It is my privilege to be here today, and I look at this as not I have to, but I get to. This is more fun than computers any day. So we're gonna look at the full context of the gospel, because if you wanna identify something as false, you need to know what the real one is first, don't we? So we're going to take some passes through the gospel, then we're going to talk about identifying false gospels. And we're going to start with a little exposition of 1 Corinthians 15, verses 3 and 4. And that verse reads this way, For I delivered to you as first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. We're talking about the Old Testament here. But notice, first importance is what? The Gospel. First importance is the gospel. And I love the way Paul puts it in Galatians. He didn't receive his learning of the gospel from man. It was revealed to him through Jesus Christ. So let's take a look. What does this verse mean? Well, let's look at the who, what, and why. In verse three, the who is Christ, our Messiah. What? He died. Why? Because of our sins. Verse four, who is he again, Christ? He was buried, why? So he could be raised from the dead and conquer death. The two most important parts here are when Christ died and the resurrection. That is the main portions of the gospel right there. He died and he was raised from the dead. If he didn't come up out of that grave, our faith is in vain. So again, all this according to the scriptures. I would like to go back and look at some of these scriptures. So two questions. What scriptures are these verses referencing? And what is the gospel? And why is it so important? Now we use Christianese against non-believers and they don't understand what we're talking about. Sometimes we need to understand where they're coming from and use language they're familiar with. So right here, let's start with the power. How many like power? I do. I just don't want to go unchecked. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. So in all my arguments and discussions with non-believers, I first and foremost understand what the power is in my argument. It is not my wisdom. It is not my knowledge of science. It is the power of God's word, his gospel. And that is always my goal, is to get to the gospel. Whether they like it or not, they're gonna hear it. And many times I do not get invited back, especially to secular universities. But I feel I succeeded if I give them the gospel. So how can we recognize false gospels from the true gospel? We need a measuring stick, don't we? We're going to measure something. 1 Thessalonians 5.21 tells us we're to test all things and hold fast what is good. Test all things against what? The measuring stick, God's Word. 2 Timothy 2.15 says we're to study to show ourselves the proof, rightfully dividing or handling the Word of God. So that is our measuring stick, the Word of God. And to recognize false Gospels, we must know the full context of the true Gospel. And that's what we're going to cover today. So the Gospel. We're going to take three passes. Pass one is going to be the first good news. Where do we see the first good news? Past two, we're going to go to Isaiah. And past three, we're going to see the full context. I like pictures. Organizes things. So I hope everybody got their ticket. How much did they cost to come here today? Nada. The gospel is free, folks. Prote Evangelium. Genesis 315. What does that mean? The first good news. That's what that means. The first good news. And we find it in Genesis 315. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head. And you shall bruise him on the heel. Notice what does that word enmity mean? hostility hatred So you can put hostility between you and the woman between your seed and her notice it for it doesn't say seeds. It says seed there But he shall bruise you on the head And you shall bruise him on the heel that's talking about jesus christ. He got bruised didn't he? He suffered and died on that cross But he was raised from the dead, so it was only temporary, wasn't it? Just a bruise. But you know what God's going to do? He's going to issue Satan a mortal wound forever and ever. This right here is the first good news. Why? Because what it's telling us here is, I'm going to send you a Savior, and you're going to have victory. Right out of the first three chapters of Genesis, we have the first delusion, first proto-gospel, the first good news right here. Don't disregard the first chapters of Genesis. They're vitally important for understanding the rest of Scripture. Now, that's first pass. Let's go to the second pass. Isaiah, an amazing book. Where did we find the book of Isaiah? The Dead Sea Scrolls. Long before Jesus went to the cross. Isaiah means the Lord is salvation. Every prophecy, get this, every prophecy Isaiah wrote has come to pass except those that pertain to the future reign of Jesus Christ. That's a pretty good record there, isn't it? And we have the record of Isaiah in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Again, they were written long before Jesus Christ came. The Day Sea Scrolls contain a complete scroll of Isaiah written about 150 to 125 BC. And a second near complete scroll of Isaiah was also been found. So we have a tremendous amount of documentation verifying the book of Isaiah. It is not fiction, it's not fair tale, it is real history. Isaiah 13, 17 through 22, a prophecy declaring the Medes would destroy the city of Babylon. What's so important about that? Well, when Isaiah made that prophecy, Assyria was the dominant empire and the Medes were weak and divided. What he's saying here is the weak nation is gonna come out and be the strong nation. That's a pretty bold prophecy. Over 300 years after Isaiah recorded that, that prophecy was fulfilled. See, that's what makes the Bible very unique. First of all, it's the Word of God. Secondly, the prophecies in there are very unique. No other religion book has prophecies like this. These can be verified, folks. We're not worried about when the dates are accurate. Isaiah 53, verse 13 through 52, verse 13 through 53, verse 12, the gospel. The verses written over seven centuries before Jesus Christ came contain a clear prophecy about Jesus's ministry, his death and his resurrection and his coronation. What we see in these verses, Isaiah 52 and 53, is the full gospel. written long before Jesus Christ was here. Let's take a look at some. 52, verse 52, chapter 52, verse 14. The beating and wounds Jesus would receive, right there in Isaiah, centuries before Jesus Christ. 53, verse 7, his silence before his accusers. 53, verses 8 and 9, predict his death. 53 verse 9, the place of burial. This is getting pretty specific, isn't it? 53 to 11, the ultimate triumph of His finished work. And 53, 10, a reference to His resurrection. Centuries before all this happened, there it is in the book of Isaiah. Is the Bible the Word of God? The answer to that is, you betcha. I like technical terms. What other religion in the book in the world makes this kind of prophecy? And they turned out to be true. You look at people and you hear, oh Nostradamus, I saw him on television. Folks, his prophecies are so general, anything would work. So be careful, these are specific. Then we go to chapter 53, verses four through six. His substitutionary sacrifice, it talks about that. 53, verse 5, the forgiveness of sins through the shedding of blood. Are we not seeing the whole gospel here centuries before this happened? 53, 9, the sinlessness of Jesus. 53, 10, 11, the sovereign initiative of God in providing atonement for sinners. 53, 11, the justification of many. And 53, 12, the intercessory work of Jesus as a sacrifice. Let's look at the gospel in Hebrew. In Isaiah 53, Isaiah 53 is the gospel according to God set forth in the Hebrew scriptures, John MacArthur. It is the gospel right there. Isaiah 7, some more prophecies. 7 verse 14, Jesus would be born of a virgin. You don't get much more specific than that, folks. What's so amazing about being born of a virgin? It had never been done before. And here's somebody making a prophecy, it's gonna happen centuries before it happens. So if you're doubting the Bible, folks, you're on the wrong side. We have the evidence. We have external evidence, that's fine. But the Bible itself is a powerful testimony through prophecy. Micah, he would be born in Bethlehem. Isaiah 40 again, the coming of his forerunner, John the Baptist. And Psalm 69, his rejection by a member of his own family. See, the gospel is in the Old Testament. And I cringe when I hear churches say, oh, we're a New Testament church. We don't believe the Old Testament, folks. You don't have much to stand on being a New Testament, because you can't answer a lot of questions. And you don't have a full gospel either. Pass three. Some of you have seen some of this, so I can call on you any time. That just puts a little fear and scare out there. Not that I will. I don't think I will. Just want to have that little bit of doubt there. You know what that means? You're going to sit up straight and no slouching. That's coming from the Marine Corps. Full context of the gospel. We should be teaching this in churches. The reason we have so many problems, because we're not teaching the whole gospel. The gospel does not start in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It does not start there. I'm going to ask a question. And there's a penalty for not answering this question. I'm going to ask this side over here, because I know somebody knows it over here. I'm going to have a little mercy on you. And I don't do that, because mercy is not my spiritual gift. What book of the Bible does the gospel start in? Genesis, very good, very good. But I'm gonna start this in John 3.16. Why do I do that? Because most people are familiar with John 3.16. I've only been in one church, nobody in that church knew John 3.16. It was the last time they were inviting me there. That's okay, they heard the good news anyway. John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. That's a comforting verse, isn't it? But it is not the gospel. Why is it not the gospel? What's missing out of there? The resurrection. So it's not the gospel. It's not even the mini gospel. It has portions of it in there, but it's not the gospel. Let's go to John 3, 17, though. That's a very important verse. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but the world through him might be, ooh, what's that word? That brings up a couple of questions, saved. That's why I like verse 17 also. What do we need to be saved from and why do we need to be saved? What book of the Bible do we have to go to figure that one out? Genesis, are you getting the idea of something special about Genesis now? And we'll start here. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. What's so important about that verse? Well, number one, it assumes God exists, doesn't it? Number two, he's the creator. That means he's the ruler over all his creation. That means he sets the rules and standards for how we are to live. That's why that verse is so important. It sets up who our God is right there. He is the creator of all things. You know, in the book of Revelation, they bow down and sing, holy, holy, holy. Why? Because it says right there in the book, because you're the creator. That's how important it is. Then verse 131, we have a perfect beginning. No death, no diseases before then. A perfect beginning. And then God gives one warning. What was his warning? Just one. Can you imagine that? If somebody just gave you one warning, you could do anything else, what would you do? The one thing, wouldn't you? Especially children. Just gave Adam and Eve one warning. Don't eat of the fruit of this tree. So what does Satan come and do? He deceives Eve. Deception, doubt, and denial. Deceived Eve. Gave half-truths. That's what Satan does, gives half-truths. And remember, it was Eve that was deceived, and then Adam kind of went along with it, didn't he? So who got blamed? Adam, because he's the head, isn't he? And what did Adam do when God comes along? Here's the, this is the second lie. Satan was the first lie. But what does Adam do when God comes into the garden? God, it was not that fault, it was that woman you gave me. That was the first blame game right there. That's what politicians have learned. Don't take blame for anything. But what did Eve do then? God, it's not my fault, it's that serpent you made. Both of them blamed God, didn't they? wouldn't take the blame for it. So we got one warning, and God said, here's the penalty, death. Okay, we gotta go to the bad news. See, this is the part that's missing from a lot of preaching in churches today, the bad news. Once you understand the bad news, you will much more appreciate the good news. So I'm gonna go through the bad news with you. The bad news is this. Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Rebellion. Sin. And what did God do? He kept His promise. God keeps His promises. Death has now entered into all of creation. Notice, death comes here. Not before Genesis 131, as many people are doing. Many people probably put millions of years before all of this. Folks, what does it do to the gospel? It's destroying the entire foundation. Don't be deceived, because many scientists believe in billions of years. Who is your judge? Not the scientist. God is your judge. I don't have a problem standing before God and said, God, I took your word too literally. I don't have a problem with that. But I would have a problem standing before God and said, God, you didn't give us enough information. Your science wasn't very good. I have a big problem trying to do that. So God keeps his promise. Death enters. And the New Testament. Verifies this what you're seeing here is the New Testament the Old Testament kind of collaborate together here on understanding the gospel So death comes in because of sin the New Testament says in Romans 6 23 a the wages of sin is what death? Exactly what we just learned in Genesis So if Genesis doesn't mean what it says, what is the verse in the Romans mean? We can just kind of chuck that one, too Then Matthew 5 48 God demands perfection? Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute. What in the world gives God the right to demand perfection on us? I'm hoping I don't get struck by lightning by saying it that way. Because he's the creator. And since he's the creator, he makes the rules. See why that first verse is so important? He's the absolute sovereign ruler over his creation, and he doesn't share that with anybody. So he demands perfection. But you know what? Nobody's perfect, are they? Anybody here perfect? As soon as you raise your hand, you're a liar, and you're not perfect. You know what the closest thing to perfection is? Grandchildren. It's the parents that cause the problems, isn't it? God demands perfection. Then in Romans 23, there we see it. No one's perfect. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That's why my main thing to get, one of the main things I get in discussions with non-believers, we are sinners and we all need a Savior. You're a sinner, you need a Savior, I'm a sinner and I need a Savior. Would you like to hear more about that Savior? Let me tell you. Before they can answer, I'm going to tell them. That's one of the main things people need to hear. They're sinners and they need a Savior. And because of that sin, we're separated from a perfect and holy God. And at this point in the gospel, folks, we have absolutely no hope. We're without hope at this point in the gospel. We are all doomed to hell. Incidentally, that is the default. In case you didn't know, hell is the default. So if you do nothing, guess where you're going? That's not a good message for Sunday morning, Mike. Thanksgiving's right around the corner. It is a wonderful message. The best message we can hear, folks. That we're all doomed and going to hell. Whoa. That's the last thing you're probably gonna remember and say, Pastor, why'd you bring this guy in? See, you're gonna get the blame for this. Oh, over there, okay. I'm trying to share. See the blame game going on already? We're right back to the Garden of Eden, aren't we? Let me give you the reality of hell. I don't show pictures on this. I don't show. I looked at, thought about showing pictures, but I don't want to create people with nightmares here. Hell, Luke 16, verse 24, tormented in this flame. That doesn't sound very nice, being tormented in the flame, does it? Matthew 25, verse 41, it's an everlasting fire. What does that mean? You're tormented everlastingly in that fire. 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 9, punished with everlasting destruction. Revelation 14, 11, no rest day or night. Revelation 20 verse 10 lake of fire brimstone tormented day and night forever and ever folks. This is the default This is where you're going unless you have accepted God's solution and There are no second chances here Folks a lot of you probably like me you have family they're headed this way And that is sad We all, this should urge you, give the urgency to become an evangelist, as we're all commanded to do. To go out and preach the word wherever you can. My wife and I practice and do all the time, restaurant evangelism. We go to a lot of restaurants, probably never see them again. We see amazing things happening during restaurant evangelism. We see tears. We had one lady, spoke a little bit of English, mostly Spanish. We went out and bought her a Spanish Bible and mailed it to her. She responded, she was happy. We see all kinds of things happening. People need to hear the truth and they're not getting it. What a wonderful opportunity. Every time you go to a grocery store or a counter, go up there and buy something, you can have a little card handed to them. You never know what that's gonna do. Or you can just ask a question. Do you go to church? Oh, what church do you go to? Have you heard of Jesus Christ? Can I tell you about him? Evangelism, every day of our lives, every opportunity. When I'm on an airplane, I always take the aisle seat. I got too captive in the audience there. They can't escape. So we need to be evangelists, because you should wish this on nobody. Even the people you think are the worst people in the world, you don't wish this on, folks. We need to be praying for these people. The people we don't like in government, we need to be praying for them, that God will turn them around. If he can do that for Paul, he can do it for anybody. Paul was one of the most miserable people on the planet as he was destroying the Christians. So don't forget to pray for him. But now, now that we've illustrated what the default is and where most people are going, because what does it say? The gate is wide and many will go down that. But for the believers, the gate is very narrow. Few will enter. So we're talking six billion people on this planet or more. We're talking probably five and a half billion or more are headed to what? The default right now. That is serious. So the good news, what book of the Bible's the good news start in? Genesis, and we got that down, okay. The first promise of a Savior and victory, that's good. John 3.16, this is where it's fulfilled. That first promise, this is where it's fulfilled. What God said is only begotten Son. So we got the promise of a Savior, 3.16. Promise of victory, victory over death there. Then final victory in the book of Revelation. Then we have the core of the gospel. Christ, God sent his son out to this world to condemn the world. This world through him might be saved. We have all of that. And all according to the scriptures. Then 2 Corinthians 7, verse 10. Over and over again, Jesus Christ says, repent. Now repentance is not salvation, because our salvation is not works-based. Repentance leads us in that direction to salvation. So we need to repent of what we've done. As a nation, we need to be on our knees repenting and asking for mercy for what this nation has done. And thank you for doing that this morning. Then, oh, this is amazing stuff, folks. It's a free gift. What an amazing God we have. All this, the default and all of that, and it comes off and says, you guys messed up, you sinned, but I'm gonna offer your salvation. And guess what? You don't have to pay for it. It's free, I'm going to pay for it. What other God teaches that? What other religion teaches that? A lot of people have a lot of gods out there with small G, but there's only one true God with a capital G. No other religion talks about a free gift. Every other religion says you gotta earn it. And that's what makes this verse so important, Ephesians 2.8.9. These two verses separate Christianity from every other religion in the world. It is called do and done. Every other religion in the world requires you to do something for your salvation. The Bible says no. Your salvation has already been paid for. It is by faith. It is not by works, anything you can do. So do and done. Your salvation is done. It's already been paid for. All you have to do is accept it. And you don't even have the faith to do that. God gives you the faith to do that. Then 2nd Corinthians 12, verse 9, God's grace. I put this in there, because I've had many people come to me, and especially military people. They'll come to me and say, Mike, I shot a lot of people while I was in the military. They're on the battlefield, and they shot people, and it's affected them. You don't understand that until you've been in those positions. When your life is on the line, you have to shoot and terminate somebody's life. You can't understand that until you've really been there. That's why so many of our military soldiers can't talk about what happened, because we won't understand it. And I have these military people come to me and say, God can't forgive me. You know what I think about right away? They don't know who our God is. They don't know Him. So I need to talk to Him, who our God is. And that's where I start going through this whole gospel right here. Now, what I'm going through is what we need to teach. Sometimes all you have to do is a couple of verses in gospel presentation. But when I'm going to teach it, and especially these military folks, I'm going to go through the full context. I want them to understand who our God is. He is big enough. His grace can cover anything we've done. Doesn't matter what you've done, He can cover it. Because sin is sin, folks. The smallest little sin condemns you to the default. And I tell them all about who our God is, and I give them the solution. And it makes a difference in their life. Some are in tears because they've never heard who our God is. Most of them get who our God is from television, like Touched by an Angel. Heresy, Little House on the Prairie, and all those other shows, nothing but heresy. They're good family shows, but biblically, they're completely wrong. So God's grace can cover anything, and His mercy never ends. Then Romans 5, 8, here's something else that's fantastic about our God. While we were still dead in our sins, going to the default, He comes to us. He demonstrates his love by approaching us first. He loved us so much. He didn't wait for us to cry out to him. He comes to us. And he's waiting for us. His patience is enormous. I know that. If I would have died before I was 30 years old, I would have spent my eternity in the default hell. because I was not saved until I was 30. He had mercy on me for those 30 years, and guess what? He still has mercy on me. And then, our God says, listen, this is a free gift, and it's only one way, and that's through Jesus Christ. Only one way. He is the Savior. Christ, Messiah. Jesus, the Messiah. And in the book of Acts it says, no, there's no other name under all of heaven by which you can be saved. It is only through Jesus Christ. And there are no excuses. No excuses. Romans 1, 19 and 20. God has planted in everybody's heart that they know God exists. There is no such thing as an innocent native anywhere on this planet, folks. Everyone knows that God exists. And I use that in my discussions with atheists. They know God exists. They just don't want to realize it or recognize it. But I'm going to let them know they know God exists. They may not like that. Tough cookies. That's the technical term. They need to hear the truth. Don't shy away from the truth. Don't ever be embarrassed by the truth, folks. Don't think you have to outwit them scientifically. I like the science, and I use it when I need to. But don't think you have to outwit them. See, apologetics is not about winning an argument. It's about winning souls to Christ. So apologetics and evangelism go hand in hand. Don't ever let anybody say, oh, apologetics, that's just for the elite people. No, it is not. You don't have to have even a degree in science. You don't have to have a degree in the Bible either to be an apologist. You just have to know and believe God's word, and you can become a great apologist. No excuses. Then Romans 10, 9, that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. What does that mean? That if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, what you're saying, Jesus, I'm going to make you Lord of my life, heart, soul, and mind, everything. And you believe on him and the resurrection, then you'll be saved. That's the gospel. That's the context of the gospel right there. The bad news and the good news. And what's being pulled out from us now and compromised is the first part of it in Genesis. You erase that part, folk, we don't have a foundation for the good news at all. Don't let anyone deceive you with fancy words and degrees that God's word is not true history in Genesis. And then there's even greater news on this. We'll put something on top of this. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. What's good news about that? No condemnation. You're no longer under that. You're no longer under the curse. Why? Because you're no longer walking with the flesh, you're walking with the spirit. So how did that happen? For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death. You know in our preamble, in our preamble, Declaration of Independence, it talks about unalienable rights. You know what those unalienable rights were? They're from God. means things that cannot be taken away. We all have rights that cannot be taken, doesn't matter who's in government, folks. We have rights that nobody can take away. And one of those rights is to become citizens of heaven. No one can take that away from you, folks. That's what they meant by certain unalienable rights. And they believe those rights come from God. We had a good foundation, didn't we? good foundation based on biblical principles. And we're about ready to throw it all away. So ticket number four, now that we know what the real one looks like, let's identify some false gospels. Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. We have some warnings here. 2 Timothy 4, 3 and 4. God puts these warnings in here for a purpose. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate from themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and turn aside to myths and fables. Does that not sound like today also? Things haven't changed at all, have they? In Galatians, Paul talks about this present evil age. He's talking about his time, present evil age. Guess what? We're still in that present evil age, aren't we? Hasn't changed. Colossians 2.8, deception. See to it that no one takes you captive to the philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men. According to the element principles of the world rather than according to Christ. Beware of people with great degrees trying to deceive you. Go to the Bible. Test all things. Hold fast what is good. And then the third part of that is shun those things that are evil. Thessalonians. Test all things against God's word. Matthew talks about false prophets coming. Beware the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. That word ravenous means violently greedy or ravenously predatory. They're trying to take you away from Jesus Christ. Paul in Galatians had the same problem. He went there, he wrote that letter and said, I taught you all these things. Who is it that's taking you back and putting you under the law? He comes out and says, who is that that's doing that? He's very interested in these Galatians. He has confidence in them. But somebody there was deceptively teaching the law versus the spirit. False Gospels. Nowhere in the New Testament will you find that salvation is about accepting Jesus. You won't find that anywhere. Just accept Jesus. Wait a minute, what am I accepting? What about him? Let's give the whole story, let's give the whole gospel. How can you expect a non-believer to accept Jesus if they don't know who he is and what he did? Nowhere in the New Testament you'll find that salvation is about asking Jesus into your heart. You won't see that anywhere in the Bible. It's more than that. Nowhere in the Bible you find the salvation is about repeating the sinner's prayer either. Gotta be careful on some of these. Then we have the gospel of social justice. That is making its way into many churches. Beware, it's deceptive. Because what they have done is change the meanings of words. And they sound good, but they have a different meaning behind their words. They want egalitarianism, the racism piece. Folks, you're being deceived right there. The news media constantly promotes racism. How many races are there? One. There's only one race, it's called the human race. Oh, but Mike, we look different. I know, God made us that way. Some of us have more melanin, and some of us has less melanin. I'm a loss of melanin information. You know what happens when I go out in the sun? I get pink, I get red, and I peel. I can't protect myself. I'm a loss. My wife reminds me I'm a loss of information all the time. You see, shading your skin has nothing to do with race. We all have how many chromosomes do we have? Let me hear a test here. How many think we have about 48 chromosomes? If you do, you're an ape, or either that or a banana. How about 46? Do we have anybody with 46 chromosomes in here? Okay, we got two human beings right there. I don't know what the rest of you are. We got two human beings. Yeah, that's characteristic. We all have 46 chromosomes. I know some have 47. It's an extra chromosome, 41. But you're still a human being. It's a duplicate chromosome in there. Social justice. I want everybody to be equal. Folks, justice does not need an adjective. Justice is God's justice. Be careful of buying into the world's ways. Oh, we all need to share. We all need to stop this racism. Yeah, we shouldn't have all this because somebody has a different shade of skin. We shouldn't be doing that. We shouldn't ostracize people for the way they look. Because we're all God's children. We're all made in his image and likeness. There's only one race, it's the human race. And they're trying to promote this different racism, folks. Don't buy into it. The soft gospel, that's preached in a lot of places, where we're looking for the rewards from God, but not celebrating God. We just preach part of the gospel, not all of it. We just give the good news. We don't talk about the bad stuff. You see that on TV, preachers all the time, preaching only this is your best life. Folks, if you're going to the default, to hell, this will be your best life. So he got it right on that one, because he's preaching people right into hell. His name is what it ends with, the letter Olsteen. John 3.16 is not the gospel because it doesn't even talk about the resurrection. You need to add something on to that. So be careful. So I'm going to give you the gospel. John 3.16, well, we got a lot of people don't understand what the resurrection is, what Jesus Christ really did for us. So be careful about what we use there. The prosperity gospel. Did you know if you donate to my ministry $100 today, I will pray for you and you'll go to heaven. God will give you health and wealth. I could have made it on TV, couldn't I? Well, I blew it there. I could have asked for $10,000 and gotten myself some airplanes. Be careful of the prosperity of God. God never promises you a good life just because you became a Christian. He does promise that we're probably going to come under a lot of torment. It's not going to be easy. It's going to be tougher now. The religion gospel, a gospel of works. Folks, that is every other religion in the world today is a gospel of works. It's not the gospel plus works, folks. It is God's, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and what he did alone for salvation. We cannot work our way. We cannot be a better person and get to heaven. It is only through the works of Jesus Christ. And you think about this, every other religion in the world is a gospel of works. How many people are headed to the default right now? We're talking billions and billions. The cheap grace gospel. Oh, I got saved yesterday. Now I can live my life any way I want to, because I'm saved. That's called the cheap grace gospel, folks. No, your works will demonstrate a lot in there. By your works, they will know you. If your works don't show it, folks, you're probably not saved. Jesus died for you. That's not the gospel. What is it missing? He was resurrected. Why did he die for me? The whole idea of sin is missing in there. God is love. Jesus loved you. That's all you need to know. Jesus loved you. That kind of preaching sends people right to hell too, folks. A good God would never send anyone to hell, gospel. He doesn't do that, folks. That's kind of the universalism, everybody's going to heaven. But there's also this. A good God, yes, he's a good God. We sinned, that's a crime against God. Jesus Christ, in his goodness and loving kindness, did the greatest act of love. He sacrificed his sin for us, sacrificed his son for us on the cross, raised him from the dead. What an act of love that was. And he says, here's your payment for your sins. My son, Jesus Christ, is the payment. But if you reject that payment, then you will have to do the payment. And what is that payment? Eternity in the lake of fire. He doesn't send people to hell. We choose to go there because we reject his payment. Then the moralism gospel. Dealing with all you have to do is be a good person. Just be good, give a lot of money to the poor, and you'll all go to heaven. No, that one sends you to hell too, folks. Every one of these goes to the default. And this is what's being preached in a lot of churches. Every once in a while I do a little research and go to other churches on Sunday just to see what's happening. And folks, you would be surprised at the atrocities that are happening in the pulpit today. I've been in churches where there's no Bible. I've been in churches where feminism's preached. I've been in churches where the pastor apologized for the book of John being in the Bible. There are very few churches today that are teaching God's Word. One of the privileges I get is we hear about all the things going on in the world today, but through all my travels around the country, we get to hear and visit the churches that are preaching God's Word. God does have a remnant all over this country, folks. Galatians 1 and 9, I call this a very serious warning from Paul. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed. This is so important, he repeats it again. As we have said before, even now, if I say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed. What is that word, accursed? Anathema, you know what that means? An irrevocable vow to destruction. And folks, every other religion is based on works. And what is Paul talking about here? Religions that are adding in works. What is he saying to all these other people preaching a false gospel? They're headed for irrevocable destruction. This is sad news, folks, for the world. We need to tell them where they're headed to right now before they make that mistake. Then the billions of years in the gospel, gap theory, the day's theory, progressive creation, framework hypothesis, just poetry, God used evolution, science proves. Every one of those have one thing, a couple things in common. Every one of them promotes science over God's word. And every one of them uses the Bible inconsistently. They're picking and choosing which miracles they want to believe and not believe. Those are the two main things there. have wrong there. And you saw this slide earlier today. Creation, six days, perfect. Then comes the fall. Then comes death. That's the exact order the Bible reads. Don't change it. But here's how people are trying to change it. They're putting millions of years in the Bible. We have creation going on for millions and millions of years. Then come Adam and Eve. Then comes the fall. What was going on for those millions of years? Well, what's the fossil record? It's the record of dead things. So what they're saying is there were millions of years of death, disease, and struggle before the fall, before sin. That goes directly against God's gospel right there, folks. That is not good teaching. Test all things, hold fast to what is good. Test everything against God's word, as they did in the Bereans. The cross. If sin is not the cause of death, then why did Jesus have to go to the cross and conquer death? Those people cannot adequately answer that question. So, coming down to the conclusion. Now, I've seen a lot of pastors' conclusions go on a long time. Call this the Christian situation and our responsibilities. 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy 1, verses 7 and 8. For God has not given us a spirit of timidy, or fear, I like fear there, but timidy, but of power and of love and of discipline. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me, his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God. In other words, we're not supposed to have fear out there, folks. We have the word of God behind us, the creator of all the universe standing behind us, Don't be afraid to go out there and talk to people. Share the good news. Then 2 Timothy 3, verse 1, but realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. Now, we don't know when the last days are. I'm not going to predict that. All I will say is we're closer than anybody else has ever been. I don't want to be a false prophet here, because when people become prophets, I'm going to tell you, if you make a prediction, if you're wrong, we're going to invoke Old Testament rules. We will stone you. But he's giving us a warning. Days are going to be difficult. This is not just today, folks. It's been happening all through history. Days have been difficult. 3, 5, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power. He's warning us there. Always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. We see a lot of that today, too. People learning and learning and learning, but not teaching the truth. 316 and 317. All scriptures inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work. Notice what it is. God's Word, all of it is breathed through the Holy Spirit. It's all good for teaching, all of it, not just some of it. And chapter 4, verse 4, this is part of our responsibility. Preach the Word. I know he's talking to Timothy here, but it goes for us also. Preach the Word. Be ready in season and out of season. Correct, rebuke, and exhort with great patience and What's that word? Instruction. Teach. Teach people. Our responsibility, know the gospel, be able to share the gospel, and be able to defend the gospel. We need to train every one of our youth to be able to do this. Know the gospel, share the gospel, and be able to defend the gospel. Every youth pastor needs to be teaching their youth this as the primary thing in their time. Games are nice, relationships are important too, but the first and foremost, can they share and defend that gospel? If they can't, why do we have a youth pastor? But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you with gentleness and respect. We're to sanctify, we're to be set apart by Christ and have a ready answer or defense always. And the last slide here, it's your decision. Hebrews 9, 27 through 28, your decision. And as much as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes judgment. You only get one chance here, folks. There is no reincarnation. So Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin to those who eagerly await him. See, that will be a joyous time for believers. It will be a great time of horror for those who did not accept his payment. I'm gonna finish with one final thing here. How many of, we're mostly familiar with David and Goliath. Okay, we know David and Goliath. Israel is getting ready to go to battle against the Philistines. And the Philistines bring out their giant, Goliath. Now at that point, the Israelites had three options. They had three things they could have done. Number one, they could have just said, well, whatever happens, let it happen. That's called apathy. You know, apathy is something that ruins and destroys churches. Or they can run their hands and say, who is us who can fight against a giant like this? That's called the pity party, and that's what they did. Or you can be like David and face that Goliath. All throughout history, people have had to face Goliaths, all throughout history. Some of you sitting here this morning may be facing Goliaths. They could be health Goliaths, financial Goliaths, spiritual Goliaths, but all through history, people have faced Goliaths. Here are a couple of examples. A young boy was burned so bad in a fire, the doctor said he would never walk again. His name is Glenn Cunningham. He grew up and set the world record in the mile. He faced his Goliath. He didn't look for pity. Another young boy was called stupid by his teacher in class. His mother found out about it and pulled him out of the school there. His name is Thomas Edison, one of the greatest inventors of all time. He faced his Goliath. Several years ago, I had the opportunity to coach a little girl's track team. Done a lot of coaching. And our relay team made it to the state meet. Each girl had to run 100 meters on this. And the day of state meet came, and two of our girls in the relay could not make it for various reasons. So I said, we've got to have two substitutes on there. So I got the two substitutes. And as a strategy, I did something different. I put our fastest girl in position number two. Not the last, but position number two. That way, if our first girl wasn't fast enough to get us in the race, our second girl would get us back in the race, and maybe those competitive juices would flow with the last two, and we'd remain competitive. So that was my strategy. And they all got lined up on the track. And I noticed something very interesting as they're all lined up. We had the four smallest girls on the track. These other girls were towering over them. And the gun blew, and the first girls took off running as fast as they could. As our first girl gets ready to hand off the baton to our second girl, she steps on her heel. And our second girl goes flat on the track. I've seen this happen in the Olympics, and I see it happen in other national meets. And what usually is the result, the person gets up, they're angry, they're crying, they're disappointed, and they walk off the track. Not this little girl. She's been trained. She knows the opposite of winning is not losing, it is quitting. As soon as she hit that track, she grabbed that baton, got to her feet, and started running as fast as she could. And by the time she handed it off to the third girl, she had already gained back some of what she had lost. The third girl got the baton and continued to gain. Then the fourth girl got the baton, and they became state champions. What could have been an embarrassing moment turned into victory. Some of you in your Christian walk will drop that baton, but will you have the courage to pick it up and run the race to the finish. Let us pray. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, and the glory, the victory, and the majesty, for all that is in heaven and earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head over all. Both riches and honor come from you and your reign over all. In your hand is power and might. in your hand is to make great and give strength to all. Now therefore, our God, we thank you and we praise your glorious name. Amen.