And you can follow along silently as I read, Hebrews chapter 14, verse number 1 of the Bible reads,
Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have
entertained angels unawares. Remember them that are in bonds is bound with them, and them which
suffer adversity is being yourselves also in the body. Merits is honorable in all, and the
bed undefiled. But, whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. Let your conversation be without
covetousness, and be content with such things as ye have. For ye have said, I will never leave thee,
nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man
shall do unto me. Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the Word
of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of their compensation. Jesus Christ the same,
yesterday and today, and forever. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines, for it is
good thing that the heart be established with grace, not with meats which have not profited
them that have been occupied therein. We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat,
which serve the tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into
the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also,
that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffer without the gate. Let us go forth,
therefore, unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city,
but we seek one to come. By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice and praise to God continually.
That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. But to do good, and to communicate,
forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Obey them that have the rule over you,
and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account,
that they may do it with joy, and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you.
Pray for us, for we trust we have a good conscience, and all things willing to live honestly.
But I beseech you, that rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.
Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the
sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work
to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ,
to him be glory forever and ever. Amen. And I beseech you brethren, suffer the word of exhortation,
for I've written a letter unto you in few words. Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty,
with whom if he comes shortly I will see you. Salute all them that have the rule over you,
and all the saints, they of Italy salute you. Grace be with you all. Amen. Let's
bow our heads for a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for the opportunity once again
to be in church. We love the Bible. We love you. That's why we're here on Sunday night.
And God, I pray that you would use me tonight, God, and help us not to just hear what one man
has to say. But Father, please just speak to us through your word. Help to be the voice of
the Holy Spirit that speaks to our hearts tonight. And in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Now the part of the chapter that I want to focus on is beginning of verse number eight,
where the Bible reads, Jesus Christ the shame, yesterday and today and forever.
Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines, for it is a good thing that the
heart be established with grace, not with meats which have not profited them that have been
occupied therein. Jesus Christ the shame. Now I love that verse. And what's interesting about
the verse, there's no verb. You know, most of the time you have a sentence, you've got a subject,
and you've got a verb, and then you might have a whole manner of other parts of speech,
but at a minimum you've got a subject and a verb. There's no verb. God just simply states,
Jesus Christ the shame. Now you could say, well Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and
forever. That's not what it says. When God's emphasizing here, he's restating who Jesus
Christ is. It's almost like you could put an equals sign between Jesus Christ and the same.
It says, Jesus Christ the same, yesterday and today and forever. What a profound statement.
What a great verse. I mean, think about what the implications of that one verse are. What
a powerful statement. Jesus Christ the shame, yesterday and today and forever, period. You
don't even need a verb. I mean, that verse is done. And so that's what I want to preach on
tonight. Jesus Christ the shame. Now let me read another verse for you. You don't have to turn
there, but Proverbs 24, 21. My son, fear thou the Lord and the king, and meddle not with them that
are given to change. Now some changes are good. I remember I got a job working for an alarm company
many, many years ago in Sacramento, California. And I remember the first day on the job I walked
in and there was a guy that worked there and he was a little bit eccentric. And he said to me,
he said, listen, you may have a different way of doing things than we have. He said, but we're
going to do things our way. He said, now, if you have a better way of doing something, I'd love to
hear a better way of doing something. And we'll even start doing it your way, even though you're
new and you're going to have a better way. But we don't do things differently just because it's
a different way of doing this. It has to be a better way or else we're not going to change.
And the guy was a little strange to give me this lecture. My first day I'm like, okay,
I didn't try to change anything. I just got here, just walked in the door. But it was a great point
that he made. Now it's always great to do things better or to change for the better. I mean,
I'm constantly changing. I'm trying to be more like Jesus, more closer to God, more zealous
about stolen, more righteous and holy and godly in my personal life. But there are a certain type of
people that are just given to change, the Bible says. He said, fear thou the Lord and the king,
and meddle not with them that are given to change. There are people who are constantly changing. You
know, churches that are changing tonight and they're becoming a little more like the world.
Or their music's changing and they're changing Bibles and they're changing this and changing that
and they're changing their soul and they're changing the gospel, changing the Bible.
God is not changing. God has never changed. He never will change. He's the same as He was when
He said, let there be light. He's the same as He was when He created the world, when He died on
the cross. Jesus Christ, sum Him up in two words, the same, yesterday and today and forever.
That's a great attribute of God. His immutability would be the fancy word for it. Immutable,
unchanging, unchangeable, like a rock of our salvation, Jesus Christ, the same.
I don't want to be a church that changes. Now we can improve, we can grow, we can do more,
but I don't want to change. There are people who love this church, they don't want it to change.
I love this church, I don't want it to change. People who don't love this church,
sorry, it's not going to change. But you see, God is the same God as He was in the book of Acts,
same kind of soul winning as in the book of Acts, the same standards of right and wrong that are in
the Bible, the same mighty power of God throughout the Bible that can perform miracles and see people
do great things for God and the mighty power of God, great boldness for preaching and zeal.
It's all the same tonight. We don't live in a day where, well, it just can't be done like that
anymore and, well, God just doesn't really do anything anymore and, well, you just can't preach
hard anymore. Times have changed. You know, maybe they've changed for some people, but for us,
it's the same. Somebody said to me recently, well, times change.
Maybe that was the preaching for that generation, you know, preaching hard on sin and whatever,
but times have changed. I wrote back that person and said they've changed for some people,
but they didn't change for me. It's all just the same. Man, I like those two words, the same,
the same. Keep it the same. Jesus Christ, the same. The Bible, the same. The Holy Spirit,
the same. God the Father, the same. You see, in the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
It hasn't changed. You know, somebody said to me, the Bible is outdated.
It has no date. Well, it was written hundreds of years ago. No, it wasn't. It was written billions
of years ago. It was written in eternity past, so it has no date. Oh, but it was written in the
Middle East. No, it wasn't. It's for that culture. No, it wasn't. It was written before there ever
was a Middle East. It was in the beginning with God. It existed before God even created the world,
before mankind even existed. There was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
You had the Father, you had the Word, and you had the Holy Ghost, and they were one then,
and they're one now. They're always going to be one, because 1 John 5 says,
there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost,
and these three are one. It's the same. Now, I'm not going to change what I believe about that.
Somebody left our church, and they said, well, they told somebody, I left that church,
because that pastor said that Jesus and the Bible are the same.
You know, like the Bible is Jesus or something. Well, Jesus was the Word of God made flesh.
Jesus is the walking, talking, breathing, living Word of God. The Bible is the Word of God.
Now, I'm not saying this physical book is Jesus right now, but you better know the
words that are written in this book. Jesus was these words made flesh.
Excuse me for taking the Bible literally, but that is what it says.
Now, I have several points tonight. Number one, salvation has always been the same.
It's always been the same. Listen to these verses. You don't have to turn there.
Genesis 4 26, and to Seth, to him also there was born a son, and he called his name Enos.
This is the first generation of mankind on the earth. Almost no one has died. I mean,
Abel has died, and that's about it. Okay, and he went to heaven, by the way. He was the first,
Abel was the first person who died and went to heaven in the Bible. Okay, Abel.
And so, it says here, because he was called the blood of righteous Abel, he went to heaven,
he was saved and believed in Jesus Christ. Remember, he offered the lamb as a picture
of his faith in Christ, and he was the first person who died and went to heaven.
But it says, to Seth, to him also there was born a son, and he called his name Enos.
Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. Sounds like the same salvation as in
Acts 2 21. It shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. Sounds like Romans 10 13. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. How shall they call on him in whom they did not believe? It hasn't changed. It's the
same salvation as the first generation of men and women who walked on this earth. You say,
has salvation always been by grace? Many people teach them in the New Testament, we're in the
age of grace, is what they call it. Wrong, because the Bible says in Genesis 6,
but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. When Abel breathed his last breath and opened
his eyes and lifted up his eyes, he was in heaven with Jesus and the angels. That was the age of
grace, because you know what? Abel did not deserve to go to heaven. Abel was a sinner. Abel committed
sin in his life. Abel told lies. Abel did wrong, but he went to heaven by the grace of God, because
he believed God. By faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. That's what
the Bible says. And so he went to heaven by faith. Hebrews chapter 11, verse number 4 tells us that.
Romans 4 3. For what saith the scripture? I know I'm reading it before you're there, but I'm going
to show you other things in Romans 4. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God. How
did he get to heaven? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Listen to Galatians 3, you're turning to Romans 4. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would
justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, indeed shall all
nations be blessed. Did you know that the gospel was preached to Abraham? Oh, they didn't know the
gospel back then. They were saved by works. Wrong. Salvation has always been the same.
Not of works, lest any man should boast. Abraham had the gospel preached to him. In Hebrews 11
17, the Bible says, by faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and he that had received
the promises, offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be
called, listen to this, accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from
which also he received the victor. Abraham was ready to plunge the knife into his son, Isaac's
breast, because he believed that if he killed the son, God would raise him again, because he knew
that he was acting out Jesus Christ on the cross. Of course, God stopped him from doing that.
But he said, I'm willing to do it, because I believe that God will raise him up. He's a
picture of Jesus. But you're in Romans chapter 4, look down if you would at verse number 1.
What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if
Abraham were justified by works, he hath were up to glory, but not before God. Doesn't impress God.
Abraham's works didn't impress God. You see that? Hey, if he were justified, so was he justified by
works? No. If he were, he'd be able to glory, not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham
believed God, and it was counted in him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justified the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness, just like it was with Abraham. The
same, the same salvation for Abel, the same salvation for Enoch, and Seth, and Adam, and Eve,
the same salvation for Noah, the same salvation from Abraham, the same salvation for David. Why?
Because Jesus Christ is the same, that's why. Look down if you would at verse number six. Even as
David also described it, the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputed righteousness without
works. Watch the present tense, saying blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven. That was back
in the Old Testament. And whose sins are covered, blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not
impute sin. Turn to the book of Psalms if you would. Psalm 130. Psalm 130, toward the end of
the book of Psalms, Psalms is right in the dead center of your Bible. Look at Psalm 130. Jesus
Christ the same, salvation the same as it's always been. But look at Psalm 130, I love this verse.
Verse number three. If thou Lord, this is Psalm 133, if thou Lord shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord,
who shall stand? He's saying, if God is keeping track of my sin, I mean if God is going to hold,
I mean if God is going to mark my iniquity, I mean if he's going to keep track of my sins and
punish me for myself, he's saying nobody's going to heaven. Nobody's going to be able to stand in
the judgment. Remember the Bible says that the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment nor
sinners in the congregation of the righteous. You see one day there's going to be some of us
who are left standing at that final judgment. It's going to be those whose names are in the
book of life. Okay, but man, if God is marking our iniquities and our transmittance, who could
be standing? But look at verse number four. But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest
be feared. You see, David knew that if God were judging him based on his works or his sins or his
life, he said I'd fall. But he said thank God for forgiveness and thank God that when God forgives,
he forgets. Gone, gone, gone, yes my sins are gone. As far as East is from the West, so far God has
separated us from our sins. Thou will put all their sins behind thy back, it says of God in the Old
Testament. Their sins and iniquities, well I remember no more, Hebrews 10.17. And so we see
that God has forgiven our sins, yes. He forgave David's sins, yes. He forgave Abraham's sins,
yes. Jesus Christ, the same salvation is the same. Look at Psalm 89. A lot of great doctrine in
Psalms. You know, Psalms, a lot of people just think, oh yes, Psalms, it's just a lot of praises
to God. A lot of great Bible doctrine in the book of Psalms. That's why I believe that our songs
that we sing should have good Bible doctrine as well. That's why I like the song that we sang,
that we just learned. Once for all, oh sinner receive it. Once for all, oh brother believe it.
That's a great song that says Jesus has died for us once for all. You only need to get saved once
for all. Believe on Jesus Christ once for all. I like that song. Look down at Psalm 89 verse
number 27. Also I will make him my firstborn, and this is a prophecy of Jesus Christ, higher
than the kings of the earth. Isn't he the king of kings and Lord of lords? My mercy will I keep for
him forevermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure
forever. Now what's his seed? His children. That's us. The children of God. Behold the manner of love
the Father bestowed upon us, which we call the sons of God. His seed also will I make to endure
forever. That sounds like everlasting life. And his throne as the days of heaven. If his children,
talking about God's children here, Jesus Christ's seed. If his children forsake my law and walk not
in my judgments, if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments. Talking about a Christian
disobeying the Bible, going into sin, getting out of church, living like the world. Then will I visit
their transgression with the raw and their iniquity with strife. He said I'm going to chase it, I'm
going to chastise, I'm going to discipline. Nevertheless, my loving kindness will I not
utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break. He said I'm
not going to break my promise just because they broke my laws. He said, nor alter the thing that's
gone out of my life. I'm not going to change what I promised. Once have I sworn by my holiness that
I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure forever and his throne as the son before me.
He's saying I can't change what I promise. I'm not going to alter the thing that's gone out of my
life. The seed of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the child of God will endure forever, will live
for eternally. If they break my commandments, if they break my statutes, he said sure I'm going to
visit them with the raw and with stripes. You can't just go out and live like the devil as a
Christian and get away with it. God will come and he'll cloud up and rain on you. He'll put the
smackdown on you. He'll chastise you. But he's not going to utterly take his loving kindness from you
and he's not going to alter the thing that's gone out of his lips when he says believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned. So I'm not
going to change that. I can't break my covenant with you. Now that's in the Old Testament. It's
always been the same. The same thing is taught in the New Testament. Eternal security of the believer
taught throughout the Bible from one end to the other. I've heard Herod see, well the people in
the Old Testament didn't have eternal security. What? What? It's the same. And not only that, if
they didn't have eternal security, then how did Saul get to heaven? Look how Saul turned out. He
started out a great man, little in his own sight. Remember when he got saved, God gave him a new
heart, the Bible says. And he became a believer and he was righteous and godly. But later on in
life, he came to the point where he committed murder. Murdered 85 priests to the Lord. He had
his right-hand man do it. He said, fall on the priest of the Lord and slay them. And they did. He
went to a witch and he basically tried to communicate with a familiar spirit. What happened
in reality was Samuel came and spoke to him and rebuked him for doing that. And you know the last
thing he did in his life was to commit suicide. He fell on the sword and the Bible says, and so
Saul perished. Killed himself. Somebody else later lied and said that they were the one that killed
him, but they were lying because in the book of 1 Chronicles it said that Saul was the one that killed
himself and that's how he died. And so he killed himself. Yet he went to heaven. Why? Because you
can't lose your salvation. Couldn't lose it then, can't lose it now. You say, well how do you know
Saul went to heaven? Because Samuel told him, tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me. And
you better know Samuel wasn't talking to him from the depths of hell. He was talking to him from
heaven. And Samson, Samson didn't lose his salvation and boy he sure committed a lot of wicked
sins and he committed suicide as well. All people all throughout the Old Testament. Because you
can't, couldn't lose your salvation then, you can't lose your salvation now, it's the same. Jesus
Christ is the same. But number two, not only is salvation the same, not only is Jesus Christ the
same. You know heaven and hell have always been the same. They always have. I mean they're the
same thing. You know people are trying to teach that in the Old Testament people got saved, they
didn't go to heaven. And somebody said, well they went to Abraham's bosom. What kind of a crazy name
for a place is that? Abraham's bosom. That's not a place, that's a body part. Okay, I don't see how
Abraham's bosom can fit all those people. Good, I mean something about that in a second. They didn't
go to heaven, they went to Abraham's bosom. Are they inside of his chest cavity? That doesn't make
any sense, does it? And yet I learned that in church growing up. You know how many people go,
I went to Abraham's bosom. They went to paradise in the Old Testament, but in the New
Testament they went to heaven. Okay, well then explain something to me real quick. Can you help me
out with something? I have a question. Why is the word paradise never found in the entire Old
Testament? That's a little bit confusing. I mean if that's where people went, right, in the New
Testament they go to heaven. Why does the Old Testament say heaven like hundreds of times and
never use the word paradise one time? That doesn't make any sense. Isn't it funny, and it's funny,
one time a guy was trying to show me a bunch of scriptures about how people went to heaven by
works in the Old Testament because it was a different dispensation. Okay, and every verse
he was showing me was from the New Testament. Showing me, and I said, can you show me a verse
from the Old Testament that says that they went to heaven by works? He's like, no. I thought that's
when they were going. I thought that's when it happened. He's like, man, I never thought of that.
I was like, well it makes sense to me that if this is where people went, if this is the way it was,
show me in the Old. You know, and they can't. But if people didn't go to heaven in the Old Testament,
then explain this verse to me. 2 Kings 2.11, and it came to pass as they still went on and talked,
that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire, and part of them both the
center. And Elijah went up, which way did he go? Up by a whirlwind into heaven. Sounds like Elijah
went to heaven. Okay. Well, no, nobody went to heaven because Jesus hadn't died on the cross shed
and risen. Hey, Jesus the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Okay. Yes, he did. He
was already slain. And you know what, why did Elijah go? Did Elijah earn his way? He went by
grace through faith and he went up to heaven. Period. Okay. Well, explain this. You say, well,
that was just Elijah. Okay. Well, how about this one? Ecclesiastes 3.20 and 21. All go into one
place. All are of the dust and all turn to dust again. Who knows the spirit of man that goeth
upward and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth? Sounds like man, when he
dies, if he's saved, if he's a child of God, goes upward. That's where his spirit goes. And when
was that? That was Ecclesiastes. That's the Old Testament, my friend. Okay. Or explain this then.
Turn to the book of Job. If heaven and hell hasn't always been the same, if there used to be this
place in the center of the earth called Paradise, Paradiso and Abraham's bosom, and it was down in
the center of the earth and it was a happy place where people went. Okay. Then explain this verse
to me. Job 1.6. I'd like for you to explain this to me while you're thinking about the other two
that you need to explain. Explain this one to me. Job 1.6. And there was a day when the sons of God
came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among them. That's Job 1.6. How
are all those sons of God up there in heaven with Jesus? I thought they were in Abraham's bosom in
the center of the earth. No, they're in heaven. That's where God is up there in his throne. And
the sons of God are in heaven. Look at Job 2.1. Again, there was a day when the sons of God came
to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among them to present himself before
the Lord. Looks like the sons of God are in heaven consistently in the book of Job. And you say,
wait a minute, Pastor Anderson. The sons of God, that's talking about the angels. No. And let me
prove it to you unequivocally that it's not talking about the angels. Hebrews chapter 1 said,
But unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son this day by begotten me? There you
have it, my friend. In the book of Hebrews, the Bible says that the angels, not one of them has
God ever said to them, Thou art my son this day by begotten me. You say, well, have you been begotten
as the son of God? Yes, I have. The Bible says that he has begotten us again unto a lively hope
in Christ Jesus. In 1 Peter. Hey, we've been begotten again. We've been born again. We've
been born as God's son. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew him not.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God. And it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that
when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. But unto which of the
angels said he at any time, Thou art my son this day by begotten me? None of them, because the
angels are not God's sons. The only person. Now look, do you think it's a pretty big deal to be
a son of God? Oh, that's no big deal. Yeah, that's the angels, that's the demons, that's the animals.
No. Hey, being a son of God is a great privilege. Hey, if we're sons, this is what the Bible says.
Listen to me now. If sons, then heirs. That's what the Bible said. It says if you're God's son,
you are the heir of God. You're a joint heir with Jesus Christ. Tell me something. Are the angels
joint heirs with Jesus Christ? Are they inheriting the kingdom prepared for the foundation of the
world of Jesus Christ? No. And if you say that the sons of God are angels, that is false doctrine.
You're teaching that angels are the joint heirs with Jesus. You're teaching that angels are God's
sons. You're contradicting Hebrews chapter 1. It's false. But you say, where did it come from?
Good night. Who would teach such a thing? Well, it's right here in my hand. This is where it came
from, right here. Right here. This is where it came from. What do I got in my hand? To the NIV.
You say, well, no, this doctrine has been around from way before the NIV. You can read Dante's
Inferno, 14th century, I believe, Italian literature. Well, yeah, because before the NIV,
there was the Roman Catholic Bible. It's the same thing. The Roman Catholic Bible and the NIV are
the same. They've always been the same. But let's open it up and let's see where people are getting
this doctrine. I'm opening up the NIV. Turn to John chapter 3, if you would. John chapter 3,
tonight. Let's see where they got this doctrine. Now, remember that verse where it said the sons
of God came to present themselves before God? Okay. Pretty clear, right? Well, let's see what
the NIV says. One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord. Okay. Now, wait a
minute. What's your Bible say? The sons of God, right? Here it says the angels. Okay. But look,
there's a note. There's a little B. There's a tiny little B next to angels. Let's see what
it says. I go down to the B. It says the Hebrew says the sons of God. That's what it says at the
bottom of the NIV. It says Hebrew, sons of God. Oh, wait a minute. If the Hebrew says the sons
of God and you're translating it into English, shouldn't you put the sons of God? I mean, can
you believe that the editors of the NIV said, well, the Hebrew says sons of God, but we're just
gonna put angels. Does that sound like they're translating? That doesn't sound like a translation.
That sounds like their own interpretation, their own private interpretation. It sounds like they
have an agenda, doesn't it? I mean, they're not even trying to tell you that they didn't change
it. They're not even saying, well, we have a different Hebrew that says, I mean, they're
saying, look, the Hebrew says sons of God, we translated angels because we know that he's
talking about the angels. Well, then you don't know Hebrews chapter one and you don't know the
rest of the Bible and you don't know first John chapter three, verse one and two. But do you see
that? I mean, isn't that bad? Oh, you think that's bad? Look down at John chapter three. You don't
know what bad is. You're about to see what bad is. Look at John chapter three, verse 13. I need
to turn there myself in the King James here. Let me turn here. John chapter three, 13. The Bible
says, and that's a great verse, and no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from
heaven, even the son of man, which is in heaven. Now, has there ever been a person who ascended up
into heaven like Jesus did? Never. I mean, Jesus in Acts chapter one, I mean, he ascended up in a
cloud of his own accord, of his own power. You know, with Elijah, you know, a chariot came and got
him, okay? He rode a vehicle up in there, okay? These other people were carried by the angels,
you know, up to heaven, but not Jesus. He just ascended up in his own accord. Now look, keep your finger
there and flip over to the book of Acts chapter two. Look at Acts chapter two, and I'm going to show
you something. Let me tell you one thing. The Bible, if you can interpret it literally from cover to
cover, and it will be consistent with itself. I mean, it stays consistent, it stays real. Whereas
the NIV, we can't trust it. I'm going to prove that to you right now. You got your finger in John
three, you're in Acts two. Okay, look at Acts chapter two, verse number, let's see here.
I knew exactly where it was. There we go, verse 34. For David, watch this, for David is not ascended
into the heavens. Okay, do you see that statement? Isn't that real similar to like where it says here
that no man had descended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, the son of man would say?
Now Acts chapter two is being written long after Jesus has risen from the dead, several weeks later,
way after the resurrection, way after everything. Heaven is filled with people, okay? Every believer
who's ever lived, okay? And yet, he says David is not ascended up into heaven. He was carried by the
angels up to heaven, according to the Bible, okay? Just like everybody who dies, they're carried up
to heaven by the angels, you know, their soul and their spirit that is. But he didn't ascend up to
heaven. See how God's careful to make that distinction here? Here's a man who's in heaven,
yes, but did he ascend up to heaven? No. Look back at John 3, no man had descended up to heaven,
but he that came down from heaven, even the son of man, and look at these last words, which is in
heaven. So where was Jesus while he's talking to Nicodemus? He was also in heaven. He says the
son of man's talking to you and the son of man's in heaven because the son of man is God. Jesus
is God. He could be there and up in heaven at the same time. And even when he said no man had
ascended to heaven, he's saying I've already ascended to heaven. See, God dwells in eternity,
is what the Bible says. He dwelleth in eternity. He's not constrained by time, okay? Now, let's
read the NIV. You look at John 3, 13 and the King James, I'm going to read to you the NIV. All these
modern Bibles, they're pretty much just the same. They're just a little easier to understand, okay?
Listen to this. No one has ever gone into heaven. Is that the same? The NIV is saying nobody's ever
gone to heaven. Now, didn't the Bible say Elijah went up to heaven? Remember all those sons of God?
Oh yeah, they changed that. But even the NIV says that Elijah went to heaven. But here, they're
changing it. See the agenda here? First, they're telling us it was the angels in heaven, not the
sons of God, not Christians. Now, they're trying to tell us that nobody's ever gone to heaven. So
he says here, no one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven, the son of
man, period. You see something else missing? Witches in heaven is God, taken away from the deity of
Christ there. Okay, there's a clear agenda here of what they're trying to do with this Bible. Okay,
now listen to this. Turn, if you would, I want to show you one more change here. Let's see here,
turn to Acts chapter 2 verse 25. My outline got a little crazy here. It's got like a seven page
outline. I'm trying to cram it into an hour of sermon. Okay, I'm sorry, verse 27. Okay,
I found my place here. Acts chapter 2 verse 27. Okay, what does it say in the King James? Let's
read it. Acts 2 27, the Bible reads, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, this is Jesus,
neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to seek corruption. Look at verse 31. He's seen this
before, David, I'm sorry, David who wrote this, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of
Christ that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did seek corruption. So Jesus Christ
didn't stay in hell, he rose again, right? Listen to what the NIV, look at verse 27, listen to what
the NIV changes it to. Because you will not abandon me to the grave. See, now it's not saying
that Jesus went to hell anymore, okay? You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let
your holy one see decay, okay? Now listen to this, verse 31, look at the King James. Seeing what was
ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did
his body see decay. Instead of thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, he just wasn't left in the grave.
Okay, do you see the difference here? Major difference, major change. They're systematically
changing Bible doctrine, and Bible doctrine says, number one, salvation's been the same all the time,
but number two, hey, heaven and hell has always been the same. The NIV's trying to change that.
They're trying to say that people didn't go to heaven in the Old Testament, that's what they're
trying to say. They're trying to say that in the Old Testament, they went to paradise and Abraham's
bosom, and it's taking away from the fact that the sons of God were in heaven in Job one and two.
It's taking away from the fact that Christians have always gone to heaven when they breathed
their last breath, but no, they're saying nobody's ever gone to heaven in John chapter three. Do you
see what they're doing? And then they're changing references to hell to the grave, like Jesus didn't
go to hell, like Jesus didn't die on the cross, descend into the lower parts of the earth, Ephesians
chapter four, and then ascend of his own power, be raised again. They're changing our doctrine. No,
it's the same. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines, and you better know it's
a pretty strange doctrine that people went to the center of the earth when they had Christians and
say they went to some happy place that's right next to hell or something. You got hell here and
you got paradise here. What kind of a paradise is that? When I think of paradise, this is when I
think of sunshine, billowing white clouds, a blue sky. I think of the ocean, right? Sandy beaches. I
don't think of being in the depths of the earth, and you know a lot of this down there? Even the
public school will tell you that it's thousands of degrees in the center of the earth. Why? You ever
stop and think about that? Why? Did you know that the crust of the earth is only one to ten miles
thick? Did you know that? Different? It varies in width. All around the earth, one to ten miles. You
go ten miles down anywhere in this world, you will find lava. Hot lava, magma, the mantle, and you
know what's inside the mantle? The core. If you were to take the world by volume, ninety-nine
percent of the earth is fire. Did you know that? Ninety-nine percent. Think about it. Think about
an apple. I read in many science books, they said that if you took an apple, the thickness of the
skin of the apple is basically the same proportion as the thickness of the crust around the earth. So
if you were to take an apple, let the skin of the apple represent the dry land, the water, the crust,
and the whole rest of the apple, the whole white part, would be fire. Just be lava. And then the
core, which is just an inferno in there. And this is what they say. This is what the evolutionists
say. They say, well the earth was this fireball, right? But as you got away from the core, it
started cooling. And that's the crust. Now stop and think about that for a minute. If you have
just this raging inferno in the center of the earth, and it's just heat all the way, hot, hot,
burning, burning, burning, and then it just cooled the dry land around it. And the water. That's a
little far-fetched. That's a little hard for me to believe. In fact, I don't believe it. But inside
the middle of the earth is fire. Nobody can deny that. And let me ask you something. How did the
Bible, let's say the Bible's written by man, which is what the scoffer would try to tell you. If the
Bible's written by man, how'd they know that there's fire in the middle of the earth? How'd they know
better? I mean, they didn't have all the science, right? With the sonar and the radar and everything.
You say, oh, volcanoes. Hey, the authors of the Bible weren't living in Hawaii. You know what I
mean? I don't think they were watching a bunch of volcanoes erupt all around them. How did they know?
And even if a volcano erupted, that's not going to tell you that the center of the earth is nothing
but fire. Okay. No, hell's real. It's a real place. It's hot down there. You're not going to be in
paradise down in the sweltering inferno where there's no gravity either. What's pulling us to
gravity? We're pulled toward the earth. Well, if you're in the center of the earth, there's no
gravity. That's why the Bible calls it the bottomless pit. The bottomless pit. There's no
bottom. You're falling because you're just no gravity. You're in just fire and torment. That's
what hell is. There's no happy place about it. There's nothing paradise about it. There's nothing
good about it. Let me give you a quote here. Tell me what Bible scholar you think said this. Let me
find it here. And I'm going to read an exact quote to you. I'll give you a hint. This is a Roman
Catholic that said this, okay? Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be
made to see paradise as hell and also the other way around. You listening? Let me read it again.
Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as
hell and also the other way around. I mean, they could get people to think that when Jesus went to
hell, he actually went to paradise in the center of the earth. Through manipulation, propaganda,
who do you think said that? Adolf Hitler. That's a quote from Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler said, if
you brainwash people enough, you could get people to confuse paradise with hell. He's right. It's
the truth. The Roman Catholic Church has been doing it for hundreds of years and now independent
Baptists are teaching in their colleges. I learned it in Bible. I went to Heil Sanderson College and
they taught me that people in the Old Testament went to the center of the earth to paradiso
Abraham's bosom and they taught me in Bible doctrines one class taught by Chris Tefft. He
got up and said that the sons of God is referring to fallen angels, demons. Behold what manner of
love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the same thing that devils and
demons are called. Madness. Insanity. Oh, Pastor Anderson, you need to go to Bible college and you
need to be a little more educated. That's education. That's Bible teaching, huh? I'll stick
with the local church, thank you. I'll stick with the pillar and ground of the truth where somebody
has enough sense to know that a son of God, that a child of God is a born-again, blood-washed
Christian, not a devil or a demon. I'll show you my notes. I got some of my notes from college. I'll
show you the handout where it said fallen angels, the sons of God. Wrong. False. Say, come on,
people don't actually teach that. Yes, they do. They do teach that. If we were to take a poll of
independent Baptist, probably like three-quarters of them, 80% of them believe that. And where did
they get it from? Because you talk, and you know, it's amazing how the president of the same college,
the president of the same college, Dr. Evans, he said, you know, wow, I'm trying to impersonate his
weirdo voice. Wow, you know, he said, I've got some books in my library that, you know, where
the author's quoting from the NIV, but you know, when you've been saved for, you know, 40 years,
like I've been saved for 40 years, you can handle, is what Dr. Wendell Evans said, you can handle it.
You know, you can handle reading books that quote from the NIV because, you know, I just kind of take
the good and throw away the bad, but you young creatures, you know, you guys shouldn't read from
books that quote the NIV. You should only read authors who are quoting the King James. Hey,
listen, listen, big shot. Listen, Dr. Fatbottom. Hey, listen, Mr. High and Mighty. Let him to think
if he stand and take heed lest he fall. It sounds like you got a little doctrine from the NIV when
you were reading those books. Sounds like Bob Jones Methodist University taught you some false
doctrine while you were there getting your master's and your bachelor and your doctor and your blah,
blah, blah. Sounds like you picked up a little false doctrine, buddy. So maybe nobody should be
reading books that are quoting from the NIV. Maybe no preacher should read a book by somebody who
doesn't even know what the Bible is. I don't even recommend reading any books except the Bible,
but if you're going to read a book written by a preacher or a Bible scholar, why don't you read
one that at least quotes the King James and not the NIV? Somebody handed me a book and said,
here's a great book. You know what? It quotes the NIV, but I mean, it's still a great book. You can
learn a lot from it. I took it home. I tore it up in a little piece and threw it in the trash. I
didn't even look at it. And I told the guy when he gave me, I said, I'm not going to read this.
I'll just take it. I said, okay, I'll take it. Throw it away. You see, we have never been prideful
enough to think that we can read this book or read other false doctrine and say, well,
it's not going to affect me. It's not going to mess me up. I mean, the only time I ever opened
this book is when I got the King James Bible right next to it and I'm trying to prove it wrong,
period. But you think I just sit here and just read this and, no, I just see what it says. I've
seen enough of that thing relax me for the rest of my life, what it says. I don't plan on doing
any more reading in that piece of junk. And so you've got to understand that heaven and
hell has always been the same. I mean, Jesus is the same. Salvation is the same. The Bible is the
same. Heaven is the same. And hell is the same as it's always been. And I could go on and on on
that point. I mean, there's a lot more I could teach. I could explain to you the fact, you know,
prove to you even further that the sons of God are not the angels. You know, I got a whole page
here just on that. I'm going to skip that just because I don't want to belabor the point. You
know, I got a whole page here proving that Jesus spent three days and three nights in hell in the
heart of the earth. And the Bible says, out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice,
and on and on. And he went down to the bottoms of the mountains. He descended into there. Blob,
you know, on and on. I just don't have time to go into all of it. But, you know, you're getting the
point. But listen to this, how the NIV, I'll give you one more change and then I'll move on. The King
James Bible says in the book of Ecclesiastes, where I read earlier, remember how it said that,
said, who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward and the spirit of the beast that goeth
downward of the earth? Remember I read that Ecclesiastes 3.22? Listen to the NIV, who knows
if the spirit of man rises upward? Who knows? Okay, that's what it says. Like, the Bible says,
who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward? It goes upward, but who knows the spirit of man?
You know, and the same questions asked, I don't want to go on and on, but same questions asked in
1 Corinthians chapter 2. Who knoweth the spirit of man? Same thing, but the NIV just says, well,
who knows? Maybe it goes upward, maybe, I don't know. Who knows? Okay, but number three, so number
one, hey, salvation's the same. Number two, heaven and hell, the same. Jesus Christ, the same. But
number three, right and wrong, God's rules, God's laws, are the same. They never change. Never
change. Look at Matthew chapter 5. God's laws and rules never change. Jesus said in Matthew 24,
35, heaven and earth shall pass away. Tell that to the Jehovah's Witnesses, who say the Torah's
never going to pass away. It's never going to be started. No, heaven and earth shall pass away,
but my words shall not pass away. But look down in Matthew 5, verse 17, Jesus is speaking, think
not that I've come to destroy the law or the prophets. I have not come to destroy, but to
fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in
no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Okay, Jesus, that's the infallibility, the
immutability of the Bible. We know that the Bible's preserved. We know that it's going to stay
around forever, every word. But how am I going to apply that to my life? Look at verse 19. Here's
the application. Whosoever therefore, therefore means for that reason, whosoever therefore shall
break one of these least commandments. We're talking about the little tiny commandments from
the Old Testament. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach
men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them,
the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. So the preacher who says, well, you don't
really have to worry about that. We're under grace. We're free in Christ. Don't worry about
the little things. Don't major in the minors. You know, don't worry about all these little things.
Just worry about the big things, you know, salvation, heaven, hell. Worry about every little
thing in the Bible, every jot, every tittle. Hey, when I get to heaven, I want God to say, hey,
there's a great preacher. He said, I'll be called great in the kingdom of heaven, right, if I teach
every little thing in the Bible. Hey, there's a great preacher. Really? Wow, was he a great
public speaker? No. He had a great big church? No. Did he know the Bible like nobody else knew
it? No. Why is he so great, Jesus? Because he preached every little thing. He did it himself
and he taught men so. That'd be my goal to attain to that. I don't want to get to heaven in here.
Well, here's old Pastor Least. Hey, Tiny. Hey, Tiny, how you doing? Oh, man. Mr. Zero,
Zero the hero is here. Good old Pastor Zero from Zero Baptist Church is here because he decided
that he didn't need to teach all the rules that are in the Bible and he didn't live by himself.
You say, well, wait a minute, you know, we're not supposed to eat the meat, you know, sacrifice.
Look, the Bible is very clear. I have a whole sermon. If you haven't heard this sermon, it's
one of the most critical sermons I've ever preached for Bible doctrine. It's called the
correlation between Old Testament and New Testament. I go through the Bible in the book of
Hebrews where it says exactly which laws. He said, these are the ones that have been, that you don't
have to follow anymore because he said they were a figure for the time then present. It was a
picture. Now, they haven't passed away. They've been fulfilled, okay, and God said it's not gonna
pass away until it's fulfilled. It's only, but you can't just throw out the Old Testament. He said,
it's only these things, and he lists them off very clearly. He says the meats, the drinks, the divers
washings, and the carnal or fleshly physical ordinances, and he says imposed on them until
the time of Reformation, but Christ being come, he's saying those things are not binding to you
today because they were only a figure for the time in present. He said anything to do with the
tabernacle, anything to do with meats, drinks, washings, or he said anything to do with the
Levitical priesthood because now there's a new priesthood. There's no more sacrifices. Jesus is
sacrificed. The Hebrews explains that, but when God said the Old Testament, thou shalt not steal,
you better know you ought not steal. When he said thou shalt not bear false witness,
it's still wrong to bear false witness. When God said that a child should not smite his parents,
you better know that's still the rule. Well, it doesn't say that in the New Testament. Hey,
listen, if my son smites me, that's a sin. I mean, if my son walked up and went, bam, if he walked
up to me, bam, that's a wicked sin, and the Bible says so. Well, where's it say that? In the book
of Deuteronomy, that's where, and that's just as much a sin as now as it was then, and you know,
before Deuteronomy was even written physically by Moses, that was a sin. Even when Adam and Eve had
Cain and Abel, it was still sin because the Word of God existed before the world ever existed,
and right has always been right and wrong has always been wrong. You know, before the Ten
Commandments were written in stone, it was still wrong to steal. You know that, right? I mean,
it was still wrong to kill. It was still wrong with Cain's slew, Abel. God's law never changes,
you got to understand that. When the Bible says that a man should not put on a woman's garment,
a woman should not wear that was pertained to the man, hey, that hasn't changed. No,
it hasn't. Oh, when God said that homosexualized abomination in the Old Testament, but now He
changed His mind. Jesus Christ the same. Well, He changed His mind. He's the same. Well, He doesn't
feel that way anymore. He's the same. Well, the Old Testament God was kind of an angry God. He's
the same. Well, the New Testament God's still loving and gracious. He's always been loving
and gracious. It's the same God. It's the same, the same, the same. Salvation the same. Jesus is
the same. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same. Old Testament, the same. New Testament,
the same. Heaven and hell, the same. Rules, laws, commandments are the same. The same. You know
what, when you read Deuteronomy, every time you're reading about the washings and the food and the
drink and all those things, just look at it as a picture of Jesus. That's what it said, it was a
picture for the time then present. It was a figure. It was figurative. Every time you read
something that's morally right or wrong, you better read it and say, I need to apply this in
my life. I mean, when you read about what it talks about, keeping your animal on a leash and not
letting out your animal to go gore somebody, you know, you know, it's got a bull with horns and it
gores somebody and this is the law, that still stands. I mean, that's still, when the Bible said
in the Old Testament, if somebody breaks into your house in the middle of the night and you
kill them, no punishment. That's the truth. That's still stands. Okay. That's the truth.
Well, that was in the Old Testament. It's the same. Jesus is the same. It's all the same.
Rights, right, wrongs, wrongs. Fornication's always been wrong. Adultery's always been wrong.
Lust has always been wrong. Oh, Jesus added that in the New Testament. You think porno was right
in the Old Testament. You're crazy. It's been the same. It's all the same. And so God's rules,
and I got to hurry, but God's rules and laws have always been the same and they always will be the
same. You think up in heaven we're going to be breaking laws in the Old Testament and in the
tank of Ammon and in the New Testament and in the prophets. We're not going to be breaking those
laws. No way. We're going to be living by this book for the rest of our eternal existence, period.
But number four, God's method for winning the loss is still the same. Just because we have the
TV, just because we have internet, just because we have radio, God doesn't have a new method for
solar. Same method, one-on-one. Me taking my Bible to an unsaved person, opening the Bible,
and preaching them God's Word. Or having the Bible memorized and preaching God's Word from
memory out of my mouth to Winston Millard. It's the same as it's always been. That's the way it
was in the Old Testament, that's the way it was in the New Testament, and that's the way it is
right now. It's the same. The answer is not. Let me tell you something. If there's all these big
crusades where they're preaching and having just tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands,
millions have been saved. Okay. Why is the world still unsaved? Where's the fruit? Okay. Let me ask
you this. If these preachers come to town and have their crusade and just have all these just
hundreds and thousands of people saved, why is it that when we go door-to-door and when we talk
to people and win them to Christ, they've never heard the gospel before? And yet they've been to
a Billy Graham crusade and they've seen it on TV, and yet they say, oh man, I didn't know that. I
thought you had to be good. If Billy Graham and all these crusaders and all these big TV evangelists
are preaching the truth and preaching the gospel and all these tons of people are getting saved,
then let me ask you this question. Why is it that when we run into somebody who is saved out so
long, and anybody who goes so long knows these things, you know, because you're out in the
streets, you're seeing what's really going on. The people who are saved, isn't it funny how they
always say, I go to such and such Baptist church? Or they'll say like, oh, I go to such and such
community church. And you're like, really? They're like, yeah, I was raised Baptist. And I go, okay,
you know, or whatever, or, you know, maybe they weren't all Baptist. Some go to such and such Bible
church or, you know, rarely some little be one of these, you know, kind of quasi half Baptist,
half Protestant type people, you know, but I'm gonna say something. They never say, I got saved
at Billy Graham. I got saved at this big service with Benny Hinn. You know, I got saved, I put my
hand on the screen and trusted Christ as Savior. You know, it's not, it's not real. And I'm gonna
tell you something, door to our soul when he works. Okay, you say it doesn't work. Okay, well, then
how is a church of our small size going out and knocking like every door in this area? How are we
doing it? How, what's all that orange ink on our back out there? How do we knock so many doors?
This is a little tiny church. How do we do it? Because it works. I mean, you just do it for 10 years and
you do, you get it done. I mean, you get the gospel out, you get it to a lot of people,
get to a lot of doors, get a lot of people saved. It works. And I've used the illustration before,
you win one person Lord per year, one Christian, you start out with one, next year you got two,
right? And then those two people, it's just gotten one person Lord the whole year. That's not that
big of a goal. Next year you got four in the third year, fourth year you got eight, you know, then
you got 16, next year you got 32, next year you got 64. Doesn't even seem like you're putting
debt in it. After six years you've only got 64 people saved, but after 10 years you'll have
1,024. After 20 years you'll have over a million saved, after 30 years you'll have over a billion
saved, and after 30, 30 what, six years you'll have the whole world saved. You know, it's never
gonna happen. Why is it never gonna happen? Because Christians don't even win one person Lord per year.
Now don't you think that there's a million people that are saved on this earth? Much more than that,
way more than that. But even if you had a million, think about this now, if every one of those
million people, just take a million Christians, if every one of those million people won one person
to the Lord per year in ten years, they would have won a billion people to the Lord. You know,
if they taught the people that they won the Lord, it would have sold us, I'm saying. Because it would
grow exponentially. So in ten years, just take a million. There's way more than a million people
saved. But let's just take the one million best Christians in this world, huh? They can win one
person Lord and train one convert a year to do the same thing. You'd have a billion people saved
in ten years. That's better than any TV crusade. The problem is that people aren't doing it. You
know, the problem is that people that are under the sound of my voice right now, even, people in
this room are not winning souls. You know, that's part of the problem. And you know what else part
of the problem is? People who might even be listening to the CD right now. You know, the CDs
that we give out and everything are on the internet. They're listening to the CD or the
internet right now, and they're just listening to it. And it's like when Jeremiah preached, he said,
when I preach, people listen to it, it's like a show. You know what I mean? It's like a show
that I'm putting on, and people are entertained by it, but they're not doing it. You see what I'm
saying? We got to get some doers of the work. You say, where do I start? You start as a silent
partner. Then you go out and you start opening your mouth boldly and making know of the mystery
of God's will. You see, the bottom line is God's methods work if we work God's methods. That's
what the real, it's not that they don't work. Well, times have changed. No, they haven't. People
still live in houses. There's still highways. There's still hedges. There's still towns. There's
still streets. I still have a mouth and a tongue. I still have the Bible. The Holy Spirit lives
inside me. Tell me what's changed about soul winning. Now, if people didn't live in houses
anymore, you might have a point. That's the reason people don't live in houses anymore. There are no
more streets. You know, if this is the Jetsons or something, okay, you might have a point. But we
still have houses, still have streets, still have a tongue, still have a mouth, still have the Bible,
still have time. Nothing's changed. It's the same. And lastly, this. God's institution of choice.
And this kind of has to do with my last point. He's still working through the same institution.
It's the local church. Same thing. Oh no, now we need promise creepers. I mean, promise keepers. No,
no, no, no. Now we need Hocus Pocus on the family. Now we need to have a radio show. Now we need to
have televangelism. Now we need to have all these different organizations. We need Worldwide
Ministries Incorporated. And we need LEAD Ministries Incorporated. And we need the Christian
Law Association. That's where we should put our time and money and effort. That's what we should
do. I'm going to grow up and be a Christian lawyer. I'm going to grow up and be a stunt devil on a
motorcycle. And that's how I'm going to get people saved. I'm going to put on a big daredevil
motorcycle show and then tell people the gospel. You know what? Why don't you get on your motorcycle
and ride it to church, okay? All right? Do a few stunts on the way. That's fine. You know what I
mean? Do a few tricks, you know? Do a few flips. You know if you're a daredevil, if you're like
Evil Knievel or something, you know? Hey, do some flips, man. I'm all for it. But then get your
carcass to church. Sit down. Shut up. Listen to the preaching. And then when you're done listening
to preaching, eat the little lunch that we give you on Sunday morning and then go out and win some
souls. Go out and knock the door. You'll see more people saved. You'll save money on gas. You won't
go to the hospital as much with all the broken bones. You won't have to sell tickets. You won't
have to advertise. You won't have to travel around like a three-ring circus. Hey, get it planted in
the house of God. Don't be a traveling circus. Plant yourself in the house of God. They need to
be planted in the house of our God so flourish in the courts of our God. You got to be planted in
the house of the Lord. No, I'm just going to travel around and I don't go to church. I just
perform Christian rock music and I travel around giving the gospel. No, plant yourself in a local
church and go out soul-winding every week. You'll have more people saved. And then maybe if a couple
of years from now that person shows up at church, you'll be there to greet them. The person that you
won to the Lord today that's not here tonight, right? Maybe when they come three years from now,
you'll be here to say, hey, I'm glad you finally made it. And you better know that that happens.
You'll win somebody in the Lord. Years later, they'll show up at church. We had a guy show up
about 10 or 11 months ago. He showed up on a Sunday morning. I said, hey, how you doing? How'd
you hear about us? He said, oh, you knocked on my door about a year and a half ago. I was like,
what? I mean, it was like I knocked on his door the first month I was pastoring was the time
frame. Oh yeah, he knocked on my door. And I was like, really? And he's like, what'd you expect?
Instant results? He's like, what'd you expect? An instant result? I'm like, I guess not. I guess
you're right. But you know what? They're going to come here and they're going to say, oh, where's
so-and-so that invited me? You're gone. You're not here anymore. You know, I'd rather be staying in
the same place. I'd rather plant myself here now, you know, or plant yourself somewhere, but you
know, be planted. Don't get so high in my, let me ask you this. Who's the most famous evangelist
in the world? The heretic Billy Graham, right? I mean, he's a household name, Billy Graham. I mean,
he is a household name. You know, of course he believes that Muslims are going to heaven and I
have that on tape and it's on my sermon on why Billy Graham's going to hell, but you know, he
thinks Muslims are saved. And he said this, the last time I saw Billy Graham on TV, because this
is before I quit watching TV, I was sitting at my dad's house and it was the day after the World
Trade Center, maybe the next day when they had this ecumenical worship service in Washington, DC,
Bush was sitting in the front row, Billy Graham was wearing a dress and he was standing up, you
know, in his little fancy robes, his long flowing garments like the Pharisees and this is what he
said. This is the last thing I ever saw him say on TV. He said, we know that all the victims of
the World Trade Center are in heaven. That's what he said. That's the last thing I heard. He said,
we know they're all in heaven. Man alive. You want to get to heaven? Just be sure you get
blown up in a skyscraper somewhere. You are in. I mean, it doesn't matter what you believe. You
are in like Flint, as long as you die in a terrorist attack. Man, we need more terrorist
attack. It's a populated heaven. Isn't that weird? But that's everybody's hero, Billy Graham. But
let me ask you a question. Boy, I could tell you all about Billy Graham because I heard about him
my whole life. What church does he go to? Anybody know? Nobody knows. Where does he go to church?
Who knows? Boy, there's a guy who really stands for God's institution, the local church. Really?
What church does he go to? Man, there's a guy who emphasizes what God, I mean, the pillar and
upon this rock, I'll build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,
Jesus said. Where does Benny Hinn go to church? Nobody knows. Well, we're not Billy Graham. You
could get Aubrey Billy Graham and Tim P in this room and ask him where Billy Graham goes to church.
Nobody could tell you where he goes to church. Now somebody could go Google it and find where
he probably goes to church once in a blue moon, which is every 18 months. Once in a blue moon,
he stops in at church or something. He's not in church. He's grown out of the local church. He's
above that. You see, local church is for little peons like you and me, little tiny Christians.
We go to church, that old, archaic, fuddy-duddy institution that used to, before all the small
groups and the cell groups and the rock concerts and the crusades, but Billy Graham, he's graduated
from the local church. He's not part of the church, but that's fine. No, it's not fine.
What about evangelists? I'm glad you asked. What about evangelists? You mean evangelists like Philip?
He was in church on Sunday. Oh, but these guys, they travel around and they preach in all these
different churches. Hey, you know what they ought to do is join a church and get involved and preach
in that church or soul winning or whatever. Everybody wants to be a traveling, three-ringed
circus. Hey, plant yourself in church. You know an evangelist my dad used to like to hear? Because
my dad grew up in an independent fundamental Baptist church when he was a teenager. You know
his favorite quote evangelist was that he liked to hear? Dr. Jack Hyles. That was who he loved,
man. When brother Jack Hyles would come to preach, he loved it. But guess what? Guess when Jack
Hyles came to preach at my dad's church in LA? Monday night and Tuesday night. Because you know
why? Because on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night, he was preaching at his own
church. Dr. Hyles. And my dad loved it when he came to preach, but it was only ever on a Monday
or Tuesday night because on Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, he knew that the
house of God was what was important. Church was what was important. That's the kind of evangelist
we need. You want to have somebody come around and preach all over America? Do it on Monday and
Tuesday night, but be in church on Sunday. Join a church. Oh, but it's so important to go around
and preach to all these different people. Church is important, man. Church is what we need. If every
church in America would say, we're going to knock doors here, we're going to preach the gospel here,
we're going to get involved here, we're going to get involved in the small town soul winning here,
we're going to get involved in the weekly soul winning here, we're going to knock the doors here,
we're going to be here, and listen to the preaching here. America would be reached with
the gospel. Not everybody gets saved, because this is a narrow way, be there, be there, find it,
but every door would be knocked several times a year. Several times a year. If our little church
here can knock as many doors as we do, all these other churches would even just knock half the
doors we do per capita, per person in their pew. We'd be knocking every door in America again and
again and again and again and again and again and again. Shut down the three ring circus, shut down
the traveling, you know, juggling. Let's get our family out and play banjos and travel all over
America. We're going to go on tour like Led Zeppelin and Metallica. Hey, get off your tour,
get off your moving around and your bouncing around and your new fangled methods and your
new ideas. And let's go back to God's way, the house of God, the local church. Say, what about
Paul? He traveled around, you know what he did? He went somewhere and he stayed there for a year
until he built a church and then he moved on. That's what happened. Read the Bible.
Paul stayed in places for a year and a half, three years. He stayed here for years. It looks like
it's going fast when you're reading the book of Acts, except for the fact that the book of Acts
was written over the course of Paul's life, which is like, what, you know, 40 some years in the
ministry, 50 some years in the ministry. I mean, you're reading about decades of time.
He wasn't going to a different place every week because you don't get anything done like that.
Imagine this, you've worked as an electrician a lot, brother Chris. Imagine if you went to a
different job site every day. I mean, one day you're on this job, next day you're on this job,
next day you're on this job. Or imagine this, every day you went to one job for two hours,
then you went to this job for two hours, this job, you're not getting anything done. I mean,
it takes that long just to unload the tools, just to set up your trailer, just to set up this,
set up that. It takes time. You got to, you know, anybody knows that when you're an electrician,
you're installing an electrical job and a big commercial project, you're doing something big,
and I want to do something big for God. Okay. Anybody knows when you do something big,
it takes just planting it there. Many electricians, I mean, you'll be on the same job for a year,
year and a half, two years, three years. You know how long I'm going to be on this job?
God willing, I'm going to, this church, I'm just going to pass this church and then I'm going to
move on to the next thing. I want to start this church and move on. I'm not moving on.
I'm planting here. I want to be buried somewhere within, I don't know, a couple of miles of where
I'm standing right now. Can somebody take care of that for me, please? You know, by the plot
or something? Hey, I want to be buried in Tempe, Arizona. I want to be buried in Phoenix. I want
to be buried here. I want to die here. I want to live here for the rest of my life. Why? Because
I want to be planted somewhere. Why? Why? What's in Phoenix? What's in Tempe? What's the big deal?
I'll tell you what's in Tempe. Faithful Word Baptist Church is what's in Tempe.
And Faithful Word Baptist Church is where I'm going to stay.
Now, I'm not saying like everybody has to come here and stay here, but you know what? Stay
somewhere. Don't bounce around. Don't be a traveling circus. God's method is the same and
God's institution is the same. The local church. And it's called the local church for a reason
because it has a location. It may not be Tempe. It may be Tempe, but it's got a location. And you know
what? Don't ever outgrow the local church. You know what these Christian rock stars do, don't you?
They bring a preacher with them. They hire a preacher to travel with them. And they pay him
a full-time salary and that way they can still have church, right? So they hire a pastor to
travel around in their tour bus and he preaches to them every Sunday morning. That's not church.
Church doesn't travel around on a bus with you. You know, people say, well, wherever two or three
are gathered together. I heard pastors say one time, yeah, wherever two or three are gathered
together. And sometimes they even count the fish. You know, a couple of guys go fishing and they say,
well, we're having church. We're both saved. That's not church. Church has a pastor. Church
has a bishop. Church has a preacher. Church has singing. Church is where we're gathered together,
assembled together, congregation. And church has a location. Church of Ephesus. Church at Smyrna.
Why does it always say that? Church at Pergamos. Church at Jerusalem. God tried to impress upon
you the location of church. It's a place. Well, that was back then. No, it's the shame.
Not the cyber church. Not the internet church. Not the drive-through church. Not the traveling
church. Not the tour bus church. The local church. All that to say this, Jesus Christ,
the same. That's about our end of that word of prayer. Father, we love you and thank you for
the Bible here, God, an endless source of truth. And God, I thank you for Faithful Word Baptist
Church and for the people that I assemble with thrice weekly. And God, I thank you so much that
you don't change. I would hate to serve a God who changes. I mean, I would hate to get all
knowledgeable about the Bible and learn all about preaching and pastoring and soul-winning,
and then all of a sudden you'd change. What a terrible thing that would be. But Father,
we thank you and praise you for the wonderful attribute that you have of never changing.
I love the fact that you're never going to change. Everything else about my life could change.
But Jesus Christ, like a rock, you'll always be there. Thank you so much for never changing,
for always being in this shame. We love you, and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
All right, let's go ahead and sing one more song before we go.