The people of God assembled together reading the Bible is such a blessing, dear God, just
the words of the Bible are so powerful.
And God, I just pray that you would use the Bible's words and also my words preaching
the Bible, dear God, to stir the hearts of those that are here and to help everyone that's
here and to edify them, dear God, and to build them up and to help us to understand what
you'd have us to do with our lives, dear God, and what's important to you and the direction
that we need to go in this church, dear God, as we approach the close of our first year
of Faithful Word Baptist Church, a time to look back and think about where we've been
and also a time to think about where we're going.
And in Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Now notice a few things in the first part of this chapter, I'm going to build a little
bit of an introduction of the sermon, but look if you would at verse number one, I'm
just going to show you a few things at the very beginning and then jump to a verse at
the end that says, cry aloud, he's talking to a preacher, he's talking to Isaiah, cry
aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, he's telling him to yell, he's
telling him to cry out, and why does he need to cry out, it says and show my people their
transgression and the house of Jacob their sins, he says it's the preacher's job to show
people their sin, to show people what the Lord is saying they're doing wrong is what
the Bible says, but look at the next verse, he says, yet they seek me daily and delight
to know my ways, this is this nation that he's to preach to and show their sins, as
a nation that did righteousness, notice the past tense, he says this nation did righteousness
and forsook not the ordinances of their God, they ask of me the ordinances of justice,
they take delight in approaching to God, and then they go ahead to explain and say look,
look what we've done God, we've fasted, we've afflicted our souls, I mean we've done without
physical food, we've prayed to you, but he explains to them, he says it doesn't matter
if you fast, he says your actions are wrong, you're not following my laws, you're living
in sin, and he says I'm not going to hear you when you pray and fast me, later on he
says if you do this, this, this, this, and this, and he lists a big long list, that's
for another sermon, he says then shalt thou call and I will hear, he says you'll call
on the Lord and he'll say here I am, when you do what he told you to do, but look at
the verse that I'd really like to emphasize, verse number 12, the Bible says that if they
would get on track with all these things that he's telling them, that they need to do, loving
God, obeying God, loving other people, caring about other people, not just being self-centered
he says and they that shall be of thee, that's verse 12, now who is that, that's your children,
that's your grandchildren, he's saying they that shall be of thee shall build the old
waste places, thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called
the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in, he says the blessing here
is that your children will build up the old waste places, the foundations of many generations,
he's talking about the old paths, the old ways, the right ways, God's ways, he says
your children are going to rise up and build them up again and you'll build them up again,
let me turn to one more place and I'll get into the message, Jeremiah chapter 6, just
a few pages to the right in your Bible, look at Jeremiah chapter 6 and we'll see a similar
passage, Jeremiah 6 verse number 11, Jeremiah 6 11 just a few pages to the right in your
Bible, the Bible reads, therefore I am full of the fury, that means anger, therefore I
am full of the fury of the Lord, I am weary with holding in, I will pour it out upon the
children abroad and upon the assembly of young men together, for even the husband with the
wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days and their houses shall be
turned unto others with their fields and wives together, for I will stretch out my hands
upon the inhabitants of the land, sayeth the Lord, for from the least of them, even under
the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness, and from the prophet, even under
the priest, everyone dealeth falsely ashamed, the preacher, the prophet, the priest are
dealing falsely, why? Because of money, the love of money, covetousness, and then the
next verse he says, they have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly,
that means deceitfully, slightly saying peace, peace, when there is no peace, he's talking
about preachers who have a positive only message, their goal is money, and he says they preach
on peace, peace, peace, but there is no peace, look at the next verse, he says were they
ashamed when they committed abomination, nay they were not at all ashamed, neither could
they blush, therefore they shall fall among them that fall, at the time that I visit them,
they shall be cast down, sayeth the Lord, here's the verse I wanted to emphasize, thus
sayeth the Lord, stand ye in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, wherein is
the good way, and walk therein, and you shall find rest for your souls, but sadly this is
what they said, but they said, we will not walk therein, now I want to preach to you
this morning about the old paths, restoring the old paths, building up the old ways places
in this country, I was thinking about this week, the old way, and notice that God equates
the old way, he says the old way is the good way, the old way is the right way, and I opened
up the phone book by way of introduction, I'll pull out my yellow pages here, I got
the new phone book for the East Valley of Phoenix here, and I opened up the phone book
and I looked at some of these ads, and let me just show you what I found, you know, I
went to the beginning, you know where the big ads are, the big half page and full page
ads, look at this ad right here, this is like the 70s funk church or something, I mean look
at this, does that look like a church's ad, this is what it says, we're not, and the not
is in big all capital letters, we're not your parents' church, what a tragedy, what
a tragedy that this isn't your parents' church, what a tragedy that their Christianity is
so shallow that it's not the old paths, it's just this generation only, because your parents
are not, they didn't have this kind of Christianity, and you know what, they're right, this isn't
your parents' church, this isn't the church that grandpa had, this isn't the church that
this country had when it was standing for God, this isn't the church of people who seek
the old paths wherein it's the right way, it's not your parents' church, it's a brand
new kind of church, what a tragedy that it's not your parents' church, that's their punchline,
that's the biggest thing on their ad, don't worry this isn't the boring old dead old King
James Bible, this isn't your parents' church, this is a new kind of church, now I looked
across the page, living word Bible church, Pastor Anderson, isn't that kind of a similarity,
of course this is faithful word Baptist church, and I'm Pastor Anderson, this is living word
Bible church, with Pastor Anderson, Pastor Thomas, oh I'm sorry, Pastors, Thomas and
Maureen Anderson, you know his wife's the pastor too, and I was looking at this and
they have a list of all their upcoming and recent speakers, the preachers, guest preachers
that come in, 5 of them are men, 4 of them are women, and every single, I mean it's just,
it's unbelievable, they're advertising, look at all these women, you can come hear Joyce
Meyer preach, Paula White, Marilyn Hickey, Gloria Copeland, I was trying to figure out
what these women look like, I couldn't figure it out, I have so much makeup on, I can't
even figure out what they look like, but there's these 4 women that I'm supposed to come here
and preach, I'm supposed to come to church and hear a woman preach on the old, is that
the old paths, is that the right way, is that the old waste places, yeah they are waste
aren't they, the old time, the old time kind of religion, the old time kind of preaching,
you know I looked at this, Saturday night services, well I wonder where they got that,
you think maybe they got that from Saturday night mass, from the Catholic church, Saturday
night service, every church on this page has Saturday night services, as an alternative
to Sunday, I mean good night, you need Sunday to go to the lake right, you know you need,
come on man, Sunday, Sunday is the one day off, and so Saturday night services, Saturday
and Sunday, contemporary, that's the opposite of old, this is an English lesson, contemporary
means new, old means old, and so he's saying contemporary worship services, Saturday or
Sunday it says, it says here, Saturday night date night, if you will come to church, and
if you don't believe me come look at the Saturday, if you'll come to church from 5pm to 6pm on
Saturday night, then they will watch your kids from 6pm to 1030 at night, so you can
go on a date with your wife, that's how it says, Saturday night date night, just show
up for the service at 5, you'll be out of there by 6, you won't have to come on Sunday,
come on Saturday night at 5 o'clock, you'll be out by 6 and we'll watch your kids from
6 to 1030, I mean think about this, leave your kids in some strange place and then pick
them up at 1030 at night, that's just, isn't this just bizarre, I mean they're like making
a deal with you, they're bargaining with you, if you'll just come to our Saturday night
Catholic service and then it says down here, bring your kids, this is all Pastor Anderson,
yes I'm against Pastor Anderson, don't get confused now, it says right here down at the
bottom, it says bring your kids to our 20,000 square foot kids castle, drawbridge, moat
and everything, I mean it's unbelievable, this is what they're advertising and I was
looking through here and I only, I found one ad that just jumped off the page at me, it's
fake forward Baptist church but it says right here, are you tired of liberal churches? Compare
that to we're not your parents' church, yes I am sick and tired of liberal church, that's
why I started this church because I am going to build up the old ways places, I want to
restore paths to dwell in the old paths, the old time way, number one, let's get back to
the old fashioned methods in our churches, I'm talking about old fashioned methods, what
are method methods or the way that you do things, I was thinking about God keeps using
this word paths, way, ways and a lot of people say well as long as you're preaching the gospel,
do whatever works, well God says no there's a right way to do things, he says there's
an old way that people used to do things and there's a right path to take, well the ends
justifies the means, we just got to get to the right end, I mean if people are getting
saved, no, no, no, no, he says yes you want to get to that goal of people getting saved,
yes you want to get to that goal of a great church being built and great multitudes of
people being saved and baptized and coming to church but he says there's a right way
to get there, now there's a shortcut to get there, it's called building a castle and digging
a moat around it, filling it with water, letting down a drawbridge and saying put your kids
in our castle on Saturday night from 6 to 10.30, okay there's a shortcut to their goal
which they're not reaching anyway but God says no, there's a way that I want you to
do things, there's a way to get to the end that you're trying to reach, there's a way
to do my work, there are methods that I use and approve of and they're in the Bible and
the Bible is a long book my friend and if you read through the Bible you'll find all
kinds of methods that God can do, so what kind of methods, I'm talking about the old
time methods like Bible reading, prayer, knocking on doors, daily in the temple and from house
to house they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ, that's why they had the multitudes,
that's why people were being saved, that's why they were being baptized because they
were all with one accord in one place the Bible says and they'd been spending 3.5 years
with Jesus Christ, before that they spent 6 months with John the Baptist so for the
last 4 years they'd been preaching and preaching and learning and learning and they went out
120 people on fire for God and they preached the Gospel, they were all there, they all
showed up at soul winning, they were all with one accord, they were all in one place and
they opened their mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the Gospel, that's where the
multitudes came from, that's where the crowds came from, that's where the baptisms came
from, it wasn't from some kind of a fancy new method, oh what was it, did Peter get
up on TV, is that how they got all those people saved at Pentecost, is that how 3,000 people
got saved, did they bring in the TV crew and have a big TV crusade, they must have brought
in a rock band, how else would they have brought that big of a crowd together, good night they
must have had Sandy Fattie or Amy Grunt there and they must have brought in these Christian
rock stars and had them singing and that must have been the advertising and then once they
got them all in there, they got them in there, then they get up and preach the Gospel to
them, wrong, no they were on their faces praying for 10 days in the upper room, no they were
all there, that's what it was, men and women were soul winning, men and women were preaching
the Gospel, they were all with one accord in one place, no they had been reading the
Bible, they had been spending years with Jesus, that's where the results came from, now you
say well good night, they just had results overnight, well that's because they had been
with Jesus for years, it's because Jesus and John the Baptist had been plowing up the ground
for years and then they got to reap that great harvest just a few short years later of what
would have been sown, I'm going to tell you something, the old time methods still work,
we don't need to change the old time methods, we just need to get back to the old time methods
and use the old time methods and spend our time and energy and blood and sweat and tears
reading the Bible, studying the Bible, knowing the Bible, praying for power from God and
then getting out there and knocking doors, preaching the Gospel, opening our mouth boldly
in the highways and the hedges, two by two compelling them to come in, it's the Bible
method, you say it doesn't work, well then why do you even believe the Bible then if
you don't believe that part of the Bible, I don't understand somebody who says that
doesn't work anymore, it worked 2000 years ago, it worked 1900 years ago, it worked 1800
years ago, it worked 100 years ago but all of a sudden now it doesn't work, now I find
that hard to believe my friend because I'll tell you something, the reason that soul winning
is the right method, I'm talking about the old method of going out and winning people
the Lord because I talk to all these new people and they tell me that the new method is just
go out and invite people to church, just invite them and then when they come, then once they
come then we'll do like a follow up visit and try to win the Lord or we'll just go out
and invite them and then if they come we'll try and preach them down the aisle and they
might come down the aisle and get saved, I'm going to tell you why the old method of going
out and winning people the Lord is better because it's God's method, going out and knocking
the doors, going out in the highways and hedges, daily in the temple and in every house, Acts
20-20 Paul said I went from house to house, every house in the city of Ephesus he said
I've been there, I knocked that door and I'm going to tell you why it's better because
there are people and brother Dave and I were just talking about this, there are people
who will never set foot in this church and there are people who never set foot in any
church and should they just go to hell because of your fancy new method where you don't preach
the Gospel to every creature, you just invite people and if somebody makes the step to come
to church then you're going to get them saved, listen my friend, me and brother Dave were
out knocking the doors, a man was handicapped, he said he's probably not going to come to
this church ever and you know what, we went into his house, we sat down with him and we
won him to Christ and he's probably never going to come here and he's probably never
going to get baptized, he's probably never going to join this church, he's severely handicapped
but I'm going to tell you something, I'm going to walk on the golden streets with that man
in heaven and that's why soul winning is better because you may look around and say well this
is your results, this is not our results, our results are out there, you understand
and so I mean I've seen church, I remember when I was in my home church in Sacramento,
we were running about 150, 175, 200 people, it was, the pastor had just come to the church
and hadn't really been around a whole lot, long time or anything and we were running
this and people were telling me about this other church that was so much bigger down
the street that had 800 people and I said to him, I said you know what, I said the difference
is when you walk into that church that has 800 people, what you see is what you get,
that's all that they've ever even reached but see we've also got hundreds and hundreds
of people that we've won to the Lord that couldn't take the hard preaching, they didn't
want to be sold out for God, they didn't want to be zealous, red hot, fundamental Baptist
and so they're in all these other churches or maybe they're not even in church but we've
made such a bigger impact I tried to tell them at this church that we went to in Sacramento
because I said we've won thousands of people to the Lord in the last several years and
they may never come to church but glory to God they're going to be in heaven and so to
sit there and say well I have this new method pastor Anderson, your church will go faster
if you just go out and invite people, I don't care whether my church goes faster, the Bible
says except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it and so I'm going
to use God's old methods of preaching the Gospel to the poor, the Spirit of the Lord
is upon me Jesus said because he has anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor and so
that's why I believe God has anointed me to pastor this church, to preach the Gospel to
the poor and I'm going to preach the Gospel to every door in this neighborhood, come with
me, join with me and let's get this whole area saved, let's knock on every door we can.
You say is that going to build the church?
I don't care, I don't care if it will or not, it's God's method and God said he's going
to build the church so I just believe that and so I don't care whether it works or not
my friend, I don't care if it never works, those people will still be in heaven, it works
in my book, soul winning works.
I'm talking about the same old kind of preaching that we've always had, not this little sugar
coated message, I'm talking about getting up and preaching the whole council of God,
I'm talking about Isaiah 58 one kind of preaching, cry aloud, spare not, show people their sins,
that's the kind of preaching we need, that's the kind of preaching that's going to build
you up, that's the kind of preaching that's going to make you the strong Christian that
you need to be, to be an effective soul winner, to be in church 10 years from now, to be in
church 15 years from now, you want your kids to be the restorer of old paths, do you want
your children and your grandchildren to build up again the waste places, then this kind
of preaching you need according to Isaiah 58.
The same old Gospel that we've been preaching by grace through faith, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, the same old kind of standards, the same preaching,
the same Bible, the same music, everything.
You say, why, wait a minute, why do we have to have this old music though?
Where does that fit in?
Well, you know what, the new music that's coming out right now in the name of Christianity,
I'm going to tell you something, it's motivated by money, that's the problem with it, because
the love of money is the root of all evil, and that's why, you say, are you against any
new music?
Well, I'm not against any new music, as long as it's new music that's in the old paths,
but here's the problem that I see with most new music.
For example, I looked at a new hymnal that came out, it's called Songs of Revival, and
this new hymnal has come out I think like 10 years ago or something, and it's a real
big independent, seems like half of independent fundamental Baptist churches have this hymnal,
and I opened it up and I sat down to look at it, and I started flipping through the
pages, and I flipped through every page of that hymnal in one sitting, and you know what
I saw at the bottom?
I counted, I forget how many, I think it was like 40 pages, Nashville, Nashville, copyright
Nashville, Nashville, copyright Nashville, Nashville, Nashville, Nashville, Nashville,
and then I saw, oh, Bill Gaither, yeah, he's that long-haired pervert that's singing all
the southern gospel with a bunch of long-haired hippies, and he's the guy who I saw a picture
of him in the Christian bookstore with his arm around Billy Graham, and he's one of these
liberals, and I said, I'm going to count the Bill Gaithers, and I counted, one, two, three,
four, five, six, I think it was 27 Bill Gaither songs in that hymnal, no, it's not the old
paths, it's about money, then I started examining, see I have kind of a mathematical, kind of
analytical mind, I started analyzing the songs by Bill Gaither, I noticed that they had no
doctrine in them, they could really be sung in a Baptist church, they could probably be
sung in a Nazarene church, they could probably be sung in a Catholic church, they could probably
be sung in a Presbyterian church, a Methodist church, a Lutheran church, they were purposely
vague about what they were preaching, why? Because they're trying to market it to as
broad of an audience as they can, and that's why these new songs, I mean, you know, our
God is an awesome God, I'm sorry friend, but that doesn't teach you any Bible doctrine,
you could sing that in a Mormon church, you wouldn't offend anybody, you could sing it
in any kind of church, and that's the problem, but see, these songs, you know, some of these
songs are going to offend some people, because some of these songs preach very clearly that
Jesus is God, they preach that salvation is by believing on Jesus Christ, they say,
you know, everyone that believeth, shout out the, you know, on and on, it says, he that
believeth on the Son, tis true, hath everlasting life, all that believe on him the Lord hath
said, hath everlasting life, you know, he that cometh to him I will not cast out, all
these great words are in these songs, because the people who wrote these songs, they weren't
trying to just market it to as many Christians as they could, they were trying to write songs
that were pleasing to God, and that's where you get these great songs, I'd rather, I'd
rather sing the old time songs, because there's a clear difference, my friend, between these
old songs and the world's music, you know, you start, you wonder why you don't hear the
kind of preaching against rock music that you used to hear, boy, didn't preachers just
get up and they used to just thunder out about rock music, I mean, they used to just lay
it out for you, and they'd name all the groups, and, I mean, this is when I was growing up,
I'm not even that old, and they'd get up and preach this stuff, and man, they would
just lay it out, I mean, they would say, this stuff's out of hell, they said that, I remember
a preacher when I was a little kid, he said, when you go to a rock concert, it's like a
worship service for the devil, I mean, they would go on and on, whole sermons about it,
they'd be reading the lyrics, what's wrong, you'd say, why do I not hear that kind of
preaching anymore, I'll tell you why, because the music in church has changed so much, and
it's blurred the lines between what's the world's music and what's Christian music,
and so it's, because it's blurred the lines, it's harder for a pastor to get up and just
make it plain and say, this is right, this is wrong, because then somebody will say,
well, okay, then why do you have this, yeah, seems kind of similar, right, why do you have
Nashville, sir, why do you have Bill Gaither, sir, and so that's why I want to sing the
old songs, because I want there to be a clear difference between the right music and the
wrong music, nobody's going to confuse these songs with the world songs, and you know what,
I'll match up, you know, we're getting started, we don't have a piano and everything, hey,
I'll match up our song service with the charismatic church down the street, and with the liberal
Baptist church down the street, because I'll tell you why, their songs have no meat in
them, these songs have heart, they have feeling, they have power, passion, written by people
who love God, and they have doctrine, they can teach you great Bible doctrine, and so
I'll sing, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness, hey,
I'll put that against our gods and awesome God any day of the week, any day of the week,
my friend, these songs are the old paths, the old ways, the old type of songs, and it's
the kind of songs that'll make you a great Christian, it's the kind of songs that'll
help you to be filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking to yourselves in songs and hymns
and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord, and so I can say
to the teenagers, I can say to the young people, I can say, go ahead, and listen to Mariah
Carey, I'll listen to God Be the Glory, go ahead and listen to your Lindsay Lohan, I'll
be listening to Revive Us Again, go ahead and listen to Eminem, I'll listen to Only
Trust Him, go ahead and listen to your Green Day, I'll be listening to Oh Happy Day, go
ahead and listen to Sean Paul, I'm listening to Jesus Paid It All, go ahead and listen
to Kenny Chesney, I'll be singing Lead Me to Calvary, go ahead and listen to your In
Excess, I'll be singing Footprints of Jesus here in church, go ahead and listen to System
of a Down, I'll be singing Heaven Came Down, go ahead and listen to Mercy Me, I'll be singing
No Other Plea, go ahead and listen to Brooks and Dunn, I'll be singing No Not One, go ahead
and listen to your Black Eyed Peas, whatever stupid band that is, I'll be singing, hey
I got these off the Billboard Top 100, okay, if you've heard of these, I haven't heard
of all of them, go ahead and listen to Black Eyed Peas, I'll be singing to B.I.B.B.L.E.,
go ahead and listen to Mary J. Blige, I'll be singing In the Sweet By and By, go ahead
and listen to Jessica Simpson, I'll be singing We're Marching to Zion, go ahead and listen
to Faith Hill, I'll be singing On Zion's Hill, go ahead and listen to No Doubt, I'll be singing
Come Thou Found, go ahead and listen to Gwen Stefani, I'll be singing Close to Thee, go
ahead and listen to Bon Jovi, I'll be singing At Calvary, go ahead and listen to Third Day,
I'll be singing Trust and Obey, go ahead and listen to Ludacris, I'll be singing Tell It
to Jesus, go ahead and listen to Bow Wow, I'll be singing Higher Ground, I don't know
what that is, go ahead and listen to Reba McEntire, I'll be listening to Set My Soul
a Fire, go ahead and listen to Bob Dylan, I'll be singing Ring the Bells of Heaven,
go ahead and listen to Kelly Clarkson, I'll be singing The Fight is On, go ahead and listen
to Sugar Land, I'll be singing There is a Fountain, go ahead and listen to Toby Keith,
I'll be singing Jesus Loves Me, go ahead and listen to U2, I'll be singing So Send I You,
go ahead and listen to Flavor Flav, I'll be singing Jesus Saves, maybe that's before your
time out, go ahead and listen to Lil Wayne, I'll be singing And Can it Be That I Should
Gain, go ahead and listen to Destiny's Child, I'll be singing Sound the Battle Cry, go ahead
and listen to Johnny Cash, and while you're at it, why don't you take all the rest of
the world's trash, and I'll be saying like the psalmist said in Psalm 43, he put a new
song in my mouth, even praise to our God. We don't need the world's trash music, and
we don't need to clean up the world's music and turn it into a gospel song either, I'll
stick to the old songs, you can have that stuff, I'll stay with it, what I was brought
up with. But look if you go to Luke chapter 5, Luke chapter number 5 in the New Testament
Luke chapter 5, Luke chapter number 5, and look at verse number 36 of Luke chapter 5,
Luke chapter number 5, verse number 36, the Bible reads, and he spake also a parable unto
them, Luke 5 36, no man puteth a piece of new garment upon an old, if otherwise, then
both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeeth not
with the old. You see this? And then look at the next verse, and no man putteth new
wine into old bottles, else the new wine will burst the bottles and be spilled, and the
bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles, and both are preserved.
No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new, for he saith, the old is better.
Now look at this, he's saying, if you have a piece of clothing, and it's an old piece
of clothing, and you take a brand new piece of cloth and try to patch that old clothing
and add to it, you say, oh, I'm just going to add this on, this new piece of clothing.
He says, you're going to destroy the old garment. He said, you're going to make it worse, you're
going to tear the thing open, it's going to be worthless, you're going to destroy it.
He says, you try to take an old bottle, and you say, I'm going to take this old bottle
and put new wine into the old bottle. He says, you will destroy that bottle. He says, the
bottle will break the wine, the wine will break the bottle, and the wine will run out
and the bottles will perish, is what he says in the book of Matthew. He says, new wine
is for new bottles. Hey listen, take all these new methods, they should go down in the new
bottle of that 70's funk Baptist church, the Bee Gees Baptist church with that psychedelic
red, you know, this is not your parents' church. Hey, that's where the new wine belongs, that's
where the new Bible belongs, that's where the new international version belongs, that's
where the new American standard belongs, that's where the new King James Version belongs,
that's where the new Bibles belong, in that new bottle, in that new clothing, that new
contemporary trash. But I'm going to tell you something, Faith Ward Baptist Church is
an old bottle. This is an old piece of clothing. Hey, the Bible's an old book. The Bible's
very old. The Bible's from Everlasting, the Bible says. The Bible is so old that if you
try to take these new methods and put them with the Bible and combine them together,
he says they don't agree. Did you see that? He says when you put the piece of the new
garment upon an old, it says the piece that was taken out of the new agreeeth not with
the old. These new methods don't agree with this book. These new songs don't agree with
this book. He said get the old methods and the old wine in the old bottle, that's what
you need, that's the right way, that's God's way. And he says, by the way, he says, you
know, you can put new wine in a new bottle and you can have success. I mean, that Charismatic
Church, that Living Word Bible Church and Pastor Anderson, he is having success today.
He's driving a fancy car today. He's got a big nice house today. He's got a big full
house today. He's having success. Why? Because he's got new wine in a new bottle. Don't put
that new wine in my old bottle or you're going to break this bottle. Don't break this bottle.
Don't break Faith Ward Baptist Church. Don't tear up Faith Ward Baptist Church. Get the
old wine in the old bottle. And you say, well, he's got the new wine in the new bottle. He's
successful. We got the old wine in the old bottle. We're successful. We're winning people
to Christ. We're seeing people saved. We're seeing people's lives changed. We're seeing
people's lives turned around for God. Why? Because I'm old wine in old bottles, old patch
in old clothes. He's the new wine in the new bottle, the new patch on the new clothes.
But God says the old is better. Boy, I like that. He says, I look at Living Word Bible
Church. Say, why do you name these names? I don't mind naming the names, friend. How
do you know these names? Phygelus, Hermogenes, Alexander, Phyletus, Diotrophes. Why? Because
the preachers in the Bible, the old time preachers, they named the names, friend. They said, Diotrophes
is a bad preacher, John said in the book of 3 John. Paul said in 1 Timothy, watch out
for Alexander and Hymenaeus. Watch out for Hermogenes and Phyletus. He said, watch out
for these heretics, these liars, these false teachers, these deceivers. And I'm going to
name the names, my friend. See, when God looks down at the new bottle and he looks down at
the old-fashioned King James Bible preaching, soul-wending, screaming, leather-lung preacher,
he said, I like that old stuff better. He says, I took a taste of that new stuff and
it just wasn't the same stuff. And I said, I like the old better. That's what God likes.
God says, old-fashioned. Say, Pastor Harry said, you're so old-fashioned. Why thank you?
Thank you for complimenting me in that way. Because I am old-fashioned. Don't take the
new modern liberal, don't take some charismatic book by Tim LaHaye and put it on the, put
it out in church and sell it for five bucks. Hey, don't break that bottle. Don't break
that old bottle if you go to a good church. Don't break that bottle, right? Hey, don't
put out some book by Tim LaHaye, some charismatic. Don't bring in some devotional booklet that's
got the new King James in it. Hey, why are you putting new wine in that old bottle? Are
you trying to break it? Are you trying to break that bottle? Hey, get the old stuff
and put it in that bottle. They agree. They go together. It's consistent. Don't get drums
and electric guitar in the old bottle. No. Don't get the words up on the screen. Hey,
get out the old hymnal and sing these songs. He said, why are you against the words up
on the screen? I'll tell you why. The only reason to put words on the screen is because
the songs aren't in the hymnal. Because they're so new. Because they're so straight off the
presses in Nashville, you've got to put them up on the screen so that people will know
the words. Because I don't know the words. You don't know the words. It's on the hymnal.
So you've got to have the bouncing ball karaoke screens in the church. Why? So you can bring
in the new music. And I'm going to tell you something. Don't break the old bottle. If
you break that old bottle, my friend, there aren't a lot of old bottles left. Now, think
about wine. You go to the store. How many new bottles of wine do you see at the store?
Hundreds? Thousands? Millions? How many new bottles? But how many old bottles do you see?
Boy, it's rare, isn't it? To see a really old bottle. You say, wow. And for it still
to be preserved, what's inside that old bottle? I'm not condoning alcohol. I'm not talking
about alcohol. I'm just using the illustration here. He's saying, obviously, the wine in
the Bible, he's talking about juice. He's talking about fruit, beverages. He's not talking
about liquor. I've preached old sermons to prove that. But how many times do you walk
into the store and find an old bottle where what's inside of it is still preserved? But
the new bottles, they're everywhere. You could make one tomorrow. You could make it in one
day. How long does it take to make an old bottle? It takes a little longer. It takes
a little longer. It takes a little more care to preserve what's inside. But you know, don't
just ruin the old bottle. Put a little new wine in that old bottle. You're going to break
the bottle. Keep it old. Keep it old school, my friend. And don't get this new wine into
your old bottle. You're going to break the bottle. You're going to break the work of
God that he's trying to build in these local churches. And so I have to skip some of my
sermon here. But number one, I said, let's get the old-time methods, old-fashioned methods.
We don't need all the new stuff. I mean, the old method still works. Door-to-door soul
winning, preaching, prayer, fasting, soul winning. That's the old method. It's memorizing
the Bible, preaching the Bible. What else do you need, my friend? You say, pastor, how
do you start a church being totally independent, not receiving any support? How did I do it?
Because it doesn't cost anything to give somebody the gospel. It doesn't cost anything to meet
with believers and preach and win souls. And it doesn't cost a dime. That's what I figured
out when I first started church. It didn't cost me a dime. And so on and on. Number two,
let's have the old-fashioned standards of right and wrong. What the Bible says is right
and wrong doesn't change. We shouldn't change our standards. I was thinking about this,
and I guess I'm kind of emphasizing music this morning, just because I have to emphasize
something. I mean, I could preach anything in this subject about old-time standards and
right and wrong. You could go so many different directions with it. But I was thinking a lot
about music for some reason when I was writing the sermon. And I was thinking about this.
A church, a good friend of mine, just last Sunday morning, a real good friend of mine,
he walked into church, and this is a church that has been a church that stood against
this kind of stuff. I mean, an independent fundamental Baptist that preached very hard
against this very thing. He walked into church just last Sunday morning, seven days ago,
walked into church, and right next to the pulpit was an electric guitar on display.
And he said it was a really fancy, nice electric guitar, and he said it was just kind of on
display. It was just a real predominant page. And people are walking in and kind of making
faces a little bit, you know, kind of scratching their head, like, what is that doing here?
This is a fundamental Baptist church. And they're kind of thinking, oh, what's going
on? And my friend, you know, he was being optimistic. He said, boy, I'll bet you the
pastor is just going to get up and just really, like, rip on rock music. He's like, he was
excited. Like, he thought, man, it's going to be a good sermon, you know. The pastor
is going to get up and just really just let it rip on rock music. This is going to be
a good one. Man, I'm going to get the tape on this one, you know. And he comes in and
sits down, and boy, they get out that electric guitar to start. A couple of guys get up there
and just rocking out with some Christmas songs, just really just getting with it,
man, and rocking out with an electric guitar. And, I mean, this is a pastor that I personally
heard him say, there will never be an electric guitar on this platform for any reason. He
said, even if we were playing the right kind of music, just because of what it represents.
And I mean, this was like a rock and roll electric guitar. And they were playing, like,
you know, they were rocking out. They were getting with it, man. They were having a good
old time up there, rocking out, jamming for Jesus. And so they got this electric guitar
up there, and he said, there will never be an electric guitar. There will never be drums
up here. And a whole bunch of people, you know, my friend, you know what he did? Praise
God, he got up and walked out during the song. He stood up, and I wish more people had the
guts to take a stand like that. Hey, if I preach wrong, I hope you'll get up and walk
out. I'd be sad if you didn't. And you know what? He got up and he just walked out. He
just said, that's it. He said, let's get our stuff and let's go. Took the family, walked
out. And other people were kind of looking around like, is this okay, you know? And people
came to him afterward and said, what's wrong? What are you doing? What is this? Oh, you
know, it's no big deal. No big deal. Yes, it is a big deal, my friend. Because it doesn't
take much of that new wine to break the old bottle. And so it is a big deal. Everything's
a big deal. Don't open the door to that kind of garbage. Don't let in that kind of garbage
into the local church. And so I got to blow past this, but, you know, preachers who once
preached that things are wrong, now they've given up the fight. And they just said, can't
beat them, join them. You know, let it in. Come on in. Number three, you know, number
one, the old methods. Number two, old-fashioned standards of right and wrong. You know, basically
what I mean by that is the same thing we used to believe. The same thing that they used
to believe in the Bible and the same thing that we heard preached growing up. Number
three, how about the old Bible? And I alluded to this a little bit earlier, but why in the
world would you buy a Bible that says on it, newer and better, closer to the originals?
No, my friend, I want the old Bible. The Bible's an old book. It didn't come out yesterday.
I don't think that the English language has for the last 400 years been lacking the Word
of God when it's the, America's the nation that's been used unlike any other to preach
the Gospel throughout the world in the history of mankind. The nation of England before that
was a great powerhouse of soul-winning of the Gospel. You mean to tell me that God just
gave us the Bible a couple years ago when one of these new NIVs or new American standards
came out and somebody put this Bible in my hand who's not a Baptist, who's not a soul-winner,
who doesn't believe in the verbal plenary inspiration and they think it's just the thoughts
that count and not the words that count, some charismatic, somebody who believes in work
salvation, somebody who's not sure if Jesus is God? You think that's who gave me the Bible
five years ago? In the last 350 years we've been using this piece of junk, right? No,
this is God's Word, my friend. Every single word in this book is preserved. The King James
Bible is God's Word. God delivered his Word in the Old Testament to the Hebrews. Why?
Because he said, the Jews are sent for a light to the Gentiles, so I'm going to give them
the Bible. And then they translated the Hebrew Bible into other languages in the Old Testament.
And then he came, Jesus Christ came on the scene at the turn between B.C. and A.D. right
around there. He brought in the Gospel, he died, he was buried and rose again, and you
know what he said? He said, hey, what's the most prominent language in the world? Greek.
I'm going to have the Bible be written in Greek. And so they wrote the Bible in Greek
and then it was translated immediately into all these different languages. I was listening
to a tape from Dr. Rasmussen and he was saying that, I think it was like he had seen a manuscript
of a Bible from like 175 A.D. or something like that, way before any Greek manuscript
that these new Bibles claim that's the oldest, the most reliable. He said he saw it and it
was in Latin. And it was called the Old Italic and it was written way before those. And he
was saying how this Bible agreed with the King James. I mean, it had 1 John 5.7 in it,
it had all the omissions that the new Bibles leave out and it just agreed with it. Because
why? Obviously, God made sure that when Greek ceased to be a real prominent language and
Latin kind of took over with the Roman Empire and everything, he made sure that the Bible
was in that language because that's where the soul winners were, that's where the preachers
were. And then they translated it into hundreds of languages and millions and millions of
copies of the Bible were produced. Then, you know, we don't know a lot about the Dark Ages
because it was the Dark Ages because the Catholic Church suppressed, you know, reading
and books and burned books and everything. But then comes 1611 and even before that in
the 16th century, all kinds of Bibles were emerging that were just the true, right Bible.
I mean, they had mistakes here and there, but they were just from the right text and
they were, you know, 99 percent until finally they worked at it and went through it and
boy, they produced the King James Bible. Because God made sure that the King James Bible
was 100 percent accurate. I don't believe that a single word in this book is wrong.
Don't tell me what the Greek and Hebrew says. The Greek and Hebrew has been gone a long
time, my friend. I want to know what the English King James Bible says because this is the
copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy all the way back to the original.
Millions and millions of copies. This is the majority reading. This is the Word of God
that God has made sure and I firmly believe that ever since the Bible was written, you
know, when it was finished 100 years after Jesus Christ was born approximately, I believe
that there's always been a book on this earth that had every word of God in pure, perfect
form. There's always been a book like that. Not in every language, unfortunately, but
let's get into every language. And it's always been available, my friend. And you say, where
was it before the King James? Hey, I don't know. I wasn't there, but neither were you.
I know I got the King James right now. It's God's word. Because God saw in his foreknowledge
that the English language would be the language of the most powerful soul winners, the most
zealous missionaries that the world has ever seen. And so he said, that's who I'm going
to make sure gets the right Bible. And then the King James Bible has been translated directly
from the King James into multitudes of languages. Multitudes of languages. I mean, it's been
translated into hundreds of African dialects straight from the King James. And God knew
that. That's why he made sure that when those King James translators translated the Bible
for three years, they were on their face for three hours a day before they even started
translating it, saying, oh God, help us to translate the Bible right. And they begged
God for three hours a day for three years. And then they spent another three years translating
the Bible and going over and over and over. And they were geniuses, men that spoke 18
to 20 languages each in many cases. And they did it and they begged God and they begged
God. And God delivered to us in this modern day a book that is without error, the King
James Bible. You can read through this Bible and tell me that it's not the word of God.
And then read through that piece of junk called the NIV, and you'll, if you can even
read it without laughing. I picked it up the other day just to find some mistakes in it.
I picked it up and started reading. I laughed at it because it sounded so dumb. I mean,
it sounds corny. Forget it. Forget it right and wrong. Forget preservation. It sounds
stupid. It sounds corny. This sounds powerful. This sounds great. This is God's word. This
is the voice of the Lord. You read the NIV, it's the voice of some sodomite that made
the thing. It's the voice of some queer that was on the translating committee who said
let's take out the word sodomite. Let's change it around. Let's tone it down. No, my friend,
I want the voice of the Lord. I want the old Bible. Oh, but they're coming out with a
new one, Pastor Anderson. No, no. I'll take the old one. I'll keep the old one. How old
is it, Pastor Anderson? It's the same one that people have been using since the time
of Christ. It's the same one that people have been using before. It's just in a different
language. And you know when Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 4 said, Man should not live
by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. He was speaking
Aramaic. He was quoting a Hebrew Bible and then Matthew wrote it down in Greek. So it
went through three languages right there and he said, Every word, my friend, of God is
pure. Because the Bible being translated, well, you lose something in the translation.
You don't lose anything in the translation. Talk to me after service. I speak four languages.
And I'll tell you something. You don't lose anything in the translation if it's translated
properly. God's the one who invented languages at the Tower of Babel. He divided the languages.
He can put his word into any language. And in some languages they have to invent a few
new words. But you can translate the Bible into any language and have it be right if
you do it right, if you translate it from the right source right here. You can get the
Bible right in any language. Don't tell me you lose something in the translation. If
I believed that, I'd be preaching in Greek today. I'd go move to Greece somewhere and
read the Greek Bible. I don't believe that. That's why I just read the King James Bible.
That's why I believe this, is the authority. And you know what? If you don't believe that,
you go ahead and tell me where your authority is. Some theologian somewhere? Some lexicon
somewhere? Some dictionary somewhere? Who's your authority? Because this is my authority
right here. Show me after the service your authority if this isn't your authority. The
truth of the matter is, you're the authority. Because you read all the different Bibles
and you decide which one you like. So now, you're God. But I'm going to let God tell
me what the truth is. I'm going to pick up the old school, the old time, the old fashioned
King James Bible and read it. And let it change me and not change the Bible. I'm not
rewriting. I'm rereading and rereading and rereading. And so on. I've got to blow through
that. But number three, the old Bible. Number one was the old methods. Number two was old
fashioned standards of what's right and wrong. Shouldn't change. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday
and today and forever. And then the old Bible. But number four, if we have these old three
elements, we're going to get old fashioned kind of results. Look if you would at Psalm
44. And I'll close with this. Psalm 44. Psalm 44 and look at verse number one. Psalm 44
verse number one the Bible reads, we have heard with our ears. Are you there in Psalm
44 one? We have heard with our ears, oh God, our fathers have told us what work thou didst
in their days, in the times of old. How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand
and plant it's them. How thou didst afflict the people and cast them out. For they got
not the land of possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them, but thy
right hand and thine arm in the light of thy countenance because thou hadst a favor under
them. Thou art my king, oh God. Command deliverance is for Jacob. Through thee we will push down
our enemies. Through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us. For I
will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. But thou hadst saved us from
our enemies and has put them to shame that hated us. In God we boast all the day long
and praise thy name forever. But thou has cast off and put us to shame and goest not
forth with our armies. Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy and they which hate us
spoil for themselves. Thou has given us like sheep appointed for meat and has scattered
us among the heathen. Thou sellest thy people for naught and does not increase thy wealth
by their price. Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and a derision to
them that are round about us. Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of
the head among the people. My confusion is continually before me and the shame of my
face has covered me. For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth by reason
of the enemy and avenger, all this has come upon us, yet have we not forgotten thee, neither
have we dealt falsely in thy covenant. Now look what he's saying. He's saying, boy,
our fathers, back to verse one just quickly, we have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers
have told us what work thou didst in their days in the times of old. Now he spends the
next eight verse or so just talking about the glory days, man, when God went to battle
with them, when the Lord delivered them, when the power of God was with them. And he's just
kind of daydreaming, if you will, just thinking about, man, you know, think about the stories
that the dad told us and grandpa told us. Boy, think about the power of God. And boy,
God was with us and it was the glory and it was power. But he says, but kind of a reality
check comes in, in verse number nine onward, he says, but you know what? That's not us.
That's not what I see. That's not our country. That's not the way I feel. That's not our
day. That's not 2006, is it? But you know what? Let's get back to the old time. And
that's what this psalm is about. David is saying, you know what? I'm tired of just hearing
about the old days. I'm tired of just hearing about the glory days. I'm tired of just hearing
about how it used to be. He said, I want to have those days now. I want to have God's
power now. I want to see people saved now. I want God to deliver us now. He says, I don't
want to just hear about the great things God did back in the days of old. He says, I want
to live those days now. I want it to be dad or grandpa or great grandpa. I want to be
able to be me that I can tell my children and I can tell my grandchildren the great
power of God that I've seen, the souls that were saved, the churches that were built,
the people who God raised up, the men that God raised up to preach it. And that power,
I want to have it now. That's what he's saying. Don't ever think, and this is the danger saying,
that's why I'm going to close the message. Don't ever think, wow, those old days were
good. Boy, those old time ways, that was the power, wasn't it? No, let's bring the old
time ways into 2006 and into 2007. And let's be like we started in Isaiah 58. Let's be
the restorer of the old waste places. Let's be the restorer of paths to dwell in. Let's
build up again the old waste places. Let's see if we can push aside all the rubble and
all the dirt that's covered up the old time way. See if we can push aside all the Bill
Gaither CDs and dig down through all the liberal invitations and liberal advertisements and
all the Joyce Meyer and Billy Graham trash. Let's see if we can dig down and maybe we
can find some of the building materials of the old time ways, of the old waste places,
of the old paths, and why don't we start building them again? Why don't we say in 2007, we don't
know what God's going to do, but I know one thing. In 2007, Faithful Word Baptist Church
is going to swing the hammer and swing the ax and say, let's build the old time paths.
Let's build these waste places once again. Let's dig out of the rubble and rebuild to
the glory of God and let's see God do something great in our day, in our generation. Let's
bow our heads and have a word of prayer. God, we love you so much and it's such an exciting
thing to read the Bible and to read about the days of old, to read about the great power
of God that parted the Red Sea, that knocked down the walls of Jericho, that had 3,000
people saved and baptized at Pentecost, that had 5,000 people saved and accepted forward
to God. Father God, it's such a joy to read a book that's about victory, that's about
power, that's about salvation, that's about glory. Dear God, it's so great to read that
book, but Father, please just help us to live that book and to rebuild for the glory of
God in our day, in our generation.