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Gather with the saints at the river that flows by the throne of God. Soon we'll reach the shiny river, soon our pilgrimage will cease. Soon our happy hearts will quiver with the melody of peace. Yes, we'll gather at the river, the beautiful, the beautiful river. Gather with the saints at the river that flows by the throne of God. We'll gather at the river that flows by the throne of God. We'll gather at the river that flows by the throne of God. We'll gather at the river that flows by the throne of God. We'll gather at the river that flows by the throne of God. We'll gather at the river that flows by the throne of God. We'll gather at the river that flows by the throne of God. We'll gather at the river that flows by the throne of God. We'll gather at the river that flows by the throne of God. We'll gather at the river that flows by the throne of God. We'll gather at the river that flows by the throne of God. We'll gather at the river that flows by the throne of God. We'll gather at the river that flows by the throne of God. We'll gather at the river that flows by the throne of God. We'll gather at the river that flows by the throne of God. We'll gather at the river that flows by the throne of God. We'll gather at the river that flows by the throne of God. We'll gather at the river that flows by the throne of God. We'll gather at the river that flows by the throne of God. We'll gather at the river that flows by the throne of God. We'll gather at the river that flows by the throne of God. Oh, it is wonderful to be a Christian on the first. Life has purpose now it never had before. There is meaning to each day and even more. For a joy and peace I can't explain is mine. Since I found new life in Christ my Lord divine. Oh, it is wonderful to be a Christian. Oh, it is wonderful to be a shop. Oh, it is wonderful to have your sins forgiven. Oh, it is wonderful to be redeemed, justified, forever reconciled. I can go directly to the Lord in prayer. He has told me I may boldly enter there. And He listens as His promises I plead. I find mercy there and grace for every need. Oh, it is wonderful to be a Christian. Oh, it is wonderful to be God's child. Oh, it is wonderful to have your sins forgiven. Oh, it is wonderful to be redeemed, justified, forever reconciled. And the hope of heaven's glory swirls with soul. Well, I'll live with Christ forevermore, I know. That is why the things of earth I loosely hold. I'm eternal, Rachel's better far than gold. Oh, it is wonderful to be a Christian. Oh, it is wonderful to be God's child. Oh, it is wonderful to have your sins forgiven. Oh, it is wonderful to be redeemed, justified, forever reconciled. Amen. All right, well, let's go ahead and pray. Thank you so much, Lord, for allowing us again to be able to meet here midweek. I just pray you bless the service, Lord, bless your tithes and offerings, and thank you for all that you've done for us and continue to do for us, Lord. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. All right, at this time, we'll be going over our prayer sheet. If you don't have one, just raise your hand. And we'll just all bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Father God, we lift these prayer requests and praises to your name, Lord, tonight. We just start off by praying for the opportunity to preach to unsafe family, friends, and co-workers. We pray for all our church families to stay healthy and safe and to always keep their sights on the things of God. We pray for more spiritual growth and maturity as a church throughout the year. We pray for pastors' dads' transition to the VA system to go smoothly. We pray for Briley and Marissa's sister, that she can have her heart softened in hearing the gospel. We pray for Miss Patty, that her sister's heart can be softened in hearing the gospel as well. We pray for more people to follow up with, Lord. We pray for more people in the community to want to become disciples and that more of our converts would visit the church, Lord. We pray for the safety of our children and for them to continue to grow strong in the Lord. We pray for the expecting mothers in our church, that they can have healthy babies and safe deliveries. We pray for Miss Patty, that she can be in good health again and that she can get over the sickness she's been experiencing. We also pray for the churches of our friends, that they can also continue to grow and endure any trials and tribulations that they are going through. And we also pray for continued medical freedom with vaccines and COVID mandates, Lord. And Lord, we also have praises to lift up to your name. We praise you, Lord, for our church members being in good health. We praise the Lord for all our new church members and the family members we've been able to get saved and their continued growth in the Lord. And we praise you, Lord, for the freedom to continuously preach the gospel every week. And for the Lord, we just praise you for keeping us safe during the battles that we all fight, week in and week out, Lord. And we lift up all these prayers and praises to your holy name, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let's all turn our Bibles to 1 Peter, chapter number 5, towards the back of the New Testament. 1 Peter, chapter number 5. And when you get there, starting in verse number 1 where the Bible reads, The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind, neither being as lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that faded not away. Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you, subject one to another and be clothed with humility, for God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore unto the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour, whom resist, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. By Sylvanus, a faithful brother unto you. As I suppose I have written briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand. The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you. And so doth Marcus, my son, greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen. Brother Mike, will you pray for us please? Thank you Lord for every word in the Bible. All right. Amen. First Peter chapter number five. So, it's going to be one of these kind of nights here. The title of the sermon is called Critical Grace Theory. And we'll get into the definition and the meaning of that here in just a minute. What I want to do is I just want to go over a couple of things here before we get started going through the title and stuff. But if you haven't figured out already, I told somebody last week I was going to do this. We're going to be exposing Chuck Smith's Calvary Chapel movement this evening. And so one of the things in this book here, I just finished reading it. It's called Calvary Chapel Distinctives by Chuck Smith. It was 75 cents at Deseret. And I will say before I start, when I bought this, it wasn't my intention at all to preach against him. I just kind of wanted to know a little bit more about the movement. I've been to an offshoot of Calvary Church in the past and heard different various things. And we run into a lot of Calvary people out soloning here. And they all kind of have some weird things. And so I just wanted to kind of get a deeper understanding of that. And what I found I think is going to shock a lot of you this evening. And so one of the distinctives in there that he basically brings up and is proud of is grace. Okay, the subject of grace. They say that's one of the things that distinguishes us from other new evangelical facets of Christianity. And we're going to get into what he means by that in a second. But I just want to start off by giving a good biblical foundation of what grace is, what grace does for us here in 1 Peter 5. So if you would, look at verse number 10. It says this, But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. And so just by that verse alone, I mean, who is in charge of grace? Who should we go to to get the definition of grace from? Obviously, it's God, okay? And there are four things, just really quickly, in this verse that describe grace, if you will. What does it say there at the end of that verse? It says, make you perfect. What does that mean? Without sin? No, it means complete, right. It means to be complete. Obviously, in the new man, we're perfect in that sense because the new man doesn't sin. But that is all because of grace. We are able to be complete because we have the completed revelation of the word of God. We're able to study these things, believe these things, apply these things, and to use these things in our lives. That is how we get perfection on this earth, okay? And then next, he says, establish. What does that mean? Well, it sounds like establish, okay? It means to institute something permanently. So you say, well, great, big deal. What is that? Well, the Bible says, for by grace are ye saved through faith, right? And not of yourselves. And we understand that that's a gift of God. Read Ephesians chapter 2. So what he's saying there is because of that grace, we are established. We are settled. We are rooted. We aren't going anywhere, okay? Once saved, always saved. And it's interesting when you type in the word establish. Just go to Google and type in define established. And I'm just going to read for you the definition. It says, having been in existence for a long time and therefore recognized as accepted. Well, that's such a powerful definition that agrees with the Bible because once you're saved, you know you're saved from the foundations of the world now. I mean, you believe the gospel. You have eternal life. You will never die, okay? That new person inside of you obviously has a birth date, the date that you accepted Christ. But you are established. You're not going anywhere, right? It's not like the Pentecostals teach and it's not like he kind of teaches where you're established, you're rooted, you're settled for a moment. But then if you don't abide in Christ or you don't, you know, follow the commandments, and all of a sudden you're out, you're going to have to get saved again, okay? We understand this because of grace. We are perfect. We are established. And then what? We are strengthened. Well, how do we get strengthened? Well, Jesus said the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life, right? These are life-changing words that are in this book. We believe this book as it is written. It's our final authority in all matters of faith and practice. And because of that, we grow stronger, right? We hear the word, we apply the word, and we grow by the word. We talked about this last week. He strengthens us with his truth and obviously John chapter 15 by also pruning us and purging things out of our life. And then last but not least, it says, settle you. Well, what's that a reference to? Well, that's a reference to the sin debt being settled, okay? Everybody's heard that in this church multiple times. Now go to Jude real quick. We're going to go to Jude and then 2 Corinthians 11 and then we'll get moving with the meaning behind the title, okay? Jude, and we're going to look at verse number 4. So we just got four quick things from 1 Peter chapter 5 about grace. It provides obviously, you know, it's because of grace we're able to go through the door of faith and be saved forever. But once we've done that, now we've got access to be complete, to be established, to be strengthened, and to be settled and to not have that worry anymore. Where am I going to go when I die, okay? Great thing. But Jude warns us about people who would pervert the doctrine of grace. Look at verse number 4. It says, for there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old, ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men. Now don't miss this. Turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. So go to 2 Corinthians chapter number 11. That word lasciviousness there, we've talked about that before. It means crude, offensive, going against moral standard or perverted. So what Jude is warning us is he's saying, hey, there's people that creep in that are ordained into condemnation that will pervert the doctrine of the grace of God, okay? And by doing that, what they are doing is they are denying the only Lord God. They are denying the Lord Jesus Christ. They are basically saying that he is not who he says that he is. But here's what we all have to understand. These people don't just come into church and say, hey, I don't believe in Jesus Christ. I think all that stuff's garbage. Follow me. Right? Because if they did that, even your liberals would be like, okay, you know what? No, that's too easy. We're not going to subscribe to that. Just go ahead and exit the building, please. Or some liberals might say, well, you have a seat anyways. Maybe we'll change you over the next 10, 15, 20 years. Just keep up with money on the plate, please. Okay? Obvious doctrine here. But you would be amazed, and some of you are amazed, at how hard it is to get people to see the fact, just because someone says Christian, just because someone says brother, just because someone says we have an emphasis on grace, we have an emphasis on the word of God, doesn't mean that they are good people. It doesn't mean that they are people that we ought to be friends with. Because Jude warns us very clearly that there are people who creep into Christianity, who will creep into the faith and pervert the doctrine of grace. 2 Corinthians chapter 11, look at verse number 13. Again, talking about the same thing. Talking about people who would desire occasion with the local New Testament church. Look what it says in verse 13. It says, for such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. So it says in verse 15, therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works. And I want you to remember that. There are people that creep in. There are people who have come into this church. There are people in the future who will come into this church, and they will try some form of perversion regarding the doctrine of grace. But again, we have to understand that. And out in our community, we run into a lot of people that go to these Calvary chapels. And look, I'm one of them. I used to go to a Calvary church. They were an offshoot of Calvary chapel. The pastor didn't want to be associated so strongly with the movement because he didn't think they were strong enough in supporting Zionism and the Jews. So, long story, everybody makes horrible mistakes. It is what it is. But the point is, after reading this book, I was shocked at what I found, some of the things that I read that Chuck Smith believed and taught and actually said, and I think it's going to be a huge help to all of us. So, again, going back to the title, Critical Grace Theory. Critical Grace Theory is the title. You may have heard of Critical Race Theory, right? Critical Race Theory is real popular in the media right now, something that they're trying to push in colleges and probably eventually in schools throughout the country. And so I just want to give you the definition of Critical Race Theory, and then I'll give you the definition of Critical Grace Theory, okay? So, Critical Race Theory, or CRT, is a theory that says this. Critical Race Theory is a way of thinking about America's history through the lens of racism. In other words, everything is the white man's fault, okay? The reason why we don't have communism is because of the white man, because of the reason why men make more than women is because of the white man. Everything is the white guy's fault according to this ideology here. So you say, great, what does that have to do with Critical Grace Theory? Well, Critical Grace Theory is the way of thinking about Bible doctrine through the lens of escapism, okay? Escapism. So they say racism, I say escapism. I didn't make that word up. It means an inclination to retreat from unpleasant realities through diversion or fantasy. And you will see that tonight in this book, I promise you that. Another definition that says this, it says about Critical Race Theory, it says it centers on the idea that racism is systemic in the nation's institutions, and that they function to maintain the dominance of white people in society, okay? Again, it's the white person's fault, okay? That's pretty much what they say, and again, we've talked about this in great detail. There are racist white people, there are racist black people, there's all types of people that are racist. It's only going to get worse as we head towards the final days because when you can divide, you can conquer. Oldest trick in the book. But I say Critical Grace Theory centers on the idea that escapism needs to dominate the pulpits of the churches, and that churches today are in a conspiracy to maintain the dominance of right people. Right people. And we'll come back and talk about that, but go to Titus chapter number two, and I'm going to begin to read some stuff from Chuck Smith's book, The Calvary Chapel Movement. You've all heard of this, maybe some of you have even attended some of their churches in the past, okay? And so again, a lot of the stuff in this book, you know, Calvary Chapel distinctives. You know, I was looking at the index here, I started reading it, you know, the call to ministry, you know, God's model for the church, church government, empowered by the spirit, you know, building church God's way. There's a lot of things in here that, you know, that we kind of do, that we would all agree on, and it's, you know, nothing new, nothing fancy, nothing super heretical. It wasn't until I started getting onto this grace chapter and beyond, now obviously the pre-trib rapture section here, that was hard to get through. That was a God-wrencher there, and I'll deal with that later on. But when you get to this grace thing, that's when it starts to really change, and you're going to see that here in a moment. But beginning here in his chapter about grace, so this is what it says, Calvary Chapel has a distinctive position on the subject of God's grace. Let me just stop right there. What's our position on the doctrine of God's grace? Yeah, it's Ephesians 2, it's 1 Peter 5, it's Titus, I mean, it's what the Bible says, right? I mean, that's our position. So right off the bat, you should have some alarms going off, like, wait a minute, our position is distinctive. So he's saying that we're set apart. He's saying that we understand it better than other people do. That's what he means by that, okay? He goes on to say, you know, without the grace of God, none of us would be able to have a chance, we need the grace of God in our lives, we need it daily, we experience, you know, where we're saved by it, and we believe in the love and grace that seeks to restore the fallen. So if you were to just read that, maybe not too up on these types of people, you would think, okay, well, I'll see the big deal about that, you know? We're about restoration here, we try to restore people, we want people to come in, none of us are perfect, we highlight that all the time, we've all got problems, all of us do. Definitely no issue here. Okay, so he goes on to give examples about how people are after him, because he's trying to restore people, and he even tells stories about how, you know, I've trusted some people in the ministry where people told me not to, and they stabbed me in the back, they stole this, they did this, and so, yeah, I had to eat crow, and he's like, but I would rather basically err on the side of grace rather than the side of judgment. And so he starts to basically paint judgment in a very negative way, which I have a problem with and you have a problem with, because the Bible says the spiritual judgeth all things, but then he gets on and says this, he says, so he's starting to talk about Reformation, you know, Calvinism, and he goes on and says this, he says, some people object because they feel that I gloss over certain passages of Scripture, and they are correct, but glossing over controversial issues is often deliberate, because there are usually two sides. Yeah. Okay. And I have found that it's important not to be divisive so that people don't become polarized on issues, because the moment that they are polarized, division results. Well, here's the thing, I'd rather be polarized on an issue than bipolar, okay? And so I'm reading this and I'm like, am I even going to be able to figure out if this dude's saved? Look what he says next, a classic example is the problem in our understanding of the Scriptures that refer to the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. Now what he means by that is Calvinism versus Arminianism. Calvinism, so in his mind he's saying you've got two choices, either you're a Calvinist or you can lose your salvation. The Bible's out of it. You know, Ephesians 2, all the verses that we know that we go over, all of those are out of the question here. In his mind and what he begins from this point forward is to basically paint a picture of Calvinism versus the responsibility of man. So let me say this again, a classic example is the problem in our understanding of the Scriptures that refer to the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. He says this, the Bible actually teaches both, okay? I didn't write this, I'm not making it up, this is his book, this is what he'd said. The Bible actually teaches both, but in our human understanding they're mutually exclusive, okay? Let me just read to you my definition of critical grace theory here, because this is what they are guilty of. It centers on the idea that escapism, what's escapism? An inclination to retreat from unpleasant realities through division or fantasy. What he is about to propose to us is a fantasy. It's a diversion because what? He doesn't want to polarize his congregation. He doesn't want to divide them. He wants as many people as possible to have their ears tickled in his buildings. That's what he wants. Okay, so it goes on to say this, people who become divisive on this issue claim that we can't believe both. Okay, let me think of something here. You know what, I'm just going to stop, let me just keep reading. It says, because if you carry the sovereignty of God to an extreme, it eliminates the responsibility of man. Likewise, if you carry the responsibility of man to the extreme, it eliminates the sovereignty of God. This mistake is made when a person takes doctrine and carries it out to its logical conclusion using human logic and carrying divine sovereignty out to its logical conclusion leaves man with no choices. Okay, who understands what that means? It means crap, okay, and that's what it means. There's a four-letter word to describe what that means. That's all you need to know. He goes on to say this. So how are we to deal with rightly dividing the word on the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man? Because he says the Bible teaches both. He says you can keep, you know, you're preserved, and then he says you can also lose your salvation, and both are true. That's what he's saying. It's that third part of the coin doctrine that's going around, and there's another term for it, and I'll get to that here in a second. I made one up, and then I also am going to give you the real one, okay? But he says we need to believe both of them through faith. So here's what you need to do. You need to go soul-winning tomorrow, guys, and you need to tell people that they can never lose their salvation, and then when they say, yes, I understand that, you need to say, actually, you can lose your salvation, and then just stop and go like this. And then when they look puzzled, just say you just got to believe them both by faith. That's what you need to do. Anybody understand why I'm upset right now? Okay? We need to believe both of them through faith because I can't keep, this is what he says, because I can't keep them in balance by my understanding. I don't understand how they come together, but I do believe them both. I believe God is sovereign, and I also believe I'm responsible, and God holds me responsible for the choices that I make. Okay. Let's see here. I'm going to skip to the next page here. Ah, he goes on to say this. He starts running his mouth, and he says this. There's a pastor, okay, and this is a Baptist pastor, somewhere that he met a long time ago. Chuck Smith's dead, isn't he? Is he passed on? I should have looked this up. I'm sorry, but it doesn't matter, because this guy's a clown. But he says, there's a pastor who recently came out with a little pamphlet on Calvinism, and on the front cover, there's a balance scale with John Calvin on one side and John 3.16 on the other. I like this guy. I think that's cool. John Calvin, John 3.16, I like things that rhyme, that alliterate. That's perfect. He goes, and then it says, which side would you rather stand for? Okay. Now, what he says next, let's just get to the bottom of the matter. I mean, something's got to be true, right? One of them's got to be true. There has to be truth. The words that I speak into you, they are spirit, they are life. Right, that's what Jesus says, but he says, no, don't get polarized. Don't let the people get polarized. I'm not making this up. This should infuriate you right now. The minute you do, you've lost half your congregation because people are split pretty evenly on this issue. He says this, so if you take a polarized position, you'll lose half of your congregation. Do you really want to lose 50% of your congregation? So what is he saying? I want people in my churches to believe whatever the hell they want to believe. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter to him. He goes on to say this. You know the beautiful thing about being called Calvary Chapel? And by this point here, I mean, I'm pacing back and forth. I'm like, what could he possibly say? You know the beautiful thing about being called Calvary Chapel? People don't know where you really stand. That's a Calvary Chapel distinctive. Look, this is insanity. And I'm just warming up. I'm just warming up. I mean, I figured, OK, there's no way that this could get any worse. Oh, but it does. It gets a lot worse. People don't know where you really stand. I mean, I feel like, let's just close up. I mean, why go any further with this? But I have to. It's my job. So he says this. If you put Baptist in your title and people know where you are, then you know what? Half the people aren't going to come because it's a Baptist church. What do we say about that? Amen, right? That's why we have Baptist in our title. That's why your invitation is King James only, soul winning. You know, we try to put as much on there to save people's time so they don't have to come in here and be like, oh, I didn't think it was going to be like this. Where's all the smoke and the lights and the trucks? I want to believe whatever I want. I want to work for my salvation Monday through Wednesday, and then be saved freely the rest of the week because that's how I like to do business. Boy, I don't know how I'm going to make it tonight, but he says this. Put Presbyterian in your name and they'll know where you stand. Well, I like that because when someone says I go to so-and-so Presbyterian church, I'm like, OK, perfect. Let's turn here. You know, now we know we're dealing with Calvinism, right? He says put Nazarene in your name and immediately they've got you pigeonholed. They know who you are and they don't want to go to your church. Then he says, but Calvary Chapel, right? The Calvary Chapel has a sort of unique mystique about it. What do these people believe? And then he goes, they'll say this in their hearts. I don't know, but let's go and find out. And then he goes on to say, you know, the field's yours. The pond is big and it's great. And guess what the next chapter is? The priority of the word of God. I'm not kidding. That's what the next chapter is. I'm not going to get into that. We don't have time for that, but we are going to continue on, of course, with Chuckie Boys doctrine here. Anyways, I have no idea where we're at. Titus 2? OK. Titus chapter 2. Take a break from that so I can come back down here. Look at verse number 11. Titus chapter 2, verse number 11. So you heard where they stand. You heard what they believe. You heard how they distinguish themselves from other people. Let's see what Paul told Titus when he was going to Crete. Starting churches, being told to ordain people into all the cities and doing a great work for God. Look at verse number 11. It says this for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. Of course, Acts Chapter 17 says that he's not far from every one of us. And we know that God has given every man a measure of faith. Look at verse number 12. It says, teaching us that and this is so important here, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. And what does that mean? It means if we embrace ungodliness and if we embrace worldly lust, then we're not living soberly. We're living through what? Intoxication, right? We are drunk on lust. We talked about this a few Sunday nights ago. And so we understand that the grace of God, it enables us to be able to have power through Christ, through his word, right? Because now we're able to take the sword and to cut through all of the lies, cut through all of the, you know, the fallacies and all of the fables that are just so prevalent out there. Look at verse 13. He says, looking for that blessed hope and that glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. So he's saying, hey, look, listen, guys, you are a peculiar people. You are different. Stop trying to fit in with the world because it's never going to work. It's never going to work. In fact, all it's going to do is cloud your judgment, cloud your mind and basically make you drunk, not sober. That is what that stuff does. That is his message. Could you imagine Paul saying, Titus, OK, but actually now both are true. I want you to encourage people that even if they're living in worldliness and ungodliness, it's OK. You can still just work as hard as you want for God. And God loves you no matter what. So you can either follow his word or you don't have to. It's really up to you because God is all about love. No judgment, only grace. Does that sound like the apostle Paul that we know? Not at all. Verse 15. These things speak and exhort, rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee. You see, one of the distinctions that Jesus had is that when he taught doctrine, people looked at him and said, wow, you know, he teaches with authority. He teaches with power, not like the scribes, not like the Sadducees and not like these idiotic Pharisees. He's actually believing what he's saying. He believes what's been preserved. He believes what has been written. That is not what you will find at a Calvary Chapel. That is not what you're going to find with people that go to Calvary type churches. It doesn't exist. You heard it from the horse's mouth and you're going to hear it a whole lot farther. Now turn to Matthew chapter number 12. Matthew chapter number 12. And so this is kind of a one point sermon here and I'm just going to give this to you right now. So critical race theory, what did I mention that does? Well, it pushes white privilege, okay? Everything's white privilege, you know. It doesn't matter whether, oh, I was going 80 miles in a 25, you know, cop pulls over, you know, defund the police, white privilege, you know, because you're white. And the cop's like, I'm black. No, no, you're not really black, you know, blah, blah, blah, right? White privilege, right? The doctrine that if you're white, you're just born with special privileges. Never mind the people that are struggling out here that have issues. We don't care about them, right? It's obviously a lie as far as it doesn't mean anything. But you know what critical grace theory people do? Do you know what they push? They push no one's right privilege. See that? No one's right privilege. That is what he's saying. Well, you just have to believe both by faith. You have to believe in Calvinism. You have to believe in Arminianism. You just believe both sides of every single coin that comes across your table and you're good to go. That's how we are distinguished because the moment we take a side, the moment we become polarized, and guess what? We're going to lose people. You know what? We say, Amen. We want to lose people like that because we want people that are going to embrace that peculiarity of being God's child and embrace the fact that you're just going to be different. People aren't going to like you. They're going to make you suffer. They're going to come after you. That's what they did to Christ. That's what they're going to do to us, okay? So critical grace theory pushes no one's right privilege. And I'm going to prove it to you. Okay, so striking the balance, chapter number 11. Chuckie Boy Smith says this. An important characteristic of Calvary Chapel Fellowships is the desire not to divide God's people over non-essential issues. Okay, well, I don't want to divide our church over whether steak's better than chicken or, you know, stupid stuff like that. You know, some people like Chevy, some people like Ford's, you know, that kind of stuff. But when it comes to Bible doctrine, we ought to be on the same page, especially for the foundational issues. Now, who thinks salvation's a foundational issue? Okay, yeah. That's what I was thinking, too. I was like, oh, no, is he going to go there? Well, let's see. He's like, this isn't to say that our convictions are weak. Actually, you're lying, Chuck, because that's, you're weak. You're weak. In fact, I went to the YouTube channels of the Calvary Chapels here, and I was just, you know, I wasn't trolling yet. But I'm watching this, and I was just like, I can't. I just cannot do that. How do people sit through this? I'm just like, I love you. Oh, God loves you. Oh, and I was just, this is terrible. This is terrible. People are just crying and waving their heads. I'm like, where's the sermon at? You know, what's going on here? Well, this makes a whole lot of sense. Okay. So he goes on to say this. We don't take a typical Pentecostal view, nor do we take a typical Baptist view in regards to, you know, like, gifts of the Spirit. He's like, the minute we set our positions, one way or the other, we have lost half of the congregation. So I'm going to skip this, actually, because I'm going to make videos about that. He goes on to say that, you know, people that believe in speaking in tongues, he's like, we agree with you. And if people believe that gift's not available, we agree with you. You're both right. You should practice that stuff in your own home, you know, privacy, because we don't want to bring glory to individuals. And I understand that concept, but I'm going to deal with that in our Speaking in Tongues video series. So I'm going to move on. So after he's done, you know, talking about speaking in tongues and his position on that, which you can't tell because he believes everything. It doesn't matter. I believe, you know, I'm going to go knock on someone's door. Hey, have you accepted the devil in your personal life? No. No. And I'm going to try to get him to do that and accept Christ. Both sides of the coin. I mean, oh, that's crazy. Okay. So again, what did he say? You know, one of the distinguishing things about Calvary Chapel is that we don't polarize people. Okay. We don't like to fight over non-essential issues. Page 116, the eternal security of the believer. Oh, let's see what he says about this. The eternal security of the believer is a debatable issue at best. There are scriptures on both sides. When I read that, I was like, oh, boy, I'm pissed. He says, look at John 3 16. What does whosoever believeth in him mean? Does this mean that anybody can be saved? It appears to mean that. And so we don't take the hard line Calvinistic position of limited atonement, which says Jesus didn't die for everybody, only for those who believe in him. We do not accept that believing in him has nothing to do with human responsibility, but is totally the sovereign choice of God. He says, this position states that God has ordained some to be saved and some to be lost. If God's ordained you to be lost, well, tough luck, buddy. He goes on to say, there's nothing we can do. This is a denial of the free moral agency. And so you're kind of like, okay. Right. Like, are you against it now? Like, what's going on here? You know, there's nothing we do. He goes, let's see. Instead, we believe God has given us the capacity of choice so that the love we express toward him might be meaningful and real. That's the balanced position that we take. He says, there are people who are always trying to pigeonhole Calvary Chapel. Do you believe in eternal security? He goes on to say this. I say, yes, of course I believe in eternal security. I'm like, I had to read this again. I was like, hold on. Let me read this again. Okay. Then he goes on to say this. As long as I abide in Christ, I'm eternally secure. Now dispute that. That's what he says. We'll dispute that in a little while. Okay. I'll come back to that. He says, if you don't abide in Christ, are you secure? Can you have security outside Jesus Christ? I don't know anyone or anything that has security outside of Jesus Christ. But as long as I abide in him, he's going to keep me from falling. To present me faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy and no man can pluck me out of his hand. I believe that and I experience God's security. So he believes both. He believes you can choose and if you believe that God chose you, you're good. If you believe you can lose your salvation, you're good. Basically, as long as I abide in Christ, as long as I choose to stay in Christ is what he's saying. But then he quotes John chapter 10, which says no man may pluck him out of my hand. So it's like, okay, this is ridiculous. Oh, he goes on to tell the story here. Okay. He goes this. So often these issues come down to a matter of semantics. So understand what he's saying here. He's saying that the issue of eternal security is a matter of semantics, meaning just minute differences in words, which we don't need to worry about. And of course, that plays into their modern version role of all in the original languages. They knew what it really says. So why argue? Why fight about stuff like, you know, eternal security? Not worth it. But he goes on to say this. These issues come down to a matter of semantics. People end up dividing over the interpretation of just a few words. We had a staff member who was very much committed to support groups. During his time with us, he led many to faith in Christ. Well, I seriously doubt that. I seriously doubt that. He goes on to say this. Unfortunately, we had a parting of ways that left this man very bitter. He now belongs to a group called Fundamentalists Anonymous, actively encouraging people to abandon a biblically based faith in Jesus Christ. He goes on to say this. Is he saved? In reality, he's an enemy of Christ. If I were an Armenian, I'd say he's backslidden. If I were describing him from a Calvinist position, I would say he was never saved. I'm describing the same man, but the terms by which I describe him create the division. So he's saying, it doesn't matter. I guess. He goes on to say this. The man has turned his back on Jesus Christ. It's obvious. Is he backslidden or was he ever saved? The problem is, if I say he was never saved, then where's my security? And then you're not going to believe what he says next. He goes, how do I know if I'm even saved? Good question, Chuck. Really good question. You're not. He goes, this guy had the earmarks of being saved. Oh, so now there's earmarks. So now there's a requirement, like now there's a process, now there's steps. Earmarks or steps, there's proof that you have to display to prove you're saved. You see where this is going? He had a desire to serve the Lord. He was seeking to lead others to Jesus Christ. He goes, I desire to serve the Lord. I desire to lead others to Jesus Christ. So maybe I'm not saved. Now, that isn't security to me. Well, didn't Judas go out two by two? He's like, give me a break. He goes, so see, it's a matter of semantics. How can I describe what I observe in a person's relationship with the Lord? The whole division is over whether I describe him as backslidden or whether he was never saved. He goes on to say this, I drive half the people out of church because I'm going to say he's backslidden, and the next guy is going to say he was never saved. Debates like these divide the church. That's why I don't take a dogmatic position. That's why I don't take a dogmatic position. I believe that the scripture teaches both the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. If I take either of these positions to an extreme to the denying of the other, then I've got a real problem because the scriptures teach both. And this is after he's taught the pre-trib rapture in this book. This is after he said that one of their distinctions is that they are devoted to the word of God, that they do exegetal Bible studies, basically verse by verse. Now let me just stop right there. So the way we do it here, I reserve Sunday mornings for transformation, for edification, so that we can grow eternally, getting along with one another, just abounding as a Christian. And by the way, if somebody gets offended on a Sunday morning sermon here, you are a mega snowflake. It's to build us up. It's that edification process. Sunday night is verse by verse. It's whatever's in the chapter, whether it's review, whether it's hard, whether it's harsh. It is what it is. It's going through the Bible. It's learning the Bible. And then Wednesdays when you come to this one, it's usually pretty nasty. Stuff like this, doctrine, it's stuff you're probably not going to hear anywhere else here in Idaho. And so I try to take that balanced approach. That's why I say it's important if you can to come to all three or at least to listen to get caught up because we want to build a well-rounded church. And so I'm just going to leave that there. He goes on to say this. Let's see, that's why I don't take a dogmatic position. The scripture teaches both of those doctrines. He says, how can we reconcile them? He goes, I don't. God didn't ask me to. God just asked me to believe. So he says, hey, when the Bible says believe, believe everything. Okay, well then why don't we just go try to convince people to believe in Hinduism and Christianity and Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses? Why not? Believe them all, right? The more the merrier. That's real grace according to Chuckie Boy Smith. He says, when I come across a person living in fornication in adultery or walking after the flesh and he says, don't worry about me, man. I accepted Christ as a Billy Graham Crusade when I was a kid. I'm good. Okay, and then he goes on to say this. I'm going to take him to Galatians 5 where the Bible talks about the works of the flesh and at the end of the listing the Bible declares, as I have so told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. And so he basically goes to tell those people, hey, if you're living in those sins, you're not going to have it. Now, first of all, anybody mentioning that they got saved out of Billy Graham Crusade, we're going to have a different discussion. Okay, I'm going, well, look, let me just give you the gospel, okay? And then we'll talk about all this stuff later. But he says when people are living in wicked sins like that, that he basically preaches Arminianism to it. Okay, that's what he's saying. And then he goes on to say this, you know, they're not going to inherit the kingdom of God. He goes, on the other hand, if I'm speaking to saints with an oversensitive conscience who every time they mess up or do something wrong and they feel like they've lost their salvation, then what he does is he takes them to encouraging type verses that teaches them Calvinism, the perseverance of the saints. And he goes, so the position I take on the issues, or I'm sorry, on this issue all depends on the condition of the person. So he's a chameleon. He's a chameleon. He's Chuck the chameleon Smith. That's what he is. He's a reptilian. The reptilian doctrine, that is all true, okay? I've got one right here. We're reading a book by a reptilian, I promise you. He says, I can take either side. Yeah, I know you can, because you're an idiot, because you can't stand for anything. You can't stand backlash. You can't stand confrontation because you're weak. Your estradial levels are off the charts. Anyways, he says, I can produce many scriptures and make just as good of an argument as you can, so what's the point? Then he goes on to just horribly misinterpret several New King James style verses. Then he goes on to say this. He says, when I was in Bible college, I was wrestling with this issue here. I was trying to read Arthur W. Pink's book, The Sovereignty of God. I became so confused, he goes on to say, that I threw the book across the room, and I got on my knees, and I was frustrated mentally, and I said, God, I can't understand it. It was then, and these are his words, it was then that the Lord spoke to my heart and said, I didn't ask you to understand it. I only asked you to believe my word. That's Pentecostalism. That's extra biblical. He's claiming that God had audibly spoken to him. So we need to apparently pluck this sentence out and make sure that we fit it into our Bible somewhere, right? Because that's what happened back in the days, right? Hebrews chapter one, in sundry times. How did the prophets get the message? Well, they heard from God, and they spoke it, and then obviously that became preserved for us. You know, so I mean, why don't we just do that? And then, you know, he goes on to say this. From this point on, I have found rest. I have rested. In my mind, I still cannot rationalize the two positions, a problem that many have. But I don't have to anymore. I can be satisfied just to believe them without reducing them to the narrow-minded limits of mine and yours intellect. And I'm going to stop right there. The rest is crap. The rest is straight garbage. It's all trash. And so to sum that up, critical grace theory. That is Calvary Chapel movement, okay? That is what I'm talking about. In critical grace theory, people push no one's right privilege. So he has built himself, he has built privilege into his satellite churches, into his churches, into his movement, this so-called right. See, everyone wants to complain about white privilege, but no one's complaining about right privilege, which they have. Well, no one's right because the truth is somewhere in the middle, okay? And the technical term for this is called middle ground fallacy, okay? Or third part of the coin syndrome, right? That's what he's basically doing here, which means that a compromise or middle point between two opposing ideas or two extremes is truth, okay? That is what the Calvary Chapel movement is built off of. Critical grace theory. And keep in mind, it's a theory. Everything he says is his theory. It's his interpretation. It's his logic. It's his way. That's not what the Bible teaches at all. Not even close. You're there in Matthew chapter 12, look at verse number 30. I find it interesting that Jesus says this. This is a different Jesus than the Calvary Chapel movement has. Matthew 12, look at verse 30. He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. So the person that says, hey, you know, I know what you're saying, Jesus, this whole Messiah stuff, the Son of God stuff, all this truth, division, you know, you came not to bring peace but a sword, I get that. But I also believe over here that love is love, and there's no hate, and we shouldn't judge. I believe both. So I am super, mega, super-duper blessed. Because I am the giant of grace. Turn to 1 Kings chapter number 18. 1 Kings chapter number 18. What did James chapter 1 tell us? A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. So here's, you know, remember this sermon, guys. When you're out there and you're talking to people at Calvary Chapel and they're like, yeah, we believe in eternal security. Now you need to, well, hold on for a second here, right? You need to start pouring on them questions and dig deeper, okay? A lot of, because I've been guilty of this, I'm like, okay, you know, so you believe you can, no, never, ever. Well, look, if they're holding to Chuck Smith's teaching, which a lot of them do, and I'm not saying every one of them is unsaved, there are people in Calvary Chapel that are saved, okay? There's no doubt about that. But I would probably venture to say that the majority of them are not. I mean, how could you? If you're being taught both of these doctrines, and look, Calvinism's garbage. Probably going to talk about that again next week. Arminianism's garbage, okay? What does the Bible say? For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. That is crystal clear. What did Jesus say? Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. How much clearer can you be than that? But apparently that's not clear enough for Chuckie Chuck Smith, okay? Look, I can't stand this. In fact, God hates that doctrine. That is beyond Luke 1-ness, okay? 1 Kings 18, look at verse number 21. Look at this. And Elijah came unto all the people and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him, but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him, not a word. Go to Revelation chapter number 3. So what would you say as a church to someone who says, I just believe both. I believe everything. I would say, how long halt ye between two opinions? How in the world can two opinions be truth? I mean, look, if that was the case, then why did Elijah put it that way? Look, hey prophets of Baal, I just love you guys so much. And I just want you to know that you're partially right. Hey guys over here that you're not sure, hey you're partially right too. The truth's somewhere in the middle. Don't worry about a thing, guys. Ahab, you're a good guy. I'm sorry for all the trouble that I've caused you from my preaching. You know what, let's go have some biscuits and gravy after the service. Let's just do that, right? Let's go eat some cake and biscuits. How about that, huh? What an idiot. This is disgusting. I hope somebody's going to email or call. Oh, your heart is not on the right. No, your mind isn't in the right place. Look, I feel sorry for people that go to Calvary chapels. I would rather now run into somebody at the Mormon church because at least they're most of the time honest. And they're like, hey, straight up works. And we're like, all right, well, can we just show you? And when they say yes, at least now we're not having to unso cognitive dissonance in this garbage. And this is crazy to teach. Believe both. The truth is somewhere in the middle. Look, that is mind control at the extreme. Chuck Smith is an apostle of the devil is what he is. He is a satanic being. But anyways, going to Revelation chapter three on this subject of the middle ground fallacy, no one's right privilege here. What do you think Jesus would say to Chuck Smith or is going to say to Chuck Smith? Well, look at his attitude toward the Laodicean church. OK, verse 15. I know thy works that thou are neither cold nor hot. I would thou work cold or hot. So then because thou are lukewarm and neither cold or hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Now, I would apply this to those that are in the Calvary movement that are saved, that are hearing both. The remnant, the small few that that movement has. And I would say, you know, Jesus would look at you right now and he would say he would spew you out of his mouth because you're not all the way cold. You know, you've got something. You're just lukewarm, which is disgusting. Nobody likes to drink lukewarm tea or coffee or anything like that. You just spew that out of your mouth. Go over here to Black Rock. Do they sell lukewarm stuff? No, if they do, you're going to get your money back. It's either the hot coffee or it's that iced stuff, right? That's your choice. I mean, that's just logic. And that's the way Jesus equates their behavior with. Look at verse 17. He says, Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. And knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable, poor and blind and naked. Saying you're naked. Your garment has been defiled. If there's anybody saved in this lukewarm church, those of you who are saved, he's saying, look, you know, you're wretched, you're poor, you're blind. You don't even realize it. But these people, obviously, they probably had a good building, right? They probably had some wealth. They're like, look, God's taking care of us. Look at our chairs. Look at this. And it's kind of funny when you read Chuck Smith's book, he's talking about the first time that they bought a building. You know, it was like $300,000. And they were able to come up with the money, you know, by the grace of God, pretty quickly. And then later on, you know, they bought all these other things, started a church in Brazil, which went Pentecostal. And then they bought a radio station. And just buying all of these things, you know, they're a movement. And I've been associated with it loosely where they'll say, you know, God's blessing us. That's what he says throughout the book. You know, God is blessed. He's always paying the bills. And I've always been able to take a paycheck from the church, all this type of stuff. And it's just been a good old time. But Jesus would look at that and say, how long are you going to help between these two opinions? I mean, at best, those that are saved in that movement at best would have to subscribe to this passage of Scripture here, which is being lukewarm. Look at verse 18. He says, I counsel thee to buy of me gold, try it in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve that thou mayest see. Calvary Chapel cannot see. And it's kind of interesting that the last church, the last of the seven letters, you know, the church of the Laodiceans, it really does describe the times which we live in today, this lukewarmness, this apathetic attitude towards God. And they are a major player. Calvary Chapel is a major player in pushing that culture into other churches. Verse 19, as many as I love, I rebuke and chase and be zealous, therefore, and repent. He's saying, hey, look, you better just get zealous. Just get on fire and repent. He's saying, change your mind, turn, you know, stop acting this way so that you can actually earn that gold tried in his fire. You know, he's saying you ought to be willing to put the temporary things of your life aside so that you can earn those rewards, which are not going to be eaten by moth and rust. Go to 2 Timothy, chapter number four, okay? 2 Timothy, chapter number four, and we're going to go to Deuteronomy 32, and we're going to start to wrap up here right now. So 2 Timothy, chapter number four, again, how are pastors commanded to act? Are they commanded to basically not polarize their congregations, to not get them zealous, to not get them on one side? Or are they commanded to actually do that, to actually say, hey, this is the truth, this is where we stand, here's the scriptures, here's why, let's draw the line in the sand, don't cross it, or we're going to have a problem. Let's take a look. 2 Timothy, chapter four, look at verse number one. I charge thee therefore. So what does that mean? I mean, what's going on here? Well, Paul's talking to Timothy here, and he says, I charge thee, doesn't sound like a suggestion, right? Hey, just do whatever you want. But he says, I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. Verse two, preach the word. Preach the word. Be instant in season, out of season, reprove, I'm sorry, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. Keep your place there, but go to Deuteronomy chapter number 32. So we are supposed to reprove, we are supposed to correct, we are supposed to rebuke, and we are supposed to also exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. You know, that kind of, that last part there, that kind of describes the Sunday mornings here at Shield of Faith Baptist Church. You know, the longsuffering and the doctrines of just getting your life, right, the edification part of our mission, right? Remember, what is our mission as a local New Testament church? It's to edify one another and to evangelize, and to eradicate the enemy from our midst, okay? I'll add a third one in there for you. But we do that by preaching the word, by being instant in season, meaning, you know, we're not slow in season, like, oh, man, I'm going to lose half my congregation if I preach against the Nazarenes. I'm going to lose the other half if I preach against the Presbyterians. Look, I thank God, and you should all thank God that we don't have that problem here. We know where we stand. We know what the truth is. And look, they're all welcome to come in here, but look, man, you're either going to get on board or you're going to get right back out of here. That's just the way that it is, because we believe this here. We believe this charge here. Doctrine is paramount. Doctrine is key. You say, why? Deuteronomy 32, look at verse number 2. Fifth book of the Bible, I wonder if they've ever gone through it. They claim they have, but I think they might have missed this part here. Deuteronomy 32, look at verse 2. My doctrine shall drop as the rain. My speech shall distill as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the earth. So what is God saying that doctrine does? Well, it distills. It purifies. It changes who you are for the better, okay? But what happens when you say, okay, all doctrine, no matter what, distills? Well, now you're lying. Now you're lying. Now you're Jude, verse 4. Now you're 2 Corinthians 11, 13 through 15, okay? Now you're preaching Satanism is what you're doing. You know, Proverbs 4, 2 says, for I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. So when someone forsakes good doctrine like Chuck Smith and his apostles of Satan, when they do that, they have forsaken the law of God is what they have done. Look at verse 3, because I will publish the name of the Lord. The scribe ye greatness unto our God. Look, when you say everything's true, you can lose your salvation and you can also be preserved. Look, that is a disgrace. That is a slap in the face to the Lord Jesus Christ and what he did on the cross. They deny the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Calvary Chapel does. They deny him. Look at verse 4. He is the rock. His work is perfect, for all his ways are judgment, a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he. Judgment. Judgment. It is okay to judge. It is a righteous thing to judge as long as we do it righteously. You say why? Go back to 2 Timothy, chapter number 4. It's so that we can preach the word. It's so that we can be instant in season, out of season. It's so that we can reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. Look at verse 3. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and oh my, that is Calvary Chapel to a T from the horse's mouth. They're literally saying, hey, we have teachers here that will literally scratch your itching ears. You could come to our Calvary Chapels and believe whatever you want to believe and stay here because we won't divide. We won't polarize. We will not be instant in season or out of season. We've got a big cauldron of gravy up here and we'll slop it to everyone in the congregation. It doesn't matter. Do you want spicy? Do you want brown? Do you want white? Whatever style of gravy you want, we've got that for you. Look at verse 4. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables. That is critical grace theory at its core. Verse 5. But watch thou in all things endure afflictions. Do the work of an evangelist. Make foolproof of thy ministry. Well, what does that mean, make foolproof? Well, it's kind of like how you have to bulletproof the 6.0 diesel Ford engine, right? You've got to replace all these things so that it won't blow up on you. Well, that's pretty much what Paul's telling Timothy here. Hey, make foolproof of thy ministry and you do that by preaching doctrine which helps you with what? Evangelism, right? Do the work of an evangelist. Go out, get people safe. Follow up with them. Try to make disciples. Don't give up. It takes time. It takes effort. And by doing that, you're doing what? Well, you're also going to have to be part of edification. All of these things play into key. Doctrine, evangelism, edification. That's what we're here for. That's what this book does for us. That's why we do church the way we do here at Shield of Faith. Now, go to John chapter number 15. John chapter number 15. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12. I'll just read that while you turn there. It says, For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. So the Bible says about itself, hey, this word here is so powerful that when a person believes it, it divides soul and spirit from the flesh. It makes that new person inside of you. That sounds pretty important to me if you don't mind me saying so. It doesn't sound like that's an issue of semantics. For the word of God is quick and powerful. The word of God that Chuck Smith preaches is not quick and it certainly is not powerful. And it doesn't divide asunder the soul and spirit from the joints and marrow. It doesn't do that at all. And what did he say? What did we read that he said? He says, Well, when someone asks me, hey, do you know for sure if you're 100% sure if you died today you'd go to heaven? Do you believe in the eternal security? Blah, blah, blah. He says, Yeah, as long as I abide in Christ, now dispute that. Well, it's kind of funny because that's John chapter 15. We've spent the last several weeks, you know, taking little passages out of John 14 out of John 15. And you know the story. You know what's going on. Judas is gone. Jesus is preaching his final orders to them before he's going to be put on the cross. And he says this, you know, he's talking about purging and talking about, you know, what he's going to do to them to make them better. But just look at verse number six. It says this. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered and men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. OK, so Chuck Smith would read that and say, OK, well, if I don't stay in him, if I don't stay in him, then I'm going to go to hell and lose my salvation. But if I stay in him, then I'm also good to go because I'm a Calvinist and he preserved me. Perseverance of the saints. Verse number seven. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. OK, the question is, what does abide mean? What does that word mean? They'll say, well, yeah, you see, it means to stay. So as long as you stay in Christ. Well, the definition means to accept or act in accordance with. OK, well, how do you get saved? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Right. But as many as received him to them gave you power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name. So you have to accept. That's what it means to abide. He's telling them, hey, you're going to go out and you're going to be fulfilling the Great Commission. The Holy Ghost is going to come upon you after I'm resurrected. And guess what? People that don't abide in me, meaning people that don't accept, they don't respond to the message. They're going to be what verse six says and they will be cast into the fire. They're going to hell. It's his way or the highway. That's what he's saying. He's not saying as long as you stay in me. John Chapter 10 is crystal clear. Everybody in this room knows that. Once you are in his hand, no man can pluck you out of his hand. That's what it says. That means, guess what? Once you're saved, you can't pluck yourself out of his hand. Once you were saved, you were always saved. I'm not going to get into that. You guys know that. That is what the Bible teaches. But to teach both, to teach eternal security and lordship, salvation, and that you can lose your salvation and the truth is in the middle and it's all good. No, that is wrong. That is blasphemous. That is satanic. Turn to Acts Chapter 19. No, I'm sorry. Turn to 1 Corinthians 14. 1 Corinthians 14. The purpose of the book of John is what? John 20, 31 says this, But these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye may have life through his name. How do you get more clear than that? We could stand here all day and all of us could get up here and just read verses about eternal security. We do it all week long. But yet you've got this guy saying, Well, it's just a matter of semantics. It's not a fundamental issue. It's not a foundational thing. Really? The most important thing, a decision that everybody has to make, whether you're going to trust Christ or not. You want to tell me that that's not a foundational issue? Okay, you've denied the Lord Jesus Christ by even saying that. Okay, so now we're going to move on here. I am going to wrap this up here. So quick recap here. Calvary Chapel distinctives, right? You heard what he says their distinctives are. Let me tell you what they really are. 1 Corinthians 14, look at verse 8. For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? Okay, that is what that movement does. It gives an uncertain sound. And you know this, guys, when you go and you talk to them, right? Sometimes they're all over the place, right? Now I'm going to be even more focused. Like when they say they believe, nope, nope, nope. And I'm going to really press these people because I know the model that they follow here. So we can see that they're distinctive. One of their distinctives is what? It's double mindedness. It's middle ground fallacy. It's what I call it, always right privilege, right? Always right privilege, right? CRT teaches white privilege. Well, CGT, critical grace theory, they teach always right privilege. So they have a privilege. We're always right because we take all sides, doesn't matter. Okay, now go to Acts chapter 19. Now go to Acts chapter 19. Acts chapter 19, Paul's preaching the gospel. These guys, they're out there. They're preaching the gospel in Ephesus. And so now you have this division in the city because the people that are making these idols and these gods are like, hey, you know, what about Diana? You know, we're going to lose our business. And you know, Paul's saying that they don't have any power and blah, blah, blah. Well, look at verse 29, a city filled with confusion. Look at this. It says this, and the whole city was filled with confusion and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theater, whom when Paul would have entered into or in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not, and certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he would not venture himself into the theater. Verse 32 says this, some therefore cried one thing and some another for the assembly. Notice this was confused. And the more part knew not wherefore they were come together. Right? So what do you have here? You have a situation in which two messages are being preached in the city. Obviously, you've got the religion of the Ephesians, you know, this Diana worship, and then Paul's coming along and saying, hey, you need to change your mind on that and put your trust in Christ, you know, and you'll be saved forever. And people are believing that. And people are like, wait a minute, if we believe that, then we're going to lose our livelihood. We're not going to be able to work anymore. And so everyone's confused. Chuck Smith would come along and be like, hey, no need to fight. I don't want to polarize you guys. Just believe them both. Right? We're distinctive. We're distinguished from everyone. We could believe both. Let's get a building up here. Let's go into a synagogue and just preach them both. And let's just be happy. No judgment. All love. That's what he would do. That's what his people would do. Right? But what does that result in? Confusion. So what's the Calvary Chapel distinction? It's confusion. It's double mindedness. It's middle ground fallacy. It's always right privilege is what it is. And I'm going to leave with this. Also, another distinction is this. Doctrines are a matter of semantics. It just comes down to little, small, minute details in words. OK, look, that's bad. That's terrible. That's horrible. OK, I don't know. I'm at a loss for words. It's you know, I read it a couple of weeks ago and it's been burning on me. I've been wanting to praise this. Had on my little chart, you know, my critical grace here. I cannot wait. Now that it's here, I'm more confused. I'm just kidding. You get it, right? They talk about, oh, their distinctives are the priority of the word of God, grace, the pre-tribulational rapture, you know, church government. No, your distinctives are Satanism. OK, double mindedness. We're always right because we don't divide. Jesus said, I came to divide. Hebrews 4 12. The word of God is quick and powerful. Dividing. OK, division. That's the whole point. That's what a sword does. It divides. So do you think that when you go to a Calvary Chapel on Sunday or the little small groupie group lesson on Wednesday that you're going to get a sharp sword preached to you? No, they're up there with Nerf swords at best, just beating each other up. Gotcha. I gotcha. I gotcha, Mormon. How you doing? Don't worry. You're right. We're right. Well, it's all love. Yeah, boy, it's terrible, bad, horrible. Calvary Chapel has just gone up several notches on my target list. And we need to go. We need to make sure when you see these people, look, don't say anymore. Hey, you know, we're not trying to see. Yes, we're trying to take you out of your church. OK, there are some dangers that you're being exposed to here. And we love people the way the Bible says to love people. And we're going to tell you the truth. You are part of a cult. They want to see. We're a cult. Your pastor's a maniac. Does he yell? Yeah, I do sometimes. I get upset when you say that, you know, the truth is on the edge of the coin there. No, that's not how we do business here. That's not the commission of the Bible. We're going to stand up. We're going to fight that. We're going to try to steal their people out of that church. We need to take them down. We need to let them know, hey, we're not going to stand for that here. It's not going to be done on our watch. A lot of us let them know from now on. Let's bow our heads with a word of prayer. Thank you so much, Lord, for showing us this truth. I just pray that this would, you know, not offend these people, Lord, but just to help them open their eyes and to see the truth. Lord, we need help out there winning souls. We need more laborers in the field. And I just pray, Lord, that you would just just put some more of these people that are willing to learn truth, Lord, to be saved. And those that are saved in this, Lord, I pray that you would just lift the scales off their eyes and use our church mightily to turn them into disciples. They would be zealous for your truth. Lord, please use us in that way. In Jesus name. I pray. All right. Please grab your songbooks one more time this evening. And turn the song 63 towards the front of your songbooks. Song number 63. What a day that will be. On the first. There is coming a day where no heartaches shall come. No more clouds in the sky, no more tears to dim the eye. All is peace forevermore on the happy golden shore. What a day, glorious day that will be. What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see. And I look upon his face, the one who saved me by his grace. When he takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land. What a day, glorious day that will be. There'll be no sorrow there, no more burdens to bear. No more sickness, no pain, no more parting over there. And forever I will be with the one who died for me. What a day, glorious day that will be. What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see. And I look upon his face, the one who saved me by his grace. When he takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land. What a day, glorious day that will be. Amen. Brother Victor, would you close the service and a word of prayer, please? Thank you, Lord, for the church and for Pastor exposing the false prophets by using the truth and the word. I pray that we can reach some of these people that are confused with the false features and the calories. I pray that you bless the fellowship and be with us for the rest of the week. Thank you very much. Amen.