I want to turn with you this morning to 2 Peter chapter 2. 2 Peter chapter 2. The Apostle Peter has just given us his inspired declaration of the authority of the inspired volume of Holy Scripture above all other things. That is, he said, though we saw the Lord transfigure Peter, James, John, saw him on the Mount of Transfiguration. He said though we saw him, though we heard God speak out of his excellent glory saying this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. He said we have right here in this book, right here, in the written word of God, a more sure word of prophecy. Holy men of old spoke this word as they were moved by God the Holy Spirit. You better know this book. You better find out what God says in this book. Your everlasting soul hangs on the truth revealed in this book, the gospel of God's free grace in Christ.

But, verse one, but, though we have this sure word of prophecy, though we have this message, this revelation from God himself, there were false prophets also among the people. Even as God spoke by these holy men of old, who spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, there were prophets back then. From the first time God spoke to a man by a man, Satan spoke to a man by another. There were false prophets from the beginning. Even as there shall be false teachers among you, you can bank on it. Things haven't changed, have they? They only get worse, they don't get better.

These false teachers among you are men who privately, that is, out of their own wits, out of their own inventions, out of their own hearts, with cunningness and craftiness and deceit, will pull you aside and bring in damnable heresies. They will bring you a message that will damn your soul if you believe it. Is that what it means? They will bring you a message that will bring you to everlasting destruction if you pay any attention to it. Even denying the Lord that bought them.

I know frequently Armenians, free willers, folks who deny the gospel of God's free grace, these false prophets of whom this text speaks. Jump on this verse of Scripture and say, there you see, Jesus died for everybody, even for the false prophets. The word Lord that is used here is a word that is seldom used with reference to the Lord Jesus by those who are believers. It is the word from which we get our word desperate, not the word from which we get our word master. You see the difference? A desperate is one who has the right and the power to exercise total dominion over you, even to the taking of your life, whether you like it or not. Our master, the Lord Jesus, is he whom we delight to have that power. There's a big difference.

And the word bought here is not the word that is commonly used with regard to redeem or redemption. The word here simply means to pay the price. And the meaning of the text is this. when the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed his people by making atonement for our sins, when he put away our sins by satisfying the justice of God by the sacrifice of himself. At the same time, our Lord Jesus, as a man, as a mediator, as our covenant surety, bought the right to rule this world and everything in it, and dispose of it as he will. It is described for us in the parable that our Lord gave concerning a treasure hid in a field, which when a man finds it, he goes and sells all that he has and buys the field to get the treasure. And so our Lord Jesus Christ has bought the whole world as our mediator in order to redeem and save his treasure, the host of God's elect in this world.

All right, these false prophets come in. They stick around from house to house, and they sit down, and they find a way to get up next to you and make you like them and feel good about them. Boy, they're so sweet, sugar won't melt in their mouth. They'll slip up on your blind side and bring in damning heresies, denying the Lord who brought them.

That is, denying His person, denying His doctrine, denying His work, denying the efficacy of His atonement, denying the efficacy of His grace. They come saying, we've come in Jesus' name, we've come to show you the way of the Lord more perfectly. We've come to show you who Christ is and what He did for you. We've come to tell you all about the Son of God. But all the while, while they open this book and speak in God's name about Christ, they are denying Him.

the very Son of God, denying him. Those men who deny his deity, who deny the efficacy of his atonement, who deny the efficacy of his grace, who deny the prevalence of his intercession, who deny his sovereignty over all things, why not deny him, and would bring damning heresies to your souls? And they'd bring upon themselves swift destruction.

God says, I've heard you, now you're going to hear me. I've heard your denial, now I'm going to deny you. I've heard you speak, now I'll speak. By your damning heresies, you bring upon yourselves, as well as those who hear you, swift destruction.

Oh, they'll have great success. They'll have great success. Build huge churches, build great denominations. have wealth and followings all around the world, and many shall follow their pernicious ways. Most folks do. Most folks do. Follow them. Follow their pernicious ways. To have a marginal translation, their lascivious ways.

My soul, if there's ever been an age which those words are applicable. They're applicable to this generation in which we live. The religion of our day, while pretending to preach morality and teach morality and teach uprightness, is a religion of lastidiousness. You could turn on your radio or television everywhere you go, Preachers are telling you, you believe on Jesus, and you follow us, and you hear what we say, and God will heal your bank account, and God will heal your marriage, and God will heal your body, and God will heal your life. Everything will just be hunky-dory from now on. And that's what men want. And so in order to get these things that they lastingly desire, their covetous ambitions for their own gratification, they follow after the false prophets.

lascivious, pernicious ways, or ways that promote ungodliness, perversion, moral decadence in all parts of society. I give you a challenge. You go read history. Just pick up a history book and read it. Anyway, read it about any nation at any time in history. Wherever religion that teaches worse salvation where every religion that teaches a man is saved by his own righteousness prevails. It doesn't matter whether you're talking about the pagan barbarities of the hot-and-hot in darkest Africa 500 years ago, or whether you're talking about the pagan barbarities of Roman Catholicism in the dark ages when Rome ruled the world. I'm telling you that wherever religion is found that promotes the teaching of salvation by man's righteousness, perniciousness follows, lasciviousness follows, corruption and decadence follows. And if you want to read about it, just open your newspaper and read today. Everybody in this country, I recognize there are a few exceptions. I think I might be talking to a few But everybody in this country, by and large, of every religious affiliation, of every religious denomination, even the irreligious, presumes that men find acceptance with God by their good deeds. Is that true? Well, you know your work's going to count for something. You know that God's going to deal with men on the basis of their goodness.

And while they talk about being saved by goodness, they practice the exact opposite. While they talk about being saved by their works, they practice corruption, moral perversity, utter abomination, and all the while talk about goodness. Read on. By reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. called good evil and evil good. Is that what's happening in our day? Men talk about exercising kindness and love and goodness toward perverts, perverts of every kind.

So then my friend, Brother Sonny Dutra sent me a clipping out of the paper in California. It was out in Morgan Hill, California. He sent me a clipping out of paper. They were asking about these, they called them gay marriages, homosexual marriages, the same thing being debated in our perverted Senate in just recent weeks. And they asked, I counted them up yesterday, I forgot how many it was, nine or eleven, different preachers in the area. What do you think about it? Not one of them. Not one of them. I mean not one. They asked from every kind of imaginable denomination, not one. spoke a word against it. Not one. Of course, you could expect this from a woman preacher, but this gal, she said, well, I don't believe God condemns anybody or anything. Whoopee! Utter nonsense. Utter nonsense.

And yet, when you talk about righteousness, when you talk about godliness, when you talk about justice, when you talk about salvation by free grace, men say, oh, that's bigotry. That's mean! That's, you know nobody's agreeing with that! They shall cause the way of truth to be evil spoken of.

And through covetousness I lay this charge at the door of every false prophet, every one I lay this charge at the door of every man who refuses to preach the gospel of God's free grace, and yet stands in a pulpit and claims to preach for God. I lay this charge at his door, and I'll meet him and you in judgment and lay it again. Covetousness is at the root. It doesn't matter whether you're talking about covetousness for money, or covetousness for position, or covetousness for fame, for name, for reputation, for power, but men do what they do because they expect a response in their favor from the folks to whom they preach.

You say, Pastor, that's quite a charge. Well, it is, but it didn't take much boldness for me to lay it. Peter did it two thousand years ago. through covetousness shall they with feigned words. You know what that means, Bobby? Pretentious words. Fake words. Phony words. Words that are designed and intended to get your attention and your favor. Through feigned words, they'll make merchandise of you. give nothing but a blasted statistic and a number on a tote board for them. Nothing else. How many of you baptized last year? How many professions did you have this Sunday? How many of you are running in Sunday school? Merchandise. Merchandising yourself. That's all. That's all. Whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and dead damnation slumbereth for if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment, so too shall he destroy these false prophets in his appointed day.

Now, in the kingdom of God, among those who profess to be the people of God In every local church, there are both wheat and tares, sheep and goats, true believers and false professors, sincere followers of Christ and religious hypocrites, saved people and lost people who think they're saved. You can count on it. Wherever God plants his wheat, Satan sows his tares. Wherever God gathers his sheep, Satan gathers the goats.

There's no such thing as a perfect church in this world. I sometimes get a little put out, you know, folks want to ask and examine, see whether or not we measure up. What about this? What about that? There's no such thing as a perfect church in this world. If you're looking for one, stay away from it, because as soon as you get in it, you'll mess it up. There's no such thing as a perfect church, not in this world, not in this world.

But not only is the outward visible church a mixed multitude of true believers and unbelievers who think they're true believers, the outward visible church has, from its beginning, been plagued with false doctrine. One of those things that concern the apostles, I think, above everything else, seems to have been the greatest burden of their hearts. was to guard and warn the churches and preachers of generations to come to be armed against heresy, damnable heresy, against false doctrine that would bring utter destruction to the souls of men.

The Apostle Paul, for that reason, wrote the epistles of 1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus He wrote them to pastors, they're called pastoral epistles, in which he gives warning after warning after warning to those who preach the gospel, be sure now, be sure you stick by the stuff, be sure you study, be sure you preach the word, and be sure you do so faithfully. If you've got God's word, speak God's word faithfully, and be sure you expose those who oppose it.

Specifically this morning, I want to talk to you about three damnable heresies. These three forms of heresy are forms of heresy to which all many women by nature are attracted. They are forms of heresy that appeal naturally to our flesh, but all three of them are damning to the souls of all who embrace them. These three damning heresies have been around since the days of Cain. While they may seem to contradict one another and oppose one another, they are things that are embraced by men and women universally, and those who embrace one seem always to embrace at least another, if not all three.

Let me talk to you about them very plainly, and I'm going to be as and yet at the same time as crystal clear, as dogmatically clear as I possibly can be. I want to talk to you about freewillism, legalism, and antinomianism. And I'm not talking to you about theological terms that have no bearing on your life. I'm not standing here, I'm not interested in debating theological issues or proving doctrine to you. I'm talking to you about issues that are vital to your soul.

First, freewillism. Freewillism is that doctrine that says God loves you, Christ died for you, and the Holy Spirit's calling you. But everything will be vain unless you decide to be saved. Everything will be for nothing unless you choose the Lord. Everything depends upon your will. Everything depends upon your decision. It's all up to you. It's all up to you.

Not often these days do I hear men ignorantly make that statement in so many words, it's all up to you. But those who do truly declare what freewillism believes. Freewillism makes the determining factor in salvation to be man, not God. It makes the determining factor in salvation to be the will of man, not the will of God.

But the scriptures speak exactly otherwise, do they not? Menjah talked this morning on the will of God, and the will of God is the determining factor in our salvation. Before the world began, God willed our salvation. He willed the salvation of his elect, and having willed our salvation as his good pleasure, he says, I'll do it. I'll do it. Salvation is not determined by your will, but by God's will.

Now, the Scriptures are abundantly clear. I mean crystal clear. This is not one of those gray, fuzzy areas about which we can look and say, well, I'm not just exactly sure what the Bible teaches here. Let's look in the Bible. Open your Bible one more time to two texts of Scripture. Turn to John chapter 1. John chapter 1. The Apostle John is telling us how many women are born again. He's telling us how many women get faith. He's telling us how we get life in Christ. He says, The Lord Jesus came unto his own, and his own received him not. Look at verse 12. But as many as received him. Now please understand, I am not suggesting, I am not suggesting that God's elect do not receive Christ. Oh, we do. We receive him more anxiously than a thirsty man receives a drink of water. We receive him not merely passively, but actively. But those who received him with willing heart were born of God, not according to their will, but God's will. And that's what caused us to receive him. Again, as many as received him, to them gave he the power. the right, the authority to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

Now, that looks like it's all up to you, doesn't it? That looks like it's all in your hands. See there? Salvation by you believing. Read the next verse. Read the next verse. Which were born, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Now, I think that's fairly clear, isn't it? How did you get born again? How were you born into the kingdom of God? How were you raised from the dead spiritually? Was it by the exercise of your will? If it was, then you were not dead to begin with. A dead man is born again by the will of God in order that he even have a will to believe on Christ. Do you understand that? so that we, being born again by God's sovereign will, now believe on the Lord Jesus Christ by the will of our hearts, which God has created in us by His free grace.

Look in Romans chapter 9, Romans the ninth chapter. I hope by this time you can quote it by heart, and I hope you can quote it not just from memory, but from your hearts. But let's look at it.

Romans 9, 16. This is the conclusion of the matter. This is the message of the scriptures. This is the message of the prophets. This is why God said what he did to Rebekah. This is why God did what he did with Abraham. This is why God did what he did with Pharaoh.

Surely it is not, it is not, it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that shall with mercy Salvation comes not by the will of man, but by the will of God. The words free will, when used in connection with men and salvation, are a utter obscenity, a blasphemous obscenity, never to be spoken by men who would honor God.

Freewillism makes salvation to be determined by man's will, but the Word of God declares, Meryl Hart, if you get to glory, it's because of God's will. It's because of God's will. So what's so important about that? Well, several things. One is truth, the other's a lie. One is saving truth, the other's damning to your soul.

I'm telling you, if you Any man who believes that salvation is somehow ultimately to be attributed to, that salvation somehow ultimately is determined by and depends upon his free will, that man doesn't know God. He just flat does not know God. For another thing to ascribe salvation, in whole or in part to your will, is to rob God of the glory of the work.

is always set forth in the scripture with this declaration, I am what I am by the grace of God. By grace are you saved through faith, in that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. Do you see that? God has saved us. God has called us salvation by God's will.

All right, secondly, legalism. Free willism is the teaching that makes salvation determined by man. Legalism is the teaching that men and women are saved at least in part upon the basis of their own works. Now, some legalists assert that justification is dependent upon the works of men.

A Campbellite preacher here in town several years ago wrote an article in the paper. He said, he said, baptism does the same thing the blood of Christ does. He washes away sin. He's telling you exactly what he believes. Men are justified by their works as well as by the grace of God. Men are saved by their works as well as by the blood of Christ. Men are saved by what they do as well as by what God has done.

Now, such teaching is utterly abhorrent. Such teaching is pernicious, it is vile, it's contrary to Holy Scripture, it's damning to the souls of men. But this is exactly what it said, and it is the teaching of most people in our day. Justification is accomplished to some degree, at some point, by what you do, not altogether by what God in Christ has done.

Let me show you what I mean. We are taught universally that God Almighty, by the death of His Son, has offered and provided a way for you to be justified, but that men, by an exercise of their faith, actually make the concluding deal on this matter of salvation and justification. Christ provided the possibility, but you bring it into effectual accomplishment by your decision, by your faith.

Oh no. The Scriptures never speak that way. The Scriptures declare that we're justified freely by God's grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Our faith in Christ is not the cause or the grounds of our justification, not to any degree, but rather it is the result of our justification.

Turn to Romans chapter 4 for a moment. Romans chapter 4. In verses, in chapters 3 and 4, the Apostle has been dealing with this matter of justification. He says in verse 25 of Romans 4, Christ was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. And then in chapter five, it begins to bring the conclusion.

And I think that you all know how much I revere our translation of scriptures. I believe the King James translation, even the older King James translation, to be the best translation that you can possibly find. The most readable, the most easily understood, and the most accurate translation of Holy Scripture to be found in the English language. That's the reason I preach to you from it.

But the worst mistake, I believe, the worst mistake made by our translators, and I stress made by our translators, not by the Apostle Paul, but made by those who have given us our English translation to be found anywhere in the Bible is right here in Romans chapter 5, verse 1. The apostle is concluding, he is drawing this conclusion from the doctrine of justification accomplished by Christ.

Therefore being justified. Now, somehow you ought to put a comma there and make a notation. The comma that comes after the word faith is in the wrong place. Paul is not saying, therefore being justified by our faith. but rather he is saying, therefore being justified by Jesus Christ alone. By faith we have peace with God. Do you see the difference? By faith we receive the peace that Christ purchased by faith. We receive the justification that Christ accomplished by faith. We receive and enjoy the blessedness of redemption finished by Christ, but our faith is not the cause of our justification or of our peace.

Therefore, being justified, by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Legalism, however, declares that men are justified by their works, by their doings, by their righteousness. There are many, however, who vehemently deny justification by works. They say, oh no, we do not teach justification by works. But they will turn around and say, we are sanctified by our obedience to the law, by our works of righteousness, by what we do, by this amount of time we spend in by the number of chapters we read every day, by the number of times we read through the Bible in a year, by the amount of witnessing we do, by our obedience to God, we sanctify ourselves.

It's the same thing as to teach justification by works. Same thing. No difference. No difference. For sanctification is as much a part and a necessary part of salvation as is justification. We must be sanctified by the grace of God. We must be sanctified, made holy, or we cannot stand before God. We cannot appear before God unless we are holy. So to say that we are sanctified by our works is sheer legalism. To make our acceptance with God at any point or to any degree dependent upon our works is the legalism of Cain. It is that legalism of the Judaizers in Paul's day, and it is the wine of Babylon's fornications by which the vast majority of religionists in our day had been intoxicated.

Now, I want you to hear me, and hear me well. Legalism is as damning to the souls of men as freewillism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Mormonism, or atheism. It is as damning to the souls of men as any other heresy. This is not a gray, fuzzy area either. This is not something that we look at and say, well, maybe, maybe there's some place where we do actually get our finger. in this pie of grace. Maybe there's some place where actually we do put our hands to the work. Surely, God, surely there is some place between the gates of hell and the gates of glory at which a man looks and says, there, I did that. If there is, you don't.

So plain in this matter that dogmatism is absolutely necessary. Anything left in dogmatism is treason against your soul and treason against God. Look in Romans chapter 3 and verse 20. Romans 3 verse 20. If you had difficulty keeping up as we look at these texts, just jot them down and look at them at your leisure. But I want you to see that this is what the Scriptures teach. We are not saved by what we do, by our obedience to the law. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, shall no flesh be justified in his sight." Do you see that? For by the law is the knowledge of sin. That's all the law was ever intended to do, is to teach you what sin is. It was never intended by God to be a means of justification.

Look in Galatians chapter 2 and verse 16. Now remember the circumstance. The apostle Peter had come to Antioch, where the Gentiles were. And he was standing down at the table eating pork chops with those fellas. Or maybe bacon, I don't know. He was eating something that was considered by the Jews to be unclean. And when he saw his Jewish brethren coming, he just, this is all he did. This is all he did, buddy. He just kind of wiped his face and got up and walked away from the table. That's all he did. But in doing so, he was saying to his Jewish brethren, I wasn't there eating that stuff. I wouldn't do that. This kind of behavior is contrary to the law, and therefore I would never be caught with porkchops on my breath. And Paul said, I was stood into the face. And I did it publicly before everybody, because by his act, though it did not destroy his own soul, it led others away from Christ, led others away from the gospel.

And so Paul writes in verse 16, Peter, we know that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith or the faithful obedience of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Look in Ephesians 2. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8. This is not something that's just sort of mentioned here and there and forgotten about. But every time Paul speaks of salvation by grace, almost every time he says, we're saved by grace, he says, now just in case you didn't get this, we're not saved by our works. What you do has got nothing to do with it.

Ephesians 2.8. For by grace are you saved through faith. And that none of yourselves, it's the gift of God. Not the offer of God. There's a difference. There's a difference. Folks say, well, salvation's like a gift. God has this package for you. Come pick it up. Oh, that's not what it means at all. That's not what it means at all. Salvation is not a package that God's offering you. Salvation's a gift God bestows upon you. There's a huge difference. Salvation is not something that God has provided, and now, if you will pretty please accept it, He'll give it to you. Oh no, if you accept it, He's already given it to you. It is the gift of God lauding you. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

Look in 2 Timothy chapter 1. 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 9. falls in prison for preaching this gospel. And he says, Timothy, don't you be ashamed of me. Don't you be ashamed of my bonds and my imprisonment. Don't you be ashamed of the fact that I'm here about to be executed for the gospel's sake, as though I were some kind of a man worthy of death. But I'm here because of the gospel of God who hath saved us. You see? and called us not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." Look in Titus chapter 2, or Titus chapter 3, rather. Titus 3, verse 5. not by works of righteousness," and I say it again and again, not by works, not by works, not by works, not by works, talking from, not by works, not by works of righteousness, which we have done. Why, whoever did anything righteous, not you, not me, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior.

Not only are we not justified by our works of obedience to the law, but we're not sanctified by our works of obedience to the law. Turn to Hebrews, chapter 10. Hebrews, the tenth chapter. Let me read you a portion of scripture in the book of Galatians, but you turn to Hebrews 10. The apostle Paul had been dealing with this matter of justification by works in Galatians 1 and 2. But there were those in Galatia also who thought, okay, we're justified by grace, but we're saved, in this sense, by our works, in that we are sanctified by our works. If you're going to really be holy, if you're going to really be good, if you're going to really be accepted with God, then you've got to keep the law. You've got to be circumcised. You've got to obey the commandments.

The apostle says, O foolish Galatians! O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Who cast a spell over you? I preach to people literally all over the world. And when I get done preaching, I want to say, who has bewitched you? Somebody cast a spell over you. It's as though God has in his judgment just put blinders on your eyes. So you can't say it. Who's bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you? I've told you the truth. I've preached Christ to you. It's been made as flames and nails on your face, but you can't say it. This is only what I learned of you. Receive ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith. Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, if this is how this thing started, are you now made perfect by the flesh? What nonsense!"

More than that, the Apostle says in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 10, he's talking about the will of God by which we have been redeemed, the will of God which Christ has accomplished by His obedience. By the which will, do you see it? By the which will, we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ one time. Verse 14. For by one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. We're sanctified by grace, not by works, by blood, not by works, by the will of God, not by our will.

More than that, our inheritance with Christ in heaven's glory is not the result of our personal obedience to the law. It is not the result of what we have done. Our rewards with Christ in heaven are not earned by us or merited by us by something we do. Look in Revelation chapter 7. Revelation chapter 7, verse 9. After this I beheld and lo, a great multitude, a great multitude, which no man could number. Here in this world, in these little assemblies of ours, a little handful here, a little handful there, and I don't know all the explanation of But when God gets done a great multitude, a multitude which no man can number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands, and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." Look at verse 13, "...and one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes, and where they come from? And I said unto him, Sir, you know And he said unto me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in their works of obedience to God."

I'll give you a hundred dollars if you've got a Bible that says that. It ain't that. They've washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. That's the only way you can. That's the only way you can.

Believers are not in any sense, or to any degree, under the yoke of the Mosaic law at all. Not at all. Free from the law, O happy condition, Jesus hath bled and there is remission. We who believe on Christ are totally, totally, absolutely free from the law. The apostle says in Romans 6, You're not under the law, and he says again in the following verse, you're not under the law. He says in Romans 7 that we're dead to the law by the body of Christ. He tells us in Romans chapter 8 how that Christ came and what he did. He said what the law could not do, and it was weak through the flesh. God sending his own Son in the likeness of flesh, a sinful flesh, in foreseeing condemned sin in the flesh. How and why that the righteousness of God, the righteousness of the law, might be fulfilled in us?

How is it fulfilled in us? We walk by faith. We walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. We fulfill the law as we walk before God by faith, trusting his Son. I don't know how to stress this. I don't know how to make it any plainer than I do. God demands from Bob Puncher perfect righteousness and perfect satisfaction, atonement for sin. And you can't give either. You can't—you could just as well satisfy the justice of God and pay for your own sins as you could establish one thread of righteousness in the garment of salvation. You can't do it.

Well, how on Can I fulfill the requirements of God? There's only one way. I believe on His Son. That's all. And by faith in Christ, I offer God what God demands. Satisfaction in righteousness. Atonement and perfection in Jesus Christ the Lord. Therefore, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes it. And Paul says in Galatians 5, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. If you do anything by which you hope to have, to gain, to keep, or to improve your acceptance with God, Christ is nothing to you. Christ has become of none effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law. If ye be men of the Spirit, Paul says, you're not under the law. For the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless in disobedience.

All right, let me move on. Freewillism is damning to your soul. Legalism is a damning heresy. And antinomianism is also a damning heresy. Now, frequently, frequently, when men hear me and others preach the believer's freedom from the law and our salvation by grace, they cry, antinomian, antinomian. Stay away from those antinomians. Stay away from those fellas. They're antinomians. Watch out for their antinomianism. A fella called me a few weeks ago and asked me, he said, are you an antinomian? I said, I've got to ask you, are you an antinomian? I said, what do you mean by that? He said, well, I don't really know. But I heard you were. No, I ain't.

Antinomianism is that doctrine which says, since we are saved by the grace of God, it doesn't matter how we live. We have no law by which to regulate and govern our lives. Therefore, character and conduct are of no importance to a believer. I regret to tell you that that definition is not one that I just pulled out off the top of my head. Those are the very things I've heard men say.

Antinomianism means lawlessness, or against law. Again, I'm not talking to you about theological issues that have no bearing on your soul and I'm talking to you about a real problem in our day. I personally know preachers who throw caution to the wind, who totally disregard the teaching of Scripture regarding godliness, and even teach that a person has no responsibility for moral righteousness, godliness, or his personal character and Just as long as he trusts the Lord and believes the right doctrine, what he does is of no significance.

I know people who claim to be believers. I know people who claim to be children of God, who never walk through the doors of the church of God, never enter the house of God, never meet with the people of God. They have no regard for God's worship, no regard for God's calls, no regard for God's people. But you talk to them, they'll open a Bible and talk to you about it and argue doctrine with you. But they've got no interest in the things of God.

I know some who will tell you that they're Christians. They say, they say, we believe in salvation by grace. Our works don't matter. But I've known some over the years who make those statements. who have gone so far as to excuse or at least be indifferent to drunkenness, fornication, and adultery, saying, well, salvation is by grace. We can't judge those things.

Would you listen to me a minute? That is absurd nonsense beyond belief. That is absurd nonsense beyond belief. You young people, listen to this preacher a minute. I'm going to get real plain. I'm going to get real plain. Just don't allow Satan to deceive your heart into thinking, well, since salvation is by grace, you know, morality is nothing, uprightness is nothing. Since we don't believe that you're under the law, then it doesn't matter whether you live in fornication or drunkenness or whether you take dope or smoke pot, it doesn't matter what you do. It doesn't matter what you do.

That perverse thought is totally contrary to this book, and it'll ultimately bring you into hell. It'll ultimately bring you into hell. That is not the language of Scripture. That is not the language of Scripture. That is not the teaching of the New Testament. When the gospel of God's free grace in Christ went forth into a pagan, amoral, I ought to say even anti-moral Gentile world, a world every bit as perverted as our society today, A world every bit as given over to drunkenness, homosexuality, adultery, and fornication as it is in this day.

Yet when the gospel went forth into that world, it radically changed the lives of men who believed. It radically altered their lives. It taught men how to live for the honor of God. those who believed that their habits of life were radically changed, as well as their doctrine. Well, Ken Wymer spent all those years in Africa where polygamy is a way of life. It's just way of life. But when a man or woman is converted by God's First thing they want to know is, what do we do about this? What do we do now?

Now, you listen to me. I recognize that in our society, adultery, fornication, drunkenness, homosexuality, every form of moral perversion under the sun has just went there. And folks say, well, everybody's doing this. I had a fellow, I had a fellow roommate, a friend of mine, in another country. I told him about Faith and Doug being engaged and planning a wedding last year. He said, well, it's good to hear somebody actually getting married these days. He said, over here where we live, folks, they just move in with each other, and even Christian folks. And I mean, it smacked me in the face. Who? Oh no, not folks who know God. Not folks who know God.

You have not so learned, Christ. You have not so learned, Christ! Let me show you. Turn to Ephesians 4, verse 17. This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk. Now, I don't expect any better from folks down the road, but you who believe God, you who name the name of Christ, don't you live like they do? Look, not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that's in them because of the blindness of their heart. who, being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ." He said that you didn't learn that from Christ. Not from Christ. You got that from Hollywood. You got that from Washington. You got that from the schoolhouse. You didn't get it from Christ.

If so be that you have heard him, and have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning the former conversation, put off concerning your former manner of life, the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and in true holiness.

Now, I fully realize that it is not possible for a man to preach salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, without being denounced as a vile antinomian. The Pharisees accused our Lord of being an antinomian. They said, this man's a wide-dipper, a glutton, he's the friend of publicans and sinners. The Judaizers denounced Paul as an antinomian, a promoter of licentiousness, one who said, let us sin that grace may And I've had the ugliest, slanderous charge thrown at me by those who despise the message of God's free grace in Jesus Christ for twenty-nine years. I'm not crying about that. I've counted it an honor for Arminians and legalists to hurl their venom at me. I just, throw it on, boys. I don't care. I don't care. I'm not the least bit concerned what an Arminian or babbling freewheeler has to say concerning this man or his message.

But I don't want to be one. I'm not one. If I am, I'm as lost as a goose in a snowstorm. And you too. The fact is, anyone who really is an ingenue, anyone who has no regard for God's law, No regard for the honor of his name. Anyone who seeks to use the grace of God as an excuse or a covering for his sin is as lost and ignorant of God as the freewheeler and the legalist.

Look in Titus chapter 1. I'll wrap this up. Titus chapter 1. I'll wrap it up for now, but I'm going to come right back to it tonight. Paul says in verse Fifteen, unto the pure all things are pure, but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled.

They profess that they know God. He's unbelieving. They profess that they know God, but in works they deny That's a pretty strong point of examination, Mark. For you and me, of all people in this family, we profess that we know God. We profess that we know God. Do we or do we not deny him with our works? If with our works we deny him, Our profession is nothing but beating the air. That's all. That's all. Being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work reprehensible.

Now the Lord willing, tonight If you want to read it, I'm going to pick up right here in chapter 2 and give you an exposition of those 15 verses on the teaching of grace. God save us from the damning heresy of free willism, the damning heresy of legalism, and the damning heresy of antinomianism. and the only refuge for your soul from these damning heresies. It's the only refuge for your soul. Free grace in Jesus Christ the Lord. Flee away from him. Lay hold of the Son of God. Tenaciously