Salvation Through Faith: The Heart of Christianity

1) "We live in a time, if you look at your notes, we live in a time of widespread deception. And we have identity thieves that get your credit card numbers. It's happened to me. Maybe it's happened to you. They can take out cash. They can buy things in your name. We have a time where these people steal your social security number. They can fill out your tax form and get your tax refund. Title fraud. We hear about that all the time. People can actually steal your house. Telephone scammers. I call people all the time. And they especially prey on the elderly. Look, you haven't paid your IRS debt. If you'll give me your bank routing number or your credit card number, we can take care of that. If not, you're going to jail. And my neighbor fell for that one." [20:12] (53 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2) "You think financially you could be ruined by a scammer. There's something worse than financial ruin. It's spiritual deception. And as a result, you can have eternal destruction. And it's not something new. It began where? In the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve. When they were deceived. And Satan didn't stop with Adam and Eve. In fact, in your notes, the disciple Peter wrote these words. Dear friend, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you. It's though something strange were happening to you. You can say to yourself, it will never happen to me. And I got a Bible passage for you that says, take heed lest you fall or pride comes before the fall." [22:09] (49 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3) "We live in an age where we hear these words, truth is relative. What's true for you may not be true for me, et cetera, et cetera. There is no absolute truth. Jesus warned in Matthew 7, 15, watch out for false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly a raviness wolves. That means they look like the real thing. And we have pastors that are preaching from pulpits that are leading people astray. Unfortunately, sadly, I should say. People don't know the word of God. They don't know what a counterfeit is compared to the real thing." [23:05] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4) "The Christian church has been under constant attack until Jesus returns. It won't change. And so this morning, this brings us in this whole book of Galatians is all about that. And so we're in chapter three. And so I would like to read a verse one of chapter three. And as Paul writes to the church, oh, foolish, Galatians, who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Oh, foolish Galatians. Those were well-deserved words. In fact, Phillips translates this. Oh, you dear idiots of Galatia. You're an idiot. Who has bewitched you?" [26:15] (51 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5) "Christianity is not a religion. In fact, sometimes I get insulted when people say to me, oh, you're such a religious person. I go, no, I'm not. I'm not religious. I'm a Christian. The difference is, Christianity is God reaching down to man through his son, Jesus Christ. The word became fleshed, to dwell among us. We celebrate his birth at Christmas. Jesus Christ, the Savior, is born. For by grace, you have been saved by him." [31:48] (29 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6) "Faith plus nothing equals salvation. Faith in Jesus plus nothing equals salvation. And Paul writes, are you so foolish having begun by the Spirit that you're now being perfected by your flesh? You were saved by faith. Now you think you can make it the rest of the way to heaven by your good works? Let me illustrate it this way. You've heard this illustration. Let me give it a twist. In 1859, there was a tightrope walker named Charles Blondin. He traveled to Niagara Falls. Anybody been to Niagara Falls? Isn't that a cool place? And he struck a cable across Niagara Falls and just about a quarter of a mile, he walked 1,100 feet from one side to the other." [34:16] (45 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7) "You became a Christian, not because you thought you could get to heaven by yourself, but by placing your trust in Jesus that you could do it by yourself. The Galatians, didn't receive the Holy Spirit because they were circumcised or kept the works of the laws. The Holy Spirit entered their lives when they received the gospel by hearing through faith. Number two, we're not saved by doing. Paul says we're saved by hearing. And this brings us to our memory verse in Ephesians 2.8. You probably have this memorized. So if you do, you get an easy week this week in memorizing scripture. Ephesians 2.8, will you say this with me? For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. This is not from yourselves. It's the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast." [37:11] (51 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8) "You see, our human nature tells us that we should get into heaven if we pay for our wrongdoing with our good deeds. Or our religious duties. Maybe I'll pray a lot. Maybe I'll have faith. Maybe I'll have faithful church attendance. Maybe I'll give a lot of money to the church. That should get me into heaven, shouldn't it? If we do enough religious stuff, that ought to balance out all the bad things we've done. Well, Abraham did that. He fulfilled his religious duties. Wherever he went, he built altars to worship God. He gave a tithe of 10% to the priest, Melchizedek. He spent a lot of time in prayer. And we, like Abraham, want to be good people. But in spite of our efforts, we fall short in thought, word, and deed by the things that we do. And shouldn't do. And fail to do." [42:40] (49 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9) "There's two ways to get to heaven. I bet you never heard that one before. Jesus said it. Be therefore perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect. Be born perfect and never sin for the rest of your life. And you're on your way to heaven. Anybody qualify? Well, there's a second way, praise God, to get into heaven. Because the Bible says there's no one perfect and unrighteous. The second way we get into heaven is through faith in Jesus Christ. That's the second way. And for most of us, that's the only way. Only through faith in Jesus. We can't begin to pay for our wrongdoing. Jesus paid our debt on the cross. He took our sins. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. And that includes Gentiles. We're in the world." [43:26] (52 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10) "By grace, you have been saved through faith. Not a works. Lest any man should boast. You were saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. When Jesus died on the cross, he said these words. It is finished. Your sins were paid for. If you have any doubt and you have any skeletons in your closet that you're holding on to, any guilt, today's the day to let go of that. Because Jesus died for them. If there's someone you need to forgive, forgive them as you have been forgiven by him. By Jesus. It's by grace through faith you have been saved. What a marvelous gift you have been given." [47:42] (43 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)