Jews are the ones that are heirs, why?
Why would that make God's promise void? If the Jews were heirs today, why would that make God's
promise void? Well, how was the promise given? Look again at verse 13. Was it given through the
law? No. It says it was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law. Now, these Jews, they are
of the law. They're rejecting the New Testament. They're clinging to the law. It says it was not
to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of, well, that would
not be true if then those people that cling to the law are somehow the heirs. The promise was not
made through the law. It was made through faith. Those people that reject faith and cling to the
law, they're not the heirs. And if you say that you are, you're making the promise of none effect.
You're, you're going against what God has said. And that's why Zionism is actually a really wicked
teaching because it's making the promise of God of none effect. You're not offending me personally
by telling me that the Jews are God's special chosen boys. You're offending God. It's a false
doctrine that offends God because you're basically just saying, I don't believe your work. You're
basically saying, I don't believe the promise that it actually was through faith. I think you can
still be of the law and still be an heir, even though the Bible says the exact opposite. It's,
it's offensive to the Lord. Now, are the Jews of faith? Absolutely not. I'll read for you John
1 11. It says he came unto his own. Jesus came to the Jews. He came unto his own and his own
received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on his name. He came to the Jews. They didn't receive him,
but those that did receive him to them, they became the heir. They became the inheritor.
They became the sons of God by believing in Jesus Christ, which were born not of blood nor of the
will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. How could the Jews be heirs when they
rejected Jesus Christ? How can the Jews inherit the promises of God when the promise of God was
Christ himself? They rejected Christ. They rejected the promise of God. The Jews are not God's
chosen people today. The Jews are under the intense wrath of God, and the people that are going to
have some of the worst punishment in hell are going to be the people where salvation was handed
to them on a silver platter. What advantage then hath the Jew? Much every way, chiefly because
that unto them were committed the oracles of God. I mean they had everything given to them,
and when you, given the oracles of God, all the promises given to you and you reject Christ,
you're going to have the most intense wrath of anyone else. You're going to have a lot more
punishment than someone who heard a really bad gospel presentation one time by a televangelist
or something. You know what I mean? When you're exposed, you have the law for hundreds and
thousands of years, you are the people of God, and then God gives you the Lord Jesus Christ as
your sacrifice and you reject it. I mean, I pity their soul because they're going to be burning
in hell with intense persecution and suffering. Go to Galatians chapter number six, Galatians,
or Galatians chapter number four. And of course, I don't want the Jews to go to hell. I want the
Jews to believe in Christ. But if the Jews hate Christ, if they have been given over to reprobate
mine, then yeah, I do want them to go to hell. I don't want them being on God's earth blaspheming
his son. But those that are not reprobates, those that have not been given over to reprobate mine,
those that can still be saved, I want those Jews to be saved. It's the Zionists that are telling
them that they're okay how they are that are really hateful towards the Jews. Galatians chapter
number four, look at verse number 22. It says that you put off, sorry, Galatians chapter number four,
verse 22. It says, "For it is written that Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael, the one by a
bondmaid and the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh,
but he of the free woman was by promise." Which things are an allegory. So he's saying the story
of Isaac and Ishmael being born is a real story, but it's an allegory, meaning it represents
something else. For these are the two covenants, the Old Testament and the New Testament. The one
from Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is agar or hagar, okay, that's Ishmael,
that's the Old Testament, that's the physical Jews. Verse 25, "For this agar is Mount Sinai
in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which now is the physical people that call themselves Jews
right now, and is in bondage with her children." And let me tell you, if you're unsaved, you're
in bondage. You're not free. You are in bondage. "But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is
the mother of us all. For it is written, 'Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest not. Break forth and
cry, thou that travailest. For the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.'"
Now, "We brethren as Isaac was," he's saying, "We, Christians, we brethren, or as Isaac was,
are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was
born after the Spirit, even so it is now." And that's what you've seen throughout the history
of the world, Jews persecuting, Christians persecuting God's people. "Nevertheless,
what sayeth the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son. For the son of the bondwoman," watch
this, "shall not be heir with the son of the free woman." Isn't that what Romans chapter 4 is
talking about? The people that are heirs? And it's saying the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir.
The Jews will not be heir. The Jews will not be inheriting the promises. The Jews will not be the
children of God unless they believe on Christ. Individually, of course, they can be saved. But
as a whole, the Jews are not the heir. And it's not like God's just putting them in a little time
out. God's just done dealing with the Jews for a while, and He's going to play with the church in
the church age, and He's going to deal with the Gentiles for a little bit, but then He's going
to go back to the special Jew. No, it says they will not be heir. There's no caveat to that.
It doesn't say later they'll be the heir though. All Israel will be saved. They'll actually all be
the heir. No, it says they will not be heir. I don't know why the Old Life Bee can't understand
how clear this is in scripture. The Jews will not be heir. Romans chapter four is a great chapter
to prove a lot of things, and one of those things is to disprove Zionism. He's the father of many
nations, the Bible says. Let's see, verse 15, Romans four says, "Because the law worketh wrath,
for where no law is, there is no transgression." Remember, the Jews are of the law, and by claiming
that they're going to be saved by the law, what are they doing? They're working wrath to themselves
because they're going to be judged by the law. The Bible says in Romans chapter seven that we are
dead to the law, okay? So where no law is, there is no transgression. God doesn't see us as
transgressing anymore. We're dead to the law. We're saved. He's forgotten of all of our sins.
Verse 16, "Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace. To the end the promise might be sure
to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of
Abraham, who is the father of us all." So Abraham, even though he his physical lineage was the Jews,
the Bible says that he is the father of us all. Now how could that be? If I'm not physically
related to Abraham, I don't know if I am. I'm probably not, okay? I mean a Norwegian really
far north, like where the sun doesn't go, okay? Not in the Middle East. I'm not related to Abraham,
I'll just say that, okay? But even if me, I'm not related to Abraham, how could Abraham be my father?
Well, go to Galatians chapter number three. Galatians chapter number three. I know he didn't
look like me, okay? But look what Galatians 3.28 says, "There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is
neither bond nor free. There is neither male nor female for you're all one in Christ Jesus." And if
you be Christ's, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. I'm not a child
of Abraham because of my skin color. I'm not a child of Abraham because of my family's pedigree.
I'm a child of Abraham because I'm Christ's, because I belong to Christ. And at the end of
the day, when you have your faith in Christ, your physical identity doesn't matter. There is no Jew
or Greek. It doesn't matter if you're from Russia or if you're from Mexico or if you're from the
United States. If you believe in Christ, you're of Abraham. And Abraham is your father. That
identity goes away. It doesn't matter if you're male or female. You are a son or daughter of
Abraham. It does not matter your identity. I'll read for you, turn back to Romans 4. I'll read
for you 1 Peter 2, 9. It says, "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation,
peculiar people, that you should show forth the praises of Him who called you out of darkness
into His marvelous light." So now, in the New Testament, there's just one nation, and that nation
is a spiritual nation made up of a lot of physical nations, made up of every physical nation in this
earth, the people in those nations that believe in Jesus Christ. Hey, if you're from Israel and you
believe in Jesus Christ, you're part of spiritual Israel today. If you're from, you know, Morocco,
and you believe in Jesus Christ, you're part of spiritual Israel. From Texas, spiritual Israel,
if you believe in Jesus Christ. Romans 4, look at verse 17. It says, "As it is written, 'I have made
thee a father of many nations before him whom he believed, even God who quickeneth the dead and
calleth those things which be not as though they were, who against hope believed in hope that he
might become the father of many nations according to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be.'"
So God, he foresaw these things. He knew that people from every nation under the world would
believe in Jesus Christ and become a child of Abraham. Last thing I want to go over in
Romans chapter 4, where it kind of changes gears here, let's read verse 19. It says, "And being
not weak in faith," I want you to remember that phrase, "and being not weak in faith, he considered
not his own body now dead when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of
Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform,
and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for
his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we
believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and
was raised again for our justification. Now notice the last part of this chapter, this passage here,
it's emphasizing that Abraham had really strong faith, saying he wasn't weak in faith,
he didn't stumble or stagger at the promise of God, he was fully persuaded in his mind
that what God had promised he was able also to perform. So Abraham, not only was he just saved,
not only did he just put his faith in Christ for salvation, but this guy had a lot of faith beyond
that. I mean he trusted God to a really really amazing degree and because of that God was able
to do some really great things through him and and show God's glory through Abraham because Abraham
trusted him so much. Let's go to Genesis chapter number 17 and we'll read the story that this is
referring to. Genesis chapter number 17 and start reading in verse 15 it says, "And God said unto
Abraham, 'As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.
And I will bless her and give thee a son also of her, yea I will bless her, and she shall be a mother
of nations, kings of people shall be of her.' And Abraham fell upon his face and laughed and said in
his heart, 'Shall a child be born unto him that is in hundred years old, and shall Sarah that is
ninety years old bear?' And Abraham said unto God, 'O that Ishmael might live before thee.' And God
said, 'Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed, and thou shalt call his name Isaac, and I will
establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant with his seed after him.' And as for
Ishmael, I have heard thee, behold I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply
him exceedingly. Twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.' So God,
he comes to Abraham and he says, 'In your old age, even though that you and your wife are in
90s or 100s, you're way, way up there in age, you're going to have a son. This child of promise is
going to happen.' And Abraham kind of laughs, he questions, you know, 'How is this going to be?'
And then later on in the story, he circumcises his whole family like God told him to. He obeyed God.
When I read this story, I'm kind of thinking, well, you know, in Romans chapter 4, it's saying
that he was not weak in faith, that he was fully persuaded that what God had promised, he was able
also to perform, that he didn't stagger at all at the promise of God through unbelief. And then I
read Genesis 17 and it's saying that God tells him this and he kind of just like laughs and says like,
oh, I want to get the exact wording that he says. He says, "Shall a child be born unto him that is
100 years old, and shall Sarah that is 90 years old bear?" And some may say, well, is Abraham
lacking faith here? Well, obviously not, because the Bible clearly says that he was not weak in
faith, that he staggered not at the promises of God, that he was fully persuaded in his mind. And
the way I think about it is this, you know, in our lives and as a church and just us as individuals,
oftentimes we may be confronted with a situation or a task God's asking us to do or something that
we really want to see God come through for us in or just some big task that we want God to do.
And it may kind of just make us laugh because it seems so impossible. It just seems like in
a human perspective, you don't really understand how it's going to get done. You don't physically,
humanly understand how it's going to get done, but yet you still can believe that it's going
to get done. You get to kind of laugh and say, "Man, I don't know how God's going to do this,
but I believe God's going to do it." And that's what I think was going on with Abraham's head.
You know, he's laughing, he's questioning. He's like, "Man, this sounds really crazy.
This sounds like insane that people that are this old in age are going to have a kid." And he kind
of laughs about it, but he believed it with his whole heart because the Bible says in Romans 4
that he did. He didn't stagger at it whatsoever. And in fact, right after being told this,
he obeys God's command. He circumcises his whole family. And so, you know, this should inspire us
to have great faith in the Lord and to realize that no matter what kind of battles we're going
through, no matter what kind of hardships you're going through, no matter what you're
praying to God for, it could be praying for a child, it could be just a battle you're going
through. You can have that faith and say, "Man, I don't know how God's going to do this, but I
believe he will." And right now, you know, that's kind of how I feel with Steadfast, with a lot of
the battles that we're in, you know, with the protests and just all the people attacking our
church from every way you can imagine. I mean, Pastor Shelley is racking up enemies by the hour.
I mean, it's impressive how many enemies he could just rank up so quickly. How many videos can be
made against him? Articles, just haters, death threats. It's impressive. And I'm just thinking
like, man, I don't know how God's going to get Steadfast out of this, but I believe he is. And
I believe that when he does, that God will be glorified by it. And guess what? It was not written
for Abraham's sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also. To whom it shall be imputed
if we believe on him that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead. And guess what? We get a lot of
faith by reading in the Bible the things that Abraham did. And guess what? It's amazing to think
that when Abraham was going through this, he didn't have a Bible to open up and read and encourage
himself. And God's people today can wake up in the morning, open the Bible, and encourage themselves
and see all the amazing things that God has done. Not just to Abraham, to Moses, to Daniel, to Stephen,
to the apostles, to the prophets. God has come through for his people every single time and we
actually have the blessing of opening up the word of God and reading it and encouraging ourselves.
Abraham's faith was way greater than ours because he didn't even have that and he still believed
God. Genesis 22, God tells him to sacrifice his own son and he's willing to do it. He didn't get
Genesis 22 to open up and see that the angel is going to tell him to stop. He didn't get that.
And you know what? In our lives, we do. And so we have no excuse not to have a great amount of
faith in God. We can read any chapter of the Bible we want. We can see how God has come through for
his people. I mean, you really think I'm worried about a couple of reprobates attacking Steadfast
Baptist Church when I've read about Shadrach, Neshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace?
I mean, come on. It's not even close. When I read about Abraham, you think I'm worried about some
faggots surrounding our church, yelling at our kids, yelling at the women? You think I'm worried
about them? I've already read their end. It's called hell. I already know where they're going.
I have full faith. I'm not staggering at that promise. I'm fully persuaded in my mind. I'm not
weak in faith on that one. They're all going to hell, and they could yell at our kids all they
want. They could scream the most sick, disgusting things at the people that walk in and out of our
church, but I know they're going to hell, and I know that we have the victory in Christ Jesus
at the end. I mean the story of Abraham is so powerful, and Romans chapter 4, I mean it just,
the whole book of Romans just kills so many false doctrines, and it gives us so much faith. Destroys
work salvation, destroys dispensational salvation, destroys Zionism, and all while doing so gives me
a lot of faith. That hey, because of what Abraham did, I could believe on Jesus, and because of what
Jesus did, I could believe anything. I could trust Jesus Christ for my salvation, and I could trust
him for my finances. I could trust him for my salvation, and I could trust him for my marriage,
for my relational, for relationships in my life, for struggles that I'm going through, for battles
that I'm fighting, for areas in my life where I need God to strengthen me. You know, the example
of Abraham shows me that I could trust God no matter what. And as God's people, let's try to
increase our faith. Let's increase our faith in the Lord. Let's wake up and read our Bibles and
encourage ourselves with these stories and not let this world bog us down. Not let the devil try
to diminish our faith and think that God cannot get us through what we're going through. He
absolutely can and he will. Let's have a word of prayer. Lord, thank you so much for this day and
thank you so much for the book of Romans, Romans chapter four. Just pray that you'd strengthen
every single person in here that should strengthen this church. Pray that everyone would be diligent
to read their bibles, that they could be encouraged with all the great wisdom and doctrine that you've
given us in your word. We love you so much and in Jesus' name we pray, amen. We'll go to our last
hymn for the evening. Grab your hymnal if you would and turn to 147, hymn number 147, 147,
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. 147, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms. We'll sing there starting
on the 1st. What a fellowship, what a joy divine. Leaning on the everlasting arms. What a blessedness,
what a peace's mind. Leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning safe and secure from all alarms.
Leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way.
Leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh how bright the path grows from day to day.
Leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning safe and secure from all
leave or lasting. What have I to dread? What have I to fear?
On the everlasting arms I have blessed peace with my Lord so near.
Leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning secure from all
leave or lasting. Amen and with that you are dismissed have a good night.