Afternoon, everyone.
Steadfast Baptist Church.
You all find your seats.
We'll go ahead and get started.
You found your seat.
Go ahead and grab a hymnal.
We're going to start in song number 364, "Standing on the Promises."
On 364, "Standing on the Promises."
364.
Sing it out.
Sing it, everybody.
Go ahead and bow our heads for a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day, this beautiful Sunday.
Thank you, Lord, for all the souls that were won today, all soul winning.
Thank you for our visitor.
We ask that you help us to learn and be edified by his sermon tonight, help us to grow and
leave better Christians for your honor and glory.
In Jesus' name I pray.
Amen.
Next up, we have song number 231, it might be a newer song for a lot of us, so if you
know it, sing it out nice and loud.
231, Sunlight.
It's up night till Jesus came to me, with the sunlight of his love in all my darkness
free.
If you need a bulletin, you can lift up your hand nice and high.
One of our ushers can come by and get you a bulletin.
We have our new Bible memory passage, Jonah chapter 2, and we'll be doing the entire chapter,
a great chapter.
A lot of verses in there that parallel Jonah going to the well's belly and with Christ
having to go into the heart of the earth, and so I really encourage you to study that.
Also on the inside, we have our service and soul winning times, and then we have our church
stats down below.
Make sure you're reporting your soul winning information to your soul winning captains.
If you have maps that you've completed, you can make sure to put those in our done bin
over here in the hallway, that would greatly help us.
Also on the right, we have the list of expecting ladies.
Please be in prayer for them.
We have our prayer list.
Please be praying for the church.
On the back, upcoming events October 4th through the 6th is our conference, the Heritage of
the Lord Conference.
It's going to be October 4th through the 6th.
We're having a couple of guest preachers, Pastor Bruce Mejia and Pastor Anderson on
that Friday evening.
And so we'd encourage you to participate.
Of course, while our conference is geared a little bit towards the youth, we still want
everyone to be invited, whether you're single, married, not married, have children, old,
young, anything in between.
Sermons are usually very edifying and applicable to everyone as well.
But we're just wanting to incorporate some also activities that get the kids a little
bit more involved.
We're having some more kid friendly songs and doing some prizes and some games and some
activities and things like that.
Obviously since we're a family integrated church, we also want the children to sometimes
feel like they are also being noticed and paid attention to and get a little bit of
special attention.
And so that is the goal of our Heritage of the Lord Conference is to recognize that children
are a blessing and we want them to feel like they're welcome and a part of our services.
And so we did this two years ago and honestly I think that the kids had a blast.
I think they really, really enjoyed it and it was a lot of fun.
But not only that, I also really enjoyed the sermons and enjoyed the fellowship.
So I encourage you to participate in all of the services if you can.
October 31st is our Texas Chili Cook-Off.
It's, again, we're going to try and start eating around 6 p.m. if you'd like to enter
into the competition portion.
You have to come prior to 6 p.m.
Of course, since there is competition, that means there will be winners and losers, okay?
And so if you can't handle the heat, don't enter.
Of course, we're not trying to hurt anybody's feelings, but if your chili sucks, then you
won't be graded very highly on the sheet.
So usually we let everybody know that.
I'll just be honest, last year there were some chilies that I did not want to eat, okay?
But I did judge them, all right?
But that doesn't mean that you have to make a bad chili.
You can make a good chili, all right?
So I would encourage you to participate in the competition, and it's a lot of fun.
We do give out some prizes to the first places.
I was thinking about maybe doing a last place prize just to incentivize people, but I'm
not sure yet.
So we'll just see how that goes, all right?
I don't want to split the church on chili.
But it's almost been done, but we won't be done here, all right?
Also November 16th, I'm throwing it out there, a Miami soul winning marathon.
And I'm really excited to go out into this area.
I've heard it's very receptive.
It's a beautiful time of year to visit out there.
And so if you'd like to go with us, of course, we might have a sign up sheet just so we are
aware of people that are traveling.
We'll probably have break up into groups that are going to go into more Spanish areas and
more English speaking areas.
And so if you'd like to participate, just get that on your calendar.
That's really all I have as far as announcements.
Again, we have our special guest, Dr. Phil Stringer is preaching for us again this evening
and really appreciated his morning sermon.
It was an excellent sermon.
If you didn't catch that, I highly encourage you to check it out.
Also, I brought out on the table in the hallway, several of the books that he offers.
And if you look at any of those and you're interested in acquiring any of those, send
us an email and let us know.
And we might make a bulk order of just any of those books.
And so if you'd like any of those, you're interested in any of them, we'd like them.
We'd love to help you with that.
Several of the books I've already looked through and read some and they're fantastic books.
I really like a lot of them and so that's for your own discretion.
And again, make sure to thank our guest for being here and traveling.
He travels a lot, a lot.
I really don't know of anybody that travels more than him.
Maybe it exists, but especially in our profession, he's traveling a lot and traveling is difficult
even when you're young.
So I can't even imagine.
God's obviously given him a- well, I didn't say that, but I don't know what it'd be.
But I already feel old and so whether you feel old or not, I feel old sometimes and
traveling can be a little bit difficult and so definitely make sure to appreciate and
thank him.
And he's going to be preaching for Shur Foundation on Wednesday and so you can always check out
that sermon on their website, I'm sure, as well.
And we really appreciate your friendship and you being here and it's a great blessing
unto us and so we'll have to book him a couple years in advance for next time or whatever.
But we appreciate you being here, make sure, as a church family, to thank him for being
here and we appreciate it.
With that we'll go to our third song, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Brother Rich," if you'll lead
us in that.
Right, that's "Holy, Holy, Holy."
Bring plates, you're going around.
Please turn to your Bibles to Daniel chapter number three.
Chapter number three says, "Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold whose height
was three score cubits, breadth thereof six cubits.
He set it up in the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.
Nebuchadnezzar the king sent together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges,
the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces to come
to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors,
the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces were gathered together unto the dedication
of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
And they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
Then in herald cried aloud, "To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages,
that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer,
and all kind of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king
had set up.
And whoso falleth not down and worshipeth shall the same hour be cast into the midst
of a burning fiery furnace.
Therefore at that time when all the people hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp,
sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, and the languages
fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near and accused the Jews.
They spake and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, "O king, live forever!
Thou, O king, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet,
flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and
worship the golden image.
And whoso falleth not down and worshipeth, that he should be cast into the midst of
a burning fiery furnace.
There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
These men, O king, have not regarded thee.
They serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Then they brought these men before the king.
Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, "Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?
Now if ye be ready, that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbutt,
psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I
have made?
Well, but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning
fiery furnace.
And who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are
not careful to answer thee in this matter.
If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace,
and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O King.
But if not, be it known unto thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship
the golden image which thou hast set up.
Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more
than it was wont to be heated.
And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego, and to cast them into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other
garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
Therefore, because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot,
the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of
the burning fiery furnace.
Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake and said unto
his counselors, "Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?"
They answered and said unto the king, "True, O king."
He answered and said, "Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and
they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God."
Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spake and
said, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the Most High God, come forth
and come hither."
Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth of the midst of the fire.
And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counselors being gathered together
saw these men upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed,
neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.
Then Nebuchadnezzar spake and said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
who had sent his angel and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the
king's word and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god except
their own god.
Therefore, I make a decree that every people, nation, and language which speak anything
amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be cut in pieces, and their
houses shall be made of dung hill, because there is no other god that can deliver after
this sort.
Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.
Let us pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.
I thank you for the souls that were saved this evening.
And I ask you to fill Dr. Phil Stringer with your Holy Spirit and help him to preach the
Word to us.
I pray that you would help us to be attentive and please bless the message.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Thank you, dear folks.
Thank you for your friendly spirit and the opportunity to come and spend today with you.
I just appreciate it tremendously, and we'll have a good time together tonight.
We're going to go to Daniel chapter 3, but before we do, that's where we're going to
spend most of our time, I want you to go to Hosea chapter 3 for just a moment.
We're going to learn a lot of messages about the King James Bible, have all kinds of fancy
words and stuff we're not used to, and I try to avoid that, but one word tonight.
Learn one word.
The word is polysemy.
It is a principle that says a word can have more than one meaning, more than one definition.
It's an important principle in many ways.
If you would go to any dictionary and you go to the definition of a word, it'll say
number one, number two, number three, and in the estimate of that dictionary, this is
the most common definition of that word, but number two is also a definition of that word.
Number three is also a definition of that word.
Not all languages are polysemic.
Some languages only have one definition for word.
There's a Russian comedian, Yakov Smirnoff, who's made an entire career off comedy routines
about the English language, because he came from Russia where words just have one meaning.
He came to the United States, had a multitude of meetings, said he got to the United States,
was never allowed to own a car in Russia, but got to buy his first car, and he's on
the lot, and he's about to drive the car off the lot, and he's all excited, and he puts
the key in the ignition, and he turns it on.
So the light comes on, and the light said, "The door is ajar," because he had a hard
time with that, because he knew what ajar was.
A door was, and he knew what ajar was, and a door is not ajar, and ajar is not a door,
so why did the light say a door is ajar?
English is a polysemic word, language, polysemic language.
Greek is a polysemic language.
Hebrew is a polysemic language.
Words can have more than one meaning, and it's obvious when you're translating the
Bible getting the right meaning of a word matters.
And we talked this morning about those who would take the Word of God away from us.
There's three primary tactics.
You steal the words, you add to the words, or you pervert the words.
Three primary ways this happens.
And a lot of times when we talk about stealing a word or perverting a word, the issue is
using the wrong definition.
You say, "Well, how do we know which definition to use?"
The context of any passage should make that clear.
For example, Hosea chapter 3 and verse 1, "Then said the LORD unto me, 'Go yet love
a woman, beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress according to the love of the LORD toward the
children of Israel, who looketh to other gods and love flagons of wine.'"
The Hebrew word that gets translated "flagons of wine" is a word with several meanings.
It can mean anything that refers to the fruit of the vine.
That's a linguistically honest possible translation.
It can mean figs, dates, grapes, grape juice, alcoholic wine, raisins.
And in almost every major English Bible, it's translated raisins or raisin cakes.
If you go to the New King James Bible, it's raisins.
You say, "Well, how do we know which one?"
Well, to start with, in this passage, it's something Israel's being condemned for.
Boy, you know about all the problems caused by over-raisin use?
That society has to deal with.
You know, a lot of churches have a Friday night program for people addicted to raisins
to come to, and a lot of homes are in trouble because a guy goes and blows the paycheck
every Friday stocking up on raisins.
It's obvious here it's a negative context, so it has to be something that can be negative.
I'm preaching at King James Conference in Fairbanks, Alaska, and they had put a basket
in my hotel room and in the basket, among many other things, they had a box of raisins.
So I came in that night and I read this verse from several translations that are condemning
raisins here, and I said, "Look what your very pastor put in my room."
So I think you need to have a business meeting right after church.
Everybody laughed.
If I kind of walked in with a real bottle of wine and said, "Look what your pastor
put in my room," I don't think it would have been nearly as funny.
The context there is obvious, in fact translating that raisin is one of the dumbest translations
in the history of language, but that context is obviously negative.
And so the principle there is, "Why would they do that?"
Well, there are two reasons, possibly.
Number one, a lot of these folks are just determined to be different than the King
James.
So any time there's another polysemic definition, they'll take it, no matter what it is.
And some don't like Bibles that make drinking look bad.
Daniel chapter three, remembering what we just learned about polysemy, that's an issue
all over the Bible.
We're going to do something different tonight you probably weren't expecting.
Translators have committees of translators and one of their jobs when they're translating
a passage is they have to make decisions about polysemic words, which definition to use.
Tonight I'm declaring you a translation committee.
You're going to be the steadfast Baptist translation committee.
And we're going to give you a translation job tonight in the book of Daniel chapter
three.
We've got a very, very important word that's used here that you're going to have to make
a decision about translating.
When we get to the word, I'll read the original word.
The word can mean God, the word's Elohim.
It can be translated correctly as God, the creator God.
In the beginning God created heaven and earth.
Or it can be correctly translated as gods.
And sometimes in the Bible is translated gods, false, phony gods.
Still the same word, Elohim.
And the word can be translated judges, human judges, someone who's the God in their courtroom.
And it is translated that way in the Bible in a few places.
So translator has to make a decision based on the context of the passage, should it be
God or gods or human judges.
Tonight, you have been appointed as the translation committee.
So when I get to that word, don't cheat.
Look in your King James Bible, which has done all this for you all over the Bible.
I'll read the word for you, and then I will ask you, God, gods, or judges?
Background of the story is this, Nebuchadnezzar is an incredible conqueror.
He fought 34 battles and campaigns to conquer nations, won all 34, never lost a battle.
As he conquered countries, they would look for the best, brightest, best-trained young
men, bring them to Babylon, and they made them the government workers.
He created a cadre of government employees that were the best and brightest.
He brings them eventually from 34 countries.
And he's brought Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, a part of the Jewish young men
he's brought to Babylon.
And he's trying to unite them together.
Nebuchadnezzar is a famous conqueror, a very rough, violent man.
Secular history records this proverb, "When Nebuchadnezzar loses his temper, somebody
dies."
So he's trying to unite them.
And so he has a golden image built for them to worship so they can all have a common worship.
And be united.
Secular history tells us that the golden image he built was made to look like him.
So when you bow and worshiped it, you're bowing and worshiping Nebuchadnezzar.
And so they're bringing out all these government people.
We do not know where Daniel is, perhaps off on some kind of mission or whatever.
He'd risen in the government of Babylon.
But you're going to play music.
The command is, when you play the music, you bow, you worship the golden image.
And if you don't, Nebuchadnezzar does not take being told no well.
When Nebuchadnezzar loses his temper, somebody dies.
And secular history tells us this was his common method of execution.
Had a fiery furnace.
Went a furnace the way you'd think of in your home.
It was a pit.
And the bottom of the pit was lined with stone that reflected heat.
Some stone reflects heat better than others.
This is all stone that will reflect heat.
The walls of the pit are all stone that reflect heat.
They would throw a person in there, they would throw combustible material in, they'd set
it on fire, the rocks would reflect the heat, it would become like an oven.
And human nature, even if you know you have no hope, you try to pull away from the heat.
But the trouble is, no matter where you pulled away from, there was heat wherever you went.
It was called the Dance of Nebuchadnezzar.
And the crowd would gather around and watch and laugh at the people as they roasted and
tried to pull away from being roasted.
That's a pretty serious penalty.
And you understand, most of these people were from pagan countries.
They had many gods.
All Nebuchadnezzar is doing is asking you to add another god.
If you've got three gods, four gods, not a problem.
If you have a dozen gods, 13 gods is not a problem, especially the consequences of not
adding another god.
Only for one group of people is this going to be a problem, because the Jews are the
only group of people there that have one god.
And time came, I'm sure many Jewish young men did not want to bow, but they really didn't
want to go to the fiery furnace.
So they bowed, they're probably saying, "Lord, forgive me, I don't want to do this, honestly
I don't want to, but we don't have any choice and there's no consequence."
And very few people in life rise above facing consequences for their convictions.
So music plays, they all bow, except for three.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego don't bow when everybody else does.
This is where we pick up our story.
Verse 8, "Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near and accused the Jews, and they spake
and said to King Nebuchadnezzar, 'O King, live forever!
Thou, O King, hast made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet
flutes, harp, sackbutt, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of contemporary Christian music
(oh, wait a minute, I'm the one that added there, I'm sorry, that was my fault, I'm
not allowed to do that either) shall fall down and worship the golden image.
Whoso falleth not down and worshipeth, they should be cast in the midst of a burning
fire furnace.
Curtain Jews, whom thou set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego, these men, O King, have not regarded thee, they serve not thy Elohim,
nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
It's the Elohim of Nebuchadnezzar.
Linguistically, there's three ways to translate this word.
It could be God, the Creator God, or gods, the false pagan gods, or human judges.
Here's the translation committee.
Didn't know you were going to do that tonight, did you?
Here's the translation committee.
How do we translate it there?
God, gods, or judges?
Pretty obvious, isn't it?
It's Nebuchadnezzar's gods.
Really, really shouldn't be that hard to figure out.
Okay.
So there we go.
You're the translation committee.
It's gods.
You weren't cheating, were you?
Anyway, verse 13, "Then Nebuchadnezzar, in his rage and fury, commanded to bring Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego, and they brought these men before the king.
Nebuchadnezzar spake and said to them, 'Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?
Do not ye serve my Elohim, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?'"
Again, it's the word Elohim.
Linguistically, it can be translated God, Creator God, Gods, the false gods, or human
judges.
And we're talking again about the Elohim of Nebuchadnezzar, so we're going to translate
it how?
Gods.
That's not really a hard call, is it?
You can figure that out pretty easy.
And unless, of course, you're on the staff of Dallas Theological Seminary.
No, no, I'm sorry.
I didn't say that.
Just forget I said that.
Verse 15.
"And if ye be ready, then at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp,
sack-butt, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of contemporary Christian..."
I'm sorry.
I'm the one that did that again and added there.
"All kinds of music.
Ye fall down and worship the image that I made."
Well, do you worship not?
You should be cast the same hour in the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
"And who is that Elohim that shall deliver you out of my hands?"
Nebuchadnezzar's asking these Jewish young men, "Who's your Elohim that could save you
out of this?"
God, gods, or judges?
God.
It's obvious.
God of the Jews.
God of the Bible.
God of creation.
Et cetera.
Okay.
There we are.
That's what translation committee has to do.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abigano answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we're
not careful to answer thee in this matter.
This is another sermon for another time, but what a powerful truth this is."
A lot of powerful truths.
Separation of church and state.
It wasn't Nebuchadnezzar's job to tell them how to worship God.
The truth of courage of your convictions.
A lot of folks have convictions until it comes time to pay a price for them.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abigano answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we're
not careful to answer thee in this matter.
They didn't have to think about it.
They didn't have to study it.
They didn't have to examine it."
Convictions don't get violated.
Real ones.
If it be so, our Elohim, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery
furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O King.
God.
Creator God.
Elohim.
Pagan gods.
Or human judges.
God.
For simplicity's sake, it never refers to human judges in this chapter, even though
it does some other places in the Bible, we'll just let that go.
And we'll deal with the two other choices.
But if not, verse 18, "Be it known unto thee, O King, we will not serve thy Elohim, nor
worship the golden image which thou hast set up."
Now, let me say this.
There is a truth here, a principle here.
It's seen all throughout the Bible, all throughout church history.
Sometimes God miraculously delivers His people from persecution.
Sometimes He does not.
In His plan, sometimes He's glorified by deliverance, and sometimes He's glorified
by the price that His people pay for serving Him.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had no way of knowing what God's plan was in this case.
They could burn in the fire.
Some of God's choicest servants have been burnt in fires throughout the ages.
It could happen.
Could be delivered.
Nothing's too hard for God.
They don't know.
They know they're on their way to the fiery furnace.
They do know God could deliver them.
By the way, no matter what we face, we do know God could deliver us, or could be their
moment to glorify Him through a martyr's death.
And they don't know, but they know what they're going to do about it.
Verse 19, "Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury when Nebuchadnezzar loses his temper
or somebody dies, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abednego.
Therefore he spake and commanded, 'They should heat the furnace one seven times more than
it was want to be heated.'"
He said, "You throw seven times more burnable stuff, combustible stuff we throw in there,
so I want you to throw seven times more in than we normally throw."
They got a roaring fire going in that.
He commanded the most mighty men that were in his armies to bind Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
His top soldiers, at first this might look like an honor, they get to be the ones to
walk up to the fiery furnace and cast them in.
Might look like an honor.
Am I going to turn out too good?
These men were bound in their coats, their hoses and their hats and their other garments
and they were cast in the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
The Jews had two level layers of clothing that they wore.
They took the outside layer and they tied them up with the outside layer of clothing
and they take them to the fire.
Therefore, because the king's commandment was urgent and the furnace exceeding hot,
the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
The very top soldiers were being honored by escorting them to the furnace because it's seven times hotter than normal.
The flames are seven times higher than normal.
They are consumed by the fire as they walk them up to the edge and push them over.
The flames take their life.
Awesome moment in front of the crowd.
And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell downbound into the midst of the burning fire furnace.
Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished and rose up in haste.
He's looking in the fire, looking to see if he can see the dance of Nebuchadnezzar through the flames.
He spake and said to his counselors, "Did we not cast three men bound to the midst of the fire?"
That's pretty simple, isn't it?
One, two, three, you got 'em? Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego.
They answered and said to the king, "True, O king."
He answered and said, "Lo, I see four men, loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt."
How's that? Look through the flames. Look through the smoke.
There they are. One, two, three, four.
They're not burning. They're not recoiling from the heat.
They're not roasting.
And if you look, the fourth one looks like a man, but doesn't exactly look like everybody else.
The form of the fourth is like the son of Elohim.
So now you have to make a translation decision there.
We've left out human judges. We've agreed that doesn't show up.
So now you have to make a decision.
The fourth man looks like a son of the gods, Nebuchadnezzar's gods, Babylon's gods,
the pagan gods, which would indicate that the pagan gods won this conflict.
Or the fourth man looks like the son of God.
What you can choose. You weren't cheating by looking, were you?
By the way, aren't you glad that every word in the Bible has been examined and studied
and dealt with by the King James Bible translators, and this has all been done for us, and this
is not our job, and we do not have to read through the Bible wondering what a better
translation be, should it be this or should it be that, aren't you glad that's all been
done?
Son of God, is that not an obvious translation? Is that hard to figure out? And yet, almost
every English Bible and almost every Bible being printed around the world today says
a son of the gods.
That's the first thing that question anybody asked me about a Bible in another language.
I said, "Let's go Daniel 3.25. Tell me what it says in Daniel 3.25." Because if it says
a son of the gods, I know the translators had a bias and a problem there that would
not let them translate it accurately.
You see, if you don't believe that Jesus is the son of God, and you don't believe in
the Trinity, you cannot translate that verse correctly because it would destroy you.
Can you imagine if you were sitting in the Kingdom Hall, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jesus is
not God, no Trinity, and you were reading through your Jehovah's Witness New World Translation?
And if you got to the New World Translation, it said, "The Son of God."
What would it do to your Jehovah's Witness faith?
It would destroy it.
Look, we know that Jehovah's Witnesses are not going to translate that right.
If they translate that right, they have a disaster.
They're going to say, "A son of the gods," because they don't believe in the Trinity,
and they don't believe Jesus is God.
They cannot have Jesus the fourth man in the fire, because if they do, they destroy their
whole religion.
You and I, you don't really expect the Jehovah's Witnesses to translate this right, do you?
You take it for granted.
You're not going to be shocked when I tell you the New World Translation, their Bible,
says, "A son of the gods."
Their translation committee can't afford to get this right, but is it not a little surprising
that all over the United States tonight, in independent Baptist churches, there are people
sitting with Bibles that say, "A son of the gods," the RSV, the ESV, the New American
Standard, the New International Version, the Holman Standard Bible. New King James actually
gets this one right. But all the rest of them have, "A son of the gods" there. And those
of you interested in the Spanish, the very popular Spanish 1960 Bible says, "A son of
the gods" there. I've had this conversation with many of those brethren, and they say,
"Well, there's no way Ned Bicaneser could have known." I say, "Really? You don't suppose
at one time or another Daniel might have mentioned it to him, because it's all over the Old
Testament?" "Unto us a son is given," or Psalm 2, "Kiss the son," are my favorite of these
wonderful passages. Proverbs 30, when God is looking to humble man, and he says, "What
is God's name, if you know?" And in the next phrase, he says, "What is His son's name,
if you know?" The truth of the Son of God is not hidden in the Old Testament. It's in
a number of locations. You don't suppose at one time or another Daniel being close to
Nebuchadnezzar would have got around to mentioning it. You don't suppose Nebuchadnezzar, looking
into that fire, counting one, two, three, four, realized he had just lost that contest.
Not only are there four there, they're not burning. Their outside clothes are burning.
What they're tied up with are burning. The clothes they're wearing are not burning.
Not a hair on their head is singed. They don't even have the smell of smoke on them, which
makes them different than some of the people I've pastored in inner city Chicago.
Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spake and
said, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the Most High Elohim, come forth
and come hither." Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth out of the midst of
the fire.
You're the committee. God or gods. Have any questions? Is that a tough call? Do you think
you need a few extra years of language study to be able to figure that out?
The princes and governors and captains, the king's counselors, being gathered together,
saw these men upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was a hair of their head singed;
neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire passed on them.
God passed on them.
Then Nebuchadnezzar spake and said, "Blessed be the Elohim of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego."
We've got three Elohims in this verse. We'll take them one at a time. It's the Elohim of
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. You've got to translate it. God or gods. You having trouble
with that? Is that hard to figure out? You want to stop and do some research? It's as
plain as it could be, just like Daniel 3.25 is as plain as it could be. This is not a
judgment call. This is not hard. This is not difficult. So, if it's not difficult in such
an important statement, why do the translators of the NIV get it wrong? Why do the translators
of the ESV get it wrong? Why do the translators of the Living Bible get it wrong? Let's see.
Why do the translators of the Jehovah's Witness New World Translation get it wrong? Because
they have to translate it according to their theology or they destroy their religion. So,
why do all these Bibles being used in our churches get it wrong? Boy, here's a principle
to get a hold of.
Fundamentalism was started with this concept. In the 1930s, the modernists were taking over
the denominations, the seminaries, the mission boards. And it became a battle all across
the United States. And folks came out and they were designated as fundamentalists because
they said we stressed the fundamentals of Christian faith. And they said there are these
two principles we operate off of. Number one, we will not have a modernist preach in our
pulpit. Do you all agree with that? You may have some people in your pulpit of different
ideas but not that. Secondly, we will not have modernists teaching our young men to
be preachers in our seminaries. That sound right? I went to Indiana Baptist College,
not large or well known, but the founder of Indiana Baptist College was Dr. Ford Porter.
He pastored a little church in Princeton, Indiana, 1930s. And somebody told him, there
was an American Baptist Convention church, said the American Baptist Convention seminary
has got modernists teaching in Bible class. He couldn't believe it. So he drove to their
headquarters, which at that time was Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and they had a seminary.
Still their headquarters, but they don't have a seminary there now. So he wanted to know
for sure. He goes in, sits in a Bible class, and the guy gets up and says the events of
Genesis did not happen the way the Bible says. Again, they're on the campus of headquarters.
He leaves the class, goes over to the headquarters office. He said this is the man. I just heard
what he said. This is what he said. What are we going to do about it? They said it's only
one professor. His answer was one is one more than I will tolerate. He went back, told his
church that we should not be in the American Baptist Convention anymore. They voted to
leave. In denominations, the denomination owns the property. So you can't just leave
when you want to. Baptists have never been in denomination. But the American Baptist
Convention had tried to be one. They said, "You're not allowed to leave. We will not
let you leave." He went to court, appeals court, and the United States Supreme Court.
United States Supreme Court studied the issue and said, "By definition, Baptists are independent.
You cannot tell a Baptist church it has to belong to something." It opened the legal
door, opened the floodgate for churches to leave the American Baptist Convention and
in later years the Southern Baptist Convention. I had a chance as a student to sit down with
Dr. Porter and him tell me that story step by step. What happened? I missed two hours
of class and didn't care. Memory I cherish. How come all of these translations acceptable
among many independent Baptist churches get this wrong? See, fundamentals, we will not
have preachers preaching modernism in our pulpit. We will not have teachers teaching
modernism in our seminary. They should have gone one step farther. We will not have modernists
translating the Bible for us. Because if they translate it correctly, they destroy their
religion. I was in Vietnam for a week. I was asked to go teach a group of underground pastors,
Baptists, and Baptist teach them Baptist heritage. They told me, said the people sent me, said
the Charismatic movement has been infiltrating among our preachers. Could you find the right
place in Baptist heritage to deal with this? Well, I certainly could. And so I took four
hours one morning to go through the scriptures and explain to them why the Charismatic movement
was a bad understanding of God's truth. I could tell it wasn't going well. I'm being
translated for, but you know, look on people's faces. I can tell this is not going well.
We stopped for lunch. And my translator said, "Preacher," he said, "I hate to tell you
this, but he said not a single verse that you used in the last four hours reads the
way in our Bible that you read it." Asked if I could see his Bible. Took down the name
in the front cover of who translated it. I went home and looked it up. Turned out it
had been translated by a group of Charismatic preachers. And you know what they did when
they came to every verse that would discredit the Charismatic movement? Well guess what?
What would have happened if they left it in there the way it was? It would have destroyed
them. See what they did? They fixed them. Left out, added, or changed. See, it's a
big deal who translates your Bible. It's a big deal who translates your Bible. Because
their theology and their bias will control their translation. You're not having a problem
with this. Because translating this accurately does not destroy your religion. You're not
having any trouble at all. You have two groups of people who get this wrong. The folks who
are modernists and the folks who want to impress the modernists. Continuing in that verse.
"Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his servant and
delivered his angel and delivered his servants that trusted him." Sent his angel? All through
the Old Testament. There's the angel of the Lord. And the angel of the Lord is pre-incarnated
appearances of our Lord Jesus Christ. You see it over and over again. Well, how could
Nebuchadnezzar know? Don't suppose Daniel might have ever mentioned it. I mean, it's
as plain as day. Nebuchadnezzar does not think his gods were in the fire and won this. "And
yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any Elohim." That's sort
of generic, so we're going to say, "God." Except their own Elohim. God of the Bible.
God of creation. The God of the Jews. The God of heaven. God of Abraham. And Isaac.
And Jacob. Now sometimes, people tell me I make too much of this. I say, "You think
I make a big deal out of it?" Try verse 29. "Therefore I make a decree," this is
Nebuchadnezzar talking, "that every people, nation, and language which speak anything
amiss against the Elohim of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego," Elohim of Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego would be, "God shall be cut in pieces and their houses shall be made of
dung hill because there is no other Elohim that can deliver after this sort." I understand
Babylon set up like all big cities in Jerusalem. They had different gates and they had a wagon
that would go around every morning, no polite way to say this, picking up the dung. That's
the way you get it out of town. They didn't have sewers. So the dung wagon was the way
to not live with all this all the time. So wagons would go around and they'd pick up
all the dung and they would take it out of the town and there would be a dung hill, all
this would be cast on. Everybody knows it's there. You stay away from it, etc. Amnezer
said, "Anybody that questions the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?" They said, "I want
them cut in pieces." You see when Nebuchadnezzar loses his temper, people die. And he said,
"I want our home taken and turned into a dung heap. Instead of taking the dung outside
the city, we'll take it to their house and dump it there for a while."
Secular history tells us Babylon had a street that was the priests of false religions live
there. And they tended to be the very wealthy people, so they had bigger mansion-type homes.
I picked a couple of people talking, said, "Man, what is the smell coming from that street?"
Didn't you hear? The priest of Baal got up and said, "That wasn't the crater of God.
That was just some vision or something." And Nebuchadnezzar got mad and they cut him
in half. And ever since then, the dung wagons, instead of going out of the town, they've
been going to the mansion of the priest of Baal and dumping the dung there so that everybody
that walked by would know how terrible and awful and wicked such a thought was.
You think I make a big deal out of it? I haven't called for anybody to be cut in half, but
I have called for us to come to grips with this simple, simple truth. It matters who
translates your Bible. Polysemy requires judgment, and judgment requires saved people with good
doctrine. Not perfect people, aren't they perfect people? But I'm promising you there
was nobody in your King James Bible committee that denied the deity of Christ, and there
wasn't a single one that had to change the accurate translation of the Bible there to
make it fit their theology. When one of the early Bible, one of the early organizations
started to try and ensure Bible translation was done right when it began to be corrupted
by the modernists, they called it the Trinitarian Bible Society. You know why they called it
the Trinitarian Bible Society? You had to believe in the Trinity to be a Bible translator.
Because they said if you didn't believe in the Trinity, you wouldn't translate the Bible
right. Fundamentalism in our country should have got this and didn't. They should have
said we will not have a modernist preaching our pulpits. We will not have a modernist
teaching our young men in seminary. And they should have said we will not have a modernist
translating the Bible for us. Because if we don't have an accurate Bible, we got nothing.
That's what they missed. Nebuchadnezzar didn't miss it. I personally think Nebuchadnezzar
got saved at this point. How could he have gotten saved? He gets judged in chapter four
by God for pride. You ever met a proud new convert in your life? You want to tell me
that can't happen? Especially when you're the ruler of the biggest kingdom the world
has ever known at that time? Where does Nebuchadnezzar's pride from? After a year it says. Look at
me and what I've accomplished. It must be tough being a humble emperor. Must be a humble
guy that never lost a battle. And one reason I believe he was saved is because God disciplined
him over his pride. That doesn't happen to everybody. But it does happen to Christians
that are disobedient and lifted up in pride. I think Nebuchadnezzar got saved here. And
I think I am blessed this is not true for everybody in every language. I have a Bible
where all this has already been done. And I do not have to invest myself in doing it.
This is not coincidence. The Great Awakening, the Modern Missions Movement, all follow the
King James Bible. You know one reason for that? God's people did not have to spend
all their time trying to figure out what it said. All the time and energy that had previously
been put in Bible translation could be put in missions and soul winning. Hallelujah.
And today, in the height of our arrogance, we've said well we'll sit around and figure
out what the Bible really said and that detracts dramatically from soul winning missions. Glory
to God. I'm sure glad it's already been done. By the way, you made a pretty good translation
committee. There are translation committees that operate in Dallas and you're better than
they are. You want to know why you're better than they are? Because you're not holding
any doctrine that makes you corrupt the word of God when you translate it. Having an accurate
translation of the Bible does not destroy your faith. Glory to God. I said this, got
a lot of attention for it, a lot of positive attention, fair amount of negative attention
for it. I said this, somebody put it on Facebook. They said it's not bus kids that are having
trouble understanding the King James Bible. It's seminary professors. A lot of folks
said that registered with them. There were some seminary professors that didn't like
it. But seriously, pastors in Chicago, they say, "Well, lost people can't understand
the King James Bible." I never had a lost person tell me they couldn't understand it.
I never had a new Christian tell me they couldn't understand it until some other Christian in
some other church told them they couldn't. One example, had a policeman. He was a character,
kind of policeman you'd watch on TV, TV drama. I mean, literally, when I first got to talk
to him, his wife came to me. She said, "I need you to talk to my husband. Meet my husband
and talk to him." So I'm scared for him. He just made headlines. He's in Chicago.
And he had a policeman. He interrupted a bank robbery. And the robbers got in their car
to flee and he jumped in the car with them and sped off with them, eventually ended up
arresting all four of them. His wife said, "He's going to get killed doing this stuff."
I agreed to sit down and talk with him. And we talked. And he trusted Christ. And he got
excited about the Lord. And he's come to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night.
And he's doing great. And one night he comes in and he says, "Pastor, I'm really upset."
So what are you upset about? He said, "You lied to me." I said, "What did I lie to you
about?" He said, "You told me you could never lose your salvation." I said, "Absolutely."
He said a guy at work today, who by the way had never witnessed to him before he got saved,
showed me from the Bible how you can lose your salvation. He showed me verse after
verse. I said, "Let me tell you something right ahead of time. I don't know what version
he was using, but I know what version he wasn't using. Turned out he was using the New International
Version, which was translated by people who believe in salvation by works, and corrupts
verse after verse after verse about salvation by saying, "Well, it could be translated
this way. It could be translated this way." Making foolish decisions about translation.
It matters who translates your Bible. Glory to God, all this polysemy business has already
been done for us. I don't have to worry. I can look it up if I want to. Every now and
then I look somebody up because somebody asked me a question about something, but I don't
have to to know what the Bible says because it's already been done and I already have
it. And I don't have to spend any time worrying about it. And there are Christians who go
to church every day here to listen to or every Sunday to hear a preacher listen and say,
"Well, a better translation would be this. A better translation would be this. A better
translation would be this." Now really? People say that to me every so often. And when somebody
says that, I say, "You know, I checked that out with 47 of the greatest language scholars
that ever lived. And usually they have no idea what I just said." So I read my King
James Bible. Or people will say it to me and say, "Really? You think it would be better
than that?" I say, "This may come as a shock to you. I trust their credentials as Bible
translators more than I do yours." Glory to God. This has already been done for me.
I don't have to worry about it. By the grace of God, we live in an era where this has been
provided for us in our language, and it's already been done, and it stood the test of
time for over 400 years. Our church, church I'm a member of, has a weekly television
program on TBN. It's not like the other programs on TBN, I can assure you. We are the only
program on TBN that uses the King James Bible. So sometimes they have a National Religious
Broadcasters Convention. Sometimes pastor goes, he says they have a lot of seminars
in technology that really interest him. And so he goes, he's very into that, knows all
the ins and outs of, he can work on the TV cameras and all himself and that kind of thing.
But he said, "Here's the thing he hears all the time." I said, "Jim, you're the only
program on TBN that uses the King James Bible. Don't you feel embarrassed and backward
and left behind?" Finally he developed this answer. He said, "I'll tell you what." He
said, "I'll consider using another translation. See if you'll bring me one that's 100% based
on the received text, translated by world-class translators that has been tried and tested
for 400 years." He said, "I'll consider it." Nobody's brought him that, and nobody's
gone to. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you that we have your word. We are blessed to
live in a moment in a country with a language where we have your pure word in front of us.
Father, help us to be faithful to it and live by it. We'll thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.
All right, for our last song, we're going to go to song number 259, Jesus Saves. Song
number 259, song number 259, Jesus Saves. Sing it out.
Everybody, thank you all for coming. You are all dismissed.