Man, the title of my sermon this morning is Fables and Fake History, Fables and Fake History.
The Bible warns us to avoid fables and it talks about Jewish fables, old wives fables,
just stories that are made up.
And what I really want to emphasize this morning is the fact that when you study the Bible,
one of the most important things that you can realize is that there's nothing new under
the sun.
Look at what the Bible says here in verse 9.
The thing that has been, it is that which shall be.
And that which is done is that which shall be done.
And there is no new thing under the sun.
Is there anything whereof it may be said, see this is new.
It had been already of old time which was before us.
And so what I want to emphasize at the beginning here is that people are people.
Human nature is human nature.
It doesn't matter whether we're talking about a thousand years ago, two thousand years ago,
four thousand years ago, people have always been basically the same.
And if we were to go to other parts of the world and spend time in Africa or in Mexico
or in Europe or Asia, you'll find that everywhere people are basically the same.
Once you look past all of the outward differences and the clothing and the food and the language
and you know when you get down to it, people are struggling with the same things everywhere.
They're dealing with the same things.
They're going through the same patterns of life.
If you would flip over to 1 Peter chapter 5.
While you turn to 1 Peter chapter 5, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10, 13, there hath no
temptation taken you but such as is common to man.
But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able but will
with the temptation also make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it.
So the Bible tells us that there's no temptation that has taken us but such as is common to
man.
And that could be written two thousand years ago and yet be just as true today.
Even in 2017, there's no temptation taken us but such as is common to man.
Meaning that four thousand years ago, two thousand years ago, people were going through
the same temptations.
The same sins were there of fornication, adultery, theft, murder, lying, stealing.
It's all the same.
And the mistake people make is when they think that we have to somehow understand the specifics
of the culture in which the Bible was written or we have to understand that the Bible was
written in a time when things were really different.
The problem with that mentality is that they're trying to separate us from the Bible.
See the way we look at the Bible is that the Bible is relevant to us today.
And that we can just take the Bible for what it says and apply it to our lives.
And when it says that there is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, we
don't say, well that was true of the Corinthians but look at all the technology.
It's the same temptations.
We need to apply the Bible to our lives.
But what these false teachers are trying to do when they try to tell us that we have to
understand the culture and the history, they're trying to put a step between us and the Bible.
They're trying to separate us from the Bible where the Bible becomes this distant book
long ago in a land far, far away and it's not really for us, it's for them and we have
to figure out a way to twist and adapt it to make it, no, it's already ready out of
the box.
It's out of the box, it's plug and play, you take the Bible and you apply it to your life
just as it is.
That's one of the most important principles to understand when you're studying the Bible
is to just think about the fact that life back then was similar to life now and people
back then were similar to people now because human nature is human nature, life is life.
The Bible says in 1 Peter 5, 7, casting all your care upon him for he careth for you.
Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about
seeking whom he may devour, whom resists steadfast in the faith, watch this, knowing that the
same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
So this is pretty similar to the verse that said there's no temptation taking you but
such is his common demand.
When the devil is stalking about seeking whom he may devour, the Bible says here we're to
resist him knowing that the same afflictions, the same trials and tribulations are accomplished
in our brethren that are in the world.
It's not just us, but other people are going through the same afflictions all over the
world.
But the God of all grace who had called you unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus after
that you've suffered a while make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 2, 1 Corinthians chapter 2.
So all over the world people are going through the same things we're going through.
Throughout all time people have gone through the same things that we go through.
It's all common to man.
So when we read the Bible we can apply it directly to our lives.
We don't have to put this step of separation of well, you've got to understand that things
were different.
No, they weren't different back then.
They were generally the same.
Somebody said the more things change the more they stay the same because there are certain
constants of human nature and life that are the same for everybody.
Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 13 the Bible reads which things also we speak not
in the words which man's wisdom teacheth but which the Holy Ghost teacheth comparing
spiritual things with spiritual.
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness
unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.
So what the Bible is saying here is that we need to compare spiritual things with spiritual.
That's how we study the Bible.
So we take one Bible verse and we compare it with another.
We take one chapter in the Bible and we compare it with another.
When we don't take a chapter in the Bible and compare it to something written by man,
you know, pull out the fables and the fake history books and the encyclopedia and compare
the Bible to that, that's not a good way to study the Bible.
A better way is to study the Bible comparing spiritual with spiritual, comparing scripture
with scripture.
But the natural man, who's the natural man?
This is the unregenerate man.
This is the unsaved man.
This is the human being who's not been saved.
He's not been born again.
He's not been spiritually regenerated.
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
Their foolishness unto him.
So what he does is he looks at the clear teaching of scripture and he rejects it and thinks
it's foolish.
So he comes up with some other explanation where he compares the Bible to something carnal
to try to change what the Bible says.
You see, when people say, hey, we have to go back to the culture, we have to go back
to the history to get the cultural context, that's a code word for I don't want to receive
what's being taught here.
I don't want to receive this teaching, therefore I am going to find a way to twist this by
using something carnal instead of comparing spiritual with spiritual.
That's a code word.
And when it comes to going back and looking at the culture, going back and we got to see
the historical context and we've got to go back to the Hebrew and we got to go back to
the Greek, these are all code words for let me change what the Bible just said.
Let me tell you why it doesn't mean what it comes right out and says.
That's what it means.
And these guys that go back to the Hebrew, they don't speak Hebrew, so they're not really
even going back to the Hebrew.
What they're doing is they're going to a commentary that is also lying and claiming to be going
back to the Hebrew.
They're like three steps away from the actual language.
And it's the same with the Greek.
They don't speak Greek.
They don't speak a lick of Greek.
Neither does the commentator, but it just becomes, well, the Greek says that.
They got that from a commentary.
They didn't get that from their daily devotion in their Greek New Testament.
They got that from a commentary.
And when you use these type of tricks and sleight of hand, it's just a way to twist
the Bible is all it is.
And we've all heard it all our lives if we've been in church a long time.
The Bible says in 1 John 2 27, but the anointing, which is referring to the Holy Spirit, but
the anointing which you've received to them abideth in you, and you need not that any
man teach you.
But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, it is no lie.
Even as it hath taught you, you shall abide in him.
So the Bible tells us we don't need a man to teach us.
That means that there's no doctrine that you can't learn by reading the Bible on your
own.
You don't need man to teach you.
It's not like, hey, if we don't have the pastor, if we don't have the commentary, if we don't
have the theologian, we're never going to figure this out.
We need somebody to guide us.
You know, the Ethiopian eunuch said, how can I understand the Bible except some man should
guide me?
That's because he wasn't saved.
He wasn't saved.
He's an unsaved man.
He says, how can I accept some man should guide me?
But once you're saved, you've got the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and you need not that
any man teach you.
Now obviously that's not saying that God doesn't have pastors and teachers there to teach us,
but we don't need them to learn something.
We can, everything that I teach you, Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night,
you could learn on your own.
Now we're still commanded to go to church.
We're still commanded to assemble ourselves together, and teachers and preachers can speed
up that process and help us learn more.
But at the end of the day, there's nothing that you have to listen to me to learn.
All of it is here in the Bible for you to find on your own.
It's all there, because the Holy Spirit can teach us all things.
He'll guide us into all truth.
Now if that's really true, which I believe that from the top of my head to the bottom
of my feet that we need not that any man teach us, then that tells me that there's no scripture
where we have to know the culture in order to get the right interpretation, or we would
have need for one to teach us.
Because the Holy Spirit's not going to explain us the culture.
The Holy Spirit's not going to give us a history lesson, right?
The Holy Spirit's not going to take us back, supposedly, to the Greek or the Hebrew.
The Holy Spirit is going to teach us using these words.
So therefore if we need not that any man teach us, and if that anointing is able to teach
us all things, that means we're able to interpret the Bible without external sources from so-called
history or culture.
This is a key point.
This is important to understand.
This is why I think the best kind of Bible to get is not the study Bible or the reference
Bible.
When I buy a Bible, I try to buy the most stripped down Bible that I can.
I try to find the one that just has the text.
Just the text.
I mean, the less frills, the better.
The cheapest Bible is usually the best Bible.
The one that just has the text of the Bible without all of man's commentary and wisdom
mixed in.
You know, we need that time alone with the Holy Spirit in our Bibles.
And God has chosen preaching and preachers to teach us the Bible to help us learn more.
Not these dead as a doornail theologians in a cemetery somewhere, you know, sitting in
their ivory tower concocting cunningly devised fables and slight of men and craftiness whereby
they lie in wait to deceive.
You see, when you hear these sermons where they go back and talk about the culture and
you got to know the history, usually they're always teaching the opposite of what a passage
says or they're somehow teaching lies.
Because if they were just teaching the truth, they would just teach the truth.
They would just read the Bible and say, here's what it says, here's what it means, there
it is.
Everybody see it?
Everybody got your Bible open?
That's it.
But no, no, no.
They're trying to fool you.
They're using that to deceive.
Usually the areas where they deceive are areas that are not popular in society today.
For example, go to 1 Corinthians 14.
This is one that I've heard many times in my life.
First Corinthians 14, the Bible says that women are to keep silence in the church.
And they'll say, well, you got to understand the culture, you got to understand the context.
I mean, back then it was a patriarchal society and back then men were in authority and back
then they had a different culture.
But times change.
No, they don't.
They change for some people.
But right's right and wrong's wrong.
You know, Paul is writing about 2,000 years ago, but Peter writing around the same time
brought up Sarah as an example of obeying her husband.
That example was 2,000 years old.
So he's bringing up an example from a couple thousand years ago.
Well then, you know what, Paul's teaching from a couple thousand years ago is still
just as relevant today.
And so we don't need the, but here's what they'll say.
Look at, look at the, first just look at the clear teaching of scripture.
First Corinthians 14, 34, let your women keep silence in the churches for it's not permitted
unto them to speak but they're commanded to be under obedience as also sayeth the law
and if they will learn anything let them ask their husbands at home for it is a shame for
women to speak in the church.
Now that's just pretty clear.
See a righteous preacher would just read that verse and just teach that for what it says.
Here's what it says.
Here's what it means.
This is what God wants for us.
That's why we're not going to have Joyce Meyer behind the pulpit.
We're always going to have a man preaching 100% of the time.
When I get sick my wife doesn't fill in for me and preach for me.
She'd probably do a great job but she's not going to fill in and preach for me.
Men will preach always.
Men will teach.
And so men will even lead in prayer.
I mean men will do the speaking in God's house and the teaching and the preaching.
But you know people can't handle this in 2017 so they got to find a way to twist it.
So you say well according to the culture back then in church, this is one that I heard,
in church the men and the women used to sit on opposite sides of the building.
They have all the men over here and all the women over here in Bible times.
And so when he says let them ask their husband at home what he really doesn't want is them
to get up in the middle of the service and walk over to their husband on the other side
of the room and be like, honey, what's he talking about?
You know, is that crazy?
There's nothing about that in the Bible.
But that's the kind of stuff they'll come up with just to find another way to interpret
this, another way to understand it is well that's just because they're sitting separately
it's just too far.
But now that they're sitting together just anything goes, say whatever, put Joyce Meyer
behind the pulpit, whatever.
But the right way to study the Bible instead of appealing to some culture or history that
is totally fake, and by the way whenever you hear these things in church if you actually
try to go look them up in real history books they never really pan out.
You try to actually do research in the library for example, you just go to the library, start
pulling out books about ancient history, none of this stuff pans out.
But the right way to study the Bible is to actually compare scripture with scripture.
So let's compare this scripture with 1 Timothy chapter 2, right, 1 Timothy chapter 2.
And we can actually compare spiritual with spiritual.
This is the right way to study the Bible.
The wrong way is when we go outside the Bible and listen to all these fables and fake history.
The right way is to compare spiritual with spiritual.
It says in 1 Timothy 2-11, let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
That I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in
silence.
For Adam was first formed, then Eve.
And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
Now that couldn't be any clearer that the woman is not to teach the word of God, she's
not to be in authority over the man, she is to learn in silence.
She is to be in silence during the teaching and preaching of God's word in God's house.
It's crystal clear and these two scriptures, they fit together perfectly.
There's no contradiction.
They're in perfect harmony, but what it's not in harmony with is what some people want
it to say.
They want it to say something else, but this is what it actually says.
Go to Romans chapter 12.
Here's one, you know, I'm just giving some examples of things that I've heard over the
years and we've all heard stuff like this, right, over the years.
Some trying to explain things away by going back to the culture and the history.
This is one that I just heard this week.
This one just blew me away.
This preacher named Johnny Pope was preaching.
Somebody sent me this video and it was in some sermon where he's preaching all these
lies and garbage about, you know, just being really soft on the sodomites and stuff like
that.
But in this scripture, he quotes this verse.
Look at verse 20.
Therefore if thine enemy hunger feed him, if he thirst give him drink, for in so doing
thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
That's a pretty clear scripture.
And here's what he said.
He said, you know what I've even heard some people say?
I've even heard some people interpret this as, you know, you basically feed him and give
him to drink, you do good on him so that God will curse him.
Can you believe that that's what people think?
And I'm thinking like, uh, that's what it says.
And then this is the next thing he says.
Talk about ripping that verse out of context.
So he basically states the clear teaching of what the verse actually says and says that's
ripping it out of context.
Okay, let's actually see what the context is.
How about the verse before it?
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written
vengeance is mine, I will repay, sayeth the Lord.
So that's pretty clear.
When you get the context, it's talking about God taking vengeance on your enemies.
If we love our enemies, do good unto them, feed them when they hunger, give them to drink
when they're thirsty, it says all we're doing is just heaping coals of fire on their head,
God will repay, God will take vengeance.
That's what it actually says.
But he said, oh, that's not what this means.
Let me tell you what it really means.
In the Jewish home, and right when you hear that, you already know where this is going.
In the Jewish home, at the center of the Jewish home was a fireplace.
And I'm thinking like, yeah, at the center of like 90% of homes for the history of mankind,
there's a fireplace.
Everybody's got a fireplace or a wood stove throughout history, before HVAC units.
He says in the center of the Jewish home, there was a fireplace.
And he said, actually, what this is saying is that sometimes when they didn't have any
hot coals in the fireplace, they'd go to their neighbor's house to borrow hot coals and they
carried them on their head.
So they would go over to their neighbor's house with a big iron pot on their head and
say, friend, may I borrow a cup of sugar and would you also put some live hot coals on
my head?
And he said they'd put two or three hot coals and then they'd cover it up with ashes and
send you home.
So when the Bible says you're going to heap coals of fire on it, it's saying you're bringing
them warmth and love and compassion and all this.
I mean, is that the craziest thing you've ever heard?
I mean, come on.
And first of all, it doesn't say you'll put two or three hot coals in their little basket.
It says you'll heap.
What's a heap?
This is like when Samson said, with the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps.
With the jawbone of an ass have I slain a thousand men.
But see, that's comparing scripture with scripture and actually understanding that a heap is
a giant pile of something.
I mean, our friend from New Zealand, Sam, he knows what heaps are.
Anybody from Australia can tell you what heaps are.
But it says you'll heap coals of fire on his head.
It doesn't say you'll place a few gently in a, who carries hot coals on their head?
You're going to burn your head.
Iron is a conductor of heat.
An iron pot on your head.
Even if that weren't the craziest, most ridiculous thing I've ever heard about going over to
your neighbor's house and borrowing hot coals and carrying them home on your head, and that
that's what God's saying, is that if we actually read the context, it says that it's vengeance.
He's going to repay them.
But let's go further.
This is a good way to study the Bible.
If we're studying the Bible, we should compare scripture with scripture.
So when I read this scripture, and it says vengeance belongeth unto me, I'll repay saith
the Lord.
That reminds me of another scripture that says almost the same thing.
Hebrews chapter 10.
Let's flip over there.
Hebrews chapter 10.
So if we see a scripture that's really, really similar to another scripture, then we can
compare the two and help us understand these scriptures.
Hebrews chapter 10 verse 30 says, for we know him that hath said, vengeance belongeth unto
me, I will recompense saith the Lord.
And again, the Lord shall judge his people, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands
of the living God.
That sound like a blessing, getting a few hot coals to cook your breakfast?
No.
It's saying it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
But let's go even further.
Both of these scriptures have said, it is written, or it hath been said.
So it's referring back to something in the Old Testament.
Let's go back and find that source.
Go to Deuteronomy chapter 32.
See whenever we're studying the New Testament, if it quotes the Old Testament, it's always
a good idea to go back in your Old Testament and look up that quote.
That's a good way to study the Bible right there, to compare spiritual things with spiritual.
So go to Deuteronomy chapter 32, and verse 35, and we'll find the source of the quote,
vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense saith the Lord, and again the Lord shall judge
his people.
Look at verse 35, this is what God says, to me, vengeance, to me belongeth vengeance,
and recompense, their foot shall slide in due time, for the day of their calamity is
at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.
Those are bad things.
And then the next verse says, for the Lord shall judge his people.
Proving that this is what's being quoted.
Because in Hebrews 10 it said, and again the Lord shall judge his people.
Proving that this is what's being quoted.
So Deuteronomy 32 agrees, Hebrews 10 agrees, Romans 12 agrees, but Johnny Pope, the watered
down, lame, false teacher, he doesn't agree, so he gets up and lies and deceives and changes
what the Bible says.
And he's a brazen liar, it's not an accident that he gets up and reads verse 20, doesn't
tie it in with verse 19, verse 20 starts with the word therefore.
That's a conjunction connecting it to what was just said in verse 19 about God taking
vengeance.
Instead, he just quotes the verse out of context purposely and then because he knows subconsciously
in his mind that that's what he's doing, that's why he says, yeah, talk about taking this
verse out of context, because taking the verse out of context is on his mind and that's spilled
out of his mouth because that's what he's doing.
He took it out of context, he knows he took it out of context, he knows he's a liar, he
knows he's a false teacher, and he just gets up and lies brazenly through his teeth in
a sermon telling us, bring in the Sodomites, forgive, pedophiles, bring in the child rapists,
let them be restored.
That's the garbage he was preaching in this sermon.
And I mean this is the kind of stuff that people will do to do what?
To teach lies.
And so when you hear this, oh, well, in the Jewish home, in the Jewish wedding, in the
Jewish culture, if we understand the history, if we understand the cultural context, this
is just a code word for I'm going to twist the Bible and teach lies.
And when you hear that, you better get on red alert.
When you hear that, you better perk up and get on red alert and, look, if they're just
quoting the verse, you better just turn there just to be safe when you hear that kind of
stuff.
See, I better turn there.
But that's not what people are doing today.
People are just, amen, amen, oh, that's good, that's interesting, wow, I didn't know that.
I didn't realize that having coals of fire heaped upon your head is a blessing.
It's actually a blessing to have coals of fire heaped upon your head.
See, this is so ridiculous because what he's telling people is, he's telling them, look,
you don't have to avenge yourselves, just do good unto people and then God will bless
them more and then it's just blessing upon blessing and blessing and good God, good sin
and cold hell, right?
That's the teaching today in the fun centers of America that are passing themselves off
as churches.
They don't teach the truth.
No, the true story is that when someone does something extremely wicked in our lives or
when we know of someone who does something very wicked, we're tempted to take things
into our own hands, aren't we?
Sometimes we might get tempted to get physical or to get violent or something as human beings,
right?
We wouldn't be the first people who had done such a thing.
When someone is molested or raped or murdered or robbed or vandalized, you know, it's easy
sometimes to get in the flesh and to want to take things into our own hands and to wrestle
against flesh and blood and to avenge ourselves, but he says, no, no, no, avenge not yourselves
because vengeance belongs to the Lord, he will repay.
So this is how we can calm down in a situation like that.
We can say, you know what, God's going to take care of that guy.
And we see that all throughout the Old Testament, again, if we compare scripture with scripture,
where men of God have an attitude that says, you know, I'm going to let the Lord take care
of that.
I'm going to let God take care of that.
I'm not going to take that into my own hands.
That's what the Bible is actually teaching.
And you know what, that actually works because there have been times in my life when I got
really angry and upset and I think about these verses and I say, you know what, God is going
to punish the evildoers.
We put down the sword.
It's not our job.
Those that live by the sword will die by the sword and we realize that vengeance belongs
to the Lord, but we don't just have this attitude that says, no one should ever be punished.
Let everyone be blessed.
Let everyone have little happy hot coals on their head.
It's not, talk about turning scripture on its head, amen.
Here's another example.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 5, 1 Corinthians chapter, and I'm just going through some examples
that I've heard, recent examples or examples that I've heard throughout my life of just
how the culture is used to change what the Bible says.
And we need to just realize that the only thing we know for sure is what's written in
the Bible.
So when someone tries to tell us about what life was like 2,000 years ago, the true story,
if you've ever done any actual study in ancient history, which when I was a teenager, I loved
ancient history.
I got all kinds of books from the library and I really enjoyed reading up on the ancient
Greeks and the ancient Roman Empire and the ancient Hittites and the Babylonians and the
Sumerians and all these things.
I thought it was fascinating, but what you'll realize is that when you study that subject,
real study, not surfing the internet, but opening books and reading them, what you'll
find is that we know very little about what went on back then.
If you do real study, that's what you'll come up with.
And if you talk to people that are really experts, they'll tell you, we know very little
about what life was like back then because very little has survived.
I mean, the biggest thing that survived, even from a secular standpoint, this is the most
text that has survived of just good solid historical.
I mean, the Bible is considered a valid historical document, even by worldly historians because
they fact checked it with things and found it to line up that the empires in this book
actually existed and these things.
Obviously, most of the stories in the Bible, you're not going to be able to verify with
history because of the fact that God wants us to have faith in those things.
He doesn't want us to be able to prove it all with an outside source.
He wants us to believe his account and not go seeking after some other account.
But different people that are the Hittites, there was a long time when people said there's
no such thing as the Hittites.
The Bible made that up.
That was what people thought for a long time until in the 20th century, they started to
excavate and they found the Hittites.
They even deciphered their ancient language and they found them to be a great world power
at that time and that it was not something that the Bible had invented.
Now, you know, you try to fact check the Book of Mormon with any history, there's no Lamanites
or Nemanites or whatever.
So the bottom line is that, you know, when you study history, ancient history, you'll
find that before the time of Christ, there's very little to go on.
It's really hard to nail things down.
Even some of the biggest historians, there are whole chapters missing from their books
when you go to read their books.
Giant chapters will be missing.
You just say, this hasn't survived, this chapter, it's missing.
So when you hear people tell you exactly what the way of life was 2,000 years ago, 3,000
years ago, take it with a huge grain of salt, let every red alert and red flag go up and
look up and see if that's actually what the Bible's teaching because usually it's not.
One of the things that's pretty common that you'll hear for twisting scripture, are you
in 1 Corinthians 5, is they'll teach this thing of the male shrine prostitutes or the
shrine prostitution.
And what they'll teach is, they'll teach that, well, it wasn't sodomites and all the modern
versions, they take out the word sodomite and they change it to that shrine situation.
And they say, you know, well, you know, that's what was really going on.
Who's ever heard that teaching in church about these cults and they'd go to the temple.
But here's the thing, you'll never find that mentioned in the Bible one time.
I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, if I'm mistaken, but I don't see this at all.
And what they'll try to teach is that in Corinth, and I've heard this taught repeatedly, that
in Corinth just sodomy abounded and in Corinth they've got all these shrine prostitution
and pedophilia and just the worst type of imaginable filth going on was just normal
in Corinth.
And then they'll use that to twist scriptures in Corinthians that condemn the homos.
But basically what it says here in 1 Corinthians 5 verse 1 shows that that is not what Corinth
was like, this den of iniquity that it's painted as or that this was just known commonly.
Because look what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 5, 1.
It's reported commonly that there's fornication among you and such fornication as is not so
much as named among the Gentiles that one should have as father's wife.
So let me ask you this, if Corinth was really just this horrific cesspool of iniquity where
all this stuff was just considered normal and the sodomites were considered normal and
these temple shrine prostitutes or whatever that the Bible doesn't even mention was commonplace,
then let me ask you this, why would they be scandalized by this fornication occurring
in the church at Corinth?
He said that's not even named among the Gentiles.
Think about that.
Doesn't that show right there?
So forget the history book, forget what some scholar or theologian told you, if you actually
compare scripture with scripture and look at the Bible, you'll see that in Corinth even
the Gentiles in Corinth had a semblance of decency where they said, hey, this wouldn't
even be named among the Gentiles that one should have as father's wife.
Now let me ask you this, in 2017 America, do you think that this could be said, well
it's not even so much as named in America that one would have as father's, no, no, it'd
be a reality show, it'd be, actually it wouldn't even be a reality show because it's too normal.
Nobody would even bat an eye.
No one would even bat an eye if some man's ex-wife or he divorced his wife or he widowed
her or whatever and the son marries his dad's ex-wife or widow or whatever.
Nobody would even care.
They'd just say, well, whatever makes you happy, if you love each other.
That's what they'd say in 2017 America.
But you know why?
Because in America today anything goes.
In America the Sodomites are out and proud.
In America all kinds of weird things are going on and so that doesn't, wouldn't even
seem that weird to them.
But in Corinth they were still scandalized by that.
So if we actually study the Bible we'll see that Corinth was not some horrific Sodom and
Gomorrah, it was actually probably a little more conservative than what we're living in
right now.
Think about that.
Because, because of the fact that Paul could not write this to the church at Tempe and
say, hey, you've got this fornication going on.
This isn't even named among the Gentiles.
We'd write back and say, um, everything's named among the Gentiles here, buddy.
You must have been gone for a while.
Think about it.
True or false?
There's way worse things.
And here's the thing.
When you study the Bible itself and you look up scriptures like Leviticus 18 and Leviticus
20 where it lists all these horrific, disgusting sins of this nature.
When it lists all that stuff, you know what it says when it mentions the Sodomites?
It says at the end, it says the people of the land have done all these things.
He said they've done it all.
Why?
Because when you're accepting the Sodomites, you, you're accepting everything at that point.
That's the last thing that anybody thinks is normal.
And so when anybody starts accepting that, everything else is happy.
You just take it to the bank.
Everything in Leviticus 18 is happening in America right now.
All of it and everything in Leviticus 20 is happening in America right now.
I promise you that because we're already to the point where the sodomites are openly exposed.
So are you going to believe some theologian who just tells you, well, you know, in order
to understand the book of first Corinthians, you got to understand the culture back then
that sodomy was just as natural as rain.
And these prostitutes at the temple were just as natural as rain.
No they weren't because they were more conservative than we are.
I don't care what some history book said.
That's what the Bible says, that this stuff wasn't even named among them at the time.
Now I'm not saying that they were all godly and righteous.
I'm sure it was a sinful place, but it wasn't as bad as the Sunday school teacher would
make it out to be.
And let me say this as well, that when we study the Bible and we see that the Greeks
at that time were super receptive to the gospel and that the Gentiles are receiving the gospel
en masse and Paul is starting church after church after church after church.
Let's think about the world that we live in today.
If we were to go to the most wicked ungodly places that accept sodomy and that accept
incest and all these weird things, let me ask them, are those going to be the places
that are most receptive to the gospel?
So what would those places be in the world today that are the most licentious, the most
promiscuous, the most accepting of these type of things?
Where would they be?
Tel Aviv.
There we go.
Yeah.
Tel Aviv, Israel.
Good answer.
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
We have a winner.
So how about Sweden, right?
Isn't Sweden the one that's always in the news for just the worst filth and sin?
Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, those are places that would come up when it comes to just teaching
five year olds about the worst kind of perversion and filthy schools and everything, the transgender.
You know, that's going to be a place like that.
Now let me ask you this, are Sweden, Denmark and Iceland going to be great places to go
soul winning?
We're super receptive to the gospel, right?
No way.
And if we were to go to areas in our nation that are the most accepting of that kind of
sin and filth, those are going to be the least receptive places to go soul winning.
And when we go soul winning, and Brother Garrett, you know, you've traveled around Africa and
I've been to some of those places, you know, where were some of the most receptive places
you've been soul winning?
Malawi is number one, where else?
Okay, so let me ask you this, is Malawi more or less moral than the United States?
They're more moral.
Okay, do they have a more loose attitude toward the sodomites?
No, it's illegal there.
So isn't it interesting that when we go to the places that are super wicked, they're
less receptive.
And when we go to the places that are nice people that are more moral, why?
Because everyone that doeth truth cometh to the light.
But those that do evil, many times they want to flee from the light and not be exposed.
So the point is that when we're in a society that just says anything goes, that's an unreceptive
place to preach the gospel.
And when you're in a society that has a semblance of morality, people are more likely to hear
the gospel in that type of situation.
So if we see the fact that the apostle Paul, all throughout Asia Minor, and all throughout
Achaia and Macedonia, is having success with preaching the gospel, then that tells me that
it wasn't Sodom and Gomorrah.
Let me ask you this, did God send a bunch of preachers to Sodom and Gomorrah?
And they had great success winning people to Christ?
No.
So that just goes to show you that you've got to go with what the Bible says and realize
that people are people, the same temptations the Corinthians went through, it's the same
things we go through, and there's nothing new under the sun.
Just like back then, there were certain societies that were more wicked than others.
Today there are societies that are more wicked than others.
And look, there were parts of Greece that were super wicked in super Sodom, like the
city of Sparta.
Which is why I can't understand how anyone would have a Christian school where their
mascot is the Spartans, when that was a Sodom and Gomorrah.
But the rest of Greece hated them, because the rest of Greece wasn't that weird yet.
It is today pretty weird, but that's another sermon.
Go to Luke chapter 15, Luke chapter 15, what's the point of the sermon this morning?
What are you trying to get across to us, Pastor Anderson?
What I'm trying to get across is that we need to read our Bibles and compare scripture with
scripture and what we don't need is somebody explaining to us how we have to understand
the culture and the history and we've got to go sign up for Bible college to figure
out what the Bible really said.
No, what we really need to do is get in and read the book again.
And if you read the book five times, ten times, fifteen times, you will know the Bible.
We need to stop reading books about the Bible and start reading the Bible.
We don't need the culture and the history, that's just a code word for let me change
the clear teaching of God's word.
So if the Bible doesn't mention these shrines, I don't want to hear about them.
You know, I want to know what the Bible teaches.
See the same things have always been going on.
Today we have the abortion clinic, you say that's a new thing, no, because thousands
of years ago we had them offering their children to Molech and it was the same thing as an
abortion is today.
So there's nothing new under the sun.
There were sodomites then, there are sodomites now.
There was abortion then, there's abortion now.
Lust was then, lust was now.
There's fornication then, fornication now.
Adultery then, adultery now.
Stealing then, stealing now.
Righteous people then, righteous people now.
The gospel then is the gospel now.
It's life.
Here's another one that I heard.
Here's another example.
This is from John MacArthur.
We all know the story of the prodigal son hopefully, if not you can read Luke chapter
15.
But in the story of the prodigal son it says in Luke 15, 20, and he rose and came to his
father but when he was yet a great way off his father saw him and had compassion and
ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
It's a pretty straightforward verse, right?
Just a quick synopsis of the story.
The son leaves home and wastes his whole inheritance on riotous living.
When he's out of money, there's a famine in the land, nobody's helping him, he decides
he's going to go back to his dad and make things right with his dad.
So the prodigal son returns.
He's humble.
He's going to come home and say, father, I've sinned against heaven and against thee and
I am no longer worthy to be called thy son.
But when he's a great way off, so he hasn't even reached the house yet, what does the
Bible say in this verse?
That his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
So the dad does what?
He just receives him right away before the son even apologizes, before the son even says
anything.
He's just ready to welcome him home because it's his son.
He loves his son, right?
He's just ready for him to come home.
Pretty clear, right?
And then the son says, I've sinned against heaven and against thee.
And he says, hey, let's kill the fatted calf.
And they have a big party to rejoice about the son being there.
The older brother gets upset and says, why are you rewarding him basically for going
out and wasting his money?
And the dad says, well, you know, basically you're going to inherit everything now.
But we're still happy that he's home.
He's still going to live with us.
He's still our son.
He's not going to get the rewards.
He's not going to get the inheritance.
But we're glad he's home.
Pretty straightforward, right?
Let me read for you.
Here's John MacArthur's take on this because you've got to understand the culture.
You've got to understand the history.
And by the way, this is just for preachers just to sound smart and to make people think,
you need me.
You need me.
You'll never understand this stuff without me giving you all the culture and the history
and the background.
That's what it's about.
Here's John MacArthur's take on this.
Can't he even respond in a righteous, honorable way?
And then he did the unthinkable.
He ran.
Okay, this is all in light of that one verse we read, right?
Luke 1520.
He did the unthinkable.
He ran.
Middle Eastern noblemen, don't run.
It's just something you don't do because physically you can't do it.
There's an entire body of literature.
So basically, you know, you want to know the proof?
Oh, there's a whole body of literature.
Here, let me walk you into a whole room full of books proving what I'm saying right now.
This is what's called the mountain of evidence.
When someone tells lies, they'll say, oh, there's just a mountain of evidence.
Oh, there's just so much.
There's a whole body of it.
It's a whole genre.
I mean, it's right between paranormal teen romance and travel guides.
There's a whole body of literature on why Middle Eastern men just don't run.
You know, you go to Barnes and Noble and you find the why Middle Eastern men don't run section.
There's an entire body of literature, Jewish literature.
Oh, well, he just upped the ante now.
Things just got real now, Jewish literature.
Written about the fact that you don't run if you're a man.
They wore robes down to the ground.
And that was so that their legs were not seen.
It was a shame to let your legs be seen.
Right, that's why the Bible said for their pants to go down to their knee.
It didn't say to the ground.
Show me where the, see, you can't find any of this in the Bible.
Show me the Bible where it says, hey, you better wear clothes down to the ground, buddy,
and no running.
Don't let me catch you running.
Now this particularly hurt my feelings because I love running.
I was very offended.
But the bottom line is, and I'm reading this all verbatim.
But the bottom line in that culture was that if you ran, you had to pull it up and to show
your legs was shameful.
In fact, literature says that even a priest when he's offering sacrifice cannot lift his
robe off the ground to keep it out of the blood.
There was one rabbi who condemned a man for lifting his robe above his knees while walking
through thorns to keep it from getting caught.
You just didn't run.
You didn't run.
First of all, because it wasn't dignified.
You didn't run because you move in a graceful, stately manner.
You didn't run because it would be a shame if anybody saw your lower body.
And if you pulled them up high enough and ran hard enough, they could see more than
your legs.
See this is the stupidity that these guys didn't have pants on.
The Bible says they wore britches.
Doesn't matter how high your robe goes.
Not that Jesus ever wore a robe except when he's in heaven, the king, but on this earth
he never wore a robe except when they made fun of him to put a robe on him.
He says, no, no, no.
I mean if you ran hard, they're going to see everything because you're in a dress, dude.
That's what they're saying.
That's what he's saying.
It's like he doesn't believe in pants.
Oh, oh, here we go.
This word ran in the Greek, this word ran in the Greek is the word for sprinting in
a race.
Hey buddy, that's what ran means in English too.
He ran the hundred meters.
So if you go to the Greek, ran means ran.
If you actually look this up in the Greek, you see that ran means sprinting.
Well, sorry, sorry you didn't use the word jogging because the word jogging was invented
in the 1970s.
The word jogging did not exist even in the 50s, let alone 1611, let alone 2000 years
ago.
Nike hadn't been invented yet.
The word ran in the Greek is the word for sprinting in a race.
This man came out of his house and sprints down the middle of town.
Now where did the Bible mention middle of town?
In the verse, the guy's just at his house and a guy, you know, his son's coming down
the driveway and he runs to him or whatever.
We don't know how far he is from the house, he's a great way off but we don't know how
far that is.
We don't know if the guy lives in town, we don't know if he lives out of town, this is
adding to the Bible.
But no, he is sprinting down the middle of town toward his son and the people in town
in a Middle Eastern village would have been appalled.
This indecent, shameful thing.
The rabbi said a man shouldn't even jump for fear.
Somebody might see your lower leg.
So if you get scared, don't go, ah!
So what is he doing?
He's running through town, bringing shame on himself, shame on himself, taking the abuse.
This is selfless, this is self-emptying condescension.
Why is he doing this?
Because he wants, listen to this, to get the son before the son gets to the village because
as soon as that son enters the village, he's going to be mocked and scorned and heaped
upon with shame.
He's got to get to him first.
And the father runs through the town, takes the shame to embrace the boy before he receives
the shame.
This is downright crazy behavior for a Jewish Middle Eastern nobleman.
He embraced him, hugs the pig-scented rebel and kissed him.
Now in the Greek, we're not done going to the Greek, buddy.
Now in the Greek, kissed him repeatedly.
This isn't one kiss.
In the Greek, it's like, he kissed him repeatedly, customary to kiss him all over the head.
Just kissed him all over the head.
Okay, does one of my kids, Isaac, you want to come up here so I can demonstrate this?
I may kiss you all over your head.
No shame for the boy.
The father has taken the shame.
The father came out of his palatial home, came down, came to the village, sprinted through,
took all the scorn and the shame, threw his arms around the boy, kissed him all over the
head and everybody knew he's received him fully as a son.
All that from just that one verse.
Okay, so now let's see what the Bible says because remember, according to him, you just
don't run, folks, right?
I mean, it was just the worst thing in their culture.
Okay, let's see what the Bible says.
Flip over to Luke 19.
Luke 19, and we're not going to look at all of them because we don't have time, but let's
just look at a sampling.
Luke 19, 1, and Jesus entered and passed through Jericho and behold, there was a man named
Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans and he was rich and he sought to see Jesus
who he was and could not for the press because he was little of stature and he ran before.
So this is another hundred meter dash.
He ran before and climbed up a sycamore tree to see him for he was to pass that way.
Now, nobody runs.
Go to Mark 9.
I'd love to read John MacArthur's commentary on that verse.
He's running.
He's dodging obstacles.
He's jumping over people.
People are throwing things at him.
I mean, just adding in all kinds of embellishment.
All right, Mark 9, verse 14, and when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude
about them and the scribes questioning with them and straightaway, all the people, all
the people when they beheld him were greatly amazed and running to him, saluted him.
And everybody's running in this verse.
Look at verse 25, when Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked them
and said, what are you doing running?
Your skirt's too long.
It says, when Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit,
saying unto him, thou deaf and dumb spirit, I charge thee, come out of him and enter no
more into him.
Look at Mark, chapter 10, verse 17.
This is just a small sampling.
Here's the rich young ruler.
And by the way, the rich young ruler was a pretty prideful guy.
That was the reason why he didn't get saved.
And it says in Mark 10, 17, when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running
and kneeled to him and asked, good master, what shall I do that I made heritage in our
life?
Turn to Acts, chapter 3.
You don't even have time to go to all the running in the Bible.
There's a lot of running.
One of the most common instances of running is people running to Jesus, running to hear
and preach.
Why?
That's the transportation back then.
You ran.
There's no bicycle.
There's no car.
There's no motorcycle.
Oh, they rode horses.
No, they didn't ride horses.
Horses are rich people's transportation.
That's what we think about.
And again, compare spiritual with spiritual.
When you read about these battles in the Bible, how many footmen are there versus how
many horsemen?
When the army goes out, there's 10 times as many of them or more on feet as there are
in a horse or a chariot or something like that.
Nowhere does Jesus say saddle up, boys.
We're going to the next village.
Jesus only rides an animal one time right before he's crucified, when he rides in on
an ass.
So why didn't he just ride his horse?
I mean, him and his disciples all had horses, right?
They'd tie up the horses at the stable and walk into the saloon.
Wrong.
That's not how people have lived throughout history.
The vast majority of people have traveled on foot throughout history.
They're walking.
They're running.
That's normal for every person.
And the Bible says here in, of course, Peter and John, remember, Peter and John ran to
the sepulcher when Jesus rose from the dead.
Look at Acts 3.11, and as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people
ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's greatly wondering.
I mean, they're running at the temple.
Okay, but you say, well, but these rabbis, they were really strict about it.
You know, these are just, these people are bozos running around.
The noblemen and the rabbis.
Okay, we'll go to Act 7.
In Act 7, this is all the, this is all the Sanhedrin, right?
This is all of the rabbis and the Jewish leaders and what they do to Stephen.
Act 7.57, then they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and ran upon
him with one accord.
So what's their instinct?
When Stephen preaches something that they don't like, all these bigwig rabbis and Sanhedrin
guys with one accord just immediately their instinct, their knee-jerk reaction is what?
To just run.
That would, if they've never done it before, they're not going to do that.
See, when we do things just instantly, when we react, we go on autopilot and we do what's
instinctive to us and they start running toward him because they were used to running, obviously.
They're running.
Running, running, running, running, running.
I mean, I have a lot more, I'm not going to bore you with all the running stories here,
Mark 6, they're running, running, running, running, running, running, okay.
Let's just go, I'm out of time, so let's just close in 1 Timothy 4.
What I was going to bring up, though, is this thing about the camel through the eye of a
needle.
You've got to understand the culture.
I'll read it to you while you're turning to 1 Timothy 4.
Some theorized that the needle Jesus was speaking of was the needle gate.
This is sort of like Watergate, needle gate, you know, when this gets exposed to be a fraud.
Some theorized that the needle Jesus was speaking of was the needle gate, supposedly a low and
narrow after-hours entrance found in the walls surrounding Jerusalem.
It was purposely small for security reasons and a camel could only go through it by stripping
off any saddles or packs and crawling through on its knees.
Now, there's truly nothing new under the sun.
This is the TSA, friend, right?
You got to remove your coats, take off your shoes, take off your belt and pass through
the needle gate.
It's like a metal detector for security purposes.
So this is what, I'm reading this online, right, it says, you know, you got to strip
off any saddles or pack and crawl through on its knees.
This is what it says at the end of the paragraph.
The problem with this theory is that there's no evidence that such a gate ever existed.
Now, that's a little bit of a problem, isn't it?
Beyond that, what sane camel driver would go through such contortions when larger gates
were easily accessible?
But you know what, they use this to teach a lying doctrine because he says it's easier
for camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be saved.
And so here's what they say, well, you have to repent of all your sins.
You know, you got to unload a lot of junk out of your life and get on your knees and
go through the door.
Whereas the Bible just says on the door, if any man enter in by me, he shall be saved.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
We're saved by faith, not works, not cleaning up our life, not unsettling our spiritual
camel and, you know, and you don't have to, you don't have to quit the physical camels
either to be saved.
And you don't have to unload the spiritual camel to be saved.
All you have to do is believe on Jesus Christ to be saved.
But they say, well, that's why it's hard to be saved because you have to unload all this
stuff.
No, no, no, it's faith alone plus nothing minus nothing, minus nothing.
But you know, that's a theory that's out there.
Problem is there's no evidence that such a gate ever existed.
Because it's a lie, because it's a fable and a fraud.
And then if we actually go to what the Bible says, what's the disciples response when they
hear it's easier for camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be
saved?
They say, who then can be saved?
And he says, with men it's impossible.
Now if it was the needle gate, that's not impossible.
Who then can be saved?
Well, idiot, the guy who unloads his camel.
They said, who then can be saved because you're never going to put a literal camel through
the eye of a needle.
And so Jesus is using this crazy exaggeration to emphasize that by our own human efforts,
salvation is impossible.
It has to be a supernatural act of God, because you cannot put a camel through the eye of
a needle.
And then other people say, well, the word camel here, it should actually be translated
cable.
Yeah, you cable installers out there.
You know, it's easier to put a cable through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to
be saved.
That's what he's saying, instead of a camel.
But of course, this would mean that the Bible is not inerrant, because in the Greek it says
camel.
You're not going to believe this.
If you go back to the Greek, camel says camel, kamilos, yeah, because camel is a pretty old
word.
In fact, if you look up in Psalm 119, you know where it has the Hebrew alphabet, aleph,
bet, gimel, dalet, and the gimel is where we get our word camel.
Super ancient word, right?
Camels have been around for a long time, and they've been called camels for thousands of
years.
And guess what?
When Jesus said it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, that's exactly
what he meant.
And you didn't need any history lesson.
You don't need any cultural lesson.
You don't need any encyclopedia.
You don't need a Greek Bible.
You don't need a Hebrew Bible.
You don't need a scholar or theologian.
It's just easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.
A child could read that verse and understand it, a little child.
Let's close on this.
First Timothy 4 verse 7, but refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself
rather unto God.
We need to refuse this garbage.
Just refuse fables.
Reject them.
Second Timothy 4 verse 4 says they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be
turned into fables.
Titus 1 verse 14 says not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from
the truth.
We don't need the fables.
We don't need the fake history.
This is what we need.
But you need one more thing other than this.
The Holy Spirit.
You've got to be saved.
A lot of these guys aren't saved.
That's why they teach lies.
That's why they can't understand this, because the natural man receiveth not the things of
the Spirit of God.
Their natural man just can't handle just the Bible for what it says, so they have to twist
it and change it until bold-faced lies from the pulpit.
We need to understand that we have everything that we need right here and right here.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord, and thank you for the power of the Holy
Spirit and for your guidance in our lives.
I pray that every single one of us would study to show ourselves approved unto you,
Lord, that we would spend time reading and studying the Bible so that we will not be
tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine.
When we hear false teachings like this, we'll just immediately know that they're false because
we've been reading our Bibles.
We already know about all the running in the Bible.
We already know about the fact that coals of fire on your head is a vengeful punishment,
Lord.
We need to know the Bible so that we can be steadfast and unmovable, and in Jesus' name
we pray.
Amen.
Down to it, people are struggling with the same things everywhere.
They're dealing with the same things.
They're going through the same patterns of life.
If you would, flip over to 1 Peter, Chapter 5.
While you turn to 1 Peter, Chapter 5, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10, 13, there
hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man.
But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able but will
with the temptation also make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it.
So the Bible tells us that there's no temptation that has taken us but such as is common to
man.
And that could be written 2,000 years ago and yet be just as true today even in 2017
there's no temptation taken us but such as is common to man, meaning that 4,000 years
ago, 2,000 years ago, people were going through the same temptations.
The same sins were there of fornication, adultery, theft, murder, lying, stealing.
It's all the same.
And the mistake people make is when they think that we have to somehow understand the specifics
of the culture in which the Bible was written or we have to understand that the Bible was
written in a time when things were really different.
The problem with that mentality back then, they were generally the same.
Somebody said, you know, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Because there are certain constants of human nature and life that are the same for everybody.
Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 13, the Bible reads, which things also we speak
not in the words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Ghost teaches comparing
spiritual things with spiritual.
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness
unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.
So what the Bible is saying here is that we need to compare spiritual things with spiritual.
That's how we study the Bible.
So we take one Bible verse and we compare it with another.
We take one chapter in the Bible and we compare it with another.
But we don't take a chapter in the Bible and compare it to something written by man.
You know, pull out the fables and the fake history books and the encyclopedia and compare
the Bible to that.
That's not a good way to study the Bible.
A better way is to study the Bible comparing spiritual with spiritual, comparing scripture
with scripture.
But the natural man, who's the natural man?
This is the unregenerate man.
This is the unsaved man.
This is the human being who's not been saved.
He's not been born again.
He's not been spiritually regenerated.
The natural man receiveth not the things he is that they're trying to separate us from
the Bible.
See, the way we look at the Bible is that the Bible is relevant to us today.
And that we can just take the Bible for what it says and apply it to our lives.
And when it says that there is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, we
don't say, well, that was true of the Corinthians, but look at all the technology.
We have no, no, no.
It's the same temptations.
We need to apply the Bible to our lives.
But what these false teachers are trying to do when they try to tell us that we have to
understand the culture and the history, they're trying to put a step between us and the Bible.
They're trying to separate us from the Bible where the Bible becomes this distant book
long ago in a land far, far away and it's not really for us.
It's for them.
And we have to figure out a way to twist and adapt it to make it.
No, it's already ready out of the box.
It's out of the box.
It's plug and play.
You take the Bible and you apply it to your life just as it is.
That's one of the most important principles to understand when you're studying the Bible
is to just think about the fact that life back then was similar to life now.
And people back then were similar to people now because human nature is human nature.
Life is life.
The Bible says in 1 Peter 5, 7, casting all your care upon Him.
Man, the title of my sermon this morning is Fables and Fake History.
Fables and Fake History.
The Bible warns us to avoid fables and it talks about Jewish fables, old wives' fables,
just stories that are made up.
And what I really want to emphasize this morning is the fact that when you study the Bible,
one of the most important things that you can realize is that there's nothing new under
the sun.
Look at what the Bible says here in verse 9.
The thing that has been, it is that which shall be.
And that which is done is that which shall be done.
And there is no new thing under the sun.
Is there anything whereof it may be said, see, this is new.
It had been already of old time which was before us.
And so what I want to emphasize at the beginning here is that people are people.
Human nature is human nature.
It doesn't matter whether we're talking about a thousand years ago, two thousand years ago,
four thousand years ago, people have always been basically the same.
And if we were to go to other parts of the world and spend time in Africa or in Mexico
or in Europe or Asia, you'll find that everywhere people are basically the same.
Once you look past all of the outward differences and the clothing and the food and the language
and, you know, when you get, for he careth for you, be sober, be vigilant because your
adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour, whom resists
steadfast in the faith, watch this, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished
in your brethren that are in the world.
So this is pretty similar to the verse that said there's no temptation taking you but
such as is common to man.
When the devil is stalking about seeking whom he may devour, the Bible says here we're
to resist him knowing that the same afflictions, the same trials and tribulations are accomplished
in our brethren that are in the world.
It's not just us.
But other people are going through the same afflictions all over the world.
But the God of all grace who had called you unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus after
that you've suffered a while make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter number 2, 1 Corinthians chapter 2.
So all over the world people are going through the same things we're going through.
Throughout all time people have gone through the same things that we go through.
It's all common to man.
So when we read the Bible we can apply it directly to our lives.
We don't have to put this step of separation of well you got to understand that things
were different.
No they weren't different.