Well, praise Jesus today, everyone. I wanted to talk about a situation that happened in my life that was quite profound, and I share this with you because I want people to be able to distinguish between the true gospel and the false gospel that is so rampant across America and in the Christian churches. See, there are a lot of Christians who are still deceived by church. They say "there are good people in church", "I have a good biblical teacher," and they're very deceived by the doctrines in church. So I want to give you a story of something that happened in my life. It's a bit of a testimony, but some of it is someone else's testimony, but I want to share that with you.
See, I was a pastor at a Baptist church. It was in Tulare, so in the central valley, in the San Joaquin Valley, for about seven years. And during that time, nearing the end of my time there, Jesus started giving me dreams and visions about how the church was as a whorehouse because as a man goes to a prostitute for love, that is not genuine; it is lust, so a lot of people are going to the Christian church out of lust and not out of true love. They're going to her as a prostitute, but not because they want genuine repentance.
So I had this message from the Lord. I left the church where I was leading junior high students primarily, and you know, that was my main job. I left that church, and I believe it was back in 2011 somewhere, during the middle of the year. And after I left that church, I started sharing my testimony on Facebook with other people in the church, on YouTube, and I started making Jesus’ shirts. Well, I made this one Jesus shirt that I was wearing, and I would go out to Denny's. And this one shirt that I was wearing said, "Jesus forever changed me," and it was a white shirt with big black letters. And I walked into Denny's with my wife, and I'm sitting down at Denny's halfway through my meal, and this guy comes up to me. He introduced himself as Brother Richard. And Richard, if you're watching this, praise Jesus! I hope that you're still following the Lord today. But Richard just wanted to encourage me. He came up to me at Denny's, and he said, "You must be a true brother in the Lord," because no one else would be wearing a shirt like that unless they really were unashamed of Jesus. And it was so encouraging to me, and we were able to fellowship, and we talked later on the phone. And he didn't really know my full testimony or where I was at church at that time, or where I had come out of, what, you know, what church I'd come out of.
And Richard started talking to me about, well, let me back up. He asked me what church I was a part of, and I said I was part of the First Baptist Church in town. And he said, "Wait, back up. Was it the one on..." and he mentioned right where it was, and I said, "Yeah, that was the church." And Richard told me that sometime prior to that, there was another person in the Lord that he had got to witness to. And he got to speaking to this person about true repentance and the gospel of Jesus and what it means to give your life to the Lord and be set free from addictions. And you know, Brother Richard had a prison ministry where he'd go and he'd speak to these men in prison about true repentance and being set free from drugs and alcohol. And he really was bringing the light of Jesus to people. And this one person, he shared the gospel with, and the person said, "I've never heard that before in my life." And so Richard asked him, "Well, brother, what church did you go to that you've never heard the gospel?" And the person answered, "I was going to First Baptist Church of Tulare."
And I don't say this to slander anybody. I don't say this to slander any individual church, but this is a genuine and real story that happened. This person said that they had been going to Tulare First Baptist Church for over a decade, and they had never heard the gospel. And when they heard the gospel preached to them from this brother, Brother Richard, and praise the Lord if you are watching this and hearing this, and I hope that you're still preaching the truth, but they were, he was shocked, and I was shocked. Well, I wasn't too shocked because I had been there seven years and never heard the gospel. And so it was astonishing to me though how people could be in church for a decade or two decades and then never hear the gospel until someone that has genuinely met Jesus shares the gospel with them.
Why I'm sharing this with you today is to hopefully get you to get your eyes on Jesus and off of dead religion. A lot of people can't even distinguish the false grace gospel that is being taught in the Baptist churches or a lot of these churches, whatever denomination they are, compared to what Jesus actually taught throughout the scriptures. We have generations of people who have been raised just listening to their pastor, listening to the grace gospel lies that say, "You're saved by grace, you don't have to take up your cross, you don't have to repent, you don't have to stop sinning, that would be a work." And when someone just brings up the obvious, like how Brother Richard did in this situation, people are floored, they're shocked. And this person had been going to the same church I was a pastor at for over a decade, and they had never, ever once heard the gospel. This is very incredible. It's mind-blowing.
And the church that I was a pastor at, guys, is not some terrible church in the world. You can go look it up for yourself. It's probably not different than any church you have been to. It's a pretty standard church. They believe all the things that other Christians believe. They believe in the scripture, you know, the validity of the Bible. They believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Jesus, his death and his resurrection. They believe in the sanctity of marriage and all these things that Christians believe. The core values First Baptist Church believed, yet the true gospel hadn't been taught in that church for over a decade. Think about that.
Now, I want to read to you something Jesus said, and remember that the things that Jesus speaks are spiritual. I want to read to you what he said in Matthew chapter 25. I'm going to start in verse 31. This is speaking about when the Son of Man will judge the nations. When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. So there are truly good people and bad people. There's his sheep and there's his goats, and God makes a distinction, and he doesn't just say everyone's going to heaven because of grace, but some people are on his right, and some are on his left. So let's listen to what Jesus taught. Verse 33: "And he will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right hand, 'Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundations of the world, or from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you? Or when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, in as much as you did it to one of the least of my brethren, you did it to me.'"
This is interesting because it seems like they didn't know when they had done this for Jesus. Now remember what Jesus is speaking is spiritual. There are a lot of people that are good people in the world or governments that are trying to do good, and they do this very thing. They give to the poor, they visit people that are in prison, they do all these things, but they do it in the name of their government or their organization. Do you think that those people God is going to say, "Enter into my kingdom because you gave out of the charity of your government?" So what is Jesus speaking about here? Let's read on to see.
Then he will also say to those on his left hand, "Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food; I was thirsty and you gave me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take me in; naked and you did not clothe me; sick and in prison and you did not visit me." Then they will also answer him, saying, "Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you?" In other words, they might as well be saying, "We did do all those things, Jesus, didn't we prophesy in your name? Didn't we cast out demons in our church? Didn't we go to the prisons? Didn't we have all these ministries, Lord?"
Then he will answer them, saying, "Assuredly, I say to you, in as much as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
I'm speaking here, and Jesus is speaking here about spiritual food. We can do good as a government, and we can feed the homeless or the impoverished. We can preach a social justice gospel and equality for all, and the government tries to make all these kinds of programs to help people who are minority groups, and they push for social justice. Even if there is 100% social justice, that doesn't mean that God is going to say you're holy or let you into his kingdom. But the spiritual food here is people who are spiritually malnourished that haven't heard the true gospel. And the prison is the prison people are in because of sin. Now, obviously, if we have a brother in the Lord who is in prison, we can visit them, and Brother Richard has done this. There's been people that I have written to that are physically in prison, and we can help a brother out or a sister out who needs food or who needs money or something like that. But spiritually, what Jesus is speaking about is the bondage to sin. And these people are not helping out Jesus with his mission, calling people to repentance or giving them the food of everlasting life that comes from him when we are eating his flesh and drinking his blood.
There's a lot of Christians that think that they are doing good. The First Baptist Church that I belonged to, they visited people in prison, they helped orphans and widows, they put on Bible studies, they did all these things. So they think that they can check off the box and say, "Yep, I've done everything in Matthew 25 that Jesus said," as you know, the people on his right hand. "But what about me? I was under their care, and I never heard the gospel. What about this other brother that was in their church for over a decade? He never heard the gospel." These churches have blood on their hands because they are not spiritually setting people free from sin. They're not preaching the gospel, yet they think God is going to spare them in the judgment even though they haven't called sinners to repentance. So that is what we're talking about today. We're talking about spiritual food and being set free from the bondage or the prison of sin.
It is very sad that the Christian church, whether it's Catholic or Baptist, some form of Pentecostal, the churches across America have forgotten the first love for Jesus that calls sinners to repentance. I want to read to you what Jesus said in regards to true repentance and being set free from that prison, that bondage, and this is found in John chapter 8. This is part of the true gospel that the church is not teaching because they are not feeding those that are hungry, they're not visiting those that are in prison, they're not helping those who are sick. They're just going on acting like everything is okay. But for those of you that have an ear to hear and can hear what Jesus is saying spiritually to his true church, pay attention and listen.
John 8, I'm starting in verse 31: "Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed him, 'If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed.'" To abide means to obey. So what Jesus is saying is, you're my disciples if you obey me, not if you go to church on Sunday, not if you keep up your church attendance, not if you can wear a nice suit to church and look good on the outside, but if you obey, then you are Jesus's disciples indeed. And then he says, "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." See, you're not free just because you live in the United States. You're not free just because you're not in financial debt. You are a slave to sin even if you say you're a Christian if you are still sinning. This is where many pastors and Christians will disagree, and they're not disagreeing with me, they're disagreeing with the gospel, they're disagreeing with Jesus himself. So listen to what Jesus taught.
They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say you will be made free?" Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin." So if you're a Baptist sinner, you're a slave and you're in bondage, you're in prison. If you're a Catholic sinner, then you are in bondage and you're in prison, no matter what denomination or sect of Christianity you are, you are a slave and you're in prison if you are in sin. And this is central to the gospel. And a slave does not abide in the house forever. What house is that? That would be God's kingdom. You're not going to abide in God's kingdom forever and be in his house if you are continuing to sin. You'll be, you'll be thrown out of his house. But he says, "But a son abides forever. Therefore if the son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." Free from what? Is that free from cursing? What have you been set free from? A lot of Christians say, "Well, we're never set free, we continue to sin, and we just believe the grace gospel, which we don't ever have to really change because we're in the flesh and we don't have to change anyway." That is the grace gospel, and that is what many Christians teach, but that is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. What Jesus said is, if the son makes you free, which means free from sin, you shall be free indeed. So the question is, if you think that you're under grace and you're still sinning, what have you been freed from? Have you been freed from looking at pornography? Have you been freed from adultery or fornication or bad language, from drinking, from drugs, alcohol? What have you been freed from if you have really come into Jesus? Because what Jesus says is, if the son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. And if you're not free, then you're not a son, but you're a slave.
This is the gospel that is not being preached in First Baptist Church. This is the gospel that is not being taught from the pulpit. So Jesus goes on to say, "I know that you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have seen with your father."
They answered and said to him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father."
Then they said to him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God." Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of myself, but he sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? Because you are not able to listen to my word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which of you convicts me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."
Most Christians are not of God. They fall into the category of the Pharisees who mocked Jesus. They said that Jesus was demon-possessed. They said Jesus was casting out demons by the prince of demons, Beelzebub, and they blasphemed the Holy Spirit that Jesus was working with. The Christian church is sadly doing the same thing. They're not feeding the flock. They withhold the true gospel because they don't want to offend anyone, and they want that money coming in. They say, "Pay your tithe, brother. You don't want to break the Old Testament law and not give tithe. Make sure you keep up your attendance." So, out of one side of their mouth, they're saying they're saved by grace, not by works of the law, but then out of their other side of their mouth, they're preaching the law by preaching tithe and you need to keep up the work of going to church and reading your church and reading your Bible and doing these religious prayers in church. So which is it? Obviously, it's pure and plain hypocrisy.
If we want to know the truth, we need to get back to Jesus and his words, and that is why I am here just preaching on YouTube. I'm not here to try to get popular or for people to like me. I'm not here to try to start a church. I'm just here to preach Jesus free of charge because when Jesus called me out of the church, that's what he called me to do, is to testify, to give testimony of the things that I have seen and heard, to bear witness to the truth and to preach, but not for money like they do in church, not as the money preachers, not as those who are trying to get famous, but just out of the love in my heart for the Lord Jesus. The reason why the apostles spoke was because they loved Jesus. It wasn't to try to start a big, famous church and to become a corporation. They taught people, and they encouraged people out of the love of their heart for the Lord Jesus, and this should be the same reason that drives us.
So are we really in the love of the Lord? Are we participating in the gospel? Are we actively living the gospel, or are we like those in First Baptist Church who have heard a form of the gospel for years but have never heard the true gospel preached in decades, maybe multiple decades? Have you heard the true gospel? Have you received it in your heart? And are you encouraging others in the truth? Are you telling the other, are you telling other people about the gospel of Jesus Christ in true repentance? That's what we want to encourage people to do.
So let me pray for those of you that want to receive the true gospel, that want to truly repent of your sin and put Jesus Christ where he should be in your heart as Lord and Master and King. So Lord Jesus, I pray that someone listening today may receive your Holy Spirit, that they would cast out the devil and that they would receive the baptism of your Holy Spirit, that they would speak in their new tongue, and that they would truly receive that indwelling that comes only from you, that they would be a changed man or a changed woman, and that they would receive your true gospel and they that they would reject what is unrighteous and unholy and not true. I pray that we would daily eat your flesh and drink your blood and teach others to do the same. I pray that we would not fall away because of mammon or the deceitfulness of riches or the lusts of the flesh, but that we could be steadfast to the truth and be just bowing our heads only before the one and true living God. I pray that you lead us and guide us and that you would continue to add to those who want to be part of the household of faith that have ears to hear and that want to have eyes to see. So I pray for those who are listening today. Maybe someone is listening today that's never heard the gospel before, but they've been in church all their life. I pray for them. I pray that you would touch the ears of those that need to hear and the hearts of those that need to repent and that someone would truly give their life to you and come into the newness of life. I pray this in your name, Lord Jesus, amen."
