Sermon

Week 16: Witnessing to JW's Using the New World Translation | September 28, 2025 Sunday School

Sermon Podcast—LBC Easton

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  1. Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.

  2. The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist

  3. Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us

  4. or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look

  5. us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this

  6. message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.

  7. Well, why don't you turn to John chapter 1.

    John 1 chapter mention

  8. This morning we're going to be looking at our final lesson on

  9. the Jehovah Witnesses as we have this kind of miniseries on the

  10. JW's while we continue to look at our larger series on world

  11. religions and cults. By God's grace, next week we're

  12. going to introduce the Mormon. So we're basically going out of

  13. the frying pan into the fire to be able to look at another cult.

  14. And so we're finishing up on looking at the Jehovah Witnesses

  15. this morning, and then we'll be starting our study, Lord

  16. willing, on the Mormons next week.

  17. I would ask to turn to John chapter 1.

    John 1 chapter mention

  18. And I want you to be able to look in your Bible as we also

  19. will be looking through the New World Translation.

  20. As a reminder to you. The New World Translation may

  21. say Holy Scriptures on it, but there's neither anything holy or

  22. scriptural about it. It is not the Holy Scriptures,

  23. but we are going to use it today for a very particular reason,

  24. because there are opportunities for us to be able to share the

  25. gospel with Jehovah Witnesses by using their own copy of what

  26. they consider to be the Bible. Not because we consider it to be

  27. the Bible, but to show that even their own version of the Bible,

  28. if you will, will show the deity of Christ if you know where to

  29. look. And so we're going to look

  30. through this today so that if someone is at your door or

  31. you're interacting with someone at one of those literature racks

  32. that we looked at last week, that there are certain places in

  33. their Bible. Again, not the Bible, but what

  34. they believe to be the Bible to be able to show them how Jesus

  35. Christ is God the Son as well as the Son of God.

  36. So we're going to show our last video this morning.

  37. And before it gets queued up, I want to just tell you exactly

  38. what you're going to look at. The first half is about a

  39. Jehovah Witness video showing their desire to be able to go

  40. out and to give the gospel. And I've never seen the side of

  41. it before because the video actually deals with how they

  42. keep statistics and really the fact of that they are, as

  43. they're publishing the Word of God, remember, they call

  44. themselves publishers as they do so they have to keep very strict

  45. statistics to make sure that they are doing exactly what

  46. they're told to do. Again, this is not out of the

  47. benevolence of their heart that they're going out to be able to

  48. share the gospel like we would, but rather they are really

  49. acting within fear, fear of the Governing Body as well as fear

  50. of not achieving eternal life. So I want you to see that

  51. juxtaposition because I hope hopefully will show you that

  52. when you do interact with them, that there's going to be some

  53. opportunities for you to talk to them and their weary heart

  54. because they're trying to achieve salvation.

  55. And we know that they never will with the Jehovah Witnesses.

  56. But then the second part really deals with a gentleman who is

  57. talking with a Jehovah Witness at one of those literature racks

  58. and asking him, if I have two minutes to live, will you tell

  59. me in those two minutes how I can be saved?

  60. Now you and I understand if we know Jesus Christ our Savior,

  61. that we can give someone the gospel very clearly in just a

  62. few sentences, can't we? Now, the gospel is very deep.

  63. The gospel is certainly not a shallow sub, but it can be

  64. summarized very quickly that you're a Sinner, that Jesus

  65. Christ died for your sins, and only Jesus Christ can save you,

  66. right? I mean, that's really the basics

  67. of the gospel right there. But I want you to watch the

  68. struggle that this gentleman has to be able to articulate how

  69. someone can enter the Kingdom. And again, I think those will

  70. both be illustrative to you as we look at using the New World

  71. Translation to be able to give the gospel to these lost souls.

  72. So let's go ahead and run that footage.

  73. When did we begin reporting field service activity?

  74. Prior to 1920, only coal porters, as pioneers were then

  75. called, were asked to submit reports.

  76. But beginning in 1920, everyone in the congregation who

  77. participated in the witness work was asked to turn in a weekly

  78. report. The 1920 Annual Service Report

  79. for the United States was the first to include the activity of

  80. congregation publishers. That report revealed that there

  81. were 8052 class workers or publishers and 350 pioneers

  82. active in the preaching work. Twice a year during the late

  83. 1920s, one week was designated for a special worldwide

  84. witnessing campaign. Pioneers had a goal of 40 hours

  85. for that special week. In January 1939, a suggestion

  86. was placed before Congregation publishers, a goal of 60 hours

  87. per month. Early on, Congregation field

  88. service reports were thorough. Over the years, the forms used

  89. to report Publishers field service activity have been

  90. simplified. Reports have consistently

  91. included back calls or return visits, Bible studies,

  92. publication placements, and hours spent in the disciple

  93. making work. As was the case back then,

  94. there's always a story behind a field service report.

  95. The first time I walked into a Kingdom Hall when I was 16, I

  96. saw this chart on the stage and I realized this organization is

  97. concerned about what we do, what we say, and how much we say

  98. about Jehovah. I realized that from the start,

  99. so that after the third month of studying, when I started going

  100. out in field service, I wanted to turn my time into and they

  101. showed me how to do it and I've been turning it ever since.

  102. Ellen and I were invited into the Special Pioneer service in

  103. 1966. The monthly requirement was 150

  104. hours and 50 return visits. It was a good incentive.

  105. Well, we had a quota back then of 150 magazines, one for every

  106. hour as special pioneers or missionaries.

  107. And one day we run into our fellow missionary and his wife

  108. on the way to the movies. They went every Saturday, every

  109. Saturday. But this particular said, he

  110. says I can't go to the movies because I don't have my 150

  111. magazines. So I've got five more to go and

  112. then we can go to the movies. Let's.

  113. Start in 1961 when we were sending special pioneers, start

  114. pioneering in a trailer of five hours of service every day,

  115. every day, and getting our time was no problem.

  116. Living for a month on $100, that was a problem.

  117. So Dave said I'm I'm going to go out and get a job.

  118. About that time they had put a new store in town, beautiful.

  119. He went down to that store and told him I'm going to work one

  120. day a week, what are you going to do the rest of the time?

  121. So he said, well I knock on doors and tell him about God's

  122. Kingdom. It's really, this is my door.

  123. Knock on it. He came in the truth.

  124. His wife came in the truth. Children are in the truth.

  125. And they had a secretary. She had seven children.

  126. And she said, well, I'd like to study the Bible too, and we

  127. would study with 7 after they had supper.

  128. The beauty of it is that they did so well.

  129. Yeah, After that we studied with the parents, so by the time we

  130. got through it, it was probably almost midnight and we took our

  131. circuit overseer there, he said I'm too old for this midnight

  132. shift. I never felt it was a question

  133. of getting the hours in. I always try to make them

  134. quality calls, you know, try to say something with the people,

  135. not just go there and get the the magazines placed or my Bible

  136. studies. I would try so hard to really

  137. get to know the people. But it was never just a question

  138. of getting in hours. We're trying to save lives.

  139. So which religion is true? Upon my research upon my my

  140. biblical doc. Like the way I've been studying

  141. the Bible. Jehovah's Witnesses.

  142. Are correct. So you're a Jehovah's Witness?

  143. Indeed I am. So how do I get everlasting

  144. life? You live your life choosing good

  145. and learning what that is. So if I've got a knife on my

  146. back, 3 minutes to live, how can I enter the Kingdom?

  147. I'm dying. I know I've sinned.

  148. I've committed adultery in my heart by lusting after a woman.

  149. I've lied and stolen. I'm under God's wrath.

  150. How can I enter the Kingdom? 2 1/2 minutes.

  151. Honestly, the Kingdom of God, God is not so petty as to

  152. begrudge you those small, inconsequential things, this

  153. vast infinite universe of ours, this infinite possibilities that

  154. there are. In a minute and a half, how can

  155. I enter the Kingdom? Help me.

  156. In the end, I believe it's the choices you've made in your

  157. life, committing adultery, doing things like that.

  158. Looking with lust, that's committing adultery in the

  159. heart. So how can I be saved?

  160. How can I enter the Kingdom? At that point, honestly,

  161. Jehovah's Witnesses, we believe that in the end of days.

  162. I've got one minute. I'm pleading with you.

  163. Please, Brian, help me. How can I enter the Kingdom?

  164. What can you do for me? What can you say?

  165. I suppose I don't know. It's a cherry pick video of

  166. someone that that is actually a representation of the doctrine

  167. and theology of the Jehovah Witness.

  168. What you saw was not an exception.

  169. What you just saw was the rule. And could you imagine somebody

  170. in their dying moments asking a Jehovah Witness, what must I do

  171. to be saved? And the answer would be, well, I

  172. don't know. I mean, could you imagine the

  173. jailer in Philippi? What must I do to be saved?

  174. And Paul and Barnabas said, well, we don't know.

  175. No, there certainly was very clear what needed to be done.

  176. And So what you just saw there is graphic and certainly very

  177. sad to be able to think that there would be this line of

  178. doctrine that someone would give their entire life to.

  179. And in the end, when you ask them, can you summarize all of

  180. your beliefs in 3 minutes or less?

  181. And the answer is I can't. Again, I will remind you that

  182. when I've gone on to jehovahwitness.org, and I hope

  183. they don't track my computer because I think they might think

  184. I'm becoming a Jehovah Witness as much as I've been on their

  185. website the last several weeks. But if you were to search How

  186. can I enter the Kingdom, you try to find articles on these kinds

  187. of things. It's like the pot of gold at the

  188. end of the rainbow. It's like the Oasis in the

  189. desert. You go further and it's just a

  190. little bit more and you go further.

  191. It's just a little bit more. And the answer is so elusive

  192. when the answer of salvation according to the Word of God is

  193. so simple. So simple that a child could be

  194. saved. In fact, what did Jesus call it?

  195. Childlike faith. And so I want us to be able to

  196. talk to those Jehovah Witnesses, those ones even that are The

  197. Pioneers. 150 hours a month. Can you think about that?

  198. Five hours a day, 30 days, A 150 hours.

  199. You saw they're recording everything.

  200. They say everything. That woman, the first woman

  201. seemed to make that sound like such a positive.

  202. They record everything we say and everything we do and

  203. everything. I'm thinking that's the very

  204. definition of a cult to be able to record absolutely everything

  205. that's done living. No stone unturned.

  206. And not that we, when we go out witnessing here at Liberty

  207. Baptist Church that we want to give you resources to be able to

  208. show you how to show someone to be saved.

  209. But you can see the level of micromanaging there really is

  210. down to this, that it's not about eternal life at all.

  211. It's really about something much more sinister at those higher

  212. levels. Those circuit leaders that were

  213. mentioned as well as the governing body and those who are

  214. the rank and file don't understand this and they have no

  215. idea what's going on at these higher levels.

  216. So we're going to go to a few different places here this

  217. morning that I hope will be a help to you.

  218. And maybe even you can write these down, keep these near your

  219. door or keep it in your purse or in your or something like that

  220. as verses that can help you if you ever encounter A jovial

  221. witness. And so you should be in John

    John 1 chapter mention

  222. chapter 1 already. And I want us to be able to look

  223. at perhaps the most compelling way that we can use the false

  224. translation of the Word of God, the New World translation, but

  225. then also take someone to the Bible and show them how they can

  226. be saved. Now, I'm going to maneuver all

  227. of this up here this morning to make sure I give you the word of

  228. God, but then also the Jehovah Witness translation.

  229. So just kind of bear with me as I get all this set up here

  230. today. But I believe probably what

  231. we're about to look at here in just a moment is the most

  232. compelling. So you see it up there, what the

  233. Jehovah Witness New World Translation says up on the

  234. screen. If you're at home, you're

  235. watching that on your screen as well.

  236. And so as we pull it up, your Bible says the King James Bible

  237. says in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God

  238. and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning

  239. with God. All things were made by him, and

  240. without him was not anything made that was made.

  241. A very compelling case of Jesus Christ being God himself and pre

  242. existent. Now we can look at verse 14 in a

  243. second. If you're not sure that the word

  244. is Jesus Christ, it's very clear in verse 14 that we'll see in a

  245. moment that he is Jesus Christ. Now compare what we just read to

  246. the New World translation. It says this in the beginning

  247. was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was what's

  248. that next word? Hey, God meaning this, that

  249. Jesus Christ was just one of many gods, that he was not God.

  250. They have taken away the deity of Christ and again that he was

  251. a God in their wording with that lowercase G meaning this that he

  252. was just a leader, He was a God, He was a Lord, but certainly he

  253. was not Jehovah. He certainly was not a triune

  254. God. And they continue, this one was

  255. in the beginning with God, all things came into existence

  256. through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into

  257. existence. Now again to show you that this

  258. is talking about Jesus Christ, the Word go to verse #14 in your

  259. Bible it says this in your Bible it says, And the Word was made

  260. flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as

  261. of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

  262. Is there any doubt in your mind that this is talking about Jesus

  263. Christ? The answer is no.

  264. Well, the Jehovah Witnesses would even agree with that as

  265. well, because it does say in verse 14.

  266. So the Word became flesh and resided among US and we had a

  267. view of His glory, a glory such as belongs to an only begotten

  268. Son from a Father, and he was full of divine favor and truth.

  269. Now again, we're looking at the Word of God being altered and

  270. changed. And this is not the Word of God

  271. that you read up there. But again, I I do want to show

  272. you that even the Jehovah Witness Bible will show that

  273. when it's talking about the Word in John chapter 1, it is

    John 1 chapter mention

  274. speaking about Jesus Christ. Now what I want to show you over

  275. the next few minutes is perhaps again, the most compelling way

  276. that you can talk to a Jehovah Witness about Jesus Christ using

  277. the New World Translation. And all you need is a piece of

  278. paper, a pen, and a coin. That's all you need is a piece

  279. of paper, a pen, and a coin. Going back to verse #1 for many

  280. years, John chapter 1, verses one through 3.

    John 1 chapter mention

  281. For many years I focused on verse #1 When I would talk to

  282. Jova witnesses, I would say, well, the Bible says that the

  283. Word was God, not a God. And pointing out the difference

  284. between the Bible and the New World Translation.

  285. But I've also found that to be very ineffective.

  286. And the reason why is because they believe our Bible is

  287. corrupt and they believe the New World Translation is true.

  288. So just by saying to them, well, the Bible actually says he was

  289. God, not a God, they say, well, your Bible's wrong, our Bible's

  290. right. And we could talk to them about

  291. the fact that the Greek has no support for their translation of

  292. that whatsoever. They don't know, they don't

  293. care, they don't want to know. Remember the translators, the

  294. anonymous translators of the New World Translation didn't know

  295. either Hebrew or Greek when their names were found out.

  296. So talking to them about the languages and how they have

  297. changed the word of God without any type of looking at what the

  298. what the word of God should actually say that that is going

  299. to be ineffective and talking to them.

  300. And I found that to be the case as well.

  301. But really the focus can be on verse #3.

  302. Verse #3 is really where it's at in the New World Translation.

  303. It says all things came into existence through Him and apart

  304. from Him, not even one thing came into existence.

  305. Now who is the Him there in verse #3 it's Jesus Christ.

  306. And So what you can do is this, and I've been looking at this

  307. for the last few weeks and I've really, I've been excited to be

  308. able to show this to you. And I hope that this makes sense

  309. to you as we go through it. And I'm actually looking forward

  310. to using it with a Jehovah Witness myself at some point.

  311. You can take a piece of paper and you can take it into two

  312. squares like this. And on the top you can say

  313. everything that exists. So everything that exists is

  314. going to be represented in these two squares that you have right

  315. here. You'll see on one side you have

  316. the left uncreated things, and on the right side you say things

  317. that came into existence because that's what's mentioned in verse

  318. #3 isn't it? It says once again, all things

  319. came into existence through him, and apart from him, not even one

  320. thing came into existence. So when talking to a Jehovah

  321. Witness, you can make this little bit of a chart here and

  322. you can ask them, well, as far as uncreated things on the left

  323. side of this paper, what are some things that we can put that

  324. are uncreated? Well, what is the only thing

  325. that we can put on that side that is uncreated?

  326. God. God is the only thing that is

  327. uncreated. Why?

  328. He is the pre-existing 1. He has always existed.

  329. He has always been. You say, pastor, I don't know, I

  330. can wrap my head around that. Well, I don't know that I can't

  331. either because we're very linear, aren't we?

  332. But I do know what the Word of God says that in the beginning

  333. he was already there. So there really is no debate

  334. about this. And you could even go to verse

  335. #1 where it says in the beginning was the word.

  336. And so you can even show them that's the case.

  337. And that's a different argument. But uncreated things is God.

  338. No, What things came into existence?

  339. You could ask Joe Witness now what things were created?

  340. Can you give me some names of some things are created?

  341. They may name all kinds of things like humans and plants

  342. and animals and stars and et cetera, even even created the et

  343. cetera. All right, but what I'm saying

  344. is anything else that you can name is in that right hand

  345. column, isn't it? In that right hand box?

  346. Because everything else came into existence.

  347. Now again, I want to remind you, verse #3 says all things came

  348. into existence through Him, and apart from Him, not even one

  349. thing came into existence. So, so far we use the paper.

  350. So far we use the pen. We're making this little chart

  351. with them in our door, and that's where the coin comes in.

  352. So let's just say for a moment to our Jehovah Witness friend,

  353. we say this coin represents Jesus Christ.

  354. Now where would you put Jesus Christ on this chart?

  355. Now their first temptation would be to put him on this side.

  356. Why would they put him there? Because they believe that he is

  357. a created being. They do not believe that Jesus

  358. Christ is God. They believe that before the

  359. incarnation that He was Michael the Archangel.

  360. They believe that he spiritually resides as Michael the Archangel

  361. even today, and that just for that time of his 33 year history

  362. here on this earth that he was Jesus Christ.

  363. And so they will be very tempted to put him onto this side and

  364. say, well, Jesus Christ came to existence because that's what

  365. their doctrine teaches. However, again, may I remind you

  366. what verse #3 says in the New World Translation, it says this

  367. all things came into existence through him, and apart from him,

  368. not even one thing came into existence.

  369. So meaning this Jesus can't be on this side because he was the

  370. one who created everything. Not one thing came into

  371. existence. Well, He created himself.

  372. How can something that is not create itself and then be there

  373. is no way for Jesus to be on this side because he created

  374. everything and not one thing was uncreated.

  375. So what do we see that really? Oh, we see that that was the

  376. wrong thing that I forgot to put what's next?

  377. And I still put the wrong way going back, going back, all

  378. right, technology. But we see that Jesus Christ has

  379. to be in the uncreated things, which means what?

  380. He is God. There is no refutation to that.

  381. There is no argument for that whatsoever, that Jesus Christ is

  382. God. Now, they'll try to worm their

  383. way out of it. They will try to get into

  384. semantics of what's being said, but I can't see that it'll be

  385. any more clear than this that Jesus Christ was not the

  386. creation. He was the creator.

  387. And if he is the Creator, then he must be God.

  388. There is no argument for that. And you find that right in their

  389. New World translation. And so that's a great place for

  390. you to be able to to start in something that is just really

  391. easy to just sketch out and talk to them about and have a back

  392. and forth and be able to have that back and forth conversation

  393. with them. The next place, if I was to be

  394. able to put it correctly, there we go, is Hebrews chapter 1.

    Hebrews 1 chapter mention

  395. So turn your Bible to Hebrews chapter #1 Now again, are there

  396. all kinds of places in our Bible where we can find the deity of

  397. Christ? Absolutely.

  398. Why? Because Jesus is God, so you

  399. find that all over the word of God.

  400. But we're trying to show you places where you can take a

  401. Jehovah Witness within their New World translation and really

  402. start to plant seeds of doubt within their minds.

  403. So Hebrews chapter #1 and let's read in our Bibles from verses 8

  404. through 12. It says this.

  405. But unto the Son he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and

  406. ever. A scepter of righteousness is

  407. the scepter of thy Kingdom. Now that verse alone proves the

  408. deity of Christ, doesn't it? Because it says unto the Son, he

  409. saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever.

  410. So who is the Son? The Son is God.

  411. That that seems pretty simple, doesn't it?

  412. But you're going to see in just a moment the New World

  413. translations go scrub that, because they do not want the

  414. Jehovah Witnesses to be able to see that verse.

  415. But reading on, it says in our Bible, it says Thou hast loved

  416. righteousness and hated iniquity.

  417. Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil

  418. of gladness above thy fellows, and thou Lord, in the beginning

  419. has laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the

  420. work of thine hands. They shall perish, but thou

  421. remain us, and they shall wax old as doth A garment.

  422. Now if we were to start in verse #5 you will see that the writer

  423. of Hebrews is using a lot of Old Testament verses to teach New

  424. Testament truths. Psalm chapter 2, Second Samuel

    Psalms 2 chapter mention 2 Samuel 7 chapter mention

  425. Chapter 7, Psalm one O 4. And we'll see just a moment.

  426. Psalm 5045 and Psalm 102. Why?

  427. Because the Old Testament only just teaches what we learned in

  428. the New Testament. Remember, Old Testament, New

  429. Testament are in harmony with one another.

  430. And so the writer of Hebrews, I believe it's Paul, but I won't

  431. argue with you if you don't believe that.

  432. But the writer of Hebrews is basically saying, listen, the

  433. Old Testament is Speaking of Jesus, and I want you to be able

  434. to see the connection of that because he's writing to the

  435. Hebrews. So what does the New World

  436. Translation say about what we just read?

  437. It says this, but about the sun, he says, says God is your throne

  438. forever and ever, and the scepter of your Kingdom is the

  439. scepter of unrighteousness. You love righteousness.

  440. You hated lawlessness. That is why God, your God,

  441. anointed you with the oil of exaltation more than your

  442. companions. And at the beginning, O Lord,

  443. you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the

  444. works of your hands. They will perish, but you will

  445. remain just like a garment. They will all wear out and you

  446. will wrap them up just as a cloak, as a garment.

  447. They will be changed, but you are the same and your years will

  448. never come to an end. So again, you kind of look at

  449. that and you say, well, how am I able to show a Jehovah Witness

  450. that Jesus Christ is God from these verses?

  451. Well, really it's by taking them to the verses that the writer

  452. Hebrews is quoting. He's quoting two different sets

  453. of verses. I just mentioned Psalm 45 is

  454. verses 8 and 9. Psalm one O 2 versus 25 through

  455. 27 are verses 1011 and 12. So let's see who's being spoken

  456. of here. So if we look at Psalm 45-6 and

  457. seven, you don't need to turn there right now, but in the New

  458. World translation, it says God is your throne forever and ever.

  459. The scepter of your Kingdom is as a scepter of uprightness,

  460. your loved righteousness. You hated wickedness.

  461. That is why God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of

  462. exaltation more than your companions.

  463. So it is very clear that who is being spoken of in Psalm 45 is

  464. God. So when they look at Hebrews

  465. chapter #1 Jesus, who is being spoken of here is who God?

  466. Because the Old Testament is affirming that and the writer

  467. Hebrews is making that point here in the text.

  468. So now Psalm 102, this is going back to verses 1011 and 12.

  469. Long ago you laid the foundations of the earth.

  470. The heavens are the work of your hands.

  471. They will perish, but you will remain just like a garment that

  472. will wear all wear out, just like clothing.

  473. You will replace them and they pass away, but you are the same

  474. and your years will never end. Well, who existed before the

  475. beginning and who will exist after the end?

  476. God. So what does that mean?

  477. That the writer of Hebrews is talking about Jesus Christ once

  478. again being God. He's using verses from the Old

  479. Testament to prove that Jesus Christ is God.

  480. And the Jehovah Witnesses are praying that those who are their

  481. publishers and showing these verses don't ever find out what

  482. the Old Testament actually says. They don't want them to go back

  483. and check their Bible. They don't want to compare

  484. Scripture with Scripture. Why?

  485. Because if they compare even their own copy of the

  486. Scriptures, which is not the Scriptures, it still points to

  487. the fact from the Old Testament to the New Testament that Jesus

  488. Christ is God. So let's go now to John chapter

  489. #20 John chapter #20 I mentioned this one to you a few weeks ago,

  490. and this is a wonderful one for you to be able to use as well.

  491. It's a very, very simple one to remember John chapter 20 because

    John 20 chapter mention

  492. it talks about Thomas again doubting Thomas faithless

  493. Thomas, John chapter #20 and we'll look at verse #28 so we

  494. can look at verse #27 it says, then he said to Thomas, reach,

  495. hit her thy finger. Behold, my hands, reach, hit her

  496. thy hand and be thrust into my side.

  497. And be not faithless, but believing.

  498. It's one of the reasons I like to call Thomas not doubting

  499. Thomas, but faithless Thomas, because Jesus said don't be

  500. faithless, but believing. So how does Thomas respond to

  501. that? He sees the wounds of Jesus that

  502. were inflicted upon him, and how does he respond?

  503. He says this, my Lord and my God, one of my favorite just

  504. quick little proofs of the deity of Christ, that Thomas in that

  505. moment says, My Lord and my God. Now inexplicably, the New World

  506. Translation says in verse #28 in answer Thomas said unto him, My

  507. Lord and my God, it's still there.

  508. Now if you read Jehovah Witness literature, you will find that

  509. they turn themselves into a pretzel to try to explain why

  510. Thomas didn't actually mean that Jesus Christ was God.

  511. In fact, they will point back to earlier in the text in verse #17

  512. go to verse #17 in your Bible. It says this Jesus saith unto

  513. her, Touch me not, for I'm not as yet ascended to my father,

  514. but go to my brethren and say to them, I ascended to my father,

  515. and your father to my God and your God.

  516. And the Jehovah Witnesses point to that verse, say, well, see,

  517. even Jesus said that Jehovah was his God.

  518. So Thomas was just confused or Thomas was just very upset, or

  519. Thomas was just was so excited that he spoke in a way that was

  520. not really saying who Jesus was because even Jesus admitted that

  521. Jehovah was his father. And when I look at this verse,

  522. especially in conjunction with what Thomas just said, what do

  523. we see? We see the fact of the Trinity

  524. more than anything, Father and Son and that there is a unity

  525. between them. We don't see here Jesus saying I

  526. am not God. He is just talking of the Father

  527. and that he is accepting Thomas and again in our text here, you

  528. can keep reading. When he says my Lord and my God,

  529. Jesus Christ never says, well, you're being a little sloppy

  530. with your words. Don't, don't say that I'm not

  531. God. He receives worship as God.

  532. Well, who receives worship? God?

  533. Remember all the times in the Bible, and this happened several

  534. times where angels were a point of worship because people were

  535. so overwhelmed by a moment. This happened a couple times to

  536. John in the Book of Revelation. And every time John gave what

  537. seemed to be worship, that created being.

  538. There we go. That created being said, hey,

  539. don't worship me, worship God. I can't accept that Jesus

  540. accepted this as truth, and the Jehovah Witnesses have to accept

  541. this as truth as well. What the Jehovah Witnesses need

  542. to do, well, they need to do verse #31 according to their

  543. Bible. But these things have been

  544. written down so that you may believe that Jesus is the

  545. Christ, the Son of God, and because of believing, you may

  546. have life by means of his name. The Jehovah Witness on that

  547. video couldn't even express the verse #31 that it's through the

  548. name of Jesus that someone saved.

  549. And he says, well, I don't know that God would be so petty.

  550. And I don't know that God would do this.

  551. And I don't know that it would be this or be that.

  552. And finally he says, well, I don't know.

  553. Well, there's the answer right there.

  554. The one who is Lord and God is the one who you need to call

  555. upon to be able to save you. So John chapter 20, if you

    John 20 chapter mention

  556. remember doubting Thomas and you remember his exclamation, it's a

  557. great way to be able to take someone in the New World

  558. translation and say, listen, why do you think Thomas said that?

  559. Now they will try to have these very slippery explanations, but

  560. you can't get past what is very clear in the Word of God.

  561. And again, no rebuke from Jesus Christ whatsoever.

  562. In fact, in essence, if he received worship and he was not

  563. God, then he would have been a Sinner because he would have

  564. been wrong to be able to accept something of which did not

  565. belong to him and only belong to God.

  566. A great proof of the deity of Christ and still preserved in

  567. the New World. Translation.

  568. Let's do one more. Go to John chapter 5.

    John 5 chapter mention

  569. All right, John chapter 5, and we'll look at verse #16.

    John 5 chapter mention

  570. John chapter 5, verse #16 And therefore did the Jews persecute

    John 5 chapter mention

  571. Jesus and sought to slay him, because he had done these things

  572. on the Sabbath day. And Jesus say, answered them, My

  573. Father worketh hitherto, and I work.

  574. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not

  575. only had broken the Sabbath, but also said also that God was his

  576. Father, making Himself equal with God.

  577. Well, if He's equal with God, what does that mean?

  578. He is God. I mean, again, you don't have to

  579. go to several years of Bible college to figure out if Jesus

  580. says that He is God equal. If you knew with God, then that

  581. would mean He is God. Well, what does the New World

  582. Translation say about this? For this reason, the Jews were

  583. persecuting Jesus because He was doing these things during the

  584. Sabbath. But He answered them, My Father

  585. hath kept working until now, and I keep working.

  586. This is why the Jews began seeking all the more to kill

  587. him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was

  588. also calling God his own Father, making Himself equal to God.

  589. Well, it does not say here that the Jews just simply thought

  590. that he was God. No, no, it is saying that this

  591. is the claim of which He made that He was God.

  592. And again, it does not say that he made that claim an error.

  593. It says that He made the claim that He was equal to God.

  594. And look at verse #23 it says that all men should honor the

  595. Son, even as they honor the Father.

  596. He that honoreth, not the Son, honors not the Father which hath

  597. sent him. Again, what is he saying?

  598. If the Father is honored by worship, then what can He

  599. receive? Worship.

  600. Whatever you do for the Father, you can do to the Son.

  601. Well, who's the only one that can make that claim?

  602. Jesus Christ, God himself, Godfather, godson got Holy

  603. Spirit that they are the only ones in their try unity that

  604. could accept worship and there is no one else.

  605. So they can try to say, well it's just the Jews thought that,

  606. but that's not they were mistaken.

  607. Well then why did Jesus affirm just a few verses later?

  608. So that they may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.

  609. Whosoever does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father

  610. who sent him, you can literally say to Jehovah Witness, well,

  611. because you are not honoring him, Jesus Christ as the Father

  612. Jehovah, then you are being deceived and you're not saved.

  613. So you see over and over you can find these little Nuggets that I

  614. believe. I don't know why they're still

  615. there. You would think that they would

  616. have scrubbed them all, but I almost have to wonder if God

  617. just blinded the minds of those translators who are putting that

  618. there to just be able so that you and I, when we can witness

  619. to these people, to be able to show them within their own

  620. perverted copy of the Scriptures to show them.

  621. And by the way, when I say perverted, I mean that in the

  622. very literal sense that they have perverted, they have

  623. changed the word of God from what it is to what they want it

  624. to be to be able to support their very wrong doctrines.

  625. But what do we see that have given you four ways that you can

  626. show the deity of Christ? Some more complex, some more

  627. simple, some visual, some that you would just need to read

  628. verses to. But every, every single one of

  629. them, you could take them with their New World Translation,

  630. whether they have their own copy of the New World Translation or

  631. whether they use their tablet, which many of them have now,

  632. which is where they'll show you the magazines as well as a New

  633. World Translation. They'll pull it up on their

  634. tablet and then open it and show it to you to be able to read

  635. yourself. But you can take them to these

  636. verses. Now, would I be able to use 1/4

  637. and a piece of paper and a pen and be able to lead a Jehovah

  638. Witness to Christ? It's possible.

  639. Is it likely? Maybe not, but you know what I'm

  640. trying to do. If nothing else, I'm trying to

  641. sow doubts in the mind of Jehovah Witness.

  642. Listen, they have been so deceived that they are very

  643. unlikely. Now listen, are we going to

  644. shorten the arm of God to say that he cannot save?

  645. We will not. But I will say this, they are so

  646. deceived. It will likely take more than

  647. just one proof text to be able to show them how much error they

  648. are in. But what you can do is show them

  649. a little bit of error and get them to wonder, well, if that's

  650. an error, where else are there errors in the New World

  651. Translation? So as we close this section of

  652. our series, I just want to give you some other ways that you can

  653. talk to Jehovah Witnesses once you start to open the door, as

  654. you may have with some of these verses.

  655. First of all, as I mentioned last week, you can share your

  656. testimony. One of the greatest ways you can

  657. witness to somebody is just to say what Jesus Christ did in

  658. your life. Remember, some of the greatest

  659. people who witnessed in the Bible were not people who've

  660. been saved very long. There were literally people that

  661. said this is what Jesus did for me.

  662. You got to come meet him. I think of the woman at the well

  663. over and over again. John Chapter 4.

    John 4 chapter mention

  664. She did not know the theology. She did not understand all the

  665. things that I imagine she would have understood later.

  666. But in that moment she said this.

  667. There's a man who knows everything about me, and you

  668. need to meet him. And she told everybody she

  669. could. Well, what do we need to do to

  670. share our testimony? Well, I was lost, but Jesus

  671. Christ saved me. And this is what the Bible says

  672. about that. You can share your testimony.

  673. Why? Because you lift your testimony.

  674. You should be able to share it. You might have an opportunity to

  675. be able to do that. Ask them pointed questions.

  676. Once the door is open, ask them pointed questions.

  677. Well, how do you enter the Kingdom?

  678. We saw that question here this morning.

  679. If you have peace, what is it founded on?

  680. Why are you so afraid of Armageddon?

  681. I'll be honest, I'm not afraid of Armageddon.

  682. I'm not afraid of it at all. Why?

  683. Because, well, I'm not going to be there.

  684. And so it's going to be our Lord and Savior's victorious moment

  685. where he speaks and all the nations that have opposed him

  686. fall slain. I'm not worried about that at

  687. all. But when you're asking these

  688. questions, ask open-ended questions.

  689. And literally anytime you've you, you witness to somebody as

  690. much as you can ask open-ended questions, meaning this don't

  691. just ask yes or no questions. Are you afraid of the end times?

  692. A Jehovah Witness will say yes, Why are you afraid of the end

  693. times? What are you so afraid of?

  694. Why don't you have peace? Ask questions that you can take

  695. cues from what they're saying and be able to give them Bible

  696. truth. That's another way that you can

  697. talk to them, bring up other topics once they've been

  698. softened. I would always, unless the Lord

  699. leads you differently in the way the conversation goes, it's

  700. typically best to start with the deity of Christ with Jehovah

  701. Witness. But then once maybe you have

  702. them listening, you can talk about things like the Trinity,

  703. the failed prophecies, the New World Translation, their beliefs

  704. about Jesus being Michael the Archangel.

  705. These are things you can talk to them maybe if the door is open,

  706. if they are willing to read your Bible, which is unlikely, but

  707. one of the great places you can take him is Philippians chapter

    Philippians 2 chapter mention

  708. 2. Take the Philippians chapter 2

    Philippians 2 chapter mention

  709. and help them to realize who Jesus Christ really is, that

  710. great glimpse of who he is and that he is the image of God and

  711. that he is not just a, you know, a a demigod, if you will, as the

  712. Jehovah Witnesses would look at him, but he is the triune God.

  713. Philippians chapter 2 is a great place for you to go bring up the

    Philippians 2 chapter mention

  714. fact to them, the the fact that they are so afraid to be able to

  715. take a copy of the scriptures from you.

  716. You know, why won't you take a track from me?

  717. I'm willing to take the Watchtower magazine.

  718. I'm willing to read the Watchtower magazine and I am I,

  719. I have kept my word to Jehovah Witnesses before where I told

  720. them, if you give me this, I will read it from cover to

  721. cover. Now listen, I'm gripping my

  722. teeth all the way through, but I'm going to read and I'm going

  723. to keep my word that I did because it's the right thing to

  724. do. But it doesn't scare me.

  725. I'm not opening it at Page 1 and say, boy, I hope I'm still a

  726. Christian by the time I get to the end.

  727. I'm I'm very confident that I'll make it through to the end and

  728. I'm going to be right where I need to be.

  729. Why are they so afraid to be able to read something from us?

  730. Why would they be so afraid to read a track?

  731. Ask them that. What do you have to fear?

  732. I again, I've mentioned to you before, I read widely.

  733. I read things I disagree with on purpose.

  734. Why? So I can better mentally think

  735. about how I can answer the truth by reading error.

  736. I don't want to be influenced by error.

  737. You want to be careful how much of it you take in, but you

  738. shouldn't be afraid of it to the point where you don't know what

  739. the other side is thinking so that you can bring Bible truth

  740. to the other side when you come in contact with him.

  741. Well, I'm not afraid of the Watchtower.

  742. I'm not afraid of the New World Translation.

  743. I keep this in my office. I don't.

  744. Look at it. I mean, it's not something I

  745. consult with on a regular basis, but I'm not afraid of it.

  746. Listen, greater is He that's in us than He that's in the world.

  747. I'm not afraid of this falsehood.

  748. But why are they so afraid of the Bible?

  749. Why are they so afraid of a conversation?

  750. And so ask them those types of questions to try to give them to

  751. a place where they can talk. Will it be profitable?

  752. Maybe not, Likely not. Will you get to see them trust

  753. Christ your Savior during the conversation?

  754. I would say the odds are probably not, but you know what

  755. you can do. If you take time to love them,

  756. you don't lose your cool. Just talk to them as friendly

  757. and as compassionate as you can. You might sow some seeds of

  758. doubt, some plant some water and God gives the increase.

  759. May I remind you that one of the most beloved men in our church

  760. who just moved away in the last year with his family, one of the

  761. most beloved men of our church, a trustee of our church, was a

  762. Jehovah Witness growing up. He's not the only one that's

  763. been influenced by that group over the years.

  764. And people who are Jehovah Witnesses can come to the truth.

  765. What do we need to do? Just lovingly, patiently just

  766. show them the truth of the Word of God, kind of like what people

  767. need to do to you before you got saved.

  768. So I was a job witness. Well, someone had to lovingly

  769. and patiently breakthrough your wall, whatever it was.

  770. Because remember, there's unbelief and there's belief.

  771. That's really what everything comes down to.

  772. There's God and there's not God. That's what everything comes

  773. down to. You were in a place where you

  774. did not believe in the Lord and someone lovingly and patiently

  775. gave you the truth. And it probably wasn't just the

  776. one person who worked with you from beginning to end.

  777. It was a process of a lot of people chipping away at that

  778. unbelief. And finally, you listen to the

  779. Holy Spirit as He worked in your life.

  780. So don't give up on these people, love them.

  781. Again, we are attacking not the adherence.

  782. We are attacking the articles of faith and authorities of those

  783. who believe these things. We want to win these adherence

  784. to Christ and that means we got to interact with them.

  785. And hopefully this will help give you some of the tools and

  786. how you can do so. Thank you for listening to the

  787. sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.

  788. If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we

  789. can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at

  790. [email protected]. Or you can visit us this Sunday

  791. at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.

  792. May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.