See, the biggest problem with those who don't rightly divide the word of truth is,
for salvation, they conflate works, things done to merit, with grace, which is unmerited.
And what happens when works are mixed with grace?
It ruins both.
That's right.
Both are fine in their respective places, but are destroyed when mixed.
I was looking at a verse earlier that I like a lot back there in Deuteronomy chapter 29.
Chapter 29, verse 29 says, The secret things belong unto the Lord.
Now, we all know someone, whether it be a family member or friend, that there's just some folk you just don't dare tell the secret to.
In our family, it's my mother.
That's sort of the running joke among us.
She loves people and she loves to talk.
And sometimes, I think she just tells a secret by accident.
Just sort of slips out.
But the Lord, you see, now, the Lord, he was a perfect secret keeper.
Before revealing the mystery to Paul, he kept a secret from Satan about what happened there at the cross.
And since finding out, he's been at war.
He's been on the war path.
Madder than a disturbed hornet's nest for almost 2,000 years now.
And he's been on a course to corrupt what the cross accomplished.
And one of his greatest tactics has been to have his deceitful workers transform themselves into ministers of righteousness.
He does that to confuse how someone is saved with what a saved person should do after being saved.
That's the greatest deception going on today.
Legalism.
Mixing that legalism, that lordship salvation, in with grace.
Grace saves.
You have to be saved first.
Take care of that first.
Then we read through our apostle's letters, and we learn how to walk in our new position.
Learn how to walk out our new life in Christ.
We're saved by grace, Ephesians 2:8, but saved unto good works.
Works are important, verse 10 will tell you that.
There's and order to this, but most have blurred the lines.
They're like those that were among the Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 11:13 says, For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostle of Christ.
And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Therefore, it's no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness.
So we're not taken by surprise.
We've got this information written right here for us.
Deceitful workers were alive and well then, just as they are today.
They were in Corinth.
They came behind Paul in multiple churches that he established throughout the cities
within the Galatian region.
And Paul dealt with deceitful workers also over there in Philippi.
The Philippians, they had their share as well.
Chapter 3, verse 18, Paul said, For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.
Hey, you can go hopscotch around all over social media and find deceitful workers, enemies of the cross at every hop.
Manipulating experts who conflate salvation with behavior.
They don't preach Paul's gospel of the grace of God.
They don't even know it.
They're not capable of separating how someone is saved from how they live their life.
But Paul's epistles make a clear dividing line between these two, making it easy to
see that the believer's eternal salvation doesn't hinge on how well they live out their life.
Reminds me of a podcast we did long ago called, If Living Right Saves You, Then No One's Saved, where we discussed the differences between eternal salvation and our day-to-day living.
Those are different.
Salvation doesn't depend on living right.
It depends on believing right.
Believing right on someone who lived right.
Of course, the goal is to live right, but it doesn't have the power to save you.
Hence the cross of Christ, and hence his bloodshed, hence the burial and resurrection.
Hey, here at Truth Time, over a span of a couple of decades, we've been blessed to talk to a lot of people.
And one of the biggest obstacles to overcome is getting their mind off what some preacher told them about how they have to stop sinning n order to go to heaven.
That's a false gospel.
That's the false gospel of Ray Comfort, of Paul Washer.
Many popular preachers of our day, they're all preaching this gospel of moralism.
A teaching that says people can achieve righteousness by their behavior.
Whereby, if that was true, why the need for a bloody cross?
So, with the help of Almighty God, through his word of truth rightly divided,
when talking to others over the years, we try to help them unlearn some things.
Unlearn the lies.
Unlearn the lies about how they need to first do something about their sins before they can be saved.
Help them unlearn that and transform their thinking to where their focus is on the cross of Christ.
The place where he won the victory over sins.
The sins the religious world majors on are the very sins that were defeated at Calvary.
So, right up front, we try to help them rearrange their thinking and begin to see the dichotomy between how to be saved and how to live.
Two different subjects.
It's crucial to understand which one comes first.
The cart before horse religion has the masses trying to live God-honoring lives to be saved.
And you know who gets the glory?
Satan.
Satan's getting all the glory for that.
Trying to give people truth to change their thinking, man, it's extremely hard to break through that devilish barrier that stands in the way.
To break through the blockade that old man religion has created in their psyche.
People who had good intentions, but because they ascribe to a theological system instead of Paul's rightly divided gospel of Christ, they're in danger of dying while thinking that their going to heaven depends on how well they keep their flesh in submission and under subjection.
It's a travesty.
The religious system, having not understood the differences between time past economy, but now economy, and ages to come economy, are not capable of teaching grace without mixing it with works.
They just can't.
A result of not rightly dividing the word of truth.
Now, Paul dealt with this same issue, and matter of fact, you won't find a better verse describing how there can be no mutuality between grace and works than, than,
than what he wrote there to the church at Rome in chapter 11.
Chapter 11, verse 6, 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.
Ah, that's a good one.
The false teachers of our day, they don't get this.
They teach that justification is an ongoing process that doesn't get completed until the believer dies.
What's more, they'll tell you that the believer must die in a state of faithfulness.
Count anyone teaching this nonsense as an enemy of the cross.
Go ahead and mark them.
Justification happens at the moment you repent, which means to change your mind.
Yeah, now I hear some say, well, you don't have to repent.
Just believe the gospel.
If you don't repent, there's nobody going to be saved without repentance.
Your problem is, you are going on the wrong definition of repentance.
No, repentance is our word.
Nothing wrong with it.
Just you have to believe what it actually is, which is a change of mind.
And there's no one going to be saved without changing their mind.
It's impossible.
You see, previously, you were trusting in something you've done in your flesh for salvation.
But what did you do?
You repented, changed your mind, stopped that stinking thinking, and started trusting, and resting your faith in Christ Jesus alone.
For having done all the work necessary for your sorry soul's salvation.
And upon believing Paul's gospel, you're justified, and the imputation of righteousness is immediate.
There's not a waiting period.
There's not an evaluation of how good you live your life.
That's a lie from the pits of hell.
The Bible is not some obscure book, as we just heard one lying preacher on TikTok claim.
Romans 4:5 is clear, But to him that worketh not, but to him that worketh not, but believeth. What? But believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
So God justifies who?
The ungodly.
Are they justified for their pursuit of a holy life till the day they die?
No.
God justifies him that worketh not, but believeth on him.
Doesn't their walking right, talking right, living right, making all the right decisions, doesn't that make them righteous?
Doesn't that have something to do with?
Surely it does.
No.
Their faith is counted for righteousness, and you just need to believe the words on the page.
Some say they believe God, but they really don't.
This here, you can achieve it "if" message that's so popular today, is a lie from Satan.
It comes directly from his deceitful workers who have transformed themselves into ministers of righteousness.
Romans 5:8, God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners.
Pause. Christ died for us.
You get that?
You want a big helping of grace without works?
There it is.
You want a second helping?
Here we go.
Verse 13, For until the law, sin was in the world. But sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Lord shippers, are you listening?
Huh?
Catholics, are you listening?
What about the Methodists?
Any Methodists in the house?
The good little boys and girls are not candidates for grace.
Grace is for the ungodly if you believe your Bible.
And by the way, by the way, when it comes to pleasing God in the flesh, there are no good little boys and girls.
And you'd know that if you knew who to compare yourself with.
Compare yourself to Jesus and then tell me how good you are.
You see, from a child, you've been lied to.
As it is written, Romans 3:10, There is none righteous, no, not one.
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Verse 23.
Who's still with me?
Did I lose anyone yet?
Oh, Mr. Pride, got you by the toe and won't let go?
Got you all up in your ego?
Maybe you ain't ready.
Maybe you're not ready to digest this truth today because you're blinded by your self-righteousness.
Romans 10:3, ignorant of God's righteousness, so you can just go on and continue to be tossed around to and fro, every wind of doctrine, foolishly attempting to establish your own righteousness.
Meanwhile, refusing to submit yourselves unto the righteousness of God.
Still on the milk, unable to digest the truth that Christ was the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth.
Praise God.
See, to an old fool like me, who understands how sorry low down he is, that's good news.
Paul says if we consider what he says, the Lord will give us understanding in all things.
So, you know, there is great perplexity in how anyone can consider what he wrote
and come away thinking that both grace and works are needed for their justification.
Don't make sense.
Listen, they can't be any different.
Grace is unearned.
Works is a way of earning something.
Complete opposites.
Grace is undeserved.
Work is what you do to deserve something.
Grace can only be received through faith.
Works is done through human effort and determines what you receive.
Works is a legal performance that some use as a way to be accepted by God.
Problem with that is, that's not how we're accepted.
Ephesians 1:5, Having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ
to himself according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted.
Listen closely.
Made us accepted.
He did that, not you.
Being made accepted by grace through faith is polar opposite than what the performance-based religious system will teach you.
Men, driven by their pride and ego, has caused this great mass confusion.
Salvation happens in a split second at the moment of belief.
It is not a continual process that takes a lifetime of faithfulness.
And aren't you glad it's not?
Again, Ephesians 2:8, For by grace are ye saved, not are ye being saved.
Words mean something, folks.
Salvation is not by works, but by grace.
Not earned, but a free gift.
That's why Paul wrote through faith and that not of yourselves.
It is the gift of God.
And he also said, I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness, now listen, if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
And we read in Galatians 5:4, For Christ is become of no effect unto you,
whosoever are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace.
Most all churchgoers that name the name of Christ will say they believe saved by grace through faith, but that number drops drastically when they're asked if they believe we are saved by grace through faith alone.
Alone.
That word is a big divider.
The word, alone.
That'll do it every time.
That's where the sparks fly.
Most all, most all denominationalists will nod their head if you say saved by grace,
including Catholics.
But attach alone to it and watch them squirm.
Watch them squirm.
Speaking of Catholics, I ran upon something the other day.
Shouldn't be too hard to find here.
Let me get it quickly.
Let's see.
Should be here somewhere.
We see this sort of thing all the time.
Always someone somewhere fighting against, Paul's Galatians 2:7, gospel of the uncircumcision.
Fighting against his Acts 20:24, gospel of the Grace of God.
Fighting against the Romans chapter 1, gospel of God or gospel of Christ.
Which by the way, while I'm looking, while I'm tracking this down here, don't let anyone convince you that these are different gospels.
Gospel of the uncircumcision, gospel of the grace of God, gospel of God.
No, don't let anyone fool you with that mess.
They're not different.
They're just different terms that he used for his one, my gospel.
Only one.
Only one.
Paul didn't preach two.
He didn't preach three or four or more.
He preached one Gospel and he calls it my gospel.
So he can say of the uncircumcision, he can say the gospel of the grace of God.
He can say the gospel of Christ, the gospel of God.
It's one gospel.
It's Paul's gospel.
Don't be fooled by that.
Okay, here's what I'm looking for.
Catholic.com
Oh yeah!
The big guys.
Catholic.com
They put it this way.
Watch this.
I want to show you how confusion creeps in.
Corruption creeps in.
Catholic.com
Quote, Let me make clear the official teachings of the Catholic Church.
It teaches that we can do nothing to merit the grace that comes to us in baptism
which is the normal beginning of the Christian life.
Unquote.
You caught that right.
You didn't miss the deception, did you?
We can do nothing to merit the grace that comes to us in baptism.
Now that's sneaky.
They say saved by grace which is unearned and opposite to a work, but then claim that grace comes to us in water baptism, which is a work.
That's Deception 101 right there.
This deception is right under our nose and should be recognized right off, but guess what?
Most miss it.
Listen, water baptism is a work of the flesh which opposes what Paul wrote in Galatians 2.
Galatians 2:16, Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of Jesus. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
It cannot be clearer.
It can't.
2 Timothy 1:9 says that God who hath saved us and called us with a holy calling
not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
Okay, back to Catholic.com for a moment.
Here they go on to say, quote, Following Paul, the Catholic Church teaches that justification comes by faith only it says that it doesn't come through faith alone.
If you look carefully at Paul's writings you will notice that he never says that our righteousness comes from faith alone only that it comes from faith apart from works.
End quote.
What?
Amazing how Satan blinds the minds, is it not?
Blinds the minds of them that believe not, right?
First we have to address I mean, would be remiss not to address the giant elephant
in the room.
They begin here by saying, quote, Following Paul, the Catholic Church teaches,
excuse me, about fell out my chair the first time I read this, the Catholic Church
has never followed Paul.
Who are they trying to fool?
Everyone.
The Catholic Church has never followed Paul a day in their existence.
Paul says, follow me as I follow Christ.
Paul calls the revelation Jesus gave him my gospel.
The Catholic Church has always put Peter's gospel over Paul's every day of the week.
So stop playing with us.
Stop with the lies about how the Catholic Church follows Paul.
You do not.
The reason they're making such outrageous claims is because of ministries like ours and many others that are out here making waves and rocking the work salvationist boat which is causing some to question their belief system.
They falsely claim that the Bible doesn't say salvation comes through faith alone
yet Romans 3:28 says, Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
So they directly go against Scripture.
They make that false claim yet Romans 4:4 says, Now to him that worketh is the reward
not reckoned of grace but of debt.
(5) But to him that worketh not that's faith alone but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness.
That's faith alone all day every day and even on Sundays.
And you don't have to be a neuroscientist to figure this out.
Just a workman not ashamed.
Even Paul says here in verse 2 here it is, For if Abraham were justified by works he hath whereof to glory but not before God.
That is to say if justification was not alone Abraham could brag about it.
He could brag about how he earned it which matches Ephesians 2:9 not of works lest any man could boast.
Catholic.com is flat out wrong.
If they were right we could all boast.
We'd all brag about ourselves but we know that at the moment we heard the gospel
of our salvation and trusted Christ alone for making the sufficient payment
for the penalty of our sins we were baptized by the Spirit not a preacher into Christ
not a baptistry set apart washed and sanctified having our lives hid with Christ and God and sealed up unto the day of redemption.
The religious system will say that they believe in salvation by grace through faith.
Their true belief is grace through faith plus a lifetime of ongoing works and faithfulness.
Understanding faith alone doesn't downplay good works in the believer's life.
Hey, it actually does the opposite.
Once you're able to set your mind free from the worry and all the uncertainty that comes with that performance-based road to salvation you're then able to allow the fruit of the Spirit to go to work in and through you.
You'll be surprised what someone can do when they're no longer worried about
their own salvation.
When they're no longer fretting about where they're going to spend eternity.
And Satan knows this.
He knows this.
He knows how dangerous someone can be when they finally get this faith alone message.
It's hard to understand this if you don't know about the dispensations in the Bible.
Paul mentions the word dispensation four times in the King James Bible and three of the four he's speaking of something given to him.
He's the only one in your Bible that was given a grace dispensary.
Catholic.com goes on to say something that I think leaves no question on their view
of justification.
Quote, We Catholics insist that James 2:14-26 shows that works are more than mere evidence of faith.
Works actually justify.
End quote.
Need I say more?
Then here they close by saying, quote, The church teaches that salvation is a process
of becoming holier and holier through time.
All of this is a work of grace that God performs in our hearts through faith.
Works done in faith are the natural completion of believing in Christ.
As we trust and do God's work, He instills within us more grace so that we may become holier and so be ready to meet Him at the end of our life.
Did you catch all the buzzwords?
Salvation is a process, they say.
Works done in faith are the natural completion of believing in Christ, they say.
As with most of twistianity today, the Catholic Church offer no rest.
They offer no assurance of salvation.
Salvation is always somewhere off in the distance just out of reach.
It's a process that hasn't been completed and won't be until you get to the end of your life where your works will be evaluated to see if you pass the test and to see if you're good enough for heaven.
What a sad religion.
I invite you to rest in His magnificent grace.
2 Timothy 1:9, God who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according
to our works but according to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
Christ died for your every sin.
He was buried with your every sin.
He rose without your sins.
And today could be your day of salvation.
Only one requirement from you, that you rest in this good news.
Take your hands off of your salvation and trust Christ with it.
Leave it with Him.
He's got you.
Until next time, grace be unto you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
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