(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Grab a hymnal and turn to our first hymn 147 leaning on the everlasting arms. 147, 1-4-7 leaning on the everlasting arms. 147 there on the first what a fellowship what a joy you find leaning on the everlasting arms. What a blessed dance what a peace is mine leaning on the everlasting arms. Safe and secure from all alarms leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way leaning on the everlasting arms. Oh how bright the path goes from day to day leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. What have I to dread what have I to fear leaning on the everlasting arms. I have blessed peace with my Lord so here leaning on the everlasting arms. Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms. Amen. We'll open with the word of prayer. Heavenly Father we thank you just again for this day. Lord I just thank you for leading us to those that accepted salvation today that you'd be with those that accepted your word and also with those that heard and received the word hopefully that that would be a good seed planted that could be watered in the future. I pray that you would just continue to be with us with our church and with the service that everything would be done decently and in order. These things we pray in Jesus name amen. All right for our next hymn this evening turn to 166 I will praise him. 166 166 I will praise him. 166 starting there on the first. 166 I will praise him I will praise him praise the land for sinners playing. 166 166 I will praise him I will praise him praise the land for sinners playing. 166 giving glory all ye people for his blood can wash away each thing. 166 Then God's fire upon the altar of my heart was set aflame. 166 I shall never cease to praise him glory glory to his name. 166 I will praise him I will praise him praise the land for sinners playing. 166 giving glory all ye people for his blood can wash away each thing. 166 Blessed be the name of Jesus I'm so glad he took me in. 166 He's forgiven my transgressions he has cleansed my heart from sin. 166 I will praise him I will praise him praise the land for sinners playing. 166 giving glory all ye people for his blood can wash away each thing. 166 Glory glory to the Father glory glory to the Son glory glory to the Spirit 166 Glory to the free and one I will praise him I will praise him praise the land for sinners playing. 166 Giving glory all ye people for his blood can wash away each thing. Good evening everyone. Welcome to Anchor Baptist Church. This time we'll go through some announcements. If you don't have a bulletin please raise your hand and an usher will bring you one. On the front is our Bible memory passage of the week, Galatians chapter number one, verse 11. On the inside you'll see our service times listed there, Sunday morning at 10 30, Sunday evening at 4 30, and our Wednesday evening Bible study at 7. Below that are our soul winning times listed there. As well as our nursing home ministry schedule. Below that is our year-to-date statistics and praise the Lord we had five salvations today so great job out soul winning this afternoon. On the right is our list of expecting ladies. Please be in prayer for Mrs. Reed. Events April 13th we'll have another men's preaching night for the pm service followed by a church potluck. April 19th is our Easter soul-winning marathon in Oklahoma City. That's going to be in the southeast area of town that we're going to go to there. May 16th through the 18th is the King James Conference at Sure Foundation Baptist Church in Vancouver Washington. May 31st is the Durant Oklahoma soul-winning marathon and we're going to be teaming up with Steadfast Baptist Church for that and we should have a ton of labors for that because you know praise the Lord our sending church Steadfast Baptist Church broke their attendance record today and I don't remember the exact number but I know it was in the 270s so praise the Lord for that. I know there was a couple families that moved there today I believe so yeah praise the Lord their church is doing really really well so we should expect to have a lot of labors for Durant and we are looking forward to it for sure. June 28th that's a Saturday we're going to be going to the Tinker Air Show just as a fellowship event and then the next day on Sunday brother Ben Naim from Steadfast will be preaching both services for us so we're excited to have him brother Ben is a great preacher you know he's not ordained or anything like that but he preaches better than a lot of pastors in this country so you won't be missing out on Sunday he's going to be bringing all he has I know that for sure. August 27th through 31st is fire breathing Baptist fellowship in Texas and October 6th through the 11th is the Bahamas mission trip make sure if you want to go to that that you get your passports and you know there's new rules with like the real ID if you want to fly so make sure that your IDs are up to date passports all that stuff and then once you have your flights purchased send that itinerary to Steadfast Baptist Church so they can make sure that they're getting all the logistics planned for that missions trip if you'd like to give online to our church there is a QR code there or you could give by check in person another thing just wanted to mention is I'm aware of the issue with the hot water last week I called maintenance and we're getting a plumber to replace that hot water heater so lord willing by Wednesday or next weekend that should be 100 fixed and good to go there is a prayer list there on the back if there's any updates please do email me there's a QR code for first time visitors and you could even scan it just to check it out what it looks like for them but just asks for some basic information from them so we could keep up to date with them below that we talked about our SWAT team our new soul winning action team that we're doing and even this afternoon we sent a group back to that same apartment complex I was telling you about this morning and praise the lord we did get another person saved so so far from that apartment complex there's been six people saved and we're not done yet there's still another building there so like I said this morning it can kind of push people two directions tragedy could make them hardened can make them receptive but I think that the sooner we go the better of a chance we could catch them when their heart is not hardened so we definitely want to keep that going and you know if you hear about something throughout town that happens feel free to message me we can consider sending teams there I don't know if you realize but one of the places that we were soul winning about a month ago when it was really cold the apartment complex just across the street from here one of the units burned down completely and so like stuff like that when it happens we can go and talk to the neighbors there and it's kind of a way to bring up the gospel that's very relevant to them you could be like hey you know you heard what happened to your neighbors you never know when your last day is are you 100 sure and it might give a chance for them to want to listen so I had someone tell me this morning that they saw the SWAT team insignia and was like what's going on no no we're not buying any land in Waco we're not getting any grenades or anything like that we're sending soul winners to preach the gospel okay that's what the SWAT team is so that's it for announcements we'll go ahead and go to our third song all right our third hymn this evening 173 love lifted me 173 love lifted me 173 there on the first am i love lifted me love lifted me when nothing else stood out love lifted me love lifted me love lifted me when nothing else could help love lifted me all my heart to him i give ever to him oh queen in his blessed presence live ever his praises sing love so mighty and so true marriage my soul best songs faithful loving service to him when nothing else could help love lifted me love lifted me love lifted me when nothing else could help love lifted me souls in danger look above jesus completely out of the angry ways he's the master of the sea say today love lifted me love lifted me when nothing else could help love lifted me love lifted me love lifted me when nothing else could help love lifted me and as the offering plates are being passed turn if you would to second timothy chapter number two second timothy chapter number two so so good evening second timothy two the bible reads thou therefore my son be strong in the grace that is in christ jesus and the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of jesus christ no man that warreth entanglement himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier if a man also strive for masteries yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully the husbandman that laborth must be first partaker of the fruits consider what i say and the lord give the understanding in all things remember that jesus christ of the seed of david was raised from the dead according to my gospel wherein i suffer trouble as an evildoer even unto bonds but the word of god is not bound therefore i endure all things for the elect's sakes that they may also obtain the salvation which is in christ jesus with eternal glory it is a faithful saying for if we be dead with him we shall also live with him if we suffer we shall also reign with him if we deny him he will also deny us if we believe not yet he abideth faithful he cannot deny himself of these things put them in remembrance charging them before the lord that they strive not about words to no profit but to the subverting of the hearers study to show thyself approved unto god a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth but shun profane and vain babblings for they will increase unto more ungodliness and their word will eat as doth a canker of whom is hymenaeus and philetus who concerning the truth have erred saying that the resurrection is passed already and overthrow the faith of some nevertheless the foundation of god standing ashore and having this seal the lord knoweth them that are his and let everyone that name at the name of christ depart from iniquity but in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver but also of wood and of earth and some to honor and some to dishonor if a man therefore purged himself of these he shall be be a vessel unto honor sanctified and meet for the master's use and prepared unto every good work flee off flee also youthful lusts but follow righteousness faith charity peace with them that call on the name of the lord out of a pure heart but foolish and unlearned questions avoid knowing that they do gender strives and the servant of the lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men apt to teach patient and meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if god peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will let's bow our heads for a prayer father in heaven we thank you for this day and we thank you for our church the souls that were saved out today and we ask that you look over the families in here um that you help us um apply this to your lives and that you fill our past with the holy spirit and use them to pray amen all right well second timothy chapter two the bible says in verse number 15 study to show thyself approved unto god a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth so we have a commandment in the bible that we are to study to show ourselves approved unto god and we do that by studying the bible and showing ourselves a workman rightly dividing the word of truth and the title of my sermon this evening is how to understand the bible how to understand the bible it's kind of the theme of this sunday we're talking a lot about the bible itself but recently i've been trying to make some more content for our church make some reels and trying to you know engage people out there that have different beliefs than us and especially during lent as it's known in catholicism i've been trying to do my best to expose that false religion for what it is and in doing so i've i've been reminded of how true it is that most people don't understand the bible and that the world doesn't understand it false religions don't understand it and i thought it'd be a good reminder for us to just remind us remember how it is that we understand the bible so i have some six principles this evening to help us understand the bible if you would first go to first corinthians chapter number two first corinthians chapter number two and my first point this evening on how to understand the bible is get saved number one get saved and you know in making these videos about catholicism i did have at one point a catholic that i was kind of going back and forth with and i was just thinking like hey if it drives engagement and views to our you know channel no big deal you know obviously i know that this person needs the gospel and i tried to point them to that but in doing that i mentioned about getting saved and the idea of salvation and this catholic respond to me he says what do you mean get saved and it's just like wow like we're not even at step one here you don't even know what it means to get saved no wonder you don't understand the bible no wonder you can't understand these videos that i'm making where i'm just showing clear scripture you need to get saved before you understand the bible now where am i coming up with this first corinthians 2 verse 11 the bible says for what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him even so the things of god knoweth no man but the spirit of god it's like how is it that we as human beings are able to communicate with each other and understand each other it's because we're both human beings right i mean we have the spirit of man that enables us to communicate well when it comes to the things of god it's saying say in the same way even so the things of god knoweth no man but the spirit of god so to know the things of god to understand the word of god you must have the spirit of god it's not optional it is a necessity to understand the bible you have to have the spirit of god it says in verse 12 now we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of god that we might know the things that are freely given to us of god which things also we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth but which the holy ghost teacheth comparing spiritual things with spiritual verse 14 but the natural man that's just your regular unsaved guy the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of god for they are foolishness unto him notice this next phrase neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned just like it would be literally impossible for me to try to have a conversation with a horse you know like i'm just going to speak to a horse and this horse is going to understand me and the horse is going to neigh and i'm going to understand it back that's not possible it's just not going to happen right it's the same thing with the carnal man the unsaved man he is not going to be able to understand the bible because it is a spiritual book and the words of god are discerned spiritually we have to have that same spirit of god in order to understand these things now obviously we don't want to take this so far to think that someone can't read the bible and glean some general truth from it of course they can of course they could learn about how noah built an ark it's just a carnal truth that you could read it doesn't take any spirituality to discern that you could learn how that god is the creator of the world right but when it comes to deep spiritual truths those things require you to be saved and require you to have the spirit of god go to ephesians chapter number one ephesians chapter number one and the bible explains to us how we get the spirit of god because again to someone who's unsaved this would all be new to them i mean just like what do you mean salvation what do you mean spiritually discerned what do you mean spirit of god what do you mean getting the spirit of god you know we get these things from the bible verse 13 says in whom you also trusted after that you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation in whom also after that you believed you were sealed with that holy spirit of promise so notice after you hear the gospel and decide to put your trust in the gospel which the bible uses the word trust and believe interchangeably that's what it means to believe in jesus it means that you trust that his death his burial his resurrection is the only thing taking you to heaven not your own works not going to church or anything like that once you've put your trust in him then god seals us with the holy spirit of promise and so now after that happens after we've trusted in christ we now have the spirit of god and so now by having the spirit of god we're able to discern spiritual things now you actually have the ability to read the bible and glean deep truths and study these things and understand the scripture now when you get saved a light bulb doesn't go off and you just automatically you're just imported with all this knowledge that's not how it works but now you have the ability to learn now you can open the word of god and now rivers of water are going to be flowing now you're really going to have things clicking because you have that spirit of god you know by the way this idea that people could just read the bible and get saved is ridiculous because salvation is a spiritual transaction and you know you cannot just get this deep spiritual truth by just reading the word of god it has to be preached by another spirit-filled person okay salvation is from faith to faith romans chapter 1 verse 16 teaches so uh where we end off 13 let's look at verse number 14 says which is the holy spirit which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory so god gives us the indwelling of and the and the sealing of the holy spirit as like an earnest payment because when we get saved we still have our carnal flesh we have the new man you know we have the spirit of god but nothing has changed about bodies but you know the bible does teach that someday all of god's people are going to be resurrected and that god is going to give us a new glorified body and so god showing us that he's serious about this transaction has given us like an earnest payment like you do when you buy a house you pay like two thousand dollars to where you're saying i'm serious about going through with this and if you back off you lose the two thousand dollars but if you follow through then that goes towards whatever the cost of the house right so this earnest payment god gives us this holy spirit sealing to show that he's serious about redeeming us and someday he's going to fully redeem us by our bodies being new right we have spiritual salvation right now but someday it's going to be spiritual and physical we have a new body and so god gives us that holy spirit and now if you'll turn to acts chapter number eight and i'm going to read for you john chapter 14 verse 26 jesus said but the comforter which is the holy ghost whom the father will send in my name he shall teach you all things you know this is where there's a huge divide between biblical christianity and catholicism and let me tell you why there's this big divide is because christians are saved and catholics are not so because we're saved we have the holy spirit of god and jesus said that the comforter when he comes he's going to teach us all things and so when we're reading the bible the god himself the holy spirit himself is teaching us and showing us things from the scripture but catholics because they're not saved they don't have this what they teach is that there has to be a human authority to define to you what the bible says and look catholicism this is one of the the biggest things in catholicism for thousands and thousands of years and it's no different today is that they don't trust people to interpret the bible to read and study the bible be and here's the thing they themselves are not saved so i understand why they think that but they're like okay we need pros we need the catholic clergy we need the cardinals and the pope and the bishop and all these people to tell you what the bible says because you can't understand it on your own here's where they're right the catholic parishioner who's unsaved is not going to be able to understand the bible but neither is the pope neither is the bishop neither is the cardinal because neither of them are saved but here's the difference with biblical christianity and here's the thing i have no motivation to tell you this because if anything this truth could kind of be harmful to a pastor or to a church but i'm just gonna be honest with you you do not need me you do not you do not need a preacher to teach you the word of god you really don't now here's the thing god gave it to us he wants us to have it and i believe that preachers can help people go faster in their growth and can kind of accelerate and show things that they weren't thinking of i am not down on church folks i wouldn't be a pastor if i was down on church okay but what i'm telling you is that any truth that i present from the word of god you did not need me to tell you that because you could have opened the bible and gotten it on your own how because the holy spirit is there to teach you and this is where catholics are just like their mind is blown and i'm just saying like i'm a pastor and i'm telling you you don't need me because jesus said that the holy spirit can teach you all things we don't need an official church council to say you know this is what this bible verse says and you can never change it no we need to just go with what the bible says what the holy ghost teaches us and and they like to play semantics like well you know catholics weren't really against uh the translation of the word of god into english they were just against the unauthorized translation of the word of god into english translation catholics wanted to keep all the power they wanted to keep the word of god away from their parishioners and so they're like oh only we can only translate the bible within the church itself why because they want to make sure that the false doctrines that they teach are not going to be exposed by the word of god and so men like william tindale come around where he's just faithfully translating the bible says in english that's a threat to catholicism because news flash everything that the catholics group believe can be easily just debunked by the bible you know it's like oh mary was sinless well that's weird because mary said that her soul doth magnify the lord and her spirit does rejoice in god her savior it's like whoa wait a second why does mary need a savior oh yeah because she's a sinner because she's just like every other human being now she was a godly woman she was chosen by god to carry the lord jesus christ but mary is not deity we are not going to pray to mary she's not interceding for us mary needed the lord jesus christ okay and it's like they don't want you to read those things they want to keep the word of god from people look at acts chapter 30 philip sees a man and he's running to preach him the gospel and in verse 30 it says and philip ran bitter to him and heard him read the prophet azaias and said understandest thou what thou readest so this man he's reading the bible but he asked this very important question do you actually understand what you're reading verse 31 and he said how can i accept some man should guide me and he desired philip that he would come up and sit with him see someone trying to read the bible and understand the spiritual truths found therein when they are not saved is like handing me a book written in arabic and i could sit there and i could put my eyes on the page and i could pour over it all day long but unless someone guides me i'm never going to understand it you know i'm not going to be able to comprehend it that's what he's saying here then it says in verse 32 the place of the scripture which he read was this he was led as a sheep to the slaughter and like a lamb dumb before his shearer so opened he not his mouth in his humiliation his judgment was taken away and who shall declare his generation for his life is taken from the earth now people in this room that are saved we read that and it's just so obvious what this is talking about it's so obvious that it's talking about the lord jesus christ but yet to someone who's unsaved it's very cryptic it's not really intelligible but then he asked this question and the eunuch answered uh philip and said i pray thee of whom speaketh the prophet this of himself or of some other man then philip opened his mouth and began the same scripture and preached unto him jesus and as they went on their way they came unto a certain water and the eunuch said see here is water what doth hinder me to be baptized and philip said if thou believeth with all thine heart thou mayest and he answered and said i believe that jesus christ is the son of god so here we see a really common interaction of what we see all the time out soul winning is the fact that people don't understand the bible and maybe they go to church and maybe they've even read the scripture and i mean we're in the bible belt here in oklahoma a lot of people know some things about the bible but yet when we talk to them we realize very quickly that they're unsaved you know i i ran into a guy today that told me that he was 100 sure that he's going to heaven and he he started telling me that it was by faith alone but then he told me that you could lose your salvation so i start preaching the whole gospel because i'm realizing hey he's trusting in himself then towards the end of it he says oh yeah yeah i was 100 sure when you got here that i was going to heaven because i had a brain aneurysm a few years ago and that caused me to repent of my sins and now i don't chase women anymore i don't drink anymore i don't do all these bad things anymore you know i've really changed my life and i've turned things around and you know i'm looking at this guy and he probably in his heart thinks like hey i'm doing the right thing and good for him that he's made some changes but here's the thing he's still unsaved and because he's still unsaved because he's trusting in himself he could read the bible all day long but he's not going to be able to discern the truths of the bible he's not going to be able to understand salvation when he's unsaved so when we see people we need to realize that we have to guide them how can i understand except some man should guide me don't believe this idea that people could just get saved on their own that doesn't happen folks boy would that be awesome i mean if we just want to live in ideal la la land wouldn't it be so great if people are just randomly just getting saved on their own just reading the bible that's not how it works this is a doctrine that lazy people like to hear they like their ears tickled by this lazy doctrine hey don't worry people are just gonna get saved on their own you don't have to do anything no i'm telling you that if someone's unsaved they are never going to get saved on their own they are never going to get saved by just reading the bible they need a man to guide them they need a woman to guide them they need a spirit-filled child to guide them they need someone and we are the people that jesus christ gave that responsibility to go to romans chapter one if you will romans chapter number one notice what the bible says in verse 15 the apostle paul said so as much as in me is i'm ready to preach the gospel to you that are at rome also for i am not ashamed of the gospel of christ for it is the power of god unto salvation to everyone that believeth to the jew first and also to the greek so notice the gospel is the power of god unto salvation but what did the apostle paul say i'm ready to preach the gospel not i'm ready to hope that you read the gospel no no he's ready to preach the gospel then he says for therein is the righteousness of god revealed from faith to faith as it is written the just shall live by faith it takes someone who has faith who is saved to preach the gospel then that gospel is the power of god unto salvation and can get them saved go to romans 10 romans chapter number 10 explains the process by which someone is saved now romans 10 it explains the process by which someone is saved but kind of in reverse order so look at verse 13 says for whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved that's how you put your faith in jesus right verse 14 how then shall they call in call on him in whom they have not believed and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard notice this and how shall they hear without a preacher they must have a preacher to hear then when they hear they could believe then when they believe they could put their faith in christ and call upon the name of the lord how shall they preach except they be sent look this is why we go soul winning this is why because this is what it takes for people to get to heaven and this is step one in learning the bible step one in learning the bible get saved how do we do that we go out and preach the gospel to people we make it plain we help them understand we transfer our faith to them go to psalm 119 psalm 119 so number one if you want to understand the bible you got to get saved if you're not saved you're not going to understand the bible if your family members want to argue with you about doctrine realize that you need to get them saved first before that could be a profitable discussion it's just not going to work number two pray and ask god to give you understanding pray and ask god to give you understanding look at psalm 119 verse 18 open thou mine eyes that i may behold wondrous things out of thy law you know god wants like we talked about this morning he's ready to pour out his spirit upon people he's ready to shower people with knowledge and understanding but you have to want it how does someone know the bible really well they wanted to know the bible really well and so one of the things that you should do when you read the bible is pray and say god help me know the bible help me to understand what i'm going to read open mine eyes and show me wondrous things out of your law you know that is a prayer that god will answer i'm telling you god wants you to know the bible if you ask him in faith to get knowledge from the word of god he's going to give it to you liberally go to james chapter number one james chapter number one why is someone foolish regarding the word of god it's because they love foolishness it's because they love being simple it's because they didn't ask god for understanding james one verse five if any of you lack wisdom let him ask of god that giveth to all men notice liberally and abraitheth not and it shall be given him notice he's he's going to give out just liberally i mean if you're asking for knowledge he's ready to give you a ton of knowledge and he abraitheth not he's not going to be like hey quit asking me hey you're asking for too much here you know he's not going to chide you or abrade you for asking for knowledge or wisdom he's like yes please here have as much as you want and so people that are really wise in the scriptures i guarantee you they are people that asked god for understanding you know prayer is not just some religious right or exercise that we do prayer actually changes things prayer actually makes a difference and you know i look up to guys that i have been looking up to and following for over a decade like pastor anderson and it's like the guy is so wise in scripture and he talks about how when he was a young child and a teenager how he would just pray and pray and pray for wisdom pray to learn how to win a soul that he would pray to understand the bible and it's obvious that god has answered that prayer it's obvious that god has been giving liberally and not abrading and you know what that's not exclusive to him we all have the same access to that you know isn't that encouraging to know all of us could be extremely knowledgeable in the scriptures because we all have the same spirit of god we all have the same heavenly father that we could pray and ask for knowledge from it says but let him that ask or let him ask in faith nothing wavering for he that waver is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed for let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the lord a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways so of course when god when we pray to god and we ask for knowledge and wisdom and he gives it to us he expects us to take that knowledge that we get and actually apply it you know he expects us to take the knowledge and listen to it and not just harden our hearts or say like uh i changed my mind i mean i asked for knowledge but i don't really want to know that you know people ignorance is bliss right my life was a lot more comfortable before i learned that if i don't preach the gospel to someone that people are going to go to hell no never mind i don't really want to hear that a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways and don't think that if you're asking god for knowledge but then he gives it to you and you don't care you don't change you don't take it to heart well you better expect that he's probably not going to give you much in the future and again we look at someone why are they dumb why are they stupid why are they ignorant of the scriptures because they want it to be because they got answers and they didn't listen to it they didn't care about it you know we need to make sure if we ask and he gives it to us okay let's obey what it says let's do what god says go to first kings chapter three you know an example of a man that did this was king solomon king solomon was one who asked god for wisdom and god gave it to him first kings chapter number three look what it says in verse five in gibeon the lord appeared to solomon in a dream by night now could you imagine god appearing to you in a dream by night i mean that's a pretty amazing thing today the bible teaches us that in times past god spake by the prophets but now he's spoken to us through his son we have the word of god but at this time the lord actually came to solomon in a dream and god said what will ask what i shall give thee and solomon said thou hast showed unto thy servant david thy father my father great mercy according as he walked before thee in truth and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with thee and thou hast kept for him this great kindness that thou has given him a son to sit on his throne as it is this day and now oh lord my god thou hast made thy servant king instead of david my father and i am but a little child i know not how to go out or come in and thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou has chosen a great people that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude so solomon is kind of understanding the gravity of the responsibility of leadership and he he looks at it kind of with awe and with respect and kind of with a little bit of fear as to what he has responsible on his shoulders and so what he asks in verse 9 says give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people that i may discern between good and bad for who is able to judge this thy so great a people god comes to him in a dream and says ask for me what do you want and solomon he didn't go asking for riches or for whatever it is that man's heart would normally ask for he just says like wow god you've been so merciful to us you fulfilled your promise to my father you gave him a son to sit on your throne look at this great nation of god's people who could judge so great a people so here's what i want god i want you to give me an understanding heart you know what a great thing to ask of god and notice god his reaction to it in verse 10 it says and the speech pleased the lord you know god is happy god is pleased with you when you pray and ask him for understanding and ask him for knowledge that makes your heavenly father happy to hear you know we should take that seriously that as solomon pleased god when he asked for wisdom so us too if we ask for wisdom that's going to make god happy that's going to please him that solomon had asked this thing and god said unto him because thou hast asked this thing and hast not asked for thyself long life neither hast asked riches for thyself nor hast asked the life of thine enemies but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment behold i have done according to thy words lo i have given thee a wise and an understanding heart and boy is that true because solomon wrote a lot of the proverbs where it's a book just about wisdom right so that there was none like thee before neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee and i have also given thee that which thou hast not asked both riches and honor so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days you know the bible says that wisdom is the principal thing it says with all thy getting get wisdom and solomon had this mentality where he has an opportunity from god to ask god anything and he prioritizes wisdom and oftentimes when you prioritize wisdom god will also bless you with other things that you like the other desires of your heart but we should first prioritize wisdom that's what solomon did that's why he was a great judge that's why he was a great discerner go to Habakkuk chapter number two Habakkuk chapter number two so you know we need to take these things to heart that when you read the bible hey sincerely ask god to give you wisdom to give you understanding you already got point one i hope down get saved i hope everyone in here is saved but point two you could do you could work on today you could ask god for those things number three this evening base your doctrine on clear statements this is such an important principle when it comes to understanding the bible base your doctrine on clear statements Habakkuk 2 2 says and the lord answered me and said write the vision and make it plain upon tables that he may run that readeth it see the job of a preacher is to take what the word of god says and to make it simple so that people could immediately know how to respond to the word of god you know elsewhere in the new testament and first corinthians 14 it talks about how you're supposed to blow the trumpet with a sure sound so that people aren't wondering like okay is this like a trumpet for you know a battle or for a congregational assembly like you hear the trumpet you know oh this is what i need to do right that's what good preaching is and the truth is is that a lot of the bible is simple a lot of the bible is clear now there are definitely difficult passages in the bible there's no doubt about that but a lot of the bible it doesn't take all this like let's go back to the greek and find out what it said and let's find out what the church fathers interpreted this as sometimes it's just very clear what the bible says and those scriptures that are very clear those are the ones that we base our doctrine on those are the verses that we use to help us interpret other verses that are not as clear right it's like hey jesus says call no your man your father upon the earth that's a clear statement folks you know verily verily he that believeth on me hath everlasting life that's a very clear verse go to second peter chapter number three second peter chapter number three but of course you know there are hard things in the bible no doubt about that and i for one am glad that there are hard things in the bible because i plan on reading this book every single day until i die and if it was just all easy all super uh simple it you could lose some interest in reading it right but every time i read the bible there's something to be learned there there's something you didn't know before there's a deeper understanding that you could find second peter 315 says an account that the long suffering of our lord is salvation even as our beloved brother paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you also as also in all his epistles speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to be understood which they that are unlearned and unstable rest so peter's acknowledging which peter is inspired by god peter's an apostle peter's a pastor he's a great man of god but even himself he's acknowledging hey some of the things that the apostle paul wrote is hard to be understood and he says what people do with that those that are unstable and unlearned is they rest or twist those scriptures right and this is what false prophets and false religion does they do not talk to you about the clear scriptures catholics are not going to explain the doctrine of salvation to you using john 316 they're not going to use john 318 they're not going to use ephesians 289 they're not going to use romans 323 they're going to use james chapter 2 they're gonna they're gonna base their doctrine on salvation based on a question yay can faith save him no you don't base your doctrine off of an unclear statement you base doctrine on what's clear it says those that are unlearned and unstable rest as they do also the other scriptures unto their own destruction they do the opposite they find the unclear scriptures the ones where it's kind of muddy or they'll use a parable and they'll use those things to interpret the clear scriptures of the bible it's like here's 80 verses that say salvations by faith alone that it's not of works that it's a free gift by grace they're like ah but james too we have to realize that faith actually means work no no no no romans 11 said it's not that it's actually the opposite of that work is not faith faith is not work but they'll say oh this question here it negates the whole rest of the new testament it's insanity but this is what people that don't understand the bible that are not safe this is their method of understanding the bible find the hardest most unclear verse and use it to discredit all the clear statements in the bible it's insanity folks let me tell you something if you come to a verse and you say man this verse seems like it's contradicting other clear statements folks chances are you're just not understanding that verse have you ever thought about that you ever thought about like hey man maybe i just need to study more maybe i need to read the bible another time cover to cover and maybe i'll understand it next time but people read 60 80 100 verses about how salvations by faith through grace not of works not by the law not by the commandments and then they'll go to philippians and it says oh working out your salvation i guess that just discredits the whole rest of the bible or maybe you just don't understand that verse they come to james chapter 2 oh you know can faith save him oh i guess we just throw out in the rest of the bible no that's foolish you're one of those people that rests the scripture to your own destruction and let's go to james chapter number uh actually we'll go there in a little bit go to ephesians chapter 2 ephesians chapter 2 and i'm just going to read a few verses for you okay go to phesians 2 let me just read a few verses for you john 6 47 barely barely i say unto you he that believeth on me hath everlasting life john 3 18 he that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of god romans 3 28 therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law i mean that's a clear verse right i i sent that verse to a catholic this week and they said huh a commonly used scripture taken out of contact you want to know why it's commonly used because it's clear because it's a clear statement telling you we're not justified by the law we're justified by faith glations 2 16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of jesus christ even we have believed in jesus christ that we might be justified by the faith of christ and not by the works of the law for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified are there any questions salvation is by faith you're not going to be justified you're not going to have your sins forgiven by doing the works of the law well how do you know that because the bible says that by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified you see this just clear scripture right look at ephesians 2 8 9 for by grace that's something you don't deserve are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of god not of works lest any man should boast oh but here's what you have to understand it's salvations by faith yeah oh yeah it's not works but faith means doing good works you're an idiot you're not saved folks the bible says salvation is by faith it is through grace it is a free gift and that means that it's not of works because guess what if you think that doing works and living a good life and doing commandments is getting you a gift of eternal life then i hope that you are thanking your employer every payday for bestowing upon you the gracious free gift of your paycheck you better thank them for your free gift because you doing work 40 hours a week i mean that's faith that's free right i mean i i am not doing anything for my employer i just work 40 hours a week and they give me the free gift of a paycheck folks this is insanity this is the carnal mind this is what happens when you're not safe is that they can't even understand clear verses in the bible okay go to james chapter 2 then keep all that in mind all those verses that we just read that were so clear then this is what will happen james 2 verse 14 james 2 verse 14 what doth it profit my brethren though a man say he hath faith and have not works can faith save him so here the bible gives us a question and this question is asking not about salvation it's asking what something profits what does it profit my brethren though a man say he hath faith and have not works can faith save him now if this is talking about spiritual salvation as far as going to heaven your soul being redeemed and escaping the flames of hell can faith save him well let's answer that question stay there in james 2 romans 4 5 says but to him that worketh not so this person does no works they don't go to church they don't confess their sins to a priest they don't do the sacraments they don't you know pray to mary whatever stupid works the catholics thinks you have to do to get to heaven but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly that's jesus christ his faith is counted for righteousness there's a clear scripture right so can faith save him spiritually absolutely how do i know that because there's a clear bible verse that says even if you have zero works but you have faith you are safe you are justified now james 2 14 though notice the example that it brings up the question is does it profit someone if you say you have faith and have no works can that faith save him verse 15 gives us an example if a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food and one of you say unto them depart in peace be ye warmed and filled notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body what doth it profit if a church member was literally starving and destitute and naked and just about to die and you say hey brother be ye warmed and filled have a good day as they starve and as they're naked and as they don't have what they need does your faith profit them the answer is no and that's what this is teaching if you have faith but you don't have works you know what you are you're unprofitable to other people but if i have faith and no works am i still saved yes if i have faith and never preach the gospel though am i profiting anyone no i'm not if i have faith and just sit in my my uh house and don't ever go to church on sunday and don't ever come and exhort god's people is my faith profiting anyone no it is not okay and if someone was literally naked and starving and i just said be ye warmed and filled that's not going to profit them is it no it is not go to i look at verse 17 even so faith if it hath not works is dead being alone it's talking about being profitable to other people elsewhere in james chapter 2 it says well even the devils believe and tremble and so catholics will say see the devils have faith alone doctrine but since they don't have works they're going to hell no it says that the devils believe that there's one god and no baptist teaches that believing one god exists is going to take you to heaven what it means to believe is what we explained in ephesians chapter one is that you're trusting in jesus christ believing jesus christ exists is not going to save anyone you have to yes believe he exists but also trust that his death burial and resurrection are the only things taking you to heaven that's what it means to believe in jesus and guess what the devils don't do that the devils believe there's one god big deal go to second peter chapter number one second peter chapter number one but here's what i've noticed that false prophets and false religions do is that when there's a clear statement just as clear as day that debunks their false doctrine they love to hide behind this magical word called interpretation where even if the bible just clearly destroys their false doctrine oh that's your interpretation raise your hand if you've heard this before everyone who's ever gone soul winning has heard this oh that's your interpretation okay second peter chapter one verse 19 we have also a more sure word of prophecy where unto you you do well that you take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arrives in your hearts knowing this first that that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of god spake as they were moved by the holy ghost who gave us the word of god god gave us the word of god not man catholics like to believe oh the catholic church gave you the word of god no god gave us the bible and catholic church throughout history has tried to censor and ban and criminalize people having the word of god but guess what the bible says it's not of any private interpretation go to first timothy chapter number three let me show you an example of this first timothy chapter number three meaning that you shouldn't read the bible and come away with some personal interpretation that is not shared by other christians every single thing that i believe is shared by millions and millions of other christians because i'm not teaching something that's private to me i'm teaching what the clear words of the bible say okay first timothy chapter three verse one this is a true saying if a man desire the office of a bishop he desireth a good work a bishop then notice this word must this is a qualification a bishop then must be blameless the husband of one wife vigilant sober of good behavior given to hospitality apt to teach the bible says oh you want to be a bishop that's great you're desiring a good work here's the qualifications you must be blameless and you must be the husband of one wife so we as baptists say hey check out first timothy chapter three check it out where it says that to be a pastor you have to be the husband of one wife hey catholics why do you teach that to be a bishop you must not be married you must not be the husband of one wife look at what the clear verses oh that's your interpretation no it's not you false prophet this is just clear statements from the bible i'm not interpreting the bible i'm making an observation of what the text says observation what does the text say interpretation what does the text mean application what should you do stop doing think stop thinking feel stop feeling okay so it's like observation oh look to be a bishop you must be married or you must be the husband of one wife interpretation hey you know you have to be married to be a pastor and here's another interpretation you can't be divorced and remarried either because it says you have to be the husband of one wife so there's an app there's an interpretation but guess what my interpretation is shared by millions of other people it's not some private interpretation okay application huh i should realize that the catholic church doesn't believe the bible i should realize that that's a false religion here's the application for catholics you should repent you should change your false belief and the false idea that you have because it's against what the bible says first timothy chapter two look at first timothy chapter two verse 11 remember we base our doctrine on what clear statements verse 11 let the woman learn in silence with all subjection man that is a hard verse to interpret there anyone have any idea what silence means because man it's just really hard to understand silence what is that but i suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man but to be in silence i'm just i'm racking my brain here i just can't figure out what this means for adam was first formed then eve and adam was not deceived but the woman being deceived was in the transgression folks it's a clear passage let the woman learn in all silence i suffer not here let me interpret that for you i allow not i allow not a woman to teach nor for a woman to usurp the authority over the man so here's an application hey women should not be pastors women should not be clergy oh wait that's your interpretation no it's not that's the clear verse that's in front of your face and what you got to realize about people that do this when someone just denies a clear verse like this person is a scorner this person is a heretic and heretic after the first and second admonition reject if someone's not going to change their mind by clear verses in the bible there's nothing you could ever do to change their mind it doesn't matter if you show them that jesus christ had siblings they will still believe mary was a perpetual virgin it doesn't matter that the bible says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of god they will still believe that mary was sinless it doesn't matter that you show them hey pastors have to be married they will still believe clergy has to be unmarried because they don't care about the truth okay they are heretics and so they must be rejected these are clear clear verses my friends go to matthew chapter 24 matthew chapter 24 you know what about end times prophecy well just like anything else in the bible what do we do we make our doctrine based off of clear statements matthew 24 verse 29 immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken and then shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and he shall send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other this is known as the rapture and when is it that the rapture occurs the bible says it happens after the tribulation huh i wonder when the rapture happens it says after the tribulation oh that's your interpretation what are you talking about it's a clear scripture after the tribulation go to revelation four now here's where pre-tribbers will base their doctrine off of because you know people who are pre-trib they're baptists and they would agree with my point tonight they would just disagree with its application they would say of course we should base our doctrine off of clear scripture we're baptists right that's what all baptists will tell you but yet this verse in revelation 4-1 is where they would base their doctrine for a preacher rapture you ask a pre-tribber show me the preacher rapture in the bible they will show you this right here revelation 4-1 let's see if this is clear after this i that's john in the isle of patmos looked and behold behold a door was opened in heaven and the first voice which i heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me which said come up hither and i will show thee things which must be hereafter that was the clear statement that said that the rapture happens before the tribulation that's where they'll show you and you know i know a lot of people in here they weren't old ifb before they were in this church so you may not understand what i'm saying right now but those of us who spent time in the old ifb we've heard this revelation 4-1 this is the clear verse that says that it's pre-trib folks you got john who's in the isle of patmos who is in a spiritual vision where he sees these things that's not a clear verse whereas jesus's disciples asked him about the end times and he told them hey after the tribulation of those days then the rapture is going to happen that's a clear statement go to matthew chapter 16 matthew chapter 16 let me show you another example the catholic church teaches the office of the pope right we talked about the pope a few weeks ago and you ask a catholic show me a pope in the bible like where do you guys get this idea of the office of a pope right there's apostles bishops deacons evangelists pastors i see all that where's the pope they'll say oh okay matthew 16 so let's see if this is real clear all right and simon peter answered and said thou art the christ the son of the living god and jesus answered and said unto him blessed art thou simon barjona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my father which is in heaven and i say also unto thee that thou art peter and upon this rock will i build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it and i will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven you guys realize that peter was the first catholic pope right i mean wasn't that clear i i'm i'm jesus you're peter and you are going to be the first pope of the holy roman catholic church i mean that was really clear right but yet this is what catholics will tell you you think i'm joking this is literally their verse that they'll hang their hat on say here's where pope is in the bible thou art peter folks what have i told you that peter was a pastor what have i told you that he was yes an apostle but he was also a pastor you want to find me the word pope in the bible you'll never find it i'll eat my toe if you show me where pope is in the bible because guess what you'll never find it there's no verse where it teaches that now go to first peter chapter number two first peter chapter two i think funny enough what was written by peter can kind of shed some light on what this is talking about here now of course we know uh in first corinthians the bible does tell us that that spiritual rock that the fathers followed in the wilderness was jesus and i do believe jesus is the rock like capital t h e capital r rock like jesus is the rock but notice what it says right here in first peter 2 5 ye also as lively stones you know what those are those are rocks okay ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to god by jesus christ wherefore also it is contained in the scripture behold i lay in scion a chief cornerstone that chief rock the rock right elect precious and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded so amen jesus is the big rock okay don't misconstrue what i'm about to say here but verse 7 says unto you therefore which believe he is precious but unto them which be disobedient the stone which the builders disallowed the same is made the head of the corner and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient where unto also they were appointed but ye are chosen generation the royal priesthood and holy nation a peculiar people that ye should show forth the praises of him who have called you out of darkness into his marvelous light so notice how peter said that ye also are lively stones and so when jesus says to him thou art peter and upon this rock i will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it peter was the first if not one of the first pastors ever right a pastor is a new testament office there's no pastors in the old testament you have apostles those existed at the time of christ and shortly thereafter people who saw the risen christ there are no apostles today but today we have pastors and peter was one of those and he's telling them hey thou art peter and upon this rock i will build my church new testament christianity was just kicking off and the apostles had to lay the foundation and build upon that foundation of christianity and the apostle peter was a huge mover and shaker in that and so he's jesus ordained peter as a pastor and he's saying hey i'm giving you power i'm giving you authority and by the way you're a pastor you have real authority what you bind on earth i've got your back i'm gonna bind it in heaven and whatever you loose on earth i'm gonna lose it in heaven just like today pastor is a position in the church that has authority and you know what that was the same thing with peter upon that rock he will build his church and you know what upon these rocks too and upon this rock too you know we are lively stones that are building up the foundation of the kingdom of god and every generation we're just building on that last generation of stones building building building but of course who is the chief cornerstone it's the lord jesus christ i have no problem when people say jesus is the rock of course he's the rock but in this specific passage when he says thou art peter and upon this rock i do believe he's primarily referring to the apostle peter so here's where catholics and i can agree hey this is talking about peter but you know what's funny is that the bible actually says elsewhere that he's a bishop the bible teaches that he's a pastor you know what's funny where is it where it says he's a pope where's the where's the office of a pope there's no scripture having that office first timothy chapter three i'll show you the qualifications of a bishop titus chapter one i'll show you the qualifications of a bishop there's no qualifications of a pope because it's a damned office it is a false office it's not godly it's not of god it's wicked as hell the vicar of christ the vicar of satan and you know what i'm still praying that this stupid pope francis dies and goes to hell burn in hell pope francis go to matthew chapter 19 while you're turning there proverbs 26 verse 7 says the legs of the lame are not equal so is a parable in the mouth of fools right and this is what people who don't understand the bible do they twist parables also you know you don't want to use stories in the bible to base your doctrine again you want to use clear statements here's an example of people that did this matthew 19 verse 3 the Pharisees also came unto him tempting him and saying unto him is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause and he said and he answered and said unto them have you not read that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female and said for this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife and they twain shall be one flesh wherefore they are no more twain but one flesh what therefore god has joined together let not man put asunder oh but there are stories in the old testament of people practicing polygamy it's a story it doesn't mean it was right jesus said that those twain shall be one flesh so you use the clear statement of the scripture to interpret the story by the way stories they're interesting you can learn things from them but you don't base doctrine off of stories i had a catholic church ask me well if you don't call clergy father are you just going to ignore thousands and thousands of years of god's people calling clergy father yes i am because history is not doctrine oh but people have done this for thousands of years that's not proof what does the bible say and that man baptists what's the biggest difference between baptists and catholics this is our final authority for catholics it's the roman catholic church that's their final authority it's man's opinion it's the pope which is why catholicism is a cult and it's the largest cult on planet earth they don't follow the bible clear statements from the lord jesus christ go to hebrews 12 hebrews chapter 12 number four this evening let the new testament interpret the old testament this is another really important idea when it comes to understanding the bible is that if you're struggling with something in the old testament you let the new testament commentary tell you what the old testament means hebrews 12 verse 19 for the law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did by the which we draw nigh into god verse 20 of hebrews 12 and in as much as not without an oath he was made priest for those priests were made without an oath but this with an oath by him that said unto him the lord swear and will not repent thou art a priest forever after the order of melchizedek by so much was jesus made a surety notice of a better testament the new testament testament the new testament is the better testament hey i love the old testament you should read it you should believe it but you know what the better testament is it's the new testament jesus made a surety of a better testament now let's look at an example of what i'm teaching go to genesis 12 and galatians chapter 3 genesis 12 and galatians chapter number three we use the new testament to comment on the old not vice versa okay we need to take advantage of the scripture that we have access to now genesis 12 verse 1 now the lord had said unto abram get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that i will show thee and i will make of thee a great nation and i will bless thee and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing verse three we've all heard this one and i will bless them that bless thee and curse him that cursed thee and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed boy oh boy this has to be like the most quoted verse in independent fundamental baptist churches and again if you're from the old ifb this is what you've heard and this is probably how you've heard it read and i will bless him that blessed thee and curse him that cursed thee and in these shall all families of the earth be blessed and what are they talking about jews this is what the old ifb does i mean here's a clear verse that says the jews are forever blessed they're still god's chosen people today but hold on a second the new testament actually interprets this story for us i don't have to give you my interpretation you don't have to give me yours the bible in the new testament tells us galatians 3 look at galatians chapter 3 verse 14 that the blessing of abraham isn't that what we just read might come on the who what what is that gentiles every ifb person was like ah what does that say who snuck that into my bible read it man that the blessing of abraham might come on the gentiles through jesus christ that we might receive the promise of spirit through faith brethren i speak after the manner of men though it be but a man's covenant yet if it be confirmed no man dissonant or add it there too now to abraham and his seed where the promise is made he said not and to seeds as of many but as of one and to thy seed which is christ when god said to abraham that i will bless them as thee and curse him that cursed thee and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed you know what he was referring to he was referring to the promise of the coming of the lord jesus christ and all families of the earth are blessed through thy seed to abraham because that seed was jesus christ jesus was physically descended from abraham and so he is that promise that's how the promise could be fulfilled to the gentiles was because anyone can believe on jesus christ jew gentile doesn't matter what nation you're from you can put your faith in christ and be saved and when someone puts their faith in christ they are now god's chosen people they now have the abrahamic covenant fulfilled in them because they have been blessed through abraham's seed by believing on jesus christ go to romans chapter 2 and again what are we talking about we use the new testament to interpret the old you say no there's still these special people in the middle east that have this special covenant with god and some people like john hagee would take it so far to say that the jews don't even need the gospel they have a separate covenant and how could the jews be faulted for rejecting that which was never offered unto them right he'll deny that jews need to get saved and believe in jesus christ because there's a special group well look at romans 2 verse 28 what is a jew anyways for he is not a jew which is one outwardly neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh but he is a jew which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of god being a jew is not that you live in israel being a jew is not that you've been circumcised being a jew is not that you have the law of god or something like that being a jew is one inwardly circumcision is that of the heart being a jew spiritually in the new testament is someone who believes in jesus christ it's not someone who believes the satanic religion of what today is called judaism those are the ones that are called jews and are not but lie that is what you call the synagogue of satan see this is how you actually can use the new testament to interpret the old to give commentary on the old we'll go to three more scriptures will be done this evening go to psalm 119 number five a strategy to learn the bible is to memorize the scripture memorize the scripture now psalm 119 verse 97 says oh how love i thy law it is my meditation all the day thou through thy commandments has made me wiser than mine enemies for they are ever with me i have more understanding than all my teachers for thy testimonies are my meditation how does someone get more understanding than all their teachers says for thy testimony is my meditation meaning you're thinking about it over and over and over i understood more than the ancients because i keep thy precepts and you know i'm not going to spend too much time developing this this evening but i'll just tell you from my own personal anecdotal experience is that the chapters in the word of that i know the best are chapters that i have committed to memory because there's just something about god's word being your meditation all the day that his testimonies being our meditation that causes us to understand more than our teachers more than the ancients there's just something about mulling the word of god over over and again in your head and in your heart that really just cements the truth of god's word into your soul you know you think about the soul winning verses that you all use every single week no one's going to stump you on ephesians 289 no one's going to stump you on anything in romans no one's going to stump you on these doctrines that you have just preached and heard and read and memorized over and over and over again because you've just got it committed to memory so you know i would really encourage you to do the bible memory verses that our church does because it will help you understand that chapter more than listening to a sermon about it more than just reading it once quoting and memorizing the bible will really help you grasp it and here's the thing if you memorize a chapter a year from now two years from now you're probably not going to be able to word perfect quote it verbatim again in the future and that's okay okay i'm a type a kind of guy kind of drives me crazy i want to have it word perfect for all of my life but i've just told myself hey even if a year from now i don't have it perfectly memorized it's okay because you know what i do know i do understand that chapter now and what's nice is i know where it's located in the bible i don't have to ever wonder man where's that verse about how like we have an anchor of the soul because i've memorized hebrew six right and if i want to show someone that verse i'm just like i know it's hebrew six oh something romans boom i know exactly what chapter that is that is a skill that is very useful and let me tell you that's useful as a preacher you guys that want to preach to know where things are in the bible and soul winners which should be every single person in this room you're a preacher too you know having the bible the soul winning verses memorized will help you greatly go back to second timothy chapter number two while i read for you john 14 26 but the comforter which is the holy ghost whom the father will send in my name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever i have said unto you the holy ghost can supernaturally bring bible verses to your remembrance when you need them but in order for the holy spirit to do that he has to have something to work with meaning that you had to have heard those verses before thought about those verses before memorized those verses before then boom the holy spirit could step in and bring those forth to your remembrance last verse we'll read we'll go ahead and close with this verse second timothy 2 verse 15 study to show thyself approved unto god a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth i don't want to be ashamed i want to be a workman that studies hard to know the word of god and so five things we could do to really know the bible number one get saved hopefully everyone's already taking care of that unless you're real young number two pray for understanding you could do this every time you read the bible at home you're doing your devotions every time you can say lord open thou mine eyes that i may behold wondrous things out of thy law you could get that wisdom from god number three base doctrine on clear statements number four interpret the old testament with the new testament number five memorize the scriptures let's have a word of prayer lord we thank you for the word of god the great gift that we have of the bible preserved in english through the king james version i pray that we would all study every single day the word of god that you'd help us to understand it more i just pray on behalf of anchor baptist church that you would give us all wisdom and understanding in the scriptures that you would just pour out your spirit liberally unto us that you'd help us to understand even the deep and darker passages of scripture and help us to share it with the world we love you in jesus name we pray amen if you'll grab your hymnal our final hymn this evening number 180 isn't the love of jesus something wonderful hymn number 180 eight zero isn't the love of jesus something wonderful 180 there on the first so wonderful is something wonderful God, our human comprehending. Love of God and Christ, how can it be? This will be my theme and ever ending. Great redeeming love of Calvary. Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful, wonderful, wonderful? Love of Jesus, something wonderful, wonderful it is to me. Amen.