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Proverbs chapter 9, Proverbs chapter 9, and I want to preach a sermon this afternoon on the idea of increasing and learning. So the name of the sermon is, A Wise Man Will Increase in Learning, okay? So in Proverbs chapter 9 there, you see down in verse 9, it says, Give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser. Teach a just man and he will increase in learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. And so I want to talk about the subject as far as learning, that you're constantly learning. And the idea is that 10 years ago, what you know 10 years ago, you should know more now. And there should be things that you've learned, there should be things that you've realized maybe you weren't right about 10 years ago than today, okay? And this goes along the line as far as, you know, some people may come up to you and say, well, you know, that's not what I thought you believed back 10 years ago, or I, you know, this isn't the stance that you took 10 years ago. Well, maybe there's an idea that you've learned something since 10 years ago, okay? And I want to hit on this subject as far as that we don't get it stuck into this rut where, you know, I know it all now, okay? This idea that I've arrived, I know everything I need to know now, everything that, you know, or the idea that you can't be taught anything, okay? And so what I'm going to do is kind of talk, I'm going to go through the Bible on this as far as just ideas, as far as being taught, as far as learning, and how a wise man will say, you know what, I don't know it all, and therefore I need to learn more. And there is a principle, the people that think they know everything are the ones that usually don't know anything. And the people that will admit that they don't know everything are the ones that are probably the wisest people in the room. Because they're willing to say, you know what, I need to sit down and learn. I need to figure out, you know, I don't know everything on every subject, and so I need to keep learning, okay? This can apply, obviously, with the Bible, but this can apply just in your job. This can apply in any aspect of your life that you haven't arrived in any of those areas, meaning that we need to constantly be increasing our learning when it comes to math, when it comes to science, when it comes to reading the Bible, when it comes to doctrine, that should be something that you're constantly learning more about, okay? And so go to Proverbs chapter 1, because it does say something very similar to that. Would anyone here say that the book of Proverbs isn't a book of wisdom? Because when I think of a book of wisdom, I'm thinking Proverbs, you know, just things where if you were to find just a whole bunch of information how you can live your life, and how to go through your life as a wise person, I think of the book of Proverbs. Now, obviously, the whole Bible would be in that lump there, but the book of Proverbs has so many practical things that you need to know, and it's interesting because twice in here is talking about how we need to increase in learning. At the very beginning of Proverbs here and in chapter 9, as we just read, but in verse 5 there, notice what it says. So Proverbs chapter 1 and verse 5, it says, A wise man will hear and will increase learning, and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels. To understand a proverb and the interpretation, the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. So we see in both these cases what's the beginning of all wisdom and knowledge. It's the fear of the Lord, right? Salvation is the key. I mean, basically, when it comes to Bible doctrine, you need to be saved first because the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. Their foolishness does unto him, neither can he know them because he is spiritually discerned. And so you need to be saved first of all. That's the foundation. But it doesn't stop there. You don't just get saved and then all of a sudden you just know everything. And that you can't change on anything that you believe about what the Bible teaches on certain doctrines. What you should be saying is what's the truth, what does the Bible teach? And if the Bible says something that you disagree with or that you don't believe, then guess what, the Bible's right and you're wrong. Okay? And notice what it says in chapter 1 there in verse 5. It says, a wise man will hear. A wise man will hear. And the one thing that I want to get across here is that you need to be willing to listen. Listen, this is for everybody. This is for me. This is for anybody. Because what I'm going to do in this sermon is I'm going to go, I'm going to give you things that I used to believe that I don't believe anymore. You know? And it might be a little embarrassing. Okay? So bear with me a little bit in my folly. Okay? Because what I want to show you that even your pastor had to learn something. Okay? Guess what? Your pastor had to get saved one time too. We all had to, right? We're all in that boat. We all had to get saved. We all had to come to that knowledge. And when it comes to any doctrines that you have, listen, there had to be a time where you didn't know that and now you do. Okay? And this isn't a sermon about, hey, let's go just change all our doctrine. You know, listen, what I believed after I got saved to the core about being salvation by grace through faith, can't lose your salvation, and being King James only has been since the beginning. Okay? But there has been things that I've changed my view on. Okay? And I'm going to get into that. But, you know, since I've started this church, nothing's changed. I mean, you're like, well, what did you change on? What are you changing on? Nothing. What I believed when I started this church is exactly what I believe right now. Okay? And so, but here's the thing. There's been things where, there's been subjects that people have brought up to me. And they're ancillary items. They're not things that are like critical foundational doctrines. Right? But they brought up to me and said, you know, I think that this is a better way to explain this. And you know what? They might be right. Okay? And, you know, maybe something that I'll study out and be like, you know what? I think that's the best way to explain it. I think that's actually the right way to explain that. And I preach things where later on, and I'll hear another preacher preach something. I'm like, you know what? He's right about that. And I'm, there's small things. But here's the thing. Should I just be like dig in and say, no, bless God. When I started this church, everything that I taught and preached is gospel truth, meaning that I will not bend on anything that I've ever taught. Or is it the fact that, hey, I want to know the truth. And if I find out that what I said before, what I thought there wasn't exactly right, then, you know, I need to be willing to change that. I need to be willing to bend to what the Bible teaches and what truth is. Okay? And again, you say, well, what are you changing on? Nothing. Okay? Meaning that when it comes to the King James Bible, when it comes to salvation by grace through faith, when it comes to that whole doctrinal statement that we have on our website, listen, I haven't changed one thing about what I believe on there. Okay? So this isn't a sermon to say, hey, you know, some of those doctrines. We're changing some of those. Okay? This is a sermon to realize, hey, listen, your pastor didn't always believe all those things that were on that doctrinal statement. Okay? You know what a lot of it was? Just ignorance. Okay? Just didn't know. And just, you know, I was spouting off what I was taught. And if this is a sermon for anything, it's the idea that, listen, you need to know why you believe something. And it shouldn't just be because someone told you that. You need to actually study it out yourself and figure it out yourself. And you know what? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom. And, you know, you need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you of all things and is truth and is no lie and even as it had taught you shall abide in him. And listen, I'm here as your pastor and I'm here to preach you the Bible because his word was manifested through preaching. But at the same time, you have to say, I saw it in the Bible. I believe it in the Bible. I studied to make sure that that's why I believe what it is. It wasn't just because someone told me that and therefore I'm going to hold to it. Okay? So there's nothing wrong with a preacher showing you a good doctrine, showing you something that's true. But ultimately, you need to figure out that that's why it's true. You need to study it out and make sure that, hey, he's not just out in left field and that he may not be right in this area or that area. And so, and again, you know, when it comes to preaching, I hope you're not just up here just judging me the whole time. You're like, is he really right about that? And you just can't even like trust the word I say. But there should be in the back of your mind, listen, I'm going to make sure this is what the Bible teaches, you know? Or at least be running it through your head, right? And thinking about the Bible, you'll be like, yeah, nope, that's right because of this and this. And you're running through the Bible in your head to make sure that, hey, it lines up. Okay? So the thing I want you to see there is that it says a wise man will hear. Go to James Chapter 1, James Chapter 1. A wise man will hear and will increase learning. Listen, to increase learning, you have to take it in. Okay? And hearing means that you're not talking. Okay? It means that you are taking it in, someone else is saying it. Whether it's the Bible and whether you're looking at a secular realm, someone else is saying something to you and you're taking it in. That doesn't mean that you have to agree with everything the person is saying that you're taking it in on. Okay? But you're still hearing it, listening it, and then you can judge once you hear it, whether it's right or wrong. Okay? In James Chapter 1 and verse 19, you say, you already preached this verse. Well, I'm preaching a different portion of the verse. Okay? In verse 19, it says, wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Now, I covered the area of, you know, the wrath of man and being slow to wrath and anger, but how about being swift to hear and slow to speak? Okay? Go to Ecclesiastes Chapter 5. Ecclesiastes Chapter 5. See, a wise man is the one, as the Bible says in Proverbs 29, a fool ought to earth all his mind, but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards, meaning that a wise man will just take it in. You know, what's going on here? I'm going to take it in, everything I can get in, and then I'm going to assess the situation. You know, a fool is the one that speaks before he even knows what's going on. Okay? But the idea is that you're wanting to hear, you're wanting to basically bring it all in, and then you can say, okay, this is garbage, this is good, you know, whatever it may be. Okay? So, in James, I'm sorry, in Ecclesiastes Chapter 5, verse 1, it says, keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God. Be more ready to hear than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God, for God is in heaven and now upon earth. Therefore, let thy words be few, for a dream cometh through the multitude of business, and a fool's voice is known by a multitude of words. Okay, meaning that the more you speak, the more chance there is that you're going to say something that's not right. Okay? And so, but the idea is that you're being more ready to hear. Okay? You're swift to hear, slow to speak. And that means that you probably heard the old saying, you know, there's a reason God gave you one mouth and two ears, right? It's because he wants you to listen, you know, double amount of hearing than speaking, okay? And Proverbs 15 says this, I want you to go to Proverbs, I'm sorry, Psalm 25, I'm going to read Proverbs 15 and verse 28. It says, the heart of the righteous studyeth the answer, but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things. Okay? So you need to hear, you need to listen, you need to try to bring in, you need to attain unto wise counsels, and you need to bring it in, listen to what's being said. Okay? Because a lot of times what happens is you're not really listening. And you need to listen to what's being said. And when it comes to doctrines, okay, when I preach on, let's say end times prophecy, okay, which, you know, is not exactly, you know, a live or die doctrine as far as, you know, salvation or anything like that, or even I don't believe we're splitting over. I mean, if someone came in here and they were pre-trib, they're welcome here, you know, that's not something I'm going to split, you know, like care and I'm not going to kick someone out because they're pre-trib. With that being said, when it comes to end times prophecy and it comes to timeline type stuff or just, you know, theories that are out there, what you should always be doing with a doctrine is trying to destroy it. Okay? You're like, what are you talking about? Meaning you should be putting it through the fire to see if it can be taken down. You shouldn't be just propping it up and be like, hoping no one takes this thing down, you know. And so when it comes to certain doctrines, I'm trying to figure out how I would destroy it with Bible, okay? What verse would go against this? How could I refute it, okay? You know what that means is that, and this is the way that I personally believe that you should attack it that way because you're being honest with it. You're not just trying, you don't have this doctrine you're trying to fit into the Bible. You have a thought or, you know, like, does this fit and then you throw some stuff at it and be like, no, that doesn't fit because it contradicts over here. And you say, well, what's the point? Well, I don't want to eat crow, first of all, okay? You know, being up here preaching, I have a more of a proclivity to say something foolish because I am speaking and I am preaching. Therefore, I want to make sure that what I'm saying is right, okay? Does that mean I'm always going to say everything is right? Of course not. We're all human. But that means that you need to be diligent in that. And when it comes to doctrine, you need to be putting that through the fire. And if you find something that puts a hole in it, you better figure out if that's a big deal or not. You know, either your theory is wrong or what you're putting at it is wrong. Something's wrong, okay? And so you're in Psalm 25. What I want you to see here is that this thing that keeps being brought up in the book of Psalms is this idea of the psalmist asking God to teach him. Okay, so Psalm 25 verse 4 says, Show me thy ways, O Lord, teach me thy paths, lead me in thy truth and teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation, on thee do I wait all the day. Are you asking God to teach you? When you open the Bible, are you saying, listen, you know, I may have some preconceived ideas. Listen, teach me, teach me what you want me to know, okay? And if you're a saved person, listen, that's all you need. You need you, the Holy Ghost, and the Bible. That's all you need. I mean, you need to be able to read, obviously. That's part of the equation. But what I'm saying there is that that's all you need for God to teach you. But let me ask you a question. Are you asking God to teach you? Are you saying, you know, Lord, show me what this is? And obviously, he's not going to talk to you audibly. But you're going to, he's going to maybe bring to remembrance verses. Or as you're reading through the Bible, he may just bring that into remembrance. He can be like, remember that, you know, it's kind of like that, that idea. You're reading through like, oh, yeah, I was. And it's in the back of your mind that you're trying to figure out something. And there it is in the Bible. And so you want God to teach you go to Psalm 27 verse 11, Psalm 27 verse 11. Psalm 27 verse 11, it says, teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies. Psalm 119, Psalm 119. And this isn't all inclusive, meaning there's other places where it's talking about God, you know, asking God to teach you. And Psalm 119 in verse 12, it says this, it says, blessed art thou, O Lord, teach me thy statutes. Psalm 119 verse 66, teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I have believed thy commandments. Psalm 143 in verse 10, teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God, thy spirit is good, lead me into the land of brightness. And so this idea throughout the book of Psalms is teach me, teach me, teach me, teach me. And listen, you can't be taught unless you hear, unless you're willing to listen. OK, and being willing to listen is the idea that you're willing to say, I might not always be right about everything. OK, and so we need to always and listen, I'm with you. I listen, I've listened to people tell me that I'm not teachable because I hold strong on a doctrine. OK, and it's not because I'm not teachable, it's because they're wrong. OK, and I've had that happen where people would try to push their doctrine, like the pre-trib rapture, for example. You'd be like, you're just not teachable, brother. No, it's because you're not teaching anything that's worth anything. OK, I'm going to listen if it's logical and makes sense and it's actually biblical. OK, but if from the onset it's based off a lie, why would I, I'm not going to listen to lies. OK, because it talks about if you find a man that, you know, and it's in Proverbs, and I'm going to misquote it, but basically that lacks wisdom or lacks knowledge to basically get away from that person, meaning that you are not to just listen to a fool. OK, so I'm not saying that, I'm not saying, I'm not saying to get on YouTube and listen to Robert Breaker or listen to who's some of the weird ones out there. I'm going, I'm drawing a blank, but what's that? What is it? Todd White. Oh, good night. Yeah, definitely not Todd White. Is he the one with the dreadlocks? OK, yeah. Yeah, definitely not Todd White. I don't know if there's that much of a difference. I don't know why I'm saying that's a big deal. But Todd White, you know, I mean, these people that are online, you know, I'm not saying to just listen to what's the guy's Jackie Chan. No, no. What's the Chan guy? Francis Chan, not Jackie Chan. Gene Kim, you know, like these people that are online, I'm not saying to listen to their garbage. OK, I'm not saying, well, he said, you know, Pastor said to be ready to hear. Listen, obviously, you need to be listening to people that are actually saved and you need to be listening to people that actually have wisdom. OK, but in that, you know, not one person, I think, is believes exactly everything on every issue. OK, in our church, I guarantee that every single one of us differs on something, you know, and I'm sure it's in a lot of cases, maybe minor things, but we're going to differ somewhere. OK, but the idea is that if I differ with somebody, just because I'm the pastor of the church, does that mean I just dismiss them, be like, layman? Yeah, like they bring up something to me and say, you know, I think that this is a better way of explaining this or I think this is what this passage is saying. And I'm just like, you know, the pastor, I'm the pastor, you know? No, I need to be willing to hear as much. OK, now, that doesn't mean I'm just going to be like tossed to and fro with every window doctrine. You better have a good case. You better show me from the King James Bible. This is why this this makes sense. And just line upon line, show me why it's right. And then then I'm going to I'm going to judge that I'm going to use diligent inquisition on that thought and make sure it matches. And if it's right, guess what I'm going to say? You're right. I was wrong. And there have been times where I've done that, OK, and and again, we're not talking about salvation, we're not talking about major doctrines here, we're talking about just different things in the Bible. But to say that, well, I need to stay with what I believe, you know, like, let's say 10 years from now, let's say it's 2027. And then there's something that I like I used to teach this thing about the Book of Life, and now over here, I'm teaching this is about the Book of Life, right? Doesn't change the cost in China when it comes to salvation or any other doctrine. But let's say I toss it and be like, well, you've changed, you changed, you know, back in 2017, you said this. Yeah, because a wise man will increase the knowledge. OK, and maybe maybe I can hear, maybe I can listen. Maybe I maybe I'm not the only one who can figure out doctrine. Maybe, you know, maybe I want to actually learn something and know the truth because maybe I haven't attained unto perfection. OK, and so go to that I have you. Yeah, yeah, go to actually go to Acts chapter two, because I'm going to what I'm going to do. In this sermon is I want to show you some doctrines that I used to believe, but I don't believe anymore. OK, and I'm going to show you why I don't believe it anymore. OK, and what I'm going to show you is Bible verses why I don't believe it anymore. So in second Chronicles, I'm second, second Corinthians, chapter 11, verse one, it says, would to God you could bear with me a little in my folly and indeed bear with me. And that's what I want you to do right now. I want you to bear with me in my folly, meaning this is that guess what? I wasn't always right about everything. And there's this mentality that no one can admit that they're wrong about anything. And you know what? I'm willing to admit I've been wrong about things. And so I want to go through some different things. I used to believe that Old Testament saints went to a place called Paradise and that Jesus didn't go to hell for three days, three nights. That's what I used to believe. Why did I believe that? Was it because I thought the Bible taught that? No, it's because that's what preachers told me. Because you know what? I hadn't read my Bible cover to cover. But you know what I saw in Acts chapter two, go to Acts chapter two and verse 29. You know what just made it. This is how quick I came to the side that Jesus was in hell for three days and three nights. And that there wasn't this paradise bubble down there is this right here. I read this and I'm like, yep, that's right. That's how quick it was because I believe the King James Bible. In verse 29 here it says, men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. He's seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus had God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. That did it for me. And it wasn't like, man, I really want to fight for this doctrine. No, I'm just like, oh, he said he went to hell. And, you know, I had been saved for a little while. I didn't realize this until after I was out of college. I got saved before I went into college. Okay, so we're talking like four years of being saved. And, you know, I thought, you know, well, Old Testament saints didn't go to heaven because Jesus hadn't died on the cross yet. Now, I'll say this. I never believed that they were saved by works. Okay, now, if you did or you were confused on that, I don't blame you because it seems like no one ever talks about that. And no one ever teaches that clearly. Okay, so if you were confused on that, I'm not saying you weren't saved. I'm just saying that people didn't really explain that at all, even, you know, you know, it just wasn't explained. So I always thought that it was by faith. But I was just like, well, you know, maybe in the timeline, you know, is when his blood was shed. That's when, you know, now they can go to heaven. That's what they teach, right? Nowhere in the Bible does it say that. Okay, I dare you to find any place where it says, well, they couldn't go to heaven because the blood wasn't shed yet. Okay, you won't find that anywhere in the Bible. But all that to say is that I saw that. Guess what? I was wrong. Bible's right. Jesus was in hell. And it makes sense when you look at all the other scriptures. You look at Jonah, too. You look at the fact that he's gonna be hard of the earth for three days and three nights as Jonah was in three days and three nights in the heart and the whale's belly. All that stuff makes sense. I used to believe that Easter mentioned in Acts chapter, go to Acts chapter 12. I used to believe that Easter was a pagan holiday. And I used to defend the King James wrongly here. Oh, I can't believe that you'd use a false argument with the King James. Listen, we all learn. You know what? You know what that came from? Not from reading the Bible, from reading books on people that were King James only. I read a book by Al Acey called Can I Trust My Bible? And, you know, he was defending the King James Bible, but he had some false arguments, and this is one of them. The idea is that, you know, and we're like, well, in the original Greek, it says Pascha, you know, which is like Passover or whatever. And this is the argument of all the new version people. They're saying, well, that should say Passover, not Easter. So the only way, you know, they would defend that and I read about it is like, well, Easter is a pagan holiday because of Ishtar and, you know, and let's read the passage. I want to explain to you what their theory was or why, how they'd explain it this way. But I was wrong. And the way I defended the King James Bible was wrong. Even though I'm still King James only, as much as I was back then, the argument that I used back then was wrong. OK, in Acts chapter 12, verse one, it says, bring him forth to the people. OK, so this is how they'd explain it. OK, just to give you the argument that was used here is that, well, Easter can't be the Passover because the Days of Unleavened Bread were going on at that time. And the Passover happens before the Days of Unleavened Bread. Well, if you knew your Bible, I'm talking to my former self, the Bible says, you know, that the Passover drew on, which is the Days of Unleavened Bread, meaning that the Feast of Unleavened Bread was equal with the Passover. It was all one feast. OK, the Passover a lot of times would be separated because that's when they killed the lamb. But that whole feast was about the Passover. OK, and so what you'd explain is like, well, it obviously should be Easter because it wouldn't make any sense that he's going to wait until after Easter, you know, wait after the Passover. That means they got to wait a whole year. Right. So because the thinking is, is that the Passover happens before the Days of Unleavened Bread. You get the logic. OK, well, that's all fine and good until you realize that Tyndale is the one, William Tyndale is the one that came up with the word Passover in the English Bible. And when you look up the Tyndale version, which I have right here, so if you don't believe me, you can look it up right here, that Easter was used throughout his New Testament for the word Passover. Easter is an older form of the word Passover before Tyndale coined it. So when Tyndale was writing this, he made up the word Passover, so he wasn't trying to be confusing. He actually only used the word Passover in the little portion of the Old Testament that he translated before he died. So when you look at Exodus, when he was starting to translate the Hebrew, he put Passover. He's the one that coined that term. But everywhere in the New Testament where it said Passover, you know what it said? He either said the Days of Sweet Bread or it said Easter. You know where it says Christ our Passover? It says, it talks about Christ our Easter Lamb. Guess what? I was wrong about that. Easter is the Passover. And if you look at the versions of the English Bibles before that, you'll see in the Bishop's Bible, it'll say in more than one place, the King James only says it once. But in other versions, like the Bishop's, the Great Bible, obviously the Tyndale Bible, the Matthew's Bible, you'll see Easter mentioned a lot. OK, so guess what? I was wrong. So I changed on that when I found out that I was wrong about that. OK, and a lot of that comes from Bible ignorance or just ignorance on like history. And you know what that comes from is finding something on YouTube and just taking it hook, line and sinker on some conspiracy doctrines that are out there and just be like, well, Ishtar, this and that. And listen, I swallowed it when I read that book. And listen, I was zealous to defend the King James Bible because I didn't want them, you know, their thing is saying Easter is a pagan holiday, but it should, you know, should have been or it should have been rendered Passover. But, you know, King James only is for saying, well, but it couldn't have been Passover. Does that negate that that's what the the Greek said then? That's where you get into Rachmanitism, where you're saying, no, the Greeks wrong there and the King James corrects it. No, they're both right, because Easter means Passover. OK, I don't care what stupid mythological thing that you're bringing up with. And listen, I'm sure there was some Ishtar goddess and a fertility or something like that. That doesn't change the cost of tea in China and the fact that Easter back then clearly meant Passover when they were translating the Bibles before that. OK, how about I didn't always believe that there was that someone was past hope of salvation. Go to Romans chapter one, Romans chapter one. I didn't always believe the reprobate doctrine. So let me ask you this, should I just keep all those beliefs that I had 12 years ago? Or should I have actually increased learning from reading the Bible, from learning doctrine? And, you know, the idea is that, hey, we're constantly learning, not saying that you should take away the foundations or that you should that I'm ever going to change on salvation or that the Bible is the word of God without error. You know, I'm never going to change on that. But in Romans chapter one, that's what it says. And it's interesting because all these doctrines, when I was challenged on these doctrines, it's always like, man, I don't remember saying he went to hell. Well, I must need to I need to you know what you know what needs to happen, I need to listen more. I need to hear more before I start speaking. That's what was going on back then. OK. And, you know, when I saw some of these things, you know what I'm like, I need to read. I don't know as much as I thought I knew because you get this mentality of like, man, I know so much more than other people, you know, and listen, in the world today, it doesn't take much. If you read through the Bible cover to cover one time, you know, you know more than most Christians, sadly. OK, but you know what? I read through the book of Acts, but somehow I missed that. I must have just was glossing over as I was reading or something like that. Romans chapter one, verse 26, it says, for this cause God gave them up unto vile affections, for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise, also the men leaving the natural use of the woman burned and lost one toward another, men with men working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error, which was meat. And even as they did not like to retain God and their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. You know, before I used to believe that homos could get saved. I used to believe that there was no one that could not get saved, meaning that everybody that's breathing right now could get saved. But does that line up with the Bible? What does it say here? It says that they're given over to a reprobate mind and be like, OK, they have a rejected mind. Does that mean they can't get saved? Well, go to Second Timothy, Chapter three, Second Timothy, Chapter three. This is a doctrine that when I learned this doctrine, it opened up the Bible. I mean, you ever have those doctrines where you figure out this one doctrine, it's just like, oh, that's what this is talking about. That's what this is talking about. That's why you hardened Pharaoh's heart. That's why he didn't want Pharaoh to believe. You know, that's why Jesus spoke in parables. You're just like, oh, no, it just like literally opens everything up. You're like, I didn't know anything, you know, and and you know what? We need to have that attitude is that, hey, maybe there's a lot of things that we're not seeing. OK, I'm not saying that we're going to basically throw out everything that we believe, you know what I mean? But at the same time, we need to be willing to listen to the spirit of God that's teaching us and ask God to teach us and show us things and to put away our own preconceived ideas sometimes. And in Second Timothy, chapter three and verse six here, it says, for of this sort are they which creep into houses and let captive, silly women, laden with sins, led away with diverse lusts, ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. What did that say? Never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now, as Janice and Jamborees withstood Moses, so did these also resist the truth, men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. So when it talks about them being given over to a reprobate mind, you know what that means? They're going to be ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of truth. You know what it says in in John chapter 12, when Jesus was talking to the Pharisees in verse 39, it says, therefore, they could not believe because that Isaiah said again, he had blinded their eyes and hardened their heart that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart and be converted and I should heal them. By the way, it comes from Isaiah chapter six and it's repeated many times in the New Testament. They could not believe they were ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. You either have to become a Calvinist or you have to realize that people can come to a point where they're past the hope of salvation. How else do you defend, how else do you figure this out? And I remember because when I found out or when I heard about this doctrine and I was studying this out, when I heard about it, I'm like, the first thing that came to mind was unforgivable sin, the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. I always had to try to explain that away because it says you will not have forgiveness in this life nor in the life to come. And that's what always got me right is in this life, right, that you won't have forgiveness because you could say, well, an unsaved person, you could say, well, the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is just that you didn't believe on Christ. Therefore, that is the one thing that will make sure that you're damned forever because you didn't believe on Christ. And isn't that true? I mean, obviously, you know, he that believe in God is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. But it always caught me. I'm just like, why does it say in this life, too? And then when you realize that there are people that can be ever learning, never able to come to the knowledge of the truth in this life, oh, that makes a lot of sense. Pharaoh makes a lot of sense. You know, a lot of these passages in the Bible, you're like, oh, OK, that's why this is happening. You know, that's why you have children of Belial. What's the big difference between just regular people and children of Belial and all this stuff? It just unlocks these doctrines. But what if I said, you know what, I refuse to believe that. I refuse it, you know, bless God, you know, Jesus died for everybody. Well, yeah, he did. Right. But what if I just stuck on that and be like, no. Right now, every single person has a chance to believe and I refuse to believe that someone cannot believe right now. Well, I'd be negating those verses and see how much of the Bible would just be covered up now, I'd still be saved. Right. I'm not saying I wasn't saved because I don't accept that doctrine because there's plenty of saved people that don't believe in that doctrine. So I used to believe that, you know, there was no one that's breathing right now that has no hope of salvation. I used to believe that we should bless Israel. Like, man, what kind of pastor believe that, you know, you know what it used to be that that was the teaching of most all Baptists and it still is for a lot of Baptists. Go to Genesis chapter 12, Genesis chapter 12. I remember when we I met Pastor Anderson first time we went to went to D.C. and we didn't know at a time, but we ended up marching in the Ron Paul parade. OK, and we didn't know about it or anything like that. And later on, I was kind of glad because I really liked Ron Paul and I was like all about him, you know, getting elected and all this stuff. And but anyway, all I'd say is that when we went to that, people were holding up these signs that says drop Israel now. Like basically is like, you know, down with Israel, like as far as like funding them and all this stuff. And I'm like, what did we walk into, you know, because you I mean, I went to you know, you just think Israel and we're supposed to bless them. You know, that's where it's where Jesus was born. You know, like you have all these things in your mind of like, why that's the Holy Land. And you're like, what in the world? Like what? Why? And you're just like, that doesn't seem Christian. And then, you know, I then I read through the Bible and realize, oh, yeah, we shouldn't be blessing Israel. Not only does God not command us to bless Israel, it's actually a sin if you do bless Israel. I'm going to prove that to you. And you know what? I was wrong about that before. In Genesis chapter 12, verse one, it says this is where they usually go to say you need to bless them. Right. In verse one, it says, Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house and unto the land that I will show thee. And I will make thee a great nation and I will bless thee and I will make thy name great. And thou shalt be a blessing. Notice this verse three. And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that cursed thee and in thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed. This is why it's great to have a King James Bible right here, because of that singular you that's being used there. Right. That singular second person pronoun of the meaning that he was not talking to a group of people. He was talking to Abraham himself saying, I will bless them that bless out. Yeah, I will bless them that bless be not Israel, not a whole bunch of Christ rejecting Jews that are over in Israel. And by the way, in Israel, it's not just Christ rejecting Jews. It's it's Muslims and Catholics in our and what's the other one? It's an Arminian, maybe I'm thinking of something else, but there's it's like it's like four different groups. Anyway, none of them believe on Christ. None of them are actually believers. And you say, well, you know what, maybe that meant like to him and and obviously to all his children. Right. Well, in Galatians chapter three, you don't have to turn there, but you can if you want. We've read this many times. Galatians three, sixteen, it says now to Abraham and to see where the promise is made. He saith not into seeds as a many, but as of one into thy seed, which is Christ. You know, the Bible saying I didn't mean that to multiple people. I meant that to Abraham and to his seed, which is Christ. You say, well, he said it to Isaac and he said it to Jacob. Yeah, because if you be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and there's according to the promise. And guess what? Isaac was a believer. Therefore, he's a part of that seed. Jacob was a believer. Therefore, he's a part of that seed. Guess what? You're a believer. You're a part of that seed and that blessing applies to you. Not some Christ rejecting religious people that are over in the Middle East right now in that land. OK, not only that, go to second John Chapter one, second John Chapter one, because there's not another chapter. But second John, verse nine. So, again, bear with me a little in my following, meaning this is that I'm showing you my faults, I'm showing you as a Christian after I got saved certain things I used to believe. But now I don't. But can you at least see why? Hey, here's the verses, why? I'm not just going to go against the Bible just because that's what I was taught or that's what someone told me, OK? Because if you took if you looked at the Jason Robinson back in 2004, for example. 2003, 2004, in college, just got saved the year before that or whatever, you know, you find you find someone that believe that salvation is by grace through faith, you cannot lose your salvation, and that's King James only. But let me ask you this, all this stuff that I'm showing you would have been attributed to me as well. And can you say, man, I wish you would have stuck to your guns. And all of the stuff that you used to say you believed. Or would you say, man, I wish you would have learned something since then. So in second John, verse nine, it says whosoever transgresses and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed. For he that bideth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds. So when you say, God bless to somebody, you say that generally to Israel, you have to recant Christ to be a citizen of that country. I mean, good night, you say, well, you're saying we can't bless the country. Well, at least pick a country that you don't have to reject Christ to be a part of it. I mean, that is, unless you are Jewish born or something like that, you have to recant Christ as being the Son of God, being, you know, being the Messiah, you have to recant that to be a citizen there. No, thanks. And I'm not going to bless that country. You know, they're cursed. They're anti-Christ. They don't have the Father nor the Son. But you know what? I changed on that because I saw what the Bible taught on that. Okay. I used to think that we should never hate anyone. You know, love the sinner, hate the sin. And which was said by Gandhi, by the way. So that's definitely not what the Bible teaches. Go to Psalm 139. Psalm 139. So this isn't a sermon to toot my own horn here. Actually, this is kind of an embarrassing sermon for me because I'm admitting to you what I used to believe. Okay, I could just be like, bless God. I never had changed on that. I can't believe these people believe that that the Old Testament saints went to paradise. I can't believe these people thought there were certain people that, you know, like there wasn't certain people that couldn't be saved. I can't believe these people that, oh, these Zionists, these people that had blessed Israel, I can't believe they do that. Guess what? I was one of those people at one time. Okay. That wasn't exactly like the poster board child promoting it. Okay. It was just more so that's just what I thought it was. Okay. I wasn't given money to the whatever foundation to build the temple. Okay. I never did that. Okay. But again, this isn't a sermon to like puff myself up. If anything, this is to show you that, hey, your pastor wasn't always there. I had to learn. And therefore, I want you to know this is that, hey, if you ever come to a subject and you're like, you know what? I was wrong about that. You know what that means? It is that you're increasing in learning. You know, did you learn something last year that you didn't know the year before? This year, have you learned something that you didn't know last year? And if the answer is no, then you're not increasing in learning and you're not a wise man if you're not doing that. If you're just like, yeah, you know, everything I knew 10 years ago, that's exactly what I know now, nothing more, nothing less. Then you're not a wise man because a wise man will increase in learning. Okay. And to say that, well, I've already arrived, that's pride right there. And pride goes before destruction and a hotty spirit before a fall. And you need to humble yourself and say, you know what? I don't know everything. And you know what? If the Bible teaches it and it's clearly written in the Bible, then I'm going to believe it. So in Psalm 139, verse 21, it says, do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee, and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred. I count them mine enemies. That's the sweet psalmist of Israel. So tell me again, you shouldn't hate anybody. You know, 2 Chronicles 19, 2 says that if you love them, they hate the Lord, the wrath of God is upon you. Love them that hate the Lord. Oh, God doesn't hate anybody. Then why does it, you know, the Lord tried the righteous and him that and the wicked and him that love of violence, his soul hated. He hated all workers of iniquity. So tell me again, God doesn't hate anybody. And tell me again that I shouldn't hate somebody. Now, obviously, who are we supposed to hate? I hate them that hate thee. Haters of God. OK, that's a small group of people. OK, you say, well, that's Old Testament. Come on, pastor, you know, we're in the New Testament. Didn't Jesus say, you know, basically, he's switching over everything. Listen, moral law is moral law. If I'm supposed to hate somebody back in the Old Testament, then I should hate them in the New Testament. Right. But, OK, I'll give you one. Go to Luke, chapter 14. Luke, chapter 14. Luke, chapter 14 and verse 26. It says, if any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, in his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. What do you do with that verse? Oh, we're not supposed to hate anybody. It says they hate your wife and your father and your mother. Like, that's a hard saying. Yeah, I know it's a hard saying, you know, you know how you know how that makes sense. What if your father, mother or your wife was a reprobate and they were a hater of God? And what it's saying is that if you want to be Jesus' disciple, then you can't love them that hate the Lord. Oh, it came full circle all the way back to Second Chronicles 19, too, all the way back to Psalm 139. But yeah, Old Testament, New Testament, there are certain people that we should hate, and it is and it's not discriminatory on like a certain portion or position or anything like that. It has to do with them hating God, OK? So, yeah, I mean, I've changed on those things. I didn't always believe that. But you know what? We need the increase in learning. We need to take counsel. We need to take reproof. We need to take rebuke. That's the whole point of coming to church is that, hey, if you already knew everything, what are you doing here? Why am I still reading the Bible if I know everything? Why do I? And this doesn't just apply to things as far as, you know, Bible related stuff. How about math? How about science? You know, why don't you increase in what you know? You know, if you know things about computers, increase your knowledge. Listen, that's always increasing, right? Anybody that probably deals with technology knows that that's just that's ever changing, meaning that you've got to be increasing in learning or you're going to fall behind. You imagine people in the 80s, they're like, you know, I'm going to stay with the technology we've got now. You imagine trying to get a job now, right? Where's DOS at? Where's my floppy disk? You know, it's not going to work out for you. You better increase in learning. You better figure out what's up and coming when it comes to the technology of this world. And that's a worldly example. But, you know, in our jobs, shouldn't you be increasing in learning and knowledge? Now, like I said, when it comes to the Acts chapter two or Acts chapter 12 with Easter, and when it comes to different things, when it comes to, you know, King James only arguments, OK? I used to believe and say that the King James Bible was translated word for word everywhere. Guess what? I was wrong. And you know what? That comes from ignorance. That comes from reading what people had to write about the King James Bible. Gail Riplinger, Al Lacy. And you know what, the things that people are teaching right now, that stuff's not new. As far as the fact that there's no dynamic equivalence in the translation of the King James Bible, that the Greek text, this receptus that we have today is not perfect, that's not new. Gail Riplinger taught that. Al Lacy was right there with her. And, you know, Al Lacy taught a hardcore repent of sin and salvation. He's probably in hell right now. But the sermon isn't about him. So I used to teach, I used to say that. I didn't teach that because since I started church, you know, I didn't hold to that viewpoint. But in my zeal to defend the King James Bible, I'd say, well, you know, the difference between the new versions and the King James is that theirs is more of a loose interpretation. King James is word for word. And, you know, in a lot of cases, it is pretty much word for word to a certain extent, OK? Obviously, word order and differences and languages are going to, you can't go word for word. It's going to really sound bad, OK? Just take a verse, just take any language and put it in Google Translate and figure out what pops out, OK? But, you know, learning more and learning on the subject, reading about the King James Bible issue, I found out in a lot of areas where what I was saying was not right. Not that I changed my position on the King James Bible because that's never changed. It is perfect, inspired, inerrant that I wouldn't change a word in it, OK? I haven't changed my position on that, but I've changed some of the arguments that I use because some of the arguments are false, OK? The argument that it's been, that it was word for word translated from the original Greek is ridiculous when you know what that means, ridiculous, OK? You have to basically throw out all the transcripts that they have. And say that there's some Greek transcript out there that doesn't have any dynamic equivalence in it. Like I said, I was talking to some of the men after, you know, after the morning service about dynamic equivalence and everything. Just in learning modern Greek, I was talking about the fact that, hey, you know, if I said I haven't seen him in years, but I said that in Greek, it would literally say in years I have seen him. And there's no not in there. There's no negating term. So translate that word for word and see how it works out for you in English. They also use double negatives. But the King James Bible does this as well. God forbid is one of those. That is not a word for word translation. Godspeed, we just read that. That is not a word. You will not find the word God in the original Greek language right there. It's a dynamic equivalence of meaning be blessed. And what do you do when you say Godspeed? You know, be blessed, you know, by God, and it's a dynamic equivalence. And guess what? The King James Bible is right to say that. It's perfect. I wouldn't change it. It is what it should say there. But to say that it's word for word is not right. Let me ask you a question. If you had an issue, let's say it had to do with abortion. Let's say it had to do with Christianity, and it was on the news, and there was some news article or there was some video that was supporting your cause. But then you found out that the whole thing was a farce and was incorrect, and all the facts about it were wrong. It was just a wrong argument. Everything was wrong about it. Would you still use it as your argument? Or would you say, no, I don't want to use that. Even though it's for my cause, it's going to hurt my cause because it's a false argument. And so you can have all these arguments in the world, but if it's not a true argument, I don't want it. I'm not trying to fight a battle of defending the King James Bible with arguments that aren't true. You're going to look like a fool, and I don't want to look like a fool when defending the King James Bible, okay. And here's the thing, there's plenty of arguments that defend the King James Bible that are perfectly legitimate and doesn't change your view about the King James Bible. You know what, one thing I used to think too, and I remember this one specifically because I was talking to Jack Skop on the phone. Because Jack Skop, who's in prison for statutory rape by the way, used to be the preacher of Hammond, the first Baptist church in Hammond, Indiana after Jack Hyles, pervert that he is. Side note, anyway, I was talking to him on the phone, this was before all that came out. He was still the pastor of the church there. And he just came out and said, hey, there's 22,000 mistakes in the King James Bible. And that we haven't gotten that fairly error free. And so he basically is just coming out to say, hey, I believe there's mistakes in the King James Bible. And we're all like, you're an idiot, you know. Like, who is following this guy that says that the King James Bible has mistakes? And I remember I was going to a church, and turns out the pastor used to be Jack Skop's roommate. So they were good buddies, and they didn't like the fact that I didn't like Jack Skop, or Hyles Anderson College for that matter, because of what it, you know, went down that path of what he was putting it into. And I talked to him on the phone, and I remember I used this argument. It was a false argument, and you know what, it made me look dumb by saying it. I said that the Texas Receptus was the majority text. And most of you are like, what are you talking about? Okay. But when you get into the weeds on, you know, the text of the Bible, the majority text is just a name given to the text that made up the majority of all the texts. Meaning that there's the Byzantine text, which was around 1200, 1100, 1200, 1300, you know, AD. And this made up the majority of the manuscripts that they found. The critical text, you know, like the West cotton, you know, like the Codex B, Codex A, you know, the Sinai Atticus, and the Vaticanus, right, that's called the minority text. The reason why is because it's a smaller group of text, right. So majority text means that that's the majority of the text, and that makes up around 5000 manuscripts that they have today, over 5000, right. The TR is not the majority text. The Texas Receptus was an addition that Erasmus first put together based off manuscripts from the majority text, like seven. I can't remember what I, no, yeah, I think it was like seven different manuscripts that he had. He did not have 5000, okay. And that's the, that's why, you know, people are like, oh, your TR, you know, what if the ones he used were wrong? It's called the received text for a reason, because it's what was received from generation to generation to generation, okay. There's a whole other argument for another day. But do you see how that was wrong, to say that the TR, the Texas Receptus is the majority text, it's not the majority text. And the TR will actually vary some places in the majority text, meaning that some of the, a lot of the majority will actually differ than what the TR says. So I was using that argument with Jack Scott, and I, you know, I mentioned that, he's like, he's like, no, and you know what, I looked like an idiot for a second. Now I was still right, right, I was still right to be King James only, I was still right to say, hey, we still have a perfect Bible, and that I believe we do have a Greek text, and what I found out is that he didn't even believe we had a perfect Greek New Testament. And, you know, that surprised me, you know, that's when he's like, he's like, yeah, we don't even have a whole Greek New Testament that we can say is perfect. I'm like, well, what are we supposed to do then? He's like, well, that's why we need to get together, you know. It's like, we're going to go find it, go dig it up or something. I don't know what he was trying to say, I don't really care what he was trying to say. But all I have to say is that, see how a wrong argument is not a good argument to have? Because you look dumb, okay. It makes you look foolish if you don't know what you're talking about. And so that was an issue that I had, you know, false arguments with the King James Bible, the fact that it didn't have dynamic equivalents to it, that the majority text was the TR, and so I used to believe that, I used to think that, and it was based off of ignorance, it was based off the fact that I didn't know, I hadn't read enough about it yet, okay. And so, you know, people that, if people don't want to call me King James only, then I don't want your King James only. I don't want this Ruckman Knight garbage where you say that the English is going to correct the Greek or that we don't even have a Greek New Testament to compare it to. That's ridiculous, that's ridiculous when they have first edition Texas Receptus that you can literally look at from 1611, from that time when they were translating, when they had first editions of those text books, you know, the text New Testament in Greek. You can look up, listen, you can go online and look up the facsimile of the manuscripts that are online, a lot of those manuscripts, right. Look up majority text and you'll see links to all these different facsimiles of that Greek text and you can look up and see if what you're saying is right, okay. And you know what, sometimes you just need to learn a little bit and you don't have to change your position, but sometimes you need to change your arguments. Sometimes you're going too far with your arguments and you don't want to do that, you don't want to be foolish. Now, this is one that's embarrassing, I don't even know if I want to talk about it. This has nothing to do with the Bible. I said this and probably recently too, I said, talking about the English and the Greek, I said that the English has more vocabulary than the Greek. Bear with me in my folly for a second. All right, so let's look at how many words are in English. There are 170,000 words that are being used today. Roughly you could add maybe about 10,000 to that of derivatives of the words, stuff like that, right. So let's say 180,000 and then there's like 47 obsolete words, right. And there'll be some words that they'll say are obsolete that the King James, so let's just count those in there, okay. Once I tell you how many are in Greek, it's going to be a non-issue because, you know, so that means that there's, you know, around 230,000 words if you count all the obsolete words in English. You want to know how many words are in Greek? Five million. Five million, you know, and here's one of the big reasons why, because Greek is such an old language. It goes all the way back to the Homeric Greek. I mean, you're talking thousands of years before that and the language throughout the years has changed a little bit and the vocabulary has changed. So I'm not saying they're using five million today, okay. Good luck trying to remember five million words, okay. Because the average American or the average English speaking person only used about 20,000 of those 170,000 words, okay. So just because there's all those words doesn't mean you're actually using them. But I remember saying that because our language is compiled, meaning that it comes from Germanic, Latin, you know, it's kind of like a combination of some languages. But there's a case where I didn't know what I was talking about. Well, should I double down on it? No, bless God, you know, English has more, I mean, it's stupid anyway, right. He would die on that hill. But there's an example of something I've said probably behind the pulpit of saying, well, the English has more vocabulary and all that. And to go back to the King James argument, the idea with this dynamic equivalence or this idea that, hey, words can't be changed or, you know, the translator had to use that one word. They'll say, well, there's no true synonym. Have you ever heard that? There's no true synonym. So basically, if it says this over here, I don't care if the Greek word was the same over here, those words are different words, you know, like spirit and ghost, everlasting, eternal, you know, those words have to be different. The King James, and listen, I'm not here to change any of that, okay. I'm not here to say everywhere it says ghost, put spirit. Everywhere it says spirit, put ghost. I'm not here to do any of that. But the argument is is that, well, there's no synonyms, there's no true synonyms. Okay, well, a lot of times in the Bible, where it says love, there's different words used in the Greek. Are there Greek synonyms? Gotta pick. Is there synonyms in any language? And I'm not talking about cinnamon rolls. Synonyms. Is there synonyms in Greek? Because you gotta believe that, unless you're gonna say, well, no, you know, there's a Greek transcript that has that same word. They use agape everywhere in that for love. So which one is it? There's synonyms in Greek. You know what, that makes a lot of sense when there's five million vocabulary words, right. You may look at it and go, well, why wasn't Filet-O-N, you know, agape and all that stuff, why would they have so many different words for love? I don't know, why do they have five million words? They need all those words for you. I'm being a little funny. But obviously at the same time, you know, they have a lot of words and a lot of synonyms, okay. And so that's one where it's just kind of a, you know, just a funny one. And listen, you know, time would fail me to tell you of all the times I've been wrong, okay. Or that I've said something and I'm like, yeah, that wasn't right. So I'm not gonna tell you all that because that's embarrassing. So I told you the one about the Greek words and that's enough for me. And here's the thing, I've been studying Greek for the past seven years. But you know what, I didn't care to look up the difference between how many words were in Greek and how many words, because I wasn't planning on trying to figure out and memorize all of them anyway. But you know what, that's just a lack of knowledge that I had and I said something that was wrong. But you know what, I changed what I thought about that. Greek has more words in it than the English language. Sue me, I was wrong, okay. Now, go to Philippians chapter three. Philippians chapter three, I'm gonna end with this. The Bible says, study the show thyself, approving of thy God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. You need to be studying. You need to be increasing and learning. You need to know more this year than you knew last year. Listen, you need to study just to keep up what you already have. Because if you don't keep up with what you already have, you're gonna end up forgetting it. So you need to be fighting that battle of keeping what you have and increasing in your learning. So Philippians chapter three and verse 12, it says, not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after that I may apprehend that, for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God and Christ Jesus. Listen, I haven't attained, 10 years ago, 12 years ago, I definitely hadn't attained. But you know what, the things that are wrong about, you know what, I'm forgetting about that and I'm pressing on. I've learned from my mistakes. I've learned from things that I didn't know and I'm gonna press on. And guess what, there's probably gonna be something in the future and be like, yeah, I was wrong about that. I'm gonna change that. Okay. Now salvation's not one of those things. The King James Bible being perfect and us having a perfect word of God is not going to be one of those things. But you know what, the arguments that I use could change depending on what I find out to be true or false, okay? And I just showed you cases of arguments. And you could understand why I was trying to make arguments like that, because I'm trying to defend the word of God, okay? But nowadays, it seems like people hold people to a standard that's ridiculous as far as the fact that you can't change on what you believed 10 years ago, 12 years ago, whatever it may be, and that if you don't hold to that argument and you don't hold to this to a T, then you're falling from the foundations, right? So in Proverbs chapter nine, verse nine, it says, give instruction to a wise man and he will yet, he be yet wiser. Teach a just man and he will increase in learning. In Proverbs one five, it says, a wise man will hear and will increase learning and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels. Don't stop learning, okay? And like I said, I think I preached a sermon about answering hard passages or how to answer hard passages that you do have certain foundational things that don't move. The King James Bible is the word of God without error. It doesn't move. Salvation is by grace through faith, not of works. Eternal security doesn't move. Amen. The fact that Jesus is God, the Trinity, the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, these three are one, that doesn't move, okay? So you do have certain things that are not movable. But how you tell people or how you use the Bible or what arguments you use to prove the Trinity, guess what? You might not always be right on how you answer that. Even though your conclusion's right, even though what you believe is right about the doctrine, your argument might not be valid and you need to make sure that you're not using a false argument, okay? Because you're going to look foolish. And you know what? I don't want to look foolish, okay? So if I find out that I'm saying something that's wrong, you know what, I'm gonna change that. And why, you know, in the end, why not? Why wouldn't you change on that? Why does that set in stone the way I defend the King James Bible? I still believe it's perfect without error that you don't need to go back to the Greek or Hebrew or anything like that. And on top of that, and I'm just speaking because there's people out there that literally don't think, there's preachers out there that don't think I'm King James only because of what I believe about this issue, because I believe that the Bible had dynamic equivalents in the translation. Whenever you ever heard me preach a sermon where I preached a doctrine and it wasn't plainly in the English text that I showed it to you. And if I did, tell me, because I was wrong if I did that. And so if you can't get it, if you can't get your doctrine from the King James Bible in the English text, then you have the wrong doctrine. Amen. Plain and simple. And listen, I'm reading through the Greek New Testament right now. You know what I'm finding out? It says the same thing. Amen. You know what I'm finding out? There is no mystical, magical meaning in there. It's just a different language. You know what I found out is that I believe the King James Bible is more perfect than what I did before I started that. You're like, oh, you're learning Greek, that must be, you're just prone to wanna go back to the Greek and try to correct the King James Bible hogwash. When I read the Greek, you know what I say? Praise God for the King James Bible because that is a magnificent translation. Amen. And you know what I see? I see God all over that. I see the fact that God used those translators to make a perfect, beautiful translation from the Greek language, and I wouldn't have it any other way. And nowhere did I ever read it and be like, man, probably should have did that a little different. You know what I'm reading? I'm like, man, they were pretty smart, right? Man, I can't hold a candle to what they did with that translation. And you know what? It's just increased my faith in the Bible, and I wanna read it more because of that. And so when it comes to this issue of the King James Bible, listen, we're King James only, but we don't take things too far. We don't take it to the point where we're saying that the Greek is wrong, or that if you take off the THs on believeth and put an S, that that's wrong. That's crazy. That's ludicrous. I mean, no one's gonna take you seriously if you're gonna try to convince somebody on the King James Bible if you say something like that. Okay? And it's just not true. I mean, that is crazy. And I think Brother Levi was talking about with the 1611, can you imagine? How much change from the 1611 to the 1769 in spelling? Right, the font, I mean, good night. The Ss look like Fs, you know? And a lot of times there'd be an N and it's a U, and like, I mean, it's still the same thing, right? It's just different, some of the different grammar and different things like that. And so, you know, those people that hold to that, that you can't change one little thing, and if the translator were to use a different synonym over here or that, then are you gonna start reading the 1611 then? Because the 1769 has different spelling, okay? And so, anyway, I just wanted to get into a sermon about the fact that we need to be increasing in learning. We need to be wise men, okay? Because a fool is going to stay with what they were taught and never try to learn anything more, okay? And you know what, if all you learn is salvation, that you're saved by grace and that you're on your way to heaven, that's good enough, I mean, you get to heaven, okay? But is that where you want to stop? Or do you want to press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus? Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before. Listen, all those doctrines that I told you that I used to believe, I don't think about that. I'm like, man, I can't believe I believe that. I'm just like, yeah, I did, but I don't even think about it. Sometimes, I actually had to think about it like, what did I believe back then? And I was asking, what did I believe back then that was not right? And then it was just like coming back to you. They're like, oh, and I didn't even think of Israel. And I'm like, oh, Israel, how did I forget that one? And so, you know why? Because I'm forgetting about that because I know what the truth is and I'm going to hold to that. But you know what, if I find out there's some little thing in the Bible or some little thing here or there that I wasn't teaching right or whatever, you know what? I'm going to go with what's right. And so, let's end with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you today. And Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for the souls that were saved today. And just pray that you'd be with us throughout the rest of this week. And Lord, just pray that you would bless our church with the soul winning, with the Bible knowledge, Lord. We just thank you for your word. Thank you for the King James Bible that we do have a perfect, inspired word of God in our language. And Lord, just pray that you would help us to read it and just to not put it on the shelf. And Lord, just thank you for that. And Lord, just help us to increase in learning. And Lord, we love you and promise in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.