It has been in my heart for several weeks to teach a little mini-series on the inspiration, preservation, translation, the authority of our Bible. And everything that I am going to say tonight, I have already said numerous times. I'm well aware of that. There are some subjects, though, that are just so foundational, so fundamental, that they bear repeating again and I have taught this in Sunday school, I have preached this on Wednesday nights, I have A year or two ago, I taught a semester in Bible Institute. In fact, we even have a book back there in the library that I put together years ago on either jot or tittle that is the history of the English Bible. I recommend it to you very easily to read. So I want to take a few weeks. I don't know how many weeks. I don't have a title. So that's the reason why we don't have a slide or anything. I just want to fill this out as I go. But if there is anything tonight that I want our church to know, it is whether you have God's Word or not, and whether you can trust it. And is it without error? And do we need another translation? I want us to know that. And I know that we do know that. Some of you know this material so well tonight that you could teach this yourself. I am aware of that. Some of you have heard it. But you never really paid any attention to it. And you believe a King James Bible because that's what your church believes. That's what your parents believe. That's what your pastor believes. And that's good enough for you. And some of you may not even know what the big deal is. What does it really matter? You prefer the King James Bible, but you don't even know why. And I think it's important that you know why. Now I was thinking this afternoon that it seems like that ever so often, every decade or every 20 or 30 years, it seems like that old issues that have been fought and settled has a way of rising back up and has to be resettled, reaffirmed. It seems like that every generation of Christians has to fight their own battles and resettle old issues that an older guard has settled for themselves. In the last decade, at least the last decade, it seems like that I have seen more, and I deal just in the independent Baptist circle, alright? And it seems like that there's quite a few independent Baptists that have gone post-tribulation. Now pre-tribulationism, boy, that battle was fought years ago and it was settled and the lines are drawn and you either are or you are not. But now I'm seeing guys that now are adopting a post-trib position. There has been a revival of Calvinism that has come back. A lot of young guys, millennials coming out of Bible college now. And it's the guys that are the reading, the Chandlers and the Pipers and those guys. And so now, There's a need for there to be preaching on Calvinism and why we are not. And the same issue for the King James Bible. Back in the 80's, 90's, boy the battle lines were drawn. And you either are King James only, or your TR, or whatever you are. And it was just, you know, these are the camps, and you are what you are, and that's fine. But now, there's young guys coming out of Bible colleges now, and they're correcting it, and they're questioning it, and why is it a big deal? And so now, this generation has to, you've got to fight that battle again. And I don't believe in fighting, I don't believe in beating a dead horse. We have taught this. We have driven our stake in the ground. This is what we are. But if the issue is going to come back up, I'm going to face it head on. And I really want, I really want the line of demarcation to be drawn so clearly with Victory Baptist Church, that if we are known as fanatical about anything, I don't mind to be labeled as fanatical about the King James Bible. It is a position that I will not budge on. It is an absolute non-negotiable to me. And I don't mind, I don't mind that we take such a strong, adamant position on this, that if somebody is looking for a church or somebody moving from out of town, and if they're looking for a King James Version only church, then think about us. I am fine being known as that. The first thing that you have to establish tonight, and I really want to talk about authority, is whether you have the authority or whether God's Word is the authority. Who is the final authority? Now, none of us would ever claim to want to be the authority. But if you are able to make one correction to the Bible, just one, then you have the final say over the book. There's a statement that the Word of God is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice. That is in every doctrinal statement that you can find. But just because it's in the doctrinal statement doesn't mean that the church really believes that. I think that a lot of times there are doctrinal statements that are written, stuck on a church website, and nobody bothered to read it to see if we really believe this. I believe that I can show you from the Bible, that the Bible itself makes it the highest, most authoritative thing The earth I believe that now I'm gonna give you some I'm gonna give you some doctrinal statements that I pulled off the website Offer church websites and and I'll not give you the name of the churches that I pull this off You can find it on a thousand church websites. Well, I've been I want you to put the first Doctrinal statement up for me and I'll just read this doctrinal statement and I want it big I want it big so so everybody can read it. All right, so I don't know if you can make can we make that bigger bigger font and Can everybody, because it's very important that you read, I want to make it as big as I can. So here's what the statement says. We believe that the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are verbally inspired by God, are inherent in the original writings, are the Word of God, and the final authority in faith and conduct. If you'll pull that down, Ben, and then work on making that real big, if it's possible, alright? So there's a standard statement, and you can find it on a thousand Baptist church doctrinal statements. Southern Baptist, it doesn't matter. And here's what happens. Somebody wrote the statement, And a thousand churches copied it and put it on the website, and nobody bothered to read it. Now that statement, that statement right there, it's not only biblically inadequate, it is historically impossible, and it is grammatically incorrect. Alright? And you gotta read, you gotta read words is what you have to do. So here is the first problem that I have with this statement. We believe that the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are very well inspired by God, are inherent in the original writings. Are you aware tonight that the original writings do not exist? Right? You cannot show me one original, you know what an original is, right? You can't show me one original writing of the Scripture because they have all been destroyed. You cannot say the originals are anything. I'll tell you what they are. They're gone. That's the only thing that they are. Right? They are destroyed. They aren't anything. The Scriptures in the original writings are not anything except... You could say that they were inerrant in the original writings. But they are nothing right now. Alright? Because there were, but there are no inerrant original writings. Now, the Scriptures are verbally inspired by God, are inerrant in the original writings. According to that statement, you do not have a copy of the inspired, inerrant Scripture. If inspiration and inerrancy resides in the original writings, and if that is as far as it goes, then you may have something that is close, but you don't have the real thing. So I have a problem with that. Now the second problem that I have to have with the statement is the last statement. And the final authority in faith and conduct. Now what's the problem? It doesn't exist. If you say that the scriptures were in error in the original writings, and that's the final authority, but that thing doesn't exist anymore, then there is no final authority. Which is how a preacher can stand with a straight face, with a Bible in his hand and say, we believe that the Bible is the final authority, and then correct it in the next breath. He doesn't believe it. And how awfully convenient to holler about something being the final authority, and you can't find it. That's awfully convenient, isn't it? Now there's another website, another doctrinal statement. Again, I won't name the church, but there's all kinds of them. So if you put up the other statement for me. So here's another statement. We believe that the Bible is the inerrant, inspired Word of God, that it is our final authority in all matters of faith and practice. For reasons of textual reliability, we believe that God has reserved His Word for the English-speaking people in the King James Version of the Bible. Alright? Boy, we're getting real close. Boy, that's a lot better statement right there. A lot better statement. I still wish it would be a little bit stronger, but we're getting better. Here is the problem I have, alright? Here's the problem I have. The church that I pulled this statement off of, alright? This church that I pulled it off of, also has a video on their church's website of the gospel. Alright? So a preacher comes on and he gives the gospel in video form. However, on his website, on his church's website, the gospel is given by Jonathan Falwell, Liberty University. And all of the verses, I've watched it again today to make sure, all of the verses that they put up on that video presentation are of the New Living Translation. Okay? Now here's my problem. If you believe, if you believe that the inspired word of God is preserved in the English, in the King James Version of the Bible, then why are you showing verses in the New Living Translation on your website? Something's funny. Something's not computing for me. Alright? I've got a problem with that. Can you put up the other statement? Now this is a long one. A long one. This is on a lot of sites. Not the verse. Not the verse. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Alright. I'm going to read it and then you're going to turn with me. Here we go. We believe that the Bible is a veritably inspired and infallible authoritative word of God and that God gave the words of Scripture by inspiration without error in the original autographs, which nobody has, God promises that he will preserve his word. Jesus said, my word shall not pass away. Next screen. We believe that God has kept that promise by preserving his infallible word in the traditional Hebrew and Greek manuscripts that the authorized version KJV is an accurate English translation of the reserved word of God. Of course, I got all kinds of problems with that. All right. It is doctrinally correct. At least it is grammatically correct. They got that part, they say that God gave it by inspiration in the original autographs and they don't try to pull the wool over your eyes by claiming that it's inspired now when they don't believe that it is. The originals were inspired. The Hebrew and Greek manuscripts is where God has it now and you have an accurate copy. Right? But you can't read that statement and come away believing that you have God's inspired Word now. You have something that is close. I at least respect that they're honest in their statement. I at least expect that. By the way, if it is accurate, then maybe there's one that's a little bit more accurate. Right? Or maybe there's one that's just as accurate. If that's as far as we're going, that is accurate. Now, when you take the position that I take, Can you get accused of worshipping the Bible? We ought to make more King Jesus than we do King James. And I don't know if you've been in our house, but in our living room, we have a shrine to the King James Bible. We have it on a pedestal right there, and there's a little rug that we bow down, and we have candles and we burn incense to it, and we bow and we put... Dad gave me a book last year. He thought I'd be interested in reading. He picked it up at a bookstore. Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals. Okay, so I got a copy of it. I haven't read it. Rule number five. Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals is Ridicule is the most potent weapon. So if you can't answer the arguments, then you just say, well, they're Rachmanites. Or they worship the King James Bible. Whatever it might be. Label me anything you want to label me. Come look at my shrine to the King James Bible, whatever, all right? But I'm going to tell you, the Bible, the Bible itself, makes a lot about the Bible. Now, let's just go to Philippians chapter 2. We'll come to Psalm 12 in a minute. Look at Philippians chapter 2 tonight. In Philippians chapter 2, look if you would, in verse number 5. Paul's writing. He says, look this mine being you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Now watch this. Wherefore, God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth." God Almighty has given His Son Jesus Christ a name that is exalted above every other name. There is great emphasis placed on the name of Jesus Christ. No name that is higher than that name. Alright? Psalm 138. Psalm 138. High name. No name higher. No name greater than that name, Jesus Christ. Psalm 138, look if you would, in verse number 1. 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." His name is exalted above every name, but God has exalted the Word above His name. Ain't nothing higher than His Word. I'll just show you a couple of verses. Do you have the English Standard Version? That's a popular one now. So here's what the ESV does to Psalm 138, 1 and 2. I bow down towards your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness. Now watch this. For you have exalted above all things your name and your word. You know what you call that? You call that a competing authority. Two authorities that are elevated equally. So if you don't like what one says, then you can appeal to the other. So when the preacher says, well, the Bible says, you can say, well, I just believe that the Lord would have us to... I'm going to tell you something. People pit the Bible against Jesus all the time. I know the Bible says that sodomy is a sin, but I believe that the Jesus that I've invented in my heart, He doesn't want us to judge people. We should just love one another. Jesus spoke to me, and I don't really care what the Bible says, because you have a competing authority is what you have. Right? That's a dual authority. Now, when we talk about the Bible, We used to talk about revelation, inspiration, preservation. That's the process of how we got it. I want to start tonight with the promise. What I believe about the Bible, I got from the Bible. And I want you to go to Psalm chapter 12 tonight. Psalm chapter 12. And I know you've seen these verses. It's good to look at it again. But look if you want in Psalm chapter 12. And in Psalm chapter 12 there's a stark contrast between the words of man and the words of God. If you look at verse number one. Help Lord for the godly man ceases for the faithful fell from among the children of men. They speak vanity everyone with his neighbor with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things. Who have said with our tongue will we prevail. Our lips are our own, who is Lord over us. So it's the words of man. And man's words are full of vanity and flattering and a double heart and a pride. Look at verse number six. In contrast, the words of the Lord are pure words. As silver tried in a furnace of earth, Purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord. Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. God's words are pure words. The pure words. The words of the Lord are pure. The definition of pure is not mixed or adulterated with any substance or other material. You cannot have something that is 99% pure. If it is pure, There is no impurity in it. If there's one mistake in it, then it is not pure. Now watch this verse right here, all right? And we'll see if we can choke some of you. Verse 6. The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven times. Now, that's an interesting statement, isn't it? And that's good for a college professor who doesn't believe the Bible. Does it believe that there's a pure Word of God on earth? The Word of God is pure, but it gets increasingly purer as it is put to the test. Now, that doesn't mean that it gets corrected. It doesn't mean that it gets fixed. It doesn't mean that it gets all the mistakes worked out of it. No, it is pure to begin with. But the Word of God is the only thing on earth that you will discover is more pure than what you thought, the more that it is put to the test. You will discover it is more truthful, it is more faithful, it is more correct than you thought going into this thing. I'm going to tell you, every time that I study this subject and come back to the study, I come away believing it even more stronger than what I believed before. Look at verse number 7. Verse number 7 says, Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. Now, that is a promise that God will preserve His pure words from that generation forever. Now, if you're a Bible denier, you're going to have to fix that. That's not going to work. See, here's what the critic does to that verse. They change it to refer to people, not words. If you notice in verse number 1 he talks about the godly man. In verse number 5 he talks about the oppression of the poor and the needy. So really what's happening is that God is promising to preserve the godly man and the poor. That gets away with the pesky promise of pure words being preserved forever. Do you have the NIV on there? Do you have the NIV? It's Ben's favorite translation. Here's how the NIV reads. Kidding. And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver refined in a furnace of clay, purified seven times. Oh Lord, thou wilt keep us safe and protect us from such people. See how they changed that? We have the New Living Translation. New Living Translation. The Lord's promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over. Therefore, Lord, we know you will protect the oppressed. Back to verse 5. Preserving them forever in this fine generation. So there you go. How nifty! You get away with the promise of preserving pure words from that generation forever. One problem. One problem. If that's what it's talking about, it's a lie. There is not one godly person that was living in David's day that's still living. Not one of them has been preserved under this generation. So if that's telling you that it's going to preserve, then it's a lie. Huh? The verse is telling you that God gave His pure words. That word would be more pure to you the more that it is tried. And He promised that He would preserve it forever. Forever. Look at Psalm chapter 19. Psalm chapter 19. Look at verse number 7. Psalm 19 and verse 7. The law of the Lord is perfect. Perfect. I don't do well in other languages, I do real well in English. It is perfect. So the other night, Jennifer and I and Parker went over to Pensacola Christian Academy to watch Joseph play basketball. Got there on an off night, I understand, but that's fine. But anyway, we watched this basketball game. Now, suppose, suppose that we had gone over to watch this basketball game, and PCA is playing Gulf Breeze, and suppose that when the, is it the Warriors? The Warriors? Weren't very warrior like that. But anyway, suppose when they come out to play, And they play these four quarters, and let's suppose, let's suppose, that Joseph's team, Joseph's team, plays the entire game with no turnovers. None. None. And suppose, now Jacob, don't laugh at this, alright? No turnovers. And suppose, suppose, that every time they're on the defense, they get every single defensive board rebound. Get every single one of them. And let's suppose, let's suppose that when they drive the basketball, that they hit every single shot that they make. Every single shot. I mean, Joseph does 17 of 17, 6 of 6 from the 3 point line. I mean, they play. And they play the entire game. They don't turn the ball over one time. They get every defensive rebound. They go 40 for 40 shooting the basketball, but in the last minute of the game, one of their players gets fouled. He's got two free throws. And he makes the first one, and he misses the second one. That's a good game. Good game. And the coach gets them in the locker room. Man, they're whooping and hollering and they're all excited. And the coach says, man, you played a perfect game tonight. No, you didn't. It wasn't perfect. Am I right? Oh, really, really close. Really close. But it's not perfect. If there is one mistake, if there is one word that can be better translated, if there is one word that should have been, It is not perfect. And most pastors and college professors indeed believe that it was perfect, but it's not the perfect Word of God now. There are seven adjectives in Psalm 19 given to the Scripture. It is perfect, it is sure, it is right, it is pure, it is clean, it is true, it is righteous. They are all of that now. There's not a past tense verb in the entire passage. Look at Proverbs chapter 30 tonight. Proverbs chapter 30. Proverbs chapter 30, look at verse number 5. Every word of God is pure. He is a shield unto them that put their trust in Him. Add thou not unto His words, lest He reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. There is not an impure, incorrect, inadequate, insufficient single word in the Word of God. It is right now pure. The only question is, do you have a copy of it? Where is it at? One more, Matthew chapter 24. Matthew chapter 24, and I may do this one day. Matthew 24, verse 35, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. Here's what I've read to you. I've read to you where God promised to preserve his word for every generation that it is perfect, it is pure, and that heaven and earth will pass away before God's word passes away. Tell you what you do. Go to Lifeway Christian Bookstore. And ask the clerk, ask the clerk, hey, I read somewhere where God promised to preserve His pure words for every generation and that they will never pass away. Could you point to me one of these Bibles that has the pure, where did God end? Well, He'll swallow his teeth. He can't do it. Here's what He'll do. With a straight face, He'll show you 30 popular versions and translations, none of them are the same, and they're all supposed to be the Word of God. Huh? And ask Him, is this the pure? Is this the one? Absolutely nowhere. It's not a single impure word. He'll have to admit that it's not, because He doesn't believe that it exists. Now, I'm going to get to a lot of stuff, not all of it tonight, and I want to make this so simple that even I can understand it. And I'm going to answer some objections as we go along, give a little bit of history, talk about some manuscripts. But let's wade into the biggie tonight. Let's just wade into the biggie, the original manuscripts. Because if I don't have a perfect Bible now, then the safe retreat is to rant about the original manuscripts because they don't exist. So what about the original manuscripts? Can you put that first statement up, the first doctrinal statement, I give it to you again. Alright, here is the first statement. We believe that the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are reverently inspired by God, are inherent in the original writings. Alright? You know what an original writing is, right? That is the first time that a man inspired of God wrote down what God gave him. When David picked up a quill, and he began to write, That is the original, right? And as I've already said, that the common mantra is that it is the originals that are inspired and inerrant and you can never get as good as the original. Of course the problem is there are no originals. So when you hear a college professor talk about the originals, he's talking about something that hasn't existed for thousands of years. So how can something that does not exist be your authority. So what about the originals? Take your Bible, go to Exodus chapter 31 tonight. If you're still with me, say Amen. Exodus chapter 31 and let's pick up verse number 18, last verse. I'll show you the original. Exodus 31 and verse 18, And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God. You cannot get any more original than that. God wrote those commandments with His finger on the tables of stone. If you're going to revere originals, that would be some originals to revere, right? I would love to see a library and see those originals so I wonder what happened to the originals well look at chapter 32 and verse 15 And Moses turned and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand. The tables were written on both their sides. On the one side and on the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. Verse number 19, And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing, and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast... Moses! He cast the tables! out of his hands and he breaks them beneath the mount. There went the originals. There they were. And I doubt that God said, Moses, Moses, what have you done? How am I going to remember everything that I said to you? How am I going to get my words back? If you lose the originals, how am I going to know what I said? I don't think so. Look at chapter 34. Chapter 34, verse number 1. And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone, like unto the first, and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables which thou breakest. Chapter 35, chapter 35 verse 1, Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together and said unto him, now watch this, these are the words which the Lord hath commanded that ye should do them." Moses is instructed, go get you two more tables of stone, only this time, you're going to have to do the writing. Moses has to engrave it. Not one single person in Israel, except Moses, ever saw the originals of the law. But every one of them, their life depended on keeping the words of the copy. The original manuscript didn't last but about a day. But it didn't matter. Because the copy was just as much as God's Word as the original. The copy was just as inspired as the original. Look at Jeremiah chapter 36 tonight. Jeremiah chapter 36. Jeremiah 36, we'll read a few verses here. Jeremiah 36, verse number 1. It came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiachin, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day that I have spoken unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day. Verse 4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch I, the son of Nehemiah, and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord, which is spoken unto him upon a roll of a book. Great verse on the process of inspiration. We'll not deal with that. But look at verse number 20. And they went into the king, into the courts, but they laid up the roll in the chamber of Eliashema, the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of the king. So Jeremiah is told to write down all of the words that the Lord has spoken to them in a scroll. Jeremiah has a scribe named Baruchi working for him. Baruchi actually pens the words of the book. The princes read it, and they decide to go tell the king what the book says. But they don't take the book into the king. They just go in and they just tell him what it says. So, verse number 21. So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll and he took it out of Eliashim, the scribe's chamber. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king and in the ears of all the princes which stood before the king. So the king, Jehoiakim, he hears what is written. He says, go get the book. I want to see this for myself. So they bring the book in and they read the prophecies of Jeremiah. So in verse 22, Now the king sat in the winter house in the ninth month, there was a fire on the hearth burning before him. It came to pass that a Jew who I had read three or four leads, he cut it with the penknife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the heart. He doesn't like what he reads, so Jehudi takes a knife out of his pocket and he starts cutting pages out of it and throwing it into the fire. That is an original manuscript that's being destroyed. There they go. Now if originals, if it's just inspiration and heresy in the originals, they're gone. Years ago, when I was young and brash, I preached a message about King Jehoiman, this whole passage. I don't know if I'd ever do this again. This is something that Brother Eric would do. All right. But I remember I got up one time and I preached the message. And some of you may remember this. I preached against everything that I was against and not tithing, not coming to church and everything. And I brought I brought, I think, an NIV up to the pulpit with me. And nobody didn't know that it was NIV. And I would preach a verse like Hebrews 10 25, not forsaken sin of ourselves together. You don't believe that verse because you miss church and go on vacation and go to church and I preach against that. And really you would be better if that verse wasn't in your Bible. And I picked up the Bible and just ripped it up. I was ripping it out of an NIV, but nobody knew. I think we had four heart attacks in the church that week. The original is gone. How will we ever know what was written in the original? Look down at verse number 27. Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after that the king had burned the roll and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah saying, take thee again another roll and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll which Ahoy come the king of Judah hath burned. Get you another roll and make a copy. And I'll tell you all the words to write. In fact, I think that sometimes God just puts things in a Bible intentionally just to mess with scholars. You know what you believe, I'm going to mess you up. So look at what he says in verse 32. Then to Jeremiah another wrote, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim, king of Judah, had burned in the fire. And there were added besides unto them many like words. I just read it, that's all I said. The originals don't exist. But God can tell Jeremiah exactly what He said the first time. He can inspire the copy just as surely as He inspired the original. He can preserve His words even if the actual role has been destroyed. In fact, this time God says, add some words. They didn't like what we said in the first 36 chapters. Let's give them some more not to like and reject. God can do what He wants to. Look at Jeremiah chapter 51. Jeremiah 51. Jeremiah 51, verse 59, the word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Sariah, the son of Neriah, the son of Messiah, whom he went with Zedekiah, the king of Judah, into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. verse 60 Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon even all these words that are written against Babylon and Jeremiah said to Sariah when thou comest to Babylon and shalt see and shalt read all these words then thou shalt say O Lord thou has spoken against this place to cut it off that none shall remain in it and it neither man nor beast but that it shall be desolate forever and it shall be when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, and thou shalt say, thus shalt Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that thou would bring upon her, and they shall be weary, thus far are the words of Jeremiah." He writes all of these words in a book, everything that God told him, everything that you're reading right now, the originals are destroyed, God gives it to him again, God adds some prophecies to it. Jeremiah gives it to this man, Saraiah, who goes into the captivity in Babylon. He says, when you get there, he said, read this to the captives of Babylon, and then tie a rock around this book to weight it down, and go throw it in the Euphrates River. And that's a sign that Babylon is going to sink one day. So now you have the original, and now you have the first copy, and they're both God. Do you have any doubt tonight? that the book of Jeremiah sitting in your lap is the inspired Word of God. Have any doubt? Not at all. And when a college professor stands up in front of a ministerial class and starts talking about the originals, he's placing emphasis on something the Bible doesn't emphasize. Jesus quotes from the Old Testament. Not one time does he ever refer to original manuscripts. He didn't have original manuscripts. never one time referred to them. The word scripture, the word scripture over 70 times in the Bible, not one time does it refer to original manuscripts. It always refers to copies. Well, well, that's fine preacher, but all that you have is a translation. That's all that we have. And a translation can never be as good as the originals. And over the years of listening and study. You learn to listen to words. Most preachers are not going to come right out and say that I don't believe that the King James Bible is the perfect word of God. So they have to hide what they truly believe. The Bible is God's word. The Bible is inspired scripture. The Bible is inerrant. The Bible is infallible. Which Bible? What Bible are you talking about? Talking about the one I got? What Bible? So you've got to nail it down. And when you nail it down, the truth comes out. And here is the truth. That what we have is a translation. It is best, it is accurate, it is reliable, it is certainly what we prefer. But you can never say that a translation is inspired because we don't believe in double inspiration. So a translation can never be as good as the originals or ancient manuscripts. If you are reading anything tonight besides Greek and Hebrew, you have a translation. Well, it's good or bad, but our Bible is written in the Greek language, written in the Hebrew language, so anything else is a translation. That original language has been translated into other languages, and so the Bible is just a translation. But can a translation have inspiration and authority? And remember rule number five, ridicule is the most potent of weapons. So they say, well, we believe in double inspiration. Here's what double inspiration means defined by the critic. It means that God breathed on the translators just like he did the original writers and that God gave the King James Bible a new breath of inspiration. But here's what you have to do. You have to ignore the critic. And do not let him define your position and go to the Bible for what the Bible says about translations. Now stay with me tonight. Stay with me. Anybody with me? Genesis 42. Genesis 42. I want to just nail this down and then we'll talk about history and manuscript evidences and Vaticanus and all the exciting stuff. Genesis 42, Joseph's brethren come to Egypt, they have this conversation, they don't know it's Joseph, they don't recognize him, don't realize who it is. Joseph speaks to them in the Egyptian language, probably to conceal his identity to them. He has a translator that translates to them in the Hebrew tongue. Verse 23, And they knew not that Joseph understood them, for he spake unto them by an interpreter. Now, a translation is never word for word because of the differences in any two languages, alright? When Moses wrote it down, he didn't give you what Joseph originally said in the Egyptian language. Moses wrote the book of Genesis in Hebrew. So when he wrote it, he wrote the Hebrew interpretation. Nowhere do you have what Joseph originally said All that you have is a translation of what he said. Understand? That translation is inspired. Is just the original that Joseph spoke, or is the translation that Moses wrote in Hebrew inspired? If what Moses wrote is inspired, it is an inspired translation. I'll show you one more, Acts chapter 21. We'll skip Exodus 4, go to Acts 21. Acts 21, same situation, verse 40. Paul. Acts 21, verse 40. When he had given him license, Paul stood on the stairs, beckoned with a hand to the people, and when there was made a great silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue, saying, 22 verse 20. When they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence. Paul has caused an uproar in Jerusalem. They've thrown him in prison. He speaks in his own defense. He's speaking to a largely Jewish crowd. The Jews desperately are trying to hang on to their Hebrew language. So he speaks to them in the Hebrew language. Luke, by the way, is the author of the book of Acts. We owe it to Luke for the record that we have of what Paul said. But when Luke wrote the book of Acts, he didn't write it in Hebrew. He wrote it in the Greek language. So Luke took Paul's testimony and he translated it for the book of Acts. And you have to ask yourself, is Paul's original words Is that what's inspired? Or is Luke's translation of those words inspired? If Acts 22 is inspired, it is an inspired translation. So don't tell me that a translation cannot be inspired. I don't know one person, there may be, I don't know one person who believes that God wrote a new Bible in 1611. I do not believe that God breathed out new revelations, new doctrines, new truths, new words, new inspiration in 1611. But if your translation is not inspired, it's not scripture. Here's why. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. If it is scripture, then it has to be inspired. There is no such thing as uninspired scripture. No such thing. Because all scripture is given by inspiration of God. The translation, I believe, that has been perfectly preserved by God and bears the same inspiration as the original autographs and it is not inferior to the original. I'll take it one step farther tonight and I'll stop. 2 Samuel chapter 3. 2 Samuel chapter 3. 2 Samuel 3 and verse number 9. So do God to Abner and Mor also. except as the Lord hath sworn to David, even as I do to him, to translate the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan, even to Beersheba." The first time that the word translate shows up in your Bible is in 2 Samuel chapter 3. And it is talking about translating the kingdom of Saul to the kingdom of David. That's the first translation in the Bible. Would you agree with me tonight that David's kingdom was better than Saul's kingdom? Not sure. I think it was. David's kingdom was better than Saul's kingdom. The kingdom that it was translated into was superior to the first kingdom. The translation was better than the first kingdom. Colossians chapter 1 here's a second time second time the word only shows up three times Colossians chapter 1 Colossians 1 and verse number 12 giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son let's talk about your salvation It's talking about how you were translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of Jesus Christ. By the way, are you better off now that you've been translated into the new kingdom, or were you better off in the old? In this passage, the translation is better than the original. When you hear somebody say that the translation can never be as good as the original, here's the translation that is. show you one more Hebrews chapter 11 now don't assume anything that I believe you stay right here stay right here Hebrews 11 look at verse number 5 here's the third and last time by faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him for before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God his translation is from earth to heaven no question better in the translation than it was down here no question So I said, all right, all right. Is the English superior to the Greek and Hebrew? How is the translation superior to the original? I want you to listen very closely. I don't want you to misunderstand. All right. Now, it does not mean that there are mistakes in the original autographs that are corrected in the translation. Absolutely not. Those are pure words, pure words. It does not mean that God inspired new words and new revelation to the translators that were not in the originals. No, the King James Bible is a translation. It's not a new Bible. It's a translation. It does not mean that there were inferior Greek and Hebrew manuscripts and that the Word of God had been lost and has to be recovered in the translation. God never lost His Word. That Word was always in that body. Manuscripts will talk about it. It does not mean that the King James Bible is advanced revelation that had not been given to the original writers. It does not mean that we have a better Bible than what Jesus had in his hand. Oh no, he's got the pure words of God. But are you aware that all of the original manuscripts were never collated into one single book? There has never been a single volume ever that contained the entire scripture in the original writings. Or in the original writings. It never existed in one body. By the way, you can put that down. We're tired of looking at it. And did you know that if all of them had been put together in one volume, you'd have had to learn three languages to read it? Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. And if all of the originals were all collated into one volume, Only one person could read it at a time. There's only one original. Did you know there were no chapter and verse divisions? Did you know that there are manuscripts called maguscule manuscripts where all of the letters are in capital letters, block letters, and there are no spaces and no punctuation? I'll show you an example of it here next week or sometime, and there's all caps, no space in between the words, and just straight letters. Boy, how hard would that be? But God took those original words with no care that the original manuscripts be preserved. And he kept those words down through the centuries from the scribes that copied them in the temple, from the Masoretes who produced that Masoretic text, to the translations in Latin and Syria, from the thousands of fragments and manuscripts and dictionaries and readings and all of that, through a multitude of language translations, through seven English translations from Tyndale and Erasmus and all of that, and finally to a King James Bible. It is a translation. It is the exact same words that the writers penned down, translated into the king of languages. And I have the original Word of God, but I believe that I have it in a language that is better than Hebrew, or Greek, or Latin, or German. And all 66 books are in one volume, and I don't have to learn three languages to read it. And it's divided into paragraphs, and into verses, and chapters, and edits. And I can study it, and I can find a text, and I can search it. And the translation is better, not because it is better words, not because it is new words, not because there was something wrong with the originals. It's better because I can use it. And I refuse to let someone tell me that all I have is a translation. No. I have God's inspired, inherent Word in a perfect and a pure translation. That's what I believe. That's what I believe. I believe if you give me time, I believe I can demonstrate that historically. I believe we can do verse comparisons. We'll have a lot of fun with it. And I'm looking forward to it. We'll talk about how we get into it. Talk a little history. Talk a little manuscript evidence. A little bit of this and a little bit of that. We won't get wonky. We won't get nuanced. We won't do that. But is there any evidence to back it up? I believe there is. Aren't you grateful for a Bible tonight? And a Bible that you can trust. Absolutely trust it. And here's what I realize. Ten years ago, you preached this. But in the course of five, ten years, so many people come into a church, people come and go. Young people grow up. And here's what I sometimes think, Brother Jason, naively. That everything that I preach, people listen intently and they remember it for the rest of their lives. So Sunday, I preached a message from the life of Hannah. I preached it here before in 2010. And some people didn't even remember it. And I can't believe. I preached a message as great as that. Some people don't even remember it. But we have young people that grow up and they hear King James, King James, King James, King James. And they're going to go away to a Bible college. They're going to go away somewhere. Somewhere. And some professor, some preacher, somebody on the job, they're going to try to shake their stance, their position in this. Every doctrine that I believe tonight, I got out of this book. Everything I believe. What I believe about the deity of Christ, blood, atonement, salvation. Everything I believe, I believe out of this. So if you destroy this, I don't have anything to stand on. That is my final...