Amen. All right, we're there in Matthew chapter number four, and tonight we are continuing in our
doctrinal series. I know we haven't been in the series in a little bit on Sunday nights,
but we're gonna get right back into it. We're gonna be in the series for a while. We're just
systematically going through and looking at the major doctrines in the Bible, and this is
actually part six of this series. If you remember, we started with a sermon on the
importance of doctrine. Then we delve into the doctrine of revelation, how God reveals Himself
to mankind. Then we've been spending the last several weeks talking about specific revelation,
and that is about how God reveals Himself through His Word. We talked about the doctrine of the
Word of God, and we kind of put that theologically speaking and saw it through
Scripture, and we had a sermon on what is the Bible, and last time we were in this series,
we talked about is the Bible reliable. Tonight we're talking about the doctrine of the King
James Bible, and what I want to do tonight is I want to just give you the doctrinal basis
for our position on the King James Bible, and I'm hoping we can not be very long tonight.
It's been a long week. It's been a long weekend. I realize you're tired. I'm tired.
Somebody walked up to me. Brother Jose walked up to me today and said, Pastor, you look
tired, and I said, that's because I'm old. I said, I am tired, you know, so it's been
a long week. That's better than someone walked up to me at the marathon on Saturday and said,
Pastor, you may as well watch you on YouTube, and he said, you look thinner in person, and I
said, thank you, I think. You know, I don't know. If you're watching me on a wide screen,
it's the screen, okay? It's not me, but anyway, let's try to go through this quickly.
So here's what I want to do, all right? I want to just give you a biblical basis for the
doctrine of the King James Bible, and then next week, what we're going to do is we're
going to spend Sunday night comparing the King James Bible to other Bible versions,
looking at the changes and looking at the corruption. I was going to do that all in
one sermon, and when I had nine pages worth of notes, I realized maybe we need to
split this up. So I'm going to give you a foundation for the King James Bible issue
tonight, and then next week, we're going to go through and just compare the King
James with other Bible versions to see where they've been changed and how that affects doctrine.
Here at Verity Baptist Church, our position on the King James Bible is that we believe
that the King James Bible is the inspired, preserved, infallible, inerrant Word of God
for the English-speaking people, and I want to just show you that from the Bible,
from the Word of God. Some of this is going to be review for you guys. That's fine.
You don't have to turn there. Philippians 3.1 says, Finally, my brethren,
rejoice in the Lord. To write the same thing to you, to me indeed, is not grievous,
but for you it is safe. And it's safe to just learn and relearn and review some of these
things that we already know to make sure that we're staying in the faith and staying with
the Word of God. So I want to begin just by way of introduction and just asking this
question and answering the question, do we even need a perfect Bible? Because today,
what you're going to hear from most Christians is that we don't have a reliable Bible,
that a perfect Bible does not exist. They'll tell you that we had a perfect Bible in the
originals. The originals are gone. But when it got translated in the translation,
there's been mistakes, there's been issues, and you're not going to hear anybody stand up
and just say the NIV is the Inspired, Preserved Word of God. No one's going to
stand up and say the American Standard Version is the Inspired and Preserved Word of God.
Most people out there are just going to tell you that we don't have a preserved,
inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God. And except for those that are King James only,
and those of us that stand up and preach the things I'm going to preach tonight,
but we've got to ask this question. Do we even need a perfect Bible? Why make a big
deal about it? And the answer, when you look at it in Scripture, is a resounding yes. Of course,
we need a perfect Bible, and what's the biblical reason for that? Well,
you're there in Matthew chapter 4. I want you to notice verse 4, and this is, of course,
the temptation of Christ. Christ is being tempted, and He's answering those temptations
with Scripture. But I want you to notice one of the Scriptures that He gives in regards to
His temptation, but He's talking about the Word of God, Matthew 4. The Bible says this,
but He, this is, of course, Jesus, answered and said, He's talking to Satan,
it is written, man shall not live by bread alone. He says, man shall not live by bread alone.
He says, here's how man's going to live, but by, and I want you to notice these two words,
every word, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. See,
Jesus said that you and I need an every word Bible. We need a Bible that has every word that
God spoke, every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God. See, it's not good enough to
have a Bible that is kind of like the original, as close as possible to the original,
the best we can get from the original. Look, we have to be able to open up our Bible and
say this is an every word Bible. We must have every word that proceeded out of the
mouth of God. Now here's the thing, if Jesus said we need an every word Bible,
then that settles it, we need an every word Bible. You need a Bible that is perfect,
a Bible that has every word. Go back to, go to the book of John, if you would,
John chapter 1, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, John 1, 1, and I want to do this quickly
because we talked about this this morning. There's another reason why we need a perfect
Bible, and it is because of what we talked about this morning, and because we talked about
this morning, I don't want to spend a lot of time on it tonight, but it's this, that Jesus
is the Word. Jesus is the Word. Let's look at the verses just to make sure we prove it from
Scripture. John 1, 1, In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God,
the Word was God. This is the second member of the Godhead. The Word was with God,
meaning He's separate from God, but then He was God, meaning He is God,
that's the Trinity. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him,
by who? By the Word. And without Him, who's the Him? The Word was not anything made that was made.
The Word that was with God, and the Word that was God, made all things. Without Him was not
anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the life of all men. And then
of course verse 14, And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory,
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And we know of course,
that's the Lord Jesus Christ, for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten,
Son. So Jesus is the Word. Go through the book of 1st John if you would, 1st John chapter number 5.
If you start at the end of the New Testament, the book of Revelation, and head backwards,
you're going to have Revelation, Jude, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st John. Revelation, Jude, 3rd, 2nd,
and 1st John. 1st John chapter 5, and look at verse number 7. 1st John chapter 5 and verse 7,
notice the Bible says, For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost, these three are one. And we said this morning that this doctrine of what
we believe, which is what the Bible says, that Jesus is the Word. And again, I want to emphasize
the fact, we'll say, hey, this is the Word of God, and Jesus is the Word. We're not saying
Jesus is this Bible, okay? And I think, you know, some of these people get mixed up with these
things. We're not talking about the paper. We're not talking about the ink. We're not
talking about the leather. We're not talking about the binding. But these words that are
written in this book, these words, according to the Bible, are Jesus. And this word became flesh.
Now you say, well, yeah, there's the living Word of God, that's Jesus. There's the written
Word of God. That's what we have in Scripture. We understand that. But get this,
if Jesus is the Word, right, and Jesus was what? He was perfect. I mean,
he was sinless. He was without sin, right? I mean, that's the only way that he could be
our Savior. The Bible says, he who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. So if Jesus, the Word, had to be perfect, had to be flawless,
had to be without corruption, without error, without mistake, had to be sinless,
without any corruption in him, in order for him to be the Word, then don't you think that
this Word needs to be perfect? You say, why do we need, do we even need a perfect Bible?
Well, here's the thing. Jesus is the Word. If he's perfect, then we need a perfect Bible.
And Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word. So we need a perfect Bible,
and that's what we believe. That's what we have. Go to 1 Peter chapter 1, if you would.
You're there in 1 John. If you just continue going backwards, you got 1 John, you got 2 Peter,
and 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 1. Look at verse 23. 1 Peter chapter 123. So let's talk about the
incorruptible Word of God. The incorruptible Word of God. And I want you to just notice
that the Bible mentions the fact that there is an incorruptible Word, and there are also
corruptible words. 1 Peter 123, notice what the Bible says, being born again. Not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible. And when you study the parables of Christ, the seed is always a
picture or a representation of the Word of God. And here Peter is using that analogy. He says,
look, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, and then he tells
us what that means, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. By the way,
this is another reason why we need a perfect Bible, because you can't get saved from a
corruptible seed. I mean, that's what that verse is saying. Being born again,
not of corruptible seed. You cannot be born again from corruptible seed. The only way anyone
can ever get saved is from the incorruptible seed, which is the Word of God. So we need an
incorruptible seed. We need an incorruptible Word. And the Bible here tells us that the
incorruptible seed is the Word of God. The Bible teaches that we can have a Word that is
not corrupted, pure and free from corruption. So what does that mean? And like I said,
we've already touched on a lot of this, but I think it's important to understand it,
and in regards to the King James Bible, you say, why is it that you guys even believe that
there's a Bible that's perfect and pure? I mean, how can you believe that? Well,
let me give you some terms, and you're familiar with these, but let's make sure we understand
them and review them. First of all, because we believe in the inspiration of Scripture.
1 Peter chapter 1, look at verse number 20. Knowing this verse, that no prophecy of the
Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in all time by the will
of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Excuse me,
you were in 1 Peter. I wanted you to go to 2 Peter chapter 1. We were in 1 Peter 1. I
wanted you in 2 Peter chapter 1. Verse 21, the Bible says, holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost. Some of you were wondering, oh no, is his Bible corrupted or mine?
He's reading something different. But holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost. This is the inspiration of Scripture. You say, why do we need a perfect Bible? Well,
here's the thing. The Bible teaches that when the Bible was given, God spoke it. Now,
we know everything God does is true and right. So when God gave his word, it was pure.
It was inspired by him. 2 Timothy 3.16, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. So look,
the Bible teaches the inspiration of Scripture. Anything that comes from God is good and pure
and right without corruption, without error. So when you believe in the inspiration of
Scripture, you must believe that the originals were inspired. And look, everybody believes that.
Go to the book of Psalms, if you would. Psalm 12, if you open up your Bible just right in the
center, you'll more than likely fall. In the book of Psalms, Psalm 12, everyone,
even the NIV preaching theologians, will say, hey, yeah, in the originals,
those were inspired by God, those were perfect. Holy men of God spake as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost. But we also believe in the preservation of Scripture.
Psalm 12, look at verse 6. The words of the Lord are pure words. That's inspiration. Anything that
God brings forth, it's right, it's good. His words are pure words. As silver tried in the
furnace of earth, purified seven times, thou shalt keep them, O Lord. But I want you to notice,
in verse 7, now we're not learning about inspiration, now we're learning about preservation,
thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. Now, most people today, they'll tell
you, yes, the originals were inspired, but the translations have been corrupted.
They believe in the inspiration, but they don't believe in the preservation.
The Bible says that it is God's job to preserve His word. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord,
thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. Go to Psalm 119, if you would.
And look, think about this, because we've spent time talking about the Bible and the
history of the Bible, and practically and logistically speaking, we've talked about the
fact that God gave us His word, right? Over a period of 1500 years, some people think a little
more, some people think a little less, but over a period of 1500 years, over a period of a long
time, God used 40 different writers on three different continents in three different languages.
He used His Holy Spirit to inspire His words. Holy men of God spake as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost. Now, just think about this. Why would God spend 1500 years,
40 writers, His Holy Spirit, three continents, three languages to give us the inspired,
preserved word of God, used fallible man, used sinful man in the process of inspiration
to give us His word just so that in the next generation, when they began to translate it,
it would be lost? I mean, wouldn't that just be a divine waste of time?
That would be foolishness. Look, if you believe in inspiration, holy men of God
spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, the words of the Lord are pure words,
then you must also believe in preservation. The same God who's powerful enough to use sinful man
to give us pure words can use sinful man to preserve those words. See, we believe in the
inspiration and the preservation of Scripture, and because we believe those things, we believe
that there must be an every word Bible on this earth today. We believe that there must be
an inspired, preserved word of God, an incorruptible word. Psalm 119, are you there?
Look at verse 89. Forever, O Lord. Forever, O Lord. Psalm 119 and verse 89, the Bible says,
Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven. Look, in heaven there's no debate
as to which one is the word. And on this earth, people debate. And look, if you're not sure about
the King James issue, I'm going to give you the theological view and the foundation tonight.
You make sure you come back next week, and we're going to actually open up the NIV.
We're actually going to open up the New King James. We're actually going to open up the New
American Standard. We're actually going to open up the English Standard Version, and we're
going to open up a King James Bible, and we're just going to read them and actually compare
them. And look, you would have to just be blind to not be able to see the differences
that they are corrupted, that they've removed verses, all those things. We're going to actually
compare them, and it'll be settled not just in heaven. It'll be settled here as well.
It'll be clear. But look, the Bible says, Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven.
We believe in the inspiration of Scripture. We believe in the preservation of Scripture.
Let me give you two more terms, though, that I would like you to be familiar with,
and they are this. Inerrancy, we believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, and infallibility.
We believe that the Bible is inerrant and infallible. We believe in the inspiration
and the preservation of Scripture, but we believe that the Bible is inerrant,
and it is infallible. Are you there in Psalm 119? Look at verse number 160.
Psalm 119 and verse number 160. Notice what the Bible says. Thy word is true.
Psalm 119 verse 160. Thy word is true from the beginning, and every one of thy righteous
judgment endureth forever. The Bible says, Thy word is true. You don't have to turn there,
but in John 17 and verse 17, Jesus said, Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is true.
See, we not only believe that the Bible is inspired and it is preserved,
we believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, that it is inerrant, and then the infallibility
of Scripture, that it is infallible. Now, what does that mean? Let me give you a couple
definitions. The word inerrant or inerrancy means that we believe that the Bible is without
error. Thy word is true. There's nothing wrong in the Bible. It's always right. There's nothing
wrong with what the Bible says there. It's without error. Now, the word infallible is
closely tied to the word inerrant, but it's a little different. The word inerrant means that
we believe that the Bible is without error. The word infallible means that we believe that
the Bible is incapable of being found wrong. You cannot find a contradiction in the Bible.
And whenever people find a so-called contradiction in the Bible, it's just a contradiction in
their understanding. And look, the Bible was written thousands of years ago, and just
history continues to prove it right. I mean, thousands of excavations, thousands of cities
and towns and historical places have been dug up, and they always prove, even when it seems like
the Bible is at odds with history, eventually history catches up to the Bible. Eventually,
science catches up to the Bible. Eventually, society catches up to the Bible because the Bible
is inspired. It came from God. It's preserved. We still have the words of God. Therefore,
it's inerrant. There's no error. And it's not only inerrant. It's also infallible,
meaning it's incapable of ever being proven wrong. It's not like, oh, well, it's inerrant now,
based on what we know, but when the aliens come from Mars, then we'll know it was wrong. No,
it's nothing that will ever come to the Bible. They're never coming.
The aliens are not coming, right? You've been listening to too many dispensationalists.
It's infallible. It's incapable of being found wrong. So the incorruptible word,
what is it? Inspired, preserved, inerrant, infallible.
Let's talk about the corrupted word or the corrupted versions of the Word of God.
Go to 2 Corinthians, if you would, 2 Corinthians 2. I'm not sure if you kept
your place in John. I had you in John. But you have Matthew, Mark, Luke, John,
Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 2.
And we're not going to be very long tonight because, like I told you,
the sermon was going to be half of this and half of just going through verses and comparing.
I decided to split those up because, like I said, I had 11 pages worth of notes,
and that's just more than I think we can handle, especially on a weekend like this.
It's been busy, so let's just look at this, and we'll be done here soon.
2 Corinthians 2, look at verse 17. Notice what the Bible says.
For we are not as many. Now, this is the Apostle Paul writing to the church at Corinth in the first
century. We believe that the New Testament was written, completed by 70 AD. Even scholars who
disagree with that, no one disagrees. Most people agree that the New Testament was
completed by 100 AD, at the latest 120 AD. Here we have the Apostle Paul writing
with within the time span of 33 AD to, I believe, 70 AD. Some people might say
180, others might say 120 AD, but I mean within a relatively short amount of time
since the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. And Paul says,
For we are not as many which corrupt the word of God. You know what that proves?
That proves that even during the time and the life of the Apostle Paul,
when the New Testament was still being written, before the New Testament had even been completed,
there were already those who were corrupting the word of God.
Now, this is important to understand because today, when we look at the modern Bible
versions, and we'll cover this next week, they'll point to some old manuscript,
and they'll say, Well, this is an old manuscript. This Vaticanus, this, you know, whatever,
this is older than what you have. So therefore, it must be better. It must be more accurate.
But look, this verse proves to us that it doesn't matter how old a manuscript is,
because even before the New Testament was completed, there were manuscripts that were
corrupted. He says, We are not as many which corrupt the word of God.
Look, the Bible has been under attack, and the word of God has been under attack
from the beginning. So look, when it comes to corrupted versions,
are there corrupted versions of the word of God? Absolutely. Not everything that
calls itself a Bible is a Bible. By the way, not everything that calls itself a Christian
is a Christian. There are corrupted versions. And people say, Oh, well, this is an old
manuscript. Well, look, you can find, according to Paul, you can find a manuscript,
you know, within 70 AD to 120 AD, and it would be corrupt, because even before the
New Testament was done, people were already corrupting the word of God.
Go to Genesis chapter number 3. Genesis chapter number 3, first book in the Bible,
Genesis chapter 3. Now, sometimes people ask this question, Why are there so many Bibles?
I mean, why do you go to the Balaamite bookstore, the Christian bookstore,
and you just got all the NIV, the New King James, the ESV, the, you know, whatever.
You have all these versions. Why are there so many corrupted Bibles? Well, look,
Satan has been attacking the word of God from the beginning. Literally. I'll show it to you
here in Genesis. Genesis 3, we have the famous passage of Adam and Eve and the fall of man.
Genesis 3, look at verse 1. Now the serpent, this is Satan, was more subtle than any beast of the
field, which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, notice what he says to
the woman. This is what Satan says to Eve. He says, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat
of every tree of the garden? I want you to know, the first time we see
Satan speak in the Bible, he's questioning the word of God.
I mean, because God said, hey, you can eat of any tree, but not this one. Not this one tree.
And then Satan says, you know, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
And look, from the beginning, he begins to question the word of God.
Notice her response. And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruits of the
tree of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden,
God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Notice verse 4. And the serpent, that's Satan, said unto the woman. Notice, here's the second
thing he says in all of scripture. First thing he says, questions the word of God. Second thing
he says, changes the word of God. He says, Ye shall not surely die. Now look, God said, Ye
shall die. He says, Ye shall not surely die. You say, oh, well, what's the big deal? He just
added one word. Yeah, he added the small word not, but that changed the entire meaning.
He says, Ye shall not surely die. And then, of course, he begins to teach his Mormonism,
for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be open,
and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And he begins to teach his satanic religion.
But look, I'm showing you that from the very beginning, Satan has been questioning the word
of God, corrupting the word of God, changing the word of God. Before the New Testament's
even completed, Paul says, we are not as many which corrupt the word of God.
So there's been an attack on the Bible. There's been an attack on the word of God.
Go to Revelation chapter 22, Revelation 22. And while you go there, I want to just read
to you a list. One of the most popular new Bible versions out there is the NIV,
the New International Version. And what I'm going to show you here is true of many new modern Bible
versions. But the NIV, and next week we're going to sit there and we're going to compare
all these Bible versions and look at the verses together. But I just want you to notice that
the NIV removes 16 entire verses from the New Testament. Sixteen just complete verses are
just gone. If you have an NIV and you go to these passages, I'm going to listen for you,
and I'll read them for you. Here's one verse that's missing from the NIV, Matthew 17, 21.
Howbeit this kind goeth not out, but by prayer and fasting. If you have an NIV, here's how your NIV
will look. It'll be Matthew 17, you'll have verse 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24. The NIV can't even
count. It just removes verse 21. And isn't it interesting that verse 21 is a verse where Jesus
is telling the disciples, hey, you know what, sometimes the devil's a little stronger and
there's just a few extra things you need to do to be able to overcome and beat the devil.
Howbeit this kind goeth not out, but by prayer and fasting. And the devil's like,
yeah, let's take that out. Let's make sure people don't know about that. Here's another one,
Matthew 18, 11. For the son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Satan's
like, ah, we don't need that one. Matthew 23, 14. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees,
for you devour widows' houses and for pretense make long prayer. Therefore,
you shall receive the greater damnation. He's like, ah, man, he's ripping on my guys here.
Let's remove that one. Mark 7, verse 16. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.
He's like, ah, you don't need that. Mark 9, 44. I won't read all these. Mark 9, 44. Mark
9, 46. Mark 11, 26. Mark 15, 28. Luke 17, 36. John 5, 4. Acts 8, 37. Acts 8, 37, where the Ethiopian
is asking Philip, you know, here's water. What does hinder me to be baptized? In verse 36,
and then in verse 37, the Bible says, and Philip said, if thou believeth with all thine
heart thou mayest, and he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,
and Satan says, let's remove that. So when you read the NIV, you've got the Ethiopian eunuch
asking, what does hinder me to be baptized? And then verse 37 is gone. In verse 38,
he's getting baptized. Apparently nothing's hinder me from getting baptized. Anybody
can get baptized. Just removes verse 37, if thou believeth with all thine heart thou mayest.
Acts 15, 34, gone. Acts 24, 7, gone. Acts 28, 29, gone. Romans 16, 24, gone. 1 John 5, 7. I mean,
the most important verse in Scripture regarding the Trinity, for there are three that bear record
in heaven, the Father, the Word, the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. Gone. And here's what
I'm telling you. You say, why are they gone? Because Satan wants to corrupt the Bible. And
this is true of many modern Bible versions. And these are just the verses that are completely
gone. There are many other passages where they just remove a sentence, where they just remove
a part of a verse, where they'll remove the latter part of one verse and the first part of
another verse, and it's like equivalent to an entire verse. These are just actual verses
that are removed, that if you look at the numbers, it's going to go 14, 15, 17. It's
going to go 35, 36, 38. I mean, 16 verses removed. You say, well, you know, what's the
big deal? Well, notice what the Bible says in the book of Revelation in Revelation 22.
Look at verse 18. Now, look, this is at the end of the last book of the Bible,
and God is speaking this not just about the book of Revelation, but about the entire
Bible. Revelation 22, 18. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy
of this book. If any man shall add unto these things... Now, what is that? That's
like Joseph Smith with his Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ. No, you're
adding to the word of God. That's Mohammed with his Koran. He says, look, if any man
shall add unto these things, what does God think about this? God shall add unto him
the plagues that are written in this book. Have you ever read the book of Revelation?
Those are a lot of nasty plagues. I mean, there's a lot of crazy stuff, and God says,
here's how I feel about people who add things to my word. Then he says this, verse 19,
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy... Look, the
editors of the NIV who took out 16 entire verses from the New Testament, this is what
God is talking about. If any man shall take away from the words of the book of
this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life. Now, what
does that mean? Look, it doesn't mean that these people lost their salvation. Nobody
loses their salvation. What it means is that God is going to remove the part of
the book of life where their name would have been or could have been or should have
been. He's going to remove that so that their name cannot be there. What is that
... Look, this is teaching that anyone who messes with God's word instantly
becomes a reprobate. They lose their opportunity to be saved. And look, anyone
who would mess with the word of God is not saved. They say, oh, well, what if they
were saved? They wouldn't mess with God's word. Jesus said that if you're his, you
hear his voice. You follow him. You know what the word is. You know what the
Bible is. Here it says, if any man shall take away from the words of the
book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life
and out of the Holy City and from the things which are written in this
book. Look, the Bible has been under attack. It's been corrupted. People are
trying to change it. People are trying to remove parts from it. And we need to
realize that there must be, there has to be a perfect Bible because God
inspired it. God preserved it. Jesus said we need every word. Jesus is the word. And
we need the incorruptive word of God in order to be saved. Go to Isaiah
chapter 40. We're gonna look at two more verses and we'll finish up.
Excuse me, three more verses. One in Isaiah and two in Matthew. Isaiah
chapter 40. Look at verse 8. Isaiah chapter 40. Towards the end of the Old
Testament, you've got the major prophets. Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 8.
Isaiah chapter 40 verse 8. The Bible says this, the grass withereth, the flower
fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever.
Look, the Bible, look, God said his word will stand forever. So these people who
say, oh no, we don't have the word of God. Well then they're calling God a
liar. Because God said his word will stand forever. He says, look, yes, the
grass withers, the flower fadeth, things that are not eternal, they corrupt, because my
word is gonna stand forever. It will always be. It will never not be. We must
have an every word Bible. So where is it? I mean, which one is it? And we'll
answer that next week as we compare the King James with other places. Go to
Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. You know, it's the best way, the best way
to know whether something is what it truly is, is to compare it with that
which is fake. Whether it's a dollar bill comparing a real dollar bill to a
counterfeit, whether it's comparing a real diamond to a counterfeit, when you
put them side by side, it becomes very clear which one's real and which one's
not. And with the Bibles it's the same way. You put the King James next to any
one of these and you start looking at them, it becomes very clear which one
is the Word of God. Matthew 5.18. Notice what the Bible says. For verily I say unto
you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass
from the law, till all be fulfilled. Look, the Bible must stand. The Bible
will stand. They'll try to get rid of the Bible. They'll never succeed. So do
we need a perfect, inspired, preserved, and infallible Bible? Yes. We must have
one. On this earth, today, where God is a liar. Matthew chapter 4. Go back to
Matthew 4 where we started. Matthew chapter 4. We believe the King James
Bible is the inspired, preserved Word of God. And I encourage you to be with
us next week. We'll look at it. We'll study it. It'll be clear. It'll be
super clear. And we'll take time. I didn't want to rush it tonight and
just kind of rush through it. I wanted to be able to take our time and go
through and have you read your King James and we'll have guys up here
reading from the other versions and it'll be clear. But you know, on a
personal level, remember I told you this morning that your doctrines will
affect your deeds, what you believe will affect your actions? Jesus said in
Matthew chapter 4 and verse 4, notice what he said. We started there this
evening. But he answered and said, it is written, man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. You know,
just on a personal level as a Christian for all of us, and I know for me as a
pastor, for my wife as a pastor's wife, we need to know, we need to be
assured that this Bible that I'm holding right now, that these words
that I'm holding, that I read, these words that I've underlined and I've
made notes of and I've studied, these things that we've given our lives to
studying and learning, we have to have the assurance that this is the
Word of God and that there's no error in here. I mean, you know what I mean?
Like as a pastor, I stand up every week and I tell people and I teach people,
thus saith the Lord God, this is what the Bible says, this is what God
wants you to do, this is how God wants you to do. As a pastor, I sit in that
office and I look across the table at people with real issues and real
burdens and real problems and they need real solutions and I can't just sit
there and say, well, here's what I think you should do, here's what might work,
here's what God might want you to do. I mean, I'm not really sure because I'm
not even sure if this is legit. Look, you and I, I can't raise my kids on
maybe. I need to raise my kids on yes, this is the Bible, this is the Word,
it's inerrant, it's infallible. I can trust the Bible. You say, why is it that
these lame churches are just not preaching hard, they're not being
authoritative, they're not? Well, look, I wouldn't be either if I was just
guessing at it. If I wasn't even sure if this was the Bible, I'd be like, well, you
know, I don't know. Let me give you a verse and kind of fill my sermon with a
bunch of stories and jokes and poems because I'm not even sure if this is
legit. You say, why do you guys preach the Bible so much, why do you have so
much Bible? Because we believe this thing, because we believe that this will
actually bring salvation, we believe that this will bring the abundant life that
God promised, we believe that this will save your marriage, it'll help your
children, it'll help your finances, it'll help your health, it'll help you in every
relationship of life, because it's true. And when we say it, and when we preach
it, and when we thunder it forth, and the world says, ah, that'll never work,
that whole marriage thing, that won't work, we have to be able to stand up
and say, yes, it will, because it's the Word of God. That whole child rater,
spanking and discipline, really? Dr. Spock said to give him a timeout. This is the
Word of God. This is inerrant. It's infallible. You can trust it. Look,
you can put all your eggs in this basket. It won't let you down, because it
is the inspired, the preserved, the inerrant, the infallible Word of God.
It'll never let you down. It'll always give you the right answer. And look, if I
didn't believe it, I want to stand up here and tell you, if I didn't think
that this was actually what God said, if I wasn't convinced that everything
this Bible says is true, I would not base my life, and I would not bet your
life on it. But our doctrines affect our actions, and you've got to be
settled. This is what God spoke. This is what God said. This is what God has. This
is what God wants for you and for me. Let's bow our heads and have a word of
prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you, Lord, for the
fact that sometimes we have to open up this Bible and see some hard things,
some negative things, some things that are difficult, but we can always trust
that it's true, that it won't lead us astray, that it is inerrant, and it is
infallible, it is inspired, and it is preserved. You said we'll live by this
word. Lord, help us to be convinced of the fact that we have in every word
Bible. And Lord, help our doctrine to affect our deeds. Help us to live in a
way that shows that we trust you, and we trust your word. In the matchless name
of Christ, we pray. Amen.