EP 172: The Only Answer That Gets You In

"Do you have true assurance of salvation? What would you tell God at heaven’s door, and would it be enough? This episode contrasts faith and works, showing salvation comes through Jesus alone, not a church, or tradition, or emotional altar-call moments."

We come back from our New Jersey and New York run with stories from the road, laughs from an old church, and a sober question about what we would say if God asked why we should be let in. We draw a hard line between faith in Christ and trusting our own good works, then we explain why we keep giving a clear invitation to respond to the gospel.

• stories from the tour and the joy of old saints and old churches
• the “Rabbi Dave” moment and how the play connects to Scripture
• why comfort complaints miss the bigger point of grit and worship
• why we still give an invitation even when it feels like “the choir”
• the danger of assuming everyone in a Christian room is saved
• the muffler shop analogy and why church attendance can’t save
• assurance of salvation and the only answer that gives access
• prayer for salvation and prayer for restoring fellowship
• the difference between relationship with God and broken fellowship

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Transcript

The Question At God’s Desk

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Lord, you know, you will now listen to play is the best. If you found yourself at God's desk at the entrances, he's like, Why should I let you in here? If you're starting out with, well, I um I did this, I did that, I helped out your people here, I gave to the church, I fed the poor, I did a lot. That's not the right answer. That gives access. The only answer that gives access is because Father, the reason is because your son paid my sin debt and he told me that my debt did pay.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

Thank you for joining us on this excursion today. Let's join Pastor Teddy, also known as Fred David Kenny Jr., the founder of Plays on Word Theater, as he does a deep dive into the Word of God.

Old Churches And Modern Complaints

Rabbi Dave And The Synagogue Scene

Jumping The Rail Without Breaking Church

Why We Give An Invitation

Obedience At Keswick Despite Doubts

Church Doesn’t Make You Christian

Assurance And The Right Answer

Prayer Response And Hands Raised

Fellowship Versus Relationship With God

Help Us Buy Bibles And Closing

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Yeah. Amen. Amen. We are back. Thank you very much, Josh Taylor and Katie Kenny, for that miraculous introduction. Welcome to every single one of you listening to Plays on Word Radio right now. Thank you for tuning in, uh, pressing play on the stream button, whatever it is. This is our our weekly excursion into madness uh or into the scripture, which is not madness. They did say that Paul was uh when he was on Mars Hill, they said, What is this madman talking about? This guy, what is he talking about? So I guess I'm in good company if I'm if I seem mad, seem crazy. We are back from our short North Jersey slash New York tour. It was uh eventful. We did some churches in the Lambertville area of central western New Jersey, just north of Trenton. Some very old churches uh there, and just to see the old saints um that have been holded down there for many, many years. I mean, it was just it was fantastic. There was this um, there's this one pastor there, Pastor Dave. He's an older guy, and he's been a pastor for a very long time. And in the Pete play, you guys know that I usually will pick on the host, pastor, whoever's hosting, and I Pete will call him, hey Rabbi, hey Rabbi, whatever his name is. Rabbi, and in in the case when we did the play at Dave's church, I said, Hey Rabbi Dave. And Dave, he's got a hearing aid, you know, he does he doesn't hear all that well. And uh he looked up, he's like, is he he had this look on his face, like, is this guy talking to me? Is he doing a play or is he talking to me? I said, Rabbi Dave. And uh I said, and it's right at the point in the play when Pete is telling the story about how Jesus came to stay with him, and one Sabbath they went into the synagogue, and the synagogue ruler asked Jesus to teach. And so Jesus sat down, opened a scroll, and began to teach, and that's that was traditional, that's what the rabbis would do. And but the people in the congregation would stand while the rabbi sat on a chair. It's also, believe it or not, where where the I was told that's where the term the chair comes from. So if you're a department chair, you know, my my cousin was it was the chair of a science department at at um Hampton University for a while. Yeah, he held the chair, meaning he was the chairman. Meaning he he he he was the boss. And um, so Jesus sat at the chair, opened the scroll, started preaching or teaching. And um, that was when this this guy was possessed by a demon, just starts screaming and hollering. What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the holy one of God. And so during the pee play, I usually will find the pastor or the people that um the leaders or whatever. And in this case, I found Dave. It was a small church. I mean, it was the pews, man. The pews were so small, they're really tight. Like the church was built in oh man, what was it, 1843 on the cornerstone, something like that. Man, this is pre-civil war, man. And the pews were uh tight, small, not very comfortable. Um way different than what we have in church today. You know, you have people complaining about the seats. My old church, man. That was the a whole bunch of time was spent. This one brother was just complaining, going on and on and on about the oh, the chairs, man. The chairs are awful. The chairs are just awful, awful, awful. I'm like, man, that dude should sit in one of these pews here where they used to sit for two hours, three hours, then take a break, go home, feed the cows or whatever, and then come back for Sunday night service. I don't know, man. In some ways, I think Christians back in the day might have been had more grit than our pampered, uh, what is the word I'm looking for? Our pampered way of doing church today, you know, where people want to argue over the color of the carpet and the comfort of the chair. Listen, I don't get me wrong, I understand. I understand. But as a guy that stands in church every Sunday for two hours, or whatever it is, my sermons are like 45 minutes to an hour. And uh most of the time I lead worship also. A lot of times I'll sit down doing that. You know, I I I I listen, I sympathize with those who want to be comfortable. You shouldn't be in pain. But either way, back to the story of Dave. Uh, yeah, he looks, he looked at his wife and was like, is he talking to me? I said, Hey, Rabbi Dave, you remember when that guy was in the synagogue and he was just screaming and hollering, and Dave's looking at me really confused, like, what is happening right now? And so then Pete looks at the audience and says, You guys know Rabbi Dave? Yeah, he's been a rabbi for over a hundred years. And yeah, everybody just fell out, started laughing. I mean, he yeah, he's an he's an older dude, so I wasn't that far off, but I was all I was off. Anyway, um, yeah, we just we just had a we had a blast there. Um, and Dave, it was, I don't know how to describe it. The church was it's it was so old that the podium and like the railing was built into the front of the stage. And there's like today, we're used to having stages. You know, you have a stage up front, and they can roll the pulpit in and put you know, podium in and put it up there, and but the you know, there's nothing's it's not a fixture. The older churches, a lot of the stuff is built in, man, doesn't move. And there was a rail about uh, I want to say about two feet high, and it was kind of wide, it was about a foot wide, maybe half a a little bit over half a foot wide, something like that. Um, and it went around the front of the podium, so there could be a table up front, and it was uh a few feet in front, maybe about two, three, three, four feet, three feet in front of the podium and wrapped wrapped around it. And uh so Pete, as he was telling his story, Pete jumps up. And let me tell it from my perspective, I jumped up, and as I was in the air, I'm looking, and I'm gonna land, I'm gonna stick this landing like a snowboarder, or I was on a skateboard or something. Um, that's exactly like the the the mode I was in in the air. Pete, I forget what scene it was, but jumped up in the air, and on the way down, I'm like thinking, oh I hope, man, I hope this, I hope this rail doesn't give way. I hope I don't break this church. Oh man. And I and I land, boom. I stick the landing perfectly. It was a 10 out of 10. And I look up and I see Dave leaning over, talking to his wife. Oh, this is it, what's it, what is he doing? Oh no. Oh my goodness, poor guy. Oh, but he he he loved the play. Afterwards, he came up and he was just really blessed. Um, and the the whole congregation was blessed. Now, one thing I wanted to share with you guys was on this tour, um, every play we do, I give an invitation to non-believers or unbelievers that have been moved by the Spirit, maybe by what they just saw, uh, conviction of the Lord, whatever it is. But I let them know today's a day to get right with the Lord. Let's do this, man. And I let them know it's not a magic prayer. There's um there are people that are against the idea of an altar call or an invitation. Um, I'm not one of them, although I do understand that many, there are very large numbers that would go forth forward on a Billy at a Billy Graham crusade or a Greg Laurie crusade, and they would pray their prayer. But if you there are people that have done follow-ups a year later, there's large numbers of people that are not walking with the Lord, and it seems like there was no change at all. So maybe their initial uh initial response to the invitation was just emotional. Uh, maybe they just got hyped up, and um, but you know, it's between them and the Lord. I don't have the answers on why they're not walking with the Lord a year later. What I do know is that there are also people that have gone forward at invitations many, many years ago that are still walking with the Lord. And the Lord He tasked me with giving an invitation. I used to do the play, and then I'd explain the gospel, and then I would be like, It's between you and God, and I would leave it at that. And as clear as day, the Lord put on my heart, he said, No, you you need to have them make a decision. Have them make a decision right then and there. And let me tell you, I don't know if it was the first time I uh decided it might have it was it might have been the first time after the Lord really put on my heart, you have to have them make a decision. Because I listen, I would listen, it's between you and God. I would leave it, I'd be like, I'd give you the gospel message, so that I can't save you, you know. Uh you pray and ask him to come to your life, and I would leave it at that. It's not like I was negligent in my duty, but the Lord really put it on my heart. Have them make a decision. Pray them in, pray with them. So the first place after he put that on my heart, I believe it was at Keswick, America's Keswick, which is a Christian retreat center and a recovery center. The people that are recovering are are working there, and churches and Christian organizations use that as a retreat center, and they're served by the people that are recovering, learning about Jesus and all that. So I'm doing a I think they invited us for to do their some event for them. And so I did the Play, and I gave the gospel, and then I'm at that point where I'm like, okay, I need to, I need to be obedient. But the amazing thing was I'm arguing with myself and with God, and I gotta throw the enemy in there somewhere. He's in the mix of this. My thought process was, ah, man, this is a Christian place, man. Everybody here, they you know, they've all heard the gospel. They, you know, they hear the gospel all the time. It was actually some of the people in the audience were some of the recovery people. Okay, just for more context here. There were some of the recovery folks were also in the audience for this event. And I'm thinking to myself, man, they hear the gospel every day, almost every hour on the hour. They have chapel every, like every morning, prayer. I don't need, man, I don't need to keep, I don't need to. This is just uh, you know, I just I don't need to do this. They've already heard the gospel a bunch of times. These are the thoughts going through my mind. And then I remembered, listen, uh I need to be obedient to what the Lord has called me to do and not talk myself out of uh doing it. I mean, I could I was making the argument, well, I've I've given them the gospel. I, you know, I shared the gospel, I did the play, I shared the gospel with them. They're good now. They're they should be good. It's between them and God. And it was the I'm telling you, all this is meanwhile, all this is happening while I'm talking to the audience. So I'm kind of having this conversation with God and the and these thoughts in my mind, and the enemies in the mix of that hitting me with arrows, like, yeah, you don't need to, you don't need to say anything, man. You've already said enough. You've already said enough. Leave it, you've already said enough. And I've learned to double down on what God has told me to do when I start hearing those things. You've already done enough. Ah, this is they've already heard the gospel uh a bunch of times. You just need to stop and start packing up and you'll be done, you know. That type of voice. And I said, All right, man, you know what? I said, I'm probably preaching to the choir right now. But I'm I wouldn't I wouldn't be doing my job properly if if I just assumed that everybody was in the family of God. And that's one of the things the Lord put on my heart when He, I don't say He admonished me, but He encouraged me to lead people in making a decision, not in a magic prayer, but making a decision. And um one of the things I I said, I said, uh, you know, I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but I have to, I've got to do what the Lord said. So listen, if you have not made it official with the Lord, if you have not made that decision to follow him before you can't, before you have, I mean, before you leave out of here, before you walk out underneath the exit signs, you can be certain that you are in the family of God, uh as a child of God. And I often will give the uh what is this? Not a parable, but the I'll tell uh a story. I say, listen, if I went and spent the night at the the Minaki muffler shop down the street where they repair cars in that auto garage, if I went and spent the night there, would I wake up and be a car in the morning? And everybody starts laughing. That's ridiculous. You wake up and be a car. I said, Yeah. How about if I went every Sunday morning at 10 a.m. to the auto place? Do you think I'd wake up and be a car? Do you think I'd that would turn me into a car? People are like, no, that's ridiculous. And I said, Well, going to church doesn't make you a Christian. Doesn't put you in the body of Christ just because you go to Keswick, just because you go to a prayer meeting, just because you go, just because uh whatever, you know, you go to church and this, that that's not what makes you a Christian. And then I see the light bulb starting to go off. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. And I say, listen, God forbid, but if you were to die today, and I pray it doesn't happen, but if you were to die today, are you sure you would you would you would open your eyes and be in the presence of God? As a bloodbought family member, are you 100% positive? Are you sure or are you a little nervous? Like, uh, I hope I I don't know. I boy. And secondly, if you found yourself at God's desk and he said, you know, in glory, you find yourself at God's desk at the entrance, and he's like, Why should I let you in here? If you're starting out with, well, I um I did this, I I I did that, I helped out your people here, I gave to the church, uh, I fed the poor, I did a lot. I mean that's not the right answer. That's not the answer to that gives access. The only answer that gives access is because is well, father, the the reason is because um your son paid my sin debt, and he told me that my debt has been paid because of faith. My faith is in Christ. That's how we get access because of Christ. Then all the other things happen from that, like giving to the poor and being kind and all the other things, helping out and you know, giving to the church and going to church, all going to church even, all those things happen not to make us a Christian, but they happen because we are Christian, because we have been transformed, because of Christ, not because of works or anything we have done. So I I give that's I I tell that story, and then I say, Let me I'm gonna lead you in a prayer, and I lead him in a prayer. I say, Listen, today's the day of salvation, man. You don't want to wait. Nobody's promised tomorrow. You know, that famous Rocky II quote, where Apollo's training Rocky. You know, he's training Rocky, and and and uh Rocky's like, Apollo, I'll just do it tomorrow. And Rocky's like, uh Apollo's like, there is no tomorrow. What's wrong with you? There is no tomorrow. That mentality, that mentality, there is no tomorrow. Let's take it that way. Let's get right with God now. And I lead them in a prayer saying, you know, listen, uh, Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for me. I know that I'm a sinner. Please forgive me of my sin. I I'm I turn from him right now, turn towards you. Please fill me with the Holy Spirit, live through me, show me. I want to be in the family of God. I turn towards you. Something along those lines. And and instead of bringing people up to the front, I just said, listen, with every head bowed and every eye closed, if if you prayed that prayer, this is between you and God, but every eye closed. Every head bow. If you did pray that prayer, could you raise your hand? And to my great surprise, I must tell you this. A bunch of hands went up. I couldn't believe it. I was like, what? Oh. Oh. And I felt as if God was saying, see, never assume who is in and who's not. Never make the assumption. Give the invitation. And then after I prayed, uh, I led the believers who are in Christ but need to rededicate to him. You know, there's something in their life that is just hindering him in their life, hindering the spirit of God from moving in their life. Uh there they need victory because they're getting beat up by the world, the flesh, and the enemy. And um, so I lead them in a prayer, just basically doubling down and asking and offering up to the Lord whatever might be hindering uh fellowship with God. And again, uh a bunch of hands went up. And I was like, wow, man, I whoa, okay. So yeah, we we do that at every every one of our plays. And uh to my surprise, one time, uh, one time I did it, and one of the assistant pastors even raised his hand. I was like, well, wait, what to to receive Christ? I was like, oh, wait, what? Yikes. And I try to make myself clear on this. I said, listen, if you've asked Jesus to come into your life to save you, um, and so that you would be born again, born of his spirit, you you know, you can't be born again, again and again, again and again, again. There's not multiple births. You don't need to ask him to come into your life. You, you, as a believer, you can ask to restore fellowship. You know, you're already in relationship with him. Your fellowship needs to be restored. Listen, if I'm with my wife, we're in the same room, we have fellowship. If I do something stupid, we get into some kind of argument or something like that, and she she goes for a drive or something like that. We're not in fellowship then. We're still in relationship. She's still my wife. We're still in relationship, but the fellowship's been broken. So the believer needs to restore fellowship. I try to be clear on that because there are a lot of people that are, you know, I'm just wondering, is that is that why they raised their hand? But, you know, plays on word, man. We've been doing doing stuff, and each one of these plays, we've seen hands go up for the kingdom. My only regret is we need to get some more Bibles. So, hey, if you want to help support plays on word so that we can buy Bibles for folks, you know, new believers Bibles are great, they answer all the quest, all kinds of questions. Then go to our website, you can donate, you can give, help us out. Because we're out, and you know what that means. That means people took them that prayed, man. That's some good work right there, amen. All right, hey, that's enough of this report. You guys have a blessed, blessed week coming up, and until we meet again next week, God willing, if the Lord tarries. Could you imagine if if he didn't, if he didn't? Yeah, and we end up in glory between now and next week. Oh, hallelujah, Marinatha. But until then, if if he holds off, may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

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