Regaining Lost Ground

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us here at Westside Christian Fellowship, located in Leona Valley, California, one hour north of Los Angeles. Today, on Regaining Lost Ground, we hear the third and final part of this penitent message titled, “Don't Drift, Preach Christ.”

Morningstar reformationist John Wycliffe once said, “Trust wholly in Christ, rely altogether on His sufferings, beware of seeking to be justified in any other way than by His righteousness. Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient for salvation. There must be atonement made for sin, according to the righteousness of God. The person to make this atonement must be God and man.”

Today, Pastor Shane gives us the solid foundational truth about the true living gospel. Be encouraged, empowered, and emboldened to walk in your calling today and preach the only truth of the only one that can save: Jesus. Listen now. You can hear the whole message at Pastor Shane's YouTube and Rumble channels. Make sure to subscribe today. For more information, visit us online at westsidechristianfellowship.org. We also encourage you to hear more truth from Pastor Shane with the Idleman Unplugged weekly podcast. And now from Westside Christian Fellowship in Leona Valley, California, here is Pastor Shane Idleman.

Shane Idleman: Family members, coworkers—I've got to please them. I can't follow Christ if I'm trying to—really what we're saying is I honor and respect their opinions over God's opinion. And you can't please Christ and also try to please men.

That's why Jesus said—how many of you did not know this?—Jesus actually said, “I came to bring division.” I'm so confused, Shane. He's a peace, King of Peace. Well, peace with God, but He brings division with men. He actually said in a family, five will be divided against three. Mother against son, father against... and Jesus doesn't want that, but His message brings that. That's the difference. The message of the gospel cuts.

Gene Easley said again, “If John the Baptist were preaching in many of today's churches, he would not be invited back. That I guarantee you. His type of preaching would bring us to our knees and back to an experience that is real.” And he continues, “Many modern-day pulpits shun speaking a word that would be considered religiously incorrect or offensive. But most of these preachers are seeking acceptance and recognition.”

They shun the truth lest it pierce the hearts of men and women and bring them to a place of decision and repentance. They are afraid that the crowds will not continue to come if they preach the message with the fire and the truth of John the Baptist or Jeremiah. And that's just true. If a pastor is quenching and grieving the Spirit, his preaching will be affected at a very deep level and it will infect the listeners. It's not about building your portfolio, your name, or your financial situation or followers. Actually, it's just the opposite, is it not?

Preaching Christ does not bring a large crowd. Now, it can. I thank God for a lot of the churches and social media influencers that are preaching Christ and God is blessing their ministry. But that's because He's doing it. That shouldn't be the person's focus. And I have to remind you of this. Let's go back to what the scripture said. Preach to the people and testify that Jesus was ordained by God and He's going to be the judge of the living and the dead.

So, as much as we want to skirt around the issue of hell, judgment, things like that, we're actually supposed to tell people the full truth. Now, of course, you use wisdom. I don't know if the best approach is, “Well, fine, you're just going to burn in hell.” Probably not the right approach. But it should include some type of judgment, some type of urgency.

And you'll hear people that are worried about this because they don't want to offend people. “I don't want to offend people, of course.” But they'll say, “Hey, man, have you thought about just turning your life over to Jesus? It's great. He'll take care of you.” “Well, no, I don't need that. I'm good.” “Well, okay, well, think about it.” That's not the gospel.

Now, again, in your own way of doing things and how what you feel is near and dear to your heart—maybe not at first, maybe you build a relationship—but eventually, your choices of rejecting God, there is a final destination of that. And many of you probably heard too, Kirk Cameron was in the news lately on his position of hell. I actually texted him the next day, said I'm praying for him and it was actually good. He appreciated that, trying to better understand where he's coming from.

He put out another video that said—he explained a little better. It's been a position that many Christians have had over the years, and it's on annihilation. And it's not like you die and you're annihilated and gone forever. They teach that you die, there is a hell, there is torment, there is judgment, but it's not for eternity. Because when you're a thousand years into it, you're no closer to the end than you are at the beginning.

So, you have a 15-year-old kid rejects Christ; he's eternally separated from God. And that's what he was pondering. And I understand what people are saying, God's mercy and it just doesn't... but like I said, when I put out something, the wording is clear with this: there's eternal. The lake of fire where the worm is not quenched and the flame does not die.

And so, let God worry about that. But I often tell people, I don't want to find out. “Oh, at least you're tormented for a hundred years and then you're annihilated.” Well, how's that good? There's no good side to that. There's no positive side to that. Again, our church, our position as elders has always been that we just read that or see that people are eternal beings. Maybe even from creation, the spirit, there's eternal. So, they would be separated from God eternally.

Physical flames... who wants to find out? It's not going to be good. Basically, it makes you have to be in the holy presence of God because of what Jesus did. Absent of that, that's why it says there's outer darkness. Cast into outer darkness. Because God doesn't throw you there; you choose to reject His offer of salvation. So, you're actually—this is what I get passionate about—how could God? No, they're rejecting Him. And because you reject Him, you can't be with Him. So, you have to go to a place of—obviously, there's no light there. Obviously, it's pretty painful.

Why mess with God? Why play games? You don't want to live your life with a question mark here. And here's the key to convey to people. The gospel actually imprisons you before it releases you. Because you tell people they are imprisoned by darkness. I don't know how you tell them. The way I preach to the masses, let God sort it out. And preaching should also feed the soul. Talking about even preachers like that do what I do, it should feed the soul.

My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. It cries out for the living God. And I've written about this before and I've talked about the sin of the silent pulpit. Did you know pastors are to be voices of truth, not echoes of what the world says? Watchmen, not cowards. And we're to sound a trumpet, not a wind chime. There's one instrument a little quieter than a wind chime and I can't pronounce it very well, but a trumpet, a voice.

Now, how you do that is different. Of course, there's different ways that God has wired us. I don't see a Max Lucado giving this kind of message. Right, there's different ways that God has wired us. But you should be a voice for the truth, a watchman on the wall, and a trumpet. And in the Bible, a watchman is a divinely appointed spiritual guard who stands on the city's walls or the spiritual towers, and they warn people of impending danger, of sin, of judgment, of spiritual threats. And they call the people to repentance and they urge them in vigilance and prayer. That's the definition of a pastor or a preacher.

And then I'll close with First Corinthians 2:5. It says your faith should not be in the wisdom of men. And then Colossians, it warns us, “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.” So, he's saying they can pull you away from God by philosophy and empty deceit.

Have you ever talked to people and for five minutes you think you're tracking? “You believe in God? I believe in God.” “Yeah, I love believing in God. He's really helped me.” “Me too. Man, this is incredible. When did you come to know God?” “Oh, I've always known God even as a child. God is everywhere. He's in the trees, my inner self. I usually get in my yoga pose.”

Whatever that is. Be careful with this. Don't do yoga; do Christian stretching. Call it something different and don't pose to gods. Do something different, okay? But then it's like, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. That's not the God I'm talking about.” That's not the God I'm talking about. And they begin to deceive people through philosophy and empty deceit.

According to the tradition of men. Watch out for tradition. Tradition is good. Thank God for tradition. But when you start to tell people this is the only way, this is how you have to do it to be close to Jesus, to know Jesus, and tradition comes in—we all have traditions—but Jesus actually said that they were led away. He told the religious leaders, “You're leading them away by your tradition.”

What's one tradition? “We're not going to give to our parents who need it; we're going to give our money to God. Oh, we're so spiritual.” Jesus said you make the word of God of no effect, of void, because of your tradition. Don't give to the church; help your parents. Tradition is deadly. Be careful of tradition. We love tradition. We want to honor certain things. But when that tradition becomes the gauge of your truth, many traditions will pull you away from Jesus. Have you noticed that before? You start to focus too much on the traditions.

I've already said it with other things, but this is one of the dangerous things again. I have to speak the truth, and again, you look into it. Don't trust me, but the dangerous thing with Roman Catholicism is the traditions that the papacies brought in—1000 AD, 1100 AD, 1200 AD. You can just read it. Mary is Co-Redemptrix. They backpedal recently. The tradition of the Eucharist becomes the actual body and blood of Jesus. Okay, we don't find that anywhere in scripture.

What about other traditions? Purgatory. When was purgatory added? They built St. Peter's Cathedral by you putting money into the box. “When I hear the coin in the coffer ring, a soul from purgatory will spring.” Yeah, you can pay to get—guys, this is deadly. This is damning. Did Jesus pay it all or not? I've got to go somewhere for five years because I'm still a little struggler? See, these traditions are brought in: 1200, 1300.

We just talked about Christmas, perpetual virginity of Mary. She was always a virgin. Why? How? Because they want to elevate her. Immaculate conception. She was immaculately conceived. She was sinless. What? Where do you get this tradition? You're drifting from God. “Well, she has to be that because she gave birth to Jesus.” No man helped. The Holy Spirit shall come upon you and overshadow you and somehow plant the seed.

See, there's no seed. The seed of the woman will strike the serpent in Genesis. There's no seed in a woman. So, the seed had to come from the Holy Spirit. That's why He was spotless, blameless, sinless. She wasn't. Thank you womb, Mary. Coming of a virgin, but He comes from Jesus, the Holy Spirit coming upon her, placing this baby, creating this life in her womb. She's not without sin.

And so you see, you bring in all these traditions. Traditions. Why do I have to go confess to somebody and they'll bring my request to God? That's not in the Bible. That's actually the opposite of the Bible. We're being led away by tradition. You can look at why the priest has to be celibate to be closer to Christ. Okay, well, that's nice, but the Bible actually says the leaders in the church need to be married and the husband of one wife. The Bible, not me. See, you get upset at me, get upset at God. These are all clear things taught in scripture.

And do you know where the papacy comes from? It's called apostolic succession. Remember, I was an altar boy, so this is where I'm getting all this information. “Peter, on this rock, I will build my church.” Jesus, they say, is building His church on Peter. So, from the line of Peter here comes the next top apostle. From the line of him here comes the next one. Apostolic succession. And these then become the papacy, the popes.

But Jesus is not building a church on Peter. I hope not. Right before that Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said that is the foundation of the church. Tradition, tradition. Let's just say, hypothetically speaking, let's have fun. Let's say Jesus is starting the church with Peter. Okay, that doesn't mean everybody in his lineage is now a pope. It would never mean that. It's always back to the authority of scripture. That's the final gauge of truth.

And they also say tradition—I don't know when this was added, you can research it—there is no salvation outside of the Roman Catholic Church. They decreed it. Papal decree. Guys, this is just true. If I'm offending, upsetting, why? I shouldn't say that when they are blaspheming the word of God? When they're living in deception? When they're leading countless people? I need to be quiet as I should not offend?

What would Jesus say to me? Is Jesus going to say as I'm leaving the service, “Shane, why did you do that? That was so offensive”? Probably not. “Thank you for speaking the truth in love and what I put on your heart to share because it lines up with scripture and it's the truth of God's word.” Again, investigate, please. But look at the Bible. Bible, not the writings of men.

Don't drift from Christ, guys. I'll end with this scripture, Galatians: “Now the works of the flesh are evident.” And there's a whole list here. I don't think you need me to list what the works of the flesh are, do you? I can if you want to get real convicting here. Anybody out there committing adultery? Let me see your search history on your phone. Having too much to drink, too much to eat. Any bitterness, wrath, clamor, anger, evil speaking.

And he said, “I tell you, as I told you before, those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” They have drifted from the knowledge they had. Again, I don't believe they were saved because they are practicing. Practicing means I like this sin, I enjoy this sin, and I'm going to shut you up because I love this sin. I'm practicing it. “I was born this way.” Anybody say that, hear that before? “I was born this way, there's nothing I can do, it runs in my family.” They are practicing sin and they will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Wait a minute, I thought works don't save us. They don't; they reflect what's going on. Because you know if you're a true believer, how long can you keep practicing sin? I'm not talking about falling into it and being miserable, but just—it's like I'd rather die. I've got to get out of this mess. Lord help me, I repent, I repent, I repent. God help me, I want to walk in the fullness of life.

But don't drift from Christ. I love this song we sing this time of year: “All hail the power of Jesus' name, let angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem and crown him Lord of all.” Guys, you need to make a decision this morning, maybe some of you or some of you listening. He is the light of the world. Is He the light in your soul? Because if you don't have that light in your soul, you're gravitating towards darkness. You feel the darkness. The Bible says you must repent and believe. He's the light of the world.

I did something this week that I just couldn't get enough of. I studied light. NASA's definition, my goodness. Talk about a headache. Particles and they have no mass so they can travel 186,000 miles per second. I've got to research that. 186,000 miles in a second? That's like going around the earth seven or eight times. And then it explains how it reflects and it's like, man, I could preach on that for like an hour, but I won't.

It was just amazing to read all of that on light and how Jesus is the parallel and how that works. And then I said, “Oh, I've got to read up what is darkness?” It's so funny, it just said “the absence of light.” That's it. Oh, that's the definition of darkness? The absence of light. So many are living with the absence of light in their heart.

They need to repent and return to God. Do that today. And for a Christian, when you drift from prayer, you also drift from Christ. Prayer is that rope I talked about that pulls you back. Come on, guys, you know when the boat is ever drifted, you had your anchor secure, what do you do? You pull that rope back. That's what prayer does. And that's why we go into prayer now after the service. Maybe you've been rejecting the Bible and kind of toying with other things. You need to just fully surrender that this morning and say, “God, I need You.”

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Regaining Lost Ground with Pastor Shane Idleman. You can find more information at westsidechristianfellowship.org. That's westsidechristianfellowship.org. And for all the latest on what God is doing with His ministry here, please be sure to follow us on most social media platforms. Westside Christian Fellowship is located 60 miles north of Los Angeles in Leona Valley, California. Thank you again for listening to today's message of Regaining Lost Ground, where we are reminded daily: times change, truth does not.