Song number 45, When I Can Read My Title Clear.
Song number 45.
Everybody sing it out real loud on the first.
When I can read my title clear To mansions in the sky
I'll bid farewell to every fear And wipe my weeping eyes
And wipe my weeping eyes And wipe my weeping eyes
I'll bid farewell to every fear And wipe my weeping eyes
Should earth against my soul engage And fiery darts be hurled
Then I can smile at Satan's rage And face a frowning world
And face a frowning world And face a frowning world
Then I can smile at Satan's rage And face a frowning world
Let cares like a wild deluge come And storms of sorrow fall
May I but safely reach my home My God, my heaven, my all
My God, my heaven, my all
May I but safely reach my home My God, my heaven, my all
There shall I bathe my weary soul In seas of heavenly rest
And not a wave of trouble roll Across my peaceful breast
Across my peaceful breast
And not a wave of trouble roll Across my peaceful breast
All right, great job, everybody. Let's all pray together.
Thank you so much, Lord, for Steadfast Baptist Church.
Thank you for just allowing us to gather here.
And praise you, Lord. We love you.
And we just ask you to fill this room with your spirit.
And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
All right, let's go to song number 51 for our next song.
Song number 51, Where We'll Never Grow Old.
Song number 51.
Everybody sing it out real loud on the first.
I have heard of a land On a faraway strand
Tis a beautiful home of the soul
Built by Jesus on high There we never shall die
Tis a land where we'll never grow old
Never grow old, never grow old
In a land where we'll never grow old
Never grow old, never grow old
In a land where we'll never grow old
In that beautiful home Where we never more roam
We shall be in the sweet by and by
Happy praise to the King Through eternity sing
Tis a land where we never shall die
Never grow old, never grow old
In a land where we'll never grow old
Never grow old, never grow old
In a land where we'll never grow old
When our work here is done And the life crown is won
And our troubles and trials are o'er
All our sorrow will end And our voices will blend
With the loved ones who've gone on before
Never grow old, never grow old
In a land where we'll never grow old
Never grow old, never grow old
In a land where we'll never grow old
Alright, great job everybody.
Thanks for coming back to Steadfast Baptist Church.
We got our bullets in if you need one, if you didn't get one this morning.
Also, we're doing part three of our translators to the reader.
So I think we have a bunch up front.
Maybe Ryan or somebody that can help get some of these and pass them out if anybody needs any of these.
And on the front we have our verse of the week.
We're on verse number 11.
It's a longer verse so you kiddos start working on it now.
Also on the inside we have our service soul winning times.
Please also continue to update our soul winning captains and leaders with the soul winning totals that you have.
Also our expecting ladies list.
Please be in prayer for them in our prayer list.
We have our upcoming events, the Bahamas missions trip and our Mother's Day tea.
And then we also have the congratulations on the birth of Opal Jean West.
She was born on the 9th at 1228 AM and she weighs 7 pounds 12 ounces and is 21 inches long.
I like that Jean name. That was my mother's middle name.
And so that's a really good one.
And congratulations to them.
Also just we also have the church reminders down below.
Please make sure you're paying attention to those for me.
We're going to sing our third song which is going to be our psalm of the week.
Psalm 139.
We like to sing lots of loving music here at steadfast.
Psalm 139.
All right. That was psalm 139.
Find it in the handout or in your Bible.
Psalm 139.
Everybody sing it out on the first.
Surely thou wilt slay the wicked.
Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God.
Depart from me, therefore ye bloody men.
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee.
Am not I grieved.
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee.
For they speak against thee wickedly.
And thine enemies take thy name in vain.
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee.
Am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee.
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee.
I hate them with perfect hatred.
I count them mine enemies.
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee.
Am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee.
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee.
All right, great singing everybody.
Now as the offering plates are being passed around,
go ahead and turn in your Bibles to John chapter five.
That's John chapter number five.
John chapter five.
Amen.
John chapter five, the Bible reads,
after there, there was a feast of the Jews,
and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Now there, there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool
which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethsaida.
Bethsaida, having five porches.
In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk,
of blind, halt, withered, waiting
for the moving of the water.
For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool
and troubled the water.
Whosoever then first, after the troubling of the water,
stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
And a certain man was there which had an infirmity
30 and eight years.
When Jesus saw him lie and knew that he had been now
a long time in that case, he saith unto him,
wilt thou be made whole?
The impotent man answered him, sir, I
have no man, when the water is troubled,
to put me into the pool.
But while I am coming, another steppeth down after me.
Jesus saith unto him, rise, take up thy bed, and walk.
And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed,
and walked.
And on the Sabbath day, and the same day was the Sabbath.
And the Jews therefore said unto him that was cured,
it is the Sabbath day.
It is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.
He answered them, he that made me whole, the same said unto me,
take up thy bed and walk.
Then asked they him, what man is that which said unto thee,
take up thy bed and walk?
And he that was healed was not who it was,
for Jesus had conveyed himself away,
a multitude being in that place.
Afterward, Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him,
behold, thou art made whole.
Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.
The man departed and told the Jews
that it was Jesus which had made him whole.
And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus,
and sought to slay him, because he had done
these things on the Sabbath day.
But Jesus answered them, my father worketh hitherto,
and I work.
Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him,
because he had not only broken the Sabbath,
but said also that God was his father,
making himself equal with God.
Then answered Jesus and said unto them,
verily, verily, I sand you, the son can do nothing
of himself, but would he see it the father do.
For what things soever he doeth,
these also doeth the son likewise.
For the father loveth the son, and showeth him all things
that himself doeth, and he will show him greater works
than these, that you may marvel.
For as the father raiseth up the son, and quickeneth them,
even so the son quickeneth whom he will.
For the father judgeth no man, but hath committed
all judgment unto the son, that all men should honor
the son, even as they honor the father.
He that honoreth not the son, honoreth not the father
which hath sent him.
Verily, verily, I sand you, he that heareth my word,
and believeth on him that sent me, have everlasting life,
and shall not come into condemnation,
but has passed from death unto life.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming,
and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice
of the son of God, and they that hear shall live.
For as the father hath life in himself,
so hath he given to the son to have life in himself,
and hath given him authority to execute judgment also,
because he is the son of man.
Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming,
in the which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice,
and shall come forth, they that have done good
unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil
unto the resurrection of damnation.
I can of my own self do nothing, as I hear I judge,
and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will,
but the will of the father which hath sent me.
If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.
There is another that beareth witness of me,
and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me
is true.
He sent unto John, and he bare witness of the truth,
but I receive not testimony from man,
but these things I say that ye might be saved.
He was a burning and a shining light,
and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his light,
but I have greater witness than that of John,
for the works which the father hath given me to finish,
the same works that I do, bare witness of me,
that the father hath sent me.
And the father himself which hath sent me,
hath bore witness of me.
Ye have neither heard his voice at any time,
nor seen his shape, and ye have not his word abiding in you,
for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.
Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have
eternal life, and they are they which testify of me,
and ye will not come to me that ye might have life.
I receive not honor from men, but I know you,
that ye have not the love of God in you.
I am come in my father's name, and ye receive me not.
If another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.
How can ye believe which receive honor one of another,
and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?
Do not think that I will accuse you to the father.
There is one that accuses you, even Moses,
in whom ye trust.
For had ye believed Moses, you would have believed me,
for he wrote of me.
But if ye believe not his writings,
how shall ye believe my words?
Let us pray.
Father, thank you for this day.
We thank you for our congregation.
We thank you for the pastor and his family.
I pray that you feel Pastor Shelley is in the spirit,
and give him the words to be prepared in his heart.
Thank you for all the souls that have won to Christ today.
I pray that you will prepare hearts now in the Bahamas,
and please guide our feet and our paths to the people
that you've prepared for us to preach to, Lord,
and help us to do a big work there for you.
And we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.
Yeah, I'm good, all right, sorry.
If you get your translator to the reader section,
we're gonna be, you're gonna turn a couple pages
and go to about the third page.
The title there is The Praise of the Holy Scriptures,
is the part that we're gonna be starting with.
Just to give you again another quick recap,
this is a preface to the King James Bible
that we've been going through.
And in the preface, the first section
that we kind of talked about or read through,
talked about how the best things were columninated.
That's not a word that we're very familiar with,
but it simply means to be spoken against or attacked.
And so the translators want you to understand
that no matter what is good, holy, righteous,
or trying to even achieve those goals,
it's gonna be spoken against and attacked.
And in fact, then it goes through a long list
and series of examples to show how many great things
of the past and many great people of the past
have also been quote, columninated or spoken against.
Now, that was where we kind of left off.
This next section is a different topic a little bit
entirely that we're going to address.
It's the praise of the Holy Scriptures.
They're not gonna give us their opinion
of the Bible itself.
And this is where we get the King James Bible.
And of course, this is not scripture,
what we're reading today,
but they do put a lot of scripture in it.
And I think that that's relevant.
But I also think it's important for you to understand
where your Bible's coming from.
And you'll have people like James White get up and say,
well, I'm not King James only
because I've read the preface.
I've read the translators to the reader.
Yet, I want you to think about as we read this portion
tonight, if you would really come to the conclusion
of I wouldn't be King James, okay?
Or I wouldn't think that we should use a King James Bible.
And in fact, I believe that if you actually read this,
you will come to the conclusion,
at least if you agree with them,
you have to be King James, okay?
So if James White actually agreed
with the translators of the reader,
he would be King James, okay?
So he's a liar.
Now let's start reading here.
It says this.
But now, what piety without truth,
what truth, what saving truth
without the word of God?
What word of God, whereof we may be sure
without the scripture?
So he's saying, hey, we've seen a lot of guys
that are religious and they have piety.
What's piety?
Essentially, have you ever heard someone being pious?
A lot of times it's used in a negative connotation.
So you might think of the word as being a negative word,
but actually pious is a good word
because simply pious just means to be devoted
or you're basically very religious,
but there's nothing wrong with being very religious
or very devoted.
In fact, you would hope to be called pious
in regards to being a Christian
because it just means you take it very seriously,
it's important, you have a lot of zeal.
So he's saying, what's the point in being very pious
but without any truth?
That'd be like being a Catholic.
You could be really devoted Catholic,
but when you don't have the actual truth,
what's the point?
A devoted Hindu, a devoted Muslim, a devoted Catholic,
it's meaningless if you're not following the truth.
He says, and what is the truth or what is saving truth
if we don't have the word of God?
And in fact, what is the word of God
if we don't have the scripture?
So they're basically saying, how do we decide anything
that's right or wrong if we don't have the scripture?
And then he says this, the scriptures,
we are commanded to search.
So he's saying, we're commanded to search something.
What logic would this make
if you don't even have it to then search it?
And then he points to John 5, 39.
Now you have to understand he's doing Roman numerals here.
So that's what we have, John 5, look at verse 39.
Search the scriptures for in them
ye think ye have eternal life
and they are they which testify of me.
Why would Jesus give such a commandment
to the religious leaders and the Jews of his day
if it was impossible to search the scriptures?
It would make no sense.
But rather, Jesus Christ just plainly demands them
to what, search the scriptures.
And so the translators are saying,
if we have such a command from our Lord Jesus Christ,
then we must have scriptures to search.
If there even is truth, then we should have that truth.
What does he say?
Go to Isaiah 8, verse 20.
Let's go to another place here.
And I like looking a lot of these verses up first.
We're not gonna necessarily spend as much time
in the Bible as we go through this,
but this first section is a lot of Bible.
And I think it's really important.
And you know what I like about the translators or the reader
they're not trying to convince you
to believe the Bible is the Bible from archeology.
They're not trying to convince you
to believe the Bible is the Bible
from human reasoning or logic.
You know what they're using to convince you
to believe the Bible?
The Bible.
Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
Look at Isaiah chapter number eight, verse 20.
To the law and to the testimony,
if they speak not according to this word,
it is because there is no light in them.
So they're saying, hey, why is it that someone
would believe you have the word of God
and then according to the book of Isaiah,
he's saying, look, you have to speak according to this word,
this specific word in order to have any light.
And he says, if you don't notice this,
there's no light in them.
So he's saying there's only light from one source.
What is the only source of light in the entire world?
It's this word right here.
It's the Bible is what he's saying.
Notice it says in our translators, the reader,
they are commended that searched and studied them.
Go to Acts chapter 17.
We're gonna flip around real quick.
So you might get ready to just do
a little bit of flipping real quick.
Acts chapter 17.
And I think this is great because they're giving us
so many good verses to think about, to chew on,
to consult when it comes to the Bible itself.
Acts chapter 17, look at verse number 11.
The Bible says, these were more noble
than those in Thessalonica,
and that they receive the word of all readiness of mind
and search the scriptures daily,
whether those things are so.
So notice what the Bible's saying.
Some Christians are better than others.
What is the best Christians?
It's the ones that actually search the scriptures.
But wait a minute.
He said, how can we even be better
if we don't have the scriptures?
You can't even be a good Christian.
You can't even be like those of Berea
if you don't have the scriptures to search,
but we know we have the scriptures,
and we know what's the right attitude
is to search the scriptures.
It's not a relationship.
Yeah, that's part of it, but you know what it is?
It's also searching the scriptures.
It's also a religion.
It's also piety.
You know, it's silly how Christianity
tries to get away from the Bible today.
The Bible is our source.
Go back to chapter eight, Acts chapter number eight.
He brings up some more here.
Acts chapter eight.
You know, the translators,
the readers has more Bible than NIV.
Acts chapter eight, look at verse 28.
Was returning and sitting in his chariot
read Isaiah the prophet, verse 29,
then the Spirit said unto Philip,
go near and join thyself to this chariot.
So we have an example of someone reading the Bible,
and what the translator is saying
is everyone that's searching and studying the Bible
is commended as being a good person,
as a good attribute.
Not like, well, what is this that you're reading?
It says they are approved that were unskillful in them
or slow to believe them.
Go to Matthew 22.
So we're just looking up.
These are, this isn't my sermon notes.
This is the sermon notes of the translators to the reader.
I like them.
They're good, aren't they?
Someone else preached the sermon before me.
Matthew 22, look at verse 29.
Jesus answered and said unto them,
ye do err, not knowing the scriptures,
nor the power of God.
So when Jesus Christ rebukes Christians,
so-called fake Christianity, the Jewish religion,
what does he rebuke them for not having done,
read the Bible?
Well, you didn't have a relationship, brah.
You do err, not knowing it's a relationship, man.
No, no, no.
You know why they err?
Because they didn't know the Bible.
How many Christians a day err
because they know not the scriptures?
That's their problem.
Go to Luke chapter 20, what is this, 24, Luke 24.
So to learn Roman numerals, they're kind of interesting,
but X means 10.
So when you look at that Luke 24, it's two Xs is 20,
and then a V is five.
But if you have a little I, that's a one.
But if it's on the left side of the V, it's subtracting.
If it's on the right side, it's adding.
So you have to subtract one from five,
which kids don't know.
So you have to subtract one from five,
which kids don't know.
So you have to subtract one from five,
which kids don't know.
So you have to subtract one from five, which kids is what?
What's five minus one?
Four, yeah, all right.
So it's 24, all right, we're doing good.
Luke 24, look at verse 25.
Then he said unto them,
"'O fools, and slow of heart to believe all
"'that the prophets have spoken.'"
You know what I love about this verse?
All.
Maybe you should just underline that word.
Notice, you know what parts of the Bible
you're supposed to believe?
All of them.
Hey, when you don't believe all of them,
you know what Jesus says to you?
Fool.
Fool for not believing Leviticus.
Fool for not believing Deuteronomy.
Fool for not believing Hosea.
Fool for not believing any part of the Bible.
Because the Bible, we're supposed to believe all of it.
And we're not even supposed to be slow to believing it,
we're supposed to be quick to believing it.
I'm ready to believe it.
Just show me in the Bible and I'll believe it right now.
But you know what?
He's pointing to the scriptures and the prophets
and the things that we're supposed to believe.
Says they, in our translators, the readers,
it says they can make us wise in the salvation.
Go to 2 Timothy chapter three.
2 Timothy chapter three, verse 15.
Verse 15, it says,
And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures
which are able to make thee wise in the salvation
through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
So notice how much the Bible is talking about
the scripture itself.
The Bible talks about the Bible a lot.
And it's talking about the benefits of the Bible
and one is to make you wise in the salvation.
Where does salvation come from?
It comes from the Bible.
We don't have a salvation outside of the Bible.
The Bible is what tells us how to be saved.
The Bible is what gives us the verses of salvation
and it's able to make a child saved.
Notice, what does it say?
And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures
which are able to make thee wise in the salvation.
You know what?
Children can get saved.
You know, and I get so frustrated with this stupid
repent of your sins doctrine because you know what?
I guarantee every child that gets saved,
their biggest sins are ahead of them, not behind them.
So how do they repent of those ones, you know?
No, because you can be saved as a child, folks, okay?
It's easy to be saved.
In fact, you have to be as a child to be converted
as Jesus Christ said.
You have to be humble yourself like a little child
to even believe in Christ.
You have to become completely dependent on him.
Now he says this in the translation of the reader.
If we be ignorant, they will instruct us.
If out of the way, they will bring us home.
If out of order, they will reform us.
If in heaviness, comfort us.
If dull, quicken us.
If cold, inflame us.
He's saying everything that you need,
the Bible will give you.
Every attitude that you have that God wants to correct,
fix, update, improve, he will do it.
Now it gives us some Latin here, tole legae, tole legae,
which means take up and read,
take up and read the scriptures.
Front of them was the direction.
It was said on the St. Augustine by a supernatural voice.
So, St. Augustine is famous for this quote
of take up and read, take up and read,
meaning that the Bible, it's really important
that we're reading the Bible,
not coming up with our own philosophy, our own idea.
God's not gonna just come and speak to you
just outside the Bible.
He wants to speak to us through the Bible.
And so, quote, church fathers are having the same attitude
that they're pointing to in the sense
that they're pointing to scripture.
We need to read the scripture.
Now, it says this,
"'Whatsoever is in the scriptures, believe me,
the same, I'm sorry, believe me,
say it, the same St. Augustine is high and divine.
There is verily truth and a doctrine most fit
for the refreshing and renewing of men's minds,
and truly so tempered that everyone may draw
from thence that which is sufficient for him,
if he come to draw with a devout and pious mind
as true religion require.'"
So, St. Augustine is quoted by them as saying
that everything you could possibly need
is coming from the Bible.
If you come to the Bible with a sincere heart,
with a desire to learn, with a desire to hear from God,
he's saying you will get everything
you could possibly want or need.
Thus, St. Augustine and St. Jerome,
ama scripturis, et embedte sapientia, et cetera.
He's just saying, not just this guy, everybody, okay?
Love the scriptures and wisdom will love thee.
And St. Cyril against Julian,
even boys that are bred up in the scriptures
become most religious, et cetera.
Now, again, the word even means specifically.
So he's saying specifically,
little children or boys that are bred,
meaning they're raised reading the Bible,
will end up becoming the most religious.
You know what I love about this verse,
or not verse, I'm sorry, about this sentence, okay?
This is not scripture.
You know what I like about this thought though?
Is it actually gives us a little bit of an incentive
to raise our children to be independent from the Baptist.
Because think what he's saying.
He's saying technically the most religious
are the ones that are bred to be that way.
And let's be real about our church.
Many of us, many of us are either first-time Christians,
meaning you're the first generation saved in your family,
or you might be the first independent
fundamental Baptist in your family.
You know, I believe I was saved.
You know, I believe I have other family members
or other generations of my family that were saved,
but none of them were Baptist,
and none of them were very zealous.
And you know, I wish I had been raised
on the King James Bible.
I wish I had been raised in a fundamental Baptist church.
I wish I was raised soul winning.
And here's a question.
Would I have been even better of a Christian
than I am today?
I believe I would be.
So you know, I look to the future
and see all these young men and women in this room
and think we have so much potential with them
if we will put the dedication, effort, and energy
into raising them right
and teaching them the Holy Scriptures,
they could be some of the most religious people
that have ever lived.
I mean, some of the greatest men of the Bible are like this.
You can see how their parents were trying to get them
to be raised right from birth.
How about Samuel?
I mean, this guy is dedicated to the Lord
before he's even born, before he's even conceived.
That child is dedicated to God.
Not only that child.
I mean, you have Timothy himself.
You can see how he himself has been raised
on the Scriptures his whole life
and then he ends up becoming one of the greatest pastors
and Christians to ever live.
Two books of the Bible dedicated to this guy.
Paul's companion.
We see even the apostle Paul,
albeit he wasn't really saved from his youth,
but at least he was learning the Bible
from a young period of time and he's the most religious.
You know, they didn't pull some gang banger
off of the streets and he was the apostle Paul.
They picked a guy that had been dedicated his entire life
to the Christian faith, albeit he was wrong and I get that.
But there wasn't a lot of people that were right
being raised on the right religion at that time.
Jesus kind of had to restart things, didn't he?
But you know, we should take it serious
how we raise our children.
You know, train up a child and the way he should go
and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
That's what the Bible says.
So you can actually trust that verse over the sentence
but I think this sentence is in line with the scripture.
Not only that, they say, but what mention we three
or four uses of the scripture, whereas whatsoever
is to be believed or practiced or hoped for.
It's contained in them are three or four sentences
of the father since whose server is worthy,
the name of a father from Christ's time downward
had likewise written not only of the riches
but also of the perfection of the scripture.
Hey, there's something to underline.
The perfection of the scripture.
Now, these sentences are a little bit hard
or dense what he's saying but he's just saying this.
What church father do we look to of antiquity
that did not all have the same opinion
and what was their opinion?
The perfection of the scriptures.
He's saying, hey, everybody had this opinion.
From Christ till now, from Christ coming down,
all the other people that we have respect to and look to,
they're all saying that the scripture is perfect.
Notice this, I adore, and then they're gonna give
some quotes, I adore the fullness of the scripture,
saith Tertullian against Hermogenes.
Hermogenes is always a bozo apparently, okay?
So Tertullian, again, and they're just gonna name drop
like crazy in this, but Tertullian is essentially just
in their mind a church father and he's just saying,
you know, he's rebuking this heretic and basically saying,
I like the fullness of scripture.
Everything we need, it's coming from scripture, buddy.
And again, to Apelles, meaning Tertullian's rebuking
another heretic named Apelles,
and heretic of the like stamp, he saith,
I do not admit that which thou bringest in
or concludest of thine own, heter stur detuo,
without scripture.
So he's saying, I don't care what you dream up.
It's not the Bible, I don't believe it.
Saying, Apelles, you can come up with whatever you want,
I don't care.
If it's not scripture, I don't care about it,
is what this Tertullian guy's attitude is.
Now again, if you look up Tertullian,
he has some weird beliefs.
And when I say weird, like really weird, okay?
I don't even know what the guy's saying,
but he's right on this issue, okay?
Now he says this, so Saint Justin Martyr before him,
we must know by all means, saith he,
that it is not lawful or possible to learn anything of God
or of right piety, save only out of the prophets
who teach us by divine inspiration.
So Saint Basil, after Tertullian,
it is a manifest falling away from the faith
and a fault of presumption,
either to reject any of those things that are written,
or to bring in upon the head of them, episigin,
any of those things that are not written.
So he's saying, not only does Tertullian have this opinion,
you got Justin Martyr, not only that, you got Saint Basil,
and look at the quotes from these guys.
They're saying this guy is making it clear
that you have a fault of presumption
to reject anything that the Bible says.
And of course, how presumptuous are you, or would you be,
if you read something in the Bible and said,
you know, I don't even think that's really biblical.
I don't think this is authentic.
I don't think this is really what God wanted us to say.
You're a presumptuous person.
Why do you think, how do you know?
You don't know.
And he's like saying every single person before us
is saying this is the Bible, all the church fathers,
Christ is telling us to search the scriptures.
So you're basically, you're just rejecting all of history,
reality, and everything you know about Christian doctrine,
just because you're so much smarter than everybody else.
If you're gonna say, you know what, let's update the Bible,
let's correct it, let's change it.
He's saying it's preposterous, you know.
Now it says this, we omit to cite to the same effect
Saint Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, and his four catetches,
Saint Jerome against Helvetius,
Saint Augustine in his third book
against the letters of Patillion,
and in very many other places of his works.
So they say, we just gave you a sample,
here's a whole bunch of people we didn't bring up
that also have amazing quotes on this.
And just to give you a sense,
when it comes to Christianity or church history,
and we talk about some of these writings,
most of the writings that exist
are simply one theologian attacking another theologian.
So essentially just someone writing a letter
about how bad some other theologian is,
and bringing this up.
And so many of the people that they're pointing to
are the ones that were the best theologian,
the ones that we actually are pretty orthodox
in their faith.
So the ones that they're going against,
these are the really weird people with really weird views,
all kinds of crazy nonsense
that's being associated with them, okay.
And he's saying all the people that we have
to read about from the past,
that we have any level of respect for,
they're all saying the same thing,
that the Bible's perfect,
that you can't trust anything but the Bible.
To suggest that anything in the Bible's not accurate
is to make the worst presumption.
And he's saying I didn't even give you every single example,
I'm just giving you a small sample,
but just reminding you to reject the Bible
is to reject everything you know about history,
to reject every single one of these church fathers,
is to reject everything that we're standing on,
everything that we believe is what they're bringing up.
Now, he says this,
also we forbear to descend to the latter fathers
because we will not weary the reader.
And this is a pretty long preface, let's be honest, okay.
Now, this is a really important next sentence.
The scripture is then being acknowledged
to be so full and so perfect.
How can we excuse ourselves of negligence
if we do not study them?
How can you highlight that and then say,
oh, they didn't think that the Bible was perfect?
I mean, what are they saying?
They're saying the scripture's then being acknowledged
to be so full and so perfect.
What is their opinion of the Bible?
So full and so perfect.
He says this, of curiosity,
if we be not content with them,
men talk much of a recironi,
how many sweet and goodly things it had hanging on it,
of the philosopher's stone,
that it turneth copper into gold,
of cornucopia, that it had all things necessary
for food in it, of pansies, the herb,
that it was good for all diseases,
of catholicon, the drug, that it is instead of all purges,
of Vulcan's armor, that it was an armor of proof
against all thrusts and all blows, et cetera.
Now, again, what he's doing here,
what the translator's doing here is kind of similar
to what Paul did when he said,
even of your own poets,
and then he kind of brings up some secular references,
what the translators are saying is,
look at all the weird views that non-Christians have.
Non-Christians will say Vulcan's armor is perfect,
nothing can penetrate it.
They're gonna say, hey, this herb over here cures everything.
They're gonna say of this drug that it just fixes everything.
He's saying, look at their view.
He's saying these pagans, when they look at their religion,
they say it's perfect, pure.
When it comes to the armor, there's no way to ever defeat it
and he's like, how come then we as Christians
can't say that our Bible's perfect?
He's like, and how bizarre is it that they can believe
in the perfection of something that's not even real
and we can't even believe in the perfection
of something that is real?
He says this, well, that which they falsely
or vainly attribute to these for bodily good,
we may justly and with full measure ascribe
under the scripture for spiritual.
So he's saying, there's just this wild-eyed conspiracy
that they'll just take this drug
and it'll fix everything that they could ever want.
This is the essential oils back then, okay, folks?
This is the coconut oil.
They're like, you know, you broke your arm,
put some coconut oil on it.
It's like, come on.
He's like, if they think that coconut oil
fixes every single issue, how can we then not say
that the Bible fixes every issue?
That the Bible is the cure for every ailment
and of course, from a spiritual context
is what they're bringing up.
It is not only an armor but also a whole armory of weapons,
both offensive and defensive.
That's your Ephesians 6 full armor of God.
Whereby we may save ourselves and put the enemy to flight.
It is not an herb but a tree or rather a whole paradise
of trees of life which bringeth forth fruit every month
and the fruit thereof is for meat
and the leaves for medicine.
It is not a pot of manna or a cruise of oil
which were for memory only or for a meal's meter too
but as it were, a shower of heavenly bread
sufficient for a whole host, be it never so great
and as it were, a wholesaler full of oil vessels
whereby all our necessities may be provided for
and our debts discharged.
He's saying just like the cruise never ran out of oil
is like the Bible that just never runs out of oil.
Just like the bread that never runs out.
In fact, you get more pieces after the meal
than you had before.
I mean, it's like the more you think like,
oh, the more I study the Bible, the more I'll know.
No, the more you study the Bible,
the more you realize you don't know.
You're like, I got even more in there that I can eat later.
Wow, that's the incredible nature of the Bible
and this is what he's trying to say.
He's like, this which they vainly attribute
to that which is physical and carnal,
we should be attributing even so much more
to the Bible itself.
In a word, it is a pannery of wholesome food
against fennoed traditions.
Fennoed means corrupt.
He's saying, hey, you know what the Bible does?
Is it'll suffice you against garbage traditions
like indulgences, like the Eucharist,
like all kinds of bizarre,
look, even fundamental Baptists,
they sometimes get some weird, goofy traditions
or things that aren't really found in the Bible.
And you know what keeps us from rotting and corrupting
and going down, getting the mold out of our bread is this.
The Bible keeps us pure.
Not only that, it says a physician's soup,
Saint Basil called it,
of preservatives against poisoned heresies.
You know what defeats all heresy?
The Bible.
A pandect of profitable laws against rebellious spirits.
Amen, Leviticus 20, 13.
I mean, just great laws to protect,
but you know, people haven't gotten this soup.
They haven't got this pandect of profitable,
all the laws of God are profitable.
We need them.
We need to bring them back.
We need to teach people why we should have them.
I heard in Florida, they passed some law
about putting pedophiles to death.
And I was like, great.
Now we just need to help them realize what a pedophile is.
Let me explain to you what a pedophile is.
L, G, B, T, Q, and any other letter they want to add to it.
That's what a pedophile is.
Let's start there.
And let's bring that to Texas, okay.
Now, it also says a treasure of most costly jewels
against beggarly rudiments.
Finally, and I highlighted this in mine,
a fountain of most pure water
springing up unto everlasting life.
Wow.
I wonder what their view is towards the Bible.
Says in what marvel, quote,
the original thereof being from heaven, not from earth,
the author being God, not man, the indictor,
the Holy Spirit, not the wit of the apostles or prophets,
the penman, such as were sanctified from the womb
and endued with a principle portion of God's spirit.
The matter, verity, piety, purity, uprightness,
the form God's word, God's testimony, God's oracles,
the word of truth, the word of salvation, et cetera.
The effects, light of understanding,
stableness of persuasion, repentance from dead works,
newness of life, holiness, peace, joy in the Holy Ghost,
lastly the end and reward of the study thereof,
fellowship with the saints,
participation of the heavenly nature,
fruition of an inheritance, immortal, undefiled,
and that never shall fade away.
Happy is the man that alighteth in the scripture
and thrice happy that meditateth in it day and night.
Wow, that is a powerful, powerful section.
I mean, that is incredible.
Go to 1 Peter 1 for a second.
Now I wanna point out a few things.
He said this, the indictor, the Holy Spirit.
Now what is an indictor?
It's the one that's the speaker.
So you know what their interpretation of the Bible is?
Accurate, that holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,
that it wasn't man speaking,
but rather God speaking through man.
And of course, that's why they just hammer this
as it's God's word, God's testimony.
It's saying, hey, the original is from heaven.
Boy, that's a whole different perspective
than what a lot of people say.
Oh, the Bible's written by man.
Not according to them.
No, this is God's word.
And I love the fact that they say this.
The original is from heaven.
Because we have to understand something.
We believe in the inspiration of the Bible, okay?
And the inspiration meaning that it was God-breathed,
meaning that God literally spake these words.
That God actually spoke the words of the Bible
and that the Holy Ghost is the indictor.
It was not man, but it was rather God
speaking through the men, okay?
So when God originally gave us the Bible
and gave us these original words,
it was God's words, literally spoken.
Now, can God's word be translated?
Yes.
But you know what?
I don't believe, nor I don't think anybody
that's reasonable believes that the translators themselves
are speaking by the Holy Ghost.
That the Holy Ghost is somehow speaking through them
when they're doing that translating work.
Because there's something unique, there's something special
about when God delivered us the Bible, okay?
Now, if I accurately translate the words
that were originally given by God,
I didn't lose any inspiration in the sense
that it's still just as inspired.
But you know what, now I have preserved inspiration.
I preserved the inspiration of God's word
in a particular language into another language.
But what I don't believe in,
and what some people call double inspiration,
where then God has to re-speak the words
in another language through me,
and then we have a completely new set of words
spoken by the Holy Ghost, that's foreign to scripture.
Nowhere does the Bible say anything like that.
If you believe that that's your wild imagination,
and frankly speaking, it doesn't fit reality,
it's not necessary.
God gave us the word, and according to them,
they make it clear that the original
is coming down from heaven, okay?
So what do they mean by that?
They're saying the original Hebrew,
the Old Testament Hebrew is coming from heaven,
and that it is God speaking.
And of course, they would attribute this
to the Greek of the New Testament,
that the Greek is coming from heaven,
and it's God speaking, okay?
That's what they are, this is their belief.
And I say I agree.
I agree with that viewpoint,
and I think it matches scripture very clearly and plainly.
Of course, you know, the Bible makes it,
there's so many verses, I'm not gonna go to all of them.
But the Bible does very clearly say
that all scripture is given by inspiration of God.
Now, what does that mean?
Well, some people wanna basically downplay
the word inspiration to the point of just
simply God helped them or something,
or God guided them, or God influenced them.
It's beyond that, folks.
It's not just a simple guiding, leading, or helping.
It is a literal God speaking through them.
And that's what we believe at this church,
and we will always believe at this church,
is that the inspiration of God is unique to that.
Otherwise, I could say, oh, well, you know,
whenever I preach my sermon this evening,
God helped me through it.
But you know what, don't write every single word of mine
down into a book and start calling it the Bible.
And you know what, God can lead and guide you,
and God can help you, and God can influence you,
and God can have a positive effect on your life,
but every word that comes out of your mouth
is not the inspired word of God.
This is the inspired word of God.
Not what I think or dream up or whatever I want.
Now, of course, if I say exactly what the Bible is saying
in another language, it's still just as inspired.
But again, it wasn't really my words.
I'm just conveying what this already said.
So an interpreter, a translator,
is just maintaining that inspiration
as long as they're translating it accurately, okay?
And we're gonna get into that later
when we get to some of this.
But just think about what they're actually saying, though.
They're saying that the original scripture,
they believe to be the word of God coming from God.
And 1 Peter chapter one verse four says this,
to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you.
So you're getting that language
when they're talking about the Bible itself,
and they're talking about our inheritance,
which is coming from the word of God itself.
It's coming from Jesus.
Go to Psalm chapter one.
I wanna go to another place here
that they kinda quoted or brought up.
I like their view of the scripture.
When they talk about the Bible,
I have to say, when I read this section, I agree.
And regardless of if those church quote fathers
were saved or not or a riot on every doctrine,
I don't really care because the quotes
that they gave I agreed with.
And the points they were making are sound doctrine.
Psalm one verse two.
But as the light is in the law of the Lord,
and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
How can you do such a thing without it?
And of course, the Bible wants us to meditate
on his word, not our word.
God wants us to meditate on his word, not Alex Jones' word.
God wants us to meditate on his word,
not Tucker Carlson's word.
God wants us to meditate on his word, not Joe Biden's word.
Okay, that's a tough one for some of you, okay?
Not on some philosopher, not in your opinion,
not on some other man, in God's word.
God's word is what we meditate in.
God's word we think about.
And notice the Bible says we're happy if we do such a thing.
So that brings us to the next section we have here,
translation necessary.
Translation is, so we have the original word of God
and we have, and they're admitting it's perfect.
They're admitting there's no flaw.
They're admitting it's so full.
They're admitting the importance of searching,
and studying, and reading, and knowing, and meditating.
Then they bring up, well, translation is necessary.
What, what do they say?
But how shall men meditate in that
which they cannot understand?
So what are they saying?
Hey, we already proved beyond the shadow of a doubt
that the Bible's pure, perfect, holy, we need it.
It's our daily substance.
But here's a problem.
What if you don't speak Hebrew?
What if you don't speak Greek?
And how can I meditate in that
which I can't even understand?
What if it's in some foreign language?
This basically also just destroys modern-day Pentecostalism.
They're speaking in tongues.
What benefit is it for you to meditate in that?
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Oh man, it's just so important for me to meditate in that.
That doesn't benefit you anything.
Even if that was real,
which it wasn't real, it's fake anyways.
Why don't you stop meditating in garbly goop
and start meditating in the Bible, in the word of God.
Notice this, how shall they understand that
which is kept close in an unknown tongue?
So when they think about translating,
you know what they're really concerned with?
The obvious, from one language
to a completely different language.
And of course, that's what they always talk about.
You know what they're not talking about
is taking the King James Bible
and turning it into the message.
Okay, because that's just garbage.
They're talking about translating it from Greek into English,
from Hebrew into English.
It says, as it is written,
except I know the power of the voice,
I shall be to him that speaketh a barbarian,
and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian to me.
The apostle accepted no tongue, not Hebrew, the ancientest,
not Greek, the most copious, not Latin, the finest.
Nature taught a natural man to confess
that all of us in those tongues,
which we do not understand, are plainly deaf.
We may turn the deaf ear unto them.
The Scythian counted the Athenian
whom he did not understand, barbarous.
So the Roman did the Syrian and the Jew,
even Saint of Rome calleth,
or himself calleth the Hebrew tongue barbarous,
but like, because it was strange to so many.
So the emperor of Constantinople
calleth the Latin tongue barbarous,
though Pope Nicholas do storm at it.
So the Jews long before Christ called
all other nations lognasium,
which is little better than barbarous.
Therefore, as one complaineth
that always in the Senate of Rome,
there was one or other that called for an interpreter,
so lest the church be driven to the like exigent,
it is necessary to have translations in a readiness.
Translation it is that openeth the window,
let in the light, that breaketh the shell,
that we may eat the kernel, that puteth aside the curtain,
that we may look into the most holy place,
that removeeth the cover of the well,
that we may come by the water,
even as Jacob rolled away the stone
from the mouth of the well,
by which means the flocks of Laban were watered.
Indeed, without translation into the vulgar tongue,
the unlearned are but like children at Jacob's well,
which was deep, without a bucket,
or something to draw with.
Or as that person mentioned by us say,
to whom, when a sealed book was delivered,
with this motion, read this, I pray thee,
he was fain to make this answer.
I cannot, for it is sealed.
Go to Isaiah 29, we'll go look that up, Isaiah 29,
but to point out a few points here,
and this is a pretty simple paragraph,
but he's saying this, every single person
thinks that a foreign language is barbarous to them.
If you speak English,
Mandarin is gonna seem like nonsense to you.
If you speak Mandarin,
English is gonna seem like nonsense to you.
If you speak any language, Portuguese sounds weird, okay?
It's like, what are you doing, you know?
French is gonna sound kind of weird, okay, and effeminate,
you know, and you're thinking like,
why don't you pronounce any of the word?
You just like give up halfway through the word
pronouncing it.
It's barbarous, you know,
if you don't speak a certain language,
you're just like, this is garbage, what is this?
You know, and everybody has contempt for that
which is not common or known to them.
So he's saying, in order for people to have the Bible,
we gotta translate it for them.
Otherwise, they don't really have any benefit.
And he's saying, it's kind of like all these examples
of opening a window so you can see it,
you can see some light.
Or an example of, you know, the well that's covered
and we're taking the lid off,
we're taking the rock that's covering the well
so we can drink from the well.
But you can't drink from the well while it's covered.
And that's kind of the same idea of,
there's no way for me to drink from the well of scripture
when it's covered and it's sealed
and I can't quite understand it.
You know, whether that be Latin, whether that be Greek,
whether that be Hebrew.
And of course, they want it in a vulgar tongue.
Vulgar, we often think of as being, saying choice words.
But really what it means is just common.
Just common.
And of course, you know, it came out that vulgarity
is a thing but that was just because the rich people
didn't like the common people talking commonly, okay?
And that's where you get cuss words and all this stuff
but it's, you know, that's a different sermon.
All right.
But he's saying, he brings up this in the scripture
about how someone would have the Bible
and yet it's sealed to them.
Imagine if I handed you today a Greek New Testament
or a Hebrew Old Testament, what benefit would it give you?
I mean, it's not that it's not the Bible.
And you know, God forbid anybody would take
the Greek word of God and throw it on the ground
and scream that it's not the Bible.
What an ignorant baboon would do such nonsense
or foolishness.
It's not like it's less the word of God
just because you're stupid
or don't understand that language.
You know, it's still the word of God, folks.
But yet it doesn't benefit you because it's sealed.
It's like a treasure box with a lock on it.
It's not like the treasure isn't there.
You just don't have the key.
And this is kind of brought up in Isaiah 29.
Look at verse 11.
As the vision of all has become unto you
as the words of a book that is sealed,
which men deliver to one that is learned,
saying, read this, I pray thee,
and he sayeth, I cannot, for it is sealed.
Verse 12, and the book is delivered to him
that is not learned, saying, read this, I pray thee,
and he sayeth, I am not learned.
So he's saying, what a shame and embarrassment
when you have an entire generation of people
that they actually have the Bible,
but they can't benefit from it
because it's either sealed or they're too stupid
or they don't understand.
And frankly speaking, one interpretation,
there's a lot of applications and interpretations of this,
but one could be this.
Think about how many of the learned people
in our society are not saved.
I mean, how many people are going to seminary
and these colleges that are dedicated to the Bible
and how many church leaders, but they're not saved.
And when you're not saved, guess what?
The Bible is gonna be sealed to you.
It's not gonna make any sense to you
because you're the natural man.
On top of that, then how many other people
that maybe they are saved, you hand them a King James Bible
like, oh, that's Shakespearean English, I can't read it.
And it's like, it's not Shakespearean English, okay.
It's not that hard folks,
but essentially they just don't get it
because they don't want to and they're not gonna read it
and they're not even trying,
they're not even putting forth effort.
And of course in this context,
he's bringing up the idea of people
just simply not being very educated.
And so they're not able to read the Bible
in a foreign language because especially at this time,
colleges were actually real.
Sorry, it was like, you know,
you would actually get a degree that had meaning.
You weren't getting an underwater basket weaving degree
or gender studies degree.
Now, simply most of the time when you went to college,
you would learn foreign language, you would learn Greek,
you would learn these other languages.
And so then you could read the Bible.
So, you know, hey, if you've learned Greek and Latin,
you weren't necessarily, the Bible wasn't hidden from you.
You could figure it out.
You could know everything that you wanted to know.
But for the vast majority of people,
they're not learned,
meaning they don't have a college degree
in that particular language, so they don't know it.
And for us, you know, really,
unless you go to college or you work really studious
on your own, you're not gonna know
a lot of foreign languages.
It's very hard to learn once you've grown up.
As a child, you're kind of a sponge.
It's easier to learn things and pick things up
and it's kind of forced upon you.
But once you become an adult, you know,
it takes a lot of learning, studying and effort and energy
to get to another language
to where you can have any real benefit from it.
But that's not for everybody.
Not everybody's gonna be able to do that.
So are we gonna just leave all those people high and dry?
Oh, the Bible's for the learned.
The Bible's for the studious.
The Bible's only for those that speak Greek and Latin.
This is what brought us the Dark Ages.
These men came out of the Dark Ages
and they're realizing, we don't wanna go back to that.
We don't wanna just have the Latin only
where no one speaks Latin and no one has the Bible
and no one can have a Bible.
The whole point of us making a translation in his English
is so that you can have the Bible.
And we don't want to just have this as a curse.
This is a curse where you're just handing the Bible
to people and they're like, I can't read it.
And so he's saying, why would we wanna go back to that
in Isaiah where we're handing people a Latin,
handing people a Greek and they're like,
I can't understand this.
That doesn't bring any benefit or glory to God.
Now, the next section says this.
The translation of the Old Testament
out of the Hebrew into the Greek, or into Greek.
And this is kinda the last one we're gonna talk about.
But as we get further and further into this thing,
we're gonna get a little more specific
as to what's going on.
But the translation of the Old Testament
out of the Hebrew into the Greek
is what we would call the Septuagint.
And that's what we're gonna talk about and refer to.
So it says this.
While God would be known only in Jacob
and have his name great in Israel
and in none other place,
while the dew lay on Gideon's fleece only
and all the earth besides was dry,
then for one and the same people
which spake all of them the language of Canaan,
that is Hebrew, one and the same original
in Hebrew was sufficient.
So it says, hey, well, while the children of Israel
are the children of Israel,
it's fine to have the Bible only in Hebrew
because frankly speaking, they all speak Hebrew.
So it's saying it wasn't really a big deal.
But it kind of brings up this Gideon's fleece thing.
Go to Judges 6 for a moment.
Let's go there for a moment.
And I think this is a kind of a cool illusion
that they bring up in Judges chapter number six.
Makes me think that they understood the Bible very well
when you kind of notice
how they bring up some of these things.
Look at Judges chapter six verse 37.
Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor,
and if the dew be on the fleece only
and it be dry upon all the earth beside,
then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand
as thou hast said.
So what he's trying to say is
that he's doing kind of a physical example,
a parable type illustration miracle that he wants.
And Gideon is putting out this fleece,
putting out some garment,
and in the morning he wants to wake up
and he wants the garment drenched,
but then the entire earth is just dry,
which would be a miracle
because how could there be dew on an object
laying on the grass and all the grass is dry?
It's like, where did the dew come from?
It just doesn't make any sense, not possible.
So it's kind of a parable.
And he's saying, this is what the Old Testament was like
where the children of Israel were so full of dew
having the word of God, being so rich with the scripture,
but the whole world was dry.
The whole world had nothing.
Okay, now let's think about what happens next.
Verse 38.
And it was so, for he rose up early in the morning
and thrust the fleece together
and wring the dew out of the fleece a bowl full of water.
And Gideon said unto God,
let not thine anger be hot against me
and I will speak but this once,
let me prove I pray thee,
but this once with the fleece,
let it now be dry only upon the fleece
and upon all the ground let there be dew
and God did so that night,
for it was dry upon the fleece only
and there was dew on all the ground.
Now let's continue with our parable.
Then what happened?
Israel got dried up completely
and tossed aside called replacement theology
and then the whole world was what watered
with that fleece, wasn't it?
The whole world got the word of God
and got the Bible.
And so that's the analogy that they're drawing.
It's a great analogy, okay.
Especially when we're talking about translation.
Now they say this,
but when the fullness of time drew near,
that the son of righteousness,
the son of God should come into the world
and God ordained to be a reconciliation
through faith in his blood,
not of the Jew only but also of the Greek, yay,
of all them that were scattered abroad,
then lo, it pleased the Lord
to stir up the spirit of a Greek prince,
Greek for descent and language,
even Ptolemy, Philadelphia king of Egypt,
to procure the translating of the book of God
out of Hebrew into Greek.
This is the translation of the 70 interpreters,
commonly so called.
Now again, they don't use the word in here,
but Septuagint is basically in reference
to the numbering here of the 70.
Now I believe it's accurately portrayed as 72
was the number of interpreters that they had,
but they're just rounding 70.
And then that's kind of where you get the name.
Septuagint is just meaning 70.
And so that's why it says commonly so called
because 70, Septuagint, same thing,
just like Jesus, Jesus, same thing, okay?
Which prepared the way for our savior among the Gentiles
by written preaching as Saint John Baptist
did among the Jews by vocal.
So kind of what they're alluding to,
and I think this is an interesting concept,
John the Baptist came before Jesus Christ to do what?
To prepare the way of the Lord.
And some period of time between 200 and 300 BC,
so meaning a couple hundred years before Christ,
this king, Ptolemy of Egypt, hired or appointed
or gathered approximately 70 translators
from the children of Israel, from actual Hebrews.
It's supposedly from every tribe.
You know, there's a lot of mythology associated with this.
But he gathered all of them and had them translate
the Hebrew Bible into Greek,
and then that went out into all the world.
And so the whole world basically got a Greek translation
of the Bible as a precursor to when Christ would come.
Now that's pretty interesting if you think about it
because then the New Testament's written in what?
Greek, and you're going into all the Greek world,
and in fact, you know, if you think about
some of the things the apostles bring up,
they talk about how they have Moses and the prophets
in all of these areas.
Everybody's reading Moses, everybody's reading the prophets,
everybody kind of has the word of God.
So it almost seems like there was a little bit
of preparation for people to have the word of God
in Greek before it ever even happened.
And that the word of God,
here's another thing that's interesting.
The word of God is spreading throughout the whole world
even before Christ even came.
Because some people would think like,
oh, well, to be saved or to know about Jesus,
you'd had to have been part of Israel.
Now everybody knew who the king of the universe was
at all times, they all had access,
they'd all heard of, just like today.
People will talk about, well, what about the people
that have never heard of Jesus?
Find me that person.
Find me the person in India that's never heard of Jesus.
Find me the person in Africa that's never heard of Jesus.
They have 10 times the evangelists we have here.
I mean, go find me the person in Europe
that's never heard of Jesus.
Go find me the person in Russia that's never heard of Jesus.
I mean, it's really kind of a fool's errand
if you're gonna start finding me people on this planet
that have never even heard of Jesus.
Everybody's, now they might have a bad view of him,
they might have a Muslim perverted view of him,
they might have a weird Hindu perverted view of Jesus,
but you know what, they've all heard about it,
and Christianity's truly gone throughout the whole world,
and every generation, just even back then,
they're wanting to know exactly what the Bible says.
Now, of course, if you read the Babylonian Talmud,
which is a very reliable source of information,
I'm of course joking, it's trash, okay?
But according to the Babylonian Talmud,
they claim that when this king brought the 70,
that he put them all in separate chambers,
and then he didn't tell them why they were even summoned.
He just said, hey, come here,
and then he hid them all in separate chambers,
and then he approached them individually, one for one,
and just said, your goal is to translate
the Hebrew Bible into Greek.
So they didn't even know, they weren't allowed
to communicate, and he said after they were all completed,
they all came out and had the exact same translation
in Greek, this is the myth of the Babylonian Talmud, okay?
I'm sure that they love those kind of myths
because they love to say how their oral tradition
has lasted so clean and so pure,
but everybody that's ever played the game of telephone
knows that that's not true, okay?
Especially with Jews involved.
But that's just a myth, okay, that's not really brought up,
I'm just giving you this, and in fact,
they definitely don't believe that.
I don't believe that.
You don't believe that, okay, all right?
Because it's just a nice reality of the fact that,
in fact, the Septuagint's been updated many times
by many different people, and it's gone through
a lot of works and process, no one believes that, okay?
Except for Jews, mythology, all right?
Now it says this, for the Grecians,
being desirous of learning, we're not wont
to suffer books of worth till I'm molding
in kings' libraries, but had many of their servants,
ready scribes to copy them out,
and so they were dispersed and made common.
Again, the Greek tongue was well known
and made familiar to most inhabitants in Asia
by reason of the conquests that there the Grecians had made,
as also by the colonies which thither they had sent.
For the same causes also is well understood
in many places of Europe, yea, and of Africa too.
Therefore the word of God being set forth in Greek
becometh hereby like a candle set upon a candlestick,
which giveth light to all that are in the house,
or like a proclamation sounded forth in the marketplace,
which most men presently take knowledge of,
and therefore that language was fittest
to contain the scriptures, both for the first preachers
of the gospel to appeal unto for witness,
and for the learners also of those times
to make search and trial by.
It is certain that the translation was not so sound
and so perfect.
Highlight all that and underline that.
It is certain that that translation
was not so sound and so perfect.
Did they think that the Septuagint was perfect?
No.
They said in fact it's certain that it's not.
Now what did they say about the Bible though before this?
They said it was perfect,
but they said the original was perfect.
Did they say this translation was perfect?
No.
It says, but that it needed in many places correction.
Did they believe the Jewish myth?
No.
And who had been so sufficient for this work
as the apostles or apostolic men,
yet it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to them
to take that which they found,
the same being for the greatest part true and sufficient,
rather than by making anew in that new world
and green age of the church to expose themselves
to many exceptions and cavilations
as though they made a translation to serve their own turn
and therefore bearing witness of themselves,
their witness not to be regarded.
So what he's saying is even though it's obvious
and very clear that this was not perfect,
the apostles in the early stages of the church
didn't feel the need to just trash it,
but rather use the parts of it that were fine and good
and made sense anyways.
No need to just start from scratch
or make a new Greek translation of the Old Testament,
but rather borrow from and use that which is fine.
Simply put, how would it be any different
than us looking to the bishops, Geneva, Tyndale,
or any other previous English work saying
while it definitely needs correction,
it's fine in many places.
It's not necessarily just trash.
It just isn't perfect, okay?
And especially when the church is brand new,
why expose them to this over-the-top viewpoint
rather than just using that what we have for now?
It's basically what they're saying.
This may be supposed to be some cause
where the translation of the 70
was allowed to pass for current.
Not withstanding, though as commended generally,
it did not fully content the learned, no not of the Jews.
So saying even though a lot of people are just saying,
look, it's fine, at the end of the day,
many people are still, but it's not enough.
It's not good enough.
It's not gonna content me enough,
especially for people that were learned
and actually understood there's problems here.
For not long after Christ,
Achilla fell in hand with the new translation,
and after him, the Adotion, and after him, Symmachus.
Yea, there was a fifth and a sixth edition.
The authors whereof were not known.
These with the 70 made up the Hexapla,
and were worthily and a great purpose
compiled together by Origen.
So they're saying the Septuagint had problems,
so then some guys started editing it, making it better,
and then they made it better, and then they made it better,
and then they made it better,
and then eventually it got all the way to Origen.
Howbeit that, it says,
howbeit the addition of the 70 went away with the credit,
and therefore not only was placed in the midst by Origen,
for the worth and excellency thereof above the rest,
as Epaphanias gathereth, but also was used
by the Greek fathers for the ground
and foundation of their commentaries.
So he says, after it had been revised a bunch of times,
Origen put it forth as the Septuagint,
and of course, they're saying everybody
just basically gives credence to the original
as if it was as good as the new version coming out.
They're saying, hey, the Septuagint's getting all the credit,
but let's be honest, a lot of people kind of helped it
get to the point that it even is now,
and then he says a lot of church fathers
thought that this version of the Septuagint
was good enough to just claim that it's the Bible.
That's what, you know,
and it was decent enough of a foundation.
That's what they're saying.
Yea, Epaphanias above named doth attribute so much unto it
that he holdeth the authors thereof,
not only for interpreters,
but also for prophets in some respect.
So this was the first ruckmanite.
So he's saying, some people think the Septuagint
is not just a translation,
but rather God spoke through those men again.
Ignoring the fact that it went through a lot of updates
and additions and all this other stuff,
and somehow they got it just,
they were just speaking by the mouth of God the first time.
You know who thinks that translations
are coming out of the mouth of God again?
Ruckmanites.
So it's not a new idea,
but you know, that's kind of a bizarre idea.
Says in Justinian, the emperor,
and joining the Jews, his subjects were,
subjects to use especially the translation of the 70,
render it this reason thereof,
because they were, as it were,
enlightened with prophetic grace.
Again, this is the ruckmanite double inspiration view.
So look, ruckmanite didn't even come up with this stuff.
Weird heretics of the past,
and let me say this about Origen.
Origen's a weird heretic.
We don't like this guy, you know.
I don't really like any of the church fathers that much,
but especially not Origen, okay.
Now it says, yet for all that,
as the Egyptians are said of the prophet to be men
and not God, and their horses flesh and not spirit,
so it is evident, and St. Jerome affirmeth as much,
that the 70 were interpreters, they were not prophets.
So notice, they had to preach against ruckmanism back then.
Hey, look everybody, they were not prophets.
They're interpreters only, folks.
And it's certain they made mistakes, okay.
We just wanted to clarify that.
We're not ruckmanites.
They did many things well as learned men,
but yet as men they stumbled and fell,
one while through oversight,
another while through ignorance.
Yay, sometimes they may be noted to add to the original
and sometimes to take from it.
Does it sound like they think that this is perfect?
Or are they making it abundantly clear?
Hey, sometimes they kind of added a little bit here,
and they took away from here, and it wasn't quite right.
And it says this, which made the apostles
to leave them many times.
Saying hey, the apostles didn't necessarily
always use the Greek Septuagint.
Sometimes they would leave the Septuagint when?
Next phrase, when they left the Hebrew.
So saying when the Septuagint left the Hebrew,
when the 70 left the Hebrew, guess what the apostles did?
They left the 70.
They're like, we're sticking with the Hebrew.
Hey, every time your Septuagint lines up with the Hebrew,
good job, every time you leave the Hebrew, bye.
Why, because they think that the Hebrew
is superior to the translation of the Greek.
I've heard a weirdo get up and say,
oh, you know what, the Bible just constantly
just goes through different translations
and just keeps being preserved.
And it's like, it doesn't matter what language.
And Hebrew's not special.
It's not this special language or anything like that.
Look, Hebrew's not special, but guess what?
That's what God gave us originally,
and that's the Pure Well that we're drinking from.
I'm not gonna take your translation into a translation
into a translation, and then try to get that.
Let's stick with the original,
and translate out of the original.
And if the translation doesn't match the original,
let's update the translation.
But let's certainly not sit here and get superstitious
about these weird translation processes
and think that, oh, that's the word of God.
It's by the mouth of God that a translation came into being.
No, it's out of the originals, out of the mouth of God.
And then the translations, while accurately translated,
yeah, we can trust that, we can be faithful to that.
It says this, they did many things well, as learned men,
but yet as men they stumbled and fell, and, I'm sorry,
it says, which made the apostles leave them many times
which they left the Hebrew, and to deliver the sense
thereof according to the truth of the word,
as the Spirit gave them utterance.
This may suffice such in the Greek translation
of the Old Testament.
So I said, hey, we'll just bring up the Septuagint.
What's our opinion of the Septuagint?
Good, not great.
That's their opinion.
And you know what, you can have your own opinion.
Some people think the Septuagint's really bad,
some people think it's trash.
As long as you just don't think that it's perfect,
I'm on your team, okay?
I would probably, again, like I said,
I generally agree with the translators, the readers,
when I've read this, I personally also think
it is probably good, not great.
And honestly, when you compare the Septuagint
to the Masoretic Hebrew, it is not the giant leap
that many times the NIV is to the King James Bible.
In some cases it is identical because, frankly speaking,
a lot of the modern versions do change the Old Testament
to match the Septuagint.
But you know what, I don't like their changes.
I don't agree with the Septuagint changes.
I agree with the Masoretic Hebrew
and what the King James Bible says.
And of course, just like the apostles left them
and wanted the truth of the word,
I'm gonna leave them and I want the truth of the word,
I don't care what your Septuagint says,
I care what the Masoretic text is.
And it's so funny to me,
I got a present one time,
and this president was trying to restore the true name
of Yeshua, and it's like, it's not really Jesus,
it's Yeshua, so everywhere in the New Testament,
every name was changed into a Hebrew name.
And it's like, the Holy Spirit's like Rosh Hashanah,
or whatever, and it's like, you know,
everything's just like this Hebrew name.
But then when you open the Old Testament of this Bible,
you know what they do?
They constantly update it with the Septuagint.
I'm thinking like, wait a minute,
you're not gonna trust the Greek New Testament
because it's Greek, you want it to be in Hebrew,
but then you're gonna reject the Hebrew Masoretic text
for the Greek Septuagint?
You're so inconsistent in your own theology, you morons.
They don't even understand this issue, do they?
And I guarantee most of them don't even realize
how stupid they are for doing that.
But again, that's why we're reading these things,
because we don't wanna be ignorant,
we don't wanna be stupid, we don't wanna have,
we don't want someone to bring up Septuagint
who's like, what's that?
Just a weird, where it sounds like they coughed
or something, or you know, Biden speak or something.
No, we wanna know what these things mean
and we wanna have a better education.
And frankly speaking, you know, the more you study
about this topic, the more King James I become.
I don't become less King James, I become more King James.
And I appreciate the Bible even more.
And I, you know, I really recommend to you
to search the scriptures.
You know, I love reading this
because it makes me wanna read the Bible more.
And we need to get an education
that comes from the scripture.
And we don't wanna be, we don't wanna be these people
that just beat our chest about why we are King James only.
We wanna know why we're King James only.
And I get mad at churches where the pastor's
King James only, the congregation's not.
Because I believe it's the pastor's fault
for not teaching the congregation.
And we need to be, I want the children in this room
to know why we're King James only.
Not just the pastor, not just the staff,
not just the leadership.
So let us study and learn and appreciate the Bible
that God has given us.
Let us continue to draw from the well
that'll never run out and the cruise of oil
that'll never run out and the bread of life that we have.
And let us appreciate every word that God gave us.
And let us believe all of the prophets have spoken.
Let's close in prayer.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for giving us the Bible
and for giving us this church.
I pray that we would study to show ourselves approved
unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.
I pray that we would not be of a foolish mind,
of a slow heart, to believe all of the Bible.
I pray that we would search and study
the scriptures thoroughly.
I pray that we wouldn't get foolish and weird ideas,
but rather we would destroy them
with the power of the scriptures.
And we would put to silence all of the ignorant liars
and deceivers and all the corruptions and heresies
that exist in this world.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
All right, in closing, let's go to song number 44.
Song number 44.
We'll work till Jesus comes.
Song number 44.
["O Land of the Free"]
Everybody's singing out real loud in the first.
Oh land of rest for thee I sigh,
when will the moment come?
When I shall lay my armor by
and dwell in peace at home.
We'll work till Jesus comes.
We'll work till Jesus comes
and we'll be gathered home.
To Jesus Christ I fled for rest.
He bade me cease to roam
and lean for supper on his breast
till he conduct me home.
We'll work till Jesus comes.
We'll work till Jesus comes
and we'll be gathered home.
I saw that once my Savior's side,
no more my steps shall roam.
With him I'll braid death's chilling tide
and reach my heavenly home.
We'll work till Jesus comes.
We'll work till Jesus comes
and we'll be gathered home.
Great job, everybody.
You are all dismissed.
Thank you.