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I'm not against being motivated and inspired and if Joel Osteen inspires you, so be it.
But I do ask this.
Get in the Bible and search the scriptures for yourself.
Prove all things.
Hey, enjoy his motivational speeches, buy his books or whatever.
But don't trust what he says for being the gospel that saves today.
It's not the gospel.
Paul said that he was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it, the gospel of Christ, was the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.
Believe what, Paul?
The gospel, the good news of the finished work of the risen Savior.
And if he finished it, there's no work left to do for salvation.
So does Joel tell of this good news gospel that saves today?
Let's listen and you be the judge.
I'd like to give you an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord of your life.
Would you pray with me?
Just say, Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins.
Come into my heart.
I make you my Lord and Savior.
If you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again.
If you were listening carefully, you just heard Joel present a false gospel of salvation.
And this is not a let's bash Joel Osteen program.
I don't know Joel, the man, and I like some of the things he says.
But it's his so-called gospel I have a problem with.
He said, pray a prayer.
Ask the Lord into your heart, repent of your sins, and then after that, make him Lord of your life.
Work, work, work.
So let's test what Joel says.
Let's see if what he says is needed for a lost soul to be saved.
Let's test that with what God says about it.
The God of the Bible makes it so plain, so clear as to how a lost soul can be saved.
Let's examine.
Look at Ephesians chapter 1 verse 13, and let's see how this squares with what Joel said.
It says that you hear the gospel of your salvation, then you believe the gospel of your salvation.
That's how you're saved.
Hear and believe.
So what is the gospel that you must hear and believe?
1 Corinthians chapter 15 starting with verse 1.
I declare unto you, declare what Paul?
The gospel.
The gospel which I preached unto you, 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.
Where is the prayer Joel tells us to pray?
Where is the repenting of your sins to be saved?
Where is asking him into your heart to be saved?
And where is the part about making Jesus your Lord and Savior?
Well it's on TV.
It's on the Joel Osteen show, but it's not hearing God's word where he tells us how to be saved.
Quickly let's review.
First you have to hear the gospel.
Christ died and was resurrected for your sins.
Then you must believe it.
Trust it alone without adding human effort.
Ephesians 2 verse 8, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves.
Question.
Would praying be of yourself?
Of course.
Of course it would.
Joel tells you to say a prayer.
That's of yourself.
We just read salvation is not of yourself.
Houston we have a problem.
To repent of your sins.
Of yourself.
But we just read that being saved is not of yourselves.
This is straight up Bible truth.
And then he says to ask the Lord into your heart?
Really?
If asking is what saves you, who's doing the asking?
Right.
Yourself.
But salvation is not of yourself.
No, salvation is a gift of God.
Next verse, verse 9, Ephesians chapter 2.
It is not of works lest any man should boast.
Joel's gospel adds works.
Praying, repenting, asking, and making.
So when someone asks me how did I get saved, according to Joel I could say I prayed, I repented, I asked, and I made.
That's me boasting.
Boasting on what I did for salvation instead of what Christ did for my salvation.
You see it's all about the cross, but today we have popular ministries that will point you away from the cross.
Away from the gospel.
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God into salvation.
But Joel's works have no power.
They're powerless.
Titus 3:5, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. You see, grace is unearned.
But Joel's gospel has you earning it with a to-do list wrapped up in a prayer.
And what's the result?
It'll put you in debt.
Romans 4:4, Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
Prayer is a work, a work of myself.
It's something I do.
But it's something I do after I'm saved, not something I do to be saved.
That would make salvation by works.
But salvation is not of works.
No one can work to be saved.
We work because we are saved.
God's not concerned with unsaved people working.
It's we who are saved that are called to do good works.
Ephesians 2:10.
Hey, Christ died for the sins of the world was buried and has risen.
All sins, 2 Corinthians 5:21 were placed on him.
He was made to be sinned for us.
And it's what allowed God almost 2,000 years ago to verse 19, stop counting sins against anyone.
He can't charge them to Christ and then recharge them to us.
I really hope you're seeing this.
You need peace.
You need new life.
And both can only be obtained after giving up oneself, give up and come to the realization that you just can't do it.
You can never no matter how hard you try, you can never be good enough.
You can never be good enough for salvation.
You just can't.
You can't.
But he did.
He finished the work.
Now rest in that.
And the funny thing is, those who try to do good works, don't.
And those who give up, do.
Because when you get out of God's way, he goes to work in you.
Write this down.
Grace rightly applied changes everything.
Grace rightly applied changes everything.
And I want you to cap the first letter of each word.
It's a beautiful thing.
But not only on paper, it's even more beautiful when you apply it to your life.
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