Transcript

We Believe I - Salvation | Chas Stallard

Hey Ben, can you guys hear me? Alrighty, I think it's awesome Jake, I don't know if you guys know, he just got married and here he is on a Wednesday night. So next time you're thinking about skipping a Wednesday night, just think of that. I appreciate you guys being here, we're excited to have you, like he said, it's our third class and we're going to get into it, we are talking about what you believe as a Christian about salvation. It's very, very important, right? But you actually believe when you say I believe in salvation, what do you believe when you say that? We're going to talk about that. But first I want to get some conversation going, because we can have a little bit of back and forth in here, that's good, I just want to open it up and ask what's the most beautiful sight that you have ever seen? It could be, you know, maybe nature, it could be a landmark, can anybody think of like the one thing when you think man, when I saw that, that was beautiful. What are some of the things that you guys have seen that you would say that about? A waterfall in Hawaii. That's beautiful. Jacob will be there in a couple of weeks. Beautiful. My bride on her wedding day. There you go. Okay, there you go. That's great. She in here? She's not even in here. Good. The Grand Canyon? Your firstborn child. Absolutely. It's beautiful. Nothing like that. Perfect. All right. So you can think, everybody can think when they think, what's the most beautiful thing I've seen? Okay. Now think about this. This is Taylor and I last summer. Okay. It's a great picture, I think. We were actually at Yosemite, which is on the eastern side of California, close to kind of like Lake Tahoe. And so we took a vacation there last summer and that picture is taken on what's called Glacier Point. Okay. So this thing is like 7,000 feet above sea level to where you almost feel like you're truly like in heaven, in the clouds. Like it is up there. Yeah. It is incredible. So we did that last summer. There's a nice great picture of me sitting there on the ledge. And then here's actually a picture of me when I fell and Taylor had to come grab me. No, I'm totally kidding. That's a joke. That's a joke. All right. So from that first picture where Taylor and I were seated on that rock, if you walk out on the very edge of that, this is the view that you saw. It was beautiful. Really beautiful. Majestic. Like I said, it felt like you're looking at heaven. If heaven's better than that, as we know it is, I can't wait. Okay. But I want you guys just looking at this picture right now. I know it's up there and it's kind of small, but what are some of the characteristics that you can see? Some of the things you can describe about that picture right there. What are some things you guys can see? Trees? Okay. We got green trees. Yeah, jagged points in the rock. Yeah, there's a canyon that goes all the way back in there. Those little trees, a little green that you see down in the bottom, they look tiny. Those things are like a couple hundred feet tall. What else? Come? Yeah. You feel real small when you stand up there, don't you? Yup. What else? Clothes. Yup. Clouds. Blue sky. Right? If you look off to the right, that one little peak up there, Taylor, do you remember what that's called? Yeah, I get to remember. Yeah. It's called half dome. Okay. And so that little peak on the right, some people will free climb that with absolutely nothing and they'll just climb it. It's totally insane. Okay. You say, Chaz, what does this have to do with anything that you're talking about tonight? Okay. I'll tell you what, to me, when you see this picture flash up, when you guys think about that image, I say, what's the most beautiful thing you've seen and you think about that? The moment you were in that place and you saw it, to me it's a great example of what it is like to study salvation. When you study salvation, because when the first time I saw that, as soon as I saw that, I knew instantly, wow, this is beautiful. This is incredible, right? But then the more you dive in, you say, oh, there's the trees. There's the canyon. There's the half dome on the right-hand side. There's the clouds. It is exactly like you studying salvation. Some of you say, I believe, I've been saved, I've been justified in the eyes of God. And I say, aim into that. But if you think that you should just stop studying salvation because of that, you're wrong. It's a treasure, salvation is a treasure that we should want to go back to and back to again because the depth of it will never stop. It is such a treasure and a gift. And so tonight, that's what we're going to talk about. We're going to dive in and look at all these little details. A lot of you have heard the gospel maybe a thousand times, but we're going to dive into it tonight. And I hope that you're as excited as I am about that. So as you know, we've been in this class, we've been doing memory hooks. Okay, so for tonight, the four points that we're going to use are these. We believe in salvation. Okay? What are our four main points? I know it's a little thin up there. It's on your paper. First one is sinful man. What do we believe about salvation? We're going to talk about sinful man. The second point, the great exchange. The great exchange. The third one, fruit, not root. And the last one, it is finished. Sinful man, the great exchange, fruit, not root, it is finished. If you can remember those, whenever you're thinking, what do I believe about salvation? Those will be good guiding points to help you organize your thoughts. And so that's what we're going to talk about tonight. First one, sinful man, sinful man. And this is where any explanation for the gospel has to start. You've got to start here. If you start somewhere else, you're kind of going to miss the point and the power. Okay? So I'm going to ask you guys a question. Raise your hand if you've heard someone say, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" Okay? We've all said, we've all heard it and we've probably said it meaning very well, right? Why do bad things happen to good people? Okay? Last year, in 2025, Ligonier Ministries and Life Way Research, okay? Two Ministries partnered together and they did a survey, okay? And it was called the State of Theology. They wanted to see, what does the state of the Christian faith all across the country? Where are we actually? What do people actually believe? Okay? And this was a question. They had all these questions and you heard statements and you had to say, "I agree with it," or "I disagree with it," okay? And this was one of the statements that was on that test, or on that questionnaire. Everyone sends a little, but most people are good by nature. Everyone sends a little, but most people are good by nature. Raise your hand if you agree with this statement. All right? All right, we're doing pretty good so far. Raise your hand if you disagree with this statement. All right. But can I tell you this? It seems obvious, doesn't it? Of U.S. adults, 66% agree with this statement. 66%. Okay? And you say, well, as that's the lost world, right? That's just the unbelievers that are included in that. Well, guess what? 53% of self-identified evangelicals agree with this statement. 53%, half of people that say, "I'm a believer, I'm a Christian, I'm an evangelical Christian." Half of them think people are good by nature. That's a problem, okay? Get this main point. If you don't get anything else, it's pretty obvious. Our nature is not good. It is sin. We are sinful. We are sinners. Okay? So let's give the proof. Chaz, that sounds good. Where are you getting that? All right. We're going to go through some verses today. I hope you guys are ready for our Bible studies. If you are, say amen. All right. Here we go. Genesis chapter 3. Verse 8. How do we know that we're actually sinners? Let's read it. This is all the way back in Genesis 3 in the garden, right? Adam and Eve. It says, "This is after they sinned." Okay, the serpent has said to Eve, "Has God said that you shall not eat of the fruit?" Right? You guys remember this? And then Eve says, "Oh, we can't eat from the tree in the middle of the garden. We can't eat of that tree, or we can't touch it." Or actually, add something that God doesn't say, "Or we'll die." And then Satan, Timster, he says, "You surely will not die. God knows that your eyes will be opened and you will be like God." So what does she do? He eats the fruit, gives it to Adam, he eats the fruit, and now they're caught. Okay? And then this is where the verse picks up. Verse 8. "They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" He said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and so I hid myself." You want to know the first time whenever you sinned, shame comes right after it, right? Verse 11. He said, this is God to Adam, and he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?" Verse 13. "Then the Lord God said to the woman, 'What is this you have done?' And the woman said, 'The serpent deceived me, and I ate.'" Verse 14. "The Lord God said to the serpent," so now he's going to talk to the serpent, "because you've done this, cursed are you. More than all cattle, more than every beast of the field, on your belly you will go, and the dust you will eat all the days of your life." And I will put in many, this is the first gospel presented explicitly in the Bible, right? Genesis 3.15. "I will put in many between you and the woman, between your seed serpent and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel." Verse 16. "Then God speaks to the woman, and he said, 'I will multiply. I will greatly multiply your pain and childbirth. In pain you will bring forth children, yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.'" So there's going to be strife there. Verse 17. Now he goes to Adam. "He said, 'Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree, about which I commanded you, saying you shall not eat from it, cursed is the ground. Because of you, in total you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both the thorns and the officials that shall grow for you, and you will eat the plants of the field, by the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground. Because from it you are taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return. And just like that, sin entered the world. Sin entered the world. Right there. In Genesis 3, it's all spelled out for us. Okay, that's the fall. Okay, now let's flip over to the New Testament. We're going to go to Romans. Okay, Romans chapter 3, okay, Paul has just said in chapter 1 and chapter 2, "The Gentiles, they're guilty for violating God's law because God wrote it on their hearts." And then he says, "The Jews, they're guilty of violating God's law because they actually got the law from Moses written out explicitly, and they violated it, so they're guilty." So guess what? Everybody's guilty. Okay, that's where he's at in Genesis in Romans chapter 3. So let's see what Paul says. Are we actually sinners? Are we actually that bad, Chaz, you've been kind of harsh? Romans chapter 3, verse 9. What then? Are we better than they? Are Jews better than Gentiles? Not at all. For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin. As it is written, there is none righteous. Not even one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks for God. There's none who seeks for God. Not two people, not one, none. All have turned aside. Together they've become useless. There is none who does good. There is not even one. Their throat is an open grave. With their tongues they keep deceiving, the poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their past, and the path of peace they have not known, there is no fear of God before their eyes. It's pretty explicit, isn't it? How many of them are righteous? None. Zero. Okay? What Adam did affected a lot of people, didn't it? All right, let's keep going, you said Chaz, that's great. I need some more verses. I was just one. You took that out of context. All right, Genesis 6, 5. When the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, only evil. Jeremiah 17, 9. The heart is more deceitful than all else, and is desperately sick or desperately wicked. Who can understand it? Ephesians 2, 1 through 3, and you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formally walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the heir, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them, we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging in the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature good? No, by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. Let's get the picture. Before Christ, we are wicked sinners. We don't do anything good. We're not righteous. We don't seek God. That's the state of the reality of what we are talking about. That's where you have to start. Okay, hopefully we can get that number from 53 up a few percentages just by tonight, right? We're not actually good. Okay, so what's the application of this? Obviously it's clear. We're going to need to be saved, aren't we? We're going to need to be saved. I just want to point one thing out before we move forward. This is why the world's solutions are so different from the churches. This is why. This is why, because the world starts from you're good, you're great, the exactly who you want to be. So they're good, so everything else outside of them is the bad part. Everything coming against them is the wicked part. They're the good ones. But the church, what we say according to Scripture, is the opposite. Our hearts are deceitful and wicked. We are the problem. Our hearts are the problem. Our sinful state is the problem. It's not the world. Yeah, the world's got sin in it, 100%, but our hearts are the problem. This is the very core of why we are like this with the world. We're sinful. Why do bad things happen to good people, biblically speaking, there are no good people. Biblically speaking, right? So how many people in here are saying, Chaz, you know what? That's not fair. I don't like that. You're telling me I'm a sinner? You're telling me that what Adam did thousands of years ago affects me? I don't like that. That's not fair. How dare you? I didn't choose to be born. So how does that affect me? Jake mentioned this term last weekend. We actually talked about a little bit from our Sunday school classes in chapter 7 of Joshua. It's called federal headship. Anybody heard this phrase? Federal headship. Okay? You say, I don't like federal headship. Well, we'll see about that. Federal headship, look at Romans chapter 5 verse 12, "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because what?" All sin, all sin, you say, I don't like that. Chaz, are you saying that I sinned when Adam sinned? Yes. All sinned, death spread to all men because all sinned. You say, I don't like that. I don't like it. All right, let's keep going. We'll see. Verse 15, "This is the same chapter from verses I just read, but the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one, the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned, for on the one hand, the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation. But on the other hand, the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. For by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in the life through the one Jesus Christ." Here's the key verse, "So then as through one transgression there resulted in condemnation to all men, even so through the one act of righteousness, there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one, the many will be made righteous." So how did death and sin enter through the world? One man. See, I don't like it. I don't know. That's not fair. Well guess what? Answer this to me then. Answer this. How is it fair that you get to go to heaven when you didn't live a perfect life? Ah, we're kind of warming up the federal hedges, all right? How's that fair? Not only that, someone did, God came down and did live a perfect life and then He died on the cross and you get credit for that. That's not fair. Write this down on your sheet. This is a great phrase that will help you. You don't want fair. You don't want fair. Everybody say, "Oh, fair, fair. That's not fair." You don't want fair. You know what fair means? Fair means we're all condemned to hell. If you want to talk about what would be fair, that's fair. You don't want fair. I don't want fair. Federal hedges. You say praise God for federal hedges, right? Amen. All right. So we're tracking along pretty good. Sinful man, the great exchange, fruit, not root. It is finished. Sinful man. Okay. We kind of tied that one with a bow. Pretty thorough there. Everybody with me so far? Good. All right. So let's go through. The next question is, Chaz, you know, okay, I understand that. I'm with you so far. I'm sinful. I know that started back with Adam and Eve, but I'm kind of scared now because I learned from class number one when we talked about God, that God is infinitely holy. He's infinitely and perfectly just, meaning he is going to deal exactly just with everything that happens on earth. And if you're telling me that I'm a sinner, how's God going to deal with me? I've got no chance. How could I possibly stand before a holy God? That's the question you need to be thinking about. How can that be possible? How can a man be right before God? Not what's fair. That's the question you want to be asking. If Romans 6.23 says the wages of sin is death, if Ezekiel 18.4 says the soul whose sins will die, then we're all like Job in chapter nine, verse two, when he says in truth, I know that it is so, but how can a man be in the right before God? How can that be possible? We're all like King David and Psalm 130 verse three, where he says, if you, Lord, should mark iniquities, oh Lord, who could stand? Who could stand? How can we do this? Let's look at Romans 5, let's see what the Bible says about that question. Romans 5 verse 1 and 2, "Therefore, having been justified by what?" Faith. Faith, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God, that infinitely holy, infinitely just God." Through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand and we exalt in the hope and the glory of God. We've been justified by what? Faith. And because of that, what do we have? That's a great verse, that's one of the best verses in the Bible. Here's another one. Everybody knows this, right? Ephesians 2, 8, 9, "For by grace you have been saved through what?" Faith. Not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. By grace through what? Faith. Not a result of works. Salvation is of faith. It is a gift. Faith alone is what saves us. Now, let's dive deeper into that picture of the mountains. Let's go to our second point, and we're going to talk about our second point, which is the great exchange. The great exchange. We're going to start with this first term. I'll have this on your sheet. This first word starts with an "I" and it may sound kind of tricky, but it's really not. Imputation. Everybody say imputation. You already got it. Imputation. Imputation is a legal term that means to credit or count something to someone's account. I've got that blank on the sheet you can fill it in. A legal term that means to credit or count something to someone's account. Everybody good so far? We're going to go to Genesis 15. We're going to investigate this a little bit. We have Abram. This is before he's Abraham, all the way back in Genesis 15. In Genesis 12, God tells Abram that he's going to make him a great nation. He tells him that he's going to be blessed. All the families of the world are going to be blessed through him. Then in Genesis 13, he tells him he's going to give him land, and that land is going to go to his descendants, and then his descendants are going to be like what? Does anybody remember how he describes it? Like the dust on the earth. That's how many descendants Abram is going to have. What the problem is, we're in Genesis 15, problem is at this time in this chapter, Abram is around 80 years old, anybody 80 years old in here? All righty, we're glad you're here, Margaret, 80 years old, okay? Think about that. And Sarai, before she comes to Sarai, Sarai is around 70 because he's 10 years younger than him, okay? So the question is, how can Abram have descendants like the dust of the earth if he's 80 years old? And guess what? He has this many children so far, zero. He's got zero children so far. So how's that possible? So Abram says, you know what? I've got a servant in my house, Eliezer of Damascus, I must adopt him, and then that's how this promise is going to be fulfilled, right? You guys know the story, okay? This is what God tells the Abram when he says that, "Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him saying, 'This man will not be your heir, but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.' And he took him outside and he said, 'Now look towards the heavens and count the stars. If you are able to count them, and he said to him, 'So shall your descendants be.' Then he, Abram, then he believed in the Lord. And he, God, and he reckoned it to him as righteousness. He counted it to him as righteousness. He credited to him as righteousness, depending on your translation, they're all correct. He credited Abram, believe, and he's credited what? Righteousness, righteousness. Righteousness. Guess what that is? It's the eyeward that we just said, imputation. It's counted. He's credited to Abram's account. He believes, and at that moment he is reckoned, he is counted, he is credited righteousness. You guys follow me? So think about the faith that that required. Abram has zero kids, and now he's getting told that he needs to look at the stars, and that's how many descendants that he's going to have. That is faith. That is faith. Abram believed in the Lord, and he was reckoned it as righteousness. Guess what, Abram, actually he goes on when he gets the name Abraham, and Genesis chapter 21 is when he has Isaac, and guess how old he was then when he actually had his first child? A hundred. A hundred. Think about that, and everybody knows some hundred-year-olds in here, some eighty-year-olds. Think about that, right? Impossible to the humans, but not to our God. That's faith. Now let's fast forward to the New Testament, Chaz. Why are we spending so much time on this example? This is why. Look at Romans chapter 4. This is Paul now pointing back to that. He says this, "For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about. But not before God. For what does the Scriptures say? Abraham believed God, and it was credit to him as righteousness. Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness." So he says, "If Abraham was actually justified by his works, that's not true. Look back at it." He's saying, "He believed, and it was credited to him as righteousness. It was counted to Abraham's account as righteousness. It was imputed, imputation." Okay? Verse 4, he says, "If you work, you get a wage. If you, anybody in your work, guess what? Whenever you work, you are owed a wage, and you should have that wage." But he's saying, "No, no, no. We're talking about believing, and then you are credited something." You couldn't work for this. Let's look on later in that chapter these last two verses. Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, but for our sake also. For our sake also, to whom it will be credited as those who believe in him, who raise Jesus, our Lord from the dead. He's saying, "Just like Abraham was saved by faith back in the Old Testament, guess how we're saved today, the same exact way, by faith." It was written not just for Abraham's sake, but for our sake also. There's only been one way that people are saved, and it's by faith, period. You guessed tracking would be so far. Good. Alright, let's put this all together, and you say, "Chas, okay, we've kind of dove deep. Now let's take it back." If you guys remember one verse, if you can memorize one verse from tonight, I would suggest it be this next one. It is great. This is why we call it the Great Exchange on your sheet, the Great Exchange 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21. If you want to have a back pocket verse where you can open up your Bible or your phone and say, "I want to share the gospel with somebody. I want to walk them through how it's possible someone can be saved." Here's your verse. "He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him." You guys get that? He, that's God, made him talking about Christ, God made Christ who knew no sin. When Christ hung on the cross, he had never sinned, not once, but he made him to be sin on our behalf so that we might become what? The righteousness of God in him. This is the Great Exchange. It means that God treated the perfect Jesus on the cross as if he lived your life. As if he lived your life. Think about that. He gave him the punishment that you deserve, that I deserve. But then he turns right around and he treats you as if you live Jesus' life. Think about that and that is what is called the Great Exchange. Double imputation. There's the double counting going on, the Great Exchange, the doctrine of substitution. That's what this verse is talking about in your little outline. I have written down, "When God looks at the cross, he sees you." And when he sees you, he sees his son, Christ. When God looks at the cross, he sees you. When he looks at you, he sees Christ. That is the Great Exchange, praise God. That is how a perfectly holy and perfectly just God can look at us sinners and save us, imputation, counting us with Christ's righteousness gets credited to our account and our sins are placed on Jesus on the cross. So this first point we talk about sinful man, sinful man, the second one, the Great Exchange. The Great Exchange. The third one we're going to talk about fruit, not root. Fruit, not root. Everybody say fruit. Fruit. Now say not root. We're still tracking good. This is great. This is where it's going to get interesting. Not root. So it's like the old fruit roll. Anybody remember them? All right. Fruit, not root. All right. The question I have for you guys, and you can open this up. You can answer this out loud. Are the good works of a believer, the fruit or the root? Okay. We're saying fruit, meaning are the good works what produce salvation or are the works what come from salvation? What do you think? From from salvation? That's what they're kind of hearing. Merber. All right. All right. We're going to find out. Ephesians 2, 8, 9. We just read this, right? For by grace you have been saved through faith. Not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, right? Everybody say yes and amen to that, right? So let me ask you a key question that comes after that, all right? Are you sure? Are you sure that it's faith alone? How sure are you? Are you sure that you're sure? You're saying yes? Absolutely. All right. Let's look at this. Actually, before we do that, raise your hand if you would say, you know what? This Bible in my hand, I proclaim that this is the perfect and errant and fallible word of God. Raise your hand if you believe that. All right. We got all hands up. All right. Good. All right. Turn to James chapter 2. We're going to find out. We're going to find out if you really believe that. James chapter 2, here we go. Verse 21 was not Abraham, our Father justified by works. When he offered up Isaac, his son on the altar, you see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected. In this scripture was fulfilled, which says, "And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him his righteousness, and he was called the friend of God." You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. Uh-oh. Verse 25. In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works? And she received the messengers. We just read the story in Sunday school, right? In Connect Group. Was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. Mm. We got a problem. Anybody explain this to me? Here we have in the Word of God, Abraham, our Father, justified by works. Verse 21. Verse 24. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. You say, "Where did you get these verses from?" Anybody understand that? What do you guys think? Just looking at me. Anybody got an explanation for that? They go hand in hand? Okay. So you need both. So you need faith and works to be saved. Ooh. Oh, oh, oh. You drew that back real quick. Okay. Works come after faith? Sure. Yeah. No. You see, you have to have faith. But then you're saying that works come after that. But right here it's telling me that a man is justified by works and not by faith. So how did you get that faith in the first place and get justified if you don't have works? All right. Good. Yeah. You guys are kind of like, ah-ah-ah-ah-ah. Good. Guess what? This is still the perfect Word of God, okay? Track with me. Let's make sure though, let's look at Romans. We just talked about Abraham, right? Okay. Let's look at the same exact example Paul's going to talk about. That was James. We just read James. Now let's read what Paul says. Paul says this. What then shall we say that Abraham our forefather according to the flesh is found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about. But not before God. For what does the Scripture say Abraham believed God and it was credited, it was imputed, it was reckoned, it was counted to him as righteousness. Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due, but to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. You say, wait a minute. James was written around 44 to 49 A.D., okay? Romans is written 10 years later. They believe 80, 56 is when it's written. So did Paul not get the memo from James? Did something get lost in translation? Yeah. Is Paul correcting James? Is he trying to patch up a mistake that James made? No. All right. On the surface, those seem contradictory, don't they? Just on the surface. Okay? Good. That means you're paying attention. It should feel like that. Okay? Paul has Abraham justified in Genesis chapter 15 where he believes God, but James has him justified in Genesis chapter 2 when he offers up Isaac, okay? Someone in here very smart is going to say, maybe you had Miss Theresa's class or you've followed along this church where you've had different classes. You say, I have the blue letter Bible app and I know how to look up the Greek words. And if you look up the Greek words or justify that James uses as a different word than Paul uses. And to that I have to say, I'm sorry, that's actually not true. It is the exact same word justified. Decayo, exact same Greek word, okay? So what do we do with that? What do you guys think? What do we do with that? Good. What we first realize is context is key. Context is key. I'm very, very tricky up here because I can run the slideshow, right? Context is key. I started in James chapter 2 verse 21. But if you go and look at James chapter 2, that text starts really in verse 14. Starts in verse 14. Context matters. Let's look at what verse 14 says. Chaz, what do you mean? Before he says that, that's five hour works, this is how he starts that whole passage. What use is it my brethren? What use is it my brethren? If someone says he has faith, but he has no works, can that faith save him? A good question you need to ask yourself is what problem are these authors trying to solve? James is answering this question. What good is it to give a profession of faith, but you don't manifest any fruit of it? A profession of faith, but you don't manifest any fruit of us. A lot of us know in here people that say I'm a believer, I'm a Christian, but you know by looking at their life, that's probably not true. Paul is answering a different question. He's answering, how can an unjust person, a sinner, stand in the presence of a perfectly holy God? This is what he said in Romans 3 verse 20, because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in what? His site, capital H, God's site, God's site, you say okay, let me put it to you this way and then I'll wrap it up so it makes sense. If I say Chad, my name is Chad, I have faith, I have saving faith. How can you guys know if I'm telling the truth? By how I live, by watching my life. But does God need the weak or two that you're going to need to see if I'm telling the truth? Does God need that time to know if I have saving faith? No, because he's God. James is saying Abraham is justified by his works in that he is talking about Abraham being justified in the eyes of other men, in the eyes of other men proving their faith amongst the brethren, my brethren, verse 14. Paul is saying no flesh will be justified in the site of God, a holy God. You guys track with me, there's no contradiction, you can relax now, you can take a breath. There's no contradiction, those are actual verses, I have this down there in your sheet so you can write this down. James is speaking about justification in the context of proving a believer's faith is authentic in the eyes of other men. That's what James is talking about when he says that. In the context, verse 14, my brethren, in the eyes of other men, Paul in Romans is speaking about justification in the context of proving one's right legal standing before God, in the eyes of God. Does that make sense? We're tracking with that. You're like, yes, I thought jazz was a hair tick and we're about to take them off the stage. Faith alone, faith alone, I'll end with this by saying this in this section. You guys know in Protestantism and being a Christian, a Protestant Christian, there's some things that different denominations disagree in, you guys know that. Different styles of worship or ecclesiology or eschatology about what they believe about the end times, different beliefs on how the Christians should interact in government and how they should go about doing that. There's different perspectives on these things, but there are some doctrines that are so central, so important that you say, we say, if you don't believe those things, you're not a Christian. You can't say you're a Christian when it comes to certain things and this is one of those things, justification by faith alone. If you say justification by faith plus some other stuff, guess what? That's no longer Christianity. That's no longer Christianity. When you say, I'm a believer, I'm a Christian, I'm justified by faith, that's what you mean. And if you say, and I have to do this and I have to do this, that's how I was made right in the eyes of God, guess what? That is no longer a Christian belief. And you'll look at that as we look at other religions, you could separate every religion in the world by faith alone in Christianity and works and every other religion fits into that bucket about works. We are justified by faith alone. All right, so sinful man, right? We're all sinners because of Adam that we sinned, okay? We talk about federal headship, praise God for federal headship, we're all fans of that in here now, right? The great exchange, double imputation, substitution, God takes your sin, put it in Christ on the cross, He takes Christ's perfect life and He puts it on you. The great exchange. Now we just talked about fruit, not root. Works are the fruit, not the root, right? If we have faith, guess what? There's the flip side. I don't want to neglect and neglect this. If you have true saving faith, you will produce fruit. Don't get it. I'm not saying that fruit means nothing, no, no, no. You will produce fruit if you have saving faith, but that's not the basis for how you are justified in the eyes of God, because then you could boast about it, right? All right, and then our last point, it is finished. And you say, okay, good, praise the name in, I'll see you, I'm getting out of here. It's a fitting time, all right? It is finished. Sinful man, the great exchange, fruit, not root, it is finished. What do you believe about salvation as a Christian? Here we go. Let me open it up for this question. You guys can think about this, and you can answer it out loud. What are some of the blessings of the fact that our salvation is a gift of God, and it's not because of our own works? What are some of the blessings about that fact? What do you guys think, Heeshah? You can't lose it. That's right. We're going to get to that in depth. Perfect answer. Can't lose it. What else? We get to go to heaven, yep. We're adopted as sons, as heirs. Ephesians 1. Ephesians chapter 1, that's right. What else? Our works can never be in them. Yeah, if it was up to our works, guess what? We'd be all out of luck. What else? What are some of the other blessings of this fact? It's by God, not our works. We should think about that, right? We're redeemed. We don't have to be redeemed. We don't have to be good enough. The hard part is done. The hard part is done. The part that we could never do has been done. We don't have to worry about it. Once we know we're Christian, we don't have to worry about it. That's right. That's right. It's finished. If we were absorbed with our works, we would lose sight of God's love. That's a great answer. It goes back to what we talked about, God. He's perfectly loving. He didn't need to create anything, and yet here he is saving us, and we're not contributing anything to that. Face a gift. We should think about that, right? I wrote down humility. Humility. We should be humbled. Because we can't boast. It was a gift we didn't deserve. Pure grace. Pure unmerited favor of a perfectly holy God unto us. Joy. We should rejoice in how gracious of a gift that is, right? But there's one reason that I want to look into deeper. Kishia already took the whole of it, but we're going to expound upon it. Perfect answer. John chapter 19. John chapter 19. After this, this is Christ on the cross, this is Jesus on the cross. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished to fulfill the Scripture, I believe Jake looked at those verses last time, after the Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished to fulfill the Scripture said, "I am thirsty." A jar full of sour wine was standing there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hissep and brought it up to his mouth. Therefore, when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished. It is finished, and he bowed his head, and he gave up the Spirit." Jesus has fulfilled the task. Verse 28, it says that Jesus knew that all things had been accomplished to fulfill Scripture. All those prophecies that were written hundreds and hundreds of years ago, he knew every single one of them had been perfectly fulfilled. Jesus is saying, "The entire work of redemption has been completed." It is finished. It is finished. Pike, stand up for a second. I told him I was going to do this and embarrass him. Turn around. Can anybody read what that word is on his front of his shirt? This is perfect that he wore this shirt. To tell us die. To tell us die. That's one word. To tell us die. I had to look up a pronunciation for my hiccup to tell us die. That one word means it is finished. It means paid in full. Paid in full. They used to put to tell us die on old receipts and they would stamp it with it so they know this bill was paid in full. Paid in full to tell us die. Praise God that our works didn't have to contribute to it because we have no shot if that were the case. Jesus said it is finished. You should rejoice in that. You should be thankful for that. You should think about that. The bottom line, like we said, everything necessary for the salvation of sinners was accomplished completely and forever on the cross. I want to go back to my original question. What keys you brought up? What are some of the blessings of the fact that our salvation is a gift and it's not a result of our works? It's that our salvation is sure. On the little sheet I have a blank, our salvation is sure. S-U-R-E, sure. You can have assurance. It is unshakable. It cannot be touched. Christ finished work on the cross is the foundation and that is why it is sure. If it was up to you, it wouldn't be sure. Okay, can I give you guys some verses to edify you here, build you up, give you some confidence. These are great verses. This is something we should think about. Next one is this, Ephesians 1, verses 13-14. These two verses. In him you also, after listening to the message of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise. It says you were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise who was given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory. This is picturing, you guys have ever seen those old school things. Some people might still have them, but back in the ancient day, they would have messengers and have a letter, they would take wax, they'd pour it over it, and they'd stamp it with a ring or a stamp, a signet ring that would have the mark of whoever that was that was stamping it. That document was official under the authority of that person whose stamp was on it. So think about this. The moment you believed and were justified in the sight of the Holy God, God stamped you with the Holy Spirit. You're His. You are His possession. Look at verse 14, who was given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession. You're God's possession. Think about that. You can't lose your salvation. Look at the second verse. Look at chapter 5, verse 13, it says, "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life." I've written these things to you guys who believe so that you may know that you have eternal life. If you want to know if you actually have saving faith, read first John. Read first John. Very practical book. It's got all these different tests, the love test, different other tests, the obedience test, all these things where you can read that first John and you can say, "You know what? Does my life match up to this? This is the qualification. How do I know if I'm saved? Read first John." I said this on a Wednesday night a couple months ago because some people doubt their salvation, right? Some people do. But I would say this. The number one thing in my opinion that will tell you if you have saving faith or not is one word, desire. Desire. Do you desire God? You can answer that. Do you actually desire God? Do you actually desire His Word? Do you actually desire to come here to church and be with His people? Do you actually desire those things? Because guess what? The moment you are justified? Guess what? Your desires change. You are a new creation. That's evidence of that. You say, "I don't really know." You have desire for God if you've been justified, if you've been saved. It's not your membership in a church. It's not the fact that you're even here which is a great thing that you are here. Desire. Look at the next verses, John 10 verses 27 and 30 and we're getting closer to the end here, John 10 verses 27 and 30. Great verses, great verses. My sheep, this is Jesus, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. Very explicit. My sheep, they hear my voice. My sheep, I know them. And guess what? They follow me. He doesn't say they kind of, some of them do, some of them don't, no, no, no, no. They follow me. His sheep, that's what they do. And I give eternal life to them and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the father's hand. I and the father are one. Everything versus, I mean, he says it twice, no one can snatch them out of my hand, Jesus. No one can snatch them out of the father's hand. If you are saved, you are sealed, you are changed and guess what? It cannot be undone because it had nothing to do with you and your works. God didn't look down and say, you know what Chaz, he's done enough good things. Now I'll save him. No, no, no, no, no, no, it's grace. Pure grace. All right, the last verse, we'll look at in this section, Romans 8, verses 38, 39. This is incredible verses two. These are awesome. For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor the powers nor the height nor the depth nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen, right? Nothing. Nothing. Think of it this way. I have a son, his name is Cal. Some of you guys know who he is. He's a wild card now. I would do anything to protect Cal and protect Taylor, my wife, anything. I die for him. David, guess what? I am a human finite being. There are some things that can happen that are outside of my control. You realize that? But here we have a holy God who is infinitely powerful, infinitely holy, infinitely perfect in every way. And he's saying, you can't snatch, no one can snatch you out of my hand. That's not like me protecting Cal and my wife, which I'll do. No, no, this is perfect protection, perfectly holy. We should be in awe of that. In salvation, we're up to our works, it wouldn't be sure, right? There's an old famous saying, if you could lose your salvation, guess what? You would. Right? It's faith alone, faith alone. All right, we're looking at a recap, sinful man, right? Sinful man, is man naturally good? No, we're not. No matter what, 53% of self-identified evangelical say, we're not good. Yeah. The great exchange. What's the eyeward that we talked about? Imputation, imputation, counting, God counts Jesus' righteousness to your, he credits it to your account. That's imputation. Okay, fruit not root, right? We talked about it, works are the fruit, they're not the root, right? Works don't save us, that's not what it's about. James is talking about being justified inside of other men, we talked about that. And then lastly, it is finished. Praise God, it is a sure salvation. If you guys look back, we got this picture that we started with, right? Just think about it. You start and you instantly know, man, that's beautiful. I would encourage you, continue to study your Bible when it talks about salvation and be in awe of it. It's a treasure. It is incredible. You can't put it into words, what it means to us as believers. I'm going to end with these set of verses here, and then I'll open it up if Jake wants to say anything or pass through Danny. I'll just end, because I feel like we should end with these verses. Romans 5 verses 9 through 13. Very simple, we've covered it all. Okay, Chaz, we've covered it all. What is salvation? What's the gospel? Listen to these verses. That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus says Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. That might, not potentially, you will be saved. For with the heart a person's beliefs, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation. For the scripture says whoever believes in him will not be disappointed. If you confess with your mouth, and you believe with your heart in your heart, Jesus, perfect God, came to this earth, lived a perfect life. He died on the cross. He was actually resurrected, and then he went and he ascended into heaven. Guess what? You will be saved. There's no doubt about it. You're not going to be disappointed. You're not going to do that. And then you're going to get to heaven and be like, "Well, we just ran out of slots. Doesn't work that way." Praise God, right? Doesn't work that way. So tonight we looked at the gospel truth, salvation, spike grace through faith. I'd say to you, if you're listening to this, this is an evangelism message as well, right? We're talking about salvation. If you're listening to this, you say, "You know what, I've actually, I don't have desire for God. When I check my life, I actually look at it and you know what? I'm not sure if I can say truthfully that I actually desire God's word, that I actually desire to be here." You can get that solved at any point. By faith, by grace through faith, submit your life to him. Guess what? He is Lord. Just a matter of you actually want to submit to that or not. He is Lord. If you've never done that, as we kind of close up here and Jake, I'm going to open it up if he wants to say anything, Jake and I will be around. If you say, "You know what, I've got some questions about that specific thing. Come up and talk to one of us, please," okay? Yeah, Jake, you have anything that you want to add? If anybody has questions, we'll open it up. Any thoughts or any questions?