Last time we were with you we addressed the false gospel of salvation presented by John MacArthur, Paul Washer, and John Piper.
We didn't use hearsay or conjecture.
We played the actual audio itself of both MacArthur and Washer, and we even read straight from the writings of Piper.
For those with ears to hear, well, they heard all three of these men preach works for salvation.
These guys are hit and miss, but most of the time, they're making false converts.
I encourage you to do your own research, do your own study.
Don't take it from me.
Dig in your hills and see for yourself.
And you need to check out the two previous programs we did titled The Calvinist Confusion.
There's part one and there's part two.
Now, today is part three, and we're going to add another one to the list.
Mr. Ray Comfort.
Mr. Ray Comfort.
And we'll get to him in just a moment.
For those who caught part two, you may recall hearing long-time lordship Calvinist John MacArthur telling us what he thinks the gospel is.
To be saved, he said, and I quote, "You have to turn from your sin, repent, confess, and beg for mercy."
He clearly teaches salvation is by works.
That's obvious to most, but believe me, there are some that still don't see it.
A work is anything done in the flesh, and a turn from sin, which is what they advocate for salvation, well, that involves your flesh.
And hey, listen, I would have so much more respect for someone if they would be man enough to just admit that they believe salvation is by works, rather than, like some I run into, who will defend the likes of John and the rest of these lordship and Calvinists, they defend them and say, they don't teach works for salvation.
Well, go listen to part two for yourself, and then man up.
Man up and admit you're wrong.
All you've got to do is listen to the words coming out of their mouth.
It's not hard.
He has sacrificed himself.
So you're living in holiness?
I'm not perfect, honey, I'm just forgiven.
So you're not living in holiness?
Amy, I'm concerned for you. I'm concerned for your salvation.
I'm the furthest thing from perfect, honey, I'm just forgiven.
I try to live as according to the Bible as I can.
You're living in holiness?
I'm not perfect, honey, I'm just forgiven.
I'm not asking if you're living in, if you're perfect, I'm saying are you living in holiness?
Well, holiness would be a hundred percent.
No, it says without holiness, no one shall see the Lord.
So what are you going to do if you're not holy?
How can you be holy?
There you go.
That's work salvationist Ray Comfort, not satisfied with the woman trusting in Christ as her sacrifice.
No, you have to be holy to be saved.
There are two things you have to do to be saved.
You must repent, not just ask Jesus into your heart, but turn from all sin.
No more lying, stealing, blasphemy.
No more lust.
Turn from all sin and live in holiness and trust alone in Jesus.
So there you go.
As he oozes of self-righteousness, Ray is saying to be saved, you must turn from all sin and live in holiness.
Something he's yet to achieve, but he's trying to put that yoke on others.
So you've got to stop sinning.
And then he says, trust alone in Jesus.
Well, apparently, Ray, you don't know what alone means.
I can't trust in Jesus alone while at the same time do something else.
Adding to Jesus negates the concept of alone.
You've got to repent.
Turn from your sins and put your trust in Jesus Christ.
Okay?
I trust Jesus Christ.
You've got to trust in him and stop sinning.
And what you have to do in response to that is repent and trust the Savior.
Repentance is actually a turning from your sins.
It's saying, God, I've sinned against you.
I'm sorry.
I'm not going to sin anymore.
No more lying.
No more stealing.
No more blasphemy.
No more lust.
You've got to repent and trust the Savior.
When are you going to do that?
I don't know.
The reason she don't know is because she's not fake.
She's real.
And she's truthful with herself.
This lady knows what a struggle she's had so far with stopping some of her sins.
And here's someone standing in front of her saying, God can't save you till you stop your sinning.
Stop doing the things she's not been successful at stopping so far.
That's nonsensical.
This doesn't sound like the gospel.
This is not good news to her.
It sounds more like an impossible task.
A yoke of bondage.
No, she's being truthful just as our Apostle Paul was being truthful about his struggles with sin in the seventh chapter of the book of Romans.
The things he wished he would do, he didn't.
And the things he wished he didn't do, he did.
Ray needs to read this.
But you see, the Pharasitical mindset won't allow you to understand Romans chapter 7.
Now this next clip, at the end of it, there's a lady who comments on it.
And she does a great job.
Listen.
How do you know how to partake in that gift of salvation?
Do you know what you should do?
No.
Well, if you were on a plane and you knew you had to jump and there was a parachute under the seat, what would you do?
I would take the parachute.
You wouldn't just believe in it, would you?
You'd put it on.
Yes.
That's exactly what you have to do with Jesus.
The Bible says, pull on the Lord Jesus Christ.
You've got to repent, let His turn from your sins once and for all, and put your faith in Jesus the same way you put your trust in a parachute.
So listening to Ray Comfort makes me want to jump off a plane.
He couldn't be more confusing with the Gospel.
First he's telling the guy, do you know that Jesus died for you?
The guy's like, yep, okay.
And then he's like, do you know how to get saved?
No, I don't.
And he's like, okay, well, first you've got to stop sinning completely, then trust in Jesus.
I mean, this is an oxymoron.
It's totally contradicting itself, saying stop sinning and trust in Jesus.
So if your stop sinning doesn't work, then I guess you can fall back on Jesus, right?
I mean, that's what it sounds like he's telling him.
You have to completely stop sinning, which we know nobody can do.
I would like to know the day that Ray Comfort stopped sinning.
Every day he goes out lying to people about what the Gospel is, so obviously Ray Comfort is a liar.
Well said.
So refreshing to hear that others are awakening to the truth and seeing the falsehoods of these lordship salvationists.
These poor guys are mixed up.
Let's allow Scripture to determine this.
2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 19.
Here it says, Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal.
The Lord knoweth them that are his, and let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
Okay, now think.
John MacArthur, Paul Washer, John Piper, Ray Comfort, Kirk Cameron, and there's others, are consistently and constantly telling people that to be saved, they must first stop sinning, and then trust Christ.
They put a human work of the flesh in front of the crosswork.
But right here, we just read it.
You just heard it.
This verse, 2 Timothy 2:19, exposes them for their false teaching.
Those in focus here, look closely.
Those here that are instructed to turn from sin, that's what it says, depart from iniquity, are those that are already the Lord's.
They're already saved.
They're not a lost person on the street who Paul's interviewing for television.
Paul's not trying to get anyone saved here.
They're already saved.
And he's telling saved people to depart from iniquity.
That would only be proper as a becoming saint, as an ambassador, as a member of the church, the body of Christ.
It's only becoming to strive to be better, to let the Lord effectually do His work in you.
Read it carefully.
This answers a lot right here.
The Lord knoweth them that are His.
That's whose name in the name of Christ here.
Do you see this?
Don't leave here today without examining the evidence.
These fellows may mean well, I'm sure they do, but they are confusing people and making false converts.
Satan couldn't be more pleased.
When you tell someone they must turn from their sins to be saved, they either walk away feeling crushed by the law or satisfied with their own self-righteousness.
Let's think about this.
When these guys hit the streets, they ask unsafe people to do two things that are really mutually exclusive from one another.
They ask them to first stop sinning and then put their trust in Christ.
This is a false message that will only leave these people attempting to establish their own righteousness.
The apostle Paul addressed this very issue in Romans chapter 10.
If you'll look there at verse 2, he says, For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
Now that's Ray Comfort.
That's Kirk Cameron.
They have a zeal of God no doubt, but not according to knowledge.
Next verse.
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, what do they do Paul?
They go about to establish their own righteousness, and have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
And that's their message, their street message.
That's what they're telling these folks.
Sad.
They travel the country, encounter thousands of people.
They don't lack in the zeal department, but they're not communicating.
They're not articulating the salvific gospel.
And it certainly gives me no pleasure to report this, but we must expose false doctrine for what it is.
And if you're one of those that has fallen for this, you should truly repent today.
Repent doesn't mean stop sinning, as they're saying.
No, it's a change of mind, and that's what you should do.
If you want to repent, you should repent of your self-righteousness and submit to God's righteousness.
Listen, if you pull up to a stop sign with the intention of going left, but change your mind and decide to go right, you repented.
It's that simple.
That's what repentance is, a change of mind.
It's a change of your mental faculty.
It's not the physical turn.
Now, should you follow up and make a right turn after changing your mind?
Sure, but the turn's not a change.
It's a turn.
The turn is what may follow the change, but let's not change Bible meanings.
God said these things for a purpose.
Let's leave them within the parameter of their context.
Now, when speaking of biblical salvation, let's say you're trusting in something you've done.
You've been fooled by Ray Comfort and his stop sinning to be saved gospel.
You were fooled into trusting in your physical turn, which is a work of your flesh, and now what you need to do is repent.
Change your mind about that.
Realize there's no good found in you, no good in none of us.
Submit to God's righteousness by placing your faith in Christ and His cross work and the resurrection.
That's what will save you.
Now, that's true biblical repentance.
Submitting to the righteousness of God would be to realize that Christ alone is the only one worthy enough to do anything about our sin.
We don't have anything to offer, and if we did, He could have stayed home.
But He came to earth, took the cross, because the wages of your sin, the wages of my sin is death, not a turn from sin.
That's silly.
Stopping your sinning can't save you.
No, the wages of sin is death.
Christ's death.
Add anything to that, and you've just joined the establish our own righteousness club.
That may be some sort of secret society for the elite, but I don't fit.
I don't fit in.
The song that says, My hope lies in nothing less than Jesus and His righteousness.
What does Luke say about repentance?
Acts chapter 20 verse 20, Paul speaking, I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house, verse 21, testifying both to the Jews and also the Greeks.
So Paul's going house to house, holding nothing back, presenting his gospel to both the unsaved Jews and Greeks.
What's he telling them?
Read on.
That they needed repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
You see, when repentance is defined correctly, it works.
Wrongly defined, it fails.
It's a big fat failure that only produces false converts.
Repentance toward God, meaning changing your mind, and faith toward Christ, meaning resting your faith in Paul's gospel of the grace of God.
He even mentions this gospel in verse 24.
Just drop down.
He says, But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
Not the gospel of work.
Oh, I'm working on turning from my sin.
I'm working on it.
That won't get it.
It won't save you.
The gospel of grace.
And listen, works and grace are polar opposites.
Let Romans 11:6 clear it up for us real quick.
Paul wrote, And if by grace, then it is no more of works.
Otherwise, grace is no more grace.
But if it be works, then is it no more grace.
Otherwise, work is no more work.
See the separation?
At first glance, this sounds like a brain twister, but Paul is simply demonstrating how that grace, G-R-A-C-E, and works, W-O-R-K-S, spelled different, are different,
Well, they're mutually exclusive, not compatible for salvation.
Hey, work all you want after you get saved.
We should.
But don't work at all to get saved.
It's not about making a U-turn.
The very name U-turn has you all over it.
It reeks of self-righteousness.
It's selfianity.
It makes the gospel about you.
Turn from your sins and then trust Christ.
Absolutely not.
Turn that around.
Flip that.
Trust Christ and let Him help you turn from your sins.
The gospel of grace is unearned, meaning no physical work.
Just trust Christ alone for salvation.
The repentance here in Acts chapter 20 is having a change of mind.
If the sin you struggle with is stealing cupcakes and someone tells you that you've got to stop stealing cupcakes before God will save you, then they've just presented you with a false, powerless gospel that won't do anything other than give you a self-righteous, emotional experience and a false assurance of salvation and you'll probably go around and boast about it.
You'll leave there telling others, I'm saved because I stopped stealing cupcakes.
It'll become a part of your testimony.
Oh, you'll still mention the cross, but it becomes secondary.
Secondary to you and your magical U-turn from the cupcakes.
Christ and His crosswork.
Christ and His crosswork.
That's what it's about, folks.
And that becomes contaminated with you and your work if you follow after this man-centered, false gospel some of these cats are preaching.
This is what Paul was addressing to the Ephesians in chapter 2 verse 8.
He says, salvation is not of yourself.
Not of yourself.
Yet, Johnny Mac, Johnny Piper, Paul Washer, Ray and Kirk and others, they'll tell you that the gospel is you and yourself.
You must stop sinning.
That's your righteousness.
How can people who claim to study their Bible not see this?
And these who teach you've got to stop sinning before you can get saved, guess what?
They haven't stopped themselves.
Just ask their wives.
No, this whole thing reeks of hypocrisy.
The false gospel has placed a work, a physical U-turn from sin in front of the gospel, in front of Christ, smack dab in front of the cross.
Think of it this way.
Salvation is the root.
And any work of your flesh that you do after being saved is the fruit, the result of God saving you.
Works are the fruit that grows from the root.
The fruit comes from the root.
The fruit doesn't cause the root.
Of necessity, the root has to come first and you know this.
So, no work, no turn is capable of causing your salvation.
Works are only capable of coming from your salvation.
No work of the flesh can have anything to do with you getting saved.
That's why the Calvinist's turn from sin is misplaced.
They have it in front of the gospel.
You see, a new plant, it'll grow toward the sun, s-u-n.
A new convert grows toward the Son, s-o-n.
And it's precisely why we're not called to be fruit inspectors.
None of us have any idea of where a person is in their growth.
So we have no way of making a sound judgment.
I had a man tell me that a saved person will hunger for Bible study.
He said if they're not in the Word, he knows they're not saved.
Well, if you listen to us on a regular basis, you know we're all about Bible study.
I recommend you study daily.
But, I strongly disagree with this statement.
You see, the problem with it is, how much?
What's the measuring stick?
What's the gauge?
He says if you're saved, you'll hunger for Bible study.
How hungry?
You see, we're back now to leaving it up to men to decide.
That's what they like to do.
It's a power trip.
And see, some saved people may study occasionally.
There are other saved people that only study in that building on Sunday.
And then there are others who are starving for it.
They've got to eat every day.
And that's outstanding.
But we're not cookie cutter believers.
Our spiritual growth is in different places.
We're all at different places in our own personal journey with the Lord.
Our fruit trees look different.
And some believers have Bibles that are tattered and worn.
While others, their Bibles look brand new.
No matter where you place yourself in Christ, you're no different from the next guy in Christ.
You're not extremely saved while he's barely saved.
Nor does it mean he's not saved at all.
I hear people make that mistake as well.
Oh, if He was saved, He wouldn't do that.
You can't judge that.
And go look in the mirror.
Oh, maybe yours is not as outward as up front, and maybe it doesn't appear to be all that bad, but it's still sin.
Small sin, big sin, it's still sin.
But almost every Calvinist I've ever heard go around teaching on how to observe whether or not someone is producing fruit.
And they use that as a measure to judge whether someone's saved or not.
It's nonsense.
You shouldn't judge their salvation by their fruit.
We're all at different stages.
All our trees are different.
No two are alike.
The fruit that tells you if someone's saved or not is the fruit of their words.
What comes from their mouth?
Like in a court of law.
Their testimony.
Someone tells you the reason they're saved is because they first turn from sins.
They stop sinning and then put their trust in Christ.
You can place them in the religious and lost category.
That's not a testimony of a saved person.
Anyone mixing a work they themselves do with faith in Jesus, that's a false convert.
A false convert with a false sense of security.
It's faith all right, but it's not faith alone.
And faith alone is the way of salvation.
Faith plus is a lie.
As the apostle Paul tells us, it's another gospel.
Drop that row of being the fruit inspector and take on the job of an ambassador.
Telling the world that God is no longer imputing their sins unto them.
And you want to be saved?
Put your faith in Christ and His finished work alone.
He died for your sins, He was buried, and He has resurrected.
Listen, I have listeners that have just recently been saved and their tree most likely has no fruit.
But they're saved.
They're just as saved as the most seasoned Christian out there.
You're either in Christ or you're not.
There's no in between.
I hear from those who are saved and in very early stages of Bible study.
And here comes along a self-appointed fruit inspector to try and condemn them for not having enough fruit to prove their salvation.
Hey, you don't have to prove anything.
You don't have to prove anything to any man.
You just keep walking by faith.
And when he comes along preaching that Pharisaical nonsense, you just rear back and yawn real big and pay him no mind whatsoever.
What holds some back from seeing the truth is, the truth is what they esteem to be their authority.
If I present someone with truth, but their authority is in their upbringing, their tradition, I lose.
If their authority is preacher Bob, I lose.
You know, that Trey, he don't know what he's talking about.
But if their authority is in God's Word as found in the King James Bible, hey, I got a chance.
I ask people all the time while speaking to them about salvation, I'll say, do you study your Bible?
And you'd be surprised at how many respond by saying, no, I go to church.
Well, I actually remember, and so do you, when studying the Bible was a part of going to church.
Not anymore.
For many, going to church has replaced personal Bible study.
Very sad times we're in.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.
And you can lead a man to the evidence, but you can't make him think.
Hope you have a wonderful rest of the day. Grace and peace.
.
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