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     Good morning and welcome to the Berean Break.  My name is George A. Sinkie and I am so glad to have you with me this morning.  On
today’s study we are going to examine another common teaching in the religious realm today, because the Seeker of Truth will want to know.  Since it is a religious topic what are we going to use as the standard of truth?  Those of you who are regular listeners know that on this program, the only standard that we use is the word of God.  I have very little interest in what man-made doctrines teach, other than to compare them with the word of God so I can help people to free themselves from the bondage that these man-made doctrines bring.  Before we go into this too far let’s go to God in prayer:

Almighty God, maker of heaven and earth.  It is amazing that so great a God would have concern for mankind.  This shows how much You love us.  The greatest demonstration of Your love is found in sending Your Son to die for us.  We thank You so much for Your Word, which tells us of Your Love and Your will for us.  May each of us humble ourselves and submit to Your will.  And Father as a nation, we pray that we will humble ourselves and repent as well.  In Jesus’ name,  AMEN!!

     In Matthew 19:16-22, there is an account of a rich young man coming to Jesus.  He asked the question, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?”  I believe he was sincere in asking this question, that he was a “Seeker of Truth.”  Sadly however, when Jesus answered his question, this young man went away grieved.  He was not willing to do what Jesus had asked him to do, which was to get rid of his wealth and follow Jesus.
     This young man turned his back on eternal life.  He sought truth, but he wasn’t willing to humble obey that truth.  What about us?  If truth teaches us something we don’t like, will we walk away?

     Bondage is one of the ways that sin is described in the Scriptures.  Anytime we follow man-made creeds or catechisms we are going into bondage to the men that wrote that creed.  Jesus spoke to the Pharisees who did this same thing under the Mosaic covenant.  Read with me Matthew 15:3-9, ‘And He answered and said to them, “And why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?  For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’ But you say, ‘Whoever shall say to his father or mother, “Anything of mine you might have been helped by has been given to God,” he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ And thus you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.  You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me.  But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’”’
     If you listened to these Pharisees they would sound like they honored God, Jesus said they “honor Me with their lips.”  But as you compare their lives and teachings with the word of God, you find out they were really far away from God and worshipping vainly, because their doctrines were based on the precepts of men.  While the particular problem that these Pharisees had was with the care of parents by their children, I think the principle holds true no matter what the doctrine is.
     Jesus had spoken on this topic earlier in His ministry as well.  If we turn back to Matthew 7:21-23, we read where Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.  Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”
     Again we see that the words sound good, but the life and actions are not in harmony with the will of God.  This is why truth is so important and not just part of the truth, but all of it.  In Acts 20:27, Paul said, “For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.”
     The King James Version says that he declared “all the counsel of God.”  Satan is good at half truths and partial purposes, but we need all the will of God to be right with Him.

     One of the half truth doctrines that is prevalent today is the doctrine of salvation by “faith only.”
     When “only” is added to a word like that it means that there is nothing else.  This would mean that man is saved exclusively by faith with nothing else needed or possible.  Here’s what I want you to do, take a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle, label the left hand column “faith only” and the right hand column “something else”, that’s right label it “something else.”  Now this is going to be a pretty simple study.  First, we will list every verse that supports the faith only doctrine on the left.  Then if we even have one thing in the right hand column it will refute that we are saved by faith only.
     OK, do you have your paper ready?  First, write down these verses that teach salvation by “faith only.”  They are:  ____________.  Did you get all of those down?  That’s right, there is not a single verse in the Scriptures that teaches salvation by “faith only.”
     One reason that there is no verse that teaches that is because the Word of God will never contradict itself and there are too many passages that teach that other things are necessary.  Now I do not dispute that faith is needed to be saved and there are many passages that teach this, for example, Hebrews 11:6, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”
     But you can write this verse on your right hand column because as you can see from this verse we need to “come to God” and “seek Him.”  These are two things beyond “faith only.”

     Let’s look at several verses that Jesus Himself spoke.  Before we look at these verses I want to ask you a serious and personal question.  Can we trust Jesus to tell us the truth?  Now you may think that question is ridiculous but I think we need to answer it before any study of the word of God is going to profit us.  I believe that we can trust Jesus and I hope that you agree with me on that.
     First, let’s look at Matthew 10:32-33, “Everyone therefore who shall confess Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.  But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.”
     Can a person be saved if Jesus does not confess them before God?  If Jesus does not confess you then you will have to justify yourself before God and it is impossible to earn your salvation on your own.  So write Matthew 10:32-33 in the right column and write “confess.”
     Next turn over to Luke 13:2-5, ‘And He (that is Jesus, GAS) answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered this fate?  I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.  Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem?  I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”’
     Simple question, “can a person be saved if they do not repent of their sins?”  “Faith only” would teach yes they can, but Jesus teaches the exact opposite, whose side do you want to be on?  I want to be on the right side so write Luke 13:2-5 in the right column and the word “repent.”
     Another passage we should look at is Mark 16:15-16, ‘And He (Jesus, GAS) said to them, “Go into all the world and
preach the gospel to all creation.  He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.”’
     Who is going to be saved according to Jesus?  The one who has believed the gospel and who has been baptized.  Again the right column should have Mark 16:15-16 and “believed and baptized” in it.
     We had looked earlier at Matthew 7:21-23, where we saw that it was the one who does the will of the Father that is in the kingdom of heaven.  So write that down and “obey God” with it.

     Do you see a pattern developing here?  “Faith only” salvation is not taught in the Bible.  The Bible teaches that we must come to God, seek God, confess Jesus, repent of our sins, believe the gospel, and be baptized to be saved.  “Faith only” has to deny each of these or it is no longer “faith only.”  But even this is not everything that is a part of man’s salvation, time prevents us from looking at the blood of Christ, the grace of God, the love of God, a person’s continued faithfulness, and other biblical teaching on our salvation.
     Perhaps on another Berean Break we will look at these things.  Today we were checking out the doctrine of “faith only.”  Look at your paper — on the left you have all of the verses that support “faith only” salvation — it is still blank and always will be because this is not a godly doctrine.  On the right you a partial list of something else that is needed — remember this is not a complete list.  Which side do you want to be on?  I want to be on the right side, because the right side is God’s side.
     One final verse that I would like to point out is James 2:24, where God inspires James to write:  “You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone.”
     Now those who do not believe God, say that this is a contradiction to what Paul wrote.  They say this because they do not understand what either Paul or James wrote.
     Paul is dealing with people wanting to do works of law and earn their salvation — this is impossible to do and so Paul is teaching the truth.  James on the other hand is dealing with people who deny the necessity of obedient faith — he shows that “faith only” will not save a person.  And so we see that James also is teaching the truth.  God could not be any clearer, but Satan can sure cloud and muddy the water.  In reality, Paul also refutes the “faith only” doctrine of salvation, because the doctrine of “faith only” is a man-made doctrine and Paul teaches that we cannot be saved by keeping this kind of law.
     I encourage you to check this out in the Bible, if you have any questions or comments, please contact me.

     This Berean Break is brought to you, in love, by the pre-denominational and non-denominational church of Christ that meets at 1600 East First Avenue in Mitchell SD.  You are welcome to meet with us at 10:00 Sunday mornings for our assembly followed by a time of Bible Study, also on Wednesday evenings at 6:30 for an additional time to study God’s Word.  If you have a comment or a sincere Bible question, please call or text me at 605-770-5555.  We want to remind you of the non-denominational TV program, “KNOW YOUR BIBLE” on KDLT-TV at 9:00 on Sunday mornings.  This is George A. Sinkie for the Lord’s church, here in Mitchell, good-bye for now.  Remember that we care about you and may God bless you as you do His will.

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