In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of understanding the true source of authority in life, death, and morality. He asserts that the final authority is found in the Bible, and any other opinions or societal norms are irrelevant. The preacher then addresses the belief that salvation can be earned through good works, providing several biblical references that contradict this notion. He goes on to give ten reasons why this argument is flawed, emphasizing that salvation is solely through the grace of God and cannot be achieved or maintained through works.

If you should die and stand before the Lord God and you should say to him, I want to get into heaven and God were to say to you, why should I let you in? What would your answer be? One of Satan's most successful areas of deception is an area of deception that deals with salvation. And the title of this message is a satanic deception regarding salvation. If you talk to many of your friends who are church members or many people who are not and you should say to them, do you believe that you'll go to heaven when you die? More than likely, most of them by far would say, sure. And if you should ask them, well, why do you think you'll go to heaven? More than likely, you're going to find that they have been deceived by Satan because they're going to give you an answer that is oftentimes, if not most of the time, and I believe most of the time, the answer to people who are lost. It is an answer that they give right off the top of their head, because many of them are very sincerely convinced that it is the right answer. Many of them are convinced that it is a logical answer and many of them are willing to live and die by it. But it is an answer, which is a satanic deception. And the answer is, well, I haven't been so bad or I'm a good person. And when I think about all the good that I've done, surely a God of love and mercy certainly will not reject me after the life that I've lived. Or the other person may say, well, I know I'm not all that ought to be. Now I failed in lots of ways, but I figured this way. I've done a lot of good things and the good things I haven't done or what I failed to do, God would sort of add to that. And between what I've done and what he's done, surely I'm going to make it. Then there's the other group of people who likewise are deceived. Those who have been saved by the grace of God and who are sincerely attempting to work for God and to labor for him in order to remain in God's good graces. So they are performing in order to remain saved, to keep their salvation, to keep in the good graces of God or to keep their acceptance by him as a result of their good works. Now, whatever category that person falls in of those three aspects, all three of them have been deceived. So let me ask you a question. Are you a church member today, sitting in a church somewhere and as best, you know, your idea of being saved is I'm going to do the best I can. That's all I can do. And if God doesn't, if he doesn't accept me after I've done the best I can, then I don't want to go to heaven anyway. Would that happen to be your opinion? Are you one of those persons who says, well, I look around me and I'm, I'm much better than most of the folks I see. And therefore surely, well, if I don't get in, no one else is going to get in. Is that, is that your attitude? Are you one of those persons? And you know that you've been saved, but deep down inside, you live under this awesome sense of bondage that you sure hope that somehow you are living up to God's expectation. You feel pretty guilty most of the time, but, but you hope that somehow you're going to be able to live up to God's expectation. Is that one of your choices in life? Let me show you my friend, how Satan deceives us. If you'll turn to Galatians chapter two, the apostle Paul and St. Peter had a little argument about something at a given occasion, Peter, who believed in salvation by grace and Paul who taught that on one occasion, when the Judaizers came, Peter sort of resorted to a little addition of the law to grace in order to appease the Judaizers. And so Paul confronts him and says to him that you are guilty of mixing law or works for the grace. And so he causes Peter to back off. And in the second chapter of Galatians, Paul is dealing with this matter of mixing law with grace, mixing good works for the grace of God and the result of that. And so I want us to read one verse. It is a powerful verse to counteract Satan's deception concerning the real true and only basis of salvation. And he says it in verse 21, when Paul says, I do not nullify, I do not render useless and void. I do not set aside the grace of God by adding works or law. For if righteousness, if salvation comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly. Now, what I want you to understand is this. I want you to understand what God says about the only basis for our acceptance. As I listen to people share why they believe they're going to heaven and surely what their concept of God is. I want to tell you Satan is doing a real successful job of camouflaging the truth and deceiving people by the millions. Now, I want us to look at this whole, this whole concept here of identifying the satanic deception regarding salvation. Let's identify what that deception is. And that deception is this. It says that you can be saved by being good by doing good. And some other people may read it this way and Satan would say it this way to some, you can be saved by, you know, doing the best you can. And then what you can't do, God will just sort of add to that. And you're going to make it. And the third aspect of that is even those who are saved feel that they have to keep saved by doing good works. That is a threefold aspect of a satanic deception that relates to salvation. Now, let me ask you a question. Can you point to the time in your life at any time back there where you said at this moment, you made a decision and you said from this moment on, I know that I'm saved. Now I'm just going to leave that question with you there. And then I want us to analyze this satanic deception, which is in essence being saved by being good or doing or performing good works. And let's look at that for a moment. Paul said, I do not nullify the grace of God for if righteousness, if that is salvation comes through the law or doing good works, then Christ died needlessly. He says two things are true. If a person can be saved by their good works. Now let's look at this for a moment. If you'll think about this salvation by good works and doing good is universally accepted. Every religion in the world accepts that except the true Christian faith. And there are multitudes of people who call themselves Christians who really, and truly believe that either out of ignorance because they're not been instructed properly or because it fits their lifestyle and fits their concept of God. And so they have decided, you know, after all, and they have sort of redrawn and reshaped and remade and, and, uh, worked God over in their minds to the point that he is the kind of God who accepts them on the basis of their work. It is a universally accepted form of salvation. You check at any other religion in the world, all the cults and all the rest, nothing is ever salvation by the free gift of God's grace, but it is also performance oriented kind of acceptance. It caters to man's pride. After all, I've not been too bad. I've done the following things. I'm a pretty good person. And usually what you will find that person doing is comparing their life to other people. I'm certain not as bad as others. God never tells us to compare ourselves with others and the base, our acceptance by him on the basis of how well we are doing according to what someone else is doing. It is a self-centered form of, of looking at God. And that is, I'm going to perform, I'm going to work. And therefore on the basis of what I do, surely this loving God would not reject me. It is a self-centered type of religion. It is a false view of God that God will accept me on the basis of what I do. And I want you to notice two things that person does not consider. They do not consider God's very, very clear definition and view of sin. God hates sin because of what it does to the sinner and because of what it will do to a child of God. Nor do they consider the very idea of the holiness of God. If you eliminate the holiness of God, do you know what you can do to him? If you eliminate the holiness of God, you can shape him just about any way you want to, to fit any type of theology you want to fit him into, if you will eliminate the holiness of God. The righteousness and the holiness and the justice of God is always eliminated in the minds of those who are working for their salvation or working, trying to remain saved. Then if you will think about all the scriptures that you know, the idea of being saved on the basis of your work is contrary to the scriptures from Genesis to revelation. You cannot find any basis in the Bible for believing that God is going to accept you because you are better than someone else, because you don't do the following things or because of your lifestyle or your conduct. It is not to be found anywhere in the Bible. It is a satanic deception. And the more our society moves toward humanism, and that is after all, man's not so bad and all of the world and all of life revolves around man, then what man does becomes more and more acceptable. And the more acceptable what you and I do becomes to us, surely after a while, we sort of fuzz that over into God's ideas. And so we mix up what God thinks, plus what society thinks, plus what we think. And after all, we can get very convinced that, I mean, after all, surely we all agree that God and his loving mercy and goodness and kindness isn't going to send somebody as good as I am to hell. God surely isn't going to let, he's not going to reject someone like me. I mean, after all, look at me versus look at all these folks in prison. Look at all these folks doing all these horrible things. You mean God's going to reject me? And so, you know, you say, well, you know, after all, they are pretty good. And before long, we fuzzed it all up. And so we don't have a clear picture. Now listen, it doesn't make any difference what our society does. There either has to be a final authority in this world, or after a while, anybody's and everybody's opinion goes. That is whatever it is. The final authority of life, death, morality, and all the rest is to be found right here in this book. When you lay aside this book, you have no final standard, no final law. So therefore, a person can say, well, you know, I'm not so bad. I believe that you're being, that you're saved by being good. Now, I want to show you the implications and the fallacy of that kind of thinking, which is the kind of thinking many, many people who sit in church periods every week, that that's their whole perspective. Had a businessman say to me some time ago, very outstanding man, invest his money, very benevolent, very generous. And here was his remark. We were talking about salvation. He put it in this term. He says, I'm trying to, I'm trying to merit. He says, I'm trying to chalk up or to add all the merits to my account that I can before I get there. He was sincere. He was, he is an elder in his church, working in the church, involved in the church, but his whole perspective of salvation, man, he's got to be at that doing it week after week, getting it done. Because after all, one of these days he knows he's going to die. And when he gets there, he wants to be sure he's been accepted. Let me show you a phallus in that whole idea. First of all, if you're one of those persons who believes that God's going to accept you on the basis of your works, let me ask you a question and think very logically about this. How much work do you have to do? Secondly, how long do you have to work? And thirdly, when will you know whether you've worked hard enough, long enough at the right thing or not? When would you know that? Well, the truth is you'll never know. So my friend, if you're one of those persons sitting in the church pew week after week, and you believe that your salvation is based on how well you're doing, let me tell you something you're going to have to do. Here's what you're going to have to do. If you're going to be intellectually honest, you're going to have to get the hymn book and get your razor blade or a pair of scissors, either one. And you have to start right here in the front of your hymn book. And you're going to have to start looking at some of these hymns and reading them. And you're going to have to start cutting out pages, just flicking, I mean, just razoring them out, because some of these songs, you can't sing and be and be really intellectually honest. Listen, if your salvation is based on your works, you can't sing, blessed assurance, Jesus is mine, because you're not sure that you know that if your salvation is based on your works, the only time you can really be sure that you've been saved is when you stand in the presence of God. Because how long do you work? How much do you work? What do you do? Suppose you do the wrong thing. You see, but that is exactly where a majority of people are. And they don't even realize it. Well, I mean, after all, you know, this loving, wonderful God of ours. And at the same time, they really believe, really believe that they're good enough to be made acceptable in the eyes of God. Now, listen to what Paul said about that. He says in verse 21, I do not nullify, set aside the grace of God. He says, to believe that salvation is by works is to set aside the grace of God. Now let's define grace. Grace is God's undeserved, non-purchased, non-negotiable, undeserving love, unconditional love given to man freely. It cannot be worked for. It's non-purchasable. You can't buy it. Non-negotiable, you can't negotiate it for it. It is unconditional. It is undeserved. That's what grace is. Now, Paul said to add works to my life, to get saved is to nullify. He says it is to nullify the grace of God. Now listen to what Paul said in Galatians in Ephesians chapter two, turn to this passage. Now I know you know it by heart, but I want you to look at two passages in Ephesians chapter two. He says in verse eight, for by what are you saved for by grace? Are you saved and have been saved through what? And that not of yourselves, even the faith is not your faith. It is the faith that God gives you to believe it is. It is the, what the gift of God, not as a result of what works that no one should boast. God isn't going to give you any reason for boasting about your salvation. Now, if you'll turn over to Titus, turn to Titus chapter two and chapter three, if you can find Hebrews, just turn over, turn back a couple of chapters, Titus chapter two, listen to what he says in verse 11, for the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men. It is the grace of God that has appeared that brings salvation chapter three in the same little book, verse five, he saved us not on the basis of deeds, which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy spirit. So all of these verses say to us, you cannot be saved by doing good works. You can't be saved by performing, by trying to be better than someone else or by keeping the law. Someone says, well, I'll tell you what I do. I just try. What I try to do is I try to live up to the 10 commandments. And I believe if you try to live up to the 10 commandments, then if you're living up to the 10 commandments, God, isn't going to reject you. Let me ask you this. How many of you have lived up to the 10 commandments? Not a single one. Well, let me give you another, a little word here. James says you can't. And secondly, Paul says in this very book of Galatians, that the purpose of the 10 commandments was not a, a written law by which if I keep them, I will be saved. Do you know what the purpose of the 10 commandments was? Paul says it was given to us as a tutor. Now it is also protection of society because without it, we'd be in a mess. But when it comes to salvation, it was given to us as an instructor. Look, if you will, in verse 24, Galatians chapter three, verse 24 says, therefore, the law has become our tutor, our instructor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith, not by keeping the law for, he says in verse 26, for you are all the sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Now turn back over to chapter two and he makes it even stronger in verse 16. He says, nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified or declared righteous saved by the works of the law, by keeping the law, doing good performing. He says, but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified, declared righteous or saved by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. Since by the works of the law shall no flesh be made acceptable before God. There isn't anything that you and I can do to, to make ourselves good enough to be made acceptable before God. He says the very purpose of the 10 commandments was not to get you to heaven, but to show you your inadequacy. And is it not true? You pull out the 10 commandments and you said, I'm going to live by these at least at least one week. I'm going to live by the 10 commandments. Try it. He says, that's not the purpose of it. The purpose of it is to show us it is, it is an instructor, a tutor to show us our inadequacy apart from Christ. Now, when Paul says in this second chapter, I do not nullify the grace of God. What he's saying is simply this, that if a person can be saved by doing good works, then that renders this, this non-purchasable unconditional undeserved non-negotiable love of God extended to us in the way of forgiveness and redemption. He says, all of that, all of God's grace is null void, useless, senseless, and has no purpose. If you can be saved by doing good, why should God grant us grace? If we don't need it, because if I can do well enough, I don't need the grace of God. That's the unconditional non-negotiable non-purchasable what non-deserving love that God extends to us. Now, if I can do without it, then God should not ascend. And so he says, I don't nullify render useless and void the grace of God by adding works to grace. Now I want you to turn to Romans chapter four for a moment, because here is Paul's argument about the same subject from a little different perspective. And he is comparing it and relating Abraham and how Abraham was saved by faith. Listen to what he says. Verse one of chapter four, what then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh has found for, if Abraham was justified or declared righteous or saved by works, he has something to boast about. Look what I did, but not before God. He doesn't. For what does the scripture say? And Abraham believed God and it was reckoned. That is, it was entered on his account. That's an accounting term. It was entered on his account to him as righteousness. That is that he believed God. Now to the one who works, his wage is not entered as a favor, but what is due, but to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted to him as righteousness. And here's what I want you to see. Here's the whole key. You cannot have, you cannot have grace and works because grace and works are on opposite ends of the pole. They are in conflict with each other. The grace of God is a favor, a gift, a non-purchasable gift for which you cannot work. Works on the other hand is what we do in order to be paid. If you can do any form of work in order to be saved or forgiven by God, what you've done is you have indebted God to you. God. Now, when you stand in the judgment, he's not expressing love and grace, he's paying you off. And so for eternity, you get paid for the work that you've done. Let me ask you this. Who does that glorify? Does that glorify God? Since he's this big heavenly employer up here and when he chalks off your account and he sees that, well, you've worked here and here and here and here, therefore I'm going to accept you on the basis of your works. We're not talking about works on the basis of having been saved and works motivated by love and devotion to Christ. We're talking about working to be saved, doing good, being good, keeping the 10 commandments, living by the sermon on the Mount, neither of which any person can do apart from the grace of God. But here's what Paul's saying. You've got to make a choice. My friend, you may be sitting in a church, your name may have been on three or four or five, six church roles. You're still just as lost as you can be. If you think that you're going to be made acceptable in the eyes of God on the basis of doing good, you can't mix grace with works. Now listen, if I'm going to work for you as a favor, it's going to be a favor. If I'm going to work for you for wages, then you owe me. On the one hand, you're indebted to me. On the other hand, you're not. God says that we're saved by grace through faith. That is, God has extended love and forgiveness and reconciliation and justification and redemption. He has offered it as a free gift. There is no way for me to work up for that because it wasn't given as a wage. It was given as a free gift. And any person who thinks that they're going to work and be good and do better and perform and have a certain kind of conduct and therefore on the basis that get acceptance before God, I'm going to tell you something. He never offered salvation on that basis. And if he didn't offer it on that basis, you can't be saved by trying to mix your works with the grace of God or by meriting or living up to or reaching a standard. Because first of all, what is the standard? The standard is perfection. That's the standard of holiness. And you can't reach that. That's why salvation is given as a free act of grace and loving mercy. Because listen, if God said, okay, you perform, you get saved. What is the standard? God would have to lower his own standard of holiness and righteousness to accept you on the basis of your works because your works will never be perfect. You won't be perfect. Your works won't be perfect. So what you're saying is in order to get saved by my works, I have to recreate another God. I have to form a God who understands, except we rationalize it all the way and say, well, he's brought his standard down. God knows nobody can be perfect. You're absolutely correct. But there are multitudes of people who are sitting in church peers week after week after week, who really believe that God's going to accept them on the basis of how well they're doing. And I want to tell you, you are satanically deceived, my friend, because it's not true. It cannot be true. Now let me show you why it can't be. I want you to jot down these 10 things I'm going to give you. So get a pencil and piece of paper, if you will. And some of you, you already know where you are in your relationship to Christ and you know how to be saved by the grace of God, but you confront people all the time who argue with you about it. So I want to give you 10 reasons why their argument will not work. I think about all these people who are living in bondage, terrible bondage to believe you can be saved by the grace of God, but in order to remain saved, in order to remain saved, you have to perform in a certain fashion. I want to tell you that is bondage that God never placed on us. You cannot mix works with grace and have the true biblical concept of the atoning death of Jesus Christ. Now, how is a person saved according to the scriptures? Well, it's very simple. And that is that God, the beloved sin, his only begotten son, his beloved son to the cross placed upon him, all of our sin and Christ death was the full payment of our sin. Therefore, those who have received the Lord Jesus Christ personally by faith are saying, I am accepting God's payment for my sin in the death of his son. And by receiving his son is my personal savior. I'm freed, liberated, forgiven. I'm justified. I'm saved. I'm saved by what the grace of God, the grace of God is what I receive on the basis of what Christ did at Calvary. Christ paid the price and I receive as an act of grace, a gift from God. I can't pay for it. The price was paid at Calvary. We sing these songs, Jesus paid it all. What in the world am I trying to do to work up salvation? You see there's so many hymns we sing. And yet on the other hand, we live out something entirely different. So salvation is the act of God, whereby he forgives us of our sins based on the debt of penalty. Jesus paid at the cross. Now, here's what I want you to see. If a person believes that you say by doing good, being good and all the rest, the first thing I want you to jot down is some scriptures and I'm going to give them to you quickly. Listen to all these scriptures that are null and void and are meaningless. If you can be saved by your works in John chapter one, verse 29, you remember John the Baptist identified Jesus as the lamb of God who has come to take away the sins of the world, the lamb that was to be slain. Secondly, in John chapter 10, verse 15, Jesus said, I am the good shepherd and the shepherd has come to lay down his life for the sheep in Matthew 20 verses 28. He says, I've come to give my life a ransom for many in Hebrews chapter nine, verse 26. He said he offered himself as a sacrifice for our sins in Romans five, six. He says he died. He shed his blood for the ungodly in Romans chapter five, verse nine. He says he justified us. He saved us by his blood in Romans chapter five, verse 10. He says, we have been reconciled, brought back into fellowship with him by the blood of Jesus Christ. In Galatians one four, he says he gave himself for our sins in Ephesians chapter one, verse seven. He says, we have forgiveness of our sins through the blood of Jesus Christ. He says in first Peter one 18, we were not redeemed by corruptible things such as gold and silver, but by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that was shed in our behalf. And then he says in first Peter chapter two, verse 24, he says that Jesus Christ bore our sins in his body on the cross that we may be saved from our sins. Now listen, what purpose, what use are all of those verses that have to deal with the crucifixion of Christ? What use are they? If you can be saved apart from the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, they are meaningless verses. The death of Jesus Christ was a horrible act on the part of this God who calls himself a loving father. If you can be saved any other way for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the father, but by me. And if you can come any other way, the crucifixion, he says here in Galatians, the crucifixion, it was a needless, horrible act on the part of almighty God. That's just the first point. Point number two, we have no need of a gospel. If you will look in a first Corinthians chapter 15, Paul sort of gives us the whole gospel capsule here. And listen to what he says. He says, what is it that makes up the gospel? Look, if you will, in verse three, for I delivered to you as our first importance, what I also received that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day. According to the scriptures, that is the gospel. Let me ask you a question. What do we need with the gospels? If you can be saved by being good, there are multitudes of people, millions upon millions of millions of people in this world who don't have the scriptures as you and I have it. And they're trying to be good. And some of them are pretty good without the crucifixion. How good. And if you can be good enough to be acceptable in the eyes of God, what is the purpose of the crucifixion? There's no purpose and there is no need for a gospel unless is salvation by the cross is absolutely essential. Number three, Jesus said on the cross, it is finished. The truth is, if you can be saved any other way, except by the cross, Christ's work was not finished. And secondly, Christ's work was not adequate. If it takes my good works to get me saved, Jesus Christ death on the cross was not adequate. The work was not finished. I have to add to whatever he did. Therefore, the crucifixion is of little value. You and I know better than that. Number four, the incarnation that is God, the father, God, the son, God, the spirit, God coming in human flesh here on earth to live among us and Christ dying on the cross. What good is the incarnation? The incarnation was a useless, meaningless event. What's the use of Christmas? I mean, you know, God becoming a child born of the flesh, living among men. What's the use of all of that? If you can be saved apart from the grace of God and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, what is the use of the cross? Next man does not need mercy from God. If he can be saved by his works. Listen, when a lost person who's working up their salvation, why should, why should they need mercy? Salvation is based on base. It's based on their good works. Grace is the result of mercy. The crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ is, is the result of the mercy of the mercifulness of a loving, holy, righteous God who was willing to pay for your sin in mind, except you see, if there is no cross and there's no need for the cross, then there's no need for mercy. Why ask for the mercy of God? Think about the covenant that you and I have with God. The covenant of God has no meaning. The Bible says that Jesus established a new covenant with us and he established it through his blood. He said, what, what do we need with the covenant? I mean, you know, God's made all these promises. If it's a matter of works, what am I doing? I'm racking up points with God. I'm impressing God. I'm putting God in debt to me. And so God must pay me off as I work and as I labor and as I do my best. Oh, he may subtract some things over here when I fall and falter, but after all, I'm not doing too bad and compared to other people. And surely he's going to be just enough to compare me to everybody else. And so I'm not going to be doing too bad. So after all, I don't need the cross. I don't need grace. It's just a matter of good works and the covenant has no meaning. The covenant is God's assurance to me. It is his assurance for me that I am forever. He is. Why do I need that? When I'm working it up anyway, what is the meaning and the purpose of the Lord's supper? If grace comes by works, that is if salvation comes by work, what I need for the Lord's supper come down here. And you see people walk down church aisles and they sit in church pews week after week, month after month, year after year, depending upon when their church has that ordinance and they partake of the Lord's supper. And Jesus says this blood, this blood is a covenant. That is, this is the blood of a new covenant that I'm establishing with you. This blood brings about the forgiveness of your sin. That blood was absolutely essential and important. The wine that they drank symbolical of the blood of Jesus Christ. He says, I'm a new covenant with you. What is the meaning of the Lord's supper? If the cross was not necessary, it is a meaningless act. We ought to get rid of it because it has no meaning. If you can be saved other than by the grace of God, which comes through the crucifixion of the son of God, Jesus Christ himself. Think about this. Now here is a real contradiction. Many people who say, yes, I believe that God's going to accept me because I'm not doing too bad. And I think I'm as good as a lot of other folks. Do you believe in Jesus? Oh, I believe in him. How do you think you're going to get to heaven? I think if I do as good as I can, God's going to accept me. Now, let me show you what a contradiction this is. My friend, you cannot, you cannot look at Jesus Christ as a creditable person. He is either the biggest fake, the biggest counterfeit, the biggest sham the world has ever known, or you will never be saved. You cannot say, oh, I believe, I believe in Jesus. Do you believe that Christ's death on the cross is absolutely essential for your salvation? No, but I do believe in Jesus. Now, wait a minute. Jesus said over and over and over and over and over again, he was it. No man comes to the father, well, I understand. I understand. That's what he said. But you see, I believe, wait a minute. Either Jesus Christ is a big faking counterfeit in whom you have placed your trust, or he's the son of God who died for your sins. Now you can't have both. And this is the point. You can't have both. You cannot say, I believe what the Bible says about Jesus Christ at the same time, be working for your salvation. Friend, you either have salvation by the grace of God through the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, or you don't have it because you cannot have grace and works. And you cannot say that Jesus Christ is a creditable person. He's the son of God and be working for your salvation at the same time, because the two don't mix. But that's where so many people are. They don't even realize that's where they are. And you see what they do is they limit Jesus to a certain part in the left. Now he's not low. I believe in him, but now Lordship don't, don't get me over into that because I don't want to get too involved in that. I believe in God. I believe in Jesus doing the best I can tell me a few things, anything wrong with me. You tell me what I'm doing wrong. Don't owe anybody. Never been to prison, never shot anybody, all these things as if any of that's going to get them to heaven. I want to tell you, my friend, it is a satanic deception. And the tragedy is that multitudes of people are sitting right there. And let me show you something worse than that to believe that you can be made acceptable in the eyes of God, other than through his grace is to rob God of all his glory. And look, if you will, in Ephesians chapter two, you see, we just piddle around with God and we think, well, I'm, you know, after all, oh, granddad up in heaven, he understands. I want to tell you, my friend, he's not a granddaddy. He is holy God. And he doesn't play around and use a bunch of terminologies to confuse people. He's, he's rather straight. Listen to what this says. Verse four, but God being rich in mercy, because of his great love of which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ by grace, you've been saved. And he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That is, he's told me what he's done for us now. Why did he do it in order that in the ages to come, he might show forth the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. You know what he's saying? That you and I are walking living demonstrations of the grace of God. And he says for the ages to come, for the ages to come, he says, you and I will be trophies. He says he will be showing, he will be showing the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus, declaring it to the angels, you and I'll be walking trophies of the grace of God. If you and I save ourselves by good works, we're no trophy. God, listen, God cannot in the ages to come show his surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus by saving us. If we saved ourselves by good works, it absolutely totally robs God of all his glory. You cannot mix law and grace works in grace. You either have one another, you either in debt, God to pay you off, or you accept it as a child. Now, let me give you one last one. If you will turn to revelation chapter five, let me show you what will happen in heaven. If you can be saved by works. Now you can't be, but I want you to listen to what won't happen in heaven. If you can, if you can save yourself by works. Now let's begin in verse nine, revelation chapter five. And they sang a new song saying worthy out vow to take the book and to break it seals for thou was slain and it's purchased for God with thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And thou has made them to be a kingdom and priests throughout God. And they will reign upon the earth verse 11. And I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders and the numbers of them were, was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands. What were they saying? Saying with a loud voice worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing and every created thing, which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea and all things in them. I heard saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb, who is Christ be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Why? Because he gave his life as they sang up here in verse nine to purchase for God with his own blood men from every tribe and tongue. I want to tell you, my friend, it would silence the angels in heaven. If you and I can be saved by own good works, there is not a shred of evidence in the word of God that any person ever has been is or ever shall be saved other than by the grace of God given to us through the purchase of his son at Calvary, his sacrificial, all sufficient atoning, adequate death at Calvary. And when I receive his son's death as payment for my sin and receive his son as my personal savior, I am saved. That is the only way to be made acceptable in the eyes of God. And hallelujah. I don't have to do anything after that in any kind of performance or conduct to remain in the good graces of the salvation of almighty God. And yet the majority of people are living in the bondage. They'll never know till they get there. And I won't tell you, my friend, if you're one of those persons who's trying to work up your salvation, be good, be acceptable to get it done. Remember what he says in that somebody says, I live with a sermon on the mountain. Remember this verse he says in that day of the judgment, he will say to you, when you parade all the good things that you've done minus the cross, he will say to you in that day, I never knew you as one of mine depart from me, ye that worketh iniquity. There's only one way to be saved. And that is by trusting Jesus Christ and the death of Christ on the cross as the payment for your sin plus nothing. Why do you think we sing that song? Listen to this phrase just, just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me without one plea, nothing in my hands, I bring simply to the cross. I claim because my friend, the only thing you have to bring is dirty, filthy self-righteousness, unacceptable to God. You nullify the grace of God and render the cross, render the cross, listen, the most horrible act in human history. If you can be saved any other way, except by the cross, father, thank you for loving us. Oh, what misunderstanding and confusion prevails, but your grace, sweet, loving grace. And father, I pray in Jesus name that many people have been watching and listening. And those who are seated right here, who have some question about their salvation, who have trusted in anything or anybody other than you through your son, I pray that there might be confession and repentance and surrender here. And now the receiving of the Lord Jesus Christ is personal savior. As we sing together, father, as you invite, as your spirit woos, let there be a receptive heart from everyone who has never been saved and everyone who is unsure that there might be certainty today for you've said in your word, these things have I written to you that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is our prayer in Christ's name. Amen.