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Thank you. Thank you. You Well, good morning everyone welcome to Mountain Baptist Church take your song books and turn the song 413 song 413 we'll sing stand up stand up for Jesus. And of course, we'll stand while we're seeing while we sing song 413 Stand up stand up for Jesus ye soldiers of the cross If Ty is royal banner It must not suffer loss from victory unto victory His army shall he lead till every foe is vanquished and Christ is Lord indeed stand up stand up for Jesus the trumpet obey forth to the mighty Conflict in this his glorious day Ye that our men now serve him against a numbered foes let courage rise with danger and strength to strength oppose Stand up stand up for Jesus stand in his strength alone The arm of flesh will fail you ye dare not trust your own Put on the gospel Armor and watching unto prayer Where Duty calls or danger be never Wanting there All right, let's pray Heavenly Father Lord. We just want to thank you God for just another Sunday God that we can come to Mountain Baptist Church and hear your word preach God I pray Lord that you would just receive all the honor and glory out of everything that's said and done Lord I pray Lord for the soul winning in the afternoon that follows the morning service I pray Lord that you would help us to see many souls saved again for your honor and glory in Jesus name We ask all of it. Amen. All right, you may be seated and Just turn one page back to song 412 song 412 We'll sing onward Christian soldiers Actually, I can't remember how the song goes Okay Okay, okay song 412 Maybe okay Onward Christian soldiers Marching as to war With the cross of Jesus Going on before Christ the royal master Leads against the foe Forward into battle See his banner go Onward Christian soldiers Marching as to war With the cross of Jesus Going on before At the sign of triumph Satan's host doth flee on then Christian soldiers On to victory Hell's Foundations quiver at the shout of praise Brothers lift your voices loud your anthems raise Onward Christian soldiers Marching as to war With the cross of Jesus Going on before Like a mighty army moves the Church of God Brothers we are treading where the Saints have trod We are not Divided all one body we In hope and doctrine one in charity Onward Christian soldiers Marching as to war With the cross of Jesus Going on before Onward then ye people Join our happy throng Billin your your voices in the triumph song Glory Lord and honor On to Christ the King This through countless ages Man and angel see Onward Christian soldiers Marching as to war With the cross of Jesus Going on before Amen welcome The Mount Baptist Church on this Sunday morning and just some announcements here first of all I just want to thank everybody for the prayers and thoughts and all that for my grandmother's funeral but we actually Just received some tragic news on Holly's uncle that passed away tragically actually a couple dates Well, was it a not last at the night before last? so Got hit by a car he lived out and in Oregon, right? So just be in prayer for Holly's family Because that's obviously unexpected Because she already has an uncle that has like stage four cancer. So they were kind of expecting to hear something like that But so anyway, I really do appreciate the prayers everything went well yesterday It's sad, but obviously I know my grandma's saved and in heaven and and all that so Got to get some King James Bible verses set in a Catholic Church So, you know, that's always fun with a Catholic priest sitting behind you but so anyway But yeah, so that all went well and everything yesterday And then upcoming events here just happy new year. Obviously. I didn't get to see everybody at the Party we had but we had a good time I'm gonna need brother Luke to come up for an illustration later on Actually, I forgot it. I forgot the hat and everything So I'm like I was I was actually joking. I was like brother Luke may not come back Because literally the first thing the first day the new year It's just this whole stream of like pictures of Luke looking like Blippi and like all this stuff and then brother Dave And then so I'm like that they may not come back. I mean we may push them away But but in all honesty happy new year, I'm excited for the new year as you can see on the on the the soul winning there So we counted the way we did this is a little different this this week because the new year started on Friday So we're counting all the Salvations up till you know Thursday So some of these Salvations on here were from this past week, which we usually count today So the way we're gonna do it is we're only gonna count from Friday to today this week You know to kind of go into the new year just so that the numbers are 20 20 20 21 So as you can see there for 2020 we had 324 Salvations and five baptism. So praise the Lord for that Like I said, we didn't break 200 the last two years. We were closed We'd always be like right on the cusp of that but this year blew that out of the water, so So 400 next year, but now obviously we want to keep going up as much as possible And it's not these numbers are our people and so, you know, we don't just look at it as a number But here's the thing. I'd rather have 324 than just one So or I'd rather have 324 than 323 So but keep up the good work with the soul winning Just a great year for that. So if anybody says that 2020 was horrible We sell more saved. So I'll take that And then just everything this year is really the same as far as all our service times all that stuff that's going on there We are jumping into 2nd Timothy chapter 3 This is a great passage, by the way You know, this is where you have the ever learning never able to come to the knowledge of truth and you know The reprobate concerning the faith dealing with that then it also gets into the fact that yea and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus South suffer persecution all scripture is given by inspiration of God and his problem for doctrine for Reprove for correction for instruction and righteousness that the man of God may be perfect through the furnished unto all good works And that's just some of that chapter actually, you know chapters not that long, but there's a lot in there. So You know, it's a good chapter to have memorized And the whole book is good to have memorized Verse Roman chapter 4 and verse 5 is our memory verse I know we've had this before but it's a good verse to have but the him that worketh not But believeth on him that justified the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness great soul winning verse and so Yeah, so that's our memory verses there. We have the men's prayer meeting coming up on my birthday. Really? So that's fine. So January 29th Is the prayer meeting? And then February 6th is the women's prayer meeting on there and so Right now we don't really have any other events that are scheduled As far as so many events and stuff like that But we'll be getting into that and get that stuff on the schedule as we go through the year here And and obviously we that stuff up in Wheeling I think we're gonna try to make that a pretty regular thing while we're going up to Wheeling and going into those little small towns Or in the Moundsville and stuff like that But you just got to get that kind of scheduled and all that so But I'm also just kind of feeling out how everything's going right now with You know Like it's stuff gonna be shut down. Is this gonna happen? You know, how easy is it gonna be? You know all that so we'll just kind of wait and see how that stuff pans out there and then We have brother Luke's birthday yesterday Are you are you the same age as me or you? 35 so you're a year younger, but you are born in January. So you got that going for you So yeah, so we got some January birthdays on here and then Is is that well Abby's not here but would that be this week the eighth Friday yeah I Bit her next time So so three good people on here That have birthdays and we have one of the best cakes ever. You know, it's a fun fetti cake over there. And so But but thanks for miss Ruth for making for the making the birthday cakes at the beginning of the month there But that's pretty much what I got for announcements right now. I can't think of anything else. That's really Pertinent right now, but just being a prayer for those that maybe aren't still feeling well, you know Their sickness is going around all that fun stuff and people traveling But excited for the new year and but they's gonna come up and sing one more song Brother Levi you gonna be reading Romans 4 for us, okay All right turn in your song bus to song 410 song 410 and we'll sing faith is the victory But right after we sing happy birthday to Blippi, I mean Luke and It's not going away brother All right, so sing happy birthday you want to stand up Luke Okay All right We'll sing happy birthday to and we're saying god bless you ready Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you Happy birthday God bless you Happy birthday to you I regret the brother Alright, and we will sing song Four hundred and ten faith is the victory Encamped along the hills of light she Christian soldiers rise and press the battle air the night shall veil the glowing skies against the foe in veils below let all our strength be hurled faith is the Victory we know That overcomes the world Faith is the victory Faith is the victory Oh glorious victory That overcomes the world His banner over us is love our sword the word of God We tread the road the Saints above with shouts of triumph trod By faith they like a whirlwinds breath swept on or every field The faith by which they conquered death Is still our shining shield? Faith is the victory Faith is the victory Oh glorious victory That overcomes the world on every hand the foal we find drawn up in dread array Let tents of ease be left behind and onward to the fray salvation's helmet on each head with truth on curd about the earth shall tremble neath our tread and echo with our shout There's the victory Faith is the victory Oh glorious victory That overcomes the world to him that overcomes the full white raiment shall be give Before the angels he shall know his name confessed in have Then onward from the hills of light our hearts will love a flame Will vanquish all the hosts of night and Jesus conquering name Faith is the victory Faith is the victory Oh glorious victory That overcomes the world All right If you would take your Bibles and turn to Romans chapter before the Romans chapter 4 will have brother Levi read that for us All right, Romans chapter 4 What shall we say then that Abraham our father is pertaining to the flesh hath found for if Abraham were justified by works He hath where of the glory but not before God for what saith the scripture Abraham believed God And it was counted unto him for righteousness now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness Even as David also described with the blessings to the man unto whom God imputes righteousness without works Saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin Come with this blesses and blessedness then upon the circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision Also for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness How is it then reckoned when he was in circumcision or an uncircumcision not in circumcision but an uncircumcision and he received the sign? Of circumcision a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised That he might be the father of all them that believed though They be not circumcised that righteousness might be imputed unto them Also and the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham Which he had being yet uncircumcised For the promise that he should be heir of the world was not to Abraham or to accede through the law but through the righteousness of faith For if they which are of the law be heirs faith is made void and the promise made of none effect Because the law worketh wrath for the where there is no law. There is no transgression Therefore is a it is a faith that it might be by grace to the end that the promise might be sure to all the Seed not to that only which is of the law but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham Who is the father of us all as it is written? I have made the father of many nations before him who he believed even God are Who quicketh the dead and call those things which be not as though they were Who against hope believed in hope that we might become the father that he might become the father of many nations According to that which was spoken so shall thy seed be and being not weak in faith He considered not his own body now dead when he was about a hundred years old neither the deadness of Sarah's womb He staggered not the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to God and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform and Therefore is imputed unto him for righteousness Not now it was not written for his sake alone that was imputed to him But for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead Who is delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. Let's pray God. Thank you for this wonderful passage God, I just pray that you would help pastor as he preaches it and expounds it to us Pray that we would learn something today And we pray that everything we do and say would be glorious to your name and we pray all these things in Jesus name Amen I didn't know any better brother. I'd say you have that passage memorized Actually, it's a good passage I think a lot of people have memorized it through here has memorized Romans 4 because I know that a lot of the ladies did I guess I was a little while back a few years a couple years or whatever But Romans 4 is a great Soul winning passage. I recommend memorizing that that passage even if you don't do the whole book of Romans Romans 4 is a great one here So the name of the sermon this morning is the faith of our father Abraham the faith of our father Abraham and I really want to get into this because It really just shows you this chapter right here shows you exactly What Abraham believed and exactly what we need to believe, okay, and This is a great passage because you know what you know, what's great about this is that this is pre Old Testament and New Testament You know, this is this is like the beginning if you were to think about Because they'd be like, well, that's what he believed in the Old Testament It's like well, no, this is before the Old Testament or this is New Testament Well, no Abraham wasn't in the New Testament, right? And so this passage Destroys dispensationalism destroys work salvation destroys Zionism like this passage is kryptonite to a lot of these false doctrines But go to verse 1 there it says what shall we say then? That Abraham our father as pertaining to the flesh hath found for if Abraham were justified by works He hath wear of the glory but not before God for what set the scripture Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him For righteousness, okay now What I'm gonna prove to you too, is that? Obviously Paul's writing this, you know writing this epistle. And so obviously he's physically a child of Abraham, right? He's like of the tribe of Benjamin. Okay, so he's obviously Physically he could say like hey, that's my lineage, right? But I'm gonna show you here First of all, by the way, we're all of Abraham anyway, because physically speaking because it's almost a statistical Impossibility for that not to be the case when you go back that many generations that you're not gonna have some Abraham blood in you Somewhere that's like saying you're not gonna have some Shem. Yeah, these people are like you're an anti-semite We're all semi it's you big dumb animal, you know Like the thing is so ridiculous to think that three men Shem Ham and Japheth somehow Shem is just Jews Right. That's what we're supposed to believe It's utter stupidity now Go to Genesis chapter 15 because I want you to see it says as it is written, I'm sorry It says for the scripture Seth, right or for what set the scripture It says Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Well, let's see where that's quoted from Genesis chapter 15 and verse 6 Genesis 15 verse 6, but I want you to keep a finger obviously in Romans 4 So This sermon is all about Abraham and how it pertains to us Okay now in Genesis 15, which by the way, I want you to know that you're getting pretty far back in the Bible there I mean, you're just 15 chapters into the Bible and Here's what the Bible says in order to have righteousness in order to be righteous It's by faith Okay, now in verse 6 there it says and he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness Now we're gonna get back to that a little bit later But I want you to see that that's where that's quoted. Okay, Genesis 15 not Genesis 17 not Genesis 22 Okay, and you say what are you talking about? I'll get to that because He'd already believed Before circumcision He'd already believed before he offered up Isaac and it was already counted unto him for righteousness before all those things Okay. Now Romans 4 is gonna nail that into the coffin but first I want you to notice this that what Abraham believed and How he got saved is not just for him alone Okay, because that's what people want you to think they want to think well, that's just a special case, you know, Noah You know, he found grace in the eyes of the Lord, but that wasn't the dispensation of grace. So therefore it is an exception Okay Well, it's funny because when people say they're like well Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness And it wasn't by works for Abraham. It wasn't by works for David, but everybody else it was Okay, it's funny because Romans 4 notice what it says in verse 23 Now it was not written for his sake alone now How can you go away? Thinking that this is a special case When it literally says it's not a special case, right? I mean it is literally saying the opposite of that He says now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him. What righteousness It says but for us also To whom it shall be imputed if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead He was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification So guess what it's the same thing what Abraham believed is the same thing we believe and I'm gonna prove that to you Without a shadow of a doubt. You're like you guys preach your own security He didn't believe it. I'm gonna prove to you that Abraham believed in eternal security and that's necessary for salvation now When it when it comes down to this, I want you to first see that Abraham is the model Okay, if you're gonna say well, who should I look to for what you know? You know saving faith if you will right now I use that facetiously right because it never says saving faith. Listen, you either have faith or you don't okay now But Abraham is the model. Okay, if you want to say, okay, who should I look to for what I need to believe to be saved Abraham's the model and This chapter is really showing you that model now go back to verse 9 there. And like I said When did it say that he believed in the Lord? Genesis 15 now, I don't I actually believe he believed before that but just for sake of argument, okay You know, it has to be Genesis 15 comes before 17 and it comes before 22 and And the reason I say 17 is because that's where circumcision started Okay chapter 17 and for sake of time. I'm not going to go there. But Genesis chapter 17 is where God is making a covenant with him of circumcision and He circumcises himself his son Isaac I'm sorry Ishmael, right? So here's some Bible trivia Abraham was 99 years old when he got circumcised Ishmael was 13 and then on the 8th day Isaac was circumcised Okay, and so that being said You know circumcision didn't even come until chapter 17 And I've done a sermon on this where I show you the time lapse. I mean you're dealing with years between this Okay between Genesis 15 and Genesis 17. We're not talking like the next day Okay, we're talking years now in Verse 9 there. It says cometh his blessedness then upon the circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness So the point that he's making here is that is this only for the Jews? Is this only for those that are circumcised or is it for the uncircumcision also and he's basis any stating? Hey, we know that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness Notice in verse 10, how was it then reckoned When he was in circumcision or a non circumcision Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision, so it's very clear And by the way that matches up with what the Bible teaches right Genesis 15 It says he believed in the Lord is counted in for righteousness chapter 17. He was circumcised So obviously he was uncircumcised when righteousness was imputed unto him by faith I don't think that was by accident Okay, I think God did that on purpose that he mentioned that that Abraham believed God and and here's the thing. I think that We're gonna see why it's afterwards because circumcision is just a seal It's a sign of the faith that he already had now this in verse 11 It says and he received the sign of circumcision a seal of the righteousness of the faith, which he had yet being uncircumcised Can it be any more clear that it was not in circumcision that he received righteousness It was when he was uncircumcised in the faith that he had yet being uncircumcised Can anyone say that Abraham didn't believe in the Lord before chapter 17? Could you say that with a straight face without just denying the whole Bible now keep reading there It says that he might be the father of all them that believe though They be not circumcised that righteous might be imputed unto them Also in the father of circumcision to them who are not the circumcision only But who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised It says it twice my friends. Not only does it say that nay not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision twice It says that he had the faith when he's yet uncircumcised Point blank, there's no way to get around it. That's the way it is He's basically saying that he's the father of circumcision Now for the longest time, you know, I guess it's just one of those things that you hear It says that Abraham is the father of faith. Have you ever heard that? I don't know if anybody's ever heard that but I've heard that before that's not what the Bible teaches That's not what it says. Okay, so something similar to that We'll see here that he's the father of circumcision and he's the father of all them that believe Okay, and I'm gonna explain that but you say what why is he the father of circumcision? He's the literally the first person to do it. Okay, he's the one to institute circumcision And the Old Testament incorporated that, right? So like when you go into Old Testament it says, okay You need to be circumcised in order to keep the Passover and it was incorporated into the Old Testament But that was not a law of Moses that he brought forth Okay, Moses was not the father of circumcision nor was the Old Testament the father of circumcision Abraham was. Okay, and it was for an everlasting covenant and it obviously is a picture of the circumcision of the heart And if you want to think about well, how does this apply in the New Testament? it's just like baptism baptism is a picture or a sign of a seal of the faith you already have and You already had the faith being yet un-baptized, you know, you can say the same thing when you're dealing with baptism Okay, now go to go to Romans chapter 4 and verse 4. Okay. So the first thing is what does it mean to believe? Okay, and this is where people You know, they just get in there to like well when it means believe it means you need to repent your sins so where you need to Obey all the commandments and and all this stuff and they'll literally just insert whatever they want But this passage if you don't understand what it means to believe After this passage right here. I don't know what to tell you. Okay, because it defines it to the T. Okay So the great thing about this passage is this You could have just put Abraham believed God and was imputed unto him for righteousness and would be like, okay great It's the same as you know for God's to love the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him Should not perish but have everlasting life and you just have the fact that we're believing we have everlasting life We're believing we have righteousness imputed unto us right? It's by faith. No mention of works Oh, no, this passage not only says it's by faith It's making it very clear that has nothing to do with works At all. Okay. Notice what it says in verse Four it says now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of death So we see here that him that works It's not it's not reckoned of grace. It's not something that's reckoned with grace Okay, it says but of death but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly His faith is counted for righteousness. This is literally saying that if someone doesn't work at all Okay, I'm not talking about just working your job I'm talking about working the works of the law the deeds of the law and If they don't work at all him that worketh not but believeth on him to justify the ungodly His faith is counted for righteousness You know what this is saying is that if someone doesn't do anything that the Bible says as far as any commandments But he believes on Christ he has salvation But if this person over here is trying to keep all these commandments But then he's saying he's believing on Christ. He's not going Okay, because that's a reward not reckoned of grace but of debt that means that God owes you something okay if it's it listen if Abraham were justified by works for salvation. He hath where of the glory before before but where of the glory but not before God Okay, and that's why for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves It is the gift of God not of works. Why lest any man should boast Because if you got to heaven and it had anything to do with any of your works you could boast You're like I wouldn't boast you could boast and people would boast And you say well, where's the sermon I already had this sermon on my mind anyway But I was also sitting in a Catholic Church At a funeral where a priest, you know, I got up and I was obviously of Romans I was I was John 5 24 you know and First John 5 13 and just getting into the fact that it's just by faith, you know You have everlasting life and it's not by works and all that But then just the whole eulogy, which no one probably pays attention to anyway, you know Like when I know when I went to Catholic Church, I didn't pay attention Okay, because they just get up there and just talk and they're just rambling on but the big thing They kept saying is like we hope that you will bring her into your everlasting table or Everlasting life or that we are praying that you will receive her. No, she already done been received. Okay And this idea of like she's already gone and you're gonna tell me that now we need to you know Hope that she's gonna get into eternal habitations, right? What kind of funeral service is that by the way, you know where the priest is just like, I don't know I mean, that's pretty much what you're saying. You're saying like It's so double-tongued too because they're like, you know, she's gone on to be with the Lord. Well has she or has she not? right Now I know she has so I don't really give a rip what that guy says But the thing is is that well has she or has she not and you're like, I don't know if that's good grammar I don't know if it is either but the thing is is that We know that the Bible says you have everlasting life. You either have it or you don't you either saved you or not It's not this like well, she's she's with the Lord, but she may not be Right because if there's purgatory that's not with the Lord, right? I mean that wouldn't be considered being with the Lord yet Because you got to go through the baby Mary Mediatrix now, I guess And for you don't know that there's like this little statue that was there It looked like a little child Mary or something like that and it says the more you honor me the more you'll be blessed I'm like, I wanted to take a picture but I didn't want to be Disrespective to my grandma, you know, it's my grandma's funeral, but I'm just like I've never seen that it was creepy It was I've seen the the Madonna painting, you know where it's like Mary holding Jesus and it's like, you know You kneel down and light a candle or whatever, but this is another level but that being said it's not by works and Since it's not by works. That's how we know if it was by works. You couldn't know So, you know what? Those the Catholic Church doesn't believe it's by faith alone. And that's why they don't know Okay, but if you don't know then you're not saved Simple as that if you don't know then you're not saved now people can be you bewitched obviously after you get saved But listen, it's gonna be like that that it's gonna come back to mind Because if you if it's not just like oh, yeah, of course then you don't understand it and you don't have the seed abiding in Okay now But then the work is not but believe it on him to justify the ungodly his faith is kind of a righteous notice this Who was that talking about? Abraham Right has the subject changed at any point besides that we're talking about I mean what it says what shall we say that then that Abraham our father as pertaining to the flesh has found The subject is Abraham that means when it says he believed in the Lord or he Abraham believed God and it was and it was imputed on him for righteousness That means that he didn't work, but he believed on God right That is quite you know what it's doing. It's qualifying the statement of what it means to believe Okay. Now let's go further because it says here in verse Verse 6 it says even as David Also describe it the blessedness of the man under whom God imputed righteousness without works You know what that means is that David believed the same thing So now you have Abraham who's pre Old Testament, you know He's literally giving sacrifice or giving his tithes to Melchizedek The high priests right? You have the order of Melchizedek the high priest That's where Abraham's at and it says by faith not by works But the hymn that believeth not but believe it or but the hymn that worketh not I'm sorry But the hymn that worketh not but believeth on him to justify the ungodly his faith is kind of for righteous It says even as David also describe it the blessedness of the man of the whom God imputed the righteous is without works and Then he it's quoting off Psalm 32 here It says saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin Now in Psalm 32, you'll have a little extra there where it says and whose spirit is no guile You know what? That means the inner man of being sinless Whoso is born of God doth not commit sin for a seed remaineth in him. He cannot sin I'm sorry the seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he's born of God You know that that applied before the New Testament You say how do you know that born again didn't apply before the New Testament because Jesus said to Nicodemus Art thou a master of Israel and knowest not these things when he says except the man be born again He cannot see the kingdom of God by the way Old Testament Because Jesus hadn't died yet And he's rebuking Nicodemus saying you should have known this So nothing's changed. It's actually been the same all the way through. Okay, and Notice that you know, it says will not impute sin that's future tense That's Saying that if you believe on Christ He will not impute sin sounds familiar to shall not come into condemnation Shall never die shall live forever Shall have everlasting life. Does this any of this sound like I'm wondering whether I'm gonna make it Or does it sound anything like well I need to make sure I do some good works here who could read this passage and think I got to be a good person Right who could read chapter 3 and think I need to be a good person who could read chapter 5 I think I need to be a good person and You know what? They don't answer that they just you know people that believe in work salvation. They cherry-pick certain passages and just negate whole passages Now go to verse 13 there That's what it says here because it's gonna it's gonna explain it in different ways that listen if it's by works Can't be by faith And you know the famous verse which I have written down later on but I'm just gonna go ahead and say it For my it says for if it be it for if it be of grace and is it no more of works Otherwise grace is no more grace That's a great verse, right? Because for by grace are you saved through faith But you know, what's another another great verse I'm going to show you here is that if it's if it's if it's of works It's not a faith Right because faith is how you access the grace because Romans 5 hits that right we have access by faith into this grace Where and we stand right and for by grace are you saved through faith, right? So grace has nothing to do with works. But listen faith has nothing to do with works Notice what it says here or it's void Did you hear me? It's void people that say they believe on Christ, but there's works involved. It's void And I'm not saying that the Bible's saying it notice what it says in verse 13 it says for the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not the Abraham or to his seed through the law But through the righteousness of faith now So what is this talking about now the promises of Abraham and to his seed? I'm gonna be getting a little further into that we're talking about Jesus we're talking about the gift of eternal life. Okay, we're talking about Jesus Who is eternal life that this promise from the foundation of the world was not given to Abraham or to his seed through the law But through faith now keep reading there says for if they which are of the law be heirs get this if They which are of the law be heirs Faith is made void in the promise made of none effect because the law worketh wrath for where no law is there is no transgression That is saying that if people get to heaven by keeping the law Then what does it say faith is made void in? The promise of none effect none Effect that's why it says in in Galatians chapter 5 that if you be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing He shall profit you nothing because it's either by faith or not and if you add circumcision in there Which obviously is touching on here if circumcision has to do with you going to heaven then? Faith is made void promise of none effect Christ shall profit you nothing You are fallen from grace right because why because grace is not by works That's how you're falling from grace. You can't be in grace and be doing works, and you can't be doing works and being grace It's polar opposites now Go to Galatians chapter 3 You want to see a contemporary passage or a parallel passage I guess to Romans 4 is Galatians 3 So we first see what are we seeing here? Believing has nothing to do with works Maybe like well, you know the law of faith that means it's a it's a work it doesn't say the work, you know, but then you say well, there's a What work you know, what's the work of God that you should believe on him whom he had sent? No, that's talking about soul winning Okay, and that's the works that Jesus did You know what the work of God was for Jesus to see people say the seeking to save that which is lost You know the work of God for us to do is to see other people saved So people try to twist things like that and be like well, you know, but faith is really kind of a work Just put the Bible on its head then Okay, let's just negate everything where it says it's not by works. It's by faith But faith is a work That doesn't make any sense. How could you say that? Now in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 10 It says for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse for is written Cursed is everyone that continueth notices not in all things And if you don't mind underlining things in your Bible underline all things Which are written in the book of the law to do them That means that if you don't keep it all If you try to keep it all but you have offended yet in one point you're guilty of all the Bible says Guilty of what the law You offend in one point. I don't care what it is. You're guilty of the law and you're under the curse So unless you fulfill it all which no one can say they have except for Jesus There's none that doeth good, but one that is God There's none to do with good. No, not one For all of sin to come short of the glory of God So anybody to say well, I'm gonna try to be good, you know, I'm gonna try to do it by the law Well, you've already failed So it's not gonna happen But that no man verse 11 But that no man is justified by the law on the side of God it is evidence for the just shall live by faith by the way, that's Habakkuk chapter 2 That it says the just shall live by faith, you know that phrase it is repeated three times in the New Testament and Habakkuk is where that comes from. Do you think that was the only person that ever said it though? I mean if you think about it, like do you think Habakkuk was the only prophet to ever say the just shall live by faith Because the thing is is that there's a lot of things that were spoken by the prophets that weren't written until later Enoch is probably one of the best examples of that. Enoch the seventh from Adam Okay, before the flood he was saying the Lord shall come with ten thousands of the Saints wasn't written until Enoch Not Enoch, don't read that book It wasn't written until Jude That doesn't mean people didn't know it And it wasn't known throughout there. That's why Abraham knew it. That's why David knew it That's why all those that were saved throughout history knew that that it was by faith and not by works This is not a new concept, it's not a New Testament concept And Romans chapter 4 is really putting that in that nail in the coffin that this is not a New Testament concept That it's by faith and not by works I don't know how dispensationalists can look at this passage and say otherwise. I don't know what they can do to try to twist this around besides just basically put earmuffs on and You know just read past it now keep reading there Notice the verse 12 And the law is not of faith You see that? The law is not of faith. What are we talking about? The works of the law. What's the context? For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse But that no man is justified by the law inside of God is evident for the just shall live by faith and the law is Not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them Yeah, do them all and you'll live. That's why Jesus said to the rich young ruler They came to him. Yeah, keep the law and thou shalt live But how did that conversation start? Why callest thou me good? There's none good, but one that is God. That's how the conversation started Okay, so if Jesus is saying to you, there's no one that's good. But yeah, keep the law be good You know be good and you'll and you'll have life It's true that if you kept the whole law and never offended at one point, why would you go to hell, right? For the wages of sin is death But if you never sinned, why would you have the wages of sin, right? You wouldn't have to pay it for it. Now Keep going there. It says Christ hath redeemed us from the law from the curse of the law being made a curse for us for it is written Christ is Our I'm sorry curses everyone that hangeth on a tree that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith not by works Now go back to Romans chapter 3 Romans chapter 3 You're like why are you preaching sermon we all get it we all understand that listen we're starting a new year off, right? We're starting a new year off that Hey, listen, if you ever thought that we that we here at Mountain Baptist Church think that works are involved in salvation at all Then you need to take this sermon and just watch it a couple times Listen works aren't required before salvation works aren't required while you're getting saved works aren't required after you get saved It's all by faith Not by works at all Works are not a fruit of salvation works do not prove that you are saved Works are just completely Separate from salvation in Romans 4 is just putting that in its place that if you don't even work at all By the way, what are the deeds of the law you say? Well, what's work? The works of the law well name off some of those commandments thou shalt have no other gods before me That means if you're not keeping that you have other gods before him thou shalt not make unto the anti graven image or bow down Unto it that means that if you're not working you're bowing down down to the image, right? Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain That means that if you're not working you're taking the name of the Lord thy God in vain Thou shalt not kill thou shalt not commit adultery thou shalt not steal thou shalt not bear false witness thou shalt not covet Or I'm sorry, that's that's not that's a steal. Anyway, you don't get the point. They're all negative Commandments That means if you're not working, you're not keeping those Commandments That means that you are sinning but you're believing and you have everlasting life and righteousness is imputed unto you That's what it means. It's not just saying you didn't help the old lady across the street You didn't give money to the poor No, most of the Commandments are in the Bible or thou shalt not Flee fornication don't do this. It's clearly Commandments of not doing something That means if you're not working you are doing that So it's very clear Salvation is not by works and it's not by not sinning Romans chapter 3 and verse 20 Romans chapter 3 and verse 20 Listen the law isn't sin. It's not that the law is bad. That's what people say He's like, well you're trying to say that you should just go out and sin, you know, shall we sin that grace your bound? It's like have you read Romans? Like you think this is a new concept where people say that we're giving people a license to sin Paul dealt with this And he put it in its place He put it hard in its place because he just gets done in chapter 3 chapter 4 chapter 5 To basically state it's not by works at all. It's by faith. It had nothing to do with what you do It's not by the law at all and just goes through this tour de force and then there then he's like but some will say You know shall we sin that grace may abound shall we continue in sin? And what is the response God forbid? God forbid Does that let me ask you a question when he says God forbid that we that are dead to the law should live any longer They're in does that mean that he's saying it's not possible that you can That's not what he's saying He's saying no, we shouldn't Because every single time he's like no you should walk in newness of life You shouldn't be in sin because if you're in sin, you're the servant of sin and that's not good Okay, and that's what he's getting into now in Romans chapter 3 verse 20 It says this therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in this sight For by the law is the knowledge of sin. How many times can you say you say well, you know, it's not the works It's the deeds Right. I'm telling you people will just get into the minute little semantical arguments be like, well, it's not the works It's the deeds. It's not the deeds. It's the Commandments tomatoes motto deeds works Commandments. What do you what are you talking about? It's all the same thing that we're dealing with here keeping the law and It says that not by these law, by the way, it's not by the works of the law so Roman Romans hits the deeds of the law and Galatians hits the works of the law, but listen, we're talking about the same exact thing. And so notice what it says in verse 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law And You're saying you're being repetitive yeah, I am but you know what I'm not just reading the same verse off to you These are all different verses that I'm showing you and it's just saying it in different ways Okay, and like I said in Romans 11 6 says and if I grace and is it no more works Otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace. Otherwise work is no more work But faith works brother show me that in the Bible Show me that faith will produce works. You can't find it. You're like whoa James chapter 2 I'm gonna get the James chapter 2 but the thing is is that that's not what it says. It does not say that You believe you have righteousness and that means you will do good works no matter what If that's the case then no one's saved And you know what, you know what that means the people that preached at it are the most proud arrogant pompous Morons of preaching a false gospel because they're saying I always produce works It just happened I just produce work I'm a good Christian I'm a new creature like all the time Well, I'm not saying all the time then you then you're double-tongued Because it's either all things are become new or they're not Now in Another way to look notice in Romans chapter 4, so I'm really you say was this a Roman chapter 4 sermon sure Okay, it's been a little while since I went through Romans chapter 4, but you know what? It's a great passage and you know what line upon line. It shows you exactly what Abraham believed It shows you exactly what it means to believe. Okay, so So we see that when it says believe what is it saying but the him that worketh not but believeth So that shows you what believing nothing to do with works. All right, what are you believing in? Okay What is it that you are believing in? Are you just believing that there's a God are you believing that there's one God are you believe Jesus is real? Like what are you believing? What did Abraham believe? Notice what it says in verse 20 It says he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith giving glory to God notice this in verse 21 and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform and therefore Therefore it was imputed unto him for righteousness You know what therefore means it means that's what it's there for. Okay, so Meaning this is that when it says that he was fully persuaded That what he had promised he was able to also to perform. That's what it means by believing Okay, that's not a work by the way We fully persuaded that someone's gonna perform something they promise to you is not a work But that is the definition of when we say believe on the Lord Jesus Christ You know, obviously we have to know who he is. He that come with a guy must believe that he is Right That that's ridiculous. It'd be like well, I'm trusting you do what you told me to do But I don't believe that you're actually who you say you are What? Yeah, that would just be just weird. Okay, so Obviously that that's in there, but we're talking about believing we're talking about trusting We're talking about being fully persuaded that he's actually gonna do what he said he performed you say what's this promise? Well in context here, we're talking about the promise of Isaac. Okay, and Who is Isaac represent the seed who is what Christ? Okay now go to I Just want you to see this go to first John chapter 2 first John chapter 2. I believe the promise is eternal life You say well, I thought it was Jesus. Jesus is eternal life He's the true God and eternal life. Okay He is the light, you know the life of men I am the way the truth and the what the life that no man cometh unto the Father but by me That's what Jesus said now in Titus 1 2 it says in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began so that makes sense when Abraham is getting eternal life back before the Old Testament and Dave is getting eternal life during the Old Testament and Jesus is talking about getting eternal life at the very end of the Old Testament and then everybody in the New Testament saying you get Eternal life by believing, you know that makes sense because he promised it before the world began it's not like this was just a promise to the New Testament and No, so it says in first John 225 it says and this is the promise that he had promised us now Let me ask you this question. I mean how much clearer do you want God to tell you what the promise is? Okay this is the promise That he has promised us, right? even eternal life Okay, so when it says he staggered not At the promise of God right through unbelief but was fully persuaded that what he had promised He was able also to perform and therefore is imputed unto him for righteousness. What was he fully persuaded that? He was able also to perform eternal life And I could show you this six ways of Sunday in other examples And I'm gonna give you one at the end here about what I mean by that But the thing is is that It's very clear that you have to be persuaded that it's eternal Because if you don't you're not believing the record and this is the record that God has given to us eternal life And this life is in his son Right before that it says he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself He that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeth not the record that God gave his son So in order to have the witness in yourself and not to be calling God a liar You got to believe the record and this is the record that God has given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son he that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life You see how it's qualifying that he gives us an eternal life. And by the way, that life is Jesus and by the way These things have a written unto you that believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal Life and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. I Don't remember reading anything about works in there. I don't I don't remember seeing anything about how that was conditional Actually, I believe I think it's very clear that if you think it's conditional if you believe it's conditional you're calling God a liar You're not fully persuaded and that means you don't believe simple as that Now it's not hard right we know that salvation is easy Because children are very easily like yeah, it's just him. They're persuaded But as adults if you're not persuaded on this you're not saved and This is where the rubber meets the road. This is why I'm out soul winning If you're not going through eternal security, you're doing a disservice I'm not saying you're preaching another gospel If you're just going through some verses about how it's a gift and how it's eternal life and you're not explaining that I'm not saying you're preaching another gospel But what I'm saying is that you are missing the main point of the gospel You are you're curtailing the main point of the gospel I want you to do a study go through the book of John and see how many times it says believe on me and you'll go to heaven and Then look up where it says if you believe on me you have everlasting life. You have eternal life. You'll never die You'll live forever. You'll never be cast out Show me the difference between those Okay, I know that it says, you know, if you're born again, you shall enter the kingdom of God Okay, I'm not saying it's not there. Okay. I'm not saying it doesn't say that, you know by faith you'll enter into the kingdom of God Okay, but I want you to just outline it I want you to put a spreadsheet of where it says believe on Christ and you go to heaven and believe on Christ you have Everlasting life eternal life live forever never die. I want you to do that because then I want you to tell me why you wouldn't In a soul winning presentation. I'm not again. I'm not saying anybody does that here. I think everybody does a good job As far as I know but I want this to be clear in 2021 that this is not something we're gonna lax on Okay, this is something that needs to be there all the time And this is you want to say you say why is it is it personal to you? Yeah, because this is how I got saved This is where the rubber met the road when I got saved And to me, I don't understand how this couldn't be where the rubber meets the road, right? Because this is the difference between everything now Go to John 11 John 11 in verse 25 So when it says when when it says that Abraham believed it's saying that he was fully persuaded that what he had promised He was able also to perform. That means he was fully persuaded that God was giving him everlasting life Point blank. That's what it means Now obviously is fully persuaded that he was going to give him a son right but what did that son represent? Okay What was the gospel that was preached unto Abraham? But first I want to show you this because this just goes the last thing we say here about the eternal security Aspect about how you need to believe that notice in John 11 verse 25 Jesus said unto her I am the resurrection and the life and he that believeth in me Though he were dead yet shall he live. What's the whole concept of what he's talking about here? I'm light and if you believe on me you have you're gonna have life Right anything about heaven? Now is it true that if you died right now that you'd go to heaven yes Okay But it's also true that we're gonna come down from heaven Is it also true that we're gonna live here on the new earth that is true the concept of salvation is? Everlasting life the gift of God is everlasting life. Okay, and I'm not a Jehovah Witness. I'm not saying we're not going to heaven Okay, but what I'm saying here is that the crux of salvation is living forever never dying having life Keep reading there and whosoever liveth and believeth in me Shall never die believeth out of this Now when it says the liveth and believeth in me It's not like well people like what you need to live for the Lord and believe on him doesn't say that No, live it just means you're alive Okay, you know what that means people in hell can't believe on Christ. They can't be saved That's a hard truth to swallow But that's true meaning the dead They Can't have everlasting life. Okay, they can believe okay. Does that make sense they can believe You think the rich man that's out in hell didn't believe at that point that that's how you get saved but here's thing Believing is also trusting and they could try to trust in that all they want, but they're already gone. They're already dead So if you're alive today, and you believe on Christ It says you shall never die Believeth out of this. Let me ask you a question If Martha said no Would you say she's saved? I mean imagine now she says yes, and I'll notice in verse 27. She says unto him. Yea Lord I believe that thou art the Christ the Son of God which should come into the world You know what that means is that when it says whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Son of God we're talking about that. We believe we will never die We believe he is life and if we put our faith in him, we are fully persuaded that what he had promised he is able also to perform if She said no Lord. I Don't believe that Who in their right mind be like well, you know? Yeah, I mean, of course. She's she could still go to heaven. She still might have everlasting life. It's ridiculous So when we go out soul ending, what are we telling people? You'll never die. You'll live forever. It's eternal. You can't lose it Do you believe that? What if they say no, are they saved? And I love this passage because it's literally what we do out soul winning All you know, that's literally the question. We're asking. Do you believe you'll never die? Do you believe you have everlasting life believe it's thou this? And what we want to hear is yay. We want to hear. Yes, I believe that and So that is that is what believing on Christ means now Abraham is our father our father Okay, go to Romans 4 and verse 11 Romans 4 and verse 11 Romans 4 and verse 11 here Like I said, maybe it's just one of those things that you hear it in a sermon or you Assume that it says, you know those things that you assume in the Bible It says it doesn't say that he's the father of faith Okay, that would that would seem to imply like he's the first one to ever believe Okay, so it doesn't say that but what it does say is this in verse 11 and he received the sign of circumcision a Seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised that he might be the father of all them that believe Now that's different than the father of faith, okay does that make sense because you're dealing with faith is is a noun that it's like something you do right and And then the father of them that believe are people. Okay, so you're dealing with people compared to something like an action you would do Okay That being said you say well, how does that apply right because Abraham what about all the people before him? How? could he be the father of Noah or the father of You know even Adam Right that that doesn't make sense. I'm going to show you how it makes sense. Go to Galatians chapter 3 Because he's even you know on that verse there says though they be not circumcised that righteous might be imputed unto them Also, he's basically saying that he's a father unto those that aren't even circumcised those that are not Jews. Okay? But when it says all them that believe I'm I believe it's talking about every single person every person That is in heaven or that will be in heaven that has been saved could say Abraham's our father That includes us that includes people before Abraham Now I'm going to show you why Galatians 3 and verse 6 Galatians 3 and verse 6 it says even as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness Know you therefore that they which are of faith the same are the children of Abraham Now it's just stating it right that you believe Just like Abraham did then you're his child Okay, I'm going to explain why Okay, that says no you I'm sorry in verse 8 there says in the scripture For seeing that God would justify the heathen through faith preached before the gospel unto Abraham saying and these shall all nations be blessed So then they which be a faith are blessed with faithful Abraham Go down to verse 16. Here's how that works Here's exactly how that works How not only are we considered children of Abraham But even people that believe before Abraham are considered children of Abraham Okay, it says in verse 16 now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made He saith not at the seeds as a many but as a one and to thy seed which is Christ Okay, so who's the seed of Abraham in this passage right here and all the promises who were they made to Abraham and to a seed and a seed is Christ Okay, so all these promises were made to Abraham seed which is Christ because through how's the how's the gospel start? How's the how's the whole New Testament start off the book of the generation of Jesus Christ the son of Abraham the son of David? Right or son of David son of Abraham. The whole idea is that Jesus is a child of Abraham Physically speaking, okay Now keep that in mind it says in verse 29 And if you be Christ's then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise So how are we children of Abraham because we're Christ's because Jesus Christ physically speaking was born of Abraham You know, he's born of Abraham born of David right down that line physically speaking What happens when we get saved He's not ashamed to call his brethren And we are literally That see we're in the seed of Christ, which is the seed of Abraham which makes us children of Abraham That means that Noah when he believed on Christ And you say well, how does that work because Jesus is eternal. That's how Because Jesus is the root and the offspring of David Okay. Now if he wasn't the root of David and if he wasn't the root of Abraham that wouldn't work Okay, but since he's that he made Abraham and He's of Abraham. That's how that works Okay, so we are all the children of Abraham if you're not then you're not saved Now physically speaking the Bible in Romans chapter 9, which I'm not gonna go to today basically shows you a distinction that just because you're children of Abraham that doesn't make you children of God because in Isaac shall thy seed be called Okay, and he's making a distinction saying it's not just that you're a physical child of Abraham because he has Ishmael, right and by the way, Ishmael is And Hagar is who Jerusalem which now is is likened to okay, not to Isaac But that being said it's by promise and if it's by promise, it's not by the law. It's by faith. Okay now That's how we're children of Abraham. That's just simply put okay is the fact that if we're in Christ We're Abraham seed that means that you believed on Christ. You're a child of Abraham That's how and that's how he's the father of all them to believe it's not that he's the first one to believe But he's the father of all them that believe because through him came Christ and Christ is how we get saved Okay, and we're a brother with Christ and that makes us, you know a seed of Abraham. Okay now Go to James chapter 2 James chapter 2. So now we see this. Okay. How is Abraham saved? He believed What does it mean that he believed he believed it was not by works Okay, and not only did he believe it was not by works He believed he was fully persuaded that what he promised to him. He was able also to perform that means that he trusted that what he said he was going to do he will do it and That what he will do is eternal life now in James chapter 2 This is the famous passage where they try to say that Abraham had to do good works or you know, this is how Abraham Really got saved right because to take this passage here in James chapter 2 To say that James chapter 2 to have true saving faith Then you have to believe that Abraham didn't get saved until Genesis 22 That's what you have to believe he didn't really get saved until then But that's not what it's talking about notice in verse 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar now First of all, that's a rhetorical question That means yes, he was Okay, what did Romans 4 start off with saying if Abraham were justified by works he had where of the glory but not before God You have two contrasting statements there That means they can't be talking about the same thing if they were it wouldn't make any sense in a contradict Okay, that means chapter 4 of Romans is talking about how Abraham how righteousness was imputed unto him This is talking about how he was justified before God in a different way Okay And that's what says in verse 22 seeest thou how faith wrought with his works and by works was faith in The inception of faith did it say anything did it say that that's how he had faith or is it what was faith made perfect? See the difference is it's not saying that works is what created faith or that's how he had real faith No, it's just how it's perfected. Okay, perfecting your faith is exactly what's talked about here Abraham perfected his faith Because he offered up his son Isaac. Okay, and notice what it says in verse 23 This is really how you're gonna understand what this is talking about It says in the scripture was fulfilled which said Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness Now that's what we've been talking about this whole time was it by works at all Did that happen at Genesis 22 or did that already happen before there? It actually happened not only before Genesis 22, but before Genesis 17 when he was circumcised very clear, right so That means that that scripture says when he believed and he believed God and imputed unto him for righteousness He's not talking about it at that event But the problem is that people don't read the rest of the sentence. Okay, they want to put a period right there Or just ignore this next phrase and he was called the friend of God That's the difference, okay So what we're talking about here is not talking about how righteousness was imputed unto Abraham We're talking about how he was justified to be called the friend of God Okay, and you say well, what does it mean to be called the friend of God? Well, the Bible says if you love me keep my commandments. It says ye are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you Ye are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you That's what the Bible teaches So you could go to Genesis or I'm sorry John 14 or John 15 and see those passages where it's talking about Being the friend of Jesus means that you have to keep his commandments But let me ask you a question Did it ever say that you need to be the friend of God or the friend of Jesus in order to go to heaven or? To have eternal life. Did it ever say that? No, but what it's saying here is that if you want to be like Abraham and if you want to perfect your faith to where you're the friend of God Then you need to do the works And notice what it says in that last verse in James 2 verse 24 It says ye see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only So what it's stating here is that there's different ways to be just before God The first way or the first way in the the most important way to be just before God is salvation Having your sins covered in righteousness imputed unto you, which is by faith alone Not by works. Okay, but after that after you have that down There's another way you can be just before God. Okay, and that's being the friend of God and that's by works Okay, but obviously it's working in tandem with your faith, right? The faith is already there and you're adding these works to it Therefore that's how you perfect that faith. Okay, but Listen the prerequisite to being a friend of God is that you're saved You say why did it mention that you know Abraham believed God and is imputed unto him for righteousness because you can't be the friend of God and be a lost person As much as you can't be You know, you can't by the way, you can't win someone the Christ if you're a lost person either Okay That's how ridiculous it is to think that like Judas or any other person that's not saved can ever Be a friend of God and be fruitful and be in the vine. That's insanity Okay There's a prerequisite. He that loveth God must be born of God and knoweth God Okay, what's the prerequisite there? It says he that loveth not God knoweth not God Listen knowing God is not essential for salvation Being born of God is but what do you add on to that? Loving God and that I'm sorry knowing God and you know what that's where you can have the love of God Okay And not to get too deep into that. I had some other verses on that to really show you that So when you go to James chapter 2 because that's what we're gonna be like Well, you just go why aren't you going to James chapter 2 aren't you gonna explain that? Because it's talking about being the friend of God. It's talking about perfecting your faith. It's not talking about when Abraham got saved Or you'd have to nullify all those other verses. I just showed you whole chapters Of Genesis whole chapters of Romans whole chapters of Galatians You just got to negate all of that to fit your round peg into the square hole now You know when you're dealing with perfecting your faith, here's a verse for you. Second Peter chapter 1 verse 5 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 5 it says and beside this giving all diligence add to your faith Add to your faith virtue and the virtue knowledge into knowledge temperance into temperance patience in the patience Godliness and the godliness brotherly kindness and brotherly kindness charity By the logic of James chapter 2 which most people do that means you have to have all of that in there You don't really have faith Right If you don't have virtue knowledge patience all that then you don't have real faith Okay, no it's saying add to it You know That's why James 2 starts off saying have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory with respect of persons It's assuming you already have faith It's just saying don't have faith in Christ and then being a respecter of persons on top of that and then it goes on to say But you should have faith of works Okay, so saying don't have this with your faith have this with your faith and then 2nd Peter is saying listen You need to add to your faith. It's great that you're saying it's great that you have eternal life But you know what? There's a lot of stuff that you need to do and add to that Okay But what people do is they just mix it all in and be like all that's all a part of it And just miss the mark completely. Now last thing I want to do here is go to Romans chapter. I'm sorry Hebrew chapter 11 here Hebrews chapter 11 is the Hall of Faith a lot of it has to do with Abraham and with this in mind when you understand that Okay Abraham believed God and was imputed under for righteousness. Then he was circumcised and Then he offered up his son Isaac and his faith was perfected and he was called the friend of God You see that easy progression there? By faith alone in Christ. He has salvation then he got circumcised which was the the sign or the seal of the faith Which he already had right? It was just a sign of it. It didn't change the fact that he already had righteousness then He perfected his faith as a Christian You know what? That's the same thing you should be doing today. You get saved get baptized and then what do you do? You you observe all things See how Abraham it's just a perfect example of what a Christian should be and It's not different in the New Testament that's different that it's not circumcision. It's baptism, right? There's a little difference there, but really besides that besides what the sign or the seal of your faith is That you're doing after you get saved, you know besides that little difference is all the same right now I'm not saying to offer up your son, you know, obviously God didn't tell you to do that But what I'm saying is that he's doing whatever God commands him Okay now in Hebrew chapter 11 verse 8 here notice it starts off it says by faith Abraham when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance obeyed and he went out Not knowing whether he went now verse 8 here is actually quoting Genesis 12 Okay, I believe Abraham was saved before he went out because he went out by faith, right? Does that make sense? He went by faith. So it'd be really weird If Abraham already went out by faith before he had faith. I Know I know that's this we're getting really on the bottom of the shelf here. Okay, but if he left by faith But he didn't have faith yet Okay, that would be weird. Okay, the point I'm trying to get to is here in Genesis 15 verse 6 where it says and he believed in the Lord and he counted it To him for righteousness. He's just stating a fact. He's not saying like at this moment He believed okay Because Hebrews 11 saying he already had faith before that Hebrews. I mean Genesis 12. He's calling upon the name Lord Okay, you know and and offering up sacrifices and doing all this stuff to think that he wasn't saved before that is kind of a little ridiculous, okay But it still doesn't listen if you think he got saved in Genesis chapter 15 everything I preached to you before is still completely valid Okay But I'm gonna show you to you why I believe he was saved or that basically the Gospels already preached to him Before that go to Genesis chapter 12 Genesis chapter 12 verse 1. So let's look at this passage here This is really the first beginnings of Abraham here I don't know if you go to chapter 11, you'll see Abraham's father and a little bit about Abram With his wife and all that but really his story starts off in chapter 12. Okay chapter 12 verse 1 it says He says now the Lord had said unto Abram get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee and I will make thee of thee a great nation and I will bless thee and make thy Name great and thou shalt be a blessing and I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curse thee and in thee Shall all families of the earth be blessed Now That's what God's telling him to do now at this point. He hadn't gone out. Does that make sense, right? He's telling him to go out. What does Hebrews 11 say by faith? When he was called to go out into a place, which he should after receive for an inheritance obey Okay, so by faith he went out. This is before he went out. This is what God is saying to him Does that make sense? And what did he say says in thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed Go back to Galatians chapter 3 and I'm gonna prove to you that this is the gospel That means the gospel is being preached to him right here before he leaves and then it says by faith he went Okay now Obviously, there's the idea of faith as a Christian right because once he gets saved eternally, you know It still takes like faith out, you know on top of that to go, right? So I'm not trying to completely say this is just about eternal salvation What I'm trying to make a point here is that the gospel is preached to him before he even left Okay notice what it says in Galatians 3 and verse 8 it says in the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith notice this preached before the gospel unto Abraham saying so he's saying that he preached the gospel unto Abraham before and What did he say? In thee shall all nations be blessed. Where's that found? Genesis 12 Before he leaves now, it says family families, but that's you know families nations Tribes, you know, sometimes that's used interchangeably and the idea here is that he preached the gospel unto Abraham by faith. He left When do you think he got saved? I Say he got saved before he left I'd say he was a saved man before that Okay, and what's the gospel that in him and these shall all nations be blessed? I wonder how that works because now unto the Abraham and his seed where the promise is made He says not the seeds as as many but as a one to thy seed, which is Christ So how are all the nations gonna be blessed? How are all the families of the earth gonna be blessed? They can be blessed through Christ Very clear and what's the gospel Jesus Christ? That Jesus Christ would save the world that he would give us a eternal life and You know, I don't have time to show you all the passages where it talks about his death, burial, and resurrection in the Old Testament But that was also there too and to think that Abraham may not have known about that I think you're being a little naive to think that there's a lot of things that may they may have known. Okay now I Don't think they knew who that his name is gonna be Jesus Necessarily or you know exactly how it was gonna go down But the idea that he was gonna pay for their sins, I think it's very clear from Genesis 2 I'm sorry, Genesis 3 not Genesis 2 Now Hebrew chapter 11 here Really just to show you that okay from Genesis 11 9 to 16 It's just giving you information about their thought process. Okay in verse 9 says by faith He sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country Dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob and the heirs with him of the same promise For he looked for a city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God through faith also Sarah Herself received strength to the conceived seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful who had promised therefore sprang there even as one and Him as good as dead so many as the stars the sky and multitude and as the sand which is upon which is by the sea Shore and numerable these all died in faith not having received the promises but having seen them afar off notice this and Were persuaded of them, you know, is that word that keeps coming up being persuaded What did what did the rich man say when he was in acts acts 16 he says no But if one went from the dead, you know that they'll be persuaded I don't have it. I'm not gonna quote it all perfectly to you But he would repent if one came from the dead, but it said Or no He said one they would be persuaded if one camp came from the dead and Abraham's like no They have the they have Moses and the law and They wouldn't they wouldn't repent if it wasn't even if that happened Okay, but it says that we're persuaded of them and embrace them and confess that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth So we're talking about believing we're being persuaded. We embrace it, right? We receive it We're persuaded that that is the way it is that we had we're not this is not our home, right? Why because this isn't eternal we have eternal life For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country and truly if they had been mindful of the country Of that country from whence they came out They might have had opportunity to have returned but now they desire a better country that isn't heavenly Wherefore God is not shamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a city notice How all this is talking about like being persuaded about heavenly things eternal things Then we get to verse 17 here by faith when he was tried When he was tried offered up Isaac, okay So you want to tell me that he wasn't saved before any of that before before he offered up Isaac It says in he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son Of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called now We're gonna get back to what you know in chapter 4 where it says the fact that okay in Isaac shall thy seed be called and he was fully persuaded that what he had promised He's able also to perform notice how fully persuaded he was that he was accounting notice in verse 19 that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence he also received him as a figure You know how fully persuaded Abraham was he knew that God said it was through Isaac that his seed would be called That if he literally had him kill his son, he'd have to raise him from the dead That's how persuaded he was You Say well, did he believe in eternal life? Well, he definitely believed in the resurrection. I'll say that I mean, isn't that what it says? He was accounting that God was able to raise him up But yet people want you to think that Abraham didn't believe in the resurrection Abraham didn't believe in eternal security Abraham didn't believe that it was by faith and not by works. I mean, are you crazy or have you not read the Bible? But Abraham, you know is You know our father why because we believe he's the father of all them that believe and why because we followed the steps of Abraham and that faith That he had right This is not only for him. It was not only for him that it was imputed unto him, but for us also So, you know the faith of our father Abraham, you know that song our father Abraham You know where I don't know how his highness can sing that song, you know You know But but the thing is, you know these children songs It's funny how much truth is really in those songs sometimes and the fact that yeah We are the children of Abraham and he is a great picture of not only what we need to believe To be saved but also what we should be as a Christian And I had other verses in here where You remember before Sodom Was destroyed in chapter 18 of Genesis God says should I hide this from my servant Abraham? You know what I'm about to do. He says I know him that he will You know, I forget exactly how it says it but basically he'll instruct his children to Keep my commandments and do my judgments That's being a friend of God right there Right, by the way, Genesis 18 is before chapter 22 So You know the idea here is that he was doing all this after he was saved and going on until that happened It's not like it was just boom all of a sudden like he just started keeping God's commandments But Abraham is such a good picture of what a Christian should be and we should follow that from start to finish from salvation to what we should be as a Christian to be a friend of God and I hope that helps and I think that's a good way to start off the new year to really just nail down Salvation is by grace through faith not by works and It's crystal clear in the Bible. Let's end with a word of prayer. Father we thank you for today Thank you for your word And just pray to be with us throughout the rest of the day. Pray to be with us as we go out soul winning And help us to see many souls saved and Lord just pray that you'd help us to always keep this in the forefront when we Give people the gospel That it's about you It's about you having life and having eternal life and that they need to be fully persuaded that you're gonna actually do what you said You do and Lord that that is the crux of salvation about why you died on the cross and rose again a third day and Well, we just pray that you to help us to do that and be with those that aren't feeling Well be with those that are dealing with hard times with morning and all that and Lord We just pray that you'd be with us throughout the rest of day in Jesus Christ name. Amen So brother Dave will come and sing one more song and that will be dismissed All Right, take your song books and turn to song 411 song 411 will sing hold the fort And if you would stand We'll sing song 411