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The Bible reads beginning verse number 1, And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, say Jesus Christ, and whom crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, they come not. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew, for had they known it, it would not have crucified the Lord of glory. As it is written, but as it is written, I have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God had prepared for them that loved him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the Spirit of man which is in him? Even so, the things of God know no man but the Spirit of God. Now we have perceived not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given unto 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. But the natural man deceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judgeth of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for our church and for another chance to be here on Sunday morning. I pray that you would help everyone to listen carefully, put aside anything else in their mind right now. It could be distracting them, and just carefully listen to what the Bible is saying in this passage. Please just help us all to take this truth to heart, to apply it, to obey it to God. It's something that so many people are mixed up on. I just pray that you would please just give us ears to hear what you're saying in the Bible. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Now, in this passage here, it starts out by Paul saying, I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God, for I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now, many people will take this and say, well, that's all we're supposed to preach. That's all Paul preached, just Jesus. You know, just preach on Jesus, they'll say. And, you know, all this other stuff and all these commandments and all this doctrine, you know, and just preach on Jesus. But that's not what he's saying. He's saying, when I came to you, you weren't saved. When I came to you, the only thing that you needed to hear was about Jesus and Him crucified. You don't need to go to unsaved people and tell them that they need to straighten up their life and they need to change this and they need to quit this and start this. What they need to hear is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's the only thing I was trying to teach in the first place was getting people saved. And he goes down a little bit further and look, he says in verse six, how be it we speak wisdom among them that is perfect. He said, once people are saved, then we're going to teach them the rest of the book. Then we're going to preach them the whole Bible. Yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world that come to not, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory. So he's talking about here preaching God's wisdom versus man's wisdom. It's funny, let me just show you something real quick before I get into the sermon. It's interesting. If you look up this verse in the non-inspired version, the NIV, in the last second we'll look it up. And it's funny because in first Corinthians two, verse four, I didn't read this one yet. He says, and my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power. So Paul said, when I preach, I don't want to use man's wisdom. I don't want to be some kind of a salesman glossing things over, trying to entice you into getting saved. He said, I'm just going to preach God's wisdom, the spirit of God, powerful preaching. Listen to this though. In verse four of the NIV, look down at the real Bible. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words. So he's saying in the NIV that his preaching was not wise. Whereas in the King James Bible, he's saying it wasn't man's wisdom. Do you see that? There's a big difference between being unwise. The Bible says, be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And so none of the stake in the NIV are too shocked. But look down at your Bible at verse number ten, and I'll get into the substance of the sermon here. But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit, talking about the Holy Spirit now, searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. I mean, there's a lot of deep truths in the Bible, right? You could read the Bible your whole life and never understand even one hundredth of all the subtleties, the nuances. It's as infinite of a book as God is. And so there are very deep things in the Bible. Now, God's Spirit will teach us the deep things of the Bible, according to these verses. Look at verse eleven. 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. 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 in God. Talking about the things that are taught in the Bible, the truths of the Bible. 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. He's saying, when I preach the Bible, when I preach God's Word, first of all, I learned it from God. I didn't learn it from a man. He said, I learned it from the Holy Spirit and the Bible. Then I'm going to take those things that I was taught by the Holy Spirit and God's Word, and I'm going to preach those things, not in man's words, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth. He said, these are the words I'm going to use, this is the terminology I'm going to use, this is the kind of preaching I'm going to use, the kind that's done in the Bible. Keep breathing. He says, but which things the Holy Ghost teacheth, verse 13 at the end, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Now tell me something. What out there is a spiritual book besides the Bible? None. Every book in this world is written by who? Man. Except one book that's written by God. This comes from the Spirit of God. Any other book comes from man. Now I'm not saying that every other book is bad, but it's not spiritual, right? For example, the dictionary. Is it a wicked book? Some of you need to get the dictionary out of your life. No, it's not a wicked book, but is it written by God? Is it a spiritual book? No. Okay, for example, a history book. Is a history book bad? No. But is it spiritual? No. Is it written by God? No. And so you can go on and on. There could be books that are good books, but they're not the good book. They're not spiritual. They're not God. Should we compare the Bible with a book written by man in order to understand the deep things of God? No. Should we compare the spiritual with the unspiritual? Like a dictionary, a history book, a lexicon, an encyclopedia? No. Because then we'd be comparing spiritual with unspiritual in order to understand the deep things of God. When God said, God's Spirit will teach us the deep things of God, when we compare spiritual with spiritual. That means I compare this part of the Bible with this part of the Bible. There I'm comparing spiritual with spiritual. Okay. Now it says in verse 14, but the natural man, talk about the flesh. This is the unregenerate man, the unsaved man, or man who's walking in the flesh. But the natural man received not the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. It's impossible for an unbeliever to understand the Bible. He can't discern it. He can't understand it. Here, let me drop you off. And it's funny how some people, instead of going solely, they drop people off with the Bible. Here, read this. They drop them off with John and Romans. You know, now I can see winning somebody to Christ and then leaving them with John and Romans to read, right? Great. But, you know, here, read this. Read John and Romans. They can't understand it. Why don't you give them a book that's written in another language? They can't. Give them something written in Russian. They can't understand it. Look at the Ethiopian eunuch. He's reading the Bible, and Philip comes to him, and he says, Understandest thou what thou readest? He said, How can I, except some man, should guide me? You see, he didn't have the Holy Spirit to guide him. Now, I'm not going to sit here like an unsaved man, and here's the thing. We say, Oh, understand the Bible, Christian. Read the Bible, Christian. And the Christian says, How can I, except some man, should guide me? Wrong! How can I, except some man, should guide me is the motto of the unbeliever. But the believer should never say, How can I, except some man, should guide me? How can I, except some man, should guide me? How can I, except some man, should guide me? That's the saying of an unbeliever. The unbeliever needs somebody to guide him. The unbeliever needs a Spirit-filled Christian to expound unto him the Word of God. But those who are saved already have the Holy Spirit to guide them. They don't need man to guide them. Now, let me finish the chapter here. It says, The natural man who sees not and thinks the Spirit of God for their foolishness on him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judgeth of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. Right here in the Bible is what it's saying. Now turn to Titus chapter 1. The title of my sermon is this. Extra-biblical doctrine. Extra-biblical teaching. Now, what does the word extra-biblical mean? It doesn't mean unbiblical. It just means it's something other than the Bible. Extra-biblical. It comes from an outside source other than the Bible. Look at Titus chapter 1. I'm going to give you the perfect example of this. This is the best example I can think of. Look at Titus chapter 1, verse 10. And let's just put on our thinking caps. Everybody here, as far as I know, is saved. And if you're not saved, then you probably won't understand. But 99% of the people are saved, if not 100%. And so we ought to be able to read this verse right now and read this passage and understand it. Because God should make it pretty clear to us, right? But can the unbeliever understand this passage? No. Look at verse number 10. For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision. Now what does that mean? There are a lot of people out there, right? They're unruly. They're vain talkers. They're getting up and teaching and preaching. And it's empty. It's worthless. What they're saying is that vain means worthless, empty, meaningless. They're getting up and blabbering. And they're actually lying and deceiving people, right? And who are the most guilty culprits here? Those of the circumcision. That's talking about the Jews that are in Crete. It's talking about people in Crete in Titus chapter 1. So there are a bunch of Jews down in Crete that are false teachers, right? Look at verse 11. Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not. What are they motivated by? For filthy lucre's sake. One of themselves, one of who? These false teaching Jews of the circumcision. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, the Cretans. Now let me ask you something. In Titus chapter 1, I'm going to flip in my Bible there. I was reading off my notes, but in Titus chapter 1, do you see the phrase or term the Cretans before verse 12? See if you can find, does it say the word, the exact word, talking about this group of people, the Cretans. Do you see it? No. You have one mention of the place Crete in verse number 5, where he says, for this cause left ID in Crete. But is there any reference made to these people, the Cretans? No, there isn't. But here he references them. He says, one of themselves. Now is themselves referring to the Cretans? No. It's referring to the people we talked about in verse 10, the unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially those with the circumcision. That's who we're talking about. He said, one of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said. Now in the King James Bible, quotation marks are not used. When a quote begins, there's a comma and then a capital letter. That's why the word, the, is capitalized, even though it's not the beginning of a sentence. The beginning of a quote. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, the Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. So what is it that these false Jewish teachers are preaching? That the Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. You say, what in the world? They're teaching that the Jews are better than the Cretans. Does that surprise you? All throughout Acts, they're getting angry at Paul for preaching to the Gentiles. They're getting angry at Peter for even eating with the Gentiles because their little rules and their Pharisaical custom taught them not to eat with somebody who was from another nation. God taught them, no, don't call any man common or unclean. God made all nations of the earth of one blood. And so we see here that they are preaching a Jewish supremacy, basically, that the Cretans are lesser, that they're stereotyping them as liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. I mean, that's strong language to say about a whole nation of people, right? This witness is true. He's saying, look, this guy really, I mean, that's really what they say, is what he's saying. This witness is true. Wherefore, which means because of this, rebuke them sharply. Rebuke who sharply? The Cretans? No. Rebuke those that are teaching this. Rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith. I'll prove to you that he's talking about the Jews because he says, not giving heed to Jewish fables. He said, you need to rebuke these circumcised false teachers who are preaching that the Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies, and tell them to quit listening to Jewish fables, which is the Talmud, which is the rabbi, which is all the phony teachings of Judaism of today, Judaism of yesterday, Judaism of the future. Hey, Judaism is a religion that claims to believe the first five books of the Bible, but Jesus said to the Pharisees, if you believe Moses, you believe me. So don't tell me that the Jews believe the Old Testament. Somebody recently said to me, oh, the Jews believe the Old Testament. It's just, you just got to get them to believe on Christ. That is false. They don't believe Genesis. They don't believe Exodus. They don't believe Leviticus. They don't believe Numbers. They don't believe Deuteronomy. And if you believe that they do, you're contradicting Jesus Christ. Because Jesus Christ said, if you believe Moses, you would believe me. If you don't believe his writings, how can you believe my words? That's what Jesus said. And so they claim, by the way, they don't claim to believe the Old Testament. They don't even claim to believe the whole 39 books. They say that Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel were written by man. They say the book of Psalms is written by man. I talked to Orthodox Jews. They told me those books are written by man, just like the Talmud's written by man. They say the only one that was written by God was Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, which they call the Torah. So they're only claiming to even believe the first five books are inspired by God. And they don't even believe those because Jesus said they didn't believe it. And I'm going to take Jesus over their word. Because if they believe Moses, they believe Jesus. It's the same God, same Bible, same Holy Spirit. They don't believe it. So he says that you need to rebuke them. So we're supposed to rebuke the lying Christians by telling them not to give heed to Jewish fables? No. He's saying, Rebuke these Jewish teachers, these Judaizers, not to give heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men. Right? Man's teaching, man's wisdom, man's doctrine from the Talmud and other places. Hey, believe the Bible, God's word. Don't give heed to some Jewish fable and commandments of men that turn from the truth. Now it's funny because I preached on this and somebody wrote to me, you know, correcting me. Pastor Anderson, you need education. You know, that's what they tell me. Now I have the book of Titus memorized. I quoted it yesterday on the airplay. I could quote it right now. But the thing is, they corrected me and said, you need education. Because apparently memorizing the book of Titus is not enough education for me to preach Titus correctly. Because what they corrected me was that I should have known that the 6th century BC... So what's the 6th century BC? Talking about like 500 and some odd BC, right? The year 500 and some odd BC. Epimenides, also known as Anastas of Crete, is the poet who said, the Cretans are always liars. So in order for me to understand Titus, I'm supposed to understand that this poet named Epimenides from the 6th century BC is the one who said, the Cretans are always liars. So I'm interpreting this law. Now listen to this. So I was like, what? So I looked this up. I looked up this guy Epimenides. You're not even going to believe this when I read this to you. Listen to this. This is an article that I found about this guy Epimenides. The 6th century BC Greek philosopher-poet Epimenides. Now does the Bible say that this was said by a poet? One of themselves even a poet of their own? Even a prophet of their own, right? So it says by a preacher. Okay. Listen to this. And by the way, who is he preaching to in Titus? People that are alive or dead? People that are alive. He says, go rebuke them. Are they going to dig this guy up and slap around his dead body? No. So he's saying, go rebuke them sharply. They are teaching Paul's doctrine. They are subverting people. He's not talking about a poetry book from 500 years ago. But listen to this. The 6th century BC Greek philosopher-poet Epimenides, himself of Knossos's Cretan, is said to have related that the Cretans are always liars. And then it quotes the Bible. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said the Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This statement is sometimes considered to be paradoxical because he himself was a Cretan. Isn't that weird that a guy who's from Crete would say the Cretans are always liars? And then it makes you wonder if he's lying while he's saying it. Because if he's saying the Cretans are always liars, and he's the one saying it, he must be lying while he tells us that they're lying. So are they telling us, ah, I don't know? It's a paradox, right? OK. The Epimenides paradox is thus often seen. See, I'm educating you this morning. This is what the Bible colleges and Bible schools and universities of today will take over the Bible, what I'm reading you right now. Listen to this. This is man's wisdom. The Epimenides paradox is thus often seen as roughly or completely equivalent to the liar paradox, which is paradoxical per definitio nem. Now, don't you love this educated stuff? I mean, this is so intelligent. And as such, has found its way into philosophical literature. It is also the kind of supposed liar paradox best known to the general public. However, an equalization of the two is very questionable. Common usage defines a liar. Listen to this. Common usage defines a liar as someone who occasionally produces answers that differ from the known truth. This presents no problem at all. The poet, while lying occasionally, this kind of quotes the truth. The liar paradox has no such loophole. Depending on interpretation, even the formulation, are always liars, could be construed as not totally precluding that a liar speaks the truth at the particular moment he or she states that sentence. And this could result in a non-paradoxical statement. As the interpretation so closely hinges on the precise wording, it is important to establish Epimenides' precise words. He's saying, and I believe that interpreting the Bible does very much hinge on the precise wording. So let's see exactly what Epimenides said. So you're expecting him to pull out a book by Epimenides, right? No. Little is known about the circumstance in which he made them. The original poems containing them have been lost. Did you hear that? This poem by Epimenides that said, the creeds are always liars, it's gone. The original poems containing them have been lost, and the only confirmed record of them is St. Paul quoting them in the Epistles of Titus. Did you hear that? So the only way that we've even got this quote from Epimenides is in Titus. Does Titus say it was Epimenides? Does it say it was spoken by a Greek? Does it say it was spoken by somebody who'd already been dead? Did it say that it was spoken by a poet? I mean, is this insane? You want to talk about circular reasoning. So, oh, well, Epimenides said it. Well, how do you know? Because Titus quoted him saying it. Well, do you have what Epimenides said? Yeah, it's in Titus. Does everybody understand that? Who doesn't know what I'm talking about? Thus, we have to investigate the Bible quote closely. Now, let me ask something. What would be the logical way to study this Bible quote? Here's a great idea. Read the whole chapters. Isn't that a brilliant idea? Because if you just go back like two verses before and two verses after, you'll see who is saying it, why they're saying it, what the context is, how they need to be reviewed, what they need to change, what they need to stop listening to, what they need to start listening to. It's all right there in the passage. But the typical way, and I've sat in church after church after church, where instead of comparing spiritual with spiritual, like reading the whole chapter, or at least the surrounding verses, they take a microscope and just look at these four words, or five words, or this one verse, and they cut it up and slice it and dice it. Listen to this. Thus, we have to investigate the Bible quote closely. In the 1611 King James Bible Authorized Version, the prerequisites words are as quoted above. The creations are always lost. The English Bible is translated from Greek and Hebrew texts. In Martin Luther's 1544 German Bible, the precise words are, Dikreta zit imra ludnet. Okay, this literally translates to, the Grecians are always lies. That's what it says. Oh wow, thank you for bringing that up. That really sheds some light on it. Luther translated the Bible from Latin, but probably cross-checked with the Greek text as well. In the Vulgate, the official Latin Bible, the precise words are, Kretensis semper mendasis. This literally translates to, the Grecians are always liars. The Epistle to Titus was originally written in Greek. I'm reading this verbatim. From which the respective Latin text was translated. In the Greek Bible, the precise words are, Kretesai sista. This word, the words literally translate to, Grecians always liars. Okay, as we can see, the different language versions are all substantially identical. And the quote exhibits the same ambiguity in all languages. Man, they're smart. Wow, and I always thought you'd lose something in the translation. I always thought it was impossible to translate things from one to another. Thank you for showing us the German, Latin, Hebrew, and Greek, so that we can understand that the Grecians are always liars. I mean, these people are insane. How about Norwegian? Kreten, er, al, tib, le, ne, le, ne, re? Kreten, er, al, tib, le, ne, re. Okay, however, there is no evidence that Epimenides himself intended his words as a paradox. And neither were they intended as such by Saint Paul, as he quoted them in his letter to Titus. It was only much later, are you listening? That the above mentioned Bible quote was taken up again, considered paradoxical and referred to as the Epimenides paradox. So, hundreds and hundreds of years after the book of Titus was written, somebody started calling this the Epimenides paradox and saying that it was a 6th century Greek philosopher named Epimenides, but too bad all his works are gone. So we can't read him writing it, but he wrote it. He said it. Oh, can you show me? Nope, it's been gone for another few years. This is what's being taught. This is what people believe. This is what's being preached. Instead, just reading Titus and preaching it right as an assault on the Judaisation of these Cretans and Jewish supremacy, that's what it's preaching, that's what it's teaching. They twist it and change it by making up some Greek philosopher poet. Now listen to this, I'm still reading. Adding to that, even if the unlikely meaning all Cretans always lie had been intended, there still is a loophole and the sentence is not necessarily contradictory. And thus it is not really a paradox at all. Again, now listen to this. Most formations of logic do in fact define a liar. This is talking about logic. Logic is something that people go to school and they pay a thousand dollars to go sit in the university to get higher learning and they take a class called logic, right? Philosophy, logic, man's wisdom. Again, most formulations of logic do in fact define a liar as an entity that always produces the negation of the true answer. So according to logic, according to the philosopher, according to the university, a liar is someone who never says anything true ever. Does that make any sense? You, how could you live like that? Never say. Would you like a glass of milk? No. Okay, here you go. It doesn't make sense. A liar is somebody who occasionally says something wrong or tells even a lie God defined. In Revelation 21, he calls someone who makes a lie a liar. I mean, if I killed one person, you'd call me a murderer. I wouldn't have to just, that's all I do all day long. It's just killing non-stop, okay? So again, most formulations of logic do in fact define a liar as an entity that always produces the negation of the true answer. That is someone who always lies. Under this definition, the poet's statement cannot be true because he's a creation and he's saying that they're all liars. Of course, we know he wasn't a liar. If it were, then he himself would be a liar who just spoke the truth. But liars don't do that. However, no contradiction arises if the poet's statement happens to be false. The negation of all cretins as liars is at least one creation isn't a liar. See De Morgan's laws. Yeah, I think I'm going to put that real high on my reading list. Or in other words, some cretin has at some times spoken the truth. So suppose there was at one time a cretin who told the truth one time that the negation of our poet's statement is simply true, making our poet's statement a simple lie. Therefore, the statement all cretins are liars get cluttered by a cretin need not be paradoxical if it happens to be false. The Epimenides paradox is thus little more than a vague and imperfect popular example of a liar paradox. Now, let's have a raise of hands real quick. Who thinks that this is talking about the Jews that are preaching that the cretins are always logical? Who thinks that Epimenides wrote this in a poem that nobody's ever seen, typed, smelled, or handled? But this is why I need education. In fact, I'm resigning the pulpit today and going to Bible college. I'm going to seminary. I must learn the deep truths of God. Look, I'll learn the deep truths of God from God, from the Spirit. Hey, who knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so knoweth no man the things of God, but the Spirit of God. No man, no natural man, can understand this passage, can understand God's Word, can understand the Bible. If you want to know the deep things of God, learn them from the Holy Ghost, not from man. So clear. But we're in Titus anyway. Let's back up to verse 3. Titus chapter 1 verse 3. As I've been softly to abide still in Ephesus... Or, I'm sorry, turn to 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 3. I'm sorry, we were in Titus. We're going to flip back just a couple pages to 1 Timothy 1 verse 3. As I've been softly to abide still in Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine. No other doctrine than what? Than what the Bible teaches. Because he says this, Neither give heed to fables... Does that sound familiar to Titus? Jewish fables? Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith. So the Bible will edify you. The Bible will build you and train you and teach you man's teaching, man's wisdom, Jewish fables, which would be the Apocrypha, which would be the Talmud, which would be Maccabees. All it will do is create questions, create confusion, create nonsense, create paradoxes, create a mystery. And he says that we need to tell people not to teach other doctrine. This is the doctrine that you need. Don't teach anything else. And he says for endless genealogies. Now are genealogies of man, and I'm not talking about the ones contained in the Bible, is my genealogy that I've created for myself, is it inspired by God? Should I stand down in the pulpit and preach to you that my great-great-great-great-grandfather was named Thomas Humphreys and is buried in Paris, Idaho? Who cares? But you see, they did care. The Mormons care. The Mormons preach it because they want to prove how white they are. Because they're white supremacists. Why isn't it the same chapter that's rebuking the Jew supremacists for going back to genealogies, for preaching a bunch of fables, for preaching that one race is better than another? Why is the Jew so interested in his genealogy? To prove how Jewish he is, just like the Mormons trying to prove how white he is. Because Mormons are white supremacists. Because they think that whites are better than other people of color and they're liars. That's the truth. That's why people get these genealogies. They get baptized for their dead white relatives. That's why the Mormons get these genealogies and get into it. But look, a genealogy is not inspired by God. A book that's written by man is not God. And so we need to not give heed to it. We shouldn't pay any attention to it. That's what it means to heed. We don't care about it. It's like, well, this theologian, blah blah blah. I don't care. I'm not going to heed that. I'm going to heed the Bible. Take heed to God's Word. And don't teach any other doctrine, period. Now if you would, flip over to Titus chapter 3, verse 9. So we saw in 1 Timothy that these fables, these other extra biblical doctrines, these endless genealogies, they minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith. You say, oh, it's good to question everything. Yeah, except the Bible. I question everything except the Bible. Right? Oh, but you know, Socrates had to question everything. Socrates is burning in hell for the queer that he was. And all his queer Greek sick buddies are all burning in hell with him. I don't care what Plato and Socrates and Aristotle and Epimenides have to say about anything. They're all burning up. And you know, the Greeks are a wicked society. You know, my wife said there was a Christian school that their mascot was called the Spartans. You know, who knows what Sparta is? Ancient Sparta, right? The Greek city-state. Yeah, ancient Sparta where there were sodomites. Ancient Sparta where adultery was commonplace in practice. Ancient Sparta, which was a totalitarian society, that it was not democracy. It was a totalitarian regime that taught people no respect for human life, unhuman lack of respect for human life. All they were taught to do was kill. 80% of their population was enslaved, called the helots, had no freedom and they would live, the Spartans were living off the backs of slavery, they were queers, they practiced pedophilia, institutionalized pedophilia in Spartan public schools in Greece 500 years ago. I mean, I'm sorry, 500 years before Christ. And this is who's going to detest the Bible, right? We're going to go to the Greek philosophy. Instead of just reading John 1-1 and saying, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God, we're going to go to some Greek wearing a dress who's going to tell us the Logos. It's not, you know, the word Word in Greek is Logos and it's talking about the universe and the blah, blah, blah. I don't care what that guy said, he's burning in hell. Those are commandments of men that turn from the truth. I'm not going to give heed to a Jewish fable or a Greek fable. I'm going to give heed to God's Word, period. I don't need a man to teach me. But look at this. And how can a Christian school name their mascot after a bunch of pedophiles, the Spartans? They need to change their mind. Somebody write them a letter, please. Titus 3, verse 9. But avoid foolish questions. Don't get into these dumb philosophical arguments and these questioning things. Look. He says, avoid foolish questions and genealogies. So what's he saying? Avoid genealogies. Now is it wrong for me to make a family tree and know that my great-great-great-great-grandfather is Thomas Sumpters? No. But if I'm sitting there and using that for religion or preaching that or teaching that or using that as some kind of a dogma or doctrine, it's wrong. He says, avoid foolish questions. Avoid genealogies. Look at this. Avoid contentions. Don't go around getting into arguments with people. Oh, it's a healthy way to learn. Here's a healthy way to learn. Read the Bible. Here's a healthy way to learn. Get saved and have the Holy Spirit living inside you and He'll teach you the Bible. We don't need debates. We don't need contention. We don't need arguments. We need Bible preaching, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Quit debating the world. Quit debating the unbeliever. Quit debating. Oh, let's go on TV and debate the atheist. Let's go on TV and debate the Mormon. Let's debate the Joseph. People call me on the phone and say, I want to debate you on my radio program. I say, I don't debate. Everything that I believe is taught and preached. It's on the internet. Listen to the sermon. And that's the last and final word I have to say about it. I'm not going to sit here and go back and forth with somebody with foolish questions, with contentions, strivings about the law, for they're unprofitable and vain. They're a waste of time. They're unprofitable. He says, a man that is an eric after the first and second admonition, reject, knowing that he that is such is subverted instead of being condemned of himself. Now look at what you would have. 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter number 2. 1 John chapter number 2, the Bible reads in verse number 18, little children, it is the last time. And as you heard that antichrist shall come, that's singular, talking about the antichrist, the man of sin, even now are there many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us. Who is the they referring to? Anyone? Who's the they referring to? They went out from us. Antichrist. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that they made manifest, that they were not all of us. See, there you have it. Everybody who leaves the church was never really saved. That's what people teach. Well, if they went out from us, they were not of us. No, get the context, friend. These antichrists, these false prophets and false teachers, if they went out from us, yes, but they didn't continue with us, they've gone into heresy, they've gone into false doctrine. We as independent Baptists have false prophets among us. Because God promised that it would be so. In 2 Peter 2, He said, even as there were false prophets among their people then, so there shall be among you, with privilege shall creep in, bring damnable heresies, and so we will have false prophets among us, they will go out from us, and they will be an antichrist and pre-terrorism. And if they would have been of us, if they really were saved, I'm talking about a preacher now, they would have stayed with this doctrine. Not necessarily stayed in this building. Okay, does that make sense? I mean, look, if we send out somebody to start a church, does that mean they're an antichrist? Because they didn't continue with us. You're not with us. You're an antichrist. No. But He says, they would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us, because the false prophet wants to draw away disciples after them. And that's what the Bible says in Acts 7-20. But look at verse 20. But ye, as opposed to them, He's saying, but ye have an unction from the Holy One. And watch this, and ye know all things. What's it say? Ye know all things. Why, how can we know all things? Look, it's right here. That we may know the things, compare spiritual with spiritual, compare that statement, ye know all things, 1 Corinthians 2, that we may know the things that are freely given to us of God. Talking about the things which the Holy Ghost teaches. We may know the things which are freely given to us of God. Look, we have the knowledge, we have all knowledge right here in my hand. Now we've got to search it, and dig it out, and pull it out, and turn it on. But look, we have all knowledge, right here. And that's why He says, ye know all things, I have not written unto you, because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it. And, that no lie is of the truth. So look, Pastor Anderson is not preaching to you this morning, because you know not the truth. I'm preaching to you this morning because you know the truth, and that no lie is of the truth. I'm not preaching to you because you need me to guide you or you won't be able to understand the Bible. I'm preaching to you because you already understand the Bible, because you already know the truth. So I'm trying to edify you, build you up, and teach you even more, and expound even more. But you can find the same things that I'm preaching to you right now on your own. You say, why come to church then? Because God commanded you to come to church. Why come to church? So you can be together, assembled with God's people. You're not just here to hear the preaching. You're here to have your pure mind stirred up by way of remembrance. You may already know everything that I'm preaching this morning, but you need it to be refreshed in your mind. You need to be stirred up about it. You need to be reminded of it. You need to be fired up about soul winning. You already know about soul winning, but it still has to be again and again preached and taught, assembled together with God's people. Church is about the assembly. And so he's saying here, I'm not writing this to you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Look at verse 27. But the anointing which he had received of him abided in you. Talk about the Holy Spirit. And you need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you of all things and his truth and his no lie, and even as it had taught you, you shall abide in him. Now look if you would at Matthew chapter 19. Let me give you another example here. So I think we pretty much debunked Epimenides. But you know, we really didn't even need to look that up to say that, oh, actually, by the way, there's no evidence that this guy ever even said that. But that's what people say, hundreds of years after the book of Titus was written. I mean, don't you understand, don't you get it, that if the Bible says Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these things, somebody's going to go write a book, claim it's by Enoch and go bury it in the ground. I mean, hello, that's pretty obvious, isn't it? Because if God quotes Enoch saying something that's not found in the Bible, yeah, it is found in the Bible, it's in the book of Jude, right? That's why God wanted us to hear it. So Jude got those inspired words from God of what Enoch actually said before the flood, even though it's not in the book of Genesis. But somebody who's a false prophet, a deceiver, a liar, is looking at the Bible, they see this as an opportunity to go write a book, call it the book of Enoch, bury it, falsify it, fake it, dig it up, and make a name for themselves, sell books. Same thing with the, you know, the Bible talks about, is it not written in the book of Jasher? Of course somebody's going to go run out and write a book called Jasher and say, oh yeah, this is what the Bible was talking about, see, believe me, follow me, they're adding to God's word. They're trying to add to his word and God's adding to them the plagues that have found the book of Revelation by doing that. The book of Jasher, this is going to shock you, it's just a book. Is every book in the world part of the Bible? If God says something's written in the book of Jasher, does that mean that Jasher is Holy Scripture? I can tell you, hey, it's written in Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss. Oh man, there's a mystery book of the Bible, Hop on Pop. That's the logic that we're dealing with. And so there are deceivers out there, many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not to Jesus Christ coming to flesh. Where did I turn? Matthew 19, for example, where are we? Here we go, Matthew 19, verse 23. Here's another example of what I'm talking about. Then said Jesus unto his deciphers, verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, it is easier, so he's saying it's difficult for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. He says, and again I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them and said unto them, With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Now the disciples interpreted what he was saying correctly. He said it's hard, he said it's difficult for a rich man to be saved. He said it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be saved. His disciples interpreted that properly because they were thinking to themselves, That's not hard, that's impossible. And they said, Who then can be saved? See they took it to its logical conclusion. Instead of just applying it to rich people, they said, Well wait a minute, if it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be saved, then who can be saved? And Jesus basically told them, With men this is impossible. It's impossible for me to be saved. It's impossible for you to be saved. But he says, But with God all things are possible. That's why salvation has to be the work of God. Because it is impossible. I mean I think saving myself would be impossible. Salvation through any other means but by a miracle of God is impossible. And so he's saying, You're right. With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible. It's hard because I went to the cross and suffered and bled and died and went to hell. That was hard. For man it's not even possible. For me it was hard, but it's possible. With God all things are possible. Yeah it's difficult for the rich man to be saved, but God can still do it. Because it's possible with God. It's difficult for God, but it's possible. But with man, impossible. I mean do you think it was easy for Jesus to go to the cross? Do you think it was easy for Jesus to burn in hell? Do you think it was easy for Jesus when he sweat drops like blood in the garden and he said, If there's any other way, let this cup pass from me? Hey that wasn't easy. But he did it and it was possible. But with man, salvation is impossible. It was impossible in the Old Testament for man. It'll be impossible in the future for man. Dispensationalism is garbage and a lie to hell. Hey it's always been of God. Salvation is of the Lord spoken by Jonah in the Old Testament. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Abraham believed God that was counted for righteousness. Then began him to call upon the name of the Lord in the days of Enoch. Hey I'm going to tell you that salvation is the same yesterday and today and forever. It's always Jesus and it's 100% Jesus. And so he says here it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of an eagle than for a rich man to be saved. Oh ha ha ha. Pastor Anderson, there you go again. Showing your lack of education. Showing your ignorance. It doesn't matter that you say the Bible is dead. They say because you got to do a little study on this. Some scholars, listen to this. Some scholars have suggested, this is why you got to do one of those Bibles with all the notes in it, right? To give you these pearls of wisdom, all this truth, the study Bible, the commentary. Some scholars have suggested that the word camel, which in Greek is kamilon, in fact is a misreading of the Greek original. And should instead read kamilon, rope. So it's not supposed to be kamilon, camel, it's actually kamilon, rope. Now here's what I find funny. This quote is found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. So I guess did they all make the same mistake? Hey, they all didn't know how to spell camel. C-A-M-E-L, camel, rope. They all made, it's funny how they all made the same mistake apparently. See how foolish that is? It's three different men. But no, no, no, they wrote it down wrong. They misspelled it. And that's why some English versions today, instead of camel, read cable. It's easier for a cable to go through the eye of an eagle. That's what they say in some of the modern versions. It's easier for a cable. So if you're trying to thread a needle with a cable, a rope, don't you get it? And then, I don't know, I guess you could preach against cable. Now you must give up cable to be saved. But anyway, is that foolish or what? Kamilon. Hey, do you know how to spell camel? Oh, now it makes sense. Now I get it. It's easier than threading a needle with a rope. Okay. I think that's probably impossible to do. I don't know. This explanation is also based on the notion of physical impossibility. Neither a camel nor a rope can pass through that needle. Wow, you guys are really smart. Oh, now here's the other explanation. Another common explanation of the figure is that Jesus was referring to a certain gate in Jerusalem called Needle's Eye. This entry point was built like the eye of a needle and so low that a camel could pass only if it entered kneeling and unencumbered with baggage. It couldn't have anything on the back to fit through this gate in Jerusalem. It was called the Needle's Eye. The lesson would then be that an eternal inheritance awaits those who unburden themselves of sin and all the things of this world. That sounds like repentance, right? Repent of your sins. Give up your sins. Be willing to quit drinking. Be willing to quit smoking. Be willing to quit porn again. It's a lie if by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of words, lest any man should boast. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew verse and also the Greek. Verily I say unto you, ye can heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation but pass from death life. For God shall love the world, and he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him shall perish from everlasting life. For God shall not ascend in the world, and then the world, that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned. But he that believeth not is condemned already, because he now believeth in the name of the only begotten son of God. And may he receive him, that he may be power to become the sons of God, even then that believe on his name, that thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thy heart, that God is ready for the day, that thou shalt be saved, for with the mouth the blessing is made unto save. Uh, whatever. Anyway, you get the idea, come on now. And so the point is, look, where's the, where's the unburden yourselves of all the things in this world, the sand, and get rid of it? So you can be like a camel on your knees. Nice. Camel Baptist Church. But be sure, but be sure and spell it right. Somebody might think it's about a robe or something. Blessing would then be an eternal, an eternal inheritance awaits those who unburden themselves of sin, and in particular the things of this world. Also, kneeling represents submission and humility. Wow, this is great. This is really nothing to understand. Wait, what about, what about the shape of a camel's knees? Maybe we can like take a picture of a camel's knee and put it up on, on a board and talk about it and see if you learn anything from it. And one time a camel spit in my face. Does that mean anything? Remember that movie? We were out at this deer farm just east of Williams on Interstate 40. And I walked right up to a camel and a camel spit in my face and my wife has it on video. What does that mean? Am I saved? Am I not saved? I don't know. But anyway, it says also kneeling represents submission and humility. That camel is not very humble. It's spit in my face, which are required to enter into heaven. So submission, are we Islamic now? The word Islam means submission. I guess submission is now required to be saved. I thought it was just faith. I thought it was just belief. I thought it was just by grace and faith. Although, listen, you gotta love this. Although, there is no historical evidence that such a gate ever existed. This is from the encyclopedia. Through frequent repetition, the idea has attained the status of virtual dogma in some circles. So through frequent repetition, from saying it over and over again, people believe it to be a fact, even though there's no historical evidence. It's just something that somebody made up. People think it's true, even though there's not a shred of evidence. And listen to this. Zondervan's pictorial Bible dictionary has a picture of a large city gate with a small door in it. Okay? They just have a picture of a gate with a little door in it, not in the shape of an eye of a needle like the storybook. Just a big gate with a little door in it. Now look, this is not hard to understand. Has anybody ever been to a warehouse or worked in a warehouse? Put a grant. What do you have? You got a big giant roll-up door for what? Trucks to back up to. For scissor lifts to go in and out of. For big equipment. Trucks to drive into the warehouse. And then what do you have next to it? A man door for a human being to walk through. So it's very common to have a big gate and a little gate, right? So they just pick a random big gate with a little gate, okay? A picture of a large city gate with a small door in it about four feet high, and makes the following claim in the caption. The Jaffa gate in the wall of Jerusalem showing the needle's eye. So it really is the Jaffa gate, but they're just making it up. This is the needle's eye. Just a random man door in a gate, okay? Showing the needle's eye. Now let me ask you something. If you came to Jerusalem with a camel, are you going to shove it through that four-foot door? Are you going to say, hey, excuse me, would you mind just opening the big door? You know what I mean? Showing the needle's eye. Small doors such as this were common features of the Gates Agency. Yeah, they're pretty common today, too. In fact, I think I walked in one this morning. Humans could pass through fairly easily. But large animals such as camels had to be unloaded and then had to kneel to get through, even then with difficulty. This is the Donderman Pictorial biblical dictionary. Can somebody give me a ride to the Christian bookstore after church? I need to buy one of these. Because I want to learn the deep things of God. I want to see a picture of the eye of the needle. I mean, imagine to say, you actually expect me to believe that they used to unload their camel completely and shove it through a four-foot door on its knees when there's a big gate right next to it? And then what would be the point? These people are insane. It's madness. But this is the foolishness of the world. The wisdom of the world is foolishness with God. And we're making a joke out of it. We're laughing at it because it is a joke. But this is the wisdom of the world. This is what the university would want to teach. And you say, oh, I didn't learn that university. Good night. You can come up here and tell me all the stupid stuff that you learned in university. I was taught in a college classroom that there's a black hole in the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. I was taught that in a physics class. I mean, that's the kind of stupidity that they have out there. They teach you that the whole universe came from a teaspoon size, a marble size of black hole. That's where we all came from. The whole matter, the whole universe was this big. Size of a marble. Now look, I thought that some of those traditional teachings from the Native Americans, like everything came off the back of a turtle and there was a rooster and everything. I thought that was weird. That makes more sense to me than the marble theory. You know what I mean? I mean, at least when it came off a turtle's back, okay. But a marble? And this is the higher learning. I think they're high while they're learning. It must be called higher learning because you have to be high to believe it. There we go. Daddy does all the drug use on camera. If I was sitting there listening to this kind of teaching, I'd probably get on drugs myself. I'd be the only way to even get through it, right? I'd be the only way to make these so old. Now I get it, okay. And you know what? Some of these churches that are teaching us, they need to light up themselves. They need to shoot up before the service. Because if they're going to teach this kind of garbage, it's the only way it's going to make any sense. Or just come to faith for a better church. Be sober and be vigilant. But anyway, on and on. We don't need, you know, here's how you, I loved what Brett said. I learned something from his sermon last night. Here's how you understand John 1-1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Instead of going to some sodomite Greek philosopher and address some pedophile to tell us what the word logos really means, why don't we just go to Titus 1-2? Titus 1-2 will explain John 1-1. In hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. So God spoke the words of the Bible, promising eternal life through Jesus, through faith in His name, before the world began. And guess what? In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And in the beginning was the Word. And so God had already promised us eternal life before He even said, let there be light. So there you go. We just compare spiritual to spiritual. John 1-1 and Titus 1-2. And we didn't even need the help of some queer Greek to explain. You say, what's the sermon? Read the Bible. Put away the commentary. Put away Zondervan's Bible Pictorial Dictionary. Put away the commentary. Put away the Scofield reference. Put away the notes. Put away the commentary. Put away the higher learning. Put away the doctorate. Put away the PhD. Put away the master's degree, or the doctorate, or the bachelors, or the associate. And get the Holy Spirit inside you. Be filled with the Spirit. Read the Bible. Speak these words. Believe these words. Preach these words. Know these words. That's the message this morning. Go and read your Bible. And trash your Bible encyclopedia. Trash all this other teaching. And if anybody gets up and starts spewing out the mouth all this, oh, the needle's high. Oh, you ripped the needles. Oh, I'm going to love. You know what? Just turn them off. If you're sitting in a service and they're going to all this other languages to show you that the German, and the Latin, and the Greek, and the Hebrew all say the same thing, just get a little Bible reading done. Just memorize it. That's what I used to do. When I sat in church and they'd come off with all this garbage, I'd just say, OK, time to do a little reading. I'm going to get something out of this service one way or the other. I'm going to get my Bible instead of reading it. I'm going to listen to that job. But anyway, read the Bible. This power has never worked for us. Father, thank you so much that we have the mind of Christ. Praise God that the Spirit searches and teaches us the deep things of God. We don't have to rely on man. We don't have to rely on man's wisdom. We can freely know the things that are given to us of God. And please, Father, help us to take advantage of it, to read the Bible.