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Men, 2 Peter chapter number 3, I want to focus on the latter part of the chapter there where the Bible says, beginning in verse number, let me get there myself. Verse number 15, it 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, 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, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. So in this scripture here it says that there are things in the Bible that are hard to be understood and people that are unlearned and unstable rest them. Now what does it mean to rest? It means to twist. They twist things in the Bible and they do it unto their own destruction and they also destroy other people too with their false doctrines. Now what I want to preach about tonight is the subject of reading the Bible in context, understanding scripture in context. What does it mean for something to be in context? When we say that we want to base our beliefs on scriptures that are in context and not out of context, what does that mean? Well first of all, the word context means that which is around it in the text. Con is, it's sort of like the Spanish word cone, which means with, right? And then text. So it's the text that's with it on the page, meaning that context is what becomes before and what comes after that verse. So taking a verse out of context would be to just take a verse and isolate it from the chapter, to isolate it from what becomes, excuse me, what comes before and what comes after and to just read it all by itself. Whereas in context would be to actually read that verse in light of what surrounds it, in light of what comes before and what comes after. Now when it comes to scriptures being in context, we have to ask ourselves, what is this chapter about? And what is the point that God is trying to make in this chapter? Now when we read the Bible, the Bible is very deep. So the Bible will have a surface meaning, a really obvious, clear surface meaning. But then there are all kinds of other secondary meanings and hidden meanings and symbolic meanings. There are just layers upon layers upon layers of meaning in the Bible because the Bible is so deep, we could read it for the rest of our lives and we'll never learn everything in the Bible. That's why we don't get bored of the Bible. Even after 10, 20, 30, 40 years of reading, we keep learning new things all the time because the Bible just has so many layers. It's like appealing an onion and it's just layer after layer after layer. And I think a mistake that people often make is to think that a verse only means one thing. A lot of times a verse could mean 20 different things that are all legitimate just because the Bible is so deep and there's so much meaning packed into that one verse. But here's what I want to warn you about tonight. Basing a doctrine on a Bible verse that's out of context. Okay, false doctrine today, it all has a Bible verse to back it up. You name any false doctrine you want held by any denomination and they have a Bible verse that they'll point to to back up that false doctrine. You see, because the Bible is just such a long book and because there are 31,000 plus verses in the Bible, you can pretty much get the Bible to say whatever you want if you take a verse out of context. If you just take a verse and isolate it, ignore what the chapter is about, ignore what the book's about, ignore what came before, ignore what's after it, you can get the Bible to say whatever you want. You can back up any false doctrine from the Bible if that's what you do. So we need to be careful when someone shows us a Bible verse to make a point to ask ourselves, wait a minute, is that Bible verse in context? Is that really... And if we're going to base what we believe on a verse, it better be in context. Now let me say this, Bible verses being taken out of context are not always teaching false doctrine. Sometimes you could take a verse out of context and get a secondary meaning or a deeper meaning and it could be something that's true, something that's right and there's nothing wrong with that. But don't hang your hat on a Bible verse that's out of context. You better make sure that all of your core beliefs are based on clear scripture in context. Now let's look at some examples so that we can understand what we're talking about. I just wanted to explain all that up front, but now we're going to dig into the Bible and see this actually play out in scripture. Let's go to the ultimate out of context scripture, James chapter 2. James chapter 2, right? Because here we have the Bible teaching us over and over again that salvation is by grace through faith, that it's not of works lest any man should boast, and there's just scripture after scripture after scripture that teaches that. And what you'll find is that the scriptures that teach that are actually in context. And then you'll have James chapter 2 being brought out to try to contradict all that and say that salvation is by works. But what you'll notice is that the scriptures that they use in James 2 are being taken out of context. Let me show you what I mean by that. In James chapter 2, they'll take verse 24, for example, and they'll say, you see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only. They'll take that scripture right there and say, see right there, look, it's not faith only that justifies, it's also works. Now if you just took that verse by itself, that looks like it's what it's saying. And you could easily use that verse to back up works-based salvation. But if you actually read the whole passage and if you actually read the context, you'll notice that's not the case. Now here's what I mean by out of context. The first thing we need to ask ourselves when we're looking at context is what point is God trying to make here? What's the point? What's the purpose? Okay. That's the big question we need to ask ourselves whenever we're looking at any passages context. Now if we look at the book of James in general, you're going to notice a pattern. Look at James chapter 1 verse 2. What's it say? My brethren. See that in James 1, 2. Now look at James 2, 1. What's it say? My brethren. Now look at James 2, 14. What does it profit my brethren? Now look at James chapter 3 verse 1. My brethren. Now look at James chapter number, well, I think that's it. But anyway, the point is, he says over and over again, my brethren, my brethren, my brethren, my brethren. He's writing to people that are already saved, number one. And when we actually read James chapter 2, it's pretty easy to tell what the purpose of this passage is. You know what he's telling people? He's telling people that they need to get to work. So if we were to just ask ourselves, what's the purpose of this passage in James chapter 2? He's telling people, don't just have faith, get works also. So he's trying to get Christians, his brethren in Christ, to get out there and get to work. That's the purpose. Now let me ask you this, is the purpose of James 2 to teach an unsaved person how to get saved? I mean, that's ridiculous. That's nowhere near this context. This is not, hey, let me tell you guys how you can get to heaven, let me tell you how you can receive eternal life, let me tell you how you can be saved. But that's what people will try to twist this and use it to teach. When in reality, if we actually read the scripture and take some time to understand it, he is talking about not being justified in the eyes of God, not being justified in the sense of being saved and going to heaven, but being justified in the sight of our fellow man. That people will look at us and they will look at our works and they will judge us by our works. They will determine in their minds whether or not we have faith based upon our works. That's why in Romans 4 it said, if Abraham were justified by works, he hath where of the glory, but not before God, because Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for righteousness. So this is just a classic example of scripture being taken out of context. Now when we go to the book of John, the context in the book of John it says, these things are written that you might believe on the son of God, that you'd believe on Jesus Christ and that believing you'd have life through his name. So the book of John says that it's written so that you'd be saved. And then 90 times it uses the word believe. So over and over again it's telling you to believe on Jesus Christ in order to be saved. John 3.16, John 3.18, John 3.36, John 5.24. And the context of those verses is Jesus actually talking about who has eternal life and who doesn't. Who's going to be saved and who's going to be damned. And those verses are in context and they're crystal clear that salvation is by faith. Let me give you another example. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 6, 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Here's another verse that people often take out of context. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. So when we're understanding the Bible we've got to read the whole chapter, we've got to read the whole book, we've got to read the whole Bible. And the big colossal question is, what is the point? That's what you need to ask yourself. What is the main point that God's trying to make here? And in James chapter 2 it's clear what the main point is, but you know what else cracks me up about James 2? People love to use the second half of James 2 to teach work salvation, but they forgot about James 2 10 which says, whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point he's guilty of all. So good luck with your work space salvation since even just one sin will condemn you according to James 2 verse 10. First Corinthians 6, 9 through 11 is another scripture that's often taken out of context. It says here, know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abuses of themselves of mankind nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God and such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. And people will isolate these three verses and they'll take this and say, well this is teaching that sodomites can still be saved. They're not reprobate, they're not rejected of the Lord, there's still hope for them. Who's had somebody bring that out to you to try to make that point to you? Yeah, all the time. But that's not what this passage is even about. This is something that's being taken totally out of context. What the passage is actually about, if you actually get the context, is that the Corinthians were suing each other. They were taking each other before civil courts and they were going to law brother against brother and what Paul says in chapter 6 verses 1 through 8 over and over again, he says you should not go to law before the unjust. And he uses the word unjust and unrighteous back and forth between the two because those are both synonymous in scripture. He's saying don't go to the wicked legal system. You need to settle disputes within the local church. You need to set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. Don't go to worldly courts and sue each other. Deal with that within the local church and if you can't deal with it within the local church, he said then just let them rip you off. Just suffer yourself to be defrauded because it's never right to sue a brother or sister in Christ to go to law with your brother. That's what the chapter is actually about. When you get to verses 9 through 11, the point that's being made is that the unjust are not qualified to judge. And he said we're going to judge angels. We're going to inherit the earth. How much more can we judge things that pertain to this life if we're going to judge angels someday? And then he goes straight from that to saying well hey, don't you know that the unrighteous are not going to inherit the kingdom of God? He's saying we're going to judge angels. We're going to inherit the earth. They aren't. And then he explains what kind of people they are. Be not deceived, neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor feminists. Here's what he's saying. When you go to the criminal justice system, these are the kind of people you're going to to judge. How can these people deliver righteous judgment? How can unsaved judges be fair? They're not even a Christian. They don't even have the word of God. They don't have the wisdom of God or the understanding of God. They don't study the law of God. And so they're going to make a lot of unrighteous judgments. That's why we should deal with things in the church and not go to the civil legal system. And then he explains at the end, he's saying, well, you know, such were some of you. He's saying even if some of you were like those wicked judges in the past, but now you're washed, now you're sanctified, now you're justified in the name of the Lord Jesus by the spirit of our God, meaning that now you're qualified to judge. He's saying the worldly, unsaved people, they're not qualified to judge anything. You are qualified. He's saying I'd rather be judged by the least church member than to be judged by the heathen. And he says even though such were some of you, you were wicked like them, now that you've been washed, sanctified, and justified, now you are qualified to judge. That's the actual context. That's what's actually being taught in the scripture. That's the primary meaning. But people will try to just go to this as a proof text to say homos can be saved. We can fix the homos, right? But here's the problem with that. Number one, there's no mention of homos in this passage. Let's start there. Number two, that's totally out of context because I just explained the context. It has nothing to do with evangelizing queers. What it says here, it says neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor effeminate nor abuses of themselves with mankind. They'll take in the modern versions like the NIV and the New American Standard, they'll take the terms effeminate and or abuses of themselves with mankind and they'll substitute this for a homo in the modern version. That's not what the King James Bible says. Being effeminate does not make someone a sodomite or a reprobate. Being effeminate just means that they're a girly man. I've known to men that we're as straight as the day is long but they were just girly. They're just effeminate and that's a sin. But it doesn't make you a reprobate, it doesn't make you a sodomite, it doesn't make someone a homo just because they're effeminate. When it comes to abuse of themselves with mankind, it's debatable what that means. But if we actually were to take the context of the chapter, it says, for example, in verse 18, flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body but he that commiteth fornication sinneth against his own body. That sounds like defiling yourself or abusing yourself when you're sinning against your own body. What I believe that this is referring to, and it's debatable exactly what this is referring to, but I believe that it's referring to fornication and I believe that it's referring to a woman who is basically fornicating with a lot of men. She's abusing herself with mankind. It's basically the female equivalent of a whoremonger. A man who goes and sleeps around is a whoremonger and I believe that this is a woman who abuses themselves with man. I don't care what the stupid Greek lexicon says. I've studied it all and I wouldn't give you a dime for that Greek lexicon anyway. It's all just guessing and making things up because this word was invented by the apostle Paul as far as we know. There's no historical record of any time that this word was ever used before Paul wrote this in 1 Timothy chapter 1 and in 1 Corinthians chapter 6. But the point is that we know from the context of the Corinthians that this isn't talking about being a sodomite because look at 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Flip over to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. It says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13, there hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man. But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. So when we go to 1 Corinthians 10, Paul is telling the exact same group of people that there is no temptation taken them but such as is common to man. Well if they had been a bunch of former homos, right, then how could he say you've never been taken with any temptation but such as is that common to man? No because 98% of the population has no desire for that sin, has no temptation toward that. They're tempted with the opposite gender like a normal person. And so therefore this statement would make zero sense if they were a bunch of recovering sodomites but again it's just a handy verse that people can go to especially in the modern versions 1 Corinthians 6, 9 to 11 to go against what clear in-context scripture teaches. So it's being taken out of context to negate something that's in context. Go to Romans 1 and see what's in context. Romans 1 is in context. What's the context of Romans 1? Romans 1 is explaining the downward spiral that people go on when they reject the Lord. That's the context. The context is explaining God's wrath on sin and how mankind goes on a downward spiral of sin and where wicked people when they reject the Gospel, when they reject the Creator, they just keep getting worse and worse and worse and it explains that downward spiral. It explains how wicked people got that way. That's actually the context. That's actually what's being taught. And in Romans chapter 1 it's pretty clear when the Bible says in verse 26 for this cause and I don't have time to go into all the reasons that were listed before this but it says for this cause God gave them up unto vile affections for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature and likewise also the man leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust one toward another. Man with men working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. Now unlike 1 Corinthians 6 this scripture is very clear. There's no wondering. There's no guessing. There's no trying to figure out what's meant by an obscure phrase abuses of themselves of mankind or them that defile themselves with mankind. Here there's no guesswork. It just makes it clear. Men with men. There's no mystery there. And then also the context is how these people got that way. He gives a progression and he explains that by rejecting the Lord, hating the Lord, rejecting the Creator, not even want to retain God in their knowledge, they don't want to remember that God even exists. That God gives them over to these vile affections. Vile means gross or disgusting where men would lust after other men and where women would lust after other women and he says he turned them over to a reprobate mind. Reprobate means rejected. Says in Jeremiah 6 30 reprobate silver shall men call them because God has rejected them for the Lord has rejected them. These are people who are rejected by God because they have rejected God too many times and God gave them up, he gave them over, he gave them up and they've been darkened and so forth. This is a pretty clear passage and it's in context. So why would I ignore this and just take a scripture from 1 Corinthians 6 out of context, guess at some things and then try to negate this clear teaching. This is clear. You know the first time I read this I understood it and I've never questioned it since. The first time I opened my Bible to Romans chapter 1 I read this and I knew exactly what it was saying and I've never doubted it since because it's as plain as another. Look I've won somebody to Christ and then had them ask me hey I've got a question five minutes after getting saved. What about homosexuality? I showed them these verses and I asked them what do you think that means and they interpreted it to me perfectly and they'd been saved for five minutes. Why? Because the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth unless we want to resist the truth and today there's an agenda to resist that truth because we're constantly being brainwashed and programmed to accept the sodomites, to bring them into our churches. Look the Boy Scouts won't even allow them but we're told that we have to allow them. What kind of garbage is that? The unsaved, unbelieving Boy Scouts are banning them and then the Christians will rejoice when the Boy Scouts ban the sodomites but then a Baptist Church bans the sodomites and everybody loses their mind. Somebody explain that to me. How does that work? We're living in some strange times. Go to Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6 while we're on all my pet issues. Go to Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6. Now while you're turning there in fact put your finger over in Isaiah 47 because I want to make this point really clear tonight that when we talk about things being out of context teaching a verse out of context is not always bad. We can learn things from verses that are out of context but we don't want to make that our primary source of our doctrine. So a verse that's out of context can be used to support something that we already have taught somewhere else in a clear scripture. So verses that are out of context are great backup material. They're great reinforcing material but they should not be the basis for what we believe. They're not a final argument or a basis. Let me give you an example of this. I believe that the Bible teaches pretty clearly that we should cover our nakedness and that in order to have our nakedness properly covered we should have a garment that covers up our loins and our thighs. Does everybody understand what I'm saying? So I believe that in order to properly cover our nakedness we need to have a garment not just a loincloth. We need something more substantial than that. We need something that covers the loins and the thighs. That's how it needs to reach from the waist down to the knee. That's how that garment should reach in order to cover our nakedness. That's what I believe from the Bible. Now a verse that's often used to support that is Isaiah 47 verse 3. Or look at verse 2. It says, Take the millstones and grind meal. Uncover thy locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers. Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea thy shame shall be seen. I will take vengeance and I will not meet thee as a man. So basically people will look at this passage and say, it says at the end of verse 2, uncover the thigh. And then in verse 3 it says thy nakedness shall be uncovered. So they would point to this and say look, having your thigh uncovered is uncovering your nakedness. Now that's out of context. Is that really what this chapter is teaching? Is this a chapter that's designed to teach us about modest clothing or about what clothing is appropriate? No. So this verse is out of context. So if this were the only verse in the Bible to support that teaching, it would not be enough. Does everybody understand what I'm saying? If this were the only verse that we had to base that whole doctrine, this would not be enough. Now this is a great supporting verse, but keep your finger there and go to Exodus chapter 28 42. Let's look at a verse that is in context. Exodus 28 verse 42. Exodus 28 42 is a scripture explaining what type of clothing the priest is supposed to wear. So this is a passage that is about clothing. It's actually teaching on the subject of what clothing these men are supposed to wear. And in that scripture it says in Exodus 28 42, thou shalt make them linen britches to cover their nakedness. And look, if they're going to cover their nakedness, how long are these pants supposed to be? It says from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach. So that right there is a clear scripture that's in context, that's telling you, look, you need to cover the loins, which would be your lap area, your groin area, and you need to cover your thighs. Now that's clear. That's in context. That's a clear scripture. See, I would hang my hat on a verse like that because it's clear and it's in context. You can hang your hat on that. The Bible teaches that in order to cover your nakedness, your pants, britches just means pants, as a man, your pants need to cover the loins and the thighs. And somebody said, well, they just need to reach to the thigh. Well, by that logic they just have to reach to the loins and then you'd have a string. There wouldn't be anything there. So no, no, no, when it says from the loins to the thighs, common sense tells us that's inclusively. Okay. So that's a clear scripture. Now the scripture in Isaiah 47 was clear, but it was out of context. So I would not base my doctrine on Isaiah 47 3, but because I have a clear scripture over in Exodus 28 42, then Isaiah 47 3 supports it. So it's okay to use verses out of context as supporting material, but don't use them as your primary, this is why I believe this. Why? Because you'll end up in false doctrine because you can make the Bible say whatever you want by using verses out of context. So you better start with clear scripture in context to nail down what you believe and then use the things that are out of context just as supporting material. You know, parables or secondary meanings, third, fourth string meanings, but they're not the primary intent of the passage. Okay. Go to Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6. Here's another verse that people will take out of context in order to teach false doctrine. Now when it comes to the subject of the Trinity, we have a lot of clear scripture in the New Testament on the Trinity. And there are lots of scriptures that specifically delve into the relationship between the Father and the Son or the relationship between the Son and the Holy Ghost, right? And they really go into detail and that's what those chapters are even about where Jesus in the book of John is just expounding how the Father loves the Son and the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world and how the Son obeys the Father and submits to the Father and is subject unto the Father. And there are all these scriptures explaining the three persons of the Godhead and explaining their relationship with one another, but those scriptures are found in the New Testament, not in the Old Testament. Why? Because in the Old Testament, the Trinity is not a big subject in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, the message that God is hammering is that there's only one God and he's contrasting with all the gods of the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Philistines. He's saying those are all false gods. I'm the true God. Now once we know about the Trinity from the New Testament, once we understand that, then of course if we go back to the Old Testament, we'll find it all over the pages of the Old Testament. It's all over the place, but it's not explained in the Old Testament. It's not in focus in the Old Testament. It's not something that God is really teaching in the Old Testament. It's there once you know about it. You'll see it all over the place, but there's not clear scripture in the Old Testament explaining the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost and how the three interact with one another and their relationship with one another. There's plenty of that in the New Testament. I don't have time to go into it, but in Isaiah 9-6, this is a verse that people will use to teach a false doctrine called modalism or oneness where they deny the Trinity and say that Jesus is God the Father. Now out of 31,000 verses in the Bible, hundreds and hundreds of times talking about the Father and the Son, this is the only verse out of 31,000 plus verses that appears to be saying that Jesus is the Father. So they'll take this verse and just say, well see, it says it right there. Let's read the verse, and then let's get it in context. It says in Isaiah 9-6, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And then it goes on to explain more about Christ and his kingdom. Now first of all, let's ask ourselves this question. What's the purpose of this chapter? What's the point that God's trying to make? What's he trying to teach in this verse? Is he trying to explain to us in this verse the nuances of the Trinity and explain to us the relationship between Father and Son? No. That's nowhere in view in this chapter or even in this whole book or even in the entire Old Testament. The thing that this verse is trying to teach, the point that's being made there, is that when the Messiah comes, when Christ comes, that he will be God in the flesh. This verse is teaching the deity of Jesus Christ. That's what's actually being taught. It's not trying to teach something about the relationship between the Fathers. There's plenty of clear scripture in the New Testament that does that in context. And if we actually look at this verse and think about the context in which it's being written, God in general is the everlasting Father. Father, Son, Holy Ghost, all wrapped up into one God, right? We could call God in general the everlasting Father. Because notice what this verse does not say. It doesn't say God the Father. It says the everlasting Father, which is a term that's only used one time in scripture. And obviously we could look at God in general as the everlasting Father. And the Old Testament is usually just referring to God in general. Because the Trinity is not even in view in the Old Testament. It's just referring to God in general. We don't get into the specifics of the Trinity very much until we get into the New Testament. So they're taking an Old Testament scripture to negate hundreds of clear New Testament scriptures. The New Testament is clearer than the Old Testament. In the Old Testament they saw through a glass darkly. We see much more clearly in the New Testament. We understand the nature of God way more than Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ever thought of. Now they understand it now because they're up in heaven and they know about the New Testament. And there was a lot that they did understand, but there was a lot that they did not understand as well. We understand more. I mean look, many prophets and righteous men have desired to hear the things that you've heard and have not heard them, Jesus said. He was telling the disciples how privileged they were that they were learning things that the Old Testament prophets had no clue about. So again, this is a verse that's being ripped out of context, imported into the New Testament as, oh well this will tell us that Jesus is actually God the Father. He's not God the Father, he's God the Son. There's God the Father and then there's our Lord Jesus Christ. And they're not the same person. They collectively make up one God in three persons. Jesus Christ is the express image of his person. Whose person is he the express image of? God the Father. That means God the Father has a person distinct from Jesus. Jesus is the image of his person. Three persons, one God. Let's move on. I want to show a few other examples of this. Look at Matthew 24 verse 13. Matthew 24 verse 13. While you're turning there, I'll mention to you that there's a verse that the Mormons use to baptize for dead people. Now I'm telling you every false doctrine in this world has a Bible verse to back it up. Every false doctrine. And you might even think, come on Pastor Anderson, I'm sure there's false doctrines out there that don't have any verse to back them up. But they'll find a verse for everything. I mean would you have thought that there's a Bible verse to support the Mormons baptizing in the name of dead people? So basically what I'm saying is that like they'll join the Church of Mormon and then they'll be like, oh well my great-great-grandfather is dead. I'm going to get baptized again for him. And then I'm going to get baptized again for his wife. And then I'm going to get baptized for my great-great-great-uncle. I mean there are people who just go to the temple and just get baptized over and over again. They're getting baptized for Aunt Plutie. And they're getting baptized for Uncle Rudolph and Adolf. And they just keep getting baptized for dead people. I mean is that the craziest thing you can imagine? It's like what in the, where are they getting this from? That's nowhere in the Bible. You know what? They have a Bible verse that they use to back that up. It's totally out of context. It's totally twisted. But here's their Bible verse that they use. First Corinthians 15, 29, else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead? If the dead rise not at all, why are they then baptized for the dead? So they'll just take that verse where Paul's asking a question ridiculing people about getting baptized for the dead. And they'll take it out of context and say, see the Bible mentions baptizing for the dead right there. And that's why I'm telling you folks, you can make the Bible say whatever you want if you start taking verses just out of context and making that your primary source of doctrine. And you need to make sure that when you read the Bible you're reading the whole thing and you're getting the whole point, not just cherry picking a verse making it say what you want it to say. Because you can get the Bible to say whatever you want if you start taking things out of context. Look at Matthew 24, verse number, this is another one that's often taken out of context. Matthew 24, verse 13, this is another one where they attack the doctrine of salvation with this. Matthew 24, 13 it says, but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. So they'll take that right there and say, see believing is not enough to be saved. You also have to endure to the end they say. Now if you just took that verse by itself, you could make it teach that, right? But what's the chapter about? What's the context? The chapter is about the end of the world. Look at verse number 3, it says, and as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came on him privately saying, tell us, when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, and then he starts to teach on that. So what's the chapter about? What is the sign of his coming and what's the sign of the end of the world? Did they go up to him and say, hey Jesus, tell us how we can get saved. How do we get to heaven? How do we get eternal life? Is that what they're saying? This is about end times Bible prophecy and when it says, he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved. This is not at all about being saved in the sense of going to heaven. It's about being saved physically as in not dying. Look if you would at Matthew 24 verse 22, just a few verses down. Let's get some context. It says, and except those days should be shortened, there should know what? Flesh be saved. But for the elect's sake, though, days shall be shortened. So if you actually study the chapter, we're not talking about the salvation of the soul. What are we talking about? Your flesh being saved, meaning physical salvation. It's like when Peter was drowning and he said, Lord, save me. He wasn't saying, Lord, I want to go to heaven. He's saying, Lord, pull me out of the water. So saved here is not talking about going to heaven, it's talking about being physically spared death. Your flesh being saved, it's talking about survival. That's it. And we could go on and on tonight with false doctrines constantly taking verses out of context and using them to teach something else. Go if you would to 2 Corinthians 7. I'll show you one more example. And I've got lots of examples of this where virtually every false doctrine you'll find this to be true. You show me a false doctrine. Name for me a false doctrine. I'll show you what verse they're using to back it up and I'll show you how it's totally out of context. It's not what the chapter is teaching. So again, you should do a self-check on everything you believe. Take all the important doctrines that you believe. What do you believe tonight? You believe in the deity of Christ, you believe in the virgin birth, you believe in salvation by faith, you believe in eternal security of the believer, you believe in the inspiration of the Bible, you believe in the Trinity, you believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, you believe that hell is eternal, you believe in all these different things, right? You believe that the rapture is after the tribulation. You believe that we're going to be spared from the wrath of God. All these different teachings that you believe and we could list many more that you believe, right? Ask yourself, do I have a clear scripture to back up everything I believe? That's a big important doctrine. Do I have a clear scripture and is that clear scripture in context? Is it the primary point that God's making in that verse? Is it the main thing he's teaching? And you know what? I can honestly answer yes. On everything I just listed, I can show you a clear scripture in context to back that up. And if I can't show you a clear scripture in context, I'm not going to stand up and be dogmatic about it and say, hey, I know this is true. I know we're right about this. Not unless I have a clear scripture that's in context. Now there are other things that I believe that are not based on a clear scripture, not in context. And you know, what I would say about those things is, well, here's my opinion. Here's what I think the Bible is teaching. But I'm not going to get up and say, thus sayeth the Lord about it unless I have a clear thus sayeth the Lord. And it shouldn't be based on some secondary meaning or a parable or symbolism or typology or something that's figurative. We need to base what we believe on clear scripture. Clear scripture. Why? Because false doctrine is always based on a vague scripture or a scripture that's out of context. And it can be demonstrated to be out of context. I mean, no one in their right mind would say, hey, James 2 is a chapter about getting saved. Hey, Matthew 24 is a chapter about how to get saved. But John said it is a book about getting people saved. And it's crystal clear in its teachings. And on and on. Here's another one that people will use. They'll try to take this verse to say, hey, in order to be saved, you have to be sad. Right? And they'll say, you know, if you're not sad and crying or sorrowful or whatever, you know, you didn't really get saved. They say you have to be under conviction and you've got to be broken and you've got to be, you know, sad and have a sorrow and whatever. And this is the verse they use, verse 10 of 2 Corinthians 7. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death. Now if you actually get the context here, he is talking, the Apostle Paul, to the leadership of the church at Corinth about the fact that they had to throw a guy out of church for committing fornication. And when they got Paul's letter about throwing the guy out of church, the letter made them sad. The letter made them sorry. And Paul said, you know what, I'm glad that I made you sorry. I'm glad you were sad. Why are you glad that we're sad? Well, I'm glad that you were sad because godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death. So the context is not about unsaved people getting saved. It's about people that are already saved. In fact, they're even pastors and deacons of the church. They're leaders. And they were sad when they got Paul's letter, and so it caused them to repent of what? Repent of allowing fornication to exist in their church. They got it straightened out. They threw the guy out. You see, again, this is an example of salvation not referring to going to heaven. Lots of times in the Bible, salvation is just referring to being saved from this. Like when the Bible says that women will be saved in childbearing. It's not saying, well, you had a baby. You're going to heaven. What kind of nonsense is that? But that's the kind of logic that people use when they take things out of context. That's another great example where you could get the context in 1 Timothy 2 and understand what that means. But people could take that verse by itself and say, well, you got to have a baby to be saved, ladies. Better get pregnant or you're not going to make it into heaven. That's crazy. Look what he says in verse number 8. For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent. For I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to repentance. For you were made sorry after a godly manner, that you might receive damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold the self same thing, that you sorrowed after a godly sword. What carefulness it wrought in you. Do you notice how verses 9 and 11 are both talking about them being sad about throwing that guy out of church and getting Paul's letter. So why would verse 10 just be about something totally different? All of a sudden verse 10 is the soul winning verse? So all these, first of all, 2 Corinthians chapter 2 talks about this same situation. 1 Corinthians 5 talks about this situation. And right here in chapter 7 we see verse number 8, verse number 9, verse number 11, verse number 12. It's all about that situation. Why would verse 10 just be a soul winning verse plugged in? Hey, make sure they cry. Make sure they're sad. Make sure they're really sorry for their sins. You don't have to sorrow to be saved. Last time I checked the gospel was good news. And a lot of people when they hear the gospel, they don't get sad. They don't sorrow, they rejoice. I mean when people hear the gospel, a lot of times they get happy. They smile, they're glad, they're rejoicing. Now look, some people when you preach the gospel to them, they might get sad. And you say, well I gave the gospel to somebody and they cried. Well look, I've given the gospel to a lot of people who cried, but most of the time when you gave the gospel to people who cried, it was tears of joy. Because a lot of people cry when they're happy. It's like people who cry at weddings. They're not just like, they're ruining their lives. I can't believe it. Why didn't they listen to my advice? I told them it was a bad idea. Now they're crying because they're happy. People often cry tears of joy. But here's the thing. Are sometimes people sad and sorrowful when they hear the gospel? Sure. Depending on their situation, depending on their background. But we need to get off this thing of making salvation this emotional experience. It's not an emotional experience. It's about believing the gospel. It's about faith. It's not about emotion. And I'm sorry, but conviction is an emotion. Conviction's an emotion. It's a feeling of guilt. That's what conviction is. And so that word's being abused and twisted today, and we need to be aware of that. Especially when you go soloing on the Indian reservations, sometimes there's not a lot of emotion because some Indians are very stoic. Who was it that just told me about the story you were soloing and he said it was life-changing? Who was that? Put up your hand real high. Who was it? Somebody just told me that story. I don't remember. It was Ramon. That's right. Thank you. Who just told me that? Oh, yeah. It was Ramon. Yeah. We were talking to Brother Ramon, and he was out soloing on the Indian reservation. He gives this guy the gospel, and the guy's just real stoic, real matter-of-fact, just you know, yep, yep. So do you believe this? Yes. So what happened three days after Jesus? He rose again. So what do you have to do to be saved? Believe on Christ. Just really serious, just really stoic. And I remember the first few times I went soloing and dealt with some of the Native Americans, it kind of threw me for a loop, because sometimes you don't get a lot of feedback. And they're just really stoic. They don't show a lot of emotion sometimes. And then Ramon goes through the whole gospel with this guy, but he didn't really know where the guy's coming from, because he's just so stoic. No emotion. He gives the guy the gospel. He prays with the guy. And as he's leaving, the guy just looks at him and says, this was life-changing. So I mean, the guy, you know, I mean, it made an impact on the guy. He said it was life-changing. But he didn't, you know, everybody's different. You know, and I look, I've given the gospel to people that have breakdown crying. I'm so glad you came here. Nobody ever told me this. This is so great. You know, thank you so much for coming here. Other people are just, yeah. And I remember there was, Brother Hiles used to tell a story where he would tell a story about how he went solvending, and he knocked two doors in the same night. And he knocked this one guy's door, and he won him the Lord, and the guy was just so excited. I got saved! He gets his wife out of the other room. He's hugging her. They're crying. They're hugging the children. This is the best day of my life. I got saved. I'm so happy. You know, just a big emotion. He's going to be in church. He can't wait to see him there on Sunday morning. Here's the thing. The guy never showed up at church, and you know, I'm not saying the guy wasn't saved. I mean, the guy probably got saved, but he just, he never showed up. He never did anything. It was just, he was all excited, and I mean, Brother Hiles thought like, oh, this guy's for sure going to come. You know, this guy's pumped. And then in the same night, he talked to this other just really kind of gruff, rude guy, gives him the gospel, and just, yeah, yeah, I believe it. He prays with the guy, and he said, you know, so, you know, you believe it. He's like, well, I said I believed it, didn't I? And the guy ended up, you know, he also got saved. He came to church, and he went to the church for like 20-some years, became a deacon, became a soul, just really dedicated church man. So, you know, you can't just go by emotions. Some people are really emotional. Other people are more stoic. And thank God, you don't have to get emotional to get saved. There's no emotion required. You don't have to sorrow. You don't have to rejoice. You don't have to get maudlin. You don't have to get excited. You don't have to get happy, sad, angry. You can just believe the gospel and just ask Jesus to save you, and you're saved. And different people are going to have different emotions, depending on their personality, their background, and just what's going on in their life at that time. But this verse is abused to say, oh, you know, you guys are just going out there praying with people, but where was the sorrow for sin? I mean, look, they expect a seven-year-old to be broken because of their sins. Look, I got saved when I was six years old. I wasn't weeping over my past wicked life. I wasn't singing, you know, that God could save a wretch like me. I mean, when I was six years old, I wasn't beating on my breast saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. You know, I wasn't sitting there saying, oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I mean, think about that. I mean, what's the worst thing you've done when you're six? I remember the, okay, you want to know the worst thing I did before I was six? I'll tell you. And I'm not proud of this. I'm ashamed of it. One time there was a girl sitting on a swing on the playground at school, and I just walked up and just pushed her down for no reason, just for no reason. And I felt really bad about it. And I remember I heard all this preaching, you're going to have to answer to God for your sins. And they told me God's going to play all your sins on a big screen, you know, which is not true by the way. But that's what they said. You know, who's heard that kind of preaching? Yeah, hands all over the building, look. He said, he's going to play your sin, and you're going to have to give an account for why you did these things. And I remember hearing that preaching, which is false, by the way, but I remember hearing that and I just remember thinking like, what am I going to say, you know, because I had no reason to do that. I was so wicked. Why did I push that girl off the swing? I didn't know why I did it. I'm sorry I did it. What must I do to be saved? But that's probably the worst thing I did before I was six, was just shoving that girl on the playground for absolutely, I probably, you know, I don't know. I don't know why, folks. You know, and here, when I was a little kid, I was afraid it would be publicly known and here I am saying it to the whole world on the internet, you know. But the point is that, you know, when you're six, you're not coming off of the streets, you're not coming off of a drug addiction, you're not coming off of prostitution, you're not coming off of being a whoremonger, you're not coming off of drunkenness or gambling or addictions of any kind. You know, you've disobeyed your parents, you've snuck some fruit snacks, you've snuck more cookies than you were supposed to have, and you pushed some kids on the playground. That's about as violent as it got, right? But then what you have, you know, mark it down. Most of these hardcore repent of your sins preachers, they all got saved as adults later in life and they all lived a super wicked life before they got saved. So then they just dramatically changed their life and then they just expect everyone to do the same thing. I had this dramatic change and if you don't have that dramatic change, you're not, well, you know what, some of us just grew up in a Christian home and we didn't have a dramatic change because we weren't that wicked before we got saved. You know, and it's stupid today how we have like a double standard for people who got saved as adults. People who get saved as adults, everything they did before they were saved, they just have this handy excuse of, oh, well, I wasn't saved. So they just get a free pass on every wicked thing that they did in their teens, 20s, 30s. It's all just a free pass, right? But then the people that grew up in a Christian home are just held accountable for every little thing that they did. And you say, well, to whom much is given, much shall be required. But you know what, though? At the same time, though, the stuff that you did before you were saved, you knew it was wrong even before you were saved. Be honest and admit that. Nobody thinks it's right to murder or steal or commit adultery or get drunk. Everybody knows that that's wrong. The law of God's written on your hearts. And obviously, yeah, people that grow up in a Christian home should be held to a higher standard. But you know what? People that didn't grow up in a Christian home, it's like they're just held to no standard. And then people are like, oh, sure, I'm on my third marriage, but that was before I was saved. Oh, really? So when you weren't saved, you didn't know that marriage is for life? Where did you grow up? What island did you grow up on? Think about that. That's foolish. Look, when you weren't saved and you got married, you knew that that was till death you did part. That's what you said. That's what you said. And you knew that when you got drunk and when you fornicated, you knew that stuff was wrong because the law of God's written on your heart anyway. So these people, they get this view that says everybody has to be just like me. I had this dramatic life change. And then there's no room for the people who grew up in a Christian home who they grew up and they didn't have that dramatic change. They've been saved since they were 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 years old. It's a different experience. So the moral of the story is this. Don't expect everybody to have the same experience that you had. And don't make excuses for yourself while condemning everyone else. It's okay for you that you went out and committed armed robbery before you were saved. I committed armed robbery and was about to shoot somebody, but that was before I was saved. And then you're ready to jump all over somebody who's a Christian who got backslidden and did something way more minor. What we need to understand is that we need to not be just quick to expect everybody to have our same experience or to just justify ourselves and condemn everyone else. And that's what people will do. And they'll twist this verse to say, well, you've got to have that godly sorrow that works repentance. And then you've got to turn from your sins and have the extreme life change that I had to be saved. Well, you know what? I never had that life change because I got saved as a 6-year-old boy. I'm thankful that I got saved when I was 6 years old. Praise God. If you grew up in a Christian home, thank God for it. And if you didn't grow up in a Christian home, well, you know what? It's never too late for you to push that reset button and live for God from here on out. But we don't have to have the same experience. And I'm not going to condemn you, and you don't condemn me. And basically, we just need to understand that salvation is the same for everybody. It's just by faith. It's by faith, number one. And number two, God will punish you for things that you did before and after you were saved, whether you like that or not. That's what the Bible says. God punished all kinds of unsaved people in the Bible for stuff that they did wrong. Do you think that unsaved people just got a free pass and didn't get any punishments in the Bible? They get punished. Everybody gets punished. So I'll close the sermon on this. We need to make sure that everything we believe is based on clear scripture that's in context. And that's how we can avoid false doctrines, especially in regard to salvation. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for your word, Lord. And there's so much in your word. It's 1,189 chapters. It's 31,000 verses, Lord. It's a lot, Lord. Help us to read all of it and get it in context, Lord. Help us not to be lazy, but to dig in and spend time every day reading your word so that we can know what we believe and why we believe it, and not just blindly trust a pastor to teach us who might be pulling verses out of context, Lord. Help us to actually read the whole chapters and get the whole context, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.