Preach The Word -- Which One? 2 Of 2

I do not believe translators are “inspired.” I do believe the “holy men” that God used, who wrote the original text, were inspired to write those precious truths God breathed through them.

• It is hard for me to conceive that God would command a man to PREACH THE WORD, when there was no Word He had preserved to be preached.

• It is hard for me to conceive that God would hold Christians accountable for the teachings of the Bible on Judgment Day, and not preserve His Word and make it available to them.

We find ourselves in a time and in a land where there are many different kinds of “Bibles.” If all of these which are supposed to be God’s Word said the same thing, we could pick any one of them up and read and preach the Word of God from them. However, when comparing the many Bibles available today, we see great differences in them. So, it behooves every child of God to look at the many so-called Bibles before them, and decide WHICH IS THE WORD OF GOD!

In our previous sermon we mentioned that in 1611, King James ordered 47 of the smartest Bible scholars of that day from Westminster, Cambridge, and Oxford, to translate the original text of God’s Word into the English language. This they did, word for word, words of equal value and with equal meaning. When they completed their assignment, they placed into the hands of the English-speaking people THE WORD OF GOD.

It is interesting that most people do not know this, but the original King James 1611 has been revised 4 times, yet never, in any of those revisions, has the meaning of the original text been altered or tampered with. Some might be asking why it was revised four times. It was because the old English words were spelled differently then and became hard to read.

Illus: In Matthew 6, the Lord’s model prayer, in the old English, contained words spelled like this:

• The word “Our,” was spelled “Oure.”

• The word “hallowed,” was spelled “halowed.”

• The word “kingdom,” was spelled “kyngdome.”

Even though the spelling of these words has been changed so we can read them better, our Bible still retains some of the old English, like “Thee,” “Thy,” and “Thou.” But, at no time has the meaning of those words, translated from the original text, been tampered with. Through these four different revisions of the 1611 King James Bible, only the spelling of the words were updated, never was the meaning changed.

Why did they not want to change the meaning? Because they knew if they changed any of the meaning, it would no longer be a proper translation, true to the original text. There is not one text in this King James Bible that anyone can point to and say the translation distorts, omits, deviates, or dishonors the Lord Jesus Christ in any way. Every word in this King James Bible honors the Lord. However, every translation, version, revision and paraphrase on sale today as the Bible, dishonors the Lord Jesus in some way. For this reason, we say that the King James Bible is the one for English Speaking people today -- THIS IS THE WORD OF GOD! The fact we have it today is nothing short of a miracle!

I. THE DIVINE ORIGIN OF THE BIBLE

The Bible itself claims to be the inspired Word of God. Look at 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

We can not conceive that God would create people and hold them responsible on judgment day for His Word, and then not give His Word to them to show them how they should live. Our Creator is not that kind of God!

Illus: During the days when Knute Rockne was coaching Notre Dame, a sports columnist in a South Bend newspaper earned the reputation of being the meanest, most cutting writer in the country. The anonymous writer, who knew Notre Dame well:

• Wrote about the team’s weaknesses

• Pointed out the mistakes of individual players

• Told about those who were lazy, and those who broke training and did not discipline themselves

Of course the column made the players roaring mad. The truth hurt, and players complained to Rockne. He listened with sympathy, but said, “If you do not like what is being written about you, go out and play the game so well that it will prove him wrong.”

Later it became known that the writer of the column was Knute Rockne himself. As coach he was best acquainted with their weaknesses. The critical column was his ingenuous device to develop each player to be the best he could become.