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

All right, amen. So this morning, well, actually, before I get there, it's been about, I don't know, about six, seven months now since I've preached about the King James Bible, and that's what I'm gonna be preaching about this morning, the subject of the final authority. What is our final authority? Now, you might ask yourself, what is the main thing that separates us from other churches from denominations and things like that? What is the one thing that makes us not a cult? What would that be? That would be that we trust the Bible as it is written. And you might say, well, I've been to other churches before, and they don't downplay the Bible. They talk about how they believe in the Bible, and they read from the Bible. But what you don't understand is that they really don't believe it, right? What these people are, see, what they'll call us is, oh, you're King James only, right? They'll say, you're a bunch of fundies, you're a fundamentalist, you're King James only. You ignore so much of the wisdom and then the power of God that's in all these other versions, and you don't have the full spectrum of God's words. But really what they are is original manuscript only, or you could say they're scholarship only, or you could say they're man only. Now, what is a cult? Well, think about Jim Jones's cult. What was the deal there? It was ran by a man, and what he said, right? What he said trumped what God said. If you take a look at any cult, it's what one man says, right? But what we say is what's written in the Bible is our final authority. Whether we agree with it or not, that is our final authority. And so that's what we're gonna be talking about this morning. This is a big deal. You could turn on Fox News today, you can turn on CNN, and you can look at all the terrible news that's out there in the world today, and I will tell you right now that this subject is more important than any of that junk that you're gonna watch on the news. Final authority. You know why we're in trouble today in this country? It's because pastors have gotten away from the final authority. And why is that? It's because they want their own glory, right? There's a lot of pride and a lot of glory and esteem that comes from these people that stand in front of their congregations every Sunday and say, you know, in the Greek or in the Hebrew, this is what this word really means, right? What that does is it makes you need them instead of you needing God in the Bible, right? You see, the big problem that people have with the Bible is that it's written against man. See, that is the fight today. See, that is the battle. So we're gonna take a look at that this morning. Now, just to bring you up to speed, like what's going on here in Jeremiah, chapter 21 is talking to Zedekiah. Zedekiah was the last king of Judah, and if you've been coming Wednesdays, you probably have a decent, hopefully by now you have a decent bearing, you know, when we're going over the kings and the different prophets and so on and so forth. Chapter 22 talks about Jehoiakim. It talks about Jeconias, who we're gonna come back to later because he's mentioned in Matthew chapter one. And then in 23, we just read this chapter. What is it about? It's about God's anger regarding the prophets that are feeding people lies, right? And so that's what we're dealing with today. Then the root cause of all of the trouble that Israel had, the root cause of all the trouble that Judah had was a disregard for final authority, which comes from God. Okay, so look at verse 36. You're there in Jeremiah chapter 23. Look at verse number 36. It says, and the burden of the Lord shall you mention no more for every man's word shall be his burden. And this next phrase, this next part of the verse is what we're gonna be focusing on today. It says, for ye have perverted the words of the living God of the Lord of hosts, our God. So the Bible tells us here that there are some people that have perverted the words of the living God. So imagine this, the living God, when he speaks, what does he speak? Does he speak vanity? Does he just speak plain like we do? No, he speaks living words. He says, for you have perverted the words of the living God. That means when God speaks, those words are alive. And we're gonna take a look at that. I'm gonna show you exactly what that means today. And I'll tell you just right off the bat, what that means is that if I were to copy down Jeremiah chapter 23 word for word on a piece of paper, those words would still be living. You see, but the words that I speak of my own heart when I'm just talking or rambling on and on and on, if I were to write a book, those aren't living words. Those are gonna perish someday because I'm not God. You understand, does that make sense? Right, the words that God speaks, they are alive, they are power and they were meant to be preserved. And so the title of my sermon this morning is the subversion of the modern perversions. The subversion of the modern perversions. We're gonna take a look at a couple examples this morning about the modern versions. Not a lot because I like to go through that throughout the year. But you might say, okay, what does it mean to subvert? What does that mean? The word subvert means to undermine authority. That's what it means. Okay, it means to undermine authority. That is the goal of the modern versions. You say, well, what's the whole point? It's to subvert God's authority. The NIV Bible, the ESV Bible, all these other English Bibles, their sole purpose is to subvert. It's to undermine God's living words. So you could apply this verse here in Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 36 to what we have today. God would look down at Virginia Mullencott, the bull dyke that translated, that was on the translation committee for the NIV, and he would say, for thou has perverted the words of living God, and woe unto these people that do such a thing. And so what does it mean to pervert? It means to corrupt or distort from its original source. And that is what these versions do. Now turn to Exodus chapter 36 real quick, Exodus chapter 36. And we'll just take a look at one quick example here. This is brother Chris's favorite. He's not here today, but I figured I'd read it anyways. It's gonna be familiar to a lot of you guys, but I think it's the funniest one that's in there, one of the funniest ones. So you turn to Exodus chapter number 36 and look at verse number 19, Exodus 36, 19. So King James Bible reads this, it says, and he made a covering for the tent of ram skins, dyed red and a covering of badger skins above that. Now I read this a few months ago, if you remember, I can't remember what sermon it was, but we had a little bit of fun with that. Now I just wanna read you what some of the different versions say about this verse. So one more time, let's read it one more time. Exodus 36, 19, it says, and he made a covering for the tent of ram skins, dyed red and a covering of badgers skins above that. So what do we see here? We see badger skins. Now listen to the NIV 1984, this is what it says. It says, then they made for the tent, a covering of ram skins dyed red and over that a covering of hides of a sea cow. Okay, now keep in mind where these people are during this timeframe, are they near the ocean? You know how hard it would be for them to go out and get a sea cow? Okay, NASB 1995 says this, he made a covering for the tent of ram skins, dyed red and a covering of porpoise skins above. Okay, yeah, porpoise skins. All right, ESV 2001 says this, and he made for the tent, a covering of tanned ram skins and goat skins. Now goat skins would be a little bit more believable than porpoise skins or a sea cow or a dolphin, okay? The NIV, oh, this is the new NIV 2011. It says, they made for the tent, a covering of ram skins dyed red. It's funny how they can get the beginning right, right? But that's how you sow confusion. You don't just change everything at once, right? What you do is you put in subtle little changes and what does that do that causes confusion, right? And who's the author of confusion? It's the devil, right, you're right, it's Satan. Here's what the new NIV 2011 says. Then they made for the tent, a covering of ram skins dyed red and over that, a covering of the other durable leather. So, now you see why I say, why I titled this sermon, the subversion of the modern perversions, because what are they doing? It's just one example. There's thousands. I mean, there's literally thousands of these types of things that are in the Bible. Let me just read for you one more. The Amplified Bible, this is the Pentecostal special right here. It says, he made a covering for the tent of ram skins turned red and above it, a covering of dolphin or porpoise skins. So, now you have your choice. It's either a dolphin or a porpoise. So, if you're an amplified kind of person, you've got more options than you would if you're just your new evangelical NIV loving type person, okay? So, you see what the issue is? Imagine yourself during this time, you wanna follow God's law, right? You wanna follow his law as it is written. Well, what is it? Is it a badger skin? Or is it a porpoise? Is it a leather from a couch somewhere? Some kind of a durable, I mean, what is it? You see, words matter. Words are important in, you know what? In Jeremiah's time, God said, for ye, talking to the pastors, for ye have perverted the words of the living God. Turn to 1 Peter chapter one. 1 Peter chapter one. In 2 Corinthians chapter two verse 17 says this. It says, for we are not as many which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God in the sight of God speak we in Christ. So, all throughout the Bible, you're gonna see this concept that people corrupt the word of God. Now, if you go read up on these new evangelical leaders like John MacArthur or John Piper, I can show you statements. In fact, from this book that I have here, if anybody wants to borrow, just let me know. I got this from Framing the World. It's called Which Bible Would Jesus Use? This is a great book. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend that you read it. And in there, there's even quotes by John MacArthur, and they'll recommend the King James Bible. They will. You know, they'll say, you need to find a Bible that's easy to understand, like the King James, the NIV, or the ESV. And these quotes can be found by all of these people. But if you try to pin them down on the differences, they'll usually sidestep, or then their fangs come out, and then they'll start pouring on. Well, you know, this is what we have today, but to get the real word of God, we have to go back to the originals. Why do they do that? Why do they do that? I'll tell you why. It's because they want to be your final authority, not God. They don't want God to be your final authority. You know, and so we do have many teachers, many people today that will say, there's no conspiracy. There's no subverting going on. These are honest men. They're working hard. And even James White will say, well, you know, okay, there's hundreds of Bible versions. And he'll say, and some of them that are really far out there, there are some people that are trying to pervert it, but by and large, they all say the same thing. It just depends on how you read it. And look, that is simply not true. Just from that one example I showed you, those are different things, right? A dolphin's different than a porpoise. A porpoise is different than durable leather and a sea cow and all this other stuff. It's a nightmare, right? It's a nightmare. And I said earlier that the goal of the modern versions is really to undermine God's authority. That is the purpose. Now, you might talk to a translator, right? You might talk to one of these people and think, well, that's a really godly person. He uses the lingo. He called me brother, you know? And he seems like a saved person. He seems like he's a good Christian. Well, I'm gonna show you this morning that nothing could be further from the truth. Anybody that would sit down and want to change God's word. And I'm not talking about saying the same thing in a different way or the same thing using different words, because you can do that, right? There's a lot of words in the English language. But when you sit there and you change God's word because you want to earn a copyright for money, that's why they do that for money. That's why they want to do that. You're a wicked, evil person, right? These people do not have your interests in their own hearts, they don't. They want to be your final authority. So 1 Peter chapter one, verse 23 says this, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Now keep in mind that a lot of these people will tell you there's no conspiracy, there's no trouble. All of these things say the same thing. The ESV just says it a little bit different. You're just nitpicking. You just want to be problematic and they'll say that. But what did we find in Jeremiah? God said that ye have perverted the words of the living God, so is it possible that somebody can pervert the words of God? Yes, it's all throughout the Bible. Paul said for we are not as many as corrupt the word of God. What do we read here in 1 Peter chapter one? Being born again, not of what? Corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. So is there incorruptible seed? Yes, there is, right? Now is there corruptible seed? Yes, there is, I just read from you, or read for you four or five different corruptions, right? So we need to understand as Bible-believing Christians, as fundamentalists, that there are people trying to pervert, not trying, they are perverting the words of God. You know, this comes up a lot out-souling. You know, people, oh, King James only, what's that? Right, somebody said that to us on Thursday. What does that mean, King James only? We had to explain that to them because they're not being taught this type of stuff. In fact, when you go to these liberal churches, what you're gonna find is they'll say, well, they're just a little, they're extremists. Baptists are extremists, right? That's kind of known out there in the world. Well, they're just extreme. They don't like to have fun. They just want to control, you know, they mean well, but they're just a little off the deep end. That's what they'll say, you know? When nothing could be further from the truth, we're commanded to be separate, to be holy like God is, right? That's why we're doing that. That's why we're fundamental, because God said, be holy. Well, guess what? Being holy is being fundamental. Believing in doing exactly the things that are written. And part of that is understanding, right? Being wise, gaining knowledge to the fact that there is corruption out there. There are people that are trying to harm God's words. Look at verse 24. He says, for all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. So turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter one. So he starts off in verse 23 saying, hey, be careful. Understand there is seed. There are people who have corrupted God's word, just like in the days of Jeremiah. And then he says this in verse 25, but the word of the Lord endureth forever. Why does he say that? Why does he say that the word of the Lord endureth forever? Because the living God speaks living words. It's not that hard to understand. It blows my mind that you tell people this and they just don't get it. But we'll go over that. I'm getting ahead of myself. We'll go over why in a moment. All right, 1 Thessalonians chapter one, look at verse number five. It says this, for our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. So the Bible says that the gospel doesn't just come to you in word, but it comes in power. And how does it come in power? By the Holy Ghost. That's what it's saying here. So we need to understand that these aren't just mere words. These aren't just mere words that we can change and be flippant with and be, you know, just be all lackadaisical with. They are written with power and they are preached with power. In Romans chapter one, verse 16, Paul says this, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation. That's what it says to everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek. The words that we preach to people during the week, guess what, they are power. You know, we talked last week about Todd White. You know why he can just go up to people and just, oh, I'm just gonna love on people and they'll get saved. I'm just gonna give them my testimony and they'll be saved. You know why he says stuff like that? Because he doesn't know the power of God. He doesn't have the words of the living God. That's why he does that. That's exactly why he does that. You don't have to turn there, but Ecclesiastes chapter eight, verse four says this. It says where the word of a king is, there is power. Understand that. The Bible says where the word of a king is, there is power. So when people downplay God's word, when they say, no, he didn't preserve his word for us. No, the King James Bible is not inspired. No, we don't have the written record today. We have to get it from all the collection of the scrolls that are dug up. What they're saying is our King Jesus Christ has no power. That's what they're saying. So when you deal with somebody like that, just know, you are dealing with somebody that says, Christ has no power. Because look, I believe the Bible says where the word of a king is, there is power. And you say, well, there's a lot of evil kings that were in the world. And guess what? Guess what? There was power there, right? Yes, Ahab was a wicked king, but guess what? Did he not have power? Of course he did. He was a king. And it's a fact, is Jesus Christ a king? He's the king of kings, the Bible says, right? So guess what? Where his words are, there is power. And guess what that means? There's preservation. And guess what that means? That preservation has life. Need to understand that. So he says, the living God has given living words. Go back to Jeremiah chapter 23. Jeremiah chapter 23. So he says, you have perverted the words of the living God. And that's what we're dealing with today. We're dealing with people that have perverted the words of the living God. And what did Jesus say? He said, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. Is that not what he said? The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. This isn't like your novel down at the library, right? This isn't like this book that was written by man, right? There's a lot of good information in here. This is great. You can learn, you can gain wisdom, but you know what? Those aren't living words, except for the King James references that are in there, right? So what are the fruits of the perversions of the Bible that we have today? I'll tell you what they are. Captivity, right? Vanity and insanity. Captivity, vanity and insanity. That's the fruit of the NIV. That's the fruit of the ESV. That's the fruit of all of these modern perversions of the Bible. I mean, think about it. God's telling these people through Jeremiah that they're about to go into captivity like Israel did. And why? Because they perverted the words of the living God. That's why. So what happens to a Christian church when they decide, you know what, I'm just gonna go down that road. I'm just gonna go ahead and read the NIV. I'm just gonna go ahead and subscribe to those things. What happens? Their minds go into captivity. Do they not? Come soul-winning with us and I'll show you a bunch of people that go to church week after week and they are held captive. They are confused. They don't know what's going on. And these people, look, there's tons of people around here that go to church. And they're not lying when they tell you they go to church. They really do. And what's the one thing we find over and over and over again? They don't know if they're saved. Right? And think about it. Why don't they know that? Because they're being fed wormwood from a book that's been corrupted. That's why. When you corrupt God's word, it doesn't have power. God removes that and he says, no, I'm not. These are my words as it is written. That's how it has power, as it is written. And when man says, you know what, I don't like that. I'm going to remove that. I'm going to take that away. God says, well, now I'm going to take away your understanding and I'm going to put your mind into captivity. I'm going to make you vain and I'm going to make you insane. That's exactly what happens. Look at verse number one. You're back at Jeremiah. Look at verse number one, Jeremiah 23, verse one. He says, woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord. So does it sound like God is happy about this? No, it doesn't. God is angry. Look at verse two. Therefore, thus saith the Lord, God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people. So there are pastors, right? And what are they doing? They're feeding the people. Now continue reading. Ye have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not visited them. Behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the Lord. So what have these people done? What have these pastors done? They've destroyed. What have they destroyed? They've destroyed God's people. They've scattered God's people. And notice what they're supposed to be doing. They're supposed to be feeding them truth. But are they doing that? No, they're feeding them lies. And what was the result? A scattering, right? Basically a mental captivity, if you will, right? And you're gonna see that it gets much, much worse. So I've got five points for you this morning. Five points, and then we'll be done, all right? Now point number one is this. God's promise concerning his words brings results, right? God's promises concerning his words bring results. What are you talking about? Look at verse three. Look at verse three, Jeremiah 23, verse three. And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries, whether I have driven them. And I will bring them again to their folds and they shall be fruitful and increase. He's talking about us. He's talking about the New Testament. He's talking about the time after they go into captivity and then it's all over, right? Because what you gotta understand here is that Jeremiah is prophesying to these people during their waves of captivity, right? And he's trying to give them hope. He's saying, hey, though you're gonna go into captivity, guess what? It's not gonna be forever. Basically what he's saying is I'm done with this physical nation here. And I'm going to raise up a new nation, a spiritual Israel, a godly Israel, and they're going to be fruitful and they will increase. Right, look at verse four. And I will set up shepherds over them, which shall feed them. Now, is he talking about physical food here? No, of course not. What's the subject here? It's the word of God, right? It's the words that they perverted, but he's saying, hey, there's coming a time where I'll raise up people that will take the right words and they will feed my people, right? Keep reading, keep reading. Look at the results here. And they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord. So this is talking about the time where the Holy Ghost is given unto men. And what was the result? Read the book of Acts. What's the result? People getting saved, churches being started, right? Isn't that not what you see with our type of churches when we follow the word of God, what happens? People get saved, people get discipled, and things start to spread and they start to multiply. They start to increase, they start to be fruitful. Why is that? Because the living God spake living words, that's why. And when you use those correctly, it gets results, right? So he says this, pastors will feed the people with the word of God. And what's the result? No fear. What's the result of the NIV churchgoer when we knock on their door? Fear. It's confusion, but it's a result of, their fear is a result of confusion, right? They are fearful. What are they fearful about? Because they don't know where they're gonna go when they die. They have no clue. They have no clue. So a result of being fed wormwood, of being fed bitterness, being fed lies is fear. And God's saying, hey, there's coming a time where I'm gonna raise up people, and guess what? They're going to feed you, and you won't be afraid. Look, I know most of you in here are not afraid to die. Most of you in here, you might be afraid of the way you die. That's a different story. That's just human nature, right? But we're not afraid of the coming tribulation. We're not afraid of the coming judgment on this country. Why? Because we understand, right? We've been fed the word of God. We've been fed truth, and we get that, and we understand that, and the result is no more fear. That's what God's saying here. And he says, nor be dismayed. The word being dismayed means to be, if you're dismayed, that means that something has caused you to lose courage. That's what it is to be dismayed, just to be always just sort of fretting, and being worried, and being alarmed. Then God says, hey, when you sit under leadership where they feed you the righteous word of God, you won't fear, but also you won't be dismayed. So when these things happen, and we see these leaders, these so-called Christian leaders backslide, and say, I don't believe in God anymore, and all their congregants, they just turn into atheists, or they just flee, and they just run out of the community, and say, I knew it was a joke. We sit back and laugh, and we say, you know what? I'm not dismayed, because I knew that was coming. I knew you believed lies. I knew you believed falsehood, and that's why you're dismayed. That's why you're fearful. That's why you're confused, because you don't have the righteous words of God. Now keep reading that verse there. He says, neither shall they be lacking. Notice that. When you're fed the righteous words of God, not only will you not fear, not only will you not be dismayed, but you will not be lacking. And what is the message of the New Evangelical today? What's one of the things that they like to say? Oh, you're lacking, right? Well, what happens if you open up the ESV, and you go to Acts 837, or the NASB, and you go to Acts 837? What you're gonna find there is that verse is in brackets, right? It'll say, this verse does not appear in the original manuscripts. What happens if you open the NIV, and you go to Acts 8, verse 37? The verse is totally gone, right? You see what I mean? You see what's going on here? It's lacking. Those people, and look, I'm not trying to be rude. I'm just trying to tell you the truth. They're lacking, right? They meet this criteria. They're fearful. They're dismayed, and they are lacking. But God says, I'm gonna raise up shepherds for you. I'm gonna raise up people for you that will feed you right. And when you're fed right, you won't fear. You won't be dismayed, and you won't be lacking. You will not be lacking. I'm gonna tell this story. Yesterday, we were out soul-lending, and ran into this family, and I thought they were gonna be receptive. They're like, oh yeah, we go to a Christian church. It's just right down the street, and I thought they were old enough to listen to the gospel, but I guess they were young teens. I'm getting old, you know? And they're like, well, we gotta go get our mom. I'm like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. Definitely, yeah, go get your mom. I was like, man, I thought they were married or something. Turns out I was wrong. But anyways, mama comes out, right? And she's like, yeah, I'm LDS. I'm like, ah, man, great. Here we go. And I'm like, well, hey, you know, these guys said they were interested. They wanted to hear the gospel. Are you interested? Sure, she basically said, what did she say? I know it's by faith and works, something along those lines, right? And she gave me a quick rundown of what they believe. It's a typical faith plus work story. And so I'm like, all right, you sure you wanna hear it? You have time? I don't wanna impose, right? Because I know where this is going. And she's like, no, no, go ahead. And so I started to go through the gospel with her, right? And she's like, oh yeah, I know it's all by faith. I know it's all by grace through faith. I get that, I understand that. It's just no problem. And she's agreeing with me, right? She's agreeing with me through revelation. I'm like, man, she's even agreeing about hell. My God, it doesn't sound, maybe she's a Jack Mormon, right? And then I get to Ephesians 2, eight and nine. I think that's where she said, well, you just can't live however you want. That's what she says, right? And then finally, the truth comes out, you know, from the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh, the Bible says. And she starts, you know, running off about, well, you just can't live however you want. When you get saved and you decide that you wanna be a follower of Christ and you wanna be a follower of God, she says, and she's getting all animated, right? She's getting worked up. She's like, then he accepts you, but then you gotta keep bearing fruit and you gotta keep going on and you gotta keep doing the works. You gotta keep doing this and keep doing that. And I was like, okay, so do you think that when you get saved, God only forgives you for your past sins and your present sins? She's like, yes, that's it. That's exactly what I, that's exactly it. And then we have to take the rest of the bill basically is what she said. And I was like, okay, so I showed her in Romans chapter four I'm not gonna turn there now for sake of time, but I showed her in Romans chapter four very clearly where, you know, Paul's telling you that, hey, you're forgiven for your past sins, your present sins and your future sins, right? I mean, you guys know the verse, right? Blessed is the man whom the Lord will not impute sin, right? There's your future sins, right? And she stops and she's like, whoa. And she actually said, that's crazy. That is crazy. And she's like, but you know what? I gotta go read the Bible. I gotta go read Romans four. I'm gonna go read that. And that's why I just dropped it. I just, I just let it go from there. But nonetheless, that one verse there that caused her to fear, that caused her to fear that she wasn't saved. And you could see it in her face, right? Her whole countenance changed. Her whole countenance changed. She's like, she didn't deny it. There is no denying that verse. And she's like, I gotta go take a look at this. I've never heard that before. And I'm like, yeah, you've never heard that before. Cause your church doesn't believe in the Bible. You know, your church wants you to trust on their prophets, right? What's their prophet's name? What's that guy's name, man? Yeah. Yeah, there's Joseph Smith. Who's the modern day prophet over there though? I know you guys sent me all those videos and I said I'd remember his name, but it's some bozo over in Salt Lake City, right? He's basically some guy that's alive today. He's their modern day prophet, right? And he's the authority, basically. That's what it boils down to, it's man. That's why we say they're a cult, because they rely on what he says. What he says trumps what the Bible says. And what Joseph Smith said trumps what the Bible says too. You know that? So, I mean, how is that any different from being a Catholic, right? What the Pope says trumps what the Bible says. You see what I'm saying? It's not what John MacArthur says trumps what the Bible says. What James White says trumps what the Bible says. And these people want to call us cult members, right? Nothing could be further from the truth. They're the ones that are closer to a cult than we are. Because we just believe the words that are written. And so this woman got dismayed by the word of God. And thank God for it. You know, hopefully she does go read Romans chapter four. I said, hey, read the whole chapter, right? You know, she's not gonna get saved from reading the chapter because she doesn't understand it, but it will cause her to think. And that was somewhat of a victory for us, I thought, because she was like, okay, you got me, basically. You know, you won. And hopefully the next time around, the next time we go back there, somebody in here will wind up getting her saved and she will listen. Let's move on here. Let's move on here. So point number two, God's promises concerning them that pervert his words is to put them in bitterness and deception, right? Think about John MacArthur. Think about John Piper. Think about Joel Osteen. And think if you've ever watched any videos about how they are and the things that they say they're loving, Todd White. I mean, the list goes on, John Hagee. I mean, you know, I always say, I'm gonna go off on all these people and then I forget their names when I come up here. But I mean, you get the point, right? What is one thing that they'll do if you try to present them with a King James only issue? They get better, right? They get better. Now at face value, if you were just to interview them about the Bible, they'll say, we recommend the King James, we recommend all Bible versions. But if you say, hey, all of those are wrong, then they're gonna, guess what they're gonna do? Are they gonna defend the King James Bible? No, they're not. They're gonna defend the modern versions, right? Why? Because they're better. Why? Because they're deceived. Where does that come from? It comes from God. It comes from them choosing to pervert the words of the living God. That's where it comes from. Jeremiah 23, look at verse 13. Jeremiah 23, look at verse 13. It says, and I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria. They prophesied in Baal and caused my people Israel to err. Again, going back to the word of God, right? Why did Israel go into captivity? It's because they rejected the word of the Lord, right? It's the same thing that's going on in Judah here. Look at verse 14. I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem, an horrible thing. They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen also the hands of the evildoers. Now let's stop right there for a second. They strengthen the hands of the evildoers. Did you know, now this adultery thing, this goes on even when churches would save people. We all know that, okay? But it is more prevalent in the new evangelical world than it ever was in the old IFP or in the new IFP, okay? But he says, and walk in lies. You need to understand that these people that are teaching out of these modern versions, whether they realize it or not, they're walking in lies. They have subscribed to the perversions of the words of the living God, but he says they also strengthen the hands of the evildoers. That's what was going on in Israel. That's what was going on in the kingdom of Judah. And that's exactly what's going on today. These people strengthen the hands of the evildoers and you say, how do they do that? Well, think about it. Think about this. Is not new evangelical Christianity the friend of the LGBT, the faggots, the queers? Right, they are, right? That's exactly what's going on. They literally strengthen the hands of the evildoers, right? What's that guy's name in Tennessee? That man, Charles Lawson. Yeah, I remembered him, Charles Lawson. Who knows who Charles Lawson is? Independent fundamental dispensational dirt bag preacher, right? So this guy, there's a video out there and he's bashing Pastor Grayson Fretz because of his stand against the queers and because he was a police officer, right? And he gets up in front of his congregation and what does he say? He says this. I'll just paraphrase because I can't remember a word for what he says. But he says, basically, he says, I've always said about the LGBT community that you're welcome at Temple Baptist Church. You're welcome here. And then he goes on to say, we'll even roll out the red carpal for you. You're welcome. They strengthen the hands of the evildoers. You might say, well, Charles Lawson's King James only. No, dispensationalists, they really aren't King James only. They're Schofield only. They're Darby only. They're footnote only is what they are, okay? And we need to remember that. But nonetheless, that man is walking in lies. That man is strengthening the hands of the evildoers. That's exactly what he's doing. And that's exactly what this new create church is starting today over at that, what is it, the Regal Cinemas off Overland? Yeah, guess what? That guy, he's not King James only. He's not fundamental. He subscribes to the words that have been perverted, right? That's what he subscribes to. And so he's gonna, you know, he's bragging about coming to Boise and there's no church like ours and boy, it's like every church is like yours and Boise, right? You believe in work salvation. You believe in this liberal junk. You wanna be just like the world. How's that any different from any of the other churches around here? Bring it on. I mean, start a million of them because you know what? They'll just eat each other alive. You know, all that, what they know from a business perspective, listen to this. This is what they know. They know that Christian people, right? Christians, these liberals, they are not loyal, right? So he knows he can come open up shop at a movie theater with the big flashy lights, the comfortable seats, the rock band, and he knows. They know that people will leave their smaller little liberal churches with the rock band and the purple lights and they'll come to the big show. They know that. That is why they come here because of a financial opportunity. Not because of truth. What does he have to offer? He doesn't have the word of God. He doesn't have the truth. What does he have to offer to Boise? Nothing. Yeah, he's got skinny jeans, right? What else does he have? There's other stuff I'm missing. Skinny jeans, tank tops, what's that? YouTube commercials. Yeah, YouTube commercials, a whole slew of things. It's called Create Church, go look it up. Create, what are they creating? They're creating people that don't believe in God's work, for one, right? They're creating a bunch of hard work for us because we have to go knock on their church members' doors and tell them the truth and straighten them out and iron them out and teach them and try to feed them the right words of God so they won't fear, won't be dismayed, right? So that they won't be held captive and all these sort of things. Let's move on here. I went off on a big rabbit trail. I don't think I finished reading that verse. All right, Jeremiah 23, 14, start over. I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing. They commit adultery and walk in lies. They strengthen also the hands of the evildoers that none doth return from his wickedness. They are all of them unto me as Sodom and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. That is God's attitude towards these types of people. Verse 15, therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets. Behold, I will feed them with wormwood and make them drink the water of gall for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. So I said point number two is God's promise concerning them that pervert his words is to put them in bitterness and deception. God's promise concerning them that pervert his words is to put them in bitterness and deception. And look at verse 15. The source is from God. It says, therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets. He says, behold, I will feed them. He says, hey, you wanna feed my people lies? You wanna feed them lies and deceit and vanity? Guess what? I'm gonna feed you with wormwood. Wormwood is bitterness, gall is bitterness. That's what he's saying. I will feed you with that. That is God's attitude towards people that would pervert his words. Now go to Revelation chapter 22. Last book, last page, should be the last page of the Bible. Revelation 22, let's look at verse 18 and 19. Revelation chapter 22, look at verse number 18, last book of the Bible. We're gonna come back to Jeremiah, so keep your place there. But in Revelation chapter 22, look at verse number 18. It says, for I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto the things, or I'm sorry, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And people will say, and here's what the liberals will say. They'll say, well, that's just talking about the book of Revelation. And it is talking about the book of Revelation, the right. But guess what? They don't pervert the book of Revelation, do they not? Right, they change those words. They take meaning out and they put meaning in. Look at verse 19. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. It's the same thing that we read in Jeremiah chapter 23, verse 15. God says, you wanna pervert my words? I will pervert your mind. I will change your mind. I will feed you with bitterness. I will feed you with deception. I will feed you with damnation. It's the same thing from the beginning of the Bible to the very end of the Bible, right? What did God do to the serpent in the Garden of Eden? What was his thing, right? Yea hath God said, changing God's word, same thing. Last page of the Bible, last book of the Bible, last thought of the Bible, what is it? Don't mess with my words. Good Lord. God is not pleased with these people. I don't care how many ham sandwiches they feed people downtown. God's not pleased with that if they've perverted his words, if they teach people it's okay to pervert his words, if they subscribe to it, he's not okay with it. He is angry about that, and so we need to understand that God's promise concerning them that pervert his words is to put them in bitterness and deception. So let's move on here, point number three. Point number three, people that do not believe that God has preserved his words are vain and make you vain as well. One more time, point number three, people that do not believe God has preserved his words are vain and make you vain as a result. So where did I get that from? Jeremiah 23, look at verse number 16. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you. They make you vain. They speak a vision of their own heart and not out of the mouth of the Lord. So notice those three things there. What do these people do? What do these prophets do that have perverted the words of the living God? What do they do? They make you vain, they make you empty, right? He says they speak a vision of their own heart and not out of the mouth of the Lord, right? Because the words that we have that are written and preserved for us today, they came from the mouth of the Lord, right? And if you're reading the NIV, that didn't come from the mouth of the Lord. That came from some perverted committee that thought that they knew better than God and wanted more money. That's what's really going on. Go to Deuteronomy chapter number 17. Deuteronomy chapter number 17. So he says they make you vain. They speak a vision of their own heart. That's not hard to see. Go turn on any one of these preachers that subscribes to the modern perversions. You know what you're gonna find? You're going to find a vision of their own heart. Is it not true? Does not Joel Osteen get up week after week in front of all those thousands of people and speak a vision of his own heart? A vision which is perversion, right? A vision which says God loves everybody no matter what you've done, no matter what you do. That's a vision of his own heart. That's Todd White's vision. You know what? That's James White's vision. You know, that's all the modern day scholars' vision. It's all the same. And it comes from vanity. And that vanity came from people that perverted the words of the living God because the living God speaks words out of his own mouth and they live and they go on forever. And when you pervert them, you cause problems. Look at this. Deuteronomy 17, look at verse number 18. Deuteronomy 17, 18, he says this. This is God speaking to the children of Israel. And he's saying, I know there's gonna come a time when you will appoint yourself a king. And then he says, I don't want you, I don't want him to multiply wives unto himself. I don't want him to multiply horses because I'm gonna take care of him. Then verse 18, he says this. And it shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom that he shall write him a copy of this law. And we're gonna come back to that in the next point. He says that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests and the Levites. Verse 19, and it shall be with him and he shall read therein all the days of his life. So what is the king supposed to do? He's supposed to copy the word of God, right? He's supposed to read all the days of his life. Why? That he may learn to fear the Lord, his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes to do them. Look at verse 20. This is the part that I want you to really understand. That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren. You see that? What's point number three? People that do not believe that God has preserved his words are vain and they make their congregants vain. They make you vain. It comes from not having the truth. That's why God said in this verse here that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren and that he turn not aside from the commandment. So people that don't read the Bible, oftentimes what you're gonna find is a lot of pride, a lot of arrogance that they know better, right? They know better than you. They know more than you. That's why you can have these West Coast Baptist graduates and these Golden Calf Baptist graduates and these Liberty Bible college graduates, their pastors, their preachers, their big wigs stand up in front of thousands of peoples and that's why they can say, well, in the Greek, in the Hebrew, in the other language, in this text, in that text and they can speak like that. You know why they can do that? Because their heart's been lifted up. They haven't been reading the Bible. They haven't been reading God's word. They haven't been taught the truth and so their hearts get lifted up above their brethren. That's why if you talk to these people one-on-one, they're very condescending type people. Go ask Pastor Thompson about that. He got to ask Paul Chappell. I'm not saying Paul Chappell's not saved. I don't know but he got to ask him, what do you think about this repent of your sins doctrine? You know, and the way he talked to him, he said it was very condescending. It was very arrogant. It was, he said he gave me a politician's answer basically and why is that? Because the guy is a politician. You know, it might be harsh. Oh, how dare you talk about another church passed like that? Well, he deserves it. The shoe fits, wear it, you know. That's the way I see it but God said, hey, you need to read this book all the days of your life and you need to believe it. Otherwise, you will become vain. You will become lifted up with pride. You will become the problem. You will speak a vision of your own heart. That's what's gonna happen. Think about the family that left our church. They spoke a vision of their own heart. Why is that? Because they didn't read the Bible. You say prove it. I did prove it. I proved it like three weeks ago. It's a fact. Anytime I'm talking with somebody and they're arrogant and they're pride and they think they know better, I know for a fact you don't read your Bible or you're not saved and you're reading it. It's one of the two. So let's move on here. Go to Psalms chapter 119, Psalms chapter 119. Psalms chapter 119. So I said they speak a vision of their own heart. These people are full of vanity and the result is destruction. A result is a people, a church, a congregation, a person who thinks he's saved, a person who doesn't know for sure but says I'm pretty sure I'm saved. The result is always confusion and destruction. Exodus chapter 20 verse one says this and God spake all these words, right? The Bible says that God spake all these words. He's the living God. They came from his mouth. They are alive forevermore. That's what the Bible says. You know what? Keep your place there in Psalm 119 but go to 2 Peter chapter, yeah, 2 Peter chapter one. Sorry, 2 Peter chapter one. 2 Peter chapter one and look at verse 21. 2 Peter chapter one, verse 21 says this. It says, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will, I'm sorry, it says, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man. But holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. That's what the Bible says about itself and it's funny that you could talk to these people about this and they don't get it. They don't understand. But the Bible says of itself, these words were preserved. These words came out of the mouth of God. Remember, what did Jesus say? He said, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. What is Peter saying here? He says, for the prophecy, right, talking about the word of God, came not in old time by the will of man. So the Old Testament didn't just come by the will of man. It wasn't just Jeremiah's own vision. It wasn't just his own heart, right? It wasn't just Isaiah's own vision in his own heart. This is for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. So when somebody says, hey, Jeremiah made a mistake or Isaiah made a mistake or Paul made a mistake and it's actually the narrator speaking, what you're saying is you don't believe the Bible. What you're saying is you don't understand the Bible. What you're saying is you're not saved. That's what you're saying. You're saying the Bible has mistakes. You're basically, what you're doing is you're blaspheming. You're perverting the words of the living God because the Bible says of itself, it says, for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost for you to say that's not true. You're saying that God is a liar. You're saying that our king has no power because the Bible says for where the word of a king is, there is power and you're saying that Jesus is not king. That's what you're saying. You're saying he has no power. That's what you're saying. And that's wicked. That's a very wicked doctrine. Go back to Psalm 119, Psalm 119. Psalm 119, and keep your place there because we're gonna come back to it right in the middle of your Bible. Psalm 119, it says blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord. It doesn't say blessed is a man who walks in the vision of his own heart. It said blessed is a man who walks in the law of the Lord. Verse two, blessed are they that keep his testimonies. Well, that's the word of God. And that seek him with the whole heart. That you wanna please God, you wanna be blessed? Guess what? You need to seek God with your whole heart. Look at verse three. They also do no iniquity, they walk in his ways. Now, how is it that they don't do any iniquity? It's because God doesn't impute sin unto them. And by the way, this also proves that dispensationalism is wrong because you weren't saved in the Old Testament by mixing faith and works. You were saved by believing on God. And if you really believe on God, you're gonna believe his words. That's what's going on here. That's what it says. Go to Joshua chapter number eight, Joshua chapter eight. So we're done with point three. Point number four is this. God's words were meant to be copied. God's words were meant to be copied. And by that, I mean they were meant to be passed on from generation to generation to generation to the end of the year. Jesus said that heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away. Now, if you look up the word copy in the Bible, the first time you're gonna see that word is in Deuteronomy chapter number 17. Sound familiar? We just read it, right? About the king, what was he supposed to do? He was supposed to copy the law. He was supposed to copy the Bible and read it all the days of his life. God is meant for his word to be copied. I'm gonna show you some examples of that. Joshua chapter eight, look at verse 30. This is where Joshua's renewing the covenant. He's getting everyone back on board. Verse 30, Joshua 8, 30 says this. Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal as Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel. As it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones over which no man hath lifted up any iron and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the Lord and sacrifice peace offerings. By the way, this, where do you think he got this from? Where do you think he got this doctrine? Where did Joshua get these instructions from? Well, it's from Exodus chapter 20. It's from when God was giving Moses the law, right? What did he say? You're not supposed to lift up your tool on the altar. Guess what? That's why we don't have an altar up here today made out of wood and fastened with nails and had tools on it and stuff like that. That's why we don't do altar calls today because it's not in the Bible. It's not a biblical teaching. It's not a biblical doctrine. You can see that right here. Look at verse 32. He says, and he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of the children of Israel. So the question is, was God's word meant to be copied? Is it okay for God's word to be copied? Yes, as long as it's copied correctly, right? And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses. So in Deuteronomy 17, we have God's permission to copy his words, right? The Bible says that we're all kings and priests so that for we have the authority to copy these words. So you can sit down and you can write these words down on a piece of paper. You can write down notes to yourself. You can write down verses to remind you of different doctrines and things like that. That's okay. You know, but you go to the Catholic church and they'll say, well, you know, you shouldn't do that. You should leave interpretation up to the Pope. Jehovah's Witnesses, you should leave interpretation up to the Watchtower Society, the Mormons. Well, we really leave interpretation up to that false prophet over there in Salt Lake City. But God says, no, if you're a king, copy the words down, get them in your mind, copy them in your heart, write them down, learn them, read them, believe them, use them. Look at verse 30. And all Israel and their elders and officers and their judges stood on the side of the ark. And on that side before the priest, the Levites, which bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, as well as the stranger, as he that was born among them, half of them over against Mount Gerizim and half of them over against Mount Ebal. As Moses, the servant of the Lord had commanded before that they should bless the people of Israel. Look at verse 34. And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings according to all that is written in the book of the law. And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings. You see that, according to all that is written in the book of the law. So all of the Bible is profitable to this day. It's not right to only preach the blessings. I've heard preacher after preacher after preacher in my life saying, I don't like to preach about hell. I don't like to preach about sin. I don't like to preach about the horrible things because people don't like it. Well, you know what? Joshua said, I'm gonna preach to you the blessings and the cursings, I'm gonna give you the full meal. I'm gonna give you the full righteous balance of God's diet. Remember what the Bible says about a false balance? That it's an abomination to the Lord. So when you see a church like Todd White's church, right, and he only wants to preach this love and all this stuff like that, guess what? God looks at that, he says, that is an abomination. Not only is your hair an abomination, not only is your testimony an abomination, pal, but guess what? So is your whole life, so is your whole ministry, it's an abomination, it's a false balance. Verse 35, he says, there was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel, with the women and the little ones and the strangers that were conversant among them. Turn to Exodus chapter 32, go back to Exodus chapter number 32. The reason why Joshua read the full diet, right, the reason why he read the blessings and the cursings is because he understood that hard preaching changes people's lives. That's why he did it. Learning the truth, learning the righteous word, the living words that come out of God's mouth, that is what changes people's lives, if you listen to it. So Exodus 32, before you get there, I'm gonna read for you Proverbs 25, one, we went over this a couple Wednesdays ago, but it says, these are also Proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, copied out. So you have to understand when you get to Proverbs chapter 25, that those Proverbs were copied out by Hezekiah's men. You say, well, where's the other 3,000 Proverbs that he had? Look, if we had all those, you know how big the Bible would be? If we had every genealogy, you know how big the Bible would be? If we had every little detail that every little king, every little thing that the kings did, I mean, the whole earth wouldn't be able to contain the book it would just wrap around the world. We have what God has decided we need to have. And guess what? His words are okay to be copied. They were meant to be copied. And since they're living words, that means when you copy the living words, they stay living. Exodus 32, 15 says this, and Moses turned and went down from the mountain. And the two tables of the testimony were in his hand. The tables were written on both their sides, on the one side and on the other side were they written. And the tables were the work of God and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tablets. Now go back to Psalms 119 and look at verse number 89. So what we just read here in Exodus 32, is that the tables that God gave Moses, the tables of stone, which God wrote upon, or God said, hey, the writings are the work of God, right? These graven words, these living words were the work of God. Guess what? Did you know that those words were a copy? The very first tablet that God gave to Moses, did you understand that's a copy? God gave him a copy of the word. And you might say, what in the world are you talking about? Psalm 119, look at verse 89. Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Those words that God gave Moses were there before Moses was even born. So God says, I'm going to give you a copy of these words. These words are living words and I want you to take them and I want you to teach them to the people and I want them to follow these words and I want them to copy these words and I want them to teach their children and I want their children to teach their children and I want this to go on forever because he says, I am God. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. God's words were meant to be copied. That is what the Bible teaches. That is not what most churches teach today. That is not what most pastors teach today. Most people teach the exact opposite, that we don't have the Bible today. They'll say, oh, you know, in the original manuscripts, right, they'll often say that. Well, only in the originals, only in the originals. If we had the originals, then we'd be sure, we'd be certain. The original manuscripts in heaven, it has been there since day one because it says forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. That means his words are eternal. You understand that? The first tablet that God gave Moses was a copy but you'll have some new evangelical bozo today get up in front of his congregation and say, well, that was the original manuscript. That was not the original manuscript. That was a copy of the word that was settled in heaven. James chapter one, you don't have to turn there. Go back to Jeremiah. James chapter one, verse 21 says this. It says, wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with meekness the engrafted word which is able to save your souls. So James is telling people, James is telling Christians, hey, understand this concept here, that the words that God spoke, they are engrafted, right? And they are able to save your soul, right? Being born again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever. That's what the Bible says. You have to be saved by believing, by hearing the word preached, the right word, right? The incorruptible seed. We understand that, that makes sense, right? Everybody understand that? In James chapter one, he says that the word is engrafted. What does that mean? It mean, the word engrafted, that means to graft. It means to transplant. So he's basically saying, hey, these words were meant to be copied, they were meant to be transplanted. That's what he's saying. And by saying the exact opposite, I will say this again. You're saying that King Jesus has no power. That's all you're saying. Look at verse 29, look at verse 29. Jeremiah chapter 23, verse 29. Is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces. God's words were meant to be copied. They were meant to be preserved. He's all powerful. He says, my word is like a fire and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces. What does Christianity today say? They say the exact opposite. They say his word has no power. They say, oh, if we just had the original manuscripts, then we'd have the power. Is there any wonder why there's fear and dismay and vain and vanity and so on and so forth? It comes because they don't have these words. They don't have the living words. They subscribe to the words that have been perverted. So let's move on here. Point number five, we're almost done. Point number five, problem texts or contradictions are written to condemn the proud. See, there's a lot of things that the atheists like to go to to say the Bible's got contradictions in it. Do they not? I mean, I've knocked on numerous doors, my whole soul winning career. And especially up in the Tacoma, Seattle area, I run into this lot. You knock on somebody's door and they'll be like, I believe in science. I believe in dinosaurs. Cause you'll say, hey, just like the advice of church, you're a hundred percent sure you're in heaven. I'm a hundred percent sure that science is real. That's a common answer you'll get around that area. I'm sure science is real. And it's like, what are you trying to say by that? You know, and then this is what comes next. Cause these people always have a plethora of different contradictions that are in the Bible, right? And they'll say, well, it says this King was eight years old and this King was this and this King, you know, and they'll always take it to the Kings. Or what they're taught to do in the colleges is they're actually taught to go to Genesis chapter one. Why do they teach them that? They teach them that because they can get you to doubt the first chapter in the Bible, you won't read the rest of it. That's why they do that. So I should have told you to keep your place in Psalms. If you go to Proverbs chapter 18, that'd be great. Go to Proverbs chapter 18. Like I said, we're almost done. So point number five is problem texts are written to condemn the proud. I believe that God has placed hard sayings, hard things in the Bible, basically to condemn and to stump the proud. Because if you take a look at all these contradictions, you can find the answer in the Bible every single time, every single time. Now, the problem is there's a lot of things in the Bible that are hard to be understood, and you don't always have them at the forefront of your mind, okay? And these people know that and they'll have two or three that are maybe in the middle of the Bible. They'll try to take it to Ezekiel and see that doesn't sound like it wasn't Daniel and they'll try to throw you off. But these things are written to condemn the proud. Proverbs chapter 18, look at verse number one. I'll show you this. Proverbs 18, look at verse one. Through desire, amen. One more time, through desire, amen. Having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom. Do you understand what that means? He says through desire. So there is a man, there are people that desire, right? That desire, they want to separate themselves, right? To separate themselves and what do they do? They seek to intermeddle, to mess with all wisdom. Do you understand that? Through desire, amen, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom. So that is why people will come up to you with supposed contradictions in the Bible. It's because they're fools and they seek to mess and intermeddle with wisdom. That's what the Bible says. There is a group of people on this planet that through desire, desire to separate themselves from the truth, from wisdom, why? Just to mess with people because they don't believe in God's word, because they're vain, because they don't read the Bible or because they're not safe or whatever the case is. But guess what? It is their desire to intermeddle with, to mess with wisdom. Look at verse two. A fool hath no delight in understanding but that his heart may discover itself. That's why that atheist will say, guess what? I believe in science. I believe in real science. I believe in dinosaurs. You know why they say that? Because they want to be deceived, because they don't want to be accountable to God, because they don't want to be accountable to truth. They know that the Bible was written against them. They know that. They understand that deep down in their heart and through desire, they decide, you know what? I'm gonna mess with that because it makes me feel better. And you know what? There's a lot of Christians today that are no different, no different at all. Verse three. When the wicked cometh, then cometh also contempt and with ignominy, reproach. And that word ignominy means shame or public disgrace. And what usually happens when you do come back with the answer? Humiliation, shame, disgrace, right? So these people, what do they reap? They reap reproach. They reap trouble. Turn to Matthew chapter one. Matthew chapter number one. While you're turning there, I'm gonna read for you Titus chapter three, verse nine, which says this. It says, but avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and strivings about the law for they are unprofitable and vain. Now, one thing that these atheist people and these Christian people like to do is they like to bring up issues regarding the law, right? Well, can you mix cotton and wool? Can you mix wool and silk? The Bible says you're not supposed to do that, right? And they'll try to stump you. Or the next thing they'll do is take you to a genealogy and try to stump you there. Isn't that what happened to you? Yeah, somebody, Storm was telling me about this the other day. Then somebody was trying to mess with him about Matthew chapter one. And the same reason that the college students are taught to go to Genesis chapter one so that you'll doubt the rest of the Bible is the same reason why Matthew chapter one is a place that a lot of people will go to say that there's errors and that there's mistakes in the Bible and so on and so forth. And you know what, the answers are always there. We're gonna do a little bit of reading here, okay? So Paul tells Titus, avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and strivings about the law for they are unprofitable in vain. Why are they unprofitable in vain? Because the person that's challenging you doesn't believe the living words that came out of the mouth of God, that's why. That's why, because everything that they do, guess what? It's unprofitable and it's vain. And we need to understand that. But you know what? As I was studying for this sermon, I went to the liberals, right? I like to watch them and I like to watch what they say. And so I'm listening to, what is that guy, that Southern Baptist guy's name, Albert Mohler. I'm listening to him talk about the King James issue. I'm listening to John MacArthur and John Piper and Paul Washer and Todd White and all these people. I'm trying to get, what are the reasons why they subscribe to the modern perversions besides all the reasons I've already listed for you? And one of the things that they'll often bring up is Matthew chapter one. They'll say, see, there's contradictions in Matthew chapter one. And that's why that we need to continuously be open-minded to new revelations and new scrolls that are dug up. And that's why we don't have the original manuscripts today. And if we did, these contradictions wouldn't be here. But what they don't understand is there is no contradiction. The answer is in the Bible. And through desire, a man seeketh to separate himself and enter metalleth with all wisdom. That is why they do this. Matthew chapter one, look at verse number one. It says, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren. It goes on to say this, and Judas begat Phares, and Zorah of Thamar, and Phares begot Esraam, and Esraam begot Aram, and Aram begot Amenadab, and Amenadab begot Nisan, and Nisan begot Solomon, right? Verse five, and Solomon begot Boaz of Rakab, and Boaz begot Obed of Ruth, and Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king. So let's stop right there. And we're gonna skip all these for sake of time. But one thing that they'll do, this is different than the one you were telling me about. They'll say, well, okay, there's 14 generations between Abraham and David. And then it goes on to say there are 14 generations. And then it says between David and Christ, there's 14 generations. It goes on to say that. But if you actually count them, there's actually 15. So let me see here. You know what, let's just read it. Let's just read, look at verse six. And Jesse begot David the king, and David the king begot Solomon after, I'm sorry, of her that had been the wife of Uriah. Verse seven, and Solomon begot Rehoboam, and Rehoboam begot Abiah, and Abiah begot Asa, and Asa begot Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Ozias, and Ozias begot Jotham, and Jotham begot Achaz, and Achaz begot Ezekiel. You see why we don't study these things out a lot? It gets tongue twisting, it gets difficult, right? And Ezekiel's begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Ammon, Ammon begot Josias, right? Now, verse 11, it says, and Josias begot Jeconias. That's important, right? That's important. And Josias begot Jeconias and his brethren about the time they were carried away to Babylon. And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconias begot Salthiel, and Salthiel begot Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel begot Abihud, and Abihud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor, and Azor begot Sadok, and Sadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliad. And then one of the things they'll do is they'll take you to verse 14. They'll say, see, Sadok and Achim are not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible. We don't have time to deal with that right now, but the reason why is because every single time you read a genealogy in the Bible, it doesn't necessarily mean that every single person's listed. If you don't believe me, go back to verse number one real quick. Look at Matthew 1.1. It says the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, right? Was David his earthly father? No. Okay, and then it says the son of Abraham. Was Abraham David's father? No. There's a lot of people in between there that are not listed, right? For sake of time, for time stamping. That is why, okay? Verse number 16, and Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. So they'll say, okay, between Josias and Christ, there's 15, there's a contradiction in the Bible. In the original manuscripts, it had it right. They'll say something to that effect, okay? Well, go to Jeremiah chapter 22. This is why you do need to know the Old Testament. This is why we spend the time to go through the Bible, to go through these overviews, to go through these charts, and to go through these kings. This is why I tell you it's important to know these things because the answers are always in the Bible every single time. They'll say, see, there's 15 between Josias and Christ. And sometimes they'll say there's 15 between Abraham and David. Well, Abraham is one and David is 14, okay? Josias is one and Christ is 14. And I get it, there's 15 there if you count Jeconias. But if you study the Bible and you learn about the kings and you learn about these people, you're gonna get the answers. So in Matthew chapter one, verse 11, I'm sorry if this is going over your head, but it'll make sense to you at some point. It says in Josias begot Jeconias. Well, Jeconias was a wicked and evil person. Did I have you turn back to Jeremiah 22? Okay, good, all right. So like I said, Abraham is one, David is 14. David is one, Josias is 14. Josias is one and Christ is 14 when you understand the story behind Jeconias, okay? Jeremiah chapter 22, look at verse 28. It says, Jeremiah 22, verse 28, it says this. Is this man, Coniah, a despised broken idol? Well, who's Coniah? That's Jeconias. You see why you need to understand these things, why you have to study them, why you have to read them and why you have to believe it. Look, somebody presents to you a so-called contradiction. You have the promise that God has preserved his word, that they're engrafted, right? That they're living, they're able to be transplanted. And what else? You don't have fear. You don't have that dismay, right? It doesn't bother you because holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. So you can rest assured the answer is always, always in the Bible. One more time, Jeremiah 22, 28. Is this man, Coniah, a despised broken idol? Is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? Wherefore are they cast out he and his seed and are cast into a land which they know not? O earth, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord, write ye this man childless. A man that shall not prosper in his days, for no man of his seed shall prosper sitting upon the throne of David and ruling any more in Judah. So what's going on here is if you compare Jeremiah 22 to Matthew chapter one, yes, you read 15 names, but what you don't, what you learn is that the Holy Ghost omitted Jeconias. He just listed them there so that you can know that. But you know what? These things are in the Bible to condemn the proud. That's why they're there. Not because somebody made a mistake, not because God didn't preserve his words, but to try the proud. That's why he does it. That's what Proverbs 18 one says, my friend. These things are in the Bible to condemn the proud. It says this, through desire, amen. Having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom. There are people that desire to mess with God's word. And if you wanna piss this church off, you go ahead and mess with God's word. This is why we're angry. This is why we go soul winning all the time. Because we want to teach people the truth. We wanna get people straightened out because there's a battle going on today and it's not getting any easier. It's getting harder. It's getting harder because more and more preachers are turning their back on the truth. They're turning their back on the words of God and they're saying that Christ has no power. And you know what, that's a tragedy. And that's why I said at the beginning of the sermon, this is more important than what's on Fox News. This is more important than what's on CNN. This is more important than that dyke that's on MSNBC, whatever her name is, mad cow or whatever. I don't even know if she's a dyke, maybe not. But you know what, if it walks like a duck, it quacks like a duck, guess what? It's a duck. So at the end of the day, this is the subversion of the modern perversions. The attack on the final authority. That's the subversion. That is the goal of the modern versions. God said, for ye have perverted the words of living God. Guess what? There is a conspiracy today. I know the world likes to say there's no conspiracies regarding anything, but you know what? There is a big conspiracy out there. And that is to pervert and subvert the word of God. And the goal is to attack and undermine his authority. I said this before, the reason people want to bring these so-called contradictions up in the Bible is because the Bible knows all about man's problems. It knows about your sins and about your shortcomings, about all your problems, about all of our sins, right? And we don't like having our face ripped off all the time. We don't like having our sins put on blast and made manifest, but you know what? That's what you need if you wanna grow, right? The Bible says very clearly, a false balance is an abomination to the Lord. So remember this at the end of the day, this is the subversion of the modern perversions. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for your word. I thank you for your truths. I thank you for the truth of the Bible. I thank you for all these people that came here, Lord, to hear your word preached and sing praises unto you. I just pray you bless the soul winning after the service, Lord, and the evening service to come. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.