What is True Christianity? (Episode 1)

Welcome to our Monday's broadcast of The Gospel Truth. Today, I'm gonna spend an entire week teaching on what true Christianity is, what distinguishes Christianity from every other religion. And some of you may think, oh, I know that already, but you know, there's a lot of people who think that just believing that Jesus is the Son of God is sufficient. I'm gonna share some scriptures with you that may just shock you, but Jesus called people who believed on Him, you are of your father, the devil. You gotta do more than that. It says in James 2, verse 19, you believe that there's one God, you do well. The devils also believe in trouble, but won't you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead. It takes more than just believing that God exists. The devils do that, and yet they aren't saved. You gotta have some action. I've got this book that is entitled The New You and the Holy Spirit. I have given away hundreds of thousands of these at our meetings to people who've come forward for salvation or the baptism of the Holy Spirit. So it's about what is the new you, and that's the first half of this book, what is true salvation, and the second half is about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. I not only have this in English, but we also have this same book in Spanish, and we're making this a free offer to you this week. But let me just say again, that just believing that God exists, even believing that Jesus is the Son of God and that He is the Savior, and you can believe that He died on a cross, but it takes more than just an acknowledgement that these things are true. There has to be a commitment on your part. Over in Romans chapter 10, it says in verse nine, if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. That's more than just using the Lord as a title. It's talking about that you are committing your life, that there is a commitment on your part. And there's a lot of people today that claim to be Christian that I don't believe that they possess true salvation. And I'm gonna be sharing a lot of scripture with you on this very thing. But this program can be seen around the world. Over 5.2 billion people could watch this program on a daily basis, and I can guarantee you out of that number of people that there's a lot of people who assume that they're a Christian just because we were born in a Christian nation because you may go to a church or something like that. I actually was witnessing to a person one time and asked him if he was a Christian, and he pulled a coin out of his pocket. And he says, of course I'm a Christian. Right here it says, in God we trust. And he thought because his money had in God we trust printed on it that that made him a Christian. That is not what true Christianity is. You know, there's many things, and I'm gonna be covering a number of things this week. But let me say this, one of the distinguishing characteristics between true Christianity and every other religion of the world is the fact that we are the only religion, if you wanna call Christianity a religion, I hesitate to use the word religion because to me religion is men's ideas about God. True Christianity is God revealing himself to us, and it's not a religion. It's not man-made. But you know, Buddhism and Islam and all of these things, those are religion. Those are men's attempts to understand God. But true Christianity is God revealing himself to us through his son. But one of the things that really sets true Christianity apart from every religion in the world is that we are the only religion that has a savior. Now stop and think about that. You can go into Confucianism. You can go into Buddhism, Islam. You can go into any religion of the world. They believe that there's a God, but they believe that you have to earn your way to God. You've got to somehow or another practice jihad. You've got to practice self-denial. You've got to do something to make yourself worthy and earn all of these things. And so you'll have people that'll become monks. They'll wear saffron robes. They'll shave their head. They'll beg. They have to do all of these things to be worthy and to earn relationship with God. But true Christianity. Now there is a false Christianity that basically teaches the same thing, that you've got to be holy. You got to go to church. You got to pay your tithes. And there are multitudes of people that call themselves Christian. But if they were to stand before God, and if God was to say, what makes you worthy? They would point to, well, I went to church and I was baptized when I was an infant. And I did these sacraments and I did these things. And they would point to themselves. Did you know that that's no different than the Muslims, than the Buddhists, than anybody else? There are religious Christians who are trusting in their own goodness as the means of salvation. And that is not accurate. But a true Christian, if he was asked, what makes you worthy to enter into heaven? They would say, I'm not worthy based on anything I've done. My total faith is in Jesus. He is a savior. Jesus bore my sin. He became sin for me. 2 Corinthians 5, 21 says, for He, God the Father, made Him, Jesus, who knew no sin, to be made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Jesus became sin for us. See, He is a savior. And all of God's punishment and wrath against sin came upon Jesus. And a true Christian is a person who has put faith in what Jesus did for them, not what they do for Jesus. And sad to say, we've got multitudes of religious people today who are actually trusting in themselves. It's subtle. They may not even recognize it themselves. But I've had people come up in prayer lines. I pray for a lot of people and I pray for people to be healed. And I've heard this hundreds, maybe thousands of times. People saying, I go to church, I pay my tithes, I fast, I pray, I do all of these things. How come God hasn't healed me? How come God hasn't prospered me or whatever? You know what they're doing? They're relating God moving in their life to their holiness. They basically are saying, I deserve this. I'm living holy. How come God hasn't moved? If that's your attitude, you aren't going through Jesus. You may say, oh, well, yeah, I need Jesus, but I've also got to do this. You know, the scripture says in Romans 11, verse six says, if by grace, then it is no more works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. Now that's kind of wordy in the King James, but it's just saying it's either grace or it's work, your effort, but it's not a combination of the two. It's not that Jesus paid like the base price and then you have to add to it your own goodness. No, you are either totally trusting in what Jesus did for you or you are totally trusting in yourself, but it can't be you providing 50% and Jesus providing 50%. And yet that's what a lot of people think. A lot of people think you have to believe on Jesus and you have to accept salvation, but then you've got to earn everything that you get from God. That is no different than a pagan religion. That's no different than all of these other religions that believe that there's a God, but they put the burden of salvation upon your back. True salvation is humbling yourself and admitting that I've sinned, that I can't save myself. And Jesus is my Savior and He's extended salvation to me based on His grace, not based on my works and performance. And all I have to do, Ephesians 2, verse eight, it says, you're saved by grace through faith. Grace is what God did for you through Jesus. You didn't deserve it, you didn't earn it. It was done 2000 years before you and I even were alive and existed. It has nothing to do with you. That's grace, that's what God has done, but you access grace by faith, is what it says in Romans chapter five, verse two, that we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand. So God's grace is what provides salvation and the only thing you have to contribute is just faith. You have to believe and receive as a gift or if you doubt, you do without. Romans 3.23 says, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Romans 6.23 says, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. It's a gift. It's a gift to be received, not a wage to be earned. Let me use some scriptures here in John chapter eight. And this is where a woman was brought to Jesus. She had been taken in the very act of adultery and the scribes and Pharisees, they didn't care about justice. If they had cared about justice, if she was taken in the very act of adultery, that meant that there was also a man involved, but they didn't bring the man. They only brought the woman because people tend to have more sympathy and pity towards a woman than they have a man. And they thought that this would be something, you know, it's very possible that some of these scribes and Pharisees were the guy that was having sex with this prostitute. That's how they caught her in the very act, but they weren't interested in judgment or they would have brought the man. They brought the woman only and they said, what do you say? The law says that she should be stoned to death. And they thought they had Jesus in a situation where there was no way to win because if he allowed her to go free, he'd been preaching grace and forgiveness and mercy towards people, contrary to the legalism that the Pharisees were doing. They thought that if he let her go, that they would be able to stone him to death because Leviticus 18 says, if a person commits adultery like that, it's punishable by death. And if you don't punish him, you could be put to death. So they thought that they could, you know, get rid of him if he let her go. But if he wound up condemning her and stoning her the way that it was prescribed in the law of Moses, well, then all the people that had been drawn to him because of his teaching on grace would desert him and think he preaches it, but he doesn't live it. So they thought they had him in a catch 22 where any decision he made would be wrong. But of course, the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of man. So what Jesus did, he just wrote something in the sand and act like he hadn't even heard him. And so then they started pressing him. You've got to make a decision. What are you going to do with this woman? And finally he stood up and he says, he that's without sin among you, let him cast the first stone. We don't know what he wrote. And so I'm really not even going to say, I've got opinions on what I think he was doing, but whatever it was, it says that when he says, he that's without sin among you, let him cast the first stone. It says that they all begin to be convicted by their own conscience and went out from the oldest to the youngest. And finally there was nobody left except Jesus and this woman. And he told her go and sin no more. And so he told her that what she did was sin. He didn't say that it's not sin. He didn't change the rules, but he was going to bear that sin of prostitution. He was going to bear that punishment for sin in his own body. And therefore he was able to forgive this woman. And he told her go and sin no more. He said it was sin, told her not to do it anymore, but he extended grace towards her. And because of this, the people begin to provoke him and ask all of these questions. I'm not going to take time to read all of this, but let me just go down to John chapter eight. And in verse 30, it says, as he spake these words, many believed on him. Now this is significant. That 30th verse, remember this, because this really becomes important as you continue to read what happened between Jesus and all of these people that believed on him. So these are people that believed on him. And he said to those Jews, which believed on him, if you continue in my word, then shall you be my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Well, there's a number of things to get out of those verses. But one of the things is that just believing on Jesus does not make you a disciple. And believing on Jesus does not automatically make you free. It says you have to continue in the word and then you become a disciple. And then you shall know the truth. Jesus said in John chapter 17, verse 17, he was praying to his father and he said, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. This Bible, God's word is truth. And I tell you, we're living in a day and age where people don't know what truth is. They think that they can change their sex just because they choose to feel that way. That's not true, it's a lie. They think that they can have a relationship, be married to two men, two women can be married. That's a lie. We have people that are just believing lies. They are pushing transgenderism. They're putting men into women's sports. Those are some of the big items, but there are also people that believe that they can commit adultery, that they can lie, that they can steal, that they can live for themselves and do all of these things. All of these things are lies. This is truth. God's word is truth. His standards are truth. And he said, you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. There are many people that think, oh, I'd never be in bondage to all of the standards that are in the Bible. I'm a free spirit and I do whatever I want. The truth is you're the one that's in bondage. Man, it is not bondage to live according to what God says. God is our creator. There's only one God and you are not him. And for you to reject his standards and to do your own thing, you in a sense are saying, I'm God. I don't care what God says. I'm gonna live by the way I want to. I'm the one that decides what's right and wrong. That's not true. And you will never be made free. It says here, you will know the truth and the truth shall make you free. You shall know the things that the revelation that's in the word of God. That's what causes you to be free. I've had people criticize me and say, man, you don't commit adultery. You don't lie. You don't steal. You don't get drunk. I've never taken a drink of liquor. I've never smoked a cigarette. I've never done dope. I've never done these things. And people say, boy, you've missed out on so much. Yeah, I've missed out on depression, discouragement. I've never been suicidal. It's been 50 something years since I've been depressed. I walk in supernatural health. God supplies my needs. I see people's lives changed. Tell me who's in bondage. The person who's drunk, hung over, does stupid things, embarrasses himself, puts his life at risk, the life of other people at risk, or the person who stays sober. I tell you, it's a deception. It is lies. The only way you'll ever be truly free is to know the truth of God's word and begin to start conforming your life to what God said. Jesus said it this way. He says, it's in losing your life that you find what life is all about. Those who seek to save their life, those who are putting themselves and just thinking about themselves, that is not true life. True life is in submitting yourself to the word of God. You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. And it's only the truth you know that makes you free. There are people watching this program who I don't doubt that you're born again, that you at some time came to a place to where you committed your life to the Lord and you received salvation. If you were to die right now, you would go to be with the Lord, but you aren't free because you don't know the truth. Salvation is more than just getting a ticket to heaven. If you receive salvation, then you need to continue in God's word until you become a disciple in deed. And then you will know the truth. See, if you continue in God's word, which is the truth, John 17, 17, then that truth that you know will set you free. And it's not only free from going to hell, but it's free from sickness, free from poverty, free from depression, free from bitterness, unforgiveness. It'll set you free in every area of your life. And there are people watching this program right now that if you would be honest, you aren't free. You are bound. People have done things to you and you just cannot get over it. You can't forgive them. Man, you are just, if you were to look at it objectively, there's very little difference between you and your neighbor that doesn't even claim to know the Lord. You get as sick as they are. You're as poor as they are. You are as susceptible to depression and discouragement. Every time something terrible happens in the news, you fall apart like a $2 suitcase, just like the people that didn't even know the Lord. You know, I remember during COVID-19 that man, the world just began to panic. And I admit that, you know, we didn't know where this was going. We didn't know how severe it was. They were sounding the alarm. And so when President Trump asked for us to have two weeks to flatten the curve, I canceled some meetings and stuff. I thought, well, for two weeks, I'll abide by this. But man, I never was petrified. I never was fearful. I never did take a vaccine. I never felt like, matter of fact, I actually had people around me that said things like, oh, I've had COVID, don't touch me, don't get near me. And I told them, I said, come here and hug me because no germ can touch my body and live, amen. And stuff, I wasn't afraid. There ought to be a difference between people who have promises that no plague will come nigh our dwelling. Only with our eyes will we see the reward of the wicked and other things. There ought to be a difference between a person who has all of these promises and a person who doesn't have promises and doesn't have a savior. I'm telling you, there's a lot of people that are Christians in name only, but they are not truly born again. And I'm not gonna have time to finish this on today's program, but I'll continue tomorrow. And Jesus went on and talked to these people who believed on him. Remember that. It says in verse 30, they believed on him. And yet he went on and talked to them and he says, you're out to kill me. And then he finally tells them in verse 44, you are of your father, the devil. They were not born again. It takes more than just believing that God exists. It takes more than just a mental ascent, acknowledging that Jesus existed and that God exists. Even the devils believe and tremble at the name of the Lord. But won't you know, oh vain man, that faith without works is dead. You've gotta do more than just acknowledge that God exists. You've gotta commit your life to him. God bless you.