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All right. Amen. So we're in Second Thessalonians chapter number two. And if you would look at verse number two, Second Thessalonians chapter two verse two, it says, they be not soon shaken in mind or troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as the day of Christ or as that the day of Christ is at hand. Now I want to focus on that phrase there where it says, nor by letter as from us. So the title of my sermon is how do we know what books belong in our Bible, right? How do we know that we can trust the 66 books or letters that we have that are in our Bible? This question comes up a lot during soul winning. In fact, I think it was shortly after I moved here. I want to say it was in February that brother David and I were out soul winning and we knocked on this Catholic guy's door and he just right off the bat just hit us with this while your church took out several books and you don't have the full canon of scripture, this and that and it comes up a lot. And I, I told myself, all right, look, if this comes up one more time, I'm preaching a whole sermon about it. Well, it came up last week. So somebody at work wanted to, you know, challenge this and so on. So I think it's important, especially because you know, we're out in the community a lot, right? This is a valid question. People want to know. Now some people want to mock, right? I'm not talking about them, but there are people that have genuine concerns and they want to know, you know, how can we know that we can trust these? And so that's what we're going to spend time this evening talking about. Now turn to second Corinthians chapter number two. And so you can see what Paul's saying here. He's like, Hey, look, you know, don't let somebody fool you into thinking that you can't just trust what we've said or, or that, that God hasn't preserved his words or that God can't somehow, um, basically preserve his truth, right? That's the big lie today. You know, uh, scholars dig up a new manuscript out of the ground. What do they say? Well, this trumps everything that we have, you know, leading up to this point. And is that true? Is that, does that really sound like our God? And the answer is obviously no. And you can see, you don't have to turn there, but, uh, we just read this in verse 15. It says, therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which he had been taught, whether by word or our epistle. So we're supposed to stand fast on the things that we have learned that have come from the Lord Jesus Christ. And we know, Hey, look, Paul obviously knew who Jesus Christ was, right? Did not Paul hear his voice? Did, was he not chosen by Christ? So who are you going to listen to? Some scholar that goes around digging things up, or are you going to listen to the apostle Paul? Or are you going to listen to Peter? You're going to listen to the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, it's, to me, it's a no brainer, you know, but you know, we live in a world today where a lot of people, they just don't know these things. And, uh, you know, we, we need to be on guard. So second Corinthians chapter two, look at verse 17. It says, for we are not as many which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God in the sight of God speak, we in Christ. So Paul's telling the crew that Corinthians, he's like, Hey, look, we're not as many which corrupt the word of God. So even in Paul's day, there were a lot of people that took it upon themselves to try and corrupt God's word. And one of the things that they would do is they would send letters to these other churches trying to act like the apostles, right? Just twisting little bits of doctrines. You can read Galatians, right? They got bewitched by somebody coming in there and trying to bring works back to salvation. And so we need to understand these things. Now, uh, turn to Matthew chapter number 23, Matthew chapter number 23. So we're going to go over some reasons why the Apocrypha is not the word of God because the, this is the thing that people bring up. Well, what about the Apocrypha and the, the word Apocrypha means hidden or concealed knowledge basically. Now here's a definition that I took from a Protestant website, right? This guy doesn't believe that there are scripture, but he believes that God preserved them for us so that we can learn valuable doctrine. And here's what he says. The Apocrypha is a collection of books written in the four centuries between the old and new testaments. Though the Apocrypha is not scripture, many Protestants, including Luther, Calvin and other reformers have found the collection useful historically, theologically and spiritually. And so they're telling you, Hey, these books that people call the Apocrypha, I'll just read them like first and second Maccabees, Judith, Tobit, Baruch, Syriac, the wisdom of Solomon and additions to Esther and Daniel. They'll say, well, these are the books that your church or your, your Protestant leaders have basically hid from you, right? And the, and we're going to look at that. Is that true? And the answer is no. So by their own definition, and this is consistent throughout every website that I checked, even a lot of the Catholic sites, it says the Apocrypha is a collection of books written in the four centuries between the old and new, new testaments. That is very important because of what we're about to read here. So when somebody comes to you with that, you need to remember these verses that we're going to go over here. You need to remember these, highlight these, just know how to get to them. So point number one this evening is how do we know that the Apocrypha is not scripture? Number one is that it was rejected by Jesus Christ and the apostles. You say, prove it. Matthew 23, look at verse number 35, Matthew 23 verse 35. It says that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom he slew between the temple and the altar. Go to 2 Chronicles, if you would, 2 Chronicles chapter 24. Now keep in mind, who is Jesus Christ? He's the Savior, but he is the Word. In the beginning was the Word and Word was with God. Jesus is the Word. The Bible says that the Word is settled in heaven, right? That's what it says. And so I don't know about you, but I would just rather trust what I just read here than what one of the church fathers said or what these reformers said about the Apocrypha. And very clearly here in Matthew chapter 23, Jesus is saying, hey, that may come upon you all the righteous blood shed upon the earth from the blood of righteous Abel. Well, which book was Abel in? Genesis, right? To the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom he slew between the temple and the altar. What he's saying there is, hey, you're going to read about Zacharias in 2 Chronicles. He's saying, hey, from the beginning of the Bible there in Genesis all the way to the end chronologically, right? All that righteous blood was going to go onto the Pharisees and the Jews that are rejecting Jesus Christ. So right there, knowing full well that the Apocrypha was written between the Testaments, right? They were available during that time. Jesus does not quote them. Matthew, I'm sorry, 2 Chronicles 24, look at verse 20. It says, and the Spirit of God came upon Zachariah, the son of Jehoiada, the priest, which stood above the people and said unto them, Thus saith God. Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord that ye cannot prosper? Because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you. Now look at verse 21, and they conspired against him and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king and the court of the house of the Lord. Go to Luke 24. So a lot of people will say, well, that's not Zacharias, the son of Barachias, because Barachias isn't listed anywhere in the Bible. Well, the problem with that is a lot of times in the Bible, people had different names, and they went by different names. So understanding what Jesus is saying here, he's saying, hey, the beginning of the Bible is what? Where we just read about Abel, right? That's Genesis. And Jesus is saying all the way to Zacharias, which is the end of Chronicles here, he's basically saying he's giving you the chronology of the Bible. He's basically endorsing the Old Testament, the 39 books that we have. I'm sorry, yeah, yeah, the 39 books that we have in the Old Testament. He's endorsing those. He's not including the Apocrypha, which was written after those. You see what I'm saying here? And so you can show this to people to prove your point, right? That's why I say it's important, right? It's important that we have the natural soul winning verses down, right? The plan. But after that, you got to start putting other tools in your bag because you'd be surprised at how often it can help people out. So Luke chapter 24, let me turn there myself. Luke 24, look around verse 44. Luke 24 verse 44. So again, remember these verses. So the question is, somebody comes to you and says, well, I think your church is hiding knowledge from you. I think your church told you which books should be in the Bible, right? Here's what you're going to do. You're going to bring them right here to these verses. Luke 24, 44, it says this, and he said unto them, these are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you that all things must be fulfilled. Now don't miss this, which are written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. So right there, Jesus gives you the threefold division of the Old Testament, which is the law of Moses, right? What else? The prophets major and minor and the Psalms, which is also referred to by the scholars as the writings. But basically he's giving you the threefold division. Guess what's missing? The apocryphal books. They're not in there. Jesus never talked about him. And who is Jesus? He is the word. So we need to trust the word over the scholar. We need to trust the word over the church fathers, right? What they call the church fathers anyway. So don't forget about these. And if you would turn to Hebrews chapter number 12, Hebrews chapter number 12, look at verse number two. It says, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. So it says, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And it's kind of interesting that refers to him here as an author because he's the one who penned the Bible. Obviously he had other men speak. The Bible says that Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy ghost. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. The word inspiration means God breathe that these things are God breathe. If you're want a test, whether or not the apocrypha is the word of God, just read it, just read it, right? If you're saved, you're not going to follow the voice of a stranger. That's what the Bible teaches very clearly. We've been studying that in the book of John, but nonetheless, I want to give you some of these things just so that you have them just so that you can explain them out to people. Because like I said, I've used these in the past and it has helped people out. Okay. I'm not going to say I knocked on somebody's door and got them saved because I knew this, but nonetheless it does. It does help. So go to Deuteronomy chapter number 30, Deuteronomy chapter 30. So point number two is adding to the apocrypha would break the continuity of the Bible. Adding the apocrypha to, I'm sorry. Yeah. Adding the apocrypha would break the continuity of the Bible. Okay. And you say, well, what does continuity mean? Well, continuity means clear path. Okay. It means an uninterrupted connection is what it is. And I've got a demonstration for you this evening before we go any farther with this, I want you to understand what continuity means. Okay. So we're going to give you a, I'm going to give you guys a little, a lesson in electricity this evening because I think it does a good job at explaining continuity or what I'm talking about rather, but just bear with me. All right. So here's what we've got. We've got a fan. Don't worry. I didn't steal it from work. It's, it's bad. It's, it's a done deal, but I repaired it enough to work for today's demonstration. All right. So continuity. Now, in order for this fan to work, in order for this thing to do work, I need continuity in this wire here. Okay. If there's a break in this wire, this thing will not work. Does everybody follow me? Everybody understand? Now, in order for me to get that thing to work, I need to plug this into a source of power. Everybody follow me? So I want to plug it into this outlet here. Now this wall outlet here is 120 volts. You can think of volts kind of like a, like a dam, like a water dam, like a water dam. Basically, what does it do? It stops water from, from breaking forth. That's kind of what you have here. You have 120 volts present. So when you hear the term volts, that means electricity that is present that can be used, right? So I'm going to tap into this outlet here and watch. Oh, look at that. My fan does work, right? So with this analogy here, if you will, just bear with me. This represents the Christian. Okay. This represents God's word. This is the source. This would represent God, right? Think about this. So this here is the Bible, the word of God, right? And it flows all the way to the Christian to get them to work. In order for the Bible believing Christian to be able to do work, you need clear teaching. You need clear continuity from the source, from God. So if you introduce something that is not, or something that would, that would break the continuity, like I said, if I just cut this wire in half, this isn't going to work, right? Even if one side of this wire, let's say that the hot side of this gets broken or gets pinched, it's not going to allow those electrons to flow back and forth here at 60 Hertz a second to be able to have this, to do work. Everybody understand that, right? It's the same thing with God, right? We need continuity in our lives from God in order to do work. I mean, think about it. Why do you think that the liberal Christians don't do work? Why aren't they out soul winning? Why aren't they winning people to Christ? Because they have in, or they have corrupted seed. That's why, right? You know what the NIV is? It's corrupted seed. You know what the NASB is? It's corrupted seed. It doesn't have continuity. It doesn't have clear uninterrupted flow from Genesis to Revelation. There's contradictions in those books, right? So if we insert something into our Bibles that contradicts the rest of it, it breaks that continuity. When you read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, there's continuity. There is a clear goal. There's a clear ending. It begins in eternity past and it ends in eternity future. Follow me? Everybody understand? Okay. So you're there in Deuteronomy chapter number 30. I'm just going to give you a couple of examples here. So here's an example of the Apocrypha. I took this from a wisdom of Solomon chapter one, verse 13. Just listen. It says this, for God made not death, neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living. So according to the Apocrypha, it says that God did not make death. Now, is that true? No, that's ridiculous. You see, I told you, if you want to learn how stupid this is, just read it. Now you're there in Deuteronomy chapter number 30, look at verse 15. It says, see, I have set, verse 15 says, see, I have set before thee this day life and good and death and evil. Jump to verse number 19. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life that both thou and thy seed may live. Turn to Ecclesiastes chapter number 12. And there's a lot of other verses that we could go to to talk about this. I mean, hell's referred to as the second death. Who created hell? God did, right? And this is, you see how ridiculous is? So if we were to insert the wisdom of Solomon chapter one, verse 13 into our Bibles, that would break continuity. That would break the clear path of wisdom and knowledge that God wants to give you from the settled word in heaven all the way to you. You see what I'm saying? There's a reason why people that have Bibles that include the Apocrypha don't do work because it's a contradiction. You know, that's just a clear fact of life. All right, Ecclesiastes chapter 12, listen to this. Here's another one from the wisdom of Solomon. It says this, which being extinguished, our body shall be turned into ashes and our spirit shall vanish as the soft air. So according to the wisdom So according to the wisdom of Solomon, it says that your spirit, when you die, will just vanish into thin air. It just goes away and that's it. Now, is that true? No, it isn't. Ecclesiastes chapter 12, look at verse seven. It says, then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Right? So here's the deal, right? Everybody has body, soul, and spirit. Now, before you're saved, your soul and your spirit are not quickened. They are not made, they're not joined together, right? Sealed into the day of redemption yet. They're not sealed together. So when an unsaved person dies, his body goes into the ground, his soul goes to hell, and the spirit goes back to God who gave it. That's the teaching, but not if you read the Apocrypha, it's not. You see what I'm saying here? The Apocrypha, again, it would break the continuity of the Bible. Listen, the people that put together the Bible, right? The King James and his translators, they were a lot smarter than all of us. Okay? We need to remember that. I mean, these people spoke, what, one guy spoke 15 different languages? I mean, that's a big deal. I'm going to trust them over some bozo today like James White or Jeff Durbin or whoever it is that's out there that just wants to even be soft on this issue, or rely on the latest manuscript that was dug up out of the ground. Oh, look, now we have all this new truth. Well, guess what? You know exactly what that does? That puts man in charge of the church. That's what it does. And that's cultish. That's Catholic. You see? But people today, they don't understand that. Why? Human achievement. Look at what I did. Look at what we're doing, building their way back up to heaven. It's that Tower of Babel mentality. It really is. Let's see here. Go to Proverbs chapter number 20. Proverbs chapter number 20. So the Apocrypha cannot be in the Bible for several reasons, right? But the main reason, the main thing you need to understand is because it would break the continuity. It would contradict. It would conflict with the rest of the Bible. Okay? So people that come up to you and they want to mock you, and they want to challenge you on this, you need to understand this. It's like, look, I'll bet you, pal, haven't even read one book out of the Apocrypha. If you're lucky, you probably haven't even read five pages out of the New Testament. All right, so you're there in Proverbs chapter 20. Listen to this. Here's another nugget of wisdom from the wisdom of Solomon. This is from chapter three. It says this. It said, and blessed is the eunuch, which with his hands hath wrought no iniquity, nor imagined wicked things against God. For unto him shall be given the special gift of faith and an inheritance in the temple of the Lord, more acceptable to his mind. What is that saying? That's saying that the eunuch, because he's a eunuch, right? Am I going to get into detail what a eunuch is? If you don't get it, you're probably not old enough to understand. Okay? But it's saying that a eunuch with his hands hath wrought no iniquity. Now, is that what the Bible teaches? No, the Bible says, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That would include a eunuch. And that idea is not just a New Testament concept. That can be found in the Old Testament as well. Proverbs chapter 20, look at verse nine. Who can say I have made my heart clean? I am pure from my sin. Old Testament verse. So again, if we were to introduce the wisdom of Solomon chapter number three, this would break the continuity of the Bible. This would contradict scripture, right? Ecclesiastes 7 20, you don't have to turn there, but it says, for there's not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. Right? There's a lot of people on the earth that do good. There's a lot of people on the earth, a decent amount of people on the earth that are saved. Okay? Obviously, there's not many. We understand that. But out of all the people that are saved, none of us do good apart from Christ. Right? But according to the wisdom of Solomon, the eunuch gets a free pass because he hasn't wrought any iniquity with his own hands. That is ridiculous. That contradicts the entire Bible. Okay, I'm going to go on to read a little bit more. Go to Proverbs 24. Proverbs chapter 24. All right, so listen to this. It says, this just gets dumber, but it says, for glorious is the fruit of good labors and the root of wisdom shall never fall away. As for the children of adulterers, they shall not come to their perfection and the seed of an unrighteous bed shall be rooted out. You understand what that's saying? That's saying that if somebody commits adultery, their children can never be saved. Was Solomon saved? Did David commit adultery? I mean, check me. Look, little kids can understand that. Right? Little kids can understand that. And people today, they want to challenge, oh, the King James translators, you know, they wouldn't allow you guys to have these books. And that's why you don't read them because you follow traditions of men. No, it's because we're not stupid. That's why. This is ridiculous. Proverbs 24, look at verse 16. For a just man falleth seven times and riseth up again, but the wicked shall fall into mischief. The wicked, meaning people that are not saved, that don't have the new man. They will fall into mischief. Right? That's what that's referring to there. Like I said, just people, people that are saved, they make mistakes. Saved people can sin. I know that's not what Ray Comfort teaches. I know that's not what Todd White teaches. I know that's not what Kenneth Copeland teaches, but guess what? That's what the Bible teaches. And we need to go with the word of God, which is clear. It has continuity and it comes from the righteous source. Go to Ezekiel chapter number 18. Ezekiel chapter 18. Ezekiel chapter 18. So plan off the same thing that I just read to you here. It says the children of adulterers, they shall not come to their perfection. And the seat of an unrighteous bed shall be rooted out. I mean, they're, they're basically just saying that you can't be saved. Well, look at Ezekiel chapter 18 and look at verse number 20. It says the soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father. Neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. Look, every person in this world has the choice whether or not they are going to be saved, whether or not they are going to receive the righteousness from God. It's not based off of what your parents did. It's not based off of what your grandparents did. It's based off of what you receive. That's what he's saying there. You see what I'm saying? Contradiction after contradiction after contradiction. So we're going to leave that one there. Let's see, turn to Hebrews chapter nine and just keep your place there because we're going to stay there for a little bit. Hebrews chapter nine. And now what I'm going to do is I'm going to read to you out of their book of Maccabees, second Maccabees. This is a big one here that the Catholics love to push is Maccabees. Well, what about Maccabees? There's a lot of great wisdom in there. I was reading an article by this Protestant guy and he was like, these are seven benefits that the Christians need to be aware of in the Apocrypha. You know, don't just dismiss it. Okay. It's not scripture, but it can benefit your life. No, it can't. The only benefits that you're ever going to get from the Apocrypha or what I'm reading to you right here. So you can show somebody else sometime like this is why it is not in our Bibles. Okay. So, uh, the book of Maccabees, second Maccabees, it teaches the Catholic doctrine of purgatory. And if you're not familiar with that doctrine, this is teaching that the Catholic church teaches. And apparently the Mormons teaches too, that when you die, depending on how good or bad you were, instead of going to hell, some people go into purgatory. It's kind of like middle ground, not as bad as hell, definitely not as good as here or heaven. Right. I grew up Catholic. So I understand what that means. And then of course the catch is if, if your, your relatives pay enough money to the church, they can pray you out of purgatory as well. Right. There's a little, a little benefit there to some of these organizations, but here's where they get that from. And here's how they defend it. Second Maccabees chapter 12, it says this, it says now when they were, when they that were with Georges had fought long and were wary, Judas called upon the Lord that he would show himself to their helper and leader of battle. So what I'm reading to you here is this, this stupid story about the Maccabean revolt. Okay. I don't have time to develop the story. Just listen to it. Verse 37, it says, and with that, he begun in his own language and sung Psalms with a loud voice and rushing unawares upon Georgios men. He put them to flight. So Judas gathered his host and came into the city of Adullam. And when the seventh day came, they purified themselves as the custom was and kept the Sabbath in the same place. And upon the day following, as the, the use had been Judas and his company came to take up the bodies of them that were slain to bury them with their kinsmen in their father's graves. Now, listen to this. It says now under the coats of everyone that was slain, they found things consecrated to the idols of the Jaminites, which is forbidden by the Jews by the law. Then every man saw that this was the cause wherefore they were slain. So they're saying, okay, after we were burying all these bodies here, we found out why God delivered the Jews up to their enemies. And it's because they were in idolatry, which is so strange, but it goes on to say this. It says all men, therefore praising the Lord, the righteous judge who had opened the things that were hid, betook themselves unto prayer and besought him that the sin committed might wholly be put out of remembrance. Besides that noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves from saying for as much as they saw before their eyes, the things that came to pass for the sins of those that were slain. So it gets a little bit worse, but what they're saying is, Hey, we realize that they messed up and we besought all of our men to pray for those who are dead, that God would wipe clean their slate. Now, before we move on here, Hebrews chapter number nine, Hebrews chapter nine, look at verse number 27. I didn't have this one in my notes. Hebrews chapter nine, look at verse 27. It says, and as it is appointed unto men wants to die, but after this, the judgment. So after you die, the Bible says it's too late. You can't get born again. And people will use that verse. Oh, where Jesus preached to the spirits in prison. They'll say, see, he went down to hell and he preached to the people that were down there. And some of them got saved. That's not what it's talking about. It's talking about those who are unsaved. If you're not saved, you're literally in prison. The Bible says, and like I said, we don't have time to get into that, but that's what that verse is talking about. But according to the Catholics, like I said, they teach the doctrine of purgatory. So after a person dies, you can pray them out of purgatory. And we had a Mormon guy tell us, I think Kate and you were with me there, weren't you? When that guy told him, told us about purgatory, but he was saying this, he was saying that they, that's why they do baptism for the dead. I don't know if that's true because we get different stories from different Mormons. You know, I'm not really sure, but that is what one guy had told us, that they do baptism for the dead to hopefully get them out of purgatory. And that was a first for me. I'd never heard that before coming from a Mormon, but look at this or just listen to this rather. It says, and when he had made a gathering throughout the company to the sum of 2000 Jacobs of silver, he sent it to Jerusalem to offer a sin offering doing there and very well and honestly, and that he was mindful of the resurrection. Now I read this whole entire chapter, a few chapters before and after, and I don't even understand it. And this is just, so if you're like, what are you talking about? I feel the same way in this, why I'm reading it to you so that you can get the feel for this. Okay. But, but here's where it gets, it starts to get real bad. It says for, if he had not hoped that they were slain, should have risen again, it had been superfluous and vain to pray for the dead. Okay. I'll just translate this for you. He's saying that if they didn't think it was worthwhile, if they didn't think that God would get these people out of purgatory or out of hell, that they wouldn't be praying for them. Right? So you're saying that there's hope for the people that have perished without Christ, without God. Verse 45 it says, and also in that he perceived that there was great favor laid up for those that died godly. It was an holy and good thought. And then it says, whereupon he made reconciliation for the dead that they might be delivered from sin. Yeah. Contradicts the Bible at every single instance, Old Testament, New Testament, right? We don't have time to get into all the verses. Hopefully Hebrews 9 27 does it for you. Okay. Like I said, if they don't want to receive this by this point, you've lost them. It's better to just cut your loss and move on and find somebody else that's going to listen. All right. So like I said, stay there in Hebrews. Now I'm going to read for you out of their book of Tobit. It says this, it actually gives a picture of them using magic. So the book of Tobit endorses the use of magic. Now, do we even need to get into whether or not God endorses magic? We're going to, because like I said, some people just don't know, but just listen to this. This is from Tobit chapter six. It says, and as they went on their journey, they came in the evening to the river Tigris and they lodged there. And when the young man went down to wash himself officially out of the water and would have devoured him. Then the angel said unto him, take the fish. And the young man laid hold of the fish and drew it to land to whom the angel said, open the fish and take the heart and the liver and the golf and put them up safely. Not isn't that strange. And then it goes on verse five says, so the young man did as the angel commanded him. And when they had roasted the fish, they did eat it. Then they both went on their way till they drew near to Ebontain. Then the young man said to the angel, brother Azarias, to what use is the heart and the liver and the goal of the fish? And he said unto him, touching the heart and liver, if a devil or an evil spirit trouble any, we must make a smoke thereof before the man or the woman and the party shall be no more vexed. As for the goal, it is good to anoint a man that has whiteness in his eyes and he shall be healed. Leviticus chapter 14. Just read that. Read the entire chapter. Okay. We don't have time to go there. This is bad. You know, the Bible talks in Ezekiel about the King of Babylon, about Nebuchadnezzar looking into the liver. Now we don't know all the details of that, but we do know that it's satanic. Okay. The book of Tobit is promoting Satanism. You understand that? Why is it not in our Bible? Because we don't want to learn from the devil. Okay. There's no good doctrine that's going to come from him. Jesus said it himself that he's the father of all lies. Now look, I'm no scholar, nowhere near that, right? I just read a few passages. I just went on kingjamesbibleonly.com, right? And they have the Apocrypha on there. And I just randomly picked passages. And just this is what I found. If you go do your own study, you're going to find better things. You're going to find more. But you're going to be beating your head up against the wall because like I said, when you start reading stuff, it's either going to put you to sleep or get you really angry. One of the two. Because you're saved. You've got the spirit, right? And Jesus taught none of these things. And what did we learn in John? That the Holy Spirit is going to bring you into remembrance of the things that he taught, right? He didn't teach any of this stuff. He didn't even endorse it in Matthew chapter 23, nor in Luke chapter 24, right? He gave you two instances where he clearly endorses Genesis to the end of the Bible. Both times, threefold division, the Psalms, the law, and the prophets, major and minor. That's what he said. So listen to this. Once you guys turn to you. You know what? I'm going to skip that. I was going to go have you go to Exodus eight. I think you get the point about the magic. That's, that's just too much. So a topic chapter number 12 teaches salvation by works. Listen to this as if you haven't already seen it, but it says this, it is good to keep close the secret of a King, but it is honorable to reveal the works of God. Do that, which is good. And no evil shall touch you. Okay. I get that. You know, if Christian gets backslidden, people do evil. They do hurtful things. You know, you're going to reap what you sow. That's a biblical concept. But verse eight says, prayer is good with fasting and alms and righteousness. Now, wait a minute. Now you're starting to get a little close to that line here. A little with righteousness is better than much with unrighteousness. It is better to give alms than to lay up gold. Now listen to this. It says for alms doth deliver from death and shall purge away all sin. Those that exercise alms and righteousness shall be filled with life. Yeah. The words that I speak into their spirit and their life. That's what Jesus said. Not doing alms. You know, I mean, think about it. When we read in the, in the gospels, the story about the, the publican who's beating on his chest, saying, Lord, be merciful and to be a sinner. Right. And then the Pharisees like, Hey, Lord, I thank you so much that I'm not like other men, you know, adulterers and all this other stuff. You know, what did Jesus say? The guy who was beating on his chest, begging for mercy. He's the one that went down to his house justified. Not somebody who does alms. Look, the Buddhists do alms. Right. I read this program or I watched this video one time of this program in, in some of the jails in California. And it's ran by these Buddhists and they have them build these sandcastles and apparently it teaches them patience and all this different stuff. And it's this big Buddhist program. I forgot all the details, you know, but they were like, look, look at how many people that we've helped. And they did help those people. Look, there are people that are not saved that do alms all over the planet. Think about that. Are they going to heaven? No, they aren't. No, they aren't. You have to be saved. Jesus said, you must be born again, but not according to Tobit the hobbit. You know, all you gotta do is just give some ham sandwiches to the poor and you're going to heaven. So it goes on to say this. I don't know if it's Tobit or Tobit. It just rhymed with hobbits. I figured whatever. So verse 10 it says, but they that sin are enemies to their own life. Surely I will keep close nothing from you. For I said, it was good to keep close the secret of a king, but that it was honorable to reveal the works of God. So did I tell you to keep your place in Hebrews chapter nine? If not, okay, go look at verse number 11. It says, but Christ being coming high priest of good things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands. That is to say not of this building. Verse 12, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Verse 13, for if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean sanctified to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve living King, the living God. Look, the Bible says over and over and over again, the way to heaven is by believing on God. It was the same in Abraham's day. It was the same in Adam's day. It's been the same throughout the entire Bible. Genesis six, it talks about then men began to call upon the name of the Lord. Why did they call upon the name of the Lord? To get saved because they understood it wasn't by their works. All right, go to, let's see here. Stay there. We're getting close to being done. Actually go back to Matthew, go to Matthew chapter 24, Matthew chapter 24. So the third thing that I want to give you this evening, and the last thing is this, the Apocrypha is not prophetic, nor does it claim to be scripture or God-breathed. We saw that in Matthew chapter 23. We saw that in Luke chapter 24. Now listen to this. One thing that you're also going to notice as you read through the Apocrypha, if you ever decide to, is that it is historically inaccurate, historically inaccurate. So Judith 1.7 says this. It says, the Nebuchadnezzar king of the Assyrians sent unto all that dwelt in Persia, and to all that dwelt westward, and to those that dwelt in Cilicia, and Damascus, and Labanis, and Antelbanis, and to all that dwelt on the sea coast. Now was Nebuchadnezzar the king of the Assyrians? Even secular history will teach you that, but not according to Judith, not according to those books that our church fathers neglected to give us. You see what I'm saying? It's not only, not only does it break the continuity of the Bible by its teachings, but it also breaks the continuity of the Bible because it's historically inaccurate. And look, this is not the only one. I mean, there's tons and tons and tons and tons of these things. So I'm just going to give you some information here. Hopefully you'll write this down. If not, just come see me. I am going to make, I'm going to make some cards kind of like I did with the tongues, and I'm going to put some of this information I'm going to read off on those, and you can keep them in your so many Bibles so that you'll have it for a reference. So somebody asks you, what is the Bible? Explain it to me. What is it? Well, you could say this. The Bible has a collection of ancient documents, right? But it's also God-breathed. Now it was written on three continents, Asia, Africa, and Europe. And this is important. Written on three continents. And what does it have? It has continuity from Genesis to Revelation. Written in three languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic, all right? So three continents, three languages. It was written in different styles. It was written in a legal style, historical, poetic, and prophetic. It was written by 40 different authors of diverse backgrounds and diverse occupations over the period of what, 1500 years, 1600 years, something like that. I mean, it was written, you know, it wasn't just like people got together and they wrote these things down all at once. Okay. It was over a long period of time and it all has continuity. Only God could do something like that. But there's no shortage today of people that want to corrupt the word of God and break that continuity because the devil knows if he can break the continuity from the source to the Christian, he's got you. Even if you're saved, you're not going to be doing those words. Look, if a trumpet make an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle, right? What do the modern versions do? They produce an uncertain sound. So people don't know what to do because they're like, well, we don't really know. Who really knows if the last part of Mark chapter 16 was in the Bible. My foot note says it wasn't in the originals. That produces confusion, not continuity. So here's some facts about the New Testament. This is important to just listen to. There's over 6,000 manuscripts available today, partial and full. Okay. Now we don't have the originals. No one had the originals. In fact, I've told you this before. When Moses came down from the Mount with the tablets of stone, he had the commandments on him. Those were not the originals. God copied those from the word to the stones. Okay. So don't ever let anybody give you this. Oh, what about the originals? What about the original? The word is settled in heaven, right? Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. He is the almighty. So obviously he is almighty enough to preserve his words. So it says this, listen to this. So we have documents that go as far back as 100 AD and even 120 AD. And the New Testament was completed by 70 AD, right? That's important because a lot of people say, well, your Bible is written, you know, a hundred years after the death of Christ or 70 years after the death of Christ. How do you know you could trust it? Well, you could give them all the reasons I gave you beforehand. Now let's compare that information to secular writings today. Okay. So Aristotle's Poetics, there are five manuscripts available today. And the earliest copy was written 1400 years after the original. Think about that. Nobody wants to argue about that, right? The heathens and the Christians that want to get all mad at us and, you know, about, oh, you believe that you have the whole word of God today. And what about the a hundred years after Christ? Well, your college professor, who's feeding you this line of junk in garbage, you know, he's probably going to recommend this reading to you, to his students. Well, guess what? There's only five manuscripts today. How do you know you can trust that? How do you know that wasn't changed? With the Bible, we've got 6,000. Caesar's Gallic Wars. There's 10 manuscripts in existence. The earliest one copied was a thousand years after the original. Here's the third one. Last one. This is the closest one to the Bible that is on this planet. Homer's Iliad. There's 643 manuscripts around today. And the earliest one was written 1800 years after the original. But nobody today is going to argue whether or not that's been translated correctly, right, from its original people. Although the college professors and the liberals, they'll fight to the death to preserve these writings. Why? Because of the work of man. That's why. They don't want to be accountable to God. They don't want to believe that there's a God today that is going to hold you accountable for what you believe and what you teach. That is why. It's either in Matthew chapter 24, look at verse 35. It says, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. The question I have for you is, do you believe that? Do you trust that? You know, we have to believe these things by faith, right? That is what the Bible teaches. You don't have to turn there, but Psalm 33, 4 says, for the word of the Lord is right. And all his works are done in truth. The works of the Apocrypha, they were not done in truth. I've proved that to you. That's why Jesus never quoted from. And think about this. The apostles never referenced them one time, but they were available during their time. They were available during the time of Christ. Surely he would have quoted from one. Look, a lot of people have trouble believing the book of Job. But I met a Sunday school teacher in a Christian church who said, I don't really believe the full story of Job. I don't really believe that the story of Noah and all that stuff is quite accurate. I believe something similar to that happened. I was like, and you're a teacher? You're a Sunday school teacher? And you're saying this stuff? What's wrong with you, pal? What on earth is wrong with you? But you know what? I'll bet he wouldn't argue about Homer's Iliad that he read in college. He wouldn't argue that at all. He probably would fight to the death to stop people from modernizing Shakespeare, right? Think about that. People, oh, it's too hard to understand that these, thus and the, and the yeas and the us, I don't get it. I don't understand it. Well, it's funny because you weren't complaining in school when they had you read Shakespeare, right? Didn't Hollywood try to change it and modernize it and people threw a fit, but yet Christians today won't throw a fit for people changing and corrupting the word of God, right? So think about that. We need to understand that all of his works are done in truth. And he said it himself, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away, right? That there should be enough. So like I said, I'm going to print some of these things out and make little cards so that you guys can have them. Um, not a super long sermon, just something that I wanted to get off my chest because I'm sick of hearing it. I'm sick of people out in the community, you know, mocking us over this, but nonetheless, this can help you out with your soul. So let's have a word of prayer. Lord, thank you so much for the truth in your word. I just pray that you would help us to continue to grow, Lord. I pray you keep feeding your zeal, Lord, according to knowledge. Please bless the fellowship after the service in Jesus' name. I pray. Amen.