4 8 18 Salvation by Grace - Alone

so Acts chapter 22 when we left off in the book of Acts we had just finished Acts chapter 21 if you recall what happens in Acts chapter 21 Paul is in Jerusalem and the the Jews there become upset with Paul because they perceive that he is teaching people against the law and they perceived that he's brought Gentiles into the temple and polluted it acts 22 will pick up in verse 5 Paul's Paul's giving his defense here as also the high priest doth bear me witness and all the estate of the elders from whom also I received letters unto the Brethren and went to Damascus to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem for to be punished well thank you for preserving your word for us thank you that it's preserved without error we pray Lord that we would understand what it says that your spirit would give us understanding that we would not go by our own traditions or conclusions or interpretations but we would believe what you have written it's in Jesus name we pray amen so in acts 22 what Paul's doing is he's describing what took place in acts 9 when he was sent out from the chief priests from with letters verse 6 and it came to pass that as I made my journey and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me and I fell unto the ground and heard a voice saying unto me Saul Saul why persecutest thou me verse 8 and I answered who art thou Lord and he said unto me I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou persecute us so get to keep acts 22 but get acts 9 now notice the the problem Paul has here turn to acts 9 Paul's busy persecuting the kingdom Church at that point in time he gets letters from the high priest and he's persecuting the Saints even under strange cities is what scripture says the Lord appears to him he clearly knows it's the Lord because he says who art thou Lord so he knows he's dealing with God and then he gets the answer that is sort of a scary answer right who are you I am Jesus whom thou persecutest in other words oops Paul realizes in that moment I've been on the wrong team now notice with me look at verse Acts chapter 9 notice verse 5 X 9 verse 5 and he said who art thou Lord now notice this and the Lord said I am Jesus whom thou persecutest now look with me at acts 22 verse 8 and he said unto me I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou persecute us and one thing I want you to just notice there is that both acts 9 verse 5 and acts 22 verse 8 quote the Lord but they do not quote him identically do they one says Jesus and one says Jesus of Nazareth it's the same person so it's not a problem but I just want you to notice this because as you look at cross references in the Bible as you look at instances where the same event is being described in different places the words will not be identical people sometimes have a problem with that because they think it's supposed to match verbatim it's not a problem that it doesn't when you see things like that what's happening is the different verses are giving you more and supplemental information they're not contradicting so I just share that with you because as you study the Bible you're gonna notice that things aren't always verbatim and and that's okay the Holy Spirit knows what he's doing right I mean think for example at the Tower of Babel who is it that actually created language God the Father created language does God know how to say what he means and mean what he says yes does he have the capability to word something one way in a certain place and word it differently in another place and both be correct yes he does he is fully capable of doing that and so I just wanted you to notice that so back to acts 22 verse 9 and they that were with me saw indeed the light and were afraid but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me now compare that to acts 9 verse 7 x 9 verse 7 and the men which journeyed with him stood speechless hearing a voice but seeing no man so acts 9 says that the men heard the voice acts 22 verse 9 says they heard not the voice which is it get John 12 now when I show you these things I'm not suggesting to you the Bible contradicts itself or it has errors that would be crazy talk but what I am showing I'm showing you things that people will sometimes use to claim the Bible does so let me show you what the answer is John 12 verse 29 the people therefore that stood by and heard it said that it thundered others said an angel spake to him so what happens and this is just the way life works when two people witness the same event can they have a different perception and a different experience of what happened yes and that's I think what you're seeing with acts 9 and acts 20 to go back to acts 22 verse 10 and I said what shall I do Lord and the Lord said unto me arise and go into Damascus and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do what acts 2210 tells you is that from the very time Paul was saved God had a specific task he had specific work for Paul to do look at verse 11 and when I could not see for the glory of that light being led by the hand of them that were with me I came into Damascus so what happens to Paul in acts 9 is this great light appears unto Him and he's blinded so he actually has to be led by the hand into Damascus get with me Acts chapter 13 Acts chapter 13 can anyone remember the first miracle that Paul is recorded as performing in the scriptures let's look at X 13 X 13 verse 6 and when they had gone through the island the Paphos they found a certain sorcerer a false prophet a Jew whose name was bar Jesus which was the deputy in the country Sergi which was with the deputy of the country Sergius Paulus a prudent man who called for Barnabas and Saul and desired to hear the word of God but Alliance the sorcerer for so is his name by interpretation withstood them seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith then saul who also is called paul filled with the Holy Ghost set his eyes on him and said O full of all subtlety and all mischief thou child of the devil the enemy of all righteousness wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord and now behold the hand of the Lord is upon thee and thou shalt be blind not seeing the Sun for a season and immediately there fell on him a mist any darkness and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand though that event in acts 13 is the first recorded miracle in the scriptures that Paul performed what I want you to notice get with me get with me John if you would John chapter 21 verse 25 John 21 verse 25 and there are also many other things which Jesus did the which if they should be written every one I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written and here's what I want you to notice so what John 21 tells us is this if scripture recorded every miracle that Jesus Christ performed the world couldn't hold all the books so what is Scripture doing what scripture does scripture does not record every event that happened throughout time there's just not room to do that scripture records what God has decided we need to know and thus every event in fact every miracle has a specific doctrinal purpose it's not just something fancy or supernatural or interesting so let me pull this together the first miracle Paul performs is blinding and unbelieving Jew is that just because it's some you know fancy neat thing or something know what that is is that as significant of the spiritual condition of Israel at that time so notice something here if you look at the dispensation of grace the time prayed in which we live for a moment I'm just gonna hide it so look at that chart without the dispensation of grace if on the other side of the cross let's say you are in acts 2 or let's just say you are at the stoning of Stephen if you were at the stoning of Stephen in acts 7 and someone said draw the timetable of history exactly as it appears this is what it would look like because this was still a secret this isn't known this isn't revealed until it's revealed to the Apostle Paul in acts 9 so in acts 7 this is what time looks like now think about this with me just for a minute get get x2 Acts chapter 2 now in acts 2 Peter stands up and he speaks by the Holy Ghost so everything that he says is accurate and true so look at verse 16 this is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel now just the context what's going on in acts 2 when Peter and the eleven speak with tongues everyone that is there hears them in their own language so acts 2 is Pentecost it's a Jewish feast in Jerusalem and so there are Jews from all nations congregating there coming to Jerusalem for that feast when you look at verses 9 and 10 and 11 you see a list of all different nationalities that are there when Peter and the eleven stand up and they're all Galileans they speak and everyone hears them in their own language well is that because Peter knew the languages of the world obviously not it was a supernatural work that the Lord was performing so that everyone would would hear in their own land which what happens of course look at verse 13 people always say crazy things this is just life others mocking said these men are full of new wine is that the way that it works the more that you drink the more you can speak in other languages wouldn't that be great for like highschool Spanish you know I have an exam coming up if I could only drink more I'd do better well you and I both know life doesn't work that way so verse 13 is a mockery but then notice verse 16 Peter says I'll explain to you what's happening it's not that these guys are drunk this is the fulfillment of that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel now read verse 17 and it should all come to pass in the last days saith god i will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams and on my servants and on my hand means i will pour out in those days of my spirit and they shall prophesy look at verse 19 and i will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath blood and fire and vapor of smoke the Sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before that great notable day of the Lord come when Joel talks about the great notable day of the Lord and when Peter quotes him in acts 2 what event are they talking about it's the second coming it's the day of the Lord coming to the earth now think carefully about what we've just seen in acts 2 Peter standing up speaking by the Holy Ghost says this is that which was spoken by the Prophet Joel in other words this is the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy Joel's prophecy is about this event right here so as of acts 2 what does Peter think is about to happen the tribulation Daniels 70th week that's what they're expecting to take place Jeremiah 30 refers to that time as Jacob's trouble it's the tribulation that comes upon Israel for their unbelief so if you think about the Old Testament God sends prophet after prophet after prophet to Israel and what happens to them they're stoned right and then he sends his son and what happens there Israel kills him and what does God send after that well in the early part of the book of Acts he sends the Holy Spirit right acts 7 Stephen stands up acts 7 specifically says full of the Holy Ghost how does Israel respond to that they pick up rocks right what you're seeing there what is the case that acts 7 is Israel is in unbelief it is perfectly proper and to be expected that what's going to come next is the tribulation and then the second coming what God does is Israel has been blinded so go with me to acts 13 if you would Acts chapter 13 now notice what Paul does here to bar Jesus now remember bar Jesus in acts 13 he is in a false prophet he is specifically said to be an unbelieving Jew now notice verse 11 and now behold the hand of the Lord is upon thee and thou shalt be blind so he's not gonna see and then notice what it says not seeing the Sun the S UN for a season well if you're blind of course you're not going to see the Sun you're not going to see the moon you're not gonna see stars you're not going to see building Janaka see trees why does it say not seeing the Sun get Malachi 4 Malachi chapter 4 Malachi chapter 4 Malachi chapter 4 it's just to the left of Matthew Malachi 4 verse 2 but unto you that fear my name shall the capital S UN of righteousness who's that that's Jesus Christ Jesus Christ is described symbolically metaphorically as the capital S un of righteousness when you think about the new heaven and the new earth in the new earth does it need the Sun do you remember this why does the new earth not need the Sun because the Son of Man himself will be the light thereof so in acts 13 when Elias is blinded for a season not seeing the Sun that is a perfect description of what has happened to Israel during the dispensation of grace get Romans 11 if you would Romans 11 Romans 11 verse 25 Romans 11:25 for I would not brethren that ye should be ignorant of this mystery lest he should be wise in your own conceits notice carefully what that saying if you're ignorant if you're if you're not aware of this mystery you end up wise in your own conceits in other words you think you're wise but guess what you're really not here's what the mystery is that blindness notice what this is very carefully worded that blindness in part has happened to Israel is all of Israel blind now only part of it and then notice what it says blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in and so all Israel shall be saved here's what's going on when the stoning of Stephen occurs it's perfectly legitimate and it's consistent with Old Testament prophecy for God to move immediately to the time of Jacob's trouble in other words to pour out wrath upon unbelieving Israel Israel fully deserved it but what God did in his amazing grace is he called a timeout in other words he interrupted that calendar and said I have a mystery I have a secret and what we're going to do for 2,000 years or maybe more is we're gonna have the dispensation of grace we're going to have this time period that's unprecedented it was hid in God from the beginning of the world it was a secret that God kept and during the dispensation of grace Jew and Gentile alike can be saved by grace through faith apart from works what's going on so think about this game with me Ephesians 2 may the best way to show the point look at Ephesians chapter 2 verse 11 Ephesians 2:11 we'll give you clarity about the condition of Gentiles and time past Ephesians 2:11 wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands the reason why this chart is drawn this way there is a difference in time passed between Israel and Gentiles Israel was God's chosen people what were Gentiles look at verse 12 then at that time ye were without Christ being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world did Gentiles and time past have a problem there without Christ they're aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel which is God's chosen people because they're aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel they're strangers from the covenants of promise so all the blessings that God promised Israel did Gentiles get any benefit from that no they're without hope and without God in the world that's why in time past in time past if you're a Gentile what is the logical thing to do join Israel right become circumcised and join yourself to Israel because if you don't you're without hope and without God in the world if he is too describes the terrible predicament that Gentiles in the past were in but you know what's happened today what God does with Abraham is he calls out in Israel separately and Israel is given this superior position before God they're God's chosen people they're God's channel of blessing to the earth but what happens when Israel has rejected that what what happens during the book of Acts is the diminishing of Israel so that today is there a difference there's no difference so what's happened to Israel is that they have been blinded not seeing the Sun for a season but does God still have a future purpose he's going to accomplish yes he does look with me out of Romans 11:26 Romans 11:26 and so all Israel shall be saved when the dispensation of grace ends and the body of Christ is caught up God's prophetic program with Israel will resume and all believing Israel will be saved so go back with me to Acts chapter 22 if you would what I want you to notice then is when Paul's on the road to Damascus and he's blinded he's just like a limas in acts 13 and he's just like Israel during the dispensation of grace and that he's blinded for a season look with me at acts 22 verse 12 and one Ananias a devout man according to the law having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there so in an eye as we can see was a devout Jew in Damascus and what Paul is doing there is he's making the point that Ananias was held in high regard among the Jews and what he's effectively doing is he's using Ananias as a character witness look at verse 13 came unto me this is Ananias and stood and said unto me brother Saul received thy sight and the same hour I looked up upon him and he said the god of our fathers have chosen thee that thou should us know his will and see that just one and should hear the voice of his mouth so Ananias has been told that Paul is a chosen vessel to hear what the Lord Jesus Christ has to say with him notice verse 15 for thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou has seen and heard so notice carefully what that verse is telling us Paul is a witness unto how many people all men so that includes both Jew and Gentile get with me Matthew 10 Matthew 10 Matthew 15 in Romans 11 Matthew 10 Matthew 15 and Romans 11 the basic approach to the New Testament is to view Matthew through Revelation as all saying the exact same thing the basic view of the New Testament is to view Peter and Paul as having the exact same ministry the same message and the same audience but that's not what scripture shows so look at me at Matthew chapter 10 verse 5 in Matthew 10 we're right here Matthew chapter 10 verse 5 these twelve Jesus sent forth and commanded them saying go not into the way of the Gentiles and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel so when Jesus Christ sends out the Apostles he specifically gives them instructions don't go to the Gentiles go only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel get Matthew 15 Matthew chapter 15 verse 22 Matthew 15 22 and behold a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts now remember based upon what we just looked at in Ephesians 2 what is the condition of Gentiles in time past they're aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel strangers from the covenants of promise without hope and without God in the world so a woman of Canaan a Gentile woman comes to him notice this and behold a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts and cried on him saying have mercy on me O Lord thou son of David my daughter is grievously vexed with the devil but he answered her not a word and his disciples came and besought him saying send her away for she crieth after us but he answered and said I am NOT sent but under the lost sheep of the house of Israel Jesus Christ says I'm only sent unto Israel just as he only sent the twelve out onto Israel in Matthew 10 verse 25 then came she and worshiped him saying lord help me so she's very earnest she's persistence she wants the Lord's help look what he says in verse 26 but he answered and said it is not meet to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs now listen if he said that today he'd be sued right but what's he saying he's saying you're a Gentile dog in other words these Gentiles our dogs these are the children this is who the twelve were sent to this is who Jesus Christ was sent to when this Gentile woman comes to him and says lord help me he says the blessings are for Israel they're not for you Gentile dogs that's what he's saying now let's be super clear did the Lord Jesus Christ ever sinned absolutely not right so when he says that in verse 26 it's not false it's not wrong and it's not unloving it's it's a perfectly accurate and true statement of what he was sent to do notice verse 27 and she said truth Lord yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table she has the response of faith she says I get it Lord I know I'm a Gentile I'm not one of God's chosen people I'm not one of the children but as a Gentile I can be blessed through Israel when you have time this afternoon go back and read Genesis 12 Genesis 12 when God gives the Abrahamic covenant to Abram what he says is in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed was Israel God's chosen people absolutely but did God intend through Israel to bless the rest of the earth he did and so that's what the woman of Canaan says to him in Mathew I can be blessed through Israel notice verse 28 then jesus answered and said unto her o woman great as thy faith be it unto thee even as thou wilt and her daughter was made whole from that very hour do you see how revealing that is did the Lord want to heal her daughter from the very first instance she showed up yes was he going to violate God's program no so when she comes to him and takes the proper position as a Gentile dog and demonstrates the faith in God's dealings that she was supposed to he says done now notice Romans 11 the traditional and simplistic view of the Bible is to say Old Testament New Testament and in the New Testament everything changes at Matthew 1 and now Jews and Gentiles are the same but you've just seen two passages that demonstrate that is absolutely not the case look with me at Romans 11 and verse 13 Romans 11 verse 13 for I speak to you Gentiles whoa Paul wait wait what Paul have you not read any of Matthew what's the matter with you for I speak to you Gentiles in as much as I am the apostle of the Gentiles what does the word apostle mean the word apostle means one who is sent when we were in Matthew 10 and Jesus Christ says to the twelve including Peter and James and John as he sends them out he says go not into the way of the Gentiles could Peter or John or James said that they were the apostle to Gentiles no because not only were they not sent to the Gentiles Jesus Christ forbid them to go to the Gentiles right Paul says in Romans 11 I'm the apostle to Gentiles what that demonstrates that single fact and there's a lot more that single fact tells you Peter and Paul are not doing the same thing they just absolutely are not and the common myths understanding that Paul while Paul comes along a little later because he sort of rebellious but then once he gets saved he does the exact same thing as Peter and that is that the typical understanding absolutely not he fundamentally has a different ministry he's sent to different people look with me at Galatians two Galatians chapter two when I was first saved and trying to understand things one of the things that I was taught was that everyone today is saved looking backwards to the Cross just as everyone in time past is saved looking forward to the cross that's what I was told and I was told that throughout all of scripture there's only one gospel and those things sound good the only problem is they're just not scripturally true look at me at Galatians 2 verse 7 but contrariwise when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision so unmeaning circumcision is obviously not circumcision that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me Paul as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter so Peter has the gospel of the circumcision Paul has the gospel of the uncircumcision if unmeaning Peter and Paul have the same gospel I mean they don't right if that verse means anything it means they have different Gospels look at me at 2nd Timothy chapter 2 2nd Timothy chapter 2 verse 15 study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth in showing you that the Bible says different things to different people in different places that is not to say the Bible has contradictions it doesn't have any contradictions because it doesn't have any errors but what happens is God does say different things to different people at different points in time it's his prerogative to do that if you're going to understand the Bible then you have to divide it you have to understand who it's speaking to at a particular point in time and most importantly you have to understand what part of the Bible is written to you and the part of the Bible that's written to you today is Romans to Philemon the part that was given to the Apostle Paul give me it with with me Ephesians chapter 2 so what I want you to see from that is simply that you have to rightly divide the word of truth to understand it because the Bible says different things in different places there's a distinction between Peter's ministry and Paul's ministry there's a distinction between Israel's and Gentiles and what's happened today is Israel has been blinded for a season in part what I now want to look at with you is I want to look with you briefly and how do you get saved today and we'll just spend a few moments on this and then we'll conclude Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 and as we look at this verse notice how many times it's going to tell us that salvation is not something we earn but it's simply a gift for by grace grace is unearned favor are you saved through faith faith is belief it's not working it's not keeping the commandments it's simply believing and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God you don't work for a gift and then notice verse 9 not of works lest any man should boast so you're saved by grace which isn't works it's through faith you don't have to move a muscle to have faith just believe it's not of yourselves it's a gift and it's not of works now that's that's very simple but profound because here's what happens if you take the religions of the world and if you take most denominations what they all have in common is their different sets of rules that if you keep these things God will accept you that's a sort of what religion is different religions are simply different rules that if you perform these God will accept you today God accepts you the moment you have faith in the blood that Jesus Christ shed for you he's not looking for you to keep the Old Testament law he's not looking for you to keep the Sabbath he's not looking for you to eat a particular diet he's not looking for you to get water baptized he's not looking for you to become a priest he's looking for you to have faith in the blood that Jesus Christ shed for you look at me in first Corinthians 15 first Corinthians chapter 15 first Corinthians 15 verse 1 moreover brethren I declare unto you the gospel the word gospel simply means good news verse 3 for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures so as we look at the gospel it's defined as what Christ did Christ died for our sins Christ was buried Christ rose again the third day we can't add anything to that we can't improve upon it what God expects us to do is to have faith get with me Romans chapter 11 Romans chapter 11 romans chapter 11 verse 6 romans chapter 11 verse 6 and if by grace and by the way Ephesians 2 said it was by grace didn't it and if by grace then is it no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace but if it be of works then is it no more grace otherwise work is no more work now if you're a young string you like tongue-twisters that's one you ought to learn right that one would do you some good but notice what it's saying if it's by grace then it's no more of works but if it's of works then is it no more grace grace and works are incompatible now here's why I mentioned this so look at this line here the W here is for works the G here is for grace so this point is a hundred percent grace zero percent works this point is a hundred percent works zero percent grace that is 50/50 half works and half grace now here's what I fear is correct I hope I'm wrong about this that right there call it 90% grace 10% works call what everyone call it that right there is where most of churchianity believes is the truth here's why I say that I believe God saves by grace but you got to live it God saves by grace but if you don't do X you can lose it and what happens is the language of most of churchianity is God saves by grace but and they add something to it so it's not 100% grace it's called whatever you want to call it but think with me about what Romans 11:6 actually says and if by grace then is it no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace but if it be of works then is it no more grace otherwise work is no more work what Romans 11:6 does is it tells you this continuum does not in fact exist every point between the two ends is not logically possible right if it's by grace it's no more of works but if it's by works then is it no more grace so there are really only two options option one is over here 100% works how's that gonna play out for you right men's righteousness is as filthy rags right if you have any doubt about your own goodness read Romans three for all sinned come short of the glory of God they are altogether unprofitable so that is not an option so what are we left with by process of elimination you're saved today by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone and don't get rid of any of the Alone's right you're saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone that ought to get you excited because what that means is you're not saved by a long process of doing good deeds you're saved in a moment in an instant when you believe the gospel that Christ died on the cross for your sins and you can never lose it look at me at Ephesians 1 Ephesians chapter 1 look at Ephesians 1:13 in whom he also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation so they heard the gospel of their salvation and they trusted it then notice this in whom also after that ye believed you were sealed with that holy spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession what happens today is when you believe the gospel you're sealed by the Holy Spirit something that I personally find very comforting is my salvation is not maintained by how wonderful I am right because we all know how bad that would be right my salvation is maintained by the fact that after I believed the gospel I was sealed by the Holy Spirit so who's maintaining my salvation is it me it's the Holy Spirit well how many times in history has the Holy Spirit failed none so if you believe the gospel you're in heaven you will be and you can't get out of it whether you like it or not now notice something about verse 14 which is the earnest of our inheritance the word earnest is often used with the phrase earnest money which we commonly today would refer to as a downpayment so if you read verse 13 and verse 14 carefully what it actually says is that the Holy Spirit was given to us as an earnest of the inheritance that we will receive okay so let me ask you this question how many times has God started a transaction given the Holy Spirit as a downpayment ran out of money backed out of the deal and forfeited the Holy Spirit it's absurd I realize but the point is is it's not even possible for you to lose your salvation because it would require God to go back on his word so that's just not gonna happen again with me 1st Corinthians 3 we'll look at one more thing and we'll close now based upon what I just said some will object to that and they'll say wait a minute so if that's the way it really works if God saves by grace and your works don't affect your salvation then you can live like an idiot and still be saved to which I say yes of course you don't need the gospel to start living like an idiot you were doing that already right but look with me at 1st Corinthians 3 verse 10 according to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise masterbuilder this is Paul I have laid the foundation and another buildeth thereon but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ so others what Paul saying is he laid the foundation that foundation is Jesus Christ you can't build on any other foundation so does it do any good to build upon the foundation of Buddha no Scientology no so any other foundation is worthless right now notice verse 12 now if any man build upon this foundation gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is so you get to choose how you build upon the foundation of Jesus Christ you can build with gold silver precious stones you can build with wood hay stubble it's going to be tested by what fire so is it gonna make a difference with what you choose to build with yes and if you have any question about that doesn't anyone remember the story the three little pigs does building material matter of course it does look at verse 14 if any man's work abide so what did that guy have to have built with gold silver precious stones right because it survives the fire if any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon he shall receive a reward verse 15 if any man's work shall be burned so what must he have built with wood hay and stubble flammable material notice what it says here Heaney shall suffer loss that losses lost a reward based upon the context of verse 14 but then notice what the next phrase says but he himself shall be saved and in that comforting here's what that means as a believer what happens if all of your works are wood hay and stubble do you lose your salvation no verse 15 specifically says you don't lose your salvation is there a consequence there is a consequence it matters how you live because how you live will affect your reward at the judgment seat of Christ so don't ever say that grace means live any old way you want it doesn't mean that at all in fact when you read Titus chapter 2 it says grace teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world grace teaches you to do right you don't need to be taught to sin you are already pretty good at that right let's be honest grace teaches you to live properly not because you lose your salvation but because you would lose your reward all right so one thing you're not closed praise God for what he's done for us salvation as a free gift all we have to do is trust what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us on the cross you can never lose it you don't have to work to keep it it's yours forever hallelujah does it matter what you do with the rest of your life sure it does because we're all going to show up with the judgment seat of Christ and God's going to evaluate our workmanship so we need to we need to do it live in a way that is right thank you for your great patience let's close in a word of Prayer further we just rejoice in your grace and your goodness it is it is so glorious that Jesus Christ went to the cross and paid the penalty for all of our sins we certainly didn't deserve salvation we didn't deserve the sacrifice he offered but in your immense love you did that for us and you made salvation available as a free gift we thank you Lord that it's not based upon works because otherwise we would mess it up we thank you that we have eternal security we thank you that we can have that confidence we pray Lord that each day your word would be more real to us that it would transform our lives and that we would be the Saints that you want us to be we pray these things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ amen

Channel: Columbus Bible Church

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Length: 51min 22sec (3082 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 11 2018