This lesson three, we have allotted a little more time tonight. We may not need it because you guys have been paying really good attention, so we'll see how it goes. But the reason that we've allotted a little more time for this one is not because it's a longer lesson. Actually, it's the shortest of them all. But this particular subject is the one that Satan has put the most time and energy into confusing for everyone. of every variety and type are preaching something different. And the confusion level of what it really takes to be saved, what happens when a person gets saved, is tremendous amongst the population by and large. I mean, it's just, preachers tell you so many different things to do to be saved. Let's just go around the room. What have you been sitting in a service and the preacher said to do to get saved? Ask, believe, receive. Ask and believe and receive. Okay. Get baptized. Get baptized. Ask Jesus into your heart. Ask Jesus into your heart. Repent of my sin. Repent of your sin. They convinced Starla she had to speak in tongues before she could go to church. Oh yeah, you got to speak in tongues. Well, I mean, you know, English is a tongue. Come on. Say five Hail Marys and donate $1,500. Join the church. Join the church. Join the church. It just, it really just, it almost doesn't end. The There are several things that, and even in what you would call the best churches, Baptist churches, you've got the thing known as the sinner's prayer. If you pray this prayer, then we just believe you got born again. Well, that wasn't a Baptist church. They wouldn't have said it that way. That was a different kind. But the thing about it is, Where in the Bible have you ever seen God say, ask Jesus into your heart? Or pray this prayer to get saved? Have you ever seen that anywhere in the Bible? There is one verse of Scripture that could almost say that, but doesn't quite, and that's when Jesus is with the Samaritan woman at the well and told her, That if you knew who was talking to you, you would ask him for living water. But that's just a play on what was going on there. What does the Bible say to do to get saved? Well, now I'm still getting a bunch of different answers. There's one thing that it says almost 100 times in the New Testament. What is that one thing? to believe that He died on the cross for our sins and rose three days later. Okay, the term is belief. Is there more than one condition or are there several conditions? Alright, let's say that John back there was told to repent of his sins. And John said, okay, what's that mean? And the preacher said, well, that means you should be really sorry for your sins. That's one thing I've heard a preacher use. Actually, several. And John, being the honest, you know, just speaks out, says what he thinks, you know. John says, well, how sorry do I need to be? That would be the next logical question, would it not? If you have to be sorry for your sins, then how sorry do you need to be in order for it to be enough to be sorry enough or to repent? Let me ask you this question. I'm going to give you a little quiz question. Does the Bible, does the New Testament, is there anybody in the New Testament, Jesus or any of the apostles, that tells Anywhere in the Bible that it tells a lost person to repent of his sins in order to be saved. Is that in the Bible anywhere? Acts 2.38, repent and be baptized. But it doesn't say repent of your sins. There's nowhere in the Bible that it says repent of your sins. But what the Bible says a lost person must repent of is his dead works. What the Bible says a lost person must repent of is whatever he's trusting in instead of Jesus. The word repent means to change, and the application is usually to change because of a new understanding. You see, the fact of the matter is that a lost person could not possibly repent of his sins, because he has no strength at all to do that with. For when we were yet without strength, Christ died for the ungodly. So yes, the Bible says repent, but it doesn't tell lost people to repent of their sins. It tells them to repent of their dead works. Don't be trusting in your dead works. Don't be trusting in your church. Don't be trusting in your baptism. Don't be trusting in whatever it is that you're trusting in now. You need to abandon that and place your trust in what Jesus did for you on the cross of Calvary. when He died for your sins and was buried in the third day and raised again. And people say, well, you're just an easy-believerism preacher because you don't demand that they repent of their sins. Well, you call me whatever you want, but I'll tell you what happens when you do that. The guy sitting on the back row that's tried to change his ways a thousand times and never succeeded more than an hour and a half is going to walk out the door doomed, thinking that there's no hope for him, and go right on to hell. That's what happens when you preach that and when you teach that. So we don't teach that. We teach what the Bible says. Let me tell you something. When you place your trust completely in Jesus Christ to save you from your sins, whatever else you were dependent on is now gone and turned from and abandoned and all those other terminologies that apply to the word repentance. And it happens all in one fell swoop. It's just a wonderful thing. So we're going to be careful about that. This is why this lesson is so critical. Satan has used so many tactics and so many different things to confuse people about what this is. Sarah, do you have Marcy and Brian's number? I do. text them and sit there on the way because I'm waiting on my student here. No problem. I want I don't want to start this till she gets here. Is that the case? I think so. That's what somebody said. Well, they didn't let they didn't know she was coming out. They never told me yet. So just find out for me if they're coming. We've got some discussion to do while we find out anyway. But we'll do it again. That's not a problem. And I got a good student right here. We're all set for class. One thing that you'll notice that this is in our lesson is the the idea, the idea that you must ask Jesus to be saved. Now that's a, you know, you say, Well, why wouldn't somebody ask the Lord to be saved? Well, there's a couple of pretty good reasons. One of them is that that's not what the Bible says to be saved. That's a pretty good reason. There are two verses of scripture in the Bible, only two, that appear to tell you something else to do in order to be saved except believe. One of them is Romans 10, 13, which says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God is raised from the dead, thou shalt be saved. And then it says, for with the heart man believes unto righteousness. Well, with the heart, if you believed unto the righteousness of God being your gift, are you saved or not? Yeah, absolutely. May I read it? You may. It's Romans chapter 10, verse 8, 9, and 10. But what does it say? The word is near thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. The word of faith, which we preach, And if thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, that thou believeth in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confesseth it's made unto salvation. That's true. That's exactly what it says. But if you believe, and God declares you righteous, which the Bible says numerous times that he does, then that confession is not to the obtaining of salvation. That confession is to the fact of salvation. To the fact that you now are a child of God. That's one verse of Scripture that appears to say that there's something else that one must do to be saved. The other one is in Mark chapter 16 where Jesus told the disciples to go preach the gospel to every creature. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned. Now that verse, if you just read it and you don't think your way through it, it's going to appear to say that there's some other thing that you must do besides believe in order to be saved. But you've got to understand who the Lord is talking to there. He's talking to His preachers. No one else. And He's telling them what to do. He's telling them to go preach the gospel to every creature And he that believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believes not shall be damned. What he's telling the preachers is don't count your baptisms. Don't notch your gun with how many baptisms you've got. You need to be making sure that people understand and believe the gospel because He that believes and is baptized, yeah, he's going to be saved. But if he doesn't believe, he's going to hell whether you baptize him or not. This is the lesson Jesus is teaching His preachers there in Mark. And Romans 10 is about the subject of segregation and the Gentiles having the same access to God as the Jews do, not about the details of how to be saved. And so there's just a whole lot of things to understand there. But it's like the copies of the Holy Scriptures. You realize there are no originals for anything to be translated from, right? But there are hundreds and hundreds of copies, direct copies that were made directly from originals. And those huge numbers of copies themselves are what allow us to be sure about what really is scripture and what really is not scripture. Just as a theoretical, if you have 680 copies of a certain scripture and 664 of them are exactly the same and the others have slight discrepancies in them, you're going to know which are the scribal errors and which is the original thing by the sheer numbers. that agree. And that concept is found in the Scriptures as well. Even if you weren't able to read the context and see what is actually being taught, which you can, and it is explained, the sheer numbers of places the Bible tells you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, versus these two which appear only on the surface to say something else. That tells you very quickly what's going on. Why do you think the Lord Let those two Scriptures that appear to say something else slip into our Bible like that. I mean, He could have kept that out, right? Why do you suppose He allowed that? Or, let's go even further. Why do you suppose He put it in there on purpose? Because everything He put in there is on purpose. Sarah, what do you think? Well, it's kind of like an Adam, where are you thing because it's you realizing it and knowing yourself like coming to knowledge and being able to decipher because if you are saved, you would be able to. Well, yeah, that's I think I was a little confused about that. But But I think you're on the right track. Oh, it's speaking of which way we want to do tonight. Okay. All right. So I won't be waiting for that. But But we'll continue our discussion just a little bit longer, and then we're going to start our class. And then we're going to have another discussion. And that one ought to be even more exciting than the first one. So go ahead, Gilbert. Can I interject something here? Sure. To me, it is the scripture says it is by grace that you have been saved through faith, not of any works that you have done. Amen. And it's a gift of God. And to me, when I deep searched into it, Jesus never taught about grace. He was grace. He is grace. And the gift was given to Paul, even to the apostles. They never taught anything about grace. I found this whereby when, I'm gonna read this in chapter three of Ephesians, it says, whereby when ye read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of man, and is now revealed through Paul unto his holy apostles, the prophets by the Spirit. And then I'm gonna skip over to this. And unto me, who am the less and the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach amongst the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. I'll probably have to, I'll probably have to, I'll probably have to do a little research on that one before I go too far into into plotting it. But one thing about it, one thing about it. When the Bible says that for by grace, are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, of course, it's in Jesus, it already qualified that before we got to it there. But he never preached that he never descended, he was given unto Paul. Well, I'm not sure, I'm not sure I agree with that yet, but we'll talk about that another day. And then we amplify on this. Okay, alright. But one thing, when you do go to Ephesians, it's for by grace you're saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, is the gift of God. Amen. And the gift of God is not the grace, the gift of God is eternal life. Which is what he tells us. Which is salvation. Exactly. Alright, now. I lost my train of thought. It happens to old people. Speak for yourself. Well, maybe it's just mileage, not age. Maybe it's just mileage. All right. All right. Well, let's tell you what. Let's go ahead and let's go ahead and start a class. Everybody start a class. Amen. And tonight, we're going to forget about teaching class anything until we finish. As far as I'm concerned, it's just me and you now. And they're just out there somewhere, maybe. We'll see. I'm excited about tonight's class. We have learned, Kariana, thus far, how we know for sure the Bible's true. Isn't it a delight that God gave us a way to know for sure this is true? I mean, He didn't just throw a book out there and say, just believe it. And we're supposed to believe Him telling us. I mean, He gave us real facts and evidence. The construction of the Bible shows us that there's no way man could have done this. That kind of perfect agreement is not humanly possible. The prophecies of the Bible, hundreds of them, Accurate to the last detail. I was reading another prophecy today about Israel being brought by the Lord back into the land. And I was over there and I saw the garden. It looks like Eden. It used to be the desert. The prophecy is exactly what God says it is. All these are the same. And then the claims of the Bible. Choosing holy men of God. Ordinary men. Ordinary people like us. that He chose to speak and preserve His Word down to us for this day. It's an amazing thing. Now you said at the end of that first lesson that you were convinced that whatever it says in this book is from God and not from men. Is that still good? I knew it would be. Well, in the second lesson, we saw how that God sees us. Now we went to a lot of verses of Scripture And we just wrote it down, what God said in these various places. Now let me share with you one special truth that is going to help you your entire life about understanding the Bible. You know, when God speaks to those people who do not have a relationship with Him, obviously the things that He promises them don't necessarily apply to those who do have a relationship. It's like my family. The things that I promise to my own kids don't apply to all kids. They just apply to my kids. That make sense? Well, the things that God promises to those with a relationship with God don't necessarily apply to those without one. So when you just open your Bible and you just point to a scripture and you read it, If there may be a promise or a principle laid out there, you won't know if that really applies to you unless you look at the context and see if God's talking to the lost people or if He's talking to the saved people. So this is one of the most basic fundamental principles in understanding your Bible that you'll ever get. And the truth of the matter is, without understanding this, no one can actually understand the Scriptures when they read. You've got to know who God's talking to to know if it fits and applies to you or not. Does that make sense to you? Well, here's what God says to those who have never placed their trust in Jesus. He says in Luke 19.10 that they're lost. He says in John 3 that they're condemned already, that they're unforgiven from Acts 13, that they are unrighteous, that they're dead in trespasses and sins, that they're children of the devil, and that they're headed to eternity in a lake of fire. And it gets worse because he says there's not a single thing that they can do about it to change it. That there's nothing that we in ourselves whatsoever can do. It's like we were discussing earlier, Ephesians 2. It's not of ourselves, it's the gift of God. So all the good works and all the good conduct in the world doesn't have anything to do with getting out of this column. Now the Bible says that there are people though, because of their faith in Christ, they are now saved. He says that they are justified. He says they're now forgiven. He's declared them righteous. They have eternal life. They're the children of God now. and they're going to heaven no matter what. That's a pretty wonderful group to be a part of, isn't it? Well, tonight we're going to look at what Jesus has done in order to move you from this group to this group. He is the only one that can do that. We can't do it. We can't help do it. There's nothing we can do that will affect it one way or the other. But Jesus Himself is the one who can get this done. And we're going to see exactly, the Bible tells us exactly how that works. Now, God has made a way for us to know where we stand. He's made a way for us to be moved from here to here. Now, the first thing we're going to learn about tonight is the power of God unto salvation. The power to get you from this point to this point. And the first verse of Scripture we're going to go to there begins in Romans chapter number 1. Here's what Paul writes. We'll begin reading with verse 15. He says, So as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, Now look at what this says, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. The Bible mentions here this term gospel twice in this passage. He says the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. So the gospel is the power that moves a person from lost to saved. That's what it says. It says that in the gospel, the righteousness of God, remember the righteousness of God that we learned about in our last lesson? The Bible says the gospel reveals God's righteousness to us. And it is from faith to faith, from that initial faith to faith to trust the Lord from everything. Now, notice that it is the power that gets people saved. Verse 17 tells us about the righteousness that we learned about. Do you know what is, Kariana, the gospel? I ask this question to everyone I teach the class, so I'm not picking on you, okay? What is the gospel? Now, what did you think about that for a few minutes? If the Gospel is what moves us from here to here, lost to saved, that means it's got to be just about the most important message in the world, doesn't it? Well, what is every TV and radio preacher supposed to be preaching now? Aren't they supposed to be preaching the Gospel? What is every pulpit in every church in America supposed to be preaching? Well, when I ask people this question, almost no one, I mean, like one out of 15 or 20, can tell me what the gospel is. We have done a really lousy job of making this clear to people. We really have, by and large, as preachers in churches, so to speak. Now, the gospel is given to us many times in Scripture. Hang on, man, I gotta fix this, it's driving me crazy. That's a short trip, too. All right, here we go. There are many places in the scripture the gospel is explained to us, but probably the clearest one of all is over here in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. These four verses make it very clear and concise what the Gospel actually is. And you'll see the same kind of language applied to it that we just read about in Romans. He says, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel, which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand, and look at this next phrase, by which also you are saved. That's exactly what Paul told us. It's the power that gets us saved. You go down here to verse number three, and you're going to see for yourself exactly what is the gospel. Here it is. Paul said, For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. The death and the burial and the resurrection of Jesus for our sins according to the Scriptures, is the good news that gets people saved. Now, I want to, as I write this down here, the death, the burial, and the resurrection. I want to bring out, Kariana, two special facts for you to notice in this message. The first one, it says that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. That gives us a way of verifying who the real Savior is. You know, there have been people coming across the continent and traveling around the world telling everybody that, I'm Him, I'm Him, I'm Him, I'm the Savior, I'm the One. We even have them in this modern day. Last year, there was some nut up in Houston claiming to be the Savior Messiah. And, you know, you got the Jim Jones's of the world, the guy that that you let all those people to suicide down in Ghana, and all these, and there'll be another one tomorrow. And then there'll be one who's really impressive. That's not Jesus. And we know he's the Antichrist, of course, and he's coming. So God gives us here a means of verifying who the real Savior is, just like He gave us a means of verifying what the real Scriptures are. Well, there are five different means given to us in the Bible to prove that this Jesus that we're reading about here in the New Testament is the real Messiah that we are to place our trust in. His death, first of all, we find it here, was exactly like the Old Testament said He would die. The Bible says that He would die according to the Scriptures. Now the scriptures say that he would be hung on a tree, that hands and feet would be pierced, and that he would die there as a curse, literally. And had Jesus been shot through with an arrow or beheaded or some other means of death, we would know that that wasn't really him. He was the wrong one. But he did die exactly like the scriptures say. You can go to Psalm 22 and read the details. more than a thousand years before Jesus died. Now, the second one, he was identified on at least two occasions by the literal voice of God from heaven with many witnesses. God spoke in an audible voice, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. He was identified by the miracles that he did. And I'm talking about real miracles. Lazarus was four days dead and Jesus raised him from the dead. Missing limbs and missing body parts and people that were healed. It was not like the Benny Hinn show. This was the real thing. And he was identified, the fourth one is he was identified with the real prophet of God on the scene who was the final prophet, John the Baptist. And John said something of Jesus that no one's ever said about anybody. He said, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. And then he was identified by his own claim in John chapter 8 verse 12 that he is the Savior when he told the, well actually several occasions that he did that. He did it in John chapter 4 and John chapter 8 verse 12. And so we have these five evidences, all of them adding up to the fact that this is the real Savior. Do you believe that Jesus of the Bible is really our Savior? I knew you would. Now, the second thing I want to bring to your attention is this little term right here. It says, and this kind of goes right over everybody's head sometimes, how that Christ died, what's it say? For our sins. You say, well, I knew that. He died for our sins. Well, I want you to think about that for a minute. Some people think that Jesus died for our healing. I've heard that preached on TV and lots of people say stuff like that. Jesus healed thousands of people. He didn't have to die to do that, did he? But Jesus didn't die for our healing. Jesus' power can heal people and death was not necessary to make that happen. Some people talk about, you know, preach a kind of a prosperity gospel and they talk about how Jesus died to solve our addictions and our marital problems and our financial issues. No, he didn't. The principles of God's Word will solve every one of our problems if we apply them. And it didn't take the death of the Lord to do that. See, Kariana, there's only one thing that could not happen unless Jesus died. Only one. What's the penalty of our sin? We learned it. Death. That's the only reason He died. There was no other reason for Him to go to the cross except our sin had to be paid for. When Jesus prayed in the garden, he said, Father, if there's any other way, it would be possible for it to pass for me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done. And there was no other way, so he simply gave himself to die. Now, it should come as no surprise to us that this is the first thing that God wants us to take care of. You know, a lot of times people come with problems. As a pastor, I hear all kinds of problems. But the problem, not a problem, the problem is our sin. And Jesus died to deal with that one. That make sense for you? So how did God deal with this payment for our sin? I have another sheet here that we're gonna move to in our lesson plan. And I have a verse of Scripture written out here for you to look at. This verse was given to us by John the Baptist. It's a quote from John 3, verse 36. And here it says, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. I've divided it up into three parts like we did when we diagrammed sentences back in grade school. Now, this last part right here. Can you give yourself everlasting life? Is there anything you can do that'll get that for you? No. So whose part is that? Who has to do that? Jesus. And he is God, isn't he? So this is God's part. All right? Did Jesus, the son, did he do his part? Yes, he did. He did his part on the cross. and beyond. The grave could not hold him. This believing thing here, whose part is that, Darion? That's your part, just like you said. Now, according to this verse, if you could be sure that you have done this, this believing part, you, because of God's unbreakable promise, You could also be sure that you have this, the everlasting life part. Does that make sense? Because God can't lie. His promises will be kept. Now before we go on, we've got to understand this believe word right here. I want to spend a little time on it because this word that you read over and over and over in the Bible is not the same word that you use every day when you say things like, I better take my coat because I believe it's going to rain today. Well, when you said that, that means it's for sure going to rain? It might rain, it might not rain. It could rain, it probably will rain, but it might not either. That's got a big question mark on it. The way we use this word is a very flexible way and it's not a solid terminology like You see any question marks on a sentence like this? No, there's nothing questionable about this. Whatever this believe thing is, it's a solid term. Well, this word believe is translated from a Greek word, and I've got it written here on your notes for you. In English, it's spelled and pronounced bestuo, P-I-S-T-E-U-O. If you look that word up in any Greek dictionary, they're all the same, and this is one of those, you know, I've got a little thing with word flaps that I use. Some words I call them hard words, and other words I call them soft words. Soft words can kind of mean one thing one time, and another thing another time, depending on how you use it in the application. Then there's these hard words that always mean the same thing every time, no matter what. Well, this word believe is one of those hard words. This is this thing is rock solid. Now, this word believe means to put in trust with it's more than just accepting that something is real or true. It means to trust in to depend on or to rely on. Now, there is an illustration that that I have used for many, many years. I don't think I put it in the book, so I'm gonna give it to you extra. And that is, preachers have been trying to come up with a way to describe belief forever. And you know, they got the wheelbarrow thing. You know, you believe I can walk across this tight wire with this wheelbarrow? And yeah, I believe it, well, get in the wheelbarrow, you know. And so that's all fun and that's good. But I'm gonna give you a practical illustration that I know you're gonna understand. It's exactly what this word means. You ever had a job? Never had a paycheck? Hey, give it down back there. What did you do with your paycheck? You saved it? You put it in the bank? You mean you took that money, that hard-earned money, and you went to the bank and you gave it to somebody you don't even know, and you just walked out like everything's cool and everything's happy? You did that, didn't you? That sounds pretty smart, doesn't it? That's what believe means. It means to put in trust with. You took that hard earned paycheck and you put it in trust with that, that teller at the bank, and you walked away with total confidence that that would be there when you need it. And sure enough, it was. This is what the word means. It means to put in trust with. When you put your trust in Jesus to save you from your sins, it means that you turn it over to Him and you walk away happy, knowing that He's gonna keep His Word 100% of the time. It's a wonderful description because it's exactly what it means to put in trust with. So, we know what that word means now. It's not just, oh yeah, I think that's true. No, it's more than that. So, we're going to note the order here. In Ephesians chapter 1, verse 12 and 13, it tells us how everybody who is saved got that way. And there are no exceptions to this, by the way. Ephesians chapter 1, verse 12, and this will use terminology that maybe will be a little bit clearer. Here's what it says. Now these Ephesians, notice what's happened, there's kind of a progression here. These are the people that in verse 8, for by grace are they saved. Right here it says they're saved. They used to be lost, they were dead in trespasses and sins. Now we go back and we find out what happened that moved them from dead in sins to saved. And here in verse 12 and 13 is what happened. Paul said that we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ. Now that terminology sounds a little more clear, doesn't it? In whom you also trusted after that you heard the word of truth, comma, now which, there's a lot of truth in here, right? So which truth are we talking about? The gospel of your salvation, which is how that Christ died and was buried and rose again and paid for your sins. In whom also after that you believed, or what, or trusted, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. Now this is the order, and it's never been different. People have to hear and understand the gospel. Nobody can get saved without knowing what Jesus did for them. Because you can't trust in something you don't know about, or that you're not sure of. That's why it's so important to believe the Bible, because the Bible tells us what Jesus did for us. And it's really the only way we have of being sure of it, because we're sure of God's word. So this order never, never changes. They heard the word of truth. They learned about the death, burial and resurrection. And then after they believed or placed their trust in him, they were sealed with the Holy Spirit. God put his spirit in them and never ever to leave. No one ever got saved any other way than this. Now, God has given us a way, Kariana, to know for sure that we are really, really, really saved. The book of 1 John, which is a book written exclusively to save people. You remember we learned that the things that God says to these people don't apply to these and vice versa? Well, this book's written completely and exclusively to people who really are saved. And here's what He tells us in this book of 1 John. I think it's my favorite book in the Bible because it's short and it's written to me. So that kind of settles it for me. It's just a wonderful, wonderful book. It's only five chapters. And when you get to the end of it, over here in the last chapter, God, through the Apostle John, tells us why He said it to us. And here's what He said. He says, these things have I written unto you that believe, or what? What's the word mean? Put trust in. In the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe, or what? Put trust in the name of the Son of God. Now, if you didn't know what that word means, that verse would be very confusing. What is that, a typo? And by the way, some of the modern translations class have left the last half out because they don't have brains enough to know that it's supposed to be there. So that's so much for the modern translations. But what's the first thing God tells us to trust in Jesus for? Everlasting or eternal life, right? Is that the beginning of trusting Jesus for us or the end of it? It's only the beginning, isn't it? After we trust Him to save us, then we trust Him for everything. All those other promises that are to us, that's the beginning of our one-by-one trust in Christ for every one of those things. So, the verse is a wonderful verse that makes perfect sense. So, what we're going to do now, we're going to go back and see what He wrote in order for us to know that we're saved. 1 John 5.13, here's what he wrote. We're going to go back to verse number 1 now. This verse says, Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. That's kind of like this verse we read here in John. He that believes on the Son has everlasting life. Born of God is a term that we could have easily put down on this list over here. Born of God. Let's see. 1 John 5.1. And there are so many we didn't write down. There's lots and lots more. This verse says, whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ. What's the Christ mean, Tariana? You know what it means? It's the New Testament term, the Greek term for the Old Testament term Messiah. It means He's the one that the Old Testament promised that would come and die and be buried and rise again and be able to pay for our sins in full as that propitiation that we've talked about in our last lesson. So whoever believes that Jesus is that one, whoever puts their trust in the fact, that's what the word means, that Jesus is the Christ, is, not will be, but is born of God. Just like he says, hath, being present tense, everlasting life in this verse. Okay, so now we're gonna go on down to verse number 10. And this verse sounds similar to the others, but this one has a different subject at the end. This one says, he that believes on the Son of God, he that believes on the Son, whosoever believes in Jesus. This one says, he that believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself. Now, what's a witness for you? Have you ever been a witness of something? Maybe you were standing in a corner and you saw a car wreck And this guy said, no, my brake lights were on. And this guy said, no, you weren't stopped. And the policeman asked you who it was. And you said, that guy's lying. That guy's telling the truth. That kind of thing. Well, a witness has to be there and know what happened. And you were there. You know what did or did not really happen. Well, the Bible says that whoever has believed has the witness somewhere. Kariana, I got saved in 1977. When were you born? We'll change the subject now. I got saved in 1977, and when I got saved, there were three in the room. I was there. Pastor Lewis Turk was there, who was showing me what Jesus did for me in the Bible. And I found out later that Jesus was there. Because he said, for two or three are gathered in my name, and boy, we were. He was there, and I found out he was present. Now, of those three that were present, who knew whether I really put my trust in Jesus or not? Jesus did, for sure. But who else knew? Did the pastor know? No, he didn't. But I knew. I know what I did or did not do. And that's what he's talking about. He says, whoever has believed has the witness in him or herself. So this leads us, Tariana, to three logical questions. But before we get to these three logical questions, I want to explain this line that I've got down here on our lesson sheet. This is, we call it a lifeline. I'm going to, with your help, I'm going to spell your name. R-I-Y-A-N-A. That's almost how I would have done it. Kariana, you were born at age zero, right? And you've lived all the way up to now, and somewhere out here in the future, we don't know exactly how long. The line's kind of short, isn't it? Somewhere out here in the future, you're going to die. Happens to everybody, right? So this represents your life. Now, according to what we read in Ephesians a while ago, according to what we read, and I've kind of lost my place in my book here, but I'm just gonna go ahead and teach the class. I'll worry about that part later. Somewhere, if you're saved, it had to happen between zero and now, right? So here's the first logical question. Based on what you've seen for yourself in the Bible, what's the answer to this question? Are you saved? It's a yes, no, or I'm not sure. There's only three possible answers. What's your answer? I'm not sure. OK, that's fair enough. All right. The next logical question, the next logical question is when were you saved? You see, if we all start out over here, in this column, and now we're saved, then there had to be a time, like, which would be right there, that God put us that way. No one can be born of God, nobody can be born without having a birthday, right? Having a time when that happened. So, the next logical question has to be, when were you saved? So what I'm gonna ask you is this, since you're not sure, I'm gonna ask you about, have you had any kind of a spiritual experience between when you were a little girl, maybe back over here somewhere, and now, that you thought it might have been when you got saved, that you thought that's what happened to you? Have you? When was that? You don't have to remember the date, just roughly when was it? A year ago? All right, any other spiritual experience besides that that you might have thought was when you got saved? Three years ago? Okay, any other besides those? Okay, all right, fair enough. Now, I'm gonna give the class something right now, just take a minute, class. No matter what else you do, you do not ever, ever, ever, ever, ever neglect what I'm going to say next. And it may be a little hard for you at first, but do not neglect it. It is essential. Ariana, what you just told me, and you tell me if you agree with this, that either you got saved three years ago when this happened, or you got saved a year ago when this happened, or you're not saved right now, one of those three has to be true. Is that right? Okay, good. Now, tell me about three years ago, because the next question is how were you saved? Where were you three years ago when this happened? I was just told if you're going to hell, you didn't get saved. What happened after that? Were you at church? You were at church somewhere? Okay. What did they tell you to do? Or what happened after that? Except Jesus in your heart? Did you understand how to do that? No. Kind of puts an X on it, don't it? What about this thing a year ago? What happened? Were you talking to him about some real problems and personal things that were happening then? You don't have to tell us what those were. Yeah. Okay. Now, that's a good start. At that time, did you clearly understand about what Jesus had done in order to pay for our sins and how that you, you did understand that then? Kind of maybe? Okay. And so you basically told God that you wanted Him in your life? Okay. You asked Him to be in your life? Okay. All right, I'm going to show you something. Here. Why didn't you ask me for that? I just gave it to you, right? All right, hand it back to me. Please give me the pen. I want this pen in my life. Please give me the pen. Goofy, isn't it? Trusting and asking are not the same thing, are they? They're two entirely different things. Makes sense, doesn't it? What's God tell us to do to be saved? Here's what I'm going to ask you to do. You ready to settle this forever? We're going to take a time out like we do at the ball game. And everybody in this room is going to be as quiet as a mouse. And I want you to have just a moment with just you and the Lord and nobody else. But you're not going to go ask him for anything, because he's already given you everything. He died for you. He loves you. But you're going to go, and from your heart, and you can either use words or not. It does not matter. And you're going to put your trust. right here tonight in what Jesus did for you on that cross. Lord, I am trusting you right here and right now. I understand. I know what you did. So I'm depending on you forever. Starting right now. Ready to do that? Go ahead. I'll wait right here. Trust What's God say you have who you're gonna believe I Once somebody comes along and tells you, Kariana, you can't know for sure that you're saved, what are you gonna tell them? Oh, yes I can. You got it in writing from the Lord himself. Amen, sweetheart. See this date right here? 8.04 p.m. 5.16.14. That's your spiritual birthday. You're my little sister. Normally we don't do this, but I think you all give God a hand tonight. Class is over. That's the end of the lesson. Next week we're going to talk about, now that we belong to God, how we can walk with the Lord. on the inside. You have to kind of have a strong heart to do this very often. I think you can understand why we don't ever get tired of doing this. We don't ever get tired of seeing God do this. God did this. Nobody else. God has been preparing her her whole life for this moment. All those spiritual experiences, getting her ready. She learned things. And now the appointment comes. The understanding becomes clear. Simple. Trust. I remember when I got saved, the preacher asked me to get down on my knees beside the couch and pray and ask Jesus to save me. But he made a mistake. It's no mistake because God doesn't make mistakes. But He just showed me in the Scriptures that if I put my trust in what Jesus did for me, that He would save me and save me forever. And so I got down on the couch, beside the couch, and I was trying to follow Him in prayer, and I have no idea what I said. But I know what I said from here to the Lord. Do you ever have a gotcha moment? You catch somebody and they say something and then, like the salesman makes a mistake and he says that, alright, you can have it for 40 when it's 95 instead. Okay, I'll take it. Well, that was what I said to the Lord. I said, Lord, I just saw it. I just saw it. That if I put my trust in You, and Lord, You know I can't live it. So that's it Lord, I'm just trusting you. And that was it, that's all. And I didn't use words to do that. But he gave me a new life that morning. Just like he just gave you one. Wonderful does not describe what we get to be a part of, boys and girls. This is a little tool, that's all it is. But you're going to get to experience God's power over and over and over again. And we're going to see Karyon in heaven 10,000 years from today. We'll still be grinning about it tonight. Now, Kariana, the next thing the Bible tells us to do after we get saved is to get baptized. And we're going to learn all about that in not the next lesson, but the one following it. There are no other requirements, though. So you can use your own judgment as to when you want to do that. We keep the water warm around here all the time just for this particular reason. But it's going to get a little bit tough now. You see, before we're saved, Our spirit is kind of dead in sins and the calls of our flesh just kind of, you know, we get a little twinge of conscience once in a while. But now things are different because God made your spirit alive and righteous. And now you're going to have the fight between a righteous spirit inside and a unchanged flesh outside and the battle really starts now. But we're here to help you fight that battle and pray for you and teach you how to say yes to the Spirit and no to the flesh. That's what our whole job as a Christian is learning how to do. And we'll start that in our very next lesson, learning how to walk with the Lord and walk in fellowship with Him. And this tonight is the beginning of a whole awesome new life. It will never get boring, I promise you that. Class, okay. I think we need a break. Take a little break, come back, and we're going to discuss some of the things that we went through in this lesson, and why, and a couple of things we didn't use, and why you may need to use those later. So get you some coffee, a mint, I think all we have are mints tonight. Okay class, we're gonna start back up after our break now. I've turned my microphone back on. We're gonna be going back through the lesson, and we're gonna discuss some of the things variations that we may want to use illustration wise, and we're going to talk about some of the principles behind what we're doing and how we're doing it. These principles are important. They're essential. They're going to keep our student from confusion. As you saw in action, And of course, if you were on this side of the table, you can see in someone's countenance if they're a little confused or if they're really clear or not. I dare say that Kariana was very clear on pretty much every point we talked about tonight. There was no misunderstanding. The illustration with the giving your paycheck to the bank teller, That's just a very simple thing. But it is the exact duplicate of pistou in our culture. It's what we do. It's exactly the description of how it works. You know, we always seem like we want to make all of our illustrations have a flair and a something that... Like the wheelbarrow on the Tiger Grove. That was a better illustration. I had never heard that before. I think that's good. It's it's it's okay, but but it's got people thinking about And you know, I mean, you know, it has it has a little negative effect to it and we don't want any negative effect here No, we want it. We want something that they've already done that they're already doing all the time. And yeah, that is what I'm doing Now it's simple now. I know what to do When I say, now you're going to put your trust in the Lord, she knew and understood exactly what I'm talking about. There's no confusion. Satan, he gets to get out of dodge on this one because he's already lost this battle. It's simple now, and she understood it clearly. Because she's done it, the Lord only knows how many times, at least twice, right? Some of you, like John, have done it multitudes of times. Oh well, they might. Alright. Let's just go to page 30 in your book. Your instruction teacher's manual here. The gospel is the power. The gospel does not lead us to the power. The gospel does not point the way. The gospel is the power. The Bible says that being born again by the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever. Peter told us that. This is the part of the Word of God that we're born again by. 1 Corinthians 15, by which also you are saved. This is the means by which Kariana just got saved. That message of what Jesus did when He died and was buried and rose again. If He wasn't risen again, He wouldn't have been here at this table with us getting this job done in her heart. But He is. What an awesome Savior. So it is the power. Don't let that slip by. You don't have to make a big deal out of it necessarily, but just make sure that you don't drift off into another view from it. The righteousness of God. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. We just learned about the perfect righteousness of God, how we receive it as a free gift in our last lesson. Now we get to see it right here connected with the Gospel as this is what shows it to us. This is what reveals it to us. Revealed is a little stronger word than manifested. Manifested as we know about it, revealed as we're facing it. That sort of thing. from faith to faith as it is written. Now, the reason I want to go over this is because if you clearly understand the process that takes place when a person is brought from dead in sins to alive in the Lord forever, if you understand the process that's going on, you're going to be able to articulate it and you're going to be able to prevent someone from getting off the track. and counting on magic words. You realize that pray this prayer after me is nothing more than somebody trying to recite magic words and believe that something happened because of it? Salvation is a transaction that takes place in the heart. But with the heart, man believeth unto the righteousness of God. It's just an amazing process. And the clearer we understand it, the more familiar we are with exactly what takes place, the better we're going to be as a guide, because that's all we are, is a guide. So we go from our initial faith in Christ to save us, then from greater to greater and greater faith after that. The clarification that faith in Christ has to be, first of all, foremost about our sins, Not about all the other stuff. People are so cluttered up in their lives. There's so much baggage. There's addictions. There's marriages. There's relationship explosions. There's every kind of problem that you can think of. And they're all burdened and weighed down with it. When you've got one of these major crises going on in your life, what do you think about 24-7? I mean, you go to sleep thinking about it. You dream about it. You wake up thinking about it. And you're more depressed then than you were before. Well, it consumes you. So we've got to get people's mind off of the crisis they're in to look at the crisis they were born in and the one that's the basis for all the rest of the crisis. And that is our sins. Destruction and misery are in our ways. And our sins is what did that to us. This sin nature that we got from Adam. Vinnie? just a good way to kind of think of it, that addressing all the crises before you've addressed the sin is like spraying perfume on a casket. You address the outside while the inside continues to rot. You haven't addressed the problem wherein it's inside the casket. You've addressed the outside. That's a good way to look at it. Now, the idea, there's a confrontation, a little minor, little sneaked in confrontation, that's planted here on page 31. And I asked Kariana, do you know what the Gospel is? And everybody thinks they ought to know what the Gospel is. What do most people say when you ask them, what's the Gospel? The Word of God, the Bible. It's not the Gospel. It contains the Gospel. Just to give you a little bit of extra, to kind of sharpen your understanding. Go to John chapter 1. You've got the Bible set up. Just go to John chapter 1. We just studied this two weeks ago in Bible class. So it's going to be fresh to some of you. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So who's Jesus? He's the Word. Now John is addressing Jesus in his role as the Word of God. Now, when you go down to verse 12, the common preacher mistake is to say, come receive Jesus and be saved. That's not how you're saved. But as many as received Him, Him who? Based on the context. Him the Word. That's what the context says. That's the Him we're talking about. To them gave He power to become the sons of God. Where's the power of God unto salvation to become the sons of God? It's in what? It's in the Gospel, which is where? In the Word. So when you receive the Word, you didn't get saved, but you received the power to become saved. To become a child of God. It's pretty powerful, isn't it? And that is a process there that is just almost universally skipped over and neglected. But if we understand that, we know that first of all, we accept the Word is coming from God. Now we're going to get in the Word and find out where the power is and apply that power unto salvation. Then we get to apply the power to all the circumstances after we get saved. This is, it doesn't get cooler than getting saved, but it sure is a wonderful first step and a wonderful process. Okay, what's every TV preacher supposed to be preaching, the gospel? Well, if that's true, how come you don't know? I didn't say it like that, I was nicer. But it got across. And it's like a, wow, I should know this. But I don't. And, and it's a little bit of a wake up call. It's one of those say, remember, God doesn't think like we think and he doesn't do things like we do things and you're going to get some surprises and you're going to learn some new things. So this is one of them. And, and we, why, why am I doing that? Why am I bringing out that confrontation? Now I want you to understand I messed up lots and lots of classes before I figured out these little things. I mean, this goes back thousands of sessions, literally. Why am I doing this? Why am I bringing out this confrontation? No, it's more than that. I'm going to tell you, this is like a magician giving away the secrets, okay? But I'm going to give it to you because you're special. Nine times out of ten, the person sitting across the table from me is lost. It's going to be that way with you too, most of the time. It's one in ten or so, or two in ten maybe, that turns out to really be saved. But they think they're saved. Right? They thought she was. But by the time we got to the question, she wasn't sure now. And this is where I first begin to build the doubt that needs to be there in order to deal with the real problem. Because if the gospel's the power that gets you saved, and you find out later that you didn't even know what that was, what's two and two add up to now? Scary. Exactly. So now you understand the madness behind the plan. Now you understand why that's in there and what it does. It's building, it's cutting the legs out from under what Satan has been building her whole life. And there's, this has all been thought through. So I know it seems like it maybe hasn't, but it's supposed to seem like it hasn't. But that's what you're doing. And I do, we ask this question every time we teach the lesson. It's a little confrontational, and some of you hate confrontation. Dee Dee Steele. No. I don't like confrontation either. That's why I smile when I'm doing it, so it's not so confrontational. And I'm not much of a smiler anyway, but anyway. So you understand why we're doing that, right? So you're never going to leave that out. All right. OK. The first Corinthians 15, by which also you are saved. That phrase just nails what Paul said in Romans. I mean, just solidifies it big time. Here again, we're told that the gospel is the means by which we're saved. Defines it, of course, the death, burial, and resurrection for our sins. Always include that for our sins. When we bring out the two special things to notice within the Gospel, what are those two things? First of all, the what? Death. Well, no. Two special things to notice in the death, burial, and resurrection for our sins according to the Scriptures. One, it's a means of verifying that the Savior is real. Now, I really don't need to do that at this point. I mean, we've already done that in Lesson 1 by proving that the Bible is true and it says He is. That's really enough. So we're just adding bricks on the foundation here to solidify that this is all about Jesus, and He is the One, and He is the Power, and He is the Source, and He's the All in All. And then, for our sins part, this particular part of this, how many of you ever before hearing this thought about Well, you knew Christ died for our sins, right? I mean, how many times have you heard that said? So many times, it's like it's one word instead of a sentence with parts. But yet, understanding that for our sins means nothing else but for our sins. He didn't die for all these other things. And the fact that He could do anything, literally, do you believe that God can do anything? I mean, yeah, He doesn't sin. There are some things he won't do, right? But he can do anything. But the fact that he could not pay our debt unless he went to the cross. No, he couldn't do that. So that's the only exclusive, absolutely singular reason that Christ died. Now, what is that? What is that plant in Karayama's mind, in your students mind? It plants that as being the number one thing that you have to think about and make sure about and deal with no matter what. This is, and we use this sentence down here, it's over here on page 33. It should therefore, bottom of the page, come as no surprise that God is unwilling to talk to us about our other issues until first we address the issue of our sin. And that just, you know, this is all building, building, building to a preparation to a point. So how then does God deal with the payment for our sin? And we turn the chart over and we look at John 3.36. I'm so glad John the Baptist said that. And you just can't get any more concise than what he gave us right there. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. The three parts. Understanding the word believe. There is a, I don't know what to call it, maybe a fear. There is a fear among preachers, among Bible teachers to to deal with the fact that the word believe in the Bible is not the same word we use every day. It's like if we say that we're doubting God's word or something, which is ridiculous. We're clarifying God's word. We're not casting doubt on God's word. But it's not. It's not by any stretch of the imagination the same word that we use the way we use it in our culture. How many times can you think of a way that you use the word believe today in your own conversation? Something you said that I believe da da da da da or can you believe that da da da da da or? I don't believe in Santa Claus. I don't believe in Santa Claus. Well that actually fits Pasteel pretty good. You don't trust him either. He don't ever bring me mail. We all use the word probably daily and don't realize how many times we do it. But we always use it the same way. And it always has a question mark on it. Now, if the way we use the word always has a question mark on it, and the way God uses the word never has a question mark on it, we better clarify the difference. And that's what we must do there. So don't get lazy about that part. Actually, there's no part in here that we dare get lazy about. They're all important. Let's go on here to, at first you've got to understand the word believe. The illustrations that we use here are, we see a dark cloud and we say, I believe it's going to rain. Well, I know that's just so simplistic and it's, you know, but the thing about these illustrations, some of them are silly, a little goofy, but they always, 100% of the time, work. They always get the job done. Kariana, when I told you about the school zone thing yesterday in our class, it was kind of a goofy little story, wasn't it? And I asked you if the judge would let me go. You were kind of smirking a little bit. I noticed. That's what you were supposed to be doing. It was totally ridiculous to think the judge would let me go for that, wasn't it? What we did, we undercut and destroyed Satan's biggest, most valuable weapon, and that weapon is religion. And we ripped it to shreds. in her mind and actually ridiculed it to the point that she would never even consider thinking that doing good is going to have anything to do with whether she gets to heaven or not. When Paul said that he would be a fool for Christ, I think that might be a little bit what he's talking about. He may, you know, if I have to get a little ridiculous to get a point across to where you're going to really get it, then so be it. I'll just be ridiculous. So we'll just be happy about it. All right. Do you see any kind of a maybe or a question mark on a statement like this verse of scripture? And every single time? Nope. There's no question marks on this. Something has to be different then. And the difference is what the word means. To put in trust with. I have checked about every Greek dictionary there was, and they all use that phrase toward the end of the definition. And it's just, it is the root final meaning of that. Now let me give you a little bit of, a Greek dictionary reference here. Pistou, do you know what the root word of the Greek word, the root word of pistou is in the Greek? Pistou is a verb. What's the noun? It's the Greek word pistis. And I wasn't cussing when I said that, okay? It's the Greek word pistos. Pistos is almost always in the New Testament translated to the word faith. Pistouo is the verb form of pistos and it's translated belief. Faith is believing. And belief is faith. They're exactly, they're like joined at the hip. They can't be separated one from the other. When it says, for by grace are you saved through faith, You could easily say and translate it through believing and it would be the same exact accuracy in the translation because it's the same terminology. Exactly. Does that make sense? Does that help you get a solid grip on this thing? Okay. The order of salvation. Now this is extremely important. This is going to establish the ability of your student to to say, no, I didn't get saved three years ago. And no, I didn't get saved one year ago. Because the order is not there. This order is extremely important, and it's laid out right there in Ephesians so perfectly for us. First, they heard the Word of Truth. Now, there's a lot of truth. Remember when we asked what the Gospel was, and most of the time the student says it's the Word of God? Well, see, we're right back to that scenario. They heard the Word of Truth, the Word of God. Well, which truth? Comma, there's a comma after it. And then it specifies which truth. And that truth was the Gospel of our salvation. And that ties salvation to that message again. It just keeps, keeps driving this point home. And comma, then which when you, after you believed, now check the word, after you believed. That means, and everybody sees it, Kariana saw it, you saw it, nobody got saved before they understood the gospel. You only get saved after you understand the gospel. You can't get the horse in front of the cart there. Another, we're cutting Satan's tricks out from under him to get to where she really is. And we're working our way through this thing. And it's not a, there's no accidents in here. Okay, then whom after they believed. Now there's one cool thing I don't really bring out in the lessons, but it's really fun for you to know and for me to know. It doesn't say in what after they believed. It says in whom after they believed. It says they must understand or believe the gospel, and then it calls it a whom, not a what. That's pretty cool, isn't it? It's Jesus. It's all Jesus. So, then God gives us a way to know for sure that we really are saved. Before we get into going through some of this, and there's several principles we're gonna review over that, do you have any questions or comments so far? I didn't give you a chance to get in on this yet. I was hoping to make it earlier. Just as a reminder, page 32. Yeah, that same year right there again. It says 1 Peter 1, 17, 18. It should be 2 Peter. We have a typo in here again? Yeah. You know how many times we proofread this thing? I know. How many times? Which page is it, Harley? Page 32. Second paragraph from the bottom. It can feel like a trick if you start looking for the scripture. What is it, 2nd Peter? It's 2nd Peter instead of 1st Peter, 1, 17, and 18. Okay. Where it says he was identified literally by the voice of God from heaven on two occasions. Yeah, it is 2nd Peter. Obviously. Okay. Make that note in your book so that you'll have your typo corrected. And we'll try to get it fixed on the next reprint. We're done. four of these pre-prints so far. I think we ought to be able to, maybe before Jesus comes, get it all corrected. Maybe not, I don't know. We fix it one session, and then the next one it comes right back in. I don't know how that happens, but anyway. Okay, any others? Anybody find any other typos, please. Don't be shy. Okay. God's given us a way to know for sure that we are saved. 1 John 5, verse 13. Notice how the verse is now understandable because you know what believe means and it wasn't really clear to anyone without understanding what believe means. It really affirms the necessity of understanding that term. Imagine you trust Jesus for eternal life, and then you get to trust Him once you have it. And Kariana, this is you now. Now you get to trust Him for everything. I mean, for a family, for your home, for a fella, for everything. No fella anytime soon, though. None soon. None soon. I mean, you get to trust Him for everything. And the promises are very specific. I have so much joy watching God do what he said he would do when we do what he told us to do. It is the most exciting part of life, I think, just watching God do what he said he would do as a result of response from us doing what he told us to do. And the first one, we'll talk, we'll get into that next week, in the week after. Okay, first John 5-1, is a verse much like John 3, 36. Whosoever believes or trusts in that Jesus is the Christ, meaning the promised one who would die to save us, is born of God. Which means saved, justified, forgiven, declared righteous, passed from death to eternal life, and many, many other terms. Maybe some of you guys that are just, you know, kind of like bookworm type of people would just like to start through the Bible sometime and just write down all the time, every time God calls it a different thing. Just to see how big that list really is. It's a lot bigger than the one we made here. Redeemed. Anyway, another day. There's another statement similar to this one, 1 John 5, 10. This one says, whoever believes has the witness in himself. We're establishing a premise by which we're going to examine and dissect where she is. I'm not going to tell her she's not safe. She's going to do it. Yes. Let me reiterate in the makeup of belief of another perception that was presented to me, which makes sense. We believe in Japan. I don't know how many of us have been to Japan, but we believe in Japan. I can't prove or disprove Japan, but I believe in Japan. I believe in the fact that it exists. And I also have never seen a blue whale. Really? But I believe that this creature exists. Well, Harley, most people have it. And all those things are good. Let me check this page, please. I can also, let me throw the element of belief in Jesus. I believe in a blue whale. I believe in Japan. I believe in Jesus. Now can I have faith in Japan? Can I have faith in a blue whale? No. The only one I can have faith on is in Jesus. And so there is a distinction of believing in faith in Jesus. And that was the presentation that was made to say Sometimes we sort of correlate them to be meaning the same thing. In fact, they are relative, but you can only trust in God. You cannot trust in Japan, and you cannot trust in a blue whale. The only way you can trust is in God, and that is through Jesus Christ. I definitely don't trust in Japan. And those are good, and I don't have any problem with those things. The reason the reason we're using the ones we're using and believe me, I've pretty much tried them all. I mean, I, I believe in George Washington. He was first president. I use that one a long time. But I but I'm not trusting him for anything. You know, but one thing you said, you know, I believe in Japan, but I can't prove well, I can see this is this is the one thing we got going for us. We can prove what we're talking about Jesus. Let me show you something. This goes back to verse 1, lesson 1. Faith is the substance of things not seen by the evidence that they exist. But this is the point. Faith is not based on just accepting something as true because faith is based on substance and it's based on evidence. And we have the substance and we have the evidence And the substance and evidence equals proof. I have proven to Kariana and to countless others in lesson one, using these three means, that this Bible is God's Word. And they have accepted that evidence and been able to trust what it said. And it's essential because you cannot, now hear me, you cannot trust in something you're not sure about. You may want to. You may try to. You may say, oh, Holy Spirit, please help my unbelief. They did in the Bible. But unless you know about it, unless you know it's true, you can't test it. It's not possible to do that the way we're made. One of the biggest arguments that I hear from a non-believer is, well, I just can't have blind faith in something. I think that we all just have blind faith and we have faith based on evidence. Real faith is not blind at all. It's one of their favorite arguments. I can't have blind faith in something. I have to see it. I have to have evidence. I think I got the answer to this. What about that they believe or don't believe in a particular segment. Like, I go for all this, but I'm still having trouble with the virgin bird. Well, here's the thing. If you do your job right in lesson one, I mean, dude, well, it's gone. I'll never doubt it. It'll never come up. I mean, I've got I've got I never kept score but I've been doing this 37 years and I've been doing it regular and I got thousands of lessons. And if you do that job right in lesson one, it does, it'll never, nobody comes back and say, well, I believe this, but not this. Once they accept the book, and it's almost magic, but once their spirit hears them say it, it's done. It's like a sign in blood or something. even a piece of the Word, then you have to realize who you're really doubting. You're not doubting a book. You're doubting Jesus in the flesh. And that's a little more harsh for someone who may think they're close to becoming a believer. They don't want to say, well, I don't doubt Jesus, but I just doubt a part of the Word. And in that first lesson, you have to establish that the Word is Jesus. Let me give you a Mark 24. We could come up with all these things that, well, they might say this, or this, or this, or this. But the fact of the matter is, go out there and do the job, because 99% of everything I worried about never happened. And it doesn't. What you're going to get to see is exactly what you just saw. And you're going to get to see it over, and over, and over, and over again. I'm not I'm not trying to sell you on it. This is the best plan there is. I'm sure there's some other one out there somewhere that's better. But until until the Lord hands it to me, I'm staying with what he what I know that works every time and never fails. Not to change subjects, but Phyllis just messaged me and she wants us to before we leave today, we could lift up her daughter in prayer. Who is that? Yeah, yeah. Amen. Yeah, I prayed for earlier today. We can do that. Sure. Okay, let's let's keep going here. This means of salvation. What is a witness? You have the witness in yourself. We get to the three logical questions. Everybody understands that when something is logical, it's acceptable, right? It's scientific. It's proper. If it's logical. These questions are logical questions. What is logical about the questions? I said they were, so help prove me right. What's logical about the questions? First question is, are you saved? Is it logical that you've learned about how people get saved and you should be able to answer it, right? It's kind of logical, isn't it? You've already established a need. The word here points out to you, and that's not only the necessity, but how you go about doing it. Yeah. Now, the second question is almost super logical. I mean, it's almost so logical it goes with no need to explanation. So if you start out on this side of the page, or over there would be this side of the page, and now you're on the other side of the page, there had to be a time that God put you there, right? Now, how many times have you talked to somebody about the Lord and they don't have a birthday that they trusted Christ, but they're Christians? No, they're not. There are no children that were born into God's kingdom without a birthday. No matter what. establishes one more time that birthday must be there. Now you very often will not, it's wonderful to go through basic Bible truths because you get the time and the date written down. But most people don't have that. Most people, I know it was a Thursday night because that's when pastor went on visitation. And I'm pretty sure it was in February and toward the end of the month, but that's about the best I can do. But it was 1977. I'm pretty sure about that. But I don't remember the date and the time. I know it was night. So, you know, I was there. I just wasn't watching the calendar or the clock. You were born at night. I was, but not last night. Yeah, amen. Now, the lifeline. Explained in the lifeline. Oh, it is so simple. There is another part of the lesson that gets in here sometimes. That's in regard to the lifeline. Let me try to get up and go over to the board. Okay, there it is. You were born at age zero, you've lived up to now, and out here it's dead. Why don't we make the line short at the end? Did I talk about life being short and pipes of vapor and we don't know how much time we've got? I didn't say any of those things. But I did. A lot of times, a lot of times. Some of you probably did say, how come it's so short over here? Well, you never know, do you? And yeah, we make it short. but the lifeline. Now there is something else that you get to, that you can teach here if in the process of the lessons it kind of comes up or there's a question or whatever. All right? God, and if you're ever teaching a Calvinist, you're going to need this, okay? God is not down here on the line like we are. We're subject to the line. We can't get off the line. We're right here and we can't ever be anywhere but right here. But God's not on that line. God is here. And He sees the past and the present and the future. And He's in the past and the present and future all the time. So there's nothing that escapes the eye or the plan, or the purpose of God. This whole thing is about God. Now, why is that so important? Why do we need to understand that? Kariana is, hasn't lived a long time, like some of y'all. And she hasn't had And thank the Lord because I wish I got saved her age instead of 10 more years later. Next 10 years was a miserable 10 years did a lot of damage and damage is still here. So I'm praising the Lord that she got saved tonight. But there are numerous spiritual experiences that are part of leading up to the appointment that happened tonight. In your case, there were probably many more than these two that she brought out. How many of you thought you were saved? And Carly did too. But how many of you definitely thought you were saved before you got saved? Most of the time, it's the case. Now, what happens when somebody challenges your salvation. It's body language. Look at John, there it is right there. Alright, I'm done. That's it. We're through. That's what happens. But if you can show in a kind, loving, gentle way that God was in charge of all those spiritual experiences, When we have spiritual experiences that look like salvation that weren't, most of the time, I didn't need to tonight, but most of the time, I'm going to explain that all of those experiences were God getting you, bringing you to this table tonight. Every one of those is what God used to get you here tonight. They're not, well, you made a bad mistake and you're just stupid because you just didn't get saved back there like you said you thought you did. No, we're not going to have that kind of conversation because in reality, that's not how it is. In reality, it is, this is what God used to get you here. That makes it a good thing. That makes that Billy Graham crusade that I went to at age 16 and they told me that I was saved and prayed the prayer and signed the card and went out lost because I didn't understand and they didn't take the time to help me understand. That makes it a good thing. You know why? Because that's what makes me not let anybody fall through the cracks that I'm teaching. I never forgot what it was like to fall through the cracks and go away lost when I shouldn't have. And I don't let people do that by the grace of God, and I can help them. And it changed my entire ministry. So all of those experiences were a good thing, and if you can show that God was in charge of that too, and He was, it's not a lie, it's the truth, then that all of a sudden is no longer a confrontation, and it just is a wonderful step to the point of now, which is exactly where we want to be. Is that helping a little bit? That can be a goldmine of value when you're teaching these classes. Okay. All right. You stand with me. Anybody not fall asleep yet? We're okay. Keep the coffee coming. All right. The lifeline. And if you see that you're going to need it you can you can put God up here where yet where he is anyway And let them see that he is he was right there in that other experience even though it wasn't salvation It was part of the process Okay How were you saved? This one this particular one right here, and you probably need to make some notes on this this one is It's like wrestling a bear. You never know which way it's going to move. And you got to be ready. How were you saved? Do you remember where you were? Were you in church? Were you talking with another Christian? But you have to let them tell you in detail. You've got to be a really good listener right here. I know preachers think they're supposed to preach and all that, but you've really got to be a listener. What's the principle about the listening thing? Paul said, does not nature itself teach you something? What does nature teach you about listening? You've got one mouth, you've got two ears. You've got to do at least twice as much listening as you do talking. Okay. Alright, there's your principle. Were you in church? Let them tell you. in detail. They're going to tell you almost every time exactly where it all went wrong. The people that do get saved in church. Now I've taught a lot of people that got saved and they got saved in church. And it's a good thing and people do get saved in church. But I will say at least 9 out of 10 of the people that got saved in church. Y'all quit cutting up over there. Where do you think it happened? During the service, but when during the service? Altar call? No. No. When we dissect it, when we dissect it and and go back and see there's two things that happen, there's two things present when a person gets saved. One is a clear understanding of the gospel, and the other is from the heart, the trust. Nine out of ten get saved right there in their seat before they stand up and go forward. Almost every time. If a person can't remember that exact date and time, then I'd say, well, they're going to hell. I don't believe that's what we said. But remember, you should speak to eternity. You don't have to worry about what you went through in that car wreck. I'm not sure you remember who you are. But anyway. But but you will remember where you were and what you did. You may not remember when. I can't remember what day it was. It could have been the 17th, but I don't know. But I know I was there, and I know what I did. I put my trust in Jesus. Now, there's two criteria. Everyone, you gotta, remember when I stopped you right in the middle? And you wouldn't think that I would do that, I'd be worried about it, but I'm not. Because the Lord's in charge of this, I don't really have to worry about it. And I told him, whatever you do, whatever you do, do not neglect this. Do not leave this out. What did I tell you? It's that important. Who can remember what it was? Do not leave this out. The order. There's something out that there's something else once once she gave me her spiritual experiences, and we put them down on the line on that timeline What did I tell you do not no matter what you do do not leave this out I? I even stopped right in the middle of the lesson and gave you this. I think what happened was you said that, but then what you said was right in the book. So we're like, OK, we're not going to skip it. OK. That's what I did. I speak for me. All right. Well, I'm going to reiterate it one more time. So you put a star by it or something. But whenever she gives me those two dates, or if they might be 10. I've never had 10, but it could be. There's a lot of spiritual experiences in people's lives. But every one of these. So I said, now, Kariana, see if you agree with me about this. So what we're saying is that you either got saved here three years ago, or you got saved and you point on the line to it, or you got saved right here one year ago, or you're not saved right now. One of those has to be true. And she said, yes. And if she just sits there or he just sits there and doesn't say anything, You say, Kariana, you either what you're saying and what you're telling me and make sure you agree with me on this. You either got saved here three years ago, or you got saved here one year ago. Or you're not saved right now. One of those three has to be true. Is that right? And she said yes. When she said yes. She just agreed to question those days. She signed on and agreed to question those days. How many of you would probably get offended if somebody wanted to question the day you got saved right now? You probably, you'd get a little, you'd get your back up a little bit over that, wouldn't you? Especially if you've been through basic Bible studies, okay? But you have to get permission to question those dates. And that's why, that's how you do it. And once she gave me permission to question those dates, it was the easiest thing in the world to see and to dismiss that which was not there. And again, that's... Now, almost always, almost always, there is, in those dates on the line, there's going to be a sinner's prayer of some kind. An ask Jesus into your heart, a pray this prayer after me, repent of your sins, which which I'm sure I said that as a young creature, because that's what I heard said, and I was told to say it. But I never understood how somebody that's lost could even understand what that meant. It just doesn't make any sense. Well, it means quit sinning. Well, can't do that, so I'm out of here. It does. It means quit sinning. It's what it does. It means turn from it. Don't do it anymore. And anyway, we already addressed that. I won't get to it. But the key, one of the things you're looking for is the asking thing. And asking and trusting are very clearly not the same thing. Now, can you ask and trust at the same time? Is that possible? Yes it is possible. You can ask with your mouth like he's telling you to and trust Jesus with your heart from the heart like the Bible says to do. It's exactly what I did to get saved. So I know it's possible, I did it. And yes you can. So you've got to be smarter than the dog, you know the training thing, and be able to discern and ask the right questions to figure out what's going on there. You're pretty safe in doing this if you're doing it in love, and you're doing it gently, and you're doing it in a non-confrontational way, and you're getting permission to question these days. But don't ever forget that you can only get saved one time. And you cannot unsave somebody that's saved. It cannot be done. So you can't mess this up. I mean, yeah, you can stumble around and you may feel like you were a flop and whatever, but you really can't mess this up. But you can't leave somebody lost if you don't do your job well. If you don't examine and think about it and make those comparisons. Okay, the goofy little pen thing here. I have been, I tried for years to try to come up with an illustration better than that. And I would love to have one that's better than that. To demonstrate the asking and the trusting big difference in that. Why fix it if it isn't broke? Because I feel so goofy doing it every time. But it always works. So I guess I'll just keep doing it. But it's very clear that, you know, I feel a little silly begging for the pen but not taking it. I really want this pen in my life. So, I guess we'll just stay with it. That's that fool for Christ thing, I suppose. But anyway, it works. How many of you have been present during a sermon when I demonstrated to the congregation by asking, how many of you asked Jesus to save you more than one time? And almost every hand in the congregation goes up. How many times can you get saved? One time. If asking saved you, that would be impossible. But it does not. Confession with the mouth is unto the fact not through the obtaining of salvation. And God left that in there on purpose because he wants to let the blind be blind and he's not going to make it any different. If you want the truth, he'll open the eyes. Remember how he opened their understanding? Remember that? Okay. And then the invitation. We'll skip on down to that. The invitation. Sometimes, especially an older guy like Joseph who's been ministering for the Lord for years and years and years. It was this way for me. I know. When I first started teaching basic Bible truths, I was asking people to pray to be saved. It was so ingrained in me, Dr. Hudson, who will be preaching for us at camp, and some of you who don't know him will get to know him well. And you'll love him, I'm sure. But one day he asked me, he's been a mentor in my life for 40 years, I guess now, or something like that. But one day he just asked me, you know, we were talking about this subject, and he said, he said, he said, do you get saved because you believe or because you ask? I said, well, you get saved because you believe. He said, Why confuse the issue?" And I said, nothing. I had nothing I could say to them. Like you said, there's so many things you carry with you because this is the way that you were taught. Ingrained in us. It's like little robots for programs or something. You can't watch a Christian movie. You can't watch a preacher on TV. without hearing that. I mean, you can. I like when you say it almost becomes one word. You know, ask Jesus. Oh, yeah. You just hear it and you just... Well, give your heart to Jesus. I mean, there's all these catchphrases, none of which are biblical and all of which are confusing. When what God told us in His Word has never been confusing from day one. It's like, If I had any hair, I'd be pulling it out, like, what is wrong with these people? Anyway. If it wasn't for all those Baptists that died to get the Gospel to me, I'd probably have skipped the name. But I'm not going to give up my heritage over that. When the Holy Spirit comes in you, it's a natural phenomenon that you start stepping away from these things. But they still want to hear it. Repent of your sins. Well, and I know that some that would fight you over it. I mean, just that adamant. You can't do it without repenting of your sin. Yeah, and you can't tell me what that is. So what are we going to do now? We have reached the end. Well, praise the Lord, we understand. We can take these truths and these principles and we can put them to work. But listen, guys, if you don't put them to work, you're never going to get to sit across the table and watch God do this and use you to do it. And If you think there's a greater privilege in this planet, or a greater thing to be doing in this world than to get to do this right here, I'd like to know what it is. This is worth giving your life to. I think we're finished, and we're out of here early.