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

I want to explain two things, I want to explain symbolism and I want to explain similes. The Bible uses a lot of similes. When we look at a literal interpretation of a passage in the Bible, a simile, if we look at the English definition, a simile is this. The main difference between a simile and a metaphor is that a simile uses the words like or as to draw comparison and a metaphor simply states the comparison without using like or as. So a simile is something that uses the words like or as to describe something. We see this in like, there's tons of examples of this in the Bible, but in Revelation 1, the Bible says his head and his hairs were white like wool. His eyes as white as snow and his eyes were as a flame of fire. No, his eyes weren't fire. They were as fire. His hair wasn't wool. It was as wool. It was white as snow. His hair wasn't snow. His hair was as snow. These things are obvious. They're ways to describe things to us in the Bible. So, those are things that you can claim are not literal. It's a simile to describe something. However, the vast majority of the Bible is to be taken literally and even these terms here are to be taken literally. His head and his hairs were literally white like wool. It's a literal statement. If you look at the Old Testament, you've got the five books of the law, you've got the twelve books of history, you've got five books of wisdom, and then you've got seventeen books of prophecy. These are all literal books. You are to take these literally. The books of prophecy, even the books of prophecy where you can say there's a lot of symbolism in those books, the vast majority of prophecy in the Bible has literal, at that time in history, meaning. And then it has a double or parallel meaning for future end times events. The prophets were sent to the people of Judah, to the people of the northern kingdom of Israel, and they were giving these prophecies and many of them had a dual meaning. You know, many of them were just prophecies of the coming Christ, but many of them had a dual meaning. The whole Bible is to be taken literally. Now when it comes to symbolism, it's very obvious in the Bible in Revelation, like it's talking about the great pore that sitteth on many waters, it's very obvious when the Bible is using symbolism. Obviously a person cannot sit on many seas, many waters, as the Bible says. But this is a way for people, when people say, I just don't take the Bible literally, but I believe the Bible. No, you don't believe the Bible, is what that boils down to. So what I'm trying to get at here is the Bible is to be taken literally, and the situation that we have in this country is that 74% of people that claim to be Christian, only 24% of them even have a chance at being saved, is what it boils down to. Because of this, you can't, you know, you literally can't get saved without believing the word of God. It's impossible. We'll get into that in a little bit. So, back to the numbers. Turn back to 2 Timothy chapter 4. 26% of Americans view the Bible as a book of fables, legends, history, and moral precepts. I never really understood that, because you either believe the Bible is true or you don't. I would even take advice from the Bible if you don't believe that it's the truth. In 1957, 82% of Americans believed religion or Christianity could solve all life's problems. And 7% of people thought it was out of date. That number has changed to 46% of Americans now think that religion or Christianity can solve life's problems. And 39% think from 7% think it is old-fashioned and out of date. Now back to 2 Timothy 4 and verses 3 and 4. Let's read them again. For the time will come when they will not endure some doctrine. But after their own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears, and they shall turn away their ears, and the truth shall be turned unto fables. I'm going to read for you Matthew 4, verse 4, where the Bible says, But he answered and said unto them, It is written, Man shall not live by dread alone, but by every word that was seen it out of the mouth of God. What I'm trying to get you to understand is the Bible, the Word of God, is the absolute foundation of our faith. And if you don't believe that it is the literal truth, the literal Word of God, you cannot be saved. Turn to John 1. John 1. I want you to just see this. Even though this isn't news to most people. John chapter 1 and verse 14. Why can't you be saved without believing that the Word of God, the Bible, is the Word of God? When we see this in John 1, verse 14, And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And then in verse John 5, 7, the Bible says, There are three that bear record to heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. These three are one. So, Jesus is the Word, become flesh. So if you don't believe this, you could never believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And it's interesting because this has proved itself again and again and again to me, out so many. So many, nothing will give you an insight into the truth of the Word of God and the state of this world like so many. And just yesterday with Richard, just yesterday I'm out so many with Richard, and I'm literally to the, I thought I found a lady who wanted to hear of the Gospel, and I thought she was, I want to know, she believed it works like everybody else, and I was showing her from the Bible, you know, just started from the beginning, and I was literally just reading the Bible verse to her in Revelation, and just right away, she just, ah, she just, a switch went on, and she just, best man's words, she said. And you will always find that if somebody does not believe the words of the Bible, there will be some part of the Gospel that they will not accept. So you don't have to worry about this person that doesn't believe the Bible, but is going to accept the Gospel. You don't have to worry about being in that weird situation or that weird, you know, logical conundrum, because it's never going to happen. Because if somebody believes that these are man's words, like that lady said yesterday, she will never accept the Gospel. There will be some point where she's like, nope, I accept. So that was it. I tried to explain to her, would you be interested in hearing, you know, how we can know that the Bible is God's Word? Nope, that's man's words. And then she brought up all kinds of different Bible versions like everybody else does. And she's confused. Oh, it's been changed left and right and all that. It has been changed, but not this one. And I tried to explain that to her, but nope, she doesn't believe the Bible and she didn't accept the Gospel. So you can't be saved without believing the Bible. So it's impossible for 75% of people in this country to be Christians when only 24% of them believe the Bible. So at very best you can say 24% of this country is saved from that pole. But we know that that's not even the case. Now, turn to Hebrews chapter 4. What happened with that lady was this. What happened with that lady was a proof of Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 12. Because I was not explaining, you couldn't blame it on me. It wasn't because I was rude. You could say, oh, Jared, you're just terrible at talking with people. You're just mean or whatever. I was literally reading a verse from the Bible at that time. And she, something in her heart, was stabbed or pricked. You could just see the switch go off with this lady. But in Hebrews chapter 4, look down at verse number 12. God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing eatings with inviting thunder of soul and spirit. That's what happened with that lady. She got pierced by the Word of God. And something in her heart wasn't right. It's a heart issue, right? And she was done at that point. Now, this is just the introduction here. Liberal Christianity has taken its toll on this country in many different ways. Bible versions are a big part of it, but they're a sub-part of it. First we're going to look at apostate churches. And then we're going to look at churches that do have the right gospel but are still not doing the right things. But a big part of it is Bible versions. That really plays into it. Show me a King James version of the Bible in one of these apostate churches that we're going to talk about. You won't find them. Because they don't want the Word of God. They don't believe the Word of God. None of the people in their church believe the Word of God. Why would they make it a priority or even want the Word of God in their church? It doesn't make any sense. And that's why you see that they don't have it. Now, turn to Matthew chapter 7. Turn to Matthew chapter 7. We're going to talk first about apostate religion in this country, but let me just say this. The war in this country and the war for the soul of this country was lost first starting right here at the pulpit. It was lost in the grassroots from the bottom at the pulpit. That's why we're out and we're doing this one person at a time. We're going out and we're soloing because we're trying to fix the problem from the beginning, from the individual. Because that's where the problem lies. But the problem was it started here at the pulpit. Now, in Matthew 7, verse 15, the Bible says, Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Now look, I believe that liberal apostate Christianity is worse than no Christianity at all. Because if you have a wolf, what's more dangerous? A wolf that's just walking around? Everyone knows it's a wolf. What's more dangerous is a wolf that's dressed like a sheep. That's more dangerous because it's confusing to people. It can get in and affect a lot more people that don't know what's going on. It's very dangerous. These false prophets are claiming Christianity as their own. So let's look at the apostates or the heretics today. Turn to Revelation chapter 17. Revelation chapter 17. This also shows and demonstrates the fact that if you stop believing the Bible, you will fall into, or if you never believe the Bible, you will fall into and you will be susceptible to all sorts of heresy. That's what we see with the vast majority of Americans today. Turn to Revelation chapter 17. The first thing I want to talk about today is the Catholics, the Roman Catholic Church. It was not that long ago in this country where Catholics were not even considered Christians. It was not that long ago. As a matter of fact, at the foundation of the country, Catholics in certain parts of the country were not even allowed to hold public office. They were not allowed to vote. An example I have here, in 1777, the New York State Constitution banned Catholics from public office. And they did so until the early 1800s. So there was a very strong disdain for Catholics from Christian people. And I'm not complaining that people in any other country were all Christian either. Benedict Arnold, have you ever heard about him in history? A famous traitor during the Revolutionary War. Benedict Arnold betrayed the American cause and he publicly cited America's alliance with Catholic France as one of his main reasons for doing so. I'm not defending Benedict Arnold, but I'm just saying, I'm trying to demonstrate that there was a strong disdain for Catholics. The founders of the country were being against these pagging state religions. That's where we got the First Amendment, which was heavily influenced by Baptists upon James Madison. But mainly, they were against Roman Catholicism and her wicked stepsister, which was the Church of England. That's what they were against. They were not letting them into the government, politics, anything. Now, you're in Revelation chapter 17. Look down at verse number 1. We're going to see some symbolism here in the Bible. In the Bible reads, starting in verse number 1, And there came one of the seven angels in the head of the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither, and I will show unto thee the judgment of the great war that sitteth upon many waters. Symbolic phrase there. With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. You know, the Catholic Church has had influence over many nations. They used to crown kings in the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages. The Pope would actually crown the kings in that time. And the woman was arrayed with purple and scarlet color and a deck of gold and precious stones, and pearls having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. And upon her head was a name written, Mystery Babylon the Great, Mother of Harlots. Notice how it says Mother of Harlots, and abomination of the earth. I believe that's a reference towards all these false religions that came out of Reformation, and all these things that were born out of the Catholic Church. And I saw a woman drunken with the blood of the saints. That's a huge proof that this is talking about the world of the Catholic Church. No one is killed. No religion is killed more actual Christians in this country than in this world. Sorry, than the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church has killed, and it is documented, has killed millions of Christians. That's right. Millions. The angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carried her, which has seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not, talking about the Antichrist, shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into the tradition. And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life, and the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth. Rome is known as the city of seven hills. This is clearly talking about the Roman Catholic Church, and greater is talking about apostate Christianity. But you can trace the vast majority of apostate Christianity in this country back to their mother, which is the Roman Catholic Church. Throughout history, for the last two thousand years, the Roman Catholic Church has been murdering Christians and just spreading heresy throughout this world. Now, they clearly teach works. It's a false religion that's easily disproved from the Bible. The humble Catholic is actually someone who is very easy to get saved. That's been my experience. Let's talk about the children of the mother. The children of the mother is the Protestant Reformation. It's all these different religions. If you go around in Fresno here today, and you take Baptist off the name of the church, and you look at all the other churches, the vast majority are in the Catholic or Protestant churches. I guess there's a lot of Orthodox churches as well, but those came from the Catholic churches. It's all born from the Catholic church. Now, turn to Genesis chapter 3. Here's my view on the Reformation, and I've mentioned this before. My view on the Reformation is this. The Reformation is the devil's plan B, because the Catholic church simply got so stupid that there was a huge market for heresy out there. The Catholic church not only was teaching works through baptism and works through the sacraments, but they started placing this man who was the pope in charge of it. That's where you had the Orthodox split in the Catholic church. Then they started teaching that you could literally buy your relatives out of heaven with indulgences. You could buy them out of purgatory. You could buy yourself sins. You could go and you could pay a bunch of money to the church. Then you could go and you could sin, and you could do all these things. It just got too dumb. People weren't buying it because the Bible was still cloaked around. They were trying to kill everybody that had a Bible, but they couldn't burn them all. God said that, you know, His church, you know, Hell shall not prevail against my church. So there's always been biblical churches. There's always been Baptists out there who are preaching the true gospel. They couldn't kill them all. So it got so stupid that even the Catholics sitting in the church are just like, you know, this doesn't seem right. So you have the Reformation. You have Martin Luther and you have John Calvin. These people break off from the Catholic church. They bring it back closer to the Bible, but it's still Catholic. It still works. It's still damnable heresy. They're still just as unsaved as the Catholics. And in my opinion, it's the devil's point of view. In my opinion, it's worse. And it's worse because these people think that they found the truth. They think that they're good. They think that they've left the Catholic church, but they haven't. They're Catholics still. And it's more confusing. Look down in Genesis chapter 3. And what verse do I have here? Let me go through it myself. In Genesis chapter 3, we see the devil described with a certain word here. And I believe that this is the Reformation right here. Verse 1. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast in the field, which the Lord God hath made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said? Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden. So the devil is subtle. He's described as being subtle. The Catholic church just got way too unsubtle. It wasn't subtle. Like, hey, you've got to pay us a bunch of money, and then we can get grandma out of purgatory or out of hell. You know, that's not even close to anything that the Bible says. So he had to get more subtle. It's like, we're losing people here. And you know what? The devil wants everybody. He wants them all. And unfortunately he's going to get most of them. But he wants them to be damned with him. So there's a huge market for this. I left the doctrines of the Catholic Church to the folks. You know, unfortunately we will see so many people out there. It's a big deal in Fresno. We run into these people all the time. They're so wrapped around the axle. They think that they believe right, but they still believe in works. I should have brought a picture of it, but a good example of this is the Lutheran Rose that I grew up in. It was kind of the symbol of the Lutheran Church. And it said, word alone. It was a rose. It said, word alone. Faith alone. Grace alone. Sounds pretty good. Right? However, did you know that grace, in order to get it, you see baptism is a means of grace. Okay? It's like a gas tank. You've got to keep doing these means of grace in order to fill up your grace tank. And if your grace tank runs up, I'm serious. If your grace tank runs up, oh, I believe your grace is your faith. That's what they'll say. But baptism, baptizing your child as an infant is a means of grace for that child. If you drive home from the hospital and you have not baptized your baby and you get in a car accident and that baby dies, that baby will go to hell. Because they didn't get baptized to get that grace, you see. You know, I'm the only Lutheran I have ever met. All of my kids, all three of my kids, were baptized in the hospital immediately after they were born. I'm confessing my faults to you. You know why? Why would I wait three weeks to get a nice outfit for the baby and invite all my relatives to town and get a cake and risk my child's soul in hell? Are you kidding me? Don't do that. I even had a pastor ask me, why are you doing this? Don't you want to have all your family and friends come in the town? I'm like, are you nuts, man? And risk my child in hell. I'm like, what's wrong with you? Why the hell are you doing this? What is this stuff? Don't you believe it? Grace and faith, that's what we believe. But you have to confess your sins. You have to take the Lord's Supper to get your grace tank filled up, full of that gas tank. Right? It's confusing. And that's why you get to the door and you tell people, you know, what are you trusting in? And you begin to say that they believe they can lose their salvation and you give them the whole gospel. You say, you see how that's different? They're like, yeah. And then you say, hey, you want it? Oh, no, no, no. I already believe that. They're twice the child to hell. Turn to Matthew 23. You'll find people that are so twisted up in this stuff that they'll never be able to get saved. It's worse than the Catholic Church. Look at Matthew 23, verse number 15. Jesus says, woe when you strive to embarrass these hypocrites! For you come to see and live and make one cross like when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Man, isn't that the truth? These people, they twist people up with the doctrines like I just tried to explain. I mean, it's hard to explain. It's so confusing. I mean, I had to go back and re-study. OK, it's a means of grace. I had the whole small catechism memorized. I knew all the doctrine. It's so confusing. But the gospel is simple. Now, here's another thing we're starting to see in Protestantism and Catholicism. When I grew up, I was a Lutheran. I know people in my life with people that she knows that a Lutheran married a Catholic in the family and they don't talk to each other for the rest of their life. That's how divided that line used to be. Where a brother married a Lutheran woman and that brother quits talking to his brother for the rest of his life. That's how divided these lines were. I grew up in a very conservative Lutheran church that would preach that the pope was going to be the anti-Christ. The last Lutheran church I was in before I got saved, the pastor of that Lutheran church would regularly attend conferences at the Catholic college. They're coming back together. You see, these differences are getting blurred and they're all coming back together again. Pope Francis. Let me read you some quotes from Pope Francis that will prove to you my, or at least give evidence to my theory of this whole environmentalism bringing the world together. Pope Francis recently, he said this, the urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole family together to seek a sustainable and integral development. Whenever you hear politicians or anybody will use the word sustainable, just run. Quote, governments will have the responsibility of showing the political will to take drastic measures to achieve as quickly as possible zero net greenhouse gas emissions to limit the average increase in global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius with respect to pre-industrial levels in accordance with Paris Agreement goals. That's from the pope. I mean, look, the Great War is going to play a central role in this coming one more government. And you're starting to see all the kids that were born out of the war, you're starting to see all the kids come back home to roost. They're coming back home. Alright, so that's the heretics of the Catholics and the Protestants that came out of the Great War. Now let's look at these non-denominational megachurches. We're still in apostate Christianity here, okay. You know, the fun's set. Let's turn to Titus chapter 1. Titus chapter 1. People will heed to themselves teachers, it said. Look, they'll heed teachers to themselves. They were not tank preachers that were sent, you know, the prophets were sent by God to the nation of Israel and to the nation of Judah. They're going to heed teachers to themselves having itching ears. Look, a hundred people will watch this sermon. That's like nobody, right, on YouTube. These preachers today of these megachurches, they're teaching it's fine to be who you are, they're just fulfilling those itching ears. I was on YouTube watching one of Garrett's videos and I had this video that was on the side or whatever and it said, and it said, can you be transgender and Christian, it said on it. And it was one of these pastors in these megachurches and he's up there and he's got his fancy outfit on. He's got the light that comes around like this and I clicked on it. I profess you because I'm like, I've got to see this, you know. You know why I clicked on it? Because like a million people have watched this video. Like a million. And here you get this guy, I can't do what he did, alright. But he's up there and somebody asks this literal question and he's like, well, and he talks and he talks for like ten minutes and he's like, what did you just say? You know, these people can just talk for forever and you don't even know what they said. And then he said at the end, he said at the end, he's like, you know, it's important that we ask God who we are and not what we are. And all other questions come from that. And I'm like, I'm just like, what in the world? And everyone in the audience is like. There's like a million views on that video. I mean it's crazy. But you know when you make a video where somebody stands up and says, hey, can you be transgender and Christian? No. There's a question. Five views. Because people will heed to themselves, preachers that tell them what they want to hear. Period. Look, these churches are filled with unsaved people. Because, you know, the Bible says, you know, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. You know, no saved person is going to listen to that garbage and sit in that church. You're going to just be like the Holy Spirit and you can be like, that's not the voice of the shepherd. That doesn't sound right. That really doesn't sound right. But I mean there's small, even doctrinal things that the voice of the shepherd. You're going to be like, that's not the voice of the shepherd. Because we have to witness it ourselves. You know, we're sealed by the Holy Spirit. Turn to John chapter 14. John chapter 14. John chapter 14 and verse number 26. And the Bible talks about this spirit that's within us. And the Bible says in John chapter 14 and verse number 26, But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, the Father will send in my name. He shall teach you all things. And bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. Like these churches are filled with unsaved people. That's why they can listen to things like that. Turn to Acts chapter 2. Church is for the saved. That's the first problem, the first thing that goes wrong in these big, big churches. Church is for the saved. This church is for saved people. That doesn't mean that we're not going to get unsaved people that come in here. But in general, church in the Bible, when the Bible talks about church as having church, the church Antioch, the church of Jerusalem, those were people gathering of saved believers. Period. Look at Acts chapter 2, verse 47. Let's look at this. I'll prove it to you. Praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. Turn to Hebrews 10. They went out, they got people saved, and that's how they were added to the church daily. Saved people. Look, the theory is this, folks. It's not rocket science. You get saved, you're sealed by the Holy Ghost, you come to church, you get baptized, you recognize the voice of the shepherd, and you change your life. That's how it goes. But first you get saved, and then you come to church, and then you recognize that you'll recognize the voice of the shepherd. Hebrews 10, 24, and verse 25. Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works, not for saving the assembling of what? Ourselves. Unless he's talking that he's not even saved, he's talking about the assembling of ourselves, talking to his brothers and sisters in Christ. Assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another in so much the more as they see the day approaching. Here's another thing you'll see in these mega churches, these non-denominational churches. They're full of worldly people. You'll never know, you may work with these people, you'll never know that people that you work with will never go to one of these churches. Because they're just like everybody else in the world. It's all the same. I had a guy that came here to work on this church, and he asked if I was in charge. I said, yeah, I'm in charge. I didn't say until later that I wasn't the pastor, I was just the leader of this satellite. But for all intents and purposes, he thought I was the pastor of this church. And the guy goes to one of these non-denomin... That's the first thing he told me when he walked in the door. I go to church. I go to whatever church. It's one of the one-name churches, you know, like the wall, or the curtain, or the light. Right? It's one of those churches. You know, I mean, we're just stressing over what we would call this church if it was to be an independent Baptist church. Oh, the ceiling thing. Much easier for them. But this guy in here, he thinks I'm the pastor of this church. He's just dropping bombs, like every fourth word. I mean, he's just this and that. I'm like... I mean, you know, there used to be a time when you'd be decent, even if you were a dirtbag, you'd be decent around someone you thought was, you know, a man of God. I'm not saying I'm anything special, but he thought that I was, you know, some kind of leader in this church, and he's just like, he's talking like a sailor. You know? But he goes to church. I go to church? I go to church. He's like, okay. Alright. He just makes these things for you. So, you know, when you go to these churches, it's the same music as in the world. You know, this isn't a sermon on music. But this is what they have to do, right? People have itchy ears. So, they were at a rock concert on Friday night. They were at a country music concert on Saturday night. They went to a comedy club the night before. So, you've got to make it look like a comedy club. As you're up there, you know, on a bar stool, and you're playing rock music and rap music, except you just, you take out the swear words and put Jesus in there. It's the same thing. That's why they have to do it. That's how they can grow these churches. Okay? So, why do people start these churches? Did you turn to Titus chapter 1? Did I have you turn there? Titus chapter 1? Why do people start these churches? They're all unsaved. They're all going to go to hell if they don't get saved. So, why? What's the point? Titus chapter 1 and verse number 10. Here's the point. For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers. Meaning, they're all about themselves. They're vain talkers. Especially, they are the circumcision. Whose mouths must be stopped and subvert whole houses. They're just subverting everybody. Teaching things which they ought not. For what? For filthy, ludicrous sake. Yeah. 2,000 people in this church. We'd bring in a lot of money. Filthy, ludicrous sake. That's why they do it. They're driven by money. They're driven by vanity. Romans chapter 16. Go there. Romans chapter 16. Romans chapter 16 and verse 17 and 18. The Bible says this. Now, I beseech you brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them. For they, they are said to serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by good works and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the people. So that's talking about people that would come into this church and have fair speech and all these different things and spread heresy and different doctrines. It'll happen. You wait. It'll happen. But it's more of the same concept. It's all about themselves. It's for filthy, ludicrous sake. It's vain. Those people are about themselves. These pastors, these megachurches where nobody's saved, they're not saved. They don't care what the Bible says. They're just there to just make a ton of money. It's working. Alright. So I want to spend a ton of time on those things. I just want to show you that the vast majority of Christians today are apostate. They're not Christian. They don't believe the Bible. They don't believe the true gospel. It's mostly works of some sort or another. Alright. A lot of people are confused today when you're out soloing. Why is there 18,000 different churches that are all Christian? Look. Simplified forum. There's only two. There's works-based salvation. There's only two religions in the whole world. Works-based salvation and the gospel of Jesus Christ according to the New James Bible. That's it. Every other religion is the same. It's very simple. You heard that one. Alright. The devil's subtle and he's creative in a way, but he's creative in a twisty sort of way. Alright. It's all different takes on the same theory of works-based salvation theory. Okay. Now, let's look at a church that has the right gospel. Let's look at what people would call the old eye of me. Okay. Now, I didn't grow up Baptist. But I have several years of experience in old eye of me churches. Okay. And one thing that I really looked hard into before I came here, for like a year before I came here, and I looked into it and I discussed it with people in my family and I really wanted to know what happened. So, I researched the situation because, you know, there was great preachers in the 70s and 80s and I was like, where did these churches go? What happened to these churches? So, look, I'm not so arrogant to think that the same things that other people fell into could not happen to me. So, I wanted to know where others failed. You know, I don't want to walk through a minefield and step on the exact same mine that somebody else did because there's nothing new under the sun. So, if it's a danger and it happened to other people, it could happen to me, it could happen to us, it could happen here. So, I wanted to know. Alright. Revelation chapter 3. Revelation chapter 3. I wrote this down to what happened to, you know, the old IFB as it's called in the four stages of failure. Please understand that this is one man's perspective. I do not claim to be an expert on this. I just humbly wanted to know and understand how these things happened so I could protect myself and this church from those same things in the future, years down the road. Alright. Revelation chapter 3. Look down to verse number 16. And the Bible says this, so then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, this is talking to a church. I will spew thee out of my mouth. Remember last Sunday when Jesus said you're either with me or against me? This is more of the same. If you just go halfway and you enter that gray zone and you enter, you know, it's not so much what people say in these churches, it's what they've stopped saying in other cases. That's the first stage anyway. So the first thing I want to mention this morning as far as failures of the old IFB is this. They first ended the first verse. That's the first thing that happened. And that breaks into two parts. The first one is they stopped preaching the whole counsel of God. They stopped preaching the whole, now this is for me and this is for the pastor. This is a warning. They stopped preaching the whole counsel of God. Once you stop preaching on sin, people will be drawn towards sin. On the same people will start coming to the church because it's comfortable. Right? Look, this is the importance of the reprobate doctrine. This is a perfect example of why God had to have the reprobate doctrine, why it makes sense in the Bible. Because if you don't have the reprobate doctrine, you will have those types of people that come in your church. And now all of a sudden the church is in danger. The people in the church, the children in the church are in danger and the church should be destroyed from the inside. So God would never let that happen. So they stopped preaching the whole counsel of God. Turn to Jeremiah chapter one. Jeremiah chapter one. I want you to see this. See in that major prophets, if you open up the book of the Bible and the center you will see Psalms and then you get into the major prophets. Jeremiah chapter one. Put down in verse number 17. And the Bible says this. The Bible says, Thou therefore girdleth thy wounds and rise and speak unto them all that I command thee. Be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. So first of all, God is saying, you tell them everything that I told you to say. Period. You tell them everything. And when they're like, you know, because you can tell. I mean, the pastor has said this many times and it's true. You can tell when people don't like what you're saying. And I'm surprised, but it's very true. I can tell. So be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. Look, the Bible is saying, look, confound me. If I stop preaching the word God, the whole thing, he'll confound me. He'll confuse me. So if a pastor decides, you know, I'm just going to say the good stuff. The Bible says, imagine Jeremiah. He's preaching to the people of Judah. They're being threatened by this nation of Babylon that's trying to take them over. And he's just like, you're going to lose. They're going to take you over. Imagine that in America today. If like the Chinese or the Russians were like threatening us. They're going to come and invade us. And there's a real threat of being invaded. Imagine somebody that's just like, yeah, we deserve it. You deserve it. It's going to be terrible. It's going to be bad. You know, just constantly just like you guys are going to be, your women are going to be ripped up and it's going to be, they're going to kill you all and it's going to be horrible. I mean, they hated him. It must have taken, you know, it takes faith. It takes faith to be like, you know what? I'm just going to do what God says no matter what people think. It takes faith. You know, that's something I decided before I got here. If I preach the whole word of God, people aren't going to like it. I just have faith that God will grow this church. And it's not going to be me that grows this church. It's not going to be my great words that grow this church. It's going to be God that grows this church. But I have to preach the whole counsel of God to you. Okay? Romans chapter 2, the Bible says, we saw this a few weeks ago, there's no respecter of persons with God. We've been studying that when it comes to the Jews, but you know what? That applies to me too. And that applies to you. God's not a respecter of persons. If you step into a leadership role in, you know, a church that Jesus Christ is the head of, and you start becoming a little more, he's going to spew you out of his mouth and he's not going to be a respecter because, oh, you know, you tried hard or something. He's not a respecter of persons. That goes for all of us. Turn to Acts chapter 10. Second thing, as far as the first word goes, it applies to you. These churches stop soul winning. Acts chapter 10, God will just read it to you. It says, then Peter opened his mouth and said, of a truth I perceive that God has no respecter of persons. That applies to you as well as to me. And soul winning is a part of the first works that is your responsibility along with my responsibility. Amen. OK? Now, we visited, we recently visited another old IV church. We went on vacation about three weeks ago, or three months ago, before we moved here. We hadn't been back to North Dakota in a very, very long time, two and a half years. So we were like, we better go back. And I have gone to, because when I got saved, we looked for a Baptist church in North Dakota. We looked for one in Bismarck. We looked for one in Minot. We looked for one in all these different towns that were within 80 miles, 90 miles of us. I've gone to a lot of Baptist churches, almost every one I've gone to. And there was one in Dickinson. And I was almost to the point where I was like, you know, I was telling my wife, I was like, you know, I'd rather just YouTube church when we're on vacation, because I can't get myself to walk into one of these churches again. But the pastor of my church, Verity Baptist Church, advised that he advised those people here on vacation, you should not go save the assembly of the believers. So you know what? I took my pastor's advice. And I'm glad I did, because I learned something from it. OK? And I went to a church in Dickinson, North Dakota. And my wife has family there. We have saved people that we know there. So there was a benefit here. I was like, hey, maybe we could find a good church. We could recommend this church to save people. So we looked at their website. They had some repent of your sins stuff in there. But I'm just like, I'm super positive. And I'm like, maybe he doesn't understand it. I was meaning to have a nice conversation and ask the pastor about his gospel and what he believed before we left. So I could recommend this church to our same family members that were in the area. So we went to this church that he gives the Sunday morning sermon. And it's on the demon-possessed man. I just want to give you my attitude when I was at this church. The demon-possessed man in the tombs who had legion, you know, all the different demons in him. And this pastor gave a sermon on how everybody could be saved. And this demon-possessed man, he said, was the raunchiest of the raunchy. And I'm like, where's he going with this? You know, but I'm like, Jeremy positive. Quit being so negative. Just give him the benefit of every doubt. Right? And then he talks about how it's so important for people to get saved. And they go on visitation. And we have to get people saved, saved, saved, saved. And I'm like, they must have a soul when he mentioned it. So I didn't even ask about the gospel. The first thing the pastor came up, I had to talk to him to me after the service. And he introduced himself. And I said, hey, see you guys go swimming here. From the serpent. And the guy, like, freaks out. I mean, you ask Derek. He would stand right next to me. I said it in the nicest way. See you guys go swimming here. He got beet red. He started sweating. I'm not kidding. Like, beans of sweat. I'm like, what in the world have I just asked? And he's like, we don't do confrontational soul when you get in this church. And we don't do it. My people don't need to have doors slammed in their face. You have to read the culture, he said. You have to read the culture of a church. And the culture of this community just won't put up with this. And it was like 10 minutes. I'm just waiting for a breath. So I can say, hey, I don't want to keep it from your people. Have a nice day and just get out of it. Right? I'm waiting for him to take a breath. But what? They quit soul winning. Then he made some reference to how one guy came to church and they got somebody saved in the last six months. Woo! Got one! You know, it's crazy. The guy who's Paul is just with confrontational soul winning. These people that go out comfort. You know, I used to do that. You know, and just, he just went off. And I did a miracle the entire time. One question. One question. So they stopped the first works. They stopped the first works. The second point here, the second thing that happens, turn your Bibles to Revelation chapter 2. So they stopped the first works. What happens if you stop the first works? Revelation chapter 2, look down at verse number 1. Revelation chapter 2, verse number 1. Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write, these things say of he that hath the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience, and thou thou canst not bear them which are evil. And thou hast tried them who say they are apostles and are not, and has bound them wires, and has borne and has patience, and for my name's sake, has labored and has not fainted. They're doing a lot of good things. Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. What is that? Remember therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of this place, except thou repent. I can tell you that the churches that I was in, and the church that I was in, in North Dakota, before I moved to California, that candlestick was gone years before I got there. I can see it clear as day when I look back on it now. In Matthew 16, 18, Jesus says, And I say unto thee, and thou art here upon this rock, will I build my church, that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. This is not my church. This is the Lord Jesus Christ's church. And he will build this church. And when this candlestick is gone, when I stop doing these first works, when you stop solving, when we stop doing what we're supposed to be doing, the candlestick will be removed, and he will stop building this church. It's that simple. That's what happens. And that's what has happened. To me, I look back, there was actually a missionary that came around because our pastor didn't have any missionary that had anything. Just come on in and do whatever. And here was a mission to dying Baptist church. This was his mission. I go around, and my pastor told me about this. He's like, this guy, his mission is great. He comes around to dying churches like ours, and gives the pastor a break. No way, are you serious? Didn't you just say that? That was the guy's mission. Because there's so many dying Baptist churches. They're dying. Why are they dying? The candlestick's gone because the sheep begin to scatter. That's why. Turn to Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23. The sheep begin to scatter. The candlestick's gone. They're not doing the first works. And guess what? If you stop doing the first works, your Christianity's going to fade. If the pastor starts to stop preaching the word of God, you're going to fade out. You're going to stop having that joy. The next thing that David said in Psalms, when he said, restore unto me the joy of my salvation, is that now I'll go teach your word of a psalmody. That's what he said. Jeremiah 23. Look at verse number 1. Oh, unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pastor, sayeth the Lord. That's scary. Therefore, let us sayeth the word of God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people. You have scattered my flock and driven them away. They have not visited them. Behold, I will visit upon you the evil things that you're doing, sayeth the Lord. So there's sheep begin to scatter, and the pastor begins to panic. This is my experience. This is the best scene. Maybe it's not yours. This is mine. The pastor begins to panic, so he starts all these controlling methods. He starts all these controlling methods, holding your salvation over your head. You don't listen. If you guys don't like what I'm saying right now, are you even saved? If you don't think I'm the most interested preacher in the world, are you even saved? Check your salvation. Somebody texted me this morning. It was going to be 20 minutes late. Are you even saved, Ben? Check it. I've heard it. You laugh. It's not a joke. It's happening. Whoa, that's one of those pastors. It's morning over God's heritage. And you know what? It's the same thing as the Catholics. Why do you think the Catholics came up with the infant baptism? It's not in the Bible. Because you've got to come to us to get your kids to heaven. You want these kids to go to heaven? You've got to come here. You've got to walk through the doors of that building and put money in the plate if you want to go to heaven. You want your kids to go to heaven? You want your kids to be buried by this church in the church cemetery? You better come here if you want to. If you want to get forgiven for your sins, you better come and come to mass. You better come to confession. But guess what? We control. It's the same thing. They're headed down this road. It's disgusting. It eventually leads to this type of heresy. This is where repenting your sins doctrine comes from. Because the candlestick's gone. They haven't been preaching against sin. You guys are all getting worldly. If you don't turn off your sins, you're probably not even safe. The pastor freaks out. That's where it comes from. What does that pastor believe and what does he not believe? It's confusing. Who even knows? What do you think that they start bringing in unsaved preachers now? They were born in repenting your sins. They were never saved. They didn't go to it. They were never saved in the first place. And they're coming in and he's like, OK, well, maybe he'll just generally turn their lives around by threatening their salvation. And it's allowed. I've heard it personally. It's crazy. What do you think the same people in that church do? What do you think they do? Gresham's law, I'm going to explain it to you. My grandfather used to collect coins. And in 1962 or something like that, like dimes and quarters before 1962, listen up because this is exactly what's happening. In 1962, before 1962, coins like quarters and dimes used to be 90% silver, real silver. And then after 1962, they went to zinc and copper and worthless metals like that. So what happened was guys like my grandpa would go to the bank and get quarters and nickels and all this kind of stuff. And they'd sort through and they'd find the silver ones and they'd store them off and just hoard them. Gresham's law states that with currency, it's the same. You can apply it to these churches. The bad currency drove out the good. So because they made the coins worthless, the bad currency drove the good coins out of circulation. So now you go try to find a silver quarter. You won't find it because they're gone. So in these churches, Gresham's law applies. The bad drove out the good. The good left is safe to the left. Well, that makes it even worse. Now the snowball just gets bigger and bigger. Did you turn to Matthew 13? Now, it's so hard to understand and to philosophize on who's safe and who's not and what do they always believe. I mean, it's so confusing. Just turn to Matthew 13. I just want to leave you with this when it comes to the bat cloth. How much heresy somebody could preach before. We don't have to sort this out, folks. We don't have to sort it out. God will sort it out. Look at Matthew 13, verse number 24. Another parable put you forth unto them saying, This kingdom of heaven is liken unto a man who would sow a good seed in his field. For all the man who slept, his enemy came, and sowed the tares amongst the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade struck up and brought forth fruit, then a pair of tares also, like weeds, right? So the servants of the householder came and said unto them, Sir, didst thou sow a good seed in the field, and from whence then hath it tares? And he said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servant said unto him, Well, thou then, will we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay, lest of all they gather up the tares, he brought up also the wheat with them. Let them both grow together and tell harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye first the tares, and bind them into bundles and burn them, but gather the wheat into my heart. God will sort it out. You don't have to stress ourselves out. We have to recognize the doctrine. That's what we have to do. We're not sitting here and just like go around in mental circles about how something could have happened like this. You know, that's how it happens. It's about control. It's about the candlestick being removed, the sheep scattered, and the shepherd starts to panic and just starts all these controlling methods. It's not rocket surgery. That's exactly what I've seen happen. Turn to 1 Samuel 15. Here's another thing that happens. This is a side note, but another thing that happens is this. The wrong type of men now begin going into the ministry. Okay? Because they have a fundamental misunderstanding of what the ministry is. They believe that there's supposed to be these people that just stand up and just give all this good news and just have everybody love them. But let's look at the kind of men that should go into the ministry. Look at 1 Samuel 15. Look down at verse number 31. So then Samuel turned again after Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord. Then said Samuel, bring ye hither to the Agag, the king of the Amichlites, not the Melichites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, surely the bitterness of death was past. This is somebody that was supposed to be a wicked king that they have defeated. And Samuel said, yes, thy sword hath made women childless. So shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the board of Gilgal. Samuel's this old man, and he just packs this guy to pieces. I mean, look at Gideon. Judges 8 verse 5, verse number 5, I'll just read it for you. And he said unto the men of Succoth, give I pray you, wolves of bread unto the people that follow me. For they be faint, and I am pursuing after Zeba and Salmuna, kings of Midian. He's asking the princes of Succoth for food. The princes of Succoth said, are the hands of Zeba and Salmuna now on my hand? That we should give bread unto thine army? They're saying, we're not going to give you any bread. But Gideon said, therefore, when the Lord hath delivered Zeba and Salmuna in my hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and the briars of death. Exactly what he did. These were serious men. These guys weren't joking around. So how does it end? So how does it end for these situations? It ends one of two ways. The way I've seen it end is the church just fizzles out and dies. Okay, that's been my experience. That the church fizzles out and dies. This church that I was telling you about in North Dakota, the guy's been there 22 years, he's in his mid-60s, and there's 20 people in the church. You go into the church, it smells like death. It's just, this is nothing. This is a dead church. I'm not saying those people aren't saved, they're just dead. They're not doing anything. Or, man's words start building the church. And now we're leaning down the road of megachurch stuff. People realize that, hey, if I just use man's words, and I just preach good news, and I just teach prosperity gospel, the people will come here and I just water down this message. Completely water it down. Then, if I can give answers like, ask God who you are, and not what you are, and all other answers are found in that, then more people will come here. I mean, that's how it works. It goes one of two ways. Most of them are just dying. That's my experience. They're just dying. So, how do we take criticism from these types of people? Criticism from the liberals. So, to the heretic, turn to 2 Peter 2. 2 Peter 2. 2 Peter 2. Are you there? Look at verse number 1. The Bible says this. That there were false prophets, also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who clearly shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. So, to the heretic, go to hell. That's what I say. To the Catholic priest, go to hell. I hate the Catholic church. There's your hate speech. I hate it. I hate the priest. I hate the pope. I hate the whole organization. And I hope they die and go to hell as soon as possible. The priest and the pope. God. Really? Because we're the ones out there getting the Catholics saved. I love the Catholic. I wish I could find more humble Catholics and find them fast. Because the Bible says that we should save with fear, pulling them out of the fire. And the reason that I hate them is because they're lighting the fire. And these people are walking towards the fire every day of their life. These people are getting closer and closer to the fire. And the priest is starting the fire and keeping it hot. And we need to get to them and give them the gospel and say that we love the Catholics sitting in the pew. We've got you. Tons of Catholics saved. Everybody in here is a soul winner. Find humble Catholics are some of the easiest people you can save. The humble Catholics. Because it's so clear. The difference in the Bible is so clear from what their wicked priest is teaching them. It's such an easy difference to show them. The Bible says in Matthew 23, verse 15, Woe to the inscribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you come to see and land to make one cross like when he is made and taken to full more in the trial of God than yourselves. I have no sympathy to these people. To the saved people who criticize us. You know, the leaders of these old churches that are dying, that are falling out. Look, you just need to be silent. You've lost the war. I don't know what to tell you. You know, this pastor called us. My wife had talked to his wife or his daughter-in-law or something. And mentioned where we go to church. This is the rest of the story. And mentioned where we go to church. And I just said thank you and we left. And I didn't argue with that man about soul winning or anything. I'm not there to cause trouble in somebody else's church. And we left. And my wife had mentioned that you go to Verde Baptist Church. And the lady kept saying, that's not so familiar. Is he part of this Bible college? And my wife said, I don't think so. You know, probably not. But I get a call or a text message. And I get a text message about three hours later saying, hey brother Jared, this is pastor whatever. We really just want to let you know we don't have a Wednesday night service. And I was like, oh okay. Cause they had to rent the building he sent to somebody else or something about that. And driving home that next week, I had my wife check the website. I was like, I wonder if they had Wednesday night service. I never would have thought they would. But just check. And sure enough, they had Wednesday night service and they preached against these new Baptist churches. But the coward sends me a text message. And you know, cause they're against us. They're against us. You know, imagine this pastor, 22 years. A dead church of 20 people. You know, this is basically the equivalent of a burnt battlefield. And someone running in retreat. And screaming in fear. And as you're marching towards the enemy, they're trying to tell you how to fight the battle. I mean that's crazy. Just be silent. You burn your battlefield down and you've lost the war, it's fine. Just be silent about it. Get in the fight or get out of the way. That's what it boils down to. Look, there's over 30 churches last time I counted in this movement. Independent churches, I understand that. And I don't even really like talking about the movement that much. These churches are just... If there's ever a revival that's been happening, it's happening now. We're seeing it. It's so exciting to be part of it. So I just want to give you, as we close, I know I'm going to live that long. I want to give you three goals that are in my mind for this church. And I know it's not my church. This is, you know, Jesus Christ Church. I'm not the pastor of this church either. But these are three goals when I came here that I wanted to be able to lead in this direction. The first thing is this. We need to get strong. What does that mean? I used to listen to this Christian financial advisor years and years ago. And he would field all these phone calls. And all these people would ask this question. You get this common question. Somebody is like $30,000 in credit card debt. And he calls into the show and he's like, Well, you know, I've got $30,000 in credit card debt. I've got five cars and I'm going to lay it off. And my brother-in-law wants to borrow money. What should I do? You know, and the guy would always say, He's like, Hey, you need to get yourself right. You need to get your debt out of the way. You can't help somebody else while you're drowning. It's a good analogy. It's a good analogy for this church. Because what we need to do is we need to get strong here. We need strong leaders. We need strong marriages in this church. We need strong families. We need strong young people. We need solid soul winning in this church. We need solid, thorough, effective soul winning in this church. And then we can go on to step number two, which is we can build, now we can go help people. We can build this community. We can go out door to door and we can actually affect this community in this church. Us, we can do it. This is all part of people that are here. We can affect change. We're already doing it. We're doing one and two together here. In parallel with this church already. We saw 98 people saved already. We've only been here like five minutes. It's great. Turn to Hebrews 4. Chapter number 12. You've already read this. Read it again. But that's your responsibility. That's something that you can do seeing in the chairs today that can help these goals. Solid soul winning will make a difference in this community. One person at a time. The Bible says in Hebrews 4 and 12, the word of God is quick and powerful, the sharpener than any two-edged sword, piercing even the dividing of the sunder, the soul and spirit, the joints and marrow. It's to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. We need to learn how to use this sword. And we need to use it. Amen. The third thing is, once we get good at this, once we get strong, we start affecting this community. Look, we can affect the world. I'm telling you, we here can affect the world. The Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento has effects on the world. That small group of Bible-meaning Christians in Sacramento, they are affecting the world. Turn to Acts 17. The Bible says in Mark 16, that they are going into all the world and preach the gospel to every preacher. Look at Acts 16. Acts 17, I'm sorry. The Bible says in verse number 6, when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren into the ruins of the city, crying, these that have turned the world upside down are come together also. People can be saying that about us. That's the goal, is that these that have turned the world upside down have come to Fresno also. Can you say that about us? Look, in five years, we've been kind of joking around about this whole, you know, we're going to look back and say, hey, remember five years from now, we're going to look back and say, hey, remember how we used to do this, remember we had these small tables, and remember how we used to put the offerings in a toolbox that rocks, and remember how we, you know, because we're trying to, you know, be smart, and the church is mighty, and be good stewards of this church. But you know what, five years, you all can look, and you can say, you know what, we are turning this world upside down, and I'm coming. Think of it. Think of it, you, me, who would have ever thought, I think about that all the time, who would have ever thought that I would be so blessed by God, I don't deserve it, where God would allow me to be part of this work, who would have thought, and you just wait, if we get strong, if we forget about all the criticism, who cares about the criticism of all these people, running the other way, let them run. In five years, in five years we could be, we could be turning this world upside down. And that's the goal. And you know what, the apostates, let's get to them. Let's get to them as fast as we can. And let's pull them out of the fire. Because all these wicked bulls are trying to send them to hell as fast as they can. Let's get to them here. Let's get strong here, and let's turn the world upside down. It's that simple. Let's bow our hands and have a word of prayer. We thank you for your word, we thank you for these lessons, we thank you for the opportunity to be part of a work like this. I pray that you just, you help us to just put the naysayers out of our minds, Lord, and just look forward, and just put our hands to the bottle and just drive forward here. We know what to do. Give us strength to get in this fight, to stay in this fight, Lord. Give us wisdom. Be with me as I preach your word, where I thank you for your word, and I thank you for this opportunity for the rest of today and the rest of our week. In Jesus' name, Amen.