take a moment and just consider what is your boast what is your confidence upon whom is your confidence grounded in your Christian walk now it would be easy for anyone to say a professing Christian to say well I I have my confidences in the Lord of course but is it This is an important question. So it's important that we not just blow it off or treat it in a superficial manner. Because upon this point hangs your spiritual, mental, and relational health. Let me say that again. Upon this singular point begins your spiritual, mental, and relational health. apart from which you have no grounds, apart from which you are simply building on sand. And while it may look good for a while, you may have life and relationships that have the appearance of being healthy and friendly and loving and a life that works. When you put your head on your pillow and you know something's not right, And yet, this is where most Christians live. What am I talking about? I'm talking about the most common error within Christianity, especially American Christianity. I'm talking about those who live in a state of religious pride. Now, they don't look prideful. they don't act even prideful in fact many act very humble I know people who possess this religious pride of which I'm about to define who by all appearances and even in casual conversation you'd walk away thinking gee this is a genuinely godly humble person this is somebody but at the same time if you're discerning if you're awake, there is an element of pride. There is an element of self-confidence that comes through. It's a religious pride. And that's what I'm talking about. Now, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, when understood biblically, will deal with human pride. It will crucify human pride. And this pride that is a remnant of our unredeemed flesh, when it creeps into our understanding of the Gospel, the result is that we end up not having the Gospel. And remember, The devil traffics in half-truths. The devil is not anti-Christian in the sense that he is for Hinduism or for Mormonism. No, he wants to be the master counterfeiter of authentic Christianity. He's not a cult leader. The devil is not a cult leader. His appearance comes as an angel of light. And his ministers, says 2 Corinthians chapter 11, are ministers of righteousness. They look good, they sound good, but the gospel that they preach has a subtle twist to it. And it's that twist that I wanna warn you about today. Let's turn to the scriptures. Ephesians chapter 2 is where we'll begin. Ephesians chapter 2. I'm going to read the first 10 verses. He says here, quote, and you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them, we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. And raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. so that, in the ages to come, he might show the surpassing riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, and listen carefully now, so that no one may boast. for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them end quote now that's the gospel the gospel of sovereign grace being imparted imparting unto us the gift of faith by which we believe in what God has accomplished in Christ on our behalf and are saved. But if we were to listen to the modern gospel, the deadly era, the deadly religious pride of which I'm warning today, we would read that text like this, and you were very sinful and in which you formerly walked when you were in the world, and you were influenced by the Prince of Power, the spirit that now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, though we still had free will and could make different choices. But God, being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us because we were so lovable and he could not resist us, even when we were seemingly dead in our transgressions, we still had the power to be made alive together with Christ by our own free will under the influence of grace. and he has raised us up as a result of our choosing Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ, so that in the ages to come we might show the surpassing riches of how we accepted God's grace and kindness toward us in Christ. For by grace we have been saved through faith in accord with our free will. and that was of ourselves, so that we accessed the gift of God, not as a result of works, but we did make the choice, in that then we boast. For by our own choosing we are now His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works so that we can show the world that we are true Christians and walk in those good works end quote that's the modern gospel What I've just stated, the reworking of that text, the redefining of that text, is the gospel that most modern Christians believe. And they boast. In other words, God has done, as Billy Graham used to say, God has done 99% of the work in Christ. And so, there's 1% that's still necessary. And this religious pride hangs on that 1%. To put it simply, what man insists upon, what fallen man insists upon in order to become a Christian and to fill our pews, is that we concede that the vital, necessary contribution be made by man himself, apart from which not even God can save us. Let me say that again. Man insists, fallen man insists, that if he's going to become a Christian, if he's going to attach himself to the Christian Church, that we concede that despite what God has done in Christ in sending his son that the vital necessary contribution is something that fallen man himself makes to the gospel apart from which God cannot save him. So that in the final analysis it is man saving himself Now, he'll say immediately that grace is absolutely necessary and faith is essential. It's just not sufficient apart from his vital contribution. So, I hope you hear what I'm saying here. The gospel of Jesus Christ, as set forth within the scriptures, leaves no ground for boasting. is a work of God from start to finish but what we hear in the churches and what we has been the great controversy what we had to deal with throughout church history is this demand by sinners to that if they're going to become Christians, they must provide the vital, necessary, freewill contribution that makes effectual the work of Christ in their life. In other words, there's an autonomous contribution The linguists use the words monergism versus synergism. The gospel of Jesus Christ is set forth in scriptures as monergistic, meaning it's singular, it's one. It is the work of one, meaning God. But the modern gospel, as most professing Christians understand it, is synergistic, and they're quite proud of it. In fact, strains of theology are unashamed of it. What church history calls Arminianism, or man's participation in his salvation, his justification is very common it is in fact the common teaching within Pentecostal and evangelical churches that salvation is a synergistic effort something that man adds to what God has accomplished in Christ that apart from which God cannot save them And so they walk away with this underlying sense of pride. I am a Christian because of something I did. I'm in Christ. Again, they won't argue against grace. They won't argue against faith. The argument is not whether grace is necessary or whether faith is necessary. The argument is that neither grace nor faith is sufficient apart from their vital contribution. And there are even preachers who tell people that. Oh, you must come forward. Oh, you must say this prayer. And they couch it in such a way that it's a half-truth. Yes, we must believe. yes we must repent and believe that's not the issue the question is why or how is someone who's dead and trespasses and sins children of wrath by nature hostile to God suddenly chooses to be a Christian suddenly chooses to believe See, it's a work of God upon the heart, mind, and will that makes us alive in Christ. The regeneration, the regenerating work of the Spirit precedes saving faith. And as we just read in Ephesians 2, saving faith itself is a gift of God. It isn't something inherent within the sinner. Faith itself is something that we must be given or else we won't have the faith, because saving faith has Christ alone as its object. Let's look at another text. 1 Corinthians 1, 30-31. 1 Corinthians 1 30-31 reads this way, But by his doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, so that, that's a Greek purpose clause by the way, so that, just as it is written, let him who boasts boast in the Lord. So where's your boast today? Is it in the Lord? Or is it in the Lord and you? Because that's the subtle difference. We can boast in the Lord, but we reserve the right to boast in ourselves also. I know people who tell me, well, I became a Christian in 1985 by choice of my free will. I've spoken to so many people who really believe that they are Christians because they simply one day decided to become a Christian. And you have to question at that point, are they? Are they really Christians? And there's this twinkle in their eye and this smirk on their face that somehow they did something that made them a Christian, that that poor man or woman next to him didn't. And so in the final analysis, their boast is in their choice. It's almost as if they did God a favor. God sent his son into the world to die and rise again on our behalf. And if they hadn't believed, if no one had believed, then all of that would have gone vain Christ will have died in vain so we did God a favor by believing and so now we are saved in other words God's in a reactionary mode to us there are people who truly believe there's a whole stream of theology it teaches that people believe and then the Holy Spirit comes and causes them to be born again when the clear teaching of the Bible is that the regenerating work of the Spirit moves upon the dead sinner and renews their mind, will, and heart, imparting to them the gift of faith. In other words, we have to be made alive in order to believe. It's the regenerating work of the Spirit that precedes saving faith. If you get those two things reversed, then you no longer have the gospel. This isn't a matter of simple disagreement. This isn't a matter where you can simply agree to disagree with your friends and remain both Christians. This is a matter of the heart of the gospel. Someone who really believes that they, in the final analysis, saved themselves by choosing in themselves to believe. They are either not a Christian or they're in gross error and won't remain in that gross error. but someone who having been corrected and shown the truth from scriptures and continues stubbornly to insist that they saved themselves, you have every right to question whether or not they're even truly a Christian. Not by their profession, not by the gospel they believed. There is one gospel, folks, let him who boasts, boasts in the Lord." But what I'm warning you of is the religious pride that says, let him who boasts, boasts in the Lord in my choosing, or my works, my church attendance, my giving. Let me give you one more text, 2 Corinthians 10. You can see that this is a theme especially in the Pauline letters 2nd Corinthians 10 17 But he who boasts is to boast in the Lord For it is not he who commends himself as it approved But he whom the Lord commends a second Corinthians 10 17 through 18 So let me just summarize real quickly here. Throughout church history there has been this great conflict beginning in the apostolic era with Paul's controversy primarily and the other apostles controversies with what was called the Judaizers, Jewish Christian leaders who insisted that that faith in Christ as the Messiah be accompanied by certain works and rites, primarily circumcision at that time, to round out and complete the Gospel. That grace was necessary, but just not sufficient. And Paul clearly calls that in Galatians chapter 1, another Gospel. It's not another version of the gospel for which we should have tolerance. It's another gospel for which we should have no tolerance. Twice, in Galatians chapter 1, Paul cursed that gospel. He cursed those who preached that gospel. 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 he calls it a seduction of Satan very similar to that which Eve succumbed to in the garden. So take stock. Take a look at yourself. Ask yourself who is it and whom do you boast? How is it that you are a Christian? How is it that you are in Christ, if indeed you are in Christ? And you will know that you are in Christ, you can have great assurance, because your boast is in the Lord alone. Remember the Reformation was about rediscovering and reconfirming, affirming the Gospel. as being sola gratia, grace alone, sola fide, faith alone, and solus Christus, in Christ alone. Salvation from beginning to end is the work of God. Now, is there any participation, any role Well, there's no contributory role. Now, that's an important distinction. There's no contributory role, but there is a participation in our own salvation. Paul says that in Philippians 2, 12. He said, So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but not much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. but why and on what basis for it is God who is at work in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure in justification becoming right with God we don't play any role at all it's the work of God we believe but even that is a gift throughout the Christian life then we continue But we continue then as in participation to work out that which God did in us at justification. So our initial conversion is solely of the Lord. And from start to finish it remains solely of God. God is the one who is at work in you. But once having been birthed into the new life, You then participate by working that out into your thinking, your feeling, your relationships, your worldview, knowing that it is God who is at work within you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure or purpose. So avoid religious pride. Do a little systems check. Do a little self-examination. And wherever you think that somehow you are a Christian because of some thing you did, even as simple as getting up and walking down the crusade steps and coming to the platform and saying a prayer, or submitting to baptism, Those things are necessary, but they aren't the basis by which you are a Christian. Salvation is of the Lord from start to finish. Amen.