Transcription
[Music] Heat. Heat. Greetings, my digital cathedral family. I'm so glad to have you with me today in the middle of June. I think this is June 15th. I forgot to look at my calendar before I got started, but this is I don't know where you live, but in Houston, Texas, it's summertime. So, I trust that you're getting some good weather.
Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who seem to catch all this bad weather right across the midsection of the country. It seems like and and even up east. We're coming into our time along the Gulf Coast when we keep an eye on the Gulf for hurricanes. But I uh I'm totally devastated when I watch people that come out of tornadoes. At least with a hurricane, we know it's coming. But those dog on tornadoes, man, they are they are something else.
Which kind of hints around to where we're going. Uh it might seem like a little bit of a roundabout trip that I'm taking you, but I want to get some things flushed out, get some things really straight before we delve deeply into where I think grace is taking us. Grace has taken us on a tremendous journey. Grace has taken us, and I'm not going to reiterate, but grace has taken us uh to the universal fatherhood of God. It's taken us through uh unconditional love, inclusion, mercy that endures forever. And I think we're getting ready. I think the father's preparing us. This why I'm flushing some things out. I want to make absolutely sure that we're we're tracking with the Apostle Paul because I think that the Father's going to take us next into the marriage, the coupling together, putting the next car on the engine of grace of God's power and seeing it manifest in the life of his sons and daughters who are embarking on that journey of theosis, really coming into the fullness of who God designed us to be.
Doesn't it say in Ephesians that we will come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ? And Paul said that in Jesus dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Then he turns around says in verse 10, he says you are complete in him. That's where the target is. That's where I think we're going. So let's flush a few things out today. This might mess with some of you, but that's my intention because I don't want any little little ties, little ropes hanging on to us as we really start to get into this next dimension that grace is going to take us. Fair enough.
All right, let's begin over in Titus chapter 2. We're going to look at the gold standard of orthodox this morning. The gold standard of orthodoxy. I'm not sure what I'm going to title the teaching yet. I haven't put a title on it, but it might be the gold standard of orthodoxy. We'll see. But let's get some things fleshed out. Let's get some things in focus this morning and let's align our thinking with the revelation that Paul brings to the table.
All right, here we go. Titus chapter 2 and verse 11. I'm going to read strictly, I think, out of the Passion translation. I've got one verse out of the mirror that I'm going to quote from, but other than that, we'll stick with the Passion Translation this morning. Here we go. Here's what Paul told Titus. Titus chapter 2, 11. He said, "God's marvelous grace has manifested in person." That's Jesus. You want to know what God's grace looks like? Look at Jesus. The grace that God demonstrates toward all humanity does not look any different than what was demonstrated in the loving kindness of Jesus toward all people as manifested in person. Watch. Bringing salvation for everyone.
Let me just read it without stopping. I want you to get impacted by this. And if you have to renew your mind to this today, I'm I'm talking maybe to some of you that are newer here to digital cathedral, you're just starting to commit to this mission message, let's let's make this a fixture. Let's take let's take it like Paul was really telling Titus the truth. He says God's marvelous grace is manifested in person, bringing salvation for everybody. There's nobody left out. There's no ifands or buts, no asterisks, no footnotes at the bottom of the page. He just brought salvation for everybody.
Now, I hope by now, if you've been with me any any time here at the digital cathedral, I hope that when you hear the term radical grace, that's what Paul's talking about right there in Titus 2:1, that's that's about as radical as you can get grace. But when I talk use that term radical grace, I hope that you realize that I'm not necessarily talking about something that is uh edgy, something that is uh fanatical, something that uh you know is is insane, it's crazy. No, what I'm talking about is the Latin word radics. R A D IX. And what radics means is root. Uh like radish. Radish grows in the ground. It's it's like a root. We call it a radish. That come from the word radics. And so that's what radical really means. Radical grace is is taking multitudes of people today, of which I'm one. I I would assume you're one or you wouldn't be watching a digital cathedral. Radical grace is taking multitudes of people back to the root of Paul's message of grace. And I'll probably say this five or six times this morning, but I want to entrench it deep within you. Paul's message of grace and Jesus plus nothing plus nothing is beyond systems of theology or western church uh highly developed belief systems.
See what theology does and you know I've told you my undergraduate degree was in systematic theology. What theology does, it it boxes you into a system. Once you know what that theology says about esquetology, the the last days or about salvation or angels, any topic that you want to get, there's nine or 10 basic components to developing a systematic theology. Once you got that theology down, then there's no room for expansion. There's no room for growth because you are you're tied in to what that theology has dictated. And that's where most of us have come from. That's where most of us come from. We've come from a church or a denomination that has a fixed setting concrete theology and that forms the basis of our security. So when someone comes like O'keefee and he begins to rattle that theological cage, it's looked upon with a lot of disdain. It's looked upon as error uh as falsehood because it doesn't align itself to the established theological system.
Now Paul's message of grace is beyond the system. You cannot box it in. Paul's message of grace, can I just frankly shoot you straight? Paul's message of grace is the gospel. Good news, no bad news. You don't find any bad news in the message that Paul brought to the table. It is the gold standard of orthodoxy. It's Paul's message is centered in grace, centered in union with Christ, the power of the finished work that covers the entirety all of humanity from from death to life. It takes all of us. Didn't Paul say that you have been delivered from the power of darkness and you've been translated into the kingdom of God's dear son? The the message of Paul is very inclusive. He doesn't leave people out. There's no us and them. There's no insiders, outsiders. There's no we have it, you don't have it. Let me ask you a question. At the end of the day, would you really be upset if everybody showed up at the big party? I wouldn't. I wouldn't. I wouldn't be upset at all if everybody showed up at the big party.
Now, here's here's two two quick scriptures that kind of show you this this message of Paul that goes beyond a system that uh is really good news and very inclusive for everybody. Let me start with 1 Corinthians chapter 15:22. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 22. Sometimes I feel like, you know what, I read these scriptures so much that I want you to be able to to just pull on them like this so that when you get into a discussion with one of your friends, this stuff is fresh and and it's it's it's deeply rooted within you. Here's here's a good example of the three points I just told you about Paul's message. It's inclusive. It's the gold standard. Uh it it it concerns everybody. It's it's centered in grace. All right, here we go. 1 Corinthians chapter 15:22. Never heard this taught, never taught this my whole life till about the year 2000 when I begin to make a a move out of a mixture message, which I had taught and preached all my life with a good heart, sincere motives. But I began to see that there's more. And when I came out of that theological box, it's like my Bible opened up. It's like the spirit of truth began to speak to me. I fell in love with Jesus again. the father became my best friend and I wouldn't turn back. I wouldn't go back for anything. Here's what Paul said. First Corinthians 15:22, even as all who are in Adam die, so also all who are in Christ will be made alive. The word all is used twice there. It's used in reference to first Adam bringing death to all. And then the all is used again in last Adam or Christ bringing life to all.
Now my evangelical friends get real picky on that verse. They say, "Well, see there, he brings life to all that are in Christ." And I'm going to get into a little bit of their theological system because it it just boxes them in. Makes them so judgmental and picky. They say, you know, not everybody's in Christ. Not everybody's in Christ. Everybody was in Adam. So, they're making the all in Adam greater than the all that are in Christ. In effect, they're empowering Adam more than Jesus. They're making the first Adam highly inclusive. They're universalists when it comes to first Adam, but when it comes to last Adam, no, they can't be that way. No, you you there's something you got to do. And that's not what aligns with the message of Paul.
All right, let's just take this in Christ thing. Let me give you one more verse. 2 Timothy 1:9. 2 Timothy 1 and verse 9. Let's see if we could just settle this in in Christ s cuz I run into it all the time. 2 Timothy 1:9. He He gave us resurrection life. He gave us resurrection life. And he drew us to himself by his holy calling on our lives. And it wasn't because of any good work that we have done, but by his divine pleasure and marvelous grace that confirmed our union with the anointed Jesus. Confirmed our union with the anointed Jesus. Are your ears opening? Before time began. This is a setup. This is a divine setup that we have never understood up to this point. Let me read that again. He gave us resurrection life, drew us to himself by his holy calling on our lives. Wasn't because of our good. Wasn't because we prayed the magic prayer. Wasn't because we got baptized or tithed or went to Bible study, but by his divine pleasure and marvelous grace.
Now, if you're going to be one of those that say, "Wait, it's only in Christ." Watch what he is here. He confirmed that union with the anointed Jesus before time began. So again, let me ask you a question. Would you really be upset if everybody showed up to the party?
Religious systems that we all came out of, and there's only two prevalent ones in the United States of America, probably in all North America, and for a large degree, wherever we have sent missionaries, we've taken these two systems. One is either Calvinism and the other is Arminianism. And both Calvinism and Arminianism are attempts to explain salvation, but they are incomplete. And I'll just take it a step further cuz I'm ready to take these two systems on. They are absolutely heretical. They are are heretical. They are they are systems that attempt to explain salvation. And they cannot do it because and and if the father will help me next Sunday morning, I'm going to talk about two words. I want to talk about salvation and saved. Cuz what we've done is we've made those two equal terms that they mean the same thing. And they don't.
If you're a Calvinist or more more likely more of you have come from an Armenian background, a John Wesley influence, you've taken that word salvation and saved and totally hijacked it. And you've heard it over and over and over for so many years that when some as soon as somebody says saved or salvation, you immediately associate it with going to heaven and missing hell. We've twisted it up. It does not mean that. Sodoria is the word Greek word for salvation and soo is the word for saved. I'm not going to get into those two, but you you better be with me next Sunday morning because we're going to get into it and we're going to dismantle some things that have been attributed to those two words that the Apostle Paul never did. It they are not the gospel. They are not the ticket to heaven and your get out of hellfree card that we've intended them to be. They do not fit the mystery that Paul taught and established in every church.
Here's Paul's warning. Paul knew that when he established uh Jesus and grace plus nothing that you don't have to do anything to be uh soozoed saved. Now salvation is another issue. So I want to get into it next week. He made being saved. This this is the father's work. Look, Paul knew Paul Paul knew that things were going to happen in Galatians chapter 1. And this is what drove I I don't want to say drove him crazy, but you understand what I mean by that. He wasn't crazy at any time, but it it really frustrated him to no end. Here's what Paul said. And this is tell me that Calvinism and Armenianism don't fit what Paul said here in Galatians 1 67 and 8. Paul said, "I'm shocked. I'm shocked over how quickly you have strayed away from the one who called you in the grace of Christ. Who called them in the grace of Christ? It was Paul. The spirit of truth unveiled Christ in you to Paul. That was the heartbeat of his message. He said, "I'm frankly astounded that you now embrace a distorted gospel, a fake gospel." Well, this he he mids no words. Simply not true. There is only one gospel, the gospel of Messiah. Yet you have allowed those who mingle law with grace to confuse you with lies.
What is the mingling of law and grace? Let me bring it right into 2025. The mingling of law and grace. Now, in in Paul's time, it was those that Judaizers that came in said, "Yeah, you have to be circumcised. You have to that's a work. you have to had to get circumcised. We don't circumcise people today, but we do tell them you got to pray the prayer. So, we take we take grace plus praying the prayer to equal soo or saved. And Paul said that's a fake gospel. Paul said that that's you cannot attach anything to it. And this is where I'm I'm probably stepping on toes. But we have to boil this thing down. We have to get really honest with ourselves about what is orthodox and we have to begin to view through the lens that Paul viewed orthodox as grace Jesus no prayer no baptism are those things wrong you want to do them absolutely not but it has nothing to do with you being saved it is a done that that's a done deal took care of that and and we're going to keep going into this what is orthodoxy what what does orthodox really It's a theological word we that you probably heard tossed around. Here's what it means very simply. It means a right belief. Orthodox means a faithfulness to the apostolic gospel and the person of Christ. It's a faithfulness to the apostolic gospel and the doctrine and the person of Christ.
Have you ever noticed, and I look at my own ministry for years, you ever noticed that people in your your Pentecostal, charismatic, Word of Faith Church never quote a church father? That's because that they don't they don't take their their theology back that far. The theology of an Armenian and a Calvinist only goes back to the 1700s during the Great Awakening. That's when it all began. And it took root in America. It hasn't flushed out. And it's not true. It's not right. There's there's problems with it. And it has stymied the growth of millions and millions of people and hindered hindered the gospel. Every doctrine, let me just I'm feeling this today, y'all. Every doctrine, every theology that does not come up to the standard of Paul is Paul's message postresurrection is false. It is not true. And it it it's exactly what Paul said in Galatians chapter 1 verse 67 and 8. Paul did not get his his his beliefs his revelation from a man. He's very specific about he said I was out in the desert. I got what I'm teaching you. I got straight from Christ. So he he didn't it wasn't passed down to him. It was not uh he didn't take the Old Testament law and add a few goodies to it to make it acceptable, to make it sugarcoated. He didn't he didn't take what Jesus had revealed to him and tack on anything to it. We have tacked it on and has been tacked on for so long. For so long, at least in our eyes now, in the history of things, it hasn't been that long. The Great Awakening was in the 1700s. That's what 325 years ago. So from from the crucifixion of Jesus up till the 1700s, nobody heard of Calvinism or Armenianism. Nobody heard of no nobody was quoting Jonathan Edwards and sinners in the hands of an angry god where God takes great pleasure in holding people over the fire of hell because he he determined they that's where they should go.
Paul's message, grace, Jesus equals saved, turned the entire religious system of his day upside down. Just a very simple message. Grace and Jesus plus nothing. Now, when we come with that message today, you know what's happening? It's turning the religious systems of Calvinism and Armenianism absolutely upside down. And we're getting push back for it. The push back, I'll say this, is getting less. When I started teaching this uh over 20 years ago, man, I I I was fought with tooth and nail. I was called every name in the book. I was leading people to hell. I was a heretic. I I I was spreading lies. But now, as a spirit of truth is beginning to lift the veil over the eyes of sons and daughters, there's not that push back. the lie, the delusion, the perversion in the 1700s, the great awakening. Jonathan Edwards representing Calvinism, John Wesley representing Armenianism did not stick to Paul's message of grace and Jesus plus nothing. They they vacasillated from pure orthodox, the gold standard, which was Paul's message. And I'm going to define those for you in just a minute. But let me just let me give you three things about Paul's message. All right. What what was Paul's core message? Here's Paul's core message. Here's the standard. Here's where we cannot deviate from. Saved by grace.
First, I'm going to go ABC with Paul. Then I'm going to look at those two. A saved by grace void of any performance. a a religious work, a performance, anything that you feel you must do to make yourself right with God. Here's here's what Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8 and 9 says. You you probably know these verses by heart. All right? Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8. Now, watch. Here's Paul's here's the centrality of grace plus nothing. This is Paul's Paul's message. 8 saved by grace void of performance. Ephesians chapter 2:8. For it was only through the wonderful grace that we believed in him. Only through this wonderful grace that we believed in him. Only through this grace we believed in him. Nothing we could do to earn this salvation. There was nothing we could do to earn this salvation.
Now, I I got a lot of friends in, you know, in charismatic Pentecostal circles. They say, "Well, of course not." But you have to receive it. If you're making receiving something you must do, then you're making it a work. See, you cannot receive. I don't want you to ever forget this. You cannot receive something that grace has not already given. Now your receiving can recognize what grace has given but it has has no uh has no vote in the matter of whether you have it or not. Grace has already given it to you for it was only through this wonderful grace that we believed in him. Nothing we could do to ever earn this salvation. For it was the gracious gift from God that brought us to Christ. It was the gracious gift from God that brought us to Christ. It was the gracious gift of God that brought us to Christ. I thought it was my prayer. I thought it was my believing, my receiving, my dedication, my commitment, my repenting of sins, balling and squal. So, no one will ever be able to boast for salvation is never a reward for good works or human striving on any level.
All right. Now, here's what France says in the mirror Bible. Ephesians chapter 2:8, "Your salvation is not a reward for good behavior. It is a grace thing from start to finish. You had no hand in it. You had no hand in it. Even the gift to believe simply reflects his faith. Verse N. If this could be accomplished through any action of yours, any action of yours, there would be ground for boasting. If if you had to do something to get it, it's no longer a gift. It's a wage. Right? It's no longer a declaration. It's a transaction. The the gospel is a is a proclamation, not a not an invitation. It's a declaration, not a transaction. A transaction is this. Let me define transaction. A transaction is when you do something and then you expect something in return. when you when you go uh to work Monday morning, those of you that that work, uh if if you go into the office or you go into the factory, the store, the school, whatever you do for to to make a living, you put your time in. You do something and what you're expecting is a check on the first and the 15th or every Friday or once a month, however you're paid. That's a transaction. You trade your time, your effort, your skill. You put that in the middle and then you are rewarded with a paycheck. That's a transaction. You cannot make salvation. You cannot make saved. So, so you cannot make it a transaction where you say, "Okay, look, here's what I'm going to put in the pot. I'm going to I'm going to put my prayer in there, my faith, my dedication, my receiving, uh my my uh sorrow for sin. I mean, the list goes on and on. I'm going to put all that in. And what I expect is that God will unfold his arms, look on me with favor, allow me to go to heaven, and save me from hell. Heresy becomes this. Let's make a deal. There is no deal in the gospel. There is no I do, then God will in the gospel. There is no I do, then God responds. And if I don't do, then God doesn't respond. See, we've made this thing into really into a transaction that I'm I'm going to pray my prayer, then God's going to save me. But if you don't do, then God won't do. Do you see? That does not align with Paul's teaching. That does not align with the message of the gospel of grace. It simply does not. It's heresy of the highest degree. And it is not Paul's message whatsoever.
Now, let me let me say it again. That that first point I I hit that first point of Paul's message pretty hard. It's salvation with grace plus nothing yet. No additives to it. You drink it straight. No water, no ice. That's the only way you can you can consume grace. All right.
Second of all, Paul's message was union with Christ. That was central. Christ in you, the hope of glory. He discovered the Christ that was in him. Galatians 1 1560. Not not the Christ that was presented to him. the Christ that was already in him. Romans chapter 6, let me read just a couple of verses here. Romans chapter 6, because this union uh is is very is very central and you you cannot you cannot get around it. You can turn your eyes the other way. Uh you can ignore it, but it doesn't doesn't change the matter. Romans chapter 6 and verse three. Or have you forgotten that all of us were immersed into union with Jesus? Oh, have you forgotten? All of us were immersed into union with Jesus, the anointed one. We were immersed into union with his death. Verse four, sharing in his death by our baptism means that we were co-arried and intombed with him. So that when the father's glory raised Christ from the dead, we were also raised with him. This is union, y'all. You cannot get a tighter fitting union than what Paul's laying out in Romans chapter 6 3 4 and 5. We were raised Christ from the dead. We're raised with him. We have been co-resurrected with him so that we could be empowered to walk in the freshness of new life. When did new life come to you? When you co-resurrected with him. Exactly what Peter said, I think it's 1 Peter 1:3, that we were born again through the resurrection. Saved. Saved. soozoed done deal that we might be empowered. And that's what I want to get into. That's where grace is taking us. Grace is taking us into this life of being empowered so that life does not run you. You run life. The Zoey flows from you. But I got to get this stuff really established. I want to get it deep down inside of all of us. So the minute the minute that we leave that what we just read in Romans chapter 6 34 and 5 about about the centrality of union being immersed in him the moment religion lost that orthodoxy went out the window. Heresy arose. If we're going to move into what grace is bringing us into, which is that walk of power, that that walk that Jesus walked to be as he is in this present world, then what Paul has laid out, you guys, has got to become so central in our life that we don't look to the left and we don't look to the right. All right?
A I said Paul taught us salvation comes by works, no additives, nothing we can do to it. We are in union with Christ. We're co- crucified, co- baried, co-resurrected, co-escended, co-seeded with him. And the third part of Paul's message is the mystery of inclusion and oneness. And we kind of got into it a little bit up here in union because but I I want to hit that inclusion part because nobody's left out. Nobody's left out of a truly finished work. How how can we declare it is finished? And then say, you got to put some added touches to it. Oh, it's finished. Okay. But you have to do your part. See, that's a transaction. That that's that's not inclusion. We don't add a few touches to finish the finished work. Either everybody's included or nobody's included. Either everybody is soozoed or nobody is soosoed. So what does Paul say? Colossians chapter 1 verse 26 and 27. Colossians chapter 1 verse 26 and verse 27. There is a divine mystery, a secret surprise that has been concealed from the world for generations, but now is being revealed, unfolded, and manifested for every holy believer to experience. Living within you is the Christ who floods you with the expectation of glory. The mystery of Christ embedded in the mystery of Christ embedded within us becomes a heavenly treasure chest of hope filled with the riches of glory for his people. And God wants everybody to know it. What does he want everybody to know? That Christ is in you. Our job here's my job. Digital cathedral seeker place. If I teach in a church what group gather small group whatever my job is to let them know this mystery is now being revealed which is Christ in you. You know what the father did? This is a great verse. Romans 11:32 says that God looked out upon humanity, Gentiles and Jews and he counted them all in rebellion that he might have mercy on all. Romans 11:32. You read it for yourself. Now, if you read the early part of that chapter, he runs through how the Jews were considered disobedient. Then he runs through the Gentiles and their disobedience. So, he takes the two groups, the Jews and the Gentiles, and he gets to that 32nd verse, Romansap 11, and he says, "We had to count them all in disobedience." And the reason I did it, reason I let them all be disobedient was so that I could have mercy on everybody.
What polluted Paul's message? What diluted it? What turned Paul's message into a heresy? It happened during the great great awakening and it was the two systems of theology which are prevalent today and been the only two choices. I think it might have been last week I said it's been like a bad it's been like having an election and both candidates are bad but you got to pick one. There's been no alternative up to this point. Either you you were a Calvinist, a good Presbyterian, reformed, or you were an Armenian. You're uh uh Assembly of God, Church of the Nazarene, uh charismatic, Word of Faith. Those are all are Armenian in in their theologies. Here's what Calvinism does. This is I think now that I've laid this strong foundation down of Paul, I think you can see why. I'm being bold. I understand I'm being bold. They're probably going to catch flack for it, but Calvinism and Armenianism are heresies. I'm sorry. Calvinism emphasizes the sovereignty of God and predestination. And what they mean by predestination is that God predestined some to go to heaven, some go to hell. He selects some. And there's something you it's his choice. He's sovereign. A good Calvinist would believe that God's behind everything. God's behind every every tragedy, behind every uh thing that is terrible. He's behind. He's sovereign. He does whatever he wants to do whenever he wants to do it. There's there's an aspect God. Yes, God is so. But when you when you bring it to this place that he predestined some to heaven, some to hell that breaks off from Paul's message. Paul never taught that in any way, shape, or form.
Then when you get to Ar Armenianism which was a reaction from uh Jacob Jacobus Arminius against Calvinism he emphasizes the free will and this is this makes it an error on the other side of the ditch. He makes the free will your will stronger than God's will. So in reaction to the sovereign will of God an Armenian comes up and says no wait a minute man's will is is the sovereign will. God won't infringe on your will. God won't force himself onto anybody. Neither one are close to what Paul taught. Now, what Paul taught, see, both of them kind of took an aspect. Calvinism says God's power, powerful enough to save everybody. He's sovereign, but he chooses not to. And Arminium is on the other hand says God loves everybody but he's not powerful enough to save everybody because of human will. He won't infringe on that. Now both of those neither one come close to Paul's golden standard of truth and orthodoxy. Let me point out a few things that Paul never taught that Calvinism and Armenianism pretty much both embrace. Let me just I'd listed six seven things here. Let me just tick them off for you. All right.
Number one, inherency of the Bible. Paul never taught that. But to keep you boxed into a theological system, they both teach inherency of the Bible that that it's God's inspired infallible word. It's there's no errors in it. If you don't understand something, you see a conflict, it's not God's problem, it's your problem. You don't understand it. By doing can you see that when you when you proclaim the inherency of scripture a Calvinist is going to tell you this is what the Bible says Arminian's going to say this is what the Bible said we both you know both believe it's inherent but yet they don't agree both would say so does scripture soul of scripture is is kind of a theological term that means that scripture is the highest authority on the planet if you don't have a scripture for it then you can't believe it. I think you can understand how this begins to box you in. Where's the spirit of truth in and and and ongoing revelation? Where is the spirit of truth in all of this unveiling and unpacking things to you that you've never seen before? If if you could only if you only believed in solid scripture, the Bible's the absolute final authority in every matter of life and you're told what the scripture says, then I think you can see how you have been coralled in.
Both teach admic nature. Paul never taught a demic nature. I cannot find one verse in scripture where it says that man was born in a with an admic bend toward evil. Jesus never even mentioned Adam. And the only references that Paul really made was in comparison to last Adam.
Both teach hell. Hell, eternal conscious torment. Paul never used the word hell one time. Jesus never used the word hell one time with Calvinism. Armenianism traces it back to good old St. Jerome who took Gehenna and uh uh Hades in the New Testament and Shiel out of the Old and translate those twists in it like they have salvation and save into eternal conscious torment. If you don't have my book on hell's illusion and a lot of the stuff I'm I'm listing here, I get into another the second book I wrote which is called uh religion busters. Hell's Illusion and Religion Busters. If you don't have those two books, get over to Amazon, invest yourself. Hey, one of them is $11, one's $12. Make a make a $25 investment in yourself. Get a couple of books and just read it through for yourself. Make up your own mind. I'm not telling you what you have to believe. Not telling what you should do, shouldn't do. I'm just saying you need to understand that these two do not meet the standard of Paul, that you were born separated from God. Paul never taught you were born separated from God.
Now, here's one that is really strong. Calvinism, Armenians, both teach you that if you break church laws, church rules, that's a sin. Now, if you go to a good United Pentecostal church, they will tell you if you cut your hair, ladies, that's a sin. Those things will send you to hell, they tell you. Lady can't wear uh pants to church, can't wear blue jeans to a service, can't wear blue jeans uh, you know, to a a special event at the church. No, you that those things will send you to hell. If you're if you're a good holiness person, smoking smoking, smoke a cigarette, you just lost your salvation. Drink a margarita with your Mexican food, you've lost your salvation. Have a glass of wine with a nice steak, baked potato, and a salad at your favorite restaurant, you've just lost your salvation. And both teach that you got to ask forgiveness of sin in order to be forgiven. That's not what Paul taught. None of those things.
So when I when I begin to say that they have they have wandered off from Paul's message of grace and Jesus plus nothing and I put them in the category of heresy, false teaching, I know it's bold. I know it's strong. You may not have heard that before, but I'm going to stand my ground on that because of where I know the father wants to take us. He wants to take us to Paul's message, salvation by grace without performance, universal union in Christ, and the mystery of inclusion and oneness in him. See, both those theological systems, they are they are logical attempts to explain a mystery. It was all brought in by Calvin in the 1700s and Wesley in the 1700s. And again, it's not been that long ago in the scheme of things is 325 years. And yet they have taken such a grip on our country that anything that is taught that is contrary. Now they will on some levels they will accept one another in an e call them evangelical brothers but they do not teach the same thing not even close to the same thing but they have so joined forces that anything that that doesn't match that what they have been propagating for 325 years is called heresy. False teaching. They both fall short.
Galatians chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2. Those of you that are still with me that haven't clicked off, you're with me because this stuff is resonating big time. Galatians chapter 2:1 16. God's grace unveiled his son in me so that I would proclaim him to the non-Jewish people of the world. After I had this encounter, I kept it a secret for some time, sharing it with nobody. Okay, we've we've kept this secret long enough. Most of us, you know, when I first started teaching this, I was on the defense so much. I was defending it, arguing it on its behalf. That thing is flipped. It's time that we went on the offense. That's why I'm coming out today and say, look, we we there's been two false systems that have wandered off from Paul's teaching. Paul called him in Galatians 1 uh verses what 6 and 7 we read started the teaching today Paul called it a fake gospel another Jesus doesn't look anything like like what Paul presented that Jesus revealed to him there there's there's nothing of you in Galatians 2:E1 16 le let let me let me read this again let me get over I I read 116 which is a good verse but let me read this 16 listen to this. We know full well that we don't receive God's perfect righteousness as a reward for keeping the law. Now, when when an evangelical and a Calvinist read that, they go back to the Ten Commandments and 613 laws of Moses. They don't even consider all the laws that they've imposed on people that they demand has to be kept. Today we know full well that we don't receive God's perfect righteousness for reward for keeping the law but by the faith of Jesus. That's the right preposition. King James got it right in in that verse that says the faith of Jesus. New King James for some reason put faith in Jesus. And that's what squirrels faith in Jesus is much is very compatible with Armenianism because you have to have faith in him. That's not what the original said. Go to uh Young's literal go to any most any good translation it will say the faith of Jesus. It was not your faith. It was not your faith in him. It was his faith. But by the faith of Jesus, his faithfulness, not ours, saved us. His faith, not ours, saved us. And we have received God's perfect righteousness. Now, we know that God accepts no one by the keeping of religious laws. No matter how you want to slice it, how you want to dice it.
Now, when I read that verse, did you see anything in there about you? Did you see anything in there about what you must do? Paul's gospel, I'll say it again, transcends religious systems. Paul preached Jesus. He didn't preach a theology. He did not preach a systematic theology. Grace saves everybody and it transforms us from the inside out. Calvinism and Armenianism both try to to change you from the outside in. Get you to accept God from outside. Get you to do something from outside. Make the transaction. Paul's gospel is the inclusion of everybody in God's plan. Salvation was gifted. I like to say direct deposit because there's no way you can misinterpret a direct deposit. Your check is direct deposited into your bank account. Now, whether you draw it or not is up to you. I'm going to get into some of that next week. They drawn some distinction between saved and salvation. It's but it's it's there. You can acknowledge it, not acknowledge it, believe it, not believe it. It doesn't it doesn't distort to truth. You cannot reduce Paul's teaching and revelation. And got to quit gesturing here. You cannot you cannot reduce it to a system because once you hit a system, you styy any further understanding in revelation what the through what the father has done through the son. There's more to uncover in this. Paul said it's going to take the ages to come for us to discover the depths of God's love and grace. Do you think you hit it all when you follow some kind of religious theology or system? All I'm trying to do is open eyes. All I'm trying to do is stir you. There will be I I I want because I know where we're going, you guys. I don't want any filter of Calvinism or Arminianism. I I I don't want you to look through those filters anymore for where we're going, which is an outpouring of the power of God working as you at Walmart and Kroger's and at your job. It's just you being you. But if you've got this idea that, man, I just spoke I just spoke a harsh word. I did I shouldn't have said that. Oh, I I feel condemned. I feel guilty over it. See, that's that's looking at it through the wrong lens. Paul taught knowing Christ. Calvinism in Armenianism want to bring you into a lifeless bondage to theology. That's why your friends argue with you when you talk to them about grace because their whole security is based in a belief system in a theology. It's not in personal relationship. Well, they'll tell you they got a personal relationship, but you you mess with their beliefs, mess with their theology, and you you you just stirred a hornets's nest.
Paul told Timothy, "And I'm done. I'm done. I put a lot out." Paul told Timothy, "I know in whom I have believed." I was I was reading my Bible this week, preparing for this teaching, and and that verse jumped out at me. Paul told Timothy, "I know in whom I have believed." He didn't say, "Timothy, I know what I believe." The father's taking you by the spirit from what you believe into whom you believe. And that's a huge transition. That opens up a brand new world. That opens up some vistas you never thought before. It's already opened up for you. all the trains that are attached to that that grace engine of the fatherhood of God and unconditional love, inclusion, all the things that we've learned and the spirit of truth is revealed to us. Now he's getting ready to attach the the the the the car of power to that engine of grace. And before we get really delve into that, I want to make sure that every message of religion, every message of works and I have to do then God will do. I if I don't perform then his power hasn't moved in me. No, it's going to be a natural progression. You know in whom you have believed and may the spirit of truth continue to take us deeper and deeper and deeper until we come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Amen.
All right, you guys. Father, I just pray that you would seed this message deep within us today. Father, if I've said anything that doesn't jive with your heart, I pray you just erase it from memories. But Father, truth, revelation we brought to the table, I pray that transform lives. And as we move forward in the days that are ahead, we pray for your grace, your understanding, that it be imparted to us, that we recognize what we have and what you've given to us in Jesus name. Thank you for being with me. I mean that sincerely. Thank you for your support, your monthly gifts, contributions that really help in all that we're doing. God bless you. See you next time at the digital cathedral. [Applause] [Music] Thank you for watching. If today's message has touched your heart, remember to click subscribe below to support our work. Also, visit donkeley.com for books and donations, link in the description below. and know that every donation is vital and keeps this lifegiving message going week after week. May the grace of God uplift you and fill your life with hope. God bless and we look forward to seeing you in our next message.