Thank you for allowing us to be here today. I just ask you right now to fill Pastor Anderson with your spirit. Just give him boldness to preach your word. I just pray we'll all be attentive to your word preached here tonight as well, God. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Pastor Jimenez:
Amen. All right. I want to take a moment to introduce my good friend, Pastor Anderson, and we're very blessed and excited to have him here tonight. Who has never heard Pastor Anderson preach in person, never heard Pastor Anderson preach in person? All right. A lot. Good. You're in for a treat.
Pastor Anderson and I have been friends for a long time. I think I was sixteen. Sixteen? I was sixteen when we met. He was 42. No. I'm just kidding. He wasn't that old. He was twenty. I was sixteen and he helped me out a lot, kind of took me under his wing a little bit. It was before I was a pastor, before he was a pastor, before I was married. He's been a good friend to me. His wife's been a good friend to my wife. We're glad he's here.
Something I want you to know about Pastor Anderson. Some of you know him from the internet or preaching like that, but from someone who knows him personally, he's the real thing. He's not fake. What you hear in his preaching, that's who he is and we're so glad he's here tonight. Pastor Anderson, come on.
Pastor Anderson:
Thank you. All right. You should be in 1 Corinthians chapter number 2. Go ahead and stay there but I'm going to read for you Job 6:25 where the Bible reads, "How forcible are right words. But what doth your arguing reprove?" The title of my sermon tonight is How Forcible Are Right Words. I want to preach tonight about using the right words.
Now, in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, where we just read, I want to point out verse number 13 where the Bible reads, "Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man." Now, the Bible here makes it clear that it's important which words we choose when we speak. We don't want to use the words that man's wisdom teacheth, but we want to use the words that the Holy Ghost teacheth.
Now, look over at 1 Corinthians 15, just a few pages to the right in your Bible. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 8, "For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? For ye shall speak into the air."
Then, just flip over a few pages to the right in 2 Corinthians chapter number 3. 2 Corinthians chapter number 3 verse 12 and the Bible reads, "Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech." What the Bible is saying here is that in our choice of words, we should, number one, not use words that man's wisdom teaches, but use the words that the Holy Ghost teaches, and then number two, we should use words that are easy to be understood, words that clearly convey what we're trying to get across and that don't confuse the listener. We need to use plainness of speech and be clear about what we're saying, whether that's preaching or whether that's just us in our daily lives talking about spiritual things. We need to make sure that we use the right words. It matters which words we use. It's not just, "Well, as long as it's the right thought." No, we need to make sure that we use the right words.
Now, first of all, number one, we need to make sure that we use the right words when it comes to salvation. Obviously, there's nothing more important than salvation. That is what determines whether people go to Heaven or Hell when they die. What has a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? That's the most important thing. Salvation. When we talk about salvation, we want to make sure that we use the right words. These are biblical words, regarding salvation: believe, faith, saved, eternal life. You know, these are the words that come up over and over again. 90 times in the book of John alone, the Bible says believe. Over and over again, "That whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life." The Bible says in Acts 16:30, "What must I do to be saved?" They said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved."
One thing you'll find if you read the New Testament cover to cover, is just over and over again, just believe, believe, believe, faith, faith, faith. You'll see those words over and over again. Yet, in today's world, you'll hear people talk about salvation without even using the word believe, without even using the word faith, because they have some other cute wording that they've learned that's not a biblical wording. For example, they'll say, "Well, you need to give your life to Christ." That's not what the Bible ... No, the Bible says, "Believe on Jesus Christ." They say, "Well, that's what they meant." Yeah, but that's not what they said. We need to make sure that we use the right words when we speak, otherwise, people become confused.
I mean, "Give your life to Christ," correct me if I'm wrong. He gave his life for us. I mean, that's a completely backwards statement to say. "You give your life unto Christ." You know what that leads people to believe is that basically salvation is based on what we do in our works. If we give our life unto Christ, it sounds like we have to live for Christ in order to be saved. That's not the gospel of Jesus Christ which says that it's by grace that we are saved through faith, that not of ourselves, it's the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. We're saved by faith, believe. They'll say, "Give your life to Christ."
How about this one? "Make a commitment to Christ." You've heard these terms before. These terms are popular. They're a lot more popular than the word believe, a lot more popular than, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." No. Now, it's you "make a commitment to Christ". I've seen countless gospel tracks that said, "ABC. Admit you're a sinner, believe on Jesus Christ," but then they add something beyond that. Also, you have to commit your life to Christ. Again, a total works based salvation. If you're making a commitment to something, it sounds like you're promising to do something. We don't get saved by promising to do anything or promising not to do anything or starting to do something or stopping doing it. No, we get saved by believing in Christ. Why don't we just make it clear? Why don't we just use plainness of speech? Why don't we just use words that are easy to be understood, where no one at all is confused about what we're saying? Hey, being saved is based on what you believe. I mean, it's simple. The gospel's simple today and we just need to use a word that describes what we mean. Believing in Jesus.
You'll say, "Well, what does believe mean?" You know what believe means. Here's how I illustrate to people what believe means. It's a great word. It's a clear word. It conveys the meaning and nothing could be more biblical than the word believe. Jesus said in John 6:47, "Verily, verily I say unto thee, he that believeth on me has everlasting life." Go to 1 John chapter 5, if you would. Flip over to 1 John 5 because I've heard some people try to say, "Well, believe, but what does believe mean?" They'll try to kind to change the meaning of believe on you.
Look at 1 John chapter 5, we can get a biblical definition of believe by figuring out what the opposite of believing is. Look at 1 John chapter 5 verse number 10. It says, "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." We see here that the opposite of believing on the Son of God is making God a liar. That tells us right away what believe means.
For example, if I said to you, "I own a red car. Do you believe me?" If you said, "No, I don't believe you," then you're calling me what? A liar. If you believe me, you are trusting me because I'm giving you information about something that you've never seen and you're trusting what I'm saying. You're believing it to be the truth. You're not making me a liar.
When it comes to believing on Christ, that's what believe means. You're trusting in Christ. Basically, the Bible tells you that Jesus died on the cross for all your sins. The Bible tells you that he was buried and that he rose again on the third day. You've never seen that. I've never seen that. We don't have any physical evidence of that. The only way that we know that to be true is by faith, by believing what the Bible says. This is the evidence that Jesus died and was buried, rose again. There is no other evidence.
You know, let the scientists or the atheists, "You know, I need to see mathematical proof of what the Bible's saying." Here's the thing. This is the evidence. Faith is the evidence of things not seen. The Bible, God's word, has told us that Jesus Christ is the only way to Heaven. He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man commeth unto the Father but by me." If you believe that, then you're saved. If you believe that Jesus Christ really is your only savior and that he died for you and that he was buried and that he rose again and that he is your ticket into Heaven, that's salvation. When you don't trust that, you don't rely on that, you don't believe that, then you're not saved. See, it's that simple. It's faith. It doesn't have to do with how you live your life. If it had to do with how you live your life, then none of us would be saved. If we were to be judged, the Bible says in Psalm 130, "If thou Lord shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared."
We need to make sure that we use the right words when we talk about salvation or else people will become confused when we start saying, "Make a commitment to Christ, give your life unto Christ," or this term that has brought more confusion than anything into Baptist circles, "Repent of your sins to be saved." Nobody even knows what it means. You talk to ten different people, you get ten different definitions. Here's the thing about that phrase, "Repent of your sins," it's never found in the Bible.
Of course, the Bible talks a lot about repentance, but repentance in the Bible is simply turning or changing. It has to do with the context what's changing. For example, when God repents, he's not repenting of his sin because God doesn't have any sin. God is perfect in every way, yet the Bible records God repenting more than anyone else in the whole Bible. He frequently repents in the Bible. What is he changing? Is he changing who he is? No. Is he changing his character, his nature? No. God said, "I change not." What he does change is his course of action where he says, "I was going to do one thing, but then you did this so now I'm changing courses. Now, I'm going to do this." God will change his course or direction based upon man. He's going to destroy Nineveh, but when they turn unto the Lord, he says, "Okay. I'm going to repent from that. I'm not going to destroy Nineveh any longer."
All throughout the Bible, people are told to repent. Unsaved people are told to repent, saved people are told to repent. The church at Laodicea was told to repent of being lukewarm. He said, "Be zealous and repent. Get excited. Don't be lukewarm. Don't be dead." Over and over again. In order to know what is being repented of, you must know the context whether it's repenting of going to the Promised Land, where God said, "If they're on their way to the Promised Land and they go through the land of the Philistines, when they see war, they might repent and go back to Egypt." They might turn around and go back to Egypt.
Context is where we understand what repent means. Nowhere does the Bible teach that you have to repent of your sins to be saved. The Bible tells Christians to repent of their sins, but it never uses the term "repent of your sins". He tells them, "Repent of being lukewarm. Repent of wickedness," or whatever.
The bottom line is when it comes to salvation, because salvation is 100% by faith as many scriptures testify, the obvious question is, "Well, what do you have to turn from to be saved? What needs to change in order for you to be saved? Is it your lifestyle that has to change or is it your beliefs that have to change?" When the Bible says in Mark 1:15, "Repent and believe the gospel," he's not saying, "Clean up your life and believe the gospel." No, he's saying, "You need to change from not believing the gospel to believing the gospel. You need to turn from your dead works or your dead religion or your false gods and turn to the true and living God." The turning that's taking place there is based upon what you believe. That's what needs to change. If we had to change our lives around to be saved, then that would be a salvation by works. The Bible says in Jonah 3:10, "And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God repented of the evil that he said he would do unto them and he did it not."
When we use these terms like, "Repent of your sins to be saved," and then you ask people, "What does that mean?" Some people say, "Oh, it just means admit you're a sinner." That's not what it means to repent. Repent means to turn. If you have to repent from your sins to be saved, then that would be like you had to stop sinning to be saved. Then, when you call these people on the carpet and saying, "Are you saying that we have to stop sinning to be saved?" "Well, you don't really have to stop sinning, but you just have to kind of be willing to maybe stop sinning at some point in the future, sort of." You're like, "What?" They're bringing confusion instead of just giving what the Bible teaches which is just, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That whosoever believeth in him shall not perish ..." It's not of works. It's not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. It says, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." "Be found in him," Paul said, "Not having my own righteousness, but thou which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith."
The Bible tells us over and over again that it's by faith. Yet, that's not what we hear today. We hear words like, "Oh, make Jesus the Lord of your life to be saved." Lordship salvation is what this is called. "Make Jesus the Lord of your life," which again, implies works. How about this one? "You need to have a personal relationship with Jesus in order to be saved." Again, people who say these words, sometimes they don't mean anything bad by it. I know if you would have asked me ... I got saved when I was a six-year-old boy, but if you would have asked me as a teenager, "What does it take to be saved?" I probably would have given you a stupid answer like, "Oh, you got to have a personal relationship with Jesus." Just because of the fact that we hear these wrong words so many times, that we end up just repeating things like that.
Look, that is not the right way to express salvation. A personal relationship. Here's why. A relationship implies, again, works. Think about it. I'm married to my wife and my wife and I have a relationship. Now, let me ask you this. Do you think that I put any work into that relationship with my wife? Absolutely. See, it's a continual process of growing together in our marriage and in our love and a relationship and it involves communication, it involves giving of gifts, it involves spending time together. It involves a lot of effort on my part and effort on her part. That's what a relationship is. Let's say I stopped putting forth any effort in my marriage and let's say my wife stopped putting forth any effort at all. Wouldn't you say that the relationship would degenerate if there's no effort being put forth? In fact, we could even get to a point where we say, "My wife and I don't really have much of a relationship left." You know what. We'd still be married. Even if my wife treated me like dirt and I treated her like dirt, guess what, we'd still be married because we made that vow to each other. Till death do us part. There are people who are married and don't have a good relationship. You know that's true.
Here's the thing about salvation. See, when we believe on Jesus Christ, we're God's son at that point. Nothing can change that. Now, if we disobey him all the time, we're going to have a bad relationship. What if we never talk to him, meaning that we never pray? What if we never read our Bible, meaning that we never allow him to speak to us? Let's say we never go to his house by attending the local church? We don't give him any worship, we don't give him any praise, we don't listen to him, we don't talk to him, then you know what, we don't have a relationship with Christ at that point but as long as we believed on Jesus Christ, we're still saved. Even if I didn't have a relationship with my dad, he's still my dad. If I didn't have a relationship with my brother, he's still my brother. If I don't have a relationship with my mom, she's still my mom.
See, it confuses people when you bring in this non-biblical terminology and this idea of it's a relationship that saves us. I've even heard them say this, "Well, it's not a religion. It's a relationship." At least the word religion is actually in the Bible. At least that's actually a biblical word. Now, religion doesn't save you, but religion is a good word in the Bible, yet relationship's not even in the Bible. When you bring out that word, you confuse people.
Today, people are confused about the gospel and more than ever, it's important in 2016 that we use the right words about this. Say, "Well, what's the big deal? I mean, I believe in Christ. Have a relationship with Christ. Give your life to Christ. I mean, you say tomato, I say tomato. What's the big deal?" When there's so much confusion out there, it is a big deal. People are dying and going to Hell today because they don't understand the gospel because all over pulpits across America, it's not being clearly preached. We need to just make it clear and use plainness of speech. Much of it is on purpose, where they deliberately make it unclear because they just want the church to grow. They want to bring in the faith alone crowd and then they want to bring in the repent of your sins type crowd, the lordship, salvation crowd.
I mean, look, just before coming to church tonight, I was looking at the websites of some of the independent fundamental Baptist churches around here in Sacramento. I was looking at their statement of faith. These guys, I mean, are they going to run for political office next? Some of these guys, they're doing great on being a politician and kind of having it both ways, kind of saying it both ways. "You know, you got to turn from your sins but it's just believing. You got to turn from your sin and your unbelief." They kind of just hedge their bets, as it were, and word it in such a way to keep everybody happy.
I don't want to keep everybody happy. I want all the lordship, salvation people out of my church in Phoenix. I don't know about you guys here. I don't want my church filled with a bunch of unsaved people who believe that salvation is by works. A little levain levains the whole lump. I'm ready to kiss all these repent of your sins people goodbye and tell them not to let the door hit them on their way out, these pompous arrogant fools who think that they've actually turned from all their sins. I don't know about you, but I haven't turned from all my sins. I'm not a perfect person. No one is. It's a lie. It's a fraud. Look, either salvation's easy or no one's going. Either it's faith alone or we're all doomed. If we were judged on our works, we would all be condemned because we're all sinners. We've all come short of the glory of God.
More than ever, this needs to be made clear, but yet many today, even amongst independent fundamental Baptists, are compromising this message. It has to stop. Somebody's got to stand up and be clear and sound the trumpet on this thing. Not only that, not only do we need to use the right words regarding salvation ... What are the right words? Words like believe, faith. How about this word? Saved. I like that word, saved. Why? Because it implies that there's a danger that you're being saved from something. Saved from Hell. Saved from our sins. I like the term saved. I like the term eternal life, everlasting life, calling upon the name of the Lord. These are great scriptural terms that talk about salvation.
Not only that, number two, we need to use the right words regarding other Bible doctrines. How about this word? Hell. Heaven and Hell. These are good Bible words. Yet, today, instead of Hell, it's often replaced with "separation from God". How about this one? "A Christ-less eternity." You know, basically this is a euphemism to make it sound a little cooler there, like it's not that hot or something. "They're going into a Christ-less eternity. They're going to be eternally separated from God." No, they're going to Hell. They're going to burn in Hell. That's what the Bible says. Why we just make it clear? Why don't we just use the words that the Holy Ghost teaches?
They'll say, "It's Gehenna. They're going to go to Gehenna. They are going to pass into Hades." Why don't we just call it Hell? There's nothing wrong with the word Hell. It's a great word. It's a biblical word. It's clear. It's easy to understand. "Well, it offends people." Well, to Hell with them if it offends them. Hell, Hell, Hell. What does the Bible say? Hell, 54 times. What does the Bible say? Furnace of fire. Fire and brimstone. That's what the Bible says. Why don't we use those words? Man's wisdom says, "Oh, you talk about Hell, it's going to turn people away." Yet, the Bible says by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. The Bible says that we should save them with fear, pulling them out of the fire, handing them the garments spotted by the flesh.
So many Bible doctrines are ruined when we use the wrong words. By the way, this is why it's so critical that we use only the King James Bible. It's the words that matter. See, the people who believe in these new Bible versions, they have an attitude that says, "Well, it's just the thought that counts. As long as you get the same general thought or idea across, it doesn't really matter exactly which words you use." The Bible says, "Every word of God is pure. He's a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words lest he reprove thee and now be found a liar." The Bible says, "The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of Earth, purified seven times." Over and over again, the Bible emphasizes the words and says, "Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Not the thoughts, not the ideas, he said, "My words shall not pass away."
We need to use the King James Bible to get the right words so that we can learn the right words and use the right words and preach the right words and believe the right doctrine. You see, whole false doctrines come from just using the wrong words. For example, in the NIV, the word Hell is frequently removed. The vast majority of the time, it's removed. I think it's only left in about fourteen times. How about this? Try this on. In the NIV, the word Hell never even occurs one time in the entire Old Testament. Can you see how that would lead to confusion and false doctrine? If someone's looking at their Bible and saying, "Why is Hell never mentioned in the entire Old Testament," and then all of a sudden in the New Testament, "Whoa. Where's this talk about Hell coming from?" It brings confusion because it makes it seem like there's inconsistency between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament just never talks about Hell and the New Testament is talking about it frequently. That causes there to be an inconsistency. That could cause all kinds of weird doctrines to arise about the Old Testament nature of death without salvation and so on and so forth.
What about this? In the King James Bible, you'll never find the word sovereign. It's not a biblical word. The Bible uses words like almighty, omnipotent, words having to do with God's power. Almighty, meaning that he has all power. Omnipotent, means the same thing. Those are Bible words. Yet, the new versions will change this to the word sovereign. In fact, the word sovereign is used in the NIV over 400 times. In the King James, it never occurs.
Every single person that you talk to who's been sucked into this false doctrine of Calvinism where they think God chooses who goes to Heaven and who goes to Hell and that we don't have a personal choice in our salvation, that's always their favorite word. Sovereign. You know, you'll try to talk to them about the fact that whosoever will may come and that it's whosoever believeth in him and that he's the savior of all men, especially of those that believe, and that he did, by the grace of God, taste death for every man. Here's what they'll say, "Well, Anderson, you do believe God's sovereign, don't you?" This is how these conversations always start. "I mean, let's just clear up one thing. We know God's sovereign, don't we? I mean, we know he's sovereign."
You know this is one of these words that these theologian types, these reformed Baptists ... By the way, whenever you hear these reformed Baptists, they're basically like 99% reformed and like 1% Baptist. They're basically a Presbyterian who dunks people is what they are. I'm talking about a James White, John Piper, this whole crowd of reformed Baptists. They're real heavy on reformed and real light on Baptist. A bunch of independent Baptists are being sucked in by these people too, by the way.
"Well, you know we believe he's sovereign." I usually say, "No." "You must believe that he's sovereign." No, I believe he's almighty. He's almighty. He said, "All power is given unto me." Look, he has the power and he has the might but he's not sovereign in the sense that they mean where he's controlling everything. You know, if he's controlling everything in this world, he's not doing a very good job because there's a lot of weird stuff going on in the world tonight. The Bible says that God made man upright and they have sought out many inventions. It's man's wickedness that has destroyed this earth and one day he's going o come back and the Bible says that he's going to destroy them that destroy the Earth. This idea of the sovereignty of God brings in all kinds of false doctrine about Calvinism and all these un-biblical teachings because they're using the wrong words. That's why it's so important to get a King James. It's not going to work to just have a King James and then yet just still use all the wrong words. Use the Bible to figure out what the right words are.
Before I get into the third point, let me just say this. If you would, flip over to Colossains chapter 4. Let me just say this. I'm not saying that it's wrong to ever use a word that's not in the Bible. Sometimes there are words that are not in the Bible that are still the right word to use. Those are words that are, number one, easy to be understood, clear words, that are plain and get the point across. Then, number two, have the same spirit as what the Bible's trying to teach. The Bible said, "Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual."
For example, the word trinity is not in the Bible, but yet trinity is a great word because of the fact that it directly comes from the spirit of what the Bible says in the sense that the Bible says in 1 John 5:7, "For there are three that bear record in Heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. These three are one." Well, the word trinity simply means three in one. It's a right word there because it has the same spirit of what God's saying and it's clear and easy to understand because the Bible is saying that God is a three in one. These three are one. Well, trinity, look at the word. Tri, like tricycle. Tri is three. Unity is one. Trinity, three in one.
For example, the word rapture is not in the Bible but the word rapture is just the Latin-based word for being caught up. Being raptured literally just means being caught up. That's exactly what that word means. If you're reading a Latin Bible, it actually uses a word that looks like rapture to say caught up. The Bible does use that term. "We shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." We could call it the catching up into the air, but that just doesn't have the same ring to it as rapture, does it? You know, "We believe in the post-tribulational pre-wrath catching up into the air in the clouds to be with Christ." It's just kind of a lot to spit out in one breath. We use the word rapture, it's clear and it's in the same spirit of what the Bible's saying. It's basically just putting a few words, catching away, into one. Catching up. It sounds better than calling it the catch-up. That doesn't sound cool. The rapture sounds better.
It's the same thing. It means the identical thing. Trinity means the identical thing. See, no one would look at that and say, "Well, man's wisdom taught that three in one thing." No, it's right there in 1 John 5:7. "Oh, well man taught you the rapture." No, no, no. It's right there in 1 Thessalonians 4. We're going to be caught up together with them in the clouds. Those aren't words that man's wisdom teacheth. Those are words that the Holy Ghost taught us by looking at those passages and reading that. We want to make sure we use biblical words or at least words that derive directly from what the Bible is saying and express clearly exactly what the Bible teaches, not just our own spin on things of, "Hey, make a commitment unto Christ." You're not going to find that as a prerequisite for salvation in the Bible.
Number three, not only do we, number one, need to use the right words when we talk about salvation, use the right words when we talk about doctrine, but number three, we need to use the right words to describe sin. Why? Because the Bible uses strong language when it talks about sin and the Bible uses very negative language about sin because God hates sin. He doesn't sugarcoat it with words that don't make it sound as bad. He uses strong words to describe sin because he hates sin just as he uses a strong word to describe Hell because it's such a horrible place. He doesn't soften it up. We shouldn't soften it up either.
Look at Colossians 4. I want you to put a finger in Colossians 4 and I want you to go to Ephesians 6 because Ephesians 6 is a parallel passage with Colossians 4, meaning that they cover the exact same material. Paul is writing to two different churches and he wants to teach them both the same thing. He uses slightly different wording in both places to do so. By comparing the two, we can learn something. Look at Colossians 4 verse 4. Actually, let's begin in verse 3, "Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds. That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak." He's saying, "I want God to open the door for me to speak God's word, to speak the mystery of Christ. When I speak the word of God, when I preach the gospel of Christ, I want to make it manifest. I want it to be manifest."
You say, "What does the word manifest mean?" Manifest means clear, open, exposed, obvious. That's what manifest means. It's something that you can just see. It's right there in front of you. It's easy to grasp. That's what manifest means.
He said, "I want to make the word of God manifest when I preach. I want to preach right and I want it to be manifest." Now, look at Ephesians chapter 6 with that in mind. You'll find almost the exact same prayer request beginning in verse 20, "For me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I opened my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. For which I am an ambassador in bonds that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak." Here, he's making the same statement, but he says it two different ways. Over in Colossians 4, he says, "I want to make it manifest." Over here, he says, "I want to speak boldly as I ought to speak. I want to make it manifest as I ought to make it."
What can we learn here? Bold preaching is manifest preaching. You see, God wants us to speak clearly and plainly and often, people are not making it manifest because they lack the boldness to make it manifest. What am I talking about? Boldness is courage. What we have are preachers that don't have the guts today to make it clear what they're talking about so they kind of sugarcoat the teaching when they preach against sin because they know that often it hits people where they live and they don't want to offend people so they don't make it manifest. Why? Because they don't have the guts to make it manifest, they lack boldness. Paul said, "Pray for me that I'm never one of those guys. Pray for me that I preach boldly. Pray for me that I make it manifest, that I would never become one of these preachers that would try to make the word of God less offensive by censoring it or toning it down."
We use a lot of words today about very sinful things that are just frankly the wrong words and we need stop using them. Let me give you some examples. How about this word? An affair. "Oh, he had an affair. She had an affair." That's not a biblical word. You know what the Bible calls it? Adultery. The Bible calls it adultery or the Bible calls it playing the whore. That's what the Bible calls it. It doesn't call it an affair. I mean, if you're having an affair, that's like if you're putting on a tea party or something. "Oh, we're going to come over and have a little informal affair." No, an affair is a worldly term by people who don't want to face the sin that they're in, which is adultery or playing the whore or going awhoring. That's what the Bible calls it, those are the words that we ought to use.
You know, the Bible calls a woman who what we would call a loose woman, promiscuous woman, the Bible calls that a whorish woman, a whorish woman. Just read Ezekiel 16 sometime. I'm not going to read it for sake of time. I think it uses the word whore about 20 times. That's a Bible word. You say, "Yeah, but that word offends me." You know what ought to offend you? The behavior that that word describes. What we ought to be scandalized by, what we ought to be offended by is the lifestyle that today is considered normal on college campuses across America and even in high schools across America and amongst young people today in America where they go awhoring and they play the whore and they go from person to person to person to person and they live that filthy, fornicating lifestyle. Why don't you get offended at that than me just calling it what it is? You're a whore.
You say, "What about the man? Get on them." You're a whoremonger. A lot of people have never even heard that word. A lot of people literally go decades in this country without even knowing what the word whoremonger means. "Oh, you mean warmonger? Is that those politicians that want to bomb everybody?" No, no, no. I didn't say, "Warmonger." I said, "Whoremonger." Whoremonger. A lot of them don't even know what that is. Look, men who sleep around are called whoremongers. You know what they call it? A playa. A playboy. I mean, doesn't that sound better? A player. Whoremonger. Player. Playboy. You know, is there a new word in the vernacular? Is it still playa? What's the new word? What's the new euphemism for guys who go around and just sleep around and commit all this fornication? Come on, worldly ones. What is it called? What do they call it now? Who listens to rap music? No. I'm just kidding. A John? Oh, man. Never heard that one. A what? A manwhore. I like the sound of that. See, I can handle that. A pimp. Yeah.
A whoremonger doesn't sound like something you want to be, especially when it's in this list of people that are getting thrown into the lake of fire and everything. Whoremonger, whores, harlots. Here's what's funny. The NIV and these modern Bible versions, they say, "That King James, man. It's too hard to understand. It's just too hard. I need something easier like NIV." You know what the NIV replaces whorish with? Promiscuous. Just think for a second. Which one's easier to understand? Promiscuity or whoredom? Whorish. You're a whore. I'm just trying to see how many times I can say whore in this sermon. You know what. We need to get back to some Bible words. I still haven't said it as many times as the Bible says it. Count. I haven't got there yet. They say, "Promiscuity." See, the NIV's not making it easier to understand by switching it to promiscuity. They're just making it different. They're just making it softer. They're actually making it more palatable. Promiscuous just doesn't ew as much as when you hear whoremonger. It just has more punch to it when the Bible says it.
"He's an alcoholic." That's not what the Bible calls it. It calls it a drunkard. Drunkard. A winebibber, a wino. They say, "Oh, alcoholic." They try to use words to soften up.
Then, of course, the worst one of all, "They're gay. People are gay." Now, if you would, turn to James chapter 2. I'm going to actually teach you what gay really means. This word has been so perverted and corrupted, I have to give you a Bible study on just what the word gay really means. A lot of people don't even know what it means anymore, especially the kids today. They've never even grown up with a normal definition of this word. Ever since they've been born, it's been perverted.
Look what the Bible says in James chapter 2 verse 2, "For if there come under your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment and you have respect him that weareth the gay clothing and say unto him, 'Sit thou here in a good place,' and say to the poor, 'Stand thou there or sit here unto my footstool.'" See, if somebody came in in our definition of gay, somebody walked in in gay apparel, we wouldn't be telling him, "Hey, sit in a good place." We'd be like, "Hey, you stumbled in the wrong church. The United Methodist Church is across the street, you little faggot." The point is the gay clothing, in this passage, what it means is basically cheerful, lively. Isn't that what gay used to mean? You know, "Don we now our gay apparel. Fa la la." "We'll have a gay old time." What did that mean? It just means we're happy, we're cheerful. Isn't that what it means? Happy, cheerful, friendly, and things like that. That's a Bible word.
Here's the thing, when you use the word gay to talk about perverts, you're actually corrupting God's word here. You're not using the right word. Excuse me, you used the wrong word.
Now, go back to Malachi chapter number 3. Malachi is the book right before Matthew. It's the last book in the Old Testament. Go to Malachi chapter 3 because God actually predicted that people would use such a stupid word to describe perverts and predators in our modern day, sodomites, queers, what the Bible calls them. Look down at your Bible here and see where God predicted this. It says in verse 15, "And now," this is Malachi 3:15. "And now we call the proud happy." Think about it. When you think of these filthy homos, what is their greatest sin, according to the Bible? It's pride that actually characterizes them the most. That's why even when these sodomites put on their parade, what do they call it? Gay Pride. What are they doing? Calling the proud happy.
See, pride is a wicked sin. Pride is not something that we should be proud of. Pride is not something that God exalts as a virtue. See, these homos, not only do they commit the most disgusting, filthy acts imaginable, but they're actually proud of it, just to add sin upon sin. They have a march every single year in Phoenix, Arizona where they march down the street and they call it Phoenix Pride. Then, we turn around and call the proud, these proud bunch of sodomite perverts, we call them happy, we call them gay. Now, we call the proud happy. That's what gay means, happy. "Ye, they that work wickedness are set up. Ye, they that tempt God are even delivered."
Listen, every once in a while, I'm going to confess my sins to you. Every once in a while, I accidentally slip and use the word gay to describe these bunch of deviant, filthy perverts, these disgusting, reprobate, sodomite, filthy queers. Sometimes I accidentally slip and I call them gay. I literally, when I say gay about them, I literally feel as if I just uttered a cuss word. I feel like, "Oh, whoops." I feel ashamed of myself. "Oh, man. I shouldn't have said that." You know what.
A lot of you have it backwards. You're going around say, "Yeah, these gay people." I always just say, "Excuse me. I don't have a problem with gay people. It's just fags that I have a problem with. I have nothing against gay people. I mean, I think it's great to be gay." Pastor Anderson's going on record. I'm for the gays. I'm for gay people. I love gays. I hate filthy faggots and queers and sodomites and perverts. You say, "Oh, how dare you use that kind of language." Excuse me, I'm using the Bible's language. You say, "That's not biblical language." Really? Go to the book of 2 Peter chapter 2. Let's see what the Bible says. "Well, you're in the Old Testament." No. Peter's in the New Testament. Don't go on Jeopardy any time soon. You're going to biff that Bible category. Peter's in the New Testament, friend. 2 Peter chapter 2.
Is Jeopardy even still on TV or is that like in the 1980s? I just remember when we were kids, we used to watch Jeopardy. We'd watch it at my grandparent's house. They loved Jeopardy. We'd watch Jeopardy and these really smart guys would go on Jeopardy. I mean, they know everything about seventeenth century opera, they know everything about French Rococo furniture, but then they'd get on the Bible category and it's like, "Who got on the ark?" It's like, "Who is Moses," or whatever is getting on the ark with the animals. You know what I mean? "This disciple was the disciple whom Jesus loved." "Who's Barnabas?" They have no clue. Remember that? They'd always just bomb the Bible. You guys are so smart but they have no interest in the Bible.
In 2 Peter chapter 2, the Bible says here in verse number 6, it says, "In turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly." Don't tell me the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is outdated. No, that story is an example to those that afterward should live ungodly. Then, it says this, "And deliver just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked." The Bible uses the word filthy to describe what these people do. Yet, that's not the word you hear coming across the pulpits of America today. "Well, you know homosexuality is a sin." No, it's filthy. Why don't you use the Bible word? Why don't you use the right word for it? It's a bunch of filth. It's filthy. That's what we ought to use.
You say, "Well, you're making me uncomfortable right now." Well, I don't care if you're making you uncomfortable because you need somebody to shake you and wake you up because you're in a delusion today because TV and radio and Madison Avenue has been brainwashing you nonstop for years and years to get you to think that the most filthy, disgusting perversion is normal and that it's even gay, that it even makes people happy. No. It fills them with disease, makes them vile and disgusting, makes them revolting in the eyes of God and revolting in the eyes of their fellow man, makes them repugnant and sickening. Yet, today, we call them happy. No, you get the right word. Don't you use the word gay around me. I'll correct you. Say, "Excuse me. That word offends me. Don't use the G word around me."
The sad thing is people are offended today like words like queer or filthy or faggot. You say, "Well, faggot's not a Bible word." Remember it's those words that are in the spirit of what the Bible teaches. See how I was setting that up earlier in the sermon. By the way, the Bible says, "Gather ye together first the tares and bind them and bundles to burn them." There's your faggots in the Bible. Go get a dictionary.
Anyway, the Bible uses these terms, filthy, in Romans chapter 1. While you're there in 2 Peter, you might as well just go to the right a few pages to the book of Jude. Jude, go to Jude verse 7. The Bible uses the word filthy in Romans 1 when it talks about the homos. It uses a term vile. What does vile mean? V-I-L-E. Gross, disgusting, vile, filthy. It describes them as beasts.
Look at Jude 7. The Bible reads, "Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh." By the way, a synonym for strange is queer. Strange flesh. He said, "Are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise, also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities."
Look at Deuteronomy chapter 22, all the way back in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy chapter 22. But you saw that the teaching of the New Testament is identical on this subject. He said, "You want to know what I think about homosexuality? It's in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. That's the example in 2 Peter 2. That's the example in Jude." He's just referring you back to that. Yet, we're supposed to think that God has somehow evolved on this issue or changed what he believes about this. He hasn't changed at all on this.
The Bible says in Deuteronomy 22 verse 5, "The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord, thy God." What I want to point out here is that today when the TV preachers are asked about this, when the Joel Osteens and the TD Jakes and the Rick Warrens, when they're asked about this, they don't have the boldness to make it manifest. They don't have the boldness to make it clear or manifest because they want to play games and beat around the bush and not offend people and not use biblical terms and the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth.
What you have is you have this cognitive dissonance or this mental acrobatics that people do where they say, "Well, there's nothing wrong with the person. It's just their sin that's offending God. They're fine." For example, Joel Osteen will say, "I accept homosexuals. I affirm them. They're wonderful people. I don't approve of what they're doing. They're committing sin, but we all commit sin. They're doing things that I don't do. Wait a minute, I don't have a problem with the person though. I still affirm them. In fact, I just went to the wedding of my ..."
It seems like every politician that's on the campaign trail right now, they got some fag that they went to their wedding recently. "In fact, I just went to the wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay." I'm thinking, "I every wedding I ever went to, the people were gay." Oh, you mean they're a pervert. You mean they're a sexual deviant. I thought you know ... If you go to the wedding and the people aren't gay, something's wrong. I mean, yeah, things might get rough later in the marriage, but it should start out gay. It should start out a gay marriage.
See, everybody's like, "What's he talking about?" Why don't you learn what words mean? I taught you what gay means. It means happy. You say, "Do you support gay marriage?" Of course. Of course I support gay marriage. My marriage is a gay marriage. You know, every marriage starts out a gay marriage and then some marriages, they go through hard times and basically people become unhappy. Hopefully, the gaiety will come back.
People come up, "I want to know what you really think." I just told you what I think about gay marriage. I just told you that gay marriage is what every happy marriage looks like. It's gay. It's happy. "No, I'm talking about two dudes getting married." Stone them with stones. Talk to me about stupid, garbage like that. Filth. You mean filth?
See, I'm trying to teach you how to talk tonight. See, it's like we can't even communicate tonight because we're speaking two different languages here. You keep getting confused between gay and filth. It's not the same. They'll say, "I mean, they're still my friend and I go to their wedding and I approve of them, but I just can't approve what they're doing. I'll make them a billion cupcakes but I just can't make that cake for that sodomite wedding."
Notice what the Bible says. Look at your Bible there. What does it say in Deuteronomy 22:5? It says, "The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment." If they do, then they're doing an abomination. Is that what it says? Is everybody looking at your Bible? Does anybody need a Bible? I can hand them out to people. I heard an announcement like that. Everybody got a Bible? Deuteronomy 22:5. Does it say that what they're doing is an abomination? Talk to me. Does it say they did something that was an abominable thing? No. It says, "All that do so are an abomination." It doesn't say that they're doing an abomination, it says that they are an abomination. He said these cross dressing freaks are an abomination unto the Lord.
What does it mean to be an abomination unto the Lord? Hint: He's not happy about it. He doesn't like you. He's disgusted by you. That's what it means to be an abomination. I mean, what do you think abomination means? If I said Round Table pizza is an abomination unto me, it would mean like get it away from me, I don't want to see it, it's disgusting. I love Round Table pizza. Of course. I'm just trying to explain to you what abomination means. The other brand, Little Caesar's is an abomination unto me. See look, we're learning about words tonight. This is a vocabulary sermon. Round Table pizza is a delight unto me. Little Caesar's is an abomination unto me.
Does the Bible say, "Well, God's just disgusted by their sin. God just hates their sin." Does it say, "Well, God's disgusted with them." I mean, what does the Bible say? This is just one verse. We could go to plenty of other verses that say the same thing. If you read the Bible, you'll see there are plenty of other verses that say the same thing.
This disconnect of, "Well, they're okay. It's just what they do that's so ..." Well, you know what you do is who you are. When you do this type of stuff, you become an abomination real fast in the eyes of God. We need to use the right words tonight. Listen, if there was ever a time when this sermon needed to be preached, it's 2016. I know that some people are going to walk out of here, "I just don't understand why he has to talk like that. The first half of the sermon, it was fine." Here's the thing. Somebody's got to get up here and shake some sense into us and say, "Hey, wait a minute. Quit using that stupid word gay the wrong way. Use it right. Don't use it at all." I will supply you with plenty of substitute words. See me after the service. I'll supply you with a lot of substitutions that you can use for that word.
See, we need to use the right words today in 2016. There's never been a time when it's been more important for us to use the right words. Look, when it comes to salvation, there's never been a time where there's more confusion about salvation there this is right now. We need to make sure we use the right words. You know, when it comes to all the doctrines of the Bible, there's never been a time when it's been more important that we use the right wording. Listen, when it comes to preaching against sin, you know and I know that sin is abounding in this country and it's becoming commonplace and accepted. The last thing we should be doing is talking about affairs and promiscuity. We need to pull out the big gun words and use the Bible words.
Look, don't you get offended because Pastor Jimenez used some harsh language to describe your sin. I guarantee you he's not using any language that's any harsher than what the Bible uses. The reason that he uses that kind of language, the reason that I use this kind of language is because I got it from reading the Bible. The reason that people go around using these other terms that don't make any sense like gay is because they got their head stuck in a TV instead of stuck in the word of God. That's the true story tonight. We need to make sure that we use the right words.
I love what Job said, "How forcible are right words." What does it mean? Right words force people, they have force behind them, they have power behind them. They actually make an impact when we use right words. It sticks with people. When we use the wrong words, we just leave kind of a cloud and a mist of confusion where people don't really know what we were saying. Some people don't like what I said tonight but nobody's going to walk away confused about what I said tonight. I think everybody's real clear where I stand. That ought to be the goal of preaching and speaking.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for the Bible, the words of God in our hands, Lord. Help us to read them, study them, meditate upon them, Lord, and help this world not to make us go crazy like they've gone. Lord, they're so crazy that they accept the weirdest things. They think it's normal. Lord, help us not to go crazy with this crazy world. Lord, help us to take a stand for what's right, to stand on salvation by faith, to stand on the doctrines of the Bible, to stand on the King James Version, to stand on righteous, clean, holy living and stand against the filth and abomination of this world, Lord. Help us not to beat around the bush and use words that no one understands, Lord. Help us to make it clear. In Jesus name we pray, amen.
