Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look
us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this
message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
Well, why don't you turn to John chapter 1.
This morning we're going to be looking at our final lesson on
the Jehovah Witnesses as we have this kind of miniseries on the
JW's while we continue to look at our larger series on world
religions and cults. By God's grace, next week we're
going to introduce the Mormon. So we're basically going out of
the frying pan into the fire to be able to look at another cult.
And so we're finishing up on looking at the Jehovah Witnesses
this morning, and then we'll be starting our study, Lord
willing, on the Mormons next week.
I would ask to turn to John chapter 1.
And I want you to be able to look in your Bible as we also
will be looking through the New World Translation.
As a reminder to you. The New World Translation may
say Holy Scriptures on it, but there's neither anything holy or
scriptural about it. It is not the Holy Scriptures,
but we are going to use it today for a very particular reason,
because there are opportunities for us to be able to share the
gospel with Jehovah Witnesses by using their own copy of what
they consider to be the Bible. Not because we consider it to be
the Bible, but to show that even their own version of the Bible,
if you will, will show the deity of Christ if you know where to
look. And so we're going to look
through this today so that if someone is at your door or
you're interacting with someone at one of those literature racks
that we looked at last week, that there are certain places in
their Bible. Again, not the Bible, but what
they believe to be the Bible to be able to show them how Jesus
Christ is God the Son as well as the Son of God.
So we're going to show our last video this morning.
And before it gets queued up, I want to just tell you exactly
what you're going to look at. The first half is about a
Jehovah Witness video showing their desire to be able to go
out and to give the gospel. And I've never seen the side of
it before because the video actually deals with how they
keep statistics and really the fact of that they are, as
they're publishing the Word of God, remember, they call
themselves publishers as they do so they have to keep very strict
statistics to make sure that they are doing exactly what
they're told to do. Again, this is not out of the
benevolence of their heart that they're going out to be able to
share the gospel like we would, but rather they are really
acting within fear, fear of the Governing Body as well as fear
of not achieving eternal life. So I want you to see that
juxtaposition because I hope hopefully will show you that
when you do interact with them, that there's going to be some
opportunities for you to talk to them and their weary heart
because they're trying to achieve salvation.
And we know that they never will with the Jehovah Witnesses.
But then the second part really deals with a gentleman who is
talking with a Jehovah Witness at one of those literature racks
and asking him, if I have two minutes to live, will you tell
me in those two minutes how I can be saved?
Now you and I understand if we know Jesus Christ our Savior,
that we can give someone the gospel very clearly in just a
few sentences, can't we? Now, the gospel is very deep.
The gospel is certainly not a shallow sub, but it can be
summarized very quickly that you're a Sinner, that Jesus
Christ died for your sins, and only Jesus Christ can save you,
right? I mean, that's really the basics
of the gospel right there. But I want you to watch the
struggle that this gentleman has to be able to articulate how
someone can enter the Kingdom. And again, I think those will
both be illustrative to you as we look at using the New World
Translation to be able to give the gospel to these lost souls.
So let's go ahead and run that footage.
When did we begin reporting field service activity?
Prior to 1920, only coal porters, as pioneers were then
called, were asked to submit reports.
But beginning in 1920, everyone in the congregation who
participated in the witness work was asked to turn in a weekly
report. The 1920 Annual Service Report
for the United States was the first to include the activity of
congregation publishers. That report revealed that there
were 8052 class workers or publishers and 350 pioneers
active in the preaching work. Twice a year during the late
1920s, one week was designated for a special worldwide
witnessing campaign. Pioneers had a goal of 40 hours
for that special week. In January 1939, a suggestion
was placed before Congregation publishers, a goal of 60 hours
per month. Early on, Congregation field
service reports were thorough. Over the years, the forms used
to report Publishers field service activity have been
simplified. Reports have consistently
included back calls or return visits, Bible studies,
publication placements, and hours spent in the disciple
making work. As was the case back then,
there's always a story behind a field service report.
The first time I walked into a Kingdom Hall when I was 16, I
saw this chart on the stage and I realized this organization is
concerned about what we do, what we say, and how much we say
about Jehovah. I realized that from the start,
so that after the third month of studying, when I started going
out in field service, I wanted to turn my time into and they
showed me how to do it and I've been turning it ever since.
Ellen and I were invited into the Special Pioneer service in
1966. The monthly requirement was 150
hours and 50 return visits. It was a good incentive.
Well, we had a quota back then of 150 magazines, one for every
hour as special pioneers or missionaries.
And one day we run into our fellow missionary and his wife
on the way to the movies. They went every Saturday, every
Saturday. But this particular said, he
says I can't go to the movies because I don't have my 150
magazines. So I've got five more to go and
then we can go to the movies. Let's.
Start in 1961 when we were sending special pioneers, start
pioneering in a trailer of five hours of service every day,
every day, and getting our time was no problem.
Living for a month on $100, that was a problem.
So Dave said I'm I'm going to go out and get a job.
About that time they had put a new store in town, beautiful.
He went down to that store and told him I'm going to work one
day a week, what are you going to do the rest of the time?
So he said, well I knock on doors and tell him about God's
Kingdom. It's really, this is my door.
Knock on it. He came in the truth.
His wife came in the truth. Children are in the truth.
And they had a secretary. She had seven children.
And she said, well, I'd like to study the Bible too, and we
would study with 7 after they had supper.
The beauty of it is that they did so well.
Yeah, After that we studied with the parents, so by the time we
got through it, it was probably almost midnight and we took our
circuit overseer there, he said I'm too old for this midnight
shift. I never felt it was a question
of getting the hours in. I always try to make them
quality calls, you know, try to say something with the people,
not just go there and get the the magazines placed or my Bible
studies. I would try so hard to really
get to know the people. But it was never just a question
of getting in hours. We're trying to save lives.
So which religion is true? Upon my research upon my my
biblical doc. Like the way I've been studying
the Bible. Jehovah's Witnesses.
Are correct. So you're a Jehovah's Witness?
Indeed I am. So how do I get everlasting
life? You live your life choosing good
and learning what that is. So if I've got a knife on my
back, 3 minutes to live, how can I enter the Kingdom?
I'm dying. I know I've sinned.
I've committed adultery in my heart by lusting after a woman.
I've lied and stolen. I'm under God's wrath.
How can I enter the Kingdom? 2 1/2 minutes.
Honestly, the Kingdom of God, God is not so petty as to
begrudge you those small, inconsequential things, this
vast infinite universe of ours, this infinite possibilities that
there are. In a minute and a half, how can
I enter the Kingdom? Help me.
In the end, I believe it's the choices you've made in your
life, committing adultery, doing things like that.
Looking with lust, that's committing adultery in the
heart. So how can I be saved?
How can I enter the Kingdom? At that point, honestly,
Jehovah's Witnesses, we believe that in the end of days.
I've got one minute. I'm pleading with you.
Please, Brian, help me. How can I enter the Kingdom?
What can you do for me? What can you say?
I suppose I don't know. It's a cherry pick video of
someone that that is actually a representation of the doctrine
and theology of the Jehovah Witness.
What you saw was not an exception.
What you just saw was the rule. And could you imagine somebody
in their dying moments asking a Jehovah Witness, what must I do
to be saved? And the answer would be, well, I
don't know. I mean, could you imagine the
jailer in Philippi? What must I do to be saved?
And Paul and Barnabas said, well, we don't know.
No, there certainly was very clear what needed to be done.
And So what you just saw there is graphic and certainly very
sad to be able to think that there would be this line of
doctrine that someone would give their entire life to.
And in the end, when you ask them, can you summarize all of
your beliefs in 3 minutes or less?
And the answer is I can't. Again, I will remind you that
when I've gone on to jehovahwitness.org, and I hope
they don't track my computer because I think they might think
I'm becoming a Jehovah Witness as much as I've been on their
website the last several weeks. But if you were to search How
can I enter the Kingdom, you try to find articles on these kinds
of things. It's like the pot of gold at the
end of the rainbow. It's like the Oasis in the
desert. You go further and it's just a
little bit more and you go further.
It's just a little bit more. And the answer is so elusive
when the answer of salvation according to the Word of God is
so simple. So simple that a child could be
saved. In fact, what did Jesus call it?
Childlike faith. And so I want us to be able to
talk to those Jehovah Witnesses, those ones even that are The
Pioneers. 150 hours a month. Can you think about that?
Five hours a day, 30 days, A 150 hours.
You saw they're recording everything.
They say everything. That woman, the first woman
seemed to make that sound like such a positive.
They record everything we say and everything we do and
everything. I'm thinking that's the very
definition of a cult to be able to record absolutely everything
that's done living. No stone unturned.
And not that we, when we go out witnessing here at Liberty
Baptist Church that we want to give you resources to be able to
show you how to show someone to be saved.
But you can see the level of micromanaging there really is
down to this, that it's not about eternal life at all.
It's really about something much more sinister at those higher
levels. Those circuit leaders that were
mentioned as well as the governing body and those who are
the rank and file don't understand this and they have no
idea what's going on at these higher levels.
So we're going to go to a few different places here this
morning that I hope will be a help to you.
And maybe even you can write these down, keep these near your
door or keep it in your purse or in your or something like that
as verses that can help you if you ever encounter A jovial
witness. And so you should be in John
chapter 1 already. And I want us to be able to look
at perhaps the most compelling way that we can use the false
translation of the Word of God, the New World translation, but
then also take someone to the Bible and show them how they can
be saved. Now, I'm going to maneuver all
of this up here this morning to make sure I give you the word of
God, but then also the Jehovah Witness translation.
So just kind of bear with me as I get all this set up here
today. But I believe probably what
we're about to look at here in just a moment is the most
compelling. So you see it up there, what the
Jehovah Witness New World Translation says up on the
screen. If you're at home, you're
watching that on your screen as well.
And so as we pull it up, your Bible says the King James Bible
says in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God
and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him, and
without him was not anything made that was made.
A very compelling case of Jesus Christ being God himself and pre
existent. Now we can look at verse 14 in a
second. If you're not sure that the word
is Jesus Christ, it's very clear in verse 14 that we'll see in a
moment that he is Jesus Christ. Now compare what we just read to
the New World translation. It says this in the beginning
was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was what's
that next word? Hey, God meaning this, that
Jesus Christ was just one of many gods, that he was not God.
They have taken away the deity of Christ and again that he was
a God in their wording with that lowercase G meaning this that he
was just a leader, He was a God, He was a Lord, but certainly he
was not Jehovah. He certainly was not a triune
God. And they continue, this one was
in the beginning with God, all things came into existence
through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into
existence. Now again to show you that this
is talking about Jesus Christ, the Word go to verse #14 in your
Bible it says this in your Bible it says, And the Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as
of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Is there any doubt in your mind that this is talking about Jesus
Christ? The answer is no.
Well, the Jehovah Witnesses would even agree with that as
well, because it does say in verse 14.
So the Word became flesh and resided among US and we had a
view of His glory, a glory such as belongs to an only begotten
Son from a Father, and he was full of divine favor and truth.
Now again, we're looking at the Word of God being altered and
changed. And this is not the Word of God
that you read up there. But again, I I do want to show
you that even the Jehovah Witness Bible will show that
when it's talking about the Word in John chapter 1, it is
speaking about Jesus Christ. Now what I want to show you over
the next few minutes is perhaps again, the most compelling way
that you can talk to a Jehovah Witness about Jesus Christ using
the New World Translation. And all you need is a piece of
paper, a pen, and a coin. That's all you need is a piece
of paper, a pen, and a coin. Going back to verse #1 for many
years, John chapter 1, verses one through 3.
For many years I focused on verse #1 When I would talk to
Jova witnesses, I would say, well, the Bible says that the
Word was God, not a God. And pointing out the difference
between the Bible and the New World Translation.
But I've also found that to be very ineffective.
And the reason why is because they believe our Bible is
corrupt and they believe the New World Translation is true.
So just by saying to them, well, the Bible actually says he was
God, not a God, they say, well, your Bible's wrong, our Bible's
right. And we could talk to them about
the fact that the Greek has no support for their translation of
that whatsoever. They don't know, they don't
care, they don't want to know. Remember the translators, the
anonymous translators of the New World Translation didn't know
either Hebrew or Greek when their names were found out.
So talking to them about the languages and how they have
changed the word of God without any type of looking at what the
what the word of God should actually say that that is going
to be ineffective and talking to them.
And I found that to be the case as well.
But really the focus can be on verse #3.
Verse #3 is really where it's at in the New World Translation.
It says all things came into existence through Him and apart
from Him, not even one thing came into existence.
Now who is the Him there in verse #3 it's Jesus Christ.
And So what you can do is this, and I've been looking at this
for the last few weeks and I've really, I've been excited to be
able to show this to you. And I hope that this makes sense
to you as we go through it. And I'm actually looking forward
to using it with a Jehovah Witness myself at some point.
You can take a piece of paper and you can take it into two
squares like this. And on the top you can say
everything that exists. So everything that exists is
going to be represented in these two squares that you have right
here. You'll see on one side you have
the left uncreated things, and on the right side you say things
that came into existence because that's what's mentioned in verse
#3 isn't it? It says once again, all things
came into existence through him, and apart from him, not even one
thing came into existence. So when talking to a Jehovah
Witness, you can make this little bit of a chart here and
you can ask them, well, as far as uncreated things on the left
side of this paper, what are some things that we can put that
are uncreated? Well, what is the only thing
that we can put on that side that is uncreated?
God. God is the only thing that is
uncreated. Why?
He is the pre-existing 1. He has always existed.
He has always been. You say, pastor, I don't know, I
can wrap my head around that. Well, I don't know that I can't
either because we're very linear, aren't we?
But I do know what the Word of God says that in the beginning
he was already there. So there really is no debate
about this. And you could even go to verse
#1 where it says in the beginning was the word.
And so you can even show them that's the case.
And that's a different argument. But uncreated things is God.
No, What things came into existence?
You could ask Joe Witness now what things were created?
Can you give me some names of some things are created?
They may name all kinds of things like humans and plants
and animals and stars and et cetera, even even created the et
cetera. All right, but what I'm saying
is anything else that you can name is in that right hand
column, isn't it? In that right hand box?
Because everything else came into existence.
Now again, I want to remind you, verse #3 says all things came
into existence through Him, and apart from Him, not even one
thing came into existence. So, so far we use the paper.
So far we use the pen. We're making this little chart
with them in our door, and that's where the coin comes in.
So let's just say for a moment to our Jehovah Witness friend,
we say this coin represents Jesus Christ.
Now where would you put Jesus Christ on this chart?
Now their first temptation would be to put him on this side.
Why would they put him there? Because they believe that he is
a created being. They do not believe that Jesus
Christ is God. They believe that before the
incarnation that He was Michael the Archangel.
They believe that he spiritually resides as Michael the Archangel
even today, and that just for that time of his 33 year history
here on this earth that he was Jesus Christ.
And so they will be very tempted to put him onto this side and
say, well, Jesus Christ came to existence because that's what
their doctrine teaches. However, again, may I remind you
what verse #3 says in the New World Translation, it says this
all things came into existence through him, and apart from him,
not even one thing came into existence.
So meaning this Jesus can't be on this side because he was the
one who created everything. Not one thing came into
existence. Well, He created himself.
How can something that is not create itself and then be there
is no way for Jesus to be on this side because he created
everything and not one thing was uncreated.
So what do we see that really? Oh, we see that that was the
wrong thing that I forgot to put what's next?
And I still put the wrong way going back, going back, all
right, technology. But we see that Jesus Christ has
to be in the uncreated things, which means what?
He is God. There is no refutation to that.
There is no argument for that whatsoever, that Jesus Christ is
God. Now, they'll try to worm their
way out of it. They will try to get into
semantics of what's being said, but I can't see that it'll be
any more clear than this that Jesus Christ was not the
creation. He was the creator.
And if he is the Creator, then he must be God.
There is no argument for that. And you find that right in their
New World translation. And so that's a great place for
you to be able to to start in something that is just really
easy to just sketch out and talk to them about and have a back
and forth and be able to have that back and forth conversation
with them. The next place, if I was to be
able to put it correctly, there we go, is Hebrews chapter 1.
So turn your Bible to Hebrews chapter #1 Now again, are there
all kinds of places in our Bible where we can find the deity of
Christ? Absolutely.
Why? Because Jesus is God, so you
find that all over the word of God.
But we're trying to show you places where you can take a
Jehovah Witness within their New World translation and really
start to plant seeds of doubt within their minds.
So Hebrews chapter #1 and let's read in our Bibles from verses 8
through 12. It says this.
But unto the Son he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and
ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy Kingdom. Now that verse alone proves the
deity of Christ, doesn't it? Because it says unto the Son, he
saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever.
So who is the Son? The Son is God.
That that seems pretty simple, doesn't it?
But you're going to see in just a moment the New World
translations go scrub that, because they do not want the
Jehovah Witnesses to be able to see that verse.
But reading on, it says in our Bible, it says Thou hast loved
righteousness and hated iniquity.
Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil
of gladness above thy fellows, and thou Lord, in the beginning
has laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the
work of thine hands. They shall perish, but thou
remain us, and they shall wax old as doth A garment.
Now if we were to start in verse #5 you will see that the writer
of Hebrews is using a lot of Old Testament verses to teach New
Testament truths. Psalm chapter 2, Second Samuel
Chapter 7, Psalm one O 4. And we'll see just a moment.
Psalm 5045 and Psalm 102. Why?
Because the Old Testament only just teaches what we learned in
the New Testament. Remember, Old Testament, New
Testament are in harmony with one another.
And so the writer of Hebrews, I believe it's Paul, but I won't
argue with you if you don't believe that.
But the writer of Hebrews is basically saying, listen, the
Old Testament is Speaking of Jesus, and I want you to be able
to see the connection of that because he's writing to the
Hebrews. So what does the New World
Translation say about what we just read?
It says this, but about the sun, he says, says God is your throne
forever and ever, and the scepter of your Kingdom is the
scepter of unrighteousness. You love righteousness.
You hated lawlessness. That is why God, your God,
anointed you with the oil of exaltation more than your
companions. And at the beginning, O Lord,
you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the
works of your hands. They will perish, but you will
remain just like a garment. They will all wear out and you
will wrap them up just as a cloak, as a garment.
They will be changed, but you are the same and your years will
never come to an end. So again, you kind of look at
that and you say, well, how am I able to show a Jehovah Witness
that Jesus Christ is God from these verses?
Well, really it's by taking them to the verses that the writer
Hebrews is quoting. He's quoting two different sets
of verses. I just mentioned Psalm 45 is
verses 8 and 9. Psalm one O 2 versus 25 through
27 are verses 1011 and 12. So let's see who's being spoken
of here. So if we look at Psalm 45-6 and
seven, you don't need to turn there right now, but in the New
World translation, it says God is your throne forever and ever.
The scepter of your Kingdom is as a scepter of uprightness,
your loved righteousness. You hated wickedness.
That is why God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of
exaltation more than your companions.
So it is very clear that who is being spoken of in Psalm 45 is
God. So when they look at Hebrews
chapter #1 Jesus, who is being spoken of here is who God?
Because the Old Testament is affirming that and the writer
Hebrews is making that point here in the text.
So now Psalm 102, this is going back to verses 1011 and 12.
Long ago you laid the foundations of the earth.
The heavens are the work of your hands.
They will perish, but you will remain just like a garment that
will wear all wear out, just like clothing.
You will replace them and they pass away, but you are the same
and your years will never end. Well, who existed before the
beginning and who will exist after the end?
God. So what does that mean?
That the writer of Hebrews is talking about Jesus Christ once
again being God. He's using verses from the Old
Testament to prove that Jesus Christ is God.
And the Jehovah Witnesses are praying that those who are their
publishers and showing these verses don't ever find out what
the Old Testament actually says. They don't want them to go back
and check their Bible. They don't want to compare
Scripture with Scripture. Why?
Because if they compare even their own copy of the
Scriptures, which is not the Scriptures, it still points to
the fact from the Old Testament to the New Testament that Jesus
Christ is God. So let's go now to John chapter
#20 John chapter #20 I mentioned this one to you a few weeks ago,
and this is a wonderful one for you to be able to use as well.
It's a very, very simple one to remember John chapter 20 because
it talks about Thomas again doubting Thomas faithless
Thomas, John chapter #20 and we'll look at verse #28 so we
can look at verse #27 it says, then he said to Thomas, reach,
hit her thy finger. Behold, my hands, reach, hit her
thy hand and be thrust into my side.
And be not faithless, but believing.
It's one of the reasons I like to call Thomas not doubting
Thomas, but faithless Thomas, because Jesus said don't be
faithless, but believing. So how does Thomas respond to
that? He sees the wounds of Jesus that
were inflicted upon him, and how does he respond?
He says this, my Lord and my God, one of my favorite just
quick little proofs of the deity of Christ, that Thomas in that
moment says, My Lord and my God. Now inexplicably, the New World
Translation says in verse #28 in answer Thomas said unto him, My
Lord and my God, it's still there.
Now if you read Jehovah Witness literature, you will find that
they turn themselves into a pretzel to try to explain why
Thomas didn't actually mean that Jesus Christ was God.
In fact, they will point back to earlier in the text in verse #17
go to verse #17 in your Bible. It says this Jesus saith unto
her, Touch me not, for I'm not as yet ascended to my father,
but go to my brethren and say to them, I ascended to my father,
and your father to my God and your God.
And the Jehovah Witnesses point to that verse, say, well, see,
even Jesus said that Jehovah was his God.
So Thomas was just confused or Thomas was just very upset, or
Thomas was just was so excited that he spoke in a way that was
not really saying who Jesus was because even Jesus admitted that
Jehovah was his father. And when I look at this verse,
especially in conjunction with what Thomas just said, what do
we see? We see the fact of the Trinity
more than anything, Father and Son and that there is a unity
between them. We don't see here Jesus saying I
am not God. He is just talking of the Father
and that he is accepting Thomas and again in our text here, you
can keep reading. When he says my Lord and my God,
Jesus Christ never says, well, you're being a little sloppy
with your words. Don't, don't say that I'm not
God. He receives worship as God.
Well, who receives worship? God?
Remember all the times in the Bible, and this happened several
times where angels were a point of worship because people were
so overwhelmed by a moment. This happened a couple times to
John in the Book of Revelation. And every time John gave what
seemed to be worship, that created being.
There we go. That created being said, hey,
don't worship me, worship God. I can't accept that Jesus
accepted this as truth, and the Jehovah Witnesses have to accept
this as truth as well. What the Jehovah Witnesses need
to do, well, they need to do verse #31 according to their
Bible. But these things have been
written down so that you may believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God, and because of believing, you may
have life by means of his name. The Jehovah Witness on that
video couldn't even express the verse #31 that it's through the
name of Jesus that someone saved.
And he says, well, I don't know that God would be so petty.
And I don't know that God would do this.
And I don't know that it would be this or be that.
And finally he says, well, I don't know.
Well, there's the answer right there.
The one who is Lord and God is the one who you need to call
upon to be able to save you. So John chapter 20, if you
remember doubting Thomas and you remember his exclamation, it's a
great way to be able to take someone in the New World
translation and say, listen, why do you think Thomas said that?
Now they will try to have these very slippery explanations, but
you can't get past what is very clear in the Word of God.
And again, no rebuke from Jesus Christ whatsoever.
In fact, in essence, if he received worship and he was not
God, then he would have been a Sinner because he would have
been wrong to be able to accept something of which did not
belong to him and only belong to God.
A great proof of the deity of Christ and still preserved in
the New World. Translation.
Let's do one more. Go to John chapter 5.
All right, John chapter 5, and we'll look at verse #16.
John chapter 5, verse #16 And therefore did the Jews persecute
Jesus and sought to slay him, because he had done these things
on the Sabbath day. And Jesus say, answered them, My
Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not
only had broken the Sabbath, but also said also that God was his
Father, making Himself equal with God.
Well, if He's equal with God, what does that mean?
He is God. I mean, again, you don't have to
go to several years of Bible college to figure out if Jesus
says that He is God equal. If you knew with God, then that
would mean He is God. Well, what does the New World
Translation say about this? For this reason, the Jews were
persecuting Jesus because He was doing these things during the
Sabbath. But He answered them, My Father
hath kept working until now, and I keep working.
This is why the Jews began seeking all the more to kill
him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was
also calling God his own Father, making Himself equal to God.
Well, it does not say here that the Jews just simply thought
that he was God. No, no, it is saying that this
is the claim of which He made that He was God.
And again, it does not say that he made that claim an error.
It says that He made the claim that He was equal to God.
And look at verse #23 it says that all men should honor the
Son, even as they honor the Father.
He that honoreth, not the Son, honors not the Father which hath
sent him. Again, what is he saying?
If the Father is honored by worship, then what can He
receive? Worship.
Whatever you do for the Father, you can do to the Son.
Well, who's the only one that can make that claim?
Jesus Christ, God himself, Godfather, godson got Holy
Spirit that they are the only ones in their try unity that
could accept worship and there is no one else.
So they can try to say, well it's just the Jews thought that,
but that's not they were mistaken.
Well then why did Jesus affirm just a few verses later?
So that they may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.
Whosoever does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father
who sent him, you can literally say to Jehovah Witness, well,
because you are not honoring him, Jesus Christ as the Father
Jehovah, then you are being deceived and you're not saved.
So you see over and over you can find these little Nuggets that I
believe. I don't know why they're still
there. You would think that they would
have scrubbed them all, but I almost have to wonder if God
just blinded the minds of those translators who are putting that
there to just be able so that you and I, when we can witness
to these people, to be able to show them within their own
perverted copy of the Scriptures to show them.
And by the way, when I say perverted, I mean that in the
very literal sense that they have perverted, they have
changed the word of God from what it is to what they want it
to be to be able to support their very wrong doctrines.
But what do we see that have given you four ways that you can
show the deity of Christ? Some more complex, some more
simple, some visual, some that you would just need to read
verses to. But every, every single one of
them, you could take them with their New World Translation,
whether they have their own copy of the New World Translation or
whether they use their tablet, which many of them have now,
which is where they'll show you the magazines as well as a New
World Translation. They'll pull it up on their
tablet and then open it and show it to you to be able to read
yourself. But you can take them to these
verses. Now, would I be able to use 1/4
and a piece of paper and a pen and be able to lead a Jehovah
Witness to Christ? It's possible.
Is it likely? Maybe not, but you know what I'm
trying to do. If nothing else, I'm trying to
sow doubts in the mind of Jehovah Witness.
Listen, they have been so deceived that they are very
unlikely. Now listen, are we going to
shorten the arm of God to say that he cannot save?
We will not. But I will say this, they are so
deceived. It will likely take more than
just one proof text to be able to show them how much error they
are in. But what you can do is show them
a little bit of error and get them to wonder, well, if that's
an error, where else are there errors in the New World
Translation? So as we close this section of
our series, I just want to give you some other ways that you can
talk to Jehovah Witnesses once you start to open the door, as
you may have with some of these verses.
First of all, as I mentioned last week, you can share your
testimony. One of the greatest ways you can
witness to somebody is just to say what Jesus Christ did in
your life. Remember, some of the greatest
people who witnessed in the Bible were not people who've
been saved very long. There were literally people that
said this is what Jesus did for me.
You got to come meet him. I think of the woman at the well
over and over again. John Chapter 4.
She did not know the theology. She did not understand all the
things that I imagine she would have understood later.
But in that moment she said this.
There's a man who knows everything about me, and you
need to meet him. And she told everybody she
could. Well, what do we need to do to
share our testimony? Well, I was lost, but Jesus
Christ saved me. And this is what the Bible says
about that. You can share your testimony.
Why? Because you lift your testimony.
You should be able to share it. You might have an opportunity to
be able to do that. Ask them pointed questions.
Once the door is open, ask them pointed questions.
Well, how do you enter the Kingdom?
We saw that question here this morning.
If you have peace, what is it founded on?
Why are you so afraid of Armageddon?
I'll be honest, I'm not afraid of Armageddon.
I'm not afraid of it at all. Why?
Because, well, I'm not going to be there.
And so it's going to be our Lord and Savior's victorious moment
where he speaks and all the nations that have opposed him
fall slain. I'm not worried about that at
all. But when you're asking these
questions, ask open-ended questions.
And literally anytime you've you, you witness to somebody as
much as you can ask open-ended questions, meaning this don't
just ask yes or no questions. Are you afraid of the end times?
A Jehovah Witness will say yes, Why are you afraid of the end
times? What are you so afraid of?
Why don't you have peace? Ask questions that you can take
cues from what they're saying and be able to give them Bible
truth. That's another way that you can
talk to them, bring up other topics once they've been
softened. I would always, unless the Lord
leads you differently in the way the conversation goes, it's
typically best to start with the deity of Christ with Jehovah
Witness. But then once maybe you have
them listening, you can talk about things like the Trinity,
the failed prophecies, the New World Translation, their beliefs
about Jesus being Michael the Archangel.
These are things you can talk to them maybe if the door is open,
if they are willing to read your Bible, which is unlikely, but
one of the great places you can take him is Philippians chapter
2. Take the Philippians chapter 2
and help them to realize who Jesus Christ really is, that
great glimpse of who he is and that he is the image of God and
that he is not just a, you know, a a demigod, if you will, as the
Jehovah Witnesses would look at him, but he is the triune God.
Philippians chapter 2 is a great place for you to go bring up the
fact to them, the the fact that they are so afraid to be able to
take a copy of the scriptures from you.
You know, why won't you take a track from me?
I'm willing to take the Watchtower magazine.
I'm willing to read the Watchtower magazine and I am I,
I have kept my word to Jehovah Witnesses before where I told
them, if you give me this, I will read it from cover to
cover. Now listen, I'm gripping my
teeth all the way through, but I'm going to read and I'm going
to keep my word that I did because it's the right thing to
do. But it doesn't scare me.
I'm not opening it at Page 1 and say, boy, I hope I'm still a
Christian by the time I get to the end.
I'm I'm very confident that I'll make it through to the end and
I'm going to be right where I need to be.
Why are they so afraid to be able to read something from us?
Why would they be so afraid to read a track?
Ask them that. What do you have to fear?
I again, I've mentioned to you before, I read widely.
I read things I disagree with on purpose.
Why? So I can better mentally think
about how I can answer the truth by reading error.
I don't want to be influenced by error.
You want to be careful how much of it you take in, but you
shouldn't be afraid of it to the point where you don't know what
the other side is thinking so that you can bring Bible truth
to the other side when you come in contact with him.
Well, I'm not afraid of the Watchtower.
I'm not afraid of the New World Translation.
I keep this in my office. I don't.
Look at it. I mean, it's not something I
consult with on a regular basis, but I'm not afraid of it.
Listen, greater is He that's in us than He that's in the world.
I'm not afraid of this falsehood.
But why are they so afraid of the Bible?
Why are they so afraid of a conversation?
And so ask them those types of questions to try to give them to
a place where they can talk. Will it be profitable?
Maybe not, Likely not. Will you get to see them trust
Christ your Savior during the conversation?
I would say the odds are probably not, but you know what
you can do. If you take time to love them,
you don't lose your cool. Just talk to them as friendly
and as compassionate as you can. You might sow some seeds of
doubt, some plant some water and God gives the increase.
May I remind you that one of the most beloved men in our church
who just moved away in the last year with his family, one of the
most beloved men of our church, a trustee of our church, was a
Jehovah Witness growing up. He's not the only one that's
been influenced by that group over the years.
And people who are Jehovah Witnesses can come to the truth.
What do we need to do? Just lovingly, patiently just
show them the truth of the Word of God, kind of like what people
need to do to you before you got saved.
So I was a job witness. Well, someone had to lovingly
and patiently breakthrough your wall, whatever it was.
Because remember, there's unbelief and there's belief.
That's really what everything comes down to.
There's God and there's not God. That's what everything comes
down to. You were in a place where you
did not believe in the Lord and someone lovingly and patiently
gave you the truth. And it probably wasn't just the
one person who worked with you from beginning to end.
It was a process of a lot of people chipping away at that
unbelief. And finally, you listen to the
Holy Spirit as He worked in your life.
So don't give up on these people, love them.
Again, we are attacking not the adherence.
We are attacking the articles of faith and authorities of those
who believe these things. We want to win these adherence
to Christ and that means we got to interact with them.
And hopefully this will help give you some of the tools and
how you can do so. 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
info@mylibertybaptist.org. 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.