[Nabeel] I was raised as a very devout Muslim
in the United States.
And the fact of the matter was, every time I connected
with a Christian,
I realized that they didn't know
why they believed what they believed.
The Christians who were around me
wouldn't share the gospel with me,
and I never realized why.
I concluded
either they didn't believe the gospel was true,
or if they did believe it,
they didn't care if I went to hell.
[Paul] It is a pain to know
that there are people who do not know Jesus.
It is a greater pain to know that oftentimes
Jesus and Christianity is being distorted.
Who told you you can't accomplish your dreams?
[Costi] I think around the world,
they know the phrase, "The American dream."
[Joel] Your destiny is calling out.
It's time to start living large.
[Sean] We are exporting the very worst
of what Christianity has to offer.
I declare you debt-free today, saith God.
[Paul] So that many people harden their heart
against a Jesus, a Christ, a Christianity,
that is not the true version of it.
It's as easy to get healed
as it is to get forgiven.
[Emilio] I live in Texas.
We are considered the buckle on the Bible belt.
Around here, everybody thinks they're Christian
simply because they live in a conservative region
of the nation.
[Michael] You can grow up in a church,
hear a gospel about freedom,
and still work your tail off
trying to maintain the image that you're a good person.
[Jared] I had my Jesus on Sunday mornings
and Wednesday nights at youth group,
and the rest of the week, I was chasing after
worldly things that made me happy.
I saw nothing to like about God.
[Dr. Horton] You have an increasing number of people
that were raised in churches
that didn't take the gospel seriously
or took it for granted.
[Jared] Wow, like Jesus died for my sins,
that's so convenient for me.
I don't have to go to hell,
but I'm gonna go do my own thing.
[chuckles]
[Dr. Horton] And surprise, surp, they don't know
what they believe or why they believe it.
[Matt Chandler] We're assuming t people understand the gospel.
I think it was Christian Smith who said
that what we're seeing nowadays in the American church
is the rise of what he calls "moralistic therapeutic deism."
How to make people moral.
You know, I look like this perfect golden child,
but I was so dead.
[Dr. Kim] A place to go to feel better about themselves.
I'm asking you to feel good about who you are.
[Dr. Kim] And so as a result, we're seeing a church in America
that's becoming ultimately Christless.
So if we're following the gospel thinking it's all about us,
we've missed Jesus' words entirely.
[Emilio] The fact that we were raised Christian
doesn't make us a Christian.
We have to have a supernatural rebirth.
I went from somebody who hated Jesus
to a guy that loved Jesus
and spent all his time at church.
Why?
When you come in contact with Him, you change.
Like there is nothing that I could have done
to make this happen.
Like He literally gave me a new heart.
And when the heart changes, everything changes.
[Jonathan] If this is true, this story is so captivating.
All I knew is that I had severely overlooked something.
I opened that word, and nothing was ever the same.
[dramatic music]
[Dr. Chapell] There was a time in my life
that I thought the goal of preaching
was to get people to do what they don't wanna do,
which... which by the way is a terrible profession.
You know, that my goal was to somehow arm twist
or browbeat people into doing what they don't want to do.
I don't believe that anymore.
I don't believe that's what the Bible teaches.
[Phill] One of the biggest turning points for me
happened while I was a youth pastor at a church.
And it's kind of sad thing to look back,
like I'm a pastor, I'm teaching the Bible.
But I didn't know what it meant to teach
the gospel and the Bible
because I wasn't really telling people
the good news about Jesus.
I was telling them to be a passionate, zealous,
committed, radical Christian.
I was very passionate.
In a lot of ways, my church put emphasis on things
that scripture didn't put emphasis on.
I don't think Jesus was the center
or the gospel was the center,
it was more so what we do, what we can do.
And so as a new believer,
I never really knew that the gospel was a big deal.
And I was realizing how Christless preaching was,
and I can remember a sermon from the Sermon on the Mount,
and it was "Ten Tips on How to Be Sexually Pure."
And I remember that day, like that being a turning point
in my journey to say,
"I never want to be a pastor or preacher like that."
Like, what are you doing to earn God's favor?
Have you tithed enough? Have you given enough?
Have you prayed long enough?
Have you laid hands on anybody in the last week?
Have you spoken tongues? If not, then you're not a believer.
In fact, I think the thing most common among unbelievers
when they think about Christianity,
is they think about Christian moralism.
What we believe about sex, what we believe about money,
what we believe about them.
The most common misperception about what Christianity is,
is that some sort of moral betterment program.
And it is about being good.
And that's what all religions are about anyway,
"be a good person."
There's few things as damning and devastating
to the human spirit than... than that message.
We want to, first of all,
say there's nothing wrong with preaching morality.
We certainly don't wanna preach the opposite, immorality.
[Dr. Chapell] But moralistic preaching
or sometimes identified as moralism,
is preaching the commands of scripture
or the morals of scripture and nothing else.
Just pretty much saying to people,
"You be a good person and God will love you for that."
And while we do not intend it,
that is not just a sub-Christian message,
it's actually an anti-Christian message.
[Phill] I was hearing from the Sermon on the Mount
from Jesus,
"Here's how not to be sexually immoral."
But then I'm thinking about the passage
in the Sermon on the Mount, and the whole point
is to try and tell us,
"You're not sexually moral."
Your righteousness should exceed that of the Pharisees,
and you think that it's about
keeping these list of rules and the Ten Commandments,
"Well, I say to you,"
and he takes it to the heart, and he says,
if you have lust in your heart, then you're falling way short.
And he concludes that section in Matthew 5,
by saying, "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect."
But that's not the sermon that was preached.
It was, "You can be pure, you can be sexually moral,
and here's your ten tips."
You're giving them a goal that they'll never be able to attain.
Period.
The messages that just say "be good" damn people
to their pride or to despair.
There are really only two possible human responses.
One response to a "be good" message is,
"Been there, done that, checked off that box."
The person will believe they can attain it,
be the Pharisee, um,
and work, and work, and work, and work.
Or be the Mormon, and work, and work.
Or the Muslim,
or the Jehovah's Witness. All of them.
[laughs] You'll try to earn salvation
by trying to be a good person.
Why do I have to, you know, repent?
Why do I have to ask for forgiveness
if you're not making mistakes?
I work hard, I'm an honorable person.
Jesus is walking down the road one day,
and a young man comes up to him,
and says, "Good Teacher,
what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
Now, it sounds like a very safe question,
it's actually a landmine.
"What must I do to inherit eternal life?"
Already, it's about performance.
"What must I do to inherit eternal life?"
And Jesus responds with great wisdom.
He says, "Why do you call me good?
Only God is good."
And then he says, "You know the commandments."
But, Joy, then what... But what is the standard of goodness?
Be good to your neighbor.
-Don't cheat on your husband. -Okay. But it's--
-Don't steal. -But in the...
Don't lie, don't steal.
Gives them the list of the commands.
But in the Bible, God's standard is the Ten Commandments.
I'm good on that, too.
[Dr. Chapell] And the young man immediately says,
"All these I have kept since I was a boy."
Jesus just said,
"Only God is good."
And two seconds later, what does the young man say?
"Me too!"
In which case, he gives himself the status
and the stature of God.
It's just pure pride.
And by the way, breaks the very first commandment,
"You shall have no other gods."
You've never told a lie before? Ever?
Oh, what? Is that one of the commandments?
It's a commandment.
-It's number nine. -Never mind.
[Jackie] Jesus is like, "Okay, sell everything you have."
Dude walks away.
So you're not good.
[laughs] You can't be good.
And Jesus already lays out the foundation
that only God is good
because he defines what goodness truly is.
I try and lead a life
where I don't have to ask God for forgiveness.
[Ray] If you have a proud heart,
and most people are very proud of heart,
and the way to find that out
is just say, "Do you think you're a good person?"
Oh, I know I'm a good person. I don't...
I don't really lie, cheat or steal so...
[Ray] You don't lie?
You know what, never mind.
I take that back. I don't... I don't tell huge lies.
I tell white lies.
I believe I'm a good person. I'm very--
-You do? -Yeah.
How many lies have you told in your whole life?
Um, I can't count them. [chuckles]
[Ray] You ever stolen something?
Stolen something before? Yes, I have.
I think the misunderstanding is that God's law was given
as a standard for us to live by.
Well, try and live by it.
[Dan] Well, the law is a mirror.
It's just simply meant to reflect what God thinks,
who God is,
how He wants you to live.
And then you get to look in the mirror,
and you get to go, "How do I fit that standard?"
[Ray] You know, "Love God with your heart, mind,
soul, and strength. And love your neighbor
as much as you love yourself,"
because that's the essence of the law.
We can't do it.
Have you ever used God's name in vain?
Accidentally, I'm trying... I'm trying to get rid of that.
-[Ray] So you've done it? -Yes.
It's called blasphemy. It's very serious.
[Dan] I've never known anybody in my whole life
that has looked in a mirror
and said, "I have something in my teeth,"
and then taken the mirror off the wall,
and tried to pick their teeth with it.
Now Jesus said, if you look at a woman and lust for her,
you commit adultery with her in your heart."
Have you ever done that?
Yes.
I'm not gonna lie, I did.
[Dan] And you don't take the law
and then try to fix yourself with it.
You take the law and say, "I'm in need of help
because something is wrong."
If we don't understand who God is,
then the gospel does not make much sense.
You see, the great issue here is that God is holy,
and God is just.
And that man is unholy, and man is not just.
[Paul] Man is unrighteous, man is a sinner.
So, Eduardo, I'm not judging you,
but you've just told me you're a lying thief,
a blasphemer, and an adulterer at heart.
And that's only four of the Ten Commandments.
[Marshall] We can look at others and go,
"Well, I'm not as bad as them,
and I didn't do all of that, but...
So I'm not that bad."
Well, that's a lie.
You're bad compared to Christ,
who is altogether lovely, who is holy.
We pale in comparison.
So a person needs to really take a good look at Jesus,
and then you know who you are.
My problem of sin goes far beyond my actions.
It goes to who I am as a person.
I have a nature of sin. That is my essence.
The human heart is predisposed right now
to love everything else besides God,
to love self more than God,
to love wrong more than right.
The heart is totally opposed to God.
Conceived in iniquity,
born in sin.
99.9% of people are not bad people.
They may make poor choices,
but deep down, they've got a good heart.
You and I are naturally rebels to God.
[J.D.] So how do you fix
the broken part of the human heart
that loves the wrong things?
The Bible says that we are dead in trespasses and sin.
Ephesians 2 verse 1 immediately comes to mind.
To be dead in sin means
that we are physically alive,
but that we are morally unable
to respond to God.
What can a dead man do?
And the gospel not only addresses
my behavior, my actions.
It addresses who I am
by promising to change me at the core basic level
of personhood.
[Dr. Lawson] Therefore, God must perform a resurrection.
So if God judges you by the Ten Commandments
on Judgement Day, are you gonna be innocent or guilty?
By the guidelines, I'm going to be guilty.
[Ray] Heaven or hell?
I'm assuming hell.
In that case, everyone would be a bad person.
[Ray] Yeah, that's what the Bible says. It says,
"There's none good,"
because good in God's book means morally perfect.
[Dr. Chapell] So, if all we didy to people is, "Be good,"
the other human response is,
wait, what does it mean to be good?
Does it mean to be as holy as God is holy?
Never lie? Never be selfish?
Never in any way do things that are contrary to God's law?
Oh, my.
I'm... I'm in despair now.
What you're doing is, you're revealing
in the hearts of your people their shortcomings and failures.
So to just leave it in their hands and their effort
puts a weight on them they can't bear up under.
I felt like I was walking on eggshells all the time
because it felt as if at any moment I can go to hell
because I'm not doing enough.
And that's where you see a lot of people
who grew up in churches
where the gospel might not have been
really fleshed out where they become atheists
because it's like, I can't do enough to please Him anyway.
So, why? Why trust Him? Why believe in Him?
I'm still the same person.
I'm still wicked. I'm still sinful.
Well, what if I have failed sexually?
[Phill] If I'm a man
sitting in a church service at that moment,
I have no hope as I walk out.
I'm just told, "Here's ten ways that you should try harder."
[Dr. Kim] We're damning people to those twin possibilities
of pride on the one hand, or despair on the other.
And this is why the gospel is so important.
Because the gospel comes in,
in the middle of both of those,
and says, "Yeah, you're right,
you aren't good enough, on the one hand,
but Jesus was good for you."
How can sinful man be reconciled to a just God
whose justice demands that they be punished?
Do you know what God did for guilty sinners
so we wouldn't have to go to hell? Any idea?
[Paul] The answer is found in the person of Jesus Christ,
the historical person.
God intervening into human history.
And this Jesus of Nazareth lived the perfect life
that you and I could never live.
Have never lived.
And then, He goes to a cross.
We owed a debt to God because of our sin.
And that debt was suffering eternal punishment.
But on the cross, God Himself, He took our place.
Bore our sin
and suffered the wrath of God that we deserve.
He extinguished it. He put it away.
On the third day he rose again from the dead,
then he ascended up into heaven,
and this Jesus,
the son of God sat down at the right hand of God.
[Paul] And now the Bible teaches
that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life,
that no man comes to the Father except through Him.
That there is one God and one mediator
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.
And if you'll repent and trust alone in Jesus
as your savior,
God will remit your sins, dismiss your case,
and grant you everlasting life as a gift,
not because you're good, but because He is rich in mercy.
In many ways the defining doctrine
of true biblical Christianity
is justification by faith alone in Christ alone.
Justification is God declaring us righteous
even though we are guilty of sin.
We see in Ephesians 2:8-9.
For it is by grace you have been saved through faith.
It's not of yourselves, it's the gift of God,
not of works, so that no man may boast.
And so this is the great dividing line
between biblical Christianity
during the Reformation and the Roman Catholic religion.
[Mike] The official position of the Roman Catholic Church
on justification
is that they believe that you are justified
by faith plus works.
In fact, at the Council of Trent,
which people refer to as the Counter-Reformation,
they actually issued an anathema.
If anybody believed that they are justified
by faith alone,
they are condemned under the anathema
of the Council of Trent.
[Nate] And so the Roman Catholic Church
actively was opposing and cursing those
who were holding a biblical gospel.
If is often called the "plus religion,"
because Catholicism teaches that you are saved
by faith plus works,
by grace plus merit,
by Christ plus other mediators,
according to scripture plus tradition,
and for the glory of God, as well as the glory of Mary
and other saints.
When you look at the Roman Catholic plan of salvation,
it is a salvation of works and sacraments.
In the Roman Catholic plan of salvation
baptism cleanses an infant from original sin.
[Mike]And that is the sacrament of regeneration
as well as justification.
[Nate] That it starts them off on this plan, on this track.
Along the way, however,
they can commit these small sins, venial sins,
which plunges them back down.
And heaven forbid, they commit a mortal sin,
which knocks them completely off the plan of salvation.
And he must now receive sacraments.
He must confess his sins to a priest,
which is the sacrament of penance.
And then he must be rejustified by doing good works,
by doing penance.
And once he is rejustified,
then he must maintain his salvation
through sacraments.
And if, in the end,
if they have enough people praying for them,
and if they do enough time in purgatory,
they might possibly get to heaven.
How they get to heaven is based on what they do
rather than what Christ has done.
[Nate] But the Bible teaches,
"There is therefore now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ."
That when you put your faith in Jesus Christ
the work has been done.
He saves you totally, completely, perfectly.
And even though, yes, we sin and can repent,
the sacrifice of Christ has paid for those sins.
And so there is assurance
that He has saved you,
he has plucked you out of the world,
you're in the palm of His hand
and nobody can pluck you out of His hand.
[Mike] And so, that's why the Reformers
cried the five solas.
That we are saved by grace alone,
through faith alone,
in Christ alone,
according to scripture alone,
all for the glory of God alone.
That message has always found opposition.
[R. Scott] And the Jerusalem Council,
that we read about in the book of Acts,
actually addressed this very same issue.
The rabbis and the Judaizers were saying to the Christians
that God will accept you by His grace through faith
and your keeping of the ceremonial laws.
Being circumcised, washing your hands,
keeping the food laws.
And the entire church agreed,
summarized by the apostle Peter's statement,
that that is not the good news.
That's not the gospel.
Jesus didn't come to make salvation possible
for those who do their part.
He came to accomplish it
and to give it freely to all of His people.
The question is, "Well, how do we know if faith is real
if there is no works?" Doesn't the Bible say,
"Faith without works is dead"?
"And so, don't we have to do works to be saved?
Isn't that the argument? Isn't that we have to be doing?"
But there's two understandings of that,
and one's biblical, one's not.
[Nate] So the Roman Catholic view of salvation,
and really any works-based system of salvation,
takes works and puts it at the root,
and says that works
plus your faith in Jesus is what produces salvation.
But the Bible teaches that it's not the root,
it's actually the fruit.
That your faith alone in Jesus, that is what saves.
And then a life that has been saved,
a sanctified, regenerated heart
produces fruit, the fruit of good works.
And so, you know a person has been saved
because of their fruit.
But the fruit is not the reason they're saved.
They're saved by God,
by grace, through faith in Christ.
You see, the Christian is the only person,
the true Christian, who can say that they're going to heaven
without being self-righteous.
Why?
In other religions, how do you get to heaven?
You get to heaven by being good, by earning it.
In Christianity,
you're not reconciled to God
through your own virtue or merit,
but you're reconciled to God
through the virtue and merit of His Son.
[Ray] Does that make sense?
It makes absolute sense.
[Ray] So, Augusto, if you were to die today,
-how old are you? -Nineteen.
If you were to die at 19, and God gave you justice,
you'd end up in hell, there are two things
you have to do to be saved,
you've got to repent and trust in Christ.
When are you gonna do that?
Almost immediately.
[Ray] You're serious?
Yeah, I'm serious.
[Dr. Horton] Euangelion,
the Greek word "gospel," is taken from the good news
that a runner would bring as a messenger,
coming to announce in the capital
that victory had been achieved on the battlefield.
And everyone would cheer, it would transform the lives
of everybody in the city to know
that they hadn't lost the war, they had won the war.
But of course, they weren't the ones out there in...
in... in the trenches.
In the same way Jesus says,
"I have accomplished salvation."
Not, "Come help me save the world."
But, "I have accomplished this."
The law, basically, is do.
The gospel, basically, is done.
The gospel isn't "What would Jesus do?
Now go and do that."
The gospel is, "What has Jesus done?
Now believe that."
This distinction between the law and the gospel
really is the most important thing to remember.
And it's one of the things that we're forgetting.
[Dr. Chapell] That pattern of God always making sure
that we know that relationship comes before obedience.
That we do not have a relationship with Him
because we obey.
We obey because He has made a relationship with us.
That is made clear over and over again in the Bible.
God says before He ever tells His people
what the commands are,
"I'm the God who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of bondage. Now, obey me."
Now it's critical we understand He didn't say,
"You obey me, and I'll let you out of Egypt."
No, He said, "I have redeemed you.
Now here's the safe path for you to walk on."
It's the order not just of the Old Testament passages.
I mean, all the epistles of the New Testament
basically follow that same order.
In general, the first half of the epistles
of Paul, of John, of Peter,
kind of say, "Here's what God has done in Christ.
Here's how He has saved you."
The last half of the epistles,
"Now here's what you should do in response."
The moral commands that we should obey
are like the railroad tracks for the train.
That as the train is going,
this is the way that the train is supposed to go.
[Phill] But the gospel is the engine and the fuel
that makes the train actually move.
And so it does a Christian no good,
and it does a non-Christian no good
to just continue telling them, "Hey, here's the tracks,
now go."
But if they have no fuel, if they have no engine,
they're just gonna be a train stuck.
And there's a lot of Christians, I think, today that are just
trains sitting on tracks being told, "Go forward,"
but they're not being given an engine or any fuel
to move them forward.
[Dr. Kim] There are some pastors out there that assume,
I think, incorrectly, but understandably,
that everyone in their church understands the gospel.
[Paul] I remember years ago,
I was asked to address a group, a large group,
but they told me that they were mainly Christians.
And they said, "Well, what are you gonna preach on?"
And I said, "Well, I thought about preaching on the gospel."
And they said, "But we just told you
that these... Most of these people,
we know them as very devout and sincere Christians."
And I said, "Well, first of all, I appreciate that,
but I can never assume
that everyone there is truly Christian
or has come to a biblical understanding of the gospel.
That's number one.
Number two,
the gospel is not just for lost people.
The gospel is for Christians."
[Seth] God, being three in one,
eternally existing, Father, Son, Holy Spirit,
in His great love, He...
He made creation to share His love with.
Not that He needed to, but He wanted to,
and in that He created us.
And in creating us, we fell into sin.
And sin is something that separates us from God.
It's something that is not of God.
It's something that's against God.
[Jared] On Saturday nights, during the summer,
we host worship nights at our house
usually starting at about 6:30.
You know, we'll play basketball,
we'll throw the football, frisbee around,
and we'll just talk and hang out outside.
And then we'll gather in the living room,
and there will be a time of worship.
♪ Jesus paid it all
♪ All to Him I owe
[Chris] In our community, we've made it a practice that
every week we try to have meetings
where the gospel is at least presented one time.
[Seth] And Jesus being fully man, fully God,
walked on this Earth and lived a life
without sin, without blemish,
and lived a life that we were called to live,
and lived a life that we should have lived.
And in our place, He died the death that we deserve.
Three days later, He rose again after that death on the cross.
And one of the things we do stress is that
even believers need it, even people that hear it
a hundred times a month still need that.
And we do have hope, because any kind of judgment
from that sin has been dealt with by God...
The gospel is not something that you graduate from.
It's not something that you ever move on from.
The gospel is central.
We're constantly prone to forget the gospel.
We're prone to forget who He is, who we're not,
what He did for us.
[Dr. Horton] Preaching the gospel
all the time, every week means
that from Genesis to Revelation,
you realize the whole Bible is one unfolding story
of God's love and saving grace and mercy
towards sinners in Jesus Christ.
Jesus said in Matthew 5,
that the whole Bible is about Him.
[Dr. Kim] And Luke records for s that Jesus taught them
all the things concerning Himself.
From the law, the prophets and the writings.
Which were threefold way of describing
the whole Hebrew Bible of the Old Testament.
Now either He was a megalomaniac,
or He is who He said He was,
and the whole Bible is about Jesus.
Well, I don't know about you but if I'm a follower of Jesus,
I wanna follow Jesus' understanding
of the Old Testament.
Therefore, if we explain any text
in isolation from Him,
we fail to say the very thing that He said it's about.
He said it's about Him.
If you're preaching about Daniel and it's "Dare to be a Daniel,"
it's not about Jesus.
If you're preaching the book of Revelation,
and it's about Israel and Russia,
then it's not about Jesus.
Though Jesus isn't the content of the whole Bible,
He's the center of it all.
In other words,
not every story, every little thing is about Jesus,
or can be an analogy for Him.
And yet, it all points towards Him and His work.
He's the pinnacle.
[Mark] So the message of the Bible
is that God will save His people.
So any point you drop into Habakkuk or second Timothy,
you know, any point you drop into Isaiah or Deuteronomy,
it's gonna be connected somehow to this main trunk road
of the good news of what God is doing in our world.
[Phill] Whether you start in Genesis 3,
and you talk about God making a promise
that he would crush the serpent through the seed of the woman.
Well, what's the rest of the book of Genesis?
It's the story of that seed, through the woman.
And that's why so many people get bogged down by genealogies.
And they're like, "What are these genealogies about?"
[Phill] That's why the New Testament opens
with a genealogy
and showing you that the seed has come in the person of Jesus.
And so if you can't see the cross
in the story of Joseph telling you,
"What you meant for evil, God meant for good."
I mean, that's the cross right there in a metaphor.
Well then, you're really missing the whole unity of the Bible.
And I think that's probably, if you wanted to put it,
what we're denying, what's one of our problems,
is that we're missing that the Bible
was written by one author,
and that therefore, the author
has a unified story that He's telling.
Even though there's different human authors,
they're all inspired by the Holy Spirit.
God is not a supporting actor in my life movie.
The Bible's not about you.
I have been cast as a player
in His unfolding story of redemption.
And we've got that reversed today.
Here's what... You'll keep infusing yourself
into the stories of the Bible like you're the hero.
And so a way of reading the Bible
that always makes man the hero
and not the acts of God the hero,
I think if you mess that up,
then you're reading the Bible entirely wrong.
Because the Bible wants to consistently get your eyes
off of you and onto a God who is able.
So it's not you that are able, it's God that's able.
[Matt] And so, I think David and Goliath,
you're right, is just a perfect story for it.
That anytime you hear the David and Goliath story,
you're hearing about how you're David.
Yeah, I wanna be straight. I love you enough
to be straight. You're not David.
[Matt] So I'm David and the Goliath is my debt,
or it's my difficult marriage,
or it's my boss at work.
I'm gonna grab the stone of faith,
and I'm gonna sling it at my giant of this boss at work,
and I'm gonna slay him. I'm gonna hold up his head.
And that would be a very narcissistic way
to read the Bible.
But in a Christ-centered hermeneutic,
we're gonna approach the Bible and go,
"Okay, what's going on in this very true story?"
[Matt] It appears here that
there's something that is terrifying
and that on the surface,
it looks like it cannot be killed.
And yet, it's overcome by this man,
who by faith, killed what couldn't be killed.
And now we're on to a threat, right?
Like, who... What's more undefeatable than sin and death?
What David was doing was enacting the justice of God
on the enemies of God
for the victory and salvation of God's people,
who did absolutely nothing but be afraid and terrified
to approach the enemies of God.
You know who conquers our giants?
Christ conquers our giants.
It's not me that conquers my giants.
Like the great giant of my life, sin and death,
cannot be conquered by me
picking up a stone of faith and throwing it,
but by the finished work of Christ,
who conquered death with a single shot.
[Dr. Kim] David was one of the men in the Bible
that, that God said, "He was a man after my own heart."
What a tremendous way of describing King David.
Yet here is also a man who committed murder
so that he can sleep with that man's wife.
He's a murderer. He's an adulterer.
[J.D.] Abraham, the father of our faith,
we always, you know, say,
Abraham's a guy that lied, and threw his wife under the bus
not once, but twice.
I mean, this is not a husband that you wanna emulate.
Do you see that the Bible takes care
to tar virtually every biblical figure but one?
[audience laughs]
It's almost important to remember
that the Old Testament
is an Eastern book more than it is a Western book.
It's not just dealing linear, going A, B, C, D,
rather, who Christ is,
what He must do, is being defined
by what He is not in the Old Testament.
And, you know, you take a figure like Samson in the Bible.
[Dr. Chapell] You know, there was a man who had great strength
and great cleverness.
And if you know the story,
when Samson had long hair, he was strong.
When he had short hair, he was weak.
Now, what's the message there?
Well, it's obvious we should have long hair,
so then we'll be strong.
No, that's not the message.
The message was no matter how strong
or clever you are,
you are not your own savior.
You are not your own redeemer.
That's a dead end
if you're gonna depend on your own strength
and your own wisdom.
Think about the way
an Eastern thinker sometimes represents truth
is not saying this thought
leads to that thought, leads to that thought.
But rather speaking around a truth,
so that you get the truth.
[Dr. Chapell] The people of God are given the law,
but they break the law.
Sacrifices are provided,
but the priests who begin to offer them
become themselves malevolent and not helping.
Then the judges say, "Well, just do what's right
in your own eyes." That doesn't work.
All right, pick a king,
your tallest, strongest, handsomest guy.
Well, that king becomes selfish.
Well, we'll give prophets to the kings.
And the kings will learn what to do from the prophets.
Sounds great, except the people kill the prophets.
And you begin to understand
that through the course of millennia, God is saying,
"We need a better law keeper.
We need a better judge.
Better sacrifice,
better prophet, better priest, better king."
Not this, not this, not this, not this, not this.
But this.
[Paul] The gospel, the more we know
about what God has done for us,
in the person of Jesus Christ,
the great cost of our atonement.
What the atonement has purchased for us.
The more we understand that as Christians,
the more we're gonna grow in sanctification,
the more we're gonna grow in worship, devotion,
delight in the person of God.
What is the only reason
that sin has any power in your life?
The answer is...
because you love it.
If the sin did not attract you,
it would have no power.
The reason that we sin is because we love it.
And as hard as that is to hear,
it's actually a wonderful understanding.
Because it means that power over that sin
is a greater love.
[J.D.] The goal of a lecture
is that you leave with information.
The goal of a motivational speech
is that you leave with action steps.
The goal of a gospel sermon,
the goal of teaching the Bible
is that you leave worshipping.
[Dr. Horton] If people and churches
are out of control morally,
it's probably that they don't understand the gospel.
[Dr. Chapell] What the Bible is actually teaching
is that the goal of preaching
is to have people profoundly, deeply,
love the Savior, so that there is a consequence
in our hearts and lives.
Jesus said that in John 14:15.
He said, "If you love Me, you will keep My commands."
And what makes us want to do that is
a heart that loves the Savior
because we've perceived how great is His love for us.
Because when people are filled up
with love for Christ,
the love for the world is pushed out of their hearts,
and the power of Christ is now in their lives.
[Phill] So as long as we sin,
unless we have a doctrine of sinless perfection,
and that you no longer sin anymore,
which I think that's been known
for quite some time as a heresy,
then as long as you're a sinner, you need the gospel.
If you sinned yesterday, then you need the gospel today.
Because the gospel produces faith,
and faith produces love,
and love produces the fruit of good works.
I think the gospel should be preached in every sermon.
[Mark] If I've got somebody here
that I've been trying to get here for three years,
they're my next-door neighbor,
and the guy preaching today
is just telling me about the joys of motherhood.
You know, I'm... I'm in favor of motherhood.
But if that's all this visitor that I bring hears,
that's just a shame.
If your sermon
could be preached in a Jewish synagogue,
then it's not a Christian sermon.
Foremost, in my life,
whenever I have a chance to preach,
it's, first of all, going to be the gospel,
and then build upon that central message.
Because if someone doesn't have a right view of the gospel,
they don't have a right view about anything.
[Matt] So, a type of reading the Bible
where I'm always the hero,
I'm never the Pharisee.
I'm never the scared Israelites.
I'm never the ones who are gonna worship a golden calf
just a few weeks after I was led through the Red Sea,
is a misreading of scripture
that makes man the champion and not God.
And it's unhealthy, and it's broken, and it leads
to man trying to manipulate
and control God like He was a genie in a lamp.
[Seth] We need to check ourselves and check our heart.
Oftentimes, we find ourselves sitting in pews
or even coming to church
in order to get something from Jesus
but not get Jesus Himself.
It is a pain to know that
there are people who do not know Jesus.
It is a greater pain to know that often times
Jesus and Christianity is being distorted.
[Osteen] Who told you you can't accomplish your dreams?
I had no clue what the gospel was-
I had never really heard it.
You know, God wants you healthy!
I worked for my uncle Benny Hinn who's a famous faith healer
As far as I knew, He died and rose again
so that I could have a prosperous life!
But what was going through my mind at the time
was that this was real!
Charlatans and snake oil salesman
have been doing this trick for decades!
People think basically that religion is there to
boost your ego, make you happy, make you
more successful, make life go well.
And as I got older, I really started to question God
and how He could send people to hell.
Scripture says that we make the mistake
of thinking God was like us.
And what you do is, you create a God who only
wants to give you all the desires of you heart.
Money!
Cometh! - To me!
[Joel Osteen] You're destiny is calling out.
It's time to start living large!
We stayed in hotels upwards of 20,000 dollars a night!
Nobody wants to die! Nobody wants to be sick!
And nobody wants to be poor
All the things that Jesus says we have to be
willing to set aside to follow Him-
they take all of those things, and they make that
the attraction of the gospel.
We are exporting the very worst
of what Christianity has to offer.
I'm strong! I'm healthy, I'm blessed,
I'm favored! I'm a victor, not a victim!
I'm going to live a long, productive,
faith-filled life!
In terms of biblical Christianity,
Christianity is about dying.
How can I just continue to live my life
as if this isn't true?
So I abandoned my version of the American dream
and I said, "I will do what I can
to take the gospel to the nations."
With itching ears,
I bought into this American dream, motivational religion.
And since it masked itself as Christianity
I thought myself to be a Christian the whole time.
When really
it was nothing more than moralistic self-help.
Which is crazy to me now because I understand
this is the opposite of the Christian message!
We can't help ourselves!
We have no hope but Christ alone!
I want to talk about the impact of the documentary
American Gospel.
I just wanted to say how grateful and thankful I am
for the "American Gospel: Christ Alone" film.
My cousin who is a pastor up north posted- via Facebook -
the trailer,
and I just had to see this movie!
So I was so excited when I saw the trailer for American Gospel
So I already knew it was going to be something great
just from the trailer alone.
And as soon as it was available to rent I rented it on Vimeo,
I watched it, and
I was blown away!
We were blown away.
As a filmmaker myself,
in terms of production quality I thought the film was awesome.
I myself have been churched for over thirty years
and have seen a lot of material.
And this documentary I would say
is the best I've seen.
It thoroughly lays out the true biblical gospel-
proclaiming the whole truth of God's word
while pinning it against and exposing
so many of the lies that
are being spread in America today.
Lies that I bought into myself.
I grew up in the prosperity, Word of Faith movement
type churches.
I was one of those con-artists. I was one of those businessmen.
I myself bought into it many years ago.
And I despise the prosperity gospel.
I became this
very egotistical, arrogant, self-centered, selfish guy.
And everything was about me!
It displaces Jesus, and places in His stead, an idol.
And here's the reason it is so horrible.
When was the last time that any American,
African, Asian ever said, "Jesus is all satisfying,
because you drove a BMW."?
Never!
[Sean Demars] And I just thought "This guy doesn't know anything!
I thought this guy was the man!
This guy doesn't know anything- he's an idiot!"
[John Piper] They'll say, "Jesus give you that?"
"Yeah."
"Well I'll take Jesus!"
That's idolatry! That's not the gospel!
The Jesus who is going to help me pay my taxes
at the end of the year.
The Jesus who's going to correct my
wife's genetic disorder-
I'll take that Jesus! That Jesus sounds great!
But what that is is idolatry-
it's an elevation of the gift above the Giver.
I■m so thankful for this resource because
through the powerful illustrations and interviews,
it kind of encapsulates my testimony in a sense.
I came out of a church that taught the prosperity message
and did not teach biblical Chri
And it's been incredibly heartbreaking
to see people that I care about
fall into this false teaching-
and it is literally everywhere where I live!
The idea that if you just had enough faith,
bad things wouldn't happen.
Or you can speak things into existence-
the power of positive thinking.
I am young, I am beautiful, I am attractive!
Remember, what follows the "I am"
is going to come looking for you!
The new age practices that I was practicing
as a non-believer-
they're putting it into the church.
And I've had lots of family members hurt by this movement.
By God's great mercy
I left the movement twenty-nine years after I entered it.
And I was able to get out of that church
about ten years ago.
I was able to get out of that church
and get to a biblical church.
But during that time
I had to know what the Word was saying
and the difference between the real, true gospel,
and the true Christ in the Bible,
and what was being taught there.
And that's what this movie does!
For people who are in,
or have been in it and made it out-
it's our story!
I'm actually a student
at Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry.
And I attend Bethel church in Redding, California.
And Bethel Church is one of the biggest churches
with the deepest involvement
in the Word of Faith, prosperity gospel,
New Apostolic Reformation sort of movement.
The Word of Faith movement is the term that's given to a
movement that's more commonly known as the
"health & wealth gospel",
the "prosperity gospel", "name it and claim it gospel".
This teaching that it is always God's will for
a Christian to be wealthy, it's always God's will
for a Christian to be physically healed,
we should never be sick.
Believe me when I tell you, I never get sick.
I was as sick as a sick dog with a cold.
Yeah, yeah I get sick too!
Or if we do get sick we can be healed
as long as we have enough faith.
We can attract positive things to ourselves
through positive thinking.
And Norman Vincent Peale- the great Norman Vincent Peale
was my pastor. The Power of Positive Thinking.
And the Word of Faith movement is lead by people
such as Benny Hinn-
the world's most famous faith healer.
Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen,
Joseph Prince, TD Jakes, Andrew Wommack.
These are just some of the more prominent leaders
of the movement.
But what has happened is that
the United States of America
has created this false theology,
and has now exported it
to the rest of the world to the point that
now the face of Christianity in most of the world today
is Word of Faith.
When they present the Word of Faith movement
they're not being harsh.
They're not being harsh at all. It's being fair.
It's what I believed!
And from someone who is still here at Bethel
who's still at Bethel's school of ministry
I can attest to the fact that
they are preaching a false gospel.
That they are preaching a false Christ.
And a Christ and a gospel that cannot save.
The misunderstanding here is the incarnation is not
simply a matter of the Spirit of God dwelling in a man,
or in a human being.
[Osteen] You see Jesus was man, until God touched him
and put the Spirit of the living God
on the inside of him.
[Bowman] The incarnation is God Himself uniting Himself
with human nature to become one of us.
It is the union of the two natures-
the nature of God and the nature of man in one person.
One of the most well known, mainstream,
Word of Faith preachers today
is Bill Johnson from Bethel Church.
But one night
a critic of mine- who's actually now one of my friends-
sent me the film American Gospel and asked me to watch it.
And originally I had actually
gone into watching American Gospel
to completely rip it to shreds!
To tear it apart, and to refute it.
And so I sat and I watched this film
and by the end of this film
the Holy Spirit had taken ahold of my heart,
to the point where I was so deeply convicted over my sin,
I was so deeply grieved by the complete heresy and blasphemy
of this movement,
that I was sick to my stomach
and I didn't sleep for three nights!
From that moment on
I decided that while I am here in Redding, California,
while I am here at Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry,
I am going to preach the gospel, the true gospel of Jesus Christ
in hopes that some people may repent.
I knew after watching the film that I wanted to share it with
as many family members as I could, and I have!
Including sharing it with my mom who has, in the last few years,
gone through a lot of sufferings,
including the death of my pre-born sister.
I went over and watched it with her
and within the first five minutes we were both crying
because my mom-
I believe God used the movie to show her that
her sufferings were not meaningless,
and exposed her to the true gospel.
I just really appreciated
answering the hard questions, going to the dark places.
And people's testimonies of cancer.
[Katherine Berger] I'm not any better physically,
but I am so much happier!
Because I have Jesus, and He's right here!
Two exciting things happen every time I share
the movie with somebody.
And actually every time I watch it myself.
The one is I want to give glory to God
for the wonder of the gospel!
It both humbled me and inspired me!
I really have prefaced it as
something that's so beneficial no matter where you are
in your walk.
First of all it was well done!
We thought it was really balanced.
It touched on very important issues
that are going on in the body today.
And for us, this is something we talk about frequently.
And so it encouraged us about the convictions that we have,
and the things God is placing on our heart about
the faith, and truth
and what matters about sound doctrine and teaching.
It was just such an encouragement and such a
refreshing thing to watch.
And challenging for me too, you know to just be reminded of
those essential truths.
And I find myself going back
and listening to the first hour or so
of this documentary over, and over, and over. Why?
Because I haven't...
I haven't heard the gospel presented
for years!
The second thing that happens is I'm inspired
by the clarity of the gospel
and I share the gospel more as a result
of watching this documentary.
And the first thing I wanted to do
was share it with everybody I know!
They had to watch this movie!
And so I have been prayerfully
showing this to a lot of my brothers and sisters-
many that know the Word and- grounded in truth,
and some that, you know,
follow some false teachings.
I had watch parties here.
Watch party here with my wife, my niece, my sister.
They watched it, we all watched it together.
And they had questions. We had to pause it.
I was taking notes, rewinding, pause, rewind, pause.
“What did he say? I need to get that written down!”
I have a friend that I've been trying to witness to,
and to disciple,
and she watched the film this weekend
and loved it!
And not only has it changed my life
but it has changed the lives of so many people that I know!
And God has used this film
to soften hardened hearts, to open blind eyes,
to open deaf ears.
And to show people who He really is!
There's so many distractions in the church, and
it's become about so many other things than
Jesus and the work that He has done for us.
I thought I was good!
That I just needed to work harder, and be moral,
and God will help me to achieve my dreams.
All the while I didn't truly know Him and serve Him, and
I was hardened to the biblical gospel.
But by the grace of God, through
true gospel proclamation-
like what's in this documentary-
God opened up the eyes of my heart
to see my sin against Him.
And he gave me a heart to hate it, and empowered me
to turn from it to Christ!
Who lived the perfect life that I could not,
bore my sin and the wrath that I deserved,
so that by His blood
I could be right with God and know Him and enjoy communion
with Him forever.
It's not about all this other worldly stuff.
Out eternal hope is in Christ alone.
I just want to say thank you!
Thank you to all of the pastors and the teachers,
and the people with their testimonies
for contributing to this film.
And it's just truly amazing
to know what this movie is going to do.
This is truly a life changer!
This is a movie that every Christian in America
must watch!
Because if it was possible for God to take me-
someone at Bethel church,
someone at Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry.
If it was possible for Him
to take me in the midst of my deepest deception,
and open my eyes to the truth of what the gospel actually is,
He can take anyone
out of their deepest pit of deception
if they're in this movement-
if they're believing in a false gospel.
We're looking for more of this!
We hope that you guys get to work and bring more of this
because a lot- many, many more people are going to be
blessed by it.
It's a great movie. Can't wait to see the next one!
Can't wait to share the next one!
And I look forward to seeing more!
Thank you guys for making this movie!
I'm concerned that people today don't know who God is.
“And the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed
The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious
slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth.”
“Keeping steadfast love for thousands,
forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin."
But...
“He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.”
How does that go together?
Why would you want to worship a god,
if you could imagine a better god?
Did God kill Jesus?
Yes.
I don't think God killed Jesus!
[Rob Bell] That's a sick god and a sick story!
In fact it even says,
“It pleased the Father to bruise Him.”
John MacArthur might be right about Him.
That's not a God worthy of my worship!
It makes God the author of a terribly unjust system!
This is the doctrine of Christianity!
This is the doctrine that separates Christianity
from every other religion in the world!
[Voddie Baucham] Did Jesus go to the cross unwillingly?
No.