Jude three and four tonight. Part two of a message I had started last week as we were looking there at the Sermon on the Mount and dealing with false teachers and doctrine and Christians, our beliefs are under scrutiny. There's a great deal of compromise under the guise or under the image of professing Christianity. The many are succumbing to the tidal wave of a contemporary modernist thinking. adopting views that really are in contradiction to Scripture. What we must do as believers is stand our ground upon the infallible Word of God. In Hebrews 12, verse 2, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Jesus is this to be the author, and he is the finisher of our faith. Here in Jude 3, if you found your place, would you follow along with me? Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, It was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men. Turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. And I spoke about some of this last week. We spoke about it this morning that Christ is the head of the church. And we did that the last few weeks. And we spoke about that last week. But there are false prophets that would come amongst the people. 2 Peter 2 would talk about that. False teachers bringing in damnable heresies. Denying the Lord that bought them. And Peter predicted false teachers would arise. Jesus would also say false teachers would come. Matthew chapter 7, and we looked at that as well. Charles Spurgeon makes a statement, he says, history has hitherto been written by our enemies. Whoever is the winning side, if you would, or the capturing nation is the one that will write the history books. So if you're not the winner, you will not write the history books. And if you do write the history books, whoever is the victor, they will toss out your rendition of history, or your truths of history, and replace it with their rendition of history. That's what he's saying here. He said, history hath hitherto been written by our enemies, who never would have kept a single fact about us upon the record if they could have helped it. And yet it leaks out every now and then that certain poor people, called Anabaptists, were brought up for condemnation. From the days of Henry II to those of Queen Elizabeth, we hear of certain unhappy heretics who were hated of all men for the truth's sake which was in them. We read of poor men and women with their garments cut short, turned out into the fields to perish in the cold, and a nod of others, who were burnt at Newington for the crime of Anabaptism. Long before your Protestants were known, of these horrible Anabaptists, this is written from a perspective of the Roman Catholics about the Anabaptists, which would be true believers, of these horrible Anabaptists, as they were unjustly called, were protesting for the one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. No sooner did the visible church begin to depart from the gospel than these men arose to keep fast by the good old way. The priests and monks wished for peace and slumber, but there was always a Baptist or a Lawlord tickling men's ears with holy scriptures and calling their attention to the errors of the times. Did you hear what they said? They said there's always a Baptist or a Lawlord, which would be an Anabaptist. The Anabaptists are people that say, hey, if you were baptized as an infant or a young person, but you weren't saved, when you get saved, you need to be baptized scripturally. And by a scriptural church. And they would baptize them afterwards. So they were calling them re-baptizers. They weren't being re-baptized. They were just being scripturally baptized the way they should have been the first time. And the Catholic Church hated these believers. They were the same as us today. They hated us. And they also said, they said something here, tickling men's ears with holy scriptures. These men, they had the word of God, and they preached God's word, which stood in contrast to a Roman Catholic system that sought to get people to have to pay to get your loved ones out of purgatory into heaven, which is nowhere found in the scripture. and also a system that taught people to pray to Mary. Again, nowhere taught in the scriptures. So as he's writing this, he's saying these Catholics and Protestants who were teaching these things were telling these people they would call true Bible believers heretics. Because if we take a stand, against a state church government where the government and a church belief system, they come together. There has never been a time where a government and a church of any affiliation, they unite where there's not religious persecution afterwards. There's always, because God never intended for the government and a church to be united where your pastors or some clergy are also doing their political figures, political desires. He says, he goes on, Spurgeon says, they were a poor persecuted tribe. The halter was thought to be too good for them. At times, ill written history would have us think that they died out. So well had the wolf done his work on the sheep. Yet here we are, blessed and multiplied, and Newington sees other scenes from Sabbath to Sabbath. As I think of your numbers and efforts, I can only say and wonder what a growth. You see, there have been believers through the centuries that have stood and said, Jesus is the only way. You don't pray to a Pope. You don't need to confess your sins to a priest. You can go directly to the Father. You can go directly to Jesus. You don't need any system to have to somehow pay to do enough good works to merit a good standing before God. That is all of man's traditions. You will not find that in the Bible. And here's another thing, Christian. Doctrine, the beliefs that we position ourselves on the foundation of Scripture, of what we believe and how I live that out, that will be the determination of whether people, number one, they accept Christ as their Savior. You deviate from this, you don't get to Christ. You deviate from this, you as a believer will never know the blessings and promises and rewards of God. You'll just be living your hope. You might be legitimately saved, but if you're doing it all on this thing, I could lose my salvation or this, you're going to never get into the satisfaction and the peace that God wants to have. If you deviate and you alter any, he says, contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints. There are people all around us that have had tremendous trauma and all sorts of things. You change doctrine, they'll never know the contentment they can have in Christ. Is it serious? to have the right belief. It's not just, I think it's this way. It's not, well, that's your opinion and your opinion. We've got to say, what does God say? And I'm not moving. Because if I move from this book, you will never get into the promised land of God's blessings. You'll never know the peace and the joy of Jesus Christ. You'll never know how to overcome addictions and vices of life. You'll never know how to get victory over the trauma and the tragedy you've suffered in your life. If you deviate, it is important. And with that, let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, I love you and I thank you for this evening. My Father, I need your help. Take over my lips and my thoughts. I surrender to You. I submit to You. Lord, for those that are here tonight, I pray that You would work in their hearts. I pray, Lord, that they would have a conviction that I've got to see what the Bible says and I've got to live by truth. I can't just live by what I think. I've got to live by what I know Your Word says. Father, I yield it all to Thee. If there's anyone watching that is not saved, I pray that they would call to Christ. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for your mercy. Lord, how we need you at this hour. In Jesus' precious name I pray. Amen. That phrase, earnestly contend, as I had mentioned last week, is literally to go as a combatant in war. There will always be the desires of the world, the desires of a carnal, fleshly, selfish, professing Christian to want to make the scriptures work with their lifestyle. And there were believers through the history that were bitterly persecuted, driven from their country, running for their lives, disfranchised, deprived of their property, imprisoned, tortured, and even slain by the thousands. Because they said, I will not budge on my faith. Because this book is the truth. These are the truths that are delivered to the saints. You see, our idea today, and I was listening to a sermon recently, and he said similar sentiments, but he said, it is not our responsibility to get the Bible to have to work with my lifestyle. It is my responsibility to learn what the Bible says and what God says and get up to God's standards. I don't bring the Bible to my standards. I get up to God's standards. I get up to what God thinks. I need to continue to reach up and say, what does God mean? What does God want? You know, you think about this. 1 Peter 5.8, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil is a roaring lion. Walketh about seeking whom he may devour. If you are going into a place of landmines, and I had a map, and that map would tell you every step to take, Walk two steps forward. Each step is to be no more than two feet. I want you to take, every step must be 18 inches. So you take an 18 inch step, and an 18 inch step. I want you, you go five steps out, then I want you to take two steps to the left. I want you to go forward. I want you to take three steps to the right. And if I was to give you the exact map of avoiding landmines, do you think that'd be important? If you knew you had to get to the other side. Imagine someone is there seeking to harm one of your children. They gave you that map. I can guarantee I'm gonna go in that landmine field to save my child. The Bible gives us the very map to avoid the landmines of life. Do you think it's important? God uses those in the ministry to strengthen a local church, to strengthen the body of Christ. He wants to keep saints from being driven about by the winds of doctrine that say, well, it doesn't matter, you could take three steps forward, maybe take four, it's okay. You take four steps and there's a landmine there, game over. You say, pastor, you're a little extreme. Is it not good if someone doesn't fall prey to the very devil that seeks to jump out of nowhere and attack you? When you least expect it, when you think you're okay, is when you are a prime target for Satan to attack. You're on the mountain, you just had a great victory, and God has done something great in your life, and you're so excited, beware, the devil's gonna come and attack. because you're up there and you're seeing God's almighty work at play, and so then all of a sudden, you know what? Something's gonna happen to either try to bring you down or destroy you. He wants to destroy you. He has nothing better to do, according to his idea, than to seek to destroy your life. Jesus would talk about his apostles. He didn't want to take them out of the world, but he wanted to keep them from evil. I need to know what God says is evil. And this book will tell you. The early church of Jerusalem was focused on doctrine in Acts 2.42, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and prayers, much like we did last night. We ate together, praying together, talking about God together in apostles doctrine. There was preaching and Paul would yearn for a church that would be doctrinally pure. He said your minds corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. He would say in first Timothy 6 12, the first part of that verse, fight the good fight of faith. The church is the pillar and ground of the truth and now here's where we pick up from last week a creeping vice. He says, there are certain, verse four of Jude, for there are certain men crept in unawares. They come in stealthily. They come in potentially with what may seem as good motives, good ideas, and as they win your approval of them, they begin to inject their false and pernicious doctrines. Who were before of old ordained to this condemnation. These are men that are marked for destruction. Literally, God, they're going to be destroyed. They can talk the talk. They may walk the walk. but they don't know the God. They can talk about him. And it says something here, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness. Lasciviousness or licentiousness. is a lack of self-constraint which involves one in conduct that violates all bounds of what is socially acceptable, self-abandonment, and really they interpret divine goodness as an opportunity to ignore God and do what they please. I'm gonna do what feels good to me. As I told you, I think I mentioned last week or something, I was listening to this popular preacher, and he was talking with his son about rock music. I mean, this is music that is talking about immorality, it's talking about all sorts of, and rock music, the whole genre, is all immoral. I'm not going down that tonight, but he was talking about it, and he was praising these particular bands. and pushing this idea that it was acceptable to partake in that lifestyle of the rock culture. Drugs, alcohol, immorality, all sorts of things. And you think about this, we ought to have nothing to do. There is a distinction. Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs are not songs that are just, oh, I'm gonna please myself. There is a distinction here. And these are men that say, hey, it's okay, there's Christian liberty. There is Christian liberty. If you stay within what God has called you to, there's freedom, there's joy, there's blessings. Why should these men be judged by God? They had denied His Son. They'll talk about Jesus. But they'll say, well, I'm glad that belief works for you, it just doesn't work for me. They'll come in under the deception, under the facade, or under the acting, if you would, or being an actor of being religious, being good. You have some of these horrific, horrible preachers today. T.D. Jakes, Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen. You have others. They preach a very soft message, and they will not condemn sin. You see, seeking whom he made a vowel, you've got to be warned of sin. Now, I enjoy teaching about things that speak about God's goodness and grace, and we need that. But you also need the warnings. If you're teaching a game of hockey and you're doing your fundamentals of how to use the stick, you know, the hockey stick, you also need to learn about some of the warnings. Hey, your opponent's gonna come and he wants to smash you into the glass. Here's how you kind of stop it. You know what, I don't know about you, but I don't really like being smashed into the glass by a guy coming full tilt, ready to just like, boom, you know, pile drive me. It's not very comfortable. There is a real and present danger. Does doctrine matter? Warren Wiersbe, actually this Matthew Henry's Bible commentary, he says, but unnecessary for most Christians. Interest in doctrine amounts to something like an intellectual hobby to them. This is what he's saying. Others steer clear of doctrine for fear of argument or division in the church. Both factors indicate a lack of respect for the Christian believer and an abdication. That word abdicate is to just release, to let go, like, oh, I'm done, right? It's not worth the hassle. and an abdication of the teaching function of the church. Those who sow disdain and disinterest in biblical doctrine will reap a harvest of rootless and fruitless Christians. Doctrine is not a challenge to the experiential religion. It testifies to the content of that experience. The church is charged to call persons to Christ and to root them in a mature knowledge of Christian faith. And it is a cancer of these men. They come in. In fact, the Greek word, if you think about this, of a heretic derives from, it means a sect, a party, or a school. It's a dissenting group or faction of people who have a dogma or a belief system that marks them off from the rest of the body. Heretics seem to be individuals within the church who hold to some way of thinking or living that sets them off from scriptural doctrine, lifestyle, and fellowship. There are men, they advocate. Remember the game Monopoly? Have you ever played Monopoly? And you know what? If you ever get sent to jail in Monopoly, you're thinking, I want the get out of jail free card. I don't want to pay to get out of jail. It's a good thing. And these men, these false teachers, are saying, well, you can sin, and it'll be OK, because you're a Christian. You're not going to go to hell. It'll be OK. You can live however you want. You can do whatever you want with your life, whatever your body you want to do. It's OK. And there's no consequences, because you're on your way to heaven. That's what they'll say. But they don't understand that they grieve. When you commit sin, you grieve the Spirit of God. And you will not find the joy and satisfaction you're looking for. When we have Christians throughout the Western world living no different than the lost people, the pagans, and justifying such carnal and compromised life, this is right, Bill Mullenberg. then you know that telling people more about a cheap grace that expects nothing of them is not the solution. It is in fact part of the problem. To be told that Jesus did it all and therefore we need do nothing, worrying about nothing, just have a nice day, which effectively is the message being received by many of their listeners, is helping casual and carnal believers make excuses for their lack of holiness and growth and sanctification. What he's saying, he says, listen, if I just say, as a believer, you can do what you want because you're not on your way to hell, there is no consequences. Because you've accepted Christ as your savior, so you're on your way to heaven. I wanna tell you, Christian, that you will have the most dissatisfied Christian life you've ever had. You will not be content because you'll continually be at odds with God's Spirit who's saying, live holy, live holy, do what's right. These men may use our vocabulary. They will use the words that we use, saying things that we believe, but they redefine the terms to work for them. Their aim is to get accepted, to be trusted, and get elected to office. They bring in others of their own kind. They infiltrate both church and seminary. They come all over, and if we allow our doctrine to change, we alter the power of the gospel, we alter the power of God to affect life. If Moses changed God's Word, Israel would have suffered. If Christ did not give us the full truth, we would have an incomplete faith. If the Apostles would add or subtract from the message of the gospel, we would not have a full and complete salvation. Look with me at 1st Peter chapter 2. If you would please, 1st Peter chapter 2. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. He's saying you're going to have desires that are going to war against your soul, seeking to destroy it. It could be money, materialism, it could be all sorts of various things. Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against you as evil doers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God on the day of visitation. The only way the world will glorify God is if you as a Christian live a holy, consecrated life doing right before God. Let's look at verse 16. Actually verse 15, for so is the will of God that with well doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness. But as the servants of God honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. Some time ago I heard a pastor preach a sermon at the end of the sermon. He said that if you're at the end of the ropes and you need Jesus, then just call out to Him. Now I want to tell you, God wants to help you. But if you're at the end of your ropes and you just want God to deliver you from your hard times, but you don't want to put your faith in Christ, you've got a different Jesus. Jesus wants to be a help, but you got to want Jesus because you realize you're a sinner in need of a Savior and you're headed to God's judgment. Jesus is, again, He's not a VLT or a slot machine to pull the handle and you hope that those little thingies, whatever spin, they all match up and ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, and you win. And God's gonna make your problems better. Jesus did take on him every sin, past, present, and future. No one would kill Jesus. He gave up his spirit. He died. He was buried and came back from the dead on the third day. If you believe that Jesus died, that is the first step toward your redemption and God will make something new out of your life. One gentleman says, I need a new relationship with Jesus. I need him to come in and make me new and change my life. I realize that I don't have control and I'd like to give my life to the one who does have control. And this man would go on to say, I ask for hands to be raised, but the fact is it's not just Again, people struggle. We have trials. Christians are going to have trials. Jesus was put to death. Here is the Son of God, God Himself, on earth, and they still killed Him. They tried to stone Him. They tried to kick Him out of the area. They tried to throw Him off a cliff. Jesus had opposition. And yet, Jesus did many wonderful signs amongst them, and they still didn't believe. There is no true salvation without an understanding and agreement that my sins separated me from a relationship with God and that God's judgment on sin is a place the Bible calls hell. There must be repentance. Luke 13 three, Jesus said, I tell you nay, but except ye repent. Repentance is a change of mind. I'm thinking my way, and now I think God's way. God says I'm guilty. I said, God, I'm guilty. I plead guilty. I know I'm guilty, and so I accept Jesus by faith. Repentance is a change of mind. which would also result in a change of behavior. It is so important that we maintain a steadfast focus on the Lord. That word steadfast. Have you ever tried to play king of the hill? try to get up the top of this mound and your friends are coming up or whomever it is in the neighborhood. You're trying to push each other off the top. You want to be the top dog. You want to be the top person. I don't know if that's something but I know as a young kid I would play this game and you'd climb up to the top and again you're trying to push someone off. Now imagine you have all these little kids and they're all up there and then you have this 400 pound Man, he climbs up to the top of the hill and he just sits down. And these little kids are trying to push this big guy off of there. He's not moving. I mean, he is put, right? He is just settled. He's steadfast. I mean, he's not moving. He doesn't deviate. And even more, You see, my eyes need to be on Jesus. Because as we look in this, for there are certain, verse four of Jude, for there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness. These men say it's okay to please your flesh. It's okay for satisfaction. Hey, we all have a problem, so why not that just be your problem? It's okay, you can do it. It's not about pleasing me, it's about what does he look like? What does he think of me? What does he think of my actions? It's not what you think of my actions, what does Jesus think of my actions? He tells us in the Bible how we ought to live. If my eyes are steadfast on Him, I'm not thinking about pleasing me, I'm thinking that how I act and how I talk and how I live my life is going to be a reflection of what people think of Him. That's what matters. What do people think of Jesus when they see your life? A little illustration for you, between an airplane and every other form of locomotion and transportation, there is one great contrast. The horse and wagon, the automobile, the bicycle, the locomotive, or the train, the speedboat, and the great battleship, all can come to a standstill without danger. And they can all reverse their engines or their power and go backwards. But there is no reverse about the engine of an airplane. It cannot back up in the air. It dare not stand still. If the airplane loses its momentum and forward drive, then it crashes. The only safety for the airplane is in its forward and upward motion. The only safe direction for the Christian is to take a forward and upwards look. If the Christian stops, or if he begins to slip and go backward, that moment he is in danger. C.E. McCartney. That's why the Bible tells us, 2 Timothy 2.15, study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. approved unto God. I'm not living my life so you can think better things about me. I am living my life because I want God to be pleased with how I've lived. If you are seeking to live your life so that other people think you're a great Christian, you have the wrong focus and you'll never be satisfied. And these men are focused on, how can I do as much as I want and still somehow call it Christian? I was listening to another preacher. He was talking. And I can't even believe this would ever come out of someone's thought processes. But we have a very wicked world. And these people are definitely not saved. But someone calls. There was a book about a Christian witch. A what? That is not possible. Light and dark don't mix. These people here, they will deny the all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ. They might say, Jesus is the way, just call out to him, ask him to forgive you, everything will be good in your life. I'm going to talk some more. I've got to do some more studies on this. But in regards to the qualifications, God has always given requirements for the qualifications of His ministers. Always. I hope your desire and I hope my desire is at the end of the day and every day that my day will be consumed with, did I live in a way that God is pleased with me? That is the issue. Charles Spurgeon on Baptist perpetuity, perpetuity means in continuation. He would say, we believe that the Baptists are the original Christians. We did not commence our existence at the Reformation. We were reformers before Luther or Calvin were born. We never came from the Church of Rome, for we were never in it. But we have an unbroken lineup to the apostles themselves. We have always existed from the very days of Christ, and our principles, sometimes veiled and forgotten like a river which may travel underground for a little season, have always had honest and holy adherence. persecuted alike by Romanists and Protestants of almost every sect. We have ever been ready to suffer as our martyrologies will prove, martyrs or those who died for the faith will prove, but we are not ready to accept any help from the state to prostitute the purity to any alliance with the government, and we will never make the church, although the queen, the despot over the consciences of men." End quotes. And there we have it for Charles Spurgeon would talk about that, but he says, listen, Christian, we are living our lives, as he said, should earnestly contend for the faith. Does it really matter what you believe? Aren't all people essentially good, at least from birth? I adjure you by the testimony and the foundation of the scriptures that all people are born sinners, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And as a result of this sinful nature, we need a subsidy or a payment to make reparations for all the ways I have committed an injustice against a holy and perfect God. The basis for such truth is found written in God's word. If you look at the testimony of the scriptures through the centuries and consistency of message through the 66 books of the Bible, you will see a theme of God's love for mankind, his desperate attempt to be in a relationship with all of humanity. You see, the basis for our hope of eternal life in heaven is based upon the scriptures. How do I know I'm on my way to heaven? This book. If you alter this or change it, you're gonna have some issues. Let me read something about belief system. Coming back to Jude 3, I just want to bring this up once again and then I'll read this for you, a little illustration with an application. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation. It's free to everyone. Salvation is free to every person, every culture, all gender, you know, male and female, everyone. It was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. What you believe has a bearing on your destination. A recent couple lost their life believing a doctrine which was a lie and it cost them their lives. A young American couple, Jay Austin and Lauren, this was a few years ago, They quit their jobs to take a year-long bike trip around the world. Sadly, the trip took a fatal turn on a route near the Afghan border where they were stabbed to death by the alleged ISIS terrorists. The couple ignored warnings and the dangers of the region, claiming to believe that evil was a make-believe concept. Early on their journey while in Morocco, Jay Austin wrote, you watch the news and you read the papers and you're led to believe that the world is a big scary place. People, the narrative goes, are not to be trusted. People are bad, people are evil, people are axe murderers and monsters and worse. I don't buy it, he said. Evil is a make-believe concept we've invented to deal with the complexities of fellow humans holding values and beliefs and perspectives different than our own. It's easier to dismiss an opinion as abhorrent than to strive to understand it. Badness exists, sure, but even that's quite rare, he says. By and large, humans are kind, self-interested, sometimes myopic, sometimes but kind, generous and wonderful and kind. No greater revelation has come from our journey than this. and this couple would end up being murdered by these ISIS. It's pretty shocking that someone could be so naive. You would think that all anyone would need to do is watch or read the news to know that evil is alive and active in our world. Perhaps even more surprising denial that evil existed itself. For it is one thing to be suspicious of a narrative presented by the media, it is quite another to deny our own dark side. It's not make-believe that evil is real, but it is pure fantasy to suggest what we all know to be true within. Sin dwells within all of us. Every one of us are selfish, some more than others, but every one of us have a selfish nature. There are consequences to living in denial of such a fundamental truth. It causes us to turn a deaf ear, like Jay and Lauren did, to important warnings which might otherwise heed. And there are also spiritual consequences to living in denial of the existence of evil. When we refuse to acknowledge that sin dwells within us, we turn a deaf ear to God's warnings of impending judgment and to our own personal need for salvation. As tragic as the story of Jay and Lauren is, this is far more tragic. Turn with me to Mark chapter seven. Final verse this evening. Mark chapter seven, verse 21. You know, it's kind of scary sometimes in our own way, you end up, maybe you get angry or something happens, and you do something, you said, I would never do that, and then you find yourself doing it, and you're like, how did I ever get here, right? We underestimate our heart. Bible tells us in Mark chapter 7 verse 21, for from within out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile the man. We have a wicked heart. And I tell you tonight, if we are not steadied and steadfast upon the Word of God that contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints, we will move. Now, if you're a Christian, you can't lose your salvation, but you will definitely never be all that God called you to be if you deviate and change the doctrine. The hope of eternal life is not based upon the truths or the rules of scripture, but rather an absolute faith in the complete payment for all my sins being paid through the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which we learned from the scriptures. And so tonight, if you've never received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you've never been born again, if you're watching, would you think about where is my eternal destiny? Where am I going? And Christian, are you living your life upon what you think the Bible says or what you know the Bible says? Are you filtering your life through the Word of God saying, I want to be approved of God, study to show thyself approved unto God, right? As we find there in 2 Timothy. And again, 2 Timothy 2.15. Study to show thyself approved unto God. Why is it important that our doctrine is according to God's Word? Because I want to be pleasing to my Father. That's where I want to stand. As you think on these truths tonight, we're going to have a time of invitation. Are you seeking to live life upon the doctrine of God's Word so that you can be pleasing to God? Not because of what matters to anyone else, or how anyone else perceives of you, Are you living your life that God is pleased with how you're living, how you're speaking, how you're talking, all those things? Is God pleased? Or, you see, the Word of God will tell us if He's pleased or not. His Holy Spirit will help us to know if we're grieving Him or we're living, we're pleasing Him. And I trust tonight if you're a Christian, you'd settle that question. And if you don't know Christ, you'd first confess your sins and ask Christ to forgive you and be your savior and be adopted into God's family, have his spirit live within you and eternally know God. Be reconciled to the one who loves you more than anyone else. So as we come to the time of invitation with heads bowed and eyes closed tonight, Are you living to be approved unto God upon the solid foundation of the word of God and the doctrine of his word? Give you just a few moments to pray and talk with the Lord as he may be speaking to your heart even now.