Belief in God Merits Nothing

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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February 14, 2019

00:01: Well, good morning, fellas.
00:03: Open up your Bibles with me.
00:05: James chapter 2.
00:08: Who won the debate? I did.
00:16: That would be great for the recording.
00:22: We allow the audience to draw their own conclusions.
00:26: So I think the winner was anybody who came and learned.
00:29: That would be a good...
00:32: My opinion was not, and I don't mean that to negate his presentation.
00:43: I think he did a very good job of presenting his side, but I went into it having evaluated that before going in, and so I kind of knew what he was going to say.
00:56: There were a few things he said that were maybe a little different than what I had studied, but most of it I was prepared to hear, so no, I wasn't swayed.
01:10: Alright, so if you have your Bibles, you're going to turn to verse 14, and we're going to read down to the end of the chapter, just like we did last time, but we are going to focus on one verse.
01:25: Today we're going to focus on one particular passage, and I'll let you know what it is after we read the text.
01:37: Let's just read together.
01:39: Beginning at verse 14, James says, What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
02:10: But someone will say, You have faith, and I have works.
02:13: Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
02:17: You believe that God is one, you do well, even the demons believe and shudder.
02:23: Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works.
02:39: And the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, and he was called a friend of God.
02:48: You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone, and in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
03:09: Let's pray.
03:11: Father in heaven, I thank you for your word.
03:14: I thank you for these men, God, that you've given this opportunity to hear the word.
03:21: I pray that you would keep me from error, first for the sake of your name, second for the sake of their consciences and their hearts, and Lord for the sake of me.
03:31: I do not want to preach that which is wrong.
03:33: Your word tells us that the teacher is held to a higher standard, a standard of truth, and I pray that I would be kept in that standard this morning.
03:42: Lord, as we look at the uselessness of belief that's separated from Christ and the uselessness of faith that has no works, Lord, let it be that we not misunderstand James, but that we understand the heart of what he is saying.
04:00: And Lord, may it be that we are led into the truth this morning, brought to the throne by the Spirit, and reminded of the wonders contained within your word.
04:12: And it's in Christ's name we pray.
04:14: Amen.
04:15: Amen.
04:16: Verse 19.
04:18: Verse 19.
04:21: How'd you know, Jared? I didn't.
04:23: I'm sorry, I thought...
04:24: Just a guess.
04:25: Just a guess? Yeah? Well, it was a good guess.
04:28: I forgot to get the marker when I came in.
04:32: I was going to write something on the board, but it's of no use.
04:36: I was going to write, Belief in God Merits Nothing.
04:46: Belief in God Merits Nothing.
04:50: That's the title of today's lesson.
04:53: And I say that because over the years I have had obviously many times where I've had the opportunity to evangelize.
05:05: Every year we do a 10-day evangelism push at the Callahan Fair where we have a booth that we set up and people walk by and we give them gospel tracts and we engage in conversation.
05:15: Sometimes we'll go downtown and we'll preach on the street.
05:19: We preached at the Monster Truck Rally.
05:21: We preached at the Florida-Georgia game.
05:22: We preach outside.
05:24: As people walk by, we hand out gospel tracts and we have conversations with them.
05:28: And I used to work at a school.
05:30: I used to work as a substitute teacher here in Yulee and I also worked as a security and paraprofessional at the First Coast High School.
05:40: And when I would work at the school, even though I wasn't necessarily supposed to be evangelizing, all the kids knew at that time I was a youth leader, so all the kids knew me.
05:51: And so they would talk to me and I would talk to them and it wasn't as fraught with danger as many people think.
06:00: If the kids talk to you, you talk back to them.
06:02: You can tell them what you think and what you believe.
06:04: And so I had many, many opportunities.
06:06: So over the years, 20 years of being a Christian, I've had a lot of times where I've talked to people about their faith.
06:14: And in many circumstances, more often than you would probably imagine, I've heard people say, well, I know I'm saved because I believe in God.
06:27: Or I've heard people say, when someone dies, well, I know he went to heaven because he believed in God.
06:35: Or I've heard people say, you know, well, Pastor, I got my friend coming to church on Sunday and he's a Christian, he believes in God.
06:45: And so I think that what has happened, especially in our modern way of speaking and our modern way of thinking, is that we have come to equate belief in God with salvation.
07:01: And my point to you this morning, and if you take nothing else away, I hope you take this away, my point is belief in God merits nothing.
07:13: And I'm going to prove that from the text this morning.
07:17: Because if you think that you are saved by believing in God, you are not.
07:27: Now this may sound like challenging, you may have heard different.
07:32: But I want to again, let's read verse 19.
07:36: James is talking to the imaginary listener here, he's speaking to a group.
07:42: So when he says you believe, he's speaking of an imaginary person who would be saying to him, well, I believe in God, just like I just said.
07:52: This person is challenging James and saying, well, of course I have faith, I believe in God.
07:58: And so James says, you believe that God is one.
08:05: Now stop right there.
08:07: Why does that matter? Well, if I say I believe in God, and I lived in first century Rome, I would actually say I believe in gods.
08:22: Because I would either believe in the Roman pantheon of the gods, or I would believe in the Greek pantheon of the gods.
08:30: Because I don't believe in God, I believe in gods.
08:34: I believe in Zeus, I believe in Apollos, I believe in Diana, I believe in Epaphrodite, I believe in Hermes, I believe in yadda yadda yadda, right? I believe in the gods.
08:46: In fact, early Christians were called atheists because they didn't believe in the gods.
08:55: They only believed in one god.
08:57: And because they denied the existence of Zeus, Apollos, and all the other pantheon of gods, they were considered to be atheistic.
09:05: They didn't believe in the gods.
09:09: Yeah.
09:10: What's that? Yeah, it brought the persecution.
09:13: They wouldn't burn incense to Caesar, they would not bow down to any statues of false gods.
09:19: And you remember when Paul went to Athens and he walked through, what did he see? The statue to the unknown god.
09:27: That's got an interesting history.
09:31: There was a time where there was a plague or a famine or something, and one of the prophets of the ancient Roman Empire said, well, send out some goats and everywhere a goat stops to eat, that's a place where a god exists, so put a statue there and worship.
09:45: And so they were just trying to catch all their bases, right? Worship every god we can to try to get rid of this plague or whatever it was.
09:51: And so they did it.
09:52: And so they had all these little statues, it's just, we don't know who the god is, but we know there's a god here, because this is where the goats stopped, right? And so there were these statues around where you go and you worship this unknown god, and Paul says, the god that you do not know, I proclaim to you today, he's the god who created heaven and earth, and ultimately there's no other god but him, right? So the idea that James is pointing out here, when he says, you say, you believe, and by the way, that word believe, pistou, is the same word for faith.
10:24: So you could say, you have faith that God is one, he's specifically referring to what we would call today, and I don't like this term, but we do use this term, he's specifically referring to the Judeo-Christian understanding of God.
10:46: Because Judeo-Christian understanding of God was unique in the ancient world because it said there was only one.
10:55: In the ancient world, the belief was there were many, and so James is not only saying here, you believe in God in general, but he's saying, you have right theology, in one sense.
11:09: You say, you believe God is one.
11:14: He's saying, you believe the right thing about God.
11:18: Because is God one? Yeah, and then we're not having a Trinitarian conversation.
11:23: Even Trinitarians believe there's only one God.
11:25: That one God exists in three persons, but that one God is one.
11:29: We believe Deuteronomy 6, the Shema, which was the prayer of Israel, hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God, the Lord is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
11:39: There's one, right? And then when we see the New Testament explaining to us the three persons who are called God, we understand that there is Trinity, but it is Trinity in unity, one God.
11:51: And so there's right theology here.
11:53: He says, you believe God is one.
11:57: So your theology's right.
11:59: He even says that.
12:01: The next phrase, poies kalos, you do well.
12:06: You do good.
12:07: Kalos is good.
12:10: It's a good thing, right? So you do good.
12:12: And if you believe God is one, that's a feather in your cap.
12:16: That's great.
12:17: You do good, but even the demons believe and shudder.
12:26: Think about that for a minute.
12:29: Do demons believe in God? I would say demons believe in God much differently than we do because demons know God exists.
12:43: Demons have, you know, been in His presence.
12:45: They're fallen angels, right? So demons have a relationship, an understanding that they have had a face-to-face situation cast out from His presence.
12:56: We don't have that, right? None of us, and I'll say this without fear of contradiction, I hope, none of us have seen God face-to-face because we're all still alive, right? So based on that, we have not seen God face-to-face.
13:13: You may want to challenge me and say you had a vision and a dream or something.
13:16: I'm talking about, you know, right in His presence.
13:19: We're still alive.
13:20: We're not dead.
13:21: We haven't seen God face-to-face.
13:22: Demons know God exists.
13:26: And they knew Jesus too, by the way.
13:29: Remember when Jesus went to Gennesaret and there was the man there who was chained up, bound up, and Jesus came up to him and called him, What is your name? We are legion, for we are many.
13:44: And he said, Jesus, Son of the Most High God, have you come to torment me before the time? Right? So not only did he know Jesus, he knew the time was coming when Jesus was going to bring about the destruction of His enemies by making His enemies His footstool, right? That's coming.
14:02: So not only do they have a right understanding of Jesus, they have a right understanding of eschatology.
14:08: The demons have a theology and an understanding of the future.
14:13: They know their time is limited.
14:15: Are you coming early? Because we know you're coming one day.
14:18: Is today the day? That's one thing about men.
14:22: Men often think their time is going to last forever.
14:25: At least demons know they've got an expiration date, right? Demons know there's a time coming.
14:29: Men think they're going to live forever.
14:30: That's why they do the things they do.
14:34: So here we have demons.
14:37: And by the way, do you believe in demons? Yes.
14:40: Okay, I'm glad.
14:41: I mean, you know, some people don't.
14:44: Some people think when they read the...
14:46: I feel like I'm possessed by a demon sometimes.
14:49: The stuff I want to do is crazy, man.
14:52: Well, I hope that you're not.
14:56: I don't know.
14:59: Let's pray that you're not.
15:02: Seriously, I want to like throw myself on the ground and start like doing weird...
15:06: Man, this is a little bit scary.
15:09: Let's not.
15:10: No, I want to scare people when I do it too.
15:12: That's the worst part.
15:13: I want to scare people when I do it.
15:15: Like, literally.
15:16: Let's not.
15:17: No, I'm just thinking.
15:20: I'm just listening.
15:28: I've met a few people in my life that I thought were demon-possessed.
15:32: But I couldn't prove it.
15:35: I think they try to push it off as like mental illnesses and stuff.
15:39: But, you know, I really think demon possession is like a real thing, man.
15:43: No, I know it is, one, because I know the Scripture talks about it.
15:47: I think that there was a heightened demonic presence at the time of Christ.
15:53: Here's my reasoning.
15:54: Because we don't see it in the Old Testament as much.
15:56: And we don't see it as much in Acts.
15:58: But we see it very much in the Gospels.
16:00: And so I think there was a heightened presence of demons in response to the coming of Christ.
16:06: I mean, what's the first thing that happens when Jesus comes into the world? Killing of babies.
16:12: Remember? Herod.
16:14: The murder of children.
16:16: By the way, our nation's trying to top that, ain't they? But the point is, you see a demonic response to the coming of Jesus.
16:26: And then you see throughout His life, everywhere He went, there was somebody who had a demon or was dealing with demons.
16:31: So I think that there's a heightened demonic presence in the Gospels.
16:35: But I don't think that that means that we don't have it today.
16:38: I think we do have it today.
16:39: I think there are people who are in real bad shape as of having been possessed by demons.
16:45: But the Bible does make a distinction.
16:47: Because the Bible talks about a man who is epileptic.
16:50: That's not demon possession.
16:52: It's different, right? It talks about men who are blind or whatever.
16:56: And the question is always, well, what did they do to get that? What was the sin? Well, it wasn't sin.
17:00: It was so God could show His power.
17:02: It's always blaming something, whether it's demons.
17:04: And I've been in churches that everything's a demon.
17:07: If you burn the eggs, that's demons.
17:10: If I'm lying, I'm dying.
17:11: It's crazy stuff.
17:12: And so my fear is that we put too much emphasis on it or none.
17:19: Right? It's the, what's it called? Polar opposites.
17:24: You've got people who say everything's the devil.
17:27: Everything's a demon.
17:28: Everything's this.
17:29: And then you've got the other side that says devil doesn't exist or there are no demons.
17:36: Yeah.
17:37: I just like keeping people in such confusion.
17:39: They don't even want to say it's even plausible.
17:43: You've probably heard this before.
17:44: Because many other religions, they do believe in like the possession of spirits.
17:48: And like all around the world, man, it's like people believe you can become possessed by other spirits.
17:55: And then, you know, I believe in God.
17:58: I'm not professing any other faith.
18:00: Seriously.
18:01: No.
18:01: It's just funny that I've been talking about believing.
18:03: You said I believe in God.
18:05: I believe in God.
18:06: I'm just saying it's funny.
18:08: But go ahead.
18:12: No, it's not.
18:19: Absolutely.
18:25: Yes.
18:27: Have you ever heard the expression, The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was to convince the world that he doesn't exist.
18:37: And that's what the world, the vast majority of the secular world.
18:41: There's no devil.
18:42: There's no demons.
18:44: There's none of these things.
18:45: The Bible clearly says there is.
18:47: Not everything that people go through is demonic activity.
18:50: But there is demonic activity.
18:51: There is a conspirator and he is the devil.
18:55: People always talk about conspiracy theories.
18:57: You know, old George Soros or old Ted Turner or somebody.
19:01: Somebody with power or money or whatever.
19:02: They're doing these things.
19:03: There is a conspirator.
19:04: His name is Satan.
19:05: And he has those who work with him, the demons.
19:09: And we have in the text here a clear expression of their work.
19:13: But what do they do in this text? They believe.
19:17: They believe.
19:18: Same root word as the word in verse 19.
19:23: It says you believe that God is one.
19:24: That pistouo is the root there.
19:27: You go to even demons believe.
19:30: Pistouo is the same word.
19:31: It's the same word for faith.
19:33: And you say, well, do demons have faith? Not in the sense of what James is saying.
19:37: They believe.
19:39: They believe because they have seen.
19:41: They believe because they know.
19:42: They believe because they exist on a different type of existence than we do.
19:46: They exist in the spirit realm and we exist in the physical.
19:49: And so they have belief.
19:51: And what does their belief cause, according to this text? Yes, sir.
19:57: Well, it's not by the text, but I believe they believe because they know the prophecy of Isaiah.
20:02: Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
20:04: They know the future.
20:04: That's why I said when Jesus met the Mengenesseret and they said, have you come to torment us before the time? They know what's coming.
20:13: Absolutely.
20:13: They know the Bible.
20:14: I've heard this before.
20:16: People who are really focused on theology.
20:18: And I'm really focused on theology.
20:19: Theology matters is my life motto.
20:22: But I tell people this.
20:23: This is a quote, I think, from Charles Spurgeon.
20:25: He said, the devil is a great theologian and yet he is a devil still.
20:29: The devil is a great theologian and yet he is a devil still.
20:32: It gives you a better understanding.
20:36: Yeah.
20:37: So we have this text.
20:39: What do the demons do? Last word in the verse.
20:42: They shudder.
20:43: So not only do demons believe in God, but in a sense they fear what he can do.
20:48: They demonstrate that.
20:51: Yeah, by being afraid of Christ.
20:54: And the amazing thing too, what does the Bible say is the beginning of wisdom? Fear of God.
21:02: Which is an awe.
21:03: Right.
21:04: It's an awe.
21:05: Yeah, they have the type of fear that's just fright.
21:10: Because they don't want God.
21:12: They don't want to reverence God.
21:13: They don't want to sit in awe of God.
21:16: They hate God.
21:18: But they do believe and they do shudder.
21:23: So, what's my focus and what I want to show you today? If you believe in God and you believe that God is one, you have right theology.
21:34: That is good.
21:36: I'm not saying it's bad.
21:39: But that does not merit anything.
21:43: In the sense that if you think that your salvation is based on your belief in God, or even your right theology, you are mistaken.
21:57: In fact, I want to show you another verse.
22:00: And some of you, I think, maybe have heard me talk about this before.
22:03: But I want to take you over to Romans chapter 1.
22:06: Because I want to show you something very important.
22:11: Yes, sir.
22:16: Yes, absolutely.
22:18: So we can't merit anything anyway, right? You're getting a little ahead of me because that's where I'm going at the end.
22:25: Yeah, our faith is in Christ and of Christ.
22:29: But I want to show you something here in Romans 1.
22:31: I think Romans 1 was written for our time 2,000 years ago.
22:38: Because there are a few verses that are so specifically addressing the issue of the day, as is Romans 1.
22:46: I've preached to you this more than once.
22:49: I've talked about it.
22:51: Beginning of verse 18.
22:54: It says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
23:08: For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them.
23:15: For His invisible attributes, namely His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made.
23:28: So they are unapologetus, without an apology or without an excuse, without a defense.
23:36: That's what that word excuse means.
23:39: They do not have a defense.
23:42: So just stop right there before we go on.
23:47: When a man tells me, I believe in God, I say, of course you do! Just think about that for a second.
24:03: Just think about the reality of that.
24:04: I believe in God.
24:07: Of course! You know how much effort it takes to be an atheist? I'm an a-atheist.
24:20: You know what putting the alpha primitive does? It makes it the opposite.
24:25: You know, a theist is a person who believes in God.
24:27: Put the A at the beginning.
24:28: It makes it the opposite, right? Atheist.
24:32: Well, I'm an a-atheist.
24:35: I don't believe in atheists.
24:38: You understand what I'm saying? I put the extra A on to point this out.
24:44: Somebody tells me I don't believe in God.
24:47: Believe what you want, but you know He exists.
24:52: What was that? Yeah, exactly.
24:54: Exactly.
24:57: He right here tells me, and by the way, I trust this more than I trust you.
25:03: So when you tell me I don't believe in God, I say, well this tells me you know He exists.
25:08: And it tells me that you suppress that truth in unrighteousness.
25:12: So your belief is the result of a suppression of what you know to be true.
25:18: Yes, sir? Can you tie that into Genesis 1 and Genesis 2? I could.
25:24: No, you can't.
25:25: I'm not kidding.
25:28: That's a deep discussion.
25:29: Well, but before I get there, I want to mention this.
25:31: I got to sit down.
25:32: My knee's hurting.
25:33: Alright, so, I want to use an analogy.
25:41: I know, and I'm not getting into anybody's personal business.
25:45: Everybody's got stuff that they've dealt with, but I'm sure that some of you guys have at some point in your life dealt with drugs.
25:51: That has not been my particular issue, but I've had my own sins to deal with, so I'm no better than anybody in this room.
25:56: We've all had different things that we've had to deal with.
25:59: But I use drugs as this analogy because I think it's helpful.
26:02: When you were doing drugs, if you were, I know not everybody has, when you were doing drugs, did you know it was bad for you? Yeah.
26:12: Somebody told me it wasn't bad.
26:14: Well, but you knew it, though.
26:16: You've seen the people whose lives were destroyed.
26:20: You've seen the people whose bodies have decayed.
26:23: You've seen the people whose teeth are gone and whose eyes are sunk back into their heads and their ribs and bones because of drugs.
26:30: People who've gone from my size to your size in a year because they've lost their whole muscle mass.
26:37: Not that I've got a lot of muscle mass, but you know what I'm saying? Mass in general.
26:41: That's gone away as a result of that thing.
26:46: And yet, because of a desire, you were able to suppress that truth because you wanted something else.
26:54: You wanted the drug.
26:55: So you suppress, it's not going to happen to me.
26:58: Or if it does, I want it so bad it doesn't matter.
27:02: Same thing for a man who would cheat on his wife.
27:06: Right? He knows it's wrong.
27:10: And he's got that truth within him that he's got a wife that he made a vow to and he made a vow till death do us part.
27:18: And they're both still alive.
27:22: And yet he sees this woman at work.
27:25: She's attractive and she's interested.
27:29: She doesn't mind breaking up a family because she doesn't care.
27:35: And so she finds herself, or he finds himself in a precarious position with this woman and they have an affair.
27:45: Did he know it was wrong? But for whatever reason, at that moment he suppressed that knowledge so that he could do what he wanted to do.
27:54: He suppressed that instinctual knowledge that I shouldn't hurt my wife and I shouldn't hurt my kids and I shouldn't hurt my family and I shouldn't divide myself from the love that I have with my wife and I shouldn't go to the prostitute.
28:09: That's what the Bible calls them.
28:10: Not that they take money necessarily, but the whorish woman.
28:13: Right? Shouldn't do that.
28:15: But I do it because I want it.
28:17: Right? Same way with the drugs.
28:19: You can say it with alcohol.
28:20: You can say it with anything.
28:23: That's the point of Romans 1.
28:27: Though they knew God exists because He gave them that knowledge, they didn't want to worship Him so they suppressed that truth in unrighteousness.
28:40: Go on, verse 21.
28:41: For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened.
28:49: Claiming to be wise, they became fools.
28:51: Ain't nobody in the world that claims to be more wise than an atheist.
28:55: A person who says God doesn't exist.
28:57: Oh, I know I came from stardust, and to stardust I will return.
29:04: Nothing plus nothing equals nothing.
29:07: They believe they came from nothing.
29:09: Go ahead, brother.
29:17: Yes, I will answer that question, but let me finish what I'm saying because I think that's an important question.
29:22: Let me just finish this up.
29:24: Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
29:31: Therefore God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity, to dishonoring of their bodies among themselves because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever.
29:43: Amen.
29:43: That's where it stops.
29:44: It goes on to talk about some extensions of that, but we'll stop in verse 25.
29:48: The point of the text is this.
29:50: All men know God exists.
29:54: And you say, well, what about the person who's never heard the Word? Even the person who has not heard the Word of God knows that God exists because he puts that knowledge inside of him.
30:03: And the natural result is to reject a God who exists and to replace Him with a God of our own making.
30:12: This is what he talks about, birds and animals and creeping things.
30:14: What do you find when you go into the deepest, darkest jungles and you find these tribes? You find poles that are carved into birds and animals and creeping things that are called totems.
30:25: And those are their gods.
30:29: What did Israel do in the wilderness when Moses was gone for 40 days? They made a golden calf.
30:35: Why do people want...
30:36: And by the way, that's the worst story in the Bible because you hear what those people say.
30:40: You hear them.
30:40: They say this, this is the God who led you out of Egypt.
30:44: This golden calf.
30:45: Read it again.
30:45: They look at the golden calf and say, that's the God who led you out of Egypt.
30:51: Not the God who is, but the God we made.
30:58: The God we created.
30:59: Why do we want idols? Because we control the idols.
31:03: If I made you, I'm more powerful than you.
31:09: I need something to worship because I'm built to worship.
31:12: In fact, the human, going to Genesis 1 and 2, the human is made in the image of God.
31:17: We are the only, if you want to call us animals, I don't even like that term, but if you say we're animals in the sense that we are similar to animals in how we're built, we're the only animal that worships, you go out into the field, you don't see cows going moo.
31:33: You know, they're not down on their face.
31:35: You don't go to the zoo and see the monkeys gathered around a Bible.
31:39: Right? Or anything.
31:41: You don't see them worshiping.
31:46: We are created in the image of God for the express purpose of having a relationship with God.
31:51: And we're the only thing created that is able to have a relationship with God.
31:55: We destroyed that relationship through sin, created a wall of divide between us and God.
32:00: And yet we still long for worship, so we find something to worship other than God because we don't want to worship the God who exists.
32:09: So we replace Him with birds, animals, and creeping things, worshiping the creature rather than the Creator because it's easier to worship a bird than it is to worship Yahweh.
32:19: It's easier to worship reptiles than it is to worship Jesus.
32:23: It's easier to worship me than it is to worship Him.
32:28: And by the way, the biggest idol in the world is me.
32:32: Self.
32:32: Yes, sir.
32:46: Well, a lot of people are what is called anti-supernaturalists.
32:51: You ever heard that term? And so they'll say that none of it exists.
32:56: They'll say it's all in our mind.
33:00: You can't ever deny the fact that there's enough evil in the world.
33:06: Well, I'll go off on a tangent for one second.
33:11: Because a lot of times an atheist...
33:13: I've had many of these conversations and atheists will say, well, I don't believe in God because there's so much evil in the world and if God is good, He wouldn't allow evil in the world.
33:25: I just respond with saying, define evil without a standard.
33:32: And define a standard without God.
33:38: Hold on.
33:39: Because this is the truth.
33:40: If God does not exist, all things are permissible.
33:43: Because there is no standard.
33:46: Without God, there's no standard.
33:48: Without a standard, there's no evil.
33:50: So without God, there can be no evil.
33:54: I mean, it really is.
33:55: When somebody says God can't exist because evil exists, I say God has to exist if you accept the existence of evil.
34:02: Because at the end of the day, what Hitler did was not wrong if he was only going against the mores of society.
34:10: Was there a transcendent law that Hitler broke? Is there a transcendent law that says that you should not murder people simply because they're different than you or that you shouldn't murder people at all? If there's not a God, there can be no transcendent law.
34:28: If there can be no transcendent law, there's no such thing as evil.
34:30: Therefore, if you believe that God can't exist because evil exists, you have violated your own understanding of what evil is.
34:39: Yes, sir, you want to say something? Go ahead.
34:45: Yes, that's what he says.
34:48: In fact, Romans 2, he says when the Gentiles do by nature what the law requires, they show that the law of God is at work in their hearts.
34:59: Even though they don't know God, they know the law because he wrote it on the conscience.
35:07: Every person knows that.
35:09: Yes, sir, you want to...
35:11: Personally for me, if I say the devil, I'm giving him credit just by saying his name.
35:21: Okay.
35:22: So I like to say it or...
35:24: Okay.
35:25: ...or refer to him as a different name.
35:28: That's fine.
35:29: I mean, that's a conscience conviction thing.
35:33: And I understand what you're saying.
35:35: How many of you have ever heard the three great enemies of man are the world, the flesh, and the devil? Right? You ever heard that, brother? Well, it's true.
35:47: The Bible says that, right? It talks about the world, the flesh, and the devil as our three great enemies.
35:51: But here's what people don't realize.
35:54: And I want it to your point, right? I wish I had my marker, but I don't.
36:00: So I draw it with my hands.
36:03: People think there are three spheres of battle.
36:07: We're fighting the flesh.
36:09: We're fighting the world.
36:10: We're fighting the devil.
36:12: And it's like three opponents, right? We're Bruce Lee, and we're fighting three different persons.
36:19: That's not how it works.
36:22: We live in the flesh.
36:25: The flesh is in the world.
36:28: And the world is of the devil.
36:31: And so it's not that there's three different spheres.
36:34: It's this flesh is what's encouraging us to do bad.
36:38: It's influenced by the world around us, which in turn is influenced by the devil around it.
36:43: He is called the prince of the power of the air.
36:47: And it's funny about that.
36:49: And I don't mean to stretch analogies.
36:53: When the devil's called the prince of the power of the air, have you ever thought about the fact that ever since the introduction of airwaves and radio waves and TV waves has been the largest spread of some of the worst and most vile things in history? And I know that maybe I'm spreading my credulity out just a little, but the idea that he really does have control of media, he really does have control of, and when I say control, what I mean is influence on.
37:23: You know the number one thing on the internet is the thing that has more space than anything else? Pornography.
37:35: Yeah, the thing that takes up the most space on the internet is pornography.
37:45: We have absolutely the influence of him.
37:51: I use your, not say his name, but his influence is there, and it influences the world, and the world influences the flesh, and that's what we battle.
38:03: We battle the flesh, influenced by the world, influenced by him.
38:07: And we are easily influenced.
38:11: So this kind of got into a study of the devil today.
38:13: I didn't mean for it to go there necessarily.
38:16: You want to say something, brother? It looks like you're...
38:17: It just reminds me too, the thing you're in there of, it's like it just gave him a medium to amplify the influence that he already...
38:26: Yeah, yeah.
38:27: The radio and TV and everything? Yeah.
38:30: Absolutely.
38:31: It just gives a...
38:33: And it has staying power too, man.
38:35: You put something on the internet, it never goes away.
38:37: It's there forever.
38:40: So let me just finish up my thought for today.
38:42: As we draw into a close, I want to make sure you guys get your break.
38:46: Again, somebody says to me, I believe in God.
38:52: I say, of course you do.
38:55: There is no merit in that.
38:57: But at the end of the day, as somebody said over here, I think, there's no merit in anything that we do, technically.
39:04: Because the only merit for our salvation is in Christ.
39:09: So if you're trusting in your belief in God, let me tell you, that merits nothing.
39:15: The only trust whereby you have any confidence is trust in the finished work of Christ.
39:24: Yeah.
39:25: It has to be His finished work.
39:29: Not that you add to it, not that you merit anything, but that you receive it by faith what it has done.
39:35: Now when that happens, it results in a life change, and that's James' point, and that's what we're going to get onto next.
39:41: We're going to talk about Abraham and the result of Abraham and the things that he did.
39:47: But the point of today is simply to remind you that if you think that I believe in God, therefore I am saved, that is not what the Bible says.
39:56: If someone that you're witnessing to says, I believe in God, therefore I'm saved, say, of course you believe in God.
40:04: But has Christ changed your life? That's the question.
40:09: I think I mentioned that last week.
40:11: It's not about, do you believe in God? It's about, has Christ changed your life? Go ahead, bud.
40:33: I would say that you're right in the middle of most of American religiosity.
40:39: Because here's the religion of America.
40:41: You want to know what it is? It's not Christianity.
40:44: The religion of America is moralistic therapeutic deism.
40:49: Have you ever heard that term? Alright, well let me finish with this.
40:53: Moralistic therapeutic deism is the religion of most of America.
40:57: It basically says this, if you do good, and you think good, that's moralistic therapeutic, right? It's how you act and how you think.
41:05: And you believe in some form of a God, then you're alright.
41:10: That's not what the Bible teaches.
41:12: But that's what a lot of people think being saved is.
41:15: Well, he believes, or he acts good, he thinks good, and he believes in some form of God.
41:21: That's not salvation.
41:22: The Bible says salvation is trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ with your heart to turn to Him in repentance of sin.
41:30: And because of this, here's why.
41:32: Because you are an offense to God.
41:36: And I say that to you personally, but I could say that to anybody in this room, so I'm not picking on you.
41:42: I am an offense to God outside of Christ because of sin.
41:46: God is holy.
41:47: He is righteous.
41:49: He is perfect.
41:50: And when I sin, I am an affront to Him.
41:53: And so God has a choice.
41:55: And He had a choice.
41:56: Before He created the world, He had a choice.
41:58: He could have sent us all to hell, and He would have been righteous to do so.
42:03: Because we deserved it.
42:05: If a man stands before a judge, and he's committed rape, and he's committed murder, and the judge says, you're able to go free, we'd have a cow because that's unjust.
42:15: But if he said, you're going to the electric chair, we'd say, yes, that's justice, right? So we stand before God having committed sin, having broken His law, guilty as sinners before the judge of the universe.
42:28: And He says we deserve hell.
42:31: He says the wages of sin is death.
42:35: But the free gift of God, not what we earn, but the gift.
42:39: He sends His Son.
42:40: His Son goes to the cross.
42:42: You ever wonder why Jesus died on the cross? He died on the cross because that's what I deserve.
42:45: He became what's called the substitutionary atonement.
42:48: He laid on the cross.
42:50: He let them nail Him to the cross.
42:52: And He gave Himself up.
42:53: Because in that moment, the righteous wrath of God was poured out on Him.
42:58: And He took in Himself my punishment for my sins.
43:04: He became the substitute so that I could go free.
43:12: Yes, the Bible says in Isaiah 53, it pleased the Lord to strike Him.
43:19: Why would it please God to strike His Son? Because in striking His Son, He would not have to strike me.
43:25: And His Son said this, no man takes my life from me, but I give it up on my own accord.
43:31: He did it for us.
43:34: If you believe on Him, that's what you're believing in.
43:38: You're believing that He went and died so that He could take your punishment in your place and you could have forgiveness.
43:48: Not because you are righteous, but because He makes you righteous.
43:53: He declares you righteous by what He did.
43:57: So that's the Gospel.
43:58: I hope that makes sense.
43:59: Let's pray.
44:00: Let's pray.
44:01: Father, thank You for Your Word.
44:02: Thank You for this time.
44:04: I pray these men will have a nice rest in this next few minutes, a nice time of break.
44:08: And Lord, that You would just recall to their minds the things that have been said, the importance of the Gospel and the need to trust in Christ.
44:15: Not just believe in God, but to trust in Him whom You have signed.
44:19: And Your Word says, if you believe in God, believe also in Me.
44:22: Lord, let us believe in Christ, for He is the one out of whom there is no salvation.
44:28: And it's in His name.
44:29: Amen.