We are going to find, as Bible-believing Christians,
that there's a lot of different beliefs out there.
There's a lot of different groups out there,
and I wanna talk specifically this morning
about a group everybody in here would be familiar with.
Who here has ever heard of the Kingdom Hall
of Jehovah's Witness?
We know them as the guys who go door-to-door,
and they knock on your door,
and they try to tell you about Jehovah, right?
They're who they claim they think Jehovah is.
This religion has deceived so many people.
So many people are believing that Kingdom Hall
of Jehovah's Witness is a wonderful thing.
In 1958, they packed out the New York Yankees Stadium.
Incredible, incredible.
They're a huge movement.
The man who founded Jehovah's Witness,
Charles Taze Russell, said this.
"'The Battle of the Great Day of God Almighty,
"'which will end in A.D. 1914,
"'with the complete overthrow of Earth's present rulership,
"'is already commenced.'"
So, Charles Taze Russell predicted that in 1914,
that the end of the world,
that Armageddon was going to happen.
Well, right now, we're in 2000 what?
23.
1914 turned out to be a complete hoax.
When Charles Taze Russell died,
a man by the name of Joseph Rutherford took over for him.
And he said this, he says,
"'There will be a resurrection of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
"'and other faithful ones of old.
"'We may expect 1925 to witness the return
"'of these faithful men of Israel
"'from the condition of death.'"
So, he's saying that in 1925,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would come back
to life from the dead.
Did you know he even built them a mansion?
In 1929, he built them a mansion.
He constructed this gigantic building
and gave deeds to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
He put deeds, property deeds, in their name.
These predictions were false.
These were false prophecies.
Joseph Rutherford said every few months,
"'The Lord's gonna come back.
"'He's gonna return.
"'It might not have happened in 1925,
"'but they're setting dates.'"
You know what the Bible says?
"'But of that day and hour knoweth no man,
"'no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.'"
No one knows when Jesus is going to return.
So, when people start setting dates,
you know that it's a false religion.
They're following false ideologies.
Now, the Jehovah's Witness also believed
that there is no resurrection of the dead.
They believe that Jesus' body wasn't raised back to life,
but stayed dead and was disposed of by God the Father.
The Father then recreated Michael the Archangel
as a spirit creature.
So, not only are they teaching reincarnation,
which is paganism,
that Jesus reincarnated as Michael the Archangel,
they're saying that Jesus' body stayed dead.
Well, wait a second.
The Gospel is that Jesus died for our sins,
according to the Scriptures,
that he was buried and that he rose again the third day,
according to the Scriptures.
That's the Gospel.
So, if you don't believe Jesus' bodily rose from the dead,
you're taking away from the Gospel.
Jesus, after he rose physically from the dead,
look at what he said to the apostles.
He said,
"'Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself.
"'And see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones
"'as ye see me have.'
"'And they gave him a piece of broiled fish,
"'and in honeycomb.'"
Let me ask you a question.
Can a spirit eat food?
Jesus said he's hungered.
Where does hunger come from?
It comes from a physical body that needs nourishment.
So, his physical body was resurrected from the dead.
He said he's hungered and they gave him honeycomb and fish.
And he took it and did eat before them.
So, Jesus ate right in front of them.
This is what the Jehovah's Witness claim on their website.
They say,
well, when Jesus appeared to the apostle Thomas,
he took on a body with wound marks.
So, it wasn't the resurrected Christ.
It was a fake body.
So, you know what they're saying?
That God created a literal scam.
That God literally scammed us,
made a body,
punched a few holes in it,
and pretended that it was the body
that Jesus was crucified in.
Pretended that it was the risen body
after that it had been crucified.
I mean, how wild is this?
But you go on their website,
this is what they claim.
Then sayeth he to Thomas,
reach hither thy finger and behold my hands.
And reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side
and be not faithless but believing.
Jesus is saying,
I physically rose again.
My body has regained its spirit.
Thomas, when he beheld the risen Christ,
he fell down and said unto him,
my Lord and my God.
Jesus said unto him, Thomas,
because thou has seen me,
thou has believed,
blessed are they that have not seen
and have yet believed.
In the Old Testament,
when we looked for the coming Messiah,
they knew he would be God in the flesh.
There was no question about this.
That's one of the characteristics of the Messiah.
It says, but thou Bethlehem,
Bethlehem is where Jesus came from,
but thou Bethlehem, Ephrata,
though thou be little among the thousands of Judah,
yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me
that is to be ruler.
Whose goings forth have been from old,
what are those last two words?
From everlasting.
What does it say about Jesus?
That Jesus is not a created being,
that he's from everlasting.
That means that Jesus didn't come into existence
at some point, that he is God,
that the triune God has existed
from everlasting to everlasting.
Now, of course,
cults always take one verse or two verses out of context
to promote their false belief.
And they'll use this verse in Matthew 19.
Remember when the rich young ruler went to Jesus,
he said, what do I have to do to inherit eternal life?
And remember how Jesus said, keep the commandments,
you gotta be perfect.
You know why Jesus said, keep the commandments?
He's saying, you have to be perfect.
The disciples marveled.
They said, who then can be saved?
No one perfectly keeps the commandments.
So Jesus is just trying to show us how unworthy we are.
We can't keep the law to be saved.
This is the verse they take out of context.
And he said unto him, why callest thou me good?
There is none good but one, and that is God.
You know, that's what Jesus said.
They say, see, there's only one good and that's God.
It wasn't Jesus.
There's only one good, that's God.
Well, wait a minute, was Jesus good?
They say Jesus was perfect.
Well, if there's none good but one,
and Jesus is good, Jesus is God.
Now, if you look at the New World Translation
versus our translation that we use, the King James Bible,
we believe that in the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God and the Word was God.
Okay, so the Word, Jesus, was God.
You know how it says that he became flesh
and dwelt among us?
This is what it says in their translation.
It says, in the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was what?
Wait a minute.
Small g.
Doesn't the Bible say, isn't the first commandment,
thou shalt have no other gods before me?
If their founders are going to be so delusional
as to make false claims about the coming of Christ,
he's coming in 1914, he's gonna return in 1925,
you can guarantee that their translation
is also gonna be filled with lie after lie after lie,
attack after attack after attack
on the blood of our Lord and Savior
and on the deity of Christ.
This is another verse they take out of context.
The Bible says, for God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten Son
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish
but have everlasting life.
It's a powerful verse.
But they'll focus on where it says only begotten Son.
They'll say, see, Jesus was begotten.
That means Jesus came into existence, they're very tricky.
You're begotten means you come into existence.
Wait a second, the Bible says Jesus
is the first begotten from the dead.
What that means is when he's the begotten Son,
he's the first begotten from the dead.
He's the first one to rise from the dead.
The Bible says that Jesus is the first born of the dead
in Colossians 1.18.
Jesus is the begotten Son.
He's the first begotten from the dead.
They always leave that out.
They say he's the first begotten.
No, the Bible says he's the first begotten of the dead.
Doesn't mean he was created.
Does that make sense to everybody?
Let's talk about salvation.
Of course, Jehovah's Witness believe that to go to heaven,
that you have to do good works.
In their Bible translation, John 3.16 says,
for God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son,
so that everyone exercising faith in him
might not be destroyed but have everlasting life.
Is salvation about an exercise that we do?
No, salvation is about a cross that he bore.
Salvation is not about my commitment.
Jesus was the one who endured.
Jesus gets the glory.
I don't get the glory for my salvation.
Only Jesus gets the glory.
Jesus paid it all, all to him we owe.
Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow.
That's what the Bible teaches.
But they say everyone who exercises faith,
it's an exercise to get to heaven.
No, the Bible says that it's a gift.
For God so loved the world that he gave.
You know what that means?
It's a gift.
God is a good father.
Would a good father ever turn his back on their child?
Would a father ever disown their child?
A good father, a perfect father will correct his children.
He will not abandon his children.
The Bible says, for whom the Lord loveth,
he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
If you're a child of God,
you'll never stop being a child of God.
But the Jehovah's Witness, they go around knocking doors
and they're told that they have to,
otherwise they're going to lose their salvation.
So what are they trusting?
Are they trusting Jesus alone?
Or are they trusting their works?
They're trusting their works.
For by grace are ye saved through faith,
in that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.
Francis, if I said, honey, I want you to have this Bible.
This is a free gift from me to you.
But you've got to change all the dirty diapers
of the kids forever, or whenever they get out of diapers.
Would that be a gift?
No, because you earned it.
For by grace are ye saved through faith,
in that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.
God has a gift.
All you have to do is receive it.
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Jesus is a loving shepherd.
He says, I am the good shepherd.
I lay down my life for the sheep.
He said, if one goes astray, I will leave the 90 and nine
and go find the one who went astray.
If you're saved this morning,
if you've trusted Jesus alone to take you to heaven
this morning, let me tell you,
Jesus will never leave you or forsake you.
Now who's ever heard of soul sleep doctrine?
Has anybody ever heard of that where they say you're not,
you don't go to be with the Lord if you die.
This is what the Jehovah's Witness teach.
They say that you're just in the ground
and you're just there and you're asleep.
Well, a lot of other religions teach this,
but Paul says we are confident.
I say and willing rather to be absent from the body
and to be present with the Lord.
So what is the Bible teaching?
That if you're absent from your body, if you've died,
you are in the presence of Christ.
The Bible says that there's a cloud of witnesses.
Samson is in the cloud of witnesses.
Is Samson asleep in the grave?
No, he's in the cloud of witnesses.
This is just basic Bible teaching.
Let's talk about hell.
Now they don't believe in hell.
They say that when you die, that's just it.
Your soul goes into non-existence if you've done wrong.
Well, let me say, is that just?
What about all the Nazis that tortured
men, women, and children?
Is it just for them to just get off the hook?
Hell must exist.
Remember the story of Lazarus and the rich man?
The Bible says the rich man also died and was buried,
what are the next three words?
And in hell.
It doesn't say he was sleeping.
Immediately he woke up where?
In hell.
He lifted up his eyes, being in torments,
and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me,
and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger
in water and cool my tongue,
for I am tormented in this flame.
Let me tell you something.
Jesus talked more about hell than he did about heaven.
But they wanna say hell doesn't exist.
It's not a real place.
They make the same arguments that I hear
from these atheists all the time.
Bible says, enflaming fire, taking vengeance on them
that know not God, and that obey not the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with what?
Everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord
and from the glory of his power.
Now real quick, we're gonna do two more topics.
They always talk about the 144,000.
We always hear about this.
Well I don't have a lot of time to cover this,
so I'm just gonna give you two facts about the 144,000.
They're only mentioned in two chapters
of the book of Revelation.
Only two chapters mention them.
And then number two, they are virgins and they are men.
So if you're a lady and only 144,000 virgin men
go to heaven, why are these ladies in the Jehovah's Witness
working to get to heaven?
It's only men that are the 144,000.
Let's talk about the cross, and this is the last subject
here, one of the last subjects here.
They teach that Jesus died like this,
like he had his hands on a pole.
And they say, Matt, Jesus didn't die on a cross,
he died on a stick.
Well, what did Thomas say to the other apostles?
He said, except I shall see in his hands
the print of the nails, and put my finger
into the print of the nails, plural,
and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
On the Jehovah's Witness website, they have one nail
going through the top of his hands.
But what does the Bible tell us?
That there were nails, plural.
That means it was a cross that Jesus died on.
In the Old Testament, when the death angel
had to pass over certain houses,
before the children of Israel could be protected,
they had to put blood, notice it, right here it says,
and they shall take the blood and strike it on the where?
The two sides, and on the upper doorpost of the house.
Why?
Because it's a cross, it symbolizes a cross.
In the Old Testament, they say it's a pagan symbol.
Really?
Bible says, for the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness,
but unto us which are saved, it is the power of God.
The Bible says, being found in fashion as a man,
he humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the what?
The cross.
The Bible doesn't say he endured the stick.
He endured the stake.
No, it says he endured the cross.
Whoso will come after me, let him deny himself
and take up his what?
His cross.
The cross of Christ is under attack.
He endured the cross, despising the shame.
Blood transfusions, this is the last topic.
They believe that if you are dying,
that you cannot get a blood transfusion.
They are against healthcare and doctors.
But what does the Bible tell us?
What does Jesus say about doctors?
He says, Jesus answering said unto them,
they that are whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick.
Jesus said, if you are sick, what do you need?
A physician, a doctor.
Jesus was pro-healthcare.
And let me tell you, unfortunately,
and I'll close with this,
the Jehovah's Witnesses are very sad, sad people.
They may appear as if they have joy.
They might even dress up in a suit and tie like me.
They might try to appear as an ambassador
when really they're just an imposter of Christ.
They're not ambassadors for Christ.
They don't even know Jesus.
They say in their writings that we are swine class.
But you know, I have a message to them.
I think that they're precious.
I think that they were designed by God.
That Jesus loved them.
That Jesus, despite the fact
that they would spit on his cross,
say it didn't even exist,
that Jesus loved them enough to lay down his life for them
and to take their place when they were sinners.
I think if Jesus thinks they are special,
I don't think of them as swine like they think of us as.
But let me say, they don't allow their kids
to participate in any other thing,
any other sports even, many of them, with other kids.
They don't let them play with the neighborhood kids.
Do you know how sad that is to isolate your child?
They won't even let you take a gospel tract.
If you give them a gospel tract and they receive it,
they will lose their salvation.
That's what they teach.
They will actually lose their salvation.
But they can give you their literature.
One of them told me once, he said,
Matt, we need an organization
to usher in the coming of Christ.
We need an organization that will build a mansion for him.
No, Jesus is the one preparing the mansions.
Jesus was the Messiah of the world.
He didn't need a business, an organization,
to usher in his coming.
There was a Jehovah's Witness family
that was having a child,
and the child was going to die.
The child was born with loss of blood.
The doctor said the only way
that this child's gonna be saved
is if somebody gives this child a blood transfusion.
He said, look, one of you parents
needs to give this child blood.
Bible says the life of the flesh is in the blood.
Bible says we're all of one blood.
Blood transfusions are not a sin if we're all of one blood.
Just think of that for a moment.
But they said your child is going to die.
Your child needs blood.
And the parents, they talked to each other.
They tried to figure out what they were gonna do.
And when the Jehovah's Witness found out,
when the leadership found out,
they came to the hospital and they said,
no matter what, don't give your child a blood transfusion.
Don't do it.
The parents thought about it, thought about it.
And the doctor came in with the police,
and they had a report saying that there's a court order
that somebody has to give this child blood.
They're not just gonna let it die.
That's murder.
The Jehovah's Witness leaders said,
let's helicopter the baby out.
Let's get it out of here and let it die on its own.
Let's just let it suffer and die.
And the parents decided, no,
we're gonna give our child blood.
We're gonna make sure that our child stays alive.
Let me tell you, the Jehovah's Witness on their way out,
the elders looked at the man, looked at his wife,
and they said, we hope that your child gets hepatitis
from that blood.
So, so sad.
But yet they'll pack out stadiums of people.
They'll pack out entire gymnasiums of people.
And they are dying because many of them
can't get a blood transfusion.
And they'll have these elders by the side of their bed,
just like the Catholic church,
just like every other false religion,
just like the Muslims saying,
don't renounce or you're gonna lose it.
You know who renounced our Lord once, Peter?
He actually renounced him three times.
He's still in heaven.
Thank God for mercy.
Thank God for the power of his cross.
Jesus has proven himself to be true.
You know why?
Because he bodily rose again from the dead.
And it wasn't a charade.
He didn't put on a fake body to pretend
that it was the body that got crucified.
He put on his body.
His body wasn't disposed of.
He's ever alive.
He ever liveth to make intercession for us.