Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 252 | Wokeness & Works Can't Save You

Episode Date: May 20, 2020

First, we talk about Obama's woke commencement speech and how it subtly represented our country's culture wars. Then, we pay tribute to Ravi Zacharias and the gospel he shared — one that declares we are saved by grace, through faith. Show Links: Political Polarization: 1994 - 2017 https://pewrsr.ch/3e373CE Today's Sponsors: Objective Wellness supplements offer targeted solutions — like better sleep, firmer skin, or a healthy immune system. Go to https://www.objectivewellness.com/& use promo code 'ALLIE' to get 20% off your first order! The Classical Learning Test is shorter than the SAT and ACT and students now take it from the comfort of their home through remote proctoring technology. To register for the June 20th official college entrance exam visit https://www.cltexam.com/.

Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort.

We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Hey, guys, welcome to Relatable. Happy Wednesday. I hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far. Today is news politics days, it typically is. And we will be talking a little bit about news and politics. We'll be talking about the Obama commencement speech. And the rhetoric that he used, what it represents in our culture and the cultural wars that have been waging for the past, at least the past decade or so in this country. But we will also be talking about Ravi Zacharias. He is the Christian apologist who went to be with the Lord yesterday morning.

We will talk about the gospel that he preached for so long and what his ministry represents. And then if I have time, I will answer a question that so many of you have asked me via Instagram and that is what I think about MLMs or multi-level marketing and I have a lot of thoughts on that. If I don't have time to get to that at the end of this episode, I will talk about it more thoroughly on Friday. Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality.

We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Okay, so let's talk just a little bit.

I just want to talk briefly about this Obama speech that he gave at a virtual event called Graduate Together. It was the high school class of 2020 commencement. It was an event that was organized by an organization called XQ Institute. It's a think tank and it was in partnership with LeBron James' Foundation and the Entertainment Industry Foundation. So obviously we can guess by the fact that President Obama spoke at this virtual event that it was a left-leaning event or else maybe they would have asked the current president of the United States. LeBron James, we know his political views. He's pretty outspoken about that and his opinions about President Trump.

And so they chose President Obama, who is, you'd probably say, the original celebrity president. Now, there were other presidents that have, you know, had friends in Hollywood. Certainly Bill Clinton did. and maybe you could say that George Bush, George W. Bush kind of did too, but certainly Barack Obama has been fully embraced by the Hollywood powers that be. He has that star power more than any other president does. He is someone who is likable to the majority of the country, I would say. It might be a slim majority, but the majority of the country. And speaking as an objective person, so obviously you guys know if you've been listening to this podcast for any amount of time that I am ideologically

and politically completely opposite to Barack Obama. However, speaking as an objective person, just watching him, he is very easy to watch. He's very easy to listen to. You understand why people listen to him and feel comfortable. He is immediately relatable and likable and assuring. He is a skilled politician. He is a compelling speaker, not in the way that he is dynamic and super, you know, louder, boisterous or something like that. But he kind of has that calm presence that I think people especially right now are looking for. And this is very smart, by the way, of him to be out in public like this. All the other presidents, most presidents before him have kind of just gone into the shadows after their presidency was up. They didn't speak.

up about the leadership and the mistakes that they were making. George W. Bush didn't really speak out about the mistakes that President Obama was making or the decisions that he was making that was contrary to maybe what George W. Bush thought that he should do. He kind of respectfully stepped to the side and said, you know what, I'm going to let this man governed. And I guarantee you that George W. Bush thought that there were things that President Obama did that were not wise and that he disagreed with. Of course, they're part of two political, different political parties, even though they probably do have some ideological overlap. There were a lot of mistakes that President Obama made.

There were a lot of decisions that he made, that conservatives that people who voted for George W. Bush did not like. And yet she didn't see George W. Bush coming out and giving these speeches that kind of in an underhanded way slammed President Obama. And that's what President Obama did here. He is not afraid to step out and to make his political opinions known and even his opinions about the current administration in a way that seems subtle. And I think in a way that a lot of people even see as polite.

So he made a comment in this speech about how the people in charge don't know what they're doing. I think it's pretty obvious to anyone with a brain that he is talking about President Trump and that you can't necessarily trust the people in charge, that you have to trust yourself. And so that was a part of his message. And President Obama is really good at this. He's really good at weaving the truth together with leftist ideology. He is really good at making his political opinions sound non-political, inserting a political statement into a conversation that has nothing to do with politics

to make his statement seem not political. And this is very smart of him to put himself out. there and I started that thought a few minutes ago and then I forgot to finish it. But the reason why it's smart to put himself out there, both for him and just for the Democratic Party in general and for the election coming up is because every time Barack Obama is up there, you've got people who hate Donald Trump who think, wow, this is what normal feels like. This is what sanity feels like. This is what comfort and assurance and leadership feels like. And when people feel nostalgic for President Obama, they are going to automatically associate his vice president with him and think,

okay, well, I want that. I want that feeling of normalcy. I want that feeling of steadiness, again, that I feel whenever I watch Barack Obama speak. And so I am going to vote for the guy who was his right-hand man for eight years so we can get back into that sense of normalcy. But the only reason why things feel normal when we're watching President Obama or the only reason that people feel nostalgic. Yes, of course, people feel nostalgic who actually liked him and liked his policies. But the only reason that some people feel any kind of sense of peace and steadiness while watching him isn't because his presidency was actually very peaceful or created a prosperous, United Loving America.

There is this mythology that surrounds President Obama's administration and his time as president, that that was a very peaceful time in our nation that we all kind of got along and that we all showed each other some kind of basic respect. And we represented some kind of fundamental decency in our conversations and we weren't divided until President Trump came along. Well, that's just not true. Like you can look at dozens of studies that show what happened while Obama was present. And correlation doesn't prove causation.

But while Obama was present, the right and the left became more polarized probably than we've ever been. And we're going to talk about some of those studies after I point out how specifically Barack Obama did this in his speech. This thing of dividing the country and splitting people up in categories without it making it seem like. That's what he's doing. So in the name of unity, he breaks people up into their factions like race, like class, and he makes political points without it seeming political. And this is very persuasive. So again, this is a smart move by him politically to put himself out there. It's smart for the Democratic Party. It's not what past presidents have done, but this is a new hyper political age that I personally believe. his administration ushered in. So here's part of what he says and part of, and here's one example of how he does what I kind of just explained. This pandemic has shaken up the status quo and laid bare a lot of our country's deep-seated problems, from massive economic inequality to ongoing racial disparities to a lack of basic health care for people who need it. So he's talking about the pandemic. He's talking

about coronavirus. So let's repeat that. Coronavirus he is saying has shown our deep-seated problems, which are massive economic inequality to ongoing racial disparities to a lack of basic health care for people who need it. So he makes these political, social, moral statements without giving us any evidence, without giving us any proof or any explanation, any clarity whatsoever on how the coronavirus has shown ongoing racial disparities. There may be other things in our country that you can say,

prove that there may be some statistics or some studies or some stories, or some stories that you can point us to that show that the coronavirus has uncovered racial disparities. Now, of course, it's true that unfortunately and tragically, coronavirus is disproportionately affecting minority communities, but his implication here is that that's because of racism. That is because of some kind of systemic injustice. There are all kinds of characteristics that we can point to that are more prevalent in minority. communities that might make them tragically, again, more vulnerable to the coronavirus. But here, without actually overtly making the argument, Obama is making the argument that

coronavirus uncovers racial disparities like or because of systemic injustice and systemic racism. This is what Obama does so effectively. He makes the argument without actually having to make the argument. And it sounds so good. And we accept it as fact that it becomes. part of our ideology quickly. He also talks about massive economic inequality. Again, not pointing to any fact, not pointing to any statistic, but simply saying it shows the inequality

that already existed in this country. He is saying that coronavirus just peel back the layers and has demonstrated just how unjust and unequal and all the inequities that this country is facing without actually having to explain how any of that is true. He makes political statements without them sounding political and without adding any substance to the argument. He goes on to say that our democracy will only work

when we think not just about ourselves but about each other. And again, I agree with that, that we should be thinking about each other. And this is what he does. He weaves things that sound true with statements that are political that we just accept if we're not thinking critically and asking questions about what does he mean by these statements and how can he prove them to be true? He says, but if you listen to the truth that's inside yourself, even when it's hard, even when it's convenient, people will notice they'll

gravitate towards you and you'll be part of the solution instead of part of the problem. That sounds great. Until again, you take a step back and you say, hang on in a second, what did you just say? but if you listen to the truth that's inside yourself, even when it's hard. So this is this new age postmodern, subjectivist, relativist mentality that we've talked about so much on this podcast that it's no wonder that it's become so popular, particularly over the past 10 years, because this is such a prevalent idea on the left in particular, although it does exist on the right, but especially on the left, this idea of my truth and your truth, my morality in your morality, this line that he says, but if you listen to the truth that's inside yourself, even when it's hard, even when it's convenient, people will notice.

But of course, we don't know what that means. If I said that my truth is being an evangelical conservative that's supposed to vote for Donald Trump, I'm sure Barack Obama would have a problem with that. I'm sure that he would disagree with my truth and he would probably say that it's not my truth. Of course, because there's not a my truth and your truth. There is one objective truth. So as good as it sounds, it does no one any good to say that you should follow your truth. But again, this is how Obama make statements that are ideological in nature without making them sound ideological. He talks about building a community. No one does things by themselves. That is true. Right now, when people are scared, it's easy to be cynical and say, just let me look out for myself or my family.

or people who look or think or pray like me. Again, that sounds true. That sounds true and sounds good that we shouldn't be selfish. We shouldn't live in isolation. We shouldn't just care about what's right in front of us. We should look to the needs of others. It's, of course, biblical, that we shouldn't just look to our own interests, but also the interests of others.

But he says, he projects this identity onto America, that we shouldn't just be caring about the people who look or think or pray like. me like this is a prevalent problem that we have that most people in America he is assuming are bigots and struggle with caring about people who don't look or think the same way that we do and I don't think that's true for the majority of Americans but this is the picture that Obama seemingly innocuously has painted of America as long as he's been in politics that everyone in America or that a lot of people in America a lot more people than is probably true. A lot of people struggle with bigotry and struggle with caring about anyone outside of their

circle. And I just don't think that's an accurate portrayal of America. But Barack Obama wants you to believe that that is a pervasive problem. He says, but if we're going to get through these difficult times, if we're going to create a world where everybody has the opportunity to find a job and afford college, again, those are loaded political statements, I'm sure. And if we are going to save the environment, he says, and defeat future pandemics, and we're going to have to do it together. So be alive to one another's struggles, stand up for one another's rights, leave behind all the old ways of thinking that divide us sexism, racial prejudice, status, greed, and set the world on a different path. Again, by pointing out these points of division, which I agree that sexism, that racial prejudice,

that greed, that those are all sins, and that we should all be more charitable and we should all be more truly loving and truly kind and truly gracious. I believe that, too, he prescribed or he points to a problem in America that he believes is much more pervasive and is much bigger than it probably actually is. Do racists exist? Do sexes exist? Of course, do elitists exist? Yes, of course they do. But right here, he is portraying a kind of class warfare, a kind of race warfare that we need to continue waging without actually saying what is the unifying factor under which America can move forward. Like, what is the thing that brings us all together?

What does make America, what does make Americans Americans? He doesn't actually give a positive portrayal of who America is, who our identity is, what actually brings us together, the principles under which we operate that make us the United States. Again, he portrays or he conveys his political identity. ideology without making it sound political, just making it sound moral and matter of fact, without saying anything that actually backs up his points. And this, again, is what Obama does so well. And it is so compelling, I think, for most people who are, who just want to be comfortable again. Like, they just want to feel like things are how they were before Trump took office, the chaos that the media

mostly has caused they want to be out of that. They like living in a world where the media doesn't hold an administration accountable and just compliments them. And they can kind of live in this la-la lands and pretend like Obama was the best president that ever existed, that he was the most unifying president that ever existed, and that his presidency was scandal-free. And we know for a fact that that is not true. The fact is that President Obama is really good at making you think that,

he is scandal-free, really good at making you think that he just wants to bring people together. But that's not actually what happened under his presidency. So Megan McCain made a comment the other day on the view and said, you know, the culture war was really started or at least got a lot worse under President Obama. And everyone on Twitter was like, oh my gosh, this isn't true. It's all Trump's fault. This is not true. But she's absolutely right.

She's absolutely right. People who think that these culture wars that we became divided under Trump just weren't paying attention. Or they didn't want to think that we were divided under President Obama or they didn't notice because they felt like their side was winning and their guy was in charge. So they thought maybe the culture wars were non-existent or they were so small. But that's not true. We became very divided under President Obama. And you could say that it's been exacerbated now under this presidency. you could say that it's gotten worse over the past few years.

You could say that Trump hasn't helped things, but it did not start under President Trump. So this study that I've shown or I've talked about several times is a Pew Research study from 2017 called Polarization and Politics. You can see the different graphs. And I'll put the link in the description for this episode. So you can see the different graphs. And you can see where the country has, how the country has identified politically since 1990. I think is the earliest that it goes. But if you look from 2011 to 2017,

the median Democrat moved way to the left during that time. Between 2011-2017, the median Democrat moved way over to the left, and the median Republican moved to the right only very slightly. So under Barack Obama's president, the left moved to the left. So the median Democrat moved way to the left, and the Republicans stayed just about the same. on every issue. If you look at the breakdown of this study, the right has moved slightly to the right or has remained unchanged on an issue or has even moved a little bit to the left. But the left has moved

far over to the left, mostly over the past 10 years, mostly while Barack Obama was president. We have more people on the far left than we've ever had before, far more people on the far left than we have on the far right, according to the study at least. And you can hear this, of course, in their rhetoric that changed while Barack was, while Barack Obama was president. And the causes that they stand for that were either much more moderate or they were non-existent 10 years ago. So you've got abortion on demand now. It used to be safe, legal, and rare. You've got decriminalizing illegal immigration or decriminalizing border crossings. That wasn't true 10 years ago. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer all talked about the problems with the legal immigration, the

sexual revolution, challenges the definition of something as basic and biological as genders. That has existed for all of human history. And yet just in the past few years that's been challenged, the moral and sexual, political revolution of the left got a lot quicker. It was expedited under Barack Obama's presidency. And maybe he didn't do that on purpose, but certainly his administration and his leadership allowed for that. And one of the things that we disagree on the most, I think one of the things that has divided the country the most, unfortunately, is the conversation surrounding race.

And that changed very dramatically while Barack Obama was president. So this is from that same Pew research study. They asked, so this is how they phrased it. And this is from Pew Research. It says growing share sites discrimination as a barrier to blacks getting ahead. So if you look at 2009, 2010, only 18% of the country said that they felt that racial discrimination is the main reason why black people can't get ahead these days. So again, this is from Pew Research 2009, 2010. Only 18% believed that. But by 2017, 41% believed that.

So 40s from 18% to 41% believed that. our ideas on racial discrimination changed a lot while President Obama was president. Now, is that because racism actually increased during that time? Or was it just because the conversation changed? It's probably because the conversation changed. And I'm not saying that the conversation changed all for the worst, but it did change. And then we look at the difference in perspective on race and racial discrimination, at least against black people and how different it is if you're a Democrat versus if you're a Republican. So 2009, 2010, only 28% of Democrats in 2009, 2010 believed that discrimination was the reason why African Americans cannot get ahead.

By 2017, that had shot up to 64%. So much higher than it had ever been since 1994, at least. In 1994, only 39% of Democrats believed that. But in 2017, 64% of Democrats believe that discrimination was the main reason, rather than, personal choices was the main reason why black people can't get ahead. Now again is that because racism has gotten a lot worse since 1994? Probably not, but our perspective has changed. Whereas for Republicans in 2009, 2010, only 9% believed that discrimination was the main reason. And in 2017, that's only up to 14 percent. So 64% among Democrats, 14% among Republicans in 2017. So that gap, moved a lot while Barack Obama was president. And that is mostly because Democrats changed

their perspective. And so whatever you think about that, whether you think that's a good thing, it's just a product of us talking about it more and having much needed conversations and people raising awareness about racism, whatever you think about that growing gap. The fact of the matter is that gap happened mostly under President Obama. It is, it is, it is, it is. happen under President Trump. So those gaps existed. President Trump came in and things have just gotten worse. And it's not all President Trump's fault in the same way that it wasn't all President Obama's fault. The media can take a lot of the blame for this. Social media could take a lot of the blame for this. All of us who are in this sphere can take blame for this. But the fact of the matter

is these divisions, these culture wars, they got a lot worse if they didn't. originate under Barack Obama's tenure. I mean, that's just the fact of the matter. Again, that doesn't mean that it's all his fault, but certainly he is a master at presenting these culture wars in a way that is much more subtle than President Trump. President Trump gets up in a rally and he says, this is the culture war and this is what I think about the culture war. You know, Democrats won abortion on demand and they think that, you know, you know, Democrats want abortion on demand and they think that you should kill a baby after the baby is born, which is what Governor Northam said. But he'll just come out and say that. He'll just come out and say exactly

what he thinks about the Democrats and he's not demure about it at all. Whereas President Obama will do the same thing, but he will do it in a much more subtle and I would say deceptive way. So he will say something like, well, the people in charge, the people in charge don't know, you know, what they're doing. And well, we need to. we need to make sure that we're coming together and looking at these racial disparities that are shown by coronavirus. So a lot less political sounding, a lot more subtle and probably a lot more compelling for a lot of people, whereas President Trump is just going to come out and say it. But anyone who thinks that President Obama is somehow less political and is somehow less divisive,

they're just not looking at what he is saying underneath the veneer of a show. assurance and peace and unity, if that makes sense. So I just want to touch on that because a lot of you guys asked me to talk about it. Okay, let's talk about Ravi Zacharias just a little bit. So he was a Christian apologist and he dedicated his Christian life to helping Christians critically think about their own faith and critically read the Bible and to be able to defend their faith against apologists for other faiths. And really there was no one like him that did exactly what he did in the way he did it.

He was such a good thinker, such a good philosopher, so creative in the ways that he biblically defended the faith. And his ministry will live on. And I've just been praying that God would continue to be glorified through his ministry, that even in his death that God would bring others to himself and share his gospel and soften hearts and we know that he can do that because he brings all things together for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose and we know that Ravi Zacharias loved him and was called according to his purpose and God's glory is our good. So I pray

that God would be glorified through this and we know that Ravi Zacharias is now in heaven celebrating with the Lord exactly where he has wanted to be from the second that he came to faith by grace through faith. And that is what we are going to talk about by grace through faith because I posted a quote by Ravi Zacharias that said that I do want to clarify actually, but he said repentance and faith in Jesus Christ is the only thing that's going to save you.

No amount of religious activity is going to get you there only true faith in Jesus Christ. And I want to clarify that by saying, and I don't think he meant this, but just in case anyone misinterpreted that I don't believe that, your willpower to repent saves you. That can't save you. The power that you have to repent when you come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ, even that power is given to you by God. I don't believe, according to what

scripture says, that we can take any credit for salvation at all, except for the sin that makes it necessary as the saying goes. So I just wanted to clarify that that repentance is a product of faith. It is not a prerequisite of faith. And that also goes there is a debate that broke out on my Instagram post and I just want to speak to that. That also goes for good works. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there. There are some Protestants who believe this. There are a lot of Catholics who believe this. That it is faith plus works equal salvation. So if you have a faith in Christ, plus you do good works, that's what gets you into heaven. If you don't have good works, if you don't do enough good works, if you don't do the right things, then you won't get into heaven.

And I want to go to the Word of God to make sure that we are clear on this because missing that misses the gospel. Like you miss freedom and you miss joy if you think that the burden is on you to prove your salvation or to earn your salvation through works. Now, the verse that people who believe that it is faith plus works equals salvation, The verse that people typically go to is James 2.26. Most of you are probably familiar. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. Now, a lot of people who cite this verse think that people like me are just ignoring that

verse, that we just are uncomfortable with the book of James, and we are very uncomfortable with James 226, and we just forget like it's, we just forget that it's there, and we just act like it's not there. But that's not true. Me, as a reformed Protestant, who believes and by grace alone, by grace alone through faith alone, in Christ alone, I read James 226 and I say amen, absolutely. I believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God. Therefore, it is without error. Therefore, it does not contradict itself.

And so when I read James 226, if I have a question about that, if I'm thinking, okay, well, does that mean that I earn my salvation? Does that mean that I have to do good works in order to be safe? I have to, just like I do with every verse that I'm reading, look at the entirety of Scripture. As I've said many times on this podcast, if you ever get to a verse or a passage that seems to contradict another verse or another passage, you don't throw one out in favor of the other. You look at both verses and you look to reconcile the truth that is in both passages with more scripture, like with more truth.

You don't say, well, that one doesn't make sense to me or that one doesn't fit into my preconceived notions of who I want God to be or what my denomination has said or what my pastor has said. So I'm just going to throw out this, this, I'm going to throw this out. No, that's not what you do. You say, okay, this is the word of God. This is inherent. Truth doesn't contradict itself. I am going to work, go deeper into scripture to figure out what this means so I can draw truth from it. I'm going to ask God for wisdom to give me clarity and understanding on this. I'm going to go to biblically solid resources and help me understand this. Too many of us, when we get confused by Scripture, we step away from Scripture,

and we go into our own minds and we try to make our own ideas of how we reconcile what seems to be contradictory. And too often we end up with a faulty theology. Instead of going out of Scripture and into our own minds, we need to go out of our own confusion and into Scripture and seek, wisdom. So when I look at James 226 and I read faith apart from works is dead and the rest of the chapter talks about being justified by works and how Abraham was justified by works and that's confusing because other parts of the Bible say that Abraham was justified by faith. So what is it? I have to look at all of scripture. Well, in order for me to make sense of this statement that faith apart from

works is dead, I go to Ephesians 2 8 through 10 that says, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Now, let me just repeat this, because if any of you out there, and I know there are some of you who listen to my podcast, who believe that it is faith plus works equal salvation, let me just read to you this passage again and how apparently, apparently, important the Holy Spirit thinks it is for you and I to understand that we are saved by grace through faith that it's not our own doing just listen to how many times that idea is reiterated over and over

again in these three verses for by grace you have been saved through faith okay so that's one time by grace you have been saved through faith what is grace it's unmerited favor so by nature you cannot earn grace for by grace you have been saved through faith and what and this is not your own doing okay done this is not your own doing really simple look at it in the original Greek you're not going to find anything different and this is not your own doing so we already got it just in two sentences one and a half sentences for by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing let's keep going it is the gift of god okay so again we are, it's reiterated. The same idea. It is the gift of God. What is a gift? A gift is something that you

didn't earn. If you mow a lawn and you earn $10, the $10 that you are given is not a gift. It is your, it's your, it's the money that you earned. It is, um, you could say a reward of some kind, but you actually earned it. It is not a gift. A gift is something that you did not earn. So already in two sentences and a little more than one and a half sentences we hear for by grace you have been saved through faith then we hear it is not your own doing and then we hear it is a gift of god and just to drive it home even more not a result of works not a result of works so by grace i've been saved through faith it's not my own doing it's the gift of god it's not a result of works like it's very important apparently to God, that we understand this concept because he says it in several ways,

in just two sentences, just to make sure that our thick skulls understand, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works. Why? So that no one may boast. I don't know how it gets more clear than that. And then we go to the verse that reconciles these two ideas. So it's so crystal clear. In Ephesian, 2, 8, and 9. That, okay, it's by grace. That means we didn't earn it. It's a gift. It's not by works. So that I cannot boast. And then how we reconcile that perfectly crystal clear idea with James 2 that says that faith without works is dead and that works are very important. This is what

reconciles these two seemingly contradictory ideas. It's Ephesians 210. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So what does that verse tell us? That verse tells us that the good works that we do are a product of the saving faith that was given to us by grace

and not a prerequisite of our saving faith or not a prerequisite of our salvation. We're not creating a resume with our good works These are good works that we can't even take credit for at all because this verse says that God prepared those works beforehand that we should walk in them. So this is the fruit of our salvation that was given to us by grace through faith. This is not a salvation that we earn. If we could earn salvation, if we had to earn salvation, we would all be out of luck,

completely out of look. What does the Bible say about us? The Bible says that our heart is corrupt. Like our heart is wayward. Our heart is desperately sick. Who can understand it? The Bible said our righteousness is as filthy rags to the Lord. There is nothing that you can do to earn God's favor. Jesus earned your favor, earned God's favor on your behalf. That is the freedom. That is the freedom of the gospel. That is the beauty of the gospel. And for you to believe that you have to earn your salvation is to do what Romans 8 tells us not to do, to fall back into the spirit of fear, to fall back into the spirit of slavery. But instead, we are free in Christ to call out to God, Abba Father,

because he saved us through no merit of our own, but because of his goodness and his grace. Remember, a really good way to figure out if you've got the right theology is to ask yourself, does my belief give more glory to God or glory to me? the belief that gives glory to God is that you are saved due to nothing good that you've done that you are saved by grace through faith the belief that gives more glory to you is the belief that you did something to earn it that you're kind of deserving of it that is that is a desire to give glory to yourself that my friend you do not deserve let's look at some more passages

of scripture that support the idea that we are saved by grace and that word have nothing to do in earning your salvation. They're a product of your salvation. They don't earn your salvation. Let's read Romans 5, 6 through 11. For while we were still weak at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one would dare even to die. But God chose his love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, did it say by our work? No, it says, by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more,

now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life? More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Amen. And let's read Titus 3, 4, through 5. but when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared not by works of righteousness, which we have done. Like, it's so important to God, apparently, that we get this. Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy, he saved us

through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. Like, I don't want you to miss that. If you miss out on that, you miss the gospel. You miss Christianity. but when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appear not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit now if you are already a reformed Christian you're like Ali why are you repeating this so much well you can go to my Instagram post and you can see the debate that was breaking out

and you can understand that I've got a lot of people that listen to me that buy into this false this false leading to hell a false gospel that says that you have to or you have the ability to earn your salvation glory be to God that we cannot that we will not ever earn our salvation you can try and try and try all you are doing it's exhausting yourself that is a worldly burden that you are bearing right now if you are trying to be good enough if you're trying to say enough prayers or the right prayers or have all the right do do enough sacraments and go to confession enough you are wasting your time and you're wasting your energy god has already declared victory for you if you are in christ you don't have to try to keep earning it in fact you can't you can't

that is the gospel that ravi zecharias knew that is the gospel that his ministry represents and I'm so thankful for his legacy and the legacy of all Christians who have been faithful to God and faithful ministers of the gospel and may we be faithful as well. May God grant us strength and grant us wisdom to stick to the truth and not be afraid to share it and not be afraid to live it. Okay, I don't have time to talk about the MLMs today. I know a lot of you want to me to talk about it. I'll talk about it on Friday.

Okay, I promise you that. I will be back here. then have a great rest of your week. Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself.

On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity, over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV

or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us.