(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] You You You You You Good evening everyone welcome to first works Baptist Church Let's all find our seats as you find your seat. Go ahead and grab a hymnal and turn to song number 44 Song number 44 will work till Jesus comes let's all stand together for this first song if you are able Song number 44 all together nice and loud on that first verse Oh land Oh Till Jesus Well To Jesus Christ I plan for rest he may be see Sucker on his breast Jesus comes and we gather Saw once my savior My step shall roll With him my brave dad's chilling time and reach my Well Amen wonderful scene let's start off our service with a word of prayer dear Lord God Heavenly Father I thank you for giving us this day that we can come to your house and hear the preaching of your word and to fellowship With our like-minded brethren Lord, and I ask that you would please just bless this service tonight, Lord I ask that you please bless the singing that would be pleasing unto your ears And I ask most of all that you would please bless the preaching of your word Phil pastime to heal with your spirit as he Preaches and give us your spirit also Lord in the congregation that we may take heed to the things that are preached And we may leave here changed Lord in Jesus name. I pray amen Go ahead and turn to song number 87 Song number 87 just when I need him most song number 87 All together on that first verse just when I need him Jesus is me Just when I falter just when I fear Ready to help me ready to cheer Just when I need Just Just when I need Oh All the way Oh Just when I need him Jesus is strong Bearing my burdens all the day long Giving us all just when I need Just when I need Just when I need Jesus is near to comfort and cheer just when I need Just when I need Tenderly I should fall Just when I need Just when I need Jesus All right, great singing thank you so much for being here this evening Just a few announcements here before we sing our next song which will be song number 156 Jesus is the sweetest name. I know 156 if you want to get that ready in your song books Our services are as follows Sunday mornings at 1030 Sunday evening at 5 p.m. And then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock and we will continue this coming Thursday with the book of Ephesians You see the so many times and teams there as well the list of expecting mothers the important reminders and some of the upcoming church events We have a ladies prayer night coming up on Friday, August 27th, Sunday, September 5th is the birthday breakfast We'll have a breakfast before the service. So make sure you're here Around 9 45 10 o'clock is when the breakfast shows up And so just keep that in mind and then PE classes for the little ones resumes on Wednesday, September 15th Please see coach Hernandez for more details about that If you have any questions, and then Friday, September 17th is the big thing we got going on in September It's our church anniversary Special service pastor Anderson for faithful word Baptist Church will be with us and that will be at 7 o'clock That will replace our midweek service. So Thursday, there will be no service We'll switch it to Friday and then on that Saturday, which is the 18th. We'll have a Sony marathon in South Central LA So we'll give you the schedule and the information regarding that the closer we approach the date there And of course on Sunday, which will be our anniversary service We'll have something special on that day as well Okay, and then you see the quiet time from 3 p.m. To 4 15 in the main auditorium in mother baby room Excuse me, and of course no food or drink allowed in the main auditorium except for water and coffee Make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction During the service and at this time, let's go ahead and take some solely numbers for this week Let's get some salvations from Monday up until Thursday any salvations from Monday to Thursday brother releases for okay Anybody else Friday and Saturday Friday and Saturday salvations Five. Okay. Anybody else? How about this afternoon? Yes Four for brother Maury or the mark one for brother Mark's team One for brother Marcos's team two for brother hikes team one for brother Glenn's team One for brother Ulysses his team anybody else that I miss anyone. Okay, and then we also had a baptism this morning So I was a blessing and that's pretty much it. Keep up the great work on soul winning Let's go ahead and grab our song books and go to 156 Jesus is the sweetest name. I know song number 156 Song number 156 all together on that first verse There have been names that I have loved to hear But never has there been a name so dear Through this heart of mine Has the name divine The precious precious name of Jesus Jesus is the sweetest name I know And he's just the same As his lovely name And that's the reason why I love him so Oh Jesus is the sweetest name I know There is no name in earth or heaven above That he should give such honor and such love As the blessed name Let us all acclaim That one praise for his name of Jesus Jesus is the sweetest name I know And he's just the same As his lovely name And that's the reason why I love him so Oh Jesus is the sweetest name I know And someday I shall see him face to face To thank and praise him for his wondrous praise Which he gave to me When he made me free The blessed son of God called Jesus Jesus is the sweetest name I know And he's just the same As his lovely name And that's the reason why I love him so Oh Jesus is the sweetest name I know Amen. Wonderful singing. At this time the ushers will come forth to collect the offering and you can turn in your Bibles to Galatians chapter number 4. Tonight we're in Galatians chapter 4. Galatians chapter 4, the Bible reads, Galatians chapter 4, the Bible reads, Galatians chapter 4, the Bible reads, Galatians chapter 4, the Bible reads, Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, Differeth nothing from a servant, Though he be lord of all, But is under tutors and governors Until the time appointed of the father Even so we when we were children Were in bondage unto the elements of the world But when the fullness of the time was come God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father. Wherefore, thou are no more a servant but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did serve his son to them, which by nature are no gods. But now, after ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage. Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years? I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon your labor in vain. Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am, for I am as ye are. Ye have not injured me at all. You know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. My temptation, which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected, but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? For I bear you record that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me. I am therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth. They zealously affect you, but not well. Yea, they would exclude you, that ye might affect them. But it is good to be zealously affected always, and a good thing, and not only when I am present with you. My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice, for I stand in doubt of you. Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, and the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise, which things are an allegory, but these are the two covenants, the one from the Mount Sinai, which genderth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar in Mount Sinai, in Arabia, and answerth to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, rejoice, thou barren, thou barest not, break forth and cry, thou that travailest not, but the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless, what sayeth the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, but the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. Let's pray. Dear Lord God, Heavenly Father, just thank you for this opportunity to come and hear your word being preached, Lord. Right now we just ask that you fill, Pastor, with your Holy Spirit and give the congregation here ears to hear and pray that we get edified from the sermon we're about to hear and just bless the service and bless the rest of the time we have together. And we pray this all in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Okay, we're in Galatians chapter number four this evening. Look down at your Bibles at verse number 18. And look what it says here, it says, but it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you, my little children of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now and to change my voice. Look what it says here, for I stand in doubt of you. And the title of the sermon this evening is Reasons I Doubt Someone's Salvation, reasons that I would doubt someone's salvation. Now here in Galatians chapter number four, we find the Apostle Paul writing not to one specific church but to the church is, plural, of Galatia. And here in this particular letter to the Galatians, he's writing to them, it's a combative type of a letter that he's writing to them, it's very doctrinally sound, and he's basically making a case for the right type of salvation. And the reason for that is because Judaizers have crept in and infiltrated the churches here in Galatia, and have basically tried to bring the people back under the law. You have Pharisees, these Judaizers, who have come to teach a false way of salvation, and these people are being persuaded to believe this false doctrine. And so Paul of course catches wind of this, and he writes this letter, and he really hammers this matter of justification by faith, and he really hammers the fact that we're not saved by the law, and you can practically go through every single chapter and see the right type of salvation just being emphasized over and over again. But I want you to notice there that in Galatians, he's telling them, look, I'm standing in doubt of you. Now what does it mean when he says I stand in doubt of you? He's basically saying, I doubt if you're saved, you know? And you know, a lot of people don't like to hear that, they don't like to hear people say, you know, I don't even know if that guy is saved, or I doubt if that person is saved. And the reason they don't like that is because they think that a pastor or a Christian doesn't have the right to question someone's salvation, right? But here's the thing, it's a biblical concept, it's a biblical, we see a biblical example here of the apostle Paul, not necessarily saying that they're not saved, he's just saying, I just doubt whether you're saved or not. And he has a valid reason as to why he would doubt, right? It's not because they haven't been in church, you know, it's not because they're involved in some really bad sin, it's not because they backslid, you know, it's not because of, you know, whatever reasons may be that people try to doubt people's salvation, you know, you have people who say, well, you know, you got involved in sin and you're out of church, I doubt if that person's even saved, they're not repenting of their sin or whatever, you know, obviously that's false. We need to look at biblical reasons why we should doubt someone's salvation. Why is this important? Well, it's important because, you know, when we go sowing, we need to be able to discern, right, whether someone is truly saved or not. You know, you can't just talk to someone and they give you a wishy-washy answer about their salvation testimony and just say, well, I guess they're saved, you know. They say they believe, but they say it's by words, but I know they put that word believe in there or something, so at least they're halfway, right, so they must be saved or something. No, that would be cause for doubt. You know, there's certain statements that people can make out so many when you knock on doors that you have to be able to catch and say, I don't know about that, that sounds a little questionable, that sounds a little sus, okay? And then, you know, at that point, you would doubt whether that person's saved, and in light of that, you would clearly present the gospel to them, and here's the thing, sometimes you'll talk to someone, sometimes I'll talk to someone, where they'll give somewhat of a wishy-washy type of an answer, it raises concern for doubt, and then you realize this person is saved, okay? Because you kind of corner them, you ask them some questions, and then, you know, they give you the right answers, and what it is is that maybe they've been taught a different way, they've been, you know, taught by some pastor to use certain terminology, you know, certain concepts that are not biblical, and, you know, they're just taught to repeat those things, but when you corner them, they're like, well, actually, that's actually what I believe. I believe you can't lose your salvation, I don't believe it's through anything else, this is just things that I've heard. At that point, obviously, they're saved, but here's the thing is that we need to make sure that when we hear those statements from that person, that we don't just write them off and say, all right, they're saved, okay? We have to be able to discern and realize, you know what, there's cause for doubt here, we need to dig in a little further, we need to ask some more questions to make sure that they're saved, because obviously, you know, we're dealing with their soul, okay? But none of that, you know, infiltrators can often give the right answers in order to cloak for their nefarious agenda, right? And so sometimes there's people who come, and you know, they're infiltrators, they're false prophets, and you know, a pastor or a leader will get up and say, man, I doubt that person's salvation, and here's what people will say, well, they gave the right answer, though. You know, they say it's by faith alone, pastor. You know, it's just that they're stealing money or something like that. Well, here's the thing, folks, you have to have the discernment to realize that sometimes people who commit those things, and I don't wanna get ahead of myself here, I don't wanna steal my thunder for one of my points, but you know, that's cause for concern. That would cause me to doubt someone's salvation, and I'll explain why later on in the sermon. Now, go to Matthew chapter 18, if you will. We're gonna come back to Galatians in just a bit. Go to Matthew 18. So obviously, we don't wanna just believe everything we hear. We wanna give people the benefit of the doubt, and you know what? If someone gives you the right answer at the door, and they say it's by believing, I've trusted in Jesus, I've accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior, I know that's not very popular, but it means the same thing, okay? You don't wanna just be like, I don't know about that. I gotta, what if you murdered someone right now, and then you killed yourself, and then in the afterlife, you come up with these crazy scenarios when they've already given you the right answer. Cause then at that point, you're instilling doubt in that person's mind. Now, I'm not against asking them certain questions after you've given them the gospel, say, hey, what if you commit suicide? God forbid, obviously. You think you'd lose your salvation, but when they've already given you the right answer, they've already said they're saved because they believe that it's by faith alone, and they haven't added anything to that. You know, they say, well, I've accepted Jesus as my Savior, that's why. You know? And it's like, I don't know, man, that accept word, I don't really like that word. Well, I don't like it either, but you know what? That's sometimes the terminology that people use, and it means basically the same thing. And we shouldn't necessarily harp on people like that. You know, bring them to church and teach them the right terminology, you understand? But if they've given you the right answer over and over again, you don't wanna just hammer and hammer away and hammer away and cause them to doubt, you understand? You know, we need to make sure we give people the benefit of the doubt, but we have to be able to catch things, okay? Catch certain phrases. You know, if someone says, well, yeah, I'm saved because I was baptized. But I've trusted Jesus as my Savior, but I was baptized. You wanna clarify that? Okay, you said trust in Jesus as your Savior, which is absolutely true. Now, do you think that you have to be baptized to be saved? Or you can ask them like this, well, what if you were never baptized? Are you still saved? Well, yeah, I'm still saved. Okay, so you don't really think that baptism saves you? No, and what they're doing is just repeating what someone else said. So we gotta get into the crux of what they believe, not necessarily what they say. Obviously, what they say reveals sometimes what they believe but other times, because they don't have a good category of vocabulary and Christianese, you know, you gotta help them to kind of articulate what it is that they truly believe, you understand? So the balance is to give everyone the benefit of the doubt but recognize there are times when we should question someone's salvation. Now, let me say this, is that there are times that even if a person is saved, if they've been removed from the congregation, if they've been removed from church, they've been, you know, church discipline, the Bible actually commands us to treat them like an unsafe person. Look at Matthew 18 verse 15. Moreover, if thy brother trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more than in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and as a publican. Now, what does that mean when he says, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and as a publican? He's basically saying this, let him be unto you as like an unsafe person. Because when it talks about the heathen or the publican, it's often synonymous in the Bible with just someone who's just not saved. They're not a Christian, they're not saved, they're not a believer. So this doesn't specify whether this person is saved or not but I would assume that Matthew 18 is talking about a saved person offending another saved person. And what he's saying is like, hey, when you remove this individual from the congregation, you need to treat that person as though they're unsaved. Okay? And that doesn't mean like question their salvation. It means the treatment that they receive is as an unsafe person. In other words, we have nothing to do with them. So you know, and the reason it's important to make that note there is that sometimes maybe we might remove someone and people will ask, well, you think that person was saved? And the answer should be, I don't care. We're just gonna treat him as an unsafe person. I don't really care if he's saved or not. You think that pastor is saved because he's doing X, Y, Z? I don't really care. But he's done to me as a heathen man and as a publican and I want nothing to do with that person. You understand? So there are justifiable times when, you know, a person gets removed from the congregation and they're to be as a heathen, as a publican because they're guilty of railing. You understand? They're guilty of railing, they're guilty of false accusations. Whether a pastor or just a regular congregant, if we are separating from these individuals, according to the Bible, they're to be unto us as an unsaved individual, okay? Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. So what are some things that would make me doubt someone's salvation? Well, at base level, number one, when essential doctrines begin to change, okay? And I'm not referring to non-essential doctrines, okay? And the reason it's important to even make that statement is because sometimes Christians will blur the lines of essential doctrines and non-essential doctrines. Some will throw out an essential doctrine other than salvation. Trinity, what else? Eternal security, okay, what else? What's another essential doctrine? Those aren't the only ones. Yeah, hell, eternal hell, exactly, right? What else? Give me another one. The blood of Jesus Christ, the deity of Jesus, right? The Godhead, the deity of Jesus Christ. How about this, the Bible? These are essential doctrines, right? These are things that deal with the deity of Jesus Christ, the infallibility of the word of God, the eternal damnation of hell, okay? Those are essential. Give me a non-essential one. Zionism, end times Bible prophecy, what else? Rapid-ray doctrine, you know? You say, well, that's essential to me. That's one of my favorite doctrines. Yeah, but here's the thing, it's a non-essential issue, though. Now look, folks, how about this? Abraham's bosom. This one is as stupid as doctrines out there, but it's non-essential. And people can believe in Abraham's bosom and still be saved. Right. It's true, it's a fact, okay? There's a lot of non-essentials, and so people think, well, I don't know, man, if this person believes in the pre-tribulation rapture that hard, I don't know if they're saved. That's kind of stupid, okay? Because here's the thing, there's people who believe in, and look, the preacher rapture, in my opinion, is a stupid doctrine. It's a really dumb doctrine. You know, we talk about that very often, okay? It's not an essential doctrine in our church, but it's a popular doctrine that we like to preach against because we hold to a post-trib, pre-wrath rapture in our church. But here's the thing, if someone, you say, well, what if you show them for the Bible and they still don't believe it? Well, when it comes to end times Bible prophecy, you know, people, obviously you have hyper-dispensationalists who I don't believe are saved, but if you have just a regular dispensationalist who has the right salvation, but they're a preacher, and they reject you when you show them the Bible, I don't believe they're rejecting the word of God, I think they're just being prideful. Okay, I think they're just being arrogant and prideful, and they're reading the Bible through the lens of whatever they learned in Bible college, understand? I wouldn't write that person off as being unsaved. That would be dumb to write that person off as being unsaved. He's like, yeah, but I'm showing them from the Bible. Yeah, but they're looking at it from a different lens of something that they, a preconceived idea that they've heard over and over again, you understand? And if someone believes in a preacher rapture, or they believe the Jews are God's chosen people, you know, that's not cause for question of whether they're saved or not, okay? But here's the thing, how about, you know, the resurrection? That's an essential doctrine. Well, I believe he died, though. Yeah, but do you believe he resurrected, okay? Well, yeah, I do believe he resurrected, but it was more of a spiritual resurrection. Okay, you're not saved then, because it's a bodily resurrection. Now, let's look at an example of this. First Corinthians 15, verse one says, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, look what it says, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. So what is the apostle Paul saying here? He's saying, look, if you still believe the things that I delivered unto you, that means you're saved. If you don't believe what I have taught to you in times past regarding the resurrection, then you're not saved. He didn't say you lost your salvation. Okay, he's saying you believed in vain. You know, some idiot on Facebook, you know, wanted to accuse me of saying that one of these church members that we marked from our church, you know, oh, you said my husband lost his salvation. First of all, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, because first of all, I've never even taught that someone could lose their salvation. So why would I make an exception for your husband as though, like, oh yeah, but except for him, he for sure lost his salvation or something. It's retarded, okay? It's a railing accusation is what it is. It's a, oh no, you said my husband lost his salvation. Wrong, I never said that. This is what I said about that individual. I said, are they saved? I don't know, maybe. Can someone find they lost their salvation in that statement? And by the way, I believe that person is saved. The reason I even made that statement is because they're dwindling in certain things and backing up certain people that are not saved. And birds of a feather flock together, folks. And look, obviously there's times when Christians can get caught up in that drama and get caught up with these individuals, and that's why I would doubt sometimes. But at the end of the day, if you were to ask me, is that person saved? I would say, yeah, I think that person's saved. I think. But here he's saying, look, if you keep in memory the things that I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. So look, if you get someone saved, an individual's saved, they believe on Jesus, they believe in the death baron resurrection, but a year later, they're like, Babuda's pretty cool too, though. And I think he resurrected too. And they start kinda changing on their doctrine regarding the resurrection and Jesus Christ. You wouldn't say that person lost his salvation, you would say, oh, this person just believed in vain. To believe in vain means you gave lip service to the truth, but you never really believed to begin with. Let's give an example of this. Judas Iscariot was someone who believed in vain. He paid lip service, he was an apostle, so he must have paid lip service to Jesus Christ, but he was never really saved to begin with. Now, what is he talking about specifically? Look at verse three. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Now, let me get a little commercial break here, because dispensationalists will say, oh, there's nothing about the resurrection in the Old Testament. What is Paul the apostle talking about? He says that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. And just to let you know, he's not referring to the gospels, he's referring to the Old Testament, because the Old Testament explicitly talks about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, okay? Look at verse 12, skip down to verse 12. So the issue at hand, the doctrine at hand was the resurrection. This is the resurrection chapter, look at verse 12. Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? Now folks, is he talking to just a general group of people outside in the street? He's talking to the Christians at the Corinthian church. This is a big issue. That means there's a group of people at the Corinthian church that were like, you know what, I don't know if Jesus rose from the dead. Verse 13, but if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen, and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is Christ not raised, and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins, then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. So he's making a case for the resurrection. Now here's the thing with the Corinthian church, we don't know if this was ever really solved, if this was settled in regards to the resurrection, we just know that this was an issue that the apostle Paul was addressing. So obviously there's people in the church who are questioning these things, okay. So you know what, if someone's in our church questioning the resurrection, that would cause me to question their salvation. You know, if some hyper-preterist came into our church and said that the resurrection is past already, they can say that they believe in faith alone till they're blue in the face, I would doubt their salvation. It's like, what do you mean that the resurrection is past already? As far as I can tell, you know, that was like what false prophets taught in the Bible, right? You know, they were teaching that, Hymenaeus was teaching that the resurrection has passed already, that's a false doctrine, okay. Go back to Galatians chapter four. So when you begin to change your doctrine, essential doctrine and start believing something that's completely different, that would cause me to question whether you're saved or not. It's like, I don't know if you're really saved or not then. Okay, look at verse eight of Galatians four, how be it then when you knew not God ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods, but now after ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days and months and times and years. Look what he says here, I'm afraid of you, lest I bestow upon you labor in vain. Now what does he mean when he says I'm afraid of you? He's not saying like, he's like a little wimp or something, like, you know, I'm scared of you or something. He's saying I'm afraid you're not saved. That's what he's saying. Because the labor that he's bestowing upon them, he's saying it might be in vain because you might not even be saved. Our labor towards our brothers and sisters in Christ when we preach the word of God, it's never in vain because you're saved. When it becomes in vain is that you put all this labor into something when the person's not even saved. You understand? And so he's like, I'm preaching to you, I'm writing these letters, I'm teaching you this doctrine, I don't want it to be in vain, I'm afraid that you might not even be saved to begin with. Why? Because the Galatians were buying into this false doctrine that they had to keep the law in order to be saved. Okay? Go to chapter five, if you would, chapter five. Chapter five, look at verse one. Do you know what that tells me today in 2021? If a Christian adheres to the right doctrine or they give lip service to the right doctrine in regards to salvation, but then they start transitioning into the Hebrew Roots movement, I would doubt. I stand in doubt of you. Because the Hebrew Roots movement, the destination of the Hebrew Roots movement is a rejection of Jesus Christ. It's a denial of Jesus Christ. So if you start off professing, making the right professions of faith, and you give lip service to the right doctrine, but 10 years down the line, you start buying into the Hebrew Roots movement and you embrace it, at that point I would stand in doubt of you. Look at verse one. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul, saying to you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is indebted to do the whole law. So these guys were getting circumcised. These Gentiles are being circumcised. This is crazy, folks. And he's like, I hate to tell you this, but that's not gonna profit you at all. Christ shall profit you nothing. Those of you who got circumcised, all you bought yourself was pain. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace. That's another way of saying ye have believed in vain. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. Ye did run well, who did hinder you, that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. So here's another thing that we can get from this passage of scripture, is that sometimes people can be deceived, but they're still saved. But they're just being deceived, okay? So are there people here who possibly were not saved? Yeah, that's possible. Are there also people here who are saved, but they started buying in to the wrong doctrine and they're just children, you know, babes in Christ? That's also possible as well. Because Christians can be deceived by false doctrine, obviously. This is why the Bible tells us to be in church, amen? That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men in cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. A Christian who's not grounded in the word of God can be deceived, okay? Now we'll say this, they'll be deceived for a certain time. But if they have the spirit of truth dwelling within them, eventually they'll come out of that, in my opinion. You know? If they're deceived by the oneness crowd because of the terms they use, the terminology and the phrases they use, and they're saved, I believe it'll be for a short time. Because someone who's gonna come to them, who has the spirit of truth, because they have the spirit of truth, show them what the Bible says. Now, if they show them what the Bible says and they say, I don't believe it, okay, then you're just not saved. But they say, okay, I see what you're saying, I was wrong about that. Because that happens. Look, folks, I know people who believe in repenting of your sins, they'll talk about repenting of your sin, but then when you show them the scriptures, they're like, actually, that's what I believe. I guess I'm not wording it correctly. I mean, how many times have you talked to someone regarding salvation, and then you kind of correct them on it, and they say this, they basically say, you know what, I just don't know how to word it that well, but that's what I believe. I mean, have you ever had that? I've had that happen multiple times, okay? Does it mean they're not saved? It means they were deceived, or they were embedded by some false prophet with the wrong terminology, you understand? But look, folks, if you believe in the Hebrew Roots Movement and we gotta observe the Torah and the Sabbath, folks, if you believe we have to observe the Sabbath, I stand in doubt of you. Because Jesus Christ is the Sabbath. He is our Sabbath. And you say, well, are you really sure that keeping the Sabbath, is it that bad? Folks, it's the association that the Sabbath has with the Hebrew Roots Movement that will cause me to doubt your salvation. I'm not saying you're not saved. What I'm saying is I doubt whether you're saved or not. Because of the association that that carries with it, okay? So sometimes people can be deceived, they're carried about with every wind of doctrine, they can be lied to. Go to 2 Timothy, if you would, chapter two, 2 Timothy chapter two. And of course we know the solution to this is make sure that you know the Bible. Read the Bible. Study the Word of God. Be in church so you can learn doctrine. Take these things serious. Give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Give thyself holy to them, for in doing so, thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee, the Bible says. What are you gonna save yourself from? Well, according to 1 Timothy chapter four, from doctrines of devils. The Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. So in order to save ourselves from false doctrine, we need to make sure we stay read up. And look, I personally know people, Christians out there, who, I don't think they read the Bible as much as they used to. And I think they're being deceived, you know? And it happens, okay? Look at 2 Timothy 2.15. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, but shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness. So let me say this, not only should you study the Bible, you should shun profane and vain babblings. That means you have to make a concerted effort to fight against false doctrine. I mean, think about this, a fighter, if they're constantly training, but they never really fight, right? Or they never really spar, I mean, will they really be that good? You know, you're kinda, you're not really utilizing that which you're learning. So you know, you can study and study and study, but hold on a second, if you're not contending for the faith, if you're not contending for the faith and fighting for the right doctrine, you're not really embedding those convictions into your heart. That's why I welcome the fights. When the doctrinal fights or whatever fights come to our church, I'm not like, oh man, drama. I'm like, great, time to practice my roundhouse kicks. Time to practice my spinning back elbow. Time to practice my knees, because that's what it's for. To earnestly contend for the faith, you have to fight, you have to put into practice these doctrines, hey, we need to defend the Bible, amen? But if you're not defending the Bible, you're constantly in this mode of, you know, just whatever happens, happens, I'm not, you know, I think we have to have a spirit of meekness and just love, yeah, I believe that too, but the apostle Paul said, shall I come to you with a rod? Or in love and the spirit of meekness, okay? He says, but shun profane and vain babblings. That's why it's good that after church, we just bash on false doctrine. We just bash on false doctrine, we expose it. The Bible says, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. So it's not enough that you're separated from the wrong things, the Bible says you should call them out too. Because that helps us as Christians to embed these convictions and these doctrines into our heart. Shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase them to more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already, look what it says, and overthrow the faith of some. So they were deceiving some people based upon this stupid doctrine here. It can happen, okay? Go to John chapter 10. So what would make me doubt someone's salvation if they begin to change, and may I say even embrace false doctrine, essential doctrine? That would make me concern regarding their salvation. If they say, hey, I believe it's by faith alone. But sometimes people can forget that they're saved and just start believing in oneness, but they're still saved. They just were deceived by that oneness doctrine, and if they embrace it, it's okay. Tyler Baker's saved! Which people believe that. Okay, at that point, you've surpassed the boundary of logic, biblical logic, to say, at that point we would say, okay, this person's just not saved at all, okay? You know, you can forget you were ever saved to begin with, and you know, no, at that point, if you ask a person, what do you have to do to be saved, and they say, well, you have to be baptized, for sure. Because to be a good person, you gotta keep God's laws. I doubt your salvation, in fact, I don't even think you're saved. So when people start changing essential doctrines about the Bible, for example, you know, people can get deceived about the Bible, can they not? They can get deceived and start using NIV, ESV, but let me say this, if they start reading it and loving the NIV, ESV, NASB, HIV, you know, if they start embracing that Bible, I would say, okay, this person's probably not saved. If the person is toting that Bible, I would say, aw, man, I stand in doubt of that person. They're using this false version of the Bible, you know, if they're really saved, they have the spirit of truth living within them, you know, and it bears witness to the truth, we know that the NIV is a false version of the Bible, it teaches false doctrine, and if they're embracing it, then obviously at that point, they're not saved, okay? Which leads me to my next point, when people reject clear scriptures, not obscure scriptures, aw, man, this guy doesn't believe that Elijah and Moses are the two witnesses, I don't know if this guy's even saved. This guy doesn't believe that, you know, that the Antichrist is in Revelation chapter six, you know, he believes that's Jesus Christ in Revelation chapter number six, or whatever, which pre-tribbers believe, okay? I don't think this person's even saved. Now, obviously to us, that's pretty clear, but because of the fact that we're trained in end times Bible prophecy, right? Wouldn't you say that, wouldn't you say we're a church who is trained in end times Bible prophecy? That's something that we say, you know, that's what we do here. We're trying to be tribulation saints here, amen? I'm talking about clear scriptures. When they reject clear scriptures, and again, I'm not saying, well, I reject that interpretation of the Bible, of that scripture, I'm talking when they say, well, I just don't believe it at all. When you have Christians who believe like in evolution or something, it's like the world, everything was made in six days, like, no, it wasn't, and you show them, they're just like, I don't believe that. Okay, then you're not saved. So when you begin to reject clear scriptures, then I stand in doubt, okay? When they begin to mock the Bible, a Christian mocking the Bible would cause me to doubt their salvation, okay? Look at John chapter 10, verse one. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same as the thief and the robber, but he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, why? For they know his voice. So what is it saying? Sheep know the voice of the shepherd, right? Christians know the voice of God, and no, it's not because it's audible. When it says that we know the voice of the shepherd, basically we understand, and the word of God resonates with us. And more specifically, not just any word of God, we're talking about the word of God, which is the King James Bible. Look what it says in verse five. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers. Now, here's the ironic thing about this passage, okay? Because who's he telling this to? Telling this to the Pharisees. He's speaking this to the Pharisees, he's talking about them, and he's saying, look, the sheep know his voice, a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from them, for they know not the voice of strangers. Look at verse six. This parable spake Jesus unto them, but they understood not those things which he spake unto them. First he's like, what is he saying? It's like point proven. Because Jesus is the chief shepherd who's speaking unto them, they're like, we don't understand what you're saying, he's like, exactly. Because you're not of my fold, right? So they're rejecting God's word. Go to John chapter eight, if you would, John chapter number eight. John chapter number eight. And again, I'm not saying that people who reject it because they just, you know, they live in disobedience to it or something. It's like, oh, you can't get sin out of your life, therefore you're not even saved or something like that. Obviously that's false. It's just a carnal Christian who is not walking in the spirit, is a carnal person and is living in sin. I'm talking about when they reject it to be authoritative. When they begin to reject the word of God as being authoritative, then at that point, I stand in doubt of that person's salvation. And I would even go as far as to say that person's probably not even saved. You know, I would say the vast majority, the vast majority of liberal pastors out there who use like an NIV in these modern versions, are not saved. Why? Because that's, I mean, at the least, they're obviously reading that Bible. If they're a shepherd, they're probably reading it every single day, right? And if they're reading it every single day and they love what it says and they embrace it, probably not saved. Now, I'm not saying that the people in those churches are not saved because I guarantee you the vast majority of people in those churches don't read the Bible. And the only time they do read it, if they do, is in church. You know, they'll read the portions of scripture in NIV that read like the King James. But I guarantee you, they're not reading it from cover to cover. But let me say this, if they read it from cover to cover and they agree with it and they like what it says, they're probably not saved. Okay? Look at John 8, verse 40. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God, this did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father, then say they to him, we be not born of fornication, we have one father, even God. Jesus said unto them, if God were your father, you would love me, for I proceeded forth and came from God. Neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word. He's saying, you're just not my sheep. You can't understand what I'm saying, you're rejecting what I'm saying. You're rejecting me as being authoritative, therefore, you're not of Abraham. Because true people of Abraham, spiritually speaking, would be someone who would embrace the son of God, they would not reject the son of God as being authoritative. Okay? Go to Jude, chapter eight, Jude, verse eight. Go to the book of Jude. I should have said chapter eight and see what you guys would have done, huh? Just keep looking. By the way, the Bible says, the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God, neither can ye know them for their spiritually discerned. And a person who is natural is referring to a person who is void of the supernatural. They're void of the new man. So if he's only natural, that means he's not saved, that's why he can't perceive the things of God, okay? And so, if someone rejects the word of God as being authoritative, they're probably not saved. Well, you know, but yeah, I got my grandma saved, or I got my relatives saved, and they believed on Jesus Christ, but they just reject everything else in the Bible, they're probably not saved, and I stand in doubt of them. Because look, folks, we've had visitors come to our church who were saved prior to coming to our church, and they came during some red hot sermon that I was preaching or something, you know, I was getting on the sodomites or something like that, or, you know, I was just going on one of my tangents, and I was thinking to myself, like, this person picked a pretty good time to be here. This is gonna be interesting to find out what their reaction's gonna be like. And it's not like, oh, okay, I can't say this anymore, you know, because this person's here, just say, hey, it's already there. So I just let it fly. I let it fly, and I preached it, and then, you know, it was a lady, and I wanted to go meet them to just, you know, give them, help them to understand that, look, I'm not, like, mean all the time, I just don't like homos, okay? So like, that's just it, okay? And I'm just expressing what the Bible says about it. So, you know, I went up to her, I was just like, hey, nice to meet you, thank you so much for coming, and she said this, she said, thank you so much for that. I've never heard that before, but I know it's the truth because I saw it in the Bible, you showed it in the Bible, and so that was really good, and I appreciate that teaching. And it was like some hardcore stuff, like I was dropping F bombs and everything. But I was showing it from the Bible, though, you know what I mean? I was showing what the Bible says about it, and you know what, this lady came up, and she's never been, I don't think she's ever been to even an independent Baptist church at that, I think she used to go to like liberal churches, but it was a liberal church where they taught, where they were saved, they taught, you know, the right way of salvation, and she said, you know, that was really good, and I didn't know that, but I know that now, and I know it's true because I saw it in the Bible. So look, even if you have some watered down Christian, and look, I'm sure you've experienced this where you talk to some watered down Christian who's saved, but you show them from the Bible, they're like, they can't deny it. They're like, okay, yeah, it's true. Yeah, I just don't think we should call them like that, but you know, I definitely see that the Bible says that. You know, they take this like weak stance on it, but at least they believe it, you understand? That's okay, and why do they do that? Because they have the Spirit of God dwelling within them, that's why, and the Spirit of God is basically saying, this is true, this is fact, you know what I mean? This is what the Word of God says, et cetera. What's reason number three why I would doubt someone's salvation? Now listen to this, when people perpetually despise authority, at that point, I doubt their salvation. Listen, let me say that again, when people perpetually despise authority, I doubt their salvation. Now look folks, let me just say this, and we don't have a problem in the church right now, okay? Well let's say there's someone in the church who just did not like me as the pastor, wouldn't it be crazy for them to just stay in this church? You'd be like, why are you here then? If you don't like me as your leader, if you don't like me as the pastor, if you don't like what I teach, why are you here? Go somewhere else then. This is not a cult, we don't just like keep people here, you can't leave, you know? You can go wherever you want, but if a person persists to stay in a church where they hate the leader, that's weird. And if I find out that there's someone in our church who's like that, you know what I would do? I would really doubt whether they're saved or not. Why, because reprobates and false prophets and infiltrators do those things. Normal people are just like, screw this guy, I'm out of here, I'm going to another church. That's what they would do. A normal person would just be like, this will be the last time I come here. I'm going to a different, they would just like leave quietly or something. Or even if they didn't leave quietly, let's say they gave me the bird on the way out because they just hated me, they wouldn't come back. They'd just be like, forget this guy, and just leave, go to some other church, then just forget about me, right? That would be like the normal thing for people to do. Which I appreciate those people still. People did that, I'd be like, hey, at least that person was, tell me how you really feel. At least you're honest. The weirdos are those who get up on Sunday morning and get dressed, they get a Bible, and they come to First Works Baptist Church even though they hate me. They despise my authority. And then they come back on Sunday, and then they go soloing, and they come back on Sunday night. And then they come back on Thursday night. And they say, great sermon, pastor. But inwardly, they just hate my guts. At that point, if I ever found that out, I would say, this person's probably not saved. Not probably not saved, they're just not saved. Because that's just not a normal thing to do. You understand? That's an attribute of like an infiltrator. Because why else would they be here? Now look, I'm not saying that when you first came, you just liked me right off the bat. I'm sure there's people here who, you know, I didn't sit well with them initially. You don't have to raise your hand, okay? But I'm sure there's people who came and are just like, I just don't like how he says certain things. I'm here because I know the truth is the truth, and yeah, what he's saying is true. But let's just be honest, I kind of grew on you a little bit. Now you kind of love me a little bit. Now I'm just like, you know, he's not so bad. And then you find out, you know, I say some funny stuff. And you're like, you know what, this is actually true. And you know, he's not so bad after all. And I kind of grow on you, and now we become friends, and now I'm your pastor, you're my church member, and we live happily ever after. That's different, okay? Because you know, that happens. There's people who have gone to my friends' churches, and they're just like, oh man, they're just a little rough. They're just, you know, this. But then they start going, and then they develop an appetite for that type of preaching. And they're just like, you know what, I kind of like this now. I kind of like when he says that. Or things that were offensive before, now you crack up when we say it. Before it was like, oh. Before he says it, he's like, oh. You know, you just kind of like, you have like a seizure or something when I would first say it. But now it's just like, you know, it's just like, you gotta kind of get a kick out of it. Because it grows on you, right? That's different, okay? So you know, if you're that person that just didn't like me to begin with, but now you do, it's cool, I'm not against you, we're buds, you know what I mean, you come to church, it's all good. I can see why you wouldn't like me initially, I get ya. You know? I'm not offended. It's the people who perpetually hate my authority. It's the people who perpetually hate authority, period, and they still want to come here, it's like, why are you here then? Look at Jude eight, verse eight. Likewise also these filthy dreamers, that's a good way to start off a sentence, defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. Now let me just let you know, these particular people that the Bible refers to in the book of Jude are actually what's known as, they're known as reprobates. False prophet, reprobates. These people are some of the most evil people on the face of the planet, okay? And what they'll do is they'll seek to infiltrate churches because they despise the dominion of the pastor, and they want to speak evil of his authority. Or any dignity, for that matter. Verse nine, yet Michael the archangel, when continued with the devil, disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said the Lord rebuke thee. He's like, Michael didn't even do that to the devil. What is he saying? He's like, he's worse than these angelic beings. They just have no self-control. But these speak evil of those things which they know not, but what they know naturally as brute beasts, and those things that corrupt themselves. Woe unto them, for they have gone the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the heir of Balaam for reward, and look what it says, and perished in the gainsaying of Corey. So, Koradathan and Abiram, as Jude puts it, Corey, Koradathan and Abiram were speaking evil of Moses. And they didn't like Moses' authority, they felt they should be leaders as well, and they were kind of trying to usurp the authority of Moses and you know what God did? He just said, well, you know, maybe we could all just share authority then. These guys have, you know, they have a point. You know what he did? He opened the earth and made them go quick down into hell. That's what he thought about it. So, as Corey was gainsaying against Moses, Moses is like, you guys are done. You guys just sealed your fate. Watch this! Earth opened up and just swallowed them whole, they went quick alive, that's what it means quick, into hell. So, what does God think about these despisers of authority? That's what he thinks of them. He would rather just open up the earth and have them be swallowed whole. Look at verse 16. These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts, and their mouths speak with great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage. But beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. Look what it says here. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. So they look like us, they talk like us, but they ain't us. Because they don't have the Spirit. So you don't have to be teaching a false doctrine to be labeled a reprobate or even a false prophet, or for me to even doubt your salvation. Sometimes you could just be a person who just despises authority. I mean, he said he believes in the right salvation. Yeah, but you know people could give lip service to that? And if they perpetually despise your authority, that's an attribute of a wicked person who seeks to infiltrate to usurp the authority of the pastor. At that point I would say, I don't know about this person, I doubt their salvation. Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 13. 2 Corinthians 13, I'll read to you from 2 Peter 2, which is a parallel passage to the book of Jude. Verse 10 says, but chiefly them that walk after the flesh and the lust of uncleanness and despise government, presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities, whereas angels which are greater in power than might bring not a railing accusation against them before the Lord, but these as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things which they understand not, and shall utterly perish in their own corruption. This is why it's weird when someone leaves our church and starts like a YouTube channel against us or something, or against my friends. That's weird. That point I'm like, this person's probably not even saved. If they wanna dedicate all these hours to making these low quality videos, you know, against pastors or whatever, and they're just like, they're just railing accusations, you know, I wouldn't say this is a disgruntled church member, I'd just probably say that's probably, he's probably not even saved. Probably some reprobate infiltrator. Because again, if they didn't like the church, they'd just go somewhere else and go to another church. Be like, I'm not gonna go to this church, I'm gonna go, this guy's a bozo, this guy's so mean, or this guy's whatever, go to a different church, become a member there and just forget about it. That's what normal people do. Because look, people don't have to like my preaching or the preaching of my pastor. They don't like to have, they don't need to like our type of churches or these doctrines, that's fine. Go somewhere else where you can live and serve the Lord in and do those things, that's fine. But it's another thing when they actually go out of their way to despise dominion publicly, over and over and over and over again. And one of these guys, you know, he died in the beginning of the year. It's the Reason Files. There's a guy, he went by YouTube channel called Reason Files, and this guy made it his agenda and full-time job to just make railing accusations against me, against my pastor friends. I mean, we had started a fundamentalist conference. I started a fundamentalist conference two years ago, and last year, I think it was, was it last year? Last year, we had a fundamentalist conference and that guy fought against us, shut down our venues. We had to move, we literally had the conference in like two different states because of this guy. Because we had to move so many times. You know, what was he, he despised government. He despised dominion, he spoke evil of dignities. He made videos, railing accusation videos about me, about my pastor friends. He said, what happened to him? God opened up the earth and swallowed him whole and allowed every one of his enemies, us, to find out about it. Because God could've just been like, well, you know, I'm just gonna punish him, not let everyone know about it. No, as soon as he died, we all found out about it. Even to the point where it's just like, Pastor B. He had killed him. And I don't think it's a coincidence. I do not think it's a coincidence. And it wasn't like he died of like illness or something. He died a horrific death. He was murdered, folks, over some like shady stuff, okay? And so, you know, that's the end of these people. And the fact the Bible says, they shall utterly perish in their own corruption. That's the end of their, that's their end. That's their destination, that's their destiny, okay? Look at 2 Corinthians 13. Now, the book of 1 and 2 Corinthians, Paul the Apostle, obviously there's a lot of issues in the Corinthian church. When you have to write two epistles, and they're both pretty lengthy, right? And they deal with a variety of different things. I mean, a lot, he has to like, this church had a lot of problems, okay? So one of many problems that they had was they were rejecting the Apostle Paul as the authority. He's the one that started the church. In fact, he got many of them saved. He's the one who led them to the Lord, and they were just kind of like talking crap about him. They were despising his authority. And look, folks, it's one thing, obviously it's wrong to do it to a pastor, but this is an apostle. I mean, this guy has a lot of authority. God endowed him with revelation, with apostolic, the ability to perform apostolic miracles, because he even said the signs of an apostle were done among you. So there were witnesses of the supernatural power that God gave to the Apostle Paul to validate and confirm the message that he was giving. So they were given a lot, okay? But yet, still, people were just like, he's not gonna do anything. What's he gonna do? They were just kind of calling him out. Look at 2 Corinthians 13, verse five. What does the Apostle Paul say? Examine yourselves. Not just anybody, the Corinthian church. He's saying, you need to examine yourselves. Why? Whether ye be in the faith, prove your own selves, know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except he be reprobates? By the way, this is a great verse to use for those who don't believe in the reprobate doctrine. Because there's a lot of people who believe that you can be saved and still become a reprobate, which is insanity. But here's a verse to disprove that. He says, Christ is in you except ye be reprobates. So he's like, Christ is in you because I thought I got you saved, unless you're just a reprobate. Now why does he say this to the Corinthian church and not to just every other church? I'll tell you why. Because it's different when you have people who come in Sunday in, Sunday out, Thursday in, Thursday out, listening to preaching, going sowing, adhering to these deep doctrines, and they still hate the leader, they still despise the dominion of the leader, they despise the pastor. You know, they're probably reprobates. That's why the apostle Paul's saying that. He said, Christ is in you except ye be reprobates. You better examine yourself. He says, but I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates. He said, you obviously understand that we're not reprobates, right? He says, now I pray to God that ye do no evil, not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest, though we be as reprobates. Now don't let that throw you for a loop when he says though we be as reprobates. Reprobate simply means rejected. And so he's saying, look, you guys are rejecting us. You're rejecting me as the authority. So I'm as a reprobate unto you, for we can do nothing against the truth before the truth. So there's a reason why the apostle Paul's bringing this up because of the fact that his authority's coming into question. People are despising his authority, they're mocking him as the leader, and therefore he's like, you know what? You better examine yourselves to see if you're in the faith. I don't even know if you're saved. If you continue to fight against the authority, it might mean that you're probably not even saved. Because normal people, when they hate the authority or they don't like the authority, they just go somewhere else and live a peaceable life somewhere else. Okay? Go to 1 John chapter two, if you would. 1 John chapter two. I'll be shorter tonight, because I went pretty long this morning. But I should not say that. Because every time I say that, I end up preaching longer than what's expected. So what would make me doubt someone's salvation when they despise my authority, when they despise any authority for that matter? Okay? Now, there's some authorities that we despise, but that's because they're false prophets. But you know what we don't do? We don't spend every single Sunday, every single hour of our day, just talking about, I don't know, Joel Holstein or something, or Rick Warren. Because we got better things to do with our time. We're serving the Lord, amen? Whereas these people, they literally make it their full-time job to speak evil of dignities, okay? And you know, in a church like this, there might be someone like that. I don't think so. But there might. I don't think so, though. You say, how will we know? We'll know when they start despising the authority in a perpetual basis, and start trying to sow seeds of rebellion within the local church here, okay? And then we'll nip it in the butt. Number four, what makes me doubt someone's salvation when people display attributes of a false prophet? Now, here's what people will say. How are you gonna call that person a false prophet if they teach the right doctrine? Well, let me ask you this. You know, I think Judas Iscariot probably taught the right doctrine. Right? What made him a false prophet? Or what validated that he was a false prophet? Because he, first of all, stole money, right? Now look, folks, Christians steal money sometimes. Or they steal, should I say. Christians lie, they steal, they even commit adultery, they fornicate. Judas Iscariot, on the other hand, was a leader who was stealing money. That's a whole new level. So when you have leaders that are stealing, you know, church finances, at this point, then, you know, you would probably think, I don't know if this person's saved. Because you have to be a pretty devious, wicked person to steal from the church. Okay? Look at 1 John chapter two, verse 18. Little children, it is the last time, as ye have heard, that the antichrist shall come. Even now are there many antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would have no doubt continued with us. But they went out, that they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us. Obviously, he's referring to Judas Iscariot, okay? Now here's the thing. If a church member is, you know, caught stealing, not in the church, but just stealing in general, we wouldn't say that person's not saved. Because that's like a work of the flesh. But when you have a pastor or some sort of leader who's doing those things, at that time, at that point, there would be cause for concern. Okay? Now look, folks, you say, give me an example. I'm itching for an example, okay? Well, you know, people have recently have accused my friend, Pastor Thompson, for stealing money, believe it or not, which is completely ridiculous. And the reason it's ridiculous is because his bozo failure of an evangelist, you know, pulled up these bank statements about him or whatever, and look, he's buying himself coffee with a church card or something. And he considers that like stealing or something, you know? He's buying, by the way, they're accusing him of eating like 100, I don't know, $180 worth of food every day or something like that. It's something ridiculous. And they're trying to bring a railing accusation against him because, you know, he uses the church card to buy coffee or buy himself lunch or something. Now let me just say this, okay? Let me make myself very clear. If a church member were to come to me, if I bought a meal, let's say for example, I bought a meal using the church card, okay, because I'm working here or whatever, and someone came up to me and was like, did you use the church money to buy that? I'd be like, yup. That's what I would do. No shame. Because there's the thing, you know, a normal church member would not have a problem with that at all. I've had church members who are just like, pastor, take care of yourself, do whatever you gotta do. Because normal people who love their pastor, they're just like, go get yourself a coffee or go do, you don't, do what you gotta do. Provide for yourself, get it if you need it. They don't have a problem with that. It's wicked people who have a problem with you getting a coffee. And let me just say this. The reason they have a problem with this is because they're projecting something that they're guilty of, okay. You see, it's not an issue for me to go get a coffee because I'm doing work at the church or for whatever reason, okay. You know, if Ulysses and I are doing some sort of live stream, we're hooking up the live stream, we're doing a podcast, the Olive Crown, I'm teaching the word of God here on an off day, you know, we might go get something to eat for dinner. Because we're working here. The problem is this, man ushers, if you can bring that offering into my office real quick and I just bag everything and take it myself, then we have an issue. And look folks, you know, here at First Works Baptist Church we have a very, very strict financial policy. It's very strict and it gets stricter by the year. You know, I'm always getting with the head ushers and saying we need to tighten up the screws and let's put more accountability, let's create a better system, because it's just good to do, amen. Because we don't want to be accused of anything wrong. But here's the thing is, if you were to come to me and say well let me see the bank statements, you know what I would tell you if you asked me to see the bank statements? I just said just get out. The bank statement's out that door, you make a right and you just keep walking, eventually you'll find something. So why would you do that? Because a person who's asking for those things is often doing it, and even if you provide proof that you're not doing anything illegal, they're still gonna not like you. They're still not gonna trust you. So I'd just rather have the last laugh and just kick them out. Are you spending all the church money? Yup. I spend everything. On what? Like the bills? How you liking that hymn book? How you liking those birthday breakfasts every month? How you liking the new seats? Not all cramped up in there. Right? Hey how you like that AC cranking during summer? The ladies are like not me, but you know. Things need to get paid for folks. And look, if they told me that, are you spending all, I'd say I spend everything. I even pay myself. And if you have a problem with it, go get the IRS then. Because here's the thing, the truth fears no investigation. Go call the IRS. We were trying to put this system to work. We have systems in place. We save receipts. We put everything on an Excel spreadsheet. I never touch the money. Everything's set in place. So you know what, I'll just give them a smart alec answer just to piss them off. Are you saying you take, I take the money, yeah, and I spend it. Absolutely. We buy like cameras and stuff. We buy podcast equipment to get the word of God out there even more. Sometimes we'll buy instruments. We're gonna get more song books. We're gonna buy food. Hey when visitors come to church, sometimes I take them out to eat on the church's account. I'll take them to Raising Cane's and I'll buy, I'll even buy myself a meal. How dare you? These are the holier than thou's people who despise the minion. And it's always these failure of evangelists that have a problem. These failed evangelists who just suck at being an evangelist. It's like Nesbeck's thing is just turn on the pastor. You know? And you know what? These failed evangelists, they couldn't provide proof of what they're spending the money on. We could. Yeah, we saw it, it's a Starbucks. Yeah, but at least I got proof that I spent it on Starbucks. Hello? At least there's proof that they purchased food with it. Whereas there's no proof of what you've done with the finances. Adam, Fanon? Hookers and Blow? How could you make a regular, well you know, I don't know, your leader spent money on Hookers and Blow and how do we know that you didn't? There's no record of it. So that would cause me to question someone's salvation. If you're a leader who's stealing money, well didn't you just say you'd spend the money? Yeah, but you can check the records if you wanted. If you really wanted to, if you're sincerely like, I want to check the records, I say, Ulysses, go pull these statements up so they can see. We have everything recorded. Everything is recorded. We purchase something, I get the receipt, Kobe, throw it right to you, Ulysses. He records it on the Excel spreadsheet, everything is accounted for. Everything. You said, do you turn in the money? Not anymore, I got an employee to do that now. He said, well how do you know he's not stealing? Well if he is, he's about to be arrested. We'll find out sooner or later. I'm not really worried about that. So you're not worried about people stealing? No, I'm not. Because if they are, because we're doing things honestly here, you can try to bring whatever railing accusation you want, there's checks and balances here, and I'm not worried about that. You know, I remember I was working for Pastor Anderson and he gave me a church card. He said, use it for whatever you need at the church, whatever, you know? And he's like, people, they get worried about that stuff sometimes. I'm like, really? He's like, yeah. He's like, they worry that they're gonna use the card to like, buy a bunch of stuff and steal money. He's like, but if they steal it, I'll just call the cops on them and that's it. I mean, isn't that an easy solution? There you go! But you know, the ones that you should really worry about is those who don't have any bank statements at all. There's no ledgers available. What'd you spend your money? Oh, you know, this and that. Well, do you have proof of that? No. Where are the receipts? Don't have any. Where are the ledgers? I don't have any. So who am I supposed to trust? How do we know? What'd you do with the money? Right? That would cause me to say, hmm, got a Judas Iscariot here. Got some of my, they might be stealing the money here. I think you're a Judas Iscariot. Then go call the IRS. It's just like these reprobates are like, you bombed your building! Well, you know what? Then go call the police, because there's a $25,000 reward for the person who turns in, the person who bombed the church. Turn me in and collect that money! But you know why it's never been done? Because it's not true. And they're bluffing. I call their bluff all, I'm calling your bluff right now! Because when you do things honestly, you don't have nothing to worry about. What they're doing is they're projecting so they get the attention off of their illegal transactions onto someone who's actually honest. Oh, he's the one! He's the one as they're pocketing it into their own account or whatever. It's always these failed evangelists, I tell you. Oh, by the way, these same guys wanna accuse me, oh, by the way, Pastor Mahir is a false prophet too. That's what they said, they said I'm a false prophet. In fact, when our church got bombed, Pastor Thompson, you know, he got with his churches, and he was like, hey, pray for Pastor Mahir in First Works Baptist Church, because they were bombed. The wife of this false prophet, this Judas Iscariot, was like, why would I pray for a false prophet? They're in the bombing, folks. They believe I was a false prophet, but what are they doing? They're just projecting what they are. If I'm a false prophet, expose me to see what you got. Because the truth fears no investigation. And the Bible says you can do nothing against the truth before the truth. Go to Hebrews 12, and we're done. I told you I was probably gonna go short, but I ended up going a little longer. That would cause me to doubt someone's salvation. If a church leader, evangelist, deacon, pastor, apostle, right, is stealing, by the way, most apostles today are stealing money, I'll just let you know that, I'll just let you know that. You know, if they're stealing money, I would question their salvation. I'd question Adam Fannin's salvation. I don't think that guy's saved. I would say that person's probably not saved. I don't like you saying that, I like Adam Fannin. Then get out of this church and go to a place where they preach crappy then. Go to Florida. Number five. What would cause me to doubt someone's salvation when people willfully sin with no punishment from God? Now let me just make something very clear. Obviously, if someone is out of church and they're involved in sin, I don't think it's really our job to scrutinize every aspect of their life to see, oh man, are they being chastised? Because you don't really know. You don't know what people are going through when they're out there. And sometimes people, when you talk to them, even if they're backslidden, they'll put up a front. Everything's going great, everything's going good. But in actuality, God is just whooping them. And there's not really a way to gauge this other than if they come and it just looks like everything's just hunky-dory with them, everything's just going great and they're succeeding, they're going forward without the Lord. I would say maybe that person was never even saved to begin with. Say, well, where's your proof? Look at Hebrews 12, verse four. Ye have not resisted unto blood striving against sin, and ye have forgotten that exhortation would speaketh unto you as unto children. My son despiseth not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him, for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. He's like, if you don't have any chastisement in your life, he goes, then you're probably a bastard. You're not a son of God, okay? And so, you know, that would cause me to doubt. You know, if someone comes, if they're backslitting, but they come to church, and it's just, they're succeeding, they're happy, everything's going great in their life, I'd be like, man, but they're smoking pot, and partying, and fornicating, and doing all these wicked things, but they're not being punished for it? You know, that would be cause for concern there. I don't know if this person's really saved or not, because I think you could attest to this, and I could attest to this, when we weren't right with God, if there's times when we weren't right with God, we were chastised of the Lord. You said, what does that chastisement look like? Well, it varies for different people. Some who are just deeply into sin, God can chastise them by using the consequences of their sin. Or, the most common one, in my opinion, is inner turmoil. And that's a chastisement in and of itself. The inner turmoil of knowing you're not right with God, the inner turmoil of not being able to enjoy sin, the inner turmoil of knowing, man, I'm just living in disobedience, and God can destroy me at any moment. That sucks. To think that it was just like, man, I wonder if today's the day where God just kills me or something. That's a horrible way to live. Think about that. I mean, so don't envy anybody who's out there. Oh, man, these Christians are out there doing whatever. Folks, they're living in fear. Because they don't know what corner they might turn where a car just might hit them or something. Because they don't know how far that mercy has been extended unto them. You say, well, how long can I sin before God punishes me? I don't know. You wanna find out? Because it might be shorter for you than it is for someone else. And sorry, we didn't come with this manual that said, oh, great, Bruce Mejia, you get about 75% mercy. And as soon as you just make sure you don't surpass that 75%, you'll be good to go. No, we don't know. Obviously, because I'm a pastor, it's more severe for me. If I backslide, I do something wicked, God will punish me worse if he punishes you because I'm held to a higher standard. But folks, you're still held to a high standard because you're a son of God. You're a child of God and if you're in this church where the Bible's being preached and the truth is being told and you know what the Bible says about it, to whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required. So when you know better and you willfully sin, guess what, you don't know when God's mercy will run out and God has to chastise you to get you back. Well, you know, I think I could take it. Yeah, but here's the thing is that God knows how to hit you where it hurts. You know, he can hit you where it's just like you're rebooting or something. You're just like, well, that hurt. Well, that was painful. And don't try to guess and estimate what the punishment will be. Well, I think I can take, you know, whatever, you know, X, Y, and Z, I think I could take that as if like you're gonna outsmart God or something. God will hit you where it hurts. He'll hit you where you will meditate upon that action. And you know what God is able to do? He's able to chastise you in such a way that you'll know that it was him. I've been chastised before, it's just like, that was God. That was not some coincidence. And it's just like, I'm sorry, God. So I haven't gotten to that point. It looks like God's mercy's still extending. But I will say this, if you've experienced God's mercy and you've never experienced severe punishment and you just know God's being merciful to you, that probably means that once you surpass that boundary of mercy, your punishment's gonna be bad. Because it's like God extended grace and mercy to you for so long. Then it's just like, okay, maybe that is not working then. Maybe I just need to punish you and humble you to bring you to where you need to be. But it would cause, I would doubt someone's salvation if I talked to a person and you're just like, no, I'm a millionaire now. I got yachts and helipads and I've been working with these Jews and we're just like, man, it's just like, making all kinds of illegal transactions and stuff, I still believe in God though. Still believe in God. But I believe this is what God wants from my life. You know, at that point I was like, this person's probably not even safe. Because God wouldn't allow that. God would chastise you for your disobedience. You understand? And so, what's the sermon today? Don't let people, and by the way, this is not me deputizing you to just go and question everyone's salvation. I'm just giving you the biblical reasons why we should. And not just say, well, they give the right doctrine, they say they believe that salvation is by grace through faith and therefore there's, but you know, they're just stealing money or committing adultery with every woman in the church or something like that. Which that's happened before. In independent fundamental Baptist churches, okay? You know, Dave Hiles, Jack Hiles' son, was guilty of that. Okay, and so what I'm saying is, you know, there are reasons why we should question and say, I don't know about that person, you know? And not just give every Tom, Dick, and Harry a free pass just because they paid lip service, okay? Now for the most part, if someone says they believe it's by grace through faith, but yet they're out sinning or doing whatever, you know, they're probably still saved. Because a lot of the times, especially in regards to this last point, you know, they're not being punished because they don't even know that what they're doing is wrong. They don't really, they haven't gotten preaching, they haven't gotten Bible teaching to teach them that that's wrong, so God's mercy has extended to them. And in a sense, he's winking at that because they don't know any better, you understand? And so, these are the reasons, and I believe they're biblical valid reasons, amen? Inspire your heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, and Lord, thank you so much for the spirit of truth that helps us to discern, and of course this is necessary even when we're out soul winning. And obviously, if we run into a person who thinks they're saved and they're not because they're trusting in something else, we should, in meekness, in fearfulness, in kindness, let them know that they're wrong, but in a meek way, obviously. We don't want to offend them, we want them to be saved. But also, help us to understand that sometimes people in church, there's people, infiltrators, false prophets, people who may not even teach a false doctrine, but they're involved in very questionable acts that would cause us to doubt. And there's a reason for that. And I pray, God, that you continue to give us discernment. We love you so much and we thank you. I pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. ["So Little Time"] Please turn your songbooks to song number 396. Song number 396, So Little Time. Song number 396, all together on that first verse. So little time, the harvest will be over. Our reaping done, we reapers taken home. Reach forth our work to Jesus, Lord of Harvests. And hope He'll smile and that He'll say, well done. Today we reap, or miss our golden harvest. Today it's given us lost souls to win. Oh, then to save some dear ones from the burning. Today we'll go to bring some sinner in. How many times I should have strongly pleaded. How often did I feel too strictly worn. The Spirit blew, oh, that I bled for Jesus. The grain is called and lost ones not reborn. Today we reap, or miss our golden harvest. Today it's given us lost souls to win. Oh, then to save some dear ones from the burning. Today we'll go to bring some sinner in. Despite the heap, the ceaseless, or the hardship. The broken heart, or those we cannot win. Misunderstood, because we're off peculiar. Still no regrets, we'll have but for our sin. Today we reap, or miss our golden harvest. Today it's given us lost souls to win. Oh, then to save some dear ones from the burning. Today we'll go to bring some sinner in. A day of pleasure, or a feast of friendship. A house, or car, or garment spare, or fame. We'll all be trashed when souls are brought to heaven. And in how sad to face the slacker's blame. Today we reap, or miss our golden harvest. Today it's given us lost souls to win. Oh, then to save some dear ones from the burning. Today we'll go to bring some sinner in. To bring some sinner in. The harvest blind, with reapers filled with wasting. And many souls will die and never know. The love of Christ, the joy of sins forgiven. Oh, let us reap, and love and pray and go. Today we reap, or miss our golden harvest. Today it's given us lost souls to win. Oh, then to save some dear ones from the burning. Today we'll go to bring some sinner in. Amen. Wonderful singing. You are dismissed. You are dismissed. Copyright © 2020, New Thinking Allowed Foundation