Well, rather than continuing what we're doing this morning, I thought I'd just do what I figured I'd do. We continue what we're doing this morning, I guess, next week. But, so I want to talk more about modern Bible corruptions, preservation of God's word, or, let's see, the men out back, those men behind the curtain, I think they entitled the sermon, The Cancer of Modern Bibles. I guess this would be The Cancer of Modern Bibles Part four, is that right? Is that true? I got that right? Okay, maybe so. Probably is. Let's take a look at Psalm 11. Maybe this is a little bit of an eclectic argument, but that's okay. You ever read some of the epistles? They can seem a little bit eclectic. It's like a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, and a little bit of this, and a little bit of that. When it's all done, it's all good. It doesn't always have to be systematic, you see. But maybe there's a little bit of system in this, I think. But Psalm 11, get there myself. Well, verse three, which is a verse most Christians are familiar with, if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? Good question. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? Now, this is a Psalm of David, and we should see verse three in its context. Apparently, by reading the psalm, David has some people giving him advice. And David's advisors seem to be pleading with David. David, it's time to get out of Dodge. Flee David! And flee the evil that is about you. Flee the wickedness of this present moment. And keep yourself secure, and I think these men had David's best interest in heart, and that's why they're saying these things. And it may be that the situation here is with King Saul. Don't really know, but that's certainly a very strong possibility. But not just King Saul, but what the nation was also becoming under King Saul. Saul wanted him dead. So I can understand these men advising David the way they did. We understand that, we start right in the first verse here. David says, in the Lord put I my trust. How say ye to my soul? Flee as a bird to your mountain. So see, now that's where we can understand, okay, David's responding to somebody. We don't know who these advisors are. But they're saying to David, flee as a bird to your mountain. And David's saying, in the Lord put I my trust. How say ye to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain? And again, I think these men had David's interest in heart. And I don't think they were his enemies, they were his advisors. And then David continues, for lo, the wicked bend their bow, They make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright and haught. Now, whether or not this is David continuing to speak or his advisers, well, you can look at it either way in a sense. Hard to tell, but for lo, the wicked, this is the condition that has existed, which is maybe why they were saying, flee as a bird to your mountain. Get out of here, David. What are you doing? For lo, the wicked bend their bow. They make ready their arrow upon the string that they may privilege shoot at the upright in the heart. And that means, David, the bull's eyes on you. The foundations be destroyed. What can the righteous do? This is the crux of their argument to David. The foundations be destroyed. David, you can't do anything. If this is about Saul, David, Saul's the king. You've pleaded with him, you've served him honorably, but when he goes insane, it seems like there's nothing you can do. You can't play the harp 24-7. And appease that brute beast. David, it's gotten to the breaking point. The king, he's the king. The nation will rise and fall with the king. The king has become an apostate. He wants to murder you. David, if the foundations are destroyed, what can you, the righteous, do? He's the king. And we know you won't touch the Lord's anointed. Now you can see this is, it's wise and good and friendly and honorable counsel. And we understand that. I think it's coming from good friends or advisors. The foundations be destroyed if society is not what it ought to be anymore. If the government can't be trusted. If the principles of truth and justice have been thrown to the ground. if honor and integrity is just shuttled to the side. And now the one who's at the top of the heap wants you, David. What can the righteous do? God can't hold you responsible. Get yourself safe and flee as a bird to your mountain. Evil abounded and the wicked prospered and they ruled. And the righteous were persecuted, like David. They call good evil, evil good. His counsels are saying, David, you've done everything you can. Saul is the king, you can't stop him. The time has come to flee to safety. And David's reply, in a sense, we see it in verse one, in the Lord put I my trust. So understanding that, gentlemen, How is it you say to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain? Because my trust is in the Lord, which is very noble of David, and filled with faith. So it's a great thing that David's saying. And these men are trying to help David, and I think they're good men. But David's saying, look, I put my trust in the Lord. Why do you say to me, flee? David was a great man of faith. And we see David's reply in verse four as well. The Lord is in his holy temple. You tell me to flee. You say if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? Well, this is David's answer. The Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes behold. His eyelids try the children of men. The Lord tryeth the righteous. You know, I can have tribulation. Does that mean I have to run away? God sees me. The Lord trieth the righteous, but the wicked, and him that loveth violence, his soul hateth. Not his soul loves them less. I get the Evangelical Badge Preacher of the Year Award when I say that. Well, they all say that. No, it doesn't mean he loves them less. Remember that magazine they slid under the door when I was 16 years old and I was on the loading dock? It was glossy, about that thick. The paper was like a National Geographic with all children, little children being abused. That was in the 70s. I didn't even know it existed. I was pretty naive. I was 16. And it wasn't talked about. When I saw that. The world became a lot darker. And I said to my boss, let's show this to the store manager. No, get rid of it. Just get it. Let me take that. He takes it. He goes, I'm going to go put it out in the bin where the trash guy comes. I didn't understand. Well, why don't you bring it? Call the cops. Do something. The foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? The Lord trieth the righteous. Verse 5, with the wicked in him that loveth violence, his soul aheadeth. You know, I don't even want to really talk about that, but what I saw, you know, if you see like a six-year-old in a position that you didn't think was imaginable, you said, that's somebody's kid. God hates their souls. He doesn't love them less. If you were that kid's parent, you'd understand. But until you come to the real world, you don't understand. We're holier than thou. And I say, hey, just go with what the Bible says. You're gonna find out it's true sooner or later. Well, God hates these men. Verse six, upon the wicked he shall rain snares. Those aren't bouquets of flowers he's sending down. fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest. This shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness. His countenance doth behold the upright. So why do you say to me and to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain? Yes, I know the wicked bend their bow. I know they privilege shoot at the upright in the heart. And I understand your argument. If the foundations be destroyed, what's left? It's time to leave. Of course, I can't talk about that with saying, well, isn't there a little bit of application to ourselves and our own culture? Yeah, there is. Seems like to me, we're in the same situation in America. Well, it's a global disease. Maybe it's time for us to flee. You know, fleeing isn't wrong, because you know what? In the end, what did David have to do? He had to flee. He had to flee. He had to run away from Saul. So these men weren't given bad advice. It's a matter of timing. And David's faith was very strong. Maybe he's going to stick it out longer than most would. But in the end, the Lord's saying, now you got to get out in this part of my plan. And he did, see? So let's not look down at their advice. But David's being strong in his faith. And we might want to flee. Well, where do we go? The world has been shrunk down to this big due to technology. To what place do we flee? I know. Christ. Well, he is the opiate of the people. No, he's not a drug. He's the answer. Drug is no answer. You can numb your pain by getting high until it kills you. That's not what God does to his people. That's not a drug. It's medicine. He's medicine. He's the great physician. But I'm not here tonight to talk about America's problems, and the world's evil, and America's anti-Christian revolution that we're all going through, and how to fight it, a worthy subject. But instead, my subject is on Bible inspiration and preservation, and the corruption that we can see in modern Bibles. So I'm interested in the principle of verse three, because it's a sound principle. If the foundations be destroyed, What can the righteous do? So like I said, in the end, David had to flee because he wasn't gonna touch the Lord's anointed, but Saul was the king, he had to. There's only so many times you have to dodge a javelin when you realize it's time to get out of dodge, right? David's counselors were not wrong. But when the time was made plain to David, he followed their counsel, you see. So when the foundations are destroyed, injustice and lawlessness prevails, and there is no recourse for the faithful because the foundations have been destroyed. That makes it a dangerous place. That's why people will move out of a bad neighborhood with all the violence and say, we got to get someplace safer for our children if they have the means to do so. Are they wrong? Is that lacking faith? No. Isn't it just prudence if you have the capacity to do that? Of course it is. Is there any justice for the January 6 protesters as they rot in jail, grandmothers and grandfathers? No. This is payback time. And guess who's paying? Just common, regular, average people. It was an insurrection. It was a protest to get out of control. You want insurrection? We went through that, and we just wouldn't do anything. We can burn cops' cars, take over police stations, carry our Marxist flags, call for revolution. It's OK. But these people were to go. peacefully and patriotically protest, there's always going to be some wahoos that go a little bit beyond. Then all of them are guilty of sedition and the desire to overthrow the nation. It's a lie, and everybody knows it. Where is the justice for those people? And by the way, the lawyers are saying they're being tortured in American jails. Tortured? When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? They can't do much. They're still there, brethren. One guy hung himself. He didn't break anything, didn't take anything. He walked between the ropes. And he looked like a younger guy. I've seen his picture. He may have been in his late 30s, middle 30s, I don't know. But every picture they showed of him, he was just a smiling, chipper kind of guy. He looked like a super friendly guy. And every picture, he was very photogenic. And they were dragging things out. And he had a family and children. And he'd been in there for years at this point. They said, well, if you confess guilt, then they'll let you out. I can't confess guilt. But there's no other way out. But he was at the breaking point now, because his family, there's no income. He's got children. I'll do it. So he confessed it. And after they confessed it, he confessed it. The state turns around. The government turns around and says, oh, we're adding additional charges. So you're going to have to do another four years or something. He went and hung himself. The American gulags. When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? They don't run the show. Is there any justice for these parents that say, we don't want our children learning this garbage? from these perverts and convincing children before they even reach puberty to mutilate their bodies and you'll be cool. And this is, you know who this appeals to? People with children with emotional emotional issues, problems, psychological problems that there's some kind of issues they have and they'll do whatever it takes to feel better and they go with it and they are not qualified to be making these decisions and our government is just flaunting it in the face of parents. We'll do as we want to do and sit down and shut up. The foundations are destroyed. What can the righteous do? Apparently nothing. How about Laura Biden, taxpaying American citizens? Secretary of Homeland Security, Mayorkas. I was standing in the line at the airport when we went to Florida last time. We're in the thing, and we're going, you know, shuffling around with our, about to, you know, boarding the suitcases, and it's zigzag, zigzag, like gerbils on a wheel. And as we're going through, we're all shoulder to shoulder, and they get all these TVs set up, and there's my orcas! I'm like, I said, that guy, and there's people around me, I'm saying, Paul, that guy, what's he there for? I'm kind of, Speaking to be heard like, well, I'll let people know, you know. Mayorkas, who is a liar like the President of the United States of America? He opens up the borders wide to the existential peril of the survival of our nation. You think that's an exaggeration? Give it time. I don't think you have to wait to see that that's a very real possibility. Illinois just passed a bill, HB 3751. You probably heard about it on the news. Well, depending on what channel you listen to, maybe you didn't. But the Democrat governor just signed it into law last week for Illinois that non-citizen immigrants can become police officers. Oh, but a lot of these are children that came across the border illegally, but they're under DACA that Obama put in, and they have a two-year probation, and the decision has to be made whether they get deported, and that's been deferred for two years. And while they're deferred from whether or not they should be deported because they're here illegally, let's make them police officers, give them guns, and they can arrest American citizens who pay their taxes. The foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? They don't listen to the people. Is there any justice for the former president of the United States? I mean, really, four indictments at this point? If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? Well, there's all sorts of ways to apply that principle. But I think even more profoundly than anything I've just said, I think there's an application of that principle to the present attack on the credibility and trustworthiness of God's word by the intellectuals who are trying to tell us what is God's word and what is not 2,000 years out. And we must accept that principle because they're scholars. Well, Fauci's an expert, too. Is anyone going to give him a badge of morality to put on his chest? No, sir. The contention of the higher critics and even lower critics. You know, I talked about higher criticism, lower criticism. But there's certain avenues of even lower criticism, or they call it sometimes textual criticism. There's some aspects of that that are not kosher. There's room for some of it, but all the liberties they're taking and the principles we must embrace to follow, they're now new rules for us. Their contention is, look, really can't be sure which parts of the Bible are really the Bible. There's parts that we think, and we've already taken them out. And there may be some more parts tomorrow, because there's always new discoveries. They tell us. And these new discoveries force us to this conclusion. Trust us. Well, I don't accept the principle. I believe it to be an assault on God's word because of what God's word says about his word. And to me, that's evidence number one, two, and three. Okay? Go to Mark chapter seven. Mark seven. And I'm interested, for what we're talking about here, in verse 13, making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered, and many such like things do ye. Well, let's look at the context of this for a moment, so I want you to see that. Jump back to verse five. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashing hands? Now, it's not that the disciples were, you know, digging in the garden and they just started eating their ham sandwiches with dirt underneath their fingernails. That's not what's happening. This is about ceremonial washings that they invented, that did not come from the law of Moses. How come they don't go through these ceremonies that we've come up with and it's been our tradition to do it? How come your disciples don't follow our traditions? Now, Jesus, he answers, he answered and said unto them, well, hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites? As it is written, this people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. So there are people that honor Christ with their lips. They give testimonies. Testimonies sound orthodox, faithful, and true. But their heart is far from him. I don't think we want to believe that anymore. It was true then. What, you think the world has changed? You think people have changed? No, they haven't changed. Their heart is far from me. How be it in vain. Where is she? In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. See, rather than being concerned with what God has taught, they've come up with their rules, and so they worship God in vain through the imposition of their own inventions in the worship of God. For laying aside the commandments of God, Jesus says, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups and many other such like things ye do. We've got some new traditions in the Christian community, too. We'll talk about those. Look at verse 10. For Moses said, honor thy father and thy mother. And whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death. Of course, we're going back to the Ten Commandments. And we're supposed to honor our parents. There's a death penalty attached to recalcitrant children that do not honor their parents, but are rebellious. Death penalty. Take too long. But ye say, if a man shall say to his father or mother, it is Corbin, that is to say, a gift. By whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, he shall be free. That's what you say. And ye suffer him no more to do aught for his father or his mother. Now, I don't want to take time and go into detail on all this, and we have talked about it in years gone by, but you know, this is, it is Corban, it's a gift. So you've got a priest, say, you've got a priest, and he's the son of some parents, right? He's going to be somebody's son. And so this priest, he makes a vow and everything he gives all to God, And his life is a gift to God. He divests himself of owning property. And he lives off the gifts to the altar. And he gives everything up for God. Okay, noble. And then when his parents get old and they can't work, they can't make ends meet, they say, son, we need a little help. And the son turns around to his parents and says, we need you, son, to help us. And the son turns around to his parents and says, it is Corbin. In other words, you're asking my financial help or my physical help, but you're asking of me that which I gave to the Lord. My life is a gift to God. And the charge the son is making to his parents is, you want to steal from God? Because I've given him everything. See, that's what's going on here. And Moses said, honor thy father and mother, and whoso curseth father and mother, let him die the death. But ye say, for man shall say to his father and mother, it is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatever thou mightest be profited by me, like if I could help you, he shall be free from that obligation, you see. And ye suffer him no more that Priest, God-serving son. You suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother. He can neglect them in their old age because he's a priest of God and he gave everything to God. And they, little scoundrels. And Jesus saying, you hypocrites. And look how Jesus sums it up, making the word of God of none effect, because he did say, honor your father and mother. And the Lord means, very specifically, if necessary, that means tangibly with everything you have. He's saying, you make the word of God of none effect through your tradition, because I didn't teach you that, which ye have delivered in many such like things do ye. My point in talking about that tonight is that evangelicalism, by embracing certain forms of textual criticism and higher criticism, that which is the philosophy of the modern Bible movement, represents a new tradition in Christianity. You say, oh, come on. I don't know. Where'd we learn to repeat the Lord's Prayer? when we were children and we all spoke the same language. Can't do that anymore. Let's say the Lord's Prayer. It'd be like tongues in Corinth. One guy's doing the NIV, the other guy's doing the Good News for Modern Man, the other guy's doing Woman Thou Art Loose Bible version. Now you might as well quote Anton LaVey. We have a new tradition. You know, now that we've thought about it, some scholarship has come along, we got some things that don't belong in the Bible. Yeah, that's a new tradition. It's a new tradition of how Christians now understand the concept of Bible inspiration and more particularly Bible preservation. and negating the teachings in scripture in this regard. Modern evangelicalism has produced a corrosion of confidence in the people of God concerning the authenticity and the preservation of God's word. It's because they've accepted the principle behind the argument. And this is nothing short, in my opinion, of destroying the foundations. And I know we have, it says KJV up in the thing. We put an ad, we say, Calvinist KJV separatists. Let them choke on it if they can't handle it. Someone's gonna remind them of something. When we say KJV, we're not saying what the KJV only people say. But we're saying, well, I'd rather be stuck in a KJV only than what you're doing. You want to follow the Alexandrian texts? It was Coptic, Egyptian, wasn't even Greek. But it's older, and you know, That section of the world, they knew their Greek. Well, that's true. That's true. And there's lots of good doctors that know their craft. Doesn't mean they're honest. But that guy wanted to give me a crown. No, no, he wanted to give me a root canal. I'll do a twofer. Let me drill that other one and you can get your caps later when you can afford it. And that doesn't sound right. You're going to drill my this other tooth that I wasn't sent here for? And then I'm not going to put a cap on it. Doesn't it get brittle? And if I bite something, I'm going to lose the whole thing. I went back and told my dentist. He was furious, Dr. Downey. And he said he was going to write a letter to the board of medical drivers. I don't know what the group is, but this guy told my patient, you don't do that. You don't say that. And Dr. Downey says, you don't have, you don't have the need of another root canal. It's not even close. It's not, first of all, it's not true. Secondly, he said, you don't say, well, if you can't afford to do a root canal and a cap and then do another root canal and a cap all at the same time, then let me just do the two root canals, get your caps later. That's what he told me. That guy, he drives around in a Corvette and his license plate says Dr. Root. So if you see his car, well, don't run him off the road. Just get out of his way. If we attack the Bible, or we raise questions and doubts amongst the Lord's people, about the integrity of the Bible, Pastor Gugino, you say it this way, and you say it just like this, you mean, at this late date, you're gonna start questioning God's word? You can't do that to God's people. I intuitively knew he was right. Besides, there's something more to it than that. It's what the scripture says about it, as we've been looking at some of that. Everything we believe, the foundation of everything we do as Christians, is founded exclusively on the authority and the integrity of the Word of God. If we tamper with that, we're tampering with the foundation I'd rather not be able to explain a passage of scripture that's given me a problem than to stand before the world and before God and take responsibility for telling the Lord's people, I think it should be removed. Who am I? Well, this scholar over here. You mean the one that doesn't believe in the resurrection? Well, yeah, that one. But look, he's really good at ancient manuscripts. Yeah. Good for him. And the guy that wanted to give me the second root canal, you know what? He did a good job with the first one. It held. He had state-of-the-art equipment. Almost had the laser beams coming in so he wouldn't drill, you know, you're not gonna go through, woo, through the roof when he hits that nerve. Well, he got all the things set up, all the technology, like, whoa. All right, all that expertise. Didn't make him moral. Doesn't mean he can't lie. So I'd rather not be able to explain a passage than be responsible for declaring it should be removed. Because once you do that, now the large people are in confusion. So what else? They don't say it in polite Christian company, because they want to be people of faith, but they're all wondering. In 1 Corinthians, it's confusion. It's to create confusion. To strike at the foundation is to create confusion. And Paul said in 1 Corinthians that God is not the author of confusion. Now, in context, in 1 Corinthians 14, in context, Paul was talking about the spoken word. He was talking about tongues and the confusion of tongues. True biblical tongues was the manifestation of the truth of God. A revelation was given by the Spirit of God. They spoke in tongues. There was a message from God. It would be the spoken word of God, if it was a genuine tongue of the Spirit of God. And they were doing it, you know, one after another, and then they begin to overlap, one guy interrupt, and then there was multiple prophesying, and then sometimes they'd be prophesying and speaking in tongues, and no one's interpreting, so what's the sense in having the information if no one knows what you're saying? And it was chaos. But God would not put up with confusion when it came to the spoken word. then why would we think God would put up with confusion for the written word, which is the foundation of everything, including our understanding of tongues? I don't even know what tongues are, except through the Bible. Everything comes from the Bible. There's not one thing we know about God or Jesus Christ that does not ultimately come from God's word. God wouldn't put up with the confusion of the spoken word through tongues. I don't think he's going to put up with that for the written word. Now, I know there's issues. We've got translations from the original languages, and we don't have the original manuscripts. I understand that. But there are ways to realize God has preserved it. We've got all these manuscripts all over the world that came from different times and places and cultures. And you lay them down. And you can understand. You can understand what God has said. In Jeremiah chapter 23, let's go there, Jeremiah 23. And starting at verse 28. Jeremiah 23, starting at verse 28. The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream. And he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. This sounds like in Corinth, right, with tongues and everything. I mean, not directly talking about that, but the same principle, right? What is the chaff to the wheat? Sayeth the Lord. Is the chaff gonna have victory? Not when God's in control. Like what he says, verse 29, is not my word like as a fire? Sayeth the Lord. And like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? So you're gonna have wheat. I mean chaff amongst the wheat. True. But God's word is like a hammer. and his children will know the difference between tares and wheat. How? Through the word. Yes, there's chaff amongst the wheat, but is not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? Verse 30, therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbor. Well, Westcott and Haught said, this is not in the oldest and best manuscripts. I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbor. Westcott and Haught says, no, they were added. So says you. And God let that mistake go on, what, for almost 2,000 years, until you came along. Yeah, I can see you were sent by God. I've read your history. We haven't even gotten to that. I could do a sermon just on Westcott and Hoyt. First of all, A, part A of the sermon. Is their importance that big in modern Bibles? Yes, it's universally important. It's foundational. Secondly, who were they? Well, there's the ugly picture. And then some will say, well, it doesn't matter how bad they were and how apostate they were. They were true scholars in what they did. Yes, it does matter. The guy wanted to give me a root canal. Or I had another guy, oh, you've got, you know, you've got two cavities, and you gotta fill those, and he comes out with a picture and shows them to me. I go, well, that's too bad, but I'm getting married in like two weeks, and I'm gonna be moving out of state. I just got a job, and it'll be starting next week. I'm going to get married. We're moving out of state. I'm going to find a new dentist, so I'll take care of it later. Oh, OK. I moved, and I forgot about it. And about a year later, I said, oh, I had those cavities. They're getting worse. I go, we see a dentist. He comes out, OK, you know, so let's make an appointment for cleaning. Well, how's my teeth? Well, they're good. You know, he does the whole thing where they prick you in the gums. And he did the whole, because I was new. I go, I don't have any cavities. He says, no. Said, I was told by my last dentist I had two, and they needed to be addressed right away. He said, you don't have any. I said, he showed me pictures. I guess there was somebody else's teeth, huh? I can't remember what the dentist said. It's not his fault. I wasn't trying to be, I'm like complaining. I'm thinking, this is the world. The guy's a doctor. Who am I? Well, he's a doctor. He's an expert. Then I should trust him. So we can trust Westcott and Hort, because they were good at what they did. They made a name for themselves, brethren. I'm gonna go by God's word. And I don't wanna be in that position that's being described. But the Lord says, I'm against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words, every one from his neighbor. Behold, I'm against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues and say, he saith. Behold, I'm against them that prophesy false dreams, sayeth the Lord, and do tell them. Remember all those Pentecostal ministers running around? We're the Lord, prophecy came to me, and Donald Trump's gonna win this next election. Joe Biden became the president. Of course, maybe they're right. He won the election, but you know. Oh, maybe they're right, yeah. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies and by their lightness. Yet I sent them not, nor commanded them, therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord. I remember as a kid, you know, we used the King James Bible growing up, but then when we got to be like, I was 12 or 14, maybe 14. They started to allow the NIV to slip in. And people, when they stood up and gave testimonies, started quoting other Bibles. And I think the minister continued in the King James. But then people just started using the NIV. Now almost everybody's using the NIV. So I went and got myself an NIV. So I'm, whatever, 14 years old. And as through the next few years as I'm reading it, I'd see those little footnotes. And they say it in a more sophisticated, educated way, but they're saying this doesn't really belong here. What? Oh yeah, this passage is not in the oldest and best manuscript. So you're saying it's not part of the Bible? Then I begin to see like three quarters of a column. This doesn't belong in the Bible. I have to say, it bothered me. What else? I remember thinking, what's going on? I don't remember anyone ever talking about it. Maybe they did and I wasn't listening, but I don't remember anyone talking about it. If the counsel of the Lord standeth forever, and the thoughts of his heart to all generations, which is obviously true, because that's the word of God, then yes, I would say the idea that what God has purposed, he will bring it to pass. I know when we say the thoughts of his heart go to all generations. And that the counsel of the Lord stands forever. You can understand the counsel of the Lord stands forever. What he has determined and declared will come to pass. No one can stop it and they can't. Look, I agree with that. But it also says the thought of his heart to all generations. And so if you think about both things and take them both seriously, it makes you realize, well, Would that truth be discernible to men if they didn't know what God's counsels were? And if the thoughts of his heart, the intents of his heart, the thought of his heart, if to all generations, then shouldn't we know what those thoughts are? What is the singular source by which we as human beings can know and learn of the counsels of God or the thoughts of God. There's only one source for that, the Bible. The Bible. You know, just for time's sake, well, should I do this? Go to Psalm 117. Go to Psalm 117. I'll read these other things another time. I got some Spurgeon quotes on this that you'll find interesting. Spurgeon isn't always consistent with himself. As much as I love his sermons. Spurgeon was a wordsmith. He could paint a picture that would make Bob Ross blush with embarrassment. He's very good with words. And the general structure of his theology I thought was good too, but as Pastor Kouginis would say, but he's no theologian, which was true, which was true. But Psalm 117, in verse one. Now we're gonna study the whole chapter here. Verse one, oh praise the Lord. All ye nations, praise him, all ye people, for his merciful kindness is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord endureth forever. Praise ye the Lord. Well, there's your chapter. Now, the whole chapter makes a singular point. Because look what it says, O praise the Lord, all ye nations, praise Him, all ye people. Why? See, the connective word for, there's a reason you need to praise Him. And it's what the truth is here, is what the chapter's about. The praise is the reaction to the chapter, okay? Reaction to the truth. So, O praise the Lord, all ye nations, praise Him, all ye people. Why? For His merciful kindness is great toward us. And the truth of the Lord endureth forever. Now, if His merciful kindness is great towards us, we have to know what His mercy is. How do we even know God showed us any mercy? Through the Bible. What kind of mercy? And how do we know what's the nature of the mercy? Through the Bible. His merciful kindness is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord endureth forever. And I know endureth is in italics, but it actually is implied. It's not just added to, you know, it's, read it without it. And even all the modern versions include the word endearth as well, because there's a reason. Sometimes the Hebrew was, had a lot less words than the modern English language. So it was a very brief form of expression. But there is a distinction between, say, the King James and a lot of modern translations. Not all of them. A lot of modern translations translate it in the truth of the Lord endureth forever. But some of them translate it in the faithfulness of the Lord endureth forever. So I looked that up, the Hebrew word that's translated truth here in our King James Bibles. And that sometimes, in some modern Bibles, it's translated faithfulness. What do they mean, his faithfulness? The faithfulness of the Lord endureth forever. Well, what does faithfulness mean? He keeps his promises. He's faithful to what he says. Now, if he's faithful to what he says, and that faithfulness endures forever, we have no idea that it endures forever if we don't know what he said, or if what he said is in question. We don't know what parts he really said, what parts he didn't say. And the word here translated either truth or faithfulness is Strong's number 571, if you wanna look it up. But the Hebrew word means, and this is the Strong's definition, stability, certainty, truth, trustworthiness. All right, so let's take it the King James route. The truth of the Lord endureth forever. Well, my contention is, Whether you translate that Hebrew word in verse two as truth or whether you translate it as faithfulness, either one, they necessarily imply that we must have God's word in every generation and that it will endure forever. Let's say it means, like the King James says, truth. The truth of the Lord endureth forever. If his truth endures forever, then so must God's word endure forever, for that is our only source for his truth. It's the only source for his truth. If his truth endures forever, well, it endures, but nobody knows what it is. No, we can't know. And if we translate it, faithfulness, And the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Well, if his faithfulness endures forever, then I think also God's word must be preserved forever. For how can his faithfulness to his promises be seen by anybody? How can you receive glory in these truths? if we're not sure what promises he made that he has been faithful to. He's faithful to his promises. Everything we know about God, everything we know about Christ, everything we know about the Holy Spirit, salvation, everything comes from the scripture. In God's word was written to his glory. I don't think he'll let that be hid. So they wanna tell us, it's all so very confusing. But if you buy our Bible, oh, I see that little C with a circle around it. That's, oh, copyright, yeah. This is the best one yet, until next year. And this is the best one next. Do you realize there's hundreds of Bibles? Hundreds. It's never gonna stop. They all want to fill my teeth with lead. They all want to give me a root canal. I'm sorry, I don't want your root canal. Now, I know this is a very broad-based argument, but I'm in the vein of broad-based thinking because I've already read the stuff on the technical arguments. I preached a series, and that probably was like 15 years ago, on the nature of the manuscripts they discovered in the 1800s, where they found them, the condition they were in, the nature of the sentence structure, the strengths and weaknesses of the text, what people did with them, and when the picture was all done and we painted it. And I know it can be kind of boring. The thing is you say no, no, I know I can't I can't accept the premise not from that I Just I haven't there's no wind in my sails. I don't feel like doing that again it feel like I'm Poisoning the pulpit. Let's say here's a whole bunch of live. Let's talk about them forever. Oh in a sense, I want to keep it simple, is about in the technicality and detail. Like I told you, so that one that I discovered, which is the foundation of the Vaticanus manuscript, believe in the inspiration of scripture and believe you will not believe in a truer and fuller, F-U-L-L-E-U, no more room, R in the next line. What? And then like a whole line would be missing, and you can just see he missed a line. He went and got a drink, came back, and he missed a whole line. And you come to find out that that text, Trigellus and Tischendorf, eventually Westcott and Hort, that was discovered at Mount Sinai in the wastebasket in the Pope's place there. It was one of the most expensive forms of paper in existence when that was written. And that goes back, I think that's a fourth century document. That's old. I told you before, that vellum they used, only someone with money would use it. And they hired someone to make a copy of the Bible, and then people could copy it and copy it. The Roman Catholic Church had it in the 1800s in pristine, perfect shape. The one with, if you have a three-letter word, they have one letter and then two letters in the next line. They're just doing foolish things. And there were no markings on it. Well, almost no markings. A good manuscript, there's markings all over. And there's hint, and it's worn out, because people want to. And when the scholars looked at it, they said, no, that's garbage. I don't know who that scribe was. And that guy paid all that money. And now they were about to burn it, and then Tregellas gets in there, or is it Titchendorf? But Tregellas did the original thing, then Titchendorf went and I think he retrieved it. And they said, you're going to burn that? Yeah. I want that. Oh, see, this guy's a scholar. It must be worth something. What's this tell you? You can have x number of pages. And that thing was in pristine, and Dean Burgin is saying, you don't do that with a manuscript of that magnitude. Not in the 1800s. Well, we're going to put it in a museum and no one can touch it. No, no, no. It's not from the 1800s. That's when it was discovered. The fourth century. You don't put it in a museum in the fourth century to archive it. This is an ultimately accurate and clearly written, let's use this and make as many copies as we can and try not to touch it and turn it to pages carefully. And let's take this thing as far as we can. And it's just going to get corroded for use. He goes, that's what happens with good manuscripts. He was in the business when he knew. And he would tell you, they're lying to you. That was a piece of garbage. That's what our new Bibles are based on, amongst other things. See, I'm trying to keep it simple. God says to every generation, I'm gonna feed my sheep. So what? The food has been messed up. I'm not sure about the Bible anymore. So what's he given us? What has he given us? High carbs. Sweets. Cocoa puffs. It's been alloyed. There's all this mixture of stuff we don't know. Now our food isn't pure anymore because this is the manner upon which God says, I will preserve my people. And we believe now that the waters have been muddied. And then he says, drink of it. I love the Bible, it's meant a lot to me through the years and ever since I came to Christ. And even Albert Einstein, who was an unbeliever, but he made a statement, I got it in a book written by Albert Einstein at home, and I've read it to you years ago. But Einstein said, when I read about Jesus, now he's Jewish, and he was pretty much agnostic, he was very Zionist. But Einstein said, when I read about Jesus, He's one of the most attractive individuals that a man could read about. And there's something about him that draws you. This is Albert Einstein. There's something about the way he conducted himself that's mesmerizing. I almost believe. Jesus, thou almost persuadest me to be a Christian. But Albert Einstein's intellect was insufficient for his salvation. Bow our heads in prayer. Heavenly Father, help us to not depend upon the wisdom of men. We want to be a learned people. We want to study to show ourselves approved. But we believe thy word, and we love thy word. What Albert Einstein said was true about Jesus, because that's how we feel about him. And we, because of that, believe him. We pray that that faith would be known by many others. Help people to come out of the morass of the confusion. The confusion about Bible inspiration, Bible errors, contradictions. The confusion about, well, what do we do with science? And what do we do about this passage where God just seems so mean? And every argument they have, if they read about Jesus, they'd know there's something here, there is. It's your truth, and there's a blessing in it. What a blessing to society if men would embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ. So Father, protect that gospel, and protect our witness of that gospel, and give us grace, and humility, and power, and truth, that we would go and preach it far and wide, and that a remnant would believe and rejoice with us, and that we would speak often one with another, we who fear the Lord. And if in some day in eternity we find out you recorded us, you delighted in us, We will fall down in humility, embarrassed, ashamed, and honored and grateful for what Christ has done for us. Help us to see him. And we know, Lord, the only way we can see him is through your word. Open your word to us. The things that we don't know today, if it pleases thee, and only if it pleases thee, Teach us those things tomorrow. And if tomorrow we can't know those things, help us to be content with your infinite wisdom. You are the sovereign potter, we are the clay. We accept that, and we know it is the only safe role for us to play. And bless us in our efforts to serve Thee in this way. We pray in Jesus' name.