We're here in Habakkuk chapter 2, and I want you to notice in verse number 2 where the Bible reads,
And the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables,
that he may run that readeth it. And that's the text verse for the sermon, and this is going to
be a three-part series on teaching principles, and the name of the sermon is Turning Calculus
into Algebra. Now, I kind of came up with that name because I was a math teacher,
and so I enjoy math. I think it's interesting, but what I'm basically saying is you take something
complicated, and you make it understandable or simple. Something that's complicated like
calculus, and you make it understandable so people understand, okay? And so I want you to
understand that this sermon series, it's going to be very helpful for you that like to preach from
time to time, as we're going to go through some points on basically teaching or preaching
principles, but I want you to also understand that this applies to all people, because every single
one of you, you are a teacher in some form or another. If you are married, and you have kids,
husbands, and wives, you're going to be teachers your entire lives, because you're going to be
teaching and training your kids, and helping the next generation, teaching them to be good people,
teaching them the word of God, and so you need to understand good practical teaching principles.
If you're married, you know, if you're a husband, you're supposed to lead your home,
obviously you need to know these things, and so all of us in various forms, we are obviously
teaching from time to time. When we go sermoning, we're teaching people something. We're showing
them what the bible says, and we're showing them how to get to heaven. We're actually teaching them,
and so I believe this sermon series is going to be helpful for all of us. Now notice what it says
in verse number two. It says, write the vision and make it plain, and so the first point when it
comes to taking something complicated and making it simple, it's quite simple. We make it plain
or understandable. We don't make it complicated. We make it simple to understand. When it's talking
about writing the vision, what it's saying is you're writing something down, and they need to
be able to read it. If your handwriting is really sloppy, they won't be able to read it, so you need
to make it plain so they can understand what is being said, okay? And so the bible is teaching
here that if people are going to run the Christian race, they need to be able to clearly see what the
bible says, what is right, what is wrong, what are the commandments of God? Now turn to 1st
Corinthians chapter 2. 1st Corinthians chapter 2. You know, when we go sermoning, all we're really
doing is trying to take something that it seems very complicated to them because understanding
how to get to heaven is like calculus to the unsafe person. They don't understand it. They
don't get it. They don't know what the bible says, and all we are doing is taking something
very complicated and making it very simple. It is not our fault if they don't believe it,
but it is our fault if we make it so complicated they don't understand what we're talking about,
and quite honestly, there are people that their gospel presentation is so confusing and nobody's
going to get saved from it because it doesn't make sense to the people listening, and we take
something complicated, all we're doing is showing them, hey, it's a gift. Do you know what a gift is?
And you explain what a gift is. You explain what being born again means. You explain, believe only,
and they can understand these things. You're taking something that seems like calculus to
the average person, and you're making it just a simple two plus three equals five math problem.
Notice what it says in 1 Corinthians 2. This is Paul the Apostle speaking, and he says in verse
number one, and I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom,
declaring unto you the testimony of God, for I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ in him crucified. Now realize Paul the Apostle was a very educated man.
He was a very intelligent man. He spoke many languages. He was a very educated man,
and what it said in verse number one, he did not come with excellency of speech.
What he's saying is he didn't come and use complicated words that people do not understand.
He came and just explained what the Bible teaches. He says, I didn't come with excellency of speech
when I declared unto you the testimony of God. He says, I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ in him crucified. And look, when we go out soloing, we better realize we're
not using excellency of speech. We're not trying to sound really intelligent at the door. We're
trying to make it very simple so anybody can understand. Look, the gospel is simple enough
that a five-year-old can get saved, and we better make sure our gospel is understandable to everyone
we're talking to. We make it as simple as possible. It's the same when you preach sermons. Your job is
to make something that seems complicated to people very simple. Look, the end times are
very complicated to most people. The book of revelation is very complicated, but quite honestly,
God's word is not complicated. It's actually very simple, and so when you're preaching sermons,
you take something that people do not understand and you make it as simple as possible. You take
any truths in the Bible and you make it very simple. You say, why do you do that? Well,
this is what Paul the Apostle did. This is the manner you see in the Bible from people that are
preaching the Word of God. They preach in a way so people can understand what they're saying.
Notice what it says in verse number three. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much
trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in
demonstration of the Spirit and of power. And so what Paul says is, I didn't use enticing words.
I didn't use words of man's wisdom, what man would consider intelligent. I just declared you
what the Bible says, because the Word of God has power. It shows the power. The Word of God is
quick and powerful, the Bible says. And in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
Paul says, you know what? This is more powerful than anything I could say. I could make the most
complicated statements, the most eloquent sermon, and quite honestly, it fails in comparison to the
Bible, the Word of God. See, the Word of God is something that is very powerful. And when we use
all wisdom and all words, you know what? Honestly, we're taken away from the power of God.
Now, the Bible says we're to explain the Word of God. So I'm not saying I just get up here and read
the Bible. But when you're explaining it, you're trying to make it more simple, not more complicated.
And so you take something that's very complicated and you make it very simple. Now, look, the Bible
is meant to be understood. It's meant to be simple. There are parts of the Bible that are
confusing. And the purpose is that when you explain it, it's going to click with people
and they're totally going to understand it. And they're never going to forget it. It's just very
simple to them. And see, that's the way because when you first get saved, you don't understand
the Bible. You don't know the Bible. You don't know anything about the Bible. And when you're
in church, you're hearing sermons that make everything make sense. And it's like that math
problem that's got a lot of missing chains. And all of a sudden you're like, wow, I get it now.
I understand where you got from two X equals eight to X equals four. You divide by two. It makes
sense. And quite honestly, when people are first saved and they come to our church, you must realize
that a lot of the stuff they don't know that you do know. Look, if you've been listening to sermons
for years and been soul winning, you know a lot more than the average person. If we get some
Catholic saved out there and they come to church, a real church for the first time in their life,
they don't know anything about the Bible. They probably don't even realize that idolatry is
wrong. They don't even know what the Bible says about that because it's just on a new one.
I remember when I got saved, it was about, I don't know, eight months later or something
when I remember, I can't remember who mentioned it to me, but the topic of baptism came up.
And I remember saying, I didn't even know I was supposed to get baptized after I got saved
because nobody ever told me. I just didn't know. You say, don't you figure that out immediately
when you get saved? No, unless somebody shows it to you, you don't. I just figured I was baptized
as a baby. I thought it was valid because nobody ever told me. Look, when people first get saved,
they first come to a church like this, they don't know what you know. That's why we're
long suffering with them. We give them a chance to grow because they just don't know some of the
things that you know, as you've heard all of this preaching and part of the apostle realized that.
Obviously he talked to some people who had read the word of God quite a bit, but he was also
talking to a lot of people and this was very new to them. And so he did not use enticing words,
but he just showed what the word of God actually said. So why do you do that? Well, in verse number
five, it says that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
See, if somebody stands up here and they preach just all these complicated terms,
all these eloquent, fancy things, and they make themselves sound like they're really intelligent,
the problem is that the members are going to be devoted to them rather than the word of God.
That is what's going to take place. See, I don't want you to just, you know, say,
well, I'm going to Verity Baptist Church Manila because, you know, I love brother Stuckey. Just
everything he says I believe. No, read the Bible for yourself. Figure out what I'm saying is true.
Search the Bible to see if everything I'm saying is true because I will make mistakes from time to
time. And I do not want your belief in God and your belief in Christianity and belief in this
church to be simply because of what I said I learned because of the power of God in the
word of God. Okay, now turn in your Bible to 2 Corinthians chapter 3, 2 Corinthians 3.
And look, I'm not saying that there's not importance in trying to be dynamic when you
preach. And quite honestly, that's part of this series later on. But more important than being
dynamic is what you're saying. Look, Teenie Jakes is a dynamic speaker. But what is he saying?
What he's saying is garbage. What he's saying are lies. Look, yes, it's important to be dynamic.
Yes, the Bible says cry loud. Yes, you're supposed to make sure that you preach in a
light where people pay attention. That takes practice. It takes work. But far more important
is what are the words coming out of your mouth? Look, it doesn't matter how eloquent you are. It
matters what you're actually teaching. And quite honestly, you know, we need to make things as
simple as possible. Look, we've all had math teachers before that were terrible teachers.
They knew the material. They knew what they were taught. And look, I was a math teacher for a
couple of years in high school and in community college. So when you're a math teacher, you know,
you have to be with the other math teachers to make the lesson plans. And, you know,
sometimes I'd sit in on classes and I was just thinking, man, they are a bad teacher. I was like,
they're smart. They know what they're talking about. But nobody else knows what they're talking
about because they're not making it plain and simple. They're not saying it in a way
where people can understand. It's like, no, when you're actually up there, you're supposed to
actually make it simple. So people walk away and say, wow, I understand. Now, when I solve a
problem, I can do that now because the steps are very simple. Look, when you're preaching sermons,
you want to make it as simple as possible so people see, okay, I need to do this. I need to
read the Bible every day. Okay, I need to do this. And then they can run the Christian race.
And so your job when you're preaching sermons, whatever you're preaching on,
is make it as simple and understandable as possible. Notice what it says in 2 Corinthians 3
verse 8. It says, how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the
ministration of condemnation be glory, much more about the ministration of righteousness,
exceeding glory. For when that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect,
by reason of the glory that exceleth. For if that which is done away was glorious,
much more that which remaineth is glorious. Now, this sounds kind of confusing, but I'll explain
it. It's going to make sense. We're referring to basically the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Now, look, the Old Testament was great. It was glorious. I mean, everything that was in the
Old Testament, all those laws, it's glorious. The fact that they sacrificed animals, you know,
honestly, that was in God's law. That was great. It was perfect for that time period.
We understand today that the reason why they sacrificed animals was a picture of Jesus Christ.
And so here's the thing, though, in the Old Testament, they had a lot of rituals and a lot
of laws that they were glorious. They were great. That was God's law. But they were a picture of what
was to come. A lot of the cleanliness laws are pictures of Jesus Christ. And in the Old Testament,
they were told to do certain things. They didn't necessarily understand why they were supposed to
do them because they were a picture of Jesus Christ. And we understand that today. Now,
the Old Testament was glorious, though. There's nothing wrong with it. And quite honestly,
even though Jesus rose again and we're not under the law, the moral law did not change, though.
The moral law is the exact same. There were certain laws that we don't follow today because
they were a picture of Jesus Christ. Look, we don't follow the Sabbath today.
It's not something we follow anymore. Look, we don't follow the law. You can't work on Sunday.
Look, I believe it's fine to work on Sunday as long as you're coming to church.
We do not follow the law of the Sabbath day. Now, they did in the Old Testament. You say,
why? Because when you get saved, you enter into the rest of Jesus Christ. That is a picture
of Jesus Christ. But it was still great what they had. It was glorious, the Bible says here,
but that's what it says in verse 12. Seeing them that we have such hope, we use great plainness of
speech. What Paul is saying is, now we that are saved, we have the hope of Jesus Christ.
We know the truth. They were confused in the Old Testament. They didn't understand why they did
these things. We use great plainness of speech. So why? Because in the Old Testament, they were
confused about a lot of this. And when you get saved, the veil is done away and you understand
what's right and wrong. You understand why they did those things. The last thing you should do as
a preacher is put that veil back over their eyes so they don't understand. No, Jesus came and it
removed the veil and things clicked. I mean, look at the apostles. They didn't understand anything
that was going on half the time. I mean, Jesus would plainly say something and it went straight
over their head. They didn't get it. Now, once Jesus rose again, all of a sudden it's like, oh,
oh, now it makes sense. Remember in the word of Emmaus and Jesus is explaining to a couple of them
and he's explaining the Old Testament, they're not getting it. Then all of a sudden it just
clicks with them. They're like, oh, that's the reason why we did all that stuff. They didn't
understand it. And see, the last thing you should do as a preacher is to put that veil back over
their eyes because that is removed when you get saved and it makes sense. Look, the unsaved person
out there, ask them why they sacrificed animals in the Old Testament. They have no idea. They
don't understand. They don't get it. Ask them about the Sabbath day and look, you know, a lot
of believers think that we are supposed to follow the Sabbath day today and they don't understand
that for one, we're not following the Sabbath day and for two, no, we're not supposed to because
Jesus is that rest that you enter into. And so it says, judge no man in respect of Sabbath days or
new moon. Look, we don't follow the Sabbath day today. And the reason why is because that was a
picture of Jesus Christ. That doesn't change the moral law. It's still wrong to kill people.
It's still wrong to commit adultery. It's still wrong to do everything it mentions there. You
still have the same laws and the same punishments for those things. But I want you to understand
that when you get saved, all of a sudden the veil is done away. And the last thing you should do
when you're preaching sermons or teaching someone something is make it complicated where they don't
get what's being said. Also we use great plainness of speech. Notice what it says in verse 13,
and not as Moses which put a veil over his face that the children of Israel could not steadfastly
look to the end of that which is abolished, but their minds were blinded for until this day
remained at the same veil untaken away in the reading of the old testament which veil is done
away in Christ. So what it's saying is the old testament is confusing to people. Look, you read
some of the books on prophecy and Daniel is writing about things. Look, Daniel didn't
understand what he was writing about as well as we do today. He didn't understand a lot of these
things. If you had asked him about the Persian kingdom, he'd be like, you know what I mean? He
was there for that. But then after that, like the Greek kingdom and the Rome, he doesn't know those
things. Now we know them today because it's historical. It already took place, but he didn't
understand all that. You know, there's a great image of what's going to take place. It goes from
Nebuchadnezzar, then the Persian empire. All of that stuff though, you know, that was new to them.
He didn't understand all that stuff and the writer got a lot of stuff in the end times and we have a
better understanding today. We can kind of get an understanding of the mark of the beast and
how it's going to take place because we live in a much different world. A lot of that stuff that
was being written, man, they didn't understand what was going on at all because of the fact it
was all new to them. It's all confusing to them. You know, it's before their time. Now when it
comes to the Old Testament in general, though, all of those cleanliness laws, they didn't fully
get why they're doing those things. And it's a good lesson to us in the Bible, though, that when
you hear something from the word of God and it's very clear what God says, it really doesn't matter
if you understand why you're supposed to do it. You say, well, I don't understand why, so I'm not
going to do it. Well, you're a fool then, because if God tells you to do something and it's very
plain, it's very clear, it's very simple, and you choose not to do it, you're a fool. It doesn't
matter whether you understand what the Bible is, why you're supposed to do it. What matters is what
did God say? And you do it anyway. And so he says that the veil is done away in Christ. Verse number
15, but even unto this day when Moses is read, the veil is upon their hearts. Verse 16, nevertheless,
when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. And so unsaved people, they do not
understand the word of God at all. You could show them things in the word of God and it's going to
go straight over their head. They're not going to get it. That's why I believe it's foolish to argue
about the end times with an unsafe person. You say, why? Does it really matter if you convince
them of the timing of the rapture if they're not saved? I mean, they're going to go to hell anyway,
but quite honestly, they're not even going to understand these things. They're not going to
understand the word of God. Now, I'm not saying we shy away from the truth, but look, if somebody's
unsaved in your family, just keep preaching them the gospel until they get saved. That's what you
need to do because they're not going to understand everything else, all these other doctrines if
they're not saved. Look, the veil is over their eyes. They don't get it. And if they can't
understand the gift of God, they're not going to understand the deep mysteries of the Bible.
So you need to focus on salvation. Now you say, well, why is it then? Because the Bible is pretty
clear that when you teach, you need to make it plain. You need to make it simple. And so why is
it that pastors, when they preach sermons, they don't make it clear. They make it very confusing.
Well, notice what it says in verse number 12 of 2 Corinthians 3, which says, seeing then that we
have such hope, we use great plainness of speech. And what Paul is saying is, hey, we want to make
it as simple as possible. Since we know the gospel and we know the mysteries of the Bible,
we make it as simple as possible. You say, why is it that when pastors preach, they make it
very confusing? Because if you've been in churches, you don't hear pastors preach and you listen to a
sermon and you walk away saying, I'm not sure what he believes about that topic. I mean, he preached
for an hour about it, but I still don't know what he thinks about it. I'm not sure if he believes in
eternal security or not. And he's like, he preaches for an hour on a sermon about is eternal security
biblical. And at the end of the sermon, you say, I'm not sure what he believes. They're preaching
about the King James Bible and you hear a sermon on it and you walk away saying, I'm not sure what
he believes about that topic because they don't make it very simple about salvation. Look, you
hear a lot of Baptist preachers preach and look, I don't know what they believe about salvation
because you hear clips of them saying this by faith alone. And then you hear clips of them
saying, hey, if you're saved, you're going to be a great person. It's like, I really don't know what
they believe. It's kind of confusing. You say, why is it the preachers, they don't make things
plain. They don't make it simple. Quite honestly, many preachers are simply trying to edify
themselves. They're not trying to edify or help the people that are actually listening. Notice
what it says in second Corinthians three verse one. Paul the apostle is saying in verse one,
do we begin again to commend ourselves or need we have some others epistles of commendation to you
or letters of commendation from you? He says, are we commending or lifting ourselves up
or do we need that? Do we need somebody to write a letter and say, you are qualified
to be an evangelist. You are qualified to do this. There are letters of commendation from you.
Notice what it says in verse two. Ye are our epistles written in our hearts, known and read
of all men. And so what Paul is basically saying is, I'm preaching to a group of people and I
won many of you to the Lord and I brought you to church and I got you baptized. I don't need
a letter saying I know what I'm doing when I have the proof right in front of me.
See, Paul the apostle, he actually built a lot of churches. He got people saved. He brought
them to church. And if somebody wanted to say, well, I don't think that you're properly trained,
it's like, well, everyone in this room seems to think I am. I mean, these people that I got saved
and I brought to church certainly seem so. So Paul did not need a letter of commendation.
He didn't need a Bible college degree to say he knew what he was doing. He said why? Because
it's clear that he knew what he was doing. It was clear through his soul winning efforts in the
churches he started and the fact that he led all these great soul winning campaigns, it was clear
that he was the real deal. Now, here's the thing, though, if you don't go soul winning and you don't
know the Bible very well, you kind of do need a Bible college degree to say that you know what
you're doing, because otherwise nobody's going to believe it. He said, why is it they have this
Bible college system? They have it because they do need a letter of commendation. Look, I don't
need a letter of commendation. You say why? Because I've been soul winning for 15 years.
Because I've been part of churches. I worked at Verity Baptist Church. And because they said,
we believe you're biblically qualified. They ordained me to be an evangelist. But look,
if people do not, haven't really accomplished anything, they do need a letter of commendation.
Paul the Apostle didn't, though. You will never find Bible college in the Bible. It's not there.
Just because you get a degree in something, that does not mean that you know the material.
People walk away. I got a math degree in college, and I knew plenty of people that also got math
degrees. And I knew that some of these people didn't know what they were doing. But they'll
give a degree to anybody. That's the way, at least in the US, that's the way it works. You will get
a degree as long as you pay them money. As long as you're willing to pay the money, they'll give
you the degree. I remember when we had our calculus four differential equations class,
and for some of you this might make sense, some of you might not. But they had basically practice
sessions after class where you could ask the teacher questions. And I remember we were in
calculus four, and I remember this one person was asking a lot of very simple questions if you're
getting a math degree. Now, if you haven't taken these math classes, I wouldn't say they'd be
simple. But I'm just saying, if you're in calculus four, and you don't know what the derivative of
x to the seventh is, you need to go back to calculus one. Because quite honestly, that's
pretty simple. And it's like, how is this person passing classes? I mean, they clearly, they don't
know how to do this. And yet, they still got the exact same degree that I got. You say why? Well,
because they paid the same amount of money. And if you pay money, they'll give you, it's the same
way with Bible college. It doesn't matter if you actually know how to preach, or know how to go
soul winning, or you know how to do any of these things. It doesn't matter if you've read the Bible
cover to cover. It doesn't matter if you memorize the Bible. All that matters is, hey, I attended
these classes, so here's the Bible college degree. As long as you're willing to go to their system,
they'll give you the Bible college degree. But you don't see that in the Bible. What you see
is training starts at the local church, and the local church ordains people and sends them out.
And because I believe the training starts at the local church, that is why I'm giving you
guys a handout for lessons on preaching. Because if training comes from the local church, that
means I need to actually give you guys training. And so yes, training comes from the local church.
And as church, what we need to do is multiply ourselves, get other churches started. And that
comes from people that have a desire to preach, desire to be pastors one day. And they get
trained, they get ordained, and they get sent out. What they're not going to do, though, is get a
Bible college degree that says you spent four years learning these classes. The proof of
whether or not you're going to be able to make it in the ministry is, well, I mean,
how have you done when you get chances to preach? How have you done when you run ministries at
church? Look, if you want to run a church, the best way to find out if you're going to run a
church well is if you're at a church and you do a good job running ministries, you do a good job
preaching sermons. The Bible college has nothing to do with actually being in a church. It doesn't
make any sense. And when you look at the secular world, people get their four year degree in a
topic and they start the job and they have no clue what they're doing. That's the way it works.
You started a company and you've never done it before. And somebody who's been working there for
a couple of years, even if they don't have a degree, they know 20 times as much as you
because getting a degree that says you're good at math or you're good at mechanical engineering,
it doesn't mean you actually know how to do what you have to do with the job.
Thank you. That's the way it works in the secular world. I don't understand why the secular world
hasn't figured it out, but the Christian world hasn't either because they still have the Bible
college routine and that is not a biblical concept. Turn to first Corinthians 14, first
Corinthians 14. Now, the truth is that if you want to be a pastor, you will be able to find
somebody who's willing to ordain you and declare you a pastor. But you know, honestly,
when it comes to this topic, we have to look at what does the Bible say? How are things supposed
to be done? And look, I remember when I first got saved and I had a desire to be a pastor one day,
but I didn't really know what I needed to do. I just knew I had a desire. I was only 19 years old
and I remember considering going to Bible college because I just kind of figured that's what you do.
But then you read the Bible and show me where Bible college appears in the Bible.
You're never going to find it. It would have just started in the last couple hundred years
and it's really kind of a money making scheme now. That's what it is. I mean,
you're not going to find that. And look, when you spend four years and get a degree in Bible college,
that doesn't help you in the secular world be able to work and make money.
I mean, honestly, you're spending money and in some places you can do the classes for free,
but other places they charge you a lot of money and you get done with that. And it's not accredited
in almost every Bible college in the US. It's not accredited, which means you can't say,
well, I have a math degree. You have no degree. You basically spend a lot of money for four years
and you don't have a degree. You know, it's ridiculous. But what it honestly is,
it's a big money making scheme that a lot of churches are involved in. And honestly,
it's just not a biblical concept. And look, there are people, pastors from the past that I respect
that were good preachers and they set up Bible colleges, but you know, it doesn't matter whether
they were a good man or not. What they set up is not a biblical concept. Now notice what it says in
1st Corinthians 14 verse 2, for he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men,
but unto God for no man understandeth him. How be it in the spirit he speaketh mysteries.
And when Paul is speaking about an unknown tongue, he's not talking about what the Pentecostals do.
Okay, what he's talking about is a language. He's saying if somebody speaks in an unknown language,
then you know basically nobody's going to understand what he's saying.
Okay, notice what it says in verse number three, but he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to
edification and exhortation and comfort. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself,
but he that prophesieth edifieth the church. And so look, if I were to get up here and preach in
Mandarin Chinese, I would only be edifying myself because people in this room don't speak Mandarin
Chinese. Now I guess a better example, if Brother Ehrman were to get up here and preach in Japanese,
he'd be edifying himself because we don't understand what he's saying.
Why would you preach in Japanese if people don't understand that language? It doesn't make any
sense. Now you know what people do though when they preach sermons? They preach the same language,
but they use words that nobody knows. Let me give you some examples of this.
Eschatology. Eschatology is a word that you're going to hear some people use sometimes. You say,
what is eschatology? It's a study of the end times or the rapture or the tribulation. Study
the end times basically. Well, why don't you just say we're going to be talking about the end times
here today. Why do you use a term eschatology that nobody understands? The only people that
know that term are people that got that bible college degree. Eschatology, look that's not a
term that people across the street are going to know what that is. Now they know the words heaven
and hell, salvation, gift, eternal life. They don't know eschatology. They know the end times.
They know the word rapture. They don't know eschatology. What about soteriology? Soteriology
is a study of salvation. Now I don't understand why you have to spend your whole life studying
salvation because honestly I got saved in an instant. I heard the gospel. I believed on
Jesus Christ and I'm saved forever, but there are people that are employed their whole life.
They study salvation and that's what the term is. Soteriology is the study of salvation. You know,
you could just say the study of salvation or we're going to talk about salvation, but remember our
first series we preached here at Verity Baps Manila. Who remembers the name of that series?
The Salvation Boot Camp. You know we did not say the soteriology boot camp. You say why? Because
people know the word salvation. They don't know soteriology. Okay, what about exegesis?
Exegesis is a critical explanation or interpretation of a text. Well,
here's a simple way to explain that. It's called going back to the Greek in Hebrew.
That is what exegesis is and so when you hear James White stand up here and say I'm going to
exegete this passage, what he's saying is I'm going back to a language I do not speak and I'm
going to make things up. That's what he's actually saying and so exegesis is basically when you go
back to the Greek. Look, there's a great documentary that came out recently and it was not called
Exegesis. It was called Going Back to the Greek. You say why? Because we know what he's talking
about when he says that. You use terms that people understand. It's like this in any area of life.
If you're teaching something you use terms that people can understand and if you use terms that
they don't understand you make yourself look intelligent, but what is your goal? Is your
goal to edify yourself or edify the people? When you preach sermons your goal is to edify the
people listening and so you pick sermons that are going to edify them. You pick sermons that are
going to help them and you explain it in a way that they can understand and when you explain and
nobody understands what you're talking about it is a terrible sermon. It doesn't matter how many
amens you get. If you preach a sermon and nobody understands it's a terrible sermon. Turn to
Ephesians chapter four. Ephesians four. Let me give you an example of this. Let's say I preach
a sermon and people at the end of the sermon everybody's just kind of like I don't understand
what that sermon was about. Let's say somebody wasn't able to come to church and they asked you
what was that sermon about and you say I have no idea. I mean he yelled a lot. He said some
good things, but I don't understand what the sermon was about. I don't understand what the
point was. I'm not really sure. That means I did a really bad either you did a bad job listening or
I did a bad job teaching and sadly you walk out of Baptist churches and you don't really know what
was the point of that sermon. What was the purpose? What was he trying to teach me? Because everything
has an end. You have a math problem at the end you get x equals some number. If you get to the
end and there's no answer it doesn't make any sense and so when you preach a sermon if people
don't understand what you were talking about then you failed. You messed up. Look you know it's not
your fault if somebody doesn't get saved when you go soul winning, but if every time you go soul
winning they just don't understand what you're talking about then you're not doing a very good
job. You need to explain it in a way that they can understand. Look I preach the gospel many
times and they understand what I'm saying, but they don't get saved because they have free will
to decide if they believe or not. But if I'm preaching the gospel and nobody understands what
I'm saying there's a problem there. I remember one time I was preaching the gospel in Sacramento and
I was talking to someone who was Hindu and I remember I went through the gospel I explained
you know left right down the center really in depth. I explained the trinity. I explained Jesus
as God. I explained salvation and I spent like 20 minutes, 25 minutes they were listening.
I thought they were understanding and then at the end you know I kind of just asked them you know
what do you think you know because I knew that they came from a really different background
and they said man this really makes me feel good because at the end of this conversation
I'm really confident we believe the same things and I'm just like did I just really mess up that
conversation or something and like if that happens to you a lot there's a problem with that. If you
talk to people all the time and they just don't understand what you're saying there's a problem
with that. They get to the end and they just don't understand what you mean by eternal security. You
need to explain it so they understand. It's not your fault if they don't believe but if you
constantly have situations where people are just like man I don't understand what you're talking
about there's a problem and look if somebody gets up and preaches sermons and people do not
understand what they're talking about they're doing a bad job preaching and if I get up here
and use words that I know like I know the word soteriology I know the word exegesis but you know
honestly most of you probably don't know those words and the only reason why I know those words
is because you know I didn't go to bible college but you know you've you've I've heard people
preach against using those words I've heard James White use those words and I heard somebody preach
against using those words and so I know what those words are otherwise I wouldn't know and so I'm not
going to get up here and use words where you don't know what I'm talking about what is the purpose or
benefit of that notice what it says in Ephesians four Ephesians chapter four verse number 11 and he
gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the
perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ
when it comes to an apostle or prophet or evangelist pastor teacher they're there for the
edifying of the body of Christ and so when you preach sermons you're trying to edify the people
if I use words that people don't understand I am edifying myself it's as if I'm speaking in
another language I might as well be speaking in Japanese or Mandarin Chinese if I'm going to use
words that people don't understand you use words that people actually understand the bible speaks
about being apt to teach and look when you preach sermons if people don't understand what you're
talking about you do not have the aptitude or ability to preach okay turn to Habakkuk chapter
two Habakkuk chapter two now that doesn't mean that you don't know the material but it means you
don't know how to teach the material see there are really lousy math teachers that they understand
how to do the problems themselves but they don't understand how to teach people there's a problem
there and whether or not it's preaching sermons or preaching the gospel or teaching your kids
you don't want to explain something where they don't understand what you're talking about
now if my son is pretty young you know he's 19 20 months old right now but you know as he gets older
I'm going to be teaching him a lot of things and I need to make it very clear to him what
is right what is wrong teach him you know what's I'm trying to teach him and educate him
my son knows very clearly that touching a electrical socket is wrong and he's going
to get a spanking if he does that you say why because he learned through trial and error
he knows very clearly that that's another he doesn't understand why but he knows he gets in
trouble if he doesn't you say why because I taught him that but when he gets older and he can
understand things a little bit better if I'm going to teach him something because obviously you want
to pass on the knowledge you know to your children you need to teach it in a way that they understand
it you need to make it as simple as possible because they didn't spend the last 20 years
working as an engineer you did and so when you're teaching them something to your five-year-old they
don't understand the things you do you must learn to teach them on a level that they can understand
in all areas whether it's preaching a sermon whether or not it's going soloing whether or
not it's it's whatever in life realize that these people probably know the basics or there's some
people if you preach a sermon there are some people that know just the basics whereas there's
some people that know maybe a lot more than that but you must teach in a way that everybody can be
edified and everybody can understand when it comes to preaching sermons this is something that takes
a lot of work it takes practice to teach in a way that people can understand it but that is your goal
because your goal is to edify the people they must understand it is not my fault if somebody walks
out of church and gets mad at me because i preach against drinking but there is a problem if i
preach a sermon about alcohol and they don't understand what the position is of the bible
what my position is see if i just preach very clearly and tell you hey it's wrong to drink
alcohol which i will hear in like five minutes and i'll prove you from the bible it's not my
fault if you get mad and walk out of here but it would be my fault if you say man i don't even
understand what he was talking i don't know whether he's against drinking or forts i'm not
really sure there will be a problem with that you must say things in a way that people actually
understand it notice what it says in Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 2 it says in verse number 2 when
the word answered me and said write the vision and make it plain upon tables that he may run
that readeth it you say what is the purpose for making it plain and simple and trying to edify
people help them out because you want them to succeed at what you're talking about you want
them to successfully run now turn to Deuteronomy 17. Deuteronomy 17 my goal when i preach sermons
is not to get a lot of views on youtube it's not to sound intelligent it's not to get up here and
just you know be it you know interesting and yet my goal is that you can walk away from sermons
coming to this church and you are more able to run the christian race that you become a better
christian that is my goal now look i could change my style and just try to preach to get youtube
views and we could get lots of views i could preach on conspiracy theories and against the
lgbt every sermon and we would get a lot of youtube views that's not my goal though my goal
is to edify the people that are at this church and my goal is to explain in a way that you understand
and look living the christian life it takes time to learn and to grow it doesn't happen overnight
as we talked about it takes a lot of time and so you constantly need to hear what the bible says
and slowly you're able to more run the christian race and notice that it says that he may run that
readeth it that's what it said in tobacco 2 2 so when you actually read what the bible says now
notice what it says in deuteronomy 17 verse 19 and it shall be with him and he shall read though
in all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the lord is god to keep all the words of
this law and these statues to do them notice how i said in deuteronomy 17 verse 19 how it says
he shall read therein all the days of his life every single day you need to read the bible you
say brother stuffy is it okay to skip the bible today no it's not you said i've been in church
hearing sermons for three hours it is not okay to skip your bible reading today so why because
it says read therein all the days of his life every single day you need to read the bible
there's no break look you can go on a vacation there's nothing wrong with that but there's no
vacation from reading the word of god every single day you must read the bible and if you're wise
you'll read it in the morning you'll read it in the morning before you get distracted with the
things of this world and that is how you're going to grow spiritually you get your day started off
on the right way but you must read the bible every day whether it's in the morning or at night
you must find time to read the bible and look it doesn't matter if you get five souls saved today
and you heard preaching no it doesn't matter you still need to read the bible and if you didn't
read the bible today you need to go home after soul winning and read the word of god and if you
have to skip the fellowship time with other people playing board games to read the bible that's what
you need to do why because you read the bible every day there's no break from that and you
say why why are you saying it so bluntly i'm just trying to make it plain yeah right because when
you make it plain it causes people to say okay i got to actually do this if i'm not very plain
about it if you're not very clear about it then you know quite honestly people are just kind of
not going to always do it now now look i understand it's difficult because we have
a lot of distractions in today's world it's difficult for me as well which is why you have
to make it a point daniel purposed in his heart to live for god if you're going to live for god
you must purpose in your heart it doesn't happen accidentally you must decide to do it and look
sunday is not a day where you take a break from your bible reading so i got two chapters in
because you know habaca chapter two and uh you know the chapter from this morning you know those
are my two chapters galatians five why don't i two chapters in no that doesn't count you read the
bible that's what you need to do every single day well well i mean that's how you're going to run
the christian race is by reading the word of god you will run the christian race more successfully
if you spend time in the word of god than if you just listen to bible preaching that's the truth
well if there's a lot of great preaching you can find online and i don't think there's anything
wrong with it there is something wrong with skipping your bible reading and listening to
online preaching when i look at the times in my life where i've been really motivated to live
for god honestly i haven't really been listening to a lot of online preaching but i've been doing
a lot of reading during those time periods and that's the times where i'm doing more soul winning
and more zealous for the things of god because quite honestly that is the method god prescribed
it's the number one thing is that you read the bible you memorize the bible and so when we preach
sermons you make a very plain to people now look we've got another sermon where it talks about the
manner of which you say things because you know i don't think it's it's right to to try to be rude
behind the pulpit there is a time you have to be blunt but quite honestly there's a way to explain
things to people but you have to make sure you explain it so people understand and the bible
says read therein all the days of his life the bible is very clear turn to proverbs 23 proverbs 23
and so look and honestly you know when it comes to to churches and pastors you know most pastors
don't just make that clear that you need to read the bible every day but the bible is very clear
brother i mean you listen to bobo sanchez and he gets up here and says hey you don't need to read
the bible to grow he's like oh yes reading the bible is absolutely a good thing but you don't
need to read the bible no the bible says read there in all the days of your life every single
day you read the word of god that is what the bible says notice what it says in proverbs 23
verse number 29 and so i'm just picking a couple topics here but you know we looked at reading the
bible what about drinking according to the bible it was wrong to drink alcohol notice what it says
in proverbs 23 verse 29 who hath woe who hath sorrow who hath contentions who hath babbling
who hath wounds without cause who hath redness of eyes they that tear long at the wine they that go
to seek mixed wine see the bible says those that have problems in their life they have woe
they have sorrow they're babbling incoherently look if you're babbling incoherently you're either
you know drugs alcohol or you're pentecostal it's one of those three things if you're babbling
incoherently look alcohol will make you sound like a fool you'll battle nonsense out of your
mouth according to the word of god who has bad wounds without cost look when when when you drink
alcohol you will get in fights and wake up with wounds on your body i saw it when i was in college
all the time just people just getting in fights at 11 o'clock at night for whatever reason when
they were drunk because when you're drunk you're just finding a way to get into stupid fights
who have redness of eyes the bible says you're going to be tired you're going to be exhausted
it's going to destroy your health the bible says you'll be miserable verse number 31 look not thou
upon the wine when it is red and when he giveth his color in the cup when it moveth itself right
notice how he commands in verse 31 look not he doesn't say well i don't think it's a good idea
to look no he says look not that's a command which means any amount of drinking alcohol is
wrong but the bible commands you be sober what does sober mean it means you've had no alcohol
look if you drink one beer you might not be drunk but you're not sober the bible commands you to be
sober so any amount of alcohol will be wrong it's a sin and so you say why do you preach like that
i make it plain so people can learn the christian race look i've had people i remember someone who
came to me and told me hey you know i just wanted to let you know that a long time ago you preached
a sermon against alcohol and i heard that sermon and i was still drinking and i never drank after
that sermon you say why do you make it plain you make it plain so people can run the christian race
and quite honestly when you make it plain and preach hard it causes people to make changes in
their life it doesn't happen accidentally it comes when it's actually made plain made simple and
people are able to run the christian race and that is the goal and that's why hard preaching
you say hard preaching doesn't work brother stuff because this church doesn't run 100 people
it's probably not gonna run 100 people for a long time right you say wow because hard
preaching works to drive people to get away for god that's what takes place but hard preaching
works because it causes the people in the church to make changes in their life and look if you're
kind of new to church before you came to this church i promise you you've made changes as a
result of being at a church like this because when you're in church and you're here in the
word of god preached it causes you to make changes see the bible commands you to be sober
and so when you're preaching anything you preach it very plainly so people are able to run the
christian race think about if you're raising kids and you know let's say for example you know you
want your son to clean the room his room and you just kind of tell them generically hey i want you
to clean your room today and you come back 30 minutes later and the room's a mess and you say
well why didn't you clean your room he's like well i'm gonna do it later on because you just told him
hey clean it i want you to clean your room today now what you meant was i want you to clean it
right now but that's not what you said and you didn't make it plain enough you didn't make it
simple so let's say for example okay i'll clean my room now and you know he cleans it and then
you get back and you're not happy with how he did it and like i thought you were going to clean your
room well you need to make it very clear what he needs to do yeah now if your parents have told you
before over and over again the exact same things then you know what it is but if it's something you
need to make it very clear to them hey this is what i want you to do i want the windows washed
i want the bed made i want the clothes picked up you got to make it very plain and simple
when you're teaching anything you make it very plain and simple what they need to do
now it's not going to be your fault if people just refuse and don't do it but it is going to
be your fault if you don't make it plain and simple okay now turn in your bible to first
corinthians nine first corinthians nine
and you know here is here's one tip i will give you guys that preach from time to time
this sermon is also why i i believe that it's it's a mistake to do what i call drive by doctrine
you say what is drive by doctrine drive by doctrine is when you preach on something and
you don't prove it from the bible but you expect them to just automatically know it
now obviously we talk about salvation because we make salvation very clear and there's certain
things that you know what our stance is and they're just kind of very generic things but
what i'm talking about is if i for example in a sermon and preaching and i am not talking about
you know clothing you wear and i preach against certain clothing standards but i don't prove it
from the bible that is not a good method of preaching you say why because i didn't prove it
and i didn't make it plain to them i didn't make it simple and they're not going to understand
why we're saying that whatever you preach you need to make it very clear when i preach on
alcohol i give you a couple reasons why it's wrong where it says look not there's a command
you're not even supposed to drink any alcohol and he commands you to be sober i proved it from the
bible when you're preaching sermons everything you preach you want to be able to prove from
the bible you don't want to just do drive by doctrine where you say this is wrong and this
is wrong well you got to actually prove it show them why it's wrong because otherwise
they're gonna walk away and say you know that doesn't make any sense to me or they'll be mad
at the preaching because it wasn't proved from the bible i remember when i was shortly after
i got saved i listened to a sermon talking about clothing standards and i remember i listened to
the sermon and i remember just walking away thinking it was a sermon online i thought that
the preacher was crazy because he didn't use any bible verses he didn't prove it from the bible
he just assumed that everyone who heard it's going to understand now maybe a sermon from 50 years ago
that made a lot more sense because it was from like the 1960s when i listened to it i was like
this guy sounds insane when i was listening to the sermon on clothing standards because he didn't
prove it from the bible and so when you preach sermons i'm not saying you can never go on rabbit
trails and preach on salvation but you want to make sure you've actually proven what you've
talked about because otherwise people that come in here and they don't know about that
they're not going to understand you have to actually prove what you're saying otherwise
it's going to be like calculus to them they're not going to get it and they can easily get
offended at what you're saying because you didn't prove it from the bible see everything that we
preach we should use at least one bible verse to prove what we're saying this is why we believe
this this is why we believe that and if you do not do that you're trying to get people's to to
follow based on what you say rather than what the bible says right you want to actually prove
everything from the bible everything that we believe we have bible verses to prove it
i don't preach on everything in one sermon though there's nothing i'm going to avoid preaching
but if i'm going to preach on something especially if it's controversial and it's
something that would be new to people i want to make sure i actually show it from the bible
because otherwise you're going to get people that are visitors that get offended and walk
out because you didn't prove it from the bible you didn't show it and it's completely new to
them notice what it says in first corinthians nine we'll close up here because remember i talked
about in the back of chapter two it talked about running the race that he may run that readeth it
and notice what it says in first corinthians nine verse 24. first corinthians 9 verse 24
know he not that they which run in the race run all but one receiveth the prize so one that you
may obtain now he's using an analogy of an actual race you think of like an olympic race you know
you have in the olympics where everybody's running the race and one person gets the gold medal
you know nobody remembers who got the silver medal from you know 20 years ago i don't i don't
probably none of us remember who got the gold medal either but the only thing they're going
to remember is if you got a gold medal if you got kicked out due to taking drugs or something in the
olympics that's what they're going to remember they remember who won nobody knows who finished
second five years ago they know who won they don't know who finished second and the bible says run
that she may obtain so it's using the analogy of running a race and receiving a prize when it's
talking about the christian race okay now it says in verse 25 and every man that striveth for the
mastery is temperate in all things now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown but we and
incorruptible now it's using the analogy of running a race and it says that if you strive for the
mastery or strive for perfection or strive to get that gold medal you are temperate in all things
basically you exercise self-control in all areas of your life look if you're trying to become the
champion at you know the 100 meter run in the olympics there is a certain diet that you must
have you can't just eat whatever you want you can't stop at mcdonald's and stop at jolly bee
i know i'm gonna offend people with that you can stop a child king not jolly bee there's certain
things that you can't you can't just go and drink pop all the time and energy drinks you will not
win the gold medal if that's what you do you must exercise self-control you know there's certain
times where they go to sleep they have patterns for this you know even you know pro athletes when
they get done with their competitions oftentimes they sit in like an ice bath for an hour and a
half now look that's not something we're gonna do we don't enjoy doing that but if they're trying
to become the best at what they do they have to do those things they become temperate in all things
so they can get that gold medal so to speak now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown but we
and incorruptible what i want you to understand is this that if you are trying to run the christian
race and you're at a church and the pastor or the preacher is not making it clear what you
need to do there's a problem there and sadly you can go to most churches and those preachers are
not helping their members see my job is to show you what the bible says i preach the sermons on
how you need to read the bible every day and hopefully you'll apply it it's not my fault if
you don't apply it but it's my fault if i don't preach it or don't make it clear see my job is
to preach the entire bible and show you everything the bible says and you have the free will choice
will i listen to that will i take heed to that or do i choose not to take heed now all of us from
time to time will choose not to take heed because we're sinners we're not perfect i'm not standing
up here saying that every single thing i've heard preach i just follow perfectly but what i am saying
is this that when somebody's preaching sermons it should be their job to make it as clear and simple
as possible when you're teaching anything you must make it very simple look you know when i
think of my old job when i worked in cumberland maryland my boss would give me assignments and
what he would say is this assignment must be done by 2 p.m today we'll have a five-minute meeting to
talk about it you must explain this this and this and i want these things he gave very clear
instructions you say why because if he just told me i want this assignment done i probably wouldn't
finish it that day i would have worked on something else he had to make it very clear
this is when it needs to be done this is what you need to do he made it very clear and very simple
any leader is going to make things very clear and very simple if their goal is for people to
run the christian race most preachers though that's not really their goal their goal is to
edify themselves but that's not my goal my goal is to just preach very clearly what the bible says
that way you can run the christian race but there is a caveat
because go back to habakkuk chapter 2 let's look at this one more time
and it said in habakkuk chapter 2 verse 2 and the lord answered me and said
write the vision and make it plain upon tables that he may run that readeth it you see
no matter how much i preach sermons and make things clear quite honestly you're going to
run the christian race far more successfully if you actually read what the bible says
right so i can preach these sermons over and over again and when you hear the sermons you're
thinking amen that sounds great but at the end of the day unless you actually read the bible
you're not going to apply this to your life and you're honestly even at a church like this because
i've been i've been in churches that are like this like-minded for a long time and quite honestly you
know it's kind of surprising sometimes that you know you're at a church like this and you assume
everybody's reading the bible that's not the case though quite honestly i'm sure there are people
in this room that honestly you've picked up the bible like once this past week now i think that's
sad i wish that weren't the case but it is reality though look you know the truth is that people can
sit in churches like this and they hear preaching for years and you know i i i knew someone i'm not
very friends with him anymore but i remember he came to me one day and he was a friend of mine
from back in college and he was so excited to me so excited and he told me you know i finished the
bible and i was thinking okay you know saying you finished the bible for the first time and i was
thinking well that's great except i thought years ago you know you had completed i didn't tell him
that but that's what i was thinking i was thinking i would have thought years ago you finished reading
the bible look you know you can be in a church like this all the time you can hear everything
the bible says but quite honestly unless you make the steps especially reading the bible you're not
going to apply it but see the goal when you preach a sermon or to teach anything you teach it very
plain and simple you do not edify yourselves and the reason why is the listeners can run that read
it let's close in order prayer dear heavenly father thank you for all to be here today and
just getting to see your word and and help all of us god to apply these things to our lives
including myself help us that our teachers or preachers or in any way that we teach god to to
make things as plain as possible as simple as possible give us that aptitude help us get better
that each and every passing day but help us also that listen to apply these things to our lives
including myself when i learn new things god when i'm taught things from the bible or taught
things about life help me to apply those those things in my life not to be stubborn not to be
lazy but actually apply to our lives god help us in jesus name amen