Well, I appreciate that, and Brother Hancock, I appreciated your message. Thank you for hinting at plagiarism in that sermon, because when I first read the program, I actually thought that's what it was, because I got progressives, and I looked at it wrong, and I thought, well, plagiarism, that's kind of interesting on a program of ancient heresies, you know? I mean, it's a problem in churches, right? And then I reread it and I said, oh, oh, yeah, yeah, okay. That makes more sense. But anyway, I do want to express my thanks for Brother Todd and the church here and the elders for being able to be here this weekend. I've been looking forward to this. for a long, long time. What a joy it is to be able to stand behind this sacred desk here this weekend. It's a privilege that I don't take lightly and definitely appreciate it. My family and I have already been Very much blessed. Thank you for the lovely accommodations, the generous love offering, and certainly y'all have already fed us well. We've enjoyed the fellowship and thank you brothers for the good messages that we've heard already so far this weekend. The music has been great as well. Certainly our cup runs over and we're thankful. You can go ahead and be turning in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. I'll be reading from the LSB. We'll begin reading at verse 17. That's my text. We'll go down to verse 24. Therefore this I say and testify in the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their mind, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart. And they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way. If indeed you heard him and were taught in him, just as truth is in Jesus, to lay aside in reference to your former conduct the old man which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit. and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new man, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Therefore, laying aside falsehoods, speak truth, each one of you, with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. I said I use progressives. And right before I got here, I actually went to the eye doctor to get some new ones, but they ain't come in yet. My assignment that's been given to me for this session is the heresy of free grace theology. Brother Bailey mentioned yesterday the heretics don't usually present themselves with horns, and this is a good example of one. In fact, in fact, many heresies that we look at, we hear from in our day and in previous days gone by, they'd walk into the room and on the surface level, we might say amen and amen with a lot of what they have to say. The free grace position on its surface claims we are justified by faith alone. You and I, we would say amen to that. This aligns very much with the orthodox position of mainstream Christianity. The problem is that in free grace theology, that word alone, And the phrase justified by faith alone is understood in a very novel kind of a way. In fact, when the Protestants cried out sola fide, they meant that nothing else helps or contributes in our obtaining justification from God. Our faith is the only thing that God requires of us. not good works, not offering some sacrifice, not performing some ritual or ceremony, not church membership, not baptism, not the use of some means of other grace, just faith alone. And everyone across all creeds and confessions denominations all said a hearty amen to this. However, the free grace theology takes this and makes an additional claim. It makes the claim that they say, well, with this idea, There's no repentance from sin. There's no doing good works after we're justified. None of this is necessary. The basic teaching of free grace theology is that responding to the call to believe in Jesus Christ through Faith alone is all that's necessary. The idea is that eternal life is granted to anyone and everyone who believes in Jesus regardless of any consideration of future behavior or spiritual growth. In other words, In other words, it's easy to become a Christian. It's just an idea that's very popular in our country. And so, for instance, you can say, talk to somebody and say, well, how is your relationship with Jesus? Have you come to know Christ? And they'll say, yes, I did many years ago. No point to a date, a time, a place, even though their life does not reflect it. no consideration of how their life is or what's going on in their life. This idea, this way of living is very much akin to antinomianism. The idea that Christians are not obligated to any law whatsoever. This idea of lawlessness. That a person can be a Christian on their way to heaven. Living a life that is no different to those who are lost or reprobate. and still be assured of an eternal home and glory someday. Such people who hold to this idea, they will point to that date on the calendar, they will hold to that baptismal certificate that they have that may be yellowed in color or whatever. Maybe hanging on the wall. They'll say, well, I once saved, always saved. They will cry out, judge not, lest you be judged. Don't question my salvation. Even though there's no evidence of any life in them. This idea has had a terrible toll on people throughout the ages. Terrible toll on people around this country. Listen, you may get the timing of the Lord's return wrong. I may have it wrong. You may have a difference about the age of the earth. I may have the age of the earth wrong. You might have the amount of water for baptism wrong. You might have a difference of opinion about what English Bible translation that you use, and all sorts of manner of things that we could go down the line on, but topics like this, they are of eternal consequences. In other words, what I'm trying to say here is, if you're wrong on the timing of the Lord's return, you'll still, if you know Jesus, you'll still go on with the Lord when he comes. If you're wrong about the age of the earth, but you know Jesus, you'll still have a home in glory someday. If you have a Bible translation that maybe isn't the best one, but it's good, and you know the Lord, you're still going up to heaven. There's no eternal consequence in those things that we sometimes squabble over as Christians. But we get into an issue like this one, the one that I'm trying to preach about. This has eternal consequences. If you believe that you've been saved, but there's no evidence of life, and you're holding on to a date somewhere in the past, or a baptismal certificate, or whatever, and you're living like the rest of the world, you're living in sin, And there's no sign of life. That's of eternal consequence. And we've got to consider this very, very seriously. Yes, it's important that the preacher gets it right, but beloved, let us search our own hearts to consider. I say these things not to scare you, but to encourage you. If you're saved, there's going to be signs of life. And I hope that as we look at this, we'll consider it. But beloved, if there is no sign of life, I do hope the Holy Spirit will get a hold of you today in this conference. And if there's anybody here who is preaching this wrong, I hope the Holy Spirit get ahold of you about that too. And brother, you're right. This isn't for us to be arrogant about these things. We do need to consider our own selves in the mirror. Our generation is not the first to to face this kind of teaching. The theme of this conference is ancient heresies after all. And when we go through in the south and we face people who are living lives of sin and they say, well, I'm saved. I mean, I'm sure you've faced this before and I've faced it. People who are just, I mean, cussing like a sailor, living like the world and all of this sort of thing. And you can't tell them from anybody else who's who's ever been a Christian, or you have that one co-worker. You know, this is the worst. This is the worst. You have a co-worker you've worked with for 20, 30 years, and they die, and you go to their funeral and find out they were a Christian. They went to church. They knew the Lord. At least that's what they say at the funeral, but you never knew that. all the decades that you worked with them. I find it hard to believe. Jude verse 4, You don't have to turn there, but it says, For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. Jude would have never been around fellas who used the term free grace theology, but he described them in his generation. How many times have you heard the term, whatever is true isn't new, and whatever is new isn't true? Well, I got news for you today. that there are some new things that are true. Praise the Lord for that music that we sang. You know, I'm thankful that not every song that we sing that's scriptural doesn't have to be from a couple hundred years ago. Thank God for that. But oftentimes, there are some very ancient, terrible things that people dig up. I'm thinking, where in the world did this come from? And you know, when I was younger, I used to get so bent out of shape and try to think, how am I going to fight this battle and that battle and this battle? Until I realized, brother, previous generations fought the same thing. We don't have to reinvent the wheel. We can go back and see how previous generations took care of what was going on in their day. But oftentimes, it's repackaged for a new generation. Oftentimes, we get distracted, though, because it is repackaged and renamed. Wayne Grudem wrote a book called Free Grace Theology, Five Ways It Diminishes the Gospel. And I only discovered that book two days ago, so it didn't help me a lot with this sermon, because I'm not a speed reader like Brother Todd is. However, he did help me out in that book, Wayne Grudem did, because he said in there that much of the modern free grace movement came from Dallas Theological Seminary. And I'm not surprised about that. Because sometimes some weird things do come out of seminaries. And so I wanted to mention that. However, I also want to throw this out there, that as we think about this, I want to tell you, as we think about this, I want to say higher education is not the enemy. Sometimes when we think about heresies and we think about where they come from and how they're spread, sometimes they are spread through seminaries. Oftentimes they are. And so in some circles, and sometimes it's human nature, people start thinking, well, we'll prevent heresies from spreading. So we'll say, no more seminaries. But the reality is that I know some very orthodox doctors very well-educated, orthodox, good preachers, excellent preachers actually, and I know some very ignorant, heretical guys who never went to school. And so the standard The standard, beloved, when we're dealing with heresy, whether it's this one or any other, is not whether or not you have anything to do with Dallas Theological Seminary. The standard is not whether you have an education or not. The standard has got to be the Word of God. The standard is always the Word of God. And so my advice to all of y'all today is to study all you can and can all you study. Get it all in. If you can get formal education, do it. But if you can't, get what you can, but make sure it is the truth of the word of God. Our text in Ephesians 4 has but three sentences. This passage and others like it destroys free grace theology and along with it antinomianism. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to the Bible alone, as Brother Todd reminded us yesterday. We cannot deviate, not even one little bit from Sola Scriptura. We can't. And it's all to the glory of God alone. Let us remember God's work of salvation. is from beginning to ending. His work. His work. And we'll see the evidences of that from beginning to ending. Hebrews 12, 2 says, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith. The King James put it this way, the author and finisher of our faith. there's going to be a difference. And in our text there in Ephesians chapter four, verses 17 and 18. Therefore, this I say and testify in the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their mind, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart. Paul wrote this way to the church at Ephesus because the church there was full of saved people. through regenerate church membership. The Bible is clear. When a person believes and confesses Jesus Christ as Lord, he's been born again, there's a transformation that is taking place. The born-again believer, even the babe in Christ, is going to do something that the Gentile world does not, the unbelieving world does not do, and that is he's going to follow Christ. It's a marked change, and sometimes in our eagerness, I guess, to see people join our churches, you know, sometimes they're small, and when we see people come in and all that, sometimes we kind of miss this, and we're just looking for confession, but let's be reminded, and let's make sure that we're reminded of this, there is a marked difference, and it's a huge one. John MacArthur put it this way in his commentary, He says, when a person believes and confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and is therefore and thereby born again, a transformation takes place in his basic nature. The change is even more basic and radical than the change that will take place at death. When a believer dies, he has already been fitted for heaven, already been made a citizen of the kingdom, already become a child of God. He simply begins to perfectly experience the divine nature he has had since spiritual birth, because for the first time he is free from the unredeemed flesh. the future receiving of his glorified body will not make him better, since he is already perfected, but it will give him the full capacity for all that eternal resurrection life involves." So he says there's a more radical change when you're born again than even when you are than when you are going into glory. And so, when we think of it that way, that's pretty amazing to think about. But I mean, we oftentimes, we think about, well, that transformation that's gonna happen in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, that's pretty amazing. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the last trump, well, that's amazing to think about. Yes, but what about the spiritual aspect of it all. You hath he quickened who were dead. That's amazing too. Even more amazing to think about having been born again 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 17, Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things passed away. Behold, new things have come. Salvation is not simply receiving something new. It's becoming someone new. There's a change. As our text says, walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk in the futility of their mind being darkened, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them because of the hardness of their heart. This isn't just a doctrinal debate that we can sit in a room and talk about the words on a paper. As I said, eternity is at issue here. How is it with you, your life? What's going on in your heart? How is your walk? Are you saved? Have you been born again? Is there a change that has happened with you? Do you know the Lord? You say, I don't know anything about these terminologies. Do you know the Lord? Are you walking with Him? Is Christ in you? You see? You're not going to get a grade someday on how well you know the terms. Wait till my next subject, I had to look that one up and even learn how to pronounce it. I didn't know the term. But this is serious stuff. When I learned the term and learned how to pronounce it, I was golden. I understood what was behind it. I said, oh yeah, I've heard this heresy before. I can preach this. There is a great work that is done when a man is saved. And even if you don't know the term, you know when the Lord's gotten ahold of you. You know when the Holy Spirit's gotten ahold of you. But don't imagine Christ as some fire escape simply so that you can go through life continuing on in the sin that you've always been in, so you can wallow around in the mud forever and ever and ever until one day He'll take you on up to glory. True saving faith is repentant faith involving your mind, your heart, and your will. Verse 19 says, "...and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness." They. Who's the they there? That's the unbelieving pagan Gentiles. They became hardened, calloused even, as they gave themselves over. Meaning, they abandoned themselves to this uncleanness. They let themselves go. You ever see someone who's let themselves go? I mean, really let themselves go? It's a terrible thing to see outwardly. Sometimes I see some of them distracting things on Facebook. Say, look at this movie star from the 1980s. See what they're up to today and it'll show this famous person from the 1980s that had a good career ahead of them and now they're on drugs and digging through the trash and all that sort of thing on drugs. They've let themselves go. That's outwardly. It's outwardly. abandon all restraints, having no care for self-control or conscience, decency or morality. To a large extent, this is what's happening to our whole country. To a larger extent, this is what's happening to the entire world. Which is why the Bible speaks the way it does about the Gentiles. Just as the Gentiles also walk, he says, in the futility of their mind. And you know what the human heart does? The human heart sees those videos on Facebook and says, well I'm not on drugs. At least not the street kind. I'm not digging through the trash, at least not the garbage. I'm not as bad as that person, you see. The standard isn't other people. Martin Lloyd-Jones wrote on this verse, he said, divine threatenings. thoughts of death or of judgment, leave them unmoved. Nothing matters. If they have to face it, well, they fortify themselves with alcohol or something else. Drugs, anyone? And they deliberately put on the facade. They become lawless. Nothing can restrain them or hold them back. End quote. They've given themselves over to open and unrestrained lust. This all leads somewhere, and it's not good. So in our text it says that they have given themselves over, and in Romans chapter 1, Romans 1, verses 18-32, it says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, both his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts. and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the likeness of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore, God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their females exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural. In the same way also the males abandoned the natural function of the females, burning their desire toward one another, with males committing indecent acts. receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. Just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to an unfit mind to do those things which are not proper, having been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, violent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful. And although they know the righteous requirement of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also and give hearty approval to those who practice them." Notice, beloved, that they gave themselves up, and then in Romans we read that God gave them up. It's a slippery slope. It's a terrible thing. And I can't say it enough, eternity is at stake. This is what the unbelieving world wants. In fact, the unbelieving world don't care that you have Christ as long as he's not the Christ of the Bible. And indeed, there is a form of Christianity that is alive and well in this world, and it's the kind that you can fit in your pocket, pull it out when you need it, when you want it, and then put it right back in your pocket again. The kind that is free from any laws, from any morality, from the Word of God. A Christianity where there's no repentance, where there's no true salvation, and eventually God gives them up. Where they live exactly how they want to live. But judgment day is coming. And Revelation chapter 20 tells us, when they stand before Almighty God, when they stand before the great judge, Jesus Christ, that there will be no place for them. And the ultimate punishment will be eternal fire. The unbelieving world has indeed become calloused. They're living in a terrible way. Do not pat yourself on the back and think, well, I've believed if there's no evidence. The idea that a person can just live lawlessly is completely foreign to the Word of God. Some 19 times in the Gospels, we find Jesus not begging for a decision, but saying, follow me, follow me. Far from it being easy road, he says in Matthew 7, verses 13 and 14, enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction. And there are many who enter through it, for the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Notice Jesus didn't say that the gate is narrow, but the way is broad. No, he's very clear here. It is a narrow gate and a constricted way. In our day, the term Pharisee is used in a derogatory manner. Someone calls somebody a Pharisee, that's usually an insult. But not in Jesus' time. People looked upon the Pharisees as a role model. They were seen as being the ones to look up to, the fellows who upheld the law, the ones who really knew the Bible. When Jesus came, He made it clear. It's not the way of the legalistic Pharisees. In fact, when Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, In Matthew chapter five and verse 20, he said, for I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. And at the end of that same chapter in Matthew chapter five, he said, therefore, you are to be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. And what I get from this, from our Savior's preaching, is far from the Christian being under the lost penalty, far from Christianity being a list of do's and don'ts, we do have a standard to live by as Christians. And that standard is the Word of God. But it's not something that you and I can do, In the flesh, there's no room for bragging. There's no way for an imposter to get in there and really be able to do what Jesus is talking about. I mean, if your righteousness is to surpass the scribes and Pharisees, if you're to be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect, how in the world can you do all that? The only way you can do it is through Christ. That's the only way. It's not us, but Christ through His Spirit leading us, you see. Before we're saved, the law is terrible. Absolutely terrible. The only thing that was there is death. But again, the invitation is given. Jesus says, come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you'll find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, my burden is light. There is a yoke. He is our Lord and Master. Amen? But there's rest. This morning, you're either slave to sin and Satan or you're slave to Christ. Which is it? Which is it? Where are you today? In fact, where the old man absolutely hates the law of God, hates the Word of God, the new man rejoices in God's law. Paul laid that out in Romans 7. Verse 12 when he says, So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, and righteous and good. He said in verse 22, For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man. This is the same Paul who battled with the legalists in Galatia. Why? How? Because he understood. He understood that the law won't save you or keep you saved. But he understood that there's still something good about the Word of God, the Law of God, for the Christian. You see, there's this great tug-of-war going on sometimes between legalists and antinomians. The legalist says, oh, well, we want more law, and the antinomian says, no law, and sometimes they go back and forth. What they both need is Christ. There must be this change. James said, faith without works is dead. I mean, I'd read the whole James chapter 2 if I could, but I'm out of time. Let me just say this. If a person is alive physically, you'll know it. No question of it. Someone in this room died. I'm not trying to be morbid, I'm just trying to paint a picture here. If somebody in this room died right here in this service, we'd know it. We'd know it right away. Spiritually. Spiritually, we can do health checks as well. Someone in this room died and somehow this church, I don't think this would be the way it is, but maybe in some churches, some churches so hungry for members, they might prop up the dead man and say, hey, we gotta keep this guy on the roll, you know? Let's set him up back there in the corner and keep him on the roll. You'd have visitors walk in and say, man, what's wrong with this church? They're crazy. They'd walk out, right? Physically, that would be insanity. But spiritually, sometimes we do that sort of thing, don't we? People living like the world, and yet we prop them up. I remember when he walked down the aisle. I remember when he was baptized, and on and on we go. There's no evidence of life. I don't care how pristine the baptism certificate looks, or how well you remember the date. If there's no proof of life, there ain't none. There ain't none. When we talk about salvation, It is a life and death situation. Now there may be seasons. There may be seasons where a person may go through times where they're not living like they should and all that, but I guarantee you the Lord will get them back if they're one of His. There's not going to be a whole lifetime of people where there's just no sign at all. Again, I don't preach this to discourage you, but to encourage you. May God help us to preach this the way that the Bible teaches it, but also to examine our own lives. And if you're here today, how are you living for the Lord now? How is your relationship with Jesus Christ? Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, how thankful we are for your word. Lord, even as we've examined some of these heresies, Lord, I pray that you will take and apply them practically to our lives, our hearts, Your people will be strengthened. Sinners will come to know you as their Savior. Lord, I pray that you'll forgive us of our sins and our shortcomings. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.