Last night we wrapped up the summer Light Force series on Mormonism. If you want to catch up… here are the topics we covered.
As I shared with our students each time we talked about this, I did this series in response to what’s happening here in Romeo. Over the past year or so Mormon missionaries have been making more and more concerted efforts to talk to high school students. With the planting of a local LDS church in our area coupled with high school students being heavily recruited… it was the goal of this series to fill our students with as much truth as we could about this different faith.
That said, here are 4 talks that point to why the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are not an expression of Biblical Christianity.
– There is only one God
– The Bible is God’s Word
– Women Have Equal Access to God
This weeks talk, Mormonism and Salvation, contrasts a works-based vs. grace-based salvation.
Mormons and Salvation
John 3; Philippians 2:12-18
[Meeting Norman the Mormon missionary in
Chicago
]
Some things that
Mormons do and say just don’t make sense.
– They believe in the family… yet to “properly educate”
people, they send them away from family.
– They believe in education… yet censor free thoughts.
– They believe anyone can choose to join their church…
yet it will take a lawsuit to leave their membership.
While those are obvious contradictions, there are others
that are even more scary… and masked behind their confusing language.
We’ve already discussed some of them…
They say they believe
in the same God we do… but they really believe that we could become a god
ourselves.
They say their Book
of Mormon is as true as the Bible… but in it’s 150 year history it doesn’t
stand up against the scrutiny that the Bible has faced over the previous 2000
years.
They say they believe
women are equal to men… yet they don’t allow women to have any power in the
church… they can’t even really be saved except through their husband.
Tonight I’d like to show you one more reason why Mormons
are not Christians.
They say they believe
in salvation through Christ alone and that we can receive that gift because of
God’s grace to us… but they don’t believe anything in that statement the way
that we do.
Book:
Before we can see how they do that… let’s take a few minutes
to look at this from a Christian perspective.
John 3:1
Nicodemus comes to Jesus and asks him… “OK, so what do I
have to do in order to be OK with God.”
What are we talking
about… ?
v. 3 “No one can see the
kingdom
of
God
unless he is born again.”
v. 4 Nicodemus is a smart guy… he knows where babies come
from and how that works… he’s like “Surely you don’t think we have to go into
my mom’s womb again, do you?”
v. 16 Jesus tells him that if he wants to be OK with God, he
has to put his belief and trust in Jesus. “If you don’t want to perish and you
want to have everlasting life… believe in me.”
Is that it?
All I have to do in order to be OK with God and have everlasting life is put my
faith in him?
v. 18 “Whoever believes in me is not condemned, but whoever
does not believe stands condemned already he has not believed in Jesus.”
Anything else?
v. 20-21 Basically, Jesus is saying… hey look, if you
believe in me for your whole life… than you aren’t going to do bad stuff.
If you are really born again, it will be evidenced by how
you live your life.
Jesus says, “you live by the truth that becomes light.”
Look:
How is this different
from Mormonism?
– They use the same
words as we do here… just different definitions.
– “Salvation” for us means believing with your whole life
that Jesus is your King. You allow Him to be Lord because you acknowledge that
without him… you are destined to only make bad choices.
– “Grace” in our world means a free, unmerited gift. We
don’t receive salvation from God because we deserve it… instead we receive it
even though we don’t deserve it at all.
But Mormons redefine
these terms:
– Through your hard work… you can “buy into” salvation. Overcoming
sin comes from within each person’s choices.
– Grace “If you work hard enough, God will grant you grace so you
can receive salvation.”
These present extreme differences even though they use the same
words…
We believe that you can receive Christ as your Savior, despite
your own sin, and as you draw nearer to Christ you will rearrange your life to
please God.
Mormons believe that if you want to receive Christ as your Savior,
because of your sin, you need to rearrange your life so God can accept you.
Took:
So what does this have to do with you?
I’ll be honest… the faith that many of you practice is nearly the
same as Mormons.
– Many of you aren’t really putting your lives in Jesus’ hands.
– Many of you like the idea that if I “act ok, talk ok, than I am
ok.”
o When you know in your heart you aren’t ok.
– Many of you would like to know… what can I do to make God happy
with me?
Let’s look at
Philippians 2
Paul is going to answer this question for us as Christians.
“Hey, if we receive eternal life with Jesus… and it’s a done deal,
signed/sealed and delivered for eternity into the Father’s hands… WHY ON EARTH DON’T I JUST GO ACT WILD?
v. 12-13 “Even though you are saved, and even though you are “good
people,” keeping on working on your relationship with Christ, with fear and
trembling.
– The difference between us and them is that they do good works to
earn God’s favor. They need to do that… or else God won’t love them.
– We do good works because we love him. We do good works because He
loves us even if we don’t do anything for Him.
Paul ends this with the simple statement, “So you too should be
glad and rejoice with me.”
That’s the call of the Christian life, isn’t it? Doesn’t that sum
it up?
If you know Christ tonight… will you be glad and rejoice with me
tonight?
PRAY & SING
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