Six Steps To Heaven?

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. So Christ already did the work needed to bring us into right relationship with God. And if that's true, and if the gospel is salvation by faith, not works, we have to ask the question, thinking through this logically, we have to ask the question, why do so many people who profess to be believers in Jesus, why do so many people think you have to do works in order to be saved?

Why do so many people think you have to do all these works and go through all these rituals and rites in order to get to heaven? Case in point, I read a newspaper article this past week, and you know what it was titled?

Salvation by Faith, Not Works

Six Steps to Heaven. Now, when I saw that, wait a minute, six steps to heaven. I thought there was only one step. How many of you thought the same thing? Six steps to heaven. I've read through the Bible cover to cover.

I've read the Bible a lot. I've never seen anything about six steps to heaven. Now, I have to say this, when I read through it, a lot of the advice in the article was actually really great advice. I want to be fair, a lot of great advice in the article.

Here's the problem though, the whole premise was off, because basically he was saying you work your way to God. You know, you work your way to heaven. So this idea is definitely out there, and by the way, this man is considered a minister of the gospel.

Let me just read an excerpt from this article. Oh, why do you ask, you know, why quote an article? I think if there was a headline or an article in the Galatian Times, I think Paul would have responded.

I don't know, that's just my personal opinion. Here's an excerpt from the article. He said, heaven isn't just going to happen. We have to plan and work for it. Okay, heaven isn't just going to happen.

You have to work for it. Now, is that law or is it gospel? That's law. And, you know, it's interesting. We have to work for heaven. I thought the Bible says not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us.

Titus chapter 3, verse 5. What does the Bible call Christians? Here's a trivia question for you. In the New Testament, what is the biblical term for a Christian? Begins with an S. A saint, right. Christians are called saints.

Here's what he said about saints. We must work to become saints. You know, that's not true. That's not true. The only way you can be a saint or become a saint is to put your full trust in Jesus Christ for the remission of sin.

Nothing you can do can wash away your sin. It's only by the blood of Christ. So, saints, a person is not a saint because they never sin, because everybody does. A person is not a saint because, well, they hardly ever sin.

That's not the concept. We are saints because we are in covenant relationship with God through Jesus Christ, through faith. The scripture says about our righteousness that it's what? It is as filthy rags.

One last quote in speaking about these steps, supposedly, to become a saint or to get to heaven. And again, this man is considered a minister of the gospel. And in the eyes of the world, he would have way more credibility than I do.

He's part of a large institution that once ruled Europe. So people would be more inclined, I think, to look to him than some guy like me. And that's fine. The question is, what does the scripture say, though?

What does the Bible actually say about this idea of getting to heaven and becoming a saint? He said, it takes work. It takes discipline. It takes work. What does Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 say? For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Could it be said any more clear? When this life is over and we stand before God, this will happen. Every person in this room, every person listening, the day will come when we will stand before God.

And if God were to ask us, why should I let you into my heaven? What would you say? What would you say? You should think about that. I know what I would say. I would say, because I put my faith in your only begotten son.

Because I did what you said. You said, put your faith in Christ. That's what I did. I am trusting solely in the death, burial and resurrection for the forgiveness of my sin. What does the hymn say? We're going to sing this hymn after the sermon.

Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin has left a crimson stain, but he washed it white as snow. It's not because of the works that I've done. It's about the work that Jesus did on the cross. You know, in Matthew chapter seven, we see the response of Jesus.

In the sermon on the mount, Jesus tells of this. We see the response of those who appeal to their own works. Remember what they say? They stand before God and say, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and done many great wonders in your name?

What does Jesus say to them? They're appealing based on their works. What does Jesus say? Depart from me. He says, I never knew you. Depart from me. You who practice lawlessness. I just want you to envision this person standing before God.

I want to be judged based on my works.

Okay.

You have some filthy rags over here and then you have your lawless deeds. Depart from me. That's what Jesus said. So all of that to say this, this is why the book of Galatians needs to be preached. This is why grace alone through faith alone and Christ alone needs to be hammered.

And I know you've heard this. Pastor, I heard this last week and I heard this last month and I heard this the month before.

Right?

It's on purpose. What are you trying to do? Indoctrinate us?

You got it right. That's right.

We're trying to indoctrinate you. Because what is there? 168 hours in a week. Most of you are here one hour per week. Maybe three or five at the most. The rest, you're out there. They're trying to indoctrinate you.

The world is trying to. Yes, we are teaching the doctrine of Christ. So I say that without apology. But you understand that's why this needs to be preached. This is why it needs to be hammered, if you will.

Because contrary ideas are everywhere. And again, you have ministers of the gospel saying that salvation is by works. And they're saying it in magazines and newspaper articles. They're saying it on TV.

It's everywhere. I just want to address one thing. In case somebody says to themselves, well, you know, I just don't know that you should be critiquing another minister. It's not personal.

Okay?

But should you be critiquing another minister? Who is Paul writing this letter to combat? The Judaizers. The Judaizers were what? Ministers. When Jesus rebuked the scribes and Pharisees. The scribes and Pharisees and the Sadducees were the ministers of the day.

When Jeremiah was talking about the false prophets, the false prophets were the ministers. So, on the one hand, you know, this guy might be a nice person. You might know people who believe in work salvation.

They think they can work their way to God. You might think they're a nice person. And that's all fine and good. But, you know, there is a spiritual war going on. Don't miss it. There is a spiritual war raging all around us.

You know, we live in a relatively peaceful country. Where if we look around our day-to-day life, things are pretty calm. Depending on where you live, obviously. But things are pretty calm. But there is a spiritual battle.

It's a battle over ideas. It's a battle over ideology. It's a war over beliefs. And don't you know by now that your beliefs affect your behavior. Doctrine affects practice.

Amen?

Alright, so let's walk through this passage. Okay, that was just the introduction of the sermon. Now we're getting into it. You don't have anywhere to go, right? Remember Paul's overall point. Christians are not under the law.

We are not saved by works. It is all by grace. Look at Galatians 4, 21 through 31. Starting in verse 21, he says, Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, Do you not hear the law? In other words, he's saying, Do you even know what the law says?

Oh, you want to be under the law. You want to be under the old covenant. Do you even know what it says? I told you a while back about the man who told me that he was going to heaven because he keeps the Ten Commandments.

I'm going to heaven because I keep the Ten Commandments. It's like, are you even listening to yourself? You've broken the Ten Commandments. You don't keep the Ten Commandments. I didn't say that.

Maybe I should have.

I don't know.

I mean, maybe you've kept the Third Commandment so far this week. Maybe as of 1130 this morning, you've kept the Tenth Commandment. But that's not what it means to keep the law or to keep the commandments.

It's like the people that claim to keep the Sabbath day. Maybe you've met someone who's, I keep the Sabbath. Okay, maybe they don't go into their place of employment on Saturday. Instead, they go to a church that meets on Saturday.

That's not what it means to keep the Sabbath. It's like, do you hear the law? Have you read all the Sabbath regulations? The Sabbath, keeping it, there's so much more to it than that. So you claim you're keeping the commandments.

No, you're not.

You claim you keep the Sabbath.

No, you don't.

So do you even know what it says? So that's what Paul is saying. Now he gets into the story of Abraham that we read. Look at verse 22. For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by the bondwoman and the other by a free woman.

So the free woman was Abraham's wife, who?

Sarah.

Sarah. The bondwoman was Sarah's maidservant, Hagar. Sarah, again, could not get pregnant. So the maidservant, Hagar, acted as a surrogate. But the child that she and Abraham worked to produce, that child was the child according to the flesh.

This was not pleasing to God. This was not God's will. Ishmael would not be, or he was not, the child of promise. You know, it's interesting today, the religion of Islam claims to be from the line of Ishmael.

This is a great debate amongst Jews and Muslims. They both claim Abraham, but Muslims claim Abraham and Ishmael and go through that line. The Jews claim Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, according to that. Now, the Jews are actually correct to that degree.

So these are the two lines that come from Abraham. Abraham has two sons, Ishmael from the bond, Isaac from the free woman. So this is Paul's illustration, and I'll say it again. Sarah represents who? New Testament Christians.

All right, verse 23. But he who is of the bondwoman, that's Ishmael, was born according to the flesh, and he of the free woman through promise. So Ishmael came about by the normal process.

All right?

The birth of Isaac was a miracle. Without God's supernatural help, Isaac would not have been born. And this is a great picture of Isaac being a type of Christ. First of all, Isaac is the seed of Abraham, just as Christ is the seed of Abraham.

Both have this supernatural birth. And of course, Jesus and his followers were persecuted by who? In the earliest days of Christianity, they were persecuted by the unbelieving Jews and the Jewish council.

Well, and now you see that with Ishmael, scoffing Ishmael in a sense was persecuting Isaac. So it's bond versus free, Hagar versus Sarah. We could say law versus gospel. You know, the two cannot dwell together.

Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Moores Corner Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, moorescornerchurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, with the grace of God be with you.