Sermon Transcript
The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.
- A Survey of Evangelicals
- Confusion About the Gospel
- The Witness of God
- By Grace Through Faith, Not of Works
- The Spirit Draws, and We Must Speak
A Survey of Evangelicals
Oh, more Cheez-Its and Diet Cokes.
Confusion About the Gospel
All right. Yes. I’m going to work on it. You know how if you have a like a. Thank you. Here we go. Here we go. More. More. Thank you. Thank you. More. Happy birthday, miss you last week. Thank you. You guys are awesome. Yes, let’s. I’m so, I’m gonna be so fat. I got a track. I’m gonna get saved. Hallelujah. Whose birthday is it? Whose birthday is it, he says. I love it more more More Thank you for shaking that one. I’m gonna open that one I’m gonna open that baby up. All right What’s that Jesus is the Cheeser of life Told you about my story with this guy. Wanted to have communion with me with the peanut butter jelly sandwich and a Coke. Remember that? Well, what am I gonna do here? Yeah, well. Okay. Now I know. Now I know God’s plan. I gotta move some of these. Hold on a second. to keep on covering up my Bible. I found more! More! More! I’m going to go and get a snack guys. Jesus in my office. Although my kids will probably eat them pretty quick. So, what was I going to say? Heather, you’re awesome. Amen to that. So I wanted to share from John 3, but I think the Lord I’ve got a sermon here. You want to see it? It’s right here and I got Thing I want to quote from here and a thing I want to quote from here. So I’m prepared but I’m not gonna give that sermon. I Was reading last night and I came across a survey, and some of you who read things like this have probably seen the survey, but I wanted to pull this up for you and talk briefly about it because it’s relevant to this whole topic of the gospel that we’ve been talking about and the the importance of sharing the gospel. It’s called the state of theology. Anybody read that one? It was sponsored by LifeWay and Ligonier Ministries. Ligonier sprual stuff, life ways, Southern Baptist. So they did a survey of American beliefs and evangelical beliefs, which is, you know, Americans one thing. We know there’s a lot of confusion out there, right? But evangelicals and other things, and evangelical is someone who claims, we would probably say we’re an evangelical, right? Bible believing, cross believing, blood believing, kind of Christians, right? So we would fall into that camp. When I was a younger Christian, and I’ve been saved 42 years, I know, I’ve been saved longer than some of you have been alive. Pretty awesome, huh? So evangelical, it was understood today, today, well, anyway, as you’ll see, the term evangelical is expanding. You get what I’m saying? bigger and bigger so now people that believe things that 40 years ago or even 30 years ago we would have not thought were evangelical, they’re saying I’m evangelical but then they’re holding beliefs which traditionally would be considered at odds with evangelicalism. Now people don’t like to call themselves, a lot of people don’t, some don’t care. Some don’t like to refer to themselves as fundamentalists because there’s social connotations to that. The theological connotation of a fundamentalist is that they believe in the fundamentals of the faith. The inspiration of the scripture, the blood and tone of Jesus, a literal resurrection, physical return, for judgment, you know, what we would call the basics. So theologically, I’m a fundamentalist, okay? But if somebody asks me, I say I’m evangelical because fundamentalism conjures up ideas of people that are like always about a generation or two behind in everything else. You know what I’m saying? And everything else. So if you’re a fundamentalist, back in the day in the 20s, 30s, and 40s, it was associated with a social backwardness, if you will, which I think is irrelevant to anybody’s conservative theology. So they did the study, and I’m just gonna, I wanna read a little bit to you. Many self-professed evangelicals reject foundational evangelical beliefs. The survey results reveal that the biblical worldview of professing evangelicals is fragmenting. Though American evangelicalism arose in the 20th century around strongly held theological convictions, many of today’s self-identified evangelicals no longer hold those beliefs. Here’s an example. God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam. 46% of self-identified evangelicals agree or somewhat agree with this statement. Now, the thing about surveys is you have to… I’m a fairly intelligent person. I say fairly, I’m not like super bright, I don’t think I’m super dumb. But I was never good at tests, you know why? Because I’m always thinking they’re trying to trick me. And I’m like, no, it could… No, what if they’re trying to trick me and I spend an hour on one question? Well, survey questions can be that way intentionally or not, depending on how you read them. So when you read this, God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. When I read that, I’m thinking people are responding to the notion that in any of these quote religions, one has access to God and thus can be saved. Okay, that’s what I’m thinking. But that’s not what the question is, so I don’t know. Is that what people are thinking? Or are they thinking that if somebody in those religions just throws up some kind of prayer, God hears it, well, God hears everything, right? So these questions can be a little tricky. I’m gonna lose that. But it is a little bit disconcerting that 46% seem to imply, it seems to imply that they believe that, regardless of one’s religion, that there’s kind of this open door policy with God, whether you’re Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and then they probably could have included, I don’t know, Hinduism or whatever. So what does the scripture say? Well, let’s just look at a couple of scriptures. We’re gonna come back to this in a minute. Look at John 1. Just going to look at a couple of scriptures. Now, by the way, you know, you guys, some of you are thinking, you know, this is… Why are we talking about this? Because I know the gospel and I believe the gospel. Well, let me tell you why. There’s two reasons. No, I’ll just give you one reason. Maybe two. Okay. One reason is this, if this survey is really accurate, if it’s giving a picture of evangelicalism in America, that means that anywhere between 35 and 65% of the people you know that say they’re Christians are not Christians. Let me say that again. If these results are accurate, between 35 and 65 percent of the people who claim to be Christians, that’s the key here, are not Christians. That’s huge.
Now that doesn’t even include young people who I think often think they’re saved when they’re not and whose parents think they’re saved when they’re not. These are adults. So this means when you go to work and you got Joe across the aisle who goes to the church down the street, you think he’s saved, he doesn’t need the gospel. And then there’s Bob and Harry at basketball or Mary and Sue at the gym and they all go to church somewhere so you think they’re saved. You have your neighbors and they go to their church and the different neighbor goes to their church and you think they’re saved. If this is true, there’s a a good chance that half of these people are not saved. Well, that certainly has an impact on our mission, does it not? Because I think many evangelicals, just because we’re supposed to be nice, I mean, isn’t that what Christians are? They’re nice. Would never think of inviting their friend to their church because, well, they have a church, so they’re fine. But unfortunately, people are sitting in churches all around our country who are not saved and there’s nothing coming from the pulpit which would prompt them to be saved. Because the gospel in its simplicity and purity is not being preached. Are you hearing me? I mean, it’s really not being preached. I read another survey, I’ll come back to this, I know I’m rambling but I don’t care, about past… It was thinking about what churches look for in a pastor. And it was shocking to me how low on the list was someone who could teach the word.
I think it was, it wasn’t first, it wasn’t second, and it wasn’t even third. It was below that. They wanted administrator, they want a shepherd, they want a visitor, they want a comforter, but they don’t want the word. I shouldn’t say they don’t want the word. They don’t know what they want and they don’t know what they need, okay? So in light of that, and then you couple that with this, what you see is that there’s this ongoing problem in the church of the unregenerate in the church. If that’s true, if half the people that think the Christians aren’t Christians, what? I’m not surprised that the church isn’t growing because unsaved people don’t evangelize. Not to mention that the real Christians don’t do it for their own reasons, right? So in America what you see is just people move around church to church. Every few years people just move around. That’s what happens. You get the new hot church in town and everybody goes to that one and becomes a big and mega church, but the kingdom never grows because souls aren’t getting saved. Well, that’s not the kind of church growth we want. Amen.
We want people to come to Jesus Christ in saving faith. But in order to do that, we have to understand the gospel. We need to be able to present the gospel, and they need to understand the gospel. The real gospel, not the cultural gospel. John 1, verse 9, that was the true light. He’s referring to the word, which is Jesus, which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world and the world was made through him. The world did not know him. He came to his own. His own did not receive him. But as money has received him, today he gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born. Remember two weeks ago in John three, we talked about being born again. We’ll get back to John three, another date. We’re born not of blood nor the will of flesh, nor the will of man born, but born of God. Jesus, John three talks about being born again. He says, you must be born again. Now look at, look at John four. Jesus is talking to the woman at the well. Verse 20, she says, our father is worshiped on this mountain. And you do say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship. Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, the hour’s coming when you’ll neither on this mountain door in Jerusalem worship the father. You worship, you do not know. You worship what you don’t know. In other words, Jesus in his blunt way said you don’t know what you’re doing. We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews, but the hour is coming and now is when true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is a spirit, or God is a spirit, excuse me, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. Notice again, the imperative. Just like Jesus said, you must be born again. He says that we must worship in spirit and truth. Well, the problem with this question, saying that God’s accepting worship from all these different religions is the issue of truth.
Now spirit means the Holy Spirit, well that’s another problem, but even if spirit meant inwardly, you must worship inwardly if that’s not enough. It’s not, not enough to be sincere because we can be sincerely wrong, right? And you’ll hear that, I- I’ll hear Christians say, Well, you know, they really believe what they believe. Okay. Well, you know, Hitler believed he was going to rule the world. He was sincere. So we can be sincerely wrong. So Jesus says we have to worship in spirit. It has to be genuine in that inward sense, but it’s has to to Jesus says in John five, look at this, verse 21.
The Witness of God
This is after he basically claimed equality with the Father, which of course you don’t see in Judaism and you don’t see in Islam and you don’t see in Hinduism, right? Verse 21, for as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will, for the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to His Son so that all should honor the Son just as they honor the R. And he who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Now can you honor someone? I mean if you say you’re worshipping this God, according to this scripture, Jesus says you’re actually dishonoring this God if you don’t acknowledge that His Son is equal with Him. Right? Look at 1 John. This is the first epistle of John for the back of your Bible, chapter 5.
Verse 9, if we receive the witness of men, by the way, I’m drinking Diet Coke right now.
I had to celebrate. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God, which is testified of his Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself. He who does not believe God has made him a liar because he has not believed the testimony which God has given of his Son. So how can we say, oh, we’re all worship, we’re all, God’s accepting this worship when the person worshiping is calling God a liar. See what I’m saying? So there’s all kinds of problems with this notion, and we could look at many, many, many more scriptures regarding this. But clearly, scripture says that there’s only one way to God. There’s only one true God, and that true God is three persons. He’s Father, Son, and Spirit. His son came to die for our sins. He rose from the dead in the power of the Spirit. He’s ascended to the Father. He sits at the right hand of the Father in glory right now and He bestows the Spirit on all those who believe in Him. And He gives them the new birth. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and life. No one comes to the Father but by me. If this were true, then Heather’s little friend, they shouldn’t be sharing with that Muslim girl because, why? Jesus, God accepts Muslim worship, right? So why? Here’s a good one. By the good deeds that I do, I partly contribute to earning my place in heaven. 36% of self-identified evangelicals agree or somewhat agree with this statement. Now, let’s analyze the statement a little bit more. By the good deeds that I do, I partly contribute to earning my place in heaven. Now, the problem I have with the question because I think it’s ambiguous. Because if I was asking the question, I would say, by the good deeds that I do, I contribute to entering heaven. Now place in heaven, someone could be thinking, oh well, yeah, depending on how I live, that will affect my rewards in heaven. So see the ambiguity? I think some people are thinking this means by what I do I get into heaven. Can anybody tell me a Bible verse that contradicts that? Nobody knows a Bible verse? Say it loud. I keep on hearing Ephesians, go to Ephesians 2. Go to Ephesians 2. Y’all there? Say y’all. Okay. Ephesians 2. Where to begin, it’s also good. Ephesians 2 verse 8, for by grace you have been saved through faith. Now, if it just stopped there, maybe there’d be a little confusion. Oh, what’s grace? How do we get it? What’s faith? But he doesn’t stop there. And that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Now he could have stopped there, but Paul, you know Paul, right? He goes on and on. By the way, I read this morning that the longest sentence in a book is 832 words.
Written by Alexandre Dumas. I forget if it was, he wrote, help me out.
By Grace Through Faith, Not of Works
Never mind, you guys are not helpful. Okay, verse nine, not of works, lest anyone should boast. I mean, how many different ways in one simple sentence, can you say the same thing? You get what I’m saying? It’s by grace through faith. It’s not of ourselves. It is a gift. It’s not of works. So our good deeds do not contribute in any way whatsoever, entering heaven. Now the question of rewards is a different of discussion. But getting in, entering, being accepted by God at the final judgment, not perishing, if you will, not going to hell, but going to heaven is not based upon our works in any regard. even our religious works, whether it’s baptism or communion, go to Titus, we’ll read one more. These are verses you guys need to have memorized, memorized, memorized, memorized, that you can use on a regular basis as you share the gospel with other people. This is the milk that I was weaned on as a baby Christian. I memorized all of these scriptures because I was taught to be prepared at all times to share the gospel. Titus chapter three, says in verse three, and be hateful in hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our savior toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. Let’s hear some Amen’s. It’s not just that He was merciful and saved us, because that could be ambiguous too. Well, He’s merciful, but you got to do this to get the mercy. No, very, very emphatic. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. This is, he’s talking about the new birth here again, whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, having been justified by His grace. Justified by what? Grace. Not by works. Not by works, not of ourselves, according to His kindness, His love, and His mercy, which he poured out on us through his Holy Spirit and through justification. Our good deeds do not contribute in any way to getting us into heaven. There’s a lot of bad ones in here. This is another one along the line. Can you see it up there? An individual must contribute his or her own effort for. personal salvation. In 2014, only 40% agreed. Now only 40%? Only? That’s a high number. But in 2016, 50% agreed. Now, people have asked me this question a long time. Now, you may have a Roman Catholic background and you may, I don’t know, you may be Roman Catholic right now, but so this is not a Catholic bashing thing, but people will often ask me Protestants, do you think there are saved Catholics? And I answer this way, yes, because there are saved Protestants. Your denomination doesn’t save you and your denomination doesn’t even damn you.
Because when you go stand before the Lord it’s not like, hey we’re all, I hate to say this guys but when we stand before the Lord we’re not all going to be there together. And even if you’re there watching it’s not like you’re going to step in and say, hey man well he’s a good preacher, give him a break. Doesn’t work that way. We each give an account of ourselves to God, right? Individually. So, 50% thought that we contribute in some way to our salvation. Well, we’ve just read Ephesians two, Titus three. We can look at many other scriptures. In the New Testament, you’re listening? It says 300 times in one way or another that we are saved through believing or through faith. It’s either stated or implied. I’m aware there’s James two, which oh gee, well he seems like he’s, but there’s a simple principle of Bible interpretation here. You interpret the unclear passages by the clear passages. And you have 300 verses over here and you have one or two over here. Which one is, are you going to believe? Which explains which? You get what I’m saying? So the emphatic message of the New Testament is that we are saved by grace through faith.
And repeatedly we are told that it is by faith, not by works. Not by works. Look at Galatians chapter 2. Galatians was the first book in the Bible I ever studied. I mean studied with commentaries and memorized portions of it. Galatians 2 verse 15, Paul is retelling a conversation that he had with Peter. And the conversation says, we who are Jews, so, Paul and Peter are Jews, right? They’re talking. Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by works of the law. Is that unclear? No, I’m not being facetious. I mean, look, it’s a weird thing goes on when people start talking about God. It’s like all of a sudden words become fuzzy. All of a sudden things don’t mean what they mean. Well, that’s your interpretation. Well, okay. I’m trying to, I’m trying to see a different one, but it’s pretty hard. If words mean what they mean, we’re not justified by the works of the law. Well then how are we justified? By faith in Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by faith.
He said three times, and three times it’s by faith right there. We’re not even done with the verse.
Not by works of the law. Again, not justified by works. Not by works of the law. For by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified.
Three times he says it is by faith. Three times he says it is not by works. Is there a problem? Are you confused? Evangelicals are confused. I don’t know what’s coming out of the pulpit, but it can’t be the gospel or the Bible, could we say by grace through faith, not of works? I can do it. Remember Ben Franklin? God helps those who help themselves. By good deeds that I do I partly contribute to my place in heaven? 52 agree. A person obtains peace with God by first taking the initiative to seek God, and then God responds in grace. 83% of self-identified evangelicals agree or somewhat agree with this. Holy Lord, we are in trouble. What does Ephesians two say? We are dead in our trespasses and sins. Look at Romans three. If this doesn’t seal it, I don’t know what to tell you. In Romans, the structure of Romans, the first two chapters of Romans, Paul is pointing out that all men are fallen and he breaks it down into groups. He talks about the pagan world, the Greeks and the Romans.
The Spirit Draws, and We Must Speak
Then he talks about the Jews who had the law, and I [audio unclear] create substitutes and religion can be a substitute for God. It’s a scary thought, scary thought. We respond to God because God first calls us, God draws us, God enlightens us, God’s work, God’s grace always precedes man’s response, always. So yes, I’ve met many people that are seeking God. But all that tells me is that Jesus was right when he said that he was going. Let’s read it. I want to read it. Because I want you to see it in your [audio unclear] “If I depart, I will send him to you, and when he has come, he will convict the world of sin, of [audio unclear] righteousness and judgment. He must draw the sinner to Christ. He must show them the beauty of the cross, the glory of the Savior, the necessity of an atonement. This must be the Spirit’s work. But he delights to do this work. He loves to glorify the Son in showing people his beauty. It’s we who need to open our mouths and be used as instruments of the Spirit [audio unclear] The Spirit’s working You. It’s You responding to His work. It’s You responding to the truth that He is revealing to you. But You must exercise faith. You might say, well that’s a paradox. I can’t help you on that. You don’t have to understand that. What you need to understand is that Christ died on the cross for your sins. If you know that you have sinned. If you know that you need a Savior, Jesus Christ is the one who can and will save you if you call upon Him. Because the Bible says whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Call upon the name of Jesus. Ask Jesus to save [audio unclear] here that have not put their faith in Christ, they have not been born again. And I ask Lord that even this very day, this very moment, they may call upon the name of Jesus. Lord, as we sang earlier, nothing but the blood of Jesus. No other name I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And I pray, Lord, for those that you are drawing right now, that you are wooing, that they might relent and submit to your wooing, to your call, to your pleading, if you will, [audio unclear] you’ve given your church a glorious message