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I'm going to flip over to Exodus chapter 23, second book of the Bible is Exodus chapter number 23, and this morning I want to preach against the false religion of Hinduism. I'm going to preach about Hinduism in light of the Bible. Now as we get into this, let me just point out to you that Hinduism is one of the largest religions in the world, even though we might not think of it as such. In fact, according to a demographic study, there are 2.2 billion Christians in the world, basically one third of the world's population, and obviously they're using the word Christian very loosely to include Catholicism and all these other false branches of Christianity. That's one third of the world's population. Then there are 1.6 billion Muslims, which would be 23% of the world's population, and there are 1 billion Hindus in this world, or 15% of the world's population approximately. I mean that's a huge number, 1 billion Hindus. Now in this day that we live, a lot of forces are at work to unite all religions together in a kind of a one world religion, one world government, new world order type of a movement in preparation for the Antichrist. And even some Christian teachers are starting to say, hey, the Hindus are actually like unto us. In fact, I went hiking up in Sedona not too long ago, and the Hare Krishnas met me there, and they were trying to recruit me to Hinduism. They were doing like the Hindu version of soul winning, and they were trying to tell me, oh, we believe in Jesus, and trying to act like there was some great connection between Hinduism and Christianity and so forth. But I'm here to tell you that Hinduism is a false religion. And let me start out by giving you a quote from Joel Osteen, who is one of the most popular Christian teachers, quote unquote, on the television, the radio. He has a massive following, and here's what he said, I've spent a lot of time in India. I've been with a lot of Hindu people. They are nice, kind people that love God as well. Now here's the thing, I'm sure they are nice, kind people, but to say that the Hindus love God is false because they do not have the God of the Bible. And the Bible teaches that there's only one true God, and that all other gods are false gods. Now, he also, you know, when he was asked, you know, if they would go to hell for not believing in Jesus, he would not say that they would go to hell. He said, oh, you know, I don't know, it's just they love God so much, I don't know. But let's see what the Bible says. Now according to Hinduism, let me just start out by making this first point. According to Hinduism, you know, God can be called by any name. You see, the thing about Hinduism is that they're often known as having a multitude of gods. People say, oh, there's millions of gods. But really, most Hindus that you talk to only worship one God. And they think that their God is the one true God, but they're okay with all the other Hindus worshiping other gods because, you know what, they're all just kind of different manifestations of the same religion, same God. They believe in their God, but they think it's okay to believe in him by a different name. It doesn't matter what God's name is. That's one of the things about Hinduism is that the name of God is just not that important to them. Well, let's contrast that with what the Bible teaches. Look at Exodus, chapter 23, verse 13. The Bible reads, and in all things that I have said unto you, be circumcised, watch this, and make no mention of the name of other gods. Neither let it be heard out of thy mouth. So the Bible's telling us here that we should not name the names of false gods. So is this saying, hey, call God by whatever name you want? No. He's saying don't use the names of other gods. Don't even name those names. Look at Deuteronomy, chapter number 12. And while you're turning to Deuteronomy 12, I'll read for you from Deuteronomy 18, 20. But the prophet which shall presume to speak a word in my name which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. Listen to this, Joshua 23, 7. That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you, neither make mention of the name of their gods. Did you hear that? Don't make mention of the name of their gods. He said, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow down yourselves unto them, but cleave unto the Lord your God as ye have done unto this day. Look down at your Bible there in Deuteronomy 12, 1. It says these are the statutes and judgments which ye shall observe to do in the land which the Lord God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it all the days that ye live upon the earth. Ye shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the nations which ye shall possess serve their gods upon the high mountains and upon the hills and under every green tree. And ye shall overthrow their altars and break their pillars and burn their groves with fire, and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, watch this, and destroy the names of them out of that place. Ye shall not do so unto the Lord your God. So right there, he's saying, destroy the names of the false gods. Don't even make mention the names of false gods. Don't even let those names come out of your lips. So to sit there and say, oh, it doesn't matter what name they worship God by, hey, as long as they're worshiping one God, it's the same God. Wrong. It's not the same God unless you have the right name and that name is Jesus. Jesus is the name that's above all names. Now if you would, go to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter number 2. You see, just because someone believes in one God or worships one God or acknowledges that there's one God does not mean that they're worshiping the God of the Bible. Just because somebody says God bless you does not mean that they're blessing you in the name of the Lord God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Just because you say God, it doesn't mean you're referring to the true God because the other nations have false gods, the Bible tells us. Now in Philippians 2, the Bible's clear in verse 9 what that name is. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Flip over to Romans 10 and while you're turning to Romans 10, I'll read you the famous verse from Acts 4-12. Neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. First John 5-13, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. Notice the emphasis over and over again on the name, believe on the name. It's got to be the name of Jesus, not just and what's funny, I've even heard people say and listen, there's a reason why I'm preaching this this morning because now you'll even hear independent Baptists say these bizarre things. There is a great falling away taking place and you'll even hear independent Baptists say things like, oh these people on this island or in this other country, they just kind of look up at the sky and just kind of call upon God and they don't even know the name of Jesus but they're just saved because they just called upon God, whatever that means. No, the Bible says for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. What is that name? We'll look at Romans 10-9. It says in Romans 10-9 that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation for the scripture saith whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed for there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I want to point out that the word for at the beginning of verses 10, 11, 12 and 13, do you see that? That is a conjunction that in our modern vernacular would be because. We would use the word because. So in verse 9 he makes a statement. He says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Okay, ask the question, why? Why does that save you to confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and to believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead? Why does that save you? Well verse 10 tells us because with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Verse 11 tells us because the scripture saith whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed because verse 12 there's no difference between the Jew and the Greek for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. And then in verse 13 the because is whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Therefore the name of the Lord in verse 13 is Jesus. That when he says whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's referring back to verse 9 when it says confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus. That name that is associated with salvation in the New Testament is Jesus. Now when Abraham called upon the name of the Lord he called upon the name of God Almighty. That was the name by which he was primarily known unto the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Now when Abraham called upon God Almighty when David talks about calling upon the name of the Lord he's calling upon the name Jehovah. And in the New Testament the name that God has given among men whereby we must be saved is the name of Jesus. Not just God not a supreme being but Jesus himself. Now Joel Osteen says that the Hindus worship and love God and so he can't believe that they'd be going to hell or he doesn't really know because they just love God so much and his dad went there and said they love God so much and he said they love God so much. But let me just state to you right now and prove to you that the God of Hinduism is actually Satan himself. I mean literally and I will prove this to you. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 10 I'll prove this to you in many ways but go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 10 and you say oh you just you hate Indian people or you hate Hindus. No I love them that's why I'm giving the gospel. They need to they need to call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. They need to confess the name of Jesus Christ. They need to turn from their vanities and idols and false gods and they need to turn to the living and true God. And if we love them we're going to tell them the truth that Hinduism is a path to destruction and a path to hell and that they need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior. That's a message of love unto the Hindus today. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 19 what say I then that the idol is anything or that which is offered in sacrifice idols is anything but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to devils and not to God. And I would not that you should have fellowship with devils. So what he's saying is that it's easy to look at the idol and to think of itself as just a hunk of wood a hunk of stone. It really isn't anything it's an inanimate object but Paul is saying here that it goes deeper than that because when they're bowing down to an idol it's not that they're just worshipping an inanimate object but that literally they are worshipping devils it says. I mean that's what it says. It says in verse 20 I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice and the Indians are Gentiles it says the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to devils and not to God and I would not that you should have fellowship with devils. In fact if you look up the word gods in the Bible the plural the lowercase g o d s that plural do you know what that represents in the hundreds of times that it's used throughout the Bible it represents devils it represents demons it represents false gods which false gods are actually demons or devils that impersonate God and that blind this world through false religion. Now I'm not going to name for you the main gods of Hinduism because the Bible says not to even name their names. Bible says don't even let their names come out of your mouth but there are three main gods that Hindus worship and what I want you to understand is that it's not that they're worshipping a multitude of gods in a sense it's that some Hindus one of them is their main god the one that starts with a v and then other Hindus the one that starts with a sh sound that's their main god and then over here another one the one that starts with a d is their main god and yes they do have all different subsets and millions of different names and manifestations or avatars of what they call as gods but the bottom line is though it's like different denominations within Hinduism which they kind of say well you know are gods the best one or the main supreme god you know and then they're like well no it's actually this is the one we worship because he's better or whatever but at the end of the day they're okay with the other gods because it's all under Hinduism so as long as you're the way Hindus look at it from my study and understanding is that kind of like you're either Hindu or you're not and if you're worshipping another god as long as you're following the basic teachings of the dharma and the veda and the stuff that they believe in then you know you're good you're good to go you're Hindu we'll accept you even if they're calling god by a different name because you know the name's just not that important well we saw from the bible the name's real important but let me just tell you a little bit about the main gods you know the one that starts with a v just look at a picture of him he's standing on a snake and he always has these like five cobras above his head i mean this is the serpent religion i mean what what is the devil always indicated as in the bible he's the serpent he's the old serpent the devil satan the dragon and if you look at their god that they worship the main one the most popular one the big one that starts with a v he has these five cobras above his head and he's standing on a snake okay then you look at the second most popular god and the same thing snakes all around skulls fire snake i mean you just look at it and you can see this is demonic okay not only that but the one that starts with the sh sound is like the false god of judaism both male and female that's not the god of the bible the god of the bible is always he he's a father the father of the son and the holy ghost uh referred to as making man in his own image uh and so forth and so they have this uh this god that's both male and female and then another thing about the the one of the most popular false gods of hinduism is that he's very quick to anger he's quick to anger but he's quickly appeased and quick to pardon well god's the exact opposite because the bible says in nahum chapter 1 verse 3 the lord is slow to anger and great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked and the lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm the clouds are the dust of his feet also you'll notice that these hindu gods when you look at images of them they'll often be holding a pitchfork even a trident which is the quintessential symbol that we would think of with the devil holding a pitchfork and here you got a guy with snakes and flames and skulls and a pitchfork this is their god it's a wicked religion and then the third most popular those are the two most popular and then the third most popular is a female goddess which involves the worship with literal human sacrifice now you know in modern day obviously they don't allow them to do this but in the olden days they would they would perform human sacrifices in many parts of india even on a weekly basis unto this false goddess and uh and the eating of blood and other let's see eating blood and worshiping a female goddess hmm sounds like another religion i know maybe like three miles from here down in guadalupe but anyway catholicism you know isn't it amazing how the devil has just the same false teachings that just manifest in different parts of the world where he teaches this false worship of a female deity this eating of blood this all these things that are the same and there are more similarities with hinduism that we'll get to but look at john chapter 8 and we started in isaiah 43 i want you to put one finger in isaiah 43 and another finger in john chapter 8 because these two scriptures go together and they're very important now some people have considered isaiah the book of isaiah they've called it the little bible because it's interesting how isaiah has 66 chapters and the bible has 66 books and it really is amazing if you compare the 66 chapters of isaiah to the 66 books of the bible they're amazing parallels that are kind of hard to write off as a coincidence like for example at the end of chapter 39 there's a major gear change in isaiah that verse chapters 40 through 66 are completely different than chapters 1 through 39 which is sort of like the old testament 39 books new testament 27 books you'll find parallels and in chapter 1 lots of parallels with genesis if you compare chapter 5 of isaiah with deuteronomy all kinds of parallels the book of john with chapter 43 the book of romans is quoting chapter 45 and parallels between revelation and chapter 66 i mean the list goes on and on it's very interesting but one thing that's interesting is when you compare this quote from the book of john with isaiah 43 which would be the corresponding chapter look what the bible says in john chapter 8 verse number 24 it says this is john 8 24 i said therefore you that you shall die in your sins for if you believe not that i am he ye shall die in your sin now what did jesus mean by that when he says if you believe not that i am he you'll die in your sin i believe that you're who because he says if you believe not that i am he you'll die in your sins well look at isaiah 43 10 and the bible says this ye are my witnesses saith the lord and my servant whom i have chosen that you may know and believe me and understand that i am he beside me there was no god formed neither shall there be after me i even i am the lord and beside me there is no savior so what did jesus mean when he said if you do not believe that i am he you'll die in your sins he's saying if you don't believe that i am the only savior if you don't believe that i am he and that there's none else see you can't believe in jesus and believe in other gods and believe in other ways of salvation and believe in other saving graces quote unquote no you have to believe that he is and that he is him alone or you'll die in your sins the bible says the bible says you must believe on jesus with all your heart not believing in jesus plus something else and so he says here i am he there's none else before me there was no god formed neither shall there be after me i even i am the lord and beside me there is no savior so when the hare krishna's or the or the hindus or whoever try to tell you oh well we also believe in jesus that's not enough because they don't believe exclusively in jesus because they believe in other gods and other ways of salvation other scriptures it has to be the jesus of the bible see many many hindus will even say that oh yeah we believe that jesus was a great teacher and many hindus even teach that jesus during his teenage years because you know you don't really read about his teenage years in the bible they say oh well he went to india and learned hinduism and then he came back and was a great yogi in israel that's what they say that's what they teach and they try to claim that you know jesus went there and learned their religion and brought it back and whatever and so they'll often tell you oh yeah jesus we believe in jesus but hold on is it the jesus of the bible that they believe in the answer is no now they they'll even believe in a in a guy called krishna you know that's where the hare krishna thing they believe in a guy named krishna who was like god in the flesh and born of a virgin you know imagine that and they people say oh krishna christ huh huh but it's the name of jesus not just christ has to be jesus and it has to be the jesus of the bible because jesus was the word made flesh the bible says in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory is of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth so you can't separate the person jesus from his word because he's the word made flesh so if you if you have a totally different word if you have a totally different scripture then you have a different jesus you gotta have the jesus of the bible and you have to put all of your faith and trust in him not in anything else now not only that but we have to realize that the devil is a great counterfeiter so he'll often mix in a little truth with the lies to make it believable okay and so there are going to be similarities of course with hinduism and christianity because the devil is the counterfeiter now one of the most interesting things is that if you go back to the oldest most important hindu scripture because they have all these different scriptures and vedic literature and piranhas and whatever else but if you go back to their oldest most important scripture it's called the laws of manu and here's what's interesting manu is a guy who basically the whole world was destroyed with a great flood and he was warned to build a giant boat and to get on that boat and so he survived the flood and then basically every person on the earth today is descended from this guy now does that sound familiar it's just like noah and it's funny because even manu and noah i mean you can see a similarity in the names there and this book goes back to like a thousand to two thousand bc you know this is sometime literally three to four thousand years ago that this book was written and isn't it interesting that tells a story about god destroying the whole world with a flood one guy is the is the is the one who produced all of mankind now it's interesting because the the atheists of this world and the scoffers will look at that and say oh see you know christianity is just copying these other religions but it's only because they've been blinded by satan that they cannot see what's so obvious and plain as the nose on your face that the reason that all these different religions in the world all tell the same story about the flood is that it really happened i mean it's so silly to say oh they just borrowed that story no different cultures all over the world totally separate from one another all have the same story about the flood taking place so obviously it's because there really was a flood so they're all talking about it and it's interesting the time frame of when the book's being written because if you think about when the flood took place it was what you know twenty five hundred twenty seven hundred years ago you know different people will argue about the dates but again it makes sense that a book that's four thousand years old in india that's their most important scripture would talk about oh yeah you know there's a flood and everybody descends from this one guy because everybody else was wiped out in a flood because obviously when the tower of babel took place people went and were scattered everywhere and some of them went to india and they're going to take that important story with them i mean it's a pretty big story that you're going to tell and you're going to write it down so the devil's a great counterfeiter though he takes the true story about the flood and noah true story really happened but then he just twists it and puts in all these false teachings in their book whereas the bible has the true account and all the true words of god okay so another big thing about hinduism is that and go to hebrews chapter nine another big thing about hinduism is that they believe in reincarnation this is the huge teaching of hinduism this is one of their most important beliefs is that they believe that people are on a cycle of of of death and birth and and just constantly being reborn rebirth and uh basically what you do is going to determine you know how good of a of a place you're born into the second time and the third time and fourth time that there's this cycle of reincarnation but does the bible teach reincarnation well look at hebrews 9 27 it says and as it is appointed unto men wants to die but after this the judgment so christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation so the bible says that it's appointed unto men who wants to die after this the judgment no reincarnation here and not only that but even if the hindu's claim to believe in jesus they don't believe in his death barrel and bodily resurrection that's the gospel they believe that jesus died and was reincarnated you know and keeps on being reincarnated and whatever and when the anti-christ comes they'll say oh yeah here he is again you know reincarnated once again now everybody's also go to galatian six everybody's also heard the term karma that's probably one of the most famous words from hinduism right karma and let me say this that is not a word that bible believing christians should be using and in our american culture today now everybody's talking about karma and bad karma and good karma why would we use the terms of a false religion hinduism the bible says that we should use the words which the holy ghost teaches not the words which man's wisdom teaches here's what the holy ghost teaches verse 7 of chapter 6 there be not deceived god is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap oh sort of like karma no it's not like karma it's like galatian six verse seven it's like sowing and reaping it's like reaping what you sow it's not like karma now what's interesting though is that the word karma literally in the original language that they that they got it from sanskrit the ancient indian language the word karma you know what it actually means works works it means deeds or works or actions that you perform so isn't it interesting that according to hinduism salvation is by works because getting the good karma is what's gonna get you you know reincarnated in a better way and then eventually they reach a state not like heaven but they they end the cycle you know of endless rebirth you know they reach that pinnacle point or whatever and how do they get there works i mean that's literally what they're saying when they say karma they're saying works and the bible says salvation is not of works lest any man should boast the bible says for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of god not of works lest any man should boast and the bible clearly teaches that grace and works are not compatible because it says if it be of grace then is it no more works so basically he's saying you know if it's grace it's not karma it's gonna get you there he says if it be of grace is it no more works otherwise grace is no more grace but if it be of works then is it no more grace otherwise work is no more work i mean it can't be both and they say oh but if we if we do these good works then we'll receive grace that's what the hindus teach no wrong you don't receive grace by doing works that's a contradiction in terms grace is unmerited favor grace is receiving that which you do not deserve and it's not of works lest any man should boast and so this word karma is not a word that we as christians should be using we use christian terminology and not use this this uh hindu terminology and let it creep into our mentality and our vernacular but go to uh first thessalonians four first thessalonians chapter four another false teaching of hinduism is that they say well people go to heaven or people go to hell but it's just temporary you know they get punished or they get rewarded but then they get reborn and they get reincarnated so it's temporary but you know what the bible teaches that both going to heaven being saved and going to hell are both permanent conditions according to the bible because look at first thessalonians four verse seventeen it says then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air and watch this and so shall we ever be with the lord you see that once we are caught up to be with the lord in heaven the bible says we shall ever be with the lord it's not a temporary be with the lord and then not be with the lord now you say well what about you know the new heaven and the new earth and we're going to live on this earth yeah but we're going to rule and reign with christ on this earth we're going to be with the lord we're going to basically and let me just break this down for you doctrinally because it's important that we as christians know what we believe from the bible and what the doctrines of heaven are this is what the bible teaches that if you as a saved person were to die today and you have jesus christ in you and you are saved then the moment that you breathe your last breath your soul will be in heaven there's no soul sleep or waiting in the grave your body waits in the grave but your soul instantly goes to heaven because the bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the lord paul said i have a desire to depart and to be with christ which is far better for me to live is christ and to die is gain and so to be absent from the body is to be present with the lord then what happens is at christ's coming in the clouds in first thessalonians four what's often referred to as the rapture it says they which are asleep in jesus will god bring with him so when christ returns to this earth okay he's going to bring them with him okay in the clouds and then when they're in heaven with him they're in heaven with him and then when he sets up his kingdom on this earth they come and rule with him on this earth and then in the end when there's a new heaven and the new earth the lamb is going to dwell among them so once we're saved we don't come back to the earth or lose salvation or go to heaven and then we're kicked out or whatever no once you're saved you shall ever be with the lord whether it's in heaven or in the millennium on this earth or in a new heaven a new earth either way you're going to be with the lord for eternity you're going to be with jesus and that's it now hell is the same way because you know i'll just give you one quick verse on this revelation 2010 and the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever you know just in case you didn't get the first forever he said they shall be tormented day and night forever and ever just to drive that in that hell is eternal and you know that's a whole sermon in and of itself so flip to deuteronomy chapter four i want to give the conclusion but before i do let me just do a quick review on the false teachings of hinduism what are the what are the false teachings well number one they teach that god can be called by any name it's not that important the bible said it's critically important what name and he also stated that the names of false gods should be held in contempt they should not be uttered they should not be mentioned they should be forgotten and destroyed that's what he said about the names of other guys so that's a major false teaching number two they do not confess the name of jesus as being the savior the the the the almighty the one true god they do not associate with the name of jesus number two number three we showed that the god of hinduism is actually satan because he's represented by idolatry which the bible says that those who sacrificed unto idols are sacrificing unto devils and we know that also he does not have the same attributes of the god of the bible for example he's very quick to anger for example he's both male and female these are not the attributes of the god of the bible also the god of hinduism is clearly satan because his images are serpents and skulls and and and all these uh demonic type of representations that we would associate with the biblical version of who the devil is and satan they are literally worshiping satan or they're worshiping a female goddess which is completely foreign to the scriptural view of who god is being masculine and not only that even if they claim to believe in a in a krishna or whatever it's not the jesus of the bible they believe in reincarnation we believe in a bodily resurrection once pointed unto man wants to die wants to be resurrected they believe in salvation by karma which means salvation by works in their language that's what it means we believe in salvation by grace through faith not of works we don't have to do any rituals we don't have to chant things or offer sacrifices or go to a temple and perform rites and rituals that you know we don't have to chant mantras and and and do yoga to be saved okay those are works and deeds that they think are going to bring them salvation whereas we believe that salvation is by grace through faith they believe that heaven and hell are temporary states we believe that heaven and hell are eternal and that once you're saved you're always saved and that once you die without the lord jesus christ and enter the flames of hell you are forever doomed and shall perish so we can see that the hinduism is clearly a false religion clearly different than the bible clearly a satanic religion very wicked so what is the conclusion well first of all the the purpose of preaching this sermon is to avoid the false teachings of people like joel osteen and other ecumenical teachers that want to say hey there's a lot in common and and and we actually are worshipping the same god because we're all praying to god whatever name we use you know we want to combat that false teaching in these last days and point out the difference between biblical christianity and false religion and not seek to unite with false religion it's called ecumenicalism ecumenicalism means bring all religion together and and let's let's put aside our differences that is not what the bible teaches that is the spirit of antichrist that teaches that okay but not only that i i'm hoping that as you hear this sermon you will be stirred up in your heart to want to reach hindu's with the gospel because these people are blinded you know they're born into this it's not that they all just chose to just go worship satan no they're born into this false religion they're taught this from the time they grow up they are blinded they're deceived and you know joel osteen said hey they're really nice kind people i'm sure they are i'm sure they are very peaceful nice kind people but the road to hell is paved with good intentions and someone needs to bring them the gospel and shine the light of the glorious gospel of jesus christ so that they might be saved but if our gospel be hid it's it to them that are lost right in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not and you say well do you know do i need to take a trip to india you know i don't know if i feel comfortable with that but here's the thing you don't need to take a trip to india you need to take a trip to asu you need to take a trip to south tempe listen to me i have never gone soul winning in south tempe in the in the nice neighborhoods the the nice well-to-do neighborhoods of south tempe off of elliot and warner i've never gone soul winning in those neighborhoods without knocking the door of at least one hindu never and you know people want to talk so much about missions and and all the the trips and look i'm not against missions but you know what it's right here save the plane ticket save your money and you know what it's great to go be a missionary in a foreign country but you know what you don't have to go to a foreign country to be a missionary because if you want to reach indians with the gospel you want to reach the hindus with the gospel of jesus christ all you have to do is go to south tempe and knock doors in that neighborhood or if you would like to talk to other hindus that are probably going to speak better english and and and be more receptive you can go to the campus of asu because i've never gone soul winning on the campus of asu without knocking the door of at least one person from india who can verify that what i'm saying is true who's gone soul winning up on asu and knocked the door of a lot of india yeah they're up there they're students and they're all studying engineering every single you know every you guys ask like oh what are you studying engineering you know but i'm telling you you can reach the chinese you can reach the indians there are a ton of foreign students up at asu and if you'll just knock doors if you just go soul winning you can give them the gospel and the great thing about the ones that are here is that most of them speak english and and by the way even a lot of people in india itself speak english now english is a major language in india itself and so there's not even a language barrier with these people these people can be reached with the gospel and often they'll listen to the gospel and be receptive to the gospel but who will go and knock those doors and preach the gospel to every creature you see the way to reach them with the gospel is just to open our mouth boldly and speak the word of god you say well i just don't know a special presentation for hindi look you don't need a special presentation of the gospel for each religion you know the same gospel saves everybody you know you can just go through and just show them that they're a sinner and show them hell and show them the life of christ and his death barrel and resurrection and show them that it's a free gift show them that it's by faith and you know maybe maybe some of the things that you heard in this sermon might show you a few things that you might want to point out to them you know at the end of your gospel presentation but you know i always start out by giving everybody the gospel the same way instead of getting all complicated why don't you just give them the gospel because you know what it's the power of god unto salvation to everyone that believeth to the jew first and also the greek and you know also to the hindu it's that gospel of the death barrel and resurrection of christ is the power of god no matter who you're telling it to so you don't have to show up with some customized hindu plan of salvation no you just show up and you give the plan of salvation but then at the end of the plan of salvation once you've gone through the whole gospel and made it plain then at the end maybe you could just emphasize that wait a minute all the faith has to be on jesus you can you have to renounce these other gods you have to renounce other gods that you're worshiping and acknowledge that this is the true god jesus you know that'd be something that maybe you would want to emphasize more with a hindu than maybe somebody else who's coming from some other you know denomination or background you know you're gonna need to emphasize that more at the end but you know what if you can give the gospel to white people you know if you can give the gospel to black people if you can give the gospel to the hispanic if you can give the gospel to to any nationality if you can give it to one you can give it to the other because it's the same god overall that is rich unto all that call upon him and it's the same salvation there's one fold there's one shepherd there's one lord one faith one baptism one god and so we need to get the gospel to the hindus and you don't have to take a trip to india you know if you want to go there great but honestly it's right here it's not i'm not even telling you to go to phoenix or scottsdale or mesa it's here it's in tempe it's in our town it's right here thousands and thousands and thousands of hindus that are ripe unto harvest for the gospel that's why i love soul winning because honestly it allows you to reach all people it allows you to be a a a a domestic and a foreign missionary all in one just by going out and just knocking some doors but let me just close on this thought too though i think a great stumbling block to to hindus being saved and and really this isn't just for the hindus i think a great stumbling block to a lot of people of foreign nationalities being saved is that we as americans have ruined our testimony by being godless and wicked and worldly in the way that we live our lives and in our culture we've ruined our testimony so that's i think a big stumbling block why people like hindus or muslims or other people could could be unreceptive the gospel is because we as american christians are ruining our testimony look what the bible says in deuteronomy chapter four because this has to do with evangelizing foreigners look at deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 5 it says behold i have taught you statutes and judgments even as the lord my god commanded me that you should do them in the land whether you go to possess it keep therefore and do them watch this for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations what's he saying that when the nations see you keeping the word of god and following the commandments of the word of god you're gonna be wise in their sight they're gonna look at that and it's gonna make an impression on them it's gonna be wise unto them it's gonna be something that they respect he says it's your wisdom in the sight of the nations halfway through verse 6 which shall hear all these statutes and say surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people for what nation is there so great who hath god so nigh unto them as the lord our god is in all things that we call upon him for and what nation is there so great that hath statutes and judgments so righteous is all this law which i set before you this day now here's my question do you think that somebody in india looks at a hollywood movie and says wow what nation is so righteous like america wow what nation is there that has god so nigh unto them what nation is there that has such wise and righteous judgments and statutes no you know what they look at it and see it as trash and then they think you know what they think of our culture it's trash and then you know what they think of our religion that it's trash now look this doesn't just go for america because obviously we can't control the stupidity of our government or the stupidity of hollywood or the stupidity of madison avenue we have no control over that but you know we can at least control ourselves and control our families and control our church and basically we can at least be a shining light of the gospel that not only preaches the truth of the grace of god and salvation but that also lives a life that people can respect so that they would even have an interest in hearing anything that we have to say about god why would anybody want to listen to what you have to say about god when you live your life in a wicked worldly way and they're probably thinking to themselves you know we're more moral than you are why should we accept the lord jesus christ so we can live like you why would we accept the lord jesus christ so that our women can dress like hoochie mamas and hookers and whores why would they accept it because they look at it and they say it's immoral they look at our culture and say it's ungodly you have no morals you have no standards you have no statutes and judgments to live your life by and it is a stumbling block to them being saved today because americans go over there and they're wicked you know i read some story about the actor richard gear going to india and being arrested for for publicly kissing a woman other than his wife you know i mean he's just he just is kissing on the mouth publicly some woman that's not his wife you know we would look we should disdain that as being immoral i mean how would you feel right now if some other woman came up here and i kissed some woman other than my wife right now you'd be horrified you ought to be horrified but we watch it on tv watch it on movies don't think anything of it it's just fine and dandy and he did it he is arrested over there why because their culture is actually in that sense more traditional and actually showing more morality in certain things god help us as american christians when we drag the name of jesus christ in the mud by living a life of no morals no standards and just living a life that's just godless and impure and unclean you know what the world looks at that and they're not impressed why would the why how are we going to reach the muslims and the hindus with the gospel if we don't live a clean life they're going to look at us and say well why would i want to follow this religion my wife has more clothes on than your wife your wife's half naked your wife's in short shorts and a halter top and you know okay so so the muslim women are wearing a little too much clothing okay well we're wearing too little you know we need to we need to find something between folks we need to follow the bible's standards for clothing and i'm telling you the bible is clear and deuteronomy 4 how we're going to reach other nations with the gospel by putting forth by putting forth an image of following god's law and following god's righteousness the look you and i both know that the bible is better than anything that hinduism has in the way of scriptures we know that the bible is greater than the quran ever thought of being we know that but the question is do they see this when they look at our lives or do they see a reflection of hollywood in us i mean think about if we go through our lives and live a certain way are they looking at us and seeing a reflection of hollywood madison avenue and everything or are they seeing a reflection of this book because the bible says that if they see us living by this book we will be wise in their sight they'll say you know what even if we believe in a different religion you know what these people are living their life in a wise way that makes sense and that that's moral and righteous and clean and then you know what when you then open and look that's not enough i'm not preaching lifestyle evangelism folks that's not enough you then have to open the bible and open your mouth boldly and preach the gospel but you know what you need to do is both and not just sit there and just say oh my testimony doesn't matter at all well you know what when you're living a godless wicked life people of other cultures are going to look down on you that aren't as godless and wicked as america i mean it's pretty sad that i even have to say that you know that other nations are looking down on us right now but it's true they are i mean think about it they look at america and they think we're the capital city of uh or the capital of sodomy why would i want to listen to a missionary that's coming from sodom land i am from the country of sodom and gomorrah and i'm here to give you the gospel of jesus like forget jesus we don't want to hear about it because they don't want the sodomy and the filth and you know what if we had as christians would stand up and condemn this stuff and fight again and and distance ourselves from it but what are all the christians oh let's just bring in all the homos no we ought to be distancing ourselves from that oh but how are we gonna reach the homos we got to reach the poor little faggot with the gospel hey what about the billion hindus that are going to hell yeah you know what they're gonna think you're a stinking faggot if you have all these weird queers coming into your church you don't care about them because we just want to make sure we reach they're reprobate it's too late but oh just so worried about how i'm gonna reach this little fairy no what about all the billion people in this world that are worshiping these false gods of hinduism you know why don't you want to get them safe you know what they're not impressed with you being a faggot or hanging around with a bunch of faggots and i'm telling you we need to distance ourselves from the filth of hollywood we had distanced ourselves in the smut of this world and you know when you go out and live your life in a permissive you know promiscuous just impure filthy way and hang around with a bunch of filthy people and fill your mind with a bunch of junk and then you expect to be a good shining light of the gospel of jesus christ it's not working we need to we need to repair our testimony as christians so that the nations of the world will look at us and they'll say you know what here's here's this is a wise people these people have god nigh unto them i want to hear what they have to say and you know what god prophesied in the old testament if they'd follow god's laws and his statutes that people would come from all over people would flock to the nation of israel he said just to just to want to learn about god like the like the queen of sheba she showed up and she was so impressed and just wow you know this is great you know these laws and these statutes and judgments it's so what and she was impressed and you know what she went home and is bringing a good report unto her people that's what america should be and you know obviously we can't control what the people who are running our country are doing but you know what at least we as baptists at least we as independent baptists at least we at this church or at least you and your family can present an image to the people that you come into contact with of saying hey we're different we're not we're not wicked people you know we actually believe in following the bible and so that testimony is going to help you be a better witness of the gospel of jesus christ when you do verbally open your mouth see you need both you don't want to just sit there and say oh yeah i'll just live my life and they'll see it no live your life and then preach the word but you don't want to just preach the word as you just disregard the commandments of god because then you're a bad testimony then they're not going to be impressed they're not going to see the bible says righteousness exalted the nation but sin is a reproach to any people and you know what a reproach means it means people look at it and they're just shaking their head and you know what we are a laughing stock of the world right now go ahead and defend your pro and you know some of you right now i bet you there's somebody in this room that right now is just i can't believe he said the word faggot oh oh you know get out of here and don't ever come back get out get out because you know what you are the problem in america today if you're going to sit there and defend the sickest vilest filthy perversion just get out get out of here i don't i don't want you around you say oh i'm afraid i'm afraid that when you preach hard against the homos you know you're going to lose i hope i lose people preaching hard against the homeless i hope you'll get out if you approve of that filth and smut because i don't want you around my kids because i'm suspicious of you if you're going to defend it it's sick it's vile it's disgusting get out the world doesn't accept this crap it's america that accepts this filth the rest of the world's looking at you thinking that you're disgusting and how are we going to reach them with the gospel if we don't distance ourselves from wickedness and lift up this book as the standard you show me in this book your view on the homos and i'll show you mine let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer father we thank you so much for the gospel of jesus christ lord it's the good news we need to get it to the world lord we need to get it to a billion hindus lord that are not saved i don't care what joel osteen says lord they're not saved and and we both know that i pray father that you would help us to be a burning and a shining light of the gospel help us to live a life that can be respected by other nations of the world and help us to go out lord and knock the doors in south tempe and knock the doors in north tempe and reach these dear people with the saving gospel of jesus and we ask these things in your name amen