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Now, 1 John 5 is one of my favorite chapters in the entire Bible, and it talks a lot about salvation, it talks a lot about knowing for sure that you have eternal life. Now, back up a little bit if you would, and I'm going to show you something in verse number 20 of chapter 4. So just back up right before chapter 5, it says, If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this command that hath we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also. Now, this is talking about your brother in Christ, you know, your spiritual brother. The Bible says that Christ is our Father and all we are brethren. If you're saved, that is, if you're a child of God, then that makes you the brother of everybody else who's saved. And so this is not talking about necessarily your physical brother, it's talking about your spiritual brother. He's taking it beyond your physical brother and saying that if you say that you love God, but you hate your brother in Christ, he says you're a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? So let me ask you this, according to this verse, and I'm laying a doctrinal foundation here, is it possible for a person to be saved and not love God? Absolutely, because he says here there could be a Christian who, if he doesn't love his brother, if he hates his brother, the Bible says he doesn't love God, but he's still a brother and he's still saved. Do you understand what I'm saying? And it says in verse 21, and this commandment hath we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also. You know, God commands us to love God, and God commands us to love our brother. Okay, but do we have to do that in order to be saved? No. Look at verse 1 of chapter 5. It says whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. I mean, you're one of the brothers, you're born again, you're saved if you believe that Jesus is the Christ. But then he says, and everyone that loveth him that begat, okay, that's God, loveth him also that is begotten of him, that's your brother in Christ. Okay, so it's continuing the same discussion. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. So he's saying loving your brother and loving God are two things that are interconnected with one another. If you do the one, you'll do the other. But he says, for this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous, for whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? Now go down if you would to verse number 10, verse John 5, 10. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. Of course in the verses previously he said that the one who bears witness is the Holy Spirit, okay. And so he says hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave him the Son, and this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. So the Bible is very clear, isn't it? He says, those who are saved, they believe the record that God gave him the Son. And he said, those of you who believe on the name of the Son of God, he says, I'm writing to you so that you'll know that you have eternal life, because you'll know you have eternal life in the fact that you believe in Jesus Christ. Because the Bible says in John 3.15, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Because the Bible says, 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. But you see, there are two kinds of people in this world, my friend. There are those who believe the record that God gave him the Son, and there are those who make God a liar by not believing it. Now look at verse 11 and we'll see what the record is. He said he did believe in not the record that God gave his Son, and this is the record, verse 11. This is what a person must believe in order to be saved, according to the Bible. That God had given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. So what is it that a person has to believe in order to be saved? They have to believe that salvation is a gift from God. He said that he's given it to us. You can't earn it, you can't buy it, you just must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Not only that, you must believe that God has given to us eternal life. Not a temporary or conditional life. Not, now I'm saved, now I'm not. But he says you must believe that God has given to us eternal life. That means it's going to last forever. That means once you're saved you'll always be saved. But not only that, he says, is that all I have to believe? Well there's one thing, he says, and this life is in his Son. You must believe that salvation is through Jesus Christ the Lord. So number one, you've got to believe it's a gift. You've got to believe that it's eternal, and you've got to believe that it's through Jesus Christ. That's what salvation is. He said if you don't believe that, you're making God a liar. If you do believe that, you're saved. And he said I'm writing to those of you who do believe that, that you may know that you have eternal life. Now, there are many people who profess Christianity, and yet they don't believe that. They believe that they're working their way to heaven. Or they believe that if they don't do good works, they will lose their salvation. Now, according to this passage, are they saved? According to this passage, no. In fact, they're making God a liar. They say, well, I believe I'm saved, but if I go out and sin, God's going to take it away from me. Well look, he said if you don't believe that God has given us eternal life, he says, you don't believe the record, you're not saved. And you see, it all boils down to this. When a person believes you can lose your salvation, really, what they're trusting is themselves. Because what they're saying is, I believe that Jesus Christ's blood that he shed on the quals when he died and was buried and rose again is enough to save me, but in order to stay saved, I must go to church. I must live a good life. I must walk the walk. I must read the Bible, or else I will lose my salvation. Or they'll say, well, I just must abstain from a really bad sin. Like, let's say I commit murder. You know, of course God's going to take away my salvation wrong. Jesus said, I'll never leave you nor forsake me. Jesus said, him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. The Bible says, verily I say to you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. That's a one way street, my friend, when you're passed from death to life. It's over. Remember when Noah got on the ark and God shut him in? That's the way it is with salvation. That ark represented Jesus Christ. Salvation. Because remember how God said to make the ark? Noah's ark? He said, just make one door. Jesus said, I am the door. If any man enter in by me, he shall be saved. And so that door represented Jesus. And he said, when Noah got on the ark, God shut him in. Once you get saved, you're in. And he was not, that door was not open until he was safely to the other side. Till the flood was over and everything was over and he walked out to a paradise he was prepared for. And God had removed much of the curse. He said, I'll no more curse the ground for man's sake. And he awoke to a beautiful, you know, landscape of animals and trees and plants and a new start. He told him, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth in Genesis 9. And so you see that you can't lose your salvation. I mean, God said, I give unto them, Jesus said this, I give unto them eternal life and no man shall pluck them out of my hand. He said, my father is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. I and my father are one. And so all throughout the Bible, you'll see the words everlasting, eternal, eternal, eternal, everlasting. You can't lose your salvation. Once you're born again, you're born, you're God's child. And that's taught very clearly in this chapter. Now, I want to use an illustration just from the day I was out stolen. And this is all introduction for the sermon. You'll understand the sermon as I get into it. I was out stolen when he did. And I knocked on the door and I told a few of you this story this afternoon, but I knocked on the door of a young man who was a Jehovah's Witness. And he was about 17, 18 years old. They're about to be 19, young guy. And I asked him this. I said, more important than what religion you are or what church you go to, I said, do you know a hundred percent sure that you're saved? I didn't say you know for sure if you died and you go to heaven because then they get off on some discussion about how they don't believe anybody's gone to heaven and blah, blah, blah. So I want to keep it simple with this plan because the gospel is the power of God and the salvation. Go around arguing with people about doctrine is not going to do it. What you want to do is preach them the gospel and then you can deal with whatever their hang up is. But I said to him, I said, you know for sure that you're saved? And he said, yes, I do. And I said, well, let me ask you this, what must I do to be saved? That's why I said to him, what does a person have to do to be saved? What would be your answer to the question, what must I do to be saved? And he said, well, you know, read the Bible, live a good life, keep the commandments, okay, do the works, you know, just what the Jehovah's Witnesses teach. And I said to him, I said, well, can I take the Bible and show you the truth? And I took him to Act 16, 31 and I said, you know, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And then he starts nodding his head, you know. And then I said, I said, John 3 16, for God so loved the world that he gave us all his God and Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish forever. I said, the Bible is saying it's by faith. And so he started to kind of laugh at me and kind of make fun of me a little bit and says, so what, you just sit at your house and just believe in Jesus and you just have a free pass to heaven? He said, so all you have to do is believe and don't do anything else? He's like, come on, what are all these commandments in the Bible? I said, I said, look, the Bible says if you love me, keep my commandments. But I said, you know, the only thing you have to do to be saved is by faith alone. And I began to show him about 15 verses, literally, I showed him 15 verses that said it's all believe, it's faith, it's not what works. And I explained to him the whole thing. And he said, what about the, he said, just a minute. So he went in the house, disappeared, he came back with his Bible, his New World Translation. And he pulled out his Bible, and he said, just a minute. And he flipped his Bible, and I want you to flip with me like he did. Flip to Revelation chapter 7. He flipped over to Revelation chapter 7. And of course he had changed the subject. Because Jehovah's Witnesses, they only know about three things. And so they always change the subject to either talk about the name of Jehovah or about the 144,000. That's all they want to talk about. So he took his Bible, or they'll tell you about not celebrating Christmas, and they'll take you somewhere else. Those are like the three things that they were talking about. But he says, what do you think about this? He said, right here in Revelation 7 where it talks about 144,000 going to heaven. He said, what's that about? And I told him this, I said, well listen, I said, what's your name? He said, James. I said, James? I said, can you show me that in the Bible? Can you show me 144,000 people going to heaven? Because I said, I'd love to see that. Because I told him, I said, you know, I've memorized the whole book of Revelation, start to finish. And I said, I know it doesn't say that. And I said, if you can show me that, I said, I'd love to see that. I said, in fact, I said, take your time, James. I said, I'm going to save your weight, and I'm going to give you a chance to find it in Revelation 7. And so I stood there and he just, he stared at it. He's kind of looking back and forth. And he said, well, I can't find it right now. I said, no, wait a minute, James. I said, I've got all the time in the world. I said, I really want you to find it and show it to me. I said, I'm going to give you time to find it, there's no rush. I said, take your time to find where in this passage it says 144,000 people going to heaven or anything like that. And so he sat there and he flipped through it and looked at it. And he said, well, I'm not going to show it to you. And I said, well, I said, you're not going to show it to me because it's not there. And he said, well, what do you think is the difference then between the 144,000 and what about this great multitude down here at the bottom, right? He's like, don't you see there's like a difference between the 144,000 and then this great multitude that no man can number? I said, well, look, I said, well, look at your Bible. I said, tell me where are the people, the great multitude, where are they? Who are they? And here's the thing, the Jehovah's Witnesses believe that only 144,000 people are going to heaven and that all the other people are just going to be on earth and whatever. So I told them, and they don't believe that anybody's going to heaven, ever, except those 144,000. So if you ask them if you died today, if you don't be sure you're going to heaven, they don't believe, I don't want to go to heaven. Only the 144,000. So I said this, I said, well, I said, let's look at it together. I said, tell me. I said, who are they? I said, well, the Bible says right here that they come out and look down at your Bible, that's why I showed them. I showed them in verse 9. After this I've been held in the low and great multitude which no man could number of all nations. Now, is this a pretty big number? Nobody could count it. So it's a lot more than 144,000. The Bible numbers as big as 100 million. And this is something that nobody could number. So it's much in excess of 100 million. And I said to them, I said, look, it's all nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and before the lamb, clothed with white robes and palm of their hands. And I said to them, I said, that's not the 144,000. I said, it's from every nation. And I said, for that many people to be there, that's got to be all the Christians who ever lived. To be more than 100 million and to be of every language. I said, there are many languages that don't even exist anymore. There are families that no longer exist. And this group represents every nation, every kindred, every tongue, every language that's ever been on the face of the earth. I said, that's got to be every Christian who's ever lived. And he said, yeah, I said, I'll agree with that. That group right there is every Christian. And I said, okay, now James, I said, where are they in the story? And I said, look what it says where they are. It says in verse number 15, therefore are they before the throne of God. I said, where's God's throne, James? It's in heaven. And serve him day and night in his temple. I said, where's God's temple, James? It's in heaven. I said, where is this multitude of people? They're in heaven. It's every believer who's ever lived in Revelation 7 in heaven. And I said, the 144,000, it doesn't even say that they were in heaven anywhere. So I said, you got this a little backwards. I said, now look, it's mentioned in Revelation 7. It's mentioned in Revelation 14. I said, neither one of them says anything about the pain in heaven. And he said, well, he said, you didn't have anything to say then. And I said to him this, I said, but James, but James, do you believe that 144,000 are going to heaven? He said, oh yeah. And I said, James, why do you believe that one? That's not what the Bible says. I said, you know, I said, your faith is not resting in the Bible. It's resting in tradition. I said, your faith is resting in a religion. I said, I just showed you 15 verses that say that salvation is by faith alone. Believe and thou shalt be saved. I showed up over and over again. I said, you turned to this. I didn't even turn here. You turned here to show me that only this one group has gone to heaven. And in the very passage you took me to, it shows billions of people in heaven. I said, James, can you see that what you believe is not based on the Bible? And he's like, so what? You just have to believe. That's all. I said, that's all it says, faith. So then he pulled what a lot of people try to twist. He said, well, you know, well, what does it mean to believe? And that's what a lot of Baptists will do. They'll try to twist that word. Well, what does it mean to believe? He said, now, you know, if you were to believe on Jesus, wouldn't you be believing on like all the good works that he did while he was on this earth and you'd be doing those same works? Isn't that part of believing? And I said, well, James, consider this verse. And I quoted it to him from Remembering Romans 3.28. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. I said, now, if keeping God's laws is part of faith, why would God say you're justified by faith without the deeds of the law? I said, that doesn't make any sense. I said, if works is part of faith, then why does he say you're justified by faith without works? Why did he say it was him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justified the ungodly? His faith is counted for righteousness in Romans 4.5. And I showed him this over and over. And it was so sad. He got a big lump in his throat and he didn't know what to say. And he was embarrassed. And he just said, well, you know the Bible more than I do. I said, there's nothing to do with how much you know the Bible, James. I said, it only has to do with the fact that I believe the Bible. I said, James, if you had opened your Bible to Revelation 7 and showed me 144,000 going to heaven, I would have walked away and said, you're right, James, if I saw it in the Bible. I said, I've been corrected before. I've had people show me things in the Bible. I said, but I'm showing you the Bible and you don't believe it. I said, because you believe your religion and not what the Bible says. I said, your religion is more important to you. What you've been taught, the tradition, what you've heard is more important. And I said, and I tried to tell him, and you know, he didn't get saved. It was a sad thing to see this boy understand the truth, understand the Gospel, but he walked away from it and just said, I'm going to stick with my religion. It's a sad thing. But you see, the Bible reads this, and you don't have to turn there, but in Colossians 2 it says, as you have therefore received Jesus Christ the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith as you've been taught, abounding there in the thanksgiving. Beware, there's a warning for God. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. You see, many people will take traditions, history, religious fathers and leaders, and use them as authoritative when the only authority is the Bible. I said to James, I said, this is the boss, James. Not me, not you, not him. I said, not my church, not your church, no religion. I said, this is the boss, James, and this says that it's by faith and not by works. I said, whether you understand that or comprehend that or agree with that, I said, that's what the Bible says, and this is the boss, not you or I. Now tonight I want to preach to you, and I want to show you some things that, and the title of my sermon is this, historic fundamentalism? You hear a lot of churches claim, we believe in historic fundamentalism. We're not these radical, we believe in the historic fundamentalism, and you'll go to most churches and you'll hear them praise the great leaders of the past. Let me give you a few names, and we're going to go through this tonight, and we're going to see, we're going to test these men. The Bible says, try the spirits whether they be of God. So we're going to try the spirits tonight, and we're going to take a look at some of these men, and let's see if these really should be our heroes tonight. Let's ask ourselves this question, is this a tradition that we've been taught and brought up and then just hand it back as searches, or is this what the Bible teaches? Some of these men like, how about this man, John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim's Progress, lived it up as a hero of the faith. A book that was read to me in Christian school every year of my elementary school when I went to a certain school for three years, they read us cover to cover out loud from John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. One of the most famous pieces of literature, probably the most famous Baptist book of all time. I mean the book that probably more Baptists have read than any other book outside the Bible, John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Or how about these people like Martin Luther, right? Lived it up as a great hero or a Christian, a man who was fighting for what's right. Or how about this man, John Wesley, right? John Wesley, the great fiery preacher of yesteryear in England and the revivals. Or how about this man, Charles G. Finney, oh wow, the revivals and the great preaching, and oh wow, Charles Ann Spurgeon, oh man, the Prince of Preachers, the great Baptist. Let's just, we've read the Bible, we've read 1 John 5, we've seen what it says, let's see if these men can match up. And let's see whether these are men of God or children of the devil. Let's find out. Well, let's start with John Bunyan. And we know what the truth is, and you know what? And you say, well you don't preach the historic fundamental faith. Listen man, I preach the Bible fundamental faith, not history anything. And you know, I've had so many people come to me and say, well you know, what you preach and what you believe, you know, it's just not, it's not the one that I grew up with. You know, well you know, you're a little bit, you need to look to some of these great preachers in the past. Well look, I would love to look to some great preachers in the past, but I'm just starting to question, are these great preachers in the past or not? And you know, I'm going to let you decide, I'm not going to do your thinking for you. You know, one of my heroes, I think a great preacher in the past, Dr. Jack Hyles. Great preacher, I love listening to his preaching. But you know what, if I've heard it once, I've heard Dr. Hyles, great preacher, say that Martin Luther was a great man, that John Wesley was a great spirit-filled preacher, that Charles G. Finney was a great spirit-filled preacher, that all these men were great preachers. Now look, it's a lot. And I'm going to expose it tonight, and I'm going to read you the quotes from their book, I did the research, I got their books themselves and opened up and looked at it, okay? Because I don't want to just hear what somebody else said about these men. I want to know the truth about them. And you might not like this, but this is true. And so let's look at it. Now first of all, let's start with John Bunyan. John Bunyan, after the war, this is Oliver Cromwell's failed attempt to take over in England, it says, after the war, he married and had four children. He tried to attain salvation by reforming his life and giving up his evil habits. But he found no peace with God. Finally he was converted after reading Martin Luther's commentary on Galatians with its emphasis on God's saving grace. Now, that's from the Sword of the Lord's website, which is telling about these great preachers of the past. Well, here's the thing. I went out, and this week I got a copy of Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan, the unabridged original edition. And it had been read to me so many times, I said, I'm going to read this book and I want to understand whether this man is preaching right or wrong, and I want to know whether he's preaching the Gospel or not, you know, by grace through faith. And so I got the book and I started reading it. And the first thing that jumped out at me as I began to read it was that it was so difficult for him to get saved in the story. You know, who's read Pilgrim's Progress? And it just seemed like it was making salvation very difficult for him. And he had to jump through all these hoops, and then finally gets to the point where the burden falls off his back and he's saved and everything. But then I kept noticing as I read the book that it almost seemed like if he didn't keep going, if he didn't endure it, he wasn't going to make it to the celestial city, like he wasn't going to make death. And I was reading, and I got to this passage. Listen to this. This is a direct quote from Pilgrim's Progress. It's from Part 1, Section 7 of Pilgrim's Progress. Indeed, are you listening? This is a quote from the book. Indeed, our present condition is dreadful, and death would be far more welcome to me than thus forever to abide. But yet let us consider the Lord of the country, talking about God, to which we are known, hath said, Thou shalt do no murder, no, not to another man's person. Much more, then, are we forbidden to take this counsel to kill ourselves. Besides, he that kills another can but commit murder upon his body. But for one to kill himself, are you listening? But for one to kill himself is to kill body and soul at once. And moreover, my brother, he's talking to Christian in the story. And moreover, my brother, thou talkest of ease in the grave, but hast thou forgotten that hell whither for certain the murderers go, for no murderer hath eternal life, etc. So here in the story, in Section 7 of Part 1, he tells them that if you kill yourself, you will lose your salvation and go to hell. That's what it said. It said if you kill somebody else, you're just killing their body. But he said if you kill yourself, you're killing the body and the soul. And that's a quote from Jesus where he says, Fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. And he said, and I'll read it again, it says, And moreover, my brother, he's talking to him as a Christian, he's saved in the story. Thou talkest of ease in the grave, but hast thou forgotten that hell whither for certain the murderers go, for no murderer hath eternal life, etc. Now look, is that the truth? Is that salvation by grace through faith, eternal security once they go? He said no. You know, there's a man in the Bible named King Saul and he killed himself. The Bible says that he was in a battle with the Philistines, he was losing the battle, and he fell on his sword. You know, he laid his sword in front of him and fell on it in order to commit suicide. And yet the Bible clearly states that he went to heaven because he was saved. It's a belief. You can't lose your soul. Another man who committed suicide, Samson. Samson committed suicide. And the Bible says he went to heaven. Ahithophel was probably saved. The Bible doesn't say whether he went to heaven or hell, but he killed himself. And so Saul and Samson both for sure went to heaven and they both for sure committed suicide. So this teaching is false. Once you're saved, you're always saved. Did John Bunyan believe that God has given us eternal life? No. He believed you must stay on the path and keep on going and endure to the end. And if you commit suicide or even commit murder, he said, to any other advanced person, God would take away your salvation and send you to hell. That's a lie. That's false doctrine. I'm tired of pastors lifting up this leader and telling us he's our hero. Why is this book being given to children to read in school? Why is this being taught that it's Baptist doctrine? It's not. Now let's move on to Martin Luther. Now Martin Luther was the member John Bunyan supposedly got saved while reading a commentary on relations by Martin Luther. Well, who's ever heard of this? The 95 Thesis. This is one of the most famous pieces of writing ever. Martin Luther on October 31st, 1517, took the 95 Thesis and he nailed it on the wall. And this is where I was taught growing up in church and in independent fundamental Baptist churches and school. I was taught, man, he nailed that 95 Thesis on the wall and man, it was just an attack on the pope. It was an attack on the Catholic church. He was saying that you're saved by grace through faith, it's not of works, lest any man should boast. Man, it was great. Now look, is that reality? Because I'm holding it in my hand right now. Now that's what I was taught, that it was nailed up there and man, it was just faith and it's not works and the pope's wrong and the Catholic church is wrong. Now look, it's not that long. You can see the ink on the page. This is only how many pages? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven pages. How long would it take to read it? Before a preacher gets up and preaches how wonderful Martin Luther is and what a great preacher is, do you think they could just read like seven pages of what he wrote or what the 95 Thesis really is? It's funny, I came back from Germany. I went on a trip to Germany when I was 18. I spent three months winning souls and trying to help missionaries and do these different things. And when I got back, I did a slide presentation in front of the church. You know how missionaries do the slides? I was just 18 years old but they allowed me to come up and do this slide show and talk about my experiences in Germany. So I stood up in my church and I went through the slide show and I was showing a lot of the different experiences we had and then I showed some of the idolatry in Germany where they have the statues of Jesus and Mary and they're bowing down doing all this stuff and I showed this idolatry. And the lady who had her child in a school that was like a reformed, like a Protestant type of a school that would revere people like Martin Luther and say, this is Protestant, Protestant Reformation. She had her grandkids in this Protestant school. She didn't really like what I was saying apparently so she raised her hand and I was taking question and answer at this point and I called on her and I said, yes? And she said, well wait a minute, I thought Martin Luther was pulled out of the Catholic church because of all this idolatry and works and everything and yet you're showing us. And I told her, I said, well no. I said the Catholicism written by Martin Luther says that when you eat the cracker and drink the juice it comes with the literal body and blood of Jesus Christ. I said that's written by Martin Luther's own hand. I said Martin Luther, I said these Lutherans have all the same idolatry as the Catholic church. I said it's the same thing. The priests get married. Wow, that's a big difference. And so there's very little difference. And I was explaining to her these things and the pastor of the church jumped out of his seat and came over and took the microphone from me and he said, he said actually ma'am, let me answer this question. He said actually you know Martin Luther I believe was saved, he said. But he said it's just that there was a man that came after him, Philip Melenthon, that corrupted the Lutheran church for what it is today. He said I hope that answers your question. So I went and done. But let me ask this, was Martin Luther really saved? Was he really a Christian? Was he really a preacher of God's word? Let's be. Why don't we just look at it, shall we? How about number seven? We're not going to go through all of these for the sake of time. I'm just going to read a few of them. How about number seven because there's 95 points here and they're just about to sentence each. But we're not going to go through them all. God remits guilt to no one whom he does not at the same time humble in all things and bring into subjection to his vicar, the priest. Did you hear that? How about number nine? Therefore the Holy Spirit in the pope is kind to us. Therefore the Holy Spirit in the pope is kind to us because in his decrees he always makes exception of the article of death and of necessity. Are you listening to this? Boy, he's really ripping the pope a new one, huh? How about number 16? Hell, purgatory and heaven seem to differ as to despair, almost despair and the other assurance of safety. So he's teaching us about purgatory. Almost despair. Wow, I'm on fire but at least it's temporary. And then assurance of safety is heaven. Number 17, with souls in purgatory it seems necessary that horror should grow less and love increase. So according to him while people are in purgatory they're going to be less scared after a while and start to love God more. And you know what purgatory is? The Catholic church is invented and made up, temporary hell where you go and cook for a while before you go to heaven. It's a lie. How about this one? 25. The power which the pope has in a general way over purgatory, I mean of course the pope has power over purgatory, is just like the power which any bishop or curate has in a special way within his own diocese or parish. Well this is fundamental stuff. Wow. By grace alone, through faith alone, to God alone. How about this? The pope does well. 26. Man, he's really tearing him up. The pope does well when he grants remissions to souls in purgatory. Not by the power of keys which he does not possess, but by way of intercession. He can pray him out of purgatory. How about this one? 28. It is certain that when the penny jingles into the money box, gain and avarice can be increased, yet the result of the intercession of the church is in the power of God alone. 29. Who knows whether all the souls in purgatory wish to be bought out of it, as in the legends of saints Severinus and Pestle. He's saying maybe some people are glad that they're in purgatory. I don't know. Maybe they don't want you to buy them out with indulgences. 30. No one is sure that his own contrition is sincere, much less that he has attained full remission. I know I've attained full remission of sins. I know for sure, because the Bible says these things if I have written unto you that believe on the name of the son of Cal, that you may know that you have eternal life. But Martin Luther says it's impossible to know whether you've really been sorry enough. I don't know if it was enough. That's what he said. He said you can't know for sure. Nobody can be that sure that he was sincere enough. You don't know if you've had full remission or just partial remission and just some of your sins. You might have to go to the almost despair of purgatory. How about this? 71. He who speaks against the truth of apostolic pardons. Let's talk about whether the pope and the priest can forgive your sins. In the context of this, that's what it's talking about. He who speaks against the truth of apostolic pardons, let him be a nathamite of curse. But he who guards against the lust and license of the pardoned preachers, let him be blessed. 94. Christians are to be exhorted that they be diligent in following Christ their head through penalties, debts, and hell. I'm going to follow Christ to hell. And it says, and thus be confident of entering into heaven rather through many tribulations than through the assurance of peace. You don't have any strength. You don't know. You may go to purgatory for a little while, a long time, and maybe you might like it when you get there. Because at first you're going to be horrified when you're burning a purgatory. But then you're just going to start to love God more after a while. And you're not going to be scared anymore. Now does this sound like a, wow, great hero of the faith, great Baptist preacher, wow. And yet, how many times have I heard him lifted up as a hero? He was a Christian. He was saved. And he was off on a few things. Yeah, I'll say. I'll say he's off on a few things. And yet I was taught that the 95 pieces was wonderful. Let's move on. John Wesley. Boy, that old Wesley, the circuit riding preacher. I mean, he'd get up and preach so loud. He didn't even need a PA system. He'd stand up on a rock and preach to thousands. And the great awakening, England and turn back to God. Wait, the man who shook two continents for Christ, John Wesley. The founder of the great Methodist religion. Of course, the pastor of the Methodist church in Tempe is a sodomite, but you know, don't confuse me with the truth. The point is here, John Wesley, that great fundamentalist preacher, that great man who preached about being filled with the Holy Spirit. Well, he wrote a book. And in John Wesley's book, the title of the book is called The Perseverance of the Saints. And in this book on The Perseverance of the Saints, the whole book, the entire book is a book about why you can lose your salvation. The whole book. The whole subject. Every chapter, every word of this book by John. And I'm going to read you some quotes from it. On this authority, I believe a saint may fall away. That one who is holy or righteous in the judgment of God himself may nevertheless so fall from God as to perish everlastingly. Those who so affectionately know Christ as by that knowledge to escape the pollutions of the world may yet fall back into these pollutions, go back to worldliness, he's saying, and perish everlastingly. Those who are sanctified by the blood of the covenant, Wesley said, may so fall from God as to perish everlastingly. A child of God that is a true believer, for he that believeth is born of God, while he continues a true believer, cannot prevail. If a believer makes shipwreck of his faith, he's no longer a child of God. And then he may go to hell, and certainly in the world he continues to unbelieve. If a believer may make shipwreck of the faith, then a man who believes now may be an unbeliever sometime else. Yea, very possibly tomorrow. So he's saying you can be saved today and unsaved tomorrow. That's what he says. And then he says this, but if so, he who is a child of God today may be a child of the devil tomorrow. That's kind of like my kids. Hey, today they're my kids, tomorrow they might be totally different kids. Next week they might be totally different kids. What kind of sense does that make? The Bible says, beloved, now are we the sons of God? And it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him and we shall see him as he is. Now listen to me, didn't Jesus say that in the final judgment he's going to say to the unsaved, depart from me, I never knew you? But he says you can be saved today and unsaved tomorrow. You can be a child of God today and a child of the devil tomorrow. Now, look, this is his book, it's a quote from the book. Get the book. John, if you don't believe him, John Wesley, First Corinthians of the Saints, the whole book is why you can lose your salvation. Obviously his arguments are garbage and twisting scriptures. For God is the father of them that believe, as long as they believe. But he said that if you go into the pollutions of the world, like going into sin, that just shows you you believe. You know, and you're going to perish everlastingly. He says, but the devil is the father of them that believe not, whether they did once believe or not. Now, let me prove that wrong again. John 3.18, are you listening? Here's the Bible for you. John 3.18, he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only God and Son of God. That's class tense. It's not that he used to believe and now he doesn't believe more. It's just that he has not believed. Because once you've believed, you're saved eternally. Paul said to Timothy, if we believe not, talking about himself and Timothy, yet he abided faithful. He cannot deny himself. He can't go back on his work. Even if I were to have a lapse in faith, hey, I'm born again. The whole experience inside me, I'm sealed of the day of redemption. I've been passed from death to life. You can't lose your salvation. But, now listen to this. Now, everyone that believes loves God. Now, is that true? According to what we read earlier in 1st John, no. Everyone that believes loves God and therefore has everlasting life. Everyone that believes is therefore passed from death unto life. Shall not come into condemnation. He quotes that verse, that he's passed from death to life and shall not come into condemnation. And then he just adds these words on the end. If he endureth in the faith unto the end. Now, the Bible doesn't add that. The Bible just says you shall not come into condemnation, or pass from death to life, period. But then he adds, well, if you stay faithful all the way to the end. So, according to him, you'll never know if you're saved until you get to the end of it all. This reminds me of a book I read called Pilgrim's Progress. But, listen to this. Charles G. Finney. Charles G. Finney. Oh, the man who when he preached, people would shake when he preached. I mean, they would tremble at the power of this man, Charles G. Finney. The man who shook. I mean, one time, these are the stories that I've heard in our own church about Charles G. Finney. I'm just kidding, it's not like this tonight. Sunday nights are kind of late. Anyway, this is what would happen. Sometimes he'd be having a preaching service, right? And he stood up to preach, and like nobody was there. The auditorium was empty. He said, where is everybody? What's going on? Where is everybody? You know, people are supposed to come to this meeting and they're not here. You know, it'd be like at church time all around, nobody was here. And I'd be like, you know, where is everybody? What's going on? And he went outside to find out that the whole streets of New York were jammed up from people trying to get to his service. Okay? They were all jammed up so that people couldn't even get there. So nobody was there except a couple people. So then he spent the next six hours just going from carriage to carriage. Just kidding. People saved just half the other day. And the people were like falling out of their carriages crying before they even got to the service because they were under such conviction. They literally were falling down and weeping and begging to be saved. He just walked up and just like two ducks in a barrel. Boom, boom. Just one after the other. This is from the sword of the Lord. And I'm not ripping on the sword of the Lord. The sword of the Lord leads salvation by grace through faith plus nothing minus. I'm not ripping on them. I'm just saying this is not their website. Finney. This is from their website. This is their synopsis. Finney was filled with the Holy Spirit on the same day he was saved and immediately began witnessing to friends and family members. More than 20 people were saved in the 24 hours following Finney's conversion. Wow. Finney's personal evangelism soon became public evangelism as he began to travel and preach in extended revival meetings. He considered revival to be a natural result of following the instructions God laid out his word. During Finney's 50 years of preaching, more than 500,000 were saved. After ill health forced him to stop traveling in meetings, he accepted the pastorate of a church in New York City. From 1852 until 1866, he served as president of Oberlin College in Ohio. Although some of his theology was lacking, that's what they're saying. He was a powerful, spirit-filled soul winner. I know he was wrong on a few things, but he was a powerful, spirit-filled soul winner who brought revival to cities and towns across the eastern United States. Here's his quote about the day he got saved. No words can describe the wonderful joy that was shed abroad in my heart. I wept aloud with joy and love. The waves came over and over me, one after the other, until I cried out, I shall die if these waves continue to pass over me, Lord. I cannot bear any more. Finney's description of his filling with the Holy Spirit on days of birth. That's when I knew my mistakes. But listen, here's what's funny. Let me tell you another story about Charles D. Finney. One time, these are stories I was, I mean, preachers told me stories like they were true. I got to tell you these. One time, he walked into a factory at Charles D. Finney, and he walked in, he had a friend there that he was going to go see, and he walked in and just stood there. He didn't even say a word. Just stood there. And some of the people that were in the factory, they were making textiles in this factory, they started to kind of laugh at him and make fun of him. If you ever see a picture of him, he's a pretty funny looking guy, so I can understand why they're laughing. He looks like, the first thing you see in the picture, he looks like just a weirdo. He looks like a psycho killer. I'm not kidding. He has big eyes and weird beard thing. He looks really weird. And so they're like laughing at him and pointing at him and making fun of him, and he just stands there and just looks at him. And they're just laughing and poking at him like, who's this weirdo? And then all of a sudden, they started crying. And all of a sudden, they started crying. Next thing you know, they're like falling on their knees praying. I mean, do you believe this story? They're falling on their knees praying. And then the factory owner, he was not a Christian, but his second in command was, and he said to the guy, what do we do? He said, what are they doing? He said, they're praying. He's like, let's get them together and preach to them. And so he says, stop the factory. And they stopped the whole factory. And they got them all together. And they all got saved after Charles Finney preached to them. Then there was another time. I mean, I feel stupid even telling these stories. These are stories that I was taught growing up. I'm not kidding. I feel silly even bringing these up, but I've heard these independent backstories my whole life. One time, Charles Finney was in a city and they wanted them to go preach to this town. And there was an old man that came to him and said, this old man came to him and said, I want you to come preach a revival in my town. And he said, I don't have time to do it because I'm all booked with all my preaching meetings. He said, no, no, no. I really need you to come to this town and preach. We've never had any church there. There's never a revival. There's never a church. You've got to come there. And he said, okay, I'll come there. And this story, all these stories are taken from, and it's not just, I've heard it in many stories. These are from a sermon by Jack Scott that's called A Fresh Anointing. He tells all these stories. But there's other preachers that told the same stories too. But all three of these are found in his sermon, A Fresh Anointing. If you ever want to hear them, from the horse's mouth. But anyway, from the dumbass's mouth. And I'm not cussing. That's what the Bible says, the dumbass speaking, rather than the mass of the prophet. But anyway, from the donkey's mouth. But anyway, he walked into this town. He had to go all day. He was in a bad mood because he traveled all day on foot to get there. And he traveled to this town. He didn't know anything about the town. And when he got to the town, he walked in. And they had a preaching service. And this old man, he gathered everybody together in the town. And he got them together. And he preached. And nothing much happened. Nobody got saved. Nobody came down the aisle. So he preached another night. He was at a week-long meeting. And he preached another night. Nothing really happened. And man, he just sat everywhere. He turned, and people were just swearing. And they were wicked. And they were filthy. And they were dirty. Everything you can imagine that they did wrong, they did this town. Wicked, ungodly town. I mean, it's a filthy place. And he finally gets up on the last night to preach. And he started preaching. And he decided he was going to preach about Genesis 18 and 19, about Sodom. And he started preaching about how wicked Sodom was. And how the men in Sodom were so wicked, and they were these naked sinners. And now there was only one righteous man in the whole city. His name was Lot. But what he didn't know, folks, was that the town he was in was called Sodom. It's a town in America somewhere. Now, I've never seen on map or anything, but apparently he's in this town. And you're not going to believe this either. That old man that brought him to preach, his name was Lot. He didn't even know that. And so here he is preaching this sermon, and people are glaring at him, and they're getting madder. You know, because he's naming the town. And then all of a sudden, they all just start crying, and came down the aisle, and they all got saved. If you don't believe me, listen to this sermon. And so, Charles D. Finney. Now, let's see what Charles D. Finney believed. This is what he believed, and I'm going to read some quotes from him. Did you know that he believed that you can lose your salvation? Did you know that he believed that he himself was sinlessly perfect? That he never sins? That's what he said. He believed that a Christian could come to a point of sinless perfection. Now, my Bible says in 1 John chapter 1, if you're learning it with us, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have no sin, is the truth in us? Is Jesus Christ in us? Is the word of God in us? No. And he said, I am sinlessly perfect. And he said, you must stop sinning in order to be saved. You must be sinlessly perfect. He preached this famous sermon. Salvation, it was called. Salvation, colon, difficult to the Christian, impossible to the sinner. Did you hear that? He preached a sermon called Salvation, Difficult to the Christian, Impossible to the Sinner. He's known as one of the fathers of modern day Pentecostalism. You can understand why with all this crazy stuff. Maybe him and him would have been like two pieces off. Except he didn't even have to slap the people on the forehead. You know how many hands slap people on the forehead, they fall over? He didn't have to slap them, he just looked at them. And just fell over. Salvation, difficult to the Christian, impossible to the sinner. No, the Bible says that salvation is as easy as, I am the door. Any man entering by me shall be saved. I am the bread of life. He that eateth me shall live by me. He said, I'm the living water, I'll give you the living water. Jesus liked in salvation to take in a drink of water, that's how easy. Jesus liked in salvation to take a bite of bread, that's easy. Jesus liked in salvation to go in through a door. Believe, this is pretty easy. Wow, that's what salvation is like. We had doors there for a reason. The door we never used. And so, salvation is not hard, it's easy. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, you must have the faith of a little child. That's easy. Believe God, believe the Bible, believe the truth, you're saved. But he said, no it's difficult. Because he said, and I read this, aren't we? Salvation, difficult to the Christian, impossible to sin. He said, it's difficult because it's just so hard. People are brought up sinning. I mean, they grew up with parents that sinned, I mean, they've been sinning their whole lives, they have all these habits, and it's going to be really hard for them to just quit. Yeah, I'll say it's going to be hard. In fact, it's going to be impossible. You can't stop sinning. Nobody's going to quit sinning completely. Let me read some quotes from it, from the sermon. We may also see why Christians are exhorted to separate themselves from the world. They are told, they must hang the old man upon the cross. To this there are no exceptions. Whosoever would be saved must be crucified. That is, that the old man has deeds. The crucifixion of Christ is an emblem of this, and serves therefore in a measure to show what this must and should be. Say, Jesus Christ is an example of that one. We've got to be crucified. He's like crucifying every part of our flesh. The Lord is living perfect. Does anyone suppose that the whole intent of Christ's crucifixion is to meet the demands of the violated law? Yes! I do believe that Jesus Christ's crucifixion is what? Paid it all. Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. I do believe that through the death of Jesus Christ we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. I believe that. And I believe that the reason Jesus died on the cross was for our sins, according to the Scriptures. And that he paid it all for our sins. But he said, does anybody really believe that? Yeah, I do. To meet the demands of the violated law, not so. But it was also to be an emblem of the work, to be wrought upon it within the Christian soul. It's old selfish habitudes. That's an interesting word. Now I know what habits are, and I know what attitudes are, but you've got to get rid of your bad habitude. It's old selfish habitude. Habitudes must be broken up, and its powerful tendencies to evil be slain. Okay? I've got to hurry. Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Uh oh. The Prince of Preachers. No. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the Hyper-Calvinist, who had a chapter in his book called In Defense of Calvinism, explaining how God chooses him. But listen to this. Just now, this is about salvation, to give you an idea. This was from 1872 in the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, England. Just now, some professively Christian teachers are misleading many by saying that repentance is only a change of mind, like just changing what you believe you say. It is true that the original word does convey the idea of a change of mind. Yeah, I know, because that's what it means. But the whole teaching of Scripture concerning repentance, which is not to be repented of, is that it is a much more radical and complete change than is implied by our common phrase about changing one's mind. The repentance that does not include sincere sorrow for sin is not the saving grace that is wrought by the Holy Spirit. Unless you're sincerely sorry for your sins, he says. God-given repentance makes men grieve in their utmost souls over the sin they have committed, and works in them a gracious hatred of evil in every shape and form. So in order to be saved, you must grieve in the inner crevices of your spirit. And you must hate every form of evil that will rear up its ugly head. So you have to hate everything evil in order to be saved, according to him. We cannot find a better definition of repentance than one many of us learn at our mother's knee. Well, I can find a great one in the Bible. Let's see what he learned on his mother's knee. Repentance is to leave the sin we loved before. Did you hear that? He's talking about salvation. Repentance is to leave the sin we loved before, and show that we in earnest grieve by doing so no more. No more doing those sins. That's what you've got to do. That's what he said. I didn't even make this up. That's what he said. He preached that on February 1, 1872, in his sermon, The Royal Savior. We must leave the sin we loved before, and show we in earnest grieve, we've got to show them how wretched and miserable we are in our souls by doing so no more. That means we can't grieve anymore. It means we can't think a dirty thought anymore. We cannot steal anymore. We cannot lie anymore. Look, maybe you've reached that state of perfection, but you know what? I'm with the Apostle Paul, who said, a wretched man that I am. He said, the good that I would do, I do not. And that I would not. He said, I die daily. He said, I'm constantly sinning. John said, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not answered. But do you believe that salvation is turning away from your sins that you loved before? And Charles Adams Spurgeon is known for his famous saying, turn from sin to the Savior. That's his most famous quote that you'll hear in church all over. Charles Adams Spurgeon said, turn from sin to the Savior. And I talked about this, I'm not going to be late for it, but I talked about it the other night on Isaiah 12. How can you turn from sin to the Savior? Sin and the Savior have nothing to do with one another. Because if I were to say, I turned from classical music to pizza. Does that make any sense what I just said? No, because one is a form of music and one is a food. Oh, I turned from pizza and now, car. Okay, you know what I mean? Does this make any sense what I'm saying right now? I turned from a house to chair. It's like, look man, that doesn't make any sense. Now look, if I said I turned from sin to righteous living, that makes sense, right? If I could turn away from living in sin to now living right, that makes sense. Or if I said, well I turned from Buddha to Jesus Christ. Or I turned from Allah to Jesus. Or I turned from, you know, Asheroth and Beelzebub and Satan to God. I turned from idols to God. But does it make sense to say I turned from sin to God? Now, sin to the Savior? Were people trusting their sins to get them to heaven? I mean, think about it. If I had somebody in the door and said, do you know who's sure you died and made you go to heaven? They'd say, yes I do. Why? Because of all my sin. This is all my sin is going to be in heaven. They have to turn from that to Jesus to get them to heaven. Nobody thinks their sins are going to get them to heaven. Oh, I have to turn them from their riches. Nobody thinks their money is going to get them to heaven. Do you think that there's a person living in this world who thinks that they're going to go to heaven because of the money that they have in their pocket? That's dumb. That's silly. People think they're going to heaven because it works. That's why the Bible says repentance from dead works and a faith toward God. That's why it says you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. He didn't say you turned to God from sin. Nobody in this room has totally turned from sin. And if you say you had your life, nobody's without sin in this room. And you know what? I live to be the cleanest and godliest. And I'll tell you, I'm a better Christian than I was a few years ago. And a few years from now, I hope I'm a better Christian than I am right now. But I'm never going to be perfect. I'm still going to be a sinner. So you can't turn from sin to the Savior. I know they both start with an S. I know. I know they start with an S. But it doesn't make any sense, folks. You don't turn from sin to the Savior. You turn from works to the Savior. You turn from your religion to the Savior. You turn from idols to Jesus. You don't turn from sin to the Savior. You don't turn from, well, you know, I think I'm going to turn away from drinking beer, and now I'm going to sleep in a bed. And they're not in the same category. I mean, this should be like a preschool lesson. It's pretty simple. But here's the conclusion of the sermon is this. And you know, you say, why do you preach a sermon like this? I just want to make sure that we understand what salvation is and what it's not. And that's why I'm giving you all this Bible about what salvation is. And I'm showing you that you know what? You can't always trust what somebody says from behind a pulpit. You can only trust what's in his book. And it's pretty sad to build people up and lie to them and to have these heroes and tell them about all these wonderful heroes that didn't really exist. It's a sad tradition. And then what will happen is somebody will pull out a quote from one of these people and tell you you're wrong because this is what they said. And they must have done the Bible off what we did. And you know what? Honestly, if you're going to put what these kind of people say, these great heroes of faith, you're going to put what they say above the Bible. You're a lot like James. You're a lot like that young boy James. And you know what? I pray to God that James gets saved one day. And I hope he will get saved one day. Because I know I planted a seed in his mind. He listened carefully. He understood what I said. He thought about it. And I pray to God that one day James will decide that the Bible is going to be the authority, not what man says. But you know what? We're saved here. We're Christians. We believe I do. We need to make sure that the Bible is always our authority too. And not what a man says. Because you can't trust man. It says here, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, the silver and gold from your main conversation, received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of the Lamb without blemish or without spot. Hey look, am I a historic fundamentalist? No. Because the history of fundamentalism was written by people who exalted Charismatics, Protestants, people who did not believe salvation by grace of faith, and Baptists like John Bunyan who believed that you could lose your salvation. And so I'm not a historic fundamentalist. I'm a Bible fundamentalist. And I hope the Bible is your authority. Father, we love you and thank you so much for the Bible. And thank you that we have a Bible that we can trust, dear God, the word of God preserved to us in our generation, dear God, as we promised. Thank you so much for everything you do for us. Give us a great week. Thank you so much for the many people that have been saved today and just throughout the week. It thrills my soul like nothing else to know that the people in our church are out preaching the gospel to everybody they know, winning people to Christ. Thank God that they have a message, not that it's difficult, not that it's going to be hard or that they must endure to the end, but rather, dear God, they have a message that salvation is easy. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. It's by faith. It wasn't easy for you when you bled and died on the cross, but it's easy for us to receive the free gift of eternal life. We thank you so much for everything you've done for us, dear God.