00:00
00:00
00:01
Transcript
1/0
Now, tonight we're going to read two parts from the Bible. One of them is familiar, and the other part is probably the least read piece of the whole of the Bible. And this, of course, we're remembering tonight the 400th anniversary of the calling of a conference by King James I of England to commence the translation of an accurate Bible. And that, of course, we have before us now as the King James of the Authorized Version. The Epistle of Dedicatory at the beginning is interesting, hardly ever read, but tonight I want to read it. So, turn it up there, you'll find it at the very beginning. You have, first of all, the address to the most high and mighty Prince James. And then you have the Epistle of Dedicatory, which was given to him after the 47 men had completed their translation and gave to us the Bible known as the King James Version. So we'll read this, and I'll read this to you. The official dedicatory, There are infinite arguments of this right Christian and religious affection in your majesty. but none is more forcible to declare it to others than the vehement and perpetuate desire of accomplishing and publishing of this work, which now with all humility we present unto your Majesty. For when your Highness had once, out of deep judgment, apprehended how convenient it was that out of the original sacred tongues, together with comparing of the labours both in our own and other foreign languages, of many worthy men who went before us, there should be one more exact translation of the Holy Scriptures into the English tongue. Your Majesty did never desist to urge and to excite those to whom it was commended that the work might be hastened and that the business might be expedited in so decent a manner as a matter of such importance might justly require. And now, at last, by the mercy of God, and the continuance of our labours, it being brought unto such a conclusion as that we have great hopes that the Church of England shall reap good fruit thereby. We hold it our duty to offer it to your Majesty, not only as our King and Sovereign, but as to the principal mover and author of the work the humbly craving of Your Most Sacred Majesty, that since things of this quality have ever been subject to the censures of ill-meaning and discontented persons, it may receive approbation and patronage from so learned and judicious a prince as Your Highness is, whose allowance and acceptance of our labours shall more honour and encourage us than all the calumniations and hard interpretations of other men shall dismay us, so that if, on the one side, we shall be traduced by popeish persons at home or abroad, who therefore will malign us because we are poor instruments to make God's holy truth to be yet more and more known unto the people, whom they desire still to keep in ignorance and darkness, or if, On the other side, we shall be maligned by self-conceited brethren who run their own ways and give liking unto nothing but what is framed by themselves and hammered on their anvil. We may rest secure, supported within by the truth and innocence of a good conscience, having walked the ways of simplicity and integrity as before the Lord. and sustained without by the powerful protection of Your Majesty's grace and favour, which will ever give countenance to honest and Christian endeavours against bitter censures and uncharitable imputations." Then follows a prayer that I know by heart because the captain of the boys' brigade company I belonged to as a young fellow, he used to pray this every time we met. He made one or two changes to it that took out the Majesty and Highness and so on and put in the names that had to do with our boys' brigade company. The Lord of heaven and earth bless your majesty with many and happy days that as his heavenly hand hath enriched your highness with many singular and extraordinary graces so you may be the wonder of the world in this latter age for happiness and true felicity to the honour of that great God and the good of His church through Jesus Christ our Lord and only Saviour. And so that was the dedicatory epistle given by the translators to the King at the conclusion of their work and of course on Monday this past week we remembered the 400th anniversary of the an order given by James in 1604 to commence the translation, which was completed seven years later in 1611. Now could we turn to Psalm 138. The epistle dedicatory is not inspired, but Psalm 138 is inspired by the divine author, the Holy Spirit. Psalm 138, where David said, I will praise Thee with my whole heart. Before the gods will I sing praise unto Thee. I will worship toward Thy holy temple and praise Thy name for Thy lovingkindness and for Thy truth. For Thou hast magnified Thy Word above all Thy name. In the day when I cried, Thou answered me and strengthened me with strength in my soul. All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of thy mouth. Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. Though the Lord be high, yeteth he respect unto the lowly, but the proud he knoweth far off. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. Thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies. and thy right hand shall save me. The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever. Forsake not the works of thine own hands. May the Lord bless to our hearts this reading from His own infallible and inspired Word. Let us bow for a moment's prayer. Our loving Heavenly Father, We thank Thee tonight that we're met in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the Lord Himself. And we thank Thee, O God, that we have the open Bible in our mother tongue before us. We thank Thee, our Father, for this Word. We can learn who Thou art and what Thou art like. We can learn, Lord, how we relate to Thee, realizing that beside Thy purity we are but sinners. And yet, our Father, we thank Thee for the wonderful hope that Thy Word brings to us, that there is a way back to God from the dark paths of sin, that a door is opened where men and women may go in. At Calvary's cross is where we begin when we come as sinners to Jesus. And so, our Father, while Thy Word deals with our sin, we thank Thee it gives to us a picture and a vision of the Saviour. Tonight, our Father, we thank Thee for every soul that knows the Lord. And then, our Father, we thank Thee also that not only hast Thou saved us by Thy grace, but Thou has given us the guidance of Thy Word so that no matter what circumstance of life we find ourselves in, O God, there's something in Thy Word to help us. O God, in times of praise, thou dost help us praise Thee even more. In times of trouble, O God, we thank Thee that we have the encouragement of Thy Word, and especially by Lord Jesus who told us, as we saw this morning, I have prayed for Thee. So, our Father, we pray tonight that Thou would help us to love Thee more and more, and to love the incarnate Word, the Lord Jesus, more and more, and to love Thy written Word more and more. O God, may we write the precepts of Thy Word upon our hearts, and may we grow thereby. So, our Father, we thank Thee for Thy great goodness. Bless us now as we meditate upon this most important part of our Christian heritage. We ask it in Jesus' name and for His glory. Amen. On the 12th of January, 1604, James I of England It was also James VI of Scotland, and he ruled in Scotland for him when he was a year old. James I of England, he convened a conference in Hampton Court, and the purpose of that, apart from some other things, was to create an official Bible in the English tongue. Now, there had been several Bibles before that. For example, in 1380, John Wycliffe translated the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English, and a lot of what Wycliffe did, work finds itself in our King James Version today. Then, the following letter, at the time of the Reformation, You have the Bible done by Coverdale, that was in 1535. Then you had Matthew's Bible in 1537. Then you had the Great Bible in 1539. Then you had the Geneva Bible that was greatly loved by the Puritans in 1560. And you had the Bishop's Bible of 1568. So you had a number of Bibles that have been translated in those times of Reformation. There also were some strange ones, because there was what was known as the Bug Bible. That was of the year 1551, and the reason why they called it the Bug Bible was because in its interpretation of Psalm 91 and 5, where it tells us, I shall not be afraid of the terror by night, That Bible said, thou shalt not be afraid of the bugs by night. And so it was called the bug Bible. Then you've also got the breeches Bible of 1560, the same year as the Geneva Bible was done. And it's called the breeches Bible because in Genesis where it speaks of Adam and Eve making aprons to cover them out of fig leaves, in that Bible it says that they made breeches. And so it was called the Breacher's Bible. And so there was a number of English translations of the Bible done at that time. James I, he gathered 47 of the most godly men and godly minds and men of brilliant intellect to translate the Bible from the Hebrew and Greek and some Aramaic of its original languages. And the work that was done by those people so many years ago, 400 years ago, was, as one has said recently, an enormous and magnificent verbal building embracing the inhabitants of Britain in orderliness and richness, a kind of national shrine. And so it was one of the great literature pieces in all of the history of English-speaking nations. Now, the acceptance of the King James, or the authorised version, was slow at the beginning, but by the end of the 1600s, it was well accepted, and then it moved on to become the English translation. Now today, we have a rash of modern translations, some of them that deserve no better title than Perversions of the Word of the Lord. But we have a confusing rash of modern translations. Now, the Free Presbyterian Church uses only one version, and that is the King James Version. And if you have read in our Separated Unto the Gospel, this little book that gives the mission and work of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America, we make this statement on page 6. the Bible we use in our services. In carrying on this preaching ministry, the Free Presbyterian Church has, throughout its history, used the authorised, often called the King James Version of the Scriptures. We wish to avoid the confusion that arises from the use of many different translations and paraphrases in church services. We believe the authorised version is unrivalled as a translation of the Scriptures and that it reflects the authentic, historic Hebrew and Greek text that God, quote, immediately inspired and by His singular care and providence kept pure in all ages. And that last quote comes from the Westminster Confession of Faith. And so our church uses nothing but the King James Version. Now, there are some people who come along and tell us that they have objections to that sort of position. They say that King James, an authorised version, it is old-fashioned, some of its words are archaic, and they ask us why do we continue to use it. Well, we're going to answer that question. But first of all, let's look at a lesson that we can learn, and that is that God took a king of England who in himself was a rather ungodly king, and you can read the story, and I have the biography of King James at home. You can read the biography of James to discover that he was quite an ungodly and a wicked king. But the wonderful thing here is that God can overrule even an earthly king. And God can direct His heart like rivers of waters, so that He in Himself and in His work will glorify the greater King, the heavenly King, and glorify the Lord our God. Just like the Lord overruled in the case of Nebuchadnezzar, in the case of Cyrus of Persia, and other cases, God has overruled their wickedness and used it for His own glory. and the Bible that we have before us, to some degree, stands as a testimony and a lasting monument to King James I of Britain. Now the question comes, why do we still use the Authorised Version or the King James Version? See, it is now almost 400 years old in its completed form. I want to give you four answers. The first answer is one that we need to take more time on, and then the next three I'll take a little less time. But the first one is based on what we believe that the King James Version is a faithful and honest translation of the Word of God. I'm going to run you through briefly the history of the Bible, but if you can't remember these things, you don't need to write them down. But if you see Maude Bennett, we have, I think, still some copies of the Canadian Revivalist of March, April 1996, that's volume 19 and issue 2. We have in there, in the middle, a diagram that I drew up some years ago to show you the history of the Bible. From the original words of God, the spoken words of God, to the first copies and so on, and how down through history we have the Bible. And it shows you here the basis upon which the King James Version is built. It also shows you the basis upon which the modern translations are built in our day. And we have added, in the next couple of pages, numbered comments that will identify each of the things you see on the chart that we have produced. It is good for believers to be aware of where our Bible came from and those Bibles I mentioned, Cloverdale and the Great and Geneva and Bishop's Bibles, they are all in that article for you to read. Now the Bible was not written in English, although I have to laugh and smile that some years ago when the A problem of bilingualism in this country was at its height, and the arguments were going on, that one dear soul here in this city, in a public meeting, stood on a platform and he said, if English was good enough for God to write the Bible, then it's good enough for me. The only problem is that the Lord did not write the Bible in English. He wrote it in Hebrews and He wrote it in Greek. And there is some Aramaic in both the Old Testament and in the New Testament. The original manuscripts, they are lost. We don't have any of the original manuscripts of the Bible. But there are many, many, many fragments from tiny ones to large ones. So that when you put them together, you can get a credible Hebrew Old Testament and a credible Greek New Testament. And so, that's how we have our Bible today. Now, the Hebrew of the Old Testament, it is in what is known as the Masoretic Text. This was put together in the 6th century A.D. by the Jewish people and it is the standard recognized Hebrew text of the Old Testament. So there's not much dispute about that because it is accepted as the proper text of the Old Testament scriptures. The Masoretic text, that's all in that magazine article if you want to look at it. that when you come to the New Testament, you come into an area of difficulty. Because in 1516, we have the man called Erasmus, who was a Roman Catholic and a student of Greek and the languages. He was in England studying, I think it was, in Cambridge University. That there he sat down and he put together from the fragments of the New Testament Greek manuscripts, he put together a Greek New Testament which formed the basis of the whole New Testament in the Scriptures. Now, it is said of Erasmus that he is the man who led the egg, and Martin Luther, he is the one who hatched it. Because one year later, Luther nailed his 93 theses to the church door in Wittenberg to signal the start of what is now known as the Protestant Reformation. And so, Erasmus again, overruled by God, did a tremendous work in producing the Greek New Testament. And then, In later times, that was modified a little bit to be called the Elsevier text or the Textus Receptus in 1624, sometimes known as the Majolity text because it does call upon 5,000 fragments of manuscripts, old manuscripts, that contain pieces of Greek and put together you have the sum total of the New Testament as we have it today. So far so good. Then in 1881, we have two men, Westcott and Hort, and they did the same as Erasmus had done in his day in 1516. They put together a Greek testament. They used some of what Erasmus had, but they specifically went back to five manuscripts that date back to 400 A.D. The best known ones are the Codex Sinaiticus, which is in the British Museum. The Codex Alexandrinus, which is also in the British Museum. It was given as a gift to King Charles I. And you've also got the Codex Vaticanus, which is kept in the Vatican Library in Rome. Now, Westcott and Horta took what they saw from these manuscripts incorporated it into what they got from Erasmus and so on, and they produced a new Greek text. And there are serious questions with regard to that text because you're looking at the Greek basis of their manuscript evidence going back to 400. And they made the claim that these were more accurate Greek renderings than the renderings of the majority of the Greek pieces, adding up to some 5,000 pieces. And so what you have today is that King James is sitting on the Textus Receptus, a Greek text which is important, And you have all of the modern translations, with one exception, that are sitting on the Westcott and Hort text, and also changes and varieties of that, Nestle's and so on, as time went on. So, it is most important that we understand the basis for our Bible, because this is the Word of God. And it's important that we have the most accurate, on the most reliable version of the Bible. And we, without contradiction, are happy to take the position, as far as we are concerned, that in the Bible, as I read to you, that we have an honest and a faithful translation of the Scriptures. Keep in mind the fact that you have two textual bases for all these different translations. So, two things are very important. Number one is the reliability of the Greek text. Now there's not much of an argument of the Old Testament, I mentioned that. The argument focuses on the New Testament. And it's most important that we can establish the reliability of the texts. And we have accepted the position where we're very happy. with the Elsevier, the Textus Receptus, sometimes known with slight modifications as a majority text, we believe it is an accurate text of God's Holy Word. Now some people find it difficult to understand what's all the problem. Well, the problem is simply this, that God has spoken. We do not have any of the original Hebrew documents We do not have any of the original New Testament documents to hand, because if they were there, man would make an idol of the document. So God in His wisdom has allowed those to pass, but what they did, they copied them over the years. And so all the manuscript evidence are copies. You need to read about how the scribes copied the Scriptures in earlier days to understand the accuracy with which they worked. Now, to go from one language to another is not easy. People who don't speak languages apart from one, perhaps, have difficulty coming to grips with it because they think you just take a statement here in English and you put it into some other language or vice versa. Not all that easy. And I just will give you an illustration. For example, if you're going to buy Corn Flakes. In the Corn Flakes in the store you'll see that they have a motto and that is the best to you each morning." Now, all our things that we have in this country are bilingual. So, you have a French version as well as an English version. The English version says, the best of you each morning. Now, you go up into Quebec and you see the same advertisement that says, le meilleur bonjour, which translated literally means the better hello. So, from one case, the best of you each morning, they try to get over the feeling of what is said and not, and they have the better hello. But it is not literal. So, I just gave you that to help you understand that going from one language, like from Hebrew to English or Greek to English or vice versa, is not an easy subject. And for those who have involved themselves in that it is a subject beyond the reach of most Christian people. It is a difficult subject indeed. When you come to the Bible that we have, the King James Version, you have one that is built on a reliable Greek text. Not only is it reliable, but the actual translation is accurate. And that's why those men that James got together 400 years ago, their work is so important because they were men, first of all, who believed in the authority of the Word of God. They did not believe that this is just some philosophical book. They believed that this is the Word of God and therefore it was incumbent upon them to translate as accurately as possible. the words in the Hebrew and the Greek. But you go to some of the modern translations, some of those that I labeled perversions, and you'll find that the people sometimes who did them did not have a very high standard of approach to the Word of God. And because of that, they have produced Bibles that do not pay strict attention to the accuracy of the original Greek, of the New Testament, of the Hebrew, of the Old Testament. And just a picture, a simple picture of the desire of the man in James' day for accuracy. If you have a good printed Bible, you'll discover that in various places you have words in italics. And the reason why the words are in italics, the translator is telling you That that word in italics, the word is not there actually in Greek or Hebrew, but that they put the word in to make the sense flow, the nuance in the Hebrew and Greek was there, but they put an English word in, and they're alerting you to the fact that that word is not to be found in the original Hebrew and Greek, and you'll find that in different places in your Bible. But that to me is an indication of the honesty and the accuracy of the translators of our King James Version. You see, in some of the modern Bibles, they are not really translations. They are interpretations, which is a world of difference, because they will interpret a particular portion of the Hebrew or Greek according to their own pre-assumed biases. Maybe doctrinal, maybe denominational. For example, in the New English Bible, you had a Unitarian sitting on the translation committee, and the chairman, he said there that when we came to an area where we could not have a unified translation, we changed the meaning so we'd get one that everybody could agree with. Now, what way is that to approach God's Holy Word? that because you've got a Unitarian who doesn't believe in the Trinity and doesn't believe in the blood sacrifice of the Lord Jesus as an atonement for sin, yet you have to change your English translation to suit his idea so that you can all be together. So it's important that the people who translate, they do translate and do not interpret. And that's one of the good things about the King James. It is not an interpretation. It is a translation where they have tried as accurately as they can to go from Hebrew and Greek to the English of our speech. Then also, the translators of the King James did not tamper with the meaning in order to clarify things. For example, in our Bible, There are one or two clerical errors. For example, you can take 2 Kings 25 and 27. We are speaking there of Jehoiachin. How that on the 27th day of the 12th month, evil Merodach raised his head and lifted him out of jail and made him sit at his table. Jeremiah has exactly the same report, only he says the 25th day of the 12th month. So, you've got 25 and you've got 27. Now, the translators of the King James were well aware of that. But rather than sit down and say, well, men, what do you think? Is it 25 or 27? And try to make a compromise, they gave it exactly as it is. So, that's why we say what we have here is a translation based on a reliable Greek text and has an accuracy of translation. Somebody comes along and says, ah, but I don't like the King James because it has old or archaic words. And one was raised just recently in the Toronto Star last Monday and focused on Paul's use of the word bowels. And says, how do you understand that? That is not hard, because you just take down your Webster's dictionary, which is a North American dictionary, and it's a modern dictionary, and you open up for the word bowels and you'll find the first meaning of that is the intestines that we have in our body. But it also says that the second meaning of the word bowels is the inner man, the seat of the emotions. And you know how that if you suddenly have fear on the highway, for example, something happens where you almost cry, where do you feel it? Right in your stomach. And so is it beyond the modern age that we are told that this is a most enlightened age in which we live? Is it beyond this modern age to look up a dictionary and look at the word bowels and see what the meaning really is? But we're told that it uses old-fashioned words. And therefore, we need to have it in modern English. But my friend, let me remind you that a clear language can actually hinder study. Because if they put it as clear as is possible in English language, you come along and read it and say, I've got it all. I've got it all. There's nothing else for me to learn. And so what you do, you develop lazy Christians. But we have a majestic book here, written in the very best of English. And if you want to master a speech, you need to know your Bible. Because the language of this book here, it gives you the foundation of the language that we speak today. And so, you need to have that understanding. And when you come to it, you realise this is not just a novel. This is not just a story. This is God's Word. And so therefore, you sit down and you hit the word bowels. What does that mean? And you go to your dictionary or you go to your concordance and you can quickly find. And what you have to do with the Bible is you have to meditate upon it. But some of these modern translations All they do is breed lazy Christians who do not have to meditate, who do not study. It's all there, that's simple, that's it. But I would rather have the Bible, because this, the King James that we have, is a Bible that you will never ever exhaust. Because you read it, and you read it, and you read it, and you find something pops out like this morning's text that we had, where there's a thing that I've read over hundreds of times. Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have thee, that he might sift thee as wheat, but I have prayed for thee." And those words, I have prayed for thee, before the trouble came, Peter, I have prayed for thee, comes out. You see, this is an inexhaustible book that God has given us. And I believe that the version that we have is one of the best. I believe it is the best translation of the Word of the Lord. That brings us to something else that is important. And that is the matter of verbal inspiration. Because if this is God's message to mankind, and it is, then it is most important that we understand what God is saying to us in His Word. And therefore, you come face to face with what is known as the verbal inspiration, that the Bible was inspired by God the Holy Spirit, not only in concept, but in its actual words. Now you can look at the Bible And you can look at 2 Timothy 3 and 16, and you'll find that all Scripture, all Scripture is inspired by God. All Scripture. You can turn up to 2 Peter 1 and 21, and you'll find that all the writers of the Scripture were inspired by the Lord. Holy men speak as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. You can turn up Proverbs 30 in verse 5, and you'll discover that all words in the Bible are inspired directly by God. Every word of God is pure. And you can turn to what the Lord Himself said in Matthew chapter 5 and in verse number 18, For verily I say unto you, truly I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass in the law till all be fulfilled. So God is telling us that not only is all Scripture inspired, and all the writers directly inspired by the Holy Ghost, and all the words of the Bible inspired, but now the Lord Jesus Christ is telling us that every jot and every tittle is inspired because it will not pass away until all has been fulfilled. Now, the jot, or the yos as it's known, is the smallest letter in Hebrew. The very tiniest letter in Hebrew will not pass away, the Lord has told us. And the tittle, the tittle is the smallest distinguishing mark in Hebrew. So that when, for example, we would put a dot over our I in English, the title is equivalent to a dot perhaps even smaller. And the Lord has told us here that not one dot or one title shall pass until all has been fulfilled. So you're brought back to the great fact that this Bible is verbally inspired. And that's why it is essential that the translators of the Bible from Hebrew to English and from Greek to English or whatever language people are using, it must be of the highest standard of accuracy, because you are dealing here with God's own precious Word. If you want an illustration of verbal inspiration, Quite simple in our modern computer age. You go on the internet, for example, on to our church one, freeprez.org. If you were to put freeprez,org, it will not work. You say, what? Well, a comma and a period, they are not much different in size. You see, the modern computer believes in verbal inspiration. because you've got to give the address exactly as it is, otherwise it does not go to the destination you're sending it to and you will not receive from your friends that which they're sending to you unless it's exactly right. And again, I remember years ago being asked to speak at the Baptist Church in Brampton when Dennis Gibson was there and Dennis asked me to speak at their 25th anniversary of their building. And I remember well that he had, and the church had prepared a beautiful brochure dealing with the 25th anniversary of their particular church. And he explained it to them, introduced it to the people, and then he says, I have to draw your attention to one typo. Now, it's not easy to do something without a typographical error. And we do it in our magazine. We read and we proofread over and over again. And as soon as it's printed, you see, there's one we missed. And Dennis, he told the people, there is a little error there. And so he turned them up to the page and he said, you notice it says there it was dealing with some students. And it said, Miss so-and-so will not go to Bible school. when actually it should have been, Miss So-and-so will now go to Bible school. And they had the letters wrong. Instead of N-O-W, they had N-O-T. And one letter completely changed the meaning. Miss So-and-so will not go to Bible school when it should have been Miss So-and-so will now go to Bible school. So, you see how it's important that even in our language and our communication that we have accuracy in our speech. And that's true of our words. How much more is it of the words of the Lord? Then, you will find that some of the modern translations, they don't pay much attention to verbal inspiration. Rather, they work on concepts. I had a lady call me some years ago from a Bible printing organization and said that she would like to supply us with Bibles for our bookstore. And I said, what Bibles do you do? Oh, we do all kinds of them. I said, well, that would give us a little bit of a problem because we in our church, we just use the King James Version. Oh, that's not a problem. We can handle the King James, It's nice to know that if you want to have a really accurate version, you want to use the NASV, the American Standard Version, based of course on the Westcott and Hort and Nestle's Greek text that we have some questions about. So it says you could use the NASV, but if you want one that reads well, Then you want to have the NIV, the New International Version, that is used by many evangelical churches today, the New International Version. And says, you know, what it does, it doesn't deal so much with words as it deals with concepts. And I said, my dear, that gives me the greatest difficulty. Because the Bible that we have is not dealing with concepts. God has put His own imprimatur upon the verbal inspiration. All Scripture, all writers, all words, even the jot and tittle, they are inspired directly by God. And so therefore, I'm not very happy. I'm quite happy with my King James Version. And then of course what they do just last year was that they brought out a new, new international version. And the reason they had to do that was because now they have to modify the existing one to make it more reflective of the teaching of the feminists in our modern age. So then what comes next? Do they have to do a new, new, new international version that will then reflect the Shaddamites? who don't like certain things in the Bible. That's why I'm very happy just to have the King James Version here before us. And there is a word that the Lord has blessed greatly down through history. William Gurnall, he said, quoting on James 1 and 23, and James 1 and 23 tells us there Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any man be a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was." So James is likening the Bible to a glass or a mirror. I have difficulty because where I come from, we say mirror. And I have to try and get it to a looking glass, a mirror. Okay. And so, James makes it like a mirror or a looking glass. William Gurnall said very well, If this glass be cracked, then the perceptions we have of God will misrepresent Him to us, whereas the Word in its native clearness It sets Him out in all His glory unto our eye. And that's why it is good to have a Bible where you do not have cracks and you do not have distortions. Do you ever go to the fairground, maybe down at the CNE, and you go in and they've got this place with all these mirrors and all kinds of shapes? And you go and you stand in front of one and you're twelve feet tall. Then you stand in front of another one and well, you're all out here and out the back as well because they are mirrors that do completely misrepresent your true shape. Bad enough when the real mirror misrepresents you or makes you look worse than you really are, at least in your estimation. But here, these mirrors, the fairground mirrors, they distort you and it's funny. But my friend, it's never funny. when you distort the Word of the living God. So, I believe that we have before us here in this translation, a faithful, honest, accurate translation of the Word of God. And you today can trust the Bible that we have before us. You can trust the Bible as we have it in the King James Version. Now, quickly, the second, third and fourth reasons why we use the King James Old Name. Because, secondly, of the majesty of its language. This Bible is not a novel. And somebody said recently, no other book worded with more beauty than our English Bible. And they are referring to the King James Version. And somebody else said that this Bible that we have in the King James translation, it is the greatest literary heritage that we have in our language. But the trouble is that many of the modern translations, they have devalued the currency of the Word of the living God. For example, The secular newspaper, The Globe and Mail, on the 12th of November, 1979, in an article that we have photocopied into our old Canadian Revivalist magazine. And this is a secular newspaper. Not a church, not a modern institution. A secular newspaper has this article, Long Live King James. I was talking here about the continual attempts to revise the language of the King James Version of the Bible. And it says here, yet the failure of all subsequent editions to capture even a small percentage of that sense, that clarity, that brevity, that overpowering command of the English language which informs every page of the Authorised Version points to one inescapable conclusion. Revising the King James edition is as foolhardy an enterprise as trying to put corners on a circle. And that's not a religious person. That is a secular newspaper looking at it purely from the literary point of view. And then goes on to give an example. He says, the Authorized Version asks, For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Now, you think of the majesty of that question. And then they give the Good News Bible answer or translation or interpretation. Does a person gain anything if he wins the whole world but loses life? And then their conclusion immediately after is, the currency of the language of the Bible has been shamelessly devalued. And that's correct. Because this book here is written in the most majestic of language. And even the Toronto Star on last Monday's edition is speaking about the anniversary of the Bible They give the makeover for Psalm 23. On the left-hand side, they have our Bible's version. And then they have, on the right-hand side, the contemporary English version. Our Bible says, The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. beautiful language. The contemporary English version, You, Lord, are my shepherd. I will never be in need. You let me rest in fields of green grass. You lead me to streams of peaceful water, and You refresh my life. It does not come anywhere near the majesty of the King James Version. And remember that we are talking here not about King James, We're talking here about the language of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and so therefore it is right to put it in a language that has the majesty of the original and not this modern stuff that we have today. Then again, Psalm 23, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, They comfort me. What tremendous comforting and majestic words. The contemporary English version, I may walk through valleys as dark as death, but I won't be afraid. You're with me. Not even in the same league as the language of our blessed Bible that we have here. And I'd go on over and over again, but that's enough to give you the idea. You take the case where the King David sinned with Bathsheba, and you have Nathan the prophet comes, and Nathan nails David in his sin. Thou art the man. Modern translations, like watching a golf game. You're the man. The majesty is lost in these modern translations. And so, we hold to it, not just because of faithful and accurate translation, because it is also the most majestic of language. Then also, we use the King James for unity of worship. The trend in our day has changed. It used to be, and not so far back, one Bible and many churches. But in this ecumenical age, the move has been, the trend has been to one church and many Bibles. And that trend is the detriment of both church and Bible. Because we are now working and living in this age when they are trying to unite all the religion, not just churches, but religions of the world into one. The Bible has been fragmented into many, many, many different translations. Now, if all you people, and there are enough translations out there today for every one of you to have a different one, and if you were all to read out of some portion of Scripture, one half wouldn't know what the other half are saying. because of the diversity. And what would you say one word? Confusion. Confusion upon the congregation because they're all using different versions and different translations and sometimes perversions of the Word of the Lord. Absolute confusion reigns. That's interesting. Because the rise of Babylon in the book of Revelation is the word that means confusion. And the One World Church movement, I believe, is that which brings confusion upon this world. When we come to train our children in Sunday school, we train them just using one Bible. So, when we open John 3.16, It says the same to every child, God so loved the world. It's all the same. But the children coming in, reading and learning different ones, you have complete confusion. And then they come along and say, Ah, but the King James' old language, that is too hard for children to learn. By saying that, they are saying that this age here is less educated than previous ages. Because back in Reformation times, it was not an unusual thing for a child of five or six to be able to converse logically and clearly in Hebrew and in Greek. And yet here, in our day, we have trouble getting them to speak English, never mind Hebrew and Greek and Aramaic and other languages of the Bible. And so, is our age so bad and so weak that our children can't learn the Bible? I remember in our Sunday school, little children, two and a half years of age, memorizing portions of the Word of God and memorizing it perfectly. And the teachers there to help them understand it. Thank God some of them are with us today, growing up now and going on with the Lord. And then finally, We accept the King James and use it because of the faithful and honest translation. We love it because of the majesty of its language. We use it because of the unity of worship it brings. And also, we consider the fruit of its usage, because this Bible has been singularly blessed by God since its inception in 1611. Tyndale gave his life fought even though Tyndale never saw the King James. Because he was put to death before James ever gave his edict to commence the translation into English in his day. But a lot of what we have in the King James, the wording came through Tyndale. And so he gave his life for it. The Lord blessed him. And even though he died, He left behind them a tremendous heritage and a tremendous legacy to our age and generation. This is the Bible that the Westleys preached to the multitudes. This is the Bible from which George Whitfield thundered forth the Word of the Lord. This is the Bible that Spurgeon expounded. This is the Bible used down to the centuries since the 17th to the 20th centuries by the mighty power of God. This is the Bible that God blessed in the revivals. Jonathan Edwards in New England used this Bible. In Ulster, my native country, two revivals, one in the 1700s and one in 1859. This Bible was the Bible that God blessed in the preaching of His own precious Word. The revival in Wales in 1904 was on this Bible here. And the revival in the Isle of Lewis in 1949 was focused on the King James Version of the Bible. God has blessed this Bible down through the centuries. A long time before Some of the modern translations can come anywhere near the usefulness of this Bible as blessed by Almighty God. But the Bible is under attack today, but thank God there are those who still hold fast to it. In November 79 we had a little poem in the back of the Revivalist Inn. Well, the old book stands. Will the old book stand when the higher critics state that grave errors are discovered on its page? Will it save the sinful soul? Will it make the wounded whole? Will its glorious truth abide from age to age? Will its message still abide when the scientists decide that its record of creation isn't true? Tell us the ascent of man is by evolution's plan. Will its principles the sinful heart renew? When in language wondrous fair the Christian scientists declare that there is no evil, only mortal mind, when mental treatment fails and seeming death prevails, may we in the Bible consolation find. When inferals parade the so-called mistakes which Moses made, when the truth of revelation they deny, Will the Ten Commandments still the demands of justice fill? Will its words support us when we come to die? Yes, the Word of God shall stand, though assailed in every hand. Its foundations are eternally secure. It will bear the critics' jest and the idle scoffers' jest. Its saving truth forever shall Endure. I thank God for His Word today. May the Lord help us to love it and to hold it close and not to allow anything to get our steadfastness away from this Bible and this translation that God is so blessed and that we have been so blessed by down through our lives. Let's bow together in prayer. Our loving Heavenly Father, we thank Thee tonight for the Old Book. We thank Thee, O God. We love its pages. We love its language. We love its message. But most of all, we love its God. And we love its Lord. And we love the Saviour that is presented to us in the page of Holy Writ. O God, help us, we pray as a people, ever to lift high the standard of the verbally inspired Word of God. And Father, we pray that Thou would continue to put Thy blessing upon it and the preaching of it in the salvation of many souls and the building up of Thy people. O God, hear this, our prayer, and bless us now, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.
King James Version
Sermon ID | 123040368 |
Duration | 1:01:35 |
Date | |
Category | Sunday - PM |
Bible Text | Psalm 138 |
Language | English |
© Copyright
2025 SermonAudio.