Sermon
Week 22: How to Witness to a Mormon | December 7, 2025 Sunday School
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
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The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
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Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
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or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look
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us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this
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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
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Turn in your Bibles, the second Corinthians chapter #5 this
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morning. Brother Vince, would you grab my
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clicker right there on the back shelf and bring it up?
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You like that, Brother John? That was good.
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I've been practicing that for the last few weeks.
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Yeah, yeah. You could toss it up here, but
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thank you very much. Drake May himself.
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All right, thank you. The Second Corinthians chapter
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#5 And we're going to be looking this morning as we finish our
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miniseries on the Church of Jesus Christ, the Latter Day
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Saints, the Mormons. We're going to be looking at how
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do we witness to a Mormon? We've talked a lot about the
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Mormon Church. We've talked a lot about the
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fallacies of their teaching. But here's the thing, What
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happens when you get a on your door and there's two young men,
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probably in their very early 20s who have come to their door or
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come to your door and they want to talk to you about Jesus
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Christ. Well, how are you going to be
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able to witness to them? Because again, if they say elder
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so and so on that name tag, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
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Day Saints, they are lost. They do not know the true Jesus
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Christ as their savior. How do you interact with them?
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What do you do? What do you say?
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What do you do if you meet a Mormon who works at your
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workplace or someone at a place that you've had some
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opportunities to talk to them and they believe that they're a
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Christian just like you? Hey, you're a Christian, I'm a
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Christian. We go to different
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denominations, but we're just the same, aren't we?
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Well, of course, as we've seen the last several weeks, the
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answer to that is an emphatic no.
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We are not the same. We're not just talking about
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some subtle denominational difference.
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We're talking about preaching the truth against preaching
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error, as they do in the Mormon church.
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And so how do we share the gospel with these types of
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people? Well, as I've mentioned you
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before, remember that large flow chart that we had that showed
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how someone could make it to the Kingdom?
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And of course there were three levels of kingdoms as well.
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And the celestial Kingdom, the terrestrial Kingdom and the
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terrestrial Kingdom, those three different kingdoms, how does
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someone come to know that they are going to be part of the
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Kingdom in the Mormon church? Well, before we get to what I
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want to show you this morning, I have a video that we show you
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that's very much in the vein of the same gentleman who gave us
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the video from the Jehovah Witnesses of probably about a
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month or two ago. Do you remember when he asked
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that young man that Jehovah Witness said can you in 3
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minutes I'm dying? Can you tell me how that I can
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know I'm going to have him? Does the same thing with a young
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woman. I would like to tell you,
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certainly she seems like she's a little bit flustered by the fact
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that she only has about 3 minutes to be able to explain
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this. But the issue is not necessarily
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this man is kind of putting her in a time crunch.
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It's trying to illustrate that it should be easy to explain
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what salvation is. And that she is representative
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of many Mormons who have no idea what it means to even be able to
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go to the Kingdom and helps us to understand how we have an
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opportunity to be able to reach them with the gospel.
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So if we had that, Brother Scott, let's go ahead and show
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that. The foundation of Mormonism is
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idolatry. Their God lives on a planet
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called Kolob or his multiple wives.
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They preach another gospel 1 of salvation by works and they have
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another Jesus, the brother of Lucifer.
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They only pay lip service to the Bible because they have their
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own so-called holy book which denies the existence of hell and
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allows Adolf Hitler to make it into the 3rd heaven. 3 times
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this young lady looked to her friends to be rescued.
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Finally they got the hint and took her away before she heard
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the biblical gospel. Do you think there's an
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afterlife? Yes.
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Are you a Christian? Yes, have.
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You been born again. I've been baptized.
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It mean born again. So I'm a member of the Church of
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Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
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The question for you. There's a knife in my back.
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I've got 3 minutes to live. How can I enter the Kingdom?
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How can I get saved? What should I do?
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I've got 3 minutes. I'm dying.
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Enter the Kingdom. Well, you need to.
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I got 2 1/2 minutes quick 2. And a half minutes.
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I'm dying. I'm going to teach you about
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Jesus well. Do it because I've now got 2
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minutes you. Need to accept Jesus as your
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savior? How do I do that?
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Allow His atonement to work through you.
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Accept Him, and let accept that he died for you, and that He
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took upon him all of your sins, and then just.
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Is that all I have to do? Also allow yourself to
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understand that. One minute, Oh my gosh, blood
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straining out of my body. I'm going, you know, I've, I've
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come talk to him. Over there.
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Go talk to him over there. I'm a fornicator, I'm a liar,
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I'm a thief. I've broken the commandments.
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I know I'm a big trouble on judgement day.
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I think I'm going to go to hell. And what have I got to do again
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you? Just have to accept Jesus and be
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baptized and follow him and follow.
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Hey I got 40 seconds, how do I get baptized?
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Find somebody who has the authority to baptize.
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I can't move. I'm dying.
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I've now got 15 seconds. Here.
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We're going. To call somebody.
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Quickly. I'm under pressure.
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I don't. So you can't help me, cannot get
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up. I am.
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I'm dead. It's all over.
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I've gone to hell and you couldn't help me.
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No, you didn't go. Dead.
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I'm dead. No, you didn't go to hell.
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Oh yes, I did. Oh, you just went to the spirit
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world. When Jesus said he said fear not
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humorous power to kill your body and cast your soul into hell.
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Fear him. Jesus said that he said the
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place where the fire is never quenched and the worm never
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dies. The Bible speaks to the lake of
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fire and I'm terrified while I've gone.
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Let me let me share with you a couple of thoughts.
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Remember the thief on the cross? Yes.
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Did he get baptized? I.
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Don't remember. No, you don't.
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I. Think so.
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He was nailed to the cross. He couldn't go anywhere, he
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couldn't do anything. Right, OK.
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All over. Yeah, sorry.
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No, no, it's not. He has another chance.
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I. Don't.
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I've gone. Hey, thanks for talking to me.
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Bye bye. I kind of added that.
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I kind of added that music in there, if you like that.
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No, that was no, that was the way that it came.
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But no, it's again, very illustrative of the fact that
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there seems to be some answers that sound like something that
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we would say, but then when you dig below the surface, you
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realize, oh, this, there is no salvation.
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But hey, that's OK because there's still a chance you're
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die, you're dead, but you you can still make it somewhere
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else. And again, that flow chart that
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we showed you before. And I want to make clear as we
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go through these things, you think, well, how on earth am I
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going to reach a, if I don't remember all of these things
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that we have learned? How am I reach Jehovah Witness
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if I don't remember all the things we've learned?
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I, I'm sure that you're not going to remember all the things
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that we've gone over in, well, 22 weeks of trying to talk about
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false religions and Islam and Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons so
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far. But I do believe there's some
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things that will help you here this morning, specifically with
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the Mormons, but also that we could apply several of these to
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some of these other cults and world religions as well.
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So let's go ahead and start looking at these and we'll first
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look at #1 which is this Start with the sinlessness of Christ.
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Start with the sinlessness of Christ.
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You know, it's often better to start with someone that you
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have, or let me put it this way, it's it's often better to start
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when you're talking with someone with something that you might
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have in common to bring common ground.
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Now we're not talking about hiding the truth.
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This is what the Mormons will do is that they will try to hide
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the ball from you and not actually tell you about all of
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these other things. I'm just talking about in the
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course of a conversation. Why don't you start first with
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something that you might have in common and then when you have
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common ground, be able to show where the differences are.
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One of those places that you can show common ground is with the
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sinlessness of Christ because of the Mormons will at least give
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lip service to the sinlessness of Jesus Christ.
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Now do they believe that he is the Jesus Christ of the Bible?
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No, they believe that he is the brother of Lucifer.
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They believe that he is not very God like Father, Son and Holy
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Ghost as the Bible teaches. Yet there is a place that you
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can kind of have a starting point with them talking of the
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sinlessness of Christ. Now God's Word shows us that
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Christ was sinless in every way, and that's why we're starting in
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Second Corinthians chapter 5. Look at verse #18 with me, if
2 Corinthians 5 chapter mention
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you will. It's a great place to be able to
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start 2nd Corinthians 5 verse 18.
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And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by
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Jesus Christ, and have given to us the ministry of
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reconciliation. By the way, why do we need to
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reach the Mormons? Because Jesus Christ reconciled
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us to the Father, and we now have the ministry of
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reconciliation to bring other people to Jesus Christ as well.
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The ministry that I am in is the.
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Very same ministry to be honest with you that you are in the
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ministry of reconciliation. I'm in full time quote UN quote
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ministry, but really we're all to be full time ministers of the
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ministry of reconciliation. Verse 19 To wit, that God was in
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Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their
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trespasses unto them, and has committed us to the unto us the
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word of reconciliation them we are ambassadors for Christ, as
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through as though God did beseech you by us.
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We pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God, for he hath
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made him to be sin for us who what knew no sin, that we might
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be made the righteousness of God in him.
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So where can we start with a more?
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But we can start with the fact that Jesus knew no sin and the
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sin of the world was placed upon him.
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And reconciliation therefore comes through who Jesus Christ.
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And you'll find some common ground here with a Mormon.
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Now again, they take that very basic truth and run in an
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opposite direction of what the Bible teaches.
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But you could take them there and help them to understand what
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the the sinlessness of Jesus Christ means.
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He. 726 and 27 you want to turn there, but it's for such an high
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priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
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from sinners, higher than the heavens, who needed not daily as
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those high priests to OfferUp sacrifice first for his own sins
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and then for the peoples. For this he did once when he
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offered up himself. Listen, even Mormons would
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acknowledge that Joseph Smith was a sinful creature.
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Even Mormons would acknowledge that he was not sinless, as
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Jesus Christ was sinless. So again, this gives you a great
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jumping off place in a conversation with them.
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Because Christ's perfection is found for the true Bible
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believing faith as well as Mormonism.
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A person who begins with this doctrine meets a Mormon on
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common ground. But if you're talking to a
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Mormon, ask him if he believes about Jesus perfectionism.
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Let him express his understanding until you start to
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hear the differences emerge between that and Christianity.
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And then when that moment arrives, ask simple questions
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that reveal how other Mormon beliefs are inconsistent with
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this conviction. So allow them to talk about a
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little bit as they do talk about Jesus, and you started this
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common ground, you'll start to hear things that are not common
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ground. You'll start to hear things that
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are unbiblical. And this gives you places to be
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able to have conversation and to be able to start to show them
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the truth. You might even ask how your
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friend understands Jesus's perfect words, because if Jesus
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was perfect and sinless. His words were.
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Perfect as well, so you could ask them, well, how do you feel
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about Matthew 2435? Heaven and earth shall pass
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away, but my word shall not pass away.
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If the perfect Jesus established his gospel forever, then why
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does it need to be restored? Why was Joseph Smith necessary?
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Was Jesus's promise incorrect? Was Jesus lying when he spoke
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about this? It was Jesus just not
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understanding what the truth was.
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Listen, any of those things would be problematic.
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It just happens to be that Jesus was who He said He was, and the
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gospel does not need restoring, because the gospel has always
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been. If your Mormon friend says,
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well, God needs new prophets to bring new revelation, you can go
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to Hebrews chapter 1, verses one and two.
Hebrews 1 chapter mention
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God, who at sundry times in divers manners spake in time
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passed under the fathers, by the prophets, hath in these last
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days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of
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all things, by whom also He made the world.
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Jesus is the one who speaks to us today.
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He is the living Word. We have the Word in front of us.
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We don't need something new. And Jesus Christ is perfect.
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And so being able to start there, you'll start to see, as
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you discussed, the cracks emerge in their belief, and you follow
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those cracks as they go along, and then you're able to talk to
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them about other biblical doctrines as well.
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Now #2 goes in hand, in hand with #1 and that's this.
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Show them the sufficiency of Christ, sufficiency of Christ.
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Christ isn't just perfect. He is perfectly sufficient to
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meet the needs of mankind. Meaning it's this, It's Jesus
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and nothing else. That's what salvation is.
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It is not Jesus and self. It is not Jesus and work, Jesus
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and money, Jesus and membership, Jesus and baptism, Jesus and any
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of those things you know, Christ is sufficient to save us without
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any of our help. Listen, Mormons don't believe
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that. That Jesus just got the ball
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rolling. But you need to be involved in
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your own salvation. This isn't just Adam Rivero
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talking. This is their own prophets who
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say this. For instance, Listen,
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immortality has been accomplished by the Savior's
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sacrifice. Eternal life hangs in the
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balance awaiting the works of men.
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That was Spencer Kimball, the 12th LDS president, back in the
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1980s, a book called The Miracle of Forgiveness.
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It even has the page page 208. So if you have that at home,
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just go to page 208 and you'll find it.
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But listen, blasphemous immortality has been
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accomplished by the Savior's sacrifice.
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Eternal life hangs in the balance awaiting the works of
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men. Meaning this Christ's sacrifice
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was not sufficient. Christ's sacrifice wasn't
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enough. Christ needs you to be able to
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save yourself. That's a blasphemous statement.
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That's a blasphemous thought. And the the Jehovah Witness, or
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rather the Mormons, will give lip service to the fact that
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Jesus is perfect, but he's not perfectly able to save you.
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He needs you like Uncle Sam. I need you, Jesus.
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I need you to be able to finish your salvation.
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There's nothing biblical about that whatsoever.
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When Paul addresses the false teaching about Jesus to the
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church at Colossus, we don't know exactly all the details of
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this false teaching, but we do know this.
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He paints a picture of the fullness and sufficiency of
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Jesus Christ. So why don't you turn to
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Colossians chapter 2? This doesn't necessarily talk of
Colossians 2 chapter mention
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Mormonism, but certainly it does give us a better understanding
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of the sufficiency of Christ. Colossians chapter #2 We'll look
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at verse 8 to start. Beware lest any man spoil you
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through philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of
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men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
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Now look at this. For in Him.
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Now who's the Him? Well, you can go back up to the
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previous verse. What's the last word of verse #8
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Christ. For in him that would be Christ
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dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily meaning this
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Jesus is God. There is no contradiction.
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There is no question about that whatsoever.
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And ye are what's that next word?
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Complete in Him which is the head of all principality and
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power. We are complete in Jesus Christ.
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No, we do not complete ourselves after Jesus gives us a head
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start. Jesus is not the one who gets
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the ball rolling. And then you are the one who
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saves yourself so that you can become a God and have your own
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spirit children and populate your own worlds.
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No, no, we see that we are complete and Jesus Christ He is
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sufficient as these New Testament passages model.
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You want to move your Mormon friends or those Mormon
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acquaintances that you meet who are on your doorstep from
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Christ's perfection to His sufficiency.
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Help them to understand that Jesus Christ is enough.
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Ask questions again to be able to understand exactly what they
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think they need to do to be able to help themselves to eternal
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life, to salvation. Ask questions.
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We'll talk more about that in a few moments.
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But you can find passages like these and others that would show
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that the sufficiency of Christ is real.
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We just saw this morning's brother Vince read several
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different passages for us, that when Jesus died on the cross
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that the veil was rent in twain. The Bible says it was ripped in
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two. What does that mean?
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That the work was done, It was complete, It is finished.
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Wasn't saying that Jesus was giving up his life, He's giving
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up the ghost. That would happen later.
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It is finished. What was the finished?
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The work that was done, paying the atonement for our sins, that
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was what was finished. He would give up in the ghost a
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few moments later. But the idea is this, it is
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done. It is sufficient.
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We can't help ourselves to get to heaven.
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We get in the way of getting ourselves to heaven.
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We're the ones that have been the stumbling block to
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ourselves. Even accept Jesus Christ in the
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1st place. We are not the answer, we are
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the problem. We are the one that needs
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saving. And so point out how sufficient
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Christ is #3 as you go, define your terms.
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I've said this before, I'll say it again, because Voltaire was
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an atheist. He was a not a very kind man.
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He hated Christians. But he has this one quote that I
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really like. So I use it all the time.
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And I've used it since Bible college.
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And it's this. If you wish to converse with me,
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define your terms. If you wish to converse with me,
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define your terms. Now I've lived through this in
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my life growing up, as I've told you before, I was a Lutheran
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before I became saved and then became a Bible believing
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Baptist. I went to a Christian School.
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And so people would ask me for a long time, they would say, are
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you saved? And my answer would be yes,
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meaning I thought I was going to heaven, but was I saved the
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Bible way? Well, the answer is no.
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So they would say, are you saved?
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And then they would mean are you saved by faith through Jesus
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Christ. When I'd say I was saved, I
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meant something like this. Well, I'm saved because I was
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baptized as a baby and I'd take the Lord's Supper.
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I would even say I would save by grace through faith because
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that's what the Lutheran Church would say.
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Martin Luther made a big deal about that even while still
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holding to the sacraments, giving eternal life.
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And so we see the Bible does not teach that.
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So we would be saying the same things.
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The Baptist and myself as a Lutheran, we would say the same
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thing, but we meant 2 completely different things.
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So as you're talking with a Mormon, you remember that video
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that she used, terms that would seem to suggest that we were on
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common ground, but yet we are not on common ground even in the
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terms in which she would use and we would use.
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For instance, I would say, I believe that Jesus is God.
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A Mormon would say, great, so do I Jesus is so important to our
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faith. I would say, well, I believe
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that salvation is a work of grace.
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And that Mormon would say, so do I Unless it's by God's grace, I
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have no hope. I would say I believe the Bible
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is God's word. And the Mormon would say so do
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I. The Bible is central to our
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faith. You would seem like men.
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We're the same person. It would seem like we believe
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the same thing. And that's why you have to be
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very careful when speaking to the Mormons to be able to
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understand that although they might be trying to build that
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common ground, there really is no common ground to be able to
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be found when it comes to the issue of who Jesus Christ is,
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who God the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost is, what salvation
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is, what baptism is. She used a word I believe
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atonement, that they wouldn't understand what the atonement
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truly is, that they use the same terms.
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But don't be fooled by that. Listen, Mormons are taught that
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there are 6 different meanings for the word salvation. 6.
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Salvation for physical death, salvation from sin, being born
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again, salvation from ignorance, salvation from the second death,
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exaltation or eternal life. All of those are baked into the
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cake when they use the term salvation.
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So listen, you could talk about are you saved?
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And they could be thinking about any of those things.
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So you have to be very careful when you talk to them.
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Here's what it comes down to. And I will tell you, this has
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been so good for me, going through these lessons and being
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able to understand better how to talk to the cultists, to be able
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to better talk to those who believe in false religion.
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Because a lot of times in dealing with these types of
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folks, I have found that I have taken more.
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I wouldn't even say necessarily a combative stance because I'm
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not trying to combat them, but I would say this, that I was
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certainly more willing to win an argument than wanting to win
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their heart. It's almost like I wanted to
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prove to them Jesus was God. And really, that's not the
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point. You say, well, that's not the
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point. Well, of course they have to
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understand that Jesus is God to be saved.
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But the real point is not to just prove them that Jesus is
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God. I win and they still go to hell.
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The point is I want them to understand they need to accept
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that same Jesus to be saved. And so because of that has
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helped me to understand that the way that I approach this ought
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to be a lot different, meaning this you ought to ask a lot of
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questions, come into these conversations like you know
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nothing about Mormonism. And I'm not saying lie.
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I'm not saying to try to present yourself falsely, but ask
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questions to understand what they believe.
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And in doing so, that will help you to be able to define your
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terms. Here's where you can find hope
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and comfort in the fact You say, well, pastor, I don't remember
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what I was supposed to say to Jehovah Witnesses.
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We looked at the witnessing to Jehovah Witness about, you know,
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a month and a half ago. I don't remember what I was
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supposed to say from that. You know, what do I do?
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Well, here's what you can do with a Jehovah Witness you can
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do with a Mormon. Listen, you can do with anybody.
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Just ask questions. Just ask them questions.
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For instance, you talk a lot about atonement.
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What does that mean to you? Have you ever been baptized for
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a dead person? Why did you do that?
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Where do you see that in the Bible?
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Can you explain to me why you think they're modern prophets?
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Why don't the prophets always agree?
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I know some Mormon prophets have taught that Adam was God.
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Do you believe that by asking questions rather than just
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making accusations, you can draw out a person's heart and
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understand more about who they are and where they're coming
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from and to be able to have a better biblical conversation,
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all while being able to know where they're coming from
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without having to remember. Oh, what did the Mormons
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believe? How is it different than Jehovah
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Witnesses? I don't remember.
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I don't know what to say. We'll just ask them and even
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just say, you know, I know there's some similarities
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between the Jehovah Witnesses and the Mormons, but maybe can
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you tell me a little bit about that?
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You say, well, would they be insulted?
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I think they would probably just say, well, we're not like
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Jehovah Witnesses. They they'd say, well, and we'll
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start giving you and now all of a sudden you have some things to
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talk about because you have asked questions because you'll
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start hearing things. You say, Nope, that's not in the
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Bible. That's not in the Bible.
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That's not in the Bible. This gives you points of
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conversation, ask questions. Proverbs 20 verse 5 says, as
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counsel in the heart of man is like deep water, but a man of
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understanding will draw it out. Meaning this, that you are not
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going into an adversarial, combative situation with this
-
person. What are you trying to do?
-
You're trying to draw the error out of them so that you
-
understand why they believe what they believe so that you can
-
then give them the truth. Again, we're not talking about
-
hiding the truth. We're not talking about
-
listening to error and saying, Oh yeah, well, Oh well, well,
-
God bless you and walking away. We're talking about having a
-
real conversation and being able to present the truth to them.
-
But don't you think you have a better opportunity to be able to
-
talk to one of these people with that type of comfort, with that
-
type of situation than being confrontational?
-
I've told you 2 stories about dealing with Jehovah Witnesses.
-
I've dealt with a lot more Jehovah Witnesses, the Mormons,
-
over the years. But I've talked to you about one
-
that was more combative, that was out here on the parking lot
-
where they were trying to win me to Jehovah Witness to be a job
-
witness in the parking lot of the Church of which I pastor.
-
And I had to tell, and I started with this.
-
I said, listen, you know, don't give me the new world
-
translation because that's a corrupt translation.
-
Now I'm right in that. But you know where that
-
conversation went? Nowhere.
-
It would absolutely nowhere because I shut them down before
-
we started. The best conversation I've ever
-
had with Jehovah Witnesses, as I mentioned to you before, was
-
when I was in Vermont and I saw three of them sitting there.
-
They're really the saddest looking people I ever saw.
-
A mother, a father and a teenage daughter.
-
And it was hot and they were sitting there and that you could
-
just tell they were like, is our hour done yet?
-
You know, they were waiting to get out of there.
-
So I bought them bottles of water at the store, a cold
-
bottles of water and brought it to him.
-
I started talking to him and I started asking him questions and
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I talked about different things and I asked him, you know, you
-
know, why would you? Because I tried to give him a
-
track and they said they'd, you know, they wouldn't take.
-
I said, why would you not? Why would you not take a track?
-
I don't mind taking one of your pieces of literature.
-
You know, we had a good conversation here, dude.
-
Why would why would you be afraid to take a little piece of
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paper that, well, we're not allowed to do that.
-
Where, where does it say in the Bible to be able to do that?
-
Can I tell you, I still wonder if I had an impact on them that
-
day more than anyone else ever talked to.
-
I'm not saying they got saved that day, but I'm wondering if I
-
planted something and Lord willing, someone else watered
-
and hopefully someday I meet him in heaven.
-
I pray that would be the case. But what is that?
-
What's the difference? Well, I was able to go define
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terms. I was able to ask questions.
-
It was a different way of looking at it.
-
Listen, if I've learned anything about studying these cults and
-
studying these false religions, it's this, that they are so
-
typically mistreated when they go to a door that they are
-
expecting you're going to be a jerk.
-
Now listen, they're peddling falsehood.
-
I don't know that I feel sorry for them, but I will say this,
-
that just the fact that you treat them with just a tiny bit
-
of decency will go such a long way.
-
I've made a point to Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons and
-
talking to them before to say, listen, I appreciate what you do
-
and I stand up for the right for what you do because we do the
-
same. But I do say this, but we have a
-
different message. I support your right to be able
-
to go to door to door because it's what we do as a church as
-
well. But I will say don't be fooled.
-
Our messages are different. They are not the same.
-
And even in that, there's a little common ground.
-
Well, they support what we do. Well, I was able to tell them,
-
yeah, we support what you do in the sense that legally you
-
should be allowed to do it because we have the
-
constitutional right to be able to do so.
-
But you also are wrong in what you're doing.
-
And I want to tell you why. So making accusations or or
-
saying, Hey, did you know you're you're God lives on the planet
-
Kolob. Probably not a great way to
-
start. Did did you did you know, did
-
you know your God had a physical relations with Mary and that's
-
how Jesus was born? That's not a great way to start.
-
Now, is that a great way to win an argument?
-
Probably because you're going to show them how absurd they are.
-
Are you going to win them to Christ?
-
Probably not. So just define the terms.
-
You're not trying to win an argument, you are trying to win
-
them to Christ. And if in general, just remind
-
yourself this, don't quarrel, question, don't quarrel, don't
-
have a quarrel with them. Again, that doesn't mean that
-
you're not emphatic about what you believe, but you're not
-
trying to start an argument. Just ask them questions if
-
you're not sure you know, you know what is Mormonism like what
-
what, what do you believe? What, what is your church like?
-
You know, and as you just have an honest conversation with
-
them, you will find plenty of things to be able to talk to
-
them about the word of God because you've drawn it out of
-
them in a very normal conversation.
-
Their guard will come down. They won't be so as willing to
-
be able to maybe be adversarial as they were in the beginning.
-
Unless I'm not saying you're going to win them to Christ
-
necessarily. In fact, the chances are very
-
low that you're going to win a cultist to Christ at your door.
-
I'm not saying it can't happen, but I'm saying it's very low
-
because they're coming to be able to win you.
-
It's unlikely you'll do the opposite.
-
But what if you just push them a little bit closer to Jesus
-
Christ, the real Jesus Christ? Isn't that worth it?
-
Isn't that what we're trying to do?
-
So as you go, define your terms #4 show the sufficiency of
-
Scripture. Here's that word again.
-
Sufficiency. But it's not just Jesus Christ
-
that is sufficient. It is the Scriptures that are
-
sufficient. The eighth article of faith of
-
the LDS says this. We believe the Bible to be the
-
word of God as far as it's translated correctly.
-
Now that is their escape clause, meaning this we believe the
-
Bible is true, but anything we don't like, what's a
-
mistranslation? Isn't that kind of what the
-
Jehovah Witnesses did? And they did it to such a degree
-
that they created their own Bible.
-
But interestingly enough that when you interact with a Mormon,
-
guess what Bible they're going to use, They will be using the
-
King James Bible. So you will be able to have
-
familiar verses to be able to interact with them because you
-
will be on the same ground using the King James Bible as the
-
Mormons do. However, we believe that the
-
King James Bible has been preserved for the English people
-
is perfect, that there is no error within it.
-
They do not believe that about any Bible.
-
They do not believe that. And that is their way of saying
-
if something doesn't agree with them, well, that's just been
-
corrupted over time. Whenever there's been a problem,
-
they simply say, oh, well, it wasn't translated correctly.
-
And by the way, that's why the doctrine of both inspiration and
-
preservation are so important. The Word of God was inspired,
-
but it's also been preserved through all generations so that
-
we can know that we trust the Word of God when we have it in
-
front of us as we do man. There's a lot of verses about
-
this. Second Timothy 315 through 17
-
that from a child thou has known the Holy Scriptures which are
-
able to make thee wise, and the salvation through faith which is
-
in Christ Jesus. All scriptures by given by
-
inspiration of God is proful for doctrine, for reproof, for
-
correction, for instruction and righteousness, that the man of
-
God may be perfect again sufficient, thoroughly furnished
-
unto all good works. Proverbs 30, verses 5:00 and
-
6:00. Every word of God is pure.
-
He is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.
-
Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou
-
be found a liar, and not unto his words.
-
Isn't that what the Mormons have done they've created three other
-
holy books to be able to be put on equal footing and really
-
greater footing than the word of God, but he said this don't add
-
to it. We can go to the end of the Book
-
of Revelation. What does it say?
-
Don't add to it. Don't subtract from it.
-
Psalm 19 verse 7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the
-
soul, the testimony the Lord is sure making wise the simple.
-
Psalm one 19160 The word is true from beginning from the
-
beginning, and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth
-
forever. Isaiah 820 Galatians 189 over
-
and over and over again, the sufficiency, the preservation of
-
the Scriptures. You can trust the word of God.
-
You can trust the word of God that you have in front of you.
-
We thank the Lord for that. The Mormons do not believe that
-
First Nephi 13, verse 26. After the 12 apostles from the
-
Jews under the Gentiles, they have taken away from the gospel
-
of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious, and
-
also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away.
-
First Nephi 1328, few verses later.
-
There are many plain and precious things taken away from
-
the book which is the book of the Lamb of God.
-
Few verses later, verse 34. First Nephi chapter 13.
-
The Gentiles do stumble exceedingly because of the most
-
plain and precious parts of the gospel which have been kept back
-
by that abominable church doctrine and covenants 20 verse
-
9. The Book of Mormon contains the
-
fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles and to
-
the Jews also. Doctrines and Covenants 42 verse
-
12, The elders, priests and teachers of this church.
-
So I'll teach the principles of my gospel which are in the Bible
-
and the Book of Mormon, in which is the fullness of the gospel.
-
What are they saying over and over again?
-
The Bible is not enough, but yet the Bible teaches it is enough.
-
Listen, you can't have both. The Book of Mormon is a fraud
-
and a falsehood, and all of its other books like the Pearl of
-
Great Price and the Doctrines of Covenants, or the Bible is what
-
it is. They cannot hold the Bible and
-
say it is one of their holy books when it so plainly
-
contradicts what the Book of Mormon says.
-
The fullness of the gospel came through these books.
-
That means there was no gospel. That means that Jesus Christ was
-
wrong. That means Jesus Christ did not
-
do. And again, this goes back to the
-
sufficiency of Christ, that He was not enough.
-
No, this is not what is taught. And so there is certainly plenty
-
of place for conversation about the sufficiency of Scripture and
-
also those other books as well. Listen, wait to expose
-
contradictions. Now, is it important for us to
-
expose contradictions? Well, of course, of course it's
-
important. But again, as I mentioned
-
before, don't lead with that. Don't go through and talk about
-
the most egregious things first. As I said, every time that I've
-
talked to a Jehovah Witness and I've said something about, well,
-
the New World Translation is a corrupt translation.
-
Listen, that ends the conversation.
-
I'm right, but it ends the conversation.
-
And so I've learned that that's probably not the best way to go.
-
In fact, the best way to go is to be able to use their own
-
corrupted New World translation to be able to show them versus
-
that still remain that show who Jesus Christ is.
-
Remember we saw first John 1/3 that they scrub Jesus Christ and
-
His exclusivity as the Son in John 11, but yet they left an
-
opening and John 1/3 were able to show that through the New
-
World translation. But don't start from that point.
-
This is the place I've failed many times over the years is
-
again as I mentioned, I've tried to win the argument but not win
-
the heart and win them to Christ.
-
Now are there a lot of contradictions in their faith?
-
Yes. Are they contradiction?
-
They contradict the Bible, their books contradict the Bible,
-
their books contradict their own books, and on top of that, their
-
prophets contradict the books and the prophets contradict each
-
other. Is that confusing enough for
-
you? There's plenty of things.
-
Thank you, Marcia. There are many good things.
-
It is confusing, isn't it? There are plenty of things that
-
you can show that are contradictions, but make sure
-
that you get the conversation to the right place before you start
-
to be able to expose all these things.
-
And This is why these in any of these conversations, there's not
-
A1 size fits all way of dealing with it.
-
And I want to be careful in how I present this because really
-
you just have to be led by the spirit.
-
It would be like saying, well, there's one way to show someone
-
to Jesus Christ. Well, as long as it's biblical,
-
you might have many different approaches because people are
-
different. Some people might need a more
-
confrontational style. Some people you start like that,
-
they're gone. They don't want to talk to you.
-
And so be spirit LED when dealing with these things.
-
But I will say this, when Jesus talked with the woman at the
-
well, did he start with this? Hey, woman, you got you had five
-
husbands and the man that you're living with is not your husband.
-
I have a feeling that conversation would never have
-
commenced if he had opened with that.
-
Now he didn't avoid it. Let's be careful about this.
-
He didn't say, well, the only way I can reveal who I am is by,
-
you know, not really dealing with sin.
-
He dealt with her sin, but he dealt with it at a time when she
-
heard that that she was pricked in the heart.
-
She would not have been pricked in the heart.
-
If he had LED with that at the beginning.
-
What would have happened? She probably would have just
-
gone away. Now Jesus knows all hearts so
-
it's easy for him to be able to do right because he knows every
-
we don't know every heart and again, that's why it's so
-
important to be spirit LED got to go through these quickly.
-
Number six, share the rest that Christ brings.
-
This is true with all cultists. It's especially true with
-
Mormons because it's all about works.
-
There is no rest for them. They do and they do and they do
-
and they do. And again, you could say this
-
about Catholicism, you could say this about Jehovah Witnesses,
-
that it's all about doing works. And so because of that, there's
-
no real peace. But it is especially true at the
-
Mormons because of the hoops that they make them jump
-
through. They have to be able to do
-
things at the church level or the stake level.
-
They have to then end up doing things outside of their stake,
-
outside of their group of churches.
-
Then they have to do things in the temple, including being
-
baptized on behalf of the dead. They go through genealogies to
-
find people who may have died in their family in the past, and
-
they're baptized on their behalf.
-
The temple writes the temple rituals.
-
It goes on and on. On top of the fact that the men
-
from 18, I think he's 18 years old to 20.
-
I may be a little bit off on the on the ages, but I do know all
-
Mormon men are supposed to give two years to missionary work and
-
all Mormon women 18 months to mission work right at the
-
beginning of their lives. They gave their adulthood
-
rather. And So what are they doing?
-
They've been working and working and working and working and
-
working and working and still no promise of eternal life.
-
To be able to share with them that Jesus yoke is easy and his
-
burden is light is something they can't comprehend.
-
It is something they cannot understand.
-
So be able to share with them how you can have peace.
-
Well, I know for certain that I'll go to heaven someday.
-
To them that's unfathomable. They don't even know how that's
-
possible. You can show them from the
-
Bible. That's the case.
-
All the all the gospel interactions that took place in
-
the book of Acts. When they were done, people
-
said, well, I guess I'm a little bit closer to eternal life.
-
They never said that. They said this, I'm saved.
-
They came to understand that they knew Jesus Christ the
-
Savior. I look at the Ethiopian eunuch,
-
and by the time he was baptized, he didn't say, well, I guess I'm
-
a little closer to heaven. No, he went away rejoicing and
-
his life changed forever. Because there's rest that comes
-
with knowing Jesus Christ as your Savior.
-
And then #7 listen, don't ever get over this.
-
Share your testimony when you don't know what to do.
-
Share your testimony as you're listening and question them.
-
Find common ground. I have found over the years,
-
even though I didn't grow up Catholic, I grew up Lutheran.
-
I've been able to interact with a lot of people who were
-
Catholics because I found common ground in our stories.
-
Listen, Catholics believe 7 sacraments, Lutheran's believe
-
two. Guess what?
-
There's enough common ground there that I could show we were,
-
we had altar boys. I was an altar boy when I was a
-
Luther. Could you imagine me as an altar
-
boy? How cute would that be, right?
-
I was a 7th grader wearing the whole get up and a little limp
-
mustache, but it was pretty bad. So all things considered, but I
-
understood being an altar boy, I understood I never went through
-
CCD, but we had confirmation which what it was called.
-
So I'm able to find those things.
-
I'm able to talk to someone who was a Catholic or someone who
-
may be as newly saved, unable to find some common ground and
-
share my testimony. Listen, do you have much common
-
ground with a Mormon? No, but do you have some common
-
ground? Well, yes.
-
Here's why. If we go all the way back to
-
lesson 1, which seems like a a while ago, but if we went all
-
the way back, yeah, I feel you, Ralph.
-
But if we go all the way back to lesson 1, we saw there's really
-
only two religions, right? God and not God.
-
That's it. I mean, that's it.
-
So guess what? In the time you were not God,
-
you can find common ground with a Mormon.
-
You can maybe find, you know, listen, I wasn't a Mormon, but I
-
was a Catholic that I understood that I just never had peace
-
because I wasn't sure that I'd ever done enough.
-
I went to Catholic funerals and they were always telling us to
-
pray for the dead because know if they had gone to heaven or
-
not. And so I can empathize a little
-
bit of what you're saying. Be able some of your testimony,
-
listen, your testimony is the greatest weapon, if you will,
-
outside of the word of God that you have.
-
And if you don't know how to share your faith with somebody,
-
if you get confused, listen, just share your testimony.
-
You cannot go wrong saying how you got saved.
-
It is a wonderful thing and we say it's a weapon.
-
I don't mean it's a weapon in a offensive sense that on offense,
-
but the idea is this God has given you this life.
-
Share that transformation that took place and show them,
-
listen, I don't know that I can answer everything for you, but
-
he changed my life and talk about the woman at the well.
-
She ran away. She left her water pot down and
-
she didn't say, now let me explain to you the sufficiency
-
of Christ. Let me explain to you about his
-
dual nature of being 100% God, 100% man.
-
She couldn't explain all that. She said this.
-
Come see a man. He knows all things.
-
Surely this is the Christ. That's what she says.
-
Listen, if you can't say anything else, you could say
-
this. Surely this is the Christ.
-
He's changed my life and he's changed your life as well.
-
Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of
-
Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing
-
to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us
-
know by contacting us at [email protected].
-
Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton,
-
MA. May the Lord bless you as you
-
grow in His Word.