(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Alright, we're here in Acts chapter 9, and I believe this chapter was the most fitting I could find to describe this celebration we got going on, the Feast of the Black Nazarene. And I'll tell you how I'm familiar with this, was about a year ago, Brother Timothy actually sent me like a video of this, or something on it, and I looked it up, and I'm like, what in the world are they doing? And you see this Jesus Christ that they have, this big idolatry, it's like the most morbid and weird-looking Jesus I've ever seen before. It's a really, really bizarre festival that they have that tens of millions of people worship. And so in Acts 19, the name of the sermon is Four Sins of the Feast of the Black Nazarene. Four Sins of the Feast of the Black Nazarene. We're going to have a long introduction, then we're going to get to our four points here. Notice verse 21. After these things were ended, Paul perversed in the Spirit when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I had been there, I must also see Rome. So he sent him to Macedonia, two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus, but he himself stayed in Asia for a season, and at the same time there arose no small stir about that way. Notice verse 24. For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen. They're making silver shrines. People are actually making money off this goddess, Diana. People are making their living off this. They make money off this. We know the Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil, and in this story in Acts 19, people are making silver shrines. They literally make their money. That's how they survive. That's how they get food is through this false goddess, Diana. It says no small gain. When it says no small gain, it means it's a huge gain. It means they're making a lot of it. You know, probably the people making these shrines, they probably had a lot of money. They're probably doing pretty good financially. It's no small gain. Why? Because if you look at this country in Catholicism and how people blindly worship this, they would spend a lot of money on stupid idolatry the whole day. You look at these houses and you look at the idolatry, it's ridiculous, and they just waste tons of money. It's the same thing here. There's no new thing under the sun. Notice verse 25. And in verse 25, I better set my timer, this is going to be a long sermon. But whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth. So they're saying, hey, this is how we make money. This is our job. This is our wealth. Verse 26. Moreover, you see and hear that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul have persuaded and turned away much people saying that they be no gods which are made with hands. Of course it's no god. You just spend time making this idol. Why would that be a god? Why would God bless that? Who would possibly think that's a god, but aren't there 10 million Filipinos or plus on this Wednesday night and this whole week, they're going to have this weird statue and look at it like it's a god. And they think by touching that statue, it's going to heal them. And it's like, are you kidding me? And they don't get it. You literally think that some guy and from what I understand of the history that this was made in Mexico and brought to the Philippines, I could be wrong. I read various things. But you literally think that that man just made a god with his hands. But that's what people believe. They believe that it's somehow godlike with these idols that they have, they believe that. It says in verse number 27. So that not only this our craft is in danger to be said it not, but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshipeth. Now I want you to notice in verse 27, there's basically two things mentioned. They talk about the great goddess Diana and how they love this goddess and they believe in this goddess. But is that the first thing that's mentioned? No. It's not. Notice the first thing. So that not only this our craft is in danger to be said it not. What did they really care about? What were these people really worried about? Were they worried about this goddess Diana or money? They're worried about money. And see, when you see situations like this, when you hear words coming out of people's mouths, what does that reveal? It reveals what's inside their heart. Now if they had stopped to think about this, they would have just been like, man, this is the goddess that we believe in. This is the true god or whatever they're thinking. But from the words that are coming out of their mouth, it reveals what's inside their heart. And what do they really care about? Money. That's what they care about. Now I promise you that this week, people that are worshiping this Feast of the Black Nazarene, people that are making money off this, you know what they're really concerned about? They're concerned about money. They're not concerned about this false idol that they have of Jesus Christ. They're really concerned about money. Now anytime you have a situation like this, the masses will blindly follow whatever. But in terms of people at the top that are organizing this, that are making the statues, they don't care about this idol of the Feast of the Black Nazarene. They care about money. That's the truth. That's what they really care about. Verse 28. And when they heard these things, they were full of wrath. And cried out, saying, Viva, viva, right? There's no new thing under the sun. Great is Diana of the Ephesians. Now what do they say? Viva. Because there's no new thing under the sun. I mean, honestly, the Bible is timeless. I realized like a month ago that I would need to preach a sermon on this because I realized, well, this is a pretty big thing. It's kind of like Pastor Menes, I remember him saying that the first year in America, he preached a sermon on Halloween, and he's like, okay, great, I don't have to preach on this every year. And he realized lots of people had questions, and a lot of people still didn't realize all the problems. And he realized, okay, this is like a yearly sermon. I got to preach on this. And I originally thought, yeah, this would be cool, I'll preach on it one time. Apparently I think I'm going to be preaching on this every single year. I mean, it's that big. It's a huge, huge situation. And at first I was thinking, what chapter in the Bible do I use? I mean, there's so many chapters on idolatry I could use. And I was reading the Bible, I noticed in Acts 19, it fits. Today they scream out Viva, there they're screaming out greatest Diana of the Ephesians. It's a vain thing that they're saying, they just have this phrase memorized. They don't even think about what they're saying or what they believe. People just blindly do this without even thinking about it. And the whole city was filled with confusion and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions of travel, they rushed with one accord into the theater. And when Paul would have entered in onto the people, the disciples suffered him not. I love verse 30 in the Bible, because when we read about Paul the Apostle, he almost seems like a machine. He almost seems like a robot, where it's like you press the button, it's like, okay, two hours of Bible reading, two hours of prayer, Bible memorization, eight hours soul winning, rinse, repeat, the next day do the same thing. I mean, that's the way he lived his life, he was devoted. But in verse 30, you see kind of his humanity. Notice this, he wasn't just a guy who just went soul winning, it says he would have entered in onto the people. And it says the disciples suffered him not. The disciples didn't allow him to enter. Why? Because they realized that, you know what, if he enters, he could get killed. That's how serious the situation is. And Paul the Apostle, what is his first reaction? His first reaction is to care about others, and not care about himself. Let each esteem other better than themselves. And Paul the Apostle was an amazing soul winner, you know, he actually cared about his friends. That's the way we need to be. Obviously, soul winning is what we believe and what we were about. We need to care about each other at this church, like really honestly care about the people. And he's willing to put his life on the line, and the disciples suffered him not. They don't allow him to do that, because, you know, obviously Paul is emotional. These are his friends, he really thinks about it, and his other friends are thinking a little bit more clearly than Paul at this time. And they're like, no, you know, you go in there, you're going to get killed as well. Now obviously, God protects this situation. But obviously, at the time, they didn't know what was going to happen. Right? It's kind of like when we had the Orlando situation in America. My wife and I, we got there in the morning, we were the first two people to rot. And I was like, well, there's already protesters there. I don't know if they protested at night. We got there like six in the morning or a little bit before, like way before service. And there was already people there. And I remember my wife and I were talking about it. And we're just like, there's a 95% chance that nothing's going to happen. God's going to protect us. But it is possible God will allow this event to wake people up. You know, you don't know what's going to happen when you got all these crazy protesters that are emotional. Right? And that's what you see in this situation in Acts 19. People that are worshipping this great goddess, Diana, I mean, they claim they're doing this in the name of religion, but they're ready to kill these people. That shows you what's really inside their heart and what they believe is wrong. Notice verse 34. When they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours, cried out, great is Diana of the Ephesians. You know, in America, people get all excited for football games and basketball games. And like, you know, half of America will watch the Super Bowl. And for two hours, they're going to cry out, right, just yell for each team and lose their voice just like Timothy's been doing this week, same being both of you, right? And they'll cry out, they'll lose their voice. And you know, what's interesting here, because this is this is different than America, there, you would not see this in America. But here in the Philippines, this is kind of like the Super Bowl event. This is like the big event that they've been waiting for. My wife and I were soloing yesterday at a neighborhood kind of near us. And as we're leaving, all of a sudden, we see this TV, and there are people watching highlights of last year's Feast of Black Nazareth. And we just kind of stopped for a second and I'm just like, it's just a lot different than America. But that is what you see. It's very similar here in Acts 19, before they had TV, before they really had sports that were as big as they are today. This is the same sort of thing that they're doing. They're crying out, great is Diana of the Ephesians. Now notice verse 35. And when the town clerk had appeased the people, he said, ye men of Ephesus, what men is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is the worshiper of the great goddess Diana and of the image which fell from Jupiter down from Jupiter, seeing that these things cannot be spoken against, you ought to be quiet and to do nothing rashly. He's saying you ought to be calm and not just jump the gun and just do whatever without thinking about, okay. Notice verse 37, for you have brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess. Wherefore if Demetrius and the craftsmen which are with him have a matter against any man, the law is open, and there are deputies, let them and plead one another. So basically, let the courts decide this, you know, don't just go in there and just decide to kill them, because you know, you're mad that he's talking against you know, your false goddess, don't go there and kill them. And notice verse 39, but if he inquire anything concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly. Notice that lawful assembly. Let me read you a quote from the Chiapo church rector, Hernando Dean Cornell, okay, this is a guy who works for the church. I don't recognize his name, but this was a quote from a couple years ago, okay. Remember it said in Acts 19, he's pleading with them, hey, make it a lawful assembly. Well notice what this church worker says for the Chiapo church. I appeal to you to make our celebration orderly, successful, meaningful, and peaceful. He's pleading with them, make it peaceful, make it orderly, you know what he's telling you? Hey, this celebration is not that peaceful. It's not that orderly. And you're going to see that as the sermon goes on, he's saying, hey, he's pleading with them. So this celebration we have, make it orderly, make it decently and in order. Why? Because he realizes this celebration gets a little bit out of control, right? Now here's the thing, we're not down there preaching the gospel, and I'll be honest, I never intend to go down there to preach the gospel, especially knowing this story in Acts 19. Especially as they're crowding the streets and you could get trampled to death, you speak against their Catholicism, you're bound to get shoved over and trampled to death. That's the truth. If you're not planning to go down there and try to preach them during this celebration, you know what might happen? Maybe the same thing in Acts 19, where all of a sudden they'll get emotional, get out of control, and who knows what's going to happen. Why? Because when they're in the middle of this celebration, I mean, we go soul winning every single week. We're never going to stop that, okay? I'm not on a kamikaze mission though, you know what I mean? I'm not trying to get on the news here, I just want to go soul winning. We have a church, you know, I love my family, I love the church family. I'm not on a kamikaze mission just to try to tick off all the leaders of all these churches and just die and stuff like that. The same thing could happen, because people just get emotional, they don't even think about what they're doing. That's what we see in Acts 19. In Acts 19 it says, in a lawful assembly, like I said, there's no new thing under the sun. Right? The same things that are happening now were happening thousands of years ago. No new thing under the sun. Verse 40, for we are in danger to be called in question for this day's uproar, there being no cause whereby we may give an account of this concourse, and when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly. We're going to look at four points here from this sermon, that was all introduction. The four sins of the black Nazarene, okay? Now look down at verse number 24, Acts 19, verse 24, and I would say the first sin, the most obvious sin, the biggest sin, is idolatry, okay? The Bible says in verse 24, for a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsman, whom he called together with a workman of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth. Moreover, ye see and hear that, not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul had persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands. You know, that's our goal here at this church, to help these Catholics realize that's not a real God you got in your backyard. It's not a real God that you got attached to your church. That's idolatry, it's wicked, it's not what the Bible teaches. Here's what you have to understand, that being from America, where this outright idolatry is not common, when I see it, my natural reaction is, this is weird, okay? Now if you grow up in this country though, it's probably going to feel more normal. Not because it is normal. It doesn't matter if every country in the world was filled with idolatry, it's not going to make it, I mean if you grew up in Thailand, right, and you see these like hundred foot tall statues of Buddha, it's going to start to feel normal. Why? Because you become desensitized to what you're seeing over and over again, okay? That's why, for me personally, sometimes you see this on Facebook, people that are in our movement, so to speak, and they'll post all these pictures and videos talking about all these sodomites are so bad and everything, but they post them like all the time. And it's like, look, for one, I don't want to see that. It's weird. The other thing is, you're going to make people desensitized to it, and it's going to become more normal. Yes, we need to be aware, but look, I don't need to know every single situation that happens throughout the world. Yes, I know it exists, and if I read my Bible, I know how bad that stuff is. You don't have to post it on Facebook all the time, and it's going to make people desensitize where it becomes normal, and it's never going to be normal, and I hope, I never think this idolatry is normal, because it's not normal, and I hope in 20 years I'm standing behind the pulpit preaching against this wickedness. This idolatry, I mean, think of the Ten Commandments, thou shalt have no other gods before me, thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. First two commandments, what do you see? It's speaking against making the image, it's speaking about having other gods, which are sort of tied together. It's speaking against idolatry in the first few commandments. You want to know how God feels about it? I mean, do you read the Bible? All throughout the Old Testament, you see what his reaction is? It's wicked in the eyes of God. That's the first sin. That's the worst sin, is the idolatry. And it's bizarre, it's not just idolatry, it's the weirdest looking Jesus I've ever seen, from any picture. It's literally the weird, I'm used to the Jesus with long hair, I'm used to him looking effeminate, but it's like this morbid looking Jesus, like he's on his deathbed, it's weird. It's very strange, it's not normal, and that's what we're going to be celebrating. Not we're going to be celebrating. That's not what we're going to be celebrating, but that's what people are going to be celebrating. That's why we can't have service on Wednesday night. We're not going to be able to make it here. Why? Because they worship the great goddess Diana. Same thing, right? Turn to 1 Thessalonians 1. It's interesting because I've been to various Catholic homes here in the Philippines. It's interesting because it's not just idolatry in terms of Mary and Jesus and the saints. I've been to some of these homes and they have lots of statues of like Buddha, and it's just like, you obviously don't really believe in your Catholicism. I guess Catholicism is just accepting everybody with open arms now, it's kind of a changing religion. Instead of killing people if they don't agree, they just accept everybody, and we're morphing into this one world religion, but you see these homes that have a little idolatry, they usually have a lot of idolatry. If they got one statue, they usually got like a thousand, right? I was in Guyana on a missions trip, I think a couple years ago, and we were going door to door, and this guy invited me through his gate, and I started talking to him and I realized very early on he had been drinking and I just kind of wanted to leave because it was wasting my time, but I had briefly talked to him about Jesus and I'm just planning to end the conversation, and he's like, no, no, I love Jesus, I love Jesus, let me show you this, and this guy was a Hindu, but he loves Jesus, okay? And all of a sudden he had this little cabinet outside, and this guy, this was poor, a very poor house, and he opened it up, and they were like the most magnificent idols I've ever seen in my life, and I was like amazed for a second, I almost wanted to take a picture, I'm like, man, I've never seen idols like this, he literally was spending all of his money on idolatry, and somehow people think that by having these idols, God's gonna bless them. Is that what the Bible says? God's gonna bless you for idolatry? No. 1 Thessalonians 1, verses 8 and 9, notice verse 8, For from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God were to spread abroad, so that we need not to speak anything. For they themselves showed us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. These people, they turn from their idolatry to serve the living and true God. Now I wanna spend a few minutes talking about this verse 9, because this verse, there's some false doctrine, okay? Because we take a very strong stand that you do not have to repent of any sins to be saved. No sins whatsoever. This is an important topic here in the Philippines, because obviously idolatry is big. Some people will say, wow, you know, you don't have to turn from your sins to be saved, but you gotta turn from the sin of idolatry to be saved. No you don't. You don't have to turn from any sins. Now here's the thing, there's people here in the Philippines, that their religion and their idols are morphed together, okay? So they're basically trusting in their idols. And so to be saved, they gotta quit trusting, they gotta quit believing in these idols to get them to heaven and believe on Jesus Christ. So yes they have to change what they believe, but look, people here in the Philippines, they get saved all the time, and they have tons of idolatry in their house. They are not just gonna from day one, just burn it and get rid of it. Now hopefully they'll have that understanding, but you have to understand in this country, the idolatry in their religion is so mixed together, that people are gonna get saved and still have a little Catholicism in them. Now they cannot trust the same thing anymore. They've gotta change their mind about what they believe. It doesn't mean they understand the wickedness of idolatry though, okay? And people are going to get saved that they don't have a clear understanding. I was preaching the gospel to someone in 2014, and I believe it was in Pampanga, probably in Anhale City, and it was the first time I visited the Philippines, and I was giving the gospel to this guy, and he didn't speak very good English, so my wife was giving the gospel, and he's either Tagalog or Kapampang, and I'm not really sure what language my wife's speaking half the time. No, I'm just kidding. But anyways, she's preaching the gospel, and the guy ends up getting saved. And all of a sudden he pulls out this little statue of, I think it was of Jesus. I used to have a picture, and then I realized, because it's kind of a cool story, but I was like, I gotta get rid of this picture, because it's almost like I think it's too cool. But he gave me this statue, and at first I was thinking, oh, he didn't get it, because he's like, okay, you gave me your religion, I'm giving you yours. But he actually told me that, he's like, now that I have Jesus, I don't need this anymore. It was an amazing story. But I want you to understand that not everybody who gets saved is gonna be that clear about how bad idolatry is. He obviously got it, okay? But look, out of these 400 people we got saved, do you honestly believe that not a single person has any struggle with idolatry? Do you honestly think every single one of them just went home right afterwards and burned up every single one of their statues and every single one of their idols? I don't believe that. Now, they've gotta change their mind about what they believe, but in a country that's so filled with idolatry, it's so incredibly normal that it might take them a little bit of time. We will get Catholics saved that will come to church, and they're gonna need sermons like this to change their life, okay? The reason why I'm taking a strong stand on this is, for one, we're never gonna accept repentance of sins in this church. We're never gonna accept it through the back door, we're never gonna accept it a little bit. No, we're not accepting it. It's why we have that video series on our channel where I'm gonna go through every argument repentance of sins has that I can think of. Because repentance of sins is work salvation, and look, you do not have to turn from any sin to be saved, you don't have to turn from the sin of idolatry to be saved, you have to quit trusting what you believe. Obviously, they can't still believe the same thing in the past, but they don't have to turn from the sin of idolatry, and you know what, that's really, really bad wording, okay? And I think there might be some people that are saved that would say that, but look, that is not good wording. And if you've ever said that phrase, you're wrong. You don't have to turn from the sin of idolatry to be saved. That's gonna confuse the gospel when we're preaching the gospel to people. We're saying, all you gotta do is believe, but you gotta turn from your idols to be saved. That's confusing, okay, because now you're adding an extra step. Now here in 1 Thessalonians, these people, they do turn to God from idols to the living and true God. Here in the Philippines, a lot of people, they're trusting in their idols to get to heaven, and they turn from that, they change their mind about what they believe, they no longer trust in idols, they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but it's not them turning from their sins, okay? Now turn to 1 Corinthians 8, 1 Corinthians 8. I mean, honestly, when people get saved, whether it's in America or the Philippines, I mean, they don't understand everything from day one. Look, people get saved all the time. We've had people that came and visited Verity that had gotten saved through the online preaching, and then they'll hand me a Billy Graham book or Billy and say, man, this is so great, you gotta check this out. Now this is what we should do if that happens, okay, because that will happen to you. Here's what you don't do. You don't say, you know what, that book is trash, you should never read that. Don't have that sort of reaction. You have to understand that people don't know all this stuff, okay? It's gonna take them some time. If we are more spiritual, so to speak, if you think you're more spiritual, then you ought to be spiritual enough to give people a chance to grow, okay? They're not gonna understand everything from day one, and in Catholics, we get saved, they're not gonna have a perfect understanding of what we know. We've listened to years of preaching online, okay? They just got saved. Yes, they're gonna believe the Bible when they see it, but give them a chance. If they come to church, they'll hear the preaching, it's gonna change their life, but we need to give them a chance to grow. Sometimes we can be a little bit too strong expecting people to be just like us from day one, where it might take them more time. First Corinthians 8, verse 4, as concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered and sacrificed unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. An idol is nothing in the world. It's faith. It's a false god. In the Bible, you see the worshipping, the great goddess Diana, that's a fake god. It's false. You're idolatry. It's no god. That's what we believe. The Bible says there's one god, there's a living god, there's a true god that we believe in. That's what the Bible teaches. These idols, they're nothing. They're fake. Think of the story of Dagon. God can destroy those idols like that. They're nothing. They're just made with men's hands. They're nothing. They have no spiritual value whatsoever. Verse 5, for though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as there be gods many and lords many, the Mormons love verse 5. I mean, there's so many verses that say there's one god and they say, wow, there's gods many and lords many. That means that we can become a god one day. I mean, that's so stupid because even in the context here, it's clear there's one god. And somebody saying is yes, you know, there's these fake gods or these false gods, there be gods many, but they're not true gods. They're not the real god. Obviously, the real god is our Lord and Savior. We believe that. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, one god that we believe in. That's what the Bible teaches. There's one god. There's one god. Verse 6, but to us there is but one god. And here's the thing, to us there's one god, but even if they worship another god, that doesn't mean there's multiple gods. To us there is but one god. We worship the true god, but those that are worshiping Allah or Buddha or whatever religion, look, there's still one god. It doesn't matter how many fake gods you trump up. There's still one god. To us there is but one god, the Father of whom are all things and we in him and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him. Verse 7, how be it there is not in every man that knowledge. For some with conscience of the idol unto this hour, Enid is a thing offered unto an idol and their conscience being weak is defiled. There's not in every man this knowledge here in the Philippines. A lot of people in the Philippines, they don't understand this. What I'm preaching is very normal to all of us, but a lot of people that would hear this would be like, whoa, because they don't have this knowledge yet. They don't understand how wicked this idolatry is. Talk to a Catholic about their idolatry and they're going to say, well, we don't worship the idols. You know, we just make the set, but we don't worship them. We just kind of make the statues. It's like, then if you don't worship idolatry, then who is the Bible speaking about? Who worships idols more than the Catholic church? I mean, yeah, they're worshiping idols and they don't have this knowledge. Why? Because they've never heard a preached and because they grew up thinking it was normal and they just don't get it. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Corinthians 15. I mean, we can preach sermon after sermon after sermon on idolatry. I only pulled out a few verses. I could have pulled out a lot more and I intentionally, just so the sermon's not bouncing around so much, I intentionally stayed in the New Testament. There's a lot more about idolatry in the Old Testament we could have looked at, but I intentionally stayed in the New Testament just because you don't want to bounce around that much in the sermon because people are turning everywhere and it makes it difficult for people to follow. There's idolatry all throughout the Bible, especially in the Old Testament. So the first sin that we have of the Feast of the Black Nazarene is idolatry. But you know the second sin of the Feast of the Black Nazarene is depicting Jesus as still being on the cross. That is portraying a false salvation and the Catholics are famous for this. They always portray Jesus as being on the cross. Now I personally, I'm glad they do that. You know why? Because that's what they actually believe. It's good that they show us that's what they actually believe. Because they do not think Jesus really paid for their sins yet. They don't get that. But you'll always see with idolatry, Jesus is still on the cross. It's like, I want to say to them, I mean, Jesus rose again 2,000 years ago. Did you not hear that story? You know, it's like, you know, when Jesus rose again, and he's talking on the road to Emmaus to those two men, and he's kind of being vague. He doesn't just say, hey, I'm Jesus, I rose again, and he's opening, and I remember they say to him, you know, have you not heard what's happened? Because Jesus is kind of acting like he hasn't heard. And they're like, you haven't heard? Because everybody knew about Jesus Christ. And they're like, you haven't heard what's happened? And then he opens up the scriptures and they realize it's him. That's what I want to say to these Catholics. You haven't heard that Jesus rose again? I mean, that was 2,000 years ago, you didn't hear the story that he already rose again? Like he's not on the cross anymore. Isn't that great? He rose again. But that's what they really believe. First Corinthians 15, verse one, more of a brethren I declare unto you the gospel which I preached on you, which also you have received and where in ye stand. Which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. How clear is it? Why do you still have him on the cross? It's funny, you can go to Google and you'll see Catholics answer this. And they'll say, well, you know, we love the resurrection. But we also, you know, like his sacrifice is what saves us. No, him dying alone would not save you. He had to rise again from the dead. And this is what I'm going to preach on next Sunday in one of the Sermons on the Salvation Boot Camp. You must believe that he was buried and rose again. You must believe in the resurrection to be saved. And Catholics will tell you they believe in the resurrection, but they really don't. Because look at their theology. Jesus is still on the cross. You always see that with their idolatry. Turn to Mark 16. I mean, think about purgatory. Catholics do not believe you can die and just go to heaven, because they don't really believe your sins are paid for. I mean, no matter how good you are, no matter how much you believe, you got to burn for a little while in purgatory, right? That's what they teach. That's what they believe, that you can't just go to heaven, but you got to go through purgatory first. Why? You need extra cleansing. For your future sins, when you believe and get saved, you don't just get saved from your past sins, you get saved from your future sins as well. So I don't need to be cleansed and get forgiven every single night in order to go to heaven. Now, if I want to be right with God, obviously I need to get right with him every single day. But I don't need to do that to get to heaven. Why? Because Jesus already rose again. Mark 16, verses one through six. And when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Siloam had bought sweet spices, they might come and anoint it. And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came on to the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. They said among themselves, Who shall roll away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away, for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment, and they were affrighted, and he saith unto them, Be not affrighted. Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified. He is risen, he is not here. Behold the place where they laid him. If you notice the emphasis in the Bible, what is significant in the Bible is the fact that he rose again. Yes, he was crucified, but what does the Bible glory in? What does the Bible focus on? It doesn't focus on him being on the cross. It focuses on the fact that he rose again. When you see the end of it, it's not like, hey, like, he rose again, but man, he was crucified. No, he rose again. Because if there is no rising, our faith is vain. That's what it says in 1 Corinthians 15. The focus in the Bible is on him rising again. So why are Catholics putting the focus on him being on the cross? It doesn't make sense. They're not following what the Bible says. Other things understanding this Jesus on the cross is the fact that, you know what, first off, Jesus does not have long hair. That's not biblical. You don't see that in the Bible. It's like they're basing this on these drawings of these effeminate queers who most people say is probably true are sodomites, queers. These effeminate people that drew a picture of Jesus that's not the Jesus of the Bible. They're not basing it on what Jesus actually looked like. Now one thing that's interesting about this is that when you think of famous people that have died in the past, there have been people that died before Jesus Christ that, you know, we know what they look like. Alexander the Great, you know, people like that, we know. Julius Caesar, they have statues of what they actually kind of look like that we can presume are probably real. We don't know what Jesus looked like other than what the Bible says. I think the reason why is because God doesn't want us to worship an idol. He doesn't really want us to know what he looks like. If he wanted us to know what he looked like, it would be very clear. We know that these paintings of Jesus, I hope everyone knows this, these paintings of Jesus, they're fake. They're not real. Why? That's a whole other sermon. I don't want to go in that rabbit trail, but he's a weak, effeminate-looking Jesus. That's not the Jesus of the Bible. The Jesus of the Bible was a tough person, not this effeminate-looking one. Not only that, with the Feast of the Black Nazarene, he is covered, but in most depictions of Catholicism with him on the cross, his thighs are exposed. According to the Bible, that's nakedness. Why are you showing us a naked Jesus on the cross? That's not appropriate. It's not modest either. Having your shirt off like that on the cross, I don't think that's really modest either. But it's like the thighs exposed flat out says that's nakedness in the Bible. That's what it says in Exodus 28, verse 42. That is nakedness according to the Bible. So why are you showing us a naked body on a cross? That is not appropriate for them to show. Now on this Feast of the Black Nazarene, he is fully clothed. He's got like this fancy robe, I think, or something on from the pictures I saw. But usually with Catholics, with their idolatry, that's not what they show. They show him being crucified and having his body exposed, and I don't care what religion does, that's not appropriate to show the nakedness on a statue. And obviously we see it on statues all the time, but it's not normal. It's not right. The Bible defines that as nakedness. This idolatry that they have and then him depicting him on the cross, it's very, very unbiblical. Now turn to Isaiah 53, Isaiah 53. And the third thing I want to look at, not only do we have idolatry, not only do we have a false salvation because of depicting him on a cross, but another sin of the Feast of the Black Nazarene is trying to relate to the physical sufferings of Jesus Christ. Okay? I'm not really sure the proper way to word that, but when you read people that go to this event, they are literally trying to torture their body to some degree, because they want to relate to what Jesus did on the cross, okay? They're trying to relate to the torture, but you know what, that is an unbiblical thing, and that's weird. Catholicism is famous for this. Obviously we know they take it to another extreme on Good Friday when they crucify themselves. I mean, they're trying to relate to the sufferings of Jesus. That's weird. That's not what the Bible teaches. Isaiah 53, verse 3, he is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. He was being crucified and God's people rejected him. We hid our faces. We were embarrassed to be linked with Jesus. That's not right. Let me turn to Isaiah 53. I think I got the wrong thing in here. Isaiah 53, hold on. Isaiah 53, he is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, verse 3, and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep, we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Is there anybody in this room who has gone through anything like this? That you were beaten? That you were tortured? That you had the crown of thorns on your head? That you were placed on a cross? I mean, in Pampanga when they crucified themselves, all of those people, you know what they do before they crucify themselves? They get drunk. Why? Because they can't relate to the pain. You're trying to relate to the pain, you really think getting drunk that that's what God wants you to do. Look, God doesn't expect us to try to relate to this pain of beating ourselves and torturing ourselves. Now the Bible does say in John 15 that we ought to lay down our lives in the same way Jesus did, but when he says that, Jesus has not crucified himself yet. What he's saying is in a symbolic way. Obviously if we were to physically die for someone, that's the greatest love we can show, but symbolically we lay down our lives all the time and care about other people more than ourselves. How about John 15 verses 12 through 13? But God does not expect us to try to relate to this and torture our bodies and harm our bodies. And what they do during this festival, you'll read about them and they'll intentionally, a lot of them, not drink any water all day. And what ends up happening to a lot at the end of the day? They fall over and they get rushed to the emergency room. It's just like you really think that's what the Bible teaches you to do. That's what they'll do. They'll go without food, go without water, they'll just walk as much as they can and try to torture their bodies because they want to relate to Jesus Christ. You're not going to be able to relate to what he did for us. Dying on the cross and paying for our sins. Notice verse 7. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off of the land of the living, for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. What part of this do we possibly think we can relate to? Look, we all go through trials in life. We're never going to go through this in our life. Even if we were, even if we did die a martyr's death, when Jesus Christ died, everybody rejected him. All of his closest followers were embarrassed to be with him. Now we read that story and we think, I would never do that, but look, I just kind of think if Peter would have done that, I probably would have done the same thing. Now I don't feel, nobody ever feels like they would do wrong, you know what I mean? It's like, if I was in that situation, I wouldn't have done it, but you know, you see that Peter does it, and everybody, they're embarrassed to be with him. They're not willing to just be with him side by side and stand by him. Look, even people that have been martyr, it's not like they really went through that. Jesus went through something different, and when he died, you want to relate to him, Catholics, and you're going to one day, because when he died, his soul went to hell. They're right about that, and unfortunately, these people that believe in the statue, they are going to relate to that, because they are going to die and go to hell and burn forever. They're trusting in their idolatry, they're trusting in their words, they're trusting in their vain religion, the Bible does not teach. Verse 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify me, for he shall bear their iniquities. Look, we're never going to bear the iniquities of somebody else. I can't relate to what Jesus Christ did. I'm never going to pay for anybody else's sins. In verse 12, therefore while I divide him apportioned with the great, he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. We're not going to relate to any of this, and it's ridiculous for people to even try to relate to physically beating themselves. Now turn to 1 Corinthians 9. You'll see this in America when they have like rock concerts, and people are just like, you know, shoving to get inside and everything, and you always see that people get trampled to death. Do you realize that during this festival, people get trampled to death? Because they're just vainly going, 10 million people crowded into one space, and what ends up happening? People trip, and they can't get up, and they just get trampled by other Catholics. You really think that that's what God wants you to do? People get trampled to death? Many people each year, dozens and dozens of people, they have to go off to the emergency room because they had something like that, or they didn't drink any water, and they're out in the heat all day. Look, there's nothing in the Bible that would say that God would want you to go through that. 1 Corinthians 9, verse 27. It says, But I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. So what Paul is saying is this, I control my body. I bring it under subjection. So basically, when he didn't want to read the Bible in the morning, what does he do? He reads the Bible. When he doesn't want to pray, he prays. When he doesn't want to go soul winning, he chooses to go soul winning anyway. When he wants to give in to a temptation of the flesh or worldliness, he chooses not to. He brings his body under subjection. Look, it doesn't matter who you are, all of us, we have to make an effort to be sanctified. It's not an automatic thing with these repentance and Calvinist things, repentance, heretics. We got to make it a point to bring our body under subjection, otherwise we'll fulfill the lust of the flesh. But you know, in other versions of the Bible, they change this. Instead of saying I bring my body under subjection, in versions they'll say I beat my body and make it my slave. Hey, that's Catholic teaching right there. I mean literally, they beat their body. Literally on Good Friday, they will just poke themselves in the back to get the blood flowing and just beat their body and make it their slave. That's what they do. There's a reason why, I mean, it's bizarre you see these changes in the Bible, but it's not just a little thing because Catholics literally do that, they beat their bodies. Some of them. Obviously not all of them. But you know, literally they beat themselves. Why? They think somehow God's going to forgive them if they beat themselves. Why do they do it? Because they don't understand salvation. Look, and I'll talk about this at the end of the sermon, but as bizarre as this is, we need to understand that it's not bizarre if you were raised from birth worshiping this false idol and you were brought up Catholic and you were heavily into idolatry. It's not their fault. Someone that's 20 years old that's worshiping this idol, it's not his fault. He was brought up to believe that's normal. Honestly, if it's anybody's fault why he's doing that, it's our fault. Why? Because we've got to preach the gospel. Now turn to Mark 16. We'll look at the last sin of the Feast of the Black Nazarene. The first thing we saw was idolatry, the second thing we saw was depicting Jesus still on the cross, which is like a false salvation, the third thing is trying to actually relate to the physical sufferings of Christ, and the fourth thing is hocus-pocus healing, okay? Now, I'm not going to be as exciting or dynamic or as interesting as, I didn't bring a hat and a suit or anything to wear, Pastor Anderson, this hocus-pocus healing. I think most of you have probably seen that video, but that's the fourth sin of this, because what they believe is that, I mean, out of these tens of millions of people, they are all really trying to fight hard to touch this idol. Because if they touch this idol, it will heal them. And so that's why people get trampled to death, because they're shoving each other down. Why? Because they want to get to touch the idol. I mean, it's like, how do you believe in this? I mean, it's like you're literally shoving your fellow citizen down to the ground just so you can touch this idol. I mean, it's madness, but that's what they do. Why? Because they believe in hocus-pocus healing. They literally believe by touching that idol, it might heal them. It says in Mark 16, verse 15, and he said unto them, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth in his baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. Now, these next several verses, some people would take out of context to believe in this hocus-pocus type healing, okay? Verse 17, and these signs shall follow them that believe. In my name shall they cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. So the Bible says that, you know, through soul winning, these people that are getting saved, these signs are going to follow them, okay? Now you say, well, is this still happening today? Well, notice verse 19. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God, and they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following, amen. God was trying to confirm the word. He was trying to show this is the real deal, okay? But look, this is not something that's happening today, where people are taking up serpents, and people have different interpretations and weird interpretations of stuff like this, but this was done in order to confirm the word. And so Catholics might look at this and say, well, this is totally scriptural, doing something that's hocus pocus healing. Well turn to Numbers 21. We're going to see very clearly that depicting Jesus on the cross is not scriptural, and this hocus pocus healing the Bible speaks very against. And we have to understand something. When it comes to confirming the word, we have to realize now that we have the word of God, this is what we have. That's the way God speaks to us, okay? We're not Pentecostals here. We're not Manny Pacquiao that believes some angel spoke to him. That's not what the Bible teaches, all right? We believe what the Bible says. The Bible shows us what's right and what's wrong. So when you talk to some Catholic that tells you we're the true church because we have thousands of years of history, look, what does the Bible say? I could care less about your history book. That means nothing. We have the word of God. That shows us what's right and what's wrong, and the Holy Spirit as the same person is going to guide you into the truth. Now it says in Numbers 21, verse 5, and the people spake against God and against Moses. Wherefore have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loathest, loatheth this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery servants among the people, and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died. Therefore, the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee. Pray unto the Lord that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole. And it shall come to pass that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. Now in verse 8 what we're seeing is a picture of Jesus Christ, and it talks about this serpent that was going to be put on a pole which depicts Jesus Christ because he died for the sins of the world. This is a picture of Jesus Christ. This is how it says that everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. So this is a free will choice they have to look upon it and be healed. It's not something that's forced, it's something they have the free will to do. Then in verse 9, And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole. And it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived. And so a Catholic would look at this, and they'd say, Well here's our hocus pocus healing. Right? We can just put up this fake Jesus on idolatry. We can worship it, and we're going to be healed. Well let's go to 2 Kings 18, let's see what God thinks about that. Now you have to understand, when it comes to a picture of Jesus Christ, first off, this is a unique and special situation that God specifically told them to do. Did God specifically tell them to do what they're going to do on Wednesday night? No he didn't. Is there anything in the Bible that would say that? No. They would use this story, but 2 Kings 18 is going to disprove that. But unless God were specifically going to tell you to do something, why would you do it unless it's found in the Bible? And nobody's getting direct revelation from God. No one's hearing from God up in heaven, and saying, Oh God told me to make this statue, and that's why we're doing it. 2 Kings 18 verses 1-4. Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea, the son of Eli, king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abbie, the daughter of Zachariah, and he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father did. He removed the high places and break the images, and cut down their groves, and break in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made. For unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it, and he called it Nehushtan. They were actually worshipping this serpent on the pole that was made for a special situation, was never destroyed. And what's happening? They're worshipping it. It becomes idolatry. And notice when this king steps in, and he does that which is right, what does he do? He destroys it. He breaks it down. Thousands of years later, the Catholics bring it to Manila. It's the same sort of thing. It's the same thing that we're seeing here. If we want to know what God's thoughts are, I mean, yes, in Numbers 21 they were healed. It was a special situation that God said, but now let's look at 2 Kings 18. How does God feel about this idol that you got? He wants it destroyed. Why? Because people were worshipping it like it had magical powers, and Catholics today, guess what? They believe in this hocus pocus healing. They literally believe by touching that idol, it's somehow going to heal them. You don't see that in the Bible. And look, honestly, this celebration is pretty new to me. I researched for this sermon, I'm sure next year I'm going to find out all kinds of more bizarre things. But I mean, all four of these things are clear in the Bible. He's wicked in the eyes of God. A false depicting of salvation, that's wicked. Depicting Him still on the cross, that's not normal. This hocus pocus healing, it's not normal. And trying to actually relate to Him being on the cross, that's not normal. It's not normal to crucify yourselves. It's not normal to beat yourselves. And you're never going to find a verse that says you get forgiven if you beat yourself. Look, someone was already beaten and tortured and crucified for you. You don't have to crucify or harm yourself. It was already done. You just have to believe that. And so I just want to emphasize in closing in this sermon, when it comes to this celebration, yes, there's millions of people that are going to do it. But if they were raised Catholic, it's not weird to them. It's normal. We have all believed stupid things in our lives. Before I was saved, when I was a freshman in college, I didn't party, I didn't drink, I was homeschooled starting in middle school and half a day in high school. So when I went to college, I was getting a whole new group of friends. I used to hang out with guys who played soccer, but going to college, I wasn't going to go out and get drunk and party and stuff like that, so I started going to these Christian groups. If you've ever been a part of these Christian groups, it's like every denomination under the sun. Yeah, the Catholics are there, Methodists, Lutherans, Baptists, Presbyterian, everything. So I use that word Christian lightly. But I was going to all these groups like Camps Crusade, Campus Light, Baptist Campus Ministries, all these different things. And I remember that the person who ran Campus Crusade, he was having, or he was second in charge, he was having a floor program on our floor where I had my engineering, everyone who was on that floor was in engineering. And I remember he went to our floor, it was like a Campus Crusade event, they bought pizza for the whole floor, and they asked everybody what they thought it took to get to heaven. Now I was newly going to this, I didn't know what it took to get to heaven. But since I was going to this Christian group, I felt obligated to answer, even though I had no clue myself. This was my response. I said that as long as somebody thinks they're doing what is right, and I said even if they're Saddam Hussein, if Saddam Hussein thinks he's doing what is right, then God will let them into heaven. That's what I believed. Now, when I look at that answer now, I'm like, man, I was, I was very bobo. I mean, that's pretty stupid, that's a dumb, dumb, wrong answer. And quite honestly, I believed a lot of stupid things after I got saved as well. Look, I used to believe the sons of God were fallen angels, and you know, people believe that we'll preach on that eventually. I used to believe, I didn't used to believe Jesus went to hell. Why? Because you know, you hear people preach on it, and you get a false view, and you're brainwashed in certain ways. But I want you to understand that all of us before we were saved certainly had a lot of really stupid beliefs. And look, if you were brought up Catholic, this is, this is not weird to you. It's not strange. And that's why I'm saying when somebody gets saved that worships, because look, out of those 21 million people that worship the Feast of the Black Nazarene, obviously a lot of them, we could preach the gospel to them and get them saved. But do you really believe that if they've been worshipping that for 20 years, that we get saved, that from day one, they just understand everything super clearly? They have to understand salvation clearly. They have to understand eternal security, and it's a free gift. Obviously we know that, we've been preaching on that for weeks. But they're not going to understand how wicked all their weird, vain celebrations are. It's going to take them some time. We've got to be patient with them, we've got to not look down on them. We've got to try to preach the gospel to them. And if we want to change this, it's not their fault, it is our fault. Because we as Christians have failed in the Philippines. And just because we're about the only ones in Manila that are trying to fix it, we still got to be zealous. Just because you say, well I go soul-winding every once in a while, and that's more than 99% of people. Who cares? We don't compare ourselves against others, and we've got a lot of work to do. Let's close the door.