Understanding True Salvation

Good afternoon, everyone. I hope you’re enjoying the day and enjoying the Sabbath.

I’m going to jump into a subject today, and we’re going to cover a subject that is incredibly simple and very basic and probably one of the most misunderstood aspects of Christianity that we could cover, but yet, for you and me, we understand it as intrinsically as breathing.

It’s so deep into our bones we take for granted a lot of doctrines of God that we just simply take for granted that we know. We think about them, they’re automatic. There are so many things and we’ll touch on several of them that none of us really give much thought to, because they’re basic doctrines of Christianity. But when we were coming into this way of life, they were not basic. Some were radical from where we were before.

And today, we’re going to look at the concept of salvation. We’ll go into it and I’m going to take a little bit different angle. And you think salvation, I know what salvation is. Of course, I know what salvation... Yes. Of course, you know what salvation is, but outside of these walls or God’s church oh, the teachings on this subject are wide. Recently, I’ve done a couple of public Bible lectures that we’ve broadcast online. I know some of you have watched them.

And the thing that struck me the most when giving these, and, of course, I’m giving them to a camera that’s right in front of me, as opposed to an audience, like what happened in the past, but we get a good hundred or so folks tune in. And what struck me the most when giving these messages was how many basic aspects of Christianity that you and I take for granted, that most have no idea what the Bible teaches on. Because there are countless, countless interpretations and beliefs on what salvation is, how you obtain it, what the promise is for those who achieve it.

Unfortunately, many, many, many people don’t know what it is. And when you take something that’s that basic because, why are we here? We are here to achieve, to get to be able to receive that gift of salvation. That is the foundation of what it means to be a Christian. Imagine, just put it in your minds that you build a house and you don’t know how to build a foundation. Well, we know verses about it, real-life examples about it, what happens to that house. It’s built on sand or you’ve seen buildings with faulty foundations that collapse, but yet, professing Christianity, built on a foundation that is faulty, untrue.

And our public Bible lectures are interesting because I’m going to give you a message today. We’re going to talk about salvation in the church, so we’re going to prove, reprove, the basic doctrines of salvation, what it means, all the aspects to it, but when I get back in a week or so, I’m going to give a public Bible lecture about the reward of the saved. So if you happen to tune into that, you will hear a lot of the elements I’m going to cover today, but with that slightly different tilt on it. And the public Bible lectures are critical, and it’s one of the most important things we’re doing right now.

You’ve seen a lot of the initiatives we started in the Work. First commission initiatives. The public Bible lectures are one. We’ve got the donor newsletter. Many other things we’re doing to reach the public with the truth, amazing truths that we have, that we sometimes, again, take for granted. But I’ll talk about the reward of the save. That’s the angle that we’ll take on the public Bible lecture, because to them, they’re not ready to really hear about salvation directly. But for us, it is crucial that we continue to reprove and re-look at what may seem like very basic ideas.

Let’s turn to Second Peter one as we’re starting up here. This concept is biblical. And you’re going to know, I’m going to guess basically every single verse I cover today because, again, we’re proving a basic doctrine. Second Peter chapter one and verse twelve. Verse twelve, we’ll start reading. “Wherefore I would not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them...” You know what salvation is. I know what salvation is. “...and be established in the present truth.”

Verse thirteen, “Yes, I think it meet...” Or good. “...as long as I am in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance...” Bring it back, get it to the basics. “...knowing that I shortly must put off this tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me. Moreover, I will endeavor that you may be able to after my decease...” So once he’s gone, once Paul moved on, died. “...to have these things always in remembrance.” You’ve heard the term or the expression of our minds are like a sieve where information truth comes in and we retain some of it. The hole at the bottom of the sieve is not as big as what that filter is at the top.

So we retain some of it, but a lot of knowledge tends to pour out of us. So we need to keep putting it back in, keep putting it back in, even if it’s as basic as the subject of salvation. Peter reminds here, I think I said Paul, it’s Peter. Peter reminds the brethren that they have to stay grounded. We have to stay... stick to the basics, what we’re already familiar with. When we get out on twigs and branches and get into the tiny little details of things, that’s when we could get ourselves in trouble. If you’ve ever climbed a tree, I climbed a lot of trees growing up, and you sometimes make that mistake where you get a little too far out or you put your feet down on a branch that starts to snap.

You think, “Oh, okay, I’ve gotten too far out on the branch. It’s not stable anymore.” Well, the closer we are, the better we understand the trunk of the tree, the more stable our Christianity will be. It helps us be able to cut through deception. It strengthens our ability to teach others when we’re asked questions. It’s a basic thing. People are never going to ask you any questions about how many kingdoms and in what order do they come when you run into your neighbor on the street. They say you’re different. They’re going to come up to you and say, “I’ve noticed you’re different.”

So how many iterations of the kingdom of God? No, they’re never going to ask that question. They’re going to ask why you’re going to church on a Saturday. They’re going to ask this, that, or the other basic things. So it’s important that we have those things at the forefront of our minds to be able to explain them. And as the age gets darker in whatever time we have left, people will notice that you’re different. So let’s go back to the basics. Let’s prove what salvation is, how it’s obtained, and what is required for you and I. So, I’ll start with the definition.

Usually, I’ll build up to this, but today I’m going to start with the definition and then build up to various aspects of this subject. And again, as we go through, I’ll try to point this out and you’ll see it more because I’ll expound more in a public Bible lecture. I’ll try to point out today things that I’m proving that are really, really basic that you’re not going to think anything of. I’ll try to remember throughout the message. So the definition. The definition of salvation is salvation means being delivered from a fate we deserve, death, as a given gift from God and not something that can be earned.

Okay, salvation means being delivered from a fate that we deserve, death. It is a gift given from God and not something we can earn. Those two sentences are dramatically different than a lot of the teachings in the world. They tend to swing from one ditch to the other. Either everyone gets it or you’ve got to do a lot of work to get it. It tends to be one of the two. So let’s go to Matthew chapter seven really to start. Matthew chapter seven. Matthew chapter seven and we’ll start in verse thirteen. Verse thirteen reads, “Enter you in at the strait gate...” The narrow gate. “...for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, in many there be which go thereat.”

Most people take the easy way. “Because strait is the gate, narrow is the way which leads unto life. And if you be there to find it, beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. You know also, you know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?” Jump down to verse twenty, “Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them, good and bad.”

Verse twenty-one, “Not everyone that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he that does the will of my Father, which is in heaven.” Remember, ultimately, Christianity is about doing the will of God. Christ spent His entire life trying to implement and do and reflect the will of God, will of the Father. You and I have to do that on our lives today. Again, that’s part of building this idea, what is salvation? Doing the will of the Father, which is in heaven. Let’s go back. Let’s go over to Ephesians chapter two. Back, probably just a few pages for you, or ahead a few pages for you. Ephesians chapter two and start in verse eight. Verse eight reads, “For by grace are you saved...” Salvation, saved. “...through faith, and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

I love basic doctrines, brethren. I love going through and reviewing some of the basic doctrines because, in this day and age, we’re given so much amazing knowledge and sometimes we get into the amazing, which is great. It’s amazing that God has given such truth to His church, but some of the basic doctrines come off basic scriptures that you can’t read any other way.

So salvation, it is the gift of God. Okay. Verse nine, “Not of works lest any man boast.” So those out there that say you have to work up your salvation, and there are the people in churches and church entities out there that leave everything under the sun. So there are folks out there that believe you have to earn salvation. They, obviously, just ignore this verse and others that say the same thing. Salvation is a gift of God. We can’t earn it, but we have to do things to get it.

You’ve heard this analogy used too. Mr. Pack has used it for years and I’ve used it in counseling sessions, talking with new church inquiries that salvation is a gift. But if I’m Joe Smith and my dad is rich, her father is rich and he’s going to send me to school, and he says, “Well, son, you’re going to go to college. And if you graduate from college, I’m going to give you a million dollars. Well, if you don’t graduate, you don’t get anything.”

Well, if I go through college, did I earn that million dollars or simply did I do the thing that I should have done because I went to school, I went to diploma? The million dollars is a bonus. It’s a gift. I didn’t earn it, but I wouldn’t have gotten it if I didn’t go to college and get my degree. That in many ways is the simple claim view to you to look at salvation. We can’t earn it, but we have to do things to receive it.

So that’s the start. As I say, what is salvation? Okay, but it’s a process. It’s not just flip a switch, because many people believe that too, salvation’s a moment. That’s another false idea out there, that salvation happens to be just a moment. Again, we’re digging into little aspects here, a gift of God. A lot of churches out there understand that, some don’t. These are truths that you and I simply take for granted.

And in a certain way, there’s nothing wrong with taking truth for granted. As long as we appreciate it, it becomes so fundamental to who we are. It’s like not eating pork. There’s never a moment when you’re debating, you know, that ham sandwich, maybe I’ll just probably not. No, it’s just automatic. You just don’t do it.

There’s never a moment in Christianity... sometimes if you have to work on the Sabbath, but there’s no time with the Sabbath that you say, “I don’t know, this week, Sunday looks good. You know, I’ll just pop over there Sunday afternoon. I’m going to do church on Sunday.” No, you don’t. We know it’s a Sabbath. God will test us and see if we’ll keep the Sabbath, we’ll obey the Sabbath, we’ll say no to work when there’s pressures or tests or trials, but there’s never a point when you think, “Hmm, maybe Sunday is not so bad. You know what, maybe Tuesday’s good too.” No, we just don’t.

But salvation is not a moment. It’s a process. And you can really look at it and could write this down to help it keep it in your mind. It’s really a three-step process. Or as I like to call them, three stages of salvation. You have your initial stage. We’ll just spell it out and then we’ll get in and prove them, because that’s what today is about. It’s about proving something that you already know. Remember, we’re just putting you and me because I get the remembrance side of it by studying it and building this message, and you get it as I deliver it.

But three stages. The first is, the initial forgiveness. God calls us, we respond to that calling, we repent, and we’re baptized. That starts the process. That’s stage one. Stage two is living it, ongoing. And finally, stage three is receiving that reward. So let’s go to Romans chapter five. Let’s look at stage one. We can make it sound fancier. So, stage one is repentance and justification. Sounds better than initial forgiveness. So repentance and justification, stage one. Romans chapter five.

Verse one of Romans five reads, “Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” So justified by faith, peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. “By whom also we have access by faith into His grace. And to this grace, wherein with we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” So, we’re justified by faith, gives us the peace, gives us the access to God through Christ through Christ. Through Christ, that’s the key. Many people take the aspect and the elements in the crucial sacrifice of Christ and elevate Him to be something that He’s not, or not a purpose that God, the Father, and Christ, when they came up with the amazing plan that we get to be part of, originally put on paper, if you will.

Christ’s role is crucial. We can’t access the Father without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Without all that He went through. Without that justification, His blood spilling. Without that, salvation’s not even a discussion point. There is no such thing as Christianity because there is no Christ. So He’s crucial. But in so many ways, He’s an element of this process. He’s not the process itself. Just like Christ is the messenger of the gospel, not the gospel message. So many mix up Christ’s role, and put him in a place that He shouldn’t be, and wouldn’t want to be. Let’s go to Acts chapter four.

Again, He’s crucial, and we continue to see this. Acts chapter four, and start in verse ten. Acts four, verse ten. Verse ten reads, “Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by Him does this man stand here before you whole. This Christ is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.” Christ is the head of the church. He’s the first fruit. Verse twelve, “Neither is their salvation by any other.”

So unless we go through Jesus Christ, there is no avenue to the Father which gives us His Spirit to help us grow and change and develop God’s character. Again, that’s step two. But we need to go through Christ. If we don’t have His sacrifice, again, there is no salvation. Without Christ, without Jesus, without whatever you want to say, there is no salvation. Plain as day. So verse twelve, “There is salvation in any other. Neither salvation in any other, for there is none other or no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.”

So without God calling us, without us coming into the church, without Christ being the head of the church, without Christ’s sacrifice that allowed Him to build the church, salvation doesn’t exist. You and I are just human beings that live and die. Nothing comes after. We’re wasting our time trying to live by any moral code, if we do not have a savior. That’s huge. But yet, do you ever think about that, except maybe Passover? Once a year we think about His sacrifice. No, we don’t, because it’s intrinsic to what is basic Christianity, but what you and I understand is not normal.

If out there, if the vast majority of the population is normal, you could argue that they’re not normal, but let’s say they’re normal, that means what you and I believe and understand and live and walk every single day is not normal, is not common, is not widely understood.

Brethren, we always have to bring it back to these basics. Life gets complicated. Knowledge is complicated. Experiences, interactions, things can get complicated. But when we come back to the basics, the foundations of what we live and believe, it just takes that complication away. It doesn’t make it easier to walk this way of life, but it makes it more clear. Go to First John. Probably a little scripturally heavy in this message, but of course that’s natural when you’re trying to prove a doctrine or a more doctrinal sermon.

First John chapter three. Pick it up in verse one, “Behold...” Verse one. “...what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God, wherewith the world knows us not because it knew Him not.” You never hear many in the world talk about the Father. It’s always about Jesus and Jesus and... Again, crucial, but they don’t talk about the Father. “Beloved, now we are sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, like God, like the Father, for we shall see Him as He is.”

Verse three, “And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself. That is a process. Even as he is pure, even as the Father is pure. Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law.” It’s a memory verse. That’s a memory verse that no one believes. No one out there believes that. “Sin is the transgression of the law.” That means when we sin, we break the law. What law? The Ten Commandments and the other laws of God. Yet, that simple verse, which we hang so much truth on, and we’ll look at another, that proves we keep the law of God, people don’t understand. That’s one of those things that when you preach, and you’re talking to the public, and you say, and it comes out of my lips when I’m preaching, I have to take a side track for the world and explain why the law matters, why sin matters.

Let’s go to Romans six, building on this. Romans chapter six. And verse twenty-two, Romans six, twenty-two. “But now being made free from sin and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life...” That’s what our goal is. Six, twenty-three, another memory verse. “...for the wages of sin is death.” When we sin...

Remember that definition we started with, that salvation… Is a fate we deserve, death, because we all sin. We all do. We don’t come into God’s way of life and put underwater and come up, hands are laid on, and poof, no more sin. No, we have a way to be forgiven for sin, getting back to the sacrifice of Christ, but no matter how many years you’ve been a Christian or how good of a Christian you are, you’re still sinning. We all do. We all have our weaknesses. We all have the proclivities, the cross we have to bear, if you will, that is the harder things in our life to be able to throw off.

And some things you may struggle with your entire Christian walk. But you’ve heard me say before, it’s not so much about being perfect, it’s about what happens when we sin, when we fall. When we fall to the ground, or we stumble, do we get back up and keep walking? That’s what God cares about. Because sin is death. The wages of it is death. What we receive from sin is death. But the verse continues, “But the gift of God...” Again a gift. “...is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Again, through Christ, God gives us this gift. Again, this is just stage one, repentance and justification.

We’re supposed to receive death. God steps in through Christ, calls us and gives us access, gives us this free gift. Brethren, that should make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. What we get access to is so monumental, so powerful. We get to be ultimately, as I like to say in my head in prayers is, we get to become God. That’s so huge. Continuing here, but again, we start to talk about this process. Let’s go to Acts chapter two. Acts chapter two. Again, we’re building up this stage one, repentance and justification.

Ironically, we’ll spend the most time on this step, but for many of us, it’s the smallest part of the entire process, because we spend much of our lives spending in step two, but continue here before I get ahead of myself. Acts chapter two, verse thirty-six. I’ll let you flip to there. “Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made that same Jesus whom you have crucified both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and they said unto Peter, and to the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what should we do?”

We caused Christ, God, to be killed, crucified. What should we do? What’s the next step, Peter? What’s the next step, Apostles? And Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized. Repent and be baptized. Every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, remember that’s the key for the remission of sins, and then you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. It’s no coincidence the same word here is called gift of receiving God’s Spirit. Because without that spirit interfacing with our spirit, brethren, that spirit with our spirit, we can’t access salvation.

We need that spirit to change us. Help us grow and develop and change. Verse thirty-nine, the next verse, “For the promises unto you and to your children and to all that are far off even as many as our Lord, our God shall call.” God does the calling. People don’t choose this way of life, they get chosen. Our choice is to respond or not. God doesn’t force our hand in this age, but when God calls us, we have a choice. Do we respond or do we not? With repentance, baptism, and then receiving God’s spirit, and then that sets us up because now we’re justified.

We’ve had our slate cleaned. We’ve been baptized. We’re now a new man. We’re supposed to live a new way of life. We received the gift. And then we hit stage two. Stage two, again, we’ll make it sound a little fancier. Sanctification. Really, this is just the process of growing and changing and developing and becoming more like God. I guess you could call it, if you’re going to make it sound more active, this is the part of being saved. We got the gift, now we’re being saved. That present progressive continual step-by-step daily process that happens after days, months, years, decades.

Sometimes from when we’re called to when we go back underground, when we die. Second Peter, chapter three. Second Peter, chapter three and verse fifteen, we’ll start. “And account that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him has written unto you; As also in all his epistles speaking in them of these things in which some are hard to be understood….” Some of Paul’s writings are difficult, “…which they that are unlearned and unable rest….” Wow, isn’t that true for Churchianity at large.

People look at the Bible’s teachings that we can take at simple versions of them, simple verses, and they just rest and turn and make them into things. Because people go, churches, pastors, human beings go into the Bible with a doctrine in their mind, their teachings, fables of men. And then they go into the Bible to prove their thinking. That’s where the world goes wrong. That’s why they rest the doctrines and rest the Bible, because they have perceived or preconceived notions of what Christianity is, and then they go into the Bible and seek to prove their thinking.

That’s the opposite of what we should do as Christians. We should go to the Bible and let it speak to us. Take doctrines that speak to us, prove them from the Bible, basic things. It’s the Word of God, it can’t contradict itself. We’re going to go through a little later in the message and disprove, with some very simple scriptures, confusion about salvation. Continuing here, “…rest, unstable rest.”

Again, halfway through verse sixteen, “...as they do with other scriptures unto their own destruction.” Verse seventeen. “You therefore beloved seeing you know these things before, beware lest you also...” because many of us have a background that may have some of those teachings in our mind “...beware lest you also being led away with air of the wicked fall from your own steadfastness.” Verse eighteen. “But grow in grace...” The grace of God. “...and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Grow in grace and knowledge. Again, another memory verse. “...to Him, be glory both now and forever. Amen.”

Brethren, every single day we have to do this. We have to grow and study and pray and interact in fellowship, and grow and study and pray and interact in fellowship over and over again. Go through trials. Go through tests, overcome them. Stand back up. That’s the process of being saved over and over every single day. It’s so simple, isn’t it? But, wow, that step two sanctification, it’s not easy. Because it requires endurance, and so many other subjects. The vast majority of every single sermon you’re going to hear throughout your entire Christian walk is going to be about step two, sanctification.

We’ll get to the Feast, you may hear about the kingdom of God. Yes, there are other messages, but most fall in that category called Christian living. Because it’s hard. It’s not easy. It’s not all everyday difficult, but trials and tests will come. God allows it. He’s trying to build character in you and me. So that’s step two. Step three, glorification. That final stage when we’re born into the family of God, and get a reward in the kingdom of God. Romans chapter eight.

Romans chapter eight. Again, I told you today would be simple. I’m not even sure. Anyway, have we gone to Ecclesiastes? Maybe we have already. But we haven’t really even left the New Testament. Many doctrines you prove from verses in the New Testament. So it’s very common. But again, this is simple, basic, but my job, as Peter said, is to put you and me in remembrance of some of these very basic things. And that in the back of your mind, think about when we give these public Bible lectures, what it means, that those amazing truths that caused you to respond when God called you to someone else, that could be filling those seats next to you, that could be making your congregation larger.

That’s why there’s nothing wrong with you listening in on our public Bible lectures. Because what you do is you make the numbers bigger, and the numbers bigger give a perception. Back in Worldwide when they did them on site and at a location, the congregation was invited. They just blended in with everyone else. Because you know what makes people get excited? Numbers.

Because God’s flock is little. It’s a little church. We’re a micro flock. And that can scare people when they start. What does that mean? Do I meet in a congregation of one or five or fifteen or thirty, or I meet just alone in my home? Can that be the church of God? Well, yes, yes, it can. You’re probably there, Romans eight, we’ll start in verse thirteen. Verse thirteen reads, “For if you live after the flesh, you shall die...” Remember, wages of sin is death. “...but if you through the spirit do mortify...” Kill. “...the deeds of the body, you shall live.

There’s no real way to separate the process sanctification from the glorification because it’s the end of the process. As you see this builds, “...for as many are led by the spirit of God, they are the Sons of God.” Without God’s Spirit, you are not Christian. Brethren, that’s not understood. Without God’s Spirit, we are not Christians because we’re not Sons of God. Verse fifteen, “For you have not received the spirit of again unto fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption or sonship whereby we cry, Abba or Father.” We have access to the Father. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives us the gift of salvation. When we get this Holy Spirit, we are given the gift of salvation.

We don’t yet see what will become, but now we have God saying, here it is. You’re going to be doing some things, you’ve got to graduate college, but if you do the things you’re supposed to do, that gift is out there waiting for you. Verse sixteen, “The spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. If children then heirs, heirs of God, heirs sons and joint heirs with our brother, Jesus Christ, if we be that we suffer with Him, that we may be glorified together.” Brethren, if we live the life, if we walk the path, if we take the steps, we will be glorified with Christ. We will become spirit, but that’s a lifetime of work.

It’s the journey of walking through each and every day to get to that reward. In some ways, it gets easier because it becomes habitual, but in other ways, God will sometimes test us a little more strongly because He knows we can handle it. Sometimes the tests, the trials become more intense, the more our spiritual maturity grows, but in other ways you’re equipped because you’ve seen God deliver you or heal you, or your faith has been strengthened. You’ve seen Him answer prayers over and over again. Protect you in situations, perform miracles in your life so He can test you more effectively because you know He’ll follow through and back you up.

If you’re newer, every test feels like a mountain because you’re not used to this. You’re not used to the world fighting what you believe, the entire world. You’ve chosen, when someone steps out of the world and comes into the church, they have chosen a life that they’re going upstream. You know that now. I’m sure you thank God each and every day for your brothers and sisters in Christ that you have that are with you to go upstream, who pull you and strengthen you. Those bonds that allow all of us to be able to be more effective, to grow, to be stronger, but it takes time. It takes time.

We have to endure all the way to the end. That end could be Christ’s return, which we in our lives today get to be a part of. That’s coming very, very soon. For many, for generations, it meant the end being death, and often for thousands of years, death brutally usually killed for what they believe. We have it pretty cushy, we get to be the part of the generation that is here when Christ returns, and we don’t have to wait until the end of our lives, but we should be willing to. You have to endure to the end, whatever that end is. So those are the three steps.

Again, go back to that step two, there’s stuff we’re doing, so how does, because we can’t earn salvation, it’s not something we earn, but how does works play into this subject of salvation? How do faith and works come together in a way that allows us to do what we need to do? You’re probably thinking of the scripture, so let’s turn there, James chapter two. I enjoy the book of James, it’s such an active book.

So much you get in there, you have to do stuff, you have to work, you have to… it’s a book that really spells out many aspects of what it means to walk this way of life. It keeps it really simple. And there are verses in here that are just so incredibly plain. James chapter two and verse fourteen, verse fourteen, “What does it profit, my brethren, though a man say he has faith and have not works, can faith save him? Can faith get him salvation?” Interesting because, remember, God said it’s a gift. When we receive God’s Spirit, we’re given that gift of salvation, even though it’s a process. Can faith save him?

So the analogy here, “…if a brother or sister be naked and destitute of food, and one of you say unto them, ‘Depart in peace, you’re fine. You’re naked and hungry, but depart in peace, be warmed and filled.’ Notwithstanding, you give them not the things which are needful to the body. What does it profit?” You didn’t help them. You didn’t do anything. “Even so faith…” which is the fundamental of being able to receive the gift of salvation, “…even so faith if it has not works is dead, being alone.”

Faith is what gives us access to the Father. Faith allows us to believe and understand the things we cannot see. But if we don’t do anything, plain as day, remember, this is the Word of God. Everything in here is accurate, “…so even so faith without works is dead.” So if we don’t do things, if we don’t act, if we don’t walk, live, grow, develop, build God’s character, we might as well not even be here, it’s dead. Works are a natural outgrowth of faith. It’s the evidence you and I have that we’re living Christianity, not just to people around us.

It also creates light because if you’re kind and you’re a Christian to everyone, not just those in the church, you shine, people see your example, that you become that living Bible to them. They hear, oh, they’re religious. Wow, they’re so kind. That’s a different kind of person. We become an example, but works are just the extension of that. It shows we’re living the relationship with our Father.

Go to Matthew chapter sixteen. Matthew chapter sixteen, just read one verse here. Matthew chapter sixteen and verse twenty-seven. Again, we’re proving this basic concept of salvation and the various aspects of it.

Verse twenty-seven reads, “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then He shall reward every man according to the gift of God.” No, that’s not what it says. You know what it says? “Reward every man according to his works.” Our reward is connected to what we do. So let’s go back to our college analogy. God gives us a gift of eternal life. So you could say the million dollars that this Father gives to His son if he finishes college is a gift. It is, would be.

But what God says is you can make that million dollars, analogy breaks down. You can’t expand salvation, but you understand where I’m coming from. You take that analogy and you say, “Well, if you work hard, your reward will be bigger. You know what, I’ll throw in a car. You’re a straight A student, you’re going to get a car out of this. If you get straight A’s and you go above and beyond, you have a 4.0 average, You know what? I’ll throw in a car in a boat.” Again, the analogy breaks down when it comes to salvation, but the concept is the same.

If we work hard at living Christianity, God says cleanly, clearly we will be rewarded according to our works, to our works. Okay, so that’s the role of works in salvation. We’ve seen the steps of salvation. We understand now those different stages and how we live it and what it is. But what is it not? It’s always helpful when you prove a subject. I like to prove it first then say what’s not after. So what salvation is not? Let’s look at that because there are lots of common misconceptions about salvation, belief of the afterlife. What happens? And many of these as we go through, again, back to that public Bible lectures, are things that people don’t understand. So as I bring these up, I’ll try to point these out.

So a very common belief of salvation is by faith alone. It’s the solidified version. The quote you’ll hear is, “Justification by faith alone.” Sounds very, very lovely, isn’t it? We don’t even have to work at proving this one. We just read the scripture in James. Faith without works is dead. How do you have a religion? Because Evangelicals, Baptists, Lutherans, they believe that. Justification by faith alone, which means they have to just ignore faith without works is dead.

Those are major religions that ignore simple verses in the Bible. They believe faith is solely attained through faith. Call upon Jesus and you’re saved. If you ask them, “Can you go murder people?” They’ll say, “No, you can’t murder people.” “Well, can you lie?” “No, you can’t.”

They’ll say you need to do certain things, there’s a moral code, but their fundament of what they believe is once you call out the name of Jesus, you’re saved. You’re guaranteed by salvation as long as you keep the faith. Again, James. Done. That’s all you have to do. That verse alone and there are a couple of verses that say, James especially, that you need to have works tied with it.

And that’s where people get confused. They hear that and they think, “Oh, you’re earning salvation.” No, God says it’s a gift, but you got to do your part. We have to do our part. We just have to believe the Bible, and again, don’t take what we want it to read and read into the scriptures. We take what the scriptures say and come out of it. That’s why all of our booklets and literature and items point to the Bible. Explain scriptures. We don’t force doctrines into those words and then ignore verses like James two that we just read that would destroy a doctrine, a concept, a teaching of man. So salvation by faith alone.

Another one, again, these are huge, huge religions. So this is evangelical Christianity, especially Southern Baptist believe this, salvation as a one-time event. Once saved, always saved. So the belief is when a person is saved, they can’t lose their salvation regardless of the future actions or faithfulness.

So the first one, you had to keep the faith. So I guess whatever that means in someone’s heart. It’s really easy when you just puff it up into something silly like, “Oh, no, I kept the faith. I’m a crack dealer, or I’m a murderer, but I have the faith of God.” That’s technically all you’d have to keep since the commandments are thrown out. Right? That’s where people would go, but evangelical Christianity takes it one step further. Once you flip the switch, you don’t even have to worry about faith. It’s done. Once saved, always saved.,

Let’s go to Hebrews chapter ten. Let’s disprove this one. I remember back in my atheist days, some of this stuff, some of these basic things used to drive me crazy about Christianity until God called me and showed me the truth. These are basic things in the Bible. The Ten Commandments just was a thing in my head. God created these laws that people post on their wall everywhere, and you don’t have to keep them? And again, we’re looking at some of these basics. Remember, they’re unique to you and I. The things we’re disproving are believed by millions of people. We’re a little flock. We obey the Word of God.

Hebrews chapter ten, verse twenty-six. Verse twenty-six reads, “For if we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins.” Okay? Does that mean you lose? Well verse twenty-seven, “But a certain fearful looking for a judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.” So if we sin willfully, willful sin, the unpardonable sin, that concept, in effect fall away, God says, you’re going to be burned in fire. You’re done. One verse or two verses, one passage disproves, in simple form, something believed by millions.

Because God says, “No, you can’t keep sinning. You can’t be willfully sinning.” And that teaching says, “It doesn’t matter. One saved, always saved. You can do anything you want. You don’t need faith, you don’t need anything.” That’s worse than the first one. One passage says that’s not what God teaches. That’s what the Bible says. Looking forward to judgment and fiery indignation.

Okay, another major misconception, salvation is a path to heaven after death. This is almost universally believed. Catholics, Protestants, Eastern Orthodox. When you die, you go to heaven. When people are at funerals of any stripe or form that’s not God’s Church, they are preached into heaven. It doesn’t matter who they are, what they did. I think if Hitler had a funeral service, the minister standing above him would’ve preached him into heaven. Everyone’s preached into heaven, no matter what they did or how they lived their lives. It’s almost like the one saved, always saved. I’ve just decided, you know what, you’re all going to heaven.

It’s the belief that our immortal soul... this is the belief... goes to heaven after we die where we’ll dwell for all eternity doing all sorts of nothing. Remember, the sitting on the streets of gold and playing the harp and, I don’t know, talking. I like people, but just talking around on a golden road for eternity, it seems like a little bit more action than would be Christianity. That would get old at least after the first, I don’t know, thousand or two thousand years if we’re really patient. But that’s... brethren, everyone believes it. Everyone believes it.

Let’s go to John chapter three and let’s disprove it. See, these are the things that are fun to teach the public, because I don’t have to go very deep or get very complicated. And someone could be listening out there, not here, but when we do the public Bible lectures and they’ve believed about going to heaven their entire lives, and I’ll show them these two verses we’re going to read that completely destroys that thinking. Their mind can be blown. If God’s calling them, it’ll be blown in the right way. And they’ll say, “Wait a second. I’ve been lied to.”

John chapter three and verse twelve. “If I have told you earthly things and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things?” So if you didn’t believe the physical things I taught you, how are you going to believe the heavenly things? Verse thirteen, Christ speaking, “And no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven...” Or inspired by Christ. “...but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man, which is in heaven.” Let’s just read that again. At face value, “No man has ascended up to heaven...” Done. Millions, billions of people believe the reward of salvation contradicts this one verse. “No man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man, which is in heaven.” Wow. Take that in for a moment. Billions of people believe we go to heaven after we die. That’s stunning.

Let’s go to Acts chapter two. We’ll look at another one that disproves this. This is the stuff that gets me excited to be able to do publicly because people are being deceived and deceive themselves. Even the ministers that teach it, they may not understand it either. You and I get to understand things that God has opened our mind to. They keep going through the paces, keep going through the paces. Remember how it’s easy for us to become automatic in what we believe if we just don’t go back in and keep proving it again and again and be brought in remembrance?

Well, the same could be said out there. They’ve had false teachings put in their mind and they keep saying them over and over again until the point where they think it’s true. Not all of them do. Some of them will know, “Okay, I’m not teaching what the Bible says. I’ve got to ignore those verses,” but that’s not how God’s Church functions. Acts chapter two and verse twenty-nine.

Start in verse twenty-nine, “Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch, David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher was with us unto this day.” So he’s dead and buried. We’re starting here. “Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God has sworn an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, He shall raise up Christ to sit on His throne. He, seeing this before, spoke of the resurrection of Christ, and that His soul was not left in hell...” Which just means the grave, His soul. We’ll come back to this. “...not left in hell, neither did His flesh see corruption.”

So Christ didn’t experience those things. So the world will say, “See, look, hell.” Go to the Greek, the word means grave. “It’s not left in the grave, neither His flesh did see corruption.” Verse thirty-two. “This Jesus has God raised up, where with we are all witnesses.” Verse thirty-three, “Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has shed forth this, which you now see and hear.” Verse thirty-four, “For David is not ascended in to heaven.”

What? David, the one from which Christ came lineage. If David, a man who God says lived after... a man after his own heart, he was like God in his heart. If David is not in heaven, and in John we saw no man has ascended to heaven, why on earth do anyone believe that we go to heaven? Why? It’s because the world is deceived, I think in Revelation, the devil has deceived the whole world.

“David is not ascended to heaven, but he said to himself, the Lord said to my Lord, sit you on my right hand, until I make your foes, your enemies your footstool.” There’s too many things with that verse, but one about we don’t go to heaven, and two, “one Lord said to another Lord.” It’s also in Psalms you see that, book of Psalms. That proves two beings, one Lord said to the other Lord, one God said to the other God.

That, in itself, makes you wonder, okay, why did one say to the other and left out the Holy Spirit, the Holy ghost, as they say, who was part of the Trinity, and it disproves a binary God? There’s just one, you know you have two in this case, but it proves two beings in addition to the fact that the saved do not go to heaven. The reward of salvation is not in heaven, but as you and I understand and know, it’s the coming of the Kingdom of God to earth that you and I, as part of the family of God, get to rule over. And conversely, remember we set up the word up top, it said “His soul is not left in hell”?

Well, let’s go to Genesis two-seven because this is another teaching people don’t understand. It’s a basic thing. They don’t understand it, but you do. Genesis chapter two. We got a couple of verses here. Because to go to hell requires a false teaching on top of the concept of going to hell. So to go to hell when we die, it means we have to have a soul that just doesn’t die. It can’t be destroyed. It goes on forever. It’s an immortal soul.

Continuing here, verse seven of Genesis two, “And the Lord God formed man to the dust of the ground, and he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” We became a living being is what that verse is saying. We don’t have an immortal soul, we are a living soul, a living person. We have a spirit in man. Yes. Again, another teaching that the world does not understand.

Let’s go back to the New Testament, John chapter three. We’re finally reaching the point with this Bible that the pages are coming loose, so as I carefully put them back. John chapter three. Verse five of John three, “Jesus answered, ‘Verily, verily, and truly, truly, I say unto you, Except a man be born of water...’” Baptism. “‘...and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

So unless something changes. Born of water, that’s baptism. That’s receiving the spirit of God. That’s different from being born of the spirit because it says again in verse six, as we continue, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh...” A living soul. “...and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.” So that differentiates baptism being born of water, from spirit, because when you’re born of spirit, you are spirit. This touches on the concept of when and how we are born again. Another teaching, brethren, most do not understand.

Take all of these basic teachings, put them into your mind, get excited about the truth you and I have. That’s incredible. Amazing knowledge. “Marvel not that I said unto you...” Verse seven. “...you must be born again.” So, we haven’t been yet.

And finally, let’s go to Ecclesiastes twelve, back to the Old Testament. Some basic things here. Ecclesiastes twelve. Remember, we’re basically disproving the concept of hell and the immortal spirit, because if you don’t have an immortal soul, you can’t go to hell. Hell just means grave. Chapter twelve, verse seven. Ecclesiastes twelve-seven, “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was...” You and I are dust, remember. “...and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” That’s where people get confused.

We die, but there’s nothing in this passage that says the spirit, which is the spirit in man, goes to God where He keeps it. The spirit in man is like a recorder. I guess this made a lot of sense in years past, where you may have the cassette deck. There are young people who are hearing this are saying, “A cassette what?”

I would say DVDs, but you may not even know what that is. So let’s just say a digital recording device. Our spirit allows us to record our experiences and ideas and thoughts and actions and character and all the things we build up. God takes that spirit and stores it. We die, it doesn’t go to hell. In a funny way, our spirit goes to heaven, but it’s stored. It’s waiting for the time when we’re resurrected. “And the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” So that is where people usually jump to the conclusion of, “Oh, look at that. We go to heaven. Our spirit goes to heaven,” but that’s not the case.

That’s not the case, because salvation is not immediate after death. That’s another concept. People think when you die you immediately receive the reward of salvation. No, that’s not the case. When you die, you die. The next thing you know is being resurrected, and we’ll get to that. But we’re still in Ecclesiastes. So let’s go back a couple of chapters. To chapter nine, Ecclesiastes nine, and we’ll start in verse five.

Verse five reads, “For the living know that they shall die...” Everyone knows no one lives forever. “...but the dead know not anything...” Wait, if we’re in heaven or hell, whatever false doctrine you want to prove or disprove, you’d know something. You would be cognizant of something, “...but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more reward for the memory of them is forgotten.” People fade, but the key here is the dead know not anything. “Also, their love and their hatred and their envy is now perished. Neither have they any more apportion forever in anything that is done under the sun.”

The dead know nothing. Jump down to verse ten. “So whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave where you go…” So if they’re in heaven, you’re doing “…no work, no device, no knowledge, nor wisdom.” So, we’re just empty-minded and dumb if we go to heaven, because that’s what it says happens after death. So we’re just standing there staring at a blank wall. We’re not talking, we don’t have knowledge. Of course, the teaching’s silly. We’re going to die. So, we have to take advantage of where we are now. The dead are in a state of unconsciousness. That spirit is being stored by God for a time later.

Okay, one other false teaching. This is also a very popular one, especially with very liberal branches of Christianity or popular Christianity, churchianity, unitarian, universalism, liberal Christianity, new age, spiritual, all those very touchy-feely ones. The concept is people, regardless of their actions, because this is taking it to a whole new step. All people, regardless of their beliefs or their actions in life, will be saved and reconciled by God, so no matter what you do, how you live your life, you eventually become reconciled and receive salvation, so let’s go back to Hitler or Mao.

Or any other brutal dictator, so no matter what a person did in their lives, they get salvation, that’s what universal salvation is. All roads lead to heaven, as the saying is, it’s all about being inclusive and loving and caring, but why? Why do you have to be inclusive and loving and caring if no matter what you do you get salvation? It’s almost like people don’t ever stop to think, why do I believe what I believe and it’s a statement that doesn’t make any sense. It’s like a bit of a truism, so if everything leads, but I should be loving and caring, why should I be loving and caring because everything leads to heaven?

Let’s go to Matthew seven. We read this before, but we’ll read it again. Matthew chapter seven, verse thirteen, just reading a shorter passage here, verse thirteen. “Enter you into the strait gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there be many which go thereat.” The easy way, all of the roads out there lead to destruction.” Plain and simple, “Because strait is the gate, narrow is the way that leads unto life, and few be that find it.” So it doesn’t mean that everyone’s going to go to heaven no matter what they do. There is a road. Not roads, not spokes of the wheel, not any of those concepts, there is a road and it goes through God’s church. The true Church of God, The Restored Church of God. There’s one road, all the other roads, all of the wide gates lead to death.

No matter what people or how earnestly or sincere they want to be, you have to, I have to believe the words of God in His Word. We can’t just profess, we can’t just have faith or do or think, that’s deception, we’re just deceiving ourselves. We have to align what we believe with God’s Word. Revelation twenty. I’m going to put a nail in the coffin of this if you will. Revelation chapter twenty.

In verse thirteen, talking about time just ahead of us, “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every man according to his works, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” Destroyed forever. And remember universal salvation. Everyone saved, every path gets to heaven, all of the other ones we looked at, you just have to have faith, or as long as you once saved, always saved.

Those are all those concepts, “And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” Oh, that’s brutal, what a brutal God. No, God is loving and caring and kind because if people don’t want to obey Him, don’t want to do the things that are Christianity, they’re going to be miserable. It doesn’t matter if it’s in this life or in the kingdom of God, but it’s definitely not universal.

There are those that will be destroyed forever. Yet that doesn’t feel good, does it? As I said, that touchy-feely of everyone’s included, no. That’s not what God says. There’s the kindness, the goodness, and severity of God. He expects that middle step, that stage two, that sanctification as we grow and develop and change, the being saved time is crucial, is fundamental and is required. So ultimately, what’s the reward? We know it, we understand it. What’s the reward of being saved? Those with salvation. Go to First Corinthians three. We’ll start to wrap up. First Corinthians chapter three. Again, remember, we were talking about works before. Chapter three and verse eleven. First Corinthians three, eleven. For other foundations, no man lay than is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Again, He is the base, the cornerstone. Now, if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, and precious stones, wood, hay, and stubble, for every man’s work shall be made manifest…” Some works good, some works bad. “…For the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and that fire shall try every man’s works of what sort it is.” Is there hay? Is there stubble?

How much gold is in our works? How much silver? Precious metals, and how much is chaff that needs to be burned away? “If any man’s work abide…” so if there’s any gold in us, any silver, any precious stones by “…which he has built thereon, he shall receive a reward.” We’re going to get a reward. Remember, according to our works, that’s why some of that stubble is burned away to see what precious stones, what gold, what silver is left. But what’s the reward? Matthew chapter five. This is quoted so many times in professing Christianity over and over and over again. It’s known as the Beatitudes. We heard it preached about recently. And the simple things in it are ignored.

The profound aspects of what the reward is are ignored. Five, one. “And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain.” Remember, He was with the disciples. “When he was sat, his disciples came unto Him, and He opened His mouth and taught them, saying, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’” So if you are poor in spirit and you are blessed, you receive salvation, yours is the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God. Clear. Okay, but what does that mean? That’s the government of God. You get to be part of the government of God and to be spirit, you have to be born as spirit. So, we have to be born of the family of God.

Verse four. “Blessed are they that mourn, for they’ll be comforted.” Because life during the sanctification process of Christianity is hard. They’ll be comforted. And verse five, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” Not going to heaven. We can go to heaven as God beings. We can go anywhere in the universe, but our inheritance, our reward is being part of the family of God, being born into the family of God, becoming eternal, being in the government of God, and inheriting the earth. That’s what the Bible says. No one understands that. You do.

Brethren, we have so many precious truths, so many aspects of teaching that most have no idea about. Think about what we’ve covered today, and if you tune in on the twenty-first, I believe it is the public Bible lecture and hear that one, I’ll take a lot more side turns on doctrines and go into more detail to help prove them. Then we need to in a message like this. Don’t take them for granted, or if we do take them for granted, appreciate what we have. It’s great that they’re fundamental, they’re core, they’re part of who we are, but God is very clear about what He expects of us. What we should do.

Let’s go to Matthew twenty-five as we wrap up. Another parable of the talents. You know it, so we don’t have to read the whole passage. Matthew twenty-five, last verse. The last passage here. Matthew chapter twenty-five, and we’ll start in verse thirty. Okay. So you have the some have talents, some built their talents, they expanded them, some buried them. You know the account.

So jumping down to verse thirty as things get a little bit more serious, “And cast you...” Remember the unprofitable one, the one that just buried his talent, didn’t even take it to the bank, if you will, and have it get interest, “And cast you the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: There’ll be weeping and gnashing of teeth. When the Son of man shall come in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory and before Him shall be gathered all nations and He shall separate one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from his goats, and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. And then the king shall say to them on His right hand, ‘Come, you are blessed of my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’”

We read them in the Beatitudes, we inherit the kingdom of God. We become part of a royal priesthood. We’re part of the government of God. We become God.

Brethren, we’re responsible for the knowledge God’s given us. We have to live and act upon it. We have to appreciate these precious, massive, fundamental precious truths that we have. We have to keep living every single day acknowledging the process of repentance and growth and change, understanding that we were justified through faith, but we need the works. We know it’s a gift of salvation. We have to commit ourselves each and every day so we can get to the point when we hear those words. We’re born into the family of God, we’re given our inheritance of the kingdom of God, and we inherit the earth.