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

I was lost in sin but Jesus rescued me he's a wonderful Savior to me I was bound by fear but Jesus set me free he's a wonderful Savior to me for he's a wonderful Savior to me he's a wonderful Savior to me I was lost in sin but Jesus took me in he's a wonderful Savior to me he's a friend so true so patient and so kind he's a wonderful Savior to me everything I need in him I always find he's a wonderful Savior to me for he's a wonderful Savior to me he's a wonderful Savior to me I was lost in sin but Jesus took me in he's a wonderful Savior to me he is always near to comfort and to cheer he's a wonderful Savior to me he forgives my sins he drives my every tear he's a wonderful Savior to me for he's a wonderful Savior to me he's a wonderful Savior to me I was lost in sin but Jesus took me in he's a wonderful Savior to me dearer grows the love of Jesus every day he's a wonderful Savior to me sweeter is his grace while pressing on my way he's a wonderful Savior to me for he's a wonderful Savior to me he's a wonderful Savior to me I was lost in sin but Jesus took me in he's a wonderful Savior to me good singing let's open up in a word of prayer Heavenly Father thank you so much for this beautiful morning and just for our church pray that you would help us to sing out and worship you from our hearts this morning and I pray that you bless the service for your honor and glory in Jesus name we pray amen all right for our second song we'll go to song 138 the haven of rest 138 the haven of rest song 138 the haven of rest my soul in sad X I was out on life see so burdened with sin and distress till I heard a sweet voice saying make me your choice and I entered the haven of rest I've anchored my soul in the haven of rest the white sea is no more the tempest may sweep or the wild stormy deep in Jesus I'm safe evermore I yielded myself to his tender embrace and they taking hold of the word my feathers fell off and I anchored my soul the haven of rest is my Lord I've anchored my soul in the haven of rest I'll sail the wide seas no more the tempest may sweep or the wild stormy deep in Jesus I'm safe evermore the song made me whole has been the old story so blessed of Jesus who'll save whosoever will have a home in I've anchored my soul in the haven of rest I'll sail the wide seas no more the tempest may sweep or the wild stormy deep in Jesus I'm safe evermore Oh come to the Savior he patiently waits to save by his power divine come anchor your soul in the haven of rest and say my beloved is mine I've anchored my soul in the haven of rest I'll sail the wide seas no more may sweep or the wild stormy deep in Jesus I'm safe evermore good singing good morning thank you so much for coming to steadfast Baptist Church if you need a bulletin lift your hand nice and high one of our ushers would love to come by get you guys a bulletin we're starting a new Bible memory passage we're on Psalm 146 still says John 1 there but it's Psalm 146 but that reminds us that we had several people complete this and we have the prizes so if you completed John 1 I think I have the price for everybody unless there was a last-minute edition but you can come on down and claim your price or completing all of John 1 all right let's give everybody a round of applause who did that if there's anything screwed up with these you can yell at Dylan so all right yep and if for some reason I'm missing one I'll get you one so it's a hundred dollar visa gift card all right so now of course I like chocolate and no kidding all right John chapter 1 was a bear folks so that was that's a big that's a big portion of Scripture and way more important than a physical prize just having that much of the Word of God in your heart and a lot of great verses in John chapter number one and so thank you to everyone who participated we're gonna be doing a little bit easier Bible memory challenge this next time Psalm 146 and we've even put this to music so I'm hoping that both can kind of help each other out you memorize the scriptures a little bit and you kind of sing the song but I would hope that we have a big participation on this and there'll still be a prize obviously the bigger the chapter the bigger the prize the smaller the chapter the smaller the prize but I'd encourage you to try and work on this also children they get the double dip because every single week if you can do the verse of the week you can get a ice cream or some kind of a treat at the midweek service and so we definitely like to reward people for memorizing the Word of God and and trying to get that deep into your heart and you do it for a lifetime it's gonna it's gonna bear a lot of good fruit in your life on the inside we have our service and so many times we have our church stats also on the right we have the list of expecting ladies please be in prayer for all of our expecting ladies we have a prayer list as well if you have any additional prayer requests please add those via email is the best way to try and get that into us and we'll try to add that to our bulletin and we usually talk about that on Wednesdays on the back we have some church reminders and then below we have a upcoming events we have Thanksgiving dessert fellowship on November 23rd December 2nd is the ladies Christmas party from 6 to 9 December 6 is our Christmas caroling also it's not in the bulletin but December 10th is gonna be a Dallas soul-winning marathon so we're gonna be doing that on December 10th which is a Saturday and so I do need to coordinate with our soul-winning leaders on Saturday but I think we're gonna probably cancel that Saturday specifically and just coordinate and have Dallas so but if you would like to participate I'll give you the details as we get a little bit closer I just want to at least put that on your radar that we're gonna have a Dallas one and you know Dallas is a really receptive area surprisingly if you go to the right the right parts usually we think of it as like a liberal hellhole but it's it's got some nice areas for soul-winning and so if you go to the south parts of Dallas and everything like that it's it's been fruitful in the years past and I'm sure it'll be very fruitful again this year and so if you'd like to get some extra soul-winning come out on December 10th that's pretty much all I have as far as announcements are concerned this morning we're gonna go ahead and sing our psalm of the week Psalm 150 Psalm 150 it's it's in your little separate handouts or you could just try to use your Bible to follow along and that's Psalm 150 crazy the Lord praise God in his sanctuary praise him in love man of his power praise him for his mighty axe praise him according to his excellent greatness sound of the trumpet raise him with a soul to be raised in the timbrel and raise him with stringed instruments and organs the high sounding cymbals let everything that the Lord praise he the Lord praise God the Father praise God the Son praise God the Holy Ghost praise God great singing our next song should have in your bulletin a handout with the song redeemed it's a different version of the song redeemed that's in our hymnal we've sung it once before so if you know it sing it out nice and loud if not we'll learn it together redeemed in your handouts if we have any more if the ushers would bring those forward to people that don't have one or you can share with a neighbor redeemed redeem how I love to proclaim it redeemed by the blood of the lamb redeem through his infinite mercy his child and forever I am redeem redeem redeem by the blood of the lamb redeem through his infinite mercy his child and forever I am redeemed and so happy in Jesus no language my rapture can tell I know that the light of his presence with me doth continually dwell redeem redeem redeem by the blood of the lamb redeem through his infinite mercy his child and forever I am I think of my blessed Redeemer I think of him all the day long I sing for I cannot be silent his love is the theme of my song redeem redeem redeem by the blood of the lamb redeem through his infinite mercy his child and forever I am all right if you please turn your Bibles to James chapter number two James chapter number two you you James chapter 2 the Bible reads my brethren have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory with respect of persons for if there come under your assembly a man with a gold ring in goodly apparel and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment and you have respect to him that wear it the gay clothing and say unto him sit thou here in a good place and say to the poor stand out there or sit here under my footstool are you not then partial in yourselves and are become judges of evil thoughts harken my beloved brethren hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him but ye have despised the poor do not rich men oppressed you and draw you before the judgment seats do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which he are called if ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself he do well but if you have respect to persons ye commit sin and are convinced of the law as transgressors for whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offended one point he is guilty of all for he that said do not commit adultery said also do not kill now if thou commit no adultery yet if thou kill thou art become a transgressor of the law so speak ye and so do as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty for he shall have judgment without mercy that hath showed no mercy and mercy rejoiceth against judgment what does it profit my brethren though a man say he hath faith and have not works can faith save him if a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say unto them depart in peace be he warmed and filled notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body what does it profit even so faith if it hath not works is dead being alone yea a man may say thou hast faith and I have works show me thy faith without thy works and I will show thee my faith by my works thou believeth that there is one God thou doest well the devil's also believe and tremble but wilt thou know O vain man that faith without works is dead was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar see as thou how faith wrought with his works and by works was faith made perfect and the scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness that he was called the friend of God you see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers and sent them out another way for as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also let's bow our heads for a word of prayer father God we pray now Lord that you would fill pastor Shelley with your spirit and give him clarity of mind as he preaches and Lord also I pray that you soften hearts in the room Lord so we can receive the message and be more complete Christians and we thank you for the shed blood of your son Jesus Christ we thank you for salvation and for our church Lord and I just pray for your hedge of protection over it and in Jesus name I pray Amen the verse that I'm drawing the title of my sermon from this morning is in verse 20 where the Bible says but wilt thou know vain man that faith without works is dead and this is a phrase that you find the Bible that many people that probably couldn't even quote John 3 16 can seem to quote this verse from the Bible and it seems to be a real iconic phrase that you hear a lot faith that works is dead and it's really coming from a lot of people they're just unsaved they believe that it's necessary to have works to be saved and often this is their proof text this is the verse that they will go to and while it's very important I think to dissect James who and to explain why it's not teaching work salvation I think what's even better is just to explain what this passage is really saying and so I'm gonna try and do my best to kind of explain what this is actually meaning and why it's really relevant to us that faith that works is dead and to just quickly combat some of the stupidity that's surrounded in this chapter how in the world could this ever be written to the unsaved when you look at verse 1 right look at verse 1 my brethren now let it's going to get even more extreme this but brethrens obviously talking about save people but look what it says in the next phrase have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of glory with respect to person so he's saying hey you guys already have the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ but don't also have the faith in Jesus and be a respecter of persons he's saying don't do both of these but what's implied is that they have the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ so to them to teach that this passage is anything to do with getting unsaved people say teaching how to be safe is just a bizarre ideology coming from an unsaved heart people that are going to James chapter number two and teaching has anything to do with how to go to heaven is really coming from the unsaved mind ignorant at best but usually just unsaved false prophet folks okay they love to twist James chapter number two and of course in isolation some of the phrases they cherry-pick out of this chapter might seem a little confusing on the surface but when you actually just pay attention to the immediate context you pay attention to the whole scripture it's abundantly clear that salvation can be nothing but faith in Jesus Christ it says in this chapter do we not just see that have not the faith of our Lord now of course I believe this chapter even does teach salvation by faith if you want to get isolated in verses look at what it says in verse number 23 and the scripture was fulfilled which say it Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him righteousness that doesn't that teach salvation by faith I mean it just clearly said Abraham believed God and then it was imputed unto him why it why isn't that when people want to teach you about salvation they don't isolate that verse they want the isolated verses as you know faith that works is dead here's another thing the verse that we read is not a question did you notice that in the actual quote or phrase that they're bringing up it's a question verse 20 but wilt thou know they mean that faith that works is dead it's a question it's like you know I don't base my doctrine on questions I base my doctrine on statements here here's a statement Abraham believed God and it was imputed on him for righteousness okay so that's really if you want to just cherry-pick some verse out of this chapter to understand salvation that would be the one that you do but of course that's still not even the best way to interpret the Bible and we want to understand that James chapter 2 has a really important context now the first half is explaining why you shouldn't be a respecter person you shouldn't prefer rich people over poor people and there's a lot of reasons why the Bible explains that but it's kind of a human tendency that you like people with money over people that don't have money why because the people that money might buy you something the people that are poor might ask you for money so of course just by nature you typically like the richer guy more than the poorer guy but in Christianity we're not supposed to prefer the richer person over the poorer person we're supposed to treat everybody the same we're supposed to love everybody the same we're not supposed to be a respecter of persons that's the first portion of this of this passage I'm not going to go through every verse look what it says as we kind of transition here though it says in verse 14 what does it profit my brethren though men say yet faith and have not works can faith save him now of course that's another phrase it's kind of just taken out to try and twist but again notice it's just a question can face save him you know the thing about this verse is it's not really clear just on the surface who are even talking about or what we're even talking about being saved from it just kind of is like an opening is like can face save and here's what I believe when you kind of study this passage he's asking the question without having answered it yet because ultimately if you think about it this passage is just transition it went from being all about respecter of persons and then all the kind of made that like hard shift or kind of like a little bit of a change here in verse number 14 what does it profit my brethren though men say yet faith and have not works can faith save him now if he's asking a question that he has an answer you would think he's gonna then answer it right look what it says next if a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say unto them the part in peace be warm and filled notwithstanding you give them not those things which are needful to the body what does it profit now he's saying hey if you have faith but you have no works can that faith alone without any works save him and you're like well who's the hem well then he brings up a him if a brother or sister be naked and destitute daily food now maybe because you live in America you're just so spoiled you don't realize that if someone was naked and had no food that is a life-threatening situation you know if you were especially if you live in a really cold climate it's like the harsh parts of winter you know the Bible talks about the proverbs 31 woman how her household are not afraid of the snow why because they have enough clothing they're gonna be warm enough they're not gonna die because cold weather will you know do damage to the body you know the body can't just get really cold when you start getting really cold you're more susceptible to sicknesses and illnesses and disease and all kinds of problems you can have hypothermia your body doesn't like to just be really cold you know that's a dangerous situation to be in and in fact typically when the weather changes a lot of people get sick and you let your kids play outside not dressed warm they'll get sick often so you know you have to make sure that you're keeping your body warm you're not allowing parts of your body to get too cold if you're not eating properly you know you don't have proper nutrition that's gonna also cause health problems so if you already have nutrient deficiencies and then on top of that you're already cold and you don't have the modern marvels of some of our technology and science and medicine I mean this is very likely this person could just die this person could just very easily just keel over they could get sick very easily they could die and the question is can your just faith alone without any works save this person from this bad situation that they're in the fact they have no food they have no clothing they have no shelter essentially is kind of what it's alluding to and you just tell them hey be warm buddy just be filled you know it's like how many people have felt better you know when someone is like man I'm really hungry and you're just like well stop being hungry I mean if your kids are like mommy mommy I'm hungry you're just like be filled ok I mean that doesn't really work does it ok so that's what he's basically talking about that's what he's alluding to did he bring up going to heaven did he bring up eternal life did he bring up the kingdom of heaven or is he bringing up a situation where someone's in a bad situation and you're asking this question hey can faith save this guy you know is faith alone going to do something for this guy and the answer is no it's not obviously we could just say you know what I just believe God's gonna help every single person but I'm not gonna do it it's like what if every Christian had that mentality right what if every Christian of the mentality they said you know I just believe God's gonna get people say but I'm never gonna preach the gospel let me tell you something no one's gonna get saved if you said hey you know everybody that needs something I'm gonna pray that God helps them but I will not help a single person then no one's ever gonna get helped because God needs us to do the labor that's why Jesus is in heaven Jesus isn't the one feeding people right now physically he's not the one performing the miracles he's not the one clothing the people he's not the one doing the stuff he's expecting us to do it he wants us to follow in his footsteps Jesus isn't washing feet anymore he wants us to wash the feet you know Jesus wants us to do the works of course you know when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ when we become saved I that's a free ticket into heaven absolutely but Jesus didn't do it just so we could have a free ticket in heaven he did it also so that when we have the Holy Spirit inside of us we could live a transformed life and we could actually do the works of God because Jesus also wants us to do the works of God he wants us to live a separated Christian and holy life and that's what James is really harping on he's harping on how just almost immediately there's all these freeloading Christians there's all these badness that they love to eat the free meal but they're not going to provide anything for the meal right they're not gonna actually put any kind of work in they're not gonna actually do any kind of Christianity they just like the free grace and of course there's nothing wrong with liking free grace but you know what you shouldn't just be a freeloader in Christianity you shouldn't just take the free gift and do nothing with it no you actually should do the works too and and and don't fool yourself and the thinking that having faith alone in Christ is gonna benefit anybody else that's the whole point of this passage is saying look if we all just have a faith alone mentality and we do nothing we'd have no works it will benefit no one it'll profit no one we have to actually work out you know we actually have to do some work we actually have to go out there and you know put into practice Christianity if we want other people to benefit or to profit from our faith now he says in verse number 17 even so faith if it hath not works is dead being alone so you're saying look this is dead now what is dead mean I think people just don't understand what dead means and they think of dead being something that it's not but think about this people are gonna be alive and conscious inhale screaming and burning for all eternity and they're considered dead okay so what is dead what is being dead well if you just look it up in a dictionary there's a million definitions for dead it's it's kind of crazy how dead is one of the most versatile words in the English language but one one definition of dead is this no longer producing or functioning no longer producing or functioning now that brings to light some dead faith right it's no longer producing anything it's no longer functioning in any kind of way that would be a dead faith you know in the dictionary uses this example a dead battery you know what's a dead battery it doesn't have any juice in it you know it's not gonna the car is not gonna turn on the accessories won't even turn on I mean it's just it's doing nothing right it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist it doesn't mean it's not a battery it doesn't mean that it wasn't used in the past it just means right now it's doing nothing and it needs to be recharged it needs to have some energy or some life brought back into it so that it's no longer dead it's active okay but you could have a dead battery and it's still a good battery maybe you just your alternator went out or perhaps you just left the car lights on overnight and it killed is zapped all the energy of the battery so what you need is you need to jump it and then run your car again let the alternator replenish that battery again but you don't have to necessarily get a new battery right it's just the battery is currently dead the battery is currently in a bad state right this could be the same with a telephone right you could have a telephone it could die on you but it doesn't mean that it's worthless it doesn't mean it's not a telephone anymore it doesn't it doesn't it just means that it's not functioning it means that it's not producing anything anymore right and we needs to be charged up again so that it'll start producing things this is the same in Christianity where you could have a Christian who has a dead faith and you say what does that mean he's not producing anything he's not doing anything and he needs to be charged up and you say what charges him up preaching you know it charges him up going to church you know it charges him up reading the Bible you know what charges him up is the Word of God is gonna help kick that guy into gear and to help him to start trying to produce something start doing something but you know what it's not saying is that he's not saved that it's not the context here you know another definition of dead is lacking power or effect a dead law you know like Texas Penal Code 21.06 you know where it's actually criminalized as homosexuality it's kind of a dead law it's lacking power and effect right now because of stupid rulings in the in the Supreme Court but if that ever got overturned trigger law it comes alive again and you know what it's not like there's anything wrong with I mean the law should be a little harsher but there's not anything wrong with the law existing but it's just dead right now because it doesn't have any power it doesn't really have any effect right so it's kind of like even the gospel inside of you could be dead in a sense because if you're not preaching it if you're not going out and telling people about it it's lacking power effect and other people's lives and other people are not going to be benefiting from this because you're just not speaking about it you're not mentioning it you know how about another one dead language what does that mean no longer in use that's the definition dead no longer in use so it's like a Christian could just not go to church not read the Bible not tell anybody about his Christianity and what would you call it's no longer in use so that it's just a dead faith right all of these are realities all of these are things that happen and exist in our culture where we have a lot of Christians who have a dead faith meaning what it's no longer in use meaning what it's lacking power effect meaning what it's no longer producing or functioning meaning it's not active and you know what James is trying to do he's trying to stir up Christians that have a faith without works religion and he's trying to say you need to get plugged into the fight you need to get charged up you need to do something with your Christianity that's the whole point of this chapter that's the whole point of this passage and it's look it's frankly speaking one of those powerful chapters in the Bible and it makes sense to me a chapter trying to tell people to actually get to work and do some works is twisted into work salvation so as to trying to take away the real power of this chapter because you want to know what's the problem with America today it's dead Christianity that's the problem with America today what it's lacking power it's lacking effect it's no longer in use it's not producing anything it's not active you know what there's so many Christians today that are just doing nothing for God and that's the problem with America now before I get to ahead of myself because I'm gonna get there I want to prove this a little bit further go to first Timothy chapter number five go to first Timothy chapter number five in the Bible first Timothy chapter number five and of course the Bible uses this phrase consistently to teach you about what what dad means first in the chapter five look at verse number six but she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth what is this what is this referring to now first I mean chapter five is talking about a widow and it's saying a widow that's not it's kind of trying to describe what a good widow is and the word is indeed meaning a true widow and kind of like a widow that's not really a legit widow and and someone that should be taken care of now of course it's not saying that she's not really a widow it's just saying that not every widow is worth worthy of being provided for by the church so a widow who's actually serving God with her life the church would have an obligation to help her a sister if she literally had no family that could take care of her whereas a widow who is not serving God but she's she's still a widow it's not that she's not a widow the church has no obligation to help her now this is contrary to almost most every church in America because they try to feed all these like home the homeless and poor and whatever people they have these like pantry ministries whatever but they're not checking to see if these people are actually worthy of handouts from the church you know the Bible is saying like the church should not pay for a widow just because she's a widow it says only if she's a widow indeed and it has this like ridiculous required I mean it's like requirements to be a pastor almost you know it's like it's like you're reading this thing it's like above 60 no children no grandchildren she's relieved the afflicted she's washed the feet of the Saints I mean she's been faithful her whole life in Christianity then you could give her some of the church money you know you feel obligated to have to help this woman because she just has no outlet and she's turned to God and how could God turn her away you know what the crack whore on the street corner that's a widow it's not like Oh feed her to you know not you can do whatever you want I'm not saying that you can't help her I'm just saying from the church perspective you know I'm not supposed to have a ministry just to help every person that could possibly need help you know that's not what God's money is supposed to be used for God's money is supposed to use for the preaching of the gospel and getting people saved and and motivating Christians to serve God so that's where putting our money in soul-winning preaching teaching you know those type of activities it's more beneficial to pay you know Dylan an employee to get a lot of this work done for preaching and soul-winning whatever then just take his salary and just give it to whatever derelict on the corner whatever person that doesn't really want to serve God which is in a bad situation no no I'm not gonna take that money and put it over there because then you know what to diminish the preaching the soul-winning the activities at church the house of God you know the house of God is important institution and we shouldn't try to diminish the house of God you know if you feel so bad about those people then you help them is what the Bible is basically saying and it's saying you know if you have widows in your family you should be taking care of them and not getting mad at the church for not taking care of them but notice it's very clear here that a widow who's living in pleasure meaning she's not caring for the things of God she's caring for the things of this world is considered dead why because she has a dead faith then it's similar to James chapter number two it doesn't even say folks that she's sinful did you notice that I hope you don't misconstrue something it is not saying that living in pleasure here is sin necessarily you know the Bible talks about in Luke chapter number eight you know the parable of the sower and there's other parallel passage on this but it talks about some Christians being choked by the cares of this world and look the cares of this world doesn't necessarily mean it's sin it's just she's distracted she's focused on the things of this world she's caring more about her own personal pleasure and joy in life and the Bible is saying that she's dead why because a Christian even if they're not quote-unquote just sinning all the time it's not like they're just getting drunk on the weekend and committing fornication and adultery but they're just simply just living it up they're just enjoying their house and enjoying their boat and enjoying their whatever while they're living in pleasure they're dead while they live because frankly speaking our lives are not to just live for pleasure our lives are to live for the Lord Jesus Christ and to be his servants and to preach the gospel you know God didn't give us the faith of Jesus Christ so we could just live in some commune somewhere and just have fun that is what a lot of christianity is turning into you know I I despise it I despise the idea of like let's just you know this isn't that much fun anymore I'm not enjoying America as much anymore let's go out in the woods where we can kind of enjoy a little bit more we can kind of hang on to the years of the past or something like that no look there's nothing wrong with living out in the country obviously a country will survive right I mean there's nothing wrong with having some land there's nothing wrong with going out and having animals there's nothing wrong with having some pleasure but you know what the point here is that they're not serving God they're elevating pleasure over serving God they're not going to church they're not reading the Bible they're not spiritual whatsoever they're just having fun they're just enjoying their life and you know what enjoying your life is just going to be a dead Christianity well I have a lot of fun okay great but you know what God didn't create you just have fun the fun is the the icing on the cake and God loves for us to have fun but we're not here to have fun we're here to serve him and then he allows us to have some fun along the way but good it says in verse 11 but the younger widows refused for when they began to wax wanton against Christ they will marry having damnation because they have cast off their first faith and with all they learn to be idle wandering about from house to house and not only but Tatler's also and busy bodies speaking things which they ought not I will therefore that the younger women marry bear children guide the house give none occasion of the adversary to speak approach fully for some are already turned aside after Satan now again this is illustrating that there could be a saved person that just decides not to fulfill their life that God has for them they're not going to do the works that God asked for them and he's saying that you're turning aside after Satan you're going after the devil and you know what that is what a lot of women in America are doing today is they're turning aside after Satan they've they've killed their faith essentially they have a dead faith they just live in pleasure and it's like why would women stop marrying bearing children and guiding the house because it's not as fun what would be more fun having less children not having to serve a husband going on shopping trips traveling the world drinking their little wine having a little manicure have a little party whatever it is that they like to do you know it's turning after Satan the Bible is saying that women should what they should marry bear children guide the house and give none occasion to the adversary to speak approach fully it doesn't say become the governor of the state it doesn't say become the president of the school board it doesn't say to take a high lofty position it doesn't say to live in pleasure it doesn't say to travel it says what to marry bear children guide the house give none occasion that is what women should do and you know barring the like super rare exception of a woman being a eunuch or some other situation you know if a woman has any kind of desire in that area she should marry bear children guide the house you know that is what the Bible teaches and you know it even says it up to the age of 60 folks it didn't say like you know I've heard some people say like women after they turn 30 they're useless it's like the Bible says 59 is still on the table buddy and Frank I'm not saying you can't get married after 60 I'm saying the Bible commands you to get married before 60 is saying she is still valuable okay and you know what I guarantee there's a lot of sixty-year old don't look down on on the older ladies I mean look Sarah was like 80 or something and she's like the most attractive woman on the planet somehow that's what happens you don't send your husband ladies okay you want to get rid of that those wrinkles I'll tell you how stop nagging them go to Luke chapter 15 go to Luke chapter 15 it might be a myth I don't know but I just wouldn't risk it Luke chapter 15 hey faith that works is dead folks I believe that you know and you know when someone tells me that at the door I'm like hey that's true I'm not afraid of that verse but let me let me tell you something has nothing to go into heaven and if it does you know whatever that's what saved me was faith that works I mean I read Romans chapter number four I mean it's really clear that I was saved with a dead faith in the sense that what saved me was a faith without works that's what actually got me to happen so dead faith saves all right but you know what it doesn't say from physical destruction you know it doesn't save other people you know what it doesn't save our country you know a dead Christianity isn't gonna save America isn't gonna save Texas it isn't gonna save the Dallas Fort Worth area it isn't gonna say steadfast Baptist Church it is gonna save you and your family it is gonna save your children it isn't gonna save your grandchildren isn't gonna save Jack squat folks we need an active and alive and a steadfast faith that's what we really need now in Luke chapter 15 we have the parable of you know a couple different parables actually but look at verse 1 just to get a little context is then drew near on them all the publicans and sinners for to hear them that might be useful information is trying to discern some of these parables now it brings up losing money and it brings up the two sons ok the prodigal son as it's called even that's not really a phrase found in your Bible ok and essentially it's just talking about how one son is serving his father faithfully and the other son takes half of his living and just devours it on riots is living as the Bible describes now just kind of pick up at the end portion of that parable it says in verse number 21 so virtually ones of the sunset and then father I've sinned against heaven and I side and no more more worthy to be called thy son so that the kid that waste all the money starts eating pig food and he comes home and he's like I should just go serve my dad because at least I'll get to eat and of course you know eating is important because if you don't you die and he's like I'm not even worthy to be called their son because of how bad of a son he's been and it says in verse 22 but the father said to the servants bring forth the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet and bring out of the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and be married for this my son was dead and is alive again he was lost and found and begin to be married now of course if you believe in work salvation I can't convince you of anything cuz you're unsafe but if you actually say you can realize that this passage is not talking to an unsafe audience because of the fact that this gets already a son folks it doesn't say this person's not a son this person's already a son now of course we have to realize is that the primary preaching here it you know is is that I believe the public in the harlots I think there's kind of two really primary applications is this parable the first one is you kind of have these public in harlots and you have these Pharisees now what you have to understand is that John the Baptist came before Jesus Christ preparing the way and he's telling all kinds of people to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ now keep your finger here cuz we're coming back we're gonna we're gonna rub it we're gonna go all the way back go to Matthew chapter 10 go to Matthew chapter 10 okay we're gonna unravel a little bit of this and and this is gonna help you to understand some of the Bible but John the Baptist got a lot of people saved okay John the Baptist got a lot of people saved so when Jesus came those people did not need to get saved cuz they're already saved it's called once saved always say who's on the page okay okay you're figuring this out all right look at Matthew chapter 10 and look at verse 30 let's let's do verse I'm sorry I'm just Matthew 21 is where I want to go I don't have this in my notes I was just trying to remember this first up I said Matthew 10 but I was thinking of a different verse Matthew 21 look at verse 28 what think you certain men had two sons he came to the first and said son go work today in my vineyard and he answered and said I will not but afterward he repented when and he came to the second and said likewise and he answers that I go sir and he went not whether of them twain did the will of his father and they said in him the first saith unto them verily I say to you that the public ends in the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you so he makes it clear that there's publicans and harlots going to heaven and there's Pharisees that are not going to heaven and you'd ask this question why why are they going to heaven well look at verse 32 for John came unto you in the way of righteousness and ye believe them not but the public ends and the harlots believed him and he when you had seen it repented not afterward that you might believe him so notice it's telling you what repentance means repentance isn't turning from sin repentance was believing the gospel now of course you go to Acts chapter 19 and it makes it abundantly clear what John the Baptist was preaching was for them to believe on him that should come after him that is on Christ Jesus so John the Baptist is getting a lot of people saved who was getting saved public ends and harlots okay they're already God's children they're saved now what the parable is kind of trying to illustrate though for you is the fact that they were living really horrible lives in the past but now they're saved and now they're gonna start serving God here's the thing they were dead in the past that could be interpreted two ways obviously they were dead when they were unsaved but also they were dead in the fact that they weren't serving God okay you can be saved and be a harlot a public and still notice when you go back to the parable in Luke chapter 15 in verse number one then drew near on them all the public ends and sinners for to hear him now let me ask you this question when it says sinners is that everybody what is he what are they really trying to imply though obviously the Bible kind of talks about sinners usually meaning Gentiles is what that typically means because when when they kind of differentiate between the Jews and the non-jews it's like sinners but it could also just you know just people that are humble enough to admit they're a sinner because frankly speaking the Pharisees were not willing to admit that they were sinners whatsoever so in the parable you kind of have a picture of people that are saved and people that are not saved and you have the sinners and the public ends that are saved and the father rejoicing and celebrating with them and then you have this other son getting mad about it now the thing about parables is you can't always take every part of a parable and always make sense some parts of the parable are there just to help the story go along of course who gets mad that the publicans are getting say the Pharisees they get super mad about this they don't like that they're really frustrated but the father even explains to them how the fact that he still had everything verse 31 and he said and son thou art with me and all that I have is mine so of course you would almost think this person say ok and and I'm gonna explain this in two different ways that it could be both but I think it's it's mostly just talking about the unsaved Jews look they have the oracle of God given to them they're there with Jesus they have every opportunity to have everything that this guy's having but he's like why aren't you excited that these publicans and harlots got saved it's because they hate they hate them because they're self-righteous because they're prideful they think they're better than another layer of this is just how the Jews hate the Gentiles and the Gentiles were dead and the Gentiles were lost but they get found and again the Jews hate them and despise them the unsafe now even if you want to take this another way I believe it's also about the same because if you think about it the same Jews that got saved even then they despise it when the Gentiles started getting saved they didn't like it and they got frustrated but here's the thing they were dead and now they're alive again this this could be of course talking about someone that was unsaved and got saved I get that in the sense of how the Gentiles were unsaved when they ended up finally hearing the gospel and getting saved but it can also refer to a saved person in the sense that if a saved person is doing nothing for God they take all of what God's given them and they just waste it and they just spend it on riotous living and harlots and everything like that they're dead while they're still alive because think about the parable was the kid actually ever dead no and that's the point you you can't take Luke 15 and prove any doctrine I personally I think you can prove anything if you wanted to okay so we could look at it in every kind of way we always interpret it based on clear doctrine but this is a point that I wanted to make about this parable is the fact that his father is calling someone that's clearly alive dead why because he's doing nothing for the father he's not producing anything for the father he's no longer in use for the father but now that he's returned to be a servant of the father what is he he's useful unto the father so in James chapter number two let's apply that from that parable okay what's a dead faith in it's someone that's not doing anything for the father it's someone that's not living for the father they're just wasting their substance on harlots and wasting their goods on riotous living that's what he says in verse 32 it was meet that we should make merry and be glad for this thy brother was dead and is alive again and was lost and is found so just like a Christian who let's say they're not going to church they're not reading their Bible they're backslidden then they show up at church we should be excited about that we should be happy and not despise them or look down upon them or be disappointed we should be like I'm glad that you're alive again alive from the dead you know and sometimes people even say that if you haven't seen somebody a while you're like oh man he's alive from the bed you know because it's just it's a symbol or a metaphor for someone that was doing nothing okay that was producing nothing and of course that's what James 2 is telling us go back to James chapter 2 let's read a few more verses there just so I make sure I explain this in full but you can't take Luke 15 and then tell me anything about doctrine by itself because frankly speaking I you could probably make any application you want out of that if you just really want to you could try to teach work salvation out of that but you'd be wrong because there's no clear statement that teaches work salvation the reason why I use that though is just illustrate the the point of the parable regardless is someone producing nothing and doing nothing is considered dead and that's what we have is the same illustration in James chapter number two is someone that's doing nothing for God doing nothing for the father is also considered dead in a similar manner so we read it verse 17 even so faith if it hath not works as dead being alone notice that the faith still exists it didn't say you don't have faith now this is what I hear oh well you didn't have saving faith too bad that phrase never found in your Bible and if you say well I don't know if dead faith can save well then just read Romans 4 and it'll make it clear that dead faith faith that works will save you in fact it's a requirement that's the only thing that will save you if you try to offer a faith plus you won't be saved now he says in verse 18 yeah a man may say that I was faith and I have worked show me like faith without thy works now I'll show thee my faith by my works thou believe is that there's one God they'll do as well the devil's also believe in tremble but wilt thou know a vain man that faith thou works is dead so you say look obviously believing in God and believing in the Lord doesn't really accomplish anything and he's saying even devil's do that it's like oh wow you want to brag about how you believe God exists you want to brag about whatever faith you supposedly have even though you do nothing even the devil's do that even says this it says that they're afraid oh I fear God well so do the devil's I mean there is a certain aspect of the fear of the Lord that even the devil's half obviously they don't observe it perfectly because they sinned and they were disobedient but at the same time they even fear God to some extent they even believe he exists and of course what saves someone going to heaven is not a head knowledge of that God exists you know I always I always hear this stupid false accusation against our church or churches like ours that believe salvation is actually free that it's like oh oh so you're just saying if I just say Jesus exists I'm saved no because no one believes that on the planet no one Joel Osteen doesn't believe that the church across the street doesn't believe that there is no one on this planet that believes if you just think Jesus exists you're saved but that's the accusation you get Oh easy believe ism you just think if you just believe no one believes that no one and it's so annoying you know it's a cop-out because what they're really doing is they're trying to attack you for what you really believe but they know they're gonna sound like an idiot when they word it so they try to they try to say something that's a lie that does sound stupid and then falsely accuse you of that because they don't want to be like well you believe salvation is free the Bible yeah you want to show you a verse you believe it's by grace you believe it's without works it's like yeah they don't want to say that oh you just think it's believing he's real or something it's like no I don't believe that that's stupid but of course they don't want to say well we really believe because they know that's what the Bible just says point blank so they just have to falsely accuse you of something that no one on the planet believes no I've never met this person maybe they do but they're they're probably brain dead and they don't even know what they're saying they're like a parrot or something because I've never seen it who's seen a church that teaches if you just believe Jesus is real you're safe no one right I mean because it's non-existent folks okay it's a straw man argument that they try to bring up oh no one believes that verse 21 was not Abraham our father justified by works when he'd offered Isaac his son upon the altar again question should I base any doctrine on a question no what is he saying he's justified justified from or for or to it doesn't mention that yet it just says hey wasn't Abraham our father justified by works we need to offer to Isaac his son upon the altar now you ask this question what is justification justification is just proved right true or worthy proved right true or worthy okay now of course there is a justification that is in context of going to heaven because in order to be saved you have to be justified declared righteous in God's sight and that justification though according the scripture comes by faith in Jesus Christ he's the justifier of him that which believeth in Jesus as Romans chapter number three says okay it's not a justification by works and Romans 4 even as you keep going through that thought makes it clear that Abraham was not justified by works you know before God okay so here's the question is was Abraham actually justified by works yes but not for heaven there's an there's more than one thing that you can be justified on you know Jesus said that wisdom was justified of her children does that mean that wisdom is going to heaven because it had children or does it have some other meaning justified just means proved right meaning if you have a proverb and the proverb is true it'll be evident through the fact that it's always coming true you always just see the fruit of it so you're just saying wisdom is justified by our children in the sense that when someone gives you good advice and people then follow that advice they'll be like wow that was good advice the wisdom ends up becoming justified because of the fruit of the wisdom right if someone gives you advice and you just fails and just fails fails well it's not justified that it's wisdom is it okay so how was Abraham justified well let's keep reading see us thou how faith wrought with his works and by works was faith made perfect and the scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him righteousness and then you notice there's a semi or a colon or whatever in your in your Bible and it says and and and you notice that word and it means something else and he was called the friend of God now here's the thing are you a friend of God automatically no everyone's an enemy of God automatically as they've sent then when you get saved you're still not a friend of God because Jesus Christ said that if you were my friends you would do whatsoever I command you or you would you'd you'd follow the commandments okay more or less in essence so being a friend of God is dependent on your works just like it is in our lives your friends are not based on a faith alone relationship they are based on how they treat you you don't look at someone and just say like friends right yep but then they treat you like dirt no you're friends with people that are friendly towards you that do do things that you like you know man that have friends must show himself friendly as the Bible describes it so of course being the friend of God is not automatic it's not a faith alone that gives you the friendship of God what gives you the friendship of God is one who follows his commandments wasn't Abraham a picture perfect as someone who followed God's commandments to such an extremity he was willing to sacrifice his own son and then therefore by that work wasn't he justified to what to be called the friend of God so what is the justification of his works being called a friend of God so if you want to be called a friend of God you know the carnal mind is in the deal with God as the Bible says you know if you want to live of this world live the pleasure of this world you're not a friend of God you're an enemy of God as the Bible describes it so being a friend of God is by following the commandments wouldn't you think a chapter dedicated to telling you need to do works might then explain to you that by following the the commandments and doing the works you're gonna then be the friend of God and we see a picture of someone called from I mean there's really only like Abraham you could maybe find some other places but Abraham's like the friend of God not everybody gets this title it's like Abraham and so he's like hey you want to know why the scripture called him the friend because he offered Isaac upon the altar not because he just had faith plenty of people a lot had faith you know a lot is not called the friend of God why because he was doing the opposite with his children okay he was doing weird stuff with his children in the cave not the friend of God okay Abraham's a friend of God now as we read the next verse it's gonna then help us understand this you see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only so what do we just see we just saw how that having works can also justify you and what being called the friend of God and not just having a faith alone in Christ does this say you see then how you go to heaven by works and not just faith no and look there is independent fundamental Baptist that'll get up and they'll just say this James to teach his work salvation but you got to rightly divide the word it was written to the Jews because in that dispensation the Jews were saved by works like what in the world that's I just need versus unsafe if you look at this and you say this teaches work salvation you don't believe the gospel because the gospel is salvation by faith from all generations it's not like just right this second you know this weird dispensational teaching they'll even say in the future by works to you know they're doing is the blast in Christ every time they say that by saying Jesus didn't really pay all their sins or Jesus didn't do everything will not only have to get saved yet also not take the mark of the beast it's like you know I hate this stupid false accusation that you believe work salvation when you say like oh well you have to believe and not blasting the Holy Ghost no if you're saved you're not going to it's not gonna it's not like I'm over here like oh man I better not blaspheme the Holy Ghost today so hard you know or they're like well steadfast believes it works off a shit because they believe that you can't be a homo and they have to believe so you have to do that work well you know what it's not work for me you know that's work for you you got serious problems you got worse problems than if you're saved or not okay you should probably not for sure I mean it's not like extra work plus the fact is when you're saved you believe in Lord Jesus Christ it's not even be possible to believe in the Antichrist so I just don't I don't even think it's gonna be humanly possible for someone to even get the mark even if they wanted it because aspects of it are worshiping and and the Antichrist doesn't want these false professors so you'll get caught you know you just won't even be able to do it it's not like these people are like oh man I'm just I gotta not take the mark too it's just like they're just not gonna be able to folks you're not able to blaspheme the Holy Ghost of your sage you're not gonna do these weird things you're not gonna purposely write a bad version of you're not gonna write the Jehovah's Witness Bible okay nope you know you know much effort it takes even like print a book let alone actually transcribe it and write it no one's just sitting down just like I just figure I'll just write a new Bible today people aren't even reading the real one let alone writing a brand new one on their own that's a serious reprobate heart that hates God and is just driven to that insanity folks okay I mean they were watching the Lord Jesus Christ take someone that's been blind their whole life and heal them and then they're they're attributing it to the devil you couldn't do that if you wanted to you would have you would have been like wow glorify God it would have been involuntary response that you would have been praising God and so excited and whatever you wouldn't have that emotional response it's not even possible folks just like it's not possible to want to eat vomit it's not possible to want to be a homo it's not possible you know the natural man can't do those things it's in by just as impossible as going to Pluto and back or something like if the Bible said thou should not go to Pluto and back on barefoot and you're like oh you believe in work salvation because you have to not go to Pluto and barefoot no one's gonna do it it's impossible you freak okay salvation is obviously faith alone and we understand people who are believe aren't gonna do certain things they're not capable of doing them but this extra word how is so important because you know when you read other versions it'll take it out and you just say you see by works a man is justified it's just like and you're just like what but again even if that's what it said by the context you still understand the justifications of being the friend of God it's not still going to heaven verse 25 likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works when she had received the messengers and send them out another way for as the body without the Spirit is dead so faith out works is dead also now of course Rahab the harlot believed in the Lord when she received the spies because she told them that she feared the Lord so I believe she's already safe but you know to be preserved from physical destruction she had to bring people in their house and she had to stay in her house she couldn't tell where the spies went and she had to hang out that scarlet thread and of course that was even a picture of salvation by faith because they were saved by the blood of Jesus Christ anybody that was in the house and you know to be in the house you didn't have to do you didn't like repent of any sins you could have been showing up just to sleep with Rahab the harlot and gotten saved because you just showed up at her house it's like come on in you know because salvation is so free harlots can get saved it's so free publicans I mean government workers can get saved folks it's obviously not works the tax guy he got saved you know it's like what how did he get saved I can see why people got mad he got saved all right I get it but it's wrong go to Jeremiah chapter 2 go to Jeremiah chapter 2 look if you just slow down and you just let the Bible tell you what it says it's it's real clear and it's it's really clear when you don't bring any bias into any passage you know you just decide I don't care what I believe or thought before I just want to see what the Bible just says on the on pages like what's the black ink say on the white page and man it just starts becoming real clear why the Bible is hard to interpret sometimes is because you already come with really bad preconceived ideas and those bad preconceived ideas twist the words on the page in your mind or something but when you just slow down and look at them I mean it's real clear you know salvation is still a free gift James 2 didn't change any of that you know what James 2 is saying don't just be a free loader now James Jeremiah chapter 2 look at verse 22 for though thou wash thee with nighter and take the much soap yet thine iniquity is marked before me say the Lord God how canst thou say I'm not polluted and have not gone after Balaam see thy way in the valley no what thou has done thou art a swift dromedary traversing your ways now why I bring up this verse is because you know some people say oh well you got to be willing to give up your sin or you got to repent of your sin in order to be saved but you know what's foolish about this is that the Lord is making it clear even if you cleaned yourself up right now you're still dirty from your past sins because let me tell you something stopping sinning doesn't prevent you from having sinned it doesn't it's like well your honor I stopped killing people today okay but we're here because you killed people yesterday right it's like even if you could theoretically which is literally impossible even if you could just completely clean your life up even if you could repent of every single sin even if you could just wash your whole body you're still dirty because you're still a sinner because you already sinned and you're already condemned and you're damned to hell unless you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that's why you're pinning of your sins has nothing to do with being saved nada oh well I clean myself up meaningless you're still dirty well but I promised I won't do it in the future you're still dirty I mean James chapter 2 if we want to go back there it says hey you keep the whole law yet offended one point you're guilty of all and what person even did repent of their sin oh yeah I've never had a foolish thought again after being saved oh you got it you got to hate your sin what do they even mean oh you got to be willing to hate yourself you got to surrender your life well you didn't surrender anything and even if you did I surrendered all well guess what you're still not saved if that's what you think's getting you into heaven you could you could you could scrub every square I scrub every square inch of my body still still unsaved still didn't get you in heaven you're still your iniquity still marked the only way to be saved is by grace that is it that is your only option because you deserve hell for your past sins regardless of your future sins that's why it's so foolish to then think well I have to promise to not commit as many in the future look if you committed one sin and then never sinned again you're still going to hell if you don't believe in Jesus it doesn't God's not like well as long as you just do a little bit better in the future he doesn't care you're still a sinner and sinners still go to hell and it's not like when you believe in Jesus he's like okay well I've only erased the past sins then you know what new do over but even if he did if Jesus washed away all of them in that moment you're gonna sin again in the next five seconds and you're starting back square one so then you just do get saved again and then saved again and then be sorry enough again and of course churches teach this and you know what they do they'll be like well if you still didn't hate your sin if you're still sinning if you're still practicing sin then you need to get saved and I hope the Holy Spirit convicted today and won't you come down the aisle today and you know what they get the you saved every week because who sinned when they were young I did okay it's like man you're a teenager you're in college I mean that's why these churches have people getting saved and baptized like every year I mean they just keep coming down they keep going down you'll have people that are pastors getting saved all right that's that never happens well how about Bob Gray jr. Bob Gray jr. of manual Baptist now I think was like it was a different church in the past name but he had a testimony where he said that one of his like assistant pastors came up to him and said hey pastor I had something to confess to you I haven't been saved I just recently got saved am I fired it'd be like yes get away from me what do you mean you didn't get saved and it's like well I wasn't sorry enough or I didn't repent enough or I didn't surrender enough or whatever garbage that these false preachers are teaching these days I mean that is such junk then the assistant pastor has to get saved again I mean what in the world are you even talking about you know when the Apostle Paul was writing to the second Corinthian Church you know in second Corinthians writing to the Corinthian Church sorry it's not to he's writing to the Corinthian Church in second Corinthians he's like you better know the Christ is in your except you be reprobate he didn't say like well we're just we're just hoping for those hard cases you know it's like look if you didn't get it by now you're not you're just a reprobate like it's it's not hard you either got it or you didn't it's it's not like you had to work for it it's not like you had to sit here now of course we get that there are family members and friends that sometimes you got to preach the gospel them a few times they got it's got to soak in they got a you know maybe they weren't that interested you know we got to break up that foul ground sometimes we plan and we got a water I get that you know what it wasn't because they weren't willing to turn from sin and they certainly weren't going to church preaching salvation by faith every single week on a regular basis for years and then all of a sudden they realize it's by faith and of course these people never get up and they say like you know what I believe work salvation my life now I believe it's my faith they're like I wasn't sorry enough for my sin that's what it is and it's like to me I almost think that's when these people are like double dams or something it's like when you've heard the right preaching for so long and then you say like now I believe it's by repenting of your sins it's like whoa you're like manifesting that you are not of us at that point because repenting of your sins won't save anybody go to a to Hebrews chapter 9 you know what saved you was the blood on the door post and to prove that repenting of your sins can't save you the children of Israel sucked at sinning after getting saved I mean they literally put the blood on the doorpost the Passover lamb which is a picture of salvation by faith and you know what he didn't say feel really sorry for your sins while you wait for that death angel to pass over be willing you know what's interesting every single one that had the blood on the doorpost saved it wasn't like the good the good version of them or the ones that were really sorry or the ones that really meant it or it was like did you put the blood on the door or not and it's that simple did you believe or did you not it's not this silly sorrow or whatever and when you say that someone believed in Jesus and didn't get saved you're crucifying Christ afresh like Hebrews chapter number six says but in Hebrews chapter 9 it makes it abundantly clear that you can't crucify Christ over and over and over again it was a one-time sacrifice we don't need you know the Old Testament you had to constantly offer another lamb and another goat and another cow and another more blood more blood more but you know Christ was a one-time blood offering for us Hebrews chapter 9 look at verse number 13 for the if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctified to the purifying the flesh how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God so what he's saying is that look if you felt better after offering a dumb animal tastes good but it was dumb he's like how much more than Christ and if you think about it you know offering lamb and offering these bullets that's like a picture repenting your sins isn't it because you sin you feel bad you go and you make you're trying to make atonement with the Lord you're trying to get right with the Lord and say I'm sorry and get fixed you know what that never saved anyone and it was never Jesus plus animal sacrifices it was just faith alone in his blood it was the one-time sacrifice look at chapter 10 verse 4 for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins you know it could also say there it's not possible that repenting of your sins should take away sins it's not possible that washing yourself clean should take away sin it's not surrendering beings are look offering an animal sacrifice is a picture of being sorry for your sin folks that's what is a picture of remorse feeling feeling bad about you know what it has nothing to do with being saved it has nothing to be justified salvation is a free gift by faith and you know when it comes to America what they need though is not you know obviously they need the gospel but you know what really America needs is it needs the Christians that are already saved to stop hearing a gospel message and start hearing a faith that works is dead message because there's a lot of Christians that are going to church today and they just get the gospel every week just every day you know we need to move on under perfection folks we need to stop laying again the same foundation just over and over and over and over again worried about people not being safe look they're either saved or they're not stop preaching the same thing over and over and start telling these people to start serving God with their lives and you know what's not wrong with America is Biden Biden's not the problem with America fake Republicans is not the problem of America rigged elections is not the problem America Jews are not the problem for America YouTube censorship is not the problem in America the economy is not the problem in America drag queen story time Disney Channel women governors all of this is not the problem America you want to know the problem America do nothing Christians that's the problem with America it's Christians who are sitting on their butt doing nothing if you don't go to church and you're listening this sermon I'm talking about you you are the problem with America and you sit here on your little computer and you just make little stupid troll comments like oh well our country's doomed or whatever but you're the problem and you complaining online is going to fix nothing you giving money to Donald Trump will fix nothing why would I want to pay money to watch him lose again to a voting scam you say like oh we got to fix the election I don't care if the if the elections were so free and clear and right we would still vote an idiot in office his name is Donald Trump and yes folks if the elections weren't rigged you know who'd be in office Donald Trump and you know would not fix America Donald Trump the guy who says he wants to let Caitlyn Jenner use whatever bathroom she or it wants is that is that gonna fix America you are brain dead if you think that Donald Trump is gonna fix anything Donald Trump is a is like one of the worst candidates we've ever had for president you're just comparing to a pile of dung as the alternative and you just think it sounds good but it's not it's kind of like when the children of Israel were so starving they paid money for half of a dove's dung to eat it's still dung I don't care if it's better than eating your children alive like the Democrats do right don't they eat babies and whatever nonsense probably in the blood sacrifice oh we're not in a blood sacrifice we just eat done how about stop eating done how about start doing something for the Lord Jesus Christ you know how about stop giving money to Egypt called Donald Trump and the Republicans you know to fix their problems they're not going to do anything you know if you want to fix America you know you need Christians to start going to church any Christians are going soul winning any Christian start reading the Bible any Christians are giving money to church you know why don't we have Christians dedicated their life to Christianity you know they dedicate their life to everything else the Texas Rangers well I'm gonna see every game this year I'm gonna get the tickets I'm gonna go see every Cowboys game I'm gonna see every Dallas Stars game hey I'm gonna even unplay golf every day of my life hey I'm gonna just drive my fancy car around hey I'm gonna drink more than I've ever drunk in my entire life hey I'm gonna start working out this year I'm gonna dedicate myself to working out this year you're the problem with America you're a dead Christian I'm gonna dedicate my life to my business I'm gonna dedicate my life to my family no why don't we have some Christians dedicating their life to the Lord Jesus Christ let me tell you something faith that works is dead and you dedicating yourself to all this other junk isn't gonna solve any problem you know you got people like Andrew Torba on gab he's like oh I'm thinking about becoming Amish now he's like I want to live out he's like I'm gonna be completely honest we'll use technology obviously since you have a social media company but it's like I just want to live out in the woods and we'll just let America burn you know and just destroy itself or whatever look you're the problem with America I don't think he's saved I don't know but even if he is he's a dead faith God didn't call me to go out and live in the woods and just try to survive he called me to be salt and light and to be in this world and actually do something for him and not necessarily live in pleasure you know the Bible says in Psalms 12 help Lord for the godly man sees it for the faithful fail among the children of men you know what's wrong America is godly people are ceasing every day less and less people are going to church less and less people are reading their Bible less and less people are being spiritual less and less people are giving money to church and sacrificing their life for the Lord Jesus Christ you know what that's what would fix America you want to know it's going to fix America Christians you want to know why Jeremiah and Josiah's ministries look different it wasn't the man it was other people responded no one wanted to serve God with Jeremiah no one no one wanted to go to church no one wanted to hear the message except for to troll him nobody wanted to dedicate their lives nobody wanted to make a change in their life you know people get like well how are we gonna fix all these problems and there's no path forward look there's always a path forward because it always starts and ends with serving God if Christians would start serving God it would make a giant difference but let me tell you something we don't deserve fair elections we don't deserve any of the stuff that we have you know what I'm so sick and tired of all these Christians whining about the First Amendment why do you even need the First Amendment you don't ever preach anything that matters I mean if you're not going to go out there and preach the gospel why add the First Amendment if you're not going to get up and read every single verse in this Bible then why are you complaining about not having the First Amendment because you so easily just you squeam to the whatever the world wants you're just like I won't preach it then I mean they just ignore whole chunks of the Bible and they won't preach it and then they get all you know there's even fundamental badness they get all butthurt about Alex Jones they're like oh man our country's in so much so much distress Alex Jones got sued for lying we're losing our First Amendment now frankly you know it comes to Alex Jones situation I think he was probably being more truthful than he leaves on about the whole Sandy Hook thing but let's just say on the surface he did lie I mean no one's no one's really combating that he says he did I mean Alex Jones is miss he's like I lied I said things that were false and then he got sued for that and then everybody freaks out and says oh we're losing the First Amendment for Alex Jones lying yet steadfast Baptist Church gets sued and thrown out of the building for preaching the Bible and no one cares the same fundamental bad this leaving get mad at me and attack me only cusses Oh cuz Alex Jones has never cussed in his life right I mean they'll sit there and be the biggest poster child for Alex Jones and cry and whine so much about losing the First Amendment and say we need to stand with Alex Jones and support Alex Jones but they can't support a fundamental Baptist Church for the First Amendment you don't even deserve the First Amendment if you want Alex Jones and you don't want steadfast Baptist Church you're what's wrong with America and you deserve getting Alex Jones you deserve the lies that come from all the Antichrist on his network the David Ikes and the Steve Pechenix and all these weird freaks and all the witches and all the weird junk that they bring on there you're the problem with America I don't like how pastor Shelley said it well was it true is it what the Bible said you know that's what's really wrong with America as people don't care well they're gonna take away our Second Amendment what's the point when you don't have the gospel what are you defending anyways I mean you're just gonna let you're gonna let them take the only thing that really matter the only thing that matters is the gospel and the Bible and they want to hold on to their Second and First Amendment to protect anything else everything else you know what I hope God strips it away from you when you don't want to have the gospel when you don't want to preach the Word of God maybe it'll change your mind a little bit maybe it'll be the kick in the pants that you need because you know what you don't we don't deserve that yeah but you know Alex Jones is so much cooler I don't care I don't care if he's cooler or nicer you know what nuts to America we don't deserve any of the stuff that we have if we're not gonna serve God God will strip all of it away God will strip away all the prosperity God will strip away all of the freedom God will strip away all of the pleasure until Christians decide to start serving God again God is gonna strip all of it away you say how do you know that have you ever read the Bible go to Jeremiah chapter 3 you're there in Jeremiah why is it that God punished the children of Israel is because they wouldn't serve God because they have a dead faith because they're doing nothing they're not being used look at Jeremiah chapter 3 verse 14 turtle backsliding children say the Lord find married unto you and I will take you one of a city and two of a family and I will bring you to Zion and I will give you pastors according to mine heart which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding so he says hey if you actually make a change then I'll give you a good church I'll give you a good pastor you know having a good pastor is really honestly based on you you get the pastor you deserve so if you think that I'm a crappy pastor well then you deserve it buddy but you know what all these other people they the countries that have no good churches they deserve no good church folks there's a reason why they have no good church there's a reason why certain parts of the country are just spiritually destitute it's because the people they're spiritually destitute and you know what you say well what are we gonna do about this area I want to have a good church well you have to make a good church you have to be willing to show up to the good church you have to be willing to give money to that good church you have to be willing to say I like that good church you have to be willing to fight for that good church or you'll lose that good church and you know what my ministry will just turn it into Jeremiah where I'm this crazy guy standing in the corner just screaming at no one it was like he's always gonna stop but it's crazy you know I'm not gonna stop preaching though I'm not gonna stop saying the Word of God you know what we need other people to stand up to make the difference to change some lies to get plugged in you know Jeremiah can't change the country by himself people's hearts have to change you know our country is not going to be saved by the Catholics Ron DeSantis by the Episcopalians Tucker Carlson it's not going to be saved by the Steven Crowder's whatever Presbyterian non-evangelical he is it's not going to be saved by the Liberals and the conservatives it sure as hell not gonna be saved by Donald Trump who's not even Christian folks you are brain dead so many people I'm so this is a sad what are we gonna do the elections are in our country's destroying itself you're the problem wake up if you care so much then make a change in your life but quit crying online well if I had a good church I would go to it the fact you're not even in church right now pros you wouldn't oh there's not one near me the move have you ever read the Bible Abraham moved Jacob moved who didn't move Jesus went everywhere the disciples left everything and followed him Paul had to go to the entire Paul moved to everywhere where does Paul live I don't even know I mean look folks it's not hard to know what to do it's hard to do it and the reason why our country's just destroying itself is because no one will do it you know what's gonna save America on fire fundamental Baptist that's what's gonna save America you know and if you think about it the children of Israel they didn't have some picnic they had to walk through deserts pits drought I mean look at Jeremiah chapter 2 verse 5 thus saith the Lord what a nickety have your fathers found to me that they are gone far from me and have walked out their vanity or become vain neither said they where is the Lord that brought us up out of the land of Egypt that led us through the wilderness through a land of deserts and pits through a land of drought and of the shadow of death through a land that no man passed through and where no man dwelt you say well serving God and in America days hard was it as hard as walking through desert and pits and drought and the shadow of death but you know what though he lead me to the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me oh man it's so hard to serve God in America today because it's so not Christian well you know what I bet it was harder in the wilderness I bet it was harder when they had to go and look that is the Christian life we have to serve God and stop being dead Christians look at chapter 3 verse 23 truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills and from the multitude of mountains you know what there's so many people they say well let's just go out into the hills like Andrew Torba and go hide and buy land and let a real you know what the Bible says it's vain you are a fool if you think that you're gonna save your life and your family by going and hiding oh it worked out for a lot didn't it it worked out for you ride yeah who went and hid in Egypt oh wait no it didn't because even though Jeremiah is on the forefront screaming and yelling and everybody's freaking out about him you know what they went and grabbed your idea from Egypt and brought him out and killed him and you know what if you're a Christian you say I'm gonna go hide I don't want to face the foe I don't want to stand for righteousness I don't want to walk through the deserts and the pits I want to have a dead faith then you know what God might just kill you cuz you're so worthless anyways and you know what's wrong with America is how many Christians are doing nothing for God just absolutely nothing you look at these other churches they're like oh yeah King James only in protest or whatever it's like what do you do how many people did you get saved this week none how many people have you even open a Bible and just showed them anything out of the Bible this week none how many times did you do anything for God it's like they don't do anything they just go to church to make themselves feel good that's why the church service is even designed to make them feel good because if they came here they would be like I heard I saw a review one time on a fundamental Baptist Church go to Matthew 26 last place of eternal right and and I like this review it made me want to go to this church as I said you know what I don't like about these smaller fundamental Baptist Church they always try to put you to work and I was like that is a good church and I know I've already preached too long but I'm gonna keep going so here's here's the practical application of this sermon you need to make a change you need to stop being a dead Christian and you're you're gonna do this by number one making a plan you will never change your life without a plan start doing start saying you know what I'm going to church three times a week hey I'm going to start reading my Bible this time in the morning hey I'm gonna start going soul-winning on this day hey I'm gonna you know just get a calendar buy something buy a notebook get a piece of paper and write down say Monday you know or actually here you go Sunday afternoon soul-winning Sunday evening church Monday reading my Bible Tuesday soul winning or whatever it is you're gonna write out your plan and then number two you're gonna read the Bible this is really rocket science isn't so far right make a plan number two is read the ball because if you don't read the Bible you're gonna have a dead faith here is an a common denominator between every single person that's a dead phase they never read their Bible you must you must read your Bible if you're gonna be an alive Christian number three you need accountability and and the best way to get accountability is to do something at church the people who don't have a dead faith do something now I don't care what it is but you they do something right they they're they're an usher or they're a soul-winning leader or even if they're not a soul-winning leader they just always gonna go to this one time they say hey so many leader how can I help can I bring water or can I can I do just something that you know if you don't show up people are gonna be disappointed which is built in accountability you know bring someone to church you know by bringing someone else to church it gives you accountability that you'll go to church right I mean you could do all kinds of different things you could be the sound guy I mean anyone could do that job you could you could clean you could do music I mean almost everyone here actually plays an instrument somehow even though no one shows up but you know it's like all of y'all are so musical surprisingly it's like some of it's so annoying when you have church members you don't have a piano player and then after the service someone comes down and just starts playing all the hymns and you're like where were you my son which was dead is now alive you're like what what happened what's going on here it's like use that talent and you know by getting plugged in you know plug into the Spanish ministry you know plug into something and get some accountability in your life because you know what it'll help you to just keep serving God and that was PRA so my last one's why you got to pray hey you want to be you don't be a dead Christian plan read have some accountability and pray now I say that because look at Matthew 26 verse 41 watch and pray that you enter not into the temptation the spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is weak want to know why phases that works is dead because the flesh is speaking because the flesh wants to enjoy pleasure because the flesh just wants to do whatever it wants and you know we need hard preaching like James chapter 2 to wake us up you know to get the jumper cables from someone else's car and shove it onto yours and start revving the battery to get you to where you can actually turn your car on and be like turn your car on get it going you know don't just don't just have a car and never use it like what's the point of having a car and never even driving it one single time never doing anything with it what's the point of being a Christian doing nothing with it you know it's not gonna profit you anything we you know America will not be saved by the Republicans and you know I don't know I mean I feel like our country is probably doomed and at least a forever perspective because it's probably Babylon but it doesn't have to be doomed in our life it doesn't even have to be doomed in our children's lives because who knows who knows exactly how long it's gonna be I mean it could be soon and it could be longer I do believe this though it's gonna come sooner the less Christians do something pretty much the only you say well I don't want the end times to come the only way in my opinion for you to delay that is to get active and busy for God because when no one's doing anything is usually when God just drops the hammer every time you know it wasn't in Josiah's lifetime because he's doing something when people are changed life it's in Jeremiah's lifetime when everybody's just dead everyone's just done no one wants to serve God anymore and you know what you can personally affect Christianity in this world in this country in the state by you serving God you know God even tells us that the problem is not with the unsaved it's with the saved if my people which are called by my name will humble themselves it doesn't say hey if the unsaved start acting a little better if Donald Trump gets a little smarter you know if he wises up about the Jews it doesn't matter he's a pawn of the Jews no matter what folks ok you know we have to be the difference makers we have to be the ones that are changing the world and the culture and we have to have a living faith not a dead faith let's close in prayer thank you Heavenly Father so much for the word of God I pray that you would just stir up men's hearts to just help them realize while their spirit is willing their flesh is weak and that they need to make a plan that they need to read the Bible that they need accountability that they need to pray that we don't have a generation that is so apathetic and so worthless that you look at us and just say we're a dead church but rather we inspire a whole generation we inspire a whole movement of Christians actually do something for God and actually save America so many people want to save America today but I pray that you would just prick the heart of every Christian to realize that it's not through politics it's through Christianity it's through the word of God and we know that you can do a great work in this area you can do great work in our country if we would just humble ourselves and serve you I pray that many people in this room would make a decision to serve you with their lives in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. All right for our final song, we'll go to song 372, Let the Lower Lights Be Burning. 372, Let the Lower Lights Be Burning. Song 372, Let the Lower Lights Be Burning. brightly beams our father's mercy from his lighthouse evermore but to us he gives the keeping of the lights along the shore let the lower lights be burning send a gleam across the wave some poor fainting struggling seamen you may rescue you may save dark the night of sin has settled loud the angry billows roar eager eyes are watching longing for the lights along the shore let the lower lights be burning send a gleam across the wave some poor fainting struggling seamen you may rescue you may save trim your female lamb my brother some poor sailor tempest toss trying now to make the harbor in the darkness may be lost let the lower lights be burning send a gleam across the wave some poor fainting struggling seamen you may rescue you may save god bless you thank you all for coming you are dismissed you