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Amen, John chapter 20, so I'm going to preach kind of a special sermon on John chapter 20 tonight. I'm going to get through the first few verses fairly quickly, and I want to focus on one verse that is kind of an obscure verse that's used differently by a lot of false teachers and things of that nature, but the title of the sermon tonight is three Bible reading lessons, so I'm going to use this verse to teach you three Bible reading techniques or lessons, or I guess methodologies maybe is a better word. Three ways to look at the Bible and to also be able to tell if somebody is teaching something that is false. By applying one or all of these three things, you'll be able to flush out nearly all, I don't want to say all, but most false doctrines. Use or violate these three Bible reading methodologies, all right? So let's look down at John chapter 20, we're looking at the resurrection of Jesus Christ here in this chapter. Let's look down at the first few verses, I'll point out a few things in the first few verses of this chapter, and then we'll get to the verse I want to talk about, but look down at verse number one. The Bible says, the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, and it was yet dark unto the sepulcher, and seeeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher. And she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, this is John, and sayeth unto him, they have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulcher, and they ran both together, and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulcher. And he stooping down, looking in, saw the linen clothes lying, when he went not in, but yet he went he not in. Then come a Simon Peter following him, he comes in behind him, and went into the sepulcher and seeing the linen clothes lie, and the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. That's an interesting just verse right there, that the part that was about his head was not with the rest of the linen clothes, but it was wrapped together in a place by itself. I don't know if you ever heard about like the Shroud of Turin, you know, it was found out to be a fraud I think in the 90s or something along those lines, but this verse was kind of the verse that that was taking. If you remember what the Shroud of Turin looked like, it was this like this old looking cloth with like a man's face like silhouetted in it, you know, and they're like, oh, this was the cloth that was in, over Jesus's face, all right, is what the claim was. It was found out to be a fraud from, I don't know, the 13th century or something like that. But anyway, all that to say that there was a cloth over his head, then there was the rest of the linen clothes. Then went also that other disciple, this is John, who came first to the sepulcher and saw and believed, for as yet as they knew not the scripture that he must rise again from the dead, so not even thinking that Jesus would rise again, even though he mentioned it to him several times, then the disciples went away again unto their own home. But Mary stood without the sepulcher weeping, and as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the sepulcher. And seeth two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Now this is interesting. Turn to Exodus chapter 25, if you would. Turn to Exodus chapter number 25. So just to prove to you that nothing is in the Bible by accident, we see these two angels and one, two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus was lain. So we see where Jesus was, and there's one angel sitting where his feet were and one angel sitting where his head was. If you look at Exodus chapter 25 and look at verse number 18, actually look at verse number 16. This is talking about the Ark of the Covenant, all right? If you look at the Ark of the Covenant, if you remember the design of the Ark of the Covenant, there was two angels that were surrounding a certain part of the Ark of the Covenant. Look at verse number 17. It says, and thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, and of beaten work shall thou make them in the two ends of the mercy seat. So here we see this picture of the mercy seat, which is where, if you turn to Hebrews chapter nine, go to Hebrews chapter nine, the mercy seat, of course, is where the blood was sprinkled of the bulls and the goats, you know, when they did the sacrifices that pictured, you know, the coming Christ in the Old Testament. If you look at Hebrews chapter number nine, but anyway, the mercy seats where they sprinkled the blood to picture Christ, it wasn't the actual Christ, but if you look at verse number nine of Hebrews chapter nine, the Bible says this, talking about, it's showing you what the mercy seat was for, and it says, which was a figure for the time then present, which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect pertaining to the conscience, which stood only in meats and drinks and diverse washings and cardinal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation. This is why we don't follow the meats and drinks and the cardinal ordinances of the Levitical law, because that was just a picture of Christ to come. But the point is, the mercy seat is where the blood of the bulls and the goats and the calves was sprinkled. And the Bible says that, you know, that didn't remit sins, it was just a picture of Christ's blood on the mercy seat that would actually remit sins. So look at verse number 12, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he, this is talking about Jesus Christ, he entered into, now it talks about in, you know, Hebrews chapter nine, I don't want to spend a ton of time on this, but that, you know, the high priest would enter into the holy place once a year. But the Bible here is saying that Christ entered into the holy place once. Okay. He entered into the holy place by his own bloody, entered into, into, in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. So that's a picture of the completeness of Jesus's sacrifice. That's a picture of eternal security. That's a picture of, you know, just how the mercy seat and the arc of the covenant with the two angels was, you know, just a picture of the coming Christ of the blood that would actually be spilt once and for all the Bible says. And it's interesting that you see these two angels, one at the feet and one at the head of, you know, the blood that was actually going to eternally save us. It's just kind of a cool little picture there. All right. So anyway, that's not the point of the sermon. I just wanted to point that out, but go ahead and go back to John chapter 20. All right. Go back to John chapter 20. Everything in the Bible is there by accident. Whenever you see these little details, you know, there's always things that God is trying to point out to us there. It's just kind of perfect how everything was done exactly how God wanted it to happen. Look at verse number 14. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back and saw Jesus standing and knew not that it was Jesus. And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou wilt have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away. And Jesus said unto her, Mary, she turned herself and saith unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, Master. So we don't know what Jesus looked like at this time, why she didn't recognize him, but she eventually does recognize her. And then he says that he has not ascended. He's not in his glorified body yet. He says to her, Touch me not, for I'm not ascended to my father, but go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my father and your father and to my God and your God. And look at verse number 18. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen. So remember the disciples at this point, they just knew that he was gone. She was the first one to see him. So now she knows that he is back, that he has risen from the dead. And she told the disciples she had seen the Lord and he had spoken these things unto her. Then that same day at evening being the first day of the week and notice this first day of the week, of course, is Sunday. All right, so here's for all the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Seventh-day Adventists for having church on Saturday, which is the least of their problems. But when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled. So they were in church here. They were kind of having a closed door or what we would call like, you know, Ninja Church, right from the COVID days, they were closed door because they didn't want to, the Jews were still after the people that were following Jesus. They said, for fear of the Jews, then came Jesus and stood in the midst and saith unto them, peace be unto you. So now Jesus is in the midst of their church service talking to all the disciples. And when he had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side, then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, peace be unto you as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said unto them, receive ye the Holy Ghost. And this is where we get, you know, the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. This isn't the baptism of the Holy Ghost, it's just that indwelling of the Holy Ghost begins here. And then look at verse number 23, which is really where I want to focus this on these three Bible tips that I'm going to give you tonight. I'm going to apply it to verse number 23, where the Bible says, whosoever sins ye remit are remitted unto them and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained. All right. So look, there's a lot of false doctrine that comes from this verse right here. And I'm going to show you some, you know, most of that false doctrine tonight. But I want to show you three Bible reading tips and how to, you know, kind of expose false doctrine, make sure that you're reading the Bible properly. I want to show you that and apply it to this verse and other verses like this. This isn't one of the easiest verses in the Bible to understand. When you read, you know, a verse like that, where Jesus literally says like, hey, you're going to be able to go out and remit sins or not remit sins. What does that mean? All right. What does that mean? So I want to give you three tips tonight in reading the Bible to make sure you don't make mistakes when interpreting your own Bible reading. All right. And also this will show you, you know, how other people are using, you know, things that go against these three tips or three methodologies to teach false doctrine. All right. So the first tip is an important one. And I preached on this maybe a year ago in the Book of Acts, but the first tip in reading the Bible is a simple tip, but you need a KJV. You have to have a King James version of the Bible. You cannot say that there are no contradictions in the Bible if you do not have a King James Bible. And I'm going to show you right now one of the most confusing false doctrines with modern Bible versions in the Bible that affects the gospel. I believe personally, and it might just be because of my background, but I believe that this verse right here and this false doctrine that I'm going to teach you from or this mistake in false Bible versions is probably the most serious in my opinion when it comes to the gospel. Obviously the gospel is the most important thing, but if you have a false Bible version and it literally messes up the gospel in multiple places, in dozens of places all across the Bible, that is a serious thing. So first of all, you need a KJV, you need a King James version of the Bible because the other Bibles simply have contradictions and mistakes on purpose. On purpose. And I'll show you that tonight. But if you look at John chapter 20 and verse number 23 in your King James Bible, you see the word remitted used. You see the word remission, remitted unto them and whose sins you retain, they are retained. You see the word remit and remitted. What does that mean? That means a relinquishment of payment is what the application definition means. It means a remission or relinquishment of payment or an obligation. So it's saying that the wages, I mean, what are the wages for your sin? The wages of sin the Bible teaches is death. And what the word remission is saying is that if you have your sins remitted, you don't owe that second death as the Bible teaches us. We don't owe that spiritual death if our sins are remitted. All right. Now turn to John chapter 20 and verse number 23 in your NIV. You obviously don't have an NIV with you tonight, so I'm just going to read you the NIV version of these verses. I'm going to have you turn to several King James verses to prove this point because there is a lot of verses that make this same mistake. So John 20, 23 in NIV says this, if you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. Turn to Matthew chapter 6 and verse number 15. We see that the NIV and many of the modern Bible versions switch the word remitted or remission with forgive and forgiveness. And they make that switch. You say, what's the big deal? It sounds about the same. Look at Matthew chapter 6 and verse number 15. The Bible says this. So John chapter number 20 and verse number 23, if we look back, here's the problem. If we look back at what Jesus says in John chapter 20 and verse number 23, he says that you are either going to be in a situation where you can remit their sins or you can't remit their sins, meaning you can decide. He's saying, you know, whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted and he's saying whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained. So there's going to be cases where people have their sins remitted and they don't have their sins remitted, all right? And he's saying that somehow these disciples are going to be part of that process of people that are remitted and people that aren't remitted. That's what Jesus is saying, all right? Now look at Matthew 6, 15. The Bible says, but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses. So we already have a Bible contradiction right there because the NIV says, you know, you can either forgive them or not forgive them. And then in Matthew 6, 15, and the NIV says forgive thereto, I'll read you the NIV verse. It says, but if you do not forgive others their sins, your father will not forgive your sins. So the contradiction, if we just use the NIV, Jesus is literally saying to the disciples, if you forgive them, I'll forgive them. If you don't forgive them, I won't forgive them. And then literally it says, you must forgive everyone or you're not forgiven in the next verse. Contradiction in the Bible. By changing up remission and forgiveness, we already have a Bible contradiction, all right? But look, the Bible does not contradict itself. The King James Bible doesn't contradict itself, but the NIV clearly does, all right? So let's talk about remission. Turn to Matthew chapter 26 and verse number 28. Remission, just to give you the answer as we go to a few verses here, but remission is exclusively talking about salvation in the Bible. When it talks about your sins being remitted, it is talking about you no longer owing that penalty of hell for your sins. That's what remission means, all right? Matthew 26, 28, I'll just read you a couple of verses. For this is the blood, this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Turn to Romans chapter 3 and verse number 25. I'll read for you Acts 10 verse 43. You turn to Romans chapter 3. The Bible says in Acts 10, 43, to him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. Clearly talking about salvation. So believeth in him, believing on Jesus equals remission of sins, all right? Romans 3, 25, whom God had set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the what? For the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God, saying that God is going to allow this replacement. God is going to accept this sacrifice of Jesus Christ to let go of the obligation of the death that you owe in the eternity that you owe in hell for committing the sins, all right? That is what remission is. Now turn to Mark chapter 11. Now turn to Mark chapter 11. Remission and forgiveness are not the same word with the same meaning in the King James Bible, all right? Look at verse number 25 of Mark chapter 11. The Bible says in Mark chapter 11 verse 25, it says, and when you stand praying, forgive if you have ought against any that your father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. That is not a salvation verse. That is talking about ought against any, against any who. It's talking about relationships with people. That's talking about if you have problems with anybody, if you have trouble with anybody. It's just saying forgive that your father which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. What does that mean? Look, you can be in a situation where your sins are remitted. If you're saved, your sins are remitted, but you still need to have a relationship with the Lord just like you need to have a relationship with your brothers and sisters in Christ. It can be a good one or it can be a bad one. The Bible is just talking about this correlation between the amount of mercy that God is going to show you and the amount of mercy that you show others, all right? That's a sermon in itself. Turn to Matthew chapter 18. Look at verse number 21. Matthew chapter 18, verse number 21, the Bible says, then Peter came to him and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Till seven times? Then, of course, Jesus gives the famous answer of no, 70 times seven. Look, you're not supposed to go and do the math on that and be like, all right, 490 times and 491 and you're done, buddy. He's saying just keep forgiving people. He's saying that your forgiveness should be deep and it should be just consistent. It should be continuous. You should forgive your brother. Forgiveness in the King James Bible is talking about personal relationships. Turn to 1 John chapter 1 and verse number 9. Personal relationships with your brothers and sisters as Peter was talking about with church members, with people outside church, just your neighbor, period, all right? And look, it's even talking about your personal relationship with your heavenly father. Look at 1 John chapter 1 and verse number 9. The Bible says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Again, not a salvation verse. Forgiveness. It's talking about getting right with God and staying right with God. It's talking about, look, you should confess your sins. You should confess your sins in your prayers. You should confess your sins to your heavenly father on a regular basis. Why? So you can have a good relationship with him because then he will reset things with you. He will forgive you. He will have mercy upon you. Look, the Bible talks about in Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 12, just because you're saved doesn't mean you're not going to have chastisement from your heavenly father. If you're a son, you're going to be chastised as a son. If you're adopted into God's family, he's going to chastise you because he loves you. And the Bible is saying, get right, stay right, confess your sins. Confess your sins and he'll cleanse you from all unrighteousness, all right? Look at Matthew chapter 6 and look at verse number 14. Matthew chapter 6 and verse number 14. Matthew chapter 6 and verse number 14, again, just correlating how forgiving you are to how forgiving or merciful God is going to be towards you is a direct correlation. Look, this is super important to understand this. If you're just this harsh, unmerciful, unforgiving person, that's how God's going to be with you. God's going to just go straight to the harshest chastisement, the harshest sentence that he can give you on everything that you do. That's not where I want to be in my life. Look at verse 14. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you. But if you forgive men not their trespasses, neither will your father forgive you your trespasses. It's talking about mercy versus chastisement. Because what are you doing if you're withholding forgiveness from somebody? If somebody is asking you for forgiveness especially, and by the way, forgiveness is a one-way street. You're supposed to forgive whether somebody is asking you for forgiveness or not. You're like, that's tough. It is tough at times. It is a hard thing to do. That's what you're supposed to do. That is exercising mercy with people. The Bible says that mercy will not go unanswered because God is going to be extremely merciful to you if you are a merciful person. So look, don't get too cynical in your life. We all struggle with getting cynical. We just get cynical and we focus on the negative things constantly and it's easy to get wrapped up in that and just become this negative, cynical, merciless person. It's possible for anybody to fall into that, but God is warning us again and again against that. Can you imagine how confused you would be if you equated remission with forgiveness? If you had an NIV and you only had one word to use, you had the word forgiveness used with all this salvation and then you had the word forgiveness used with all these relationships including your relationship with God. Of course you would think you could lose your salvation. Of course you would be confused on verses that seem to sound like there's eternal security and then verses like 1 John 1-9. If you apply that to salvation, you're a confused individual. You know what you would be called? You would be called a Catholic. You would be called a Protestant. You would be called a Lutheran. That's what they believe and that's why they're so confused about salvation, what it's about, what it takes, what it doesn't take. Let's look at a couple more. Go to Hebrews 10 and verse 18. Hebrews 10 and verse 18. If you don't believe me, let's just look at a couple more. Hebrews 10 and verse 18. Look what the King James Bible says. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Salvation verse? Absolutely. He's talking about salvation here. Hebrews 10 and 18 in the NIV and where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary. Turn to Acts chapter 10 and verse number 43. Acts chapter 10. Actually go to Luke chapter 24. Let's go to Luke chapter 24. I'll read for you Acts chapter 10 and 43. I already read that one I think but again it changes that one to forgiveness as well. You go to Luke chapter 24 and verse number 47. Luke chapter 24, go to verse number 47. The Bible says this and it says that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. Look, repentance. There's false doctrine out there called repent of your sins to be saved but repentance is not a bad word. It is a word that simply means to change your mind, you must repent to be saved. If you're not saved today, you must repent. You must change your mind from unbelief to belief. That's repentance. That is true repentance. If people add to the definition of the word repentance, I mean it's just talking about changing your mind. That's why God can repent so many times in the Bible. There's not just this addition of your sins that people add to the word. The point is repentance and remission of sins should be preached. This is talking about salvation and having, once you've repented and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, your sins are remitted. You no longer owe that obligation of debt. In the NIV it says, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. Now, it switches forgiveness and repentance, you know, it replaces remission, sorry, with forgiveness in every instance but you say, well, maybe it would switch to remission on the other side where it uses forgiveness in the King James Bible but no, it leaves forgiveness there and that makes it even worse. That's what makes it confusing because they take the salvation verses and they use the same word that the King James Bible uses for relationships and this is where you get this confusion. Look, it's sinister. It's sinister and it's why Protestants and Catholics are so confused. I mean, could you imagine every time the Bible talked about forgiveness, you applied that to salvation, what in the world? You would be very confused reading the Bible. Look, I know you would be because I've done it. I've read the Bible with that understanding and it makes no sense because it basically equates to works-based salvation is what it turns into. I mean, you confess, you confess your sins, you forgive your brother, you know, you essentially have to be a good Christian to be saved, to stay saved, all right? Look, you have to have a King James Bible. That's the first point. Everybody here knows that point but let's go back to John chapter 20. Let me give you the second point. Let's go back to this idea of what Jesus is talking about here. Can we remit sins, all right? Can you walk up to somebody and put your hand on their forehead and say, I remit your sins through the power of whatever vested in me, I remit your sins and then brother Benjamin would shake and fall backwards and his sins would be remitted. Do I have that power? As a pastor, do you have that power as a soul winner? The second Bible reading tip is this. Read the context of the verse. So I'm going to show you how to find the context of the verse, an easy shotgun method to find the context of a verse is just to back up four verses and then read four verses in front of it. I mean, that's an easy way but I want to show you specifically how to find the context of the verse, all right? Because look, many, many, many false doctrines are based on one single obscure verse taken out of context. And to defeat this, just read a few verses before and a few verses after. Go back to John chapter 20 and let's find the context of Jesus' verse. Let's go back. Let's just go back. Let's get crazy. Let's go back to verse 18. All right? Verse 18 of John chapter 20 and let's look for the context of John chapter 20 and verse number 23. The Bible says, Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that He had spoken these things unto her. Then that same day at evening, being the first day of the week when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and said unto them, peace be unto you. And when He had so said, He showed unto them His hands and His side and then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, peace be unto you as My Father has sent Me, even so I send you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said unto them, receive ye the Holy Ghost and whosoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them and whosoever sins ye retain, they are retained. Now look at verse number 24. You see a shift in verse number 24. It says, but Thomas and then it goes into this situation with Thomas. So that's kind of a different thing, right? That's kind of a different event that happens where Thomas is going to kind of doubt and have all this, you know, doubting. So that's not really part of the context of what Jesus just said. That's kind of something different that's happening. But how far back do we have to go into the context? Look at verse 20, where He showed him His hands inside, then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So here we see Jesus, He kind of proves it's Him by showing them the wounds from His crucifixion. But look at verse 21. It says, then said Jesus. So Jesus starts speaking and teaching whatever He's going to teach that leads into verse 23 in verse 21. So you see how we were able to find the context here from, you know, then meaning next. It means like next said Jesus, all right? So it's kind of another shift. So we can identify the context of verse 23 as really verse 21, 22, and 23. You see how we found the context there? But if you would just go back and read four verses and then read four verses after, you still would have gotten it, all right? But there are some, like, verses in the Bible, and I'll show you in James chapter 2, where you kind of need to read more than just four verses back and four verses forward. But the point I'm trying to get you to see here is that the context of verse 23 is verse 21, 22, and 23. You see that? All right? Now, how are sins remitted? Well, let's just go back and look at the context. Now that we know where it is, let's look at verse 21. Then said Jesus to them again, peace be unto you, and then look what He says. As my Father has sent me, even so send I you. Where are we sent? Where are we sent, and what are we sent to do? We are sent, I mean, Mark 16, 15, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That's where we're sent. We are sent to go out and preach the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We're going out there to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that is what He is talking about when He says you can retain or you can remit sins. Through what? Through the gospel. Through preaching the gospel. You say, well, what do you mean sins you retain? How could I retain? Well, turn to Matthew chapter 10. How could I possibly retain someone's sins? Well, it's kind of a figure of speech. When I don't go, when I choose to not preach the gospel in a certain neighborhood or a certain city, you could figuratively say that, according to what Jesus is saying in verse 23, that I'm retaining the sins in that city. Look at Matthew chapter 10 of verse number 14 for an example. The Bible says, and whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Look, He's talking about just places being unreceptive and not receiving as many people there to preach the gospel as could possibly be received there. I mean, look, Christians make decisions all the time on where to preach the gospel. So, decisions aside, I mean, we do this like every single week here. We do this, I mean, we've been doing this in our new soul winning area in Clovis. We've reached some places, look, eventually we want to knock every door, I get that, but there's going to be some doors that we knock more. There's going to be some neighborhoods that we simply knock more. Neighborhoods around this church, we have knocked three times, some of them four times. They're very receptive, and every single time we go back there, we keep getting more and more people saved. So we're making decisions like that, but if we shake the dust off our feet because there's an area of town that is just horribly receptive, why would we make a decision like that? Because, I mean, look, there's degrees to this, I get it, but it's just a better use of resources to put soul winners where there's going to be more people that want to hear it. So we make those types of decisions on just depending on who is receiving it, who is receiving the word. We do it every week here. All right, so look, that's context for you, just the context of Jesus saying literally two verses before that he's sending us, and we know that he's sending us to preach the gospel. Here's another one. Here's another example of context here. This is one of my favorites. Turn to Matthew chapter six, Matthew chapter number six. Let me just give you an example of somebody taking something completely out of context, and if you would just look at the context of the verse itself, it would have saved an entire false religion from doing silly things. Look at verse number nine of Matthew chapter number six. This of course is where we get the Lord's Prayer. I had to memorize this, of course, when I was a kid, and then we said it in every church service, so it was something that was very easily tattooed into your mind. In Matthew chapter six and verse number nine, the Bible says, and this is where Catholics get the Lord's Prayer and say this over and over again, say 10 Our Fathers for your sins or whatever the priest says to you, like praying to God is a punishment. I mean, what in the world? I mean, that doesn't make any sense anyway. Verse number nine, it says after this manner, therefore, pray ye, our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, and then he goes through the rest of the wording of the Lord's Prayer, but what does that mean? He goes through and he lists the wording of the Lord's Prayer, and he says after this manner, pray ye. What does that mean? Does that mean repeat this over and over, and this is the prayer that you should constantly just repeat again and again and again throughout your entire life? Is that what it means? But if they just would read a couple of verses before. Look at verse number three. Let's go all the way up to verse number three. See if we can find the context again. I mean, we would repeat it over and over every single church service. We would repeat the Lord's Prayer. It's a penance in the Catholic church. It's a punishment. You want to get to heaven and you've done some sins. Go say the Lord's Prayer 15 times or whatever, and then you're forgiven. I mean, weird stuff comes from this verse. Look at verse number three of Matthew six. It says, but when thou doest alms, but not that left hand know what thy right hand doeth, that thine alms may be in secret, thy father which seeth in secret, himself shall reward thee openly. So that's talking about giving alms, like giving money to the poor. So that's probably not the context we're looking for, but look at verse five. And when thou prayest, thou shalt see. Now we're talking about praying, so now we've got proper context. So I'm thinking verse number five is where our context starts for verse number nine. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. So don't go and pray out loud just to be seen by people praying. But thou when thou prayest, enter in thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy father which is in secret, and thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. You shouldn't be like, you know, sitting out on, you know, in public with beads, like, you know, praying with your hands in the air, seeing, you know, you're doing that for show, and you have your own reward, the Bible says. If you want to talk to God, God is saying, go in private and talk to me in private. All right? But look at verse number seven. It says, and when we pray, look at this. Use not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Go say 10 Hail Marys and the rosary 20 times and, you know, seven Our Fathers and you're forgiven. What is that? It's a vain repetition. God is literally telling you, don't go just repeat the same thing over and over again. Because let me tell you from experience, you know what happens when you go and you just repeat the same prayer again and again and again, especially the Lord's Prayer, it loses all meaning. That's why God is saying, don't do that. And then he gives a model of things of the way you should pray to God. He gives an example, a methodology, coming to God with respect, calling him your Heavenly Father, you know, asking for forgiveness for personal things that you've done in your life. You know, that's first John one nine right there, praying for other people, asking for God to help you deliver you from temptation, helping you to, you know, go through your walk in this world every single day. He's saying, he's not saying repeat these exact words. He's saying, use this method, here's a good set of things to talk to God about. He's given you a, what's the word, like kind of a pattern to follow, if so to speak. He's given you the architecture of a prayer, is what he's doing. He's not saying repeat these vain repetitions, he literally told you two verses before to not do it. But again, context. Context is everything, alright? Here's the third lesson here, now we've got to kind of hurry up, but here's the third lesson. So the first lesson is you've got to have a King James Bible, the second lesson is you've got to take verses with their context, in their context. Turn to First Corinthians chapter two, First Corinthians chapter number two. First Corinthians chapter number two and verse number 13. The third lesson in Bible reading or Bible study, third methodology when you're reading your Bible is that you must match scripture with scripture. That is the third lesson, a very important lesson. Look at the Bible says in First Corinthians two and verse number 13. Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. Look folks, in Psalm 12 six the Bible says that the words of the Lord are pure words. God's words do not contradict each other. There is no mistakes in this book, there's no contradictions in this book. If you are reading a verse in the Bible and it contradicts other verses that you know, you are interpreting it wrong. Because look, I'm going to show you, I'm going to show you tonight that, I mean just turn back to John 20 23, let's use that one first. There are different ways to interpret, there are different ways to interpret certain verses. And look, one of my biggest annoyances with people that will want to debate the Bible with you is people that will just say, well that's your interpretation. You know when you're trying to teach people that, you know salvation is just by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, it's not of works. You know the Bible is clear in Romans 11 that if it's of grace it's no more works. It can't be any kind of mixture of the two. It is clearly either all grace or all works and then the Bible says in another place that it's not of works, so duh, which one do we have to pick, it's got to be grace. I mean this isn't like serious like logic that we're applying here, it's just like simple linear thought process. But the point is, there are different ways to interpret the Bible, so people, well that's your interpretation. Well okay, that's true, but the point is there's a correct interpretation and there's an incorrect interpretation. It's not like anybody can just have an interpretation and they're all equal. And the Bible is telling us this in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse number 13, you must compare scripture with scripture. So you must be able to compare, so you come across some complicated verse in the Bible like verse 23 of John chapter 20 where you're kind of like, that's a little bit of a mind bender right there. You can interpret that verse, but you just have to make sure that that verse matches other scripture, okay? Now look, you can interpret that verse to say, I have special powers as the pastor of this church and I can go lay my hand on brother Luke's forehead and just like have the power to either remit his sins or not. So he better listen to me. He better listen to me, he better quit laughing in church, he better listen or I'll take away his salvation and I'll take away his remission, whatever. You could take that verse and you could twist that thing all you wanted to. As a matter of fact, I went up and I looked up Divine Service 2 from the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod where we did every single service, well most times we did Divine Service 2, but I've done this hundreds of times in your life and you chant a confession of sins. So the entire congregation will chant out loud this confession of sins. I'm going to read it for you right now. It says, the pastor says, let us confess our sins to God our Father and then the congregation says this. Most merciful God, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, by what we have left undone. It goes on and on and on. We justly deserve your present and eternal punishment and for the sake of your son Jesus Christ have mercy on us, forgive us, renew us, and lead us so we may delight in your will and walk in your ways to the glory of your holy name. Amen. I've said that a few times in my life. Now the pastor then says this. He says almighty God in his mercy has given his son to die for you and for his sake forgive you of all your sins. As a called and ordained servant of Christ and by his authority, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. I always thought that was weird, like I wasn't saved, but every single time I heard the pastor say I, and I asked the Lutheran pastors about it several times throughout my life, and they would explain to me, well it's the office of the keys, and then they give me this big doctrinal thing, and I have a book on it written by the Concordia publishing house or whatever that you, I'm just like, there's no, like they literally say I, therefore, forgive you all your sins. Right? I mean then you have Catholic priests that do the exact same thing, and you wonder where this Etch-a-Sketch philosophy comes from. This is exactly where it comes from, where it's this philosophy that like I have to come to church and confess my sins. I have to go to a priest to get absolution for my sins every Sunday or every third Sunday or whatever people decide, and I gotta shake the Etch-a-Sketch clean, and then I'm good to go as long as I don't die in the next like second and a half or whatever the time is before I have a stupid thought again, and I mean it just makes no sense at all if you're thinking about these things. But look, the point is, it contradicts the clear gospel of Christ all over the Bible. It contradicts all other clear scriptures. I've had Lutherans tell me that they look at Ephesians chapter 2 and verse number 8 and 9 where the Bible says, you know, that it's not of works, for by grace are you saved through faith and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works. I've had Lutherans come to me and be like, man, what does that mean? That's how confused they are. And they're confused because they've been taught all this twisted, weird doctrine. But it's taking one verse that contradicts all other Bible verses talking about the gospel and it's a misinterpretation. Let me give you another example, James chapter 2. Go to James chapter 2 in verse number 17, faith without works is dead. That's not even in the Bible, first of all. That's not even the proper quoting of the verse, all right? James chapter 2 verse 17. This is a perfect example. People use this all the time. Faith without works is dead. Let's just look at that one through this methodology of comparing scripture with scripture. And I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt to the faith without works is dead, you'll lose your salvation or whatever, people. Okay? Look, James 2 and verse number 17, the verse that they're referring to is this one. The Bible says, even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Now that, look, that could mean three things. That could be interpreted three ways. The first way is that if you don't have works with your faith, you're not saved. It could be interpreted that way. Many people interpret it that way. It could be interpreted that if you don't have works with your faith, you're not saved anymore. Or it could be, it could mean that without works, your faith will profit no one. It will be alone. Alone just with who? Just with you. That's why it says being alone. So which of these three does not contradict other scriptures? I mean, this is not that hard. If you want to know the truth, it's not that hard to find the truth. I mean, where the Bible says that it's either grace or works in Romans 11, 6, it can't be both. It's either all grace or all works. It's either all works or all grace. And then the Bible says clearly in Ephesians 2, verse 9, that it is not of works. Probably the simplest phrase in the entire Bible. That salvation is grace through faith. It is not of works. So if I take this idea that salvation is not of works, and then I take James 2, 17, and I realize that I have three ways to interpret this. Two of them are incorrect, and only one is correct. So you have to understand that, yes, I agree, there are different ways to interpret a single verse, but there's an incorrect way, and there's correct ways. And by comparing scripture with scripture, we can clearly see that the only correct way is that James, the entire chapter of James 2, and that would have been another good example for context as well, just reading the entire context of the chapter. Great chapter in the Bible. When I first got saved, and especially, it was a chapter that very much confused me when I wasn't saved, and it was a chapter that even after I first got saved, I even sometimes like when I maybe read through it the second or third time, I was kind of like, why did God have to put that chapter in the Bible? But now, it's a beautiful chapter in the Bible, because it's clearly talking about your faith, profiting. First of all, there's nobody without any works. It's talking about a spectrum of people that have a lot of good works, and people that have very little works. Is there like a Christian, someone that's saved out there, that is just like pure evil, and every single thing that they do is just evil? They've never even said hello to someone in the morning. It's talking about a spectrum. The more works that you have with your faith, the more profitable you will be to your brother, and guess what? That interpretation matches all of the other gospel perfectly in the Bible. All right, how about this one? I'll give you one more. I got to kind of finish up here, but go to Acts chapter 2 and verse number 38. Like a whole religion is spawned off of Acts 2, 38. Like the Church of Christ, it's just got to be baptized to be saved, and this is like the only verse they've ever read in the Bible right here, right? Then Peter said unto them, Acts 2, 38, then Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins. Look, clearly talking about salvation, remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. So I mean, Pentecostals use this one, but Church of Christ especially that adds baptism to salvation, this is their go-to verse right here. They're like, see, repent and be baptized, every one of you. Okay, that's one way to interpret that verse. I agree. The only problem is, turn to John chapter ... I mean, let's turn to some complicated verses. Go to Acts 16. Let's go to some really like complicated ones. Acts 16, look at verse number 30. Acts 16, verse number 30. These are really complicated soul winning verses. We use these in our soul winning presentation because they're so hard to understand. Look at verse number 30, it says, this is Paul and Silas, and Paul brought them out and said, sirs ... I was just talking about the prison guard ... brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? How do I go to heaven? And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. So I guess they lied to him. I guess they left something out. I guess they just, they didn't tell him the whole story there. John 3, 36, he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life. Just kidding. As long as you're baptized. I guess that verse is incomplete. So Acts 2, 38, I guess there's two ways to interpret that. You know, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ. It's not really saying that you have to do those two things to be saved. You could just say, you know, look, repent and go to work tomorrow, and every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. Like repent and install carpet for a living. Repent and go shopping. Repent and whatever, anything. It's still true. All you have to do is repent and believe. Repent, change from unbelief to belief, and you're saved. It's not saying, look, it wouldn't make sense to interpret it to where it makes all the other Bible verses that are clearly talking about salvation by just believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. It would make them incomplete. So there's a right way to interpret it and a wrong way. I don't know what they do with that. They probably just don't look at other places in the Bible. So look, the first thing you need to do to properly interpret the Bible is you need to have a King James. You need to have a Bible. You need to have a King James Bible. This is why we're King James only, and there's so many demonstrations. This is a really good attack on the Gospel tonight, the one I showed you tonight. It just shows you, though, that all else is confusion. I mean, you talk about how somebody couldn't get the Gospel out of an NIV. How could you? How could you get the Gospel out of an NIV? So first of all, have a King James Bible. Actually have the Word of God. Read the verse in context. If you're having trouble understanding a verse, read the whole chapter. Read it again and again and again, and you will start to see the context. And then the third one, of course, is just match scripture with scripture. Especially obscure, harder to understand verses like John chapter 20 and verse number 23. Just compare them with clear verses like Mark 16, 15. And then it's very easy to understand. And just make sure that when you're interpreting those verses, that you're interpreting those verses to where you don't contradict that clear, what, scripture. Another note is just you should avoid commentaries. You should avoid commentaries. Because commentaries are an absolute mess, especially today. And this, I mean, I've always known this, but you're going to start seeing this more and more with AI and people that are using AI for helping them write things. They're going to have AI, you know, I'm sure there's already pastors out there that have an AI write sermons for them. And if you don't care about doctrine, if you don't care, I mean, look, there's pastors that go out and purchase sermons and go and buy, you know, sermons and things like that. But it's just, all it is is commentary and it's going to just be rife with false doctrine and just avoid it. You shouldn't even like poison your mind with like outside scripture ideas. Just let the scripture define itself and make sure that you're comparing scriptural verses and your interpretation of those verses with other scripture, right? Then you know that everything's going to match up and you won't go off the rails anywhere. All right. So look, it also helps you, these three rules are going to help you expose false doctrine because all false doctrine violates one or all three of these rules. All right. Let's bow our heads and have a word.